The Story of Great Wolf Sif

Chapters

Fading away - (0)
Beginning again - (1)
No longer in Lordran - (2)
Caretaker's emergency - (3)

Fading away - (0)

(Potential Spoilers to those who haven't made it to this point in the game, do take note of the slight warning if you do care for such.)

Darkroot Garden

Silence reigned the area surrounding Artorias' gravesite as a lone undead knight strode slowly past a sea of swords and a small field of flowers. The knight slowed his approach as he neared one particularly enormous sword in front of the large hunk of stone, his two phantom companions trailing not too far behind him. The two companions stopped several feet behind the knight as he stepped up to the large sword that was plunged deep into the soil. One of the phantoms knew what to expect of the situation, but remained silent as this was an experience for him and him alone to bear witness to. As Knight Solaire had once told them all with the flow of time in Lordran being distorted, they could summon the phantoms of other undead from far off worlds that were similar to theirs, calling upon their sign for assistance when they were visible.

The knight glanced at the sea of swords behind him cautiously before facing the large one before him. Hesitantly, he outstretched his hand towards the blade.

It was possible that this blade was the very blade once used by Artorias himself long before he passed. The knight heard brief tales about him from phantoms from other worlds, he had many nicknames: Sir Artorias, Knight Artorias, Abysswalker Knight Artorias... The rest were variants of those three names, but his title was famed for he had traversed the abyss without being swallowed by its dark power. The knight himself had asked the phantoms more about him as to how he was felled, but they told him that he'd soon discover that on his own. To what they meant of such, he would soon learn the fate of the brave knight.

And so here he was at Artorias' grave. His destiny as the chosen undead led him here to Darkroot Garden to investigate a rumor of him wielding a ring that allowed him to travel the abyss unscathed, for his path would soon lead him there to go up against a mysterious entity that resides there known as the four kings. He heard talk of these four kings from other phantoms he met in his travels, but they too didn’t go into detail about the entity. He knew he’d eventually go up against more unspeakable horrors that he already bore witness to, much like succumbing to a mimic more than once due to his slight greed, but fate was often kind to him during his travels and perhaps soon he would come across Solaire once again.

The two phantoms watched the knight's hand barely touch the greatsword, and immediately a shadow was casted over the knight. Atop Artorias' gravestone was his wolf companion and the guardian of the gravesite, Sif. The knight took a step back and got into a defensive stance as the wolf blared its teeth, emitting a deep growl before dashing off the gravestone, grabbing the greatsword from the ground with its teeth and dashing behind the knight, who turned to meet Sif behind him as the two locked stances. The knight hefted his knight shield off his back, wielding it in his left hand and holding in front of him in preparation for an attack. With his other free arm, the knight loosened his black knight greatsword off his back and let it settle on his shoulder, waiting for Sif to make the first move.

Sif shifted the blade within his mouth, letting the end of the blade point to his left before rearing his head up and emitting a deep howl, signalling that the battle had begun. The two phantoms that stood behind Sif looked at one another, with the one phantom who had experienced this before looking to to the other who looked rather surprised at the sight of Sif, and nodded his head. Both phantoms pulled their blades from their sheaths and rushed at Sif, as the knight who had summoned them raised his shield just in time to deflect a powerful blow from the wolf's blade. The two phantoms rushed beneath Sif and began hacking and slashing at the wolf's underbelly, with the knight taking all the aggro in front and deflecting whatever blows came his way.

The battle raged on for a time, but it was soon coming to a evident close. The knight was exhausted from all the constant dodging and blocking he was doing. He was tired, and he was sure that he broke several bones within his left arm throughout the whole ordeal. He had even ran out of the precious energy that was contained within his Estus Flask, the one thing that would rejuvenate him and help him recover from his wounds and even healed the two phantoms that fought alongside him. But they too were becoming exhausted and weak, it was only a matter of time before their hold on this world was lost when either they, or him would fall to Sif; they'd be cast back into their respective realms of Lordran. Victory was close at hand for both parties.

Sif himself was hurt from the wounds that were inflicted upon his legs and underbelly, he was hobbling towards the equally exhausted knight who had dared to invade the sacred ground. However, he had forgotten to take into account the two phantoms that were still with him, but he sought to end it quickly by going after the summoner of two. The knight himself was slowly backing away, dragging his greatsword feebly alongside him with his shield hefted weakly in front of him. He really couldn't take another hit from Sif, not like this, but at the same time it was distressing to see the wolf like this.

There was a fierce determination and fire still flickering within the wolf's eyes as it neared the knight, it only wanted to rest now after this long battle. It wanted to end it before he himself would die too.

As Sif wound up for a swing on the knight before him, he felt several fierce pains stab at his underbelly once more and more stings slicing against his legs. And he could take it no more... With one last breath, Sif dropped the sword into the ground beside him and stood on his hind legs, emitting a howl that struck deeply with the knight before him, before Sif's body, and the sword faded from existence.

The knight witnessed the wolf quickly fall to the ground, and before Sif's body could fade with his soul, the knight spotted a flicker of sadness in the wolf's eyes before his body faded into nothingness. All's what was left of him was his soul, a bright orange sprite that now flickered in the knight's left hand. The knight shared a glance at the two phantoms that aided him in this victory; one gave a respective bow towards him and the other waved goodbye before they themselves faded and were sent back to their realms.

Regardless of the victory that had occurred in the garden, the knight himself felt rather saddened at what became of all of this: Sif was only trying to protect the domain, and perhaps the ring that Artorias once had, and he, the chosen undead was treading upon the grave, desecrating the sacred ground of Artorias. The knight hung his head low and brought the wolf's soul into a small pouch on his backside, storing it for later. His mood was dampened because of all of this, and right now he just wanted to sit at a bonfire and think, but not before showing his respect to Artorias and Sif.

The knight placed his shield carefully on his back and grabbed a small brown talisman that was attached to his belt. Channeling his energy and faith, the knight knelt down and clutched the talisman tightly as he channeled a miracle through the talisman: a simple healing one. He heard his left arm snap as the bones reattached themselves properly within. The pain was rather mild in comparison to all that he went through already, and as such, a broken arm was nothing more than a scratch to him when it came down to it. He even felt the cuts that made it through his armor seal up and close in a mere instant. A mild stinging signaled that the wounds were eventually closed once the miracle was complete.

