Goldie was a smart pup. For one she knew how to clean water to remove parasites and other things that would kill a stupid dog, another thing she knew was what meats and gems would make her strong and happy and what ones would make her sick and weak. As a smart pup she also prided herself on her capacity to discover new things and learn quickly, so when she looked down the stolen pony telescope out into the frozen wastes and saw something sprinting towards her den she was smart enough to warn the rest of her pack rather then stare dumbly at it.
She had spotted the thing hours ago and at first thought it was some odd trick of the sun but the white blob had come closer and closer at a rather startling speed, being a smart pup Goldie knew that meant it had be sprinting very quickly for at least two or three hours without stopping or slowing. She rushed to the sentries standing watch at the entrance to the den and waved at them to get their attention.
“What is it Goldie?” the lead dog on watch was Bucket, he was big, strong and unfortunately slow in the head but good hearted and well meaning.
“A monster is running towards us!” Goldie cried out panicking only slightly, at least that is what she would tell herself. Bucket’s blinked and nodded to one of the other dogs to join him as he stepped forward holding an Iron spear the pack leader had given him some years ago.
“The rest of you wait here and protect the den, Jasper is in charge” he nodded to the young mutt, Jasper was a runt, short, skinny and clever. Rather unlike most runts Jasper had taken to fighting with an odd glee that made most dogs uncomfortable but he was smart enough to be given some responsibility in the pack.
“Goldie, show us where it is” Bucket strode forward to the top of the ice bank that hid the entrance to the den from view looking up over the icy expanse and Goldie handed him the Telescope pointing in the direction of the monster. It did not take long for Bucket to see the figure running towards them, it was a pale thing that looked almost made from bone and had no face.
It was also just scant minutes away from reaching them at the speed it was running and while it had no face Bucket had the uncomfortable feeling that it was looking right at him.
“Goldie go get the Pack Leader, quickly now” he told the young pup, she nodded and ran to find him. Bucket was the tallest and the strongest in his pack and with that in mind he stood and puffed himself up in such a way that he hoped would intimidate the Monster.
In moments the thing was close enough to be seen clearly, but what worried Bucket was that if this thing laid down in the snow and did not move, he doubt he would see it even if it was right in front of him, that meant he could see it only because he felt it did not need to hide.
Twisting its body to put one of its feet first the Monster arrested its speed and skidded sending snow up into the air as a testament to its swiftness. Without stopping, once it had slowed enough it twisted its body back and began to walk towards Bucket, the incline between them was gentle and it quickly became apparent to the dog that the Monster was a full head taller then him and much thicker set, the bone skin it had moved and flexed unnaturally and as Buckets eyes darted around inspecting it, he could not find any gaps or weaknesses he could exploit with his spear.
Its face was the worst of all, it was a pale smooth mask, no holes for a mouth or eyes or nose. With a deep breath Bucket tightened his grip on his spear, his fellow sentry was standing to his side slightly behind him and with a glance Bucket knew the dog was close to breaking and running, with a calming paw on his friend's shoulder he hoped he would calm her nerves and it seemed to do some good. Turning back to the monster he was within five spear lengths when he slammed the butt of his spear into the ground.
“HALT!” he barked and to his great shock the Monster complied stopping and turning its head slightly to regard him in silence.
“Who are you!?” Bucket demanded suddenly feeling rather cold and vulnerable.
Cadet Boot Buckle dived into the icy water and quickly found that it was too cold to even scream out in shock. Quickly flailing his limbs about in an approximation of swimming he splashed forward, far too slowly for his liking, and managed to reach the end of the neatly cut ice pool as his fellow cadets cheered him onwards. Swinging a hoof over the edge Boot pulled himself up and out of the narrow pool of water and rolled forward onto his back onto to get a kick in the ribs from Prince Shining Armour.
“GET UP CADET TWO LAPS! NOW NOW NOW!” Boot complied and got to his hooves, his legs feeling like jelly, and scampered forward running around the perimeter of the pool, he knew that running was for his own good, it would keep him warm and dry him off, but he could not help but resent the Prince somewhat.
“NEXT UP! GO!” there was a splash and then a squeal of shock as the next pony jumped into the freezing water
Running across the mostly flat expanse of snow and ice she found little of interest until a sparkle in the sunlight caught her attention, turning her head slightly to inspect the sparkle she saw it again masking a slight splash of grey and brown. Turning slowly so as to not lose speed she decided to investigate, the chances of her landing on a planet with advanced life was slim but was not outside the realm of possibility.
After an hour or so the dark spot became a figure in the snow and shortly after that the figure got to its feet and ran backwards quickly vanishing behind some sort of snow bank. After a moment, it came back with two more figures, both much bigger than the first. Getting closer she noted that the two newcomers where carrying what could only be spears.
Just moments away from them she willed her armour to enhance her vision and examined the figures. they where coated head to toe in fur and had bulky paw-like hands, they carried clean-looking, spears with beads, gems and what she assumed where fetishes hanging from them, she also noted that the spearhead was made from iron or steel.
She smiled at that, if they had any metalworking capacity setting herself up would be much easier, she was also curious how an obviously advanced tribe of some sort survived in the hostile snowy region. she doubted that there was enough wildlife to provide for them despite there spears. It did not take much longer for her to reach the base of the small hill leading up to the figures and she skidded to a near stop before walking towards them.
After a few steps the leader let out a odd sounding bark that, combined with its odd facial structure, made her immediately classify them as some sort of bipedal Canine, stopping in place to not aggravate the creatures she looked them over studying there scant woven cloth clothes, thick fur and various bits of equipment dangling from its belt on string. Mostly cups, knives pouches and gemstones, she did however also note that the bigger one had a telescope in one paw made from Glass, Steel and if she was not mistaken gold. All things she would need later but for now she needed a way to feed herself and the fastest way to do that would be to follow the example of the locals.
The lead Canine made an odd series of sounds that must have been a language and clutched its spear tighter, clearly it felt threatened. She entertained the idea of trying to communicate with it but since she had no capacity to talk or even to make any sounds given that her lungs were still full of biogel and would be until they were modified to survive in the relatively mild if still hostile atmosphere, she had no real way of doing so without some creative body language and that was if she could start to understand the language it used.
Deciding that staying here would get her nowhere and feeling the odd sensation of hunger for the first time she turned and started to jog, then sprint, away from the strange native tribe before she upset them, it would do no good to upset her new neighbours after all.
Bucket watched as the monster turned and left, he did not feel that it was running away but that it had decided he was not worth eating.
“Well done Bucket, you scared it off!” Mayhem grinned behind him.
“I hope so” he remarked before turning back to the entrance of his den spotting Goldie pulling at the pack leader’s paw dragging him outside.
“What is it, Bucket, what has our little Goldie so worked up?” the old dog asked frowning in concern.
“I am not sure. But it left, we should have more dogs on watch tonight” Bucket sighed and told his pack leader everything.