The little changeling attempted to give one last gallop towards the others. They was swiftly falling behind of the other dark figures, and it was becoming more difficult to stay at the same pace with each step they took. The trees around them were beginning to become much more frequent, blocking out the little light there was under the black sky. They felt small as everything around them felt much larger and more significant than they did. Even the grass was beginning to grow taller than them.
As they stared at the strange and grand life around them, they failed to notice themselves begin to stumble in a separate path from the others. Everything was just making them dizzy and lose their balance, causing them to fall. Once they could find the strength to lift their head off of the ground, they tried with all their strength to open their mouth and cry for help. The weak rasp, however, failed to reach anyone at all. They were just too tired to pull themselves back on their hooves, for they were completely drained of all energy at this point.
They lay on their side, their right wing crushed by the little weight their body had. They moved their eyes so they could look up, but everything was merely blurred shapes at this point. The sky seemed non-existent now, since the stars had seemed to dissolve, leaving only a black hole above them. The trees had somehow grown even bigger in the past few moments they had been lying there. Even the ground seemed to act strangely, feeling as if it were falling through itself. That’s all they could remember before they felt the black hole that had replaced the sky consume them.
They opened their eyes to a strange scent drifting through the air. It wasn’t at all a bad scent, but it was not familiar. They dragged their head off of the soft surface they lay on, that being the heaviest thing they had ever lifted in their life. It took a while for their eyes to adjust to the strange scenery surrounding them - no longer the dark, grey forest they had last been seen, but rather a warm, strangely welcoming shelter. The sunlight was out again, at least, and the sky was finally back. The rays entered the shelter through holes in the cave walls, which was very strange.
All was peaceful and still, so it startled them when a white shape dashed past them. They had no idea what it was, since it was soon gone. It soon came to their attention that other life forms may be present, and they may be a threat. They planned to stand and be on guard, but the ground was unnaturally soft, preventing them from making the decision. They decided to stay lying down, for it was the better option for the moment.
Again, all was peaceful for a while longer, until a loud sound - a voice - could be heard. It was like no other voice they had heard before. It was high-pitched, quiet and...
...Comforting?
Their eyes darted around until they settled on a large, yellow figure - a figure similar to their own, just much bigger. The creature had long, pink strands of hair growing from its head and hind, and large eyes to accompany its features, but unlike the ones they were used to, these eyes were mostly white, with a blue-ish green colour surrounding completely black pits. There were also extra limbs growing from its sides, along with strange marking on its flanks. The creature was unlike anything they’d seen before.
The creature spoke again. They could understand some of what it said.
“You’re... weak… poor thing… I don’t… do this, but… you… so helpless.”
The thing then lay next to them, extending one of its extra limbs to cover them. They flinched, unsure to what was going on. And yet, the extra limb was soft, like the strange surface they were lying on, and was very fascinating. It seemed to be covered in hollow sticks with fluffy leaves coming out of each of them. There were too many to count, and they also looked familiar. They soon realized they were identical to that of a bird. Now they had actually seen them up close, though.
They were getting even more comfortable with the extra limb folded on them, however a ‘ding’ was heard from somewhere, which was some sort of call for the creature to go to them. A pit of unexpected disappointment filled their insides as the limb was stolen from them. The creature disappeared for a while, until returning. They felt some excitement as it did. This time it was balancing a perfect-shaped circle - no ridges whatsoever - on its limb. Piled on the circle were smaller, slightly less-perfect circles that were also a different colour. These were brown instead of grey. There seemed to be a visible gas released from them as well. The thing lay down in front of them and dropped the pile of circles in front of them. It was apparent that it was these brown circles were what were releasing the pleasing scent. They couldn’t help but lean forward to move closer to them. The creature settled in front of them lifted what could only be described as a perfectly shaped hoof and pushed the substance closer to them.
“Eat up.” The short sentence could be understood. So this was some form of… solid energy? Interesting.
They couldn’t help but lean forward, then tried to absorb the energy. And yet, no energy fueled their body. They were confused, so looked up at the yellow creature for answers. The thing was staring at them with a curious look, before its mouth widened.
“Eat… like me.” The creature picked up the solid energy in its mouth, its teeth breaking it up into smaller pieces. It shocked them, their eyes widening at the sight. They had guessed they wanted them to mimic their actions, so, while full of doubt, they picked up one of the circular energy solids and bit into it.
It was surprisingly easy.
The energy wasn’t as fulfilling as it could be, but a pleasant taste was left in their mouth, so they took another bite. And another. And another. Soon, the whole circle was gone, but there were many more. They picked up another and chewed it up into tiny pieces before swallowing. The thing sitting opposite gave a strange sound that sounded something like, “ha ha ha”. It sounded like a sound of approval, so they weren’t scared. The thing then said something which, again, they couldn’t fully understand.
“I hope… find a home.”
They knew what a home was. They never actually had one though - it’s something they had never actually had. They weren’t sure what to think about what the thing said, since it wasn’t fully understand. But the thought of a home didn’t last long, since another being came to their attention. It was about their size, but looked like a miniature version of the large creature. It was also yellow, but had green hair sprouting from itself rather than pink, though the ends of the hair did have a pink tint. It also had the black pits in the white eyes, but two different colours surrounded the blackness - the left green and the right red. The larger creature pointed to the smaller and said the sound, “Evergreen”. They guessed that this was what the creature was called. Then the larger creature pointed to them, looked at ‘Evergreen’ and said, “Butterfly”.
Is that what I’m called?
Butterfly looked at Evergreen in wonder. They had no idea what creature these two were, or if there were more, but they seemed like they were no threat. They had also given them energy, so they can’t be an enemy of any sort. So, with that thought in mind, it must’ve been safe to rest.
Butterfly was woken to voices. One was familiar, the other was not. It was deeper than the yellow one’s voice. They opened their eyes, seeing an orange figure standing at what seemed to be the entrance to this shelter. It was similar size to the yellow one, but had blonde strands of hair rather than pink, and it was also much shorter. Its eyes were the same, except with rich green surrounding the black pits. They noticed the newcomer kept glancing towards their direction, an unsettling glare as their expression. Butterfly didn’t react, just stared right back at them. While doing so, they listened in to what the two were saying, trying to understand the words being said.
“Not safe… risky… don’t trust…”
“But it’s… a child… no harm…”
“But… a changeling…”
“Can be raised… be good…”
The orange one paused at what the yellow one had just told them. Butterfly could guess they were talking about them, but wasn’t sure what about. Then the yellow one spoke again.
“...You want a child…”
“Yeah, so?”
“Butterfly could…”
“No.”
“Why…?”
“Changeling…”
“Young… can be raised-”
“But how can I-”
“Please?”
Butterfly wasn’t too sure what they were discussing, but they could hear distress in both of their voices. This raised concern, since the yellow one had done just that for them, so they stood up for the first time in a while and sauntered over to the yellow one. Butterfly leaned on their perfect hoof and looked up at them. They looked back down on Butterfly, a caring look in their eyes. They then looked back at the orange one.
“Give them a chance.”
Butterfly then glanced at the orange one in confusion. The orange one glanced at them with uncertainty.
“Well… seems innocent enough.”
The yellow one gave an excited gasp at that. Butterfly still had no idea what was currently happening, but they guessed it was something good.