The Phoenix King

by Turtlehaus

Chapter 50: The Valley of Shadows

A strange darkness lingered within the air across the valley. It hung like a veil of shadows covering the land in a dismal haze. The eerie silence only offered a reminder of an entire world struck from existence and left solitude in its place. This was the Valley of Shadow, a place once ethereal, now destitute of the beauty that was an eternal paradise, but now had a small purple dragon was pacing around in circles, holding his claws to his head looking very distressed.

“This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening!” Spike repeated over and over again.

Princess Sapphire watched the dragon pace around looking a little annoyed with its pessimistic attitude towards their current situation. Fluttershy had sunk low to the black sand, covering her eyes with her hooves, shaking like a leaf from their frightening experience. Twilight Sparkle was taking a more proactive approach by examining the twin set of Obelisks that towered behind them. Princess Sapphire illuminated her horn, which was hampered by the thick shadow like fog that rolled around them.

“It’s evident that we’ve been somehow pulled into the Void, Ms. Sparkle.” Princess Sapphire stated strolling up to her. “What remains unclear is how.”

“Well one thing is certain, we’re not getting back the way we came, at least not now anyway.” Twilight concluded.

“You mean we’re stuck here?” Spike asked in disbelief.

Spike proceeded to scream aloud, continuing to frantically run in circles as Princess Sapphire and Twilight narrowed their eyes at him. With a sudden magical yank of Spike’s winter coat, Twilight lifted into the air, bringing him close to her face to shush him.

“Get it together, Spike. We don’t know what’s out there and all your screaming might draw unwanted attention.” Twilight hissed to him.

Spike covered his mouth with his claws, looking rather frightened by the idea, and Twilight had to sympathize with him because she had no idea what was waiting for them either. Placing Spike back down beside her, Twilight walked over to Fluttershy, placing a hoof on her shoulder trying to comfort her.

“There, there, Fluttershy.”

“Was this part of the plan?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“I can’t say that it was any pony’s plan.”

Fluttershy got to her hooves, still looking very unnerved being within such a dark and gloomy place. Princess Sapphire stepped out before them, with a very take charge look on her face, as her horn gleamed brightly.

“We’re exposed out here. We’ll need to find a place to lay low to avoid anything lurking within these shadows.” Princess Sapphire stated.

“Is-Is-Is there anything lurking within the shadows?” Spike stammered nervously.

“Let’s hope not.”

Twilight lifted Spike onto her back with her magic, following Princess Sapphire into the hazy darkness with Fluttershy close by. Every pony was quick to realize that the fog impaired their ability to see more than a couple of feet in front of them, making their progress slow as they stuck close together to avoid getting separated. Twilight illuminated her own horn to help guide them through the dark haze, trying to make out anything within the darkness.

“Do you see anything?” Twilight whispered to Princess Sapphire.

“Honestly, I can barely see the ground in front of me. From what I can remember from my glimpse into the void before Smolder stepped through was very different from this place.” Princess Sapphire confessed finding the haze to be extremely frustrating.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“We are not beset by a the storm or any horrid creature so I say that we are currently in a ‘good’ place.”

The valley resembled the White Walk in some rather interesting ways. Low visibility, no direction, but at least every pony knew of the creature that stalked the unnavigable tundra. Here in the Void, they knew not what manner of creature waited for them.

Soon the sand beneath Princess Sapphire’s hoof fell away from her, causing her to fall forward, only catching herself by her wings as she floated back from the edge. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike quickly approached her, gazing at the massive crater that laid out before them. The bottom was just barely visible from their light, the sand racing its way down the sloping embankment. It was uncertain how large the crater was, unable to see how far out the crater spanned.

“This crater might provide us some minimal protection, bringing us below the line of sight of sight.” Princess Sapphire offered to them. “Or we could follow the edge of this crater and see wide its expanse really is.”

“I like the ‘not being seen’ idea.” Spike voiced his opinion.

Twilight and Fluttershy nodded their agreement on that note. Princess Sapphire carefully stepped out onto the sloping embankment, the sand trickled away beneath her hooves as she allowed herself to slide down into the crater. Reaching the bottom, Princess Sapphire increased the intensity of her horn, seeing that the haze had lessened a bit from her descent. Having found the crater to be free of anything potentially harmful, Princess Sapphire motioned for the others to follow. Fluttershy and Twilight slide down the embankment with Spike clutching the back of Twilight’s mane tightly.

