Sunny Starscout and her new friends had thought that it was only Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi. But they would soon discover there were more Tribes
Forced to take a detour on they're way to Bridlewood, Sunny and her friends travel through a place known as the Dark Forest, a place where the sun barely reaches the ground and inhabited by dangerous creatures that even Hitch has no effect on. But besides the creatures, are Sunny and her friends alone? Or is someone in the forest waiting for them?
First Gen 5 Story so I will add, remove, and/or change tags if needed.
Sunny Starscout couldn't help but feel uneasy, looking into the forest before her. Her and her companions: Hitch Trailblazer, Izzy Moonbow, Zipp Storm, and Pipp Petals, had been on their way to Bridlewood to retrieve the Unicorn Crystal but had found their path blocked by a rock slide and were forced to find another way. The good news was they had found another way, the bad news...
It was through a place know as the Dark Forest.
Sunny had never seen the place in-pony before now but had heard the stories, and none of them were pleasant. Stories of dangerous creatures, of some kind of "Living Shadow", and of very few Ponies entering... and never coming out again.
She wasn't the only one uneasy, around her the others were showing their own signs; Zipp and Pipp here huddled against each other with the latter under the former's wing while Hitch was next to Sunny and even the normally cheerful Izzy looked weary.
"I was always told as a Filly to never come to this place, that if I went in I would never come out again. Izzy was saying, her voice devoid of her upbeat tone.
"Is there another way we could take?" Hitch asked, "I do not like the look of this place."
"I agree with Hitch here," Pipp said, shivering slightly under her sister's wing, "I'm so not getting good vibes from this forest."
It was easy to see why Hitch and Pipp would say that; The trees looked all twisted and were blacker than pitch, to the point where it was almost like the tress were absorbing any light around them and the ground was covered in thick fog, while they could see the ground it didn't take away from the spookiness of the place.
Sunny sighed, she fully agreed but...
"I'm sorry everypony, but this is the only other way to Bridlewood. Without magic we're not getting past that rock slide and who knows how long it will take before anypony notices it. We don't have any other choice."
Zipp spoke up then, "Than we should stay as close as possible to each other, I too have heard about this place and would rather not lose any of you."
The group agreed and slowly moved into the forest, noticing right away that the air was freezing cold yet it was the middle of Summer, causing the group to cluster closer together to try and stay warm, the trees almost looked like otherworldly beings reaching fro them with long bony arms and fingers, and they swore at several points they saw colored dots looking at them from the surrounding area that could only be eyes of creatures.
But the worse was the smell: It could only be described as a faint mix rotting plants and meat with the scent of death added on.
It wasn't long before something happened;
Sunny was just ahead of the group and next to a tall tree when there was a loud SNAP followed by her letting out a scream of surprise, Sunny had just stepped into a net trap-like contraption that had been hidden under a pile of leaves. The net rose up so fast that neither Sunny or any of her friends had any time to react before it was completely enclosed around the Earth Pony and had lifted her several feet off the ground.
"Sunny!" Was the group's yell as they rushed forward.
"Sunny! Are you okay?" Hitch asked.
"Oh yeah I just hanging up here because I like it." Sunny deadpanned.
"Ohh... The sarcasm is strong with this one." Izzy said, causing Zipp and Pipp to chuckle while Sunny deadpanned even more and Hitch smiled.
"Just get me down! I don't want rope burns up my flanks." Sunny shouted.
"I got it." Izzy said as she ran over to the tree. "I'll cut you down."
"What am I a sack of potatoes?" Sunny groaned, she then blinked as her mind processed what Izzy just said. "What Izzy. No nononono Izzy. Do not cut-"
She was too late as Izzy's horn cut through the rope holding the net up and Sunny went to the ground with a crash and a loud "OW!". But then it got worst, for the second Sunny hit the ground there was another snap and next thing the group knew they were all in a larger net.
Sunny couldn't have been deadpanning harder.
"-The rope. Great, just great."
The group struggled against the net but it was tight and had them pinned to each other, unable to move even their heads to look around and poor Sunny in the middle. Hitch was the first to speak.
