“Rey! Wait!” I shout as I finally snap back to my senses, rushing towards the scene.
“Ahhh—!” the swan shrieks in pain and fright as a young black panther’s claws hold the struggling swan in place. She flaps her wings wildly, ineffectively pounding them on the feline as she moves her head left and right to avoid Reykan’s jaw snapping at her neck.
I stop behind Reykan and quickly wrap my two hooves around his back and chest, pulling him away but he wouldn’t let go of the panicking swan. “Rey! Stop it—!” I shout, but my mouth is suddenly filled with feathers. I spit it out of my mouth but I then hold my breath when I catch a glimpse on Rey’s sapphire eyes that no longer has their curious glimmer. His eyes are cold and feral, and it sends a fearful shiver in my entire pony body...
“Grr—!”
“H-help me, mister pony!”
I take a breath to calm myself and to give me enough mental strength to push the fear aside for a while... “Rey... Rey.”
“Grrar!” he lunges, fanged jaw at the ready, but I pull him back—his back on my chest now—just before his jaw can snap at the panicking swan’s thin neck.
I tighten my hold on Rey with one hoof as I dare to pull my other hoof away to push his clawed grip off of the swan. I slide my hoof behind his paws and—“Aaahhhh—!” Holy shit! Reykan’s biting my hoof and his clawed paws are now on said hoof! “Reykan! Gaaah—!”
“Odette’s feathers!” the swan cries as she struggles to pull herself away from us.
“Reykan!” I cry in pain as I try to push and hit him with my other hoof, but he won’t let go. “Gah! Rey! Stop!” He starts to pull my hoof and shake his head in an attempt to, what, dismember me? “Knock it off, Rey!” The pain is too painful, my eyes starting to water, and I’m pretty sure it’s not because of the strong storm up above. I hit his head and face with my other hoof, but he’s still biting me, his cold and feral blue eyes locked on my hoof.
I faintly hear flapping noise, but I didn’t mind at the moment. What I mind, though, is the fact that Rey’s rear flies up, carrying the rest of his body and pulling my hoof up with him.
“Ack! T-the hell—?!” I hiss as I stare at the large, white and flapping swan who is grabbing Rey’s tail with her black and webbed feet, and she’s struggling to fly due to the strong gusts of air in an attempt to help me pull Rey off of my hooves, I think?
“Don’t worry, mister pony!” I hear her voice through the painful waves of pain and the howls of wind. “Just continue hitting the beast and he’ll let go! ...Eventually!”
Rey’s flailing his rear paws but still has his front paws and his fanged mouth on my hoof. A strong gust of air blows Miss Swan to the direction behind me, pulling her and Rey along with it. Reykan’s furred head headbutts me on my muzzle, pushing me back on the ground.
“Oof!” I gasp as my back slams on the muddy ground. I hear a startled squawk, and then a feathery thud noise against the wet grass and ground. I suddenly feel the jaw and claws let go of my painful hoof to my great relief—
“Rwaaarrr—!”
Rey’s fanged jaw immediately bites my neck! “Gah—! R-Rey!” Oh god! The pain! Not again! And he adds his clawed paws on my neck! “Reykan! Stop! Stop!” I shout as I flail my hooves in a panic.
An orange beak biting an orange carrot flies on the side of my darkening vision.
THUNK!
“Grrrraaaaah—!” Rey’s fangs and sharp claws pulls away from my bleeding neck.
I jolt up and see him shaking and trying to get rid of the carrot inserted inside of his ears. I wince, more from the thought of almost half a carrot being shoved inside one’s ear.
“Quick!” I hear my swan savior say. I turn to her and immediately frown. “Help me pick these carrots and potatoes!” she says as she hurriedly picks a vegetable and tucks them under her wings.
“Really?! A freaking panther almost killed us and you’re worried about—!”
“Jay?”
I stop, feeling a cold shiver run through my spine as I slowly turn my head towards the young panther. I see him sitting on the muddy ground, staring weirdly at a carrot on the ground in front of him.
“Why is this...thing inside my ear?”
An orange beak quickly grabs the offending carrot out of his sight.
“Hey!” he shouts, glaring at the panicky swan. He blinks, and I notice his sapphire eyes slowly losing their glimmer again.
I immediately slam a hoof over his head.
“Ow!” he hisses, rubbing his head with both front paws as he throws a glare at me. “What was that fo—you’re bleeding!”
I frown at him. “Thanks to you.”
“I think that’s most of them!” the swan quickly says. She then bites my ear and starts pulling me away.
“Ow ow ow—! Let go—!”
“Why is that swan biting you?”