Setting out across the crater proved to be beneficial, the haze was not as a difficult to traverse and the black sand rested undisturbed meaning that no creature frequented this place. Princess Sapphire led on. Keeping her head on a swivel to ensure that nothing would take them by surprise. In all honesty the sudden flash of black lightning and the sudden emergence into the Void was quite startling if not frightening for her, but she wouldn’t allow the others to see her like that. It was never her intent to bring any pony into the Void, but this unfortunate turn of events had her taking responsibility for Twilight and the others safety.

“Hey, Twilight?” Spike asked after a time.

“Yes, Spike?”

“Do you think we’ll be able to find Smolder?”

Twilight smiled encouragingly. “I’m not sure, Spike, but I’m sure it will be easy spotting him in all this darkness.”

Princess Sapphire felt herself smile, her heart skipping a beat. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that finding Smolder was a possibility now. With so much running through her mind of how Floe and the others were handling their sudden disappearance, if they would be able to manage finding a way to open the portal when the time came, that finally being able to save Smolder had become a reality.

“Smolder wouldn’t be so foolish to allow himself to be caught out in the open. He’s probably hiding somewhere safe.” Princess Sapphire turned her to speak to Spike.

“Look out!” Fluttershy softly shouted.

Princess Sapphire whipped her head back around to see a massive ball of black sand come rolling towards her from the hazy shadows. Leaping to opposite sides, Princess Sapphire, Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike avoided being crushed by the sudden appearance of the sand ball. Large length of a tibial shaft struck down hard beside Princess Sapphire, rolling away, flaring her horn, she got to her hooves ready to fight. It was an unbelievable sight to behold, a massive beetle was rolling a large ball of sand past them, keeping pace with it and ignoring them completely. The beetle was so large that it seemed rivaled a two story house as it continued to push its ball of sand back the way they had started.

“Wh-Wh-What was that?” Spike muttered sounding very frightened.

“It looked like a very large dung beetle.” Fluttershy remarked softly, but sounding rather interested.

Grouping back together, they stared after the tremendous beetle, watching it disappear into the darkness. The sand beneath them began to shift, a tremor softly being felt ripple from up ahead, every pony turned to see several more massive balls of black sand rolling towards them.

“Get clear!” Princess Sapphire shouted.

Every pony scattered to avoid being squashed by the massive sand balls. One after another the beetles skittered by, spearing the sand with their long tibial shafts as they pushed their massive balls onward. The sand trembled underhoof at the beetles march, at every leap there was another ball of sand barreling towards them forcing them to continuously jump from side to side. Eventually the pattern had failed, the beetles had synced up with their pushing for a brief time, taking away any room to maneuver. Princess Sapphire found herself without the chance to escape, forcing her to strike the center sand ball with a blast of her magic.

A split formed causing the structure of sand to fail, collapsing in on itself as a sea of larvae fell forth upon the ground from within the ball. Each one the size of a full grown pony wiggling in a sickening squelch as the beetle lumbered over its scattered offspring to protect them from Princess Sapphire. The sight of the larvae was not at all pleasing with Princess Sapphire's stomach, choosing to fly up and over the stampede of beetles to relieve herself of the sight. Flying gave Princess Sapphire little visibility, the haze was becoming thicker the higher she flew, but the dim purple light of Twilight's magic shown just enough to lead her in their direction. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike were all trying to catch their breath, having narrowly avoided being squashed by the swarm of beetles. Princess Sapphire swooped down from the air, looking relieved that none were injured.

"Every pony alright?" Princess Sapphie asked helping Fluttershy to her hooves.

"I'd like to go home now, please." Spike mumbled.

The last of the swarm of beetles were trailing behind. Every pony watched the closest beetle mount its own sand ball before spewing a black gooey filament all over the circumference of the sphere. With the beetle resuming to roll it forward, the black sand the ball rolled across was gradually picked up with every revolution, increasing its size. There was a noticeable hint of green on every pony's face from the nauseating fumes that lingered.

"I... wonder where they are going." Fluttershy mumbled.

"Where ever it is, I hope it's far away from us." Twilight remarked.

"We got lucky that these beetles weren't hostile towards us, but let's not press out luck any further." Princess Sapphire stated. "Let's get going before they decide to come back."

Princess Sapphire led on. Finding the other side of the crater, every pony struggled to climb the sloping sand dune trying to reach the lip. The haze was becoming thicker the higher they climbed, even with the beating of her wings Princess Sapphire could not disperse the haze that surrounded them. Fluttershy floated beside Twilight helping her climb the slope while Princess Sapphire reached to edge of the crater finding it to mirror the same shrouded darkness they encountered before.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're going in circles." Princess Sapphire sighed.

