Pawstepsby roughcollie749ChaptersBorn To DieLong Journey AheadNew DawnNew friendsBorn To DieA loud yowling echoed through the dark corridors, breaking the disturbing silence. It was followed by a loud galloping noise, lab coats flailing in the wind from the sheer speed, heading towards a damp room, filled with cages and cages of chimeras. Genetically engineered to be exact, used as test subjects. Their personalities, wasted, lives a misery, rights and opinions are not there and love does not exist. They lay there, 'sleeping' in fear of what would happen if they stayed up late. One lay restless, a large, marble with thunder-like markings and a pale grey underfur, she breathed heavily before groaning and pushing. Slowly but surely, an object slid out. A small, black and sea green head, followed by a body, legs then a tail. She licked the cub tenderly, allowing it to breath and suckle gently. "Whadda ya think of that, eh?" whispered a mare to the stallion next to her. "Beautiful." He replied, observing the tiny creature at a safe distance. Suddenly, there was strange pony lurking in the shadows. "Quite the charmer, isn't it? You know, I always fell for the cubs.." The grey pony murmured wistfully, looking at the sky. "Bring it here,I want to check it." He ordered. Dull hoofsteps were the only sounds made, until a door clanked open and a mother hit the ground after being knocked out. Squealing covered the room as the kit was picked up and taken to the doctor. He examined it carefully before announcing "Pathetic little scrap, wouldn't last a day in 'ere! Once it is old enough to stop suckling, toss it in the river." They nodded, placing it into her cage. Every day, they were awoken at sunrise, given a small bit of food before getting driven out for testing or a chance to be freed from this Hell. As the days morphed into weeks and weeks formed into months, the cub grew. Vevalon was now her name and she was proud of it. Mornings were hard for her mother, she had to keep the secret from her daughter. She'd wince at the sight of Vevalon, knowing she was destined to die by getting thrown out. A month later, the cage door clanked open again. Feeding time! Salvation in a bowl was about to enter the cats prisons after a long day of injections, cuts, pain and horror. Without even bothering to check for poison or drugs, mother and daughter ate. "Bang, bang" They fell to the floor, wincing in pain. A hoof was wrapped around the cub, dragging it outside before closing the bars again. Lengths of chain were wrapped around her legs, followed by a muzzle on her mouth and a spiked collar with a small tag reading "Vevalon." The ebony kit woke up, to her horror she was in a box, about to be wrapped up in an old rag! She squealed and squirmed before seeing the same male pony that brought the food out for her. "Ahh, you're awake. Shame that you did though as this my be the last thing you'll ever see." Her eyes widened in horror as she attempted to escape her fate. She stared up, watching the last rays of light fade... Long Journey Ahead"Air... Need air... Help.." The cub tried to call out, only for her efforts to be swept away into the water. She was lying in a puddle, tossing and turning against her will. Her sharp collar dug into her neck, causing her to choke and blood to trickle down her fur. "Where am I?" She wondered, clearly knowing she was not home despite liking it. Before she could see the chains, there was a loud thud as the box shuddered and spun around. Vevalon tumbled and shook, causing the chains to wrap around her body and put her in an uncomfortable ball. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't untangle herself. "I just wanna go home..." She sobbed, still trying to escape this torture. Faeces, blood and water were everywhere, seeping through the thin rags and towards the coughing cub. She lay there, waiting for her inevitable fate. When would she ever escape this dull void? Rocks crashed against the poor wood, cracking it and allowing more water to seep in. She coughed and spluttered, water entering her mouth and forcing its way down her throat. Vevalon was powerless against them and gave up. Darkness had long since taken control, carefully picking the most dangerous route possible. Torrents of water swept her mercilessly into rocks, logs, dams and more, pushing her deeper into its murky depths. After this long, she was thinner than a twig and as dry as a desert. "Kill me now, just kill me now and end this suffering." She whined, chains rusting into position and allowing more and more of the sickly fluid into her system. Fighting her restlessness, Vevalon tried to escape one last time before blacking out. Twilight and Rarity were on a swan boat ride, talking about animal testing regarding shampoo and mane products. "I hear they genetically mutate them so they no longer have a snake tail or goat head!" Twilight exclaimed. "I do hope they are treated kindly." Rarity murmured with a shocked look on her face. The purple alicorn shook her head sadly, wishing she could deny the