Applebloomed

by StormDancer

In the doghouse

It has been three days since Yellow Red relocated us to the hidden den. Now that I know that she has been trapping and cultivating a massive herd of the Unmoving Tribe, I somewhat understand her willingness to tolerate Ambercrown and the Predator. With a herd of this size, feigning weakness is a viable strategy to keep them from investigating into 'barren' territory.

My alpha is a tactical genius.

And she's put me in charge of guarding the entire herd while she's off tricking the other packs.

I don't deserve such a glorious task, but I refuse to let her down. Not again. Not after Ambercrown broke into our old den and threatened her. Not after the Predator simply walked in, bold as a phoenix, and tried to claim everything. Not after she relocated us all to let the trail go cold. She's already done so much after taking me in... I refuse to disappoint her again.

I have taken to patrolling the herd at night while the darkness helps to hide my movements. I am not as stealthy as Yellow Red or my other packmates, but I am healthier than they are, so I suppose it doesn't matter as much. They may have more hunting experience, but the fear that Yellow Red has instilled in the herd of Unmoving leads me to believe that they fear me as an extension of her will.

Even if I am wrong, they haven't moved against me... openly.

On my first night, patrolling alone, a number conspired to intimidate me, hiding the sky and trying to hide the trail back to the hidden den. I wandered for hours, growing slowly more concerned until I saw it briefly in the distance. I raced back, daring them to stop me, hoping they would try so I could prove my strength for Yellow Red, but they must have seen my determination for they remained motionless.

For good measure, and to remind them who Yellow Red had put in charge of her herd, I selected one of their young to be culled. It was a small thing, not likely to have rooted anyway... it was probably a kindness in retrospect... but I ate it in plain view of them all. It was tender and juicy and not just a little frightening to me, but I didn't let them see that. I needed them to know that I was willing to do anything to protect my alpha... to ensure the pack was safe. I'm sure they haven't forgotten as they have not dared to cross me again.

When she came to check on me in the morning, she seemed so proud to have found the remains of my 'example'... she played with me for a bit and even roughed up my bark to check for beetles and weevils presumably. Whatever she was doing, it felt wonderful... it felt... right. I'm not sure when I started, but my brush had begun swaying and she made those light yipping sounds that my pack makes when they're happy.

Maybe I should try it sometime when I'm sure she's happy with me too.

---

I have been guarding the herd for nearly a week now, each night extending my prowl to familiarize myself with the herd. What I had at first believed to be massive is, in reality, without compare. I have never seen such abundance or health in the Unmoving Tribe. She may be their singular ruler, but she apparently tends to their needs well. Not a one of them is truly weak or infirmed, many in their prime, and yet she keeps them all in line, as little more dangerous than a briar.

Then again, seeing how the dens have been constructed, it must make sense to take every opportunity to remain in good health, lest they arouse her desire to expand the den. Yellow Red is almost terrifying in her poise in this... she fosters such an air of innocence and weakness, yet maintains such a bounty. Her charisma is truly beyond all understanding.

But apparently, even her skills have limits.

During my patrol last night, I overheard a commotion and skulked along to investigate. Something had invaded the herd, ignoring the remains of the buds I had been leaving to ward off the curious, and had begun to stalk through our territory unchecked. Something had violated our territory... something had shown the gall to insult our alpha.

I couldn't let such an insult lay unchallenged. It had taken most of the night, but I finally tracked the intruder down and had drug along the largest bud I could find to make my intentions known. After all, intimidation is a clear way to communicate even if we don't speak the same language.

It's hard to argue with a resident casually eating a fresh kill.

I finally saw it, a large wolf stalking through the south end of the herd, with a tiny piece of the SUN in its mouth. How it had climbed high enough to bite it, let alone keep it, didn't matter... it was in our territory, so I did my best o stalk around so that it would 'come across' me eating the fresh kill. I almost felt sorry for the bud... it was far too large to actually eat all of it at once... it would likely persist for some time before succumbing to its injuries. I'm sure Yellow Red would give it a proper burial... but I'm not Yellow Red. Right now, I need to be terrifying enough to scare the wolf away... to make it wonder why I would willingly kill such a healthy bud... why I would risk it while surrounded by it's kin.

