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Winter Flowers

by IcarusFics

Chapter 4: Chapter 4 - The Goddess

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Your eyes pulled themselves open and again, the golden landscape covered your vision. You looked around the expanse and noticed a few changes since last time you were here. The area of grass seemed to be a little larger than before and now, there was a cutesy park bench at the edge of the patch. You cautiously walked towards it, still afraid that there might be something up with it, even though the grass itself was fine. You placed a hoof on it.

It was simply made of wood. The texture of the bench was just as you would expect. The armrests were spiraling and decorated with small metal flowers adorning it, almost as if it was a vine growing them.

“What is this place?” A voice said from behind you. You spun around and saw Rick, who was looking around with an inquisitive look on his face.

“Seed? How… How are you here?”

“Uh, what?” He looked at you with a raised eyebrow. “This place? I don’t… I don’t know. I just kinda turned up here. We were in the sleeping bag, and then…”

“This place… It’s where I go when I dream.”

“It reminds me of when I was struck by that light. This place is just like that.”

He walked toward you and looked at the patch of grass before approaching the bench and sitting on it.

“H-hey, careful, Seed. I don’t know much about this place, but it’s weird. Unnatural.”

“Why are you calling me that?”

Huh? What were you saying wrong?

Seed shook his head. “Ugh, nevermind. You said this was where you came when you dream, right? You’re safe! Even if you see something weird, it’s just in your head.”

“I-I guess…”

He patted the side of the park bench and smiled, signaling for you to sit next to him. Still unsure, you walked forward and sat next to him.

“This is nice.” Rick sighed out and relaxed his body, slumping down on the bench.

“Yeah, it is. That’s why I want to be cautious.”

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno, maybe it’s lulling me into a false sense of security.”

“Chill, Stripes! I’m not even gonna argue about how the fuck I’m here right now, but I’m going to use this time to relax.”

Stripes?

“What’s with the nickname?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Stripes. You called me Stripes.” You deadpanned.

“Yeah, that's your name, dummy. Don't tell me you lost that along with your dick.” Seed laughed at his own joke.

Your name was… Candy Stripes. But no, no it wasn't! You knew that it wasn't your name! You searched your mind for your name, your real name, but the only name that came up was Candy Stripes. No matter what, your mind was convinced that was your name.

You though for a second about Seed, and you knew that was always what you had called him. Deep Seed. That’s his name.

“Seed. Your name is Deep Seed, right?”

“What? No, my name is… It's… What the fuck. My name isn't Deep Seed!”

“And my name isn't Candy Stripes! Something’s fucking with our heads.”

You heard the calming voice talking again, immediately filling you with a relaxing feeling. It spread through your entire body and your eyes began to droop with relaxation and calmness. You looked over at Seed, who was doing the same as you. Eventually, your head hit Seeds shoulder and you began to relax even more.

The voice spoke louder and clearer this time.

“Candy Stripes, Deep Seed. I have found you, my little ponies…”

What was this voice? Was this the this that was messing with your heads?

“Please do not fear me. What happened to you was… Unfortunate. I did not know that the stone still held power. My connection to your world is strengthening, and soon, I will be able to help you.”

“Can… can you hear us?” You spoke out to the golden expanse.

“I can, but time is short.”

“Why can't we remember our names?” Seed spoke out.

“Ah yes, please let me explain. I will get to your names soon enough, but you must know the story of what happened here first. A very long time ago, A dark being named Sombra scattered seeds of hatred and darkness throughout many worlds. This world was one of them. I attempted to stop the spread, but he disappeared before I could. I sought out the places that the seeds had taken root in, but alas, all were destroyed bar one. Your world. The people there were relatively primitive, living off the land in nomadic tribes. I stopped the spread of the seed on earth, but the damage was done. Dark evil monsters began to slaughter and prey on the people of this valley until a sorcerer in my world came up with a solution.”

There was a pause.

