Lullaby
Sleep, My Little Pup
By Frostfur
A brown stallion ran into a shack, locking the door behind him. He waited by the door for a few moments, his gun raised up, ready to fire. When nothing happened, he sighed with relief and set down his trophy. He had retrieved the timberwolf pup from the pet taxidermy shop, (He had convinced them the wolf had been his pet) only to see an enraged wolf waiting for him.
He looked around his room, the familiar sights of his trophy animals, ranging from raccoons to lions, all around his living room. He wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead as he made his towards the kitchen. He was parched.
CRASH! Broken shards of wood went flying everywhere as the door to the hunter's shack broke down, a growling timberwolf then lunging inside the shack.
The hunter knew exactly what was at his door and quickly retreated to another room, preparing himself to battle the beast that dared to break into his own home. His home.
The snarling timberwolf looked around, quickly seeing that in the middle of the room was her young pup, forever stuck in sitting position, its tongue stuck out and tail forever raised. It also had an unblinking gaze, but this did not stop the desperate mother from running towards him, her motherly urge making her want to save him.
The hunter suddenly rushed back into the room, a shotgun held up within his blue magic. He looked around the room for the invader, his eyes quickly landing on the brown wolf before him, now frozen in fear. The timberwolf suddenly let out a low pitched growl, a warning telling the pony to back off.
He pointed his gun towards the enraged timberwolf, ready to fire at any given moment. He glared at the intruder, watching her every move, including the rising and falling of her chest. The timberwolf glared back, doing the same.
The both stared at each other for a moment, hatred in both specie's eyes as they gazed upon each other in disgust.
“You damn timberwolf, get out of my home now or I’ll be sure to blast your brains out.” The hunter said in a stern voice as he watched the beast closely. The timberwolf, watching the hunter with a cold stare, then slowly advanced closer to her pup. The hunter's gun wobbled a little at the aggressiveness of the animal. It was unlike any of the other animals he had hunted on his trophy hunts. The wooden wolf then slowly lowered her head, proceeding to pick up the pup.
The timberwolf drew its mouth back in a snarl as the unicorn raised his shotgun to his eye, aiming at the beast inside his home, a small clicking noise filling up the silence. Another stare down happened, neither one moving, waiting until the other one did.
The wolf then lunged at the hunter, pinning him down. He managed to kick the wolf off before she could inflict any damage. She tried lunging again, only the hunter shot his gun, making her yelp with shock and back off. The hunter then quickly reloaded his shotgun, watching the wolf with a glare.
The young mom looked around the room full of trophies, trying to see a way out of the mess, for the unicorn had made his way towards the door, now blocking it, a gruesome smile upon his face.
"Say your last prayers, vermin." He said in a low grating voice as he magic began to press up against the trigger. The wolf looked around the room again, desperate for a way out.
BAM! A bullet went crashing into the walls of his shack, making splinters fly everywhere and a small hole in the wood of his wall. The mother wolf ran behind him and out the front door, quickly disappearing in the thick pine forest.
The hunter looked up and growled with anger when he saw no dead wolf lying upon his floor. He bucked one of his stuffed raccoons with an angry yell, sending the dead creature flying across the room. As he reloaded his shotgun, he looked through the remains of his door and at the tracks the mother had left in the snow.
"This ain't over yet, wolf."
The timberwolf sprinted through the snow as fast as she could, never slowing down for the fear that the hunter was close behind. Her pup must be saved. Thump. Thump . Thump. The constant rhythm of her paws hitting snow filled her flattened ears, snow blurring her vision as it flew up in her eyes.
Her grip around her pup grew tighter as she squinted her eyes, looking ahead to see the outline of a small burrow under a large oak tree. It was her den, signaling that she was almost there. Her pup was almost safe again. She took a whiff of the air. the familiar scent of her home filling her nostrils.
She began to remember when she was pregnant, hunting desperately for a den before she gave birth. Oh, the relief she had felt when she stumbled upon the old fox burrow. She suddenly shook her head, mentally yelling at herself to focus on the ground so she didn’t break a leg.
