The magic feather fluttered in a nonexistent breeze as it floated through the forest. The path it travelled was straight, uncaring for the others that trailed behind it. Somewhere between the feather and myself, Twilight was trying to navigate through the Everfree’s underbrush. I couldn’t see her through the shadows; she had dispelled her magical light long ago. Something had to have dragged Applejack and Fluttershy off, and we both agreed that it wouldn’t be in our best interest to let it see us first.
The forest canopy strangled the moon’s light, and our only guidance was the dim glow coming from the feather. Shadows twisted the shapes of the trees around us, leaving plenty of room for the imagination to run wild. I had lived in this forest long enough to know that there would always be something new to surprise me, and I kept my hatchet close in hand, in case any new surprises decided to sneak up on us.
The chilling air was quiet, broken only by the faint rustles wherever Twilight was and the occasional snaps of twigs beneath my feet. I wasn’t sure if my shivering came from the cold or adrenaline. My jacket was still tied tightly around my waist, and it constantly snagged against the limbs of the brush I waded through. The thought to put it back on and cover my exposed skin had occurred, but I couldn’t afford to stop and lose sight of the guiding feather just for a little extra comfort.
Eventually, the stillness of the air was replaced by the distant shouting of a brash voice. The feather was heading directly towards the source. The closer we drew, the more familiar it started to sound, but it wasn’t a voice I expected to hear.
“—hear me?! Let me outta here so we can see how tough you are against a pony who’ll fight back!”
“Rainbow Dash, would ya cut it out? You ain’t helping nothing gettin’ all riled up like this.”
Somewhere in front of me, Twilight gasped sharply. I could see movement beneath the brush as she quickly moved ahead. Thankfully, the shouting seemed to mask the noise she was making. I hurried at my own pace to catch up.
“You’re all going to regret this once the Princess sets us free,” Rainbow continued to shout. “Once I get my hooves on your wooden muzzle, I’m gonna make you wish you never crawled out of whatever hole you came from!”
“Rainbow Dash!”
The trees gave way to a small clearing. I kept myself low, with my head just above the underbrush to see.
Under the moonlight, a wooden cage stood in the middle of the trampled, open area. Ponies were uncomfortably packed within, all still in their festive costumes. Most of them cowered as far back as the cage would let them, but two remained in the front. Rainbow Dash was swiping a hoof between the wooden bars at the four timberwolves watching over them, and a hatless Applejack was struggling vainly to hold her back.
One of the wolves crouched low before her as she continued to shout, just outside of her reach. I could hear it snarling from here, a threatening sound sprinkled with even more ferocious barks. It didn’t phase the pegasus, though. If anything, it only spurred her to continue her slew of threats.
The largest wolf of the pack approached the snarler and batted its head with a paw, giving it a growl of its own. The snarler recoiled from the strike, and its once vicious barks devolved into pitiful whimpers as it backpedaled away. The larger wolf took its place, laid down, and silently stared at the cage as Rainbow Dash continued her rant.
Off to the left, two more wolves sat, licking mysterious wounds. One was wiry; it got up and circled the lap around the other with a slight limp before settling back down and nibbling at its apparently wounded leg. The other sat up straight, and its forelegs were busy rubbing at its muzzle. I strained my eyes to better see the faint glint of yellow beneath its paws. It was sap, squeezing out of the cracks of the wood on its muzzle. Its mangled face looked like it had been partially punched in from the snout… or kicked, if there was any chance it was Applejack’s handiwork.
Suddenly, the shouting stopped. I looked back to the cage, thinking the large wolf had finally grown tired of Rainbow’s shouting, and my stomach dropped. The magic feather was floating in the middle of the clearing, and all eyes were on it.
The large wolf stood as the feather passed over its head and watched as it fluttered into the cage. The ponies parted as it entered, but I couldn’t see where it stopped through all the figures. There wasn’t time to get a better angle, either. The wolf’s eyes traced back to the path the feather followed, and it growled a sound like creaking timber. The others stood up on command, and I could feel all four sets of eyes boring into the bushes I hid behind. They slowly made their advance.
“Twilight? How many do you think you can take?” I whispered under my breath. It was quiet enough for the wolves not to hear me, but I still expected a response. I looked around me, my eyes straining to see her through the shadows. “Twilight?”
Nowhere in sight, and if she could hear me, she wasn’t responding. We must have separated further than I thought when we heard the others. The wolves were still prowling closer. I screwed my eyes shut and sucked in a breath. A bad plan was brewing in my mind, and it hinged more heavily on Twilight than I liked to admit, but the wolves were going to be on top of me one way or another. “Wherever you are, you better be close,” I hissed.
I stood out of the bushes and stepped out into the clearing, brandishing my hatchet. Gently biting down on a couple fingers, I let out a sharp whistle, as though I needed anything more to grab their attention. “Here, boy!”
It was like I flipped a switch. All four of them released a hungry snarl and broke into a sprint. The distance was closing fast, with the largest wolf in the lead. I braced myself for the impact, but before they came too close, four streaks of purple light intercepted each of them. They tumbled and slid to a stop, and I made the most of my opportunity.
The largest wolf stopped just a few feet away from me, its stomach exposed in the air. I stumbled forward and fell on top of it with my hatchet, burying the blade into its wooden hide.
“That was your plan?!”
The other three wolves were scrambling back to their feet. I wrenched my hatchet out of the one beneath me and brought it back down until it stopped thrashing. A quick glance back showed Twilight out in the open, preparing another spell.
“Well, I could have had a better one if someone didn’t disappear on me!” I protested.
The closest wolf to me had recovered, the one with the mangled face. It charged, making only a few steps towards me before freezing. Roots stretched out from the two legs still touching the ground, anchoring it in place. Leaves began to spring out of its wooden hide until I could barely see the beast beneath. The end result was a vaguely wolf-shaped bush.
“I disappeared?!” Twilight shouted back. ”You were behind me! If anything, you were the one who disappeared.”
The wiry timberwolf wisened up to the magic tricks. With Twilight in its sights, it raced past me and after her as I pried my hatchet out of the larger wolf. Twilight conjured a barrier just before the timberwolf could catch her, and it collided against the luminescent wall.
With those two occupied, there was only one wolf left to worry about. As I crawled up to my feet, the final timberwolf crouched low to the ground, keeping its distance. The caged ponies had finally caught on to what was going on, and their cheers and shouts overpowered the signature snarl the wolf was trying to make. I took a step towards it, and it retreated two steps back.
There was a flash of purple light behind me, followed quickly by a canine’s yelp. The timberwolf’s attention shifted just past me, and with a rabid look in its sickly eyes, it snarled once more through barred teeth as it backpedalled further. I brandished my hatchet and charged… and suddenly it bolted in the other direction.
