//------------------------------// // Boots - Surviving // Story: Two Minds // by Thethhron //------------------------------// Angry Dragons         Pain woke me. The cuts on my chest still ached, both from the burns and initial slicing. Sitting up, however, the pain was much more bearable than the previous day. Aurora was still asleep. That was the first chance I had to really look at my injury. One line across, one line down. I’ve got a plus mark on my chest. Although….it’s actually more of a cross. Not sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, I’ve got a cross on my chest and that’s cool. On the other hand it feels like I’m advert-         I groaned as the rather familiar headache returned, drowning out my thoughts. Sitting up after it had faded, I rubbed my neck and sigh- Wait a sec, what are these lumps? Feeling around a bit more, I discovered what felt like ten paired glands lining the side of my trachea, five on each side. They were small, but I could still feel them if I pressed. Almost like swollen lymph nodes. Can’t be lymph nodes though, not ten of them. What then? Humans don’t have any glands there, none this big. I stood and stretched, hissing quietly at the burn near the scar.         The sun was just rising, spreading it’s glow across the dry landscape. But you aren’t human anymore, are you? I snorted What, I can breath fire cause I’m a dragon now? The thought struck a chord in my memory. Y’know, that actually could make sense. If I’m anything like the D&D race, silly as that would be, I should have breath weapons. I hopped to the top of the rock, in one jump.  Ah, that feels good. If there was one thing I loved about my new body, it was that my jumping capability had increased significantly. Considering I was the only white guy I knew with hops, that meant something, to me at least. But how do I do it? Supposing I have such a natural weapon. I let the breeze blow over me as I watched the sun rise.  It felt nice, breathing in the crisp morning air. I don’t know how long I sat like that, my mind surprisingly clear of thoughts. “Boots? Where are you?” I looked down to see Aurora wandering out of the cave. I waved. “Good morning!” “What are you doing up there?” “Felt like it.” I hopped to the ground. “Er, right…” Her tail swished about as we walked inside and gathered the food we had left, which I bundled back up in the pelt like before. “So… uh…” Aurora’s voice was unsure. “What is it?” I sent a questioning glance her way as we began walking. “I, um… Nevermind.” She looked aside, embarrassed about something. Raising my eyebrows, I shrugged. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. What is it?” She stared at me for a second, opening and closing her mouth without noise. “It’s fine if you don’t want to say what-” “I have a question!” She blurted out, surprisingly loudly. I closed one eye and twitched away at her volume. “Alright, shoot.” “I, um… I heard you talking to someone last night. Who was it?” My brow furrowed in confusion before I realized that she was referring to my prayer. “Oh. Um, how to explain… Do dragons have a religion? Gods?” “A what?” Well, crap. “Em…. A religion is kind of like a way of life. On Earth, there are a lot of religions, each one with a god or gods that they worship.” “What are gods?” I scratched my head. “The technical definition of something like beings of power that hold some amount of control over the world.” “So, like Foecruncher?” “Not exactly. Foecruncher is still hu- er, he still exists in the world and can be killed. Theoretically, a god is more… ethereal than that. You can’t touch or feel them or see them unless they want you to.” She seemed to think about that for a bit, almost like it confused her. “You can kill Foecruncher?” “I mean, I’ve never met him but he’s a dragon, isn’t he? And dragons aren’t immortal, right?” “But you don’t understand, he’s bigger than most of us, and he’s dark blue, and really scary… you don’t just kill him.” I snickered a bit and whispered “My God is bigger still…” before coughing. “But he’s still a dragon. No matter how big and scary he is, a mortal is still mortal.” She continued to make weird faces at the concept. “Let’s drop that for now. I’m sure I can explain it better one day.” Crags glided past in an endless cycle as the hours passed, with no change in sight. We walked along in silence.  No point in explaining so much new culture all at once.         Midday rolled around and we stopped for lunch, next to a tiny stream, barely two feet wide. The water cascaded up around the edges, only to dry quickly. Despite its warmth, the water was still refreshing, and I realized I hadn’t had any actual water since before I had arrived. The sun beat down on the land but strangely, I did not feel it as much as I expected.         