To New Horizons

The walk back to town through the orchard was fairly peaceful, all things considering. You and Starfire remained mostly silent, as the two of you escorted the remainder of the Cutiemark crusaders back to town. Applejack was right to worry about timber wolves after all, and Luna damn you if you weren't going to take your job seriously. Even if it was just escorting a bunch of fillies down a dirt road... But you still prayed silently to both goddesses that a pack of timber wolves or worse, a cockatrice wouldn't magically appear down the road a way's.

But, besides your debatably reasonable paranoia, you and Starfire shared a fairly comfortable silence as the two of you idly scanned the orchard as you walked. Allowing Whirlwind, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to have their own hushed conversations in relative safety. Which you had to admit, made you feel a small amount of pride that you were proving your mother wrong about your mark... You quickly shake the thought of your mother from your mind, knowing full well that those memories, only lead down one dark road and instead you go back to focusing on the horizon, and trying to eavesdrop the crusader's conversation.

While you couldn't make out what was being said, Whirlwind sounded the most excited out of the group, while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belles tone of voices frequently ranged from sounding interested in what Whirlwind was saying, to sounding insistent. Then back to sounding bored or like they're trying to convince her about something obvious. After a few more minutes of this, Whirlwind briskly trotted up on your left side, between you and Starfire, leaving Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to their conversations before addressing you.

"Um... Sky?" Whirlwind spoke in a near whisper, prompting you to give her your full undivided attention. "Yea Whirly? Whatchya need?" You ask with a gentle smile before really looking at Whirlwind. Who once again seemed extremely timid, with her ears flat against her head and wings tucked protectively around her sides. Not to mention the fact she was avoiding eye contact with you. Prompting your smile to fade instantaneously, only to be replaced with concern.

"Something the matter kiddo?" You continue, failing to hide the concerned tone in your voice, which seemingly prompts Whirlwind to finally look up at you with a nervous smile. "No, nothing wrong it's just... can you walk me and Scoot's home? It's getting late and well..."She says timidly, before briefly pausing, only to nervously look around, before dropping her voice back down to a near whisper to a near whisper and continuing. "I don't want a timberwolf to get us." She says nervous, with a fearful look in her eyes. Which causes you to return the look with a soft chuckle.

"Sure thing kid. Me and Star will make sure the two of you get home safe." You say confidently, as you ruffle her mane a little with your left forehoof. Causing her to chuckle and gain a small smile before you continue. "But, that means you two will have to accompany us to the market." You pause briefly to look back at the two fillies behind you with a smile, as you make eye contact with Scootaloo and continue. "That ok with you kid?" You ask, prompting her to nervously smile back at you and nod before replying. "Sure, it's fine with me..." She pauses before breaking eye contact with you and looking at Whirlwind.

"T-though I d-don't know w-why you'd be scared Whirly... T-timberwolves m-make it past the g-guard." Scootaloo continues to say nervously, causing you and Starfire to give the young fillies a reassuring smile. "Still, you can never be too careful, a timberwolf on its own is timid and easily spooked. But get a pack of them..." Starfire briefly pauses to let out a soft puff of air for emphasis as she turns her gaze back to her front, her tone turning dour and cold.

"Then they get bold, calculated and extremely aggressive. A small pack like the one last night will start hitting ranches and orchards for food and lumber to bolster their ranks. Giving them the confidence to attack the occasional unlucky trader that crosses their path. But, if they get big enough, and hunters can't thin their numbers well enough, they could easily rampage through a small town like this with ease." Starfire says in an uncharacteristically grim tone as she averts her gaze to the horizon, looking like she was watching something unfold for the thousandth time. Her ear's flat against her head as she does so, causing you to give her a concerned look.

But, before you could ask if something was the matter, Whirlwind's shaky voice breaks the silence. "D-do you t-think they will?" She says, causing you to return your attention to the fillies, and cause Starfire's ears to perk up as she does the same. Concern prevalent on her features as the two of you see three trembling fillies, which causes you to shoot a glare at Starfire, who nervously chuckles before replying. "Nah kiddo, I don't feel like they'll be coming around these parts for a long while. Especially after the thrashing we gave them last night." Starfire says gently as she gently pats Whirlwinds mane with a forehoof, seemingly calming the fillies before her expression turns stern and she continues.

"But, if Timberwolves do come through Ponyville, just get yourselves to safety secured in a basement or something and let the guild and guards handle it. Killing timberwolves is my special talent after all." Starfire says with a pride-filled smile, the information causing the fillies to completely lose the nervous expressions on their muzzles, only to quickly be replaced by looks of awe and wonder, followed by a resounding "Woah." from the fillies, as the faint sound of sounds of voices, hoof steps on cobble and the rolling of cartwheels start to fill the air. Slowly growing louder with each step towards the Ponyville market.

