Seattle Seapony

by dNihil

[2-3] Run

"Hey," it said.

Harper stood beside the weeping filly and nudged her with its hoof. She glared balefully up at that unicorn, lying on her back. Barking could be heard from down the street.

"Not to ah, heheh... rain on your pity parade or anything, but maybe you should stop with that. You've drawn a bit of attention to yourself." It motioned with its horn.

Cala looked and saw, about a block away, a collection of monsters had formed. They looked like dogs, but at the same time, didn't. Canine in form, they had a much more feral appearance, foaming at the mouth and jumping all about spasmodically. They all had their eyes trained on her. Waiting for... something.

"Now, I'm going to give you a fair chance," it told her, "and provide you with the means to abscond. There's just something I want you to remember. And keep this in mind as you flee from these strays and continue on further into the city.

"This is retribution for having rent the aegis null."

Its horn glowed.

And suddenly, all Hell broke loose.

The dogs barked madly and began charging at her. Points of glowing light appeared on her shoulders and hips. The beasts covered the ground faster than a canine had any right to. The lights extended into four bars of golden energy. They leaped upon her. The magic beams each bent in three spots and crumpled up to her body.

Monster teeth met scaly flesh.

❗

Things tore away.

Thrashed. Rolled onto left side.

A part of her breast. A part of her fin. A part of her ear. A part of her face was worst.

Rolled onto her belly.

A part of her tail. A part of her back.

Unfurled new things and stumbled forward.

A part of that thing. Another part of her tail.

Stumble forward faster. Walk. Trot.

Canter.

Gallop.

A part of nothing else.

Run run run run run and ran and ran, she ran until she could no longer feel her fresh injuries.

She ran until the barking slowed down behind her. She ran and she ran on her unknown new appendages, following her instinct to throw each limb forward in sequence and propel her onward down the road.

This is retribution for having rent the aegis null, she thought, and while she didn't know what any of those words meant, it was the only thing she could think as she ran and she ran and she ran.

↷

Cala ran.

She ran until exhaustion washed over her, and then she ran some more.

Cala tripped.

She tumbled forward and rolled and bounced to a stop. She laid there and gasped and gasped and gasped.

She finally caught her breath and found she was lying in the middle of a road but she didn't know where she was. Nothing directly in her eyesight was familiar.

As her adrenaline wore off, she began to feel the fresh pain her body was enduring. There were missing pieces of flesh all over her right side and the fresh marks stung painfully with each breath she took. There were streams of viscous red fluid running down her body. A tear on her face felt particularly bad, and she realized that her right eye was clasped shut from it.

She looked down at the new appendages she bore. They were the healthiest-looking part of her body. The scales were bright pink and fresh as if an outer layer had recently molted away. They were stubby things, short and unlike any animal's. She turned over one of the forelimbs and looked at the hoof on the bottom. It might have been like a horse's legs, if they were pulled from a giant horse fetus and stuck onto her body. They were also covered in a fresh coat of slime, unlike the rest of her body which was covered in a meager sheen of oil.

They also hurt like all get-out. From shoulder to fetlock and from haunch to cannon they all ached with a fierce soreness that made them feel like something had stretched them like taffy for hours.

Yet she had only just been running for a few minutes. She groaned as she lay there, unwilling to move any muscle on her body. She now had a bunch of meat hooks to weigh her down and they hurt like Hell. Her body was all scratched up and torn, and she bet doing just about anything would irritate them. So she lay perfectly still, just breathing as her heart caught up with her body and hoped that the pain would fade away in time for her to move again.

She felt yet another itch. It was her throat. It was dry. She cursed herself for forgoing drinking anything that morning; stupid fear of water...

So she started coughing again.

Old injuries and new injuries alike mixed together and formed a pain cocktail that roiled through her very form. Some more of those pain pills would've been great right about then.

↪

Comments

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

Harper is a rather . . . passive aggressive character. It helps but at the same time does not. A little talk would have saved Cala a lot of trouble. Instead whenever Harper talks, it's to taunt. I would argue that it's almost as if the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. Or in this case, the mouth is independent from the actions of the body.

Does Harper want to help, or just prolong Cala's torment?

[Lord Of Dorkness]

"This is retribution for having rent the aegis null."

...

As a giant nerd, I actually know what all those rather archaic five-dollar words mean.

And Harper needs to get put into a freaking blender if they imply what I think they do.

I mean, blaming the kid stuck as a sea-creature alone on land for being left behind when the 'blessing' hit? Or leaving the 'protection' of the rotting, empty house to find anybody else?

Either way you take that sentence, what the ever loving fuck is wrong with that mare?! That's bordering on pure fucking evil!

And using words most grown-ups don't know to rub it in? That's just wrong!

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

6086293

Not even a mare, really. An object, an 'it'.