HiE: Hivemind in Equestria
I came to consciousness floating in a void. I tried to look around, but saw nothing in all direction. I had no idea what was going on so I tried to make some sort of sound, but realized I couldn’t hear anything. Tried to call for help, but couldn’t even hear my own voice. Panicking I tried to swim my arms, this made me notice I couldn’t even feel my body. Just this senseless void. I floated around in increasing amounts of despair, of where I was, what was going on, ‘till I felt something. Off to one side was a presence radiating calming feelings, almost like… maybe how one felt when their siblings were trying to calm them. I turned my attention over there and noticed two… orbs of light? I knew they weren’t light, but I can’t find the words to properly describe them. The orbs looked a bit confused and worried, sort of rippling in distress at my thoughts but mostly they seemed to be trying to calm me down from my worry, tell me that everything is going to be alright.
Curious, at both the orbs and the fact I somehow knew what they were saying/broadcasting I focused closer on one of the orbs, and suddenly I was aware of grass under my hands and feet as I stood looking around. I could smell on the air fresh dirt, water, clean air, and was struck at how different this was from the city I was playing in just a few moments ago. I look to my side and see my brother, similarly confused- wait, brother?!
I pull back and find myself back in the void with just the two lights. Why in the world did I think that pink muscular monster was my brother!? It was some sort of mutated gorilla or something! With lava-blood or something rolling through its veins, not to mention the skinless appearance and the sharp teeth glistening in the sunlight. The orbs turned inquisitive, seemed to be asking me what they should do, like how a child would ask their parents for advice. I kept my distance and resisted focusing before slowly my curiosity over-rode my cautiousness, and I focused on the other orb of light, and once again my surroundings replaced themselves with a rolling field of grass. However, this time I was in a different position, seemingly the one occupied by the monster-gorilla from earlier. I glance to my side, towards where I was earlier, and confirm that there was a similar monster/brother sitting there, looking at me with curiosity, twisting its head at me like a dog would.
I felt a hunger deep in my being, along with what felt almost as a question. Feed? Almost without thinking I acquiesced, and suddenly I was off into the nearby forest, legs carrying me at such a speed everything was little more than a blur of green and brown with specks of blue, hearing my brother following a short distance behind. I took a deep whiff, and learned much about the forest. It was moist but not wet which meant it rained a few days ago, birds frequented the area which I could tell from distant chirps and their smell, and more importantly, a delicious smelling animal passed through not long ago. I instantly lock on the smell, and follow it, maneuvering around the fragile trees and moving at just a fraction of my possible speed, not wanting to make too much noise, with all these fallen branches and my brother/monster followed suit. Despite this, I covered ground quickly, and found my prey. Some four-limbed creature, with long thin legs and horns sprouting from it’s head- a deer, why was it’s name escaping me, I know damn well this thing was familiar. Anyways, it had barely a moment to notice me before I was on it, grabbing it in my large hands, I raised it, ignoring it screams, and took a large chomp biting off it’s front end. I left the back end for my brother, less tasty, but I was the one who caught it.
Quickly I pulled myself back out into the void. It seems I merge with the creatures whenever I focus on the orbs, not just seeing what they do, but also hearing their thoughts as if it was my own. Cautiously, I refocused my attention on one of the orbs, trying to hold myself back from going all in, and seemed to unfold into what amounts to a screen, showing what it sees, but without all the other senses and feelings. I backed off slightly as the other half disappeared just thinking of how something at least… four feet long and something tall was wolfed down in two bites. How big are these two things?
Well this is a forest and probably a lake somewhere, or at least a puddle from the rain and I… we could grab something so I can compare size. Or just look through one of their eyes. That’s easier than finding a lake, though I should probably see if I can get these things to look for one later, everything needs to drink. Probably smart enough to look for water by themselves though… What now?
Focusing back on one of the two orbs, but keeping my distance as not to be absorbed by those feelings of the two… I’ma just call them Maulers for now until I find a better name, I watched one of them lazily make a circle around a tree sniffing the air every few steps. Their noses, which seemed to be little more than a human’s nose without any skin or the actual nose, had to be ultra powerful for them to be able to tell as much information as they did with one sniff, like they did earlier.
