The Wargs Of Everfree pt.1
Apple Bloom strolled fearlessly through the ever free forest as rays of the moonlight beamed through the opening of it's canopy. She remained absolutely silent as the gently howling wind rustled the foliage above her, her casual and almost playful saunter inviting to any creature of the night who may have been observing her from the thick vegetation. She would pause every once in a while to sniff the air so as to follow the fowl wet dog smell that pervaded it; there was no need for them to announce their presence. She knew they were watching.
"What do you seek, child?" A low and reverberating voice growled from an unknown entity in the darkness.
Apple Bloom smiled under her hooded cloak. "Ah'm here to kill ya," she answered bluntly, her courage not faltering to the beasts intimidatingly deep voice. "All o' y'all."
A chorus of howls and laughter rang out from every direction.
"So, it is fame that you seek?" The voice spoke again.
The young mare sat and drew back her hood. "No, just to kill ya," she reiterated in her deceptively innocent voice.
The bestial howls and laughter continued.
"You are bold, little one. You must be the fourth adventurer who has stepped hoof into our territory in order to claim some sort of justice, or retribution. A fool's errand, indeed. Or, should I say, a foals?"
The bellowing laughter rang out once again; it sounded as if it was getting closer every time.
"Ah'm not here for justice, fame, or revenge. Ah simply want to kill all y'all." Apple Bloom stated as she undid the clasp on her cloak, letting it fall into a pile on the ground and revealing her weapon which was rigged to her back.
"Oh my!" The beast whimpered in mock intimidation. "Boys, she's got an axe! We better leave this one alone!" The mocking laughter went on unceasingly.
The red maned mare took her weapon from it's rig. "Ah wonder what color a warg's blood is," she said curiously as she gently caressed her hoof down the edge of her double headed axe, a beam from the moonlight gleaming menacingly from it's head as she slowly turned it. "Ah made a wager with one o' mah buddies that it was green. She said it was blue, but blue is too pretty a color to ooze from such weak and disgusting creatures such as y'rselves... No offense."
"You little shit!" The beast growled. "Weak? Disgusting? Bah! My pack alone has killed finer warriors than you, if it would even be appropriate to use such a word to describe such a timid and weak race such as yours... No offense!"
"You sound like you get angry pretty easily. And you sound like you don't even have the intellect to come up with a decent comeback. Ah shutter to think of what it would be like ta be such a weak and stupid creature with no spine or dignity." The mare taunted calmly as she continued the inspection of her weapon. "Ah gotta be honest: I really did come here ta kill all o' y'all, but, now I just feel kinda bad. Ah'm start'n to feel like Ah'm pick'n on ya. Guess I'll just go home."
The young mare reached down to withdraw her cloak, but just before she was able to touch it, a large and powerful paw stomped on it, causing the ground to vibrate under them.
Apple Bloom slowly looked up to see a giant wolfs mouth full of gleaming, white, snarling teeth.
"Oh mah!" Apple Bloom let out a disingenuous lamentation. "And you're ugly, too? You poor thang!"
The beasts eyes glowed red as he reared his head back and roared thunderously only an inch away from the unintimidated mare, her mane and tail whipping wildly in the wind from it's vociferous bellow.
"And your breath stinks?!" she widened her eyes in mock sympathy.
Apple Bloom prepared for the blow as the wolf-like creature drew it's large paw back. She stood up on her hind legs and twisted her body in evasion as it swiped at her.
"Ya gotta be faster than that, sugarcube," she advised as she swiftly swung her axe down and liberated the K-9's paw from the rest of it's foreleg.
The mutt yelped as it fell to the ground in surprise. "Kill her!" it howled, it's face twisted in rage and agony. "Bite her still-living belly and feast upon her innards!"
A group of weaker-looking wolf-beasts suddenly charged from the darkness in every direction. Apple Bloom swung her axe and gracefully severed the heads of two that leaped at her head on. She then spun around and drove the head of her weapon down, slicing another's head clean in half. One managed to slam into her, but the combat-savvy mare used it's own momentum against it as she hooked a foreleg around it's neck, spun it around, and flung it into a tree, impaling it on a broken branch. Another attacked from behind, but this time, it was too close for Apple Bloom to spin around and direct her weapon toward it, so, instead, she struck it hard in the throat with her elbow, crushing it's windpipe. It fell to the ground and rolled about choking and gasping for breath before it eventually laid still. Another attempted an attack from behind as apple bloom got down on all fours, bucked it hard, and sent it reeling back into the darkness with a pained yelp.
