//------------------------------// // Surprise Encounter! // Story: A Dream Once Lost // by Regicide //------------------------------// As Pine Bark reached the edge of the forest, his heart soared. It wouldn’t be long now until he made it back home; once his father was told of the situation, he would take up his axe and set off immediately to rescue Maple. He had faith that his sister would be able to stave off the wolf in order to buy them all the precious time that was needed. She would be alright. He had to repeat that thought to himself over and over as he ran through the village, clinging to it like a mantra to repel the fear that lurked ever closer, threatening to drown him in its embrace. Finally, he reached the front steps of his home. He burst through the door, causing it to slam loudly into the wall off to his right, but he didn’t even register the noise as he charged towards his parent’s room. He barely managed to skid to a halt and avoid slamming headlong into Steel Bark, who had jumped out of his bed in order to see who had thrown his door open in the middle of the night. Emerald was close behind him and, after avoiding a near collision, they both went wide-eyed at the sight of their battered son, panting like he had just escaped from the depths of Tartarus. “Dad! Hideout, timber wolf, Maple’s in danger, you have to hurry!” he gasped out. Despite the jumbled manner of his son’s message, he had understood two things well enough. Timber wolf. Maple. His blood froze in his veins for a fraction of a second before he exploded into motion. He didn’t stop to question why a timber wolf would be out here so far from the Everfree as he charged out to the shed in order to grab his woodcutting axe. Emerald and Pine were coming up on his heels as he turned around towards his son. “Where is she?” “The hideout where the owl was today, I’ll lead y-” He was cut off as his father raised a hoof for him to be quiet. “No,” said Steel, “I know the spot, stay here with your mother.” Pine was about to protest but Steel ignored him and faced his wife. “Emerald, I need you to sound the warning bell and get everypony together to form a search party.” He told her. Emerald wanted nothing more than to charge out into the forest with her husband and help rescue their daughter, but she knew that alerting the village was important. The faster they could get more ponies out there looking for Maple, the higher her chances of survival would be. Choking down her instincts, Emerald gave Steel a curt nod before she ran off toward the bell tower in the center of Hoof Fall, Pine Bark in tow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steel had managed to cross the village and get into the forest in record time, carrying his axe in his mouth all the while. It had taken Pine, in his adrenaline fueled dash, close to ten minutes to get back home from where the wolf had almost killed him, but Steel covered the distance in five. The longer he took, the less likely his daughter’s survival became. As he was nearing the cave that he knew Pine often visited, he noticed something ahead of him and brought down his front hooves, skidding to a halt. He had never been more grateful for a full moon, the light of which managed to illuminate the small clearing he was standing in and allowed him see the signs of the struggle that had occurred here recently. Two small pony tracks and one set of tracks that could only belong to the timber wolf. One set of pony tracks lead back in the direction that he had come from. The other set, however, was intermixed with those of the wolf, and lead deeper into the forest. Steel followed the trail as fast as he could, but he was forced to slow his pace significantly by the lack of proper light. While the glow of the moon made the tracks visible, the nighttime shadows spread thickly among the branches of the trees, obscuring the areas where they fell. In some spots, he had to tread forward blindly, hoping and praying that the two he was following hadn’t taken any sharp turns. It was agonizing, being unable to get to his daughter faster when she needed him, but if he lost the trail and was forced to backtrack, the situation would only grow worse. Finally, after about two hours at a steady trot, Steel Bark ran across something other than the same, volatile tracks he had been following up until that point. It was not what he had wanted to find. Blood. His daughter’s blood. Steel bit the handle of his axe so hard he thought it might break in two; the wolf had caught her. Powerful emotions threatened to overwhelm him where he stood. Anger. Denial. Sadness. Hopelessness. He fought to keep them back as he surveyed his surroundings. The signs of a struggle were clear, even in the branch-filtered moonlight. Something had enabled the wolf to catch up with Maple. Perhaps she had finally reached her limit and exhaustion had claimed her, perhaps the wolf found a hidden pocket of energy in itself and managed to speed up to grab ahold of her, or perhaps she had simply tripped over one of the many gnarled roots in the area. Regardless of the reason, the result was absolute. Maple was dead. Closing his eyes, Steel turned around and began his long trek back to the village. As he walked with heavy hooves, and a heavier heart, he thought about how he could tell his wife and son that he had been too late. If he had been in a more coherent state of mind, Steel Bark might have given the area where his daughter had fallen a more thorough