Strange Hooves

There is a knock on the door. Tap. Tap. Tap. That is enough to rouse one from one’s dreams.

Who could that be? It’s the middle of the night… I hope everything's okay.

Slipping off the couch, a pink-maned yellow pegasus makes her way across the room to her front door of her house, pushing the door out gently into the cool night. She looks around, trying to identify the cause of the knock.

Nothing but the pegasus and the night.

Was I just imagining things? Fluttershy steps tentatively onto the porch, only to find that a curious piece of paper had been left on the porch. Looking down, markings could be made on the worn, faded slip of slightly yellowed paper. Gently bringing it inside and closing the door behind her, Fluttershy tries to read what was on the paper on her table, only it was still dark in here. Setting down the paper on her couch, Fluttershy turns to turn on the light.

That’s better. Now let’s see what this secret message is all abou—

That’s not writing. This is a hoofmark.

Fluttershy had not seen anything like this before. It did not look like a pony hoofmark. It did not look like anything she had ever seen. Was it from the “Eep” Everfree forest?

I wonder if Twilight would know what this is? She knows an awful lot from reading those books. Maybe she can help me. This can wait ‘til morning, though.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

A soft tapping at the door. Tap tap tap. There is a curious gaze from a violet-colored unicorn as she goes to open the door of her library home.  Who could be up so early?

“Oh, hello Fluttershy. What brings you here so early?”

Fluttershy had something in her mouth, so she only responded with an awkward smile. It suddenly lifted from her mouth with aid from her friend.

“Um, thanks, Twilight. Can I come in?”

“Of course.”

The door is shut behind them, the cool morning breeze passing by the house without interruption, flowing over and around every obstacle in its path.

The paper with the hoofmark is unfurled onto the table. It seems to be the hoofmark of a—Placing her front right hoof over her chin in deep thought as she tries to identify what kind of animal this could belong to.

“Fluttershy, where did you find this?”

“I uh found it outside on my doorstep.”

“Really? Did you see whatever put it there?”

“That’s just it. It knocked on my door, then it must’ve ran off. I couldn’t see it. Sorry, Twilight.”

“That’s alright. No need to apologize.  Let me get something.”

Several books slide off the shelves, float in the air while Twilight studies their covers, then they slide back in as easily as they slid out. One book is an exception, though. It flies towards the table, and it opens as it lands. The books stop sliding off the shelves as Twilight and Fluttershy study the book, looking for a match to this curious hoofprint.

The book closes and flies back to its place in the library, leaving both the ponies at the table in mixed feelings.

Why didn’t my book have this creature in it? Is the list incomplete? I thought this said all the observed animals in Equestria.

Oh, my. Is this a new animal? That’s just so wonderful and mysterious how it decided to reveal itself to me first. Can it talk? Can it fly? Run? Oh, the possibilities are endless.

Fluttershy had a smile of curiosity on her face, while Twilight looks at the table in a blank face of frustration.

“Oh dear, Twilight. Are you feeling okay?”

“This makes no sense. The book said A Guide to Animals in Equestria, but this is something that isn’t in there. I just must have an older version.”

“I wonder if it could be a new animal? You know, that can happen. We don’t know about everything in the Everfree forest.”

Twilight seemed to jump up at the potential of this encounter, and a cheerful curiosity seemed to replace what was frustration.

“You know what? You could be right! We should see if we can study it, or catch it, or—“

Twilight noticed how Fluttershy frowned at the word “catch”.

“Oh. We don’t have to catch it. We can just try to observe it.”

Fluttershy seemed to cheer up. Oh good. That was a near-disaster.

“Twilight, where should we begin looking for this—oh dear. What should we call it?”

The thought intrigued Twilight Sparkle, for the prospect of naming an entire species was one for the books.

“Let me think about that.”

I really hope that making contact with the things was a wise decision.

Okay. Calm down. Breathe.

…

That’s better.

