The Nightmare of the Moon Part 1
Everfree Forest
A few minutes later
Mission: Hunt for the Elements
Main Objectives:
Reach the Castle of the two Sisters
Everypony must survive
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Bonus Objective:
None
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New Unit(s): None
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Briefing
Dragonfly: Alright everypony, we know that the Elements are somewhere in the Castle of the two Sisters. I know the area well enough that I can get us there, never been to the castle itself but I have been close enough to get visual on it. Stay close, the Timber Wolf packs get more bold and dangerous at night along with other predators. It's not just them either, I have my doubts that Nightmare Moon is going to leave us be either so stay alert. We have a far distance to cover so we'd better get moving.
The group was gathered around Dragonfly who had laid a map he had made of this area of the forest, following his hoof as he traced over it.
"As I said, the walk to the castle is fairly long and I have no doubts that it will not be easy."
Dragonfly looked up to find the others looking at him, waiting for anything else he had to say.
"Now, to the guards here, who will be leading?" Dragonfly asked as he rolled the map up and placed it into his saddlebag. The guards looked at each other, then back to him.
"You, Dragonfly." Rose said, Dragonfly blinked at her in surprise.
"Me? Why, I'm a civilian while you guys are military."
"True," Dusk began, "but you know this area better then us and we need you as our guide." Blades spoke next.
"We also trust you not to lead us astray."
Dragonfly frowned, he was pretty sure this wasn't standard operating procedure. Then again, this wasn't standard to begin with.
"Okay... I'll take point, Guards... I want you to make a circle around the others. Expect you Indigo, as you are the medic I want you in the center. Belle, Dancer, do you know any offensive or defensive spells?"
"We do, a light shield spell and the basic magic bolt between us." Belle said.
"Alright, Twilight?"
"Not really no, never studied any as they were in my lessons." She said sheepishly, Dragonfly facehoofed. He then asked the rest of the six Mares if they had any combat or at least self defense training. Applejack did while Rainbow had a little though not much. The others... not so much.
"Okay good to know, right let's move out."
The group moved deeper into the Everfree; Dragonfly, Blades and Rose at the front, Sparks at the rear, Dusk took wing and flew just above them, and Belle and Grace at the sides with the rest in the center with Indigo. For the first little while they didn't encounter anything but trees, eventually a small pack of regular Timber Wolves appeared but quickly fled when the saw Dragonfly.
"Why did they flee?" Twilight asked, "Timber Wolves are mindless constructs of wood animated by spirits, and their bloodlust is overpowering. So why did they flee?"
Dragonfly smiled smugly as he pulled out one of his Dragon Core peppers, those who knew of it recoiled away.
"Dragonfly you cruel, cruel Pony." Blades said glaring at the pepper, she had tired to eat one about two and a half years ago. Two words: NEVER AGAIN!!!!
"Indeed, pop one of these around those wooden wolves and their noses burn to the point were they are rolling on the ground. This pepper makes great Timber Wolf repellent." Fluttershy's face shifted in a glare that she leveled at him.
"How coul-"
"Stop! I've told you before Fluttershy and I'll tell you again: One; Timber Wolves are not animals in the sense that we know. Two; The only thing they care about is killing. And three; I'd rather not have my face bitten off." Dragonfly shook his head. "I know how you are about creatures Flutters, but you need to learn that some are too dangerous and have to be fought off."
"Sorry, I just can't help it."
Dragonfly smiled softly and rubbed her shoulder in a comforting way.
"I know Flutters." Any further talk was cut off as the ground below them suddenly gave way into a rockslide, the flyers consisting of Rose, Blades, Dusk, Rainbow and Fluttershy, took wing but the others weren't so lucky. The flyers didn't pause before they charged after the others. Dragonfly pulled a survival knife out of his saddlebags and stabbed it into the ground, while it didn't stop his fall it did slow him enough to grab hold of a root. Coming to a stop he reached out and grabbed Belle's hoof, Dancer grabbing hold of his tail. Rainbow grabbed Pinkie, Fluttershy bit down on Rarity's tail, Applejack manged to grab a root, Blades caught Indigo while Dusk and Rose caught Grace and Sparks respectively.
Applejack then noticed Twilight just barely grab hold of the edge over the steep down below, she let go of the root and slid down to Twilight.
"Hold on, ah' ma comin'!"