With his wounds healed and his energy restored through his channeled faith, the knight slowly walked towards Artorias' grave, passing the sea of swords and trekking over the field of flowers once more. The knight approached the grave and knelt down before the large tablet of stone, bowing his head in respect for a long moment before rising off the ground and looking the whole area over once more. There was only one proper way he could pay his respect in his eyes.

The knight placed his talisman back onto his belt and attached his sword onto his back once more and detached the small pouch that stored Sif's soul off his waist, feeling around for a certain flask that he had found and had not used as of yet. After a while, the knight pulled a small golden yellow flask out from his pouch. It was something he found in Anor Londo, and it was something rather divine. The smell it gave was something reminiscent to the energy that was contained within his now empty Estus Flask, but possibly ten times better than the undead favorite, and this was the only one of its kind he had found. It was the only way he could repay his respects to the brave knight and his wolf companion.

The knight reattached his pouch around his waist, and approached the gravestone more closely with the small flask in hand. Upon his approach, he knelt down onto the ground once more and placed the flask on the first step of stone that was closest to the ground. Perhaps Artorias and Sif would be pleased with such a simple offering...

The knight smiled softly beneath his helmet as he mused himself with the thought. And with that, he respectively made his way out towards the entrance of large garden, but not before searching the area at which Sif was defeated. There he found the fabled ring that Artorias once wore, the very same ring that was rumored to allow him to walk through the abyss unharmed by the void.

The knight held the ring in front of him, looking the small green piece of jewelry over. His journey was far from coming to an end it seemed...

In a place far from Lordran, and within a different universe altogether, a navy blue alicorn sat atop a balcony in Canterlot amidst the dead of night. The reason to why she was up here was due to a rather peculiar phenomenon that was occurring with one of her constellations, primarily the lupus. She was peering through a telescope and was bearing witness to the stars flickering abnormally without her allowing such a thing to happen. She could admit that it was a nice sight to behold at this time of night, but this was without her consent and it bugged her fiercely.

"Princess Luna, ma'am!" One of her loyal lunar guards approached her from behind as she was peering into a telescope, still focused on the strangeness of one of her constellations.

"Hmm?" The princess broke her attention away from her telescope and turned to face the guard behind her who bowed in respect in her presence. "Speak loyal subject, I do not have much time to waste as I have other, more important matters to attend to!" The princess realized that she was beginning to slip into the Royal Canterlot tone of voice once again and immediately toned herself down to a more reasonable level, "I mean, what brings you here captain...?" She trailed off as she tried digging through her thoughts, searching for the name of this guard in particular.

"Nightwing, ma'am," the guard finished as he raised his head up from the balcony floor, saluting as he did so. "The sun is set to rise within the next couple of hours, Princess, and you've yet to move the moon across its projected path." The guard furthered his statement by pointing his left hoof up into the sky towards the moon which was still sitting along low among the eastern horizon. Not once had it budged from its original position throughout the night.

Luna became rather aghast and flustered at the new information reaching her, she had indeed forgot to move the moon across the sky throughout the whole night. "Dear me, so it seems that I did..." Shaking her head, Princess Luna continued, "no matter, I will make up for lost time. Thank you for reporting this to me captain Nightwing. You are dismissed."

The captain bowed his head in respect and took off from the balcony, leaving the princess with a rather addled mind. She spared one last glance at the sky and gazed at the flickering constellation for a sliver of a moment. Perhaps tomorrow night I can investigate this further. Right now I need to make up lost time as Celestia will soon be raising the sun, and I think the citizens will take the sign of the moon not moving at all as a bad sign. She scoffed at the thought, no matter, duties are duties. And as a princess, I must abide by them. With that, she turned and left her balcony, entering her room and closing the balcony door behind her.

If she bothered to spare another glance at the constellation, perhaps she would've noticed it flicker brightly for the briefest of moments, as though trying to convey a message of unknown meaning...

Beginning again - (1)

???

Time. If ever such a thing could be considered in such a place, how would one describe to what amount has passed? It had felt like many centuries since his arrival here, and decades since he had first awoken to such a startling sight of darkness and emptiness all around. Sif remembered his defeat at the hands of that undead knight and his two phantoms that ventured in his master's gravesite... But what of the Alvina and her forest hunters? Could she have not halted their progress?

Alas, such a thing no longer mattered anymore... What was done was done. The knight now had access to his master's secret, and he could no longer do anything to impede the knight from getting it. His result of trying to defend the secret ended up in his own death.

He had once repelled invaders as strong as that knight, but what made him any different that those before him?

Now, Sif was adrift in a endless sea of darkness, aimless and without direction, nor the slightest bit of guidance. Was this what happened to beings that were killed by others?

There was time to ponder such questions, even for an uncommon creature such as Sif. But to why he was here was something that addled his developed canine mind, even if he now was more of a ghostly form with a white mist making up his body. Even if he was something rather wisp-like, he could still see, hear, and smell, but could not see anything, hear anything, or smell anything.

Sif knew that there was name to describe such a place that he was in, but Artorias never spoke of such a place. He had heard one of the knights talk of place similar to this, a place between life and death where you're neither truly alive, nor dead, but a fragment of what you once were. And so it seemed he was in this place, neither alive or dead, but stuck somewhere in between the fabric of life. But how long would he be here for?

Sif continued to remain adrift in the darkness, gliding endlessly across the vast expanse of nothingness before him. For years he drifted, and for years, possibly decades, he traveled without finding anything. There was absolutely nothing here. Nothing to provide comfort, nothing to provide the slightest bit of hope or guidance for him...

With nothing to provide the slightest glimmer of hope for him, Sif ceased his drifting and curled into himself with his ghostly tail and paws tucked against his body with his muzzle resting atop his paws. A few faint whines escaped him as he remained in the darkness... Was this the fate he was destined to live with until the end of time?

Atop her balcony high above Canterlot, Princess Luna let out a resigned sigh as broke away from her telescope. For the past few nights now the lupus constellation had been conquering the sights of the night sky, flickering brightly for the first little while since she found this out two weeks, but it was gradually becoming weaker each night.. Each and every night for the past two weeks, Princess Luna had been studying the phenomenon with the help of Celestia's pupil who studied the stars alongside her.