The one’s eyes that I was looking through had my view just tracing where the other Mauler was walking around, its claws digging into the earth, the red bloodied and black arms glowing with red veins. The shoulders and neck seemed to have the most skin on the body with it disappearing as my view traveled elsewhere. A lipless mouth, with the bottom teeth hidden by the larger and sharper teeth also hid the other surprise in its mouth, the throat which looked like a fire was constantly roaring inside, I paid the noseless nose holes less attention as I had already puzzled over it and moved onto the red glaring eyes, the red being the only color in the otherwise black eyes. As it rounded the tree it had been pacing I got a view of what looked like its spinal cord, or spikes, running down the middle of its back, along with the back completely being made of bulging muscles.
Whatever these things are, I could tell that they were meant to rend, rip, ravage and kill. My pondering was interrupted by another feeling, this time not from my own thoughts but from the two Maulers. I was again reminded of a child asking a parent something, except this time it was a bit more…. distinct in its feeling. Hard to describe, just this time I could tell that the feeling was not about food, me, a general direction. This time it felt like I needed to give something exact. Order exact.
I edged away from that orb of light and went to the other letting myself get sucked in, maybe I could figure out what exactly this one had sniffed out. I sniffed again, letting out a low growl as I caught another whiff of those things again. It smelt like these trees all around me, but it was off a bit, smelt more alive. Like a predator, but not as predatory as my brothers back home. And it was moving… two closer, seven farther away. Two of the seven seemed smaller, less scent off of them. The rest of the forest had more predators and prey, but they were either all insignificantly smaller or were far enough away that they weren’t a problem.
Pulling myself back into the senseless void I wondered as to what smells like a tree but isn’t a tree, then the same questioning feeling came back again. Okay these things keep looking to me, I think, so maybe offering them something to do or telling them? How to tell them though, I can’t exactly talk. Maybe just think of them investigating those tree-thin-- HOLY SHIT!! The orb I was looking through instantly became a blur of colors as the two ran off in the direction of the tree-smelling creatures.
I couldn’t tell how far the duo went, and I was reluctant to get back in their shoes again. So I crossed my non-existent legs and leaned back, while the two of them ran through the forest. I even backed out enough so I could watch the two of them at the same time, albeit it was a bit fuzzy since I wasn’t paying too much attention to either one.
At once the duo stopped running and slid to a stop, the ground erupting in a spray of dirt and twigs as the two of them slammed their arms and legs into the ground to stop themselves, even smashing through a tree or two. The only reason they’d stop is if they encountered those tree-creatures I, we smelled earlier. Okay I don’t see jack shit right now, in this lightly lite woods, so first-person view please.
I could smell those tree-predators around me, but I couldn’t pick them out from the hundreds of trees around me. I looked towards my brother and let out a small grunt, him replying in response with his own as we separated slightly. I took a deep whiff of the air and could tell that those things in question were somewhere close. My ears strained to pick up the sounds of them breathing, twigs snapping under their feet, but all I heard was my brother, circling around opposite of me.
My head turned as I gazed around the forest and walked forward in silence. A twig snapped and I whirled around towards it, to see a tree jump to life at me, snarling mouth, wooden claws and a few green leaves hanging off of its jaw. Holy fuck that thing is a wooden wolf, everything even the eyes were wood, what the hell! I roared as it slammed into me,shoving us both into a roll, and I kicked it off of me, the tree-predator disappearing through the tree-tops above. And these things have the legs of Roger.
My brother snarled at his own tree-predator that had ambushed him, but unlike me he had warning and had swiped his claws straight through the tree-predator, sending it crumbling into pieces onto the ground. I idly noticed instead of blood being sprayed everywhere when my brother cut through it, it was water keeping in connotation with the wood based wolf. I hissed at the pieces before hopping away from my spot, knowing that the one that had ambushed me would crash momentarily. The branches parted to make way for the falling meteor of wood as it hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
I wasted no time before leaping at it and using my mouth to rip out its throat, then for good measure started clawing at the head until it was nothing more than woodchips. My brother yipped at me as I huffed in anger at the tree-predator that had just ambushed me. My head turned to him as he sniffed in the direction of the other tree-predators and jerked his head towards them, wanting to catch up to them before they got too far away. I sniffed at the air myself to get an idea of where they had gone too, before growling and chasing after them, my brother letting out a happy half-howl at our chase.