Carefully shifted her body so she was facing Twilight and grabbed the Unicorn's hooves, Twilight's back hooves her kicking and flailing around as they tried to find anything to grab.
"Applejack, what do I do?!" Twilight said, panic in her voice. Applejack was unsure what to do, while she was strong she couldn't pull Twilight up and even now both were very slowly sliding over the edge. Then her ears twitched and she glanced up.
"let go."
Twilight looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
"Are you crazy!?" She snapped.
Applejack gently squeezed Twilight's hooves.
"No Ah ain’t!" Applejack said gently but firmly. "Ah promise you’ll be safe."
"That’s not true! You just wanna save yourself!"
"Twi, ask anypony in town and they will tell you that ah couldn't tell a lie to save ma life. what Ah’m sayin’ to you is the honest truth.” Applejack said with a reassuring smile. "Let go and you’ll be safe."
Twilight looked into her eyes, and saw nothing but the honest truth, no lies or deceptions. Steeling herself and putting faith in Applejack's words, she let go. Twilight screamed for a few seconds, only to find herself in the safe hold of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Her relief was very visible as she sheepishly smiled.
They dropped for a sudden moment, but stilled themselves, as Fluttershy said, "Sorry girls, I’m not used to holding anything heavier than a bunny or two."
Twilight watched as Applejack leaped from ledge to ledge downwards while Dragonfly self-levitated himself down with Belle and Dancer safely in his magic, and she saw the others were already at the bottom too.
Unknown to them, a dark presence zoomed off towards the darkness, and a roar shattered the forest silence.
The group of fourteen Ponies continued their trek through the forest, only encountering more small packs of Timber Wolves as they went which were easily defeated or driven off. Dragonfly was getting concerned, it had been too easy so far, he had expected Nightmare Moon to have made this harder. He wasn't the only one; while Rainbow was bragging (much to Blades' annoyance who's patience was running thin) about how she and Fluttershy had saved Twilight, the other guards along with Belle and Dancer felt something was off.
Dragonfly stopped and raised his hoof for the others to do so as a scent hit his nose, Rainbow was too busy bragging to notice, at least until Blades' patience run out had the Kirin grabbed hold of the Pegasus and pulled her to the ground. Dash was about to yell at Blades but stopped at the glare in the Kirin's eyes that promised great harm if she didn't shut up. As this exchange was happening Dancer walked up to Dragonfly and whispered to him.
"What's wrong Dragonfly?"
"Manticore, up ahead. Everypony keep low."
Dragonfly lowered himself into a crouch and moved forward, soon seeing a creature that resembled a large lion with dirty orange fur, a red mane, wings like a bat, and a tail like a scorpion. Dragonfly watched it for a few minutes as the others came up next to him. The Manticore was giving small roars as it walked around, the group noticing that it was trying to keep one of its paws of the ground and gave a pained growl each time it set that paw down.
"From the way that Manticore is moving, I'd say its paw is hurt but I can't tell from what." Indigo said. Flutter then tapped Dragonfly on the side, causing him to look at her.
"Yes Flutters?"
"Um... I think I could take a look, this wouldn't be the first time I've helped a Manticore."
The others looked at her in surprise, Dusk leaning down to her.
"Be careful Miss Shy, we'll stay here but if that Manticore makes any move to harm you we will attack."
"Okay..."
Fluttershy slowly walked out of their cover, the Manticore noticed her and growled. She held up a hoof as she spoke softly to it.
"It’s okay…" Fluttershy gently said, giving the Manticore’s paw a kiss. The Manticore looked distressed and held it out, revealing the true source of its pain. He had a big thorn in his paw.
"Aw, you poor little baby."
"Little?" Grace echoed incredulously.
"Now this might hurt for just a moment," Fluttershy said, reaching out and grabbing the thorn with her teeth, then ripping it out. The Manticore picked Fluttershy up and roared in her face.
"FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight, Belle, and Dancer yelled out as the guards moved to attack and Dusk aimed his crossbow, leveling it with the creature's head. They all stopped however at the sight in front of them: The Manticore was giving Futtleshy grateful licks as he purred loudly.
"Ha-ha, oh you’re just a little baby cutie, aren’t you? Yes you are!" She said giggling at the licks.
The guards looked a bit surprised but shrugged and taking that as a cue, everypony quickly hurried past the Manticore. Twilight stopping to wait for Fluttershy to catch up.
"How did you know about the thorn?" She asked.
