NanoCrystal

by Battlecrank

Chapter 4: The Hunt

Two Days after ‘The Swarm’ is Released…

With its familiar whine, the Tardis appeared inside Pinkie’s room in Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie was quick to open the door, only for the Doctor to groan in annoyance. Yet another Pinkie was standing in the entryway to the Tardis, but with a questioning look on her face, contrary to the first’s excitement.

“Pinkie!” Exclaimed the Pinkie inside the Tardis. “You need to go with the Doctor back to when Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon!

“Really?! Yay!” Exclaimed the other.

Both Pinkies quickly changed places (again) as the Doctor looked on. Once they were done, both pinkies looked at the Doctor with expectant smiles (again). With a groan, the Doctor finally asked the question they were probably waiting for him to ask.

“Do I get a say in this?”

Both Pinkies replied in Stereo (again).

“Nope!”

The Doctor, not used to being forced into this type of situation, closed the door to the Tardis with a sigh.

“Why do I always end up in these situations?” He asked in a flat voice to nopony in particular.

“Oh, Oh!” Pinkie said as she followed the Doctor to the central column of the Tardis. “Can we make a pit stop in Marelantis?”

“No.”

“How about Faust’s tower?”

The Doctor groaned, knowing this wasn't going to end.

-(◊)-

Aura was lost.

Normally, navigation wasn’t a problem for her, even being an earth pony and a filly, but this forest seemed to be using a different rule book. One that wasn’t foal friendly. Written in a dead language. With no pictures.

She regretted ever entering the Everfree forest. Sure, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would have spread the contents of her diary around, but that would have been better then preforming their dare of entering the Everfree forest! Granted, she was only supposed to go a short way in, but she had tripped and rolled, resulting in her loss of direction, which led to her current problem.

Aura looked at her surroundings, again, causing her light blue mane to fly around against her mulberry fur. This was the fifth time for her to do so in the past 5 minutes. Like the attempts before, she was still lost. She still was unable to figure out which way to go, and it was still too dark to see much besides the vegetation around her, due to the sun having set. She did, however, see something new that she had not seen the previous times she looked.

She saw eyes.

Lots and lots of glowing yellow eyes. All around her. Every single one of them staring at her.

As Aura stared at them, she was quickly overpowered with a horrible stench. Even a foal like her knew that smell. It was one that all the ponies of Ponyville were taught to fear.

“Timberwolves,” Aura whimpered to herself.

Without thinking about direction, she ran away. She didn’t care where she was going, just as long as it was away from the Timberwolves. However, a foal can only run on adrenaline and fear for so long before the body itself stops responding to their will to run.

When her legs finally did give out what seemed like hours later, she was in the middle of a clearing. She was completely exhausted, and she couldn’t move if she tried. For all her efforts, though, she had been unable to evade her pursuers.

With more fear then she had ever known in her life, she was forced to confront the reality of her situation. She was going to die. She was going to be eaten, and nopony would ever hear from her again. This was her end.

The Timberwolves, possibly sensing her acceptance of defeat, moved in. As they came into the clearing, she slowly realized that she didn’t have a chance of evading them to begin with. There was a full dozen of them, each exactly like the other, and every single one of them drooling with hunger.

Except that one.

Aura found herself staring at the thing with the Timberwolves. It looked like somepony had chiseled a statue to look like a Timberwolf out of a brownish type of rock, then polished it, coated it in mud, sticks and sawdust, and then enchanted it all to glow an odd gray color. Its eyes, instead of a normal glowing yellow, were instead a dull and lusterless gold, and the stench the Timberwolves had seemed to be missing from it. The most disturbing feature about it, however, was the way it moved.

While the other Timberwolves fluidly moved from spot to spot, the creature had jerky movements, with its feet seeming unstable, but was soundless when compared to the noise the Timberwolves were making. The Timberwolves tried to blend with the shadows, and stealthily move between them, but the creature didn’t even bother to hide its glow as it darted about. Each of the Timberwolves stared at her hungrily, but the creature seemed to almost be ignoring her, as though she didn’t even appeal to it.

This really didn’t change her situation, though. She was going to die, what did a weird creature hanging out with the Timberwolves matter? It’s not as though she’s going to be able to tell anypony about it.

Suddenly, she saw movement dart towards her. She knew this was her end. She felt herself be thrown up in the air, and then on her way back down everything went dark.

-(◊)-

Earlier in the day…

The Swarm had been participating in the pack’s activities, social and otherwise. It had learned much from the Alpha. It had learned that they called themselves Timberwolves, their customs, how to better act like them, and possibly a recipe for a dessert dish that was supposed to be ‘Simply Devine’. What it had not learned, however, was any new information pertaining to its primary objective.

