>Did that all really happen?
>Or was it all just a wonderful dream?
>Your aching stomach and freezing skin makes you arrive to the former conclusion.
 
>The sunlight hitting your eyelids is making it pretty uncomfortable to just keep laying here
>Absentmindedly, you wave your arm around, trying to find the curtain to shut away that fucking sun
>After a couple of futile waves, it hits you
>Oh yeah
>You're homeless now, you don't have curtains.
>Fuck, this means you have to wake up now, don't you?
 
>Slowly, you summon the strength to lift your eyelids
>You immediately regret it as your facial muscles around your eyes flex hard into a squint
>Fucking snow blindness hurts like a bitch first thing in the morning
>It's a bright, sunny morning
>Absolute hell on your retinas
>Also, despite lying in a pile of snow, surprisingly not too cold
>Actually, if you had some decent shade from the sun, you could comfortably spend the next couple hours here
 
>"Mommy, look! A dead hobo!"
>Wow, whoever said that may not be in your field of vision, but you could already tell they're probably a putrid pile of vomit.
"I'm not dead, you little shitstain!"
>In the same direction you heard the child's voice, you hear an adult-sized groan, presumably the mother
>"Tsk tsk tsk... See, this is exactly what I said would happen if we put the Liberals in charge... Foreign vagrants laying half-dead in our parks. Oh how I weep for this country..."
>As the voice and the sound of hoof steps in the snow get further away from you, you try to think of some scathing retort
>But in all honestly, you got nothing
 
>You're foreign
>You're a vagrant
>And you're half-dead
>Guess she technically has a point...
 
>Well you can't really do anything about that first point, and the second one is really not on the forefront of your mind right now, you should really do something about that half-dead thing.
>Your stomach, loudly opinionated about it's sub-par first meal in several days, agrees.
>Deciding it's time to get up and get at 'er, you hoist yourself up from the snowbank.
>Looking at the other side of the park fence, the town looks much more alive this fine morning.
>All sorts of ponies walk up and down the streets, most of them adorned with jackets and tuques
>A grumble from your belly reminds you to stay focused on the current task
>Brushing some snow off you, you take a wander around the park looking for something to eat.
 
>Buying your breakfast was out of the picture, since you spent the what little money you had on your meal last night
>Looks like you'd have to feed yourself the old-fashioned way
>You travel up the park's pathway and look in a container.
>...Nope, nothing.
>You continue onto the next one.
>...Still nothing.
>Maybe that one over there?
>...God damn it, is there no food at all in any of these trash cans?
>It's been awhile since you've had to actually SURVIVE.
>Alright, no problem, you just need to remember your training.
>Oh right, you have none. You're a creature that survives almost purely on predatory instinct.
>Well'p, there's no better like the present to dust off the ol' instincts.
 
>As it turns out, the human body's sense of sight, smell, and hearing are nothing to write home about.
>Luckily, with some clever genetic manipulation, you could drop the "disguise" around the internals of your ears and nose without it looking noticeably different on the outside.
>And with a few short cellular triggers, you make it so.
>Ahh... That's much better.
>Being human for so long, you've almost forgotten how much your natural sense were handicapped.
>While the ambient noise of the town is too much for your enhanced hearing to be of much use for finding prey, your sense of smell seems to pick something up.
 
>What is it?
>You're not sure, but the scent is enough to intrigue you.
>Following your nose, you stop every now and again to pause, put your face to the ground, and regain the trail.
>Ponies seemed to be staring at your strange behavior
>But they could go to hell, this is SURVIVAL.
>Frankly, if you could lure one of them into an isolated area, you would easily consider eating one of them if you could avoid being the obvious primary suspect in the follow-up police investigation.
>Strange bipedal primate strolls into town, pony carcass found partially devoured the next morning
>You're not nearly desperate enough to be THAT stupid.
>That is... unless there's no body for anyone to report...
>Ponies disappear all the time, right?
>Wait, what's that?
 
>You snap out of your equine feasting fantasy to find what the scent trail has lead you to.
>A rabbit.
>You were hoping for something a little... bigger...
>But you suppose this will do nicely all the same.
>The furry critter just seems to be sitting there
>Like a fucking asshole
>Now... how best to approach a jittery creature like this?
 
