Chapter One
“Ah still think ya’ll are crazy,” Applebloom huffed as she finished tuning the metal spring, pausing to wipe a bead of sweat from her forehead “And Ah still think the catapult was a better idea.”
Her two companions rolled their eyes. One of them, a unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle, flicked her purple and white mane about in what could have been described as a whirlwind, but to her was just what her sister did whenever she thought somepony was acting silly.
Unfortunately, the act of shaking her head around enough to gain lift on her short locks left her rather dazed, and she was left dizzily on her rump while Scootaloo prattled off about how a cannon was superior to a catapult when launching little pegasus fillies through the sky at high speeds.
“…and that’s why cannons are better,” finished Scootaloo with a smug smile. Sweetie Belle rejoined her companions as they started to roll the cannon out the front door of the barn. Applebloom shrugged as she spoke, “Ah don’t know… this thing still seems a might bit rickety…”
Sweetie Belle shook her head, “No way! We helped build it remember? There’s no way this could go wrong!”
She continued to skip along happily behind them, Applebloom sighing under her breath as she did so, “Yeah ya did help. That’s what Ah’m worried about…” Scootaloo interrupted Applebloom’s musings when she suddenly gasped, “Wait! This spot is perfect!”
They stopped as Scootaloo strapped on her helmet, “This is gonna be so cool!”
Moments later, the excitable filly was already clamoring inside the barrel of their spring-loaded cannon. Applebloom took her place behind the cannon, ready to fire on command, she gulped, “Uh, Scoots?”
The orange filly poked her helmeted head out from the tip of the cannon’s barrel to look at Applebloom, “Yeah?”
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Ah mean, what if ya can’t stay in the air?” asked Applebloom.
Scootaloo’s wide grin diminished at the thought, but only for a moment before she was smiling again. “Aw, relax Applebloom! There’s no way that’ll happen!”
Applebloom shared a worried glance with Sweetie Belle, they weren’t so sure. “Okay! Let’s do this!” yelled Scootaloo as she fastened her helmet tighter.
Previous worries somewhat forgotten, Applebloom allowed Scootaloo’s infectious excitement to wash over her, “Alrighty! On three! One… Two…”
“Applebloom! Just what in the hay do you girls think yer doin’!?” Applebloom nearly leapt into the air as her big sister galloped towards them from the orchard.
She gulped, “A-Applejack!?”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened, “Oh Ponyfeathers! Applebloom fire me! Fire me! Fire me! Fire me now!”
Applejack was nearly upon them, her Big Sister Glare paralyzing Applebloom to the spot as she yelled, “Applebloom!”
Scootaloo face-hoofed, “Applebloom! Come on!”
Applebloom looked back and forth between her sister and Scootaloo before sighing heavily, “Aw dang it. Sorry Scoots, Ah don’t think I can do it…”
Applebloom looked dejectedly down at her hooves, only for Sweetie Belle to spring up in front of her, “I can!” and with nary a thought Sweetie Belle pulled down hard on the string that kept the cannon from firing. Applejack dug her hooves into the ground and slowed to a stop just as the cannon let out a deafening boom.
“Woohoohoo!” Scootaloo’s yelling quickly vanished as she was blasted straight over the Apple Family Home and towards Ponyville. Applejack narrowed her eyes at the remaining Crusaders.
“Am Ah in trouble?” asked Applebloom in a small voice. Sweetie Belle was looking similarly down-trodden.
Applejack narrowed her eyes, “Ya’ll can bet on it. Now come on, we got a flying filly to catch!”
Scootaloo was soaring- no, she was flying! For the first time in her life she was actually flying! She felt tears threatening to form, but she didn’t care! She was flying just like Rainbow Dash! Like a pegasus! And then she started to slow down…
“W-what?” She sputtered.
She'd had reached the apex of her flight from the cannon, and now gravity was ready to reclaim her. She looked down. Her stomach flipped. “Oh no! No, no, no! Come on! Work you stupid wings!” She pumped her wings uselessly as the weightlessness started to dwindle and she was left with the feeling of falling. Her eyes shut of their own accord as the wind whipped past her face, her tiny wings flapping uselessly as she rushed towards the ground.
Applejack sprinted through the front gates of Sweet Apple Acres, two small fillies bouncing helplessly on her back as she rocketed towards Ponyville. “Of all the hair-brained schemes ya’ll girls pull…” she swore under her breath as she spotted the little orange dot sailing towards Ponyville. It was starting to slow down. “Ah hay!” Applejack sped up. She pumped her legs harder to increase her speed, leaving deep impressions in the dirt as she surged forward.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle caught sight of Scootaloo not a moment later, “Scootaloo!” they both yelled in unison as the little orange dot started to fall.
