//------------------------------//
// Act One Chapter Seven 
// Story: Burnt Offerings 
// by Spike the Scribe 
//------------------------------//

Unknown forest, Date unknown, (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Before dawn


After the charging boar landed on the ground, its back pierced by arrows we all tensed. Something just rendered a wild hog, a creature that almost completely ravaged Dash’s side incapable of fighting. We couldn’t be sure if it was friendly or not, so we went with the safer option and assumed it was unfriendly. Standing protectively in front of Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie we tried to look as menacing as possible, tough with Rainbow Dash clutching at her injured side from time to time and me –a shrimp compared to the others, it wasn’t that easy to pull off.

We stared in the direction the arrow came from, looking intently for any sign of movement. It would probably be futile now that I think about it –if whatever was out there wanted to harm us, it could just shoot another arrow and take us down one at a time from afar. The situation was tense, and more than once I saw both AJ and RD exchanging worried glances, probably figuring out the same thing I already had. Still, none of us wanted to give up that easily, not if it meant exposing our friends to whatever was out there.

For a moment everything was silent, only the cracking noises of the fire and the slowly dying out sequels of the boar piercing the calm night air. I could hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears with a loud cacophony of rhythmic ba-bumps, racing a mile a minute like if it was about to burst straight out of my chest. The tension was getting unbearable, and I was –and I’m not ashamed to admit it –scared out of my wits. I just wanted something to happen, anything to break the silence, anything to lessen the tension. And sure enough I didn’t have to wait much longer.

At first I almost didn’t hear it, the sound was so light. However, Rainbow shifted her stance suddenly, looking in a slightly different direction, and as I too looked that way and straining my ears I could perceive something as well. It was a rustling sound, like if something was stalking towards us on nimble feet, barely making any sound at all. It must've moved with the grace of a hunting cat, and considering our position right now, we probably were the mice. The sound was getting progressively louder yet still barely audible, an unmistakable sign that it was coming this way. Preparing for the worst, we clutched our makeshift weapons tighter and hoped for the best.

After a few more moments of waiting the mysterious shooter finally showed himself. Emerging from behind one of the trees, the one that struck down the boar finally reveled himself to us, nearly making us jump. We should've reacted to his arrival the moment we saw him, taking a page from Applejack’s book and attacking him before he could do anything to us. However all we did was stare at him, completely took by surprise by what we saw.

The figure was tall, definitely taller than Fluttershy or Rarity in their new bodies. If I was to make a guess, he was most probably around twelve hoofs tall if not taller. Having the general built of all of us –two legs, two arms, no tail and no fur –it was clear that it was of some sort of species that apparently was the local equivalent of ponies. It did look differently from anything we saw up until now however, clearly yet another species that we haven’t met until just now. Long and nimble limbs sported compact and strong-looking muscles, each of them looking like they could stretch and tense at a moment’s notice. His shoulders were definitely broader than those of the girls, indicating they were more used to work, be that carrying or swinging things, giving of the impression that this guy was someone you didn't want to mess with. What drew the attention however was his face.

Just like the rest of us, this creature had no snout, something we already came to except. Its nose was small and its mouth was thin, and overall it most definitely gave the impression of being male. He had however a long, flowing mane the color of light, wood brown framing his face, and a pair of extremely long, sharp-tipped ears was poking from both sides of his head. What caught my (and probably everypony else’s) attention the most however were his eyes. It was something I have never seen before –large, almond shaped orbs, shining in the darkness as if they belonged to a cat. Their most prominent features were their pupils: they were large. It looked like if they took up most of his eyes, leaving only a small patch of teal irises and absolutely no place for the whites, making his eyes look downright scary, especially in conjunction with the distant, practically aloof way he was looking at us, like if we were of no consequence. A shiver ran down my spine once I crossed my own gaze with his.

The image of the newcomer was completed by his clothing. The figure was clad in some sort of dark brown jacket-like thing, glinting in the light of the fire with a multitude of small metal studs. After closer inspection I discerned that it was in fact leather and probably steel. He also wore pants of the same color, lacking however the brads, and a pair of similar leather boots. He also had a strange cloak on his back, strange in the sense that I couldn’t for the love of me tell what color it was exactly. It seemed to be shifting between shades of gray, grayish green and brownish, sometimes seemingly khaki, other times granite gray. The effect was rather intriguing as it made the weird garment seem to blend in with its surroundings. To make the picture complete the guy was holding a bow in his ‘claw’, tough what kind of bow it was I have no idea (only bows I’ve ever seen were in Twilight’s books), a quiver with white-plumed arrows sticking from his back and some kind of short sword at his side, resting in a sheath attached to a belt. All in all, he looked like someone you don’t want to make angry, less you had a death wish.

As we stood there, transfixed at the site of the newcomer, the local seemed to regard us with those dark, shiny eyes of his. His expression didn’t change one bit as he looked at us, taking in the features of the girls one by one as if trying to memorize them. It was creepy to say the least, and I think I even saw Rainbow Dash squirm a bit under his gaze, uncomfortable at being scrutinized like that. Once his eyes fell on me however his look shifted to one of mild surprise. One of his eyebrows arched, he looked at me with interest, as if I was something he didn’t expect to see. That there made me tense even more.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of staring at one another but what must've been no more than a few seconds the newcomer averted his gaze, looking not at us, but at the still kicking but weak boar on the ground. His face shifted into one of concentration as he confidently walked towards the hog (and us). Alarmed by this move AJ hefted her branch and Rainbow tensed up, readying themselves for a fight, even tough with someone as armed as him they would probably have no chances at winning.

“Hold it right there pardner!” Applejack warned, sounding more confident than she really was. The newcomer ignored her, still coming our way. “Ah said that’s close enough!” Still –no reaction. It seemed like either he didn’t understand her or choose to ignore her. Whichever was true, it was sure to bring us trouble.

“You heard what she said! Back off creep before… ugh…” Dash was about to step in, but unfortunately her injured side had to remind her of itself at the worst of times. Still, the local seemed not to hear her, looking at the boar that was beginning to trash about with renewed vigor with interest. Did he really find the hog more important than Applejack’s warnings?

Once the guy took a few more steps, closing the distance between us and him, AJ seemed to finally get to her senses and she swiftly lifted the branch she was holding in the air, readying herself to bring it down on the intruder. She most probably would do just that if not for the fact that the native finally stopped. Staring at him, AJ slowly lowered the branch, taking his sudden pause as a sign that he finally understood what she meant. The look of utter bewilderment on her face once the guy kneeled down practically right in front of her was however something that I found, despite the dire situation we were in, extremely funny. It took the farmpony a moment to register that the guy was in fact crouching not before her, but in front of the lying boar.

I shifted my gaze from Applejack’s confused expression back to the newcomer. Crouching in front of the wild hog, the guy put down his bow and he seemed to be doing something to the animal. It looked like… it looked like he had put his ‘claw’ on the side of the boar’s head and began petting it compassionately, whispering something soothingly to it, too quietly for me to understand. It even seemed to work, because the wild animal was beginning to kick less and less, just as if it was becoming calmer by the second. But that didn’t make any sense, didn’t the guy just shoot the boar? I mean the arrows sticking in its back look the same as the ones in his quiver, so why was he now trying to calm the animal down if he was the one to shot it? Well, we were about to find out.

As we observed the newcomer take care of the struck down boar, one of his ‘claws’ still on the side of the creature’s head, a slight movement of his other ‘claw’ drew our attention. Looking at it we noticed that he was slowly inching for the short sword strapped to his side. We obviously took it as a sign of aggression and once again shifted into more fighting-ready stances, but as we did that we apparently startled the hog and it began once again squealing in fright. The guy shot us an annoyed look as he resumed his efforts on the animal, calming it down in a manner of seconds. Of course, as the boar became quiet once more he reached for his weapon, this time keeping his eyes on us so that we don’t do anything stupid. Wisely we decided to observe him back but not to make any hostile moves of our own, at least until we figure out what he was doing.

