The Heart of Pleasure
By Haunter Rayne
Ch 53 – Panthers, Wolves, & Goats, Oh My!

As soon as the first Timberwolf leapt towards Rayne the panther sneered. A twist of rhododendron vines made of pure obsidian sprang up from the platform they stood upon. In mere seconds it tied itself around the creature that now kicked and snarled within its bonds. “RAAAWWWWRRRLLL!!!” Rayne then screamed as two more wolves charged forward from directly in front of him. With a swipe of his claw one of the Timberwolves shattered into a pile of sticks upon the floor. The other Rayne managed to catch in his jaws before taking a sizable bite out of it. But that did little to stop the foul smelling canine. It snapped up catching him by one of his arms as the entire group now proceeded to lauch themselves in.

The panther swiped and snapped gripping chunks of wood and ripping the wolves away of him piece by piece. However as Rayne tore at the leg of one, the rest of the creature stayed attacking him. Then he bit at the back of another and still most of the Timberwolf was left capable to fight back. Curling up into a ball around Zecora Rayne launched out a set of spikes from his back hoping they would take a few of the canines down. Regrettably, most of his spikes just slipped through the open gaps in the Timberwolve's wooden bodies. Feeling frustrated now Rayne glanced toward the largest group of them and spread his eyes wide as six of the creatures suddenly turned to stone from his Cockatrice stare.

To his added frustration, several of the others then bit the stone statues apart. Once they had fallen to pieces they were then able to revive back into their wooden selves just as the other wolves had been doing that his claws had torn assunder. “There’s too many of them! I can’t focus on just one to-”

“GIIAAAAAHH!!!” Zecora screamed as one of the attackers got a lucky bite in on her back hoof and then quickly dragged her out from beneath the panther.

“NOOOO!!!” Rayne screamed turning his back to several of the wolves, ignoring as their fangs sank into him again and again. He blasted a beam of magic to shatter the those around Zecora to pieces. Quickly she ran back under him for cover and the panther as roared out, “That is IT!” Suddenly remembering the thorny crystal pillars that Sombra was so found of making, the wolves howled as they were blasted apart by stone erupting upward from the obsidian disc below them. A moment later Rayne and Zecora were entombed by the new rock formations while the Timberwolves sniffed in search for a way to bypass through.

Rayne collapsed in exhaustion as Zecora sat up and screamed seeing the bloody marks that covered her boyfriend’s body. “NOOOO! MY RAYNE! PLEASE, NO!” She sobbed as panic gripped her heart. She ignored the blood that spread across her hooves as she kissed his wounds while trying to hold him tightly. Her eyes darted to the narrow gaps in the stone where the Timberwolves were trapped outside. Then her focus returned back down Rayne again as her desperation caused her to babble nervously. “I do not know what to do! Rayne, you have to tell me what to do!”

At this she suddenly felt the panther grab her and pull her close. “I need you to relax!” He held her close to his chest and breathed in deep as if taking in her scent were calming to him.

“Relax?! I cannot-”

“Hey! What did I tell you?” He shouted to her forcefully. But once her frightened eyes finally focused on him he lowered his tone and whispered, “I will protect you. Everything will be okay. Can you trust me...?”

“Yes but-”

“Can you trust me?” He repeated and looked to her softly. It took her a moment but for the first time since she the attack had began zebra had finally regained control of herself. After she nodded he told her, “Now listen to me. None of these bite marks are really that bad. There’s just a lot of them. I collapsed only because I’m tired. But don’t think I’m about to bleed out on you or anything, okay?” He explained to her while turning to show his wounds to reassure her.

Again she nodded and looked around now to make sure that the obisidian barricades were holding. However while focusing on the integrity of the the structure Zecora screamed in surprise from a snarling right down beside her hooves. “Ahh! AH! Rayne! One has gotten in!” She shouted before quickly jumping from the fangs on near the ground and running behind the panther beside her.

