//------------------------------// // The return home. // Story: Hunters of the forest. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// _____*The next day, Shanda and Jod'ka's hut 8:19 AM*_____ Shanda groaned as she opened her eyes and rubbed her forehead, she slowly sat up to lessen the backlash of a light head and a migraine. "That filly can talk." She mumbled to herself as she stood up and walked over to an inbuilt cabinet that she had put in the wall. Shanda grabbed a simple pair of dark blue pants and a plain white shirt, as she dressed her mind went back to that filly from Sugarcube corner and Scootaloo, the filly was called Apple Bloom and she seemed genuinely curious about what and who she was, in all honesty Shanda knew that she should have been more careful in a town filled with potential enemies but she had an annoying complex where she couldn't say no to kids....Scootaloo was an exception as she was wounded but still. "Might as well see if I'm good for the day or if there's things that need doing." Shanda mumbled quietly. In truth, Shanda was a highly trained assassin that had some skill in voodoo, not as much as her father but she could easily do a small empowerment hex, the only flaws that Shanda really seemed to have were kids.....and ice cream much to her fathers annoyance. 'I could probably see if this world has ice cream and bring some home.....if only to see dad's face.' She chuckled slightly at the image of her father's eye twitching when she brought home twenty cones of ice cream back when she was a kid. After Shanda was dressed she walked over to her door and opened it, she walked out of her room and headed downstairs. ____*downstairs*____ Shanda entered the main room to find Jod'ka cooking something and Scootaloo passed out on the couch, Shanda rolled her eyes and walked over to Scootaloo, she knelt down and gently shook Scootaloo causing the filly to stir. "....ugh, mom it's Saturday." Scootaloo complained sleepily. Shanda rolled her eyes and poked Scootaloo's hoof that acted as her pillow. "It's not mom but you need to get up." She said quietly. Scootaloo groaned and yawned with her hooves stretched, she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it anyway?" She asked no one in particular. Shanda looked over to their clock and saw that it said eight twenty. "It's eight twenty." She said repeating the clock. Scootaloo opened her eyes and had a sleepy expression on her face. "Oh....morning Shanda." She said. Shanda chuckled and stood up. "Morning Scoots, I wouldn't recommend moving around right away." She commented before walking over to Jod'ka. "What's on the menu today dad?" Shanda teased while setting her hands on the counter and looking at her father. "Nothing much, eggs, spice bread and rice.....need to use it up." He added for the rice. Shanda nodded and looked over at Scootaloo who looked horrible. "Your not a morning person are ya Scoots?" She asked the filly. Scootaloo grunted and nodded. "I hate mornings." She commented. Shanda shrugged and started on the spice bread while her father made the rest. "Hope you like rice Scoots." She told the filly. Scootaloo blinked and slowly stood up from the couch and winced as her legs sent a small wave of pain. "Rice is okay." She replied while walking over to what looked like the table, she carefully sat down on one of the chairs. After a time, breakfast was ready and on the table, Shanda noticed that there was barely any rice but said nothing as she ate her food in silence, Jod'ka said nothing the entire time and Scootaloo mimicked him but for different reasons. After breakfast Jod'ka went upstairs to get into his hunting gear, leaving Shanda and Scootaloo alone downstairs. "Hey Shanda.....can I ask you something?" She asked. Shanda nodded as she finished cleaning. "What happens after I'm healed?" Scootaloo asked with curiosity. Shanda paused and took a moment to answer, in truth she was used to people she healed leaving right away, but Scootaloo was a special case, as this time they were Inside an abnormally dangerous forest that she knew next to nothing about.....so she decided to wing it. "I'll bring you out of the forest and take you to the town, if I can't find anyone to meet us I'll just drop you off at the physics defying bakery. "She replied. Scootaloo took a moment until she realized what building she meant. "Sugarcube corner?" She asked. Shanda snapped her fingers. "That's the one!.....but enough about what might happen, let's focus on today hmm?" She asked the filly. Scootaloo shrugged and walked over to the couch from her spot at the table. "So what torture you got for me today?....I've crossed off boredom and you already pulled some of my organs out of my chest, so what next?" She asked teasingly. Shanda put her hand to her chin in thought until an idea came to mind. "Well, Since you can't walk very far without needing to rest....I have the perfect game for us to play." She said as she walked up the stairs. Scootaloo was now concerned as she heard a small amount of wickedness in that last sentence, she gulped as she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Shanda