//------------------------------// // 2 - 15 // Story: Four Hooves // by destinedjagold //------------------------------// “It’s really warm in here,” Reykan says, his furry head poking out of Xana’s pouch thing. Xana glares down at him. “You’ll fly if you’ll bite,” she warns with piercing orange eyes. The panther cub whimpers and hides deeper inside. Moon Gaze snickers, who is sitting on my back. “Heh... I can’t believe how fun it is to watch a meat-eater afraid of us! Now I understand why Crazy Jay wants him around.” I roll my eyes and continue walking. We’ve been walking for quite a while now. The forest is already darker than a few hours ago, indicating that the sun’s probably about to set for the night. I don’t remember Sienna and I taking this long to reach the southern edge of the forest from Twilight’s. But, if I continue walking straight, we’ll eventually reach Twilight’s— “We’re lost, aren’t we?” ...My ears droop. Moon Gaze grumbles. “He knows where he’s going, he says. Pfft...!” “Put a sock in it,” I mumble as I stop walking. “I would if I knew what ‘sock’ means,” Moon Gaze replies. “Then again, I probably wouldn’t.” I ignore him as I look around. Miss Roo stands tall beside me and starts looking around as well. “What is this home of your damsel look like, Jay?” I stifle a groan. “She is not my mate.” Miss Roo chuckles. “Why did ya think I said ‘damsel,’ eh?” “I’ll check the dictionary later,” I reply quietly. “A what now?” Moon Gaze asks. “Jay,” Reykan voices out. “Where are we going, anyway?” I turn to him. His head is poking out, two of his paws gripping the edge of the pouch thingy. “I thought we’re heading back to Twil—mrrrf?!” His sapphire eyes cross, his mouth suddenly full of a brown and dirty hoof. “Don’t move too suddenly!” Moon Gaze squeaks as he clings on the saddlebag. “Fffftooey!” Reykan spits my hoof out and glares at me. “What was that for?” I lean my head towards him and whisper in his ear: “Don’t mention Twilight’s name.” He gives me a curious blink as I back away. “...But why?” I glare at him. He blinks at me. Moon Gaze climbs up behind my neck and stands on my head. “What are you two talking about?” “It’ll be dark soon,” Xana suddenly says, still looking around. “We’re not gonna be safe here when the light’s gone.” “Why not?” Reykan asks, looking up at the roo. I hear Moon Gaze groan, probably rolling his eyes. “So now what? Mister ‘I know the way’ got us lost!” I keep my mouth shut. I hate to admit it, but he’s right... I got us lost. I was supposed to just head north from that pasture, but I guess the sudden griffon attack pushed me off-track a bit. Should I head east or west? Well, if I head west, I’ll eventually reach the edge of the forest and will see Canterlot Mountain in the distance. East then? An up-side-down white rat head suddenly appears in my eye, its red eyes glaring at me. “Hellooooooooo? Stop ignoring us and move already!” I reflexively shake my head, hearing Reykan sniffing the air and Moon Gaze’s panicked yelping. Tiny paws kick on my head, launching the rat to Xana’s arm. He grumbles angrily as he climbs up and sits on the roo’s head. “Let me out,” Reykan suddenly says, looking up. With glaring eyes, Xana cautiously grabs him with her hands, pulls him out and unceremoniously drops him on the ground. Reykan lands on all four, his face immediately crunching in pain as he lets out a pained hiss. “Whoops,” Xana says, looking away. “Slipped. Sorry.” Moon Gaze snickers. I glare at the two of them. Reykan shook his head before he sniffs the air again. The three of us watch him as he slowly turns his head left and right. He turns, sniffs the air again, blinks, sniffs, another blink, and turns to me while pointing with a paw towards the direction where he was facing seconds ago. “She’s that way.” He’s pointing south-east. ...Oh yeah. It was Reykan who was leading me to Twilight before we met Siri. ...Er, Seri. “You sure?” I ask him. He nods his head with a smile. “Yeah. It’s faint, but I can smell it from here.” I arch an eyebrow. “Smell what?” “The markings I left around her tree before you and Sienna left.” Er... Cats rub themselves on things they consider their territory, right? He shrugs. “What? I did it so I’ll know where it is if I’m in an unfamiliar place, like where we are right now,” he says with a grin. I shake my head. “Eh... Lead the—you