Reaching her hoof out to Twilight, Princess Sapphire helped pull Twilight out of the crater.

"Well that gross smell is coming from this direction, so I'd say we're following the path the beetles took to get here." Twilight mentioned holding her nose from the smell.

"Can we please go around the smell?" Spike murmured, holding his own nose.

"I have some reservations about going in any direction at this point. We could very well end up walking in circles eventually without a sort of landmark to go by." Princess Sapphire told them.

"What do you think we should do, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.

Much to every pony's surprise, Fluttershy wasn't among them anymore. Frantically looking about, bringing their horns to a bright glow, they saw the outline of Fluttershy standing several yards out staring into the darkness. Rushing over to her, Twilight was first to reach her, placing a hoof on her shoulder looking her over to make sure she was alright.

"Fluttershy? Are you alright?" Twilight asked sounding concerned.

Fluttershy shushed her softly, her eyes focused if not a little intense. Princess Sapphire glanced at Twilight who seemed at a loss herself for Fluttershy's peculiar behavior. After a few moments of silence, there was a soft whimper that cut through darkness. Straining their ears, the whimper was heard yet again which prompted Fluttershy to take off into the shadows.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight shouted after her giving chase. "Wait up!"

Princess Sapphire was rather surprised with how quick Fluttershy suddenly was. Her soft and fragile demeanor seemed to hide a rather fierce pony underneath. Luckily though, Fluttershy made no attempt to loose them in the dark fog. Many times Fluttershy slowed her pace, listening for the whimper once more before adjusting her course to follow it. It wasn’t ideal for them to be blindly running through the darkness, as there was no guarantee that they'd be able to find their way back, but Fluttershy carried on.

During their sprint a rather large sand dune emerged from the darkness, another not long after to their left, the smell had become rather strong again. Fluttershy slowed her gallop, finding themselves within a large nesting ground where dozens of broken sand balls resided. The black gooey filament caked much of the sand, while large deposits of sand seemed to be where the beetles had made nests for their offspring.

"This is where the beetles must have come from." Spike moaned clutching his nose tightly.

A frightened yelp cut through the darkness, prompting Fluttershy to bound towards it with Twilight and Princess Sapphire close behind. With Twilight's and Princess Sapphire's light illuminating the darkened area, Fluttershy had found the cause of the whimpering. A small wolf pup, with fur as black as the sand, had gotten itself trapped in the beetles goo, and lay helpless whining in its fear. Fluttershy was quick to approach it, stepping into the goo, but with her strength it did not prove difficult to pull herself free.

"Careful, Fluttershy, it might try to bite you." Spike warned her.

"Why, hello there, I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy introduced herself to the wolf pup.

Placing her hoof upon the back its back caused the wolf pup to yelp in fear, struggling to get away from her. Fluttershy carefully laid herself down next to the frightened wolf pup, stroking its back gently, while shushing it quietly. Princess Sapphire walked around the edge of the beetle goo, taking a better look at how bad the wolf pup had gotten itself stuck.

"It doesn't seem too bad. The filament seems to have matted with its fur, hardened, and pinned it to the clump of sand it's on now." Princess Sapphire gathered.

"Can you use your magic to free him?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm afraid that if I try to use my magic the wolf pup might get frightened and I'd rather not unintentionally hurt it with its struggling."

"What if have Spike cut it loose?" Twilight suggested looking over her shoulder at him.

"Me?" Spike asked looking surprised.

"You've got claws."

Spike clung to his dragon sized snow boots and jacket. "I don't want to get my new snow gear all stinky with that beetle goo."

The sharp whines of the wolf pup interrupted them. It was enough to change Spike's mind.

"Oh, alright."

"Thank you, Spike." Fluttershy said with a smile.

Climbing down off of Twilight's back, Spike stepped through the goo, feeling the stickiness pull at his boots. Stomping over to Fluttershy and the stuck wolf pup, Spike could see that the goo had matting large areas of its fur. Lifting his claws up to his face, Spike took a deep breath before blowing a small flame into his hands that made them sizzle with heat.

"Careful now, Spike, don't hurt him." Fluttershy warned.

"I'll be careful." Spike replied.

Spike gently swiped his claws across the wolf pup's fur, cutting away the clumps of goo that hardened to it. The process was slow, Spike was taking care not to cut too close to the wolf pup while Fluttershy continuously tried to calm it whenever it began to struggle.

