Snow was everywhere. Visibility was low - reliably, less than half a mile, and beyond that it was just dark outlines and pure shadow. The amount of light in the whole valley seemed to be just a few notches above pitch black, like a dark gray. My cloak had done a surprising job of keeping my body fairly warm thus far, but the arctic air blasted my face. My wings, which were completely exposed and slipped through the back of this specially-made cloak, were freezing. The cold seemed to be crawling up my ankles where my hooves hung exposed. I think it had to do with me being preoccupied and so anxious about finding the foals and helping the other team members any way I could.

Spitfire was attempting to lead us at the head of a V formation through the snow only twenty yards or so above ground. We were looking for any signs of the foals, but it was hard to see much if anything. It's a very narrow valley; where we were at that point it was only a couple miles wide and on either side steep mountains towered over us and out of sight into the darkness above. Throughout the bottom area where we were there were smaller hills and pine trees scattered throughout with some pockets of heavier tree cover.

The eight of us from Ponyville tried to keep up with the discipline and organization of our Wonderbolt counterparts, but the entirety of our combined teams were having a really difficult time in the winds. First of all, the winds were loud which made it hard to hear Spitfire's commands. Secondly we had no sense of direction since we didn't know where to look exactly, so we flew aimlessly and with our eyes looking down and around in search for any signs of pony life. While we did that the winds pushed us around to the great frustration of Spitfire who had demanded we hold our positions.

There was a particularly strong gust of wind that came down through the valley from the west and it blasted all of us into disarray and obliterated our V formation. Since we were trying to stay in line we weren't prepared for the rushing gale, and I felt my own body being pushed violently and I lost almost all control of it. I fought hard to turn myself and finally squared my shoulders against the winds, tilting my wings against them so that I was able to somehow regain control - as did Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and one other Wonderbolt. But as we managed this with our utmost effort everyone else wasn't so lucky and they went sent shrieking and sailing uncontrollably through the air and ending up on the ground and in the snow.

Immediately I descended to the ground desperate to see if everyone was alright. I was surprised - the snow was only not quite up to my knees. I thought it'd be over my head or something. I didn't care so much about that as I did the poor pony lying face down in the snow next to me; I reached into the snow and helped them up. When I got him stood up I saw it was Thunderlane, dizzy and holding his head in place with his hoof.

"You alright?" I asked concernedly, looking him over and brushing the snow off his cloak. To my relief he seemed ok, if not a little delirious.

"That was actually kinda fun," he muttered. I took it as a yes. I looked around to see if anyone else needed help; it didn't seem like anyone was seriously injured, but they did look shaken.

"AHHH!" growled Spitfire, landing among us as the others started plopping up out of the snow. She looked around at all of us and then out and around the rest of the valley, visibly growing in frustration. "Well this is stupid," she muttered angrily to herself, though Fleetfoot was right beside her.

"We have no leads or anything!" she complained to her in a muffed voice, but I could hear them. Spitfire kept looking around, though she seemed to agree. "The Princesses just sent us out here and said 'do something!' Everyone knows this mission is a lost cause."

"What we're doing isn't working," uttered Whitewash to himself. Spitfire heard him, and she wasn't happy. Remember that the two of them do not like each other already, apparently having to do with something at the academy.

"I don't remember asking your opinion on anything," she spat. He turned his head away angrily, which made me somewhat upset. In truth many of her interactions with us thus far made me upset but I knew that pushing back would be counterproductive to finding the foals. Come on guys... I thought to myself.

One thing I noticed though was that the Princesses and the doctor from Whinneapolis were right... it seemed highly, highly unlikely that any foal or even adult pony for that matter without any kind of winter survival stuff could last any kind of time out here in the open, which made me all the more nervous and spirit-crushing. As if this valley wasn't a scary enough place by itself. My gut told me they were alive and whether or not they were I simply had to believe it. If we were going to find them, it was going to be somewhere where there's cover, a cave or... something. It did seem like the winds were stronger higher off the ground.

"Come on... Everyone get up," said Spitfire, in a louder voice so that we could hear her over the blowing snow. "We need to rethink this..."

"It's s-so c-c-cold out here," remarked a shivering mare, one of the Wonderbolts.

"I know, I know!" replied Spitfire in a much more understanding tone, and for the perhaps the first time I saw signs of compassion on Spitfire's expression. "I wanna go home as much as you do. So let's put up an effort to find these kids and get out here. I think we should search on hoof for a while, get out of that wind."

I tried to listen attentively to her and be a good team member. Even though it was to clear to me that she doesn't like me, she was still the appointed leader of our group, so until she told us to do something truly objectionable, I would try to obey. She made eye contact with me and promptly looked away coldly, which I tried to ignore.

"I agree," said Fleetfoot, looking upward dreadfully.

"Why don't we split up into two groups?" Spitfire suggested, gesturing at me and Thunderlane and the rest of the non-Wonderbolts that had ended up in our area. "Why don't you all go and search that side of the valley? We'll meet back here in an hour. If something happens - the unlikely scenario you find the foals, or you have problems, whatever... use your flares. Understand?"