“The Sunstone. It transformed the people of this land into ponies, like yourselves. These new forms granted them many powers, stronger bodies, resistance to the weathering of nature and made them able to live off a smaller amount of food. It helped them fight back against the creatures, and when they were gone, I offered them the chance to come to my world.By then, they had began to worship me as a god, even though I am far from it, and they all accepted. The name changes were part of adaption to my world, to help them adapt and integrate to their new lives. Unfortunately though, they had not eliminated all traces of the seed as we had initially thought. One creature still remains.”

“The Bear.” You spoke grimly.

“You are correct. The Bear remained and now, It pursues you.”

“What do we do?”

“Survive, for now. Eventually, I will come to your aid, but you must survive and you must work together.”

Holy shit… Holy fucking shit. That bear was out to get you. It lived for nothing but to see you die.

“Seed, I-I can't d-do this.”

He looked at you.

“Stripes, I know it's scary, but we have to do it. We have to. You're my best friend.”

“Y-you’re my best friend t - too…”

The golden voice began to speak again.

“Do not be afraid. The Bear may be strong, but it is dull. Without its connection to the original seed, it's senses have failed it. While it may be blind with rage, it is also blind to the world around it. It does not think, it does not plan, it just attacks. It will not be too hard to outsmart it, if it comes down to it.”

You nodded shakily, still unsure of how you were going to deal with all of this. Your mind traveled to the other questions that had been plaguing your mind.

“I… I want to ask a few other things.”

“Quickly, my time is short. You will wake soon.”

“Why am I a girl now?”

“...Were you not before?”

“No!”

“I see… it looks like the stones effects might have changed with time. Tell me, how old were you in human years before you changed?”

“I was twenty two.”

“...Oh dear. The stone has definitely lost some of its power. It seems that the body it created for you is only, in earth years, twelve years old.”

You blanked. Your mind was absolutely white. You were twelve. Twelve fucking years old. Tears began to fill your eyes and you broke down. You sobbed loudly and heavily mourning your lost gender and maturity. Seed put his hooves around you.

“Shh, It'll be okay, Stripes. It will be fine.”

“No it won't!” you shouted, tears pouring down your face and dripping to the floor. “I'm not a fucking kid, I'm not a fucking girl!”

Seed hugged you harder and stroked your mane, unsure of what to say. It was calming and relaxing to hug him, but you were still filled with this enormous sense of loss.

“Please, my little one, be strong.”

You looked down and scowled. She had done this to you. She had forced you into this body without your consent and now you were stuck like this, being pursued by an otherworldly animal who wanted nothing more than to kill you.

“I will try my hardest to fix this, but right now, my access to your world is very limited and I-”

She cut off all of a sudden and the sky immediately changed from the bright gold to black. Oh no.

“Stripes?” Seed held you tight. “What's going on?”

You though for a second. Last time this happened, you woke up and saw the…

Oh fuck. The bear.

__________

Your eyes shot open and you were greeted by the cold morning air and a sensation of imminent dread. You twisted around in your restrictive sleeping bag, looking for danger. The sun was still mostly down and trees around you were shrouded by a thick fog. Your eyes darted around, trying to spot any movement or shapes that might be the bear.

“Stripes? What's going on?”

You quickly turned to seed and threw a hoof to cover his mouth. He quickly got the message and shut up.

After a while, you didn't see any signs of imminent danger and so you slowly slipped out of the sleeping bag, Seed following behind.

“We need to… we need to pack up and get out of here. The bear could be really close.” You whispered, still on the lookout for danger.

“What?” Seed whispered back. “How can you tell?”

“I can't, but last time my dream turned black, I woke up and saw the bear. Just… Just be careful.”

The two of you began to pack up your campsite as quietly as possible. You threw the pot into your bag and rolled up the sleeping sack. Eventually, your pack was full and your camp site was clear.

You thought about what to do next when you realized that the fog was completely obscuring your vision. You couldn't see where the sun was coming from, you couldn't see through the trees, and you could hardly see Seed standing a few meters away.