Another group charged from the blackness of the forest. This time, not just a few, but dozens as they attempted to overwhelm her with sheer numbers.
"Savage, now!" A voice called out from an unknown location. The berzerking mare quickly dropped to the ground on her belly next to the pack leader.
"How ya doin', handsome?" She greeted the tormented beast with a mocking grin.
A volley of bolts suddenly flew from the forests foliage. The wooden projectiles rained down into the massive pack, running each and every one through with lethal precision.
"It's an ambush!" The leader howled.
"How many did you bring with you, you coward?!" The mutt roared at the mare who lay beside him.
"Just two," she answered nonchalantly.
Scootaloo jumped from the tree from which she sat perched and gracefully rolled as she hit the ground and landed into a crouched position, her lethal custom-made pump-action carbine crossbow gripped tightly in her forelegs.
More wargs leaped from the darkness of the forest.
"Put the screws to em, Shadow Dancer!" Apple Bloom cheered.
With calm nerves and deadly precision, Scootaloo cocked her crossbow and fired a shot, felling another beast. She cocked again, fired again, then cocked again, and fired again as they closed the distance on her, but the dexterous mare kept firing, every pull of the lever spelling doom for yet another beast until the crossbow she held finally clicked.
"Well, that's unfortunate," she stated as she looked down at her weapon with a cocked eyebrow.
Apple Bloom attempted to get to her hooves to offer her assistance, but the pack leader clamped it's powerful jaws around her leg and pulled her back down. "Your friend is dead!" he growled triumphantly from behind his clenching teeth which held Apple Bloom's leg firmly in place.
"Oh, ye of little intelligence!" Scootaloo cackled as she got up on her hind legs, rigged her crossbow, then drew a dagger in the crook of each foreleg. She began to dance in a strange and fluid motion, her knives waving around in a series of complicated looking motions.
She sidestepped a charge from one of the monsters, spinning then retaliating with a stab to it's spine. Three more attacked her simultaneously in triangular formation, but the dual wielder spun quickly like a deadly tornado of razors, instantly killing all three of her attackers as they fell to the ground bleeding profusely, a network of deep cuts and stabs lining their faces, heads, necks, and chests. Her dance became so fast and fluid that leaves began to spin around her as she continued to slay her attackers with skill and deadly grace.
The pack leader withdrew it's teeth from Apple Bloom's leg as she swung her axe at his head, missing it's skull by just an inch and slicing off it's ear. The warg then threw his head back and howled as loudly as it could, it's high pitched whine taking the two mares off guard as they covered their ears.
"The entirety of the pack will be here soon," The wolf cautioned. "You'd better leave if you don't want to die!"
"Good," Scootaloo quipped before ejecting the empty cartridge from the bottom of her crossbow and slapping in a fresh one.
"We can end this all in one night," Apple Bloom concluded before she drove her axe into the leader's head, killing it as bits of bone, brain matter, and blood splattered her coat and mane
"Hey, their blood is green," Scootaloo lamented. "Looks Like I owe somepony a drink."
"Told ya," Apple Bloom teased as she hobbled to her comrade so they would be back-to-back.
They were completely silent as they heard the wolves ominous howls in the distance.
"How's the leg?" Scootaloo asked as her eyes scanned the forest for the incoming attackers.
"It's fine. Ah can already feel Spell Weaver mending it."
Scootaloo looked down at Apple Blooms leg. The blood around the wound began to slowly seep back inside of the teeth marks before the holes in her pockmarked leg mended as if she had never been bitten.
Can you hear us, Spell Weaver? Apple Bloom projected with her mind, knowing that Sweetie Belle would be able to hear her thoughts.
Loud and clear. The snow white mare answered in her squeaky voice that she managed to keep even into her adulthood.
Can you tell how many are coming? Scootaloo asked.
Just a moment... I'm sensing forty seven... make that fifty. The good news is that they are all approaching from the east, so they wont be surrounding you.
That's good. Any suggestions? Apple Bloom projected.
How many bolts does Shadow Dancer have?
