Child of the forest
Chapter 3
“Predatory feelings”
The foal’s eyes snapped open…
In front of him lay a small family of rabbits three in total , who had entered the small cave that he was sleeping in for shelter from the rain that had started when the foal fell asleep, they sniffed the air cautiously , trying to sniff out any threats, but when the caught the foals scent, they relaxed. Small amounts of daylight shone in the cave, indicating it was early morning. They had nothing to be wary about with a pony, or so they would have previously imagined….
As the foal caught sight of the rabbits, be saw red. Some instinct, one that shouldn't have been there kicked in, and he started creating a sound similar to a growl, but coming through the mouth of a pony, it sounded unnatural and strange. His vision was sharper, and he could more clearly make out the scent of the intruding rabbits, and something in this new instinct wanted them gone.
A small part of the foals mind was questioning why he had such a deep hatred of the rabbits, and why he felt compelled to hurt them, but he was no longer in control of his actions. The rabbits tensed at his aggressive behavior, and were ready to flee in a second, but the largest of the group was confused as to why a pony would act this way. Sure none of them were nearly as kind as Fluttershy when it came to animals such as itself, but he had never seen a pony, let alone a foal act outwardly aggressively. These thoughts caused the rabbit to step forward, if only to see if the foal was scared or hurt
The foal however, saw this as an act of defiance, and thoughts ran through its head telling it to attack, and he listened to his instincts.
The other rabbits acted first, diving out of the cave when the foal leaped forward towards them, maw agape. The large rabbit was still, staring in shock at the teeth of the pony. Where there should have been the teeth of a herbivore, sharp canines existed, and they were headed straight for the small creature. The rabbit tried desperately to dive out of the way, but the pony caught it in its maw, teeth ripping into flesh.
The foal continued to bite down on the rabbit, the blood dripping on his tongue, driving him further into his frenzy, and the rabbit gave one last pained squeak of pain, the rabbit went limp. The foal did not stop however, and he begun to eat his prey. It was during this, the foal snapped out of his frenzy, and he looked down at what he had done.
His eyes had shrunk to the size of pinpricks, as he looked at the blood that soaked his brown coat. The form of the rabbit dropped from his mouth, and he fell to his haunches. He could feel the blood in his mouth, and his now heightened sense of smell was overwhelmed.
The overwhelmed foal ran outside to the river, desperate to get the blood of his coat and the metallic taste out of his mouth. As he exited the darkness of his cave, he searched his mind for what could have caused him to attack something most ponies would want to hug. As he reached the water, he looked into his reflection, looking for any physical differences besides his teeth. He went over his mental checklist, coat, same if slightly more blood soaked, mane, check, hooves check, eyes….
As the foal stared back into his reflection, he was horrified to see that his brown eyes had changed into pupils yellow orbs, not unlike the predators that had killed his parents and almost him as well. He stared in horror at his reflection, willing the soulless orbs to disappear. He hit the water in anger, in his eyes he was no better that his parent’s killers, he was a monster. Angry tears stated to stream out of his eyes as he retreated back to the cave. He picked up the rabbits corpse, with the intention of putting it into the river, only for his new predators mind to once again take over and cause him to continue eating.
When he snapped out of it again, he was angrier than before. He cursed in his mind to whatever force had changed him.
The foal did not know it, but the culprit, a jokester of a flower had not only changed him into a predator, but it had also given him the mind of a predator as well, but still in the body of a newborn, and unfortunately, unable to speak beyond growls and yells. In aspects outside of hunting he retained his foal intelligence as well. He may have cursed the source of his changes, but it will keep him alive in this dangerous forest
The foal moved the remains of the rabbit to the river, and setting it to go downstream. The foal knew this was hardly a proper burial, but it would have to do. After that, he jumped into the water and attempted to clean to blood, with little success, which left him in an increasingly foul mood. He jumped out of the water, and lay down on the cold grass to dry off. He stared up into the sky, even in the brightest part of the Everfree; a canopy of trees blocked most of the light and heat, so the foal took a long time to dry off. He did not mind though, as he had nowhere else to be, and he was too deep in his sorrow to try and do anything productive.
While he was lying there, he had a brief moment of horror, he wondered if he would still be able to eat the diet of a herbivore, or if he was stuck being a carnivore. He sincerely hoped not, as he would most likely have another instinct attack if he were to become hungry again. So, he rolled on to his haunches and bit a mouthful of grass. The first thing he noticed that the grass no longer tasted as good as it used to, and that he already found himself craving meat. But, he persisted, trying to stomach the grass. He swallowed, and for a second he thought he had managed to eat it.
He briefly smiled in victory, as he thought he would no longer have to eat meat, no matter how much better it tasted, but just as he was about to stand, he started to heave, and soon the grass was back on the ground were it originated, albeit slightly more digested. Begrudgingly, he decided that he would have to continue to hunt to stay alive. With this grim thought, he retreated back to his cave, guilt for the rabbit still playing with his mind as he slept.