Perception

by fateswriter

Meaningful Encounter

The house was yellowish, with a brown roof and it's walls coated in vines and flowers. This however wasn't what convened me to go there first. From within and behind the house I could smell a bunch of animals, from a bear to a mouse. Bunny, birds, snakes, and everything else. But that wasn’t the strange part. The strange part was, I could smell the animals, predator and prey all In one space. But not a drop of blood. I wanted to know why. Well first I have to announce my presence, but I couldn't remember how ponies are supposed to do it.

Pacing around on the porch of the cottage, I decided to stomp my hooves on the wood loudly. Full of purpose the wood started to make noise as I jumped upon it with fever. I continued to do so until my ears twitched with the soft sounds of another set of hooves.

“ umm… who's there?” the language of equine was almost lost to me but I understood this just fine. It began to renew itself in my mind as I fixed an answer.

“ ggggrrummmph. Arph. grrraa-i...graa-i mmmmnnee ha-hap(hey!! I need help) ” my attempt at equine was worse than I remember but it got my point across. My voice was rough from my years of wolf talk, and it almost hurt to speak this way. The door stayed put for a while longer, the sound of pacing hooves reached my trained ears. I tried again.

“grrraaph.. d-d000oo r-rill ggggrose? grraa-i…. mmmmnnnee …. hap( why is the door still closed?, i need help).” …..ok. that was extremely worse than before. I kinda sounded like a monster I had permission to hunt down before. What was it called?...manticore. well that thing took forever to kill, lemme tell ya. Still I guess I wouldn't open the door for a voice like that.

“ oh...my.. um…..i-i can't help y-you. Please...go away?” the soft voice told me a couple things. First that I was not welcome, second that she was female, third that she was scared (or she's also having trouble with her equine speak).

I grunted in defeat and shook my head to calm myself. Tapping my hoof on the porch twice,and grunting once more, I headed off towards the forest in hopes of finding something to drink.

I had taken about four hoof steps when I head the door open. Turning around, I stared amazed at the yellow winged pony as a series of grunts and growls escaped her muzzle.

“can you understand me.” her growl was high pitch but was a perfect imitation of the timberwolves back home.

I growled low and huffed proudly. “yes! How can you speak wolf tongue. This language is sacred.”

She smiled brightly and turned back to her house flicking her tail to beckon me inside.

She sat down at on elevated ground (loveseat) and patted it twice to invite me to it, I however chose the carpeted floor. The den was warm and was just as yellow on the inside. I had hints of pink id only seen in flowers near by the packs migration trail to the broken mountain further inside the forest. I shook my head as it began to swim with the overbearing scents of all the animals. How did this pony do it? And why? The forest smelled better and had waaay more. I watched a mouse run across the floor and a bird of prey chase it. I smiled as the mouse was caught but tilted my head in confusion as it simple placed it on the table and landed on a perch above the elevated area the kind mare had sat. what was going on here? Maybe she’s some kind of god..that would explain the behavior of the animals here.

The yellow mare look at me. I hadn’t noticed she’d been eyeing me and had even circled me. Then in her soft high pitched bark she asked.

“ so, your a pony. At first glance I couldn’t tell. You look so much like a timberwolf. Your hooves are covered in dried hardened mud and have sharpened rocks and sticks sticking out. Like… like claws. Your coat is wild and very unkempt. On your head you have what appears to be a deceased timberwolf head over yours. your mane, It's rather short but I suppose I can barely see with the twigs and the wooden carcass And you speak the tongue quiet nicely… um what’s your name?”

“I am li-... lylic. The head is from a fallen warrior I saw as my brother. Wearing it is a symbol of pride and glory. It also protects me and grants me bravery. My claws help me run fast, as I must when hunting.” She was so quiet, I lowered my voice to yips and yowls so as to not scare her.

I heard her gasp.

“ H-HUNTING, oh my- please tell me you didn’t-”

I stopped her stuttering and scoffed.

“No- no. My pack was rather peaceful, we only attacked things that came to close to the mother den-”

“ oh thank goodness-”

“-Unless,of course, you count the coming of age ceremony where we have to follow tradition of our ancestors and kill a deer. Which I found quite delightful, didn’t take nearly as long to kill than a bear lemme tell ya.”
I chuckled at what I thought was a funny joke. Ridiculous. Everyone knew it would take a whole pack to take down an average size bear, so usually we just scared it off with numbers. My host however didn’t think it was so funny as she looked at me with a very expressive face. The only way I could describe it would be, being present during senior mating night… I shivered at that horrible thought.