"I didn’t," Fluttershy admitted, her mane now slicked by Manticore slobber. "Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness."
Twilight puzzled Fluttershy’s words, not sure what to think. Deciding to just take what she was given, Twilight smiled and hurried to catch up, not noticing the thorn spin into a swirl of shimmering haze.
As they all carried on, Rarity shuddered.
"My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck!"
No sooner did she say so did the moonlight fade from the thick canopy above them.
"Be careful what you wish for lass." Dusk grumbled.
"I didn't mean that literary." Rarity said.
"That ancient ruin could be right in front of us and we wouldn’t even know it!" Twilight worried.
Everypony else expect for Dragonfly started to complain, unable to see the malevolent haze seep into a nearby tree. He rolled his eyes, trying to see his way forward, stopping when he felt something soft and wet under his hooves, Lighting his horn slightly he looked down and saw that his hoof was covered in a brown sludge.
"Hold up everypony, I think I just stepped in something." Fluttershy squealed when she saw the brown sludge.
"Relax, its only mud, not droppings. Please don't ask how I know that." He looked up... to see a tree… with a horrifying face.
"Jumpin' Jellybeans!!"
Hearing his shout as he jumped back the rest of the group turned to him, only to a horrifying face, ugly ,with sharp teeth, soulless eyes, and they began to scream as they huddled together. The guards formed a circle around the others, their weapons drawn and ready. Blades held her halberd in front of her, Rose had her twin hatchets in her wings, Sparks had what looked like a modified pipe wrench with a spiked knuckle guard and a sharp metal spike on the top. Dusk held his crossbow at the ready, and Indigo had, of all things, a worn, large-toothed medical saw with a thick grey handle, similar to those that were once used during operations and amputations.
Dragonfly meanwhile had pulled out a launcher similar to the one Rhino had used when they first met up. He and the guards were ready to start attacking when they heard laughter.
"Huh?" was the collective response.
They looked over to see Pinkie Pie laughing at one of the faces, and making faces back at it.
"Pinkie, what’re you doing?! Run!" Twilight yelled to her.
“Oh everypony, don’cha see?” Pinkie said as a shindig tune started up. Dragonfly facehoofed.
"Oh here we go."
Pinkie started singing.
When I was a little filly and the sun was going down….
"Tell me she’s not-" Twilight started to say, but Pinkie kept going.
The darkness and the shadows , they would make me frown...
"She is," Rarity confirmed as Pinkie hopped around them as she carried on!
I’d hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw
But Granny Pie said that wasn’t the way
To deal with fears at all
"Then what is?!" Rainbow Dash demanded, the song irritating her, only for Pinkie to hop over next to her.
She said, “Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall
Learn to face your fears
You’ll see that they can’t hurt you
Just laugh to make them disappear.”
Ha! Ha! Ha!
In response to the laughter, the horrid face vanished, revealing it was nothing more than a tree! Everypony gasped, Indigo saying, "She’s right!"
And Pinkie raised her head to say:
So giggle at the ghostly
Fluttershy giggled along with Belle and Dancer.
Guffaw at the grossly
Rainbow laughed with a skip.
Crack up at the creepy
Rarity raised her brow and laughed.
Whoop it with the weepy
Dusk gave a small smile as he gave Applejack a lift as she whooped by.
Chortle at the kooky
Pinkie pushed Twilight and Rose up to a face, and they laughed it away.
Snortle at the spooky
Soon everypony laughed together.
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he’s got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna hahahaha… heh…
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuugh!
Almost at once, all the scary faces vanished in pink poofs, revealing nothing more than barren trees, everypony falling onto their backs and letting out life-enriching laughter.
It wasn’t long later when they were all laughing and carrying on, Pinkie hopping ahead when she stopped at a riverbank, everypony bumping into the pony ahead of him or her. Everypony looked past Pinkie, as she said, "How’re we gonna get across this?!"
The river before them was very turbulent, and looked too treacherous to cross, and without any idea how deep it was, it was just too risky. But at that moment, they heard a mournful sobbing, making them all, "Huh?"
They followed the sobbing upriver and peered through some bushes. They found the source of the river’s turbulence in the form of a large purple sea serpent thumping his tail in the water (why he was called a sea serpent for one that lived in a river was anypony’s guess). The serpent had a slicked back orange mane and mustache and appeared to be in distress.
"What a world, what a world!"
Dragonfly blinked in surprise.
"Steven Magnet!?"