“No, wait!’ He yelled upon seeing that it was the first Timberwolf who he had ensnared with stone vines. “Look, I have it stuck in the wall. It can’t reform because it hasn’t been broken apart.” He told her as she peaked out from behind one of his legs.

To his surprise though, Zecora’s face turned dark as she spoke with an almost vengeful tone now. “Do it Rayne. Do what you came here to do. Show these monsters that you can best them. Do it for all the fear and strife they have put us through.” The panther smiled at seeing his girlfriend wanting some recompense from these creatures.

Licking his fangs sinisterly he watched as the Timberwolf struggled in its bonds but could neither attack nor flee from where it was pinned. Zecora stared wide eyed as a fiery glow seeped out of its wooden body just as had happened to so many other creatures before. In an instant the wolf fell apart into the pile of sticks it was made from but Zecora looked to them curiously as the creature did not seem to reform itself this time. She even kicked them around but there was no response, even as several nervous growls now came from the other wolves who remained outside.

“Uhnngggh...!”

That was when Zecora’s eyes snapped back to her lover seeing him hunched over with both of his forepaws held tightly around his head. “What is the matter? Rayne?! Why does your face show such strain?”

“This is different!” He shouted out loud enough to frighten her. He squinted his eyes and held his face in his claws. “I’ve taken the power of ponies, monsters, villains... But this isn't the same!” He groaned in strife to contemplate what he had just taken within himself. “It’s... it’s in me!” He screamed. “It’s still alive!” Sudddenly the panther slammed a paw into the side of their barricade hard enough to create a crack down one side of it. Zecora looked nervous again as Rayne seemed to be in no condition to fight and several of the Timberwolves now congrigated around the cracking stone.

“Don’t worry... I’ll protect us.” The zebra said to him while pulling one of the smoke grenades from her satchel. She watched carefully as the crack in their structure spread while the wolves outside panted excitedly.

“Wait...” Rayne whispered which then drew Zecora’s attention so that everything else had seemed to fall away. One of his blue eyes peered out between the claws holding his face. Seeing him extend his other arm beside him Zecora watched nervously as something grew upwards from the obsidian plate below.

“What is-”

“...Wait...” Rayne repeated which caused her to be stilled by his plea. She watched in disbelief as what resembled a Timberwolf rose from the ground but this creature was not made of bark and moss. The darkened canine seemed strange, as if partially made up of obsidian while partially made up of shadow that floated through the air to fill in the missing pieces.

As soon as Rayne pulled his paw back the idle beast sprang to life. Zecora jumped back and watched it’s jaws snap and bend as if it were snarling. Yet no sound actually came out from it’s jagged mouth. In fact no sound came from it at all, not even from it’s ebony looking paws stepping upon the dark stone below. “What is that? Rayne, was is that thing I am looking at?” She asked him with fearful wonder.

That was when Rayne grinned with his ears folding back and his fangs shimmering murderously. “It’s mine...” Then without warning the Obsidianwolf darted to the side and ran straight through the stone as if nothing were there. Zecora heard a surprised yelp from a Timberwolf outside before there was a lot of angry thrashing. Concerned whines sprung up all around while Zecora watched in amazement as Rayne’s creation dragged a Timberwolf right through the stone with its dark fangs.

Now the Rayne seemed to jump into action. Just as the pillar of stones finally began to crumble, Rayne looked about counting four canines that he could immediately see outside. With a snap of his magic the obsidian plate they stood upon burst upwards into a series of rhododendrons vines. Their snared around the four Timberwolves that Rayne had spotted causing the rest of the beasts around to jump back cautiously. Then grabbing the lone Timberwolf that had now been dragged to his heels the panther raised it high into the air by the throat before stealing its essence until it’s lifeless sticks clattered down around him.

