End Of The Arrow

The smell of smoke was heavy in the air, as the hollow beast ravaged Whitetail Woods. Flo had fled for her life when the meandering monstrosities arrived, shambling from the woods to burn whatever they came into contact with. Her entire village had been turned into burning rubble within a matter of minutes.

She had heard stories of creatures that reminded her of what had attacked her village, but she had dismissed them as nothing more than tales mothers told their fawns. A story couldn’t burn a village though, which led her to believe there was some truth to this particular legend.

Flo stopped for a second to catch her breath, her eyes still wide with terror as the moans of the beast echoed around her. The doe shook her head, trying to stick to her plan of action. She reasoned that the creatures would stop at the river, since they seemed to be made of fire. Even if they didn’t she could at least follow it out of the forest.

The thought of leaving Whitetail Woods terrified Flo the more she thought about it. Like most of her tribe, she had never seen the outside world, and only heard what her elders told her about it. They would answer to the laws laid down by the one called Celestia.

Occasionally unicorns would come through their village, looking for rare herbs and other resources that were carefully guarded. One of which was the most precious of all, protected by her family in particular. While unicorns were the self-proclaimed masters of magic, challenged only by their alicorn counterparts, it was the deer that were the creators of some of the most potent healing spells in existence.

Many had come in search for their secret, but had left disappointed. The tribe had shared all it was willing to long ago, and no amount of bartering could sway them. The magic was meant to benefit others, they feared such power could be corrupted and used for ill, resulting in further isolation.

Despite this, some ponies had settled in her village, mostly older unicorns that roamed the world and eventually came to rest in Whitetail. Flo never saw anything wrong with that, and enjoyed listening to their stories from time to time; she could only hope they were okay.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud moan that devolved into a gargle to her right. Standing roughly ten meters from her was one of the beast that had ruined her home. The fire danced brightly off its body, licking at the leaf covered branches above it.

“Stay away!” Flo screamed, bolting away from the creature with renewed energy.

The doe heard what sounded like something crashing, followed by the beat of steps behind her. They sounded exaggerated and heavy. Flo could only assume it was the beast, and that it had dropped onto all fours, as the steps were soon accompanied by heavy breaths.

Flo ran through thickets, thorns patches, and vines in an attempt to slow the creature down. What would normally be a hindrance to predators did little to the fiery behemoth behind her. It let out an agitated roar powerful enough to cause a hot wind to brush against her fur.

Flo chanced a quick glance behind her and saw the creature gaining on her, setting flame to the occasional dry or rotting log as it passed by. Before she could turn back around, the doe found herself tumbling down a steep embankment towards the river’s edge.

Flo forced herself back onto her hooves and padded across the water, as if it were dry land as she manipulated nature. If she were a buck she might stand a chance at defending herself, but with no horn to speak of she was completely dependent on her theory about the odd creature with no offensive spells to speak of.

“Please go away, please go away…” Flo chanted quietly as the creature in question approached the river bank.

It paused for a moment, as if considering what to do, before slowly lowering its burning hand into the water. At first Flo thought the creature was extinguishing itself as smoke rose from the river’s surface, until she watched as the steam was followed by a siphon of water that formed an almost gelatinous arm, dripping sloppily onto the moist rocks beneath the shifting creature.

Where once a creature made of flame had stood was now what could only be described as a moving water sac with arms. It waded across the river and quickly towered over Flo while she was still stunned by the sudden change in the creature’s make up.

“W-what…are you?” Flo stammered.

The creature only gargled as it raised a large arm high above its makeshift head, in preparation to bear down on the deer. She was exhausted, and had no energy left to run from the sentient blob.

Flo closed her eyes, bracing herself for her inevitable end. Just as the doe’s life started to flash before her mind’s eye, it was interrupted by a loud splash, followed by what sounded like pottery shattering. A single, pained groan replaced the unsettling howls and gargles of the creature that had been trying to attack her.

The deer cautiously opened her eyes, not quite sure what to expect. What lay in the creature’s place caused Flo’s head to tilt curiously the more she studied it. It had a concentrated patch of hair on what she concluded what it’s head, and smalls portions along what appeared to be forelegs that looked like long claws.

The being had a decently lengthy torso, and two hind legs that ended in strange coverings. It’s muzzle was short, almost nonexistent. The longer she looked it over, Flo concluded it lacked a muzzle entirely, but couldn’t come to a solid conclusion as to what she was seeing. Cautiously, Flo moved closer to her rescuer in an attempt to get a better look at…him? Yes, that much she was sure of now, given his scent it was definitely a male.