Better get my story straight for when the language barrier is no longer there. It was but a few days ago that I started my trek from civilization—or the end thereof. *Sigh* I had brought everything I could ever have wanted. Food, water, and other critical supplies to acquire food and water in the wilderness. I had also brought some of the now useless junk with me, but I thought I could get power back to them somehow. Wonder if that’ll change now that I’m here. Wait, where is “here”? Alright, after my 4th night stuck in a tree, I felt… lost. Not just because I was wandering aimlessly through what would be my home and perhaps tomb. But the mountains and hills have changed. The valleys and rivers are inconsistent with the maps and books I brought to help me survive.

Then I saw them. In their **town with houses and beds. I don’t know if they’ll take kindly to something as strange (what a concept) as me. They might seek to destroy me.**

I still don’t know what’s going on. Am I thinking to myself here? … yes. Oh well, at least I haven’t adopted a pet rock or something crazy like that. What would I name a pet rock? Oh forget that. I should’ve handled this first contact thing a little more smoothly. Now what am I going to do, waltz in on them? Say “I come in peace, take me to your leader?” I’ve only been here 2 days and I still can’t figure out their language.

That’s another thing. Language? Not only are these… tiny horses—wait, wouldn’t that technically be ponies, then? (Argh! I must be going mad from that filtered water.) Any who, not only are these ponies living in comparative comfort, they seem to have carved themselves a little piece of home for themselves with their own culture and language. If I wasn’t in this scenario already, I’d swear this wasn’t real. Oh well. Nothing else for me to do but wait to die. I miss the internet. No. That better not be missed. I don’t miss the hate, the lies and slander. I do miss warm food, though. Ever since the 2012 panic actually started to end civilization, the internet was no place to be. Too many “stories” and “apocalypse” pictures that any other voice was simply muted compared to these forgeries.

But I must not focus on the past. What do I do now that I’ve announced myself to… what is effectively a Pegasus with pink hair. I thought it best to reveal myself to that first, since it does seem to like animals, considering all the ones in close proximity to it. Wait a minute,” it”? It seemed feminine to me. I must not assume this, though.

Hmm. A rendezvous in this forest would ease relations, I think. Lemme think about how I can arrange this…

...

Okay. I’ve got an inkling of what I’m going to try to do.

I need to lure—wait, no. “Lure” is not the word. Or is it? I don’t know. Alright, alright. I need to draw one of them away from the town, so that our little meeting shall be private. No need to be on the front page. (I’ve always wanted to be in the news, but not that way.) And… and, and, and…

We’ll shake appendages? Meh, good a plan as any. How do I get one to come away without drawing attention of the others? Middle of the night, I suppose. I need it to trail me to a secluded location of this forest, then—

Wait. Intimidation might be a problem. I think I gotta stay eye level with it, to avoid looking like a predator. Think… think…  and alright. I should stay at the edge of the forest to avoid scaring it by drawing it in. I know they don’t like this forest. Neither do I. Scary stuff in here. Here’s an idea. I’ll leave a bread-crumb trail of stones that lead from that house to the edge of the forest. I’ll have to collect some rocks first, but I think it’ll be worth it. Do I look presentable? Wait, here’s another thought. Have they encountered humans yet? If so, then this’ll be eas—if they did and those encounters were peaceful, this’ll be easy. But if not, my actions will dictate their mood towards me and the rest of my species. What… would Kirk do—no not that. I don’t think they’ll appreciate that attitude towards them. Ew. Why’d I even think of that? Okay, stop overthinking. You’ll just worry yourself, and this’ll not end well.

Time to put my plan to action…

“I got nothing. What do you think we should call this thing, Fluttershy?”

“I think that if it talks, we should give it an opportunity to tell us what it’s called. It’s smart enough to leave a note. Maybe it can talk to us.”

“Huh. Do you think it even knows our language?”

“I don’t know. The only way to find out is ask it ourselves.”

Laughter filled the room, causing a certain purple and green dragon to enter.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing, Spike. Me and Fluttershy was just discussing what to call the creature that left this hoofmark.”

