Word has it that there is a tall bi-pedal creature that has been living in the forest for over ten years. No pony has ever made contact with it. That was, until now.
For many years there has been a mysterious creature living in the woods. Many rumors have spread about this creature. Some say its capable of killing anything it puts its mind on, even predators many times its size. A very strange creature that nopony had ever encountered face to face. That was, until now.
The story will tagged complete, since I don't have anything more to write. If I do get an idea for another chapter it will be published here.
Image not mine but from Aeflus, check him out he has really impresive art! No really, go check him out.
’It is going to be one of those days again,’ he thought to himself as he heard his stomach growl yet again. He had not eaten anything that day, the only thing that they managed to catch was a beaver, a rabbit and the pack of hungry wolves was already fighting for who would have how much of each. Unlike them he decided to leave them to fight for the food they managed to get today, they all needed more than he did.
He decided to try his luck at hunting by himself even if it was already night. Something was better than nothing, he might even find a bird nest to steal the eggs it had. If he was lucky, the bird might even be there.
He picked up his bow, a couple of arrows and his wooden spear. They might not be in the best of condition or even crafted correctly, but they did their job... most of the time. He decided to wear his bear hide since it seemed to be a chilly night and the fire wouldn’t be warming him anymore. He slung the bow and arrows onto his back and carried the spear in his hand, ready to kill whatever animal would be unlucky enough to cross his path. He was about to leave the clearing where they would sleep tonight when he noticed that a small figure was following him. He quickly turned back and yelled at the pup, “No!” he pointed back to the clearing “Stay!” The pup lowered his ears, and went back towards his pack. Usually he loved being with him, but tonight, he couldn’t risk him giving away his position or alerting the wildlife that he was there.
He set off into the forest, the full moon illuminating his way through the treetops with its beautiful silver light. The grass below his feet crunched softly as he stepped through the forest floor and a soft breeze rustled the branches above without the chill thanks to the hide he had on. Soon enough, he began to hear a soft buzz in the treetops. He stopped. He tried to find where the buzzing came from, and high above in one of the trees, he found the source. A small beehive, bees still working in the night to keep their supply of honey.
At first, he thought about going up there to retrieve the delicious honey, but he quickly reconsidered remembering what had happened a few months ago when a badly aimed arrow had hit a similar hive. That was an experience he didn’t want to relive. Fortunately, this time, he knew what to do in order to not get stung as badly as before
He quickly searched around for dead leaves, small twigs and low hanging branches from the trees he could use. He bunched up the smaller and drier leaves and twigs grabbed a straight-looking branch and brought over his bow. He got the branch through the string and began to make it spin. He went at it for a while until, finally, he could see he a small puff of smoke coming out. So he kept going until he thought it was enough and blew on it gently as to not put out the small embers. Adding them to the remaining dead leaves and twigs, he continued to blow until a very small fire came to life. Continuing to feed the fire, he made sure the smoke would be drifting upwards towards the hive, hopefully calming the bees inside.
After a small while of the smoke cloud successfully heading towards the hive, he searched for a rock big enough to bring it down but small enough to be thrown. Finally finding a reasonably sized rock, he prepared to launch the rock and bring down the sugary goodness. Taking aim as well as he could with a rock of that size, he threw it upwards, hitting the hive at its center causing it to drop a big chunk of its honey-covered walls. The bees’ reaction was instantaneous; the once small buzzing grew louder from the infuriated bees whose home was being assaulted. He thought quickly and grabbed the downed piece of honey-covered hive, shook it to rid it of any bees that held on to their former home and ran as fast as his legs could carry him starting to feel the wrath of the vengeful bees. It would seem that his plan did not go out as he had expected it to go.
After about ten minutes of sprinting and many many stings to his body, the bees finally stopped their assault on the human, leaving him to eat his delicious prize. He sat at the base of a nearby tree and ate happily at his hard earned prize, and boy was it something. No wonder that annoying yellow bear he used to watch when he was small loved to eat the damned thing.
Unfortunately for him, his sugary treat did not last long. Licking his fingers of the remainder of the sticky but delicious substance. He got up, and realised for the first time of his situation. He was lost. Thinking quickly, he climbed the tallest nearby tree he found and searched around for the recognisable landmarks that neared the clearing his pack was residing in. Unfortunately those landmarks were quite the distance away, but what caught his eyes was not the distance towards the clearing but what he saw behind him.
Trees, rows and rows of neatly positioned trees that looked nothing like the ones he was used to seeing. These trees were smaller and each filled with red dots that made them look like…’Apples trees?’. In all his years in the forest, the only sign of intelligent life was them, and from the incident that he had had with those things forth he swore he would never near one of them ever again. But it seemed like this day luck was finally on his side, finding a human settlement was no easy task...
He quickly got off the tree and ran towards the general direction of the apple trees. Soon enough, he spotted a small fence that he easily jumped over, which made him think what kind of intruder or farm animal is that supposed to stop. Do to its hight, the fence could barely hold in a small horse or foal, maybe even a calf. He kept running until in the horizon he could see a barn and a small two-story farm house by its side. Screaming to get the proprietors' attention passed through his mind, but quickly thought otherwise. After all, the farm folk he used to pass time with used to be the shoot-first, ask-questions-while-shooting kind. Instead, he chose to approach slowly and avoid the wrath of whoever lived there.
As he was about to exit the tree line and head towards the main building, he caught some movement in the corner of his eyes. Stopping quickly, he hid behind the closest tree. There, coming out of the other side of the orchard was... one of them, one of those strange horse-like creatures that he loathed so much. This one’s primary coloring was red with a straw-colored mane and tail; a green apple mariking was visible on his backside. He stood there, shocked. His beacon of hope being destroyed by one of those damned things.
The big red one could be seen approaching the front door of the house. As soon as it stood in front of the door, it brought forth one of its front legs and opened it. Opening the door, it revealed a smaller yellow one with a red mane and a smaller brown and white dog that looked to be a border collie. The small yellow one quickly snatched on to the red one's neck and spoke to it in a strange tongue. While observing the creatures, he failed to see that the dog had turned its head towards his position, its ears splaying forward.
Suddenly, the dog got onto its legs and growled in his general direction, gaining a questioning look from both of the creatures. Finally snapping back to his current situation, he thought it best to get out of there before one of the creatures took notice of him. He got up from his crouching position and made a start on slowly backing away, making sure to not make any noise.
With his attention on the dog, he failed to see a root on his path that caught on his foot causing him to trip with an audible thud and a grunt of pain on the ground. This triggered the dog to finally leapt forward and start barking at his direction, which quickly caught the residents’ attention. Seeing that his cover had been compromised, he quickly got up and ran as fast as his feet could take him, the dog giving chase behind him.
This wasn’t looking any good for him; having a dog barking on his tail would quickly alert the residents of his escape route. Quickly turning around he prepared himself for the encounter with the dog. He had thought to take it out quickly with his bow, but quickly thought otherwise. Killing the dog would only infuriate the owners. The dog finally caught up to him circling him as to not let him get away. He prepared his spear, turning it upside down as to not use the sharp tip on the dog, grabbing it with both hands and circling the dog as well to not let it get behind him. Not wasting any time, the dog quickly launched itself towards him. He quickly evaded to the left and swung at the dogs’ slide sending it flying into a tree with a pain-filled whine. The strong hit proved to make short work of the dog causing it to get up immediately and run back the way it came from.
Finally without the dog following him, he looked up at the trees and their ripe fruit, it had been a long time since he had a decent meal and even more since he had eaten an apple. Grabbing the lower part of the bear hide, he brought it up to his chest and started to collect the fruit before those things caught up, no doubt the cries of the dog giving them a general direction of where to look for him. He had collected about ten apples when he heard the soft clopping of hooves not too far from his position. Turning to the source of the noise, he found out that they had been following closer than he had originally thought.
There, just a few metres away was the small yellow one that he had seen behind the door of the farmhouse, its golden eyes widening once they met with his own. Its ears splayed back and took a slow step back, ready to run away at the first sign of hostility. Deciding that he had enough apples, he strengthened his grip on the hide holding them and ran in the general direction where he first came in. Due to his strong and fast strides, he was not able to hear the softer clip-clop of hooves right behind him.
She didn’t know why she was doing this, but there was no stopping now. AppleBloom had heard the rumours of the strange creature that was living in the forest and the things that it did. She realized that actually seeing it and making eye contact with it was much scarier than the stories told about it. They were told it was tall, but seeing how it easily reached up at the trees to pick apples was something else. They were also told of how dangerous it was. Seeing it wear the skin of a bear that was much bigger and most probably stronger than it, was a testament of its might. And yet here she was following it through the orchard. Thankfully for her, it hadn’t noticed her following him.
They reached the fence that marked the end of the orchard quickly; she even saw just how easily it jumped over it. Seeing that his head was turning, she quickly dived at the closest tree for cover. She could hear how it stopped running, probably making sure that it wasn’t being followed. It didn’t take long, but once she heard the thumping of its legs once again, she took a quick peek and saw it continuing its retreat towards the forest. Getting out of her hiding spot, she was met with a decision, return to the farm house or continue giving chase to the creature.