I was caught so off guard, I nearly stumbled. Its shadow dashed towards the treeline as it tried to make its escape. My heart nearly stopped as my imagination ran wild. I couldn't catch up with it before it disappeared. My body wound back with the hatchet, and I prayed it would hit its mark as I threw it through the air. It twirled once and landed wide to the left, and the timberwolf vanished beneath the Everfree’s underbrush. A curse slipped through my lips, and the ponies cheered.
My shoulders slumped. All the energy I had left seemed to have disappeared with the hatchet as it left my fingers. Twilight trotted up next to me, and the cheers from the foals and ponies only grew louder.
“Way to go, Twilight!”
“Yeah, you two really showed them who’s boss!”
“C’mon, let us out of here before more show up!”
Twilight and I shared a look, and I nodded towards the cage. As she hurried to the others, I began to sluggishly make my way to where I saw my hatchet disappear. Over the commotion, I could hear Applejack speak.
“Oh, you two sure are a sight for sore eyes, Twilight. Once Fluttershy and Ah were ambushed, Ah was sure you’d be next.”
“Pssh, c’mon, AJ! This is Twilight we’re talking about!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “She could give those timberwolves a run for their bits blindfolded.”
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for Hunter, I’m not sure we would have found you.”
The mares continued to talk as I searched through the grass. I was only loosely paying attention to them. Pinkie and Fluttershy’s voices came up from time to time. It was a happy ending for Twilight, now that most of her friends were together again. Now if only I knew where all of mine were.
My fingers raked through the grass and eventually found their prize, just in time for Twilight to call back to me.
“Hunter! Did you find it yet?”
I straightened myself, wincing as the muscles pulled against my lower back. I held my hatchet out in the moonlight and gave it a wave at her to answer.
“Can you come here?” she called. “We have a… situation.”
My shoulders slumped. As if tonight needed any more hurdles. “What is that supposed to mean?” I groaned.
“Hunter, please!” Applejack loudly chimed in.
Something must have been wrong. The ponies were still in their cage, and Twilight stood helplessly on the outside. I couldn‘t make out their faces between the moonlight and the distance. My mind drifted back to the runaway wolf and the ticking clock we were now under. What was causing the holdup?
I hurriedly limped across the clearing to the others. As I drew close enough, many of the ponies sucked in sharp gasps, and a murmur began to flutter through the small crowd. Near the front, Pinkie stared at me with wide eyes and shuffled a foal behind her. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the smothering silence when I arrived.
“Whoa, Hunter, are you…? What happened?”
“It’s been a long night,” Twilight explained.
“Hey, I can answer for myself,” I rebutted. But as all eyes shifted to me for an explanation, I choked. With a sigh, I echoed her words, “Long night.” I looked to Twilight, hoping to shift both the subject and the eyes off of me. “So what’s the problem?”
“It’s the cage,” she explained. “I don’t know how, but the timberwolves enchanted it with some sort of locking spell, and we can’t break it.”
The news felt like a gut punch to our escape plan. I turned away and mouthed a swear so the foals wouldn’t see it. “Can’t you just teleport them out or something?”
“We already tried that,” Rainbow cut in bluntly.
“You should’ve seen it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. “Twilight got Rainbow Dash out, but then the cage made all these weird noises, and Rainbow popped right back in!”
“Whatever spell Thorn has over these cages is either incredibly complex or incredibly strong,” Twilight continued. “Either way, we could be stuck here all night trying to come up with the right counterspell.”
“So what’s the plan then?” I pressed. “We can’t just leave them. You heard what the Princess said would happen.”
“Hold on, the Princess said what?!”
Twilight and I winced as the bystander overheard my slip. A concerned mumbling quickly overtook the crowd. Twilight was quick to quell it.
“Nopony said we were going to leave you,” she assured them. “Believe me, you’ll all be back in your homes before sunrise.”
“And Hunter’s gonna get us out,” Applejack chimed in. “Aintcha?” I shot her a bewildered look, wondering why she would make such an outlandish promise, but she rose a hoof and explained herself before I could verbally object. “Thorn said something about you earlier when we all met, remember? Called ya something real funny. Spellbreaker, wasn’t it?”
Applejack looked to Twilight for support, and when my eyes followed, she looked alarmed to suddenly be put in the spotlight.
“We were entertaining the idea that he meant something by that name,” she sighed. “It doesn’t seem too far-fetched, given your lack of magic and your body’s reaction to it. Maybe you can do something to break the spell that’s keeping them in?”
“Wha— How do you mean?” I sputtered. “I don’t know how any of this works!” I shook my hands exaggeratedly to mark my point.
Twilight shook her head, seemingly just as bewildered at the idea as I was. “I don’t know, either. Just… I don’t know; just do what comes naturally.”
The ponies inside echoed her encouragement. A tiny scoff escaped me at the idea. Naturally. As if there was anything natural about any of this. A lone wolf’s howl rang between the trees though, and my decision was made for me.
I stood in front of the cage, not quite sure what I was trying to do. My eyes scanned through the small crowd inside as if they would provide me answers. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were at the front. The urgent look in their eyes offered little help for what I needed. There were plenty of foals, but among the adults, I couldn’t find the one I was looking for. Beneath the sea of anxious faces, I found one nearly hidden. Fluttershy’s eyes were locked on mine as she laid on the cage floor. Between the shifting bodies, I caught sight of her wing, frazzled and darkly matted against the moonlight. Something swelled within me. Even if I couldn’t find Lyra, at least I had the chance to make up for past mistakes.
I studied the cage, and that word echoed in my head again. Naturally. How would I naturally break a wooden cage?
I reached out with my hands and grabbed hold of two of the bars. Immediately my skin began to crawl against the surfaces, and a shiver coursed down my back. The feeling was constant, and a numbness quickly accompanied it. I tightened my grip, trying to force my feeling back, but the sensation only grew, reaching deeper and deeper into my arms.
The air began to hiss and pop. Deep green sparks leapt out from between my fingers. The numbness turned into a biting pain. It was as though the wood itself was trying to push my fingers away. I grit my teeth, braced a foot against the cage, and pulled back harder.
With a sound like a gunshot, the wooden bars snapped apart. I fell on my back with a broken piece in each hand, gasping for a breath from the sudden and unexpected impact. The pain subsided, albeit for only a new one to arise where my head connected to the ground, and my sensation gradually came back to my hands and fingers. I finally released the pieces from my hands, and my head rolled to the side to meet Twilight.
“Well… did it work?” I groaned.
She stared at me slack-jawed with awe-struck eyes. She didn’t make a sound at first. In fact, compared to that booming snap, the entire forest was deathly quiet. I propped myself up on my elbows to see my handiwork, and past the remaining wooden bars, the other ponies gave me similar looks.
“Woah…” Rainbow Dash said, her voice barely over a whisper. “That… That was…”
“That was totally awesome!” Pinkie exploded. She burst through the crowd and wrapped around Applejack and Rainbow. “Did you see that?! It got really spooky for a second there, and then boom! I haven’t seen fireworks that big and loud since last New Years, and believe me, I made some pretty big and pretty loud fireworks last—”
Applejack reached out to her friend and pulled her away from the bars. “Hold on there, sugarcube. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What do you say, Twilight? Do you think it worked?”