"Well I have to give credit, whoever set this trap up was thinking ahead."
"Well Sheriff," Zipp said, "That's all fine and dainty but now we're stuck up here until somepony finds us. And since we're in the Dark Forest that might be never."
"Sorry." Izzy said sheepishly.
"Ow." Pipp said as she tried to shift her body. "I get what Sunny meant by rope burns, I think I'm getting some around my tail dock."
Fortunately for the group, it wasn't long before they heard someone or something approaching.
"Well," The five heard a male voice say as it came closer, "It's been quite awhile since that trap when off. So what did we catch today."
Form behind some bushes a Pony emerged, but he wasn't like the ones the group was use to: While he was a Stallion and had the same general shape, his body was covered with slightly long and ruffed very light grey fur that was almost silver in color giving him something of a slightly wild yet taken-care-of look, his eyes were an electric green with slitted pupils, his mane was a very dark red boarding on black and was almost as long as Izzy's with a "tousled" look to it. His Cutie Mark was a small black circle with three Dragonfly Wings on each side, a twisted horn sticking out of the top, and sparkling stars within.
The most eye-catching features however were his wings, tail, and a long scarf around his neck: The wings were the same color as his mane and were not feathered like a Pegasus but were webbed like that of a bat and were quite large, large enough that he could easily fly with them. His tail was the same color as his mane but was webbed like his wings, was quite long and split into three "spikes" with the shortest one on top and the longest one on the bottom* with the membrane in between each spike, the bottom spike was angled to point towards the ground when he was standing. His face, back, wings, and tail had numerous small white star-like spots and two fangs stuck out from his upper lips.
Loosely worn around his neck was a long, wool red and silver scarf with a metal badge the size of a soup can lid held onto the spot where the two "scarf tails" down, on the face of the badge was a symbol of a forward-facing four-winged, three-tailed dragon flying above a Maelstrom with a black treasure chest clutched in its front claws, various red lines on the dragon and chest bringing out the details of the two. On the end of one of the scarf tails, which hung to half-way down his foreleg shins, was a military medal in the shape of a gold Unicorn head, facing to the right with silver edging, two wings fully spread open, and a ribbon with a white center stripe and midnight blue side stripes. The eye was an emerald, the horn was decorated with tiny sapphires, the two spread wings with tiny rubies along the length of the feathers, and the ribbon clip was in the shape of a castle of some kind decorated with diamonds.
"So, did we catch a pig, maybe some rabbits, or perhaps a bear? Could we have caught-" He stopped in mid-sentence and step upon finally seeing the five Ponies in the net. "... a bunch of Ponies??"
A few minutes went by as the two sides stared at each other, one with surprise the other with some wonderment and a little nervousness. Finally Izzy spoke up.
"Umm... we don't taste good... we're just skin and bones and-"
"Miss," The unusual Pony interrupted, "Relax, I might eat meat but I don't eat other Ponies, That's called cannibalism and in fact the mere though of that make me want to haul. Just give me a second and I'll have you down."
He walked over to the tree were the five in the net saw two ropes as he untied and lowered the net, soon freeing the five. Once they were free the unusual Pony got a good look at them, surprise clear on his face.
"Well now; Two Earth Ponies, a Unicorn, and Two Pegasi, all together? That's not something you see every day."
Sunny spoke next, "Yeah we can understand why, and if you don't mind... what are you? We've never seen a Pony like you."
"Well miss, I'm a Thestral, and the reason you never saw one like me was because when Magic disappeared so long ago and the Pony races went their separate ways the others sort of vanished from the eyes of the original three."
Sunny blinked, as did the others. "Wait," Zipp said, "There were more than just us three?"
The Thestral nodded, "Yep, I don't know how many but there was a few; including the Thestrals, Kirin, Draconies, and Crystal Ponies to name some of them."
The group were very surprised at this, just how much had been lost since magic vanished. Sunny then remembered something.
"Oh excuse me but what's your name? I'm Sunny Starscout, this here is Hitch Trailblazer, Izzy Moonbow, Zipp Storm, and Pipp Petals." She said, pointing to each Pony respectively. The Thestral blinked at Sunny's name but answered.
