//------------------------------// // New Friends // Story: The Little Monster // by Razor Flake //------------------------------// The filly barreled through the forest faster than most fillies her age. But she continued to accelerate, tearing up the ground and starting to shout in fear. Her immense weight shoved her hooves into the ground, causing her to slow down because of how fast and hard she ran. She went faster. She wasn't completely used to this body but she knew the wolves were close. She went faster and faster until she knew she was almost to Fluttershy. Fluttershy was tending to her animals when a familiar scene played out. Someone ran out of the Everfree forest, but this time it was a little pegasus. Her maternal instincts kicked in, and she half ran half flew to the filly's aid, but before she could, the white pegasus stumbled. And at the speed she was moving... It wasn't gonna be pretty. And it most certainly wasn't when she tumbled, rolling into the ground headfirst and smashing her snout in. She nearly broke her neck, but shifted fast enough to avoid that. She rolled on her back until her hind legs hit the ground at a bad angle..she tried to stop herself with her fore hooves but only managed to break her left foreleg. She ate dirt as she skidded to a halt on her stomach, cut, battered and bruised. She whimpered, not knowing the language but hoping the noises came across as she wanted them to, and they did. Even as she was tumbling, Fluttershy was skidding to a halt where she stopped. "Oh my! You poor thing! We need to get you to the hospital!", Fluttershy exclaimed. However, she wasn't exactly the strongest pony. No way to get this hurt filly to the hospital on her own. She could ask a bear or other large animal to help, but that might scare the filly, and the last thing that she needed was to struggle. She tried to think of the closest pony.... Rainbow Dash! Her napping cloud's route should be somewhere overhead. She looked up and, sure enough, the telltale small, low hanging cloud was there. Fluttershy's wings lumped harder than ever to reach that cloud before the filly's condition worsened. She held nothing back, even her inherent shyness not preventing her shouting. "RAINBOW DASH! I NEED YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW!" Rainbow Dash awoke, only momentarily in awe of Fluttershy's sudden break of character before the gravity of a situation that would make her friend shout hit her. Immediately she darted to the ground, far faster than even the panicked Fluttershy. She was taken aback by the hurt filly. As an athlete, and definitely not some kind of egghead, she was well versed in sports injuries. The tiny pegasus had reached some impressive ground speed before taking a terrible tumble. She quickly assessed that there wasn't likely any sort of spinal injury, so she decided to gently but swiftly airlift the filly straight to the Ponyville hospital. One thing she certainly noticed was that the kiddo was really heavy. Must be all that leg muscle. The filly never went unconscious. She not only didn't need to sleep, but she didn't like it. More importantly, it was dangerous to sleep when injured, whether it be from a predator or her not regulating her mitosis. While she could deal with a tumor, they sucked out a lot of energy and left her extremely weak. But right now, she needed to actively not heal. Ponies didn't regenerate as fast as she did. She couldn't very well blow her cover that easily. She wished she could shut off her senses, but all she could do was close her eyes and pretend she wasn't soaring above the ground. Rainbow Dash soon landed, deftly getting the filly om her back as the one mare stampede nearly took out the doors on her way in. "DOC!", Shouted Rainbow. The noise hurt the filly's ears. The natural infiltrator in her mind had been slowly breaking down words and context, but she didn't understand this yet. She was put on a bed and was asked questions. She had a brilliant idea. She would start repeating sounds that she had heard from the race she had first run into, mimicking the hairless apes that had caused her so much fear. She hoped that this would convey that she didn't know the language, which the doctors evidently picked up on much to its relief. It didn't pay attention to what they did, because it was suddenly very tired. It didn't know why, but it believed that it was because it had pushed this body so far. It waited until they went away for it to heal. It slowly set itself up to heal at a moderately accelerated pace, then crashed. ~ She had been out for almost a week. Not much had changed, though. She had spent another week with a pony named Twilight Sparkle learning words and letters, the latter of which she was not very good at. Diring that time it had goven itself a name: Hope. Now, the filly was walking around town with Fluttershy. The ponies didn't really think much of it, which she liked. Fluttershy was taking her to Applejack, who it was excited to meet. Apparently she had come to visit the filly in the hospital a few times while she was asleep. Of course, she loved meeting anything, even a rock. That's hyperbole. Well, usually. Sometimes she would happily greet a rock, striking up conversation the best she could. She said that she was practicing. This worried Fluttershy on some level. Yes, the filly didn't know how to speak completely just yet, but surely she had previous people in its life. Even as she mused, however, the two had reached the gates to Sweet Apple Acres. An orange pony with a funny hat trots up to the gate and opens it. Presumably, this is Applejack. "Hey there, sugar cube! This tha' filly ah heard so much about?", She ruffled the filly's mane, smiling. "Ah got a sister not much older than ya, maybe y'all can be friends!"                                                                                               "Friends!", She shouted, hopping up and down excitedly, "Friends! Friends! I like friends!"     It turns out that the little monster would be staying with the Apples for a while, on account of something that the monster didn't know. Hope was chasing a dragonfly, which was far more important. It was also a good opportunity to get more used to this body, which had a higher center of mass than her normal one, and the hooves were not ideal for fast maneuvering. She was also going to try flying… Well, maybe when she wasn’t scared of heights… Falling is scary! But even as she was remembering when a big mean bear had backed her right off a waterfall, she heard a thump followed by other, smaller ones. Sounded like apples. She can’t really digest non-meats, but apples are tasty! So she followed the sounds to their source, where she found the AJ bucking apple trees, making all the apples fall. “Wow! Applejack is strong!”, it proclaimed. “Wha’, thank you, sugarcube. Been buckin’ apples since Ah wa’ a filly.” “I wanna try!” Applejack chuckles and nods at the young pegasus. Of course, the little monster was actually very, very strong. But she wasn’t really thinking about that. Rather, Hope fully believed Applejack used a lot of force too, and that the harder she bucked, the better she would do. She mimicked Applejack, bucking a tree. There was a sharp crack as the tree's bark splintered, leaving the mighty plant's trunk bent slightly. When she turned around to see her handiwork, she almost cried, feeling terrible for hurting the tree. Even though she was a predator, and had no issue killing and eating prey, whenever something got hurt for reasons outside of being eaten, she simply couldn't stand it. "Mister tree!", She exclaims with worry. "Ah… Wow, sugarcube…", sputters Applejack. She was kind of at a loss for words. This is something Big Mac would have done on accident, not a little filly. The tree in question was, in truth, on its last legs. Probably needed to be cut down soon. But the little monster didn't know that. All she saw was that she caused another living thing harm. It wasn't even like eating. She couldn't eat a tree! The tree didn't deserve to get hurt! "I… I… I'm…”, she stutters, on the verge of tears. "It's okay, sugarcube." This didn't really stop her quivering lip and teary eyes, hidden behind her wild white mane. The little monster was practically mourning the tree, feeling the guilt of murder on her tiny shoulders. Applejack, in her sisterly wisdom, changed the subject. "So ya don' got a name?". Applejack’s wide eyes returned to normal, her shock dissapaiting as she assessed the damage to the old tree. The monster smiled, her guilt forgotten. "No, my name is Hope!" "Ah see…" Applejack wasn’t really giving the name thing the time of day, Rather, she was trying to figure out how in the hay a filly, let alone a pegasus, damaged such an old tree. It may have been sick, but old trees are strong nonetheless. Her thoughts turned to her sister, who would be excited to have this mysterious white filly as a friend. She felt wary letting this pony near her sister, but she’d just have to wait and see. It was a dreary day, the sun hiding behind a veil of ominous, dark clouds laden with rain soon to fall on the land below. A soft wind blew through the trees and buildings, which made an inaudible whistling noise that only Hope could hear, though Winona could, too. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying. However, Hope and Winona were playing with each other happily, ignoring the whistling as best they could. As they were chasing each other, a thunderclap sent the two into hiding under the dining room table, both shivering with fright. Apple Bloom had been up in her room, watching the storm in wonder. She was enthralled by the cracks of lightning and the ensuing thunder. Scootaloo had told her that if she kept the seconds between the flash of lightning and divided it by five, that would tell her how far away the lightning was in miles. The thunder had been sounding for a while, the low rumbles rolling across the sky. The weather team had put together a real number, that's for sure. It was the thunderclap that didn't give her the chance to count past three that threw her off. Somewhat rattled by the surprise, she headed down the stairs to check on Winona and the new filly named Hope.     "Oh, c'mon you two, that thunder ain't gonna hurt ya!", she says with an exasperated tone. She wasn’t really used to actually being older than someone. "B-But it's loud! And scary! I always hide from the loud noises so it doesn't get me!" Apple Bloom sighed, shaking her head. Another thunderclap. This time, Hope was so frightened that her teeth had become sharp. She closed her mouth a bit too hard while muffling her yelp, and drew blood which ran from the corner of her mouth. She very quickly licked the blood back, reclaiming the resource rich substance. The momentary pain still showed on her face. "You okay, Hope?" "Yeah…" Hope yawns, feeling tired. She didn't normally get tired, but she hadn't totally figured out pony biology just yet, so she wasn't sure how to suppress sleep. Her regular body didn't even sleep in the first place. She decided that under the table was a good place to have a nap. Far from the windows and under something solid, she felt safe closing its eyes and letting that strange sensation wash over her. ~ It was a bright winter day. The low sun's light reflected on the snow below, though the heat that came with it was lost to the sheer cold present. The little monster was unaware of the beautiful scenery, the eyeless creature blind to the frozen trees and the skyward mountains. It was instead on its perpetual hunt, chasing down a fox. It skidded to a halt, hearing some sort of strange barrier in front of it. It was no longer in the forest, it knew that. The wind was no longer impeded by the great evergreens of its current