//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Close Encounters 
// Story: Survival of the Wolves 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

Luna sat at the edge of her tower, gazing out wistfully at the world. 
Her ears perked as she picked out a small humming noise. Following the noise, she found her beloved sister, gazing up at the moon, and softly humming to herself. 
“But into the stillness, I’ll bring you a song,” Celestia whispered. “And I will your company keep… until you’re tired eyes, and my lullabies have carried you softly to sleep…” 
“Tia?” Luna asked.
Celestia flinched, looking back at Luna with guilt. “A-Apologies, Luna,” she said. “I…”
Luna joined her at the balcony. “Your song sounded lovely,” she noted. 
Celestia smiled sadly. “Every time I lowered the moon, I found myself singing it,” she admitted. “It was my lullaby to you.” She looked down in guilt. “My apology for being a horrible sister.” 
Luna’s eyes softened. She leaned gently against Celestia and stared up at the moon.
“I… had one for your daughter as well,” Celestia admitted.
Luna looked to her in intrigue. “You did?”
Celestia nodded, before taking a breath. Her voice was soothing and gentle, like a wind’s whisper through chimes. 

“Once did a pony who shone like the sun, look down on her kingdom and sigh. 


She smiled and said ‘surely there is no pony so lovely and so well beloved as I.’


But great was her reign and brilliant her glory that blind was she to the pain


Which fell dark upon the young niece that she ‘nored.


And grew only darker as days and nights passed.

Celestia looked down, tears brimming in her eyes. 

Yet, no matter what pain came to her,


Her niece would not dampen her light


And though she was not loved as she deserved.


She hid her tragedy from Mother and Aunt’s sight.

Luna winced, remembering how Star always found a way to keep smiling despite what she was going through. She swayed in tune with Celestia’s song. 

But masks can be cracked, and illusions shattered


If love is not granted their host


And that foolish pony did nothing to stop


The hatred of ones who had needed her most.

Celestia’s voice swelled. 

Lullay young niece, good night Star Wing mine


Rest now, in mother’s embrace.


Bear out my lullaby, winds of the earth 


Through cloud and through air and through space. 


Carry the peace and the coolness of night


And carry my sorrow in kind


Star Wing, you’re loved so much more than you know.


May troubles be far from your mind.


Her voice dropped.


And forgive me for being so blind.

As Celestia’s apology washed over her, Luna found herself remembering better memories.
Her on the Lunar Throne, standing at attention with Star Hunter and her other thestral guard Bat Fang flanking her, while Flash Magnus and one of Celestia’s other guards flanked a similarly at attention Celestia. Star Hunter was grinning, his eyes darting up to her, while Bat Fang glared at his partner in disapproval. Yet Luna chuckled as she noticed her own grin breaking through her queenly mask as she glanced down at Hunter as well. 
            Even if she was an alicorn, there was a certain thrill to having a bodyguard who loved her; was more willing to throw himself on the fire to protect her. She found photos of them spending time off from the throne: Star Hunter watching in awe as Luna reconstructed the stars and moon. Star Hunter standing guard over Luna’s bed. Flash Magnus laughing and Bat Fang looking on in disapproval as Star Hunter and Luna lay covered by her sheets, both blushing a bright blue, but unable to hide their grins. 
            Luna couldn’t help but chuckle, remembering the scandal that had come from their affair. Flash had seen nothing wrong with it – ‘a guard in bed with the princess ensures maximum protection’ – and had even teasingly used it to suggest a guard stay with Celestia too. Of course, Luna’s dear sister didn’t find it quite as funny. And granted, Luna didn’t find it as humorous either when she found out Star Wing was growing in her womb. 
But Luna also remembered the joy that had come from holding the newborn foal. Granted, Star hadn’t made it the most heartwarming of moments; she had wrestled with the blanket they had tried to wrap around her, almost like she had grown tired of being constrained by Luna’s womb and wanted to be free. Her little thestral wings were spread wide, whacking Star Hunter and Flash. Eventually, they had managed to wrestle her into a small bundle, Star Wing’s face poking grumpily out from the bundle of blue blankets they had managed to trap her in. Flash had a black eye and Hunter was rubbing a bloody nose, but both were still smiling in triumph. All while Luna was holding Star, doing her best not to laugh.
Tears welled up in Luna’s eyes, even as she smiled at the memory. The first year of Star’s life was the best in Luna’s life. She had Star Hunter, they had Star Wing, and with Flash always being there for Hunter, things felt like they would be alright. 
But then Hunter died defending her from rogue griffons. Celestia grew withdrawn after arguing that it was for the best – “the nobles thought your whole arrangement with him was scandalous enough anyway” – and, of course, the abuse that was thrown Star Wing’s way. Even though Flash and Luna had done their best to protect her…
Luna lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Star Wing,” she whispered, gazing back out towards Ponyville and the Ever-Free Forest. “Please… be alive. What grace is given… give me the chance to apologize to you in person…” 

