Whoa! Where the bronk did THAT THING come from?!? Rainbow Dash wondered when the winged panther suddenly materialized before the two bipedal creatures.

Then one of the bipedal creatures snatched up one of the objects from the top of the red metal box and several loud bangs later, Rainbow Dash almost had an accident right there in the corridor.

Being somepony who could break the sound barrier at will, she was gifted with the ability to see many things that would normally be too fast to be caught by the eye of any ordinary pony. So what was even more unnerving than the fact the a large, winged and clearly predatory monster had appeared out of nowhere, and to the fact it had spoken to the aliens who had come through a magical portal, was that Rainbow Dash had seen several small rocks fly out of the hole of the object at near-supersonic speeds, only to come to a sudden stop well before they could hit the big winged cat.

This is magic well beyond my league! she thought, wisely choosing to not hang around any longer. Backing up from the corner, careful to not make a sound doing so, she lifted at a safe distance and streaked back up the passageway as fast as she could without creating a rainbow boom. But she was unaware of another such winged predatory cat that was right on her tail.

"And then they…" Applejack was saying to Twilight Sparkle as Rarity and Fluttershy arrived.

"We're back!" Rarity yelled out in sing-song, interrupting.

"Just a second, Rarity," Twilight said. "Go ahead, Applejack."

"And then they…"

"Well! Don't everypony get excited for dinner all at once!" Rarity huffed in annoyance.

"Sorry Rarity. But Applejack was just bringing us news about some strange visitors that came through a magical portal," Twilight explained. "You were saying?"

"And then they…"

"TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she streaked in. "We've got BIG TROUBLE!"

"What was that!?" Fluttershy yelped as she whirled about.

"Rainbow! Haz sumthun' happened?" Applejack asked.

"Oooh! Applejack was just about to tell us about the humans who came through a magic portal that was causing the storm and brought along a nuke to destroy this end of the portal so it would stop the storm but blow up both our planet and theirs! But a control crystal broke, shutting down the portal, and the humans started arguing over how to dismantle the bomb. But she only just got here, and only got to the part where they came through the magic portal…" Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"What's this? What's going on?" Twilight asked totally confused.

"Wait! You haven't told them yet?" Rainbow Dashed shouted at Applejack.

"Ah wuz tryin' to, but Ah keep getten' in'errupted!" Applejack grumbled.

"Well! Sorry about being such a bother!" Rarity shouted.

"G-g-guys? W-we've—we're n-not alone in h-here!" Fluttershy stammered.

"This is fun!" Pinkie Pie squealed. "We've got timberwolves and shaddowcats coming and everypony's trying to warn everypony! But nopony's listening!"

"Not now, Pinkie Pie!" Twilight grumbled, face-hoofing.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both whirled on Pinkie Pie.

"How did you know—?" they simultaneously yelled at her. Then they blinked and suddenly looked at each other. "Wait! WHAT?!?" they both yelled at each other.

"Timberwolves? Shadowcats?" Applejack asked, totally confused. "But wha 'bout them two legged critters?"

"Wai—wha-?" Twilight got out just before a huge roaring timberwolf leapt out of the passage from which Rarity and Fluttershy had come. As the ponies all screamed, three more timberwolves followed the first.

"Rarity! On me! All the rest of you, get behind us!" Twilight screamed, charging up her horn.

"Nothin' doin'! Ah've tangled wi' timberwolves b'fore!" Applejack growled, taking Twilight's unprotected left side opposite Rarity.

"Same here!" Rainbow Dash said through grinding teeth, taking to the air to hover above the space between Rarity and Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack took the moment to lock gazes and nod before putting their attention toward their enemies.

But before Twilight could argue, they were interrupted by another roar from their left, just as a black blur ripped through the center of the lead timberwolf, shattering its hindquarters. Twilight barely had time to register that the newcomer was a huge winged black panther with ominously glowing yellow eyes.

With a hissing scream, three sets of yellow beams shot out from those eyes to hit the other timberwolves each in turn. However, to everypony's surprise, and evidently to the panther's, too, nothing happened.

In the meantime, the remaining timberwolves apparently decided to take on the competition first and started advancing on the big cat.

"Hmf!" the panther grunted, blinking and when its eyes opened again, they were glowing green.

"Dogwoods, huh? Let's see how you like this!" the panther said as a green beam shot out at the one furthest away, with the same hissing screaming noise. This time, the timberwolf yelped as it burst into flames then began screaming.

"Ah!" Twilight exclaimed. "The books!" She reached out with her magic to grab a hold of the screaming burning monster and lift it up away from the stacked tomes.

Another beam, this time blue, shot out to hit the next one on the panther's right. The timberwolf barely had time to let out a yipp before it exploded, and Rarity had to throw up a shield to deflect the incoming debris. Even so, everypony instinctively ducked from the pieces flying at them. The panther didn't seem to have even noticed, as it now glared at the final timberwolf with glowing purple eyes.