After Luna came to her sister regarding the mysterious happenings, she wrote to her pupil and requested that she help Luna with figuring to why she had minimal control over that one particular group of stars. This resulted in Twilight coming to Canterlot to help with the matter, leaving Spike behind in Ponyville so that Twilight could communicate with her friends through Celestia when she felt the need to. But that was over five days ago when she first arrived, and the fruits of their labor had yet to produce suitable results and reasoning... Even after several nights of studying and digging through the archives and the Starswirl The Bearded wing, they had yet to find anything.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna said aloud as she turned away from her telescope and towards her open balcony door, focusing on the lavender colored mare who was rather entranced on a rather enormous blue book that almost as big as her. It was one they fished out of the Canterlot archives.

To her avail, she continued to remain focused on the book, her eyes skimming through every bit of what would be considered important information. Princess Luna rolled her eyes at the sight and strode up to the mare, clearing her throat right beside her, hoping to catch her attention.

Princess Luna patiently awaited a response from her in depth reading. After a few moments of no response, she opted to try a different, more direct approach to getting her attention.

Clearing her throat once more, she began, "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

In the process of her using the Royal Canterlot Voice, she managed to toss a few books across the room that were beside Twilight, who then yelped and shot several hooves into the air, maintaining a few seconds of hang time before falling back to the floor. Her eyes darted frantically across the room before they settled on Luna who had a look of impatience about her.

"Well?" Luna began, awaiting a response.

"'Well' what?" Twilight said in between breaths irritably, trying to bring herself down to a more calm state.

"Have you found anything out?"

Twilight took a deep breath, letting it settle for a moment before letting it escape her. She needed an extra moment to calm herself...

"I think, I'm not quite sure..." Twilight spared a glance at the book sprawled out before her, remembering some key points of info from the text, "the book did say that when often stars do act of their own accord it could be some other magical presence controlling the stars, possibly something of equal or higher power in comparison to you and Princess Celestia. The text is a couple centuries old though and it was written by Celestia's scholars long before you were freed, so I'm not sure if we can base such a theory on something so old..."

Twilight thoughtfully tapped her hoof against her chin, pondering the thought. "It is possible though, so we can't entirely rule out the idea. What do you think Princess Luna?" She finished as she averted her gaze towards Luna.

Princess Luna nodded her head at the new information, it being rather plausible, but not entirely. "It couldn't possibly be Discord. And there is no other pony that's as powerful as my sister and I throughout Equestria, nor a being that can rival our current power." That being half true, as the brief incident regarding the wedding between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance was something that wasn't so easily forgotten.

"So what could it possibly be then..?" Twilight thoughtfully tapped the bottom of her chin once more.

"I'm not entirely sure, but we're grasping at mere straws at the moment hoping for an answer. Right now, any bit of information regarding this strange occurrence is helpful."

The thought of having another being as powerful as her taking control of her stars was something that struck a chord with her. The night was her own, and she would see to it that nothing controls her night sky.

"I shall put this theory to the test Twilight. For now, continue finding new information regarding this," Princess Luna finished as she trotted out onto her balcony once more, focusing her attention on the flickering constellation.

Princess Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her horn lit up in a cerulean glow as she directed her magic and focus towards the group of stars, scouring every bit of them over for any trace of unknown magic controlling them... Nothing seemed off for a time as she thoroughly examined them over, but there was a slight anomaly with the group in general.

The anomaly was no magic it seemed, but a life force being contained within it; the life itself was weak, and it was gradually diminishing as time went by. The presence felt...distressed; it felt like it was a prisoner trapped within, condemned to a fate that was unjustified.

Curious, Luna tried to find means of communicating with the presence. Within seconds, Luna's horn glowed brighter as she poured more of her magic to talk with this anomaly... If it were capable of such.

Sif raised his head from his paws as he felt an ethereal wind brush against his left ear, causing a slight twitch from it at the odd sensation. A bit confused and curious at the first sign of anything here, Sif glanced around the expanse of darkness around him, trying to pinpoint the source of such a such a brief gust of wind.

The breeze came once more as Sif tried to pinpoint its source, but this time it wasn't so small and brief, It quickly evolved from a slight breeze as it started, to a minor gust of wind that pushed his ghostly form along which blew off tiny fragments of his being. Now cautious and alert at the force of the wind, Sif stood himself up onto all fours and focused all of his attention into his senses. He hoped he could pick up anything that could help him pinpoint the source, a scent, a noise...anything.

A voice then billowed from the darkness.

"What matter of being is taking refuge amongst my stars?" The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, but from nowhere at all. Judging by its tone, Sif could tell that the voice was largely annoyed.

Sif felt a pair of eyes set themselves upon him as the voice finished. He could sense that he was being watched now, but from where? He twisted and turned in a wide variety of directions as he sought to see where these eyes came from. To his avail there was nothing, only darkness.

"A wolf..." The voice diminished a few levels as it now recognized the prisoner of the constellation. "Not any ordinary wolf it seems," the voice then became thoughtful.

Sif continued to search every manner of direction that could be considered in the darkness. Every predatory instinct he had was working against him, as this time they were working to try and protect him from an unknown entity, as opposed to helping him with food. Sif emitted a deep growl as he stood rather defiantly in the darkness, showing that he won't succumb to whatever manner of being that found him.

Sif felt his very being poked and prodded at as he stood there, he could feel fragments of his ghostly form being scoured for bits and pieces of information regarding him.

"Sif. Your name's Sif..." The voice trailed off.

Sif felt his being become untouched once more.

"Hailing from the land of 'Lordran'," the voice began. "You're a rare breed of your species. And you were a companion to one named 'Knight Artorias' who was defeated at the...hands? Of a powerful being named Manus." The voice remained silent for a time. "Your master's last action before he was defeated was to protect you from corruption that was stemming from this being, and using his shield, which he then enchanted, used it to create a barrier to protect you from Manus' power.

"You ultimately escaped in due time, eventually guarding your master's secret of 'abyss walking' centuries later, protecting it from greedy looters and...undead?" The voice became rather aghast at the term, eventually remaining quiet for a unknown amount of time.

"You're a prisoner amongst my stars 'Sif'. And it seems that you were condemned to a fate that was unfair and cruel; I will release you from your containment."

Sif reduced his aggression at the information reaching him. He was being released? And from the stars too? It hurt his canine mind to think about it for more than an instant, and instead, saw such information at a chance of being alive once more, and possibly continuing to remain at Artorias' gravesite. There was nothing he could really do once he was alive however, but perhaps remaining in solitude and tranquility there would be best for him.

