The White Tail Woods Encounter
White Tail Woods was a large forest just outside the city of Canterlot. The stretch of untouched wilderness offered visitors a rustic escape from the hubbub of urban life. It was a warm summer morning, and the day's heat was just beginning to rise. Hiking stick in hand, Indigo Zap drew in a deep breath. She was dressed for the occasion, wearing a loose, lightweight shirt, shorts, and durable hiking shoes. Several paces behind her, likewise dressed, Lemon Zest wiped her brow.
"I think we've earned a break..." panted Lemon.
"Just a little further! We're almost to the halfway point."
Lemon sighed. While she was the most physical of Indigo's "non-jock" friends, her tenacity was geared more toward enduring mosh pits than long hikes through the wilderness. Over the last hour, they had trekked nearly halfway through a popular loop trail that ran deep into the woods. Songbirds warbled in the branches overhead as squirrels skittered across the forest floor. All around them, shafts of sunlight beamed down through gaps in the foliage. Before long, they reached the bright green sign that marked the halfway point of the trail. Setting her day pack and stick aside, Indigo plopped herself down at the foot of a nearby tree.
"Perfect spot to take five!"
"How about ten?" countered Lemon as she produced a granola bar from her day pack.
"Told ya, you should've brought a hiking stick! I thought you said you were in the Filly Scouts?"
"I was!" exclaimed Lemon through a mouthful of granola. "Number one cookie seller in my region!"
Indigo rolled her eyes. It had been an uphill battle getting Lemon Zest to accompany her on this hike. Lemon finally relented after Indigo promised to treat her to a lunch at their favorite Mongolian barbecue restaurant afterward. Still, Lemon was far better company than their other classmates - at least she did not fuss over getting her shoes dirty. They were making excellent time. At their current pace, they would be back at the trail entrance in one hour, and back in the city enjoying some delicious stir-fried noodles and veggies within the next. All around them, the dense forest canopy shielded them from the heat of the sun. Indigo placed her hands behind her head and closed her eyes.
Lemon had just finished her granola bar when she spotted something in the distance. Amid the trees, less than thirty meters away grazed a white tailed doe - the woods' eponymous resident. Lemon perked up. Sightings of deer had become increasingly rare in recent years - this made for an excellent photo op! She readied her smartphone's camera mode as she whispered to Indigo.
"Be right back!"
Indigo acknowledged Lemon with a wave of her hand as her friend skulked off toward the doe. She contented herself to just lie back and enjoy the sounds of the forest. As much as she enjoyed rocking out with Lemon to their favorite metal bands, she also appreciated the peace and tranquility of the natural world. The scent of the trees. The chatter of the birds. The gentle breeze against her skin. It was all enough to make her forget Crystal Prep Academy and the rest of the world, if only for a fleeting moment. After several minutes of this uninterrupted bliss, Indigo stretched her arms over her head.
"Ready to get going, Lemon?"
Indigo looked up in the direction Lemon had gone. The doe still grazed, but Lemon was nowhere in sight. Indigo called out to her friend once more; again, there was no response. The doe, alarmed, bounded out of sight. Laying on the ground twenty meters away was Lemon's day pack. Indigo cursed under her breath as she rose to her feet, picked up her provisions, and proceeded to walk toward her friend's pack. Had Lemon gone behind a tree to relieve herself? Or was she hiding, waiting to jump out and scare me?.
Indigo was halfway to the day pack when she spotted something else on the ground. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. Strewn about on the ground next to the day pack were Lemon's clothes! Indigo glanced about in all directions. Was this Lemon's idea of a joke? OR...was somebody else out here with them? Lemon would have made a ruckus if somebody tried to grab her. Unless they took her by surprise...or there were more than one...NO! Get a grip, Indigo!
