//------------------------------// // Departure // Story: From Savage to Civil // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// Canterlot had been mostly asleep for several hours now, a majority of its residents taking comfort under Luna’s moon and taking a long, restful sleep after a long and busy day. A select few though were still wide awake, whether it be for simply not being tired, or having to take their work home, or any other reason. This was the case in once such, large and luxurious mansion on the northern side of Canterlot. The type of mansion that only very high-up celebrities and nobles could ever hope to live in. It was very lavish and well-decorated by somepony with an obviously very sophisticated sense of style and luxury. The windows were enormous and were very well complimented by the long, flowing drapes of the lavender color, many very expensive and abstract paintings lined the mansion’s walls, and there were several busts of the owner of said mansion’s ancestors on display in the hallways. However, as rich in luxury as this mansion was, there existed one much more sinister aspect of it. Throughout the mansion’s hallways in addition to the busts, mounted on the walls, were the many, many varieties of animal’s stuffed and mounted heads, all of them sporting the same expressions they had worn when they had met their maker, Some of them simply giving blank, dead stares to passerby, while some of the more aggressive animals’ heads wore ferocious and threatening expressions. It was these “Trophies’” eyes that burned through the sole of the lone pony trotting through the hallway toward a large pair of double doors at the very end. “Oooh, I really hate having to look at these awful things.” The pony said to herself. She was a yellow unicorn mare with a blonde mane that came pretty close to matching her coat. This pony’s name was Pansy, and in matching her name was also a flower cutie-mark of the same type that her name described. She looked back and forth at the several animal heads staring her down. Manticores, bears, cockatrices, and even all three of the heads belonging to a Chimera. Their cold, dead eyes all made her shiver and all made her very uncomfortable. “Nngh, just try to relax Pansy. They can’t hurt you. They’re all…” Pansy gulped “…very very dead.” She mumbled. Finally, she made it to the double doors, opening them very slowly with her light green magic, making their creaking echo throughout the halls. On the other side of the door appeared to be a large room with several more animal heads mounted on the walls, a full-size stuffed Cockatrice in the corner of the room, a rug made from a bear pelt. On said rug was an enormous armchair, and while it was not visible from behind, sat a pony, apparently a unicorn as it held a glass of wine out to the side with its light blue magic. Pansy appeared to be slightly more nervous at being in the presence of this pony, as she started to shiver a little and stuttered in between words. “U-Ummm…M-Miss Moxxy? I-I need to speak with you.” She mumbled. The pony in the chair didn’t respond for a moment; instead very slowly getting out of her chair and facing Pansy. The pony Pansy identified as “Moxxy” was a light pink unicorn with a blonde mane. Her body appeared very lanky and thin, but was mostly covered up by a very oversized fur coat, and her cutie-mark was a pawprint with a needle and thread being sewn through it. The look on Moxxy’s face right now was nearly unreadable, and that terrified Pansy more than anything; not to say that a lot of things didn’t already make Pansy scared to death of her boss, but that was probably one of the most significant. Moxxy nearly emotionlessly looked at Pansy up and down before speaking even a single word. “….Tell me Pansy…Since when did it become acceptable to approach me in my private quarters…” “O-Oh w-well I just thought-“ Moxxy covered Pansy’s mouth with a hoof before she could finish her sentence, shaking her head in disappointment as she did so. “Oh you thought? Well you’re not being paid to think Pansy. You’ve worked for me for quite some time; I thought you would’ve learned this by now…” Moxxy said, slightly lowering her eye-shadow covered eyelids and looking at Pansy in a condescending and firm manner. As Moxxy lowered her hoof from Pansy’s mouth, Pansy lowered her head in what felt like a mix of fear and slight shame. “Y-Yes ma’am I understand…” “Oh it’s quite alright darling, we all make mistakes. It is what makes us ponies after all…” Moxxy said, going back to her armchair and taking a sip of her wine. “…Well? Go on. What is it that was so dreadfully important that you had to barge in like this?” “O-Oh right…Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’re prepared for the hunting operation in the Everfree Forest near Ponyville, and we’re scheduled to leave tomorrow morning…” Pansy said, squeaking a little nervously over words. Moxxy chuckled a little to herself after taking another sip of wine. “Splendid…” she purred. “…However…I still think that it’s not such a good idea to be hunting there. The Everfree Forest is a protected area ma’am. It’s very illegal to hunt there…” Pansy mumbled. Pansy heard Moxxy give a very irritated groan at