AN: I'm baaaack! Aren't you relieved that the cliffy is over? Then thank my sister, IShipItAllAndThenSome! She bothered me until I agreed to get to work on this not even half an hour after the last update! So enjoy the fruits of my endless labour, and please review!

Punky Print's Log: Day 9, part II

When I came to, I was in the Badlands outside the wall. When I looked up I squinted and shielded my eyes against the sun, which didn't beat down nearly as hard inside the wall. When I raised my hoof, I noticed that my shackles were still securely fastened around my forelegs. I tried to stand, but my legs wobbled and I ended up hitting the ground with a thump! Lemon Grass, who was shackled to my left hindleg by his right one, looked over and lit up when he saw that I was awake.

"Inky," he called to my sister, who was shackled to Rainy on my far right, "she's okay!" I rubbed my aching head, only to have flakes of dried blood come off on my hoof. "Er... well, she's awake." The five ponies I was shackled to crowded around me, each still in chains.

"Punky, can you stand?" Inky held out her hoof, which I took gratefully as I tried to stand again. This time I succeeded, to the relief of my friends. "What all do you remember?"

"Ugh... the gray pegasus... he kicked me," I said, still woozy. "D'you... are you guys hurt?" They shook their heads, and when I looked closely at Coco's horn I saw that it was in one whole piece on her forehead. I smiled. "Good. S'good." My eyes drifted closed one at a time, but somepony nudged me awake.

"Punky, do you remember what happened before you got kicked?" I squinted down at Candy, who looked both worried and excited. I nodded slowly.

"The... th'rock, and then-"

"-And then your magic?" I cocked my head.

"That was me?" She nodded. "So I... healed you guys?" They all nodded. "Even Rainy's jacked up wings," I asked disbelievingly. I have never studied healing spells, or used my magic to the extent that I, apparently, did when my friends were injured. Rainy laughed.

"Yep! They're good as new," she said happily before she tried to take off and prove it. However, she was still chained to the rest of us, so she stayed grounded.

"So, do you know why they left us out here?" My friends all looked to me.

"Um, no. Why do you think I would know?"

"Well," Lemon Grass started, "they said they were taking the 'wolf pony and her friends' before they knocked me out, so since that's you, we figured you'd know." I stared down at my hooves, scraping at the dirt guiltily.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know why they nabbed you." I hung my head remorsefully. I was the one clue as to why my friends and family were attacked, and I was of no help in figuring out what the guards had wanted with them.

"That's okay," Candy said, her voice shaking with a fear that, at the time, none of us understood yet, "we've got a bigger problem." The rest of us turned to see what Candy was so afraid of, and the six of us quickly backed up into the great stone wall behind us almost collectively. In the distance there was a great, snarling storm of bones and bloody fur, heading straight for us.

"Punky?"

"Yes, Lemon Grass?"

"I don't mean to scare you," he said, clearly trying to mask his fear with a thin layer of calm, "but I think now would be a good time to pull some wolf-taming tricks," he took a large gulp of air as the smell of blood hit us like the wall we were quickly becoming cornered against, "before we get torn apart or something." I stepped forward from the wall, staring intently at the thundering pack of wolves. At the front of the snarling mass, I made out the distinct shape of an exposed jawbone and smiled, much to the confusion of my friends. I sat down in front of my friends and turned to them.

"Stay behind me," I said, "and sit down." Inky Pie did as I said, but everypony else looked at me like I was crazy.

"What?"

"Do you trust me?" The four of them exchanged a brief nervous glance.

"Yes."

"Then sit down." They did. "Rainy, keep your wings open but not out, and no matter what, nopony attack." They sat down, the chains attaching us to each other rattling as they shook. When the pack finally arrived, Jawbones stepped towards us and sniffed me. Then, much to the shock of my friends, and even me a little bit, his large pink tongue darted out to lick me. I laughed, the strange feeling of his giant tongue had to either be amusing or terrifying, and I couldn't bring myself to be afraid of him. Jawbones turned back to the pack of wolves behind him and a low rumbling noise rose out of his chest. I stood and met with no attacks, and so behind me my friends warily stood as well. Jawbones nuzzled me, so I tried to pet him. However, when I raised one front hoof too far, the other one was pulled out from under me by the shackles. Jawbones caught me on his muzzle, which was only a bit smaller than my torso, and I smiled.

"Well, I guess I can't move these much," I said, waving my front hooves and rattling the chains. Once my hooves were on the ground again, Jawbones placed his bony front paw on top of the chain and shifted his weight, demolishing the links of the chain underneath. "Oh. Thank you." I reached up and wrapped my front legs around his surprisingly soft furry neck. Once I let go, he proceeded to break each other chain and slide his muzzle under my stomach. He tilted his head back and I slid down the soft brown fur of his neck onto his back. I laughed and stared down at my friends, who looked tiny from Jawbones' height. Rainy, freed from the chains that kept her from flying, took Candy on her back and flew up beside Jawbones and I as the pack began to move.

Inky, Coco and Lemon Grass ran beside Jawbones, slowly being left behind. I lifted them up as best I could with my magic until it gave me a headache. Noticing my discomfort, Jawbones backed up until he was directly below them. I lowered them onto his back, and he broke back into a run. I looked over at Inky, who was laid across Jawbones' back beside me and smiled.

