The time continued onward for sometime, as the month of march began to roll itself around. It had been only at least 2 weeks since Vinrod and Seven had ended up being attacked by carnivorous ponies, and recruited Tal into their little group. Seven had his leg back from the week's wait, but still wasn't in full trust mode with Tal just yet, with her family almost eating them anyway. As for Tal, she felt a bit unsure of the situation to; her family was all but gone, and here she was going with two saintiants she never had met before. Still, as time went on, the land was beginning to loosen more of its snowy hold, and beginning to show the first signs of early spring. Even if snow was still on the ground in the forested areas, opened up plains were deprived of fluffy snow, and had thawed and hardened due to the constantly thawing and freezing, as if the cold was fighting what warmth the moon would bring. On a dry dirt road, the three were still heading off south as their own speed, Tal sticking close to them as if expecting yet another attack.
"Geesh kid, you don't have to be so clingy you know," Seven commented, seeing how close she was to Vinrod. Tal was annoyed with Seven's comment. For the past 2 weeks, Tal had tried to be nice to the Changeling, but, since her family nearly killed him, Seven wasn't very fond of the same type of creature in their group, even if she didn't want to eat them in the first place.
"I have a name, and it happens to be Tal."
"I know I know, you told me that five times now, keep your scales on you...what are you?" Seven asked, realizing that Tal hadn't told them what kind of saintiant she was yet. Even if it'd been 2 weeks full, Vinrod and Seven hadn't had too much interaction with Tal just yet. After a bit, Tal just nodded.
"Me? Actually, I'm known as a Dragonequus."
"Draconequus? You don't look that messed up."
"No, no, Dragonequus, with a G. They're like normal ponies, but eat meat instead of plants. Pretty simple, really," Tal explained to them both. Swishing his tail, Vinrod looked down at Tal next to him.
"I never heard of a Dragonequus before. Are there others like you?" Vinrod asked, curious to her race in a number of ways. Curchcolt didn't really hold any Dragonequus as neighbours, and Seven hadn't seen one around much either. Tal took a minute to think, a hoof under her chin as her eyes drifted to the star-filled sky.
"I think so, but I'm not sure."
As they continued going along the trail, suddenly Tal's stomach growled up a storm, making Seven moved off about a foot away from her in case she tried anything to him. Who would blame him, though? Tal blushed up, and looked to Vinrod.
"Uh... You wouldn't mind if I get a bite to eat, would you?" Tal asked, still blushing a bit. Vinrod looked around, and noticed the field of wild bluegrass not too far away.
"Just don't be too long, Tal, okay?"
Tal happily nodded, and galloped off to get some live meat nearby. Watching her, Seven moved over to Vinrod, still a bit suspicious over her. It took nearly a month for him to trust Vinrod, and that was because he ate plants and stuff like that. But Tal needed a bit more time before Seven could trust her fully.
~~
In the tall bluegrass, Tal continued to try to find some food for herself to eat. Being a carnivore meant she needed some more time to locate, and hunt down whatever was hiding in the tall grass. The grass itself swayed in the early spring breeze, helping Tal get her sense of smell to work, trying to find a scent of some sort of food. It took a little bit of work, but she did end up getting the scent of a rat in the grass. Not exactly the best source of food, but food none-the-less. She slowly followed her nose until she eventually found the lone rat scurrying amongst the grass. Even being a carnivore, she hadn't been on too many hunting trips, so she was a bit rusty when it came to what she was suppose to do. Tal hunkered down, her snake-like tail swishing behind her as she stalked the rat. Slowly, her hooves edged her closer, as the rat remained unaware of her presence. However, as she became inches away from her target, the rat suddenly ran off. Tal rushed out and tried to catch the rat under her hooves but the rat scurried out of sight in the tall grass. Tal thought she failed her hunt, but suddenly she saw a sudden flash, and a rodent screech. Curious, Tal trotted over to the source of the sudden noise, as she ended up in a clearing.
Within that clearing, she suddenly saw a strange, pink looking creature, just finishing off the rat. It was curled up in a ball-like shape as it was sleeping off the meal, Tal unsure what to make of it. It looked kinda small, about the size of a small dog, with pink skin in the moonlight above. Tal slowly moved forward to the odd creature, soon standing right in front of it. She circled it, but was a bit unsure of what to make of it, even close up. It had that look of a worm, or grub, looking kinda pudgy like some sort of pink plushy. Tal tinted her head, looking over the thing every which way. Even if she wasn't sure what it was, she was still a bit hungry so she went down, and took a tiny bite on the tail. All of a sudden, the thing was wide awake, and a sudden shock drilled through Tal's body as if she bit into a live wire! Obviously this thing, whatever it was, could use electrical magic. Luckily for Tal, it was a small charge, but it was still painful. After the shock gone through her body, Tal let the thing go. The creature slithered away a little bit, then turned towards Tal with black beady eyes, like those of a doll. Tal looked it over a little bit more, seeing it awake and alert despite eating up a rat. The little creature just settled in front of Tal, about as curious of her as Tal was of it. The Dragonequus was still a bit hungry, so, she turned and began trotting away...Unaware the little thing was starting to follow her.
