Mystery Of Everfree

by FourShadow

Chapter 14: The Alpha

Author's Note:

I am so sorry I'm late on this. Been hitting some writer's blockage, and I've tried my best. I did try to beef up some of the fight here, but it's not perfect.

The next chapter should hopefully bring a lot more action to come. Thank you all for staying with me during this, and hope you'll continue to enjoy as we hopefully finish the story! ^^

Elsewhere in the woods, Flash, Derpy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were investigating their section of the area per Twilight's plan. Just like earlier, it had become quiet as a mouse. The eerieness of the entire situation put everyone on edge just like the others.

Applejack shined a light around the woods as they traveled together, looking for anything that would have stood out like a sore thumb. Poor Derpy was shaking in fear as she kept the arrows pointed all around as best as she could, trying to keep a steady grip.

"Uh, Derpy? Maybe you can lower the arrows for now," Rainbow suggested with a worried face.

"What if they come out of nowhere?" She asked, head sinking as she twisting and turning all around.

Applejack was about to say something until Flash interrupted.

"--If you're going to say there's not going to be anything, please don't. Because then the opposite happens," he deadpanned, still keeping his weapon loaded.

Applejack zipped her lip after that, just keeping up with the rest of the group.

"Any idea on what we'll do when we find Timber? If he's even out here?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know about you, but I feel like we've got a lot to talk to him about. He may not have meant to harm us, but he has no idea what he's dealing with," Applejack said, flashing her light through some of the trees on her left, looking for any strange shadows to start moving in front of her.

"Kind of like how Sunset did when the Dazzlings moved into CHS?" Flash asked.

"Somethin' like that," Applejack agreed.

She heard rustling in the bushes nearby and everyone froze. Instinctively, Flash pointed his gun towards the area where the noise was emanating from. The group visibly saw a bush shake and rustle as if something was moving around in it. They carefully proceeded towards the bushel, their skin starting to grow goosebumps as they tried to brace for a jump scare.

But then the bush stopped shaking and a small fluffy squirrel popped out of the bush holding a collection of nuts. He looked up at the four teens with a head-tilt, confused by their scared faces. Regardless it shrugged them off and scittered up the tree with it's collection of food for storage.

"Oh... heh, heh, just a squirrel," Rainbow tittered.

"AAHHHHHH!!!!!"

"Timber!" Applejack and Rainbow said together.

"Wh-where?" Derpy jumped, trying to look for a falling tree.

"No, Timber! Come on!" Applejack shouted.

The group ran as fast as they could through the woods trying to find the source of the screaming. It was close by, not too far from where they were walking.

---

Jumping out of the woods, the group found themselves in the middle of an open farmland that looked long abandoned. This must had been the farmland that Autumn Blaze had mentioned once before, the group assumed. Overgrown plants and shrubbery grew around the remaining stone stacks that once made a house. The barn that once housed animals was now a rusted and decayed mess, with only a few walls remaining.

"Well, now what?" Flash asked.

And at that moment, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, and Thunderbass came running out of another part of the woods, running into the same open clearing with the rest of the group.

"Did any of you find Timber?" Twilight asked.

"No. We heard him scream though, where could he have gone?" Applejack asked, looking around.

"Timber!" Rainbow shouted.

"Timber, are you out here!?"

"Sound off!"

"Scream really loudly if you are hurt!"

But there wasn't any sound for them to hear. It was quiet... deafening quiet. All they could hear now was the small bits of water trinkling in a puddle and crickets chirping. The moon shined above them to provide light, but it didn't help lift their spirits.

Crunch.

Now everyone felt on edge. The two groups huddled close together, standing in one massive circle as they held their selective weapons and means of fighting out in front of them, ready to attack. Even Spike rubbed his paws together like he was deviously ready to participate.

The smelly stench of rotten eggs filled the air, making everyone gag in disgust, trying to repress the urge to throw up. That smell was accompanied by a loud growl and snarling from a group. Three Timberwolves emerged from the left side of the woods, with more numbers right behind them.

Their claws dug into the ground as they moved towards them, their snarls getting more louder with each step.

"Did you have an idea for what we do now?" Thunderbass asked.

"I did. Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, do you three have control of your powers now?"

"Yes darling."

"I think so."

"You bet!"

"And does everyone else have some sort of weapon they feel okay using to charge into a possible battle?"

"Yep," everyone agreed.

"Then it's settled. Everyone... we fight!" Twilight declared.

All at once, everyone screamed as they charged to fight.

Flash and Derpy grabbed one wolf's attention as they used their weapons to fire. Flash's finger held onto the trigger as he released the paintballs like crazy, while Derpy tried to fire her arrows towards the Timberwolf's weak point, at least, wherever the weak point was. Despite Derpy not having her eyes facing two different directions, she only needed one eye to be able to focus and strike the knees. She missed many times, naturally, but thanks to their combined efforts, the two of them were able to bring one of them down.

Applejack with her gloved hands, clenched her fists tight as she punched the side of a nearby Timberwolf in the shoulder, breaking parts of the body into twigs in the process. Losing balance, the Timberwolf fell on its side, breaking into pieces. Applejack slammed her fist down on the broken pieces of wood just as extra measure. With Rarity by her side, the two of them stared down another wolf that emerged from the woods and slammed their fists right at the face, smashing the wolf into another wad of kindling fuel.

Rainbow Dash grabbed the attention of two of the wolves simply by flying over them, causing them to bark and snarl. Both of them leaped up and tried to snap at their with their maws, but she dodged their teeth. Thunderbass took this chance while he could, slamming his massive wrench against their feet, trying to reduce their chances of standing stable. And as an added assist, Rarity ran at one of them with her body covered in the diamond shield, smashing one of the wolves into pieces just by running through it. Just as the other one failed to recognize his comrade was taken out, Rarity took her chance and ran right through it's chest, breaking that one into half as well and into pieces. Rarity's shield lowered as she brushed herself off, not having a single scratch... aside from her mohawk getting a little frizzed.