that. “Urrgh, fucking self-righteous, stuck-up, tree-hugging prickholes…” she grumbled. Pansy lowered her head again, slightly fearing what Moxxy may do. She knew she wasn’t entirely above “Shooting the messenger”. “U-Ummm…if you would like me to Miss Moxxy, I could call the whole thing off…” Moxxy looked at Pansy from her chair with a slightly deadpanned and questioning look. “Who says we’re cancelling?” “B-But M-Miss Moxxy-“ “Pansy darling, I’m afraid you don’t understand. My business thrives on furs. Furs that comes from where exactly?...Animals. And where do you find animals?...Forests. If I do not have furs, my business will surely go under, and I will be RUINED!...You don’t want that now do you?” she asked. Pansy furiously shook her head, still feeling slightly afraid. “N-No Miss Moxxy but-“ “But nothing. I couldn’t care less if it’s illegal or not. Order my hunters to operate at night where they will not be spotted, I don’t care. Just make sure it gets done!” Moxxy yelled rather loudly, making Pansy flinch in fright. “…Y-Yes ma’am…” Pansy mumbled. Moxxy waved a hoof towards the exit. “Very good. Now please, go on. Leave me on my own for a while. She said. Pansy did as she was told and opened the doors with her magic again, their creaking seemingly louder now than before, and exited the room. Now in the hallway once more, Pansy looked back up at all of the animal heads mounted on the walls and felt a slight tinge of sadness rather than fear this time. “…It still doesn’t seem right…” Celestia’s bright, warm sun’s rays sneaked their way through the openings in the Windless Wood’s canopy and all the way down to the jungle’s floor into the tent that everypony had to share that night due to the unfortunate mishap with Timber’s wolf-family shredding all but one of them. To say that anypony was very happy about this turn of events at first would be a complete and utter lie. However, once everypony got settled down to sleep, nopony could be heard complaining. Except that Timber still smelled of Timberwolf musk and sweat, which was everypony’s only gripe. When the sun leaked into the tent, it targeted itself onto Rarity’s eyes, making her shuffle a little at the prospect of being awoken. “Oooh that sun is right in my face. Mmmph…fine fine I’m up.” She grumbled to herself. She very slowly and tiredly lifted her head up to observe her surroundings. What she found was Fluttershy in one corner of the tent making squeaking noises as she slept, Timber rested up against her stomach doing the same thing and… Herself cuddling up to Critter with her forelegs around him and her head being awfully close to his chest. The position that Rarity was in right now made her emotions sort of go all over the place. On one hoof, she was horrified that even in her state of sleep that she would even consider cuddling up to somepony with as few manners as him… …On the other, he was rather good-looking. Although Critter was lacking in the class department, Rarity was seeing that he did look quite handsome. This sort of mindset however is exactly what got her into that situation with Prince Blueblood at the Gala…but Critter wasn’t exactly stuck up like he was. He seemed more like the playfully teasing type. Rarity blushed a little at realizing the position she was in. Before her was a handsome, sleeping, and completely unaware stallion that would never know if she just took advantage of the situation and nuzzled his chest fur a little and took in his scent. ‘…Nopony needs to know about this. Just something you can keep all to yourself without the risk of embarrassment…’ Rarity thought to herself. After a few more moments of consideration, Rarity decided to go for it. She buried her face in Critter’s chest and nuzzled it, all the while blushing lightly and smiling. For somepony that spent so much time in jungles, he sure smelled good. Very warm too. “You enjoyin’ yourself there?” Rarity stopped nuzzling when she heard Critter’s voice and she blushed heavily when she realized that she had been caught in the act. She looked up and saw Critter looking back at her with a smug grin on his face, obviously very amused at Rarity’s predicament. “…….You tell anypony about this and I swear I will rip off your eyebrows.” Rarity grumbled with an annoyed look on her face but still very embarrassed, hence her current blush. Critter chuckled a little, still wearing an all-knowing smile. “Crystal clear daaarling~” Critter cooed. And then with another chuckle, Critter leaned in and gave Rarity a slight kiss on the cheek, making her eyes widen and her blush deepen to unrealistic levels. After a few seconds of this, Critter stopped and sat back to see Rarity’s reaction, still having the same look on his face. Rarity’s face was still as red as a tomato, her pupils were dilated, and her left eye twitched a little, all out of complete shock. Given the situation, she did the only logical thing that any civilized mare would do in her situation… “Ooooh, Rarity did you really have to slap the Professor that hard?” Fluttershy said, holding an ice pack onto Critter’s face where there was a red hoof-mark plastering it. Rarity wasn’t too far away from them, packing up whatever Timber’s family hadn’t shredded in their search