A light then opened up from a far corner of the darkness. The light quickly overcame the darkness, filling the once empty void with a blinding white light, one Sif had to close his eyes for.

Within the Everfree, a place of mystery and ominous atmosphere, often hiding the most peculiar of creatures and plants such as the Manticore and Poison Joke, a new being was amongst the forest. Going near the edge within the forest, near the quiet town of Ponyville, an unusually large wolf lie against the soft dirt, curled up against itself as it lie calmly asleep beneath the statue of Nightmare Moon.

The wolf itself was worse for wear as opposed to his once ghostly form within his former prison. Now it seemed, his once enormous and bulky figure was slim and skinny, almost down to the bone. Portions of his fur had fallen off at some sections of his body, leaving small patches of pinkish skin lying open beneath the fur. The Great Grey Wolf had met a fate similar to all who died within the realm of Lordran as a human it seemed, a fate many were condemned with until the very end of time; he was undead.

No longer in Lordran - (2)

It would be hours before morning would soon arrive across the land of Equestria; the moon was getting nearer to the western horizon, almost ready to move on past it and let the sun take a rightful spot on warming this side of the planet. Some particular events happened during this night however, as there was no longer a strange spectacle to admire in the night sky. The lupus constellation no longer flickered noticeably among the darkened sky, for a prisoner that was contained within was released not too long ago. This particular prisoner, one being a Great Grey Wolf by the name of Sif, was free.

It was strange that upon his release, his physical body formed at the statue of Nightmare Moon... But his release gave him a little more than he would've expected; his features had become more slim, almost bony; his fur became a deep shade of grey at certain areas and had fallen off at some sections, leaving an almost sickly brown color mixed with pink underneath.

This was a common affliction to those that were undead, but he was different as opposed to them, he was not human. Some of these afflictions were ones that weren't shared with the undead from Lordran. They were his own...

He would be the very first of his kind to experience such afflictions as a wolf, and perhaps the only one to experience such as a phenomenon like this would likely be astronomically impossible by any standards stemming from Lordran. But here he was in a far off land, possibly in a different world altogether, given a second chance at life after being stuck in limbo for many lifetimes, now undead but alive...

Sif began to stir beneath the statue, and for the first time since his death, he could smell. There was a certain mustiness about the area which he caught along with tonnes of unfamiliar scents trailing originating from the surrounding area. It was definite that he was no longer in Darkroot Garden, but somewhere else altogether.

Slowly, he peeled his eyes open, and beneath him he bore witness to a familiar sight of the soft dirt beneath him. His sense of smell picked up tonnes of unknown scents and odors stemming from this dirt, all of which were hard to distinguish from whether they were animal scents or plants. The large amount of conflicting odors left him confused as to where he could be; none of the them had the faintest familiarity about them...

Lifting his head from the top of his paws, Sif slowly shifted his head from left to right trying to scan the area. Throughout such, he noticed how sluggish his movements had become, and overall, how weak he felt altogether.

His surroundings held the unfamiliar sight of trees that neared his enormous height, some twisting in questionable directions, but were otherwise densely pack together. Another thing was the darkness that filled the area, it was extremely overbearing and he was only able to see a few meters beyond the tree line, rendering him unable to spot any unwanted observers. The one sight he noticed last was the statue he was lying under some time ago but currently towered over by at least a meter, the one of a unknown horse like being staring maliciously at what would be beneath it.

The statue of this being had a large horn protruding from the top of what appeared to be its head and had wings spanning several feet out from its body. What puzzled him the most about this horse like being was what appeared to be either armor, or regalia of some sort that adorned its body, most notably at the hooves, chest, and head. If this were some sort of deity of the land, it was certainly a questionable one, noteably different than Gwyn and his two daughters.

Diverting his attention away from the statue, Sif poured his strength into pushing himself up onto all fours. Throughout the ordeal, Sif felt himself struggling at times to maintain his balance and to keep himself upright as he felt a slight lack of control in his overall balance whenever he tried to stand on his paws for more than a few seconds. It felt to him as though some of his strength had been taken away.

Being curious about his overall strength deteriorating, Sif turned his head to get a good look at his form, and to his horror, he spotted the overall cause of his loss of strength.

He was unbelievably skinny, and his fur had become a darker shade of grey with some parts that looked like they came off in clumps, leaving his sickly looking skin open underneath. He realized what had happened to him now, for he had faced off against many humans that were like this, often mindless and openly hostile. He was undead.

Sif's eyes widened at the revelation, leaving him feeling rather frightened at what would eventually become of him. Artorias himself had eventually became undead after losing to Manus, immediately becoming under his control after being defeated... Thankfully Manus was gone though, saving him from a fate worse than what he was now.

But he was still himself; he could still think rationally and he had complete control over his actions, there were no blind spots in his thoughts and he wasn't mindless. There was something though. Something amiss... He couldn't place a paw on what was off about him, but he felt like there was a certain wholeness missing about him. Even if he was physically whole and there, the feeling would not subside, much like a gaping wound in one's side.

His thoughts were soon interrupted as the faint sound of brush rustling in the nearby trees met his ears. Sif turned to meet the sound along his left and stared into the darkness, awaiting for signs as to what may be there.

Three sets of green eyes emerged from the darkness of the trees, and they stared towards Sif. He could feel their glares piercing his own, neither one of them backing down from one another. The eyes soon glowed brighter as they neared the edge of the treeline, and as they came closer, an odd but familiar smell came across to him: Tree sap. It was a scent he was all to familiar with during his time in Darkroot Garden due to the amount of trees that made up the area, but strangely enough, the scent was coming from these sets of eyes.

There was a slight familiarity about these eyes glaring at him, reminding him of the smaller counterparts of his species, but there was a noticeable difference about them. For one, he knew their eyes normally never glowed by themselves. Another thing was the scent that came from them, the distinct odor of tree sap. Just what kind of place has a strange variant of his species?

The eyes emerged from the shadows, and with it came the large wooden bodies. They looked remarkably like wolves, but they were almost treelike in appearance and were nearly a quarter of his size. Strangely enough, they even had leaves for brows and had their teeth were wood too. But so it seemed they deemed him as prey, not a predator.

Sif knew it was likely that they would've been observing him for the last little while, watching him struggle to get up onto his paws and noticing overall how weak he looked. He was no longer in his familiar territory of Darkroot Garden, but in an entirely different forest altogether and was at the mercy of these three literal spins to a nickname of his species.