Indigo took a deep breath to gather her wits. She warily scanned her surroundings, scrutinizing every shadow. Satisfied that nobody else was around, she proceeded to examine each article of Lemon's clothing. She searched specifically for tears and bloodstains, and breathed a sigh of relief when she found neither. The dirt on the ground showed no signs of a struggle. It appeared that Lemon had removed her clothes willingly. But why? While Lemon was certainly more adventurous than any of their classmates at Crystal Prep, she was not so reckless as to go streaking in the middle of nowhere! An inspection of Lemon's day pack revealed two bottles of water and five granola bars still inside; minus the bar Lemon had just eaten, this was everything she had packed. Lying nearby was Lemon's smartphone, which was already locked.
Indigo opened up Lemon's day pack and gathered the latter's clothes, shoes and phone into it. As she did this, she considered her next course of action. Her past hiking experience told her to go for help at the nearest ranger station, which was located at the beginning/end of the trail loop. But if her friend was out there literally naked and possibly afraid, she had to find her. She decided that she would go through the woods parallel the trail, following it to the end of the loop. If she did not find Lemon, she would then be able to get help when she reached the ranger station.
Slinging Lemon's day pack over her shoulder, Indigo got moving. Every now and then, she glanced back at the trail. She could not shake the eerie feeling that she was being watched. All the while, she gripped her hiking stick like a club, ready to attack. Several times, she called out Lemon's name only to be answered by silence. After half-an-hour she was getting more and more flustered; the rising heat of the day did not help either. Was somebody else out there? Lemon, if you really ARE just playing a joke on me, so help me, I'll...
Just then, in the distance, a large flock of birds erupted from the trees. Indigo instinctively ducked down as she watched them fly off in all directions. Something must have spooked them. Maybe there was somebody over on there; maybe Lemon! She bit down on her tongue to refrain from calling out. Better make sure it isn't somebody else first!
Stepping lightly on the balls of her feet, Indigo moved in the direction of the disturbance. As she advanced, the forest grew increasingly dense around her. Without the chatter of birds, the woods were now eerily quiet. Suddenly something shot out of the bushes ahead of her. Indigo jumped as a rabbit scampered past her and disappeared again into the underbrush. She cursed under her breath, then noticed something on the ground. At her feet was a trail of paw prints. Big ones. Drawing on her scouting experience, she guessed that the prints belonged to a wolf or some species of canine. But these were far too large to have been made by any dog!
The paw prints were headed toward where the birds flew off. Cautiously, Indigo skulked forward, stick at the ready. She had only taken a dozen steps when she suddenly froze in her tracks. Less than ten meters ahead, something was moving amid the trees. Through the foliage, she could not clearly make out what it was, but she could tell that it was BIG - the size of a bear! Could this be the thing that made these tracks? How did she not notice it until she was this close? Indigo swallowed as she quietly began to tread backwards. Whatever it was up ahead, she had better not take any...
CRUNCH!
Oh crap!
Indigo glanced down at the twig she had just stepped on. Up ahead, the thing raised its head in alert. She quickly ducked into the hollow of a nearby tree. She froze as she heard the thing's footfalls treading closer and closer. As it neared her hiding place, it gave a low, guttural growl. She held her breath, not so much out of fear as to avoid the nauseating stench that assaulted her nose. She tightened her grip on her stick as sweat beaded on her brow.
Suddenly, the thing gave a loud snort. Indigo tensed up until she heard its footfalls walking away from her. She waited until they faded in the distance before allowing herself to breathe again. The stench was gone as well. Cautiously, she poked her head out and glanced around. Whatever that was just now, it was nowhere to be found. With that thing roaming the forest, she had to go for help. Please be safe, Lemon.
Her little side trek had taken her over thirty meters off-course. Relying on her internal compass, she triangulated a route that would put her back on the trail well ahead of where she had veered off. Warily, she weaved through the trees and waded through underbrush, glancing over her shoulder nearly every other step. After several minutes, she came to the edge of a knoll, where she had a slightly better view of the terrain ahead. In the distance, she could see the trail through the trees. Then she spotted it. Lying face down at the foot of the knoll was a naked human body; its head crowned with an unruly mop of long green hair.