"Name's Star Flare*, and Sunny Starscout? Would the name Argyle mean anything to you?"
Sunny's eyes went wide. "Yes, he was my father. How do you know him?"
Flare reached under his wing and pulled out a picture of the Stallion. "Mr. Argyle was something of a father figure to me and my own friends. We never really had any adults in our lives and grew up relaying on each other here in the Dark Forest, until me met Mr. Argyle. It's a bit of a story and here might not be a good place to tell it as this is a dangerous place and it wouldn't be long before predators catch our scent, plus my friends are going to be wondering where I am."
"Could we meet them?" Sunny asked, hopeful.
"Sure," Flare said with a smile. "I'm not leaving you five here to the forest on your own. Follow me."
Flare gathered up the nets and lead the group into a hidden tunnel that the bushes had covered up, Sunny asking questions along with way to which Flare answered the best he could.
As the group moved through the bushes Sunny continued to ask Flare questions about Thestrals, learning that yes they could see in the dark almost as well as they could in the day and no they didn't drink Pony blood. Flare was quite chill as Sunny asked her questions, calmly answering them when she paused for breath. Soon they reached the spot where Flare had said his "Clan" lived, parting the bushes to reveal a small gate and beyond that was Flare's home.
"Wow..." Was Sunny and her group's collective response.
The place was a large lodge with several other buildings spread about a wide clear area with a sparkling lake next to it, though there were tons of random junk laying scattered about.
"Impressive isn't it?" Flare asked.
"It's beautiful." Sunny said. "A little messy though."
"It was an old fishing camp built, or rather thrown up, here and sort of forgotten at some point, while the buildings are a bit run-down they are safe and the lodge is the home of me and my Clan." Flare continued, "As far as we know it's the only place where sunlight can reach the forest floor. As for the junk, that was here before we arrived, we just never got around to clearing it up."
Flare lead them to the entrance of the lodge and open the door for them, the room what fairly large, just a little smaller than the main room of Sunny's lighthouse. Across from the entrance was a second door that led to a stairway going down with two large windows on the wall next to the doors and a few tables, couches and chairs scattered about.
"Sorry about the mess, you five are pretty much our first visitors since Mr. Argyle, so we never really had a reason to tidy up the place."
As Flare had said there were several things laying about but the place had a sort of "lived-in" look and the stuff laying about wasn't really a tripping or stepping-on hazard. Any further talk was interrupted when the sound of three barks rang through the air found by heavy thumping as three massive dogs charged up from the stairs and went straight for Hitch, who only had time to yelp in surprise before he found himself on his back under three seven foot, one hundred seventy four pound dogs getting his face washed by tongues the size of hoof towels.
"Gah! Why-*Putf* me?!"
The girls were laughing, Sunny the hardest as she had known Hitch to me an animal magnet but as far as she knew he never had to deal with ones this big. Fortunately Flare gave a whistle and the three dogs got off Hitch who sat up, his face thoroughly licked.
"Why am I magnet to animals."
"Well look at it this way sheriff, you won't to take a bath for awhile." Zipp snarked.
Hitch gave her a deadpan look. "Ha-ha-ha."
"Sorry about that." Flare said, petting the three dogs. "These three are very friendly and love giving and receiving affection. These big puppies are Dreadnought, Titan, and Juggernaut." Dreadnought was mostly black with a brown underbelly and patches of white scattered about, Titan had the appearance of a husky, and Juggernaut was pure snow white. Izzy approached first, smiling happily.
"Oh my gosh, they'll adorable!" Her response was happy barking and tails wagging, Izzy held a hoof forward to let the three sniff her, followed by the three giving Izzy licks which caused her to giggle which Flare smiled to.
"Seems like they like you Izzy."
