In the forest of darkness three fillies wandered aimlessly. Their initial goal had been to get their cutiemarks as explorers. Now though they found themselves regretting their decision as they felt eye’s looking at them from every direction. They had long since turned around, their foalish adventure long since forgotten, but while it had taken them less time to move as far into the forest as they had, their fear caused them hesitation, never moving faster than a crawl.
A growl from a nearby bush sent the three fillies running scared, their collective shrieks of terror following them all the way out of the Everfree forest. From the bush, where the growl had originated, stepped a large beast. The lack of light, from the canopy, did nothing to hide the form of the wolf.
Staying low to the ground, the wolf, found himself on the hunt for his next meal. The growl before nothing more than hunger pains. His nose to the ground the wolf began a slow, but steady walk as he sniffed out the trail of a rabbit. He would have caught his prey long ago, had the three fillies not shown up.
His fear of being discovered, had forced him to remain hidden, and had almost cost him his dinner, thankfully, the rabbit was dim, and didn’t have the common sense to dig itself into a hole, and hide until the wolf gave up, instead it chose to run. In a matter of seconds, the wolf caught the scent of his prey and took off, powerful muscles propelling him forward, as he dodged past trees, and barreled through bushes. A flash of white, set the wolf off, and in an instant, a howl pierced the silence.
Doubling his efforts, the wolf gained ground on the rabbit, and pounced. The rabbit, sensing the danger, lunged to the left, leaving the wolf to catch the air, as the rabbit took off, it’s sense of survival, pushing it forward.. The wolf quickly recovered, and the chase began anew.
Nature has always shown the the strongest, and fastest survive, while the weak and the slow, fall as prey. The rabbit would make its ancestors proud as it managed to avoid the wolf’s persistent chase, but the wolf proved to be too smart for the rabbit. The wolf jumped, before using a tree to redirect itself. Time seemed to slow, as the wolf snapped its jaws closed around the rabbit’s back legs.
The rabbit began to squirm and squeal in desperation as it tried to escape the grasp of the wolf’s jaws. The wolf, wanting to end it quickly, placed a paw on the rabbits midsection, before moving its jaws to snap around the rabbit's neck. The struggle suddenly stopped, as the taste of iron, touched the wolf’s tongue.
With its prize between its teeth, the wolf quickly began to tear off chunks of flesh and bone, before devouring them whole, the skin and fur were paid no mind, as the wolf slowly but surely finished his meal, leaving behind only bits of bones, and the intestines of what had previously been the rabbit. Sighing in content, as the pain in the wolf’s stomach slowly began to disappear, he began to raise his head, as the sound of running water caught his attention.
With a parched throat, the wolf headed towards the sound, and found a stream. Lowering his head, the wolf lapped at the water, his long tongue, snaking from his mouth later to bring the water to him. Once his thirst had been quenched, the wolf took to washing the blood from his muzzle, before standing back up.
The wolf paused for a moment, as the white eye’s, devoid of pupils, looked at its reflection in the water surface. Staring back at the wolf, with a mixture of sorrow and disgust in its eyes, was the reflection of a wolf with green fur. Black surrounding its eyes. The wolf sat, staring at what it had become, before throwing it’s head back, and letting out a howl.
The howl lasted for a solid minute, and traveled to the deepest corners of the Everfree. The howl spoke of loss, confusion, pain, and anger. This was not a howl of a wolf, but the cry of a lost soul who didn’t understand the situation at hand. It was a cry of longing, and hope, longing to see the friends and family he had lost, hoping to one day be back home where he truly belonged, hoped that he was simply having a nightmare
“Hurry up man, we’re gonna be late!” Jake called as he ran ahead, the heat from outside, as well as the excitement in the air, forcing him to lose his patience
“Go on, ahead, I’ll catch up with you later,” Came the voice of another male.
