> Hunters of the forest.
>  by Sylif Daring Doo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Something new arrives.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

_____*Unknown location 8:41 PM*_____

The night was quiet, the wind was soft, the ground was calm, this land was of a rocky wasteland and deep in a canyon, was a camp, this camp was filled with tall creatures that walked upright on two feet, these creatures were known as humans.

The humans patrolled the camp as if expecting an attack or intruders, they wielded torches and swords as they walked through the camp, but unknown to them a dark figure slowly but surely made its way through the camp.

The dark figure silently approached a nearby human watchman and slit his throat with a dagger before proceeding to advance towards a large tent with an insignia.

One of the human watchmen walked passed the tent and surveyed the area for intruders, once he was convinced that no one was there he continued his route.

The dark figure made a mental note about that guards route and continued to the tent, it examined the area for a moment and went inside, inside the tent was a sleeping man, the dark figure approached the man silently and raised a dagger then plunged it deep in the man's heart.

The sleeping man gasped before dying, the dark figure quickly exited the tent and rushed silently to the nearest tent.

The dark figure silently moved through the camp and soon came upon a small group of guards.

"Hmm, I'll need to get rid of them." The figure thought.

The dark figure silently approached the group and drew a dagger, in a flurry of motion the figure threw the dagger and grabbed two swords and proceeded to attack the remaining guards with the swords.

In barely an instant after the battle started it was over, the figure put its weapons away and continued moving towards the exit.

The figure moved silently through the camp and found the exit of the camp, the exit was guarded by four guards, three with swords and torches, the last had a poleaxe.

The figure muttered something and charged the guards, the figure drew its swords and killed the guard with the poleaxe then proceeded to attack the other guards.

One of the guards backed away and raised a horn, he blew the horn sending a loud sound through the camp, the guard then lunged at the figure who was now revealed.

The figure was blue with long legs that were bent with two large toes, the figure also had two long tusks that were shaped downwards, the figure had long arms and three fingers and had short dark red hair, the figure was known as a troll.

The troll quickly slashed two of the guards with its swords and quickly threw a dagger into the last guards skull, then the troll retrieved its dagger and ran away from the camp quickly.

"I have to get away." The troll said quietly.

A large group of humans ran up to the slain guards and examined them, one of the men kneeled down to the dead guards. "I recognize these wounds, these men were slain by a troll." The man said.

Another man kneeled next to the one. "What do we do now sergeant?" He asked.

The sergeant looked at the other man and sighed. "For now we gather the dead, tomorrow we strike." He replied.

All of the men saluted and proceeded to get to work gathering the dead.

The sergeant clinched his fist and gritted his teeth.

"Every night more are dead, we must strike soon before we are to late." He said mentally.

The troll however was far away by now, and was hidden for the night.

"One more strike for tha Darkspear." The troll said quietly.

_____*Equestria, Ponyville 3:17 PM*____

Fluttershy walked through the town of Ponyville along with her friend Twilight. 

"I'm just soo excited about the meteor shower that's coming up!" Twilight said happily.

Fluttershy smiled softly. "I-uh-I'm not so sure about the animals though, they'll probably be scared because of it." She replied quietly.

Twilight looked at her friend as they walked. "Don't worry it'll be fine, tell you what, if you want I can go with you to help calm them down." She offered.

Fluttershy nodded. "Thanks, so when is it?" She asked.

Twilight looked at the town hall's clock and saw the time. "Eight o' clock, I think." She replied.

Fluttershy looked around and noticed something odd. "Um, Twilight?" She asked quietly.

Twilight was rambling about some mystical properties that the meteors had. 

Fluttershy gulped and started to poke Twilight. "Twilight, you might want to see this." She said quietly.

Twiliight looked at her friend who was pointing at the sky. "What in the name of Celestia!" She swore as she saw the sky.

The sky was a faded red and what looked like fireballs were raining down from it, Twilight knew what it was in an instant. "The meteor shower, but its too early." She said almost out of breath.

Fluttershy looked at her friend. "How dangerous are these?" She asked.

Twilight laughed nervously. "Very, but only if they hit you, just keep an eye out for any that may be coming." She replied calmly.

Fluttershy looked up and gasped. "MOVE!" She ordered in a booming voice.

One of the meteors flew right towards them and Fluttershy pushed Twilight down quickly as the meteor flew right above them and towards the Everfree forest.

Fluttershy and Twilight raised their heads and looked in the direction the meteor flew in. "That was close." Twilight said.

"Yea, if you hadn't moved that meteor it would have killed us." Fluttershy said in relief.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy. "That wasn't me Fluttershy." She replied.

The two mares shared a look of curiosity before standing and heading in the direction the meteor flew in.

______*Somewhere in the Everfree forest two minutes later*_______

"SCOOTALOO WHERE ARE YOU?" Asked a voice.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Asked another.

A dark figure walked up to the crash site of the meteor and looked down to see an injured Pegasus filly. "Well this isn't good." The figure said before grabbing the filly and walking off.

The meteor had crashed near a lake in the forest and had set many of the wild animals amok, soon two filly's ran up to the crash site. 

"Do you see her?" One of the filly's asked.

"Ah don't see her." The other replied.

One of the filly's was a unicorn and the other was an earth pony, the unicorn had a white coat and light purple and pink mane, she also had green eyes. the earth pony had a yellow coat and red mane, she also had amber eyes.

The unicorn was called Sweetie Belle and the earth pony was called Apple Bloom.

"We have to find her! what if she was hurt?" Sweetie Belle said in a panicked tone.

"Ah know!" Apple Bloom replied in a hurt tone.

The two searched the site but found no trace of their friend, eventually however Apple Bloom found a set of hoof tracks.

"Look hoof tracks! maybe they'll lead us to Scootaloo." Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie Belle hurried over to the tracks and began to follow them along with Apple Bloom.

The tracks lead deeper into the forest but the two filly's were determined to find their friend, they soon came across a strange pole, the pole had four skulls around it, two at the top and two at the middle, it also had some odd masks around it giving it an eerie feel.

"What now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom looked around for more tracks but found none, all that she could find was a small puddle of blood but no trail.

"Ah don't know, it seems like something happened to make the trail go cold." She replied.

Sweetie Belle had tears falling out of her eyes. "But- we can't just leave her!" She shouted.

Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle with a pained expression. "Ah know but we can't do anything without help, we should go get some help then come back, how do you think her mom feels right now?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle gasped and covered her mouth with her hoof as she started sobbing. "I-I didn't think about that, I'm sorry." She said between sobs.

Apple Bloom put her hoof on her friends shoulder, come on, lets get back to Ponyville, at least we can tell everypony what happened.

Sweetie Belle reluctantly nodded after a few moments and she looked at the puddle of blood. "I'm sorry Scootaloo." She said before walking towards the town.

Apple Bloom let a tear out and she followed her friend.

______*Outskirts of the Everfree ten minutes later*_______

Fluttershy and Twilight arrived at the outskirts of the Everfree and stopped as they approached the forest. "Um-Twilight are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, we need to make sure nopony was hurt by the meteor." She replied.

Fluttershy nervously gulped and watched as Twilight approached the forest, she reluctantly followed her friend.

Twilight's ear twitched as she heard something coming towards them. "Fluttershy, do you hear that?" She asked.

Fluttershy listened closely for a few moments before looking at her friend. "Yea I do, why does It sound like running?" She asked.

Twilight looked at the edge of the forest for a moment before she saw what looked like filly's running towards them.

Fluttershy looked at the filly's and immediately recognized them. "Sweetie Belle? Apple Bloom?" She asked.

The two filly's stopped and sat down while breathing heavily. "We-couldn't-Scootaloo-searched-never." Sweetie Belle replied.

Twilight and Fluttershy walked up to the filly's and kneeled down. "Slow down, where's Scootaloo?" Twilight asked.

Apple Bloom calmed down and looked at Fluttershy. "We were exploring the forest along the safe paths that Zecora told us about, we heard something behind us and saw this HUGE fireball flying straight at us, we moved out of the way but Scootaloo got stuck on a root, she-she got hit by the fireball, we couldn't find her." She said sadly.

Fluttershy gasped in shock and collapsed to the ground and began sobbing heavily. 

Twilight seemed to be in shock, she looked at the two with a serious face. "Go home, get your sisters, we need to find Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle nodded and sniffled before heading to her sisters shop.

Apple Bloom nodded and walked off towards the farm.

Twilight started to walk towards the forest. "Stay here Fluttershy, I'll find Scootaloo." She said blankly.

Fluttershy said nothing as she cried. 

Twilight let a tear out before heading into the forest.

"I'll find Scootaloo, you can count on it Fluttershy" She said silently.
> Strange creatures.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*Somewhere in the Everfree forest*______

"Ugh, where am I?" Scootaloo asked groggily.

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes and noticed she was in a forest hut, presumably Zecora's. 

"Don't worry, your safe." Said a voice.

Scootaloo felt major pain in her chest and noticed she couldn't get up, she looked at her chest and noticed that she was strapped down. "What have you done to me?" She asked.

A light laugh rang through the hut. "I assume you mean the rope? if you must know it was just to make sure you didn't try to move, your far too injured for that." Said the voice.

Scootaloo sighed and rested her head on something furry, she looked only to see a rather large panther. 

"AHH!" She screamed.

The voice laughed again. "Relax, that's just Shade, she wont hurt you." Said the voice.

Scootaloo looked around to the best of her ability and saw no one. "Show yourself." She demanded. 

"As you wish." The voice said.

Scootaloo watched as a tall creature appeared in her vision, the creature was wearing some kind of armor that was forest green and seemed to have fur, the creature was definitely female from its appearance.

The creature had a hood over its head and had leather gloves and boots with matching wristbands, the creature itself seemed to be rather tall.

"What are you?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

The creature laughed briefly. "I should be asking you questions considering this seems to be your home world." It replied.

Scootaloo watched carefully as the creature walked over to her and cut the ropes before walking over to a cabinet.

The creature pulled a variety of containers and vials out of the cabinet before mixing certain ones.

Scootaloo knew that she should probably run, but the large panther and the increasing pain in her chest made her decide against it.

The creature walked over to Scootaloo and looked at her before handing her a potion. "Drink." She ordered.

Scootaloo gave her a look of disbelief. "And why would I do that?" She asked.

The creature chuckled before giving Scootaloo a look that would paralyze a cockatrice. "Because if you don't you will die, and I am very sure you don't want that, so drink." She ordered again.

Scootaloo gulped and reluctantly drank the potion before gagging. "GAH, what was that?" She asked in a raspy voice.

The creature sighed and walked back to the cabinet. "Something that will keep you alive while I close your wound, oh and also, if you feel drowsy do NOT fall asleep." She warned.

Scootaloo began feeling drowsy and fought the urge to sleep. "Kinda hard." She replied sarcastically.

The creature sighed and removed its hood. "It isn't really just think of staying awake, it should help." She replied.

Scootaloo did so and miraculously she wasn't drowsy anymore, she looked at the creature and her wings flew open, she quickly closed them.

The creature had light purple skin and short cyan hair. "What are you?" Scootaloo asked before realizing she had already asked this.

"Not right now, first things first, need to close the wound." She replied before turning around.

Scootaloo noticed that the creature had purple markings on its face and had glowing blue eyes.

"What wound?" She asked.

The creature gave her a serious glare before handing her a root. "You might want to chew on this, it'll help you bare the pain." She said.

Scootaloo examined the root, it was clean and had nothing on it, the root was green and thick. "What wound?" She asked again.

The creature shoved the root in Scootaloo's mouth sideways before walking over to a different cabinet, the creature pulled out some items that made Scootaloo want to panic, a sewing needle and thread, a scalpel and bandages.

Scootaloo looked at her chest and almost threw up but managed to swallow it, somehow.

The creature walked over to Scootaloo and pushed her head backwards before beginning to work.

Scootaloo wanted to scream in pain to vent it out, but the root kept her in check, the pain she was beginning to feel was unimaginable as the creature pulled some stuff out of Scootaloo's body.

The creature focused on removing the destroyed organs from Scootaloo's body and the remaining rock.

"I'm amazed that you could move as far as you did, it isn't often that one can move after such a hit." The creature said.

Scootaloo said nothing as she held back the pain from the creature's work.

The creature then began to wrap bandages around Scootaloo's wound after removing the bad organs and debris.

Scootaloo spat out the root as it was no longer helping and screamed in pain. 

The creature stitched the smaller wounds without saying a word.

Scootaloo screamed in pain through the rest of the operation.

_____*Two hours later*_____

Scootaloo opened her eyes and noticed that she was in the same place as before. "I, blacked out?" She asked herself.

"Not really, you actually fell asleep naturally, somehow." Came a familiar voice.

Scootaloo looked to her right and saw the creature sitting in a nearby chair, she then looked at her wound and noticed that it was bandaged.

"That wont be enough to fix that damage." She replied.

The creature laughed. "Oh yes it will, that same method healed a lot worse then that for me one time." She countered.

Scootaloo looked at the creature who had her arms crossed. "What and who are you anyway? She asked.

The creature smiled. "I am a Kaldorei, or Night elf, if you prefer." She explained.

Scootaloo blinked and grunted in pain. "And your name?" She asked.

"Its Shanda, and you?" She replied.

"Scootaloo, and I'm a Pegasus." She said.

Shanda smiled and stood up. "Well then Scootaloo, you had best be still, don't want to agitate your wound." She said before walking over to a nearby cabinet.

Scootaloo sighed in annoyance of the idea of not moving. "When will I be able to move anyway?" She asked.

Shanda looked at Scootaloo. "Depends, if you don't move for about three days you'll be moving within a week, but if you are stubborn you can move today but risk never moving again." She explained.

Scootaloo's eyes widened and she gulped.

Shanda opened the cabinet and pulled out a bow, a quiver and a pair of hunting knives. "I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere." She ordered.

Scootaloo nodded slowly as Shanda exited the hut, Scootaloo took a look around the hut while she had a moment, there was several strange masks around the hut which reminded Scootaloo of Zecora's, there was some stairs that lead upstairs.

_____*Outside the hut four minutes later*_____

Shanda moved quickly through the trees as she hunted her prey, she stopped on a sturdy branch as she heard voices. 

"Twilight darling are you sure this is the right place?" Asked a voice.

Shanda moved quickly through trees until she found the source of the voices, six mares, one was purple one was pink, one was yellow one was orange, one was white and the last was cyan.

"I'm sure Rarity, look there's the pole that your sister told us about." The purple one said.

"Ah don't know Twi but ah don't like this one bit." Said the orange one.

The purple mare turned to face the other five. "I know AJ but we need to find Scootaloo, what if she's hurt?" She asked the mare.

The orange mare sighed in defeat. "Ah get ya." She replied.

Shanda decided it would be best to return. "I have plenty of food anyway." She said quietly before moving through the trees.

As she moved through the trees Shanda heard something familiar. "Bring it on ya beast!" Shouted a voice.

Shanda smiled. "Never makes things dull that's for sure." She said.

_____*Shanda's hut four minutes later*______

Shanda entered the hut and set her kill on a large counter. "How's the pain?" She asked.

Scootaloo groaned. "Its better then it was a couple of hours ago." She replied.

Shanda laughed quietly. "Hope you like fish." She said.

Scootaloo chuckled. "I'm ok with it." She replied.

Shanda walked over to one of her cabinet's and put her hunting knives away after cleaning them, but she kept her bow with her.

Scootaloo looked at Shanda with curiosity. "Why are you helping me?" She asked.

Shanda chuckled. "Something my father taught me, never leave an innocent to die, regardless of its species." She said like it was rehearsed.

Scootaloo smiled at that. "Well how do you know I'm innocent?" She asked.

Shanda shook her head. "Its not that, another saying of his was, do not let appearances fool you, one must not be judged on looks alone." She replied.

Scootaloo set her head down on the wood. "What are you doing out here anyway?" She randomly asked.

Shanda shrugged. "Spell gone wrong, you wont believe how many times me and dad had to adjust to a new world." She replied jokingly.

Scootaloo closed her eyes. "Was there two filly's who are about my age when you found me?" She asked.

Shanda thought for a moment. "I don't think so, but there was a group of mares on their way here four minutes ago." She replied.

Scootaloo's eyes widened and she looked at Shanda. "How many, what did they look like?" She asked quickly.

Shanda gave Scootaloo a scolding glare before groaning. "Six I believe, one was yellow and pink, one was entirely pink, one was cyan and rainbow, one was orange and blonde, one was white and purple, and the last was lavender and some other color." She explained.

Scootaloo sighed in relief.  "Looks like they're coming to find me." She said.

Shanda nodded. "Yes but they will have to be disappointed." She replied.

Scootaloo gave her a look of disbelief. "What? why?" She asked.

Shanda looked at Scootaloo and sighed. "Look, your missing a lot of organs and the wrong move could kill you, if they take you home it could kill you, it doesn't please me to do this but I'm not going to have a corpse on my hands." She replied while standing up.

Scootaloo gasped as Shanda grabbed some more arrows. "Don't you dare kill them!" She shouted.

Shanda smiled and walked over to Scootaloo. "I wont, just going to give them a warning." She replied quietly.

Scootaloo gave her a pissed off glare as Shanda ruffled her hair. "I'll be back." She said quietly.

Shanda exited the hut and Scootaloo looked at the panther who was just staring at her. "What are you looking at?" She snapped.

The panther simply stared at her for a moment before closing its eyes to sleep.

_____*Outside the hut ten minutes later*______

Shanda sat outside the hut keeping an eye out for any trespassers, she knew that her hut would draw the group of pony's attention so she simply had to wait.

And soon enough the wait was over as six mares trotted towards the house, the purple mare from before seemed to be leading.

The purple mare walked towards the hut but paused after seeing Shanda. 

Shanda stared at the group and noticed something odd about the yellow one, there was red circles under her eyes like she had been crying.

The group slowly approached the house but stopped as Shanda stood.

Shanda drew her bow and aimed at the purple one. "Don't come any closer." She warned.

The purple one gulped and took a few steps back.

Shanda did not lower her bow. "What are you doing here?" She asked cautiously.

The purple one almost jumped when Shanda spoke. "W-we're looking for somepony." She replied.

Shanda raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Somepony? you mean someone?" She asked.

The purple one seemed confused. "I guess?" She replied nervously.

Shanda looked at the group, they all seemed equally terrified. "Who are you looking for?" She asked.

The purple one took a deep breath to calm down. "A Pegasus filly by the name of Scootaloo." She replied.

Shanda sighed and looked at the mare. "I don't know what she looks like." She lied.

The purple mare looked at her. "Orange coat purple mane?" She said.

Shanda gave a fake sigh. "I don't know who that is, I'm sorry but I can't help you." She replied.

The yellow mare had a desperate look in her eyes. "Are you sure." She asked very quietly.

Shanda nodded. "Yea I'm sure, now get off my property." She warned pulling the string back for emphasis.

The cyan mare flew up to the purple mare. "Twilight, are you sure we can trust, whatever that is?" She asked quietly.

Shanda gritted her teeth. "I don't like your tone, now go away, and don't come back, last warning." She warned firmly.

The purple mare sighed and her horn started to glow. "Girls, she's close, I can feel it." She said.

Shanda's face turned hostile as she released the arrow, the arrow flew right across the purple mares horn. "Did you think I was joking?" She said hostilely.

The purple mare had a look of terror after the arrow flew passed her. "Wh-wha?" She said in shock.

Shanda prepared another arrow. "Leave." She ordered fiercely.

The cyan mare flew right up to Shanda's face. "Are you trying to kill us!" She shouted.

Shanda smirked under her hood. "I told you to leave, and you didn't." She said calmly.

In the blink of an eye Shanda had thrown the cyan mare towards the group. "Leave." She said firmly.

The cyan mare grunted as she hit the ground hard, she looked at Shanda who was back in her original position.

Shanda aimed at the white mare with her bow. "Don't fire." Said a voice.

The cyan mare went to get up but suddenly stopped moving. "What is going on here?" Asked a voice behind the cyan mare.

Shanda lowered her bow and grinned. "What kept ya?" She asked.

The cyan mare looked behind her and gasped in fear, behind her was a tall creature with blue skin two long tusks and battle armor. 

The creature looked at Shanda and pointed at the house. "Inside, now." He ordered firmly.

Shanda moaned in her opposition to the idea but did so. "Your no fun." She replied.

The cyan mare had a look of fear in her eyes as she stared at the creature in horror. "Calm down mon, I mean you no harm, unless you give me reason to." The creature said.

The purple mare gulped. First we had that insane archer now we have to deal with this?

"Um, we are looking for a pegasus filly, have you seen her?" She asked.

The cyan mare gave her a look of disbelief. "Are you serious! he could kill me at any minute and you ask him THAT?" She shouted.

The creature sighed and walked towards the hut. "I have not seen the one you are looking for, I am sorry." The creature replied before entering the hut.

The group of mares stared in confusion and terror as the creature entered the hut, the cyan mare stood up.

"Girls, we should go." The purple mare suggested.

The cyan mare gulped and stood up, she then walked towards the town slowly.

The purple mare walked up to the yellow mare. "What's wrong with Dash?" She asked.

The yellow mare looked at her friend. "I guess she's in shock." She replied.

The cyan mare had a blank look on her face as she walked, soon her friends followed.

_____*Inside the hut one minute ago*_____

Shanda walked over to a nearby table and sat down. "I didn't kill any of them if that's what your asking." She said.

A cough came from a nearby bench. "And I believe you why?" Scootaloo said in a raspy voice.

Shanda smiled and pulled her hood down. "Because I had no reason to kill them, although I think a scarred one of them for life." She replied.

Scootaloo chuckled as she looked at Shanda. "I think they're still out there." She said.

Shanda shook her head. "Not for long, and you'll find out why in a moment." She replied.

The door opened and a tall creature entered the hut.

Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror at the sight of this creature. "Calm down Scoot." Shanda ordered.

The creature looked at Shanda and sighed. "I know I'm going to regret tis but what are you up to now?" It asked.

Shanda looked at the creature and chuckled. "Just healing her." She said pointing to Scootaloo.

The creature looked at Scootaloo and walked over. "What's your name?" It asked.

Scootaloo gulped. "My name Is Scootaloo." She said quietly.

The creature put its hand over Scootaloo's wound and said some weird words before looking at her. "Da good news is that you will be fine, but da bad news is that you may be permanently scarred." The creature said.

Shanda sighed. "Knock it off, your scaring her." She said.

The creature looked at Scootaloo's face and noticed it. "Ah, my bad." He said apologetically.

Scootaloo gave a huff and looked at the ceiling. "Great, now that you've captured me, what are you going to do?" She asked.

Shanda laughed quietly. "Well I don't know about dad but I'll do exactly what I said I would do, allow you to heal then send you off." She replied.

Scootaloo sighed and closed her eyes. "Fine but don't expect tears, wait what!" She shouted as she looked over at Shanda.

Shanda raised an eyebrow. "What?" She asked.

Scootaloo heard a door close upstairs and pointed up with her good hoof. "You mean, you and him?" She asked.

