I awoke to find that it was still light outside and my stomach rumbling angrily which was causing even the leaves of the thicket I was taking refuge in to start looking rather tasty. I plucked a few leaves from the brush and brought them up to my nose taking a deep sniff before giving them a testing lick. They didn't seem toxic as far as I could tell by the senses I had on hand. They were even aromatic like basil or maybe parsley. I figured I'd may as well go all in and put the leaves in my mouth and began to grind them into a paste on my molars before swallowing. It had a bit of a strong taste on its own, almost like basil mixed with mint a little certainly would go a long way on some meat, maybe that was what made this such a good hiding spot, the smell of the plants was hiding my scent from predators. Thinking of meat had me curious as to the state of the rockodile corpse I had left at the creekshore and if that had attracted anything else's attention.
I stuck my head outside the thicket looking around, seeing the coast seemed to be clear and the corpse of the rockodile was still at the creekshore. The idea of getting a much more substantial meal in me had my stomach rumbling again. I willed an obsidian knife with about a six inch long blade as I bent down and picked it up making my way to the corpse to prepare the parts of it that seemed remotely appetizing to me. It was during this short walk that I realized the knife I had made was naturally sharp, looking nothing like any kind of tool of its kind that could have been made by hand and its balance rested comfortably in my hand. I knelt down beside the corpse, cutting the legs and tail ,as they seemed like the easiest parts of this beast to cook without any experience, with impressive ease thanks to the tool at my disposal. While going about skinning the parts I planned on cooking, I noticed that the rocklike growths on the rockodile appeared to really be stone. This revelation gave me an idea as I looked at the rocky growths on the corpse's head, my forehead once again awash with the warm sensation as I noticed the black-light aura around the rocks. I then visualized them pushing into the rockodile's skull as a sickening cracking noise was soon coming from the corpse soon followed but a snap and squelch as the rocks had pulverized the skull on their way to touch one another.
"Messy and not very hard, handy.." I said aloud to myself and heard an unfamiliar voice only in the vaguest sense like my human one coming from my muzzle. Strange I could have sworn between the scream and the fact I normally talk aloud to myself I would have noticed that this a bit deeper and slightly gravelly voice, kinda fitting seeing as what I seemed to be able to do with things of earth. was coming from me. Maybe I had blocked it out till now or maybe I hadn't talked until now because I wasn't ready to know. I felt a bit of headache coming as I munched a few more leaves before digging out a small pit to put a cooking fire. This power was still getting easier to do, but until I had a safer place to practice, anything I could do with less magic seemed to be the way to go. I began to gather up any stray wood I could find to add to my little firepit. Taking the straightest sticks I could find, I sharpened one end with my knife and after skewering the meat through on them I knelt down and put the blunt ends into the ground by the pit I then set about arduous task of starting a fire using friction as I shaved bark into little strips and then cut a divot into a bigger piece of wood.I then took a smaller straight stick and rounded a tip as I then pressed the tip into the divot and began to spin it as quickly as I could between my hands watching for smoke. Once I picked up enough speed to see some I bent down and gently blew on the smoldering bit of wood to get it to glow as I put some of the shavings on it hoping they would catch. After what felt like forever I finally managed to get the wood alight and into a nice little cooking fire.