I just loaded a new cartridge, and I have two more. Each holds ten rounds. Scootaloo answered.
Thirty bolts, then? That's good. Why don't you fly above and pick them off from a distance while Apple Bloom pulls them in?
I was thinking the same thing, Scootaloo agreed as she spread her wings and hovered above the soon-to-be arena.
Savage, I'm going to buff you with a defensive augmentation that should heighten your awareness and make you a bit faster. I'm also going to replenish your strength for you.
You're the best, Apple Bloom said encouragingly.
I know, Sweetie Belle replied with a cocky giggle as she projected her spell.
A shimmering aura momentarily shined around Apple Bloom as she felt every bit of her energy returning to her. She then felt a strange sensation come over her as her eyes changed from her natural color to a radiant glowing purple. She surveyed her surroundings as she was suddenly aware of all life around her. She could hear the beating hearts of resting birds in the trees, shuffling of the grass as the wargs approached in the distance, the rhythmic beating of Scootaloo's wings in the sky, even the bugs as they dug beneath the soil under her. Everything seemed as if it was moving in slow motion as she could now hear her own heart beat, the corners of her vision throbbing in synchronization with it's rhythm. She could even see into the darkness as if it was clear as day.
Apple Bloom drew in a deep breath as she prepared for the battle that was to come. "They're here!" She yelled to her comrade above her.
"Let them come," Scootaloo cocked her crossbow as she could see the rustling trees and hear the trampolining paws approaching. "Let them come."
The Wargs Of Everfree pt.2
The full moon approached it's zenith as it bathed the two combatants in pearlescent light, the smell of fresh blood and warm bowels pervading through the air as any proper battlefield should. Fueled to the brim with rage and adrenaline, the gore covered Apple Bloom tore through the ranks of the warg pack as the sounds of yelps and agonized howls of pain echoed through the night air.
Scootaloo was much more humane than her respective comrade. Her deadly aim was accurate enough to instantly put down her targets before they had even realized they'd been shot. Sweetie Belle simply sat and watched over them from the outside boarders of the forest, providing them with wards, buffs, healing, and guidance when ever it was necessary.
"Out of bolts!" Scootaloo announced from the sky.
It's currently midnight and there are ten more targets left. Be careful, these ones are different from the others. Sweetie Belle advised.
"In what way?" Apple Bloom asked, pausing to inspect the last of the pack that emerged from the forest. They threw back their heads and howled wildly as the bristled fur on their coats grew in length and their bodies became larger. They took on the likness of the alpha male that Apple Bloom had slain. The sixth one from the line seemed to go through the most dramatic change of them all, his body twisting, popping, and contorting as it changed into an anthropomorphic form.
"I thought wargs and lycans were two different creatures!" Said scootaloo, her eyes round and wide with surprise.
They are, informed Sweetie Belle. These ones may have been biding their time and letting the weaker ones distract you as they waited for midnight to approach. There is a good chance that the alpha male that Savage killed may have been merely a petty officer within their ranks, and this one may be the actual leader.
"Do you realize what you have done?" The creature spoke in a strangely civilized tone that contradicted it's bestial form. "You have killed the army that I had been amassing for months. Every warg you killed was once a pony like you. Did you know that?"
"We're well aware," Scootaloo answered as she gracefully landed next to Apple Bloom. "And the guilt trip shit isn't going to work, so you might as well stop while you're ahead."
"Death is the only cure for beasts like you," Apple Bloom added calmly as she directed her axe toward the two legged wolf. "If Ah were given lycanthropy, Ah'd want the same to be done for me!" She growled as as she waved her axe in the direction of piles of dead and eviscerated wargs that lay behind her.
"Your resolve is admirable, little one," The lycan stated.
"Why were you amassing an army, anyway?" Scootaloo demanded.
"An army is power, young one," The wolf stated as he scratched his chin. "I figured that if I spent a few decades building one, I'd have enough strength to overthrow Celestia herself. Alas, I have to start all over again... Pity..."
"Original," Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo both stated facetiously.
"Yes, yes," The lycan lord waved his claw dismissively. "As if a pair of fillies could even understand the definition of the word of ambition."
"That is a tricky word," Scootaloo responded with a sly smile. "Perhaps I'll need a dictionary?"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both responded with sarcastic laughter as they rolled their eyes.