home. It had come to the cold place mostly on accident, following a strange, tough path that felt like stone but different. It would occasionally hear a very loud, scary noise. It learned the hard way that freezing in fear would hit is hard and crack it open, sending it into the air. It ran away from the sudden heat, understanding that the scary hot fire was angry with it. From then on it stayed to the side of the strange path, and always ran far away when it heard the scary loud things. As it moved farther it seemed to get colder, but very slowly. It knew that some places are colder than others, but it didn't know it could be this cold all the time, even in the day. As it was walking, it made a revelation. When the cold came, many animals would become fat for when they went to sleep for a long time. If it was cold, then all the animals would be fat all the time… Which meant more food! Of this, it was certain, and doubled its resolve to travel this frightening path. And now here it stood, in front of some strange structure. It gave it a push and it splintered and broke, allowing the monster easy passage. As it was sniffing around, something creaked. The sound of a vaguely familiar animal crying out was heard, followed by a strange, clicky sliding sound. That was followed by a loud- BOOM! The thunderclap jolted Hope awake. She quickly noticed that a concerned Apple Bloom and Applejack had been trying to wake her up, but more pressingly that she was in a different place than she had fallen asleep in. That, combined with the dream, made her burst into tears. Both the Apples hugged her, Applejack cooing and Apple Bloom asking her if she had a bad dream. It took a while to calm Hope from her hysteria, but eventually she settled down enough to speak. She breathlessly stuttered,"B-Bad dream! No more sleeping!" "What happened, sugarcube?", Applejack asked. The concern in her eyes was evident, as if it was her own sister that had the ordeal. "I… I was in the cold place and the loud noise came and…" She trailed off, tearing up again. "Shh…", Applejack cooed, "That darn noise ain't gonna getcha here.". Internally, she sighed. Some bad things had happened to this filly to make her such a nervous wreck. Hope looked at Applejack with wide eyes. "P-promise?" "Remember Big Mac?" "Yeah…" "Ya' think anything's gonna get past 'im?". She was smiling now. Big Mac was physically capable, and she knew that Hope knew. She was silent. She knew a number of things that could hurt Big Mac enough to get to she. But she shook her head. Then she smiled, breaking away from the orange pony in favor of her sister. For the first time in a long time, Hope felt loved. More importantly, Hope felt that she was actually, truly safe.     “Ya don’t need to trouble yerself with helping around the farm, sugarcube.”     That’s what Applejack had said to Hope when she asked what she could do to help. This didn’t sit well with Hope. Hope needed to do things, she couldn’t just lounge around all day. But there was something more important: Food. Hope was carnivorous and couldn’t change that at all, no matter the change in shape. While that had been something she accepted before, she was now a lot more conscious of it, given that everyone was a plant eater. How could she get food? She couldn’t go back to the forest, that was too scary. She could go at least a week without eating before she began to cannibalize her muscular tissues, but it had already been six days since her last hunt. And Hope wasn’t good at hiding it. She was moving more sluggishly and looked more tired than usual. As it was looking at the now clear sky through the window in Apple Bloom’s room, she heard the filly herself open the door and walk in.     “Hey Hope, ya better stay outta the orchard today, sis’ saw some timber wolves by the forest edge. One of ‘em got Mac, but he’s ok.”, she informed the little monster, “Just don’t head outside.”     “A wolf?”, Hope wondered aloud. She liked dogs and sometimes packs accepted her. Maybe she could make them go away by being nice.     “Kinda. They’re made of wood an’ can put themselves back together.”, Apple Bloom says.     “Oh… I can get rid of ‘em.”, stated Hope. She said it matter of factly. She wanted to help. She didn't really think too hard about being a four or five year old filly.     “Thas' funny, Hope. Whaddya wanna do since we can't go to the orchard? We could always make a run fer town. Maybe get some help-"     But Apple Bloom was cut off by Hope waking by and right downstairs. She looked out the window and, sure enough, she was making her way to the place where the timber wolves were. Crunch     Crunch went the wolf's body. It reformed but hope crunched it again. Crunch and snap like the bones of her prey when she ground them to dust in her jaws. She was small but she was heavy. The things were held together by vines and magic but they went down all the same. She didn't take any pleasure in this. Quite the opposite. She had tried every way she knew to make them go away, but they hurt it instead. That was ok, she was used to being hurt, though it’s not as if she enjoyed it. More so she didn’t want these to hurt her friends, si better her than them. She didn’t want to lose any friends at all. She shouted the worst thing she knew at them as they tried to reform.     “Bad dog! Bad dog!”, she repeated. She had tears in her eyes as her small hooves stomped the now inanimate wood into pieces, getting splinters in her legs. It hurt, the large cut in her side bled, but not too bad. It was big and it hurt but it wasn’t life threatening, even to a normal filly. “Bad dog!”, sge shouts, “Bad dog-”, but she falters, unable to continue. She falls, crying from both pain and grief that she had hurt and maybe even killed another living thing. And so she curled up amidst the splintered remains, closing her eyes and letting sleep take her, hopefully to somewhere nice.