Ahuizotl looked inside at the Chief, wondering what his reaction to this would be. He didn't have to wait very long. The scout ran out the door, followed by what appeared to be a rather expensive-looking vase. It shattered on the ground, a few steps away from the scout, who was heading in the direction of his hut, obviously not keen on having anything else thrown at him for the time being.
He looked at Loraszca. “So what do we do?” He noticed the look on her face. Though she was trying to remain stoic, he could see the tinge of fear in her eyes. This was not something she wanted, obviously.
“I'm not sure,” she replied, still fixating her gaze on the open door of the chief's hut. “Remember how you were asking for more information about the Wolves?” He nodded. “Well, it's about time I told you. Because you do not want to piss these guys off. And they seemed to me like the type of ponies to get very mad that you don't know everything about them.”
Ahuizotl adopted a befuddled expression onto his face. “Wait, I thought you said nopony knew very much at all about the Wolves. So how can they be mad if nopony knows anything about them, if they're so secretive?”
Loraszca shrugged. “I guess you just have to have a willingness to know. I'm not entirely sure. I've never actually met the Wolves face-to-face. They always request a lone audience with the chief, and then he just relays to us what they said after they've left.”
Something about that just didn't sit well with Ahuizotl. “So you have no way of knowing if what the chief tells you is actually what they're saying. Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe he's not telling you the true message? Or that maybe the Wolves don't want him to say anything to you at all, but he makes stuff up anyways?”
“That is entirely a possibility,” she acknowledged, “but until one of the village members gets an invite into the meeting, there's really no way to know for sure.”
“So what are we supposed to do while they're here?” he asked, scanning the horizon for any sign of their immediate approach. So far, he spotted no movement. He was pretty sure he would, if they were actually within sight distance of the camp. One of the things he was always pretty good at was tracking movements. Being a scout, so to speak.
“We'll go back to my hut. And while we're there, I'll tell you everything I know about the Wolves- or rather, everything that's been relayed to me in a rather half-assed second-hoof manner.” He nodded, still looking out for any sign of them.
A sharp jab in his side got his attention back. “I mean, now. The Wolves don't want anypony out in the streets when they arrive. Not even our scouts. Everypony must go into their huts and wait there until the chief gives the all-clear signal that they've left.”
Ahuizotl once again found himself more than a bit dumbfounded. Not the first time that day, either. It was becoming, in his eyes, a far too regular occurrence for his liking. “So let me get this straight. Nopony's allowed to look at them, hear what they have to say, interact with them at all really. Nopony aside from the chief, who then can take any liberties with what they said and nopony would ever be the wiser? How much sense does any of this really make?”
She started to push him gently towards the direction of her hut. He was about to protest, but cut his sentence off before it came out. Now was not the time nor the place to berate her about this. They had to be alone in her hut in a moment anyways, apparently. He'd save his questions for then. He began to walk towards the hut, though at a much slower pace than was probably necessary. He also continued to look out to see if he could catch a glimpse of these Wolves.
By the time they got to the hut and made their way inside, he still hadn't seen any sign of them. As soon as the door was shut and properly secured, he turned to her. “So what happens if they don't show up? What happens if the guard was just hallucinating or something? I mean, that's basically what these Wolves sound like, from what you described them as. Just a bad acid trip.”
Lorrie chuckled a bit. “Oh, no. They are definitely not a bad acid trip. I should know. Before I wound up here in the village, that was kind of my thing. Well that, and what I refer to as 'spicy love'.”
He wasn't familiar with the term. “Spicy love? What even is that?”
She hopped up onto her bed and laid down, resting her head on her forehooves. “Not many ponies would realize this, seeing as they don't feed off love like us Changelings do, but different kinds of love actually have different flavors. If two ponies are just being overly sweet towards each other, it's a very saccharine love. If they're making up after being mad at each other, or are trying their best to keep a fight to a minimum because they don't want to hurt each other, their love has more of a sour flavor to it, like fresh-squeezed lemons.