The Timberwolves watched as another of their pack disappeared and did not revive. Meanwhile four others remained bound captive. Then they saw a second Obsidianwolf rose from the ground by the panther’s side in place of their own pack mate who had fallen. The tails of the Timberwolves suddenly lowered in as they looked to each other and whined. “Fetch...” The panther sneered, showcasing his fangs as his lips curled into a cruel looking smile. Immediately the Timberwolves attempted to flee as the two Obisianwolves bolted straight toward them. Rayne then threw himself forward, draining his captives and explanding his own pack from two to six before watching as they pursued after those that had attacked him.

A few minutes later Zecora now stood beside her lover. She watched, not in hiding but frightened all the same, as the six soundless creatures dragged back three more Timberwolves all yelping and thrashing in their grasp. “Rayne... what are those frightening things? Can you please explain?”

The panther began by first pouncing upon the captives, assuming that the rest were either able to fight themselves free or escape. He drained the struggling wolves of thier essence and then roared menancingly throughout the trees as if to tell the forest that there was a new alpha that had taken over. Now that the danger was passed the zebra looked on as nine obsidian beasts seem to howl but all without a sound coming out from any of them.

“They are as you know them... the regenerating canines that inhabit this rainforest.” Rayne began, pointing to one before the others turned upon it tearing the shadow wolf to pieces. Zecora watched as pumes of shade emanated from its wounds quickly causing it to reform just as a Timberwolf would have. Stopping the others with a raise of his paw Rayne now bent down and stroked the creature as if it were a docile house pet. “But now their lifeforce is bound to a new owner, rather than the forest which created them.”

Zecora could not believe her eyes as they all bowed in unison as Rayne stood tall above them. “Can this be true? But how is it they came to be? Rayne I know you can steal magic but how is it that you made these creatures I see?”

Rayne chuckled as he lifted the zebra onto his back still intent on removing her from this forest feeling that she had seen enough danger for one evening. "To be honest I am not entirely sure. I don’t know if it was merely one or a combination of my magics. But when I took the first wolf into me I could feel that it was more than just power I had absorbed.” Zecora watched as the wolves seemingly melted away forming into shadows that drifted back into Rayne. “It wasn’t just their energy or their powers, I felt the lifeforce of the creature. It was as if the spirit of the Timberwolf had been taken in... as spirit that was still alive. A spirit whose very nature called out to reform again once it had absorbed. And through my Umbran magic I received from Sombra I did what felt natural to give the spirit a form to take.”

“That... is amazing Rayne. The lengths to which you extend your power go far beyond the Tirek’s ability to drain.” Her voice sounded breathless as she spoke in awe to what he had told her. Looking around it seemed as if the creatures were gone. But as soon as Rayne had carried Zecora back to the first moat of quicksand she saw the wolves shift out from the panther’s own shadow forming a bridge for him to walk across until they vanished behind them once more.

“It is all thanks to you.” The feline whispered up to her in an almost jovial tone.

“To me?” She balked looking down in disbelief. “But, but, I did nothing! All I did was scream and hold you back! I was too frightened to even stand up for the stallion I care for when he was under attack.” She lowered her head shamefully but the panther used his tail to lift her face again.

“I never would have found this place if not for you. And if your naturally accute senses hadn’t detected that trap then I might have found myself in an abush the likes of which could have turned out very differently for me. Do you understand what I’m saying?” The expression in his eyes was tender now. “I probably owe you my life Zecora.” The proud and bashful look from the mare gave her a rosey glow which almost reached down to her hoofs.

- Back in the Castle of Friendship -

Applejack sat apart from the group as Fluttershy held her still struggling to explain that no pony was mad at her. “Oh dear, now please Applejack. Surely you know that none of us are angry with you. Sure Rayne’s idea may have been a bit outside the box, but if it was good enough for Cerberus and even good enough for the Friendship Table then it couldn’t have been a bad decision that you made.”

Meanwhile the others were gathered around Twilight as she finished reading a letter written for Celestia out loud. “What do you think? Does it convey the seriousness of the matter without being too harsh?” Twilight asked.

