//------------------------------//
// The night stalking 
// Story: The Adventures of Hasty Cloud 
// by Not-So-Smarty Pants 
//------------------------------//

Swift Glide and his wing-ponies appeared from afar; three black dots against the sky marbled blue and white.
“There’s a pond ahead, not very far from here,” she shouted, soaring to be side to side with Kestrel, “seems nice to me”
“Right,” he nodded to Dawn.
The reddish mare drifted apart the formation and flew down to the grassland. Crossing the emerald sea of tall lawn, the row of earth ponies was a compact, brownish speck advancing. 
“Move them ahead, we found water,” said Dawn, flying again to join the pegasi formation above. Hasty Cloud nodded, setting course.
“Alright everypony!” shouted the mare, accelerating, “Fast and forth!”
The herd below her urged the pace, the ground quaking under the stampede. High in the sky, the pegasi goose-like formation began to descend, marking the place of the pond by flying on circles above it. 
Hasty and the herders went ahead and landed before the earth ponies. There were the usual precautions: making sure the wet ground wouldn’t sink, dragging the ponies under; a look to assure there wasn't an ambush set near the water hole; and, not less important, making sure the water itself was drinkable.
All had the looks of them being the first ones to reach the pond, and it meant they could stay for some more time, before start moving again. Without losing time, the harvesters scattered around; those most vulnerable: too old or too young, or the mares with foals, stayed near the pond, under the sight of the pegasi. 
After a long journey under the heat –a lot, being so early in the season– the fresh water was most than welcome. Fillies and colts didn’t lose time to be splashing and swimming near the muddy banks, and everypony had a chance to take a good long sip, and refill the gourds.
“Big splash!”
“Whoo-hoo!”
Dust Whirl and Hasty Cloud dive-bombed from a good altitude right into the pond, followed by three or four pegasi more. The splash soaked the ponies on the shore, and some brows frowned.
Hasty emerged first, shaking the water off her mane, “Oh it is delicious!”
“I wouldn’t mind staying a couple of days!” Dust nodded, floating on his back, drawing a satisfied smile on his face. A pair of his partners then surfaced and tried to drag him down, laughing. Soon enough, Hasty was joining the struggle.

Three days later, the caravan departed again, rested and ready to reach the Ruby Hills and their rich, sheltered forests. The scout pegasi lifted off and separated along the four corners of the sky, while the herders flew low, all eyes ready to spot danger and find the easiest, safest path for the earth ponies.
“Hey, look!” Dust pointed with his hoof.
Hasty turned to see the right-wing squadron flying on a narrow circle near ground level. They were plunging down and flying up again, as fast as they could. 
“Hasten the pace, everypony!” Hasty shouted, without taking her eyes off the squad of pegasi. The earth ponies did as they were told, looking worriedly in the same direction as the guide mare.
“You think is something serious?” Dust Whirl joined Hasty, casting the same concerned look to his partners.
The question answered itself when the circle of ponies got higher in the air and the formation loosened. While the sigh of Dust Whirl was of relief, the one Hasty Cloud did was most of disappointment.
“Probably it was just a branch or something,” she said, shaking her head, “let’s move on”
Though Hasty was more than ready for a good scramble, betraying a stalker on the spot was often enough to ruin an ambush. Even the biggest earth beasts would give up a hunt without the element of surprise; that was the reason the pegasi were hated to guts by the predators.
Dawn came early that same day to point a resting place, west from their position. Reaching there, however, took them more time than they thought, and by the sunset, the herd arrived to a small rocky elevation. The main boulder was protruding from the steppe floor: a big, uneven rock full of ledges that the pegasi occupied immediately. It was hard to find good perches in the flat terrain of the steppes, and pegasi always felt more comfortable sleeping above ground level.

“Are we complete?” Kestrel asked Dawn.
The mare took a concerned look on the group.
“Peeks and Flapalot hasn’t come back yet,” she said, “I sent them to the rear this morning, and they didn’t report since then”
“Send a patrol to look for them. We have good moonlight tonight,” Kestrel answered.
“Knowing those two, they're probably back at the water hole,” the scout-mare puffed.
“Maybe we should give them until morning. You know…” Dust winked, as Hasty gave air kisses, making everypony laugh.
“Alright, knock it off!” Dawn said everyone, then turned back to Dust and Hasty, “and you two jesters are going out to find them. Bring them back quickly and don’t fool around!”
Hasty knew her father would be gesturing in concern, but also that he wouldn’t change Dawn’s orders without a good reason. Without second thoughts, Hasty and Dust lifted off and drifted away, into the starry night.