Twilight’s response came with an incredulous laugh. “It… it did! I don’t know how, but it worked! Whatever spell was blocking my magic is gone, which means…”
Her voice trailed off, and she closed her eyes. Suddenly, the cage around the ponies creaked and groaned. The wooden beams peeled apart and wrapped around each other in a flurry of movement. The ponies flinched and ducked away from the whirlwind around them. Even I felt the urge to crawl a little further back. It ended just as quickly as it started, and when it did, the cage was gone. Only a handful of pine saplings loosely arranged in a square was left.
The ponies hesitantly filed out, unsure of their newfound freedom, but once the last crossed the threshold, their uneasy caution melted into a restless excitement. I laid back down, nestling my head against the cold dirt, and allowed my eyes to close for a job well done. As I rested, I could overhear the others discussing their escape plan. Out of the crowd, Applejack was the first to raise her voice above the others.
“Alright, everypony, let’s get our heads together. We ain’t out of the woods yet.” Somewhere to the side, Pinkie snorted. “Ah’m sure you all want to get back to your homes just as much as Ah do. Now, grateful as Ah am for Hunter savin’ all our skins, he might’ve made enough noise for the whole forest to hear, and Ah reckon we oughta make ourselves scarce before the wolves come back to investigate.”
“Applejack’s right. The girls, Hunter, and I all have plenty of experience traveling through the Everfree Forest,” Twilight followed up. Something nudged my shoulder. My eyes cracked open, and I found Fluttershy standing above me. Her mane was disheveled, her eyes tired, her smile soft. As Twilight continued to speak, she mouthed the words Thank you.
“It’s going to be a long journey back, but so long as we stick together, we will make it back safe. Let’s go home, everypony.”
That was the cue. After returning Fluttershy’s smile with a weak one of my own, I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath to gather the strength to get up. No sooner than I did, Rainbow Dash’s urgent voice rose over the excited murmurs of the crowd. “Twilight, wait! We can’t leave yet.”
My breath pushed out with what almost could have been a groan, echoing the disgruntled sentiment of the crowd at the news. Others were faster to voice their concerns.
“What do you mean wait?”
“Don’t you know where we are?!”
“It’s too dangerous here!”
“Hey! We’re not the only ponies stuck out here,” Rainbow Dash shouted over them. Their complaints gradually died down, although I could still hear the occasional grumble. “There’s more, the group I was caught with,” she explained; softer, probably directly to Twilight. “I promised them I’d find help and come back to them. We can’t abandon them out here. Who knows what the timberwolves will do to them?”
“Ah’m afraid we have a pretty decent idea,” Applejack replied. “Remember what the Princess said about Thorn’s plan, Twi?”
This time, Pinkie interrupted. “Thorn? Who’s that?”
“A timberwolf,” Applejack answered. “And a real big’un at that.”
“And scary,” Fluttershy timidly added.
“More importantly, the timberwolves’ leader,” Twilight said grimly. “He’s the reason we’re all here tonight, and he won’t stop until he gets whatever it is he’s after.”
I waited for the part where she would tie me in to the blame… but it never came.
“Wait… That’s not… He’s the talking timberwolf, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“You know him?”
“Barely,” Rainbow spat. “He’s the one that personally put us in those cages.” A few unsettled murmurs from the crowd agreed with her. I heard the sound of a hoof striking another. “Are we taking him down?”
“No,” Twilight sternly countered. “We’re staying as far away from him as we can for now. If the Princess can’t contain him by sunrise, then we’ll come up with a plan. Where is the other cage?”
There was a tense pause, and when Rainbow finally answered, she sounded reluctant. “It’s… deeper in the Everfree. On the other side of the castle.”
The next pause was longer, but I swore, if I listened hard enough, I could hear the gears in Twilight’s head moving. “H-How many?” She didn’t sound proud to ask.
“It started with six of us,” Rainbow started. “Myself and the foals, and a stallion. But then that talking timberwolf came back with more ponies and said he was taking five of us, and that was when I—”
“How many are there now?” Twilight stressed.
“I-I’m not sure,” the pegasus confessed with a stammer. “He took the foals and one of the mares he brought back. He tried to take me, but that’s when I ran. So that would leave maybe… Carrot Top, Lyra, Firefly, uh… What was his name, Time Turner?”
My eyes snapped open as I ran the names through my mind again, and my body immediately snapped up to a sitting position. The blood was quick to rush out of my head, though. It felt like a lightbulb popped inside, and all that came out of me was a groan as my torso buckled over.
“I don’t know, four or five,” Rainbow finally concluded.
“Carrot was in the group Thorn brought to our lil’ meet’n’greet,” Applejack pointed out. “He must’ve picked her up when Dash split, so she and the rest of them ought to be safe in town by now.”
“But the others are still here in the forest,” I finally managed to say. My eyes fell on Twilight, and I tried to look better than I felt. “We’re not leaving them behind.”
“I never said we were,” she assured me. “But we can’t endanger everypony else trying to save them, either. Rainbow Dash, do you remember the way back to the other cage?”
The pegasus hesitated, but eventually she nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I can take somepony with me, and you can get everyone else out of here.”
“I’ll go with you,” I volunteered. I grunted as I stood up, and the world gently tilted as I rose to my feet. Fluttershy pulled up to my side. From here, I noticed that one of her wings wasn’t fully folded against her side, and its feathers were splayed and darkly matted.
“I’m coming, too,” she confidently announced.
“Fluttershy, Hunter…” Twilight shook her head. “If anypony here deserves some rest, it’s you two. You should be part of the returning group.”
“I’m the only one who can open the cages, though, right?” I countered. “I don’t think there’s really any other choice on where I’m going.”
“Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll make sure he doesn’t get himself hurt,” Fluttershy assured her with a sincere smile.
As though they were eavesdropping on us and wanted to pitch in, the cry of wolves began to echo through the trees around us. Applejack came to Twilight’s side with concerned eyes.
“No time to argue, sugarcube,” she pointed out. “We gotta get these ponies movin’.” The crowd was quick to agree.
Twilight shook her head. “Fine. You and Pinkie lead them back. I’ll stay behind and help the others,” she said confidently.
Her friend winced at the thought and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Look, Twi… Ah know this ain’t the best of situations, but… Well, Pinkie and Ah could make it back to Ponyville by ourselves. Shoot, we could handle anything this forest has to throw at us if we needed to, but with all these extra ponies, too?” There was a strained pause and it weighed down on all of us. Applejack and Twilight stared at each other, communicating without speaking a word. Hesitantly, Applejack finally broke the silence. “Ah’ll go with them.”
She spoke with finality, and as Twilight started to object, Applejack covered her mouth with a hoof.
