//------------------------------// // The Night // Story: A Three Foal Wish // by Seeking Dusk //------------------------------// ~Silver~ Three issues were burning on the forefront of his mind. First was the close call the night before. All because Proud wanted to try and make the filly feel better. Their aunt walked in right in the middle of it and Silver was pretty sure normal foals didn’t do things like that. The look in her eyes… At least they were able to get away when Derpy returned with Sparkler in tow. The second thing was pretty obvious. It was still dark outside. Assuming the clock was still working properly, he’d been sleeping for a few hours well, at least seven or eight. But it was still dark out. It should have been closer to afternoon. The third one was related to the second. Why hadn’t Twilight and her friends come back yet? He had thought this would have been more than enough time for them to get to the Castle and deal with Nightmare Moon already. He propped his legs on the window sill and looked over the town, trying to get a glimpse of the Everfree, looking for that brilliant flash of light that would mark the girls unleashing to Magic of Friendship on Nightmare Moon. Still nothing. He went back to pacing the room. Both Flare and Proud were still sleeping. The latter slept like the dead in the first place, and the former had still been up worrying when Silver had dozed off the night… a few hours before. It only meant he had his own private time to fret and sweat now. He jumped with a yelp when the door opened, stumbling as his hoof caught on the mat and tripping to the floor. “Are you okay, Silver?” Rain asked, as if it wasn’t her fault in the first place. Silver glared at her, then sighed and picked himself up. “No, I’m fine. The mat actually cushioned the fall,” he admitted, shaking his head a little. “What’s up?” Rain’s brow furrowed slightly. “I heard you moving about up here so I came to see if there was something I could help with.” “What? No, everything is. Fine.” Silver shot a glance at the window. “Well, not fine, but it’s okay. Just thinking.” “Wondering what Nightmare Moon is planning, I suppose?” Rain asked, carefully making her way across the room. Being larger than her young nephew, her hooffalls were quite a bit louder. Still, it didn’t do much towards waking to two slumbering ones. “Weren’t you the one who said last night that they would stop her?” “That was cheering up Dinky,” Silver muttered. The confidence he had those few hours before had been shaken up by events slipping away from what he had expected. Panic was letting his thoughts drift. Nightmare Moon was an alicorn; leagues above anypony else in terms of power. And Celestia was still missing. And the Bearers were still lost in the Everfree. And pretty much every Royal Guard was injured so there was not support coming from there. Already it was looking like everything he thought he knew was pointless and none of his plans were worth anything. It wasn’t until he felt somepony pull him into an embrace, fur pressed against his cheek and a foreleg wrapped around him, that he realized he was spiralling into a panic attack. He pushed back a bit and looked up at his Aunt, confused. “Better?” she asked, her expression concerned, mingled with traces of awkwardness. Silver slowly nodded. “So what happened to the young stallion that I saw last night? Or should I say the colt trying his best to act older than he actually is?” ‘If you only knew,’ Silver thought to himself. Out loud, he muttered, “He got scared and went away.” Only after he said did he realize it was true. The more he panicked, the more the human contribution got distant, the knowledge still there, but no real intimate and intuitive link to it, making him act more like the foal he appeared to be. Another thing to worry about. Maybe Proud was right; they needed to talk to the Princess about this after all, before it turned out that they waited too long and their human selves were gone. “Silver,” Rain’s voice snapped him out of his introspective daze. He looked up sharply and realized she was watching him intently. “Is there something going on that you need to tell me about?” “Aside from the missing Princess, the evil Princess and Eternal Nighttime?” Silver asked, rolling his eyes. “I don’t accept lip and attitude any more than your mother does, Silver,” Rain said cooly, narrowing her eyes at him. “Sorry,” Silver said, looking down at his hooves. Rain was silent for a while, and Silver didn’t dare take his eyes off his hooves. Except to peek up nervously at her. Rain sighed. “Come with me, Silver.” “Okay, Auntie,” Silver said nervously. “Were to?” “You said you wanted to help in the kitchen. We need to make breakfast, or perhaps Dinner. Either way, we need a meal,” Rain said. “I suppose you mother won’t fault me for starting to teach you how to cook.” Silver screwed up his face. He knew how to cook. He was a great chef. Rice, pasta, mea… right… He