What he did, well… let me put it like this: it wasn’t pretty.

It became apparent what the native was trying to do when he drew his sword. With the sharp, steel weapon in ‘claw’ he positioned it over the body of the hog, just far enough not to touch the animal with the cold metal yet still close enough for it to be out of its sight. With rapidly widening eyes we observed as the creature before us was preparing to basically stab the now defenseless boar, a site that we all were about to witness for the first time in our lives. With our breaths caught somewhere in our throats we watched wordlessly as the local averted his gaze from us, sighed sadly and muttered a soft yet still audible ‘forgive me, my brother’ before he done the deed.

The sound of metal piercing flesh filled the night air, canceling out all other sounds. This morbid, gruesome noise was to forever implant in our minds, the sound of taking the life of another creature, a sound so alien to us… It took me almost a full minute before I was able to fully comprehend  what had just happened, lost in a haze of half-formed thoughts running through my head. All I could remember was the image of a steel blade sinking in the bristle-covered flesh of the boar, thrust in its body with what could only be described as ruthless efficiency: quickly and cleanly, avoiding colliding with bones and most probably reaching the poor pig’s heart. The only comforting thought in all this was that the hog must've died almost instantaneously if its silent departure was anything to go by. It literally didn’t make a sound.

After an unspecified amount of time I was finally able to avert my gaze from the morbid spectacle we just witnessed. I took a tentative look around, just as if I wasn’t sure if in doing so I wouldn’t provoke the hunter to attack me next, searching for the girls and trying to find consolation in them. What I found however was nothing what I’ve expected.

Applejack was staring wide-eyed at what had just happened, slowly moving her mouth like if she was trying to say something but couldn’t find her voice. Rainbow Dash looked positively sick to the stomach; green on her face, she covered her mouth with her ‘claw’, just as if making sure she wouldn’t throw up. The back row looked even worse for wear. Rarity, like Rainbow, looked like she wanted to go to the side and empty the contents of her stomach. Pinkie Pie… well, she stared, a completely blank expression on her face, as if she couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, like if something in her snapped, and she sat there unmoving, like a statue. It was unnerving, seeing her like that. But for all the reaction of the girls up until now, Fluttershy’s was the worst if not the most expected.

She cried. The shy, meek pegasus, the embodiment of both grace and kindness was reduced to hot tears by what she was in a way forced to witness. Salty streaks ran down her cheeks and quiet sobs rocked her body, her eyes fixed on the lifeless body of the boar, filled with sadness and fear. She just watched a potential animal friend die before her very eyes and she couldn’t do a thing about it, not with the one responsible for its death kneeling just in front of it. It was truly a heartbreaking image, enough so for at least me, AJ, RD and Rarity to snap out of our own trances and take action.

Rarity kneeled down beside Fluttershy, who at some point collapsed to the ground, and hugged her, running calming circles with her ‘claws’ on her back and whispering silent words of comfort in her ear. In the meantime the three of us in the ‘front row’ so to speak turned to the newcomer with anger burning in our eyes. Nopony and no creature made Fluttershy cry and got away with it. The guy didn’t seem to pay us any mind however, busy wiping the blood off of his blade with a piece of cloth and (what made us pause for a bit) bowing slightly to the dead hog as if in thanks.

“I am truly sorry that you had to witness this, young ones.” Again, as we were about to make our move on this guy he decided to trow a log at our feet and for the first time engage us in conversation. He still looked at the boar’s carcass when he spoke, but it was clear he was referring to us. His voice was, well, different; it sounded like it belonged to someone old and experienced, filled with melancholy, but also like if it belonged to a young stallion with its energy. “Erastil knows I do not enjoy this, but sometimes one has to grit his teeth and do what needs to be done.”

We exchanged confused looks after hearing that. What did this guy mean? Was he referring to the boar he just killed? Did he just apologize for the fact we witnessed him killing it? And who the hay is Erastil? So many questions and so little answers.

Taking advantage of our confusion the newcomer stood from his crouched position and finally sheathed his sword, now free of blood. Once again he stood before us, towering over us (me especially) and looking at us with those dark and tale shiny eyes, seemingly aloof as if we were of no consequence yet with a measure of compassion. It probably was his way of showing us that he truly was sorry for what we had to witness, but it definitely wasn’t working. Not to mention that I was feeling a strange vibe coming from the guy, like if something was telling me that this wasn’t exactly what we thought it was, not that we knew anything about him to begin with.

There was a moment of awkward silence between us and the native. Neither side seemed to know what to say in a situation we found ourselves in. Finally it was Rainbow Dash who broke the silence in a manner truly befitting her.

“Okay, listen bub. First of all: who the hay are you? Second: why the buck did you do that?! And third: you better have a damn good explanation why you just had to go and make ‘Shy cry or I swear I will buck you so hard you won’t be able to walk straight for a month!”

Starting off with an insult and ending with a threat. Rainbow Dash diplomacy at its finest. I would point out how stupid and dangerous it was, especially considering the way the guy looked, but to be frank –after seeing Fluttershy cry even the biggest pacifist would be ready to tear a manticore to shreds, and this guy was the reason she cried. Fortunately, he seemed not to pay attention to any of the negativity in RD’s sentences, tough he did raise an eyebrow here and there at the mention of ‘hay’ and ‘buck’.

“Fair enough. However you look at it, I am guilty of taking the life of a living creatures before a group of fine young damsels such as yourselves, as well as their halfling companion.” He cracked a weak, mirthless smile. I was about to comment on the fact he practically ignored my presence when I realized that by saying ‘halfling’ he was referring to me. Was that what I was? Was the creature I was turned into a ‘halfling’? I didn’t have the time to ponder about that because the local continued his thought.

“My name is Einael, Einael Solaris. I am but a humble traveler, and as of right now: a reluctant hunter.  That should explain why I did what I did, for is it not what a hunter does –killing creatures so that he and his companions may benefit from their gifts? As I have said before, I did not enjoy what I just did, but it had to be done, and for having to take a life before your eyes you have my humblest apologies.”

Okay, the guy was wordy, I’ll give him that. He spoke in a rather odd way, I would say artificial, as if he spoke in a language he wasn’t used speaking. It was apparent that not only I found his way of speech peculiar, as both AJ and RD were exchanging rather confused looks. Only Rarity seemed not to notice anything out of the ordinary, though she herself had a tendency to speak in a highly exaggerated manner, not to mention she was busy with Fluttershy, so that wasn’t that big of a surprise. However that didn’t matter, the important part was that the guy actually did answer Rainbow’s ‘questions’ to an extent. But why did I have a feeling that something wasn’t right here?

“Ya still didn’t explain why ya had ta do that in the first place.” This time it was Applejack who responded to the newly named Einael (by the way, that was one odd name). She looked at him warily, as if she too was feeling that this guy was not being completely honest with us.

“I do not know how to explain that, young one.” He replied, inclining his head as he spoke. “Do you know not what it means to be a hunter? Do you know not what it means to hunt?”

AJ frowned and pulled her hat a bit over her forehead, glaring at the guy. She grumbled something vaguely resembling a ‘with all mah experience with timberwolves Ah know darn well what ‘huntin’ means’, but otherwise she didn’t say anything. Taking that as a sign to continue Einael proceeded to elaborate.

“To hunt is to provide for your brethren what is necessary to them, cater to their needs. That can and oftentimes will be met by different methods, not involving hurting other living creatures, but there are times when one does not have the freedom of choice and needs to take drastic measures. To hunt is to do such a thing, to take drastic measures to ensure ones survival and to provide to others in their time of need. It is to take everything that has a use and is currently needed, but not more than necessary, and make sure that used in the end it gets. It is also to honor your prey, for it too had a life, and in death it serves to further your own existence. That is what it means to hunt.”

