A soul to spare

by Arcticbrony

First published 10th of April, 2013

A soul is a powerful and fragile part of you, a part that goes unnoticed and unappreciated by most. It’s a crucial part of every living being, but a lot can happen when you got two.

An abandoned laboratory is discovered, filled with all kinds of wondrous and unknown objects. Celestia sets her best scientist to work to make heads and tails or these things. But one day an accident occurs, and something that nopony knew was even there, escaped.
Now in a new and different land, how will things turn out?

A special thanks to Lepking13 for editing and helping me get this story ready.

Chapter One

Author's Notes:

Just a silly little idea that popped into my head at one point.
Eventually i started writing it down and this happened.

Edit: This was my first attempt at writing fanfiction. The first few chapters will be rough because of that. But, if you can get past this, then I hope that you will enjoy the story for what it is^^

It was morning; she had just brought up the sun, its light shone across the land. It was Celestia’s favorite moment of the day. It was also the only time of day that she had a little time to herself before being drowned in the duties that followed with being a princess.

She could hear the faint sound of someone galloping, slowly it grew louder before stopping before doors of her personal chamber. The captain barely had time to knock before she opened the doors to let him in.

“Your highness” he said with a swift bow. A sense of urgency could be detected in his voice.

“Yes lieutenant?”

“We received an emergency report from whitetail woods. There’s been an incident at the research lab located there. A team has been sent to investigate and treat anypony that might be injured.”

The research lab located in whitetail woods also served as a vault for certain objects. Any object with unknown properties or origin was located there. There had been a few problems over the years involving some artifacts located there; nothing too major but the possibility was still present.

“Inform the court that I will not be attending today. I will personally join the investigation.”

A small flash of light and Celestia was gone, leaving a slightly confused guard behind.

Celestia appeared at the entrance, frost covered the ground around it and a pair of oddly shaped frozen footprints was going into the woods. She could hear hoof steps coming from inside, the team must have already arrived. Entering she saw that the entire complex was covered in frost with a few exceptions here and there. Entering the main room she encountered the team.

In the corner she spotted several of the guards and scientists that were posted here, most of them were completely frozen. One of the unicorn guards was using a heat spell to slowly melt the ice and to warm up the victims. Celestia directed her horn towards them and cast a spell of her own. A brilliant light shone upon the frozen ponies and the ice melted almost instantaneously.

“Y…your highness”

“At ease captain. Have you discovered the cause of all this?” she said with a bit of urgency in her voice.

“Not yet your highness. We just arrived; we were setting up a safe perimeter and focusing on thawing the ponies caught in whatever this was.”

“I see” she turned and spoke to the guard standing by the victims. “How are they?”

“Surprisingly well. All of them are alive, unconscious but alive.”

She released a breath she hadn’t noticed she was holding. “Take them to the nearest hospital immediately”

“Of course your highness” the guard said and began levitating them out along with a pair of pegasi guards.

Going further into the complex she noticed how the temperature were dropping and unlike the entrance that was only artially covered in frost, here everything was almost entirely covered in snow and ice. She always had a passive magic active to keep her warm, a little signature spell of the sun goddess, but it seemed to be of little help here. Her breath turned white as she continued. It didn’t matter how much magic she poured into the spell, this cold was different. It was a special kind of cold, a cold that seemed to not linger and flow freely as it normally does. No, it attacked with a fury, sending shivers to the very marrow of her bones. But she did not falter, she had to see what caused all of this, after all, it was her job to protect her little ponies.

After a little while she came across a little room, a room she remembered. It was the very reason that this complex was built here of all places. She entered the room, no door to open as it was seemingly shattered.

`NO`

In the middle in the room was an egg. A huge egg, that was as high as Celestia herself, and it was shattered. They had found this egg among other things in the complex many years ago, abandoned. The plan was to move the objects of interests to the royal lab to study but there had been one problem. That egg. It had a soft azure color with black lines covering it, and it was impossible to move. No method would make it budge an inch; no spell would make it falter. It was the single most mysterious object that had been discovered in centuries, and since they could not move it they might as well create the study around said object.

This very egg was now in pieces, scattered across the room. Celestia hurried up to the middle where it had remained for so many years and lowered her head, her horn shining brightly. She sensed magic. Incredibly powerful forbidden magic and she recognized it. It was unmistakable, it was the very magic that she had created and forbidden after experiencing the horrors that it could create.

She hurried back outside; both to check up on the wounded and to swiftly start tracking down whatever creature came out of that egg.

Arriving at the entrance she spotted a carriage flying away in the distance. `At least the wounded are taken care of’. She thought.

The captain quickly noticed the princess and immediately bowed.

“Your majesty. We have gotten important knowledge regarding this incident. One of the guards stationed here gained consciousness for a short while before being shipped off to receive medical attention. He reported that a shockwave came from one of the inner chambers knocking out most of the ponies inside the complex before an intense cold came over them. Still barely conscious he spotted a tall creature of sorts making its way outside, and he managed to hit it with a tracking spell before passing out.”

This was good news, the princess thought. It would make the search a lot easier.

“That is great news captain. I want two of your men to stay and guard this complex while you take the rest of your team and find this creature. ” The princess said

“Of course your highness. We will depart at once.” the captain said as he did a salute with his wing.

“Oh and one more thing captain. Bring it in alive and unharmed if possible; we have no idea of what we are dealing with here. If it overwhelms you and your guards, retreat and contact me immediately. I will then deal with it myself. Stay safe captain.” She said added the last part with a smirk. She knew he hated that line.

********************

I woke up feeling rather refreshed, ignoring the pain in my back, but falling asleep while leaning against a tree will do that to you. It was the closest to a proper night’s sleep I had gotten in months; I can’t believe that I had actually managed to escape that horrid place. On that thought I immediately started shivering in fear. I forced myself up; I needed to get further away. I needed to get help. Taking a moment to look around I noticed that I had reached the edge of whatever forest I was in. I didn’t really take in my surroundings yesterday. I got a chance to escape and I took it. Now that I think about it, the lab had looked a lot different than I remember, not that it mattered. All the guards had been frozen for some mysterious reason and I thank whatever force that helped me on that one. After quickly making my way outside I ran, I have never run like that in my life and I don’t know where I got the energy from, but I simply ran until I collapsed from exhaustion.

The sunlight was shining through the treetops and a slow breeze was making the leaves on the ground rustle, from the amount and color on them I was guessing that it was somewhere in late fall.

It was beautiful. I was standing outside the forest just gaping from the view. There was a mountain in the distance, with several waterfalls coming of the sides of it and what looked to be city!? It wasn’t much of a choice, since it was the only sign of civilization that I could see. Perhaps I could get some help there; all I had to go by was a single name, Celestia or princess Celestia rather. That crazy unicorn had by more than one occasion rambled on how this Celestia had destroyed his research and banished him for it. He clearly deserved that for what he did to us… I wonder if anyone else managed to escape. I couldn’t go back to check, to help. I had seen others that had managed to escape before and what he did to them.

I knew that I wasn’t on earth anymore, I could only remember bits and pieces of it but this wasn’t earth. Looking down at my arms and feet I sighed. `And I’m clearly not a human anymore either. `

He had done several sick experiments on us, some where it looked like he had a specific purpose and some where he was just curious to what would happen, and whatever he had done to me it looked to be successful.

My arms were covered in silvery scales, where my fingers used to be I now had claws. It was the same with my legs and my feet were a little bigger than they used to be, they too ended with claws, only three though. Those silvery scales seemed to cover my entire body; I haven’t had a chance to check my face so I can only guess. I also appear to have both a tail and a couple of wings now, won’t complain about that one. I have always wanted a tail but the wings are nice to I guess. I don’t know how to use them so I kind of just drag them along. The tail had dark blue spikes on it, which seemed to stop once it reached my back.

After an hour or two of walking I thankfully come across a pond of water. Dropping down to my knees and lowering my head I drink to my heart’s content, I have just walked since I woke up but I feel so weak. If you have been to the hospital for some reason and gotten forced to stay still or lay in bed for a lengthy period of time, then you know the feeling. It was like that just a lot worse. As if that wasn’t bad enough I was beyond skinny. Close to no visible body fat, or muscle at that, no wonder I felt like I could collapse at any given time.

Bringing my head up to breathe I finally got to have a look at myself. The same scales that cover my body are there as well. My eyes had a snake like pupil with an ocean blue iris. My teeth appear to be a lot sharper but at least I got to keep my tongue. My ears were more elves like then anything else. The last part I notice is my hair, where I used to have dark blonde, it now is simply white and rather long to, almost reaching my shoulders.

`What the fuck am I supposed to be, some kind or cross between a lizard and an angel!?’ At least I still got to keep this scrappy excuse for a pair of pants.

And yes I had already checked, everything that was supposed to be down there, was still there. `Thank god’

Continuing towards the castle in the distance, another issue arose, food. It had been a couple of hours at this point and I was starving. With how weak I was at this point I doubted that I could catch anything. Berries, roots or fruits would be a better solution, had I recognized any of the plants I had come across this far that is. I had stumbled across some berries at one point, but they were obviously poisonous or something as I spent the next 30 minutes throwing up. They also made my throat sore as a motherfucker, just normal breathing hurt at this point. Talking was out of the question, anything I tried to say sounded like some sort of grunt or growl.

After another hour or two I came to a sorry looking plain. It was little to no grass, just dirt with the occasional rock sticking up. I found a rather big rock after a little while; it was bigger than me and angled in such a way that it would provide at least a small amount of shelter. It was getting late and I didn’t care enough to find something better, so I just sort of collapsed there, so tired and hungry. Leaning against the rock was kind of awkward with the wings, so I was just lying down on my stomach while using my tail to rest my head on.

After a little while of just lying there and doing nothing I spotted something, something was shining in the ground just next to me. Being the curious bastard that I am, I decided to check it out.

`No fucking way` I was holding what appeared to be a small ruby in my hands.

`No, just no. you don’t simply find rubies or other gems just lying around. That’s just silly`

It was beautiful, it gave a small glow from the evening light that reflected off it. It just looked so `delicious`.

Wait what!?

`I know that I am beyond hungry, but this is stupid. It’s a stone. It’s just so……`

I hadn’t noticed yet, but I was drooling. Hard.

I threw it into my mouth and bit down.

`……………………….. brain.exe has encountered an error and will now shut down`

It was so good. It was beyond good. It tasted like a combination between a strawberry and a mango. I wanted to take my time and savor that godly flavor, but my mouth had other plans. In just about 5 seconds I had finished chewing and swallowed. For being such a small gem it was surprisingly filling, I was still hungry but it was just a fraction compared to how it was a little while ago.

For the next couple of hours I simply laid there, thinking about this new world. I had come to the conclusion that this was all real and not a dream or something a long time ago, all the things that happened in the lab proved that much at least. My eyelids began to get heavy. I looked up to the moon and smiled.

“I will find a way to get home Charlie. I promise” I said with a raspy voice as I drifted off to sleep.

Completely unaware of three large beings that had been watching me for the last hour, and were now closing in.

Chapter Two

Darkness was covering the field. A gentle breeze rustled the few leaves that were left on the trees. The sky was clear, allowing the moon to shine its soft light down upon the land. Three creatures had been hiding for quite some time now, waiting for the intruder to fall asleep before making advance.

The three rather large beings were standing in the cover of darkness, looking down at the rather odd scale covered creature.

“What you think it is?” Said the first creature with a rather gruff voice.

“You a moron? It is a dragon, a strange ugly looking dragon but still a dragon” the other voice was rather high pitched

“Alpha is going to be glad. Dragons are strong, good diggers. Let me go get more of pack. Dragons can be dangerous.” Said the one with the gruff voice. Running off and disappearing into a hole in the ground.

I opened my eyes. `Still night? Ugh. Why did you wake me up, stupid brain.’ before me stood a large creature. It was standing on two small legs with a pair of huge arms reaching down to its knees, it was hunched over a little but still looked to be a head lower than me if I were to stand up. The finer details were lost in the darkness; I had no idea what it could be. Since I am, unquestionably the greatest genius in the universe I decided to do the following. Get up and talk to it. I mean, what could go wrong…

“H-hello there, whatever you” this was how far I got before fate decided to be a bitch.

“It’s awake, CLUB IT CLUB IT.” the being yelled as he quickly turned around and looked at me.

`Club it? What the f***` I was immediately hit with something hard at the back off my head.

Tripping forward as I held my head because of the immense pain I was in, I got a look behind me. It was another of those beings, a little smaller but it was carrying a mace.

Before I had a chance to recover, the one with the mace swung again, this time hitting me in my temple sending me to the ground, unconscious.

*********************

“Uurgh” I groaned as I woke up with a headache that rivaled my worst hangovers. Slowly I opened my eyes to reveal the predicament I now found myself in. I was in a cave it seemed or some kind of tunnel, at the end of one at that. There was a dirt wall before me and the way behind was blocked by thick iron bars, I was in a cell. By the door was a small bowl of water. I slowly made my way over to it. Some water would be wonderful right about now. But before I could reach it I felt a tug at my back and I fell to the ground. My body had been so sore that I hadn’t noticed before now. I was chained to a spike in the ground at the wall on the opposite side of the door. There were two chains. Both went up to a couple of cuffs on both of my legs.

I heard something from beyond the door and bars. Someone was coming closer; apparently they heard my little tumble. I could see some shadows moving through the door before it was flung open. In the opening of the door stood a creature, looking like it was pulled out of some sort of fantasy book. It was covered in scruff looking grey fur. It was about a head smaller than I would have been, if I had been standing. It had two arms, which were ridiculously oversized compared to its body and tiny legs. It had ripped two holes in a piece of cloth and used it as a vest of some sort; it was barely worth being called clothing. But with the patchwork excuse for a pair of pants that I wore, I was not one to talk. It had a scar running over one of its eyes giving it a quite menacing look. All in all it looked like a buff bipedal dog of some sort. He, at least I’m guessing that it is a male. He reminded me of some type of dog that I had seen before. Couldn’t quite place my finger on whitch one, I never was a dog person anyway.

“Who are you?” I started. But the only thought going through my head was `the fuck are you supposed to be? ` “Where am I?”

Apparently he didn’t like that I spoke, because I was met with a swift kick to the gut.

“Silence SLAVE. You decide to talk too much and I might decide to cut out your tongue, you won’t need it to dig after all.” He said while standing over my now shivering form, and just to show me how much of a nice guy he was he kicked me again. This was the first time I was glad for the changes that had been done to my body. These scales of mine are apparently quite resilient. A kick like that with those claws he had on his feet would seriously wound me if I was still human. `Heh I’m not even human anymore, am I? Just some sort of monster`

The dog that had just kicked stepped aside so that another could enter. He looked kinda the same, just a little taller and a lot more beefy. `Holy shit he is buff. One swing with those arms looks like they could take my head clean off, or at least smash it to bits`. He threw a pickaxe down on the ground next to me and set down a fairly large metal casket, looked like it was made by someone who new next to nothing and could fall apart any second.

The first one started talking again. I’m guessing he was the leader, or at least someone important. “You will dig for gems here” he pointed to the dirt walls behind me. “If you get enough gems we will let you have food and water, so if you don’t work, then you will starve. And don’t even think about eating the gems dragon. If you do well, there are a lot of parts on you that you don’t need to be able to dig.” He finished with a sick grin. He gave me one more kick to the stomach. He turned and walked out, shutting the door behind him. “We will pick up the gems every morning. So start digging in the morning. And if you get any smart ideas about sneak eating our gems.” he raised his head upwards and towards the bars while sniffing the air. “We can smell it on your breath if you do.” And with that I was left alone, with only the small flickering light from a torch outside my cell and my thoughts to keep me company.` I start digging in the morning` he said, guess it’s still night. So tired, better try to get some sleep. `Yea sleep sounds good`

And that’s what I did the next day, mined for gems. Nothing other I could really do, if I wanted to eat to survive, I had to do it. I didn’t have much strength, still felt weak as shit, but I found the strength to swing that pickaxe. The urge to survive can make you do many things.

I started thinking after a little while, a risky sport I know but I didn’t have anything else to do while I repeated the movement to swing the pickaxe, only interrupted to pick up the occasional gem and throwing it in the container. On that note though, this place was overflowing with gems. Aren’t they supposed to be rare and valuable or something? If they were this common I could imagine people using them as paperweights. The dogs must have some value in them though; if there are this many of them they can’t have much trade value. Maybe they eat them to? What was it that that guy said? ` And don’t even think about eating the gems dragon`. Is that what I am supposed to be, a dragon? I took a look at myself again while I sat down to rest a bit. Tough scales, wings, a tail, yea I guess I could see the similarities. I still kind of looked human though, sort of, a little bit? If I ever come across that sick unicorn that did this to me, that brought me here. I will rip him to shreds.

`Wait a second. If I’m a dragon doesn’t that mean that I can breathe fire? `

I looked down at my chains. `Only one way to find out, right`

I took a deep breath, and immediately started coughing like crazy. I had inhaled a small cloud of dust. I moved away from that dusty ass corner and tried again. I took a deep breath and tried to pull out my inner fire bender from my stomach and...

*Wheeze*

I tried a few more times but nothing. All I got was a wheeze and the occasional coughing. I was apparently not a fire bender. I will admit, kinda disappointed then and there.

Nothing much happened the rest of the day. No one came by to check up on me. No need I guess, probably have a guard standing down the tunnel anyway. By the end I had gathered a fairly large pile of gems. I just hoped it was enough. I really needed something to eat and drink. I laid down pulled my tail up to use it as a pillow and drafted one of my wings over me as an improvised blanket. I had to get out of here I thought as I laid there trying to sleep. I need to get back to her, she was my responsibility.

“I will find a way. I promise”

*********************

I woke up the next day by the sound of footsteps. I took a quick look to the metal casket was almost full with gems, I hoped it was enough. I desperately needed something to eat and drink. It was him again, the same dog that came the first day this time to he was accompanied by a brute of a dog. He looked at the pile of gems and gave me a toothy smile.

“They were right to bring you in, good digger indeed.” He then snapped his fingers, the larger dog then sat down a metal tray with something that vaguely resembled food and a bowl of water, before he picked up the container with the gems. That thing must have been close to a hundred kilos, if not more and he picked it up like it was filled with feathers.

“You see? You do good work for us and we treat you good. Continue like this and you might even get a blanket.” He said with a smirk before walking out of my cell.

I did not speak once during that encounter, did not see a reason too. If I had he would most likely just have kicked my again, I am too weak to fight back. Not that I think that I would have had a chance with that behemoth of a dog that always seemed to accompany him.

`Finally. Something to eat. `

The tray had something that vaguely resembled some kind of sloppy stew, with some moldy bread on the side. I did not care; I was too hungry and thirsty to care. I wolfed it all down only saving some of the water for later. I noticed something crunchy as I chewed on the last piece of food.

`Weird. The rest was sloppy and overcooked. Wonder that this is. It tastes like bread but it definitely don’t feel like it. `

I took the piece of, whatever it was to get a better look at it. it was grey, metal colored and really hard. I couldn’t bend it or anything with my hands but I had clearly been able to chew it just fine. Glancing down I saw that the metal tray that I had gotten my food in had a chunk of it missing, a bite mark replacing the bit that was gone. I did a double take back at the piece of…metal?! That was in my hand.

`No way? I can eat metal? `

I tossed the little piece back in my mouth and began to chew. It tasted like stale bread. I couldn’t believe it. My teeth tore through it like it was paper. I looked down at my pickaxe, then up at the rusty bars that kept me contained.

A grin found its way to my lips. I had a plan.

I had bitten over my chains that kept me in place and went over to the bars. They were about the size of my thumb and quite rusty. I bit into one of the bars, like the other metal it had the taste of bread but with the rust it gave it a burnt taste so I spit it out. After I had removed enough bars for me to squeeze through I made my way down the tunnel with a pickaxe in my hand. I heard some noises and immediately stopped, trying to figure out what it was. It sounded like…. Snoring? Silently I made my way further down the tunnel until I came to a split, one path went straight ahead and the other one went slightly upwards to the side. In the middle was the origin of with the snores came from. A huge brute of a dog, not unlike the one that had accompanied the other one in his visits to my cell, was leaning against the wall fast asleep. Most of his upper body was covered in a heavy grey metal armor, and a small helmet that sat on top of his head. A spear was leaning on his shoulder as he was blissfully unaware of the prisoner that he probably was supposed to guard was escaping, and what was about to happen to him.

I sighed in relief; the fact that he was asleep would make this a lot easier. I inched closer trying to sneak past him. I decided to take the path that went upwards, I guessed that I was underground and going up made sense. As I got close to him I slowed down even more, perhaps even to the point of being overly cautious, not that it helped though. As I was just beside him I noticed him making sniffing noises. `No, NO. Just go back to sleep and let me pass. ` No such luck. His eyes started to open. But before he got a chance to finish waking up or doing anything else for that matter, the tip of my pickaxe pierced his eye going further into his brain ending his life then and there.

The body of the dog went limp and it fell backwards against the wall before sliding downwards into a sitting position. The blood running, from its now destroyed eye socket, slowly towards the ground. I stood there quietly staring at the limp corpse, still short on breath after nearly being caught.

The first time that you kill someone it’s natural to go into a state of panic. Too completely break down emotionally.

I yanked the pickaxe from the now lifeless corpse and started walking. Guess I should be glad I’ve dealt with that before I thought somberly.

I had just walked for a few minutes before I heard yelling and a number of people coming by way, fast. I ran as fast as I could. `Shit, they found the body already ‘ I thought to myself. I was hoping to at least have an hour or two to get out of here before someone noticed that I was missing. They were gaining on me; I could hear them getting closer by the second. My vision slowly began to blur as I slowed down to a stop, I had no energy left. I had been running of an empty tank for too long, I could see several figures down the tunnel. Forcing myself to stand upright I readied my pickaxe, I wasn’t going down without a fight. Never got a chance to give them one tough. An arrow flew from the approaching group and dug itself into my right shoulder, my scales doing little to stop it. The effect was instantaneous. I fell to me knees clutching my shoulder, not even enough energy in me to cry out in pain. My already blurry vision was getting worse by the second. I could hear the footsteps coming closer…. Closer…. And finally they came to a stop. The figure that stood before be grabbed me by the hair and dragged me up to his face, even though all I could see was a blur I knew who it was, it was the same dog who had visited my cell both times.

He turned to the other dogs “go and get the Beta. Tell him that he has a new toy to play with” he barked at them before he threw me at the ground. The last thing I saw was his foot coming down on my face.

I woke suddenly as a bucket of water was splashed on my face. I was lying on a rock floor, no a rock table with chains holding my arms and legs in place. Before me stood the dog from before and a couple of others, including a rather nasty looking one. He’s right ear was missing, along with a large portion of fur around that area. His body was covered in numerous scars, which along with the wicked grin he had while he was staring at me almost scared my tail off. He along with the rather nasty dog from before was standing over me.

“You wound me dragon. I even gave you food and this is how you show your kindness, by escaping and killing one of my useless guards. Now as I said to you before, that you didn’t need your tongue to dig. Turns out” he raised his hand, brushing or across my wings, my tail and finally my face. “There are a lot of things that you don’t need.” He turned to the scarred dog that stood beside him. “Do what you want, teach him what happens when you defy us, when you DEFY ME. But don’t kill him, not yet. He can still be useful.” He turned and started to walk out of the room.

I was terrified. This was the unicorn all over again. “WAIT, wait. P-put me back, I promise not to try to escape. P-please jus aaaAAAAAAAAAAAARHHHHHH” the dog grabbed the arrow that was still stuck in my shoulder and jammed it further in.

“Oh that’s right, you won’t try to escape again. Not after this” he didn’t even bother to look at me as he left the room.

It started slow. Tenderizing me with punches, always avoiding anything too vital, wouldn’t be fun if I passed out now would it. Suddenly he stopped and left. I was glad for the little break, and in that little time I did the only thing I could. I cried. I cried in pain, in shock of the fact that I had just managed to escape that monstrous lab just to be captured again, and I cried for Charlie, I was supposed to take care of her, to protect her. I had failed her, I had failed myself.

After a little while he returned with a bucket full of tools and weapons of all kinds, and decided that it was time to kick it up a notch.

Some of my claws were pulled out. He removed the arrow in my shoulder and stuck a metal stick, glowing white with heat into the wound. I screamed during the entire process. The feeling of the scorching metal trashing inside my wound was too much, and I passed out.

Once again I was woken with a bucket of water splashed in my face, I weren’t allowed to sleep. Not yet.

He grabbed a hold of my left wing and picked up an axe.

“No. no please AAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHH. I w-will fucking kill AAAAAAAARRRGHHHH” he swung at my wing, again and again, but not to the result he had wanted. The axe was not very sharp and could not pierce my scales. It did however completely break the bone. Taking a pair of pliers he slowly started pulling out the scales covering the base of my wings, enjoying the screams of pain that he got for every single scale. Darkness was coming again, the pain was too much. That was until some sort of yellow liquid poured down on my face. My eyes jolted open, it burned like nothing else. If my arms weren’t tied I would probably have tried to claw my eyes out and tear my nose off. With the searing feeling that I had in my face I didn’t notice that he had picked up my wing again, not until he started chopping again. I could feel cold iron from the axe digging deeper and deeper every strike until he finally was through. I wanted it to end, wanted to pass out, anything. But the concoction that had been poured on my face wouldn’t let me. He wasted no time and started on my other wing immediately. Halfway through he stopped and dropped the axe to the ground. I thought I had been through the worst of it, oh how wrong I was. He lunged down, biting into the part where he had stopped and started chewing. The feeling of the teeth crushing the bone, tearing apart the flesh was too much. The concoction must have stopped working or something because I was slowly losing it at this point. Through the blur I could hear several voiced screaming, the door exploding in a bright light and multiple beings rushing in, it sounded like… Hooves? One of them was standing over me, I think he was talking; I could only make out parts of it anyway.

“ hey …. … ..ou okay? Do.. …ry …. …re safe.”

Once again, the darkness closed in. And everything went black.

Chapter Three

Darkness, everything was swallowed by darkness. A single house was the only thing that was untouched by the never ending shadow. I knew this house; I knew it all too well. A scream shattered the silence as I opened the front door. I ran upstairs to find whoever was screaming. It was a girl, a little girl. She was standing outside a room, crying.

“W-w-why” she sobbed out.

I leaned down to comfort her, embracing her in a tight hug.

“Why didn’t you save them? W-why did they leave”

“I’m sorry, I tried. But I couldn’t, I wasn’t strong enough. Don’t you worry though, I will never leave you. I will keep you safe.” I said as I held her tight, I too had started to cry at this point.

Suddenly she pushed me away, and looked up to me with a sad expression.

“But you did. You did leave, you abandoned me. Why did you leave me brother?”

Her colors and features were returning, it was Charlie, my little Charlotte.

I tried to speak, to say anything. But I couldn’t. The shadows was closing in, slowly covering her, slowly taking her away. I wanted to reach out but my arms would not move, nor would my legs.

No. Not her too.

Beep.

I promised that I would keep her safe. To never leave her.

Beep.

I am a failure

*********************

I awoke to the sound of an annoying sound, and a familiar smell.

Beep~Beep~Beep

I slowly opened my eyes, to see where I was. I was in a bed, chained to a bed if you want to be technical. The room had an egg white color to it, and a couple of machines were put on the side of the bed with wires going up and into me. I tried to remember what happened in the torture room before I blacked out. I could remember several figures storming into the room, and one of them talking to me.

`Was I saved? `

I looked down to my chained arms and feet and let out a sigh

`Or was I simply captured again`

Lifting up the blanket that covered me, I could that I had been heavily bandaged. I didn’t really feel any pain either, just a tingly numbing feeling through my body. It was a feeling that I recognized as the sweet, sweet nectar known as painkillers.

`If they bothered to treat my wounds I would put my money on the fact that I was saved. Still doesn’t explain the chains though. `

The chains that bound my arms were fairly long, barely restricting their range of movement at all. I could reach forward and bite them off, but decided against it. The last time I escaped it did not end well for me. So I waited.

After a while, a pony came into the room. `No horn or wings. I guess he must me one of those and I quote “dirty low class earth ponies” that he cursed oh so often`. She had a soft blue coat and a completely white mane. She glanced up from the clipboard she was holding, and saw that I was wake, and staring at her. She let out a loud gasp and ran out again before I had a chance to speak.

Once again I played the waiting game. I didn’t have to wait long this time though.

The door opened and a Pegasus decked in full armor stepped trough. He was dark grey with a deep purple mane, couldn’t see the mark on his flank because the armor was in the way.

“Good to see that you are awake. Now let’s get right into things, who are you” he spoke with a firm almost commanding tone.

I remembered back to the laboratory and the monster of a unicorn. `He cast the same spell on every single one of us before giving his little speech. “Your names have no value here, and therefore I had them removed. You are nothing but my test subjects, and your names should fit so” he took us away from out homes and then he tore out what little we had left`

“My name, or at least what I was called is Subject 217.”

He scribbled down something on a scroll; guess it was information on me or something.

“I see. I am captain Razor Dash. I was leading the attack on the diamond dog cave where we found and rescued you. We brought you here to tend to your wounds as I am sure you have noticed. But the nurse will be back later to give you further information on that.”

He said something else but I let my mind wander. `Diamond dogs eh? So that’s what they are called. If I ever see one again I won’t make the same mistake as last time. This time around I will tear out his throat on sight. ` The captain was still speaking to I guess I should continue to listen.

“– and on that note princess Celestia will come to see you personally in two days, to judge you herself.” And with that he left. I think he mentioned something about my chains, but I wasn’t really paying attention. This wasn’t so bad after all, I got saved and this Celestia I was seeking out is coming here. `Looks like things are looking up for once`

The nurse returned after a little while, still cautious while in my presence though. She gave me a rundown on my condition. I had been out cold for almost an entire week, thankfully that had given them enough time to mostly heal me. I was technically healthy enough to be walking around, if I was allowed to that was. The burned wound in my shoulder would heal nicely, only leaving a scale less scar. Most of my claws would apparently grow back, with the exception of one where soft tissue and nerves had been too severely damaged. My wings could not be saved. While their magic was able to reattach a severed limb, there were multiple requirements for it to be possible. Firstly the cut had to be as clean as possible, and it needed to be treated as fast as possible after it had been severed. I failed on both of those requirements. The wounds were in to bad a shape to even attempt to reattach them, and it had taken quite some time to move me to this location. I would however receive two badass scars in their place.

`Hehe chicks love scars`

The rest of the two days I had to wait to meet Celestia went along quietly. The boredom of just lying there staring at the ceiling was only interrupted by the small conversations I had with the nurses when they came by to feed me and “gulp” when I had to go to the bathroom. I have never been so embarrassed in my life.

After waking up on the day that I was supposed to finally meet this Celestia, I decided to mess with the guards a little. I bit off the chains that were holding my arms, making sure to eat every last piece of it. Removing the evidence of that they had ever been there.

It was captain Dash that came to get me; apparently I was going to meet the princess in another room. He was unlocking the chains on my legs but came to a stop when he saw my arms.

“What did you do? Where are the chains that were on your arms? SPEAK CREATURE!” he was not too happy about this.

“Whatever do you mean? I never had any chains of sorts on my arms. And if I did, what would it benefit me to remove them while leaving my feet chained?” I replied with the straightest face I could muster.

This seemed to dazzle him for a few seconds before he shook his head “Whatever, I will deal with that later.” He shook his head. “Now get up and let’s go.”

Yea, get up and let’s go. There was only one problem with that. I looked down at my legs. “Give me my pants and I’m good to go.” I said. Hoping he would not push further on the subject already had some embarrassing situations with one of the nurses when she had to wash me. In my defense, the sponge felt really nice on my `parts`.

He just looked at me with an irritated look. “Listen here. You are not in any position to demand or ask for anything, so quit stalling and let’s GO”

I just sighed as I threw off the blanket that was covering me and stood in all my glory. “Now do you see why I wanted my pants?” I said with a grin as I saw the shocked expression on the captain’s face.

“I w-will go get them for you. Be right back.” He stammered out before he rushed out. I wondered if it was the fact that I couldn’t hide my junk like them or my size that shocked him. I would like to think it was a little bit of both. He returned rather fast with the hole infested joke I called pants, the same ones that I came in with. I really needed to get some new clothes but my thought process was occupied elsewhere.

My mind had been focused on whenever or not she could help me, and what was going to happen on the off chance that she couldn’t, but I was now distracted by the sight as we walked to our destination. The hallways looked like it was made from pure white granite. Banners of every color hung down from the walls and the mosaic that I saw told a little story itself, it was breathtaking.

After walking for about 10 minutes in silence, I started to feel something strange. It reminded me of the same feeling when I was scuba diving, pressure slowly started to build up in my ears and a slight headache followed. The normal methods I used like yawning or holding my nose and blowing did nothing to even the pressure, no this was something else entirely and it was getting worse for every step. After a minute of two more we stood in front of a rather fancy door. Looking down at the captain I noticed that he looked completely fine, how could he not feel this.

“The princess is waiting for you inside this meeting room. She has ordered me to stand guard outside as she wanted to meet you alone but don’t you think of trying something because of that, she could disintegrate you in an instant if she felt like it. So for your own sake, behave.” With that said he motioned me towards the door while he took guard at the side.

Slowly I opened the door and gazed in. the room had a small table in the middle and several pillows was covering the floor. In the middle sitting close to the table on one of the pillows was what I presumed was Princess Celestia.

She had a pure white coat and a mane and tail had a flowing motion to them despite the absence of wind, it also had a beautiful set of different colors. On her flank was the mark of the sun, which was fitting if what I had been hearing about her was true `doubt it though`. She also had this aura too her, she visibly was radiating with power and I felt the pressure getting worse for every step.

“Please sit” she spoke with a neutral tone and wore a leveled expression. She motioned towards one of the pillows on the floor, opposite from the table where she sat.

As I was about to sit down the pressure was insane, I was getting a nose bleed at this point and held up my hand to stop it.

Celestia had a puzzled expression as she saw this, but quickly caught on as the pressure simply vanished. “My deepest apologies. I did not expect it to have that effect on you” she said with a soft and caring tone. Hear horn shimmered slightly as a handkerchief floated down to me.

I simply waved my hand dismissively. “Oh it’s nothing” I sat down. “You couldn’t have known” I said as I wiped off the blood.

She simply smiled and nodded. “As I am sure you have already been informed off, I am Princess Celestia, Sole ruler over the land of Equestria. Who might you be?”

I gave her the same answer as I had given the captain earlier. “My real name was taken, stolen away by a spell. Was only called 217 after that, Subject 217. I have tried to come up with a new name in the past two days I have been here, but to no avail.”

“I see, well that is no good now is it? What would you prefer that I call you in the meantime?”

I thought about this for a few seconds. I needed to find a new name whenever I got back or not. “I heard the diamond dogs call me dragon when I was captured by them. It’s as good as anything else so may as well call me that until I can come up with something else.” I did not really care for what she called me. If all went well, I wouldn’t be in this world long enough for it to matter anyway.

“So be it. But on to other matters. You said that your name was taken by a spell, by whom if I may ask.”

“It was that unicorn, never revealed his name. He took all of our names. We wouldn’t need them anymore he said. It was he that brought me here, he that turned me into… this.” I gestured at me as a whole. “What he did in that lab. What he did to all of us. We were nothing more but experiments for him. I remember the screams of my neighbor as a drill slowly bore into his head, it was a pegasus. After he had made a hole he inserted the horn he had taken from some other poor bastard.” I had started to shiver at this point. Tears were slowly building up. “He was making an Alicorn he said. After he had put the horn in he cast some sort of spell on it. I could only watch as light started to shine from every opening on that poor soul. It was short lived though, as the light died he started to bleed furiously from his eyes, his mouth, his ears, and then he simply fell down. The entire time that cruel bastard WAS ONLY STANDING THERE TAKING NOTES. The next day the body was gone, and we got fresh meat to eat. I knew him. He had been in the cage next to me for weeks. Of course I couldn’t eat it, eat him. I would rather starve. But he would have nothing of that, so the others and I who refused were force-fed. After all, we weren’t allowed to die before he allowed it.” Celestia had moved over and was now sitting next to me, it was… comforting. Why was I opening up to her? I had been talking with the nurses and some of the guards earlier but never like this, why did I trust her like this.

A brief flash came as her horn gloved and two cups of hot tea was now resting on the table. “And what happened to you?” she asked gently as she handed `hoofed?` me one of the cups of tea.