Spike barked at another wolf, trying to scare it or at least tell it to back off. Knowing it wouldn't, Spike darted off, getting said wolf to chase after him momentarily. Spike ran underneath an old table, getting the Timberwolf to flip it into the air like a little stone, barely fazed by the obstacle. And without looking, the Timberwolf's claw slammed into a massive rock formation on the ground, destroying his arm entirely. And without any stability or control, he fell on his back and broke into pieces.

Taking his chance, Spike ran out to grab the attention of another, hoping to get him to slam into more rocks to trip on. But he found himself surrounded by two wolves who boxed him in, trapping him near a small brick formation that once helped form a house. Whimpering in fear, the two wolves smacked their jaws and growled some more. But their ears went up and looked forward, seeing magenta auras surround some of the bricks on the formation being lifted in the air. Twilight Sparkle stood, with a harsh glare as she looked at them.

"No one tries to hurt my dog!" Twilight growled, throwing the bricks at their faces. It didn't destroy them, but it was hard enough to shave off some grains on their heads. The impacts were enough to get them to run away from her as Twilight levitated more bricks at their direction, trying to protect her beloved pet.

"I hate to jinx us, but am I the only one who thinks this is a little too easy?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying past another wolf to grab its attention. With the wolf distracted by her flying, Flash fired more paint pellets into the Timberwolf's legs, destroying it in the process.

And jinxing them all she did, as more packs started to come out of the woods to join the others. It seemed as if with every Timberwolf they destroyed, another one would take their place to provide backup to the pack.

"It's not hard to knock them down, it's getting them to stay down that's the problem!" Thunderbass grunted as he unapologetically slapped one of the wolves in the face with the wrench, smashing more wood and twigs away.

"Look at them! They're everywhere!" Derpy cried, pulling out another arrow. But when she reached behind her she squeaked. "And I'm all out of arrows!"

"I'm running out of paint pellets too," Flash grunted, checking the gun's ammunition.

Flash fired off as much as he could, emptying the gun at a much more rapid pace. A few more shots managed to break the legs off another, forcing it to the ground and break into a thousand twigs like the others, and one more shot was left as he pelted another wolf. Hearing the gun clicking over and over made his heart sink as he looked at the weapon.

Realizing he was defeated, he threw the gun to the side and backed up as the wolf started to growl and pace towards him. But without realizing it, the wolf whined in pain as a powerful slam tore away his hind legs, and felt a massive brick rocket through its wooden stomach. Weakening from the pain, the wolf fell and exploded into more twigs.

Surrounded; Flash, Derpy, and Thunderbass huddled together as the rest of the girls tried to defend them. Rarity kept trying to punch back against the wolf by keeping her entire body covered in her shield. Applejack had a few bricks by her side, ready to throw more to fight back. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air with her friends, teeth grit, trying not to let her fear be shown to the others. Even Twilight, despite being afraid, was able to use some of her levitation abilities to try throw things at the wolves to push them back.

Three more wolves came out of the woods to join the rest of the pack. There were too many of them, and they were surrounded. Everyone stood their ground, trying not to let any of the wolves intimidate them. But just as it seemed like they were going to be surrounded for their doom, the wolves stopped trying to box them in. All of their heads raised up, and so did their stick ears. Their heads tilted to one direction, and heard a howling of another wolf, bigger and louder than ever before. All of the wolves lowered themselves much like dogs, ears flopping down. Yet there was a hint of soft growls to one another, almost like they were communicating with each other.

And after a moment or two, the wolves all ran off and away from the abandoned farm. The group looked at each other confusion, and more uncomfortable silence.

"Haha! We won!" Rainbow cheered.

"No, we didn't. They retreated," Twilight said, rather disappointed and concerned. "But why?"

"I don't know animal behavior that well, but it kinda looked like they were scared of something," Flash interjected.

"I think the more important question is why were they afraid?" Rarity asked.

"I think we have bigger problems to worry about," Thunderbass interrupted.

Suddenly, everything went stone cold silent. They couldn't hear the chirping of crickets or owls. They felt something amiss, something wrong. But it wasn't in their sight, or within proximity of them. Derpy's left eye took a gaze at a puddle beside the rusted tractor, and saw a small vibration. And then another one. And another. She felt the ground lightly shake with the puddle.

"Um, girls?" Derpy whimpered. "I don't think we're alone."

The tremors in the ground shook more. And it increased by the second, making everything palpitate. And something was pushing through the forest, making several trees crash and fall to the ground as if they were chopped down or pushed out of the way. Suddenly, they heard the loud sound of an otherworldly roar. It sounded a little like a wolf, but the extra sounds accompanying it made it sound completely unlike anything that would be on their planet.

Just then, a tree fell and smashed the rusted old tractor to pieces, accompanied by a low gurgling growl. All eyes slowly turned to the source, and were petrified at the sight. A claw pressing the branch down, bigger than any of the wolves, with toes tapping on it like it was thinking. The shoulders and front legs bigger than a shed. And gazing down at the assembled campers, gritting its lumber teeth at them with tree-sap drool leaking from the mouth... was a giant Timber Wolf. Bigger than all the other wolves that had attacked the camp, almost the size of a monster seen in a B-movie. The growls sent shiver's down everyone's spine as they gazed at the king.

"I think we might be in over our heads... way over our heads," Rainbow gulped.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Not bad, Four, not bad at all.

Glad to see more of this story again!

[sonicfan05]

Oh, man! This isn't good at all!

Excellent action-packed chapter!