“Whatever man, see you inside,” Jake called over his shoulder, to lost, in his own fantasies and expectations of this weekends events, to bother turning around, and address his friend.
The boy who had been left behind, only smiled at his friends antics, and took his time, as he slowly fell in line, waiting for to enter the convention hall, like everyone else. The boy took this time to look at the others who had decided to cosplay as well, and smiled, and sometimes grimaced, at the creativity, or lack thereof, of some of the others.
Some had only half dressed up, wearing bits and pieces of a costume, others had forgone a costume all together, and a decent few had gone all out, some had dressed as popular anime characters, their attempts at resembling said characters were...subpar. Still a select few had managed to shine above the rest, having dressed as video game characters. The costumes themselves, required large amounts of detail.
The boy had spotted a Link, cosplayer, and noted, with great admiration, that the master sword he held was a near replica. Another had dressed as Death, from Darksiders, the mask he wore, looked to be real bone, and had probably costed him a fortune.
He Himself, wore a purple and black body suit. He had bought a fake pair of elf ears, and spray painted them green. Using temporary spray on hair dye, he had turned his hair into a darker green, and finally, he had used non-toxic body paint, and covered his face, and any other skin that showed, into a lighter green. The boy couldn’t help but to grin as he saw some people gave him impressed looks.
The boy, as well as most of the other con goers, only had to wait for a few minutes before they were inside. The boy himself, who had decided to forego his real name, in favor of his character name, began to patrol the area, his eye’s as sharp as a hawk’s, as he surveyed the various booths. It was the boys intent to acquire a souvenir to remember this day.
The boy searched far and wide, coming across, many booths that housed a wide selection of paraphernalia, from both games and movies, as well as other items that had been hand crafted. Many he would have loved to buy, but a lack of funds, had left him with nary a way to acquire what his heart desired, though he would later admit to himself, and others who came to see his costume, he was ill prepared for this con, having brought only enough money to get him there and back. and just enough for food.
In the end though the boy had, had a good time. The day had been long, and exciting, and even though he had not gotten his souvenir, the boy would never forget the day he had.
As the con was nearing the end of the day, the boy began to notice, it had begun to get hot. Finding a nearby bench, the boy sat down, lifting the pressure from his feet, as he lounged back for awhile. The heat, while not sweltering, was very taxing. Closing his eye’s, the boy rested his head on the back of the bench. Within seconds, he had passed out.
The wolf swiped his paw through his reflection, an angry growl escaping his jowls, as the unwanted memories filtered back into his mind. it had been a month or so since the boy had attended that convention. Having woken in an unfamiliar place, the boy had freaked out, as was only natural, and had run amok through the Everfree Forest. It was not until the boy had come across a Timberwolf, that he began to understand the severity of his situation.
Naturally fearing for his life, the boy had ran, the timberwolf hot on his heels in pursuit. In minutes he had lost the timberwolf, but he had soon discovered his new appearance as a cheetah. The boy was.. less than graceful about his transformation. It had taken him a matter of half an hour to finally calm down enough to try and return to normal, another hour after that, and he had managed with somewhat ease, discovering in the process, that every transformation was but an instinct now driven within his mind, and to take a form, he need only allow the instinct to consume all but his rationality.
However, he did learn other things. Having once spent an entire day in the form of a hawk, he soon found himself building a nest. It was only thanks to a sudden spurt of boredom that he soon discovered the “instinct”, as had begun to call it, consume his rationality, slowly turning him into the animal. He now took great care, with how long he stayed in the form of any animal, though he would push the limits, hoping to expand the time in which he could stay in any given form.
He also learned that any form he took, the movements came naturally, as if he had known how to use the newly acquired muscles that he constantly gained from shifting. Many things had been gained, many had been lost, and some, he was unsure of if he wished to have them, or lose them.
The boy, turned wolf, shook his head of such thoughts, and memories, not wishing to lurk on the past, he went to stand, only to hear the gentle sound of a feminine gasp of surprise. The boy jerked his head upwards, his ears guiding him to the sounds exact location. There on the other side of the stream. He spotted A purple Alicorn.
