//------------------------------//
// Dancer and Wolves 
// Story: Rising Star 
// by NPP6 
//------------------------------//

	The Lupus Minors let loose another hunting cry. Their prey was close, they could sense it. They could smell it on the air.
Ponies.
There it was, the smell of sweat. Fear. A slight tinge of ozone. And... No. No, it couldn't be.
The leader gave a single barked command. The pack picked up its pace.

A small ways away, six ponies were formed up into a semicircle with their back to a cliff wall. Inkwell had chalk flying furiously, trying to form up some last minute combat runes. The others were doing what they could to get ready for battle.
Contrail's ears shot up. "They've stopped... You don't think they went away?"
Inkwell shook his head without looking at the other stallion. "Those were hunting calls. They only stop when they're getting close to their prey. We're running out of time."
Contrail shrunk back for a moment before pausing. "Wait a second... Why are we afraid? I mean come on, a few days ago, sure, we'd have been dead, but now we've gotta have all kinds of power, right?"
Inkwell just shook his head while Sunbeam stared at the orange stallion. "Right... All kinds of power and absolutely no idea how to use it! Do you ever think anything through?"
Contrail blushed. "Alright then, so what do we do?"
"Fight." Moonchaser said in a low tone. "It's all we can do. We fight the way we know how. Just like the Poneekinns. Only this time... If we lose, we lose everything."
A low growl echoed around the clearing as the Lupus Minors began to stalk out of the woods. They formed a semicircle around the six ponies, staying outside the range of Inkwell's runes. They stared at the six ponies for a few second before tipping their heads back and letting loose a bonechilling howl.
The sound echoed around the clearing, seeming to drop the ambience of both temperature and light. It echoed through the six ponies, carrying itself through their minds, hearts, and souls. It flooded them with raw energy, as if somepony had taken liquid night and pumped it into their bloodstream.
Sunbeam fainted dead away, while Lotus Blossom collapsed, shivering. Dust Runner and Contrail were forced several steps backwards. The runes that Inkwell had hastily scrawled were blown away, ripped apart in flashes of light and shadow. Inkwell himself was unaffected, standing against the onslaught with his mane whipping in the mystic wind.
There was a pause as the constellation wolves watched for a reaction. The one they got was most definitely not the one they were expecting.
Inkwell facehooved. "I don't believe it. How did they even know about that?" He looked over at Moonchaser. "We're never going to be able to get away from those ridiculous pseudonyms, are we?"
The mare shook her head at him. "Somehow, I'm beginning to doubt it."
They looked back at the other four. "Stay safe." Moonchaser said. Then the pair nodded at each other and took to the air, charging the Lupus Minor in the center.
Contrail took a step to follow them before he was cut off by Dust Runner. "Stay out of this one."
"What? Dust Runner, but-"
"Stay out of this one Contrail. Remember the pseudonyms. They're trying to save us. This is a fight we would be completely useless in. Help me take care of Sunbeam and Blossom. They'll be fine."
The stallion still seemed unsure. "But... how can you possibly know that?"
The mare gave him a chilling smile, and for an instant, he could have sworn he saw fangs. "Because," She intoned, "They've already changed the rules. This isn't a fight for survival between predator and prey, its about supremacy between near equals. It's a battle for the night. Besides," She turned to give her attention to their fallen friends. "Just look for yourself. They've got this."
Contrail looked over his shoulder at the ponies taking on the stellar hunters. He shrugged and turned back to help Dust Runner take care of their friends. They didn't need his help.

This was bad. This was very bad. Half of the Hunt was already out of the fight. These two ponies... whatever tied them to the night was strong. Stardust and Moonlight could be tasted in the air as they battled their way through the Lupus Minors.
And that was another thing. The two of them were working together perfectly, every member of the Hunt that challenged them was soon thrown aside, unconscious. For the first time in their lives, the Lupus Minors felt a strange cold feeling. One that they recognised by its scent only. For the first time in history, the Lupus Minors felt fear.
It wasn't that they were winning, that was to be expected with any good opponent. Even an Ursa Minor should give a single Hunt some trouble. It was that they weren't killing. They were tearing the Hunt apart, but leaving the Lupus Minors completely intact. There was no desperation in their fight.
They were holding back.
The Hunt leader watched the last of his wolves fall. Then he leaned back and let loose with a signal howl. The two ponies looked over at him, still catching their breath. And then the rest of the pack came out of the trees.

Inkwell and Moonchaser took to the air again, flapping over the assembled constellations. "So is this all of you now?" The stallion called out. "Alright then. I'm going to give you one chance. Walk. Away." One of the wolves barked at him. "No? Alright then."
He and Moonchaser gained some altitude and then dove, back to back, directly into the fray. Directly towards the one that had just snapped at them.