With a hesitant step forward, she headed towards the fence, crouching to get under it as to continue following the odd creature. Once on the other side, she realized that the creature had gotten too far from her to continue following. With a sigh, she cast her eyes down, her head following suit at the disappointment of losing it. Just as she was about to go back to the farm, she noticed some barely visible indentations on the ground. Remembering the times she and her friends tried to get their dangerous animal tracker cutie marks, she decided to get a closer look at them. Seeing how the marks were not like any other animal she had seen, and how they matched the ones left where she presumed it had jumped the fence, she decided to use them as a trail and resumed her search for the strange creature.
As she continued to give chase to the creature, she noticed that his trail was starting to disappear the deeper she went into the forest. When the trail finally became unnoticeable she began to panic. Realizing that she was lost deep into the deadly creatures territory, and if the rumors were true, it wasn’t going to be alone. Beginning to to lose her calm, her eyes began scanning the ground to see if she could at least find its trail once more. If she did, she could use them to get back home. But as fate would have it, she would found none.
A small breeze brought a chill to her spine, bringing her out of her panicked state and also a faint smell of smoke. Looking around for a sign of a forest fire she realized that it wasn’t a that what brought the smell. It wasn’t until she followed the smell that she found where it had come from.
Seeing that there was a clearing where the smoky smell was coming from she started getting closer until she could clearly hear the sound of a crackling fire. Wary of what might be inside of the clearing, she slowly made her way to some bushes that surrounded the clearing and gazed inside. Her jaw dropped at what her eyes were seeing. Inside the clearing a small pack of wolves could be seen around a fire, some of them eating what looked to be the remains of a small unfortunate animal. But what really caught her attention was the figure towering above them.
Under the moon’s silver light, she could now clearly see the creature for the first time in the night. The creature was now only covered by a very ragged piece of old cloth at his midsection, revealing a brownish almost hairless skin that was covered in scars, a testimony of all the battles he had fought in the forest. With the light of the moon and the small fire below it she could now clearly see the creature’s face. It was covered in scars just like the rest of its body, the biggest one being three deep cuts that ran through the left side of his face. His long, unattended black hair and long, scraggly beard hiding other smaller scars.
He reached down with one of his arms where his bear hide was, brought out an apple and took a bite out of it. Sitting in front of the fire with the rest of the pack, he placed one hand on the ground and continued eating the apple with the other. It looked up to the night sky, eyes lost in the countless stars as if it was enjoying the night sky.
The calmness of it all reminded her of the time when her sister and their friends went camping to the Winsome Falls . It all made her wonder how a savage creature could have so much in common with them. Deciding that it was better to not let them notice her, she slowly started to walk away from the clearing, keeping her eyes on the creature and the wolves making sure to not startle them. Without any attention being paid to where she was going, she tripped over a small thorny branch that caught on her hoof, prompting a small yelp.
A faint sound was heard by him and the pack while relaxing after a tiring night, all of them instantly turning to the source of the noise. When he saw the four fully grown wolves get up, he brought out his bow and pointed it to the bush where the sound came from. Many times had the forest’s predators thought it was best to come up behind them during the night to steal their food or try and make them their food. Sending out a warning shot to scare away the possible predator, he heard something he never expected to hear after all this time in the forest. The shriek of a scared child.
The wolves instantly launched themselves towards what sounded like a small animal running away. Deciding to find out what made that noise, he too joined the wolves in their hunt for the unknown animal, trying to get to it before they could kill it. It was hard at first since the wolves had the advantage of speed. Even with that advantage, the small creature seemed to be more nimble than them, as well as apparently having better endurance. They began to fall behind after some time of following it, finding that they could not catch it as easily as they had thought. With the wolves now unable to catch it he continued to follow the sounds of breaking twigs and crunching foliage the fleeing animal made. There might be faster animals out there, but none of them had the endurance that allowed him to hunt so efficiently.
‘This is bad, really really bad’
At first she had thought that she was finally out of danger, thinking that she lost the wolves seeing how she could no longer hear them hot on her tail. But, that all changed when she heard the thundering steps of the creature almost right behind her. Now feeling the burning in her muscles from the strain of running away from the pack of wolves, her options on getting away alive were either keep running and risk passing out of exhaustion, or hide and pray that the creature doesn’t find her. With the screams of her aching muscles getting louder and louder, she realized that the latter was probably the best option. Without another moment to spare she jumped to the nearest bush hoping that the creature would pass her by without noticing her.
Unfortunately she never realized that the bush that she had jumped to was a thorn bush. With thorns piercing her skin in many places of her body, she grit her teeth in an attempt to stifle the pain from the offending thorns. She heard that the creature was now practically above her. Stiffening her body as to not make a sound, she tried to control her breathing. It partly helped that there was a very sharp thorn branch poking at her her stomach every time she breathed in too much.
The creature, apparently, took notice of the lack of her fleeing hoofsteps as it stayed near the bush, trying to find her trail. Tears were starting to form at the corners of her eyes. The pain of being poked by so many thorns and the current situation in which she found herself threatening to make her blow her cover with her soft whimpering. The creature must have heard her crying as it now stopped looking around and now stood in front of the bush she was hiding in.
She could feel her heart begin to race inside her chest. This was it, this is where it all ended. To make matters worse it seemed that the wolves had now caught up to them, quickly surrounding the bush as to not let her get away. She could see one of them closing in from where she had entered, its cold predatory eyes drilling deep inside her own. When the wolf finally reached the bush, however, she saw that the creature planted what looked like a spear right in front of the wolf’s path; cutting it off before it could get any closer to her. The wolf stopped dead in its tracks and looked up, growling to the creature. Not letting himself be intimidated, it growled back louder with bared teeth, getting into the wolf’s muzzle. The wolf only let out a small whimper and backed off quickly.
To her surprise, it got its spear out of the ground and shooed away the pack, yelling at them something in a strange language to which they obeyed and back off.
He couldn’t believe that actually worked. He had expected Dover to put up more of a fight when it came to taking away its prey or at least for one of the others to try and challenge him. But alas, this was probably the hierarchy he had in the pack. Turning his attention to the unknown creature in the bushes, he knelt down to where it had probably entered it in the first place and glanced inside to finally answer what made that child-like yelp before. What he saw inside shocked him, his small brown eyes widening as they met its big golden ones.
Inside the bush, the source of this little hunt was one of them. Its yellow coat was dotted with blood from the wounds of the thorns. Its red mane, tail and bow were tangled within the countless thorns of the bush. How one of them managed to get that deep into the forest and find his pack's resting place, no less, was beyond him. It was almost as if it was following him… ’wait a second…yellow coat...’ It all made sense to him now, that yellow creature was most probably the same one he saw back at the orchard. It must have followed him somehow without him noticing.
Taking a second glance at it, he could now see just in what state the poor thing was in. Besides the tangled and wounded mess it was in, it was probably scared out of its poor young mind. The signs of its state were almost as easy to read as those of a small child, yet another chilling parallel with his own kind. It was astonishing just how much they both shared these type of things.
Deciding to put the poor thing out its misery, he brought out his knife of his makeshift belt, the poor thing's eyes widening as they met with the sight of the blade. He decided to hurry up what he was about to do; every second he didn’t only made the poor thing even more scared, trying even harder to get out the other way. This resulting in it only deepening its cuts and tangling itself even more than it already was. He quickly reached out with one of his hands and started to cut with the other, making his way into the bush to retrieve the poor scared foal.
Its small cries of anguish only intensified, seeing how his hand almost reached her. With a few more cuts here and there there was now enough space for him to fit both of his hands and reach it. Grabbing a hold of it with one hand on its underside he could now feel just how scared the poor thing was. Its heartbeat feeling as if a hummingbird was stuck inside its chest. Using his other hand to cut her free from the thorns that still held on to her, he finally managed to set her free of the thorn bush.
Setting her down he kept a hand on her as to not let her get away. He used his other hand to start untangling any thorn branches that were still stuck on her body. While trying to get her free of the remaining thorns, his free hand started to absently stroke her mane as to get it to calm down. Said action seemed to be working on the foal. It now looked to be calmer, its breaths now becoming less franatic and no longer cowering in fear. Ripping out a piece of cloth from what remained of his old pants, he used his canteen to moisten it and began to clean the small wounds of the blood that stained them.
He knew that out here it was the law of the jungle, but as any good hunter knows one must always let the young ones go. Such an action would allow them to grow and become more food later. It would also help to not damage the population by killing off the new generation. But today that wasn’t what drove him to protect the foal from the pack. This foal was like a lost child and those deep golden eyes filled to the brim with fear spoke to him to such a degree and he couldn’t let it be killed in such a way.
It was astounding just how much it resembled a child, the thankful smile it flashed him as well as the nuzzle at his leg almost melting his heart. It said something in its strange tongue, most probably a thank you, to which he responded with messing its mane a little and a smile of his own.
“Applebloom!Appleboom where are ya!”A loud voice in their strange tongue broke the silence.
The foal’s expression lighted up quickly. No doubt the sound of one of its kin looking for her brightening its mood. ’Time to get going’, he thought. He couldn’t be seen next to the disappeared foal as he would be undoubtedly blamed. He got up from his kneeling stance and ran back where he came from.
