Spurred onward by the thought of the danger Chuck could be in, Twilight and Lyra galloped across town to the Everfree Forest. As they ran, Lyra made a quick stop at Quills & Sofas, popping in for a moment before coming out with something in a bag around her neck.

“Why did you have to stop?!” Twilight demanded.

“I had a feeling this would be useful!” Lyra responded, not bothering to show what she bought before continuing to run, barely impaired by her new baggage. Twilight rolled her eyes and followed.

Due to neither pony being particularly athletic, it took a fair amount of time for them to actually reach the woods, where they stopped to catch their breath before actually going in.

The sun was getting ready to set now, and even though she had been in the forest many times before, Twilight still felt nervous about being in it at night. Lyra hadn’t been in the forest even once, so she was on edge far more than her librarian companion was.

Both unicorns walked for a short while, jumping at noises and carefully avoiding the flora. They soon heard a low growl and tensed up.

“It’s coming from up ahead,” Twilight quietly whispered. Lyra nodded, and they moved forward slowly and stealthily. Soon, they found the source of the growling: a manticore, who was playing with a fishing rod dangling from a tree branch.

Even though neither of them wanted to be seen and attacked by the manticore, the unicorns couldn’t help but move closer to make sure they were actually seeing what they thought they were seeing. Unfortunately for them, they failed to pay attention to the path itself, and Lyra stepped on a dry leaf.

The manticore paused upon hearing the crunch sound, turning to the ponies. All three beings froze. Twilight lifted a hoof in an awkward wave. “Um...h-hello there...we mean no harm...”

The manticore growled, and the ponies flinched. However, before it could do anything, its ears flicked as it seemed to pick up some sound that the mares were unable to hear. With another growl, this one not directed at anything currently in the vicinity, it turned and flapped its wings, flying off.

While Twilight tried to figure out what just happened, Lyra walked up to the fishing rod and looked it over. Her eyes widened. “Twilight...this is Chuck’s!”

The librarian snapped her attention to the rod. “What?!”

Lyra nodded. “He must have gone further than this...maybe the manticore attacked him and he used the rod to distract it?”

“That seems to be the only option that makes sense...” Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, then shook her head. “We need to keep going. We can ask Chuck himself when we find him.”

Lyra nodded. “Should we take the rod?”

“Leave it. With all those manticore bite and claw marks on it, I don’t think he could even use it anymore.”

“...good point...”

Chuck backed away slowly as he realized just what he was looking at. A wolflike creature, made entirely of sticks and leaves. He knew there were odd things in this world - the town full of pastel ponies had already proven that - but he never expected something like this.

The wolf stalked closer to him, soon being joined by two other wolves from the bush. Chuck gulped nervously and glanced down the path to see if he could make a break for it. However, he didn’t want to test the speed of these creatures; they all looked like they could move much faster than the lion from earlier, and he had enough trouble just matching pace with that one.

He thought about just attacking the wolves with his shovel, but he didn’t think their wooden bodies would take much damage from it. He did, however, get an odd idea, and he thrust his shovel into the ground. Before the wolves could attack, he pulled the shovel out along with a large pile of dirt, which he swung forward into their eyes.

With one wolf blinded and the other two distracted and confused, Chuck took this moment to start running, hoping they’d be too busy to follow him. Sure enough, he heard barking behind him that got farther and farther away, but faded steps soon also reached his ears. He kept running, hoping he had enough of a headstart to get away.

The steps got rapidly closer. He considered stopping and trying the dirt trick again, but he doubted it’d work twice in a row. He forced himself to keep running, despite his legs begging him to stop. The steps and growling became dangerously close, to the point where he could practically feel them right behind him.

At that moment, there was a loud roar from above, followed by three simultaneous yelps and the cracking of wood directly behind Chuck.

The mayor skidded to a stop, turning around curiously. There, surrounded by the wood and leaves that formerly made up three deadly creatures, was the manticore from earlier.

Chuck blinked. The manticore grinned at him like it just pulled off an impressive trick, then flopped down onto its back and whined.

The human couldn’t help but laugh. A little hesitantly, he stepped forward and rubbed the manticore’s belly, who purred in response.

“Chuck!”

Not stopping the rubbing, but turning his head to see who called his name, Chuck saw two unicorns galloping down the path toward him. He instantly recognized one of them as Lyra, but wasn’t sure who the second one was. Nevertheless, he smiled at them.

The mares finally stopped running, spending several seconds catching their breath. “You...why...in...here?” Lyra gasped, unable to form a proper sentence.

Chuck sighed, knowing he’d have to explain it all later. For the time being, he stopped rubbing the manticore’s belly and put his shovel away. The other unicorn seemed to realize his intention and nodded.

“Right. Let’s get out of here,” she said in agreement.

Before they could go anywhere, though, the sticks on the ground began to shake. They froze, staring in shock and fear as the three wolves began to reassemble themselves. The manticore stepped back beside them, growling.

As this happened, other Timberwolves seemed to get some kind of signal, as another three came out of the shrubbery and stood next to their self-repairing allies. The newly formed squad of six all growled at the two ponies, one human, and one manticore they had dubbed their prey.

“Chuck?”

The human glanced to Lyra, who had lit her horn and pulled the item she had purchased earlier out of her bag. “You...may want to use this...”

An axe.

The grin that came over Chuck’s face would have unsettled many if they were unsure of his intentions. For the two mares, they simply felt an odd sense of relief as soon as the weapon was in the mayor’s hands.

The Timberwolves growled and slowly began to approach. Chuck motioned for the two ponies to step back, and they did, the manticore following suit out of curiosity.

Holding the axe in a comfortable position, Chuck stared at the six wolves, ready for battle.

They pounced.