A Cog in the Machine

by ManlyDerp

Chapter 5: To Be Heard, Day 2

Chapter 5, To Be Heard, Day 2

---

“Nathan!”

"Hm?" I replied. At the calling of my name, I lifted my head up from the gaming magazine I was currently reading in order to discern who was calling me. I'm still amazed that these types of magazines still exist, by the way, but I'm grateful that they do. Sometimes it’s better to have something solid in your hands as opposed to something digital… even if the information is months out of date.

Anyways, after cranking my head downwards I discovered who was talking to me.

“Oh... sup Caleb. Did you enjoy your baseball game with gramps?”

My little brother shifted around uncomfortably in his spot. “K-kinda.”

I gave him a stare down.

“Caleb… you don’t like baseball, do you?” I inquired.

“... N-no…” He replied timidly.

I used a stern tone of voice as I got up from my chair.

“Caleb.”

“I-I’m sorry Nathan! I-I j-just…”

In the face of his stammering; I walked across the room, got down on my knees so I could be at his eye level, watched as he started to tear up…

… And then I gave his hair a playful ruffle.

“I’m not the biggest fan either, sport.”

After realizing that he was not about to be punished for his insolence, Caleb blinked and asked “R-really?”

“Hehe, nope." I replied truthfully. "And you have gramp’s, well, 'enthusiastic' attitude towards the game to thank for that. At least you made him happy by going, kid.”

“... Heh, thanks Nathan.”

“Nathan!”

A third voice caused me to turn my head... but as soon as I did I found myself quickly assaulted by a flying hug from the youngest twerp: Sam. Even though he's seven, the little guy still packs one hell of a wallop...

“Umbh! Ugh… well howdy there, Sam. What’s new?” I asked with a smile.

“I got the high score!” He chirped happily.

“Koolio! … Um, in which game?”

Sam blinked. “Um… I forgot… but I still got the high score!”

I chuckled. As always, little bubble head Sam's smile was infectious. “Well grats all the same, bud!”

“Um…Nathan? Do you have to leave tomorrow?” Squeaked a tiny, frail voice.

Standing up, I turned my attention to sibling #4 of five; Ben. He was hanging off the railing of the stairs, holding on to his blanket and still in his Batman jammies. Poor kid was still getting over a cold...

I gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Ben, but I do. Even your big brother here has to go to school.”

Ben looked like he was on the verge of tears. “B-but why does it have to be so far away?!”

Caleb spat out a quick ‘ha’. “Cause that’s where his house is, stupid!”

Ben pouted. “Caleb! I’m not stupid! You’re stupid! He doesn’t live in a house, it’s an apartment!”

“An apartment is a type of house, stupid!”

Sam tried to defend Ben. “Caleb! Stop calling Benny stupid, stupid!”

“Shut up, Sammy!”

"-Sniff-, d-don’t tell me to shut up, Caleb!”

“Caleb! You made Sammy cry!”

“Shut up, crybaby Ben!”

“-Sniff-, I-I’m not a crybaby, Caleb!” Ben tried to wipe away tears from underneath his glasses.

Caleb started hopping around Ben’s crying form. “Crybaby Ben! Crybaby Ben! Cry-“

“KIDS!”

My outburst quickly knocked off that nonsense. The three children were deathly silent.

I gathered them together and gave each of them a hard look in the eyes. “Now… kids… I leave tomorrow. I’m going to be gone for a very long time this semester and I’m unsure when I’ll be back. So please, don’t let this be that last image I have of you three before I leave.”

They looked at each other before bringing their attention towards the floor.

“Sorry Nathan…”

A sinister idea then popped into my mind.

“Now… give each other a hug,” I commanded with an equally sinister smile.

They looked at each other sheepishly.

I took a deep breath…

Calmed my nerves…

... And then roared with pure, big brothonic, fury.

“I command you three to hug!"

The three of them started giggling madly as I pushed them into a forced hug.

I stepped back and observed my handiwork. “There. Now that’s a much better image to go away on!”

I smiled at Caleb. “Caleb, you really should stop picking on your brothers. You’re going to have to be the big brother while I’m gone… that is, at least until Dylan decides to show up again. Now, its bed time for kiddies.”

“Awwwww…”

“Nope, I’m afraid I'm immune to cuteness. Get to bed now, you monkeys.”

The three of them each gave me a big smile before literally hopping off to bed. Ah crap. That’s the sign of a sugar high... Ugh. This is going to be a looooong night.

“Nathan?”

I snapped out of my trance and saw that Ben was still standing on the stairs.

“Huh? What’s up kiddo?” I asked.

“... You need to wake up now, Ms. Dragon.”

“… What was that, Ben?”

“I said…”

***^***

“… You need to wake up now, Ms. Dragon.”

I jumped back in fright as Ben transformed before my eyes into a young griffon with a different pair of glasses. I landed on my tail bo- no, just my tail.

My scaly, green, forked tail.

Raising up my hands, I confirmed that yes, they were still claws. I’m still a baby dragon… so that was just a dream.

A horribly, nice, dream.

“Are you okay?” My friend asked.

I once again shook myself out of my stupor as I sat up in Nathan De La Griffon’s guest bed. I had insisted last night that I only really needed a single pillow to be happy, as my ideal sleeping position was to curl up into a ball, but Nathan told me that it was okay for me to take a bed.

Yes, a bed, as in more than one. Here’s the thing that I really didn’t except out of my new friend… he’s freaking loaded!

His ‘apartment’ was a freaking penthouse! A full-sized, fully stocked, three bedroom and two bathroom penthouse! Who the hell has enough money to send their kid overseas to the big city by himself just so he could get away from bullying… and then pay full price for a Celestiadamn penthouse?!

Obviously, Nathan wasn’t telling me everything… but I really wasn’t in the mood to snoop. I owe him at least that much for, well, saving me.

“Yeah… yeah I’m okay, Nate.” I finally answered him.

He smiled. “Good.”

He then proceeded to jump off the massive, queen-sized, guest bed. This thing was so far off the ground that he actually had to glide off it. I, myself, had to do another Iron-Will-Jump-Hug (patent pending) just to get up here!

“I’ll get breakfast set up in the kitchen! Does eggs sound good?”

I was still too tried to contemplate if this makes sense coming from a griffon or if this makes no sense coming from a griffon, so I simply nodded and returned his smile.

“Eggs sound wonderful, Nate... although I think it’s a little late for breakfast.”

Nate blinked and looked at the clock, which read 4:00 P.M.

“Oh… hehe wow. We sure were out late last night, weren’t we?”

“Boy were we,” I replied. “We were both up from when Luna’s moon took over all the way to Celestia’s sun rising. Have to say... that sunrise was an excellent way to end a first date.”

Nathan’s wings shot up into the air and his feather’s stood on end at my comment. His face was the reddest of red.

“D-date?!”

While giggling, I bounced off the massive bed and glided down next to him, where I then playfully ruffled the feathers on his head.

“Hehe. I’m just joshing you, Nate… but I’ll admit that that act of heroism would have definitely won over a normal girl; may they be griffon, pony, or what have you!”

Oh, how cute! He’s blushing wildly!

“Y-you really think so, Ms. Dragon?”

I gave him a ‘really?’ look.

“Nate... let me paint a picture for you of what you actually did last night.”

Leading him into his massive family room, I hopped up onto the massive couch (see a pattern here?) and treated it as my stage as I reenacted for him the most magical night of this man turned girl’s life.

I hugged his oversized pillow and spoke like Rar-‘BestPony’-ity. “Oh woe is me! A fair girl like me, forced to push a monstrous machine owned by two monstrous ponies. My hair is simply a mess and I’m forced to not wallow in whatever it is ponies wallow in, but filth! Oh, won’t a brave young man save me from my peril?!”

Throwing aside the pillow, I performed a back flip with my wings (I'm getting really confident with these things) and landed on my feet on the other side of the couch where a newspaper was waiting.

I rolled it up into a makeshift sword and held it valiantly at my side. I then imitated Spike during one of his more, um, interesting day dreams. “Fear not, my fair lady! For I, Nathan De La Griffon, shall free you from your torment!”

I jumped back to the other side and resumed my Rarity-ish act. “No, Nathan! It’s too dangerous!”

Back to Sir Knight Spike. “But I must, Ms. Dragon! I cannot allow such an injustice to befall somedragon as lovely as you!”

Back to Rarity. “Ooooh Nathan~”

Knight Spike. “Have at you, Flim and Flam! Feel the fury of my really heavy rock!”

I made a few swishing motions with my ‘sword,’ jumped up into the air, made a Link-like ‘Hiya!’ sound for my own amusement, and then performed a downward thrust. This resulted in the successful impaling of the pillow.

I whipped back my hair with my claw. “... You are free now, Ms. Dragon. Please, allow me to offer my home to you; complete with warm food, a warm shower, a warm bed, and the warmth of friendship.”

I swooned over my own performance. “Oh! Just the exact four things that have been missing from my life! My hero~!”

I ended the tale for the ages by hugging and kissing myself. Nathan, meanwhile, was on his back, laughing is birthmarked ass off.

“Hahaha! Oh it was so not like that and you know it!”

I gave him a cheeky smile. “Don’t sell yourself short, Nate. What you did could very well be the text book definition of ‘romantic’ for some gals out there. Trust me... you’re going to have to beat fillies off you with a stick when you grow up.”

He stopped laughing after that joke.

“B-but I don’t want to hit fillies with a stick!”

I slapped my knee. Yes, some people still do that. “Haha! It’s just a figure of speech, Nate…” I stopped laughing when I thought about my own statement. “… Or at least I hope it is. I'm not really sure how things work around here yet…”

“Ummm... around where, Ms. Dragon?”

“Oh, well, Equestria, I guess. It’s so very, er, different from what I usually see back on Ea-Badlands!”

I quickly glanced back at Nathan who had raised an eyebrow.

“Badlands?”

“Y-yes. It’s different from what I remember from the Badlands!”

Crap! Almost mentioned Earth back there. Badlands was the fan name for the area Spike went to in Dragon Quest, right? That name will work here too… right?!

“… Are you talking about that rocky, volcanic area on the Southeast section of Equestria, which is said to house dragons?”

I couldn’t shake my head any harder if I tried.

“Yes!”

“… But you said you weren’t raised by dragons, Ms. Dragon.”

“Yes… yes this is correct. B-but I saw things through my egg before I was eggnapped!”

Nathan’s eyebrow appeared again and raised itself.

“Really?”

The crap has been doubled! I’m just digging myself deeper and deeper! Man, this kid is really freaking smart for how young he looks… although, I kind of figured that out already yesterday...

I started sweating bullets. “Y-yup! My mother’s name was Crackle and she, um, t-taught me some things before I was taken away from her and raised by, um, Iron Will! Yes! I was raised by a minotaur named Iron Will! I think I mentioned him last night to you, Nate!”

Nathan gave me a long stare before his face softened.

“… Oh, well, I guess that would explain it then. Minotaurs usually roam outside of Equestria, so that must be why everything seems so strange to you!”

I bobbed my head up and down as fast as I could. “Yupyupyup! Right on the bits, my friend!”

Phew! Possible crisis averted.

Gargle

The sound of a pair of stomachs eating themselves. I guess spewing baloney can make a gal hungry. Nathan and I blushed.

“… Um… hehe… c-can we go get some food now, Ms. Dragon?”

“Hehe, yes. Let’s do just that.”

***^***

Tears…

Not tears of sorrow or tears of pain… heck, not even manly tears (which I don’t think I’m allowed to shed anymore).

Just… tears.

Tears of joy.

“This… this is soooooo good, Nate! Just… wow!”

Ugh! It seems like I can’t stop making this kid blush!

“Y-you really need to stop being so impressed with everything, Miss. I don’t know how much more praise I can take!”

I swallowed my mouthful before responding. “Well then; if you can’t take the heat then stop being so amazing!”

“But, what’s so amazing about eggs though?” Nathan asked.

I halted my progress on my latest piece of egg at the question.

I put my fork down. “Oh… well…”

Looking away, I started playing with my glass of apple juice. I brought it up to my short muzzle and stared into my reflection.

I was washed up and clean now and my hair was finally looking nice and orderly. Some scales were still missing, but it wasn’t that noticeable unless you were looking for it.

They’ll grow back… I think.

The only possible long lasting scars were the ones around me wrists. Both arms had bare skin showing where the cuffs had held me to the wall, and the skin looked very raw. They slightly stung me every now and then, but it wasn’t anything unbearable. Thankfully, strenuous activity doesn’t seem to agitate it, so it shouldn’t be anything serious. I haven’t found anything to cover these up yet, but I really hope I do. I don't like looking at them...