Their eyes widened, Applebloom yelled to her sister, “Hurry Applejack! She’s fallin’! Hurry!”
Applejack squeezed her eyes shut, “Ah am hurryin’!” She forced herself to go faster, getting closer to the ground and very nearly throwing her two passengers off.
“Come on! Come on! I think she’s headed for that hill!” Sweetie Belle’s panicked voice rang in Applejack’s ears as she corrected her path straight towards one of the outlying hills just outside Ponyville. She crested its peak and jerked her head towards the sky. An orange and purple blur greeted her vision and sent her and three fillies tumbling down the hill in a mess of limbs, high-pitched squeals, and more than few curses from one stressed out apple farmer. They hit the bottom of the hill and bounced once, separating as they rolled across the ground. The last thing Applejack heard was the startled mewl of something that was definitely not a pony.
****
Applejack let out a long groan as consciousness flooded back into her. She blinked rapidly, clearing her blurry vision. Putting a hoof to her aching head, she rubbed a spot that felt particularly painful. She jerked her hoof back when a lance of pain invaded her skull.
“Ow…” she muttered.
She looked at her now slightly red hoof. It’d been a long time since she’d hurt herself bad enough to bleed. Sighing, she slowly stood on four shaky hooves. She raised a hoof to readjust her hat, but as if to add insult to injury, the Stetson was no longer resting on her sore head.
She groaned again before looking up, more than ready to scold a trio of fillies on the lesson of why launching your friends out of a cannon was a bad idea. She didn’t get the chance. The moment she looked up her blood had run cold. Her eyes turned to pinpricks. And she felt a nagging voice in the back of her mind screaming at her a single word, “Run”. But she held her ground, frozen to the spot by a mix of stubbornness and fear. For before her was something she’d never have expected to see. Standing only a few pony-lengths away was a gigantic white wolf.
It was nearly three times her size, and stood a head taller than even Princess Celestia. Its fur was solid white, but marred with dirt and grime that gave it a grey sheen. A single one of its massive paws was larger than her head, and she could see that it had each of its claws fully extended, digging into the dirt with razor-sharp efficiency. But what kept her rooted to the ground was its head. Hundreds of needle-sharp teeth glimmered from its maw, and its dull yellow eyes were locked squarely onto hers. She didn’t dare make a move. She didn’t even breathe. Her subconscious was screaming at her to move, to run away, to do something. The silence between them drug on for what felt like an eternity, only to be broken by a small adorable yawn. “A-Applejack…?”
Her heart hurt. It felt like her chest was going to explode. Never in her life had Applejack felt so afraid, so totally helpless. She didn’t for a moment take her eyes off of the wolf, but its eyes had already drifted to the source of the voice. A small filly and her two best friends slowly woke, shaking their heads clear from the nasty fall.
Applebloom blinked a few times as her eyes readjusted, “What happened-…” she stopped, her little voice cut off as her mouth hung open. Her eyes were wide.
Scootaloo was the next to recover and was about to ask Applebloom what was wrong, but the moment she saw what Applebloom was looking at she slowly closed her mouth, staring wide-eyed at the wolf that watched them.
Sweetie Belle had no such trouble, “Oh my gosh what is tha~at!”
She quickly ducked behind Scootaloo and Applebloom, who had huddled together.
Applejack felt every muscle in her body tense as she watched the wolf stare at her little sister. It took a step towards them, and Applejack waited no longer.
She jumped forward and came down hard on her front hooves, spinning in place and delivering a powerful buck with her hind legs right into the wolf’s jaw. She turned towards her sister and the Crusaders, eyes wide and yelled, “Run!”
The girls didn’t hesitate to follow her instructions and sped off towards Ponyville. Applejack had barely enough time to sigh in relief before she was knocked off her hooves.
She hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop with a dull ache in her left foreleg. She took in a labored breath turning just as the wolf pounced at her. She rolled out of the way and jumped to her hooves, delivering another buck to the wolf’s side as it came down next to her. It barely flinched in response.
