//------------------------------// // Being the hunted and the hunter // Story: Time never stands still // by Dradavar //------------------------------// Chapter 26 I stumble through the moonlight. I can't control them right now. My feet. I gasp and stop for a second, trying to calm my breath. And remembering the very small thing that happened. We went out, Luna, Shining Armor, Twilight and myself, we walked through the castle on the way to the small private banquet hall, to have a nice dinner. Which we had. The food was delightful, this was the best broccoli soup I ever had, the salad was perfect too, the wine, the company, simply everything was perfect. We laughed, we talked, we discussed, even fought. After that dinner, Twilight and I were a little bit tipsy, we didn't drink much, but we are both lightweights. Luna and Shining shared a few good laughs looking at us, our red cheeks and our sometimes rather strange comments. The hours went on and, deep in the night, it was time to bid farewell. Luna waved at us and teleported away, saying she needed to return to her work, Shining was helping his sister on her way home. Which left me alone. Giggling and smiling I walked through the hallways. And on my way I stepped onto something. A small, very small, black shard with a very faint orange sheen. I were surprised, I picked it up and recognized it as dark essence. My thoughts were slow, probably too much alcohol, my body couldn't send the right signals that time, I had thrown it away instantly otherwise. But it was too late. The shard bursted open, falling apart in a black mist. And swallowing me. The last thing I heard before I fell into the darkness was a menacing laugh of a twisted mind. I woke up in this place, which was kinda pretty, a beautiful forest, many different flowers were adorning the glades and paths, patches of them growing in the spots where the moonlight could break through the canopy. I was lying on one of these glades. And much had changed. As I woke up I tried to stand up, of course, but my legs wouldn't move. The reason was obvious. These weren't my legs. I recognize them- A black paw to my face sends me flying, interrupting my trail of thoughts. I can't control my body enough to do anything else besides flying helplessly through the air, landing with my back at a tree with a loud thump, a scream escapes my throat as the pain runs through my body. I groan and try to get up, but my body still won't listen to any of my commands, my mind was crying and screaming to move, to run, to fight, anything. My legs doesn't even twitch. I feel something hot flowing down my arm and turn my head to see a small but deep wound on my shoulder, a small branch had impaled itself in my flesh, blood slowly escaping. A growl. I spin my head around and see the black wolf, his massive paws, his massive jaws, opening and closing, salivating. He was hungry. He was the hunter. I was the prey. Fear strikes my mind, as it did the last time, and my body starts to move, my legs, my arms, everything tries to follow one order. Run. Slowly getting up I cover the wound on my left shoulder with my right hand, turning around I run through the forest, dripplets of blood marking a way. 'Oh come on' something whispers in my mind, the voice deep but sick and twisted, more of a hiss than an actual voice, 'why are you running away? It's so much more fun to get eaten' I hear the wolf behind me, following me. "What have you done to me!?" I scream, my voice was different too, I jump over a fallen tree but trip over a branch sticking out, more screams escaping my mouth as more wounds open up on my chest, my shoulders, my face, as I fall to the ground. 'Oh Siren, tz-tz-tz' the voice answers, 'you should have listened closer to Wra'kyr as she explained my powers' his voice grows quiet. I get back up and take a step forward, ready to keep on running. "YOU ARE MY TOY!" a face appears before me, a face made of pure darkness, red eyes, teeth long enough to bite through my whole body, the face smiles as I hear the wolf from behind me approach. I stumble backwards, covering my head and trip over a smaller branch. Blood flows out of my mouth, I look down, there was no pain, only the cold throbbing sensation of something that wasn't supposed to be there. My eyes wander over my body, recognizing the form. My whole body looked like Wra'kyr did, but I had no animal traits, no scales to protect me, no fur or hair to cover me. I was naked. My eyes wander back up to the cold sensation. A branch, part of the tree I tried to jump over, was sticking out of my chest, blood dripping down. The branch had broken my spine, making it impossible for me to move, but I could still scream. Which I did. 