As I continued to stare at myself, my mind began to wander. I thought about how I haven’t had a chance to look at myself since coming here and how the only time I had actually seen what I looked like was when I found that little mirror fragment back in Trottingham…

… Back before all this crap went down and my life went to hell in a hand/claw basket.

...

After letting out a little sigh, I answered Nathan’s question about how eggs could be so ‘amazing’.

“… This is the first real meal I’ve had in a long time, Nate…”

From his stool, Nathan stopped flipping eggs and turned around to look at me.

“…D-do... do you want to talk about it, Ms. Dragon?”

I looked up from my drink. “What?”

He returned to flipping his eggs. “Well… yeah, why not? You stopped to listen to me cry about my little problems, so why shouldn’t I listen to your problems as well? It’s what friends do, right?”

“… Hehe. There you go again, Nate.”

He turned around again. “Huh? What did I say?”

Once more, I smiled at the kindhearted griffon. “It was nothing you said, and it was nothing new. It was just you again, being awesome.”

Uh oh. I think I just permanently dyed this kid's white face feathers red with that last comment. He returned to giving his eggs his full attention while also trying to hide his bright red face.

Damn it, girl! Turn off the swag! He’s just a kid!

Also… you’re a guy… and 21. I know a lot of what has happened has made you forget these facts, but they’re still true. Seriously, knock it off, it’s creepy... self.

Finally finishing making his own meal, Nate sat down at the table. “Sooo… when did it all start then?”

Humming a little bit, I thought about how I should do this. “Well…”

I organized my thoughts together before I began my tale. I’ll have to keep things in order so that in this retelling I say that I met Iron Will first before Flim and Flam. I can't just flat out say that I was hatched a month ago! It wouldn't make sense! So I'm going to have to modify it while telling it... This is going to be one heck of a balancing act.

I should be fine though.

...

... Hopefully I can keep my emotions in check…

“… All my problems started a month ago, Nate, when I ran into three ponies. Flim, his brother Flam, and a traveling magician known as the Great and Powerful Trixie…”

***^***

“… A-and… and then..." -Sniff- "S-she started licking my f-face! I heard the brother’s magic lightning coursing through the machine, and I knew what was going to happen, b-but I couldn’t move her away in time! S-so even though she was e-evil and wanted to k-kill me I… I… I killed her! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t want to… but I-I still murdered her! I…I…" -Sob- "I’m a murdere-!”

My retelling was cut off by Nathan hugging me tightly.

"Shhhhhhh… It’s okay, Ms. Dragon. The monsters are gone now.”

Blinking away the tears, I didn’t immediately return the hug. “… Hehe; I think I remember this happening yesterday as well, Nate, but I was the one calming you down… but this doesn’t excuse what I did… I still took a life.”

Nathan held me at a distance and looked me in the eyes. His own eyes showed a wisdom far beyond his years.

“Ms. Dragon… I was taught that while yes, all life is sacred; if a life is lived through the deaths of others, then it is not a life worth living.” He returned to hugging me. “It was not your fault, Miss, and even if it was this, Legion, obviously didn't lead a very good life if it meant to live through draining others dry. I refuse to ever look at the girl who saved me twice as anything less than my friend.”

I considered what Nathan had just told me…

… Then I finally returned his hug. I used my wings in the embrace as well, mimicking what he had done for me last night.

“…Thank you for listening, Nate. You’re a good friend.”

He smiled warmly. “Anytime, Miss.”

Ding-dong!

The sound of a door bell ringing. We both remained quiet.

“Um… expecting someone?” I asked.

“N-no, I wasn’t.”

“… Should I hide in the bathroom?”

Nate slowly nodded his head. “T-that might be a good idea.”

I slipped away into the fully stocked bathroom (I'm never going to get over that) and closed the door behind me. I placed an ear/horn on the door and listened carefully.

“… Oh, hello there, Mr. Landlord." Nathan greeted his 'guest'. "How can I help you?”

“Hello there, Nathan. Have you been in contact with your father lately?”

“What? W-well, no. I sent him a letter a couple weeks ago, but I haven’t received the response yet.”

“Oh. I see.”

“I-is there a problem?”

“Well... I’d hate to break it to you, kid, but I haven’t received this month’s rent yet.”

“W-what?! B-but it usually comes in by the first of each month!”

“Yeah, it does, but it hasn’t this month. Your family has been very trustworthy when it comes to paying the bills on time, and you yourself haven’t done anything to earn my mistrust, so I decided to give you some leeway. I waited it out this month, waiting to see if it was just late or something. Now though... I was hoping to get an answer out of you as to why it hasn’t appeared yet.”

“Well… I-I just don’t know, sir!”

I heard a sigh. “I was afraid of that. Kid, I’m afraid that I’m supposed to evict you.”

“Gasp! B-butbutbut!”

“Hey hey! Calm down, kid. Look... I understand your situation, what with you being alone here and all, so I’m going to be lenient. I’m supposed to evict you tonight… but come on, it’s Nightmare Night! A kid like you should be out trick-or-treating, not starving in a gutter. So, here’s the deal: I’m giving you one week to get things sorted, sounds fair?”

“… Sounds very fair, Mr. Landlord. Thank you very much.”

“No problem, kid. Have a fun Nightmare Night.”

Clipclopclipclopclipclop…

The sound of the Landlord leaving.

“… You can come out now, Ms. Dragon.”

I opened the bathroom door and walked up to Nathan who looked absolutely crestfallen on the floor. I placed a claw on his shoulder.

“Nathan? Are you okay?”

“… My father never misses a deadline… Never. Something must be wrong back home.”

“Do you have any way to contact him right away?”

“… Just through letters which take two weeks to get there and back.”

Yuck. That’s not going to do. Come on girl, think…

“… Nate? Have you ever heard of dragonfire delivery?” I asked.

Nathan lifted his head off from the floor briefly to look at me before allowing it to drop again.

“…Yes I have, Ms. Dragon, and I thank you for the offer... but something like that requires a mage recipient in order for it to work.

“The Roc-y Mountains is griffon territory and we have a bit of an, ugly, history when it comes to magic users. The only chance my father would receive the letter is if there just so happened to be a traveling unicorn, a non-swarm bound changeling, or a giraffe in the area that he personally knew. Even then, we would need their magical imprint for the sending to work.”

I blinked. “A giraffe?”

Nathan blinked as well. “Yes a giraffe.”

I blinked again.

“…You know, Miss... a giraffe? The race that created the telekinesis spell all unicorns use today?”

I blinked a third time

“…The creatures with the long necks, long legs? Usually have a pair of horns on their heads?”

A faked look of realization dawned on my face. “Oh, those giraffes. Got it.”

Yeah I knew what a giraffe was, but the way he described them, as magic users, made me a little confused. Huh, fun fact: giraffe’s exist here and they can use magic. Interesting… I wonder if that means there’s another trifecta of races out there. Like... Equestria has earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi while then the other side of the world has zebras, giraffes, and griffons? Earth, magic, flight? Could make sense, I guess…

... But then what would the alicorn look like?

My mind was suddenly imagining a long necked, stripped, griffon king sitting on a thrown and drinking expensive wine. Why? Why not?

“Anyways…” Nathan continued, knocking my train of thought back on track. “Even if one such mage just so happened to be in the area, last I checked you were unable to breathe fire.”

Oh… that’s right…

Experimentally, I coughed out a small black cloud and quickly evaporated it before it could dirty something other then my claw. I used a nearby tissue from a near by tissue box to clean off my claw. “Looks like that sac hasn’t healed up yet…”

“Don’t worry about it, Ms. Dragon. Now that you’re actually treating your body properly and eating real food again, I’m sure it’ll heal up on its own soon.”

“T-thanks, but let’s not get distracted here.”

Says the gal who was just trying to think up a theme song for her new evil OC giraffinbra (patent pending).

“What are you going to do now, Nate?” I asked.

“Well, I guess I’m just going to do the only thing I can do… go home.”

“Go home? As in, across the sea, home?”

“Yeah. I should have enough bits to cover a trip across, but I would need to leave tonight if I’m to make it back in time to save this place. You’re free to lay low here until I return, Ms. Dra-”

“How much?” I interrupted him.

“… What?”

“How much bits do you actually have, Nate?”

“Oh, well, I have this emergency stash that I was told never to touch except for…”

“Yeahyeahyeah, just cut to the chase please: do you have enough for two tickets?”

“Two? Well… I suppose I do. But wh-”

“Good! I’m coming with you.”

“What?!" Nathan finally got off the floor and onto his feet at my sudden declaration.

“You heard me, Nate. I’m going with you.” I gave him a determined look; a look that roughly translates into ‘try to say no to me’. I then asked him a question that I already knew the answer to. “You didn’t come here by yourself to Manehatten, did you, Nate?”

Nathan looked away. “Um, well, n-no. My father came over with me originally to make sure I got to this place safely before heading home...”

Ha! Just as I thought. Nate’s dad cares way too much about his boy to simply let him come here alone. I can tell at least that much about him from the evidence I’ve received so far.

“Nathan,” I continued. “you’re really mature for your age, but you’re still a kid and kids shouldn’t be traveling by themselves. You need adult supervision, something I’m willing to give you.”

“B-but we’re like the same age!” He argued.

...

… Wait, what? That can’t be right.

“What? But I’m a 21 year old dragon...”

Nathan cocked his head to the side. “No… you look like a normal, 11 year old baby dragon… who told you that you looked like your 21?”

“… A hack of a traveling magician whose knowledge of dragons has now been brought into question... B-but Flim and Flam also had this book about dragons! It listed me as a dragon," I tried to imitate Flam's voice "18 years older" then returned to my normal voice "than what they needed!”

Nate asked me “Was the book called ‘How to properly care for your Dragon companion for foals; By Starswirl the Bearded’?”

I bit my tongue. “Y-yeah.”

Nathan chuckled, finally allowing himself to smile again. “Miss... Starswirl the Bearded is known as Starswirl the CooCoo to us griffons. We agree that his magic theories were all top notch, but we also agree that his knowledge of dragons was vastly inaccurate. A lot of what he wrote in his book was actually about landwyrms with only common knowledge about dragons, like fire breathing and how only baby dragonesses have wings, being correct. Heck, there’s even a section about dragon magic! Out of the trifecta of large lizards; dragons, sea serpents, and landwyrms, only landwyrms can breathe pure magic and use it in spells! That’s common knowledge nowadays, even to ponies!”

My mind was effectively blown. I must have had this fact written on my face because Nate gave out another chuckle.

“Trust me purely for being a griffon; I know a thing or two about dragons and you are definitely 11 years old, like me.”

“I… but…”

“How do you not know your own age, Ms. Dragon?”

Oh no. Looks like it’s time for more BS.

“I... spent a lot of time in the woods when I hatched. I was on my own until Iron Will, um, found me. Yeah…” Quick, need a distraction! “… Wait, if we’re the same age then why have you been calling me ‘Miss'?”

Nate shrugged. “Because calling you just ‘Dragon’ seems rude. It sounds like I’m about to slay you.”

I laughed at the thought. “Hehe, really? Like this?”

I picked up the discarded newspaper and re-rolled it up into a sword before pointing it at him.

“Drrrrrrrrraaaaaagggggooooonnnnn!”

I then gave him a small tap on the beak with the ‘sword’ and I made a ‘boop’ sound effect. This caused him to fall over laughing again.

“Hahahah!”

“…Heheh. Now there’s that smile again!”

And there’s that blushing face again. I’ll knock it off as soon as that stops being cute. Good, crisis number two has been smothered. Time to return to the matter at claw (I'm sorry, but its just too easy to make puns here).

“Anyhow, yes, Nate: I’m going with you on this trip and that’s that. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you overseas while I was just chilling in your apartment. I owe you my life, after all.”

Nathan stopped laughing. “N-no you don’t, Miss! I saved you because you saved me! That makes us even!”

“Heh. Friends don’t keep track of such things, Nate!”

“T-they don’t?”

“Nope… or at least I don’t think they do. It’s not like there’s written rules about friendship… oh, wait, there is. Written by Twilight Sparkle... Bah! Whatever! I’m going and that’s that!”

I have a bit of an alternative motive with this trip. I have no clue how I got here from Earth (I don't even know this planet's name yet!) or how I’m going to get back home, so all I can do is wait. I might as well spend my time here on an adventure to a section of this world that wasn’t shown in the show. Maybe I’ll find some answers while I’m there as well? Might as well go with the flow...