Our lunch consisted of more leopard meat. It would run out at this meal too, so hunting would be a priority tonight. I sighed. Never thought I’d be eating cat as a regular food source. Still, it felt nice, being out under the sun, since it was winter back home. Wherever home was from here. That brought a question to mind. Maybe Aurora knows something? A clue or hint… “Hey, Aurora.” “Yes?” “What can you tell me about the world?” “The Dragon Badlands? Not much, I guess. it’s where dragons live.” “Not just that. What about the rest of it? The dragons can’t be the only thing on the planet.” “I don’t think…” Her brow furrowed in thought again. “My parents used to tell me stories.” “Stories?” “Yeah. About other species, non-dragons. I’ve never seen any though.” “You don’t believe their stories?” I suppose I might not either if all I ever knew was that mountain. She frowned. “No, I guess not.” She picked at her teeth with a bone, before crunching it to bits and swallowing. “So these non-dragons, what are they? Like the ‘humans’ I described to you?” “No, nothing like that. Things called griffins and ponies.” Ponies? Hah, that would be a laugh, if I was actually in Equest- “I think they called the place Equestria.” I froze. There’s no way. But she said it herself! Ponies and Equestria. It has to be. I laid on the ground, hand on my forehead. “Are you alright, Boots?” Aurora walked over to me in concern. “We’re… We’re near Equestria?” She stared at me wide-eyed. “No… It’s supposed to be far away from here.” I felt like I was vibrating. I’m in Equestria! Or near it at least. “Far away, you say? Do you know how far?” She fiddled with her claws, nonplussed at my question. “No, not really. Why? Do you think it exists?” My grin could not have stretched wider without tickling my earbuds. “Aurora…” I skipped around gleefully. “I could not be more sure that it exists! Oh my dear Lord God, Equestria! Haha!” I spun around, gathering the pelts into a bundle, as it was the only thing we had at the moment. I couldn’t help, myself - I started dancing. “Going to E-ques-tri-a, Going to E-ques-tri-a” I sung to myself. Aurora watched this with awkward amusement. She didn’t seem sure why, but something was pulling her in with me. I could see that smile spreading on her face. Eventually, I calmed down and we began walking again, a new skip in our step. “So, how do you know that Equestria is real?” Aurora asked. “Ah, that will take a bit of explaining. You see, on Earth, we have really advanced technology. There’s a thing called a TV and-” “-so when the atoms clash together, energy gets emitted. That’s why the sun shines, because it’s a gigantic, nuclear furnace.” “ Wow…” Aurora drunk in every word I said. A day had passed since I found out we were on whatever planet contained Equestria. In that time, I’d given her a very brief overview on a few topics regarding Earth - namely Equestria as a show. We’d started talking about science that morning; since she basically didn’t have any education I decided, why not. Lunch time was approaching once again and in the distance to the east, a dark band was forming on the horizon. Hopefully that meant a change in scenery. Dry dirt got old real quick. We had encountered some more leopards since then, which helped bolster our food supplies but water was far harder to come by. Thankfully, I seemed need less water than normal, so the minuscule streams we had come across, while not the nicest looking, had served to give enough, even if they weren’t very large. “So, we never got around to actually talking about those other stories. What else did your parents tell you about the world?” Aurora put a claw to her chin and thought for a bit. “Well, the ponies are supposed to have a land of peace and prosperity, like you told me. The griffins however… I think my dad mentioned them starting to die out.” “Oh… That sucks.” That means Gilda was the member of a dying race?         “Yeah, I guess it does. Mom talked about one other race, the diamond dogs. They live closer and take lots of slaves apparently.” That didn’t surprise me a whole lot as I recalled the little I knew about diamond dogs.         “Huh. Do they have names for where they live?”         “Um… I think so but I don’t remember what they are.” She gave me a small smile. “Sorry.” “Eh, it’s fine…. Do you know if there’s a name for the planet?” She brightened. “Yeah! Dad said it’s called Equis. Don’t know why though.” Good, I don’t have to call it pony planet anymore. We finished the rest of our meal quickly, as I had run out of questions for the moment, and continued our trek. With no map or anyway of searching for civilization, the best strategy, terrible at best, was to travel in a single direction and hope for luck. The headaches still occurred if I got too deep into thought, so the constant walking helped clear my mind. It also, unfortunately, meant I couldn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about what was going on. I still didn’t know why I was here. I still didn’t know how I got here, how much time had passed since I was sucked away, or anything beyond my immediate surroundings. I hadn’t been able to think about my, rather, the ponies’, memories. Why did I have them and why did they feel like my own? The cracked earth had no give underneath my feet and just so, my questions could never receive answers, not until I found anything to help. If Equestria really was here, then maybe I could find somepony to do just that. I sighed, eyes scanning the rocks jutting out of the ground like so many pebbles on a giant gravelly beach. The most boring place to end up. Nothing around for miles except sun and wild animals. Aurora tapped my shoulder, eyebrows scrunched in thought. “Boots, if the sun gives off light because of chemicals, does that mean the moon is a…. star as well?” At least Aurora was here to keep me company. This would have been so much worse without her. “Ah, no, that’s a funny thing. See, the sun and moon are almost always on different sides of the planet. Because of this, the moon reflects the light given off by the sun.” Our animated conversation continued as we walked, keeping me in a positive mood, for her sake, if not for mine. Negative spirits could not be allowed on such a quest as ours.         "What are those!?" Aurora froze, staring warily at the strange objects in the distance. The dark band had grown close and it's composition was now visible. Aurora had never seen such reaching limbs, garnered in green. They appeared to reaching for the sky, gently swaying in time with each other. "Really?" Boots asked. "You really don't know?" “No! I don’t like the look of them. Do you know what they are?” A grimace flashed across her features. “Are we going to have to fight them?? They look so huge!” “*Snort*Bwahahahaha! Oh- oh Aurora, no, no those- Hah! Those aren’t monsters. No, those are the nicest thing we could have come across: trees.” “Trees? Wait, my mom mentioned them once. Something called a plant?” A bemused smile crept onto Boots’ face as he shook his head at her. “Oh, you really are from the backwater boonies. Yes, those are plants. Great garnish, good fiber, and beautiful every time of year except winter. Nature, the nicest escape a man can get. Well, dragon in this case.” He stuck his hands on his hips and stared at the horizon. “It’ll be just like camping. Without the s’mores but that’s okay.” She stared at him. “S’mores are a kind of dessert, by the way.” “Uh… Okay. You’re sure they aren’t going to try and eat us?” Aurora fiddled with her claws, shooting glances at the green limbs in the distance. “Yes Aurora. We’ll be fine. Besides,” He hopped on top of a crag to look for a second. “Those trees probably mark the edge of the Badlands is my guess. That looks like a pretty definitive natural border. Also shade. Shade will be nice.” He jumped down. “Let’s be off then. If we’re quick, we might make the border by lunchtime.” “So do we go under them? It doesn’t look like there’s much space…” “No, no- Well, yes. Not underneath the ground though. You’ll see when we get closer but those trees are actually plenty far apart. We should have no problems walking under the canopy.” A thought struck the white dragon. “So we won’t be visible to the sky?!” The blue biped nodded. “Then Foecruncher’s dragons won’t be able to see us! We might actually be able to escape.”         “You really think he’ll keep sending dragons? Not that I have any experience with gigantic dragon tyrants or even met the guy but I feel like no king would go through so much effort to keep just one subject, especially not just a worker in the mines.”         Aurora shook her head. “No, he’ll send dragons. No one has ever gotten away. Even if the escaping dragons got away from the mountain, they were always brought back within a couple of days.” She shivered. “I heard some even came back with strange wounds no claws could cause.”         Her scarred companion scratched his head. “Alright, maybe you need to tell me a little more about life in the mountain.”         “Um…. Where should I start?”         “Wherever seems easiest. Just start and the rest will flow out.”         “Ok, here goes.” She took a moment to gather her thoughts and looked at some passing clouds. One looked like a gemstone to her. “I worked in the mines, I mentioned that once already but I was in the Crimson wing of them. The mines are large; the mountain itself is a few hundred dragons tall, hollowed out in the center with a ramp spiralling all the way up. The mines extend for miles underneath; I wouldn’t be surprised if a newer tunnel is even all the way out here. I lived with my parents, both red dragons, on an outer wall cavern about midway up. Apparently we’re an odd bunch. Most dragons don’t live as a family but on their own.” She sighed and scanned the wastes around her.         “Foecruncher may be lazy but he’s not dumb. Everything flows according to the system. That system is run only by dragons loyal to him; they get to keep their wings. He tempts them with riches and” She forced down some bile. “female dragons. If they aren’t big enough to boss other dragons around as slave drivers, he uses them as fetch servants or sends them out to keep watch. Every day is the same: wake up, mine for gems, get your allotted midday meal, mine more, allotted end of day meal, sleep. Meals are usually some kind of meat, though I don’t know what it was they served us. It was always the same stuff though.”         Boots listened intently, eyes wide. “That sounds terrible. He must have a lot of dragons in his ranks to keep even more under his thumb.”         “She thought for a moment. “I think there are around 1,200 dragons in the mountain? I’ve never counted really but there are hundreds.”         Boots’ jaw dropped. “In one mountain?! And he refuses to let even one escape? He is truly insane..” Boots shook his head. “Well, I guess I get it now. That’s so… silly. Mind blowing even. Well, I guess that’s all the more reason to get to those woods. Let’s pick up the pace.”          Skipping merrily along, twirling every so often in time with some internal rhythm, Boots wound around the trees with ease. His injury was bothering him significantly less than the day after he had received it, something that he seemed pleased with. Boots was currently unaware of Aurora’s gaze; she had been giving him funny looks whenever one of these strange spells of extraneous movement came over him - looks which she suspected he actually enjoyed. This time, however, her eyes were not glazed in confusion.         No, ever since they had crossed into the forest earlier in the day, Aurora had been thinking about Boots’ outburst of happiness about Equestria two days previous. He knew so many things that it was hard not to believe him but still, she found hard to take. Could such a land of happiness really exist? Coldfire mountain and the mines were all she had ever known. She assumed there was more to the world but where? How far? When would they get there, if it even existed at all? The trees around her astounded her initially but they also made her realize just how little she really knew.         Boots continued his twirling dance ahead of her, twinging a bit as the scar triggered his nerves and oblivious to the deep thought going on in Aurora’s head. He was teaching her so much that she had never known, even if it was being lost on her the first time he said it. She trusted him, certainly now, after he risked his life but… He couldn’t know their path anymore than she did.         And he didn’t know Foecruncher. The green dragon that scarred Boots was only the beginning, and they had been lucky. Cruncher would eventually send more and more; nothing escaped him. They had managed to find food here and there but how long could they keep going, with all this mostly aimless wandering?         A knock on her head snapped her out of her reverie. “Wha-”         A tree was not an inch from the end of her snout. “You were pretty deep in thought Aurora. Gotta look out for those trees, they’ll reach out and bite ya.” Boots waggled his finger mockingly. “I- Yeah.  Thanks.” Her forehead kept it’s crease. Boots cocked his head. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”         “I don’t even know.” They continued their walk. “There’s too much to think about. Where are we going? We don’t even know where Equestria is, if it exists or where we are to begin with. Can we even walk all the way there? What are you going to do when we get there? What am I going to do when we get there? I don’t know anything about ponies or towns or- or- science or history or anything! What if they hate me? Or try to kick me out? Or- or-” Her eyes popped wide as Boots clapped his hands in front of them. “Hey. Look at me.” She did, trying to slow her breathing. “Right now, we can’t worry about any of that. I’m sure we’ll be fine; ponies are pretty accepting people, to my knowledge. All we have to worry about is getting there, ok?” She nodded. “And what that means is finding food and not dying. So! Look around us and what do you see?” She paused to look. The couldn’t be very far into the forest - the canopy still seemed only 20 feet above them and sunlight still shone on the ground at their feet. No wind blew through but the shade kept the area cool. As she listened, the sound of birds surrounded her. “I see… trees? Wait, I think I hear-” “Water? Because I certainly do.  