The Forgotten Kind

by HollyB

4. Falling Solo

After watching the moon trace its way around the sky, I wondered if I should go. My new limbs were getting pins-and-needles, but I wasn't sure if I should venture off the beach, as there was a rather large forest standing behind it, looming dark and tall in the distance.

I sighed, bored out of my mind.

Even though it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere, I tried to stand up, just for something to do. And it was suprisingly hard.
I had to first raise myself up on my forelegs, then try to get the strength in my back legs to do the same. At first I expected it to be easy, but my legs were pretty weak, and refused to do it entirely. It was also awkward, especially the first time, because I haven't really ever moved this way, as all of my bones and limbs were different lengths and
sizes and in different places. It was exremely confusing.

I had it after about an hour of failing. And that was just standing.

Already, I missed my hands terribly, and it was obvious it was going to take a while to get used to my pegasus body. And the wings would totally not help, until I got some practice in, I suppose. I fanned them out in the moonlight and smiled. I had never even dreamt that I would have my own pair of wings one day. They were beautiful.

But let me tell you, it's so weird to be able to move something that you have never had before. At first, I wasn't sure how to move my wings, but just sort of signalled my back to move them, and they moved. It was the same thing with my tail. Another whole new appendage to look out for and it hurt when I sat on it.

I held myself up, and took a step forward. Sand met my face at practically one million miles per hour.

Crap, I thought, looking at the awkward hooves on the end of my legs. That hurt.

But I stood up again, and actually started to walk. Wow it was weird. I mean, I had been on a horse before, but it felt entirely different being the horse. All light, and bouncy. I then had the thought of someone riding me, and I snorted horsily. I laughed.

I started to trot arond faster, my hooves sputing up sand. Faster. Faster.

All of a sudden, I was cantering.

I'm doing it! Yes I'm doing it! This is amazing!

I felt lighter than air. The ground thudded beneath me. The amulet bounced crazily on my chest. I shreiked with joy. The feeling of running... as a pony was the best.
I then tripped and went hurtling through the air.

Crunch.

I slowly got up, adrenaline running through me at a million miles per hour, and I whooped.
"That... was.. AWESOME!"

I felt fine and went over to sit down near my discarded school bag. Hungry, I shoved my muzzle in it.

I pulled out a salad sandwhich and gulped it down. I was thirsty too, but there was no way I was going to be able to drink sea water. I retched at the thought.

So I just lay my head down on my bag, and watched the starry sky.

***

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise.

The majestic golden sun and its day was starting to chase away the beautiful silver moon and the stars. This caused an explosion of pinks and golds and purples, and the sun finally won. The moon disappeared gracefully.

That was... spectacular...

The sunshine flooded the beach in golden light and washed over me warmly. I shook myself and got up awkwardly.

I surveyed the area I was in. The beach was about 50 meters or so long, and the waves were small and shockingly blue. I saw dolphins leap out of the sea in the distance. Palm trees, varying in size, were dotted around everywhere. Birds flew overhead. The sun grew warmer.

It was paradise.

I looked over to the other side of the beach, and saw the forest I would have to go through. There was small cliffs on either side of the bay, and the only exits were the ocean or forests. I had to go that way to find Tempera. She lived in... Ponyville or something? I wasn't sure but I knew that I wold have to to through the forest. Don't ask why; I just knew.

The forest had a small lake on the edge. I licked my pony lips thirstily. Fresh water? Maybe.

Before I trotted over, I surprisingly easily shoved my backpack on. If I loosened the straps, it would easily fit over my wings. Grabbing it in my teeth, I slung it up over my back and spat out salt. Gross. But whatever - it was on at least.

The shade of the forest enveloped me as I walked over to the lake. As I neared, I realised there was a smaller pond next to it. I went faster.

The ponds appeared to be fed from an underground stream. It definitly didnt look salty.

As a precaution, I stuck a hoof into the water, and brought it up to my muzzle. I sniffed it, ad then licked it off my hoof, all the while trying not to overbalance. The cool water caressed my mouth and I sighed happily. It was fresh! I shoved my head into the small pond and drank greedily.

I sighed contentedly as I finished, and plopped down next to it. All of a sudden, I saw an image, a reflection in it. I moved forward a little bit and gasped.

There was a scruffy tan pony staring back at me. Her large blue eyes remained unblinking. Her mouth hung open a little. Her ruffled wing feathers blew lightly in the breeze.

This was me. I was the pony.

I watched my mane blow in the wind. I had gotten it right from last night, as it was my same hair color as before. But there were four different highlights through it - green, blue, red and white. They were in my tail too. Where had they come from? Strange.

There were feathers on random parts of my body, away from the wings, mostly on my chest, but they were salty and dry, much like the rest of me. I looked longingly at the other lake, then, discarding my bag, I jumped in, and started to clean the salt from my coat, mane and tail. I scrubbed with my hooves, and I was done. I sat in the sunshine to dry off, fanning myself with my wings.

I went back to see if there had been any change. The reflection smiled back at me, her coat glossy and her mane, wings and tail soft and shiny. I then had a nervous drink from the smaller pond before I left.

Left for the forest.

***

The trees seemed to close in on me the moment I stumbled in.

The smell of pine needles overwhelmed me, and I was surprised how amazing a pony's smell ability was. Everything seemed fresh. Strong.

I started to wonder about if my plan that was going into the forest a smart and/or good one, but I shoved the thoughts out of my head as I hurried along.

At first, I was following the sun through the trees, but then noticed that my amulet was glowing again. It started to glow harder every time I went in a south direction, one that was facing the sun.