I couldn’t say it. I did want to remember the things he did to me, so I skipped ahead. “He did a lot of things, mostly to figure out how my body worked and what was inside. But one day he was ecstatic, happily screaming that he finally had found someone that was compatible. He got a jar containing a floating ball of grey energy. I had seen it before; he used it on other prisoners whatever it was. As soon as it had touched their skin it would pulse red and completely destroy the person he was using it on. I was chained up for this so I couldn’t resist, not that I actually wanted to at that point. I just wanted it to end. But as you can see, it did not. As it touched me it hummed and glowed with a gentle white light as it moved into my body. That was the last thing that happened to me before I woke up and escaped with this new body of mine. You know the rest I guess.”

I felt something brushing against my back and flinched, because I was surprised and because of the wounds I had. A glance in her direction showed that she had draped one of her wings across my back, a sign of comfort I guess. `Why is she doing all this? `

“It’s alright” she spoke in her usual soft tone. “The unicorn you spoke of is long gone. When you escaped, my scientists had taken over the old lab, mostly because of you. You were incased in a magical egg. It had most likely formed to protect you during your transformation. We found the lab over 200 years ago, it was abandoned. You were the only thing that remained.”

I smiled at this. At least that bastard was dead. “From what little I have heard of you, I get the impression that you have powerful magic. Can you possibly send me back to my own world and change me back to my own form?” I asked hopefully. This was what I had been waiting for; I had to get back to her.

Celestia slowly pulled her wing back and looked upon me with a sad expression. “I’m sorry, but no. I can’t change you back to your old self because of the type of magic that was used on you. I had my assumptions, and those assumptions were confirmed the moment you walked into this room. The type of magic that was used on you is an old and forbidden one, namely soul magic. In your case your soul has been merged with another one, a silver dragon by the looks of it. Trying to turn you back to normal would result in your soul being ripped apart. This would also happen if I was to send you back to your own world. A soul needs to be in its original body to be able to handle the pressure of a spell like that; they would be forcibly ripped apart. It would be certain death to even try.” She hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

*********************

I just started at her with an empty expression. `nonononnoNONONONONONONONONONONO. I-I’m stuck here? No I can’t be. I have to get back to Charlie, back home. `

After I little while I managed to croak out some words. “P-please, I… I just need some time alone to think.” My tears were flowing freely at this point.

Celestia took a glance at the window before looking back at me. “Very well.” Hear horn shimmered and the doors to the room opened. “Captain, please show our guest to his room. It’s soon time for me to raise the moon so we will continue this tomorrow.”

`Raise the moon!?!? Whatever I don’t even care at this point. `

The walk too my `guestroom, ` was rather uneventful. Captain asshat, `yes that’s his new nickname. Something about the guy rubs me the wrong way` tried to strike up a conversation a couple of times. I didn’t really listen just throwing out a set of, “yea, mmh, and interesting” Every now and then, seriously the guy just would not shut up. However I picked up on one sentence he muttered as we walked past a rather well curved castle maid, one that stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Ooh, I'd suck a fart out of her ass.”

That sentence caught me completely off guard. He took a couple of more steps before he noticed that I weren’t following him anymore. I was simply standing there giving him the best `What. The. Fuck?!` look I could manage. My brain could simply not deal with the words that had come out of his mouth. It had shocked me to my very core in such a way that I dont think that anything had, or ever would come close to.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The awkward silence lasted for a minute before I could actually muster up a reply.

“I don’t think I would”

The rest of the walk was done without talking. `Thank God for that`

I was told not to leave the room, not that they gave me the opportunity to do so anyway with the guards what was posted outside. The room was all in all quite pleasant. It had, I guess, a king size bed for ponies. But it was just the right size for me. I had a bathroom with a bathtub “squeee”. I have a never ending love towards baths, but this was no time for baths, I had my mind set on other things. Aside from that I also had a window with a lovely view of the town below. A barred view. It would do little to stop me and my teeth though.

*********************

The setting sun was making its way down behind the mountains, giving off one final lightshow as a hue of orange filled the horizon. The ponies in the city of Canterlot were enjoying the pleasant end of the day. Many were making their way home after a tiring day at work; some was spending quality time with their friends and loved ones. One specific couple was enjoying a lovely picnic in the royal gardens. The stallion was holding the mare in a romantic pose and going in for the kiss just as he saw something; he simply stared at the strange creature and in the confusion dropped the mare to the ground. It was a bipedal beast covered in scaled, it kind of resembled a dragon on some aspects. It was walking with heavy steps down the road towards the town, the look in its eyes revealed that it was on a mission and that nothing would steer it off its path.

*********************

`I need a drink`

Chewing through the bars had been easy, tasted a little funny though `wonder what kind of metal it was`. After all that had happened today I just wanted to get wasted beyond belief, to forget this whole thing, like I ever could. There was no guards posted outside the window and I didn’t see anyone on my way down to the town, either they are very overconfident or I have simply been beyond lucky. Most of the ponies I came along on my way down simply stared, some in awe, some in curiosity, and some in fear. The fact that almost none of them ran along screaming for their life made me guess that dragons weren’t too rare among these parts.

The closer I got to the town, the angrier I started to get. I was angry towards the unicorn that put me in this situation, angry at the fact that he was DEAD so that I couldn’t get my revenge, and angry at myself for allowing it to happen. There wasn’t really anything I could have done to change the situation but that didn’t change my anger towards myself, I wasn’t really thinking clearly anyway.

A nostalgic smell filled the air. It was weak at first but as I continued to walk down the street it became stronger. It was close to driving me mad as I rounded a corner and saw the building from which the smell originated in front of me. I could hear voices coming from inside along with the sound of someone desperately trying to murder a piano. Over the doors was a weather worn sign that gave it a certain charm. The Stumble In, it said.

I let out a long sigh.

“Finally” with a toothy grin I walked inside the old bar.

*********************

Captain dash was making his last round of the day, checking up on the guards as he went along. The last couple of days had been hectic too say the least. The raid on the diamond dog compound had been successful, they had found several ponies that was held captive there and rescued them along with the `dragon`.

He was a curious individual. His looks aside, the captain thought back to where he had seen his `entire` physique as he asked for his pants. A goofy grin made its way onto the captains face and he almost started too drool a little. Shaking his head he removed these thoughts `business now, pleasure later`. He had a joking, careless notion about him one minute but after he returned from his meeting with the princess he seemed different. The life was gone from his eyes, `I even tried to cheer up the poor bastard a little. Making small talk and jokes and such. Ooh but that smoking hot maid, the things I would, aaarg bad brain, BAD. `

Captain Dash was making his way towards the barracks but stopped as he heard somepony calling out to him. It was a unicorn guard, one of the new recruits `Storm Caller I believe her name was`. This was also one of the guards that he had posted to guard the new `guest`, or rather to ensure that he didn’t escape.

“At ease soldier. What do you have to report and more importantly, WHY did you leave your POST” anger was evident in his voice.

Her eyes widened in fear and her ears laid flat against her head as she was addressed by her superior. While he was rather laid back at times he was well known for being strict towards his subordinates, brutally so. She did not want to get on his bad side.

“W-we have a situation captain. After a while we thought that the fact that he was being so quiet was a little suspicious so we went in to check up on him. He’s escaped sir.” She gave a salute and waiter for the captain’s reply.

His eye slowly started to twitch as he muttered something too himself. “We were supposed to keep him under wraps from the public. DAMMIT! How did he get out, you were guarding the door and all other exits were barred.”

“When we entered we found saw that the window had been opened he must have escaped through there, and on the bars we found” small sweat drops were visible on her forehead as she gulped before continuing, “bite marks, sir.”

Captain dash stood there stunned. Those bars were made of Celestial steel; it was heavily infused with magic and the strongest metal known. Nothing should be able to break it, much less, simply chew through it.

“Private, quickly alert the other guards and start searching the surrounding area. We need to find him as soon as possible.” The earlier anger was completely gone, and in its place was now a sense of professionalism. `Time for damage control`.

*********************

Razor Dash was flying down towards the city of Canterlot. Most of the guards were scouring the castle grounds for him, but would make no sense for him to stay there. From his room he had a clear view of the city, away from all the guards. As he was closing in he spotted a brown earth pony with a black mane waving him down. As he got closer he realized that he knew this stallion, it was Half Full the owner of one of the local watering holes.

When he landed Full was rambling, he was in full hysteria and it was impossible to make heads or tails of what he was talking about.

“Hey calm down Full, what’s going on?” Razor asked, but to no avail. The rambling continued. Razor sighed; he did not have time for this. So he decided to end this quickly and slapped Full with one of his wings, effectively silencing him and snapping him out of his little episode. “Now, tell me what’s wrong Full.”

He took a few slow, calming breaths before he spoke. “y-you got to help me captain. There’s a monster in mah bar, I will be ruined.”

“A monster? It doesn’t happen to be covered in scales with its chest bandaged?” it was probably him. `Monsters` don’t usually wander the streets of Canterlot.

“Yea, yea that’s him. He came barging into the bar, scaring out most of mah guests while doing so and started drinking. It was slow at first, I thought he would be calm if ah just gave him what he wanted. But after a bottle of two of some of my stronger spirits he started shouting something on the lines of, “what is this weak goat piss” and started to wreck the place, drinking whatever was within his range. Ah got scared and he seemed to ignore me so ah ran. That bar is all ah got.”

`Celestia damn it dragon, you couldn’t just have taken a walk in the park. Nooo you had to go on a little rampage. ` Razor gave off a sigh, Full would be okay, the throne would pay for any damage he may have done anyway.

“Don’t you worry; I will head down and take care of it, just sit tight.” And with that he took off into the air, speeding towards, The Stumble In.

*********************

The bar was a mess. Shattered glass was covering most of the floor, and many a table had been turned. All ponies had fled this bar, scared for the beast that had entered a while ago. Scared of the beast that now sat on top of one of the few tables that still stood, a bottle in each hand. He was drinking like his life depended on it and doing something that could be closely resembled to singing.

Tis half past three and the chill is gone It's the longest binge I've ever been on had so many pints, my mind's stupefied

But through all the haze I still hear the cry! Drink, motherfucker, drink, motherfucker, drink! A curse to you lads, a curse on your head, Drinking pint after pint until I am dead I just keep drinking and I don't know why, But tonight is the night that I drink 'til I die!

The singing was rudely interrupted by the bar doors swinging open and smacking against the wall.

*********************

I spun around to identify whoever that rudely interrupted my, oh so beautiful song. But the table I was sitting on decided that it was sick of me and my bullshit and tipped over. I had my priorities straight and managed to save both of my bottles of booze from the fall. Lying back down on the floor I thought back a few seconds where I selflessly scarified myself to save my liquid buddies and decided that I had earned another drink. But before I could take said victory drink, the bottle I was raising to my mouth was slapped out of my hand `don’t worry my dear friend you will never be forgotten`. I looked up to see whoever had the audacity to spill my drink, I was preparing myself to give said person a good trashing. That was until I saw the furious pegasi that was standing over me with a glare so intense that it could slay a lesser man. Thankfully I’m not a man `I’m a dragon`, so I just stared at him with a silly smile on my face.

“Hey captain. What are you doing here budd…” the hoof that was smashed into the floor right next to my head effectively silenced me.

“No, you shut your mouth and get up.” he said, barely able to contain his anger. “I said GET UP, NOW.”

He did not have to tell me thrice, so I made a feeble attempt to get standing. Who knew a dry wooden floor could be so slippery. It took a little while but I managed to get into a semi upright state.

“What were you thinking? There was a reason that we told you not to leave. But no, you had to go explore didn’t you. Not only did you scare the locals you also completely trashed…” as he was scolding me, a thought struck. `He looks so grumpy, you know what I think? I think he needs a hug`.

Unfortunately the captain did share my enthusiasm for hugs and immediately pushed me away. “Get off me dragon”

“Hey. Even if you’re going to be rude. At least you can use my… my… the thing I am known as” there was a word that managed to slip my tongue, `that sneaky bastard`.

“You mean name? You don’t have a name, you said so yourself” I proceeded to take a swig of my remaining bottle of booze before shoving into his face. “Read” I said. The liquid pouring out of my mouth and onto the floor, it seemed I forgot to swallow.

He took a step backwards to get a look at the label on the bottle. “What does a bottle of Jake Daniel's have to do with any of this?”

I threw both of my arms outwards, the bottle I had held onto slipped and smashed against the wall. “Don’t you get it?” I grabbed his head, pulling it up to mine. “I’M JAKE”

My stomach thought that this would be a good time to rebel, and as a result I puked all over captain Dash.

Chapter Four

It was a perfect morning, or it would have been if it weren’t for the splitting headache, the sun’s rays feeling like they wanted to burn a hole in my soul, and the pony that was now in my room, shouting.

“Jake, hey Jake, get up already” the voice was tearing into my ears. `Why won’t you just let me sleep? `

Slowly I managed to drag myself into a sitting position. Captain `asshat` was standing in the room tapping one of his hooves impatiently.

I let out a long groan, “go away, and who the fuck is Jake” it was way too early for this shit, and my hangover did not help.

I saw the corner of his mouth twitch as he let some involuntary sounds slip through.

`Was he? No. `

“pffff ahahahahahaha” the bastard was laughing at me

It took a few moments but he managed to calm himself enough to talk. “Hehe. You, you’re Jake. You named yourself last night, memory a bit fuzzy?” Dash was still snickering to himself while grinning like a madman. Damn, what did I do last night?

“But that aside, get your ass into the bathroom and get ready. You are having breakfast with the Princess in 15 minutes.”

Making my way into the bathroom I noticed something strange. On the sink was a single iron arrow, it looked like it was crudely made and I could have sworn that I had seen it before. I remembered, this looked exactly like the arrow that I was shot with. Why was it here, I remembered the nurse said that it had been thrown away. And for some reason I got a creepy feeling from it, like it was staring into my very soul. Quickly I picked it up and dropped it into the trash. Shaking my head I simply poured myself a bath and sunk into my little heaven.

I got a short summary of some of yesterday’s events, as we walked through the halls towards our destination. I had somehow managed to drink almost the entire bar dry, but still had time to go out and wreck one of the nearby merchant stalls that were selling pickles and return to the bar to continue drinking before Captain Dash here showed up `serves them right, pickles are evil`. According to what the barkeep had told Dash, I had apparently met no resistance when I took over the bar, as he so nicely put it. This however was not the case. While last night was fuzzy I remembered a shady looking earth pony pulling a knife on me, threatening me to go away. That courage of his disappeared quickly once I ate his knife though.

A double door was in front of us, one half had bright colors and a picture of the sun in the middle, the other half had a darker look to it and the moon was pictured on this one. Two guards were standing on each side of the door and gave us a quick salute before opening the door allowing us to enter. The dining hall was HUGE, colorful banners, all picturing the sun were hanging down from the roof. And I thought I spotted something move on top of some of the support beams in the roof, but quickly dismissed the thought. `If someone is really up there it’s probably just some guards`. The princess was already sitting by the end of the table waiting for us.

“Your highness” the Captain went down into a bow as he addressed her. Personally I didn’t think I needed to bow, but he thought otherwise as his hard hoof got personal with my shin and I bent down in pain clutching it.

Celestia shook her head and let out a little sigh, “Was that really necessary Captain? You know that I care little for such formalities”.

“Maybe so your highness, but he should still show his respect in your presence.”

By the time I got up, I saw that the table was now filled with different kinds of food and drink and servants `which were not there a second ago` were still bringing in more.

“Now dragon, after…” Celestia began but I cut her off almost immediately.

“Actually, it’s Jake now your highness. Apparently I named myself yesterday during my drunken adventures.” This earned me a hoof to the back of my head from captain asshat.

He almost hissed at me, through gritted teeth. “Don’t interrupt the princess”.

The princess simply watched us with an amused smile before she continued. “Well Jake. As I said, while I had planned that we continued our little talk from yesterday, I’m afraid that it will have to wait. I had hoped to keep your presence hidden from the public for the moment, but after your little `adventure` last night, the secret is out. I have to prepare a speech for my people to help calm them down. I should be able to pass you off as a foreign guest or dignitary, the real problem however will be if the dragon community gets air of this. So we will have our `talk` after sundown. I know you want answers, but it will have to wait.” I hadn’t noticed until now, but when she got up to leave I could see a tired look on her face, `looks like I screwed up, bad`. As she opened the door to leave, she turned back. “Captain since you and Jake here get along so well, you’ll watch him and make sure he stays out of trouble. Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“What? I’m stuck on foalsitting duty?” Captain Dash responded immediately, he was obviously not happy with this development.

The princess changed into an emotionless expression and raised one of her eyebrows. “Yes. Will that be a problem captain?”

*gulp* “N-no of course not your highness. I will be happy to watch over him” I could see some sweat drops appearing on his forehead.

The princess smiled, I think I saw a glint of mischievousness in her eyes. “Good, now I’ll see both of you this evening” closing the door she left me alone eating breakfast with an angry Pegasus. The food itself was delicious. But I think I pissed off the ninja servants, they looked rather cross with me after the fifth time I ate the cutlery.

Captain Dash seemed a little amused with the death glares I got from the servants so I took this opportunity to try to at least defuse the situation a little bit, “well neither you nor me like the idea of you following me around all day. But there is little we can do about it, so let’s just try to get along.”

He let hung his head low and let out a long sigh. “Let’s just get going”

`Heh, he is warming up to me` I thought, following the captain into the hallway.

“- all things considered that went rather well. Although there was really no need for you to eat all the silverware. ”

I was walking through the halls with captain dash as he was making his rounds, truth be told it wasn’t all bad.

“The first time was an accident, but it tasted so good it was hard not to continue. But I’m wondering. I get why you guys wanted to keep me from the town so I wouldn’t scare the ponies. But what was that about the dragon society, why would that be a bad thing?” even if Celestia had to postpone our meeting, I was hoping that captain Dash here could answer a question or two.

“Well, I only know a little but I guess it’s better than nothing. This has to do with the dragon wars that occurred over 200 years ago. While most ponies have forgotten, dragons are quite long-lived and they tend to hold a grudge. I don’t remember what caused the war in the first place, but I do remember one important key factor to our victory. The silver dragons have always had a good reaction to the ponies and allied themselves with us during these dark times. Eventually a peace treaty was worked out, but the silver dragons were found guilty of treason and hunted to extinction. That’s where the problem is, you have the general appearance of a silver dragon and it is possible that if the dragons got wind of this, they would hunt you down as well. So by doing your little stunt yesterday, not only did you possibly endanger yourself, but the city of Canterlot as well.” He let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

He looked sad and troubled. Not really a surprise I guess. I messed things up pretty badly. “Hey, shit happens. Let’s go find something to do before I die of boredom.” He hung his head and looked even more troubled. This was not the same captain asshat I know and love. “Hey what’s wrong?” something was obviously bothering him, so I should at least pretend to care.

He simply looked up and flashed a grin. “Meh, it’s nothing. But what about you, so far you haven’t told us anything about yourself. Care to enlighten me?”

I was expecting this to come up when I talked with Celestia, but I didn't really feel like talking about my past. “Well I’m a human… used to be at least. I guess I had an average childhood, nothing too interesting. Later I had to drop out of school and take odd jobs to make ends meet, due to some… circumstances...”

“Whoa, slow down with all that information.” He gave me a deadpan stare. “Come on you have to have something interesting to tell. Something special about you, or a tale or two from your childhood? Or you could tell me about your family.” I froze. Several emotions flashed through my mind, but anger and sorrow were the strongest ones.

“Never, ever mention my family again. I don’t care what you want to know, but I won’t talk about them.” To be honest I was glad that he asked about them now and not last night. I have a problem with holding my mouth shut when I’m drunk.

He held his stare for a moment before nodding. “Alright, I will leave it alone for now. Well since I’m almost done with the rounds, how about we go down to the grounds and beat some shape into that scrawny body of yours?”

“That’s just an expression right?”

“…”

“Right?”

Sadly it wasn’t. I protested a little in consideration of my injuries, but was brushed off when he said that he would simply “avoid striking them”. He told me to just try to hit him, by whatever means necessary. But every time I missed he would retaliate. Needless to say I got hit a lot, while he had dodged every single one of my attempts so far. Towards the end I was running completely on anger and irritation, I needed to get a hit in, to give some hurt back, if even just a little bit.

“Alright, you look pretty winded out so I think we will call it there. Come on we have some showers we can use over by the barracks.”

But I wasn’t done, far from it. When he turned around to walk away I saw a chance and took it, lunging towards him. He must have heard me because he dodged just before I connected with the back of his head, instead only grazing his cheek. He put his weight forward and delivered a powerful kick with his hind legs, right into my stomach. Falling down onto my back, I couldn’t do anything but laugh.

“Ahahahahahaha, unbelievable. You’ve been pulling all your punches haven’t you captain?” I could not be mad at him after this, wasn’t him I was angry with to begin with.

“Of course I have, can’t expect me to go serious on someone that’s wounded. But you have to admit, it’s a nice way to release some of your frustration. And stop calling me captain, you don’t work for me. Razor is more than enough.” He had barely broken a sweat, but he was right. I needed this after all the things that have happened recently.

He held out a hoof, offering to help me up. I was going to accept but a sound stopped me. The sound of metal striking metal, my mind went completely blank.

Razor noticed my pause. “You okay there? Didn’t hit you too hard, did I?”

I heard it again, and again. It was hypnotizing; I got up and started walking towards the sound. I had to find it.

“HEY, showers are thata way… Where are you going?” he tried to stop me a few times but my body was on autopilot.

The building that the sounds were coming from was just behind the guard barracks. It was a forge. Smoke could be seen rising from the chimney and strangely enough this building had a nostalgic feel to it. In the front I could see a Pitch black earth pony with a rustic yellow colored mane. He was standing over an anvil working on a glowing hot metal piece. Every time he brought the hammer down, he was showered with golden sparks.

“Why are we heading towards the smithy? You planning to do something stupid again?” A blacksmith? So the sounds I heard were him striking that metal. “I don’t know, it’s just that it feels… familiar. I just had to check it out.”

“Well we got nothing better to do, so might as well go say hello to old iron hoof.”

We got a little closer before Razor wanted to try to rupture my ear drums.

“HEY OL IRON. HOWS IT GOIN?”

I hadn’t noticed from a distance but now up close I got a better view of this smith. He was huge, not only in height, but I could see his muscles shift with every movement he took. As he turned around to greet us I got a look at his `cutiemark` it was a golden anvil with two hammers crossed behind it, `makes sense I guess`.

He put down his hammer and looked upon Razor with an annoyed expression. “I wish you would stop calling me old, I’m just a few years older than you anyway.” He turned to me, glancing over me with a couple of lazy eyes. “So this here is the lad that caused a ruckus down in town last night huh? What are you two doing here anyway?” `lad?` technically I’m a couple of centuries older than you. Granted, I was asleep for most of those years but it still counts.

“Well dragon boy here found your forge intriguing, and wanted to take a look.”

I shot Razor a threatening glance. “Call me dragon boy again and you might find yourself waking up one day with some important parts missing. But yea there was something about the sounds of you forming the metal that just felt hypnotizing.” I looked up, towards the forge. “It’s just something about this that feels familiar, which is weird because I have never had anything to do with blacksmithing before.” I could feel the urge to walk over there and start working. Start hammering away at the glowing hot metal, slowly shaping it into an object of choice.

“Well you are more than welcome to take a look around, say what. Since you’re so fascinated with it, why don’t I show you a thing or two?”

We stayed there for the remainder of the day. Iron showed me a couple of things about smithing itself, but the thing is as he explained it, I already knew what he was talking about. It… confused me. How did I know these things? It made no sense. `Did he change something in my mind as well? `.

Remembering that I forgot something rather important I went off, over to the barracks to take a shower. I returned to overhear what I think was the end of a rather interesting conversion.

“–any progress on the disappearances?”

“No I’m afraid not, more and more just keep disappearing every day, even some of my own guards. We have scoured the entire city and found absolutely nothing, there are no signs of where any of them might have gone not even any signs of a struggle if they were taken by force.” Razor’s voice was full of despair. I can’t blame him for feeling a little down though; anyone would probably feel the same in his situation.

“It all started a little over a week ago right? Are you sure that hes got nothing to do with it? I mean he showed up at the same time. It’s too much of a –“Razor silenced him with a glare.

“Let me just stop you right there. I agree that it can’t be a coincidence but he was stuck in the hospital, unconscious for the whole week. I stopped by myself to check up on him, unless he managed to slip out of his chains and then back into them without anypony noticing it couldn’t have been him.”

They hadn’t seen me so I just pretended not to have heard anything. “So Razor, how long until I’m supposed to meet the princess?” the sun was beginning to set so it couldn’t be too long.

“She wanted to meet you in the gardens after sundown. So we still have an hour or so”

“I see. You mind if we head over there now?” it would be nice to just sit down and enjoy the quiet and think things over.

“I don’t see why not.” We said goodbye to Iron Hoof and headed towards the castle gardens.

The gardens were beautiful. It was filled with all kinds of different flowers and trees. All of them tended to and formed to create a perfect little haven. We went over to a little pond, and laid down in the grass in front of it. The cool air together with a soft wind created a relaxing ambience. It was nice to just lay there and enjoy silent beauty of nature.

I decided to break the silence after a little while. “Sorry about my little outburst earlier. It’s just that family has been a touchy subject for me. Especially now that I’m here and can’t return home.”

He picked up a small pebble and tossed it into the pond, watching the ripples slowly grow. “It’s alright. We all have our demons, some bigger than others but still.” He picked up another pebble and threw it into the pond too. The ripples were now merging. “You know, it usually gets easier if you let it out.”

I let out a long sight, as a looked up on the night sky. “So I’ve heard… so I have heard many a time. I’m not really one to open up you know. Besides, why should I? To you of all people.”

“Ponies”

“Whatever. But why should I open up? I barely know you or anyone else here for that matter.” It finally sunk in. I was really stuck here. What was I going to do now? Maybe Celestia could help me with that, or at least that’s what I hoped.

“You shouldn’t. Not to me, not now. But you should let it out, someday.” I was about to reply, but was stopped by the sounds of hoofsteps coming closer.

We got up and turned to meet whoever was coming. `Maybe it’s the princess. It’s after sundown after all` I thought, and I was right. Her multi colored mane floating in the wind as she stepped forth.

We both went down into a bow. Razor did it out of respect, me because I didn’t want him to hit me again.

Celestia lowered her head slightly before speaking. “Hello captain, Jake. I hope you have been having a good day and that you have been keeping our guest safe and out of trouble captain?”

We rose again and Razor gave the princess a salute. “Of course your highness.”

“Good. Well I believe it’s finally time for our talk Jake. Time for you to get some answers.” She changed her gaze towards Razor “Captain, leave us and make sure that we are not disturbed.”

“At once your highness.” And with that he took to the air, quickly disappearing towards the castle.

Celestia walked over to the spot by the pond where we had been relaxing and sat down beside me.

“So Jake, I know must be aching for some answers now.” She turned to me, giving me a warming smile. “So ask away. I will answer to the best of my ability.

“I thought about this earlier, what am I supposed to do now? You say that I am stuck here in this world. I heard about the problem with the dragon society, so am I just supposed to stay in the castle now or something? What will happen to me?” I felt completely and utterly lost, and I was begging that she could help me in some way.

Celestia closed her eyes and looked like she was in deep thought before answering. “You are right, it would probably be best if you stayed confined to the castle and its premises for now. You have already been seen by the public but I would like to keep that to a minimum until I can sort out the situation with the dragon society.” She continued to give me the same story that I had gotten from Razor about the dragon war and silver dragons involvement in it. I didn’t interrupt her or mention that I already knew this part; she looked so engrossed in the story. So I just sat there and listened. Unlike Razor she had more details to give, the war had apparently been started by the dragon’s greed getting the better of them and lashing out. “– if they haven’t already gotten wind of you then I need to figure out how to reveal you. The fact that you are not a `pure dragon` should make it possible to defuse the situation. Can’t keep you locked away in the castle forever now can I?”

I let out a small laugh. “Yea, it would probably be best to get that over with.” Through this whole conversation her horn had been shimmering slightly, but she looked upon me with a sad expression as the golden glow dissipated.

“I-I’m sorry about your… sister.” I froze, `WHAT`.

“What. Did. You. Say?” how could she know, no one here knew. Right now my anger was only matched by my confusion.

“I’m s-sorry about your sister… Charlotte” she looked like she was about to say something else, but I cut her off before she had the chance.

“How? How do you know about that, about her? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?!?” I was furious, how did she know. How much does she know? I was slowly walking towards her with heavy steps, I could actually see my own breath, like how it is when it’s winter and really cold. But I cared little for that, I wanted answers.

Celestia didn’t flinch even so slightly. She barely reacted too my outburst at all. “I’m sorry for intruding but I inspected your mind slightly to know if I could actually trust you and give you free passage through the castle. I did however see more than I intended to, more specifically your situation with your sister.” A single tear fell from her eye, most of my anger dissipated at the heartbroken expression that she wore. “I’m so sorry”

I wanted to be mad at her, to lash out. She had rummaged through my mind and found one of the things I never talked to anyone about. But I couldn’t, I was just empty. I just stood before her with an emotionless gaze, “What did you see?” I needed to know how much she knew.

“I saw you and your sister all alone. You were taking care of her. I stopped before I saw more but I can make assumptions about the rest.” She walked over to me and laid her head on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. She is a strong girl. She will be alright”

Once more I had an emotional breakdown with Celestia present, and started sobbing into her shoulder. “B-but I failed her. She was my responsibility. How am I just supposed to let t-that go?”

“You are not. Things that we have no power over happen whenever we like it or not, and we just have to learn to live with it. Even if you make mistakes so big that you can never forgive yourself, you have to stand strong and continue, for them and yourself. I should know that better than anyone.” She pulled back and gazed up, towards the night sky.

“W-what do you mean?” I was curious about what she meant. Up until this point I had learned very little about the mysterious princess that stood before me.

Celestia looked like she was lost in thought and it took a moment before she answered. “I don’t suppose you have heard of the tale of the mare in the moon?” I simply shook my head. I knew about the `man` in the moon but I hadn’t heard of any tales in my short stay here. “I thought as much. Well it goes as following” her horn once more shimmered In its golden glow and as she told the story small figures of light played it out in front of us.

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.

But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger sister refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.

Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom, The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of The Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.” Her tone and facial expression remained the same through the entire story, I don’t even think she noticed that she was crying.

“That is the tale of the mare in the moon. And judging by your expression I guess you understood it” of course I understood it. In the context that she told it in it would be impossible not to do so.

“What do you do then? How do you deal with it?”

She lifted a hoof to her face, to wipe away some of the tears that stained her fur. “I remain strong for her. I can never forgive myself for what I did to her, I keep thinking what if I did something differently, noticed it and tried to help her earlier. I don’t deserve to keep ruling for what I did to her but it’s because of her that I must remain. She, just as I loved her subjects very dearly. And in her absence I will watch over them. And I will continue to do so, just as I have done for the last 897 years. I have to keep strong until she returns.”

She was right. I have to keep strong, for her sake. I knew that she would be okay, a few tough years perhaps. But in the end it would be alright. “Thank you” it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off me, I thought back on everything we had been through together and a song came to mind, a song from home that I used to sing to her when she was younger and felt sad or troubled. Slowly I started singing, reminding myself of all the times we had.

During the song, Celestias horn lit up and she joined in, singing the other part, her magic linking us.

“That was beautiful. What does it mean?”

“The song is called Tir n'a Noir, and it refers to a mythical land. The song itself is about a man that has lost a loved one, and he misses her dearly. He has grown old and is dying. When he dies he `sails` to Tir n'a Noir, which is heaven to reunite with her. But I think I will call it a night princess. Thank you, for everything.” I got up and was going to start walking back to my room in the castle but Celestia stopped me.

“I know you must be tired, a lot has happened. But there is one last thing I would like of you tonight. Your presence had been requested by a very special individual. Your rest will have to wait until after this meeting.

I really wanted to brush this off and go to bed, but I guessed I owed the princess this much at least. “Alright, shall we go then?”

She led me through the castle, towards its lower levels. I tried to ask who we were meeting several times but she avoided the question every time. We had gotten to what seemed like an ordinary dusty wine cellar `well at least now I know where I need to go to get drunk since I’m not allowed outside the castle grounds.` . I was about to check out some of the bottles but stopped as a rumbling sound filled the entire room and a section of the far and wall opened up, revealing a hidden doorway.

As she led me down the hidden hallway I noticed that the walls grew wider and rougher and the roof got higher. It almost started to look more like a cave than a hallway. On the walls there were several crystals that glowed and provided a natural light to this otherwise gloomy tunnel. After a while of walking through this bland tunnel, the walls were widening and the roof was rising quite rapidly to form a gigantic grotto. In the middle I was piles of gold and jewels, but that wasn’t what had me standing there slack jawed. On top of the piles of gold was a humongous dragon. The light from the crystals was reflecting on its silver scales, creating a magnificent light show.

“This is who wanted to see you. This is Melandra, the last of the silver dragons. We managed to hide her away down here in the depths of Canterlot Mountain while the rest were being hunted.”

Melandra opened her eyes to gaze upon us, and the gentlest voice I have ever heard filled the room.

“Greetings Celestia, and to you too young Jake. I had sensed your presence and asked Celestia to bring you here to see it for myself.” She lowered her head down and stared directly at me. “It is as I thought. You have the soul of Azuros within you. I feared of what happened when they caught him. But it seems that he has found a new resting place in you” so she knew the dragon I was fused with. Maybe she also knew what was going on with this new body of mine.

“H-hello there Melandra, dragon lady. Do you mind if I ask you a couple of question?” needless to say I was more than a little scared of the behemoth that was standing in front of me.

“Not at all, young one. That is one of the reasons that I wanted to meet you. Even if the lineage of the silver dragons ends with me, you hold the essence of one and should learn what comes with your new form. So ask little one, and I will answer.”

“Well I want to know all about what being a silver dragon means, but there is one thing that I need to know right away. Earlier today it was like there was something foreign in my mind. At first it was just like a little pull. But when we were at the blacksmith and I watched him work, I knew things. I wanted to pick up a hammer and start working beside him, and I knew what I was supposed to do.” I failed to contain a yawn. “I’m not supposed to know this. How am I-” She interrupted me.

“I can understand your confusion young Jake. But there is nothing to worry about. Azuros, you see, was a one of the greatest smiths among dragons. It would seem that some of his memories are leaking through to you. You should not be surprised if you experience similar situations as the one you did at the smithy.”

“So what does that mean? That I will remember his life, as the memories bleed through?” I truly did not want a whole other life coming into my head.

“No it will not happen like that. I can still sense some of him in you, he would not pain you with the memories of his whole life, and it would drive a young mind like yours insane. But he can give you experiences that could be useful to you. A dragon’s soul is immense and he could have easily taken control when being put into your body. But he did not, he could not do that to an innocent being. His last acts of kindness.”

I had mixed feelings about this. On one hand it could be useful, learning some things the easy way. On the other it felt weird and scary that something else was affecting my mind. `No use dwelling on the things I can’t change though`. “Since I am part dragon, can I learn to breathe fire or something like that?” I had tried to do it earlier but with little success.

Melandra shifted her attention from me to Celestia, who just shrugged, `an impressive thing to do without arms I might add`. “I would have thought that you had discovered it yourself by now, since it is a thing that comes natural to all dragons. We silver dragons do not breathe fire like some of our other brethren. Instead we breathe-“she took a deep breath, and aimed it at me. An icing wind came across me; I could see the floor around me getting covered in ice and snow. But I was not faced by this at all. “We breathe cold and ice instead. It is our element and we are impervious to it. We are not as strong or agile as any of the other dragon races. Instead we silver dragons were superior in the field of magic.” Her entire body began to shine in a blinding white light. I held up my arms to prevent myself from being blinded.

When the light finally faded, she had disappeared. And in her place stood a pegasi mare with a shining silver coat, and a pure white mane. Her cutie mark was a book covered in blue flames.

“Well I think I will be joining you, it is time I left this dusty old cavern after all.” It was Melandra’s voice, but it came from…

“Melandra, is that you?” I had seen some display of magic up until this point but this was on a whole different level.

She looked at me with a smirk. “We silver dragons got a couple of nifty abilities. Now come along. Starting tomorrow, I will teach you how to be a proper dragon.

Chapter Five

“This is crazy, dragon lady. The words spewing from your mouth are insane.”

