For @Dragonixa’s “Tale of Two Wolves” contest! Be sure to check out her own post, which includes her badass art.
Your lungs burn, begging for air as your dark purple hooves kick up grass and dirt. Your legs are burning, threatening to give out on you and let the… Things, whatever they are, catch you.
You are a lavender earthie named Vita, with a bright cyan mane and tail. Your mummah had cooed over and coddled you during foalhood, but despite that, you grew into a respectful, strong fluffy. You did most of the work digging burrows, finding nummies and scoping out potential new safe places for the herd. Your daily exercise is what gives you enough strength and outrun the beasts for so long.
One day, you were assigned to search out a new safe place with only one herdmate to accompany you. Usually, you would be sent with three or more fluffies. So what was the deal this time? But when you asked your leader about the seemingly dangerous change, they just gave you a dismissive non-answer and immediately sent you on your way.
That seemed many forevers ago now. You haven’t been allowed peace since.
The morning your mission began, you and a yearling blue alicorn named Unus trotted out of the herd’s territory, working well past what your herd’s boundaries usually were. The yearling was, as expected from someone with no experience, nervous. He had never been outside the safe place’s boundaries, let alone outside the territory entirely! You reassured him that he’s safe with a strong, older fluffy like you and he relaxed a bit.
The two of you made your way deeper and deeper into the forest, and you noticed that the trees were getting bigger. You had to clamber over more and more large roots as you went, and the yearling had tripped over his fair share of undergrowth already. The poor idiot now had a bloody nose and scraped elbows.
Hours into your trek and miles away from home, it began to get dark. You and the young fluffy set up camp, placing large sticks against a tree and digging a shallow burrow under the roots. The burrow kept you both from sleeping out in the open, and the sticks would hide the opening from view.
You both fell asleep relatively quickly, your body wrapped protectively around your less experienced herdmate. But your peaceful rest did not last long. After only a little time, you awoke with a start to a haunting sound in the distance. Your ears pinned themselves back in fear and you stifled a whimper. You’d never heard a sound like this before! It started quiet, then turned into something of a wail, then tapered slowly off as if whatever had made the noise had died.
You nudged the yearling beside you, and he let out a loud, undignified snore. You winced and automatically hissed out a “Shhh!” despite him being unable to hear you. When he didn’t wake up you kicked him in the back with a front hoof. He jumped up with a snort, shaken.
”Do Unus heaw dat?” You asked quietly. The yearling cocked his head and lifted an ear. When the wail sounded again, a bit closer this time, your muscles tensed. It sounded like there were two of them. Could they hear you, whatever they were? You looked over at your herdmate again and he was standing stock still, eyes wide with terror.
”U-Unus heaw it…” The young fluffy stammered. “What fwuffies do? Wun away?”
”Nu, it am too soon to do dat. Jus… Stay hewe fow now, an’ if munstahs come too cwose, den we wun.” You answered. Your voice sounded far too calm compared to how you felt. You felt like screeing and hiding like a babbeh hides under its mummah. But you were an adult now, you were 4 years old. It was time to step up and be logical. If you were quiet, they wouldn’t get you.
You settled back down with Unus, vowing to listen for anything off. But your long journey, and the effort it took to make it past the obstacles on the forest floor had sapped you of energy. Your bones seemed made of lead and you began to drift off.
Snap. Crunch.
GRRRRRRR
You leapt up with a start, chest heaving with apprehension. Unus had shot up as well, and he was covering his mouth with his front hooves in an effort not to scream.
The monsters were here. You’d failed to keep watch, and now it was too late to plan an escape route and buy yourselves time. Your night vision granted you some visibility, but not enough to evade the monsters very well. It gave you juuust enough help for you to see giant not-hooves with sharp points on the end begin to dig.
”DIG DIG! FWUFFIES NEE’ TO GET AWAY!” You shrieked, and Unus didn’t listen.
He panicked, and…
Purely out of instinct…
Leapt out of the burrow’s opening. Straight into the monster’s slavering jaws.
”SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” You heard your herdmate cry out in fear and agony as the monster caught him. Your mind raced and you finally snapped into action.
You began to dig further along the circumference of the tree, yelping when your hooves caught sharp bits of wood and made you bleed. Eventually you got pretty far, and you began to dig upwards.
Dirt and small stones hit your face and fell into your ears as you broke through to the surface. You could hear the ear-piercing screams of Unus as the monsters tore into his flesh.
Crunch. Snap. Squish.
With a last pained scream, your younger herdmate’s throat was torn out, making a sickeningly wet ripping sound. You gagged as you ran, hearing the fluffy gurgle and choke on its own blood. The smell of boo-boo juice in the air drove you to run faster.