had no idea how to cook pony food. It would at least take his mind off things. “Sure, Auntie.” They closed the door behind them to let the other two sleep a bit longer before starting for the kitchen. They had just cleared the stairs when Rain paused, and ear flicking with thought. “Actually, Silver, what did you mean by evil Princess?” Silver was thinking about how and what Rain would be teaching him to cook, a bit smug that he was being taught before Proud, who was his older brother, and missed what Rain said. “What was that?” “Nightmare Moon. You called her a princess.” Rain looked at him thoughtfully. “What did you mean by that?” Silver was momentarily confused, running through recent comments in his head, then paled, ears flicking back. “I-I just meant because she was an alicorn. The only other alicorn is Princess Celestia, and she said she was royalty.” Rain was not impressed. “Silver. I might not be your mother, but I am your guardian. Please do not lie to me. What is going on?” “I… we… I mean…” Silver fumbled for the words, his thoughts in disarray. He was saved by the bells. A deep tolling loud and strong enough that it probably rang across the town. Dong-du…. Dong-du-dong…. Dong… Dong-du…. Dong-du-dong… “Silver… wake your brothers,” Rain said, her tone suddenly cold, speaking louder to be heard over the bells. “What’s that bell?” Silver asked as his aunt galloped towards the basement. “Auntie Rain?” She was already gone and if she did hear his calls, she chose not to respond. Grumbling, he trotted off to do what she asked. The only thing he could thing of for the bells was some sort of warning system, and he didn’t like that idea. Flare and Proud were already in the stages of wakefulness when he got back to the room, which translated to Flare being fully awake and trying to figure out where the bells were coming from, and Proud mumbling, covering his ears with a pillow. “Guy, get up,” Silver said, leaping unto Proud’s bed and pulling the pillow away and tossing it aside, ignoring the weak sounds of protest. “Something big is going on.” “Are those bells?” Flare asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked out the window. “What time is it?” “It’s after noon,” Silver said, prodding Proud in the ribs. “Quiddit…” Proud mumbled, not wanting to get up. Silver scowled and bit his ear. Proud immediately woke up; recoiling and tumbling off the bed. He reappeared, a hoof pressed over his injured ear. “OW! What was that for?” “But it’s still dark out,” Flare said, still focused on the window and ignoring what was going on with the other two. “Didn’t Twilight and the others use the elements on her yet?” “Apparently not,” Silver said, rolling his eyes. “Considering it’s still dark and all.” “What’s with the bells?” Proud asked, giving Silver a little glare. “Don’t know that either,” Silver said. He hopped off the bed and heading for the door. “Auntie Rain ran to the basement when she heard them and told me to wake you up. I think it’s bad.” Finding their aunt in the front room, cinching a set of large saddlebags, each motion causing them to emit small metallic sounds, around her barrel, didn’t serve to build confidence. She looked up at them as they came down. “Listen carefully you three, those bells, it’s the Ponyville Alert.” “About what? Everyone already knows Nightmare Moon attacked,” Proud grumbled. “There’s no point to it now.” “That one isn’t for that,” Rain said. “It’s for something coming from the Everfree. I need the three of you to stay here.” “Something from the Everfree Forest is attacking the town?” Flare said, his wings flaring in response. “And you’re going out now, Auntie Rain?” Proud asked, confused. “I’m part of the militia,” Rain said by way of explanation. “It’s part of my duties to provide support in times like this. There’s a chance nothing much will come from this, and that they are just being cautious, but I still have to go. “There is some oats and hay in the cupboard you can have. And… I suppose you can have some of the leftover cupcakes from the party as well. But stay here,” Rain instructed. “Are we clear?” “But…” “No buts,” She said, “Understood?” The three made their murmurs of assent. “So… we aren’t really staying here, are we?” Flare asked after their Aunt left. “I’m going to do with, ‘not on your life’,” Silver said with a slight grin. He looked at his older brother. “Proud?” “Something from the Everfree? We are so there,” Proud said. “We need snacks though.” “You know this is just as awesome an idea as it is a bad one, right?” Flare sighed, though not telling them not to. --------- “I told you this was a bad idea!” Flare muttered to his brothers. Since their Aunt had mentioned the Everfree that was the side of town they choose as their destination. Bravado was slowly worn away, however, as things appeared more and more deserted; houses dark, not sound of conversation or much activity in the area. It was bad enough that most of