“…so you hunt to survive?” I summed his lengthy explanation with half a sentence, looking at him oddly. He was definitely a strange one.

“Aye, that is sadly correct.” He nodded in response.

“Then why didn’t you say so in the first place?!” Rainbow snapped at him. “You could just say: ‘I did that to survive’ and not bother with this philosophical mumbo-jumbo.” The guy looked at her, and his eyes for the first time from the moment he arrived here seemed to hold mirth in them.

“Alas, I fear that my eagerness to teach the younger generations once again overtook my better judgment. Sincerest apologies, my dear.”

For a moment there Rainbow looked like she didn’t know exactly how to respond to that. I don’t blame her either, the guy had a way with words that made even a simple ‘sorry’ sound like an elaborate essay. That and it probably was her first time being addressed to as ‘dear’ by someone else than Rarity. She quite quickly shook the confusion out of her system however and once again glared at Einael.

“You know what? I don’t give a flying feather about your apology.” There was a loud ‘language RD’ from Applejack after that, but she ignored it. “And you know why? It’s not me you should be apologizing to. If anything, you should be apologizing to her!” And with that said she stepped aside, revealing Fluttershy, still in Rarity’s comforting embrace and still sniffing loudly.

Einael, once Rainbow Dash stepped aside, focused his eyes on the two embraced mares. In response Fluttershy fidgeted away, hiding behind both Rarity and a curtain of her pink hair, hoping that he would ignore her. In the meantime Rarity glared at the native, giving him a look so disapproving that if it was directed at me, I would most probably keel over and die that very instant. Somewhere in this picture there was of course Pinkie Pie, but one glance at her was enough confirmation for me –while everypony was concentrated on Fluttershy, they completely overlooked the fact that Pinkie was basically broken. In other terms –she still sat as still as a statue.

The self-proclaimed reluctant hunter, after getting the not-so-subtle hint from RD decided to make amends. Stepping over the lifeless body of the boar he closed the distance between himself and Fluttershy (and Rarity) in a few long steps. Once that was accomplished he lowered himself to the ground, sitting in front of the two mares cross-legged, and waited. Of course this didn’t go well with Fluttershy, as her innate shyness combined with her fear of this guy and her still fresh, painful memories of whet must have been in her eyes a murder took over her actions. If not for the fact that she still was in Rarity’s embrace she would have tried to flee no doubt. Is it was however, she was cowering under his gaze, trying to put as many barriers between herself and him as possible, be it distance, her hair or Rarity herself. The fact that he only sat there, not saying a word and just looking at her with those alien eyes of his didn’t help.

For the better part of the next minute Einael just sat there, looking at Fluttershy with those weird eyes of his. Under closer inspection however I was able to notice that he was more or less looking not at her as a whole, but rather at her ears. Taking a glance at them and then back at him I noticed his face was slowly adopting a truly melancholic expression, like if her ears served as a reminder of something quite sad to him. Hm… come to think of it, Fluttershy’s ears were quite similar to his own, if not a fair bit shorter. Was it only a coincidence, or was Fluttershy in a body of something related in some way to Einael’s species?

After a minute more the hunter finally decided to speak. What he spoke however… well, it was many kinds of strange. For starters, it was not Equestrian. Come to think of it, I shouldn’t be that surprised by that and actually be more confused when he spoke our language in the first place, but that’s just hindsight. The language he spoke was more similar in sound to his name –a strange dialect that would most probably be a nightmare to pronounce. The second thing was that Fluttershy apparently understood it, if her reacting to it was anything to go by. Sadly, I didn’t understand a word he said, and judging by Applejack’s confused expression neither did she. The rest however, with the noticeable exception of the still unresponsive Pinkie Pie seemed to have no problem getting what he meant.

This whole situation brought to light yet more questions to the already large pile of them. How did Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash of all ponies know a completely foreign language? I mean I doubt that anypony in Equestria spoke in this language, so how were they able to understand and most probably use it? Was it somehow connected to the powers that transformed us into what we were now? And if so than why did it work only on a few of us, leaving me and AJ in the dark? If only Twilight was with us…

Seeing that I couldn’t do anything to help with the Fluttershy crisis I decided to shift my attention to Pinkie Pie. She was after all still shell-shocked by what she saw, if her sitting completely still for more than five minutes at a time was anything to go by. Besides, Applejack seemed to have the same idea and she already was on her way to Pinkie, so at least I wouldn’t be alone while trying to snap the pink mare out of whatever she was in. Still: the way she was staring at that dead boar, like if she expected it to stand up and run along –pure, concentrated creepiness at its finest.

The two of us tried valiantly to restore Pinkie to her normal, cheerfully random self, but alas –we had no such luck. She acted as if she didn’t hear or see us and just sat there, staring unblinkingly with those blue eyes of hers at that boar, like if she was somehow morbidly fascinated by it. We tried everything we could think of: waving our ‘claws’ in front of her face, snapping our fingers inches from her ears (I was actually surprised AJ got a hang of it that quickly), shaking her shoulders violently, telling her there was an ‘all you can eat cupcake-eating contest’ nearby, you name it. I even proposed that we should find some water and dump it on her head or something, but considering none of us knew where to find any water or in what to transport it for that matter we quickly abandoned that idea.

Running out of options we were faced with a rather uncomfortable thought –it could very well end up with us having to resort to shock therapy and whack her on the head to get any sort of response out of her. And considering Fluttershy said she most probably had a concussion than yeah… not good at all. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no other method aside from maybe leaving her alone to recover on her own, and as that could very well take from ten minutes to ten days we really didn’t have much choice.

Applejack forced a broken off branch in my ‘claws’.

“Ya better do this Spike.” She said uneasily, shifting like if the thought of hitting Pinkie Pie was physically uncomfortable to her. “Ah… Ah jus’ can’t do it mahself. Ah would probably screw up big time an’ do more harm than good. ‘Sides, yer not as strong as Ah am, yer less likely ta seriously hurt her.”

“What?! No way!” I immediately protested, pushing the branch back to her. “I’m not gonna do something like that, forget it! And you think you’re going to screw up? Well, so am I! There’s not a week that I don’t screw up something, and the last time I did that was about a week ago. You do the math.”

“Well Ah ain’t gunna try an’ be subtle with this, ‘cause ya know full well Ah don’t do subtle.” She replied, trying to force the branch back to me.

“And I’m not risking hurting her more than she already is!” Was my response. By now it looked more like a game of hot potato than anything else, and it seemed that it could very well last for quite some time if nothing were happen. Fortunately, something did happen, and in the nick of time too.

“You mean you're going to eat it?!” A sudden shrill cry interrupted our little argument, forcing the both of us to look in the direction it came from. The simple fact it was spoken (more or less) in Equestrian was enough to warrant our attention.

After but a moment we found the source of the cry. It actually wasn’t that big of a surprise when it became clear that it was Rarity that shouted. She looked truly disgusted, her face acquiring a greenish tint to it, and she looked at this whole Einael character like if he just declared he was going to do something truly repulsive. Judging by what she shouted out –it probably had to do with the boar and his eating habits. Not to sound rude but that took her long enough –you would think that once she acquired actual canine teeth she would at least begin questioning the diet of the creature she changed into. I mean seriously –she had fang-like teeth now, it was obvious that whatever she (or rather we; I know for a fact that everypony in our group had canines now) was now was at best an omnivore. And thankfully it seemed that I wasn’t the only one that figured that out.

“Now, now Rarity, you don’t have to shout. It’s perfectly natural and I suspected as much after mister Einael told us about how his friends depended on him finding something to eat.” It seemed that Fluttershy finally calmed down and actually stopped being so afraid of the local. I wonder what the guy told her that made her treat him like the rest of her acquaintances, us included. That was definitely record time right there.