You didn’t stop until the sun streaked the clouds above. When you could see better, and no longer heard the wails of the monster, you slowed to a jog. Finally, the events of last night came crashing down on you, and you started to sob. Every single herdmate was like a family member to a fluffy. You were to treat them as if you’d known them your whole life, and you expected the same of them.
Unus’s death was traumatic. You could see nothing in your mind but his guts strewn across the ground while he still breathed. You remembered his screams, and, though you hadn’t noticed at the time, how he had cried for your help.
You failed him. You deserved to go forever sleepies, not him!
You continued on your way, feeling paranoid and weak. You guzzled desperately from a stream that you had come across, and munched on some berries you were too stressed to keep down. You threw them up only a few minutes after gorging on them
That night, you set up another camp, dreading what sort of nightmares would come to you after such a terrible event.
Thankfully, though, you fell asleep quickly, and you were so exhausted that your sleep was dreamless.
Until you heard the wails again. You stumbled to your feet and wasted no time leaving the burrow this time around. They sounded mournful and mocking at the same time. Each hellish yowl sounded closer and closer, and you sobbed in desperation as you began to run a second time.
You were never given the chance to slow down that night. Each monstrous scream seemed to be right on your heels, chasing you through the dark forest. Multiple times you ran into trees, tripped over roots, and pushed your way through sharp thorny brambles. By the time morning came you were littered with scratches and bruises, and you were sure you had a torn ear. You were covered in dirt, leaves and thorny branches.
Finally, the howls had ceased, and you no longer caught whiffs of the beast in the air. You slowed down to an exhausted walk, limping across the forest floor. You had forgotten what you even came here for. Why were you out here all alone?
You spent the day asleep, too tired to go find food or water. You slept through the whole day and, regrettably, night came again. A third time, you were awakened by the beastly howls of the monsters, and you shot out of the camp’s entrance.
Another night spent evading the creatures left your body weak and your mind out of energy. You could no longer think straight. You’d gone a whole 24 hours without any food or water, and you were already shaky and slow-moving thanks to your ongoing trauma and stress.
The fourth night, you were too out of it to think properly. When the howls started, instead of terror, you felt enraged. You were trying to get some fluffing sleep! You lifted your head out of the hole and screamed.
”SHADDUP!” You bellowed, your angry voice echoing off the hillside. But when you discovered that the big monster’s eyes could be seen in the dark, you bailed.
That’s where you were now. This time, they had not stopped chasing you when the sun began to peek over the mountaintop. You glanced back behind you and screamed.
The blood of Unus still stained one monster’s big, tooth-filled maw! That one was a barkie munstah of some kind, but…
The other one stared you down with deliberate murderous intent as it chased you. Multiple times, when it began gaining on you, its eyes rolled back and its mouth fell open in a limp grin to reveal far too many teeth, even for a barkie munstah. Its gait was disturbing, and wrong. It looked like it had died and was now being controlled by something else; Like how adult fluffies made controllable toys for babbehs out of leaves, small vines and sticks.
Each look back at the horrible demons sent you sprinting faster, despite your extreme exhaustion. But you knew you were reaching your limit. You had known for hours. And the monsters knew too.
After a few more minutes of begging your body to keep moving, you tripped on a branch and collapsed to the mossy forest floor. You tried to move your legs, but your body wouldn’t cooperate. Your limbs merely spasmed painfully, earning a yelp out of you. The monsters reached you, and finally you got a look at the scariest one of the two up close.
The one with too many teeth opened its mouth and clamped down on your neck. You felt a sucking sensation in your very core, and your body went completely limp. You closed your eyes…
And opened them again. You were… Alive? And very tall. Taller than you had ever been before. What was going on? You shook your head, and you caught a glimpse of a long muzzle in your vision. You yelped and stepped back, terrified. It was the monster that had bitten you. You felt wobbly and weak, as if you were about to fall over any second.
The other beast stepped towards you and lapped at your face, seemingly calm despite its alarming appearance.
You were so, so hungry. An amazing smell dragged your gaze from the monster to something on the ground in front of you. A small, light-furred animal lay on the forest floor, dead. Fear struck your heart.
You felt dazed and you fell to the forest floor, right in front of the carcass. Its dead eyes stared blankly into your soul, and you whined. Why couldn’t you talk? And why did this dead being frighten you so much, again?
The other monster cocked its head and, getting over your weird behavior, tore into the small furry body. The scrumptious smell amplified.
You were so, so hungry. You couldn’t think. You couldn’t remember who you were. What was that small, bright-colored animal lying on the ground just a few inches from your nose?
… Maybe you’d feel better if you ate something.
You stood, and began to eat.
”Unus vita pro alio.”
”One lifeforce for another.”