“What’s so hard about it, you already saw me doing it. You will be perfectly safe.”

We were standing on a cliff on the side of Canterlot Mountain. It was a few hundred meters of free-fall down to a rocky bottom. And she was telling me to jump.

“You already saw me do it, so do it already.” It sounded like she was getting a little irritated, not that surprising since she had been trying to convince me to take the leap for about 10 minutes now.

“You have wings in case something went wrong. I on the other hand have managed to lose mine.”

“Which is why it is so important that you learn this already. You should have nothing to worry about; it is an ability that comes naturally to us. And if it fails I am here to catch you.” She had put one of her wings against my back.

“You also said that about my frost breath, but that took a couple of days for me to learn. Not only that but you are a bit on the small side to catch me in your pony form don’t you think?” not that I doubted her or anything. I just did not quite trust her…

“My strength in this form is the same as in my natural one. And to be honest I am tired of your stalling, so here-“she stopped and immediately pushed me off the edge, sending me plummeting.

“aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” the wind was soaring past me as the ground was rapidly coming closer. I took a glance upwards, `that bitch is still standing there. ` I closed my eyes and waited for my inevitable demise.

…

…

`Nothing? ` Slowly I pried my eyes open, to see that I was still falling. The ground was approaching very, very slowly. `Holy shit. I can’t believe it worked. ` I thought as I landed softly on the ground below.

I sat there hugging the ground until Melandra landed beside me. “I hate you so much right now”

“That may be, but it was important that you learned feather fall since you don’t have your wings anymore. But you still have a to practice it a lot if you want to be able to control it correctly, it is usually just a defense mechanism in all dragons if their wings get damaged during flight, but we silver dragons took it a step further. And you need to master this step first if you want to proceed.”

“It would help on the inspiration a little if you told me what the next step is, don’t you think?” she had been overly mysterious about this since the first time she had mentioned it.

“Perhaps later little Jake.” Ooh she loved to tease. “But get up. That was only the first try. We are not stopping until you make some progress in controlling your fall.” This was going to be a long day. We kept going for a few hours, until we headed back towards Canterlot. I had made absolutely no improvement but it was time for my sparring with Razor. It has only been a week since I first met him, but I think I actually like the guy. Most of the other guards don’t really talk too much and the Castle servants still have a personal vendetta against me. `I still can’t believe that they switched out the normal silver cutlery with wooden ones yesterday just to spite me.` So Razor was one of the few buds that I had in this place. Even though, he still beats me senseless during our daily spars. `I think he takes personal enjoyment in my suffering`.

We got back around midday and Razor was waiting for us as usual at the training grounds. Melandra went off to the side to relax under the shade of one of the nearby trees.

“Alright, since you actually managed to get a hit on me last time. I thought that we should progress to armed combat” he gestured to the barracks behind him. “There is a lot of training weapons stored inside. Go and take your pick, I already have my trusty wing blades here.” I hadn’t noticed, but when I looked closed I could see that he had some sort of mechanical contraption strapped to both of his wings. It looked very delicate, with a thin blade running along the edge of the wing and gradually getting thicker towards the base. It also had multiple joints so that it would not hinder any movement.

Inside the barracks there were several beds lined up with a small chest in front of each one. I remember Razor saying that it was here that the recruits lived during their training. I made my way through towards the storage room in the back. The room was filled with all kinds of equipment. Weighted bands that looked like they were designed to be strapped around hooves, training dummies, saddles `What the hell do ponies use saddles for? It’s not like they have someone that’s riding around on them` my mind continued to ponder on this and I came up with some mental images, some really disturbing images. `Argh, why would you do that to me brain, what did I ever do to you? `. I have to ask Razor what they actually use those saddles for. I refuse to believe the things that my brain came up with. `I guess it would give them better… no just no. Don’t overthink it`.

Making my way further into the storage I found the room where they stored the training weapons, and some of their armor. My first thought when I heard training weapon was that they would be made of wood or something, but no. The swords, spears and axes were still made of normal metal, just with blunt edges. `So getting hit will still hurt like a bitch`.

I contemplated on what weapon I should choose. The sword would be a balanced choice; there were several different types of them, but none that I felt comfortable with. The axe was… no just no. I did not have good memories with that. I picked up the spear; with my height I thought it would be nice to have something with a little reach. But there was still something that felt wrong. I had an idea, but it would have to wait until I got over to Iron, later today.

So I walked out with my newly picked spear resting on my shoulder. The thing was as high as me, so I figured that it would `At least I hope` give me an edge over Razor and his little wing blades.

“So you picked a spear eh? Didn’t figure you for the type” Razor commented while nursing a black eye, a thing he did not have before I entered the barracks. I took a glance over to the shade where Melandra was relaxing, to see that she had a rather annoyed look on her face. I let out a sigh `He tried again huh?` Apparently, in her pony form Melandra is the one of the sexiest things to ever have walked this earth. Which meant Razor was constantly flirting with her. I have to give it to him though, he is persistent. Needless to say, Melandra did not return his affection and most times sent him off with a couple of bruises, or some parts frozen.

“Yea neither did I but I have planned to make something a little different with Iron later.” I got into a stance with the tip pointed downwards. “This however will have to do for now.”

He flared his wings and lowered his stance “alright then, let’s do this” he lunges towards me. I shifted both of my hands to the bottom of the spear and give a wide swing to meet his charge. He easily ducks under it and continues straight towards me. I had planned this and was going to let my swing continue a bit more before shifting and hitting him with the butt of the spear. But by the time I was going to strike he had already slammed his wing blades into me a couple of times and jumped back to avoid my strike. “Not too shabby dragon boy, but your body is not keeping up with your mind. In other words, you’re too slow.”

I knew he wanted to annoy me, and it worked. This time I went on the offensive. I rushed forward and let out a series of stabs, but he looked like he was dancing through them. I did not have a chance in hell, but honestly I did not care, I was having way too much fun to care. Razor was getting more and more aggressive; he was looking to end it. But I had one more trick that I wanted to try before he beat my scaly ass.

I purposely took a wide swing, hoping that he would take the bait. He did. After dodging the swing he leaped towards me with both of his wings folded back, ready to strike. The second he came within range I let out some of my newly learned frost breath. It wasn’t strong enough to do any harm, I could barely freeze water. But was hoping that it would make him flinch or blind him for a second or two.

I lashed out at the little frost cloud in front of me… and the spear passed right through, Razor wasn’t there. I spun around to try to find where he had gone, but found nothing, he had completely vanished. A thought struck `wait, he is a Pegasus wouldn’t that mean…above`. I looked up towards the sky and spotted a pair of hooves, that was about 2 inches from my head. He slammed into me, throwing me onto the ground.

“Not bad Jake, an interesting idea that with your little frost trick. Too bad I’m just too good.” He was standing over me with a smug look.

“Well we only started doing this about a week ago, what do you expect.” I stood up and brushed myself off. “I’ll just go put this back in storage.” I picked up the spear that I dropped when I fell before heading over towards the barracks.

I walked out of the storage after putting the weapon away and into the sleeping area, where Razor was waiting on me.

“Hey there, got your little package this morning.” He threw me the small box he had been carrying on his back. “Sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner, forgot about it”

It finally arrived. Ordering it had been a pain since I couldn’t go into town, so I had to convince Razor to do it for me. Slowly opening the package I witnessed its content in all of its glory.

Pants, three neatly folded pair of pants. Finally I could throw away these rags I had been using to cover up my lower parts.

“Thanks man, I can’t wait to change into these”

“Why wait. Put one of them on right now” he had a point. There was no reason for me to wait. I could just change right here…

“Err, could you go outside? It would be a little weird if I changed right in front of you.” I know that ponies usually just walked around naked, but Razor knew why I wore clothes.

He winked at me as a grin appearing on his face. “I’m not going anywhere little dragon boy.”

“…” I had nowhere to run, he was guarding the entrance and the storage was a dead end. Yea I was screwed.

“Awh, you haven’t gone all shy on me have you? Where is that attitude you had when you flashed me in the hospital hmm?” he was slowly walking closer, with both of his wings flared to cut off any escape.

I was backing away trying to keep my distance. “Hey, come on Razor. Let’s not do something I will regret here.” I had jumped onto one of the beds and scooted into a corner.

“What do you mean little Jakey.” He dragged one of his hooves through my hair. “I was just going to have a little… fun.” Just as those words left his mouth he fell onto his side laughing like a madman.

“You evil, little piece of shit. You scared me back there. I thought you were really serious about that.”

Razor stood up and flicked his tail into my face as he turned around. “I won’t lie to you, when you flashed me in the hospital, I liked what I saw. But I can see that you’re not into that so I decided to mess with you a little, I’ll wait for you here. Go back and change in the storeroom.”

I just left the old scraps behind as I strutted forward in my godly new black pants. It felt amazing. If I had to take a guess I would say that it was silk. “Well I thought you were into mares, of course I was surprised.” We were talking as we exited the barracks.

“Mares, stallions I’m not too picky. A hole is a hole as I use to say.” This actually explained a lot.

“Well-“ the entire ground shook, making me fall and Razor stumble before I had a chance to say anything else.

“What was that? An earthquake?” it certainly felt like one.

“No… the city is magically protected against those. That felt more like a… landing. We need to get to the front of the castle NOW.”

He immediately started pushing me towards the castle. “Hey wait up what about Melandra?” I turned my head towards the shade she had been relaxing in, only to see that she had completely disappeared. “Huh? I wonder where she went”

“Jake, I need to hurry off to check if my suspicions were true. You make your way through the castle as fast as you can and meet me at the entrance, alright?” He took off before I even had a chance to reply. Guess I should get going then.

As I was making my way through the castle I spotted something that caught my attention. One of the guards was adjusting his armor and I could see that his cutiemark was flickering; it looked like it was changing between two images. `Weird` I thought. I’ll have to ask Razor about it when I catch up with him. I ran through the halls towards the entrance, only stopping a few times to catch my breath.

When I arrived at the entrance, I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. Celestia stood just before me with Razor and a couple of guards at her sides. But what surprised me was the three humongous dragons that stood before her. The one to the left was covered in pure black scales with a grey underbelly. It had massive spikes going down his entire back and tail, with two curved horns at the side of his head. Its eyes had no pupils, just two pure red irises that had an eerie glow to them.

The one in the middle had a more slender and delicate build to it compared to the first one. It had blue scales that seemed to slightly shift between light blue almost grey coloring, to a deep ocean blue as the sun’s rays shone upon them. Unlike the first one this had a huge frill going from its head and down its entire back. Where its eyes should have been, were only two empty sockets. The moment I came into sight its head had locked onto me, it was creepy how it followed my every movement without any eyes.

The last one was not as big as the other two, but still enough to tower over me. It had a look similar to that of a Chinese dragon. Its long and slender snake like body was coiled up. Its body had a deep emerald green shine to it. On top of his head were two horns that had a striking resemblance to deer antlers. “It seems your guest has arrived, sun bringer.” He spoke with disgust in his voice as he stroked his mustache.

I had made my way over to Celestia as the three dragons kept their intense glared directed at me. “Who are they?” it was a simple question.

Celestia kept her sight on the dragons in front of us. “They are the leaders of the dragon community. Chosen through combat, it’s a simple system where the strongest rule.” She motioned to the first one. “Drex the black dragon. The youngest of the leaders.” She nodded at the snake like one. “Emeriss the sky serpent.” She shifted her gaze to the last one. “And Naloth the all-seeing, she is the oldest. She was old even before I took my first steps in this world.” I had spoken with Celestia many times over the last week, and gotten to know her a little better. While I did not know her exact age, she had implied that she was several thousand years old. I had learned that dragons also lived quite long lives, but to hear that this one put Celestia to shame was a little shocking to learn.

Drex slammed one of his front claws into the ground. “Now that we are done with the introductions, I demand that you bring forth the silver dragon we heard rumors off. All I see is a filthy little half breed.”

The green serpent sighed. “Still the simpleton aren’t you Drex, I wish you would learn to use that little brain of yours. This half breed is most likely the source of the silver dragon rumors. The locals must have mistaken him for one of them. It seems that we came here for nothing.” he puffed out a cloud of steam from his nose.

Drex growled while looking at us. “So what, let’s just kill him and be over with it then” Unconsciously I took a few steps backwards. If they decided to attack there wouldn’t be a fight, it would be a one sided slaughter.

“Why would we kill him? Simply by existing he is a disgrace to his heritage, he is not worth our time.” He uncoiled himself revealing his true size. He was over three times as long as the other dragons. “It was a waste of time to come here in the first place.” And then he took off into the sky. It looked like he was swimming through the air as he disappeared into the skies. I felt a little insulted by his words, but on the account of not being killed I could let it slide.

Drex unfolded his massive wings, lifted his head towards the sky and let out an earth shattering roar. “I could end you in the blink of an eye little worm. But he is right. By walking this earth you bring shame to the memories of the once great silver dragons.” He took to the sky after the other dragon while letting out a deep rumbling laugh, sending small shockwaves through the air with every wing stroke.

Naloth who had remained silent this whole time waited until the other dragons were out of sight before speaking. “I must apologize on the behalf on my lesser brethren. But I could not allow myself to appear weak before them.” she poked my weakly on my chest with the end of her tail. “But you are not one of the mixed ones are you? No, I sense the presence of another being from inside of you. Not born but created… yes.” She shifted her gaze to Celestia. “And it is good meet you again, light bringer.”

Celestia bowed slightly “and you too Naloth. It pleases me, that this was resolved without any bloodshed. “

“And so am I.” gently she spread her wings and with one stroke she left the ground. She turned back to us and looked at me. “Give my regards to Melandra, young one.” Then she disappeared into the sky.

“Wait… but she… what?” my mind was racing to come up with some sort of explanation for what had just happened.

“Let it go Jake. Naloth is an old friend of mine from before the war. She remained neutral during it, so she would not endanger her own kind. The fact that she knows that Melandra is in hiding here does not surprise me.” Celestia said. “Oh and I believe that you are free to travel the city now should you so choose.” She was right; there was no reason for me to stay confined to the castle anymore. The exploring would have to wait tough. I had plans for the rest of the day. `Maybe tomorrow` I thought.

“Alright, I’m glad that is finally over. I’m heading over to the forge, want to join me Razor?” I had been working with Iron every day, it was a nice way to kill some time and make a little coin while doing so.

“Yea I’ll join you. Say you owe me some bits for that order I made for ya. About 15 bits I think it was.”

I scratched the back of my head while letting out a nervous laugh “yea about that… I’m sorta broke right now, so I’m going to have to pay you back later.”

“What do you mean you’re broke? You have been stuck to the castle ground up until now, you haven’t been eating your bits again have you?” he snapped back at me.

“What, no that was just the one time.” `Bits taste like shit anyway` “I have been using them on… stuff.”

“…alright, just pay me back when ya can then.”

The rest of the way over to the forge went rather quietly, but I couldn’t help but think that I had forgotten something.

*********************

Princess Celestia was having another stressful day. She had been dealing with nobles and their little problems and meaningless squabbles, sometimes she was tempted to just banish them all to the sun, ooh how tempting it was on a day like this. But that had not been the end of it. The disappearances were not just taking place in Canterlot anymore. While the number had gone down, the fact that she had to spread her guard to cover all bases was making her nervous. Even if they covered a wide area, none of the places had enough to make a proper investigation.

She was currently making her way out of the castle and towards the smithy to deal with another problem that had newly arrived. As she got closer she could hear the telltale sound of him working, his hammer meeting metal.

The rough looking earth pony looked up from his work as he noticed that he had a visitor.

“Evening princess” He said as he gave her a small bow. “What can I do for ya?”

“It’s good to see you too Iron. Are you working alone today?”

Iron put down his hammer and stepped back from his anvil. “Nah, was working with Jake earlier, in fact you just missed him. When he arrived earlier he had some interesting ideas. He had been training with Captain Dash and wanted to make himself a training weapon, something that we did not have in store already. A glaive i think he called it, he told me about it and drew me a rough sketch. It’s sort of like a spear but with more emphasis on cutting. It’s an interesting idea, and I think I have seen the griffins use something similar. But I am sure you did not come down here to listen to me ramble. Anything specific I can do for ya?”

The princess nodded. “Actually there is. I am sure you know about the recent disappearances.”

“Yeh I do. What about them?”

“Well the most recent is in a newly formed settlement called Ponyville. It was their local blacksmith that disappeared. They have requested some guards to make the villagers feel safe and protect them from whatever that is taking ponies. The village was founded not too long ago, and is still in the early stages so they so sorely need a new blacksmith. It would help if we could send one along with the guards to help them. You wouldn’t happen to know one that you could recommend?”

Iron sat down and thought about this for a few moments. “Yea, I have the perfect one for the job. Came along not too long ago, and he’s got no ties to prevent him from leaving.”

Celestia was slightly confused at the start but quickly caught on. “Jake? Are you sure he could handle it?” she was very skeptic to this suggestion. Jake had only been here a little over a week. While he had shown himself to be trustworthy, he was still recovering.

“Well, I think so. I have had him working with me here at the smithy every day. While his physical condition is still a little poor, he has been steadily improving. But what’s most surprising, is his smithing abilities. When he started a week ago he knew next to nothing, but the speed at which he learned. I have never seen anything like it. Give me another two weeks and I'll have him ready for ya Princess.” This was a close to perfect situation. Having Jake stay at the castle was never a permanent solution, and now an opportunity had showed itself.

Celestia sighed in relief. With all the problems that had occurred recently it was good to see something going the right way. “Very well Iron. You have two weeks to get him ready for this.”

The smith gave a small bow as the princess left for the castle.

*********************

The night was slowly approaching as the sun hung low in the sky. I had finished up at the forge and left. I was heading towards one of the less visited parts of the Royal gardens, the same place that I went every evening.

I went past the royal gardens and into the darker forest behind it. The sun’s light barely made it through the thick roof that the tree tops made. I could hear the occasional bird chirping as I made my way deeper and deeper into the dark forest.

I had made my way to the other side of a little pond. It had taken some work to set up but it was something that had to be done. Before me stood three roughly cut stones that were supposed to represent gravestones. I had carved them out myself, I had done the writing on them in my language so that any accidental visitors would not understand it.

Remi kjære bror

the first one was dedicated to my dear brother. every day i miss him so, he was taken from our world far too early.

Cassandra elskede mor

the second one was for my mother. She was always so loving and protecting of every one of us, up until the very end.

The third gravestone was almost completely destroyed. There were bits of words and letters on some of the pieces but it was completely unreadable. My father did not deserve to be remembered, i despise him with every fiber of my being, it was his fault after all and he deserved what he got. i stayed there for a while, after everything that had happened recently, talking to them felt good. it was something i needed.

Some people may think that talking to the dead is a silly notion but it gives me peace. I had just exited the forest and was headed towards a little house that was at the edge of the forest, not too far from here. It was here I had been spending all my bits. After 5 minutes I could see the house in the distance. It was a two story building that had seen better days. But despite its looks it was a sturdy and happy home to a lot of small hooves. Ever since I had discovered this building I had come here at every opportunity I had, I just loved the looks at the small ones faces when I told them stories or when we would just mess around.

I knocked on the door and waited as I could hear somepony shuffling on the other side. The door opened to reveal an elderly yellow mare with a soft blue mane.

“Why hello there Jake. Back to visit so soon?” Tender Heart her name was, it fit her well.

“And a good evening to you too miss Heart. Are the small ones here?” She was running the Canterlot orphanage. It was well taken care off, with Celestia providing them all with everything they could need. When I first stumbled upon it, I was a little surprised to find an orphanage on the castle grounds. But I quickly realized why Celestia would place it here than down in the city. Here the children had lots of open space to run around and play; they even had free access to the castle.

“Yes they are. I was just going to put them to sleep.” She waved me in. “They are all upstairs, go on. Their bedtime can wait a little while.” I thanked her and headed up the stairs. I could hear giggles and quiet voices coming from the second room to the right. The door was slightly open and I could see them all sitting on a carpet in the middle playing. Since they hadn’t spotted me yet, I decided to have a little fun, scare them a little if possible. I took a deep breath and slowly started blowing mist into the room. It was a neat little trick I learned while learning how to breathe ice and frost.

“Ah. Hey what’s going on?” `They finally noticed huh` I thought. They had been so focused on whatever they were doing so when they noticed it a thick mist had already filled the room.

Quietly humming the Jaws theme music to myself, I entered the room. The little fillies and colts had been alerted by my humming and had huddled together in the middle of the room. As gracefully as drunken rhino with pogo stick prosthetics I snuck closer to my very suspecting prey.

I rose to my full height and was about to jump forth, but stopped as a very familiar battle cry came from benign me.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH” I spun around just in time for a little pink fluff ball to assault my face. I grabbed hold of her as I fell to the floor and pretended to be in a struggle. The mist disappeared swiftly and the other foals did not have to wait long to see who had sneaked into their room.

“JAKE” They gave a collective shout, and rushed over to where I was laying with a smug looking filly sitting on my head.

“Hey there, you little rascals. Flora you mind getting off?” I asked the one that was currently using my head as a chair.

“Hmmm, no. I like it up here. It’s comfy.” I could feel her digging her hoofs into my hair.

“Well tough luck” I said as I raised myself up into a sitting position, resulting in a little yelp as she tumbled down my back. She looked a little disgruntled but she would get over it.

“So what were you kids doing before I got here?” most of the foals were now sitting in something that could vaguely resemble a circle around me.

“We were drawing” a little blue colt said very enthusiastically as he held forth a piece of paper with what I assumed was his drawing on it.

“Hey that’s nice. Did you do anything else fun today?” I said as I handed back the drawing.

“Yea, we were playing hide and seek in the castle. Haute Cuisine decided to hide in the kitchen and he got his cutiemark when some of the chefs allowed him to help them cook.” I could see the mark of a kitchen knife and a spatula crossing on the little blue colts flank. `I still can’t get over their names though. He has Cuisine in his name. It would be a crime if his talent was anything other than cooking` I thought to myself.

Flora had gotten a pack of cards and was now sitting in front of me. ” You wanna play Jake?”

“Sorry kiddo, not tonight. You cleaned me out yesterday and I’m still broke so...” Teaching her poker was a big mistake. She was a natural; she played with the other kids as well, for candy and such. But she had managed to take my money on every opportunity she had. “No I’m here tonight to hear if you kids want to see something really funny tomorrow.”

I got a bunch of nods and some “yea” in reply. We had been pranking around a lot this past week. Messing with guards and doing all kinds of fun. Flora had dared me to steal Celestia’s crown and eat it, still working on that one.

“You know about the griffins that are staying at the castle?”

“Yea they are really grumpy.”

“Well they are supposed to have a meeting with Princess Celestia tomorrow. Wouldn’t it be fun if the griffins started to act really silly during that meeting? I can picture them laughing, dancing on the tables. Who knows, they might even start a little fight” I was everything but a good influence on the foals, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“And how are you supposed to make that happen?” ah yes. Hammer, our little skeptic.

I gave them a sly little grin. “I have my ways. Just make sure to be in the castle around midday tomorrow and you will see it” I took a look out the window to see that the night was already upon us. “But I think it is time for you to go to sleep soon, so I will take my leave.”

Midnight Blossom, a really deep dark blue Pegasus filly came and sat down before me. “B-but won’t you tell us a story” she said as she looked up to me with those big eyes and the most adorable look possible. I could feel my will to resist… going… going… gone.

I sighed “alright, I guess I can spare the time for a little story. Gather around little ones, and let me tell you the story about the weeping angels.”

After a little while most of the foals had climbed up into their beds as I continued my story. I created a little mist for ambiance as the story neared its end.

“- so remember. They can be anywhere, and if you see one of them. Don’t look away, don’t even blink. If you do, they’ll get you”. I switched to an overly cheery voice. “See you tomorrow kids” I closed the door behind me.

I had found out that Celestia had the same problem as I do with alcohol, apparently dragons and Alicorn’s both have an insane resistance to it. She however, had some specially brewed wine which was perfect for both me and her if we wanted to get drunk without having to drink an entire bar, and this is where my plan for tomorrow came into play.

Celestia serves food along with wine at the meeting they are having tomorrow, so I just have to switch the normal wine with the supercharged one to get the griffins smashed. Hopefully that will spice things up a little.

I was heading down into the wine cellar to do just that. `Tomorrow is going to be a blast` I thought to myself as I ventured down into the dark halls of the castle.

*********************

A lone guard was walking through Canterlot castle .The sound of his hoofsteps echoing through the empty halls as he continued along. He couldn’t believe that he had been spotted while adjusting his armor, nothing a simple mind-altering spell couldn’t fix. But what was surprising was the individual that had seen him. Even if he had been covered in scales and grown a tail he recognized him. “Subject 217” he muttered under his breath.

He picked up his pace as he trotted out towards the city. There was work that needed to be done.

Author's Notes:

Alright i have made come changed to this chapter. i Realized i jumped around a little to much and have tried to clean it up a bit. hope it turned out better than it was.

Chapter Six

Screaming, they were always screaming. I was lying in my bed clutching my head, why wouldn’t they leave me alone. The dreams… or rather nightmares had started just a few days ago. I had told Celestia what I remembered from the lab where I was kept captive for so long, but the truth is that most of it is still a blur to me. But now, every time I closed my eyes I could see myself back in that cage, surrounded by screaming and pleas for mercy.

As I readied myself to get out of bed I did the same thing I always did. I put on the same fake smile I had worn for so many years, `Fake it till you make it` I thought to myself. As I got out of bed and went into the bathroom I cast those thoughts aside tough. No reason to dwell on the past, I had made plans for today and I was going to enjoy them.

Yesterday’s preparations had been executed perfectly. I had gone down to the wine Cellar and switched out the normal wine they were supposed to serve at the meeting with the supercharged one. Now I just had a little time to kill before all hell would hopefully break loose.

I was standing in my room; a cool breeze flew past me as I was sitting in the opened window, leaning against the side of it while enjoying the warmth of the early sun. Looking out I could spot several pegasi soaring through the sky, and some just resting on nearby clouds. As I watched them fly about an idea came to mind. I had seen Melandra stand on and interact with clouds as well in her pegasi form… maybe I could too? There’s only one way to find out. But if I was going to get onto a cloud I needed to get a little higher. I jumped down from my window and headed towards one of the castles many towers.

“For the last time. Leave. Me. Alone” I had hoped to get through the castle without any delays. I wanted to test my little cloud theory as fast as possible. No such luck though. Professor Strings had spotted me and once more decided to try to get some information out of me. I had accidentally mentioned that I wasn’t from this world, after that he had been trying to extort me for info at every opportunity he had.

“But you have the knowledge of an entirely different civilization. The possibilities and things we could learn from you are endless.” Needless to say, I did not care much for the Professor and I had no intention of telling him anything.

“Don’t wanna.” I picked up the pace, trying to lose him. But ponies in general are rather good runners, so he caught up with me rather easily.

“Don’t be like that. I have caught you telling those Orphans stories about yourself and your people and their history. So why won’t you talk to me, I am a highly educated professor that specializes in foreign and extinct civilization’s.” it was true, they could probably benefit from some of the knowledge I had from Human civilization and culture. And if it was Celestia or anyone else asking I might even have told them. But I really did not like old Professor Strings here, he was way too annoying, and in a way he reminded me of someone that I hated intensely.

“Simple. I don’t like you.” I decided to cut our conversation short and used my tail to grab a hold of one of his legs, causing him to trip. `And who says that you can’t run from your problems? ` I thought as I reached the stairs leading up to my destination.

“Stairs.” Huff “so many stairs. Somepony really” wheeze “needs to invent a magic elevator” pant “or some sort of teleportation device” I had finally made it to the top of the tower. The climb had drained me of all the energy I had, and a little more. So I was currently lying on the floor trying to regain my breath and silently cursing the pony that invented stairs, `may he burn for all eternity`.

It took me awhile, but I finally managed to make my way over to one of the windows in an upright state. I opened the window to see a sight that was beyond majestic. I could see clouds covering the tops of the mountains in the horizon. Several forests that stretched themselves across the beautiful landscape. Streams and rivers snaked themselves across the land, separating and reconnecting at many points. I could even spot a small village close to the border of one of the darker forests. A somber thought struck as I witnessed the true untouched beauty of nature, `I wish you were here to see this`. It was a thought that had come up several times, but she would be better off back in her world.

I lost track of time as I stood there. I really hadn’t had any time in Equestria so far when I could just enjoy the silence like this. Or if I had, I hadn’t appreciated them. `This really is a beautiful land `. But my sense of serenity could only last for so long.

I had come here with something specific in mind, to try something new. I looked out of the window and spotted a cloud just ten to fifteen meters below, but what caught my attention was another cloud that was just below the first one. On that very cloud, there was a particular dragon in disguise. It was a little hard to see at this distance but if I had to take a guess, I would say that she was sleeping. I looked down to the cloud that was closest to me `time to see if this works` I thought as I readied myself.

I let myself simply drop out of the window, the cloud I was aiming for was fairly close to the wall and I would have missed it if I had overshot my jump. As the cloud was rapidly getting closer I took this opportunity to try to improve my feather fall, it was a good a moment as any. Remembering what Melandra had told me I imagined that the ground was much closer than it actually was. I could actually feel myself slowing down, it was only barely but I had actually managed it.

Even though I managed to slow my fall slightly I still collided with the cloud at a fairly high speed. Honestly I did not have too much faith in that this plan of mine would work, but the resistance I felt when I collided with the cloud proved me wrong.

My soft and white landing pad bounced me up again after I collided with it. Apparently clouds are white fluffy little trampolines in disguise. When I fell down again I landed softly on the cloud, I could feel the cloud softly embrace me as I sank a few inches into it. Its softness was unbelievable; I absolutely had to replace my bed with one of these. Crawling over to the edge and looking over it I spotted my intended target. Melandra was still sleeping on the cloud below, `I think it’s time for me to drop in`.

I jumped off and tried to aim for the spot next to her. Being a dragon I doubt that it would hurt her if I landed on her, even if she is in her pegasi form. But you don’t underestimate the surprise reaction of a being that powerful. I landed with a soft thump beside her. Surprisingly she didn’t wake up from that, she just rolled over to her side and continued her travels through the marvelous dream world. `Now what? ` I thought. I hadn’t really planned to do anything when I got down here; she looked so cute and peaceful in her sleep. I almost decided not to disturb her, but I was a little bored and I still had some hours to kill before the meeting would start. I contemplated on how to wake her but decided to go with an easy approach.

I sat down in front of her and started to gently poke her. “Hey Melandra, wake up” but when I got absolutely no response I decided to pick it up a notch. I added my tail to the mix and started to poke and tickle her all over. When I got to her cutiemark I got a response. Hey eyes bolted open as she gasped, but before I had a chance to say or do anything else I received a hoof to the jaw, effectively knocking me back.

“Jake” her voice was dripping with venom. “What do you think you are doing?”

“I just wanted to see if I could walk on clouds” I held my jaw, talking hurt. “Turns out, I can”

“And you decided to feel me up in the process?”

“What? NO. I just wanted to wake you up, and might have decided that poking and tickling you were the way to go. I certainly didn’t ‘feel you up’. “I was getting a little confused at this point.

“Well you did rub my cutiemark did you not?” I was just giving her a questioning stare. “You don’t know what that means do you?” I shook my head to imply that I did not. She let out a sigh “A ponies cutiemark can also serve as a pleasure spot of sorts. Therefore touching one is highly rude, unless you are with a preferred partner of course.”

“I-I’m sorry I really did not mean to do that. I’m not into ponies that way.” I failed to suppress a shudder. I know that ponies are the main inhabitants of Equestria so I had to get over my sexual view of them at some point, `not going to be anytime soon tough`.

“Really? Well it’s your choice. But did you have a reason to wake me from my slumber?” she raised her flank into the air and stretched in a very catlike manner while yawning.

“Yea, I was bored and wanted someone to talk to…”

“…that’s it?”

“That’s it. I got a couple of hours to waste before things get fun around here. Oh and before I forget, the blind while at the same time not so blind blue dragon told me to say hi.” I could not remember her name; it had been escaping me all morning.

“You mean Naloth? Well that’s nice. So what’s this ‘fun’ that’s going to happen in a couple for hours?”

“That’s nice, that’s all you have to say… really?” she had finished stretching and had laid back down and was looking down over the edge of the cloud

“What? It’s not like we are friends or something, old acquaintances’ at most.”

“Whatever. The fun I am talking about may involve the griffins Celestia is having a meeting with today. And I may have switched out the normal wine with the super charged one.” I sat down beside Melandra and let my legs dangle off the edge while letting out a little chuckle.

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Really? You know what week it is right?” I was a bit perplexed by this; it seemed like a really random thing to ask.

“No I do not. I know that its fall but that’s about it. Why? Is there anything special about this week?”

“…No not really, but you were right. This day is going to be amusing after all.” I knew that she was hiding something from me. Did I care enough to inquire further about it? No.

We sat there for a little while in silence before I spoke again.

“So Melly-“

She cut me off “it’s Melandra to you.”

“Alright Melandra do you think you can teach me that transformation trick? It seems really neat, and it could be somewhat useful as well.”

She stared off into the horizon for a moment before answering. “I should be able to teach it to you, yes. But it is not as simple as you may perceive it.” Her body started shining in a brilliant light, not as bright as compared to when she did it back in the cave, but still really bright. Once the light dissipated the Silver coated pegasi was gone but in her place was now what looked like one of the castle maids, with uniform and all.

She brought her hoof to her mouth and laughed. “Don’t look so confused, it’s still me Jake. This transformation magic is only limited to your imagination should you master it. The only downside is that it takes more energy the more it differs from your original form.” Even her voice had changed. “Go on give it a go. Just imagine yourself being outside your body, and then you shape it into whatever you desire.”

This was beyond what I had imagined. I thought that she could only change into that one form of hers, but the possibilities that this magic opened would be endless. I can’t think of any at the moment but I’m sure there were some.

I did as she said. I closed my eyes and imagined myself outside and looking down on my own body. I reached out and began to mold the body, my body into what I had in mind. Since it was the first time I attempted something like this, I decided to try to go with somepony I already knew instead of creating something from scratch. It was like clay in my imaginary hands as I worked, it took a little longer than I had anticipated but after what I think was about 5 minutes I was finished. I could definitely feel that there was something different but at the same time it felt oddly familiar.

Slowly I opened my eyes to lay witness to this new body of mine. But my enthusiasm quickly disappeared as I saw my ordinary scaly arms. I twisted my upper body to get a proper look at myself, only to discover that nothing had changed. “Well that’s a bu-“ I quickly slapped both of my hands over my mouth. `Unbelievable` I thought. The change had apparently only worked partially, I sounded exactly like Celestia.

Melandra had changed back into her original Pegasi form when I was concentrating. “Now that is something surprising, you only got the voice part down. It was a good idea though; using the image of another is easier instead of creating one yourself. Continue to practice and I am sure that you will get it eventually.”

“Alright then, err how do I change my voice back to normal?” i said, still sounding exactly like Celestia.

“That is the easy part. You just do the same thing as before but instead of imagining a different body you just think of yourself.” Once again I closed my eyes and did exactly as she said.

“Well that was interesting to say the least. But I think I will leave you to do… whatever it is you do when I’m not around.” I jumped off the edge of the cloud. “See ya later” I yelled back as I fell towards the ground. I still had about an hour left until the meeting was supposed to take place, but with this new voice trick; passing the time was going to be the least of my problems.

I was walking towards the room that the meeting was taking place in. It had started just a little while ago and could not wait to see what was going to happen. I had met up with Razor who had joined me as I walked towards my destination.

“For some reason I don’t believe that you had nothing to do with it”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that your guards are about as competent as a piece of stale bread.” Razor had a little while ago witnessed several of his guards, dancing ballet in the training grounds. When he had asked them what the hell they were doing, they had given him some weird looks and said that he had ordered them to dance there until sundown. Obviously he suspected that I had something to do with it. I was of course guilty as charged, while I had only had the ability to change voices for about an hour, it had been hilarious.

“I have no idea how you did it, but I know that it was you. But on to other matters, you want to go grab a drink or two later tonight?” he asked.

“Yea I could go for a drink, you’re buying though.” I was still broke so there wasn’t any other option.

“Alright, I guess I can take this one. But if I’m buying then we are bringing some of that specially brewed wine. The last thing I need is you drinking up my entire salary.” We both shared a laugh at that one, mostly because it was true.

