//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - Foundation 
// Story: Leader of the Pack (Book 3/3) 
// by AdrianJNovelle 
//------------------------------//

	A cold breeze whispered through the air that night, after such a warm, sunny day. Twilight started to shiver from the chills she received from the weather. The shadows re-emerged this night in front of the Everfree Forest, but this time with less hesitation. 
"Welcome back," Twilight said. "I am told many of you fled to these woods to escape your fears. As much as I can sympathize with your actions, I do not believe a formal society has been set up even though a regular population remains in the Everfree Forest. Tonight is your night to shine: please lead my husband and me to the others. I wish to address all of them. Don't worry: if I were going to harm you, would've done it already."
Twilight and Dawn stepped out of the way, the mass of shadow composed of Nubs and Fwaps started into the Everfree Forest. They seemed more afraid of standing under the silver moonlight than of venturing into the woods. They proceeded with hardly any hesitation, Twilight and Dawn taking the rear and carefully walking through the thick, ominous vegetation which completely surrounded them. It got even darker when the moon hid behind some massive mountains in the distance. Darkness consumed their eyes. But Twilight and Dawn did not need to see: they could hear the soft hoofsteps of the ponies in front of them, and that's all they needed to continue navigation as they were led deeper and deeper into the forest.
Finally, their march concluded.
Twilight and Dawn moved to the front of the mob, where a lone stallion - badly injured, missing wings, a horn, and even a whole ear, seated on a log in front of a small bonfire, strumming an acoustic guitar which lacked all but a single string. He was thin a paper, and his tan coat looked like it had not seen sunshine in decades.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked the stranger.
"Who can remember?" he asked. "The sights I've seen...the things I've heard...the damage I've taken...but I do know this: I am the epitome of Nubbism and Fwapism: I am the most damaged and broken-down pony in Equestria...I've been injured so long, I don't even remember if I were a unicorn or a pegasus...I only remember I was one or the other. All the Nubs and Fwaps who live within these woods are under my supervision...my time in this world is limited...and we need a new leader to represent the struggle of these good ponies...we believe you will be a great leader."
"You...want me to lead them?"
The stallion nodded twice. "All that is required of you is that you take care of them, and hang out here forever."
"What do I need to do to take care of them?"
"Are you a mother?" 
Twilight shook her head. "No, we're just husband and wife."
"That's a shame...just be motherly to them...care for them...give them food, water and shelter...most of them are too scared to speak, so you won't have to worry about feeling too sorry for them, since you won't be hearin' any of their little stories...Promise me you'll take care of them...promise me."
Twilight turned around to the mob of Fwaps and Nubs behind her, to the thousand or so eyes staring back at her.
She turned back around. "I will...I promise."
"And I promise too," interjected Dawn. "As her husband, I will contribute to this chartiable act as much as possible."
The stallion rose, and stood upright on two of his hooves. "I'm glad you haven't given up on them..." he started walking quietly away by means of the crowd of defective ponies behind Twilight and Dawn, who turned as he strolled by. "Most ponies have," he continued. He stopped when he reached the end of the mob. "By the way," he hollered. "In case this is the last time you see me alive...my name is Bones." Twilight and Dawn kept their attention to the mysterious Bones until his hoofsteps could no longer be heard.
"So..." Twilight began to the throng. "Where do we sleep?"
Twilight and Dawn followed the crowd once more to a nearby cave. Bones had left all of his possessions except his guitar for the new leader, including his bed arrangement: a pillow over a mattress which laid flat against the earth. The mattress, surpisingly, was big enough for both partners...almost as if they were being...expected.





Twilight awoke to the sunshine staring her in the eyes. She sat up and rubbed her large eyes. She looked around. There was all of Bones' furniture: a table, some chairs, a desk, some writing equipment including parchment paper, quills, and ink, an old couch, a bookshelf which actually carried a small number of dusty books, a toolbox, and a cabinet with a few knickknacks.
Twilight dismissed the blanket over her and started out to the entrance of the cave and looked around, seeing a good number of defective ponies sleeping in trees and on the ground. 
"What part of the Everfree Forest are we, anyway?" she asked herself aloud.
Dawn started to stir. "Good morning, Twilie," he said, stretching.
"Good morning, Dawn," Twilight replied, still looking out to the forest. "Do you know where we are?"
Dawn got up and walked over to Twilight. "Not past somewhere in the Everfree Forest, no."
"Isn't Zecora's hut the edge of the Everfree Forest?"
"Who's Zecora?"
"Oh. She's a zebra who lives here in the Everfree Forest. I'm surprised we didn't encounter her last night. In fact, she might be able to shed some light on our whereabouts!" 
Twilight started galloping back into the woods.
"Wait, where are you going?" Dawn called.
"Off to Zecora's! I won't be long!"