Shanda's eyes widened and she shook her head and waved her arms in denial. "No no no no, he is my dad but I'm adopted, I swear." She said quickly.

Scootaloo sighed in relief. "That explains that, but what is, he?" She asked in confusion.

Shanda calmed down and walked over to Scootaloo and sat down on a chair. "He's a troll, the Darkspear tribe specifically." She replied.

Scootaloo looked at Shanda. "So where's your mom at?" She asked.

Shanda chuckled and caressed Scootaloo's neck with the back of her hand. "Never had one after he became my dad." She replied.

Scootaloo couldn't help but let out a soft moan at Shanda's touch. "So what's his name?" She asked.

Shanda smiled. "Well, That's not for me to say, but for now you can call him Jod'ka." She replied.

Scootaloo felt a strange sensation pass through her and she drifted into unconsciousness. "You need to rest for now, see you later Scoot." Shanda said as Scootaloo fell asleep.

Shanda stood up and raised her hand and faced the door, she said some strange words and walked over to the counter that the fish was at, only to see that it was gone, Shanda looked at Shade and noticed a fishbone. 

"Damnit Shade." She swore quietly.

> House of hunters.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*the next day 7:31 AM*______

Scootaloo groaned as she awoke and accidentally put her hoof on her forehead causing her to feel intense pain.

"Already trying to suicide?" Came a familiar voice.

Scootaloo returned her hoof to her side and opened her eyes to see Shanda standing over her. "Oh, hey." She said groggily.

Shanda rolled her eyes and walked away. "I take it your not a morning person?" She asked.

Scootaloo grunted. "Yep, never been a fan of it." She replied.

Shanda chuckled. "Tell me about it, but when your a.... hunter.... you learn to get over it quickly." She said.

Scootaloo sleepily looked around the hut. "What's up with the masks?" She asked sloppily.

Shanda facepalmed. "Ugh, oh uh, the masks are for ritualistic purposes." She replied.

Scootaloo noticed the scowl. "Something wrong?" She asked.

Shanda nodded. "Yep, I may have overdid it last night." She replied.

Scootaloo had a look of confusion on her face but decided not to prod.

Shanda silently thanked someone for the silence.

Scootaloo decided to test her legs just to be sure, she moved them lightly to the left and smiled. "Well what do you know, I got feeling in my legs." She said.

Shanda walked over to Scootaloo and moved her legs back to their original position and started to remove the bandages.

Scootaloo was curious. "What are you doing?" She asked.

Shanda looked at her. "I have to change the bandages, unless you want to get an infection?" She countered.

Scootaloo's face turned a pale orange and she was now silent. 

Shanda chuckled and removed the bandages on the legs and saw that they were now fully healed. "I told you that this method works." She said.

Scootaloo looked at her legs and she was now genuinely confused. "How did they?" She was interrupted by Shanda putting her hand over Scootaloo's mouth.

Shanda focused on her work. "I've asked dad the exact same question for years and he could never answer me." She replied.

Scootaloo nodded and rested her head on the wood. "Alright, its one of those unexplainable things right?" She said.

Shanda nodded and removed the last leg bandage. "Yes, and it seems that all that remains is for your legs to rest." She said.

Scootaloo had a look of shock on her face. "I have no idea what you did but it works." She said plainly.

Shanda gave Scootaloo a silencing glare before examining the filly's body, her legs were slightly burnt and had small cuts from the sharper rocks but nothing deep, her arms were burnt to a slightly higher degree but weren't too bad, her head had suffered the least damage, at least to the naked eye, but she wouldn't say anything.

In truth Scootaloo had suffered a small amount of brain damage, thankfully its not enough to do any long standing damage but she would suffer some memory loss.

"Alright, lets check the chest wound." Shanda said while unraveling the bandages on the chest.

Shanda pulled off the last bandage and noticed the wound. "Its smaller that's for sure." She said.

The wound was indeed smaller as it was only the size of a fist, even though Shanda did actually know how the healing worked but she didn't want to waste hours or perhaps days on explaining it.

"Regardless the only thing that you can do right now is wait." Shanda said.

Scootaloo was confused right now. "Do I even want to know how this is even possible?" She asked.

Shanda wrapped more bandages around the wound. "Not really, just don't think about it." She replied.

Scootaloo sighed and leaned her head back. "Fine then." She said.

Shanda stood up and walked over to the table. "You should be able to sit, just take it easy until the wound fully heals." She said.

Scootaloo did so and slowly sat up, she finally got a better look at the hut, even more masks then before and what looked like a rack sat in the corner. 

Footsteps came from above and Scootaloo looked at the stairs to see Jod'ka walk down the stairs. "You look worse then normal." Shanda joked.

Jod'ka sighed and walked into the large room and over to a large cauldron. "How's your friend?" He asked.

"She's mostly fine, she just needs some time and then poof back to normal." She replied making a poof noise for effect. 

Jod'ka put his hands up to his eyes and groaned. "Teenagers!" He shouted.

Shanda laughed softly and Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "I am sure I don't want to know." She said.

Jod'ka lifted the lid off the cauldron to reveal a thick layer of white mist followed by the smell of dirty socks, he pulled a long ladle off of the rack and stirred...... whatever it was in the cauldron. 

Scootaloo was of course curious but not THAT curious. "Yep don't want to know." She added.

Shanda opened a cabinet and then a grabbed a bow and quiver and a pair of hunting knives. "I'll be back later." She said.

Jod'ka nodded and lobbed a small ball at her. "Remember, emergences only." He said firmly.

Shanda nodded and opened the door to leave, she pulled her hood up and left.

Jod'ka looked at Scootaloo for a moment before going back to what he was doing. "I think you should know, yesterday when Shanda kept that group away, it wasn't personal." He said.

Scootaloo looked at him for a moment before sighing. "I'm aware." She replied.

Jod'ka put the lid on the pot and the ladle back on the rack. "Very well." He said blankly.

For a while the hut was left in bare silence as the two had nothing to talk about, occasionally Jod'ka would come downstairs to stir whatever was in the cauldron and return upstairs.

Scootaloo looked around and noticed that the panther was gone. "That's odd." She said.

Jod'ka walked into the room from one of the other doors. "What is?" He asked.

Scootaloo looked at him and rubbed her leg. "Where'd that panther go anyway?" She asked.

Jod'ka suddenly burst into laughter and he attempted to gain control.  "I-I'm sorry-but if you-must know Shade is right there." He replied between breaths while pointing at the window.

Scootaloo looked at the window and saw the panther. "How didn't I notice that?" She asked herself.

Jod'ka walked over to the weapons cabinet and pulled out a javelin and tomahawk. "I'll be back, Shade you know what to do." He said before walking out the door.

Scootaloo looked at the panther who was staring out the window. "Great, me and a panther, this wont end well." She joked quietly.

Shade simply yawned and continued to look out the window. "Wonderful." Scootaloo said.

Scootaloo looked around the hut and noticed a strange tail. "What in the world?" She asked herself.

The tail was like a scorpions complete with a stinger, it looked like it was sliced off entirely.

"Nope." Scootaloo said firmly to herself.

_______*three hours later*______

Shanda walked down the stairs and saw that Scootaloo was asleep so she decided to keep quiet and walked towards the large cauldron in the room.

When Shanda reached the cauldron the door opened and Jod'ka walked in. "Why is it every time I get near this thing you enter the room in some way?" She asked.

Jod'ka chuckled and carried in a dead animal. "Coincidence." He replied with a mocking tone.

Shanda sighed and looked at the dead animal, it was small and looked a lot like a chicken but was far to tall. "Hey dad.....have you seen Rock?" She asked.

Jod'ka shrugged and set the dead animal on the cutting board and proceeded to begin his work. 

Shanda sighed. "I swear every time we find Shade we lose Rock....go figure." She said with annoyance clear in her voice.

Jod'ka silently worked on cutting up the giant chicken thing. "It is your pet you know, you should keep track of it." He said calmly.

Shanda nodded. "Yea, next time I see that lion I will tag him if I have to." She replied before walking towards Scootaloo.

Jod'ka looked over at Shanda for a brief moment before returning to his work. "More will come, or she will return, most likely with that group from before." He stated.

Shanda walked passed Scootaloo and towards a cabinet in the corner and opened it to reveal a large assortment of items, the most noticeable being a blue and green spear with a white crescent moon with the carving of tiki masks on each side and a skull shaped shaft, Shanda carefully pulled the spear out and flipped her hood up.

"I'm going out." She stated before walking towards the door.

Jod'ka sighed and walked over to Shanda and pulled out a scroll. "Here, this contains all of the knowledge I've learned about this world and a one time hearthstone." He handed the contents over to Shanda who took them.

"I'll be back." She said plainly before walking out the door.

Jod'ka sighed and walked over to the cauldron and began stirring. "That girl will be the death of me." 
> A trip into town and questions.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*Outskirts of Ponyville 11:00 AM*_______

Fluttershy made her way towards the small country town, her eyes had slightly visible red circles under them from her crying, she sighed and slightly quickened her pace, Twilight had called the girls together about a new spell that could hopefully find Scootaloo.

When Fluttershy reached the town she felt as if something was watching her for a moment before disappearing, she looked around the area but found nothing more then the townsfolk going about their day. "Strange." She whispered quietly.

Fluttershy slowly made her way to the library as ponies of all kinds moved around her, as she walked she apologized to any she bumped into.

____*five minutes later Golden Oaks Library*____

Twilight was busy researching the spell she had found, it was called The Marking spell, it allows one pony or person to find anything or anyone that they wish, so long as they have a connection to the target, but that's all that Twilight knew at this point, she had called her friends to the library to discuss using said spell to find Scootaloo, she was currently reading more on the spell.

Just as Twilight turned the page the door opened to reveal Fluttershy and Rarity. "Hey girls, I'll be right there." Twilight said.

Rarity and Fluttershy nodded knowingly. "So darling, what is this spell exactly?" Rarity asked.

Twilight smiled. "I'm glad you asked Rarity."

The next ten minutes or so was spent by Twilight explaining the entirety of the Marking spell.

_____*ten minutes ago, Ponyville market*_____

Shanda had begun her explorations by entering the shadows and sticking to them, and there she made her way through the ponies, there seemed to be three kinds just like before.....she pulled out the scroll her father gave her and began reading it.

The scroll read. 'I discovered a town called Ponyville.....don't look at me like that I didn't name it! anyway I found that there seem to be three different races of......ponies, yes yes laugh it up reader! the most common race in this town seems to be the Earthbound, the most physically strong of the three, they appear to have some form of life giving powers that they believe natural.....and if you are wondering where I found this information it took me two weeks, then you have the more balanced of the three, and the most tribal, the Pegasi, ponies with wings and the ability to manipulate weather, how they do so is beyond me and short of dissecting one I will not learn through observation alone, then you have the most magical of the three, Unicorns, ponies with horns to focus their magic and use it at will, while they don't have the physical prowess of the others they do posses the magic to make up for it, that's all.' It finished.

With this information in mind, Shanda began her explorations.

Shanda had a mental heart attack when she first noticed the color of some of these buildings. 'How can the males withstand this much pink?' She wondered.

The real shocker was when Shanda noticed a building made out of gingerbread.....her eye began to twitch. "How has that NOT melted or fallen down?" She asked herself quietly.

Shanda spent most of her time exploring the VERY unnatural town, what confused her even more was that the pink pony from before was constantly running around the town looking for.....something, all the while she kept muttering something about Pinkie senses and the townsfolk seemed to be slightly panicked as they were now occasionally looking up. "What in the world?" Shanda wondered.

Eventually however Shanda came across something somewhat out of place, it was a large tree that had been mostly hallowed out, it had windows and even a small balcony, she could see a bookcase in the tree which made her assume it was the town library. "Ok, it's better than most other buildings here.....if only in color." She mumbled as she made her way through the shadows of the town.

_____*five minutes later, Ponyville*_____

Shanda sighed as she leaned against a wall out of boredom, she had already explored the whole town and the buildings on the outskirts, like a school and a cottage, the only thing of interest was the fact that the yellow Pegasus from before had looked in her direction before walking off, she wanted to follow but found herself oddly compelled not to.

"Alright, got a couple hours left, now what?" She wondered as she looked around.

There was three things of interest in the young night elf's view, a marketplace with various stalls, the tree from before.....and the gingerbread house, after a short time Shanda decided against the market as she heard how racist the townsfolk could be from a pair of Griffins, she sighed and walked away the shadows and toward the gingerbread house. "To hell with it." She said plainly.....and not realizing how bad her decision was.

______*five minutes later, Golden Oaks Library*______

Twilight had finished her explanation of the spell when she finally realized that she lost her audience who was just staring at her as though she was on caffeine, she sighed and looked at her friends. "Sorry I got lost I the middle of that." She apologized.

Rarity chuckled and stood up. "It's quite alright darling, we simply underestimated how complicated it would be." She replied.

Fluttershy nodded and looked at Twilight. "So Twilight...if you don't mind me asking, but what exactly do we need to do? "Fluttershy asked.

Twilight exhaled and walked to the middle of the room and began pacing. "Well you see....what we need is..." A knock at the door interrupted Twilight and she opened the door with her magic to reveal Rainbow Dash and Applejack looking bewildered. 

"Are you two ok?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow and Applejack nodded and walked in. "Yea, we were on our way here but got hungry, so we decided to get something to eat at sugarcube corner." Rainbow started.

Applejack continued. "But when we went inside we saw Pinkie talking to somepony, we got a little bit closer and saw that creature from the Everfree." She said.

"Naturally Aj decided to come here and tell you." Rainbow said.

"It was better than the alternative, it's not like you could beat the creature in a fight anyway." Applejack reminded.

Twilight's eye twitched and she quietly took a deep breath....and released it. "ENOUGH!" She screamed.

Rainbow and Applejack looked stunned for a moment before Twilight calmed down. "Alright, first we head to sugarcube corner and confront the creature if it's still there, then we find out if this spell works." Twilight said in an oddly calm tone.

Everyone not wanting to set Twilight off simply nodded and started walking out of the library and towards sugarcube corner.

______*five minutes earlier, Outside sugarcube corner.*______

Shanda sighed as the entered the physics defying building, immediately upon entering she was assaulted with an overwhelming smell of baked goods and pastries, she looked around and noticed that she was being stared at, she raised an eyebrow and looked at her hand only to notice it was visible. 'So much for a low profile.' She thought as the patrons looked away.

Shanda walked over to an open booth and sat down, it was an uncomfortable for but it was better then nothing, she put her elbows on the table and put her head on her knuckles. 'I doubt a disappearing act would be unoticeable and I don't want to start something by saying something dumb.' She thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a set of footsteps approached her table at a good pace, she just barely looked to the right and saw the pink pony from before, she sighed and brought her head up. 

The pink pony didn't seem to be hostile but was strangely excited. "Uh....hi?" Shanda said cautiously. 

The next thing to happen probably would have confused Shanda for life had it not been for the fact that she had met a talking Murloc, the pink pony gasped loudly and zoomed off to......somewhere.

Shanda blinked and had a confused expression on her face, so she simply stood up and walked over to a counter where a bluish pony with pinkish hair in a swirl, she seemed to be shocked at Shanda's presence at first but composed herself quickly. "Can I get you anything?" She asked politely.

Shanda shrugged. "Uh I guess, what do you sell?" She asked.

"We make and sell pastries and baked goods." The mare replied simply.

Shanda nodded and decided to get something simple. "Eh, bread."

The mare nodded and asked Shanda to wait a moment while she got the bread, when the mare got back she put a small loaf of bread on the counter and looked at Shanda. "How many pieces would you like?" She asked politely.

Shanda shrugged. "Three." She replied.

The mare then cut three pieces of bread from the loaf and passed them to Shanda. "That will be two bits." She replied.

Shanda paused and raised an eyebrow which the mare seemed to noticed. "Bits are small gold coins with a hole in the middle, it's our currency." She explained.

Upon hearing this news Shanda's left eye twitched slightly. 'Gold.....gold is the common currency here.....and I of course don't have much......DAMNIT!' She sighed and pulled two gold coins out and put them on the counter.

The mare looked at the coins oddly before taking them and putting them in a wooden box. "Have a nice day ma'am." She said politely.

Shanda took the bread and walked towards an empty booth, when she sat down she began to slowly eat her bread. "Hmm, wheat." She said quietly.

After a little while Shanda had finished her bread and leaned back against the wall, she pulled her hood down and closed her eyes.

A soft thud came from across the table so Shanda opened her eyes and noticed the pink pony from before sitting there. "Mind if i join you?" She asked.

Shanda shrugged. "I don't see why not." She replied.

"Sorry about before, but I couldn't help myself." She said.

Shanda chuckled and looked around the building. "No problem, I was curious as to what you were doing anyway." She replied calmly.

The pink pony sighed in relief and held her hoof out. "My name is Pinkie Pie, what's yours?" She asked.

Shanda recognized the gesture and bumped Pinkie's hoof with her fist. "Shanda." She replied carefully.

Pinkie gave a soft smile and looked around the building quickly before leaning closer to the table. "Look, I know that your the one who was in the Everfree, and I know that you know where Scootaloo is, the others may have fallen for your lie but I'm not that dumb.....so where is she?" She questioned.

Shanda chuckled and put a hand up in mock surrender. "Alright alright you got me, well done, but regardless." She paused and leaned on the table and lowered her voice to a whisper. "For her own safety I can't tell you." She said.

Pinkie's face had a hint of anger for a second before returning to a neutral expression. "Why not?" She asked.

"Because she needs to heal and it's dangerous to move her, otherwise I would have moved her here right away." Shanda explained.

Pinkie sighed and leaned back with her eyes closed. "How long?" She asked.

Shanda silently thanked the mare for not picking a fight. "Three days...two if she takes it easy." She replied simply.

"Is there a reason that you attacked us?" Pinkie asked quietly.

Shanda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the obvious question. "Two reasons, the first being trespassing, the second is that I couldn't risk you and your five friends finding Scootaloo and attempting to take her home which would kill her." She replied.

After that Pinkie and Shanda remained silent as they had nothing to speak about.

_____*two minutes later*_____

Shanda had her arms crossed, her eyes closed and her hood slightly covering her head when the door opened.

Pinkie looked up to see Twilight and the others looking around when they spotted her, they started to walk towards them until they saw that Pinkie was shaking her head at them.

Twilight was confused but listened to her friend so she waited as Pinkie stood up and walked over. "Pinkie what's the problem?" Twilight asked worryingly.

Pinkie sighed and looked back to Shanda then to Twilight and the others. "You remember the creature from the Everfree?" She asked.

Twilight nodded and gave Pinkie a curious look. "Yea?" She said.

"Well.....the thing is, she's here." Pinkie replied nervously.

Twilight and the others' had a look of shock at Pinkie's words. "What!?" She asked out of shock.

Pinkie silenced her by putting her hoof in Twilight's mouth. "Quiet.....do you want to wake her up?" She warned.

Twilight nodded and Pinkie removed her hoof, she sighed and looked behind Pinkie to see the creature sleeping, it certainly was an odd looking creature but Twilight knew better than to make it mad. "What is it.....she doing here?" She asked.

Pinkie shrugged and looked at the group....for a split second she saw a strange expression on Rainbow Dash's face out of the corner of her eye. "I think she's exploring." She replied.

Twilight looked over to the creature and sighed. "What do we do now?" She asked.

Pinkie looked at Shanda and back to the group. "Let's leave her alone, don't want to make her mad." She said.

With that the group of six left the building headed towards the library.

_____*two minutes later at the library*_____

Twilight entered the library followed by Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow. "What do you want to do Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"The first thing I can think of to do is tell Princess Celestia about this, then we can go from there." Twilight replied.

Fluttershy sighed and sat down on a nearby couch. "Here we go again." She said extra quietly.

_____*meanwhile in the Everfree Forest.*_____

Jod'ka sighed as he stirred the cauldron, he looked over at his guest and chuckled, ever since the young girl was told that she could move slightly again she had been testing it ever since Shanda left.

Scootaloo looked around the hut and noticed things that she never could before, like a set of stairs that led to another floor, strange masks around the hut, Jod'ka and Shanda's Panther Shade sitting by the window, and......Shanda's spear?

"Hey Jod'ka." She said getting the troll's attention.

Jod'ka looked at the Pegasus. "Ya?" He asked.

Scootaloo pointed at the spear leaning against the wall. "I thought Shanda took that with her?" She asked.

Jod'ka raised an eyebrow and walked over to the spear to examine it, he sensed a faint magical trace on the spear and chuckled. "It would seem that she deceived us, heh, that girl will be the death of me." He said.

Scootaloo sighed and looked at Jod'ka. "Mind if I ask you a question?" She wondered.

Jod'ka shrugged. "Go ahead, but I'll ask some questions back." He replied.

Scootaloo nodded in understanding so she asked something small. "Where exactly did you come from?" She asked.

Jod'ka chuckled and sat down in a chair. "I come from a jungle called Stranglethorn Vale, it was a nice enough place once you learned your way around, of course that was before the Gurubashi Trolls stole our home, I now live on the Echo isles just off the coast of Durotar." He explained.

Scootaloo blinked and then decided to ask the next question. "Ok, so what's Durotar?" She asked.

"It's a rocky wasteland that the Orcs named their home, the orcish warchief Thrall named it Durotar after his father Durotan, and before you ask I don't know much about Durotan other then he was Thrall's father." He replied.

Scootaloo took a quick breath and looked at Jod'ka. 'This is a lot to process' She thought. "So let me ask you one last question....how did you meet Shanda?" She asked with genuine curiosity. 

Jod'ka sighed and put her hand to his chin in thought before looking at Scootaloo. "Alright listen.....before I tell you that there are things you must understand, but first I need you to promise something for me." He said.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at this. "What is it?" Page asked.

Jod'ka readjusted himself on his chair and looked at Scootaloo. "I need you to swear not to tell anyone anything that I tell you without me or Shanda's consent, that also includes what I've already told you." He stated.

Scootaloo nodded. "I swear I won't tell anyone, on my honor." She said in a serious tone.

Jod'ka nodded and stood up before walking over to his cauldron and then stirring it. "Very well, be warned it is a lot....now then, in my world, Azeroth, there are two dominant factions that dispute control over territory, you have The Alliance, several races that value honor and courage, the Humans, tall creatures that form the backbone of the Alliance, the Gnomes, small creatures that are the Alliance's engineers, the Dwarves, short and stout creatures with toughness of the earth, they serve as soldiers and master blacksmiths, the Worgen, Humans cursed by a Mage called Arugal to forever be Worgen, they serve as soldiers and trackers, the Dreanei, tall creatures that came from Dreanor which was also the home of the Orcs, I don't see them very often so I assume they serve as the enchanters, and lastly the Night Elves, an ancient race that was once known as the 'Highborne', from what I see they serve as soldiers, assassins and support." He explained.

Scootaloo's jaw dropped at all of this information, she closed it but realized something. "Wait a minute, didn't Shanda say she was a Night Elf?" She asked.

Jod'ka nodded. "Yes." He replied simply.

