Hunters of the forest.

by Sylif Daring Doo

An interesting day.

_____*Golden Oaks library.*_____

Everyone in the library simply stood there in shock, only Scootaloo wasn't shocked, Celestia however did not show her shock, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "Please explain." She requested calmly.

Shanda nodded and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, the easiest way to explain would be that even the slightest bump would be able to kill her." She started off.

Twilight shook off her shock for a moment and looked at Shanda. "Wait......what about my magic?....it would keep her from moving entirely-" She could not continue however as Shanda silenced her with a glare.

Shanda cleared her throat and sighed. "True, but that requires your complete attention, if you lost focus for even a second....." She trailed off, as she knew that there was no more to say on that front.

The entire library fell silent for a time, until Celestia spoke again. "Tell me.....when will you be able to return to your world?" She asked.

Shanda shrugged. "Depends on how long it takes us to find the Core." She replied simply.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this. "What would it happen to look like?" She asked.

Shanda scratched the back of her head. "It kinda looks like a heart, you can't miss it." She replied.

Celestia nodded and looked at Twilight. "I will have teams search for the Core throughout Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, I trust that you will be capable of handling things here?" She wondered.

Twilight nodded and stood up. "I won't let you down." She replied confidently.

Shanda noticed Spike sidestep over to her, she felt him tap her leg and she kneeled down to his height. "About five seconds after the Princess leaves, Twilight will go nuts." He whispered.

Shanda chuckled and stood up, she sighed and walked to the door. "Ok then, it's been fun.....but I gotta get going." She said before opening the door.

"See you later!" Scootaloo called while waving.

Shanda let out a small smirk and walked out, she raised her hand up to give a silent wave. 'Don't count on it kiddo' She thought as she walked off.

____*meanwhile, the Everfree Forest.*____

Jod'ka sighed and pulled his spear out of the dead hydra, the spear was long and was made out of black steel, but the head of the spear however was forged with Saronite, the edges of the spear were jagged and razor sharp, the end of the spear was forged from the same metal, but it had the shape of a dragon's head. [1]

Jod'ka looked around and noticed the dead manticore lying in a pool of blood, he then sheathed the spear and looked around more, after seeing nothing else he shook his head. "Where the hell did he go?......Shard!" He called out in frustration.

A loud screech came a nearby tree, Jod'ka turned around and watched as a large raptor with many gray scales and a few orange scales ran up to him, the raptor came to a stop and looked at him with fierce eyes.

"Where have you been?" He wondered as he patted the raptor's head before walking to its side.

Jod'ka gripped the saddle and lifted himself up, he then looked at the dead hydra and sighed. "Come on Shard, let's head back." He said as he looked forward.

Shard screeched again and started running back towards the hut, as he ran he couldn't help but notice the Timberwolves that seemed to be stalking him, he quietly coughed and continued running.

Jod'ka looked back and saw the timber wolves, he then nodded and looked forward. "I see them, let's see if they're willing to pursue." He told Shard.

Shard screeched in response and continued running.

After a while, Jod'ka looked back and saw that the Timberwolves had followed them, he grinned and patted Shard's shoulder. "It's time." He said.

Shard let out a screech and suddenly jumped off to the right, he then lunged and destroyed a rather unfortunate Timberwolf with a chomp to its head.

Jod'ka jumped off Shard and impaled a Timberwolf with his spear, he heard another wolf lunge at him and he quickly sidestepped, he then grabbed a small one handed axe from its sheath and swung it down into the wolves head, he pulled it out and quickly retrieved his spear, after sheathing the axe, he kicked the recovering Timberwolf and threw it at its companion, which made them fall apart, he then sheathed his spear and pulled out a small six star mace, he walked over to the repairing Timberwolves and raised the mace, he swung it down at the Timberwolves and shattered the wood......which then caught on fire, he glanced over at Shard and saw that he had already demolished the Timberwolves to a point that they weren't rebuilding. "I see your doing good." He commented.

Shard screeched and hurried over, Jod'ka climbed onto the saddle and patted Shard's shoulder. "Let's go." He said, to which Shard let out a screech and started running.

____*back at the hut, four minutes later.*____

Jod'ka jumped off Shard's back and walked to the door. "You know what to do." He said simply.

Shard slowly nodded and ran off toward the back of the hut.

Jod'ka entered the hut and closed the door, he looked around and saw that Shanda wasn't in the main room. "She might be exploring again." He muttered to himself.

He walked over to the cauldron and grabbed the stir stick, he then stirred the brew for a few moments before setting the stick down and walking over to the potions cabinet, he opened the cabinet and shuffled through it for a few moments until he found what he was looking for, it was a small vial with a ghostly blue liquid, he popped the lid off and drank the contents, he then set the potion down in the cabinet and closed it.

Jod'ka walked over to the weapons cabinet and opened it up, he took the axe and mace and set them inside, he then closed the cabinet and walked to the stairs, he walked up them and continued to his room.

_____*meanwhile.*_____

Shanda walked into the Everfree and looked back at the small town, she felt an unexplainable feeling of dread as she looked away and headed home. 'It isn't like they would experiment on the Core........would they?' She wondered.

