“I found it!” the purple unicorn mare exclaims all of a sudden, her glowing eyes quickly returning to normal.
Her gaze lands on Jay, the brown stallion, who is seated across from her.
She beams. “Jay, you were right!”
A doe rolls her eyes as she bites the illusionary library's wooden door's handle with a huff. She angrily opens the door wide. Her angry features immediately turn into confusion, and then into shock, and then—
The mare continues: “Well, I mean, you guessed it right! It's—”
She suddenly stops, her gaze now on the many horned ponies standing outside the door.
The doe's ears droop. “Um...”
“That's...” a white rat, whose upper body is poking out of a blankly-blinking kangaroo's pouch, says in an almost-whisper tone as Jay looks back. His tiny white ears droop as he continues: “a lot of angry unicorns.”
Outside, almost two-dozen angry unicorns fix their angry glares at each person inside the dead-old tree.
In front of the unicorn crowd is a white unicorn mare, whose angry glare is locked on a certain purple unicorn inside the tree. “Pardon me,” she hisses, “but I do believe you have something that belongs to us?”
The unicorns begin lighting up their horns, their multicolored lights reflecting the shocked and nervous faces of those who are inside the large tree.
A purple aura suddenly surrounds the wooden door and slams it close, creating a loud banging noise that momentarily startles everyone on both sides of the wooden barrier.
The doe runs away from the door, yet she's clueless where to hide.
Outside, and shaking the surprise off of her, the white unicorn quickly turns back to the others. “Everypony!” she shouts, her horn lighting up. “Bring this tree down!”
Inside, and horn lighting, the mare nervously exclaims: “Jay! Quick!”
Startled, Jay quickly turns to her as the unicorns outside start banging on the door, while others start pulling out rocks and launching it at the tree.
“Where's Applejack?!” the purple unicorn loudly asks as the interior of the tree is now filled with banging and breaking noises.
The nervous stallion mutters a response as the wooden door explodes into splinters, no longer filtering the angry noises the unicorns are making.
Before they can flood inside however, the purple unicorn fires a beam of magic at the startled brown stallion. In a mere second, Jay turns white and disappears in thin air.
The angry unicorns enter—and stop as a large and blood-thirsty panther roars and runs toward them, his fangs and claws glinting off their horn's lights.
Overcome by the sudden sense of fear and panic, unicorns who are inside let out a cry as they turn around, trying but failing to fight the flood of their own angry kind from entering.
A younger panther runs at them, and together, both predators bite and claw at the unicorns, unaware that the walls of the tree have started to collapse.
As the top of the tree starts to fall down on everyone below, the purple mare quickly lights up her horn and fires a beam of magic upwards.
The treetop explodes into tiny splinters, startling the majority and shielding themselves from the sudden wooden rain.
A magical aura grabs hold of the larger panther, pulling him away as the others concentrate their magic on him, and as one, they slam and slam and slam the beast repeatedly on the ground—
—until one by one they go flying as a large kangaroo starts kicking and punching and whipping her tail at them. She's about to punch another startled unicorn when a rock or two slams into her, pushing her back. As she tries to shake the dizziness off, more and more rocks pelt her.
The large panther returns to his paws and lets out a roar, only to receive a rock to his face, and to his entire body.
As the chaos continues, a white rat is running away from the scene, skittering towards the bordering trees that surround the dead clearing. He hides behind the nearest tree, and lets out a squeak of surprise when he sees an even larger white creature hiding there as well.
“Please don't hurt me!” Moon Gaze squeaks, covering his eyes with both claws.
A white feathered wing quickly grabs hold of him. The swan hugs the rat nervously, whimpering and crying.
The rat let's out a surprised gasp, and then a sigh of relief.
The duo then gasps in surprise as a bright white light appears right in front of them.
The purple mare materializes from the light. She shakes her head and takes a breath before looking at them with courageous eyes. “Seri, use this to find the book,” she says as she gives the swan a bag. “The gem inside will shine when you face the direction where the book is located, so head towards it.” She walks away from the safety of the tree, looking at the chaos. “You'll maybe find Jay, too.” She looks at her with a soft expression. She sighs. “I'll join you guys when I'm done here.” Her horn glows, surrounding the gasping swan with her magic. “Now GO!” She throws her head up, launching the shrieking swan and rat up into the air.