From where I was looking from I was able to notice Rarity giving Fluttershy an incredulous look. “Darling, you can’t be serious. You call something as barbaric as eating other creatures natural? It’s… It’s like if you suddenly decided to eat your own animal friends, how would you feel about that?”

“Hey, now that’s a low blow Rarity!” Rainbow butted in, noticing the unease appearing on her pegasus friend’s face. “Of course Fluttershy wouldn’t eat her own critters, that’s just wrong!”

“Well I do suppose that my example was a bit drastic, but the point still stands –if eating other creatures is in any way natural, than would you be willing to do that?”

“If I may be so bold as to add my own thoughts on the matter.” Einael decided to step in, sounding as formal as ever. “As long as one’s body is capable of properly digesting food from a specific source I do believe that eating that kind of meal is perfectly natural for the individual. However, creatures blessed by intelligence normally have also free will, and it is their conscience that should dictate their diet. I do believe it is safe to assume that you are of the firm believers of the superiority of the vegetarian cuisine, miss Rarity?”

Strange… I may not have understood the conversation before it reverted back to Equestrian, nor did I pay that much attention to it for the last few minutes, but I think I would've noticed when somepony mentioned our names to this guy. As it is however, I can’t seem to remember if that actually happened. Ah well… just my musings, ‘tis all. What truly matters is Rarity’s answer to the hunter’s question.

“Yes, I… we are vegetarians.” Her reply was curt, accompanied by a quick, sharp nod. Einael seemed not to mind her surprisingly gruff (for her at least) behavior and smiled that mirthless, melancholic smile of his.

“That is a very noble choice of diet –a choice indicating that you value all life, be it self-conscious or not. I respect it with all my heart. I however am not a vegetarian myself, and amongst other things I do eat meat,  seeing it both as a delicious meal and as a very good source of energy. All I ask you is not to judge me by my diet, as I do not judge you for yours.”

I think I saw Rarity blush from embarrassment at that. She seemed flustered now, Einael’s words, as true as they come, having a rather strong effect on her. Forgetting that the world didn’t end on ponies wasn’t something that a citizen of Equestria should do, especially considering many farms back home keep pigs and sell them for export to the griffon country of Eagleland for obvious purposes. Not that Rarity would know much about that, though with some of her orders coming from the land of griffins she should at least know the basics. But I digress, and the purple maned fashionista finally found her voice it seemed.

“Well, if you put it that way then I suppose I can look beyond that. It doesn’t mean that I like it though.” She added hastily, as to not leave any doubt about that she thought about this whole thing. The hunter seemed to be satisfied with her reply, and he was about to get up from his position on the ground when something completely unforeseen by all of us happened.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name, mister?” What the… Did Pinkie just snap out of it on her own? One look in the place where she was just seconds ago seemed to confirm that for me and Applejack –she truly was up and about. And it seemed that she initiated operation ‘greet new guy and make friends with him’, if the torrent of words directed at him was any indicator.

“…do you like cake? I love cake, especially chocolate cake, but I do like other flavors too, like strawberry or vanilla, just like the three classic ice-cream flavors. Speaking of ice-cream, what’s your favorite? Oh, oh… Lemme guess, I love guessing games…” I might not exactly like the guy, but I still felt sorry for him. He had no idea what he had just gotten himself into. Hm… come to think of it, wasn’t Pinkie supposed to have…

“Ugh… I don’t feel so good… How do you stop this crazy merry-go-round?… Raritycatchme!”

“Wha… Pinkie! Are you alright darling?” Yep, a concussion. As Pinkie collapsed into Rarity’s outstretched arms it was clear that she didn’t just miraculously heal like usual. It seemed that her unexplainable Pinkie Powers had diminished once she ended up in this place, and that was a frightening thought to be sure.

Einael’s face was one of bewilderment and slight concern. “What did just… How did… Is there something wrong with the little one?” He finally managed to ask. It was Rainbow Dash that answered him, tough she had to stifle an amused snort to do that.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Pinkie Pie’s just being her usual self, more or less.”

“Um… Rainbow? I believe mister Einael was referring to Pinkie suddenly collapsing.” Fluttershy meekly butted in, eying Rarity’s attempts at helping the pink mare with worry. The cyan mare adopted a ‘oh yeah, you’re probably right’ kind of look as her meek friend turned to the hunter, her eyes never leaving her injured friend. “You see mister Einael, Pinkie Pie had a teeny tiny accident and hit her head. That’s where the bump on her forehead comes from.”  At this AJ shifted with guilt. “Now I can’t be sure, but it appears that she has a concussion, and she probably shouldn’t be up and about.”

“Oh… but that’s boooring!” Whined Pinkie Pie from her place in Rarity’s lap, only to cringe a bit as the throbbing in her head worsened.

“But you really should rest up and let the concussion pass… if that’s okay I mean…” In typical Fluttershy fashion she trailed off by the end, tough she did approach the pink mare and began assisting Rarity in taking care of their injured friend. In the meantime our uninvited guest seemed to be deep in thought about something. Furrowing his brows, he looked at Pinkie Pie and her two temporary ‘nurses’, and then he shot a glance at the rest of us, like if he was trying to figure something out. Finally, after a moment of silence he spoke:

“The state of some of your companions is worrisome to say the least, miss Fluttershy.” He started, glancing once again at Rainbow Dash (who glared back at him, feeling his statement was a jab at her) and strangely accenting the mare’s name, like if it sounded weird to him. “With one of them injured in the side and one indisposed due to a concussion I would have to say that you all are in a very uncomfortable situation, especially if it means spending any prolonged periods of time in the wild, even in a forest as small and tame as Tickwood.”

“Small and tame?! Are you kidding me?! You call this crazy forest that we were running around for the last few hours, almost getting ourselves killed small and tame?!” By this point Rainbow Dash was close to exploding. She glared at the hunter with the intensity of a thousand suns, looking wilder and wilder with each passing sentence. I didn’t blame her either –some of us nearly died here and this guy just called this place tame of all things? If this is tame than I don’t want to see what’s considered as wild around here, that’s for sure.

Einael only lifted an eyebrow in response.

“Tickwood is about one and a half mile long, and in its widest part it is less than five hundred yards wide.” Was his answer. Those numbers however were enough to make both RD and AJ completely flabbergasted.

“Ya mean ta tell us that we were lost in sumthing as small as that?!” Applejack blurred out as the first, only seconds later joined by a loud ‘what?!’ from Rainbow. The hunter nodded sagely in response.

“I do realize that it may sound rather insulting, hearing that someone has gotten lost in such a small forest, but do not sell yourself short, miss Applejack.” Again –how did this guy know AJ’s name, and why did he say it like if he was saying something funny? “Trying to navigate in an unfamiliar place, especially in the dead of night is like trying to find your way through a maze while wearing a blindfold. Only the most experienced should try something like that, and even then mistakes are almost unavoidable.”

“Uh… thanks, Ah guess.” AJ replied awkwardly, not entirely sure if she should be reassured by his words or not. The native however didn’t give her time to ponder that as he continued his prior line of thought.

“Now as I said, the condition of your friends is worrisome, and in normal circumstances I would gladly extend an invitation for your group to come with me and spend the night in the relative safeness of the camp I and my companions have set up.”

“Normally… so you’re not inviting us?” I asked the obvious question. In response the guy nodded, an apologetic smile playing on his lips.