"You're doing great, Spike." Twilight praised him.

Sounds of falling sand drifted through the air, the darkness concealed much, but the muddled vibrations within the sand told them that something was near. Twilight and Princess Sapphire stepped in front of the wolf pup, guarding their friends while shining their horns brightly. From their light they revealed something massive moving within the shadows, stalking them from a distance. A soft tapping sound echoed from the darkness sending the wolf pup into a panic, yelping and whining in fright.

"Do you see anything, Twilight?" Princess Sapphire whispered.

"Do you see anything, Twilight?" A soft voice from the darkness repeated.

Every pony stood frozen in silent surprise. Sounds of the sand shifting around them in the darkness grew louder, the wolf pup whining all the while, and the tapping still repeating.

"Who's... speaking?" Twilight asked quietly.

"Speaking, who? Twilight? Twilight, Twilight, Twilight! Speaking!"

The mocking voice drifted with wild abandon, echoing all around them. It was unclear to any pony if the creature truly knew what it was saying or just mimicked the sounds it heard. Focusing the light from her horn, Princess Sapphire directed it through the shadowy haze trying to determine the source of the voice. Her light swept across a creature that had every pony screaming in fright. The creatures small head carried large wagon wheel sized eyes, bloodshot, stared at them with a ghoulish grin revealing hundreds of needle like fangs in its mouth. It's body resembled a lizards, covered with festering wounds, and had long thin fingers.The creature mimicked their horrified shrieks, quickly bounding away into the darkness with Princess Sapphire and Twilight back up further to put as much distance as they could from it.

"What in the sweet Equestria was that?" Spike shouted covering his eyes.

"Whatever you are w-w-we mean you no harm!" Princess Sapphire's voice shaking from the creature's disturbed features.

"Words! You know words too! Others to talk to! Others to eat! Supple flesh and juicy meat! No more bugs! No more bugs!"

"It wants to eat us!" Spike cried in horror.

"I want to eat you!"

Princess Sapphire looked about, her beam of light swiping through the shadows. Her light cut across the creature once more, drawing it back upon the creature, every pony could see it standing upright with its eyes rolled back into its head. Its jaw slowly separating with its needle like fangs sliding against one another. It a violent jerk the creature's tongue shot forth, mimicking that of a frog as it struck Princess Sapphire in the chest. The creature jerk its head to and fro, dragging Princess Sapphire away from the others as she dug her hooves into the sand trying to keep herself from moving. A flash of purple magic struck the creature's tongue, sending it a blaze with fire, as its tongue withdrew from Princess Sapphire and went slithering back into the darkness. Twilight rushed over to Princess Sapphire, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards the others.

"Thanks, Twilight." Princess Sapphire muttered noticeably shaken.

"Don't mention it."

"Magic! Magic! Magic! Magic! I like magic! I have magic!"

From the shadows a sudden light erupted, flames of fiery red and the outline of a pony appeared in the distance. No pony said a word, but every pony was thinking it was their lost friend.. The light grew closer to them, it resembled fire, but the magic of its illusion was poor. Princess Sapphire found herself taking a step forward, staring down this illusionary flame, and feeling her heart sinking knowing it wasn’t Smolder. The creature had poorly transformed itself into a flame pony, for it had bulging red eyes, an oversized smile of needle fangs, and long fingers coming from its hooves.

"Look! Look! I'm you! Friends now! Friends!"

"You're not Smolder!" Princess Sapphire shouted blasting it with ice.

Into the darkness the creature tumbled, its flame disappearing. The sound of it scurrying across the sand had every pony on edge.

"You don't think it got to Smolder, do you?" Fluttershy asked in a nervous whisper.

"Smolder! Fire! I've seen! Aswang has seen!"

"As-what?" Twilight asked aloud.

"Aswang! Aswang! Aswang has seen the fire!"

"It knows who Smolder is?"

Stomping her hoof onto the sand, sending a sudden wave of light from her horn, Princess Sapphire’s patience was reaching its end.

"Where is he?" Princess Sapphire demanded aloud.

Two large slabs of rock fell at their hooves, it had hash marks resembling a dice block, but it appeared to be split.

“The lies! The cheats! No games! Aswang hungry!”

“Yeah, we got that part!” Twilight shouted in annoyance.

"Aswang starving! Feels the bones of itself! Feed friend and friend show you the fire!"

"We don't have any food!"

"Whimper and cry! Whimper and cry! Hungry for meat! Crying meat!"

