"Must have been the wind then." Applejack replied, quickly wanting to return to the topic at hoof, "Now princess, I don't want you to think I'm not believin' ya, but I really don't know if this is a good idea."
Everypony looked to the farm mare with confusion, but hope as she continued, "I mean, maybe there's something to all this we're not seeing! When the ursa attacked, it was because those foals were taunting it. When the manticore attacked, it was because it had an injured paw. I'm not even too sore with the hydra, seein' as we were making a racket near his home and all..." she took a breath, "All I'm saying is, with every other animal there's been a reason. Maybe there's something we did that provoked them, and we can solve this without violence."
Fluttershy raised a hoof just far enough to catch attention, "I'm for non-violence," quickly adding a quiet "-If that's alright..."
Everypony else joined in, supporting peace. Everypony except Celestia.
"I'm sorry my little ponies..." she heaved a pensive sigh, steeling herself, “but that is not the case with these creatures... They cannot be reasoned with... Because they are not animals. They are monsters."
There was silence until It was broken "...Whada’ya mean by 'monsters' princess?" Applejack asked slowly.
"I mean, My Little Ponies, that they are not 'animals' at all. They do not have reason or thought, they operate purely on instinct; that's how magical constructs work. They exist only to fulfill the instinct given to them by their creator.
...And in the case of Timberwolves, that creator was Nightmare Moon."
Celestia heaved a heavy sigh as the gathered mares looked to her in confusion and shock.
"What I say now, I request that you never speak about to anypony... I- This-" The normally unflappable ruler struggled a moment in an uncharistic loss for words.
"...There is a reason I removed her and her actions from history..." her words barely rose above a whisper but her next words were almost inaudible “...I had to... The effects of her actions still haunt Equestria to this day... If the ponies knew..."
"Princess..." Fluttershy edged up to the princess, offering some comfort to the distraught alicorn.
Celestia noticeably calmed at the touch, building the strength to continue.
"When my sister changed into Nightmare Moon, she didn't hold back at all. The nightmare used all of her power against us, including the formation of an army. While there were some ponies sympathetic to her cause, there were much too few to actually construct an army, so she did what she could, summoning the Celestial beasts and droves of golems."
"Are you saying that the giant bear that attacked Ponyville was made by Nightmare Moon?"
"...Yes and no, they already existed, but she is responsible for pulling them from Luna's night sky. We have Luna to thank for why they are for the most part, peaceful. They were already 'alive' making them more like animals than Nightmare's desired soldiers, which is why after some initial chaos, she lost control of them and they all sought refuge in the Everfree." She shook her head, "...but I'm getting off track. The important things now are her golems."
"Her golem armies were grand. In their height they consisted of tens of thousands of clay-pony golems, hundreds of stone minotaurs, even a few dozen dragons of pure volcanic fire, but of all her various beasts of all shapes and forms, her most terrible were the wolves of wood."
"It was near the end of the war when the Nightmare was driven back into in the same forest in which her Celestial Beasts had escaped that wood wolves were first encountered."
"I sent scouts to pursue, but when none returned, I went myself only to find those monsters tearing what remained of them to pieces. It was then that I decided the risk had become too great for anypony else to follow.
I abandoned my armies, and gambled upon using the elements once again. Finding high-priced success, I sealed her in the moon. At the time I was so distraught by guilt and the loss of my dear Luna, that I simply withdrew hoping the Everfree would devour any lingering traces of her magic.
...but now I see I should have swept up the remains myself, for it appears that some of her golems have not only survived, but flourished.
Fear not though, for they are not long for this world."
Following Zecora, the pack almost immediately came to a small clearing in the Everfree where it appeared there had been a small forest fire. While the area was barren of trees, the undergrowth had flourished. Flowers of all colors and varieties seemed to coat every available inch of exposed ground.
A quick scan revealed a welcome lack of a certain blue bud, but every other delicacy of the pony palate seemed to be blossoming in the zone of destruction.
"Zecora, what is this place?" Twilight asked in awe.
"A bolt of lightning, here once struck,
And from that day weeds ran amuck,
But with a little help of fertilizing,
It became a lot more appetizing.