“Look, there’s only one pony in all of Ponyville Ah’d trust to lead a group this big through a place as dangerous as this... and that’s you, Twi. There ain’t a word you can say that’ll change my mind.” As she withdrew her hoof, I could see it trembling slightly before she stamped it firmly into the ground. “Ah’ll make sure they get back safe. You have my word on that, and you know Ah always back my words up. After all, ain’t Ah the most dependable of ponies?”
Twilight shook her head in disbelief, her eyes darting between the four of us, waiting for someone else to speak out against it. Time was ticking though, and she knew it, too. “I… I don’t like this,” she finally said.
Applejack’s lips pressed into a grim line. “You don’t have to,” she said. “You just have to trust us.”
Another stressed moment passed. The crowd was beginning to show their anxiousness
“Fine, you win.” Twilight’s voice barely broke a whisper. After clearing her throat, she spoke louder for everyone to hear. “Everypony, let’s go home. We’ve stayed long enough. Girls… stay safe out there.” Her eyes flicked up to me. “All of you.”
Before I could retort, Rainbow Dash threw a salute. “We’ll be back in town before you know it, Twilight.”
Pinkie Pie was already leading the group, trying to keep their spirits high. Twilight filed in behind the last filly and offered some quiet encouraging words to her.
“When you get back, be sure to come to Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie called in a bright voice. “You, too, Hunter! I’ll have special cupcakes made for all of us, and we can laugh away this night like it never— Woo!”
I looked at her at the end of what I could only describe as a full-body twitch. Her alligator costume was still subtly shaking as she stood motionless. The other ponies came to a jarring stop around her, and she turned back. She looked like she was staring at a ghost as her eyes fell on me. Before I could even ask, she darted across the clearing and tackled me by the waist. A grunt of air escaped my body from the impact, and I would have fallen back if she wasn’t still anchored to the ground.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
She removed her forelegs from around my waist and backed away, suddenly feeling everyone’s attention on her. “Sorry, I just… Pinkie Sense,” she sniffed. “I-I had never felt one like that before, but it was a real doozy, and…” She shot a sideways glance to the others with worried eyes, and then up to me. “Come back safe, okay?”
Without another word, she trotted back to the others, and after a brief pause, they all began to disappear into the trees, leaving the four of us alone in the clearing with our thoughts. I tried to keep mine away from that ominous farewell. The wolves called after us again, and Rainbow was quick to lead us back into the trees.
We weren’t moving very quickly through the Everfree Forest; although that was mostly my own fault. The best speed I could manage was a hurried limp, and the other two were forced to match it. It allowed Rainbow Dash plenty of time to get caught up with everything she had missed since her last hayride, and she was insistent on knowing, too.
However, as Fluttershy had spent the majority of the holiday in her cottage and Applejack was in town, the bulk of the burden fell on me. By recalling the night, I probably spoke to her longer than every other encounter we had combined. I was more than thankful when the others stepped in to help after the meeting in the town hall.
“I can’t believe it,” Rainbow Dash finally said after we finished catching her up. “Tonight of all nights, too. This was supposed to be my night; the first time I’d get to have fun since…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes met mine. “It all just happened so fast,” she said, changing the subject. “Everything was going fine every other time I took my group through the trail, but that last time… they just pounced on us. They had the foals by their necks before we even knew what was happening, and I just… I never felt so helpless! And then that big, talking one, Thorn or whatever, came and started making demands, and everypony was looking to me, but I couldn’t—”
“You did the best you could. They surprised you,” Fluttershy reminded her. “Nopony could have known this was going to happen tonight.”
I bit my tongue to refrain from commenting, but Rainbow wasn’t easy to console.
“But it wasn’t the best I could have done, Fluttershy,” she pointed out. “I could have done so much more if I could still… If the Princess didn’t…”
She stopped. In the strangled moonlight, I could only just make out her shape among the brush as she shook her head. Fluttershy moved in to offer a comforting hoof, but Rainbow was talking again before she had the chance.
“I— I shouldn’t say that,” she said, quieter. She fell on her haunches and rubbed her eyes with a fetlock. She tried to speak up, only to hush herself again as her voice started to crack. “I’m not going to say I don’t deserve this for what I did. I just… I just wish other ponies didn’t have to pay for my punishment, too.”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy’s attempt at a comforting hoof turned into a full embrace. She wrapped her forelegs around her friend and pulled her close.
Applejack came up to them and offered a hoof on her shoulder. “Ya can’t blame yourself for this, Rainbow. Even the Princess couldn’t’a known this would happen.”
“I know, I know, it’s just…” She tightened her voice, trying to hide the small waver left. “It’s stupid.”
I shuffled over to a nearby tree and rested my back against its trunk. Though the bark bit into my back as I all but collapsed into it, the comfort of the tree taking some of my weight was a welcome relief. But as my body was celebrating in its rest, a thought pestered my mind relentlessly throughout their conversation. A piece of the puzzle was missing, or perhaps a chunk of them. The back of my mind buzzed like a swarm of biting insects.
The thought broke loose from my lips. “What… What would the Princess have to do with any of this?” I asked absently.
The others stiffened, and it opened the door to a storm of other questions. Before I could gather my thoughts to ask any of them, Applejack broke the brief quiet.
“It ain’t our place to say, Hunter.” Her answer dodged the question. Old doubts began to roil. Almost as if she could sense this, she spoke further. “But she most certainly didn’t have anything to do with tonight. If nothin’ else, you can believe me on that.
“And it ain’t gonna do anypony any good dwelling on the past right now,” she said with finality. Fluttershy stood back as she dusted Rainbow off. “We got a mission and a whole bunch of ponies waitin’ on us.”
“I— You’re right,” Rainbow agreed hastily. She strode further ahead with an artificial energy. “Come on, I don’t think we’re too far away now. Just a little bit further!”
Applejack was quick to follow. Fluttershy hesitated, looking to me first before chasing after her friends, as though wanting to offer some kind of explanation.
I only followed soon after to a tugging sense of urgency. As my body groaned, my head pushed its complaints aside to focus on this strange, broken puzzle before me. They were hiding something from me.
Have you ever known them any other way?
As I trudged through the shadows of the forest, I refused to give the voice an answer.
<><><>
As Rainbow predicted, it didn’t take much longer until we found the remaining captives. As indistinct voices began to fill the otherwise silent air, we slowed our progress down to a creep. The trees gave way to a small field of wild grass, and a cage stood tall in the middle.
Much like last time, it was guarded by wolves; this time only two. While we technically had numbers over them, it was no argument that Fluttershy and I wouldn’t be able to pull our weight when push came to shove. All the same, Rainbow didn’t appear disturbed at the odds. As we tried to devise a plan, she kept making remarks of finally getting the opportunity for payback.
Constantly, my eyes flicked back to the cage of captives while we schemed. The moon was well beneath the treeline, and I couldn’t make out the shapes inside. My ears strained to pick out distant voices, but our hushed tones drowned them out, so much that I feared the wolves would hear.