search, and in doing so he might have found that the tracks continued on just a little bit further, through some dense brush that hid the edge of a cliff. But he wasn’t, and he didn’t. So he proceeded home, thinking his daughter dead, while thoughts of vengeance tickled at the fringes of his mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The forest was alive with the sounds of animals as the midmorning sun shone down on the land. As they awakened, each creature, large and small, announced their joy at the beginning of another new day, ready for the challenges that lay ahead of them. It was those sounds that caused consciousness to return to Maple Bark after her taxing night of fleeing from the clutches of death. Her eyes cracked open slowly, revealing that she was lying in a small clearing in the forest, upon a bed of leaves and moss. The smell of an extinguished campfire lingered in the air. Confusion reigned in her head for just a moment before the memories of the previous night returned to her in a flash. Following her brother, distracting the wolf, the chase and also her two near misses with death; the wolf’s bite as well as the fall from a cliff. As soon as her body was able to catch up with her mind, she leapt to her hooves and looked to examine herself. She clearly remembered the pain of each of her injuries, yet now, looking at her body, there was no evidence left of her flight. There were still pangs of soreness in spots, but all in all she appeared entirely healthy. It was after this that her final memory caught up with her. There had been somepony in the forest camping out. They must have helped her. Finally lifting her gaze away from herself, Maple looked around the make-shift campsite where she had spent the night. Almost immediately, her eyes landed on another being sharing the space with her. However, it was not a pony. She had never seen or heard of anything like it. It was sitting down on a fallen log looking at her. Even sitting down, it was taller than she was. Its face was much flatter than a pony’s, and its long mane was a bright white, falling down its back and ending in multiple curls. Judging by the fact that it wore a set of elegant looking red clothes, she assumed it to be intelligent. Perhaps it had been the one to help her? However, even as these thoughts processed through her mind, her body was already reacting in its own way. She stared at the tall figure in front of her like a cow caught in the middle of a group of hungry snakes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duke was calmly observing the small ‘pony’ that had just woken up. After it had stumbled into his camp and collapsed, he had carried it over to the bed of plants that he had made for himself and deposited it there. After assessing its wounds, he had tapped into one of his more potent healing artes to help the creature recover. Although there wasn’t any ‘Aer’ here, whatever had replaced it functioned in much the same way. He had tested it out as he walked the day prior, using small artes and comparing the effects with what he was used to. It appeared that the overall power of his artes had dropped by about twenty percent, however, in exchange, his casting speed was faster than it had been before. He assumed this was likely due to the lightness of the substance that surrounded him now. The pony, after a brief moment of orienting itself, looked around and its eyes quickly landed on him. It froze, a flash of fear in its eyes. However, the fear lasted only a few moments, before it seemed to take control of itself. Duke met its gaze with a neutral expression, a slight curiosity present in his eyes. The pony was the one to break the silence. “H-Hello?” It stuttered. She, Duke corrected. And young, too. He hadn’t noticed the night before due to the hoarseness of her voice, but this small pony’s tone had a clearly feminine ring to it. “Greetings, little one,” he replied, “You’ve finally come to. You were injured quite badly last night. Do you remember?” “Yeah,” she nodded, seeming to regain some of her bravery now that she knew he could talk. “Were you the one who helped me?” “Yes. You surprised me when you came into my campsite looking the way you did. If it had been a half hour later, I’m not sure I could have healed you.” Maple gulped upon hearing that. She had felt so close to death, felt it in her bones, but it was still disconcerting to hear it said out loud by somepony else. There was a pause before she responded, “Thank you, mister. For helping me.” Duke gave her a steady nod. “You’re welcome. Now that you’re awake, perh-” He was unable to complete his sentence as a loud rumble filled the small clearing, apparently having emanated from the young filly before him. She blushed slightly as her empty stomach made itself know. A ghost of a smile tugged at Duke’s lips. “Perhaps we should have breakfast before we go on.” Maples ears flicked at the mention of breakfast, but she made no other move. Seeing that she was still rather nervous, Duke slowly reached for the small pack of berries, fruit and nuts he had gathered the previous day. Opening it, he took out an apple and held it towards the filly. She held back a moment more, but then slowly began trotting towards his hand. Tentatively, she reached out and took the apple in her mouth. Shuffling back a few steps, she sat down and watched Duke for a moment. Ignoring her gaze, Duke took out another apple and began to eat. On his second bite, he heard the clear sound of