//------------------------------// // Acceptance and Mercy // Story: Canine Complications // by Wages of Sin //------------------------------// She ran and ran, fleeing deeper and deeper into the forest. No path in mind, no place to go, nopony with which to seek refuge, just running. Tears clouded her vision and her own sobbing downing out the sounds of the world around her. Fatigue demanded she stop long ago but she continued.  As exhaustion began to cloud her mind, she made it to a small empty cave. She fell as she entered, writhing from both her burning muscles, and at the indomitable pain in her heart. She was almost happy as she felt her conciseness begin to fade, a sweet relief from her terrible thoughts. "Find her?" asked Applejack as she returned to the impromptu search center they had set up in the library. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity shook their heads solemnly. "Well I looked behind every tree from here to Zecora's and I didn't see hide nor hair of 'er... What if she-" Before the darker sides of possibility could be explored, Rainbow burst through the front door. "Did any of you find her?" she asked hopefully. Solemn faces and shaking heads were all that met her hopeful eyes. She deflated matching the others in silent depression. "So what now..." Pinkie asked after a minute. Her mane had been straight since she had heard of Twilight's run into the forest, but now her neck drooped so that her mane dragged on the ground as well. "We keep looking! She's our friend! We can't abandon her!" Rainbow Dash shouted, startling the other mares with her conviction. Rarity shot her a harsh glare, "Wasn't it you that chased her off? 'Don't abandon our friends'? Didn't you make her run off into that dreadful forest surrounded by those beasts? Isn't this your fault?" Rainbow couldn't respond. Instead she just went back out the way she came in. A trail of water drops following her out the door.  "Smooth Rar-"  "I'm going home." Rarity was out the door before she could respond to Applejacks chastisements. "Fluttershy and Pinkie wordlessly followed as well, leaving only Applejack left in the library. "Twi, I hope you're alright." ---One week later--- Fluttershy had been all but catatonic in the days that followed Twilight being run off. She felt personally responsible for her friend's situation and was heartbroken every time she heard that she had still not come back.  After two whole days of endless comforting by all her animal friends she was still not getting out of bed. It had taken the hungry cries of her bird friends for her to finally get out of bed and feed everyone. She had spent the rest of the week sulking around her cottage, trying her best to avoid thinking about her dear friend in the forest. On the final day of the week, something happened to break her out of her stupor, and pull her out of her home. Integrating into pack life was hard, but Twilight was tough. It had only been a week since the timberwolf pack had followed her into that cave, only a week since they had made their offer, and only a week since she had become the de facto pack leader of the Everfree Timberwolves.  In only a week she had proven herself and been accepted as not only the pack leader, but as the prophesied “burning one". -and today she was finally going to find out what that meant. All that was left before she could become the affirmed pack leader was a traditional hunt. Her own hunt. Twilight stalked towards their prey. She had organized a simple yet effective pincer movement with her taking what amounted to the lead position.  This was her kill.  Till this day she had survived with her sanity intact by thriving on those little rationalizations that she could just accept. Those had included not killing any prey herself, and not taking any more food than would have gone to waste anyway. It was through these simple justifications that she allowed herself to keep the shreds of pony-hood she still had. But today that ended. Today she would take the final step as a predator. Today she would kill her own meal and eat her fill. Then she would no longer be a pony.  She would be a predator. A rustle in the bushes brought her attention back to the hunt. Whitetail Wood was home to many creatures, but the most prevalent was its namesake deer.  By the movement and size of the bush she could tell that she had found her target. Fear rose in her heart. She steeled her resolve. This was it.  ...but she couldn't do it. Her mind still needed an excuse. Her prey's heart wouldn't allow her to kill without excuse. The other hunters made a perimeter as she readied to pounce. They signaled their readiness, but she remained. Why was she doing this? Why should she kill another just to-  The pangs of her stomach told her why. Trepidation filled her heart but resolve filled her mind. She leapt. Her claws landed on flesh. She leaned in finding the throat, ready to end the life of her prey before it could attempt to flee. She leaned in teeth-for-throat but hesitated. The deer reacted, but rather than the hoof to her face she expected from it, the deer merely turned to face her. Then she saw why the deer did not flee.  After meeting Fluttershy for the first time and learning of the animal care profession, Twilight had read a few books on the topic, learning signs and symptoms of animal sickness and diseases, but one didn't need that knowledge to see that it was sick.  Very, very sick indeed. Drool dripped from one side of the poor animal's mouth as it stared blankly at her. It seemed as if it would try to stand but instead its limbs just flopped uncoordinatedly, still showing no signs it recognized it was in danger. "Probably won't last another day..." Mercy. That's how she would justify it to herself. She would fulfill her duty to the pack and at the same time ended the suffering of a dying animal. She would have her feast, she would completed the ritual, and she would finally learn the significance of the name 'Burning One'. She smiled to herself, she had done what she needed to without really killing anything. She only had to put it out of its misery... Fluttershy watched as the wolf that not a week ago had stayed in her bed carried off a bloody deer corpse in its teeth.