“And then there's my personal favorite, spicy love. It's becoming much harder to find nowadays, because ponies tend to settle down for a very long time once they've found their mate. But when ponies first meet, and they have that wild, giddy sort of love for each other, like they want to try out anything and everything together, because they're on cloud nine that they've finally found a pony who loves them, understands them, wants to be with them... It lends the love a rather spicy aftertaste, and I can't get enough of it.”
This conversation was so fascinating, Ahuizotl almost forgot about the Wolves entirely. Almost. He walked back over to the door, parting the blinds slightly to look out of them. “Keep talking, I'm still listening,” he said over his shoulder. “I just want to see if I can catch a glimpse of these Wolves for myself.”
He recognized that Lorrie had said something in response, but the specific words that she was saying got lost in what seemed to be a void, because at that exact point, the Wolves strode into view. The first thing that Ahuizotl processed was that Lorrie had seriously underplayed their regality. They walked with an air of nobility, with the sort of loping strut of a pony who knew that they held power in their hooves, and they wanted everyone to remember it as well. Their stride was purposeful, though. They knew they had a mission to accomplish, and they were dead-set on completing it.
What amazed him the most, though, was their look. They were easily as tall as him, and he was no slouch. He estimated that he was about twice as tall as the average pony (obviously leaving the alicorn princesses as outliers, considering they were almost as tall as he was, minus Twilight, who hadn't seemed to have grown at all since her ascension to alicornhood and her subsequent coronation), and these beings appeared to be just as tall as him.
He also noticed that she hadn't been exaggerating about their coats. It reminded him vaguely of dragon scales, tightly locked against each other to keep out any sort of attack that might be made to pierce their hides. The coloration, again, had been described spot-on. As they walked, they shimmered with a bright aura, the hues vivid as a fresh rainbow. He was absolutely transfixed by them- which is why he almost didn't notice when one of them stopped and leveled its gaze directly at him.
Its eyes were the purest gold, though he thought he could see tiny flecks of silver and grey mottling the irises, albeit those were barely able to be distinguished from what normally would have been the whites of the eyes on any other being. He could see a hundred different facets of their gaze: inquisitive, yet knowledgeable; wondrous, yet somehow saddened by whatever it is that they saw; stern, yet loving. He suddenly felt the strangest desire to open Lorrie's door and go out there to meet them for himself. It took every fiber of his mental faculties to stop himself from doing so.
As the Wolf turned its gaze back to its brethren and began to walk at a slightly more brisk pace to catch up with them, a light turned on in Ahuizotl's head. He had thought from the moment the Wolf had looked at him, that he had somehow recalled where he had seen those eyes before. He couldn't put an exact finger on it, but he hadn't quite been able to place it.
Now, he could. And the conclusion he arrived at was terrifying him. So, he shoved it out of his mind, dismissing it as a trick of the light, or just his own overactive imagination getting the best of him again. He closed the blinds the rest of the way, and turned to face Lorrie.
Lorrie was staring intently at him. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Did one of them see you looking at them.”
“I'm fine,” he said, dismissing her concern with a wave of his paw. “And for your information, no, none of them saw me. But I sure saw them.” He hoped that she wouldn't question him about his lie- not that she had any reason to. She hadn't seen them through the blinds, or so he hoped.
“So now do you believe me?” She settled back down onto her bed, having gotten up onto her hind haunches, sitting in a somewhat upright position like a cat normally would before settling down fully onto whatever surface it was going to rest on.
He nodded, exhaling almost imperceptibly. She hadn't called him out on it- or at the very least, had just decided that doing so was not the wisest course of action at the time being. “Your chief seemed to have accurately described them, from what you told me. They basically looked exactly like you described, though I wasn't quite expecting them to be so... majestic.”
“Majestic?” she asked quizzically. “You mean like royalty?”
“Yep,” he replied. “That's basically the feel I got from them. They act like they run the place, or at least have the capability to do so. It's what I assume your queen Chrysalis acts like when she is prowling the halls of her castle.”