"But what if we can't find you here when we come back?" asked the worried voice of Clear Skies, who was standing with Buddy just behind me and to my left.

"Use your flare if you have to, and we'll use ours." she replied flatly. "Wonderbolts, move out. Ground formations," she commanded.

They started to move out while the rest of our group stayed still. Nobody on our side seemed to have a problem splitting up, even though they were silent. I looked around the group and subtly study their expressions. They looked cold and unhappy for the most part, though they showed signs of resilience that seemed to fill me with more endurance of my own. I just wished there was more I could do for them.

After the Wonderbolts had cleared out and we had stood still in the snow for a moment, I couldn't help but think of those foals and I was eager to get started. I took a few steps towards the north as Spitfire and her group had moved towards the southern range. There was only about a mile between us and the overwhelmingly tall mountains. It felt like we were in the bottom of a pit and there was no way out. I'm no stranger to loneliness and isolation, but there wasn't anything in my previous life I could quite compare with this place. We were truly at the ends of the Earth, and the atmosphere of isolation hung on you like a fog, almost spiritual in nature.

"You guys ok?" I asked quietly, turning myself around to face them.

"Just happy to be away from her," remarked a disgusted Blossomforth.

"Seconded," added Thunderlane who since entering the valley refused to even look at the mare. The rest of the them most certainly agreed with these sentiments.

We started to trek slowly as a group through the snow and wind towards the other side of the valley. Nobody really said anything at first, which left me wondering how the rest of them was feeling since I was curious to know. I saw the fear and struggle, and it made me feel an emotional connection with them knowing that we shared the same plight. Blossomforth and Whitewash had the tougher expressions, while I imagine mine was probably closer to Buddy's or Clear Skies'. Thunderlane seemed like a mixture; he would look around curious and devoted, but not quite afraid like Buddy or me and yet not quite hard like Blossomforth or Whitewash. Merry May seemed more timid and frightened, though she looked focused. She had been the quietest thus far.

I wanted to encourage them somehow and let them know that I would do anything to help. But as we pressed forward slowly I just couldn't think of anything to say to them. I knew that Rainbow would be very vocal if she was here. Oh, how I missed her. She'd be helping and inspiring them... But what can I do? Would it be too much to just tell them how much I appreciate their effort and admire their bravery? I thought about it as I took strength in the blue feather behind my ear underneath my hood. I just had to accept that Rainbow and I are two different ponies. She's confident and strong, and I'm more shy. I love them all so much though, and I wanted to be a devoted servant if I couldn't be the leader that she is. Just encourage them with your actions, Sonic, and put their needs before yours.

Another thing I wondered about still was what that bottomless pit at the front of the valley meant for Rainbow. She had said she was going to meet me out here, that she was going to help bring those foals back herself. I just didn't see how that was possible if she couldn't fly over that chasm, and it made me worried and sad to know that I might be on my own out here without her out. But I never forgot my promise, and I always tried to stay focused on my own responsibilities to my team and to saving those foals. I looked out into the wilderness, begging the stars for a sign of Scootaloo and the others.

"Well, you guys see anything?" asked Thunderlane. I looked in all directions. Suddenly he picked up some snow and flung it at Blossomforth with a smirk, hitting her hood in the back of her head. She was shocked - and not in a good way.

"You're unbelievable," she hissed. Thunderlane seemed to resent this more because he said the same words to Spitfire.

"Have you seen any creatures lurking around?" asked a shivering Buddy, shivering with both cold and fear. It occurred to me then that I really hadn't seen hardly anything thus far. No signs of life anywhere. No ice dragons, no foals, no anything. It looked desolate, though we knew it wasn't. I thought it would be smart to move towards the mountains, especially since it was the range where the rail line runs over.

"It's colder than ice cream out here!" remarked Clear Skies. I searched diligently in the area around us for any sign of anything. Visibility had actually improved but if only slightly; the snow had slowed down and was now a light snow, and it seemed like the winds had died down somewhat so it was noticeably a little quieter. Strangely, this actually seemed to make everything scarier. There were a few more trees in this area too, which made it feel like a forest though the trees were certainly a bit more spread out than say the Everfree Forest. But that's what made the lesser winds and therefore lesser noise more unsettling. There was a feeling that something could be lurking behind those trees.

"They couldn't survive out here by themselves," muttered Whitewash quietly. It was sort of an emotional blow, even if I knew if my heart I knew it was true. That's why I wanted to move towards the mountains where maybe we could find a cave or something.

"Whitewash," said Clear Skies, her voice sad like she was trying to be more optimistic.

"Nobody gave us a chance to set the thunderstorm up in time," I remarked gently to my own surprise. I meant it as a means of encouragement.

"Everyone's thinking it. I'm just saying it," he replied coldly, looking out into the trees.

"He's right," uttered Blossomforth, who then looked at me cynically. "This is not the same as moving clouds around."

In truth, both of their comments had hurt me, though I tried not to show it.

"What's that?!?" cried Buddy all of a sudden, pointing at a spot on the ground just a few yards away from the group and next to a nearby tree. We all gasped and froze, except for maybe Whitewash. As soon as he said it I nearly jumped out of my skin. We looked on, though, and it looked to be no more than a large white rabbit, watching us curiously and cautiously. We all sighed with relief.