"How did you manage to get a mark doing that?" Scootaloo asks as the dirt beneath your hooves slowly starts to turn to cobble and the orchard starts to open up to the outskirts of the market, where the sound of the market intensified drastically as if you were walking out of the hallway inside a dreadnought into its engine room. ponies were walking too and fro, picking up groceries and various other goods from some local vendors as the idle drum of conversation and general activity fills the air at long last.

Starfire smiles proudly at the questions as she speaks. "Well, I got it killing my first timberwolf of course. I was right around you fillies age as a matter of fact." Starfire says as she raises her muzzle proudly to the sky, without breaking general eye contact with the fillies. Which causes you to chuckle to chuckle as the fillies practically shouted in unison. "Please tell us!" as they jumped in place. Bringing the group to a stop in the middle of the market street, causing you to playfully roll your eyes at Starfire, who responded by theatrically turn to face the fillies with a smile, as she briefly prepared herself for the story she loved to tell. One you've heard a thousand times before.

"Well, there I was, eating breakfast at home with my three brothers, Axel, Brush, and Chip. Daddy had already left for the morning to tend to the cattle after assigning us our daily chores. Axel was expose to fix the wheel on the family wagon, while my younger brothers were expose to tend the wheat fields and get them ready for the coming harvest. Daddy though wanted me to meet him out by the pasture for a "lesson." or so he put it." Starfire says with a few theatrical waves of her right forehoof before continuing.

"Anyways, once we were done eating we all set out to do our respective tasks. The sun was just starting to crest the horizon and... as I made my way toward the pasture, I noticed there was the distinct smell of iron in the breeze." Starfire says as she with a subtle scrunch of her nose, as if she was reliving the smell for a second before continuing. You quickly glance down to the three fillies, who were all sitting on their haunches, practically captivated by the story and never breaking eye contact with Starfire.

But, Starfire shakes her head a little and continues. "Which out there, usually means one of two things. The first being butcher day for some of the older cattle, or... something got to the cattle." Starfire pauses dramatically as the fillies, and after letting the suspense hang in the air for a bit, she continues with a smile and a chuckle. "Personally, I thought pa wanted to teach me how to butcher the cattle. Seeing that I was the last in my family to get my cutie mark. But, I was in for a shock when I crested a small hill overlooking the pasture and saw Pa... standing next to three absolutely mangled young calves, and their mother." Starfire continued as the fillies gasped again.

"So, I quickly made my way over to pa, and noticed that there was something fairly peculiar about what pa was holding. Let alone wearing." Starfire pauses briefly, to make sure the foals were listening before continuing. "He was wearing this old looking steel armor, the straps and plating looked as though they have been through several scrapes, and in his hooves were two very distinctive weapons. One, being the sword he used for killing some of the older cattle to be butchered... and the other." Starfire starts to say as she carefully takes her crossbow off her back brandishes it in her forehooves before continuing.

"And the other, a crossbow, which he hoofed over to me... along with its accessory. Saying that "This crossbow and quiver was your mothers. Back when she was still around, she was one Tartarus of a shot... Now Star... I won't be around here forever and well... somepony's going to have to look after the farm when I'm gone. Now come along, it's time you learned how to do such things." Starfire said as she started to gently caress the stock of her unloaded crossbow with a smile, as she continued.

"So, he brought me up into the woods, and over the next couple hours, he taught me how to decern timber wolf tracks from other critters. How to tell how many there were, and most importantly, how to safely load a crossbow and fire it. When night finally fell across the land. He did the one thing that terrified me to my core." Starfire said as she looked up from her weapon, her gentle smile turning into a neutral expression. Prompting the fillies to all ask "What was it?!?" in near unison.

Causing a small barely noticeable grin to cross her muzzle before she continued her story. "He took me on my first hunt." Starfire said vaguely, giving the fouls a teasing smile, letting you know she probably did that on purpose. "Well, what happened?!?" Scootaloo practically begged, causing you to chime in. "Come on Star, you can't be that vague." You say with a chuckle, causing her to playfully roll her eyes and dismissively wave a hoof at you with a pff. "Oh, shush. It's called building suspense." Starfire replies with a chuckle as you roll your eyes in response as you feel a smile spread across your muzzle.

