Wolf-cubs

by Orrm

Quest 4 - Accept Victims 101 (Pending Rewrite)

“You can believe in whatsoever you like, but the truth remains the truth, no matter how sweet the lie may taste.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

What is Truth?

“So let me get this straight,”

Vandal furrowed his brow as he gingerly stirred the pot in front of him, turning his attention to Sunset with squinted eyes,

“You WANT to wash the dishes? And have already swept the house, mopped the bathroom, somehow sorted Asura’s teddy bear collection, helped Achiles solve Advanced Additional Mathematical formulas for Nuclear Physics and played tag with Orthros?”

Sunset smiled sheepishly and leaned against the kitchen’s door frame as she spoke in a somewhat airy tone of voice,

“Weeeeell yeah.”

Vandal stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. One eyebrow was arched up, the next arched down with both eyes crossing in opposite directions. He shook his head and turned off the stove as he sighed in acceptance. First there was the deal with this girl’s story. Mainly the holes surrounding the ‘Fall formal’ and ‘Siren’ events. Now she had helped them more than either of their parents would in a week, bar the fact that most of her antics were inconsequential, it was the effort that counted. And the sheer eagerness of this girl to undergo underhanded tasks unnerved the young sociopath more than he ever thought possible.

“Just…..just go to the living room, play fetch with Orthros or something, here, use this,”

He opens a kitchen drawer and hands her a hot-pink Glock 17. Dirt cheap but reliable in close quarters, or so she'd heard.

“Just throw it at him and hope it doesn’t fire, I’m fine here,”

Sunset stared at the physical embodiment of death that sat in her palm. She looked up at Vandal, who was back to stirring the curry and overall unchanged despite the fact that he just handed her a gun. Where did they even get a gun?! They’re kids for crying out loud! For Celestia’s sake she was at least five years older than all of them and she didn’t even own a Taser! Tranquilizer pistols, guns, brass knuckles, what next, a bucking RPG?!

Sunset breathed in deeply. Using those simple stress relieving exercises taught to her by her -Mo- Princess Celestia! She calmly placed the handgun onto the kitchen table and silently walked out of the room.

Vandal blinked twice and smirked as he resumed cooking.

“Well at least some things never change,”

//A few hours later//

Given a few hours all four brothers and Sunset had assembled in the living room in the same formation as the night prior. Sunset occupying a whole couch, Vandal and Orthros on the identical couch opposite to her and Asura and Achiles seated cross-legged on the carpet. Each individual had a reasonably large bowl of curry in their hands and while the bothers eagerly dug in Sunset simply stared at her bowl in mild curiosity.

First of all, the bowl was as wide as her hand three times over and about as deep as the length of her middle finger. The amber, chunky liquid reaching at least three quarters the volume of the bowl. She could see strips of meat and vegetables float around in the murky substance and shivered as it’s warm, tantalizingly spicy scent snaked its way into her nose as the bowl steamed with fresh heat.

She gulped.

Sunset had always wondered what meat tasted like, even when she was a pony, but back then the idea of eating another living creature had seemed so foreign that she never even bothered. When she arrived here, however, there was that option but she had still abstained from eating meat. Whether it be to salvage what she could of her lost pony mannerisms or a simple lack of necessity she couldn’t tell.

She grasped the shiny, grayed spoon with her night index finger and thumb and lightly scooped up some liquid with a small chunk of meat and stared at it.

Duck, he said it was. Duck curry. She rested the spoon in her mouth and allowed the mixture to flow onto her tongue and then removed the spoon from her mouth with wet ‘Pop!’.

It was Amazing.

The meat was so soft and practically melted as she bit into it but it was the liquid that really sold it. Spicy, warm and at the same time both sweet and- was that chili? It had that special zest in it and was neither too hot nor cold, just right and as the murky liquid flowed down her throat she could feel it’s warmth all the way to he stomach. She licked her lips. That was delicious and she could go on and on to describe just how good it’s taste was but she instead preferred to dive into the bowl like a hyena eyeing a dying lion.

When she was finished there was quite literally not a drop left in the bowl, she had drank, eaten and licked the whole thing and as she rested the bowl down on the empty seat next to her she noticed the brothers shooting concerned looks her way. She gave a thumbs up.

“That was delicious,”

Vandal smirked and stood up, gathering the soup bowls and cutlery as he strode back into the kitchen. He curtly responded in kind.

“Your welcome,”

The remaining three brothers smiled at the exchange and Sunset sighed in contentment. She hadn’t had a meal that good since the last time she visited the Apples, quality and quantity included. Her stomach was full to maximum capacity and felt as if it would empty itself if she took another bite. ‘These kids may be strange, but at least they can cook,’ she thought to herself in mild amusement.

Vandal returned to his place next to Orthros and nudged the younger child with his elbow. Orthros ‘humph’ed and cleared his throat to get her attention.