However it had not been long that they toiled over the report before Discord suddenly cleared his throat and called out to all of them. “Ahem, girls?” He coughed before nodding toward the front doors just before they burst open.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity all called together. Applejack now seemed to look up to share the worried concern of her friends about the pegasus having returned so quickly.

“Thank you for the teleport back Discord. I assume that was you?" Dash asked to which the Draconequus nodded. But her voice sounded off as if she were speaking in a grave tone or had been feeling ill. She floated slowly through the air very uncharacteristically for herself before landing softly into her seat.

“Uhh, Dashie? You alright?” Applejack asked, climbing back into her own seat now too. One by one all of their friends took their proper places around the friendship table and looked to the pegasus with concern.

“...You can stop...” Rainbow said just barely loud enough for them to hear. “The letter... that I see you writing there. It’s probably to Celestia I’d image... you can stop, you don't need to write it.”

Twilight was feeling almost scared by the somber tone of her usually energetic friend. “What happened Rainbow Dash? Did you find Tirek?” Just at the mention of that name Rainbow stiffened and looked on ahead as if she were spacing out. She nodded but gave no more of a response than that. “And?” Twilight asked but the pegasus just stared ahead at the wall as if she hadn’t even heard her.

“Oh come on! This suspense is just boring!” Discord yelled as he walked up beside the table. “Look, if cat’s got your tongue then I’ll help! I placed a homing marker on you when you left which is how I was following your location. If you can’t tell us what you found then we’ll just have a look for ourselv-”

“Wait! DISCORD NO!” Dash screamed as in mid air there appeared some kind of hollographic display of an arid land with a withered tree. Suddenly screams erupted from the mares in the room before Discord even had a chance to realize what they were looking at. There before them was a scene painted in dried red. Bone and grizzle lay spread across the ground. Also, sitting there underneath the tree was the horrified expression etched permanently into the sunked face of the late Lord Tirek.

Dispersing the image as quickly as he could Discord looked around apologetically to his friends but he could see that the damage had been done. “I- I, I’m so sorry everypony... I honestly didn’t know... I didn’t think that... Please, forgive me for showing that to all of you.” He got a couple awkward nods but it wrenched his stomach to see that Fluttershy was cowering behind her hooves looking into the air as if the image were still right before her eyes.

“Dammit Discord!" Dash screamed. "You know that I’m one of the bravest ponies around here! You couldn’t put two and two together that if I had found something that had ME shaken that you probably shouldn’t just openly display it in front of the others without checking it yourself first?!” Dash was furious but Discord only hung his head because he knew that she had been absolutely right.

“What... but what...” Twilight gasped having heard rumors of what Timberwolf attacks can be like for an unlucky pony but never having seen carnage like that before in her life.

Pinkie looked like she was shaking as she weakly attempted to laugh at what frightened her but was failing miserably. Rarity looked over with worry as Pinkie's puffy pink mane suddenly drooped and her color even faded a bit making her look more like one of her sisters now.

“It wasn’t far...” Dash whispered which drew in everyone's attention. “Heck, you guys could have even waited for me outside of Tartarus. He didn’t make it even ten miles from where I left you all.” Everyone knew that her pauses were from her trying to wrap her own mind around this. “Something chased him down. There were other tracks, it was something big.”

Stifling a whimper from herself Fluttershy managed to squeak a question out knowing that she would understand better than the others if this had been some kind of animal attack. “W-what kind of something? What did the tracks look like?”

Now Dash growled looking as if she wanted to punch something but there was nothing around to hit. “It doesn’t make any sense! It was weird. There were black feathers all around Tirek’s body like he had been picked apart by ravens. But there wasn’t a bird in sight when I got there! Something... ate Tirek. But whatever it was left huge prints in the ground both coming and going before they just kinda disappeared.”