Back on the dirt road, Vinrod and Seven were still waiting for Tal to come back, Seven hovering in circles around Vinrod as they both waited. Eventually, Vinrod saw Tal return, no longer looking hungry.
"There you are. You better?" Vinrod asked, turning over to her. Tal nodded with a smile.
"Just a few birds, but I'm good."
Seven just groaned, and started to hover off down the trail again. Vinrod and Tal were about to go, but suddenly an odd noise distracted them, as they looked back to the tall bluegrass, suddenly seeing a pink thing roll out of the brush. The trio stopped as the thing suddenly stopped in front of Tal, revealing to be the same worm Tal had come across. Seven looked back, seeing the thing sitting there looking them over with its baby eyes, but Seven didn't want a grub with them.
"What's with the grub?" Seven asked, looking right at the pink thing.
"I dunno. Shoo, shoo," Tal said, waving a hoof for it to go away. Instead, the worm snuggled the hoof. A bit odd, considering Tal was electrocuted by the thing, and suddenly the fella was okay with it. Vinrod leaned in for a closer look, trying to figure out what it was.
"Looks like some sort of glow-worm, or maybe a caterpillar?"
"None of those things grow this big. Get lost, bug."
Seven pushed away the grub rather roughly. The thing gave a hiss at the Changling, suddenly giving Seven a electric shock, Seven spiraling and shuttering from the electric flow. It was only a few seconds, but enough to singe him. Oddly enough, the little event gave Vinrod the answer he was looking for.
"Oh, now I know, the thing's a Thunderwyrm," Vinrod concluded. Seven shook off the shock and went back to Vinrod.
"Well whatever it is, keep it away from me," Seven groaned. The Thunderwyrm stayed by Tal, who was a bit confused to why it would be with her, of all saintiants. Tal looked to Vinrod, who she figured was the only one who knew a bit about these things. As if reading her mind, Vinrod cleared his throat before speaking again, as to not strain his voice again.
"It's like a large electric larva. I've heard about these before while back in Curchcolt," Vinrod explained.
"But why is it so happy to see me?"
"Don't know, but looks like it won't leave you alone anytime soon Tal," Vinrod concluded, as the Thunderwyrm climbed up and rested on Tal's back. It wasn't heavy, but a bit moist for being out in the cold. Even if unexpected, Tal did find the thing oddly cute for being a larva.
"In that case guys, meet our new recruit."
"NO WAY!" Seven suddenly retorted.
"Seven, it's obvious it's not going away anytime soon."
"Well, make it leave!" Seven demanded, heading over to the Thunderwyrm, grabbing it, and tossing it back in the grass. About 5 seconds later, the Thunderwyrm was rolling right on back. The Changeling was suddenly knocked on the wheel, and was spinning around on top until he slammed in the ground. Even if it was unexpected, Tal gave a little chuckle at Seven's expense, despite the glare Seven gave her. The thunderwyrm then went right back to Tal, and climbed back up on her back.
"Well, we're just gonna have to deal with it for now. We should keep moving," Vinrod said, looking to the thunderwyrm. As much as Seven didn't want to, he just went along with them, making sure to keep Vinrod in between himself and that thing.
~~
The moon continued its shift, on towards the moonless hours of the night, the three not finding anywhere to stay for the night as per usual. It wasn't easy to keep on sleeping in the open without some sort of light to keep any danger away. The three had managed to make a fire to help them out for the night. Although not very strong, at least they can see better and won't freeze either. Tal and her thunderwyrm stayed together as Seven and Vinrod laid down by the open flame. Tal's thunerwyrm curled up next to Tal, as it went to sleep.
"How far do you think Appaloosa is?" Vinrod asked.
"Beats me. Travelling the way we are, it could be months before we get there," Seven replied, letting his insect body warm up by the fire, wings spread out and everything. While the weeks past, Vinrod and Seven eventually did tell Tal about where they're going, and Tal was more than eager to join them on their little trip. While her tail went around her Thunderwyrm, she looked over to them both.
"It sure is exciting to be going down south. I never been to Appaloosa before," Tal said.
"It's nothing special, just some ponytown in the south," Seven said.
"Do you realize how rare that is? A pure ponytown?"