'Oh what a pity' a shadowy figure appears before me, kneeling down, I look up into his face 'looks like you need another "session"' I see him smile, his long pointy teeth, his red eyes. I hear another growl and look up, the wolf was standing on the tree looking down on me, some of his saliva was dripping down on my face. He opens his massive jaw and digs his teeth in my neck, blood gushing out, as he pulls at my neck, weak gargles escape my destroyed throat, I wheeze, trying in vain to get some air into my punctured lungs. The sound of my breaking spine is the last thing I hear before the wolf pulls of my head. My eyes open, I gasp. Luna turns around and vomits over the floor, the others gasp and scream, not expecting such an reaction. "Princess!" I could hear Shinings voice, it sounded weak and distorted. My body aches, burns, stings. I can't move, but I look down and see a massive black crystal growing out of my hoof, the crystal was covering my whole left frontleg, twisting it into a strange claw, and half of my chest. Luna turns to the ponies in my room, "everypony leaves this room this instant!" she orders, her voice was weak. "Prince-" a guard speaks up. Luna grabs the guard with her magic and throws him out through the door, she point with a shaking hoof at the door, "NOW!" The other ponies run out, scared, the door slams shut, a pale blue aura covering it from the inside. Only Luna was left in the room. She was gasping, as was I. "What happens to you?" she asks, her voice reflecting fear and confusion. "Braak'tha" I whisper, speaking hurts my chest, "madness." These are the only words that escape my throat before Braak'tha pulls me back into the darkness, his laugh echoing through my mind. I wake up in the same place as before, the forest. My eyes widen as I see the sleeping wolf before me, a broken skull, blood and parts of a spine lying on the ground around his paws. As before I stand up, slowly, my body doesn't feel so heavy this time, it actually moves how I want it to move. 'You ready for round two?' I hear Braak'thas manical whispers, 'you got farther than your friend last time' I hear his smile. My eyes widen, as I suppress any physical reaction, not wanting to wake the wolf. It was in vain. As before, without even making a sound the wolf wakes up, looking at me. And this time he grins. I turn around and run, as before back into the forest. My feet still feel strange, it's still hard to build up enough speed, but atleast I don't stumble through the brushwood like last time. I hear the wolf snapping with his jaws, not too far away from me. And then he is on me. Jumping on me he throws me to the ground, stepping on my chest, he pins me down, I gasp and wheeze as he makes it impossible for me to breath. 'Oh come on Siren' Braak'tha appears on the wolf, riding him like a horse, 'it's no fun if you just get caught all the time' he sounds almost disappointed. The wolf leans down and ripps out my throat. My eyes open again, I was back in my room, Luna was still sitting next to me, she was covering her mouth, even though I could see her gagging. I look down on my body, expecting him to be half covered in the dark crystal. The crystal growth hasn't even moved one inch. My eyes widen as I realize something. Braak'tha pulls me back in. This time I hear Wra'kyrs words, 'He uses his power to crash your mind which in the end, forces you to break your own body', 'The only and I mean it exactly like this, the only way to defeat him is to fall into this madness, to accept it and use the powers he grants you to break you to destroy his illusions' 'Accept it and kill him' my thoughts are weak, distorted, twisted, but still there. I'm still myself. The forest, again. I stand up, looking at the wolf. A corpse was lying at his paws, half eaten, broken bones surrounding it. I see the face of the corpse. Even though it's covered in blood it shows some form of elegance, just like Wra'kyrs face. I start to giggle. The wolf wakes up, perking his ears, he glares at me. He had grown, standing tall he overshadows me, he was now easily twice as big as Celestia. This time I feel no fear, no urge to run away, I just look at him and giggle. The wolf gets irritated at the sound, I was mocking him with the giggle. And he knew it. He starts to circle around me, glaring at me. i don't turn to keep him in sight, I know that he will attack me from behind. And he does. I feel a massive throbbing pain as he hits me with his paw, sending me flying closer to his ground, I land between the bones and the remnants of myself. A loud crack, a stinging unbearable pain rushes through my body. I landed on my sight. The cracking sound could only mean that I broke some of my ribs. Blood drips down my lips. I stop giggling. I lie on my back, gasping and wheezing as more blood fills my mouth. The wolf walks closer, standing over me, not pinning me down, he opens his jaws, his teeth reflecting the moonlight. 'You are no fun Siren' Braak'tha sounds bored, even though it's hard to tell that, his voice is not capable of showing emotions or any other reaction. "You-" it's hard to talk with broken ribs, a punctured lung, "think... so?" The wolf rushes down biting deep in my shoulder. More pain, more blood. My fingers wander over the ground, searching. The world starts to spin as the blood keeps flowing out of my body, the wolf pulls back, his maw full of my flesh, he chews, blood dripping down his chin. A sigh escapes the shadowy figure of Braak'tha, appearing behind the wolf. 