"Just a cute little bunny," said Thunderlane, smiling and hitting Buddy on the shoulder. "You wanna cuddle with it?"

"I think that's actually a hare," replied Blossomforth.

"Oh whatever."

At that moment I was standing the furthest away from the hare, and while all of their eyes were still on it I suddenly thought I heard something behind us the other way. I gasped quietly and snapped my head around, pointing both my ears forward in its direction. It didn't sound like much - maybe the break of a stick or something.

With a strong jolt of nervousness I scanned the area, and to my horror I thought I saw something like a dark outline move behind a tree. But it was still dark and grey and the visibility wasn't great at all, and it happened so fast that I wasn't sure so I kept my eyes on it. I had a bad feeling like we weren't alone anymore and a strong feeling of being watched. I spent time in the wilderness growing up and my senses in this regard had come to be pretty reliable. I smelled the air for any kind of strange scent, but the smell of pine seemed to be the only thing my nostrils caught. Then again, maybe there was something else coming up through my nose...

"Um... guys?" I remarked calmly, trying to not to scare them. "Let's move towards the mountains and see if we can find anything over there. But I don't think we should stay still."

"I concur," said Thunderlane, looking around nervously. "Let's get out of here."

Just when we all started to move forward again, Buddy suddenly gasped loudly and his limbs were stiff in the snow. We all stopped in our tracks and stared ahead of us. My heart stopped. Glowing in the dark grayness were what appeared to be two demonic yellow eyes on the black outline of what appeared to be a four legged creature, a bit shorter than us ponies if my eyes were correct. They were glaring right at us. They looked keen and they looked hungry. If my eyes were correct, the outline of the figure seemed to resemble a wolf. All of us froze, except Thunderlane.

"Ha! It looks like a timberwolf," he said, very unimpressed and almost amused, squinting his eyes at the glowing yellow ones. "These guys can be beaten with a sneeze! You blow 'em a kiss and they fall apart," he continued, and he began to move towards it with a cocky grin.

"Uh... Thunderlane?" remarked Blossomforth uneasily, her gaze locked fearfully on it. "I don't think that's a-" Thunderlane, however, continued right forward.

"The most pathetic... pitiful... non-intimidating creatures in all of Equestria. I mean how could anyone be scared of these things? Watch this guys," he continued with a laugh. The rest of us though were not getting the same vibe from this creature. It looked downright scary with it's wild and ravenous stare. I didn't know what he was talking about exactly, you couldn't pay me to go near that thing.

"Thunderlane!" I whispered, concerned. I eased forward ever so slightly to try and discourage him.

"Oh relax, guys!" he assured us. He kept walking up to it without hesitation. As he neared it it seemed to back up ever so slowly in a crouch position, beginning to growl defensively. It sure sounded like a wolf or canine of some kind. I started to really fear for my friend, who started to raise his right front hoof over it. "Hey little guy! You ready to get owned by a - YAAOOOWW!!!"

I watched as the animal pounced forward and bit him on the leg just above the hoof that he was about to demonstrate with. Blossomforth, Whitewash and I leapt forward and quickly worked to free his limb from the teeth of the animal - which we could clearly see was in fact a real wolf of flesh and blood, not timber. Whitewash delivered a ferocious kick that elicited a whining yelp, then the wolf ran away as we dragged Thunder back to the rest of the group, where the rest of them were freaking out.

"You... IDIOT!" shouted Whitewash into Thunder's face.

"Are you alright?" I asked breathlessly, sitting down beside him and eyeing his wound. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was definitely bleeding. He was clearly in pain, though it seemed like he was handling it ok. He wasn't screaming or anything.

"Ok, so it's not a Timberwolf. Nobody's perfect," he said in a voice that hardly masked his regret as he licked his wound embarrassed.

"Do we have any bandages in here?" I said, looking in the bag.

"Hey!" said Clear Skies, looking into one of her saddle bags. "We do have some in here! They must've put it in without telling us!"

I looked into my bag and stuck my snout into it and sure enough I found it, grabbing a wrap of bandages in my mouth. I wondered if there was anything else in the bag that they hadn't told us about, but I didn't feel anything. I pulled it out as Blossomforth took a step away from him.

"You should thank Sonic for being kinder to you than you deserve, you utter moron," remarked Blossomforth shooting him a deeply irritated look. I ignored her and attempted to start wrapping some bandages around his right front shin that had been bit.

"Hey Buddy, can you help me hold this here?" I asked him as politely as I could, having difficulty getting it to stay. I envied dragons and other creatures that had opposable claws, wondering how much easier to do stuff like this with them. The shaking stallion set aside his fear and leaned over to help, which I really appreciated.

"Sorry about that," whispered Thunderlane, ashamed. I turned my head up and reassured him with my eyes. I was just happy he was alright. He seemed grateful for my helping him as he managed a small but very sincere and loving smile. I gave one of my own right back to him.

"Um... guys?" uttered the terrified voice of Merry May just as Buddy and I finished Thunderlane's bandage. We all looked up to see what she was talking about and found the rest of them staring silently ahead. Buddy and I both gasped in fear together.