A rock slams into her face, the light on her horn vanishing in an instant. More rocks soon follow.
“Grab the gems!” the white unicorn mare shouts above the chaos. She turns and points at a small group of unicorns. “You! Deal with those damn felines! And you!” she points at another group. “Get the wounded out of here—OOF!”
A mighty kick to her chest sends her flying. As gravity pulls her back, what she sees last is a bloody and angry kangaroo, who turns around so quick for her to see her mighty brown tail slapping her across the face.
Her limp and unconscious body flies and lands on the unicorns who are holding both panthers down. As they fall and lose their concentration, the panther brothers quickly run towards them, their ferocious orange and blue eyes reflecting their shrieking and bloodied faces.
A few of the unicorns are already starting to flee. Some holding gems, others holding their bloodied comrades away from the chaos.
A white unicorn stallion with a yellow mane and tail of the fleeing group notices a brown figure standing by the trees. He stops to take a proper look, and sees a doe just standing there, her gaze on the chaos, her mouth open in shock, and her whole body frozen in fright.
“You're one of them...!” the stallion hisses as his horn lights up. He quickly pulls out a rock from underneath the ground. “Die, you thief!”
Hearing this snaps the doe back to reality. She quickly whips her gaze to the source of the voice, and—as if time slowed—sees a large rock flying straight towards her.
A large black head suddenly blocks the rocks path. The rock then explodes into dust and smaller rocks.
The doe shrieks in surprise, stepping back and falling to the ground.
A long growl. A set of glowing orange eyes glare at the startled stallion, its fangs glinting from the shining horn.
“You dare...” the panther growls through his bloody jaw. “...lay claim ... to my ... prey?”
The stallion is frozen in fear, but is thankfully snapped back to his senses when a fleeing unicorn bumps into him. Shaking his head, he quickly turns tail and flees.
Seconds later, a slow black blur appears, chasing after the fleeing unicorns.
The large panther growls. “Grrr—R-Rey...!”
The smaller panther skids to a stop. He turns toward him, his blank sapphire eyes staring at him.
“Grrrk—!”
Reykan's eyes start to glimmer, reflecting his older brother's collapsing brother. “Whoa—!”
In the sea of broken wood, scattered gems and rocks, and a few lifeless bodies, the kangaroo limply approaches the panther's group, carrying with her the purple unicorn mare.
“Wow, Syroc,” Reykan says, “you look horrible.” He sits down in front of him and winces. “Ooooooow ow ow ow—!”
Despite his condition, Syroc smirks. “Heh... Look who's talking.”
The kangaroo finally reaches the group and slowly puts the mare down on the grassy ground.
The purple mare winces, slowly and carefully rubs her bloody muzzle. “Ow...”
Reykan shakes his head. He shakes it some more. “Grrr—!”
“Heh...” Syroc chuckles painfully. “It's delicious, right, Rey?”
The younger cub shakes and shakes and shakes his head. “I-I-I can't...! I made a promise!”
The larger panther rolls his orange eyes. “Ack—! You're still into that? Really?!”
“Mom says that we preydeytors should have at least one code,” Reykan says, frowning at his older brother. “Mine is I keep my promises.”
“You could have picked one that isn't easily exploitable, you know,” the older panther frowns back. “Now look what you got yourself into. You've become the prey's pet!” Syroc takes a breath and sighs. “...and it's ‘predators.’”
“Whatever,” Reykan shakes his head. His sapphire eyes gaze on the doe. He frowns. “Are you gonna heal us or not?”
That snaps her back. “W-what?!” She quickly stands up. “And why would I want to do that?!”
“Gee...” Syroc coughs. He tries his best to glance at her. “Makes one wonder why you're still here, too.”
“I-ah-uh...” the doe stammers.
The kangaroo sighs. “Just doe your magic, girl.” She pauses. She blinks. She chuckles.