Lorrie could imagine what that would look like, as she was well familiar with the way Chrysalis behaved around the castle. “Have they gone into the chief's hut yet?”
“They had just passed our hut when I turned around.” He went back over to the door and peeked out of the blinds again. None of the Wolves were in sight, and he could hear a vague voice coming from the other end of the village. It sounded similar to the chief's voice, though that may have just been due to the distance it was taking to travel from here to there. “It sounds like they're talking. I think I hear the chief's voice, anyways.”
Lorrie nodded and laid back down. “So all we have to do now, is wait for them to leave.” She closed her eyes for a second. “So what else do you want to know about the Wolves? I'll tell you if I know, but I'm not entirely sure if I will.”
He thought for a second while he sat down at the foot of Lorrie's bed. Whatever kind of wood it was that made up her flooring wasn't completely uncomfortable, but it wasn't quite the lush, padded throne that he had been used to before Daring Do had completely destroyed his temple. “Why you guys? I mean, was it ever revealed why it was your village in particular that had been chosen by the Wolves for them to reveal themselves to? It would seem more appropriate for them to, say, go to Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. Hell, even Cadance or Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire would have been a more appropriate choice. Why this village?”
Lorrie shrugged. “That's a completely valid question, and one that I've never been able to get an answer to. I've even asked Great Wonder a few times, when it's just been himself and me sitting around somewhere, but he's never given me a straight answer. I don't think even he knows. Probably doesn't care, either. All he cares about is that whatever dreams he's had are finally coming true.”
This rang a bell in Ahuizotl's head. “Speaking of which, why does he not embrace them for who they are? If they truly do possess this ancient powerful magic, then why would he not want that magic for himself? If he had it, he could probably go through with his plan of gathering the earth ponies to overtake Equestria. With a magic that ancient and powerful at his back, who would be able to stop him?”
“No one,” she replied. “And I think that's the reason why he still allows these visits from the Wolves. They are very sporadic, from what I can tell- usually once every couple of years or so. I think he's trying to feel them out, so to speak. Figure out if they're legit or not. Even though he doesn't believe them now, I think he wants to, and he's attempting to get any sort of information that could lead to him coming to terms with the fact that they really do have this power.”
He was about to reply when there was a knock on the door. They both froze for a moment. Ahuizotl's eyes darted to hers. “Have they ever knocked before?” he whispered softly. She shook her head, and his heart dropped. So there was no precedent for this. Lovely. So much for having some previous experience to fall back on for guidance.
“What do you want?” Lorrie called out.
“They want the two of you in the cabin,” came an unfamiliar voice. It didn't sound like one of the Wolves, though for all they knew it could have been, since none of them had actually heard what any of the Wolves sound like. Ahuizotl got up and walked to the door, flipping one of the blinds back to see who it was.
The scout who had come back with the news was standing there in front of the door. Ahuizotl mentally kicked himself. He had heard the scout's voice when he relayed the message the first time. Why didn't he remember what he sounded like? “They're saying it's urgent, so... you might want to get over there as quick as you can.” He stepped off the porch area to head back to the elder's hut.
Ahuizotl turned back to Lorrie. “The scout from earlier. That's who was outside. Apparently we're wanted in the chief's hut. Though as to why, I haven't a clue...”
“Well, I can bet as to why you're wanted,” Lorrie stated, hopping off the bed and shifting back into her regular pony form. “You are the village god, after all. It would make sense that they'd want to talk to you at some point. The last time they were here when we had a god, they did the same thing. I'm not a hundred percent sure about why they want me, though...”
“I think I have an idea,” he said, opening the door. “You were the one who brought me into the village, after all. Maybe they see you as my caretaker or something. At least somepony who can keep me in check, keep me from destroying the whole village or whatever.”
“Could you? Destroy the village, I mean.”
