Qarinah ruffled her feathers of her owl form before she started her flight down the snow-covered mountain face. She was heading towards a more forested section at the base. There was a plant that she needed to collect and restock her supplies. As she glided swiftly across the snow and rocky slopes, she pondered the strange little plant that was so useful to her.
It was a non-assuming tiny thread of a plant that grew only in the upper branches of large trees. It needed plenty of shade and looked half dead most of the time, but on rare nights of the full moon it would come to life and blossom with brilliant tiny white flowers. That's when its power was strongest and the perfect time to harvest it. When dried and ground into a fine powder it would make a pony drowsy in small doses, or it could bring the eternal sleep. Qarinah called it the Shadow of Sleep. She was sure others had a different name for it, but she didn't care. She liked how it sounded.
The owl flew on silent wings as the forest finally started coming into view of her keen sight. Tonight was going to be a very long night. The trip down was much easier. She would be spending at least one, but probably more nights hunting enough of the thin plant. Then she would have to bring it all home and prepare it. It was such a useful plant for her. She could slip it into a visitor's drink to make them sleepy enough to stay, or if they angered her they would never wake again as a few unfortunate ponies had found out.
She wished it was possible to cultivate the plant, but it required such specific conditions to grow that simply didn't happen at the top of a mountain. Qarinah huffed a frosty breath in slight irritation. Thus she made a few trips each year to replenish her supplies. The wind silently carcasses her wing feathers as she weaved in among the trees. Several times she pulled up to land on branches and peered closely at thin vines twining around the branches. These weren't what she was looking for. On she flew. There! A flash of white caught her eye.
The owl veered toward it to land on the branch. The nearby branch of the tree was wrapped in a very thin plant that had petite, shining, white flowers. Now came the most difficult part. She had to very carefully unwrap the plant from its home. Her sharp talons and beak could easily tear the plant to pieces, but that would waste the precious plant. She wanted to keep it intact as much as possible even if made more work for her. After several hours of work she had a decent section of it free and unwrapped from its host tree. With a slash of talon she freed the piece and carefully placed it into her carry pouch. An uncareful use of her beak early in her harvest of the plant had landed her unconscious for hours when she got the liquid in her beak. It was not an experience that she cared to repeat.
With her first piece collected, she was off to find more. Her eyes roamed on the hunt for more, as her mind went back to her first intentional use of it. It had been a stallion that had faaaaaar too many questions. He had not been the brightest, but he had not been able to stop talking for barely a moment. Even her skill had been pushed to the limit in trying to come up with answers to his seemingly endless questions. In the end she'd ended the session, saying she needed a break and had invited him to share her snack. There she'd slipped the powder into his drink before serving him. Then Qarinah sat back to watch how long it took to take start taking effect. The stallion had chatted on, oblivious, but then slowly his words started to slur and his eyes drooped.
Within ten minutes he was nodding off. She wanted to dance in delight that it had worked; she'd offered to let him stay the night, pretending to give him the room. Once he was completely asleep, she'd tied him up and then dragged him to a completely different room. Where she kept him for days, making him pay for each of the questions he'd asked. The owl wondered briefly what had become of the stallion as she carefully disentangled a thread. If nothing else he was hopefully a smarter pony and watched what he said.
It was several nights of hard work, but she eventually filled her bag with enough of the threads to satisfy her. With a great heave she launched from the branch for the long flight home. Soon she'd be able to get these started drying and she could finally rest.
WC: 825
(OOC Note: this is a made up plant)