“That’s fine with me, means I don’t have to drink as much to get smashed.” I wasn’t really planning to get completely wasted, but it usually happens whenever I like it or not.

Both of us stopped as we heard some screaming noises coming from down the hall. I think Razor was going to comment on it, but he was interrupted by the three griffins that were tumbling down the hall while screaming for their life. `Dam did I miss it? The meeting must have started earlier than I thought`.

Razor didn’t even try to stop them as they ran past us, and while most of what I overheard them say was absolute nonsense I picked up something about the pink horror `whatever that is`.

“Wow, I can’t believe that I missed that.” nice going brain, just blurt that out right in front of the captain of the guard.

The earlier humorous look on his face was now replaced with one of pure anger; one of his eyes was even twitching. “What did you do”? He stood up on his hind legs and pushed me against the wall. “Can’t you just go one day without messing something up? Now tell me, what you did” his voice had calmed down as he pushed off me and got down on all four again.

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head. “Well, I may have attempted to make the meeting a bit more interesting. So I switched out the normal wine they were supposed to serve with the special, super strong one.” the look on the Razors face switched to one filled with terror.

“Y-you d-did what? Don’t you know what week it is? Oh no, this is bad, this is very bad.” He took to the air and shot off down the hall, leaving me standing there clueless on what was actually going on.

I started running after him, he had mentioned the same thing as Melandra had. `What is it about this week that’s so special, and how come I don’t know anything about it? ` I thought as I desperately tried to catch up with the speeding Pegasus in front of me. I had next to no chance of keeping up with a flying Pegasus and lost sight of him rather quickly.

Even though I had been here for a little over a week, I had no idea how to properly navigate this place; it was like a God dam maze. I remembered where the meeting had taken place but that was the last place I wanted to go to right now. With all the mess I had apparently made I did not want to bump into Celestia just yet, `I think I will let things calm down a little first`. By some miracle I managed to find Razor after a little while, He had a frantic look on his face as he was giving orders to a small group of guards.

“We got a code pink on our hooves here, a code pink. You all remember the protocol; get every civilian out of the castle immediately before you seal off all exits. No one leaves or enters this castle until it has been dealt with.” He noticed me and shot a death glare in my direction. “And move quickly, we have no idea how much time we have. Give all other guards you come across the same message, this is top priority and they are to drop whatever they are currently doing, UNDERSTOOD?” The group Responded with a traditional “Sir, yes sir” before taking off in all directions.

Razor walked over to me and poked me in the chest. “You, you are coming with me. You caused this and as much as I would love to lock you up right now you are technically a civilian and I need to get you out right now”. I was beyond confused at this point.

“What’s going on here? I just spiked a couple of drinks but you are all behaving like it is some sort of catastrophe. What is actually going on Razor? And why do all the Civilians need to leave? Can’t I help in some way?” I didn’t really want to help, but it was kind of my fault so I guess I should do something.

Razor paused for a second, but shook his head. “No, no way. The garden entrance is the closest lets go.” The bastard still would not say what was going on and it was getting really annoying.

We were getting closer to the entrance, just a few more turns and we would be by the exit. I had tried to get Razor to reveal what was going on but he had avoided the question at every opportunity.

We rounded the second last corner before we would get the exit, but as soon as we cleared it Razor stopped dead in his tracks. He just stood there with wide eyes staring straight at… Celestia.

However something seemed off about her. She wore none of her usual royal jewelry, no crown or anything. Her normally vibrant hair was now a few shades darker than it would normally be, and her pristine white coat had turned slightly pinkish. But the biggest difference, the thing that made my scaly skin crawl, was the look she had on her face. She had the biggest grin I have ever seen and the moment I came into view her eyes had locked onto me and her pupils had shrunk to the size of pinpricks. She licked her lips and slowly started trotting towards us with the same hungry look in her eyes.

“Run...” Razor had finally gotten a hold of himself. “She is coming after you, RUN.” He didn’t have to tell me thrice. “I’ll meet up with you later, but for now I shall stall her for as long as I can.” I immediately turned and started running back the way we came.

`Exhausted`. I had ran as far as I could, and had collapsed in the kitchen. I was trying to catch my breath and figure out what the fuck was going on. Why did the princess freak Razor out that much when he saw her, and what was with that hungry look in her eyes. I sat there, nibbling on some of the kitchen knives as a playful laugher echoed through the castle.

Just as the laugher ceased a voice took its place, it sounded like Celestia “Jaaaaake, oh little Jaaaake. Why do you run? All I want is a little fun”. Once again the castle was filled with laugher. “But don’t you worry, I will fiiiiind you… eventually.”

`Oh shit`. I thought as I finished eating the knife and started looking for a better hiding spot.

After a while I came across two guards that had finished sealing the castle, hopefully I could actually get some answers out of them. I waved to them as I got closer “Hey there guys, any of you mind telling me what’s going on here?”

The one to the left turned his head towards me, I can’t really tell them apart. They must have some sort of cloning program with all of them looking like that. “You mean you don’t know? We are under a code pink; the princess is to be avoided at all costs”

“I see, and let’s pretend that I don’t know what this… code pink is” why couldn’t anypony just say it.

The other guard took this chance to speak up “a code pink is initiated if the Princess ingests any strong alcohol during this particular week. Somepony must have tricked her because she would never have done that willingly.”

`Ooh fuck` I thought. “And what is so special about this week?” Might as well find out how badly I had fucked up.

“Everypony in the castle knows this; it’s the time of the year that Princess Celestia goes into estrus. While this normally increases certain emotions, the Princess goes wild if she drinks any hard alcohol. They had a certain nickname for her in the past, I don’t quite remember what is was but I think it started with an M.”

“Right” I had no idea of what estrus meant. I could vaguely remember something from biology class but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“Molestia I think it was.”

And there it came back to me. I remembered what estrus was, and I realized what Celestia wanted me for, I shuddered at the thought. While these ponies are cute in their own way, I’m not into them, not in that way at least. It just seemed… wrong.

The two guards said that they knew of a good hiding spot, where we could hide while we waited for things to calm down. Having no better option at hand I decided to join them. we were headed towards an abandoned part of the dungeon, but as we made our way down to the lower levels of the castle we encountered the very thing we were trying to avoid, Princess Celestia.

“Why hello there Jake, I’ve been looking for you. Captain Dash was fun for a little while but you, you are something entirely new.” She fluttered her wings and licked her lips again. “And I just love to try new things, mmmh”

`Oh hell no` I thought as I took a deep breath and filled the entire corridor in front of me with a thick mist. I wasted no time and bolted with the two guards in the opposite direction. But I only made it so far; one of guards that I was running with suddenly turned and tackled me to the ground.

“Hey, what the hell man.” I screamed as I struggled against him. The other guard trotted up to us and simply looked down on me with a neutral expression.

“I’m sorry, but both of us have a wife and foals at home. It’s you she is after, and if she gets you she will leave us alone. You have to take this one for the team.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; the bastards were just going to give me to her, like some sort of offering. I tried to get loose from his grasp but to no avail, he had me pinned down good.

“Let me go you fuckers. Aren’t you supposed to you know; protect and serve.”

“Hush you. Who knows, you might even enjoy it. Rumors say that she has a tendency to be a little rough though.” He stopped and gave a bow to the now Princess who was now slowly trotting towards us. “Your highness, we have captured this Jake you were chasing. Would you like to take him into your custody?”

“You backstabbing bastard, when I get lose you-“ I was cut off as the princesses tail snaked its way around my body, lifting me up, it even covered my mouth leaving me unable to speak.

“Mm yes I will take care of him now, you have my thanks.” I could see that she leaned close to him and gave him a small kiss. “I might have to reward you two later. But now I think I will go and enjoy my new toy.” She started trotting with a slight spring in her step while holding me wrapped up in her tail.

I had managed to get my upper body free after a while, so she was now dragging me along after my legs while I had my claws scraping along the floor desperately trying to grab hold of something.

“Let me go, you are not in your right mind. This is wrong and you know it.” I was trying to convince her to let me go. I knew that it was a long shot but I couldn’t just give up.

“Who cares if I’m a little tipsy? Besides, I am the princess; I make the laws and I decide what’s right and wrong. And I see nothing wrong with what’s going on here. We are just going to have a little fun.” She picked up the pace a little. “Ooh look there it is; my personal chambers. I hope you are ready.”

Panic set in as she dragged me closer and closer. I dug my claws into the floor, making small lines in the stone as she dragged me along. The doors were getting closer, her horn lit up as she opened them to reveal the inside.

I let out an incredibly girly scream as she dragged me inside and slammed the doors shut. I could only hope that it would not take too long for her to snap out of it, because there was no one coming to my rescue…

Author's Notes:

Just a headsup for the next chapter. I will not write any clop, if you were hoping for it, im sorry to disappoint. and if you werent, then you got nothing to fear.

Chapter Seven

“You know that she was not herself. She could not control what happened” Razor was following me as I was heading out towards the smithy to do some work.

“I know, but I can’t just forget what happened. Now leave me alone I have work to do.” It had been a few days since it had happened. Razor was trying to convince me to talk to Celestia, but I couldn’t. I refused to even look at her after what she did.

“It’s not just her fault you know, this would never have happened if you hadn’t switched the drinks.” That was the last straw.

I was fuming with rage at this point “So this is my fault huh? How the fuck was I supposed to know. I’m fairly new to this fucked up world, and you just expect me to know how things work around here.”

Razor was slightly stunned by my outburst and just stood there with his mouth open for a few moments before collecting himself. “I’m sorry, but I-” I cut off.

“No… just no. I don’t want your apology. Just leave me alone.” I continued walking towards my destination, leaving Razor behind. I wasn’t really mad at him; I just couldn’t stand how he defended her. After what had happened I simply needed someone `or somepony in this case` to blame.

When I reached the smithy, I noticed something unusual. Instead of Iron Hoof, I was met by Melandra in her pony form. She was sitting by the anvil with a large book on the table beside her; the thing was even bigger than me.

“Hello there Jake.” she said as she stood up. “How are you?”

“You know how I am. And where is Iron? I am supposed to work today.” I was just as mad at Melandra, maybe even more. Unlike Razor she knew about what would happen before it did, and she decided not to stop it.

“Iron lent me his forge today; I’ve got something important to teach you.” She turned to the huge book and began sifting through the pages.

“Then I’ll just take my leave.” I turned around to leave but in the blink of an eye Melandra was in front of me, with an annoyed expression.

“Are you still mad? Get over it already, most ponies would kill to have what you had with the Princess.”

Every breath I took sent small clouds of cold steam out, and the temperature in the close vicinity dropped several degrees. “So you are saying that I should have just enjoyed it, huh? She raped me, and you are all acting like it’s nothing. Worst of all is you; you knew that this would happen. But still you decided to do nothing. No, you even said that it might be amusing. What kind of a sick fuck are you?” Melandra’s expression dropped as soon as I said this, now she looked genuinely sad.

“… You are right, I am sorry. I had never thought that you would be caught up in it; you were supposed to be evacuated like the rest of the civilians.” She sat down and simply stared up into the sky. “Even if you did not get out, the guards are supposed to keep her busy until it wears off. There was never supposed to be any risk to you. ” this caught my attention.

“W-wait, you are saying that the guards were to keep her occupied” I started laughing, this was beyond messed up. “Two of those guards were the ones who gave me to her. They said that if she got me then they could go free.”

Melandra looked a little shocked by this “Have you told Captain Dash about this? What those two guards did is more than enough to get them kicked form the royal guard.”

“I would have but I have no idea who they are. Most of the guards look identical anyway.” It’s like Celestia had some sort of Cloning program set up.

“No but you did hear their voices did you not?” she had a point, why hadn’t I thought of that.

“Yes I did. Do you think that is enough to get them?” I hadn’t really thought about turning them in.

“It should be. You could just have Razor gather some of the guards so that you can point them out based on their voice. Or you could simply copy their voices and see if he recognizes them. “Now there was an idea I could get behind. I had been practicing my little voice trick. If I could remember it, I could copy it.

“Sounds like a plan to me. But on to the matter at hand, what were you going to teach me?” I decided to forgive Melandra; she had no intentions of harming me in any way. I’ll have to apologize to Razor too the next time I see him.

“Why don’t you come inside” she motioned to the smithy. “I got something to show you”

We walked over to the table where the humongous book was. “This is the Draconicon for the silver dragons. This book contains everything about us and more. It has belonged to many great dragons in the past, every one of them adding their own knowledge to it so that it may be passed on. Today I will teach you something that your other half added to it, the lost secret of enchanting.”

I could feel my excitement rising. Enchanting, if it were anything like it was on the video games back home, would be awesome. I also wanted to take a look at some of the other things in that book, but as I reached for it Melandra slapped my hand away.

“Not yet young one. I will allow you to read the section about enchanting but nothing more, not yet anyway. And you are under no circumstances allowed to tell anyone about what you read in this book” she said as she flipped the pages to find what she was looking for. “Do you know anything about enchanting?”

“Isn’t it about making magic items or something like that?” Melandra looked like I had just insulted her and let out a long sigh.

“If you want to oversimplify it, then yes. Let me explain it for you. Gems, as most know, are capable of storing magic for different uses. The ponies have used them for their own method of enchanting. They insert the gems in whatever they wish to enchant, like jewelry in a weapon. Then, after a magic user has filled the gem with his magic of choice the user of this object may unleash this magic through his item for the wanted effect.” I was doing my best to pay attention; it was very similar to what I had expected. She moved over to a chest and picked up a shield with a large ruby in the middle of it.

“The ponies however are mere novices in this art. Like this shield, the gem is currently empty but it could be filled with a reflective magic to bounce back projectiles or a shield spell to make it stronger. But the ponies’ way of doing this has its limitations. The spell stored in the gem only lasts for a couple of uses and therefore runs out quickly. We silver dragons on the other claw, have a way to make the enchantments permanent.”

“That’s awesome, and how exactly do we do that?”

She brought out three gems from the chest and laid them on the anvil. “These three gems have been filled with magic.” She pointed to each one from left to right. “The first one contains a simple heat spell, the second one a light spell, and the third one has a simple explosive spell. I want you to use these three gems to craft some enchanted items of your choice.”

I looked down upon the three small colorful crystals that were in front of me, and a few ideas came to mind. “So you want me to create three items with these?”

I could see her smirk “That’s not exactly what I said; you might use more than one on an item if you think that the two spells could work together. But let me show you how the enchanting preparations are done.” She waved me over to the book, “Look here, to make the magic that’s contained within the gems permanent we need to melt them and fuse them with the metal of the object that’s supposed to be enchanted. Normally if we melted the gems the magic would simply escape” she went over to the gems again and took a deep breath before releasing an incredible frost breath upon them.

She held it for a good minute before she stopped. “And there is the trick to contain the magic before you melt the gems. Your cold breath isn’t strong enough yet so you’re going to have to practice that. But now they are ready, so get to work. You can use the book to see what kinds of metal work well with what types of enchantments.”

I went over to the book and started reading as I thought about what sort of objects I should make. After a little while I decided to go with something simple, a short sword and a shield. I decided on using cloud-steel for making them; it’s a metal that’s created by infusing steel with concentrated cloud essence, making it extremely light but slightly less durable.

I used the remainder of the day and a good portion of the next one as well to craft the two items, as it was the first time I attempted anything like this. Melandra came and went as she pleased to check up on my progress and to scold me when I made mistakes. In the end it came out alright. It was a basic short sword, the only thing that might draw attention to it was the red edge the blade has. The shield on the other hand I was one of my better works. It couldn’t really be called a shield, more of a small buckler that was designed to be strapped on to the side of an arm or in most cases the front leg of a pony.

Melandra studied the two pieces closely before asking me to demonstrate how I enchanted each one.

“I used the heat spell gem on the sword, so that when you used it, it will be searing hot.” I demonstrated by picking it up and letting the edge of the sword lean on the wooden table. Black smoke quickly began to rise from where it touched. “For the shield I decided to try to use both of the remaining gems. I haven’t tested it yet but when struck it should provide a light explosion, effectively blinding the striker. Let’s try it out shall we?” I strapped it to my arm and held it up in front of me.

“Are you sure that you want to test it that way?” I nodded with a wide grin on my face. “Alright then, don’t blame me”

Melandra raised her hoof and struck the buckler… and nothing happened. “Well that can’t be right” I took the buckler off my arm, but as soon as I turned it around to get a better look at it, cracks started to form and a bright light shone from them before it shattered in an explosion of light.

“Aaaaargh, son of a bitch” My eyes were burning. Melandra on the other hand found this hilarious and I could hear her laughing.

“Why would you look directly at it when you knew what it was supposed to do. It seems you fused the two gems incorrectly tough.” she went over and inspected some of the scattered remains of the buckler. “It’s actually quite difficult to fuse several spells in an enchantment; you should keep practicing with harmless spells like those, who do no damage when it fails. The sword turned out nicely though. I’ll let you keep it, if nothing else you can sell it for a high price. Our enchanted objects are extremely valued.”

I stood up and rubbed my eyes. “Well it was interesting at least, but how about we head inside. I don’t know about you but I’m starving.”

Melandra just nodded in agreement, and after we finished cleaning up we headed back into the castle towards the dining halls.

Time flew past me the following days. I made peace with Razor and continued my training with him. Melandra acted a little unusual, disappearing for days at a time, but her business is her own so I didn’t dig any deeper into it. I was told that I was going to a small town called Ponyville to become their blacksmith after the last one disappeared. They didn’t give me an option in the matter but I honestly didn’t mind. I just needed to get away from Celestia, while I could now tolerate her presence and be civil with her I just… I couldn’t stay here. And so the day of my departure approached swiftly.

We were standing outside on the castle grounds with a chariot that was pulled by two pegasi in front of me. I was finally leaving for Ponyville; the only thing left was to say my goodbyes before takeoff. Joining me in Ponyville was two guards, one pegasi and one unicorn. The pegasi was Twister; I had gotten to know him a little better over the last couple of days. He would always be at one of the bars after his shift had ended and he turned out to be a really laid back character. He was a pretty cool guy and I was glad to have him with me. The other guard on the other hand, I knew nothing about. Every time I asked him anything he skillfully managed to avoid the question, all I had gotten out of him was his name; Moonlight Shimmer I think it was. There was something else bugging me about him though, he seemed really familiar for some reason.

“Didn’t you say that they were supposed to be here soon?” I asked. We were waiting for Melandra and Iron.

“For the last time yes, they are probably just around the corner.” Razor snapped right back at me, I think he was getting a bit irritated by my constant complaining. Iron had said that he had to take care of a little something before coming and nopony, except for Celestia, had seen Melandra today.

Celestia came over and sat down in the grass beside me. “Your house and smithy are located on the outer edge of the town, near the Everfree forest. I have sent word to the mayor about your arrival. The ponies may be a little unsure about you in the start because of your… unusual look. But I’m sure that they will warm up to you in time.”

“I still find that forest funny. It sounds exactly like back where I’m from, if you take away all the deadly and horrifying monsters that is. What about the materials for my smithy though, where will I get them?”

“There is a small family that owns… a rock farm I believe they called it. They have several mines and could provide you with the necessary metals and minerals.”

Their place is not too far away from Ponyville and they visit the town regularly, so I am sure that you can set up some sort of deal with them.” we sat there in silence for a bit before she spoke up again. “I’m sorry… I truly am. I know that you have heard it before but I will do anything to earn your forgiveness.” She looked at me with sad eyes, waiting for an answer.

“… I know that you weren’t in control of what happened, that it wasn’t your fault. I want to forgive you but I… I just can’t. Every time I look at you I see her, and it scares me. I know that I will eventually… just not now, I’m sorry.” I stood up and walked away from her, there was nothing else to be said, and to honest I felt a little disgusted at myself for not being able to forgive her.

It took another good thirty minutes before Iron and Melandra finally decided to show up. Iron had something on his back wrapped up, and Melandra was carrying the Draconicon along with a large bag.

Iron grabbed the long package he had on his back and threw in to me when he got close. “There ya go. A little gift from me.” I wrapped away the crude paper that whatever it was supposed to be was wrapped up in. it was a long pole, made of some sort of dark wood. “That there is ironwood kid. Figured ya could use it to make that there glaive of yours. You won’t find a better material to make the shaft with; it’s as strong as steel and weighs next to nothing.”

I tossed it up and caught it again, he was right the thing was light as a feather. “Thanks a bunch Iron, I’ll make sure to craft a masterpiece with this.” I put it down on the carriage with the rest of my belongings, not that I had much; Just a small bag with some pants and my enchanted sword.

“Ya better, that there was mighty hard to find.”

Melandra came forth next; as soon as she was within range I snatched her up and gave her a bone crushing hug.

“Let me go right now or you will regret it” I held on for a little more before dropping her down to the ground.

“Oh don’t be that way, you know you love it”

She didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead she held forth a small book to me. “It’s the draconicon. I have added all I can to it so now I pass it along to you.” She leaned a little closer and whispered something. “Since you will be the last silver dragon it’s up to you to decide, who you will pass our secrets along to when its time.” She pulled back. “So keep it safe as long as you have it.”

I couldn’t believe it, she gave the entire collection of their history and knowledge… but. “Thanks but wasn’t this book… you know, bigger?” I tossed it from hand to hand; it was currently the size of a normal diary.

She gave me an evil smile before shouting “Book grow”

As soon as those words left her mouth the book increased rapidly in size, I could feel its crushing weight pressing down on my poor body.

“Its normally this big but transporting it when it’s like that is unpractical so its owner can command it to shrink to its carrying state or grow to its normal. A thing to remember though when it’s minimized the knowledge you have access to is highly limited. Book shrink” I picked the book off my chest and sat up.

“Well I’ll try to remember that.” I said while holding the book up and inspecting it. “I can’t believe that you are giving this to me. So I am free to add things to this book as well?”

“Yes you are. It’s also magical so it will never run out of space. Be sure to continue to practice your abilities. They are also written in the book if you want to try something new. The Draconicon is now your responsibility but I also have something else for you” She said as she dropped the large bag that she had been carrying at my feet.

I opened it to find that it was brimming with bits and gemstones. While I had been grateful for the book I could only stutter at the sight of this treasure.

“A dragon has to have a hoard of his own, so I thought that I would help you out by giving you a small portion of mine. Just don’t go overboard.” Well I wouldn’t have any money problems for awhile at least. I closed the bag and hoisted it up over my shoulder.

“Thanks a lot Melandra I will make you proud… or embarrassed. It’s probably going to be the latter.”

She gave me a warm smile. “I’ll miss you young one.”

“And I’ll miss you too dragon lady” and with that I stepped onto the carriage along with the two guards that were accompanying me. The pegasi that was supposed to pull the carriage were fastening their straps by the looks of it.

“You ready to leave buddy?” Razor had come over, to give me another goodbye from the looks of it.

“Yea I’m all set, not that I had much to pack anyway.”

“I can imagine. I’ll try to visit you from time to time. Can’t let you mess things up too badly down there now can I?”

“I’ll hold you to it. Oh before I forget it, let me show you one more thing before I go. You remember when you told me that I should probably get a cloak or something because of my scars.”

“Yea, that would probably scare the villagers a little bit. You probably noticed all the looks that you got whenever you went into Canterlot. So have you gotten one?”

“Nope, I have something better.” I closed my eyes and began to concentrate to perform my transformation magic. When I opened them Razor had a slightly supposed look on his face.

“Y-you removed them.” he went around me to get a look at my back to. “All of them.”

I grinned at him “Sure did, I have gotten a little better with the transformation over the last few days and I managed to do this. It’s barely taxing at all and besides, I couldn’t go and hide my sexy body with a cloak now could I?”

He just laughed and shook his head. “Get going, before I throw you off the mountain”

I turned to the two flyers. “Alright gentlecolts, we are ready to go.” If I hadn’t seen it before I would never have believed that just two pegasi would be able to pull a carriage of this size with three passengers. But they are remarkably strong and with a running start they took us up into the air with ease. I was looking forward to many things, but mainly one: meat. I had gotten seafood while in the castle but that gets old after a while. Luckily Celestia had mentioned that nopony usually traveled into the forest that Ponyville was close to. I hadn’t actually gotten permission to hunt or anything but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.

“So, what’s the plan for when we arrive eh?” I hadn’t really been told much.

“The mayor is supposed to have gathered the townsfolk for a meeting so that they can all meet you at once, to introduce you and try to dispel any possible rumors that you are some sort of horrifying foal eating monster. After that you are free to do as you please. We will both be staying at a house in the town center when we are not patrolling the streets so it shouldn’t be hard to find us.” Twister informed me.

“That would probably be for the best since I am going to be living there.” I eyed Moonlight and the other guard a little “You have anything you want to add? Or are you just going to sit there like a statue.”

“Yea Moon come on, show a little enthusiasm. Didn’t you have some family in Ponyville or something? I would be thrilled if I was so lucky with the place I got transferred to.” this seemed to catch his attention and he looked up and stared out over the edge of the speeding carriage.

“…Yes … yes I do. It’s going to be good to see them again I guess.” Yea he wasn’t that much of a talker.

We flew for at least two hours before we began to close in on the little village on the ground. It was fairly small by the looks of it. But I could see that the meeting had probably already started as I could see a gathering of ponies in front of what looked to be a small stage.

“The plan was to land on the outside near my house so that we wouldn’t make that much of a commotion right?” Moonlight just nodded, unlike Twister who was rather talkative.

“Yea that’s the idea, that way you can load off your stuff before we go too.” I smirked evilly as we were now flying directly over the village.

“I have a different idea.” I stood up and looked down over the edge. `Man Equestria does not believe in hand rails or safety` I thought. The back of the carriage just sort of ended. “Hey Twister… catch up” I said as I let myself drop out over the edge and down towards the group of ponies below while laughing like a maniac.

I turned my head upwards to see that Twister had thrown himself out of the carriage too and was flying towards me; Moonlight on the other hand was just looking over the edge with an amused look. Twister wasn’t particularly fast by the looks of it and would probably not reach me, or rather the ground before me `this is going to be fun. ` I thought as I tried to aim for the stage where the pony, which I assumed was the mayor; was standing.

I could feel the feather fall kicking in as I closed in on the stage, what was most surprising was that none of the ponies had noticed me until now. The look on their faces as I landed softly behind the mayor on the other hand was completely priceless.

“And so, the guards along with the new blacksmith from Canterlot should not be too far away. But while we wait for them, do any of you have any questions?” The mayor was asking the ponies in front of her.

The crowd just stood there completely stunned with wide eyes as I leaned forward to spook the mayor. But sadly Twister had finally reached me and decided to tackle me down from the stage before I had a chance to say anything. We landed behind it, completely hidden from the crown as I could hear the commotion start.

“By Celestia’s beard, what were you thinking?” He said while standing over me.

“What do you thi… wait what? What was that about Celestia’s beard, and how have I not heard anything about that before?” If there was some sort of spell mishap or something then I needed to recreate it… and take pictures.

Twister just looked at me with a stunned expression. “That’s not important. But seriously, you could have created total and utter panic back there. Especially since you sort of look like… you know.”

“What, a monster? Some sort of weird dragon mutant?” I snapped right back at him.

“Well… it’s true though. And ponies here are not used to different things, not like we are at the castle at least. Let’s take it nice and easy at least. Now I’m going to go up on stage and introduce you before you step forth. Alright?” I didn’t like to admit it but he had a point, scaring them senseless wouldn’t exactly have worked in my favor since I have to live here from now on. `Still, the look on their faces. ` It’s hard to regret something when you were enjoying it that much.

I went over to the corner behind the stage and listened in on the last on what Twister had to say.

“- so we can guarantee you that we will make this town safe. And now as the mayor mentioned earlier, you are going to meet this town’s newest resident. Most of you already saw him when he dropped in and I apologize for that, but I can assure you that there is nothing to be afraid of... Jake, that’s your cue.” A thought struck `should I leave him there hanging? Nah, I’m not that much of an asshole`. So with that I stepped up onto the stage once more, this time even the mayor was paying attention.

“Hello everypony. Sooo this is a little embarrassing. You see I was told backstage that I have ten minutes to speak… unfortunately I only prepared for 6. So if it’s cool with you guys, I would like to just wait for 4….” I just let my arms drop as I stared out over the little crown of ponies like a complete moron.

Twister almost immediately walked over to me and hit me in the shin with his hoof. `Seriously what’s with ponies and hitting my poor shin? It’s done nothing wrong to you guys`

“Ow, son of a bitch… fine. Hello, my name, as I am sure that you already heard Twister here say, is Jake.” I really did not have anything more to say, so why not just let the audience speak. “Do any of you have any questions?”

`Dam that’s a lot of hooves` I thought as I saw most of the ponies in front of me raise one of their front legs. “Yes you” I pointed at a pony that looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

“W-w-what are you?” I am honestly surprised that she managed to utter a single word with how much she is shaking.

“I’m a dragon… sort of. Next question.” I pointed at a random stallion.

“Is it t-true that you are the new blacksmith?” along with this and the first question a lot of hooves had disappeared from the crowd. `I guess a lot of them were planning to ask the same thing`.

“Yes that is true. I am sure all of you know where the smithy is located” because I do not. “So if you need anything, don’t hesitate to stop by.”

The questioning lasted for a little while, and I was asked a lot of different things but the mayor decided that it had been going on for long enough and cut in.

“Everypony, I am sure that you still have questions for Jake here but it’s time for this meeting to come to an end so you will have to ask him those questions on his own time. So move along ponies, meetings over.” With that the ponies started walking away to them and theirs. “Now Mr. Jake, I can finally introduce myself. I am Blooming Orchid, the mayor of this sweet little town. It may be small now but we are steadily growing”. She was very colorful, both in personality by what I could tell and in her actual colors. She had an almost shiny green coat with her mane in a slightly lighter color of green with some lines of red running through it.

“Do you mind showing me the way to the smithy, since I am new in this town and all” I asked her, Twister had already taken his leave apparently. I didn’t see him around anyway.

“Oh, not at all. Come along, and if you have any questions about the town don’t hesitate to ask”

The town certainly had some charm to it. It had a couple of shops set up with some houses gathered around, even a train track running through it. There wasn’t really a station of any kind though, just a wooden platform for passengers to get on and off. It sort of reminded me of those Amish settlements I used to see on those weird reality shows back home. I even spotted a road that led up a hill to what I assumed some sort of farm by what I could spot in the distance. This small town still had a little bit of everything. `Yea, I think I will enjoy it here… and maybe liven things up a bit to. ` I thought as we walked out of the town and towards my new home.

Chapter Eight

“What do you mean you don’t have any? This is a newly formed town; it should basically be built on the stuff.” I was arguing with the pony running the local shop; Stinking Rich.

“It’s simply that we don’t have any. If you’re so desperate, why don’t you make your own then?” he said back to me as he restocked some of the shelves.

“Fine then” I left the store to try to solve my newest problem, this town had no alcohol whatsoever. You would think that an old fashion town like this would have the ponies singing and dancing all night long while enjoying the occasional pint, they still did that just without any alcohol.

I, however, was not coping very well. The nightmares were only getting worse and worse. For each night that passed I remembered more and more of the horrible things that he did… and the horrible things that I did. I tried to ignore them as much as I could but I was genuinely afraid to go to sleep at this point. I left these thoughts behind as I continued my walk towards the farm at the outer edge of the town. I needed to deliver some tools I had made, and I just wanted hang out with Granny Smith. I laughed too hard the first time she introduced herself, I understood the pun behind her name but still, a young mare named Granny still sounds wrong.

The farm came into view as I walked out of town, and I began to look around to see if I could spot her. It was the time of day when they would usually work the fields. I could hear the occasional thump that was probably just her father doing some applebucking. As I closed in on the farm I spotted the mare I was looking for. Her coat was a light shade of green with a cream colored mane, and she was harvesting corn by the looks of it. Luckily she hadn’t spotted me, so I tiptoed closer to her.

She was humming to herself as she picked the corn and threw it into the basket at her side. I leaned in close and released an ice cold breath at the base of her neck, which caused her to drop the corn she had in her mouth and let out a loud shriek

“What the hay do ye think yer doing?” she turned and glared at me.

I leaned down and picked up the corn that she had dropped. “Oh you know you love it Granny”

She just huffed and continued picking corn. “Fer the last time just call me Annie, everypony does. Granny makes me sound old.”

“Hehe, don’t blame me, it’s your parent that gave you that name. Oh, here” I put down the small sack that was filled with assorted tools. “I finished your order. I even tossed in a couple of special ones in there, just for you.”

She facehoofed and shook her head. “Forgive me if I’m a little hesitant, but the last time ya made something special, yer work burned off the fur on poor Jonathan’s legs. Why would ya make something like that anyway?”

“Hey, it was just supposed to help keep his hooves warm. How was I supposed to know that those horseshoes would set his legs on fire? Besides, I actually tested out these tools beforehand. So don’t worry, nothing’s going to randomly combust or explode this time.” Even though my frost breath isn't that strong I still managed to freeze the gems enough to bind the magic to them for enchanting. Unlike Melandra who only needed to freeze them for a minute, I had to do it for an hour or two, but it still got the job done.

“If ya say so.” She opened the sack and inspected my work. “And what’s special about them this time?”

“Well a bit of this and a bit of that. They won’t wear down, so as long as you don’t lose them you won’t have to get new ones… ever” I swear I could see dollar signs appear in her eyes when I said that.

“Incredible, we will save so much money on this, thank you soo much” she got up on her hind legs and gave me a big hug.

“It’s no problem. Anything for you guys, you were so accepting of me when I came here so it’s the least I could do to repay you.” I picked up the casket which was now brimming with corn. “Let’s go back to the farm with these before heading off; I got some interesting ideas this time.”

“Don’t you have any more work to do?” she asked as we walked towards the barn.

“Nah, I finished it already. Most of the work I do is for you and your family anyways. Switching subjects though, is it long until winter sets in?” I had noticed that it had been getting gradually colder lately.

“No it shouldn’t be long. I think it’s scheduled to start snowing sometime next week. Why? Not a fan of winter?”

I let out a small laugh. “Oh on the contrary, it’s my favorite season.” We had reached the barn and I set the little casket with corn in a corner and Annie put the bag with the tools down. “So, how about we just head down to the lake today? I feel like just lying around and doing nothing.”

“Ain't that what ya do all day anyways?” Ooh she was getting a little cheeky.

“Huh what’s that?” I said with as much surprise as I could fake and looked out towards their orchard.

“What?” she stopped completely and began looking too, giving me the perfect opportunity to curl up my tail. I used it as a whip and gave her a nice smack on her flank. The moment my tail made contact with her bottom she completely froze and slowly turned her head towards me with a look that could melt even the largest of glaziers.

I heard a small voice inside my head as she stared at me, I recognized it as my voice of reason and it said “Run. For the love of everything that is holy, RUN!” I took its advice to heart and bolted down towards the lake outside of Ponyville. I took a quick glance behind me, `oh my god, she is catching up.`

With a laugh I jumped out into the lake, only to be tackled midair. The water was very cold, and normally I would be freezing, but cold doesn’t bother me anymore in this dragon form. Annie on the other hand… I grabbed her and swam to the shore as I could feel her shivering in my arms.

“you okay there?” I said to her as we had gotten out of the lake.

“Y-yea, only a l-little cold.” She was stammering, and shaking. I sat down beside her and embraced her. I knew that my body warmth wouldn’t do much, but one of my spells, one I learned by accident; would be perfect for this.

At first when I did it I thought it was some sort of heat spell, but a quick look in the Draconicon proved me wrong. As I sat there holding her I could feel the cold seeping out of her and into me. It was a spell that worked two ways, I could steal the heat of something or I could steal the cold. She was calming down as her temperature got back to normal and I let go to see that she was blushing immensely.

“Better now?” I asked the young mare that sat beside me.

“Y-yes, I feel fine… I’m sorry, it was my fault” she hung her head low as she said it.

I reached under her chin and raised her head so she was looking at me. “Nonsense, if it was anyone’s fault it was mine. I was the one who started it anyways”

We sat there for a while and talked about all sorts of things, but eventually came to the topic that I wanted to discuss.

“Booze?” she asked me with a deadpan expression

“That’s right. This town is completely dry, so why not make some ourselves?” I said with enthusiasm.

“I guess, but do you know how to make it? Cause I have no clue.”

“I have some recipes lying back home I’m sure we can use. And you have a lot of fruit and such that we can use. I mean, what do you guys do during winter anyway?” I had looked in the Draconicon and found some recipes for a lot of different kinds of alcohol. Apparently some of the dragons that had previously owned it were quite the booze hounds.

