The Night the Forest Went Silent
Luna's moon hung high in the sky as Cloaked Blade and Veiled Tracker finished their patrol of the outskirts of Hollow Shades. As most nights had been of late, the Umbral Forest was eerily quiet. Not a single wolf had bothered to howl as they flew quietly between the trees, probing even further into the darkened forest that would normally be required for their patrol.
"You're certain that there's nothing out here, Veil?" Cloaked's one good amber eye frantically scanned his field of vision as he landed beside his slate-gray partner, his spear pulled just a bit closer to his body than it had been in flight.
"It's not just the wolves, I'm afraid. I didn't notice any fresh tracks in our circuit, from predator or prey. It's like everything but us decided to just up and leave the area." Veil let out a sigh. "I seriously doubt the forest has decided to starve us after we've honored her harmony for so many generations."
"I doubt harmony has much to do with this..." Cloaked Blade mumbled before taking flight once more. "Let's just get back behind the town walls. This silence is really starting to unnerve me."
Veiled Tracker laughed softly as she took flight as well. "Oh my, the great Night Guard is actually troubled by a little silence? Whatever is the world coming to?"
The two bat ponies turned back towards the town, headed directly for the safety of the town's soft candlelight and gentle background noise. Each flap of their wings brought them closer to their goal, up until a loud scream shattered the unnatural silence behind them. It sounded unnervingly like a distressed mare, spurring the guard into action as his former nerves slipped away in favor of his training.
"Over there!"
Cloaked looked back to Veil, before following the direction her outstretched hoof was directing his eyes. Following the path a short ways, he found the source of the cry. Hurrying over, he quickly landed beside the frightened bat pony with a soft pop as his hoof burst one of the many mangoes that were scattered around her. "Drupe? Is that you? What happened?!" Cloaked gently prodded the mare before him. Her normal ashen coat someone seemed even more pale as she simply stared, wide-eyed, deeper into the forest. Whether he poked her or waved his forehoof in front of her face, nothing happened. The fear that had grabbed her was simply too absolute.
"Come on, Cloaked. We need to get her back to town. Anything that could scare anypony this much is not to be trifled with by just the two of us."
He nodded, doing his best to gently lift Drupe to her feet so that the two of them could guide her back to town...
Cloaked Blade's ears pinned back against his skull as he cleared the town gate. Where the forest surrounding the town had been unusually quiet, the town itself was in a veritable uproar. Ponies of every age were out on the streets in a mild panic. Even the few diurnal denizens of the town were awake and heading for the town square. A few of the passing citizens happened to notice the state that Drupe was in, giving her their condolences and asking if she has seen it. Cloaked just scoffed, having no idea what they were talking about. Drupe herself hadn't said a single word since Veil and himself had found her.
As they continued towards the town square, following the throngs of ponies with the same basic idea, a few shouts started to become a bit more clear.
"Mobilize the town guard, mayor! This thing is a blight on our land!"
"We don't even know what it is! It might be sentient, shouldn't we try to talk to it first?!"
Veil looked over towards Cloaked with a sigh. "Trust Stardancer to be in the middle of anything involving a possible new monster."
"Don't look at me. She's your filly, Veil."
"Whatever it is already attacked Soft Medley's coop! Even the local pack isn't brazen enough to come that close to the town walls for a meal."
"Send a scroll, mayor! Night Court should have ended a while ago, surely Her Highness could make a quick flight out her to deal with this!"
"We are not wasting Princess Luna's time on something we can handle ourselves, Twinkle! Just give the town guard the authority to move off the walls!"
"You'd leave us defenseless if that thing decided to come back while you were hunting it?!"
"You're a bat pony, are you not? ACT LIKE ONE!"
Cloaked let out a small laugh, shaking his head slightly, as his small group finally entered the town square proper. "It seems Armored Hide is back to wanting to return to the Nights of War..."
"We're not your town militia anymore, Hide! That practice was abolished generations ago!"
"No wonder you all have gone soft."
"ENOUGH!" Mayor Moonbeam shouted into the crowd. His horn glowed as he made sure to amplify his voice with a spell. "I tire of this forum. We are here for answers, not for slinging insults at each other. Now, did anypony actually see anything? Or are we just going on hearsay that something damaged Soft Medley's coop in an attempt to get at the chickens inside?"
A tan bat pony stallion stepped forward, bowing his head slightly. "Apologies, Mayor. I rushed outside as soon as I heard something clawing at the wood of the coop. But, as soon as my back door opened, whatever it was made off for the woods. I only caught the slightest of glimpses of something that seemed vaguely equine in build. It's flesh glinted in the light of my torch, almost like dragon flesh. But, beyond that, there is nothing I could really tell you."