Just as he left the clearing an orange mare entered it about to call out once again but stopped when she found her sister.“There you are!” she exclaimed “I was worried sick young filly! Why’d you run off that!?”
“Well, I saw the thing the towns always talking about you know, that hairless mino… something and ran after it.”
“Ya did what!?” Applejack yelled, stern-faced. “Are you out of your mind? Just look at yourself,” she said pointing to the small wounds on her coat, “what happened to you!”
There was a pause, with Applebloom trailing a hoof across the forest floor before sheepishly mumbling "Long story…”
“Well, it’s a long way to the house, and you have some explaining to do, young lady.”
Meanwhile, he could only watch from the treetop’s camouflage that he was hiding in how these creatures communicated in their strange language. From the look of things, the young one was being visibly scolded by the older orange one. While watching them disappear through the trees, he could only try to replicate what he had heard.
After months of investigating the strange creature spotted on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres,Twilight finally settled on that being its scientific name. She based it on the taxonomic family Hominidae, seeing how it was the closest animal family that shared traits with it, and added the prefix Xeno- to make its genus. She then chose apovlitos as its species name, as at first, she had thought the creature to be some kind of minotaur outcast, ostracized due to its strange appearance.
Although she was proud of the scientific name she had given it, she also knew that it needed a simpler name for others to refer to it. Keeping that in mind, she decided to name it after the ancient minotaur goddess of hunting, Artemis. A bit of experimenting and some sounding out later, and the name Artem was born.
Even now that she knew to which family it belonged, “Outcast” still fit it as a member of Hominidae. While those in the Hominidae family could walk on two legs, they could not do it in the upright manner that the Artemcould. Their feet and hands were also similar, but with crucial differences. While the apes’ feet looked more like a secondary pair of hands, the Artem’s feet had longer soles and much shorter toes. If she had to guess, this was the reason why it could walk on two legs, but she needed a more up-close examination to confirm that.
The most important thing that distinguished it from the other apes, however, was its intelligence. At this point, she had seen it creating shelters, starting fires, and crafting and maintaining weapons (such as bows, arrows, spears, and knives) out of wood, bone, and other materials found in the forest. However, not even that was the most impressive thing it could do. The strangest thing about this creature was that it had managed to integrate itself into a pack of wild wolves some time in the past, developing a mutualistic relationship with them. She had read about this type of relationship occurring in the animal kingdom before, but she had not heard of another species that managed one with wolves, besides ancient ponies.
The relationship also seemed to be working quite well. From what she had managed to observe, both species helped each other in the areas that they were lacking. While the wolves were experts in ambushing and killing their prey with great efficiency, the Artem excelled at running down its prey until it dropped exhausted. This way, if an animal managed to escape the initial ambush, the Artem would act as a safety net and go after it. The lethal mix of both hunting techniques, combined with the Artem’s weapons, meant that there were very few creatures that could escape them once they set themselves to it.
And yet, even though it was an apex predator, it had done no harm to Applebloom when it had the chance all those months ago. On the contrary, it had even defended her from its own hungry pack mates. It had been very confusing to her when she had first heard about it. No predator would resist taking an opportunity like that one. The young, along with the old and wounded, were amongst predator’s favorite targets when hunting, and Applebloom had checked two of those boxes that night. Then, it hit her. What if it had a conscience? That had to be it. Predators had no remorse when killing. If it had a conscience, then that meant it could be reasoned with.
At first, when she thought it to be just another strange Everfree creature, she had planned on taking her time writing down her observations. She had even thought about publishing a book on the new-found creature when she had enough data on it. Now that she knew it was a sapient being, she wanted to get as much data on it before attempting contact with it. After all, the best information was obtained when the subject was unaware. If it knew she was watching, it might act in a different manner.
She knew that when the day came to try first contact, she would need to be cautious. Although she now knew it was sapient, she had only ever seen it in “predator mode,” and had only assumed that it could be civilized, if given the chance. After reevaluating all her observations, she still didn’t know what it followed more: its wild instincts or rational thoughts.
And now, here she was, on one of her latest observation trips, trying to remember where it would be today. If her memory did not fail, it should be checking the small traps it had laid the previous day. Before making it any further, she checked one last time that her hoofsteps were not audible. The first weeks of studying it had revealed that the Artem had a good sense of hearing. Not as good as equine hearing, but it was still enough to notice what was going on around it. It also didn’t help that it was almost always accompanied by its wolf pack.
Back when she first began studying the Artem, she had decided to first test out just how good of an alarm system those wolves were. As expected, the canines’ higher sense of hearing made it almost impossible for her to get close. She had to find an effective way to cloak her presence to be able to study it without complications. After some reserch in her library, she managed to find some very interesting sound and perception spells in a book dedicated to spells for higher skilled unicorns. Twilight began practicing casting these spells right away to prepare herself for her next expedition into the forest.
When the day came to put the spells to the test, she was not disappointed by the results. She had managed to get much closer than she had anticipated. However, even with the spells, the pack had managed to detect her. She had been so focused on overcoming their keen hearing that she had forgotten all about their sense of smell. It had only been a matter of finding a way of masking her scent for her to be allowed to investigate the strange creature without having to worry.
Seeing how she was almost at the trap site, she slowed her pace. She might not be making any sound, but she still didn’t want to risk being spotted due to a lack of caution. Now walking with a lower profile, she listened carefully to her surroundings. No steps, no crunching branches, nothing to tell that the Artem was close by; only the sound of the birds could be heard on the trees.
When she reached the site, she was greeted by an empty trap, as well as the strange, long footprints it was known for. It seemed that she had arrived too late. She fired up her horn, preparing a tracking spell as she approached the tracks. If she was going to follow it back to its little ‘camp’, she needed the footprints to be fresh for her spell to work. She had a general idea of where it could be found, but it had the habit of moving its camp every couple of days. It was rare for it to stay put.
A small tingling from her horn caught her attention. It seemed that the tracks were fresh enough to be used after all. She began to move her head around, scanning the area with her horn. When she felt a slight tugging sensation, she stopped and made her way in that direction. From the feel of the spell, it couldn’t be very far.
Some time of walking later, she was rewarded by the familiar sound of a crackling fire. A small smile grew on her face. As much as it moved, she still managed to track it down every time. That smile vanished when a putrefying and burning flesh smell assaulted her nose, causing it to wrinkle. The burning smell was obvious, seeing how the Artem was cooking whatever animal it caught. The other smell intrigued her. It had never kept an animal uneaten long enough for it to start to rot; the wolves had always taken care of that.
Whatever it was, she ignored it for now and instead focused on casting a perception spell on herself. It was a tricky spell to cast and even more to maintain, but she had never used it long enough for it to falter. Unless the Artem already knew where she was watching it from, she should pass unnoticed. The only thing that worried her was what would happen if the spell failed her mid-observation. She shuddered at the thought of being hunted down like countless other animals before getting the chance to teleport to safety.
With the spell cast on herself, she now needed to find a good vantage point to oversee them from. After a quick scan of the surrounding area, she found a tall enough tree with sturdy looking branches. Now came the risky part: getting up there without blowing her cover. She had teleported onto many other trees on her previous observations. Each time she did, they always turned their heads, trying to find where the sound came from. To her luck, they never investigated further. She was very glad they did and if she had to guess, they maybe thought of it as just another sound from the forest.
She prepared herself to make that same teleport once more, hoping they wouldn’t be getting curious this time around. She closed her eyes and lit up her horn. A pop, followed by the familiar weightlessness from a teleport, and she could feel the branch's hard surface under her hooves. When she opened her eyes and looked at the clearing, she noticed that the wolves merely flicked their ears in her direction.
A quiet sigh of relief escaped her lips. She was once again studying the Artem without any trouble. The sight that met her was one that she had seen many times before. A clearing with five wolves spread around a fire along with the Artem, who was resting besides a small, cone-shaped improvised hut made of branches and other pieces of foliage. An animal was being cooked above the fire on a spit. It was a peaceful scene; the grown wolves were lying relaxed around the fire while the two pups played with each other.
The Artem, meanwhile, was sitting with its legs crossed, carving patterns with a bone knife into a staff she had not seen before. Bringing out a piece of parchment and quill along with a pair of binoculars, she examined it in detail, writing down its characteristics. The staff itself was long, thick, and ended in a short, fire-hardened tip. It resembled the Artem’s hunting spear, the only distinctions being its different dimensions and that this one used its own wood instead of sharpened bone for a tip. If the Artem were standing, she calculated that the staff would reach its chest or shoulders in length. After writing down the details, she began trying to recreate the patterns carved on it in a blank page. When she finished, she took a moment to analyze them.
p u t o e l q u e l o l e a
They were drawn in a descending order, just like in the staff. She tilted her head, hoping that it would help her unravel whatever the patterns meant. Some of the symbols, she noted, repeated themselves, meaning that it could be some sort of writing. What it meant, she had no idea. It could quite possibly be a phrase meant to bring luck or protection from a deity it believed in. When she turned back to it, she saw a small smile forming on its face, perhaps satisfied with its carvings.
It intrigued her why it needed what seemed to be another weapon. It already had enough weapons to defend itself. As of now, she had managed to count two knives, one very simple and made of bone with a simple one sided edge. The other was made out of a strange, black metal, with a similar one sided edge, only this one also had serrated teeth halfway through the blunt edge. It also carried a rather big woodcutting axe in a simple leather sheath, a couple of small, wooden hunting spears, and a crudely built bow.