The three wolves held themselves low to the ground and began circling around Sif, forming a common attack plan that he once saw his smaller counterparts use more than once.

Even if he was in a different place altogether he would make these wolves regret trying to consider him as prey instead of predator. After all, he wasn't called the Great Grey Wolf for no reason. They would have to work rather hard to make him experience death once more.

Sif brought his frame low to the ground and began growling deeply at the three timberwolves, keeping a careful eye on the ones he could see, and keeping his ears open in case one decided to hit him from behind. He flared his teeth at the wolves, hoping to intimidate the wolves into backing down, but unfortunately they did not and took it as a challenge, as they too did the same. Sif knew it was only a matter of time until they decided to attack, and he wouldn't let his guard up for a second against these wolves, not letting them exploit a common advantage he'd done to other creatures long ago.

He felt his fur standing on end as he waited for them to make the first move. It was a tense situation as they expected him to begin running at a moment's notice, but he did not want to give them the satisfaction of a true hunt.

Sif's ears perked as he heard one of the wolves slightly rickety frame launch towards him from behind. Immediately, he turned to meet the airborne wolf and quickly swiped his right paw widely in the air towards the wolf mid flight with astonishing agility. The timber wolf's flight path was immediately cut off and was instantaneously knocked out of the air, slamming into one of the nearby trees and shattered into bits of wood upon impact.

This counter did not deter the other two wolves and they immediately took advantage of the slight recovery from the Great Wolf turning their back to them, and they too sprung from their wooden paws and launched towards him. Sif immediately turned to face the remaining two wolves, immediately expecting to counter the two with one big swipe from his paws. This however, did not go as planned; Sif turned around slightly slower than he would've expected and he immediately felt two immense weights latch onto his body, pulling him down to the ground with him. The wolves were surprisingly heavier than Sif would've expected, and it was even more surprising that their teeth and claws were actually lethal enough to draw blood.

Sif toppled onto the ground as the two wolves latched onto his body with their claws. And immediately upon taking him onto the ground with them, the two wolves immediately set into digging their claws and teeth into as much of the wolf as possible, hoping to take as much as they can out of him before he can attempt to get back up.

Sif struggled beneath the weight of the two wolves, fighting through the vicious pain of their claws and biting while trying to knock them off his body. After one shake that Sif threw all of his strength into, he managed to knock the wolves off his now battered form. The two wolves hopped off Sif, leaving him with the overall appearance of him looking like he just escaped a vicious mauling as he struggled to get back up onto his paws once more.

They hoped they had done enough damage to the unusually large wolf, waiting and hoping for him to pass out due to the wounds that littered his body. To their surprise, he did not.

Sif defiantly stood before the two wolves, using what remained of his strength to keep him up on his paws and display what aggression he had left towards them. But he could not fight them any more, not like this, not while his strength was almost gone. His body had more limits than it did before, and he only had one option that he didn't want to resort to: he had to retreat.

Sif flared his teeth once more, but it was more of a feeble attempt to force them to back down. But they did not, and they began strafing around Sif once more.

Right now, he had to be rid of another one of them to properly retreat. Having two of these wooden creatures chasing after him would only lead to more trouble, and having only one chasing him would give him ample time to escape.

Sif went for the first blow at one of the wolves this time, quickly surprising the timber wolf at his immense speed. The timber wolf was quickly overtaken due to Sif's speed, as within seconds, his head was clenched within the jaws of Sif, and its wooden head was creaking from the amount of pressure it was experiencing. The third timber wolf, realizing that Sif was distracted quickly sprung into action and lunged at Sif once more.

Sif felt the wood groaning beneath his teeth as he clenched his jaw harder and harder on the wooden canine's head. Throughout the whole ordeal, Sif heard a few pained whines coming from the wolf in his mouth, though the sound came off distorted and highly unusual. Within a few seconds, Sif felt the wood crack within his Jaw, leaving him with a distinct taste of Tree Sap in his mouth along with the bland taste of wood.

The timber wolf's corpse immediately fell limp to the ground, immediately disassembling into a pile of wood as it hit. Realizing a new threat, Sif felt the other wolf biting into his side once more and set to shake himself feverishly to shake the wolf off. The wolf's grip wasn't strong and was quickly flung off onto the dirt, dazed and at the mercy of Sif. With one big swipe, Sif knocked the wolf across the ground, quickly breaking it small bits of wood as it bounced across the dirt.

Perhaps he didn't really need to retreat after all...

As Sif turned to try and began limping off in a random direction, he noticed something strange about the former bodies of the timber wolves. The pieces that made up the timber wolves became enveloped in a green aura, each and every piece hovering off the ground bit by bit, all of which made their way in front of the nearby statue. There, they began reassembling themselves into a larger timber wolf from the bottom up.

Sif immediately realized what was at play, that being magic, and it seemed that the pieces were reassembling together into one larger wolf. Retreating suddenly seemed like the best idea to him as he could not fare against something that was possibly bigger than him, or roughly the same size.

Sif immediately turned tail away from the area and began running as fast his paws could take him, immediately diving into the treeline; he didn't want to know how big the wolf behind him actually was. He weaved through the branches and trees, and with careful footing, dodged conveniently placed tree roots as he ran through the forest, making sure to keep a quick pace as to not let the wolf behind him catch up, but he could feel it getting closer. He could feel the thundering of its large wooden paws beating against the earth, and it was getting closer every few seconds.

Sif knew he could only keep running for so long as he already expended most of his strength protecting himself from the those wolves. He could only hope he could find someone or something that could buy him time to get away, or to actually save him from the wolf.

As his hope of escaping was slowly becoming dimmer, he eventually emerged from the forest into an entirely new area. And upon his exit, his pursuer's thundering ceased to be. For the first time he was the actual prey escaping from a predator, one more menacing than him.

Sif quickly halted his running and slowed down to a pained limp, now realizing the extent of pain he was actually in. He had been viciously mauled by a unusual species of wolf, one that had left its mark in the form of many wounds littering his very form.

Many lacerations and bite marks were evident where more skin was showing than fur, but the cuts were mostly evident along his fur as it became stained with the distinct color of crimson as the blood dripped out. It was likely he had sustained more wounds than he could handle, and he had already pushed himself to the very brink of what remained of his strength.

