Brave the Ulvenweald

by Silvermyr

3. Brave the Ulvenweald

If the Weald on the first side of the chasm was old, then the forest beyond the Scar was nothing short of ancient. The trees stood far from one another, like pillars in a cathedral, and yet everything was still shadowy green. The pine branches wove a thick green roof high above the two ponies which blocked out nearly all light. The entire ground was covered in the softest of moss, like a green carpet over the forest floor. Hardly a sound was heard, except for the softest rustle of wings or, more ominous, the lightest taps of… something walking in the forest. The sounds were too quiet for the pony ear to properly catch. The two mares rather sensed that there were sounds, for their ears instinctively twitched every now and then, and they would both hold up and look to the same old stump, moss covered rock or stem of a tree, as if they subconsciously knew something was lurking there, just watching and waiting.

Twilight looked up from the small compass she held in her hoof. ”We have been walking for hours now. We should be getting close to the town.” She spoke quietly. She knew that in this silent, eerie forest any number of predators might be stalking them.

”That’s good. I don’t know if I like this forest very much,” Fluttershy said. ”I know there are animals around, but they don’t want to come out and say hi. It’s like they are afraid of us…”

”You don’t think they are just trying to lull us into a sense of security before… you know, do what the spider tried to do?” Twilight asked.

”No, then they would have attacked already,” Fluttershy said. ”Very few animals stalk their preys for hours on end without making any move at all.”

”Yea… silly me,” Twilight said glumly. They went on in silence, both of them listening for any sound, if for different reasons. While Fluttershy hoped an animal might approach them, Twilight hoped for the opposite. Their ears twitched and flicked this way and that to catch the dampened sounds around them.

”Oh, Twilight, look!” Fluttershy’s soft, anxious voice suddenly felt shockingly loud in the still forest. ”Oh no!”

”What is it?” In front of Fluttershy laid a smallish, white-green mushroom that seemed to have tipped over recently, for it was still fresh. Curious, Twilight leaned forward and sniffed at it. It smelt mildly sweet but also left a weird acrid burn in her nostrils. She did not think it was edible. ”Do you know what this is, Fluttershy?”

”That is a death cap, Twilight. One of the most poisonous mushrooms in Equestria! And some poor animal has eaten them! See?” She pointed to the inconspicuous holes nearby. It really did look like there had been more mushrooms growing here, but now they were gone. Since the one left had tipped, Twilight agreed it looked like something had eaten the others.

”Oh… but what animal would eat these? They must know they are poisonous, right?” Twilight argued.

”I don’t know, but we need to find whoever ate them! Waxing and Waning packed us something for poisonous mushrooms. We must help!”

Twilight knew she would never get Fluttershy to reconsider, but that did not making look for a victim of poisonous mushrooms in a creepy forest where the sun was going down any more appealing. For all they knew whatever ate the mushrooms very well might want a couple of ponies for dessert.

Still, the two of them fanned out and started looking around. Whatever had eaten them must have left some tracks nearby. Twilight was careful to always keep Fluttershy close. They could not get separated in this forest.

Time passed, and the forest got darker and darker. ”Fluttershy…” Twilight said carefully. ”I don’t think we will find anything now. It’s to dark, and you too must understand we can’t search through the whole forest. We should go on so we get to safety for the night.” Fluttershy was silent as she continued to look around and up a large rock. ”Maybe we could return tomorrow?”

”Then it might be too late!” Fluttershy said. She left the rock she had looked around and continued to a fallen tree and the stump that still held one end up. The tree had fallen some time ago and was now covered in moss and clusters of yellowish fungi. Fluttershy peeked in under the stem and quickly went on to check the stump. It was hollow. She leaned forward ever so slightly.

The bark of the stump moved in a blur, faster than the eye could follow. Two long, hooked legs fanned out, grabbed the surprised pegasus behind the wings and yanked her closer until her head was inside the stump.