Granted, the Artem didn’t always carry around all of its weapons. The only ones it did carry around were the black knife and axe. From what she could tell, it seemed to have a small sheath as well that could be fastened to its axe belt. Now that she thought about it, it did make sense for it to have a third weapon always with it. Both the axe and knife looked like very effective weapons, but they were weapons more fitted for close quarter combat. The staff’s length, on the other hoof, was enough to keep an assailant a reasonable distance away. It also helped that it wasn’t as thin and breakable as the spears and bow.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noted the creature’s nose wrinkling as it smelled at the air. It’s gaze wandered around the clearing until it landed on her tree. Twilight’s muscles tensed up as the wolves too turned their attention to the tree she was perched at. A chill ran down her spine. Had the spell somehow failed her? Had her scribbling been louder than she thought? A million thoughts ran through her mind trying to figure out what gave her away. It wasn’t until she looked down that she saw it wasn’t her who they had detected. Something else was observing the Artem and his pack.
Below her, five timberwolves were prowling to the clearing edge, ready to pounce at their prey. Her eyes widened. She had seen the Artem take on a couple of predators with its pack in the past, but they had never fought an Everfree beast. Before Twilight could do anything, the timberwolves made their move.
Another day, another catch, he thought to himself. So far, the day had gone pretty well. In fact, things had started to go a bit better for him and his pack since the day they encountered the foal. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought that letting the foal go had earned him the blessing of some sort of god. Putting his knife down, he gave his staff one last look, smiling at his “addition”. He had thought of giving it a bit of decoration, and once the idea struck, he couldn’t help but do it. Who knew, maybe one day someone would stumble upon his little work of art.
He was about to check on his meal when a breeze brought a strong odor to his attention. He sniffed at the air, trying to identify the source of the smell. It reminded him of the scent of a decomposing animal mixed with wood and sap. A strange combination. The wolves seemed to also pick up on it, as they too began sniffing the air. The smell seemed to be coming from one of the trees nearby. Had an animal somehow managed to get itself trapped inside and started to rot?
Before he had the time to ponder on it further, five strange looking wolves came pouncing from the bushes, each one going after a member of his pack. Rising to his feet in a blink of an eye, his grip on the staff strengthened, swinging it at the beast heading towards him as soon as it came into his range. The blow connected at the creature’s head, sending it crashing to the side. He was about to charge at the thing when the sound of desperate barking and whining reached his ears. Turning his head back, he saw one the pups trying to intimidate one of the wooden creatures as it cornered them against a tree.
It had only taken him a few seconds, but in that time, the strange wolf managed to get back up and pounce on him, its wooden claws digging into his flesh. Now that the wolf had him pinned to the ground, it tried to go straight for his jugular. Bringing up his right arm, he managed to catch the bite with his forearm. He grit his teeth trying to contain the pain. At least it hadn’t been his neck. His arm blindly patted the ground beside him, looking for the knife he had just used. Once in his hands, he gripped it tight and stabbed the creature behind the head.
Or at least, he tried.
The bone knife stuck to the back of the creature’s head without causing any damage. How he could hurt a creature made out of wood without his axe was beyond him. He turned to look back at the wolf still attached to his arm. Since all its body was made out of wood, then that meant that almost all of his weapons were useless against it.
Unless …
He cracked a predatory smile. It did not matter what the creature was made out of. Every animal had a natural soft spot, and this one was no exception. He used his trapped forearm to bring the wolf’s head closer to him and grabbed it with his free hand. Once he had a good grip on the thing’s head, he dug his thumb to into one of the wolf’s eyes. The wolf opened its mouth crying in pain. Not giving it a chance, he then used his middle and index finger to pierce into the other socket, causing it to shake its head in a desperate effort to bring them out.
Not letting it go, he grabbed the wolf’s lower jaw using his liberated hand, and pulled both arms in separate directions. After a few moments of enduring the wolf’s claws piercing into his chest as it tried to get away, he managed to split off its lower jaw. He did not stop there, however. Grabbing his knife from the wolf’s head, he placed the flat of the blade on the teeth of the upper jaw and started pushing its head backwards. With a final grunt, the wolf’s neck splintered, twisting back into an awkward position before slumping on top of him. Tossing the body aside, he stood up. Before he had time to savour his victory, a chilling cry from behind him made his head snap back.
The wolf attacking his pups now had its snout in one of their throats. His heart rate skyrocketed, his eyes beginning to see red. With a mighty roar, he charged the other wolf, tackling it once he was close enough. “No one! Touches! My! Pups!” He bellowed as his fists came crashing down with a force and speed not even he knew he had. The strength behind each of his blows caused the wood of the wolf’s head to crack each time. When he noticed his knuckles were bleeding more than he liked, he stopped, grabbed the wolf’s head with both arms and began pounding it into the ground. When the wolf’s head was nothing but crushed wood, he got up, grabbed it by the hind legs and swung it at a nearby tree, causing its back to break.
He stared at the remains of the wolf panting, a small smile creeping onto his face. His victory was short lived however, as not seconds after, another wolf came snarling at him. Not having enough time to turn, the wolf managed to jump on top of him and land a bite between his neck and shoulder, its claws also digging into his lower back and shoulders. Staggering back, he tried to get a good grip of the wolf’s head but failed. He tried throwing his back at a tree to make it let go, but the wolf maintained its vice like grip, and only caused its teeth and claws to dig deeper. When his his hand found its eyes, he repeated the procedure from the first wolf and dug his fingers into its eye sockets. The wolf immediately opened its mouth in pain, releasing him from its hold. Not letting the opportunity go, he threw himself back first at the ground.
Getting up as fast as possible, he jumped on top of the wolf as it was turning itself over to get up. Using his bodyweight, he pressed his knee into the wolf’s back, not letting it get up. He then grabbed the wolf by the snout with both hands, rearranged his knee so it was on the base of its neck and began to pull with all his might. At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds, the beast’s neck began creaking from the force until it snapped off. Getting up, he let the head fall to the ground.
Now that the wolf was dealt with, he turned back to see how the rest of his pack was doing. His eyes were greeted by the sight of two remaining wooden wolves finishing off the last members of pack. His fists clenched and his pulse rose. Taking a deep breath, he reached down to his belt, taking out his axe.This time, he was ready for them. The wolves turned to him and growled as they made their way to him. His grip on the axe tightened as he brought it up to a swinging position.
One of the wolves began circling him. Not letting it get out of his sight, he turned his head along with it. He knew what it was doing. It was trying to distract him, take away his attention from the other wolf so that it could jump him the moment he let it out of his sight. It was a very effective tactic. He’d done the same before with his own wolves when dealing with other bigger predators. And today, he was going to be falling for it.
He was gambling that the wolf not circling him would wait until he gave his back to it to strike, and that the one he was following wouldn’t do anything. At least, not before the other one. He continued following the wolf, the other still visible from the corner of his eye. This was it, now or never. He gave the wolf his back and gave the other one his “complete” attention. At first, nothing happened, the only sound being the wolves low growls. Then, a snarl and the sound of paws on grass.
Gotcha!
He turned his body as fast as he could and swung his axe with all his might, using the momentum to add force to the blow. The resulting impact managed to imbed the axe almost completely into the wolf’s side, sending it crashing and whimpering into a tree. His now free hand then darted back to his belt to retrieve his survival knife. The other wolf was no doubt going to attack him, now that its plan was foiled.
Before he finished turning, he was met by the wolf’s jaws biting into his left upper arm, causing him to fall on his back. It seemed that getting out of this with a healthy arm was out of the question. Reaching for his fallen knife, he stabbed it into one of the wolf’s eyes, causing it to release its hold on his arm. To make sure it wasn’t going anywhere, he wrapped his legs around the wolf, ignoring as best as he could the pain of its claws digging into his flesh. Putting more force into his hand, he sank the knife deeper into the wolf’s eye. When he reached the end of the blade he continued pushing, not inwards but upwards. The wolf’s claws dug deeper into his abdomen and chest as it struggled with all its might to free itself. He did not care for the pain anymore. The only thing he wanted was to end the beast.
After a few more moments, a crack formed at the top of the wolf’s brow. He smiled and continued, giving it all the strength he could muster. The crack widened, allowing the blade to dig a bit into the wolf’s skull. With a final push, he made the knife embed itself deeper and deeper into the wolf’s head until it reached the centre of the skull, causing the wolf’s struggling to cease. Pulling out a now green tainted knife, he tossed them both aside. He got up and headed to the still whimpering axe-embedded wolf.
He planted a foot on its side and grabbed the axe’s handle, bringing it out in one swift pull. He looked at the blade, a strange green goo sticking to it. He grabbed the axe with both hands and brought it up behind his head, looking straight into wolf’s eyes.
“This, is for Dover!”
He brought the axe down on the wolf’s spine, crushing it.
“This, is for Santra!”
The axe came crashing down again, this time on its ribcage, causing it to cave in.
“This, is for Fen!”
Another blow, this time on its neck, cutting half-way through it.
“And this . . . This, is for the pups!”