The sea serpent looked up and smiled slightly upon seeing him.
"Dragonfly, glad to see you're doing well, unlike me."
"What's wrong? Wait... what happened to your mustache?" He asked, pointing to the the missing half of the serpent’s mustache, now just a mere messy tuft on the serpent’s nose.
"Well! I was just swimming along, minding my own business," Steven explained, "when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just… zipped past me, and tore off half of my beloved mustache clean off! And now I look simply horrid!"
The serpent cried as he just fell over, unintentionally sending a wave to splash the group of fourteen ponies, which would have left them all soaked if Indigo hadn't raised a shield to stop the water.
"A cloud of purple smoke? Wait a second..." Dragonfly said tapping his chin, he wasn't the only one how picked up on that.
"Oh gimme a break!" Rainbow grumbled.
"That’s what all th’ fuss is about?" Applejack asked with a tone one might use to say 'are you serious'.
"Why of course it is!" Rarity spoke up, her nose pointing up. "How can you be so insensitive?"
They all watched in bewilderment as Rarity approached the serpent, resting his head on the bank.
"Why just look at him, such lovely luminous scales!"
Sniffing, Steven said, "I know!"
"Your expertly coiffed mane." Rarity complimented the serpent.
"Oh I know, I know!" Steven ran his hand through it.
"Your fabulous manicure."
Gasping, Steven whisper-squealed, "It’s so true!"
"All ruined by your beautiful mustache," Rarity lamented.
"It’s true! I’m hideous…!" the serpent wept.
"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" Rarity swore, and she quickly plucked one of Steven’s scales.
"Ow! What’d you do that for?!"
Rarity held the scale out, Twilight asking, "Rarity, what’re you-"
They all gasped as the scale slit through the air, Steven moaning as he fainted, and they all saw Rarity had slit off her own tail!
Her horn shined as her magic levitated her cut tail to Steven’s nose, and with her magic, Rarity replaced the lost half of the mustache with her tail, much to his joy.
"Oh! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! My mustache…!"
"You look smashing!" Rarity beamed.
"But Rarity, you’re beautiful tail!" Belle worried.
"Oh it’s fine, darling!" Rarity waved it off. "Besides, it’ll… grow back, eventually."
Dragonfly smiled, but heard Dusk mutter, "So would the mustache!"
They heard Twilight gasp, "Look, everypony, the river's still enough for us to cross now," and she was starting to wade through the river, which no longer posed a threat. But she found herself lifted up by Steven’s tail.
"Allow me!" he said as the serpent formed a bridge of his coils, allowing all the ponies lacking wings passage over.
After they passed the stream they continued on their way. It was after awhile of walking through the woods that Dragonfly noticed something wrong.
"This isn't right..." He sat down and pulled out his map. "we should be able to see the castle by now."
Dusk walked forward and looked at the map over Dragonfly's shoulder.
"Lad, are ya sayin' we're lost."
"No... unless we took a wrong turn the castle should be right there." He said pointing ahead of them but all that was there were trees. as the others started complaining Dragonfly started getting an ominous feeling, one he hadn't had in a long time, not since...
Dragonfly looked around, ears straight up and swirling in every direction and eyes wide open. His nose moved like mad as he took in many different scents, his emotion scenes picking up only rage... pain...
Hunger...
Everyone noticed his sudden change, Belle spoke to him.
"What's wrong?"
It was a few minutes before he answered, causing Belle to think he didn't hear her at first.
"...We are not alone, something else is here with us." His tone was dark.
"Nightmare Moon?" Grace asked nervously.
"No... something else... something... primal."
Everpony else started looking around, noticing for the first time that the trees appeared black and twisted though not like the ones Nightmare Moon had changed with her magic. These ones looked like they had been like that for a long time, a fog covered the ground, thin enough that they could see the ground and their hooves but just thick enough to give that feeling of dread.
"Maybe we can make a run for the castle then." Rarity suggested.
"No we can't." Dragonfly said, his eyes locked into the distance ahead of them.
"Wh' not?" Applejack asked.
"Because we are being hunted..."
That caused a wave of fear to shot through everypony but the guards.
"By what?" Twilight asked, her voice stuttering a sight bit.
Her answer was a long, ghostly howl that tore through the air like a Banshee's wail.
"Them..." Dragonfly said, pointing in front of the group. In the distance they could see shapes appear and slowly take form against the fog, feral red eyes staring back at them with nothing but deep insanity and unending hunger. Low growls slowly filled the air.