Sunset focused her gaze onto the boy her body laid sprawled on the couch as if it were a mattress, the position easing her overfilled stomach just a bit. She nodded her head shakily, indicating to him she was paying attention.

“Well, Miss Sunset, after hearin' yer…….. we’ve decided t'…help you,”

Orthros rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he opened his mouth to continue, however before he could utter a single word she interjected and, almost venomously, spat,

“Why?”

Sunset did not know much about the odd quartet before her but what she did know frightened her almost as much as Celestia did. All she could see was violence, more violence and some very good cooking skills.

Weakness

Orthros visibly flinched under her harsh tone and averted his eyes to the flow, each of his brothers appearing to writhe in mild discomfort.

Half-truth

“Honestly, we were once in a situation similar to yers,”

Orthros responded, his cheery voice gaining a slight downcast as he narrated, his string and needle grazing the nasty gashes that were Sunset’s sense of trust. All he had to do was stitch them up a little.

'Keep it short and sweet, KISS,' could practically feel a baritone voice spitting into his ears,'Tell the truth, just not the whole truth’.

He willed it to Shut Up

He understood.

Too much similarities make a person suspicious, too little and they simply don’t understand your motivations, keep the lie partially submerged in truth, it confuses lie-detectors and ensures some credibility.

He continued.

“At one point we were like you, we were ostracized, faced open violence, or bodies bathed in red hot rage, egotism and scarlet hues as wave after wave of wounds settled themselves onto ah'r skin,”

Orthros gulped and tilted his head upwards, staring into Sunset’s cyan eyes with his own deep brown wells of emptiness,

“Miss Sunset, we pushed through it and became strong, but by no means did 'e come out unscathed and….the pain we endured to get that strength…..I wouldn’t wish it onto anyone.”

Cue

Orthros bit his lip and blinked, clearing the moisture from his eyes as he continued, his voice somber, his brothers faces empty as they sat in silence, listening, waiting, watching. Orthros concluded with a simple statement, his voice strained as he uttered the words,

Truth

“I just want to help.”

Seconds ticked on as Sunset stared at the younger boy, her hawk-like gaze neither intense nor relaxed as she studied him for any signs of stray emotion, of even the slightest fluctuation.
She found none and exhaled a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and scrunched her face as a war waged in her mind.

On one hand if she accepted they would either help her or just like the rest they would simply abandon her when she needed them most. They would accuse her of something without any conclusive evidence and any good actions she would have committed prior would mean jack. They would sever all ties with her And in their case, they might even ki-

STOP!

She mentally roared at herself. There it was again. Those thoughts, her little manic episodes as she came to refer to them as. She’d been having more of them recently. These four oddly-toned and ‘mildly-violent’ individuals were definitely not helping. Okay maybe Orthros was a bit. Seriously, playing tag with him was fun. It’s like with Pinkie Pie except he actually follows the Laws of Physics and has oddly soft tickle points.

Weird.

Asura wasn't that bad, in fact he was quite a help while she cleaned the house and had saved her from many a nasty fall while cleaning the rafters. She had noticed that he froze for a split second whenever they passed the room she was staying in but she ignored it. It wasn't her place to pry, much less when she relied on their generosity for space.

Achiles, now he, he was a workaholic and reminded her of herself back in her days as Celestia's student. Diligent, smart and a good thinker, possibly a living calculator and after she had given him the exact value of pi he showed her the most heartwarming smile she had ever seen. Almost Twilight-y.

Vandal was missing for the entire day.

She shook her head and collected herself once more. Of course, there was always the chance of any relationship she made breaking , it almost seemed to be an eventuality with her. Regardless, these kids, as misguided as they seem, genuinely acted as if they wanted to help her. Or at least showed interest in her plight and, despite first impressions, they were a decent bunch. Bar Vandal, he looked like a psychopath.

Sunset took a deep breath and responded with two words, sitting up and tilting her head downwards as tears slowly began to leak from her eyes,

“Thank you,”

Before the first shimmering teardrop could hit the sofa she found herself surrounded by warmth. She eased open her eyes to find four glossy pairs of differently shaded brown ones staring up at her in a manner younger children would do. Orthros arms were wrapped around her midsection in a full circle, Vandal had somehow managed sneak behind her and both Achiles and Asura simply Embraced her from the sides, all four joining in a group hug that for the most part caged her movement to a null. In their defense they were quite a bit younger and some at most a foot shorter than she was, though, one thing she couldn’t figure out was why their muscles weren’t digging into her sides. Nonetheless she eased herself into the soft, shoulder-high embrace and sobbed as they simply tightened on her. Not enough to cause discomfort, but just enough to allow her to know that they acknowledged her pain and wanted to provide some comfort.

She welcomed it.