The only truly safe place to be
Sis and I are careful. We always have been. But that’s no surprise to any being who lives in the Everfree forest . In our family, being careful is a law, one that Sis seems to find some dark joy in repeating in the grimmest tones: “Little brother, there are those who are careful, and those who are dead.” She never fails to say it to me just before we head into the scarier parts of the woods. Despite the annoyance factor, I don’t resent her for doing so.
Another law learned growing up in the forest is to beware of shadows. I tried to keep my training in mind as Sis and I worked a stand of trees, inching closer to check out the noise we’d heard. We might not be big enough to go out foraging in the forest yet, but we were the only ones here to protect our home, a hidden clearing surrounded by a stand of briars and thorn bushes. It wasn’t the cave I grew up in, and from which we were chased out by an ursa major, but it was the home we had, and we weren’t going to be chased out again into the danger of the Everfree! Besides, Sis and I couldn’t let anything bad happen to poor old Gramps. Mom said that in the fight the ursa had broken something inside Gramps that wouldn’t heal. He could barely move, let alone fight. And he was so thin, now. Sometimes Mom had to beg and cry before he would eat. Now, all he could do when we’d heard the noises outside our home was to whisper a few words of advice before Sis and I left the safety of the thorn bushes.
Sis watched as I pushed quietly into the underbrush, ready to call me back if I got too close to something dangerous, or leap to my defense if I was attacked. Both outcomes were likely enough, even so close to home. But, given that all the adults but Gramps were away, we had no choice. You don’t leave a noise uninvestigated so close to where the family sleeps. Yeah, that was another law, too!
Yet another rule is that family is security. Many creatures could end my life, or my elder sister’s, as surely as if we were swallowed whole by a hydra, unless we acted together. Unless we two made those who would think one of us prey, stop and worry at the sight of two. After all, if there were two of us, then there could be more. In fact, there would likely be more. Even the big monsters, the manticores, the bugbears, the ursas, yes, even them, they feared us when we were many. Family made us strong, because even if we were smaller and weaker than they were, numbers made a difference. When all of us worked together, we were big. We were scary.
Well, except to the hydras, that is, because even one of those was already many! Oh, and ‘cause they’re taller than trees!
But right now, I was the youngest and the smallest. And I was scared, but better scared and alive than not scared and dead. That list of rules is pretty long. It has to be.
I stopped before I crept so far into the thicket that Sis couldn’t see me. I listened as she crawled in behind me and then passed me without a sound. Now it was her turn to take point, and mine to watch. I very slowly raised my head. Any sudden move could attract the eyes of whatever creature had made the noise.
Now I was even more scared than when I was at point, because to watch without moving is one of the hardest things to learn.
“You moved!”
“No I didn’t”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“Mom and Dad will never let you leave the cave if you don’t learn to hold still while watching. You’ll attract a bugbear. You’ll lead it right to us and then —“ Sis scissored her forelegs in imitation of a monstrous maw biting down, “— Crunch! We're all dead!”
I sighed and felt my ears droop. She was right. Even if bugbears were more likely to sting you to death than chomp you in half. Sis was always right. But then she was older than me by a year, and she had heard more of the stories told by the adults. These stories told us what to do and what not to do, about how to survive in the forest, and about how to protect our family. Of all the ways in which my sister made me feel small, and there were many, the one that rankled most was that one. That I would let the family down, and it would be the end of us. Nothing left behind other than the signs of our struggles: disturbed underbrush, snapped twigs, torn leaves, and claw marks in the forest loam that would disappear with the next rain.
I couldn’t prevent my tears any more than I could prevent glancing towards the sound my cousin had made when she, her dad and our parents, all the adults in our small family, had returned from their expedition into the forest for food. I was practicing being on lookout. I shouldn’t have moved a muscle. But I had, eager to see if they had been successful, and to share in what they had brought back.
Sis was just old enough now to be left in charge of me when the adults went out. She also had the responsibility to teach me, the youngest, what I needed to learn to survive in the forest. How to keep myself alive, and help keep my family safe. If I failed, then she had failed. To be perfectly honest, she would have been fully justified to resent my failure and punish me for it. But this time she didn’t.
I looked down at the evidence of my shame, small dark spots in the dusty ground of the clearing, the heat of shame rising from my heart into my face. Instead of the sting of a whack though, I felt the softness of a nuzzle.
“You’ll do better next time, squirt.” Sis pulled away and regarded me with a crooked smirk on her muzzle. “Besides, you could hardly do worse!” She turned away and left me to go greet the returning elders, and to get her share of the spoils of course. I could see how happy she was, alternately pressing close and then jumping for joy in celebration of the return of our whole family safely home.
