//------------------------------//
// 7. Sojourn to the Great Ep 
// Story: The Delightful Dragon of Ep 
// by Laichonious the Grey 
//------------------------------//





The Gryphon, now dubbed Argie, proved to be a lifesaver for the little band of travelers. She led Rarity and her companions due west, following the remains of the Yellowbrick Road. She would dive into the canopy every now and again, to make sure they didn't stray too far. The morning passed peacefully into the afternoon and soon the day would be spent. As the hours prolonged and they pushed farther into the dark woods, Argie began to fidget, her gaze flitting about the perpetual twilight. Her unease was contagious, and soon Rarity found herself peering into the shadows, certain that she had seen movement. The back of her neck seemed to itch, as if malevolent eyes rested on her from the trees. Finally, the silence was too much. The oppressive trees had stifled conversation far too long to suit the fashionista.
“So, Argie,” she began, forcing her eyes from the gloom around them. Her sudden words made the poor gryphon jump. “Sorry... Um, so, have you lived in the forest long? You said something about it earlier and I was just curious.” She tried to make it as casual as she could, trying to ignore the feeling that the forest was listening.
Argie didn’t look at her. She kept her eyes on the forest, never resting in any one place for long. “Three years,” she said curtly.
“Oh, that’s a while, isn’t it? I suppose you’ve gotten to know this forest pretty well. What made you pick this place to live?”
She glanced at the white unicorn for the first time since they resumed their journey. “I didn’t have much of a choice. I was exiled here. It could have been worse though.”
Rarity frowned at the forest floor. “I don’t know if I could think of anything worse than being exiled, honestly.”
The gryphon shrugged. “There are worse places, darker, more dangerous. Trust me, I’ve seen them.”
The white unicorn felt an odd combination of pity and annoyance with the gryphon. While she understood why she acted the way she did, she made conversation almost a chore. 
“When the Dragon helps you,” Smartypants suddenly chimed in, “and you have courage like the other gryphons, you can go home, right?”
Argie sniffed. “I don’t need them,” she grumbled, scowling at the forest. “I’ve done just fine on my own so far haven’t I? Even with this forest and it’s dangers, I’ve been able to take care of myself.”
“Are you sure about that, hun?” Lumberjack asked. “You seem a bit on the scrawny side for a gryphon.”
The gryphon lashed her tail and rolled her eyes at the metal pony. “Let’s see you try to keep up with all the things that go bump in the dark,” she replied indignantly.
“And what sorts a’things would those be?” the tin mare asked placidly.
“Hmph,” the gryphon said, taking to the air and hovering in front of the traveling party. “Where do I start? Well, there’s the things on the ground first, like kobolds, treewumps, imps and hobgoblins. They’d take a bite out of you as soon as look at you. Then there’s the things in the air, like razorbeaks, and bugs, lithospores and wisps. I’ve heard that there are even some trees that can move. When you walk by they just scoop yah up and throw yah around. Worst of all the things on the ground though, are the bands of... red squirrels,” she uttered the last words dripping with venom and a distasteful twist to her beak. “But if none of them get you during the day, you can hardly sleep for the things that slip through the night.” She alighted to the ground, letting a shudder run through her. “I’ve been hearing about these things called Kaleidoghosts, like wisps, but worse. They come from moonlight that gets trapped by the trees. They can make you see things. If they get hungry, they can trick you into walking into a ditch or tanglevines by making it look like there aren’t any there. Then... when you’re trapped and you can’t run away...” The gryphon swallowed. “...they eat the light in your eyes and you go blind...” she whispered.
Rarity let a nervous laugh escape her and flee into the trees. “That seems rather far fetched, don't you think? I mean, moonlight getting trapped by trees hardly sounds possible.” She spared some extra glances for the trees as she started walking again. 
“Well,” Smartypants mused, “I don't know, really, but the light comes from somewhere, and that means it has to go somewhere, right? And if it can't go to where it wants to go, I guess that would be frustrating for it.”
Argie nodded. “That's my thinking,” she said darkly.
The day advanced in silence again after that, the forest growing darker with every hour and furlong that passed. More than once, Rarity could have sworn she heard giggling in the darkness, the stifled twitters of mischievous entities. She didn't voice her concern that there might be something unpleasant walking with them, but she did stay closer to Lumberjack and Smartypants. Argie walked lightly through the tree litter, barely making a sound. If she heard the giggling, she didn't let on.
