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.