She quickened her pace as the den got closer, spreading her paws out before her as far as she could. Within mere seconds she was a the base of the tree, her pup held firmly in her jaws.
Once there, she shoved her pup in, quickly following him into the tight space of their den. A few moments of silence passed before she was sure the hunter would not barge in, ending her and her pup's life. As she realized her pup was safe, her adrenalin subsided, making her realize how exhausted she was. Her pain from a recent running injury also came rushing back, forcing her to lie down.
She began to pant heavily from exhaustion, eying her oddly still pup, still in a basic sitting position. His eyes had a coldness to them as they gazed upon her. She thought it was one his silly pranks, giving him a warm smile. She then spotted some dirt on him, leaning down to lick the dirt off his wooden neck.
Normally he would struggle, complaining about how un-alpha like it was. She would simply tell him that alphas don't let themselves get dirty, and continue to lick the fidgety and complaining pup.
Yet now, he simply sat still like an obedient pup would, letting his mom lick him. He was not usually compliant, and he felt cold as stone. After a few seconds of pondering it, she decided to ignore all of, for her beloved pup was finally safe at home. She then silently vowed to rip apart any ponies that came near her and her pup again as she continued to bathe her kid.
But as she groomed him, more memories of his old self filled her head. She remembered the day when he had first seen a butterfly. It had flown past his nose, causing a panicked yelp to come out of his mouth and make him run cowering behind her. She had tried to tell him the insect wouldn't hurt him, but he had thought is was a blood sucking demon and stayed behind her.
The butterfly had then landed on his nose, making him nearly pass out with fear. She had chuckled at her foolish pup while he ran back into the den, his tail tucked in between his legs. She couldn't help but pause her grooming session and laugh a little at the memory.
She then gave her pup a light nuzzle, proceeding to curl around him and shut her eyes, letting sleep take over her body.
A brown stallion marched through the snow, a shotgun held to his side within a glowing blue aura. He followed the tracks the timberwolf had left in the snow, ready to fire at any moment in case he ran into the darn timberwolf.
“Damn wolf,” He muttered as he continued his hike. “Thinks it can break into my home and steal my property.” Snow crunched under his boots as he slowly made his way towards the den.
In the distance, the mother slept with her pup in the den, suddenly jolting awake as her ears instantly moving towards the sound of crunching snow. She peeked her head out of the den, curious to see what it was, her eyes landing on a dark brown stallion approaching her den. She ducked back in, fear building up inside of her as her legs began to wobble. She snatched her pup in her mouth, preparing herself to leap out of the den.
In a blur of brown, the wolf darted out of her den, her pup secured in her wooden jaws. The hunter, by instinct, lifted his gun up from his side and fired at the blur, earning a satisfying shriek from the mother as she dropped her pup and fell into the snow.
She scrambled to her feet and quickly picked up her pup again, continuing her run through the forest. She had gotten hit in the shoulder, a green sap like substance oozing from the wound. Pain filled her entire body as she ran, as it tried trying to tell her to stop. Being the stubborn mom she was, she continued to run anyways, for her pup's safety mattered more than her own.
He was her life, and she couldn’t imagine a week without his curious head poking through a rabbit burrow scaring away the prey, or a day without him wobbling home, full of porcupine quills.
Yes, he could be annoying, but there were also times when he was sweet. He would bring a mouse home for her when she was sick, or he would cheer her up when she was in a bad mood,saying something like,”Why the long face, mama?” He would always make her smile on the darkest days. Life without him was a life that wasn’t worth living.
The stallion, recovering from his short lived victory, began to gallop towards the wolf, closing the gap in between them fast. The mother wolf could see him the corner of her eyes, fear forcing her injured body to run faster.
BAM! A bullet flew over the top of her head, missing its target by mere inches. She forced her exhausted body to go even faster, her branches beginning to crack from the overuse of them. She winced at the pain, yet not daring to howl in pain for her pup must stay in her jaws.
