Chapter Nine – Hooves Don't Fail Me Now

Applebloom's hooves were carrying her as fast as physically possible. After Gummy's enlightening revilement of the location of both of her missing friends – whether the gator had done that accidentally or on purpose she will never know – the yellow filly had taken off after them. Scootaloo was right in front of her. Even though the orange filly was lacking her scooter, she was slightly more athletic than Applebloom, giving her the lead.

"Why would Glass and Sweetie Belle go off into the Everfree Forest alone?" Applebloom inquired as the two fillies ran.

"Maybe they were, umm… I really don't know, Applebloom." Scootaloo panted back. Suddenly, the orange pegasus tripped and tumbled down to the ground. Applebloom immediately stopped to check on her friend.

"I'm fine." Scootaloo said, standing. Looking at the ground, Applebloom saw that Scootaloo had stumbled over one of three small ruts somepony had carelessly dug into the ground. "This wouldn't have happened if my scooter wasn't broken." The orange pegasus dejectedly said.

"No time to worry 'bout that now. We need to get to Sweetie Belle and Glass. Ah have a feelin' they might need our help." Applebloom told her friend. Scootaloo nodded, knowing the yellow filly was probably right.

"Then let's not waste any more time." She exclaimed. The two picked up their original pace, quickly making up for lost time. The grassy ground of Ponyville gave way to a bare, dirt ground as they neared the Everfree Forest. It seemed as if the grass itself knew better than to go near the cursed forest.

The two fillies reached the spot they had seen their friends enter Everfree. Both simultaneously halted before going in. Applebloom shared a look with Scootaloo, both knowing that entering the forest would be no picnic.

"Do ya think we should tell somepony?" Applebloom asked. "Mah sister could likely help us."

Scootaloo shook her head, flinging several drops of dirty sweat in all directions. "Too late now, we're already here." Applebloom nodded, conceding to Scootaloo's argument. Both looked back at the Everfree forest with slight uncertainty. They were tentative to take steps in there, despite having survived it before.

A sharp, unmistakable scream snapped them out of this trance. The two friends identified it instantly. "Sweetie Belle." Applebloom said, under her breath. There was no hesitation after that. Both of the fillies dived into the thick and dangerous hazard that was called the Everfree Forest.

---

Sweetie Belle had finally found enough courage to scream, and she did so with all her might. The looming timber wolf – a massive and hungry-looking beast – paused as if its ears were hurt. When Sweetie Belle finally ran out of breath, she stopped her cry of fear.

Glass stared at her, looking slightly annoyed. "Geez, you get mad at me for whistling, and then you go and do that?" He rubbed his hoof to his ear lobe. "I think there might be some serious damage here. Thanks a lot."

"G-Glass…" Sweetie Belle said, now shaking with fear. "T-timber wolf!"

Glass turned his head with mild interest at the massive monster. "Yeah, I can see that. It's no real concern. On the other hoof, my ear drums as still ringing slightly. That's a little disturbing. Do you think that's a sign of permanent damage?"

Sweetie Belle had the immediate thought of fleeing. In fact, running away was about her only thought at that moment. Unfortunately, her hooves did not get the message, as they stayed firmly planted to the ground. She realized that she was frozen with fear at this point. "Glass, I can't move." She whispered through clenched teeth.

The timber wolf, clearly still unhappy about Glass's dismissal, roared loudly at him.

"Do you mind?" Glass said to the timber wolf. The beast paused, seemingly confused as to why it's prey was not terrified or fleeing. "We're kind of having a conversation here."

"Glass, we need to escape!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. She could still not move. The timber wolf leaned in real close to Glass and roared again, probably expecting another reaction.

The foul odor of the timber wolf's breath assaulted Sweetie Belle's nose. It was so bad she recoiled, fell back, and landed on her plot. At least she could move again. Glass wrinkled his snout, having sniffed the breath of the beast himself.

"Sweet Celestia, you need a breath mint." He said.

---

Applebloom and Scootaloo cut there way through the stagnant bushes and brustle of the trees just in time to hear Glass's breath mint remark.

"Glass! Sweetie Belle!" She called out happily. Glass cocked his head around to see them. That's when Applebloom saw the timber wolf, which until that moment she had somehow unconsciously ignored.

"Oh crap! What's a timber wolf doing here?" Scootaloo screamed. The yellow filly felt her legs turn to jelly. She could barely stand out of pure fear. The orange pegasus to her left seemed to be in an almost worse state.

"We have to get out of here!" Sweetie Belle said, a mere five feet from Glass who himself was directly in front of the wooden monster.

The timber wolf must have felt like its time to wait was up. With a final, heinously scented roar it raised a wooden claw, ready to strike Glass. Sweetie Belle backed up swiftly, drawing herself out of danger. Glass looked… mildly interested at best.

As the wooden monster's claw came down, Scootaloo shrieked. Glass deftly sidestepped the beasts' attack with little effort. For a moment the timber wolf looked confused. Seizing the advantage, Glass grabbed a moderately sized stone and chucked it at the monster. The rock sailed right into the glowing yellow eye of the timber wolf and it howled in pain.