As Sif made slow progress away from the forest, he spotted a rather unique sight of a small cottage a few hundred meters away. The lights were on still so someone, or something was bound to be home. The uniqueness that Sif noticed about this cottage was the amount of birds nests littering the area and small holes that were beneath the home, just beyond all that were a few pens just on the other side of the small home.

As Sif slowly approached the home, he spotted what appeared to be a white rabbit looking rather frightful at his approach and quickly ran inside the home, slamming the door behind him. Sif knew the rabbit was conveying the message that he was not wanted here. He could reason with that, he was battered, bloody, and most importantly he was undead.

But what he had just witnessed was something that was highly questionable... Why in Lord Gwyn's name did that rabbit portray the characteristics of something human?

Curious about the matter, Sif slowed his approach to the small home, but his approach was halted as he felt his body immediately begin burning from the inside out, most notably from his wounds, as those felt like someone was sticking a blade in it and constantly twisting it, all the while with a pine resin affect going on with the blade. Sif collapsed onto the dirt a couple hundred meters away from the home, emitting a pained whine as he felt his body burning intensely... It was just too painful for him to move now.

Sif sealed his eyes shut as he felt the pain begin to intensity. So it seemed that the tree sap was for more than just their blood and what held them together, it was also a poison.

Angel's thoughts were running at a mile a minute and he swore his tiny heart had skipped a beat more than once throughout the whole ordeal. Just under a minute ago he had just seen the most terrifying creature he had ever laid his tiny eyes on. The thing... It was much larger than Princess Celestia and it looked almost like a timberwolf minus the wood, but its eyes... Oh the eyes...

Where its eyes looked like they were supposed to be, there was nothing... There was only darkness and an endless abyss of what looked like nightmares. The thing was covered in blood from top to bottom and was almost dragging itself along...

He had first spotted the creature when he went outside to get himself an early morning carrot snack, but before he could even get himself close to the garden, he noticed the large creature's approach. It took a while, but underneath the light of the moon, he was soon able to get a better look at the thing as it came closer, and oh Celestia was it absolutely terrifying...

He just had to get away from it. He just didn't want to look at it any longer so he just ran inside and slammed the door quickly behind him, which he was now quivering up against...

"Angel bunny is that you?" Angel heard her caretaker's voice say from the top of the stairs, followed by the clopping of hooves against hard wood.

It wasn't in his exact intention to wake up Fluttershy from her rest, but right now he had to warn her of the horrifying monster outside, and they just had to get out of here.

Angel gazed up the stairs and nervously waited for her to appear, and as she did, he immediately set himself on trying to catch her attention, which he tried to get by flailing his arms wildly in the air.

"What's bothering you dear?" Fluttershy said as she slowly descended down the stairs, looking rather worse for wear considering she had just woke up.

He realized he had caught her attention with his wild arm flailing, but had tuckered himself out in the process. He immediately gestured a "one moment" and mimicked a exhausted expression. Upon his recovery, he waved his arms in the arm rapidly and pointed towards the window and pulled the sides of his mouth back as if to show teeth, and held his little paws menacingly in the air as to say "monster." She immediately got the message.

"M-monster..? Where?" Fluttershy quickly darted across the room and opted to hide behind her sofa, with just her frazzled mane and her now wide open eyes peering over the top.

Angel smacked his right paw against his face, unable to vocalize his own exasperation at his caretaker's lack of courage. He took a brief moment to calm himself and quickly put on a brave face for Fluttershy. He deftly hopped towards the stairs and hopped from each of the small animals' homes to get onto the nearby windowsill, and upon his arrival to his destination, his bravery began to falter. Angel gulped and shakily pointed a paw at the window, wanting her to see for herself.

He turned to meet his so called "point" and was surprised at what he saw. A fair distance away from the cottage, the supposed monster he had tried to warn Fluttershy about was on the ground, and it looked like it was in pain...?

Angel heard the slow clopping of his caretaker's hooves as she nervously approached the window. And to his further surprise, she immediately snapped out of her frightened state and into caretaker mode immediately.

Angel turned to meet Fluttershy, and he could see she was visibly gasping, shocked, terrified, and absolutely distraught at the sight of the large creature just outside.

"Oh my goodness!" Angel heard her cry before she immediately bolted out the door... Only to come back inside moments later to rummage around in the kitchen, taking a first aid kit with her in her mouth and proceeded to bolt out the door once again. Angel swore he could have seen her visibly tearing up at the sight of it...

If it was one thing he didn't understand about his caretaker, it was the often sudden change in attitude that tended to happen. One moment she'd be shy, then the next she'd be in full caretaker mode at the sight of an injured animal.

Angel voiced a silent sigh, knowing all to well what was about to happen. He hopped from his vantage point from the windowsill and followed Fluttershy out the door, slowing his approach as he neared the supposed monster. As he neared the creature, he realized how enormous the thing was, making Fluttershy look like an ant in comparison to it.

"Oh you poor thing... Fluttershy will make you feel better, just please stay with me..." There was a slight bit of panic trailing in her voice as she tried to comfort the severely injured creature, but it looked like the thing's breathing was becoming more spaced apart with each moment that passed.

Fluttershy immediately noticed Angel's presence and a visible light bulb went off in her head.

"Angel deary, do you think you get can Applejack and Rarity for me please..? I-I can't help this creature all on my own, and if he doesn't get any more help he's going to die..." Fluttershy was practically begg-no, pleading for his help right now with this strange creature. But he just didn't know what if he wanted to do it.

"Please? For me..?" Her eyes were nearing the point of tearing up as she was now on the ground before angel, looking him in the eyes.

That look was one he had never gotten before, and she had even said the creature would die if she couldn't get enough help.

Angel took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This was a plea from Fluttershy, and if he let her down, she wouldn't let this slip for a very long time... He just had to do this, not just because his fur was also on the line, but because it was for her. He couldn't, and wouldn't ever let her down, ever.

Angel opened his eyes and gave a salute, knowing that he just had to do it for her.

Fluttershy's eyes looked more watery than they were before, and he immediately felt himself become scooped up in her motherly grasp and was clutched tightly against her chest.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" She placed Angel back on the ground who immediately gestured a gacking motion with his little paws. "Now, I need you to go get Applejack and Rarity and bring them here as soon as possible... I don't know how long I can keep the poor thing alive."

