Chapter Ten

>Another day, another hunt
> It seems rabbit is on the menu for today
> The hare hops over to edge of a small creak, lowering its head to the surface.
> You’re about 7 meters behind it, hidden in the bushes
> You draw back and fire with precision honed by years of experience
> As the arrow flies toward the target, a large feathery blur swoops down with blinding speed, snatching the rabbit
> The arrow whizzes through the now empty air, splashing into the stream
> Goddammit, not again!
> You yell in frustration, shaking your fist at the rapidly diminishing avian form in the sky
“GILDAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
> You hear her laughing as she flies away with your prey
> “Better luck next time, dweeb!”
> Your anger quickly subsides as you retrieve your arrow from the slowly moving water
> In truth, you actually kind of enjoyed fighting with that griffon
> A week had passed since your first encounter, and you’ve been trying to out-do each other ever since
> You never actually fought, it was too risky for both of you. As predators, the slightest wound or injury could jeopardize your ability to hunt, leading to starvation
> Since you couldn’t strike directly at each other, you developed a sort of competition, both of you trying to snatch or shoot each other’s prey out from under them.
> The initial hostility of your first meeting slowly eroded as time went on. It wasn’t replaced by friendship by any means, but a kind of mutual respect as hunters.
> Despite the inconvenience, you were grateful for this turn of events. As meager as the interaction was, you still looked forward to it every day.
> The competition gave you something to strive for. It gave you that drive you were beginning to lack
> Stowing the arrow back into your quiver, you head off in search of another meal.
>You creep through the underbrush, eyes and hears tuned for the slightest sign of movement
> You feel a slight nagging on the edge of your subconscious, signaling you that something isn’t right
> You stop moving and focus, trying to make out the faint sound
> It’s definitely not natural, and it’s getting closer. You hear… voices?
> Shit, this can’t be good
> You quickly climb a nearby tree, leaping from branch to branch
> You settle onto a sturdy branch, nocking an arrow on the your bow
> The voices increase in volume as they approach, and you begin to make out what they’re saying
> “I don’t think this was such a good idea Scootaloo…”
> The voice was high pitched and feminine, was it a child?
> “Come on Sweetie Belle! If we catch that human we’ll get our human catching cutie marks for sure!”, a second voice replies
> What the hell is a cutie mark? And why would catching you give them one?
> “But we’ve walking for hours,” A third voice chimes in, thick with a southern accent, “Ah’m not sure we could even find our way back now”
> Below your hiding spot, three figures come into view. They’re p0nies, but much smaller than the ones you saw earlier, probably fillies
> One is an orange pegasus, with tiny wings and a short purple mane. Kind of looks like a chicken
> Another is a unicorn, with a white coat and a curly, lavender and pink mane. For some reason you begin craving marshmallows
> The third is a normal p0ny, with a yellow coat and a red mane. She wears a large pink bow atop her head. You have no particular feelings on her one way or the other
>The trio stops at the base of the tree and begin bickering between themselves. Arguing over whose idea this was, who lost the map, and how angry their parents are going to be.
> None of them ever look upward at your hiding spot in the branches
> You’re not sure exactly what to do here.
> On one hand, they’re p0nies, obviously looking for you and intent on capturing you. You can’t let that happen.
> But you can’t just kill them, they’re children for Christ’s sake!
> Children who are obviously completely lost. This forest is no place for children. They don’t look like they could fend for themselves.
> With a heavy sigh, you realize what you have to do
> You reposition yourself slightly before dropping from the tree
> With a loud *THUMP*, you land in the dirt a few feet away from the fillies
> They gasp at your sudden appearance, eyes wide with fear
“OOGA BOOGA!  I’M A BIG SCARY MONSTER!!!”
>The three fillies unleash an ear shattering shriek and flee from your presence, tearing through the underbrush in a mad haste
> You give a mock pursuit, herding them back in the direction of town.
> These p0nies have a terrible sense of direction. Multiple times they’ve managed to turn completely around, heading back deeper into the woods
> You make appearances when they slow down or lose direction, keeping them headed back toward town
> They continue yelling and screaming the whole way
> Most of it is incoherent, but you can make out the occasional “DON’T EAT US!”
> The trees begin to thin as you approach civilization
> Eventually, you arrive back at the apple orchard you ran through on the night you escaped
> You stop on the border of the trees, allowing the three fillies to escape
> The yellow and red filly cries out as you arrive, “BIG MAC! HELP US!”
> Who the hell is Big Mac?
> The ground trembles under your feet as a massive stallion thunders out from the orchard
> Holy fuck he was massive. His coat was solid red with an orange mane, his green eyes ablaze with raw fury
> Yeah, that’s probably Big Mac
> You turn around and run back into the forest as fast as your legs can carry you.
> Shorty after, you hear what sounds like an avalanche as the massive p0ny crashes through the brush behind you
> You weave through the foliage, desperate to put as much distance as possible between you and this living avatar of destruction
> The chase is punctuated by an occasional ear splitting crack behind you
> It sounds like he’s tearing through whole trees rather than work around them
> GOTTA GO FAST! GOTTA GO FAST!
> Adrenaline and terror course through your veins, driving you on
> The sounds of pursuit slowly begin to grow more distant as the forest becomes thicker, your greater agility giving more of an advantage over his massive form.
> You keep running though
> You don’t stop until you’ve arrived back at your cave, panting heavily and shaking
> NEVER GO BACK. NEVER AGAIN. AVOID THE ORCHARD. NEVER GO BACK