Author's Note

These Stagland chapters are a semi-remake of a Newverse fic I wrote back in 2016 called Growing Up in a New World, which I deleted when I returned in 2018 because I was ashamed of it. Incidentally, I unpublished The Tides Have Turned because it didn’t feel like a My Little Pony fanfiction.

Path in the Woods

The ancient, sturdy trees’ bright green leaves were coated in dewdrops that glistened in the morning sun, while the songbirds on their branches tweeted gently. Far below, the faded remains of leaves that had fallen in the autumn were trodden into the earth.

A young deer concentrated hard as a weak, leaf green aura, the same colour as his eyes, appeared around his short, blackish-brown antlers. His fur was mostly chestnut brown, with a beige underside. A stream flowed next to him, trickling down a ledge. The same aura appeared around a pebble in the stream, flickering as he levitated it about a metre above the ground.

“Easy does it... easy does it... yes... yes... Oh!”

Just as the pebble reached the edge of the stream, a bright, white flash of light consumed the whole world for a few seconds, accompanied by a sound that reminded him of bamboo hitting a rock. Startled, he dropped the pebble, causing it to land in the stream with a gentle splash. He bolted away in panic... and promptly fell a couple of metres down the ledge.

“Ow...” he groaned as he struggled to stand up, his knees wobbly.

“Are you alright?” a girl’s voice asked. She sounded strange, as if she was speaking a foreign language that he was fluent in.

He pulled his head up to see a tan and pink deer, with a yellow flower next to her ear. As far as he knew, deer with colours like that only lived in the furthest north. This, combined with her lack of antlers, made him mistake her for a pony.

“Yeah...” he replied. “I think so, anyway. My name's Faunus, by the way.”

“And my name's Flora,” the pink deer replied. “Pleased to meet you!” Faunus held out a hoof for Flora to shake, but she looked confused, so he put it back down. She turned around and skipped forwards with a spring in her step, as if beckoning Faunus to follow her. “Now, I'd like to introduce you to my...” She suddenly stopped. “...Herd?”

Faunus caught up to Flora, and could see a frown on her face. “You're not from here, are you?” he asked.

“Now that you mention it, I'm not...” Flora looked lost in thought for a moment. She suddenly turned around to face him. “The place where I came from had this huge river, not like a stream, like a proper river. There was also a lot more grass, like a LOT more, and there was also this really weird lab...”

“Okay, I get the picture,” Faunus interrupted. “Anyway, that doesn't sound like anywhere I know.”

“So how did I get here...?” Flora looked around aimlessly in confusion.

“That is a good question,” Faunus replied. “But finding your herd is more important, right?” Flora nodded. Fernus looked up at the ledge. “I think we should ask around town.”

Flora suddenly looked worried, backing away in fear as her legs trembled. “A town? Oh, no, no, no I can’t go there! My father always told me that I should stay away from them because there are humans there, and they’ll-”

“Wait, you believe in humans?” asked Faunus. Is she crazy? He shook his head in disbelief.

“Believe? I’ve seen humans! Trust me - if they see you, they’ll capture you, and...” She suddenly calmed down. “Wait, are there no humans around here?”

“Um... yes,” Faunus replied, tilting his head in concern.

“Awesome!” exclaimed Flora, bouncing on the spot.

“The deer in the village are nice,” he continued. “I’m sure they’ll be willing to help.” But how am I going to get there...? He looked from left to right, trying to remember a shortcut to the village somedeer told him a long time ago. Oh, I remember now!

He turned and pointed in the opposite direction of the stream, towards the thickest part of the forest. “There’s a shortcut this way. Follow me!”

The oak trees’ criss-crossing branches blocked out most of the sunlight, and the ground was covered in ferns. Usually, this place was so silent that Faunus would be startled by the sound of a twig crunching under his own hoof, but today it felt alive. Flora gasped in awe as she looked around. Giant fireflies cast a soft, bright, golden glow, allowing him to see creatures such as a bright green gecko clinging into a branch, a blue, round mouse looking up at it, and... a shadowed, bipedal figure quickly raking its claws against bark?