#

Scootaloo eagerly ventured into the Ever-Free Forest, followed by several other fillies; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, Pip Squeak, and Silver Spoon, among others. However, as the shadows of the great forest swallowed the children up, several of them began to pause and falter.
“Are you sure about this, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked. “This seemed a lot easier back in Ponyville.”
“Oh, come on!” the purple maned pegasus protested. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts now, Sweetie Belle. We’re rescuing a princess. We’ll be heroes.”
“I’d hardly call rescuing the daughter of Nightmare Moon heroic,” Diamond Tiara noted snootily.  
“Nah-nah, Princess Luna,” Apple Bloom corrected. “And Princess Luna is good now. So… maybe finding her daughter will make sure she doesn’t turn into Nightmare Moon again."
“Exactly!” Scootaloo agreed, facing the forest bravely. “We’ll just take a quick look around, see what we can find, and head right back. Any information has to be better than nothing.” 
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon still stepped back, and even Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom glanced back over their shoulders towards Ponyville. “Let’s hope we find something good,” Apple Bloom replied. “The scolding Applejack’s gonna give me if we risked our necks fer nothing…” 
“Let’s just stay within eyesight of the town,” Sweetie Belle offered. “Then we can…” 
She paused. The other foals only got to stare at her for a second before realizing what she was looking at. Their eyes widened. 
A pair of eyes was watching them from the darkness. Electric green, and slit pupiled like a thestral or a dragon. It was hard to make out anything else in the darkness.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon screamed, racing away. However, the other fillies remained, regarding the eyes with curiosity. 
“Those ain’t timber wolf eyes,” Apple Bloom whispered. 
“Then what are they?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Scootaloo grinned hopefully. “P-Princess Star Wing?” she asked. 
Without warning, the eyes shut. A scuffling sound emanated from the trees. 
“H-Hey!” Scootaloo barked. “Princess! Wait!” 
She charged after the eyes, Apple Bloom in hot pursuit. 
“Scootaloo, stop!” Apple Bloom cried. 
“But what if that’s the princess?” Scootaloo insisted. “We could bring her back! We’ll be famous!” 
Sweetie Belle and Pip Squeak stepped back, ready to go to the adults for help. And in their moment of hesitation, their friends vanished in the shrubbery. Sweetie Belle’s heart hammered as she turned and galloped back to town, followed by the others. 
Oh, Sweet Celestia, Sweetie thought. What if this is some kind of trap? 

#

This is so not going to work, Star Wing thought to herself as she flew through the branches, the sound of the fillies right behind her. What was I thinking?! 
All she had wanted was to see if Celine was right – if the ponies were just as kind as Zecora had been. But now, she had two kids on her tail. Well, not literally, but… what would Shiva say if they followed her back to camp?
Banking in the air, Star forced herself behind a trunk, keeping her breathing steady as she heard the fillies come to a stop just below her. 
“Princess?” the orange one called, turning in a circle. “I-It’s okay! We just want to bring you back home. Your mom misses you; she really wants to see you again.”
Star shut her eyes, struggling to hide her tears. She could believe that; she wanted to see her mom again just as much. And yet… could she really trust these ponies? After everything they had put her through? There were only two of them now; where had the others gone? Had they gone to warn the others? Had Star Wing’s impulsiveness just risked the wolf pack?
“Uh… Scoot?” the other pony asked, looking around. “This ain’t exactly on the trail.” 
The orange one - Scoot? - glanced around at the thick vegetation; child’s play for Star to navigate through, but only because of her thousand years of experience with it. For the fillies, it probably looked impossible to traverse. 
“N-No problem,” Scoot insisted. “W-We can find our way back. Ms. Cherilee said something about following your own hoof prints when…” 
A growl sounded right from where they had come. Star peered out from her hiding spot, and her skin paled under her dark fur. Several green eyes – far different from hers – were lighting up from where the ponies had come from. Timberwolves stepped out, gazing hungrily at the duo. 
Scoot's friend stepped back, the two fillies standing shoulder to shoulder as the pack approached them. “Y-You wouldn’t happen to have a pot or two with you, Scoot?” 
“Forget the pots,” Scoot whispered. “Where’s Sweetie Belle? A-And Pip? Y-You don’t think they…?” 
She was cut off as one of the timber wolves lunged. 
Star flashed back: she remembered her first encounter with the canine creatures. The terror she had felt as they had overpowered her. Just barely checking to make sure her timber wolf armor was on, Star lunged out from her hiding place. 
A loud crack sounded. As the two fillies closed their eyes in fear, the wolf that had pounced on them suddenly exploded into shards of wood. The entire forest went silent. 
Still shaking, the two fillies gasped at the sight of the creature before them. 
With her armor, Star Wing almost looked like some sort of wolf herself. Though she could not hide her thestral wings or alicorn horn, her helmet and padded armor gave her a wooden vibe that allowed her to almost seem to be a spirit of the forest. Her electric green eyes flashed with magic, and she lowered herself into a combat stance, grinning psychotically at the timber wolves. 
“Alright, you sequoia she-dogs,” she growled, flaring her wings. “Let’s dance!” 
The wooden wolves barked and lunged at her. But with two powerful blows, Star exploded them into dust. Briefly, the third and final wolf tried to build itself up with the remnants of its pack mates, but Star shot up to it, kicking it in the snout, and sending it cartwheeling through the air before smashing against a tree trunk, bursting into piles of bark and mulch. 
“STEEE-RIKE!” Star cheered. She twirled around. “Now WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!” 
The forest remained silent. Not a single creature dared to rise to her challenge. The alicorn turned back to the fillies, who stared at her with hanging jaws. 
“Hey there,” she greeted. 
Scootaloo blinked. “Um… hi?” 
“A-Are you…” Apple Bloom stammered. “P-Princess Star Wing?” 
Star grinned, before another voice sounded. 
“APPLE BLOOM!” 
“SCOOTALOO!” 
Apple Bloom spun to the voices. “Applejack?” she charged forward. “Applejack, we’re over here!” 
“Rainbow Dash?” Briefly, Scootaloo moved to join her. But then she remembered Star. But when she turned back to the alicorn… her heart plummeted as she found the creature gone. Vanished into the woods. 