“Well, we have only been through one winter here. But last time we lived off what we harvested and the money we made, during the summer and fall.”

“So, in other words you do nothing. Well this is perfect then. The income from the booze sale would help you through the winter.”

She held her hoof to her chin and looked to be deep in thought. “Well it would help with some extra income, but where will we sell it?”

Yea there was that. We could just sell it directly from the farm or… “A bar. You make the alcohol up at your farm, and I’ll build a bar where we can sell it. I got more than enough bits to fund it thanks to a certain dragoness anyway.”

We discussed how exactly we should do it. I didn’t need any payment for them using the bar I was going to build as long as I got free booze. Annie just had to convince the rest of her family before we could get started.

“Well its getting a little late, I think we should head back” The sun had just disappeared behind the mountains in the distance, creating a magnificent sight as the sky had a red glow to it.

I got up, ready to go but noticed that she was still sitting. She was looking down and fiddling with her hooves. “Jake, can I ask you something?” she said with a quiet voice.

“Of course, you can ask me anything.” I had an idea of what she was going to say. But I really hoped that I was wrong.

“Well you see… there’s this stallion” and I was right.

I decided to play along for now. “Ok, and who’s this stallion then?”

She fiddled a little more with her hooves. “Well, he’s new in town. And I sort of like him…”

“So, who’s the lucky stallion who had caught your eye? Its Jonathan Apple isn’t it? You want me to ask him for you or something then?”

“… No its alright.” she stood up. “I think I’ll just head home for the evening. Goodnight Jake.” and with that she headed off back to the farm.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew who she was interested in; she had been throwing me hints for a while now. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, I truly enjoyed spending time with her, she quickly became one my best friends since I came to Ponyville. But I still had that nagging feeling in the back of my head, the feeling that it was simply wrong because she was a pony. Slowly I started heading home, while thinking about what I should do, and how horrible I was for just ignoring her feelings like that.

The week passed and we ended up with some horrible weather towards the end. Because of the storm that was raging outside, I was stuck inside. And with nothing better to do I decided to experiment a little. It had been days since I last had slept and it probably wasn’t wise of me to be doing anything that involved magic at this point, but my work kept me distracted, and I needed something to distract me at this point.

“And I’ll add a quarter of the memory spell and just a hint of levitation…” I didn’t really have a system to this. I just added a bunch of random things to see what would happen. You would think that I had learned my lesson after the last time when my buster sword replica sank into the ground like it was water and just disappeared, never to be found again. But no, this time I was making another blade for my glaive. I had added just a bit of every spell I had on hand and was genuinely surprised when it didn’t immediately explode.

So I stood there with the new blade, ready to fasten it to my staff. I was just inspecting it, trying to find out exactly what my enchantment had done to it. As far as I could tell it didn’t look like it was special at all. `Maybe all the spells canceled each other out in the end` I thought. But then something happened, small mouths appeared all over the blade and it started eating itself. It was horrifying to watch but there was little I could do, and just in a couple of seconds the entire blade was gone. It was horrifying and entrancing at the same time.

“Well that was unexpected” I said as I stared at the place where the blade was just a few seconds ago. “I think I’ll write the recipe for that one down. It’s mostly useless but hey, it’s not everyday you create something that eats itself.” I sat down and was about to start writing but was suddenly interrupted by a loud banging at the door. Sighing to myself I got up and went to open the door.

I wondered who could be out in this kind of weather; whoever it was would be soaked to the bone. As I got close I could hear somepony crying on the outside and opened it immediately. There stood Annie, together with her soaked mane and teary eyes it was the saddest sight I had seen.

“J-Jake, she’s g-gone. W-we can’t find her anywhere” I could barely make out what she was saying between the sobs.

I kneeled down and hugged her in an attempt to calm her down. “Who’s gone, what happened?” I asked her while holding her tight.

“S-Sunny, it’s Sunny she’s missing. She was supposed to be home yesterday but she never showed. Y-ya gotta help me find her Jake. I, I can’t lose my family.” Her older sister, it had been a while since the last disappearance, but I never thought that it was somepony close to me or my friends that would go.

“Shhh, don’t you worry we will find her. Where was the last place you saw her?” I hadn’t actually met her sister; she had always been away when I had been visiting the farm.

“She was coming back from a visit to Fillydephia, but she never returned. We searched everywhere for her but found nothing. Y-you gotta help me find her.” She had calmed down a little at this point.

“Of course I’ll help you find her. But searching in this storm would be pointless; I doubt that you could even make it back to the farm in this weather.” The storm had only grown worse since it had started. By this point you could head the trees creak as the wind shook them. “Are you going to be alright sleeping here” I asked the mare I was holding. But she gave me no answer. I looked down to see that her eyes had closed and she was sleeping peacefully. She probably hadn’t slept since her sister had disappeared. I picked her up and gently carried her to my bed where I put her down. “Sleep tight” I said while stroking her mane. “And don’t you worry, we will find her”

I only had one bed in my house; I hadn’t really had a reason to get another. So I just laid some spare blankets on the floor to give me something soft to lie on. I didn’t want to sleep but I knew that I needed to. I would have tried to go a little longer but she needed my help, and I would be no good if I wasn’t well rested, I would just have to tolerate the nightmares… and him. I lay there shivering with a blanket covering me for what felt like hours. I couldn’t, I just couldn’t go to sleep. I had thought that the things he did to me were bad, but I had started to remember other things, things that he forced me to do. I had killed… I had killed so many.

As I laid there shaking in fear I felt something move beside me. I turned over to see that Annie had gotten off the bed and had sneaked under the blanket and was now laying curled up to me. I pulled her close and laid my tail around her. She didn’t say anything she just snuggled closer. With the comfort of a friend, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, no nightmares came to me that night.

I woke up the sound of somepony knocking at my door, `Urgh, who can it, be at this hour` I thought as I pulled the blanket off me. I didn’t want to get up; it was so tempting to have just stayed sleeping with that warm mare cuddled up next to me. She looked so cute laying there curled up into a ball, completely free from her worries as she slept. `I’m not falling for her am I? ... God dammit brain` I had to deal with that later, now I had somepony waiting for me at the door.

I got some pants on and went to meet the early fucker. “What do yo… Melandra?” In front me stood the dragoness in her silver Pegasus disguise.

“Hello there Jake.” she greeted back as she walked past me.

“By all means come in” I grumbled under my breath as I closed the door behind her. “So, is there any particular reason for you showing up out of the blue?” I asked the dragoness in disguise who was currently rummaging through my cabinets.

“Not really, Canterlot has just become rather boring lately. So I thought I would pay you a visit and see how you were doing.” She stuck her head out of the cabinet. “Come on, I can smell some meat. Where are you hiding it?”

“Shhh, not so loud. I have another visitor, and I don’t think she will take so lightly to that.” I said and took another look at the sleeping earth pony in my room.

Melandra trotted over to where I was standing and looked at the sleeping guest. “What is this? You have barely been here a couple of weeks and you are already bedding the town’s mares, shame on you” she said in a playful tone.

“Harr harr, no it’s not like that. She is just a friend. She came over yesterday crying because her sister has gone missing, just like all those other ponies. The storm was so bad so she couldn’t go home, so I just let her sleep here” I explained.

Melandra looked at the sleeping mare and then back to me. “And you let her sleep on the floor while you took the bed? What sort of a stallion are you?” she was actually getting a little agitated.

“Whoa, you got the wrong idea here. She fell asleep in my arms as she was crying, so I carried her to the bed and put her down. I was the one sleeping on the floor… she just sort of, joined me. It was nice actually.”

“Is that true?” she eyed the mare curiously. “Well isn’t this just sweet. I was going to ask you if you wanted to do anything today, but I guess you will be busy.” Was she… disappointed?

“We are going to look for her sister, but you are welcome to join us. It would improve the chances of finding her at least.” I went over to wake the sleeping mare.

“Might as well, I don’t have anything else to do… you know that the chances of finding her are slim to none right?” she said with a somber voice. “None of the ponies that disappeared have turned up again.” It was saddening but she was right.

“I know, but we can’t just give up. Ponies don’t just disappear into nothing. She has been taken somewhere and I intend to find out where.” I shook Annie a little bit. “Time to wake up, sleepyhead.”

She groaned before sitting up and rubbing the sleeping gunk out of her eyes. “Morning Jake.” she looked at Melandra who was standing beside me and blushed as she threw the blanket off herself and stood up. “H-hi, and you are?” she said, still a little bit flustered.

I was about to answer for her but she cut me off. “Silver, my name is Silver Wind. And you would be?” I was about to argue with her until I remembered that the fact that she was a dragon was supposed to be a secret.

“My name is Granny Smith, but ya can just call me Annie” she said while trying to fix her messy bed hair, she looked kinda cute with it.

I think Melandra noticed that I was looking at Annie with a slight blush, because she had a wide grin on her face as she stared at me. “Well how about we grab something to eat before we start the search?” I said to my two guests.

“Wait, she is helping too? That’s great, thank you so much” Annie beamed.

“Yea, I just came by to visit Jake but as he’s helping you I might as well join in.”

I cooked up something for all of us to eat. I might not be the best chef there is but even I could make some pancakes without burning down the countryside. We started to systematically search all the area surrounding Ponyville after we finished breakfast. As the day passed, more and more ponies joined in on the search.

The sun was at its highest point in the sky as we were searching through Whitetail woods. We had split up a bit to try to cover a wider area when Melandra waved me over.

“What’s up? Found something?” I asked as I got closer.

“No, nothing yet but there is something you need to know.” she looked around, we were the only ones within hearing range. “Earlier when I told you that none of the ponies that had disappeared had been found I wasn’t completely honest” I raised an eyebrow at this but allowed her to continue. “A couple of days ago one of them showed up in Canterlot. I haven’t seen anything like it since the war. His horn had been severed at the base and his cutiemark had been cut off and another had been stitched on in its place. He was taken to the hospital immediately but died later from magic poisoning. It’s not simply disappearances; somepony is foalnapping ponies and doing horrible things to them.”

I was stunned for a second, this seemed way too familiar but I did not want to believe it. He was dead after all. “And why didn’t you say so earlier?”

She looked to the side where we could see Annie in the distance. “I didn’t want to risk her hearing it, it’s better if she didn’t know that her sister was foalnapped by some maniac. It would just make her worry more over things which she has no control over.” I wanted to argue with her, to say that she deserved the truth… but she was right. There was no reason for her to know… not yet anyway.

We searched for the rest of the day but found nothing, not that I expected to anyway. Every day for a week we would scour every area in proximity to Ponyville in hope for some sort of clue but to no avail. Annie refused to go home to the farm during this time, she said that she couldn’t go back without her sister, a feeling I knew all too well. Melandra stayed the entire time too, just to disappear during the nights and reappear by morning. I could only imagine that she found some cozy cloud to sleep on, the things were heavenly.

But as the week came to a close Annie refused to stop searching, she became more desperate for each day that passed. She was getting to the point where she was becoming self-destructive. She refused to eat; she only slept when she collapsed. Leaving me to carry her in and laying her on the bed, only for her to crawl back out to lie next to me. I eventually stopped sleeping on the floor, deciding if she would just join me there was no reason that we couldn’t just use the bed.

I woke up that one morning with Annie using my chest as a pillow, and a certain dragon in disguise standing in the doorway with the biggest grin I have ever seen.

“It’s a little creepy to know that you’re looking at me sleep you know.” I said while untangling myself from the bed.

“I just came in. But it’s cute to see how close the two of you are you know.” she wiggled her eyebrows at me with a knowing grin.

“Hey it’s not like that.” It kinda was like that, I just refused to believe it “She just needs some comfort… I even tried sleeping in the other room, but she simply refuses to sleep alone it seems.” I took a deep breath. “Do you think you can leave us alone for a moment? I need to convince her to stop searching, and it’s probably not going to be pretty. I found her in the woods yesterday, passed out. It… she just needs to get herself together.”

Melandra stood there for a moment before nodding. “Alright, I’ll go on a little hunt while you sort things out here. Just be careful alright. She is incredibly fragile right now… don’t mess it up.” I heard her close the door, and could see her taking to the air, flying towards the Everfree forest.

I looked down at the sleeping pony. I did not want to do this, but it was necessary. Or so I told myself.

“Hey Annie. Time to wake up.” I said gently poking her in the side.

She mumbled a little before her eyes shot open. “Oh no, what am I doing here. I need to get out and find her.” she got up and tried to get past me but I stopped her. She struggled as I held her.

“Calm down Annie. Calm down.” I continued to hold her for over half an hour before she stopped struggling; now she was sobbing into my chest just saying her sister’s name over and over again. I started stroking her mane which seemed to calm her down a little.

“You alright?” I asked the pony in my arms, only to get a nod in reply. “That’s good. The guards are still looking for her; just let them do their job alright? Right now, your family needs you. And you need them. So how about we get you over there?” I tried to put her down, but she just held on harder.

“No, don’t make me go please. I… I love you.” It finally came out. I couldn’t keep ignoring it after she just said it like that.

I pulled her away from me and looked her directly in her eyes and sighed. “I know. You made it kinda obvious. But you are not in a right state of mind right now.” I simply wanted to say I love you too but this was the right decision. “Go home to your family, spend some time with them.”

“B-but, don’t you love me?” She started tearing up again. This was exactly what I wanted to avoid.

I put one of my hands to my forehead and groaned. “I like you, I really do. But as I said you are not thinking clearly right now.” I put both my hands on her shoulders. “You need to go home to your family… after a week, if you’re still feeling the same, come back and we will deal with it then.” It was the right thing to say, but obviously not what she wanted to hear. She didn’t say another word, she just ran out the door with tears in her eyes. I ran after her but stopped just outside as she was well on her way to the village already. I just stood there, staring off into the distance.

“Let go of me and answer the riddles three dammit.” It came from behind me and I did not recognize the voice.

I turned around to see Melandra flying over my smithy, holding a creature by its tail in her mouth. It was at least double the size of Melandra in her pony form. Most of its body reminded me of a lions, but on its back were two huge wings that had a deep blue color, one of them was bent in a very wrong way. Its mane was also mostly blue with white lines running through it, and it had a human…ish sort of face. `It’s a goddamn sphinx.` I thought in disbelief.

“Hey, Jake I found something interesting. “ Melandra said, still holding it by the tail.

I facepalmed and groaned, hard. `This week has had a severe lack of wtf moments. I’m glad that you took it upon yourself to fix this Melandra`. I thought as I stared at the sight before me.

Author's Notes:

New Character tag added now. Granny smith: there is no young tag for her, so it will just have to do.

Chapter Nine

I stared at the sight before me. Melandra had landed and put the sphinx, who was now nursing her broken wing, down. I was a little surprised at the size of the sphinx; she was over a head taller than me. And that is slightly impressive since she walks on all four.

“Please elaborate on why you decided to bring a sphinx home. I thought you were going hunting.” I cast a glance at the lion hybrid. “You’re not going to eat her are you?” the thought of eating things that could talk did not strike my fancy.

Fear was clearly evident on the sphinx’s face as I said this and she tried to run away, only for Melandra to bite down on her tail and drag her back.

“No, of course not. It’s only that sphinxes are extremely rare, and I got a little excited. When I found her she was sitting by a riverbank tending her wing, so I decided to take her back here so we could help her. She wouldn’t stop nagging about those riddles though. I’ll head inside and try to find some bandages.” She explained before heading off into my home.

I should probably have mentioned that I did not have any bandage or anything even close to that, but it would be fun to see how long it would take before she gave up. The moment she went into the house I could see the sphinx relax. “So, what’s your name?” I inquired.

She looked like she was lost in thought for a moment before answering. “Cleo. I am called Cleo.”

`Sure, why not` I thought. “I’m Jake, nice to meet you. What happened to your wing?” I asked. I know that there are several nasty beasts lurking inside that forest, but I doubt that anything short of a hydra would even try to attack something of her size.

Cleo looked a little embarrassed and pawed at the ground. “I was sleeping in a tree, but managed to fall down during my sleep.” She nudged her limp wing. “This was the result. It was not a high drop, but my wings are rather delicate.”

I nodded in understanding. “But what were you doing in that forest? It’s not exactly the safest of places.”

She looked even more embarrassed, like she just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. “I… got lost. We Sphinxes usually travel a lot in search of knowledge. And I had planned a route, but somehow I ended up here… wherever here is. It all became harder once I damaged my wing, but luckily she found me. It’s strange though, I never expected to meet a dragon in a place like this.” She eyed me curiously. “And whatever you are”

I was a little shocked to hear her say that. “Wait, you think that she’s a dragon?” I could not imagine that Melandra had transformed back into her original form, or revealed her secret to someone else. “And what do you mean whatever I am? I mean I may be a little off but I look close enough to resemble a dragon right?”

Cleo gave me a deadpan stare. “I’m not stupid. A Pegasus half my size would never have been able to carry me. I sensed her power as soon as she came within my range. That and she actually told me. Unfortunately we sphinxes are rather proud beings and I felt insulted when she refused to answer my riddles so I may have resisted a little when she tried to help me here. As for you, I’m not sure what you are. I can sense two different energies from you. You are something new.” So she can apparently sense the fact that Melandra is a dragon and the other soul inside of me… `neat`.

I sat down in front of her. “Why were you sleeping up in a tree anyway? No, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Let’s just take care of that wing of yours before we do anything else.” I got up and walked over to her to inspect how bad it actually was. She flinched as I ran my hand up along the edge of her wing. I did not know much about wing anatomy, and most ponies in town will probably be more than a little apprehensive about her. “It would probably be best if we let Melandra take a look at it.” I muttered to myself before I turned around to go and get her since she still hadn’t returned.I was however, stopped as Cleo slammed down a paw in front of me.

“No, she basically spat on the ancient tradition of us sphinxes. I will not let her near me again.” You just have to be difficult about this don’t you.

“You need to get your wing healed dammit.” She just huffed and looked away. “How about this. Will you let her help you if I answer your goddam riddles?” It was a little tempting to just send her back into the Everfree forest without helping her because of the way she was acting, but Sphinxes are prideful creatures. And I just couldn’t let her leave without at least trying to help her. Even if it was Melandra’s fault, not mine.

I could see the smile growing on her face. “That would be perfect. There are three riddles. You get three chances at each one, deal?”

“Seems good to me. What happens if I lose though? You’re not going to kill me or anything?” I did not remember much about the mythology concerning sphinxes, or if it was even relevant in this world but I remember that if you failed the riddle you got killed.

She flinched and looked almost disgusted. “NO, why would you think that? If you lose you have to do me a favor. Why would you think that I would kill you? I-I’m not that scary am I?” and now I made her sad, dammit.

I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down. “No, you’re not scary at all. It’s just a silly myth back where I’m from. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so.” She still sounded a little hurt. “First one, what is as big as you are but weighs nothing?” Heh that is an easy one. I have lost count of how many times I have heard that riddle.

“My shadow. Come on now. Throw me something harder.” I could hear the door to my house open again and could see Melandra in the corner of my eye.

“Very well, you brought this upon yourselves.” She raised her head high and her voice changed a little. “I welcome the day with a show of light; I stealthily came here in the night. I bathe the earthy stuff at dawn, But by the noon, alas! I'm gone.”

That… was indeed much harder than the first one. “Do I have some sort of time limit?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “No you may take your time. The only rules are that you only have three guesses per question and that you may not receive any help.” She cast a glance at the now approaching Melandra.

“Hey Melly.” I waved at her as I sat there, thinking about the riddle. “Don’t worry. I got things under control here. I’ll just have to answer her riddles. She has agreed to let us help her if I succeed.” I turned towards Cleo once again but could clearly hear the sound of Melandra facehoofing behind me.

Melandra came over and sat down beside me. “I did not think that even you would be so stupid to actually agree to answer a Sphinxes riddles. Did you even listen to the rules?”

“Sure I did. If I lose I’ll have to do her a favor… whatever that means. And if I win she has agreed to let you take a look at her wing. I don’t mind but this is sort of your fault. It was you that insulted her by refusing to answer them after all.” I said while still thinking about the riddle. `The sun? No, the sun is definitely still here by the noon. `

Melandra let out a long sigh. “You airhead. She already agreed to let me help her; it seems that she managed to trick you. I did not decline to play her game because I was afraid of losing. It’s what happens when you win that I wanted to avoid. But since you have already started this pointless game, you might as well finish It.” she said as she trotted over to Cleo with a bandage roll. `Where the hell did she find that? `

What does it matter if she tricked me into answering some silly riddles anyway; I’ll just solve them and be done with it. It’s a fun little challenge anyway “Err, is it the morning sun?” I tried.

Cleo just shook her head. “Afraid not, two guesses left” she said as Melandra treated her wing. I guess I should feel a little cross about the fact that she tricked me, but I would probably have done the same in her position.

I looked around me. `What comes in the night but are gone by dawn? And; I bathe the earthy stuff by dawn…. What the hell does that mean? ` I stood up as nothing came to mind. “Well since you are taking care of Cleo here, and didn’t actually bring anything that we could eat back from that hunt of yours. I might as well go and get something myself.” I said as I brushed myself off.

“But what about my riddle?” I heard behind me, as I had already started walking back towards my home to get something to hunt with.

“What about it?” I said, looking back at my two guests. “You said that I don’t have a time limit. So since I can’t think of an answer right now, I might as well go hunting while I try to solve it.” I turned around and headed inside my cozy little home to decide what I would bring with me.

I picked up one of my newly crafter spears, and felt the weight in my hand. It was decent enough but I hadn’t had a chance to actually test it out yet, this would be its time to shine. Normally I would take a couple of rations with me, but I wasn’t planning on being gone for that long anyway. If I didn’t find anything worthwhile in a couple of hours I would just quit and go back. This was more for the purpose of giving my mind some space to think instead of actually looking for food. So I just picked up the spear and headed off into the forest.

“Son of a… how, I don’t… WHY?” I had found my prey, alright. It was currently in front of me. My spear was sticking out of its chest. And it had completely turned to stone. I had spotted it rather quickly after I entered the forest, it was like a hybrid between a lizard and a chicken, and apparently that’s what goes for a cockatrice in these lands. I had read up on them as I had for most of the things that I could encounter in this forest, and had acted accordingly with caution. It was slow and predictable in its movements and I thought that it would be an easy prey. But as soon as I stabbed it through its chest it fell to the ground and looked up at me and stared me directly in my eyes and let out something that could loosely be interpreted as a laugh, before completely turning to stone. I knew that the cockatrices ability to turn its victims to stone would be negated by the cockatrice dying so I wasn’t really afraid of being turned myself but I never imagined that it could do it to itself.

`If that little fucker thinks that he got the last laugh on this one, then he is sorely mistaken. ` I thought as I started dragging the statue back home. My weapon was stuck in him anyway, and I wanted it back.

I was hoping that I could get out of this forest without any interruptions or complications, but that was just too much to ask for. I was alerting all kinds of creatures with all the noise I made, dragging that god damned statue. After a little while I started hearing something behind me. I could not spot anything but if one of the predators of this forest had chosen me as its next meal, they would not reveal themselves until they were upon me and ready to strike. I was in their element after all.

I really did not want to leave my weapon, as I put a lot of effort into making it. But there was no way that I would be able to escape whatever was following me while dragging a statue. I let go of the spear handle and let the statue fall to its side. I did not have another choice so I simply left it there and picked up my pace. Melandra had accompanied me on a couple of these hunting trips and she had taught me a thing or two. If I started running right now, they would abandon their hiding places and take chase. So I had to try to get as close as possible to the outskirts before that happened, steadily increasing my tempo.

I did the only thing reasonable and went into full sprint almost immediately, ignoring all and every tip she had given me in the past. There were a magnitude of nasty creatures living in this forest and most of them would make short work of me. I rushed through the foliage at the forest floor as I desperately tried to get away, but by the sounds I heard behind me they were catching up, rather quickly too.

`I really hope it’s a manticore, if it is then this should stop it in its tracks` I thought as I took a deep breath before spinning around. I let out the breath I had been holding, spewing out an incredible amount of mist, filling a good portion of the forest behind me. I took a few deep breaths before I started running again. While creating mist normally wasn’t taxing, but making an amount that big took a lot out of me. Panting I ran along while taking the occasional glance to see if something was still following me, just as I thought that I had actually managed to lose whatever it was, a loud howl echoed throughout the forest. I knew what it was, and it was anything but good news.

“Timberwolves”, I muttered under my breath. They weren’t particularly strong creatures, I was confident that I could take down one or two of the things `if I still had a weapon` but the things always hunted in packs… large packs. I could hear some of them crashing through the bushes and different foliage behind me. `They are catching up on me` I thought as I bypassed a line of trees that let out into a clearing.

I stopped abruptly once I came to the middle of the little opening in the otherwise dark forest. I could see several figures moving in the shadows on that side too `fuck they have me cornered`. I could see the Timberwolves emerging from the tree line on the other side too but they almost stopped immediately, just staring at me and the flowers that covered most of the field before disappearing into the shadows once more.

`Why are they just standing there? Not that I am complaining but still. ` I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth but it seems a little strange that they would just give up like that. I could still see some of them lurking in the shadows so I sat down in the flowery field and decided to try to wait them out, not like I had a whole lot of other options. I picked up one of the strange blue flowers as I laid on my back and looked up at the sky. It was unlike any other flower I had seen, some flowers are rather hard to notice because they blend in with their surroundings and most others have some color to them, often a couple ones that blend together harmoniously to attract insects and things like that. This one on the other hand is completely blue, not the soothing kind of blue either, it’s like it screams out.

I sat there with the flower in my hand for a good while, just staring at the morning dew as it dripped down the sides of it before I tossed the flower into my mouth and started chewing. Since I am part dragon, I can eat almost anything, and most ponies eat flowers regularly so I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

It actually wasn’t that bad. A little bitter and it left a weird sort of tingly sensation in my mouth, so I probably wouldn’t try it again but I could see it being decent for brewing tea. With that thought I scooped up a couple of flowers and stuffed them into my pockets. Maybe it would be good, maybe not. Nevertheless I wanted to try it out.

I could neither see nor hear the timberwolves anymore, `guess they finally gave up on me… I would like to know why they didn’t chase me into the clearing though. ` I thought as I headed home. I already knew the answer to Cleo’s second riddle. It came to me while I was chilling in the clearing and I felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner.

I didn’t realize how much time I had actually spent inside the forest until I got out; the sun was already hanging low in the sky. I could see Melandra and Cleo sitting in front of the smithy just relaxing by the looks of it. Her wing was patched up nicely by the looks of it, `I still want to know where she found that bandage though`.

“Hey girls” I waved at them to catch their attention. Both of them looked up, Cleo with what seemed to be a glint of playfulness in her eyes and Melandra with her usual neutral look.

“Hey there, how did the hunting trip go? Ohhh did you catch something already or-“

“Morning dew.” I interrupted Cleo’s barrage of questions. “The answer to your riddle is morning dew.” I was way too tired to play her games right now.

She seems stunned but quickly gathered herself again. “Aaaaawh, you got it already? That’s no fun.” She gave me a small pout; it actually made her look adorable, despite the fact that she was a huge lion hybrid who could probably crush me at a moment’s notice.

Melandra took this opportunity to join our little talk. “You were unsuccessful in the hunt then?” I could feel her eyes scanning me. “Lost your weapon, but you seem to be unharmed. What happened?”

“The hunting did not exactly go as planned. I found a cockatrice and I had almost killed it when it decided to fuck me over by turning to stone, bastard laughed at me as it did it too. You told me that they could turn others into stone, not the other way around, what gives?” I was almost shouting at her. It would have been a nice thing to know beforehand.

“I said that if you find one you should aim for the head to kill it immediately, this being the reason. It’s a clever little defense mechanism they have. You probably noticed how easy it was to sneak up on it; this is because it had no natural enemies. What’s the point in hunting something that you can’t eat because it turns to stone?” She had a point. It had been laughingly easy to sneak up and stab the thing. And I could vaguely remember her mentioning something about needing to kill it instantly, so I guess I just had myself to blame for this one.

“After that I got chased away by some timberwolves. I got away, as you can see but I lost my weapon.“ I was going to continue but Cleo interrupted my by showing her face into mine.

“Thiiiird riddle. What-” I put my hand on her face and shoved her back, or I tried to.

“Two words, personal space. And your final riddle can wait until tomorrow. I’m exhausted after that little game of tag I had with those timberwolves.” I turned to Melandra. “I have some extra blankets inside; I don’t think sending Cleo into town will be such a good idea so she can sleep here. I’m sure you can find place for her somewhere inside. So if you’ll excuse me, I have a bed to faceplant into.”

I left my two guests to do whatever they wanted to do and went inside my house. I could only hope that the nightmares wouldn’t return but I had to get some rest nonetheless. After the chase and my little mist trick I was simply exhausted.

`Need to check out those weird flowers tomorrow though` with that thought and heavy eyelids I let myself fall into the bed, preparing myself for some much needed rest.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was supposed to introduce a new arc in the story, but I decided to cut it short so you guys wouldn’t have to wait even longer (sorry for that).
I’m sure you all can guess that the flower he ran into was so. What do you think the poison joke will do to him?

Chapter Ten

I was going back to the cage, one more day we were allowed to survive because of what I did… what I had to do. He looked like he was in pain, like he wanted it to end… I guess I could relate at that point.

“What happened? What did you do?” I hear a female voice ask from the other end of my cell.

“I did what I had to do.” I looked down, to see my hands still stained with blood. Some of it is

mine, but most of it belonged to another poor soul.

“I’m scared.” She whimpered softly, as she looked towards me.

“Don’t worry I’m still here, I won’t let anything happen to you.” I said in an attempt to comfort her while slowly moving towards her.

But she let out a scream and scrambled away towards one of the corners of the cage.

“Don’t come close. I-I’m scared. You’re scaring me. Just stay away. I-I’m not sure who you are anymore. The **** I know would never do things like that” She screamed. I wanted to go and hug her, to say that everything will be fine but I can’t. I just can’t.

But it doesn’t matter, if she will never even look at me again. If she even ends up hating me, I will make sure that we survive, that she will survive at least. No matter what it would take.

*********************

I woke screaming, from the images that were in my head. I was covered in cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably. I was no stranger to nightmares at this point, but that did not make it any easier. And to make it all worse there was something different about that last one. I had always thought that I had been alone when I was trapped in that place, `Was I wrong? `.

I couldn’t think about it anymore, the possibilities just freaked me out even more. I didn’t want to believe the things my mind came up with. I was wrong… I had to be. I needed to calm down, to escape from my thoughts. Luckily winter was scheduled to start today. The cool air and the bright snow was just what I needed right now, winter had always been my favorite season anyways.

I threw the blanket off me and stood up, only to immediately fall on my face as I tried to take my first step. My whole body felt wrong, I felt more front heavy and I had something on my chest. It was just too dark to see anything here, so I got to my feet again and slowly made my way out into the living room so I wouldn’t fall again. It was still so early that the sun hadn’t come out, and the moonlight did not help me very much.

After a while of fumbling around in the dark, tripping over every item possible, I finally found my way to the bathroom. It had both a candle and a mirror so I could see what was wrong with my body.

Igniting the match and lighting the candle, I finally got a good look at myself, and I could not believe what I was seeing. I was speechless, words could not describe it. After a short while I simply could not take it anymore, the pressure had been building, and it simply had to be let out.

“What the fuck?!”

It was simply incredible. My body was the same in most aspects, still scaly with my long hair even the scars had remained. But I was slightly smaller, my hips were wider and I had two large growths on my chest that weren’t normally there. I grabbed between my legs to check if the most important part of me was still there… it wasn’t. In its place was something entirely different, I reached down to touch it but recoiled almost immediately. It felt wrong, but so right at the same time. “I’m a chick?”

I had to find some way to fix this. Melandra would surely know about a cure or something that would help… but then she would actually have to see what had happened first. I really did not want her to see me like this. It would be extremely embarrassing and she would surely have the time of her life teasing me.

I had some booze hidden away in my room. I had gotten some as a gift from Celestia when I left Canterlot, some of the special kind. Over the past weeks I had been diving into my reserve every now and again, careful not to take too much since I did not have easy access to it anymore. But this situation required alcohol, lots of it. I looked at myself in the mirror and over to the fridge where I had fruits and vegetables, some whose shapes would make you question what kind of dirty mind the farmer that grew them had. `Alcohol and a whole lot of experimentation.` I thought to myself as I picked up a few things and locked myself in my room. If anyone had decided to walk past that particular room for the next few hours they would be leaving with a gigantic blush from the sounds that could be heard from inside the room.

The hours flew by, I spent some time exploring this new body of mine and a little time simply curled up in my bed, thinking. It was late morning when someone finally knocked on my door; I couldn’t hide forever now could I?

“You in there Jake? There are some customers are looking for you. They’re here to pick something up” I heard Melandra yell.

“Their stuff is laying in the second drawer in the living room” I yelled back. I hadn’t noticed but my voice had also changed before this point, and hoped that she did not pick up on it.

I heard her go, walking away from the room, and let out a sigh in relief. I did not need her catching me in this body or with stained sheets and a bed full of suggestively shaped fruit. That would be a bitch to explain. Though I was sure, anyone would have done the same in my situation.

I threw on a pair of pants before I started throwing the fruit out the window, had to get rid of the evidence one way or another. I was sure some animals would get rid of it, if not I would just have to come back later and make it disappear. The smell on them made things rather obvious what they had been used for after all. It wasn’t long before there was another knock on my door though.

“I know that something’s not right Jake. Either you come on out or I will bust down this door” Melandra called out to me. She was a simple dragoness who didn’t tend to beat around the bush. Why handle something delicately when you can simply bust down the door or wall. Being a humongous dragon has its upsides I guess.

She had given me an ultimatum, I was tempted to choose option C and just jump out of the window and make a run for it but that would only delay the inevitable. Besides, I knew it was going to be extremely embarrassing but I needed her help to change back.

I went over and slowly opened the door, meeting the face of an extremely surprised dragon in pony form.

“J-Jake?...” She asked and I simply nodded. “B-but how? What happened, what did you do?” She asked me, she had snapped out of the little shock she had when she first saw me.

“Well I just woke up like this.” I explained. She was beginning to slowly walk around as it looked like she was inspecting me. “Do you know what could have done something like this?” I asked her, gesturing to my entire body.

“Hmm” Melandra sat down and looked like she was in deep thought. “It could have been done by a powerful unicorn. Or….” She paused for a second before a look of realization came over her face. “Did you happen to see a blue flower last night in the forest?” She asked me.

“Well yea, I found an entire field of them. For some reason the timberwolves would not go near the flowers though” I mused. “They tasted really weird too” as soon as those words left my mouth Melandra facehoofed hard; I even think I heard something crack.

“You WHAT?” She raised her voice and I could see her holding her anger back. “You ate them… what in the world would drive you to do something that…” She let out a sigh. “No, I don’t want to know. What you ate is something called poison joke, we dragons are mostly immune to it. But when you ingest one the effect can even surpass our immune systems.” She waved her hoof around, “the effect varies a lot. Basically the plant plays a joke on the victim, as you can see. Nothing harmful happened to you, but it’s a little humorous” she giggled slightly.

I stood there slightly baffled, `The flower did this to me? ` I felt a slight breeze and covered up my chest with a nearby towel, I never wore shirts anyway. “So this is all a joke?” I asked her. “So, is there some sort of cure? I mean, I don’t have to stay like this forever…right?” I said hopefully,

She looked at me with her large eyes, as the silence got uncomfortably long.

“No” She let out a sigh.

“There is a cure… it’s quite easy to set up if you know how… but…” of course there had to be a but coming; no matter what it’s about, there is always a but waiting around the corner grinning like a madman.

“As I said, we dragons were immune to the poison joke normally…. That also goes for the antidote… I think I can make one that would work for us…” She could see me smile and let out a sigh in relief. “I said, I think… no dragon has ever been so stupid to do something like that before”

“Hey, im not from around here, as you know. Why wouldn’t there be a sign or something in front of the forest, saying something like; Poison joke, do not touch. Or something like that… well, how long do you think it will take then?” I asked her.

I could see the gears in her head; turn as she just stood there for a moment before she answered. “A week most likely. I’ll have to pick up some ingredients from Canterlot and some other places…” She must have picked up on some of the subtle hints about how uncomfortable I was feeling right now… like the grimace I was making, holding back a scream.

