//------------------------------//
// The Mother of Wolves 
// Story: Beyond 
// by Jay David 
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Words could not even begin to describe how tense and uncomfortable the walk had been for the group. Equestrians and wolves together, journeying side by side, through the dense forest of this new land. Everyone was keeping their eyes on each other, all anticipating some sort of betrayal or underhanded attack by those they were travelling with, which naturally led to little in the way of ease for any of them. Every once in a while, Spike would glance over his shoulder, seeing the shoreline they'd come from grow more and more distant. They were leaving what passed for familiar around here, instead entering a place that only the wolves would have known intimately. If things turned south, he knew they'd be in a bad place. For now though, he also knew that diplomacy needed to be their priority, regardless of how unlikely it was to actually work. However, not all in their group was so willing to be silent, as Pumpkin eyed one of the closest wolves and chose to just ask the obvious. "So...why'd you attack us?"

The wolf, who had previously been among the reinforcements for the first, looked to her briefly before focusing their attention ahead. "You ignored the warnings of the stone and trespassed into our forest. We responded."

The voice suggested that this particular beast was female, though the mare only considered that for a moment before answering. "Well...it's not our fault we can't read your language," Pumpkin said with irritation.

"Just as it is not our fault we could not have predicted strangers from across the Great Waters arriving on our shores," the she-wolf countered.

The smallest of the wolves, the one who had advised the eldest to cease the fight, looked to Flurry. "It was thought by many of our kind that the Great Waters marked the very edge of the world."

His tone suggested a curiosity, a desire to understand more, and Flurry offered him a small smile as she regarded him. "The people on our side of the water felt the same. We've been sailing for...a very long time now. Honestly, we were right on the verge of turning back before we finally sighted your land."

The wolf tilted his head. "...Sailing?"

Again, Flurry looked to him. "Y...yes? Sailing? On our boat?"

The wolf blinked to her, then looked over his shoulder, to the direction they'd just come from. "Boat? Is that what you call the sea beast you rode on?"

Flurry's smile widened. "No, it's not an animal. We made it."

Her canine conversation partner narrowed his eyes. "You are certain you are not Others?"

"If I knew what those were, I could tell you," Flurry explained.

The wolf opened his mouth, only to be halted when the elder brother, walking at the head of the pack, looked back to him with a disapproving scowl. "Caution, Hati. We know nothing of these outsiders. Do not trust their words just yet."

Hearing that, the youngest wolf, now identified with a name, hung his head slightly. Flurry, waiting for the eldest to look away, started to walk slightly closer, then brought her voice down to a whisper. "Hello, Hati. My mane is Flurry Heart."

Hati, briefly looking to his brother to ensure he wasn't listening in, looked back to Flurry and resumed his earlier smile. "Yes, you all introduced yourselves already." Flurry blushed with embarrassment over having forgotten that, but said nothing as Hati continued. "Well, you've clearly already met our eldest brother, Skoll." The Equestrian princess looked over to the large wolf leading them before looking back to Hati. "Your talkative friend over there is currently arguing with my sister, Lupa. And, well, there's a few too many others to name right now."

It was a statement that soon proved to be more true than Flurry expected. For as they journeyed onwards, she could see, through the corners of her eyes, other figures moving through the trees. The rest of her friends had spotted them too. Wolves, and plenty of them. Every passing minute added more and more to the already large pack, and before long there were at least two dozen of the enormous canines surrounding them. If things were tense for the Equestrians before, they were even more so now. But soon, even the surrounding scenery began to change. For they soon came upon a spot where the trees seemed more sparse than before, giving way to a clearing of sorts, wherein there was a large rocky protrusion from the ground. The stony mound had what appeared to be a cave at its base, which was flanked by two more of the wolves, who eyed the dragon and ponies warily. The group halted here, and the leader of the pack, Skoll, walked ahead, stopping just short of the cave entrance to look back at Flurry and the rest. "Wait here."

The situation was strenuous enough, so nobody questioned the instruction, waiting outside among the wolves for Skoll to return. In the following minutes, Flurry looked to one of the other nearby escorts, a larger male than Hati, who was keeping his eye on her. "So...big day, right? Our people meeting one another? Quite a moment for the history books, wouldn't you agree?"

The wolf frowned to her, speaking with a gruff tone. "What is a book?"

Flurry instantly looked despondent. "Oh boy, Auntie Twilight would not be happy here."

Thankfully, her attention soon fell back to Skoll, who had reemerged from the cave and gave a single nod to the group. "Enter." The other wolves backed off, giving the Equestrians their opening to move forward. Flurry led the way, entering the cave just behind Skoll, with Hati right beside her. Deeper and deeper they went, before finally reaching the back wall of the place. Here, they came upon what had to be the literal top dog of the pack. A wolf larger by far than any of them, at least half the size again of Skoll. Though this one appeared far less active, instead lying upon the cold, hard ground of the cave. Their eyes were open, but they were just staring ahead of the wall, as if unaware of anybody else close by. Skoll approached, looking almost reverent to the larger animal, before whispering. Though quiet, his words could nevertheless be heard by the group. "Mother...these are the outsiders." He then turned his gaze to Spike, Flurry and the twins. "You stand before Fenra. Matriarch of the pack. Speaker of the Windborn. Be sure to show the proper respect."