"Uh oh," muttered Thunderlane.

Instead of one pair of yellow eyes in front of us belonging to a lone wolf, there were now four of them. They were snarling quietly to each other maybe twenty yards in front of us, their eyes narrowed and locked on straight on us with predatory longing. I've bumped into a few rather nasty-looking creatures in my time alive on Equestria, but these wolves were something else. They were totally black all over and they flashed large white fangs.

Suddenly my right ear flicked itself to the right as I heard snarling and growling from that direction. I turned and saw four more pairs of eyes in that direction too. My heart began pounding a thousand times a minute. What would Rainbow do... What would Rainbow do? Be strong, be strong... I thought to myself, flicking my ear around her feather drawing courage from it. I really wished she was here.

"Look over there!" cried Buddy, and there were a solid five wolves now standing near where the hare had once been, and whether or not it survived I don't have the slightest idea.

"What are those things on their backs?" asked a curiously nervous Blossomforth. I picked a wolf on my side to concentrate on. It was hard to make out from there, but she was definitely right. There was something different about these wolves, there was something on their back that no other wolf I had heard of has.

I didn't consciously realize it until then, but I felt someone's rump on my own since we had all slowly huddled into each other. My attention started to turn towards the others, I guess it was a protective instinct. Buddy and Clear Skies were shaking togther. Blossomforth and Merry May were huddled together, with Blossomforth's ears getting closer and closer to touching her neck. Whitewash's ears were all the way against his neck, and for any non-equines reading this that means angry to the point of violent. He had a fighter's expression and was snorting ferociously.

I turned around and sure enough there were now several wolves behind us two. It seemed like every second that passed there were more and more of them and the sounds of awful growling and snarling got louder until it seemed like they were everywhere. Now I was really really scared. My youth life has had it's rough points but in terms of sheer terror this took the cake for anything I'd experienced. Naturally I was thinking about Rainbow, but I was also deathly concerned for my teammates.

"I count fifteen," said Thunderlane, definitely nervous but somehow calmer than one might expect. "Wait, no... make that seventeen. Wait... eighteen. Ok hold on a second..."

"Will you shut up!" snarled Blossomforth.

"Um... yeah," said Thunderlane, losing his hold on his ability to remain calm. "I think it's time we fly away, guys... leave them to their business down here."

I spread my wings and felt them brushing against Whitewash and Clear Skies' who were one either side of me, and we all did it at once. We were all eager to get up and get out of there, and in unison we crouched down in preparation for lift off. Nobody said anything, but somehow we all managed to take off at once. With all of our backs to each other in a kind of circle, each of us facing a different section of the forest, we hovered several feet off the ground.

But then something unexpected - and terrifyingly scary - happened. I looked down at the wolves in front of me on my side; the mysterious appendage on their backs that we couldn't figure out spread out in either direction and it suddenly became very clear what they were. They were wings. In a disorganized union each of the wolves lifted off the ground and matched our elevation until they once again surrounded us on all sides. The tremendous sigh of relief that we felt with take off was all but completely destroyed and replaced with a feeling a thousand times more dreadful than the first one was.

"Get a load of that!" cried a disbelieving Thunderlane. I was so scared I could barely keep it together. "Who ever heard of a wolf with wings?!?"

"This is Equestria!!!" shouted Blossomforth angrily. "There's always *something* *somewhere* that doesn't make sense, whether it's a lion with a scorpion's tale, or a chicken with a snake's body, or a -"

"Somebody light a flare!" cried Merry May. It sounded like a good idea, but that would've been kind of hard to do in midair.

"M-maybe we should l-land," I suggested, begging my heart for the strength to be brave and indulging in my blue feather on my right ear. "I think we can fight better on the ground."

"I don't have to kill them... do I?" asked Clear Skies.

"What?!?" asked a startled Thunderlane, looking around in fear. "What are you talking about?"

"Well... I don't wanna kill any of them!" she replied.

"Clear Skies! This is the not the time for some kind of philosophical discussion on the morality of killing demonic wolves!" cried Blossomforth.

"Ok, fine. I'll go for the knockout. But I'm just saying... if I happen to kill a wolf on accident, I'm sorry but I'm not gonna care," said Thunderlane.

"I'm gonna die with a bunch of idiots," growled Blossomforth, shaking her head violently. I couldn't quite see Merry May, but Whitewash seemed to be ignoring everything behind him. His eyes were locked on in a ferocious death stare with the wolves, while his nostrils panted snorts of steam in between breaths.

We got so close to each other in our hover that we were almost flapping our wings against each other. My heart was pounding of my chest and I could barely breath. The glowing yellow eyes in the sea of darkness started to close in around us while the sound of hungry snarling dogs got louder and louder. I could feel the fear from my teammates, that seemed to finally at a level near mine and Buddy's with the exception of maybe Whitewash. Our impending failure and my life with Rainbow was all suddenly hanging by a thread, and I knew it.

