A Feral Mind

by Desperate Dawn

Chapter 1 (Rewrite)

A Feral Mind
Chapter 1

“Haaahhh,” Ark sighed tiredly, laying on the ground after another intense training session with his mentor, Resilience. She was one of the founders of the Order of Northesfur, an order where the best of the best of the King’s Guardian are selected and trained to be the Kingdom’s most elite of soldiers.

“Come now, get up,” Resilience said. Ark looked up to see a snow-white Great Wolf peering over him upside down.

“I’ve...just finished...twenty laps and...sparred against... you, Resilience,” Ark said between his breath. In all honesty. He didn’t mind this sort of training regime, but dear Fenrir have mercy on his soul, Resilience is brutal and seemingly has no mercy despite her saying that she’ll be easy on him.

Resilience rolled her eyes, that magenta eyes of her, Ark can see just how amused she was. It is no secret that her methods of teachings are considered... extreme. But, you can’t argue with the result, she shaped you to be strong and became an efficient hunter. That is what she is doing to him now, as he is the only Werewolf that was accepted to be part of the King’s Guardian.

“Can’t you at least... give me a moment,” Ark said tiredly. As he was about to close his eyes, he felt a sharp pain on his neck. Before he could comprehend what just happened, he found himself flying in the air and towards a tree, slamming hard at the thick wood. Ark let out a pained grunt as his back took most of the impact, he was sure he heard a crack of bones down in the line.

“Who said you can rest?” Resilience said, narrowing her eyes with a visible scowl. “You should know better when you're on training, Ark. I do not care if you’re a Werewolf, but if you were to doze off again, then you’ll probably in a lot more pain.”

The poor gray Werewolf staggered back to his paw, glaring at her. He could turn feral and lash out, that’s one of the traits being a Werewolf, the other being able to shift in size. But, he knew it wouldn’t do much against her.

“Oh don’t give me that,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “If you so wish to be a King’s Guardian, don’t complain.”

“I’ll appreciate it better if you don’t throw me like that,” Ark growled but it quickly came into submission as Resilience's glare seemingly pierced through his very soul. He lowered his head, his ears flattening on his head, “Sorry...”

Resilience sighed, placing a paw on her forehead, “Werewolves,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Come, let’s get moving. We’re going over your first field course, and I’ll think you’ll be enjoying it.”

Ark followed her, exiting the lush plains to the temperate forest before them. His earlier bruise bothers him for a while, but it didn’t deter his anticipation of what comes next. They both came to a halt on a nearby river stream. Resilience looked around for a moment before nodding to herself.

“Ark,” she addresses the light gray Werewolf, him quickly standing in attention. “This is where your natural hunting skills are tested. You already know the drill, find a scent, track it, and kill it.”

The way she casually told him that is slightly unnerving to the young Werewolf. He knew it was a common occurrence, but at least some wolf display a bit of emotion such as caution. With her, in the other paw, it’s completely non-existent.

Resilience walk upstream to find a favorable spot to lay down, Ark meanwhile could only stand there, staring at her, unsure what to do. Resilience noticed this and raised an eyebrow, “Well, what are you waiting for? You can go and hunt now.”

“Umm, shouldn’t you...uhh...” as his words drawn longer, Resilience sighed.

“One word, Ark; initiative.”

Ark let out an “Oh” and went on his way. Resilience can only shook her head as she lay down near the river, crossing both her front paws, watching the young Werewolf until he disappeared between the thick bushes of the forest. After she was sure that he could no longer hear her, she let out a long-suffering sigh.

“This is going to be difficult.”

---

Twilight let out a frustrating cry as her spell failed for the fourth time. “What did I do wrong? I’m sure the formula was correct.” Twilight refocused to the spell-book she was holding by her magic.

Twilight was having such a good day, Pinkie Pie’s party can do that to you, and she was also having such an absurdly amount of luck, she received a new book her parents shipped out, the book she was holding was courtesy of Princess Luna AND Princess Celestia herself are coming to check on her once again, mostly about the spell-book Princess Luna gave her to study and research it.

Oh, did she also mention that Princess Cadence also gave her a book about dating? Yeah, we’ve not need to dwell on that, both her brother and sister-in-law know she needed a direct encouragement to go out often.

So yes, she was having such a good day, until now, that is.

