//------------------------------// // The search continues. // Story: Hunters of the forest. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// ______*The next day, Everfree Forest.*_______ A tired yawn filled the silence in the upstairs room of Jod'ka and Shanda's hut, the bedding on one of the beds shifted and Shanda rolled over to face the center of the room, she slowly opened her glowing blue eyes when she heard her father call out for her. "Shanda! get up!" The tired Night Elf forced herself to get up as she threw off the covers, she moved her legs and set her bare feet down on the cold wood, she yawned again before standing up, she placed her right hand over her heart and a small fire formed around it, she took a deep breath and a second later the fire dissipated and a second later the cold went away, she smiled a little as she started walking down the stairs, she then remembered something. "Come on Rock, if I have to wake up so do you." She stated. The small lion let out a tired growl as he begrudgingly followed Shanda downstairs. Shanda could here her father walking around in his armor and she wondered what he was doing, she got halfway down the stairs to the rest of the hut before watching Shade walk around a little before looking at her, his large cat like eyes seeming to stare straight through her. "Good, you woke up." She heard her father say. The tired Night Elf walked all the way down the stairs and when she reached the bottom she looked around for her father, she spotted him standing at the table where Scootaloo had been for a few days, he was currently stuffing his backpack with supplies and she raised an eyebrow. "Going on a long hunt dad?" She asked while rubbing her right eye. Jod'ka turned around and looked at his daughter, the troll was wearing his full body armor today, the armor was dark gray bordering on black with silver trimming and markings, the armor itself was made of Saronite, a rare and powerful ore from Northrend that is formed from the blood of an Old God, or more specifically, Yogg'Saron. The leggings had spike patterns on them going upwards, the chest was simple enough, but it had a tiger engraving on it, the chest armor had a large serpent engraved in the center, Shanda knew that the back had a Phoenix engraving on it, he also wore a thick leather strap that was over his shoulder, the one thing that Shanda immediately realized was that her father had forgone his helmet today. "No, I am not hunting......WE are continuing the search for the core." He stated firmly, showing that he wasn't giving her a choice in the matter. Shanda sighed to herself and nodded. "Alright, let me get my things." She replied tiredly, but before she could go upstairs her father threw her backpack over, she caught it with a surprised expression on her face. "It's all in here isn't it?" She asked after collecting herself. Jod'ka nodded and walked over to the weapons cabinet, he opened it and grabbed something, which Shanda noticed was his sword, it too was forged from Saronite, the handle was wrapped in wolf hide and the metal itself was black, the butt of the blade was much like many others, rounded or shaped, but this blade had an odd gem resting in the hilt, it was blue in color but had a strange green mist flowing inside it, the blade itself was around four feet long and had an inscription on both sides, with two different glyphs, one on each side. While Jod'ka sheathed the blade on his back Shanda quickly gathered her gear, since she was already halfway equipped in armor anyway, all she needed to do was grab her weapons and put on the rest of her armor, she headed up the stairs first and quickly threw on her armor, which was just her chest armor which covered her entire torso, it was dark green and brown in color and was made of both leather and cloth, with some animal fur additions on the back, her chest armor did not cover her arms but then she put her arm guards on, they reached up to her elbow and were of matching style with the rest of her armor, as in it was made of both cloth and leather with fur patches on them. Shanda did not put up her hood and headed downstairs to grab her weapons, she saw her father looking Shade over, as though checking for any injuries and such, the Night Elf paid no mind to this as she approached the open weapons cabinet, she saw her spear and reached for it. The spear was made of blue and green material with a crecent moon tip, it had tiki masks carved into the wood and the shaft was shaped like a skull, she grabbed it and placed it on her back, the spear was being held up by an attachable clip on the back of her armor, she then looked in and grabbed another of her weapons, her bow to be precise, normally she used a basic wooden bow but now she had her personal bow, it was made of enchanted wood from the Crystalsong Woods up in Northrend and gave off a dull purplish pink glow, the bow string was made from Cinderweb Spider Silk, any normal archer or hunter would have problems with it, but in the right hands it was particularly powerful and tended to be incredibly difficult to break. Shanda put the bow around her arm and kept it on her back, she cringed at the memory of actually harvesting the silk before reaching in to grab the last weapon she would need, a dagger made from Elementium, the blade was red and purple with an ingraving on it, the handle was made from Core Hound leather and was still hot to the touch, she sheathed it in a fire and heat proof sheathe on her belt. "I'm ready." Shanda said as she closed the cabinet and faced her father, who looked at her and nodded before walking over to the potion cabinet and grabbing a small vial of his potion, he stored in it his bag and walked to the door, he opened it as soon as he reached it and a voice was soon heard. "Um......I'm sorry for intruding, I'll just go." Said a voice that was familiar to Shanda, the Night Elf quickly walked over and instantly recognized who it was. "Twilight? why are you here?" Shanda asked, giving the lavender unicorn mare a confused stare. Jod'ka sighed and walked outside, followed by Shanda, Rock and Shade, they waited