Sunny, Zipp, and Pipp came over next, greeting the dogs and getting licks and tail wags in return. Flare then lead the group downstairs which was a room around the same size as the one above that had been set up like a large media room with a very large TV mounted on the wall across from the stairs with a set of metal shelves holding various game consoles on each side, a large wooden coffee table in front with enough space for two Ponies to walk in between them and around the table with enough space for a Pony to walk in between them was a set of two recliner chairs and a large sofa. In one of recliners fast asleep was a Pegasus Stallion with a strawberry red coat, white mane and tail, and a Cutie Mark of several types of candy. He wore a long, wool white and gold scarf with three cornflower blue bows tied onto it around his neck. Next to him was a small table was an open box of white, brown and green chocolate mint straight candy canes.
Flare gave a cheeky smile and gestured to the sleeping Pony with his hoof, and Titan ran forward before jumping onto the chair and giving the Stallion a rapid-fire licking.
"GAH *-puft!-* Titan! Get OFF!"
He pushed the dog off as Flare waved for Sunny and her friends to take a few steps back, and the Pegasus wiped his face, his red eyes blinking the sleep out.
"I love you too but you're much too heavy to be a lap-dog." He then noticed Flare grinning. "Flare?! For crying out loud could you not sic the dogs on me while I'm napping." He said with a scowl.
Flare laughed, "Sorry Sweet but it's too funny."
The Pegasus, identified as Sweet, snorted and picked a candy cane out of the box, placing it in between his lips. He stood up and was about to say something to Flare, but did a double-take seeing Sunny and her friends.
"Well I'll be: Two Earth Ponies, a Unicorn, and Two Pegasi, all together?"
Sunny smiled as she approached. "I know, surprising isn't it?"
"Indeed," He blinked, looking more closely at Sunny before his eyes widened and his mouth opened a little. "You're Sunny Starscout right? Mr. Argyle's daughter?"
"I am." Sunny confirmed, "Flare already told me about you group's relation with him."
Sweet smiled and held a hoof out which Sunny shook with a smile of her own.
"Pleased to finally meet you, Mr. Argyle spoke highly of you. My name's Sweet Treat, and you've met Star Flare and our dogs. Who are your friends?"
Sunny had just finished introducing Izzy, Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp when a loud scream of rage rent the air and caused everypony and dog to jump several feet. A Unicorn Mare with a silver coat, blue mane and tail with a gold stripe running through it, blue eyes, and a Cutie Mark of a thirty-second music note made of carved gems entered the room though a doorway opposite of the TV. She was holding what looked like a bunch of wires, and she was not happy at all.
"Look at this." She was snarling as she shook the wires in her hoof and looked at Juggernaut, "Ruined, AGAIN! Juggernaut, how many times do I have to tell you that my violin bow is. Not. A. CHEW TOY!!!"
Juggernaut stared back at the raging Mare, then pointed his paw at Dreadnought and made some noise which was followed by the latter looking at the former with a shocked looked and a noise of his own.
(Dog Translation;
Juggernaut: "Umm... He did it."
Dreadnought: "WHAT!?")
"Don't try to Horseapple me! You're are the only one who has done this! Silver is going to flip once he finds out that your tore the door off my locker again."
Flare and Sweet facehoofed in prefect sync with each other.
"Oh no." The latter groaned.
"He just fixed that last week." The former sighed as the Mare huffed at Juggernaut.
"Bad Dog."
Juggernaut gave a deadpan stare, then stood up and walked over to the other wall where several flowers sat.
"Juggernaut? What are you-" The Mare was cut off as her eyes widened in horror as both the realization hit and the dog lifted his leg over a bundle of roses.
"NO!!! NOT ON MY ROSES!!!!!"
With that scream that caused the other Ponies (especially Flare) and dogs to cover theirs, the Mare zoomed in a doomed attempt to stop Juggernaut followed by Flare to keep her from killing the dog.
Sweet turned to Sunny and her friends with a sheepish smile.
"Very sorry about that... that was my twin sister Music Gem. Normally she's actually a very kind Mare who loves to make music, but... Juggernaut likes to mess with her. None of know why, but he likes to get under her skin. That's actually the sixth violin bow she's gone through."
They looked over to see Flare trying to hold back the enraged Gem while Titan pulled Juggernaut away by the scruff of the neck and Dreadnought was facepawing at the scene. Sweet sighed.
"Silver is going to be peeved when he gets back."
"Silver?" Hitch asked.
