Feral

by wellthen93

Ch. 1

Captain Lightmane didn't want to be out here wandering the forest at the early hours of the morning as much as anypony else. When the ear splitting sound of a crash befell Canterlot, rousing him and likely every soul within the kingdom, he knew right away he was going to get word from her highness within a matter of minutes.

It was sort of funny in a way he thought as he and his squad trekked through the snow covered forest at a time most sane ponies were still slumbering. His squad was a special tasks unit suited mostly for scouting unknown and potential threats, the only of the sorts within the ranks of her highness's royal service. When the noise that shook the kingdom passed, he counted down the seconds before a night guard would be knocking on his door.

And just like clockwork, there was.

Half begrudgingly he walked on in silence, as did the rest of his troops, wondering why he ever signed up for any of this. It certainly wasn't for the bits, as the service didn't pay much of anything in a salary. It certainly wasn't for any sort of “honor” or any of that cliché stuff you hear about in recruit pamphlets as he got little to no fulfillment for what he did, often feeling ashamed almost for the things he had to do for the crown. There was no honor in it.

“Captain, light up ahead,” his Senior Sergeant whispered, pulling him out of his train of thought.

From a distance, Captain Lightmane could make out a faint white light. He ordered his troops to fan out and approach slower, spears drawn as they closed in on the source.

As they drew closer, Captain Lightmane could make out some details of what had landed. A faint humming could be heard as he moved further in. From a hundred yards he could see that the object was perfectly spherical from his angle. A bright light emitted from the other side of the sphere slightly clouded by the dust and steam.

The Captain worked his way sideways to peer off to the other side of the object as he closed the distance along with his squad. There was opening in the object from what appeared to be a hatch extruding from it. He studied the object, noting it wasn't particularly large, and had what appeared to be grooves along it's surface as well as some cryptic writing he'd never seen before. Even in the bitter coldness he could feel noticeable amounts of heat radiating from it.

He peered into the opening of the vessel finding nothing he could make sense of save it were the, what he could only presume, seat in the center of everything. One solitary seat amongst a mess of blinking lights and bright, built in lamps.

With his squad surrounding the perimeter Captain Lightmane drew his attention off the vessel for a moment to take a look at the ground. Amongst his and his squads prints in the snow, sure enough Lightmane could make out tracks that didn't belong to him or anypony else, or to any creature that he knew of for that matter. The prints lead out further into the woods, and Captain Lightmane could only fathom the distance this creature must have already crossed in the hours it's been since the call to mobilize was made.

“FORM UP,” Lightmane sternly odered, bringing his squad back into line. The squad quickly complied, forming two rows with the captain and the Senior Sergeant leading the front. “WHATEVER THIS THING IS BROUGHT SOMETHING WITH IT AND I INTEND TO TRACK IT DOWN, LET'S MOVE.”

---

Nearly an hour had passed and the snow had begun to fall again. The Captain and his squad swiftly made their way through the woods following the now barely visible tracks in an attempt to catch up.

Lightmane ordered the line to slow up and catch their breath as they moved forward. At this point he noted the tracks although barely visible, were also more frequent in step, perhaps a sign that the creature was slowing down or stopping at some point.

Then he saw it.

A light blue lump in the snow, now covered in a dust of snow lie in a heap at the forest floor. Lightmane ordered his squad to a halt and pressed on to investigate it himself.

Upon a closer inspection, Lightmane could make out the details of long, slender body covered in a blue wool cloth. Two hairless appendages extruded out from underneath the cloth, pale in color, as well as long brown hair from what he presumed was the head. Lightmane walked around to the side of the creature and used his hoof to prod the face up so he could see it.

He rolled the creatures face up to face his. It's face was pale aside from the light blue and purple hues to it's cheeks and lips. He could only make out small black dots of it's eyes as it's lids were half closed. Lightmane prodded the creature on the side, attempting to rouse it, but it didn't move. He observed the chest of the creature for any signs of breathing only to find no movement. He dropped his head down closer to it's face so he could listen for any faint signs of breathe just to be sure. Nothing.

“Died of exposure, shame,” Lightmane thought to himself as he lifted his head back up. It was then he noticed something else he didn't notice before. More tracks, but larger, and shaped like that a large cat's. From the appearance of direction, they seemed to come and go from the body, but didn't do anything with it.

“Odd,” Lightmane contemplated. “Would've been an easy meal, I wonder why the Manticore turned it's nose up at it.”

"I suppose I should take it back...whatever it is. I'm sure her Highness will want to see this."

“I NEED TWO UP FRONT, WE'RE TAKING THIS BACK WITH US,” Captain Lightmane called back to his squad.

“And I suppose the least I could do is give it a proper burial.”