Twilight followed Ralts through the grass until they reached a small clearing. Twilight recognized several of the creatures as the same type of caterpillar from before, but there were some that were new. A brown, jaggy-furred dog. A big blue gerridae with a yellow spike on top. A living, breathing acorn the size of her head. Several enormous butterflies with colorations she didn’t recognize.
As she thought about it, many of the creatures she had seen were a lot bigger than similar things at home.
The dog perked up as the pair rustled out of the grass and bounded over in an unpredictable pattern, zagging and zigging its way toward them until it stopped right in front of Ralts. “Zagoo?”
“This is Twilispark,” Ralts replied, gesturing toward his guest. “It lost its family, so I brought it with me to join ours.”
“Za! Zig Zigzagoon! Zagoo zig zigza!” With that, the creature zipping away in its jagged manner, stopping by each of the other creatures in the clearing.
“What was that?” Twilight asked, not entirely sure what just happened.
“That’s just Zigzagoon being Zigzagoon. He’s easily excited, as you can probably tell.”
Ralts led Twilight into the center of the clearing as the other creatures turned their attention toward the pair. She turned her head to Ralts. “These creatures are your family?”
Ralts turned and smiled at her. “Mhmm! Everyone except for the Beautiflies. They’re migrating to the great wood, far to the west.”
Twilight looked at the diverse group, unsure what to make of it. Families were made up of relatives. Mommies and daddies, brothers and sisters, parents and foals. None of these creatures looked related in any way. Well, maybe the ‘beautiflies’ and the caterpillars, if that’s what the caterpillars turned into after they metamorphosed. But Ralts definitely wasn’t a caterpillar.
“Hey, everyone!” Ralts projected once the group was assembled. “This is Twilispark. It’s-”
“Twilight Sparkle,” she corrected.
“Huh? It’s not twilight yet, though the stars do sparkle once they come out.” Twilight gave Ralts a flat stare. Ralts tilted his head to the side. “What? Why are you getting frustrated?”
Twilight sighed. “Nevermind.”
Ralts looked at her a moment longer, then straightened his head again and addressed the group. “Anyways, Twilispark is just like us, so please welcome...” Ralts turned to Twilight. “Him? Her?”
“Her.”
Ralts nodded. “Please welcome her with all your hearts!”
“Ack!” Twilight found herself being swarmed by the entire mass. Fur and tongue, dozens of legs, gentle wings, and even the hard shell of a giant acorn crashed into her, knocking her down and smothering her with nuzzles and affection. “Ralts! Help!”
Ralts simply laughed. “I couldn’t do that to them. There is too much happiness floating around for me to break it up.”
Twilight struggled just a moment longer before resigning herself to her fate. Ralts identified the creatures for Twilight one by one as they passed through her vision. She had already figured out who Zigzagoon and the Beautiflies were, but the caterpillars were collectively called ‘Wurmple’ and the acorn was ‘Seedot’.
Through the shuffling and commotion, she saw the gerridae waiting a short distance away, staring at her with eyes that, on a pony, would be something akin to focused intent. It slowly skated across the ground toward the group.
“Surs!” it screeched, and immediately the bustle stopped. The creatures pulled back one by one, giving it and Twilight some space. “Ski-kit surs. Surskit su surski.”
Twilight stared blankly at the creature. “Ralts, who is this?”
“Twilispark, meet Surskit. He protects the family from hungry Poochyena.”
Twilight suppressed the urge to correct Ralts again, knowing it wouldn’t do her any good. Instead, she stood up and nodded to Surskit. “Hello. I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s good to meet you.”
“Skit surs surki kit.”
“Don’t be so mean!” Ralts exclaimed. “She has no one else to turn to!”
“What’s he saying?”
Ralts tilted his head at Twilight. “What do you mean? Didn’t you hear him?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I understand him,” Twilight explained. “You’re the only creature I’ve met since coming here that I can understand.”
Ralts put a pointed arm up to his mouth. “You can’t Understand? I thought the only creatures that couldn’t Understand were the humans!"
“If by understand you mean automatically know your language without ever meeting you before,” Twilight replied with a huff. “...then no, I can’t. How am I supposed to do that?”