"Our forth member and the "Leader" of our group." Sweet explained, "He's off hunting right now and keeping a Manticore that have been causing trouble out of our area. That's the fifth time this month, and He's getting very sick of it. He's even said and I quote: "One of these days, POW! Right in the kisser". Silver is normally a gentle soul but he's also the best fighter among us."
"What race is he?" Sunny asked.
"It would be easier to explain by you seeing for yourselves, but he should be back in..." Sweet paused to look at a clock mounted on the wall next to them. "An hour or so. We also have a fifth member named Atlas Wings, but she's very shy and uncomfortable around those she doesn't know. In the meantime, Why don't I give your the tour of the place."
The six of them left up the stairs, leaving Flare to deal with the mess.
In another part of the forest
Queen Haven was not having a good day, after escaping from Zephyr Heights with her winged dog Cloudpuff (who had found a silver badge on their way here) she had followed her daughters' trail hoping that they were safe. Now she was lost in the Dark Forest, a place that few ever entered.
And fewer ever returned.
Thankfully it seemed that badge Cloudpuff had allowed him to pick up the scent and she was following her ever faithful companion, but she wasn't the only one here.
"Halt!"
From the bushes four Pegasi emerged, Haven immediately recognizing two of them as her former personal Guards Zoom Zepyhrwing and her ever-present partner Thunder. The four fanned out and blocked her path forward, Zoom speaking.
"Your former Highness." She paused there, Haven seeing the anger in the Guard Captain's eyes, but she also saw pain. "Why? Why did you lie to us all these years? "Zoom finished.
Haven paused, unsure how to answer that right away but it came quickly.
"I know I lied for all those years and most likely nothing I say will make a difference, But please hear me out."
The four guards stared back before looking at each other, than Zoom nodded.
"Alright Queen Haven, we'll hear you out."
Said Pony gave them a thankful smile and started speaking.
"As hard as it is to believe, we never lied out of malice. It was to give hope, even if it was false." She paused, thinking over her next words before continuing. "Now it is time for me to pay for those lies, but please: I must know my daughters are safe, they only did what I told them to do. Pipp just followed along with it and genuinely loved her fans and shows while Zipp hated the lie from the get go, she even did research to try and find a way for us to fly again. I always tried to steer here away from that but she only tried harder. My lies are my own, and I'm willing to take both mine and their punishment. Just please let me find them, and I'll come back with you peacefully."
The four guards were silent, mouths open a little as they processed what Haven had said. They had been around their former Queen long enough to know when she was lying, especially Zoom and Thunder, being her personal guards for many years, knew she wasn't here. After a few long minutes Zoom let out a calming sigh and spoke.
"Alright, we'll find the Princesses and go from there, but first: we need to leave this place as soon as possible. We've all heard the stories."
There sounds of agreement form the other guards but before Haven could say that she believed her daughters were here, a very loud male voice rang out and caused the five Pegasi and one dog to jump several feet.
"I told you to stay out off our turf!!"
Rapidly turning to were the voice came from the Pegasi had to jump to the side as a large creature, Manticore by the tail and wings, came flying out of the trees and after rolling head over tail three times crashed into another tree. Following after was a second creature the five Ponies had only heard about in legends: A Western Kirin.
This one was clearly male with a silver coat, a purple and gold-striped mane on his head, neck, and top length of his tail, and green eyes with slit pupil. His back legs had the hooves of his Pony half while his front legs ended in the hand-like claws of his Dragon half with four fingers. His wings were over-sized compared to his body with a wingspan of fifty feet, at the 'wrist' of the wing arms were small four-fingered hand-like claws similar to the ones on his front legs. Two fangs stuck out of his upper lips with the tips reaching to his chin, two half-a-meter long black horns jutted out from the back of his head on either side of his long mane.
His tail was three times the normal length of most Krirn his age, who's tails were normally eight feet long on average, and was tipped with three scythe shaped blades with the shortest on top and the longest on the bottom. His tail was twenty four feet long not counting the blades which was four feet on the longest one.
