//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Trust // Story: Lost in Darkness // by ChocolateFan25 //------------------------------// The huge paws of the Timberwolf made barely any sound as it walked across the forest floor. No leaf crunched and no twig broke. "Why isn't it eating me?" Fleetfoot wondered. The Timberwolf still carried her around between its sharp fangs. Its foul breath gave the pony nausea and most of the time she hung her head low to catch some fresh air. But with every passing moment and every step the Timberwolf did, she became more nervous. She was between its fangs without any chance to free herself. It could just bite down and have a nice meal. But it never did. "Maybe he brings me to his home, were the rest of its pack lives. Where do Timberwolves live? In caves? Or have they some sort of nest? I should've put more attention in school..." The Timberwolf stopped abruptly. It lifted its head and sniffed for a moment. More panic flooded Fleetfoot's body when she was whirled around. The sniffing sound stopped and it lowered its head again. "Where are we? Why did we stop?" Fleetfoot thought. She tried her best to calm her breathing down and stay relaxed. Suddenly, the Timberwolf just opened its mouth and dropped Fleetfoot on the floor. She landed with a soft thump on the mossy rocks and tumbled for a moment before she got back onto her hooves. Her sides were covered in Timberwolf drool, giving off the smell of something really rotten. "Eww." Fleetfoot said for a second and watched the drool drop down. The Timberwolf shuffled next to her and brought her attention back to it. "I'm free!" she thought, finally realizing, that it dropped her. Her eyes widened while she gasped. Without even looking for the Timberwolf she turned around and started running. Her hooves drummed on the ground and her hooves made clicking sounds whenever they hit a rock or one of the many roots. She turned her head around to see, if the Timberwolf was following her and how far away she was, when all of the sudden something tugged on her tail and pulled her back. The world spun around her and she tumbled around before she fell again to the ground. An angered growl came from the Timberwolf, who had stopped her escape. Her hooves almost slipped again on the wet leaves when she got up again. The Timberwolf just stood there and snarled at her. It still didn't make any attempt to attack her. Fleetfoot in the meantime, was breathing heavily. Her breath became faster and she started to tremble. Every inch of her body screamed at her to fly away. Or run away at least. Fleetfoot threw a quick glance to her side without moving her head. Her path was blocked by boulder and thick bushes grew to her right. And in front of her stood the Timberwolf. Fleetfoot gulped as she decided for her last option. She slowly walked backwards with her gaze kept on the animal in front of her. "Maybe I get another chance to run. Or find a good tree to cli--" The Timberwolf barked, which made her stop immediately. Her ears dropped and she thought for a second, that her heart stopped beating. The bark was only loud and not aggressive anymore. It was still enough to scare the small pegasus. The Timberwolf barked again and started walking towards her. Fleetfoot closed her eyes. "This is it." she thought and she heard only her heart beating. Each second felt like an eternity. The Timberwolf walked past her and growled again, but this time not at her. "Should... should I look?" she wondered. Her body was as stiff as a piece of cardboard and she was visible trembling now. Fleetfoot took a deep breath and slowly turned around. The Timberwolf looked at her before turning its gaze to something on the ground, which he growled at again. "What is it doing?" she wondered before her look fell on to what made the animal so angry. It took her a moment to realize what it is, but when she did, she gasped and jumped a few steps away. In front of them, half hidden by the leaves, lay a bear trap. The metal looked rusty, so Fleetfoot assumed, that it lay there for a long while. It was still wide opened and looked as sharp and dangerous as if it would be new. "A moment later and I would have stepped on it." Fleetfoot thought and felt a strange relief. She looked again at the Timberwolf, who seemed to recognize the trap on the floor and knew, that it was very dangerous. "Did it save me?" Fleetfoot thought and rubbed her chin. "And why is it even lying here? Who would be so cruel and do such a thing? I mean, most living beings here are dangerous for ponies... but trying to kill them?" While Fleetfoot pondered about the trap, the Timberwolf backed off for a moment before it turned towards Fleetfoot. It growled again and seemed mad this time. Fleetfoot looked up, who almost forgot in what situation she was. She looked at the sharp fangs of the Timberwolf and it's angry glare and felt very helpless again. "What does it want from me?" she wondered. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't understand the animal in front of her. "Am I nothing but a ball to play with for him?" The Timberwolf barked again and looked between Fleetfoot and the trap. "What does it mean?" Fleetfoot thought and looked at the trap again. "Does it think... that I put the trap there?" The Timberwolf became impatient and growled again. This time it came even closer to her. "I didn't put it there, I swear." she said with a shaking voice. Suddenly, she felt the fangs of the Timberwolf around her barrel again. Without much time to react she was dropped right in front of the bear trap again. Fleetfoot gasped again and tried to back off, but the Timberwolf was in the way. "What do you want from me?" Fleetfoot yelled, outright confused by the behavior of the wolf. The Timberwolf lifted its head and seemed to wait for something. Fleetfoot gulped and lowered her head. Yelling at a Timberwolf was not a good idea. She then looked at the trap again. "A-alright. It wants me to do something before eating me. Strange... well, I shouldn't complain. More time spend with... being alive. So... It knows, that the bear trap can be very painful if it steps into it. And it knows that it was made by ponies. Or griffons. Or... whatever. Okay Fleetfoot, think as simple as possible. It's a Timberwolf after all. Pony comes by and puts bad thing in home. If Pony can put bad thing here... Pony can take bad thing away." The pegasus got up very slowly and looked at the trap from all sides. Occasionally she would look at the Timberwolf to see its reaction. It stood there and watched her every movement as well. "O-okay. How do I disarm it?" she muttered and asked more herself than the animal. Disarming traps was not part of the Wonderbolt training so she had to come up with a solution on her own. "It's activated if someone steps on it. So.. if I'd throw a rock at it..." she thought and looked around the floor. It was mostly leaves with some snails and small twigs. She noticed how twitchy the Timberwolf became the more she walked away from the trap. Finally she found what she was looking for, a rock of the size of her hoof. "This should do it." she mumbled and turned around. "How do I get the Timberwolf to step back?" she thought and came a bit closer. She made a motion with good wing and said "Shoo!" The Timberwolf stood still and continued to watch her. "I guess words won't do it." she muttered and tried to come up with a way to tell it, what it needed to do. Fleetfoot looked up again and pointed to the trap again. She then stepped back a bit and ducked, as if she was about to attack the bear trap. This seemed to make more sense for the Timberwolf, who walked to the side. "I hope it's far enough from the trap." With her hoof she grasped the rough, gray rock and aimed as good as possible for her. She moved her leg to the back and threw it. With a loud bang the rock hit it's target and the bear trap shut close. The Timberwolf jumped up and barked at the trap until it noticed, that nothing else happened. Fleetfoot sighed and walked closer. "See? It can't hurt you anymore." she said and touched the trap a few times. The Timberwolf came slowly closer and seemed to expect the trap to be still dangerous. After seeing Fleetfoot tapping on it and even lifting it for a moment, the wolf stood right beside her and sniffed at the trap. To Fleetfoot's surprise it looked at her and wagged its wooden tail for a moment. "So... it's happy?" she wondered and was reminded of the behavior of dogs. The Timberwolf turned around and walked a few steps away before it looked back, seemingly waiting for her. "Should I follow?" she thought. "I guess I don't have much of a choice. I mean, I can run away again. But it's still faster than me and it'll probably catch me again." With another heavy sigh to calm her racing heart she trotted towards the Timberwolf. It snorted and shortly licked its nose before it led her away. The way was a short one before the Timberwolf stopped again and sniffed at a tree. It then turned around to Fleetfoot. "Is that...?" she muttered and looked at the rope, that hung from the tree. "Another trap?! What kind of mine field is this