the town was still holed up in their homes, not willing to brave the foreboding nighttime outside their thresholds. Admittedly, there was an unnatural chill to the air, and the wind whispered ominously around them as they tracked their guide. “You sure he’s one going to the same place Aunt Rain would have gone?” Flare asked as Silver peered around the corner, giving the dark blue earth stallion in moderately light armour get a bit of the lead on them before following. “Who else aside from the Royal Guard would be wearing armour? And what do you think was in Auntie’s saddlebags?” Proud asked waiting for Silver’s all clear signals. “Even if it’s not where she is, it’s bound to be something interesting.” “Come one, it should be far enough now,” Silver interjected. They darted from shadow to shadow, which wasn’t too difficult giving how prevalent they were at the moment, keeping their mark in sight. “This is boring. I think he’s just patrolling the area of something,” Proud muttered after a few minutes of trailing the pony turned up nothing more than the militia member knocking on a few doors to warn the occupants about the risks, crossing paths with another mare also making rounds. As the earth stallion chatted with the fourth pony who didn’t want to leave their home, the colts waited behind a shrub, taking turns keeping an eye on him so he didn’t leave them behind. “Can we call it, then? I’m hungry and the only thing we had were a few apples,” Flare asked. His stomach rumbled, supporting his claims. “Hey, it’s an adventure. We might even get our Cutie Marks in tailing and covert operations.” The grin that Silver started his response with fell as he grimaced and shuddered. “Wow. That came out way too Crusader…” “What do you think the crusaders are up to right now?” Proud asked since the trio in question had been brought up if in an indirect manner. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t the crusaders yet,” Flare pointed out. “They haven’t met and formed their club yet.” “Then individually,” Proud said, rolling his eyes at the technicalities. “I bet Apple Bloom’s at the farm with her folks.” “Sweetie’s probably panicking with her parents, wondering where her sister is,” Silver grinned. “And that’s where you lot should be, too,” a fourth voice cut in. Yelping, the three tried scrambling away, only to end up tripping over each other. The same stallion they had been trailing loomed over the shrub they had been hiding behind, scowling down at them. “Hi?” Proud said with a guilty smile. ---------- “The lot of you are gonna be in some serious trouble when I get you back home,” the stallion said gruffly, having them march before him. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous out here right now?” “We heard the bells,” Silver admitted, though not with much shame. “I, I mean we thought it would be cool to see what was out here.” “Our aunt said it was something from the Everfree Forest,” Proud picked up. “All sorts of awesome stuff are in the Everfree Forest.” “And scary. Awesome and scary,” Flare amended. “But we didn’t have anything to do at home…” “Celestia save me from bored foals,” the stallion muttered from between grinding teeth “Listen you lot; the Everfree ain’t something to joke about. There are things in there that will hurt you, kill you, and try to eat you. Nopony goes in there and comes out unharmed, and that’s if they make it back alive. Not even royal guards. When those warnings go off, it’s for you to stay home where it’s safe, not running off looking for trouble!” The stallion had been staring straight ahead as ranted. A soft whimper caused him to look down, then back as he realized the foals weren’t with him. Flare looked near to tears, on his haunches a couple hooves back, wings hanging limp. Proud stood beside Flare to offer support while Silver glared daggers at him, mentally putting the blue stallion on his list. The stallion bit back a swear and snorted with frustration. He trotted back to the young ones. “Look, sorry. I didn’t mean to scary you, but it’s dangerous,” he said, “But you need to understand how dangerous this stunt was.” Silver only narrowed his eyes further. The stallion rubbed the back of his head with a hoof and tried again. “Okay, let’s start over, alright?. My name’s Break Heavy. I work in the smithy ‘cross town and I’m part of the militia. Everypony just calls me break though.” Silver kept up the glare for a moment. “Prose. Silver Prose. These are my brother Proud Defender and Blue Flare. We’re new to Ponyville.” “Good names,” Break Heavy said, nodding, his eyes roaming the area. “Sorry about making your brother cry.” “I’m not crying…” Flare sniffed, rubbing at his eyes. “Right, whatever you say,” Break Heavy said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Can we at least agree that this was a bad idea?” “I told them that,” Flare muttered. Proud poked him with a hoof to shush him. “So, at least one of you realized