Twilight snorted, frustrated that she couldn’t find anything that went wrong, she was 100% sure the formula was correct. She put the book away on her shelf, coming up the stairs out of her basement/laboratory. She doesn’t want to ruin a good day with her being frustrated, therefore, she trots to the table where she kept the recently received books.

The first sight that caught her interest almost immediately was a book, a book that was about a kingdom filled with wolves in the far west of Equestria. The author was none other than Daring Do herself.

Twilight wasn’t ignorant of outside cultures, but if her idol, Daring Do herself, ventured far and found a new civilization that could potentially hold a new knowledge to be studied. You know Twilight will always jump on the knowledge train.

And so, she began her reading.

---

Ark lies down at one the thick bush the forest was bountiful of, concealing himself, and at the same time masking his scent with the recently ripe wild-berries. He stayed there, laying in silent, waiting for his prey to come by.

It didn’t take long for a gazelle, large and young, to come out and into the grassy plains at the center of his hunting ground. Ark waited for it to start grazing on the fertile grass, before moving forward, closing the distance between them ever so silently.

He was making good progress. He was sure the gazelle wouldn’t even see him coming. Resilience is going to be so prou-

CRACK!

His daydreaming was cut abruptly, as luck didn’t side with him in the slightest. Not only he stepped on a dry stick, he also in no position to lunge at the gazelle as the thick bush didn’t offer him the room for a spontaneous maneuver.

So, his thoughts were this: By Leto’s womb, I truly hate life sometimes.

The gazelle, knowing an imminent danger, immediately went into a full gallop, Ark following shortly after in a burst of speed only seen on a Werewolf’s alone.

Ark could keep up with the gazelle’s speed, but his agility is the only thing that kept him from catching one as fit as he was chasing. It weaved through the branches of the forest as if it had done this countless times. Ark meanwhile, was having difficulty. Sure, his sheer size and strength alone definitely outpowered a mere branch, but there were just too many to the point it slowed him down considerably.

And just like that, his catch was gone.

In frustration, Ark let out a roar, for the animals nearby it may seems something had angered something in which case it is somewhat close to the truth. For any other wolf, it was a pathetic roar filled with utter disappointment, and this was true for Resilience out by in the distance.

“He had much to learn,” she thought out loud as she ripped out the artery of the downed gazelle, putting it out of its misery.

---

To say that Twilight was beyond impressed is an understatement, what Daring Do had found is revolutionary! It’s not that Equestria never once saw any kind of wolf per se, they were a lot during ancient times. It was just that many thought they died out during the three tribes migration since the Wendigos froze much of the land.

With this discovery, Twilight was sure that wolves were no longer territorial as they once were, and, in fact, they banded together and migrate just like ponies are. Well, she assumed them to be anyway, the book wasn’t exactly clear about how the wolves come together.

The book describes that they possessed almost identical ruling system to Equestria, without an immortal that controls heavenly bodies most definitely.

She also knew about three primary types the wolves kingdom had; Gray Wolf, Dire Wolf, and Red Wolf, along with many other sub-species. What truly intrigues her, however, was the sub-species that is a rarity amongst the local populace; Werewolves.

It made the myth about Wereponies rather...questionable. The book didn’t have much to say about them due to their lacking appearance in public places. There is a well-known trait about them, however, which is the ability to shift their size at will. It is still unknown if a Werewolf were to bite another, then they become a Werewolf as well.

Of course, Twilight argued about that in her mind since this civilization Werewolf mayhaps misinterpreted as one of those myths that swirled amongst the general cultures of Equestria. There was just too much fanfiction about the well-renowned Unicorn mages, Majesty, being a Werepony, or the more unpopular ones, such as Princess Platinum or Chancellor Puddinghead.

She wouldn’t know for sure until she found out herself, but she’ll have to put that aside for now. There are things that she needed to take care of first.

Speaking of which, what time is it? Twilight glances over to a nearby clock, eyes widening as it almost noon, which is the kind of time Princess Celestia’s upcoming visit is about to be.

In panic, she teleported herself to the Townhall.

---

A female wolf walked alongside a path that follows towards the notorious hunting ground of the renowned Huntress of the Kingdom, Resilience. Her pristine gray fur groomed to its absolute best, none can match her beauty. Only the wealthiest nobles could perhaps compete with her, and even then, none would dare to challenge the daughter of the King.

