Chapter III - The Trek Home Begins
Lost
Chapter III – The Trek Home Begins
Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes murmuring to herself softly, she winced as the bright light from the morning sun filled the cave. She realised that she had been moved from where she had passed out because she was now inside the cave, gingerly, she looked around at her surroundings. Now that the cave was more lit she was able to see what was inside it, there was a small pile of wood neatly placed in a small square column next to a campfire which was nothing more than a few burnt logs and a pile of ash, a crude but simple looking table made from a fairly large log that had been cut down the middle. She saw that it had a book, quill and inkpot resting on it as well as a few plants, and she herself was currently inside a fairly large looking piece of fabric, it reminded her of a duvet.
She gave the fabric a curious poke with her left hoof and smiled to herself at the feeling of it; it was nice and soft. She realised suddenly that the creature from the previous night wasn’t in the cave with her and she whimpered softly not wanting to be on her own again. She slowly tried to stand up wincing slightly finding her hoof to still be in pain but not as much as the previous day. As she started to make a move to the cave’s entrance she heard the sound of something approaching, quickly she lay down and scrambled back underneath the fabrics cover and closed her eyes tight shaking slightly.
The noise came closer and closer and she heard the sound of something being placed on the ground before the cover was slowly pulled back from her. Fluttershy gave a soft squeak and curled up as something stroked her head softly. Upon feeling it she started to feel relaxed and calm.
“It’s ok little one, it’s just me.”
She opened her eyes at the familiar voice and looked up to see Grendel looking back down at her a soft, reassuring smile on his old face. He sat cross legged beside her and pulled up her right hoof to his face and inspected it carefully.
“Hmm…Yes….good…good the spell is working…excellent.”
He did the same with her wing carefully opening it and closing it inspecting the base of her wing to the tip of her feathers, Fluttershy was slightly nervous as the creature inspected her, but felt a strange sense of calmness as she watched him curiously. After Grendel was satisfied he gently let go of her wing and smiled at her.
“You appear to be on the med little one, your leg and wing should be fully healed in a couple of days’ time. Now, you must be hungry.”
Fluttershy’s stomach growled loudly as she blushed slightly, she must have not eaten since lunchtime the previous day. He chuckled softly before he picked up a small bag from beside him and pulled out an apple, he smiled as he offered it to her. Fluttershy blinked before taking the apple returning the smile and began to eat it, it wasn’t as good as an apple from sweet apple acres probably because it was from the forest but it was good none the less. He smiled as he pulled a second apple and began to eat it himself savouring its juices.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I was wondering if I could inquire what your name is little one if you have one and where you came from.” Grendel asked her as she paused for a moment from her apple.
“My name is Fluttershy…I came from Ponyville…” she almost whispered her answer.
Grendel tossed his now finished apple to one side and cleaned his hands and mouth with a cloth from his bag, he pulled a second cloth from his bag and placed it next to her for her to use when she was finished.
“Ponyville…would that be that town near the edge of the forest, has a large tree in the centre of it?”
Fluttershy nodded as Grendel stroked his beard looking out of the cave exit
“Ah that must be its name; I saw that town once before in one of my nightly strolls many years ago, never did stay around long enough to see what lived there…” he muttered to himself before he turned his gaze back down to Fluttershy and smiled.
“Well Miss Fluttershy, it’s a pleasure to finally know your name; I must say you were asleep for a while. Must have been from the stress of that day’s events coupled with my healing spell…”
Fluttershy paused and looked at him slightly confused.
“Uhm…Mister Grendel…w-what do you m-mean by…that day...”
“You’ve been asleep for a couple of days Miss Fluttershy whilst your body was under the effects of my healing spell.” Grendel replied.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened in panic, she tried to scramble to her feet whimpering a little as she stood up and began to head to the exit.
“Oh no! I need to get home to my friends they’ll be so worried about me!”
Grendel quickly rose from the floor and picked her up.
“Easy Miss Fluttershy your still injured, you need rest.”
Fluttershy’s eyes watered up as she looked up at him pleadingly.
“Please…I need to get home…”
She started to cry burying her face into his robes and clung to him like a child would cling to their mother; Grendel looked down at the Pegasus in his arms and frowned as he took pity on her. He gently stroked her mane and whispered softly to her to calm her down.