it,” Break Heavy smirked. “You should…. Run.” “We should… what?” Silver asked, his ears flicking back with confusion. “Timberwolf. Run, Now!” Break snapped, leaping over the colts. “Run!” It wasn’t until the howl broke out that they realized exactly what was happening. A pair of green eyes blazed in the shadows of a building further down the street. Eyes that lunged forward, propelled by the powerful leap of the bunched wooden limbs, the howl spilling out from its jaw now that Break’s awareness stripped stealth from it. It only took a few loping bounds for it to close the gap between itself and the ponies it had been hunting, leaping to make the final pounce… Two hooves slammed into it, connected with jaw and chest. Bidding his time, Break had lunged forward, spinning to bring his hindlegs to bear and bucked the wolf midleap with a muted pair of hollow cracks. A shower of twigs, wood fragments and splinters littered the ground around him. Not waiting to see how effect his blow was, the militia member yelled at the frozen colts again, fumbling for something in the collar of his armour. “Run! That won’t keep it down for long!” Already the wood fragments were starting to twitch and rattle, and Silver decided that it wasn’t the time to study how long a timberwolf’s regeneration took. Proud gave Flare a solid push to get him started and all three were soon pounding their hooves into the path. A sharp and shrill whistle pierced the air trice before a fourth set of pounding hooves announced Break behind them. Another howl chased them, letting them know the wolf had pulled itself together and was coming after them already, hardly leaving them any breathing room in there retreat. “HORSEAPPLES!” It wasn’t Silver swearing this time; he was saving his breath for running. It was Break yelling obscenities. “You three, duck into the alleyway! I’ll hold it off until other militia members turn up!” “But-” Proud found the breath to protest. “No buts! Go, now!” Break said, locking his legs, hooves digging into the earthen roadway as he came to an abrupt stop. “Aaaaaah!” the brothers yelled as they skidded into a rough and hasty turn, going for the alley way between two shops. Behind them, the timberwolf slammed into the solid form of Break, who grunted from the impact but held his ground despite the strain, rebuffing the force of beast’s initial charge. Unfortunately, the alley wasn’t a clear route to the other street, coming to a dead end instead, littered with the detritus of a consumer business, a stack of barrels on one wall, refuse bins with garbage that didn’t quite make it inside scattered about it, wooden crates roughly heaped in the furthest corner. “Quick! The crates!” Silver pointed out. All three dove for the flimsy shelter the crates offered, ignoring the smell of garbage, stagnant water and rotting vegetables, grateful for the illusion of safety the wood panels provided. “I told you this was a bad idea,” Flare complained, shifting to avoid a moldy and unidentifiable mess of produce. “So not the time!” Silver said, finding a spot where he could watch the alley and Break Heavy. Realizing what he was up to, Proud and Silver clustered around. “Gross… I stepped on the rotten fruit,” Proud whined. Silver shushed him. It was hard to see in the darkness, but the weak light was just enough to make things out. Break was doing well on his own for the moment, for even though the timberwolf had learned and avoided getting a direct hit from Break’s hooves, his blows were still knocking bits and pieces off here, and cracking and fracturing wood there. He probably would have been able to hold out until he got the reinforcement to actually take down the creature. If it were alone. A second timberwolf blindsided Break, knocking him off balance. Before he could recover from the stagger it put him into, the first wolf slammed him, the body check knocking him out of their line of vision. “No!” Proud yelled before his brothers could hush him. The heads of both wolves snapped towards them, their glowing eyes searching. With a low growl, they prowled into the alleyway, sniffing the air and ground as they tracked them to the crates they were using as shelter. Said crates were quickly beginning to appear even more flimsy than they had before. Flare whimpered, lower lip trembling as the wolves approached, the glow of their eyes quickly becoming the brightest thing in the area. Silver started shifted uncertainly, hooves scraping on the dirt and wood as his eyes flicked across the small area, trying to find something, anything that they could use to get out of this. ‘Come on, you were a twenty plus year old guy in university. You can figure something out to get our flanks out of this one!’ his thoughts said to him. They didn’t provide any helpful hints though. “YAAAAAAA!” Proud charged without warning, dashing out the gap they had used to access the hiding spot in the first place, yelling to try and confuse the