Two beings met where light melted into darkness. They were both ponies, although their features were blurred in the half-light. Well, one was a pony. The other…

“Alright. Talk.” The first speaker paced back and forth in the twilight while the other stood quietly.

“Just as you’ve heard, Rainbow Dash met a pegasus named Lightning Dust during training. I’m not sure exactly what she did, but we were nearly blown away by a tornado she and Rainbow Dash created.”

“Whose fault was that?”

“Lightning Dust’s. She’s apparently extremely impulsive and doesn’t care about others.”

“Like Rainbow Dash, but without the good qualities, you mean.”

“Yes. Pretty much. But she’s been expelled from the Wonderbolts for her actions, and Rainbow Dash is now the flight leader.”

“Good. Any danger of Lightning Dust taking revenge?”

“Not for the foreseeable future. She just seemed dispirited to me.”

“That can change over time. I want watchers on her. Have a few birds migrate wherever she goes. Would it be best if she had an…accident?”

“I don’t believe so, no.”

“How dangerous would she be if she were a threat? Speculate.”

“She was assigned lead wingpony instead of Rainbow Dash. They’re about equal in a lot of things, but Lightning Dust can’t perform a sonic rainboom.”

“And that’s the only aspect that would truly be dangerous.” The first speaker was silent for a moment. “An accident with her wings would be ideal.”

“But unnecessary,” the second pointed out. “And it might cast suspicions on Rainbow Dash if it happens too soon. We can watch her and make sure she’s no threat.”

“Fine. See to it tomorrow.”

“Do you want me to post some birds in the Wonderbolt Academy?”

“Yes. If they get wind of a big threat, I’d like some advance notice.”

“I’ll take care of it first thing tomorrow.”

“Good. Go.”

The two figures turned and left. Darkness remained.

----

The same place. The same time of day. Darkness and light. The two figures approached each other, but everything was different.

“Explain to me why you didn’t call in reinforcements.”

“I thought it was just an act. I had no idea Rainbow Dash’s call would attract real timberwolves.”

“You were very lucky Applejack and Spike weren’t hurt. If they had been…”

“Applejack’s capable of defending herself—”

“That is not the point.” The first speaker snapped and the second flinched back. “You have one job. Alert me if anything dangerous threatens. You will do that, or I’ll replace you.”

The second speaker nodded meekly. “But what are you going to do? You sent out Matilda and the others earlier.”

“They’re ambushing the timberwolves. I should have done this earlier. They’re a threat and I don’t want them coming after Applejack or Spike again.”

“But they’re not a threat. They only attacked because—”

“Applejack and Spike nearly died because of those things.”

“Yes, but Spike intruded into their territory first. They were only trying to chase him away.”

“And if they’d caught him? They’d tear him to shreds.”

“Even so, I don’t recommend—”

“Silence.” The first speaker stepped forwards and jabbed the second in the chest with a hoof. “You are on thin ice as it is. Remain here and set up sentries. I’ll take care of the timberwolves.”

The first figure spun and began to walk off.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

The first speaker stopped at the door and looked back.

“Don’t I? My duty is to protect Equestria. That means dealing with any threats that arise.”

“No one gave you that job, though. You don’t have to do it all the time.”

“If I don’t, ponies will die.”

“Yes, but there’s still more to life than fighting.”

“Like what?”

“Kindness.”

A pause. The changeling and pegasus regarded each other for a long moment.

The door slammed shut. The pegasus stared at it for a long time and then sat in the darkness.

----

The night was nearly halfway passed by the time Fluttershy made her way to her destination in the Everfree. She had to walk for quite some time in the quiet forest. She wasn’t by herself of course; a mouse lead the way while a squad of beavers and other animals surrounded Fluttershy and kept an eye out, but Fluttershy herself was alone amidst them.

Not that she minded. This was her job. Leadership was a lonely position. Fluttershy passed the long walk by eyeing the animals around her. The bigger animals carried buckets which sloshed as they lugged them along, and other animals carried torches. There was even one of the clouds from Ponyville, being tugged along on a piece of string by a few owls. Owlowiscious wasn’t among of them of course. It was too essential that he monitor Twilight to spare him even for something like this.