for Timber the day before, which as it turns out, was not a lot. As stressful as this trip was, she did learn a few things from it. 1. Never bring anything in a jungle that you are not prepared to part with 2. Just don’t go in jungles at all. “Indeed I did.” Rarity grumbled in response to Fluttershy’s question, still trying to hide the slight blush on her face. Obviously Critter was in quite a bit of pain over the slap to the face, but he seemed to still manage to find room to joke around. “Hehe, I didn’t realize you were so feisty Miss Rarity~” Rarity’s blush deepened again. “Rrrgh shut up…” she growled. She wanted nothing more than to get the subject off of the dreadful occurrence and just get back to packing up for the return trip to Ponyville. Quite honestly, Rarity wanted nothing more than to get out of this dark and dangerous jungle as quickly as ponyly possib- Rarity’s thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of something rubbing up against Rarity’s side. She looked down and saw Timber hugging her leg and nuzzling it. From the looks of it, only one night of cuddling wasn’t nearly enough for the wild little colt. Not far from their position was the pack of huge Timberwolves sitting at the entrance to the camp, keeping vigilant guard of the area as to make sure no more animals came after Timber. Their loyalty and dedication to the other members of the pack seemed to be quite impressive. Although Rarity enjoyed the nuzzling and hugging Timber was giving her, it made her heart ache a little. Today was the day she was going to have to leave, and the fact that she didn’t know whether Timber would be willing to leave the jungle and come back with her to Ponyville or not was killing her with anxiety and dread. If she was going to talk to him about this, now was as good a time as any. Rarity knelt down to Timber’s eye level, trying to look as serious as possible but just looking sad in the long run. “Timber sweetheart…I’m afraid that I need to tell you something. It’s…very important.” She said softly to him. Timber looked back at her with questioning eyes and a tilted head, as if to say “What is it?” “Well…you see darling…I don’t belong in a place like this…I need to go back to society with other ponies…I…I can’t stay here…” she hesitated a little in between her words as she said them. It was hurting to even talk about leaving Timber behind. Timber’s mouth opened a little, whether from shock or simply not understanding, and his eyes looked even more desperate for information than before. On a certain level, Timber could slightly understand what Rarity was saying. Seemed like all he really comprehended was “Darling”, “Ponies”, and “Can’t stay here”. “…Timber…if you would like to come with us, then…” Rarity sniffled a little, obviously trying to hold back a few tears. “…It would make me very happy but…I…I just want you to be happy too…If you choose to stay…I understand…” At this point, Rarity was very close to breaking the tear dams, and her sniffling was become much more common. Timber didn’t look like he was fairing much better. His ears had folded to his head and he was all of a sudden starting to look very nervous and uncomfortable; a little panicky even. He looked at Rarity and said something in Timberwolf that Rarity still could not understand. Rarity turned around to look at Fluttershy and Critter, who appeared to have managed to get everything packed up and taken to watching the one-sided conversation between Timber and Rarity. “F-Fluttershy? What’s he saying?” Rarity asked, still on the verge of crying. Fluttershy cringed a little uncomfortably and hesitated a little. “He…He asked…he asked why you can’t stay here with him…” Fluttershy said reluctantly. She was starting to fear very greatly for Rarity’s well-being regarding this situation, and it was starting to show from the way she was looking at Rarity. Rarity’s ears folded back and she turned around to look at Timber. “T-Timber I…I’m sorry, but I can’t…I have a life in Ponyville. I have a family and a sister and…I can’t...” Rarity’s tears were starting to flow down her cheeks, making her makeup run for the second time while she was on this expedition. When the circumstances had become this bad though, that was the last thing on her mind. Timber was also starting to tear up as well. The first creature he had met in his life that was like he was, and had become very close to, was going to leave. He didn’t like the idea of Rarity going away. He wanted her to stay with him in the Windless Woods and everything would be alright. Never would he have wanted to lose Rarity like this. He lowered his head like a depressed-looking dog and sighed deeply. The look Timber was giving off broke Rarity’s heart. It tore her apart to see him so upset like this. His face showed that he was very conflicted, but she could tell where his heart was set. “…You’re not going to leave the jungle are you?” Rarity asked. Timber sniffled a little and whimpered as his only response, getting a sigh from Rarity. “…Alright…I’ll respect your decision Timber…” she was starting to whimper in the same way he was. Rarity wrapped her forelegs around Timber and embraced him in a tight hug. Timber hugged back, sniffling and crying even