"Teeth..."
Cloaked and Veil looked towards Drupe in shock as the first word to escape her lips sent shivers down her spine.
"T-Teeth like n-needles... S-So many teeth..."
A few of the nearby ponies looked towards her as well.
"So, you did see it then, Drupe?"
She just nodded, before breaking down into tears. Veil pulled her close, wrapping a wing around her barrel, as Cloaked nodded. "I'll pass that along for you." With a soft smile to his partner, Cloaked stepped further into the crowd. "Mister Mayor, I have more to report in addition to Soft Medley's description!"
The crowd parted a bit for him as Moonbeam looked his way. "Ah, if it isn't our local hero. Very well, Cloaked, what do you have to say?"
The corners of Cloaked's lips twitched slightly at the title. "My scouting partner and I were returning from out evening patrol of the forest when we heard a scream. We quickly went to investigate when we discovered Fallen Drupe seated in sheer terror. We brought her back to town, and upon hearing Soft Medley's description of what the creature looked like, she said the first words she has since we found her. Whatever this creature is, it's mouth is apparently filled with several needle-like teeth... I would suspect more than one would expect to find in any creatures mouth, given her extremely averse reaction to this fact."
The sudden gasp from the elderly earth pony mare standing by the mayor caught everypony's attention. "It... It can't be..."
Moonbeam looked to the town archivist. "Anything you wish to add to the discussion, Lost Opus?"
She nodded. "An equine with flesh like that of a dragon and a mouth of teeth like needles... Or, more aptly, a beak... I think this creature might be a snallygaster."
Several cries of panic and shock rang out from the crowd as it quickly descended back into chaos.
"But, that's just a creature of legend?!"
"All the more reason to keep the town guard close!"
"No, we must find this thing! We are not a village of weak Sunwarmers!" More than a few of the diurnal ponies in the crowd grumbled at Armored Hide's slur. "We are bat ponies! We will defend our own."
"Fort Umbra is only half a night's flight away! Send for assistance from the garrison! Killing monsters is what the Night Guard is meant for!"
"You'd have us wait out the night, cowering behind the town walls?!"
"What about those that live outside the walls!?"
Cloaked just shook his head in annoyance, before turning back to return to Veil. This forum was going to go no where, he just knew it. The town guard wouldn't be allowed off the walls or past their usual patrols of the outlying farms and overflow houses. Whether by miracle or just dumb luck, however, his eyes caught sight of a small blur at the edge of his vision... steel grey fur running for the town gates.
"That filly is going to be the death of me..."
"A-Are you really sure we should be d-doing this, Stardancer?" asked a shaking earth pony colt. "Y-You heard G-Grandmare Opus, r-right? It... It might be a snallygaster out here!"
Rather than look frighten, the golden eyes of the steel grey bat pony filly seemed to shine like the very stars she was named after. "I know! Isn't that great? We can be the first ponies to have ever talked to a snallygaster in generations!"
"B-But, Grandmare Opus t-told me snallygasters e-eat foals..."
"That's just an old mare's tale to keep us out of the forest at night and you know it, Spine Bender," laughed the light grey bat pony filly at Stardancer's side. "All you have to do is live up to your name when we find this... snallygaster and we'll be all good."
"He will do no such thing, Moondust!" snapped Stardancer. "We want a peaceful introduction with this new creature, not the very same 'slay it first, ask questions later' result your father seems to be pushing for."
The other filly's head hung in sorrow for a moment as she stood in place. Before long, though, she regained her previous energy and started forward once more... only to stop again and scream. Spine Bender quickly ran to cower behind the two fillies as Stardancer doubled back. "What is it? Did you see the snallyga- AH!"
Stardancer quickly noticed what scared her friend... staring out at them from the underbrush was a single all-white eye surrounded by almost black fur with extensive burn scars. For the first time since setting out on their little hunt, Stardancer actually looked scared as she started to shake. "C-Cloaked?"
Moondust seemed to recover slightly as the form of a familiar bat pony stallion exited the bushes with a sigh and a scowl. "U-Uncle Blade?"
"Y-You're not going to tell M-Mom about this, are you?" Stardancer continued to shake slightly.
"Tell me what, my little star?"
Spine Breaker yelped at the sudden voice coming from behind him. But, seeing as how trying to get on the other side of his two friends would put him between them and a rather unhappy looking Cloaked Blade, he just pressed himself as flat against the ground as he could with his forehooves covering his eyes. Stardancer, meanwhile, slowly turned her head back to her mom. "T-That my friends and I left the s-safety of the t-town walls?"
Veiled Tracker grinned down at her daughter. "And?"