Twilight pointed to the paper with the print on it. Spike took his claw and pressed it into the paper, seeing that the print is larger.

“Some sort of weird lizard thing, if you ask me. It doesn’t even have claws on the end of its fingers.”

“That’s not a claw mark, spike. It’s probably mammalian.”

“How do you know that, Twi?”

Twilight paused. “Actually, at this point, I’m just guessing. What do you think it looks like, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy, who had been looking at the note and thinking of what kind of wonderful creature it would look like, looked up, smiled one of her smiles, and said “Something wonderful.”

Spike left, as he has chores to do, and he leaves the room to leave Fluttershy and Twilight at the table to keep wondering about it.

Fluttershy seemed to shake with a thought.

“What if it comes back tonight? We should probably wait for it back at my place.”

Twilight gave a small gasp. “I’d wait outside for it, and see what it looks like, and maybe even try to talk to it.”

“Should we tell anypony else about this?” Fluttershy gestured to the paper on the table.

“Let’s keep this between ourselves for now, Fluttershy. I don’t think that news of a strange new animal would sit well if it got out in public.”

“Well, um. Okay. Shall we go, then?”

Later that day, after Fluttershy and Twilight got to Fluttershy’s house, they prepared for the expected arrival by setting up a watch on the opposite side of the street that leads to the house. Twilight could fit in the bush nicely with a book and quill, not to mention her binoculars and Twilight had even brought her pith helmet. It wasn’t so often that she got an opportunity to wear the helmet. Fluttershy and Twilight looked over the simple look-out that Twilight would use tonight, and thought if they needed one more thing, and Fluttershy suddenly let out a “Oh!” and sped inside her hill home. Twilight looked confused for a second until Fluttershy sped back outside with a blanket in mouth.

“Hehe. Thanks, Fluttershy.” The blanket floated from Fluttershy’s mouth and into the bush. It was now a good lookout.

“I didn’t think you would like being cold, so I brought that.”

“That’s fine. Let’s go inside and wait ‘til sundown.”

The two mares walked inside the home and spent the remainder of the day theorizing and laughing about the note and what the creature looked like and if it had 2 eyes or more, if it breathed fire, and so if it really was alone or if it was part of an expedition that would end with a diplomatic meeting between two nations. Laughter and ideas were shared over Fluttershy’s dinner table, as the day gave away to night in equestria.

This really was a good idea of Fluttershy to give me this blanket. This is growing to be a cold night, alright.

Twilight Sparkle scanned the trees with her telescope and hoped for an appearance. The quill and book stood still, for there was no information to be known about the animal, other than a drawing of the note and the story of how she learned about the new animal.

I should really come up a name for this thing. Talkative or not, there has got to be a—

*GASP* Contact.

Twilight saw it come from the trees in a manner that suggested a sneaky behaviour.

The quill floated to the book and took notes of what it looked like.

Upright, bipedal, and clothed with strange materials. Hooded, I can't see face or head. Stubby front legs but thicker back legs.

Twilight noticed that the thing seemed to be carrying something.

Are those rocks? What would it do with those?

It stooped to the ground to drop one, then moved forward to the house. Wait, it stopped again and was dropping another rock. It kept moving forward with the rocks, dropping one and then moving forward in this pattern which drew it closer to the house by going along the road. It passed by the lookout and continued its bread-crumb pattern to the doorstep of Fluttershy’s house.

*Time to make my move, Twilight Sparkle.*

Twilight steps out of the bush, and in her calmest, most Fluttershy-like voice she can manage, she said,

“Hello?”

Idiot. You left the note at the house and now they think you’re threatening them.

Run.

The thing freezes at the greeting, obviously not expecting to be greeted like this.

“What’s your name? Don’t be afraid.”

It suddenly stretches up, seemingly twice the height now of Twilight Sparkle, and drops the stones as it bolts away in a sprint, yelling something incoherent.

It really can talk. I can try to reason with it.

“Wait! Come back!” Twilight runs after him, struggling to keep up after hours of inactivity.

