White ice covers the ground as far as one can see. Or it would, if not for the dense tree canopy above. Instead, there were only small patches where the moonlight descended upon the forest floor. Despite this lack of immediate ice in contact with her four legs, the only feeling she felt was cold. Not a summer night's breeze cold, nor the cold from drying water on her chitin, but a shrill chill that could be felt in her heart. Enough to kill one without fur in time.
One regret she had was being born without fur. Sure, she could emulate it by shifting her form, but despite having fur in the transformation, the soon-to-numb cold refused to leave. So she walked. She may not have known much about anatomy, but it wouldn't take much for anyone to know that moving makes you warmer. Or at least enough to survive just that bit longer. So she walked.
She walked seemingly aimlessly to any would-be onlooker, but she was trying to find another soul. If she were to be fortunate, it would be a soul unlike her own. If she found another like her, she would have to fight or run. It would only be wasted energy. She knows by now that she cannot consume flesh or plant. If she found one unlike her, she would at least live for a few orbits of the moon. a week if she conserved her energy well. How long had it been since she last ate? It had been 6 orbits if her memory served her right. Right now, she felt one thing other than numbness, hunger. Oh, how she was hungry. The ponies would say starving, but to her kind, there has always been hunger. If she wasn't shaking from the cold, she would be shaking from the hunger. When she was younger, she had heard myths and stories about an end to the hunger. But that was it. Merely fictional. Thus, her journey across the major forest making up the closer lands outside of the Ebony castle. Her hope was to find a passive settlement and attempt to blend in to survive, but she would settle for even a lonesome hermit at this point. Thinking about it, she hadn't rested in a day either. She needed to rest, but that could wait. For now, she needed to eat. If she slept now, she might not wake up. She set her sights upon where the horizon should be and kept walking forward.
Thump
Immediately she slinked into a nearby bush. She knew she heard the sound to her left, and so she looked that direction. She knew about the beasts who roamed this forest, but she had only gotten glimpses of them from time to time. She supposed they have been going into early hibernation from the cold. However, once they did, they wouldn't be waking up. Not anytime soon at least.
She shook her head to regain focus, panicking slightly for her lapse in concentration. Thankfully nothing had found her. In fact, nothing had changed at all. There was only the thump and then nothing. 'Interesting.' She snuck around through bushes in the direction of the sound. every now and again a slight rustle could be heard from her path, but she tried her best. Her skills lie in deception inside the crowd, not alone. Others like her became good at that, preferring that method to collect food. She didn't know why. She considered throwing caution to the wind, but she decided against it. 'It could be a trap, after all.'
Taking her time, she slowly made her way to where the sound originated. There was a slight clearing, with the faintest amount of moonlight shining upon it. But her attention lies not on her surroundings. In the middle of the small clearing, lays an orange earth pony stallion with a short brown mane. Sensing faint emotion from the sleeping stallion, she slightly relaxed, knowing it wasn't more of her kind. 'Finally.' The stallion seemingly laying down, she watched to see what would happen for a minute. Two. Five. Eventually, she became certain that the stallion was asleep and without a single noticeable injury. This being concerning, considering the lack of any noticeable nearby civilization and how offensive every living creature had become recently. Recently, ponies had avoided leaving the town to the point of not being able to see it anymore. Feeling more and more like a trap, she picked up a small pebble with her magic.
Ignoring the building headache, she tossed the pebble a few trees over, hoping to garner any reaction from any would-be hunters. Upon no emotion, sound or movement of any kind, other than the stallion himself, who didn't change at all, she slowly got up and walked to the stallion. As she walked up, she inspected him further. 'H-he's huge!' She was tall, taller than all but two rival alicorns as far as equine species go. But this stallion, if standing, would without a doubt be a hoof or two taller than the alicorns themselves. Shocked, she looked towards his sides, expecting to see wings. However, none were there.
After a minute of standing in shock, she returned to what senses she had that hadn't been assaulted by the cold or her hunger. With the emotion he was giving off was the equivalent of a buffet to her, she drooled. She had been starving for too long. With the amount of emotion he was generating, she would like to bring him along with her. But she knew from her fading headache that arose using only telekinesis, she wouldn't be able to shapeshift at the moment to fool the stallion. For now, she would have to lie against the huge stallion.
Being somewhat close to the stallion, she was already passively feeding on the emotions around him. As she dropped, she managed to slowly lay against the stallion without waking him. He was warm. Warmer than anything else nearby, but she was still freezing. She hadn't come in contact with many larger creatures, but she supposed it would be more resistant to the cold than smaller creatures. She may have been tall, but she was especially skinny. at this point, she was amazed that she wasn't dead from malnourishment.
