The wolf streaked through the forest. The moonlight shone down onto its black fur, it's white belly a streak of light in darkness. An intricate white pattern waved on its forehead, framed by piercing dark blue eyes. The wolf shot through the forest in a full on sprint, its lean and iron strong muscles rippling with motion. A small manacle and piece of broken chain was attached to its left foreleg, which rattled piercingly as it ran. A small blue earing glinted in the wolf’s right ear, the same color as the eyes. Sparkling in those blue eyes was an intelligence and emotion that one would not expect in what was considered a fearsome predator. But abounding in those eyes was fear. Complete and utter terror, spurring the wolf onward.
Through the trees came the smashing and howling of something unnatural, that grated into the wolf's ears and danced on its brain. The wolf glanced backward, but its piercing eyes saw nothing but the oppressing darkness. It continued its sprint.
The wolf heard a sudden sound, and its ears swiveled to the right. Something shot out of the forest directly at the wolf, like a living shadow. The wolf leapt to the side, tumbling painfully into the ground and against a tree with a painful thud. The wolf let out only a small grown as it shot back to its paws, its vision focusing on the creature that stood before it.
It was completely midnight black, and taller than the wolf by three feet. It was bipedal, but its long arms reached down to the ground, like an ape’s. Long claws glinted on its grotesque feet and hands, stained black with drying blood and dirt. Its face was completely flat, as if it had been smashed into a wall, and it was too large to look natural. There were a few long hairs sticking out of the top, and red energy danced underneath the creature’s skin. The giant creature swiped at it the wolf with a claw, aiming to take advantage of its fall, but the strike was slow and clumsy. The wolf sidestepped the strike, set its weight back on its hind legs, and launched itself at the creature, latching its jaws on the things neck.
The wolf ripped and tore with all the ferocity its kind was known for, razor sharp teeth rending flesh and bone. The creature reached up to swat the wolf away, but the heavy strike was too late. With a black spray of fluid, the wolf ripped out the creature’s throat, and nimbly danced away, black fluid dripping from its jaws. The black creature collapsed in a limp heap, like a grotesque puppet with its strings cut.
The wolf turned and began to run again, leaving the corpse behind, when the forest screamed. A hundred perverse voices, thundering with no semblance of any pitch and louder than anything the wolf had ever heard, burning like a brand in its mind. The screams created a cage of sound around it, spurring the wolf forward, to the only place of silence. The wolf knew that death came for it in every direction but ahead, so it ran.
The wolf flattened its ears, and whimpered in pain as the sound continued to rebounded around the trees, but it did not stop. There was a cracking from behind it, and the wolf risked a glance backward. The creature it had just killed was slowly rising to its feet, the strings back in control, as if it had never been injured at all. The thing’s flat head swiveled towards the wolf lighting fast, locking on. The wolf’s blue eyes went wide, and it began its desperate sprint once again.
The next attack came not long after. Three of the same creatures exploded out of the forest, trying to surround the wolf. The wolf leaped and rolled out of the way of all three, and continued its run without trying to fight; it knew it couldn’t beat them all. But it was an ambush. A fourth creature was lying in wait a few yards up the path, and the wolf didn’t see it coming. The creature swatted the black wolf on the side from the shadows as it sprinted past, its claws tearing gaping gashes into the wolf's hide.
The wolf’s sudden forward momentum was completely halted, and it was thrown to the side. The wolf rolled limply for a moment, before shakily standing back up. Blood was flowing steadily onto the ground form three vertical slashes in the wolf’s side, matting the fur and staining the dirt, the red color shining sickly in the moonlight. The wolf limped forward for a few moments, before growling in defiance, its lips peeled back from its teeth. It growled again against the pain, and began its sprint once more.
The desperate dash was nearing its end, the wolf knew. Its only chance for survival was only a few hundred yards away, tantalizingly close, but it was going to be a close shave. Dozens of black creatures could now be seen loping after the wolf, getting closer with every stride, flying over rocks and roots, flashing around the trees. They were in every direction, a wall of death that was slowly gaining ground, their screams growing in volume as they came closer to their helpless prey.
