Cinematic Adventures: Ice Age

Direwolves and Surprises

A warm golden glow began to blanket the snowy landscape of the Ice Age, as the sun slowly cast its light over the horizon. The snow softly crunched under the foot/hoof steps of Quill Cast, Curtain Call, Atalanta, and Jon Snow. The four slowly traversed across the landscape, walking for what felt like hours. From the moment this journey began, they've been tracking the monstrous Wendigo they arrived to find. Thus far, their efforts have proved fruitless as they've yet to find the true source of its passage. No footprints, no blood trails, nothing to give them direction. Tracking this monster proved to be a very difficult task.

"How is it we're not finding a trace of this thing?" Atalanta asked. "My changeling sense of smell could pick up a trail of any animal or creature from fifty miles away in any kind of weather."

"The problem is that the thing we're tracking is no animal," Quill informed his fiancée. "It's a supernatural creature with many unnatural abilities. Super quick, ungodly strong, and while you can smell it from fifty miles away, they can smell blood from hundreds of miles away. It's a supreme killing machine and knows how to stay undetected."

"That's just in its mortal form," Curtain Call pointed out.

"Then how are we supposed to find it?" Atalanta questioned further. "Are there any ways to even track it?"

"Only a few defining elements that could help us locate its possible location."

"Like what?"

"When we first encountered the beast beyond the Wall, we were immediately overcome by a horrid smell," Jon spoke up. "It was though we were surrounded by Death itself. Even though it was already freezing, you could feel the cold air dropping even further. Then there's it's deathly howl, you'll never hear anything else like it in your life."

Atalanta absorbed this knowledge and she had to admit, the more she heard about this beast the more nervous she grew. They had many dangerous beasts in Equestria, and thus far most of them paled in comparison to this monster.

"I'm surprised you survived facing it the first time," Ata spoke amazed.

"So were we," Quill chuckled. "But right now, we have a chance to finish it off once and for all."

"Technically... there's no real way to finish a Wendigo," Curtain Call corrected. "A Wendigo's skin is hard like armor. It can't be cut, stabbed, or pierced by bullets. The only way to hold them at bay is fire, it makes their skin weak. We can't finish off a Wendigo, only as a last resort, as death releases the Wendigo spirit. We merely need to capture its spirit before it is able to possess another living soul."

"You sound like some pony who believes in Wendigo," Atalanta nodded.

"Actually, no... well, not at first," Curtain Call admitted. "Compared to my buddy, I'm a big skeptic when it comes to the supernatural. But that job in the Blackwood Mountains changes one's perspective. If you think a regular Wendigo is bad, let's hope the one we're after is not the Makkapitew."

"The Makkapitew?" Atalanta asked worriedly.

"The strongest of all the Wendigos, pretty much the Alpha of the whole race. The word alone means 'One who has big teeth' and is 'the fiercest of them all' according to the Native Americans. I've seen for myself what this monster could do... if this is the very Wendigo we're hunting, it'll take everything we got to get back alive."

"Hopefully we'll never have to worry about us or any pony else ending up as its dinner," Quill spoke up.

Eventually, the group made their way to the top of a nearby hill that overlooked the valley beneath. There was a calm, gentle river flowing across the rocky gorge before transitioning into a massive waterfall that fell off the nearby cliffs. What they noticed most, however, was a tiny village composed of little huts and tents.