Is the amulet showing me where to go?

As the sunlight was blocked by the trees, my legs kept stumbling over roots and stones and I realised that hooves were not exactly the best form of traction in the world. After I had tripped over the third time, I went slower, making sure that I deliberately picked up every hoof over the obstacles. It was getting more annoying and dark very quickly.
Eventually I stopped and sat down against a black, gnarled tree to eat again. Sipping the water, my ears swiveled around my head. I flopped them up and down, back and forth and wiggle over and over again. Strange.

As I started to get back up, I heard a sound. Sounds in the distance, coming from the west.

Huh?

The sounds were becoming louder and louder, until I could finally recognise what they were. I froze as they sounded again.

Howls. Wolf howls.

Oh no. This is bad. This is very bad.

Closer and closer every second. The amulet started to glow again. I gasped.

I heard them. I heard them panting as they run across the thick forest, searching for me. Searching for my blood.

My heart was pounding in my ears so fast I almost didn't notice the wolf head poke out of the bushes. At least it looked like a wolf. But it was weird and wooden and had all these logs attached to it.

It saw me standing there, shaking but frozen, and it pounced, screaming battle cries.

I threw myself out of the way and bolted through the forest. My hooves thudded on the dry, blackened earth, and the tree branches whipped past my face. My wings hung heavily at my sides, giving me some very much so needed extra weight. Yay for me.

I screamed as I saw the wolf leap over me, and land in front of me. I skidded to a stop and scrambled backwards away from it, whimpering, out of breath and energy.

The amulet was glowing brightly. I cringed.

Realising I was surrounded by trees that I would never be able to get through because of my new pony stature (so convenient right now), I just sat there. The wolf stalked toward me and yet again pounced.

Not able to go anywhere, I let him fall on me. This was it. I sighed heavily.

He then grabbed the amulet in his teeth.

NO!

I flared out my wings and hit him with my hooves. I tried to bite him and got a face full of bark; wincing, I pulled away.

Wrong move. He clawed at my chest with full force and I screamed. Blood gushed out of the gaping wound and he reached for the amulet again. I swiped weakly, noticing I was starting to loose consciousness.

As I sank unwillingly and painfully onto the ground, with the tree wolf lurking over me, I felt a chilling sensation.My eyes widened as I saw grass sprout up around my hoof. The grass tured into a daffodil plant, and then a tree.

What...?

All of a sudden, I felt something inside of me, and I heard the whispering of the trees, the feel of the soft grass around me, the sweet smell of spring. Closing my eyes, I saw a tree in my mind. The tree flared out beneath me, and I became part with it; one single beautiful creature. Power rushed from my head to the ends of my hooves.

The whispering filled my head, drowning out the howling screams that were coming from the wolf. The screams intensified, then stopped altogether.

I wearily opened my eyes.

A huge tree was spiraling up from underneath my hooves. I spotted the wolf, with a sharp branch speared through its stomach, high up in the tree. Its mouth hung open, its tongue hanging loose.

No...

I weakly tried to drag myself away from it, but only got a a couple of meters before dark spots danced in my eyes. I collapsed fully, the power rush gone.

That was me... I did that. I thought, staring up to the tree blindly. I felt the blood, my blood, oozing onto my forelegs.

How... why did I do that...?

Everything went black.

Author's Note:

This took ages to write and I'm sorry for the lateness ^^

I really like the suspense I put in the last chapter! I hope you guys do too!
Hmmm, Cassie. Something just happened to her, it's pretty mysterious. If you want a couple of clues, look back to her hair highlights and also her last name - that should start to give you some pointers.
'Til next time
HollyB out!

Comments

[Pat_Hoof_5000]

5195856 Not to sound bitchy, but Bon-Bon isn't a unicorn but an earth pony, just saying so you can change the mistake you made in the resume of your story.

[HollyB]

5205899
Oops... I changed characters, and forgot to change the unicorn bit. Thanks for the tip..

[Lyx-D]

I demand you to write more.
That's an order, soldier!

xD

[Pat_Hoof_5000]

5205918 no prob

[ferret]

images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/7713_4.jpg

Seems a bit OP.

[HollyB]

5206102
I was going to explain the "nice man" bit later in the story ^^
It's currently one of those memory flashback bits.

[HollyB]

5206225
Yay
I thought it was a pretty good metaphor, simple but effective.

[HollyB]

5206204
Yeah. It's a really weird feeling, and it has happened to me but through Cassie's point of view.

[HollyB]

5206137
Okay sergeant! *salutes*

[DrakeRenar1]

I'm guessing she has some abilities like the avatar does more or less the colors represents different elements Green = Earth, Blue = Water, Red = Fire, and White = Air or at least that's my best guess though as to her last name I don't know though before this chapter I was going to say that this story is similar to another one that the primary character is friends with an pony as an child though the settings are different this is an rather different story though, keep up the good work!

[HollyB]

5212018
Uh huh.... halfway there
Have never watched Avatar, but i know it isn't going to go down that path.
And yes, I made a very similar story beginning to another, but I really wanted that story beginning because it really suited it, and I have a couple of surprises in the end that show they weren't just friends, ever. It was the key beginning, and I have spotted several like it around the site.
But I am so glad you're enjoying the story so far!

[DrakeRenar1]

5212335
Just saying that normally the colors represent elements, and Avatar was the only thing that I knew of that uses elements, though it was more along the lines of plantbending of some sort, though I'm going with Magic, because that works way better than the other formats.