And whenever I need an ingredient,
I find coming here much more expedient."
"Is this the 'small patch of flowers' you were talking about Bark Back? ...Uh, Bark Back? Is there something wro-"
"Oh no..."
In her fear of poison joke, and subsequent awe of the idyllic sight, Twilight had made a quick scan of the entire patch. A patch that was much too large to light with a simple illumination spell. A patch that should have still been shrouded in the darkness of night.
It was an easy oversight really, as her night vision had been so improved by her predator’s eyes, she hadn't expected to need an illumination spell, and true enough, she hadn't.
...but even the best night vision does not allow for low-light color perception, as her advanced knowledge of specialized photoreceptors made her well aware. She could have noticed it through logic, she should have noticed it through instinct, but now it was just too obvious to ignore.
The sun had risen.
...four hours early.
Or at least it appeared to have. Upon closer inspection, it was not a circle of blinding light, but a singularity, a pinprick of the unmistakable light of the sun.
Zecora would later recall also noticing that there was a pony also approaching by air, apparently attached to the blinding light, but just by the light Twilight had seen all she needed to.
It was Celestia.
Casting a spell.
"RUN!" Twilight shouted at the loose formation, routing those who had already seen the light, and alerting those who hadn't.
It was a moment before Twilight realized her mistake; the wolves were able to make it to the far tree line, but the smaller pony, zebra and herself were not as fast. In her haste to get them to safety, she had done the opposite, removing the only thing keeping Celestia from holding back.
"NO!"
Celestia released her spell which flew brilliantly towards the fleeing wolves.
I'm not going to make it!
Twilight sprinted with all her might towards inevitable impact, the blazing spell illuminating the tree line, revealing her worst fear.
Just behind where the shadows of the trees would hide them the pack had waited for her. She saw the hunters hunched to pounce hiding just behind cover, while half dozen little wolves peaked through the bushes behind their protectors, but it was all for not.
No!
She ran faster, pushing herself to the not insignificant limits of her enhanced form, but she could see that the spell was still going to reach its destination before her. It was already hopelessly too close to cast a proper barrier.
NO NO NO!
She leapt, pushing herself, both with her powerful legs and with a burst of telekinetic magic, blasting herself up into the air.
"Mistress!" she could hear somewolf shout.
And then it hit.
Twilight's jump took her up above the tree line, high enough and fast enough to reach her target.
The pony and Zebra not too far off, the pack below, and even the alicorn above all let out a cry as Twilight was engulfed in the fiery blast.
"NO!"
really? you better hurry with the next chapter this was to big a damn cliff.
OH COME ON THAT IS NOT OKAY!
Why do you do this to me.
Oh shit!
I'm all for cliff hangers and such, but that is just to much for even me to deal with. Why would you do that to us?
3101446>>3101450>>3101483>>3101486>>3101655
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/104611486/wolfgf_twilight_sparkle_by_affanita-d5ief8c.jpg
3101676 I am fine with a cliffhanger but this wasn't so much a cliffhanger as the cliff face broke off and we are falling into an active volcano.
I really can't say anything about the use of cliff hangers. I use them far to much and would be a hypocrite.
NEXT CHAPTER NOW!!!!!!!!
I find I have always preferred fics where Celestia, for being as old and experienced as she is, often has glaring errors in her judgment. Put her in a room full of bickering nobles, and she's got that shit: She's been dealing mainly with politics for a long time.
But get her out of that comfort zone, and put her where she doesn't have the full story, and more than that, willingly ignores any and all evidence that runs counter to her world view, and you get an interesting story.
Because seriously, if the pack's been following Twilight around, and generally not giving her problems, and hasn't really been causing problems aside from scaring a few ponies, any reasonable, rational person would almost certainly conclude that just maybe there might be some things going on that aren't immediately obvious.
3101676 Man I wish I could just strangle you right now because all I really can do is deal with it and that PISSES ME OFF!
3101676 Wages of Sin: On *Cliff hanger's* pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1059_132069478578.gif
I think I'd appreciate longer chapters. It's really hard to get in "the mood", so to speak, with less than 5k words per chapter. I just get started and right about when I start warming up, the chapter is suddenly over.
Dang it, Celestia. See what you've done?