‘Never’

I could her squeaking in response to my earlier comment, her mouth hung open in shock. I stood to look further in her eyes to make sure she wasn’t having a shake over*, but when i lifted from the ground she flinched and seemed to return to the world. I watched as she shook her head, trying to clear it, then looked at me and furred her brow.

“...please tell me you didn’t eat them..”

I shook my head in disgust, what type of a wolf did she think i was.

“How can you speak our language and not know our customs. Of course I didn’t. Timberwolves have turned vegetarian.”

“..then why kill..”
“ simply to connect with our distant selves. Besides we bring the dead deer to the grand stone tree and the deer is always returned to it’s life, as if nothing ever happened.” she looked speechless. She gave a groan of frustration before sighing in content.

“They don’t remember.”

“Not at all.”

“ And the tree.. How does it..”

“ Unfortunately it is a secret of the universe that only the ancient ones know, those underneath them are not deemed worthy. Not even the alpha knows. Still, that custom has died along with the disappearance of the tree”

“ I suppose that better than the other alternative..”

There was a silence as she seemed to calm herself down. My trained ears could hear her heartbeat racing, she looked as if she would faint soon.

“..I am sorry.. It would seem i have brought you distress.”

“ no no- it's fine.. You said my pack when you talk about the wolves.. What are you saying?” she stood and walked to an area that had different flooring and some rounded metal things, I think there called pans.., hanging from hooks. She took a weirdly shaped spout from a small door underneath the indoor waterspout (the sink), put water inside along with some leaves, and placed it on hot coils. Then walked in next to me, muttering something along the lines of, I wonder if she’ll take a bath, then sat back down.

“I am saying that I used to belong to that pack, i was one of it’s hunters, and a supporting alpha.”

“Wow, that’s a hard achievement to get, how’d you do that?”
I smirked.

“I hunted a manticore”

She looked to me in denial.

“I did. Wolves that tell lies are stripped of their tails and I very clearly still have mine.”

“...you do that on your own..?”

This pony was mocking me. I gave a low growl in anger and watched as she flinched in fear.

“..that..sounded so.. Real.”

“Of course. I was personally trained by the head alpha. He watched me grow in the art of hunting, and stalking, Watched as my need for the hunt grew, until I was strong enough to do so on my own. He has put his trust in me for many a battle and for many years, He has protected me. If not my many hidden scars then my growl is a proof of my life with the winter pack, training harshly underneath the metal paw of one of the greatest wolves beneath luna’s shining moon.” I looked at the now shivering pony and lowered my head.

I backed away from the mare and layed down belly up and whined softly. She stopped cowering and sat up timidly looking at me with attentive eyes. As if i would pounce at any moment.

“ I am sorry. I did not mean to scare you. I felt as if you did not believe me and that my honor was being threatened. I overreacted…”
She took a deep breath and laugh on its way out. I took that as my cue to flip over. She shook her head once more and was about to ask a question when a shrill noise filled the air, making me cover my sensitive ears.

She sighed and lifted to go towards the terrible noise, shortly easing the ringing pain it caused. She returned in the room carrying a silver plate on her back with two white..cups?... any way she pushed a wood plate standing on four legs in front of me, across from the couch, and placed the silver plate on that before sitting back down. On the white cups carried a kind of light brown liquid which looked discusting, actually smelled nice. I leaned in and gave it a few sniffs before sticking my tounge out. The mare stuck her hoof out before warning me of it’s temperature. After blowing on it,( which i thought was rediculous) i slowly dipped my tounge in the dark honey colored mixture.
…
Lapping up at the delicious water quickly, my cup was empty before I could fully enjoy it. I pushed my muzzle further in it hoping to catch a few more drops but it was not enough. Looking up at the yellow mare I picked up the empty cup with my maw* and extended it towards where she would have been. I heard a rich quiet giggle (not at all like the roughness of timberwolves) to the side of me as she returned once more with the weirdly shaped pot and hovered it over my cup before pouring more into it. In my glee I practically face planted into the burning liquid, only to recoil in pain as the fresh batch scorched me. Leaning over with white cloth she wiped my face before leaning back and giggling once more. I felt calmer and much more relaxed. In this peaceful moment I judged her truly kind and decided to use the manners that while I was taught, never really used.

“ Thank you, miss..”

“It’s fluttershy.”

“ Thank you, kind fluttershy”