Scootaloo's brain finished processing all of this information when something clicked in her head. "Wait a minute, then what is the other faction?" She asked.

Jod'ka took a breath and walked back to his chair to sit. "That would be The Horde, a loose alliance of races which are commonly referred to as the mogrel races of Azeroth, we value strength as well as honor, you have the Orcs, a strong and powerful race that forms the primary muscle of the Horde, the Tauren, a proud and spiritual race of enormous strength, they make excellent hunters and trackers as well as warriors, the Forsaken, a race of dead humans brought back to life simply for war until they broke free of their shackles and allied themselves with the Horde, they are mostly alchemists and assassins but there are solders amongst them, the Blood Elves, they are similar to Night Elves but have a distinct difference that separates them, even with their unshakable addiction to magic they serve as mages, soldiers and support, the Goblins, one of the more 'recent' additions to the Horde, along with their technological prowess and their many gadgets they serve as our engineers, scientists, soldiers and support, and finally you have the Darkspear tribe, the outcasts of the Troll empire, we serve the Horde as soldiers, support, and even assassins." Jod'ka explained.

Scootaloo took a moment to process all of this information until she realized something, she looked at Jod'ka. "You and Shanda's races are enemies, so something happened right?" She asked.

Jod'ka nodded and took a breath. "That is true, although......truth be told I actually found Shanda by chance, and not a moment too soon." He replied.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Jod'ka sighed and stood up again. "It was when i was on a mission seventeen years ago, I was too scout out a Night Elven village for weaknesses when.....something struck."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "What happened?" She asked.

Jod'ka turned to face away from Scootaloo and had a grim expression on his face. ".....Disaster." He replied somberly.

"I don't think I will ever understand what happened exactly, I hadn't arrived until after it happened, out of curiosity I ran to the village to search for signs of life....." 

_____*flashback 17 years ago [1]*______

Jod'ka ran into the burning village, he looked around only to see destroyed and burning buildings, he ran into the village hall but found nothing, he searched the village for an hour but found no survivors.

Jod'ka heard a scream come from a nearby building and he raced towards it......he came upon a burning house with burning debris blocking the door, he found a low window and backed up.......he then ran at the window before leaping at it which broke the glass but got him inside, he was now panting from exhaustion but he was determined to find someone alive, he began to search the house until he heard something. "AAHHHH!" Came another scream.

Jod'ka realized it came from upstairs so he raced to the stairs and ran up them only to see a Night Elven woman trapped sideways under some debris, she seemed to be clutching something tightly, she didn't seem to be moving so Jod'ka quickey ran up and started to move the debris.

When Jod'ka got the last piece of debris off of the woman he saw that she was holding a bundle in her arms, he reached out and flipped the woman over and saw that the bundle was a Night Elven baby, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before reaching out with his hand again, this time he put his hand right over the woman's heart to check for a pulse.

While Jod'ka knew that his mission was to scout the village for weaknesses, he would never dream of endangering children, so when he felt a pulse that seemed to be clinging to one last shard of life, he couldn't help but let out a single tear.

When Jod'ka opened his eyes only to see the dying Night Elf looking at him with a single half open eye he felt like there was a chance to save her, he surged some magic through his arm but found his magic being rejected, he looked at the woman who had put her hand where Jod'ka's was and shook her head, Jod'ka did not understand the woman's actions until she moved again. "Why did you?" He asked out of confusion.

The Night Elf responded by shakily moving her one hand off of the bundle the baby was in and giving Jod'ka a pleading glare.

Jod'ka looked the woman in the eye and understood what she was asking. "I.....I understand." He said somberly as he brought his hand away from the Night elf.

The Night Elf did no more as her injuries caught up to her, Jod'ka closed her half open eye and gently took the baby, he held the baby close as he left the burning house, he walked down the stairs and towards the door, he simply gave the door a good kick and the debris flew out.

Once Jod'ka was out the door he looked back at the house he was just in when he realized something.....he would have to take care of the baby as it would be unlikely the Elves would let him live, he then held the baby in front of his face and made a promise. "A life died to save yours, and I'll be damned if I don't do everything I can to protect you." He swore.

____*end of flashack*____

"Later that day I went back to that same house and found out that the woman's name was Shona, and with that I renamed that baby Shanda." He finished.

Scootaloo looked deep in thought on the story until Jod'ka spoke. "Was that the last of your questions?" He asked.

This broke Scootaloo from her trance and she nodded.

Jod'ka sat down on his chair and proceeded to ask Scootaloo about Equestrian society, from its species to its city's, and what little amount of history she knew.

_____*sugarcube corner five minutes later*_____

Shanda opened her eyes and suddenly remembered where she was. "Crap....how long was I out?" She asked herself quietly.

"Well i don't know but you really are a peaceful sleeper." Came a voice from nearby.

Shanda looked around but saw no one until a throat being cleared stopped her. "I'm down here." Came the voice again.

Shanda looked down to the floor next to her and saw a small filly around the size of Scootaloo, she had no wings or horn and had yellow fur with red hair, she had amber eyes and had a ridiculously large bow in her hair. "Can I help you?" She asked the filly.

The filly shrugged and gave her an examining look. "What are you?" She asked curiously.

"Night Elf." Shanda replied simply.

The filly however seemed to be excited about the species and jumped up to the other seat of the booth. "Ooh.....what's that?" She asked excitingly.

Shanda however internally groaned at her predicament and her inability to say no to a simple question or request from a child. 'Im doomed.' She thought as she found herself caught in a trap of answering seemingly never ending questions.
> The return home.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

_____*The next day, Shanda and Jod'ka's hut 8:19 AM*_____

Shanda groaned as she opened her eyes and rubbed her forehead, she slowly sat up to lessen the backlash of a light head and a migraine.

"That filly can talk." She mumbled to herself as she stood up and walked over to an inbuilt cabinet that she had put in the wall.

Shanda grabbed a simple pair of dark blue pants and a plain white shirt, as she dressed her mind went back to that filly from Sugarcube corner and Scootaloo, the filly was called Apple Bloom and she seemed genuinely curious about what and who she was, in all honesty Shanda knew that she should have been more careful in a town filled with potential enemies but she had an annoying complex where she couldn't say no to kids....Scootaloo was an exception as she was wounded but still.

"Might as well see if I'm good for the day or if there's things that need doing." Shanda mumbled quietly.

In truth, Shanda was a highly trained assassin that had some skill in voodoo, not as much as her father but she could easily do a small empowerment hex, the only flaws that Shanda really seemed to have were kids.....and ice cream much to her fathers annoyance.

'I could probably see if this world has ice cream and bring some home.....if only to see dad's face.' She chuckled slightly at the image of her father's eye twitching when she brought home twenty cones of ice cream back when she was a kid.

After Shanda was dressed she walked over to her door and opened it, she walked out of her room and headed downstairs.

____*downstairs*____

Shanda entered the main room to find Jod'ka cooking something and Scootaloo passed out on the couch, Shanda rolled her eyes and walked over to Scootaloo, she knelt down and gently shook Scootaloo causing the filly to stir.

"....ugh, mom it's Saturday." Scootaloo complained sleepily.

Shanda rolled her eyes and poked Scootaloo's hoof that acted as her pillow. "It's not mom but you need to get up." She said quietly.

Scootaloo groaned and yawned with her hooves stretched, she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it anyway?" She asked no one in particular.

Shanda looked over to their clock and saw that it said eight twenty. "It's eight twenty." She said repeating the clock.

Scootaloo opened her eyes and had a sleepy expression on her face. "Oh....morning Shanda." She said.

Shanda chuckled and stood up. "Morning Scoots, I wouldn't recommend moving around right away." She commented before walking over to Jod'ka.

"What's on the menu today dad?" Shanda teased while setting her hands on the counter and looking at her father. "Nothing much, eggs, spice bread and rice.....need to use it up." He added for the rice.

Shanda nodded and looked over at Scootaloo who looked horrible. "Your not a morning person are ya Scoots?" She asked the filly.

Scootaloo grunted and nodded. "I hate mornings." She commented.

Shanda shrugged and started on the spice bread while her father made the rest. "Hope you like rice Scoots." She told the filly.

Scootaloo blinked and slowly stood up from the couch and winced as her legs sent a small wave of pain. "Rice is okay." She replied while walking over to what looked like the table, she carefully sat down on one of the chairs.

After a time, breakfast was ready and on the table, Shanda noticed that there was barely any rice but said nothing as she ate her food in silence, Jod'ka said nothing the entire time and Scootaloo mimicked him but for different reasons.

After breakfast Jod'ka went upstairs to get into his hunting gear, leaving Shanda and Scootaloo alone downstairs. "Hey Shanda.....can I ask you something?" She asked.

Shanda nodded as she finished cleaning. 

"What happens after I'm healed?" Scootaloo asked with curiosity.

Shanda paused and took a moment to answer, in truth she was used to people she healed leaving right away, but Scootaloo was a special case, as this time they were Inside an abnormally dangerous forest that she knew next to nothing about.....so she decided to wing it.

"I'll bring you out of the forest and take you to the town, if I can't find anyone to meet us I'll just drop you off at the physics defying bakery. "She replied.

Scootaloo took a moment until she realized what building she meant. "Sugarcube corner?" She asked.

Shanda snapped her fingers. "That's the one!.....but enough about what might happen, let's focus on today hmm?" She asked the filly.

Scootaloo shrugged and walked over to the couch from her spot at the table. "So what torture you got for me today?....I've crossed off boredom and you already pulled some of my organs out of my chest, so what next?" She asked teasingly.

Shanda put her hand to her chin in thought until an idea came to mind. "Well, Since you can't walk very far without needing to rest....I have the perfect game for us to play." She said as she walked up the stairs.

Scootaloo was now concerned as she heard a small amount of wickedness in that last sentence, she gulped as she heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

Shanda then came down the stairs with what looked like a board game. "Warchief's!.....goblin Cartel addition, very addicting!" She proclaimed wickedly.

Scootaloo had no idea what the goblin cartel was but she didn't think it was good. "Uh.....how do we play?" She asked nervously.

Shanda grinned and walked up to Scootaloo before putting the box on the ground, she backed up a little bit as she lifted the lid off the box and jumped backwards.

"What are you?...." Scootaloo's grin was cut off however as a mechanical table sprung up from the box and what looked like a city was on top of it, the table itself had greenish blue metal and was loosely fitted as if patchwork. 

Shanda walked up to the table and sat down on one end as she grabbed three small boxes started setting up the board. "Steamwheedle or Bilgewater?" Shanda asked the filly.

Scootaloo raised and eyebrow as she leaned in. "Sorry?" She replied.

Shanda sighed and continued setting up the game. "Do you want to play the Steemwheedle version or the Bilgewater version?" She asked.

Scootaloo scratched the back of her head and shrugged. "Bilgewater." She replied.

After that, Shanda put one of the boxes away and opened another, she then started to set up small statues of green people with giant ears, Scootaloo assumed that they were characters, that was when Shanda set three of these characters in front of Scootaloo and herself.

Scootaloo scratched the back of her head and looked at Shanda in confusion. "Is it set up?" She asked.

Shanda nodded and cleared her throat. "Ok now I'm going to explain how this game works, in front of you are three character you can play, remember though that you can only pick one of them." She started. 

Scootaloo looked at the three in confusion, she looked at Shanda for help and heard her sigh. "Okay, let me explain a bit more." 

Shanda then waved her hand over the city. "This is Kezan, the great city of the Bilgewater cartel, they basically control trade over the high seas, now, those characters are called Zandra Silverfingers, Gearmind and Rocketfist, Zandra is the healer, Gearmind is the fighter and Rocket is the juggernaut, I'll let you pick first and we can go from there....I'll tell you what you need to know progressively."

After that, Scootaloo and Shanda began their game with Scootaloo as Gearmind, and Shanda as Zandra, the game went quite smoothly as Shanda explained the game to Scootaloo as they went on.

_____*thirteen hours later, 8:43 PM, the Everfree Forest*____

Shanda stood completely still on the thick tree branch as she pulled back the bow string....her target was a rather large boar that she had tagged with an arrow, the beast was currently attempting to mend its wound by pulling on the arrow imbedded in its leg.

"Sorry bud, but a girl needs to eat." She whispered quietly as she released the arrow sending it flying at the boar and into its heart.

Shanda jumped off from the branch and walked towards the boar that had just died, she reached out and pulled the arrow out of its heart, and then the one in the boar's leg, she then sighed and began dragging the boar home. "This is going to be a long night." She muttered.

The only other interesting thing to happen that night was Scootaloo having a horrified expression as Shanda dragged the boar in......and Jod'ka's cauldron randomly exploding in a burst of green mist.

______*the next day 12:00 AM*______

Shanda was in a down mood about the day ahead of her, it wasn't the fact that Scootaloo was going home today, or the amount of things she would most likely have to kill.....it was what came after, if it was up to her she would just go back home after getting Scootaloo out of the Everfree, but as it turns out, the only pony she knew of that knew Scootaloo would be busy. 

So now she would have to wait at Sugarcube corner until someone showed up. "Forget this, I'm going to get some sleep." She told herself as she stood up from her seat at the bottom of the stairs, she walked up the stairs and into her room. 

After Shanda undressed and got under the covers one thought lingered in her mind. 'Im gonna miss the filly.' She thought before drifting off into sleep.

____*meanwhile with Jod'ka and Scootaloo.*____

Scootaloo and Jod'ka shared looks of confusion as to why Shanda suddenly stormed off upstairs, until Jod'ka chuckled in realization. 

At the sound of the chuckle, Scootaloo looked at Jod'ka with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked the troll.

Jod'ka looked at the filly and rolled his eyes. "It is obvious isn't it?....she will miss you." He explained.

This got Scootaloo confused. "She does know that she can visit right?" She wondered.

Jod'ka sighed and walked over to the filly, he then knelt down and looked her in the eye. "That's just it, we might not be able too for two different reasons, the first being that we may get drove out of town and possibly the forest, the second being that we need to leave this world eventually....Shanda knows this and that is what troubles her." He replied calmly.

Scootaloo lowered her head in thought at the words of the troll. 'I don't even know what happened.'

Jod'ka stood up and walked over to his cauldron and began stirring it. "I am beginning to hate this stuff." He muttered.

______*three hours later, outside Jod'ka and Shanda's hut, 3:23 PM*______

Shanda and Scootaloo stood outside the hut looking at it. "So this is the whole hut huh?" Scootaloo asked.

The night elf nodded with a grin. "Yep.....come on Scoots, don't want to be late....would hate to give a wrong first impression." She joked, she was currently wearing a set of black leather armor with a red stripe down each of the sides, she also had a black hood over her head.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Even though your first impression was shooting arrows at them.

Shanda shrugged. "Like I said, didn't want them killing you." She commented.

Scootaloo sighed, knowing fully that the night elf was correct. "Yea yea yea." She said sarcastically.

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, save for the random Timberwolves which Shanda destroyed quickly with a simple fireball from her hands.

"How did you do that?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

Shanda shrugged and waved her hand while conjuring a small amount of flame to cover her hand. "It's simple arcane magic, funnily enough the rest of my race are crappy mages." She joked as she dispelled the flames.

Scootaloo paused for a moment before resuming her walk. "Aren't you at all curious about what it would be like to live with your own kind?" She asked.

Shanda seemed to pause but quickly recovered herself. "No, I lived with them before......It was ok until...." She trailed off vividly as she stopped walking.

Scootaloo stopped walking and looked at Shanda. "What is it?" She asked,

Shanda looked at Scootaloo and sighed. "They found out I was a horde spy....I fought off the first few but soon I ended up running, word spread and soon I became a known enemy of the alliance and a traitor to my people." She replied before resuming the long walk.

Scootaloo remained silent but followed Shanda.

Soon after the pair's conversation they reached the edge of the town, Shanda noticed that no one was in sight so she started walking towards the town with Scootaloo behind her.

"Shanda....I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Scootaloo said with her head down.

Shanda sighed but continued walking. "It's ok, it was a simple question.....besides, I'm happier back with the Darkspear, at the very least I know where I stand with them, besides....they raised me so I understand them, and they understand me." She replied.

Scootaloo nodded and followed Shanda as they reached Ponyville.

Shanda and Scootaloo began walking through Ponyville while heading for Sugarcube corner, the ponies of the town glared at Shanda with mistrust but paid Scootaloo no mind as the pay continued walking.

"Let me know if you see someone you know okay Scoots?" Shanda said, looking at Scootaloo for a moment.

Scootaloo nodded and started to look around, she had seen many ponies before but she did not recognize many of them. [1]

When the pair finally reached Sugarcube corner they were about to walk inside when they heard a gasp. "YOU!" Came a strangely familiar voice.

Shanda and Scootaloo turned to face the source of the voice and found a rather mad purple unicorn that had her horn glowing.

"Scoots, you know her?" Shanda asked quietly while slowly reaching for her hunting knife.

"Yea, that's Twilight Sparkle, a friend of my mom, she's ok." Scootaloo replied quietly.

With that Shanda eased her hand away from the knife and calmed her expression. "Hi." She replied.

Twilight's left eye slightly twitched and she sighed. "Release the filly." She demanded.

Shanda rolled her eyes and resisted the urge not to laugh. "Go on Scoots, you'll be fine." She told the filly.

Scootaloo mouthed a simple 'goodbye' as she ran up to Twilight who looked ready to fire regardless.

Shanda let out a grin and started to walk away when a scream was heard. "LOOK OUT BELOW!" Screamed the voice.

By the time Shanda tried to move, she was already unconscious.

A dust cloud covered the area around Shanda and the owner of the voice.

"Shanda!" Scootaloo cried out before running to the dust cloud and stopping just onside of it.

A faint voice came from the cloud. "Hey buddy, you doing alright?" Came the voice of a certain cyan Pegasus as the dust settled.

Scootaloo could just barely make out the image of Rainbow Dash poking Shanda.

When the dust finally settled, Rainbow Dash realized who it was and gasped as she noticed Scootaloo and Twilight looking at her in shock.

"Um.....oops?" She offered nervously.

Scootaloo slowly walked up to Shanda and poked her only to recieve a mumble in reply. "She's okay." She said thankfully.

Twilight walked up and looked at Scootaloo with a curious expression but contained her curiosity, she then enveloped Shanda in her magic and did a quick scan of the woman's injuries, once she was finished she looked at Dash. "You are lucky that she's ok Rainbow, it's only bruises." She replied.

Rainbow looked at the unconscious creature before her and rolled her over out of curiosity, the result ended in her wings snapping open. "Not what I expected." She commented.

> The ruler and the explanation.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

____*Golden Oaks library five minutes later*____

Twilight sighed as she sipped her tea, after the incident at Sugarcube corner, Rainbow and Twilight brought Scootaloo to the library, along with Shanda as Scootaloo called her, Twilight looked at the unconscious Shanda and a flood of questions entered her mind at once.

"What are you?" Twilight wondered silently as she sipped her tea.

A set of footsteps coming down the stairs told Twilight that Spike was awake, she looked over at the stairs as Spike walked down. "Hey Twilight." The baby dragon said sleepily.

Twilight chuckled and set her tea down, she stood up and walked towards one of her desks.

Spike looked around the library and to his relief it was completely clean, mysterious creature and all! "Wait a minute..." Spike rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things but to his shock, the creature was still there on the couch.

"Um....T-Twilight, there is a.....thing on the couch." He said nervously, pointing at Shanda.

Twilight looked at what Spike was pointing at and rolled her eyes. "It's ok Spike, she's asleep." She said calmly.

Spike gulped but didn't say anything, instead he headed for the kitchen to make something to eat. "You want anything Twilight?" He asked.

Twilight shook her head and took out a paper and quill, she began writing a letter to the princesses about the discovery of Shanda and the other creature in the forest.

After the letter was complete, a knock came at the door, Twilight opened the door with her magic to reveal Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

"Hey girls." Twilight said simply as she rolled the letter up and sealed it.

Rainbow and Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing as they came inside.

Almost immediately after entering the library, Fluttershy spotted Shanda and her eyes widened.

Also at that exact moment, Scootaloo exited the kitchen and walked into the main room.....needless to say the room got quiet fast.

The silence was quickly broken however as Scootaloo found herself caught in a fierce hug from Fluttershy who had moved from one end of the library to the other in a single second.

"Ga....mo....mom, can't......breathe!" Scootaloo strained.

Fluttershy gasped and loosened the hug enough for Scootaloo to breathe. "Thank Celestia that your ok Scootaloo.....are you feeling alright?" She said rapidly but kindly.

Scootaloo nodded and looked over at Shanda. "Yea.....they took care of me." She said while pointing at Shanda.

Fluttershy looked over at Shanda and walked over, she soon recognized her as the creature from that hut that she had found with the others, which begged the question, why did she attack if she knew where Scootaloo was? 

And so Fluttershy looked at Scootaloo with a sincere look. "Where were you exactly Scootaloo?" She asked quietly.

Scootaloo shrugged. "A hut out in the Everfree, it wasn't anything special." She replied honestly.

Fluttershy nodded at her daughter and looked back at the creature in front of her. "Do you know.....err, his or her name?" She asked.

"Her name is Shanda." Scootaloo replied simply.

Rainbow then walked up to the night elf with a weird expression on her face. "Yea uh.....I may have done this......oops." She said nervously.

Fluttershy sighed at this and looked at Rainbow. "You owe her an apology when she wakes up Rainbow Dash." She said firmly.

Rainbow nodded and walked over to Scootaloo and began a small conversation with the filly.

Twilight meanwhile had walked into the kitchen and let Spike know that he had a letter to send to princess Celestia, he simply nodded and sent the letter by igniting it.

____*two minutes later, Shanda's POV*____

Shanda groaned and rubbed her eyes as she heard some voices nearby, she ignored them as she opened her eyes and stood up.

The world around Shanda was blurry as she walked around blurry figures for that seemed to speak, she had heard one agitated voice, one familiar voice, one quiet voice, and one confidant voice....but she ignored that as she made her way towards what seemed to be a kitchen, she walked up to what looked like a storage box and pulled a red bottle out of it.

Hearing panicked voices Shanda blinked as she opened the bottle and drank its contents.

Two things came from drinking this unknown concoction, the first being that it woke Shanda up instantly......the second being that she burned her mouth.

"HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!" She screamed as she searched for water.

The world became clear and soon Shanda found a sink, she turned the water on and proceeded to drink from it.

____*thirty seconds later*____

Shanda took deep breaths as the worst part of the burn faded, she rubbed her eyes to remove the tears from her now red eyes, she looked around only to see a bunch of panicked ponies.....Scootaloo included.

"Uh.....are you ok?" Asked the one with the rainbow colored hair. 

Shanda cleared her throat and nodded as she leaned against a nearby wall. "What the hell did I drink?" She asked.

Twilight walked up to the red bottle and read the label as she picked it up in her magic. "Ah, Dragon sauce." She said as she set the now empty bottle on the table.

Shanda's eye twitched but she said nothing as she rubbed her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?" She complained.

Twilight sighed and looked at Shanda. "We tried, but you mustn't have heard us." She replied.

