//------------------------------// // 5. When Only the Moon is Watching // Story: Brave the Ulvenweald // by Silvermyr //------------------------------// It was like she was flying in a forlorn cathedral. Gargantuan and silent but with a feeling of being watched by something that refused to leave her be. Fluttershy concentrated on just flying forward, but she still looked around, half expecting to see a blur of a beast dash out of the shadows and attack her. No such attack came, but the vastness and emptiness made it impossible not to envision. She could feel she was not alone despite the silence. ”Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” she mumbled to herself. ”As long as you are not ambushed again it will be fine. You always have The Stare. Just need to use that if you are afraid.” She continued her mantra in her head, again and again until she fell into a rhythm. Wingbeat, ”Just need to,” wingbeat, ”use The Stare,” wingbeat, ”Just need to,” wingbeat… Soon another worry took over: that for the foals. She knew that if they had grown up here they must be experienced woodsponies, but still. They were just foals, and creatures like the Hookclaw Recluse would be even more dangerous to a small foal than a full-grown pony like her. She began to beat her wings faster. She did not know if she was on the right track, but she knew that the ponies she looked for were not where she was, and so she continued flying. AHOOOOO! Fluttershy staggered in the air and nearly dropped from her flight. It was a wolf’s howl, she realized. The eerie sound cut through the silence of the night like a sword. The volume and the implications of danger the sound carried was enough to spook the bravest of ponies, not to mention her. She knew to be afraid of that call, some primal instinct told her it signaled great danger. Only a few predators could afford to make such a sound, namely those who did not have to be silent. Those few apex hunters who knew they could fill their bellies even if their prey knew they were hunting. Yes, Fluttershy was afraid of that sound, even if her special talent told her it was not a hunting cry. Not yet. No, this was a rallying cry. ”Come to me, my pack! I am here and I hunger! Come to me!” a lone wolf called through the woods. Fluttershy stopped and held still in the air, weighing her options. Every instinct in her body told her to fly away as fast as her wings would carry her and then hunker under her bed until morning came. A predator was on the loose, and she would be as good prey as any. But she could not do that! What if this was one of the wolves escorting the foals? What if the wolves had lured the foals with them and were just waiting for the rest of the pack before they attacked? Fluttershy made an unhappy whimper and started following the sound through the forest. She was not very far away from the source, she discovered. Only five minutes of flying later she could glimpse a spot maybe fifty pony-lengths or so ahead where the moon broke through the canopy, creating a silvery white spot nearby a mound of stones with a large cave. While Fluttershy did not know much about wolves, she knew that they could live in dens, and this looked like a perfect place. She approached slowly, carefully. The howling wolf stood just outside the cave. The foals stood… no, kneeled, behind the howler, and the other four wolves sat behind the foals, all with their heads bent as in respect for something. Fluttershy swallowed. This was, in a way, even more frightening than finding the foals in danger. She knew how to handle wolves. It would have been a terrifying experience to face them all with The Stare, but it would have been something she understood. This was something else, something unknown. How could she protect the foals and herself against something she had never heard of? She took a calming breath and landed among some thick bushes. The foals did not seem to be in danger for now, so she had better wait before rushing in. The wolf leader had explicitly told her she was not welcome. She should not provoke them by showing herself. Suddenly, the wolves and the foals all backed away from the cave. The leader stopped howling. Fluttershy peeked out from her shrubby, trying to spot what could cause them to silence like that. Her breath caught in her throat. There was something above it. Something was coming out of the forest, standing on top of the den. Something she knew did not exist. A wolf that walked upright. She stared blankly at the shadowy figure with the gleaming eyes that slowly emerged form the forest. She must be seeing things. This was not possible. That thing could not exist! No wolf could walk like that! She watched the shadowy creature, transfixed as she tried to convince her brain that it must be some hallucination. It even moved like an one; there was not a trace of ponykind’s bobbing trot in its step, nor the leaping gait a wolf would have. The movements were sinuous and undulating like the ripple on a pond, softer and quieter than any animal’s. The creature stopped just outside of the moonlit circle, looking down at its small assembly. ”I have been looking forward to this night.” The voice was hoarse and raspy, but Fluttershy still guessed the figure was female, if it even had a gender at all. ”You all have something for me.” The foals went forward hesitantly, each one clutching a small item. Fluttershy could, even from the distance, see that they were all suppressing the urge to run for their lives. The way they had their tails tucked close to their backsides and ears felled down told her everything. The shadowy figure waited patiently for them to approach. ”Show me what you have brought,” the creature commanded. Fluttershy could not see what the foals had brought, the things were too small for her to make out. The creature stared down from her elevated position as the foals trembled before her. She grunted. ”Your gifts are acceptable.” The figure looked away from the three cowering foals. ”You all have something for me.” From outside the illuminated circle, five ponies appeared. Fluttershy gasped softly as she recognized the mayor, though