Careless Happenings

As the king steps onto the balcony, he looks into the night, over his subjects, his kingdom, and his forest. On the outside, he usually has a content face with his territory, but inside he feels a great pride over his kingdom. In this breathtaking view of the Everfree Forest, all the different sounds of nature can be heard.

The chirping of crickets, the sway of the leaves in the trees, and the occasional hoots of an owl. This usually calmed the king, knowing that everything, all that is natural, is right. Although recently within the past few days, he looked serious, as if he were facing an enemy, because in the view, he hears more noise than usual.

While the howls of timberwolves comes and goes, recently they've occur more frequently than normal. Not only howls of the timberwolves, but also an unnatural scream that goes with it.

It frightens many of his subjects and the creatures of the forest, and they all worry that the timberwolves would come and attack. As if that was not enough, there's the rumored monster of the forest.

He's been informed by a little bird, reporting an unusual, tall, bulky, bipedal creature from unknown origins. It sounded like a minotaur, a creature that had been a conundrum in the past, but the information from the bird said otherwise. This creature didn't have huge horns, or any hooves, but had unusual legs, and dressed all over. The information also said that it rides on mechanical wheels that can go on any terrain, while also carrying a large bag on its back. This didn't sound like any minotaur he's heard of, as they usually stay home in their mazes.

He always knows what comes and goes in his forest, but there were no signs of anycreature going into his forest recently. This creature was the origin of the screams, and while it's strange screams frighten the timberwolves away from itself, it has the potential to threaten the way of life for everycritter. It could lead the timberwolves into the kingdom and other creatures territory, and hurt many, deer and critters alike.

Some critters and deer may have overheard the situation, and talked about it in their friend group, possibly spreading the rumor over the kingdom like a dangerous wildfire. Thankfully, he has managed to calm everydeer down in the kingdom of Thicket, but it won't release the fear it has caused.

He announced that a day ago he sent Blackthorn, his strongest deer of the guard, to find and negotiate with this rumored "monster of the forest". While he was awaiting his return, the king went back inside his chambers, and on a desk, writes a letter to the new princess of Equestria.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I first want to congratulate you on your ascension to Ruler of Equestria, and to apologize for not attending your coronation. I hope this won't make you think less of us, as you would know, not all rulers can make time for themselves.

But due to circumstances unknown, the forest has been becoming more dangerous, and I would like your help. There is a creature in my forest that has been inflicting fear into my subjects. I have sent Blackthorn, the strongest deer guard, to find and negotiate with them, and possibly be given a summons, to question its intentions.

If this creature decides to come before us, I need some advice on how I could befriend them, and if you could personally meet—

(Bang!)

"Your Highness!" a guard shouted, barging through the entrance.

The king jumped at that, and with a frown, turned to ask the guard to knock next time, but the guard spoke before he could open his mouth.

"Blackthorn has returned!" the guard said.

With eye's wide with surprise, he quickly regained his composure, focused on the breathless guard, and gave a command.

"Send him to the throne. I'll be there shortly."

Blackthorn, who was now before the king, bowed to him.

"Rise, Blackthorn. What happened to the creature? More importantly, what happened to you?" the king asked with mild concern.

"I'm sorry if I look a little dirty, but I had to run away." Blackthorn said. He normally has a clean coat, along with a polished wood keg on his chest, but now has bits of twigs and leaves in his antlers, and mud all over his hooves.

"Run away from what exactly?" the king asked.

"From the creature… no, monster of the forest."

The king was surprised at that, but asked him to elaborate, and with a nod, Blackthorn continued. But what he would receive from Blackthorn, wasn't what he had expected.

The first thing I did when I got out of Thicket, I asked Calvin the bird to show me where he'd last seen the creature, knowing I could track them down easily. Even easier with a dirt line besides the prints.

When I arrived at the last place Calvin saw the creature, I started looking around for tracks. As I was searching, I found a dirt spot that was softer than normal, like a garden bed, along with a lot of dead leaves and branches around the area. A little ways away, there was charcoal, like ones you see after lightning strikes a tree, but burns out before it could spread. It looked to be an abandoned campfire if the surrounding rocks had anything to go by.

After investigating the area, it was easy finding the weird hoofsteps. It was bigger than our hooves, but smaller than a manticore paw, and looked like a collection of smaller mishapened triangles and rectangles in the shape of a weird oval. Also, based on how deep the print went into the ground, it was pretty heavy too, as well as the line trail.