Plus, I really couldn’t live with myself if something happened to Nate. His resemblance to Ben was really uncanny, if a bit more cosmetic then personality wise. On top of that, he’s my friend now, and I don’t leave my friends hanging.

Finally giving up the fight, Nathan reluctantly agreed.

“O-okay then, but what are you going to do about Flim and Flam? They’re bound to be looking for you out there.”

My smile dropped. Oh, right, them. I almost forgot about them… which would have been amazing as they had quite literally been my whole life for the last month.

“Well… I’m just going to have to disguise myself in public or something. Let me think... what would make the most sense? I need to be able to move through the crowd undetected…”

“Miss.”

“I have to be something common and not out of the ordinary…”

“Miss.”

“Okay, here's a thought: if I walk on all fours and wear some feathers, maybe I can pass as a young griffon too…”

“Miss!”

“Huh? What is it, Nate?”

He returned my ‘really?’ look from earlier flawlessly.

“It’s Nightmare Night, Miss. Noponies going to think a dragon is out of the ordinary amongst mummies, weretimberwolves, and thousands of Daring Do look-alikes.”

Oh… derp. That makes sense.

“Right… well then, Nate... I guess it’s time to go trick-or-treating!”

Nate laughed at my weak joke, finally getting into the spirit of things. “Hehe, and I think I have just the thing!”

He started heading off to his massive closet before I cut him off.

“Oh, Nate? One last thing…”

“Huh? What is it, Miss?”

“Call me Cog.”

“Gasp!”

Shuffle...

...

Oh. My. God.

He… he just pulled a total Fluttershy! He jumped up in fright and hid himself under a pile of discarded pillows!

Sooooo cute~!

He finally poked his head out again after a few seconds.

“M-ms. Dragon! I’m not supposed to know you name, remember?!”

I wagged my 'finger' at him. “And you don’t. It’s a nickname. That works, right?”

He looked down in thought from his pillow 'fortress'. “W-well, yes, I suppose it does...”

“Good! It’s better than being called ‘Ms. Dragon’ all the time. Makes me feel old, haha.” ‘Which I was okay with until I learned that the universe did a number on my biological clock.’ I mentally added.

“Also,” I continued. “it’s a horrible nickname. I’m hoping that you’ll eventually get sick of calling me it and finally work up the courage to ask for my real one. Sounds fair, Nate?”

“S-sounds fair, Ms. Dra-... Cog.”

“Good. Now, let’s suit up!”

***^***

“… Hey, Nate?”

“… Yes, Cog?”

“You’re still afraid of dragons, right?”

“W-well yes, most of them... but not you anymore.”

That brought a smile to my face. “Thanks Nate… but that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Oh… what question would that be?”

“My question about why you had a purple dragon costume just lying around in your home.”

Yeah, I should probably explain what’s going on.

Before we left, Nathan pulled out a very familiar looking costume for me to cover up my green scales with. It was the same purple dragon costume Spike wore during Nightmare Night… or, what I guess I should say he’s currently wearing tonight.

Damn hipster.

This costume, however, was modified to have these two little sleeves in the back for Nate’s wings that would make them look like purple bat wings. I can’t fly with my own wings while they're stuck in these things, but that hopefully shouldn’t be a problem…

… Knock on wood.

Overall, the costume covered up all the important parts of my body except the face. It went over my hair but that was probably for the best. Just another thing they could identify me with...

In conclusion, this whole set up looked very nice and it made me look damn cute, if I do say so myself… But yeah, why did Nate have this thing just lying around?

“That’s the costume I wore last Nightmare Night, Cog.” Nate answered.

“I kind of figured, but why did you dress up as a dragon of all things?” I asked.

“Oh… well last year was my first Nightmare Night and I was unsure what I was supposed to dress up as, so I took Mrs. MooMooBelle’s advice and dressed up as something the ‘Nightmare’ wouldn’t expect.”

“So you dressed up as a dragon because you were afraid of them?”

“Exactly.”

Hmmm. I guess that makes sense. At least I feel a bit safer now out here in the costumed crowd. Just to be extra careful though, I had started walking on all fours so I could pretend to be a griffon pretending to be a dragon… when in reality I was a man trapped as a girl hiding as a green baby dragon pretending to be a griffon who was pretending to be a purple dragon…

…Okay, I have to say it. We must go deeper!

This just left one question though…

“Okay, let me run this by you again, Nate; so you dressed up as a dragon because you were afraid of dragons so dressing as one would be the last thing the ‘Nightmare’ would have expected.”

“Correct.”

“And now you’re dressed up as a tinfoil robot, because…?”

Nathan shifted around in his makeshift robot costume, which covered his entire body, covered his wings up, and came with a little helmet with a coat hanger on top. He still kept those purple feathers in his glasses even though they were covered up by the helmet.

I have to remember to ask him about those sometime. They're probably his mother’s feathers or something grim like that… yeesh.

“Well… I think robots are cool, that’s all.”

“… Hehe. I'm not going to argue there, Nate!”

Nathan is best biological life form. Note to self: get him to say ‘set phasers to hug’ the next chance I get.

“Also, I didn’t want those two brother’s recognizing me either. I'm not sure if they got a good look at me last time or not...”

“Smart thinking. So you were here last Nightmare Night, Nate. Tell me... was it this crowded last year as well?”

Crowded was an understatement. Manehatten was packed. There were stalls lining up the streets as far as the eye could see and not a single carriage was in the streets. Kids were running every which way, having a good time and enjoying their sugar highs, as their parents slowly trotted behind them (usually wearing a costume that matched whatever their kids were wearing). Festive music filled the air along with the smell of baked goods. If one listened carefully, they could hear the tapping noise of every front door in Manehatten being assaulted by trick-or-treaters.

I was honestly surprised by it all. This kind of atmosphere better suits a smaller town then it does a large city like this. Maybe the small time feel is part of the holiday? If it is, then I think I like Nightmare Night a lot better than Halloween.

All these festivities brought a smile to my face as I remembered Halloween back home and how hallow, no pun intended, the whole holiday had become there. There were parents too afraid to step outside their homes, even in a small community, teenagers going door to door without costumes, and all those sickos… not that this place doesn’t have its own brand of sickos, but you know what I mean.

Long story short, my kid brothers never really had as much fun during Halloween as these colts and fillies were having right now, so hearing their laughter and frolicking… well it’s just hard for a guy/gal/whatever like me not to smile.

“Oh how adorable! A little robot boy and a little dragon girl!”

I looked up from my reminiscing to see a tan colored unicorn with a charcoal mane, which was obviously dyed, dressed as Daring Do (probably why it was dyed) looking down at Nate and me with a big goofy smile.

Twinkletwinkle

A small pumpkin shaped bucket was suddenly shoved into my mouth with a pink magic aura.

“Don’t forget your buckets, you two!”

Clingclingcling!

A small hoard of candy was then dumped into said bucket.

“And there you go! Now you’re all set to have a fun, and safe, Nightmare Night!” Then the unicorn trotted away. “Too-da-loo!”

Clipclopclipclop…

“… Spit-to-wee!” I spat out the bucket. “… Um, Nate? What the heck just happened?”

Nathan lifted his own bucket out of his beak with one of his claws. “She was probably just some party pony who wanted to see everypony smiling; who thought it was just an odd sight to see two kids who didn’t have their buckets with them tonight, that's all.”

Nathan's words caused a revelation to suddenly strike me, and this revelation caused my smile to drop.

Crap... I’m a ‘kid’ now.

Sigh... Joy.

I think I was happier thinking that I only looked like a baby dragon instead of actually being one. I guess I should have seen the flaw in Trixie’s explanation of dragon years when she tried to say that a teenage dragon was fifty years of age.

... No one could deal with fifty plus years of hormonal hell and remain sane… no one.

So I’m as old as Nate here and he looks like he’d be able to go to the same school as the CMC... Am I still older then Spike though, because of the wings, or are we also about the same age, difference being that I’m a girl? If so, is this why I was brought here like this? Just so I could have wings? If it’s the only real deciding factor between male and female baby dragons, then I think I just discovered why I needed a double X chromosome.

Now… if only I could figure out why I also needed to be a dragon and why I was needed here in the first place I’d be set to go.

“Is there something wrong, Cog?”

“Huh? Oh… no. I’m fine, Nate. I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“Oh… ooohhh right, this is probably your first Nightmare Night, isn’t it?”

“Well… yes, I guess it is.” Better rely on the ‘Badlands’ shtick. “Hehe, not a whole lot of holidays out there in them Badlands!”

“Well then,” Nate pulled out a lemon drop from his bucket and offered it to me. “Happy Nightmare Night, Cog.”

“… Hehe, thanks Nate.” I reached out my claw to take the surgery treat. I do like lemon drops after-

Toot… shee… toot… shee…

My mind went blank and my grip on the confection slackened as I heard a sound that I was once sickeningly accustomed to.

Toot… shee… toot… shee…

“N-no.”

Toot… shee… toot… shee…

I felt myself fall back onto my tail and my legs lift up into a fetal position, my mind remaining blank outside of one humble mantra… No.

“No, no, no, no, no, no…”

Toot… shee… toot… shee…

I pressed my claws against my horns, trying to block out the damnable noise.

“Nonononononononononon!”

“Cog! Cog, snap out of it!”

Nathan’s voice called out, but I couldn’t process the words.

I heard nothing… but… it.

Toot…… shee…… TOOT…… SHEE……

“Don’t put my back in it don’t put me back in it don’t put me back in it don-”

Just then, my muzzle was slammed into my pumpkin bucket and an arm rapped itself around my neck. I was then dragged backwards into an alleyway.

The moment my eyes caught the slightest hint of yellow coloring from my assailant, I did the most productive thing I could do and began to freak the buck out. “DON’T TAKE ME AWAY! DON’T TAKE ME AWAY AGAIN! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO-”

Slap!

A claw suddenly slapped me across the face, sending the bucket flying.

“Cog! Wake, up!"

Its amazing how one little slap can help you regain your senses...

“I… I… w-wha… N-Nathan?”

My 'yellow assailant', Nathan, breathed a sigh of relief and wiped away the sweat from his brow before returning his attention to me. “It’s okay. Everything's okay now.”

“W-what happened?” I asked, still shaking madly.

“You broke down in the middle of the road and started screaming!" Nathan replied quickly. "I didn’t know what to do! Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, you started breathing out black smoke in your panic! See? Look.”

He walked over, picked up the discarded candy pail, and brought it over to show me. The inside of it, and all the candy within, were pitch black now. Some were even burning with a small orange light.

I smothered the tiny spark with a sweat covered index claw. Looks like my flame sac is starting to heal itself. That’s good.

It also looks like I was crying.

That’s bad.

“I-I, I'm sorry, Nate. I," -Sniff- "T-thought I heard Flim and Flam’s machine, and that brought back some... bad, memories. G-good thing it was only my imagination... right?”

"..."

"... I-it, was all in my head, right, Nate?"

Nathan looked away.

This caused my eyes to widen in shook.

No... oh please no!

“N-nate?! Did you s-see it?!”

He nodded his head. “Y-yes. I saw it in the crowd. B-but I pulled you into the alleyway before your screaming and accidental fire breathing alerted them to you being here! We should be fine!”

"Y-you sure?"

"Positive!"

I finally let go of the breath I was apparently holding.

“T-thanks Nate.” I let my smile return to my face. “Heh, guess I do owe you this trip now.”

He gave me a cheeky smile. “I thought you said friends don’t keep track of such things.”

“Ha ha. Very funny.” My smile dropped. “D-did you see which way they were going?”

“Don’t worry. They made a right turn into the central park just as we dived into this alleyway. It’s full of stands, so maybe they’re just checking them out?”

“Phew… w-we don’t have to cross this park to get to the docks, do we?”

“No but it is a shortcut. Thankfully we’re not strapped on time or anything. Let’s just walk around it, shall we?”

“Heh. Yes, lets. Lead the way, Mr. Roboto.”

***^***

We walked in silence as we moved through the crowd of costumed ponies, cows, and other Equestrian (as in creatures in the land of Equestria) creatures. It was mostly ponies, but I was surprised by the variety of other animals that I actually saw walking and talking... although it was really hard to confirm what was real and what was just a costume. I thought that I saw a zebra at one point, but then only a second later did I realize that is was just an earth pony pulling off a rather racist costume.

I also saw some bat and butterfly-winged ponies flying by overhead a couple times during our walk. I was super excited at the thought of there being special winged ponies in this universe, but I had my hopes smashed when we turned a corner and discovered a line of pegasi waiting to have their wings charmed by a unicorn. Ah man, no secret bat pony or flutter pony society… that I know of yet.

