On they went into the nightly Everfree Forest, yet with every step it sank in more that they didn't have anything to go with but the fact that Frank and Spike had seen Twilight pursuing the attacker in the vague direction of Everfree. This forest however covered too sizable a part of Equestria for this vague direction to be of much help. They didn't even know if the chase of Twilight and the attacker had ended over or in Everfree Forest one way or another and this uncertainty, along with the awareness of fires in the forest, making it about the most dangerous place to be in, put their nerves on edge.
"You see anything, Rainbow?" Applejack called up to the foliage.
Rainbow Dash descended, shaking her head. "Nothing but forest, fire and night sky", she said grimly. "No lights or magical flashes of any sort."
As if desperate to add anything positive at least, she said: "No wind at all. The fire will spread slower so long it remains windless."
"And what if it does not?" Rarity asked cautiously.
Rainbow Dash gave her a 'do I really have to answer that?' type of look, but Applejack, honest as always, said bluntly: "If the wind's picking up, fire may spread faster than any pony can get away from it. So let's just hope it ain't pickin' up, y'all."
"Let us just make sure we stay as far away from the fire as we can!" Rarity said through clenched teeth. Frank was walking a few steps ahead. He hadn't spoken a word since they had entered the forest, but he now turned his head and shook it without looking at anyone in particular.
"I fear the fire is exactly where we must go."
"What? But why, Frankie?" Pinkie Pie asked. "This is not the good kind of fireworks!"
"It certainly isn't", Frank said, looking forward again and accelerating his pace somewhat. "But it is all we got about where Twilight may be. You saw several fires at different spots but fairly close to each other right, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yes", the pegasus confirmed.
"It must be from that magic duel. Twilight and the attacker casting flaring magic spells at each other and some sparkling from it set the wood ablaze. So they are probably near the fire or somewhere beyond it. In any case we must hurry!"
He accelerated his pace as much as he could without risking to trip and fall in the near total darkness of the nightly forest.
Rainbow Dash flapped to the front. "If you seriously want to get to the fire, you want to go that way", she said, sounding a bit sarcastic as she pointed in a direction somewhat to the right of Frank's current direction.
"Want to...", Frank snorted irritated as he changed the direction to where Rainbow Dash had pointed. "Won't help anypony if we stay away from the fire and away from Twilight."
"And that attacker", Applejack said as she caught up with Rarity and Pinkie Pie right behind her. "Now what is it about that, Frank Blanket? What did you tell Princess Luna back there? An alicorn kind of changeling?"
Suddenly there was a loud and continuous cracking in the darkness ahead, as if dozens of trees were grinding against each other and it was growing ever louder.
"That smell!" Spike shouted as suddenly a stench like composting and rotting wood filled the air around them. There was a croaky snarl and two glowing green eyes flashed up in the darkness ahead.
"Timberwolf!" Applejack shouted as she leaped to the side and Spike only just managed to stay on her back by clinging firmly to her tied back mane.
The huge wooden creature landed right in their midst with a leap of its own that sounded like many trunks snapping at the same time. It uttered another snarl and leaped on in the direction from where they had come.
Applejack was the first to recover from the fright. "Come on!" she ordered with a look of grim determination on her face as she set in motion again. For the moment the encounter with the wooden beast seemed to have let her forget about further questioning Frank.
As they moved on, they heard the forest around them coming alive. Everywhere around them they heard cracking and rustling of wood and leaves, scraping steps, the fluttering of wings, all kinds of howls, and growls, snarling, hissing and tweeting. Sometimes they saw shadows rushing past them in the distance while sometimes critters, creatures and larger beasts of the forest were passing by close enough for them to recognize.
"Don't worry!" Pinkie Pie said with a cheerful smile at the timid faces of all the others. "All these monsters are way too scared of where we are going to stop and do anything to us."
Rarity uttered something like a hysterical laugh, one of her eyes flinching nervously and she gave Pinkie Pie a look as if she wanted to wring her neck while Pinkie herself remained blissfully unaware and almost seemed to enjoy herself.
"Whoa!" Rainbow Dash shouted as a Manticore rushed close past them. "Let's hope that was Fluttershy's pal! Let's hope that these beasts aren't all heading for Ponyville! That's a stampede even you couldn't stop, AJ!"
Applejack nodded grimly: "Let's hope that Fluttershy and Princess Luna can!"
The first fugitives from the forest had been very unproblematic and Fluttershy had been personally acquainted with most of them. Bunnies, hares, a few hedgehogs, weasels, racoons and beavers were certainly not a threat to anypony and Princess Luna didn't have to give any orders for her guards to let all these small forest critters pass without any objection. Fluttershy immediately took it upon herself to comfort and reassure her little friends as much as she could. Princess Luna on the other hoof took to the air in regular intervals, scanning the treeline for any larger and more threatening arrivals.