timberwolves. Perhaps not used to prey charging at them rather than away from them, or confused by the yell, or a mix of the two factors, the two wooden canines reared up slightly, enough for Proud to charge between and past them. Snarling, they quickly whirled, the smaller of the two snapping at the brave foal. It missed Proud’s short tail by inches, but that was only the first attempt. Proud only just managed to avoid the second bite. “Flare, we can’t-” Silver started, but his brother was already moving, snagging a bit of broken wood in his mouth and nodding at Silver. Silver grinned and charged up his magic, trying to remember the discharge of his telekinesis he had managed the day before, motivated by the sight of the wolves slowly closing in on Proud as he huddled between the barrels. Flare pitched the chunk of wood he held and actually managed to get it to bounce off the back of one of the wolves, who reacted by yelping and whirling, once more switching targets. ‘Screw it!’ Silver though. He just gathered his magic and pushed it all at once. A small oblong of green magic shot out, trailing spluttering sparks. It would have been more awesome if it actually hit one of the wolves instead smacking into the barrels behind them and popping like a firework, but it did distract them. Which only meant they were back in the original situation, only this time it was only Flare and Silver the wolves were snarling and baring down on. “Okay… that wasn’t the best idea we ever had,” Silver said as he and Flare nervously backed away. “Stay away from my brothers!” Proud’s yell ringing out was just the first thing to happen. Break and a second militia member appeared in the entrance of the alley, and started to yell something as well. The sky brightened for a moment, a short white glow coming from somewhere behind the buildings. And then Proud employed the strength earth ponies were known for, his buck knocking one of the barrels from base of the stack. The whole thing destabilized, seeming to topple over in slow motion, the broken base no long able to support the weight of the barrels, empty as they were, above them, the structure unbalanced and tipping over. Gold light surrounded the foals as the barrels crashed to the ground, binding rings snapping off, wood fragments spiraling away, and the wolves caught under it all, broken and smashed, the fire of their eyes extinguished. The lingering echoes of the crash rung in everypony’s ears as they took in the damage. The gold barrier, quickly cast over Silver and Flare by the unicorn militia member that had joined Break, was dispelled. In the silence, one of the still intact rings slipped off the top of the crates were it landed, bouncing a few times before rolling to a stop a few feet from the adult’s hooves. It opened the floodgates and everyone started talking at once. “What were you thinking? That was reckless!” the unicorn burst out. “That… was awesome,” Silver said, sounding surprisingly level despite the stupid grin on his face. “Are all of you okay?” Break said, galloping over to give them a quick once over before going to check and make sure the timberwolves weren’t reforming. “Wow! That worked better than I thought!” Proud gasped, looking shocked as he picked his way out from behind the barrels that had tumbled around him. “Proud… you… you got your Cutie Mark…” Flare stammered. All eyes snapped to Proud’s flank, the formerly blank expanse decorated with a white starburst, a gold and platinum shield sitting on it. Proud himself spun in a circle trying to get a good look at it, then stopped and spun the other way as he confirmed that both sides were the same. A smile slowly spread across Proud’s face. “I got my Cutie Mark!” “You got your Cutie Mark?” Silver echoed weakly, his thoughts in turmoil as he tried to figure out what that meant for them, considering they weren’t originally from Equestria. “Congratulations,” Break said, grinning himself. It wasn’t everyday you were witness to a colt earning his mark. The unicorn was less direct in his praise. “Getting your cutie mark might be a great achievement, but you should not make a habit of putting your family in danger or yourself.” “Give the kid a break, why don’t you, Flourish,” Break said, nudging his companion. “You got to admit he has spunk. How many foals do you know who would charge at Timberwolves?” “I’d never put brothers or my friends in danger!” Proud countered, kicking some broken wood out of the way. “I’d do anything to protect them and keep them safe, even if it’s charging at timberwolves!” As if it were a sign, the sun rose at that exact moment, sending it’s rays across the sky, cutting through the darker magic that had been lingering in the air and chasing the night away. Soon, cheers could be heard from around town. Flourish’s expression softened as he looked to the sunrise. “I suppose you’re right.” “And now you’ve got one hay of a cutie mark story to tell your friends,” Break added.