awful truth. "Last week, 10 dead cubs were found in a river, thin as twigs and so young their eyes were never open!" Twilight announced, eyes looking down in respect and twitching slightly in horror. "Time's up!" yelled the keeper, using his magic to bring in the boats. After thanking the stallion (and flirting with him a little bit in Rarity's case) they trotted across the lake, preparing a picnic of: lush honey sandwiches, oatmeal and raisin cookies, flower salad, lemon cake and some apple cider. They ate and chatted, carrying on with the subject of animal testing. A few minutes later, they packed up and trotted home along the river, analysing the current and dangerous beauty of it. Ducklings swam joyfully and fish bobbed to the surface. Rarity dashed off at the sight of something strange. A small, wooden box. New DawnA soft blue glow nestled around Rarity's' horn and the small box's lid. It rose up and let out an unruly stench as it was raised above it's cargo. Her nose reeled but it was bearable as long as the contents were easy to clean, suitable to wear or use as decoration. Twilight galloped towards the ivory mare, meeting her gaze while they untied the ball of rags inside. Rather than the clothes or china Rarity was expecting, there was a small chimera cub in a tight ball, wrapped in rusty chains and wearing muzzle and spiked collar. Her eyes were shut, sides rising and falling steadily as the two mares looked down at the little scrap. They gaped at it for a while before the sun started to melt beyond the horizon. It was that moment when they began to walk their separate ways. "See you tomorrow Twi. Hope you find a nice name for her that fits the old one"Rarity said in her usual dignified manner, remembering the tag on the weak cubs collar. "No, no, no, no, NO!" Spike yelled at the lavender mare (who was feeding the bathed kit), eyes burning with rage. "There is no way in Equestria I am allowing that thing in my basket!" "C'mon Spike, I was going to get you a proper bed tomorrow anyway. Just one night in my bed." Twilight said softly, eyes calm and at peace with the cub in her hooves. "Fine... ONE night and that's it. I am not sharing a bed with anyone else for longer than that. You'd better get that bed you were on about." Spike growled, glaring at the small bundle of fur. Vevalon coughed and spluttered, Twily had forgotten to lower the bottle from her despite her protests for solid food. "Names, names, names...." Twilight paced around, glancing at Vevalon for inspiration. "I can't just keep calling you Vevalon because that's too long." she muttered, before looking at her developing wings and emerald marks. "That's it! Vern! It's like Fern but with a v instead of an f! Suits your old name and your colouration!" the mare yelled triumphantly, patting the cub on the head. "Good night... Vern and Spike." she mumbled, falling into a deep slumber, followed by Spike, then Vern. New friendsLaughter encased Twilights library as a bundle of ebony, ivory and sea green flew across the room towards a lavender mare. It had been a year since Vevalon was taken in and renamed. Twilight was teaching the cub hunting skills (like a wild chimera mother would do) so that she could let her go. The thought of sending Vern into the forest after saving her life and caring for her as if she was her own child hurt Twilight, so much so that she had already taught the adopted pet hiding and camouflage so that they could meet in secret. Whenever another pony entered the tree, Vern would zip off to the closest hiding spot she could find and was not caught, however, that changed today. "Twilight! Look out!" a Southern accent yelled as the purple mare's leg got bit. With a grunt and loud squealing, an orange pony had the small creature under her hoof, flailing madly. "What in tarnation is this critter doin' here? I'm sure you know what happened with the last chimera who met a certain little filly!" Applejack grunted, picking up the miserable cat. Twilight was lost for words at her friends sudden hostility to the defenceless animal, she placed a hoof forward and explained the story of finding a small box with her inside. The apple horse was still eyeing Vevalon, who had managed to discover her tail and was biting it madly, before pulling at her wings and asking "So she is a lion laced with a dragon? Pfft, that ain't a chimera, that's a manticore without a scorpion tail." Twilight intercepted with: "Chimeras have a range of combinations, they originally breathed fire and had wings, just like her until they changed and adapted to different places. So she has no other heads, big deal!" Applejack took a step back, considering her words and was about to reply when Fluttershy walked in. "Oh, um. Did I disrupt something? If I did, I am terribly sorry and- Is that a genetically modified chimera?!" She said softly, not wishing to scare the cub as she took it out of AJ's hooves. It squeaked and threw her paws around in distress before eventually calming down and purring contently with her sudden kindness and the gentle air that hung around the pony. A lock of pink mane drooped down, launching the cat into play mode again as she batted it with her tiny paw. Fluttershy chuckled softly as it brushed across the kits' nose and it let out a tiny sneeze that sent it flying into a gap in the bookshelf. They all laughed as it pretended to run and popped out, landing face-first into one of her books. