Chapter 7: Wooo Who!
Twilight finally seemed to pay attention to Fluttershy. She immediately grew concerned at Fluttershy’s lack of verbosity. You might not know this, but Fluttershy can talk just as animatedly as anypony else when she gets excited, but when she’s scared or intimidated, Fluttershy gets real quiet, and her eyes widen and jump from place to place, almost as if to match the small quiver of her frail frame.
“Dangerous creature? Some sort of monster around here?” Twilight pressed as Fluttershy backed a few steps.
“U-Uh y-yes!” she replied. Her voice quivered slightly. “I heard from Harry the Bear that there was something in the Everfree that was causing a lot of distress. Angel seems to think that it broke in.”
For a mare that couldn't talk to animals, she could get a lot out of them. It was no wonder Angel liked to stick around Fluttershy. She could understand most of what he was saying. Although I still like to think that Angel picked Fluttershy because it suited his somewhat temperamental disposition.
Twilight blinked at Fluttershy. “Well that doesn’t sound so bad." When Fluttershy only looked bewildered at Twilight's lack of awe at how obviously terrifying the creature must be, Twilight tried to clarify her point.
“The Everfree is full of dangerous creatures,” she continued hastily. “Manticores, Hydras, Cockatrices, Timberwolves… There’s a lot to be afraid of.”
Fluttershy acquiesced to Twilight’s point with a gentle dip of her head. “That’s fine,” she said. “Most of the woodland creatures know how to deal with the regular dangers of the Everfree.” Fluttershy bit her lip and peered around the room as if the monster was going to leap out of a shadow and devour them all. Luckily, the shadows stayed where they were.
“It’s something different, though,” Fluttershy continued in a low voice. “And I don’t like it.”
Now that they had resolved their differences, Twilight looked like she was concentrating hard on helping Fluttershy out. I think it was possibly to make it up to her friend. Although none of circumstances surrounding Angel’s little deceit was Twilight’s fault, she may have thought avoiding Fluttershy was reason enough to go above and beyond. That’s why Twilight’s next statement caught me by surprise.
“I’ll go and investigate it!” Twilight exclaimed. She got to her hooves and grinned confidently at Fluttershy. A grin that would not go remiss on Rainbow Dash’s face. A grin that sent shivers down my spine.
“Twilight…” I muttered. I had misgivings about going into the Everfree forest and traipsing around until we found a creature that scared Harry the Bear. Even someone who has lived as long as me would think twice about that endeavour. In fact, being as long lived as me meant I knew my own limits much more than your average owl.
Twilight merely glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow.
I huffed, fluffing my feathers in silent protest. I couldn’t stop Twilight from doing what she wanted, but it didn’t mean I had to like it. Silly mare. She was going to get herself hurt over… over a friend.
Okay, maybe I haven’t got the moral high ground, but I could still see how foolhardy the venture was going to be. Even Fluttershy didn’t know what it was, and she was the animal expert!
Now that Twilight was committed, she pressed forward with her questions, despite the little shrugs and flaps I was making in my little corner of the room. She ignored me. How rude.
“Did you see what it looked like?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy shook her head timidly, biting her lip nervously as Twilight sighed in disappointment.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, only Harry has seen it and Angel. I can uhm… know what some of my animals want to tell me, but it’s not like I can really talk to them.” She hesitated and then glanced between me and Twilight. “Can you… speak to Owlowiscious?”
Twilight nodded slowly as Fluttershy brightened considerably.
“Really?!” she squeaked in excitement, getting to her hooves. “Oooh, I wonder what he’s saying? Is it a spell? Can I try it? It must be so exciting to know what your pet is finally saying!”
A pet?! Well, I guess you could call me that when I couldn’t talk to Twilight. I was more of an assistant. Winona doesn’t mind being called a pet, but I certainly have a measure of pride.
Twilight hesitated, probably casting her mind back to when she found out I could talk. Oh feathers, that was quite a rumble.
“It’s… not as fun as you think,” Twilight replied.
I didn’t know a pony’s mouth could stretch that wide. Fluttershy was practically radiating joy, a complete flip from her attitude not more than a minute ago.