You’re under arrest man keep going keep going run don’t stop now or they’ll lynch you.

The two sprint into the Everfree forest, both knowing well enough to keep their heads on a swivel. The forest seems to race past the two as the now giant creature tries desperately to get away from the violet-colored unicorn. Lungs burning, hearts pounding, legs moving. The hooded figure weaves between trees at any opportunity to break eye-contact.  Twilight keeps yelling at it, but that just seems to add more fuel to the engine.

Ooh, if only I could see enough to hold it down with a quick spell.

The darkness is shuffled by the sound of the thing and the chasing unicorn. In her haste, Twilight doesn’t notice the sloshing of their feet in swampy mud as they race into the swamp.

Ooh no. This swamp’ll slow me down. Gotta double my efforts. Is it still after me? Yes. At least it stopped yelling.

At least there are fewer trees around. Maybe I can use a spell now.

The figure goes into a clearing, where it suddenly stops, seemingly staring at some faraway object and with its chest heaving with weariness. Twilight stops, still keeping a respectable distance away from it.

“Okay, that was a good chase, but you gotta stop now before you hurt yourself. Now if you don’t mind...”

She sees it too. Four heads peer at them above the ground at the other side of the clearing.

I’d hoped I’d never see that again.

What is that? **What is that?* Seriously? I can’t just run and leave the pony behind. Oh *bugger.

It turns around and makes a dash for Twilight Sparkle, the Hydra heads starting to raise themselves through the layer of trees above it.

It’s getting closer! What do I do—It’s coming right at meeee—

Scooping up the pony in its upper legs, the thing sprints away from the hydra with added difficulty of holding the terrified mare. She can finally see inside the hood that had veiled the head and face of the thing itself. It looked somewhat like the face of a pony, but it was obvious that its mane is shorter than what is normally worn by colts. The eyes had something in front of them.

Glasses? This thing’s vision is somehow impaired. Twilight Sparkle, What have you gotten yourself into?

The ground shakes as the hydra finally gets itself upright enough to give chase, causing the thing to trip, dropping twilight and falling over.

Well, that didn’t work. Think think think THINK. Uh oh. I thought of something, but it’s insane and dangerous but if it works, it should buy the pony time to get away.

The thing got up and started walking calmly towards the hydra, which has gotten close enough to lower its head to attack, but the thing started shouting in its language, flailing its arms around. The heads of the hydra didn’t look amused, but Twilight recovered from the fall and looked up just in time to see the right-most hydra head lower itself over the thing, biting down around its midsection, and with an audible scream coming from the mouth, the head reared itself up and swallowed it whole.

Oh no. I should get away before it eats me.

Twilight tries to get up, but pain registered her new inability to walk.  She lies back down, wincing in pain and closes her eyes, preparing for the worst.

A piercing screech from a hydra head caused Twilight to open an eye. The right-most hydra head was howling in pain as it swings from side to side. A bulge in the throat that could only be the thing’s heroic attempt to save Twilight from doom was pressing something against the inside of the neck, and it came closer to the midsection of the hydra, where the heads intersect and the main body begins. The 3 other heads turned to see its fellow head thrashing about in pain and they all shared similar expressions on their faces.

What could it be doing to the hydras to make them act that way?

The moment the bulge disappeared from the neck, all four heads started to share similar screeches of pain, the hydra stumbles over, and the heads all start thrashing about and roaring.

After a minute of this, the heads drooped down and hit the ground, ceasing their pain-filled roars and lying still on the ground.

The only noise left is the terrified breathing of Twilight Sparkle, whom is still confused as to what exactly happened. Something shifts inside the hydra, and tapping noises can be heard.

Did it let itself get eaten so that it could kill it on the inside? I suppose the insides are a lot softer than its outsides.

An object finally pokes through the armor of the now-dead hydra, and it recedes back into the hydra, and the thing’s head pokes itself out of the hole that it had created. Twilight noticed that it was not wearing the hood this time. It somehow forced itself from the body, stopping just before it pulled its legs free, and sat down to look at itself.

