For three days I traveled along broken game trails and through thick brush, never once shifting from the path my Mating Pull set for me. Yet as I got further and further from my clan’s hunting ground, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching me. It was like the sounds of the forest life were hushed into fearful silence as I passed by, but not because of me, or at least not from what I could tell. No, there was something else in these woods, and it was getting closer by the day. Some instinctive intuition told me I would be in for a fight before the sun set today, and I felt my tail tip twitching in anticipation as I came into a small clearing, the bright sunlight shining down on the long grass as it slowly swayed in the breeze.

As I came up to the edge of the clearing, the feeling of being watched grew suddenly stronger, and I knew in my heart as well as my gut that as soon as I moved into the open, I was going to find out exactly what had been trailing me for the last two days. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I slithered into the open, my pony half raised upright to provide a better view of my surroundings as I turned this way and that in an attempt to spot my stalker.

I didn’t have long to wait, because the bushes on my left rustled for several seconds, my body coiling up under me in preparation for a fight as a small, mottled form stalked out of the bushes and into the open.

My eyes widened in shock at what I was seeing, not out of fear, but because of how impossible the being before me should have been. Standing only about half my height, and probably only weighing a fraction of my own weight, was a pony, only it wasn’t like anything I had seen back in the clan, at least comparing it to the upper halves of the rest of my kind.

Instead of just fur and hooves, this creature was covered partly in what appeared to be bark and leaves, the dark brown and tan color of her coat rippling over her body like the patterns of a tree’s fibers. Her hooves were also different, given that they also sported a set of wooden claws that looked sharp enough to cut through even my tough scales. Her teeth were bared in a challenging snarl, her fangs glinting in the light as her emerald eyes looked my body over. Even her mane and tail were different from what I knew, a dark brown with leaves and twigs seeming to grow right out of the tangled masses, their sharp earthy scent washing over me as she slowly began to circle around my tense form.

“Pony-snake make good prey.” She growled in a surprisingly clear voice, even if her grammar was absolutely terrible, “Feed Swift Willow and pack for many days.”

I hissed out a challenge, even though I knew I wasn’t going to be able to catch the smaller creature in my well-fed state unless she got in close, “Try it you little runt. I’ve taken on adult Timberwolves three times your size and won. What makes you think you can make a meal out of me so easily?” That was a lie, but the little hybrid before me didn't know that.

My words were met with a snarled retort, “Swift Willow not care about past hunts. Swift Willow will prove pack wrong by bringing down mighty prey to bring back to den. Then pack see Swift Willow is not helpless runt.”

For a moment I actually felt sorry for the little thing, given she apparently wasn’t very welcome with her own kind, although given what she was that might have been a bit of a misnomer. I didn’t know what the story was behind how the little timberpony before me came to be, but if she planned on making a meal out of this lamia, then she had another thing coming.

I hissed again as I whipped my tail in challenge, “Bring it little pup, and I might spare your life if you put on a good show.” That was a bluff, but she didn’t need to know that. I didn’t plan on killing her if I could help it, but I would defend myself as needed to continue my journey unhindered.

Willow growled before bunching her legs beneath her body, “Swift Willow make mince meat of snake pony. Insulting Willow is insulting pack, and Willow will not allow insult of pack to stand.”

With a mighty howl, Willow charged at me, her fangs and claws bared in attack as she leaped through the air in an attempt to slash and bite at my more vulnerable pony half. Yet she forgot one thing in her full-body charge, and that was in order to get to my pony half, she had to first pass over my snake tail.