patiently for Twilight to speak and the unicorn seemed to take a moment to breathe and calm down before talking. Twilight let out a calming breath and looked at the two hunters. "Well, I did come here to talk to either or both of you about your home world, but I can see I've interrupted something-" She didn't get to finish what she was going to say as Jod'ka held his hand up to silence her. "Perhaps we can assist each other, we were just on our way to begin exploring the forest, perhaps you can guide us to a landmark? and in turn, we will answer your questions." Jod'ka stated, easily coming up with an idea. Twilight seemed to turn this over in her head for a moment before nodding. "That's.....understandable, I do know of one place that I haven't even explored fully." She stated, showing that she accepted Jod'ka's offer. Before anything else could happen, they all heard something coming around the hut towards them, Jod'ka smiled and turned around, he walked forward and then a creature that Shanda told Twilight was a raptor rounded the corner. "Good morning Shard, are you ready to continue the search my old friend?" Jod'ka asked the raptor, who simply bowed his head at the troll, who placed his hand on the raptors head. Scale's body was covered in gray scales, with a few orange scales spread around, his feathers had long since died and fallen away, his eyes which were once a lively green were now dull and aged, Twilight was fascinated by Scale, after she got over her initial shock and silent fear of course. Shanda looked at Twilight who appeared to be anxious about something, she smiled and reached into one of her pouches on her belt, she pulled out a small notebook enchanted quill, she handed it out to Twilight. "Here, I can tell you want to write this down." She said, genuinely wanting to see what the mare would write. Twilight accepted the items before looking at Shanda. "Where did you get those from?" She asked out of curiosity, to which Shanda patted the small brown pouch which on first sight barely had enough room for the notebook. "That doesn't make any sense, it shouldn't be possible." The mare pointed out. Shanda opened her mouth to speak but she heard a nearby bush shift, she looked over her shoulder and watched as a Timberwolf emerged from the bush. "Ahh!" Twilight cried out, hiding behind Shanda while readying a spell, that's when she noticed something off about the wooden wolf. 'Why doesn't this Timberwolf have any green mist or terrible smell?' She wondered, she then noticed that none of them seemed to be doing anything, the silence that followed was unbearable. That was when the wolf did something that Twilight didn't anticipate. "Shanda, i have spoken with all of the wolf packs, none of them know anything about the Core." The wolf spoke! and in a male voice, this much Twilight immediately wrote down absentmindedly. Shanda nodded. "Thanks Talon......we were just about to go explore......where was it again?" She asked, looking at Twilight who looked up at her. "The place we are exploring is the Castle of the Two Sisters, have you ever been there?" Twilight asked out of curiosity, to which Shanda shook her head, looking at Jod'ka the troll shook his head as well, the unicorn looked at the Timberwolf. "That's where we are going then." She stated. Talon nodded, a motion that Twilight had to admit was strange to see from his species, he then looked at Shanda. "If you wish it, I will go with you as well." He offered, and Twilight found herself adding another thing to her mental list of things to learn. "You can calm down though Twilight, Talon isn't going to do anything to you." Shanda said in a relaxed tone, Twilight waited for a few moments before dimming her horn, she then walked out from behind Shanda and seemed to calm down a little, she was a little on edge though. Twilight took a deep breath before looking at Shanda and Jod'ka. "Ok, are you ready to head to the castle now?" She asked, seeing the nods, she started walking to said castle. The walk to the Castle of the Two Sisters was quiet for about five minutes, the only sounds to be heard were that of the forest around them, and Jod'ka's heavy boots of course, after three more minutes, the troll spoke. "What can you tell us about the castle?" He asked, both out of curiosity and boredom. Twilight mentally thanked the troll for the distraction from her thoughts and began to speak, happy to share what she knew. "The Castle used to be the home of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they ruled there to together for many years and.......wow, I don't really know much about that place." She said before making a mental note to learn more later. "Eh, we can explore the place together then, so what do you want to know Twilight?" Shanda wondered. Twilight thought on what she wanted to know, it was a lot to be sure and she eventually decided to go with the simplest question. "How did you end up in Equestria? was it that Core thing you're looking for?" She asked with curiosity. "It's pretty underwhelming actually, we were inside an old Titan facility back home helping our friend Brann explore the place, unfortunately for us the dwarf pushed a button on accident which ejected a heart shaped artifact, it also activated a bunch of defenders that we had to fight. Shanda cast a bunch of fire spells against my wishes and overheated the artifact, since we we the closest to the Core we were teleported, believe me when I say that it isn't fun to be teleported one moment and end up fighting dragons the next." Jod'ka explained, giving Shanda a slight disapproving glare. Twilight nodded in understanding even though the explanation raised so many more questions. "Why didn't you want Shanda using fire magic? she's skilled in its use." She asked, wanting to at least clarify one thing and because she was confused. Jod'ka glared at Shanda who refuses to look him in the eye, he then spoke. "That's a......family matter, one that we WILL be talking about when we get home Shanda." He stated with a firm tone, showing that was not happy. At this time, Twilight felt the temperature drop and she shivered a little