"Both of you, back up now!" Glass suddenly yelled at them. Applebloom was confused at his remark, but Scootaloo grabbed her and pulled the yellow filly back into the bushes behind them. It was just in time too, for the timber wolf had released a semi-blind strike in their general direction. Applebloom felt the wind of the blow as it passed by her and Scootaloo. It had missed them by mere inches.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Glass asked the timber wolf as it blinked away the pain in its eye. It responded by moving its massive foot to step on Glass. He jumped to avoid it, and landed on a tree branch ten feet away and twenty feet up!

Applebloom blinked to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Nope. Obsidian Glass had preformed a leap that most ponies would need wings to accomplish.

"So I guess we aren't going to rationally work this out then." Glass said from his branch. The wooden monster looked around in confusion before spying him in the tree. "That's cool."

The timber wolf roared again and rushed forward to strike Glass on the tree limb. Glass preformed another incredible leap, and the timber wolf only managed to smash the branch Glass had originally sitting on.

The white colt landed on the top of the timber wolf's head. In retaliation, the timber wolf raised a claw to strike Glass again. Glass took one step forward, sending himself nimbly sliding down the monster's back. The timber wolf's attack – meant for Applebloom's friend – ended up striking it's own head with extreme force. The blow smashed the beast's head into hundreds of splinters, which were sent in all directions.

The three fillies shut their eyes as the splinters flew through the air. When it was safe to look again, Applebloom opened her eyes again. She saw the formerly intimidating timber wolf now lying on the ground, headless.

"Is it over?" Sweetie Belle asked, worriedly. Applebloom nodded. She was certain that timber wolf would not be getting up again.

"But where is…" Scootaloo began to ask.

"Right here." A familiar voice called out. The trio turned around to see as grinning dark-haired colt with a toothpick-sized piece of the timber wolf between his teeth.

"Glass!" Scootaloo exclaimed happily. She ran forward in an orange blur a hugged the colt so hard the wind was actually knocked out of him. The little toothpick fell out of his mouth.

"Geez. Maybe I should save you from certain doom more often." Glass said, grinning. Scootaloo released him from the hug, blushing.

"That was amazing, Glass!" Applebloom told him.

"How did you do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Glass shrugged his shoulders. "You saw me do it. Why are you asking that question?" Sarcasm again. Sweetie Belle gave an exasperated – yet friendly – sigh of annoyance.

"We should probably get out of here." Applebloom said, reminding her friends that they were still in one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria.

"Yeah." Scootaloo said. Everypony was silent for a moment. They were all thinking the same thought, but Glass was the only one brave enough to say it out loud.

"Anypony know the way out?" Glass asked, grin ablaze. "Because I've got nothing."

An hour later, the four ponies managed to drag themselves out of the Everfree forest. Luckily, they had avoided any run-ins with the more dangerous fauna. In fact, once the timber wolf was defeated, the only other creature they saw was the star spider that landed in Sweetie Belle's purple mane. After about twenty seconds of screaming, Glass had managed to get her still enough to flick it away.

"It's good ta finally be out of there." Applebloom said, tiredly. She saw that Celestia's sun had begun its descent in the sky. "What time is it anyways?" She asked.

"Late enough that we should probably think about heading home." Sweetie Belle replied. "No use trying for a Crusade when we'd have to stop it in a few minutes anyway."

Applebloom gave a dejected look. "Darn." She said.

"At least we have tomorrow." Scootaloo said, cheering her up a little.

"Yeah, we can do something then." Applebloom said. She looked to Glass to make sure they hadn't hurt his feelings again, but he had become preoccupied by a gator who had wandered up to them.

"I guess I'll just go home. See you all tomorrow." Sweetie Belle said. The white unicorn walked away, waving goodbye to her friends.

Applebloom waved back for a moment, then turned to Scootaloo and Glass. "What are you guys planning to do?" She asked them.

"Convince Gummy to let go of my foreleg." Glass said, outstretching his hoof to show the dangling reptile latching onto it.

"I'll probably just go home and try to fix my scooter some more." Scootaloo said. Glass's attention turned to her.

"You've got a broken scooter?" He asked, tugging at Gummy some in a vain attempt to get the alligator off of him.

"Yeah, it's been broke for a few days now." The orange pony dejectedly said. "I've been trying to fix it but…"

"I'll help you." Glass said, finally wringing Gummy off his leg. He set the gator down and let him wobble off.

"Really?" Scootaloo said, perking up. Her wings flapped vigorously. Glass didn't let on if he noticed her change in demeanor or not.

"Yeah, no problem." He said.

"Well let's go!" Scootaloo said. Glass began to walk off, but Applebloom caught Scootaloo for a moment.

"See if ya can find out how he managed ta beat that timber wolf." She whispered. The magenta-haired filly nodded.

"If you're curious, all you had to do was ask." Glass said, still walking off. Applebloom blushed, realizing he had heard what she just said.

"Okay, then. Goodbye. Ah gotta get home myself." Applebloom said. Scootaloo walked off with Glass and Applebloom began to make her way back to the farm. She only wished she could be there for the conversation those two were about to have.

---

Yeah, this took longer than normal. Sorry about that. I've been trying to finish up my other story first, since it's almost done, but it's been having some issues with my good friend Writer's Block. So I thought I'd come back to this story for a moment and knock out chapter nine. Let me know what you thought of this one.