//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Lost Shadows // by Number Line //------------------------------// “So, could you tell me what happened again?” A certain Doctor Horse asked an injured unicorn mare. “I was on my way here when it got dark and a timberwolf started chasing me. I thought I was done for, but something came to my rescue. And for the hundredth time, I don’t know what it was. All I know is that if it wasn’t for that thing, I wouldn’t be here now.” The disgruntled mare said. “Very well, and may I get your name one more time.” The doc asked as he wrote down what she was saying. She let out a very long sigh and gave an answer, “Its Rose Petal. I’m here to see my cousin, Roseluck.” “Well thank you Miss Rose Petal. That should do it for now. Try to stay off that leg for a couple of weeks and it should heal quickly. I must say, you’re very lucky to survive a timberwolf encounter. Especially one of the caliber you said you endured.” “Thanks doc. Can I go now?” Rose Petal asked. “Sure. See the pharmacist for your medication and take it as prescribed. We’ll have you galloping around in no time. Enjoy your stay in Ponyville.” Doctor Horse said writing down her prescription and handing it to her with a smile. “Thanks.” She gave a smile of her own. As she was leaving, the doc went over his notes and went over it again and again. “The things I hear…” he said and placed the notes into a file. Back in the Everfree Forest, a tall biped was running his gaze over the surface of the river, with spear in hand, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. As he was watching, he heard the familiar sound of hooves approaching. With one last look into the water, he saw a fish trying to swim upriver, the perfect time, but alas, he had to abandon his quest. With a quick dive, he hid behind a nearby bush, watching for any form of life. After a couple of minutes, he saw three fillies enter the clearing. “So what are we doing out here again?” an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane asked. “I told ya already. Applejack said beavers are starting to become a problem again. So if we can build them a dam here, they won’t cause any more trouble back home.” A yellow earth pony filly with a red mane and tail explained. “But where’s the cutie mark in that?” “I guess it could deal with wildlife…” a white unicorn filly chimed in. ‘Well there goes this spot.’ The tall creature gave a sigh and quietly snuck away. As the day progressed, Twilight was in the middle of one of her daily reading sessions when there was a knock. Putting the book down and rising up, she gave a stretch and used her magic to open the door. “Doctor Horse? What can I do for you?” It was odd for the good doctor to pay her a castle visit. “I came to tell you of another timberwolf incident. This one nearly fatal.” He handed her his notes. “All I can say is what happened but not who. Doctor-patient confidentiality….sort of.” “I understand.” She went over the file. “That’s the third one this month. What do you think could cause them to come so close to Ponyville?” The purple alicorn asked. “I can’t say for sure. You’d have to get a professional opinion on this matter. My specialty is medical.” He gave a smile. “I’m sure Miss Fluttershy could give you an answer.” She couldn’t help but smile as well. “Yes, of course.” She kept on reading, “What’s this about a creature coming to her rescue?” “I’m not sure myself, all the patient said was that if it wasn’t for that creature, they wouldn’t be alive.” Pondering on this new development, she simply smiled at her visitor. “Well thank you for bringing this doctor.” “Of course your highness.” He bowed but that phrase still gave Twilight an unnerving feeling, no matter who it came from. With that, he left and Twilight was alone again to ponder some more. “Jusph a phew morr. An vee shuld b’gud.” Applebloom said through a mouthful of sticks with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo not far behind. The three notorious fillies came back to their dam construction site and piled their hoard. “I think that should be plenty good.” “Ya think?” Scootaloo asked judging the pile that was nearly twice their size. “Maybe we over did it.” Sweetie joined in. “Naw. You can never have too much.” At the same time, a certain biped returned with a bounty of two fish. ‘They’re still at it? What were…wow. That’s a decent pile.’ He thought as he gazed upon the pile of twigs and sticks. “Alrighty then, hand me that twig there and we can get started on giving these varmint a home.” AB said with a little spite in her voice. “Are you sure we should be doing this? What if they don’t even like it?” Sweetie asked. “What’s not to like? It’s not like they have any other choice?” AB said laying the first stick of their project. ‘Well, better head off then. Don’t want to intrude as much as I have already.’ the biped thought trudging away from the site. ‘I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re pretty close to the town anyway.’ A few hours later, our biped friend was enjoying the filling feeling of his catch as he laid back on a rock and casted his gaze up through the canopy towards the evening sky with just a few stars starting to come out. ‘That was a fine catch, if I must say.’ He patted himself on the back. ‘Though, it could’ve been cooked more to a crisp. That would’ve been perfect.’ But his thoughts were interrupted by a chorus of screams. With a deep sigh, he rose from his position. ‘Now what?’ He walked a distance in the direction of the screams. Then he heard it again. He turned his head. They were moving. Quickening his pace he ran in the new direction. “HELP!” ‘Why am I always answering that call?’ Another wave of screams, this time closer. With a jump through thick brush, the biped found the three fillies huddled together. Once they saw him, their eyes went wider and pupils smaller than before. ‘Wait for it…’ They screamed even louder. ‘Called it.’ But then a familiar sound came from behind. Turning, he found himself up against an old foe. Standing ten feet from them was yet another timberwolf. ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’ Wasting no time, the timberwolf pounced and mauled the tall being. It was a battle of strength. The three younglings watched in pitch terror, not sure who to cheer on. It was a coin toss. When one found itself the advantage, the other would counter. The growls and snarls were mixed with fleshy claws pounding against wood until there was a snap and everything slowed. Then came a whimper and the timberwolf freed itself from the grips of its opponent. The three petrified fillies watched as they saw the timberwolf back up and high tail it out of there crying as if in pain. Once it seemed safe. The tall figure turned to them. He had bite marks and gashes about his frame. But they noticed something in his claw, the jaw of the timberwolf. Now even more terrified, they backed up more. Seeing as he would do more harm than good this time. The biped simply dropped the jaw and turned to leave. But as he turned he failed to notice the damage to his leg and fell to his knees. ‘Damn! That’s going to be sore in the morning.’ “Applebloom! Don’t!” He looked back and saw the yellow filly approach with extreme caution while the other two watched in horror. “I-It’s okay.” She stammered, “I’m not going to hurt you.” ‘Really? Is she using THAT on ME?’ he thought recalling the fight that just happened and rose back up. He made a gesture for her to stop and she did midstride. He looked between the three of them and noticed how late it was getting. ‘Crap! Now I have to take them back. Can’t leave them out here all by their…’ “GET AWAY FROM THEM!” A new voice cried out. Without warning, a rope was flung over his body and tightened. He was going to reach for it when a cyan blur struck him in the gut causing him to haunch over. The force of the rope being tugged on brought him down to the ground, face first, and he felt another rope tighten around his legs. Soon after, he felt something heavy slam on his back. “You got it?” “Eeyup!” Completely immobilized, the biped looked up and saw a variety of colors. An orange earth pony, a cyan pegasus floating, a white unicorn, a pink earth pony, a yellow pegasus, and a purple unicorn/pegasus hybrid. ‘Then who the blazes in on my back?!’ he thought as he tried to get a better view of his captor, but he wasn’t going to let him move one bit. “Oh no you don’t!” he heard a gruff voice say. ‘Yup. A stallion.’ “Girls! Are y’all okay?” Applejack asked. “We’re fine! But get off it! Please! It didn’t do anything!” Applebloom pleaded. “Have you lost your mind? We don’t even know what it is.” “She’s right, though!” Scootaloo jumped in, “It saved us.” “Saved you? With the way we heard the screams.” Rainbow glared at it. “It’s true!” “Applebloom, what in Equestria could this…thing save you from?” Big Mac asked stilling holding the creature in question down. “A timberwolf!” At the mention of the horrid beast, Twilight’s mind clicked and began to approach it. “Twilight! Whatever are you doing? Don’t get near it!” Rarity warned. “Oh my, it’s badly injured.” Fluttershy observed the bites and cuts. “Yes. It is.” The purple unicorn said not taking her eyes off it. “These wounds are consistent with their story.” She examined what she could see. “But these are very bad wounds. Why is there little blood?” she poked at one cut. With a hiss of pain, the captured biped jerked around trying to break free, but the big red stallion kept him pinned. ‘SWEET JUNE BERRIES! That hurts!’ he thought. “Twilight! Please, it’s hurt.” Fluttershy galloped next to him, petting his head. “Shhh. It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.” ‘Why do they keep saying that? Had they saw what went down earlier, they…hey, this is actually kinda…soothing…’ He calmed down. “There, there. It’s all going to be alright.” “Applejack, please! It did save us.” Applebloom tried reasoning again. “And just what were you three doing out here in the first place?” Rarity asked putting a leg around Sweetie Belle. “We were…” After a long explanation, nopony had loosened their anger. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WERE YOU THINKING?!” Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow shouted. The three just hung their heads in defeat. “Come on! We’re going straight home!” AJ picked up AB. “Indeed!” Rarity did the same with Sweetie. “You know I’m going to have to tell your parents, Scootaloo.” Rainbow scolded. “So what are we gonna do with this?” Big Mac said still holding their prisoner down. “Can you tie it up good and bring it back to the castle?” Twilight asked. “Eeyup.” ‘Oh goodie…’ After tying his ‘claws’, legs, and upper appendages together rather tightly, Big Mac hoisted him on his back and began the trudge to Twilight’s castle. ‘I could break free, but that would look very bad on my part.’ He thought as he stared at the ground as they walked, ‘then again, it’s not like I have a reputation to uphold or anything.’ With his mind made up, he flexed whatever he could, but found out that this stallion knew how to restrain apparently anything. ‘Well color me impressed.’ “There ain’t no way you’re getting out of that. Tied it myself.” Macintosh gloated. ’Really? I had no clue…’ The walk was a good distance and by the time they reached their destination, our bipedular friend was snoozed away. “Where do you want it?” Big Mac asked. “I think the dungeon will suit it. Never had to use it until now, but I’m sure it’ll hold.” Twilight led him down a few flights of stairs until they came to an open cell. “Never knew you had this place down here.” Big Mac tossed the creature inside causing him to wake. ‘Ooph…thanks…’ With a loud clang and another click, he knew there was no escaping now. He rolled and squirmed to get a view of his jailers. “You sure it’ll be alright? If this thing fought off a timberwolf, there’s no telling what it could do to a pony.” Mac expressed his concerns. ‘FINALLY! Somepony who gets it.’ “Oh it’ll be fine. Tomorrow I’ll have Doctor Horse look at his injuries. But there’s not much we can do now for it. Hopefully it’ll be okay.” ‘Miss, you have no idea.’ “Well, if’n that’s all, I’ll be heading out now.” “Okay, thanks for all your help!” Twilight called as he left. “Eeyup.” Then there were two. “I have no idea what you are. I’ll probably have to notify the Princesses, let them know we have a…something, and then let the guard know as well, then…” she went on listing what had to be done. ‘(Sigh) well at least I have some company.’ “This is so exciting!!!” she squeed with stars in her eyes and dashed out of the dungeon. ‘Correction…had company.’ He simply laid his head down and closed his eyes, ‘Least this place is warmer than outside.’