now dressed in sturdy hunter’s gear. From among the ponies came three small wolf pups, each one carrying something in their mouths. Just as the foals, the three pups placed their items in front of the creature. It looked over the offerings. ”I find your gifts acceptable.” The figure rose up and stretched her long arms and paws to the sky as if to embrace the silvery moon. ”Listen now and listen good: In ages past He came from the shadows to bestow a gift upon me! His Majesty gave to me a blessing. I am His faithful huntmaster from now until the end of time itself, and all I do for him, he would do for me. I now see fit to extend a piece of my blessing onto you, young hunters! Accept this gift, so that you may provide for your kind, and so that you too can serve Him when the time of reckoning comes!” A wind started blowing, howling in the forest. Fluttershy hunkered down further behind her bush. Somehow the wind was blowing straight towards the shadowy figure, whose paws had started to glow in a piercing green light. The adult wolves howled out their song together with the wind, their tones rising in a chilling crescendo as the green glow became stronger and stronger and stronger until it hurt to look at it. With a flash like that of a giant camera, the glow spiked and Fluttershy had to avert her eyes. ”I was weak! Now I’m ideal! You are weak, but you can be better!” ”CONIUGO!” Three young voices and as many wolf pups screamed out in agony, before they abruptly silenced. Blazing light burnt through her eyelids, making her see everything in red for the fraction of a second. The light receded. Dazed, Fluttershy looked up. She blinked a few times, for her whole vision was still filled with remnants of the bright flash. When she regained her sight, she saw the same scene as before. Pups, wolves, foals and the adult ponies all standing in the moonlit circle, looking up to the strange creature. ”We are ideal.” The ceremony leader declared. ”We are apex hunters, masters of this forest and all others! Through the speed of our legs, the cunning in our minds, the strength of our jaws and the bond that links us all, no prey can escape us! Tonight you shall hunt together! Kill together! Feast together!” The wolves around her howled out their reverence, and the ponies stomped their hooves in approval. ”Young ones, you shall lead this hunt,” the mayor said. ”Find us a trail.” Immediately, the young wolves barked happily and started sniffing around at the ground, accompanied by their newfound companions. Fluttershy wanted to move. She wanted to fly as fast as her wings would allow back to Twilight and tell her everything, but she could not bring herself to it. If the unknown creature was nocturnal then it might very well spot her if she moved. And if it did, it would… eat her. She fought down the urge to cry. She must not make a sound. On the other hoof she was horribly aware that even if the creature did not find her, wolves had a keen sense of smell. Every moment she stayed here was another moment they might sniff her out. She looked away from the searching youngsters and up to the strange creature. It was gone. Yet another reason for her to get back to Twilight. Most likely Fluttershy had just seen the cultist they were hunting, and the cultist-creature apparently had the entire town at its beck and call. If that was true, then Twilight was in terrible danger sleeping in the village. For all Fluttershy knew, the creature was making its way there now, eager for a pony snack. The thought of her friend asleep and in danger was the thing that gave her the courage to move. She swallowed, lifted her wings and flew up. The moment she was off the ground the paralyzing fear disappeared and was replaced by fight-or-flight instincts. She flew. She flew faster than she ever had before, adrenaline and pure terror speeding her along. One frantic half hour later when she saw the outlines of the spiked palisade her heart leaped in relief. She dashed over it and into the small room where Twilight slept without slowing down. ”Twilight!” Fluttershy said quietly. ”Twilight, wake up, wake up!” She shook her friend and threw an anxious look over her shoulder. ”Five more pages,” Twilight mumbled and tried to curl up. ”TWILIGHT!” ”Gahh!” Twilight flew up, wide awake, and looked about the small room. A moment later she settled down on the bed. ”And I was having the best dream too.” ”Twilight, we need to get out of here,” Fluttershy said and looked over her shoulder again. ”I have a bad feeling about this entire town now. Something is wrong with them. If they are all blessed like that… if they are all Sombra’s…” ”Fluttershy, what are you talking about? What happened?” Twilight’s voice was assertive and firm. Something about it managed to reach down through the many layers of anxiety that Fluttershy had spun around herself and calm her. She forced herself to sit down on the bedside a take a deep breath. Then she told Twilight everything she had seen. ”This… sermon leader, are you sure she was not a pony?” Twilight asked when she was done. ”It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I just can’t understand how Sombra would have found some entirely unknown race and allied with them. Nothing I have ever heard of matches your description… maybe it was a minotaur?” Twilight proposed dubiously. ”No, it was not a minotaur. It was far to sleek,” Fluttershy said. ”And it had no horns.” ”I suppose that’s a mystery we will have to solve when we find it,” Twilight said. ”Do you think you can find the way back to where you saw the ceremony? That should be our best place to start tracking this mysterious creature.” ”I… I think so,” Fluttershy said. ”Yes, I can,” she clarified, her voice stronger. Twilight smiled. ”You know, Fluttershy, thanks to you we have a real lead for Sombra’s cultist, and a good chance of catching her completely by surprise. I always knew you were the right pony to bring on this mission.” Fluttershy blushed slightly and ruffled her wings. Suddenly, she did not feel all that afraid anymore. The two set out. They stayed in the forest until the morning came, cooped up together in a tree.