: OH SHIT.
"I'm not even too sore with the hydra, seein' as we were making a racket near his home and all..."
I was thinking along those lines! My own personal headcannon says the reason Twilight didn't try to fight the Hydra was because she suspected it was only defending its territory.
Now then: That ending:
TWIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIGHT!
3102188 This is a fair point, but then, Celestia would probably have a hard time meshing that with the harm done in the past
Moar!
3104902
I agree
Moar, plz.
I'm all for the portrayal of Celestia as a fallible being, despite her advanced age but, demanding the total genocide of any species just seems too out of character for her regardless of their origin or intentions...in the past she always seemed to deal with threats in a relatively humane manner like imprisonment in stone, the moon, or under ice instead of murder being the end all, be all.
But, maybe that's just me nit-picking?
3109117 I think that was basically the whole point of this chapter, to show that Celestia doesn't think them sentient, or even alive for that matter. She thinks that they are just mindless murdering machines, when in fact they have evolved over the last thousand years to think like real wolves. She has no idea that, while the are still predators, it's no longer because it's the only thing their bodies could ever be, but because it's worked for them that way for a thousand years.
I also think Celestia is having trouble thinking rationally, because she's in distress. Her cherished student has turned into an animal and disappeared into the most dangerous forest in the world, and now she's found out that her student, who she thinks is acting on instinct, is now leading the timberwolves, the deadliest creatures ever created by Nightmare Moon. She may even be worrying that Twilight would fall to the forces that guided the timberwolves and become a new Nightmare Moon. She doesn't want to lose another friend to Nightmare, and it's causing her stress, which is clouding her judgment and causing her to make rash decisions, like genocide, without thinking them through fully first.
(Was I rambling? I just got back from con, and it's late, and I feel like I took a while to get to my point.)
3112438 Why wouldn't they be sentient?
I don't think there's been a single creature portrayed thus far without thoughts or visible emotions-including Timberwolves in that Spike episode-just because creatures can't convey thoughts and emotions verbally doesn't necessarily make them non-sentient.
I just thought a being as old and wise as Celestia would have learned that in the last thousand years or so of her rule, and Philomena physically recoiled when she chastised her for playing a cruel prank of Fluttershy (unless she's a bad owner who pays little or no attention to her pet phoenix ).
And that's why I was confused.
3112511 but that just what she was talking about. They aren't sentient. They have no intelligence. The only have their "instincts," to hunt, to kill, to destroy but they don't think...
...or at least, they didn't. A thousand years is a long time, and the Everfree Forest can so weird things to magic. While they may not have been sentient at first, they may become intelligent over a thousand years in a magical maelsrom. However, Celestia would never know, because no one could ever get close enough to find out if they have become real creature, instead of the mindless the once were. Since they became predators, and killed like they always had, there was no evidence for Celestia that they were sentient.
Not to mention, as I said, Celestia isn't thinking everything through, and as 3102188 said, she is out of her comfort zone. Celestia's scared and confused, because a thousand years of always knowing EXACTLY was was going on, and what will go on, has made her so that she reacts very poorly when she doesn't know what's going on.
I almost feel bad for Celestia, for what she's about to do, and how she's going to feel when realized what she did.
Now that's what I call jumping onto the holy hand grenade!
i.imgur.com/7TBGPY1.jpg
GOD DAMMIT, WAGES
YOU- I- MORE OF THIS. NOW.
GOD DANG CLIFF HANGERS, MY ONLY WEAKNESS
3114298 CANT. HOLD. ON. MUCH. LONGGGGERR
3143366 Hold on man! Hold on as if Twilight's life depended on it... BECAUSE IT PROBABLY DOES!
3187665 It was a reference to this.
3188070 Oh! Good to know. Thank you.
Also, thank you again. Long ago, I used to watch a show, but then I forgot the name, and I could never again find the show. It made me quite upset. However, to my surprise, in the sidebar to that video, what do I find, but an episode of the show, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. So thank you for reuniting me with my childhood.
Not the first time Celestia has gone off the deep end. And certainly not the last. Or is it?
Just, give peace a chance! Right John?
whatd you think was gonna happen tia? ya moron