“Alas, I fear that getting to our camp would be more problematic than it would be worth it in the end. We would need to cross the Turandarok River and traverse a part of the Devil’s Platter’s numerous ravines to get there, and I fear that it would be too hard a journey to partake in with injured companions. The walk down there would take at the very least an hour and a half, and by then it would already be light. Not to mention that with your choice of cuisine you would end up being hungry, for we only have this boar to spare.” Of course at the mention of eating the hog Rarity once more looked like she was going to gag, but she managed to control herself enough not to do that. I for my part was more interested in the names the guy was giving us; the forest being called Tickwood I could understand, it being infested with those giant arachnids and whatnot, but Turandarok River? That name didn’t make any sense to me. Was there someone (hearing the guy speak I gathered that they use the more general pronoun instead of the racial one) named Turandarok that discovered this river or something, cause that’s the second most popular practice while naming places back home. And Devil’s Platter… why did it sound suspiciously like Ghastly Gorge to me?

“So what do ya suggest we do then?” Asked Applejack, eying the hunter warily once more. It was clear his refusal to help didn’t go well with her. In response Einael looked at her with those black and tale eyes of his and inclined his head a bit, as if bowing slightly.

“I may not have invited you to come with me, but I can still help. You see, there is this small, quiet town nearby by the name of Sandpoint. It is a helpful community, filled with good men and women, and there is more than one healer there that will no doubt help you get back to full health. It is also close by, and the road there is easier than trying to traverse the wilds, so I would be more than glad to give you proper directions to get there.”

We exchanged glances at that, trying to figure out what to do. Einael was offering to show us the way to a local town, and we all agreed that it was a good idea to go check it out and at least try to get some medical help for Pinkie and RD. Problem is –we didn’t know if we should do that. I for one didn’t trust this guy for some reason, he just seemed too odd for my liking. Secondly, and it became apparent to the rest quite quickly too –we still didn’t know the whereabouts of Twilight. For all we knew she could be somewhere in this forest and need our help, and with us going to this Sandpoint place we would be all but abandoning her. Taking all that into account AJ decided to act as our spokesmare:

“We thank ya kindly for the offer, but we still need ta find somepo… someone in this here forest. Ya see, we got separated an’ we haven’t seen hide nor hair of our friend since. We jus’ can’t let her wander ‘round all by herself, she can get into some kinda trouble an’ could need our help.”

“Yeah, exactly! We can’t just leave Twilight here, some kind of crazy tick-thing or something could attack her or something like that! We need to go and find her!” Added Rainbow enthusiastically, only to again clutch at her side in pain.

After hearing that Einael frowned for a moment, and we couldn’t be sure if he was insulted by our refusal or did he do that in thought. We waited for him to say something, and sure enough after a moment he looked at us inquisitively.

“I sadly do not recall anyone by the name of ‘Twilight’, but I did run into someone earlier this night.” That instantly got our attention. We all looked at him with expectation, probably unnerving him a little bit if him stepping back was anything to go by. “A young lady, an elf like me, fairly attractive. If I recall correctly, she had purple eyes and straight hair with two streaks in different colors running through them. Seemed quite nice if not a fair bit lost, and quite nervous of me, tough that changed once we exchanged a few words. Sadly I did not think to ask what was her name, so I cannot be sure if it was the companion you were referring to.”

Wow, that… that was just fantastic! The guy still seemed suspicious to me, but there was no denying it –he just gave us a quite detailed description that fit with how Twilight looked and acted quite well. He also mentioned that she was now of his kind, so we would know what to look for, not to mention that we had another name to call the local species. That wasn’t however that important right now –we needed to squeeze as much information out of this guy about Twi’s whereabouts as possible.

“When did you see her?! How far away from here was she?! Where did she go?!” I asked (more like shouted out) my questions in rapid succession. Einael looked at me with surprise in his eyes, not expecting such an outburst from me, and gestured for me to calm down.

“Easy there, little one. There is no need to get so excited.” He said, and waited until I calmed down. That took the better part of the next minute.

“So it is safe to assume that this ‘Twilight’ person is the one I just described to you?” He asked, and in response got six rapidly nodding heads. “I see. Then you should be happy to know that she seemed to be in good health. And as for your questions, master Spike…” again with names he shouldn’t know, but I was too interested with getting my answers to take much notice of it “…it was about three hours ago that I had ran into her. It was a fair bit west of here, almost at the feet of the Ravenroost Hills. And as with you, I offered her directions towards Sandpoint, and she accepted. I believe it is safe to assume that she already is there, most probably waiting for you as we speak.”

That seemed plausible to say the truth. If Twilight thought that we listened to her orders and didn’t come near her when she was having those problems with her magic, she could just as well believe that she was the only one transported here. Then it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise that she didn’t look for us. Either that or this guy was lying to us big time, but with his accurate description of Twi and Applejack not calling his bluff it was the less likely of options.

We looked at each other yet again, coming to a silent agreement. We were going to go with Einael’s word, for better or for worse. We didn’t in fact have any choice in the matter to be honest –with Pinkie and RD out of commission and even if Twi was in fact still somewhere in this forest, we needed to get to some kind of civilization, and fast. So, nodding at one another in silent agreement, we looked at our hopeful guide.

“Those are most wonderful news, my good sir.” Rarity started, adopting the role of our spokesmare. “It’s really a relief that Twilight ran into you and that you were able to point her in the direction of safety. With that being said however, we believe that you were about to share the directions towards this whole ‘Sandpoint’ place with us, hm?”

“Naturally.” He nodded curtly and launched into a detailed explanation how to get from the clearing we were in to the town he had mentioned. Long story short: we were to march up north until we came to the forest edge, than take a left turn and go along a road that he called the ‘Lost Coast Road’ and pass a range of ragged, broken hills called the ‘Ravenroost’. According to his words, Sandpoint was just over two miles away, but with a well-kept road to use and no rivers to cross the trip shouldn’t take longer than an hour, and that’s after taking into account Pinkie’s and Rainbow’s conditions. All in all it seemed that this wouldn’t be that strenuous a trip after all.

“Seems simple enough.” Muttered AJ, memorizing the directions the guy gave us. “An’ ya say that sun’s ‘bout ta come out in an hour or so?”

“Indeed, it should be dawning by the time you get to Sandpoint, that is if you decide to depart within the next few minutes.” Einael replied, nodding absentmindedly. It seemed like if he was deep in thought about something, and only after a moment did he continue, his voice sounding like if he was adding something as an afterthought. “Normally I do not believe in charity, opting to as the proverb goes ‘teach how to fish rather than give a fish myself’, but considering your position I believe that a concession from the norm is in place.”

“Hold up. Whaddya mean ‘charity’? We don’t need no charity!” Rainbow as always protested the moment she heard something even remotely implying her weakness. I swear, her pride’s going to someday make her participate in something so stupid and dangerous that Pinkie Pie’s random pastry experiments would look tame and logical in comparison. Fortunately, this wasn’t that day, and we had Applejack to keep the rainbow maned mare in check.

That didn’t mean that she was 100% okay with accepting charity herself.

“Rainbow maybe ain’t the most well-behaved ma… woman Ah know, but Ah hafta agree with her: whaddya mean by ‘charity’?” Just as I said, she wasn’t thrilled. Comes with living on a farm and having to work for every single bit I wager. Our interlocutor shifted uneasily under her gaze.

“My apologies, I did not mean to insult anybody with my words.” He began quickly explain himself. “What I meant by ‘charity’ is a form of material help. I wanted to present you with some items that would most probably come in handy on your way to Sandpoint.”

“Hm… that does sound kinda like charity to me.” I muttered to myself, earning a half-hearted glare from the hunter. Even so a chill ran down my spine –those alien eyes of his were downright terrifying.

“Once again my apologies. I may have used it extensively for the better part of my life, but even so I sometimes use misplaced words or direct translations while speaking the common tongue. I am so much more comfortable with elven.” Okay, so we learned another thing –Equestrian was apparently considered as the ‘Common Language’ here, or our language was similar enough to pass for it here. Come to think of it, Equestrian was probably the common tongue back home as well; maybe I don’t know any foreign ponies myself, but I’m pretty sure all of them speak the same language. Heck, I think even the griffins use Equestrian as their own.