Applejack didn’t get the chance to ruminate on that for long though, as one of the wolf’s great paws swatted her back down to the ground. She tried to roll again, but halfway through she was caught. A large paw came down on her chest, crushing the air from her lungs and pinning her to the ground. She was left with a perfect view of the beast’s massive head, staring down at her with its jaw open wide. Hot breath rolled over her face as it breathed, and she felt her eyes start to water. She blinked away the tears, staring resolutely at the wolf. They locked eyes.
Applejack had never dreamt that she would ever stare down the pale face of death before, or that she was going to meet her end at the paws of a giant wolf, but for the life of her she would not be going quietly. “Go ahead!” she yelled at it, “I hope you choke on me!”
The wolf lowered its massive head dangerously until it was barely a hair’s length away from her. Applejack mentally kicked herself for flinching as it came near. Its mouth opened wide in what felt like slow-motion for Applejack, as she got a full-view of each individual tooth, the wolf’s blood red tongue licking the sides of its mouth in preparation for a meal.
Applejack closed her eyes as the wolf came just that much closer. The seconds ticked by, but no bite came. Very slowly, Applejack opened her eyes. And the teeth came down in what would have been the final bite, if it had actually bit her. It snapped its jaw shut in front of her, and she flinched again, much to her chagrin.
“Well!? What’re ya waitin’ for!?” she screamed at it, on the verge of tears. It backed up only slightly, and then surged forward again mouth wide open!
Applejack screamed. But once again, no bite came. She opened her eyes again, this time letting the tears flow freely. It snapped at her again, this time barely missing her muzzle. She let out a bloodcurdling scream. Fear flooded her veins, but more than that was the humiliation. It was playing with her.
It snapped at her, again and again those razor-sharp teeth came only just close enough that she thought it might be the last thing she ever saw. But each time the wolf would draw back, and torture her once more. So she screamed. She screamed and screamed until her throat was raw and she was blinded by her own tears. All she could see was its mouth and its teeth. Constantly snapping shut just in front of her, promising a painful demise with each bite. She couldn’t take it anymore.
****
Applebloom ran faster than she had ever run in her life. She could see it ahead of them.
“Ponyville! There it is!” Sweetie Belle yelled from her place just behind them.
Applebloom nodded in grim determination, “We have to hurry!”
Scootaloo buzzed her wings defiantly, trying to lift herself, “Come on! Come on! Why!? Why won’t these stupid wings work!?” She let out a scream of frustration as she fell in line behind Applebloom.
Applebloom yelled behind her, “Forget ’em! We need to get help!”
“What do you think I’m trying to do!? If I could just- Urgh!” she jumped and buzzed her wings, only to come back to the ground and resume running, “Fly!”
Applebloom said no more as they passed into Ponyville proper, the cobble road echoing under them as their hooves carried them towards the town’s center.
She didn’t even slow down as they reached the center of town, opting instead to scream as loud as her little lungs would allow, “Help! Help! Please! Somepony help mah sister!”
Heads turned as the trio sprinted through the market square, screaming so loud as to rattle the windows of nearby homes. The Crusaders had nearly cleared the square when an aura of light azure stopped them in their tracks. Rarity was next to them in moments, “Girls! Girls! Stop screaming! What happened!? What’s wrong!?”
The girls immediately launched into a jumbled frenzy of a story that Rarity couldn’t make out. What she could make out however, was that Applebloom had broken down into sobs while Sweetie Belle screamed at the top of her lungs and Scootaloo tried to wrench off her own wings with her teeth.
She furrowed her brow and steeled herself before yelling loud enough to silence them, “Enough! What is going on!?”
Suddenly everypony in the square grew silent, and for a moment Rarity thought she’d yelled louder than she had expected. That changed when the wind carried a new sound over the streets. It was screaming. Horrible, guttural screaming. It was like nothing Rarity had ever heard before.
Applebloom’s eyes had sunken, and her face grew pale as she mumbled the name, “Applejack…?”
Rarity didn’t think about it. She couldn’t. Her mind sequestered itself in its favorite sewing corner and she focused on the most immediate course of action.
She yelled at the top of her lungs to anypony nearby willing to listen, “Well don’t just stand there! Come on! Applejack’s in trouble!”
She started sprinting before she’d even finished speaking, heading towards the sound of screaming. She only prayed there were ponies following her as she ran. She cleared Ponyville’s borders in ten seconds flat and was already midway up a hill when a rainbow blur soared overhead. She would have smiled under normal circumstances. But the terrible screaming had only grown louder and more desperate as she followed the sound to its source.