The doe sighs, stepping away from the two feline as she approaches the kangaroo, her two stubs on her forehead glowing green. “Fine, but I'm not healing those two.”
Syroc snorts.
“Meh,” Reykan shrugs as he starts grooming himself. “I'm not hurt that much anyway.”
The doe throws one last glare at the two felines before she sighs, sits down and leans her head closer to the unicorn mare, her stubs glowing brighter as she starts healing the purple mare.
The doe grunts. “Twilight, you're hurt pretty bad...”
“Obviously, love,” the kangaroo chuckles, and winces. “Ow...”
“I'm not sure if I can heal you completely...” the doe says with a frown.
“It's fine, Sienna,” Twilight whispers.
As the kangaroo watches the doe healing the mare, she carefully rubs her aching cheek with an arm. “Hm...” She slowly lifts her gaze up, staring at the twinkling rays of light poking through the ocean of green leaves. “How'd they find us, I wonder?”
Twilight coughs. She takes a breath and groans. “They ... must have placed a tracking spell on one of the gems.”
Blinking, the kangaroo looks down at the unicorn. “What is that, love?”
Twilight closes her eyes and takes a breath. “A spell that tells the caster where their item is located.” She takes another breath and sighs. “I honestly didn't think that they were capable of casting such a spell.”
Silence.
After scratching his ear, Reykan looks at the clearing, blinks and smiles at his brother. “Oh, hey, bro!”
“Hm?”
The cub looks at the messy clearing once again. “Look! Dead ponies!”
Twilight and Sienna shudders.
Reykan looks back at his brother. “You always love eating cold meat—that's still gross, by the way—so there you go!”
Syroc glares at him. “I do not like cold meat!”
“Yes, you do.”
The larger panther growls at him. He then winces from his injuries. “N-no, I don't!”
Reykan shrugs. “Meh, whatever you say.” He stands back up and sniffs the air. “Mmm... Where'd Jay go?”
No answer.
The kangaroo is sitting on the ground, leaning against the tree with Twilight leaning against her.
Twilight is trying to relax under the comfort of the doe's healing spell.
Sienna has her eyes closed, for her to properly concentrate on healing the mare's many injuries.
Syroc is just lying on the ground on his side.
And Reykan is still sniffing the air, trying but failing to locate the stallion he's looking for.
A soft breeze caresses the treetops, serenading their ears with a soft rustling melody.
Twilight closes her eyes and sighs. “Jay is ... probably heading to the Storm Forest.”
Reykan blinks at looks at her. “Storm Forest?” He tilts his head to the side. “Why is he heading there?” Before Twilight can reply, he shrugs and quickly adds: “Eh, I can just ask him when I catch up to him.”
Syroc groans. “Why are you so attached to this Jay, Rey?”
Reykan shrugs once again. “Eh, he promised that I can eat him after I'm done helping him.” He blinks. He smiles. “Oh, and Twilight, too. And that annoying swan, too.” He turns toward the direction of the forest and starts to leave. “Well, bye!”
Before his older brother can say something—
“Reykan, wait,” Twilight calls.
The cub stops and looks back at her. “Huh?”
Twilight takes a breath. “...when you see him... When you find him, tell him that I'm—”
“...dead?” Reykan finishes, trying but failing to maintain eye-contact with the swan.
The swan blankly stares back at the cub.
The cub awkwardly fidgets where he stands.
A roar of thunder resonates from the stormy sky up above, falling on deaf ears as Jay and Seri are still processing the news.
After what feels like forever, Reykan is finally free from the swan's feathery hold.
“Oh,” Seri blankly says with a blank expression as Reykan shakes his head. She slowly nods her head. “...Okay.”
Reykan gulps and nervously backs away from the swan. He doesn't really like lying, and is unsure if he can keep the lie up.
He looks up at Jay, but the swan catches his attention once again as she begins wobbling towards the dark forest.
“Let's go,” she says as she pulls out a shining gem from her bag.
“Seri,” the brown stallion quietly calls. “...wait.”