“Shh…ok Miss Fluttershy…I understand, but you’re in no fit state to walk by yourself so…”
He gently placed her down on a nearby rock and quickly walked back to his makeshift camp, Fluttershy sniffled rubbing her eyes with her good leg watching him as he quickly packed up his assortment of equipment into a bag. He placed the plants he had gathered into his side pouch on his belt and rolled up the bed roll attaching it with a clip to his bag, standing up he put the bag on over his cloak and turned to her with a grin on his face.
“I’m going to take you home myself.”
Fluttershy stared at him wide eyed in shock; she didn’t know what to say. This creature who didn’t know anything about her other than her name, had not only saved her life, given her medical aid and fed her, was now offering to go out of its way to get her home. She bit her lip and tears began to well up in her eyes once more as she started to cry, Grendel walked over picking her up gently and wrapped part of his cloak around her, leaving her head poking out and resting on his shoulder and he began to head out the exit.
“Thank you…” Fluttershy whispered
She sniffled and laid her head on his shoulder closing her eyes as Grendel descended down the pathway smiling.
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The girls arrived at the palace in Canterlot in complete silence, it had been two days since Fluttershy had disappeared into the forest, and the girls had spent the last day trying to find her non-stop with the help of Zecora, but to no avail. Fearing for the safety of their friend they had agreed on going to ask the Princess for assistance whilst Zecora and Rainbow Dash would stay behind and keep looking.
Out of all of the girls, Twilight had not said a word for the past day nor had she slept, all she could think about was that it was her fault and she had possibly doomed her friend. She fought to hold back her tears as they entered the throne room, Celestia sat on her throne with a smile on her face which soon disappeared into a frown of concern upon seeing the sad looks on the elements.
“My dear ponies…whatever is the matter?” she asked softly.
The girls remained silent for a moment, Rarity gave Twilight a hug as the purple unicorn struggled to keep herself from crying, Applejack stepped forward removing her hat and looking up at the Princess.
“It’s Fluttershy Princess…she’s missing…"
Applejack told the Princess the events of the day and how Fluttershy had gotten separated after Twilight had saved them from the Timberwolves; Twilight looked away from the Princess in shame and hid her face in Rarity’s mane sniffling softly. The Princess remained quiet as she listened to Applejack, after she had finished explaining what had happened and what Rainbow and Zecora where doing, she raised her hoof up and Applejack stopped talking.
“I see…this is indeed a troubling thing,” Celestia frowned as she walked over to Twilight.
Twilight looked up and her ears flattened against her head as she prepared for a verbal assault from Celestia about how she was irresponsible and it was all her fault. Instead Twilight felt the Princess embrace her tightly, like a mother hugging her child.
“It’s my fault Princess…I-if I hadn’t of… “Twilight burst into tears burying her face into Celestia’s chest as Celestia stroked her back giving her a soft nuzzle of affection.
“It wasn’t your fault my student…if you hadn’t done what you did it might have been a lot worse…as for Fluttershy’s wellbeing,”
Celestia looked towards the window of the throne room that had a view of the Everfree forest and approached and closed her eyes; her horn began to glow as she focused in on Fluttershy’s life energy. She let her mind settle and she entered a dreamlike state with her mind leaving her body and floating out of the window high above the skyline and towards the Everfree forest, she gazed down at the forest honing in on Fluttershy. When she had found her life energy she ‘flew’ down into the forest below and zipped just beneath the tree tops scanning for the little Pegasus.
As she came closer and closer she could make out the life energy of another creature, the feeling was familiar to her, it gave her a sense of peace and security. This was however short lived as she felt another creature’s life energy come into her mind; this energy was similar to the creature that was with Fluttershy but darker and more malicious. She tried to focus in on it but as she did her entire mind was clouded with the image of a black hooded creature and three piercing red eyes that glowed under its hood, it giggled slightly as the sound of wood rattling entered her mind and grew louder and louder. Unable to take it anymore she let go of the spell and returned to her body with a loud gasp, Celestia took a couple of deep breaths as she looked down at the forest as the girls, who had been watching her, and rushed to her in concern.