"What to do?." The lycan interrupted their banter. "To spend an eternity under my paw in servitude would indeed be a boorish existence. To never know freedom. To traverse the world as a beast that is shunned by society. I could just rip your throats out, but I think you two would serve me better as concubines in my harem. I have no doubt that your beauty would be extraordinary in warg form."
"I'll bet he likes it doggy style," Scootaloo jested with her hoof over her mouth. The corner of Apple Blooms mouth cracked into an almost smile while Sweetie Belle face-hoofed.
"You must be the funny one," The wolf sneered in Scootaloo's direction.
"Nope, I'm just a chicken!" Scootaloo quipped as she threw an aerodynamic looking knife at one of the large wargs in the lycan's company, accurately hitting it between the eyes and killing him instantly without even having enough time to yelp in pain or surprise. "With knives," she added.
"You bitch!" The lycan exclaimed while looking down at it's dead offspring. "These alpha's are my children. Do you know how long it takes to breed a proper warg?! These smaller ones that lay scattered behind you are merely coffin fodder. Ponies and other sentient creatures that I have bitten and transformed, but these Alpha's are the fruit of my loins!"
"The less I know about your loins, the better, pal. It looks like I'm going to have to neuter you." Scootaloo unsheathed her daggers and began sharpening them on each other. Sparks flew and the sound of metal on metal scraping assaulted the wargs ears as they began to howl to drown out the noise.
So, wargs are sentient creatures who have been cursed with lycanthropy, Alpha Wargs are the direct descendants of a lycan, and lycans control them... I'm going to have to add these finding to my bestiary, Sweetie Belle projected as she quickly took notes of her findings.
We already knew that first part, Apple Bloom replied.
I know, but this information could prove valuable for future strategies against them. Do you think you can ask him where Lycans come from?
I can answer that for you, Scootaloo announced. When a boy and girl werewolf love each other very much—
Thank you, Shadow Dancer! Sweetie Belle interjected.
The lycan's eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare as he tapped his clawed foot on the ground, ignorant of Sweetie Belle's involvement in their group, his curiosity peeking as the three mares conversed telepathically.
"Right, then," He said impatiently. "Have at you!" was the first and only warning he gave before letting out a deafening howl and charging furiously, his brood following closely behind as they attacked in formation.
"Scootaloo disengaged them, jumping back with her wings spread and throwing her two daggers plus another ballistic knife in rapid succession. Each one hit their marks, felling three more of the charging beasts.
Apple Bloom charged in and swung her axe at the lycan's midsection. He jumped back and evaded the weapon by a fraction of an inch. Speculating that Apple Blooms swing had momentarily taken her off balance, a warg lunged at her from it's formation. Apple Bloom utilized the momentum of her swing to quickly execute a three hundred and sixty degree spin to surprise the attacking warg and embedded the head of her axe deep into the side of it's neck, killing it instantly.
Apple Bloom looked down at the dead warg for a moment. "Ah must be losing mah touch. Ah tried to decapitate him."
"An Alpha Warg's bones and muscles are thicker and denser than the lesser wargs that you slaughtered!" The lycan responded before swiping at her.
Apple Bloom parried the first swing, ducked under the second swing, then blocked the third swing with the shaft of her axe. "I'll keep that in mind when Ah'm sawing through your neck," Apple Bloom responded, her constant taunts and heavy attacks proving an adequate distraction for the silent and stealthy Scootaloo to pick off the Alpha Wargs.
The wolf-beasts who stayed in formation and waited for their time to attack were systematically ambushed from behind one at a time by scootaloo as the Lycan lord busied himself trading and parrying blows with Apple Bloom. She silently took her daggers that were embedded in the heads of the wargs she had killed, the scraping of bone and sloshing of brain matter sounding off as she liberated them from their skulls.
Sneaking up behind the warg that was farthest down the line of the formation, she silently hovered over him. She then dropped on top of him, wrapped her foreleg tightly around it's throat, and dug her knife deep into it's belly, slicing it's organs as she jerked her blade and dragged it deep across it's midsection. It made one meager attempt to yelp as it's organs slipped through the slit, but scotalloo's foreleg tightly barred over it's throat insured that it would not be able to.