The hunter groaned with frustration as he moved his gun from side to side, trying to a get a clear shot on the wooden beast. Yet he suddenly stopped, seeing what was up ahead. The timberwolf, on the other hand, continued running until she suddenly heard a loud snap, along with the feeling of a rock against her paw.
Pain seared up her leg as she did a front flip over the rock her leg had crashed into, her pup flying from her jaws and crashing into the nearby snow. She looked over to her leg to evaluate t
the damage.
The bottom half of her leg had completely snapped off. The hunter, who had spotted the injured wolf, was quick to be at her side, aiming the gun at her head. He wore a satisfied smile as he prepared himself to end the wolf's life.
The wolf looked back and forth from the hunter to her pup. She heard a clicking noise as the hunter lifted his gun up a little, being sure to fire at the wolf's head.
In a desperate attempt to reach her pup, she scrambled to all three of her legs as the hunter fired, the bullet burying itself in her hind leg as she tried to limp away.
She yelped as a horrible pain filled her hind leg, barely managing to stay on her three legs as she continued to limp over to her pup. The hunter yelled with anger as he reloaded his gun, vowing that the wolf would die with his last bullet on him.
The mother was a foot away from her precious young. She tried limping faster as she was almost able to nuzzle him. But her ears suddenly shoved back as the sound of devious laughing and a clicking noise filled her ears. She knew all too well what it meant.
BAM! The bullet went straight through her heart, making her scream with pain and collapse onto the snow with a loud thump.
She attempted to stretch out her good front leg to the pup in an attempt to comfort it, only to find that she would have to scoot an inch closer to reach him. She tried to wiggle her body closer, but the pain was too much to bare. She looked forward to her young pup, his eyes looking tired.
She remembered when he would seem to have infinite energy, bouncing around the den like a crazed chipmunk. He would attack her tail, pretending it was a deadly snake. She smiled at the memory, but it quickly turned into a frown again as she looked back into the pup's tired eyes. Perhaps it was time he went to bed.
As the hunter approached his dying quarry, the wolf suddenly opened her mouth slightly, a beautiful howl coming out of it. This stopped him dead in his tracks. He then sneered in disgust at the wolf's song and tried to kick and make it shut up, but he missed and ending up tripping over the wolf's broken leg, falling into the snow with a loud snapping noise. The leg had been broken under his weight. The wolf winced instinctively but felt no pain before continuing its song.
It was the lullaby she would sing to him every night, whether he was scared of an owl's hooting or simply wanted to hear his mother's reassuring voice. Even if he didn't want her to sing, she would.
Sleep, my little pup, she thought as she continued her soft lullaby for her pup.
She then remembered when she had given birth to him. A little bundle of twigs, with soft glowing eyes that had made her heart melt. He had then crawled towards her paw, giving it a tiny lick that had made her go ‘awww’ from the adorableness. She had then hacked up some meat, letting him feast while she closed her eyes, utterly exhausted from labor. It had been a memory she would never forget.
As she finished the harrowing song, the glow from her eyes began to fade as death took her, She breathed her last breath, gone from the world forever.
The hunter got up from the snow, cursing the wolf as he wiped the snow of his jacket. He looked over to see the wooden corpse of the wolf begin to fall apart, each twig losing its grip on the other. Normally he would have quickly gripped it in his magic, keeping it together. But why would he want the beast that had almost ruined his trophy forever be allowed stay in his home? He watched the wolf's body crumble apart until it resembled a random pile of twigs.
Good riddance! He thought with a sneer. He then looked back to his trophy, picking it up in his blue magic with a satisfied smile. He then looked back at the pile of twigs that had once been a timberwolf, a small glow emitting from it. He suddenly felt something weird in his magical grip, and looked up to see his trophy fall apart.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He yelled as his prized possession crumbled into twigs like the mother wolf had. Yelling with anger, he threw the small twigs into the bigger pile, screaming about how he had wasted his bullets and time for nothing.
But now the young pup could finally sleep, his body at rest with his mothers.
