Cradle of Dreams

by AterHut

Chapter Nine — New Acquaintances

I decided that the best way to start my journey would be an atmospheric walk through the forest.

Not only would it put me in the right mood, but it would also save me some time on my way to Ponyville.

Well, an atmospheric gallop through the forest, to be precise.

An atmospheric gallop through the forest while running away from the wild timberwolf to be absolutely precise!

Why did I ever think that taking a shortcut through the woods was a good idea?!

“Bad day, bad day, bad day!”

I bet my PE teacher would be proud of me if she could see how fast I'm running right now!

Luckily, this timberwolf seemed to be quite small, so he wasn’t chasing me as fast as he could.

I tried to stop him with my telekinesis field, but despite his size he's simply ripped through it!

“For Celestia’s sake! I thought I got better at magic!”

I got way too distracted trying to stop a timberwolf and stumbled.

Well, to be honest it’s a miracle that I tripped now and not a few minutes ago, but it doesn’t help at all!

Timberwolf caught up on me and I tried to hit him with everything that was lying around, but it only made him even angrier.

He even snapped a thick branch I was trying to hit him with in half with his jaws!

Well, I guess it's time for my secret weapon.

“HEEEEEEEEELP!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

It seemed that my scream stunned the timberwolf for a moment so I could try to get up and keep running away.

But he didn't think so. Timberwolf stood up on his hind legs, and prepared to strike me with his front claws and burst into green flames!

“Eeeek!”

…

But to my surprise, instead of tearing me to pieces, he fell apart himself .

I couldn’t get what just happened and just sat there shocked.

“Hey, you down there. Weren't you in a hurry? Timberwolves tend to regenerate quite quickly, just so you know.”

The voice was coming from somewhere above. I looked up and saw a pony, standing on branches of the trees. I was deep in the woods, so the foliage was too dense to let any light through to see her. But I believe she has bat wings! And two horns! What in the world even goes on in this forest?!

She looked even scarier than a timberwolf! Speaking of which, that batpony(?) was actually right and timberwolf was slowly putting himself back together.

“Right! In a hurry! In a town!”

I stood up and prepared to run away as fast as I could.

“It’s about seven minutes north at your speed.”

“Ha-ha, right, north!”

I started to run away from there in, I think, the same direction I was before I stumbled. But immediately heard a heavy sigh from the batpony.

“North is to the left of where you are running.”

“Oh, right! I meant left!”

I panicked more and more.

I turned around for a second.

“Oh, I almost forgot, thanks!

Timberwolf seemed to recover quite soon, so I ran away at full speed without waiting for an answer.

The last thing I heard from that batpony was something like “What a stupid filly.”, but I was too busy galloping away for my life to care.

. . .

“What a stupid filly…”

I let out a heavy sigh.

Well, now I got why she hired me to clear the woods of those guys instead of something… more fun.

A growl from behind interrupted my thoughts.

“You guys are up already, huh? Aren't you tired of running after me?”

There were thirty-seven timberwolves. Thirty-eight, if I count one regenerating beneath me. Seems like I’ve finally gathered them all here.

I leapt down on the barely regenerated timberwolf, shattering his skull into splinters with my hooves and burning them to ashes, so he couldn't regenerate ever again.

“Sorry guys, but I owe the Old Hag a favour, so I have to cut your population in half.”

The pack of timberwolves tucked their tails and whimpered. Looks like they’re finally realising who's been the prey here all along.

“Don’t mind me if I get too carried away out of boredom and overdo it a little, alright?”

. . .

Scary forest! Scary timberwolves! Scary batpony! Why is this place so scary?!

As I was running away I heard wolves whimpering. It seemed like that batpony is hunting them down or something. But all I could think about right now was how to not trip again.

No idea how much time later, I finally left the depths of the forest and could see something I could call a town.

I ran in as fast as I could and yet stumbled once again. It seems safe here so this time I didn’t try to get up, so I could catch my breath.

A few ponies began to gather around me, but they quickly retreated when a dark purple earthpony appeared and glared at them.

To my surprise, those ponies didn't retreat out of fear, but rather out of… respect?

Maybe it was just a contrast to what I just went through, but I couldn’t call her scary in any way. In fact, she seemed to be an extremely attractive pony. Extraordinarily attractive, I’d say.

Even my panic began to fade as she slowly approached me with a caring smile.

“Hello there, little one! Are you hurt? Do you need help?”

Her sweet voice calmed my pounding heart with every word she spoke.

She smiled even wider.

“You don’t seem to be hurt, do you? Oh, where’s my manners? My name is Velvet, I’m… let’s just say that I’m sort of the unofficial mayor of this town.”

She giggled in her hoof.

“What’s your name, little one?”

“I- I’m… My name is Rettie.”

Although her voice was charming, I was still panicked.

“Good! Nice to meet you, Rettie! Now, when you seem to calm down enough to be able to talk, would you mind telling me how you got here and what just happened?”

I took a very deep breath in.

“I just went travelling this morning and decided to take a shortcut through the woods, where I got attacked by a timberwolf that I couldn't do anything to, so I tried to run away, but stumbled and fell and screamed for help and almost got torn to pieces by that timberwolf! But then some scary batpony burnt him to a crisp! That saved me, but she looked even scarier than a timberwolf, so I tried to run away in the same direction I was running to, but she told me that a nearby town was to the left of me so I ran there instead and stumbled here and!..”

“And I saw the rest, so you can slow down a little.”

She interrupted me so gently and smoothly that I didn't even mind that.

“Looks like you were lucky enough to meet Ami. Don’t worry, she may seem all cool and scary, but she’s still just a kid deep inside, just like you.”

She booped my nose with those words.

