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Prologue2,717 words
Ch. 1- Shining Armor's Warning2,016 words
Ch. 2- Twilight's Plan1,818 words
Ch. 3- Out of Her Shell3,001 words
Ch. 4- Two Brothers1,732 words
Ch. 5- Moonlight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders3,040 words
Ch. 6- Attack on Ponyville2,479 words
Ch. 7- Ponies and Wolves Can Be Friends2,096 words
Ch. 8- Luna's Guidance2,927 words
Ch. 9- Swiftclaw's Proposal1,252 words
Ch. 10- Warfang's Trap, Part 12,520 words
Ch. 11- Warfang's Trap, Part 22,627 words
Ch. 12- Recuperating2,353 words
Ch. 13- Celestia, Luna, and Silverwind4,875 words
Ch. 14- Twilight's Choice3,953 words
Ch. 15- Invasion, Part 12,270 words
Ch. 16- Invasion, Part 22,667 words
Ch. 17- Darkness3,904 words
Ch. 18- The Nightmare Is Over2,306 words
Epilogue2,451 words

Ch. 11- Warfang's Trap, Part 2

BANG! BANG! BANG!! BANG!!! Swiftclaw continued to ram his body against the metal bars, which were beginning to give way. He panted heavily and his right temple bled, but he didn't give up. He just backed away as far as he could, and then ran at full speed until BAM!! CLANG!!! The bars finally broke away and Swiftclaw tumbled to the floor. He gasped, realizing he was free before he jumped to his feet and ran off with only one thing in mind.

'I'm coming, Fluttershy...!' he thought.

XXX

"OH, FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!!!" Rarity shrieked as she ran through an empty corridor with Rainbow Dash at her side. The cyan-colored Pegasus glanced back at the wolves that were chasing them before she flew on ahead of Rarity.

"Keep running!" she told the ivory unicorn, who nodded before she ran as fast as she could. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash stopped in front of a stone column, which she then kicked with all her might, and that was enough to send it toppling over. The wolves yelped in fright before they turned and fled to avoid getting crushed by the rubble.

"Yeah, that's right!!" Rainbow Dash called. "You better run!! Hahahaha!!!"

"RAINBOW DASH!!!" Rarity cried, causing Rainbow Dash to look back and see that Rarity, backing away from another group of wolves, who were wearing those horned helmets, which glowed a white aura as they approached the unicorn. Rarity bit her lip as she backed away from the vicious wolves, but as she did, she glanced down at the floor beneath them. A smirk then appeared on her face before she stamped her hoof on a brick, which sank into the floor, and not long after, the floor opened beneath the wolves, who looked down for a moment, then yelped as they realized that they walked right over a trap door.

"AAAAAH-HOO-HOO-HOOEEEEY~!!!" screamed one of the wolves as they plummeted into the pit below.

"Nice!" Rainbow Dash praised as she and Rarity made a high-hoof. "Now let's go and find the others!"

XXX

Starlight panted as she turned a corner, but the wolves were hot on her tail, which one of them snapped at in an effort to catch her. Thankfully, she managed to pull her tail away in time. She then turned another corner and disappeared behind it, but just as the wolves had rounded the corner themselves, they all gasped in horror when they saw Pinkie Pie...with her giant Deluxe Confetti Cannon.

"SURPRISE!!!" she shouted before she fired it at the wolves, who all yowled in fright as the loud confetti cannon exploded with a giant KABOOM!! The result ended up sending the wolves scattering about as Pinkie kept shooting confetti bombs at them.

"Nice going, Pinkie!" Starlight exclaimed. "I'm sure lucky I ran into you!"

"Told you it was a good idea to bring my Deluxe Confetti Cannon!" Pinkie replied.

"Hey...how'd you manage to bring that with us?" asked Starlight.

"That's my little secret~!" Pinkie said in a singsong voice.

"Well, at any rate," Starlight began, "we have to hurry and find the others. Now let's go!"