I didn't realize it, but Thunderlane had stuck his mouth into his saddle bag and pulled out one of his green flares meant for shooting into the air. He turned around mid-hover and tapped me hysterically on the shoulder with his hoof. I twisted around and bit the fuse off at the end of the flare, and he tilted his head sideways so the end was pointed upward. It shot off once above the trees and into the sky directly above us, upon which he dropped it and started shooting flairs in any which way. The shot to the sky exploded and sent green bright orbs flying in several directions with a loud boom. The rest of the flares shot into the snow.

Suddenly, I saw yellow eyes everywhere flying towards me while the growling and snarling intensified to a deafening level. They started barking and the barks themselves sounded like they belonged to hellhounds. The flare had set them off.

The lid was officially blown. A winged wolf came right at me, and I ducked down while wolves everywhere started crossing in front of my vision, and I was now a complete mess of hysteria and adrenaline while images of my life - mostly Rainbow's face - played in my head. WHATDOIDO? WHATDOIDO? My other teammates screamed, and the group was officially broken up and a full scale battle erupted. Wolves were everywhere. One of them blasted into me and sank it's fangs into my ankle while another hit me from the side. I cried out in pain and I fell to the snow.

Somehow I landed directly on top of the wolf that hit me from the side, which seemed to totally immobilize it. I got up and ignored the pain in my ankle and was immediately swarmed by three more wolves. Despite being the raging swirl of panic inside me I instinctively turned around bucked both of my legs and somehow hit a wolf, sending it flying into a tree. As quick as that happened, a wolf bit my back hip and I felt it's canines tear through my cloak while another one latched it's teeth onto my other front leg that had yet to be bitten.

As the three different areas on my body now screamed in pain and the cries of my teammates amidst the barking and snarling overwhelmed my ears, I flapped my wings violently and felt myself starting to lift off, while the wolves tried to drag me back down. I clenched the rest of my body and put all my effort into flapping; I shot through the air just a couple feet above the snow and then let myself fall. Upon crashing into the snow and rolling over I lost both of them. GET UP!!! As I did that I saw Rainbow's feather sticking out of the snow where I had been.

"NO!" I screamed, and picked it up in my mouth and flapped myself violently backward as they lunged.

I crashed again and stood up; they both got up and backed me into a tree where a third one joined them as I frantically shoved the feather into my saddle bag. I was still hysterically afraid - especially as a I got another good look at all of their teeth - but I seemed to have regained enough control to plan a defense. Suddenly I remembered my teammates - I had to get back to them, but I couldn't just charge right through these three wolves. With my back to the tree, my first thought was that I couldn't go anywhere - I was cornered. But then it occurred that this meant a wolf couldn't sneak up behind me. I flapped my wings and hovered off, and the wolves did likewise; one of them lunged forward but I sidestepped it so that it slammed into the tree.

The other two moved in together and I darted behind the tree. They both followed on one side, which subconsciously is what I wanted. I clubbed the first one across the mouth, but as I did that I lost my balance and fell backward while the second one pounced. It landed directly on top of my hooves so I shifted my momentum in my legs and sent it flying away from me. As I got back up and prepared to face the recovering wolf that I had hit in the mouth, the third one that had flown into the tree was suddenly gnawing on my back ankle again. I whipped my head back and slammed it with my other back leg.

"Sonic!" I heard Thunderlane crying in need from the main battle area, which I had drifted away from. "SONIC!"

I whipped my head desperately in his direction as a surge of protective angst swept through me; I couldn't let anything happen to my beloved friend, and a fierce desire to help him took complete control. I shot off the ground and whipped around the tree. I found him in a huge cluster of fighting and crying and growling and barking. He was on his back, struggling violently with two wolves restrained with both front hooves, biting and slobbering in his face. Another two wolves were closing in him from behind him.

I leapt forward and shot through the air with both hooves straight out and crashed directly into the two wolves behind him, crashing clumsily and rolling on top of one another while we all wiggled and thrashed. I seemingly had the benefit once again of my weight rendering one of them injured and unable to fight, while the other lunged for my neck. I ducked just in time, but after it missed it got right back up and I stuck my hoof in it's open mouth. It locked its jaws on the end of my leg, but since hooves are hard and anything to them is painless I simply raised it up with all my might and sent it flying away. It landed right as I jumped forward and turned around, bucking it with both legs into another wolf.

I whipped back around; Thunderlane wasn't in the same spot he was before, but a wolf had it's mouth on his rump. I ran forward, reared up, and smacked it in the face with my right front hoof. Thunderlane and I regrouped together side by side, each facing another direction. In the very brief pause I made a super quick glance at the rest of the scene; Buddy and Clear Skies were somehow holding their own - he landed a clumsy shot at wolf going for Clear Skies' rear end while she successfully dodged another wolf going for her neck. I saw Whitewash fighting a few yards away on his own, and after throwing a wolf off his neck he stepped forward and brutally mauled it with a devastating right front hoof to the face - it was either knocked out or killed - but several more surrounded him. Blossomforth and Merry May were struggling to fend off a group around them, though Blossomforth was the more aggressive fighter.

"Watch out!" cried Thunder, as we both turned back around and bucked a wolf coming at the other from either direction. A wolf lunged at Thunder's legs which he athletically hopped over with help from his wings.