And I haven’t had a bath since I woke up here, so it is time to get clean!” He skipped ahead, bounding off of trees and roots. A bath. Aurora wasn’t unfamiliar with the term but it wasn’t something dragons did often. It had been long since her last one though. Following behind wasn’t difficult for Aurora, though she wasn’t sure how he was so agile. It reminded her of her failure to keep up with him when they first met. Even though he was so small, she couldn’t understand how he could move so deftly around and above rocks and trees and whatever else was in his way. Just one of the thousand questions she could ask him. As she turned around another tree, a splash of water hit her in the face. Boots started laughing."Whee, water! Ahh, this feels so good." Boots was already relaxing in a large stream. A nearby cliff in the hill provided a small waterfall. “It feels like I haven’t cleaned myself in ages, even if it’s only been a couple of days. The water’s a little cold but it feels wonderful, let me tell you.” She lowered herself in as he wandered to take a drink from the falls. He was right; it felt like are her worries were floating away in the water. She stared at the canopy. A bird flew lazily overhead. The overwhelming presence of nature brought up feelings of contentment she’d never experienced before. As though the whole world was just waiting to be explored from her lookout. The entire forest was so far away and yet right there at her claws. Like she could reach out and- “Ow!” Boots backed up from her outstretched claw. “That almost went straight up my snout, geez!” He rubbed his nose. “I realize the clouds look tasty but that doesn’t mean you have to reach for them.” They stared at each other for a moment. “Heh… hehehehe… Hahahahaaha!” All the stress, the worry, the pain and the surprises over the past few days- and he’s just worried about his nose! “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” She couldn’t remember the last time she had actually laughed, much less like this. Where had the time gone, where were they going, who were they running from? It didn’t matter! None of it did! She was out, she was free. So what if more dragons came, they could outrun them, or hide or something. And then… “Hahaha...haha..ha… Boots…” She looked over at her perplexed friend. He cocked his head. “Yeah?” “What… what are we going to do when we get there? To Equestria that is. I’ve never even thought about life outside the mountain, much less in such a faraway land.” He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m hoping to talk to someone I know and get some answers. Well, I don’t really know her but I’m hoping she’ll recognize me anyway. Other than that… I hadn’t really thought about it. Get a job and move in? Supposing I can’t get home, that is.” “Equestria isn’t your home?” He sat beside her, the waves lapping against her scales. "I guess I never told you, did I? Or maybe you got confused by my explanation of TV. No, I live… probably on a different planet or universe or alternate reality or something. Home is likely very” he sniffed “very far away. Not that I have issues being away from home. Do it a lot. But now, now I don’t know if I can get back.” She followed his gaze before realizing he was no longer looking at the riverbed. No tears fell and yet the sigh was far too complex to leave alone. Tentatively, she placed her claw on his shoulder. “There there.” He chuckled. “I”m guessing ‘There there’ was all you had. Oh Sheldon.” He leaned into her and closed his eyes. Aurora’s mind was reeling. She wasn’t used to physical contact outside of her parents. Normally it meant something more or going fur- “Thanks. I needed that.” She mentally slapped herself. Of course it didn’t mean anything; she was getting all worked up over nothing. He just needed a friend. They stayed like that for a bit, just enjoying the company, silently. Not for too long of course. “Well, let’s keep a move on. We still need to find food and shelter for the night. Who knows what lurks in these woods.” Stretching, he reached to help her up. “Those creases in your forehead will become permanent y’know. Stop thinking so hard.” He smirked. “Really!? I’ll get permanent lines?” His face flatlined. “Okay, the next thing I’m teaching you is sarcasm.”