The axe came down on the wolf’s skull, tearing it open without effort.
He stood there for a moment, his heavy breathing the only sound in the clearing. He glanced around, his eyes meeting nothing but the corpses from both sides. Taking a deep breath, he bellowed out in anger, causing the birds surrounding the area to fly out in fear.
When he was done venting his frustration, his eyes turned back to the remains of the wooden abominations. He had to make sure there was nothing left of them. He reached down and grabbed the limp remains of the closest one, dragging it towards the camp fire. When he reached it, he dropped it unceremoniously to be consumed by the flames. He repeated this action with the rest of the bodies. When the last corpse fell into the flames, he stood still, staring into the dancing green tinted flames.
Twilight braced herself to the tree, the unexpected roar almost caused her to lose her balance and fall. Her still widened eyes turned back to the bloodied Artem. She watched as its chest rose and fell from the strain of the battle. It had just taken on five timberwolves . . . and won. It had ended up very injured, and lost all the members of its pack, but it had won nonetheless.
She watched it as it dragged the remains of the timberwolves into the campfire to burn. When it was done, it remained transfixed by the fire until its right hand flew over to its wounded arm with a pained groan. It seemed that the adrenaline had finally ceased coursing through its system. Its pained cries only seemed to increase as the moments passed. It appeared its wounds had decided to make their presence known all at once. It tried walking, but only managed to take a few shaky steps towards a tree before losing its balance and falling to its hands and knees.It wasn't until the Artem fell face first into the ground that she was brought back from her shock. She shook her head to finish clearing it, she needed to do something. She couldn't just let it die, not after how hard it had fought. She fired up her horn and teleported down to the base of the tree.
As she made her way into the now quiet clearing, the sight of all the corpses caused her to hesitate for a moment. The Artem had been badly injured, but she did not know if it could still get up and attack her. As she neared it, her ears picked up a low moan coming from his body followed by movement from its head and arms. She stopped in her tracks, ready to retreat if it showed any sign of aggression. The Artem’s eyes tried to look up to her but only reached her hooves when its head slumped to the ground.
Twilight’s eyes widened. Nononono. Please don’t die, please don’t die. Pushing aside her fears, she rushed beside its unmoving body, horn illuminated and ready. The first spell she tried was a scrying spell to check for its pulse. To her surprise, the spell died as soon as her aura enveloped the Artem’s body. Cocking an eyebrow, she tried again, only to receive the same result. Just to be sure, she tried one more time, this time on one of his fallen pack mates. Her spell worked perfectly, being able to detect the unbeating heart of his fallen comrade as well as the places where it was injured.
Whatever was going on she didn't have time to ponder on it, so she resorted to looking for its vitals without magic. She grabbed the Artem’s body with her hooves and turned it over so it would face up.She gasped when she saw the amount of blood that had already pooled under it. Not wasting any time, she placed her hoof below its small nose, trying to check for breathing. The slight tingling she felt on her fur indicated that it was indeed still alive. Next, she pressed an ear to a rather bloodless part of its chest, trying to catch its pulse. A few moments later, a weak thumping confirmed to her its bad state. She needed to get it immediate help; if not, she did not know if it would make it.
The hospital was straight out of the question; the long distance meant that it might bleed out before even arriving. It didn't help that most of the doctors there only knew how to treat equines. It would not be a good idea to take an unknown creature for treatment there. With that in mind, she also ruled out the veterinarian clinic. If they hadn’t been able to help her with Spike, she doubted they could help her with the Artem.
The only other options she had were her friends Fluttershy and Zecora. While Fluttershy was known to be able to help out injured animals from the Everfree, it was Zecora that had proven to have more knowledge of exotic creatures, as proven by the parasprite incident. The only problem was that Zecora lived deeper in the forest, and as such, she risked being attacked by another predator before arriving. That only left Fluttershy as the closest and safest place to take it.
Her horn lit up once more, preparing the levitation spell. When her aura enveloped the Artem, instead of being a constant lavender wave around its body, she noticed it flickering and faltering, as if ready to die out. Her brow furrowed in concentration. She couldn’t believe she was having difficulty maintaining the spell before even trying to move it. With a stained mental command, she tried to lift the body. The Artem’s body barely rose from the ground and she was straining as if she were trying to lift a train cart. She let her horn die out, releasing the Artem huffing from the effort.
Taking a couple of deep breaths to recover herself, she flared her horn again and began trying to lift the Artem one last time. Once again she was greeted by its magical resistance, her horn glowing bright from the strain. Ever so slowly, the Artem’s body rose, inch by straining inch. She kept up her effort just like in the Ursa incident, feeding her horn even more magic, causing it to glow even brighter.
When its body reached the height of her withers, she lowered her head and moved below it. When she felt it reach her back, she ceased the spell. Its body settled on her back with an arm draped around her neck, the other arm dangling on her side and its head pressed on her lower neck.
The difference of weight she felt was dramatic. Instead of feeling as if she were trying to lift a train cart, the strain on her back indicated that the Artem weighted a little more than the average stallion. It was still no walk in the park (she was no Applejack in terms of strength) but it was still better then repeating the effort of the night with the Ursa. With the Artem now secured on her back, she began making her way to her friend’s cabin.
Hold on big guy. Don’t give up on me now.
The trip to Fluttershy’s cabin took a bit more time than she had expected it to. On the way there, the Artem’s body had twitched and moved a couple of times, giving out a few weak moans. Her fur had also dampened considerably in the trip. At first she had thought it to be sweat, but when she turned her head to check, she noticed that it had instead been blood covering her fur.
She quickened up her pace after that, and when she saw that the cabin was within earshot, she called out to her friend.
“Fluttershy!” She yelled out between breaths, “Fluttershy, are you there!”
When she was halfway into her backyard, a window flew open, Fluttershy’s head popping out. “Twilight, is that you? What’s going o– *gasp* Oh my goodness!”
“Timberwolf attack. No time to explain. Please help.” Twilight responded, her voice still strained.
“Right! Put him on that table over there while I get my things.” She said as she disappeared inside her house.
Just as Twilight was finishing putting its body on the table, Fluttershy glided down from her bedroom window with a first aid kit in her mouth. When she got a closer look at the wounds and the amount of blood, her mouth dropped causing the first aid kit to hit the ground.
“We’re going to need a bigger kit …” She said taken back by the sight. “Or two.”
“Do you think we can still do something to save it?”
Shaking her head, a hardened look crossed Fluttershy’s eyes. “There’s some cotton, gauze and peroxide inside this kit. Start cleaning some of the smaller wounds with peroxide and try to gauze them up as best as you can, I’ll be right back.” She said in a more serious tone before running back inside her cabin.
Twilight knew that look; it was the look of a determined mare who would stop at nothing until she succeeded at the task at hoof. The last time she had seen her like this, she had ended up chewing out a dragon for hurting her friends. It looked like she made the right choice coming here.
Opening up the kit, she took hold of the things she needed and began working on the Artem’s wounds. As she did so, she again got to see its magic resistant nature. The cotton balls she used had been surrounded by her magic, but as they made contact with the Artem’s skin, she saw and felt how her magical aura weakened. Seeing this, she allowed her aura die off at the point of contact and only grabbed the half that she wasn’t pressing to its body.
As she was finishing bandaging up one of the less serious wounds, she heard a door slam open as Fluttershy came running out with two bigger kits, one under each of her wings and a bucket of water in her mouth. When she reached the side of the table, she put down everything and began rummaging through the kits. Inside, Twilight could see more rolls of gauze, bottles of peroxide, and much more cotton, among other things.
When Fluttershy grabbed a roll of gauze and began wrapping it around the Artem’s eyes, Twilight spoke up.
“What are you doing?”
“Covering its eyes. We don’t know how it will react to us if it wakes up. This way, if it does, it’ll help us get away before it takes it off.” When she finished, she dug her head back into the kit and brought out a needle and a roll of thread. “Twilight, could you help me with this?” she said as she held out both items on her hoof.
After a brief moment of looking at them wondering what she meant, Twilight understood what she was implying. “Wait, you want me to stitch the wounds?! I-I’ve never done this before. I wouldn’t know how. ”
“Well, I would normally do this myself, but it would take me much longer since I need to use my mouth. It’s much easier with magic and well, you know, you wouldn’t need to put your mouth on the wounds.” Seeing that her friend was still looking anxious at the idea she then added. “Just pretend its fabric. That’s how I managed to do it my first time. The only difference was that it takes a little more force to get the needle through.”
After a bit more hesitation, Twilight let out a sigh and grabbed the needle and string with her magic. Before she got the chance to secure the string on the needle, Fluttershy had begun cleaning one of the bite wounds with a damp towel. When Twilight finished tieing the needle, she saw that her friend was already pouring peroxide on the wound.
“Good thing it's out or else this would’ve stung.” She said as the wound began to fizzle.
As her friend said those words, neither noticed how the Artem’s body gave a slight twitch. Looking back at Fluttershy, she saw as she finished cleaning the wound before murmuring to herself. “Ok, Twilight. Remember. Just like fabric. Just like fabric. Just like thicker, bleeding fabric.” Taking a deep breath, Twilight closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. She needed to do this, the Artem’s life was on the line.