What was weird for me to see was the large number of kids dressed up as the same purple dragon as me. It must be a popular costume... maybe some kind of mascot? I wonder what in the world it could be for...

Heh. Probably car, er, carriage insurance. ‘Carriage got smashed by a dragon? Let ours beat him up and use his hoard to fix it up in a jiffy!’

Yeah... my brain likes to come up with stupid thoughts like that. Keeps things from getting dull, I suppose.

Out of all the strange creatures that I saw tonight, however; one stood out the most amongst the crowd of Daring Dos, pirates, and enough alien looking things to fill up a bar in the Star War’s universe.

It was a young filly that had caught my attention. There was nothing too special about her outside of the fact that she was in a wheelchair. I never saw her from the show, she didn’t have a cutie mark, and her color scheme wasn’t anything too radical or noteworthy, so under normal circumstances I would have simply overlooked her.

No, what caused this little filly to catch my attention and to hold it there was her costume. It complimented that wheelchair so well that I didn’t even notice it until after my mind registered what the costume was supposed to be.

It was a simple little thing, really, and an obviously cheap costume to boot. All the little filly had on was a plastic starfish in her mane, a little clam shell bikini (I’m surprised that they have the concept of a bathing suit here) around her chest, and then there was the cherry on top which was a sleeping bag that was wrapped around her hind legs. A normal little filly wouldn't have been able to pull such a thing off, but years (I assume) of having to put up with that chair of hers must have granted this little filly with special sitting powers. It's the only way to explain how she could sit like Lyra Heartstrings, thus completing the costume's overall look.

And boy, what a look it was.

The intent behind this costume was crystal clear: this filly was a dressed up as a seapony. That must mean that seaponies exist in Equestria! Whether they're real or just a fairy tale still remains to be seen... but I’m honestly hoping on the latter. If changelings are supposed to be this universe's version of flutter ponies, then I have a feeling that a real seapony might look and act a bit less song and dance-y and a bit more gore and rend-y.

My body shuddered at the thought, and my mind played a terrifying rendition of their theme song. ‘Shoo be doo. Shoo shoo be doo… Rawr!’

“… Oh my God.”

I jumped at Nate’s sudden remark. He had stopped moving and was staring at something in his claw.

I decided to yank my attention away from the seapony costume (also ignored the fact that Nate had just said 'God' instead of 'Celestia') and instead focused on what was wrong.

“What’s up, Nate?”

“… You asked me earlier if Manehatten was this crowded last year, but then we got distracted by that party pony.”

“Yes, and?”

“… It wasn’t this crowded last year, Cog. Not by a long shot.”

“Oh. So, what? Is there something going on tonight then?”

“You could say so, yes, and it’s going to be a problem.”

“Well… don’t leave me in the dark here, Nate. What’s the ‘sitch?”

“… There’s only going to be one ship taking passengers tonight and it’s a luxury liner for rich Canterlot ponies.”

Nathan handed over the flier that he was looking at.

“… ‘Come one, come all, to the maiden voyage of the S.S. Luna Returner.’” I read out loud. “Luna Returner?”

“It’s a ship dedicated to the return of the princess of the moon: Celestia’s younger sister Luna. Apparently she and Nightmare Moon were once one in the same.”

“You don’t say.” I pretended to be shocked.

“Weird I know, but she was finally released from her torment last year. I read about this ship last week but I forgot about it until just now! It’s supposed to set sail during Nightmare Night and take a three day journey to Prance…”

Snicker

“... What's so funny?”

I snorted. “N-nothing. Nothing at all! P-please continue..." -Snort-

“… Ooookaaay, then?” Nate responded quizzingly. “I-it’s supposed to head to Prance where it’ll be graced by Luna’s presence just in time for star gazing.”

“Wouldn’t she want to watch it as it left Manehatten?” I asked.

“She apparently wanted to celebrate Nightmare Night ‘in her own way’, or at least that’s what the paper described what she was doing.”

“Ah. I see. She’s probably just going to hang out in a small bumpkin town and scream at people or something.”

“… You have a very vivid imagination, Cog.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“You’re oddly… calm, about all this.”

“I suppose I am, aren’t I?” I lightly chuckled.

“Do you… not understand what the matter here is?”

I waved him off passingly, which was quite a feat seeing as how I was still walking on all fours.

“No no I do, Nate. There’s only one ship leaving Manehatten tonight but it’s a rich people’s boat so we can’t afford to get on… even though you have a freaking penthouse. So then, it seems the only logical course of action is to sneak on board.”

“Sneak on board?”

“Yes sneak on board. We’re kids after all, aren’t we? Kids sneak around all the time and, for better or worse, rarely are they ever caught. All we have to do is make sure we stay hidden until it starts sailing. That way, even if they do catch us within those three days they won’t be able to do anything about it! It’s not like they’re going to throw children overboard or make us fly home. They’ll just make us clean the deck or wait on the guests before depositing us at a police station in..." -Snicker- "P-prance or something.”

“You… seem to have a lot of experience on the subject.”

“Well… no personal experience, mind you, just a lot of babysitting experience.”

Nathan blinked. “Babysitting? How…?”

“Um, er… Iron Will’s goats! Yeah, I watched the younger ones every now and then. Hehe, oh those silly goats…”

“Oh… I guess that makes sen-” Nathan suddenly shook his head violently. “Ahhhh! Quit sidetracking me, please!”

I jumped backwards at Nate’s sudden explosion and drastic shift in tone.

He took a breather before continuing. “Okay! The boat itself is no longer a problem, I understand that now, but we have a bigger problem than that!”

I raised an eyebrow… which I wasn’t even sure if I had or not. “We do? What would that be?”

“Flim and Flam turned right!”

My heart skipped a beat at the mentioning of those two flankholes.

“W-what was that about them, Nate?”

“Flim and Flam turned right into central park earlier! That’s a shortcut to the docks!”

“W-well that’s just a coincidence!" I answered frantically. "I overheard them talking to the Mayor yesterday, they have a stand tonight! T-they were probably just going to it, that’s all…”

“How?”

“... Huh?”

“How are they going to make apple cider without your fire, Cog?”

Uh oh. T-that makes sense…

“… Okay, you have a point there, Nate. B-but why the docks? Why would they think to look at the docks of all places?”

“The S.S. Luna Returner.”

“What about it?”

“It’s the only ship leaving tonight.”

“Well, yes, that’s true. B-but maybe they’re just watching it like everpony else! Who’s to say that they’re going there to look for us specifically?”

“Cog…” Nathan gave me a hard stare. “…There’s no other way out of Manehatten tonight except for that ship.”

Suddenly, all the pieces were starting to fall into place, painting a very grim picture. “Butbutbut…”

“The trains aren’t running, the cab services are closed for the night, the blimps are shutting down for the coming winter, and the streets are being flooded by tourists.”

“S-so…”

“So Flim and Flam cut through the park so that they could be first in line to see the S.S. Luna Returner… and also so they could spot you if you tried to sneak aboard.”

“I… I… n-no…”

I collapsed to the ground as my world collapsed in on itself around me.

I… I’m trapped here. A giant city, with infinite possibilities… and those two bastards had trapped me here.

No... they had trapped us here.

“W-what are we going to do, Nate?”

“Y-you’re going to go back to my apartment and hide there until I return from the Roc-y Mountains...”

“But they’ll be looking for you too, Nate!”

I looked at him through tearstained eyes. I've known this kid for less then a day and already I screwed up his life! “T-they saw you with me, you know they did! They’re going to be looking for you as well!” -Sniff- “I-I ruined your chances of making it home…" -Sob- "I-I’m so sorry Nate!”

Nathan tried to wave it off, but I could tell that he was just as scared as I was right now. “I-I’ll be fine Cog, don’t worry. It’ll be harder for them to spot one body then it will be to spot two. I-I’m sure I can figure something out on my ow-”

Slamming my foot didn’t make sense while I was quadrupedal, so I put my claw down instead. “N-no! No I’m not going to let you board that ship by yourself! I’m not going to just leave you there to fend for yourself against those, those, monsters!”

“B-but…”

I sniffed my nose one last time before standing up fully on two legs. I did this so that I could look down at Nate as opposed to being at eye level. Even if it was only a slight height advantage (hardly an inch, actually) I needed to do this to get my point across.

“I’m. Not. Leaving. You. Nate! You didn’t leave me when I needed help, so I won’t leave you. End of discussion!”

Nathan made a motion like he was about to say something, but he finally closed his beak in defeat.

“…Okay, you win. B-but please promise me that you’ll be safe. I don’t know what I’ll do if something happened to you. I-I really don’t have that many friends here or back home…”

Nate then looked over at a group of colts and fillies chasing each other and laughing. He gazed at them with a sorrowful expression, one that looked like it belonged on an old man and not a kid as young as him.

“… You might be my only one, actually.” He admitted.

He gave out a quick sigh before returning his attention to me, standing up tall on all fours and puffing out his tiny chest in a bid to counter my slight height advantage. I’d say it was awfully cute if this situation wasn’t so deathly serious.

“Please, Cog… promise me that we’ll make it on that ship together and in one piece. Promise me that whatever happens on that ship, it happens to the both of us. And…” His eyes finally softened and a sad smile graced his face. “… Promise me you’ll let me show you to my family when we do make it there. I made a promise to introduce them to all my friends, after all.”

I wiped away the last of my tears as I traced a cross across my chest with my claw, flapped both my ‘hands’ together like wings, and then finished off by placing one of my claws over my left eye.

“C-cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Nathan looked thoroughly confused. “W-what did you just do?”

I looked at the ground and softly laughed at myself. “I just performed a ritual that binds me to a cosmic entity capable of tearing the universe asunder with a single laugh. If I break my promise to you, Nate, well... I don’t know what will happen to me, but I can promise you that it won’t be pretty.”

“… Dragons are weird, Cog.”

“That we are, Nate. That we are...”

***^***

“Well Nate… looks like you were right.”

“Yeah… but I really wish I wasn’t.”

Nathan and I were now standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the harbor. We had exited the crowds a while ago and went through the trees until we reached this point. Below us was a massive crowd of ponies gazing in awe at an even bigger boat. Easily the biggest damn thing I had ever seen in my entire life: the S.S. Luna Returner was worthy of being called holybucktonenormous. So it’s full of Canterlot ponies, huh? Yeah right. More like it’s full of Canterlot, period!

It’s so big that sneaking aboard and staying hidden shouldn’t be a problem…

… That is, if it wasn’t for the two self-appointed bouncers circling the only entrance like sharks.

It was hard to tell right away, but the two of them had dressed similarly to each other so as soon as one of them stepped towards their demon machine, I was able to make out the both of them in the crowd in record time. There they were: Flim and Flam…

... Dressed as ghosts.

...

Um…

Two racist ponies…

… From the south…

… Dressed in white bed sheets…

... Okay! I ain’t going to let that train of thought chug along any further now, thank you very much.

…

… Kind of like th-

NOPE. NOT AN INCH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

“What are they doing done there?”

I exited my not thought and observed what Nate was talking about. Flim and Flam now seemed to be just standing stationary at both ends of the loading ramp. Not exactly side to side, mind you, but actually separated by a great distance. One of them was standing by the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 (which was parked at one end of the crowd), and the other was actually facing the crowd, for some reason.

“Good question... what are they doing, Nate?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well… this might seem a bit racist, but I always kinda figured that griffons had super vision or something. Can you tell if their horns are glowing or not?”

“…”

“… A bit racist then?”

“Yeah, just a bit… although you are right. My eyes aren’t the best in griffon terms, but I can still tell from here that both their horns are glowing under those sheets.”

“Good job, Nate. Let me think now… I know that they can use lightning, wink, telekinesis, a small amount of rejuvenation magic on inanimate objects, and they can seal things off with magic… although, as you've proven, that last power can be easily defeated through the mystical use of a giant rock.”

Nate nodded his head. “Naturally.”

“Okay, what else do they have…? Wait, I remember them using some kind of scanning spell on the machine a couple times before. They would scan it to check for internal damage done to their charms and junk.”

While humming, Nathan contemplated that last bit of information. “Scanning…”

Ours eyes widened as we made the (in retrospect, obvious) connection.

“Scanning!”

“They're trying to scan for your magic imprint!”

“I have a magic imprint?!”

“... You breathe magic fire.” Nathan deadpanned.

Oh… derp again.

“Right… wait! My flame sac is still busted! Maybe it won’t register right away?”

“That’s… a possibility, but I don’t know…”

“It’s too high up for us to glide to it from here, so our only option is that ramp.” I pointed out.