In the end, we had agreed upon a plan that in hindsight might have had better alternatives, and as I walked through the knee-high wild grass, I couldn’t help but think of them all. Impatience drove me to hastily agree, and when the wolves locked their eyes on me, I knew it was too late to back out now.
I held my arms out wide, flashing the hatchet in my right hand and beckoning the wolves to come. They let out a low, threatening snarl. Sweat dripped down my back. Past them, voices shouted out in protest, warning me of the danger. One of them was all too familiar, and I forced myself not to break from my role and call back to her.
The wolves broke into a sprint, charging me head on. I tensed, and instinct had me bring my hatchet closer to my body, just in case.
Two orange hindlegs shot out from beneath the cover of the wild grass, striking the wolf on the left clean beneath the jaw. Its companion didn’t notice it tumble into the weeds and made it a few more yards before being tackled by a blur with a pair of wings.
I released the breath I was subconsciously holding, but the thrashing in the grass ahead where Rainbow ambushed her prey told me we were still far from safe. She was straddled across the beast’s back as I came up to them. Her hooves were locked tightly around its neck and foreleg.
“Ain’t so tough when you’re getting ambushed, huh?” she challenged through grit teeth. The timberwolf barked out a harsh retort and thrashed, trying to escape, but its eyes were pinned on me. With its free leg, it lashed out. Wooden claws raked at the empty air between us. When it became clear that it couldn’t overpower the pegasus, it gathered its energy for one final, ear-piercing howl.
The hair on my neck stood on end. Without a second thought, I planted my right foot over its muzzle, ignoring the blistering pain the old wounds gave. I got low and reared back with the hatchet.
“Watch your hoof!”
Rainbow Dash barely pulled away in time for the blade to sink into the wolf’s gullet, and the howling quickly died to a slow gurgle.
As she pushed herself away from the body, she began to protest, “Hey, I had that one handled!”
I found that I was out of breath when I tried to respond. “I handled it faster.”
Carefully, I stood back up, fighting off the wave of exhaustion. The voices from the cage called to us, most of them to cheer. Between them all, one lured me closer. I limped past Applejack, who was admiring her handiwork as Lyra called out.
“Hunter! Hunter, over here!”
From the mass of three silhouettes, a hoof reached out through the bars. I collapsed to my knees before it and reached out, finding the rest of Lyra and pulling her into as much of a hug as I could manage through the bars. For a moment, I didn’t mind the repulsive magic in the bars that made the skin on my face crawl. I didn’t mind the ache that encompassed my body, from the outermost skin deep into my bones. It felt as though a burden had finally lifted from my shoulders.
Lyra squeezed a little bit harder, and it all came rushing back.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow.”
“Oh, sorry!”
A short breath hissed out from between my teeth as we pulled apart, but I couldn’t help the faint giggle that came following soon after. As I struggled to make out her form from the rest of the ponies inside, her golden eyes widened as she examined my body.
“Oh my gosh… Hunter!” She couldn’t keep her shock hidden. “What… What happened to you?”
I drew in a breath to answer, but after a moment of hesitation, I resigned with a bitter chuckle. “I swear, if I have to explain what happened one more time tonight…” I shook my head, trying to find the right words. “I honestly think I’m going to lose my mind.”
She didn’t appear to appreciate the answer, nor did she share in my humor.
“I… I’ll tell you what,” I stuttered. “I’ll break you out of here, we can all go home, sleep for the next day, and then I’ll tell you what happened. Deal?”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” a stallion interjected off to the side. Our little reunion shattered, I suddenly remembered the grave situation we were all in.
“We’ve been trying to escape for hours,” a mare said on the other side. “There’s some kind of magic field around it.”
“We’ve tried everything, but it’s completely unbreakable,” the stallion added.
“Well, lucky for y’all, we just so happen to have an ace in the hole,” Applejack’s voice boasted as she trotted up to my side. “As it just so happens, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and I were all stuck just like you. And Hunter here managed to find a way out.”
“Really?” Lyra pressed with genuine intrigue. Her attention returned to me. “How did you manage that?”
I held up a hand, trying to mentally prepare myself after Applejack’s little pep talk. “Hey, hey, I already said,” I reminded her. “No more explaining until after I get some sleep.”
I gripped my hands around the bars to help stand myself back up. Already the magic was trying to repel me. Stowing my hatchet across my waist, I gripped two adjacent bars with each hand and leaned back. Glancing past them, I offered a quick warning. “You all might want to stand back.”
They didn’t need to hear a second time. As the occupants scuttled further back into the cage, I began to pull back harder. That creeping numbness returned across my hands. Green sparks spat out between my fingers. Then, with a thunderous boom, I found myself once again with my back to the cold earth, sucking in a deep breath from the impact.
With a groan, I rolled over and dropped the two pieces of wood still in my hands. “There has to be a better way than that,” I wondered aloud with a wheezy voice.
There was a hesitancy, similar to earlier, before the ponies fully understood what had happened. As realization spread, so did incredulous voices.
“I can’t believe it! Did you see that?”
“Did I see that? I was closer than you, Firefly!”
Their words were lined with laughter, and no sooner than when I finally sat up did Lyra race across to tackle me into a hug.
“Hey, careful, remember!” I chastised.
Lyra pulled back and started to stutter. “I— Right! Sorry!”
There was a tense pause where we stared at each other, broken quickly as we both flashed a joking smile. I pulled her back into a hug, wrapping my arms tightly around her back and ignoring the pain in my body as she did the same. A part of me realized it had been less than a day since we last saw each other, but as my chin nestled into the crook of her neck, it felt like it had been over a year.
“Oh, my god, Lyra,” I finally breathed out. “I was worried sick about you.”
“Hold on, you were worried about me?!” Lyra pulled away, holding me at a foreleg’s length. This close, I could make out her incredulous smile as she shook her head. “I was out playing babysitter for a bunch of foals, and next thing I know Zecora is going through town on the hayride, screaming her head off about timberwolves coming and how you decided to fight them alone!” She punctuated the last word with a jabbing hoof against my chest. “I managed to find Noteworthy, and we got a few other ponies to...”
Her words began to trail as her eyes widened. Suddenly, she grabbed hold of my shoulders. “Oh, my gosh, Noteworthy!” she cried out in dread. “We have to find him! That giant talking timberwolf came by hours ago and took him away! He could be anywhere. We can’t just leave him—”
“He’s okay! He’s okay!” I managed to say. Her questioning eyes begged for more information. I explained where he was and the situation that had brought him. With each word, the fear slipped away from her eyes, and she offered a sigh of relief.
Seeing her reaction, I could only shake my head. “Lyra, you…” What was the right way to say it? “I appreciate it and all, but… why did you two come out here? It was way too dangerous with all the wolves running around.”
