“Fuck me, why does life hate me?!” I shouted as I fell onto my ass and leaned against a tree. I flipped my hood off of my head and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I looked up to the sky only to feel the sun’s unforgivable heat and growled. “Fuck this heat,” I mumbled. I’ve been walking, or rather limping through this godforsaken forest for two fucking hours and I found nothing that can help me. They took all of my things and are still hunting me down because they think I’m a murder and now I’m really on their list since there’s a train wreck filled with several dead soldiers. I mean if I even had a fucking slim chance at proving my innocence it’s now down the shitter!

“GRAH!” I shouted in anger. “Why do I always get shit on by luck? What did I ever do?! I mean sure I held one of the main characters hostage, killed her pet then ran off into the forest, and sure I may have nearly killed a child by chucking a damn vase at her head, sending her falling down the stairs, but at least I didn’t leave her like that. And I may have stolen their food, but I didn’t even have the chance to eat it all since that Luna bitch sent her golden dicks after me. Plus why the fuck does my leg always get fucked!? Like for real, I came into this world with a fucked up leg and here I am again!” I shouted and slammed my fist into the dirt. I panted and closed my eyes, trying to compose myself.

I took a deep breath and sighed. “Calm down Jacob, calm down; you just have to find your way out of this forest and find a place to hide,” I said with a smile, but my smile soon died as the sound of a growling animal came from behind me. A little bit of fear mixed with anger filled my soul as my heart began to race. I tightened my grip on my new spear and slowly looked over my shoulder to see a snarling wooden… pup? It was a small thing, but it looked like a regular sized pup. A month old maybe. As I inspected the pup further I noticed a small deep scratch on his forehead. It seemed like an old wound, but it was easy to see.

“The hell?” I mumbled. I loosened my grip on my spear and stared at the wooden pup with confusion, but soon a smile formed on my face and I chuckled. “You scared the shit out of me little guy,” I said and scratched the bottom of his chin. He snarled and bit my finger. “OW!” I shouted and pulled back my hand. “Shit that hurt,” I said and glared at the pup. “Your lucky I like puppies because I would have turned you into a campfire by now,” I said and soon realized something. If there’s a puppy then where are its parents? I looked around but found nothing. “Strange,” I mumbled and looked to the pup. “Where’s your pack?” I asked. He only barked and lunged at my arm. He bit down as hard as he could but it didn’t hurt since I was wearing my hoodie. I grabbed the pup by the back of his neck and lifted him up into air. He let go and started to snap at me while struggling to get free. I used my spear to lift myself up and looked around once more until I saw what looked like a hole at the bottom of a large tree. I started to slowly limp over to the hole with the barking pup in my hand and kept my ears open for anything. I noticed how more violent the pup got as I was walking towards the hole and grew even more curious. Was he hiding something?

Soon I reached the hole and heard the whimpering of a small animal. I peeked into the hole and went wide eyed as I saw two other pups curled up against a motionless wooden wolf. As I stared at the sight the pup in my hand got free and fell to the ground. Instantly, he sprinted past me and jumped in front of the other pups. He snarled and got into a defensive stance. I didn’t move for a good thirty seconds as I stared at the pups and their dead parent. Soon I snapped out of it and cleared my throat. I lifted up a hand and smiled. “Calm down buddy I’m not here to hurt you,” I said in the softest voice I could make. The pup seemed to slowly lower his stance as he tilted his head to the left and gave me a confused look. I chuckled. "See, I'm not interested in hurting you or your family." The pup seemed to understand and slowly began to approach me with his head low, and ears down. As he approached me I slowly got onto my knee and extended my hand towards him.

The little pup finally reached my hand and sniffed my palm with a puzzled look. Geez, why is this little bastard cute? I chuckled as the pup looked up at me with what seemed like approval and barked while wagging his tail. I scratched under his chin and smiled. "So we cool?" The pup barked again and licked my hand. "Nice." I looked up at the hole and saw the other two pups slowly emerge with puzzled looks on their faces. My smile soon faded as I remembered the pups situation. What could have happened to the mother? Plus, what should I do with these guys? I could just leave them, but for some reason a voice in the back of my head keeps telling me to do the opposite.