I needed to be as intimidating as the Predator. I needed to be as crafty as Ambercrown. And I needed to be as wily as my alpha... if only long enough to scare the wolf off.

I just hoped it would work.

So, carefully stalking around the wolf, I snuck a few lopes further away, carefully selected my stage beside a large rock that would play off the shadows cast from the wolf's sun, and sank my thorns into the firm flesh of the bud...waiting for the moment the sun's light would play upon the stone and give me reason to enact my ploy.

I didn't have long to wait. First, there was the shuffling and the scraping... sounds of a wolf with little fear in the herd... clearly not expecting any challenge. No wolf would stalk in such a way, not when in enemy territory at least, unless it was confident in being able to meet any challenge. Either an experienced gatherer or a true, though large, cub then.

Next came the sweeping arc of the sun, sliding across the herd nearby, causing shadows to jump and flee and making the false trails race and dance as it passed. For a moment, it flashed directly over my back, throwing my own shadow across the herd before moving on.

It had looked at me, but somehow not seen me! I wasn't sure if I should be proud of my masterful skills in stalking or insulted that I hadn't produced a terrifying enough scene to cause the wolf to flee.

Perhaps I had created an image so horrifying that it couldn't understand what it had seen? That must be it... after all, it was unreasonable for a small cub like myself to have brought down one of the Unmoving's very own buds... especially one of such size.

Sighing internally, I knew what I would have to do... draw attention to myself and be as intimidating as I could to try and shock the wolf from our territory.

So I waited until the shadows swept by again, the sun closer to the stone, until I could feel the light on my leaves.

With calculated slowness, I turned my head, dribbling some of the bud's juice from my thorns as I looked over my shoulder into the wolf's sun and growled softly.

I couldn't see the wolf for the sun's brilliance, but I knew the moment it recognized me that I had made a mistake.

A horrible, pack effecting, den endangering, mistake.

When it yelped in surprise, I had anticipated the startled bark of a scouting wolf coming across a scene of indescribable carnage, but what I heard was the unmistakable bellowing of Ambercrown.

She had found us.

I ran.

---

My escape was a hectic one. When I fled, I had originally expected my knowledge of the herd to provide me a significant advantage, a lead and a boon against the pursuing Ambercrown. I had expected my size to provide me with a speed advantage as I leapt and dodged the Unmoving and their injured branches. I had believed Ambercrown would be slowed by her size, by her reliance upon that flicker of the sun, but I had been wrong.

Somehow, Ambercrown chased after me with almost alpha-like skills. She had dodged trunk and root alike, even going so far as to anticipate the Unmoving's unpredictable branches and my own sudden course changes. She had chased me for what felt like hours, howling and braying in the night as she hunted me.

I had made a grave miscalculation... I had believed my act would terrify but it had somehow seemed to infuriate the intruding Ambercrown. I would worry about how she had found us later... for the moment, it was more important to lead her away from the hidden den.

I had no illusions that she might not come across it eventually, but if I could delay or confuse her long enough perhaps Yellow Red, Dirty Sap, or even the fearsome Whiteflower might be able to route her and save the day.

So I ran in circles, around the trunks, and down the fake trials the Unmoving seemed so apt to make, until I was thoroughly lost, and then I ran until I saw something that was distressingly frightening for reasons I couldn't explain.

There, at the edge of the herd, was a pile of rock that rose into the night sky... high enough to touch the moon.

And for some reason, it made my sap thicken and my leaves wilt just seeing it.

I must have stumbled... there is no other explanation... for when I opened my eyes again, there was no sign of Ambercrown. I lay there, reluctant to collect my other pieces from the scattering I had ended up as, until the true sun finally began to light the herd, and only then slinking off into the herd again to find my way back home.

I had run away again.

I was a coward and a failure.

And I had let Ambercrown roam unchecked for half of the night.