As she walked, Shanda couldn't help but feel like she was making a huge mistake, but she continued walking. 'Must be the heat.' She assumed.

After ten more minutes of walking, Shanda noticed growling and a horrid smell that followed, she looked around and saw that a lone timberwolf was approaching her slowly.

Shanda slowly moved her hand towards her belt, her gaze never left the wolf, not even as she took the strap off the sheath.

The wolf lunged at Shanda unexpectedly but was soon greeted by a dagger to the face, Shanda quickly threw a fireball at the wolf and set it on fire.

Shanda heard a howl come from nearby and she spun around and drew her bow, she watched as three more Timberwolves came out from behind the trees and quickly sheathed her dagger, she quickly fired an arrow at one of the wolves and ran off towards the hut, as she ran she put her bow back and flung another fireball at one of the wolves.

The wolf jumped over the fireball which then slammed into another wolf and set it on fire.

Shanda ran around a tree and unsheathed her dagger, she continued running for a moment before suddenly stopping, she slashed one of the wolves as it ran past and threw a fireball at it, she then focused on the last wolf.

The wolf growled and slowly circled Shanda, who then mimicked it's movements, they went around in a whole circle once or twice until the wolf charged Shanda.

Shanda stopped moving as the wolf charged, she waited and waited until it was close enough, she smirked once it was in range and threw her dagger at its leg.

The wolf saw the dagger and rolled out of its path, it then continued it's charge.

Shanda sighed and she flung a fireball at the wolf, who simply jumped over it. 'Smart one isn't it?' She thought as she dodged an attack from the wolf, she smirked as it jumped at the tree and then bounced off it to charge her again.

'Just what I'm looking for.' She thought as she rolled out of the way.

The wolf went to charge again but paused when it saw Shanda wave her hand at it, it growled and charged again, unaware of what Shanda had done.

Shanda grinned and sidestepped the wolves lunge, she then held her hand out and began muttering words.

The wolf paused for a moment as it felt something in its mind, it ignored it however and charged at Shanda, who was standing still with her eyes closed and her hand out.

Shanda opened her eyes and released an arcane pulse at the wolf, who attempted to dodge it but the pulse followed.

The wolf was knocked away as the pulse hit him, it was then that the feeling in its mind manifested, it went to get up but something unexpected happened. 'Don't bother getting up.' A strange voice ordered the wolf.

Shanda lowered her hand and watched as the wolf stopped moving and looked around. 'Can you hear me or not?' She asked mentally.

The wolf looked at Shanda and slowly sat up. 'What have you done to me?' It asked.

Shanda walked over to her dagger and picked it up. 'I've freed your mind of the forests corruption by linking my mind to yours.' She explained simply.

The wolf stood up and noticed the green mist around it had disappeared, it looked at Shanda curiously. "Why did you save me?" It asked in a calm voice.

Shanda wiped the dirt off her dagger and looked at the wolf. "Simple, I could use your help." She replied.

The wolf tilted it's head and looked around. "With what?......my kind are not welcome anymore."' It wondered.

Shanda sheathed her dagger and sighed. "I'm looking for something, a Core.......it looks like a heart with strange runes and has an odd power about it, would you happen to know where it is?" She asked.

The wolf thought on it for a moment before shaking it's head. "No, I do not." It replied.

Shanda rubbed her eyes and looked up. "Ok, wasn't much chance of that anyway." She muttered.

The wolf walked over to Shanda and looked up at her. "Well.....regardless, I am in your debt, I will help how I can." It said.

Shanda nodded and looked down at the wolf. "I'm Shanda, and it looks like we're going to be working together for a while." She said.

The wolf blinked for a moment and shrugged. "I do not remember my name." It said simply.

Shanda sighed and started walking towards her hut. "Come on, we can think something up on the way, but we aren't going with any wooden names." She said firmly.

The wolf nodded and followed Shanda. "I can agree with that." It replied.

____*ten minutes later*____

Shanda and the wolf approached the hut, Shanda spotted Shard's tail just go behind the hut, she chuckled and walked forward towards the hut.

When she reached the door she opened it and went inside, she looked back at the wolf. "It's probably better if you stay outside." She said.

The wolf nodded and sat down near the door. "I will wait." He replied.

Shanda entered the hut and looked around, seeing no sign of her father, she walked over to the weapons cabinet and set her bow and dagger inside, she then walked over to the cauldron and started to stir it, she heard footsteps walking down the stairs and sighed. "Every single time." She chuckled as she stepped away from the cauldron and headed for the windowsill. 'I just hope I can find the core before them....that's all I can hope for.'

Author's Note:

Yes, I know the wait was not worth the short chapter, but I just don't have the drive for this story right now, I'll probably put it on hold until I am done with one of my other stories.

But at least I updated, I haven't forgotten about this, but I just can't get energized about writing it like I used too....I am sorry to those who want more frequent updates.

Comments

[Sylif Daring Doo]

7636596 Uhh.....ok.

That's one way to look at it, but the troll is killing his enemies, so it's kinda hard to immediately call him the bad guy.