She looked hurt, but a half-hearted smile and subtle shake of her head betrayed her true emotions. “Hunter… It could be the end of the world, and I swear I’d still be running after you. Now, you’ll catch me off guard at first, because you—” She prodded teasingly at my shoulder, chuckling as she spoke. “You are boneheaded enough to run into it head first, but once I come back to my senses, I’ll always be right behind you; just to make sure you’re safe. I…” There was a hesitation, and she pushed against my shoulder again. “You’re one of my friends, Hunter. It’s just what friends do.”
“U-um, everypony!”
We jumped with a start as Fluttershy’s voice broke out over the crowd. All eyes fell on her, but she didn’t seem to notice. Instead, her eyes were locked on the trees from where we came, and she held up a shaky hoof. “Look!”
I followed her gaze, and along the edge of the trees where we were, two pairs of glowing yellow eyes glared back at us.
The group froze. Without taking my own eyes off of them, I slowly guided Lyra behind me with a hand and reached for my hatchet.
“Ha! Only two?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Didn’t they see what we just did to their last pair of buddies? If you jerks think you’re gonna stand in the way of us getting back home, then I hope you brought… a-a lot… more than…” The final word barely broke a squeak. “That.”
As she spoke, more and more eyes began to show between the trees. It became too many to track as they shifted along the outskirts of the field. Gradually, a cruel choir of low growls echoed throughout the trees. It sounded as though the trees themselves were alive, all with a primal hunger.
“Everypony, group up!” Applejack barked. “Now!”
We all scrambled together to the sound of her voice. My hatchet found itself back in my hand, but as I scanned the glowing eyes, I felt that it might as well have been an old stick. The pairs of eyes easily outnumbered us two to one. One of the rescued stallions spoke what was on all of our minds.
“S-So… what’s the plan, Applejack?”
“We… We stay together,” she answered. The shaking in her voice betrayed the bravery she was trying to force. “We ain’t leaving no one behind. We’ll get through this together.” Was she hoping to convince herself or us?
“And then what?”
Rainbows sounded just as confident as her friend as she spoke up. “We can take them, r-right, AJ?”
Her voice was quiet in response, and it dropped a weight of dread on the group. “Ah don’t know.”
My mind was running wild. The stress from the group was reverberating within me, and I found myself looking desperately for any kind of escape. Fighting was a death sentence; nobody would make it out alive. As more eyes populated in the dark though, I noticed that they were all only one one side of the treeline. Turning briefly back, the trees behind us seemed to be clear. My stomach twisted at the thought of running, though. We were far from Ponyville, and I knew that way would only lead further. Even then, if we chose to run, if I gathered every last ounce of energy my body had left, I knew I wouldn’t make it far. The others would outrun me, the wolves would catch me, and then…
I became overwhelmed. In the blink of an eye, I found myself back in the haunted wagon, bracing to jump out against two chasing wolves. A whole night had passed. Scratches and splinters and bashings and bites… and now I found myself here.
“I never left.” The weight of the revelation dragged me to my knees. My hatchet slipped from my fingers and disappeared into the wild grass. At my side, Lyra distantly called my name. “After all of that, I’m right back where I was,” I whispered incredulously. Numb fingers ran through my disheveled hair. “It’s not fair.”
After all you’ve been through, you complain that tonight isn’t fair?
“Hunter, it’s going to be okay,” Lyra tried to assure me. “We’ll figure something out. Somepony will come for us.”
I winced as the voice made a sound that could have been a laugh. That damned headache was spreading throughout the back of my head, and it spoke clearly enough to pierce through the sound of my heart beating in my ears. Fate has an odd way of imposing itself, doesn’t it, Hunter?
Shut up shut up shut up shut up. My inner mantra didn’t help.
You acted in defiance against Our better judgement, and now Fate offers you the same opportunity as before; to double down on your defiance or to face your demise.
I unscrewed my eyes, finding myself staring at the wild grass shuddering against a faint breeze. The voice knew the turmoil raging in my mind. It always did. Something about its words was odd.
“You’re not trying to talk me out of this,” I thought aloud.
Lyra, still next to me, overheard my words and mistook who they were meant for. “What? Talk you out of what?” Her hoof touched my shoulder. “What are you talking about, Hunter?” she pressed. There was an urgency lining her tone. “What am I supposed to be talking you out of?”
The voice though, that familiar stranger, didn’t respond immediately. I pressed for an answer. Why aren’t you trying to talk me out of this? I demanded. Do you know something?
A pained groan overcame me as the headache spread to the back of my eyes.
When was the last time you took Our advice, Hunter? It screamed in my head. Since you’ve joined with the ponies, you have done nothing but argue and challenge Us, We who saved you from them in the first place!
The pain was still spreading. I fell on one of my hands to keep myself from collapsing, using the other to pinch my brow as though it would help.
Look up, Hunter, it demanded. Against my own will, my eyes were pried open, and my head jerked towards the wolves. Now they outnumber us three to one, yet still they stay. What reason would they have to not strike now?
I struggled to latch onto a thought between my own shallow breaths. Lyra spoke once more, but her words were drowned beneath the beating drum in my ears. My eyes forcibly scanned the treeline, and the conclusion finally came.
“They’re waiting on someone.” And as I said it, I knew the answer to the next question. “Thorn.”
The headache subsided, seemingly satisfied.
Applejack’s voice broke through the drums. “What did you just say, Hunter?”
I looked to her, and then to all the others in the group. The fear in their eyes must have been reflected in mine. My body trembled on all fours, crying out against the plan my mind and the voice had seemingly agreed upon.
“Rainbow…” My voice barely broke a whisper. I cleared my throat and called out louder. “Do you know how to get back to Ponyville?”
The pegasus hesitated. “I… I should, yeah. But we won’t be able to go far with all those timberwolves in the way.”
My stomach was wrenched. I fought back the acid rising in my throat. A part of me wished she would have said otherwise, just one reason not to go through with this again.
“Hey!” Lyra grabbed my shoulder, pulling my attention to her. Her golden eyes were wild, and I found myself sad that that was all I could make out of her in the shadows. “What are you planning?” she demanded. “Come on, you know you can talk to me.”
I leaned back to sit on my knees, staring to try to take in as much as I could. My hand reached out, grabbing across her back and pulling her in for one last embrace. Her body shook with mine. Now it was my heart that cried out to stay, if nothing else than for her. But I knew what would happen to the both of us if I chose to.
“I… I just wanted to say…” The words caught in my throat. Her hooves cautiously wrapped around me. “Thank you,” I whispered, just loud enough for her alone to hear. My eyes danced erratically past her mane, trying not to focus on the other ponies’ stares. “Thank you for everything. I don’t think I would have made it this far without you.”
As I tried to pull away, Lyra’s grip tightened, and the temptation to stay was unbearable. My hands found their way to her shoulders, and I managed to push her back. Our eyes locked. Through the faint glimmer of tears pooling in her eyes, I knew she realized what the plan was. I tried to sport a smile, unsure of how it actually turned out.
“Try not to be right behind me this time,” I begged her.