then came down the stairs with what looked like a board game. "Warchief's!.....goblin Cartel addition, very addicting!" She proclaimed wickedly. Scootaloo had no idea what the goblin cartel was but she didn't think it was good. "Uh.....how do we play?" She asked nervously. Shanda grinned and walked up to Scootaloo before putting the box on the ground, she backed up a little bit as she lifted the lid off the box and jumped backwards. "What are you?...." Scootaloo's grin was cut off however as a mechanical table sprung up from the box and what looked like a city was on top of it, the table itself had greenish blue metal and was loosely fitted as if patchwork. Shanda walked up to the table and sat down on one end as she grabbed three small boxes started setting up the board. "Steamwheedle or Bilgewater?" Shanda asked the filly. Scootaloo raised and eyebrow as she leaned in. "Sorry?" She replied. Shanda sighed and continued setting up the game. "Do you want to play the Steemwheedle version or the Bilgewater version?" She asked. Scootaloo scratched the back of her head and shrugged. "Bilgewater." She replied. After that, Shanda put one of the boxes away and opened another, she then started to set up small statues of green people with giant ears, Scootaloo assumed that they were characters, that was when Shanda set three of these characters in front of Scootaloo and herself. Scootaloo scratched the back of her head and looked at Shanda in confusion. "Is it set up?" She asked. Shanda nodded and cleared her throat. "Ok now I'm going to explain how this game works, in front of you are three character you can play, remember though that you can only pick one of them." She started. Scootaloo looked at the three in confusion, she looked at Shanda for help and heard her sigh. "Okay, let me explain a bit more." Shanda then waved her hand over the city. "This is Kezan, the great city of the Bilgewater cartel, they basically control trade over the high seas, now, those characters are called Zandra Silverfingers, Gearmind and Rocketfist, Zandra is the healer, Gearmind is the fighter and Rocket is the juggernaut, I'll let you pick first and we can go from there....I'll tell you what you need to know progressively." After that, Scootaloo and Shanda began their game with Scootaloo as Gearmind, and Shanda as Zandra, the game went quite smoothly as Shanda explained the game to Scootaloo as they went on. _____*thirteen hours later, 8:43 PM, the Everfree Forest*____ Shanda stood completely still on the thick tree branch as she pulled back the bow string....her target was a rather large boar that she had tagged with an arrow, the beast was currently attempting to mend its wound by pulling on the arrow imbedded in its leg. "Sorry bud, but a girl needs to eat." She whispered quietly as she released the arrow sending it flying at the boar and into its heart. Shanda jumped off from the branch and walked towards the boar that had just died, she reached out and pulled the arrow out of its heart, and then the one in the boar's leg, she then sighed and began dragging the boar home. "This is going to be a long night." She muttered. The only other interesting thing to happen that night was Scootaloo having a horrified expression as Shanda dragged the boar in......and Jod'ka's cauldron randomly exploding in a burst of green mist. ______*the next day 12:00 AM*______ Shanda was in a down mood about the day ahead of her, it wasn't the fact that Scootaloo was going home today, or the amount of things she would most likely have to kill.....it was what came after, if it was up to her she would just go back home after getting Scootaloo out of the Everfree, but as it turns out, the only pony she knew of that knew Scootaloo would be busy. So now she would have to wait at Sugarcube corner until someone showed up. "Forget this, I'm going to get some sleep." She told herself as she stood up from her seat at the bottom of the stairs, she walked up the stairs and into her room. After Shanda undressed and got under the covers one thought lingered in her mind. 'Im gonna miss the filly.' She thought before drifting off into sleep. ____*meanwhile with Jod'ka and Scootaloo.*____ Scootaloo and Jod'ka shared looks of confusion as to why Shanda suddenly stormed off upstairs, until Jod'ka chuckled in realization. At the sound of the chuckle, Scootaloo looked at Jod'ka with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked the troll. Jod'ka looked at the filly and rolled his eyes. "It is obvious isn't it?....she will miss you." He explained. This got Scootaloo confused. "She does know that she can visit right?" She wondered. Jod'ka sighed and walked over to the filly, he then knelt down and looked her in the eye. "That's just it, we might not be able too for two different reasons, the first being that we may get drove out of town and possibly the forest, the second being that we need to leave this world eventually....Shanda knows this and that is what troubles her." He replied calmly. Scootaloo lowered her head in thought at the words of the troll. 