Princess Sapphire turned to Twilight before they both looked back at the wolf pup still whimpering in the goo. Fluttershy was quick to put her hooves over the frightened wolf pup, as Spike heroically stepped in front them with his arms folded. Twilight stepped closer to Fluttershy, the magic from her horn brimming, ready to fend off the creature. Princess Sapphire nodded to them, taking a united front against Aswang’s offer.

"You're not eating any pony or pup, Aswang!" Princess Sapphire declared. "Find your meal elsewhere!"

Princess Sapphire was met with silence from the darkness. A very eerie silence fell over them, a murderous intent filled the air, the tapping had returned, but it echoed from every direction. It grew louder and softer in random progression, making it hard to determine how close it really was. Princess Sapphire dragged her hoof across the top of the sand slowly, turning slowly to stare out into the darkness awaiting the creatures attack.

“Other ponies refused to feed. Broke my toy. Called me cheat.”

Aswang’s voice was more sinister now, losing it wild abandon, and sounding almost crazed in its dark delivery.

“New friends will now die. Crying for games. Screaming Aswang. Aswang. Let me play.”

“Twilight, no matter what happens the moment you have the chance to run you take the others and go.” Princess Sapphire instructed.

“We’re not leaving you, Sapphire.” Twilight stomped her hoof in refusal.

“I’m not giving you a choice, take the others and-”

"Feed me!"

From the darkness the creature emerged with tremendous speed, half its body had transformed into a snake, while its upper half had large bird like wings. Its large eye balls had rolled back once again, jaws open wide with its long finger emerging from its lips reaching out to grab them. Twilight flashed her horn to cast a spell, Princess Sapphire leapt towards the creature to stop it short of reaching them as Fluttershy shielded the wolf pup while Spike shielded her. Before any pony could get a shot off, before Aswang could strike, a colossal wolf emerged from the darkness sinking its fangs deep into creature's would be neck and driving it hard into the sand.

"Save me! Help me! Friends! Help Aswang!"

Vicious sounds of tearing flesh could be heard from the darkness. Violent hissing from Aswang filled the air with deep snarls of the massive wolf wrestling with it. The struggling of both creatures sent waves of sand crashing all over. Terrified shrieks from Aswang were soon garbled before a sickening crunch was heard and the thrashing stopped abruptly. Every pony stared into the shadows, listening to the heavy panting and the sudden howl that shook the very air.

Heavy steps were slowly approaching them. Coming within range of their glowing horns, the massive wolf stepped into view with bright green blood dribbling from its jaws. Its fangs were off colored by the greenish fluid, snarling menacingly at the sight of them, and barking so loudly that it caused every pony's ears to ring. The wolf pup whined, yelping in response to the massive wolf's bark trying to pull itself free.

"Wh-Wh-What should be do?" Spike stammered rubbing his ears.

"Finish cutting it loose, Spike. Show it that we're not here to hurt her baby." Fluttershy told quietly.

"That's its mommy?"

A loud threatening bark leaped from the wolf's jaws again, making every pony jump in fright. Spike slowly reached down towards the wolf pup, earning a very menacing growl from the wolf's mother. As quickly as he could, Spike cut away the goo that had kept the wolf pup pinned. With a final snip the wolf pup wiggled free, tripping over its own legs as it tried to bolt from them. It whined repeatedly as it scampered towards it’s mother who knelt down to greet it. The wolf's massive tongue pushed over the wolf pup, watching it bark excitedly trying to climb atop her snout, gingerly nudging it with its nose.

Princess Sapphire was quick to round up every pony, having them all step back to ensure that the massive wolf mother did not feel threatened by their presence. The mother wolf got to its paws, a deep growl echoing from her before taking great strides away from them and heading back into the darkness once more.

The wolf pup yapped loudly towards refusing to leave, leaping back and forth, spinning around on the spot trying to garner its mother's attention. It quickly rushed back towards Fluttershy, yapping loudly at her, circling around her hooves, brushing up against her in very loving manner as it whined softly.

"Fluttershy, it's time to say goodbye to your new friend now." Princess Sapphire hissed sounding rather panicked.

"It's time for you to go home now, you mighty little wolf, and don't get lost from your mother again." Fluttershy said to it.

The sand thumped from the large steps the mother wolf took towards them. Twilight and Princess Sapphire only measured up to the wolf mother’s knees as they lowered the intensity of their horns hoping not to seem aggressive towards it. Reaching over them, the giant wolf mother's large fangs bit the back of Fluttershy's thermal hoodie before lifting her up high over their heads. Turning to leave the young wolf pup barked excitedly, leaping as high as it could to try and reach Fluttershy as the wolf mother walked off with her.