Before she had the chance to respond, I grabbed my hatchet out of the weeds and stood back to my feet. The eyes of the ponies threatened to anchor me in place as I rose, but with every last ounce of energy I had left, I broke into a sprint to the treeline opposite of the wolves.
“Come on, you mutts!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. To my back, familiar voices shouted back in protest, and wolves cried out a sharp howl. Between my own footfalls, the sound of hooves stampeded after me, stopping only after I broke into the trees.
No screams followed after, a small comfort I found while navigating through the shadows of the forest. My body was running off of pure adrenaline, and my quick, shallow breathing tried to feed it as best as it could. My heart beat its deafening drum to an erratic cadence in my ears, all but drowning out the rabid calls of the wolves as they quickly gained on me. My eyes searched desperately for any signs of obstacles along the forest floor, knowing that any trip would spell a quick demise.
The pain in my body was slowly replaced with a numbness, threatening to collapse me from exertion. I tried not to dwell on the fact that I was utterly lost. Each weave through the trees, each random turn, was a hope to buy myself just one more second of life. The breath of wolves was hot on my heels. I knew if I paused for even a breath, it would be my last.
With one last turn, the shadows of the trees broke away, and I found myself at the edge of a large clearing. My feet didn’t miss their stride though, and they carried me through the seemingly empty terrain. The sounds of my pursuers faded as I crossed it, and my body found that it could take no more. I tried to push on just a little bit further as my eyes danced across the small details they could find.
One last stand, I tried to reason with myself. Just need to get in the middle where I can see them coming. I’ll take at least one of them out with me. The thought lingered in my mind as I ran, and the inevitability crashed through. Oh, god, I’m going to die…
As I finished the thought, my body was struck by a great force without warning. I fell on my back, and my body shook as finality settled in. Vertigo caught up with me. I rolled to my side in time to retch what little was left in my stomach, spitting out the leftover acid as my body shuddered. I braced for the wolves to fall upon me, but their teeth never came.
I dared to steal a glance around me for an answer. Much like before, the wolves waited patiently among the trees, staring hungrily at me, but this time they were spread evenly around. As I stared, a question burned in my head. What had hit me? It felt as though I had run into a brick wall.
I struggled to stand back up. All around, the wolves sang out in that scratching growl. My white-knucked grip never released from my hatchet, and I held it close. There still was no sign of my attacker. Where could it be? The grass here wasn’t tall enough to hide one of the wolves. I backed up further into the center, making it only a few steps until a pressure formed against my back.
Spinning around, I found myself faced with nothing but thin air and the eyes of wolves far on the other side of the clearing. What had stopped me?
Do it.
I winced as the voice echoed in my head like a large bell. Hesitantly, I held out a hand and took one step forward.
Pressure built up against my hand. The air warped around my fingers. It was hard… yet soft as fabric.
Do it. Do it.
Memories sparked to life, memories from a life that felt so long ago. My eyes widened. It… It couldn’t be.
Do it. Do it. Do it do it do it doitdoitdoitdoit—
My arm lashed out against my own will, raking the hatchet through the air to the impatient mantra of the voice. Reality tore at the edge of my blade, and a brilliant light erupted before my eyes.
All around, the wolves let out a pained howl. I staggered back from the blinding light. My free hand raised to shield my eyes, and I permitted one to open to see through the cracks of my fingers.
The air was torn like fabric. In between, a maelstrom of colors roiled. Bright flashes of light arced out like small bolts of lightning, connecting to the ground before dissipating. My eyes now adjusted, I let my hand fall to take it in its entirety. All doubts before were nowhere to be found.
It was the portal home.
I blinked, and the surprise faded. My body was rejuvenated with the promise of only having to take a few more steps. With eyes wide in wonder, I took one step forward, then another.
A new force tackled me from the side, and the world went spinning.
My left shoulder connected to the ground. Feeling a weight still against my right, I lashed out on instinct. The wolf’s momentum helped carry it off of me, and I rolled across my shoulders. My heels struck against the earth. On the other end of my feet, the timberwolf landed. I scrambled to my feet, and the large, moss-ridden wolf rose with a low growl.
“Thorn,” I growled in return. Something was boiling within me. The headache had returned, demanding my attention. I tried to push it out of the way as I motioned to the portal with my hatchet.
“This night’s gone on long enough, Thorn!” I shouted with a hoarse voice. “My home’s just on the other side. Just let me leave; you’ll never have to deal with me again.”
He reached out with a claw and dug it into the earth, dragging himself closer with a menacing slowness. Only thanks to the light given off from the portal could I make out his features. The left of his face was scorched. The eye had become dull compared to its counterpart
“If only I hadn’t heard this bargain before,” he said, voice dripping with murderous intent. “I just might have considered… letting you live!”
He lunged, and my body moved on its own accord, pulled as though by strings. I leaned back, pivoting along my good foot as Thorn lifted from the ground. My hatchet swung wide with my body, intercepting him along the way, but the edge didn’t connect. The hatchet was twisted in my grip as it connected, and its blunt face connected to Thorn’s partway through his strike. The wolf was deflected away, and he landed between myself and the portal. We both regained our balance in time to stare each other down.
Overhead, thunder rolled. A quick glance showed the stars winking out of sight. Clouds were forming overhead. Odd… There wasn’t one in sight before.
My body lurched back on its own as Thorn lunged once more. His jaws snapped at the empty air between.
My eyes danced between the wolf and the portal, and my mind raced for another bargain.
“Come on, Thorn,” I panted. “Here, there, a few feet into my own home… What’s it matter to you where I die? I’ll be a dead man walking the moment I pass through. I deserve the right to die in my own world.”
“The difference is my satisfaction,” the wolf snarled, fresh sap bleeding from the scorched half of his face. He crept forward once more, and with each step he took, I matched one back. “You’ve already tainted that town with your existence,” he said, spitting out the word as though it were poison. “Even should you go now, the question will haunt their minds. Where… did… it… come from?” His voice rose with each word, and his jaws snapped at my feet in punctuation. “They shall search for the answers to past sins best left forgotten.”
Thorn lunged once more, and it felt as though a light bulb had burst within my own head. With it, a flame ignited, throwing me back as it ravaged my mind. I found myself a passenger in my own body, desperately clinging to anything that would anchor me to reality.
Against my own will, I brought the head of my hatchet against the palm of my left hand, blade outward. I focused on the cold of the metal head, watching helplessly as the Stranger took control. As Thorn’s underside came exposed, my body pushed the head of the hatchet outward. This time, it hit its mark.
The blade dug itself into his ribs. Thorn released a pained howl, just for a moment before opening his maw and burying his teeth into my left shoulder. I wanted to scream, but the Stranger wouldn’t permit it. Through the pain, I lost my anchor and found myself thrown in a storm of images. Throughout the chaos, the voice spoke in clarity.
If you seek to bury your sins, we shall dig a grave for you.
Numbly, I felt a pressure release from the inferno across my shoulder. A response was growled.
