Thirty Minute Pony Stories

*Where is she?* the little filly wondered, brow creased in a frown as she stepped through the tangles of roots and fallen leaves. *Gah, it’s so dirty and gross here! She’s probably be terrified.*

She let out a quiet giggle before a distant howl set the fur on the nape of her neck on end.

*I hope I find you soon…it’s starting to get really, really dark…*

The sun had dipped beneath the horizon mere minutes before, but already the long shadows had been replaced by a suffocating twilight that filled the filly’s vision with indistinct shapes and her mind with phantoms and the weight of her own folly. Her ears twitched at every rustle of branches, every snap of a twig, every crackle of a dry leaf beneath her hooves as she quickened her pace, eyes scanning the seemingly endless tree line for some sign of her.

*Sis…why would you come out here? On Nightmare Night of all—*

Suddenly, she felt a tremor beneath her, the ground shaking as the echo of hoofsteps ceased. Her eyes on the foliage slowly, surely shifted to take in the shadowy figure before her.

*Oh, Celestia…*

Glowing blue eyes stared down from the beast, formed of branch and thorn. It pawed at the ground, digging a furrow as a rustling growl lifted from its throat, twisting tail swaying behind it.

The filly halted, rooted to the spot by fear, her hide trembling with terror.

*No sudden moves…be slow…deliberate…* she recalled the lessons she had learned, but those had been for lesser creatures. *M-maybe it’ll work on these too…*

She shook terribly as she lifted a hind hoof, making to take a tentative step back towards safety.

She cried out as the beast lept with an angry roar, maw opened to reveal a chasm of thorns. She immediately threw herself to the ground, hooves covering her face as she tried to make herself as small as possible, waiting for the worst to come.

But it never did, the filly popping up as a chorus of growls and yips and cries came from behind her.

Her eyes opened to find a pack of the brown-barked creatures having flanked her, but their attention was not on the filly but rather on the white timberwolf plowing through their ranks.

*Run…*

She watched as the creatures tousled, the white one clawing and biting at any the came close to paw.

*Run.*

The white timberwolf bucked one unlucky timberwolf, hindlegs connecting with a sickening crunch of branches snapping.

*The hay are you doing? RUN!*

The filly immediately snapped out of her rigor mortis and lept to her hooves, the movement drawing one of the beast’s attention as it gleefully gave chase as its companions were distracted.

The filly ran, curving through the trees before she felt it imapct her, both tumbling through the brush.

Staring up at that gaping maw, she felt her blood turn to ice, hooves kicking feebly at the beast before suddenly it was gone.

*What the?*

In its place stood the white timberwolf, growling as it placed itself between the pack and the filly, thorny maw pointed at the creatures.

*Wha?*

She watched as the two groups snarled at one another before the pack relented, disappearing into the woods to lick its wounds. The filly trembled as the white timberwolf turned to face her, but she relaxed as it leaned down to give her a quick nuzzle, a soft whimper issuing forth.

Slowly, the filly looked the creature over. Where the other timberwolves were a mishmash of trees and brush, this one seemed almost an elegant formation of birch tree, the only flaw in its otherwise white surface a trio of…

“Sap?”

A trio of crystallized sap…all in the shape of diamonds…

“Rarity?” 

Norse Pony’s comments: Rarity as a werewolf (weretimberwolf?). Neat! I like the idea that even in the midst of her transformation she remains essentially Rarity, enough so to protect Sweetie Belle against predation by the other timberwolves. The pacing was well handled, with a brisk tempo to the action and reveal. Nice stuff.