Finding the prints was easy, following them was easier with how close together they were, along with the line besides it, but getting to them, I underestimated how difficult tracking them would be. I trotted and trotted, but either they knew that I was trying to find them or that this creature could travel a long distance, it was nowhere to be found. Sometimes it was just a line, sometimes both, and rarely just the prints, as they were around the thick flora, seeming like they don't care about the surrounding terrain, going straight through it. If tracking them was not going to work, then maybe a different perspective would.

"Calvin, can you come down here!? Calvin!?" A minute later, he flew onto my antlers and gave me a questioning look from his upside down view. "I need you to go above the trees, and fly towards the direction of the prints. See if you can spot the creature." he gave me a salute and flew above the green trees.

I continued to search for them, but it's been a while since Calvin flew away, and hours since we started tracking. I was getting tired with all the trotting that I did, and I knew we couldn't find them that day, so I used my potion to make a simple vine shelter, and went to sleep.

A few hours later, Calvin came back tweeting in my ear to wake me from my short sleep. He does this every morning, and this nap wasn't anything different. "Ugh, 5 more minutes…" but I remembered I sent Calvin to look for the creature and woke up immediately, "Wait, did you find them?" but he just flew a short distance and flew in place waiting for me. I tried trotting closer, but he just flew away, and I realized from my tired mind he found them.

I ran deeper into the forest, ignoring any berry bush my way, not wanting to stop when I was so close. It was late in the afternoon when following Calvin, and I was fully awake after a few minutes. Soon enough, I saw where they were, and about 50 feet away, was the creature. They were traveling near the river, downstream, and away from Thicket, and was pushing the mechanical wheels beside them.

Now the report said it covers themselves in clothing, but not how much. It's basically covered from top to bottom with clothes, as if it was wearing full body armor.

I will admit, I hesitated a little bit, but just as I was starting to trot up to them, howls can be heard everywhere, even on the opposite side of the river. This ambush was planned, and I wanted to help, but…

"Come Out You Piles Of Shit!"

What it said silence everything for a few seconds before it started again, with some barks coming closer. All of this tells me I shouldn't interfere, so I decided to hide in the meantime.

I watched as the creature shook its head, as if annoyed by the timberwolves, and dropped its back saddlebag while setting the wheels aside a tree, then got its large cloak off, and hung it on the tree. They were thin, thinner than what Calvin had saw, and I could tell it was the thick cloak was mistaken for their size.

The creature took some stuff it had and placed it inside the bag, and took out what looked like an over bent shovel. It twisted something on the broken shovel, and before my eyes, it turned into a pickaxe shovel hybrid.

It also got a small black thing from their saddlebag, only realizing it was a container after it opened it and took something smaller from it. They stuck 2 smaller, what I would describe as beads, to the side of the head, and stayed on somehow. After that, they took a black crystal out, and seeing that it glowed purple for a moment, I knew it was dark magic.

They put both crystal and container in a small slit of their clothes leg, and walked to a nearby clearing, with the hybrid tool on them. They got that crystal out again, and a few seconds later, a faint harsh rhythm came from its head. They winced for a moment but after messing with the clothes leg where it stored stuff, they looked relieved.

They then walked in a clearing by the river, and stopped at the center of it, just standing there facing the trees. I laid as still as possible, not knowing how they would react to seeing me if they were hostile.

A minute later, a pack of timberwolves emerged from the trees and bushes, snapping at the one creature. One even came out beside me and looked back at me, only to continue towards the creature. 'Whatever did they do to make the timberwolves this mad?'

The creature then took a wide stance when they saw the pack, and held its forelegs out, with one up high, holding that hybrid tool in its paw. It was trying to scare the pack by making itself look big, and while it slowed the pack, they didn't stop for a second.

Only when the pack stopped about 10 feet from them did everything go silent, where all you could hear was a small breeze, and the river.

While I had seen and fought my fair share of duels in the barracks, nothing could compare with what I witnessed. In less than a second the lead timberwolf pounced on their right, but while the jump was fast, their swing was faster, like trying to follow a blur of an arrow. It swung with it's whole body, legs bent, body down and straight, powerful enough to beat that timberwolf in one hit. It scattered onto some of the other timberwolves, and the creature took that moment to take a lond stride forward to stomp on another timberwolf, defeating it, and causing another to back away from the blindness.

The timberwolves that weren't in the crossfire of the first ones branches, very few went after the creature a second later. The creature kicked a pouncing one far out of the way, but didn't see the other behind. They fell, and the others noticed, taking the opportunity to finish it off. I couldn't see what the timberwolf on top was doing, but as soon as the others were a couple seconds away from devouring them, they pushed aside the one on top, tripping another on one side, quickly defeating a timberwolf on the other side.