Clearing her throat Twilight tried to hold onto reason and bottle her emotions on the situation for now. “Could it... maybe have been a gryphon? They don’t usually enter our territory without reason but we know they can be omnivores. With a shortage of nuts or berries they are more than capable of eating other creatures. Also, they can leave pretty big tracks when they land and they could have flown away which is why the trail disappeared.”

However Dash crushed Twilight’s hope for an easy answer when she shook her head and looked up to say, “Gryphons have claws so they’d leave a different set of marks in the ground. I’m no animal expect but I could recognize at least that much. Whatever this was clearly had some talons of its own but it left paw marks in the dirt instead. Big ones, like a manticore...”

“Well could it have been-” Applejack began but Fluttershy answered the question before she could finish it.

“Manticores don’t have feathers. Also, they are forest creatures. You wouldn’t find one in an arid part of Equestria like that. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any kind of animal that would match Dash’s description in an arid area like that.” Suddenly everyone in the room jumped at the sound of Twilight using her magic to tear her letter in half. Levitating over a fresh parchment and quill Twilight spoke aloud as she worked to rewrite her message.

“Dear Celestia, I write to you today with shaky hooves to inform you of a dark occurance which has taken place in our lands. A few days ago when a friend was sent to Tartarus on a friendship mission and an offer to reform their evil ways was given to none other than the villain Lord Tirek. Surprisingly to all, he accepted this offer and even went as far as to supposedly rid himself of his own magic as a show of good faith in exchange for being freed. Witnessing this, it was explained to me that Cerberus allowed Tirek’s departure however the real purpose of this letter is to explain that Tirek’s freedom was not to be the case.”

Redipping her quill in ink Twilight turned the parchment over to finish her letter on the other side. “Once I became aware of this, despite my position of attempting to spread frienship to all, I allowed a search to be done for Tirek’s whereabouts in fearing a vengeful return from him. However what was found instead could not have been further from what I expected. Traveling weaked and alone through the soutern wilds Tirek met a gruesome fate at the claws of a predator which has yet to be identified. His remains have tragically been confirmed but the creature responsible was nowhere to be seen. A warning to our citizens in Apploosa and the southern territories may be needed to look out for a creature with black feathers and large feline paws. With a heavy heart, yours truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The silence was deafening once the princess had finished with her letter. None of them looked up to voice that anything needed to be changed so without a delay Twilight handed the parchment over to Spike who then wrapped it up and blew it off with a magical flame. It was several minutes later when the little dragon looked to Twilight and asked her, “So what do we do now?”

The alicorn’s face fell as she now gave a helpless expression. “I don’t know Spike. I guess... I guess there is nothing that we do about this situation. There is nothing to do.”

“Nothing?!” Rarity gasped in shock but everypony could understood that she was only screaming out of fright. It was a feeling that they all shared to different degrees. “Tirek, namely one of the worse villains to ever endanger our land, escapes from Tartarus and we do nothing?! And worse yet, as bad as he was and even without the assistance of magic, something eats him and you say we do nothing?!”

“What would you have me do Rarity?! I’m as clueless to this situation here as you are!” Twilight shouted back. Just then Spike placed a claw over Twilight’s shoulder to comfort her.

“Um, excuse me Spike?” It was Fluttershy who had spoke up next before saying, “I think that it might be Rarity who needs your comfort right now more than Twilight does.” She pointed out and the light gray unicorn across the table realized she had tears in her eyes from how upset she had become.

Twilight nodded to the dragon that she was fine now and at that point he looked back to Fluttershy before coming to his girlfriend's aid. “Really? You mean it?” He asked while remembering full well that she had her qualms about him and Rarity becoming closer with each other.

The yellow pegasus smiled and nodded before explained, “Spike, the only reason why I was against your relationship is because I don’t want to see either of my friends miss out on something that could make them happy later in life. That doesn’t mean that I don't still want my friends to be happy in life now. And right now, I can see that your girlfriend needs you. So go be a good boyfriend and cheer her up.”