I smiled to myself as Willow sailed through the air over my tail, her eyes so focused on my face she was unaware of the rapid movement my tail was making directly beneath her. In the blink of an eye, my tail formed a trio of loops that I quickly lifted into Willow’s path, the timberpony’s eyes widening in shock and surprise as she sailed straight into the waiting trap. Unable to stop her forward momentum midair, Willow was carried by her own attack straight into my waiting coils, her snarl of fury changing into a yelp of fear as my tail tightened the noose around her body. As my tail closed in on her body, they trapped her in a cocoon of coils that pinned her front and back legs against her barrel, securing her head in place as the rest of my tail locked around her neck. In mere moments, Willow had gone from being the aggressor to becoming helpless in my grip, my tail poised to squeeze the life out of her at any point of my choosing. Yet I had already chosen not to kill the pup now struggling in vain beneath my coils, and I tightened the cocoon around her body just enough to prevent her from moving anything besides her head.

I moved Willow closer to my face so I could look in her eyes as I spoke, my own gaze narrowed in a threatening glare as she whimpered and tried to free herself from my grip, “I could easily kill you right here and now, but I’m not going to do that because it would be a waste of my time and energy to do away with you.” I pressed my muzzle against Willow’s as her eyes shrank to pinpricks of terror, “But if you so much as look at me the wrong way again, I swear the next time you’re in my coils, you won’t come out of them alive. Do I make myself clear?”

Willow attempted to snarl at me, but a quick tightening of my coils turned it into a wheeze as her air was forced out of her body. I held her like that for a moment as her face turned blue, before releasing my grip and allowing her to breathe again.

Willow gasped as her lungs refilled, taking a moment to cough a few times before looking up at me with a dejected expression, “Willow understands. Snake pony is not prey. Willow will not attack snake pony again.”

I nodded, lowering the cocoon to the ground before releasing the mare, allowing her to flop to the ground as I moved my tail back under my own body, “Good, then you can go back to your pack and tell them the same thing I told you. If they try and attack me, I’ll make them wish they never messed with a lamia right before I turn them into leaf litter.”

I turned and began to slither away, my head held high and my back straight as an arrow, only to come up short as the soft sounds of sniffling came from behind me. Against my better judgement, I turned around to see what was wrong, only to stop short as my gaze fell on the shivering form of Willow, her eyes running with tears and her entire body shaking with sobs as she buried her face in her front hooves.

“Willow can’t return to pack.” She wept, “Pack gave Willow task to complete. Returning without food means Willow takes prey’s place.” She looked up at me, her eyes streaming as she spoke, “This was Willow’s chance to prove worth to pack. Without prey, Willow is no use to pack. Alpha said either come back with food or be hunted down in its place. Please,” she crawled towards me and hung onto my tail like it was the only thing keeping her alive, “take Willow with you. If Willow can’t return to pack Willow has no place to go.”

I tried to resist the puppy eyes I was being given, especially because of how I had met this strange hybrid, but after hearing what her pack had in store for her and given the fact I just couldn’t sit by and do nothing, I relented with a long-suffering sigh.

“Alright,” I said slowly, “you can come with me,” I held up my hoof to stall her cry of delight, “but on one condition. You have to do whatever I say when I say it, or else you are on your own again. I’m trusting you not to bite me in the throat while I sleep, so you’d better remember who spared whose life just now. You owe me your life, and now I’m taking you in to prevent you from getting eaten by your own pack. Make one step out of line and I’ll do more than send you running for the hills. Is that understood?”

Willow’s nod was so fast it seemed to rattle her brains a bit, her eyes shaking a few seconds longer than her head as she beamed with joy, “Oh thank you.” She leaped at me and licked my cheek several times before I was able to pry her off with my tail around her waist. “Willow will never forget this. Willow will be best beta snake pony has ever had.”

“And another thing.” I added, wiping my cheek to get rid of the slobber, “My name is Sapphire, Sapphire Scales. If we’re going to be traveling together then you must call me by my name, not ‘snake pony’. Besides, I think you could use some help learning how to speak properly anyway, so you might as well start with that.”

Willow’s face scrunched up slightly in confusion, “Willow not understand point in learn to talk, but will do as new alpha asks.” She bowed her head in her elevated position as her ears folded against her head, “Sapphire is new alpha, and Willow will do anything Sapphire asks of her.”

