Broken Howls and Tattered Leaves

Idea by Paw Print.

May you always be bright.

---==Stalliongrad, Merchant's Quarter==---

Midday of the 'wolfnapping'

-=Roseluck=-

        A cream colored earth pony with a rose colored mane sat at a teble outside of a small resturaunt, poking at her salad. Her only companion was a small parakeet that was busily testing just how much bird seed his gut could hold. A cherry tomato rolled away from her questing hoof, pushed into a stockade with the others of his kind. The parakeet had a worried expression across his beak for just a moment before returning to his meal. With the last of his seed gone and his depressed pony friend sighing at her tomatoes as if she had expected them to come to life and make her wishes come true. The parakeet knew just what her wish would be; it was the same as his after all.

        "Hey, come on Rose! Everything will turn out all right in the end. I don't think there is anybeing in this city strong enough to beat Twiggy in a straight fight! He'll be fine and we will find him. So don't worry! Be happy!" The small parakeet chirped at his sullen companion. The mare only sighed in response. She had finally found what she had been searching for and she could just get on the next train to Ponyville, but a nagging tug pulled at her heart whenever she thought about leaving their missing companion.

        "But I'm afraid for him because he won't want to get into a fight if he can avoid it. There are many ponies that would take advantage of him in a heartbeat if they could. I just don't want to see him hurt." They both sat in silence for a few minutes with an almost tangible raincloud over their heads. Roseluck looked up to the sky and saw several Pegasi shuffling some winter clouds around. She didn't know why the Stalliongrad ponies liked the cold, she herself liked the springtime when all the beautiful flowers came into bloom and painted a beautiful mosaic on the grassy hillsides.

        Keet couldn't take the irritatingly depressing silence any longer. He mumbled something about going out to look again and took off, leaving Roseluck to her loneliness. She sighed again and went back to her tomatoes, herding one into her mouth to it's juicy demise. The sweetness of the tomato exploded into her senses and made her miss the meals Twigleaf had made for her on the road to Stalliongrad.

---==Keet==---

        Keet grumbled in annoyance as a particularly cold gust of winter wind blew right through him, chilling him to his hollow bones. He let out a shallow curse as he reflexivly puffed out to stay warm.

        'Stupid Ponies and their stupid weather magic....' He thought to himself. He made another circuit around the upper city before heading to the slums. He only visited the upper city to relieve himself on the rich snobs. Heh heh bullseye. As he approached the slums, he noticed a distinct change in air quality. It was like he passed through a barrier that kept all the smell inside the slums, leaving the rest of the city to breathe clean air. It smelled like filth, shit, and negligence.

        "OH SWEET CELESTIA! That is just RANK!" (I say this often when I smell something awful) Keet coughed as he was forced to land from a coughing fit. He never smelled anything so horrid in his life before. With a quick look around, he found the source of the stench. A young filly had starved to death in the alley below him. Her coat may have once been a soft, golden yellow, but the dirt and grime made it a dingy bile color. Her mane wasn't much better off, the muted blues were now covered in filth. She hadn't even earned a cutie mark yet. He just watched in horror as a young griffin chick looked into the alleyway and saw the corpse. His expression fell a moment before a gleam in his eye took over. He walked over to the corpse and looked around to see if anyone was watching before taking a huge bite out of her bony flanks.

        Keet had already taken off and vomited in another alley. the whole thing was something he didn't realize actually happened. Sure, he once saw a Manticore tear into stag, but this was just different somehow. He cleaned himself up and took flight once more, trying to get as much space between him and that alley.

        It wasn't long before before he came upon a large gathering of more grungy ponies and griffins. There were a few Diamond Dogs as well, but not so many as Ponies. They were all gathered around a large griffin who seemed to be whispering something to the crowd.

        "For a limited time, the Undercity Brawl Arena is selling tickets half off to any combatants who wish to enter the arena! WIll you be the one who vanquishes the mighty manticore? Or will you die a horrid death like most who enter here?" The griffin went on and on, trying to recruit fresh meat for some sort of monster fighting arena or something. It wasn't too intersting to him untill near the end of his speech. "Not to mention that we have a new beast for you to fight! The timberwolf will be a dangerous foe for anybeing to face, but I believe one of you may have what it takes to take him down. Whaddya say?"

        The small crowd was buzzing with excitement as the griffin left the small stage and dissapeared into the shadows.

        "Jackpot..." Keet muttered to himself as he formulated a plan to get in.

---==Black Market, The Slums==---

Stalliongrad, Evening

        Roseluck physically winced everytime she inhaled. The smell of sweaty stallions and the faint smell of blood and gore was almost too much for her to handle. Every instinct in her head told her to run for it, that this place was dangerous and she should run off screaming about the horror of it all.

      "Are you sure this is going to work Keet?" She asked nervously, her head swiveling around towards the exit every few seconds.

        "Of course it is going to work! It is my plan after all!" Keet declared with a whisper. "My plans always work!"

        "Then what about the time a few days ago when you tried to knock that beehive down?"

        Keet winced and replied. "Well.... MOST of my plans work."

        "And the time-"

        "Shush you! This isn't the time to get into trivialities!" Keet hissed, cutting her off. Roseluck smiled a bit before she remembered where she was thanks to a not so gentle nudge from the griffin behind her.