Shanda nodded and walked forward a little bit and looked at the purple mare. "Ok then.....I guess we should introduce ourselves." She said.

Twilight took a quick breath. "Alright, I'll start, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy." She said motioning at them respectively.

"You already know Scootaloo, and the little guy hiding behind Rainbow is Spike." She said before bringing Spike out.

Shanda chuckled at Spike as he tried to hide again. "I'm Shanda....but i figure you know that already." She replied.

Scootaloo walked up to Shanda and looked up at her. "Are you ok?" She asked.

Shanda gave a small smile and ruffled Scootaloo's hair. "Other than getting knocked out and my mouth burned.....I'm fine." She replied.

Scootaloo smiled and ran back to Fluttershy, who was giving Shanda a cautious stare.

"Well....I guess I have some explaining to do huh?" Shanda said somewhat nervously.

Twilight went to say something when a familiar burp came from Spike.

Shanda watched as a letter materialized in Spike's fire. "Wish my dragon could do that..." She said to herself.

Twilight ignored the night elf as Spike hastily opened the letter. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, the news of strange creatures in the Everfree concerns me greatly, I'll be arriving in Ponyville soon, Princess Celestia." Spike read off from the letter.

Shanda raised an eyebrow at the letter. "Ok.....I knew a guy called Xylem.....and even he didn't sound that weird." She commented.

While Twilight was confused about who this Xylem was she was more concerned about the princesses visit. "Oh boy.....this is bad this is bad......we need to make this library spotless!" She shouted in a panic as she ran out of the room, horn ablaze.

Shanda was more confused then concerned at the moment, so she looked at the three ponies. "Does she always act like this?" She asked.

"Only when the Princess comes over." Rainbow replied.

Shanda shrugged and walked out of the kitchen, she looked into the main room and raised an eyebrow as brooms, dustpans and feather dusters flew around the room frantically. "I don't suppose there's a way to calm her down?" She asked, looking at the three.

Fluttershy, Rainbow and Scootaloo all shook their heads and ducked as a trash can flew out of the room.

Shanda decided to wait it with the others and sat down on one of the chairs. "Wish I had a Warchief's board right about now." She grumbled.

____*fifteen minutes later.*____

Shanda and the three Pegasi had decided to entertain themselves with conversation and magic tricks, provided by Shanda.

At one point, Spike had even entered the kitchen and sat down. "What are you doing?" He asked Shanda as she made a glass of water glow blue. "Magic." Shanda said simply.

From then on out, Shanda and the others sat around the table, waiting for Celestia to show up.

Shanda sighed and looked at Spike. "Is it necessary for me to be here? I doubt I'm needed." She argued.

Spike shook his head. "Believe me, it'll be a lot easier on us if we just wait." He said.

Shanda chuckled. "Fine, but if dad comes to town and starts trouble, I ain't dealing with it." She warned.

Soon after that, the door opened and voices could be heard. "Princess!" Came Twilight's voice.

At that everyone except Shanda, stood up and started walking. "Come on Shanda, I don't want to get another lecture from Twilight about this." Spike said.

Shanda shook her head and got up from her seat, she walked to the entrance of the kitchen and leaned against a nearby wall that revealed the main room.

Inside the room was a large pony with both wings and horn, she had a white coat and a multi color mane that flowed to a non existent wind, she also had a sun for a butt tattoo. 'Must be the princess that Twilight got all worked up about.' She observed.

The large pony then looked over and noticed Shanda. "Ah, you must be the one that Twilight told me about, am I correct?" She asked.

Shanda grinned. "Hi......and no it's the OTHER night elf in a library." She joked.

Twilight seemed to have a look of shock at Shanda's behavior but said nothing. 

The large pony chuckled. "I believe I forgot to introduce myself." She straightened herself as if maintaining a formality.

"I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria....and what is your name?" She asked politely.

Shanda sighed and walked away from the wall. "I'm Shanda of the Darkspear tribe." She replied simply.

Celestia nodded and relaxed herself before putting on a questioning expression. "From what Twilight has told me, you live in the Everfree, is this true?" She asked.

Shanda prepared herself for a series of questions. "Yea....it's true." She replied.

"And she also tells me that you threatened her and her friends....is this also true?" She asked more seriously.

Shanda sighed and rubbed her eyes as she walked past Celestia and into the main room. "Ok....the thing that you need to understand about that is this.....I was protecting the kid." She replied.

Apparently everyone in the room except Scootaloo was shocked at this news, Celestia gave her a curious glare that told Shanda that she was listening. "Go on." She said.

Shanda crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Alright....around a week ago there was a meteor shower, I was out hunting when I heard some laughter, it sounded like kids so I went to investigate." She paused to catch her breath.

"And while I was heading towards the source, a large burning rock zoomed past me and towards the laughter, I chased after it and soon I heard screaming, when I finally arrived at the crash site, there was a small filly amongst the broken up meteor, I hurried and picked the filly up and raced home in a panic." She took another pause.

"And then I heard more voices, like that of children, and since I didn't have time to deal with distractions, I simply sped up towards my hut, I then set the filly down in the hut and stabilized her with what little time there was." She explained.

Twilight then realized something. "And what about after?" She asked.

Shanda looked at Twilight and sighed. "That's the part I mainly regretted.....because if it was up to me I would've handed Scootaloo over, but our luck wasn't that good that day." Shanda replied.

Now it was Rainbow's turn. "Can you explain?" She asked

Shanda nodded. "A short time after a stabilized Scootaloo, she woke up.....after I gave her a healing potion, i gave her a root to help with the pain as I cleared out damages organs and remaining rock from the crash, after that i started to close the wound." She paused at the faces of the mares in the room.

"You operated...." Twilight started.

"On a kid who was awake....." Rainbow continued.

"That is wrong on so many levels." Celestia finished.

Shanda shrugged. "That's the downside of the potion I used, if you fall asleep it won't work." She replied.

Twilight looked at Shanda. "You might as well finish it, better sooner than later." She said.

Shanda nodded. "Ok, after the operation, Scootaloo had somehow fallen asleep, and a short time later she woke up, after that we introduced ourselves and then I went outside to hunt......that's when I saw Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie and two others, I overheard them talking about finding Scootaloo from the branches above......after that I quickly headed home and warned Scootaloo of what I had to do, she made me swear not to hurt them and I understood, so I went outside to keep them away." She continued.

Rainbow huffed. "By shooting us." She mumbled.

Shanda ignored the Pegasus mare as she continued her tale. "After my first few warnings, my dad showed up, apparently, him showing up was enough to drive them off." She finished.

Twilight thought on the tale for a moment until she realized something. "Wait a minute.....you never said why you threatened us." She accused.

Shanda sighed and waved her hand dismissively. "Because I never said it.....what you didn't know was that if you moved Scootaloo....." She trailed off.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the pause. "Go on, what is it?" She asked impatiently.

Shanda opened her eyes and looked at the rainbow mare. ".....She would die."
> An interesting day.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

_____*Golden Oaks library.*_____

Everyone in the library simply stood there in shock, only Scootaloo wasn't shocked, Celestia however did not show her shock, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "Please explain." She requested calmly.

Shanda nodded and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, the easiest way to explain would be that even the slightest bump would be able to kill her." She started off.

Twilight shook off her shock for a moment and looked at Shanda. "Wait......what about my magic?....it would keep her from moving entirely-" She could not continue however as Shanda silenced her with a glare.

Shanda cleared her throat and sighed. "True, but that requires your complete attention, if you lost focus for even a second....." She trailed off, as she knew that there was no more to say on that front.

The entire library fell silent for a time, until Celestia spoke again. "Tell me.....when will you be able to return to your world?" She asked.

Shanda shrugged. "Depends on how long it takes us to find the Core." She replied simply.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this. "What would it happen to look like?" She asked.

Shanda scratched the back of her head. "It kinda looks like a heart, you can't miss it." She replied.

Celestia nodded and looked at Twilight. "I will have teams search for the Core throughout Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, I trust that you will be capable of handling things here?" She wondered.

Twilight nodded and stood up. "I won't let you down." She replied confidently.

Shanda noticed Spike sidestep over to her, she felt him tap her leg and she kneeled down to his height. "About five seconds after the Princess leaves, Twilight will go nuts." He whispered.

Shanda chuckled and stood up, she sighed and walked to the door. "Ok then, it's been fun.....but I gotta get going." She said before opening the door.

"See you later!" Scootaloo called while waving.

Shanda let out a small smirk and walked out, she raised her hand up to give a silent wave. 'Don't count on it kiddo' She thought as she walked off.

____*meanwhile, the Everfree Forest.*____

Jod'ka sighed and pulled his spear out of the dead hydra, the spear was long and was made out of black steel, but the head of the spear however was forged with Saronite, the edges of the spear were jagged and razor sharp, the end of the spear was forged from the same metal, but it had the shape of a dragon's head. [1]

Jod'ka looked around and noticed the dead manticore lying in a pool of blood, he then sheathed the spear and looked around more, after seeing nothing else he shook his head. "Where the hell did he go?......Shard!" He called out in frustration.

A loud screech came a nearby tree, Jod'ka turned around and watched as a large raptor with many gray scales and a few orange scales ran up to him, the raptor came to a stop and looked at him with fierce eyes.

"Where have you been?" He wondered as he patted the raptor's head before walking to its side.

Jod'ka gripped the saddle and lifted himself up, he then looked at the dead hydra and sighed. "Come on Shard, let's head back." He said as he looked forward.

Shard screeched again and started running back towards the hut, as he ran he couldn't help but notice the Timberwolves that seemed to be stalking him, he quietly coughed and continued running.

Jod'ka looked back and saw the timber wolves, he then nodded and looked forward. "I see them, let's see if they're willing to pursue." He told Shard.

Shard screeched in response and continued running.

After a while, Jod'ka looked back and saw that the Timberwolves had followed them, he grinned and patted Shard's shoulder. "It's time." He said.

Shard let out a screech and suddenly jumped off to the right, he then lunged and destroyed a rather unfortunate Timberwolf with a chomp to its head.

Jod'ka jumped off Shard and impaled a Timberwolf with his spear, he heard another wolf lunge at him and he quickly sidestepped, he then grabbed a small one handed axe from its sheath and swung it down into the wolves head, he pulled it out and quickly retrieved his spear, after sheathing the axe, he kicked the recovering Timberwolf and threw it at its companion, which made them fall apart, he then sheathed his spear and pulled out a small six star mace, he walked over to the repairing Timberwolves and raised the mace, he swung it down at the Timberwolves and shattered the wood......which then caught on fire, he glanced over at Shard and saw that he had already demolished the Timberwolves to a point that they weren't rebuilding. "I see your doing good." He commented.

Shard screeched and hurried over, Jod'ka climbed onto the saddle and patted Shard's shoulder. "Let's go." He said, to which Shard let out a screech and started running.

____*back at the hut, four minutes later.*____

Jod'ka jumped off Shard's back and walked to the door. "You know what to do." He said simply.

Shard slowly nodded and ran off toward the back of the hut.

Jod'ka entered the hut and closed the door, he looked around and saw that Shanda wasn't in the main room. "She might be exploring again." He muttered to himself.

He walked over to the cauldron and grabbed the stir stick, he then stirred the brew for a few moments before setting the stick down and walking over to the potions cabinet, he opened the cabinet and shuffled through it for a few moments until he found what he was looking for, it was a small vial with a ghostly blue liquid, he popped the lid off and drank the contents, he then set the potion down in the cabinet and closed it.

Jod'ka walked over to the weapons cabinet and opened it up, he took the axe and mace and set them inside, he then closed the cabinet and walked to the stairs, he walked up them and continued to his room. 

_____*meanwhile.*_____

Shanda walked into the Everfree and looked back at the small town, she felt an unexplainable feeling of dread as she looked away and headed home. 'It isn't like they would experiment on the Core........would they?' She wondered.

As she walked, Shanda couldn't help but feel like she was making a huge mistake, but she continued walking. 'Must be the heat.' She assumed.

After ten more minutes of walking, Shanda noticed growling and a horrid smell that followed, she looked around and saw that a lone timberwolf was approaching her slowly.

Shanda slowly moved her hand towards her belt, her gaze never left the wolf, not even as she took the strap off the sheath.

The wolf lunged at Shanda unexpectedly but was soon greeted by a dagger to the face, Shanda quickly threw a fireball at the wolf and set it on fire.

Shanda heard a howl come from nearby and she spun around and drew her bow, she watched as three more Timberwolves came out from behind the trees and quickly sheathed her dagger, she quickly fired an arrow at one of the wolves and ran off towards the hut, as she ran she put her bow back and flung another fireball at one of the wolves.

The wolf jumped over the fireball which then slammed into another wolf and set it on fire.

Shanda ran around a tree and unsheathed her dagger, she continued running for a moment before suddenly stopping, she slashed one of the wolves as it ran past and threw a fireball at it, she then focused on the last wolf.

The wolf growled and slowly circled Shanda, who then mimicked it's movements, they went around in a whole circle once or twice until the wolf charged Shanda.

Shanda stopped moving as the wolf charged, she waited and waited until it was close enough, she smirked once it was in range and threw her dagger at its leg.

The wolf saw the dagger and rolled out of its path, it then continued it's charge.

Shanda sighed and she flung a fireball at the wolf, who simply jumped over it. 'Smart one isn't it?' She thought as she dodged an attack from the wolf, she smirked as it jumped at the tree and then bounced off it to charge her again.

'Just what I'm looking for.' She thought as she rolled out of the way.

The wolf went to charge again but paused when it saw Shanda wave her hand at it, it growled and charged again, unaware of what Shanda had done.

Shanda grinned and sidestepped the wolves lunge, she then held her hand out and began muttering words.

The wolf paused for a moment as it felt something in its mind, it ignored it however and charged at Shanda, who was standing still with her eyes closed and her hand out.

Shanda opened her eyes and released an arcane pulse at the wolf, who attempted to dodge it but the pulse followed.

The wolf was knocked away as the pulse hit him, it was then that the feeling in its mind manifested, it went to get up but something unexpected happened. 'Don't bother getting up.' A strange voice ordered the wolf.

Shanda lowered her hand and watched as the wolf stopped moving and looked around. 'Can you hear me or not?' She asked mentally.

The wolf looked at Shanda and slowly sat up. 'What have you done to me?' It asked.

Shanda walked over to her dagger and picked it up. 'I've freed your mind of the forests corruption by linking my mind to yours.' She explained simply.

The wolf stood up and noticed the green mist around it had disappeared, it looked at Shanda curiously. "Why did you save me?" It asked in a calm voice.

Shanda wiped the dirt off her dagger and looked at the wolf. "Simple, I could use your help." She replied.

The wolf tilted it's head and looked around. "With what?......my kind are not welcome anymore."' It wondered.

Shanda sheathed her dagger and sighed. "I'm looking for something, a Core.......it looks like a heart with strange runes and has an odd power about it, would you happen to know where it is?" She asked.

The wolf thought on it for a moment before shaking it's head. "No, I do not." It replied.

Shanda rubbed her eyes and looked up. "Ok, wasn't much chance of that anyway." She muttered.

The wolf walked over to Shanda and looked up at her. "Well.....regardless, I am in your debt, I will help how I can." It said.

Shanda nodded and looked down at the wolf. "I'm Shanda, and it looks like we're going to be working together for a while." She said.

The wolf blinked for a moment and shrugged. "I do not remember my name." It said simply.

Shanda sighed and started walking towards her hut. "Come on, we can think something up on the way, but we aren't going with any wooden names." She said firmly.

The wolf nodded and followed Shanda. "I can agree with that." It replied.

____*ten minutes later*____

Shanda and the wolf approached the hut, Shanda spotted Shard's tail just go behind the hut, she chuckled and walked forward towards the hut. 

When she reached the door she opened it and went inside, she looked back at the wolf. "It's probably better if you stay outside." She said.

The wolf nodded and sat down near the door. "I will wait." He replied.

Shanda entered the hut and looked around, seeing no sign of her father, she walked over to the weapons cabinet and set her bow and dagger inside, she then walked over to the cauldron and started to stir it, she heard footsteps walking down the stairs and sighed. "Every single time." She chuckled as she stepped away from the cauldron and headed for the windowsill. 'I just hope I can find the core before them....that's all I can hope for.'
> Troublesome natives.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*The Everfree Forest, the next day, 12:00 AM.*______

Shanda walked through the forest calmly, she had finally found Rock, her pet lion last night, he was hidden behind a few makeshift boxes that they kept outside.

Rock was small for a lion, if anything he looked more like a female than a male, he had light yellow fur and a dark gold mane, his eyes were bright yellow.

The two were walking through the forest in search for food, they walked until they heard rustling in the leaves, they stopped and Rock looked ready to pounce at a moments notice as they stared intently at the bush the rustling came from.

Then out from the bush came a Timberwolf, one that Shanda recognized. "Hold on Rock." She said instantly.

The lion calmed down as the Timberwolf approached. "Shanda, i spoke with my kind and from what little I could learn, they have no knowledge of this 'core' you seek to find." He then looked at Rock who was still on guard. "A lion in the Everfree? strange." He noted.

Shanda sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Ok, I wasn't expecting this to be easy, anything else?" She asked.

The Timberwolf shook its head. "I am afraid not, but if I may ask, why is this so important?" He asked.

"Let's just say that me and dad need it." Shanda replied as she continued to walk, Rock and the Timberwolf followed. "I do have some good news though, I thought up a couple of temporary names." She said, Changing the subject.

The Timberwolf looked at Shanda curiously. "Oh? well let's hear them." He said.

"Darius?" She suggested.

The wolf pondered this as they walked, but soon shook his head. "No." He replied.

"Wulfric?" 

Again, the Timberwolf shook his head no. 

".........Talon?" She asked.

The wolf said nothing as he thought on this, eventually he nodded. "It will do." He said.

"Hold Up." Shanda quickly said, she then gripped her bow and quietly stalked forward, she hid in the brush and pulled out and arrow, she had spotted a buck grazing, it was large, so it was an adult.

Rock stared at Talon as they waited behind Shanda, who aimed her shot.

Shade closed her left eye and pulled the string back on the bow, she soon released it and it flew, the arrow embedded itself deep into the bucks skull, it cried out and fell to the ground, it struggled for a brief second before it went limp.

Shanda stood up and walked over to the buck, she then grabbed it and lifted it up, it was incredibly heavy, but she could carry it.

After that, Rock and Talon followed Shanda back to the hut as she slowly walked. "How can you carry that?" Talon asked. "It weighs more than you do easily." He pointed out.

Shanda chuckled as she carried her kill. "It's......muscle, trust me, he isn't light." She stated as she struggled to walk.

_______*Meanwhile, Ponyville.*_______

Fluttershy was in town picking up school supplies for Scootaloo, she had everything except for pencils, which was her next destination.

She felt much better now that her daughter was back in town, she hated to speak ill of others, but she didn't trust Shanda or her father, not even in the slightest.

It may have been paranoia or straight terror, but it was hard to forgive somepony for keeping one from their foal, even if it was for a good reason.

Fluttershy has heard Scootaloo tell her story, about everything that happened in the hut, the filly clearly admired Shanda for what she did to help, but if she was being honest? Fluttershy hoped that Scootaloo wouldn't do anything like try to visit, it was very dangerous in that forest, but Shanda and her father had no issue at all living there, which didn't help her fears.

So as she went about her day, Fluttershy felt a constant paranoia creeping up her spine, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, but didn't know what exactly.

Fluttershy got in line for a stand that was selling fresh lettuce and cabbage, she quickly glanced at her list and saw that she just need to pick up fish and then she could head home, she soon reached the stand and bought a head of each, she then went looking for a stand that sold fish so she could finish up.

______*Ponyville Schoolhouse*______

School, it was something that many hate and love for various reasons, it is a place of learning and often a place that rules are broken, bullies and popular kids usually work together or make life difficult for those around them.

Today however, Scootaloo was tuning out the world, she didn't react to Diamond Tiara's teasing, she half heartedly said hello to her friends, and now she was currently tuning out Miss Cheerilee, who was walking over while she stared out the window.

"Scootaloo?" The mare said pulling the filly back to reality, she looked up at the teacher. "Yes miss?" She asked.

Cheerilee sighed and walked back to the desk. "Are you paying attention or sightseeing?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"I'm paying attention." Scootaloo lied, in truth she couldn't stop thinking about what she went through recently, but she figured she may as well try it.

Cheerilee stared for a few moments before returning her attention to the class, she continued the lesson as normal but paid more attention to Scootaloo to keep her from zoning everything out.

A few hours passed and school finally let out for the day, Scootaloo grabbed her things and went to leave the schoolhouse with the other foals when she heard a voice. "Scootaloo, can I talk to you for a minute?" Cheerilee's voice asked.

Scootaloo turned around and walked back inside, she looked at Miss Cheerilee and spoke. "Yes miss Cheerilee?" She asked.

The mare took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm concerned, I know that you usually don't care for schoolwork, but you never completely ignored the class before, is something bothering you?" She asked out of concern.

Scootaloo contemplated telling the teacher, about everything that happened to her recently, but she eventually decided against it. 'She won't understand' Is the reason she gave herself. "It's nothing major." She lied. "Just a little bummed out is all." She added.

Cheerilee gave Scootaloo a critical eye for a few moments before relenting. "Alright, go on, don't keep your friends waiting." She said.

The filly nodded and walked out of the schoolhouse, she saw Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom waving her over and she headed to them, they seemed concerned for her but hid it under excited faces.

When the Pegasus reached her friends Apple Bloom spoke. "You alright Scoots? you're usually happy when schools done for the day." She asked.

"Are you sick?" Sweetie Belle with worry.

Scootaloo shook her head and gave a small smile. "I'm just tired I guess, still a little shaken up from the other day is all." She said, even though deep down she knew it was a lie.

"Well well, look who's talking again, I thought you were going mute blank flank." Diamond Tiara's taunting voice said from behind her, Scootaloo sighed and turned around to face the filly. 

"It would definitely be an improvement over her droning on about getting a cutie mark." Silver Spoon added as she walked up.

Apple Bloom stepped up. "Knock it off Diamond, that isn't nice!" She snapped.

Scootaloo put a hoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder, the earth pony looked at her and the Pegasus shook her head, surprising them all. "Let's just go." She said calmly before walking off.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a look of concern before following their friend. "Nothing to say cutie mark losers!? aren't you going to defend yourself?" Diamond Tiara wondered smugly.

Scootaloo took a deep breath and looked at Diamond Tiara who wore a grin. "Have you ever heard the saying sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me?" She asked curiously.

"I heard it before." Silver Spoon spoke up. 

Without missing a beat, Scootaloo spoke. "I understand it now, the names you call me won't hurt me again." She stated before walking off.

Her words perplexed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom understood what she meant perfectly, they followed silently as Scootaloo walked to the town, her breathing slightly shaky at the memories from that day. 