place?" she said and looked around. They were well hidden, but she could spot all kinds of traps around her. Some were more harmless, some more dangerous and then they were the kind of traps, that could be a mortal danger for a small pony like her. "Wow. Somepony's really dedicated." she said with a slight hint of disgust in her voice. She turned around to the Timberwolf, who sat on a small bush and watched her patiently. It was still watchful of her actions, but it seemed sure enough, that Fleetfoot wouldn't run away again. "At least it's not eating me." Fleetfoot thought. She stopped for a moment and looked to the Timberwolf. She was still very wary in its presence, but with each minute that passed without anything dangerous coming from the animal, she started to relax more. Her gaze was still glued to it, though. "You never know..." she thought before beginning to disarm the next trap. *** It took her longer than expected, but after a long while she removed the last trap. Fleetfoot wiped the sweat off her forehead and threw the long rope, that was knotted to a sling on one of the trees, onto a pile with all the other traps she. Some of them were easy to disarm. And others took her a long time, especially those countless slings. She gave up after a while to untie them with her hooves and tried around with her mouth until she somehow managed it. Fleetfoot looked over the pile and the different traps. "That's strange. Half of them look like they have been around here for years. They were either rusty or rotten. And mostly overgrown, which makes it a huge pain to spot them. But the other half looks very new. As if somepony put them there just yesterday." She stood there for a while and even took some of the traps between her hooves, but she couldn't think of why they had such a huge age gap. Finally, Fleetfoot gave up and shove the traps away. They were no danger anymore, but she didn't want to trip on them or let someone else trip on them. "Who knows, maybe there will be a chase between me and the Timberwolf after all and I have to walk through this part of the forest again." Fleetfoot wondered and suddenly noticed something. She turned around and looked in every direction. "Where's the Timberwolf?" she asked herself in her thoughts and her heart started beating faster again. Over the time she kept herself more and more busy with the traps and the longer the Timberwolf just sat there, the more she started to ignore it. It didn't felt like a danger anymore. "Did it just leave me?" she thought and rubbed her chin. A small rustling caught her attention again. Somewhere up a hill she saw the Timberwolf. It was crouching beneath one of the larger bushes and seemed very concentrated. "No wonder I couldn't spot it." Fleetfoot thought and sighed quietly. She had hoped, that the Timberwolf forgot about her and just left, so she could continue her way into civilization. The Timberwolf moved away, slowly but also very quiet. "I don't need to walk over to know, that it's hunting something." Fleetfoot thought. Suddenly, a thought came into her mind. "It's busy. I could... just maybe... use this opportunity and sneak away. It could follow me, but if I'm lucky I'm far enough away until it notices my disappearance." To her, it seemed like a solid plan. She kept her eyes on the Timberwolf while walking slowly backwards. Occasionally she would look behind to watch out for any trees, rocks or anything else she could bump against. "At least I don't have to worry about more bear traps." she thought. "I made sure that there's nothing dangerous in a mile radius." Fleetfoot kept her breath slow and made sure her movements were quiet and slow. She wasn't sure if the wolf would eat her or not. But she was very sure, that the Timberwolf would be very angry if she'd walk away unnoticed. The Timberwolf jumped forward and barked, which sounded very muffled. Even from the distance she could see the animal throw it's head around. "It caught something." Fleetfoot thought and gulped. "Whatever it was, I feel sorry for it. At least I wasn't there to see it." The thought alone send her shivers down her back. She looked at the Timberwolf for a last time before she turned around and walked down the small path. "That was... strange. To say the least." Fleetfoot thought and reflected the whole situation with the Timberwolf and the traps. "I mean, it's an animal. A predator. It should've eaten me as soon as it saw me. Not that I wished it did, thank the princess for that. But it would require at least some intelligence to think that far. Or maybe I