Of course, this was to be expected. The pack didn’t travel far from its territory, and this was rare to change. The Alpha was also the only one who could have possibly related it, anyway, and if it wasn’t food, a threat, or a louve in heat, the Alpha usually didn’t pay attention to it.

The Swarm had questioned why this was. Why did they not travel far? Why was the Alpha the only one that could talk, and what was a louve in heat?

The Alpha had answered simply with, “Its tradition, because we do, and when two wolves love each other ver-… wait, how old are you?”

Fortunately for the Swarm, as long as it fulfilled its responsibilities to the pack, the Alpha was mostly indifferent to anything the Swarm did. This allowed the Swarm to slip away occasionally, to search for its objective. Unfortunately, it was not currently one of those times.

The majority of the pack was on a hunt. The Swarm, being the strongest they had (besides the Alpha, who refused to think otherwise), was expected to participate. While the Swarm would rather have continued looking for its objective, it had agreed to assist, if only to learn what a hunt was. The answer was even more confusing for it than the original question.

A hunt was apparently an activity where the pack worked together to kill large or fast creatures that an individual Timberwolf would be unable to defeat alone. After the pack killed its target, all the Timberwolves that participated would then get a share in the corpse, apparently for purposes of ingestion.

The Swarm didn’t need to eat, so it usually gave its share away to another member of the pack, if not the Alpha. This act alone seemed to gain it more leeway, allowing it to roam farther afield by itself. Of course, it also could use the time the Timberwolves used to eat to explore.

During one of these many explorations, it had noticed an interesting pattern. In some areas the pack traveled, it was more likely to encounter a local of the forest then in others. Even more interesting, this pattern seemed to form part of a ring of sorts, around a spot several miles outside of the pack’s territory. The Swarm had promptly decided that it was going to explore the location after the pack’s hunt.

The hunt itself had been great success for the pack, mostly due to the Swarm’s aid. Using the pattern it had discovered, it had led the pack into the area of their territory with the highest probability of encountering something to attack. Granted, it was only probability, but the Alpha had been suitably impressed by the Swarm’s assistance.

“I knew you were good luck,” the Alpha said in its gestural language. “The pack has never eaten this well!”

The Alpha and three other Timberwolves were eating the remains of one of the Chimeras that the Swarm had seen earlier, with the rest of their pack standing guard. The Swarm had been the one to spot the chimera first, but the Alpha had been the one to score the final hit. It was apparently something that added to the Alpha’s ‘honor’.

“As I have told you, it was simple probability based on my explorations.” The Swarm sat off to the side of the corpse, helping to keep watch for the group while the Alpha ate. “To give me credit for such an occurrence is-.“

“I have no idea what those big words you just made up have to do with you being good luck,” interrupted the Alpha, “but I want you to get over here and eat. I have not seen you eat in all the time I’ve known you, and it would bring honor to you if you ate with me.”

The Swarm was about to respond that it didn’t eat, but an idea struck it. It was a clever, yet devious idea. It was an idea that would further its goal of exploration for its objective, and if it was lucky, it would not have to ‘eat’ at all.

“I would, Alpha, but this food does not appeal to me,” the Swarm finally replied. “I usually hunt for prey while I’m exploring away from the pack, and eat then. As for your honor, I am not one of your kinsmen, per se, so you would only gain from one of your own eating in my place.”

The Alpha stopped eating to stare at the Swarm for a few moments. It was the kind of stare that asked the question “Are you serious?” It would have been even more effective, had Timberwolves been able to show facial expressions that better conveyed sarcasm.

“First, I told you to stop making up words. Second, if you won’t accept the honor of eating with me, you will accept the honors of me helping you hunt for food.”

The Alpha resumed eating before continuing, fully displaying one of the main benefits of a gestural language: The ability to talk with your mouth full, and be perfectly comprehensible. Table manners do tend to take a back seat when you’re a vicious meat eating Timberwolf, after all, and lack a table to utilize them with.

“And don’t try and talk your way out if it with your made up words! I need to make sure all in my pack stay strong. What would the other Alphas say if I didn’t?”

“They would probably say you-“

“Doing it again!”

The Swarm did its best attempt at reproducing the Alpha’s previous stare towards its original owner. This is not what it had in mind, but obviously this was a big thing for the Alpha. Besides, some backup wouldn’t hurt, if one of those hydra things the pack talked so much about showed up.

What’s the worst that could happen?

-(◊)-

Present…

The Swarm was now regretting its previous decision. Granted, it had explored for a lot longer than it normally had been able to, but it didn’t expect this. Not only had the pack found something, but it was of the race of the Swarm’s creators!