Wolves... big ones... and not the Timber Wolves the Ponies knew. Genuine flesh and blood wolves, their black and silver/grey coats somehow shining in the weak moonlight.
Ant there was over a hundred of them.
"Run..." Dragonfly said, there was no argument as the group turned tail and bolted. Howls and growls filled the air as the wolves gave chase.
The chase was on!
The group ran as fast as they could, the howls of the wolves filling the air as the creatures chased them. As time passed more and more howls were heard as more wolves joined, soon surrounding the group. That might have been the end if they hadn't found a short rocky cliff that they started climbing, the flyers taking wing as the other climbed the somewhat loose rock. Some of wolves manged to get a grip and followed them up.
The group had just reached the top when they heard a loud...
"HELP!!!"
They looked to see that one of the wolves had reached Grace, grabbed hold of her tail in its jaws and was puling her back, Grace screaming in fear.
"Grace!!"
With a screech that would have made even the most terrifying of creatures shake like a leaf, Dusk had spread his large wings and like an angel of death swooped down. With a rage born of love in his eyes he used his sword to slash the wolf across the eyes, blinding it. The wolf recoiled but didn't let go as it started to fall back down. It would have dragged the Mare with it had Dusk not followed up with a slash to the jaw, severing something as it opened and freed Grace's tail. As the wolf fell Dusk grabbed hold of Grace and flew back to the others. The wolf wasn't so lucky as when it landed it was set upon by its former pack.
Once he had landed Grace threw her forelegs around Dusk and hugged him as tight as she could, sobbing heavily into his chest. Dusk didn't pause at all as he wrapped his own forelegs and wings around her, holding her tight. He was not even fazed by the pain from her hug, for it reassured him that she was alive and in his embrace.
As the others tried to comfort her Dragonfly read over the map, wondering how the heck they went off course. It was after looking at the path they had been traveling that he saw it. There had been a fork in the path, one leading to the castle... and one deeper into the forest. Thinking back he realized to his horror that the path to the castle hadn't been there and they hadn't been paying attention and just walked deeper into the forest.
Nightmare Moon had covered the path they were suppose to take, sending them almost into the wolves' jaws.
His eyes widened as tears started to flow and his mouth fell open as the gravity of what had happened hit him.
"What have I done."
They had trusted him not to lead them astray and he had done just that. Now they were more or less lost with the only known way back to the castle through the wolves.
"I've doomed us all."
He was so lost in what had happen that he jumped when he felt hooves gently wrap around him, to his surprise it was Grace.
"It's okay Dragonfly, we're still alive." She said softly, nuzzling his neck.
"It will be alright." Belle said as she and Dancer hugged him too.
"How can you say that, because of me we'e lost and Grace was almost a wolf pack's meal."
"But I wasn't Dragonfly." Grace said hugging him tighter, "I'm still here."
"We're not done yet Dragonfly," Blades said gently. "We still need you to lead us to the castle."
"After I almost lead you into the maws of wolves, how could-"
"Dragonfly! We trust you." Sparks said firmly but gently, Rainbow put her hooves on his shoulders while adding,
"It wasn't you that lead us here, it was Nightmare Moon."
Dusk reached over and gripped Dragonfly's shoulder.
"Lad, somepony once told me "When you've fallen to the bottom, the only way left to go is up."
"Who told you that?"
"A Thestral by the name of "Black Saber"."
Dragonfly paused hearing his father's name, before lifting up the medal attached to his scarf, staring at it for a long while. He then closed his eyes and pressed it to his chest, over his heart as he drew in a large breath.
"You're right," He said releasing that breath though a heavy sigh. "we're not done yet. A friend of mine, a former Royal Guard and Germane Twin Blade, named Rhino Beetle, once told me "Never give up, never surrender. Fight on and on, to the last drop of blood, to the last breath of air. To the last beat of the heart." He stood up.
"If Nightmare Moon thinks we're done, let's show her how wrong she is."
The Ponies around him smiled as Dragonfly calmed done.
"Let's get moving, time isn't really on our side right now."
With that they moved on, leaving the wolves below them behind.
They had been walking for a short while when they came across the broken limb of a large Timber Wolf covered in sap. Leaning closer they saw that the limb had been chewed on then just left.
"What happened? Timber Wolves normally rebuild themselves, for this to be left here." Twilight said.