You took a few steps forward only to trip on something. Your pot fell out of your bag as you fell and a huge metallic clang rang out through the forest. You sat still with a grimace, waiting for any response…

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

You could hear the footfalls of the bear. It was coming for you.

“Fuck, Seed, RUN!”

Immediately the both of you shot off, speeding through the trees. You could hear the roar of the bear behind you and the smashes of leaves and branches as it bowled through the underbrush.

You tried to speed up, but the weight of your pack was too much and your muscles couldn't push you any faster than they already were.

You had to take the voice’s advice. It was dumb. You could outsmart it. Confuse it.

“Seed!” You called out as he ran alongside you. “We have to split up!”

“What, are you crazy!?”

“No! We need to confuse it, make it unsure! I'm small, I can hide, but you're fast! You can outrun it if it follows you and I can hide if it follows me!”

He still looked extremely unsure, but you looked him in the eyes with a steel stare. He grunted in frustration but pulled away from you and ran in a different direction. You could only hope that it would work.

A short distance later, you ducked behind a tree. You heard the footfalls of the bear grown louder and louder, but slower as it slowed down. Shit, it had decided to follow you. Don't freak out. Calm down. Stick to the plan. You flattened yourself against the tree tree and covered your face with the hood. The fog was thick enough that if the bear did see you, you would blend in with the tree enough to not be seen.

At least, that was the plan.

You heard the footfalls get louder now and you could tell it was close.
You didn't move your head, but you looked around with only your eyes, glancing as the thick, black shape appeared to your right. You froze and held your breath, intent on letting out as little noise as possible.

Your heartbeat thundered through your head and sweat dripped down your brow. It was so close that you could smell the scent of death almost leaking off of it. It smelled of blood, sweat, and rotting meat, causing you to gag at the horrifying smell. The bear turned around to face you and you were faced once again with the empty pits of it’s eyes. The holes that went on for ever.

You sat as still as possible as the bear slowly approached you. Your heart was racing and you were trying to force yourself to stay calm, to little effect. It stopped, one meter from you and began sniffing at the air. You tried not to breath in, but but even the passive presence of the bears smell still filled your nostrils, causing you to gag once more.

The bear roared, showing it's rotten teeth as phlegm and blood flew from its mouth, spattering you. It reared back on its legs and you jumped to your hooves jumping out of of the way just as it slammed to the ground, crushing the snow where you were sitting, not a millisecond ago.

You darted off as fast as you could, but it was hardly fast enough. You ditched your pack, but you were so out of breath and tired by the time that you did It that it hardly seemed to matter.

There was nothing left to do but run. Run from the evil chasing you. You felt like there was this entity watching you as you run, never dropping behind, but never catching up. Your lungs burnt and your limbs threatened to fail you with every step.
You heard nothing but the throbbing of blood through your head, the sound of your steps and your breathing.

There were other sounds around you, but they were all drowned out by the sinking feeling of fear flowing through you. How long until it caught you? How long until whatever it was chasing you decided to stop playing it's game and just take you for itself? Did it enjoy this? Watching you run as hope disappeared from your eyes?

It was sadistic.

Unrelenting.

Sooner or later, you had to rest or collapse.

You couldn't do this forever.

No one could.

Your throat was dry, even from before you started running. Now, it was like you had gulped down a kilogram of salt and sand.
You blindly ran forward before out of nowhere, a tree branch caught you under your chin, causing you to flip backwards and smash into the undergrowth heavily, ejecting all of the oxygen from your already empty lungs.

Your eyes felt heavy as you saw an ominous figure appear over you.
Before you could scream, you felt your head swim and all of a sudden, your world went black.

And then, white. An enormous, deafening boom emitted from what felt like right next to your head. You were flung backward through the trees, smashing yourself against a branch before falling to the snow below. You looked upwards, head swimming with an extreme fatigue only to see the bear fall to the ground with a hole in it’s stomach the size of a manhole. Just as it’s body hit the floor, your fatigue took hold and you passed out.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 - Celestia Estimated time remaining: 15 Minutes
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