The torches the animals held bothered Fluttershy. They were crude affairs of sticks woven together and coated with a flammable resin. Torches weren’t common among ponies; firefly lanterns or other forms of illumination were far more common. But fire was needed on this outing.

It was just that the flames bothered Fluttershy. Her burns were long healed, but even the sight of fire made her old injuries ache. She ignored the pain though, and kept walking.

Only when Fluttershy heard the howling did she know she was getting close. This deep in the Everfree, the forest was normally completely silent at night. But now the silence was broken by loud desperate howls, that of a number of timberwolves.

The party of animals and one pegasus emerged into a clearing in the forest and stopped. In the center of the clearing was an unusual sight. Eight timberwolves were lying on the ground, surrounded by another group of animals, all of whom were armed. The changelings were there too, as was Matilda. As they turned to face Fluttershy Longfoot hopped forwards and gave her a quick salute.

Fluttershy nodded to Longfoot and regarded the timberwolves. They were tied tightly to the ground, anchored in place by sturdy ropes which were in turn connected to large stakes hammered into the ground.

“Did you have much trouble capturing them?” Fluttershy asked.

Longfoot shook his head with a grin. He pointed to Matilda and the squad of changelings who were watching the changelings leisurely to one side.

“Makes sense. The timberwolves aren’t very dangerous,” Fluttershy agreed. “Just persistent. If Spike can beat one with a rock, I doubt they’d give Matilda much trouble even by herself. Well, good work.”

Fluttershy nodded to Matilda and the changelings. “You lot can head back now. We’ve got things under control here, and this might take a while. Have some animals on the night shift, but other than that, you’re free.”

Matilda gave Fluttershy a toothy grin and the changelings saluted. The ambush group left the clearing, which left Fluttershy and the remaining animals with the timberwolves.

The timberwolves were fighting their bonds, snapping and trying to bite any animal that got too near them. From the looks of it they’d been smashed about quite a lot by the ambush team – several of the timberwolves were missing limbs, or had broken sticks in their patchwork bodies. Still, that didn’t seem to hinder them and they were furiously trying to get free.

The wooden wolves stopped thrashing as Fluttershy stepped forwards. They eyed her suspiciously, but she calmly walked forwards until she stood in front of them.

“Good evening,” Fluttershy said with a small smile. “Or rather, good night. We haven’t met before. I’m Fluttershy, and you’re timberwolves. You tried to hurt my friends earlier today. You’re going to pay for that.”

The biggest timberwolf snarled at Fluttershy. It spat a huge glob of its saliva at her.

Fluttershy’s head jerked back and the projectile mostly missed her. She calmly wiped off the rest of the semi-corrosive saliva from her cheek and ignored the stinging pain.

“Not very nice.”

A beaver stepped forwards and grabbed the timberwolf by one leg. Roughly, it began gnawing at the sticks that made up the timberwolf’s body. The wood snapped in two and the beaver tossed the fragments away.

The timberwolf snapped and tried to lash out at the beaver. The severed stump of its leg kicked out and the beaver jumped back in alarm.

“Hm.” Fluttershy motioned and the beaver pulled back. The timberwolf struggled as she approached hatred in its eyes.

“Looks like you don’t feel pain after all, at least from losing parts of your body. Makes sense; sticks are already dead. ”

Fluttershy picked up the broken piece of the timberwolf and inspected it casually. Then she snapped the wood and casually tossed it over her shoulder. The timberwolf growled, but it was helpless. She paced around it slowly.

“I know you lot are pretty much immortal. One timberwolf’s pretty much like the other – you’re spirits without true form. If we kill you here, you’ll just reform again.”

The timberwolf grinned, showing Fluttershy sharp rows of teeth.

“Yep. Thought so.” Fluttershy nodded in slight satisfaction. “But even if you won’t die if you’re bodies are destroyed, it doesn’t mean you’re really immortal, does it?”

The timberwolf paused, and its expression froze for a moment. Fluttershy sensed its uncertainty.

“The forest is your home. You’re part of the Everfree Forest. In fact, you guard it. Mainly because you’re part of the forest. Aren’t you?”

The timberwolf was silent. Fluttershy grinned.