Reykan looks at her retreating form with an uneasy frown. He then slowly looks up at the stallion. “Jay?”
The stallion looks back at him with a sad frown. “Yeah?”
The cub then looks back at the swan. “...she, um... S-she's...” His ears twitch slightly upon hearing the stallion sighing.
Jay then slowly walks after the swan. “Let's go.”
Reykan takes a breath and sighs through his nostrils. He slowly starts tailing the stallion as the heavens above let's out a loud roar of thunder.
“Ah, the Storm Forest,” Syroc lamely says, his long black tail waving left and right as he boringly stares at the forest in the distance.
The panther looks back, his bored orange eyes reflecting the approaching forms of the unicorn mare and the kangaroo.
The kangaroo lets out a whistle in awe. “Woo-wee. That is one nasty-looking storm!”
Twilight nods her head. She shifts her gaze to the large cluster of white clouds close to the forest's stormy clouds. “That must be the place where the pegasi lives.”
A sigh echoes from the trees behind them. Soon, Sienna emerges from the shadows, frowning at the three creatures before her. She groans. “Ugh... Why am I tagging along, anyway?”
Syroc rolls his eyes. “'Cuz I'll kill you if you don't.” He glares at the purple unicorn. “This crazy mare sent my brother somewhere, and I'm taking him back before he gets himself killed.”
“You'll kill me afterwards,” Sienna says angrily, glaring at the large feline. “I'll be dead either way.”
The panther looks back at her with a smirk. “Oh, don't worry.” His smirk becomes menacing. “I'm sure you'll find the chance to escape while I retrieve my brother.”
He lets out a startled yelp when something grabs him by the nape. His four paws no longer touching the ground, he frowns as he finds himself face-to-face with an angry kangaroo.
“You outta stop threatening the doe there, love” Xana says with a daring smirk. “Else you and I will be dancing, with you mostly flying.”
Syroc blinks a boring blink. He yelps when the kangaroo suddenly let's him go, barely landing on all four.
He growls at her.
She smirks at him.
Sienna and Twilight sighs an impatient sigh.
“There's a pegasus up ahead,” Syroc suddenly says in an annoyed tone.
His and his companions' ears have been listening to the constant rumbling noises from the stormy heavens up ahead. The tall grass stalks are swaying wildly with the strong winds, irritating the panther.
“What's the matter?” Sienna suddenly says with a teasing smirk, enjoying being taller than the large panther. “Grass got your tongue?”
Syroc stops, looks back and growls at her. “I'll get your tongue if you don't shut up!”
Sienna sticks her tongue out at him.
Syroc's eye twitches. He groans and continues moving. “How did Reykan put up with you, I'll never know.”
Twilight blinks, noticing something familiar with the yellow pegasus up ahead. “Wait... Isn't that...?”
A familiar yellow pegasus is standing at the edge of the Storm Forest, her back to them.
Twilight begins walking faster, passing by both Sienna and Syroc. “Wait right here,” she says before galloping towards the pegasus.
Syroc arches an eyebrow, but didn't stop moving. “What made you think I'm taking orders from you?”
A large foot steps on his tail.
A roar. Probably from thunder, or from the panther, or perhaps from a mixture of both.
Twilight emerges from the sea of waving grass and happily approaches the pegasus. She stops from a respectable distance, and clears her throat. “Hello there.”
Ears twitching, Fluttershy looks back with an eyebrow arched. “...And who the buck are you?”
Twilight blinks. Her ears droop.
Fluttershy chooses to ignore the unicorn. She settles on glaring at the darkness beyond the forest. “Damn dirt pony. Grrr—!” She angrily turns and marches off. “It was the deer who came here, not the ponies! Gah!” She cries in frustration. “I can't believe I fell for such a dumb lie!”
“What's her problem?” Syroc asks as he and the others stop beside Twilight, staring at the retreating pegasus.
Twilight closes her eyes and sighs. “...I can't believe how different my friends are in this world.” She shakes her head as a small smile appears on her muzzle. “Except for Pinkie Pie.”