Nathan sighed. “I guess you’re right. Flying wouldn’t have worked either way though. Manehatten has an, well, interesting defense mechanism to prevent such things from happening.”

Nate then pointed his index claw towards a seagull that had just flown by overhead. The feathered creature came about within a foot of the ship before blue bolts of lightning jumped out of floating medal rods (which were floating in the sea at the time) and struck the seagull in the wings. The bird gave out one frightened squawk before all of the feathers on its wings suddenly disintegrated, causing it to fall. It fell into the sea and was quickly scooped up in a out-of-sight unicorn’s magic glow.

“… Harsh." I remarked. "T-that wouldn’t…”

“No, I think the webbing on your wings would be just fine, Cog.”

“Phew.”

Nate started absentmindedly rubbing the area where his costume covered up his own wings.

“Mine, however… well let’s just say that I’m glad I chose to wear this tinfoil robot costume. I always wondered if those rumors about tinfoil deflecting magic were true… but I don’t really want to find out tonight.”

-Gulp-... Again, harsh. “W-well, I guess flying and gliding are doubly crossed off now. What else is there… oh!" I snapped my claws. "We’re small enough to fit into somepony’s luggage. Let’s try that, Nate.”

“But that would just make us easier to spot once we do make it onboard!”

“Ugh. You're right. Darn it, there has to be something...”

“Maybe we could try to hide in the stuff they bring on for the kitchens?”

I waved him off. “Nah. Something this big, they probably already have all the staff stuff loaded onboard. That rules that out… we could try to use your bits to bribe a pony to say we’re his kids. Hehe, how does that sound, bro?”

“Hehe, it’s a nice thought, sis, but you’re just forgetting one thing.”

“And what’s that, Nate?”

“It’s a rich peoples’ boat. They already have enough bits.” Nate deadpanned... again.

Oh… third derps the charm. Man, this is just not my day.

“Argh! This is starting to look hopeless...”

Nate suddenly gave me a pat on the back. “It only looks hopeless if you make it look hopeless. That’s what my father usually says anyways and he’s a man that I look up to.”

“… Hehe.”

“Huh? What’s so funny?”

“Oh… nothing, Nate. I was just thinking how I could have really used that advice back when I was just a cog in the machine.”

"What's up everypony?! Are you ready to step it up this Nightmare Night?!"

“Yyyyyeeeeaaahhhh!"

Nathan and I’s latest moment was interrupted by a loud cheer coming from the crowd below us. From our cliff we looked down and saw that the crowd had parted around a single pony who was wearing what appeared to be a Nightmare costume.

Not a Nightmare Night costume, mind you, but a costume of the Nightmare. It was pretty darn accurate too; complete with little black wings and a blue flowing cloth for hair. Talk about over the top...

One thing I noted was that this pony had a large line of equally costumed ponies ahead of her and a large line of trunks behind her. Said trunks were being pushed by giant earth ponies (like Big Macintosh big). Loud music was emanating from a mobile speaker next to this same pony.

The pony spoke again. Her voice was amplified through magic. Whether she was a unicorn or the spell came from somepony else's horn, I couldn’t tell from this distance. Thankfully, she was loud enough for us to hear her.

“I’m sorry, my pretties,” she cackled evilly. “but this filly has to party with these stuck up, bossy, soulless…”

The ponies in front of the mare stopped boarding the ship so that they could turn around and glare at her.

“… N-nice bunch of ponies tonight! Don’t you worry though...” she then returned to using an evil sounding voice. “I’ll be back for you soon! Mahaha!”

And then the crowd went wild with cheering.

It was through this event that I discovered a neat trick that I could do with my dragon-eyes. I discovered that if I were to concentrate hard enough on a single point, my eyes would zoom in and focus the image to a fascinating degree. I guess this is for later on in my dragon ‘life’ when I’m as big as a house and I need to observe the details of my individual gems… or while I’m eating a victim or something. I also guess it could just be the beginning of their development to becoming as strong as they need to be to assist me in flight.

Well whatever it was, I was able to see who this pony was more clearly after a few seconds. I was able to make out her fur color and mane color under her costume along with a certain accessory that made her very easy to identify. When I did discover who she was… well, I squealed like a total fangirl.

I have no shame.

“Are you okay, Cog?!” Asked Nate, fearing that I was having another Flim Flam panic attack.

I was literally hopping up and down at this point. Again, no shame. “Eeeeeeee! I think we’re in luck, Nate! We can hide in that pony’s luggage!”

“W-what makes her so different from the other guests?”

“Because she’s not a guest! She’s the entertainment!”

“W-what makes you say that?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me on this!” I started literally skipping away down the path. “Come on!”

“C-coming!”

Nathan ran after me as I continued on my way. I was able to hear the pony’s voice one last time before we rounded the bend and started heading downwards.

“Look out Luna Returner! You're about to get you figurative mind blown by DJ Pon-3!”

***^***

“… How about this one?” Nathan asked me.

“He’s much too flashy.”

“… He might do.”

“If he weren’t so splashy.”

“Splashy? What are you talking about?”

Wasn’t listening, was too busy finishing my song. “Too short, too tall, too clean, too smelly! He’s strangely obsessed with tubs of jellllyyy~!”

Nathan lifted up a claw and did the most hilarious ‘wtf is this?’ face I had ever seen. This sent me into a laughing fit, confusing him even more.

“… I’m not even going to ask. Are you done yet so we can decide on which stallion to bribe, Cog?”

-Snort- “Yeah yeah. Keep your feathers on, Nate. I spotted our..." -Snort- "P-perfect stallion awhile ago.”

“You did? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

I replied to Nate's totally justified question by saying “Because one of the brothers was way too close to him for comfort.”

“... Oh.”

We were now down from the cliff and amongst the crowd of ponies. Everypony was too busy watching all the celebrities to notice two kids at their ankles, nor could they hear what we were saying to each other. Neither of the brothers seems to have spotted us yet. Good. I guess the theory about my broken flame sac screwing up my magic imprint seems to have been spot on...

Knowing my luck, it’ll repair itself while we’re here and they’ll spot us right away.

Assuming by the fact that only one of them seems to be actively scanning, I’m guessing the other brother is more or less a sort of get-away driver. That's sort of a relief: one less brother to worry about.

Anyways, right now Nathan and I are just waiting for our time to strike. There was still a huge line of ponies in front of Vinyl Scratch (I think that’s her name. Its hard to remember whats canon and what was just fan theory these days) and her equipment seems to take up the entirety of the line behind her, so there was thankfully still some time to hitch a ride. We also have quite the selection to choose from... there's a ton of luggage here! I bet there's more than just turntables and speakers in all those boxes...

Oh, but getting back on topic: why I'm singing. All the earth ponies pushing these boxes looked like they were stallions, so yeah... a certain song happened to pop into my head as we tried to cherry-pick which one would be perfect for our plan. As soon as it did materialize in my head, I just had to sing it. So sue me.

“Which one are you referring to, Cog?”

I shook my head and returned to the present. I pointed my index claw forward. “That third one from the end: the one whose coat is the same color as my scales. The red pony in front of him can’t see behind himself thanks to that large trunk, and the purple guy behind our guy has been dozing off every other minute. I can guarantee you that he'll be asleep while we talk to this guy. I mean, come on! He has a bunch of ‘Z’s’ as a cutie mark, for God’s sake! If he isn't asleep while we make this transaction, then he'd be failing his 'special talent'! Ha!”

“... I’ll never understand what ponies see in those stupid marks.” Nate commented.

“... Weeelllll, not all of them are lame like his, Nate." I reassured him. "Someponies out there have really cool marks, like rainbow lightning bolts, or an array of diamonds, or…” I glanced over my shoulder at Nate. “… a pair of crisscrossing swords.” I ended my sentence with a cheeky smile.

“... Heh.” He glanced at his covered hindquarter, where his mark was, and smiled. “If only it represented my special talent like it does for ponies.”

I feigned shock. “What? It doesn’t? Hah! You could have fooled me! I thought your talent was being awesome.”

“S-stop trying to give me a big head, Cog!”

“Well then stop blushing so much and maybe I’ll stop~”

“S-shut up!” He gave a little huff. Cuuuuuttteee. Why is everything so much cuter here then it would be on Earth?

“Why is this green guy our guy anyways?” Nate, with cheeks still red, tried to change the subject.

“Oh." I shrugged "Because he has a cutie mark of three bit pieces on his flank, yet he’s doing manual labor.”

“Oh… yeah, that makes sense, I guess.”

“Doesn’t it though? Oh! It’s time, Nate! He’s moved on so let’s move out!”

“G-got it.”

Moving stealthily through the crowd, we came up to the lime green stallion unnoticed. I wonder if this is Key Lime’s dad? Small world, if it is.

I tried to get his attention.

“Phist! Hey! Buddy!”

The pony looked up and followed the sound until he was looking directly at me.

“Eh? Wha do yah want, kid?”

“Want to make a quick bit?” I asked quickly.

“… Go home, kid. Ah ain’t gonna fall fer tha’ agin from anotha’ fillie. Yah don’ ave any bits.”

“Ohhh, but I’m no normal kid!”

I gave a quick look around before I went from four to two legs. I flexed my claws a bit and wiggled my wings.

“See? Not a costume.” I blew a little bit of smoke out, just enough for him to see, and then quickly smothered it. Don’t want to let those brothers spot it now, do we?

“… K, so yahs a babe dragon. Wha of it?”

I pulled out one of Nathan’s bag of bits (we had brought one for each of us), took a bit out, and started flipping it up and down.

“All I’m saying is, my good stallion, is that I can assure you that I do have the bits. What kind of dragon doesn’t have a hoard? This is only half of a small portion of it, and both bags can be yours if you simply let my friend and I hide inside that crate you’re pushing. Here. Have a couple, just for listening!”

I tossed two bits his way and the stallion quickly snatched it up in his teeth. He spat them out into his outstretched hoof, looked at them, and then placed them inside his green saddle bag.

“... Wel’ I’ll be darned. Yah weren’t lying. Okay kid…” He glanced around and quickly opened up a small side door on the box. “Toss me that bag right there and yah and yahr friend can gt’ a free ride. I’ll be expecting da other bag once we’re aboard, or else I’m tossing you overboard, got it?”

I nodded in agreement. “Got it. Pleasure doing business with you. Come on, Nate.”

Nate nervously followed me as we entered the box. We were pushed up against each other, with very little breathing room between the two of us, before the lid closed behind us, leaving us in darkness. The box slowly moved along.

“… Hehe. Looks like I can’t avoid being shoved into small dark place, can I Nate?”

“Hehe. At least it smells nicer than your last residence, Cog.”

I winced at the memory of that smelly hell hole. “Good point... softer to, now that I think about it. What is this thing full of?”

“Um… it looks like… dresses?”

I blinked in the darkness. “What? Really?”

I lifted up one of the fabrics that the box was full of and brought it closer to my eyes. It was a very lovely looking saddle; one with a lot of little frills on it, that sparkled in the darkness, and was a bright shade of blue. It was so pretty! If only I were a pony…

… Wow. I don't think I can blame the magic sex change for that last thought. That was all me...

I have no excuse for myself.

Nathan spoke up. “Some of these fabrics have holes in them for wings… they must be for a pegasus mare.”

I rotated around the saddle and confirmed that this was true. “Interesting… but irrelevant. I’m sorry, Nate...”

“Huh? What for?”

I sighed. “I have a feeling that we’re going to have to quickly reveal ourselves to the crew the moment we get onboard. I don’t think we can trust this guy to not throw us off the boat the moment we shell out the bits.”

“Oh… well I don’t have any gripes with doing a few chores.”

“Me neither. Man, we’re pretty weird for kids.”

True that. I have an excuse because I’m not really a kid, but Nate almost acts like an adult sometimes. Did losing his mother really affect him this much? He seems pretty stable, but I’m starting to worry about him. Kids should be kids, and what I’m doing with him right now isn’t helping.

Well… I guess I’ll just have to lead by example and get him to loosen up a bit. I've been doing well so far tonight, so I guess I’ll just keep being myself. So what if I'm now ten years younger? Age is all in the mind.

“Next!” Cried a voice outside of the box.

At the shouting, the box halted.

“Name?”

“The one, the only, Vinyl Scratch, baby! Number one party pony in the world… if you don’t count Ponyville, that is. That place is scar-y!”

Truer words have never been spoken.

The mare at the door replied in a monotone. “Okay, you check out. Move along ma’am. Next!”

The box moved again.

“Looks like this is it.” Nate ended the silence.

“Yup." I nodded. "And it looks like the brothers… ugh…”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Cog?”

