//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Clan // Story: The Hidden Tribes // by Silver Dragon Blade Wing //------------------------------// As the group moved through the bushes Sunny continued to ask Flare questions about Thestrals, learning that yes they could see in the dark almost as well as they could in the day and no they didn't drink Pony blood. Flare was quite chill as Sunny asked her questions, calmly answering them when she paused for breath. Soon they reached the spot where Flare had said his "Clan" lived, parting the bushes to reveal a small gate and beyond that was Flare's home. "Wow..." Was Sunny and her group's collective response. The place was a large lodge with several other buildings spread about a wide clear area with a sparkling lake next to it, though there were tons of random junk laying scattered about. "Impressive isn't it?" Flare asked. "It's beautiful." Sunny said. "A little messy though." "It was an old fishing camp built, or rather thrown up, here and sort of forgotten at some point, while the buildings are a bit run-down they are safe and the lodge is the home of me and my Clan." Flare continued, "As far as we know it's the only place where sunlight can reach the forest floor. As for the junk, that was here before we arrived, we just never got around to clearing it up." Flare lead them to the entrance of the lodge and open the door for them, the room what fairly large, just a little smaller than the main room of Sunny's lighthouse. Across from the entrance was a second door that led to a stairway going down with two large windows on the wall next to the doors and a few tables, couches and chairs scattered about. "Sorry about the mess, you five are pretty much our first visitors since Mr. Argyle, so we never really had a reason to tidy up the place." As Flare had said there were several things laying about but the place had a sort of "lived-in" look and the stuff laying about wasn't really a tripping or stepping-on hazard. Any further talk was interrupted when the sound of three barks rang through the air found by heavy thumping as three massive dogs charged up from the stairs and went straight for Hitch, who only had time to yelp in surprise before he found himself on his back under three seven foot, one hundred seventy four pound dogs getting his face washed by tongues the size of hoof towels. "Gah! Why-*Putf* me?!" The girls were laughing, Sunny the hardest as she had known Hitch to me an animal magnet but as far as she knew he never had to deal with ones this big. Fortunately Flare gave a whistle and the three dogs got off Hitch who sat up, his face thoroughly licked. "Why am I magnet to animals." "Well look at it this way sheriff, you won't to take a bath for awhile." Zipp snarked. Hitch gave her a deadpan look. "Ha-ha-ha." "Sorry about that." Flare said, petting the three dogs. "These three are very friendly and love giving and receiving affection. These big puppies are Dreadnought, Titan, and Juggernaut." Dreadnought was mostly black with a brown underbelly and patches of white scattered about, Titan had the appearance of a husky, and Juggernaut was pure snow white. Izzy approached first, smiling happily. "Oh my gosh, they'll adorable!" Her response was happy barking and tails wagging, Izzy held a hoof forward to let the three sniff her, followed by the three giving Izzy licks which caused her to giggle which Flare smiled to. "Seems like they like you Izzy." Sunny, Zipp, and Pipp came over next, greeting the dogs and getting licks and tail wags in return. Flare then lead the group downstairs which was a room around the same size as the one above that had been set up like a large media room with a very large TV mounted on the wall across from the stairs with a set of metal shelves holding various game consoles on each side, a large wooden coffee table in front with enough space for two Ponies to walk in between them and around the table with enough space for a Pony to walk in between them was a set of two recliner chairs and a large sofa. In one of recliners fast asleep was a Pegasus Stallion with a strawberry red coat, white mane and tail, and a Cutie Mark of several types of candy. He wore a long, wool white and gold scarf with three cornflower blue bows tied onto it around his neck. Next to him was a small table was an open box of white, brown and green chocolate mint straight candy canes. Flare gave a cheeky smile and gestured to the sleeping Pony with his hoof, and Titan ran forward before jumping onto the chair and giving the Stallion a rapid-fire licking. "GAH *-puft!-* Titan! Get OFF!" He pushed the dog off as Flare waved for Sunny and her friends to take a few steps back, and the Pegasus wiped his face, his red eyes blinking the sleep out. "I love you too but you're much too heavy to be a lap-dog." He then noticed Flare grinning. "Flare?! For crying out loud could you not sic the dogs on me while I'm napping." He said with a scowl. Flare laughed, "Sorry Sweet but it's too funny." The Pegasus, identified as Sweet, snorted and picked a candy cane out of the box, placing it in between his lips. He stood up and was about to say something to Flare, but did a double-take seeing Sunny and her friends. "Well I'll be: Two Earth Ponies, a Unicorn, and Two Pegasi, all together?" Sunny smiled as she approached. "I know, surprising isn't it?" "Indeed," He blinked, looking more closely at Sunny before his eyes widened and his mouth opened a little. "You're Sunny Starscout right? Mr. Argyle's daughter?" "I am." Sunny confirmed, "Flare already told me about you group's relation with him." Sweet smiled and held a hoof out which Sunny shook with a smile of her own. "Pleased to finally meet you, Mr. Argyle spoke highly of you. My name's Sweet Treat, and you've met Star Flare and our dogs. Who are your friends?" Sunny had just finished introducing Izzy, Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp when a loud scream of rage rent the air and caused everypony and dog to jump