She let the breath out slowly. When she opened her eyes, she brought the needle up and began suturing. The Artem’s body, again, twitched as she closed the wound. The process repeated itself with each wound, and before long, there was only one last bite wound left to close. As Fluttershy got closer to the Artem’s shoulder, she noticed just how deep the wound was. When she cleaned the surrounding area of blood with the towel, she saw how it still had a few splinters of wood inside. Taking a pair of tweezers out of one of the kits, she used them to take out the offending pieces of wood. After making sure the wound was clean of any foreign objects, she grabbed the bottle of Peroxide, ready to disinfect the remaining wound.
What they hadn’t noticed, however, was that the slight twitching had been increasing as she and Twilight worked on its wounds. A low moan escaped its mouth, but Fluttershy had not noticed. With her complete attention being at cleaning the last wound, it was Twilight who spoke up.
“Fluttershy … you should probably not do that … I think it’s—“
But whatever Twilight was about to say was drowned out by the Artem’s deafening scream as the peroxide made contact. One of its hands flew out to grab the open wound while the other tried to hit whatever had caused it such pain. Twilight took hold of her friend in her magical aura and pulled her out of its reach, the Artem’s fist striking empty air where Fluttershy’s head had been mere seconds ago.
“What do we do!?” Twilight cried out to her friend.
“Just keep it still, I know what to do.” Fluttershy responded as she dove back into one of the bigger kits.
Groaning since she had no other choice, Twilight powered up her horn and tried to hold the Artem down. Her magic struggled to contain it as it tried to get up from the table. The headache she thought was gone returned full force as she tried to keep the Artem from getting up and tearing off the blindfold. As the Artem’s desperation rose, so did its efforts in freeing itself of her magic, managing to rise to an almost sitting position. Seeing this, Twilight increased her magic output once more, managing to slow it down considerably.
When she turned to check on what Fluttershy was doing, she saw her friend soaking a rag with another bottle from one of the kits. One of her eyebrows rose. What is she doing? When she finished soaking the rag, Fluttershy then leaped to the air and flew straight at the Artem. When she was in front of it, she pressed the rag over the it’s nose and mouth.
“What are you doing!”
But instead of responding, Fluttershy kept pressing the rag on the Artem’ face while muttering, “Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh. There, there. Calm down big guy. Just take a deep breath, and relax.” As her friend said those words, Twilight noted the Artem’s struggling dying down as the seconds passed. When the Artem was back in a lying position, Twilight let her spell die.
“Uhhh, Fluttershy…did you just… knock it out with chloroform?” Twilight asked, an eyebrow still raised.
“Why yes, I did. Is something wrong?” Fluttershy then gasped, “Oh dear, don’t tell me I used too much on the poor thing?”
“Umm no, I think you used enough. Let me rephrase that. Fluttershy … why do you have chloroform?” She said, not sure if she should be concerned or not.
“Oh. I’ve had some ever since I started taking care of injured animals. I use it when some of them get a little too restless, or are too big and could be a danger when taking care of them. It’s very helpful.”
“Uhh ok, yea, that sounds good enough.” She said, a little less unnerved.“So, let’s continue.” Twilight said trying to change the topic as she pointed back at the Artem’s unfinished wound.
“Oh yes, let’s finish.”
Now certain that the Artem was out, cleaning and bandaging the remaining wound went on without a hitch. When they finished, Twilight let out a deep breath.
“So, what now?”
“Well, now we wait. There isn’t much more we can do. We’ll have to hope it didn’t lose too much blood and let it heal on its own.” Fluttershy said as she looked back at Twilight’s coat. “Speaking of which, would you like to come in and rinse off?”
“You have no idea.” She responded. “But first I need to go back; there are a few things that I have to get. Also, I hope you don’t mind, but I think I should stay here while it recovers. I wouldn’t like to leave you alone with it when it wakes up.”
What happened? He thought to himself as he started to regain his conscious.
His memories were a scrambled mess. The last clear memory he had was feeling the grass of the clearing under him as he bled out, followed by something approaching him. Something purple. From there, everything else was hazy. There was a velvety feeling of fur, a gentle rocking sensation, dark purple strands of hair. Then, a blind pain. A burning sensation fell over his entire body like he hadn’t felt before. He remembered trying to fight whatever was causing him the pain. Then, a strange icy feeling came over his body that caused his movements to be sluggish. The last vague memory he had was that of something soft with a strange, sweet smell being pressed against his nose and mouth.
Had it all been a dream, or had his dying body been playing tricks? He did not know. The only thing he knew was that he was still alive. The pain all over his body assured him of that. Now that his mind was fully awake, he noticed something strange. The place where he was lying down was soft; too soft to be the forest floor where he remembered being. As soon as his eyes opened, harsh sunlight from a nearby window assaulted them, forcing him to close them again.
Wait, window? Where am I? When his eyes adjusted to the unexpected source of light, he got to see where he was.
A house. He was inside an unknown wooden house. Looking around, he saw many small birdhouses hanging from the ceiling, a grey stone chimney, and a couple of small sofas behind him. When he looked down, he saw that he had been lying down on a few pillows. Looking over his body, he noticed that his abdomen, chest and arms were wrapped in bandages. Whoever had had brought him in seemed to have also tended to his wounds.
He needed to get up and thank whoever found him for rescuing him from that place. As he tried to get up, a wave of nausea overcame him, sending him back to a sitting position. After the lightheadedness passed, he tried again, only this time much slower. When he managed to stand, he reached out to a nearby stair railing to steady himself. Taking slow, careful steps, he made his way to the nearest doorway he could see. Upon entering, he noticed it lead to a kitchen area.
No response came. As he continued inside, he noticed just how rustic the kitchen was. Everything from the stone stove and counters to the simple wooden table and chairs gave it a cabin feeling. Perhaps he was found by some kind of forest dweller, like a logger or hunter? Whatever they were, he needed to find them. As he continued his careful walk, his eyes encountered a very familiar staff leaning near a door that lead to the outside. He made his way towards it as fast as his body allowed him. It would help him a lot to have something to lean on.
When he reached it, a strange sound made its way in from the open window next to the door. Voices. Two distinct, feminine voices came from the outside. There was something about those voices that seemed familiar, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Ignoring it for now, he grabbed the doorknob and made his way outside. What his eyes saw when he came out almost caused him to drop his staff from shock.
“I’m a little worried about the Artem, Fluttershy. Don’t you think it’s been unconscious for too long? I mean it has been two days already.” Twilight said as she watched her friend feed her chickens.
“Well, it does seem like a lot, but I’m sure it will wake up soon. None of its wounds got infected and are healing well, all of the shivering and twitching is gone, and its pulse is much better than how you said you found it.” She said as she finished spreading out the chicken feed.
“Yes, but still, it’s been out cold for too long. Have you ever seen an animal out for this long while recovering?”
“Well no, but remember, we don’t know anything about its species. Maybe this is the way they deal with heavy injuries.”
“But what if—”
“Oh dear. T-Twilight . . .” Fluttershy stammered as she pointed behind her.
Twilight turned her head, trying to see what had caused such a reaction from her friend. When she saw what Fluttershy was looking at her eyes widened. The Artem had somehow gotten up and found its way outside. It was staring at them with large eyes by the door frame, not moving an inch. It's mouth opened, as if trying to say something, but no sound came. Before either her or the Artem could say something, Fluttershy spoke up from behind.
“Mister Artem, you can't be out and about like this, you need to rest.” She said concerned as she made her way closer to it. “Please, you have to go back inside and lie down.” Her sudden movement and voice brought it out from its shock, causing it to take a few steps back. “Please Mister Artem, don't be afraid.” But it did not seem to understand her, as it kept taking a step back for each one Fluttershy took in its direction.
“Fluttershy wait. I think you’re scaring it.” Twilight said reaching out a hoof. She had no idea why a predator like it would have such a reaction towards them. If anything, it should be them who should be cautious. “Let me try something.”
When she saw that the Artem stopped its retreat, she powered up her horn, preparing a translation spell that she had not yet tested. The Artem’s eyes locked onto her horn as soon as it came to life. She knew that if she tried a typical translation spell it would either be very taxing or fail in an instant, the Artem’s high resistance to magic would make sure of that. She prayed to Celestia that this alteration would work.
Once the spell was ready, she cleared her throat and spoke. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. We’re here to help you. Please do not be afraid, we mean no harm.” To her surprise, instead of helping, the words seemed to upset the Artem even more, as it brought both hands up to clutch its head. At first, Twilight was confused, but after a more careful examination, she noticed a faint lavender glow surrounding its head. Her eyes widened. Instead of translating the words as they came out of her mouth, it looked like the spell was trying to translate her words once they reached its head.
The Artem was now groaning as it held onto its head. It tried stepping away from them, but since it didn’t have its staff for support, it ended up losing its footing and falling to the ground on its rear. She ceased her spell. When the Artem noticed that the spell was no longer trying to invade its mind, it looked back up at her with horror filled eyes. Without taking its eyes off of her, the Artem backpedaled, patting the ground around him trying to get a hold of its staff. When it finally found it, it got up with haste and ran into the forest.
“No, Wait! Come back!” Twilight called out. She was about to give chase when a hoof on her back interrupted her.