Before more could get on top, the creature rolled to the side and hopped out of the way. It was back on its hooves, but the timberwolves didn't stop, and clawed on the creature, trying to bring them down.

"Get Off!"

The creature lifted one of the timberwolves, and started swinging them onto the others, making quick work of them.

"Kill! Them! All!"

The creature then threw the timberwolf in the bushes near me, making it yelp and run away, and all others that had the time to reanimate soon started following.

Now with the fight over, they stood there breathing, as heavy as it was, and a minute later they grabbed the hybrid tool they dropped during the scuffle, and turned it back to the way it was. After that, they lifted their clothing, somewhat undamaged, and looked at the scratches. Oh, it was bad, and there was a bit of blood.

"Ouch… " they said.

Ouch? Ouch!? It was clawed by a pack of timberwolves, now bleeding, and all it had to say was, ouch?! This thing was a monster, capable of fighting off a pack, maybe even a manticore, possibly more.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I noticed it was wrapping itself with a bandage roll, but it looked… elastic? Aside from that they wore it's thick clothing and sat down against the tree, then took off the beads from its head seconds later.

I had enough information, and slowly but quietly, backed up to go home. In hindsight I should have looked where I was going.

SNAP!

I had stepped on a branch causing it to snap its head at me. I froze, looking at the monster, while it was looking back at my hiding spot. It got up a minute later and slowly walked where I was hiding. I could fight it, but I would need an army to have a chance of beating it.

Fortunately, fate was on my side, and timberwolf howls were heard by the thing, and it looked away for a moment. That's when I ran as fast, and far away from it as possible, traveling to Thicket.

When Blackthorn finished his report about the creature, a question came to the kings mind. "How do you feel about the situation between this, monster, and the forest?"

With a nod, Blackthorn responded. "The circumstances have not changed, and the monster is still a threat to everycritter, and now with the timberwolves added, I would say with predators as well."

The king lifted a hoof and said, "I understand. Before you go, how soon do you think we should handle this creature?"

"Preferably as soon as possible, and I think we should act, before any more problems arise." said Blackthorn.

The king thought on this. "Thank you for your report and opinion, I will see what we can do. You are dismissed." With a wave of a hoof, he watched as Blackthorn was leaving the room, but not before a guard near the door stopped him to ask a question.

"I get how you got the extra antlers, but what about the mud all over your hooves?"

A barely coherent mumble came out of Blackthorn. "I tripped into a mud puddle halfway coming here."

The guard sputtered once, holding in his laughter, and with that bit of embarrassment, Blackthorn left.

The king smiled, its good to have morale high at the worst of times. High spirits are essential for his subjects, and with running a kingdom… over 1000 years of experience speaks for itself.

With the throne room empty, he announced that he will be in his chambers to plan on what to do next, but first...

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I first want to congratulate you on your ascension to Ruler of Equestria, and to apologize for not attending your coronation. I hope this won't make you think less of us, as you would know, not all rulers can make time for themselves.

But due to circumstances unknown, the forest has been becoming more dangerous,.~~and I would like your help~~. There is a creature in my forest that has been inflicting fear into my subjects. I have sent Blackthorn, the strongest deer guard, to find and negotiate with them, and possibly be given a summons, to question its intentions.

~~If this creature decides to come before us, I need some advice on how I could befriend them, and if you could personally meet~~

But with the return of Blackthorn and his report on them, I need to warn you about the creature, and the situation that is going on here. This creature, while it looks scrawny, is fast and strong, and wears an abnormal amount of clothing that makes it look bigger than what it seems to be. It's also around the height of a minotaur, just without hooves on it, but has no similarities on other animals of what it could be.

It's as sentient as any creature, but the mention of its killing and violence makes it dangerous, and I urge you to inform anycreature going into the forest to stay out, as we take care of the problem.

I will send you a report if there are any more upcomings, regarding the Everfree.

~Sincerely, The Heart of the Forest

With the letter done he went to find somedeer that could send it with their bird. Soon enough he finds a familiar doe.

"Ah, Miss Holly, you always seem to show up at the right time. Do you mind having your bird send a message? More specifically to Canterlot Castle for Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes your Majesty, right away. My bird is the fastest of the forest, and she will get it by the morrow." Holly said.

"Good, thank you Holly. It gives me great comfort to have my subjects safe." The king said with a smile.

"The honors all mine, King Aspen."