“Dead leaves and fallen branches are what go into your bodies. Literally the trash of the forest. You’re not really alive at all, are you? You’re just the spirits of trees and nature.”

More silence. But now the timberwolf was watching her warily. All of them were.

“Well, I’ll make it quite simple for you. You hurt ponies, I hurt the forest. Got it?”

The timberwolf sneered at her. Fluttershy was pretty sure it was a sneer – it was contemptuous at any rate.

“Think I can’t back up my threat?” She motioned with one hoof. “Look.”

The timberwolves fell silent as the other animals moved with the torches. Not to the timberwolves, beyond them. To the tree line. They hesitated for a moment, but when Fluttershy nodded the animals tossed the torches onto the ground. Onto the dry leaves and sticks.

For a moment all was smoke as the torches sputtered on the ground. They looked as if they might go out, but then flames began appearing against the darkness of the ground. Like small red flowers they grew out of the blackness, spreading in waves to engulf first ground, then the trees. The forest was dry and there hadn’t been rain recently. The fire grew brighter.

The timberwolves watched in horror as the fire engulfed first one tree, and then another. Fluttershy watched as well, waiting. The blaze she had started hurt her to look at. The flames conjured painful memories. She would have given anything not to be here, but she had to do it.

When the flames had engulfed eight more trees, Fluttershy signaled. Her animals ran forwards, buckets in their paws. They began tossing water at the fire, igniting clouds of steam. From above, birds dumped dirt onto the flames, smothering them.

Not enough. The blaze had grown quickly; it had too much to feed on. Fluttershy grabbed the cloud she had brought and winged into the sky. Quickly, she kicked the cloud and it discharged it’s container of water over the fire. The sudden deluge instantly quenched most of the flames, and sent a towering plume of steam straight into the sky.

The white cloud of steam submerged Fluttershy. It was hot and humid. It was burning. Fluttershy flinched, and then froze.

The steam around her turned to flames. In horror, she held her hooves out and desperately tried to shake off the fire. But it clung to her, burning, consuming her—

Fluttershy dove out of the sky and smashed into the ground, writhing to get clear of the flames. Only when Longfoot dashed up to her did she realize she wasn’t burning. The steam was gone. She was safe.

Shakily, Fluttershy got to her hooves. Longfoot was staring at her with deep concern in his eyes. She knew he wanted to ask if she was well. But the timberwolves were still tied up. Fluttershy waved him back to his post. She took a deep breath and approached the timberwolves again.

This time they stared at her with horror in their eyes. The rage was gone, replaced by sudden insight. And fear.

“Fire.” The word hurt Fluttershy to say, but she said it anyways. “Yes. The Everfree’s a dry place at this time of year. A few torches in the wrong spot, and well, it’s a bonfire.”

The timberwolves growled, eyes alight with fury. But they flinched back as Longfoot brought forth a pottery bowl. The rabbit held it carefully; it was heaped high with glowing orange embers.

“I know you’re not idiots.” Fluttershy addressed the lead timberwolf. “So I’ll make it simple. You hurt a pony, and I’ll burn down a hundred trees. Kill a pony, and I’ll torch half this forest. Are we clear?”

The leading timberwolf stared at Fluttershy for a long time. Defiance shimmered in its eyes, but so too did a bit of fear. She saw it glance at the burnt remains of the trees, and back to Fluttershy. She waited, but the timberwolf didn’t nod.

“Well?”

The timberwolf glared at her, and then looked away. It was an answer, of sorts. Fluttershy knew she could probably trust the timberwolves to avoid ponies and animals. They wouldn’t risk the danger of her retaliation. But that wasn’t good enough. She had to hurt them. Make them remember.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” Fluttershy moved so the timberwolf had to look at her. “And I know you can talk to your friends, so this stands for every timberwolf. Is that clear?”

The timberwolf snapped at her, snarling. Fluttershy didn’t blink. Something in her eyes made the timberwolf hesitate.

“Good. We have an agreement. But there’s one last thing. You see, you tried to hurt my friend Applejack and Spike. That score’s not settled. So since I know you’re not going to die for good, I’m going to leave you with a memory of our little chat.”