Surely there was to be no mercy for me this time... I could only hope that bringing back the largest bud I could find would sway my alpha's core... I didn't want to be left to mold and rot at the edge of the herd.

---

It had taken longer than I would have liked to find my way back, and when I had, I knew that Ambercrown had found the den. The alpha's trophies were scattered, the hidden den's sky walls were open and the pile of bud remains that I had been hiding to impress Yellow Red had been scattered around the base of the hidden den like so many twigs from our pack's safe haven.

It made a certain amount of sense, of course... Ambercrown would want to leave a message, to mark the den as her own now that she had found it. I couldn't blame her... seeing a herd that large, terrified to rebel, and being kept in check by such a weak coward as myself... no, I couldn't blame Ambercrown.

It was my own failing.

I did my best to gather the remains of the buds, to salvage as many of their seeds as possible. I knew that Ambercrown had just been trying to mark 'her' territory, but what she had done to those remains was simply cruel. There wasn't even enough left for their seeds to survive the winter, scattered like that.

I may have been trying to impress the alpha, but even I knew that they couldn't hope to bud if there wasn't enough left of them.

Ambercrown truly is a monster... and, despite my best efforts, I had led her straight to our den.

I carefully piled up as many of the remains as I could find and started digging. Even if many of them wouldn't survive, I could try to give a little back to the pack even if I wasn't there to see it. Hopefully, when Yellow Red and the other two returned, they could fight off Ambercrown and protect the den. Even if they didn't keep me, maybe in a few seasons, the saplings of the buds would give them enough extra food to forgive me. I really rather doubted it... in a herd of this size, a few saplings would probably go unnoticed, but I really had nothing else to offer.

So, I dug and dug, sinking lower into the cold damp until I felt something strange...

I... I felt something familiar... something...... comfortable.

And with a sharp tug, I pulled out a small, hard, brown thing.

I didn't know what it was, but at that moment, I knew... I simply knew that I wouldn't have to hide from Yellow Red.

Something had changed. I piled the seeds and the bud remains into the hole and covered it up, but I wasn't really paying attention any more.

The small, hard, brown thing had my attention. It smelled of lights and sounds and trembles in the dark damp. It felt of hard knocks and not-pain. It tasted like sun and moon and cold and warm and dry and wet all at once.

I couldn't understand why, but I needed it.

I swallowed it whole.

And that was when Yellow Red came running up, looking scared until she saw me. And then she leapt at me and was whimpering and growling and checking for beetles and roughing my bark.

My alpha loves me. Despite everything, my alpha loves me.

Author's Note:

Once again, unedited...

BUT, let me know what you all are thinking.
Do you enjoy where this is heading? Are you finding the change of perspective engaging? Does Sprout seem to be developing as a character? What are your thoughts? What was up with the 'remains' and the constant 'bud' references? Is it 'dark' enough to account for the differing views?

And yes, I'm still working on the story graphic... I'm having trouble getting the colors to come out how I want them... don't worry... it's coming.

Comments

[Meridian Prime]

Well, I'm a little tired right now so I'm not going to give you a full review of this. I will say though that it is an interesting story, and told from a very cool perspective.

[Draco Dei]

I am not as stealthy as Yellow Red or my other packmates,
-I suspect it thinks of itself as stealthier than the buzzy one. Side note: "it" is not an insult I just don't know the gender and only THINK I read it using gender terms, so it might reproduce asexually or at least hermaphroditically, with both male and female flowers (parts to the same flower? It has been a while since I took biology).

Not a one of them is truly weak or infirmed, many in their prime, and yet she keeps them all in line, as little more dangerous than a briar.
-Is it being childish or do a significant number of immobile (or at least permanently rooted even if they can gab or club) trees in the Everfree poses a threat to a timberwolf?

I finally saw it, a large wolf stalking through the south end of the herd, with a tiny piece of the SUN in its mouth
-Somehow this doesn't feel like an Apple. Fluttershy maybe?

but when I heard was the unmistakable bellowing of Ambercrown.
-Okay so I was wrong. Also, should be"what" not "when".