“That there pegasus is one of your friends?” the kangaroo asks, blinking at the pegasus mare who is flapping her wings, flying towards the cluster of white clouds. She looks back at Twilight, arching an eyebrow. “Some friend she turned out to be for ignoring you.”
Sienna shakes her head. “Well, at least you approached her instead of just watching from the trees with those other two.” She taps her chin in thought. “What were their names again? Pinkie and Applebuck?”
Syroc groans. “Who cares? Let's just go already.”
Syroc roars in frustration, throwing its ferocious glare at the purple unicorn.
“I told you not to interfere!” he snarls, trying his best not to show his surprise when none of his three companions flinched.
Sienna rolls her emerald eyes.
The kangaroo shakes her head.
Twilight sighs, her horn lighting to provide a lavender light. “I'd rather we avoid more ... bloodshed.”
Syroc growls an annoyed growl.
Before the four lies a large and unconscious manticore, it's snores being drowned by the constant roars of thunder above the ceiling of rustling leaves.
“Gotta admit,” the kangaroo says, looking all around. “This place would have been really scary if I'm on my lonesome.” She looks at her companions and smiled. “I'm glad that you're all here, loves.” She turns and frowns at the panther.
“Well, I'm not,” Sienna sighs. “I could have returned to my herd by now, since they were trading with the winged ponies, if what that yellow pegasus said was correct.” She sighs once more. “It was pointless to leave to look for my brother, who didn't even want to return anyway...”
The kangaroo blinks at her. “...if he left, then that would have meant he didn't want to return, right, love?”
The doe is silent.
“Ugh, let's just move already.” Syroc shakes his head, throws dirt at the sleeping manticore, and continues following his brother's scent, the three females following him close behind. He blinks when he smells something strange. “...Was there a forest fire here?”
“A forest fire?” Sienna echoes in concern.
“Huh,” the kangaroo blinks. “I smell something burnt, too.”
The panther stops. “The heck happened here?” Syroc asks, blinking at the burnt and broken trees.
The others stop beside and behind him. Twilight shines her horn brighter for them to see properly. Before them, a line of trees have been burnt to the ground.
“Doesn't look like what a forest fire would look like,” the kangaroo says, and Sienna nods her head in agreement.
Syroc shakes his head and walks on the burnt path. “Well, whatever. It's easier to walk on here that through the annoying trees.”
Sienna rolls her eyes and follows the panther, her two stubs glowing green to properly see where she's going.
The kangaroo is about to follow them when she notices Twilight isn't following them. She looks and blinks at her. “Something wrong, love?”
Twilight is tapping her chin in thought. “I'm ... just wondering what caused this. It looks like a beam of magic struck straight through here.” She looks and studies the burnt wood littered on the ground. “But if it was magic, then it shouldn't have left this many burnt trails behind.”
“Well,” the kangaroo offers with a small smile. “This place is already unnatural enough, so what's to say something unnatural happened here as well?”
“Hm... Probably,” Twilight says, slowly nodding her head. She furrows her brows as she thinks more about it. “Although ... maybe ... since this is the Everfree Forest...” She blinks. She blinks once again. “...this could have been—”
“Jay?!” Sienna's shout echoes on the trees.
Twilight blinks. “Well, no. He can't really—”
“Deer god! What is that thing?!”
Before Twilight can process that, she gasps as the kangaroo suddenly carries her.
“Xana, what—?” the mare stammers.
Xana hops toward the others in a hurry. “What's wrong—what the—?!”
The kangaroo skids to a stop, almost bumping into Syroc and Sienna. Gawking at the scene, she absentmindedly brings Twilight on the ground.
The mare walks forward, blinking at the scene. Yellow wilted petals littered the clearing. A few of them fly off the ground as a warm, unconscious breath blows over them.
A large, green, and scaly dragon's head lie on its scaly chin, and on top of its large snout is an unconscious brown earth pony stallion.
“D-don't...” Syroc stammers, staring at the scene in awe. “Don't tell me that that pony knocked that giant lizard out.”
Twilight rubs her chin in thought, brows furrowed as she stares at the wilted flower petals. “Hm...”