>You lack any kind of weapons.
>Man, you really wish you were back on Sigma Octanus IV or Bekenstein.
>At least those places had guns.
>Even a pointy stick would be helpful in this situa-
>Wait, have you forgotten?
>You ARE a weapon, dumbass!
>It's not like this is dangerous game or anything
 
>Really, you could drop the disguise around your head a little bit, open up your jaw, and just fucking maul the thing with your ice pick-styled teeth
>...Nah, shapeshifting needs extra energy to do.
>Changing your molecular structure takes a lot out of you.
>Go figure.
>No, you don't want to expend too much when you're so starved.
>You just need something nice and simple.
>Quickly, you roll up the jacket sleeve on your right arm.
 
>Shit...
>Looking down at your naked wrist, you see to your dismay that it is whole and un-slitted.
>One of your most dependable forms of unarmed combat in your disguised form is sharp, biological knife that you hide under the skin of your forearm
>With some simple genetic commands, you order your body to mutate and transform the muscle and bone needed for this hidden blade.
>After a few moments, you use the fingers on your other hand to press down on your wrist, making your way down further, close to the joint.
>The hardened formation under the skin confirms its existence.
>But that still left one problem.
>It still needed to break through the skin of your wrists in order for it to actually be of any use.
>Normally it was always a one-time deal, since the slit could remain until the next time you reshaped out of, and then back into your human disguise
>...Which is exactly what you've done several times in the past few months now...
>Thanks a fucking lot, Bon Bon.
 
>Oh don't be such a pussy
>Your physiology has a naturally high pain tolerance and natural pain dampeners for this exact reason.
>Come on...
>Like ripping off a bandage
>C-C'mon...
>Just...
>fucking...
>do-
>IT!!
"F-!!"
 
>You practically punch yourself in the face trying to stuff your other hand in your mouth to stop the sudden outflow of expletives
>It's a close call, too
>The rabbit's ears twitch at the slight disturbance, appearing a little more alert
>Shit, gotta be more careful.
>You bite down hard on the knuckle of your left hand, waiting for your body to deploy its painkillers
>As for your right hand, it now twitches violently
>A pointed bone roughly 5 inches attached to some grisly looking muscle fiber now juts from your once soft, supple, unmarked wrist
>Making new ones of these things always sucked, since they were never really all that sharp at first
>But you could fix that yourself, later
>A substantial amount of blood drips from both the newly crafted bio-blade and the gruesome exit wound it made
>Whatever, it's no big deal, it'll heal soon enough
>You've got a meal to secure.
 
>Slowly, you inch your way closer and closer to the relatively unaware morsel
>Easy... Easy...
>It's a painstaking process, lifting your first foot ever so slowly...
>Setting it down so softly...
>Then doing the same with the other one
>Every now and again, the animal's ears would twitch and rotate
>Your heart pumped violently each time it did this, nervous that you just blown your chance
>But it still sits there.
>You're getting closer
>That's it... Just keep facing that other direction...
 
>Readying your knife, you prepare to lunge
>Just...
>a little...
>more...
>This snow isn't really the most silent terrain to be-
>*crunch*
>The rabbit bolts
>You lunge
 
>The vicious growl you let out goes unnoticed to you.
 
>You don't even remember how you got on the ground like this
>It's all just a black spot in your memory about 3 seconds ago.
>But here you are, lying in the snow.
>There is a rabbit, nearly decapitated, impaled through the neck by your blade
>Now your hand is covered in TWO different kinds of blood
>Your smile reaches from ear to ear
>...But not literally this time.
 
"Yes!!"
>As naturally as eating any other meal, you remove and retract your blade back into your forearm and begin gorging yourself on the rabbit's newly deceased carcass.
>You didn't even care, you just dive right into the fucking thing
>The first few bites are kinda tough, but giving yourself your naturally sharp teeth back helps a lot.
>You're in heaven
>Absolute heaven
>There's no place you'd rather be right now than in this park, eating this still-warm rabbit
>After a few more bites, you pace yourself a little more
>There's no rush, savor the thing
>It's not like you have to be anywhere or anything like that.
>Mmm MMM
>You've forgotten how good wild game could be
>Gotten a little too used to prepared market food, you suppose.
>The heart still had a couple of beats in it before you feast upon that, too
>Ohh yeah...
>Pffft, a little too much hair for your liking, but you couldn't give enough of a shit to actually skin this thing
>Ah, just rip off and discard the hairy hide.
>You're not sure how much time has passed, but WOW
>There's a lot more meat to this thing than you initially thought
>Your stomach certainly isn't complaining
 
>"Uhh... Anon?"
>SHIT.
>Quickly, you swallow the last bite you took
>You spin around to the owner of that voice, hiding the carcass behind your back.
 