He wasn't expecting that question. “I don't think so. I may be rather large in size, but my thing has always been the more mental side of life. And even back when I was into the whole 'being an evil tyrant threatening to destroy the whole world' thing- which wasn't really that long ago, mind you- I don't think I'd ever have actually done it. I mean, who wants to rule over a world with nopony in it? That whole golden throne thing sounds much less appealing if the world's a barren wasteland.”
She pursed her lips for a second. He could tell that wasn't quite the answer that she was wanting, but he was hoping she wasn't going to pursue it further. And even if she had, he would have just reminded her that the chief was wanting them in his hut, so there really wasn't any time for them to pursue this line of thought anymore.
Lucky for him, he didn't have to. She apparently decided it was better to save this for a later time, and she sidestepped him to get out the door.
They walked in silence to the chief's hut. He could tell she was ruminating about what he'd just told her. She already knew about him being a tyrant in his former life, though. He'd revealed that to her the first night they'd met- only two nights previously. “Has it only been that long?” he thought to himself. “Seems much longer than that... Maybe there's something to being here after all, if I've turned my thought patterns around this much so quickly...”
They entered the hut, keeping the same pattern of reverent silence. Upon entering the hut, the first thing that Ahuizotl noticed was that it seemed a bit... smaller than it appeared to be outside. This was slightly unnerving to him. Most places he'd seen or heard of were bigger on the inside, or so the phrase went. Some sort of magic he'd had placed on the inside? But why even?
His thought pattern was swiftly dispelled though, when he and Lorrie came to a halt in front of the Wolves. Whatever resplendence he thought he'd seen from the inside of Lorrie's hut was a mere taste of what he was seeing now. Their majesty seemed to be multiplied a hundredfold now that he was able to see them up close. His eyes were drawn to a jagged scar alongside one of their flanks. This was a good thing, he thought. At least this meant they were able to be hurt. If push came to shove, he could use this to his advantage.
Their intense gaze met his. He was transfixed by their eyes. He saw in them a rainbow of colors. He could have swore that he'd remembered them being much more solid in color earlier. Now that he was only a few feet away from them, he saw that their eyes glistened with as many radiant hues as their coats. It was honestly a bit disconcerting, if only because he found himself a bit unable to tell where their eyes ended and their faces began. Not something that he was at all used to.
They stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, none of them saying anything. The chief sat in the corner, darting his eyes around to take in the entire situation. He wanted to be able to jump in, just in case any tensions were to arise, so that he could calm hot tempers and flaring tongues before any of them said something they would have to regret or take back later. Nopony wanted to do that, after all.
Ahuizotl was a moment away from speaking to the Wolves when he heard a voice in his mind, echoing throughout the deepest reaches. “You are not like the others... Can you hear us?” His jaw almost dropped. Telepathy? So that's how they were able to speak and not be heard by anyone outside the chief's hut?
He tried to mentally compose himself before attempting to send back a mental ping. “Yes, but... I'm very much unfamiliar with how telepathy works. I've never attempted it before. Not even the sages of my people dabbled in it much when they were still alive.”
A rich laugh echoed throughout his mind. “Telepathy, as you very well know, is the art of speaking between two minds. Unspoken thought to communicate whatever it is that you want. So how would you know if telepathy is being used if you were not being included in on the conversation? Or had found a way to tap into someone's mind to read their thoughts?”
Ahuizotl was dumbfounded. He had been such a fool. Of course it was entirely possible for his sages to have perfected telepathy, maybe even far before he had been born. How would he have been able to know?
“Embarrassment aside,” he replied, trying to shove his disconcerted thoughts out of his mind, lest they decide to explore it further, “what is it that you would want of me? And Lorrie, for that matter. We are not the chief. We do not have the reach of power in this village that he does.”