several feet. A Unicorn Mare with a silver coat, blue mane and tail with a gold stripe running through it, blue eyes, and a Cutie Mark of a thirty-second music note made of carved gems entered the room though a doorway opposite of the TV. She was holding what looked like a bunch of wires, and she was not happy at all. "Look at this." She was snarling as she shook the wires in her hoof and looked at Juggernaut, "Ruined, AGAIN! Juggernaut, how many times do I have to tell you that my violin bow is. Not. A. CHEW TOY!!!" Juggernaut stared back at the raging Mare, then pointed his paw at Dreadnought and made some noise which was followed by the latter looking at the former with a shocked looked and a noise of his own. (Dog Translation; Juggernaut: "Umm... He did it." Dreadnought: "WHAT!?") "Don't try to Horseapple me! You're are the only one who has done this! Silver is going to flip once he finds out that your tore the door off my locker again." Flare and Sweet facehoofed in prefect sync with each other. "Oh no." The latter groaned. "He just fixed that last week." The former sighed as the Mare huffed at Juggernaut. "Bad Dog." Juggernaut gave a deadpan stare, then stood up and walked over to the other wall where several flowers sat. "Juggernaut? What are you-" The Mare was cut off as her eyes widened in horror as both the realization hit and the dog lifted his leg over a bundle of roses. "NO!!! NOT ON MY ROSES!!!!!" With that scream that caused the other Ponies (especially Flare) and dogs to cover theirs, the Mare zoomed in a doomed attempt to stop Juggernaut followed by Flare to keep her from killing the dog. Sweet turned to Sunny and her friends with a sheepish smile. "Very sorry about that... that was my twin sister Music Gem. Normally she's actually a very kind Mare who loves to make music, but... Juggernaut likes to mess with her. None of know why, but he likes to get under her skin. That's actually the sixth violin bow she's gone through." They looked over to see Flare trying to hold back the enraged Gem while Titan pulled Juggernaut away by the scruff of the neck and Dreadnought was facepawing at the scene. Sweet sighed. "Silver is going to be peeved when he gets back." "Silver?" Hitch asked. "Our forth member and the "Leader" of our group." Sweet explained, "He's off hunting right now and keeping a Manticore that have been causing trouble out of our area. That's the fifth time this month, and He's getting very sick of it. He's even said and I quote: "One of these days, POW! Right in the kisser". Silver is normally a gentle soul but he's also the best fighter among us." "What race is he?" Sunny asked. "It would be easier to explain by you seeing for yourselves, but he should be back in..." Sweet paused to look at a clock mounted on the wall next to them. "An hour or so. We also have a fifth member named Atlas Wings, but she's very shy and uncomfortable around those she doesn't know. In the meantime, Why don't I give your the tour of the place." The six of them left up the stairs, leaving Flare to deal with the mess. In another part of the forest Queen Haven was not having a good day, after escaping from Zephyr Heights with her winged dog Cloudpuff (who had found a silver badge on their way here) she had followed her daughters' trail hoping that they were safe. Now she was lost in the Dark Forest, a place that few ever entered. And fewer ever returned. Thankfully it seemed that badge Cloudpuff had allowed him to pick up the scent and she was following her ever faithful companion, but she wasn't the only one here. "Halt!" From the bushes four Pegasi emerged, Haven immediately recognizing two of them as her former personal Guards Zoom Zepyhrwing and her ever-present partner Thunder. The four fanned out and blocked her path forward, Zoom speaking. "Your former Highness." She paused there, Haven seeing the anger in the Guard Captain's eyes, but she also saw pain. "Why? Why did you lie to us all these years? "Zoom finished. Haven paused, unsure how to answer that right away but it came quickly. "I know I lied for all those years and most likely nothing I say will make a difference, But please hear me out." The four guards stared back before looking at each other, than Zoom nodded. "Alright Queen Haven, we'll hear you out." Said Pony gave them a thankful smile and started speaking. "As hard as it is to believe, we never lied out of malice. It was to give hope, even if it was false." She paused, thinking over her next words before continuing. "Now it is time for me to pay for those lies, but please: I must know my daughters are safe, they only did what I told them to do. Pipp just followed along with it and genuinely loved her fans and shows while Zipp hated the lie from the get go, she even did research to try and find a way for us to fly again. I always tried to steer here away from that but she only tried harder. My lies are my own, and I'm willing to take both mine and their punishment. Just please let me find them, and I'll come back with you peacefully." The four guards were silent, mouths open a little as they processed what Haven had said. They had been around their former Queen long enough to know when she was lying, especially Zoom and Thunder, being her personal guards for many years, knew she wasn't here. After a few long minutes Zoom let out a calming sigh and spoke. "Alright, we'll find the Princesses and go from there, but first: we need to leave this place as soon as possible. We've all heard the stories." There sounds of agreement form the other guards but before Haven could say that she believed her daughters were here, a very loud male voice rang out and caused the five Pegasi and one dog to jump several feet. "I told you to stay out off our turf!!" Rapidly turning to were the voice came from the Pegasi had to jump to the side as a large creature, Manticore by the tail and wings, came flying out of the trees and after rolling head over tail three times crashed into another tree. Following after was a second