"That is simply not POLITE," he said as he ran after it and stomped it.

I looked back over at the fight. I finally had a conscious and strategic thought; if we could eliminate our blind spots and stick together, we could take these things. We couldn't fight these things out in the open, not even pairs or we'd get overrun eventually. But what could we use? I didn't have time to think, as another wolf came at me. I leapt back to Thunder's side again while wolves regrouped around us, circling and snarling.

"We have to all get together!" I told him over the sounds of battle. He turned his wild and super-energized at me and nodded. We both stared down the wolves circling us and looked back in the direction of the others.

"Down, boy!" he taunted, and one of the wolves lunged while the others followed suit. This time he slid forward on stomach through the snow and right under the wolf while I welcomed it straight into my right hoof. We both flew forward to Buddy and Clear Skies' side while the other wolves moved in on us. Thunder took on a wolf that had Buddy by the tail while I bucked one off of Clear Skies' back. I looked over and saw yellow eyes approaching Buddy from behind his front, but he couldn't see it because he was watching in terror as Thunderlane grappled the wolf off his tail.

"Buddy! Behind you!" I screamed as gaping jaws closed in from behind him. He turned around so fast that his face smacked into the wolf really hard, and met with a high-pitched whine of pain from the wolf. "Nice shot!" I told him, as he eyed the hurting wolf in disbelief. "You're doing great!" I told him, which seemed to surprise him.

"This is just like when Rainbow and her friends fought the changelings at the Canterlot wedding!" said Clear Skies, apparently oblivious to the peril of the situation.

"Stop! You're crazy!" yelled Thunderlane, who turned ready to buck.

"Blossomforth!" I heard Merry May call. I whipped my head in their direction. Suddenly I felt canine teeth on my hoof again - one of them had hit the area just above the hoof, which was extremely painful. I ripped it of the wolf's mouth and kicked it with my other back leg.

"I'M A KINDA BUSY AT THE MOMENT!" replied a furious Blossomforth, throwing a wolf off her back and restraining another with her hoof. Merry May was now away from Blossomforth and more by herself, surrounded by three wolves. She looked terrified and in need of help.

"Lead these two to Blossomforth!" I told Thunderlane.

I leapt in Merry May's direction as the three wolves moved in on her. She turned away and closed her eyes as though to give up, but then she peaked one open and cleverly side stepped the first wolf while I landed a belly slam on top of the third one. The second one though bit her ankle and she cried out in pain. More importantly though the one she side stepped at first was coming from behind her for a kill shot to her neck. I stamped my hooves on the wolf underneath me and propelled off of it.

"Duck!" I shouted to her as I leapt towards her. She did that, and the wolf going for her neck missed but landed right on top of me, getting a good nip at my shoulder. As it came back towards me fiercely I whipped around and kicked it with my hind legs. We're strong back there, and I knew back kicks were my best defense. Though she looked terrified she managed to throw the wolf off of her, though I could see her leg was bleeding. I helped her up just as Blossomforth arrived, quickly followed by the other three.

"How's it going Blossomforth?" called Thunderlane to her as we formed a defensive group again.

"I'm not dead yet!" she panted viciously with a violent glare at the wolves surrounding us. The wolves began flying all around us and diving in while others came in below. "We can't gotta take away the aerial attack somehow!" she screamed.

We all heard Whitewash scream in agony and we looked in his direction; he had now five wolves around him, and two of them had their mouths in a death grip around his front shins. A third bit into his rump. As a group we collectively moved forward to his aid, though we ourselves had wolves hot on our tail. I flew into one of the wolves on Whitewash's front legs and ripped it off, only for it to bite my neck. It was a frantic bite at first as he struggled to get a good grip and it had the cloak to soften it, so it only slightly left a rough scratch rather than a devastating death bite. I headbutted it as it came in again. Thunderlane and I got back together and helped a reeling Whitewash up, who still had the look of a warrior on his face as he sucked in breath. The seven of us formed into a group while wolves circled above us and around us.

"We should move toward the mountains!" I cried, almost of breath. "We're not gonna survive out here. We need to eliminate our blind spots!"

"Exactly!" replied Blossomforth, panting.

"I say at the count of three, we all fly towards the mountains together! Put your hooves out and plow through them!"

"It's better than staying here!" said Merry May. Whitewash didn't seem quite ready yet, but Thunderlane started anyway.

"One, two, three!"

At the word three we all ran towards the mountains, and therefore the group of wolves waiting for us on that side, and shot into the air with our front hooves outstretched. Somehow we made it through, though I think several of them sustained scratches and minor bites on the way. I emerged through the initial breakthrough first, though I turned my head back around to see if they were ok. The wolves were all airborne and flying after us from behind.

"These things don't quit, do they?" asked Thunderlane loudly over the rush of the wind and the barking and snarling from behind.