"Now, where was I?" Starfire placed a forehoof on her chin in thought for a second before continuing. "Oh yes. So, that night, Pa packed a couple saddle backs full of the essentials, water, dried food, bandages. You know, that sorta thing, and we set off into the night. " Starfire said as she waved her left forehoof for emphasis before she continued

"The night carried with it a bitter chill, as me and my father trecked into the woods. I won't lie... I clutched my crossbow tight to my chest and practically jumped a mile high at every small noise out there, while my father stayed calm. He kept scanning the ground and treeline with this... gaze. Like he had done this a thousand times before. Like he had seen everything out there, monster and beast and nothing surprised him anymore. And... well... his composure was the only thing that kept me from running off back to the ranch.

It didn't take long before my father held his right forehoof out and stopped me in my tracks. His eyes briefly shot to me before he whispered. "Look, Stary. These are what timberwolf tracks look like." As he motioned to the ground in front of us. I gulped and followed his gaze to see various square indentations in the mud with three sharper indentations in front of it. My father then whispered. "Imagine a crate sized box in your mind Stary, and lay that box over the tracks, then tell me how many paw prints you count." And so I did, and I continued four.

So I whispered. "Four, Pa, I count four prints... but what does that have to do with anything?" "Well Stary, he replied in a hushed as he turned toward me with a gentle smile across his muzzle and continued. "Timberwolves only have four paws and usually travel in a column like formation if they aren't hunting. Along with that, their strides tend to be about a crates length in size." Pa whispered before looking back at the tracks and continuing.

"Looks like we got lucky, these tracks seem to be from the pack scout. If we hurry, we might be able to keep the rest of the pack from hitting the rest of the livestock for a while." He whispered as we started to carefully follow the tracks deeper into the woods." Starfire said with a genuine smile across her muzzle as she regaled her tale, moving her hooves around for emphasis. But, as she took another breath to continue, Whirlwind spoke up.

"Pack scouts? Timberwolves have scouts?" Whirlwind asks with more curiosity in her voice than fear, causing Starfire to look at her with a gentle smile. "She alway's loved it when ponies asked questions about that story." You think you yourself with a smile as Starfire replies.

"Yep, timberwolf packs send out omega's to find area's suitable for their beta's to raid. If the omega's don't return from an area, the pack avoids the area for a while. If none of the omega's return, they send small packs of beta's out scouting, and if none of those come back, it forces the alpha out of hiding." Starfire said with a smile as she unholstered he unloaded crossbow and idly held it in her hooves.

"So... the Timberwolves that attacked the Apple family orchard last night were beta's?" Sweetie Belle asked, seeming more fascinated than afraid. "Yep, they were. Now, if nopony has any more questions left..." Starfire said sweetly with a gentle smile, as the three fillies shake their heads in response. "Great, so me and Pa cautiously followed the Timberwolves trail through the brush. Pa was scanning the treeline for any sign that the Timberwolf doubled back while I pre-emptivly pulled the string to my crossbow back." Starfire said as she pulled the string back on her crossbow and secured it before she continued.

"But I still followed Pa's example and continued to look for further signs of timberwolves. Scared to see a pair of glowing green eyes staring right back at me. Eventually, after what felt like hours, Pa reached his right hoof out again and stopped me, only to instantly motioning for me to be quiet and get down as he laid down on his belly. Prompting me to quickly do the same. Once down and out of sight, Pa pulled me up to him and whispered into my ear. "Do you see it?" as he motioned to a small brush patch across a small house-sized clearing in front of us.

I shook my head no and he whispered again. "Watch and listen, keep a close eye on the brush ahead, but don't ignore your surroundings." So, I did. I focused in on the brush, and at first, I thought Pa was seeing things. But, after a few seconds, a brief rustling in the brush brought my attention towards it as it stepped out into the clearing. I had alway's imagined timberwolves as big hulking dogs of wood ready to tear a filly like me to shreds and to be honest, it matched my worsed nightmares, and I froze. Everything from it's haunting eldritch eyes to its timber fang's and claw's mesmerized my gaze as it looked about the clearing.

It was apparent it hadn't noticed us yet, but Pa wasted no time in bringing me back from the edge of fear as he whispered in my ear once more. "It's ok to be afraid my little Stary, but tonight, let's do something about that." And then he proceeded to slowly, and carefully pull out one of the wrapped fire arrows we made earlier from my quiver and held it out to me. I looked at it, then him in shock, but... he gave me this cool smile that just reassured me everything would be alright before he whispered and motioned his muzzle to his sword. "I don't worry, I won't let any harm come to you. Go on. I'll help guide your shot."