Hooves flailing, they knocked wolf after wolf aside as they flew toward the constellation that had just revealed itself as the leader of the pack. Their flying tackle carried him several yards, digging a trench a dozen hooves long. When he stopped, he found himself a short distance from his pack, both ponies keeping a hoof on his throat.

"Yield." The stallion quietly said.
The alpha male of the Lupus Minors glared back at the ponies. His lips curled back in a snarl. He had seen these ponies fight, they couldn't kill.
"Yield!" The mare roared in his face. The stallion began applying pressure to his throat.
The Lupus Minor locked eyes with them. He was shocked at what he saw. There was an incredible strength there. It was at that moment that the pack leader realized that they could never have won this fight, not while these two had ponies to protect. His gaze flitted to the ponies cowering... No, they weren't cowering, that one, she was of the day. And the others... they hadn't flinched since the battle had started. They had always known that their friends would win.
"Please," The stallion was speaking again, the Lupus Minor's eyes returned to his. "Don't make me kill... Not again..."
The constellation wolf looked at the ponies for a moment. Then he reached up his head and gave them both a quick lick on the muzzle.
"I yield" he barked.

The wolves faded away into starlight. The unconscious wolves were each taken by one of the remaining ones.
The clearing was silent again as Inkwell and Moonchaser stumbled into it. They hadn't even noticed how loud they had been in the heat of the fight. They just walked over and flopped down next to the fire that Contrail had magically started. "Someday," The mare said, "I'm going to ask you about what you said back there."
Inkwell looked at her for a moment. "Someday you just might get an answer."
"Someday we're going to ask the two of you what you did out there."
Moonchaser levelled her gaze on Contrail. "You may never get an answer to that question."
The orange stallion took in the state of the two fighters. "You know... I think I might be able to live with that."
"Heh," Inkwell laughed, "Maybe we can force some wisdom into you after all."
Shortly after that, Inkwell and Moonchaser had fallen asleep. Dust Runner and Contrail were keeping watch when a muffled thump drew their attention to one side of the clearing. A pegasus colt had just landed and was running towards them.
"Are you crazy!?" He stage whispered. "Why would you light a fire like that tonight? The Lupus Minors are out hunting!"
Dust Runner smiled as he reached them. "We noticed. They're not really a problem anymore."
"Y-You fought them? That's awesome! Are you some kind of travelling monster fighters then?" He almost sounded hopeful.
The mare shook her head at him. "No, we're not monster fighters. We're just some travelers who can't go home yet."
"Oh." He was definitely dissapointed. "You can't go home. Huh, I sure know what that's like."
Dust Runner cocked her head, "What do you mean?"
"I... I can't go home either. At least, not yet. I... did something stupid. I made a mistake and ponies got hurt because of it."
The mare put a hoof on the colt's shoulder. "Whatever it was, running away can't be the answer."
The colt shook her off. "I'm not running! I have to get stronger. I have to get help. I have to find a way to fix my mistake!"
Something about the colt was tickling Contrail's memory, but he couldn't quite place the feeling of Deja Vu. "Fix your mistakes huh?" The stallion said, "Well then you might just fit in here."
Dust Runner swung around to look at him. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying, there's a lot of that going around. Also, the colt could probably use some help."
"We can't help him, you know that. We can't even let him stick with us. It'd put him in too much danger."
"How much danger could I possibly be in? I mean come one, you managed to beat an entire pack of Lupus Minors and niether of you even... has... a... scratch... How did you manage that by the way?"
Dust Runner and Contrail looked at each other and shrugged. "We don't know." The stallion said simply.
"What? How could you not know something like that?"
Contrail shrugged again. "They didn't tell us when they got back." He motioned with a hoof towards Inkwell and Moonchaser.
"Two ponies. Two ponies took down an entire pack of Lupus Minors, and you didn't watch to see how they did it?"
The stallion gave him a slightly disconcerting look. "Colt," he said, "when the three most terrifying things you can think of go off into the woods to duke it out, you don't follow them."
"...Who are you ponies?"
Dust Runner and Contrail froze. "Umm..." The stallion thought fast.
The colt cocked his head as he heard the pseudonyms. "That's funny, I'd swear I heard... Yeah, they're just like..." His eyes widened as he looked at the six ponies around the fire. Then he tipped back his head and laughed. A few moments later, he wiped a tear from his eye and looked at the distinctly uncomfortable Dust Runner and Contrail. "I don't believe it, he did it." He chuckled again. "Alright, now what are your real names?"
Dust Runner gave him the same names that Contrail just had.
He shook his head at them. "No, no, not those ridiculous pseudonyms. He's never going to live that down by the way. I meant your names. Your real names."