My stomach felt like it was about to come out and greet the world through my mouth. I felt it gargle in resistance.

“My… stomach… hurts…”

“It does?”

I could see in the darkness that Nate's eyes suddenly widened. “Does it feel like its rumbling?!”

“Y-yes…”

“Do you smell smoke?!”

“Actually… yes. How…?”

My eyes widened as well as I figured it out for myself.

“My flame sacs healed… is this what being scanned feels like?!”

Nate quickly shook his head. “No. Scanning would feel like an itching on your fur, er, scales. I’ve felt scanning before. I don’t think they’ve spotted us yet. No... what I do remember though is what a gargling belly means for a dragon.”

“A-and what does it mea-Burp!”

A tongue of orange flame suddenly escaped my mouth and began swirling in the air in front of us. Sparks bounced around and started lighting the dresses in here on fire. Nate’s robot helmet caught on fire as well, so he quickly removed it and tossed it aside.

Nate glared at me and I looked at him sheepishly.

“Um… excuse me?” I chuckled nervously.

Suddenly, the mass of orange flames still left in the air disappeared into purple smoke. This smoke combined with itself and a small item started taking shape.

After a full five seconds, a scroll dropped out of the air and landed in my outstretched claw.

“W-who…?”

Nathan yelled at me. “No time for that, Cog! We need to get out of here!”

Oh. Right. Trapped in a box that I just filled with fire.

That’s bad.

I pushed aside the dresses in front of me and helped Nate in trying to open the door. The room was quickly filling up with smoke. Damn it! I will not be the cause of this kid’s death! Come on! Push!

Creeeeeaaaakkkk…

Oh thank goodness. We managed to get it open just enough so that the smoke can get out. I don’t think anypony has noticed it yet. That's good... but the fire in here is still spreading!

“We need to abandon the box, Nate!”

“How?! We’re on the loading ramp!”

I looked over the edge and saw that we were moving up the ramp and over the water.

I called to Nate. “We’re going to have to glide off it!”

“M-my wings are stuck in this costume! And what about the brothers?”

“We’ll worry about them after we avoid being turned into a cooked chicken and a dragon steak!”

I reached my claw backwards and tried to feel up the cloth restricting my own wings. “H-help me rip these stupid sleeves off!”

“On it!”

Shinkshink!

My wings stretched themselves as soon as they were no longer trapped. Oh man did that feel better.

“Ahhhhh… thanks Nate. Okay! Now, grab my waist!”

“What?!”

I got on all fours and stretched my wings out. “Grab on to my waist and hang off my back! I’m going to try to glide us back to shore!”

“But that’s stupid! You can’t glide with that much weight holding you down!”

“Do you have a better idea? I’m all ears… horns… whatever! Just get on!”

“O-okay.”

As soon as I felt that Nate had a good grip on me; I pushed off the edge of the box, bashed right through the box’s door, and then glided down off the side of the ramp. I could see our shadow being cast over the water as we sailed along above it. I think some ponies yelled at us, I think some unicorns tried to grab us with spells, and I think one of those poles actually hit us with lightning but I didn’t feel or hear anything.

No. I didn’t feel or hear anything… but pain.

“Owowowowowowowowowowo!”

It was a constant battle just to keep my wings level! My body wanted to go downwards and my wings wanted to slack and go upwards, but I mentally told both my appendages to shut the hell up and keep steady. I could feel the skin between the two green fingers being assaulted by the wind and boy did that sting like hell. I had this mental image of the flesh being all stretched out and baggy once this was over. God, I hope not. I'm wincing just thinking about it!

Crash! Bang, topple topple!

The sound of our crash landing into an alleyway made out of a pair of towering, stacked crates. They were probably cargo waiting to be loaded on to other ships come tomorrow.

“Ow, my head… Cog! Cog, are you okay?!”

Wow... Suddenly everything looks so s-spin-y… So this is how Derpy sees the world. It’s so… magical and muffin-tastic.

“Cog! Answer me Cog!”

“Bubbles… bubbles everywhere Nate…”

“… Wha?”

“Hi I’m a princess! Are you a princess? Let’s fly to the castle~!”

Nathan started shaking me violently. “Darn it Cog! Snap out of it!”

“Ugh… wha? Nate?” I hit the side of my head with my claw until my vision sorted itself out. “Did we make it?”

Nathan groaned. “Yeah, but we were about as subtle as a fireworks display. Where the heck did that scroll come from?”

I looked down at the scroll that was still being held in my claw.

“No clue. This has never happened to me before.” I started rotating the scroll around until I could see the seal. “How did you say this worked again? I needed somepony’s magic imprint or som-… Ah crap in a hat. I think I know who this is from.”

I held the scroll out to Nate so that he could see what was written on the seal.

“... F.F.? Whose tha-… Uh oh.”

A voice called out from behind us…a very familiar voice. “It says that we’re going to find you two talkers and when we do… well let’s just say that neither of you are going to be doing a whole lot of talking anymore.”

Oh dear lord, no.

We turned around and saw Flim and Flam standing at the end of the alleyway with their machine to their backs, effectively cutting off that direction as a possible escape route.

Flim step forward in his ghost costume. “We sent that baby out this morning as a warning. No matter how far you try to run, talker, we’ll find you with that traceable paper. Shame it took so long to deliver itself though. Must be a time lag issue or something, brother of mi-”

“Spit-to-wee!”

Flim’s little rant was cut off by me launching a fireball at him and setting him ablaze.

I sneered at the two. “Or it could be that my flame sac finally healed itself up, flankholes. What? Gone a day and you already forgot what you did to me? I’m hurt.”

“Ahhhhhh!”

Flam yanked the sheet off Flim with his magic and threw it somewhere beyond the machine, presumably in the sea. I took the second to look over my shoulder for a possible exit, only to see that there was a dead-end behind me. Of course there was. Terrific.

“You little bitch.” Flam called out, removing his own costume just to be safe. “This was our big chance to make it in this world and you ruined it! Do you have any idea how upset the mayor was that we couldn’t make him any money tonight?!”

“The mayor?! Do you two have any idea how upset you made Cog when you stole her away from Iron Will?! From her family?!” Nathan stepped forward to defend me, puffing out his tiny chest again and flaring his wings up.

Flim slammed a hoof down. “Shut up, you damn bird! You’re the cause of all this! If it weren’t for you we would be swimming in bits right now! I ought to tear those damn wings off and feed them to you!”

Nathan stood firm, but his wings drooped and his legs went wobbly as Flim took a step forward.

I took a step forward as well, between Flim and Nate, and growled at the former. I could feel this... fire, in my belly that I couldn’t explain. It didn’t feel like mine and in fact it almost felt sinister, but I could feel it giving me strength as it continued to burn. I spat out a warning to Flim, one filled with pure venom and malice. I wasn’t even aware I was capable of such a thing, but if it means protecting those I care about, I will become evil incarnate in order to safeguard what is mine.

I roared. “You touch one feather on his head and I will end you, Flim. End you!” I finished by baring my fangs.

Flim flinched for a second but he held his position. His horn began to glow.

“Try and stop me, you damn talk-”

“Spit-to-wee!”

Flim was cut off again by me launching another fireball at him; this time directly at his horn, turning his green glow a brilliantly bright orange.

"Ahhhhhh! Why does this keep happening?!"

As I once more laughed inside at Flim’s troubles and felt relief as Nate relaxed slightly, I could feel the sinister flame start to slowly die off within me. Well that’s a relief in itself. I'm not sure where the hell that thing came from, and I’m unsure if it was even a good thing, but at least it’s gone now and I can think clearly again.

I turned to Nathan. “Nate! We’re going to have to fight our way out of this! Do you know any self defen-”

This time, I was cut off by Nathan ripping off the top half of his costume and launching himself at Flam with his newly unbound wings.

Shinkshink!

In the blink of an eye, Nate was behind Flam, and Flam’s mustache was nothing more then a torn collection of shredded hairs.

...

... My body was not ready for that display of pure awesome.

Despite the badflankery, Nathan called out in a shaky voice. “D-dad always said that a good offense was a good defense!”

“… Hehe. Nate, I’m liking the sound of your dad more and more! I can’t wait to meet him!”

“Damn you brats!"

Flam’s horn began glowing fiercely as a green glow surrounded Nate.

Oh hell no. Not on my watch!

“Spit-to-wee!”

I shot out a series of fireballs at Flam, but he dodged them all with slight ease. This, however, caused him to lose his grip on Nate for a brief moment. This was just long enough for the kid to slip out and come running back to my side.

“Any ideas, Cog?” Nathan asked between breaths.

“Yeah. Beat the living daylights out of them and run! I’ve got a lot of anxiety that I need to work out, and the best medicine seems to be a fist to the face! Ha! As long as we make sure they can’t use their magic, we should be able to do this. Flim’s still on fire, so you distract him while I curbstomp Flam.”

“G-got it!”

Using his wing again, Nate launched himself at Flim, who was still trying to extinguish his horn. Nate then sliced him across the face and sent him falling to the ground. I saw Flam try to assist, but I made to intercept. I need to hit him with something hard… my Iron-Will-Jump-Hug (patent still pending) is pretty darn hard, so let’s give that a try!

I bent my knees and spread out my sore wings. I pushed off the ground in a similar fashion to Nate and sent myself hurtling towards Flam. During the journey, I curled up my claw into a fist and began winding it up. When I made it there…

… I really wish I could call it a Falcon Punch, but sadly from the angle I swung my fist at, it was more like Captain Falcon’s air Raptor Boost. Ugh. Oh well. The point is that he was sent spiraling to the ground after this hit. The strike caused his hat to go flying off to parts unknown, and his shirt actually caught on fire as well. I really wish I could say that I punched him so hard that he caught on fire, but the reality again was that I accidentally spat up some fire during my moment of epicness, thus resulting in this.

Again, oh well. It still got the job done, but Flam seems to still be conscious. Guy can sure take a punch!

“C-cog! Help!”

I turned my attention to Nate who was desperately trying to hang on to Flim’s back as he was aiming to buck him off. Flim’s horn was finally cooling off and I could see some a light green glow starting to take place amongst the orange flames. Not good! I tried to aim another fireball at the horn, but I never fired it. I was too afraid of hitting Nate.

I swore under my breath and extinguished the fireball already forming in my mouth. “Hold on, Nate! I’m com-”

Flam suddenly jumped up and used his horn to flip me up onto his back. I gripped his horn with one claw and his mane with another as he started trying to buck me off as well. Well… time to see how well I’d perform at a rodeo.

“Get off me, you damn talker!"

"Whoa there, Betsy!"

I then promptly discovered that I would suck at a rodeo. Nate was still holding on to Flim, but Flam had managed to already send me sailing. I gripped his tail at the last moment and breathed out a stream of fire on instinct.

“Fwoosh!”

It was only by pure luck that his hair caught a stray spark and burst into flames. Heh, hairspray, got to love it.

Flam did not like this. “Damn it all!”

Finally losing my grip on his tail, I dropped to the ground and was immediately bucked in the face, halfway across the alleyway.

I would have made a football joke if I wasn’t in so, much, pain.

Bang!

Nathan shortly joined me face down on the ground.

Not even getting up, Nate turned his head and faced me on his side. “F-fancy meeting you here, hehe- ow...”

I didn’t even bother getting up. “A-are you okay, Nate?”

“... M-my wing feels funny.”

“…Damn it. I’m sor-”

“Don’t say it. I already know, and it’s not your fault.”

Flam yelled out. “Quit horsing around, Flim, and wink her inside already! Leave the damn griffon kid behind!”

Twinkletwinkle

“On it, brother of mine.”

Feeling a tingly sensation, I lifted up my claw and saw that it was glowing green. “N-no…”

Nathan suddenly gripped my claw with his own, and it too started to glow with the green light.

He yelled at the brothers with tears in his eyes. “L-leave her alone!”

Flim winced, his horn continuing to glow. “Ugh... h-have to readjust it for two, Flam. Keep them separated…”

“Just wink both of them! We don’t have any more time to linger here!”

... Have to readjust for two…?

...!

That’s (possibly) it! I may (or may not) be a genius!”

I got to me knees and took a quick breath before turning to Nate.

“Nate…”

“Y-yes Cog?”

“... Hold on tight.”

“Wha-”

I stood up and gripped Nathan in a tight hug and then flared my wings out. Before the brothers could react, I took off towards them with Nate in tow at speeds that would make Rainbow Dash… well not jealous, but she would at least give me a second look.

“Hurry it up, Flim!”

“I’m trying, Flam!”

I felt the magic around us start to constrict. Come on…

10 feet…

Come on!