Slowly, the large parent raised her head, looking to the Equestrians. There were no questions, no accusations, just a blank stare. A pang of worry came to Flurry as she looked to her host. Something wasn't right with her, that much was obvious. But what, she had no clue. After a long quiet, the mother of the pack finally answered, though her voice was quiet and tired-sounding. "Yes...yes they are."

Skoll looked from his mother to the group, then finally back to the former. "They seem to have...powers, Mother. Do you think they might be...what we think they are?"

But his mother simply rested her head back upon the ground. "I know those ones, son. These are not them." Another moment of silence before she spoke again. "What do they want?"

Here, Flurry chose to speak, though she did her best to do so in as respectful a tone as possible. "We mean no harm, to you or your children. We've come from a very, very far place, and all we want is to learn more about this new land."

Fenra did not raise her head again as she answered. "Ah...I see. That's...nice."

Flurry waited to see if she was going to speak again, glancing over to Hati for a moment before refocusing her attention on their leader. "Um...I'm sure we can learn a great deal from one another. Opening a dialogue could mean great things, for both of our peoples."

"I'm sure it could," Fenra replied, showing the same unenthusiastic demeanour she'd had since they arrived.

Again, Flurry awaited a further answer, only for the silence to instead be filled by Hati's voice. "Mother is quite tired at this time of day. Though be assured, her words still show she is willing to have you here."

"That is something, I suppose," Pound remarked.

Spike, clearing his throat, stepped forward, watched carefully by Skoll. "More immediately though, we were in the middle of searching for the nearby river. For fresh water."

Slowly, Fenra's eyes closed. At first, it appeared as though she may have been falling asleep, but that assumption was dispelled when she spoke again. "Skoll...Hati...take them there."

Skoll gave a bow of his head, then turned to start walking away from her. Hati watched him go, and the two brothers shared a quick look to one another before starting to move in unison. Flurry and the others soon followed, and before long they were back out in the daylight. After briefly allowing their eyes to adjust to the new light levels, they looked on as Skoll turned to face them fully. "My brother and I will take you to where you need to be. After that, you return to your..." He paused, trying to remember something from earlier. "Boat? Was that it's name?" After seeing Spike nod to him, he continued. "Then let us make haste. The sooner you get your water, the sooner we can be done with one another."

Pumpkin frowned to him, then looked to her twin. "Not exactly one for diplomacy, is he?"

"We've not given them any real reason to trust us yet, Pumpkin," Pound countered.

But the two twins soon found themselves picking up the pace as Flurry and Spike began following Skoll in earnest. Hati wasn't far behind them, and soon all six were heading away from the wolves' den and back into the forest. Given where the sun was in the sky, they could tell they were going back in the direction they'd been going in prior to the attack, so there was that if nothing else. But, as per usual at this point, there was tension as the travelled together. Eventually though, Hati looked to Flurry and regained his earlier curiosity. "Tell me, how were you able to journey across the water as you did?"

Flurry, happy there was at least one wolf willing to strike up some kind of conversation, smiled to him. "It wasn't a quick journey by any stretch, but the boat was well-made, so it got us over without any problems."

"Aside from spending day after day being bored," Pumpkin added, much to Flurry's chagrin.

But Hati shook his head. "No, I mean...how did you manage to cross without being attacked?" Naturally, words like that earned him the attention of every single one of the Equestrians. And when it dawned on the young wolf that they had no idea what he was talking about, he elaborated. "Attacked? From...the deep-dwellers? The leviathans? The beasts of the below?"

Finally getting what he was trying to explain to them, all of them stopped in their tracks, eyes wide, as the realisation of what they had unwittingly gone through finally crept into their minds. Skoll too paused here, looking back to the group and tasking just a brief moment to smile, apparently amused at the horrors his guests were experiencing right now. Pumpkin, just as unnerved as the rest, was the first to voice what they were all thinking. "You mean...were were sailing over actual, full-blown sea monsters this whole time?!" Hati, uncertain of how to respond, simply gave them a quick nod, to which Pumpkin began to think things over before morphing her expression into one of pure irritation. "And I never got to see any of them?! What a rip-off! Do you have any idea how much more interesting that voyage would have been if we'd have been under attack like that? Maybe with a storm overhead for good measure?" She pouted. "Ugh! Such a wasted opportunity!"

Skoll and Hati looked to each other, taken aback by this unexpected reaction. "These Equestrians are...interesting," Hati declared, clearly trying to be as polite as possible.

Skoll, looking ahead, sighed. "That they are, brother. That they are."