Angel gave another salute to his caretaker and immediately set off away from the cottage, making his way to his first destination to Carousel Boutique, going for the one who was more of a lighter sleeper in comparison to Applejack. Just as he was leaving, Angel heard a faint pained whine coming from Fluttershy and the creature, who then upon looking back, noticed Fluttershy begin cooing softly at the creature, hoping to keep its spirits up in an attempt to keep it alive.

Tonight was definitely going to be a long night.

Caretaker's emergency - (3)

Initial Author's Note: A thank you goes out to TheAlphaPony for doing some pre-reading and finding some mistakes I wasn't aware of. And do I appreciate the amount of favorites and thumb ups I have gotten for the story so far.

It was only a couple of hours before morning throughout the land of Equestria. The moon was still shining brightly and was progressively making its way towards the western horizon.

Many of the land's residents were already asleep at this hour, or were just beginning to experience the first stages of rest. But there were those who chose to remain awake at this hour, whether it be a part of their profession, or if they had no choice in the matter altogether.

In the town of Ponyville, two of its residents currently had minimal choice in the matter of actually going to sleep. Earlier, a creature had come to their humble abode on the edge of town, dragging itself away from the Everfree Forest. This creature was the Great Grey Wolf named Sif and he was gravely wounded.

The first two to come across Sif before anypony else could see it were the element of Kindness, Fluttershy, and her little white rabbit Angel. Currently, Fluttershy was tending to the sickly looking wolf, trying to treat the wolf's wounds and cleaning them out to the best of her ability, and just minutes ago, sent her little furry companion to get her friends. The situation was dire, and she couldn't tend to the creature on her own, she needed her friends to help her treat the animal outside her home, as it was likely they couldn't bring it anywhere else due to its enormous size.

Angel was currently dashing through the streets of Ponyville at what would be considered break-neck speeds to him, weaving through the various streets and past the many empty market stalls towards his first destination of Carousel Boutique. That was the first of two places he had to go in order to get some of Fluttershy's friends, his second destination was Sweet Apple Acres, but that was a lot farther off, thus making it his last choice.

Eventually Angel arrived at Carousel Boutique, feeling rather winded and exhausted from his trek to Rarity's. He took a moment to give himself a breather up against the shop's main entrance, and to think over how he could get Rarity to head to Fluttershy's as soon as possible. If he had a voice, he would use it to convey the urgency and of how dire the situation was so he could save more time. Unfortunately though, he didn't have a voice and had to solely rely upon how good his own gesturing was, and Rarity's ability to understand them.

Thankfully it wouldn't take much effort on his part to get into her business. He had seen Opalescence use the small diamond flap at the bottom of the door as her own personal entrance many times when he came by here. Now it seemed, it would be his point of entry,

Angel quickly scampered through the door with some added difficulty but managed to enter the main foyer of the building. The place seemed rather calm and orderly at this time of night in comparison to what always goes on here in the day, but he had only came here once before so it was hard to say if it was often disorganized.

After a time of scanning the shop, he managed to find the stairs on the far side of the room. If it was one thing he did not like, it was stairs. It was always a chore at times to climb up these kind of steps, they were meant for anything that was comparable to a pony and could walk on four legs. He did not meet the size comparison part, thus he had to awkwardly climb up these kinds of steps when a simple hop couldn't help him get up the step.

He began ascending the stairs, hopping up the first couple of steps until his momentum died off, and switched to climbing up the steps one at a time. It took him an added amount of time and effort to ascend the steps, but he managed to make it into the upstairs hallway feeling more exhausted than he did before.

There were three doors in the upstairs hallway it seemed, two on the left and one on the right, with the one on the right being near the center of the hallway. He deduced that Rarity would have the larger room so the room on the right was his first choice.

The door was closed, but not locked. Using what strength he had that wasn't sapped from his exhaustion, he poured his strength into his hind legs and began jumping higher and higher to allow him to grip the handle and open the door. He eventually did after his repeated attempts at jumping and had a bit of a death grip on the handle as the door slowly creaked open. Within, he spotted Rarity sleeping on a queen sized bed, muttering incoherently as she slept.

Angel let out a quiet sigh dropped down to the floor and quickly hopped towards Rarity. He clambered up the bed, although awkwardly, he made it up. His clambering however, didn't entirely go unnoticed as Rarity was tossing about in her sleep slightly, her muttering increased some although remaining largely incoherent.

Angel tapped a paw at the bottom of his chin on how he could wake up Rarity without being too abrupt, nor too soft... A visible light bulb went off in his head as he immediately thought of an idea, one that had worked many times on Fluttershy before when he needed her; he began jumping on the bed.

Rarity's muttering increased as he began jumping up and down all across the bed, stopping every now and again for a quick break. She even began tossing and turning more as she tried to tune out the source of the disturbance, that being Angel wanting her attention.

An eventual groan was heard from the white unicorn as she turned his back to Angel. "Can't this wait until morning Sweetie Belle? I'm trying to get some much needed beauty sleep..."

Realizing that she was half awake, Angel quickly scampered across the bed and began shaking her softly to get her attention.

"Uggh... Since you seem so adamant to get my attention..." Rarity sluggishly turned towards Angel and quickly plucked her night mask off her eyes, immediately becoming surprised at what she saw.

"You're not Sweetie Belle..." She muttered quietly as she blankly stared at Angel, not sure what to make of the situation.

Angel gestured a "one moment" and caught his breath. As soon as he felt like he had the energy, he quickly sought to get her attention at the dire situation at hand and began frantically waving his little arms back and forth in the air.

Getting half the message, Rarity tilted her head to the side. "What seems to be the trouble Angel?"

Angel tapped the bottom of his chin with his tiny paw, quickly thinking over how he could gesture this. Angel quickly mimicked a cradling motion against his chest and began rocking his frame back and forth, as to represent a caring Fluttershy. He followed through with doing his monster impression from before and stomped his little paws menacingly against the bed. This was quickly followed with him doing the representation of Fluttershy once again, but this time he cut the gesture half ways through and replaced it with a stunned look, all the while backing away from an imaginary being.

"A monster attacked Fluttershy!?" Rarity screamed as she immediately bolted upright in her bed. Her eyes quickly widening in shock at the information reaching her dazed mind. She quickly scrambled out of bed, nearly tumbling over her hooves and quickly primed herself for a very early morning venture.