can walk, right?” He looks down at his paws, looks up at me and shrugs once again. “I think so.” Strong kid. I nod my head. “Lead the way then.” “Mmmkay!” And he limps off, me following close behind. After a couple of steps, I hear Moon Gaze call my name. Reykan and I stop and turn to look at them both. They aren’t following us. Moon Gaze is giving me a serious look. “...Are you seriously going to follow a predator?” Xana nods her head, the rat almost falling off in the process. I shrug at them. “It hadn’t killed me before.” Miss Roo raises an eyebrow. “What? You followed that bastard’s lead before?” I nod my head. “Reykan led me to her before. Well, kinda.” “Kinda?” I shake my head. “Not importan—” “I was leading Jay to Twi—” I glare at Reykan. “—iiiiiiiiiiiii—to her before we met a swan who knows her so I continued to lead them to her and because the swan also knows where she lives the swan knew that I wasn’t lying and then we met Sienna and the four of us went to her tree!” Blank stares. “...Who’s Sienna?” Moon gaze asks. I roll my eyes. “The deer.” “Oh.” “...Right,” I say, turning to Reykan. “Lead the way.” Reykan nods his head, turns around and limps forward. I blink. “That reminds me...” “That it’s not a good idea to follow a meat-eater leading to your demise?” Xana asks from behind. “Mmm-hmm,” Moon Gaze agrees. I roll my eyes and refocus my attention on the path ahead with Reykan leading the way. “I can understand why Moon Gaze wants to come along, but what’s your reason, Xana?” A short pause before she answers with: “I came here to flee from the birds of prey, remember?” Oh, right... I almost forgot about that. “So what’s stopping you from returning?” “I’d rather wait a moon or two here before I return. I kinda don’t like the smell of blood.” “Mmmrrrfff...” I hear Moon Gaze moan uncomfortably. And I hear Xana chuckle. “You’re not a fan of the topic, Mounsey?” ...That is a baaad pun. “But I don’t like doing nothing either,” she continues as we turn around a tree. “So why not follow you guys around? It’d be fun to kill a panther cub if you want me to.” Reykan stops and shivers. “Can we please not talk about death?” Moon Gaze squeaks. “Please?” Ears drooping, Reykan quietly continues walking. “Oh, toughen up, Mounsey.” “I am not a mouse!” “Yeah,” I nod my head in agreement. “He’s a rat.” “I’m not a rat either!” “You sure look like one, Mounsey.” “Grrr!” The forest has grown darker as the evening takes over the sky. Eyes adjusting to the darkness, we notice the forest trees has grown distant from each other, giving us more room to walk on, which means that we’re getting close to the clearing, I hope. My ears twitch as I hear faint wing flaps above from flying bats, barely breaking the crickets’ orchestra. “They sure are noisy ’round here,” Xana comments from behind. She takes a big breath and exhales with an audible sigh. “Air’s colder here, too. You should come out, Mounsey!” She is now weirdly walking beside me, smirking on my saddlebag...or the creature that’s inside, at least. “This air’s great!” Moon Gaze pokes his head out from the saddlebag where the gem’s stored and glares at her. “Yeah? And then get swept up by bats or owls?” He slips his head back inside. “No thank you!” “Your loss.” Up ahead, I see our panther cub stop walking. He’s staring at the big exposed root a few inches beside him. “...Don’t step on that,” he says before moving forward again. “I can see the dead trees up ahead, Jay,” he adds, looking over his shoulder. “We’re getting—” He suddenly stops as I avoid the root he warned me about, his sapphire eyes growing wide in horror. “Don’t step on—!” KKKKKKRRRRNCH! “Huh?” Xana blinks, looking down at the large root she’s standing on. “What in the world was tha—?” And then the ‘root’ starts squirming. Clicking noises fill our ears as the bush where the root’s poking from is shaking violently. Clicking noises... Oh...derp... My ears droop. “Run!” Reykan yells. “What is it—?” SKREEEEEE—! “That sounded like a Leg Crawler!” Moon Gaze shouts from inside the bag. “A Legga-what now—?” Xana asks as the bush suddenly explodes, the other half of the millipede’s large body flying towards her. I kick her out of the way, the millipede missing its main target and barely hitting my bum. Gulping, I kick my legs, running away from it before the giant black millipede can put its clicking