She ran and ran, fleeing deeper and deeper into the forest. No path in mind, no place to go, nopony with which to seek refuge, just running.
Tears clouded her vision and her own sobbing downing out the sounds of the world around her. Fatigue demanded she stop long ago but she continued.
As exhaustion began to cloud her mind, she made it to a small empty cave. She fell as she entered, writhing from both her burning muscles, and at the indomitable pain in her heart. She was almost happy as she felt her conciseness begin to fade, a sweet relief from her terrible thoughts.
"Find her?" asked Applejack as she returned to the impromptu search center they had set up in the library.
Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity shook their heads solemnly.
"Well I looked behind every tree from here to Zecora's and I didn't see hide nor hair of 'er... What if she-"
Before the darker sides of possibility could be explored, Rainbow burst through the front door.
"Did any of you find her?" she asked hopefully.
Solemn faces and shaking heads were all that met her hopeful eyes.
She deflated matching the others in silent depression.
"So what now..." Pinkie asked after a minute. Her mane had been straight since she had heard of Twilight's run into the forest, but now her neck drooped so that her mane dragged on the ground as well.
"We keep looking! She's our friend! We can't abandon her!" Rainbow Dash shouted, startling the other mares with her conviction.
Rarity shot her a harsh glare, "Wasn't it you that chased her off? 'Don't abandon our friends'? Didn't you make her run off into that dreadful forest surrounded by those beasts? Isn't this your fault?"
Rainbow couldn't respond. Instead she just went back out the way she came in. A trail of water drops following her out the door.
"Smooth Rar-"
"I'm going home." Rarity was out the door before she could respond to Applejacks chastisements.
"Fluttershy and Pinkie wordlessly followed as well, leaving only Applejack left in the library.
"Twi, I hope you're alright."
---One week later---
Fluttershy had been all but catatonic in the days that followed Twilight being run off. She felt personally responsible for her friend's situation and was heartbroken every time she heard that she had still not come back.
After two whole days of endless comforting by all her animal friends she was still not getting out of bed. It had taken the hungry cries of her bird friends for her to finally get out of bed and feed everyone.
She had spent the rest of the week sulking around her cottage, trying her best to avoid thinking about her dear friend in the forest.
On the final day of the week, something happened to break her out of her stupor, and pull her out of her home.
Integrating into pack life was hard, but Twilight was tough. It had only been a week since the timberwolf pack had followed her into that cave, only a week since they had made their offer, and only a week since she had become the de facto pack leader of the Everfree Timberwolves.
In only a week she had proven herself and been accepted as not only the pack leader, but as the prophesied “burning one".
-and today she was finally going to find out what that meant. All that was left before she could become the affirmed pack leader was a traditional hunt. Her own hunt.
Twilight stalked towards their prey. She had organized a simple yet effective pincer movement with her taking what amounted to the lead position.
This was her kill.
Till this day she had survived with her sanity intact by thriving on those little rationalizations that she could just accept.
Those had included not killing any prey herself, and not taking any more food than would have gone to waste anyway. It was through these simple justifications that she allowed herself to keep the shreds of pony-hood she still had.
But today that ended. Today she would take the final step as a predator. Today she would kill her own meal and eat her fill. Then she would no longer be a pony.
She would be a predator.
A rustle in the bushes brought her attention back to the hunt. Whitetail Wood was home to many creatures, but the most prevalent was its namesake deer.
By the movement and size of the bush she could tell that she had found her target.
Fear rose in her heart. She steeled her resolve. This was it.
...but she couldn't do it. Her mind still needed an excuse. Her prey's heart wouldn't allow her to kill without excuse.
The other hunters made a perimeter as she readied to pounce. They signaled their readiness, but she remained.
Why was she doing this? Why should she kill another just to-
The pangs of her stomach told her why.
Trepidation filled her heart but resolve filled her mind.
She leapt.
Her claws landed on flesh. She leaned in finding the throat, ready to end the life of her prey before it could attempt to flee. She leaned in teeth-for-throat but hesitated.
The deer reacted, but rather than the hoof to her face she expected from it, the deer merely turned to face her. Then she saw why the deer did not flee.
After meeting Fluttershy for the first time and learning of the animal care profession, Twilight had read a few books on the topic, learning signs and symptoms of animal sickness and diseases, but one didn't need that knowledge to see that it was sick.
Very, very sick indeed. Drool dripped from one side of the poor animal's mouth as it stared blankly at her. It seemed as if it would try to stand but instead its limbs just flopped uncoordinatedly, still showing no signs it recognized it was in danger.
"Probably won't last another day..."
Mercy. That's how she would justify it to herself.
She would fulfill her duty to the pack and at the same time ended the suffering of a dying animal. She would have her feast, she would completed the ritual, and she would finally learn the significance of the name 'Burning One'.