"Yeah, I don't care much for ponykind, so, don't go on about how special that is," Seven said, rolling his eyes on the subject. The Dragonequus just sighed, and looked to her Thunderwyrm friend. The little fella gave a cute little moan, as Tal nuzzled it.
"There there, Cluutie, you go back to sleep," Tal said.
"Cluutie?"
"Huh? Oh, well if she's gonna stay with us, I might as well name her," Tal said, as Cluutie went back to sleep as she was told. Seven just rolled his eyes, but was getting tired as well. So, without much other discussion, settled down and went to sleep, alongside Vinrod.
A few hours had past, and the three were still fast asleep for the most part. The cooling winds by the warm fire made the fire dim down a little more, but not much. While trying to remain asleep, Seven suddenly got back up, feeling pain in his stomach again. It had been a long time since he had much true Changeling food to eat, ala emotions, and had been quiet since his encounter with the Timberwolves. However, hunger does eventually come back around, and it caught back up to Seven.
"Dang, I'm getting hungry again," Seven thought, as he looked around. Vinrod, Tal and Cluutie were still very much asleep, and Seven had the pure right of hand. He kept Vinrod off his list, and instead moved quietly to Tal and Cluutie. Tal was a bit tricky, with her attachment to the group and what she gone through, so instead he mainly focused on Cluutie. With a grin and a lick of his teeth, he readied himself for an emotional snack, his mouth opening to show his fangs to the sleeping Thunderwyrm. Seven was just about to bite into Cluutie when, suddenly, he heard something move nearby. He quickly turned in the direction, only to have some sort of dust splat him in the face! he would screech from the attack, but Seven toppled over and fell fast asleep, finding out too late it was sleeping powder. After everyone was fully at rest, a tall figure stepped out of the darkness, right by Vinrod. Silently, the figure placed a letter by Vinrod's feet, and quietly ventured back into the darkness...
"Ym Seigolopa. Gnilegnahc..."
~~
When the Moon came back around, Vinrod woke back up with a yawn, getting his head and horns up and balanced out. As he got himself back up, he looked over to Seven and Tal, getting a rather...unique circumstance. Seemed the powder affecting Seven made him face to face with Tal, looking like the two were sleeping together. Although cute, Vinrod found it humorous...Then he felt the letter by one of his feet. Curious, Vinrod moved the letter and looked it over, a bit unsure of the writing put out on it. However, Tal and Seven were just about waking up...Of course, both screamed, and bolted off about 5 feet away from each other.
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!" They both yelled. Vinrod was taken by surprise, along with Cluutie, as the thunderwyrm moved away from the scuffle.
"Seven, what's the matter with you?!"
"With me?! I didn't -"
"You should know better than sleeping with an acquaintance, I barely even got to know you these past couple of weeks, and you come onto me?!"
"What the hay are you talking about?! I wasn't coming onto you!"
"Then how'd you end up like that?"
"I dunno, i woke up, walked around, something hit my buckin head -"
"What kind of excuse is that?"
Vinrod suddenly intervened before words turned to fights, standing between Seven and Tal. While still angry, the main emotion was embarrassment, Tal red faced while Seven was blushing greenish blue. No matter what way you look at it, the fact one would wake up with someone they barely known of would make anyone flustered.
"Guys calm down!" Vinrod yelled, having to deeply strain himself in order to get the voice across. He cleared his throat to remove the strain before continuing on.
"I know it was rather unexpected, but let's keep moving. We won't get to Appaloosa just standing around," Vinrod explained. While still flustered, Seven and Tal agreed and started to move along, keeping a good distance away from eachother for the rest of the time. As they continued walking, the question of the letter came back up, as Tal saw Vinrod's paper.
"What'chu got there?" Tal asked, eyeing the paper in Vinrod's grip. After it was pointed out, Vinrod placed the letter in his 3-toed foot.
"I'm not too sure, I kinda woke up with it," Vinrod explained, letting them both see the letter.
Eno Erom
"Huh? Eno Erom? What language is that?" Tal asked.
"Not sure exactly," replied Vinrod, as he continued to look over the paper a bit, trying to make sense of it. While the Dragonequus and the Sphinx couldn't make heads or tails of it, Seven squinted at a closer look at the odd writing. It looked a bit fine for just a random letter, but the exact letter for each word...Then he got it.
"Wait a minute...Wait, It's not a foreign language, it just spelled wrong," Seven concluded, taking the paper and working out the letter of both words. Then he worked out the actual lettering of each word and got 'One More'...
"What does that mean by one more?"
"Beats me, I'm just a witted Changeling, not a detective. Look, this isn't important, what is is that we head south towards Appaloosa, so let's go," Seven concluded, and began heading off ahead once more. Glancing at each other, Tal and Vinrod went off down the trail, thinking over more about that little letter there...
...One More...