After having rested my powers, I felt a bit better. Now I was curious, I wanted to see just how I looked. but there wasn't anything reflective nearby. "Ok, nothing too big, don't waste too much effort." I cleared my mind. closed my eyes, and envisioned a slightly bigger than my hand disc of gems merging together with a slight sheen of silver drawing itself over the front surface to make a mirror. I felt the tingle of power from the center of my forehead and then felt it die as I opened my eyes seeing a mirror at my feet with a smile creasing on my muzzle. I picked up the mirror and took a look at myself. "Well let's see what I look like." I had a horse-like face, very slightly elongated canines with pearly white teeth, my horn appeared to be black as jet at the base fading toward ruby red about half way up turning fully red for the last quarter to the tip, my eyes had golden sclera and piercing emerald iris. "Well, aren't I the villainous looking one? Oh crap, I think I am. I look a lot like that Sombra villain from My Little Pony. This is too weird" I put down the mirror and turned the sticks so the other side of the meat was now facing the fire, the slightly more cooked side looking rather nice, slightly browned and still sizzling. "If I'm in a world like MLP and this is a wild forest, Maybe I'm somewhere in the Everfree" I was trying to get used to my new voice, that while close to my old one wasn't mine and that was rather unnerving. It didn't make any sense. How was I here? Was I even sure I was right here?
That train of thought stopped as my stomach growled and the scent of the cooking meat was fully enjoyed by my sense of smell. Now using my mirror as a plate for the now cooked skewers, I cut off the tip of the tail and popped it in my mouth. So far, it seemed I could eat meat without any adverse effects so I was still omnivorous by nature which was rather helpful to know. Otherwise I would have wasted quite a bit of time and effort to get this cooked. "If I'm in the Everfree, maybe that means I could find Ponyville or even the sister's old castle." I was getting a bit more used to the idea that this was going to be my new voice. Thinking about how I had a new body in a new place, had me thinking about going with a new name as well. Joshua Sylvan wasn't really a name that fit all that well with either my new villainous appearance or even MLP naming conventions, if that was really were I was, but my appearance, the rockodile, and that I seemed to have some kind of magic at my disposal all pointed to that being as likely a case as anything else my brain was coming up with.
My thoughts were interrupted by a long, loud howl coming from close by as what looked to be a six foot long almost four feet tall at the shoulder wolf recreated from bark and other bits of wood that instantly registered in my mind as timberwolf and as soon as I saw the one, three more showed up leave one of me against four of them, which were not favorable odds for me. I noticed that their attention seemed split between me and the corpse. In an act of desperation, I made the ground under it shift to move it much closer to them while bolting up grabbing the knife and mirror hoping that would take the easy and larger meal rather than chase after me. I heard growls and teeth tearing into flesh followed by a howl as I turned my head back to see that the first one that had seen me was much more interested in me rather than a body that had been dead for a few hours, talk about picky eater. I stuffed some of the legs and thigh meat into my mouth and then turned around slinging the rest of the meat off my mirror and, in a rather lucky shot, hit it right in the eyes, staggering it. Seizing the opportunity, I charged at the timberwolf, my aura encircling the mirror as I threw it and then willed it to go to it as fast as it could into the timberwolf's face. The mirror ripped through half of its lower jaw reducing the impact point to splinters as I managed to connect with it stabbing all around its head in a frantic hope that I could find some weak point before finally jamming the knife into its right eye. I don't think this baddie had been expecting me to put up the kind of fight I was giving it. I backed off from it and focused on the knife making it shake about in the timberwolf's eye socket before it shattered with impressive force as I then caught the shards coming my way in an aura flinging them back towards it obsidian now buried deep inside the timberwolf's head. It's yelps of pain it had been letting out since my counterattack had now died to a light whimpering as it slumped down. Going on the prevailing theory that timberwolves aren't really living but some kind of wooden construct, my aura shimmered on the dirt around it's feet as the timberwolf yipped in terror as the ground under it gave out and was filed in with tar.
I turned around and started running again, my head aching very hard as I grew lightheaded. I couldn't pass out here, it wasn't safe. I forced myself to keep going as long as I could before my knees gave out and I fell. "Cover, I need cover, or at least concealment." I spoke my thought in a daze as I forced myself to crawl to the nearest brush I could find. I couldn't be out in the open. To be exposed would mean my death at the teeth or claws of some creature while I was helpless. I wasn't going to die here, not after just getting here, not if I could help it. I made it into the brush and relaxed as I let darkness overtake me, sending me to a world of dreams.