She smiled to herself, she had done what she needed to without really killing anything. She only had to put it out of its misery...
Fluttershy watched as the wolf that not a week ago had stayed in her bed carried off a bloody deer corpse in its teeth.
a case of the stupids?
Cwd or chronic wasting disease?
Pregnant! Nah I dunno.
2680639
Rabbits typically causes aggression not listlessness
Blue Tick? The nose thing that's killing all the deer in Michigan?
2680647 Good show sir, here you go: +1~
Not rabies. Symptoms don't match.
2680696
Finally living in the great plains in a hunting community pays off with my own squiggle.
Yeeesssss, welcome to the carnivore side, Twilight. Now, enjoy the taste of hot blood and warm flesh, an revel in the power of being an apex predator.
And this is what predators do, you know: take out the sick and weak. Heck, they deliberately target the sick and weak because they're so much easier to kill.
Chapter's a bit short for such a wait, but not bad.
2680749 and only young under special circumstances, I think Fluttershy will understand.
2680910
With all she knows about animals, you'd think she would.
And here is where the story turns dark. And all of this could have been avoided if they just sent Celestia a letter.
Oh well, dark is better anyways!
Lyme
Oh boy I can see Fluttershy acting one of two ways:
1: WHY!!!!!!!
2: TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!!!!!!
Just kidding I can see Fluttershy being understanding of the situation....hopefully.
Oh deer, that escaluated quickly.
do you get it?
oh.shit.
fluttershy might understand, assuming she saw everything (that the deer was sick). the others though, they won't...
one should be more mindful of there surroundings before killing something
2681638 yes we got it
Wow . Awesome chapter.
I believe it is rabies, I am probably wrong but I do know some animals with rabies don't flee from harm, which when a deer is standing a foot away from you it is often believed to have rabies. IDK!
Thunderbolt: Twilight, just be thankful all you hunt are prey animals. *begins to cry* no pony is safe near me.
2681847 Author stated that Creed Miles answer was correct with "Chronic Wasting Disease"
Hey Twilight, I'm the predator in your head. Wouldn't it be merciful to kill those ponies in the town? I mean, they can't eat meat, they can't survive without lots of hard work, why don't you make it easy for them and end their suffering? It is perfectly logical, no?
2682546 I didn't see the comment
Eaugh, I wouldn't want to eat a sick animal.
Intentionally, anyway.
Something tells me Twilight's gonna get sick later on in the story because of that deer
And here I would have thought that they'd have contacted Princess Celestia by now.
very nice indeed.
I have to wonder what Spike is making of all of this. We haven't really seen much of him.
I think the deer has rabies.
2681714 yay
Yes Twilight. Feed. But remember this: Prey on the weak, you survive; prey on the strong, you LIVE!
Apart from the whole "Where the heck is Celestia?" thing, this story is turning out pretty well.
2688225 Idiot plot, that's why.
2707281 Constructive criticism is accepted, "idiot plot" does not help. Name your concerns.
2707490 Its not necessarily meant as an insult; one of my favorite fics is Past Sins and for the first half of it Twilight and Rarity are holding the Idiot Ball. Besides, I'm not the one who named the trope. I was merely stating that the 'not telling celestia' perfectly fit the definition of 'idiot plot.'
2707522 Didn't recognize you were referencing a trope there.
PS. Minor edits to chap 3 should help with the Celesta problem some. Next chapter should help some too.
2707556 my bad, that was supposed to be a hyperlink. here: Idiot Plot
2680650 actually, an animal in the final stages of rabies will be rather listless, as well as having trouble keeping its balance. They also lose the abilty to close their mouths.
heres a source to check out "pets.webmd.com/dogs/rabies-dogs"
2717369
at the very least, in some stages rabbies does raise aggression and animals are more likely to attack
2718388 true, it does. Some animals, (especially possums in my experience), stop being agressive when they're less than a few hours away from death.
2718388 true, it does. Some animals, (especially possums in my experience), stop being agressive when they're less than a few hours away from death.
2721459 The big problem is, Twilight's smart, wouldn't she know to avoid rabies at all costs? It's INCREDIBLY contagious. Her pack might be made of trees, but she's not. How bad would that look, first hunt and the new alpha dog is killed by rabies.
2707556 Fluttershy's promise in chapter three still doesn't explain why, after the others found out, they didn't talk to Celestia. At the very minimum, when you're best friend almost eats a kid, then runs out of town and you can't find her, it's high time you called SOMEPONY.
Did the deer have rabies?
Would it possibly be Blue tongue disease?
Rabies
I don't want this to turn into Old Yeller.
Chronic Wasting Disease?
EDIT: Someone already guessed that correctly.