It had been a little over an hour since Fluttershy disappeared, and the rest of the girls were getting rather nervous all things considered. It was true that Fluttershy could probably hold her own—especially now, given their unique circumstances.

Still, the normally timid yellow pegasus had yet to be seen anywhere, and Rainbow Dash in particular wasn't taking it too well. The rainbow maned pegasus had gone so far as to blame Twilight for the situation.

"Oh, let's go through the super thick forest instead of just flying past this mess like sensible ponies!" Rainbow mocked before finishing with a growl, "seriously, Twilight, I knew something like this was gonna happen, and now we can't find Fluttershy... anywhere!"

"Now calm down, Rainbow," Applejack cut in, pushing the angry pegasus out of Twilight's face, "it ain't no time ta be fightin' amongst ourselves, ya hear?" she fully stepped in front of Rainbow and jerked her head towards the forest around them, "we got more important things ta do right now, if ya wanna blame, Twilight, do it after we find Fluttershy, got it?"

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack for a moment before looking back to a grimacing Twilight. Rainbow knew Applejack was right, but she also knew she was right to be mad at Twilight. This all could've been easily avoided if—

A low growl was the only warning Rainbow got before she found herself suddenly pinned to the ground. She clenched her eyes shut reflexively as something above her growled, and snorted, and sniffed at her.

When she realized she wasn't being eaten alive, she slowly cracked one eye open, then both went wide as she stared up at the massive fleshy wolf creature's snout. The wolf was sniffing her as though searching for something in her scent.

"WHAT THE BUCK?!" Rainbow Dash squirmed fiercely until one of her hooves were free, "GET... THE BUCK... OFFA ME!"

With that shout of indignation, she smashed her free hoof into the wolf's snout, sending it reeling backwards and off of her and causing it to yelp loudly. As it shook its head trying to regain its bearings, the others snapped out of their shock and leapt into action.

"What in tarnation," Applejack muttered in bemusement before shaking her head and furrowing her brow. She adjusted her stetson and lowered her stance, "don't matter none, RD's in trouble an' ah ain't doin' her a lick o' good just standin' here with mah mouth hangin' open."

"Right," Twilight agreed as she stood next to the farm pony, "I don't know what this thing is or where it came from, but now's not the time to study it," beneath the solemn expression, Applejack could see an all too familiar gleam in Twilight's eye "...that comes later."

Applejack rolled her eyes and refocused on her cyan friend. Rainbow Dash had already recovered and was getting ready to go on the offensive. The rest of the girls were set to follow suit and the massive wolf creature was ready to respond in kind—its head lowered and its mouth set in a ferocious snarl as it growled and snapped at the others.

"Everypony STOP!"

At the sound of the familiar voice coming from just beyond the trees, every one—including the wolf—stopped and snapped their gazes in that direction. Coming from out of the brush and glaring at each one of them, was none other than the yellow pegasus herself.

The wolf whimpered slightly and lowered its fleshy ears in shame as it noticed the glare that was directed at it. The others merely looked from the wolf to Fluttershy in complete confusion.

"You promised me you were going to behave," Fluttershy scolded, "I told you I didn't need you to scout ahead, and now you've gone and attacked my friends. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The wolf gave a single bark before whining again.

"It doesn't matter how suspicious they looked," Fluttershy replied with a shake of her head and a stern frown, "that's no excuse to just attack them out of the blue like that."

An indignant bark.

"That wouldn't have happened if you'd decided not to go running off on your own."

A low growl and a glare in Rainbow Dash's direction—the action causing the cyan pegasus to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes, I know," Fluttershy replied, taking a step forward and rubbing a reassuring hoof along the wolf's neck, "she is very strong... we all are. But that doesn't mean they're going to hurt you... if you give them no reason to, that is."

The other girls flinched as they suddenly found themselves under the intense scrutiny of Fluttershy's Glare.

"Isn't that right, girls?"

She got a round of rapid nods in response and smile warmly as she turned back to the bulky wolf.

"See? They won't hurt you if you don't try to hurt them, okay?"

The wolf was silent a moment, turning to stare at each of the girls in turn as if sizing them up. Eventually it turned back to Fluttershy and gave a satisfied bark before moving to stand besides the butter yellow mare.

"Um... Fluttershy, darling," Rarity began tentatively, never taking her eyes off of the wolf, "what exactly happened after you disappeared?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she remembered that she had indeed abandoned the others in her curiosity. She looked away with a guilty frown and scuffed at the dirt beneath her hooves for a moment before speaking.

"I'm sorry, girls," she said quietly, "I just... I could feel that there was something strange out there and I couldn't help but try to find out what it was. I got the feeling it would've been a bad idea to bring you all along, so... I went alone," she cringed slightly, "...I'm sorry."