misinterpret everything and it wanted me to get the bait from those traps. Double the food." Fleetfoot rolled her eyes and pushed those thoughts away. "I should stop overrating them. It's not like they have any sapient thoughts. That was probably just a miscommunication. It can't talk and I can't... speak tail-wagging. But it shouldn't matter anymore." Fleetfoot walked down a small hill when she heard something not too far away from her. She stopped to listen more closely. By now she recognized most of the sounds the animals in the forest do while walking around. The Timberwolves are very quiet, but their bodies always rustle when they move, as if they would walk through bushes all the time. The bear was not as quiet. Each step sounded like a stomping and it would make these quiet growling sounds. And the wild pigs made snort-like sounds. But what Fleetfoot heard in this moment was a very familiar sound. It was the clicking a pair of hooves would make while walking on solid ground. "Is it... another pony?!" Fleetfoot thought and gulped. Her time in the woods taught her to never trust anything, so she decided to sneak up on this unknown creature. "Maybe it's a deer. I've never met one before, but I've heard, that they live in some woods. Or maybe it's one of my comrades?" Fleetfoot came closer and could hear the creature mutter something. "...all the work... the boss'll be furious..." she could hear. It was definitely the voice of a stallion of some sort. Fleetfoot felt her heart race, but not because of fear. It was this hope all over again, being so close to getting out of the forest. Fleetfoot crouched beneath a small bush and looked to the clearing. A gray pegasus walked in circles and seemed distressed by something. He wore a small saddlebag and the end of a small rope stuck out from it. Fleetfoot didn't know this pony. But it was still a pony. A huge grin appeared on Fleetfoot's face and she took a deep breath. "Finally! Another pony!" she said and stood up so the pony could see her. The stallion whirled around, startled by her sudden appearance. He threw a glance at her before gasping loudly and jumping backwards. "I've been stuck in these woods for days! And you can believe me, that was horrible!" Fleetfoot told and stepped into the clearing. The stallion was still shocked and walked further away the closer she came. "D-don't come closer!" the stallion stuttered and despite his fear, she could hear the threat in his voice. Fleetfoot stopped and cocked her head. "Wha-- There's no need to panic. I was dragged here by Timberwolves and now I want to get out of here. I mean, I would've done it alone, but I broke my wing." She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "I look like an absolute mess. No wonder the stallion is afraid of me. But I'm sure he'll understand." she thought and looked at the pony in front of her. He hesitated for a moment before he raised an eyebrow. "I don't know out of which hole you just came from, but I don't want to have anything to do with crazy, old mares." Fleetfoot gasped at his words. "Crazy? CRAZY?" she yelled. He flinched, as if he'd fear an attack from her. Fleetfoot gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. "No, don't scare him away. He can bring you out of here." Fleetfoot reminded herself. Despite her anger she put on a smile and tried to sound as friendly as possible. "Sorry for my little... outburst. You see, well, literally, that I've been stuck here for a few nights and I'd really like to get back into the next town." She thought quickly for something that'd make him want to help her. "Well, if you'd help me I can help you or give you any reward you want. Money, a better job, a sandwich... just name it. I'm a Wonderbolt, I can arrange things for you." The stallion stood up again and wiped some dirt from his flank. "Alright, I was right with the crazy part." he said. Fleetfoot took a sharp breath. "I'm not crazy!" she said with a stern sound in her voice. Before she could think of another way to convince the stallion he stretched his wings out and snorted quietly. "I have more important things to do." he said and pushed his wings down, which caused him to fly high enough to get out of Fleetfoot's reach. "Hey! Come back! You can insult me all you want as soon as you brought me out of here!" Fleetfoot yelled and grew impatient. "Yeah, whatever. I still have to catch some Timberwolves, so just go back were you came from and... I dunno, hug some trees?" the stallion said. Fleetfoot looked between the stallion and the rope he pulled out of his saddle bag