“Let it go Twilight. Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.”
“Alright? It’s not going to be alright! You and I both know how hurt it is, it won't last a day out there in the state it’s in. We can’t let it get away, what if we can’t find it again?”
“Don’t worry, it won’t get far in its condition. Besides, I have a plan.” Fluttershy said, as she went back inside her cottage. Twilight was close behind her, about to protest again. “Oh mister Blue Jay, are you in here?” Fluttershy called out, before her friend could speak. “Oh there you are. Could you do me a teeny tiny favor, please?” The bird chirped its approval. “Oh, thank you very much. Do you remember our new guest who was in the living room?” The bird gave another chirp. “Yes, well he went back in the forest and I’m afraid he might get lost. Could you and your friends please look out for him and tell me where he goes?” The bird brought its its wing up in a salute before flying off through the window.
“See? I told you you shouldn’t worry.” Fluttershy said as she went up to her stove.
“Ok, you were right. But still, let’s say we find it again. How are we going to convince it to come back with us? You saw how it reacted when we tried to get close.”
“Very simple, Twilight.” Fluttershy said as she turned to her stove. She opened the lid to one of the pots and stirred the contents with a nearby wooden spoon. “Remember, it hasn’t eaten in several days and it will no doubt be hungry. If we can show it we mean no harm and that we only want to help, we might get it to trust us enough to follow us.”
Did I finally lose them? He thought to himself turning his head back while he ran.
He didn’t care that his muscles felt as if they were on fire, the only thing he wanted was to get as much distance from them as he could. At first, he hadn’t known what to think about them being his rescuers. If they had cared enough to take care of him, maybe they weren’t as bad as those he had had run into all those years ago. He had even considered giving them a chance. But all that went out of the window as soon as the purple one had tried to get into his head. It had been a very strange feeling. The best he could describe it was as if the inside of his head was all of a sudden filled with ice water.
And now here he was, running for his life once more. He shouldn’t have been straining his body as much, all the bandages told him that. He knew that as soon as he stopped, his body was going to make sure he regretted it. He needed to make sure the inevitable pain was worth it and get as far away as possible. After a few more minutes of running, his legs decided that they had had enough and gave away under him, causing him to stumble face first into the ground. Given the momentum he carried, he did not stop there; instead, he kept rolling until he crashed into a tree.
Dazed, injured, and with a body that screamed at him with all its might, he had no other option than to stay in the curled position he had ended up in and hope for the best. If he was lucky, he had put enough distance between him and them so that they couldn’t find him. With no weapons, no strength and no hide for protection, he was absolutely defenseless and at the mercy of whatever found him first. He closed his eyes and prayed that no creature ran into him, or if one did, that it would be swift in killing him.
He did not know how long he’d laid there; what felt like hours could have very well been only minutes. He tried to ignore the rising pain and instead focus on his surroundings. The forest was very peaceful around him. Everything from the soft birdsong to the gentle breeze would have made for a very pleasant rest if it weren’t for his current situation. A rather loud chirping from a nearby bush brought him out of his thoughts. When he opened his eyes and gazed up, he saw a blue jay hovering just above it. Then, the distinct sound of hooves reached his ears.
No! It can’t be them. Not again, not right now.
As the soft clopping grew, so did his nerves, old memories of nets and ropes resurfacing in his mind. There was no more running away now. He brought his hands under him and, with a shaky push of his arms, got into a sitting position. He then dragged himself to the tree he crashed into and reclined his back against it. One of his hands darted to his waist to retrieve his knife, but found nothing but air. He sighed, he had forgotten that he had nothing on him. Taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart, he used one of his legs to push his fallen staff where his arm could reach it. At least I still have my staff.
The bushes where the blue jay was hovering rustled, a familiar pair of voices coming from inside. This was it, his last stand. He grabbed the staff as tight as he could and raised the sharpened tip so it was pointing at the bush. He tried putting on a menacing face, but the pain only allowed him a grimace. The first one to emerge was the purple one, her eyes locking onto his the moment she stepped out. The yellow one came out not moments later, carrying a saddle bag and what looked to be an oversized porcelain bowl with a lid on her back.
As they closed the distance, his grip on the staff tightened as he stretched it out as far as he could. But that did not deter them, they kept approaching him until they were only a couple of meters from his feet. The yellow one spoke up and the purple one nodded, her horn lighting up.
He turned his head and closed his eyes, expecting the worst. This did not go unnoticed by the pair as they exchanged worried glances. When he saw that nothing was happening to him, he opened his eyes and turned his head back to them. The bowl was being levitated off the yellow one’s back before being placed on the ground between them. Meanwhile, the pegasus opened up one the saddle bags and began bringing out a few smaller bowls and spoons.
What the… what are they doing?
Not being able to draw his eyes away, he saw how the yellow one brought out a dipper from the bag and opened the porcelain bowl with her mouth. She then began pouring its contents into one of the bowls. When she was finished, she placed a spoon in it and pushed it his way before retreating a few feet. He looked at the bowl with skepticism. He didn’t know what to do, one part of his brain shouted at him to kick the bowl away, while the other reminded him of just how long he had gone without eating. It was at that moment that his stomach decided to put in its two cents as well by growling.
He kept eyeing the bowl. He could see little chunks of potatoes and carrots swimming in there, and the smell only made his stomach complain even louder. What if it’s poisoned? I-I can’t eat it. It’s too risky. The sound of soft slurping brought him out of his thoughts. Turning, he saw the pegasus staring at him as she held a spoon to her mouth. Behind her, the purple one was serving herself a bowl as well. Well… if they’re eating it… it can’t be poisoned… right?
Leaning his body forward, he reached out, grabbed the bowl in his hands, and brought it to his face. His mouth started to water as he breathed in the delicious aroma. Swallowing the saliva that had built up, he grabbed a spoonful of soup and blew on it before putting it in his mouth. His eye’s widened. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he had something as tasty as this. It had been a very very long time since he had eaten a home cooked meal.
After swallowing, he discarded the spoon, brought the bowl to his mouth and began gulping it down greedily. He did not care for the burning sensation in his throat as it went down or for the fact that some of it was dripping out the corners of his mouth and into his chest. He kept swallowing until there was nothing but a couple drops of soup at the bottom of the bowl. He let out a long content sigh. If it had been poison, then he would at least die a happy man.
When he put his bowl down and turned to the ponies in front of him, he noticed the amused looks they were giving him. If it would’ve been some other time, he would no doubt be embarrassed from his little display, but right now he couldn’t care less. Instead, he stretched out the bowl in his hands towards the yellow one with a pleading look. He hoped that the action would get the message across.
Giggling a little, the yellow one turned to the unicorn and jerked her head in his direction. Nodding, the purple one’s horn lit up and levitated another dipper full of soup to his bowl. When his bowl was filled, he took the discarded spoon from the ground and ate it at a more normal pace. Now that he was taking his time eating the soup, he realized just how tasty it was. It reminded him a lot of his own mother’s soup. He stopped eating, lowering his bowl to his lap. How long had it been since he last saw her or any other person for that matter? He couldn’t even remember the last thing he had said or done with her. His eyes rested on the ground, trying to recall that memory.
It was in that moment of pause that the pegasus took a few tentative steps towards him. He didn’t turn to look at her, he just let her get closer. It was clear now that they didn’t mean any harm. If they had, they would have already done something. She was now right beside him, looking at the state of his bandages. He followed her eyes and saw that they were all brown with dirt and a few splotches of red. He grabbed the end of the bandage of his upper arm and unwrapped it carefully. When he was finished, he saw just why they were tinted red. Some of the stitches had reopened, allowing the wound to bleed again.
Seeing this, the pegasus dug her head once again in her saddlebag and brought out a first aid kit with her mouth. Turning to him with it still in her mouth, she tilted her head a little to the side with a questioning look. It was obvious what she wanted to do, so he just gave her a nod. Putting the kit on the ground, she opened it and grabbed a fresh roll of bandages in her mouth before speaking to her companion.The unicorn behind her nodded and approached him as well, a white bottle and cotton balls levitating from the kit as soon as she neared it.
Before he had time to react, he found an alcohol soaked cotton ball being pressed against the wound, eliciting a hiss from him. The purple one took a cautious step back, unsure if to continue. After a few seconds and a nod from him, she went back to cleaning the wound. After that, the yellow one brought out from the kit something that caught his attention. A very pointy thing.
Oh hell no.
Shaking his head, he covered the wound with his hand and tried to push himself away with his legs. He refused to be sewn up like a rag doll while conscious or without being drugged beforehand. When he turned back to the yellow one, he saw her giving him the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes he had ever seen.
Damn you…
Letting out a deep breath, he let go of his arm and nodded at her. To his surprise, it was the purple one who took the needle and thread in her purple glow and floated it close to the wound. He turned his head away as soon as he felt the cold touch of the needle, and had to bite down hard on his inner cheeks when it pierced his skin. He was relieved it had only been two stitches that had opened on his arm. Looking down at the other bandages, he paled a little when he saw that almost all of them had a similar red tint. To his relief, the other wounds were also only missing two or three stitches.
“Thank you.” He said bowing his head when they finished changing his bandages. The two of them stared at him, surprised by his sudden voice. It had been the first time he had addressed them. Shaking their heads, they recovered by smiling back at him and responding with some words of their own. The pegasus then turned away from him, putting away all the plates she had brought out.