She reached the top of the hill and looked down, and there, she spotted Applejack. Rarity hesitated, and she hated herself for it. Poised over Applejack, snarling and snapping, was the single largest wolf Rarity had ever seen, had ever dreamt of seeing. It was larger than a bear and twice as long, and it was standing directly over one of her friends.
Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate for a moment. Before Rarity could even blink in surprise the rainbow blur that she knew so well smashed into the side of the imposing wolf, knocking it off its paws and carrying it straight into the side of the nearest hill in a shower of dirt and rock.
Rarity was already in motion, galloping down the steep hill and into the sunken area that Applejack lay in. She wasn’t moving. Rarity’s breath hitched in her throat, and she nearly stumbled as she ran towards Applejack, but a horrible snarl caused her to lose her footing. She’d nearly reached the prone form of her friend when a giant blur of white smashed into her side. She felt her rear hoof bend painfully backwards as the sheer force of the collision took her off her hooves and sent her skyward. She flew through the air for no more than a second before colliding with the slope of the hill she’d run down only a few moments before. Her vision went black.
Rainbow Dash shrugged off the dirt and rock from her collision, but had barely managed to open her eyes before the wolf was back on its feet and sprinting towards a snow-white unicorn mare.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull as she realized who the mare was, “Rarity!” But the fashionista hadn’t heard her, or rather, she had been too slow. The wolf careened into her friend with all the force of an oncoming train, and Rainbow Dash could only watch as Rarity was flung against the nearest hillside with an audible crack.
“No!” she yelled as she surged forward, her wings pumping with enough power to send her skyrocketing towards the wolf. She raised her hooves and narrowed her eyes in the span of a second before they collided, sending them tumbling end over end into the dirt once again. But this time the wolf reacted first.
Rainbow Dash had only just opened her eyes in time to dodge the incoming paw swipe of the wolf. Its claws dug deep into the ground where she’d been only a moment before. She shuddered involuntarily as she watched its claws sheer a small rock cleanly in half.
She heard it snarl as she rolled into an upwards climb. She needed speed. And lots of it. She cast her gaze back down as she soared nearer to the sky, but stopped dead when she saw the wolf headed straight for Rarity’s prone form. There was no time to gain altitude so she’d have to make do with what she had. Rainbow Dash broke into a nose-dive headed straight for the wolf. Even from her low height the very air around her seemed to bend as she sped faster and faster.
She screamed louder than the air around her did as the wolf raised a paw directly over Rarity’s head, “Stop!” The wolf listened. Rainbow Dash hadn’t expected that to happen. Neither did she expect the wolf to jump at her. It cleared the ground and absorbed her vision before she’d registered what was happening, its outstretched paw slapping her right out of the dive. She spiraled. There was nothing she could do, she knew that much. So she tucked in and hoped she was still conscious when she crashed. She hit the ground with a loud boom, and came to a dead-stop.
Ponies encircled the depression that held the wolf and their neighbors; unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies all moving in to help. The wolf was bearing down on an unconscious Rainbow Dash when a rock thrown by a nearby unicorn pegged it in the snout. It turned towards the mint green unicorn mare, snarling.
A cream-colored earth pony mare charged to her friend’s aid, chucking another rock in the air and then spinning to buck it directly into the wolf’s face.
It wasn’t long before a black pegasus with a thunderbolt cutie mark dropped a large rock on top of the wolf, nailing its back. It snarled and bared its teeth, but the ponies nearby weren’t intimidated. A dozen more rocks quickly followed the first few, and before long they were throwing everything they had at the wolf.
Slowly but surely it started to back away from the unconscious forms of the three mares. Quick as a flash, a grey pegasus mare swooped down and picked up Rainbow Dash in her hooves, quickly flying her friend back to the relative safety of the depression’s edge. A moment later two pegasi mares with similar light purple coats did the same, carrying Rarity back to the safety of the edge.
The wolf’s eyes narrowed in on Applejack. The ponies nearby certainly noticed. Rocks flew fast and dangerously, but the wolf was faster and brushed off the rocks as it darted to Applejack its claws outstretched!
But it didn’t get the chance. A blast of powerful violet magic hit the wolf’s chest, causing it to stumble. A second blast forced it back further. It growled angrily, spotting the lavender unicorn that was assaulting it.
Twilight Sparkle stood at the precipice of the depression’s edge, her horn alight with energy. The wolf took a hesitant step forward, and a blast of her violet magic exploded the dirt just in front of it. Then the wolf charged. Twilight’s eyes widened and she sent another wave of magic at the wolf, although this time it was prepared. The wolf skidded to the side, its lithe body, however massive, easily circumventing the relatively slow-moving magical blast. But Twilight wasn’t finished.