‘What…what in Equestria was that?’ she thought to herself.
“Princess?”
She heard Twilight call her and felt her nuzzle her side softly looking up at her with a concerned expression; Celestia looked down at her student and gave her a reassuring smile.
“Fluttershy is safe.” Celestia started, the girls immediately began to cheer as Pinkie’s mane poofed back into life.
“I-Is she really Princess?” Twilight asked with tears of joy in her eyes.
“Yes, I can sense her life energy as well as that of another”
“A-another?”
“Yes, she appears to be being assisted by a friendly creature.” Celestia said turning her gaze back to the window.
‘And if I’m not mistaken…it’s one of his kind…’ she thought to herself.
Celestia told the girls that the best thing to do was to go back to Ponyville and tell Rainbow and Zecora the news, then, to carry on as normal and wait for Fluttershy to return. The girls left the room happier and they past Princess Luna who they greeted and headed out of the palace; Luna approached her sister and saw she was looking out of the window deep in her thoughts looking worried.
“Tia…is everything alright?”
“Huh? Of Luna…well…yes and no.”
Celestia told her sister the events that had befallen Fluttershy and how she was being helped by a creature whose life energy she seemed to almost recognise. Luna gasped when she mentioned the creature her eyes lighting up in glee.
“Tia…could it really be him?”
“No Luna it’s not…granted the energy is similar to him, it’s not the same person.”
Luna looked a little saddened by this and looked out of the window along with her sister.
“There’s something else Luna…I didn’t tell this to Twilight and her friends for fear it would make them feel worse than they do now or make them do something that would end in disaster.” Celestia turned to her sister looking worried.
“What is it Tia?”
“When I was searching for Fluttershy’s life energy, I found it as well as the one who is helping her, however…I felt another energy…similar to the person with her but much more…darker and evil” she turned her gaze back to the window.
“Something is following them…”
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“So uhm…Mister Grendel….if you don’t mind me asking that is…what are you?” Fluttershy asked him.
They were now slowly making their way through the forest when she asked Grendel the question, Grendel pushed passed a branch that was blocking his way keeping his eyes in the direction he was heading.
“Firstly Miss Fluttershy Grendel is just fine, and secondly, I’m a human.”
Fluttershy lifted her head from his shoulder and moved herself carefully so she was facing where they were going.
“Human?”
“Yes, we evolved from monkeys many years ago, that is if you believe those quacks at the Royal University,” Grendel chuckled “Personally I think it’s a load of rubbish, we were created by the Gods otherwise, why would they grant us help in our time of need if they didn’t create us?”
Grendel stopped for a moment in his tracks to pull out a small flask of water from his pouch and offer it to Fluttershy who took it, thanking him she took a small sip as Grendel began to walk again.
“Royal University?”
“That’s right, the Royal University of Cyrium” he looked at her seeing her give a confused expression “Cyrium is the land I come from.”
Fluttershy nodded her head in understanding as she took another sip from the flask, she found it strange that she wanted to ask him these questions but part of her wanted to get to know the human who was helping her better, and another part thought that Twilight would love to hear all about this if she wasn’t able to meet Grendel, either way Grendel seemed to not mind answering her questions and she smiled feeling more comfortable.
“I see…and what do you do in Cyrium?” Fluttershy asked as she handed him back the flask.
Grendel smiled returning the flask to his pouch and stepped over a fairly large root that was sticking up from the ground, clinging a bit tighter to Fluttershy so she wouldn’t fall from his grip.
“Well, I’m part of the Council of Mages,” he saw Fluttershy give the same confused expression again and chuckled, he found it cute. “The Council of Mages is made up of individuals who dedicate themselves to art of magic.”
Fluttershy nodded as she allowed him to continue.
“The Council has been around for centuries, around the formation of the Altori Empire. The Council itself is run by the Elder Council which is made up of the most intelligent, experienced and oldest mages in Cyrium. Why, Master Ballarus must be reaching his nine hundredth birthday.”
Fluttershy gasped as her eyes widened in shock.