more at this point like a lost puppy. After a few more seconds of hugging, the two separated and simply looked at each other sadly before Professor Critter spoke up to Rarity. “Rarity…sorry but…we should really be going now.” He said with a low voice and a sympathetic look. Rarity sighed. “Well…I have to go now Timber…I’ll…I’ll never forget you.” Rarity said with tears still in her eyes before kissing Timber lightly on his forehead and turning back to Critter and Fluttershy. “…Alright…I’m ready…” Rarity sighed. Fluttershy looked like she was about to burst into tears from looking at the scene, and while Critter tried his best to look serious, this entire ordeal made him feel awful inside. The group hesitantly trotted their way out of the clearing where their camp had been located, their hoofsteps becoming much quieter as they disappeared into the trees out of Timber’s line of sight. The leaves rustled as they trotted out and fell to the ground, floating their way to Timber’s hooves as he watched them leave. He was trying his hardest to suck the tears back into his eyes, but failing miserably. He only sat at the entrance to the clearing, wondering and thinking to himself “Did I make the right choice?” His Timberwolf mother trotted by his side and looked down at him, with Timber also looking back up at her with his bright blue eyes. The two of them spoke to each other in their native tongue in a very low and serious tone. After many minutes of talking, the Timberwolf appeared to sigh and smile at Timber a little before nodding her head and gesturing it towards the direction where Rarity and her friends had left. Timber also smiled a little, hugging his Timberwolf mother tight at her wooden leg, to which she returned. A few more seconds of hugging later, and Timber darted out of the clearing and into the jungle, leaving the Timberwolf with her pack and without her child. While the Timberwolf appeared to be smiling though, a single tear made out of tree sap fell from her eye and rolled down her wooden face… “Aaaaalll aboooooard!” The train leaving the town outside of the Windless Woods had just boarded its final passenger and was going to start making its long journey back to Ponyville with all of its ponies in tow. Three of those passengers included a depressed Rarity, her concerned friend Fluttershy, and a very, very annoyed Professor Critter. The cause of Critter’s annoyance was that there was a colt in the seat behind him that was constantly kicking his seat. “Mooooom, I’m sooooo booooored!” The colt whined to his mother next to him as he kicked Critter’s seat. The mare that was his mother uncaringly read a magazine next to him and nodded. “Mhm, that’s nice honey.” She said quietly. “Mmmph, why can’t that mare get her brat to behave?” He grumbled bitterly to himself as his seat shook from the colt’s kicks. He looked two seats down from him and saw that Rarity was looking sadly out of the window at the nearby town’s landscape as the train made its way down the tracks and towards his destination. “…How’s she doing?” he asked Fluttershy who was sitting next to him. “Not good…She looks like she just wants some time to herself right now. I’m a little afraid to talk to her about it. I don’t want her to cry again.” Fluttershy sighed, looking at Rarity who appeared to have chosen to sit by herself for the ride back. “…This is really eating her up isn’t it?” Critter asked. Fluttershy nodded. “She was very close to Timber. It must have hurt her so badly to let him go like tha-“ “HEY! THERE’S A KID ON THE ROOF OF THE TRAIN!” Somepony yelled. Nearly everypony shot up at the sound of that and started frantically looking around and trying to see if they could maybe see this foal out the window somehow. Everypony heard hoofsteps banging on the top of the train, quickly making their way above where Rarity was seated. Rarity had grown quite curious over all the yelling and was about to voice her concerns when a slight tapping on the window glass was heard near her seat. Rarity looked out and gasped at who she saw hanging upside down outside her window from the roof… Timber was smiling a goofy looking smile as he looked at her through the window and continued to tap on it, appearing to ask to be let inside. “Oh my gosh! Timber!” Rarity squealed in glee. She quickly opened the window and grabbed onto Timber, pulling him into the train and holding him tight in her arms. A few tears of happiness started to form in her eyes as Timber happily returned the hug. “Oooh, I’m so happy to see you! You really want to come back to Ponyville?!” Rarity asked loudly and frantically. Timber nodded quickly before nuzzling under her chin and purring like a cat. Fluttershy and Critter looked at Rarity and Timber with smiles on both of their faces. They hadn’t expected Timber to give chase in the slightest, but all the while, they were happy to see had had changed his mind and to see Rarity so happy after looking so depressed. “Awwww, isn’t that sweet?” Fluttershy asked, looking at Critter. Critter chuckled a little and nodded while looking at Rarity hugging Timber really tight and cuddling him. “Hehe…Timber, you may be strong…but wow you are the craziest son of a bitch alive…” he chuckled to himself.