//------------------------------//
// On The Trail 
// Story: Night Wing 
// by Gravity012 
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The next day we set out early. The sun was just peaking out over the horizon and casting golden light through the trees. Luna was happily bouncing along next to her sister while I flew high above keeping a look out for....anything I guess. I noticed Swirl wave at me and I descended to the ground and hovered in front of him.

“Could you look for tracks that look like this?” He asked before levitating a stick and drawing in the dirt. He drew what looked like a big three clawed animal track. I studied the track and nodded at him. “Thank you. This will make our search much easier.” I nodded again and took off into the sky. I kept a sharp eye out for anything resembling what he had shown me. After a few hour though, I started wondering if I would ever see anything like it. I hadn’t seen any tracks or big beasts. What I had seen was lots of food. Mice, squirrels, rabbits. Even a few small birds looked appetizing.

Deciding to take a break from looking, I located something to eat. I set my sights on a squirrel eating nuts. I started to descend before I stopped. I was a hawk now. And I had always wanted to try sky diving. So, thinking over what I was about to do, I lined myself up with the squirrel. And I dove. Pinning my wings to my side, I dove faster than I had before. The wind whistled gloriously past my ears and my heart raced. Right before I hit the ground I opened my wings, turning my vertical movement into horizontal thrust. “KEEEEEEEEEEAR!!!” I shrieked right as I grabbed the squirrel. It struggled for a second before I bent my head down and bit it’s neck. When I did so I noticed frost bite on the squirrel where my talons dug into it. And on the neck where I bit it.

I settled down on the ground and started tearing into the squirrel. Using my hooked beak to tear the flesh, I made quick work of the corpse. After finishing I prepared to take off. Right before I did so though, I saw something in the dirt. I went to investigate the strange marking. When I got there I quickly realized it was the track I was looking for. Taking off in a cloud of dust, I climbed as fast as I could. I slowly circled until I saw where the others were. Once I above them I let out a loud shriek. “KEEEEEEEEEAR!!” When Starswirl looked up I made a ‘over here’ motion with my head and went to circle over the spot where I found the track. 

When the ponies got close to the track I descended to meet them at the spot. Landing on the ground, I waited for the group to arrive. When they walked out of the trees I went to the mark and said “Chirp!” Swirl excitedly ran over to the track.

“Finally!! Some progress!!” He joyously stated. He followed the track across he clearing before returning to us. “It seems we’re going in the right direction. We simply need to adjust our heading slightly and we will run into the beast eventually.” I cocked my head and motioned at the mark with my talon. “We never told you why we are looking for this creature did we?” I shook my head. “Well-“ he started. But he stopped when he noticed the look on the sisters faces. “Tia, why don’t you take Luna to get some palmetto leaves. It looks like it might rain tonight.” I looked up at the cloudless sky and cocked my eye brow at him. He just shook his head at me as Tia took her sister to get palmetto leaves for the ‘rain’.

“Now then. I didn’t want Luna to hear us. She’s been through enough.” I tilted my head questioningly. “You see.” Swirl began. “A week ago we were staying at a village. Luna and Tia have lived with me since their parents death.” He looked down sadly. “It was a small village, and we had been there for nearly a year. The longest we had stayed in any one place due to risk of discovery.” I tilted my head at this. “They are a combination of all three races. I don’t want them to hide it, but I’m afraid of how other ponies will react. Racism is still common despite the windigos years ago. Anyways. We were at the village. It was as normal a day as any. I cast an illusion on the sisters at breakfast and left for work while they went to do odd jobs around town. I worked at the library on the far end of town. I was about half way there when the screaming began.” he looked around nervously. “I ran in the direction it came from, but it was to late. Some beast had made it through the village walls. It was huge and covered in wispy shadows. By the time I had arrived it had killed four ponies already. And it wasn’t stopping. I charged up my strongest spell and fired it at him. But it shrugged it off. I stayed a long as I could, trying to fight it off. But worry overcame me and I went to look for the Tia and her sister.” He gained a sad look as he remembered the events. “When I found them, Tia was wrapped around Luna. They where huddled in an alley. Unsure of what was happening. It was about that time that the towns oil stores exploded. I don’t know how, but the oil storage caught fire. Flaming debris and oil rained across the town. We had no choice but to leave. We hid in the woods and hoped we weren’t found. When we came back the next day, all that was left was ash and a set of tracks. Celestia swore revenge, and we couldn’t leave Luna. So here we are. Hunting a monster I have no idea how to kill.” He looked ready to collapse from stress. 

I shuffled over to him a laid a wing comfortingly on him. “Comforted by a bird.” He gave a smile smile. “Never thought I’d see the day. You will make one part of our journey easier. The tracking part. All I have to do now is figure out what to do when we find it. Our best bet is these.” He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out- The Elements of Harmony! I internally gasped. “After they defeated Discord I hid these away under every house we stayed in. I knew ponies would either fear them, or try to make them out as some deities. I don’t want either of those things for them. They deserve a good childhood.” I stood still. Staring at the powerful jewels in front of me. “So, surely a creature such as yourself has a story. What’s is it? Why are you all alone in the middle of nowhere?” Swirl attempted a small smile.

His question snapped me back to reality. My story? Oh buddy, you have no idea. I motioned to my throat with a wing. “Chirp.” Starswirl looked very disappointed at this.

“Oh well. Sad to say I don’t know anyone who can talk to animals.” He said wryly. At about this time the sisters came back. Neither carried anything, but they both looked excited. “What are you two grinning about?” Swirl asked them with a small smile.

“Look what we found!” Luna said in her high voice. She pulled a bundled up leaf from under her wing and held it out to Starswirl. He took it and unwrapped it in his magic.

“Blue berries! We found a whole bush of them!” Tia exclaimed.

“Mmhmm! And sis let me carry them!!” Luna beamed happily. Thats to adorable. Maybe we can throw her at the beast and she can adorable it to death. I smiled inwardly at my little joke.

“Well! This will certainly make for a good dinner! Let’s save some for tomorrow to.” Swirl told the sisters. With that they dug into the berries, deeply enjoying themselves. I wasn’t very hungry myself. Maybe I didn’t need to eat as much as a hawk?

As the light faded from the world we settled for the night. As the ponies slept I sat on a branch and watched over the camp. I stared at the track left in the dirt. What are we going to do when find this thing? Zap it with the Elements and hope it works? It didn’t seem like a good plan to me. And I was worried about Tia and Luna. If something happened to them then this world would be in for lots of trouble. But they were alive in the show so.....nothing bad could happen. Right?