Angel watched her scramble throughout the room, quickly applying a minor amount of make up to her features on a nearby dresser, completely disregarding to brush her frizzy mane before she made her way back to him.

"We'll need to get Applejack first Angel. If this monster is still there, she will certainly teach it a thing or two about messing with our friends!"

So it seemed it was a misinterpretation of information. He didn't even finish his little gesturing; he was about to follow through with an act of the monster being injured and Fluttershy tending to it, but this would definitely speed things up quite a fair bit, regardless of the unfinished message.

Angel then felt himself become bathed in a magical aura and was gently whisked off the top of the bed. He realized it was Rarity using her magic, regardless of the discomfort it brought him of being suspended in the air, he tried not to make a visible fuss about it. He then was set down atop Rarity's back, just in paw length of her indigo colored mane.

Before Angel could get a good grip on Rarity's mane, he suddenly felt himself tumble back as he they quickly exited Rarity's room and descended the stairs, all the while Angel was hanging on for dear life onto Rarity's mane. He didn't want to have to tumble across the floor, it was bad enough that he'd be eventually be extremely sore later on in the day...

Taking a half second glance, he saw that they were already dashing across the ground floor of the building. With a loud slam, the building's main entrance burst open and they quickly made their exit, with the same loud bang resonating behind them. So she had told him, they were going to get Applejack first before anything.

On the bright side of things, it saved him from having to trek across town several more times.

The events of the past few minutes were near a blur to him. He had collapsed outside a small cottage with the inside of his body feeling like it was on fire. Then not even a minute later he heard a door burst open in the direction of the cottage, followed by sounded like the voice of a young woman rushing to his side.

Whoever the person was, he had an inkling that the person had experience with treating animals. Not just because he knew, but he felt the woman going at work with his wounds, treating his more serious and visible wounds first to the best of her ability. He felt a cold liquid being applied to them followed by a minor stinging at the site of the wound; the slight stinging was nothing in comparison to what he was already feeling though.

Whatever poison was coursing through his body, he could feel that it was highly effective one as even making the simplest of movements in his paws was difficult. They were barely responsive to any of his mental commands.

He then heard the woman talk once more, referring to an individual named "Angel", and asked this person to go get her friends, eventually pleading with the person who was strangely quiet. The begging quickly changed into pure joy as he heard the woman cry several thank you’s to this "Angel" person, and eventually referred to him as a "poor thing".

He definitely would not like being called that. But whoever the person was, they seemed to know what was happening to him and made attempts at preventing him from slipping into a fully unconscious state. And strangely enough, he even felt like small chunks of something, possibly wood, being plucked from some of his wounds. Perhaps that would explain to how he managed to get in this state, but whoever this person was, they were not familiar with the undead. She did not recognize the common characteristics of one.

Wherever he was, it was a place that was far from the land of Lordran, Carim, Astora, and all the other places surrounding it. Wherever it was he may be, he knew that having something as good as this will likely not last long. She'd soon figure that he's undead, and after that, he would possibly experience death once more in a time where he was weak,. The possibility of that happening frightened him, as he would like be thrown into that void once more...

He did not want to die again, not at the hands of these people...

Rarity felt completely and utterly exhausted as she arrived at the farmhouse. She had galloped as fast as her hooves could possibly carry her; she didn't have any coffee to drink before she left, nor did she do anything to spruce herself up majorly upon exiting. Whatever had dared to hurt a friend that was dear to her, she wanted to tear the thing in two, but the way Angel described it was rather intimidating... She couldn't do it on her own, she needed Applejack's help.

Taking a deep breath, Rarity banged her hooves against the front door of the home as loud as she possibly could, hoping to wake either Big Macintosh or Applejack herself from her rest. Either way, having one or both of them would be good.

There was a brief moment of silence after the banging, but there was an eventual sound of a set of hooves slowly descending down the stairs of the home. She swore she heard faint mutterings behind the door, and judging by the very faint vibrations she felt in the boards, she assumed it was Big Macintosh.

The door then opened to the home, and in the doorway Rarity noticed the weary figure of Big Macintosh who didn't look too pleased at being awoken this hour. He did however, immediately become rather surprised at seeing the dressmaker up this early on the farm stead.

"Rarity? What brings you here to cause such a ruckus at this hour?" Big Macintosh rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn as he stood in the doorway. Him being rather oblivious to the worried look plastered on Rarity's face.

"Oh, it's horrible!" Rarity began with a loud wail. "Angel here came to my shop a little while ago with horrendous news..." At the mention of his name, the small white rabbit peered around Rarity's indigo mane and glanced at the red stallion.

Big Macintosh cocked his head to the side as he waited for Rarity to continue. He wasn't sure whether it was her being overly-dramatic once again, or if she was was actually serious.

"Fluttershy was attacked by a monster at her cottage!" Big Macintosh's eyes shot open in an instant, sleep no longer mattering at the urgency of news.

"I'll go get Applejack." Big Macintosh turned away from the doorway, closing the door slightly as he made his way to the stairs across the room. "Just you wait here for a moment, I'll get her up and going then we can be on our way."

Rarity nodded her head and began waiting patiently waiting for Big Macintosh to wake Applejack up. It was an agonizing five minutes as she waited, she knew this for she began counting the seconds as they rolled by due to her current inability to keep herself from remaining calm. Precisely three hundred and twenty-seven seconds later, the door opened to the Apple Family home once again with Applejack now joining Big Macintosh in the doorway.

She looked rather worse for wear in comparison to Rarity, she was suffering from a severe case of bedhead that made almost made Rarity gag at the sight. Applejack's mane was practically sticking in nearly whatever direction it desired, the only exception to that was what bits of her mane that were contained beneath her stetson. And to top it all off, she had several bags hanging underneath her eyes.

"Don't think 'Ah can get used to being woken earlier than Ah'm s'pose to..." Applejack muttered as she gingerly trotted past the two. She held attempted to hold back a yawn as she was trotting off the porch. With her attention required with such, she ultimately bumped into one of the porch's posts with her forehead with a loud klonk. "C'mon Applejack 'ya gotta wake up, y'er friends need you..." She muttered to herself once again as she corrected her path off the porch.

Rarity shook her head at the sight and began trotting after Applejack, who by now was exiting the main property and was now making her way through the orchard. It was none the less surprising for her to see, as even Applejack had the strength to set aside her own needs for the sake of her friends...even if she wasn't as focused as one should.