Records of a Young Woman's Love Life

by Optimal Robotics

Chapter 2: Contact

My search for civilization started with the cardinal directions. Assuming the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, I flew south first. Going past the forest in that direction finds me a desert. Buck that. Going north past the forest I find a vast, mostly open plain. Skirting the edge of that, I quickly find a quaint little town occupied by a mixture of sapient ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. Half of them feel some level of appetizing somehow. Jackpot!

I'm in an owl form right now. Infiltrating town is mostly easy. I have to stay out of the flight lanes of the pegasi though. The town itself looks to be on the level of a medieval town, with the odd anachronistic piece of metalworking and utilitarian magic provided by the unicorns. The language is... Automatically being translated in my head. Closest to English in sentence structure and word composition. Is this automatic? Town wide? Kingdom wide? An interesting question for later. The town signage calls itself 'Ponyville.'

"Hey you!"

I'll admit the population is mostly ponies, but that seems a little on the nose, doesn't it?

"You perching on the sign!" I blink. I look around to find a mare with a shiny chestnut coat looking up to me. I make a questioning gesture.

"Yeah, you! You're not planning on making trouble, are you? Carnivores aren't usually welcome in pony towns." Does she expect me to answer? How would I even do that? I hoot over to her with the general intent of communicating that I'm looking for nesting grounds. It's even something close to the truth!

"Well I wouldn't expect much luck here. The bluejays already have all the best spots, and they're pretty territorial. And if you try making any moves on the farm animals you'll be chased out of town right quick." Well then.

"Hoot!" I'm leaving! As I fly off. That was very informative. First of all being that many animals are apparently sapient often enough that walking up and talking to them is a viable strategy. Wish I knew that before I started experimenting on forest animals with my magic. Unwilling sapient test subjects are never a good idea. For just so many many reasons. Managed a decent cutting edge with my telekinesis though.

The other thing I learned is that I'm kinda big for the locals in my base form. About 1.5 times. Easy enough to remedy. I can get as small as a dragonfly after all. I think I'll be infiltrating as a unicorn too. They're the only ones I saw with ranged telekinesis. Hate to give up flight, but I saw those guys pushing around the clouds in the sky. Not something I think I'll be able to replicate if I'm ever expected to participate in that activity. Everybody also has tattoos on their thighs. I'll need to know what's up with that. Thankfully most children don't seem to have any, so if I go in as one of them I can just not have one and skip the whole issue until I know what cultural significance it has. A foolproof plan!

For feeding though... I think I'll just try my hoof at infiltration for now. Learn the culture. I still haven't got the emotion I need to eat narrowed down, but even this has given me some information to work with. Community and cooperation. In hindsight it's kind of obvious, but most of the creatures I have been able to feed from are mammalian species with some sort of family or community concept. If I assume that higher thought was inherent to all the creatures I fed from, it is one or more of the emotions designed to keep society together. This is just an assumption though, and I'll need to figure out if I can feed discreetly too. It just will not do to get chased out of town for stealing people's souls or some such nonsense. My feeding has been very visible so far.

If all else fails I can just run away and try again a few villages over.

Amber Fields

I was repairing the fence next to the Everfree when I first saw her. Galloping at full speed, like the inmates of Tartarus were on her tail. Filly with a light chestnut coat, black mane, and blank cutie mark. When she cleared the treeline she turned around as if she expected to fight whatever was chasing her only to relax after a few seconds. Good thing too, I'm not cut out for fighting Everfree monsters. That's why we have the fence.

"Hello there, are you alright?" She tenses up like I just shocked her spine.

"Umm, y-y-yes?" With her eyes downcast, and mane covering her eyes. So cute!

"Well come on in! The Everfree isn't any place for young fillies like you. There are terrifying monsters in there!" She hesitantly trots into the farm property. I nudge her along towards the farmhouse. "So what brings you out here?"

"Got lost." I raise my eyebrows.

"Lost indeed. What were you doing when you got lost?"

"Looking for farm work." Now that's a lie, but I can overlook it. Let's pick apart her position.

"Really? Unicorns aren't much for labor jobs. You won't have the stamina for it, unlike us earth ponies. Where's your family? I'd like to get you back to them before they miss you." She sets a stubborn glint in her eyes.

"I can do it! I can be useful! Please don't kick me out." Oh. Oh I'm not sure I was supposed to hear that last part. Paints a disheartening picture about how life has been treating her recently. I nuzzle her snout.

"Don't worry honey, nobody is kicking you out. You can stay with us for now, but a young filly like you needs her family." She looks away.

"Good luck finding them." In a much harsher voice than I suspect she meant.

---

Life after that went by fairly normally. Not much happened to effect us with her inclusion except for a new face at the supper table, and an extra hand for chores. She struggled at first, but she was able to use her unicorn magic to compensate somewhat.

The search for her family was strangely unfruitful. Nopony reported a filly of her coloration missing within fifty leagues. Very strange. And cruel if some of what I've guessed is true about her. I can't confirm anything about it with her. She steadfastly refuses to talk about her home or family. I tried pressing the issue once only to receive the response that 'this is my home.' I nearly broke down out of happiness right there. Hugged her instead.

She was a bit of a late bloomer with her cutie mark. Showed up as a broken heart. When I saw it for the first time I wanted to bucking strangle somepony. She always said not to worry about it. I always ignored her. Once she was ready she married one of the baker's sons in town. Oh, they grow up so fast.

Tanya, two days after arriving on farm

I figured out I can, in fact, feed discreetly with just some muzzle nuzzling. Very good news.

Now I just have to figure out what I'm eating and how I can possibly get more of it.

Comments

[WhatYouReading]

I like this story

[xbox432]

Buck that.

Sooo... how long will it take Tanya to realize she is censoring herself inside her own mind with words she would never normally use?

Ah, she noticed the auto-translation thing, so at least she has a heads up.

And hay! She even found a family! Good for her, though I now wonder just how honest she'll be with "The Baker's Son".

[FTR2017]

Infiltration successful! Now, a discreet and long life awaits her as her deserved retirement~!