legs on me. “What in bird shit is that thing—?” I look over my shoulder to yell at her: “Just run away—!” SKREEEEEE—! I gasp. “Why the heck are you chasing me?!” I yell as I kick my hooves on the ground, the sounds of angry clicking noises following me from behind. Holy shit can millipedes run so freaking fast! “It wasn’t me who stepped on you!” “Stop shouting and just run you stupid pony!” Moon Gaze yells back. I zigzag around bushes and rocks and trees, the cold night air whistling in my ears. “...Use the gem you useless rat!” “What gem?!” he shouts back. Seconds later: “...Oh yeah... I do have a gem—” Something painful stabs my rear hoof, jolting me in surprise. “Gah—!” I stumble and fall, and something yanks me to a stop. Clicking noises surround me as whatever that stabbed my hoof pulls out and stabs me yet again! “Augh—!” “Z-z-z-z-z-za-za-zap the—!” “Get away from him—!” Xana tries pulling it back by its tail, the clicking noises almost drowning her voice. I scream in pain as I feel whatever’s stabbing my hoof is turning left and right and left and right and it’s freaking painful! “Z-zap the Leg Crawler!” I see the bright white light out of the corner of my eye. “...Aw nuts...” BZZZT—! My saddlebag lights up, and I swear I can see the rat’s skeleton as he gets magically zapped. A beam of electricity dances out of the bag and zaps the millipede, zapping my stabbed wound as well! Holy freaking hell—! I shiver involuntarily, feeling numb all over as I hear the painful screech of the millipede, clicking and rolling on the ground in agony, its sharp fangs or whatever it used to stab me no longer on me. “G-guh...!” I hear Xana say, who is standing still and shivering. SKREEEEEE—! The clicking noises sound angrier than before, getting louder and louder— “Rrrawrrr—!” Screeches and scratches fill my ears as I giggle. ...I giggled... And still am...but I don’t know why. But...it’s funny. It’s so funny and I can’t stop giggling. What’s so funny? I don’t even know, but it’s so freaking funny. I giggle and giggle and keep on giggling, hugging myself at how weird things are going on. I giggle at how I just got stabbed. I giggle at how I’m gonna die as worm food. I giggle at how helpless I am, unable to move. I giggle at how stupidly vulnerable Xana is. I giggle at how stupid Moon Gaze looks when unconscious, with his tongue out. I giggle as Reykan tears a few legs out of the millipede, his sapphire blue eyes looking feral and menacing as they should be. I giggle at how scary the two predators look as they fight, the sounds of their battle ringing in my ears. I watch in glee as Reykan loses his grip on the tall millipede. He roars again and jumps at it, claws and fangs ready. The millipede simply waves its shiny black body sideways, slapping him in midair and throwing him at a tree if the ‘thud’ noise is any indication. The millipede then crawls angrily at him, but then Xana holds its tail-rear-end, stopping its advance. The millipede curves its body to bite her, making Miss Roo yelp and letting it go. She jumps back, and quickly jumps forward, kicking the millipede in the face! I cheer and wish I have popcorns as Reykan joins in the action once again, trying to claw his way to the millipede’s soft underbelly. The millipede screeches in pain and anger as it tries to shake Reykan off, while Xana, meanwhile, is kicking and punching the rear-end of the worm. And I watch all of these without any popcorn, and I giggle at my misfortune. Knock knock knock! I hold back a chuckle as I hear hoofsteps from the other side of the wooden door. A purple aura envelops the door, pulling it open inwardly. A tired-looking purple unicorn mare blinks and smiles at me. “Jay! You’re back!” She blinks, her smile fading, eyeing the bodies behind me. “...uh...” I can barely hold back my chuckle. “Hey Twilight. S-so, heeheehee, a mighty-kicking kangaroo, a pegasus-turned rat, an awesome panther cub and a human-turned earth pony walks inside the library...” Twilight blinks a slow, confused blink. “Uuuhhh...” Seri’s white head pokes out from the kitchen, blinking. I giggle before I continue: “...They walk up to the librarian and then—” “Aaahhh! It’s the mad mare!” Moon Gaze shrieks. I turn and giggle at him. “Aw...! You—heeheehee—you ruined the joke!” I lose my balance and laugh on the ground as panicky squeaks fill my ears.