Twilight screamed in horror and surprise as she saw the spider pounce over Fluttershy’s head and drill it’s fangs into her lower neck. The two were locked in that horrible embrace for what seemed to be an impossibly long timespan while Twilight just stood there unable to fathom what she saw. Then, with a dry rattle, the spider retreated inside the stump again and Fluttershy backpedaled away from the stump before her legs went out under her and she came to rest on the soft moss, hyperventilating and shaking.

One picosecond later Twilight was at her side. ”Fluttershy! Fluttershy can you hear me?! FLUTTERSHY!?” She screamed. Her first instinct was to shake her friend, but she stopped herself. Instead she magicked off her saddlebags and began throwing everything out of them to find anything against spiders. Horror dawned upon her as she realized she did not know what type of spider that was. How could she find the right antidote if she did not know what had attacked? Fluttershy might know, but shocked as she was she could not help. Twilight swallowed down the growing panic and turned Fluttershy’s head. Maybe the bite itself could give her a clue?

A little bit of blood was seeping, but the bite marks were deceptively small, hardly bigger than the sting of a bee. Somewhere in her overloaded mind Twilight was confused as to how such a large creature could leave so small bites. She stared at the marks, but her mind was blank. She had no idea what to do. She did not know what antidote to give.

She stared down at the flasks and salves around her, all with carefully written labels and instructions. She had never felt so powerless or so infinitely stupid. She had the answer here. She had the antidote, but she was too stupid to know which one it was. How could she be so ”STUPID!?” She screamed the last word, followed by a wail of despair. The tears came freely and flowed down her muzzle and cheek until they fell into the green moss. Was this how it was going to end? After Nightmare Moon, after Discord, after Tirek and everything else, was this how Fluttershy would die? To a spider’s bite because she, Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn, was too stupid to know what antidote to give?

Something made Twilight look away from her shallowly breathing friend. Another sound she had not heard but felt. She looked up on the fallen tree neaby.

A wolf looked back.

Twilight’s breath caught in her chest. The beast was huge, easily twice as long as her and probably three times as heavy based on the muscles that strained around the neck, legs and sides. The fur was steely gray and the eyes burned like embers. There was a certain intelligence behind them that Twilight had never seen in an animal before. The shadows of thoughts and reason flitted inside those molten pools.

”These are not Timber Wolves, Twilight Sparkle. These are their living cousins. They are stronger, hungrier, slyer.” Luna had said. Now Twilight knew what she meant. This creature was not one of mindless hunger like the Timberwolves. This creature was an apex predator because it could outsmart it’s pray.

”Y-you are not getting her,” Twilight said silently. ”YOU ARE NOT GETTING HER, YOU HEAR ME!?” She screamed out her challenge, and with it all her agony. She knew it was irrational, but somehow she thought that if only she could protect Fluttershy from this wolf, then all would be well.

”What have you found, girl? It sounds like-” A pony hopped up beside the wolf and looked down at Twilight, surprise clear in his eyes. Twilight stared back, just as surprised herself. ”Who the hay are you?”

Twilight blinked. ”Y-you! Help me! Fluttershy got bitten by a strange spider! She needs… Help!”

The alien pony deftly leaped from the fallen tree and landed beside Fluttershy, eagerly followed by his wolf. ”Was the spider in this stump?” Twilight nodded. ”Then it must have been a Hookclaw Recluse. Deadly if untreated, but the poison is rather slow acting.”

”I don’t care!” Twilight screamed hysterically. ”Just… do something! I have an antidote here, but I don’t know which one to use!”

”She needs a blood thickener.”

That was all Twilight needed to know. She had seen a bottle with that label! She whirled around, picked up the bottle, uncorked it, nearly split it because her hooves were shaking and made her way over to her friend. Carefully she lifted up her Fluttershy’s head and gently poured the antidote down her friend’s throat. Fluttershy swallowed and then laid still in Twilight’s front legs, just breathing. With every breath she took Twilight felt the cold, hard knot in her stomach loosen up a little until there was just a draining tiredness left. ”Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

The other pony shrugged. ”You’re welcome. Now, pardon my question, but what are you doing here? We don’t often get many visitors out here in the Weald. I guess you have understood why.”

”I’m Twilight Sparkle, alicorn Princess of Equestria. My friend and I are here looking for somepony. A criminal we think might be hiding in the woods.”