“Even though she's probably twice your age. And has terrible manners… Ah, please forget what I just said. I’ve asked her to chase away the timberwolves since they’ve been getting closer and closer to the town lately and began causing a lot of trouble. But she seems to have her own ways of doing so, as always."

She let out a heavy sigh.

"I will have to have a little talk with her when she returns.”

I didn’t get anything so I just nodded in response.

“Would you like to come to my place to continue our little conversation?"

I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to visit somepony I had just met…

“I have drinks and sweets so you can tell me your story in more detail, you know?”

I stood up.

“Sure, ma’am.”

“Just Vel, or at least Velvet, please.”

“Sure, Miss Velvet.”

“Well, that will do too.”

. . .

Turns out that Miss Velvet lived in her own bakery, so she wasn’t lying about drinks and sweets, so I spent over an hour telling Miss Velvet what just had happened to me over the last month, including this morning.

Munching lots of different sweets along, of course.

“So you’ve decided to go on a journey instead of staying under Mrs Waver’s wing? Ha-ha! You really are Little Mountainhoof's great-granddaughter!"

I couldn’t imagine a “Little Mountainhoof” no matter how hard I tried.

“You’ve heard of my great-grandpa?”

“Well, you could say so, I guess. He passed through this town on his journey after losing his beloved mistress and caused quite a lot of fuss back then. But he always put his and the Waver family's needs first, even over his own life, so I can’t say he was a bad pony.”

Her eyes looked somewhere far away, as if she was remembering being there herself.

Mountainhoof been there? And on a journey too? Mistress? Is she talking about one of Waver's previous heads? Her words left me with many new questions. I must ask her about all of those-

“But aside from that, you said you were dragged into work even before you got your cutiemark, but you didn’t tell me how you’ve got it!”

Huh?

“But I haven’t yet-”

I turned my head to my flanks.

“WHA-?!”

Three blue feathers now adorned them.

“A cutiemark! I’ve finally got my own cutiemark! Yes-yes-yes! Wait! Hold on! When did I even get it?! How am I supposed to know what my talent is now?!”

I had mixed feelings of excitement, joy and confusion.

“I’m sure I didn’t have it this morning! What could feathers mean?! Feathers are a pegasus thing that means speed, aren't they?! Don’t tell me that my special talent is running away from timberwolves now!”

I lay down and covered my face with hooves, whimpering.

Miss Velvet only giggled at me and my assumptions.

“Feathers can mean a lot of other things too, you know? They can mean protection, love, trust, loyalty, honour, wisdom, creation and even freedom! Who knows which meaning they can hold in them in your case, especially when you’ve got three of them!”

Her words made sense, but they did little to help me understand my talent and destiny. Knowing that could have made my life so much easier!

“You still seem confused and that’s okay. Lots of ponies are when they’re only getting their cutiemarks. I'm sure you'll find your way, that’s what you’re travelling for after all, don’t you?”

Her gentle smile calmed me down once again.

“You… are right. But it still feels bad!”

I couldn’t help but keep complaining and whimpering.

“Why worry, Rettie? Don’t you want to celebrate such an important occasion instead?”

“I… Things are just happening so fast that I can’t keep up…”

“That’s more than fine, you just need some time to think, don’t you? Here.”

She wrapped up a bunch of sweets and gave them to me.

“Don’ worry, they're still on me. Think of it as a present for you finally getting your cutiemark! There’s a little quiet clearing by the stream, you can go there and think on your own, if you feel like doing so of course. Don’t worry, Ami is most likely already took care of timberwolves, so they won’t bother you.”

I really, really felt like I needed to take my time and let my thoughts catch up with everything that had happened the last few days, so I accepted her gift and did as she said.

“Feel free to come back and spend the night here when you are done!”

“Sure! Thanks again, Miss Velvet!”

“Ha-ha, you’re welcome!”

. . .

A few minutes later I found the stream she was talking about.

“It really does sound very calming.”

It’s funny how calming Miss Velvet and this place are, and yet how uneasy I still felt.

I sat down near a bush and took off my saddlebags.

Luckily, there were only a few bugs so I didn't have to worry about them much.

Dad taught me to ask myself what bothers me before I get dragged away by my own thoughts. So I did exactly so.

Thanks to Miss Velvet, thoughts of that scary batpony and local timberwolves didn't bother me as much anymore, although I doubt I’ll sleep calmly for the next week after this.

So all that remains are the questions of when did I get my cutiemark and what does it mean, where I am and where am I going.

Such simple questions!

“Ughhh, I don’t want to think of those at all!”

I feel like I'm getting into the same mood as t when I had to make a decision a few days ago… A few days ago that was yesterday. It really seems like my days have been extremely eventful lately.

I lay down and covered my nose with my hooves.

“All I wanted was to calmly… calmly… What was I even hoping for when I was choosing that option?..”

I don’t know.

My eyes grew heavier with each passing second, and I closed them, letting the sound of the stream wash away these heavy thoughts and carry me off to sleep.

. . .

I’ve got woken up by the sound of somepony quietly murmuring nearby.

Extremely charming voice again. It must be Miss Velvet, looking for me there. It’s getting dark already after all, so she must be worried about me. What a caring pony.

I was still half asleep so I came closer to the stream and washed my face with water before letting Miss Velvet know that I’m here. It was so much colder than I expected, that I had to wrinkle my nose to keep my brain from freezing.

“Ah, so refreshing.”

“Eeek? I think I heard something? I-is there's anypony there?!”

It seems like even adult ponies can get afraid by the strange noises in the dark forest.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry, it's me, Retite.”

I picked up my saddlebags. Time to go back to Miss Velvet.

Comments

[ProgAltRocker]

Can't wait for Rettie to really meet Ami. Feels like the two would really develop a good friendship