“Darn Flapalot!” Dust Whirl looked at one way and the other on the pond’s shore, “he really knows how to hide…”
“Nothing this side, either,” said Hasty, coming out the tall grass, “I don’t think they're anywhere near… Seriously, what’s with those two?” 
“Well, you know: the fresh air of open spaces, the essence of spring in the air, a pair of young, healthy loving ponies in the wild…”
“That’s gross,” Hasty said. 
“Aw, c’mon!” Dust laughed “It’s something natural and beautiful…!”
“Shut up!”
“Oh, don’t be like that--”
“No! Hush! Did you hear that?”
Both ponies stayed on the spot, moving their ears back and forth. First there was nothing, and Hasty thought it was her imagination; but then there it was again: the sound of something moving smoothly through the grass blades, barely making a sound on the ground.
“There they are those featherheads!” Hasty whispered, trotting in the same direction where she heard the noise.
“Wait! How do you know it’s them, blockhead?” Dust stopped her with a worried look.
Hasty huffed, but Dust was right. After all, there were reasons why the pegasi didn’t like to sleep on the ground, and at night, some of those reasons were really, really hungry.
“Let’s go and see what it is, then!” said Hasty, trotting silently and too fast to hear the Dust Whirl’s whispers, calling her back.
She rapidly was surrounded by thick walls of grass, and pitch-black night. Although the first feet she was thinking on how to scare the feathers out of her partners, her steps began to be more careful, as the uncertain of what she was going to find hit her.
She turned back, hearing the noise of something behind her. Seeing nothing, and suddenly realizing that Dust Whirl wasn’t following her, she gulped.
“Dust Whirl?” she sighed, worriedly. Her call didn’t find an answer, “Peeks? Flapalot?”
Nothing, except a gentle rustling from beyond her sight, answered.
“All-riiiiight…” Hasty prepared her wings, ready to dart into the air, “This stopped to be funny, you guys…”
Suddenly, something grasped and gagged her!
The pegasus mare let out a faint cry, at the same time she struggled to make herself free. When she turned, she could see a pair of familiar, shining eyes, looking away with a terrified stare. Hasty Cloud delayed to realize about Dust Whirl’s frightened expression, focused as she was in squashing his skull like a melon; but once she looked on the same direction, the mare paled.
There was a shadow, silhouetted against the moonlight. And it was big.
A large head, almost as big as the body of the ponies, poked out well high on the grass; the sound of noisy sniffing filled the air, along with a disgusting smell of decay.
The ponies backed away, slow and silently, fighting to control their shivers. They both froze when, suddenly, the monster’s head turned to them, revealing two small, perfectly round iridescent eyes.
The beast stooped, advancing to them. There was a low, menacing growl as it approached.
“Go!” Dust Whirl pushed Hasty, making her lift off.
Both pegasi were on the air at the same time a choir of laugh-like crying came from the darkened surroundings. Suddenly there was a whistle, and something flew from the tall grass.
Hasty barely dodged a fast thing moving towards her; Dust Whirl, however, wasn’t that lucky, and the mare saw something, like a flying-spinning spider, catch the stallion with a fierce embrace, taking him down.
As Dust Whirl fell, Hasty plunged down behind him, trying to catch him before he touched the ground. The mare flapped her wings with all her might, trying desperately to catch his unconscious friend. One more foot, one more…
She grappled him with her hooves, embracing him tightly, trying to slow down, but she couldn’t stop rushing to the ground. The falling ponies gained some horizontal, drawing a curve before harshly landing. With a thud, both rolled on the earth, flattening the grass that stood in their fall.
Hasty got up, ignoring the pain on her body. She rushed to Dust Whirl, who lay sideways, barely breathing. He was beyond bruised, and his body was going to ache some good time once he awake… but he was alive, nonetheless. The mare pushed him desperately, looking at all directions, trying to revive him. 
“C’mon! COME ON!” Hasty shook him anxiously, “C’mon Dust, you’re killing me!”
Then she saw the odd artifact attached to the stallion’s body: a weird-looking segmented plate was attached firmly to his side; thick wires, fastened to the plate, were fiercely tethered to the pegasus body, impeding his movement. When Hasty tried to bite them off, she almost splintered her teeth against the impossibly hard material.
“They fell near ‘ere!” a rumbling voice came from the darkness. A new choir of laugh-like barking answered it.
Hasty felt a shiver down her spine when she heard it. She shook fiercely the unconscious pony, but he was faint like a rag doll. The mare gritted her teeth, scared beyond measure, now hearing the hideous noise of the beast sniffing to trace them.
“Darn it, Dust, you’re gonna owe me big time for this!” she wrapped her arms and legs around his partner. Her wings sent a sharp pain through all her body, but the mare used all her strength to lift off; with a grunt, she managed to pick the heavy stallion up, and flew forward as fast as she could.

The silhouette of the pegasi was perfectly visible above the grass: a zigzagging blob barely able to stay airborne. It was a ridiculously easy target.
Alama let out a hissing laugh, as he prepared to throw the snatcher at them. A large, strong paw stopped him.
“Let those one be,” growled Kusaka, smiling viciously, “follow ‘em to the others”
The hunter licked his lips, putting his weapon back to the holster. Silent as the night surrounding them, Alama and his trackers moved forward.