Einael’s words seemed to somewhat calm the two most hot-headed mares in our group, as both of them ceased glaring daggers at him. Taking the less intense looks he was getting as a prompting to continue, our guest kneeled on the ground and unfastened something from his belt. At first I didn’t pay it that much attention, not to mention it was partially hidden under his cloak, but now it became obvious that Einael had something like a miniature saddlebag attacked to his pants’ belt (or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a pouch, or a hip-pouch to be exact?). Once his pouch was on the ground in front of him he began rummaging through it.

It took our guest less than a few seconds to locate what he was searching for. He pulled out of his hip-pouch three two hoof long iron rods with golden tips on their ends, and carefully placed them on the ground. Once that was done he reached with one of his ‘claws’ (seriously, there must be a better way to call those appendages, I just know it) to the inside of one of his boots and pulled out of it something that looked kind of like a knife in a leather holster. Why did he carry something like that in his boot I have no idea, but the point is –he added it to the pile of golden-tipped rods.

We looked at the items our guest had given us with mostly blank looks. As much as we could  guess what was the use of the knife he gave us, we had no idea what to do with those metal rods. Fortunately, seeing our confused expressions our benefactor launched into an explanation.

“As you may well know, the darkest part of the night is not midnight, nor is it any time directly before or after that. In fact, the night is at its darkest just before dawn. Seeing as you will most probably be traveling through the forest exactly at that time, I decided to give you these three sunrods. Once struck hard enough, the golden tips of these peculiar alchemical products glow with light bright enough to illuminate everything within thirty feet and shed additional yet dimmer light even further. These are really useful tools, the alchemical process producing the light not needing any air to take place and being water-resistant makes sunrods work even when completely submerged. Additionally, the process is slow enough that the glow persists for about six hours, a time long enough for you to get to the safety of Sandpoint’s walls with absolutely no problems, even if you decided to dawdle here for much longer. Tough I guess that then you would not be in need of these anymore.” He added with a half-smile. I was however too engrossed with what I heard. This guy… sounded almost like a salesmare (or rather stallion) advertising his product. That is I admit, those ‘sunrods’ sounded quite interesting, but the way the hunter spoke was hilarious. Kinda makes me wonder what did he normally do for a living.

Our private sales-stallion continued his explanations, moving to the second, more obvious item. “I assume that this does not need to be explained. I see that you lack any serious weapons to defend yourselves with…” He eyed the broken off branches we were using as impromptu weapons with mild amusement “…so I decided that I might as well part with one of my own. It is not much, I know, but this dagger is definitely better than what you already have in your possession, and even if you will not have the need to use it, which I do hope you will not have to resort to, you can always sell it in Sandpoint for some coin. Judging by the lack of moneybags on you I gather that you are in dire need of it, and in these times everything has its costs.”

That did seem right, and as we weren’t prepared for something like this to happen none of us had any bits with them. Accepting his ‘gifts’ AJ was the first to take the laid out items and upholster the dagger to inspect it.

Now I’m no expert in this kind of stuff, the only knifes I know are butter knifes and the odd butchers knife (don’t ask), so my surprise was adequate to my ignorance. The handle of the dagger seemed to be wrapped with a rather dull looking cloth, tough I suspect it was placed there to protect Einael’s foot from getting in contact with it. The blade however, that was a completely different story.

The dagger’s blade was a one sided steel affair, making it resemble a knife. However it was also curved in a way that prevented it from being confused with normal tableware. The blade was quite long, reaching almost two hoofs in length alone, as well as rather thin, making it seem like a weapon ideal for stabbing. Come to think of it, it was so long that I had a hard time understanding how Einael even managed to fit it inside his own boot. But I digress. Back to the blade –in the dim light the slowly dying out fire was providing the metal of the dagger seemed to gleam with a multitude of small, intricate carvings, like if the blade itself was decorated with fine artwork, forming an almost unseen pattern along its length. I may not be an expert, but this piece of metal most probably would fetch a really nice price, tough why would somepony someone decorate something like a weapon, an implement of war, was beyond me.

I wasn’t the only one admiring the craftsmanship of the dagger. Applejack, who of course was the one to collect it in the first place was looking at it with interest, tough she didn’t look particularly impressed by it. The carvings on the blade seemed not to be too interesting to her, tough I suspect she was looking at it more in the way of usefulness. Rainbow however, once she got closer to the farmpony was looking at it with the expression that said only one thing: ‘that is sooo awesome!’. The most interesting reaction we got from Rarity, who managed to shift Pinkie Pie from herself onto Fluttershy and took a look. At first she looked at it with close to no interest at all, probably seeing the dagger as yet another barbaric tool. That all changed once she noticed the decorative pattern on the blade. She stared at the piece of metal like if she was transfixed by it, and only after AJ sheathed it did she snap out of it, her eyes still lingering on the concealed weapon. It seemed that she got interested by it, her eye for details and beauty picking up something that corresponded to her interests.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually volunteered to carry it now.

During the time we looked at the presented weapon our benefactor seemed to slowly gather his other belongings and prepare to depart. His hip-pouch was  already fastened to his belt and he collected the discarded bow from the ground, slinging it over his back and partially under his cloak. Apparently he had something like a holster for his weapon there. About the time Applejack finally concluded her inspection of the received dagger he was looking at the boar on the ground in a manner that clearly spoke that he was trying to figure out how to best transport it.

“We thank ya kindly for the gifts, but Ah’m afraid we can’t accept ‘em.” I looked again at Applejack as she spoke that with shock. Was she returning the things Einael gave us? Looking at her, the glint in her eyes spoke volumes about what was going on in her head, and the fact she laid the items back on the ground only reinforced that image. She did in fact want to give it back, and the way she was looking at the hunter was quite clear –she didn’t trust him, nor did she trust the stuff he gave us. That little detail however was completely overlooked by Rarity and RD, who both looked at her with shocked expressions.

“Wait a moment darling, what do you mean we can’t accept the gifts?” Asked Rarity, clearly confused by her decision. AJ’s response was quick and to the point.

“Ah’m not comfortable with acceptin’ stuff from strangers, even if they seem like the honest sort. Learned that from Granny Smith, an’ Apple Family Tradition’s something Ah try ta uphold.”

“Yes, well, tradition is a good thing and all but think of the situation we’re in darling.” Rarity tried to reason with her, however her eyes were shifting in the direction of the dagger clearly indicated what she was thinking herself. “We’re in this dreadful forest with who-knows-what kind of monstrosities stalking it, alone, in the dark, and with no money on our names. We just cannot afford to refuse something like this.”

“Yeah, Rarity’s right AJ! As much as my awesome abilities should be enough for me to handle things without help, the rest of the girls need some kind of extra protection. Besides, it’s not as if we’re about to trample your tradition or anything, we’re just going to take stuff that’s really useful in the situation we’re in right now.” Added Rainbow Dash, as confident as ever. AJ seemed to not share those sentiments however.

“We can manage on our own, Ah know we can.” She said, shaking her head. “We don’t need no help from the outside, no offense.”

“None taken.” Replied the hunter, however it was clear that he was at least a bit disappointed by what AJ just said. Rainbow and Rarity however weren’t going to give up that easily.

“Like you said AJ, we can do it on our own. But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, right?” Okay, that was different. From when did Rainbow think like that? After those words however she lowered her voice so that our guest couldn’t hear her. “Besides, it’s dark as hay and we kinda need those sunrods to see where we’re going. And that dagger thing is just too cool to pass up.” Phew, for a moment there I was afraid that Rainbow’s brain just short-circuited or something, but no –everything seemed alright.