'Next one, you better stop being such a spoilsport.' I close my eyes with a bright smile. And reopen them instantly, finally grabbing one of the longer, broken bones. The wolf, distracted by his chewing, ignores me. A painful yowl escapes his throat, he dropps the scrunched meat, blood flowing down my right arm. The other end of the bones sticking out of the back of his head. Braak'tha screeches loud as a hole opens up in his head, the mist dissolves, he covers the wound with his twisted hands. I close my eyes, the blood loss finally stopping my heart. I open my eyes, ignoring Lunas reaction at all, I look down. The crystal has redrawn a few inches, only my left frontleg was still covered, the claws at each finger got smaller too. I smile. "Gotcha" I whisper. Braak'thas painful screech echoes through my mind as he pulls me back in. Everything was different now. This time I was the wolf. And before me, lying on the ground was my alter ego, myself in this strange bipedal form. It was strange to finally have a good look at your own body like this, to finally see the hip long grass-green hair, the strange short ears, the small nose, the green brows as her eyes widen in fear, she recoils. Standing up she turns around, stumbling and tripping she runs away. I recognize the scene. I looked like this the first time I entered this illusion. 'What does he want?' my mind is cold-blooded, the mind of a predator, my stomach growls, I nod to myself in my mind, 'he wants me to catch and eat her, but will it stop his influence? Or will I by doing so just throw myself into his madness?' Not sure what to do I stand up, and run after her. I can smell her scent, her fear, the sweat on her skin, another growl escapes my stomach. I'm hungry. I smell food. I need to- I recoil, twigs and grass rustling and snapping under my paws. The animal instincts were thinking, they were alive. And with that I knew what he wants from me. I open my maw and howl to the moon, it wasn't myself, it was the animal, the predator. I run after me, hunting down my scent. And I see me, I get slower, sneaking now. As I did before, I just stand there, gasping, scared. I sneak closer. And bite in my own shoulder. The blood streaming out the wound tingles my tongue. My eyes widen. The animal instincts overtake. I hear Braak'thas laugh as I ripp out the flesh of my own body. My eyes open, I was back in my room, looking down on my body- I gasp. My left arm had moved on it's own. It was frozen, massive ice around it, my eyes follow the way my arm took. My eyes widen as I see Lunas throat, the coat was ruffled, she was rubbing her sore throat, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You... almost... strangled me" her voice was raspy and she was gasping. My eyes return to my body, my whole chest was covered in the dark crystals, a cold feeling was soaking in my chest, surrounding my heart. 'You are mine!' I hear Braak'thas voice. Darkness closes in. Back again. I open my eyes, smelling the scent of blood, I look down and see the devoured corpse, small patches of flesh still left. If I were a pony this would make me gag, but being in this form it makes me hungry. And I smell prey. I turn my head and see myself again, slowly rising to my feet. I growl, the animal instincts calling out to move, to hunt, to devour, to- I bite down in my own frontleg, a yelp escaping my throat. The instincts call out to move, to ignore the wound. I see myself run away. Another bite, the other frontleg. The instincts fade away. 'Spoilsport' Braak'tha appears over me, a long halberd in his arms. I smile as I see the blade rush down on my neck. I open my eyes. Everything as before, the crystals haven't moved, my leg still frozen in place, Luna looking down on me with sorrow and worry, still rubbing her throat. I close my eyes, waiting for Braak'tha to pull me back in. I didn't need to wait long. I stand up the instant I feel the body, the instant I feel the grass tingling my fur. I open my eyes. I know where my body lies. I pounce at the position, seeing my eyes widen as death approaches, her scream as I dig my teeth deep into my own chest, ripping out flesh and bones. I don't chew, I turn around and spit the flesh away. The instincts couldn't even comprehend what I just did. The hunger was gone even though not even one drop of blood streamed down my throat, not one piece of flesh. I turn around as Braak'tha appears behind me, again with his halberd, raising it over his head. I jump to the side as the blade rushes down, digging deep into the ground, Braak'thas annoyed growl in my ears as he tries to pull out the weapon. I smile, which he sees. I pounce at him, throwing him to the ground I pin him down with one paw, turning my neck I pull out the halberd. Braak'thas screech deafens me as I ram the tip of the halberd in his chest. I howl to the moon as his misty blood dissolves into thin air. I look back down, on the god before me. I was getting hungry. With one giant bite his face disappears. I open my eyes. Silence greeting me. I couldn't tell if I was a wolf, a pony or this strange bipedal hairless thing. All I could say was that I was sitting on top of a hill, looking on a lake, the reflection of the moon on its surface. The quiet surrounding me, was lulling. It was beautiful here, quiet, peaceful, soothing. 'You did it' I hear a very faint whisper, Wra'kyrs beautiful voice. I turn my head and see her sitting next to me, she was this strange bipedal thing again, but this time without her snake arm and spider leg. Just this strange thing. I smile weakly. "Do me a favor" I see her raising a brow, "right now, leave me alone. I want to enjoy the silence in this place" she smiles, nodding she stands up, petting my head. And disappears. I was alone. Alone in this quiet place. And I loved it.