"LEMON!" Indigo screamed as she slid down the slope. She had been bracing for the worst, but the sight of her friend lying in the dirt hit her like a brick. She skidded down the hill, dropping to her knees beside Lemon. Carefully, she rolled her friend onto her back. Lemon's hands and knees were caked with dirt, as if she had been crawling on all fours. Her long green hair was riddled with twigs and leaves. Other than that, she appeared to be unharmed. Physically, anyway. Indigo lightly tapped her friend on the cheek. "Lemon?"
Lemon groaned as she blinked her amber eyes. "Unnn...Indigo?"
Indigo's eyes welled with tears as she threw her arms around Lemon. "You gave me such a scare!"
"I...had the weirdest dream...I dreamt that I...I was a horse...and I was running through the woods..." Lemon sat up, suddenly realizing that she was naked. "Huh? W-what happened?"
"You tell me!" exclaimed Indigo. "One moment we're both resting; the next, you're gone and your clothes are on the ground! I just spent the last hour looking for...uh, Lemon?"
Lemon had suddenly begun to quiver as her eyes grew to the size of saucers. At that moment, Indigo smelled that same horrid stench from earlier. She turned around and her heart jumped into her throat. Up on the knoll was a wolf the size of a bear; only instead of being covered in fur, it looked as though it were carved completely out of gnarled wood! Beneath a pair of glowing green eyes, its maw parted to reveal two rows of jagged wooden teeth. Its growl sent chills up their spines.
Indigo and Lemon took off running toward the trail as fast as their legs could carry them. But the creature was even quicker, cutting them off just before the trail. The girls skidded to a halt. Indigo turned on her heel, but Lemon lost her balance. At that moment, with the creature closing in, Indigo's "fight" response kicked in. With a scream, she charged the creature and jabbed her stick into its left eye. Lemon scrambled away as Indigo followed up with a kick to the creature's jaw. Indigo raised her stick to strike, but a sudden sway of its wooden snout was enough knock her to the ground. Indigo's head was spinning; the creature's foul breath made her want to retch.
Suddenly, a small stone struck the creature on its head. It turned as Lemon threw another stone, hitting it square on its nose. The creature snarled as it advanced on Lemon. Indigo struggled to get her bearings as she grabbed her stick. Lemon skittered back, throwing herself onto the ground as she grabbed hold of a stone the size of her fist. As the creature opened its jaws, Lemon chucked the stone with all her might, sending it right down its maw. The creature stopped in its tracks, choking and gagging several times before collapsing into a pile of gnarled logs.
Lemon nervously clutched another stone as Indigo poked at some of the logs with her stick. Suddenly, the wood pieces began to glow with a strange light. The girls jumped back and watched in awe as the entire woodpile disappeared in a bright flash of light. Beyond telltale markings on the ground where the logs had fallen, there was no trace left of them. Lemon swallowed nervously.
"W-what was that thing?"
Indigo handed Lemon her day pack. "I don't know and I don't wanna find out!"
Indigo kept watch as Lemon hastily donned her clothes. Once Lemon was dressed, they returned to the trail. Neither of them spoke a word as they hurried back at the exit/entrance of the loop. Once the ranger's station was in sight, they both swooned with relief. After spending several minutes catching their breath and guzzling their water bottles empty, Lemon broke the silence.
"We've gotta warn people. What if there are more out there?"
"Yeah?" countered Indigo. "Just what are we gonna tell them?"
Lemon opened her mouth, but then looked down at her hand which was still caked with dirt. What would they say? That she disappeared out of her clothes and that a giant wooden wolf attacked them? And her dream of being a horse? They would be lucky if a drug test was all they were ordered to take!
"Good point," sighed Lemon. "Who in their right minds would believe us?"
Author's Note
Lately, I've been reading mostly short horror story anthologies, so I decided to do another quick little standalone tale in a similar vein. This scenario offers a slightly different take on the concept of a portal to Equestria in the woods.