The tree-predators were twice as far as they were earlier, as if knowing their kin had just died. Me and my family were the predators now, they would learn that the hard way. Forgoing stealth my muscles tensed right before I flung myself through the tree-line, easily smashing through the branches. High in the air I got a view of the forest in question, along with a massive hill just up ahead, then some gleaming Lesser’s creations in the distance. I’m detecting a minute amount of hate to whatever a Lesser is. But I ignored those things and focused on the trees that were running through the forest, making it easy to differentiate them from the tree around them.
As my arc through the air slowed and I came to the ground I alerted my brother to the tree-predators just up ahead with a roar, and he responded in kind, splitting off to cut them off from ahead while I would keep following from behind. His blessed-red skin disappeared from view before I came crashing back into the ground, several trees smashed by my weight and momentum, while I shrugged it off and continued chasing.
I poured all my strength into my arms and legs as I chased after them, smashing through the weak trees as I had once done too the Lesser’s shining moving boxes, the trees which were no trouble at all compared to the things I had done before. I was confused at that, because I caught a glimpse of a car. But yet I’m pretty sure these things would make the news if anybody ever saw these things barreling down a street. Before long I caught sight of trees that were darting between other trees, running on all fours, the smell of fear pouring off of them. The tree-predators, not much of predators now.
My brother was up ahead somewhere, evident by the familiar smell of the blessing on his skin wafting through the air. I slowed as I neared the back of their pack, waiting for my brother to choose the moment to ambush them, him being ahead allowing for the perfect moment to rip them all apart. While I lazily chased them as they darted through the trees, the smell of other predators moving farther away, even though I should have been closer, was something I duly noted.
But that note disappeared as I caught sight of my brother sailing through the trees, slamming into two of them with his outstretched arms, I made my own move on the remaining three with two little versions of them perched on their backs desperately clinging for their lives. Wait a minute, those are fucking kids, errr pups! Fucking stop trying to kill them you gorilla freaks!
I stopped prowling towards them, confused by Father. I yanked myself out of the orb and let myself drift, my non-existent face transformed into an ugly grimace. I’m their Pa? Okay fuck no, back up I need to think. The two orbs of light started to shimmer slightly, giving off that same calming feeling and I did a mental snarl at them, the shimmer dying off slightly. In their fields of vision I could see the two wooden wolves that one of them bodyslam scurry off into the woods, just to re-appear by I’m guessing the mother of the pack with two little ones hanging onto her back.
One of the orb’s view moved forward and I snarled at that one, making the view jump back slightly. When the wolves noticed that my gorilla’s weren’t attacking the mother and her two guards, those ran off while the other two hung back to guard against us chasing them. I switched my attention from the orbs and paid attention to the ‘feelings’ I was getting.
I actually couldn’t feel it, nor could I see it but I knew that those ‘feelings’ were there. Right now those feelings I was getting was to that akin of a child I’d just scolded, pouting lips and all. I myself, not knowing why, immediately went to comfort them, ‘speaking’ sweet nothings about how good, fast, strong, brutal and etc. they were. I didn’t notice when the wood-wolfs left, because I was busy doing the mental equivalent of scratching these things behind the ears.
I only stopped when I realized I had no fucking idea where that feeling of wanting to comfort them came from. Then I noticed the wolfs had left, and the forest was darker than before, guess it was night now. Would be prudent to find shelter now, where was that mountain I/we saw a while ago? The orbs’ view moved as the two started to lazily walk in a direction, which I’m guessing is the direction of the mountain.
I didn’t bother telling them to hurry up, instead using the time to quietly muse to myself. Those wooden wolfs were something new, almost fucking magical. I gave a non-existent smirk when I realized the play on words, Timberwolves, before returning to my thinking. Shit like this didn’t exist on Earth, otherwise it’d be on the news 24/7. Neither are these two Maulers, as I so crudely termed them, but yet I’d caught a glimpse of a car in its thoughts(?), memories?
Bred for war and violence these two creatures were, just judging by their speed and strength, not even counting the fact it had a single scratch when it smashed through those trees like the hulk. Makes me glad I wasn’t in my own body right now because I might be Mauler food.
Two types of creatures, one for war, the other of pure nature, neither of which existed on Earth to my limit knowledge. What the hell else was here, that I didn’t know of? I was jerked out of my thoughts as the Maulers started walking up the mountain and they both howled in the direction of the forest, as to dissuade anything from coming up. I urged them to hurry up so I could get a better view of my new ‘home’ and they obliged, turning into a flat-out run on all four legs up the mountain.