#

Further away in the forest, Star leaped from brush to brush, chuckling as she did so. 
Okay, I’ll admit, she thought. That was kinda fun. I should do it more often.

#

Back at the clearing, Scootaloo slumped to the ground as the brush parted, and the Mane Six rushed out.
“Apple Bloom!” Applejack cried, scooping her sister up in a hug. “When Sweetie Belle told us what was happening, we thought we’d be too late! Sweet Celestia, what were you thinking?"
“Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash barked, zipping to the younger pegasus’ side. “Scoot, what…” she paused. “Uh… what are you looking at?”
“We saw her,” Scootaloo insisted. “She was right there.” She pointed at the clearing. 
Twilight raced up next to her. “Princess Star Wing?” she asked. “You saw her?” 
Scootaloo nodded dumbly. “Right there…” she mumbled, still pointing. “Right there…” 
Twilight stood, her eyes already tracking where the alicorn could have gone. However, Applejack stepped up next to her.
“Twi,” she insisted. “We can’t keep up the search with the little uns out here. We need to bring them back.” 
“But I promised Princess Celestia…” Twilight shook her head. “You’re right. Plus, we can split up. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, get the fillies back home. Rarity, you go with them too; Sweetie Belle will want to know they’re alright.”
“Of course, darling,” Rarity agreed.
“Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, come with me.” 
Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged worried looks, before depositing the stunned fillies on their backs. 
“We’ll come right back for you,” Rainbow Dash promised, before the three mares took off back for the town, the fillies still staring back at where Star Wing had been. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, meanwhile, turned back towards the forest. 
“Fluttershy,” Twilight asked. “Is there any sign of her?”
Fluttershy peered at the ground. “My animal friends often leave tracks like this,” she noted, scraping at where Star Wing had impacted the ground. “I think if I can just figure this out…” she turned her head up. “I think she went this way.”
Cautiously, Fluttershy headed deeper into the forest, Twilight and Pinkie Pie right behind her.  
“Oh Starry,” Pinkie called. “Princess Starry Wings? We know you’re out here, and we just want to be friends.”
Fluttershy hushed her. “You’ll scare the animals,” Fluttershy warned. “And some of them get angry when they’re scared.”
“Like the manticore?” Twilight asked, remembering how Fluttershy had tamed the massive lion. 
“Exactly,” Fluttershy replied. “If we take it nice and slow, we won’t disrupt the animals here, and everything will be just fine.” 
A low chuckle made the three mares pause. “You sure about that?”
Hesitantly, they turned their gaze upward. In the trees, several eyes peered down at them; wolf eyes, but shining with an intelligence that was too much like ponies. 
As Twilight lit up her horn, she realized they were wolves. But not timber wolves; these wolves were made of flesh and fur. Owl-like wings protruded from their backs, and their teeth shined like diamonds.
Twilight gasped. “The Wolves of Equestria,” she whispered. “But… you were just…”
“A myth?” one of the bigger wolves growled – a moonlight silver fellow with one gleaming blue eye. His other eye was covered by an eye patch, an ominous red series of scars running down his face. “You ponies certainly tried to make it that way. It’s a crime that has yet to be punished.” 
Before Twilight could ask what he meant, she failed to notice the wingless wolves hiding in the trees. At least until they jumped the ponies.