Druids and the Wooden Heart

The next day Spirit woke up very early the sun was just going up. He waited till some servants were awake, before he woke Bite up then walked outside and told a servant that they would left now.

They went outside and Spirit looked around. "Good. Now we just have to find the Library. Let's ask this pony over there."

They walked to a pony who was sitting on a bench and reading a newspaper. "Excuse me could you tell us were the Library is?"

The pony kept reading while answering. "Just the street down. It is a big building on the left side, you can't miss it."

Spirit smiled. "Thank you and have a good day!"

The crystal pony put his paper down and looked at Spirit. "No problem and you too..." He stopped as he saw Bite and began to stutter." Wha... Wha... What is that?"

Spirit instantly stopped and looked at the pony. "Oh right I am sorry. This is my friend as you can see he is a bit different. I travel around to show ponies that Timberwolves are not evil."

The pony was no a bit more calm but still very tensed. "That's good to hear. I wish you luck with that." The pony slowly walked away while not letting an eye from Bite.

Spirit took a deep breath. "We still have much to do but that is for another day." He tuned to the direction the pony gave him and walked down the street. Soon they were able to find the Library.

He walked and looked around. Spirit was very surprised by the amount of books they had. "It will take forever only to find the right wing!"

Suddenly Spirit heard a voice behind from behind . "May I help you?"

Spirit turned around and saw a older crystal mare before him. "Good morning and yes do you have any books about druids or something similar?"

The mare first looked behind Spirit at Bite she seemed shocked and freeze completely. Spirit tried to explain. "No need to worry he is completely harmless. See." He pat Bite on the head.

The Librarian nodded slowly then thought for a few moments. "O-ok then if y-you say so." The mare now tried not to look at Bite and took a deep breath before answering his question. "No. I don't think we have a book about druids as far as I can recall."

'As in every other town. I hoped at least here there would be any book about them.' Spirit nodded. "Do you have any books about old mythology or legends?"

The mare nodded. "Follow me please." The pony lead them to a shelve with very big books. "These are all books about mythology and legends we have. If you have any other questions please ask me."

The pony walked away. Spirit turned to Bite and dropped his saddlebags. "Good we have much to do. I start on the left side, you on the right." Bite nodded and so they started.

Spirit and Bite began to read through the books and so they went through the shelf and after three books Spirit finally found something. It was a book with a black cover and it was written in a language Spirit couldn't understand but inside was a bunch of loose paper.

"Bite. I think I found something. This looks like a few pages from some sort of journal. It is signed with the name 'mage from the forest'. One of his last records was about a ritual. It says they had found a dark one and that he killed something important. Then he wrote something about a big mistake, that the ritual had worked but the recourse was destroyed during the ritual."

Spirit turned to the next page which was written much clearer. "The next page is written different, it looks like an old legend. 'The heart is gone, the chains are broken but the enemy still lies down. The heart is gone, nothing had changed but when the darkness rises and the heart still misses, flora will die and fauna will attack for revenge. The heart needs to return fast or the light lost before the darkness even strikes.' This doesn't sound good, Bite could you give me my notepaper and quill please?"

Bite looked in the bag then grabbed everything with his mouth and laid it to the left of Spirit. "Thanks." He started to copy the page then putting it to his note and the book back in its spot in the shelf. As he did that Bite spoke with him. "There is somepony watching you! On the left."

Spirit looked with his eyes to the left and saw a grey pegasus watching him but as the pony saw that Spirit looked at him, he quickly turned to a book and pretended to read it. Spirit slowly walked to Bite and whispered. "Bite try to keep an eye on him I have the feeling something is wrong with that pony."

Bite nodded and he shoved his book, with the nose, a bit to the right so he could watch the pony through the corner of his eyes. After that Spirit continued to search for something else about druids but they just found a few children stories of which Spirit already made copies. They read the whole rest of the day without finding anything else.

Spirit was reading a book about an myth that told about an cave in the mounts of the north as the Librarian interrupted him. "I am sorry but you must leave now, the Library is closing."

Spirit nodded and the pony left again. He turned to Bite. "Come on. Let's go, we can come back tomorrow." They put the books back in the shelf and while doing that Spirit saw that the pegasus that watched them was suddenly gone.

As Spirit left the building he noticed that the most ponies were still reading. 'Hm nopony seems like even thinking about leaving.' He and Bite walked outside and looked around. "I am hungry. What about you?" Bite just nodded. Spirit looked around if he could spot any kind of restaurant as suddenly a flyer flew before his hooves.

On the flyer was written: Only today! Only here! At Boileds bar 25% off on our homemade soup! Only in Boileds bar with 100% natural ingredients! I guarantee it, YOU will taste it! Come now before it's too late!

"Come Bite, that sounds good, here there is an address at the bottom." Bite nodded and so they went to the restaurant.