I would practice again tomorrow. And I would get it right. But for now, I wiped my eyes. It wasn’t the time for tears. It was time for the joy of homecoming. I plunged into the warm press of my family’s embrace, nuzzled Mom and Dad, shared in the food, and enjoyed the feeling of being alive and not hungry anymore.
Sis froze in the thicket ahead of me. She’d seen something. Or she suspected something had seen her. I saw her raise her muzzle into the air, nose twitching, even as the rest of her was still as rock. A bush just ahead of her rustled ever so slightly. I almost called out, but just as I opened my mouth, Sis dropped prone on the ground, a signal we were all taught to obey instantly and without question. I did the same.
The bush twitched again, and saw my cousin’s head slowly emerge very close to the ground. I swallowed a lump in my throat. She would only do that if she was trying to escape from something hunting her. One look into her frightened eyes was enough to convince me this was bad. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, as every part of me wanted to jump and run.
Sis looked back at me. I’m sure she was scared, too. But she still thought to look after me. When she saw me flat on the ground she nodded once and turned back to face our cousin. She pointed back at the entrance into the thorn hedge and silently crept forward, my sister turning and following her just as quietly. When my cousin passed me she favored me with a brief smile of approval. I hadn’t screwed up! I felt the lump in my belly ease, if only a little bit.
Sis crawled by, her stomach barely off the ground. With her muzzle she gestured for me to follow. As silent as the shadows we feared, I crept in behind her.
When I emerged fully inside the clearing, we three turned back towards the entrance, ready to defend our home. Three of us together, even with Sis and me not fully grown, were still a force that would make most predators think twice. As I took my place next to Sis, our cousin whispered in our ears.
“There’s something going on in the forest. We heard scary noises all over. There must be a whole pack of critters. Your mom and dad went to investigate. My dad and I headed back here to see if you two and Gramps were safe.”
I could see the relief in her eyes that Sis and I were unharmed, but the set of her muzzle betrayed the worry she must have been feeling for her dad. For her to arrive separately from my uncle was expected. When at risk of being hunted by some monster, a party away from home always split up and returned using different routes. The idea was to avoid laying a trail that led straight home. Of course, that just meant that those who arrived first could do nothing but worry as the rest of the party got back to safety one at a time. But those were the rules.
My cousin sighed, and sat down on her haunches. Her eyes and ears never stopped scanning the forest. Sis followed her lead as I turned my gaze back to check on Gramps. He lay exactly where Sis and I had left him after we’d heard the sound. He looked at me, and shook his grizzled head. I got the hint and turned back to join my sister and cousin, scanning the woods that hid both our fears and our parents.
I remember when our cousin’s mom was ‘taken’. She was barely older then than I am now. A dragon had come upon her mom and dad three hours’ travel from the cave. When the dragon chased after them they followed the rules and split up, heading in opposite directions. My uncle got back to the cave first. He and cuz waited at the cave’s mouth for her mother’s return.
The hours drew long. Even so young as I was, I could see the look on her face change as she waited, and the way my uncle’s shoulders slowly sank lower and lower with the sun. Sunset brought a howl of grief from my uncle, a sound that I will never forget.
At sunrise, the adults left the cave to search for my aunt. Gramps followed uncle into the Everfree, and Mom and Dad left together minutes later. Cuz was left in charge.
That very morning she started drilling Sis and me in how to follow the rules. She was demanding and sharp-tongued, and she hit us when we screwed up. Sis, who is almost as old as she is, didn’t complain. She even told me to shut my face when I complained to her about our cousin’s behaviour. At the time I was confused about why Sis would get mad at me and side with her, but I understood when I was older.
Both pairs of adults came back near sunset, minutes apart. There was no joyous reception. There was no sharing. They just curled up and went to sleep. Cuz snuggled up to her dad. I fell asleep to the sounds of their quiet sobs.
They went out again the day after, and the day after that. None of the adults ever talked about it with us kids. Cuz was very grim afterwards. From that day forward she took over the training us younger ones, and she was both demanding and quick to punish. Sis and I never spoke a word of complaint. Every evening we’d see our cousin sit waiting at the mouth of the cave until sundown. It was a long time before I saw her smile again.
Uncle returned less than an hour after his daughter. She (yes, she!) broke the rules and rushed out to hug and nuzzle him when he hadn’t even fully entered the clearing we called our home.
After a few tears and a lot of whispered words, he let go of my cousin and went to confer with Gramps. Uncle gestured, first pointing in the direction of the entrance to our home, and then sweeping his foreleg in an arc to point almost all the way to the opposite side of the clearing. As old as Gramps is, I could see how unhappy he became at my uncle’s quiet words.