Scootaloo knew one thing though, she owed Shanda and Jod'ka her life, and she wanted to repay them somehow, she just didn't know how to do so just yet.
> Longing for home.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*Equestria, Everfree Forest, the same day, 2:00 PM*______

There are many things that could be said about the Everfree Forest, and just as many different views, one constant however is that it is not friendly to outsiders, those who would trespass are viewed with hostility, and those who would willingly enter the first are seen as crazy or foolish.

None are viewed more critically however, than those who live inside the forest, Timberwolves are hated and feared, Cockatrices are avoided at all costs, Hydra's are feared and respected for their strength, even the more peaceful denizens of the forest are not trusted.

Zecora, a female zebra shaman used to be seen as a witch by many, and while the nearby town of Ponyville is more accepting of her presence, there are those who are still wary, she lives in a hut along the safe paths of the Everfree.

And then there are the two more recent inhabitants of the forest, they are lesser known as they do not go into town very often, or not at all, the Troll Jod'ka, mysterious and intimidating to the few Equines who met him, and his Night Elf daughter Shanda, young and willfull, as well as a skilled Hunter, they both live in a hut deeper into the Everfree Forest, and while they live in a dangerous forest, they are not openly hostile.

Jod'ka and Shanda lived with their animal friends, Rock, a mountain lion, Shade, a panther, and Shard, a raptor, they all worked together to survive the forest and beyond.

_____*Jod'ka and Shanda's hut.*_____

Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, the owner of said footsteps was Jod'ka as he walked down the stairs, he walked to his herb cabinet and sifted through it, he grumbled under his breath about not having 'the right ingredients' as he grabbed a few green rooted weeds, he grabbed a nearby bowl and ground the weeds into a paste, he then emptied the bowl into his cauldron and set the bowl back down, he then walked over to another cabinet and opened it, revealing several potions, he grabbed one with a blue liquid and opened it, he walked to the cauldron and poured it in, he set the vial down and stirred the liquid in the cauldron.

Jod'ka was not expecting anything, as he had added many different things to the cauldron before, but then the liquid changed from a misty green, to an ethereal blue, his eyes widened and he stopped stirring, he then took an empty vial and filled it, he then took a deep breath. 'Please don't taste like rotten eggs.' He hoped as he downed the liquid, thankfully it was tasteless, like water, he swallowed it down and waited for anything to happen.

As Jod'ka waited he looked around the hut, everything here seemed so normal, so very much like his home, his expression saddened as he thought of home, he closed his eyes and sighed. 'We cannot build a life here, no matter what we end up feeling, we have to go back, I only hope Shanda does not get too attached.' 

Jod'ka was pulled out of his thoughts as he suddenly felt his body react painfully to something, he grit his teeth and waited until the pain passed, once it did he felt renewed, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes, he walked to the potion cabinet and grabbed a bunch of glass vials and jars of various sizes, he then began to fill them all one at a time until they were all filled, there was still a small amount of potion left In the cauldron and he quickly worked on cleaning a few now empty vials, once he was done he filled them up and saw that there was barely enough potion left.

"Not even worth a shot glass." The troll whispered to himself as he doused the fire under the cauldron, he walked over to a small desk and opened a drawer, he grabbed a scroll and pencil, he then wrote down the recipe for the potion and put the pencil back, he headed upstairs and walked to his bed.

The upstairs was little more than a single room, the ceiling was low so Jod'ka had to crouch to move around, there were two simple beds in the room, they were both made of uncarved wood that was at least debarked, the bedding was made of thick dirt with a patchwork wool cover, they also had fur blankets for when it got cold, there were two travel packs, one next to each bed with several side bags next to those, the rest of the room was empty.

Jod'ka approached his bags and knelt down, he opened the main bag and placed the scroll inside, he then closed the bag and headed downstairs, as he walked he could not help but notice just how quiet it was now that he wasn't focusing on the cauldron, he looked around the hut and found himself thinking of his home again.

He missed Sen'Jin village, he missed enjoying a quiet night by the ocean, he missed watching Bom'Bay 'cure' the occasional traveler, as much as he hated to admit it he missed the stupidity of the war, but most of all he missed traveling with Shanda, the adventures they had together were always odd or dangerous, but they met lots of good people on the road, some of them were even with the Alliance.

Jod'ka sat down at the bottom of the stairs and lost himself in his thoughts, his memories of home. 'Sen'Jin, if only you could have been alive to see all of this.' He thought.

Jod'ka looked at the weapons cabinet, he stood up and walked over to it, he opened it and knelt down, he grabbed a dagger and looked at it with fond recollection. 

The dagger was hand carved from stone and Kodo bone, the hilt was three and a half inches long and the bone was starting to decay, the stone blade was dull and curved at the tip, it used to be sharp and much stronger, the dagger was a gift to Shanda when she was younger and wanted to join him in hunting.

He laughed quietly at the memory of her first kill, she had snuck out in the middle of the night and tracked a wild raptor, she had managed to ambush it but it fought back, they had fought for hours and by the time Shanda killed it the sun was up, she dragged it back to the village and showed him her trophy.

Jod'ka shook his head, after Shanda showed him the dead raptor, he quickly brought her and the raptor inside and proceeded to heal the numerous wounds on her body, after she was healed he had grounded her for a month, what he hadn't told her until after the month was up was that he was actually proud of her for managing to take down such a ferocious creature on her own, he then gifted her one of the raptors feathers so she would remember the day.

Jod'ka set the dagger down and stood up, he walked to the stairs and sat down again. 'Leaving this world may break her heart, but it is necessary.' He said to himself before reaching into his pocket and grabbing something that was in there, he pulled it out and opened his palm, he held a silver chained necklace with a crescent moon made of mithril, he stared at it for a while, and he remembered his promise. 'I will do whatever it takes to protect her.' He told himself.

He returned the necklace to his pocket and grabbed something from his other pocket, Jod'ka stared at the object and sighed. "Even if I have to break my own heart to do so." He whispered to himself.

The object was a wooden circle with a crescent moon on it, there was writing on the other side but he did not read it, he returned it to his pocket and sat alone in silence, no sound came from the hut aside from the crackling of the ever burning torches, Jod'ka felt alone now more than ever, and he found himself wishing he had Shanda's enthusiasm, or just the ability to keep moving and not feel fatigue.

The troll's eyes opened and he looked up at the door, he had heard faint footsteps approaching the house, followed by three sets of four, he relaxed and stood up, resolving to clean up his cauldron instead of sitting in an agonizing silence.

The door opened and an all too familiar voice spoke. "I got dinner." Shanda said.

Jod'ka looked over his shoulder and saw that Shanda has caught a large buck. "Good, set it down and help me clean the cauldron." He said.

Shanda brought the buck over and set it on the prep area before looking at the cauldron. "You actually finished it?" She asked out of surprise.

Jod'ka huffed and grabbed the cauldron. "You actually caught food?" He replied with an amused tone.

Shanda sighed and helped her dad empty the cauldron and clean it up. "Whatever." She muttered out of irritation.

Jod'ka chuckled as they worked, and he felt his spirits raise themselves up again. 'Problems for another time I suppose.'
> Observations and unfortunate complications.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*Equestria, Ponyville, three days later, 12:00 PM.*______

Twilight Sparkle, the town librarian and personal student of Princess Celestia sat in her room at the library, writing in a thick brown book, the room was dimly lit by a single candle as she wrote in silence, covered by a warm blanket.

Personal log of Twilight Sparkle, entry one, strange visitors.

Ponyville is normally a very quiet country town, its citizens are wary of outsiders and other species which is a shame because I know a few satyrs which are very nice, but back to the subject at hoof.

A while ago we were lucky enough to have a meteor shower overhead, it was incredible to witness, but one of the meteors almost crashed right on top of my friend Fluttershy and myself, but some unknown force made it veer off and crash in the Everfree Forest.

Now the forest is a fascinating place, it's ecosystem thrives in many mysterious ways and its creatures are both wondrous and dangerous, magic does not work properly there due to its natural properties, but that's a subject for another time.

Unfortunately, the meteor crashed on my friend Fluttershy's daughter Scootaloo and severely wounded her, we did not know this at the time and headed to gather our other friends to search for her, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo's friends were the ones who told us that Scootaloo was missing.

We gathered our friends and entered the forest without the fillies, we explored for a long time until we eventually came across a mysterious hut in the forest, and not the hut that belongs to Zecora, a zebra shaman that lives near the safe paths.

To our shock, we were unable to search the hut when a bipedal creature fired a warning shot with its bow at us, it told us to leave, revealing itself to be female judging by its voice, we asked her if she had seen a little Pegasus filly and the creature denied it, but a scan from my magic proved otherwise, the creature fired an arrow at my horn and missed......no, not missed, she intentionally missed to frighten us.

Then another creature appeared, a male creature that stood on two legs, had two tusks and wore battle armor, it sent the first creature inside and then sent us away before going inside the hut.

The second creature put my friend Rainbow Dash into shock and it took her a few days to recover, and then a few days later Scootaloo walked into town with the first creature, which was promptly knocked unconscious when Rainbow Dash crashed into her.

I later learned the truth along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, the creatures name is Shanda, a Night Elf that lived with her father in the forest, she had warded us off from the hut in order to protect a now healed Scootaloo, she revealed that her father was the second creature to Scootaloo who later told us, his name is Jod'ka, or at least that is what he said it was, he is a Troll.

Now I do not know much about Trolls, but I know even less about the Trolls from their home world, and I am not sure I wish to know, but I do know that he also brews potions like Zecora, other than that I have little information about him.

Shanda revealed with reluctance to us and Princess Celestia, who came to visit that day, that she was searching for something called the 'core' which would return them to their home world.

Ever since I have been keeping tabs on things, learning what I can about Shanda and Jod'ka, yesterday was quite interesting though.

The Night Elf Shanda seems to spark strange reactions from Rainbow Dash and mixed feelings from Fluttershy, and when she visited yesterday I learned a bit about her.

Shanda for the most part is a kind person, mischievous and unruly but not hostile, dangerous? probably, evil? no, I don't believe so, she spent most of the day yesterday talking to us, seeking to ease our minds apparently, Fluttershy barely talked, only saying anything when it concerned herself or Scootaloo, otherwise she was silent and seemed to view Shanda with ire, which she never does.

Rainbow Dash for once was asking very intelligent questions, like what her home was like, what kind of creatures there were and also what kind of creatures could fly.

Shanda didn't seem to mind the questions and told us about the various creatures of her world. (See side notes for descriptions of creatures.)

She also told us about her home, Durotar she called it, the land was named by the Orc Warchief Thrall, after his father, she told us a little about a city called Orgrimmar, and a village called Sen'Jin, the latter of which was named so in memory of the Troll leaders father.

Another thing I realized was that the people of Shanda's world respect their dead greatly, which is admirable, I have also learned a little about Shanda's kind, the Night Elves.

The Night Elves are a reclusive people, wary of outsiders and fiercely protective of their forests, their culture seems to be completely tied to nature and a goddess named Elune, delving deeper I learned that many Night Elves become Druids, guardians of nature that can use Druidic magic to transform themselves into creatures of the forest like a bear or a large feline to defend or attack.

The more I learn about Shanda's world, the more fascinated and terrified I become, especially as I learn about the dangerous creatures that she has had to fight and defeat, like the relentless centaur and even the angry spirits of dead Night Elves.

When Rainbow Dash and I questioned Shanda on how she would fight the dead, she claimed she could wield magic, we were skeptical, for she had no means with which to focus magic, but to prove it, she conjured magical fire in her hand as though it were nothing, she said that she used to wield offensive arcane and nature magic because she had some training as a Druid, but she could no longer wield her old combat spells.

When asked why, Shanda refused to answer, instead she left with a somber expression on her face, saying that she had to get back to her search for the core, I was hoping to ask more questions but I didn't want to anger her.

Next time I see Shanda I will ask more questions about her world and the core, hopefully I will get answers then.'

______*Ponyville outskirts, just outside the Everfree Forest.*______

Going inside the Everfree Forest is dangerous, especially due to the dangerous creatures inside like the Timberwolves and Manticores, but Fluttershy went in often to patch up an injured animal or to gather specific herbs for some of her remedies.

The ponies of Ponyville viewed her with some wariness because of where she lived and where she often went, but she paid it no mind, she cared too much about the wellbeing of animals just to stop helping them.

And that was once again the case today, Fluttershy had been told by some of her raccoon friends that there was a wounded raccoon mother, she quickly gathered her things and followed her friends to the wounded animal.

Barry the bear followed her this time, the bear was usually nervous in the forest but seemed to be putting on a brave face for her, Fluttershy silently appreciated the gesture and they made good progress towards the wounded raccoon.

Funny thing about Equestrian raccoons, they may be tricksters, but they never lied when it came to one of their wounded or sick, it was just a matter of figuring that out.

Fluttershy stepped over an overgrown root and looked around once the raccoons said they were close, she saw a bunch of trees with overgrown roots and recognized this as the Overgrowth, the part of the Everfree Forest where plants grew spontaneously and rapidly, she also felt her wings tingle and her hairs stood on end, because the forest was just too quiet for her liking.

Upon the raccoons insistence, Fluttershy continued following her friends, they scampered through the trees quickly but made sure she knew what direction they were going first, eventually they reached a particularly large tree and the raccoons pointed at its base.

Fluttershy looked at the tree and her eyes widened in fear, kneeling down over a wounded raccoon mother and three babies was the ever intimidating blue skinned troll, he did not wear battle armor now and was clothed in thick pants and a vest of some kind, both were brown and dark green in color, he had a large looking knife hanging from a belt on his right side, he had what looked like a hatchet handle on the other side of his belt, but she couldn't tell what exactly it was, he also had a large black wooden bow on his back along with a quiver filled with arrows.

The troll seemed to be speaking in a hushed tone as he held his rather large hand over the mother raccoons unconscious body, golden yellowish Magic seemed to flow from his hand to the raccoon, the raccoons by Fluttershy chattered rapidly and Barry stepped forward with a loud thud, he roared at the troll in an effort to intimidate it.

To both Fluttershy and Barry's horror, the troll instantly drew his bow and had an arrow ready to fire in but a moment, he paused upon seeing who it was and grunted, he said nothing and returned to what he was doing.

Seeing this as an opportunity to at least learn what was going on, Fluttershy stepped forward slowly after telling Barry not to do anything just yet. "W-w-what are you doing?" She asked nervously.

"Healing a mother of three." The troll replied calmly yet without emotion, clearly his focus was entirely on his magic now.

Fluttershy took another step forward. "Are you Shanda's father?" She asked curiously.

The troll did not answer at first, instead he waited for a minute before stopping his magic to look at the Pegasus, his fierce orange eyes did intimidate her a little. "I am, call me Jod'ka, you must be Scootaloo's mother." He then returned to his work.

Fluttershy relaxed a little bit without dropping her guard, if what Scootaloo said was true, Jod'ka wasn't hostile. "I am, how did you find them?" She asked, stepping a little closer to see the injuries.

"I was looking around and saw an injured creature, I recognized the bite mark as a Timberwolves." He said before stopping what he was doing. "She will live, but you may wish to take her to your home and heal her yourself, I heard you are good at it." A slight breeze passed through the air and the troll slowly reached for his bow. "They're here." He warned quietly before grabbing his bow again and aiming it at a nearby bush, the arrow glowed an icy blue before he released it.

Startled at the sudden action, Fluttershy stepped back in shock and the bush soon exploded with ice, some thuds were heard and a Timberwolf head fell out of it, confirming what Jod'ka said to be true. 

Three more Timberwolves jumped out into the open and growled, they stalked slowly and deliberately, as if planning for their attack on the small group.

Fluttershy quickly convinced the raccoons to get on her back and picked up the mother, she flew up to a thick branch and set the mother raccoon on it gently, the other critters climbed on the tree and Fluttershy looked at Barry and Jod'ka, who had grabbed another arrow, she breathed shakily and landed on the ground. "Timberwolves can't be destroyed, the best thing to do is try to make an opening to run." Fluttershy said.

Jod'ka grunted. "I've been living in this forest long enough to know that you can't destroy them by conventional means." He said before aiming an arrow, just as he did the first Timberwolf stepped out of the bush, it's head reconnected strangely but it still reformed. "Who said I'm being conventional here?" He added before the arrow glowed pale blue again and he fired.

The arrow moved swiftly but the Timberwolves were fast, as one they charged the three.....well, two and a flying Pegasus who flew high enough due to survival instincts.

Jod'ka did not seemed bothered and took in a deep breath, he looked around and saw that one more Timberwolf was trying to flank him from his side, and the other one attacked in a forward lunge, he saw an opportunity in their attack pattern and charged straight at the first Timberwolf, he slid forward, avoiding the attack altogether by sliding, he also released his breath as he slid, breathing out a frozen blast of air, freezing the front half of the wolf.

The troll got up quickly and immediately froze the other half of the wolf with his frost breath, he saw the other Timberwolf start to charge around the side to stop him from doing anything, he looked over his shoulder when he heard a twig snap and saw another wolf start to go for him, he stood still like a statue, not moving an inch.

Fluttershy could not believe her eyes, she watched as Jod'ka looked forward and then down at the ground in silence, she looked at Barry and saw that he was easily holding his own against just one wolf, but she worried, she looked around for more and sure enough, there was a fifth wolf prowling out of the brush and sneaking up on the troll, it then slowly rose itself off the ground slowly as it slowly moved, until it was just behind him.

Unable to stand by and do nothing, Fluttershy shouted. "Behind you!" She snapped.

______*Jod'ka's point of view.*_______

He was certain of his plan, he had two wolves where he wanted them and he knew all about the 'hidden' fifth one, he stood still and acted like he was accepting defeat so that it would draw the fifth out of hiding, so he could then take the three of them out in one go.

It was foolproof, he had even gone the extra mile and displayed his powerful magic so that the wolves would prioritize him over the bear, but there was of course one thing that ruined his plan.

"Behind you!" The Pegasus shouting had distracted him, he looked over his shoulder to see if the wolves went for the bear but instead saw that the fifth wolf was charging at him already, he tried to use his magic quickly but a lunging slash to his  left shoulder from one of the other wolves put a stop to that, he did not even have time to react as another slash hit him in his right shoulder.

He stood upright regardless of the assault and he growled in anger, he swiftly turned to face the other wolf who had just lunged, and with a quickly thrown punch, his fist impacted and the wolf soon froze over, he then threw a second punch and broke it straight through its front left leg to its front right leg.

He looked at the other frozen wolf, it was still frozen but it's two buddies kept on attacking, they circled a little bit before charging the wounded troll.

He grabbed his hatchet and readied himself for a fight. 

______*Meanwhile.*_____

Fluttershy flew above Barry, trying to see if there was a way she could help, but she didn't happen to spot one, she looked over and saw a thick looking stick, an idea came to mind and she grabbed the stick.

Barry roared and tackled the wolf he was fighting, the wooden creature creaked due to the impact but it quickly recovered, it lunged at Barry and managed to claw him up a little before the bear surprised it by rolling over on the ground and getting back up.

The wolf quickly reassembled the few parts it lost before returning to the apparent stalemate, it was about to attack again when it felt a hard thud on its back, it flipped around and saw Fluttershy nervously flying and backing away, it quickly looked back at the bear but it's head was immediately slammed to the ground by the bear and then knocked away.

Fluttershy believed that Barry now had the wolf handled and looked at Jod'ka, he was doing alright and had managed to break a leg off one of the wolves, she looked over and saw that the other wolf was still frozen, an idea came to mind when she remembered that he had shattered a good part of the previous wolves legs, she braced herself mentally and flew to the frozen wolf, when she got close she heard Jod'ka speak. "Don't do that!" He shouted as one of the wolves he was facing split off and charged at her.

Fluttershy's eyes widened In fear and she felt her wings lock in place, she tried to move her legs but was unable, she could only watch in horror as the wolf charged at her with murderous intent.

______*Jod'ka's point of view.*______

Another complication with what was supposed to be a simple fight, Fluttershy had managed to catch sudden combat paralysis at the worst possible time, he quickly froze the Timberwolf he was fighting and ran as fast as he could.

The Timberwolf lunged at the mare, she seemed to regain enough control to fall to the ground to avoid the attack if just barely, it then rounded back for another attempt.

When the Timberwolf neared the Pegasus, he quickly struck, he grabbed his bow and fired a swift arrow at it, the arrow struck the wooden creature in its mouth and it promptly froze from ice magic.

He looked over at the wolf that the bear was fighting and saw that it had reformed itself, but it quickly ran away, he then knelt down to Fluttershy. "Let's get you all to safety." He said, he picked up the Pegasus with one arm, she didn't even try to fight him or even speak. 'She is suffering from shock.' He noticed easily.

The troll looked at the bear as he walked over, the bear was wary of him and watched him closely. "We will take them all out of the forest to somewhere safe." He told the animal, he reached out with one arm and allowed the raccoons down, he then let the babies nestle in with Fluttershy while he carried the mother raccoon out of the forest.

The walk out of the forest was silent for a long time, that was of course until Fluttershy seemed to regain control of herself. "What's going on?" She asked, looking up at him.

_____*back to normal*_____

Fluttershy was having such a good day earlier, it had been relaxed and calm, nothing was happening that was urgent or stressful, but then the raccoons showed up to tell her about an injured mother.

She thought it would be like the other times, just go in, if necessary bring the wounded animal back to her home, heal them and help them recover, then they would go back to their lives.

But no, her life wasn't that nice today it would seem, and to top it all off she was in the arms of a creature that terrified her and was easily taller than Princess Celestia, the only thing that kept her from freaking out were the adorable the little baby raccoons sleeping on her, she then did a mental double take on her current situation. "What's going on?" She asked the troll.

"The wolves won't be bothering us now, I am taking you to safety so that you can get to doing what you do best." Jod'ka replied simply.

Fluttershy looked down and instantly saw a huge problem, his chest wounds were severe and cut deep. "Wait, your wounds! you need healed!" She said in a panic.

"I don't need healed." Jod'ka said without concern.

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes at him. "Now look, you saved not just the life of those raccoons, you also saved Barry and myself, I can't just let that go." She stated calmly.

Jod'ka glanced at her for a second. "I am certain it will heal quickly on its own, but if you insist, I will humor you."
> Observations 2 and kindred spirits.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*a few minutes later, outside of the Everfree Forest.*______

Fluttershy walked with Jod'ka, Barry and the raccoons through her garden outside of her house, the troll looked around as he walked, now that he was in the light of day, he didn't seem as threatening as he was while in the forest, he held the mother raccoon in his arms while the babies were held by Fluttershy, the other two raccoons raced ahead to the door and Barry followed them to the door.

It had been a silent trip, aside from Jod'ka quietly speaking to the raccoon, golden light flowed across the small creatures body and its pain seemed to fade, Fluttershy would have asked what exactly he was doing but decided against interrupting him, in the off chance that it would cause a problem.

They reached the front door and Fluttershy opened it, she walked inside and allowed the troll to walk in, he had to bend down quite a bit to come inside but he managed, he was able to stand up without much issue and he followed the Pegasus as she directed him to a table. "Set her down here." Fluttershy said, clearing most of the table quickly.