Her horn grew steadily brighter, and as her brow furrowed in concentration a thin film of violet energy started to appear around the wolf’s form. It tried to leap, but suddenly found that its chest was held in a rather immovable cast of powerful magic. Twilight knit her brow and closed her eyes, closing out the outside world as she focused solely on keeping the now thrashing wolf restrained. The wolf dug its claws into the ground, howling and snarling as it forced itself to move closer to Applejack. Twilight grunted in irritation, “S-somepony get… down there! Urgh!”
She heard something akin to a shout of worry, but could do little more than focus on keeping the wolf restrained. It was a losing battle. She’d never encountered an animal that could resist magic so easily. Even an Ursa Minor was well within Twilight’s capacity to restrain, if she had to. But the wolf was nearly slipping through her grasp, her magic repelling against and away from its body. It made keeping it still nearly impossible, but only nearly. Twilight was a powerful unicorn, and she would not allow some ravenous predator to hurt her friends.
“Stop!” cried out a voice.
Twilight shifted, barely catching the quiet call. She knew the voice. “Fluttershy?” she asked through clenched teeth, and sure enough, she heard the soft wing beats of her friend landing just beside her. She forced her eyes open to regard her friend, wincing as the wolf struggled harder.
The cream colored pegasus next to her was breathing heavily and Twilight figured she must have flown all the way from her cottage on the edge of the Everfree.
“Twilight! You- you’re going to hurt her! Let… phew… let me… Oh dear…” Fluttershy paused to catch her breath, sitting down and folding her wings, “Just… one second…”
Twilight could only nod and return her attention to the wolf and Applejack, she frowned, “Somepony get down there and get Applejack now!” she yelled loudly to all ponies present, startling Fluttershy from her breathing exercises.
“Applejack’s down there!? Oh my… I-I’ll…” Fluttershy steeled herself, “Twilight! I’ll handle this! Just get Applejack back safely please.” And before Twilight could respond, Fluttershy extended her wings and flew down towards the wolf.
Twilight held back a groan, knowing that if anypony could calm down a rabid animal it would be Fluttershy. That certainly didn’t mean she had to like letting her friend put herself in danger though. “Just hurry!” she called after her.
Fluttershy nodded both to herself and Twilight as she landed just a few lengths away from the wolf. It noticed her immediately. She paused, the look in the wolf’s eyes causing her to falter however slightly. It was not the look a predator gave prey. It was something else; something that made shiver’s run down her spine and her hair stand on end.
She focused. “Come on Fluttershy… you can do this.” She took a deep breath and approached the wolf. “You need to stop.” The wolf’s ears stood on end at the sound of her voice, and what attention it had been directing elsewhere was suddenly all focused on Fluttershy.
She gulped. “I said, you need to stop. Ponies aren’t food and you should know that.”
She stared directly into the wolf’s eyes, not daring to blink as it stared back at her. Its struggling had ceased, and Twilight’s magic started to spread further over its body. Fluttershy continued to hold its gaze. “Lay down. You’re hurt, and you’ll only get that paw treated if you start acting nice.” The wolf continued to stare her down, and she rose to the challenge. Seconds passed that felt like minutes, but Fluttershy knew that this was a fight that she had to win.
Her concentration broke when the wolf let out several garbled barks in quick succession. It took her moment to realize what it was doing. It was laughing. Its eyes drifted away from her, going skyward. Fluttershy followed its gaze, and spotted something approaching from the sky above Everfree.
She turned back to the wolf, “What-?” she didn’t get to finish before several ponies started screaming, and great gusts of wind nearly blew her over.
Fluttershy turned on her hooves just as it landed, the ground rumbling in response. She slowly started to look up, “D-d-d-d-dragon!?”
Whatever courage Fluttershy had felt before was suddenly replaced by fear, and she fell to her haunches, paralyzed. It was huge, nearly five times her height and fifteen times as long. Its sage green scales glowing in the sunlight, rippling muscle hiding just beneath. Long purple spines similar to Spike’s in everything but color trailed down its back and ended at its razor-sharp tail. The dragon’s serpentine neck lowered, and although it was marginally smaller than the dragons she’d faced in the past, the moment its large golden draconic eyes passed over her she started to shake. It was only as the dragon passed by her, its tree trunk sized legs causing the ground to shake as it walked, that Fluttershy heard the wolf laughing again. It was howling and barking in what she recognized as delight, and she turned around just in time to watch the dragon attack.
