The first Timberwolf rushes towards the closest Pony to it - Silver Night. Large sprinting strides from its powerful legs closes the distance in no time, the creaking of wood that was its joints lasting only for a moment before the beast leaps at its prey.
Concussive force slams into Silver which, even with his metallic armour on, still blows wind from his lungs. Impacting the ground hard, the Legionnaire was able to twist his sword in the split second before the leap, and still during the fall, so that the blade impales the Timberwolf’s upper jaw as the animal falls on him with its mouth wide-open aiming to rip at Silver’s throat.
A loud canine growl of pain sounds off from the Timberwolf, the sword driving straight through its snout as its lower jaw snaps wildly at the air just inches from Silver’s neck, adrenaline coursing through the Bat Pony’s veins as he heaves to keep the mighty animal away from him, its front paws swiping in the air just above his chest. “Stab it! Stab it!”
Swiftly reacting, Shadow Star drives his sword straight into the Timberwolf’s glaring glowing green eye, the shafting of metal breaking wood ringing fourth as the blade pierces the Timberwolf’s skull. An even louder growl of torment comes from the animal before Shadow withdraws the weapon and stabs the beast again with it, this time at the throat.
POOF!
A sudden bright flash of green mist surrounds the Timberwolf before it fades as fast as it manifested, the results apparent as the Timberwolf’s body collapses into a lifeless mass of sticks and logs, its piercing eyes gone, all sentience having left the creature that was now dead.
Swiping away the many sticks covering him, Silver gets to his feet as fast as possible with the help of Shadow who pulls him up, the two soldiers turning back around to face the Everfree Forest’s undergrowth where eight remaining pairs of Timberwolf eyes flared at them with vengeance and hunger, some of them breaking off from the main group and running around the clearing’s sides left and right.
“They are flanking us! Don’t lose sight of them!” Orders Dusk Spectre, resulting in Sky Shroud, Midnight Wraith and two of the civilians repositioning to cover the group’s back and sides while Dusk, Silver, Shadow, and the last civilian covers the front.
Making simultaneous attacks this time, a Timberwolf charges Sky just as another charges the civilian, a pincer manoeuvre occurring as the beasts attempt to divide their prey’s attention. The Timberwolfs’ swiftness seems almost supernatural, but now more prepared than Silver Night was, Sky throws her bat wings out and jumps into the air with the help of a powerful flap of her extra limbs, dodging the Timberwolf’s pounce.
Twisting around mid fall, the mare points her gleaming silver sword downwards at the monster under her, using gravity for extra force and her own bodily thrust with the weapon to shove the sword deep into the Timberwolf’s head and out of its chin as she lands on the animal’s neck. A harsh snapping of wood occurs during the attack along with a tormented roar from the Timberwolf as the creature rears up on its hindlegs to throw Sky off it, but just as her body was sent backwards into the air, the Legionnaire violently pushes her sword horizontally through the Timberwolf’s neck with further wooden breaking sounds signalling the creature’s neck being broken.
POOF!
Just like its pack mate before it, this Timberwolf’s body collapses into a pile of lifeless plant matter and ethereal green mist, however the inertia of its movement still carries over to Sky who finds herself briefly flying across the forest clearing, coming to an abrupt stop, her body slamming into one of the trees, her ribcage taking the majority of the impact.
SNAP!
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” Cries out Sky, seething pain flaring from her chest as a rib shatters, her body falling to the ground.
At the same time all of this was occurring, the citizen pony (one of the Earth pony stallions), rolls out of the way of his own leaping Timberwolf with only inches to spare from its wooden stakes for claws. Getting up in a crouching position as fast as possible, the stallion tightly clenches his axe and swings it horizontally at his attacker’s stomach, the use of his powerful Earth pony strength embedding the weapon deep inside the Timberwolf with half the handle disappearing inside fractured branches and cut leaves, the blade lodging itself in a large internal log that the stallion struggles to pull it out of. Like its companions, this Timberwolf reacts to its injury with a growl of pain and rage-
The citizen’s eyes go wide with shock at the glimpsing notice the Timberwolf’s forepaw turning towards him at a frightening speed in preparation for a slash. Throwing himself backwards with such force to fall to the ground on his back, the act barely allows the stallion to dodge the worst of the swipe - but not the entirety of it.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” Screams the citizen, a sensation like piercing fire tearing across his chest as one of the Timberwolf’s stake claws struck him there, specks of red blood flying in the air from the wound.
Short-lived shaky images of the world swirls within the citizen’s vision until it becomes clear again, dread flooding him as the mighty Timberwolf snarls with bloodlust vengeance, its emerald eyes burning. Frantically crawling backwards on his back in a hopeless effort to get distance from the beast, the stallion rips the kitchen knife from his waist and holds it up in a pathetic attempt of intimidation which the Timberwolf ignores.
In the blink of an eye, the monster drives its mighty back legs down in preparations for a final finishing pounce on the citizen-
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”
SNAP!
Yelling with battle ferocity, Midnight Wraith dashes forwards with powerful flaps of his bat wings so fast it takes moments for the citizen to register what was happening; the Lunar soldier striking the Timberwolf akin to bayonet-charging an enemy as he skewers his silver sword directly through the beast’s mouth and out the other end, more harsh snapping of wood breaking against metal ringing fourth as a result. His charge saving the citizen’s life.
The hilt of Midnight’s weapon lodges itself between the wooden fangs of the Timberwolf, preventing the animal from closing its jaws but not stopping its rage being made real as it thrashes around, forcing Midnight to iron grip his sword and make chaotic flaps of his wings to try and not be thrown like Sky was.
Risking it, Midnight moves one of his hands away from the sword’s hilt and grabs his short secondary sword at his waist, compensating with extra strong wing beats to not be thrown however the weight of his armour and the force of the Timberwolf’s thrashing was rapidly degrading his strength.