"Come to mamma, lil' puppy!" the panther purred through a toothy grin as the cat's eyes shot out a purple beam, this time causing the closest timberwolf to momentarily glow purple then evaporate into smoke.

The panther took a moment to look about the room, its gaze sweeping across the ponies before alighting once more on the timberwolf still aflame, held aloft by Twilight's magic. The purple beam shot out once more, and this time Twilight yelped as the burning monster momentarily glowed purple and disappeared.

Silenced reigned in the library.

"Ugh! Magots!" the cat suddenly shouted in disgust, looking over itself. Its eyes swept a purple beam over itself, causing the places where it hit to momentarily glow purple, too. But unlike the effect on the timberwolves, it had no evident effect on itself. "A-a-ah! That one I busted up must've been infested with these damned things!" the cat yelled, shaking its body and wings.

Then the black cat's entire body began to glow, first red, then orange, then yellow, and finally a brilliant white, and Twilight and the others could feel the heat beaming from the creature before the panther's colors reversed that order to return to black. When it was done, there was smoke drifting from numerous places over its body and wings.

"God! I hate those filthy things!" the creature darkly muttered.

Then its gaze turned toward the ponies. Rarity and Twilight both nervously gulped.

"Sh-sh-shields?" Rarity whispered and Twilight barely nodded, not wanting to give the cat too much motion to lock onto. And it was just in time, for the cat had started to softly walk towards them.

"A-a-ah! Look out!" Rainbow Dash called out. Twilight and Rarity glance at her to see her pointing past the panther. They looked back and to their horror saw the biggest timberwolf that the panther had torn through just finished reassembling itself and was stalking them all.

The panther, however, barely gave the monster a glance over its shoulder, and only long enough to fire off one of its potent purple eyebeams. The big cat didn't bother to watch as the screaming wooden monster vanished behind it. Then the winged panther was upon and walking through their shields, causing Twilight and Rarity to cry out in pain from the feedback.

For its part, the panther didn't even seem to notice the shields that she and Rarity had put up. It walked past both Rarity and Twilight, giving them a cursory glance before walking up to Applejack to sniff at the earth pony. As it passed her, Twilight noted how this creature was also female.

The earth pony nervously grinned to the cat, but the panther, had already lost interest and stepped around to walk to inspect Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy each in turn. The pink pony tried her usual cheerful greeting but was ignored just the same. Fluttershy tried to use her ability to speaking with animals but got no response either. Then the cat was stalking back to Twilight to sniff at her. This time, the cat paused to stare at the purple pony.

"Uh, hello! M-my n-name is Twilight Sparkle and…" Twilight stopped when she saw the glowing purple eyes shift colors, going through blue, green, yellow, orange, and red before finally cease glowing altogether, revealing slitted pupils amid a slowly shifting rainbow iris.

"Wow, you've got such pretty eyes…" Twilight said, but the big cat was stepping past already, this time going up to inspect Rarity.

"Eh—!?" Rarity tried to grin, but likewise, was just as quickly ignored. Then the cat looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was still hovering over the scene.

Twilight assumed that Rainbow Dash was thinking she was glad she was flying up beyond this cat's reach. But just as the creature left Rarity, the cat spread her wings and with slow, graceful flaps, was soon hovering right in Dash's face.

"I justlove yourr colorrs!" the cat softly purred, her body changing colors as she spoke to suddenly exhibit a prismatic rainbow hue all over her own body, legs, wings, and tail. Rainbow Dash gasped, and stole a quick glance to her own mane and tail, no doubt to confirm this creature hadn't somehow stolen the colors from her.

"However, they can't do very well for stealth, now can they?" the cat said, looking over the prismatic effect covering one of her front legs. When she finished, the colors flowed again over the panther's body and wings to return to the solid black she originally had.

"Still, you should stick with what you're good at," the panther said to Dash cryptically before shooting her head forward to lick the pegasus on the nose. "But stealth just isn't it!" the panther said with a giggle, then with a flip over one wing, dove to land on the ground, shifting smoothly from flight to a jogging walk, clearly heading for the corridor from which she had come.

"W-w-wait! Please! We want to thank you for saving us—!" Twilight suddenly called out, realizing that if she didn't get the cat to talking, they might never be able to have the opportunity. But the cat continued on, ignoring her. Desperate, Twilight even tried to use her magic to grab a hold of the panther, but her power just brushed off the big cat without slowing her down a bit. "Please! Let us thank you for rescuing us from those timberwolves!"

But the next moment, the cat was gone.

"Come on, girls! We can't let her get away!" Twilight called, rushing to follow.

"Wha—? Are you crazy?!?" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Hurry!" Twilight's voice came from the passage as the purple mare ran after the panther.

"Well, Ah guess that answers that!" Applejack muttered.