"Maybe I can help." Indigo said as he pulled out a device from his armor. the item in question was a rectangle-shaped pad.
"What is that Indigo?" Rarity asked.
"This is a new tool that came out for the Guard around two weeks ago for testing. It's called a "Mobile Scanner/Database", a device from Germaney. It allows its user to scan objects and learn all about it from details of that object cross referencing with data from Canterlot. It is suppose to make crime scene investigations or just investigations in general easier and help medical Ponies treat their patients better and more effectively. So far it has been highly successful and is quickly gaining ground throughout the Equestrian Military and Law Enforcement."
Twilight's eyes brighten as she grabbed Indigo and pressed her nose against his.
"I want one, can I have it?"
"I'm sorry Twilight but no." He said as he pushed her away, Twilight pouted.
"But way not? I could do so much research with something like that."
"For one, I would get in very serious trouble if I gave it to you, enough that I could very easily end up in the brig. These devices are Military, Law Enforcement and Medical only, at least for now. Two, these devices are very, very costly; a single one costs anywhere from eight thousand to one million bits apiece as only a few of these could be from Germaney at once. And three, you would need special training for these and full trust of your commanding Officers to even be considered for it. Not even Princess Celestia could get you one as only a few of these are in Equestria, about five."
Twilight nodded, understanding. Indigo held the device with both hooves and pointed it at the Timber Wolf limb, the others watching as things they didn't know flying all over the screen.
"From the scan this is about... six hours fresh. Okay give me a moment... the wood and sap are oak in origin, I'm also detecting... concentrations of mineral salts, urea, and amino acids... it looks like saliva."
"Saliva?" Dusk asked.
"What would attack a Timber Wolf to eat? As far as anypony knows they have no natural predators." Twilight said.
"Give me a second..." Indigo said twisting a small dial on the device, he blinked in surprise as something came up on the screen.
"Okay... this is unexpected."
"What is?" Blades asked.
"This device is picking up concentrations of formaldehyde."
"Formaldehyde? uh... non-egghead please." Dash said, Dragonfly spoke up.
"Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling gas used in making building materials and many household products. It is used in pressed-wood products, such as particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard; glues and adhesives; permanent-press fabrics; paper product coatings; and certain insulation materials."
"So basically Pony-made items?"
"In a sense."
Indigo frowned, this didn't make sense.
"Why would formaldehyde be on a Timber Wolf limb? Their made of raw wood and magic." Twilight said.
"Should be interesting then." Grace said.
"let's get moving, we've stay here too long." Dragonfly said and the group moved forward, Indigo carrying the device in his magic. As they were moving they started hearing faint roars somewhere in the distance, they group cluster together as they warily moved on. Finally after a short while and several roars Indigo spoke up.
"Now this is very unusual... I've found elevated traces of arginine vasopressin in the saliva."
"Now why would it be picking up that?" Rose asked.
"Don't know... give me a minute... arginine vasopressin is an amino acid that naturally occurs in mammals, and is typically triggered by dehydration."
"Dehydration? Water is overabundant in the Everfree." Fluttershy said.
"Well... Dehydration can also be caused by disease... kidney failure, dysentery, hydrophobia..."
"Hydrophobia? What's that?" Rainbow asked."
"The fear of water." Dancer said.
Indigo blinked, then said, "Hydrophobia is also the later stages of... rabies..." He finished sheepishly, fear in his voice.
That caused everypony to stop in their tracks and look at him.
"Rabies?" Grace asked, fear noticeable in her voice.
"Stay sharp." Dusk said, "If whatever tore that Timber Wolf apart has rabies then the creature will be very dangerous and it could very well still be around."
"Rules of Engagement Sarge?" Sparks asked.
"Shoot to kill, if it has rabies that are in the later stages death is the only mercy we can give it."
The group kept moving, on full alert now. There was no talking as they scanned their surrounds for anything that might be a threat. At some points one of them would swear they saw something but it would vanish too fast for a good look. Finally, after a bit of time walking they found a long abandoned building; an old dilapidated lodge that had clearly been left for at least decades if not longer. Entering through a hold that lead into the basement they stopped, immediately finding the remains of the Timber Wolf the limb had belonged to.
Whatever had attacked it had been very thorough: the only thing even remotely intact was the head but it was still missing the jaw, the rest of the body was just torn to pieces and sap was everywhere.
"What could have done this?" Fluttershy asked, shocked at the damage.