Ralts tilted his head to the side. “But you can Understand me just fine. Why me and not the others?”
Twilight frowned. “Probably because instead you using words, you use magic that lets you touch a pony’s mind directly. I read that magic like that is contrary to magical law in pretty much every civilization.”
“Surs! Kit kit surskit!” Twilight looked back down at Surskit. Its black eyes seemed to be scowling at her. “Surskit surs sur?”
She sighed. “Unfortunately, I have no other way of knowing what’s going on, and I don’t know the laws here... What’s he saying, Ralts?"
“He says ‘A creature who can’t Understand has no heart. How can we trust it?’” Ralts fumed. “Of course she has a heart! If she didn’t, how could I sense her emotion?”
Twilight blinked and put a hoof to her chest, then breathed a small sigh of relief as she felt the gentle, pulsing thumps inside her. Then, realizing what she was doing, she shook her head. “Silly... I wouldn’t be alive right now if I didn’t have a heart,” she muttered.
Surskit screeched a few more words for Ralts to translate. “‘If you want a heartless creature here, then it should defend itself. The family won’t fight her battles like those taken by the humans.’” Ralts turned to Twilight. “I guess that’s the only way he’ll accept you. Can you defend yourself?”
“I... I don’t know. I’ve only fought once since coming here. If they hadn’t stopped, I... I might’ve...” Twilight thought back to the humans that summoned Torchic to attack her. Could she fight enemies like that? What about predators? If this so-called ‘family’ wasn’t going to protect her, would she be able to protect herself? “I don’t know if I can...”
Surskit skrittered a few more words, leaving Ralts with a dumbfounded expression. “Surskit, you can’t be serious!” The gerridae continued. Twilight could only guess as to the conversation going on between it and Ralts, but she didn’t like her hypothesis. “But doing that will... She’s tall. What does that have to do with anything? ...You can’t honestly believe that. Poochyena use their noses just as much as their eyes, if not more... She hardly knew what they were! You can’t expect her to beat a pack on her own! ...You’re different. You’re the strongest one here... I guess that’s fair... No, I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand.” Ralts audibly sighed and turned to Twilight as the gerridae skated over to the other side of the clearing.
“What’s going on?” Twilight asked. As she looked around, she could see the other creatures backing away.
“Surskit says if you can’t defend yourself, then you can’t stay with us.” Twilight’s ears drooped against her head. “Everyone here defends our home when the Poochyena come. He says even one death would be crippling to the family if we needed to fight them as a group, and he can’t be everywhere to defend those who can’t defend themselves.”
“But I don’t know the first thing about fighting!” Twilight protested.
Ralts patted her on the shoulders with outstretched arms, then pointed to the other side of the clearing, where Surskit was waiting, watching. “He said he would give you a chance. Show him that you can defend yourself, even a little bit, and he’ll let you stay.”
“But what if I fail? I’ll be all alone again, but there may not be anypo- one else who will help me. I’ll get eaten, or captured, and then I’ll never get home...”
Ralts sagged. He could feel the hope dwindling inside Twilispark, and it made his heart ache. Still, he put on as encouraging a smile as he could. “Then don’t fail. I’ll be cheering for you, okay?”
*****
A pair of yellow eyes peered out from the grass. The prey which had caused him and his pack so much trouble were all watching two of their own - the Stinger and a newcomer - battle in the center of the clearing. He watched as the two traded blows, wearing each other down with every strike and dodge. He growled low at the sight.
Another set of eyes appeared beside him. “Alpha, the prey are distracted by the battle. The Stinger is getting weaker by the moment. Are we finally to strike tonight?”
“No, not yet,” Alpha growled. “The newcomer is strong enough to face the Stinger and still stand. It is too dangerous to face them when they are together with the other prey.”
“What are your orders?”
“They must be separated if we are to conquer them." Alpha's muzzle contorted into a fanged grimace. "Tonight, we wait. After the sun rises, we wait. We will wait until one of they prey is alone before striking, and then we will use their blood to lure out the Stinger. And if he doesn't come, then we will strike again in the same way until he comes." He allowed himself a feral grin. "With the Stinger out of the way, the pack will feast.”
“By your order.” The two sets of eyes disappeared back into the tall grass.