”No criminal is hiding here. We would know,” the other pony said. ”Name’s Trackhoof, by the way, and this is my partner, Silver Chase.” The wolf gave a loud bark at its name.

Twilight looked to the wolf. It was a bit unnerving to have a predator so much larger than herself so near. She could smell the wolf, and that smell put her on edge. Ponies had always had to fear beasts like this one, and that heritage still resounded strongly in Twilight. She took a few steps back. ”I assume you live in the village nearby? Perhaps you could guide us there?”

”W-wait, Twilight,” Fluttershy said groggily. She closed her eyes and slowly eased herself up on her hooves. ”We still need to find whoever ate that death cap. Some little animal might still be in danger.”

Trackhoof looked at her as if she had suddenly grown several extra heads. ”No animal would ever eat a death cap. Where would you get that ridiculous idea from?”

”We found one, and several more that were gone. So something has eaten them.”

Trackhoof looked a little uncomfortable at that. ”Well… no, actually.” He lifted of the saddlebags he had over his shoulder and opened one of them. There, carefully wrapped up in small pouches made from dry leaves, laid at least ten of the greenish mushrooms. ”I pick them for potion making. With the Hunter’s Moon festival tonight there is no doubt some foal will try her hoof at it.”

”Hunter’s Moon festival?” Twilight asked. ”Never heard of it. What are you celebrating that needs poisonous mushrooms?”

”It’s a coming of age ritual for our foals,” Trackhoof answered. ”For the whole night the entire village tells stories, eat, drink, hold competitions of skill, strength and crafts, with the youngest trying to find something they enjoy. Then at night everypony shares a traditional meal and the foals journey into the woods to meet their own companions. After that, they are considered full members of our village.” Trackhoof’s eyes lit up warmly and glanced towards the wolf.

”Oh, well I’d be honored to attend,” Twilight said courteously. ”But we really can’t stay for long. We still need to search for our criminal.”

Trackhoof shrugged. ”You can come if you like.” He turned around and started walking, the wolf already at his side.

”He is wearing a bow,” Fluttershy mumbled accusingly. Twilight had seen it too. At Trackhoof’s side hung a shortbow with a few arrows in a quiver beside it. ”And his saddlebags too… that’s not fabric. I think it’s leather. From animals! He is killing animals!”

”What’s it to you?” Trackhoof asked back. ”Nothing strange with taking what you need to survive. That is just nature’s order. The strong live, the weak die.”

”The rest of Equestria does not need to kill to survive!” Fluttershy said sharply. She flew forward and stared up into Trackhoof’s face with a harsh glare. It suddenly struck Twilight that Trackhoof was rather large to be a pony, almost the same size as Big Mac.

”The rest of Equestria is not like this either,” Trackhoof retorted and made a gesture to the forest around him. ”As you can clearly see. You would have been dead if not for me.”

”That does not give you the right to kill innocent animals!” Fluttershy snapped back. The massive wolf bared its teeth and snarled angrily, fur on end and tail straight backwards.

”Fluttershy, I don’t like it either, but we can’t argue with Trackhoof. He saved your life; you should be grateful,” Twilight said. She did not like to take a party against her friend, but they needed Trackhoof’s help, and while she was sure none of the ponies would actually hurt one another, that wolf was another thing entirely. Twilight was not going to let Fluttershy get herself injured over this.

Fluttershy looked back at Twilight, hurt clear in her eyes, but she backed down from Trackhoof. The wolf skulked back as well, but it kept a wary eye on the yellow pegasus.

”If you want to come, my village is this way,” Trackhoof said neutrally.

Author's Note:

For those who wonder, here is what a death cap looks like (rather beautiful mushroom, actually):

Even more trivia: I was actually going to use another type of mushroom than the death cap, since death cap does not grow in forests like the Weald (they prefer deciduous forests). I wanted to use something that I failed to find a legit english word for, namely Amanita virosa, which does grow in coniferous forests. "Destroying Angel" was the word I found, but that sounds so none-Equestrian I did not want to do that.

Most author's love Feedback.