“Nine hundred! Do all humans have a long life span?“
“Not all humans do Miss Fluttershy; see the thing about magic is that it takes many years to master it, which is what the earlier Elders discovered. By the time a mage has mastered one school of magic he or she would be too old to be able to truly use that school to its fullest, so the second Elder Council sought help from the God Varlos, who is our God of Magic”
Grendel lifted Fluttershy slightly higher as he waded through a fairly shallow stream and up onto the other side of the bank.
“Varlos granted the Elder’s a powerful spell and said that as long as the mage was willing to learn the art, they would be granted longevity from the spell in which to master them, meaning a mage can live for up to a thousand years. Once they have taken the oath to Varlos and had the spell cast on them of course.”
Fluttershy listened in awe, her usual shyness almost fading away at the sound of Grendel’s world, she hadn’t noticed her mouth was agape and she was staring at him blankly. Grendel chuckled and closed her mouth for her; she blushed and hid her face in her mane. Grendel chuckled again finding the shyness of the Pegasus cute and brushed her mane aside to reveal her face.
“That is incredible Mister Grendel…can I ask you more? If that’s ok with you…” She half hid her face again as her usual shyness returned.
Grendel smiled and playfully poked her nose.
“Once we have set up camp for the night Miss Fluttershy, then you can ask me as much as you wish.”
He pointed up to the tree tops and Fluttershy followed the direction of his finger seeing that it was already getting darker, realising she must of awoke some time during the afternoon. She nodded as he headed for a small clearing nearby. Grendel suddenly stopped and stood still for a moment, Fluttershy looked around as he stopped expecting to see or hear some form of creature nearby and bit her lip whimpering, she couldn’t hear anything however except for what sounded like branches of trees creaking in the distance. She looked up at Grendel who was looking from left to right with his eyes, scanning every tree and shadow searching for something. He gave a soft grunt of irritation and slowly turned his head back to the clearing and headed towards it.
Far from Fluttershy’s sight in the shadows, a figure watched them carefully, a soft chattering of wood echoed from under its black robes as it tilted its head left…and then right…before chattering once more and suddenly shooting off to the left fast as if it was gliding along the forest floor.
It had finally found what it was looking for.
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Good chapter
1916588
Thank you
OH SHIT SON, Something is going down....
1916713 Speedy reply go!
Yep.
(Joke) Alt. Title: LOTS Of Humans
Good chapter, keep it up
1916786
Thank you
It seems that Grendel is a runaway or has been forced to flee because of something that happened to his city... And now he's heen found... Uh oh...
The plot line is intriguing. However the prevalence, and the odd nature, of the errors is such that they prevent me from getting into the story leaving me feeling overall.... ambivalent.
1908551 I just noticed that I had misspelled spelling, I fixed it. I should read my comments before posting them.
Praticly all scenes with Fluttershy made me go "daaaaaww!"
Ok, lesson time. I noticed that you did this a lot:
There is supposed to be some sort of punctuation before that second quotation mark, it should look like:
And if it has words after the quotation mark it should look like this:
With a comma instead of a period. If a character asks a question, THEN IT MUST HAVE A QUESTION MARK BEFORE THE SECOND QUOTATION MARK, otherwise people will get confused. Here's an example:
Should look like:
I hope this helps.
Woo!
an update 
1918300
Thanks again for the point outs and yes it did help, I believe I have now fixed the bits you've pointed out.
Nyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees....
1921885
Thank you, I have someone who is helping me check for errors and the such
goog,good Hunter approves
1926576
I am glad it does so
looks good. I'm interested in seeing the capabilities of the mage.
We are related to apes, actually. Monkeys are different.
This fic is nice.
3511807
You hear that all the time from those that don't accept evolution theory, though. Strictly speaking it's actually in character for him from that angle.
3511807 *GASP* Whats this!? Bronzer COMPLEMENTING A FIC!? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE REAL BRONZER IMPOSTOR!?
Altori Empire, Cyrium, Varlos... This can easily be translated to Aldmeri Dominion, Cyrodiil and Julianos. Varlos also happens to be the god of magic and mages, whereas Julianos happens to be the god of wisdom and logic which is VERY frequently associated with mages...
...
I can't tell if these 'references' to the Elder Scrolls series were intentional or not.
3511807
We're related to Adam and Eve actually, not a damn animal.