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie burst in, laughing as clothes dye dripped from their manes. "Rarity's going to be so pissed off!" The rainbow-maned pony chuckled to the pink, hoof-bumping each other before greeting the other three ponies and hiding under the stairs and not noticing the small furball in Fluttershy's hooves. Another pony stormed through the doorway screaming bloody murder (this means yelling a lot in an angry way directed at certain people, for those who did not know). She asked her three friends where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were. "They ruined my latest fashion line, now I have to start again! It took me months to find the fabric and gems and now look!" The snowy mare pulled a white dress out of her saddlebag, stained with reds, greens, blacks, oranges and more. "Why, it's not even good enough for Opal!" she cried, hurling it onto the floor and stamping on it until her gaze moved to Fluttershy. She trotted over to the cream mare, inspecting the bundle of fur she was holding. A gasp covered the room as she remembered the cub and forgot about her ruined dresses. "Twilight... I thought you would take care of her yourself, you know how many animals she has to cope with already!" She winced, feeling a hoof on her shoulder. "I didn't know about this lil' cutie until now!" Fluttershy corrected her friends wrong thoughts, handing the cub to Rarity. "So what did you call Vevalon?" Rarity asked eagerly, not hiding the fact that she knew about where she was from. "I called her... Vern." Twilight piped up, ushering Pinkie and Rainbow out from their hiding place and told the story of how they found the cub and the struggles of naming it.
Born To DieA loud yowling echoed through the dark corridors, breaking the disturbing silence. It was followed by a loud galloping noise, lab coats flailing in the wind from the sheer speed, heading towards a damp room, filled with cages and cages of chimeras. Genetically engineered to be exact, used as test subjects. Their personalities, wasted, lives a misery, rights and opinions are not there and love does not exist. They lay there, 'sleeping' in fear of what would happen if they stayed up late. One lay restless, a large, marble with thunder-like markings and a pale grey underfur, she breathed heavily before groaning and pushing. Slowly but surely, an object slid out. A small, black and sea green head, followed by a body, legs then a tail. She licked the cub tenderly, allowing it to breath and suckle gently. "Whadda ya think of that, eh?" whispered a mare to the stallion next to her. "Beautiful." He replied, observing the tiny creature at a safe distance. Suddenly, there was strange pony lurking in the shadows. "Quite the charmer, isn't it? You know, I always fell for the cubs.." The grey pony murmured wistfully, looking at the sky. "Bring it here,I want to check it." He ordered. Dull hoofsteps were the only sounds made, until a door clanked open and a mother hit the ground after being knocked out. Squealing covered the room as the kit was picked up and taken to the doctor. He examined it carefully before announcing "Pathetic little scrap, wouldn't last a day in 'ere! Once it is old enough to stop suckling, toss it in the river." They nodded, placing it into her cage. Every day, they were awoken at sunrise, given a small bit of food before getting driven out for testing or a chance to be freed from this Hell. As the days morphed into weeks and weeks formed into months, the cub grew. Vevalon was now her name and she was proud of it. Mornings were hard for her mother, she had to keep the secret from her daughter. She'd wince at the sight of Vevalon, knowing she was destined to die by getting thrown out. A month later, the cage door clanked open again. Feeding time! Salvation in a bowl was about to enter the cats prisons after a long day of injections, cuts, pain and horror. Without even bothering to check for poison or drugs, mother and daughter ate. "Bang, bang" They fell to the floor, wincing in pain. A hoof was wrapped around the cub, dragging it outside before closing the bars again. Lengths of chain were wrapped around her legs, followed by a muzzle on her mouth and a spiked collar with a small tag reading "Vevalon." The ebony kit woke up, to her horror she was in a box, about to be wrapped up in an old rag! She squealed and squirmed before seeing the same male pony that brought the food out for her. "Ahh, you're awake. Shame that you did though as this my be the last thing you'll ever see." Her eyes widened in horror as she attempted to escape her fate. She stared up, watching the last rays of light fade...
