Burning Land And Stormy Seas

by Moowell

Chapter 3

In the morning light, Twilight made her way away from town and into the wild. It was a scary thought, willingly leaving civilization behind to stay in the wild areas, but Twilight knew that she may never get home otherwise.

Just outside of town, there was a tall patch of grass near a pond where she could hide and get something to drink, so she made her way there. The grass pulled at her fur as she passed through it, making her skin to twiitch, but she didn’t care at the moment. She was dirty, and thirsty, and hadn’t eaten yet.

She blinked, then smacked her head with a hoof and took a bite out of the grass. It was delicious. There was something about fresh, dew-covered, wild grass that made Twilight want to laugh with giddy bliss. Completely different than Canterlot grass, which was magically grown to be resilient on the side of a mountain and only eaten after careful preparation. Why couldn’t that grass be like this?

After a few bites, however, Twilight found that it made her even thirstier, so she turned and looked down at the pond. It was dark blue, and had a gentle ripple flowing across the top as a gentle breeze blew across it. It almost made her wish she didn’t have to disturb the calm. If only the dew was enough to sate her...

As she examined the pond, she realized that the ledge was a bit low for her to reach. She craned her neck downward, even going so far as to lie down, but quickly she wasn’t quite able to reach. She thought about trying to grab some water with her magic, but it was like trying to pull on a wall; she could touch the surface, but she couldn’t wrap her magic around it. Not without trying to grab the whole pond, and there was no way she could do that. She looked around for something to scoop the water with, but other than dirt, grass, and rocks, there wasn’t much of anything nearby.

Twilight groaned. ‘What I wouldn’t give for a cup right now...’ But as she looked at the things around her, the gears in her head began to turn. ‘Maybe I can make something. Daddy always said I could do anything if I put my mind to it. But what can I do to make a cup?’

She looked at the grass as it swayed in the breeze, then plucked a few of the wider stalks with her teeth. Using a nice, round rock, she folded each grass stalk around the base until they resembled a small bowl. She then wrapped a longer blade around the top to hold it all together, tying the ends together in a basic knot. When she finally, carefully, let go, it didn’t fall apart.

“Hah! Take that, Shiny! I can do arts and crafts!” All that was left to do was take the rock out, and she would have her bowl, ready for scooping up water. But the moment she removed it, all the grass blades straightened back into their original positions, leaping out from under the rim like confetti from a party popper.

She huffed as she pulled several blades out of her mane and started over.

It took her several mishaps, wrapping and weaving and folding the stalks - she was no super-crafty earth pony, after all - but eventually she had a functional, if not pretty, bowl. With a victorious grin, she reached down, dipped the bowl into the pond and pulled out her first drink of water since arriving in this strange land. And like the grass, it was so fresh, so clean that it made her want to giggle.

So she did.

Having conquered her first real obstacle at surviving in the wild, she laughed in triumph. After a second scoop, she found herself dancing around and giggling happily. Confident that her ability to take care of herself would only get better as time went on, she raised the bowl dramatically over her head and plunged it downward to the water.

*****

Ralts perked up as he sensed a great well of happiness coming from the watering hole. As strong as the joy of a Taillow just learning to fly, or a Zigzagoon finding its first berries on its own.

It was a little strange, though. Where a Zigzagoon’s joy was like crunching leaves under his feet, a Seedot’s felt like a warm ray of sunshine. Surskit joy was more like dipping his feet into cool water, and a Wurmple’s felt like a full-body hug. But this? It didn’t feel like any emotion he’d ever felt before. It tingled and tickled his hips, almost like Zigzagoon fur rubbing against him, but welling up from the inside rather than the outside.

Still, it was so heartfelt that Ralts couldn’t help but smile. It beckoned him to come and share in it.

As he approached the source, he saw a large, purple... something. Not exactly sure what it was, but it seemed interested in the watering hole. The creature dipped a small object into the water, then drew the object back out and put it to its lips. Then the creature laughed and bounced around with that same, tickling joy he had felt from before and repeated the process.

Even though the joy made him smile, Ralts couldn’t help his confusion. It couldn’t be a water-type creature. There wasn’t a speck of orange or blue on it!