Stardancer swallowed. "A-And we were hunting down a possible dangerous m-monster without adult s-supervision?"
"I'm sure we don't have to tell you how absolutely foalish that is, now do we, little Star?"
The filly bristled slightly. "No, you don't, Cloaked."
Before anyone could speak another word, however, a quiet whistle rang through the forest. It was almost like that of one of the locomotives that ran between Canterlot and Manehatten, but no tracks had been built this deep into the Umbral Forest. The closet any train ever came to Hollow Shades was the Military Special that ended at Fort Umbra. When the whistle sounded again, it put the collected group on edge.
"You three stay with Cloaked," Veil ordered. "I'm going to go check this out."
"But Mom!"
"You're in enough trouble as it is, Star. Don't add to it by disobeying a direct command!" her mother growled as she took flight in the direction they had heard the sound. Stardancer was left looking at the space her mother had just vacated, the corners of her eyes starting to tear up ever so slightly.
"Alright, come here you three. Let's wait and see what Veil finds." He motions the foals closer, as his voice drops to barely a whisper. "I hope it's nothing..."
Veiled Tracker flew silently through the air, heading slowly towards the rough location of where she'd last heard that whistling noise. Part of her regretted separating from Cloaked, but someone needed to keep those foals from following after her. And there was something about that noise that troubled her... Not that she had any real reason to even think it had been intelligent, but she'd tracked down enough creatures and lost foals in Her Highness's service that she liked to believe she'd be able to tell the difference between a mere animal and something with even a semblance of intellect.
Flying up to a small clearing, Veil caught a glimpse of something in the grass reflecting the scant amounts of moonlight breaking through the thick canopy above them. Landing on one of the last branches before the open air of the clearing, she stayed quiet and watched as another soft whistle filled the air. This time, though, Veil was able to tell it was originating from the creature in the clearing before her.
In the moonlight, she could tell the creature likely wasn't too much larger than her own filly. While still appearing equine in form, it had deep blue scales along its back and sides. Veil couldn't be sure from where she was looking, but there seemed to be a bit of white or light grey fur on it's belly. It had leathery wings like like any bat pony, though they seemed even larger than they should be for her size. Instead of a muzzle, the creature seemed to have a beak that looked like it was made out of pure silver. And finally, in place of the usual equine tail, it seemed to have two grasping tentacles like one would find on a kraken.
'It's scared...' Veil thought to herself as she looked at the creature below her. That was what was had been troubling her about the call. It was reminding her of the wail of a filly, calling for her mother. With a slight shift on her branch, Veil risked calling out to the monster before her. "Hello?"
The creature before her perked up, neck pivoting around in search of where that noise had just come from. Surprisingly for a creature of flight, though, it only scanned along the ground. Never once did it bother to look up into the branches as it croaked out a reply. "H-Hallo? V-vo da jahin?"
Veil's eyes widened a bit at that. It certainly wasn't Ponish it was speaking. If anything, it sounded like slightly botched Old Nachtsprechen. But, it still spoke. Meaning whatever else this creature was, it was certainly intelligent.
"I'm coming out. I'm not going to hurt you. Okay?"
The creature seemed lost for a moment, continuing to search the treeline as it's eyebrows furrowed a bit in thought. It got up onto its hooves for a moment, before rearing up onto its hind legs and spreading out it's wings to appear as large as possible. "O-Otay..."
Veil let the small chuckle escape her lips at the creature's display. She'd seen Stardancer make that exact pose many times, so it was hard not to imagine her daughter just then. And the last thing she wanted some unknown, sentient monster thinking was that their intimidation display was being mocked. Once she calmed down, she flew down the the forest floor and stepped into the clearing. "Hello dearie. Were you the one that broke into the chicken coop this evening?"
The creature's eyes went wide as it dropped back to all fours and backed away slightly. It kept its wings out, ready to fly away at a moment's notice as it nodded slowly.
"And scared that poor pony on the road?"
The creature gasped at that, its eyes flicking back and forth as it attempted to form a sentence. "G-Geist ni fear! Geist essin... N-No... Geist... umm..." The creature lifted its forehooves for a moment, using them to sign some sort of spherical object, before pointing to its beak. "Essin?"
"You were hungry?" Veil offered, tilting her head to the slide in curiosity.
"J-Ja! Hungra! Fami apast jahin. Schveb Geflue ni ein! Fami hungra!" The poor creature bounced around, speaking quickly as its forehooves pointed every which way, before it collapses onto the ground and starts to cry once more. "Fami schuin..."
Veil blinked in confusion, having absolutely no idea what the poor creature had just said. But, it was clearly distraught, so she tried a different train of conversation. "What's your name?"