“Oh, but you can still talk to him. Can you speak to him right now? What is he saying, what is he thinking right now?” Fluttershy continued shooting the questions off at Twilight, but she trotted forward, eyes glued firmly to me on my perch. Within moments, her face was uncomfortably close.
Twilight peered at me with an amused expression. Her eyes danced with laughter.
“What do you think, Owlowiscious?” she called out to me. “Fluttershy wants to know what you’re thinking right now.”
“I’m thinking Fluttershy had a lot of hay for breakfast,” I muttered, leaning away from Fluttershy’s muzzle.
Twilight giggled and repeated what I said.
Fluttershy suddenly looked mortified.
“Oh I’m so sorry!’ she said quickly, pulling back from my perch. “I didn’t mean to make you feel so uncomfortable. It’s just…” She looked at Twilight with eyes filled with no small amount of envy. “It would be nice to know what my animals are saying.”
I shrugged as much as I could with wings. “I can’t answer that,” I said. “I’m as deaf to your animals as you are. I doubt a spell would work anyway. You’d probably get the exact same information as you do now.” I shook my head. “A lot of them are highly opinionated anyway. Stubborn creatures.”
Twilight nodded, but raised an eyebrow at the last part of my sentence.
“Owlowiscious says that you probably know as much as the animals tell you anyway.” She glanced at me briefly, before turning back to Fluttershy. “Don’t worry, you really aren’t missing much.”
I huffed to myself. Really. Has Twilight forgotten all the times I’ve helped her during the night?
Fluttershy grinned. “Don’t worry,” she told me. “Twilight doesn’t mean that.”
I rolled my eyes, but nodded anyway.
“So, Twilight, are we still going to hunt some unknown beastie in the Everfree, or are we going to go home like sensible birds, uh, ponies.”
Twilight shook her head.
“We have to find out what’s scaring all the animals,” she said firmly. She caught my eye and fixed me with a stare until I was starting to feel uncomfortable.
“Oh alright,” I said. “Just make sure you have a teleport spell ready.”
Twilight chuckled. “When am I not ready?”
I didn’t respond to that.
Bad luck and all.
Fluttershy cleared her throat in a sound no louder than a whisper.
“Uhm, if it’s alright with you two, I think I’ll stay in the cottage.” Her lip quivered. “U-Unless you n-need me to come along.”
Twilight nodded easily, I wouldn’t force that poor pegasus to come along too.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy, we can handle it.”
Fluttershy heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh good, I was afraid you might ask. I m-mean, not t-that I wouldn’t want to help! I—”
“I know what you meant,” Twilight replied gently. “Thank you.”
Fluttershy nodded, but she didn’t relax.
“Oh, please do be careful,” she called after us as we headed for the door.
“We will,” Twilight said for the both of us.
I waved Fluttershy a goodbye as we left the cottage.
Time to hunt a mysterious monster.
––––––––
On the way to the Everfree, Twilight had her head in the clouds. Not literally, mind you, although that is entirely possible since we could both fly, but Twilight seemed adamant in walking. I flittered from branch to branch, but it got pretty boring without a conversational partner.
I know what you’re thinking. But Owlowisicious, you’ve been silent all this time when you were with Twilight and Spike, why do you need to talk? Surely you have to be used to this by now.
Well no. Let me explain.
I like talking to myself. I like talking to everyone. In fact I talk to them as if they could answer back. Most of the time they can only hear a ‘who’, but Twilight can now understand what I’m saying. So politeness dictates that I shouldn’t engage in conversation without receiving a ready reply. I’m particular about certain things.
Besides, Twilight seems to be concentrating on something, so I wanted to give her some space.
So onwards we went, all in the silence of the forest, save for the ambiance of leaves rustling, branches creaking as I settled on them and the slight pitter patter of tiny woodland creatures skittering around. I heard a mischief of mice, but I didn’t want to disturb them, so I left them to their own devices.
There was something low-pitched mixed in with the noises of the forest. Even with my excellent hearing, I couldn’t really pin down what it was. It was an uncomfortable sensation, like the prickling of pins and needles wheedling into your ear.