5 Feet…

Come on!

1…

I finally made it between the two. While in midair, I stretched out my wings a bit more and gently touched the two of them on the snouts with my wingtips. Flim and Flam’s muzzles started glowing green…

Pop!

… Just as the world disappeared from vision.

***^***

“Cog! Wake up!”

“... Ugh… okay... one of these days I have to be the one who wakes you up, Nate.”

Nathan laughed as he got off my body. “Well you know what they say about the early bird.”

“Um… that he gets the worm?”

Nathan blinked. “Oh. Is that how that saying goes? Wow... I’ve been doing it wrong for years.”

I laughed goodheartedly as I sat up. “Oh Nate: you’re so random.”

Nathan beamed at me. “Coming from the girl who just saved our behinds in the most random way possible.”

I finally took note of where we were. We were back amongst the trees where we had overlooked the S.S. Luna Returner only hours ago.

“How did we get back here?”

Nathan tilted his head. “What? You mean you don’t know? It was your plan after all.”

I brushed off some ash that somehow managed to cover up my body without my knowledge. I only then realized that Nate was covered in ash as well.

That's when I started to remember. “... Oh… right, the winking thing. Well, I actually didn't have a plan, Nate. When Flim mentioned something about having to readjust to incorporate two, I figured that if I were to add one or two more to the spell, their calculations would have been too screwed up for it to work properly. In all honesty, I was hoping for a spell backlash or something. Teleporting works too, I guess.”

“So…” Nathan titled his head back in contemplation before jerking it forward when he realized what I had just told him. “You threw us into an unstable teleport spell not knowing what would happen?!”

I shrank away from Nathan’s suddenly fierce glare. This kid can be pretty damn scary when he wants to be! “I-I figured the best case scenario would be that we would end up someplace else or that the spell wouldn’t work… and the worst case scenario would be our molecules fussing together into an unholy hellspawn that spits in the face of God himself.”

“Herself.”

“Wha? But I thought you didn’t worship Celestia.”

“We don’t. Griffons believe in our own, unseen, goddess of the earth.”

“Oh… w-well it would have been a sinful thing regardless. But hey! All our limbs and internal organs seem to have stayed on their own sides, so I think everything turned out alright!”

Nathan sure looked angry after realizing that I may or may not have almost accidentally killed him, but then his face lightened up: probably figuring that ‘well, at least we’re safe.’

“Well, at least we’re safe now.”

Called it.

A question suddenly came to me. “What happened to the brothers?”

Nathan smiled again and started snickering. “Oh, you could say that they’re a little... ‘hung up’, at the moment.”

He pointed a claw at a tree somewhere behind me. I turned around and saw the still out cold bodies of Flim and Flam, somehow piercing a tree trunk.

“… Hehe. Maybe they’ll ‘leaf’ us alone now.” I snickered as well.

We permitted ourselves a moment of rest to just sit back and enjoy our stupid jokes. Sadly though, life quickly came storming back as I realized something.

“The ship…”

HOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

The sound of a large ship horn filled the night air. The leaves around us shook from the sheer force of it.

Nathan’s eyes widened and a single word escaped his beak. “No.”

We scurried to the cliff's edge just in time to watch the S.S. Luna Returner set sail.

Nathan collapsed to his knees and elbows. “N-no. We missed it. We… ow!”

He suddenly winced and shot his left claw to his right wing.

“Nate! Your wing!”

“I-I must have broke it in the fight.”

“Here, let’s try this.”

Tearing off the remains of my costume, I wrapped his wing up in a makeshift bracer using the fabric and some nearby sticks from the trees.

“There, that should do until we get some proper medical equipment… Nate?”

Nathan remained quiet, simply staring at the Luna Returner as it slowly sailed away.

“… Nathan, I’m so sorry. If I had just stayed behind…”

“We’re not going to talk about that. I would have failed even if you weren’t here. Heck, I probably would have never made it to that crate! I-I’m not that good when it comes to talking to grownups.”

“… Well, nevertheless: I’m sorry you’re going to lose your apartment. M-maybe if we both get jobs, and sell some things, we could afford this month’s rent?”

“… Excuse my language, Cog, but I don’t give a flying feather about my apartment.”

“Y-you don’t? Then why…?”

“… I think I know why my father was unable to pay the bill, and if I’m right…”

Nathan started shaking. I gripped the left side, his good side, of his body in a tight hug as he tried to calm down.

“I-if I’m right… then I need to get home as soon as possible. Every day I wait…”

He lifted his head up and looked at me with tearstained eyes.

“Every day I wait... -Sniff- T-the odds of me becoming an orphan increases.”

...

...

... I was fully awake now after that little comment.

“What?! Nathan! What’s going on?! Tell me!”

“I-I’m not supposed to tell anyone, it’s family business. I-I was planning on telling you everything once we were in Prance and I had confirmed that what I think is going on was what was actually going on. I-I’m… I’m sorry for lying to you! I-I should have told you the truth! P-please don’t stop being my friend, Cog! Please!”

“Nathan… I…”

I let go of the hug and took a step backwards. I turned around and started pacing myself, not looking at Nate. I need to organize my thoughts.

“Nathan…” I used a stern ton of voice as I quit my pacing.

“I-I’m sorry, Cog! I-I j-just…”

I walked across the grass, got down to my knees so I could be at his eye level, watched as he started to tear up…

… And then I gave him the hug he so desperately needed.

“What kind of friend would I be if I abandoned you in your time of need?”

“C-cog…”

“I’m not really happy that you weren’t honest to me… but I understand why you did it. Hehe, you’re new to this whole ‘friendship’ thing and unsure what’s okay to share and what isn’t, right?”

“Y-yeah…”

I broke off the hug again as I walked up to the edge of the cliff. “You were in the right to not share your family details with me, and I understand if you still don’t want to tell me everything, but none of that matters right now. What matters is finding a way to get on that boat before it’s too far away to do anything about it.”

Nathan looked away. “But we still can’t glide that distance, and flying is even more out of the question now that I busted up my wing. Let’s just get out of here while the brothers are still out cold and wait a couple days for the normal ships to start taking passengers again.”

“But we gave away half our bits to that green stallion! And, like you said, ‘everyday’ you wait is another day that you could become an orphan. No... we have to find a way on tonight.” I started scanning the crowd of ponies below. “If only there was something we could use. Somethi-”

My mind suddenly went blank again for the second time that night when my eyes caught sight of a small flashing in the night sky. I traced it to the crowd and then bared witness to the most… gorgeous thing I had ever seen in my entire life.

More amazing then the sun itself, more beautiful than yesterday’s sunrise, and about as likely as Scootaloo getting a cutie mark in Pedology: this could only be described as a gift fit for the gods.

My eyes started shedding tears.

“A-are you okay, Cog?”

I replied with a dreamy voice. “More than okay, Nate… I'm wonderful. Look.”

I pointed a claw at the celestial gift below.

“… What is it?”

“That, my avian companion, is divine intervention... whether it be from your god, mine, or Celestia herself it matters not. What matters is that it’s our ticket onto that boat.”

“H-how?”

“All will be revealed in good time, my friend. For now though, rip off the tinfoil around your hind legs and cover up your wings. You’re going to need the protection.”

“O-okay.”

Nate did as he was told. Meanwhile, I started eying up the distance between us, the prize, and the ship before then making a few calculations in my head. I’m not the best with numbers, but even I can make a few estimates.

I talked over my shoulder to Nate. “Now… hold on to my waist and try to hold me down.”

“W-what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to try a trick that I figured out when I learned how to shoot fireballs. It’s a dangerous little thing, one that I didn’t want to experiment with while I was within such short corners. I was afraid that it would blow up in my face and kill me, so I never tried to use it to escape. Now though…”

I smiled at Nate wickedly.

He shrank back. “N-now?”

“Now… a little lady called ‘Karma’ has given me a wonderful gift. It would be improper of me if I disrespected her with anything less but the best!”

I got on all fours and stared down at the docks where the ‘package’ was waiting in anticipation.

I chuckled to myself. “I think I’ll call this move ‘The Payback’, because boy is it a bitch.”

~Down at the docks; only a minute earlier~

HOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

The sound of the S.S. Luna Returner’s whistles blaring.

“Whooooo!”

The sound of the crowd cheering. Many ponies are amazed by the spectacle, and many more were soaking in the festive atmosphere.

Wrinklewrinklewrinkle…

The sound of wheels turning. The crowd falls silent as they trace the sound that has so rudely interrupted their fun. All eyes turn to a young mare, dressed in blue, with silver mane shining in the night. Her well-worn hat flies off with the assistance of pink magic, and her horn lights up what little darkness remained in the night. She takes a bow as her wagon moves by itself into the forefront of where the crowd had, only moments ago, wished the Returner a safe voyage. The wagon blocks off the view for some, angering many.

Before the crowd could object, the stage suddenly transforms before their very eyes. What was once a simple wagon has become a grand stage, fit for any traveling magician. Fireworks fire forth from the floorboards, lighting up the night sky, and pinwheels span on stage, spreading magical sparks in every direction. It was quite the sight to behold.

What topped it off, however, was the mage.

A unicorn who stood tall and proud.

A unicorn with an untold amount of power, and who held herself equally as strong.

She did not lack confidence.

Once silence reigned supreme, the unicorn spoke.

“… Fillies and gentlecolts of Manehatten: prepare to be amazed by feats of magic and cunning unseen in this modern age! The S.S. Luna Returner as gone into the night... what better way to honor such a magnificent sight then to send her off with an even grander one?”

The unicorn raised herself to her hind legs as more fireworks blasted forth. “Manehatten! Prepared to be shocked and awed by the one, the only, the Great and Powerful Tri-”

“SPIT-TO-WEE!”

The air of silence was interrupted by a mighty cry, one that shook the surrounding area. It was a feminine voice which pierced the silence: a voice so young yet powerful in its own right.

The magician’s head twists and turns as she tries to locate the strangely, familiar, voice. “W-who dares to interrupt the Great and Powerful Tr- oh sweet Celestia!”

The mage suddenly dives into the crowd: for what reason nopony knew...

... That is, until they looked up and saw… it.

Those who had witnessed the event would come to describe it as Celestia’s very own sun coming to Equestria and rocketing through the air at speeds that would rival a seasoned Wonderbolt. Some would claim to having felt the heat, and others would call them a liar: the mere idea that a mortal could withstand even a fraction of Celestia’s fury was ludicrous. Children would come to give this event a name, one that would stick with it for the rest of time itself...

It was simply called ‘The Moment’.

Nopony knew where the ball of flame came from but all would come to know its purpose, for only a split second later did it fulfill its destiny. That destiny…

BOOM!

… Was to burn Trixie’s wagon to the ground in a mighty explosion.

The magician dropped to her four knees. Her grand stage was gone along with what little she took with her. He bits were gone, her books were gone, and her much used bed was now nothing more than ashes on the wind. There was no time to mourn, however, as only a second later did another sound resonate through the air, knocking the magician out of her catatonic state.

“SKKKKKKRRRRREEEEEE!!”

The cry was a griffon’s war screech: a cry bred through generations of bloodshed. All ponies knew this dreaded cry, for the feeling of dread and fear still lingered in their very DNA, passed on through cowering forefathers still cowering in their graves. These reckless spirits would be able to rest easy, however, knowing that this cry was different, for it sounded like it belonged to a young child, and it was not crying out a mighty war cry.

It was simply… crying.

Crying in fear.

All eyes turned skyward and witnessed another curious sight; what appeared to be a young griffon, covered in tinfoil, riding the back of an equally young dragon. Its’ wings sliced through the air in a mighty glide.

The mage’s eyes widened in recognition. “D-dragon?!”

The dragon called out in a mighty roar, its words carefully chosen and lased with deep inner meaning. Nopony who heard these would ever know their true meaning…

“Suck on it, Trixie! Suck on it!”

… And neither would the Great and Powerful Trixie. She would never get the chance to ask either, for as soon as the words were uttered the dragon’s wings caught the rising smoke of the burning wagon and rose even further into the night sky.

And that was the event simply known as ‘The Moment': a point in time now forever lost to the bowels of pony history.

***^***

“Owowowowowowowowowowo!”

“SKKKKKKRRRRRREEEEEE!!”

“K-knock that off, Nate! I’m trying to concentrate here!”

The ship was within sight now and thanks to that little boost from Trixie’s wagon, we were now flying higher than ever before. I could actually see what Nate told me was called the ‘Statue of Harmony’ from up here, but we had no time for sightseeing. Just a little further now...

Closer…

Closer…

Annnnndddd…

Crash! Bang, toppletopple!