I slowly started to get frustrated and rubbed the back of my head. "Geez, can’t anything be simple?" I mumbled, but before I could continue to think on my decision a low growl came to my ears. I looked back and saw nothing. "What the-" Before I could finish the growl could be heard again, but this time there were two low growls. I looked back at the pups and saw pained looks on their faces as they whimpered and curled up on the ground. "Was that you guys?" They gave me an answer as a third growl came to my ears. The pups whimpered and began to shake a bit. Damn, they just had to pull that didn't they? I sighed and rose to my feet. I winced at the sharp pain in my injured leg, but quickly brushed it off and looked at the pups.

"Stay here, I'll get ya something to eat." I mumbled. The pups looked up at me as if they understood what I said, and wagged their tails. "But don't get the wrong idea, I'm hungry to so it wouldn't hurt catching an extra meal for you guys." With that I began to look around at my surroundings and looked for any kind of signs of animal life. I started to venture off to find a meal for me and the pups.

[Celestia’s pov]

Celestia stood alone on her balcony staring silently down onto her city with a dark look on her face. In her right hand she held a report one of her royal guards had delivered an hour ago that had the names of the ponies that had died in a train derailing. The same train that was transporting the creature, Jacob, to Canterlot. Over fifty guards had been killed and only a few survived with serious injuries. In the reports the survivors had reported a large explosion as the cause of the derailing. Sadly it doesn’t end there. There were also reports of loud cracks that sounded like fireworks going off in the distance before a few survivors of the explosion had fallen dead to the ground. After further investigation by the medical teams they had discovered small pieces of metal in their bodies, like the other victims from the Everfree forest. In the end of the report it states the creature they had been transporting had escaped and is once again at large.

Celestia clenched her fist and closed her eyes. Why did they need to die without any real reason? Why couldn’t she be there to help her loyal subjects? Why!? Guilt had filled Celestia’s heart and mind ever since she received the report and had put off a few royal duties to compose herself. She didn’t want her subjects to see her in this state. She sighed and looked at the names one more time. She burned every name into her memory and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She whispered. After a few more minutes of silence there came a knock at Celestia’s door. “Please leave me alone for a few more minutes,” she said softly.

“Sister, it’s me.” The voice of her little sister came from the other side of the door. “Please, may I enter. We must talk.” Celestia sighed.

“Come in.” The door opened and Luna slowly entered. Once she was in the room she closed the door and and just stood there with her head lowered. The look of shame and guilt covered her face as she just stood there in complete silence for a few minutes, but Celestia broke the silence. “This can never happen again Luna,” Celestia said, looking at the list of names. Luna nodded.

“I know, sister.” Luna clenched her fist. “I won’t fail again.” Celestia looked up from the list with a mix of shock and surprise.

“What?”

“It’s my fault those guards are dead. I underestimated Jacob, and treated him as nothing more than a small captured animal. I was careless and because of that they were killed by that damn creature!” She clenched her teeth. “I’ve should have been more careful. I should have been there.” Celestia looked at her little sister and shook her head.

“Do not be so selfish.” Luna looked up with confusion. “Luna, we are both rulers of this country and it’s citizens. Whatever happens, we will both take up the role as rulers and face whatever troubles that may be in our path together. Neither of us had any control over what had happened to those guards, and we both underestimated him and now we both face the consequences,” Celestia said and walked towards her sister. “All we can do now is avenge those who have died and bring Jacob to justice.” Celestia placed a hand on Luna’s shoulder and smiled. “So please do not say it’s your fault when your sister is right here by your side.” Luna smiled and nodded.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“Good. So is there anything else you need to talk about?” Celestia asked.

“Actually there is,” Luna said and walked towards the balcony. “After the attacks that had happened in the Everfree forest I began to feel a strange presence that seemed rather faint, but somehow familiar. I was wondering if you felt it as well.” Celesta began to think until a strange feeling had washed over her. It was weak, but as Luna said before it was familiar somehow. Celestia started to focus, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t figure out who this presence belonged to.

“Yes, you’re right. There is a strange presence that shouldn’t be here, but who could it belong to? Maybe the human?”

“Sadly no, when I entered Jacob’s mind he had a total different energy that was out of this world, which is safe to say that he was summoned here by someone. I have a feeling whoever did bring Jacob here is the same person that owns this strange presence,” Luna said with an uneasy look.

“Then maybe we should try to find this person and find out why he or she brought him here.”

“Actually I want to capture Jacob first, he’s too dangerous. Plus, if I can meet him in person, I may be able to track down the one who brought him here.” Celestia thought for a moment and nodded.