"Oh my." Fluttershy said softly.

"Hey! That's our Fluttershy!" Twilight shouted at the wolf.

"Don't antagonize it, Twilight!" Spike hissed at her.

"Come on, we have to follow them!" Princess Sapphire shouted giving chase.

Through the darkness the wolf mother led on. Fluttershy dangling from her massive jaws while the wolf pup sprinted beside them to keep up. Princess Sapphire, Twilight and Spike were hot on her tail to see where Fluttershy was being taken. No pony was sure what the wolf mother had planned for Fluttershy, but the fact that it was rather docile for the moment made having a three story wolf around feel a lot safer. The wolf mother’s strides were far reaching, having Princess Sapphire and Twilight galloping to keep up, and it didn’t let up for over an hour until reaching what appeared to me a series of jagged rocks that broke the sea of black sand.

There was a immense cave that the wolf mother headed towards. Excited yelps from the wolf pup earned several more excited barks from the cave entrance. Two more wolf pups appeared from the mouth of the cave, rushing towards their mother and nipping at their lost sibling. Entering the cave, the wolf mother placed Fluttershy down as her litter of pups rushed her.

“They’re going to eat Fluttershy!” Spike yelled frightfully.

To the contrary, Fluttershy was being assaulted by the feverish licks of the wolf pups, nudging her hooves attention and cuddling with her. Princess Sapphire and Twilight slowly approached the mouth of the cave, unsure if their presence would be tolerated by the wolf mother. The giant wolf laid herself down further into the cave, carefully watched Princess Sapphire and the others.

“Fluttershy? You okay?” Twilight asked aloud, concerned for her safety.

“Oh, I’m just fine, Twilight. Her wolf pups are very affectionate.” Fluttershy replied.

Fluttershy got to her her hooves to meet up with them. The wolf pups following her, yapping happily as they quickly approached Princess Sapphire and Twilight sniffing them quickly. Princess Sapphire stepped around them, trying to avoid their moist noses from touching her as they found it entertaining and began to chase her.

“This cave looks like it stretches for miles.” Twilight mentioned, increasing the light that her horn emitted to get a better look.
“It’s the only thing I’ve seen since the wolf pup’s mother brought me here. Smolder might even be hiding underground to hide his flames.” Fluttershy added.

Princess Sapphire was leaping around, desperately trying to avoid the wolf pups that were chasing her relentlessly, tripping over one another when she made sharp turns and barking at her trying to keep her still. The wolf mother at this point had rested her head on her paws, watching her pups run around as Fluttershy walked further into the cave with Twilight in tow. Fluttershy held her hoof tightly, trying to reassure her that everything was alright and the wolf mother wasn’t going to bite, but Twilight and Spike were still trembling rather nervously around it. Coming up alongside the wolf mother, it was clear that the cave did stretch further in, but started to slope downwards into the ground.

“What do you think, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“I… I guess it’s our only choice for the moment. I’d rather not go wandering around in the darkness and bump into another one of those creatures again.” Twilight remarked.

Princess Sapphire bounded towards them, hiding behind Fluttershy as the wolf pups charged after her in open mouth excitement.

“Alright little ones, playtime is over.” Fluttershy said raising her hoof to them.

The wolf pups stopped short of reaching Fluttershy, pacing in circles, before sitting down and panting before her.

“Stay close to your mother and no more wandering off, okay?” Fluttershy asked them.

She earned several barks from them, tails wagging away, as Fluttershy reached out to pet each one goodbye.

“Thank you very much for saving us from that very scary creature, Misses Wolf.” Fluttershy turned to speak with the mother.

“Misses Wolf?” Spike asked looking at her strangely.

“Goodbye, every pony. Stay safe.” Fluttershy wished them well.

The wolf mother snorted while the wolf pups whined at Fluttershy’s departure, not following them beyond their mother’s side as the group ventured further into the cave. Twilight and Princess Sapphire illuminated their horns once more to bring more light to the dark cave, unsure of what they would find the deeper they went.

“You are truly something else when it comes to animals, Ms. Fluttershy.” Princess Sapphire complimented her.

“I do hope those wolf pups stay close to their mother. Amarok is still too young to be going out on his own like that.” Fluttershy stated.

“Amarok?” Spike questioned her.

“It’s his name, or at least that what his brother and sister call him.”

Comments

[Night_Striker]

nice chapter