“Rainbow’s right you know.” Added Rarity. “We need to get Pinkie Pie to a doctor or some other kind of physician, we can’t be sure if that concussion that may I remind is your fault to begin with is dangerous to her or not, and those sunrods would be quite useful to get through this wretched forest faster. And do you think I will go around in public being seen with something as crude as one of those wooden clubs?” Now that was just plain mean of Rarity, even I’ll admit that. Using Applejacks feeling of guilt against her was most definitely a low blow, I’m surprised that somepony as fair as our resident fashionista would stoop down to such a level. It was very effective though, as proven by AJ guilt-ridden face.

“Ah… Ah guess y’all right.” She muttered downcast, after which she looked dejectedly at Einael. “Ah’m sorry that Ah change mah mind so often, it’s just…”

“There is no need to explain yourself young Applejack, I am not as petty as to take that as an insult.” He interrupted her, gesturing soothingly. “All I wanted was to assist your group, ‘tis all. You did strike me as honest and genuinely good folk, so I am more than happy to help in whatever way I can.”

“So we still can take the stuff you gave us, right?” Asked Rainbow Dash, looking with interest at both the dagger and the sunrods. In response the hunter nodded.

“Yes, by all means, it belongs to you now.” You didn’t need to say that twice. As quickly as possible Rarity dove for the intricately decorated dagger, winning in a contest of speed with none other than Rainbow Dash herself. The slightly surprised, not to mention annoyed cyan pegasus grumbled something about unfair advantages and stupid injured sides and picked up the three gold-tipped iron rods.

I watched the exchanged with mild amusement, yet still I kept Einael in my sight, just in case. It might have seemed odd, but for some reason I still felt that this guy was fishy in some way, and AJ’s suspicious glances along with her earlier refusal to accept those items only reinforced that feeling. From what I could see however he did seem to act normally, or at least I think it was normal, considering I didn’t know this guy. Not sparing the girls a second glance as RD and Rarity argued as to who should be on ‘dagger duty’ as the multicolored mare put it, he finally seemed to figure out how to go about transporting his prey.

I finally averted my gaze from the two bickering mares and concentrated my full attention on what the hunter was doing. Einael, who as I already stated seemed to have figured out how to go about the boar took a few steps towards the hog. Then, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, which it could actually be for all I knew he reached with both his ‘claws’ for the already limp legs of the animal and grabbed them, two hooves in each ‘claw’. Then, with a slight grunt he lifted the animal and hefted it above his head, letting it drop onto his shoulders with an audible thud. Seeing all that happen… well, now I knew for certain: if this guy could lift over 300 pounds and was able to walk with it on his back, especially while being a bipedal creature, than I really, really didn’t want to get on his bad side. This guy was a beast.

“I will be taking my leave now.” He said, gaining the attention of the girls as he readjusted the weight on his shoulders. They looked at him, some of them in shock at his display of raw strength, and he nodded slightly in their direction. “I wish you the best of luck on your journey to Sandpoint. Maybe someday we will meet again.”

He turned around and was about to go his way when I decided to do something completely unplanned.

“Wait a moment, I have one last question!” I shouted after him. To my relief he did stop and he half-turned to me, looking over one of the legs of his prey with a raised eyebrow. “If Sandpoint’s so close, than why didn’t you and your friends go there and resupply? I mean it’s way easier than hunting, right?” He looked at me with those eyes of his, his face not betraying any of his thoughts. Only after a full minute did he respond, his voice sounding like if he was trying to hide something from us.

“Let me phrase it like this: during our last stay there one of my companions got into a little misunderstanding with the local authorities. Nothing serious mind you, it just seems that he has too… ‘sticky hands’… for his own good. Long story short, we were allowed to leave town under the promise of never returning back there. A shame really; Sandpoint is a peaceful and quite beautiful place, and not being able to go there really saddens me.”

“So you’re thieves?” I asked quite bluntly, prompting a series of gasps from the girls, especially Rarity, not to mention Pinkie’s overly loud one. In hindsight I think I was really pushing it, but fortunately for me, Einael didn’t seem that angered by my accusation…

“I have not stolen anything in the entirety of my two hundred years of life!” Okay, so he did get a bit annoyed at that, but fortunately for me, he seemed to calm down after taking a few deep breath and grunting some while once again readjusting the boar on his shoulders. “Please, do not call me a criminal for the actions of one of my less law-abiding associates. Now, if there is no more stupid questions and groundless accusations pointed at me, I will take my leave. Farewell.” And with that rather cold goodbye he all but stormed in the direction from which he came from, leaving us alone again, standing in the weakening glow of the slowly dying out campfire.

“Well… that went well.” I muttered, letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Just as I said –the guy could be (and was) terrifying. The girls however didn’t seem to share my point of view, at least most of them didn’t.

“Spike, that was uncalled for!” Scolded Rarity outraged, looking at me disapprovingly. I admit, I flinched once I received that look. “You can’t just go around and accuse ponies… people of thievery, especially if they are helping us!”

“Yeah, that was like totally uncool.” Added Rainbow. Even Fluttershy seemed to look at me with disappointment. I definitely didn’t want to something like this happen to me again, all those looks of disappointment and outrage, especially the one coming from the one mare I cared for the most (aside from maybe Twilight), it was something horrible. Still, even if they were angry with me now didn’t mean that I was going to just change my opinion of this Einael character –I did not trust him. He just rubbed me the wrong way.

After a bit more scolding from Rarity and RD the two seemed to calm down. By that time we already began preparing to move out and try to follow the hunter’s direction to this whole Sandpoint place. We gathered our belongings and on AJ’s request we gathered the branch-clubs and ‘armed’ ourselves with them. One dagger was most definitely not enough to fend off any sort of attack, and she knew that full well and was adamant on us taking this little extra weight with us, just to be on the safe side. Rarity of course complained about that, but as she was the one that was ‘decided’ to carry the only real weapon her arguments had little sway on things.

After about five minutes we were mostly ready. It was decided that Pinkie Pie, whose injury prevented her from walking straight for prolonged periods of time was to be carried to town either by Fluttershy or AJ, as Rainbow was injured herself and she shouldn’t be overexerting herself any more than absolutely necessary. As the pink mare was in her smaller, bipedal form much lighter than normally, the shy pegasus had enough strength to be able to carry her, at least for some time. She even volunteered to do just that, taking most of us by surprise with her decision, and she already was holding onto the most random of ponies, cradling her in her arms like an overgrown child. There really wasn’t anything more to do, so we were just about to set out.

“Y’all go ahead, Ah’m just gonna put out these here fire an’ Ah’ll be with ya right quick.” Applejack suddenly said, taking a step in the fire’s direction. “We don’ wanna start a forest fire now, do we? Could get in a pile of trouble if it spreads.”

We looked at the campfire as it was slowly dying out on its own. Something told me that AJ said that only to be alone for a minute or two, and she just chose the most probable explanation as to why she was going to lag behind for some time. If I was to guess, it had something to do with our recent guest. The girls seemed to think along the same lines as me, I even think I saw Rainbow giving the farmpony an inquisitive look.

“I’ll help you with that.” I decided to say, shifting the ever more suspicious looks from Applejack onto me. “It’ll be quicker if someone helps you.”

“Yeah, um… thank ya kindly Spike.” She answered uneasily, not entirely sure what were my intentions. The girls however didn’t seem to notice that, and having their attention split between me and AJ,  they didn’t notice a thing. After a moment of silence Applejack turned to the rest and urged them on. “Ya'll go on ahead, we’ll be with ya in a bit.”

“Okay… if you say so.” Said Rainbow suspiciously, but nonetheless turned around from the two of us and along with the rest she began marching in the direction both AJ and Einael earlier assured was north. On her way she placed one of the sunrods on a nearby log, most probably for us, and struck the second one’s golden tip against the trunk, prompting it to glow with a bright, clear light. She looked at it for a moment, quite surprised that it actually worked and said something along the lines of  ‘well whaddya know, the guy was right’. Moments later she remembered what she was supposed to do and began her trek through the forest, leaving me alone with Applejack.