They stopped a few times, so that Rarity could let Opal out of the basket to stretch her legs and for herself and the gryphon to rest. As night began to fall in earnest, Argie scouted ahead to find somewhere safe to spend the hours to dawn. Rarity wasn't looking forward to spending the night out in the open but Argie had assured her that there were no settlements for miles and miles around.
The gryphon returned from her most recent foray in a shower of leaves. “Well, there's some good news and some bad news.”
“Let's do the good news first,” Smartypants offered.
“Yes, the good news if you would, Argie,” Rarity said wearily.
“Okay, the good news is that we are getting close to the edge of the forest. I bet we could reach it by noon tomorrow at our current pace.”
“Oh that's wonderful,” Rarity sighed with relief.
“So if that's the good news, what's the bad?” Lumberjack asked warily.
“The bad news is that there’s a ravine in the way. It goes for miles in either direction. I tried flying along it for a while and I couldn’t see any way across it.”
Rarity sighed again. It was rather amazing how many different ways one could sigh. “That is definitely a bother. Is there any way you could carry us across, Argie?”
The gryphon shook her head. “Where we are right now, the ravine is just too wide. I could get the scarecrow across, sure, but I would have to be twice as big as I am now to get you and the metal pony over.”
The white unicorn pursed her lips. “How far are we from it?”
“Three or four furlongs, I think. I did spot a hollow tree that we could use for shelter not far from here, that is, if you don’t mind a few bu—”
An eerie howl echoed through the trees, cutting off the gryphon’s words as cleanly as a razor through butter and freezing Rarity’s blood like a pond in the dead of winter. “What was that?!” the fashionista rasped.
“Sounded like a wolf to me,” Lumberjack said, scanning the trees. “I didn’t think any wolves lived out here.”
“That’s ‘cuz they don’t,” Argie whispered.
“What do we do?” Smartypants asked.
“Stay put for now,” the gryphon murmured. “You don’t just start running until you know where they’re hunting from. I’ve watched a pack of wolves run down a deer, they use confusion as much as anything.”
Another chilling howl split the air. It was hard to tell where it came from exactly, but it was definitely behind them, and definitely closer than the first.
The gryphon growled. “This would be so much easier if I was by myself.”
“You aren’t gonna leave us are you?” the tin mare’s strings asked harshly.
“No way. You’d never get away from them without me. The other gryphons may have ditched me but I’m not gonna ditch the only friends I’ve ever had.” She looked around, cocking her head to one side when another howl, a new one, drifted through the woods again. “Follow me, stay close. I think I know where they are.”
“What’s the plan?” Rarity whispered.
“Hide,” Argie whispered back.
A rustle of leaves was all the warning they had before a large, gnarled and misshapen creature burst from the underbrush at the edge of the ruined road. Green eyes glowed in the gloom, seeming to leak little tendrils of light like smoke. The soft creak of timber accompanied its strangely jerky movement as it approached the petrified party.
“Scratch that plan,” Argie said under her breath. “Run!” The gryphon suited her words and dashed into the trees, followed closely by her companions.
Rarity snatched up Smartypants in a cloud of blue magic and kept hard on the gryphon’s tail as she tore through the underbrush, leaving the broken road behind. She put the scarecrow on her back, hardly any addition of weight at all. “Hold on tight, Smartypants!”
The wooden wolf snarled, the sharp clacking of of its claws on the few remaining bricks of the road quickly giving way to the hollow thumps of its timber paws on the tree litter. Rarity tried her best to avoid brambles and bushes but their fearful dash left little room for maneuvering or error. Her mane and tail snagged and pulled on scraggly bushes and her coat was soon riddled with burrs. Lumberjack thundered through the forest behind her. She simply powered her way through obstacles, the fallen twigs and branches shorn in twain by her sharp hooves. Rarity could hear the wolf breathing behind them. How it could breathe at all was anypony’s guess, as far as she could tell, it was entirely made of wood.
“Its gaining on us!” Lumberjack warned. “Y’all keep runnin’ ahead. I can take care of it!”
“Lumberjack! Wait!” Rarity protested.
The tin mare ambled to a halt and was quickly left behind. She stepped to the side, so that she was behind a tree. Rarity glanced back just in time to see the wolf come around the bend. Lumberjack tilted forward, freeing her hind legs. The wolf cleared the tree. Tin legs shot out faster than Rarity could blink, striking the creature full in the chest, instantly dashing it to pieces. Rarity skidded to a halt, out of breath with strands of her usually well-behaved mane falling over her face.