I am completely covered and drenched in blood. At least it’s not my blood. Well, most of it. Sure was dark and wet in there, but I am now more thankful for that survival knife than ever. It might be dulled from piercing the heart of this… hydra. Wait. I just killed a mythological monster that is bigger than me, stronger than me, and probably lived longer than I did.

It stood to its feet and started to move in a way that can only be described as dancing, and giving whoops out into the cold, dark air.

It must’ve gotten a kick out of killing that thing. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

It finally stopped to notice Twilight lying on the ground, still unable to move. It slides off the giant body of the hydra, obviously dazed from being swallowed by it. It stoops to look over a terrified mare, checking to see if there are any cuts or bruises.

Okay, good news. This thing’s fine, except for the legs, and I’m fine, considering I just survived being swallowed by something that only exists in fairy tales. I really have must’ve gone crazy. Oh well. At least it can’t chase me anymore. What to do… obviously take it back.

It reached down to pick up Twilight again, and she gave a squeak that caused it to back away. Twilight stared at it while it stared at her.

This is awkward. I must look terrifying to it, covered in bits of hydra that I spilled on myself. It sure looks femimine, with big, soft eyes, and that hairstyle... **Boy, don’t you go Captain Kirk on me.**

It shakes its head, pain now registering from the several puncture wounds in its stomach and back as adrenaline wears off.

Here’s an idea. If the purple pony can’t understand spoken words, hopefully it’ll understand gestures.

It gestured to itself, then to twilight, made a scooping motion, then pointed in the general direction of Ponyville.  Twilight nods in acknowledgement and hopes for the best.

I hope that means what I think it means. Oh well. I’m taking it/her back anyway.

Generating another squeak from Twilight as the thing raises her back up into its arms, the two slowly make their way back, every pain-filled footsteps of the thing becoming more and more apparent that it was becoming harder to walk.

Gotta get her back. She'll be missed soon.

...

It is getting terribly hard to walk through this forsaken forest. I should take less breaks and keep moving. I keep hearing thing moving in here. At least I dried a while ago. That seemed to calm my pursuer down. It kept talking, but I honestly don’t have a clue as to what it’s saying. It might be thanking me and promising to introduce me to its society peacefully or calmly threatening me.

The thing looks down at Twilight, whom looks back at it with curiosity and a bit of fright.

I think it’s the former, then. Or that is the best poker face I’ve ever seen.

The two continue on their journey back to Ponyville in the dark forest, and in a new silence as Twilight stops trying to tell it about herself and her friends, now sure of the language barrier that exists between them.

After some time, the lights of Fluttershy’s cottage can be seen beyond the edge of the dark forest.

I wonder what my friends are doing right now.

“Um, is everypony here?” Fluttershy looks about her front room nervously as she makes a quick headcount. It is still in the morning, and everyone there is still fighting off sleep but is listening.

“What is the matter, Fluttershy?” a white and purple unicorn asks the nervous pony with 3 diamonds on her back legs.

“Yeah, and where’s Twilight? I haven’t seen her since yesterday.” asks another Pegasus with cyan and rainbow colors with a rainbolt on her flank.

“ISTHISAHIDEANDSEEKGAMEOOHILOVEHIDEANDSEEKGAMES” inquires a certain pink earth pony with balloons as her mark, bouncing on all fours in excitement.

“Sugar cube, I don’t think this is a hide-and-seek game. Also, why do you need rope for?” The last pony in the room responds to the pink ones query. She wears a hat and is orange, save for 3 red apples on her hind legs.

“Well, um.” Fluttershy whispers as she gets the note out of the drawer and places it on the table.

“This was left on my doorstep yesterday morning. Twilight couldn’t identify what it came from, and we waited for it to come back just a few hours ago.”

All the ponies in the room stared at the paper in curiosity save for one pink pony which has gotten even more excited because of the unknown nature of the print.

“THISISSOOMYSTERIOUSILOVEMYSTERIES”

“Calm down, dear Pinkie Pie.”