>It's a familiar white unicorn pony
>Charcoal mane
>Black CPP jacket and hat
>You bite your lip nervously
"C-Constable Trillium! Hi! W-what uh... What are you doing out this morning? You uh... doing back-to-back shifts or something?"
>She raises an eyebrow at you, trying to assess the scene in front of her
>"Ah, actually, I was just starting my shift last night, ya know? Coming up to the end of it now."
>Ahhh, the ungodly graveyard shift.
>You nod in understanding
>"We got a call about an unfamiliar face skulking through the park, rummaging through the trash bins and uh... mutilating the wildlife. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"AM I BEING DETAINED?!!"
 
>What the fuck
>What the hell was that for?
>Constable Trillium fidgets uncomfortably
>"Well, er, yes. I'm investigating a public disturbance, I suppose."
>Oh
>Well shit, what did you hope to accomplish with that?
>"Look, Anon, you seemed like a pretty nice guy when we met last night. Why don'tcha just tell me what's goin' on?"
 
"Uhh... Nope, can't say I know anything about any park-skulking, trash-digging, animal mutilators. I was just uh... Taking a leisurely stroll through your town's beautiful park, and..."
>Explain why you're on the ground, stupid
"OH, and I saw this ADORABLE little bunny rabbit, and he was just so friendly! He even came right up to me, and let me pet him."
>Why you felt the need to bring the bloody rabbit skeleton out from behind you to illustrate to the constable, you have no fucking idea
"See- oh."
 
>Constable Trillium grimaces slightly at the sight of the mostly devoured carcass
>"Gyughh..."
>HAHAHAHA, WELL THAT WAS PRETTY STUPID OF YOU, NOW WASN'T IT
"Uh, let me just state for the record, this is a COMPLETELY different rabbit than the one previously mentioned. This one... I found him like this. Probably had a run-in with a fox... or a wood chipper."
>The mare puts a hoof to her mouth to suppress a gag.
>"Anon, you're ah... covered in blood."
>Huh?
>Well, you'll be damned.
>Your previously-yellow winter jacket is now almost completely stained red.
>"...And you got it all over your face, too."
>As if by reflex, you run your hand around your mouth and check it
>Damn
>Probably should have grabbed some napkins from the cafe or something.
 
>Alright, fine, no point in fighting this any longer.
"Okay, yes, it was me. I just woke up a little while ago, and I'm trying to keep myself going, okay? I already gave you my story last night, so you know I'm not just making this shit up and doing it for fun. I'm not hurting anyone."
>Again, Trillium gives a little grimace as her glance shifts to the side
>"Well, actually, the call came in from the uh... school across the street, there."
 
>What?
>Following where she was looking, you are directed to a school building just a little bit on the other side of the park's fence
>You can see through the window, dozens of young ponies staring out at you as you continue to hold the bloody, mangled bunny skeleton to the police officer.
>How long have they been standing there, anyway?
"Ah, damn it!"
>You toss the animal corpse away in frustration.
>Now you're in trouble.
 
"Ah... I'm real sorry, Officer. I didn't mean for that to happen, like I said, I'm just trying to keep going, here. It's been a long time since I've been on the run for my life."
>Your head droops in genuine sorrow
>It's not like you INTENDED to murder and devour a small animal that was likely being observed with joy by many small children
>You really do deserve a jail cell for that, you monster.
 
>Trillium gives her chin a contemplative scratch
>"Well... You *are* in a pretty strange predicament..."
"The strangest."
>"I don't really wanna arrest you or anything, and like I said before, you seem like a nice guy when we got a'talkin' last night. I'd kinda like to give you a hoof somehow."
>Whoa, really?
>You admit, it's quite unexpected for your situation here to take such a fortuitous turn
"Really? That'd be very gracious of you, constable."
>You pick yourself up off the ground and try to somewhat make yourself presentable by wiping off some of the blood on your face
>To your credit, she seems to smile at this as she gestures for you to follow her
>"C'mon, let's walk and talk. I'm nearly finished my beat, so let's figure something out."
 
>As you walk with White Trillium, you take another look over at the school.
>Those kids are still staring
>Why are they-
>Oh.
>SHIT.
>You quickly ask her to hold up for a second as you go back and at least bury your kill under some snow.
>Nothing but red snow all around you.
>Great.