and realized something. "Wait... You laid out all those traps? ARE YOU INSANE?!" she yelled. Suddenly, she didn't want to be saved by that stallion anymore. She wanted him to land again so she could punch him. She could see in his face that he came to a solution himself as well. "You were the one who removed them all? Dude, do you know how long it took me to knot all those slings? And how many scratches I got from setting up the bear traps?!" All of the sudden a rock flew past him. "And do you know how many animals you could've killed with all those traps?!" Fleetfoot yelled back. "Dude, just go away--" "I'M A MARE! STOP CALLING ME DUDE!" He just shook his head in annoyance and turned around to fly away. "Hey, come back!" Fleetfoot called and ran after him until a small cliff stopped her. "You know what, just fly away, you coward! If I see you again and find another trap, I'll kick your flank into next week!" The stallion flew farther and farther away into the orange colored sky. Fleetfoot huffed before she yelled "And I'm not old! I'm twenty-three!" In her anger she didn't notice how something walked to her side. The deep growl of the Timberwolf caught her attention and made her stumble away in shock. The Timberwolf looked up to the pegasus, who was flying away. Its eyes glowed in a faint red, something Fleetfoot hasn't seen since the fight a few days ago. It growled for a few seconds before it barked at the stallion. A few moments later the Timberwolf huffed and licked its nose. "You scared me." Fleetfoot muttered and slowly got up again. The color of its eyes changed back into a greenish yellow and it looked down to Fleetfoot. It wagged its tail a bit while raising its head into the air, as if it would show pride for what she did. Fleetfoot cocked her head and tried to understand its meaning. "I didn't hunt that guy." she said and rubbed her chin in thought. "Or was I supposed to chase him away? I kind of did that, even though it was not on intention." The Timberwolf looked at her for a moment, as if it tried as well to understand her words. It seemed to give up rather fast and walked past Fleetfoot. With its head it pushed Fleetfoot a few steps forward. "H-hey! What are you doing?" Fleetfoot asked. When Fleetfoot wouldn't move anymore, the Timberwolf growled and pushed her again. "You want me to come with you?" she asked, even though she knew, that she wouldn't receive an answer. "I guess I am crazy. Only a mare who lost her mind would do that." Fleetfoot muttered and started to follow the wooden creature. *** Slowly she trotted behind the wooden animal. The way was a long one and often she had troubles keeping up with the Timberwolf. She considered once if it was a good idea to just fall behind and run away when the Timberwolf would be far enough away. It was always on the lead, but it looked back enough times to make sure, that she'd follow him. Fleetfoot could see the color of the light changing into a soft orange and then dimming out more and more. "Is it that late already?" she wondered. "The day went by in a flash." The Timberwolf went up a larger hill and stopped on the top. It looked down and barked, which sounded like a happy greeting. To Fleetfoot's surprise, the Timberwolf was greeted with a couple more barks. "We've reached the others. I hope nothing too bad will happen." Fleetfoot thought and bit her lip. The behavior of the Timberwolves confused her more than once and she was never sure what she should do. Trust her knowledge she had about dangerous animals? Or just see what'd happen next? The Timberwolf, who walked around with her for almost the whole day, seemed almost friendly. But that doesn't mean, that all the other Timberwolves will greet her with a friendly bark as well. The pup maybe, but the others seemed more dangerous. On the other hoof, Fleetfoot was a bit glad, that they don't have to walk any further. Her legs grew weary and she could almost hear her stomach growling. "Alright, I can only hope things will go well. What did my Mom always said, when I had to go through bad situations? Grit your teeth and get on with it. Yeah, I think it was something like that..." Fleetfoot took a deep breath to calm herself down. With slow steps she followed the Timberwolf up the hill. When it saw, that she was still coming, it turned around and walked down to the others. Her legs shook and her mind was clouded with the thoughts of every way this situation could end horrible for her. "Stop being a chicken." Fleetfoot reminded herself. "Remember, you wanted to not let the woods bring you down again." The