Jod'ka gently set the wounded raccoon down on the table and stopped speaking, he stepped back as Fluttershy immediately began to tend to the raccoons wounds, the Pegasus heard him walk over to her couch and sit down, the small couch creaked but didn't break thankfully.

The house was silent as Fluttershy worked hard to heal the mother raccoon, she applied disinfectant and then a healing salve which took a little while, then she bandaged her up carefully while the other raccoons and critters watched, all the while Angel Bunny stared warily at Jod'ka, not taking his eyes off the troll for anything.

After a few more minutes Fluttershy sighed in relief, she turned and looked at Jod'ka. "She'll live, now let's take a look at your wound." She stated, walking over with a small amount of dread in her heart, when she got close she flew up a little to more easily examine him, the troll made no movement aside from revealing his wounds, they cut deep and covered his shoulders in blood.

The meek Pegasus inwardly cringed at the sight, but she didn't shy away, she started by examining it and noticed that there was cold mist flowing from the wound for some reason. "Ok, I'll need water and my equipment." She said, as if on cue, four birds of varying species flew over a large bowl of water, and many other critters brought over a medical kit along with a bunch of medical supplies.

Much to his credit, Jod'ka made no sudden movements aside from his breathing and his eyes, he watched with interest as the normally meek mare cleaned his wounds and washed off the blood, she was gentle and thorough but not slow, the Pegasus placed a hoof on his chest for better leverage as she grabbed a bottle of liquid, the troll suddenly grabbed her hoof and stared at her intently, making her freeze.

______*Jod'ka's point of view.*______

It was not often that Jod'last was impressed, but it happened every now and then, and now was one of those times, he heard from Scootaloo that her mother was a shy and timid person, but she did not flee or faint at the sight of his wounds, she cleaned them calmly and with the care of a professional healer, she even knew enough to clean the rest of the blood to prevent contamination, but when she grabbed a bottle of clear liquid, something within him snapped.

His hand swiftly grabbed the mares hoof holding the bottle and he stared intensely at the mare. "What is that?" He asked cautiously.

Fluttershy gulped, the motion did not ease the trolls mind and she seemed to be more tense than she was in the forest, probably because he was now close enough to do something if it came to that...and he really didn't want it to.

"I um...I need to sterilize the wound, this is disinfectant, it prevents infection." She answered in a shaky voice.

Jod'ka thought on it for a few moments before nodding, he released his grip on the mares hoof. "My apologies." He stated.

Fluttershy poured some liquid on his wounds and seemed to pause for a moment, she held still for a few moments before turning to his other wound and pouring more on it, she paused again but she didn't say why, she looked at him. "Ok, your wounds are clean, now I need to heal them." She stated.

Jod'ka was about to protest but the Pegasus was already at work, he stopped himself and simply allowed her to work as he watched, observing her methods with a critical eye, he remained silent as the Pegasus worked.

Fluttershy gently applied what Jod'ka recognized as a healing salve to his wounds, she was precise and methodical, not missing anything as she worked, he was about to speak when she finished applying the salve but he was beaten to it. "You're a healer aren't you?" Fluttershy asked as she flew to a cabinet.

Jod'ka watched the Pegasus as she grabbed a few rolls of bandages and flew them over. "Why do you say that?" He asked, genuinely curious as to how she came to that conclusion.

Fluttershy grabbed one of his hands and then looked at him. "Your hands for one, compared to the damage the rest of your body took from what I can see, your hands are in near perfect condition, a healer knows that their hands or in my case hooves, are the most important tool they have." She stated, she then began to cover his wounds with the bandages. "Your grip also wasn't very tight, which means that either you didn't want to hurt me, or you didn't want to rob either of us of the ability to heal with efficiency." She explained.

Jod'ka smiled inwardly, but maintained his calm expression on the outside. "You are not entirely wrong, i am trained in medicine and healing magic, the trolls of Azeroth regenerate naturally which is why I was not concerned with my wounds." He replied, feeling a small amount of joy in the conversation.

Fluttershy finished bandaged his left shoulder and started to work on the right. "Doesn't this hurt? you haven't flinched once and you didn't even seem to be in pain in the forest." She asked with concern and curiosity.

"I do feel it, but in a fight I cannot allow myself to feel or react to pain, that in itself can get one killed, but it has died down since, so I don't feel it very much right now, and speaking of the forest, I wanted to tell you something." He replied, he waited until Fluttershy secured the first layer of bandages before speaking. "I was perfectly aware of the fifth Timberwolf, I stopped moving to bait them, to lure them into a trap." He stated calmly.

Fluttershy paused and didn't say anything for a while, instead she focused on wrapping the bandages, she got through a good amount of the roll before speaking. "I'm sorry I got you hurt." She said quietly.

"Don't worry about it, you had reason to believe i was unaware of its presence, you did what you thought was right and I commend you for that." The troll stated.

Jod'ka's words seemed to help calm Fluttershy and she soon finished with the bandages. "So Scootaloo told you I was a healer?" The mare asked.

"Yes, she is very proud of you, you have a very special daughter Fluttershy." The troll stated.

Fluttershy smiled at that, and she started to fly her medical equipment back to certain cabinets. "Thank you, she brought a lot of life to this place, her energetic attitude reminds me of Rainbow Dash most days." She replied, she then looked at the troll. "Your daughter, Shanda...Scootaloo is very fond of her." She said, her voice held a slight envy in it.

Jod'ka noticed this immediately. "She is quite fond of the little Pegasus as well..." He paused and then spoke. "You don't like my daughter do you?" He asked somberly.

"What? no no no! it's not that I-" Jod'ka held a hand up to silence the now worried Pegasus. 

"Please, it's obvious you don't like her...it's because of what she did isn't it? keeping you from seeing your daughter when you were so obviously distraught." He asked, the tone in his voice made it sound like he already knew the answer. 

Fluttershy sighed and nodded as she closed a drawer. "It is, I understand why she did it, and I know it was for the best but I can't let it go." She replied, she was silent for a while before speaking. "You're a single parent too aren't you?" She asked quietly. 

Jod'ka nodded in grim remembrance, he thought back to that day when he found Shanda, but he found himself pulled away from his thoughts. "Who was her mother? if you don't mind my asking." Fluttershy asked, her tone indicated a lot of curiosity while being kind.

"A Night Elf woman, she died in a fire that consumed an entire town, she gave me Shanda in the hopes that I would save her, and I did...I swore to myself I would raise her, and I did." The troll replied, his voice was level and calm as usual, which served to unnerve Fluttershy a little. "And Scootaloo's father? who was he?" He asked.

Fluttershy paused and after a moment she sighed sadly, she looked over at the troll. "He died when I was pregnant with her, he was a field medic in the Equestrian army." She motioned her head to a picture frame, Jod'ka stood up and walked over, he picked up the picture frame and examined the photo.

It was a photo of Fluttershy and a stallion in the house, the stallion was a Pegasus with orange fur and white hair, he had brown eyes and was about the same age as the mare if he wasn't mistaken, the mark on his flank was hidden due to the angle. "His name was Herbal Cure, he was a good man and would have been a great father." Fluttershy said as the troll set the picture frame down and looked at the Pegasus. "How long do you think you will be in Equestria?" She asked.

"I do not know." Jod'ka stated calmly. "We are not here intentionally, all we have is what we had on us when we were sent here." He added.

Fluttershy finished putting away her supplies and turned to face Jod'ka. "You should heal easy now." She said.

The troll nodded and walked to the door. "Then I won't take any more of your time." He said, he walked up to the door and opened it, he kept his hand on the door and looked back at Fluttershy. "If you are worried about your daughter getting attached to Shanda, I am worried about the same thing, I will do whatever I must to protect my daughter, even if I have to break her heart to do it...I just hope It doesn't come to that." He stated before leaving.

Fluttershy was still for a minute before she felt Angel tapping her leg, she looked down at him and saw that he was holding something, she knelt down and the bunny showed her what it was, the object was small, about the size of a large coin, it had an engraving on it that Fluttershy could not read, the other side of the object had a lion head with a shield behind it. "What...is this?" She asked herself quietly, she quickly got up and hurried to the door, she opened it to try and return the object to Jod'ka but the troll was nowhere in sight.

'He's gone...why would he leave this behind?' She asked herself.

______*Elsewhere.*______

Jod'ka walked back to his hut in the forest from Fluttershy's home, he kept his guard up because of the forest as he walked, he placed his hand in his pocket and closed his eyes. 'I have grown complacent, it's time to revive our search in full force, if I don't get us home...she may never want to leave.' He told himself.

Jod'ka opened his eyes and spotted Shard approaching him from behind the trees, he smiled and walked up to his old friend. "How do you feel about going back to the hut?" He asked.

The raptor screeched quietly and lowered his head, Jod'ka placed his hand on the raptors head and rubbed a little, he then climbed on and Shard turned around to head back to the hut. "Go however fast you wish old friend, I am in no hurry right now." The troll said.

With that said, the raptor moved swiftly through the forest, easily moving around and over roots, plants, trees and critters, the speed gave Jod'ka little time to think and for once, the troll was happy about it.

______*Later, Jod'ka and Shanda's hut.*______

Jod'ka looked over from his bed and saw Shanda fast asleep in he bed, with Rock asleep at the steps and Shade downstairs in the main room, he could hear Shard shuffling around in his built in nest outside.

The troll sat up in his bed and lit a single candle, he then opened his backpack and pulled out a thick book and quill, while he would commonly say to his friends that he loathed using quills, he would rather use one to write instead of pigments or chalk for tablets, and he absolutely refused to use magic writing, so a quill was his best bet.

With his dim light burning away slowly, Jod'ka opened the book and began to write.

'Equestrian Log, entry three.

I have observed these...ponies for some time, and I have discovered many things about both them and their culture, there are three primary species of pony, Pegasi, they are ponies who have wings and can manipulate the weather as well as walk on clouds, many of them seem to live in a city of clouds that moves across the country, managing the weather and housing the largest Pegasus population in the world.

Earth Ponies, they have no wings or easily discernible talents from a first glance, but they are easily the most versatile of the three main races, as well as the most eccentric and hardy, they naturally send magic into the earth that rejuvenates and brings life, this makes them apt farmers and I imagine they would make fine Druids in their own right, another theory I have that I cannot confirm yet is that they are physically stronger than the others, not to an incredible degree, but noticeable nonetheless.

Unicorns, this species of pony have horns on their heads, which allows them to channel magic with ease to wield it, the most common use of magic in this world seems to be levitation that allows for great finesse and control of whatever they are holding in their magic, because of this however, much like the magic wielders of Azeroth, unicorns tend to lack on the physical side of things, but seem to try and make up for it in magical prowess, it seems that they all learn from a young age to control their magic if my observations are correct, why this is is beyond me, as none of the unicorns I can see have any combat experience.

There is a fourth race of pony from what I have heard, Alicorns, which combine the traits of all three races into one, I am unable to observe any of them however, as the only known members of this species are the rulers of the nation, however from what I have heard they are powerful and radiate magic like a beacon, and wield tremendous powers that few can comprehend.

I have also learned about many creatures of the forest in my time here, I will include them in the following pages, but I will get back to the point of this page.

We have had no luck in finding the Core in all of this time, we have explored so many lands in this world and found nothing, from common homes to the vaults of kings to the hoards of dragons, nothing has been found yet, not one single clue as to its whereabouts, and while Shanda has found possible assistance in this search, I will not rest until we have found the Core, it is here in Equestria, it must be as we have searched everywhere else, and now that we have a stable place to prepare ourselves, our search will be more efficient and swift, and that much closer to going home.

Tomorrow our search continues for the first time in a long while, hopefully we find the Core soon, so we can return to Sen'Jin village and our life, I only hope Shanda will not grow too attached to the natives, they have their own lives to live and will not be joining us.'
> The search continues.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*The next day, Everfree Forest.*_______

A tired yawn filled the silence in the upstairs room of Jod'ka and Shanda's hut, the bedding on one of the beds shifted and Shanda rolled over to face the center of the room, she slowly opened her glowing blue eyes when she heard her father call out for her. "Shanda! get up!" 

The tired Night Elf forced herself to get up as she threw off the covers, she moved her legs and set her bare feet down on the cold wood, she yawned again before standing up, she placed her right hand over her heart and a small fire formed around it, she took a deep breath and a second later the fire dissipated and a second later the cold went away, she smiled a little as she started walking down the stairs, she then remembered something. "Come on Rock, if I have to wake up so do you." She stated.

The small lion let out a tired growl as he begrudgingly followed Shanda downstairs.

Shanda could here her father walking around in his armor and she wondered what he was doing, she got halfway down the stairs to the rest of the hut before watching Shade walk around a little before looking at her, his large cat like eyes seeming to stare straight through her. "Good, you woke up." She heard her father say.

The tired Night Elf walked all the way down the stairs and when she reached the bottom she looked around for her father, she spotted him standing at the table where Scootaloo had been for a few days, he was currently stuffing his backpack with supplies and she raised an eyebrow. "Going on a long hunt dad?" She asked while rubbing her right eye.

Jod'ka turned around and looked at his daughter, the troll was wearing his full body armor today, the armor was dark gray bordering on black with silver trimming and markings, the armor itself was made of Saronite, a rare and powerful ore from Northrend that is formed from the blood of an Old God, or more specifically, Yogg'Saron.

The leggings had spike patterns on them going upwards, the chest was simple enough, but it had a tiger engraving on it, the chest armor had a large serpent engraved in the center, Shanda knew that the back had a Phoenix engraving on it, he also wore a thick leather strap that was over his shoulder, the one thing that Shanda immediately realized was that her father had forgone his helmet today. "No, I am not hunting......WE are continuing the search for the core." He stated firmly, showing that he wasn't giving her a choice in the matter.

Shanda sighed to herself and nodded. "Alright, let me get my things." She replied tiredly, but before she could go upstairs her father threw her backpack over, she caught it with a surprised expression on her face. "It's all in here isn't it?" She asked after collecting herself.

Jod'ka nodded and walked over to the weapons cabinet, he opened it and grabbed something, which Shanda noticed was his sword, it too was forged from Saronite, the handle was wrapped in wolf hide and the metal itself was black, the butt of the blade was much like many others, rounded or shaped, but this blade had an odd gem resting in the hilt, it was blue in color but had a strange green mist flowing inside it, the blade itself was around four feet long and had an inscription on both sides, with two different glyphs, one on each side.

While Jod'ka sheathed the blade on his back Shanda quickly gathered her gear, since she was already halfway equipped in armor anyway, all she needed to do was grab her weapons and put on the rest of her armor, she headed up the stairs first and quickly threw on her armor, which was just her chest armor which covered her entire torso, it was dark green and brown in color and was made of both leather and cloth, with some animal fur additions on the back, her chest armor did not cover her arms but then she put her arm guards on, they reached up to her elbow and were of matching style with the rest of her armor, as in it was made of both cloth and leather with fur patches on them.

Shanda did not put up her hood and headed downstairs to grab her weapons, she saw her father looking Shade over, as though checking for any injuries and such, the Night Elf paid no mind to this as she approached the open weapons cabinet, she saw her spear and reached for it.

The spear was made of blue and green material with a crecent moon tip, it had tiki masks carved into the wood and the shaft was shaped like a skull, she grabbed it and placed it on her back, the spear was being held up by an attachable clip on the back of her armor, she then looked in and grabbed another of her weapons, her bow to be precise, normally she used a basic wooden bow but now she had her personal bow, it was made of enchanted wood from the Crystalsong Woods up in Northrend and gave off a dull purplish pink glow, the bow string was made from Cinderweb Spider Silk, any normal archer or hunter would have problems with it, but in the right hands it was particularly powerful and tended to be incredibly difficult to break.

Shanda put the bow around her arm and kept it on her back, she cringed at the memory of actually harvesting the silk before reaching in to grab the last weapon she would need, a dagger made from Elementium, the blade was red and purple with an ingraving on it, the handle was made from Core Hound leather and was still hot to the touch, she sheathed it in a fire and heat proof sheathe on her belt.

"I'm ready." Shanda said as she closed the cabinet and faced her father, who looked at her and nodded before walking over to the potion cabinet and grabbing a small vial of his potion, he stored in it his bag and walked to the door, he opened it as soon as he reached it and a voice was soon heard.

"Um......I'm sorry for intruding, I'll just go." Said a voice that was familiar to Shanda, the Night Elf quickly walked over and instantly recognized who it was.

"Twilight? why are you here?" Shanda asked, giving the lavender unicorn mare a confused stare.

Jod'ka sighed and walked outside, followed by Shanda, Rock and Shade, they waited patiently for Twilight to speak and the unicorn seemed to take a moment to breathe and calm down before talking.

Twilight let out a calming breath and looked at the two hunters. "Well, I did come here to talk to either or both of you about your home world, but I can see I've interrupted something-" She didn't get to finish what she was going to say as Jod'ka held his hand up to silence her. 

"Perhaps we can assist each other, we were just on our way to begin exploring the forest, perhaps you can guide us to a landmark? and in turn, we will answer your questions." Jod'ka stated, easily coming up with an idea.

Twilight seemed to turn this over in her head for a moment before nodding. "That's.....understandable, I do know of one place that I haven't even explored fully." She stated, showing that she accepted Jod'ka's offer.

Before anything else could happen, they all heard something coming around the hut towards them, Jod'ka smiled and turned around, he walked forward and then a creature that Shanda told Twilight was a raptor rounded the corner. "Good morning Shard, are you ready to continue the search my old friend?" Jod'ka asked the raptor, who simply bowed his head at the troll, who placed his hand on the raptors head.

Scale's body was covered in gray scales, with a few orange scales spread around, his feathers had long since died and fallen away, his eyes which were once a lively green were now dull and aged, Twilight was fascinated by Scale, after she got over her initial shock and silent fear of course.

Shanda looked at Twilight who appeared to be anxious about something, she smiled and reached into one of her pouches on her belt, she pulled out a small notebook enchanted quill, she handed it out to Twilight. "Here, I can tell you want to write this down." She said, genuinely wanting to see what the mare would write.

Twilight accepted the items before looking at Shanda. "Where did you get those from?" She asked out of curiosity, to which Shanda patted the small brown pouch which on first sight barely had enough room for the notebook. "That doesn't make any sense, it shouldn't be possible." The mare pointed out.

Shanda opened her mouth to speak but she heard a nearby bush shift, she looked over her shoulder and watched as a Timberwolf emerged from the bush. "Ahh!" Twilight cried out, hiding behind Shanda while readying a spell, that's when she noticed something off about the wooden wolf. 'Why doesn't this Timberwolf have any green mist or terrible smell?' She wondered, she then noticed that none of them seemed to be doing anything, the silence that followed was unbearable.

That was when the wolf did something that Twilight didn't anticipate. "Shanda, i have spoken with all of the wolf packs, none of them know anything about the Core." The wolf spoke! and in a male voice, this much Twilight immediately wrote down absentmindedly.

Shanda nodded. "Thanks Talon......we were just about to go explore......where was it again?" She asked, looking at Twilight who looked up at her. 

"The place we are exploring is the Castle of the Two Sisters, have you ever been there?" Twilight asked out of curiosity, to which Shanda shook her head, looking at Jod'ka the troll shook his head as well, the unicorn looked at the Timberwolf. "That's where we are going then." She stated.

Talon nodded, a motion that Twilight had to admit was strange to see from his species, he then looked at Shanda. "If you wish it, I will go with you as well." He offered, and Twilight found herself adding another thing to her mental list of things to learn.

"You can calm down though Twilight, Talon isn't going to do anything to you." Shanda said in a relaxed tone, Twilight waited for a few moments before dimming her horn, she then walked out from behind Shanda and seemed to calm down a little, she was a little on edge though.

Twilight took a deep breath before looking at Shanda and Jod'ka. "Ok, are you ready to head to the castle now?" She asked, seeing the nods, she started walking to said castle.

The walk to the Castle of the Two Sisters was quiet for about five minutes, the only sounds to be heard were that of the forest around them, and Jod'ka's heavy boots of course, after three more minutes, the troll spoke. "What can you tell us about the castle?" He asked, both out of curiosity and boredom.

Twilight mentally thanked the troll for the distraction from her thoughts and began to speak, happy to share what she knew. "The Castle used to be the home of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they ruled there to together for many years and.......wow, I don't really know much about that place." She said before making a mental note to learn more later.

"Eh, we can explore the place together then, so what do you want to know Twilight?" Shanda wondered.

Twilight thought on what she wanted to know, it was a lot to be sure and she eventually decided to go with the simplest question. "How did you end up in Equestria? was it that Core thing you're looking for?" She asked with curiosity.

"It's pretty underwhelming actually, we were inside an old Titan facility back home helping our friend Brann explore the place, unfortunately for us the dwarf pushed a button on accident which ejected a heart shaped artifact, it also activated a bunch of defenders that we had to fight. Shanda cast a bunch of fire spells against my wishes and overheated the artifact, since we we the closest to the Core we were teleported, believe me when I say that it isn't fun to be teleported one moment and end up fighting dragons the next." Jod'ka explained, giving Shanda a slight disapproving glare.

Twilight nodded in understanding even though the explanation raised so many more questions. "Why didn't you want Shanda using fire magic? she's skilled in its use." She asked, wanting to at least clarify one thing and because she was confused.

Jod'ka glared at Shanda who refuses to look him in the eye, he then spoke. "That's a......family matter, one that we WILL be talking about when we get home Shanda." He stated with a firm tone, showing that was not happy.

At this time, Twilight felt the temperature drop and she shivered a little bit, she decided to quickly drop the subject and try to change it. "Um.....what's your homeworld like? if you don't mind me asking." She asked.

The temperature warmed up slowly and Jod'ka spoke. "It's violent and dangerous, it could be a much better home if the two factions could stop fighting for five minutes, there are four main continents, one of which I only heard about in stories, our home is Kalimdor, a rugged and wild land, then there is the continent commonly known as the Eastern Kingdoms, if there is a proper name for it I never learned it, it is fertile and filled with life but is equally dangerous in its own right." He paused for a moment before continuing.

"The third continent is Northrend, or the Roof of the World, it is a cold and unforgiving land home to some of the most powerful of all races, and then there is Pandaria, I know very little of this land, it is mysterious and from what I learned it is shrouded in mist." Jod'ka stopped and looked down at Twilight. "What of Equestria? what can you tell me of it?" He asked with the intention to understand the land he was in.

The group soon passed a wall of trees and found a rickety old bridge that led to a run down castle, Twilight was the first to walk to it. "Equestria is a peaceful land filled with life and love, it wasn't always like this but these days there is little in the way of actual violence, that doesn't mean we are without problems though, we commonly have problems with managing the weather and you would not believe the amount of strange occurrences that threaten our daily lives." She sighed to herself and muttered something about little carnivores before stepping on the bridge.

Jod'ka paused and examined the bridge. "Isn't there a better way across?" He asked out of curiosity.

Twilight looked at the troll and nodded. "If you want to take an hour long hike to get halfway and then another two hours getting across the terrain." She explained. "Otherwise this is the best way across." She added with surety.