“A whole week? I got customers, how do I explain this to them… and then there is Annie” A look of pure horror became visible on my face. “By Celestia… she was supposed to come over in a few days… what am I supposed to do?”

“That’s up to you to deal with; I’m not your foalsitter.” She said as she walked over to the front door and opened it. “Cleo is sleeping in the basement; she was so tired I didn’t want to wake her up. I would say try to keep her out of trouble, but you can’t even manage that with yourself” she sighed as she took to the air, leaving me standing there looking at the spot she had been standing in. I had expected a lot more teasing from her. Perhaps she had sensed how uncomfortable I actually was, or actually she was just saving the best for when she returned. As I stood there one thing she had said, still troubled my mind though.

“I have a basement?”

*********************

“How could you not know, that you had a basement?” Cleo was sitting with me at the dining table. She had taken the fact that I had seemed to change sex overnight extremely well.

“I just thought that the entrance would be more out in the open. It’s like it was hidden on purpose, or maybe whoever made it just wanted to be a dick.” I sighed out. We had spent some time talking after I woke her up. Turns out, Sphinxes are rather rare here in Equestria. They are an ancient race, though she doesn’t like it when I use that word. Think it makes her seem old.

Apparently they date back as far as recorded history went. But their numbers have been slowly diminishing over the past hundred years. I could tell that there was more to it, but she didn’t want to discuss it any more.

“Well, it just never came up. Besides, with an entrance as well hidden as that, who can blame me?” I tried to ignore the fact that Melandra had apparently found it in minutes. If she didn’t take off so fast to get the ingredients to help me with my so called curse, she wouldn’t have let me hear the end of it.

I was planning to look over the entire basement later. From the looks of it, I could probably use parts of it for storage, and who knows that else.

“Now… about that last riddle” Cleo grinned slightly through her smile as she looked at me.

I really did not want to go through with that. I had agreed to it, but Melandra must have had a reason for disliking it so strongly. From what I knew from Sphinxes from my old world, I knew that it was a bad idea to back out from an agreement with one. Or so I thought at least, I really did not want to chance it.

“If we must” I sighed out, in defeat.

Cleo let out a loud squee in happiness as her smile was as big as I had seen it.

“The pony who invented it, doesn’t want it. The pony who bought it doesn’t need it. The pony who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?” She said in the strange voice that came forth when she told her riddles.

It also sounded familiar, though I could not remember from where.

“I’ll think about it. I still got the whole day after all” I smiled at her. I wanted to get this right. Even if she promised that she would not kill me, I don’t know why, but I trusted her on that. Still, why take the chance.

“Okay” She let hummed happily to herself. She acted just like a child with her temper tantrums and the way she carried herself. I knew she wasn’t but still.

She reminded me of someone, someone I hadn’t seen in so long. The memories seemed right there, teasing me, staying just out of reach like they had for so long.

“Jake….” I looked up to her again; her voice sounded a little off.

“W-why are you crying?” I blinked, and immediately brought my hand up to my face, and I could feel the tears on my cheek. I hadn’t even noticed.

“I... don’t know” My hand was shaking, as I tried to figure out why. I was honestly scared. Not just because I was crying. But because I couldn’t stop, because I felt like I had forgotten something so important, words couldn’t describe it.

“I can’t remember” I had started laughing slightly as I held my head.

“Jake?” She placed her paw on my shoulder, concern clearly visible on her face.

“Leave me alone” I got up and walked past her into my room, ignoring her calls as I locked myself in.

My mind was a complete mess. I was scared, angry, and probably a lot more. My new body did not help in the situation, if anything it made things worse as I felt unstable enough as it was. I remembered parts of my imprisonment. When I had looked at Cleo, my mind had jumped there. When she had touched me I was so close to lashing out. I didn’t want to hurt her. Or anyone else for that matter.

I opened the hidden compartment behind my bed and took out the few bottles of alcohol I had left. I knew this was a shitty idea, but I couldn’t make myself care. My hands shook as I brought the bottle up to my lips and began drinking. Many would probably say that I had a drinking problem, not that they would be wrong.

The hours passed, and it did not take long for my bottles to become empty, leaving me to stir with my own thought as I simply sat there. I had enough left to become slightly drunk, but not nearly enough. I had hoped to drink myself stupid and just skip this whole day. Several customers came by during the day. By the sounds of it, Cleo had greeted them at the door, and tried to make up excuses for why I couldn’t see them, I didn’t have a good excuse for it though. I just wanted to be alone. It meant that I didn’t have to make up stories for why my body had changed though. I suppose it was the alcohol, but that made me giggle whenever I thought about it. ` chesticles, heh`

Cleo had been knocking on my door and trying to reach through to me throughout the day, but she was beginning to be more determined about it as the hours passed by and the sun was leaving to make room for the moon and its gentle night.

“Jake! Open up for Celestias sake.” It was the same words as she had tried so many times before. She had tried to break down my door but proved too weak to actually manage it. “Just come out and talk. You still need to answer the last riddle too” I could feel my hand tighten in anger. I couldn’t give two or three shits about those damn riddles of hers at that point.

“I don’t care. I only agreed to that because you were being a little bitch about that whole situation anyway. Leave me alone!” it was the only reply she had gotten in hours. I’m bad at controlling my emotions when I’m drunk. That was part of why I did not want anything to do with her right now, originally that was the idea at least. As time went on on the other hand, I felt like I wanted, needed something to lash out at, craved it.

“Please Jake… y-“ I slammed the door open . Making her stumble backwards, looking up at me in shock

“What? Why can’t you get it into that little head of yours that I want to be alone?!” I screamed at her. I think she was about to reply but I did not give her the chance to do so. “I barely even know you. I helped you because it seemed like the right thing to do. So if you can’t do as I say and leave me alone when I demand it then you can just get the fuck out of my house!” I walked slowly towards her as I continued yelling at her, ignoring the tears that had begun appearing in her eyes.

“J-J-Jake please stop I…” She was slowly backing away, but I followed after as I continued.

“Oh is it about that damn riddle of yours? Fine I will answer it if you get the hell out of my house after I do.”

“N-no it’s a-alright. y-you don’t have to...” She was visibly shaking as I slowly walked towards her.

“No? Because I really think I do! You have been going on and on about it, so congratu-fucking-lations. You’ll get your victory” I vaguely remember her riddle, over my anger and all the other thoughts that are rummaging inside of my mind.

“Poison?” I take another step towards her as her legs give out under her.

“Y-you r-really don’t h-have t…” I cut her off again.

“No? How about a fucking coffin then?” Another step closer. I took her silence as a no, as I continued.

“Then WHAT ABOUT-“

“Jake… p-please stop… you’re s-scaring me. Just stay away… please. You're scaring me. ”

Those words…

She had just wanted to help me. And I… what had I done? My anger dissipated completely as I looked at the shivering creature that laid before me.

“Cleo I… I’m sorry” She flinched away, when I reached out towards her. Had I really scared her that much?

I looked over towards a mirror that hung on the wall, and what I saw shocked me.

My eyes were red, bloodshot, and small amounts of mist was seeping out of my mouth. The way I was slightly bent forward made it look like I was about to attack someone.

`Monster`

“Just, leave me alone”

I didn’t say another word after that. I backed away from the shivering Sphinx until my back was pressed up against the door leading outside.

This whole day was just one big mess. One would think it was fun to get a female body, and I’ll admit, it was for a while. But it didn’t feel right. It didn’t belong to me. My balance was slightly off, and all my clothes were too big for it.

I put a hand in front of my mouth to smell my breath. It reeked of alcohol.

That was no excuse though. I had snapped. So much had just gone wrong and Cleo was the only one present, then and there she was only one thing to me; she was someone I could take my frustration out on. I had acted like a monster alright.

“What a pathetic little shit I am” I laughed to myself as I slipped outside, leaving my guest alone in my house, as I simply began walking. I needed to clear my head. I probably should have stayed and tried to comfort or help her some more, but I didn’t trust myself at that point.

I just wanted to be alone.

The wind was rustling the nearby trees and the moon was casting its light down, illuminating the pond I floated in the middle off. The cold water didn’t bother me, which was one of the few things I actually liked about this draconic body of mine.

It was calming just lying there. The water silenced almost everything nearby, so when I closed my eyes, it felt like I was simply floating through a complete void.

Peaceful

I needed to go back, I knew that. I had messed up badly, completely snapped and lashed out at Cleo. She didn’t deserve any of this; the way she acted made her seem rather young too. I opened my eyes and blinked as I thought back. I hadn’t actually asked how old she was. For all I knew she could be a teenager or something along those lines. I knew next to nothing about Sphinxes after all. Maybe that was why she seemed so trusting and naive in the first place.

I don’t know how long I floated under the night sky, just letting my mind wander. I briefly thought about the riddles she challenged me with but that line of thought came to a halt as I recognized a familiar scent in the air. Every pony I had come across had a different sent to them, being part dragon apparently enhanced my sense of smell, so I was able to recognize certain ponies I had been around enough before they came into view.

But my mind was a little slow this time, perhaps because I had zoned out of from the alcohol. Because the instant I recognized the smell I heard the angry voice of a very familiar and from the sound of it, slightly angry mare that I really did not want to see right now.

“JAKE” Oh yea, she was definitely angry.

There was a splash in the water around me, and before I had a chance to do anything she had tightened the lasso, and was pulling me towards her.

`Ok help me out here brain. Why is she mad at us… did I do something wrong again? And I really didn’t want her to see me like this. Not the pathetic drunk part… well maybe that as well, but the part about how I had changed into a very, very sexy lady`. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking, but I really did not mind being tied up by a strong mare.

I was literally dragged out of my sultry thoughts as Grannie Smith had pulled my up onto the shore and was looking down at me as I lay on my back with my arms still tied to my sides by the rope.

“J-Jake?” she asked, some of her anger replaced with confusion I would guess.

“Hi there Annie” I smiled sheepishly, not bothering to hide my now girly voice. I would normally call her Granny since I knew she despised her normal name, but I thought that messing with her would be a bad idea at that point.

She opened her mouth to speak, but halted as she just looked confused down at me. Not that I could blame her. I spent a lot of time looking at myself in the mirror when it happened too. She shook her head and the anger was back.

“Whatever it is you’re mad about, I did not do it on purpose” I added quickly. I had learned a while ago that it was my fault most of the time anyway. Even when it really wasn’t. Arguing always ended up causing more problems anyway.

“You’re going to explain all of-” she gestured to all of me. “-This later. But first, explain why I found a crying Sphinx in your house” And that, was something I really did not want to explain. Then again, I really did not have much of a choice in the matter. She did have me tied up after all.

`I’m sure there was a pun in there somewhere`

“Oh, that…” I think she was a little put off by how serious I sounded. Hell, I was put off by the way I sounded. “She is a guest. She was found inside of the Everfree forest, she was banged up pretty good.” Keeping a serious conversation is not all that easy when you have had a little too much to drink. It was not as bad since it had been a few hours but I could still feel it. “Of course I had to help her. I didn’t know anything about her kind, but she seemed kind enough… she also reminded me about someone” Not somepony, but someone. “I… lost it tonight though.” I paused for a rather long moment, trying to find the right words.

“What happened, Jake?” She asked. Her voice firm but it had a little more kindness to it now.

“I lost it. I’m not sure exactly what happened. As you noticed I’m not exactly, myself at the moment” I giggled slightly as I poked my breasts. “Don’t worry, it’s not permanent. Unless you would like to have some fun like this that is” I think I had a rather stupid looking grin on my face, because she immediately stomped down on my face, making me yelp in pain.

“I’m sorry, it was a joke” I added quickly as she raised her hoof again. “I know you prefer me as my usual sexy self” And that comment, rewarded me with another hit to the face. A few of Captain Dash’s personality traits might have rubbed off on me.

I groaned in pain as I felt something wet hit my cheek, making me opening my eyes again. What I saw made me ignore the pain for now and set aside any jokes or silly comments I might have had. She was looking down at me with teary eyes and a sad expression. “Once” she started. “Can you be serious for once, Jake?” She sniffed.

I used the claws on my right hand to cut the rope as I sat up next to her, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Annie.” I said softly to her. “I’ll continue. No more funny business.” I pulled slightly back from the hug, but my hand still remained on her shoulder. “As I said, I changed into a female. I stepped in some poison Joke. This change might not have helped with how I handled the situation, though that is no excuse. When Cleo and I talked some that afternoon something happened, it might have been something she said, or did. All I know is that she reminded me of someone, and I handled the situation like the biggest idiot possible. I locked myself in my room and started drinking. She just wanted to help me, like I had helped her I think. But I blew up in her face. I yelled at her, hell I think she might have thought I was going to hurt her.” She had been sitting there listening to me quietly for the most part, but once I neared the end she had pulled me into a hug again as I finished the story.

We stayed like that for a while. Annie was always someone I could always depend upon. She would call me out on my mistakes if it was needed, and she was always there when I needed her. “I messed up” I said quietly as I leaned back from the hug and looked upon her. She was smiling slightly now as she looked back at me. I really cared about this mare, I don’t think I had truly realized just how much until now though.

“You messed up badly Jake” She said, still wearing that kind smile of hers. “I think you should stop drinking Jake. Or at least tone it down. I can tolerate it, because I know how to deal with you. You need a firm hoof to keep you in check” she pulled her foreleg back and hit me in the shoulder, it was a playfully punch and I could only smile back and nod slightly. “I’m saying this because I care Jake. I know you’re an emotional individual. And that’s part of why I love you like I do” I remembered her confession from a few days ago, I really care about her. But she was still a pony. It felt slightly wrong still. “But I don’t think I have ever seen you truly angry before. And from what Cleo explained I don’t think I ever want to either”

I was truly speechless. I knew I might have a slight problem, no one is perfect after all. But it’s something else to hear it from another person, or pony in this case, especially one you care about. She was right though, I knew she was. I was staring down at the ground, ashamed and in deep thought as I felt her hood under my chin, lifting my head up to meet her gaze again.

“We all make mistakes. But it’s up to you to make things right again” She smiled brightly, her eyes shining from the moonlight as we looked at each other. “Let’s go back. Cleo is waiting at the farm and you need to make things right” It might have been the alcohol, that helped me along, but I finally realized something. I might not be into ponies, I don’t know if I will ever be. But that won’t change how much I care about the mare that is sitting in front of me right now. She has been waiting for me for a while now, and nothing in this life is certain after all. So why shouldn’t I take that chance? Who knows, it might work out after all. So with all the courage I could muster, I put a hand on her shoulder. She had already gotten ready to leave, but turned back towards me when she felt my touch.

`We only live once after all` was the last thought that echoed within my mind before I did what I should have done when she confronted be before.

I kissed her.

I think I surprised her quite a bit, because when I pulled back she just sat there with her mouth open and her eyes staring out into nothing. That was until she pounced on me, pushing me down to the ground as she kissed me back. I knew she loved me, she had said so already before I kissed her. But the feeling of her actually returning my affection after I surprised her made me happy beyond belief.

“I should be angry at you for doing something like that out of the blue” She said quietly as she pulled back from the kiss. “Does this mean that you..?” She tried to find the exact words, but I knew what she was meaning to say and interrupted her.

“It means that I’m willing to give this a chance” I smiled as I ran my hand down her neck. “I can’t promise you that it will work out. But I care about you, and I figured that it’s worth the risk” That had sounded a lot better in my head, in truth it almost sounded a little insulting to me when I had said it out loud.

“….Thank you” Came from Annie as she wrapped her hooves around my neck and hugged be. “Just promise me one thing alright? Don’t kiss me again, until you change back. I do love you, but I'm not into mares” She gave me a playful smile as she pulled back.

“I can live with that. Now let’s head back. I got some apologizing to do after all” I said as I got up.

“That you do. But explain one thing to me. Why was Cleo calling you master?”

“….What?”

*********************

The months passed rather quickly after that night. Turns out that if you lose a Sphinxes challenge they can decide what they want to make you do, it’s a no set rules, rather up to the individual Sphinx. If you win one however; older and more experienced Sphinxes will often share their knowledge or give the victor a reward from their personal collection. The younger ones however, losing to them was proof that they were still young and inexperienced. Some of the younger Sphinxes would stay and try to learn more from the victor as per their old tradition. They believed the ones to have beaten them to be wiser and worthy of teaching them so to say. And I had apparently guessed correct in the last riddle during my rage. Both me and my new marefriend had several qualms about this. It turned out that it is rather difficult to get rid of a Sphinx who has decided that you were going to be its next master or teacher in this case though, we tried a lot of things. But she refused to change her mind. So much to my dismay, I apparently had a new apprentice. I finally understood why Melandra had refused to take the riddles in the first place. I really hoped that I had never been that annoying.

I got back to my normal self in time. Melandra returned with the supplies she needed, but held off on turning me back for a few days after she returned. She said it was because she needed to get everything ready, but I think she just wanted to tease me about it for a little while longer.

I was a little put off by how fast the winter came here in Equestria, but I guess it shouldn’t have been such a shock. They do control the weather after all. My business picked up throughout the winter, my wares became more and more popular, and I was able to keep up with the increase in customers thanks to Cleo.

A lot of things happened during the winter. Me and Annie Smith; she refuses to let me call her Granny anymore; even though I get it’s related to apples somehow. We still had our problems; or rather I had most of the problems. Her family hadn’t been too happy with her choice in mate, but she had taken care of that. When she set her mind to something, its next to impossible to try to stand in her way or change her mind. It had been weird for me in the beginning. Even though I loved her for whom she was, and I really did love her. We never went completely through with it and had sex. She said she understood, and wanted me to be ready. I just hoped I would someday be. She deserved someone who could love her completely.

I also managed to become the first individual to ever be banned from what they called winter wrap up. I was locked in my room for the remainder of the day with Melandra keeping guard over me while they finished the work. I just loved the winter too much to let it go without a fight. I had managed to delay them by a whole day but they still won in the end. I had been yelling and screaming that I wouldn’t let it be that easy for them the next year, which might have had something to do with why I had been banned from all upcoming winter wrap ups. Not one of my proudest moments.

Along with spring came one of the creepiest things I have ever been part of, shedding. I had gotten used to, or mostly used to my draconic body. So when I one day woke up, almost completely missing all my scales I freaked the fuck out. While I would like to say that I and Melandra had an epic battle as she tried to calm me down, it mostly consisted of me yelling for a minute before her patience had worn thin and she knocked me out.

We had also at that point given up hope about Annie Smith’s sister. The investigation hadn’t turned up any clues or leads at all, that along with the fact that the disappearances had stopped suddenly during the winter made hope of finding a breakthrough even slimmer. I knew Captain Dash was one of the ponies that was working on this case, or rather one of the ponies who was in charge of the work on that case. I hadn’t been surprised that he hadn’t visited at all during my stay in Ponyville; He had mentioned in some of his letters how much work they had on their hooves. So I was understandably more than surprised, when said pony showed up at my house one night, drenched in sweat and looking like all hell was on his tail.

I woke in the middle of the night as something shook me hard, my eyes bursting open in shock from the rude awakening to see my friend Captain Dash standing over me. He was breathing heavily, that along with his bloodshot eyes and the fact that his mane was a mess, got me worried. This was a pony that carried himself in a certain way, usually a perverted way but still. I had never seen him like that before.

“Get up Jake. We need to get out of here” I barely had time to blink before he bit down on my tail and dragged me out of bed. “Get up Jake, I don’t have time to explain” He said with such seriousness, I don’t think I had ever seen in a pony to that point.

“What about Cleo and Melandra?” I said as I grabbed my pants, sliding them on as fast as I could. I had already explained the situation with Cleo to Dash in some of my letters, much to his amusement. Annie was home at the farm, she switched between staying there and at my place so I wouldn’t have to worry about her in this situation it seemed, or so I hoped at least.

“They are already outside, Dragon lady grabbed Cleo as soon as I explained the situation to her, I don’t know how you slept through me barging in here.” I knew I was a heavy sleeper but even I was surprised by that. “I’ll explain everything once we catch up with them. We need to get out of here before they arrive” He said before he set of, galloping out my broken front door. I was going to ask him some more but I could only run after him. If something had him that stressed then it had to be important after all. That and I trusted him. I hadn’t seen him for a while but he was still one of the few good friends I had in Equestria.

The night sky and cold air that still lingered in spring greeted me as I followed him outside. With how dark it actually was it must have been the middle of the night, though it was hard to tell exactly what time it was. We ran away from my house and the town, towards a small hill that was located just outside where the Everfree forest began. I kept looking behind me as we run, hoping to spot something that would give me a clue to what was going on, but to my disappointment I couldn’t much due to the darkness that the night provided.

We finally came to a stop on top of the hill where Melandra and Cleo was waiting for us. The Dragon in disguise was still looking as perfect as ever, despite being awoken in the middle of the night. Cleo on the other hand was rubbing her eyes, looking like she was having a struggle staying awake for even a second.

“So what’s going on?” I finally asked as Dash and Melandra were both looking out towards the town and my house.

The Pegasus turned his head toward me and waved me over to where he and Melandra stood. “Have you been keeping tabs on the disappearing cases that had been going on?” was what he asked me when I came over to where they stood. Why would he ask me that, I wondered?

“Not much considering no pony has been taken in months” I replied, wanting to know where he was going with this. “Last I heard everything went completely silent after Annie’s sister had been taken here in Ponyville” He nodded as he glanced back out towards the town.

“Then the news hasn’t spread this far just yet” he said, letting out a sigh as he shook his head. “Another disappearance happened last night in Canterlot. We found out around midday when a neighbor reported that she had seen what looked like a trashed living room, through one of the windows as she had walked by. It had a lot of the same similarities as the other disappearances, no signs of a break-in but this time along with the fact that a struggle had gone down in the living room we found some actual evidence. The first hard evidence in this case up until this point”

“But that’s a good thing right? That would mean that you finally have a chance to find out who did all of this and hopefully get the ponies back, right?” He just continued to look out towards the own, not saying anything. “Right?”

Before I had a chance to speak again, several lights suddenly appeared down in the area around my house, slowly advancing towards it. “What is that?” I asked him again as I struggled to see what the lights actually were. It wasn’t until they had completely surrounded my house that I could see it clearly. They wore an armor which I recognized from my stay in Canterlot. It was the armor of the royal guard; my house was currently being surrounded by what looked like members from the royal guard. I barely had any time to think about that before one of the ponies down there shouted something and all the guards started storming into my house. Leaving me speechless as I could only stand there, watching.

“Like I said, we found some evidence at the latest crime scene.” Captain Dash started as he continued to stare down at my house while it looked like it was being raided. “By the mess in the living room, there was assumed that the victim managed to put up a fight and several scales were found in the same room” He turned his head back towards me and looked me straight in the eyes. “I thought they looked familiar when I first saw them, and the magical signature on them along with their size only left one possible match.” I could see the sad and tired look on his face as I realized what was going on. “They belonged to you Jake”

Chapter Eleven

“Me… W-what do you mean? Do you think that I did it?” To say that I was surprised or caught off guard would be a severe understatement.

“No” Razor Dash shook his head. “I know you better than that, or I like to think that I do at least. Sadly that is not the only evidence against you. A witness claimed to have spotted an unusual creature leaving that neighborhood during the night, and from the description she gave it could be no mistake that he was describing you. You have a unique physique to say the least.” He glanced back down to my house where the guards, his guards, were continuing to turn my house upside down. “Let’s head away, when they don’t find you they will start searching the nearby area” He said, surprising me even more as we followed him.

“Wait, you’re not here to take me in?” A sudden pain erupted in the back of my head as that comment had earned me a slap from Melandra.

“You oaf, of course he is not planning on taking you in. Why else would he alert us and lead us away before the guards would arrive.” She scolded me, and she was right to do so. “But the captain of the guard wouldn’t do something like this normally. How bad is it really?” She asked Captain Dash, who in turn shook his head and let out a sigh.

“It’s really not good to be honest. I don’t think he did it, nor does Celestia, but with the amount of evidence it’s hard for either of us to do anything for him; officially at least. And Jake” He looked back at me. “You don’t exactly have most of the nobles on your side either. You remember professor Strings?” that name did sound familiar.

“You mean that annoying stallion that always wanted me to elaborate on where I was from and my knowledge from there, since he found out that I was from another world?” Yeah, I remembered him alright.

“Wait, you’re from another world? How come you never told me this?” Cleo complained as she kept up with the rest of us

“Because I didn’t want to talk about it, I can’t return anyway so I did not see a reason too. Why were you asking about that crazy stallion?” I asked Razor. I don’t think Cleo was satisfied with my answer because she huffed and pulled a little ahead.

“Because he has been riling up the nobles, turning them against you, I don’t know why he did it but he succeeded. That’s why Celestia sent me, to warn and watch over you until all of this is sorted out.” He thought for a moment before speaking up again. “What we should do first is start to look at the so called evidence against you. I suspected that the scales were planted, but I didn’t have any proof. And I’ve heard that it’s next to impossible to remove them from a dragon without said dragon noticing. Do you have any clue on how somepony could have gotten their hooves on them?”

He was right; I had tested that out in the past. Forcibly pulling out a scale was not a pleasant experience, and not something I would do again. “Well I’m not missing any right now. I mean I went through shedding now that I think about it but that was a long while back” I said, catching Melandra staring at me.

“And where did you put them?” She asked, while glaring daggers at me.

“Umm… I threw it away?” I immediately knew I had messed up by the look she had upon her face.

“You don’t throw your scales away,” She let out a sad sigh. “All dragons take great care in keeping their scales alongside the rest of their hoard. Dragon scales are worth incredibly much to the right ponies. It’s illegal to buy or sell them, but there are still some cases where they are used for potions or other creations. Have you even read the Draconicon I passed on to you?” She asked.

“Have you seen the size of that thing? Not only that but I could swear that there is something magical about that book. I like to think that I have read a good portion of it, but I never seem to make any progress. The thing seems like it’s never-ending.”

Melandra sighed sadly once again and hit me on the head while Captain Dash laughed.

“The universe must think that it is hilarious that I ended up with someone as useless as you as my student.”

“Hey, this was not my first choice either.” That remark got me yet another slap in the back of the head.

“As fun as it is to watch you two squabble, we have some ground to cover. So let's move it!” I wanted to retort, and even get a bit of revenge on Melandra. But Razor Dash had a good point. So we all silently followed after him into the night.

*********************

“So, about that talk you promised me.” Cleo had wandered off from the center of the camp, to the outskirts where I had settled down. It was a fairly basic camp. Some leaf and foliage had been gathered and used to make some makeshift bedding. We couldn’t start any fires, it would have made it too easy to spot us, but Melandra had cast a spell over the others, protecting them from the night's chill. It was far from perfect, but we needed to rest.

“Right, I guess I did promise that” I let out a sigh as I glanced over to her. She had continued to pester me throughout our journey, and eventually I had promised her that I would tell her everything.

She was taking things pretty well, better than I was, at least considering what had happened this morning. I just couldn’t think of anyone that would frame me for something like this. It’s not like I had made enemies, well not that many enemies since I got here.

`Well, I guess there was that one professor. And most of the maids in Canterlot castle really know how to hold a grudge. Oh and there was that…` Well I guess that I had managed to piss off a fair share of people since my arrival. But surely not enough that would result in something like this. I blinked as a paw was suddenly being waved in front of my eyes.

“Hello? You kind of zoned out there for a moment. Are you alright?” Cleo asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry. Was just lost in thought there for a moment. Before I start though, I have a question for you. You have told me a lot about yourself and Sphinxes in general, but have you ever heard of something called a human?” I asked her, while using one of my claws to draw a rough outline of one.

“No I haven’t” She paused, watching my hand intensely as I finished my drawing. “But I have seen that before. We don’t have any names for them; they are depicted on the walls in some of our oldest temples. The language was lost to us long ago. I remember my teacher talking about his theories about them. The way they were depicted he was sure that they had something to do with the beginning of our race, our creation I think he called it. That’s the gist of it at least.” I wasn’t too surprised. The Sphinx had a mostly human face after all. Maybe I could travel there and take a look at those temples myself one day.

“Well, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I used to be a human, before I came here at least.” I decided to skip the story of how I became what I was now; she didn’t need to hear that. “Why I did not talk that much about it, was not entirely my idea either. I spoke to Celestia several times about it right after I got to Canterlot. She listened intently as I talked about my world, all the wonders about it, and what was different from this world. My old world was much more technologically advanced you see. There was a lot of things about my old world which I did not have knowledge about how things worked, and while she wanted to know as much as she could, we agreed that maybe my limited knowledge was for the best in some areas. In any case, she decided that I was not to talk to any of her ponies about what I knew. That it would be better to let them figure out things for their own, without me throwing an unknown element into the mix. There were a few things that I knew that she thought could be helpful to her ponies, and she said that she would introduce them slowly and controlled. But ultimately I was told to keep my mouth shut. Not that I minded too much, she made some good points so I guess I can agree with her.”

“So, does that mean that you won’t be able to tell me anything about your world?” I could tell she was a little disappointed, Sphinxes had a natural thirst for knowledge after all, and young Cleo was no exception.

“I never said that now did I?” I said with a grin, while Cleo donned a confused expression. “I had to promise not to talk to any ponies about it. But you are not a pony, now are you? You’re my little apprentice, and I’m going to make you into a legendary blacksmith whose name will be put into the history books. I’m going to teach you all that I know and more. So don’t worry, you’ll get your stories” I laughed happily as she tackled me with a hug. With her size and intellect it was easy to forget that she was still just a little girl, barely in her teenage years. But she still had her moments where her true age shined through. Celestia would probably not be too happy with me if she found out, but frankly I did not care.

“Easy there kiddo” I tipped her over so she was no longer pinning me to the ground with her hugging. “Now, it’s quite a lot to tell, and it will take more than tonight but I guess we have to start somewhere. The planet I was from is known as Earth, it’s quite similar to this world from what I have gathered so far, but so different at the same time…

*********************

The time flew by rather quickly as I told Cleo about earth and humanity. We talked about nature, how everything back there was wild and free, in contrast to how it had been tamed here. I told her a little about our technology, giving her a brief history of some of our major scientific breakthroughs, choosing to go into more detail at a later time. She listened intently most of the time, only stopping me to ask questions at a few points. But it had already been late when we had started our little story session and it was not long before Cleo was out like a light, curled up in a cute manner and purring silently in her sleep.

“Got tired from listening to my ramblings eh? I would too. You probably wouldn’t understand anything if you could hear me now, but I think we humans were wrong about the sphinxes being part human, well if your looks are anything to go by at least.” I trailed one of my claws up one of her pointed ears, before ruffling her hair slightly. “Look more elvish to me, but what do I know.” I looked back to the campsite, where I could spot Razor Dash, sleeping underneath a blanket of leaves. Melandra had decided to stand guard while the rest of us got our rest, didn’t need to sleep as often, being a dragon and all.

Guess the same goes for me too. Maybe I should start acting a little more like a proper dragon…. Hoarding things, study more of the Draconicon. Taking my responsibilities as a silver dragon a little more seriously… Eh, maybe not. I think I’d rather just keep being awesome. Give myself a few centuries; I got plenty of time after all. My thought process was interrupted, as Melandra came walking out of the forest and into the clearing, she had dropped part of her pony disguise and was carrying a familiar pony in her dragon tail.

“Looks like we were followed after all, Dash may know how to hide things from his own unit, but he is not as good as he thinks he is apparently. You deal with her; she is your marefriend after all.” She said, dropping said pony down in front of me, before she picked up Cleo in her tail and carried away to the center of the campsite.

“H-hello there Jake” She sat down at my side, and was shuffling nervously with her hooves.

“Hello Annie” It did not surprise me that much that she of all ponies had managed to find us, she knew the area pretty well after all. “So I guess this means you heard of what happened right?” She nodded.

“Ah heard about pretty early in the morning, news spreads fast in a small town like ours after all.”

“That it does.” I agreed. “So do you believe them? Do you think I did it?”

“No of course not, I know that you didn’t do it. I refuse to believe that you could do something like that.” She said the last part under her breath, like she was speaking to herself, but it was still loud enough for me to hear it.

“Well it makes me happy to hear that from you” I smiled and pulled her a little closer to me. “I was framed for something I did not do, and I have no idea why somepony would do it either. I’m happy that Celestia believes in me, if she had not sent Razor Dash to warn me I would probably be behind bars right now. Sadly there is just too much evidence against me for her to do anything other than what she has already done.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“The plan is to head to Canterlot. I know-” I was interrupted before I had a chance to continue speaking.

“What? You can’t possibly think going there is a good idea? You will be arrested on sight.”

“I know that it’s not the best of ideas. But the only lead we have is there. We have to find and talk with the witness that claimed that she saw me. Hopefully that will get us somewhere. Besides, we have a plan on how to get in and out undetected.”

None of us said anything for a little while, with everything that had happened today it was nice to just relax with somepony I cared about. One does not need to speak to communicate; the way she leaned against me was nice and soothing, just as I knew she enjoyed it when I wrapped my tail around her. It was a moment of comfortable silence that I think we both needed.

“So why did you come after us?” I was the one to break the silence.

“After what the guards said, what they accused you of. I had to see you, even if I knew they were wrong.” She looked up to me as she spoke.

I nodded; it was like her to do something like that. Headstrong and had a tendency to rush into things without thinking them over.

“Alright, it’s getting late though; we should probably get some sleep too. Then you head back to Ponyville in the morning.”

“But-“

“No buts. With the guards poking around there, the rest of your family is probably worried sick about you.” I knew that she probably wanted to help, and I would have loved to have her come with. But with her sister still missing, it would probably be better if she remained at home.

“Fine… you are right, I did not even say anything when I left this morning. But you are going to make this up to me when you come back.” She did a complete turnaround, from sad and concerned to smiling playfully.

“You know that I will.” I leaned down and gave her a small kiss. I was still unsure when we started our relationship, the thought of being with a pony was weird to me, and it still is. But I had grown to love her.

“I love you” She nuzzled against me as I picked her up and walked towards the campsite.

“… I love you too”

*********************

“I feel like I must say that I am not comfortable with this.” We were standing at the outskirts of Canterlot, hidden just off the main road and Razor Dash was whining.

“You know why we have to do it. Jake would be arrested on sight, both of us are known within this city, and Cleo makes a scene just by being herself. Now hold still, this will sting a bit.” Melandra’s wings started glowing intensely as she used her magic.

We had decided that disguising ourselves would be the best course of action. Chances were that Melandra and Razor would be fine without a disguise but the dragoness had decided otherwise. Better safe than sorry and all that.

When the light faded, a light brown Pegasus stood in his place. His mane was also brown, though it was a darker tone, and he had an hourglass for a cutiemark.

I had kept my color scheme in the transformation, being turned into a silver colored earth pony. Melandra had changed herself to a unicorn and Cleo…

“You know, you look just adorable like that” I was smiling down at the adorable little filly that Cleo had been turned into.

“I’ll show you adorable” She said as she pounced on me, almost crushing me as she slammed me into the ground.

Oh yea, that’s right. The weight does not change with the transformation, thanks for reminding me brain. I thought while trying desperately to get some air into my lungs, while the little filly on my chest was looking distraught and jumped off immediately.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

“Oh let him be, he can take worse.” Thank you for the encouraging words Dash, I will be sure to repay you when I can breathe again.

“Enough fooling around, you know where the witness lives right?” Melandra asked Razor Dash, who nodded as I sat back up again. “Good then take us there; we will see what role she has in this.” Everything in our plan revolved around this one pony.

*********************

“Are you sure that this is the registered address?” Melandra asked as we walked along, we had entered one of the poorer sections of town. “Most housed here looked like they were about to fall down!”

“Yes, I am sure. I remember it clear as day… but she really did not seem like the kind of pony that lived in this area.” Dash commented as he looked around. “Here we are…” We stopped in front of the most rundown house of them all. The windows were boarded shut, and I think I the door was half rotten even.

“Well here goes nothing.” I reached out and opened the door. Strangely enough it swung open without making a single sound. “Hello?” I called out as I stepped in. “Anypony home?” But I did not receive any answer.

“I can’t smell or hear anypony. I don’t think she is home…” Melandra sighed in a defeated tone.

“Well, we just have to wait for her then. If she truly lives here then she will come back and we can talk to her then.” Razor Dash said as he walked in after us and closed the door behind him.

“Right…” I looked around the house… if it could even be called a house in the state it was in. “Sorry but I don’t think…” I stopped as something peculiar caught my attention.

On the table in front of me was a small note. But what was strange was what was written on said note.