"Okay!" Pinkie answered before she pulled out a remote with a single button on it, which she pressed, and that caused the cannon to shrink into a compact size, which Pinkie then picked up and put into her mane before she followed Starlight away.

XXX

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, Fluttershy whimpered as she hid behind some suits of armor. So far, it looked like the wolves hadn't found her yet. However, she didn't seem to notice a shadow lurking behind her...until a paw suddenly reached up and covered her mouth, causing her to let out a muffled cry as she struggled to get away.

"No, no! Fluttershy, calm down! It's me, Swiftclaw!"

Fluttershy gasped before she turned and saw that it was indeed Swiftclaw, who smiled at her.

"Swiftclaw!" she exclaimed, happily, only to gasp upon seeing his bleeding temple. "What happened to your head?!"

"Don't worry about it, for now," said Swiftclaw. "Listen. I'm gonna help you and your friends get outta here, okay?"

"Oh, Swiftclaw," Fluttershy said. "I knew you were different."

"No time to talk, now," Swiftclaw said as he looked around. "Okay, the coast is clear. Let's go, and stay close!"

Fluttershy nodded as she prepared to follow Swiftclaw out of the room...only for a couple of wolves to walk in on them, just as they were making their escape.

"What's this?" asked one of the wolves. "You trying to make off with the prey, Prince Swiftclaw?"

"You stay away from her if you know what's good for you," Swiftclaw growled.

"Ooh, we're SO scared," said the other wolf, sarcastically. "Wait until your father finds out a traitor!"

"I don't care, anymore," Swiftclaw replied. "All this time, I thought I wanted was to win over my Father's favor." He then glanced back at Fluttershy. "But...there's one thing I fear more than my Father's wrath: losing the one friend I ever had."

Fluttershy smiled up at him, touched by his words, while the other wolves groaned in disgust.

"What a load of crap," said one of them. "Since she's the root of your betrayal...I say we kill her!"

"I call dibs on the the legs!" answered the other.

"You're not laying one paw on Fluttershy!!" Swiftclaw shouted before he lunged at the two wolves, who barked as a scuffle soon began, and since it was two against one, Swiftclaw was at a clear disadvantage. He yowled when wolf bit at his exposed right flank while another tried to go for his neck, but Swiftclaw tried to claw at his face in order to push him off, but the two wolves didn't relent.

"Get off of him!!" Fluttershy cried as she rushed in to help, only for one of the wolves to kick her away into a suit of armor, which fell right on her left wing. Soon after, a sickening crunching sound filled the air, followed by the Pegasus screaming in pain.

"FLUTTERSHY!!!" cried Swiftclaw in horror.

"Hehehehehe...!" one of the wolves snickered as he attempted to finish Fluttershy off, only for Swiftclaw to growl before he clasped his jaws around the wolf's tail, then slammed him into the other wolf, sending them both crashing into the wall, where they soon lied on the ground, unconscious. Swiftclaw then ran over to Fluttershy and pushed the armor off of her wing, which hung limp and mangled.

"Are you okay, Fluttershy?!" Swiftclaw questioned.

"I think my wing is broken," Fluttershy answered with a slight wince.

"Get on my back," Swiftclaw said as he lowered himself down, allowing Fluttershy to climb onto his back. "We need to find your friends."

"Can you track them down?" asked Fluttershy.

"You're talking to a wolf who easily tracked dowm a herd of caribou in the middle of a snowstorm," Swiftclaw answered with a bit of a smug grin. "I think I can track down a few ponies."

On that, he sniffed the air before he turned and headed out the room.

XXX

Concurrently, in the castle library, Twilight, Spike, and Moonlight were hiding behind the bookshelves, and so far, they hadn't been found, yet.

"What do we do, Twilight?" Spike asked, softly.

"Yeah, they're bound to find us, sooner or later!" Moonlight added.

"Shh~!" Twilight shushed. "It's okay. We'll be just fine."

That's when they heard the sound of clopping hooves approaching.

"Who's that?" whispered Spike, and he soon got his answer when it was revealed to be Applejack, who panted as she entered the room.