Jod'ka sighed and looked at Shanda. "I won't be able to go across due to the weight I'm carrying, the two of you go and explore the castle, I'll stay here with Shard, Shade and Talon." He stated.

The Timberwolf looked at the troll. "Why am I staying here exactly?" He asked with a confused tone.

"Because we have much to talk about." Jod'ka said as he waved Shanda off, telling her to go with Twilight to the castle, the young Night Elf nodded and walked across the bridge after Twilight while Rock followed.

A few minutes later and the three walked up to the castle, Twilight noticed a pensive look on Shanda's face and raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?" She asked out of concern.

Shanda said nothing at first, but the look on her face told Twilight that she was thinking on what to say, she spoke up as they entered the room that Twilight revealed once held artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. "Why did you tell him?" The Night Elf asked quietly.

Twilight paused, she had almost walked to an adjacent hallway when Shanda spoke, she turned and faced the Night Elf. "Tell him what?" She asked.

Shanda crossed her arms and walked over to Twilight. "Why did you tell my dad about me using fire magic?" She asked, her tone was demanding and angered, making the unicorn take a step back.

"I......I didn't think it was a bad thing for somep-one, to actually have good control over fire magic, I'm sorry." She said, refusing to look Shanda in the eyes.

The Night Elf glared for a moment before huffing and walking into the hallway that Twilight was about to enter. "My dad would prefer it if I never used it again." She looked back at Twilight. "I really do wish I could avoid it, but it's like he said, it's a family matter." She stated before returning her focus on the castle, Rock ran up to her and walked by her side.

Twilight quickly took the hint and followed Shanda and Rock, as she walked she decided to change the subject and end the silence. "I don't know about you, but I can't wait to learn as much as I can about this place, there's so much history here, like that banner!" She stated energetically as she pointed to a banner in excellent condition, it was of a round orb with green and blue on it. "That was one of the first banners that Equestria made, to symbolize our newfound unity." She stated with excitement.

Shanda could not help but smile, the unicorn in front of her reminded her so much of Brann, eagerly exploring and learning about the past. 'Those two would get along so well......at least on the learning aspect.' She chuckled as she followed the unicorn who was busy taking notes.

As they walked for around half an hour, Twilight occasionally found something interesting to explain or learn about like an ancient set of armor that she claimed was once worn by the Royal Guard but was abandoned years later when it was discovered that gold was easy to enchant and could be stronger than iron with the right spell, Shanda found herself thinking about her barely contained outburst, more specifically she could not understand why she got angry over something the mare had no way of knowing about, she eventually sighed as they entered a room with broken and rotten tables and chairs everywhere. "Hey Twilight." She said, getting the mares attention before she could enter another rant.

"Yea?" Twilight asked as she looked back at the Night Elf. 

Shanda walked over to one of the tables and took a long breath, she released the breath she was holding and spoke. "I'm sorry I got angry with you, there's no way you could have known and you were only trying to understand." She stated before looking at the mare. "I don't want to relive the memories but just know that I had an......incident with fire magic, and ever since that my dad has been on my case not to use it." She stated before looking away, silently hoping the mare would understand.

Thankfully Twilight smiled and motioned to the door for them to leave. "Apology accepted, now come on, we have a castle to explore." She stated.

Shanda smiled and chuckled. 'Scootaloo was right, you ponies are good people.' She thought to herself.
> Complications.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

______*The Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters.*______

The Castle of the Two Sisters is an abandoned and ruined place, with very few intact rooms within its walls, it was here that Shanda and Twilight Sparkle searched for the Core, an object of Titan origin that held the power to send the Night Elf and her father home.

It has been five minutes since Shanda apologized to Twilight for her behaivor earlier, and while they were making good time in their search, the fact that they found nothing yet began to annoy Shanda who proved to be rather Impatient. "This is taking too long." The young Night Elf complained as she leaned against the wall.

Twilight looked over her shoulder and at Shanda with a raised eyebrow and an annoyed glare, they currently stood in one of many hallways, it held nothing of interest aside from an old suit of armor. "I think we are making great time considering the size of this place." Her gaze softened as she walked over to the Night Elf who was clearly upset. "You really do miss your homeworld...Azeroth right?" She asked softly.

Shanda sighed and rested her head on the wall, she closed her eyes and thought on the question. 'It's my homeworld, I grew up there and I have friends in Azeroth...but still...' She opened up her eyes and looked at Twilight. 

"I miss various things about Azeroth." Shanda started. "I miss my home village of Sen'Jin, I miss adventuring with dad and whoever else we decide to pick up along the way, I miss my ragtag band of friends." She held a hand up in her vision and stared at it. "And while I won't admit it to dad...I miss being among my own kind, Sen'Jin will always be my home and the Darkspear will always be my people and my loyalty will always be to the Horde...but I loved my time with the Night Elves, I made friends there and I could feel a sense of belonging." She shook her head and ignited her hand, she stared at the orange flames.

Twilight nodded in understanding. "I think...I would feel the same way if our situation were reversed, I don't think I would be as strong as you are being though." She stated, seeing the raised eyebrow she was getting she spoke. "Before now, have you ever taken the time to consider what would happen if the Core isn't in Equestria?" She asked, Shanda shook her head and Twilight continued. "It took you this long to actually be concerned and you aren't even panicking, I would probably scream within a minute of arriving in a new world." She stated with an eye roll.

Shanda stared for a moment before returning her gaze to her burning hand, feeling no pain from the magical fire. "Can you promise me something Twilight?" She asked, looking at the mare. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?" She asked, her voice was filled with regret and her shoulders sagged unconsciously, as though she were carrying a great burden, the fire disappeared from her hand.

Twilight noticed this but said nothing, she bit her lip and thought about it for a while, it took a couple of minutes but she eventually looked the Night Elf in the eye. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She stated firmly, going through the motions for the promise.

Shanda blinked. "Uh...what was that?" She asked with sudden confusion.

Twilight smiled. "It's called a Pinkie Promise, and I've heard that breaking one is a sure fire way to lose a friend." She replied with a calm demeanor.

Shanda was about to reply when she heard a faint voice calling out in the distance. "Foreverrrrr!" It sounded like, confused and bewildered, Shanda looked at Twilight who shook her head with a sigh.

Putting her confusion aside, Shanda rested her head on the wall again and slid down to the floor so that she was sitting, she looked at Twilight who took a seat on the other side of the small hallway, she held her hand out and formed a small fireball. "The truth of the matter is I...I LIKE my flames, I know I shouldn't especially when I consider how I ended up with them, but I get such a rush when I release them, I feel free and unbound, the feeling is liberating and comforting, I should hate them, I really should but lately I can't bring myself to hate my flames like I used too." She sighed and dispelled the fireball. "The worst part of it is that It's difficult to avoid thinking about it, like an addiction I can only go for so long before my thoughts turn towards it, and in my case that's releasing my flames whenever I can." She admitted, shame filled her voice as she lowered her gaze to the floor.

Twilight could only sit in silence as she listened to the Night Elf talk, she waited for a minute once Shanda was done talking, processing what she heard, she then sighed. "I'm...not sure what I can say about that, it sounds like pyromania but I don't want to downplay what you're feeling." She said softly, she leaned up against the wall and rested her head on it. "I know you said it's a family matter." She began, getting Shanda's attention. "But I just want to know...is it really that bad? having fire magic?" She asked curiously, wanting to at least get some answers.

Shanda shook her head slowly. "I...I hope not, as I said before I do like my fire magic, I hate how I got it but that's it, I don't even feel resentment anymore even though my dad does." She admitted as she folded her legs and put her arms around them.

The last piece of the puzzle suddenly clicked for Twilight, she opened her mouth to speak but just as she did so, the entire hallway began shaking violently, the two of them cried out in surprise and stood up quickly just as rubble started to fall from the ceiling. "What's going on!?" Twilight cried out.

Shanda looked up and down the ends of the hallway but saw nothing as she struggled to stay standing as the shaking made her wobble and fight to keep her balance. "I don't know!" She replied loudly, before starting to walk to the closer end of the hallway which was where they were going. "Come on!" She called out.

Behind the Night Elf, Twilight fought to get closer, she shook and struggled to keep up, she placed a hoof on the floor and moved another one forward, she almost slipped but was able to catch herself and regained her balance, if only barely, any sense of victory was cut short however as a loud crash came from behind her, Twilight looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened as the floor itself was collapsing quickly towards her, reacting on instinct Twilight lit her horn and teleported closer to Shanda. "Behind us!" She cried out, falling to the ground at the unexpected teleport.

Shanda looked back and before she could do anything the floor beneath her and Twilight gave out, and they both plunged into a black pit which didn't look like it had a bottom, the last thing she saw before the darkness enveloped her was the floor quickly returning to normal, sealing them in wherever they were going.

Unfortunately for Shanda and Twilight, before they could create a light so they could see, they landed on something very sticky which stopped them from falling, and before either of them could react, something large that they couldn't see aside from a faint blue glow suddenly began wrapping them up in multiple layers of the sticky substance.

Shanda ignited her hand at the last second, just in time to watch as a huge spider with eight gray spindly hairless legs stick Twilight with its stinger, the fire from her hand seemed to be enough to cause a panic from another spider behind her and acting quickly, Shanda ignited her entire body, burning away the webs around her and sadly, under her as well.

Shanda quickly started falling down again but she didn't disperse the flames surrounding her, she focused on the massive web above her and without thinking she fired a torrent of flames up at the web, the fire quickly ignited the spiders who let out piercing screeches of pain and the web burnt away.

Shanda stopped her assault and her eyes widened as she watched Twilight falling rapidly, the mare looked unconscious and would be unable to do anything, she mentally berated herself for her lack of foresight when she noticed the burnt fur on the mare, Shanda quickly changed her focus to ensuring they both survive the fall and realized that the mare would be falling within her reach, she glanced down and saw the webs they were falling towards, she narrowed her eyes and managed to flip over, she then unleashed a large wave of fire down the pit, the flames traveled fast and quickly burnt away the webs and any of the spiders that happened to be on them.

Shanda soon spotted solid ground approaching, she flipped over again and saw that Twilight was just about near her, she instinctively dispersed her flames and reached out to grab the mare, once Twilight was in her grasp she held her tight and faced her back to the floor, running incredibly short on time, Shanda braced herself for impact and channeled her magic to one of the few spells that she still had that wasn't fire based.

Glancing down and with her eyes wide, Shanda braced for impact and closed her eyes, she expected to feel the harsh impact of the ground, expecting to die she waited...but it never came, there was no pain at all.

Shanda opened her eyes hesitantly when she felt that she was on solid ground, she breathed a sigh of relief and released her grip on Twilight, feeling her adventurous instincts kick in she set the mare down on the ground and quickly got to her feet, she ignited her hand and held it up, lighting the room she looked around.

The room they ended up in was a small chamber, with about fifteen feet in all four directions, the walls were chipped and cracked but otherwise they were mostly intact, there was a large entryway with broken door hinges and said door was broken and shattered on the ground around the doorway, there was a torch on the opposite wall from the entrance to the room and there were broken barrels all along the walls.

Shanda looked up and to her surprise she only saw a stone ceiling, she threw a small fireball at the ceiling to test for an illusion but to her surprise it only impacted rock, she sighed and looked at Twilight who was out cold, feeling a brief wave of panic but not allowing it to get the better of her, Shanda approached the unconscious unicorn and knelt down, she placed two fingers on the mare's neck and felt for a pulse, to her relief Twilight was alive.

Shanda acted quickly and held her hands over the mare and channeled her magic, again reaching for one of her few non fire spells, she sent a magical pulse into the mare's body which proceeded to eliminate toxins one by one, and after a few more pulses of this spell. Shanda breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Twilight's eyes open. "Oh good...you're alright." She said in a relieved tone, pulling her hands away from the mare.

Twilight groaned and put a hoof to her head as she closed her eyes and slowly sat up. "Ugh...where am I?" She asked groggily, still disoriented from the venom. 

"Somewhere under the Castle, I managed to save us before those spiders returned, now come on and get up, we need to get out here...wherever here is." She replied, she turned her gaze to the rooms entrance for a moment before looking at Twilight and reaching her hand out.

The unicorn nodded in thanks and took the offered hand, she pulled herself up and wobbled a little bit. "Whoa." She said as she balanced herself to stay standing. "What did you do to get rid of the venom?" She asked, trying to get some sense of what was going on.

Shanda picked up on this and decided to answer the unicorn, seeing no harm in it. "I was trained as a Druid for years, they taught me to cleanse toxins, poison and disease with magic...its among the very few spells I have that aren't fire based anymore." She answered as she helped Twilight to stand up steadily, the toxins after effects seemed to be quite powerful.

After Twilight was finally able to stand up and walk without help, she tried to light her horn but the light that came from it was weak, she then looked at Shanda. "Ok, I can barely use magic, that venom seems to have drained my magic reserves comepletely, you'll be on your own if we end up needing to fight anything." She stated calmly, referring to her weakened physical and magical condition.

Shanda nodded and walked to the entryway, she ignited her hand and held it up just next to her shoulder, there was a room outside the one they were in and it was empty save a few broken benches and tables. "This must have been a mess hall of some kind." She observed, she intensified the flame and illuminated the rest of the next room, there was one double door on the other side and dozens of broken torches along the walls, there were massive cobwebs in every corner of the ceiling. 

Twilight gulped and took a hesitant step out of the room, she waited for something to happen but thankfully nothing did, she then slowly made her way toward the other side with Shanda walking next to her, returning the flame to normal. "So uh, these Druids, you said you learned from them?" Twilight asked curiously, trying to cope with being helpless below an abandoned castle in the most dangerous forest in Equestria. 

"I did." Shanda replied simply, she was quiet for a few seconds before continuing. "After I was found to be part of the Horde, I was certain I was done for, but to my surprise they instead disarmed me and left me in the wilds, naturally as a hunter I focused on surviving, I made a makeshift spear, a makeshift bow and some arrows after hours of searching for small stones or flint, I tried to forage but anything edible was too dangerous to retrieve, so I went hunting for food...it uh, didn't go well." She explained, the Night Elf then paused and used her free hand to pull down her right arms sleeve, the bracer coming loose.

Twilight's eyes went wide as she stared at several large scars, they were obviously made by a claw and from the severity of the scar, the wound must have been large, Shanda soon tightened the bracer and pulled her sleeve back up and continued speaking. "I was discovered by a group of Cenarion Druids, seven of them to be exact, they brought me back to their camp to fix me up, when I woke up they told me that they healed my wounds but that I was weak from my injuries, they also broke the news about my scars to me." She sighed before continuing. "Imagine my surprise when the exact same adventurer who exposed my secret turned up at the camp, we locked eyes and glared at each other for a while before he focused on talking to the leader of the Druid group." She chuckled at the memory.

Shanda stopped talking as they reached the ancient and rotting door, both the Night Elf and Unicorn were confused as to how the door was still here after so many years but neither said anything about it as Shanda opened it...the door immediately broke apart and collapsed to the floor the moment it was touched, revealing a hallway.

Shanda focused on the hall, seeing nothing aside from dust, small bits of rubble and cracks in the walls, not willing to intensify the flame, the Night Elf simply walked into the hallway, with Twilight by her side. "As I was saying." Shanda spoke just loud enough to be heard but not for her voice to be heard from a distance. "The adventurer had friends who showed up after a brief discussion and I overhead that they were tasked with clearing the way of some evil cultists who were blocking the way to a Cenarion village." Shanda paused when they came to a crossroads, there were four paths but one of them were collapsed by rocks.

Shanda sighed and chose the one to the left, opposite the collapsed path, seeing nothing ahead by cobwebs and a rusted suit of armor that matched the ones in the castle above. "What happened next?" Twilight asked curiously, eager to hear more.

"Well..." Shanda replied, her tone indicated that she was enjoying the trip down memory lane. "Me...being a generous soul and wanting to repay the debt I owed the Druids, offered to assist the adventurers in clearing the way, saying that I could fight, before the Druids could object and to my growing surprise, my offer was accepted." She paused to breathe before continuing. "That was...a very enlightening experience." She said quietly.

"All of this happened years ago? how young were you at the time?" Twilight asked, not intending to sound offensive, just curious.

Shanda shrugged. "It was years ago, I was only about...twenty?" She replied as she walked.

Twilight paused for a brief moment but continued walking. "Uh...how old are you exactly?" She asked hesitantly.

Shanda stopped walking and looked at Twilight, she raised an eyebrow at the odd question but answered it anyway. "I'm thirty two years old, what's this about all of a sudden?" She asked, wanting to figure out what was going through the unicorns mind.

Twilight shook her head. "I could have sworn Scootaloo said you were a teenager." She muttered quietly but it was loud enough to be heard by the Night Elf.

Shanda immediately put two and two together and spoke up as she walked down the long hallway. "My dad told Scootaloo my age didn't he?" Getting a nod from Twilight the Elf continued. "He's done it before, because Night Elves don't really show signs of age for a long time, my dad tells that lie so that people won't treat me as badly if we get captured, it also makes them underestimate me." She sighed as the two approached an opening in the wall. "I just wish he would stop, I'm not a little girl anymore, I don't need him to protect me like that anymore." She stated, slightly annoyed by what she was talking about.

Twilight nodded in half understanding and they both went silent as Shanda entered the new room to look inside, the room was moderately sized, there were crumbling stone tables everywhere along with torches all over the room, Shanda spotted a few in decent condition and lit them up, they illuminated the room enough to show that the floor was incredibly damaged and that there wasn't anything to see at a glance, so Shanda didn't even bother entering the room and continued walking down the hall.

Shanda then decided to continue talking. "Back to the story, I found myself joining the adventurers to deal with the cultists, there were five of them in total, two Humans, a Gnome, a Night Elf and a Dwarf, the trip was quiet and awkward for myself and the leader of the group, the Human soldier Gerard, he was the leader of the group and was also the one who turned me in." She rolled her eyes and then her eyes spotted something up ahead, she silently braced herself and intensified her flames, she groaned as she spotted a large pile of rubble going up to the ceiling, effectively cutting the path off. "Wonderful." The Elf muttered.

As the two turned around to head back, they heard angry chittering rapidly approaching them from the hall, Shanda glanced down the hall and saw an unlit torch on the left wall, she threw fire at it and the torch ignited, illuminating a huge spider with eight bony legs and large red scars along its back, it's eyes glowed a soft blue and it screeched before charging at a surprising speed toward the two.

Twilight lit her horn but all it managed to do was cause her to cringe, Shanda immediately summoned her flames and threw a large fireball at the spider, it impacted hard which made the spider recoil and let out a terrible screech of agony as the flames consumed it moments later from another fireball.

Shanda sighed and took a moment to breathe, she dissipated the flames from her hand and took a moment to rest in the light by the torch. "Ok, now we know what we are dealing with." She muttered.

"That's certainly disturbing." Twilight added, walking up to the Night Elf. "I'm sorry I can't help you fight, I would if I was able to, but with this magic drain it's like I have no strength." She said, ears drooped a little, showing she was upset.

Shanda said nothing and instead she patted Twilight's shoulder, causing the mare to stiffen up a little at the touch. "It's alright, I protected quite a few people who couldn't fight, It's not a problem, you focus on getting your strength back, deal?" She asked, though it was obvious what the answer was.

Twilight let out a half hearted chuckle and then paused, she then looked at Shanda. "Uh...where's Rock?" She asked, not remembering where the lion was.

Shanda froze and looked up and down the hall for her friend and companion, when she saw no sign of him she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I swear, I cannot keep track of that stupid lion." She complained under her breath before shaking her head. "Whatever, he can handle himself and knows enough to find dad when we get seperated." She muttered before walking down the hall back to the crossroads.

Twilight joined the Night Elf and walked by her side. "So...how did it go? dealing with the cultists?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Ah...the story." Shanda said, though she would never admit it, she forgot to continue it. "Well, we made good progress to the cultist camp and we camped for the night, while everyone else set up the tents I prepared the campfire and Gerard walked up to me, warning me not to do anything funny or I would regret it." She shrugged. "I swore to him that nothing would happen but that didn't seem to help." She explained, sounding a little nostalgic of the memory. "That night, I was able to sleep peacefully but the others didn't fare so well, considering that they were all being kept up all night because of Gerard's orders to keep an eye on me...by the time it was morning I was feeling much better, we continued on after eating and when we finally reached the cultist camp I was given an old bow by Kormac, the Dwarf of the group." She paused to light a nearby torch.

"Aren't you concerned that more will show up?" Twilight asked out of worry, looking back at the lit torches behind them.

Shanda shook her head and kept walking. "It's obvious that these spiders rely on hearing rather than sight, at this point lighting the torches can only help us." She replied calmly before lighting a few torches that she spotted up ahead, further illuminating the path and barely revealing the collapsed hall up ahead at the crossroads.

"As I was saying, I joined the adventurers in attacking the cultists, Gerard didn't trust me and so he kept Kormac and Shylish behind with me to keep me from doing anything to hinder them, not that I intended to of course...though I wouldn't have complained if one of my arrows hit Gerard at the time." She grinned as she stifled a laugh. "It was a brief encounter, with our combined efforts and training, we easily killed the untrained cultists even though some of them knew magic and outnumbered us." She looked at Twilight who seemed to be a little tense. "When it was all over, we made our way back to the Druids, Gerard took the bow and arrows from me and we talked, mostly he wanted to understand me, why I served the Horde and why I spied on my own kind, I shocked him quite a bit when I told him about being raised by the Darkspear tribe, most importantly though I told him that I actually wasn't spying, he didn't believe me but I told him that I used the guise of being a spy so that I could live among the Night Elves without the Horde thinking I was a traitor." Shanda explained, she then scratched the back of her head as they reached the crossroads. "Now that I think about it, I probably was committing treason while I lived with the Night Elves." She muttered.

Shanda faced the hallway they didn't go down and started to walk into it, she took it slow and Twilight took cautious steps forward next to the Elf, the two of them walked slowly and quietly up until Shanda spotted a torch on the wall, using her fire to light the torch, Shanda briefly dispersed the flames around her hand and watched as several large webs were burnt away in seconds. "What happened when you returned to the Druids?" Twilight asked out of curiosity.

"Well, Gerard and his group were paid for their efforts and they went on their way, after they left I joined the Druids as they headed to Moonglade, a safe haven for Druids, as we made our way to Moonglade I talked to the Druids the entire way, learning about them and when we reached Moonglade, I learned that the Cenarion Circle was in dire need of new Druids...so I asked to join them, to see if I could become a Druid." Shanda explained as they walked the halls, hand once again ignited.

Twilight was about to speak when the two of them neared an entryway on the wall to their right, there was a torch just outside the entrance to the room and Shanda lit it with her flame before they entered the new room, it appeared to be a meeting room of some kind with a massive stone table in the center stretching far from one end of the room to the other yet leaving a few feet from the wall.

Shanda looked for torches on the wall and saw that any torches were broken and useless, she said nothing about this and approached the table, upon close examination she noticed that the table was cracked in numerous places up and down, there were small stone figures on the table that seemed to have a map on it as part of a design. "This must have been a war room." The Elf observed before looking at Twilight. "There's nothing here." She stated.