creature the five Ponies had only heard about in legends: A Western Kirin. This one was clearly male with a silver coat, a purple and gold-striped mane on his head, neck, and top length of his tail, and green eyes with slit pupil. His back legs had the hooves of his Pony half while his front legs ended in the hand-like claws of his Dragon half with four fingers. His wings were over-sized compared to his body with a wingspan of fifty feet, at the 'wrist' of the wing arms were small four-fingered hand-like claws similar to the ones on his front legs. Two fangs stuck out of his upper lips with the tips reaching to his chin, two half-a-meter long black horns jutted out from the back of his head on either side of his long mane. His tail was three times the normal length of most Krirn his age, who's tails were normally eight feet long on average, and was tipped with three scythe shaped blades with the shortest on top and the longest on the bottom. His tail was twenty four feet long not counting the blades which was four feet on the longest one. Around his neck was a scarf that looked like it taken the image off a banner; it was red in color with a four-winged, three-tailed Dragon seen from the side that was flying above a Maelstrom with a black treasure chest clutched in its front claws, various red lines on the dragon and chest bringing out the details of the two, the head facing towards the one end of the scarf and the tails towards the other end of the scarf, which was pointed at both ends, after the tips of the Dragon nose and tails were two black triangles starched on one corner on the corners above the nose and tails, chevrons colored gold and silver close to the nose and tails of the Dragon, a blue stripe after the chevrons, and a purple chevron facing inward at the end. The Kirin shook himself off as he growled at the Manticore who had recovered and stood back up. "How many times must I deal with you before you get the message in that thick skull of yours?! This area is our turf! and I for one am getting sick of dealing with you." The Kirin snarled as the Manticore gave a growl of its own. "So you what to do this the hard way again huh? Fine then." The two circled each other before the fight started, first with pouncing but eventually the Kirin got the upper hoof only for the Manticore to use its back legs and the Kirin's own momentum against him to sent him face-first into a tall tree, The five Ponies watching wincing at the impact. The Kirin shook his head but lost his grip and fell through several branches before landing on a thicker one in between his back legs, which caused Thunder especially to flinch, though the Kirin surprisingly seemed unaffected. "Dragon half for the win!" The branch then broke and the Kirin crashed onto the Manticore, rolling off as the big cat pounced on him and pinned him down, but the Kirin was able to grab the cat's face and jaw, wincing with a disgusted look on his face. "Dear Faust, when was the last time you brushed?!" The Kirin's tail then shoot up and whacked the Manticore on the head, stunning it as the Kirin used his back legs to throw the cat off him. Spring to his feet the Kirin used his wings to boost onto a tree and used it as a spring board, clothes-lining the Manticore as it came at him with his wing. The Kirin smiled as he looked at the watching Ponies, who looked like they were halfway between scared and impressed. "Rubber tree: Always great for a clothes line." The Kirin jumped back as the Manticore took a swipe at him and stood on its hind legs, the Kirin did so as well only to suddenly look up towards the sky. "Say, isn't that Celestia's Comet?" The Manticore looked up, and the Kirin delivered a kick right between its back legs, causing it to double over and Thunder to tighten his own back legs, his wings flaring down to shield them. The Kirin then picked up the Manticore with an "Upsy kitty." and before the Ponies' eyes began to spin the big cat like a basketball, even using a finger to hold the cat up. "I'm not even trying." The Kirin said before slamming the Manticore to the ground and jumping into the air, body slamming the big cat's side to which the Manticore let out a pained whine. "Flying piledriver." The Kirin then grabbed the Manticore by the scuff and threw it into a tree face-first. It was at the point the big cat called enough is enough and once it stumbled to its paws it took off running with its tail between its legs. "And I've got more where that came from!" The Kirin roared after it, letting out a huff. "Manticores. I'm not one for animal cruelty, but once in awhile you get one that that you have to show your dominance, especially when they wouldn't stay off your territory." Shaking his head he turned to his watchers, who were looking at him warily. "What? Never seen a Western Kirin before?" "...Only stories..." Zoom said, standing somewhat protectively in front of Thunder. "Well relax, if you don't try to harm me or my friends then you have nothing to worry about." The Kirin said calmly. The Ponies looked each other before Haven stepped forward, eyeing the Kirin's fangs, claws, and tail blades with caution. "Excuse me darling, perhaps you could help us? We're trying to find my daughters. My dog here tracked them here and..." She trailed off, the Kirin giving a nod of his head. "I can do that." He responded, much to the Ponies' surprise. "Just like that?" Thunder asked, to which the Kirin gave a small smile. "In the Dark Forest, unless one is strong enough to survive on their own, there's safety in numbers. But it is going to be dark soon and trust me, you do not want to be out here at night. Follow me." With a wave of his tail the group started following him, as they walked he asked some further questions and Haven told him the full story, knowing from stories that her grandparents told her that it was unwise to lie to a Kirin. "By the way darling, what's your name?" Haven asked, the Kirin gave her a soft smile before responding. "My name's Silver Storms."