“Fluttershy,” the black alicorn of the night, Princess Luna, firmly speaks, “You are aware of what you have caused?”

“Yes,” the yellow mare replies in remorse, looking around her cottage to avoid direct eye contact with the princess in front of her.

“In all of its entirety?”

“Maybe not…”

“Six hundred and sixty six guards killed, five hundred hospitalized, the entire castle wall obliterated, trespassing, breaking and entering, assault on Princess Celestia with intention of murder, and so many other crimes, all committed by Relv because you allowed him to, during Timberwolf Season as well.”

“I didn’t mean for him to do it. I didn’t think he was going to become that angry at Celestia.”

“I know, I know you would never want to bring any harm to her nor anypony. But as the courts will see it, you’ll be held responsible and be punished to five life sentences in prison at the least.”

“Can’t you do anything about it?”

“I wish I could, and even Celestia, as badly injured as she is. However, as princesses, we have to make hard choices, whether we like them or not. As long as Relv is on the loose and doesn’t take full responsibility for his actions, you will be. I’m sorry Fluttershy. The best I can do is let you be here for about an hour before your trials.”

“Thank you, I’ll try to make the most of it. I’m sorry about your sister. I can barely imagine how you feel right now.”

“Furious at Relv, scared of having to take over while Celestia’s recovering, depressed that something so bad had to happen to so many innocent ponies… Even I can’t keep track of them all.”

“How will Canterlot even recover after Relv’s attack?”

“I don’t know myself, I’m still trying to figure out how plan the first step. A one-hour war just happened with the magnitude of a one-year war. Hopefully the courts will be able to have something planned out.”

“I feel so ashamed at myself… How badly hurt is your sister?”

“She can’t move, but she can talk. Doctors say that for all of the broken bones, blunt trauma, and damaged skin tissue, it would most likely take seven months physically. Mental recovery can’t be determined at this moment. However I don’t think she will be able to get live past this, took her forever just to get over…”

“Your Mom and Dad?”

“…He told you didn’t he?”

“Yeah,”

“Yes. That was a very scarring moment for all three of us. Celestia, Relv, and me, I wonder if he feels the same way now.”

“Princess Luna, how did you feel towards Relv, before he turned?”

“Me? I mostly just saw him as my sister’s and my bodyguard. My sister however, was another story.”

“Did she like him?”

“Much more, she was in love with him. Dancing, reading, studying, she’d always bring him close to her side. And well, let’s just say that her secret diary had some very detailed thoughts.”

“Did it hurt when Relv changed?”

“It hurt to watch my sister weeping in her room after Relv went rogue. Seeing her so broken down, I wasn’t sure how to help her.”

“What about Relv’s utiti…”

“His ideals? He never really spoke, more doing things, so I never really had the chance to understand what his intentions were. Now that I do… I guess it sounds good in concept, but the way he executes it, I just can’t find myself supporting him.”

“…When you became Nightmare Moon, and was banished to the moon, did you ever think about Relv?”

“I did for a while before I forgot, considering he was well secured in prison as it seemed. Anymore questions?”

“One more, but I’m not sure you’ll be able to answer it.”

“Try me.”

“Do you know why Celestia prevented the execution of Relv?”

“I’m not too certain myself. But, seeing and hearing about how so many ponies were very close to her before they died. Maybe, maybe she wanted somepony like Relv to be with her as time continued on while I was gone. I don’t really know, that theory may just be some stupid idea.”

“I guess-” The loud scream of a mare interrupts Fluttershy’s thought. The two mares inside the cottage look out of the windows to the cloudy outside to see ponies stampeding towards Ponyville with a few dark creatures stalking from behind.

“Timberwolves!” Quickly, Luna and Fluttershy fly outside to get an overhead look of the creatures. Each thrice as long as a normal pony, made entirely of wood, and sporting a pair of beaming green eyes, even looking at one sent shivers down Fluttershy’s spine.

“Why are there so many? There’s like fifty of them, all heading towards Ponyville.”

“I have no idea! There shouldn’t be this many grouped together like this. Timberwolf Season usually only has fifteen wolf packs at most.”

“As strange as this is, we can still manage this right?”

“I hope so.”

“Look! Here comes help!” Fluttershy points ahead of the pack of wooden wolves at a set of six multicoloured ponies in the distance, changing towards the fifty Timberwolves. The duo flies closer to see that it’s Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike. “Girls!”

“Fluttershy and Luna?!” Twilight calls back, “What are you two doing here?”

“Not important right now. We’re here to help.”

“Alright then…” Luna and Fluttershy soon join alongside the team of friends as they ram headfirst into the armada and wolves and begins fighting. Applejack uses her hind legs to buck and shatter the beasts one by one. Rainbow Dash rapidly circles five Timberwolves, immediately creating a small tornado and tearing the creatures apart. Pinkie Pie pulls out a blue cannon from her tail and fires it into the face of an oncoming wolf, blasting confetti in its face. It ignores the pieces of coloured paper and continues its march, growling as it draws closer to Pinkie. The pink Earth pony gives a small shrug before pulling out a large steel bat from her fluffy tail. She smashes the bat between the eyes of the Timberwolf, causing it to burst into pieces. Twilight and Luna, side by side, fire solid beams of powerful magic into the rush of monsters, incinerating them upon touching the bright purple and black rays. Rarity uses her magic to lift the Timberwolves one by one high in the air and dropping them, shattering upon impact. Fluttershy helps Spike jump onto the snout of one of the wolves and uses his claws to climb his way to the throat. There, he slices through the neck region and decapitates the wooden wolf. It falls and collapses upon hitting the ground.