At the uncomprehending looks that the two older ponies were giving him, the colt facehooved. "Right, obvious trust issues." He lowered his hoof and stood as tall as he could. "My name is Featherdancer, and unless I miss my guess, that stallion over there is my brother Inkwell." His smirk was a dead ringer for their friend's.
"Alright," Dust Runner sighed, "He can stay the night."
Contrail burst out laughing.
The next morning, a breakfast of leftover fruit from the night before was being served. Inkwell and Moonchaser were the last ones to wake up, stirring at the sound of voices and laughter.
Inkwell opened his eyes. He took in the scene before him. He closed his eyes. "Moonchaser, tell me, am I hallucinating, or is there really a blue pegasus colt there?"
The mare smiled. "Yes, he's really there."
"His cutie mark?"
"A circle with a triangle inside of it, all three corners touching the edge."
"Thank you." Inkwell opened his eyes again and stood up. "So then, shall we go see what trouble Featherdancer is about to get himself into?"
Moonchaser was confused until she saw the amusement in the stallion's eyes. "Who is he?"
Inkwell let his gaze travel across the clearing to the five ponies who still hadn't noticed them. "My brother."
"The one you..."
He nodded. "I have no idea what he's doing here though. On the plus side, he can get me supplies, which should speed things up."
"Supplies?"
Inkwell smiled at her. "For the spell, to get us back to normal. It would have taken me months to carve it into the rock with my bare hooves." One of his ears flicked. "Come on, they just noticed we're awake."
Moonchaser stood up and followed him across the clearing.
"So," Inkwell began, as if running across the brother who thought him dead or worse in the middle of the forest were an everyday occurence. "What brings you here Featherdancer?"
The colt smirked at him. "Funny thing, last night the Lupus Minors sounded their hunting cry. Not long after there were the strangest flashes of light from this area. I fly over to check things out, in the absence of our local wizard's apprentice, and I find six ponies camped out around a fire, without a care in the world. Odd though, most of Equestria thinks they're banished somewhere."
Inkwell looked his brother in the eye. "I'm sorry."
"Just promise me... never make me... any of us watch you die like that again."
Inkwell dipped his head. "On that note, feel up to delivering some messages?"
Featherdancer nodded. "Just let me know who to tell."
"Alright everypony, if there's anypony who you want to let know you survived, now's the time to say so." Inkwell raised his voice.
Lotus Blossom was the first to speak up. "My family lives in a small cottage to the west of the city, outside of the walls. Ask around for Wild Ivy, she's my mother."
Moonchaser stepped forward and rattled of a string of unintelligible babble. Dust Runner facehooved. "Maybe try it without the full titles Moonchaser."
The noblemare looked scandalized. "I hardly know this colt personally, whomever he is related to, and my mother does not know him at all. Using anything but her full titles would be highly improper Dust Runner."
Featherdancer handed her a quill and a piece of parchment. She hastily wrote something down and handed it back to him.
Contrail was next. "Find the grocery and jewelry shop on Market Street. Ask for the owners, one of my folks should be able to come out to see you."
Featherdancer turned to Dust Runner. "And you?"
She started to shake her head before looking at Inkwell. Her gaze flitted between him and his brother for a moment before she looked down at her hooves, biting her lip. Then she looked up directly into Featherdancer's eyes and fired off a burst of clicks. His eyes widened slightly, then he nodded. "Does anypony besides Inkwell know?" She shook her head.
He nodded again and turned to Sunbeam. She stared at him for a moment before dropping her head. "No, there's nopony. not for me."
The others gaped at her. "Sunbeam," Moonchaser began, "I know that you don't want to make yourself vulnerable, but the rest of us are all taking the same risk here. Besides, your family must be worried sick about you. I imagine they're very upset right now."
The streetmare looked at the pony that was so nearly her opposite. "Please, keep imagining things like that. The world must be such a nice place through your eyes." A single tear rolled down her cheek. "Eight months ago, my father was sent to one of Mayhem's prison camps. I haven't seen or heard from him since. I have no mother. The only pony who would care besides my da is probably lying in a gutter somewhere bleeding out because I wasn't there to keep Ever Wyte off her back."
"Ever Wyte... That guard from the market?"
Inkwell nodded at his brother. "I think I heard some of the other gaurds call him that."
"So then..." Featherdancer looked at Sunbeam. "Alright, I'll be sure to let Cloudwing know."
The mare started. "How... how do you know that name?"
He gave her a look. "It was the most interesting funeral I've ever been to."
Featherdancer emptied the supplies he had made a morning run for from out of his saddlebags and took to the air before anypony could react. Sunbeam had moved beyond shock and was openly sobbing into Moonchaser's shoulder. The noblemare had a hard look in her eyes as she locked gazes with Inkwell.