'I don't even know what happened.' Jod'ka stood up and walked over to his cauldron and began stirring it. "I am beginning to hate this stuff." He muttered. ______*three hours later, outside Jod'ka and Shanda's hut, 3:23 PM*______ Shanda and Scootaloo stood outside the hut looking at it. "So this is the whole hut huh?" Scootaloo asked. The night elf nodded with a grin. "Yep.....come on Scoots, don't want to be late....would hate to give a wrong first impression." She joked, she was currently wearing a set of black leather armor with a red stripe down each of the sides, she also had a black hood over her head. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Even though your first impression was shooting arrows at them. Shanda shrugged. "Like I said, didn't want them killing you." She commented. Scootaloo sighed, knowing fully that the night elf was correct. "Yea yea yea." She said sarcastically. The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, save for the random Timberwolves which Shanda destroyed quickly with a simple fireball from her hands. "How did you do that?" Scootaloo asked curiously. Shanda shrugged and waved her hand while conjuring a small amount of flame to cover her hand. "It's simple arcane magic, funnily enough the rest of my race are crappy mages." She joked as she dispelled the flames. Scootaloo paused for a moment before resuming her walk. "Aren't you at all curious about what it would be like to live with your own kind?" She asked. Shanda seemed to pause but quickly recovered herself. "No, I lived with them before......It was ok until...." She trailed off vividly as she stopped walking. Scootaloo stopped walking and looked at Shanda. "What is it?" She asked, Shanda looked at Scootaloo and sighed. "They found out I was a horde spy....I fought off the first few but soon I ended up running, word spread and soon I became a known enemy of the alliance and a traitor to my people." She replied before resuming the long walk. Scootaloo remained silent but followed Shanda. Soon after the pair's conversation they reached the edge of the town, Shanda noticed that no one was in sight so she started walking towards the town with Scootaloo behind her. "Shanda....I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Scootaloo said with her head down. Shanda sighed but continued walking. "It's ok, it was a simple question.....besides, I'm happier back with the Darkspear, at the very least I know where I stand with them, besides....they raised me so I understand them, and they understand me." She replied. Scootaloo nodded and followed Shanda as they reached Ponyville. Shanda and Scootaloo began walking through Ponyville while heading for Sugarcube corner, the ponies of the town glared at Shanda with mistrust but paid Scootaloo no mind as the pay continued walking. "Let me know if you see someone you know okay Scoots?" Shanda said, looking at Scootaloo for a moment. Scootaloo nodded and started to look around, she had seen many ponies before but she did not recognize many of them. [1] When the pair finally reached Sugarcube corner they were about to walk inside when they heard a gasp. "YOU!" Came a strangely familiar voice. Shanda and Scootaloo turned to face the source of the voice and found a rather mad purple unicorn that had her horn glowing. "Scoots, you know her?" Shanda asked quietly while slowly reaching for her hunting knife. "Yea, that's Twilight Sparkle, a friend of my mom, she's ok." Scootaloo replied quietly. With that Shanda eased her hand away from the knife and calmed her expression. "Hi." She replied. Twilight's left eye slightly twitched and she sighed. "Release the filly." She demanded. Shanda rolled her eyes and resisted the urge not to laugh. "Go on Scoots, you'll be fine." She told the filly. Scootaloo mouthed a simple 'goodbye' as she ran up to Twilight who looked ready to fire regardless. Shanda let out a grin and started to walk away when a scream was heard. "LOOK OUT BELOW!" Screamed the voice. By the time Shanda tried to move, she was already unconscious. A dust cloud covered the area around Shanda and the owner of the voice. "Shanda!" Scootaloo cried out before running to the dust cloud and stopping just onside of it. A faint voice came from the cloud. "Hey buddy, you doing alright?" Came the voice of a certain cyan Pegasus as the dust settled. Scootaloo could just barely make out the image of Rainbow Dash poking Shanda. When the dust finally settled, Rainbow Dash realized who it was and gasped as she noticed Scootaloo and Twilight looking at her in shock. "Um.....oops?" She offered nervously. Scootaloo slowly walked up to Shanda and poked her only to recieve a mumble in reply. "She's okay." She said thankfully. Twilight walked up and looked at Scootaloo with a curious expression but contained her curiosity, she then enveloped Shanda in her magic and did a quick scan of the woman's injuries, once she was finished she looked at Dash. "You are lucky that she's ok Rainbow, it's only bruises." She replied. Rainbow looked at the unconscious creature before her and rolled her over out of curiosity, the result ended in her wings snapping open. "Not what I expected." She commented.