“Hey.”
I almost squawked. Don’t blame me, I was straining for a particular noise, so Twilight addressing me came out way left field.
“What?” I replied in confusion. “What? What?”
“You look like you spaced out there for a second,” Twilight said, trotting up to the tree branch I was perched on. “I got worried that you were no longer following me, so I doubled back.” She looked worried. “Are you alright?”
I blinked at Twilight and nodded. “Yes, mostly. I’m just hearing this… low pitch noise that seems out of place here. I can’t seem to put a feather on it.”
Twilight’s ear flicked as she strained to hear the sound. She waited in silence for a few more seconds, then shook her head.
“I don’t hear it,” she said slowly. “But I don’t have as good hearing as you do.”
I nodded, and was about to take off, but stopped when Twilight cleared her throat and motioned for me to stay where I was. Reluctantly I retracted my wings, noting her troubled expression.
“You know, I was thinking,” she began, then trailed off as she marshalled her thoughts. “Uhh… how is it that I can hear you and nopony else can?”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to find out,” I replied.
Twilight nodded impatiently. “Yes I know, and we’ve put out some theories, but this not-knowing is making me feel uncomfortable.”
I sighed. “Is it so bad?” I said.
Twilight shook her head firmly.
“No!” she said quickly. “No, not at all! Despite what I said, I trust you. I just don’t like unsolved mysteries.”
“Me too,” I said. “But that’s also why we’re trying to find some scary creatures in the middle of the Everfree, right?”
Twilight grinned somewhat ruefully.
“Right,” she said. “Sorry.”
I waved it off with a dismissive wing. “Don’t worry about it. You did it to help a friend. I would have done the same thing, if I had a friend.”
Twilight was smiling at me in a sort of satisfied way. It kind of reminded me of Opal when she found a particularly satisfying spot to sleep on. I admit I was a little perturbed.
“What?” I said.
“Perhaps that’s why you’re also following along with me,” she said, then trotted forward, with a light chuckle echoing back.
I perched on the branch for a few moments.
Helping a friend… that’s what I’m here for.
Hmm, having friends is complicated.
—————
It didn’t take long for us to spot the ‘monster’ of the woods.
“That’s not a monster,” I finally said.
Twilight nodded with a sigh.
They’re certainly intimidating though.
Ahead in a clearing, a menagerie of creatures had gathered. From minotaurs, to ponies, griffons and even a couple of smaller dragons. There were a great many within the clearing we spotted them in. The griffons were the most numerous among the group, and they were dressed in serious-looking armour. Though the armour looked shabby and made-by-claw, they were all business. They scanned their surroundings with sharp eyes and were moving about in a unified manner. We were crouched in the bushes, close enough to smell their cooking, but far enough that we couldn't see more than their general shapes.
"What are they all doing here?" I hissed to Twilight.
Twilight bit her lip as she studied the griffons and their assorted crew going about their business. No wonder the woodland creatures were intimidated, all the clanking of the griffons marching around and the sound of sawing in the woods set me on edge. There weren't many of them, I guessed about ten or twenty of them, but it was worrying that they had decided to make residence in the forest.
“I don’t know, I don’t recognise their insignia.”
Even though I had better eyesight, the way my brain processes images works differently. I could see movement better than something static, and the white cloth tents that the griffon ‘army’ had erected bore a strange-looking symbol.
“It’s an eye within a feather,” I mumbled. The symbol sparked something in the back of my mind. It seemed familiar but I couldn’t place my claw on it.
“I’m going to talk to them,” Twilight decided.
“Hey—” but before I could stop Twilight, she had darted out of the bushes and was headed straight towards the grim-looking griffons. I sighed and flittered closer.
The sentry posted on the outer perimeter must have heard the snap of wood and twigs as we approached, because she shouted something and immediately, some of them dropped what they were doing and picked up some makeshift weapons.
“Something in the bushes!” she exclaimed.
We pushed aside the stray branches and approached.
“Oh, it’s one of the local ponies. False alarm, everyone!”
Some of them that were halfway to mustering grumbled something and trudged back. I made eye contact with Twilight and gestured for her to keep going.
