The Filly and the Thief

by CartoonDuck

Chapter 3: The Wolf

With transportation no longer an option, Cozy and Jay were forced to walk the rest of the way. They kept to backwood trails and forests in order to avoid any royal guards, but that made their trip far longer than intended.

The trail they followed was out of sight and surrounded by trees. It made for a scenic but boring walk, so in order to pass the time, Cozy told Jay step by step what had happened to her the previous night. Jay, who was usually stone-faced and dismissive, actually listened intently to her story.

"And then I ran into the nearest forest to escape the guards!” Cozy explained. “It was intense, but they're useless, so I lost them pretty quick."

Jay shook his head in astonishment. "Wow, that's… crazy. I can't believe you managed to pull that off. And you would have won too if it wasn't for that, what did you say? Friendship… magic?”

"It was that stupid Tree of Harmony," Cozy grumbled. "It's not fair, it came out of nowhere!"

Jay actually nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sounds like a cheap move to me. So no one technically beat you then."

"Exactly! I came closer than anyone!" Cozy boasted. "Do you have any idea how many villains have tried to conquer Equestria in the past few years?"

"Not really."

"A lot. And just like them, the newspapers will say that Twilight Sparkle and her dumb friends outfitted me. No pony can outwit me!"

"Well, I believe it. If you did all that as a kid, I can only imagine what you'll be like as an adult."

"At least someone appreciates my genius.” Cozy was happy to see Jay opening up more. If she was going to continue to use his skills, she needed to build a friendly rapport with him, and that meant getting to know each other. “Well, I told you more about me, so how about we talk about you now?”

Jay seemed hesitant to reveal anything about himself, but with the tension between them loosened a bit, he finally relented. “Uh… alright, fine. What do you want to know?”

“What do you do for a living?”

“Uh…”

“Let me guess… you're a criminal?”

Jay stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening. “What? H-how do you know that?”

“Oh please, you got criminal written all over you!” Cozy laughed. She knew Jay wasn’t a normal diamond dog when he mentioned having a smuggler for a friend. Also, the way he reacted to her story was incredibly telling. Any normal person would be horrified at the evil deeds she committed, but not Jay, he was actually impressed.

“Wow, I thought I was more subtle than that,” he chuckled. “But you’re right. Truth is, I’ve been a criminal for most of my life. I’ve been all over the world, worked for a lot of different people, and at one point I was considered the most wanted thief in my country… until I got caught.”

“How did you get caught?”

Jay shrugged. “I got reckless. Thought I was untouchable.”

Cozy rubbed her chin in thought, then looked at Jay and grinned. “Well, now that you’re out, I have the perfect job for you!”

Jay raised his eyebrow. “And what’s that?”

“You can be my henchmen!”

“I’m not taking orders from a kid.”

Jay started to walk again, but Cozy flew up to block his path. “Oh come on, we could accomplish so much together!”

“Like what? Getting locked up in Tartarus? I’m good.” He pushed her out of the way. “I’ll leave world domination to you.”

Cozy dropped to the ground and scowled. “Of course you would say that. I should have known a henchman would have so little ambition!”

***

They still hadn’t made it to their destination by the end of the day and were forced to camp out for the night. Cozy was very persistent on getting marshmallows, so Jay reluctantly bought some from a nearby town. Well, he claimed to have bought it, but Cozy assumed he just stole it. When he returned, the two hiked deeper into the forest to start a fire. After setting it up, Cozy was the first to speak. "Do you know how to pick a lock?"

Jay looked at her suspiciously. "... I do."

Cozy grinned. "Can you show me how?"

Jay paused and thought for a moment. "Well… I can't show you in the middle of a forest, but later? Eh, why not. Picking someone's lock would probably be your least offensive crime anyway."

Cozy nodded excitedly. "Thanks! Looking forward to it, friend!"

“Don’t call me that.”

“Oh, come on, you don’t have to be so uptight around me anymore,” Cozy giggled. She stuck a marshmallow to a stick to roast it above the flames.

"Just because we jumped out of a moving train together, doesn't make us friends,” Jay retorted.

“Allies?”

"No, I would say… forced acquaintances."

Cozy shrugged and took a bite out of the marshmallow. "Whatever works for you." He could call them whatever he wanted. At the end of the day, it was his skillset that mattered, not his approval.

She reached out for another marshmallow but froze at the sound of rustling leaves and the snapping of twigs. Jay heard it too and stood up to peer into the darkness surrounding them. “Do you hear that?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Something was moving towards them, something big. Its heavy footsteps shook the ground while a shadow loomed over them. Cozy stood up fearfully as the creature stepped out into the burning light, revealing its distorted features.

Jay’s eyes widened and his voice lowered into a whisper. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a timberwolf,” Cozy answered, her own voice starting to quiver. “B-but they never leave the Everfree Forest!”

“Well, this one did.”

“I didn't know they could get that big.” Cozy’s eyes trailed up the wolf’s body, which stood a foot taller than Jay. It must have been an alpha! They were extremely rare and only spotted a few times throughout history. Cozy would have laughed at their terrible luck, but her fear got the better of her.

Jay began to back up slowly. “Oh, man.”

“Y-you’re a dog, right?” Cozy stuttered. “Can you like… talk to it or something?”