bit, she decided to quickly drop the subject and try to change it. "Um.....what's your homeworld like? if you don't mind me asking." She asked. The temperature warmed up slowly and Jod'ka spoke. "It's violent and dangerous, it could be a much better home if the two factions could stop fighting for five minutes, there are four main continents, one of which I only heard about in stories, our home is Kalimdor, a rugged and wild land, then there is the continent commonly known as the Eastern Kingdoms, if there is a proper name for it I never learned it, it is fertile and filled with life but is equally dangerous in its own right." He paused for a moment before continuing. "The third continent is Northrend, or the Roof of the World, it is a cold and unforgiving land home to some of the most powerful of all races, and then there is Pandaria, I know very little of this land, it is mysterious and from what I learned it is shrouded in mist." Jod'ka stopped and looked down at Twilight. "What of Equestria? what can you tell me of it?" He asked with the intention to understand the land he was in. The group soon passed a wall of trees and found a rickety old bridge that led to a run down castle, Twilight was the first to walk to it. "Equestria is a peaceful land filled with life and love, it wasn't always like this but these days there is little in the way of actual violence, that doesn't mean we are without problems though, we commonly have problems with managing the weather and you would not believe the amount of strange occurrences that threaten our daily lives." She sighed to herself and muttered something about little carnivores before stepping on the bridge. Jod'ka paused and examined the bridge. "Isn't there a better way across?" He asked out of curiosity. Twilight looked at the troll and nodded. "If you want to take an hour long hike to get halfway and then another two hours getting across the terrain." She explained. "Otherwise this is the best way across." She added with surety. Jod'ka sighed and looked at Shanda. "I won't be able to go across due to the weight I'm carrying, the two of you go and explore the castle, I'll stay here with Shard, Shade and Talon." He stated. The Timberwolf looked at the troll. "Why am I staying here exactly?" He asked with a confused tone. "Because we have much to talk about." Jod'ka said as he waved Shanda off, telling her to go with Twilight to the castle, the young Night Elf nodded and walked across the bridge after Twilight while Rock followed. A few minutes later and the three walked up to the castle, Twilight noticed a pensive look on Shanda's face and raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?" She asked out of concern. Shanda said nothing at first, but the look on her face told Twilight that she was thinking on what to say, she spoke up as they entered the room that Twilight revealed once held artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. "Why did you tell him?" The Night Elf asked quietly. Twilight paused, she had almost walked to an adjacent hallway when Shanda spoke, she turned and faced the Night Elf. "Tell him what?" She asked. Shanda crossed her arms and walked over to Twilight. "Why did you tell my dad about me using fire magic?" She asked, her tone was demanding and angered, making the unicorn take a step back. "I......I didn't think it was a bad thing for somep-one, to actually have good control over fire magic, I'm sorry." She said, refusing to look Shanda in the eyes. The Night Elf glared for a moment before huffing and walking into the hallway that Twilight was about to enter. "My dad would prefer it if I never used it again." She looked back at Twilight. "I really do wish I could avoid it, but it's like he said, it's a family matter." She stated before returning her focus on the castle, Rock ran up to her and walked by her side. Twilight quickly took the hint and followed Shanda and Rock, as she walked she decided to change the subject and end the silence. "I don't know about you, but I can't wait to learn as much as I can about this place, there's so much history here, like that banner!" She stated energetically as she pointed to a banner in excellent condition, it was of a round orb with green and blue on it. "That was one of the first banners that Equestria made, to symbolize our newfound unity." She stated with excitement. Shanda could not help but smile, the unicorn in front of her reminded her so much of Brann, eagerly exploring and learning about the past. 'Those two would get along so well......at least on the learning aspect.' She chuckled as she followed the unicorn who was busy taking notes. As they walked for around half an hour, Twilight occasionally found something interesting to explain or learn about like an ancient set of armor that she claimed was once worn by the Royal Guard but was abandoned years later when it was discovered that gold was easy to enchant and could be stronger than iron with the right spell, Shanda found herself thinking about her barely contained outburst, more specifically she could not understand why she got angry over something the mare had no way of knowing about, she eventually sighed as they entered a room with broken and rotten tables and chairs everywhere. "Hey Twilight." She said, getting the mares attention before she could enter another rant. "Yea?" Twilight asked as she looked back at the Night Elf. Shanda walked over to one of the tables and took a long breath, she released the breath she was holding and spoke. "I'm sorry I got angry with you, there's no way you could have known and you were only trying to understand." She stated before looking at the mare. "I don't want to relive the memories but just know that I had an......incident with fire magic, and ever since that my dad has been on my case not to use it." She stated before looking away, silently hoping the mare would understand. Thankfully Twilight smiled and motioned to the door for them to leave. "Apology accepted, now come on, we have a castle to explore." She stated. Shanda smiled and chuckled. 'Scootaloo was right, you ponies are good people.' She thought to herself.