"All is forgiven, as long as you're safe and sound, dear," Rarity replied with a wave of her hoof and a warm smile. The smile was soon replaced with a bemused frown as she looked back at the wolf, "and I suppose this... creature is what drew your attention?"

"Oh yes," Fluttershy replied, perking up at the mention of the wolf. She turned and smiled at the massive canine, "he might not look it, but he really is a big softy... just a little territorial and protective is all—kind of like Harry if he were a bit more serious."

"That's all well an' good, Flutters," Applejack responded stepping closer to the wolf with a frown, "but what in the hay is this... and why is it so... uh..." she tilted her head and her frown deepened, "aw shoot, I don't know how ta put it in words... it's like... it's like it's part o' the family or somethin'."

"I do feel an odd sort of kinship with it," Twilight observed, stepping right up to the wary canine and inspecting it from all sides, "but where did it come from? Was it originally a normal wolf? If so, what caused this change?"

"This is pretty neat!" Pinkie exclaimed from atop the wolf's back. The creature started in surprise before twisting its neck to look at the pink pony, but Pinkie merely hugged it around said neck, "it's like I suddenly found a brother I've never had!"

"It is a rather odd thing if I'm being honest," Rarity added, eyeing the wolf uncertainly before turning back to Fluttershy, "would you care to explain, Fluttershy?"

"Yeah, what the hay happened out there?" Rainbow Dash asked before glaring at the wolf, "did that thing hurt you? If it did I'm gonna—"

"Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow winced and turned back to a stern looking Fluttershy. She gestured back to the wolf as she spoke.

"You look at that wolf... look into its eyes and tell me what you see."

"But..."

Fluttershy gestured again and Rainbow sighed before turning to stare at the wolf. It seemed to sense her gaze and with a flick of its ear it turned to look right back at her. For a few moments, they both stood there, staring each other down.

Then Rainbow Dash snorted and smiled before flying over and playfully hitting it in the shoulder.

"You know what? Me and the big guy aren't so different!" she exclaimed, "I like him!"

"I knew you would, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied with a small smile, "you just needed to look a little deeper, that's all."

"Now that those two have become... acquainted," Rarity continued, trotting up next to Fluttershy, "perhaps you wouldn't mind filling the rest of us in on what's happened in your absence?"

"I don't mind," Fluttershy replied with a nod with a solemn expression, "in fact, I need to tell you all something important."

"What is it, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked as she and the others gathered around the yellow pegasus curiously, "from your look, it doesn't sound like good news."

"It's not," Fluttershy confirmed, "from what Mister Wolf—"

A loud bark rang out, startling both Pinkie and Rainbow.

"—I'm sorry... from what Bright Fang tells me," Fluttershy corrected, "he was just a normal wolf until about three or four years ago. Then a large griffon came, turned into some kind of black monster and killed his entire pack."

"What? Not cool!" Rainbow cried indignantly from over by where she was petting the wolf, "what kind of jerk just shows up and kills off a pack of wolves for no reason?"

"Probably the same kind of jerks who show up to a town and slaughter half their population for no reason," Pinkie replied quietly.

"...Oh, right," Rainbow Dash muttered, flattening her ears against her skull, "I guess we kinda did do that... and I guess it was kinda my fault..."

"No more than mine," Pinkie replied, "if I hadn't lost control like that—"

"Now ain't the time ta beat yerselves up over what already happened," Applejack cut in, frowning at the two, "we all played our part in that debacle, an' frettin' over it now ain't gonna do us any good."

"Applejack's right," Twilight agreed with a nod before looking back to Fluttershy, "and besides, I'm more worried about this griffon. You said he turned into some kind of black monster?"

Fluttershy nodded gravely.

"From what Bright Fang told me," she continued, "the griffon used black whips and silver metal to kill the rest of his pack. Bright Fang himself managed to escape, but not before being wounded by the griffon."

"That... don't sound good," Applejack muttered, "that don't sound good at all."

"I don't like the implications either," Rarity agreed, "if what you're saying is true, then—"

"Then that wolf was infected," Twilight interjected, furrowing her brow in thought, "and rather than killing it, it caused it to mutate... which means..." her frown deepened and she looked back to Fluttershy and the others, "...there's more like us out there."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flying over to where the others were, "but... but how? How is that even possible? And how did they get all the way out here?"

"I don't know, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied, shaking her head sadly, "but there's more."

"I was afraid of that," Rarity muttered, "what else could there possibly be?"

Fluttershy turned and looked Rarity in the eye as she spoke.

"The griffon that killed Bright Fang's pack? It was the same griffon we ran into on the mountain trail earlier... and it sounds like he's heading to Squawken to finish what we started."

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