//------------------------------// // Pain and Fear // Story: Canine Complications // by Wages of Sin //------------------------------// Divine retribution. Punishment imposed by a vengeful god for taking the lives of other living things. That was all Twilight could assume justified what she felt at that moment. It was designed to break her. To drive her insane. It had to be. Why else would they force her to carry the wonderful meal all the way back to the den. Yes, there were good arguments against eating it where it fell, but still! Crossing the threshold of the den, she dropped the carcass in the middle of the floor. "Ok, you are clear. You may-" Bark Back didn't need to finish, because before he had, Twilight had already begun digging in. The sight was a little terrifying, even to the other Timberwolves "Wow, she must have been hungry." one of the hunters noted. "There won't be any left for the rest of us at this rate!" another shouted. Twilight didn't seem to notice. "It is her hunt, her kill, and now officially her pack, so you best watch your tongue when addressing the mistress." Bark Back growled at the disrespectful young hunters. He approached her where she feasted, "That said, Mistress you might want to slow-" Bark Back reached a paw towards the ravenous she-wolf. He recoiled as she turned to him, growling as whips of smoke rose from her mane. He backed off, leaving the wolf to her food. At noon Catcher had burst through the door to her cottage and told her the situation. "Oh my..." "Yeah, so we need to find her quickly! I'm not sure how well she can function alone, and you know how dangerous the Everfree is! "Uh... If you don't mind me asking, then why'd you break her out? If she was in the care of -" "Did you see her when you all turned her back in? She was terrified! I admit she's not the... most normal of mares but I'm not going to make her go somewhere she hates so much!" "I wasn't part-" "I know she's not the most well-adapted of ponies, but she can function just fine in a group! When she was with Twilight and I she was just fine!" "Just so you know-" "But then you had to go and take her away! She was so happy when she was with us, but then you had to turn her back in to that place! Did you see how afraid of it she was? she-" Fluttershy put a hoof to the young stallion's mouth as she realized what was going on. "Of course I'll help you look. With any luck, we may find Twilight too." "Rarity, it's been a week. We have to." "Whatever are you talking about dear?" Rarity asked as she took another sip of tea. She had brought out a fine blend for her private meeting with Applejack. She knew it would be needed if the topic she expected arose. Applejack looked directly into the eyes of her ivory friend. "We need to tell the princess about Twilight." Applejack had expected a reaction, but the spit-take she received was beyond what she had imagined. "Applejack, dear, we've been over this, we simply can't." Rarity tutted as she tried to regain her composure. "Now pardon my language, but BUCK Fluttershy's promise! We have to tell the Princess! We haven't seen hide nor hair of Twilight in a week now! We should've told Celestia as soon as she ran off! Now I’ll admit I was complacent when Fluttershy convinced us not to, but now I'm feeling like that was a terrible decision. We need to tell the princess. Now." "Applejack dear, be reasonable, we can't really-" Any counter-argument that Rarity was about to make was immediately cut down as the locked door to her boutique resounded with frantic pounding. "Yes, yes, my goodness, I'm coming!" The pounding continued until she opened the door, at which point she was tackled by a yellow and pink blur. "Fluttershy! What's wrong dear?" Rarity asked as the Pegasus cried nestled into her side. "So you and that Catcher bloke went to look for the crazy mare? That sounds like no reason to be crying!" Applejack looked puzzled to the distraught Pegasus. "Let the dear finish!" Rarity tutted as she hugged the still crying pegasus, "Go on." "...but then we got separated and I lost the trail... But since we were in the Whitetail I went to look for some of my deer friends... But instead I saw-" Before she finished, the fragile Pegasus once again broke down into sobbing. Applejack jumped up ready to take action "What! What did you see? Was it Twilight?" Fluttershy nodded as she cuddled closer to Rarity. "Why is that bad? Was she in trouble?" A shake. "Was she hurt?" Another shake. "Was she..." Applejack's grim look spread to Rarity. Fluttershy shook her head again. Rarity relaxed ever so slightly, but Applejack had almost lost her patients with the fearful pegasus. "Then what was the problem? What happened to Twilight?" Fluttershy raised her head, quelling her sobs as best as she could to speak. "I saw a deer -sniff- that was all alone, -sniff- so I called out to him, but he just ran away... He was acting so strange, so I followed him... But I lost him..." Fluttershy's barely maintained composure broke as tears began to flow again. She kept speaking. "When I saw him next..." Rarity could feel Fluttershy's shaking worsen. "...he was being carried off by Twilight..."