As she did that, the purple one walked up to him once more and opened her own saddle bag. Lighting up her horn, she levitated out a familiar brown bundle of fur and placed it at his feet before taking a few steps back. No, it can’t be... Last he remembered, he had taken off his bear hide while working on his staff back at the clearing. Rolling open the hide, he found inside both his knife and axe attached to his belt, both shining as if they had been cleaned. Looking up to her, he gave her a small smile and a nod before taking it in his hands and securing it on his waist. Next, he grabbed the hide and slipped it on, smiling at the familiar warmth it gave him.
He was so lost in the memories the hide brought that he did not notice the ponies making their way to the edge of the clearing. They were about to cross the treeline when the yellow one spoke to him.
Turning to her, he gave her a questioning look. She then proceeded to repeat the question to him while signaling with her hooves to him, a ‘come here’ wave and a nod of her head in the direction they came from. He understood now. She was asking him to follow them back. He hesitated for a moment, his face and mood darkening. Did he want to go with them?
After all, these were the same creatures that had tried to capture him countless times all those years ago before encountering the wolves. Their insistence was great, but time and time again, he managed to outsmart them or scare them away. He never knew what they saw in him to warrant such persecution. Now, here they were again, and this time, they had him at their will. Their intentions didn’t seem malicious like the others, but it still nagged him at the back of his head if this was just a farce to get him to lower his guard.
You do catch more flies with honey than vinegar...
Looking away from her, he gazed back down at his body thinking things over. It was going to be hard to to keep on going in the state he was in. Many things were going to be much more taxing while he recovered, but he was sure he could do it. He also had to take care of his pack. They might be dead, but he wasn’t about to let them rot like any other animal. They deserved better.
His mind was made. Looking up to the yellow pegasus, he closed his eyes and shook his head at her. They had helped him, sure, but there was no telling if they had planned this beforehand. He was very grateful for all they had done, but he just couldn’t go with them. The pegasus nodded her head and went back to relay this to the purple one, who spoke up almost immediately.
From the look of things, the purple unicorn wasn’t happy with what she had been told. He could hear the frustration in her voice, and if he was not mistaken, maybe a little concern. The yellow one tried to calm her down while pointing to a blue jay perched on a tree branch. Whatever she said caused the purple one to turn away and bite her lip, a look of uncertainty on her face. After a few seconds, she let out a sigh and nodded her head, responding to the yellow one in a soft voice. The pegasus pressed a hoof on her foreleg and turned away from him, continuing their discussion as they walked away.
Shaking his head, he turned away from their conversation and began taking in his surroundings. He didn't remember this part of the forest. Nothing from around looked familiar. Looking at the area from above would’ve helped him get an idea of where he was, but he was in no condition to climb any trees. Three short clops got him out of his thoughts. When he turned to the source he saw that the purple had came back and was trying to get his attention.
She sat, pointed to him, drew a figure in the air with her hooves of a house and pointed to her left. It took him a few seconds to understand what she was trying to tell him. Is she trying to point me to my camp?
He mimicked her actions and pointed his hand in the same direction as her hoof with a questioning look. She nodded her head. Well, they've been helpful so far. At least this is better than going in a random direction. With that, she went back to the pegasus who seemed to be talking with a bird. It might have been his head still playing games on him, but he swore he saw the bird giving her a salute with its wing before flying off.
When she reached her, they exchanged a couple of words before turning to him one last time and leaving. He let his head fall back to the tree. He closed his eyes and listened to the soft chirping of the birds and the fading clip clop of their hooves. He stayed there for a moment, taking in the relaxing sounds of the forest. After he’d had enough, he grabbed his staff and used it to help himself up.
He still needed to get back to his camp.
After what felt like hours of trudging through the forest, his legs were once again aching in clear displeasure of still being used after all they had gone through. He was beginning to wonder if the purple one hadn’t sent him in the wrong direction. His suspicions were dispelled when his nose picked up a slight ashen scent. He increased his pace. He was bound to be close. Soon enough, the trees began to disperse and his clearing came into view.
Everything was just as he had left it. The fallen bodies of his comrades were scattered about. The hut he had used for shelter still stood tall and abandoned. The only thing that had changed was that the once burning pile of wooden wolves were now nothing but a small mound of smoking ashes. He stepped closer to the smoldering remains to check what was left of them.
Crouching down, he moved his fingers around the ash and small chunks of surviving wood. After a bit of rummaging around, he found a handful of teeth and claws. Most of them had lost their light brown color for a much darker shade, some of them even becoming black. These will make a fine necklace. He thought at the possibility of a new hunting trophy. It would go well with the knife I made from that deer all those years ago.
Putting the teeth and claws aside, he rose to check on the bodies of his fallen packmates. From the look of their bodies, he could see that they were starting to bloat. How long was I out? Upon closer inspection, he could also see that something had come along and took a quick bite out of the bodies. The only ones untouched ones were Santra and Krovi, the pair having fallen beside each other. If he looked close, he could swear he saw Krovi’s sides were moving. If only…
He took to one knee and began to run his hand along Krovi’s head and back, feeling the poor pups soft fur under his fingers. He closed his eyes as he petted the corpse, his mind going back to the attack. If only I had been faster I could have saved at least one of you. But I failed. I failed you all. He could feel his eyes dampening along with the tip of his fingers. Wait, what the— His eyes snapped open, revealing Krovi to be licking his hand.
“Krovi!”
He snatched the pup up in an instant and brought him in for a hug. “I thought you were dead boy.” He said in a faint voice. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” The pup responded by licking his neck, eliciting a small chuckle from him. He tightened his grip around the pup. It looks like I do have something to look forward to after all. The embrace continued for another couple of moments before he let the pup go and turned to the dead pack.
“What am I going to do with all of you?” He asked himself.
He wanted to give them a proper burial, but in the conditions his arms were, he doubted that he could dig a grave for each one of them, let alone a single large grave for the whole pack. Not to mention he didn’t have a shovel. He was sure he could make one, but that would require taking down a tree for the wood, and his arms would not appreciate such a task.
He scanned the clearing trying to think of an answer, when his eyes landed on what had been his campfire and the remains of his former foes. Well, I could always make them a proper pyre… He scratched his beard absentmindedly while contemplating the idea. I would still need a lot of wood for that though. His hand stopped and glanced back at his hut.
It was something very simple, having only leaned a log against a tree and covered both sides with as many branches and smaller logs as he could find. It took quite some wood to finish, but he did not think it was enough for a pyre. As much as it pained him, he was going to need to scavenge the forest for more wood. This is going to be a long evening. He thought sighing. “At least I have a head start.”
Planting the spear on the ground, he heaved himself up and began to make his way out of the clearing. “Come on Krovi, we’re going to need a lot of wood.”
Several hours later, and many, many trips back to his campsite, he was done gathering wood. The only thing left for him to do was to build the pyre. Stepping towards his hut, he began to strip it of its walls, making sure to put aside the bigger branches and logs. When he has done, he took the thickest ones and placed them on top of some rocks to build the frame of the first layer of the pyre. He had to make sure there was a space between the pyre and the ground. When he was done with the frame, he proceeded to fill it with the smaller, drier, more combustible branches.
This process repeated itself numerous times until he ran out of wood. By the end of it all, the pyre reached his upper chest in height which seemed good enough for him. He gave a small smile at his work. His pack deserved the best farewell he could give them. Looking up to the sky, he noted the moon had passed its halfway point. This took much longer than I thought it would. His aching muscles agreed with that thought.
Ignoring them for now, he headed towards the wolf corpses and took them one by one into his arms before placing them on top of the pyre. There was only one thing to do now. Light the fire. God, I wish I still had that flint. Taking some of the remaining wood that was too small for the pyre, he made a small bed of sticks and shrub beside the pyre and began the tedious process of starting a fire with a stick.
With how tired his arms had gotten, it took him a couple of tries to manage to get an ember. He blew carefully into the glowing wood to make sure it stayed alive, and when he saw it was stable enough to move, he deposited it into the small bed of wood. He continued blowing on it until he saw the first flames emerge. Then, he used his staff to push the growing fire bellow the pyre where he let it spread. Just to make sure it wouldn’t die, he took off his bear hide and fanned the flames until they became big enough to sustain themselves.
With the help of a small gust of wind, the flames grew and the pyre began to burn in earnest. It looked like his work here was done. Taking a few steps back, he sat with his back on a tree. Krovi joined him soon after deciding to rest his head on his lap. He ran his hand through the pup’s fur while he gazing into the dancing flames. “Rest in peace brothers,” he muttered under his breath. “I’ll take care of him, don’t worry.” He continued running his hand up and down the pup while taking in the calming sounds of the night and the soft crackling of the pyre. His eyes felt heavy, and seeing how he no longer had a reason to stay awake, he let the sandman take him once and for all.
Meanwhile, on top of a tree not far from him, a purple unicorn finished jotting down what she had just witnessed. Satisfied with what she had observed, she lit up her horn in preparation for a teleportation spell. It looks like he is doing well after all. With that, she popped down into the forest floor and made her way back to her friend’s cabin.