"Appleja-" Twilight started, only for Applejack to shush her.

"Stay hidden!" she told her. "Those varmints are right behind me!"

Twilight ducked back behind the bookshelf while Applejack hid behind another. Not long after, several wolves entered the room...among them being Warfang and Stormhowl.

"Search this whole library," ordered Warfang. "They couldn't have gone far."

The wolves nodded before they began to search around the library for their prey. Twilight took another peak around the corner of the bookshelf...but doing so seemed to have made one of the wolves catch her scent. Twilight gasped silently as she backed up, while the wolf drew dangerously close, but just as it looked like he was going to find Twilight, Spike, and Moonlight...

"OW-OW-OWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

The wolf turned around upon hearing that howl...which was coming from Applejack, who was using her hat to make her voice echo, and soon after, he responded with a howl of his own.

AROO-ROO-ROOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!

"Hey, cut it out!" whispered Stormhowl as he ran up to him. "You're gonna start a howl!"

"But my prince!" the wolf argued. "I didn't start it!"

"OWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!" Applejack howled, again.

AROO-ROOOOOOOOOOOO~!! AROOOOOOOOOOO~!!! The wolf howled again, and this time, unable to fight his own instincts, Stormhowl soon joined him, followed by the other wolves in the room. Twilight sighed in relief before she looked over at Applejack, who smiled and gestured her head to the exit. Twilight then glanced back at Spike and Moonlight, who both nodded their heads before they all proceeded to head out of the library, together.

"Clever trick, Applejack!" Spike said.

"Yeah, where'd you learn how to do it?" asked Moonlight.

"Shoot," Applejack said. "Everypony in my family can do it! How do you think we keep those timberwolves away during Zap Apple Season?"

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned to see Starlight and Pinkie approach them.

"Pinkie! Starlight!" Twilight exclaimed. "You're both okay!"

"Yeah, thanks to Pinkie's cannon," Starlight answered as she glanced at Pinkie, who grinned gleefully.

"Hey, guys!"

Everypony and Spike turned again to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

"Rarity!" Spike exclaimed as he ran up and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Ahem!" Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.

"Oh! A-and you, too, Rainbow Dash," Spike grinned.

"We managed to give those wolves the slip," Rarity said as she gently pat Spike on the back. "Now we just need to get out of here."

"Wait a minute!" Moonlight spoke up. "What about Fluttershy?! We're not leaving without her, are we?!"

"That's right!" Twilight realized. "Where's Fluttershy?!"

"Here I am."

The group turned, only to gasp upon seeing Fluttershy sitting on Swiftclaw's back.

"Uh...Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You DO realize what you're sitting on, right?"

"And good gracious!" Rarity exclaimed in shock as she looked at Fluttershy's broken wing. "What in Equestria has happened to your wing, dear?!"

"What did you do to her?!" Twilight questioned Swiftclaw, who backed away.

"I-I didn't do anything!" Swiftclaw stammered.

"He's right!" Fluttershy agreed. "He saved me!"

"Why in tarnation would he go and do somethin' like that?!" Applejack questioned.

"...Because...Fluttershy's my friend," Swiftclaw answered as he smiled up at her, genuinely, causing her to smile back. "Do I need any other reason to help her?"

Starlight smiled, as did Pinkie Pie, while Twilight and the others seemed skeptical...especially Moonlight, who glared up at Swiftclaw with uncertainty.

"Listen, you all don't have to trust me if you don't want to," said Swiftclaw, "but right now, we need to get out of here, right away, or else my Father and the rest of the pack will find you!"

A pause...but then Twilight sighed.

"Let's trust him," she said.

"It's not like we have much choice anyway, right?" Applejack asked.

"...He...did save Fluttershy's life," Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"...Twilight?" Moonlight asked. "Are you sure trusting him is a good idea?"

"He's the only one who can help us get out of here," Twilight replied. "Besides, if he's Fluttershy's friend, then that means he must be different from the other wolves."

"Uh...guys?" Spike asked as he looked back. "I think the wolves are done howling!"