The wolf put on an extra burst of speed, hoping beyond hope to make it. It was getting closer, closer. A huge arm reached out to grasp the wolf’s tail with its claws. But suddenly the wolf was free, leaping out of the trees and into the shallow pond. It whimpered and stumbled on the landing, drops of blood staining the water red. The wall of death halted at the tree’s edge, hissing and screaming in frustration, pounding claws into the dirt. The wolf took a second to breathe, before turning around.
It was standing in a large pool. The water flowed from a small river in the back, which in turn bubbled from a natural spring in the ground. The river fell down three miniature waterfalls, until landing gently in the main body of water. Behind the pool was the complete blackness that was all around, but the shallow water the wolf was standing in shone with a gentle light. The sound of the water and the light seemed almsot to lift a heavy weight off of the wolf's shoulders. It had made it. The wolf slowly padded to the center of the pool, and stood waiting. After only a moment, the pool rippled in the center. A small drop of water was spat into the air, and when it impacted back into the water in front of the wolf, ripples spread outward.
A creature began to form. A huge ball of pure light was first, which hung suspended high in the air. A pair of glowing ram’s horns was next, the orb of light in between them. From there, a head, shoulders, and back. When the short transformation was complete, a huge ram stood in the air above the pool. Its skin rippled and swirled with light, making the are seem as if the sun had risen. The creatures at the edge of the water hissed and shied away from the light, withdrawing into the shadows.
“Hero,” An ancient voice rumbled into the wolf’s mind, caring and compassionate. “Our time runs short.” The giant ram bent its neck to look the wolf in the eyes. “I cannot hold them off forever,” It said quietly. “I will call for my brethren. We will fight, and give you ample time to escape.” The wolf nodded its head in thanks and understanding. “But,” the ram emphasized. “Our power is not infinite, and we will be defeated. Be ready when they come.” The ram lifted its head to look into the trees. “Go!” It commanded. “To the back of the spring! Do not look back!”
The wolf obeyed, clearly still in great pain, limping over the three steps and nearly falling, the stone slick with moss and water. After the last ledge, there was a large cliff face that rose high into the air. The wolf continued right up to this wall of earth, and set its nose near the ground, powerful nostrils flaring. At some unknown mark, the wolf began to dig. Its claws scraped at the dirt, gouging huge chunks out of the ground. The wolf shoved its head into the hole it had made, with its torso following soon after. When its tail had disappeared into the ground, the earth it had displaced fell back into the hole, covering up the only trace of where it had vanished to.
-----
In a cave not too far away, a scratching noise could be heard. A small patch of earth danced and rumbled, from some unseen disturbance underground. Then, a small black muzzle appeared, followed by a head.
The wolf hauled itself out of the earth, shaking the dirt off its fur. The wolf winced when it was fully on the ground, setting weight into one side hesitantly. Soil and rocks were caked into its fresh wounds, stinging and burning like fire. Shaking its head, the wolf limped forward, taking its its surroundings. The small cave it had emerged into stretched before it, a wall of stone blocking its path behind. Not that it would go back. The wolf was cautious as it padded its way forward, the only sound being the soft clinking of the chain attached to its foreleg. The cave seemed to run off into the darkness forever, never varying from its straight path. The wolf struggled on.
After an unknown amount of time, the wolf froze. It lifted its nose high into the air, taking deep huffing breaths. The wolf growled and its hackles rose, detecting a change in smell. It was not the same scents of the wolf’s normal world, and it set the predator on edge, making it shift its weight painfully and swivel its ears in every direction. The wolf continued on nevertheless, until a dull light could be seen. The wolf stepped out of the cave into bright moonlight. A jagged cliff face rose behind it, much like the one it had dug underneath, the cave mouth yawning behind it.
The forest ahead much like the one it had left, but this one was more peaceful. The normal sounds and sights of nocturnal life were present, owls hooting and bats swooping after insects. The wolf padded slowly out of the entrance of the cave, into the black trees. Its blue eyes shone in the darkness, pinpricks of light as the predator slinked through the shadows. It came too close to a tree once, distracted by the pain in its side and the fuzziness of its thoughts, and received a small gash on the snout from the sharp low lying branches. As the wolf huffed in annoyance and examined the branch, it could see hundreds of tiny thorns sticking out of the black bark. Carefully avoiding any other trees, the wolf continued its silent trek.