She quickly and methodically killed three more in the same manner before one turned around and noticed her. It alerted the other surviving one with a strange yipping sound who turned to face her as well. Just as they charged, Scootaloo unsheathed her other dagger and danced her deadly dance that spelled doom for them the moment they were within her reach.
Apple Bloom stood with her axe deeply embedded into the belly of the lycan lord, just as the lycan had it's claws dug into hers. They jerked their weapons, each attempting to disembowel the other before the other could do the same.
"This is your opportunity, my children!" The beast snarled triumphantly. "Attack!"
The lycan waited for his monstrous entourage of alpha wargs to hurdle over him and tear the mare to pieces, but there was nothing but silence.
Apple Bloom gave the monster a knowing smile as she held the lycan's claws in place to keep him from tearing her abdomen open.
"Attack!" He bellowed.
"Your children are dead," Scootaloo's voice rang out from behind the creature.
"What?!" The lycan yelled before looking over his shoulder to see a gore spattered Scootaloo beaming at him.
"And so'r you!" Apple Bloom said before she jerked her axe hard across the distracted monsters belly, slitting him deep and wide and spilling his organs on the ground.
The creature fell to his knees howling in anguish as he attempted pathetically to scoop his organs up and put them back in his newly formed cavity.
"Your teeth, sugarcube," Apple Bloom set the head of her axe gently under the monsters chin and lifted it up so they could make eye contact. "Will look so nice on a string around mah neck."
She drew her axe back.
"Please, wait!" the creature pleaded before it's head was sent flying and spinning through the air, flecks of green blood flying from it's socket in every direction as the severed extremity flew.
Good work, girls. All enemies within the vicinity have been slain. Projected Sweetie Belle.
I'm still kinda amped up Scootaloo complained.
Me too, Apple Bloom added as she was already in the process of prying the teeth from the severed lycan's head.
Is the Wyvern still open? Sweetie Belle asked.
Apple Bloom pried the last tooth from the wolf skull before she threw it in the air and struck it with the flat end of her axe, sending it flying into the night sky with a dull, metallic ping and landing into a random unknown location into the Everfree forest where it's flesh and brain would be consumed by the wild life. She then looked back at Scootaloo who smiled the moment her favorite pub was mentioned.
Ah could go for some mead about now, Apple Bloom announced.
Dark Ale for me! Scootaloo added, throwing her hooves up in excitement.
Hot cider... Pints upon pints of it... Sweetie Belle nearly salivated as she projected her thoughts.
The Wargs Of Everfree: Epilogue
The trio returned to their hidden dwelling that was once their club house where they had spent their youth, now an elaborate compound that Apple Bloom had been adding to over the years as her constructive talents bloomed and flourished. An outside training ground, an indoor hotspring of which it's waters were eternally heated by the magic never- dying fire of a legendary dragon they had slain on a previous adventure, and a library complete with a meditation pool and a study for Sweetie Belle were all included in their abode.
Scootaloo dumped her gear off in Apple Bloom's armory so that she could repair and sharpen them later. Apple Bloom took a quick bath to wash the grime and gore from her coat and mane, and Sweetie Belle wasted no time adding her findings to her Bestiary: a large brown book that was bound in the leather Apple Bloom had carved from the back of a werebear she had slain. It glowed with magical enchantments that Sweetie Belle cast on it so it's pages would never run out, so the book would forever suit her needs, followed by the generation of monster hunters that would eventually take their place, and so on, and so on. The ever-cold and black blood of a mist-witch inked her quill to make the scripts eternal and unfading as she marked the pages with her beautifully elaborate writing.
The trio set off to the Wild Wyvern of which they were constant patrons. The tavern keep made his usual joke to them about how they three alone were putting his kids through college. The friendly and familiar bar tender set three tankards on the bar in front of them before they even had the chance to order: A pint of mead, a pint of dark ale, and a pint of heated cider.
The three drank their fill as they relaxed and listened to the bards play their loots and sing of ancient wars and epic romances. Scootaloo shared a quick joke with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle about how the bards would surely have a song to sing if they had seen the kind battle they had just fought.
They emptied many tankards that night before stumbling and singing all the way back to their home for a much needed rest, for the next morning they would be back on the hunt. They did not yet know the next beast that would fall before them and they didn't care. For now, they would rest.
