Universe and Sparkle

by King Xeno

Timber Whaaaaaaat?

It was nearly silent in the Everfree forest, and it had not taken long for them to arrive where the trail led, and they a small hut, decorated with strange looking faces made of wood. They did not understand what this was, but there was no doubt this was where they were supposed to be. They sniffed at the ground, hoping to find any hint of the Zebra's scent, and found a very fresh trail. They growled, knowing that the Zebra would not be able to escape this time, this was their forest, and the Zebra was invading their territory. They moved aside for the Alpha to see, to get the scent, to lead them to the Zebra, but within a matter of seconds they heard the sounds of approaching creatures, and the unmistakable smell of the Zebra, but with her came a variety of other scents, others which were vaguely recognizable as ponies, and three new scents that were completely foreign, not that this would stop them. They wanted that Zebra, and they would kill anything foolish enough to cross their path. However, striking in the open would leave them vulnerable, for now they chose to hide. Hide and wait for the perfect time to ambush their prey.

---

The strange group traveled through the darkness of the Everfree forest, although both Steven and Connie had been here before, they had failed to notice the general creepy atmosphere of the gloomy section of woods. They followed Zecora, with the two humans riding on Lion's back, while the others walked or flew. It hadn't taken long for them to reach Zecora's hut, decorated with tribal masks, and various charms, it reminded Steven of something you'd see in a movie. "So what's the problem Miss..." Steven began, but stopped realizing he'd forgotten her name.

"Zecora is my name, and brewing potions is my game. I was simply here when I heard a growl, and then attacked by creatures most foul." She replied, while Connie rapidly looked from place to place.

Steven chuckled and muttered "You scared?" He had a small grin, not that he enjoyed seeing his friend scared, just that he wasn't the only frightened one. Connie nodded, and let out shriek as something jumped for her. Lion was the first to react, he sucked air into his lungs, before letting it out in a loud and forceful roar, creating visible pink waves of sound that slammed into the opposing creature. There was a loud snap, not the snapping of bones, but rather of wood and the creature retreated, but this revealed several sets of green eyes that stared at them with hunger and malice.

"S-Should we be worried?" Connie asked, still shaken from the monster's leap.

"Yes! For these wolves are not what they seem! We need to fight back, not just sit and scream!" Zecora yelled, narrowly dodging an attack made by one of the beasts. Lion leaped forward and slammed his front right paw down on the animal, trapping it. Steven let out a gasp upon seeing it, for it was a wolf made completely out of wood, while parts of it were thick as a tree, others dwindled down to simple twigs, but they all had large glowing green eyes.

"What are these things!?" Steven asked, he jumped off Lion and summoned his shield, blocking one of the monsters from attacking Fluttershy. Twilight, who had been fighting, turned to face Steven.

"Timber Wolves!" Twilight replied, and Steven let out a gasp as he turned to face Connie and Lion.

"Connie! You ready?" Steven asked, and Connie nodded, with a look of determination on her face. The Timber Wolves circled them now, slowly inching closer, like sharks. Twilight moved to look at Steven, and found herself shocked, along with the other ponies and zebra. Lion's eyes glowed pure white, while his mane shone and flowed in nonexistent wind. Suddenly something began to protrude from his forehead, upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a hilt of some kind, Connie and Steven both grabbed onto it, before pulling with all of their strength, and a long pink sword began to reveal itself, the blade was large and appeared sharper than anything that they had seen before. Steven released his grip on the weapon, and Connie held it by herself, despite the blade being comically larger than herself.

"Let's do this!" Steven shouted, as Connie rushed forward, swinging the blade downwards at the nearest Timber Wolf, which was caught off guard. The Wolf had no time to avoid the sudden attack, and as a result was sliced cleanly in half, although this only seemed to cause a slight annoyance to the wooden beast. Connie and Steven fought in perfect harmony, dodging, attacking, moving with the grace of dancers, but the ferocity of a furious warrior. Little by little the wolves began to flee, realizing that these creatures would not simply allow themselves to be eaten, but the Alpha remained, now enraged by the very fact that these creatures were actually fighting back. He began to charge at the two, and Steven held his shield above his head, allowing Connie to bounce off it, and deliver a powerful strike to the Alpha's head, slicing it in two. The Alpha knew it was defeated, and ran off, with its tail between its legs.

"That... That was... It was just..." Twilight began, struggling to find the proper word, but Rainbow Dash had her own way of describing it.

"AWESOME!" She shouted. "You and Steven were great out there! The way you two fought! And, and, and... The way you both...! Then with the...! Too cool for words..." Rainbow said, while Steven chuckled.

"We'd better keep this out for now..." Steven said, motioning towards the blade that Connie still held.

"Where did you get a sword with such beauty? The patterns are simply glorious, and the color is just... Perfect..." Rarity said, examining it closely.

"It belonged to Steven's mom." Connie answered, and Steven nodded, but Zecora quickly moved to them.

"Steve, Connie, I cannot thank you enough. You really showed those Timber Wolves that they aren't so tough!" Zecora said with a large grin.

"We should start heading for the castle, after all, I hope that our special guests hadn't arrived yet..." Twilight muttered, before they began their trek back for the large castle, saying goodbye to Zecora, hoping to rest for a while.