I Am Alone

I ran. I ran as fast as my little legs would allow. My chest hurt and my head was pounding, yet I pressed onward. That just happened. What the fuck!? Mama. I had to rest, as I leant up against the nearest tree I surveyed my surroundings and continued to reflect upon the events that just transpired. The Nightmare cloud attacked Mama, possessed her or something.

And… and…

My racing thoughts started overlapping, sending my brain into overdrive. My breathing became ragged. I could sense the early warning signs I was about to start hyperventilating and pass out.

Grounding techniques. Point out five things you can see.

Okay, tree, grass, sky… my mind blanked on coming up with two more things.

What else, facts. Ground myself with facts.

Used to be human. Still a carnivorous Pegasus girl. My name is… was…

Oh fuck. What's my name. It had already been forgotten within a year. Bad grounding technique, not working.

The sound of a twig snapping nearby followed by a low growl put a halt to my panic. Yellow glowing eyes attached to a wooden muzzle parted the tall grass to my side.

A magical wolf made of wood, easily three heads taller than me. It stared down at me, something inside me told me this wasn't the kind of enemy I could stand up to.

I did the next most sensible thing. Ran.

Without Mama around I was defenseless, weak, useless. It was still the dead of night, visibility wasn't the greatest.

How long could I even last out here by myself?

Three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, and three weeks without food.

Thank you useless fact. Wait. I stopped dead in my tracks.

How did I remember some obscure fact but not my own name? Fast approaching sounds of my wooden predatory pursuer snapped me back to reality.

Mentally coming up 'stress' as the reason, I scrambled to flee again. That attempt was thwarted by tripping over a partially unearthed root and smacking my chin on the ground hard. I tasted blood in my mouth, most likely having bitten my tongue.

As sharp wooden fangs plunged into my hind leg, I let out a high pitched scream of pain. Hadn't been able to let one of those out since I was a kid... a human kid.

What surprised me the most was when my screams slowly turned to sobs and tears. I could barely form full sentences, how would I be able to call for help. It's not like my cries would be able to reach town anyway, muffled by the thick foliage.

No. The only one I could rely on was myself. I turned my attention down to the magical wood wolf gnawing on my leg. Its fangs sunk down at least a centimetre. I tried to will my other hind leg to move, and hit the wolf in the face. Nothing. I was still too paralyzed from fear.

Cursing my own weakness I started punching my own foreleg. Stop it. Move. Useless.

As the wolf started shaking it's head while still attached to my leg, my panicked eyes darted everywhere looking for anything that might help. My forelegs felt around in behind my head before I felt something, a rock.

I could feel it in my grasp. Grabbing it, I brought it over my head and smashed it down as hard as my small weak child body could.

Not a lot of force was apparently needed, as the whole right side of the wolf's face shattered and splintered upon impact. Tree sap splattered on my face. The wolf's blood equivalent I assumed.

Without wasting another second I resumed my escape, now with an added limp. I dropped the rock, still clueless how I'd picked it up in the first place. Blood trickled down my chin from the cut on the left side of my face, there was blood in my mouth, and now my right hind leg had several deep teeth marks that were also bleeding profusely.

I needed medical attention and fast or I'd bleed out for sure. Was the pony town safe though? I had no way of knowing whether or not they'd be frightened by me.

Trudging onward, the dense part of the forest lightened up as I neared the exit. The snapping of jaws behind me made me jump. Hurriedly I turned and scurried backwards as the wolf from before was standing in the clearing. Illuminated by the pale moonlight, half of its face still missing and dripping with orange sap. The wolf's expression read anger and hunger. My heart was beating so fast against my rib cage. There was no way I'd survive another altercation with this fucker.

The wolf's body language alone seemed to radiate an aura of smugness, it was playing with its food. Its food being me. It paced backwards and forwards in the clearing. Waiting for it's opportune moment to pounce, I reckoned. But before I could give it that chance I'd picked up a nearby stick with some weight to it. Again, not thinking on how I did it, only why.

Swinging my front leg back I tried throwing the stick as hard as I could. While I succeeded in throwing the stick at the wolf, I'd also succeeded in getting my two front legs tangled together and tripping over. My chin met with the ground yet again.

From my place on the ground, I looked up to notice the wolf had absorbed the stick I threw at it and had partially reconstructed its face. Although the wood was a different colour so it wasn't a perfect match. I could still see where it had been destroyed beforehand.

My eyes never left the wolf as I crept backwards, stumbling a few times. The wolf however, never left the safety of the dark forestry. Bored with its hunt being such a disappointment, it let out a howl of frustration and scampered back from whence it came.

With the danger passed I was safe, for now at least.

A loud rumbling sound broke the silence. My face turned red was embarrassment when I traced the source of said sound. My stomach.

I hadn't eaten anything for nearly two days, mine and Mama's hunting grounds were scarce lately. Before my mind could drift any further I picked a scent of something tasty.

It was nearby, but towards the pony town. I swallowed my fear and followed my nose.

After a few minutes I had found my prey. A single white rabbit. Unsuspecting and alone.

Recalling my training, I laid my body low to the ground. Hidden in the grass but with my fucked up leg now dragged behind me. Hopefully it wouldn't be a hindrance to me.

Crouched down I felt my butt wiggle in the air, an annoyingly embarrassing automatic response to my hunter mode. I always felt like a cat when I did this, ready to pounce.

Pounce I did. I jumped from above using my outstretched wings to stay in the air for an extra second before landing quickly and quietly on the white rabbit.

The frightened rabbit let out a squeak of terror as I descended upon it. Before I could rip its neck open, I hesitated as I stared into its fearful eyes. There was some semblance of sentience behind them. Very much unlike the many forest dwelling creatures I'd been hunting for the past year.

It squirmed under my hoof, eager to escape. When I realised the direction it wanted to run to I released him.

A little cottage stood across a ways, with a little bridge over the creek.

Someone's house. The bunny ran to the house. A pet.

I almost viciously mauled and ate someone's pet. Oh god, what was I becoming? What would I become?

After spending so long living in the wild, it seemed I was already losing my humanity, what little I had left anyway. I feared truly becoming a feral creature that wouldn't hesitate to kill anything.

With new tears streaming down my face, I limped away as fast as my mangled leg would allow. Towards the only place I could. The town full of non-carnivorous ponies.

Being able to make it to just inside the outskirts was all I could manage before the hunger and blood loss got the best of me. I collapsed hard.

Hopefully I would be pathetic looking enough for someone to take pity on and take me to the hospital.

I was all alone, after all.