Pinkie was not thrilled to fight a manticore with a sad/psychotic social outcast. Frenzy lowered his stance and bared his teeth. He let out a menacing growl that did nothing to fend off the raving manticore. The manticore itself let out a roar and glared at Frenzy. He swiped his tail at Frenzy a couple of times, but he was definitely out of reach.

Frenzy made a wild charge towards the manticore and ended up biting him in the legs a couple of times. The manticore simply kicked the black and pink wolf back. Frenzy tumbled backwards and laid flat on his stomach. He immediately got up, let out another snarl and made another charge that bore the same results.

The wolf didn’t seem to be changing his tactic anytime soon. After getting kicked back for another half hour, Frenzy decided to take a different approach. The wolf leaped over the monster instead of charging straight into it. The manticore watched as the wolf passed by over head. Frenzy landed on the other side and turned to face his attacker. But the manticore however had turned it’s attention to elsewhere.

Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie backed up into a tree as the manticore slowly approached the pink she-wolf. Pinkie shut her eyes and waited for the beast to strike. But it didn’t.

      “Yah bedder ferget bout layin yer pawsh on her!” Frenzy growled with the manticore’s tail between his teeth.

Pinkie opened his eyes and found Frenzy tugging at the manticore, trying to get him away from her. The manticore lifted his tail with Frenzy still hanging on to it. The manticore swung his tail and the jet black wolf was flung into a tree. He whimpered and stayed still, not moving. The manticore turned it’s attention back to the pink she-wolf that stood before him.

Pinkie shut her eyes as beads of sweat started to form on her face. The manticore bounded towards her and pounced. Pinkie whispered a silent prayer for something, someone to save her.

Her prayers were answered. Just before the manticore hit her, a streak of blue and black crashed into the manticore. The manticore slid on the ground as the figure stood on top of it. It was Backdraft. He leaned in and took a great big bite out of the manticore’s neck. The manticore struggled for a while before going limp.

Backdraft got off the dead carcass. His mouth was coated in blood. He looked at the manticore one more last time before walking towards the motionless Frenzy. Backdraft looked at the motionless body of his friend and nudged it with his snout a couple of times.

      “Yo buddy, you okay?”

Frenzy slowly stood up. Blood trickled out of his mouth, his breathing was heavy but the wolf managed to suppress a weak smile.

      “Yea sure. Probably not gonna be walking for a while though.”

      “Damn, you have to be either the stupidest or the bravest wolf I’ve ever met. Most wolves would never do anything that stupid.”

      “Well, most wolves aren’t like me.”

Frenzy slowly rose, he stumbled but Backdraft caught him before he could fall.

      “Yo easy, easy. I got ya.” Backdraft said

Frenzy stood up and leaned on Backdraft. The two began walking towards the location that Backdraft had earlier burst out of. Pinkie followed closely behind. Not daring to talk, things like a manticore attack tend to leave you speechless. Shortly afterwards they came across the rest of the elements. They immediately circled Pinkie and gave her a big hug. Thankful that she wasn’t dead.

Her friends asked her a bucket load of questions, but Pinkie didn’t answer. Her friends eventually left her alone to get over her shock. Pinkie hadn’t even realized it when they reached the cave. The group of wolves made their way inside where Raycaster and the others were waiting.

      “Well? Where’s the carcass?” Raycaster asked

      “About that...” Backdraft said

      “*sigh* What’s your excuse this time?”

      “Our friend here...” Backdraft motioned his head to Frenzy whom was lying on the stone floor. He flashed the group a mischievous grin.. “-decided to pick a fight with a manticore.”

      “But did you catch and kill a deer?”

      “Hell yea I did.”

Raycaster turned his attention to the elements. Pinkie could tell that he wasn’t exactly ecstatic.

      “I guess that counts. Welcome to the pack, don’t break the rules and you’ll be fine.” Raycaster said

      “Um... What exactly are the rules?” Twilight asked

      “Rule number one, never ever disobey your senior’s commands and always follow them.”

      “Senior?”

      “I’ll assign you to them later on. Rule number two, never and I mean never go out unless you have permissions from me, Backdraft or the others.”

      “Ok. And?”

      “The final rule. No fighting amongst each other.”

      “I think we can live with that.”

Raycaster turned his attention back to the rest of the pack.

      “Gather around.” Raycaster said

Immediately all the wolves surrounded him. With only his back clear of any spectators.

      “So today I got the response from Sparkjump about the recruits.”

A hawk immediately flew in the cave with a piece of paper in it’s claws. It dropped the paper at Raycaster’s paws and landed close to Covert.

      “Aaaaaaaaaaaaand?” Backdraft asked

      “They declined.”

All the wolves argued and grumbled, obviously annoyed. Raycaster waited for them to settle down before continuing to speak.

      “Aw c’mon!” Backdraft groaned

      “Now, now. Maybe next time.” Raycaster said

      “Next time? How many times have you told us that?”

      “Um... let’s see-”

      “We’re busting our chops here! We need help and we need help now!”

      “I’m sorry Backdraft. Sparkjump’s word is law.”

      “What about Brimstone? Riptide?”

      “I don’t know.”

      “How about RainbowWolf? Pyromaniac? Eurobeat? Flaming Gem? Inferno Heart? Sketchy Markks? Executioner? Crashing Star? Blue Streak? Quicksilver? Gyvon?”

      “I don’t know! Even if the whole Wolf House did say yes, Sparkjump outranks them all.”

      “Tell him we need help and we need help NOW!”

By now Backdraft and Raycaster were face to face. Neither one of them seemed too set on the idea of backing down.

      “I’ll tell you once and only once Backdraft.” Raycaster said in a calm voice, but his eyes blazed with anger. “Sparkjump said no.”

Backdraft groaned and took a step back. Raycaster calmed down and continued.

      “And also, we have six new recruits.”

Raycaster pointed at the elements. Pinkie felt all eyes turn to her and her friends.

      “So, they’re going to need a senior to look out for them.”

Raycaster pointed at Applejack first.

      “You, what’s your name?”

      “N-name’s Applejack.”

      “You’ll be going with Atlasbreaker.”

Atlasbreaker made his way over to AJ and sat down.

       “Next, ah! You. The pink one.”

Pinkie had recovered from her shock. She was back to her cheerful state of mind. She wore a smile that reached from ear to ear.

       “Yes?” Pinkie asked

      “You’ll be going with Frenzy.”

Pinkie bounded over to the battered black and pink wolf. she lied down so that they were both at eye level.

      “Hiya!”

      “Looks like you’ll be rolling with me. Don’t think I could teach you anything right now though.”

Pinkie watched as the rest of her friends were assigned seniors. Rainbow Dash was assigned to Backdraft which she didn’t seem too happy about. Fluttershy was supposed to go with a pure black wolf by the name of Soleks but they quickly found out that it wasn’t going to work, so they assigned Covert to her instead. Rarity was going with Kenshin since she kept insisting. And Twilight was going with Raycaster since everybody else either already had a protege, or because they were too inexperienced.

      “That’s all for today. Now, you have five more minutes until free roam. Remember, Freewing Alchemist, you and Veonetric are on guard duty alongside TwiceMarked and Hydrawolf.”

      “Got it.” A voice from the crowds said

Pinkie waited and soon enough, everyone rushed out the cave in pairs, all going in separate directions. Her friends were probably following their seniors too. After all it is the rules. No one was left save for Frenzy and Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie turned her attention to the wounded wolf. Frenzy suppressed a weak smile.

      “So where were we again?” Frenzy asked Next Chapter: Grimlock Estimated time remaining: 43 Minutes