someone else taking a bite out of something, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the pony begin working at her apple with gusto. Maple finished her food first. Her eyes strayed towards Duke’s pack for a second, but then quickly shot away. However, Duke had caught the look, and after taking out another apple and a few nuts for himself, he passed the rest of the pack over to her. Upon receiving it, she didn’t hold back for a second as she set to satisfy her empty belly. After the ordeals she had been through it was no surprise that now, in safety, she was ravenous. Several apples, blue berries, strawberries, nuts and even a few roots later, Maple finally leaned back and let out a contented sigh. Duke, having finished eating several minutes ago, started up the conversation again. “So, do you have a name, little one?” he asked. “Maple,” she responded. Having lost most of her fear of the creature in front of her, she stood up and made her way to sit near him, leaning her back against the log that he was sitting on. “Maple Bark. What’s yours?” “My name is Duke.” He responded. “Duke…” she echoed. “Weird name.” Something in the back of her mind was screaming at her as she sat there, but she couldn’t identify it. Was she missing something? She paused for a moment before asking a question. “I’ve never seen anypony like you before, what exactly are you?” Duke frowned slightly. “I am a human.” Maple gave a curious tilt of her head, never having heard the word ‘human’ before. Meanwhile, Duke floated in his thoughts for a moment. He may have given Brave Vesperia a chance to change the future, but that didn’t change the fact that he cared little for humanity as a whole. Humans were generally greedy, destructive creatures that cared for nothing but themselves. However, if the filly’s question was any indication, this place may not have a sizable population of humans, if any at all. It was a thought that stirred a strange feeling of bitter peace inside of him. He might be the only human here. Elucifer…what if… No. He cut off his line of thought. It wouldn’t do for him to wallow in what-ifs and could-have-beens; Elucifer was gone, and despite all of his wishes, nothing could change that. His mind back on track, he decided that it was about time he figured out more of his situation. The filly in front of him would likely know enough of this world to give him some idea of where he had arrived. “Now that you know what I am, perhaps you could tell me what exactly you are? And what the name of this place is?” They spent the next thirty minutes talking to one another. Well, for the most part it was Maple doing the talking as she told Duke the majority of what she knew about Equestria. She told him of the two princesses who ruled the land, of the different pony races, and of her home, Hoof Fall. Duke only spoke up to ask questions, preferring to listen silently otherwise. He was rather pleased with some of the stories that Maple told him. These ponies, they were such a selfless race. If only humanity could have been like these creatures… As they were nearing the end of their conversation, Maple finally managed to ask Duke a question. “So where did you come from anyway? I can’t believe that ponies there have never even heard about Equestria!” Duke replied without missing a beat. “I come from a land very far away. The reason we have never heard of Equestria is likely because there are no ponies like you there.” At his response, Maple silently mouthed the words ‘no ponies,’ it was such an alien thought to her. Were the rest of the creatures all like Duke, then? She was about to ask him when another thought suddenly struck her. The thought that had been out of reach just a short while ago. It was such a glaringly obvious thing; she was both surprised and disgusted that she hadn’t noticed it before. Why was she sitting here talking to Duke? Why, when her family must still be out looking for her in the forest? When they didn’t know that she was safe? She quickly jumped to her feet and started running towards the woods, looking back at Duke as she ran. “I-I-gotta-go-find-my-daddy-he-must-be-worried-sick-looking-for-me-I-” She promptly tripped over a small root. Her hatred for roots grew. As she was picking herself back up, Duke stood and walked over to her. “If you wish, I will accompany you back to your home.” Duke told her. It would serve both of them if he went back with the filly. He would be able to get his first glimpse of pony civilization, while Maple would have a travelling companion. But regardless of the potential losses and benefits, he would not let an innocent child wander alone into an obviously dangerous forest. Even a human child would have received his protection in such a situation, but it went doubly so for this young one. If her stories of ponykind were true and if there were really no other humans here…Then this might be the closest he had ever been to the world Elucifer and he had wished for. Maple looked up at Duke for a moment before nodding her head. “Which direction is Hoof Fall in?” he asked. “Uh, I…” Maple looked around desperately, “I don’t know.” She finished, her shoulders slumped in the realization that she had no idea how to get home. Her desperate scramble to get away from the timber wolf, combined with the concussion that she had gotten from her fall, had left her thoroughly unable to remember where she had come from. “Then, perhaps we could try going the direction that you wandered in from last night.” Duke suggested, beginning to walk towards the bushes that the filly had previously made her introduction through. Maple gave a small squeak as her shoulders unslumped themselves and she quickly trotted after Duke. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They walked at a steady pace. Although she was young, Maple was able to keep up with her human companion well. Four legs were faster than two, after all. In short order, they came upon the cliff that Maple must have fallen down the previous night. The filly could only gulp as she looked up at it. She looked off to both sides to see if there was an easier way to get up, but the same, bare, face seemed to stretch on and on in both directions. But she needed to get back now! The gears in her mind were still turning as Duke bent down and placed a hand on her head. Her thoughts interrupted, she looked up at him questioningly. Just as she was getting ready to ask him what he was doing, the world suddenly compressed around them. It was a very strange sensation, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She felt sick for a moment before it suddenly stopped, and the world was normal once again. She wobbled on her hooves, taking a few steps back, afraid that she would throw up. “W-What was that?!” she half yelped, half asked. “Teleportation.” Duke responded, “You seem surprised, yet you said that unicorns are able to do similar things.” He could use magic! So then that was how he healed her. It wasn’t a huge surprise, considering how badly she had been injured, but it was still strange to see somepony so different from a unicorn using magic like that. Also, she didn’t see a horn anywhere on his body, so how could he do it? Stowing away her own questions for later, she responded to his. “I-I’ve just never been teleported before. It feels really weird.” Another thought then dawned on her, “So if you can teleport why can’t you just teleport us to my house?” she asked hopefully. “I am not capable of long range teleportation.” Maple was a bit downtrodden at his curt answer, having thought that she might have found an instant solution for her problem, but she perked up again as Duke began walking away from the cliff through some thick shrubbery. She followed steadily behind him. She didn’t have time to mope, she had to get home to her family. Despite her resolve, the sight that she found a moment later made her want to turn and run. Bile rose in her throat. It was different from the feeling brought by teleporting; this urge to release the contents of her stomach had nothing to do with a physical sensation, it was purely mental. In front of her, sprayed across the ground in a thick, dry puddle, was a dark red substance. It was so dark that it was nearing black. She hadn’t realized how much blood she had lost. For the third time that day, she thanked Celestia that she had survived, and this time she also silently thanked Duke for having been able to heal her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duke, having spent the majority of his life out in the embrace of nature, had no trouble finding their way through the forest. He traversed easily through each gully and over each root, like he had walked through the Darkgreen forest many times before. Neither of them spoke as they walked, Duke simply preferring to keep his thoughts to himself, while Maple was quiet due to her nerves. They followed her initial trail for about an hour before something broke the silence. It was a voice, but it did not belong to the human or the filly. It was feminine, but sounded as if it belonged to an adult. Duke stopped immediately so that he could hear better. Listening closely, he could detect several other voices as well. They all spoke the same language that he did, but he couldn’t make out more than a few words here and there. He thought to himself as he stood in place. Should they avoid this group? If they had come from the village then they might be able to help them find their way, but what if it was just a group of travelers? That would likely delay them when they should be focusing on getting to Hoof Fall. His decision was made for him when Maple gasped and took off galloping towards the sound of the voices. He watched her for a second, but as she gained distance from him, she called out one word that made her reaction understandable. “Mom!” Duke heard the voices go quiet for a moment, before the first one he had heard responded to the filly’s shout. “M-Maple?” It sounded like the speaker couldn’t believe her own words. Maple called back to her mother, and shortly after she ran out of Duke’s line of sight, he heard the clear sound of a gasp and then multiple voices cheering. Duke began walking slowly towards the sounds of celebration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Oh Maple, Maple, Maple, Maple!” Emerald cried as she hugged her daughter close, “Where in the world have you been? Your father came home last night and said that y-you were dead!” She rambled on a few moments more, not even giving the young filly she was squeezing a chance to think about replying. As much as she enjoyed the attention from her parent, it was getting harder for her to breathe. Finally, with a squeak, Maple managed to maneuver herself out of her mother’s grip. “Mom, I’m okay! A stallion named Duke found me and h-” she was cut off suddenly as her mother grabbed her and pulled her back behind herself. Emerald then stood to glare at the creature that had just walked out