Granted, it was a bit small, the colors were different, and it seemed to lack the mark the first it had seen had, but quite a bit of time had passed. Maybe they all look like this now? Then again, it was also possible that there was more variation in the creator’s race then the Swarm had originally known, and all the variants of it that the Swarm had seen so far were of the same species, with this smaller one being a younger version, but that was unlikely.

Either way, any conjecture the Swarm preformed at this point was useless. The fact of the matter was that one had been found, and was now being hunted down by its pack mates. It was highly likely that if the Swarm did not act soon, it was likely that the Timberwolves would kill it, and any knowledge it might have on the Swarm’s objective would be lost.

The pack had ambushed the creator while it was walking aimlessly in the forest. Why it was here, the Swarm didn’t know. What it did know was that the Swarm had assisted in chasing it for the better part of an hour, until it had collapsed inside of a clearing. The other Timberwolves seemed to take this as some sign of defeat, and started circling it, preparing for the kill.

The Swarm quickly ran through its available options. It could defend the creator, but it would probably have to fight off the Timberwolves it had lived with for the better part of two days, and that seemed inefficient. It could assist with the kill, and lose any potential knowledge the creator may have, or it could do nothing and achieve the same result through inaction. Both of these actions resulted in a loss that the Swarm could not risk.

If only there was a way to convince the Timberwolves to hunt something else. This whole situation was an exercise in futility. It’s not like the Swarm needed to eat anywa-

With sudden inspiration, the Swarm quickly surged forward, moving faster than it ever had previous. It then placed its faux muzzle underneath the creator, and launched it in the air. While it was up, it gave the Swarm time to realign its internal mass, and exposing the cavity it was forced to create to maintain this form.

As the creator came down, the Swarm opened its muzzle to a degree that would probably be physically impossible for a normal Timberwolf. With this accomplished, it placed its newly created mouth directly under the creator, and quickly caught it. It was then just a matter of sliding the creator into the Swarm’s internal cavity, or newly repurposed ‘stomach’, before the ruse was complete.

For all intents and purposes, it had ‘eaten’ the creator, and defended it from the other Timberwolves at the same time. This accomplished both the goals of showing the Alpha that it ate something, and defending the creator for latter questioning. It’s perfect plan!

“Hah,” said the Alpha. “I knew you were hungry after hunting with us!”

The pack formed a defensive circle around the Alpha as it approached the Swarm. It was a normal practice for the pack to be weary of its surroundings, but the Swarm made sure to pay extra attention to those surrounding it. It was defending for two now, after all.

“Now that you’ve eaten,” continued the Alpha, “I have some ideas for what w-“

A loud THUNK was heard, causing the Alpha, as well as most of the pack, to look around for the source of the noise. It was quickly repeated, and the source was found to be the Swarm. The Swarm’s ‘perfect plan’ suddenly had a glaring flaw.

The Alpha looked at the Swarm with what could be best described as a blank expression. After a moment of hesitation, he asked a simple question.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” answered the Swarm, emitting another thud in the process. “Or rather, it’s nothing a quick run won’t fix.”

The Alpha continued to glare at the Swarm for a moment longer, before seeming to come to a decision.

“Take care of it, and then meet up with us later. You should have just said you were a noisy eater.”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you,” said the Swarm as it moved towards the edge of the protective circle of Timberwolves. “I should probably be back before noon tomorrow. If I’m not ba-“

“Doing it again!”

The Swarm raced away from the pack. It needed a safe place to attempt to question the creator. Hopefully, its theory about the reduction in creatures held true for the center of the circles it mapped out, and it wasn’t heading into the lair of a hydra or something.

After an hour of searching, the Swarm stumbled across what it believed to be ground zero for safety in this forest. It appeared to be a tree of some sort, but modified in a way it couldn’t explain. The Swarm decided to take a chance, and approached the structure, hoping for the best.

-(◊)-

Zecora was mixing up a mighty brew, but suddenly decided to let it stew. For outside her hut was not a sound, something from which no good could be found. With a quick dash to the window she sought, she looked for something she feared must be fought.

Ok, yeah, enough of that. Let’s start over.

Zecora the zebra was working on her latest batch of potions. It was nothing too pressing, but she had hoped that she could finish them tonight. This would allow her to deliver them tomorrow and have the next day off.

It should be quiet around Ponyville, if everypony was up at the wedding in Canterlot. Or, at least everypony who would be inclined to cause a major disaster. One can hope.

However, it seemed as though fate was conspiring against her. First she had run out of Thuppa root, quickly followed by her stash of pink moss. Then, she found that she had underestimated the firewood she would need, and had run out.

And now, it was too quiet outside. Granted, she liked quiet, but in the middle of the Everfree Forest, quiet was a bad thing. It usually meant that some beast of prey was nearby. The only question that left was if she had to defend herself and her home from whatever was causing the disturbance.