        "NEXT!"  The mare that sat behind the small desk was taking names and other information of any contestants and directing them where they should go. She was a light chestnut brown with a small white patch just in her mane that made an upside down triangle pointing towards her muzzle. Her white mane was frazzled and unkempt from the warmth and long hours she had been sitting there. Another nudge.

        "Oh.. umm.. I'm-" Roseluch started, only to be cut off by the mare's uniterested tone.

        "Name"

        "Umm... R-Roseluck"

        "Race"

        -=Meanwhile, in another universe=-

        "Hey Twily, have you seen that-" The young human male was cut off by his own hand slapping into his face.

        "Have I seen what?" The town librarian and sexiest unicorn returned the query.

        "Umm... nevermind..." He replied, glaring at his hand. He would have to keep a closer eye on this traitorous appendage today.

        -=Back to the story=-

        Roseluck too felt the urge to smack her face with her hoof, but for some reason she felt the need was satisfied and just answered the question. The mare probably just says that to everypony as a precaution.

        "Earth Pony"

        "Profession"

        "Flow- Er... Tamer..."

        The mare actually looked up from her sheet and gave Roseluck a good once over. "Maybe if you do good in your first match, the boss might give you a job. The last batch of tamers got eaten by a Buzzblade. They weren't much of tamers I guess." She giggled as if that was something funny. Roseluck just gasped in shock.

        "Well, go on through the second door on the left. And try not to get lost, blah blah blah..." The mare resumed her bored staring contest with the paper.

        "Next..."

        "I told you it would work!" Keet giggled in triumph as they walked away from the line. "My plan is flawless! Only a genius could have come up with it!"

        Roseluck rolled her eyes and steadily moved closer towards the stench of death. She didn't want to admit it, but she was getting used to the smell.

        "Come on braniac, let's hurry and find Twigleaf before-" She was cut off by a brutish Dog who stood in front of her and pointed towards the second door on the left. Seriously, somepony must have it out for her. This was only the 27th time she had been cut off today!

        "Right..." She said and entered the room. The room was large, more of an auditorium than a waiting room. It was packed full of contestants who were waiting on their turn to fight and prove themselves. Each one of them looked frightening with various scars or wicked blades. Many wore armor, some went without, and very few looked nervous. This was not were she wanted to be right now. Her previous nervousness and panic had caught up with her and was shaking her like a dirty rug. She quickly found a corner and tried her best to hide from every living thing in the room without much success.

        "You know, despite how sexy your flank is, holding it up like that would only lead many of the males here to have a little pre match fun with you." A raspy, female voice pointed out. With a blush and a quick turn, Roseluck saw a blue pegasus mare with a wispy white mane that reminded her of clouds. She was wearing ligh plates of armor, designed for speed and maneuverability, not to mention to show of some of her 'features'. Roseluck blushed some more when she saw the beautiful warrioress smiling at her.

        "Umm... T-thanks.." She replied when she finally found her voice again. The mare lughed and replied.

        "Don't need to thank me, the sight of your hot flanks is all I needed to cheer me up before my match." The pegasus held out her hoof. "The name is Azure Lance. Not my real name, but that is what everybody knows me as. Come on, I'll introduce you to everybody!"

        Azure took Roseluck and practically dragged the poor mare towards a small group of three other ponies. A massive sea blue Earth Pony with a mane similar to Azure's, a lean looking orange pegasus with a forest green mane, and a very studious looking crimson Unicorn with a mane like ash. The earth pony was wearing a full set of armor that covered his entire front with heavy looking plate and left his legs light. This was in stark contrast to the pegasus' padded armor and the unicorn's simple cloak.

        Before they reached the group, the pegasus flew up to them with agrin on his face. "Yo Azzy, who's the hot topic?" He said, waggling his eyebrows at Roseluck.

        "Lay off Thunderhead, I already go dibs." This caused Roseluck to blush more.

        "Awww phoey. You always get dibs..." Thunderhead replied defeated.

        "Don't worry Thunder," The unicorn said, not once looking up from his book. "It just means she is 'faster' than you."

        "And what is that supposed to mean?" Azure glared at the unicorn.

        "Exactly as you are taking it I supose." He replied, closing his book and smiling at Roseluck. "My name is Flash Fire and it is a pleasure to met you."

        "Mine's Thunderhead, but you can call me Orange Lightning! Zing-za-zing!"

        The silent earth pony was still polishing his helm and not paying attention to the group. This earned him a furious snort from Azure and he sighed. "Sheilded Lance." Was all he said and he returned to his duty.

        "Don't worry, he's just shy around pretty mares." Azure giggled.

        The doors to the arena proper burst open and two Dogs came in, dragging a bloody lump between them. Roseluck nearly lost what little she had eaten today at the sight. What was left of the contestant had chunks methodically chewed from it and she guessed it was a griffin based on the severed wing the Dogs tossed after it into a pit in the wall.

        "Poor bastard. Looks like an R.O.U.S got him." Flash mused.

        "R.O.U.S?" Roseluck asked.

        "Rodent of unusual size."

        "Next contestant!" One of the guards yelled.

        "Umm.. how do they choose the next contestant?"

        "By whomever walked through those doors last." Azure replied.

        Roseluck looked about nervously and saw every eye was on her.

        "Oh..."