“Die! Die!” Exclaims Midnight, gritting his teeth and savagery stabbing his secondary blade into one of the Timberwolf’s fiery emerald eyes several times in quick succession.
Swallowing her fear, the mare citizen rushes over to her stallion friend and helps him to stand despite the lingering stinging of his lightly bleeding chest scar. Brandishing their weapons, the duo rush to the aid of the Legionnaire, the mare swinging an axe at the Timberwolf’s neck and the stallion stabbing the creature’s other eye, both doing so in quick succession like the trooper, both striking the Timberwolf two times each before-
POOF!
Life abandons the creature, its body collapsing into dead flora remains that Midnight falls into, the final sound of snapping wood occurring as the Timberwolf’s remains breaks the fall of the soldier, the weight of his armour burying him under the pile of wood which he soon starts casting aside to get out of, the citizens helping by pulling sticks and logs aside, pulling him to his feet.
A final attack from the Timberwolves comes from the front again, two pairs of ethereal burning orbs for eyes rushing out of the abyssal undergrowth of the Everfree Forest and straight towards the ponies, one going to the left towards Dusk Spectre and the last (stallion) citizen, and the other to the right towards Silver Night and Shadow Star.
Unlike its predecessors, the beast who attacks Silver and Shadow poses for a leap dangerously close to its prey but drops the act at the last moment, making the Legionnaires to raise their swords directly straight and up at an angle - the wrong direction. With the fake out complete, the Timberwolf rushing forwards and a bit to the side, by the time Silver and Shadow realises the deceit it is too late.
Being the closest to the Timberwolf, Shadow takes its attack. The animal opens its jaws and bites down hard on Shadow’s weapon hand-
SNAP!
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
The only sound of breaking this time being that of bone, Shadow’s wrist exploding with pain as the beast’s solid wooden stump and small stakes for teeth slams into it like a vice, making Shadow drop his sword and almost fall to his knees from the anguish.
Adrenaline surges through the injured soldier’s body like a solar flare erupting from the Sun, his reaction speeds heightening. Using his off-hand, Shadow rips his secondary short sword from his waist and drives it butchery hard into the Timberwolf’s neck several times, enragement on his face, his yelling vindictive. “You- STAB! fucking- STAB! bastard! STAB! Go- STAB! to- STAB! Tartarus!” STAB!
The relentless repeating assault on the Timberwolf from Shadow forces the animal to release its bite, its cries of pain soon chillingly ending as fast as it begins from Silver’s attack; leaping into the air behind the Timberwolf due to strong flaps from his bat wings, Silver clenches both hands around his sword while holding it over his head like an executioner would. Using gravity’s help, the Legionnaire crashes down to the ground, swinging his sword vertically with all the strength he can at a weak point along the Timberwolf’s neck, the loud SNAP! resulting from the strike out doing all that comes before it.
Silver’s blade slices straight through the Timberwolf’s neck and out the bottom, the creature’s skull falling to the ground from the decapitation just a second before it and the rest of the head’s body POOF!s out of living to become another lifeless mass of inanimate plant matter like the rest of its fallen pack mates.
Holding a defensive posture with sword in hand, Dusk stands ready next to the last stallion citizen who also holds a similar posture with the axe-
In the final moments before the charging Timberwolf leaps at them, Dusk shoves the citizen to the side and out of danger while he side-steps the jumping Timberwolf. Swinging his sword with brutal precision and speed, the Legionnaire leader cuts straight through one of the Timberwolf’s front paws during its mid-fall, preventing the creature from supporting itself during the landing.
SMASH!
Smashing into the Everfree Forest’s ground, the Timberwolf carve slides ahead several feet digging up dirt and shrubs as it went until finally stopping, roaring in shock, pain and frustration.
Struggling, the Timberwolf attempts to make a quick awkward stand atop its legs but the one missing woefully slows it down - a fatal hindrance the Legionnaire leader exploits.
Jumping through the air due to quick strong flaps from his bat wings, the full Moon hangs at Dusk’s back as he accelerates to the ground and slams his plated hoof into a weak point in the Timberwolf’s neck, SNAP!ing it.
Simultaneously as his hoof finds its target so does his sword, Dusk brings the razor sharp weapon vertically down (while still standing on the broken neck of the Timberwolf) to skewer his sword straight through both the animal’s upper and lower jaws.
Gritting his fanged teeth, Dusk rams the weapon to the side at a tilted angle, forcing the upper and lower jaws to part ways left and right, SNAP! breaking them, just like the Timberwolf’s neck.
POOF!
And with that, this adversary dies like the rest, Dusk snapping his angered sight to the other piercing green eyes hidden in the Everfree Forest’s undergrowth as they lock gaze with him, his palms tight around the sword’s hilt and ready to brandish the weapon again at a moment’s notice, his armoured body standing victorious on the corpse of their fallen pack member.
For a full minute the two stare at one another, Bat Pony and Timberwolves almost assessing each other for any hint of weakness or flaw in their readiness to continue fighting - deathly hunger in the Timberwolves’ ethereal demonic eyes, and protective zeal in Dusk’s as bright as the God-Empress of Ponykind’s full Moon in the heavens overlooking them.
The way the monsters dwell hiding their bodies in the undergrowth implies they are almost afraid to step into its light, but more truer is them afraid of Dusk and his soldiers as the latter uninjured ones reposition around their leader in battle-ready postures, resulting in the green orbs in the darkness vanishing, the rustling of flora and brief shaking of the undergrowth signalling the Timberwolves’ retreat and the Ponies’ victory(?)
“...…They’re gone. We are safe for now. But they will be back….and in greater numbers…”