Nathan and I crashed on the back end of the S.S. Luna Returner. We skid across the deck, narrowly dodging chairs and tables, and almost taking an accidental dip in the pool, before we finally stopped sliding and remained still.

We had made it, safe and sound.

…

Suddenly, Nathan started laughing.

“… Hehehehehehehehe.”

And after a few moments I joined in as well.

“… Hehehehehehehehe.”

“Heheheheheheheheh!!

“Hehehehehehehehehe!!”

“HAHAHAH!!”

“HAHAHAH!!”

We finally got up from the floor and hugged each other.

“You did it, Cog!”

“No. We did it, Nate!”

He waved me off with a free arm. “Nonono, that was all you. I don’t remember it being me who blew up a wagon and flew us across the sea, after all!”

“Well I don’t remember it being me who cushioned the dragon’s fall after the recoil of that darn thing sent her flying backwards!”

Nathan blushed. “I-I just didn’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all.”

I smiled at him. “Hehe. Thanks Nate.”

“Now kiss her.”

Nathan and I turned our heads left and right, respectively, to see where that third voice came from.

“W-what?!” I asked our sudden guest.

Vinyl Scratch ignored me, however, and instead turned her head to talk to Nate. “You heard me! Come on, kid, be a stallion and kiss your fillyfriend already! She’s totally putty in your claws right now!”

Nathan’s face went beet red. He quickly disengaged the hug in order to yell at the no longer costumed pony.

“S-she’s not my fillyfriend!”

My face did pretty much the same thing as Nate’s, if not a shade darker. “H-hes not my boy, er, coltfriend either! And I’m not putty in anypony’s claws, hooves, w-whatever!”

The DJ ignored my protests and began singing to herself. “Griffon and a dragon, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G~!”

Nathan and I spoke as one. “S-shut up!”

This, sadly, didn’t help our case much, as it only sent Vinyl into a laughing fit on the deck floor.

Nate hid his red face under his one good wing and my own wings started to fold inward in an attempt to hide my own, but I pushed them aside so I could continue talking to Vinyl.

“W-whatever. We’re just friends and that’s all that matters to us! Listen, Miss, we really need you to keep our being here a secret.”

“Got it.”

“As you’ve probably noticed, we aren’t ponies so… wait, what did you say?”

“I said your secret is safe with me, Cog… that’s your name, right? That’s what your coltfriend called you anyways...”

“He's not my… Oh, whatever! Sure, call me Cog. It’s just a nickname, so whatever. Why are you so ready to keep this secret, though?”

“Oh, well because it’s not really a secret.”

“… What?"

Viny then pointed a hoof backwards towards the three floors of guests that were staring at our scene. Those not looking at us were instead looking across the sea at the giant inferno that we caused. I could hear whispering from all the way down here.

This time, I let my wings try to hide my face. “Eep!”

“Ms. Vinyl Scratch, please return to your cabin. My men and I will deal with the intruders.”

Vinyl got back to her hooves and looked at something behind my head. “Awwww… can’t I play with them a bit more, Old Grey Horse?”

A dark grey pegasus with a white mane and beard fluttered down next to me, causing me to jump. Turning my head, I could see that he had a ship wheel as a cutie mark.

He spoke to Vinyl again. “Ms. Vinyl Scratch... while on my ship you will address me as 'Captain Grey' just like everpony else. Do I make myself clear?”

The DJ waved him off. “Sure sure, whateves. Don’t be such a downer, Old man.” Vinyl waved goodbye to us before trotting off. “See you around, Cog! I’ll be expecting you and your coltfriend to liven up the rest of this slow-flank cruise like you did tonight! Ha!”

And with that she was gone. Suddenly, my earlier fangirl moment seems totally unjustified...

Captain Grey raised his voice. “Please! Return to your cabins everpony! Nothing to see here!”

With little to no resistance, all the ponies returned to their rooms and the deck was once more empty outside of Nate, myself, Captain Grey, and ten burley earth ponies. A certain green one was glaring daggers at me. -Gulp-

Captain Grey used a hoof to gently remove a wing from my face. “Hello there, children.”

I jokingly replied “H-hey chef.”

He didn’t find my interdimensional joke funny. “Why are you on my ship, dragon?”

Double Gulp. “I-I, w-we needed to get out of Manehatten tonight before two ponies caught us.” I replied.

“Oh? And who might these two ponies be? The police? The guards?”

I shook my head. “N-no no, sir! They were slaver ponies! They were forcing me to work for them until my friend here bailed me out. See? I still have the scars...”

I lifted both my claws up in a sign of surrendering. Captain Grey observed the scars around my wrists.

“Hmmmm… Where’s your parents, children?”

Nathan was still hiding under his wing, so I had to continue answering for the both us. “I-I was stolen from my mother as an egg and those two ponies stole me from my adoptive family. My friend here has a father in the Roc-y Mountains that we’re trying to see right now. T-that’s why we snuck aboard your ship, sir.”

Grey started stroking his beard. “Hmmmm… was it so important that you left tonight that you had to blow up some poor pony’s wagon just to sneak on?”

“H-how can you tell that that’s a wagon burning over there, sir?”

“I sent one of my fliers to investigate after we heard the explosion. I assume that was your handiwork, firebrand?”

“Y-yes sir.”

“Tell me why you blew up that pony’s wagon, dragon.”

“W-with all due respect, sir, that was no pony: she was a monster in pony garb.”

The earth ponies laughed at my remark, but Grey didn’t seem to like it as much, as he continued scowling at me. “Watch your tongue, dragon. Monster though she may be in your eyes, she’s still a pony, more than what I can say about the both of you. I sent out a flier to check out the damage... I could easily send him out to take you two back.”

I was not having any of that. “N-no! You can’t! Those two will take me away, and they might kill Nathan here! Please! Don’t let them hurt my friend, Captain Grey, sir!”

“… This griffon here,” The captain motioned a hoof at Nate, causing him to shrink down even further into a little ball of feathers. “… is your friend, dragon?”

I stopped my shivering and held myself firm in the face of Grey’s stare.

“My best friend, sir!”

Nathan stopped shivering as well at my statement.

“… Is that so, dragon? Well then…”

He trotted over to one of his waiting stallions and whispered something into his ear. The pony nodded and waved a hoof at six of the other nine earth ponies there. All of them left except for two. Thankfully the green guy left as well, but not before raising a hoof at his eyes and then pointing it at me.

Grey returned his attention to me. “These two will be assisting you tonight. Mr. Bo will be leading you to your sleeping quarters, and Mr. Jangles will take your friend here to see the ship’s doctor about that bandaged wing.”

“Y-you mean we get to stay, sir?!” My heart nearly jumped out of my throat.

“If there’s anything we ponies care about it’s the ties that bind us to each other called friendship.” He returned to scowling at me. “But understand now, girly: this isn’t a free ride. You and your friend are going to have to work for your stay here. Do I make myself clear?”

“C-crystal, sir! We won’t let you down, sir!”

“You’d better not, dragon.”

And with that Grey fluttered away towards the top of the ship, presumably where the captain’s quarters were kept. I walked over to Nate who had finally come out from under his good wing.

“A-are we safe now, Cog?”

“Yeah... we’re safe now, Nate.”

“… Did you really mean it?”

“Huh?”

Nathan stood up and was quickly lifted up to Mr. Jangle’s back with Mr. Bo’s and mine’s help.

From Jangle’s back, Nathan continued his question. “D-did you really mean that when you said that I was your best friend?”

I offered him a warm smile. I had plenty of friends back home, even a few that I labeled as ‘best’, but none of them had shared the kind of experience Nathan and I had just gone through. I had a feeling as well that this would probably be the start of even more anxiety to come... A normal person would have said that this kid was more trouble than he’s worth: that the secrets he withholds and his reckless actions were likely going to get someone killed.

I, however, would say…

“The best, Nate. The best.”

And thus Nathan De La Griffon shed tears of joy as he smiled at me and was taken away

…

Only three days remained to save Vinyl Scratch, Captain Grey, and the all the guests aboard the S.S. Luna Returner

Comments

[ManlyDerp]

*Blushes madly* Oh, um, hi there. I, er, had originally planned this chapter out to be a lot shorter...but as I started typing it up I fell in love with the little back to back chats the two Nathan's would have and more and more ideas kept popping into my head so I-I just...
P-please enjoy

[Dgrb]

808684
Oh don't worry Fluttershy it was a very good chapter and as an added (that's a lot of a words) plus Trixe's wagon got blown up yay!

[Salacar]

Why was this added to the Human in Equestria group?

[ManlyDerp]

814908
Oh, well, um, its a HIE story. I-I just wanted to experiment with groups and I thought this one was a right fit. I looked through the stories and didn't see anywhere where a human changing into something wasn't allowed and I even saw a few humans as ponies stories s-so I thought it was ok. I-I'm sorry if this wasn't allowed and I didn't see it anywhere! P-please don't be angry! I'll remove it if enough ponies think it doesn't belong there

[Salacar]

815093

Ooooh, sorry, I missed the 'A HiE Fiction' at the bottom of the description. If it's really a HiE story you should probably add the Human tag though

[ManlyDerp]

815100
O-oh. Well I didn't think it needed that title because the main character's a human turned baby dragon. A lot of the 'turned into blank' stories lack the human tag because these stories don't focus on the human aspect of their new life's, instead they focus on the adventure or the comedy or the slice of life. M-mines about the overall adventure of this stranger to a strange world and how he deals with becoming a kid, a dragon, and a girl all at once while also being tortured *Dark Tag* S-so once again I didn't think I needed the tag. Again, I-I'll change it if enough ponies think otherwise

[factorydash]

awesome... simply put awesome.
as allways can't wait for the next one.

and reply to Salacar. Cog/Ms.dragon/Nathan was a human transformed into a dragon.

[Salnax]

A happy ending? Hooray!

[Seven Fates]

This is by far one of the most interesting non-standard HiE fics that I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Even being only on the fifth chapter, I can safely say that I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Nathan is the perfect match for Cog, in a friendship sort of way, but at the same time it is fairly easy to ignore who Cog actually is and see something more coming from the pair, which makes the 'fillyfriend/coltfriend' comments believable. Even if shipping isn't generally my kind of thing, if you were to take the story in that direction, NatexCog is a ship I'd respect.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png

Also good to see a kicking given to the bastards Flim and Flam. You did a wonderful job making those two shady characters downright detestable. Their cruelty is ultimately what makes the character Cog so likeable, so even if they are the scum of Equestria for what they did, they're still essential to making this a good fic.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Redheart_gasp.png

Also, Karmic Overload on Trixie for the win.

[Tome Turner]

“Hi I’m a princess! Are you a princess? Let’s fly to the castle~!”

[Queuefka Palazzo]

Reading the name of the ship reminds me of a certain resistance faction from a certain game by a certain company, which now manufactures endless hallways.

[IkioStar]

please, please don't tell me flim and flam come back!

[Shadow Reaper]

STOP WITH THESE FOREBODING MESSAGES PLEASE.
AND WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO TO SAVE EVERYPONY.
AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THEY FAIL? NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST? ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?
PINKY PIE EATS CELERY?
AND WILL I EVER GAIN THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE BY YELLING EVERYTHING?

I THINK WE ALL KNOW THE ANSWER MAYBE?!?!?!?

FROM THE LOVE CHILD OF LUNA AND MR TORGE
Shadow Reaper

PS: and the winning number is.....42 DERP

Me: *flips table* GOD FUCKING DAMMIT

The asshole next to me: BINGO BITCHES!!!

I look at him *Demon Voice activate* There is a reason why "reaper" is in my name.

TO BE CONTINUED?

[FashionablyHospitable]

Only three days remained to save Vinyl Scratch, Captain Grey, and the all the guests aboard the S.S. Luna Returner

MANLYDERP
WAT R U DOING?
MANLYDERP
STAHWP

[l0vot]

For some reason the forboding countdown screams Titanic to me. Maybe it was this part of the message:

all the guests aboard the S.S. Luna Returner

Which implies that the massive ship will go down during it's maiden voyage.

I havn't read the rest of the story yet, I will see if I am right the old fashoned way: reading the rest of the story.

[EverfreeSparkle]

I love this story now! The chapters where she is captive and forced to work for the two 'flarps' really made the dragon lovable. Great build up!

[Pinklestia]

I wonder how the Flim Flam got into the ship...

[ImmaGenericWriter]

...purple guy with a bunch of Z's for a cutie mark?

Best fnaf 3/4 reference I've ever seen on this site! xD

[Deltorix]

3655514
Wait...WHAT?!