AJ seemed to be uneasy with me around and tried to mask that by doing what she told she was going to do to the girls. She probably thought that I genuinely offered my help with putting out the fire. Grabbing a long and sturdy branch she began to spread out the firewood, turning one flame to put out into many smaller. I took an example out of her book and found such a branch myself and accompanied her, even though I knew it was meant to make our work take longer. After a moment of silent work I spoke up.

“You don’t trust that whole Einael character.” It was a statement, not a question. Applejack momentarily froze up, and only after a moment did she turn around to face me, slowly.

“Wha… What gave ya that idea Spike?” She asked, trying to play dumb. Unfortunately for her, she represented the virtue of honesty, and that meant that she couldn’t tell a lie to save her life.

“It’s quite obvious you know: the way you were looking at him, all suspicious-like; using Apple Family Tradition as an excuse not to take the stuff he offered us… It’s all obvious.” I said with a shrug. AJ seemed mortified at hearing that, so I quickly added. “Don’t worry, I don’t exactly trust him either. Guy seemed fishy to me from the start for some reason.” That seemed to put her at ease, as she let out a sigh of relief and resumed her work.

“That’s a relief. Ah was afraid that Ah was the only one ta be suspicious of him.” As she said that she looked at me and smiled a little. “Ah’m surprised that it’s you that figured that out, Ah would expect RD ta be the more suspicious one.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I answered, not entirely sure how to respond to that. After a moment however I shook my head and forced my brain back on track. “So… you picked up any lies off of him? Cause, you know, I only had this sinking suspicion that he wasn’t completely honest with us, I’m not that good at reading ponies… people… whatever they’re called.” AJ seemed to get what I was going on about and she furrowed her brows a bit in concentration, trying to recall whatever she picked up.

After a moment of silent concentration she finally looked up again. “It’s mighty complicated ta say the truth. The big parts, like where this Sandpoint place is or that he seen Twi seemed legit. It’s the small, unimportant parts he didn’t tell the whole truth. He probably ain’t called Einael at all, nor is he only a traveler an’ hunter. To be honest with ya, your question if he’s a thief caught him so off guard that he probably slipped up too much. Ah wouldn’t be surprised if he an’ his friends are a band of thievin’ varmints.”

“That would explain why he was so keen on getting rid of that dagger.” I nodded in agreement. “It's probably stolen or something.”

“Exactly! Didn’t want ta have anythin’ in common with somethin’ that was stolen from somepony.” Suddenly she stopped, once again furrowing her brow, and looked at me questioningly. “Did Ah hear that right when he said he’s more than two hundred years old?”

The question took me by surprise. I looked at the mare before me racking my brain in search for an answer, and only after a couple of seconds did it click for me. Nodding slowly, I agreed with her words. “Yeah, I think he did say something along those lines. You suppose that was a lie too?” I was even more surprised when she shook her head in response.

“Ah don’ think so. He seemed mighty upset ‘bout what ya said an’ didn’t think what he was tryin’ ta say through. Ah actually think he was honest back there. Would explain why he was refferin’ to us as ‘young ones’ most of the time an’ his faraway looks.”

“Yeah, I guess…” I nodded slowly in response, trying to make sense of what I’ve just learned. “Still –two hundred years? Wouldn’t say that only by looking at him, seemed younger than that. But what the heck, for all we know the locals might live longer lives than we back home, or they count years differently. Because I seriously doubt he’s the local equivalent of an alicorn.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right there pardner. Dem elf or whatever he called himself didn’ seemed ta be all that special ta me. ‘Sides, can ya imagine Twi’s reaction if she heard that she all but changed into somethin’ like the kind of pony as that the Princess herself is?” She added, holding back laughter. I form myself almost burst out laughing at that as well.

“Seriously, if Twilight ever turns into an alicorn I’m quitting gems.” I said between snorts. After a moment however I regained my composure and added as an afterthought. “Well, maybe not gems entirely, but rubies. Knowing Twilight, she has the best chances of making that actually happen, second maybe only to Pinkie Pie.” We sniggered at that a bit as well, but aside from that we calmed down enough to continue with our work. By now the firewood was spread out enough for us to be able to easily cover it up with dirt, which we proceeded to do. In the meantime Applejack turned to me with a question of her own.

“So… didja find anythin’ more suspicious ‘bout the whole ‘Einael’ guy?”

“Yeah, well there is the Fluttershy incident.” I muttered, and seeing her nodding at me to continue I did just that. “I mean don’t you find it strange that in less than five minutes he was able to break through ‘Shy’s shell and become all chummy with her? Well, as chummy as he gets I mean, that guy showed no enthusiasm whatsoever. I’m telling ya, it was like some kind of magic, but that can’t possibly be true.”

“Ah hear ya.” AJ nodded at that, tossing a bit of dirt on a particularly hard to extinguish flame. “Ah can’t say Ah understood that gibberish he was spewing, but whatever it was, Ah doubt it could make Fluttershy open up ta him in such a short time. She just ain’t that trusting of strangers. That doesn’t add up.”

“You know, that’s actually another thing I wanted to point out.” I said, making her stop what she was doing and look at me with interest. “How the hay did he know that Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow would understand what he was saying? Come to think of it, how did they know that language in the first place? I didn’t hear them ever speak in it before, and they all seemed to understand what he was saying to them, and if I remember it right they even responded to him in kind a few times. That’s just all kinds of strange right there, even in comparison to us changing into whatever we're right now.”

AJ silently nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything. It seemed that she was to engrossed with her work to actually respond to my words, but one glance was enough to tell me that she was in fact deep in thought. I decided that I too should begin to sum up whet we figured out up to now, especially considering we were nearing the end of our cover work, having only a few small flames to put out.

So: we met a local, that from the start was both lying to us and telling us the truth. He seemed to be genuine when it came to matters that should be important to us, but at the same time made almost completely sure that we didn’t know anything about him in return. He told us that he saw Twilight and pointed us in the direction she went, or rather he sent her in, and he even supplied us with things that would be useful in our trek there. However at the same time he seemed to be all to welcoming to actually part with that dagger, and considering his slip up from before we parted ways it might as well have been stolen. As if that wasn’t enough he somehow knows that some of us knew this strange language that I could only assume was his native tongue, and somehow he was able to make Fluttershy, who was terrified half to death by him just moments earlier to lighten up to him to such an extent that she treated him as one of her friends. Also it appeared that he was possibly older than all of us combined, and yet he was as strong as an ox and didn’t seem to be bothered at all by old age. In other words –we knew absolutely nothing about this guy, nothing that mattered or made sense that is, and he apparently had sway over a large portion of us. Ugh… why do I feel this is not going to end well?

On the bright side, at least after that slip up after I asked him why he didn’t go to Sandpoint himself I learned what those appendages we now had were called. Hands. Hm… that’s odd. Why did an image of a mint green unicorn mare with golden eyes just flashed in my mind? Eh, no matter, I’m sure that’s not important anyway.

Applejack tossed the last handful of dirt on the flames, extinguishing them. That was the unmistakable sign that our time was up and that we should get going and catch up to the rest of the girls. With a wary sigh AJ turned around in the direction the girls went and said, probably more to herself than to me:

“Ah just hope all this ain’t gonna bite us in the keister in the end.” She seemed worried about the whole situation, as I was.

“You think we should tell the others?” I asked hopefully. She quickly shook her head no.

“Nah, that won’t work. The girls seemed ta take a shine to dem ‘Einael’ fellar an’ Ah’m afraid  that nothin’ we say will change that. All we can do is hope for the best and try ta limit the damage if it comes.” And with that she approached the log on which Rainbow Dash left the second sunrod and hit it against the trunk, igniting it and showering the clearing in its bright light. Taking a deep, calming breath she stepped towards the edge of the glade, thus beginning our trek towards the unknown town of Sandpoint.