Lumberjack sauntered up from the dashed pieces of the wooden wolf. “You alright there, Rarity?”
The fashionista waved a hoof. “Fine, fine, darling...” she huffed, “That was spectacular, Lumberjack. It would have had us for sure.”
“They don’t seem too tough, whatever they are.”
“You mean you don’t know what that was?” Smartypants asked from Rarity’s back.
The tin mare shook her head. “Never seen anything like it before. There’s some kinda magic at work here, that’s what I think anyway.”
“Do you think it’s the Wicked Witch of the East, Rarity?” the scarecrow suggested.
The white unicorn shook her head. “Wolves made of wood are definitely unexpected, but hardly random.” She had almost caught her breath by now, and with it, her thoughts. “Hmm, wooden wolves, timber... timberwolves. HA! It’s like a joke! A play on words! That’s too clever for the Pink One, too structured... no, this is the work of somepony else. I think I’ve seen this before though... it’s hard for me to put my hoof on it exactly, but there is something important about these timberwolves... something on the tip of my tongue...”
Argie appeared in the low branches of the tree next to them, a wild cast to her eyes. “Hey! What are you silly ponies doing!? We don’t have time for standing around and chatting it up!”
“It’s alright, Argie. Lumberjack took care of the timberwolf,” Rarity said, attempting to dislodge some of the burrs from her coat.
“She took care of one timberwolf or whatever, there’s still more of them out there, and they’re coming this way. C’mon! If we hurry I think we can hide in a cave nearby...” the gryphon trailed off, her beak falling open as she looked in the direction they had come.
“Argie? What is it?” The white unicorn turned to look.
A sickly green light flickered around the twigs and leaves that had made up the timberwolf. They twitched and clambered around, slowly pulling themselves together.
“Ah, yes, that’s what I couldn’t remember before. If you break a timberwolf, they can put themselves back together. How could I forget that?”
“Oh horsefeathers,” Argie muttered. “C’mon! Pick up your hooves! Let’s go!”
Nopony could argue with her. The shrouded forest was once again a blur of whipping branches and scraping bushes. Rarity’s second wind didn’t last very long. She jumped over thick roots and pushed through tangled brush. Her breaths came ragged and her throat stung.
“I... don’t know... how... much... farther I ca...”
“Keep up, Rarity, it’s not far!” Argie shouted back to her.
She was exhausted, hungry and aching, fear running through her veins rather than blood when the chilling howls of the timberwolves echoed through the trees. They were closer, and there were several of them. 
Suddenly they broke into a clearing. Bright moonlight almost blinded the white unicorn as she stumbled to a halt, chest heaving and heart pounding fit to burst. She gulped great gasps, thankful for the cool night air. Before the little party yawned a chasm that descended into darkness black as pitch. The other side of the ravine was depressingly far away in the darkness. She didn’t have long to rest. 
“Look out, Rarity!” Smartypants warned, pointing a stuffed hoof at the trees.
Rarity turned to see four timberwolves emerge from the treeline, great gobs of glowing green goop dripping from their grotesque maws. One loped towards her, its creaking, misshapen limbs eating the distance between them faster than she could believe. The white unicorn set her hooves and faced her attacker, magic flashing around her horn. The creature lunged for her. She let out a cry. Blue magic exploded from her horn, blasting the timberwolf to pieces. Rarity blinked at the gloom, the glare of her magic ruining her nightvision.
“Where are the other ones, Smartypants? I can’t see very well.” Shapes moved in the flat, cold light of the moon.
“There!” A stuffed hoof pointed to the left.
Rarity came to bear. Another set of timber jaws gaped. Magic flashed. Branches and twigs littered the ground. Again and again the timberwolves came, never tiring, but Rarity did.
“We need a way across!” the white unicorn panted after watching the first timberwolf she blasted put itself back together for the second time.
“I can’t fly you over!” Argie shouted, slashing at a group of three timberwolves near the edge of the ravine.
“Should we cut a tree down this time!?” Smartypants shouted over another blast of magic. “On your right, Rarity!”
“That’s perfect, Smartypants!” Lumberjack sang as she galloped off to a tall tree nearby. She bowled her way through another group of timberwolves, smashing them to bits without batting an eye. She balanced perfectly on her forehooves next to the massive trunk and began bucking at the tree. Chunks of wood flew from each impact, each strike precise and fluid.
