In a land, not too far from Equestria, we meet a young unicorn named Mako Marine. She lives on an island which she is named after: Mako. Mako lives there to protect it, with her friends Isobu the turtle and Lylo the dolphin. One day Mako could hear some other ponies laughing in the distance, thanks to the distance that sound travels underwater. The unicorn, who could change into a merpony, was overcome by curiosity. She started swimming toward the sound of laughter.
She soon arrived at a small beach due west of Mako Island. Seeing a large rock close to this odd-looking group of ponies, she hid behind it. On closer inspection Mako could see that there were four of them: an earth pony, two pegasi and a unicorn. This was the first time Mako had seen more than one race of pony together; to her it was a magical phenomenon. Just as she leaned closer to hear their conversation, she slipped and fell with a loud bang. The four ponies turned to see her just as her transformation spell wore off.
‘’Hello? Are you alright, Miss?’’ asked the unicorn of the group.
“I’m perfectly well, thank you, Madam. I seem to have just fallen upon my horn, that’s all,”Mako answered politely, getting up as the water sloshed around her brilliant white coat. She stood up, her blue mane sticking to her neck and her tail tangling with her back legs. As expected, she fell once again. The unicorn mare grumbled and tried to rise again, through the waves, despite their bed-like comfortableness and the silk-like wet sand.
‘’Would you like some help?’’ offered the earth pony.
“My eternal gratitude,” said Mako as the earth pony helped her out of the water.
‘’A minute of gratitude is enough,’’ the earth pony said with an Australian lilt.
“I’m Mineral Kiwi by the way,” the earth pony continued. He then gestured to the pegasi. “On the left is Soulful Shadow and on the right is Metal Drum,” he said, after which he gestured to the unicorn. “That’s Dawn Star, she’s the one who saw you fall.”
She saw me fall? Mako panicked, What if she saw my tail?!
‘’Erm, yes. I thought so, as she was the first one to speak to me,’’ Mako said, trying to keep her voice steady and not look nervous. ‘’Again, though, I am fine,’’ Mako added sincerely.
‘’If I may ask, since curiosity is eating at me, why… why are you ponies, of different races, in a group? Isn’t that unusual?’’ The white mare could only hope she didn’t sound rude.
“Whaddya mean?” asked Mineral Kiwi.
“I mean you’re talking to ponies of other races…in public,” replied Mako, whilst twisting her hoof into the sand..
“What’s so weird about that?” inquired Dawn Star.
‘’I just don’t usually...see that...’’ the white unicorn mumbled.
"Wow, you're wierd," Soulful Shadow mumbled back bluntly.
The White unicorn apologised immediately for her 'odd' behaviour.
"Shadow, don't be so mean to the poor pony!" Metal Drum scolded; he then turned to Mako. "Ignore her, she's always like that," he added, with sympathy in his light blue eyes.
Not much longer after Soulful Shadow's comment, they were all sitting on the beach, speaking about nonsensical matters. Out of the blue, Soulful Shadow (who had not said a word throughout the entire conversation) asked, "How did you get on the beach?"
"Um... I was on another part of the beach and decided to go for a swim. Then... um..."
"Whatever." Soulful Shadow replied, swatting the line of conversation impatiently away like it was a particularly persistent fly.
Metal Drum glared at Soulful Shadow for a moment, before turning a more gentle gaze on Mako.
‘’So, where do you live, Mako?’’ he asked.
"Um... I'm not sure if you'll have heard of it, it's pretty far away," Mako replied hesitantly.
"Believe it or not, I used to live in Buckland, that's very far away from here." Mineral Kiwi chuckled.
“Well, I live not too far from there,” Mako mentioned, not too surprised at Mineral Kiwi’s confession.
“Really? There’s no where close to Buckland besides a few islands dotted around.”
‘’Umm… exactly,’’ she said, a nervous tinge in her voice.
“Okay…” Mineral Kiwi replied, finally detecting the nervous atmosphere coming from Mako at this point.
“Well, this isn’t awkward,” Soulful Shadow said in her usual monotone, highlighting the situation.
“What is it with you today, Shadow, you’re being so-so-unapproachable!” exclaimed Metal Drum with pure anger in his voice.
“Well, it’s not MY fault if Kiwi decides to make this pony feel uncomfortable, is it?!” Shadow shouted whilst pointing towards Mineral Kiwi with her left forehoof.
“Hey, all I did was ask a question!” Mineral Kiwi defended. “I didn’t know that she’s uncomfortable about talking about her home.” The three continued to argue
“Can everyone just CALM DOWN!” Dawn Star yelled over everyone. “You’re not exactly making her feel welcome.”
The three recently arguing ponies stopped fighting and mumbled their apologies to Mako.
“I see that all the recent rumours have gotten everyone on edge at the moment,” Dawn Star said with worry evident in her voice.
“What rumours?” Mako asked curiously.
‘’There have been rumors of attacks,’’ Dawn Star said, ‘’Attacks from Timberwolves. The rumors seem to have spread fast and it seems like the attacks are getting close to here, if rumor is true; if so, then we’re in a lot of trouble.’’
“Why do you think the Timberwolves are attacking?” Curiosity was truly getting the better of Mako now.
‘’I’m not sure.’’ Dawn Star said gravely.
“Do they have any reason to?” Mako inquired yet again.
“I shouldn’t think so…” Dawn Star replied, ‘’Timberwolves are known to be vicious, and deadly, but thoughtless.’’
“I wouldn’t know...” Mako mumbled. Then she realised something. “Oh goodness, I completely forgot!”
“What?” The others said to Mako in unison.
“I completely forgot to introduce myself. I’m Mako Marine, nice to meet you all.” Mako blushed at her mistake of not introducing herself before.
“Phew, you had us worried for a second there. Like you’d forgotten and left the oven on at home or something,” expressed Dawn Star.
Oven? Since when did I use an oven? Mako thought, inwardly giving a brief snort of amusement. ‘’No,’’ she said, ‘’I just noticed I never introduced myself.’’
“Okay…” Dawn replied.
Mineral Kiwi twisted around in the awkward silence, fidgeting. He stopped short and his eyes widened in fear when he saw them…
“Hey, guys do you see those?” asked Mineral Kiwi, his voice quiet and cautious.
“See what Kiwi?” Soulful Shadow said, monotonous as usual.
“Those!” Kiwi exclaimed. The others quickly rose and spun around to follow where his fear-filled eyes were looking. They all saw them then, coming slowly out of the forest.
Yellow, glowing eyes.
Mako let out a gasp of fear and surprise. She turned and ran for water, yelling: ‘’Run for the water! They’re made of wood right? Wood can get soaked and rotten I think!’’
The Timberwolves decided at this moment to pounce on their ‘prey’. Kiwi, Shadow, Dawn and Metal Drum managed to get to the water before the Timberwolves got to them.
‘’Follow me!’’ Mako gasp against the heavy water that heaved at her back. The other ponies managed to make it further into the water. The Timberwolves tried to get to them - they were too deep, however, for the Timberwolves to reach them (as Timberwolves cannot swim). The ponies thought they were safe as the Timberwolves ran away from them.
Little did they know that a sneaky, conniving Griffin was awaiting its minions in the forest. Waiting. Watching. Listening. Listening to silence.