of the trees where her daughter had come from only moments ago. The rest of the ponies in the area also shot looks at the creature, readying their weapons in their mouths and settling into stances that would allow them to move quickly towards the beast. Whatever this was, it wouldn’t get them now that they had found out that Maple Bark had survived. While the ponies got ready for a confrontation, Duke simple observed them. It was no great surprise that he would be met with initial hostility. It was his hope, however, that these ponies would be more open to his presence once his situation was more widely known. Still, while they shouldn’t present any real threat to him, he placed his hand upon Dein Nomos regardless. In the unlikely event that he would have to draw his sword, he wanted to be prepared. The tension on the pony’s side was growing thick, and just as it seemed that one of them would make a move for Duke, a small, angry bundle of fur jumped between them. “Everypony quit it!” Maple shouted at the top of her lungs. Duke’s expression never wavered. The ponies, on the other hand, were surprised; but Emerald quickly collected her wits. “Maple, what are you doing? That creature could be dangerous!” She tried to reason with her daughter, but by Maple’s expression, she would be having none of it. Maple turned towards Duke and began trotting up to him while the ponies all held their breath. Once she reached his legs, she firmly plopped herself down next to his foot and turned to face her mother. “Mom, this is Duke. He found me after I got away from the wolf and healed me.” She said. Emerald’s eyes shot from her daughter to the now known ‘Duke’ that stood next to her filly. “Is that true?” She asked her daughter. “Indeed.” Was the answer she got, and it made her and a few other ponies jump slightly. For it was not Maple that had answered the question, but Duke. His voice was surprisingly deep; even deeper than her husband’s. “You can talk?” asked one of the stallions in the crowd shakily. Emerald just rolled her eyes. Some stallions. As if the creature hadn’t just spoken. Of course it could talk. Emerald turned her gaze back toward Duke, observing him, but this time her malice was replaced with a cautious curiosity. He seemed to be ignoring her daughter, who was still planted firmly by his boot, in favor of returning her gaze. It lasted a moment more before Emerald broke their staring contest. She approached Duke at an even pace, her nerves steady. Her next move surprised the ponies, Maple included, and caused Duke to raise an eyebrow. She positioned herself in front of Duke, then raised her fore hooves and enveloped him in a brief, tight hug. “Thank you for helping my daughter.” She whispered. He was released from the hug a second later. If this creature was the reason that she had her daughter back, then she would give him her trust. It was an instinctual thing, though logic did not desert her entirely. To find an injured filly far out in the woods and take care of her spoke of his character. It would have been so much easier for him to abandon Maple, yet he had not. He had chosen the more difficult path and not only healed her daughter’s injuries, but also chosen to accompany her on her way home. As such, Emerald Bark felt that she was justified putting her faith in this ‘Duke.’ Emerald then turned to speak with her daughter, but was interrupted as the filly gave her mother a hug of her own, bright smile locked firmly on her face. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group settled in to take a break where they were, giving them all a chance to come down from their emotional roller-coaster, and also providing Duke with a chance to interact with the ponies a bit. There were one or two who were still reluctant to get close to him, but the others all warmed to him well enough. He spoke with the stallion who had been the closest to attacking him earlier. He learned a few things: the stallion’s name was Strong Light, he was a blacksmith by trade, and that this was not, in fact, a search party out looking for Emerald’s lost daughter Maple. It was a hunting group. After Steel Bark had returned the night prior with news that his daughter had not survived, he and several other stallions had set about organizing four hunting parties, each ten ponies strong, to track down the timber wolf. For Steel, it was likely a matter of vengeance, while for the others it was fear for their own families that drove them. Regardless of the reasons involved, the four groups had set out earlier that morning in an attempt to locate the renegade wolf and put an end to it. Duke wanted to ask Strong about the different pony races, since Maple had never gone deeply into it, but the chance was taken from him as Emerald called for the group to get up and prepare to head back to the village. Once there, they could sound the bell to call back the other groups and let them know that Maple was alive and well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Note: This took a bit longer than I would have liked, partially because I was being indecisive, and partially because I really just want to write about the Mane 6 right now. But I will carry on. I was having a little trouble deciding where to put Duke in terms of power. I don't want him OVERPOWEREDOHGODWHAT but at the same time, he's Duke. The final boss, ya know? I'm not about to make him a weak little nobody. That would be heresy. I've got it figured out now, though, so no worries.