"I could think of a few things, but that doesn't explain why it didn't rebuild itself." Twilight said.
"Here's why." Dragonfly said holding up fragments of what looked like a seed. "The Seed Heart was destroyed, that's why the Timber Wolf couldn't rebuild."
"What ever did this was not just thorough but also savage." Dusk said, thinking. "It could be whatever might has rabies."
"Right... we have to get through the lodge too continue on... Keep your eyes and ears open and your flanks covered. If that thing is still here we don't want to be surprised by it." Dragonfly said, his tone very serious. Everypony nodded in agreement.
They started moving through the basement, walking through the twists and turns, all the time hearing heavy thumps, soft growls, and heavy breathing somewhere above them. They also passed by another torn apart Timber Wolf, before they saw a large shadow pass through the light shining from above through a decent-sized hole in the ceiling.
"What was that?" Dash asked.
"Ah don't know, maybe whatever killed those wolves?" Applejack said.
They continued on, stepping carefully so to not alert whatever was above them. They weren't sure if it was hostile but they didn't want to take any chances. After several minutes they finally found stairs and climbed up to a room with several splashes of sap on the floors and walls. They were just climbing up another set of stairs when they heard the panicked yelps of Timber Wolves... and the roar of another creature. Up ahead they heard a loud crunch of wood and saw sap fly through a decent-sized hole in the wall. The group rushed forward...
And quickly wished the hadn't.
A massive bear leaped onto a Timber Wolf as it tried to fight back and was mauled for its efforts. Pieces of wood and sap flying everywhere. The bear itself was easily twelve feet tall on all fours and had to have been around 2,110 pounds with a fourteen foot reach, it was just caked in sap and what could only be blood especially around the front legs and mouth, stings of drool hanging from its jaw.
The bear finished off the Timber Wolf by crushing the Seed Heart in its insane mauling before turning and moving away fast, the magic in the see vanishing into cracks in the walls and floors. The group could only stare in horror, they now knew what destroyed the wolves and from the drool this bear was clearly rabid.
"Oh. Dear. Faust." Fluttershy whispered in fear.
The others could only agree, things just got Real!!
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Hello Silver,
Things certainly got real indeed. I felt that you did a fine job adapting the pilot, and the deviation was handled very well. Having Dragonfly make mistakes and struggle to overcome them is a great sign of good character development, and seeing him briefly panic before being reassured by the others really made me feel for him and hope he can get the others back on the right track.
Another typo I noticed:
You mean they 'weren't' in her lessons, right?
The genuine flesh and blood wolves were an interesting addition; really made me wish they had Shiva with them. Even if Shiva couldn't convince the wolves to leave them alone, she still would've been valuable for fighting them off. And the inclusion of the bear with rabies is going to be a challenge.
Thanks again for sharing. Hope my suggestions and feedback are helping.
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Thank you, glad I was able to do all that well.
For the forest I was trying to get the readers to visualize the forest from "Beauty and the Beast", where the Wolves first appeared.
Yeah I did, that's another thing that happens and I forget to the "n't" to some words.
I have no doubt about that, though can Shiva take on numbers as the group was facing wolves on at least a two-one scale?
They are.
You've so far brought up some good points, pointed out ideas I hadn't thought of or missed before, and other helpful things. I so far have yet to see anything I would disagree with. 
What would Shiva and co. be saying in these events;
Starting from finding the Timber Wolf limb, to Indigo's device, to to his finds up to the possibility of rabies, to hearing the faint roars and catching a glance of something, to seeing the dilapidated lodge, to finding the remains of a Timber Wolf, to hearing something big above them, and finally seeing the Bear itself?
And their reaction to seeing that the Bear was truly rabid?
10987094
The numbers wouldn't matter once Shiva brought the pack link into play - assuming the wolves aren't immune to magic like kirin are. The pack link drains energy from foes to empower her own pack, and with the ponies already behind her, Shiva would have no trouble draining the wolves of their energy and giving it to the others to give a boost to the ponies' magic, speed and strength. Even though the wolves would still have the numbers, the lot of them would be too tired to fight. And that's assuming Kodo doesn't take it further, and straight up put them to sleep by draining too much of their energy.
Shiva's ears would immediately flatten, and she'd bark her pack into formation: Luke and Star taking point, while Kodo backs them up from behind with the pack link. Shiva and Celine take up the rear, protecting Kodo as well, while Luco just does what he does, which in this case would be playing fetch with Blaze, using the limb as the stick.