thought of that promise she made with herself gave her a bit courage again and she walked down the hill. To her surprise she found herself in a large clearing, which was mostly surrounded by steep hills and fallen trees. This made the clearing look more safe against any intruder. Down the hill she could see all the other Timberwolves she already met at some point. The pup, the Timberwolf with the flowers and the one with the rock nose. They all stopped whatever they had done before to greet the big Timberwolf. But she wasn't unnoticed by them. The small pup seemed to catch her smell rather quick and barked at her with its tiny voice. The flower Timberwolf looked at her curiously while the one with the rock nose just growled at her. "Uh... Hi." she said and didn't now what to do in this situation. The pup wanted to run towards her, but its mother pulled it back in time. Fleetfoot looked to the big Timberwolf, who growled slightly. She gulped and decided to walk down to see what would happen next. The closer she came to the clearing, the stronger the stench of the Timberwolves became. "I'm pretty sure this is their sleeping place. It smells like at least twenty of them." she thought with a frown. She stopped a couple of steps in front of the Timberwolves. The rock Timberwolf was the first one to come closer. It circled around her and sniffed at her from time to time. Fleetfoot stood as stiff as possible. Her ears hung low and her fear was huge, but she gave her best to push it away. The flower Timberwolf and the pup joined as well and Fleetfoot didn't know where to look with all of them walking around her. They'd occasionally sniff at her or pinch her with their sharp teeth. It caused the pegasus to wince each time, but she stood still. After a while the big Timberwolf walked towards them and the other Timberwolves walked to the side. "What's going to happen?" The Timberwolf raised its head high into the air and growled. With each second in which Fleetfoot did nothing but stare at it, it growled louder and came closer. It looked down on her, as if it wanted her to do something. "Should I show resistance? Or subordination? It seems to be the alpha wolf, so the first wouldn't be too smart..." Fleetfoot gave her best to play by their rules. With her ears still hanging down she lowered her head and bend her forelegs. She didn't go all the way down. After all, she wanted to show her respect in his rank, not present her as will-less food. The Timberwolf growled for a last time before it stepped back and licked its nose. "Is it over?" A long lick over her face from the flower Timberwolf gave her the answer. Fleetfoot looked around in confusion and stood straight again. The Timberwolves walked around and looked at her, but none of them threatened her. The wolf with the rock nose looked at her with a vary look in its face, but it still felt relaxed enough to sit down and scratch its ear with one of its hind legs. "So... I'm part of the pack now?" Fleetfoot asked. She was suddenly surrounded by the pup, who panted and seemed to be very excited about something. "Looks like we get to play together for a while." Fleetfoot said with a wavering smile. "I just wonder how long this will work. And for how long I have to delay my walk back home. I hope the others don't worry too much about me." The pup barked and then sniffed her mane. "Hey, stop that." she said with a chuckle. "Now that I think about it, you were always 'the Timberwolves' for me. With a few small differences. If I spent more time with you it would be better to give you nicknames." She looked to the other Timberwolves and tried to come up with short, but fitting names. "Well..." she muttered and looked around. "How about I keep calling you by your... significant differences?" She looked at the alpha Timberwolf and rubbed her chin. "Well, I'll call you Big." she decided and her gaze wandered to the Timberwolf with the flowers. "You are Flower. And the other one... is Rock." Lastly, she looked to her side to the pup, who looked at her with its tongue hanging out from the side of its snout. "Hm... 'Pup' would be a boring name, don't you think?" The pup barked a few times, which sounded still very cute to her with the high voice of the wolf. "How about Yip? I mean, you sound more like yipping than barking." It licked its nose as answer. Fleetfoot stared at it for a moment and sighed. "I came up with truly great names." she mocked herself. "If I ever get a foal, I should let my husband pick a name. Or else I'd come up with something like 'Filly' or 'Snickerdoodles'..."