I wasn't expecting to be first, and now that I was, the rest of them seemed to be following my lead, which placed an enormous amount of responsibility on me. I couldn't imagine letting them down after an effort like that. Now that I had time to actually to think and breathe, I looked around for any sign of cover we could use while the shadow of the mountain in front of us got bigger and bigger and it got closer and closer. I weaved us around the trees and thought desperately for some solution to this, since the wolves refused to back down. We were also reeling from battle and we were all of us in pain, and not exactly in good flying condition. Then you had the winds which were stronger at this elevation.

When I was cornered against that tree I could buck them all away because they had nowhere to come but the front. If that could just be recreated somehow... I scanned frantically around me for anything. We were also almost to the mountains. Suddenly I saw a very large pine tree who's bottom was entirely open, seemingly about the height of us ponies. If we could fit under that, we could take away the aerial assault and keep everything in front of us. It made sense in my head, but would it work? I couldn't bare the thought of endangering my teammates especially after such a valiant fight on their part. I turned my head back around at my team members. They'd followed me around thus far but would they follow me into the tree?

I closed my eyes and made up my mind. I swung low towards the tree. I came down and slammed into the snow right in front of the tree and ducked under it's piney branches, which were just above my head. I turned my head around and hoped beyond hope that they had joined me, my heart crying out desperately for it.

A moment, to my tremendous relief, Thunderlane entered the tree's cover, followed immediately by Blossomforth, Whitewash, and the rest of them.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" cried Blossomforth wildly as she looked directly above us at the thick cover of wood. "They can't attack us from above in here!"

As quickly as I was relieved, I was just as quickly now caught up in the suspense of whether or not this could work.

"Let's form a circle!" suggested Clear Skies. At Thunder's lead the rest of them ran around the tree to take away all sides of entry for wolves so that eventually we all had our backs to the tree's trunk. We stretched out our wings and limbs while the sounds of snarling approached from outside.

The wolves wasted no time. Three of them entered in front of us, but Thunderlane, Blossomforth and myself stepped up and turned ourselves around and bucked them straight back out the way they came in three devastating kicks. Each of them hit the ground limped away whimpering and whining. We looked ahead of us on the other side of the trunk to see how the others were doing; it seemed like all of them had bucked wolves out of the tree cover area too. It was clear now that the wolves took prey by distraction while other wolves could move in for the kill, or eventually wear them down until they couldn't fight anymore. But in here, they simply couldn't do that.

Wolves moved in on the either side, but this time they did not attack. They stood there and growled angrily, almost as if they were frustrated. They stared us down while we all caught our breath, the only sounds our own violent breathing and their hushed growls. We had our back legs ready and our heads turned. There were noticeably fewer of them now, since many of them had now been hurt either here or back at the original ambush location. Our hind legs were powerful... we knew it. And more importantly, they knew it.

The wolf standing right in front of me, apparently the alpha, turned his head and looked at the wolf on either side of him. His attack position subsided as his body relaxed. His eyes left us and his head dropped down, after which he turned around and started to walk out from the tree. This was a gesture of defeat, and the other wolves followed suit. We watched them turn away and leave, until the only sounds were the winds outside and our own heavy breathing as we stood silently. My guard slowly started to drop. We were just getting over the shock. We had won.

Thunderlane wrapped his front leg around me and leaned his whole body against me, resting the side of his head into my mane. Relieved and loving my friend very, very much I also wrapped my front leg around him, and the two of us collapsed to the ground where a snowless bed of pine needles was there to greet us. We did it. We beat the wolves.

"You fought so well," I whispered to him. I was intensely admirable of everyone there for the way they never gave up.

"Me?" he whispered back chuckling, smiling proudly at me. "I can't wait to tell Dashie about how well *you* fought, and how you saved us all by coming in here."

I put my hoof on Thunder's shoulder and beamed thankfully for him and looked into his golden eyes with a deep appreciation for him. There was another pony in this world besides Rainbow who always believed me and always made me laugh. I reached my hoof around his head and rested my forehead against my dear brother whom in my wildest and most unattainable dreams I'd always imagined as my best stallion at the wedding between my true love and me.

"Are you ok?" I asked, eyeing him over and suddenly concerned about everyone else as well. "Is anyone else hurt?" I asked loudly, standing up despite the moderate pain in my ankles and other places. I went to walk around to check on them, but they had come around to the front of the tree where we were. Suddenly a flicker of orange flared up from beneath me. Blossomforth had lit her torch flare.

"It's as good a time as any to use one... right?" she asked in a rhetorical tone.

Clear Skies, who along with Buddy was now standing with us, smiled at me. Seeing it warmed me on the inside though I was concerned for everyone else's health.

"Great idea coming in here Sonic!" she said, to which my ears fell embarrassed though I was grateful for her compliment.

"It wasn't really an idea, just more of an instinct," I replied.

The two of them came in and sat next to Thunderlane, while Merry May and Whitewash sat near Blossomforth. I scanned them all. I couldn't believe it, but there didn't seem to be any serious injuries, though basically everyone was bleeding somewhere. Though most of our cloaks now had several holes, they had done a great job of limiting the damage done by wolf teeth. But I was so relieved.

"Well," panted Thunderlane from the ground. "We won! We did it!"