She silently cursed herself for not having brought more than four guards along, but urgent as the message from Spike had sounded, it had not been very specific and had of course not allowed to predict a fire in Everfree Forest. But even if she had every single guard in Canterlot here at her disposal, this would have been a crisis of formidable dimensions. Trapped between fire on the one side and armed pony guards on the other, she had not a shred of doubt that most of the beasts of Everfree would not hesitate to assault the latter. Maybe it was even a blessing in disguise that she didn't have a large outfit with her. The priority was to protect the lives of ponies and lining many of them up in the swath of danger was therefore probably the most foolish thing that could have been done. It was not her job to stop the tide from Everfree Forest, but to keep it in check until the citizens of Ponyville would be out of immediate harm's way. She hoped that the two fillies she had sent to raise the alarm would hurry and that the town was sufficiently prepared for the evacuation to be conducted without a hitch. As she thought it, a bell was sounding from the nearby clock tower. A ringing that would be heard everywhere in the town. The fillies were living up to the task she had given to them.
Princess Luna landed beside Fluttershy who was arguing with Captain Crescent on the bridge over the narrow brook. A clawed and fanged bear, easily four times as tall as a pony, was no forest critter which a captain of her guard would let pass without further instructions. Princess Luna ordered for Fluttershy's pledge of the integrity and innocuousness of this bear, or any other creature she would pledge for, to be accepted as a pass to the green beyond the brook. Captain Crescent acknowledged the instruction with a snappy salute.
"I am trusting in thy judgment, dear Fluttershy", Princess Luna said with the most gentle voice that she could muster. "But don't forget thy fellow ponies on the other side of the brook when you decide which creatures you don't expect to be of any danger to them."
Fluttershy nodded, looking intimidated, though it had been far from Luna's mind to intimidate her in any way.
"Some will come from the forest whom we cannot permit to cross the brook while there are still ponies on the other side."
"But we cannot leave anyone to the fire!" Fluttershy cried miserably.
"No, we cannot", Princess Luna agreed and took to the air again, looking back at Fluttershy as an unspoken request to accompany her. Reluctantly, Fluttershy spread her wings and followed the princess.
"Think not of me as indifferent towards the creatures of whom we must protect the ponyfolk of Ponyville, gentle Fluttershy!"
The Princess made a gesture with one of her greaved hooves, encompassing the narrow, unwooded stripe between the treeline and the brook.
"In this stripe we must keep them while they pose a threat to other ponies. I hope for your kindness to calm these creatures while they are not in immediate danger, Fluttershy. But I feel that before dawn I may be compelled to instill greater fear than that of fire into some of them. When that time comes, I hope you will be by my side to guard me against the means I may have to employ to instill that fear."
Fluttershy nodded, though she didn't really understand what Princess Luna was telling her. She was fighting back tears. Tears of pity for her friends from the forest, tears of fear of what was going to happen, tears of hopelessness about whatever was going to come, and above all, tears of fear for her friends who had gone into the forest to save another friend while she had to stay behind here. She had to think of their recent venture into Everfree Forest that had ended with their giving up of the Elements of Harmony. Back then, Twilight had been the one told to stay behind and it had turned out to be a dire mistake.
Perhaps Princess Luna had read her face, perhaps her ability to visit dreams had given her a deeper understanding of the minds of ponies. In any case she said: "Believe me, Fluttershy, that you may be of greater help to your friends by staying here with me than you might be if you had gone with them."
Suddenly there was a hoot right beside Fluttershy's head and as she was looking to the side, she heard a second. Owlowiscious was there and much to her surprise there was also the injured barn owl flying right beside him. She still wore some of the bandages Fluttershy had applied, but her appearance was no comparison to the miserable, near-death state she had been in just a few hours ago. More than anything else this gave Fluttershy new hope and also the awareness that all the animals in and around her cottage had been the first to cross over the brook to the relative safety on the other side.
Above the forest, Fluttershy and Princess Luna could see three high columns of flame and smoke.
"All is not lost", Princess Luna said. "While the lull lasts, the fire will not spread as fast as it could and once my sister manages to sort out the troubles in Cloudsdale... She never failed her subjects!"
There was a strange mixture of a howl and a roar sounding from underneath the treetops.
"Till then, we will make a stand and buy time for her and the citizens of Ponyville!"
Princess Luna swooped down to land on the stripe in front of the treeline. Fluttershy followed her, feeling not half as bold and determined as the Princess of the Night sounded.