On the way Bite yawned and Spirit smiled and turned to him."You can't be tired already." Spirit wanted to continue but suddenly a small foal walked in his way.

Spirit looked down to the foal and the foal looked shyly down and spoke quietly. "I am sorry mister but my friend said this wood dog is evil but I don't believe him. He said I would not dare to pet him so I wondered if I could, maybe, I mean..."

Spirit smiled at this child and nodded. " You don't need to be shy and of course you can pet him if you want." Spirit walked together with the foal to Bite. The foal looked once at Bite then walked a few steps backwards.

Spirit hold the foal and turned to Bite. "You don't have to worry, he won't harm you. Watch." He pet Bite on the head and smiled at the foal. "Look, he is very nice. Come Bite lean a bit forward that she can pet you on the head." And Bite leaned forward that he was on eye level with the foal. The foal on the other side slowly held her hoof out and touched Bite on the head.

They stayed like this for a few moments, then the foal began to pet Bite and Spirit stood next to him and smiled. Suddenly he heard two voices and as he followed the noises he could see two crystal ponies ran towards them.

'Probably the parents.' Spirit stepped between the parents and the foal and smiled friendly. "You must be the parents of this nice kid. You don't need to worry, she is alright."

They both stood there a bit surprised. The stallion stepped forward. "Yes we are and we want to take our daughter and go. Could you please come!" The foal stopped petting Bite and walked to her parents.

The parents were about to drag there daughter away but she stopped them. "Mom dad this wood dog is so cute, can I have one of them."

Spirit laugh a bit. "I don't think that that is possible but you could start with a normal dog. Although I think Bite is happy that you like him so much."

The foal looked at him with big eyes. "Really? Can you talk with him?"

Spirit just nodded. "Something like that but yes, I can understand what he wants to say."

The foal looked at her parents. "Can I have a dog?" The parents looked at each other and her mother answered. "We talk about that at home come now we must go."

They were about to go but the foal turned around once again. "Bye Mister and bye wood dog." The parents looked at Spirit and just nodded quickly. They then turned around and began to walk away quickly.

Spirit and Bite went on in direction of the bar and Spirit smiled. "At least some ponies don't run away if they see you." Spirit looked at Bite who also smiled now.

The bar itself looked not very special from the outside and as they went inside they saw that the most tables were empty. There were just sitting three at one table one at the bar counter and one in the corner of the room.

As they entered the pub the barkeeper looked shortly at him and didn't really reacted but as he saw Bite he smiled widely. "Oh good evening my friend! How can I help you? You are probably here for the soup!"

Spirit was very suspicions because of the reaction to Bite but didn't mentioned it. "Yes we are..."

The barkeeper walked over to them. "Good then follow me, I bring you to your table." The barkeeper brought them both to the table near the corner with one chair and a small bank on the other side, then turned to his kitchen and walked away.

Spirit turned to Bite and whispered that nopony could hear them. "That was strange. From every reaction to you this was the most unexpected till now."

Bite nodded and he sat down on the bank and considering how big he was made it a bit uncomfortable for him to sit down. Spirit, couldn't do other but chuckled a bit as he saw how much problems Bite had with the bank, while he sat down on the other chair.

After a few seconds the barkeeper came back with two soups. "Here are your soups my good sir! Do you want something else?"

Spirit was still suspicious about the behavior of the barkeeper but kept it for himself. "No thanks, but is it possible that I could pay now?"

The barkeeper bowed a bit and smiled. "Of course that makes 38 Bits please!"

Spirit gave the barkeeper the money and after the third time telling he had everything the barkeeper finally left them alone. As they were alone Bite looked at Spirit and raised an eyebrow.

"I just wanted him to leave us in peace. I don't really trust this. I mean I don't think that anypony would be so happy to have a timberwolf in their property. Something isn't correct here. But for now let's just eat our soups." Spirit was about to eat his soup as he was stopped by a quiet noise from Bite. Spirit looked up again. "What is it?" Bite leaned forward and sniffed at his soup then pointed at his bag with his nose.

"Oh right sorry." Spirit reached in his bag and grabbed a phial with the powder and was about to strew the powder in Bites soup as somepony bumped into him.

The phial fell on the ground and broke into pieces. Spirit looked around to search for the pony and saw a pegasus with a green mane and a grey coat. "Oh I am sorry I didn't mean to bump into you! Hey you are this pony with the timberwolf, Spirit, right?"

Spirit slowly nodded. "Yes that is me. Did we met before, you seem very familiar."

The pegasus smiled. "Well I saw you one time today but you were hold off by guards, so I didn't had the chance to talk with you, you probably saw me there!"

"Why did you want to talk with me?"

"Because I have a problem. I heard you are good with animals. The problem is, there are rats in my home and I have to get rid of them till tomorrow and I wondered if you could help me? If you don't help me I have to call somepony to kill them."

