06-22-2018, 07:02 PM
Pond has been enjoying her new life on the island of Ischia, wandering through the jungles and relishing the feel of sand beneath her hooves again. It’s not the same as the Dewdrop Deserts where she was born so very long ago, but it is at least somewhat familiar. She particularly likes the nighttime, when the ocean wind is cool, the waves are gentle, and the shores glow gently blue.
But there are still times when the wanderlust takes hold of her heart and she gazes across the ocean and dares to traipse across the sandbars at low tide. There are times she longs for her true home, for her parents, for her family across the channel (all of whom she hasn’t even met yet). Sometimes she imagines herself flying with her mother and father, cloaked in warm winds and bathed in sunshine as they glide perfectly over the dunes, but then the water laps around her hocks and she remembers the true reality of her new life.
Tonight, she is wandering along through the tidepools, sniffing and snorting at the starfish and crabs and sand dollars that scoot lazily through the froth on the beach. Her family and her former life are far from her mind for now and instead she is enjoying the breeze along her shoulders and combing through her short mane. She has grown quite a lot since her arrival here on the island - longer legs, stronger heart - and sometimes she takes pride in herself for that. It hasn’t been easy adjusting to a world some decades older than the one she was born into, after all.
Tonight is a little different, however. After she clambers out of one rocky little tidepool, she finds herself on the pale white sand again… except this time it feels a little different. Rather than cradling her weight like usual, the sand seems to sink below her hooves. It grows softer and less solid, swallowing her slowly until she can’t seem to pull herself free. Before she knows it, she has sunken down to her knees.
With a sharp squeal of surprise, she tries to fight back but by now it is too late and she cannot lift a single leg free from her sudden plight. It swallows her up quicker and quicker until suddenly she has disappeared beneath the shore.
But then, as suddenly as she had vanished from the Ischian shore, she finds herself standing on a nearly mirror-opposite shore...except this time the sky is below her and the ground is above and she fears that she is falling. Her feet remain planted on the ground, however, and although her heart is racing she quickly realizes that she is in no danger. It’s as if she is looking at her reflection in one of the clear freshwater springs back on the island she’s come to call home.
Hesitantly, she takes a few steps forward and finds that everything is just the same except for her gravitational orientation. The waves still slosh gently beside her, the stars still shine over her head (or below, depending on how you look at it) and the sand still crunches quietly underfoot. When she looks out over the ocean, though, she notices a strange movement nearby - a swirling sort of movement that shouts at her instincts to turn away and flee. She stays, though, and watches, fixated.
In just a few more moments, a massive figure breaks through the surface of lapping waves - it is flat and shiny and looks slimy to the touch with two giant golden eyes on either side. “Hello,” it hisses and it takes a moment before she realizes it is speaking telepathically; its fanged mouth is still hidden below the waves. “Will you keep me company? I have traveled so long and so alone. I chose you, Pond, to come along with me.”
Pond stares in shock and disbelief, jaws locked closed and limbs frozen in place. The creature chuckles in her mind before it clambers up closer to the shore. Its great jaws part wide, its snake-like tongue reaches out, and before Pond can even react, it has taken her gently into its mouth. She catches one last glimpse of the upside-down shoreline before the toothy maw closes around her and with a single, quiet gasp, she is taken away.
But there are still times when the wanderlust takes hold of her heart and she gazes across the ocean and dares to traipse across the sandbars at low tide. There are times she longs for her true home, for her parents, for her family across the channel (all of whom she hasn’t even met yet). Sometimes she imagines herself flying with her mother and father, cloaked in warm winds and bathed in sunshine as they glide perfectly over the dunes, but then the water laps around her hocks and she remembers the true reality of her new life.
Tonight, she is wandering along through the tidepools, sniffing and snorting at the starfish and crabs and sand dollars that scoot lazily through the froth on the beach. Her family and her former life are far from her mind for now and instead she is enjoying the breeze along her shoulders and combing through her short mane. She has grown quite a lot since her arrival here on the island - longer legs, stronger heart - and sometimes she takes pride in herself for that. It hasn’t been easy adjusting to a world some decades older than the one she was born into, after all.
Tonight is a little different, however. After she clambers out of one rocky little tidepool, she finds herself on the pale white sand again… except this time it feels a little different. Rather than cradling her weight like usual, the sand seems to sink below her hooves. It grows softer and less solid, swallowing her slowly until she can’t seem to pull herself free. Before she knows it, she has sunken down to her knees.
With a sharp squeal of surprise, she tries to fight back but by now it is too late and she cannot lift a single leg free from her sudden plight. It swallows her up quicker and quicker until suddenly she has disappeared beneath the shore.
But then, as suddenly as she had vanished from the Ischian shore, she finds herself standing on a nearly mirror-opposite shore...except this time the sky is below her and the ground is above and she fears that she is falling. Her feet remain planted on the ground, however, and although her heart is racing she quickly realizes that she is in no danger. It’s as if she is looking at her reflection in one of the clear freshwater springs back on the island she’s come to call home.
Hesitantly, she takes a few steps forward and finds that everything is just the same except for her gravitational orientation. The waves still slosh gently beside her, the stars still shine over her head (or below, depending on how you look at it) and the sand still crunches quietly underfoot. When she looks out over the ocean, though, she notices a strange movement nearby - a swirling sort of movement that shouts at her instincts to turn away and flee. She stays, though, and watches, fixated.
In just a few more moments, a massive figure breaks through the surface of lapping waves - it is flat and shiny and looks slimy to the touch with two giant golden eyes on either side. “Hello,” it hisses and it takes a moment before she realizes it is speaking telepathically; its fanged mouth is still hidden below the waves. “Will you keep me company? I have traveled so long and so alone. I chose you, Pond, to come along with me.”
Pond stares in shock and disbelief, jaws locked closed and limbs frozen in place. The creature chuckles in her mind before it clambers up closer to the shore. Its great jaws part wide, its snake-like tongue reaches out, and before Pond can even react, it has taken her gently into its mouth. She catches one last glimpse of the upside-down shoreline before the toothy maw closes around her and with a single, quiet gasp, she is taken away.