//------------------------------// // Hello! // Story: Yldduc // by Dragonfire2lm //------------------------------// It had been watching the ponies for a few hours. It? No, no that didn't sound right. The right words needed to be used, others liked it when one could communicate with words instead of feelings or intent directly implanted into the brain. Others also liked to have things easily defined, a name, a label, a string of words. She, yes, she! She was a she. She liked being a she. She would worry about a name later, or perhaps just use the name her last human/friend/owner had given her. Mittens was a good name. She liked Mittens, she liked her old human/friend/owner but she had been asked to investigate this new world, a bright world with a large peaceful civilization perfect for The Conglomerate to establish friendly relations with. A new world for the Yldduc to move to. So, Mittens had been called upon to initiate first contact. Mittens was loaf-shaped with thick black fur, pointed ears atop her head with a single yellow eye in the center of her face. Her dozens of stubby, fuzzy legs propelled her across the ground, past trees and bushes- She froze, her gaze locked onto a chirping thing with feathers. She chirped at it. They had birds here! She always got The Warm Fuzzies when she saw something she recognized, it meant she had remembered the words correctly. Words were difficult for some Yldduc but Mittens loved using them. Mittens remembered her human/friend/owner liked birds, always told Mittens not to eat them, not that she would, she didn't like eating living things, she had looked like those things at some point! Mittens squeaked a farewell at the bird and scuttled off towards the settlement in the distance. As Mittens approached the settlement? Town? Village? She picked up on the surface level thoughts of the locals. Non telepathic races were noisy by nature, their thoughts open and available for Mittens to sense like a diary left open in a public area. It was why she had to retreat to the forest, it was so loud, she needed quiet in order to process what she had learned while watching the ponies. Mittens knew the settlement was preparing for a festival with costumes and food, that ponies were generally nice people and The Conglomerate had requested she try a different tactic. So, she scurried into a bush by a dirt path near the entrance to town and took a closer look at what she had been instructed to mimic. Her superiors wanted the Yldduc to have a more active role on this world, The Pet Initiative wouldn't work so, Mittens had to mimic a people- wait wrong word- person, yes. Mittens had to be a person. That meant talking, that meant words and expressions, and far more complicated things than she was used to. She was thrumming with excitement as she focused on what a pony looked like. Ears, a muzzle, a mane, a tail and a not-loaf body. Legs were tricky, they weren't cat legs with nifty retractable claws and what her human/friend/owner called toe beans, these legs were, stumps? Hooves? Mittens' form rippled as she tried to get her body to look right, it didn't so she used four furry tendrils as a substitute for legs. She couldn't give herself another eye either, but her human/friend/owner had liked her "one-eyed hellcat" look so maybe the ponies would too? She had succeeded in giving herself a pony head and pony tail. She could pass her new form off as a costume until she made a new friend. She waited until the road was empty to leave the safety of the bush. Walking on the tips of her tendrils, she headed into town. The thatched roofs of houses, colourful flowerbeds and quaint atmosphere was relaxing to Mittens, the orange and yellow leaves blown around by the wind only added to its charm. Mittens' maw stretched into an expression she'd seen both humans and ponies use to express happiness, her white teeth on full display. A smile she remembered and kept walking. It wasn't long before she came across a pony. Mittens showed off more teeth in the hopes of being friendly, the pony froze, their expression twisted into something Mittens hadn't seen before and her telepathic senses could feel the terror the pony was consumed by. Mittens closed her mouth, the pony was scared, what were you supposed to do when people were scared? Ah, words. Mittens had to use words, Mittens had to sound like a she and use words. "H E L L O" The pony screamed and ran off further into town. The raw, primal reaction took Mittens off guard, a tendril halfheartedly extended out to comfort the pony, but they were long gone. She looked around, the streets were deserted, Mittens was at a loss and looked down at herself. Why couldn't she just be a cat? Even ponies liked cats. She hid behind the nearest building, she needed a new plan. On the ground before her was a piece of paper. Mittens couldn't read pony words yet but there were images on it she could identify. A group of small ponies all wearing strange costumes, surrounded by smaller, colourful trinkets. Food maybe? One of the small ponies had nothing more than a large piece of cloth over them with holes cut in the front for their eyes. Mittens single eye blinked at the simplicity of the costume, if ponies wore it, Mittens could use it to blend in during the festival. Luckily, she was familiar with various types of material, her human/friend/owner had lots of soft things and large pieces of cloth for sleeping on. She reverted back into her normal form, she focused, her back rippled and a large, white square sprung out of her body and fluttered in the light breeze to land on her head. Mittens grew a furry tentacle to grasp the bedsheet and adjust it so it covered her completely- it wasn't big enough, her feet and half her body were still visible. Mittens let out a frustrated squeak. She could make more bedsheets and tie them together, but she couldn't risk expending so much energy and risk making herself sick when she hadn't even made a new friend to stay with yet. Not wanting her creation to go to waste, she ate it. It wasn't the energy she needed but until she found a pony to provide the energy she fed from, she had to be careful. Mittens kept to the shadows as she scuttled away to explore the town.