“Ah… so the beast shows its true face…”
I clung to the words, fighting through the storm until a singular image came clearly. Thorn’s face was inches from mine. His dull, wounded eye was just to my left. Something was pelting against my body. When did it start raining?
My voice spoke without consent. “Ours shall be the last which you see.”
My right foot planted itself ahead. I found that Thorn’s wiry body was grappling against mine. My left foot pushed forward. The old wolf was losing his purchase. He pulled back a claw and buried it into my side. As each sharpened hook dug into my flesh through my shirt, my mind threatened to lose its anchor yet again.
Behind him, the portal was growing erratic. The arcs of lightning were more frequent than before. It singed the wild grass around it, leaving nothing but the fresh scent of ozone in its wake. Suddenly I found myself wishing nothing more than to back away from the one passage back home, but my body pressed forward nevertheless.
My hand pushed into the hatchet’s blade lodged into Thorn’s ribs once… twice… three times, each time forcing it deeper. Thorn howled once more, staggering further back towards the portal on his hindlegs. I was only a few steps away now. A rush coursed through my body, shared between myself and the Stranger. We were going home.
“Enough!” Thorn’s other paw planted against my right shoulder, and with a sudden burst of strength, he pushed me away.
It was startling how far back I stumbled. My feet struggled to regain their balance, and on the third pace back, I slipped in mud freshly made. My back struck against the cold, wet earth as rain pelted on me from above. The mud clung to my sore body, anchoring it down. It offered a tempting lie of rest, and I found myself struggling to stand back up.
“On one thing, we do agree, human.” Thorn’s berating voice was distant. “This night has gone on long enough, and I shall remedy it now.”
Pushing against the mud, I rolled to my side to get a better look at him. My hatchet was still buried across his chest. Against the backlight of the portal, the timberwolf’s exhaustion showed. Pained tremors shook his wireframe body. His maw was agape, pushing out a heavy fog in the rain with each breath.
I expected him to charge, but instead he turned to the portal. Raising himself to balance on his hindlegs, he gripped his claws around the lips of the portal. They glowed in a sickly yellow color.
“What— What are you doing?” I demanded, repeating it once more louder over the sound of the storm.
“This night has opened my eyes,” Thorn bellowed. His outstretched forelegs gradually began to close, bringing the edges of the portal with them. Ice ran through my veins. He was closing the portal. “For too long I’ve kept my claws in the way, holding open the broken window-turned-door! Tonight, I shall do what was meant to be done long ago!”
My mind went reeling as panic took hold of my heart. A renewed sense of urgency took over. I scrambled to get back to my feet, cursing at each second wasted with each slip. Without a second thought, I charged, tackling Thorn from behind. Each hand grabbed at a foreleg, and I pushed against him.
He tried to shake me off, but I managed to stand my ground. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do,” I hissed in his ear. “But I’m not going to let it stop me!”
We strained against each other, but no one could gain the advantage. The portal churned just inches ahead of us, seemingly impatient from the fight. Overhead the storm began to rage, mirroring the chaos beneath.
“You are a fool!” Thorn screamed. The thin desperation lining his voice further. “You know not the powers you meddle with!”
“And I don’t care!” I shouted back. “I’m going home, Thorn. One way or another!” Gradually, his claws began to part, opening the portal by another inch. “And there’s nothing you can do about it!”
A rogue bolt of energy arced from the portal, and Thorn’s body grew hot against mine as it carved a path along him. He howled in excruciating pain. All around us, the wolves echoed the cry. With an agonized gasp, his body fell limp against mine. The resistance suddenly stopped, and my hands forced his claws apart as far as I could stretch. The portal’s dimensions followed.
I staggered back from shock with Thorn’s body in my arms. His neck rolled back against the fresh bite he had made on my shoulder. He took in one final wheeze of a breath, and his words trembled into my ear.
“My Queen… they never returned…”
“Hunter!” a voice shouted from above. My eyes shot skyward. Between the flashes of lightning, a silhouette could be made.
A crackling noise drew my attention back to the ground. The portal was moving wildly. The air around it began to shudder. All I could think of was the Princess’s poor timing.
From within the portal, there was a violent flash and a thunderous crack, and my body was thrust away. My body struck the earth, then once more, and the world plunged into darkness.
<><><>
I found myself slipping in and out of consciousness. With each awakening, I found myself center in a world of tormenting pain. My eyes would flutter open to a black sky. Cold droplets of water rained down like arrows, piercing my body. But I couldn’t move, couldn’t so much as twitch without sending an inferno through my already tortured nerves.
Above, a face appeared to blot out the sky. Dark blue with lighter eyes, and nebulous hair glistening like stars. Though my mind felt scrambled, it was nevertheless familiar.
“P-Prin—” A cough took over as I tried to speak, wreaking havoc inside my chest. Even after it left, the mind numbing pain lingered, and each shallow breath I could manage after only fed it.
The world faded as a comforting cold took over. When I woke again, two more faces hovered above. They were speaking, and somehow I knew they were all directed to me. Their words were distant, lost in the sharp ringing in my ears.
One of them motioned to the others, Fluttershy. My eyes focused on something she held in her hooves, an awfully familiar bottle.
The others moved. I tried to protest, but all that could come out was a pained groan. A hoof brushed against my face, igniting a new wave of festering pains. I traced it back to its owner, and Lyra met me with tear-streaked eyes. Her lips moved, and I could only so faintly hear her voice.
“Come on, Hunter; stay with us!” she pleaded. Her eyes scanned over my face, and I wondered briefly if it looked as bad as I felt. “Hang in a bit longer for us, please!”
Behind me, Princess Luna wedged her hooves under my back and began to lift me out of the cold mud. Old wounds grew aggravated as my torso was forcibly curled upright. The pain was unbearable. My ragged breathing morphed into a screaming protest in a desperate attempt to channel it out.
Why were they doing this to me? The question burned in my head as wet streaks scorched a path down the sides of my face. Why wouldn’t they just rest? This night has gone on so long… I deserved the right to rest!
Fluttershy pushed the end of the bottle against my lips, and a bitter liquid sloshed into the back of my mouth. I tried to cough it out, but she was persistent, closing my mouth as the last drop fell in. She wasn’t trying to drown me, was she?
“C-Come on, Hunter,” she cooed with a trembling voice. She pushed a smile that didn’t match her frightened eyes. “How are you going to get any better if you don’t take your medicine?”
To save myself from choking, I forced myself to swallow. My body found the energy to shudder once as the liquid slithered down my throat.
I felt as though I was sinking. My eyes came out of focus, and I struggled to make sense of the world around me. Voices were arguing with incoherent words. I just wished it would all stop.
A creeping numbness was spreading through my body, and I found it easy to slip into it to hide from the pain. A deep sleep was beckoning for me. I no longer had the strength to resist it. Consciousness faded, and Lyra’s voice called after me in the dark.
“Hunter? Hunter!”