"Where are we going," Coco shouted at me over the sound of the wind whipping by.

"I have no idea!" I laughed after I said this, the feeling of freedom under the unshielded sun on this warm day making me happier than I've ever been. The pack ran until nightfall, when they stopped inside of a vast cave that comfortably held all the wolves and us ponies. When the moon came up, the pack gathered at the mouth of the cave and faced the pale sphere. Completely synchronized, the wolves howled up at the moon. Between breaths, Jawbones nudged me, urging me to follow the pack's lead. I did, along with my friends. Halfway between breathing in and running out of air, my stomach growled. The large wolf beside me cocked his head curiously.

"Eh heh...sorry," I said sheepishly. Jawbones snorted and led me away to where a surprising patch of wildflowers were growing out of the rust orange dirt. I pulled out a clump and carried them back to the cave with my magic. "So, what do you bone wolves eat?" Jawbones licked his nose. "...Do you eat?" I don't think they do. The whole time we stayed with the wolves, I never saw them eat anything, plant or animal. After we ate the wildflowers, my friends and I curled up by Jawbones as we slept. I woke back up in the middle of the night though, to see Lemon Grass by the mouth of the cave.

"Can't sleep?" He turned to me as I sat down by him, and shook his head.

"My parents... when the guards came to take me, they tried to stop him. He knocked them aside, and when he knocked me out, they still weren't awake." A tear caught the moonlight as it slid down his cheek. I put a hoof around him and he turned to me. "I know they weren't very nice the last time they saw you," he said, "and that they drove you away. But they're good ponies. They only wanted to protect me! They just-"

"It's okay," I said, trying to be reassuring, "I know."

This morning, I woke up to find Lemon Grass sleeping with his head resting on my back. As the sun warmed our faces, I saw a brown speck flying off in the distance. Carefully, I removed myself from underneath my friend and left the cave to find more wildflowers. I had to walk for longer than I had to the night before, but I found more than enough to feed us all for the rest of the day. I picked the flowers out of the rocky dirt and trotted back to the cave. When I got there, the wolves were blocking the mouth of the cave, keeping my friends behind them and away from the perceived danger. The fur of the wolves stood on end as they snarled, teeth barred. When he spotted me, Jawbones leapt from the solid wall of wolves and picked my up with his teeth.

"Put her down!" Brassheart flew at Jawbones, who snarled at the pegasus. Seemingly undaunted, Brassheart snarled right back at him.

"Wait!" Jawbones and Brassheart broke their stare down to look to me. "He's not trying to hurt me," I said. To whom exactly, I'm not sure. However, both the wolf and the pegasus backed down. Carefully, Jawbones placed me on the ground. "See? No teeth marks," I said to Brassheart. He slowly landed and folded in his wings. "Mr. Brassheart, what are you doing here?"

"We were thrown out of the wall," Inky said disdainfully, "didn't you know?"

"No," Brassheart said, "I went to go see my wife and son in Manehattan, I just got back today. When I heard you six were out here on your own, I came to find you as fast as I could." Inky's judgemental stare quickly melted away at the obvious concern the pegasus stallion had for us. "Although, I suppose you were really alone at all," he said. He turned back to Jawbones and nodded. "Thank you for taking care of these six," he said, "but their families are probably missing them, so I'm here to take them home." Jawbones nudged me towards Brassheart, and the wall of wolves dissolved to let Brassheart collect us. The wolves warily watched him, each red pupil trained on him. As the seven of us walked away, I turned back to the pack and waved with a smile.

"Until the next time!" Jawbones nodded, and I think maybe he smiled. It was hard to tell, seeing as he had no jaw. I ran up to catch up to Brassheart and the others, who were already asking questions about Brassheart's life outside of the wall.

"What's your son like," Lemon Grass asked. Seeing as all of his friends are fillies, I think maybe he wanted to know another colt, even one he hadn't met.

"Well," Brassheart said, "I think he's about your age. You wouldn't know it looking at him though," he chuckled fondly. "He's a short little fella."

"Is he a pegasus, like you?" Rainy flew up by Brassheart's face, giddy for an answer.

"Well, yes. My wife is, too."

"Is she pretty?"

"The prettiest," Brassheart said, completely sure.

"Is she nice?"

"Of course."

"What does she do?"

"She races in the Wonderbolts." Six pairs of eyes became very, very wide at that.

"Oh!Oh! What're those?" Brassheart stopped for a moment, sadness in his eyes when he remembered that this had been most of the group of ponies' first time outside of the wall.

"Well, they're the fastest, most graceful flyers in all the land, and they perform fantastic flying feats for all of ponykind to see." Rainy's eyes got particularly wide at that.

"Someday," she said dreamily, "I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt." When we got to the gate of the wall, the reluctance of the guards opening it could be felt in every creak of the mechanism. As my friends rushed back to their families, I turned to Brassheart.

"Your family sounds lovely. I wish we could meet them." Brassheart smiled sadly at that.

"A part of me wishes that too, Punky," he said, "but at the same time, I hope you never do."

AN: Grah, this feels so LONG! Don't expect this to be normal, cuz it won't be! Fair warning! I love writing parental characters like Jawbones and Brassheart were in this chapter. There are so few like them in real life... :'(

Also, I saw Frozen today! I loved it! I cried shamelessly!