//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: The Deer and the Timberwolf 
// Story: The Tales of the Colts Grimm 
// by lyra_lover777 
//------------------------------//

	Celestia looked down at the title of the story. It was "The Deer and the Timberwolf." Not one of her favorites, but it was still a good story.
Celestia began to read the first word, but realized her mug of cocoa was empty. She refilled it, the warm smell of fresh coca hitting her nostrils as she plunked six marshmallows into it this time, smiling as she sighed into the steaming cocoa, beginning to read.


There once was a young fawn. Its mother was being chased by a pack of timberwolves. The mother doe had slung her young fawn across her back and was racing through the forest at top speed.
The doe could not go on for much longer, and dropped her fawn in a hidden grove of trees before sprinting away, leading the starving timberwolves away from her baby.
The baby shivered and became hungry, causing cries to echo through the forest. The baby screamed and shouted, its tears dampening the forest floor considerably.
A young unicorn mare was trotting through the woods, searching for herbs. When she heard the fawn's melancholy cries, she raced towards the sound as fast as she could.
The unicorn reached the small grove and found the fawn bleeding, tangled in a nest of thorns. It was crying, the tears streaking down its face, landing at the mare's hooves.
The mare softly picked up the fawn. She snuggled the baby to her chest. She found it was a boy when she rubbed his head. Tiny points of immature antlers met her touch.
She named him Grover after where she had found him, in a small grove.
She carried him back to her cottage at the edge of the woods, feeding him and rocking him to sleep. Meanwhile, something was going on in another part of the forest.
A young timberwolf was walking along a river with its mother. Suddenly a tree fell near them. His mother jumped in fear and fell into the river, becoming lost in the currents.
The pup howled in despair as he sat alone on the banks of the river.
A lonely Diamond Dog heard the pup's cries, and ran to his rescue. The Diamond Dog gave the pup a ruby to suck on while he carried him home. He named him Banks, after the place he had found him, the banks of a river.
As the two grew older, they began to venture out on their own. The timberwolf was drinking from a small crick when he heard noises coming from the meadow next to him. He decided to take a look.
A young buck, his horns only an inch long, frolicked around, chasing a butterfly. The young pup joined in. They did not know each other, but were just enjoying the moment.
When they finally stopped for a rest, they told each other about themselves. After a few more meetings, they declared one another best friends.
One day the pair was running through the woods to their favorite spot, a small pond, when they heard noises coming from nearby. They diverged from the path a moved towards the sound.
What they saw made Grover cover his mouth in horror and Banks crinkle his brow in confusion.
A pack of timberwolves was chasing a young doe, who was screaming for help. While Banks stayed in the shadows, Grover charged forward, slamming into the nearest beast.
Grover surprised the pack of timberwolves, giving the doe enough time to escape. Grover then sprinted away as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.
When Grover got back, he became angry with Banks and galloped home, leaving his friend in the bushes.
Two years later, Grover and Banks had stayed away from each other. Now, as they matured, the doe Grover had saved became a love interest of his. Soon he began courting her, and they fell madly in love.
Meanwhile, the Diamond Dog that had taken care of Banks decided it was time to give him back to his pack. So he sadly waved goodbye to his pup as Banks quickly ran off with his new pack.
One day, Grover was by the river with Juliet, the doe he had been courting for quite some time. They were snuggled against each other when barking noises could be heard.
Banks's pack was running through the woods, laughing in their own way. But when the alpha, who turned out to be Banks's father, smelled two deer, he led the pack in a stealth attack.
Grover's ears perked as the timberwolves fell into position. Suddenly the pack burst from the brush. Grover and Juliet galloped away, the pack in quick pursuit.
Suddenly Banks found himself at the front of the pack. He did not recognize the two deer, and tackled Juliet, bringing her down. Grover turned around to see his love pulled into the pack of hungry hounds, her eyes open wide. He then moved his eyes up to meet those of Banks, who had Juliet's blood around his maw.
Grover sped off, leaving a cloud of dust in Banks's face. Banks didn't eat a single bite that night.
One day, a month later, the pack was pursuing a hare along a river. Suddenly the hare kicked Banks's real father into the foamy waves where he disappeared for good.
When the pack captured the hare, a whole army of hundreds of hares, the dead hare's children, kicked and bruised them. Soon Banks was the only timberwolf not swept underneath the rough waves of the stream.
He ran as fast as his now long legs could carry him towards his old house where he had lived with the Diamond Dog. But the Diamond Dog had moved to some mines far, far away after giving Banks back to his pack.
The only other solution was Grover's house.
When he reached it, Grover was sweeping the porch while his foster mother slept quietly on a rocking chair.
Banks waved shyly. The hares were only a moment away.
When the hares reached the house, Grover had half a mind to leave Banks out there. But for some reason, against his will, he pulled Banks and his foster mother inside the cottage. 
The hares thumped on the cottage all day until they finally gave up at midnight, tired and ragged as they hopped home.
Grover ignored Banks the whole time, his snout turned up in the air and facing away from Banks. Banks's ears drooped as he shuffled into a corner and began to weep.
"What is wrong, Banks?" Grover asked angrily after listening to the timberwolf cry for over an hour. "You get a slpinter in your paw?"
"M-my family is g-gone and y-you are still mad-d at me-e."
"But you killed the love of my life!" Grover said exasperatedly. 
"She was no deer! I knew all along that she was a changeling, sucking off your love for her!"
"But how?" Grover asked.
"I saw her change forms one night after you had left. I was drinking from a pond when she came to the edge. I dived into a bush and watched her change into a black changeling."
"Wait, that means Juliet, the real Juliet, is still out there!?" Grover said, his heart swelling with hope.
"Yes. I believe she lives on the other side of the forest."
The next day, the two went to the other side of the forest. They found Juliet and brought her back to Grover's home. A year later, they married and built a small cottage by a lake in the heart of the forest. Banks and Grover then went their separate ways,Grover to his house by the lake to start a family, and Banks, who set off to find his foster father in the mines of the far north. They all then lived happily ever after.

Celestia rolled her eyes at this ending.Sometimes it was enjoyable, but it just felt to perfect, to right.
But then Celestia remembered an incident that had happened in her youth. She could not help but smile at the memory.

Once, Luna, as young alicorn, had been in search of love. One day in the woods she found what she believed to be a male alicorn.
Celestia had laughed out loud, knowing no such thing existed.
When he was brought to dinner, it did seem as though he were an alicorn. He was tall, had large brown wings, and his horn was graciously long. Luna was practically drooling over him.
But Celestia still had her doubts, and had summoned a wind storm and put the supposed alicorn in it. When he came out, he was a brown griffion, giant stilts he had been walking on laying next to him along with his fake wooden horn. The giffion then proceeded to throw the stilts at them so they could fly away without them hurting him.
Celestia sighed happily before taking a sip of the steaming mug of hot chocolate and flipping to the next story.