Spirit stopped and thought about the situation. 'This request seems a bit strange and this pony is a bit strange but again what I have better to do?' He looked at Bite who just nodded. "Ok then but I would be happy if I could finish my meal first!"

The pegasus nodded heavily. "Of course! Thank you! I have to pay anyway before I can go. So I just wait for you outside."

The pegasus walked to the barkeeper while Spirit reached in his bag for another phial but didn't let an eye of the pegasus. The pegasus walked with the barkeeper and started to pull out some money, very much as Spirit noticed, and laid them on the counter but suddenly the barkeeper held him and started to pointed at Bite and started to talk louder and louder. "... You didn't said." The pegasus tried to calm the barkeeper down and threw another 20 bits on the counter and the barkeeper went silent.

The pegasus looked at the direction of Spirit and Bite, Spirit quickly turned away, and then left the building. Spirit now strew the powder in Bites soup, who instantly started eating. Spirit also continued his meal. "Did you heard this? Something is not right with this pony! We should be very careful."

The both were able to finish their meal without any other disturbances and walked outside and saw that the pegasus stood next to the wall waiting for them. "Ah there you are, I was already wondering if you would go to sleep there."

Spirit was very confused by this comment. "I was in there for just like ten minutes and why would I sleep in a bar?"

The pegasus rolled with his eyes. "That was supposed to be a joke, you really don't live with ponies for long!"

Spirit looked at the pony and raised any eyebrow and waited to any further comments. The pony chough one time. "Anyway do you want to help me now?"

Spirit nodded. "Yes I said I would do it, so why should I suddenly change my mind?"

The pegasus laughed a bit. "Oh I just wanted to make sure, so I will show you the way, follow me!" The pegasus opened his wings and Spirit just now saw that his wings were the same green as his mane. The pegasus flew in direction of the wall of the empire.

Spirit and Bite just looked at each other. "Is he serious?" Bite shrugged in response and just then the pegasus came back. "I am sorry but I completely forgot that you are not a pegasus. I will show you the way."

The pegasus landed in front of them and started to walk in the direction he was flying earlier. On the way Spirit started to ask a few questions. "So how did you heard about me again?"

The pegasus looked away. "Well, I heard a few rumors about you nothing more. A pony who has a timberwolf as his company, trying to make peace between them and ponies and also searching about druids. That very interesting to talk about, don't you think?"

'How does he knows about my search about druids? Only a few ponies know what I am searching for exactly.' Spirit looked a bit around at the different buildings. "So, are you sure we never met before? Your voice and appearance seems very familiar!"

The pegasus nodded. "Yes. At least I think so. I mean you never were in the empire before as far as I know and I never left the empire, so yes we never met before."

"That reminds me. I didn't ask about your name."

The pegasus began to walk quicker. "Well yes my name ... oh we are there. We should hurry!" The pegasus walked inside and Spirit stayed outside and looked at the building. In compare to the other it looked a very run-down.

Spirit walked to the door but then hesitated. He turned to Bite. "Could you identify his smell?" Bite shook his head. "Something is not right with this pony but I can't say what. Bite stay a little back and if you think that he is up to something try to jump at him and hold him down!"

Bite nodded and they walked inside, Bite a bit behind. Spirit looked around inside the building, the wall were very dirty and many cobwebs covered the corners of the room. In the middle of the rooms stood a table and two chairs, one standing next to the table the other chair laid next to the table on the other side on the ground. "You are sure this is the right house. It looks like nopony was living here for a long time."

"Yes I first wanted to get rid of this rat problem before I would clean up." Spirit nodded and he saw how Bite sat down behind the pegasus and not letting an eye of the pegasus.

Spirit looked around the walls for mice or rat holes but couldn't find any of them he turned to the pegasus. "So where are these rats?"

He chough one time. "Oh right they should be around somewhere!" As he said this Spirit could see a few rats running around in a corner. The pegasus saw Spirits face and followed his view. "Ah there they are! Good, go on and just send them away."

Spirit nodded and slowly walked towards the rats while doings so he stretched out his aura and connected his mind with the of the rats. "Hello. Don't worry I won't hurt you! I have just an simple request, could go somewhere else, somepony wants to live and he can't if you all stay around here. So could you go somewhere else?"

One of the rats just nodded and walked away. 'That was way easier than I thought!' He truned back to the pegasus and raised an eyebrow. "Ok that is done they will go but now why did you brought us here really here, these rats went after a few words and I know about rats they are normally very stubborn. So why did you brought them here and why do you wanted to meet us really?"

The pegasus chuckled a bit. "My friends always say I am a bad liar and it seems they are right. Yes I didn't brought you here because of the rats. I brought you here because of your research and my boss said I should stop it!"

In the background Bite made himself ready to attack and Sprit also slowly went into fighting positions. "Who are you?"