Slowly she started to feel just how exhausted she really was. Her entire body ached. If she wanted to convince him that she was a pony, she would need to put up a disguise. She knew she didn't have enough energy to put up transform at the moment and her eyes were drooping to a dangerous level. In her last moments of thought, she hoped she would wake up before him.
Author's Note
I got ideas and time to burn.
Let's go.
Author's Note
So turns out I didn't have as much time as I thought.
I'll be making more with more content.
If you've come back to this story and seeing no new chapters, but still pings, that's because I'm working on the story again. I've fixed a few things in the chapter as well as just making it more coherent to the characters.
(old) Getting a grasp
A black and green mass lay on a small patch of muddy ground. A small number of snowflakes fall upon the mass, and if one were to look closely, they would see that the mass was shivering. Around this creature, the grass was pushed into the dirt. No longer edible to those growing few who would stoop low enough to actually eat grass. Around the creature on the ground, the scene was serene. No wind, no swaying of the trees. Just the calm snowflakes building a small blanket on the creature.
Thump
Immediately after the sound, her head shot up and her body crouched to either pounce or run. Her eyes scanned in front of her while her ears swivelled all around in a frenzy, trying to identify where the sound came from. She berated herself for falling asleep in such a terrible position. She could be ambushed from behind... Slowly she turned around, only to see orange. Her head tilted slightly, obviously confused. Then she looked up, not quite knowing what she would see. Still not fully awake yet, she was utterly confused. When she saw a pair of blue eyes, she froze.
She stared at the two splotches of blue. The two tilted to the side, and she slowly followed the tilt. Then the other way.
Thump
That broke the cobwebs off her brain. The stallion moved one of his forehooves back into position as the mare backed up frantically. She briefly looked down on herself and froze. She was shaking, but it wasn't because of the cold. She didn't have a disguise on. She was going to be killed if she couldn't run away. And with how big this stallion was, she doubted she could even do that, especially in her withered state.
As her mind was coming back together to focus on running, she noticed with surprise the stallion had no major reaction. He just stood there, staring. He wasn't giving off any aggressive emotions. Only a mix of curiosity, cautiousness, and a slight bit of annoyance. He hadn't said anything either. Normally they would chase her while screaming. For now, she was glad she didn't have to run. She was too weak to be able to run any useful distance. However, it was very weird that the stallion hadn't even moved other than to stomp once to snap her back to reality. Inspecting a little further, his legs were shaking. It was almost as if he too young to even stand properly, but that theory was thrown away almost immediately. She could easily see the muscles under his coat.
While staring, she noted that she was no longer on the brink of starving to death, but still hungry beyond measure. She could have drained him dry. But she didn't have the energy at the time. She got less food than she would from a harvest. 'Why shouldn't I?' She couldn't bring herself to think about the prospect of restraining and draining him of emotion. Something was different, but she just couldn't place it. Other than the strangeness of the stallion in front of her. She had been alone for a long time. Maybe she had a misled hope of that changing? Based on the lack of aggressive reaction, maybe it wasn't a mistake. Just a botched success. Cautiously, she took a step forward, then two, then three.
A double-toned "Who are you?" broke the silence. The stallion's head flinched back with shock written over his face leaving a huge burst of surprise curiosity and surprise in the air. Still, she stared, and after a moment of no more response, the stallion slowly put a hoof to his neck. Confused, the mare tilted her head slightly. Once again, he put his hoof to his throat, but this time shook his head left and right slowly. Staring back at her, she was left with one idea.
"A-are you mute?" She sputtered out slowly. In result, the stallion slowly nodded with a wave of sadness. 'Not many become mute and of those who do, they tend to die quickly.' On the stallion's neck was a long and deep scar that aroused awe simply at how one could survive that kind severe of an injury. "Do you know what I am?" came out of her mouth in a hopeful tone.
A simple and short shake of the head. Her eyebrows shot up. Most groups knew of changelings at this point, actively trying to force them out of their camps with even the slightest of suspicions, and that was if they were merciful.
The much smaller mare walked forward a few paces, closing most of the distance between them. He attempted to match her movement but stumbled and fell onto his face with a painful-sounding thump. Not expecting that, a small grin split her face as a short giggle came from her. The stallion snorted loudly in light annoyance, face still in the ground. She idly noted that there were a few more large head-shaped dimples in the ground. More giggles flowed from her followed by a muffled snort. Time stretched onto the stage of awkwardness with no movement from his prone form.
"D-do you need help?" Once again, a short snort with a slight nod was the response. She moved closer to help the large stallion to his hooves.