“Hurry, Lumberjack!” Rarity could feel her strength nearly depleted. Her knees buckled. Her hind legs quivered with the effort of staying upright. Sweat dripped from her brow with droplets of molten light from her horn. She cast spell after spell at the scarecrow’s direction, but each subsequent blast came weaker and less focussed than the one before.
“Hold on, Rarity! Just a little longer! There!” Smartypants encouraged her, hugging her neck tighter.
“There’s... too many... of them!” the white unicorn huffed.
Two timberwolves made a dash at her from the side, seeing her slow and weaken. One snapped at her flank. Rarity struck out with her hoof. The timberwolf’s head flew off and into the ravine. The second rushed her. She lost her footing. The timberwolf snarled. Rarity lashed out with the last of her magic. She fell to the ground with the clatter of dry wood all around her, magic fading from her horn. Her head throbbed. She tried to summon the magic back. Her vision swam. More wolves advanced on her. Tears sprang into her eyes, tears of frustration, of fear. She tried to rise, muscles protesting, head splitting, heart pounding. She braced herself.
A screech tore through the air a moment before Argie swooped down, smashing the closest timberwolf beneath her. She spread her wings wide, letting out another terrible cry. The timberwolves focused on her. She launched herself at them, talons flashing. Rarity was in awe. The gryphon moved like a whirlwind in a mighty fury. Sticks, twigs and bark flew through the air as she dashed them against the rocks and slashed them with her claws.
The crack of weakened wood split the night like thunder. Rarity turned to see the massive tree groan and fall. Its topmost branches smashed into the ground, just barely on the other side of the ravine.
“C’mon! Hurry!” Lumberjack galloped to her side, lending Rarity a shoulder.
The white unicorn gladly accepted her help and struggled to her hooves. Lumberjack ran with her to the base of the tree, helping her up onto the log. 
“You get across there, I’ll help Argie keep them back!”
“No!” growled the gryphon, smashing another timberwolf to pieces. “Get to the other side, push the tree into the ravine! I’ll hold them off! Go!”
Rarity didn’t have to be told twice. Walking across the crude bridge was nearly as terrifying as the timberwolves, but at least this she could do. With only a few heart-stopping slips and a few quiet words of encouragement from Smartypants, she made it to the other side. She took a few wild strides from the top of the tree to collapse in a patch of cool grass.
Lumberjack hopped down from the tree and started working on the top branches, cutting them with precise strikes of her forehooves. The tree shuddered and began to slide into the canyon. A scraping of leaves and branches like a sigh filled the night and the tree fell into the ravine. Echoes of its demise into the depths thundered up from the darkness.
Argie gave a last defiant screech to the timberwolves, taking to the air. She landed, rather heavily on the other side, near Rarity, huffing and puffing. Lumberjack wordlessly joined them in the grass. The timberwolves howled with rage, a few leaping at them only to fall, snarling into the ravine. There were perhaps a dozen left on the other side. Green light pulsed around them briefly, then the creatures fell apart. The green light evaporated into the air and soon all that was left was a littering of leaves and sticks, the only sign that the terrifying wolves had ever been.
“Well,” Rarity said, drawing in a deep breath. “That was certainly an adventure. I wouldn’t mind if I never had another.”
“Heh, yeah,” Argie panted. Her chest heaved in and out and her wings lay partially unfolded at her sides.
“Argie,” Rarity said, laying a hoof over one of the gryphon's claws, “that was very brave of you. You could have flown away and not had to worry about the wolves, but you didn’t. I don’t think I’d be here without you.”
The gryphon huffed. “Brave? That wasn’t brave. That was stupid. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“That’s what bravery is, dear. Facing your fears.”
Argie stubbornly shook her head. “No. If I want to be a real gryphon, I can’t be afraid of anything.”
Rarity let the matter go, she was exhausted and so was Argie; it wasn’t worth arguing at the moment. The little party made their way to the westward treeline. Argie found a little hollow, well protected on all sides and hidden in the lee of a hill. Rarity shared her dwindling supply of Punchin punch with Argie and Opal. She didn’t bother unpacking her saddlebags, too tired to perform even the simplest feats of magic. Rarity snuggled into the gryphon’s wing, draped over her for a blanket, and the three soon fell fast asleep, weary from the evening’s events. The scarecrow and the tin mare kept watch over them. As the white unicorn drifted off to the soothing rhythms of Argie’s breathing and Lumberjack’s clockwork, she had a difficult time remembering why she was going to the Ruby City.