Nearing the top one of them turned around back towards the direction of those gleaming metal lines and I saw a welcoming sight. A small little town, well small from up here anyways, with lights on and a train following those metal lines, slowing as it neared the town. Maybe I could find some people or books to figure out what the hell was going on right now. Okay now to go to said town, just need to get these damn Maulers mov-- I gave a mental smirk as they both started running back down the mountain towards the town, running straight through the trees and sending splinters flying everywhere. The two of them sniffed at the air as they ran, but neither of them gave any indication of them smelling more predators.
Within a few minutes they smashed through the last few trees and broke out into the green plains, being little more than blurs on the landscape as they headed towards the town. Another few minutes and I had the two of them slow down as the lights glared over the edge of a hill directly in front of us. Focusing in on one of the orbs again I let myself get absorbed.
I didn’t even need to smell the air to tell what was ahead, for their scent permeated the air, polluting it with their stink. Prey and Lesser’s creations everywhere. But no Lesser smells, just Prey everywhere. Most were asleep but some were wide awake, anger emanating from them along with fear. I looked at my brother as he snarled towards them, I looked back towards the Lesser Hive and snarled too, it didn’t matter if they smelled like Prey or Lessers, they would still pay the same price.
I pulled back out and questioned the constant glaring anger towards these ‘Lessers’ what the hell did they do to piss these things off so? Another mystery to solve later, but first to get near the town without sending everybody into a panic, what with these things looking live demons. With a mental shove I got the two of them to start slowly approaching the town again, walking over the crest of the hill and getting a nice view of the town.
Which looked medieval as fuck minus three buildings. Most seemed to be roofed with straw and/or hay, the three buildings that weren’t seemed to be part brick/metal judging by how they gleamed under a few street lights situated around those and only those buildings except the train station. That station had four lights situated around it while a few figures could be seen exiting it, but these eyes couldn’t make out all that much about them. Did I fucking land in some anime? What type of place is like this besides the worst parts of Africa?
Groaning in the void I waved the Maulers on and watched as they skillfully avoided the train platform and wandered around the right side of the town, closer to one of the three non hut-like buildings. One of the two moved closer to the huts, while the other took the most direct-stealthy route to the modern building.
As the two of them wandered and gave me different views of doors, windows, flowers, barrels, buckets and other random items, I realized how small everything was. Or how big the Maulers were. But still these doors seemed a bit small for a person to walk through and those windows seemed midget sized. The Mauler at the hut picked up a random bucket and perused its contents, making a few jingles as it poured out gardening supplies. The Mauler busied itself with poking out the different tools inside the bucket
The other finally arrived at the modern building, showing a welcoming sign of a red cross set on the top of the building, right above the entrance where a part of the building jutted out to give people some shade from would-be rain. A fucking hospital! YES! Now this would be a welcome place to go to, get some info on what’s going on. Or at the very least see what nationality its staff were so I could guess what country I’m in.
Though if I were to have the Mauler wander inside I’d run the risk of having screaming people running around. Or being shot at. If they have streetlights they probably have guns. Though these things can run through trees without so much as a single fucking scratch. Bullets might not work and just bounce off, or at the very least have trouble going through these things skin.
Oh fuck it I’m having this dude walk in. With that thought running through my mind the Mauler wandered towards the front door, the light shining on his skin as he stepped out of the shadows. Then he walked under the overhang and ducked his head thanks to the midget sized everything this town seemed to be designed for. A brightly lit foyer met the Mauler’s eyes as he walked to the doors and they slid open for him.
He puzzled for a moment before shrugging and walking through, to give me a view of the person manning the desk, mouth agape in a scream that was about to happen.
Except…. the term manning meant it was a person.
And it wasn’t.
It was a god damn motherfucking purple horse, with a red mane, a horn popping out of its head and was wearing a nurses cap. The Mauler and I stared as the horse started screaming and flailed its hoofs around in its little twisty chair, before disappearing in a colored tumble as it fell behind the desk. It shortly popped back into view as it scurred off down the hall on its hoofs still screaming, its nurses cap falling off as it ran away.
The Mauler turned as it heard something behind it, in what I’m guessing was the waiting room. To see another fucking horse, this time one with wings colored a complete white, mane and all. Jesus christ those eyes are huge, now that I pay attention to them. Not to mention the human-like way its face was held in for pure terror. The wings jumped to attention as it too screamed and ran away, or more correctly flew away, down the hall.
……..
…….
…….. Fuck no I’m going back to the forest, makes more sense there.