He smiled at Blossomforth, who despite being exhausted and annoyed couldn't help but shoot a very faint one back at him. Clear Skies was smiling as well, and she turned her head and smiled at Buddy who himself even couldn't help but smile back. They and the other team members looked up and me, and I was just so proud of them, and I knew that Rainbow would be too once she found out. I already loved them, and I hoped my eyes would encourage them.

"Guys, that was awesome!" proclaimed Clear Skies.

"How, though?" asked Whitewash, lacking any celebratory emotion. "We're not any step closer to saving those kids, and we still have no idea where they are," he darkly reminded us.

It absolutely deflated the triumph of the moment. My own spirits dipped partly because I knew he was right, though I also believed that optimism was our only hope. I think that was why I was never truly happy with our small victory here. I knew Scootaloo and the ohters were still out there, and my heart cried out to them. I had to save those foals. I had to see Rainbow happy again. Which reminded me... I searched around in my saddle bags desperately. My supplies were in tact; apparently this material that the they gave the oats in was the real deal, or maybe we were just lucky that the wolves hadn't gone after them. Or maybe they were smart enough to know that wasn't part of us.

To my great relief I found the item in question and took it out of the bag. I sat down on the bed of pine needles and held in my hooves what I had held when things seemed hopeless for ten years. It was the little blue feather without which I wouldn't be who I was then and without which I wouldn't be there at all. I had given it back to the one who gave it to me... but now that we were separated, it was once again just as precious to me as it ever was. This feather was my life, my soul, and my strength. I pressed it dearly against my chest and renewed my promise.

After some time I came back and realized Blossomforth and Merry May along with Buddy and Clear Skies had begun to wrap bandages around each other where they were bleeding. I scooted over to Thunderlane and began to wrap my own bandages around his leg. I looked over at Whitewash, who was working on himself.

"You need help?" I asked him. "I can get you here in a second, just let me finish him real quick."

"I should be able to get it myself, thanks," he replied quietly.

"Don't mind him," whispered Thunderlane.

"Are you alright, how does this feel?" I asked as his leg twitched.

"I'm fine, I just got the wind knocked out of me a few times. But I could use another bandage or two," he said, playing down his pain. I knew I was gonna need some bandaging, I was bleeding in several places but none of it was serious as no wolf had landed a really hard bite in any vital area.

"We should eat some oats while were here too, and drink some water," I remarked to the group.

"Oh yes," replied Thunder, his eyes wide in realization that he was hungry. He opened his sack of oats and buried his nose in it. When I finished with his bandages he had already devoured half a sack. When he wrapping my legs I got into one of my own sacks and ate something even though I wasn't hungry. I was thankful though that none of my joints had been bitten so it wouldn't be especially painful if I tried to walk or run.

When Thunderlane was just finishing up with my last bandage, something unexpected happened that caused us all to jump up. Someone yelled something into the tree.

"Hello?" it asked.

I recognized it again as the voice of Soarin'. Startled, the seven of us looked at each other, then got our stuff together (Blossomforth setting the torch into her bag the way I had on the way into the valley) and walked out into the open to meet him. Sure enough, there he stood on the outside, but to my surprise he only had five other ponies with him, meaning that six - including, as I could tell, Spitfire and Fleetfoot- were still off somewhere else. They were all shivering, but their cloaks were in tact and they didn't look they had just gotten into a fight with any kind of toothy creatures.

"Soarin'?" I asked.

"Geez," he remarked, referring to our ripped cloaks and bandaged ankles. "What happened?"

"Wolves... with wings," replied Thunderlane.

"You're kidding!" Soarin' shot back in horrified disbelief.

"No, he's not," said a very irritated Blossomforth, showing off new scars on her neck. Soarin' couldn't believe it. "No... he is not."

"My gosh... how did you guys survive?"

"Wait a minute... where's the rest of your team?" asked Thunderlane.

Soarin' gave an uneasy look back at the rest of his group and sighed.

"Not long after you guys left," he started, "Spitfire thought it would be a good idea to... take a break. We set up a camp, ate some oats..."

"Well..." mused a highly annoyed Whitewash. "That figures."

"A couple of us - myself included - saw one of your green flares, but we were confused because you only set off one. Spitfire just started the break so she decided to send a couple of us over here first to check on you guys, and if it was bad we'd go back and get them."

The rest of our group was visibly unhappy with this revelation as well. I can't exactly say I blame them. It was sort of upsetting to hear that they had been resting while we were fighting for our lives. Soarin' looked much more understanding then I had ever seen Spitfire though.

"Say, guys," interrupted Clear Skies, whose eyes were towards the mountain, the base of which was right in front of us just a couple hundred yards it seemed. It seemed like she was looking at something, but I wasn't quite sure how she could see anything in this dark considering Blossomforth's torch wasn't bright enough to go over there.

"Sorry to cut into your break time," remarked Blossomforth sarcastically to Soarin'. I don't think she had anything against him but was more just frustrated with the situation in general, which again I can't blame her.

"Look..." replied Soarin' in an apologetic tone. "I don't know what's gotten to her, but I'm sorry. Maybe the pressure's getting to her."

"Guys?" said Clear Skies again.

"What is it?" asked Blossomforth angrily.

"It looks like a... cave."