“Alright, let’s track down Jacob first and then find the summoner.” Luna smiled and began to walk towards the door. But before she left Celestia’s chambers she looked back to her sister.

“Thank you.” Celestia smiled and shrugged.

“Any time Lulu.” Luna chuckled and left Celestia’s chambers. Celestia sighed and looked back to the report in her hand. She shook her head and placed it on her desk before leaving her chambers. “Better get back to work.”

[Jacob’s pov]

I let out a heavy sigh and wiped the sweat from my face as I pulled my spear out of the fourth rabbit I had caught in an hour. “Geez, this should be enough.” I mumbled. I carried the four dead rabbits by their ears and began to walk back towards the hole the pups were at. As I was walking to the hole I started to think. Why the hell am I doing this? I mean it’s not my problem if they die out here, so why don’t I just go? As I asked these questions, the same voice in the back of my head nagged me to help the pups even if it was a bother. I sighed and shrugged. “I guess I could use some good karma.” I muttered.

Soon, I reached the hole and saw the same pup guarding the entrance to the hole like before. He was like a small statue. It was kinda cute. I chuckled. This caught his attention and as he looked towards me his eyes seemed to grow wide. He began to hop around, barking and wagging his tail. I smiled and raised my catches. “Yep, caught us some grub. Just need to get it ready.” I said. “Just need to figure out how to get a fire going,” I mumbled and looked towards the wooden pup with an evil look. “Wanna help?” He growled and barked. I couldn’t help but laugh and raised my hand to calm him down.

“Kidding, I’m kidding. Geez can’t ya take a joke?” I chuckled. The pup huffed and looked away. I rolled my eyes and placed my spear against a tree and laid the rabbits on the ground. I gathered a bit of wood and leaves. I put everything into a pile, and began to think of a way to start the fire. I looked around and found a few stones near by and smiled. “Perfect.” I never really tried to make a fire with stones, but I heard it worked and decided to give it a try. I kneeled over the wood and leaves and began to smack the stones together. The pup stood on the side with his siblings and stared at me with confusion. “Yeah, I know it looks strange to ya, but it should work,” I said and continued to get the fire started. Finally, after a few more tries, a small flame began to grow and soon a fire finally came to life. I laughed and raised my arms in victory. “I make FIRE!” I shouted and flexed my muscles. The pups barked and howled with joy along side me. I skinned and gutted a plump rabbit with the tip of my spear and began to cook it over the new man made fire.

After an hour of cooking our meal was finished and the pups howled with even more joy. I divided the pieces of rabbit evenly among the pups. They began to eat together and a small smile crept onto my face. Still not sure why I did this, but it kinda felt nice. I still hate everything in this shit world, but I guess these little pups aren’t bad. I took my share of the rabbit and sat against a nearby tree. I started to dig in and to be honest it wasn’t all that bad. Sure it was a little tough, but all in all it was alright. The pup who had guarded his siblings looked at me and barked with happiness. I grinned. “Good?” He barked two more times and wagged his tail. “Yeah it could use a few spices, but not bad at all.” I chuckled. I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. “Damn, lost track of time.” I looked back at the pups and saw them looking at me with puzzled looks. I can leave now, right? I helped them, and now I don’t need to stay, right? Again that fucking voice nagged me from the back of my mind, and I gave a mental sigh. “I guess I could hang with you guys for the night.” I shrugged. They all seemed happy and wagged their tails before continuing with their meals. I sighed and chuckled. “I better not be getting soft,” I muttered and continued on with my meal.

After finishing our meals the sun had completely went down and the forest was now being lit up by the fire. The pups had grown tired after their meals and two of them had fallen asleep next to my good leg, but the pup with the crack on his forehead had fallen asleep on my lap. It felt a little weird since they were made from wood, but it still felt nice. I looked down at the sleeping pups and chuckled. “I better not be getting soft.” I closed my eyes and began to fall into a deep slumber, but before I was fully asleep the same voice from before echoed throughout my head.

“Hurry to me and find safety little one.”

I mentally groaned. ‘Jesus you’re annoying.”

Author's Note

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! It's been awhile huh? Sorry for the wait, school was a pain, but now that summers here I'll have more time to get back to writing. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope my work isn't to rusty.

Anyways have a good day, or night! Later!