Yes, this is Freya, one of the few top female Alpha material, and it was all because of her outstandingly sleek form and fierceness. Unlike many other wolf where ones underside perhaps a fair bit darker in shade of their fur, Freya had almost perfect blend in between. This, however, causes a fair bit of jealousy within the noble circles, especially with other female wolf.

However, she didn’t groom her fur because she was visiting those nobles, no, in fact, she only did it for this very occasion, which is to impress and potentially attract one particular Werewolf the mighty Huntress, Resilience, took charge of training.

Still, the Huntress was known to be very strict about her training regime, and to avoid confrontation with the Great Wolf, Freya must watch her tongue around her. No, not because of fear alone, it was the political consequences that could come by if she were to clash with Resilience. Even then, Freya was no fighter. The Huntress will surely best her in direct combat.

It doesn’t bode well with Freya going to her hunting grounds, but in the name of love, she’ll do anything to get to him.

After a while, Freya found herself on a greenfield complete with a nearby creeks, to the east, a temperate forest where both wolf would most likely be as they were nowhere in sight. Freya finds the biggest rock and sat there, waiting for the two to return.

Two hours she waits, and still no sight of them. Freya was getting restless, therefore laying her belly onto the cold, smooth surface of the rock. There wasn’t any sound but the calming blow of the wind, whistling on the quiet plains. Soon, she found herself asleep under the wind’s lullaby.

It wasn’t long before she heard the rustling of grass being stepped on, she was quite versed on picking up a distant sound, and when one more was heard approaching just nearby, she was ecstatic.

She opened one of her eyes, expecting the Gray Werewolf in question to appear, only that it wasn’t and was met by the scowling face of Resilience instead. Ark meanwhile, panted on the ground, completely exhausted. Few of the forest stick and leaves was stuck on his otherwise lively gray fur.

“What are you doing here?” Resilience asks as she scowled at Freya.

Freya calmly stepped down from the rock with full of her grace, mockingly smiled at the Great Wolf as she stared up the towering Great Wolf with confident. Resilience hardened her glare as both engaged in an endless staring contest.

She may look calm, but her mind was in a state of chaos as every part of her rational mind told her not to anger the Greater Wolf, much less challenging her.

“Well, to see the newest recruit of my Father’s Guardian of course.” Freya calmly said, holding her head high, much to the Huntress displeasure.

“Well, he is doing quite well if that what you’re asking,” Resilience said as she walked past her to sit on the rock Freya was occupying earlier.

“Now, now, no need to act like that, you should be honored of my brief visit here as I have other things to do.”

Resilience puffed a small stream of breath from her nose, obviously didn’t buy that statement. If she didn’t have time, why would she wait for them and even take a nap in the middle of it? Of course, the Princess is up to something.

Freya finally gets herself under control from her usual act, she didn’t wish to incur her wrath and so wisely left her alone as she walk up to Ark. His ear perked up and stared up at the approaching royalty, he staggered a bit but manage to go to a respective stance.

“Princess Freya,” he addressed her in full attention.

“At ease, dear Ark, it is only a pleasant visit, and therefore, you’ve not need to be so formal to me,” Freya said with a sweet smile, batting her eyelashes. Her subtle approach is in vain as Ark didn’t even noticed it.

“Of course, Princess,” Ark hesitates. “Can I help you with something?”

Suppressing a twitch on her eyes at her failed approach, Freya waved her paw, “Ah, no need to concern yourself, as I said, a pleasant visit to one of my Father’s Guardian.”

Ark nervously laughs as he scratches the back of his neck, “It is an honor, Princess. But, I’m no Guardian’s yet, I am still far off to reach that position.”

“I’m sure you’ll reach it eventually,” Freya assured him, then her eyes glanced over to Resilience. “Unfortunately, I must conclude my visit today as I have other things to do.”

“Well, about time,” Resilience said, too loudly for Freya’s increasing anxiety towards the Great Wolf. “We’re about to start our next training session. I thank you for visiting us, Princess Freya.” Freya’s calm façade almost broke as Resilience jumped from the rock towards her, landing a few inches with a hard step. Freya inconspicuously gulped as she bid the two goodbye, Ark returning her gesture afterward.

Freya was sure she almost wet herself then and there. The path towards romancing the young Werewolf is going to be a difficult one.

Comments

[AstralFlare42]

I ship Freya and Ark.