She was just about to clear her throat to speak when he shifted and rolled his head to the side. Something deep within Flo triggered her flight response and drove her to hide behind a nearby rock as best as she could.

Flo wasn’t quite ready to leave this creature yet though. It had saved her from….whatever it was that was chasing her, so she reasoned that if he was around she would be left alone. With that in mind, she decided to wait until morning to determine what to do, as exhaustion began to set in over the deer’s tired muscles.

A rocky river bank wasn’t what she had in mind for a bed, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and right now she couldn’t afford to be picky. Flo didn’t consider her circumstances too long, as sleep enveloped her mind.

The next morning, Flo was awoken by the cheerful tune of nearby birds. Memories of last night slowly began to come back to her, and she forced herself up onto her tiered legs. She had to find help, where and how was a problem she would address when the time came for it, but for now she had to concentrate on getting out of the forest.

As Flo rose to her full height, she noticed the creature from the night before. He hadn’t moved from the position she had last seen him in. She felt a tinge of guilt for leaving him like that, but she wasn’t sure if he was dangerous or not. The doe sighed, knowing she at least needed to check on him. He had saved her, so she owed him that much.

Mustering up what courage she had, she slowly approached the sleeping being, poking him once, only to dash away a few feet. Flo watched as the only movement from the creature was the slow rise and fall of his chest, he was still asleep.

“H-hey…” Flo whimpered meekly. “Y-you need t-to wake up…”

Once more, Flo tapped him with her hoof, using a bit more force this time to shake him slightly. The doe held her composure as she stood statue still, waiting for something to happen. There was still no reaction from the slumbering beast.

Flo’s fear was beginning to be replaced by agitation as she tried again to wake him up. Alas nothing seemed to be working, which drove the deer to more drastic measures, ones that involved a bit of magic.

Flo’s eyes started to glow a bright green as a small ball of water formed just above the river. It slowly drifted over to the sleeping creature and hovered just above its head. The glow in Flo’s eyes faded, and the water lost what little form it had been given, splashing the creature in the face.

Flo’s fear quickly returned as the being shot up in surprise from his rather rude awakening. Her muscles froze as she watched the creature’s head dart from side to side. Eventually his gaze fell on her, and the two stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity. His dark brown eyes matched his hair, and finally brought him into perspective for the doe.

“H-hi…” Flo said quietly.

“What the actual hell!?” was the creature’s response, as he stumbled backwards into the shallow end of the river.

Flo screamed and put plenty of distance between herself and the creature that was now flailing to get out of the water. As he climbed out, the doe lowered herself slightly, prepared to take off at the first sign of trouble.

The creature just stared at her in disbelief as he started to drip water from his wet form. Now that he was standing Flo could clearly see that this creature was taller than her. She estimated him to be at least a buck and a half tall.

“Deer can’t talk…” the creature said with a troubled smile. “Th-this is just a dream.”

“What do you mean Deer can’t talk?” Flo huffed, slightly offended at the undermining of her tribe. “Deer are a proud tribe, and I’ll have you know I take offense to such blatant lies!”

The creature’s eyes widened in shock “Uh…what…”

“What are you?” Flo asked.

“I…I’m a talking, I mean a human…I’m human…” the human mumbled.

“Are all members of your tribe this complex?” Flo raised an eyebrow, fairly certain that this “human” posed little threat to her, for now.

“Complex?” the human asked in return.

“Difficult to understand,” Flo said, assuming he was ignorant to the definition of the word.

“I know what it means, and no…wait, why am I talking with a deer, this is a dream,” The human shook his head. “You don’t exist.”

Flo snorted and trotted up to the human, her fear completely evaporating into annoyance. The doe gave the human a sharp push with her foreleg, which put the human into a sitting position on the ground. She glared at the nameless creature, ensuring that he knew she was no dream.

“My name is Flo, daughter of Grey Horn, and I am no dream,” Flo said.

“Okay…you’re real…” the human said quietly.

Flo sighed and slowly stepped back, sitting down on the rocky bank across from him. “If I may ask, what is your name?”

“Lane…” the human replied.

“Well Lane, I just wanted to thank you for saving my life last night,” Flo said.

“I saved you?” Lane asked.

“Yes, don’t you remember?” Flo tried her best to mask her look of concern.

“No, I don’t remember much of anything, I don’t even know how I ended up next to a river with…talking deer, no offense intended,” Lane replied.

Flo stood up and circled Lane once, looking him over before standing in front of him once more. “You have no idea where you are….do you?”

“None, so what is this place?” Lane asked.

“Um…welcome to Equestria,” Flo replied sheepishly.