I nodded, lowering her to the ground once more before turning back the way I had been facing originally, “Good, then let’s go. We’ve wasted enough time here as it is, and I would like to get a bit further today before the sun sets.” I jerked my head towards the west, “Come, Willow, we have a long way to go, so we might as well get at least some of it out of the way today.”

The timberpony’s tail wagged behind her as she trotted along beside me, her ears perked upright, and her mouth parted in a happy smile. For a while, we simply moved along in silence, before Willow looked up at me and asked a question I had not expected.

“So, if Sapphire is on journey,” she asked slowly, her head tilted to one side as we moved along, “what is Sapphire searching for?”

I smiled at the thought of my future mate, my heart warming at the very idea of it as we travelled towards the source of my Mating Pull, “We are searching for my destined mate. Lamia only get one in their lives, but when we come of age, we receive a magical bond that pulls us towards the one we are supposed to be with.” I glanced down at Willow as she cocked her head the other way, her ears directed towards me and her eyes locked with mine as I spoke, “Just a few days ago, my Mating Pull started up, drawing me out of my clan’s territory and into the great unknown, so I did the only thing I could do. I followed my heart and now I’ve got you to accompany me on my journey.” I turned my gaze towards the forest ahead of us, wondering what else might be out there in store for me and my new companion, “I just hope we can get to my mate before something else tries to get in our way.”

Willow snorted in a very pony-like way, “Monsters try to stop Willow and Sapphire. They not know what they getting into fighting Timberwolf and lamia.” She made a few false swipes with her front legs as she clawed at invisible enemies, “We make short work of anything that tries to hurt us.”

I smiled at her antics, the little pup already showing great spirit even in the face of such overwhelming change. She had just lost everything she had ever known and was forced to join me in my quest with no idea of where we were going or what the future held for us.She had to be very brave in order to keep her optimistic attitude after facing all of that.

I paused as Willow made another swipe, only to mistime her step and trip on an exposed root, her muzzle digging into the dirt as her rear end flipped up and over her head until she landed flat on her back. I rolled my eyes as she jumped up and began growling at her would-be attackers, not even realizing the culprit was right under her hooves.

“Then again,” I muttered to myself as we continued on our way, “she could just be a moron and doesn’t know any better. I’d better keep an eye on her just in case we get into any more trouble along the way.”

With that we carried on through the rest of the day and into the late hours of the night, only coming to a stop as the moon rose high overhead. I climbed one of the larger trees and curled up my tail under my pony half in a makeshift bed as I had done previous nights, only to hear a high-pitched whining coming from below me as I settled in to sleep.

I looked down and saw Willow looking up at me with her haunches planted on the ground, her eyes wide and pleading as she puckered her lower lip.

I sighed in resignation and lowered my tail tip, hooking it around her middle as I hoisted her up and into the tree with me. She immediately perked up as she came to land on my coils, her claws digging into my flesh slightly as she spun around in a circle a few times before lying down and flicking her tail over her muzzle. Her warm side was pressed against mine as she settled in for the night, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit happy that she was coming along with me. The circumstances of our meeting aside, Willow was a very spunky and unique companion, and it would make the long journey to find my mate all the more tolerable with her around to keep me company. I folded my hooves under my chest and rested my chin on my tail, allowing my eyes to slide closed as I listened to Willow’s soft breathing. Her heartbeat thumped against my side gently, and I was lulled to sleep by that smooth rhythm as her body heat began soaking into my tail. All and all, things were looking up, and I was actually excited to see what lay in store for us next, just so long as it didn’t involve risking our lives again after we just got through fighting each other.

Author's Note

Yay, another chapter up and running for you all. Also, I have a little present for you all. Given there will be a lot of unique creatures in this book, I'll be including the pictures of each of the new cast members in the Author's Notes of the chapter they first appear in, so, with that in mind, here's a lovely picture of Swift Willow, courtesy of the talented Jaded Jinx.

Hope you like the book so far, and I look forward to seeing you all next chapter. See you then,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.