And with shaky hooves, I carefully loaded the arrow into my crossbow, and Pa whispered into my ear again. Saying "Now Stary, this is very important. When you take the shot on a creature such as this, focus on where the arrow is going to go, and breath. These monster's catch fire easily, so all you need is a glancing hit." He proceeded to pull a lighter out of his saddlebag and hold it in his forehooves before continuing to whisper. "Now, when you stand up, I'll light it for you and draw my sword, but you have to take the shot, understand?" To that, I nodded. I was scared out of my wits but Pa never failed to keep me safe.

He then whispered again. "Hey, I love you Stary." and caressed my cheek with this proud smile across his muzzle that filled me with all the courage I could ever need and so I stood up and took aim." Starfire said as she took a firing position, and aimed her unloaded crossbow over the fillies toward the orchard, prompting the fillies to look up at her in amazement as other ponies in the market who were eavesdropping now turned to watch out of curiosity. Undeterred by the sudden attention, she continued her performance.

"Pa quickly lit my arrow with his lighter and clambered to his hooves as well, drawing his sword as the Timberwolves eyes met mine. Fear once again clawed at my heart, threatening to paralyze me but... The thought of this wolf going back to its pack to tell them of my family's ranch... gave me all the resolve I needed.

So, I took a breath." Starfire said as she took in a noticeable breath of air. "And as the Timberwolf made to charge... I fired." Starfire continued as she pulled her crossbow's trigger, causing the sting to fly forward, only to be stopped in its place by the raiser. Causing the fillies and a couple of other ponies to gasp. But she continued undeterred. "And my arrow struck true, landing right in the Timberwolves shoulder, instantly catching the monster a fire, forcing it to the ground. Dead, in a bonfire of wood and twigs.

Then, suddenly there was a flash of light, as my Pa sheathed his sword, and when it faded and I looked at him, he gave me the pride-filled smile I've ever seen and hugged me. Saying "I'm so proud of you my little bonfire." and when I looked at my flank, I had my cutie mark." Starfire finished with a joyous smile on her muzzle as she tapped her cutie mark with her crossbow, causing the now gathering crowd let out a couple of sweet "Aww's", fillies included while a few of the crowd's member's clapped their hooves together for the regaled tail, and you promptly did the same with a smile on your muzzle.

"That was amazing!" Whirlwind yelled as the three crusader's got to their hooves. "Yea! You were so brave against those Timberwolves! I hope one day I can be as brave as you." Sweetiebelle exclaimed, causing Starfire to chuckle. "Alright, alright, settle down now, we've got to get you fillies home, and I don't wanna explain why three fillies are rilled up and late." Starfire said with a motherly tone as she looked you in the eyes with a soft genuine smile, but before you could speak, Scootaloo chimed in. "Can we at least hear Sky's cutie mark story?" Scootaloo whines, prompting you to chuckle as you look down at the fillies.

"Maybe another time kids, time to get you home." You replied, causing the three fillies to whine as a stallion calls out from the market. "Twenty minutes till market closes! Twenty minutes!" The stallion called, causing you and Starfires eyes to widen. "Ok, change of plans," Starfire says rapidly as she slings her crossbow back over her shoulder. "Sky, you take the fillies home and I'll grab stuff at the market, we'll meet up in town square alright?" Starfire rapidly said as she slowly started to back up towards the market stalls.

"Not an issue, come on kids. Let's get you home." You say as you start to usher the foals along down the main road into town, prompting Starfire to take off into the market and Whirlwind and Scootaloo to groan. Sweetiebelle quickly chimes. "I actually live at the carousel boutique with my sister, Rarity. So is it ok if I walk there myself?" Sweetie Belle asked as she pointed her right forehoof in the direction of the boutique, which was the toward the east of town from the market.

"Your sister ok with you wandering around by yourself?" You ask quizzically as you give the filly an eye raise. "Yea, she's fine with it as long as I stay within the town limits." She says with a cheerful smile as you give her a gentle smile in return. "Well, alright. But if I get a complaint from your sister or Applejack about this I'll be rather cross." You say with a chuckle, causing Sweetie Belle to snicker. "Don't worry mister sword, I'll be alright." Sweetie Belle said with a polite smile. "Alright, have a nice rest of the afternoon Sweetie Belle." You say with a smile as you turn to the other two crusaders.

"Come on you two, let's get you home." You continue, allowing the Crusaders to quickly say their goodbye's before Sweetie Belle briskly trots away, while the last two crusaders continue walking down Ponyvilles main road with you close behind.