Fluttershy nodded to Longfoot. The rabbit tipped over the bowl of embers onto the timberwolf. As the burning coals landed, the timberwolf began to howl, an expression of pure agony that made Fluttershy’s bones ache in kind.

She ignored it. Suffer. Make them suffer. So they won’t hurt any ponies ever again.

The timberwolf snapped at Longfoot as the rabbit pushed the embers towards it. It still tried to fight, even as the wood that made up its body began to catch flame. The flames crackle along the sticks and consumed the leaves on the timberwolf’s body, then died out.

The timberwolf panted weakly when the flames had gone. Then it growled at Fluttershy. Defiant.

The pegasus hesitated for a moment. She hadn’t expected this level of resistance. But she couldn’t give way. The timberwolf was still growling, and its brethren were starting to join in. Their spirits had to be extinguished. Burned out.

“Torch.” Fluttershy raised one hoof. Longfoot nodded and a beaver handed one Fluttershy.

The flames were warm in the cold of the night. But to Fluttershy, the bright fire hurt to look at. She felt…bad holding it. But what had to be done had to be done.

Slowly, Fluttershy approached the timberwolf. It snapped at its bindings and tried to break free as she approached, but it was trapped.

The wolf was burned, but still very much intact. If freed, it would be after the nearest pony in a second. Fluttershy hesitated, and the torch flickered in her hoof.

But then she lowered the torch into the center of the timberwolf’s hollow chest, and there was fire.

Burning. Agony. Her skin was molten. Her body was wreathed in flame. Pain.

The torch trembled in Fluttershy’s hoof. The Timberwolf was howling; an earsplitting sound far higher than any creature could make. But she held the torch there.

The fire was all around her. It was burning her hooves, racing up her mane. She was a living bonfire, and she would have done anything to end the pain. But she burned without end.

The timberwolf screamed. It was a true scream, not just a howl of pain. It writhed in agony as the torch ignited its body, and the tight cords flexed as the beast nearly tore its way free. But it couldn’t escape. Fluttershy held the torch there and watched as the timberwolf died.

The fire was the only light Fluttershy could see. It spread across the timberwolf’s body, and as the glow in the timberwolf’s eyes vanished, the fire took its place, until the timberwolf was no longer a creature of wood and leaf of the forest, but a burned charcoal mockery, with fiery eyes.

It stared at Fluttershy, a burnt corpse. Something in it was staring at her still.

Fluttershy lowered the torch with hooves that shook. Longfoot and the other animals stared at her in concern. She shook her head at them, trying to appear strong. She had to be strong.

The other timberwolves stared at the pegasus holding the torch, and flinched when she turned from their burnt comrade. It wasn’t just the terrible flame that she held in her hand that made the pony so terrible. It was the look in her eyes.

Fluttershy walked slowly over to the next timberwolf in line. It howled and snapped at her. She lowered the torch. The timberwolf screamed. She screamed with it in her mind.

Burning. Always burning. She had to get out. But the forest was fire all around her. A trap. She was trapped.

The timberwolf caught fire and died in agony. Fluttershy walked over to the next one. And then the next.

If she could have died, she would. But something kept her moving. Hatred. Vengeance. She had to live, but the pain was too much. Fire. It was hurting her.

Another timberwolf burned away. And another. Fluttershy had no notion of time, no concept of space. There was only the flame and her, walking together in an eternal damnation of fire.

The forest was burning. She was burning with it.

There was a screaming in Fluttershy’s ears. It was her own voice. The fire burned her skin, her very soul. But it had to be done.

Kindness.

Cruelty.

She didn’t understand. She didn’t know why. There was only her mission.

Protect. Fight. Die.

Because she was Fluttershy.

The night sky in the Everfree filled with an orange burning glow. The silence was broken by the screams of the timberwolves, and the crackling of flame. Acrid smoke filled the air, and the burning vegetation filled the ground.

A pegasus staggered away from the forest, several animals following in her wake. She left behind a row of sticks and some leaves in the shape of what might be dogs, or wolves. There wasn’t anything else there, though.

Just pieces.

And the pony named Fluttershy stumbled back to her home, sat among her friends who tended to her, and listened to the army she had built prepare for the next battle, the next war.

And she burned in agony that never ceased.

The flames were spreading.