//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: A Star in the North // by White Flame //------------------------------// BOOM I stared up into the sky mumbling to myself in irritation as my vision came back to me, I closed my eyes as I moved my hand to rub the side of my head. When I felt something hard against my head, I opened my eyes and moved my hands to to find that they weren’t there. As my jaw dropped, I brought my other arm up to see that it was the same as the other. As I blinked stupidly  at pair of blue hooves, my mind suddenly came to the realization. What ever happened in the teleportation miss hap, cause my hands to turn into these things. Some people would react calmly to this, others would panic. Unfortunately, I’m in the later group. Letting out a shocked scream, I scrambled to get to me feet… only to fall flat on my face. This managed to calm me down due to my curiosity. Looking over myself, I realized my whole body changed, as I had apparently changed species. Gone where my arms and hands, replaced by long blue furred limbs with hooves at the end, and based on the fact that my rear legs where the same length as the ones up front, they were also legs. Looking at my rear, I found that I still had a tail. Though this one wasn’t all flesh and bone. It was long strands of greyish silver hair. I sat there staring dumbly at my new body, before letting out a long, stomach wrenching laugh. This has to be a dream! I thought to myself, finally calming down from the laughter. As amusing as it was, having completely changed species, it was just a little to much from what I had just been through. I had taken a job that in all honesty was doomed to fail. I might not have had the greatest education, but even I know that using this ‘Teleporter’ on a person for the first time was a horrible idea. However, that seemed to go right over those researchers. Ethics isn’t exactly common place any more. As much as I’d love to stay here and dream, I wanna get paid. I tested their the teleport which I’m guessing blew up and knocked me out. So let's wake up. I sat up, bringing my right foreleg up, I brought it down as hard as I could on my left foreleg. … “FUCK THAT HURT!” I shrieked, rubbing the spot I had hit with a hoof. Suddenly, my eyes went wide. Wait… that hurt…? Oh no… I slowly sat down, staring at my hooves. As my mind slowly came to a realization. I’m stuck like this… on this strange world… as some quadrupedal creature… Like any sane person would, I went into a panic attack. Breathing rapidly, I felt my body shaking. “This… This can’t be happening…” I stammered, putting my hooves back down on the forest floor. I felt myself collapse onto the ground, staring at the dirt in front of me. I continued to hyperventilate for a few moments before reigning myself back in. Its okay… I can deal with this. I just have to find someone to help me… that is if there is sentient life here. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I brought myself to my hooves. For a moment, I had completely forgotten about the changes to my body. Without even thinking I took a step forward. Only to end up face planting into the forest floor as a I tripped over myself. “Right… I have four legs now. Great.” I muttered to myself, standing back up. It took a several minutes, and after falling on my face a few times, I was able to at least walk more than a few feet without falling on my face. As I walked through the forest I was able to walk at faster pace, feeling more confident in my new body. “Okay… Seems like I got that down.” It was then I had realized something. Wait a minute, my voice sounds… feminine...  I stood there staring at the ground before jerking my head to look at my underside looking for a certain body part. Upon realizing it wasn’t there, I slowly brought my head back up. Staring dumbly at the forest in front of me, I let out an exasperated sigh. “Of course. Not only does an experiment go horribly wrong, and sends me to some strange forest, I get a full species AND a gender change.” I said, my voice laced with irritation. Muttering to myself, I continued on my way. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It wasn’t long before I found a small clearing with a stream running through it. Before coming upon the stream I had found that my diet was of that of a herbivores. Which lead to my first trying of grass, which actually wasn’t that bad. That, or my new body reacted to it differently then my previous one would have. Approaching the stream, I found myself greeted by the a blue furred face. Blue ears that popped out of the side of my head, pointing this way and that at every little sound that I heard. On top of my head I had a greyish silver mane, with a horn poking through the mane. But what I had caught me off guard was my eyes. They had orange pupils, but what was shocking about them was the sheer size of them. Despite living in huge nation that covered many different worlds with many different species, Not once had I seen a creature with eyes as big as this. Yet, there I was, one such creature, staring at them in my reflection. “Wow…” I said, mesmerized by my new appearance. I didn’t know how long I had stayed there staring at myself in the water, but I was called back into reality by the sounds of something rustling in the bushes nearby. Jumping, I turned towards the sound, looking for whatever caused it. I felt my ears fold down, as I look around the edge of the small clearing. Suddenly I heard what I assumed was a light growl, and the sight of two bright yellow eyes. “Wh-whos there?” I stuttered, a hint of fear in my voice. Receiving no response, I took a step back, scanning the brush. Then, two more pairs of yellow eyes appear near the first. My eyes widened in fear, stumbling backwards as 3 creatures appeared from the brush. With bright yellow eyes, their face and bodies seemed to be made entirely out of wood. Their muzzles were long, complemented with sharp wooden teeth. On both sides of their heads, two sticks pointed out, taking the appearance of horns rather than ears. The leader of the small pack took a step forward, a deep growl coming from it. It flicked its tail, signaling the other two to flank me. Terrified, I continued to back up. Until bumping into a tree. As I felt my rear end hit the base of the tree, I shot a glance back to look at what I hit. Almost instantly I heard one of the creature's roar. My ears flattened against my head, I look back in horror as I saw the monster charging. Reacting on what I could only assume was instinct, I took off in the opposite direction. Running, or at least attempting to run, I made my way through the forest, weaving around trees and bushes. My efforts to outrun the monsters did not work. Looking over my shoulder, my eyes went to the size of pinpricks as I saw the three wooden creatures gaining on me. “Someone, anyone, help me!” I shrieked, turning back to continue running.   Suddenly the forest opened up into a clearing, with a large boulder in the center. Taking a quick look over my shoulder I realized that two of the creatures were not there anymore. Where did they go? Turning back, I started to run past the boulder only to suddenly feel a sharp pain in my side as my body slammed into the boulder. Coughing, I looked up wearily to see one of the creatures coming out of the brush I had just passed. My heart racing, I tried to push myself of the ground, only to be meet with a sharp pain that nearly brought me back to the ground. Wincing, I tried to run again. The beast didn’t give me a chance as its paw sent me back into the rock. The blow this time was much harder as I hit my head. I fell to the floor, looking up to see the three monsters closing in on me, my vision starting to go black. Shit… Looks like this is the end