Long Journey Ahead"Air... Need air... Help.." The cub tried to call out, only for her efforts to be swept away into the water. She was lying in a puddle, tossing and turning against her will. Her sharp collar dug into her neck, causing her to choke and blood to trickle down her fur. "Where am I?" She wondered, clearly knowing she was not home despite liking it. Before she could see the chains, there was a loud thud as the box shuddered and spun around. Vevalon tumbled and shook, causing the chains to wrap around her body and put her in an uncomfortable ball. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't untangle herself. "I just wanna go home..." She sobbed, still trying to escape this torture. Faeces, blood and water were everywhere, seeping through the thin rags and towards the coughing cub. She lay there, waiting for her inevitable fate. When would she ever escape this dull void? Rocks crashed against the poor wood, cracking it and allowing more water to seep in. She coughed and spluttered, water entering her mouth and forcing its way down her throat. Vevalon was powerless against them and gave up. Darkness had long since taken control, carefully picking the most dangerous route possible. Torrents of water swept her mercilessly into rocks, logs, dams and more, pushing her deeper into its murky depths. After this long, she was thinner than a twig and as dry as a desert. "Kill me now, just kill me now and end this suffering." She whined, chains rusting into position and allowing more and more of the sickly fluid into her system. Fighting her restlessness, Vevalon tried to escape one last time before blacking out. Twilight and Rarity were on a swan boat ride, talking about animal testing regarding shampoo and mane products. "I hear they genetically mutate them so they no longer have a snake tail or goat head!" Twilight exclaimed. "I do hope they are treated kindly." Rarity murmured with a shocked look on her face. The purple alicorn shook her head sadly, wishing she could deny the awful truth. "Last week, 10 dead cubs were found in a river, thin as twigs and so young their eyes were never open!" Twilight announced, eyes looking down in respect and twitching slightly in horror. "Time's up!" yelled the keeper, using his magic to bring in the boats. After thanking the stallion (and flirting with him a little bit in Rarity's case) they trotted across the lake, preparing a picnic of: lush honey sandwiches, oatmeal and raisin cookies, flower salad, lemon cake and some apple cider. They ate and chatted, carrying on with the subject of animal testing. A few minutes later, they packed up and trotted home along the river, analysing the current and dangerous beauty of it. Ducklings swam joyfully and fish bobbed to the surface. Rarity dashed off at the sight of something strange. A small, wooden box.
New DawnA soft blue glow nestled around Rarity's' horn and the small box's lid. It rose up and let out an unruly stench as it was raised above it's cargo. Her nose reeled but it was bearable as long as the contents were easy to clean, suitable to wear or use as decoration. Twilight galloped towards the ivory mare, meeting her gaze while they untied the ball of rags inside. Rather than the clothes or china Rarity was expecting, there was a small chimera cub in a tight ball, wrapped in rusty chains and wearing muzzle and spiked collar. Her eyes were shut, sides rising and falling steadily as the two mares looked down at the little scrap. They gaped at it for a while before the sun started to melt beyond the horizon. It was that moment when they began to walk their separate ways. "See you tomorrow Twi. Hope you find a nice name for her that fits the old one"Rarity said in her usual dignified manner, remembering the tag on the weak cubs collar. "No, no, no, no, NO!" Spike yelled at the lavender mare (who was feeding the bathed kit), eyes burning with rage. "There is no way in Equestria I am allowing that thing in my basket!" "C'mon Spike, I was going to get you a proper bed tomorrow anyway. Just one night in my bed." Twilight said softly, eyes calm and at peace with the cub in her hooves. "Fine... ONE night and that's it. I am not sharing a bed with anyone else for longer than that. You'd better get that bed you were on about." Spike growled, glaring at the small bundle of fur. Vevalon coughed and spluttered, Twily had forgotten to lower the bottle from her despite her protests for solid food. "Names, names, names...." Twilight paced around, glancing at Vevalon for inspiration. "I can't just keep calling you Vevalon because that's too long." she muttered, before looking at her developing wings and emerald marks. "That's it! Vern! It's like Fern but with a v instead of an f! Suits your old name and your colouration!" the mare yelled triumphantly, patting the cub on the head. "Good night... Vern and Spike." she mumbled, falling into a deep slumber, followed by Spike, then Vern.
