Hunters of the forest.by Sylif Daring DooChaptersSomething new arrives.Strange creatures.House of hunters.A trip into town and questions.The return home.The ruler and the explanation.An interesting day.Troublesome natives.Longing for home.Observations and unfortunate complications.Observations 2 and kindred spirits.The search continues.Complications.Personal thoughts and A Discovery.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 LARGE] 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. Author's Note So, you confused? A new story, maybe this will help with the writers block? I doubt it. I hope you enjoy regardless and ten points to the one who can guess the crossover. 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. Author's Note I know its fast paced but I couldn't see any reason to extend this chapter. The original name of the chapter was [Strange occurrences] As I always say, I hope you enjoy. Also I know I don't really explain much but believe me I will. 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." Author's Note Surprise! I AM ALIVE! Soooooo.....what do you think? I know that I've been....absent but I didn't have the drive.....but this time shall be different! I SHALL RULE THE WORLD WITH TERRIBLE PUNS AND WRITING MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 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 [WARNING! there is a LOT of reading up ahead.....you have been warned.*_____ 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. Author's Note [1] I don't happen to know the exact time jump between Warcraft 3 and WOW so I'm going to alter SOME things, not a lot, just what's needed so don't expect me to be following the exact timeline of WOW. Also.......this chapter is LOOOONG!.....I probably should've warned you at start. 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. Author's Note [1] In this version of Ponyville, it is much larger then shown in the series, much like this story's version of Azeroth. And now we have an unconscious night elf on our hands as well, just wonderful. Okay then, until next time! Also no I am NOT advertising WOW in this story, it is not my intention to do so. Ps, Sorry about the time skips but there is nothing to bother covering in those time jumps. 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.' Author's Note Yes, I know the wait was not worth the short chapter, but I just don't have the drive for this story right now, I'll probably put it on hold until I am done with one of my other stories. But at least I updated, I haven't forgotten about this, but I just can't get energized about writing it like I used too....I am sorry to those who want more frequent updates. Troublesome natives.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Longing for home.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Observations and unfortunate complications.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Observations 2 and kindred spirits.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.The search continues.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Complications.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Personal thoughts and A Discovery.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
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 LARGE] 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. Author's Note So, you confused? A new story, maybe this will help with the writers block? I doubt it. I hope you enjoy regardless and ten points to the one who can guess the crossover.
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. Author's Note I know its fast paced but I couldn't see any reason to extend this chapter. The original name of the chapter was [Strange occurrences] As I always say, I hope you enjoy. Also I know I don't really explain much but believe me I will.
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." Author's Note Surprise! I AM ALIVE! Soooooo.....what do you think? I know that I've been....absent but I didn't have the drive.....but this time shall be different! I SHALL RULE THE WORLD WITH TERRIBLE PUNS AND WRITING MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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 [WARNING! there is a LOT of reading up ahead.....you have been warned.*_____ 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. Author's Note [1] I don't happen to know the exact time jump between Warcraft 3 and WOW so I'm going to alter SOME things, not a lot, just what's needed so don't expect me to be following the exact timeline of WOW. Also.......this chapter is LOOOONG!.....I probably should've warned you at start.
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. Author's Note [1] In this version of Ponyville, it is much larger then shown in the series, much like this story's version of Azeroth. And now we have an unconscious night elf on our hands as well, just wonderful. Okay then, until next time! Also no I am NOT advertising WOW in this story, it is not my intention to do so. Ps, Sorry about the time skips but there is nothing to bother covering in those time jumps.
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.' Author's Note Yes, I know the wait was not worth the short chapter, but I just don't have the drive for this story right now, I'll probably put it on hold until I am done with one of my other stories. But at least I updated, I haven't forgotten about this, but I just can't get energized about writing it like I used too....I am sorry to those who want more frequent updates.
Troublesome natives.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Observations and unfortunate complications.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Observations 2 and kindred spirits.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
The search continues.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Personal thoughts and A Discovery.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