Hastily, Faunus used his magic to yank the figure away from the tree, before it fizzled out and he unceremoniously dropped it.

“Hey! What was that for?” the biped shouted, rubbing his head as he stood back up; Faunus figured that he was male from the voice. Now that Faunus had a closer look, he could see that the biped had huge, cat-like eyes, a red feather next to one of its ears, and sharp, white, triangular claws. He was slightly shorter than Faunus.

Faunus sternly stepped forwards. “You were destroying that tree!” he shouted, in a similar tone to a parent scolding their child.

“Destroying?” the biped exclaimed, looking both startled and nervous. “Why would I want to destroy a tree? I was just marking our territory, that’s all!”

Flora, meanwhile, had a quite... different reaction. She curiously looked at the biped from several angles. “What are you, anyway? You kind of look like a Pawniard, except not really. I’ve only seen one once, though, so my memory’s not the best. I was AWESOME, though!”

“That’s ENOUGH!” snapped the biped impatiently, tapping his foot and covering his face with a hand. “I s’ppose I should explain.” He folded his arms. “I’m a Sneasel, and in my clan, they call me a scout. So, this morning, we woke up... here. What do you call this place?”

“The Deepest Part of the Woods, near the capital of Stagland,” replied Faunus.

“Real creative name.” Scout shook his head. “Anyway, shortly after we got here, the Head Honcho told my sister and I to survey this place, mark the trees, tell any potential rivals that we’ve claimed this place, y’know?” Faunus took a second look at the tree, and noticed that the scratch marks looked deliberate: two trios of diagonal lines that overlapped in the middle. “And then YOU showed up!”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry about that,” Faunus said, feeling mildly embarrassed. “I’ve never met a Sneasel before.”

“And neither have I!” added Flora enthusiastically.

“What are you two, anyway?” asked Scout. “Some kind of funky-looking Stantler?” Faunus didn’t have a clue what that meant.

“I’m a Deerling, you dork!” replied Flora hastily.

“Anyway, I think we’d better get going,” said Faunus.

As Flora and Faunus ventured further into the Deepest Part of the Woods, the giant fireflies became less and less frequent. He noticed Flora shudder in fear, and even he felt a bit uneasy. The trees were covered in webs that seemed to have been spun by giant spiders, and he swore that those white mushrooms with glowing, pink caps had eyes.

He looked up to a branch, and briefly noticed a pair of eyes similar to the Sneasel’s, reflecting what little light there was as if they had absorbed all of the sunlight. He could barely make out a shadow leaping from tree to tree... it seemed to be following them.

“Get out,” a deep voice suddenly said. “Now.”

“W-w-why should we?” trembled Flora, hiding behind Faunus.

“You won’t? Fine.” Several splinter-sharp shards of ice rained down diagonally from the branches. Flora barely avoided all of them, but one of them grazed Faunus shoulder. Both of them gasped in shock.

“Show yourself,” said Faunus through gritted teeth.

“If you insist...” A dark figure leaped out of the shadows and onto the ground in front of them. Faunus could barely make out that he looked like a Sneasel, but with an entire mane of feathers.

“What do you want?” shouted Faunus.

“It’s simple, really.” The larger-Sneasel stepped closer to Faunus. “I thought even a couple of kids like you would know better than to intrude upon a Weavile’s territory. I guess my scouts didn’t do a good enough job.”

Faunus tried to keep his cool. “Um... this isn’t your territory, you know. If what another Sneasel - was he yours? - said was correct, you only arrived here this morning.”

“Yes, but it’s ours now.” The Weavile continued stepping closer to Faunus, holding his claws out, ready to strike. Even he was trembling now; he stepped backwards, inch by inch, until he was right next to Flora...