Her lavender eyes, wide with surprise, and just a touch of curiosity. Soon though, the boy saw her curiosity spark into a blaze. He could see the fires of obsession slowly start to rise, behind her eyes as unasked questions played throughout her mind, not begging, but rather, demanding to be answered.
Standing next to the mare, for surely it was a mare, if not the sight and scent of her proved to be correct, was a dragon, or rather a baby dragon, in standards to the fully grown dragon. His scales nearly matched her fur perfectly in color and shade, the bright green of his spines, and eyes the only other source of color that could be seen.
The boy could not decided if he should be scared of the two, or excited. He knew these two well, for as a brony, he had seen them every Saturday morning on his television. Princess Twilight Sparkle, the bearer of the Element of Magic, former student to Princess Celestia, a mare, who had dedicated her life to friendship and study. spike the dragon, dedicated assistant to
Twilight, a comic relief, who showed greater promise than the show would ever allow him to have.
The boy had watched enough of the show to know that Twilight’s search for knowledge was insatiable, once her mind was set on something, she would stop at nothing to learn what she could. The boy saw only two options, his first would be to run as fast as he could and hope he got away, an attempt that would prove to be futile, or he could transform and greet the princess.
The boy decided to run. Turning on a dime, the boy’s claws dug into the wet soil, as he propelled himself forward, and away from the purple duo. With skill, he had no right to call his own, the boy dodged trees and low hanging branches, only giving cursory glances over his shoulder.
He saw the purple princess hot on his heels, somehow, she managed to say with him, though he paid it little mind, instead choosing to face forward, and increasing his speed. After a while of running though, the boy heard the lack of hooves behind him. The boy stopped and looked behind him. Seeing neither hide nor hair of Twilight, the boy allowed himself a moment to relax.
His rest was short lived as the sound of a bang and a bright flash of light behind him, sent him jumping into the air. Turning around, the boy saw Twilight standing behind him, her horn lit up, and ready to cast another spell. The boy began to panic, any sudden movements and she would blast him with a spell.
The boy was no fool, he knew Twilight had been the single most powerful Unicorn in Equestria. After becoming an Alicorn, that power was no doubt tripled, if she wanted to hurt him, she would. Plans of escape fluttered through his mind, only to be shot down as the one single most present obstacle still stood in front of him.
“Twilight, wait up!” Spike shouted as he busted through the bushes, finding himself behind the boy. A look of fear overtaking his features, as he saw, what he perceived to be a wolf’s ears, swiveled in his direction.
In a moment of poor judgment, mixed with fear, and the need to protect Spike, Twilight fired a spell, however, the boy had expected her to attack, before the spell had even left the tip of the alicorn's horn, the boy was already well into dodging it. The spell completely missed the boy, allowing him enough time to rushed the dragon. Spike to shocked at the sudden turn of events, stood frozen in fear. At the last second, the boy jumped, sailing over Spike, and disappearing in the brush.
Twilight rushed to Spike, looking the young dragon over, but other than a slightly raised heart rate, the young drake seemed fine. The boy had jumped clean over him, leaving not a scratch.
“Spike, are you okay?” Twilight asked, the relief clear in her voice, even though spike wasn’t injured, Twilight knew he might have gone into shock, luckily though, he managed to shake himself out of his daze, giving Twilight a warm. if not shaky, smile.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” despite his words, his voice shook, betraying his real feelings. Twilight saw through it immediately, but didn’t push the issue, instead she decided it would be best to leave the Everfree Forest, to let Spike calm down.
“Let’s go Spike, we can visit the Castle some other time,” Spike seemed to visibly perk up at that. Twilight Charged her horn, Spike getting close, before she disappeared in a flash of light. Unknown to them, that a pair of white eye’s watched them from the trees.