The mare nodded and peeked out into the hall to check and see if any of the spiders were nearby, she looked back at Shanda and motioned to leave the room, after the Elf left the room they both continued heading down the long hall. "What do you suppose this place was?" Twilight asked, curious as to the opinion of her companion. 

"My guess is that it was an old military facility back in the days this castle was used or even before that, I know a few people who would love to explore this place once it was clear of spiders." Shanda replied, she spotted a torch and lit it up, the light was dim and flickered out after a few seconds, making it pointless to have even done so. "That's annoying." The Elf muttered.

"So...the Druids, did they accept you?" Twilight asked hesitantly, unsure if it was a sensitive topic.

Shanda didn't notice the hesitation and replied as though it weren't a problem. "They did...they put me through the wringer of course, testing me in a multitude of ways and breaking me of my old habits, but after eight years...it was worth it, it was fulfilling work and I was at peace, the Alliance still didn't like me and the Horde thought I was dead for the longest time...that was on me though, not the Druids, I got into no end of trouble from dad when we finally reunited." She explained, she then looked at Twilight. "You know, one of the upsides to being a Druid is that you can shapeshift into different animals." She added with a smirk.

Twilight's eyes widened and looked at Shanda. "Really! what's that like?" She asked enthusiastically, excited at the chance to learn.

"It's a wonderful feeling actually." Shanda replied simply before shuddering. "Though...when the elder Druids tell you NOT to shapeshift during mating season, you should believe them." She added quietly, making Twilight raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure I..." Twilight stopped as she realized something. "Wait, no...don't tell me...Shanda did you do what I think you did?" She asked, wide eyed in surprise.

Shanda sighed. "I don't want to talk about it." She replied with a slight blush, she then looked away from the mare. "Nice cheetah though." She spoke in a very hushed whisper.

Twilight said nothing in reply, blushing a little as well before pushing the thoughts aside and focusing on where they were going, the hallway started to be filled with webs and even more rubble and broken torches, Shanda claimed that the torches were destroyed because they were sources of fire which the spiders were incredibly vulnerable against, which the Elf claimed was odd considering her experience in battle. 

The two of them walked for several minutes down the increasingly web covered hall, they weren't able to enter any side rooms as they were collapsed by rocks or there were webs that were incredibly thick, they were silent as they passed those ones, just in case there were spiders inside the rooms.

Eventually they reached a large chamber, Shanda spotted torches along the walls of the surprisingly web free chamber, she raised an eyebrow but lit the torches anyway which lit up the room, illuminating the cracks in the walls as well as the large holes all over. "That's not good." Shanda muttered as she turned to face the exit, it was a large stone door that looked like it was just as ancient and crumbling as the rest of this place. 

Twilight walked up to the door and then looked back at Shanda. "Can you help me open this?" She asked, referring to the door.

Shanda dispersed her flames again and walked to the door, she placed her hands on the door and Twilight did the same with her hooves, and after counting to three, the two of them began pushing the door open, it was incredibly sturdy for its age and barely budged, they kept pushing up until they heard a familiar screeching behind them.

Shanda looked over her shoulder and saw three spiders approaching, two emerged from holes in the wall on both sides of the room and one came from the hallway, she then felt heavy pounding on the door and growled. "Of course." She complained before looking at Twilight. "Hold as long as you can." She ordered before letting go of the door to face the spiders.

The middle spider charged quickly and Shanda drew her bow, grabbed an arrow and loosed an arrow at the spider, the arrow flew straight and embedded into one of the many eyes of the spider causing it to recoil and let out a pained screech, Shanda noticed how quickly the other two started to move and put her bow back, she quickly formed a fireball and threw it at the middle spider, it started burning as the flames stuck to it and it ran away, screeching in pain.

Shanda unsheathed her Elementium dagger and dodged to the side as a spider charged at her, it collided with the wall behind her but she was knocked to the ground before she could do anything else, the other spider attacked furiously, it snapped away at Shanda and tried to bite her neck but she managed to keep it from succeeding by using her dagger to block, she was about to use her fire to attack when she felt a familiar sensation fill her, she flinched at the memory which made her lose focus long enough to make her spell worthless.

"Shanda!" Twilight cried out, the sound of the door being thrown open filled the room and the unicorn tried to run away, she managed to fire off a few magic bolts but they did little aside from making the spider chasing her stop for a moment.

The Night Elf growled and threw her fist up, punching the spider under its jaw, it recoiled for a brief second but that was log enough for her to thrust her dagger into the spiders mouth, it's ear piercing screech filled the room and Shanda removed her dagger, followed by her unleashing a fierce fireblast on the spider, it was flung away from the force and she forced herself to stand up, she was soon beset upon by another spider and she quickly grabbed her spear, she sheathed her dagger and dodged a charge from the spider, she then thrust her spear into the spiders giant venom sac, it screeched and she once again stabbed the spider after removing the spear, she did this three times while avoiding the others and then the spider collapsed.

Shanda realized that her spear wasn't working very well and returned it to her back after dodging a spiders furious charge, she took a step back and felt a wall, she glanced back and saw that she was in a corner, she growled and took the strange reprieve as a chance to examine the situation.

There was a small swarm of the spiders in the room, around twenty of them and many of them were focused on her, there didn't seem to be any more coming from the room beyond the doors or the holes in the walls, she ignited her hands and felt an intense burning sensation filling her, she gasped and dispersed the flames, she unsheathed her dagger and glanced at it and then at the spiders, a crazy idea formed in her mind and she decided that it was her best bet.

Shanda suddenly charged forward at the spiders who quickly advanced on her, just before they got close she dropped to a slide and slashed violently, the blade easily cut through the spiders flesh and legs and even sliced into a second spider, she then rolled over as a spider tried to sting her and she then rolled forward, slashing in a wide arc at a nearby spider that was foolish enough to stay near her, the spiders she struck all collapsed moments later, ending in three dead already.

Shanda then stood up quickly and charged at the small swarm again, they charged at her but they seemed to be wary of her sliding under them, so with a grin on her now blood covered face, Shanda jumped as she got close, she landed on the spider and embedded her dagger deep into the body of the spider, she then dragged it forcefully through its body as it screeched in agony.

With another spider taken care of, Shanda hopped off the spider and landed just in front of another one, she thrust her dagger straight into its head and twisted it before pulling it out violently, she noticed another spider charging at her out of the corner of her eye and she waited a second or two before rolling away, slashing at the new spider as she did so, it screeched and soon collapsed as the blade had cut most of its body open.

Shanda stood up and the first thing she noticed was that she was surrounded by the remaining spiders, she gripped the dagger and braced, her heart racing from her recent actions, she felt her blood pumping from adrenaline and she found herself feeling excited at her memories of adventuring, she grinned like a madman, unknowingly allowing her bloodlust to overwhelm her.

All of this came crashing down however, when Shanda heard Twilight screaming, she blinked and felt all her excitement fade in an instant, her head snapped to look in the direction of the unicorn and she watched as a spider knocked Twilight down and proceeded to viciously attack.

Feeling something within her snap, Shanda sheathed her dagger and rushed towards Twilight, seeking to save her friend.

_____*A few moments ago.*_____

Twilight ran away from a pair of spiders that chased her away from the door, the majority of the swarm seemed to be focused entirely on Shanda instead of her which, while not good by any means, meant that all Twilight had to deal with was two very angry spiders who apparently hated her and wouldn't stop trying to attack.

It didn't help that Twilight was drained both magically and physically, she panted as she fired off another magic bolt at the spider on her left, it impacted it in the eye which made it cry out in pain, but it didn't run away, Twilight cursed under her breath and was about to try and make another break for it when she heard a horrifying screech of some kind, she and the spiders looked over and saw Shanda standing in the center of all the other spiders with a strange grin on her face.

One of the two spiders rushed over to help its brethren while the other one focused on Twilight and charged, the unicorn tried to fire another magic bolt but her magic fizzled out, she screamed in fear as it collided with her and proceeded to attempt to bite her with a primal fury, it took everything Twilight had to fend it off and that was barely working,  her hoof suddenly slipped and she felt her heart skip a beat as the spider attempted to bite in that instant.

Twilight closed her eyes, unwilling to look at the spider as she met her fate...which never came, she paused and opened her eyes, she gasped at the sight before her, eyes wide and heart racing.

Standing before her in a protective manner was a large feline that was a little larger than her, though the most shocking part of this was that the feline was on fire, Twilight was frozen in place as she watched the feline pounce on a spider that had large gashes on its side, the flames that seeped from the felines burning claws seemed to stick to spider and it ignited in a brilliant blaze, incinerating it in seconds.

Twilight stood up slowly and watched in shock and horror and the burning feline tore into the remaining swarm, taking them out one by one In flame empowered assault, she tensed up and felt sweat form when the feline looked at her, she gulped but made no attempt to move with her legs paralyzed in fear, but when the feline walked over in a relaxed manner, Twilight noticed that Shanda wasn't around, she also remembered Shanda telling her what Druids could do. "Is...is that you Shanda?" She asked shakily.

The feline stopped before her and its form shifted before her eyes, she tensed up but she felt her worry fade as Shanda appeared before her, comepletely unharmed, but she noticed something off about her friend.

Shanda's eyes glowed orange instead of their usual blue, and her hair looked like it was on fire, parts of it looked like they were ablaze with a golden orange glow but the rest was untouched, her skin however now appeared to have reddish orange patterns etched on it, going from her eyes and even down her arms, glowing like an inferno. "What happened to you?" She asked, worried for the Elf. "And what kind of Druid turns into a burning cat?" She added with confusion in her voice.

Shanda looked at Twilight and sighed. "I transformed into what is commonly known as 'cat form' to fight the spiders, I wanted to avoid it if possible but...no point now I guess." She walked over to a wall that didn't have anything near it and sat down, leaning on the wall. "Some time ago, there was an invasion at Mount Hyjal, where the World Tree rests, I was among the first prisoners, through torture and promises of power, they tried to convert me to their side...I don't remember how long I was there." She took a shaky breath as she recalled the memories. 

"I...I held out as long as I could, but eventually I surrendered, I wanted to end my pain so I gave up and they made me one of them, a Druid of the Flame." She said, shame was evident in her voice. "By the time my dad and my friends found me, they thought they were too late, we fought and with the assistance of the other Druids of the Flame we almost won...if not for my hesitation at the last second when I finally realized who I was fighting?...I wouldn't have a dad anymore." She continued, tears fell from her face and she cried a little, but she didn't stop talking. "M-my hesitation...it gave them the chance they needed to win, they captured me and brought me back to Hyjal, my dad did a lot to bring me back from the brink of madness, he even put aside his differences with Gerard and his group, he allowed Castenar, a Night Elven Priest to work on healing me and my mind." She held a hand in front of her and closed her eyes, falling silent, she lowered her hand to her side and quietly cried.

"...Shanda?" Twilight asked as the Elf cried silently, she watched as her friend cried, and as she did, Shanda's skin slowly became a burning orange, she was shocked but pushed past it, she reached out and touched her friend's shoulder, it was warm but not hot despite its burning appearance.

Shanda tensed up and looked at Twilight, who's comforting gaze calmed her down enough to continue, her skin began to return to normal and she took a breath before she spoke. "After a week of slow and minimal progress, I finally came to my senses and could see the world clearly again, I was...unstable for a while there, I was certain I was going to die because of what I became and I was mortified by the thought of my dad being alone." She shook her head and rested her forehead in her right hand's palm. "It took a month before I was even remotely back to normal, and when I was able to move around and was capable of doing things, we decided to test for any peculiarities with the best method we had...combat training." She chuckled. "It's one thing to try and call roots from the ground to ensnare your target, it's another thing entirely to call up a pillar of flames and incinerate them." She leaned back. "Not my best moment." She added.

"Shanda...we should really get back to your dad, he's probably worried." Twilight said softly. "I do appreciate the fact that you trust me enough to tell me all of this, It means a lot as a friend." She added with a smile.

Shanda looked at the mare for a few moments as though she were thinking about something, soon though she just let out a small chuckle and looked at her hand as she held it in front of herself again. "Friends huh? kind of hard to go through something like this and not be." She stood up fully and looked at Twilight. "Come on, let's go." She said, pointing at the door with her thumb.

With a nod, Twilight followed Shanda to the chamber exit, the Elf threw a wave of fire forward and it incinerated all the webs in seconds as well as light the torches on the wall, they walked down the short hallway and found no side rooms, they soon found another large chamber that Shanda illuminated by lighting a lone torch, the chamber had no exit as it was collapsed by a huge pile of rubble.

Twilight looked around and frowned. "How are we supposed to get out of here with the exits collapsed." She asked out of worry, after getting no response for a minute she looked over at Shanda who was busy staring up at the ceiling. "What are you staring at?" She asked with confusion in her voice.

Shanda pointed up at the ceiling and Twilight looked up, the ceiling was missing and a quick fire wave from Shanda revealed few webs and no spiders, but it did reveal a hole up at the top. "How are we supposed to get up there?" She asked, looking at Shanda who had a grin. "What's with that grin?" She asked with concern.

"I'm going to fly us out of here." Shanda replied, her body rapidly shifted and soon she took the form of a large flaming hawk, large enough to carry Twilight, if it wasn't for the flames it seemed like it wouldn't be an uncomfortable ride. 

"Uh...no offense, but I don't want to be burned...anymore than I already am." Twilight said nervously, referring to her burnt fur on her side, but even though she was nervous, this went unnoticed by Shanda who approached her and in one swift motion, picked her up and threw her onto her back, she squeaked in surprise and when she was holding on tightly to Shanda's back she expected to be screaming in pain or get ignited, but to her surprise Shanda was warm yet not burning hot. "Uh...why am I not burning?" She asked before screaming as Shanda took off and flew up at a surprising speed, Twilight screamed the entire ride up even as they flew out of the hole and broke out of what was apparently the roof, stone broke apart and Twilight had her eyes clenched shut, she waited a few moments before opening her eyes and she gasped at the sight of the ancient castle and the surrounding forest, she looked around and found herself feeling awe and fear at the view.

Shanda flew around for a few moments before flying down towards a familiar patch of land on the other side of a familiar bridge, she flew at a leisurely pace and soon enough she landed on the ground, with a very irritated looking Jod'ka who had Shard, Shade, Rock and Talon near him.

Twilight climbed down and Shanda shifted back from her hawk form, the Elf stood at full height and her body once more went through its previous change but it was slowly fading away. "We uh...didn't find anything." Shanda told her dad while rubbing the back of her head.

Jod'ka narrowed his eyes and after a few short moments he sighed and shook his head, he turned around and started walking. "Let's go home, you two need to get cleaned up anyway." He muttered, his voice was level and betrayed no emotion, making Shanda tense up and follow the troll in silence.

"I need to get back to Ponyville anyway, Spike's probably worried." Twilight said as she followed the two hunters and the menagerie of creatures.

The trip back to Jod'ka and Shanda's hut was a quiet one, the troll was even more silent than usual and Shanda refused to speak, even Talon kept quiet, the whole situation was tense and Twilight felt a little anxious to leave while feeling concern for her new friend.

Along the way to the hut, they found a stream where Jod'ka told Twilight and Shanda to clean up a little, that took a few minutes and when Twilight felt her burnt fur she winced a little at the soreness of that area, she guessed that her whirlwind of emotions and the spiders venom kept her from feeling it until now.

After they reached the hut, Jod'ka went inside without a word, Shard went around the hut to his little nest he made, Shade and Rock followed the troll inside, Shanda then started walking Twilight out of the forest, Talon followed for a time before leaving them alone.

As they walked in silence and to the borders of the forest, Twilight kept glancing at the Night Elf who was back to normal without a trace of her burning appearance, when they finally reached the edge of the forest and walked a short distance away, Twilight looked at her friend. "Listen Shanda...I don't think your dad is going to be too angry with you, just explain what happened and I think he'll understand." She said, trying to reassure the Elf.

Shanda sighed and sheathed her spear that she had been using as a walking stick up until now. "My dad isn't the forgiving kind, he might rationalize things or even understand, but he has a habit of punishing before forgiveness." She explained before taking a breath. "Now, I should get home and so should you, and don't take this the wrong way...but I would prefer we don't have another adventure like this one." She smiled a little.

Twilight took a moment to get what the Elf was saying but she soon giggled a little. "Yea, I've had enough danger for one day." She agreed.

With a smile, Shanda walked back to the forest to head to her temporary home, and Twilight back to her home in Ponyville, the Night Elf felt dissappointment that they didn't fine the core, and the Unicorn was relieved that they were both alright all things considered.

Though she dreaded what her father would say to her, Shanda came to a realization...that they hadn't searched the entire castle, she made a mental note to go back and search it when she had a chance, feeling more determined than ever to return to Azeroth.
> Personal thoughts and A Discovery.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*Four days later.*


'Personal log, entry seven.

The search for the Core in the Everfree Forest was fruitless, not only did we not find the Core, we also lost a lot of precious time to find it.

The longer we are here, the harder it will be to leave when we obtain the Core, Shanda tries to hide it from me, but I can see that she is falling in love with this land, and I know that when the time comes for us to go home, she will be heartbroken.

Shanda has been spending most of her free time in the nearby settlement of Ponyville, I warned her to not grow too attached but I doubt she is listening as is usual... her new friend Twilight was here two days ago along with the local shaman Zecora, who also resides in this forest, and while I am wary of strangers, I was inwardly delighted to meet another potion master.

On a lighter note, Shanda claims to have a possible lead on the Core...she may have left against my orders, but if she is successful I believe we may be able to leave without many problems, I was also happy to hear that Shanda wants to give alchemy another chance, her years of study into flora and fauna as a Druid gives me reason to believe that she will be excellent with patience and training.

... I find my mind turning to the crescent seal more and more these days, Shanda does not know of it or the necklace, but their existence torments me, knowing what their purpose is and what they represent, it may be selfish of me, but I pray that she never sees either of them, though I will not dispose of them.

Fluttershy came by yesterday, she seems to be at ease around me but not around Shanda, I am not sure why that is but it is none of my business so long as it is mere wariness, I can understand that perfectly, she came by because she simply wanted to return the token I left her, I refused to take it back though I did say what the writing on the back says.

The two of us talked for an hour, she seemed particularly interested in the creatures of Azeroth and when the subject came up, Outland, or as it used to be known, Draenor, I told her about creatures such as the Core Hounds, Kobalds and Gnolls, she seemed nervous when I told her about chimeras or the scytheclaws of Outland, she was excited and later amused when I mentioned murlocs... now here's the thing about murlocs, when you first see a murloc you are amused by its appearance and battle cry, and then you see another, and another, and another, and you lose any bravery or amuse met you had.

I will admit, while murlocs can be terrifying, it was incredibly amusing when Shanda made the mistake of transforming into one by accident, she ended up chasing poor old master Gadrin around the village for what must have been an hour, I am honestly still amazed that the old troll can still move like that when he sees a murloc.

Perhaps it would be best if I stop writing for now, I do not want to depress myself with thoughts of home.'


*Elsewhere.*


Scootaloo yawned as she followed miss Cheerilee and the tour guide she didn't care to remember the name of, she was struggling to keep her eyes open but thankfully she had Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with her.

Fluttershy decided that Scootaloo needed to get away from Ponyville for a bit to clear her head, so the mare signed off on a permission form so that the filly could go on a field trip with the rest of the class to some old ruined city.

"This everypony, Is the Obelisk of the Blue Sun." The tour guide explained, referring to a large stone obelisk made out of a grayish blue rock, In stark contrast to the sandy brown rock of the rest of the city.

Scootaloo looked up to the top of the obelisk and saw that the tip of the surprisingly intact structure was made of some reflective deep blue crystal material. "It is theorized that two thousand years ago, this Obelisk was used by the ancient Catenai to protect their city from facing the heatwaves that barrage this land regularly, it is believed that this Obelisk would project a dome of sorts that kept the city at a manageable temperature." The tour guide explained calmly. 

"Excuse me, but why is it called the Obelisk of the Blue Sun?" Asked Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo considered glaring at her friend but decided against it, since she was actually a little curious about that herself, instead she looked at the tour guide who had a smile on his face, ignoring the groans of the rest of the class. "Back then, Princess Celestia was not around to raise the sun, and this was before unicorns learned to control it, so this Obelisk was one of the very few tools that could affect the sun, ancient hieroglyphs depict that the Obelisk was capable of altering the Sun, and from what little was uncovered leads researchers to believe that the Obelisk could change the Sun to be blue, hence the name." He explained.

The tour guide then gestured for the class to follow him and Scootaloo did so wordlessly, she looked around the ruined city as she walked, her gaze landed on what she guessed to be a house and paused when she saw a shimmer.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow and stared for a few moments and she soon saw the shimmer again, it was white and while the filly didn't know much about architecture, she did know enough to know that shimmering lights in a ruined stone house wasn't normal, she walked towards it with curiosity and a perplexed expression.

The house must have been a two story home at some point, as there were stone posts inside the ruin that still stood where stairs would be, Scootaloo looked around in the rubble and soon spotted a shimmering object a few seconds later, she walked towards it and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the strange object.

The item looked like a beating heart, but it was made out of a strange gold and white material that was neither stone nor metal, she carefully picked it up and looked it over, it was weirdly light and wasn't hot or cold, it felt strange that it was beating but she only let out a quiet chuckle. "Cool." She said before opening her saddlebag and putting the heart inside.

Scootaloo closed her bag and watched it, making sure it wouldn't be visible, to her surprise however, after a single beat there was no movement, as though her bag did not have anything inside it, she quickly opened the bag to check for it, to her relief the heart was still there. "Not the strangest thing I've seen." She whispered to herself before hearing her friends calling out for her. 

"Scootaloo!" The voice sounded like Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo stood up and walked out of the house, she started to walk in the direction the class was going and after a short time, she found her friends who ran up to her with visible concern on their faces. "Are you alright?" Sweetie Belle immediately asked.

"Where did ya go?" Apple Bloom asked, both of their voices were filled with concern.

Scootaloo looked back and forth between her friends as they waited for her to answer. 'Maybe I should show them what I found?... They are my best friends after all and I think they would be interested in it.' She reasoned and opened her mouth to speak, though what followed was an unconscious shift of her body so that her left side was facing her friends just a little more than her right. "I thought I saw something interesting in one of the ruined buildings, it turned out to just be my mind playing tricks on me." She lied, feeling guilty instantly due to how natural it sounded, even though her voice was just s little nervous sounding.

Apple Bloom nodded. "That's fine, it happens to me when ah'm tired too, and you didn't get any sleep last night after all." She replies with understanding.

"Yea, you should see Rarity when she goes a few days without sleep, she'll make a few dresses and then go to sleep, and when she wakes up she scraps them after fainting." Sweetie Belle adds, making the three giggle at the mental image.

Scootaloo then started to follow her friends as they led her back to the class so they could continue the tour, though for the rest of the day, she had a single question going through her mind, even as she tried to focus entirely on what she was learning.

'Why can't I bring myself to tell them the truth?'