So why was drinking water making it so happy? Was it just really thirsty?

Suddenly the creature stopped bouncing around. Its eyes and shoulders fell toward the ground, and Ralts could feel its emotions turn bitter.

*****

Mommy’s cookies...

Twilight stopped bouncing and frowned, her head sagging as thoughts of home grew in her mind. What else would she never get to have again? Would she ever see Mommy? Daddy? Shiny? Cadance?

“Why are you crying?” Twilight jumped and nearly fell into the pond at the strange voice. When she turned, she found a creature just over half her height staring at her. It was built like the giants, but its entire body was robed in white. Its mane was green and shaped like an upside-down bowl. Two large red, dragon-like spines jutted out from under its mane. It tilted its head to the side. “You were so happy before. What happened?” it asked, though its mouth didn’t move.

Twilight sniffed and wiped her eyes with a leg. “Wh-who are you?”

The creature place a pointed arm against its chest. “I’m Ralts. Who are you?”

“I’m Twi-*hic*-light. Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight rubbed the last tears away from her eyes.

"It's good to meet you, Twilispark."

Twilight was too preoccupied with her thoughts and a certain observation to bother correcting Ralts. “How do you talk without moving your mouth like that?”

“My voice isn’t very strong, so I project my thoughts using my horns,” Ralts replied, touching the spine on its forehead. “I can also sense emotion with them. I felt lots of happiness coming from over here, but then it turned sad. Why are you so sad?”

Twilight stared at the ground. “I miss my family... I was-” Twilight stopped, then shook her head. “We got separated, and now I’m lost, and I don’t know how to get home, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again...”

A gentle pat on her shoulder brought her eyes upward. Ralts reached up and hugged her neck, taking care not to poke her in the throat with its horns. “I know how you feel. My parents disappeared too, not long after I hatched.”

Twilight sniffed. “What happened?”

“They were probably eaten.”

Twilight stared at Ralts. “...Eaten?”

“Mhmm,” Ralts casually replied. “There is a pack of Poochyena that lives in this area.”

“What’s a Poo-chee-ay-na?”

Ralts put a pointed arm to its lips and looked upward, then grabbed a stick from nearby and began to draw in the dirt. “Mmm... It looks a lot like you, except it has grey fur, claws on its feet, and all of its teeth look like your horn, but in its mouth and not on its head. Oh, and its snout it longer than yours compared to its head.”

Twilight stared at the dirt portrait. Two ovals connected by a single line, with four lines sticking out from the bottom of the larger oval and three little lines branching from each. The smaller oval had two jagged lines in the middle, just under two circles with slanted lines over them. “That... doesn’t look like me at all...”

“Of course not. That’s a Poochyena.” Ralts gave Twilight a sagely nod.

Twilight sighed and shrugged, but Ralts’ description of the predator brought a vague memory to mind. “Actually, I think I saw what you’re talking about on the other side of the giants’ town.”

“Giants?” Ralts’ head tilted to the side.

“Those big, clothed monsters with the capture orbs.”

“Oh, you mean humans. I didn’t even think about those...” Ralts stared at the ground, an arm pressed against his chin. “Maybe my parents were captured rather than eaten?”

Twilight frowned. Between the ‘Poochyena’ - Poochyenas? Poochyeni? - and the ‘humans’, she was beginning to doubt if she could even make it safely away from this region, much less make it back home.

“...family?”

“Huh?” Twilight shook her head and focused back on Ralts. “Sorry, what were you asking?”

“Would you like to meet my family?” Ralts repeated, looking at Twilight with wide eyes. “I know you’re lonely. I can feel it in my horns. But if you stay with me and my family, you won't be lonely anymore.”

“But I thought you said they were gone...”

“When did I say that? I don’t have parents, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have family. Come on! I’ll introduce you!”

Comments

[doompownr]

NNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAATTTTTTT I hope the direction your going for is reminiscent of the Pokemon movies that had Pokemon point of view I loved those movies I'm not sure if that's your goal but I'm looking forward for more glchapters of high quality