With an encouragement like that Spike happily leapt right over and rushed over to the mare who caught him with open arms. From over his shoulder Rarity looked to the Fluttershy with new tears in her eyes and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her with a grateful expression. This garnished a few smiles from the others in the room. The happy look on Fluttershy’s face told them all that they had heard the last of her complaints about the couple as she now too was overwhelmed by the cutness of seeing Spike and Rarity together.

“Ahem. Excuse me, miss princess?” Discord asked as he looked to Twilight but did so while stepping over behind Fluttershy’s chair. Both mares looked to him curiously with Fluttershy having to tilt her head back in order to stare directly up at him. “May I ask if your ‘official business’ is concluded? I wouldn’t mind, if I may, to borrow Fluttershy for a bit unless you still need everypony else for something tonight? Oh and, assuming that is alright with you of course?” He asked, bending to address the yellow pegasus as well.

“I think that after what’s taken place we could all do with calling it a night.” Twilight announced and Fluttershy seemed happy to take Discord by the hoof who teleported the two of them away as soon as he had helped her from her seat.

- Not Much Later That Evening
In Seperate Locations -

The insects of the Everfree Forest chirped noisily as Zecora walked hoof in hoof with her stallion to her front door. Meanwhile Discord opened the door to his own the little house within his colorful chaos dimension.

“May I come in?” Rayne asked.

“Please, do come in.” Discord offered.

Once they had all entered the respective abodes Rayne led Zecora to sit upon the end of her bed while Discord politely offered Fluttershy a seat on the couch.

“Look, I think I know what you are about to-” Both mares coincidentally began but were each interrupted by the solemn expression from the male they were with.

“I frightened you...” Rayne and Discord happenstance said in almost perfect harmony together. “I caused you to be frightened... something that I never, ever wanted to do.” The girls gave a mournful expression, seeing the weight of their guilt on the faces of Discord and Rayne. “So please, let me beg for your forgiveness. You mean more to me than to have you simply accept my apology. Let me make this up to you somehow, anyhow. Tell me what I can do to make this the most magial evening of your life and atone for what I put your through...”

Silently the girls just smiled, considering how much this meant to their dear one in front of them. Then the smiles turned into a nod as the girls accepted the gracious offer for an evening spent together.

Author's Notes:

Okay so was that one heck of a fight scene or what?! I personally am very proud of it. The tear jerking emotion from Zecora, the impending doom as they were trapped... and then the most unlikely of salvation.

So I hope that what happened with the Obsidianwolves was clear to everybody. The spirit of a Timberwolf seeks to be reformed when separated from physical form. When Rayne steals the magic of a Timberwolf it loses its connection to the tree bark it was attached to. But it still has the desire to reform. Now because Rayne has the magic of an Umbran pony he can use that to give it a new body made of shadow and obsidian. But now their spirit is bound to that Umbran magic instead of the tree bark of the forest. Which means they are bound to Rayne. So he now has nine servants which can meld seamlessly back and forth between shadows. And you can bet that Rayne will hunt for more Timberwolves in the future.

So now the mane six know that Tirek is dead. Rayne has no clue that they found out but they have no clue he has Tirek's magic. So he gets away with it to live free another day.

Now who liked the ending here? The scene where simultaneous events happened between Rayne/Zecora and Discord/Fluttershy. Rayne was apologizing for Zecora's terror in the forest. Discord was apologizing for displaying Tirek's remains to Fluttershy and the rest. I thought it would be cute showing that same scene happening with both pairs of them. And no, neither group knew the same thing was happening with the other group. It was just coincidence of timing.

And while yes it can be assumed that Rayne definitely had sex with Zecora that night, no I was absolutely not implying that Discord and Fluttershy jumped from friendship to having sex here. I leave it to reader's interpretation for what a perfect night for Fluttershy consists of but at the moment at least her relationship with Discord remains a platonic one.

Lastly, yes the chapter title is a reference to The Wizard of Oz, "Lions and tigers and bears, of my."