XXX

Warfang glowered down at his pack, who whimpered as they all prostrated themselves before him.

"I...I'm sorry, Father-" Stormhowl started.

"I do not blame YOU, Stormhowl," said Warfang. "Now let's find those pony brats and that dragon of theirs before they escape! Now where they could have gone?!"

He soon got his answer when he heard the sound of a pipe organ being played, followed by a rumbling noise.

"...Of course...!" hissed Warfang.

XXX

Outside the castle...

"Hurry! This way!!" Swiftclaw called as he ran with Fluttershy on his back while the rest of the gang followed after him.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?!" Twilight asked.

"Trust me!" Swiftclaw answered he led them to the bridge. "See?! There's the bridge! Hurry and cross it!"

"Y'all heard the wolf!" Applejack called. "Move yer pony tails!"

On that, the group hurried across the bridge, but the only one who didn't cross was Swiftclaw, who gently set Fluttershy down on the ground.

"You're not coming?" Fluttershy asked.

"I've caused enough trouble!" Swiftclaw answered. "...It's my fault you guys are here. I'm the one who told my Father about you in the first place. I thought that maybe...I could win over my Father and still have you as a friend...but when I found out my Father was going to kill you, along with the rest of your friends, I realized how wrong I was! I couldn't let my Father kill you...or anyone else. I've seen enough bloodshed..."

The group glanced at each other, some in surprise, some in concern...but then, Fluttershy approached him and put her hoof on his shoulder, causing him to smile...and the others soon smiled, as well. Even Moonlight was smiling...but the moment was soon broken when they heard the barking of wolves coming towards them.

"Oh, man, they're coming!" Spike cried.

"TWILIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!"

Twilight gasped before she turned and saw a familiar white unicorn stallion heading the charge of over 30 Royal Unicorn Guards.

"Shining Armor!" cheered Twilight.

"YEE-HAW~!!" Applejack exclaimed. "Here comes the cavalry!!"

"Dammit...!" cursed Warfang.

As Shining Armor continued to charge, he ended up tackling Swiftclaw, who grunted as he fell to the ground.

"No, wait!" Fluttershy cried, stopping Shining Armor from trampling on the wolf. "He's on our side!"

"He is?" Shining Armor asked in surprise. "Oh...sorry about that."

"No harm done...!" groaned Swiftclaw.

"Captain Shining Armor!" exclaimed a guard. "The wolves are approaching fast!"

Shining Armor looked up to see the wolves charging towards them, led by Stormhowl, who growled viciously upon seeing him.

"You...!" he hissed.

"Hey, you," Shining Armor said as he looked to Swiftclaw. "Do me a favor, will you? Make sure my sister and her friends make it to Ponyville safely!"

"M...me?" Swiftclaw asked.

"Did I stutter?!" Shining Armor asked. "Hurry!"

"R-right!" Swiftclaw answered before he hurried across the bridge, jumping over the rest of the guards before he reached the other side with Twilight and friends. "Hurry! To Ponyville!!"

"Right!" the others agreed before they followed after him, but Twilight remained behind, watching worriedly as her brother once again engaged Stormhowl in combat...and soon, the Royal Guards did the same with the rest of the wolves. Shining Armor kicked Stormhowl in the face with all his strength, but the elder Wolf Prince did not yield, for he jumped at Shining Armor and tried to bite his throat. When that didn't work, Stormhowl jumped on top of Shining Armor, trying to snap at his face, but the stallion shoved his hooves against his chest, trying to hold him back.

"Hurry, Twilight!" Moonlight cried as she tugged on Twilight's wing. "Let's get outta here!"

"Your brother will be okay!" Spike added. "Right now, we gotta go!"

A pause...but then Twilight turned and ran off with Moonlight and Spike following after her...while the battle at the Castle of the Two Sisters raged on. All the while, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, Starlight, and Moonlight could only wonder if Shining Armor emerged victorious, once again.

Until he actually returned...all Twilight could do was pray for her brother and the guards that he led.

Author's Note:

Kudos if you get the references!