In a matter of minutes, the number of Timberwolves drops from fifty to only one. The girls and Spike, all now happy with their progress, take a moment to stop fighting and cheer. However, their premature celebration comes to a screeching halt as the ground vibrates beneath them. They look back at the lone Timberwolf, nervously walking forward towards them. The ground then jumps. Birds soon flee from the trees in the Everfree Forest ahead of the team and fly off into the sky. The ground jumps again, prompting the eight ponies to grow paranoid.

“That doesn’t sound good…” Applejack remarks.

“Whatever that is, it’s big.” Twilight adds. As the earth below shutters more and more often, the last Timberwolf stops moving and clutches onto the dirt below. He’s showing signs of panic by rapidly moving its head. “Girls, get ready for-” However, before she could finish her statement, an enormous bellowing roar erupts from behind the trees of the forest behead and almost lifts the ponies from their hooves. A monstrous, black, smoky arm then bursts from behind the trees and stamps onto the Timberwolf, making it disappear beneath his giant claw.

“That’s not big…” Rainbow Dash exclaims, “That’s colossal!” The eight watch in horror as the rest of the black beast reveals itself by walking out of the forest and rising from its crouch. It is a large pitch black Timberwolf with purple flames and smoke emitting from its bulky body, three sets of pearly white teeth and a pair of dark green flames for eyes. The tip of its snout brushes the grey clouds high above as it howls. “How are we going to fight that thing? No, what even is this thing?”

“I’m not sure. There was some old prophecy about something called the Hades Timberwolf. That would explain the sudden mass attack if it was the alpha of this pack…”

“That second question was rhetorical. How do we kill it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’ll go down like all of the other ones. Just fight him like you would a very large Timberwolf.” Applejack trots up to one of the large paws of the beast and prepares to buck. However, upon kicking the leg, Applejack’s hind hooves immediately catch on fire. The mare screams in pain as she runs away from the beast while attempting to put the fire out.

“I got this!” Rainbow Dash then zips over the team and begins to rapidly circle to Hades Timberwolf. A large dust tornado soon forms and traps the creature inside, stopping his slow walk. The flaming wolf examines his surroundings before opening his mouth and breathing out a burst of purple flames. The abnormal fire seeps into the column of swirling wind and turns the entire cyclone into a tower of fire with Dash still circling inside it. Within seconds, the column fades away, leaving behind a stone statue of Rainbow Dash on the ground and the Timberwolf, who promptly continues his walk. Twilight and the others see the frozen pony and rush towards the stone structure.

“Rainbow Dash!”

“…help…” the statue stiffly responds.

“Don’t worry Dash, we’ll figure something out to free you. But for now, we have to stop the Hades Timberwolf from reaching Ponyville.”

“But how?” Rarity remarks, “That thing’s breathe just turned Rainbow into stone!”

“We still have some options. Luna, help!” The two alicorns quickly take off into the air and catch up to the Hades Timberwolf, now only a few kilometres away from the town. The duo flies in front of the beast’s snout, they aim their horns between the creature’s green eyes, and both fire a ray of magic. However, the massive wolf isn’t affected by the attack, having the magic merely become absorbed into the dark smoke. “It isn’t even slowing down! We can’t physically hit it, we can’t use weather, and magic won’t even affect it!” As the two alicorns end their beam attacks, the Timberwolf opens its mouth and breathes out another wave of purple flames. Twilight quickly reacts by casting a bubble shield around her and Luna. However, the shield doesn’t work as the flames turn the purple shield to stone as well, trapping Twilight and Luna inside as it plummets to the ground, shattering upon impact. The rest of the girls and Spike run over to the broken rock ball and help Twilight and Luna out of the wreckage.

“And other ideas?” Rarity frantically asks.

“No. The Hades Timberwolf’s just too big, too powerful, and we’re just not ready to handle such a creature. Let’s face it, Ponyville’s doomed, as well as any other place that thing wants to go.” Fluttershy looks at the black beast walking over her and the others as the gears in her head spin.

“What if…” the pegasus mumbles.

“What if what?”

“What if Relv was here? Maybe he can take the Hades Timberwolf down?”

“Are you crazy? You saw what he did when you let him go, he tried to kill the princess, us, and injured you in the process. What makes you think you’ll be able to convince him to help us? How will you even find him?”

“It’s a hunch.”

“Fluttershy, Relv might kill you. I don’t want to risk that happening.”

“That Hades Timberwolf will kill us sooner or later. I’m going to look for Relv, despite the risk,” Fluttershy then takes off in flight and heads towards the Everfree Forest.

“Why do you trust Relv so much?!”

“He’s my friend!” As the yellow mare enters the thick of the forest, the rest of the team looks back at the beast, thinking about what to do next. Princess Luna however looks back towards the forest.

She thinks to herself, “Is Fluttershy going where I think she’s going? Is that also where Relv is? Maybe I can help them…”

“Here we are again it seems. Most of my body’s broken, my mind is a wreck, the outside world’s dying, and you on the loose, doing whatever you please. You attempted to make amends with me, but I rejected you, only to regret sometime down the line. Many ponies that were close to me are once again unintentionally destroyed by your rage caused by me. Is this what must be whenever we’re together, must this vicious and immature cycle that we don’t want continue? I’m sorry that I have forced you to destroy innocent lives, lives that you would’ve never truly touched, despite your behaviors. Maybe I should let you free, just as you wanted. Maybe all of this time, you knew that this was the right way and wanted to prevent this cycle. I’m sorry Relv…”