“But where’s Twilight?”

“She was waiting outside for it, and it came, and then she tried to talk to it, but it ran away and she chased after it into the Everfree Forest.”

Even Pinkie Pie was scared now for Twilight. What could be in there that could threaten them, nopony knew.  After a pause, the orange one spoke up

“Let’s get going naw and let’s save Twilight.”

The orange one turns around with intent to go to the door, but there is a knock on the door. *Tap, tap, tap.*

Fluttershy leaps at the door and pulls on it. A collective gasp comes from the occupants as they see what’s there. The thing, rearing up like a bear, was covered in brown blood and seemed to be wearing clothes that covered everything but its front paws and its head. A second gasp comes from the group as they see the limp form of Twilight Sparkle in its arms.

“Hello, girls.” Twilight says weakly.

“Twilight!”

The thing puts down Twilight slowly, and once the thing backs off the pony, her friends surround her as they check her physical condition and drag her inside. It keeps backing off so that it comes off the porch, and it turns around to get away, and—

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing here?” The cyan Pegasus now eye-level with the thing due to flying around to face it.

“Rainbow! What do you think you’re doing?” said the brown pony.

“Getting answers, Applejack. Now get your rope so that we can lasso this thing.” replied Rainbow Dash.

“...Ah hate to agree with you, but this thing could be dangerous. Lemme get the rope.”

I’m dead. Run and hide. Run and hide.

It bolts past Dash as it tries to get back in the forest, but is chased again by the protective Pegasus.

Applejack bolts back out with rope in mouth, ready to restrain the thing, and sees Rainbow Dash tackle it from the back and attempt to pin it down in the grass.

Brave and flattering, but at the end of the day, I’m much bigger.

It stands back up to run again, causing Rainbow to fall off and hit the dirt before getting up again to try kicking it, but it screamed as a lasso secured itself around its neck, courtesy of Applejack. It reached to its hip and pulled an object from a pocket; cutting the rope off of the lasso and preparing to run again but Rainbow had other plans. She turned around and bucked it in the gut.

That smarts.

It fell to its knees, dropping the object, forearms wrapped around where it had been kicked, and a new lasso secured itself around the waist of the thing, trapping its arms around the elbows to its sides, with a new roar it fought back against the trained pony.

“hld ths!” Applejack told Rainbow.

“On it!” Rainbow took the rope in her mouth and she goes airborne, wings unleashed in order to restrain the thing. It fell to the ground and struggled to get back up as another lasso was put around its neck, next to the lasso that had tried to restrain it before.

How very **ironic. Any other human observer would enjoy the irony of this situation. I don’t, however, as I’m the one being lassoed like a horse would back where I come from.**

It seems to gain new strength enough to free itself from the determined grips of Applejack and Rainbow, yelling as it runs away, ropes trailing behind it. Rainbow is the first to grab a rope, and it’s the one around its neck. She flies up, the rope now constricting tighter around its neck, which in turn makes the thing make terrified and constricted noises.

Gotcha now.

“Rainbow! What are you doing?” Applejack pleads Rainbow as it obviously can’t breathe anymore, and it even is hoisted off the ground a few inches.

*They really are lynching me. Help.*

A yellow blur tackles Rainbow Dash, causing Rainbow to drop the rope, and by extension, the thing.

Oof. Oh, blessed oxygen. The orange one looks horrified. What is it looking at—it would seem that the yellow, kind natured one from earlier is pinning down my would-be murderer and is **yelling at it. That thing is scary when mad. Is that blue one crying?**

“I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. Please forgive me.” Rainbow Dash says between sobs.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Fluttershy gestures to the thing, obviously terrified in more ways than one and confused in more ways than one.

To everyponys surprise, Rainbow tackles the thing again, and to its surprise, she just hugs it instead of attempting to pin it down.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Umm... Better return the gesture as an act of good faith.

Another surprise is when the thing awkwardly hugs Rainbow Dash back even through its restraints, letting her cry into its shoulder, but its face remained one of complete horror.