The creature gave out a small sniffle, before looking back up. "Name?"
Veil nodded, before pointing to herself. "My name is Veiled Tracker. What's yours?"
It looked at her for a moment, before pointing at her with a smile. "Veiled Trater?" Then, seeing Veil nod, it pointed to itself and said "Schneller Geist."
Veil nodded. 'So, Geist is it's name. I guess that makes sense with what it was saying earlier. They must not use pronouns...' "I'm guessing you can eat mangoes then, Geist?"
"Mangoes?" The creature tilts its head for a moment, before repeating the motion of making a sphere in its hooves and looking back to Veil.
She nods. "Yes, the fruits you say Drupe carrying on the road earlier. We've got more than enough to feed you for a bit, if you're hungry."
The creature's eyes went wide, as a massive grin split its beak to show several rows of needle-like teeth. "Fami hungra! Fami Mangoes essin!" With a loud, happy whistle, the creature jumped into the air, quickly flying towards the Foal Mountains.
Veil just blinked in confusion, wondering what had just happened...
The following night continued just as eerily quiet. However, unlike the previous night, there had been no screams or public outcries. Just a collection of unnerved ponies staying close to home or, at the very least, remaining inside the town walls as much as they could. All except for the more adventurous ponies like Veiled Tracker and Cloaked Blade. Once again, they were out to do a nightly sweep of the forest. Though, after everything that Veil had seen last night, they didn't go quite as far out into the forest tonight. The mystery had been solved, even if Mayor Moonbeam and Armored Hide hadn't been very happy that the creature had been allowed to escape. More than a few snide comments about "the hero's failure" were said behind Cloaked's back as he left town hall.
As the two continued their usual circuit, a soft whistle caught their attention. It wasn't quite like the one they'd heard the night before, this one being a bit deeper and more controlled. Turning their flight towards where they believed the sound to be coming from, they soon noticed two equine figures standing close by. One was nearly the size of Princess Luna, standing on slightly shorter than her, while the other was barely larger than Stardancer. The only troubling thing was that it was almost impossible to actually see either of them. It wasn't that it was too dark for the bat ponies to see. It was more that their eyes seemed to constantly slip out of focus when they stared in the general direction of those two creatures. They could only make out hints, barely remembering a fraction of what they saw... Recalling a silver beak here or the glint of a dragon scale there. That is, at least, until the smaller figure noticed Veil flying closer.
"Veiled Trater!" The instant the creature called out, it became perfectly visible to both the bat ponies, like every detail came into focus at once.
"Geist! Phantom Geist Aufkleid sprettin ni fallin!" shouted the larger creature in a deep baritone, before it sighed and came into focus as well Its scales were a more blue-green tinge while it's beak had a more golden hue. Like the smaller creature, this massive creature's wings looked much larger than necessary for its size, easily rivaling the wingspan of an elder dragon. "I am sorry for any trouble my daughter has caused your village. Her mother and I did not expect her to range this far from the mountains during her First Hunt." Her turned his gaze towards Geist for a moment, as she seemed to shrink away slightly. "I assure you, she will not bother your home again. Our place is outside the memory of you ponies, and that is where we shall remain."
"That's a shame..." Veil said with a smile. "I have no doubt my daughter and her friends would love to get to know Geist."
Geist looked up to her father, a hint of hope in her eyes. "We shall see. Something tells me Geist will try to make her way back to town on her own now that she knows there are ponies that would rather get to know her than kill her..." Phantom looked down at his young daughter, a sigh escaping his beak. "This hatchling will be the death of me..."
Author's Note
Wanna start by saying don't bother trying to translate Schneller Geist's words. They're meant to be roughly Germanic sounding, but the speech pattern, phonology, and words were altered. Edel Phantom at least, for his one line in his native tongue, would have been grammatically correct. No, I have no intention of trying to create a full language off of it. Especially since she's really speaking an amalgamation of her native tongue and Ponish in an attempt to get her meaning across. Even if that would be fun... I will say that "Schveb Geflue" are "Orphan Birds", and their drowned eggs are the primary food source of Snallygasters.
Fun little story prompt challenge, though. It was nice to break my head out of my main Reddoverse storyline for a story with a deadline, just to keep my writing going. Seeing as how I wrote this whole story in about thirty hours, I'm rather pleased with it. I hope you all enjoy. And for my fellow readers, I've given it a bit of thought and decided that this story is indeed set in the confines of my Reddoverse, set roughly two years after the events of Per Speculum in Aenigmate.
I also want to take a moment to give a massive shout-out and Thank you to Grim_grin for the awesome prize art of Schneller Geist herself. May y'all enjoy it as much as I.