Walking over to one of the many windows in her home, she looked outside for the cause of the disturbance. It was dark out, and the vegetation didn’t help, but she was used to these conditions. When she finally saw it, however, her breath caught in her throat.

It was some sort of monstrosity! It looked like somepony had enchanted a statue of a Timberwolf for some reason, covered it in mud and sticks, and then left it to its own devices! And now it was approaching her hut!

Zecora quickly collected one of her more detrimental potions. It was nothing special, just a mix that tended to explode when exposed to air. She almost had all the kinks worked out of it, and it almost never exploded in her face anymore.

With the potion securely held in her mouth, she quietly opened the door to her hut, and slipped into the night. Within moments, she had found the statue again in the dark due to the strange glow it seemed to be giving off. She slowly approached it from behind, readying the potion she held to be thrown, all the while feeling like she was being watched.

Just as she was about to throw the potion, the statue turned around. Zecora hesitated for a single moment, but that was more than enough time for the statue. It did something she was completely unprepared for, and had no counter to.

It sat down, a noisy ‘thump’ emitting from its chest.

After a few moments, Zecora was able to pick her monochromatically stripped jaw back up, followed by the potion (which thankfully hadn’t broken). All the while, the statue just sat there, watching her. After a few more moments and another thud from the creature, Zecora decided to take a chance, and break the staring game they had suddenly found themselves in.

“What is this thing before my eyes,” Zecora rhymed. “A demon come to claim our lives?”

The staring game was quick to resume after Zecora stated her question. When the silence became awkward and her patience started wearing thin, she pressed for answers.

“Answer my question, and do not poke, for in this brew, there is no joke!”

Silence once again permeated the air, but was quickly broken by a series of thuds emanating from the creature. Admittedly, Zecora was surprised that the statue hadn’t attacked her initially, but to sit there and make noises at her was almost as unbelievable. For a statue carved to look like such a vicious animal, it sure seemed tame.

Suddenly, as Zecora was watching the statue, it seemed to melt. Its features became less distinct, until it was little more than a pillar of a brownish liquefied stone. Her surprise was magnified several fold, however when a hole seemed to form in it, displaying an internal cavity.

Granted, the cavity itself was surprising, but what truly blew her away was when a foal was unceremoniously dumped out from inside it. The foal seemed to be fine, but lay perfectly still on the ground, its- no, her- blue mane and purple coat matted with sweat. After a few moments of staring blankly at her surroundings, the foal quickly jumped up and ran behind Zecora, trying to hide from the thing that had brought her here.

After yet another moment, the liquid statue creature had reformed itself back into a Timberwolf, albeit with none of the mud and sticks it had earlier discarded with its initial transformation. The staring contest was then resumed with earnest, almost as though it had never ended to begin with. Soon, though, this too was ended as the statue slowly backed into the vegetation that surrounded Zecora’s hut, paradoxically seeming to disappear into its own strange grey glow.

“Wh-what was that thing?” the foal behind Zecora whimpered.

Zecora cried out in surprise, so focused was she on the strange creature that she had forgotten the foal that hid behind her. Once she calmed herself, however, she faced the new problem at hoof.

“I know this not, my young foal, but it seems it gave you quite the toll. Are you harmed, are you cold? Have I missed something I cannot behold?”

“I don’t think so,” said the foal. “It was really hot in there, though! Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to break out so much…”

With a sigh, Zecora started escorting the filly to her home.

“What is your name and where is your home, so we can set aim to make end your roam?”

“M-my name is Aura,” replied the foal. “I’m staying in Ponyville, with my aunt Berry Punch.”

“Let us get you inside, where it is warm,” said Zecora with a small smile, leading Aura to her hut. “Then maybe we can start getting you back to the norm. At night it is not safe, even for one such as I, so tomorrow, after night ends, your abode we will come by.”

Aura smiled, and quickly bounded into Zecora’s hut. After a quick glance at her surroundings, Zecora soon joined her. Soon, both had fallen asleep, the shock of the encounter taking its toll.

Both were unaware of the crystal wolf, watching the hut from nearby, standing as though it were made like some stone, waiting for time to go by.

Author's Note:

On to the next chapter!
Flow felt better with this one, but I'm not quite sure I got Zecora right...
I also think I was skirting the dark tag for a bit, there.
Comments/corrections/criticism still welcome.

Comments

[nukestar]

The nanoswarm is so cute.

[weakpony]

Yay! new chapter!
I can't say I noticed anything off with Zecora, she's not a character I'm very familiar with though .
Otherwise a good chapter as far as I can see. I can't wait for some proper interaction between the swarm and ponies/zebra .