Twilight’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “A dragon!? What is a dragon doing here!?” nopony responded on account of the screaming and general panic. Twilight could only watch as the dragon passed by Fluttershy and headed towards the wolf still ensnared in her magic. She watched in silence as the dragon raised a single one of its giant legs, and then punched the wolf.
A terrible ache spread through Twilight as her magic was shattered by the dragon’s punch, leaving her horn numb and her knees quaking uncontrollably. It was a preferable alternative to being punched by a dragon directly. The wolf tumbled end over end and slammed against the side of the hill, and then something stranger happened. The dragon started to speak in a language Twilight had never heard before, and from the sound of it, the dragon was quite angry.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done!? I told you to avoid them! I told you to watch out for them! I told you to stay away from Ponyville!”
Twilight listened intently to the strange language as the dragon moved closer to the wolf. It had just managed to stand when the dragon’s clawed hand shot out and pinned it to the hillside. Twilight’s attention was suddenly drawn away as Fluttershy started screaming at the dragon.
“Stop it! Stop! You’re hurting her! Stop!” It didn’t help that she was hitting at its ankles.
Twilight jumped into overdrive, “Fluttershy! Are you crazy!?”
She lit her horn, but winced as it sent a lance of pain through her skull. “Ow! Oh you have got to be kidding!”
Without a second thought Twilight jumped into the depression, galloping towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy just kept hammering at the dragon’s feet, totally focused on getting him to release the wolf. Twilight’s eyes widened as the dragon’s tail flicked towards Fluttershy, fully intending to swat her away like a bug. It was then that she realized she was too slow.
A rainbow blur streaked past her vision then, and Fluttershy disappeared just as the tail swung past where she had been standing a moment before. Twilight let out the breath she had been holding, “Hey Twilight!” and then promptly screamed and spun around to face her friend, “Rainbow Dash!”
“What?” the polychromatic pegasus was hovering just behind her, Fluttershy firmly within her grasp. She looked like she had seen better days. One of her wings was flapping irregularly, and she had nasty bruise over her eye.
Twilight shook her head clear, “Nothing! Get Fluttershy out of here! I’ll get Applejack!”
Rainbow Dash nodded and flew off, leaving Twilight alone in the depression with two giant predators. She turned and sprinted for Applejack. She reached her friend and skidded to a stop, checking her over for any obvious injuries. She smiled when she found only a few scrapes and bruises. “Okay! Don’t worry Applejack; I’ll get us out of here!”
Her horn started to glow, and then a spike drove itself through her skull, “Ow! Ow! Ow!” and her horn lost its familiar glow just as quick. Twilight frowned, looking down at Applejack, “Well… I’ll just have to carry you out of here then!”
Twilight slid her head under Applejack’s forelegs, and slowly started to lift her onto her back. It was not as easy as Twilight had thought it would be.
“Oh my gosh!” Twilight stumbled under the sudden weight and struggled to right herself, “You… You’re so heavy!”
She groaned and lifted, Applejack slipping onto her back as she started towards the hillside, “Oh, you-you’re eally… ugh… heavy…”
She was half-way to the depression’s edge when she heard the dragon yelling in that strange language again, “We are leaving! Do you have any idea how dangerous the Elements of Harmony are!? We do not need you putting everyone in danger like this!”
Twilight slowed to a stop and watched intently as the dragon finished its yelling. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, or even what she was watching… but the one thing she hadn’t expected to happen was the dragon simply releasing the wolf. It retracted its massive claws in one swift motion and the wolf fell to the ground in a heap. It struggled to stand on its own, and after a failed attempt at righting itself Twilight watched as the dragon lent the wolf a massive finger to lean on. It accepted, and then quickly climbed on top of the dragon settling into a crook just behind its long neck.
Twilight watched in a mix of confusion and curiosity as the dragon spread its gargantuan wings then, but a sudden groan from her passenger reminded her that she had more important things to worry about.
Nodding to herself, Twilight resumed her slow march towards the edge of the depression. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew from behind her, and Twilight turned just in time to catch the dragon fly off, the wolf lying on its back as it flew towards the Everfree.
She furrowed her brow as they flew into the distance, “Urgh! I’ll figure it out later!” and with that proclamation two pegasi flew down to assist her with Applejack.