“What are you, stupid?”

Cozy glared at Jay, but he didn’t take his gaze off the hulking creature staring them down. Its glowing green eyes followed their every move, like a predator stalking its prey. Cozy began to back up as well but winced as a twig snapped under her hoof. The wolf reacted by baring its yellow fangs, followed by a deep growl.

“Screw this,” Jay said under his breath. Cozy looked over at him as he shook his head. “It’s gonna attack, we have to run now!

He sprinted away, and Cozy took to the air to follow. She didn’t look back but could hear the wolf’s heavy breathing as it gave chase. Its massive paws hitting the ground felt like an earthquake, watch only added to Cozy’s terror. She knew that a single slip-up meant death, so she pushed her wings to their limit. She even managed to catch up with Jay, who was panting hard.

A minute into their chase, Cozy’s lungs had started to burn while her wings cramped up. Jay looked equally tired, which is why he failed to notice a tree root sticking out of the ground and tripped right over it. The diamond dog fell flat on his face, but Cozy pushed on, her adrenaline taking control of her actions.

To her horror, the wolf jumped over Jay and continued after her. “Oh come on, why are you still chasing me!"

Before any real panic could set in, Cozy noticed the trees open up into a clearing, where the ground split into a massive gorge. With a smirk, she flew towards it. When she reached the edge, the wolf behind her skidded to a halt. It barked aggressively as she hovered above the massive drop.

"HA! Try and get me now, sucker!" the filly mocked, sticking her tongue out.

As if to answer her challenge, the wolf pawed at the ground and lowered its back. Cozy dropped her grin. There's no way it can - It leaped over the gorge with terrifying speed and bit into her wings. She cried out in pain as it flew through the air and dug its paws into the opposite wall. While Cozy dangled helplessly from the wolf’s mouth, it kicked itself off the wall to land back onto the ground with its prey pinned underneath it. The filly punched and kicked it in a desperate attempt to escape. "Get off me, you stupid mutt!"

Her screams were silenced when the wolf growled into her face, salvia dripping off sharp teeth that were ready to tear her apart. At that point, all she could do was close her eyes and await death… but death never came. Instead, Jay ran up and shoulder-checked it with enough force to knock it off the edge. With a rageful howl, the timberwolf fell to its doom, and the sound of wood shattering echoed throughout the gorge.

After taking a second to regain her senses, Cozy rose to shaky hooves. "Wow… that was really close."

Jay rested his hands on his knees so he could catch his breath. "Man… screw this country. I'm… happy to be leaving here!"

Cozy laughed and trotted to the edge so she could peer down into the gorge. The wolf's body had splintered into a dozen pieces and its wooden limbs were strewn across the dry ground. However, upon closer inspection, she noticed the wood had begun to shift and vibrate. It was almost like an invisible magnet was pulling them back together. Within seconds, the fragmented corpse of the timberwolf began to reattach itself. Cozy took a step back and shook her head. "This isn’t over!"

"What!?" Jay ran up next to her just as the wolf stood up. With its body fully intact, it looked up at them and howled. Jay threw his hands up in exasperation. "How the hell is that thing not dead?"

"They can reattach their bodies!"

"Oh, that is so stupid! These things suck!"

With incredible strength, the wolf pierced the stone wall with its nails and began to climb. Jay witnessed this and sighed deeply to himself. "And now it's climbing up the wall. Okay, we're screwed."

"What do we do!?" Cozy yelled.

"We could run again, or…" Jay bit his lip and glanced around. Suddenly, his eyes widened at some sort of realization. "Wait, I have an idea, but… you'll need to trust me."

***

The wolf made it to the top of the gorge and found Cozy standing alone with a nervous expression. Instead of pouncing right away, it looked past the filly to the trees behind her, almost like it was analyzing the surrounding area. When it seemed satisfied, it returned its attention to the pony in front of it. Cozy watched as it took the same stance from earlier and let out the same deep growl that would haunt her nightmares.

After taking a deep breath, she shouted, “What are you waiting for, you dumb piece of wood! I’m right here!” This better work, Jay.

The wolf sprinted towards her, but she refused to budge. As it got closer, Cozy closed her eyes and flinched, but right before it could reach her, Jay popped out of the ground and grabbed its hindleg. It fell on its chin and Jay pulled it towards him. It bit and scratched the air but Jay managed to flip it onto its back and hold its neck down with his forearm. With the wolf pinned below him, he raised his hatchet into the air and brought it down with one hard strike. The wolf cried out as the blade stabbed into its wooden chest. Jay brought the hatchet back up and swung down again, then again, and then one final time. The last strike pierced the animal's heart, causing it to whimper painfully. When Jay removed the blade, the timberwolf went limp, its green eyes dimming into blackness.

With the wolf now dead, Jay slid off its body and sat on the ground to take in some air. Meanwhile, his filly companion slowly rose to her hooves, having watched the whole thing intently.

"Wow, you were right! Diamond dogs are great at digging! Good job, Jay! And look at you, protecting your boss." Cozy flew up and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "That's some real henchman material right there!"

Jay looked over at her and frowned. “I’m going to say it again… screw this country!”

Comments

[AllenVth]

For a peaceful loving country, it sure holds quite a a lot of dangers.

At least Jay can appreciate Cozy's scheming mind.