There was only one positive thing about the Panthers escorting them along, they stopped hearing mysterious sounds that didn't appear to belong to anything, and well, at least they were still headed in the right direction, but it almost seemed intentional. As Twilight began to concentrate on the Panther's movement over her magic, in which if they were still going the right direction, she didn't need the spell, so she waited for a moment when the Panther's were all looking away, even for a split second. Seeing it, she nearly instantly changes her spell channeling on her horn to a high level concussion spell, and realized that her alicorn magic was able to better handle it than her normal magic. This made it easier for her to continually channel it into a stronger spell.
Shy, unlike the Panthers, saw the spell stop and start, and she knew it was a new one, so she wondered what Twilight was doing, nevertheless, she kept walking without complaint. It was about five or ten minutes before there was any signs of a new spell being done by her, but even then, they weren't obvious, Her horn started to glow slightly brighter, but not enough to cause the Panthers to worry. Shy looked over to Twilight, and saw she had started to sweat, meaning it was a higher level spell than she was used to casting for long periods of time, but she showed no physical signs of exhaustion or strain. Shy said nothing, nor did she make any motion to the new spell, knowing Twilight had a plan.
About 5 minutes after Shy had noticed the change, Twilight finally started to look exhausted, and the Panthers looked agitated, knowing something was off now, and Shy noticed that Twilight's horn almost looked like a fountain firework with how powerful the spell had become, so seeming to decide now was as good a time as ever, Twilight let the spell complete its effect causing a massive wave of kinetic force to blast outward, somehow avoiding Shy altogether, but blasting every panther, and any other object within twenty yards, at least another twenty or thirty yards away. The sheer immensity of the power surprised Shy, but she took it as a hint to run, and having twenty yards of clear land was nice for once, so she took full advantage of it.
They were almost out of the range of the Panther's recognition of which way they would have gone when one of them pounced onto Twilight's back. Fluttershy, freaking out of course yelled "BAD KITTY!!" and kicked the panther off, and began to run even faster than before. To their surprise, they were actually at the edge of the swamp and began to fly away. Shy looked down and saw that the Panthers were sitting at the point they had taken off, and shy couldn't help but to laugh a little. "Are you okay Twilight? That Panther didn't hurt you did it?" she asked hoping that nothing happened to hurt her.
"Yes, I am alright Shy, the Panther was unable to hurt me, and it is all thanks to you kicking it off of me." Twi said, genuinely great full, "Though, I don't think that 'bad kitty' liked it so much" she finished, giggling a little, in which made Shy giggle a little bit as well, "On the bright side, it helped us move faster, and we are going to be able to make it to Trixie sooner than we originally thought."
"That is true, I am just glad I was able to see some of those amazing creatures, especially that Shade Hawk." Shy said, very pleased with herself, flying with her head held high.
"Shy, I wouldn't fly that high if I were you." Twilight said, obviously concerned, "This is the area dragons are known to fly about, mostly breeding, but very hungry."
Hearing that, Shy instantly decided she would fly lower than even Twilight, but still swiftly moving through the area. They were almost there, almost to the point of saving Derpy, and as it looked, they were going to make it earlier than necessary, but that made Shy happier, so they continued on, when Twilight stopped suddenly, looking around as if lost. "What is it Twilight?" Shy asked, confused, "You have the spell going, so why are you looking around?"
"Because, the spell is telling me we have arrived, but it is also saying to go back, now forward, now up, it just keeps changing." Twi said, with a very confused look on her face.
"Maybe if we keep going the original way, and watch the ground?" Shy suggested, feeling hopeless after such a long trip to suddenly get lost, when she suddenly saw the Panthers from earlier going into some sort of distorted field on the ground, it looked like a cave, but the fact that the Panthers simply disappeared means it was being hidden by magic. "Down there, that cave, I saw the Panthers go into it, but suddenly disappear before getting inside, like magic."
Twilight glared in that direction, and with a flash, she cast a spell at the cave, causing it to shimmer and show a light flowing through, and for a split second, Twilight's spell could tell that Trixie was down there. "She is in there. Lets go and teach Trixie the same lesson we taught those Panthers, that she has been a bad kitty."
"Umm, Twilight," Fluttershy said, "She has been a bad pony, only the kitties can be bad kitties, and ponies can only be bad ponies." She was trying to rationalize the statement when she decided to just leave it alone. "Yea, whatever, she has been a bad, bad, kitty. Pony? Whatever you want to call her."
Twi looked at Shy, blinked, and shook her head. "Yes Shy, she is a pony, but I was using the phrase metaphorically." and before giving Shy a chance to think about it she dives into the cave.
Shy came tumbling in behind her, and trying to sound big and bad she quietly yells "Bad kittie! Time to put you in your place!"