Around his neck was a scarf that looked like it taken the image off a banner; it was red in color with a four-winged, three-tailed Dragon seen from the side that was flying above a Maelstrom with a black treasure chest clutched in its front claws, various red lines on the dragon and chest bringing out the details of the two, the head facing towards the one end of the scarf and the tails towards the other end of the scarf, which was pointed at both ends, after the tips of the Dragon nose and tails were two black triangles starched on one corner on the corners above the nose and tails, chevrons colored gold and silver close to the nose and tails of the Dragon, a blue stripe after the chevrons, and a purple chevron facing inward at the end.
The Kirin shook himself off as he growled at the Manticore who had recovered and stood back up.
"How many times must I deal with you before you get the message in that thick skull of yours?! This area is our turf! and I for one am getting sick of dealing with you." The Kirin snarled as the Manticore gave a growl of its own.
"So you what to do this the hard way again huh? Fine then."
The two circled each other before the fight started, first with pouncing but eventually the Kirin got the upper hoof only for the Manticore to use its back legs and the Kirin's own momentum against him to sent him face-first into a tall tree, The five Ponies watching wincing at the impact.
The Kirin shook his head but lost his grip and fell through several branches before landing on a thicker one in between his back legs, which caused Thunder especially to flinch, though the Kirin surprisingly seemed unaffected.
"Dragon half for the win!"
The branch then broke and the Kirin crashed onto the Manticore, rolling off as the big cat pounced on him and pinned him down, but the Kirin was able to grab the cat's face and jaw, wincing with a disgusted look on his face.
"Dear Faust, when was the last time you brushed?!"
The Kirin's tail then shoot up and whacked the Manticore on the head, stunning it as the Kirin used his back legs to throw the cat off him. Spring to his feet the Kirin used his wings to boost onto a tree and used it as a spring board, clothes-lining the Manticore as it came at him with his wing. The Kirin smiled as he looked at the watching Ponies, who looked like they were halfway between scared and impressed.
"Rubber tree: Always great for a clothes line."
The Kirin jumped back as the Manticore took a swipe at him and stood on its hind legs, the Kirin did so as well only to suddenly look up towards the sky.
"Say, isn't that Celestia's Comet?"
The Manticore looked up, and the Kirin delivered a kick right between its back legs, causing it to double over and Thunder to tighten his own back legs, his wings flaring down to shield them. The Kirin then picked up the Manticore with an "Upsy kitty." and before the Ponies' eyes began to spin the big cat like a basketball, even using a finger to hold the cat up.
"I'm not even trying." The Kirin said before slamming the Manticore to the ground and jumping into the air, body slamming the big cat's side to which the Manticore let out a pained whine.
"Flying piledriver."
The Kirin then grabbed the Manticore by the scuff and threw it into a tree face-first. It was at the point the big cat called enough is enough and once it stumbled to its paws it took off running with its tail between its legs.
"And I've got more where that came from!" The Kirin roared after it, letting out a huff. "Manticores. I'm not one for animal cruelty, but once in awhile you get one that that you have to show your dominance, especially when they wouldn't stay off your territory."
Shaking his head he turned to his watchers, who were looking at him warily.
"What? Never seen a Western Kirin before?"
"...Only stories..." Zoom said, standing somewhat protectively in front of Thunder.
"Well relax, if you don't try to harm me or my friends then you have nothing to worry about." The Kirin said calmly.
The Ponies looked each other before Haven stepped forward, eyeing the Kirin's fangs, claws, and tail blades with caution.
"Excuse me darling, perhaps you could help us? We're trying to find my daughters. My dog here tracked them here and..." She trailed off, the Kirin giving a nod of his head.
"I can do that." He responded, much to the Ponies' surprise.
"Just like that?" Thunder asked, to which the Kirin gave a small smile.
"In the Dark Forest, unless one is strong enough to survive on their own, there's safety in numbers. But it is going to be dark soon and trust me, you do not want to be out here at night. Follow me."
With a wave of his tail the group started following him, as they walked he asked some further questions and Haven told him the full story, knowing from stories that her grandparents told her that it was unwise to lie to a Kirin.
"By the way darling, what's your name?" Haven asked, the Kirin gave her a soft smile before responding.