"But what about the...ponies?"
"Entertain them!"
Twilight vanished into the thick vegetation and wildlife. She retraced her steps through the forest all the way back to the entrance, and, sure enough, there was Ponyville, within eyesight. And, even closer, there was Fluttershy's cottage. She turned back around and used her memory to navigate herself through the jungle of a forest to Zecora's hut. There it was: same place as always. Yet, Twilight and the mob of Nubs and Fwaps did not seem to pass it on their way to Bones. 
Twilight entered Zecora's cottage.
"Zecora! Thank goodness I found you! I have some important news!"
"What it be, Miss Twilight, to have brought you to this site?" asked Zecora, who was seated behind her cauldron as it boiled away.
"This old guy named Bones made me this new ruler for the remaining Fwaps and Nubs."
Zecora's eyes widened. "Did you say Fwaps and Nubs? The defective ponies you speak of?"
"Yes! Most of them reside here in the Everfree Forest. I was wondering if maybe you could tell me anything about Bones or about the defective pony population, since apparently I'm their new leader."
Zecora rose to her hooves. "You must go down the path Bones does seek. Or their future shall be bleak." She started to her bookshelf in the corner of her hut and searched it for a particular book. 
"So, I have to take care of them?"
"Is what I say, Miss Twilight, please show no fright."
"I'm not scared."
Zecora found the book she desired and placed it on the post, opening it, and turning the pages to one in particular which explained the Nubs and Fwaps.
"This book doesn't have anything that any book at my library has," Twilight remarked.
"That is quite good, for it means you have everything for your new motherhood."
"Motherhood? Hey, that's the same term Bones used- he's not gonna want me to breastfeed them or anything right, 'cause I don't even have-"
"Defective ponies are like vulnerable prey. They need a leader to show them the way."
"Because they're too scared to do anything on their own?"
"Poverty and hopelessness bring them much fear. You must lead them, my dear. Raise them into a society, so they may dance in their prosperity."
Twilight pondered that thought. "So, the defective ponies are like a prehistoric, untamed society, and I am the newfound leader of this society?"
"You are correct, Miss Twilight, for as the day is long and moon is bright."
"Okay, I think I got it. Thank you, Zecora."
Twilight bowed and hurried to the door.
"One more thing, little mare."
Twilight stopped herself in her tracks.
"Yes?"
"I am making another trip to Ponyville, though quite rare. Do you wish for me to send a message to your friends in Ponyville? If you request it, I will."
"Just let them know about the defective ponies and that, as far as I know, I'm gonna be staying out here in the Everfree Forest for a long time."
"I understand, my dear. Now go - while the skies be clear!"
Twilight continued her gallop back to the cave. She wondered what Zecora meant by bringing up the sky. Sure, she talked in rhyming couplets every time she opened her mouth, but usually both lines are relevant to one another. On our way back, she looked up to the sky, noticing a few clouds have already formed overhead. Was Zecora forecasting rain? And, if she was, how? Could she feel it in her bones? Precognition? Twilight only wondered. But her wondering came to an end when she could see the aspiring glow of Dawn's face as he came into view.
"Twilie! You're back!" His wife leapt up and hugged him. "I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too!"
They kissed.
"So, did you find Zecora?"
"Yeah, I did."
"And? What did she say?"
"She told me what I have to do: I have to bring this society to its hooves: build them homes and shelters, get them food and water to keep them fed and hydrated, and altogether help them prosper as a people under my rule."
"Wow, she told you all that?"
"No...she didn't have to...I figured it out myself."
"That's my Twilie," Dawn smiled.
"She's also going to relay a message to my friends while she's in Ponyville, so they're gonna know I'm here, I'm alright, and I might not ever come back to Ponyville again - if I can help it."
"Well then at least we won't have to worry about the domestic agreement we never worked out since we got married." Both Dawn and Twilight laughed.
"So, what's our first plan of action?"
"Our first plan of action is to wake all the defective ponies up, and let them know what is going on so we may start the production of stuff like houses. There's plenty of wood here in the Everfree Forest. I'm sure establishment will be a sinch. We can borrow some of Bones' tools from that toolbox in our cave."
"Sounds like a plan."
Dawn and Twilight headed into the cave to study the tools they had at hoof.
"You know, if you ask me," Dawn began. "Always calling them defective ponies sounds almost as insulting as calling them Fwaps or Nubs...do you think we could call them something else a little more...appropriate? We are reviving a society after all."
"You know, my last test from Princess Celestia was reviving a forgotten society."
"What?"
"Euh, nothing. Hmm...how about...the Ferals?"
"The Ferals?" inquired Dawn.
"Yeah, since they're all untamed and wild - you know - feral."
"Hmm...I like it."
They arrived at the toolbox, finding hammers, nails, a few saws and axes and hatchets - almost as if they were...planned to be left there.