“To Jake,” Well it was apparently for me so I reached out to pick it up. I heard Melandra shout some kind of warning, but it was too late. The moment my hand touched the note, a strange light shot out from it and into my face. Then everything went white…

*********************

I blinked and rubbed my eyes from whatever that darned note had done to me. When I finally opened my eyes, all I saw before me was a white expanse.

It went on forever, not a single thing in sight. As far as I could see it went on forever.

“Where the hell am I? Hello!” I shouted out. There was absolutely nothing. I turned around and it was the same in that direction. I could not even make the distinction of where the ground ended and the sky began, it was all white.

“Hello Jake.” I heard someone say from behind me. Turning around I was struck speechless, he could not be here. He was dead; I knew that he was dead. I tried to back away, but fell down in terror as my head tried to comprehend what I saw.

“Or should I rather say, subject 217.”

Chapter Twelve

“Y-you're dead,” I managed to utter after a moment. My mind was still refusing to acknowledge what I was seeing, I knew that the pony in front of me was dead, there was no way he could still be alive. I wanted to crawl away from him, to get up and run, but I couldn't. My body refused to obey me.

“My dear subject, I may have been gone for a while but that does not mean that i'm dead.” He grinned in a way that sent shivers down my spine. It was the same grin he always wore when he did his experiments. I found a new strength as I realized something. The pony that did all of this to me was now standing right infront of me… there was only one thing on my mind.

Revenge.

I lunged forward, teeth bared and claws ready to tear that pony to pieces. I had felt relief when I woke up for the first time and realized that he must have been dead based on how much time had passed, lost to the streams of time. But nothing feels as good as real revenge.

Strangely enough, he did not move, he only smirked as my claws were now inches from his face. I lashed out and… I went straight through him, crashing into the ground behind him.

“So eager, so ferocious.” He still wore his usual grin. “Looks like the dragon soul I put in you really has worked wonders.”

“W-what are you?” I stammered as I got back up, my revenge was so close and I could not touch it. It infuriated me to no end.

“My dear experiment, save your energy. None of this is real… or I guess it would be more correct to say that, it is just in your head.” My mind went back to the house that we had entered and I realized.

“The card…”

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!” He cheered. “A simple spell to allow us to communicate without anyone interrupting. Oh you have no idea how long I have waited for this moment 217.”

“My name is Jake,” I spat at him, my rage still burning strong.

“Oh but it's not, surely you remember that. Your real name…” His horn glowed for a second and a shining blue orb about the size of a small baseball appeared before him. “I took your real name… A simple enough curse for those who know how. Such a simple thing, but so much power in a name… do you want it back,” he held it out towards me, taunting me with it. “I'll return your real name and so much more if you do as I say.” My rage started overflowing, there was no way that I would do anything that this monster would have me do.

“Never! The only thing that is going to happen now that I know that you are alive, is that I am going to track you down and kill you!” But he just laughed at my threats and shook his head at me.

“I still have use for you 217,” his gaze hardened. “I did not go through all that trouble of creating you only to let it all go to waste. Do you think that you really have any choice in the matter?” His horn glowed again and a picture of my beloved Annie Smith appeared in the air between us. “Such a lovely mare… did you know that she never made it home from that little nightly talk the two of you had?” My blood went cold as I realized what he meant.

“You…”

“Indeed, I have her in my possession. And unless you want me to do to her what I did to you, then you will do exactly as I say.”

“H-how do I know that this is real? You are supposed to be dead… you should be dead, maybe this is just a strange dream.” I wanted to fool myself into believing that it was all a dream, but deep down I knew that I was simply lying to myself.

Suddenly I was lifted into the air by a strong magical grip. His eyes glowing with a dark light as he used his magic.

“Do you think this to be a dream?!” He roared at me, his voice changed, it sounded deeper. “Do you want to me remind you to what I did to you? How I forced you to kill the experiments that I no longer needed.” I struggled in his grip, desperate to get free. But no matter how much I struggled it mattered not. “How I cut you open, time after time. Do you mean to say that you had forgotten about our little sessions?” I had forgotten, or maybe I had just made myself forget. But with every word, images flashed in my mind, showing me the terrors that I had forgotten.

“P-please stop.” I begged him, but he just smirked and continued.

“Have you forgotten how I made your kin hate you? How I made her fear you?” It felt as if my heart stopped for a moment.

“I… n-no, I… I came to Equestria alone.” He looked shocked for a moment, before he bursted out in laughter.

“Y-you actually… you actually don't remember?” he dropped me down to the ground as he continued to laugh. “Y-you did not come alone no. When I brought you here for something to experiment on, something else followed. Your sister…”

“Charlie…” I remembered everything. She was the figure that had been there along with me in the cage… she was the one from my dreams.

My earlier anger was completely gone, all of it replaced by sorrow.

“Now… on the letter you will find the coordinates to a location… be there within two days and I will return your marefriend.” I looked up to him with misty eyes.

“W-what about Charlie?” If he were alive then surely… maybe there was a chance that I could see her again too.

“You have two days…” His horn lit up and the world around us began to crumble. “Tell the Princess on the other hand… and they will die.” I reached out towards him as the ground underneath me crumbled away, sending me spiraling down into the endless abyss below…

*********************

“Holy tartarus!” I heard Captain Dash curse as I jolted awake and immediately sat up. Maybe a little too fast, because holy hell did my head hurt.

“Stay down,” Melandra said as she put a hoof to my chest and forced me back down against the floor.

“W-why?” I groaned out as she had been more than a little rough with handling me. My head was hurting, the fact that I almost slammed it back against the floor did not help. I knew what had happened… now I just needed to decide if I should tell them.

“You were hit by some strange magic! Hours have passed since you fell unconscious.” She told me. I took the moment to look around and I could see Cleo sleeping on the nearby couch. Had it really been that long? It had felt like such a short time when I actually did talk to him.

“D-do you know what kind of magic it was?” I asked as I looked up at Melandra. She was keeping her gaze on me as if she was looking for something.

“...I do. It took a while to figure out because it was some really old magic. It was a mind link spell… but you already knew that, right Jake?” And she was already onto me… I still had to figure out how Melandra did what she did. Perhaps she used her dragon magic to tell if I was hiding something… or perhaps I was just really shitty at hiding it.

“...” I hesitated. My original thought had been to go alone… He had Granny Smith and my sister after all. I knew that it was a optimistic thought at the very best, but I liked to cling to that sliver of hope. “Yeah… I knew,” I finally said. If there was anyone that could help me in that situation, then it would be them.

And so I told them everything that had happened in the dream. If you could call it that. I told them about the stallion that had done all of this to me… and his threats if I did not meet his demands. I told them everything… except the part about my sister.

“What do you think?” Melandra said as she turned to Razor Dash.

“I don't like this one bit… but I don't see if we have any choice in the matter. Going to the Princess would not even be an option now, since it would mean that they would take Jake away… when it's obvious that this pony is the one responsible for framing him.” He was practically yelling towards the end.

“You know that it is a trap right?” Melandra asked as she turned back to me. Of course I knew that it was a trap, it basically had it written all over it. But as cliche as it was, I did not care. He wanted me, and I had no problem walking straight into his trap if it meant giving me a chance for revenge.

“Of course… but it also means that I finally have a chance to end this once in for all.” I said in a low tone. I had dreamed about revenge for so long, and I would do anything to get it.

“...We do need to save her anyway, it’s not like we could just sit back and let someone get away with foal-napping either, right?” Cleo chipped in, it appeared that she had awoken sometime during the talk.

“I am fine with going alone if needed… but I would also be glad if you would join me on this!” I said as I held my hoof out.

“Of course mate, you don't even have to ask!” Captain Dash said with a confident grin as he put his hoof down on top of my hand. “Let's go get justice!”

“You are my master, it's not like I could say no.” Cleo said with a smirk. “But of course I would want to help you! Let's go get your marefriend back!” She put her paw on top of Razor Dash's hoof.

Melandra was last, and she gave me a look before she spoke. “Let's do it!” She said before putting her hoof onto the pile. I suspected that she had much more that she wanted to say. I remembered whose soul I had inside of me after all. It had belonged to a friend of hers… I suspected that she wanted revenge as much as I did.

“So… where do we start?”

*********************

The scroll had given described the location of a small cave at the outskirts of Canterlot of all places. With it being so close, it was easy to get out of the city and down to where it was supposed to have been. Razor Dash was a little suspicious of it being so close to the capital, and I had to agree with him.

“There is nothing here!” I cried out in frustration as we had arrived at where the scroll had said that we needed to go. But instead of a cave, or anything even close to resembling it. We just got a wall of rock.

“That… does seem a bit counterproductive does it not?” Cleo said as she walked around the area. “I mean… why go through all that trouble if-” She was cut off as an entire section of the stone wall disappeared and a small barrage of arrows shot straight at her.

Only to be blocked as Melandra jumped in front of her, taking the brunt of the blow, several arrows sticking into her left wing and side.

“H-hey, are you okay?” I jumped to my feet immediately, silently cursing myself for not having been able to act fast enough.

“W-what happened?” Cleo stammered out as she watched the blood drip down from Melandra`s side. “I… I did not sense any form of magic!”

“Neither did I!” Melandra grunted out as she grabbed one of the arrows with her mouth, not hesitating with pulling it out with a single yank. “I think these were meant for you Jake…” She said as she held one of them up. The tip of the arrow did not look like any sort of metal that I knew, it was pure black and the edges looked jagged. “Black dragon scales… sharp enough to even pierce a silver dragons scales.” She paused as she pulled out yet another arrow. “And coated in a strong sleeping poison…” She tried to flap her wing a few times, only for it to flop around. “I will be fine… but it doesn't look like I will be able to fly any more. Damned poison knocked out my wing.”

“We should at least get you some kind of medical help or-” Razor dash was cut off as Melandra shone in a bright light for a moment. When the light fades, all the injuries were gone, along with the blood that had just coated her fur. “-Something…”

“Can you magic the poison away too?” I asked her.

“If it had been a normal poison then yes, I would have been. But this is a copper dragons poison… thankfully it seemed that it belonged to a young dragon, or even I would have been knocked out cold in an instant.” Melandra said as she shook her head.

“Are you sure? You don't look so good.” I told her, she was actually beginning to look slightly pale and I was worried for her.

“I said I was fine!” She snapped at me. “Let's move on!” And with that she took lead and walked into the opening in the mountainside. I shared a look with Razor and Cleo we followed after her. She was a tough lady, if she said that she would be fine then it was probably the truth. But the poison had weakened her, that much was obvious.

As I entered the cave after her, I noticed that it only went in a few meters before stopping abruptly. Melandra stood at the end of it, and motioned us all closer. She was standing above a small purple sign that looked like it had been painted on the cave floor.

“W-” I was immediately cut off as she put a hoof over my mouth. She waved Razor and Cleo over as she dragged me behind the mark, hiding behind a large rock. Just as Cleo and Razor had joined us, the mark started to light up. It shimmered for a few moments before a strange pegasus appeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Master say get body…” He groaned as he walked forwards in a sluggish motion. When I looked closer at him I felt as if I would be sick fromwhat I saw. His whole body was covered in stitches, and it did not take long for the stench to reach me either. It smelled like decay… like rotted meat.

“W-what is that?” I whispered to Melandra who had not taken her eyes off the pegasus.

“Trouble…” she whispered back before the pegasus spoke up again.

“Body gone… Master will not be happy about this.” When he turned around, Cleo made a surprised squeaking sound as she saw his face, and with good reason too. If his body looked bad, his face was even worse. Most of the fur around his face was missing, along with one of his eyes.

Unfortunately, the moment Cleo had made the sound, its head had snapped in our direction. Only hesitating for a moment before letting out an ungodly screech and lunging towards us. Moving faster than anything that looked like a zombie should have been able to.

“Jake frost breath!” Melandra shouted, shaking my out of the daze the scream had thrown me into. I wasted no time before taking a deep breath alongside Melandra before the both of us, unleashed a torrent of icy cold upon the charging pegasus.

The icy winds filled the entire cave in front of us as we kept up the attack. I really did not think that I was doing much, I knew how powerful my frost breath was after all. Which only made it more impressive to see first hand, how powerful Melandra actually was.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced to the side to see that Melandra had stopped her attack, and probably wanted to to do the same thing. I closed my mouth, before a coughing fit made me double over and clutch my chest. I had used my frost breath a lot, but never to that intensity.

As the icy cloud settled I saw how close the pegasus had actually gotten. He was only a few hoof lengths away from our hiding spot. His hoof stretched out towards us, and his mouth open. That was not normal pony teeth, those teeth looked like they belonged to some kind of unspoken horror with how they looked and were arranged in his mouth.

“W-what was that?” Cleo asked as she was positively shaking. The look on her face proving how terrified she was.

“That… is something illegal!” Melandra growled as she walked forward stopping in front of the frozen pegasus. “Necromancy…”

“N-necromancy?” I looked down at her as she was inspecting that...thing. “You mean as in a living dead?” Melandra hummed for a moment before shaking her head.

“Not exactly… but that would not be wrong with calling it that either. Dead flesh, sewn together and filled with the soul of a living. Think of it as a flesh golem.” I heard a heaving sound and something wet hitting the floor and turned around to see that Cleo had thrown up.

“I.. I'm sorry,” she sniffed as she averted her gaze from the zombie. “I just… the magic that thing emanates, makes me sick…”

“The sight of something like that would anyone sick.” Razor Dash commented as he shook his head. “What do we do with it?” A sharp crack filled the cavern as Melandra had stomped through the pegasus, only leaving frozen chunks of him left scattered around the floor.

“That! Is what we do with that thing. It is beyond any form of saving anyway… best to put it out of its misery!” I had to agree with her. Whatever that thing was, it was clearly not a pony anymore.

“Still… couldn't you have done something else?” Razor Dash asked.

“And what exactly would you have me do?” Melandra snapped at him. “That thing still had a living soul inside of it. A soul that was left to suffer and witness the horrors that its body now committed without having any power to stop it… I did it a favor.” Melandra said as she walked over to the purple mark.

“Still…” I could hear Razor mutter something to himself as he walked over to where Melandra stood.

“So… what now?” I asked as I helped Cleo up and wiped her mouth. It still had some chunks of whatever she had thrown up on it.

“Now we take the fight to him!” Melandra said as she waved us over. “This is a two way teleportation rune… and if I am not wrong it is set on a timer. There is no way that thing could have used magic to activate it.” As soon as she said that I hurried over to where she stood, helping Cleo along the way as she was still not completely fine. She still looked a little sick and she kept glancing at the chunks of the pegasus that littered the cave floor.

“Let's give him hell!” I said just as the mark began glowing once more, flickering a few times before we vanished in a puff of smoke.

Chapter Thirteen

Author's Notes:

This chapter was originally one huge chapter of 11k +

But, I am not a fan of chapters that big, and I know that a lot of you feel the same way, so i split it in two to make it a little kinder to read. Dont worry though, the next part is not far away^^

The light from the rune was blinding, and the feeling of being teleported was not exactly a pleasant one. It was like my entire world had been thrown around. But as soon as that feeling had come it disappeared and I fell to my knees. My eyes were still hurting slightly from the strong flash, but that did not mean that I was unable to see my surroundings.

Just like Melandra had said it had been a two way teleportation rune and we found ourselves inside what appeared to be a large cavern. We were in the middle of the cave, the teleportation rune underneath us. The walls around us had torches that burned with a soft blue light which in turn lit up the area. There were rocks and gravel covering the floor of most of the room, apart from a single path that led from where we had appeared up to a single door at the end of the room we were in.

“I… I think i'm going to throw up again.” And it seemed that Cleo did not handle the whole teleportation business so well. And I winced as I heard her dry heave once more.

“Hey, are you alright?” I managed to get up, my feet still a little wobbly as I went over to her and rubbed her back softly as she wiped her mouth.

“Y-yeah… I feel a lot better now.” She gave a shaky smile as she rose back up.

“You tend to do that after throwing up.” Melandra commented. She had already taken several steps forward and was investigating the cave room that we were currently in.

“Seems kind of messy for a secret lair don't you think?” Dash followed after Melandra as she walked around, he seemed to have recovered a lot quicker from the teleport than Cleo or I had. In fact, I was feeling my own stomach threatening to show me my own breakfast once again, but I managed to keep it down.

“It looks like they recently expanded here, that's probably why… are you two coming?” She looked back at the two of us.

“Yeah… so, do you think that he knows that we were are here?” I had to ask. He had already tried to incapacitate us… or rather me. And I knew for a fact that he was not someone who was afraid to get his hooves dirty. Having the element of surprise could be useful.

“... I don't know.” Melandra admitted as Cleo and I walked up to her and Razor Dash. “There was no magic of that kind in the rune, but he could have hidden a number or scrying spells in any number of locations around here… do you sense anything Cleo?” She looked at the Sphinx in question as she asked. Melandra knew a great lot about magic, but as I had learned, a Sphinx has an insane natural sense when it comes to magic.

“...Y-yes and no.” Her feline ears fell flat against her head, she looked ashamed. “T-there is too much magic around us, it… its everywhere. I couldn't make out anything specific in a mess like this, no matter how hard I tried… i'm sorry.” She apologized.

“Hey, don’t be sad, it's not your fault.” I put my hand on her back. I couldn't stand to see her like that, so sad. Especially not when it was about something that she had no control over. “We are going to be fine, right?” Melandra met my look and I could see her uncertainty.

“Yeah, it's… fine.” She shook her head and I knew why, I was feeling a little uncertain too. Cleo was the best one when it came to sensing magic, and that was an advantage that we had just lost. Still, we had to push on… I, had to push on.

We all walked over to the door at the end of the room, gathering before it. It was a simple stone door, it looked fairly rough, but had a few unfinished markings carved into it. Like it had been started but never finished.

“So, what can we expect?” It was a question that I had to ask. My knowlege about magic was still really limited, and here we were, invading the base of an insane unicorn, All things considered, I was glad that I had my friends there with me. I would have charged in headfirst even without them, no doubt. But if I had, I would have probably already have fallen to the trap outside. No, they would be vital, vital to my revenge.

“Well, we already know that he is… proficient in necromancy. No, not just proficient… making a flesh golem is fairly simple. Even I could do that. But the fact that it was able to speak, that… is a frightening thought. He has a scary amount of understanding for that twisted art. I wouldn't be surprised if we found more flesh golems that he is using as servants. Not to mention any other kinds of magic that he may possess.” The way that Melandra was speaking about it was certainly not making me feel any better about the whole thing. But at least she was not beating around the bush about it.

“So, what you are saying is that we should basically be ready for anything?” Captain Dash asked, while Melandra was investigating the door. Her hoof slowly gliding over the stone.

“Indeed. That a problem soldier boy?” She flashed him a small smirk.

“Not at all! I was ready before I was even born!” Well, his saying was a little off, but judging by his grin, he was at least getting in the spirit of things. Which was good, as his good mood was infectious, I could already feel it working on myself.

“Good, because I just found the switch.” Melandra pushed in with her hoof, and I flinched as a sharp, crack, echoed throughout the room. I watched as she large stone door, slowly began to descend, sinking into the floor.

Only for all of us to recoil at the disgusting smell that met them, and the grotesque sight that was revealed once the door had opened fully. I… I could barely believe the sight before my eyes, even if I had seen the monster outside too.

The room was filled with tables, cut up body parts lying just strewn over them with little to to care. Dried blood staining most of the floor, except for the few parts where it was still fresh. To the side, there were several large tube like objects with more body parts inside of them, floating in some kind of substance with wires attached to them.

Captain Dash was the first one to walk inside, being careful with each step he took, like he was walking on eggshells. I had been sort of prepared for a lot of things. I knew what kind of things that pony was capable off, what sort of monster he was. But it seemed like he had taken it to a whole new level.

Razor Dash stopped in front of one of the tables. I could see him reaching out with one of his hoofs, but he stopped, hesitated. It was like he had just frozen in place.

“A-are you okay man?” I asked, finally gathering the courage to overcome the initial shock that the room had given me as I walked up to him.

“I know this pony.” I could finally see what he was talking about, what he had reached out too. It was the head of another pony. “I saw him just two weeks ago. He works under me… worked under me. He was just on an extended leave.”

“I'm sorry to disappoint you.” Melandra commented as she took the other side of Razor. “But this pony has been dead for more than two weeks.”

“What? No, no you have to be wrong. I saw him, I worked with him.” Razor protested. “I saw him…” I reached out and softly put my hand on his back. That mad pony had ruined too many lives, he had affected Razor now too.

“Then what you saw was a spy.” Melandra said, cutting straight to the chase. “Even the royal guard has been infiltrated. This pony needs to be stopped.”

“Y-yeah… let's move on.” But even though he said that, I could see that he hesitated for a moment before he pulled his hoof back.

“Well, well, well.” All of us immediately went on the defensive as a foreign voice echoed through the room. Cleo pressed herself against me, making herself as small as possible, she was scared, and she had every right to be.

I looked around, but I could not find its source, it was like it came from everywhere. “It seems like my slave failed. But no matter, here you are nonetheless. Welcome to my little lair, Subject 217.” It was him. His voice was different, but it was no doubt that it was him. “And you even brought friends… how quaint of you, bringing more bodies for me to experiment on. I simply must give you a proper welcome... Horrors, Awake!” He raised his voice and the last two had a certain force behind them, that made the very air around me shake.

And just as those two words had been uttered, several of the test tubes around us started to shake violently.

“What's going on?” Cleo voiced her concern, and I would have answered her if i had any clue myself.

But before any of us could take a guess, one of the test tubes that was the furthest away from us shattered, its liquid flowing out onto the floor and into one of the drains that the floor was covered in. But what had followed with that liquid, was another one of those… monsters, it was a pony, sewn together just like the first one, only that this one had both wings and a horn. But as it tried to stand up, its left wing simply fell off. However, that did not stop him from advancing towards us.

“We need to move, before this room is filled with them!” Razor shouted just as another of the test tubes broke, and another horror came out. There was just one problem with his plan.

“Where do we go? There are three doors in this room!” I yelled back. There was three additional doors apart from the one we had entered from, each on their own side of the room.

“Don't care, just choose one, the longer we stay in this room the worse it will get.” And that was certainly true, some of those things were getting awfully close, and I was pretty sure that I could hear a low growl coming from Melandra. She was ready to fight.

But the one that ended up choosing for us, was Cleo.

My head snapped in her direction as a loud scream filled the room, and Cleo was already bolting towards the closest door.

“Cleo!” I yelled after her, but she did not react, she only kept running, hopping over any of the horror ponies that was in her way.

“Celestia damn it. Just follow after her!” Captain Dash practically commanded, not that I had any qualms with it. We couldn't allow ourselves to get split up, and with Cleo panicking like that… So, we ran off after her. Razor Dash took to the air, avoiding all the commotion that was going on the ground level that way. But me and Melandra, well, we were stuck on the ground.

Not that Melandra seemed to mind, she was turning into a battering ram. Just running headfirst into whatever problems were in our way, body parts were literally raining down around us. My god, the smell alone was enough to make you want to puke.

Cleo had already opened the door on the left side of the room and ran inside, and Razor Dash was just seconds behind her. As Melandra and I were getting closer, one of those monstrosities managed to make it past Melandra's rampage and threw itself at me. Its mouth was open and those were definitely not pony teeth.

I lashed out with my right hand claws as fast as I could in a fit of panic, I had no idea what a bite from one of those things would do, what kind of sickness it carried with it, and I definitely did not want to find out.

Black goo, splattered all over me as my claws tore its jaw clean off and pushed it to the side. But even missing a jaw, those things were insistent, and it grabbed onto my legs, gurgling noises coming from its mouth as more black goo continued to seep out.

“Let go, damnit!” I stomped and tried to shake it off, but the thing had an iron grip, which was surprising considering that he only had hooves. And it was slowing me down, a lot. I could see more of them running towards me with surprising speeds.

No, I couldn't let that monster get me again. I would never go through his sick experiments one more time, I had to get free, I just had to.

But despite my efforts, the thing just refused to let go. If only I had some of my weapons on me, all of them had been left back at my home when we escaped. I readies my claws, and was about to strike it again, when my vision suddenly was blocked and a smash that shaked the entire room followed.

“Get a move on, you slow oaf!” I could hear Melandra shout and I noticed that the thing that had come crashing down was her tail, her dragon tail. She had transformed back, but only partly, she had retained her pony form with the exception of her tail. “Oh, why bother.” I did not even have time to blink before her tail wrapped itself around me and pulled me after her.

“H-hey, I could have made it, just fine!” I shouted after her. Or at least I tried to between the moments when her tail slammed me into the ground or into a group of those horror ponies, smashing them to smithereens.

“You were slow, i'm helping you out, so stop complaining!” She roared back and I was sure that I could even feel her tail tightening its grip on me slightly.

“Don't piss off the immensely powerful dragoness, got it.” I winced to myself as I could practically hear my ribs creaking in protest.

Melandra ran through the door, and pulled me through just after her. On the other side, Razor Dash was already waiting for us and did not hesitate with slamming the door shut behind us.

“That… was too close.” I groaned while still dangling in her grasp. “Um… you can let me down you know.” And she did, making me fall down, straight on my ass. “You have to show me how to transform like that sometime..” It was really neat to see actually. At her tail, I could clearly see the transition from fur to the silver scales she had in her original form.

“Well, if someone had not ran off like… oh.” Melandra looked over to see that Cleo was huddling and shivering in the corner. “Um…” But while she hesitated, I wasted to time with hurrying over to my apprentice, softly stroking her back as I kneeled down next to her.

“Hey… are you okay?” I asked softly while keeping my hand on her. It was easy to forget how young Cleo actually was with how she looked and acted. But deep down, she was still just a kid. I was a fool to have taken her with us in the first place.

“W-why?” She sniffed, as she turned to look at me. Her eyes red and teary. “Why w-would somepony do something like that to somepony else?” She cried softly and I wasted to time with grabbing her and embracing her in a hug, one that she gladly accepted, leaning into me.

“Shhh, it's going to be okay, Cleo. It's going to be okay.” I kept repeating while softly stroking her back. Both Melandra and Razor Dash kept their distance, simply watching as Cleo calmed down. “We are going to stop the pony who did this. We are going to make sure that he never hurts anypony else again.” He was certainly going to pay for what he had done, to me, to all those ponies and other creatures. I was going to make sure of that.

“Um… Jake?” I heard Razor speak up and looked over to him to see what it was about. “I think we may have a problem.” Looking over to where he was pointing, I understood what he meant. In the middle of the room we were currently in, there was a huge hole. The rest of the room was rather plain, a few torches hung on the wall, but other than that, the entire room was empty. Only another door at the other end of the room, and the whole in the floor that separated them from it.

Not just a little hole, but a huge one, that did not allow anyone to walk past it on either side, no it completely filled up the middle of the room. But worse than that was the noises that came from said hole. Growls and scratching noises was just a few of the ones that could be heard.

“Are you okay?” I asked Cleo as I turned back to her. She was wiping her eyes, but she looked more gathered than before at least.

“Y-yeah, I will be fine.” She sniffed and put on a brave smile. Hearing that made me feel happy and I reached out and ruffled the fur on top of her head slightly, making her laugh from the touch. She was a tough girl, that was for certain.

“So… how far till the other side?” I asked Melandra and Razor as I walked over to them. Both were standing at the edge, looking down into the darkness below.

“Far enough.” Melandra commented, it was longer than any of us could jump, but luckily most of us had wings… most of us. “But more importantly… what is down there?” It was further down than I could see, but I already knew that this was. I remembered something like it from when I was first in that sick pony's capture. I remember the first time, I was thrown into a hole like that.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself from the memories that plagued my mind. “That, is where he throws his rejects. His failures.” I stared down into the abyss. The growling and noises coming from it growing louder. It seemed that they had been agitated by our presence. “Only one is allowed to come back out. After it has killed every other thing down there with it.” Shock came over everyone's faces, even Melandra who stared down into the hole.

“We have to help them then!” Razor Dash was quick to the suggestion. He was a soldier after all, it was in his nature to help others. To put them before himself.

“Most of the things down there are exactly the same as the ones back in the room we just escaped from.” I told him, sending him a sad look. “Chances are slim that there is anything down there that is worth saving. We just just leave them be and move on.” But those words only seemed to aggravate him even further.

“How can you say something like that!” He roared. “You of all individuals should want to do anything to save them, especially since you were experimented on too.” I felt rage building up within me because of his words, but quickly quelled it.

“Then what do you want to do, huh?” I threw my arms out in frustration. “Fly down there, try to save some of them if you want to. Be my guest. But,” I pointed down into the darkness. “Every thing down there, even if they are worth saving, are in a bloodbath, attacking every moving thing that comes within its grasp. You will be no different.” I could tell by the sounds alone that it was much worse down there than what I had fought my way through. “You are just a single pony, what do you think you can possibly do!” I yelled right back at him. I could see the fury on his face. He wanted to protest, to yell back at me, to hit me even. But he knew that I was right.

“He can't do anything. But I can.” Melandra said drawing both of our attentions to her.

“But what about you wing?” I asked, and I could have sworn that I saw the faintest of smirks on her face after I had asked just that.

“I don't need this little thing to make it across.” She said, her left wing flopping around a little, the poison still affecting it. “No, but I plan to send all of them into a deep slumber with a powerful sleeping spell.” Then Melandra did something that surprised all of us. She stepped out away from the edge, into the air… and she stepped on it. A few more steps later and she was just straight up walking on thin air. My brain was really struggling to comprehend this. When she reached the middle of the hole, she stopped and sat down… on nothing.

“What?” She asked with a certain amount of smugness in her voice as she looked back.

“I… b-but… How!” I exclaimed, as I kept looking at her. It just made no sense, then again, little in this world made that much sense… but this made even less sense than usual.

“This, in the next level of that slow fall I taught you.” Melandra said, and immediately had my full attention.

“Y-you mean that I, can?”

“Learn this? Oh most certainly.” She nodded as she laid down fully, her legs tucked under herself. “But you should keep going. This spell is going to take a while.” She said as a her body began to glow in a soft light. “And we can't be sure of what that pony is up to. You need to stop him as soon as possible, just in case. I'll catch up with you afterwards.”

“Well, we better do as she says.” Razor was quick to accept the fact that out dragoness in disguise had just walked on air. “Cleo, can you lift Jake across, or do you need some help?” He asked as he stretched out his wings and took a few flaps.

“Oh, um… I can manage just fine.” Cleo said. She was still a little shaken up from before, but she was a lot better. That was for sure. “He is really not that heavy.” She had already picked me up when flying on several occasions when flying before. Mostly just to mess with me.

“Great, let's go then.” And with that, Razor took to the air, flying past Melandra and crossing the hole in just a few seconds.

Cleo had a really impressive wingspan, and luckily the room was more than big enough for her to fully stretch them out.

“Are you ready?” She asked be as she took a few powerful flaps, and slowly rose into the air.

“Yeah, just watch your claws.” Her claws would not do anything to my scales, but I had two nasty scars on my back where my wings used to be, and one of the first times she had picked me up, that had been exactly where her claws had dug in.

“Of course.” Apart from that, I trusted her completely to carry me safely across.

I felt her paws tightly grab onto my shoulders, her claws coming out and scraping against my silver scales as we had liftoff. She was not as quick a flier as Razor, her physique would not allow it. But with her big wings she was a strong flier, and had little to no trouble with lifting things that was even close to her size.

As we flew past Melandra, I could positively feel the magic emanating from her. The light that shone from her body lighting up the hole beneath us, revealing all kinds of horrors beneath.

I quickly averted my eyes, not wanting to see the bloodbath that was going on under us. Not wanting to be reminded of how it felt when I was in the middle on one of those things.

It did not take long for Cleo to cross the gap and she softly lowered me down onto the ground, letting me go, before landing herself.

“Thank you.” I thanked her as I reached out and scratched her head, a gesture that she gladly accepted, leaning into my hand.

“You’re welcome.” She positively purred. She may only be part feline but she shared a few similarities with them.

“Say…” I looked over to Razor Dash who were just watching the two of us, before directing my eyes back to Cleo. “Do you want to stay here with Melandra? While Razor and I go ahead I mean.” She had already reacted really badly to what we had seen in here so far, and there was no knowing that else we might encounter.

“B-but, I… what about you guys?” Cleo asked with concern as she looked at me.

“We will be fine. But more importantly.” I pointed in Melandra's direction. “Melandra here is the strongest one out of all of us. So, if anything happens, you will be safe with her.” As much as I wanted to say that I only had Cleo's best in thought, that was not the case. If she had any more bad reactions just as before… that could end badly for the rest of us too. And I needed to get to that unicorn. I needed to make him pay.

“I… O-okay.” She gave in, a sad look on her face. “I’m sorry about how I acted back there. I… I was just so afraid. I did not know what to do.” She admitted, tears beginning to appear in her eyes.

“Hey, it's alright, Cleo. It's alright.” I wasted no time with grabbing her in a tight hug once more. Softly stroking the fur along her neck. “What you did was only natural. It's not your fault, okay?” I held her close for a few more seconds before I could feel her nod softly in acceptance.

“O-okay.” She sniffed as she sat back down. A smile now adoring her face. “You two be safe, okay?”

“Of course we will be safe!” Razor cut in as he wrapped a hoof around my neck and pulled me down to his height. “I will protect little Jake here.” I could not see him, but I was sure that he had a big confident grin on his face.

“And who will protect you then?” I forced his hoof off and stood back up from that uncomfortable position, rubbing my neck as i did.

“Oh, when you are as awesome as me, you don't need protection.” And there was that overconfident jackass that I knew and loved. Though I knew that he was putting in a little extra in his act to make sure that Cleo would feel safe.

“If you say so.” Both me and Cleo laughed at his antics. “Hey, Melandra! You better take care of her, now. You hear?!” I shouted out to her. She was already in deep concentration because of the spell. And while I did not get any vocal answer, I was sure that I could see her nod softly. Putting any remaining fears that I might have to rest.

“Alright, you ready, soldier boy?” I couldn't help but tease Razor slightly. Mostly because I knew that he would retaliate without a seconds hesitation.

“Of course I am. Let's go, pretty boy.” And I was right. I took one last look behind me. Seeing Melandra who was still defying gravity and Cleo who had sat down and was looking at our dragoness in pony form. They would be fine, it was time for me to focus more on what was ahead instead.

Razor was already waiting at the door when I walked over to him. The door was the same as the one we encountered in the first room, only a little smaller.

“So, do you think that he has any more nasty traps in store for us?” Captain Dash quipped with his usual confident grin. Though, now that Cleo could not see me anymore I was no longer in the mood to keep up any facades.

“Does it matter?” I asked, looking down at my companion who met my gaze. There was only one way that this whole situation could end.

“No, I suppose not.” He averted his eyes. “You know, you told us a lot. But I have a feeling that there are still a lot of things that you never revealed. About the things that he did to you.” He was an insightful pegasus, I had to give him that.

“... You are right.” I let out a sigh as I reached out and began searching for the switch, trying to remember exactly where Melandra had found it earlier. “There were a lot of thing that he did that I wanted to forget. To pretend that they never happened.” A sharp click and a soft rumble came from the door as I had found the switch. “Tell, you what. After all of this is over. I'll tell you over a beer… or fifty. That sound alright to you?” I looked down at Razor… at my friend and smiled.

“...Yeah, I like the sound of that.” He laughed and nodded in agreement as the door before us opened up, revealing a long thin corridor.

“Let's go then partner.” And with that, the two of us entered the corridor, the door slowly closing behind us. There were no torches or any sources of light, at least not from what I could see.

And so, as the door closed the room grew darker and darker until nothing at all could be seen. Complete darkness surrounded us.

Chapter Fourteen

“I don't like this.” I admitted as I fumbled around in the darkness that surrounded us. I reached out and felt the wall next to me. From what I have seen during our first glance of the room, it was just a straight corridor. But I had not seen a door at the end of it though. “You got a light?” I fumbled a bit as I reached out with my other arm and tried to locate Razor who still stood right next to me.

“Afraid not.” And there went my hoped for that. It seemed that we had little choice, but to traverse the darkness. “Just grab onto my tail and follow my lead.” And I did just that.

With a grip on his tail I started following as I felt the tiniest tug on it.

“So… you can see?”

“No, not really.” Razor answered, not exactly filling me with confidence with his answer. “But, I have better reflexes than you. So if anything jumps out at us, or something like that. I think we will be better off with me in the lead.” Well, I couldn't really argue against that.

“So what if something comes from behind us instead?” My brain just had to come up with these; what if, scenarios.