“Stop!” the sentry shouted, and we paused, uncertain. It was obvious from the way she held her weapon that she wasn’t used to it. “No further!” she continued, but her words didn’t seem to carry much weight.
We waited for her to say something, but she didn’t, just keeping the point of the sharpened stick on Twilight. She didn’t threaten me with it, but I could see that from this angle I would be hard to spot. Her head glanced back towards the centre of the camp every now and then, as if she were trying to decide whether or not she should leave us to go fetch a superior. Now on closer inspection she did look rather young, but I wasn’t an expert on griffon physiology, so I didn’t know.
“Geneva, what are you doing over there? Come welcome our guest!”
“B-But she could be a threat!” Geneva muttered.
“Then she would have done something by now,” the other one admonished. “Come on, let her through!”
The sentry mumbled, and then pointed with her stick towards a grinning griffon at the centre of the camp. We took this as an invitation to move forward, but I kept my eye on Geneva as Twilight trotted past. Geneva spotted me and almost dropped her stick in surprise. Then she scrambled back to her post. Strange.
Twilight inclined her head at the other griffon. She was taller and fluffier than Geneva, with faint white streaks going through black feathers on the upper half of her body.
The griffon spotted Twilight and bowed to her, after noticing her wings in addition to her horn.
“Greetings, pony princess. I am Griselda, Who of the Who’s.”
Hmm the name sounded familiar. Not Griselda… who… No, maybe I say that word too much.
“You’re who? Griselda?”
“No. I’m the Who. This is the Who’s.”
“Wait, so who’s who?”
“We all are Who’s, the Who is me, but I’m a part of the Who’s too. It may be confusing knowing who’s who in the who, that is why I am the Who.”
Twilight blinked as she mentally parsed through the sentence.
“So you’re the Who... whose job is to lead the Who’s?”
“That’s it! But the question is… who are you?” Griselda leaned forward, finally noticing me perched on Twilight’s back. “And more importantly who is that?”
“What? Oh, that’s Owlowiscious, he’s my owl assistant. Anyway, I’m Princess Twilight—”
Twilight didn’t get any further.
“An owl?!”
Twilight was suddenly aware of how quiet the camp got. I looked around. Everyone was staring at us.
Then everyone started bowing.
“Owlowiscious…” Twilight mumbled through the side of her mouth, clearly freaking out.
“AHAH!” I shouted, suddenly remembering.
“What?” Twilight said.
“The Who’s! My followers!”
“Followers?!”
“Yeah, I think I had a group of fans a few thousand years ago.” I shrugged self-consciously in embarrassment. “I completely forgot about them.”
“I’ve always wondered what happened to them when I fled the Ottermule Empire.”
Griselda was watching us with a keen eye throughout our whole exchange.
“You can speak with owls?”
Twilight shrugged. “Uhh, no, I can only speak with this one, he’s a little special.”
Griselda leapt forwards, surprising us both.
“This is cause for celebration! This must be the Great Owl, as foretold in the prophesies!”
Twilight stared at Griselda in shock as the camp erupted in cheers.
“Uhhh…” was all she could utter.
Griselda wrapped a feathery arm around Twilight.
“Tonight we celebrate Princess Twilight, the prophet of the Great Owl. All hail the Who’s. All hail the Great Owl.”
“All hail the Who’s! All hail the Great Owl!” the rest of the camp chorused.
“Hmm, this might be a problem,” I commented.
Twilight shot me a look. “You think?” she muttered sarcastically.
Griselda broke off, grinning widely. “You two!” Two griffons paused and saluted, coming to attention before Griselda. “Go send word across the border.”
“What?” Twilight said. “How many of you are there?”
Griselda gave a deeper bow to Twilight than before. “About a hundred thousand at last census, Prophet.”
“Don’t call me that!”
Griselda shifted uncomfortably. “Your most Excellent Princess Prophet Twilight?” she offered.
Twilight groaned. “Why do these sorts of things happen around me?” She glared at me. “This is partially your fault.”
I shrugged, giving Twilight a somewhat petulant look.
“Who, me?”