When Indigo brings out his device, the wolves - even Star - would be in mostly business mode, asking what information the device can give them.
When they hear the faint roars, Star might give a small quip of, "Someone's having a night on the town," but otherwise, they'd stay silent, with Luke ordering the others to stay behind them.
Star and Luke would then lead the group, Luke growling as they came across the scattered remains of the timber wolves. Star would chuckle nervously at the mess - "Someone needs to clean up around here," she'd comment as they approached the lodge - but once again, they'd be focused.
When they hear the bear above them, Star would ask if she should just bust through the floor. Shiva would shoot that idea down, noting that they'd be trapping themselves in the basement. They'd creep up to find the bear tearing apart the timber wolf, and Star and Luke would jump up, roaring and howling respectively in challenge. The bear might rush them, but Kodo and Shiva would counter with a pack link, nearly draining the bear's energy before it managed to escape.
Upon seeing the bear was truly rabid, Star would grimace. "Are we sure we can't rule out the possibility that he was just thinking of some really awesome food?" she'd quip again (she quips a lot when she's nervous).
"I'm sure about those signs," Luke would note. "Saw em before."
"Plus, I felt its aura," Kodo noted. "It's mind..."
Shiva shuddered. "It's mind is going beyond primal. There's just... rage. Rage and pain..." She'd sigh. "It's definitely rabid." She'd take the lead. "Come on; we need to find that poor thing and put it out of its misery."
Star would whimper. "Are you sure we can't just feed him some berries and call it a day?" she'd offer weakly. When the others gave her a hard stare, she'd groan, but fall back in line.
"Yeah," Shiva would agree. "
10987512
Right, I'd forgotten about the Pack Link there. Now Blades would be immune to it but that would be a moot point considering.
Not sure what I can say in response but they are right in that the bear is far past the point of no return, something I should mention, that bear is a Short-Faced Bear, the largest one known even if it's long gone.
Forgot to ask before but what would Shiva (since she seems to be the best speaker of the bunch) say to Dragonfly after his panic?
Also, from what we've seen so far what would you say Dusk's and Grace's personalities are. I haven't asked before as I was unsure if I had given enough of a picture.
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"After I almost lead you into the maws of wolves, how could-"
"Dragonfly," Shiva would say, softly but sternly, cupping his head in her claws. "Breathe."
She'd link to him, and put him in a calming memory; something that would soothe his nerves and help him relax. The only thing off about the memory would be that Shiva was still standing in front of him.
"This is the natural stress of being a leader," she'd assure Dragonfly. "It's you against Nightmare Moon, and Nightmare Moon played a good hand."
Dragonfly might nod. "And it almost got Grace killed..." he'd note.
"But she's still alive," Shiva would note, letting the memory fade to show Grace with them. "And everyone's okay." She'd look back to Dragonfly. "So, now... it's our turn to act. What are you gonna do? Sit here and cry about a mistake that Nightmare Moon made you make? Or are you going to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and find a way back towards the castle?" She'd grin gently. "I don't know about you, but I think adapting and overcoming Nightmare is going to be a lot more cathartic than sitting here crying."
Yeah, I'll admit, I'm not exactly sure on them; they've pretty much been in the background for a while, and with the other characters, it can get a little hard for them to really show who they are.
Dusk certainly seems loyal and trusting, though, given how he was willing to take leadership from Dragonfly even after his mistake. Grace especially seems very mature for not blaming Dragonfly for her nearly becoming wolf food.
Plus, I definitely wouldn't want to mess with Grace as long as Dusk was around. That wolf learned that lesson the hard way.
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Dragonfly would look at the medal on his scarf, and gain a determined look. "You're right, we're not done yet, not by a long shot.
Dusk loves Grace with all his heart and is very loyal to her, both of which she returns in full.
I actually do have a one-shot centered around them here, maybe it'll give more insight.
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Thanks. I'll try and check that out when I can.
10988816
, it was a bit of an experiment for me making a story centered around romance so please tell me what you think.
Okay
10988911
Will do. It might take me a while to get to it, but I'll try and leave a comment when I get the chance.
"Oops! That was not medicine!"
"Boy, I'm gonna blow that dumb look right off your stupid face."
Reminds me of The Doctor's creed/motto.
11008731
Well Indigo is the "Medic" of the team here.
11008735
, now that you mention it, it is similar in a way.
Huh