It came to a small dirt path in the woods, barely large enough for the wolf to walk on. The wolf bent its nose to the ground and tried to sift out the smells, but to no avail. They were too mixed and unfamiliar to get anything out of it, and the wolf was too weakened. The wolf went on the path, keeping its body low to the ground, alert. But the wolf knew it wouldn’t make it much farther. It had lost too much blood and its vision was starting to blur, its steps growing slow and lethargic. It tried to push on, but with one last whine of pain, it slumped to the ground unconscious.
-----
Not so far away, on the very edge of the forest, was a small cottage. It was completely made out of wood, and the cheery yellow and white of the paint shone dully in the moonlight. The back and front lawns were covered in small houses and burrows, with many animals slumbering peacefully away. Inside the small cottage, up a short flight of stairs, a bedroom door was closed. Inside the small room, there was a bed pushed up against the back wall. Next to the window there was a small nightstand, a single book laying there, a faded red bookmark in its pages. A small dresser sat against the other wall, and there was a pair of hearts carved into the white doors.
The covers on the bed were slowly rising and falling, its occupant sleeping. There were a few mumbled words, and a head peeked over the covers, eyelids barely opened. The face was yellow, with sleepy green eyes. Long pink hair fell past the face of the bed’s occupant. Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure what had woken her up, but she blearily rubbed her eyes with her hooves to clear away the drowsiness that hung over her like a shroud. She got out of bed and let out a small yawn, stretching her canary yellow wings on her back, before opening the door.
She unconsciously found herself checking on all of the small animal houses in her cottage, before she was fully awake. As she peeked into a bird nest housing four slumbering robins, she realized what she was doing.
There was a small tug on the back of her mind, a familiar pull that she had had as long as she had had her cutie mark. One that usually symbolized when an animal needed taking care of. The three pink butterflies on her flank symbolized her talent with animals, and Fluttershy knew from experience that a pony shouldn’t ignore what their cutie mark was telling them.
The pegasus kept checking on her animal friends, growing more and more distressed when each one appeared to be fine. After checking the den of her friend Mr. Bear, Fluttershy stood on her front porch, trying to figure out what was nagging at her mind. Animals were very important to Fluttershy, and the feeling usually came with the name of the creature that was injured along with the ailment it was suffering from. This feeling was more of a vague direction, one that Fluttershy was forced to admit. It led into the Everfree forest. The magical and sinister forest sat less than fifty yards from her house, but Fluttershy only rarely dared into its depths, for a very good reason. Many mean and deadly creatures called the Everfree home, and some would not hesitate to call a small yellow pegasus breakfast. As Fluttershy slowly got nearer to the forest’s edge, she slunk farther downward and slowed until she was practically crawling forward, her face hidden by her pink mane.
The trees loomed above her, seeming to sprout evil eyes, their branches reaching out, trying to drag her inside. Shadows danced like evil spirits, leaning towards her. The pegasus was now trembling with fear, but she gathered her courage.
“One of my animal friends needs me, and I won’t let them down,” She thought resolutely. Even that thought didn’t keep her from trying to trot as silently as possible, eyes darting wildly around at every sound. She slowly slunk into the forest, following the small path to her friend Zecora’s hut. The trees in the Everfree were completely black, with sharp little thorns the pegasus was careful to avoid. As she kept going forward, ever so slowly, the tug on her mind grew stronger, pulling her insistently down the path.
After ten minutes of walking silently, Fluttershy noticed a large dark trail on the path, which came out of a gap in the bushes and foloowd the path towards Zecora’s hut. Fluttershy bent her head down to the ground, curious, and as she bent close, she inhaled.
She recoiled violently, trying to wash the coppery smell from the back of her mouth. It was blood, and lots of it. Her fear forgotten, Fluttershy’s pace quickened, not even needing to see the trail to follow its metallic scent. After about two hundred feet, Fluttershy stopped. There was a huge black lump on the ground, larger than a pony. Fluttershy, despite the blood trail that led to the lump and the now overwhelming sensation in her mind, cautiously slinked forward, until she was about a foot away.
The pegasus’ green eyes widened as they took in the sight as the moon illuminated the scene, full of concern and fear. She spoke, her soft voice barely above a whisper. “Oh my!”