New friendsLaughter encased Twilights library as a bundle of ebony, ivory and sea green flew across the room towards a lavender mare. It had been a year since Vevalon was taken in and renamed. Twilight was teaching the cub hunting skills (like a wild chimera mother would do) so that she could let her go. The thought of sending Vern into the forest after saving her life and caring for her as if she was her own child hurt Twilight, so much so that she had already taught the adopted pet hiding and camouflage so that they could meet in secret. Whenever another pony entered the tree, Vern would zip off to the closest hiding spot she could find and was not caught, however, that changed today. "Twilight! Look out!" a Southern accent yelled as the purple mare's leg got bit. With a grunt and loud squealing, an orange pony had the small creature under her hoof, flailing madly. "What in tarnation is this critter doin' here? I'm sure you know what happened with the last chimera who met a certain little filly!" Applejack grunted, picking up the miserable cat. Twilight was lost for words at her friends sudden hostility to the defenceless animal, she placed a hoof forward and explained the story of finding a small box with her inside. The apple horse was still eyeing Vevalon, who had managed to discover her tail and was biting it madly, before pulling at her wings and asking "So she is a lion laced with a dragon? Pfft, that ain't a chimera, that's a manticore without a scorpion tail." Twilight intercepted with: "Chimeras have a range of combinations, they originally breathed fire and had wings, just like her until they changed and adapted to different places. So she has no other heads, big deal!" Applejack took a step back, considering her words and was about to reply when Fluttershy walked in. "Oh, um. Did I disrupt something? If I did, I am terribly sorry and- Is that a genetically modified chimera?!" She said softly, not wishing to scare the cub as she took it out of AJ's hooves. It squeaked and threw her paws around in distress before eventually calming down and purring contently with her sudden kindness and the gentle air that hung around the pony. A lock of pink mane drooped down, launching the cat into play mode again as she batted it with her tiny paw. Fluttershy chuckled softly as it brushed across the kits' nose and it let out a tiny sneeze that sent it flying into a gap in the bookshelf. They all laughed as it pretended to run and popped out, landing face-first into one of her books. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie burst in, laughing as clothes dye dripped from their manes. "Rarity's going to be so pissed off!" The rainbow-maned pony chuckled to the pink, hoof-bumping each other before greeting the other three ponies and hiding under the stairs and not noticing the small furball in Fluttershy's hooves. Another pony stormed through the doorway screaming bloody murder (this means yelling a lot in an angry way directed at certain people, for those who did not know). She asked her three friends where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were. "They ruined my latest fashion line, now I have to start again! It took me months to find the fabric and gems and now look!" The snowy mare pulled a white dress out of her saddlebag, stained with reds, greens, blacks, oranges and more. "Why, it's not even good enough for Opal!" she cried, hurling it onto the floor and stamping on it until her gaze moved to Fluttershy. She trotted over to the cream mare, inspecting the bundle of fur she was holding. A gasp covered the room as she remembered the cub and forgot about her ruined dresses. "Twilight... I thought you would take care of her yourself, you know how many animals she has to cope with already!" She winced, feeling a hoof on her shoulder. "I didn't know about this lil' cutie until now!" Fluttershy corrected her friends wrong thoughts, handing the cub to Rarity. "So what did you call Vevalon?" Rarity asked eagerly, not hiding the fact that she knew about where she was from. "I called her... Vern." Twilight piped up, ushering Pinkie and Rainbow out from their hiding place and told the story of how they found the cub and the struggles of naming it.