“You tried to—damnit, let go!” I pull my head back, removing my ear from the swan’s beak. I throw a glare at her that lasts for a short while before turning back to Rey. “And you tried to kill us earlier!”
“What?” he blinks. “I was chasing a rabbit!”
“Really?” I point a hoof at the swan’s bleeding stomach...or chest...whatever. I don’t know my bird biology thingie. “You tried to kill her,” I say before I point said hoof to my neck. “And then you tried to kill me!”
He blinks at me, slightly tilting his head to the side. “...No wonder there’s a familiar taste in my mouth...”
I glare at him. And then I feel how painful my hoof and neck are. The adrenaline or whatever is probably gone, my body reminding me of its newly-acquired wounds. I hiss, and slam my not-hurt hoof on Rey’s head again.
“Ow!”
“Don’t look at her like that!”
“But she’s food!”
“No, she’s not!”
“Actually...” the swan quietly interrupts us, smiling nervously. “I am food. To beasts like him.”
“Don’t side with him!” I tell her.
“But she’s right!” Reykan interjects.
I glare at him. “You stay out of this!”
He blinks at me. “But I am! We’re all outside!”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Then what do you mean, mister pony?”
“Shut up!” I holler. And then a loud crash of thunder echoes from the heavens. I take fast and deep breaths to calm myself down. “Goddamnit. Just...shut up, you two, for now.” I take a deep breath, hold it in for a while, and exhale through my mouth. I then glare at Reykan. “You. Don’t eat her.”
He pouts at me. “But I want to...”
“Fine, just...not right now when I’m here—”
“Why can’t I eat her when you’re around—”
“Rey, just don’t fucking eat her!” I glare at him. I blink. I wince. “Er... Th-that came out wrong...”
He innocently blinks at me. “What came out wrong? And what does fucking mean?”
I wince, and I then carefully shake my head. “Never mind. You’ll know when you grow older. Just...don’t eat her.”
He frowns at me. “But I don’t understand why I shouldn’t eat—”
“Just please don’t ea—”
“Fiiine...” he grumbles, glaring at one of the many tall grass around us.
I blink at him.
“But I’m still hungry... That rabbit got away from me...”
I take a breath and sigh... “You can hunt later...” I tiredly turn to face the swan, who’s a hoof or two away from us, quietly staring at us.
Her gaze shifts from Rey to me, and she blinks.
“You, mis—”
“Do you two know each other?” she asks, tilting her small head to the side.
“Er...yeah. Kinda.” I glance at Rey, who’s curiously staring at the swan, his sapphire eyes not cold nor feral. I look back at the swan. “Anyway, uh—”
“You’re bleeding,” she interrupts me.
I frown, feeling a warm and thick liquid running down my neck and hoof. “Yes, I noti—”
“We should get you healed up!” she quickly interjects, moving towards me.
I lean back, glaring at her. “Get your beak away from my ear!”
She stops and frowns at me. She then turns her whole body and stops, staring at a direction. “Twilight might know of a way to help you heal up.” She blinks. “And me.”
I blink. “Right, about that—”
She quickly turns to look at me. “We should go to her tree quickly!”
I raise an eyebrow. I turn to Rey.
He looks at me and shrugs. “Can I eat you both after you guys see Twilight pony?”
I sigh and turn to the swan. “...You know where she lives?”
She blinks, and smiles. “Well, of course!” She extends a wing to her chest. “I am her assi—oh feathers...” She picks up the fallen vegetables and tucks them inside her wing again. With that done: “As I was saying, I’m her assistant! And I’m bringing her these for her to eat!”
I nod tiredly. “Right... Whatever. Lead the way then.” I blink. Wait... I thought that I already told myself that Twilight can’t—
“Hey!” Reykan suddenly says, breaking my train of thought. “I thought I was the one who’ll lead you to her?”
I frown at him. “...You both can lead me to her then.”
Miss Swan shakes her head and nervously looks at the pouting panther. “I-ah-uh... I’m not...gonna walk beside a beast...”
I groan. “Rey will lead the way then.”
“Yey!”
The swan frowns at me. “Do you trust him that much?”
I blink. “Er... Yeah, kinda... I guess.” I slightly shake my head. “I don’t even know your name.”
She—
“And stop dropping your vegetables! Sheesh!”
—calms herself down, clears her throat and gives me a small albeit nervous smile. “My name’s Seri, and—”
A strong gust of wind passes us by, making the wet grass sway violently with it.
Seri the swan shivers slightly. “We should head to Twilight’s tree home before this storm becomes more violent.”
I blink. This storm’s already strong...kinda, but it’ll become stronger still? I turn to Reykan.
He’s staring at the swan for a short while before he turns his head and blinks at me. “...What?”
“...Lead the way.”