One of the other Wolves spoke. “You have more power here than you realize. Though you are not the head of the village, and while Great Wonder likes to pretend he is all-powerful, your influence upon the people is growing by the day. Remember that we are able to see and hear things that nopony else can. We can see thoughts written plain as day, as though they were words in a tome. We can hear echoes coming from the deepest recesses of minds, ones that they themselves may not even be aware of. And you, my friend, command respect. But more than that, you command fear. And Great Wonder, though it pains himself greatly to admit so, cannot count himself out of that group of ponies.”
So his presence in the village wasn't as innocuous as he'd been led to believe. Maybe he could use that to his advantage, he thought. Start getting some social reform done around here. Not much that was done in that village made anything remotely close to a lick of sense to him, anyways. Might as well try to liven up the place while he's making things better for the villagers.
“Be that as it may,” he replied, “that still doesn't answer why you wanted us here to begin with. Couldn't whatever you had to say be relayed to us by the chief after you all were done?”
“It could have,” acknowledged the one Wolf who had not yet spoken. “But we wanted to speak to you, personally. Or rather, I did. It has been far too long, after all. I wanted some sort of way to be able to ask you... How have things been?” Before Ahuizotl could even question him as to where this line of conversation was going, he continued: “Must have been sad, watching your entire species die like that. Just dying off, one by one, consumed by a passion for an ancient knowledge so obscure, it was a nigh impossibility for them to ever obtain it.” He smirked. “Makes me glad I got out of there when I did.”
Ahuizotl's jaw dropped. “No... There's no way... But how? What did you do to yourself? You look nothing like you did back then...”
“Magic, my brother,” he said reassuringly, though the tone somewhat confused Ahuizotl. “Magic that is far beyond your comprehension. You see, the arcane arts that the mages and sages of our people tried and failed for so long to find and harness, the magic that drove our people to extinction... I found it. I made it my own. And it has made me stronger than any being on the entire planet! Well, maybe with the exception of the Princesses, but I'm working on that as we speak.”
“But what do you want with me?” Ahuizotl asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time this conversation. “If you and me are the only two people left of our tribe, you can't bring me back to them if there's no one for you to bring me back to. What's your reasoning for reaching out to me now?”
The sly grin that was creeping over the Wolf's face now broke out into a maniacal grin. “Because I know something that you don't. Something that, if you want to be a proper god to this village, you most certainly need to know. Which by the way, congratulations on that. You're the first one from our species to be worshiped as someone's god. You should be proud.”
“Something I don't know? What would that be? And will you tell me?”
He tutted condescendingly at Ahuizotl. “Patience, dear brother. Things like this take time to warm up to. I can't just blow the lid off the barrel yet. There's so much more to discuss first. I will promise you this, though: Soon I will tell you. And when I do, there will be no stopping you from ruling this village like Great Wonder likes to think he does.”
Suddenly he spoke aloud, and the noise almost caused Ahuizotl to visibly flinch. “We are done here, Great Wonder. Thank you for allowing us an audience with your god.” He turned to look Great Wonder in the eyes. “I doubt you'll be seeing us much around here anymore. I think we found what we were looking for this entire time.”
He turned to Lorrie, who had been watching the whole telepathic debate with a perplexed look on her face. As she hadn't yet mastered the art of telepathy, she'd not been able to keep up with their conversation. “Keep your god in line, dear one. We wouldn't want him straying down the wrong path, discovering something he doesn't need to.” They then turned as one and walked out of the hut, shimmering into mist as they left.
“If they can do that, then why did they walk into the village the first time?” Lorrie asked, shaking her head slightly as though trying to clear out mental cobwebs. “Not much about them makes sense...” She turned to say something to Ahuizotl, but paused when she saw the look on his face. “You okay?” she asked.
He nodded absentmindedly. “We'll talk later.” He walked out of the hut, as though in a daze. Lorrie followed closely behind him, obviously concerned about him.
“When will you tell me?” she asked. “When we get back to the hut?”
“I don't know,” he replied. “But I can tell you this.” He turned to face her, and she began to sense that something was deeply troubling him. “Great Wonder is hiding something, and I think we need to find out what, because if we don't... We may not be around for very much longer to investigate.”