I looked back towards the entrance and crossed gazes with Sis. She tried to smile but I could tell it was fake. Cuz saw the exchange, and scootched up close to Sis, who just resumed staring out into the forest.
His deliberations with Gramps completed, Uncle came over to talk to me.
He stood almost twice my height, and bent down so that his muzzle was practically in my ear.
“Hey, Sprig!” he said, his voice barely audible.
“Sprig” was his nickname for me. I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but he was my favorite uncle. Okay, he was my only uncle, but I suspect that if I’d had a dozen uncles, he would still end up my favorite! He would give me special treats, and he would find time to play with me when every other member of the family Gramps-on-down were just too busy with their own business to be bothered. Sometimes he kind of looked super lonely, so I would go pester him until he smiled, or complained out loud what a bothersome little Sprig I was and then tickle me in punishment. I like to think he liked me as much as I liked him.
“Do you remember when the ursa came and we had to leave the cave?” he asked.
I had a nagging suspicion that something bad was coming. “You mean when I rode on your back while we got out of the cave in a hurry, or else end up as Ursa poop?” I whispered back.
He blinked at my response, and nodded. “Yes, that’s pretty much it.” He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Well, there’s a chance we might have to do the same thing again. Except that this time, Gramps is the one who needs a ride, so you’ll have to manage on your own four legs, if we need to bug out. You okay with that, Sprig?”
I gave him my most serious look. “Yessir!”
He pointed to the girls waiting at the entrance. “No matter what happens, you follow your sister or your cousin, whichever is closest to you. You got that?”
I nodded again.
“Good boy!” he smiled and patted me on the back.
I practically felt like shouting for joy, when a commotion at the entrance caused me to look in that direction, and my heart skipped a beat as I saw my parents slowly creep into view. To my perverse pride, Sis stood her ground and waited until they came fully into the clearing before throwing forelegs around them in a major three way hug. I leapt onto the pile, and had no room in my head for any thought other than Mom and Dad are home! Everything’s going to be alright now!
I was surprised when I felt Dad move out of the hug almost immediately. He usually liked a good hug, and with his broad shoulders was no slouch in sharing them! This time, though, he moved away briskly and went to Gramps and Uncle. He called the rest of us over, with Mom keeping an eye on the entrance.
“They’re pretty much all over the forest. We don’t know what type of critter it is as we haven’t seen or smelled them. Other than being incredibly noisy, they’ve been careful. The noise they make is coming from the ground and from the trees. This isn’t like the ursa that chased us out of our cave. So we’re going...” He tilted his head and listened intently.
We all did the same.
I heard banging sounds. Just at the edge of hearing at first, and then slowly coming closer. They were all around us. Dad looked at Gramps, who just shook his head. He didn’t know what made that harsh sound either. Sis grabbed me and pulled us both closer to Dad.
Dad pointed his muzzle high and sniffed the air. His eyes grew wide, and then he said the one word that inspires universal fear in all things living in the Everfree forest. “Fire!” he shouted, forgetting the rule to be quiet at home. I knew then and there that our home was now anything but safe.
We were all afraid, now. Mom did the unthinkable, and left guarding the entrance and came in close to press against Dad, Sis and me. Everyone in the family looked frantically all around the clearing. Their eyes reflected the deadly sparkle of flames showing through many places around the hedge, the same hedge that up until today had kept us safe. The flames lit up behind them strange shapes in the forest beyond. They were all around us. There was no avenue of escape.
I pushed up closer to my family, and shook in fear.
“The alpha pair just went into their lair,” said the pegasus guard. “According to the spotters they were the last ones left still out. We’ve closed the perimeter and the guards are ready with their flares.”
Applejack nodded. “Good. I wonder why these varmints left the deep forest and risked comin’ to live so close to ponies. Anyways, since the critters have moved in close to Ponyville they’ve become a danger to life and limb. We ain’t got no choice. Tell your guards to start the burn.”
Smoke rose all around her in the Everfree forest. The smoke caught in her throat.
Fluttershy would cry when she found out. This type of thing was always hardest on her.
“Timberwolves are a real menace,” she whispered to herself with a cough. “We ain’t got no choice,” she repeated, and wished it weren’t true. She thought of Spike, Granny, the foals and all the ponies the wolves had recently attacked. “We gotta protect our families.”
The element of Honesty wiped a tear from her eye, lit a flare, and tossed it into the briar hedge. She knew what coming next - a family would go up in smoke.