The stallion sighed, "My brother is a bit... dramatic. He gets it from our mother. Believe me though, he a performer and showpony through and through. There's another hoofshoe waiting to drop."
The mare's eyebrows rose. "A bat pony mage and a performer pegasus. Your parents must be very interesting ponies."
His eyelids leveled out. "You have no idea."
She nodded. "Do you think they might know a pony who can get forms pushed through quickly?"
"It depends on the forms."
She mouthed a single word. He nodded slowly. "I can take care of that."
"Take care of what?" Sunbeam finally spoke up.
"Well," Inkwell stated, "Since we seem to be so good at it, Moonchaser has decided that we're going to keep pulling off the impossible."
"Wh-what?" Sunbeam was struggling to keep up.
Moonchaser put her hooves on Sunbeam's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "It's about time somepony challenged the status quo. You know how you said that they'd never let you walk down Palatial Lane? Well now you're going to live there."
"Wh-wha-how?"
Inkwell looked up from where he had just finished drawing on a piece of parchment. "I am a licensed notary of Equestria by way of my status as a Court Wizard's Apprentice. I'm also the best forger for miles thanks to this..." He placed his hoof on the rune he had just finished drawing and several pieces of parchment floated into the air along with the contents of a bottle of ink.
Forty-five seconds later, a stack of papers including a false birth certificate and citizenship papers was tied up with a ribbon and placed gently in front of Sunbeam and Moonchaser. A second set of papers floated over next to them. "Alright, now all we need is your signatures and the signatures of these fine witnesses here, and you two are sisters by the laws of Equestria." He noticed their stunned expressions and laughed. "You should see the full spell, I take up an entire room when I activate it."
They stared at him. "What could you ever need to write that would be that long."
Inkwell shrugged, "I designed the spell to transcribe research notes so that they could be shared between wizards' libraries."
Sunbeam walked over to him and locked her eyes with his, perhaps six inches separating them. "Are you absolutely sure that you don't want to help me take over Equestria's crime world?"
When a pair of pegasi landed in the clearing not long after, the six ponies were still laughing helplessly. Featherdancer cleared his throat. "Do we..."
Inkwell just shook his head. "Inside joke."
The white filly next to Featherdancer was looking around as if searching for something. "Where's Sunbeam?"
The mare looked up and stopped laughing. "Cloudwing? But... how?" She glared at Featherdancer. "And just what did you mean 'the most interesting funeral you've ever been to?"
The pegasus filly stepped forward. "Sunbeam? Is that you? I mean, Featherdancer told me that you'd look different, but... wow, I don't even recognize you."
"Yeah Cloudwing, it's me." The two ponies embraced as the elder continues to shoot Featherdancer a look. "I'm still waiting on that explanation colt."
The pegasus rubbed the back of his neck with a forehoof. "Well, after they carted you all off, that one guard came looking for Cloudwing again. He even had poneekinns going door to door. We figured that the only way to get him to stop searching for her was to let him find her, but she had to stay out of his reach. So, the old stallion helped us make it look like she died when you were fighting the poneekinns. I have to tell you," he laughed, "there aren't many feelings stranger than sitting next to a filly in the pews during her funeral."
The filly in question turned her head to look at him. "Yeah? Try having it be your funeral you're attending."
"Eh... fair enough. Anyway, we've been staying at the tree with Starswirl while we're letting everypony forget about things."
"Wait..." Moonchaser spoke up, "You needed to get somepony to stop chasing you, so your first response was to fake death? Suddenly I'm seeing the family resemblance."
Inkwell laughed, "You remember how I told you you have no idea how interesting my parents are?"
"What kind of ponies could raise the two of you?"
The brothers looked at each other. Inkwell finally spoke up. "There are things we're not allowed to tell you. What we can say is that our father is very good at building and rebuilding things. Our mother... is very good at a lot of things."
The mare looked like she was about to pry further when Dust Runner stepped over. "We've all got our secrets, they'll tell us if we need to know."
"Speaking of needing to know," Contrail interrupted, "Did you manage to get a message to our families?"
Featherdancer shook his head. "Not yet, once it gets dark tonight, I'll sneak into the city and pass the message on to our sister. She'll deliver it to most of your families, although since Lotus Blossom's family live outside the walls, I'll be able to deliver that one myself. On that note, how long do you think it'll be before you lot are back to normal?"
"About a week," his brother replied, "Provided you can keep running supplies out here."
The pegasi nodded. "Of course." Cloudwing said. "Anything you need, one of us can fly out here."
"Alright then," The wizard's apprentice's scholarly side took over. "Do you have parchment and ink? This first list is going to be a bit long..."