“Wait!” exclaimed Flora. “Take THIS!” Quickly, she dashed forwards and kicked the Weavile in the face with her hind legs, sending him flying a couple of feet. Flora stepped forwards, her legs still shaking slightly, but she quickly held her head up high. “P-please, don’t hurt Faunus!” She swallowed her nervousness. “What has HE ever done to YOU? When we met that Sneasel scout earlier, none of us had ever seen one before, so Faunus thought he was attacking a tree for no reason. Instead of jumping to conclusions and attacking, the scout was quick to explain what he was doing, and you know what? We UNDERSTOOD that! None of us know what’s going on right now, so I can understand why you’d be so protective. But that’s no excuse to attack us!”

The Weavile stood back up. Before he could object, Faunus spoke up and stepped forwards. “W-we weren’t planning on staying here, anyway. I was just trying to get home, and this was the quickest way.”

The Weavile folded his arms. “Was that all?”

Faunus nodded, before both he and Flora dashed away without another word.

About half an hour later, they arrived in the capital. Even though it was such an ordinary sight to Faunus, it took Flora’s breath away. The city was indistinguishable from the forest at a glance; the deer’s homes were within the oldest, sturdiest hardwood trees, many of which were covered in moss. In the centre was the largest tree, where the Empress lived. At the edge of the city, a waterwheel spun its way through a river, which branched off into multiple streams.

Faunus had expected an entire crowd to be gathered around the palace, or for the deer to all be shut inside in panic, but... no. The deer were happily milling about outside just like any other clear afternoon, the only difference being that they were curious of the new arrivals.

“Hello! Have any of you seen my herd?” Flora asked several deer, such as a stag who was looking up at a grey bird with an orange head who was perched in a high branch, the doe who owned the waterwheel, who was watching a group of round, blue... things with spirals on their fronts happily splash in the river, and a deer with weird black orbs embedded in his horns. The answer was the same every time: “I haven’t, sorry.”

After a few hours of no success, Faunus admitted defeat. “I think we should go home and call it a day. My parents are probably starting to get worried now.”

“Aww, don’t be sad. There’s always tomorrow!” exclaimed Flora.

Just then, Faunus noticed something unusual standing outside of the palace; a creature who vaguely resembled a blue and black diamond dog. Most concerning to Faunus were the spikes on his chest and wrists; did they hurt? He carefully pulled some leaves off a nearby branch and then crouched down to wrap them around the paws of what looked like a younger, less spiky member of his species. The younger one didn't seem to be bleeding, so what was that for? Whatever the case, she smiled before happily walking away, her steps unstable as if she was walking on a tightrope.

"Hello!" asked the older one, waving. Upon closer inspection, Faunus noticed that his fur was grizzled. "You look like you need help."

Faunus stepped forwards. "Um... Yes, actually. You see, to cut a long story short, Flora was separated from her herd this morning, and we've kinda had no luck finding them."

“I can help you with that,” replied the not-diamond-dog, smiling so that his eyes wrinkled. “My name is Gurrkin, by the way. Have you ever heard of aura?”

Faunus stopped to think. He’d heard the word “aura” a few times, to describe the general mood of a place, or the glow of magic, but neither of those seemed to be what Gurrkin was referring to.

Flora was a lot quicker to respond. “Nope!”

“Then allow me to explain,” said Gurrkin. “You see, aura is the life force of all living things. It is like a signature, unique to you, and those who are related have similar auras. Most living things must spend years training to be able to sense auras, but Lucario such as myself have the innate ability to. I can scan your aura, Flora, and sense if there are any similar auras nearby.”

“Okay, but how are you supposed to scan my- oh,” said Flora. She interrupted herself when Gurrkin closed his eyes, and a blue glow surrounded his paws. He spread his arms out wide, before clasping them together again. Faunus vaguely sensed some sort of force that seemed to ripple throughout throughout the entire city.

Gurrkin opened his eyes again. “I couldn’t sense any auras similar to yours in the vicinity, I’m afraid.”

Flora’s legs started shaking. “Oh... well that means... they could be anywhere...” she keeled over onto her knees, and looked as if she was about to cry.

“Don’t worry,” said Faunus quickly. “I’m sure my parents will let you stay with us for the night. They’re nice.”

Flora sighed. “I guess so...”