“Well, then I will count on your screaming to alert me so I can make my escape.” I couldn't see it, but I was sure that he was grinning like an idiot.

“It's good to know that I mean so much to you.” While we could not express ourselves with facial expressions, the amount of sass in our voices was more than enough to carry the point across.

It took a little while, but eventually we reached the end of the, rather uneventful corridor. And we were met with an iron door at the end. Or at least I assumed that it was something like a door, even though we could not find any way to open it.

“So, what now?” Razor asked as I gently tapped my fist against the iron, listening to the sound it made. It did not seem like it was too thick.

“I think I can chew my way through this.” Managing to get the first bite would be a bitch since it was mostly flat. But it was possible. “Just watch my back while I work alright?” I opened my mouth as far as i could and got started on the obstacle in front of us.

“Yeah, I will watch that darkness. Nothing will sneak up on us.” I could only roll my eyes as I continued to bite and spit out the metal. My mouth already sore from how wide I had to open it in the start to get a grip.

The metal door was not particularly thick, so it was only after a few minutes that the first few rays of light shone through after I tore off yet another patch of metal and spat it onto the ground. I was not particularly hungry and that metal tasted horrible anyway.

“J-Jake?” I heard Razor stammer with uncertainty in his voice. And as I turned to ask him what it was I saw that we apparently were not alone in this corridor. Small openings were located along the whole wall and beetles were coming out of them, rather big beetles with pure red markings on their bodies, and they were moving slowly towards us in a completely silent manner. To say that it was creepy would be a severe understatement. “H-hurry up!” Having no idea what they actually were, I was not going to argue with him and continued tearing into the metal with newfound vigor.

I heard some flapping behind me and it was not long before several screeches filled the air, I couldn't help but take a peek.

Razor Dash was in the air. Flapping his wings with such force that he created winds that kept pushing the hoard of beetles back, denying them from reaching us, and they let out little, terrifying screeches in return. But there were so many of them, so he was not going to be able to hold them forever. But neither did he need to, I was getting close to creating a hole big enough for the two of us to escape through.

“I'm not kidding here, Jake.” I heard Razor repeated after another few minutes. “Hurry the fuck up!”

“I'm through!” I shouted after spitting out the last piece of chewed up metal. The hole was not that big, but it was enough for us to manage to squeeze through.

“A-alright, you go first, and I'll come after.” There was no time for me to argue with him even if I disagreed.

It certainly was a tight fit. I could feel the metal scrape against my scales, but as soon as I got my head and shoulders through, the rest of my body was rather easy. Now there was just Razor.

“It's clear, hurry up!” I shouted after him and I almost had to throw myself out of the way as the feathery blur that was Razor Dash sped through the hole and slid past me. He looked positively exhausted as he laid there on the floor and breathed heavily.

“T-the hole, seal the hole!” Right, we did not have time to wait or relax even for a second. I desperately looked around in search of something, anything that we could use to seal the hole. But apparently we had come out into a libary. A library whose bookshelves was made out of carved stone. Yeah, there was no way, that I would be able to move those.

Without any other ideas, I leaned down to the hole and was about to take a deep breath to use my frost breath, when I noticed something weird. The beetles were already retreating, going back into the holes that they had come out of in the first place.

“T-they are leaving.” I told Razor as I slumped down, resting my back against the wall. My jaw was incredibly sore from chewing that much metal. “Though I have no idea why.” And I did not really care that much either. We were safe, and that was what currently mattered. “W-what were those things?”

“Do I look like an insect expert to you?” Came the snarky reply from Razor. “I have no idea… but if they were put in there like some sort of trap, then they can't be any good… what about Melandra and Cleo?” That was indeed another problem, they would most likely be following after us eventually.

“Well, I think Melandra can take care of a few beetles.” She was an ancient silver dragon after all. “But I agree… Cleo won't be able to get through that little hole of mine anyway.” Reluctantly I stood up and immediately noticed the switch that was on the left side on the door.

“W-wait, what are you-” I ignored Razor's protest and pulled the switch.

A horrible metal screech filled the air as the door struggled to open. I had made the metal a little uneven as I chewed through it. But, slowly and surely it slid open. Making the hallway that we had just crossed, so much clearer now that it was lit up.

“There… that should make things easier for them.” I smiled inwardly, though I flinched just after as I receive a punch in the shoulder from Captain Dash.

“That was for not thinking things through.” He shook his head as I rubbed the spot where he had hit me.

“Well… it's not like the beetles followed us through the hole, so I figured that it was safe.” Razor looked at me and back at the threshold into the corridor. Slowly, he stepped back into the corridor and we both watched as the small hatches on the sides opened back up and the beetles came right back out.

Noticing this, Captain Dash hopped back into the room, and just like that, the beetles turned back around and left once more. It was like they did not even register us when we were outside that corridor.

“It seems that your guess was correct.” He sighed out and both of us turned to the library what we had now found ourselves in. “Let's just find a way out of this place.”

“Yeah… let's go and get that bastard.” I agreed. He was probably even watching or listening in on us. He would get what was coming through him, one way or another. He had always been like that, his morbid curiosity overshadowing all his other feelings. It would be his downfall, I would make sure of it.

To say that the library was huge would have been an understatement. It was like a maze, where every turn we took only led to more bookshelves. To be honest it was quite impressive, and if the situation had been different I might have felt tempted to read some of the books we found, but no, we had a goal in mind.

“Say, he really has some creepy stuff in here.” I looked over to Razor who stood next to one of the bookshelves and was reading the title of some of the books within it. “Like this one… Corpse treatment: how to keep your loved ones fresh… I mean, who writes stuff like this.”

“That does sound a little messed up, I agree.” Thankfully we had not come across any sort of traps, yet at least. No the library had been very uneventful so far, and I would not normally have minded that, if it had not been for the fact that it was so freakishly huge.

Thankfully, we eventually came across yet another door. But apart from the other ones, this one was surprisingly normal looking. It was just a simple small wooden door with a handle on it. On both sides there were a torch, mounted to the wall, though they were both unlit.

But more importantly, I could hear sounds coming from the other side. And it seemed that Razor had heard the same as he gestured for me to be silent as he pressed his ear against the door.

Realizing what he was doing, I quickly did the same. It had not just been noises, no, now that I could hear things much more clearly, I realized that it was a voice.

“Useless flesh golems. Can't do anything right…” It was a voice I recognized. And I could feel my anger flaring up within me. The pony that was responsible for all of this, for what I had become.... and for bringing me and my sister here to Equestria was just on the other side of that door, he was so close.

And he was going to die…

My anger exploded into an inferno as I tore the door open, throwing Captain Dash away in the process. But there he was.

The room was rather small, and filled with the same kind of large test tubes like we had seen before. Only that these ones were not filled with his monstrous creations… no, these were filled with ponies. Actual normal looking ponies.

And in the middle of the room stood the unicorn that had caused so much grief. His face, just how I remembered it. The same color on his fur, and the mane, practically unchanged. I had no doubts about who it was.

His head immediately turned to me as the door slammed open. His eyes widened and in that moment, I could see a mixture of emotions flash across his face.

The first was surprise, mixed with uncertainty. But as realization lit up on his face, those feelings melted away to give room for fear instead. Oh his fear was so delicious, I could practically taste it.

That initial meeting lasted for less than a second, but it felt like such a long time. I wanted to make him pay for everything that he had done to me, and everypony else. But… in the end, I think that I would settle for simply killing him.

“Fuck…” A single work left his lips.

And then all hell broke loose.

He turned and ran as i lunged after him. My claws were outstretched, ready to tear into his skin, his muscles, his very being, and tear him apart. My mind was lost in a sea of fury. There was only one thing that I wanted, needed.

But fate had other plans for me and I was thrown back as a wave of magic erupted from his horn. My world spun as I tumbled across the floor, before crashing into the wall at the end.

“It it nice to meet you again in person after all these years subject 217, but I am afraid that I must cut this short.” My whole body was hurting, positively screaming at me, but I forced it to listen to me and look up at him. He was standing in yet another doorway… he was escaping again, no, no, NO. “Luckily, I have some more personnel who can keep you entertained… golems, ATTACK!” And just like that, he was gone. Another door slamming shut where he had just stood.

I had not noticed it before, but the same blast that had tossed me had broken every test tube in the room. And the ponies who had been in them were now standing up.

“Dammit Jake, what were you thinking.” They looked just like normal ponies… only that their eyes were pure white. “Oh shit…” Captain Dash rushed into the room and knocked away a yellow unicorn who had just been about to gore me. “Need some help here Jake!”

“...” I knew that he needed help. We were both tired from our journey here… but my body refused to move. I just sat there, staring at the door where he had been standing mere moments ago. “He got away… again.” I just felt… empty.

“We will get him, he can't run forever.” I heard the words, but my brain did not completely understand them. It could not process them. He had been so close. “Seriously dude, I know that i'm good, but this is more than I can handle!” The fighting in the background was easy to hear, and I knew that what I should have done. I should have turned around and helped Captain Dash, helped my friend.

But I did not do that.

I simply could not tear my eyes away from the door. I could hear my friend yell in the background, yell for help, shout out in pain and curse as he fought back. It was like my body was frozen, and I was barely even aware of the laugh that had begun to grow in the back of my throat.

“J-jake?” When he had called me earlier, he had sounded desperate, angry even, but now? Now he just sounded… scared.

Have you ever been in a situation where it feels like you are trapped inside your own mind? You can still see, and are aware of everything. But you have just given complete and utter control of your body over to your emotions, just completely and utterly letting yourself go.

I truly don't remember all of it, it was kind of a blur. But Razor Dash would at a later time tell me just how terrifying I looked in that moment.

The degree in the room plummeted by several degrees as I continued laughing, mist was seeping out of my mouth and down onto the ground. I was practically immune to the cold after having been transformed into a dragon hybrid. But even I could feel the sheer cold that was pouring out of my mouth with every laugh. The ground was freezing where the heavy mist touched it, and behind me, Razor took to the air to escape the heavy mist that seemed to freeze everything it touched.

“Jake?” He called out again. “What are you- watch out!” He cried out, and a sudden spike of pain caused me to look down, at the horn that was now piercing through my side. It hurt, of course it did, but at that time, I could not have cared less.

The unicorn, no, the flesh golem, tried to pull itself and its horn free, but the wound had already begun to freeze and was holding it in place.

I stopped laughing and Razor Dash told me that the smile that I gave off in that moment, was something that would remain with him forever. It sent shivers down his very spine, into his soul.

The mist stopped flowing as I started to suck air in instead, filling my lungs to the brim while the flesh golem was thrashing about, desperately trying to free itself to no avail. It looked up at me with its blank soulless eyes, one could almost take pity on such a creature. And then I unleashed absolute hell.

A sheer blizzard flowed out of my maw, cowering the unicorn in its entirety, and sending waves of frost that instantly froze everything it touched to the very core. The unicorn that was stuck in my side, shattered, only the horn in my side remained while the little pieces that was a living creature just a moment ago hit the floor.

Now since that little nuisance was gone I turned my head and focused my breath on the door, blasting it with everything that I had and more.

Frost and ice was forming on everything, the floor, walls, even me. I could feel the ice sticking to my scales, to my face as I continued to unleash a frost breath so cold, it seemed like the very air would freeze.

I did not stop as I jumped forward, or at least I did not stop out of choice. I don't think my body had any more to give, my throat felt like it was on fire, I could not even close my mouth from the ice that was sticking to my face after my frost breath stopped. But i did not need any more.

The door simply shattered as my claws met it. I burst through its shattered remains, cracking a lot of the ice covering me in the process as I flew into the room beyond. Towards my kill, my prize, my revenge.

Some of my senses returned when I came into that room. Not because my kill was so close, no, because of who was in the room with him.

“Annie!” Had it not been for her, he would have most likely been dead within the second. But no, her body was laying on a stone table in the middle of the room, and over her there he stood. His horn lit up and pointed directly at her.

“Yes, your precious girlfriend, Granny Smith, cute little nickname by the way.” He taunted. I took a step towards him, only to retreat as he jabbed the tip of his own against her throat. “Ah, ah, ah.” He laughed. “Another step and she dies.”

“She had nothing to do with this!” I roared. He was right there, would I be fast enough to get to him before he could harm her? No, I would not even come close. My body felt like it was on fire after what I had just been through, I had burned through all my reserve energy and more. Any adrenaline after the stunt i had just pulled felt like it was leaving my system too from the growing exhaustion i was feeling. “This is between you and me! Fight me like a man!”

“Oh please.” He groaned with a roll of his eyes. “Fight me like a stallion! This is between you and me!” He repeated in a mock voice. “No thanks, I'll just stay over here like a coward, thank you very much. It has kept me alive so far, so it seems to be working out just fine. Now, this is what's going to happen.” I had an inkling to what he was going to say. “I am going to leave, and you will let me.” The glow around his horn intensified and Annie was lifted up into the air and levitated besides him.

“There is a teleporter in the library you just came from. I will simply walk out there, and you will stand here like the obedient little experiment that you are… if you don't, she dies.” I wanted to scream out in frustration, and I was sure that my feelings were clearly visible on my face. And for a moment… I considered if it would be worth it to just go for it. To let her die, just so I could get to him. But I quickly managed to shake those thoughts out, I was too tired to be as angry as I was a little while ago.

“Oh, I still want your body. There is so much knowledge to be had in you my lovely experiment.” Perhaps i could follow after him after he teleported. “But I am not stupid. I know that I can't fight you here, not now. That is not a chance that's worth taking.”

“I will find you.” I growled through my teeth.

“Oh, I am sure that you will.” His smile was making me sick. “I am not done with you yet. I will have you in the end, you and your fused soul is the key to my immortality. You will find me, or I will let you fine me, that is how this will e-” he had just taken a few steps towards the door, when a blur slammed into his head, sending Mary to the ground and him skidding across the floor. Had i blinked in that moment, I was sure that I would have missed it.

Captain Dash landed in the spot next to Annie, his wings spread out in front of her in a protective manner. Frost and ice clung to him like a second layer of armor, and more than a few of his feathers were missing, frozen and broken, it was a miracle that he had been able to fly at all…. I had done that to him.

“A hero has to come in at the last moment to save the day, right?” And all of my worries melted away as he flashed me that infuriating grin of his. “Preferably in a dramatic manner.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Though perhaps i should have burst in through the wall, like you did with the door. That would have been way more dramatic.” It was hard not to hit the bastard. But he had saved Annie… so he deserved his little hero moment.

“You son of a-” But there was no more time for that, and my claw clamped down around that bastard's throat before he had a chance to recover after Dash's rescue.

“...” He was mine, I finally had him in my grasp. “Take care of Annie.” I told Razor. “We don't know what this bastard did to her, see if you can wake her up.” I started dragging him away from Annie and Captain Dash while he was struggling in my grasp, my claws were digging into his throat, drawing blood as we went.

“What are you doing Jake?” I heard him call after me, but he did not follow, no, he stayed at her side.

“What somepony should have done a long time ago.” I gruned as i lifted my arm and threw that bastard as hard as i could into the wall.

“W-wait!” He begged as he scrambled, trying to get away from me. But one of his legs had broken from the impact, severely limiting his movement. His horn lit up for a moment, but a kick to the head swiftly dealt with that. “W-what about your sister?” That actually made me pause for a second. “If… If you kill me then, you will never see her again!”

“...” He was broken and beaten. “I'm not stupid.” I said in a tired voice. “I know… realized that… that she died a long time ago.” I had been in hibernation from my transformation for several hundred years. There was simply no way that she was alive. “But her killer is still alive… that I can do something about.” A lash of my tail send several of his teeth scattering across the floor.

“Jake, I think she is waking up.” I heard Dash call out, well, at least there was some good news.

“W-wait!” He called out again, though this time, his whole body shimmered for a split second. Gone was the horrible monster of a unicorn that i knew… and in his place, was a green mare with a autumn red mane.

“You think illusions will save you?”

“No-no illusions.” She… he claimed. The voice was still the same, though the look was different. “This is one of the missing ponies.” His… her… its smile was growing as it talked. “How do you think i stayed alive for several hundreds of years? I had to borrow some bodies every now and again.” So that was why the ponies had gone missing. “B-but she is still very much alive in here.” It tapped its head. “A prisoner in her own body, watching as I have total control…” It was actually beginning to laugh. “And you are not going to kill a innocent pony are you?” It taunted. “No, of course not.”

“...” It had all led up to this point. So much had been sacrificed, to many ponies hurt because of him… it. “You overestimate me.” My words were as cold as the ice in the previous room.

“Jake! Stop!” Razor shouted from the top of his lungs. He had heard everything, he must have.

“B-but…” And that was the last words that came out of that monster's mouth before my claws found their mark, and tore its throat out.

Blood gurgled out of its throat and mouth for a few seconds before the life left its eyes and it simply fell down to the ground. Somehow I expected it to rise again, as an unholy abomination of some kind to exact revenge or something… but it never happened. The pool of blood around its simply grew and grew, staining its green fur and the stone floor.

It had not been pretty… but I had finally done it. I had won.

“It's done.” I whispered as i stared up at the roof. “You killer is finally dead.” That monster would never hurt another pony again.

I looked down as I heard the heavy sound of hooves against stone, and saw that Annie was awake and running straight towards me. Razor must have managed to wake her, and I was happy that she had not been seriously hurt.

I kneeled down and opened my arms, I was ready to embrace and hug her, my marefriend after all that I and she had been through. Though… in that moment, my mind did not registret her tears, or the expression upon her face.

And just before she reached me… she planted her forehooves into the floor and spun around, delivering a true apple family buck straight to my core.

The pain was nearly unimaginable, and I was not even aware of the shouting in the room immediately. It took a few seconds, or maybe it was minutes before the ringing in my ears started to disappear, and I could see somewhat straight. But more than anything, confusion were in my mind.

“You monster!” I heard someone shout. “I will kill you!” There it was again, I could see two colored blobs in the distance. Both of them seemed very familiar.

“Calm down Miss Smith.” There was another voice, sounded a lot like Razor Dash… I shook my head and tried to focus through the pain, getting up was out of the question, but my vision began to come back into focus, and the two blobs took shape.

Razor Dash was standing in front of Annie who… tears were streaming from her face, and her face… I had never seen such fury, such anger in anyone before. She was struggling, fighting, trying to get through Captain Dash who were holding her back.

“Let me kill that monster!” She cried again, and it took a few seconds before my mind could even register who she was talking about.

“W-what?” Not the exact words I had wanted to speak, but getting kicked by a pony who kicks apples off trees daily, will do that to you. “We saved you sweetie, why are you?”

“Why?!” She cried out again, she had stopped fighting. She had just collapsed on the spot. “H-how could ya do this!?” Her tears dripped against the floor. “H-how could you kill ma' sister.” And in that moment, everything came crashing back down.

“T-that was not your sister. It was-”

“Liar!” Her words were hitting me as harder than any of the hits I had taken that day. “I saw her… I heard her words.” She was just shivering at this point, leaving Razor Dash standing there awkwardly in front of her, not really knowing where to go. “S-she was still in there. A… and you murdered her in cold blood.”

What if she was right… what if his words had not been a bluff. What if she really had been in there, trapped. What if there had been a way to get her out? Had I even really thought about it? In that moment, did I even really care?

“Annie…” Slowly, and by leaning on the nearby wall, I managed to stand up, ignoring how my body screamed in pain.

“D-don't you dare to call me that.” She cried. “I… I thought we were something, that you were… f-family.” I wanted to go over to her, to comfort her. But she screamed out as I took a single step in her direction. “D-don't come any closer!” She screamed from the top of her lungs. “Don't you dare you… you monster.”

There was no way I could make this right. No words that would mend such a thing, no action that would repair what had been broken. And I understood her perfectly, having lost my own sister too.

“Just… just leave.” She sniffed. “I never want to see ya again… never…. never.” Her voice changed into a muttering as she just covered her head with her hooved and cried into the floor.

Call me a coward if you want… but i left.

I could not stay in the same room as her a moment longer. I wanted to run, to run till my legs could no longer bear me. How could I have not have known… her sister had always been away, had i truly never seen a picture? No, i guess not.

I walked past the frozen forms of the previous flesh golems, each of them frozen in their place, as dead as everything else in this godforsaken place. It was not until I reached the library that I realized that my own tears were streaming down my face and dripping onto the carpet below.

“Jake…” I turned around to see that Razor had followed me. His expression was pained. It did not seem like he knew what he wanted to think… or even say.

“...” Then again, neither did I. “Should i have spared that… that monster?” I asked in a low voice. “Do you think that there was a way to have saved her?” I looked at him for answers, hoping, begging that he would have something…. anything.

“I am the captain of the royal guard.” He said in a natural voice. “I knew why you did it… but I can't condone killing like that Jake… I just can't.” He was right, of course he was. “As for saving that gal…” He shook his head before letting out a long sigh. “I don't know dude… perhaps Celestia would have found a way, perhaps not…. there is no point in thinking about that now, eh?” Or course he was right, he usually was.

“I… can you take care of A… Granny Smith in there?” I asked him. “Make sure she gets out alright and everything.”

“Of course.” He nodded. “But, what about you?”

“Me?” I looked around. My body was aking like nothing else, and while the ice on my side was keeping me from bleeding out, it was not doing me any favors when it came to the pain. “I'm just going to leave.”

I had turned around and taken a few steps before his voice stopped me once more.

“You know,” he started, “I was willing to go along with Celestia's orders and make myself an official traitor because I knew that you were innocent.” I met his hard glare. “But now… you know that i'm officially obligated to take you in for killing that pony right?” His features were hard, but his eyes were soft. “Killing somepony is never right.”

“So, are you?” I asked, it was not like I would be able to stop him anyway. “Are you going to arrest me?” We held our gazes for a few moments, but in the end, he looked away.

“No, no I guess not.” A sad sigh left his lips. He just looked, tired. I knew that I did too. “Where are ya going?” He asked.

“... I don't know.” I said after a small pause, because I truly did not know.

“So, I guess this is goodbye for now then, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” He knew what I had meant, he knew it so very well. “Goodbye you magnificent bastard.” I managed to crack a smile.

“Goodbye you impossible asshat.” And he made a grin to match it. “See ya later.” Both of us nodded and he was the first one to turn away, walking back to the room where everything had gone to hell.

“Yeah… later.” I said in a low voice after I had begun to walk away.

It took a while before I found Melandra and Cleo. Not that it was very far back to where they were, just that I was not able to move very fast, a snail would probably have beaten me.

They were in the same spot as we had left them, though, luckily it seemed like Melandra had taken care of the beetles and cleared the hallway, but gone back to watch over my apprentice.

“Jake!” Cleo shouted, and almost tackled me down. I was immensely glad that she did not. I don't think I would have survived that. “You are hurt! What happened?”

“Oh you know, little bit of this, little bit of that.” I tried to make a small smile, but i'm sure the both of them saw straight through it. Cleo went up against my side, allowing me to lean against her, which I was immensely grateful for.

“Something certainly roughed you up good.” Melandra commented, though beneath her cold exterior, I knew just how much she cared. “Did you succeed?”

Did I succeed? I was not even sure anymore.

“Yeah, bastards dead.” She knew that I was hiding something, she always knew. But thankfully she did not push it.

“Oh, that's good then.” Cleo beamed. She was just too precious for her own good.... she was to similar to Charlie. Maybe that was why I had allowed her to stay in the first place, because ow how much she reminded me of my little sister.

“You need to get some medical attention though… where is that annoying pegasus and your marefriend?”

“Dash and Annie are back there, but as you can see, I wasn't exactly in a state to stick around.” I managed a weak laugh, it really felt like I was going to pass out any second.

“I see… we will get you out of here then.” Melandra stated as she took the other side to help Cleo support me, though I was certain that the dragoness would have managed perfectly by herself.

“Hey Cleo.” I weakly called out when we were nearing the exit.

“Yeah?” She looked up at me.

“After all of this, I think we will be going away.” She blinked at my words.

“Oh? Where too?”

“I… I don't know.” I admitted. “Just, somewhere far, far away.”

Epilogue

It did not hit me until some time later, but I realized that I did not even know the name of the unicorn that had caused all of this strife, this hurt… this tragedy.

I had always been subject 217 to him, it was all that I had been for years since my name was taken. And he? He had been a monster.

I was sure that Captain Dash, Celestia or maybe even Melandra may have known or heard about his name. But I would not ask about that, no, I refused to. Call it stubbornness, but I would not give that monster the satisfaction of a name in my memory. Not after everything that he had caused.

Speaking of the things that happened in that lair, what I did was wrong, there was no way around that. But if I could do it all over again, I don't know if I would truly do things differently. I want to say that I would take the high road and try to save Granny Smith's sister, but I just don't trust myself enough to know if I would have been able to control myself in his presence.

But that was all in the past, I would like to say I waited for Annie in Ponyville, that I worked myself to the bone for her forgiveness. That I did everything in my power to restore what we once had, perhaps not to exactly what we had, but at least so that we could be friends once again.

But I did not do that. I was not brave enough to stick around to face her, whose family I had killed with my own hands. No, I was not a brave man, never was. In my core, I am and will always be a coward. So I ran. I ran like I had never ran before.

Melandra and Cleo helped me out, and my old dragoness teacher healed me up rather nicely. I never went back to ponyville, not just because of the Apple family, no. But also because I was still labeled as a criminal.

Captain Dash managed to get word out to us, he told us that the Canterlot nobles were making it difficult for Celestia to announce my innocence. And I did not doubt him, those annoying asskissers could slow down even the most simple of things to where a snail would look like a speedster. But he did say that the amount of evidence, including several journals that were recovered at the lair would prove my innocence without a doubt.

But the fact remained, I had nothing waiting for me back at ponyville anymore, so we just left that place, our old home behind and traveled out into the vast world to explore what it had to offer.

The years passed rather quickly after that.

Eventually we found a place where we settled down, it took a few tries and mishaps before we found a suitable place, but it was home. And most importantly, it was far, far away from Equestria.

Cleo stuck with me the entire time, she was my apprentice after all, and I had a lot to teach her. Melandra on the other hand… She stayed with us for a while, even traveled back to our old home to pick up some of the essentials that we would need, and that would be too troublesome to get new ones of. She even stuck around for a few years after we settled down, overlooking me and Cleo, teaching us both and mentoring us. But, eventually she left. Traveling back to Canterlot, back to her home. As she put it, I needed to grow on my own, and she wanted to visit Celestia again, since it had been a while since they had seen each other.

Cleo and I had plenty of adventures of our own though, and became renown smiths outside of Equestria. I always leaned more towards weapon making, though Cleo had a natural talent for armor smithing, so we made the perfect combination. I even got a contract from the Minotaur king himself at one point, but that is a story for another time.

Celestia never really stopped trying to send me letters. I could feel the push inside of my chest every time she tried to send one through me, but Melandra had taught me how to block it, should I want to. And that is what I did. I was never ready to go back, or face what had happened back then. In truth, I guess I never really stopped running in that sense. And I thought that if Celestia got to know where I was, that she might send someone to get me, or just go herself to spite me. I did not want to face her, not any of them. Life with Cleo as my apprentice was good, I did not need anything else.

But, all good things usually come to an end, and this was no exception…

*********************

Back in Canterlot, things appeared to be as fine as they could be. Equestria was prospering and their ponies were growing in numbers and expanding every day. But, if one were to look a little closer, a little deeper, one would see that not everything was as perfect as they appeared to be.

“Princess Celestia, are you okay?” A voice shook the sun princess out of her thoughts and she looked down at the pony in front of her. For a moment she mistook him for somepony else, somepony who had lived and died a long, long time ago. They were just so similar. But as the worry on his face increased, she remembered his question and a long sigh escaped past her lips, it was a question that she had heard a lot over the last few years.

“Yes my little pony, I am very alright.” She gave her loyal guard a warm and comforting smile, like she had done so many other times. “I am just a little tired.” Another excuse that had become old over the years, yet, it continued to work so perfectly well.

“I see.” It was not like she enjoyed lying to her little ponies, but they would just worry too much if she told them exactly what was on her mind. “Will you be closing the court early today too then?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I think that I will. Please give my apologies to any of the poor souls that are still standing in line.” She should have gone out to greet and apologize to them herself, she knew this all too well. But she simply did not feel like it. She did not want to face anypony else, and more than anything, she did not wish to keep her mask of lies on for a moment longer than what was necessary.

“Of course princess.” The guard did a little salute, he was such a precious little thing. And he took after his uncle, Razor Dash so very much. As soon as that pony entered her thoughts though, Celestia had to hold back a grumble. He was still a Captain of the royal guard, and did an exemplary job too. He was just… a little more “himself” than she could handle. Had been ever since he had been cleared of his supposed betrayal.

“Guards!” Every single guard in the room snapped to attention as Celestia called out to them. They were like coiled springs, ready to snap free and obey her next command to the letter. They were loyal without a doubt, and she loved them for that. They could just be a little… boring at times. “Please leave the room. All of you.” This however, caused a few odd looks between the guard ponies.

“Um.. Princess?” One of them asked her.

“I wish to be alone for a little while.” She said in a gentle voice. “Do not worry my little ponies,” she added as she saw the uncertainty in their faces. “I will be perfectly fine. I just… wish to reflect upon a few things.”

“Yes, your highness.” The guards snapped to attention and bowed before leaving, one after the other, until the throne room was completely empty.

It was a comfortable silence, something that Celestia had learned to appreciate during her years on the throne. When every day was a hectic mess, you learned to enjoy the little quiet moments here and there.

Her horn lit up and a parchment and a quill floated up from behind the throne. She knew that it would only bring disappointment. But it had been years since the last time she had tried… maybe something would have changed by now.

She finished writing up her message and sealed the cross with a wax seal before green fire consumed the scroll and a wisp of green magic flew up and out the window. She closed her eyes and listened to the comforting sound of her own heartbeat as she counted the moments before….

Her eyes snapped back open as a familiar “pop” sound filled the air and the very same scroll that she had sent dropped down on the ground in front of her, its seal, still intact.

It was the same that had happened to every single other letter that she had tried to send to Jake. Melandra was the only one who knew where he was, and she refused to tell a soul. Claiming that he had made her promise to keep it a secret, until he was ready to come back.

Celestia did not speak much of him any longer, but her closest friends and guards knew that she missed the Silver dragon hybrid, though, not all of them knew the true reason as to why.

Sure, they were friends. Quite good friends at that, or at least they had been. She had grown quite close to him during the first few months that he had spent living at the castle. She had other friends, sure, and she treasured them deeply every day. But it had been more than that, it had been what she had seen in Jake.

A friend that would not leave her, that would not succumb to the clutches of time. That would simply not wither away in what felt like the blink of an eye. Just like Melandra, he would live for a long, long time. Sure, he may not be immortal like her, at least not to her knowledge. But a few thousand years at the very least.

She yearned for another such a friend, no, she needed it.

One might call such a thought selfish. But after all that she had done, all that she had braved. Celestia felt that she could deserve to be a little selfish. If only for once.

There had been an emptiness inside her ever since she had been forced to banish her sister to the moon. Melandra had helped a lot, another one that would brave the test of time with her. But when Jake had left, nay, disappeared without a word. It had reminded her of that emptiness. And it hurt.

“Am I a silly mare for clinging to such silly ideas as a lasting friendship?” She voiced her thoughts, though, no one was there to hear them. Her voice simply echoed off the walls of her throne room, until silence reigned supreme once again.

She was unsure how long she had sat there alone before she heard a commotion start to grow outside her palace doors. Now, commotions like the one she was hearing, while not common, were not completely unheard off. While most ponies in her land lived a good life under her rule, there was still exceptions. As much as she wanted, there was simply no way of helping each and every one of those poor souls.

But this was different, somehow it felt… familiar.

That was when the palace doors burst open, and a very familiar creature skidded across her floors before coming to a halt. Her body was that of a lion, and she had a pair of magnificent wings on her sides. Her face on the other hoof, was not comparable to any other. Cleo the Sphinx stood there in full glory and Celestia let out a gasp.

Not because of her, no, but rather, because of what she was carrying.

Over her back, laid the unmoving body of her friend, Jake.

“Princess!” Cleo shouted, her panic as clear as day. “I-I need your help. Its Jake. H-he… something is wrong, and I don't know what to do.”

*********************

Tired.

No, I don't think a single word could ever clearly explain how I felt. But I was still, just so, so tired. It felt like my body, no, my very essence wanted to just lay down and stop moving. And it seemed like such a good idea too.

“-he just started sleeping more and more,” hey, that was Cleo's voice. Heh, she had promised that she would take care of me and figure out what was wrong. I could barely move my body, but with the last of my strength, I forced my eyes open, to reveal the magnificent room around us. A sight that I had not seen in many years. “At first I thought it was nothing, but then he started sleeping for days at a time… then close to weeks. And no matter what I did, during those times, he would not wake up!” I could not turn my head to look at her, but I could hear it in her voice that she was crying.

“This is most serious indeed.” A new voice spoke up. It was someone that I had not seen in what felt like a small forever, though, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the edges of her ethereal flowing mane… Celestia. I tried to open my mouth to call out to her, I had been stubborn, stubborn and stupid to ignore her for all those years. To reject her messaged and efforts to call out to me.

But… as I tried to muster the energy to speak, I could feel the darkness approaching once again. It was overwhelming, suffocating and at the same time, inviting. Warm like a mother's embrace.

“Jake, are you awake!?” It was impossible to resist its call. “No, stay with us Jake, stay with us….”

It felt like only a moment has passed, but when I opened my eyes once again, Cleo was laying on the floor, and I was propped up against her side. Her right wing was wrapped softly around me, and she kept humming a soft tune from a song, a song that still sparked memories in my mind.

“I… I taught you that when we first met.” My voice was broken and hoarse, but I managed to speak this time, it was a small victory.

“I remember.” Cleo answered, though she did not stop humming. It send small vibrations through her body, that carried over to mine. “You said that it was your favorite song.”

“And it… still is.” I managed to smile, and look around. It seemed like we were along. “Where… is…”

“Celestia?” Cleo asked, like she had known what I was going to say. “She ran to get Melandra.” She answered. “She… she thought that it looked like you were going into a dragons slumber… hibernation. Only…” Her voice cracked and she hugged me a little tighter. “Only that's not supposed to happen until a dragon is very, very old.” She quivered. “And you should not be this weak.” I wanted to reach up and embrace her, to tell her that she should not be sad because of me. That she should not worry… but my arms would not move.

“Don't... cry.” Was all that I managed.

“Y-yeah, you are right.” She sniffed and I could feel her wipe her teats. “B-but, she said that Melandra would know what to do.” She moved my head so that I could up at her, into her eyes. They were still red from the earlier crying, but she wore a beautiful smile on her face. “I know that you did not want me to bring you back here… b-but I did not know what else to do!” Her tears fell down and onto me. “I could not take care of you.”

But you did take care of me, you did what was right… I was the one who had been stupid, that was what i wanted to tell her. But my voice had gone away once again, and I could not muster the energy to summon it.

“B-but now that we are here, Melandra will make everything well again.” She smiled brightly, and I could feel it warm my soul. Though I was still so tired, so very, very tired. And my eyelids were beginning to get heavy.

“Jake!” It was fair, but I thought I could hear a familiar voice call my name. Not only that, no, I could hear several voices.

“D-did you hear that.” Clep looked up. “Everyone is coming.” And I could feel a faint smile grow on my own face aswell. “They are getting closer, they will be here any minute now.” And she was right, I could hear the hoofsteps echoing through the halls of the castle.

"Y-you are like a family to me, and I was so afraid that I would lose you…”

In the distance I could hear them, Captain Dash, it had been so long since I had seen him. And Melandra, who had left all those years ago to go back to her home in Canterlot. And lastly, Celestia… whom I had not spoken to in forever. Whom I had ignored for so long. They were all getting closer.

“They will soon be here Jake.” Her voice was so soothing, like fine silk it caressed my soul. The only one who would not be here was Granny Smith… who I had wronged all those years ago, and had never been able to face since.

So tired

But… after Melandra and the others came, I would be able to visit her again. I would finally stand up to my demons and face the truth.

“They are just around the corner now.” Cleo smiled, she looked like an angel with the sun shining down on her, and I could hear their hoofsteps getting closer and closer.

I was just so tired… they were almost here anyway, and my eyes were getting so heavy. And Cleo's fur was so very, very comfortable.

“Everyone will finally be gathered again!”

They were just around the corner anyway… I would just... close my eyes for... one… short… moment…………...

Author's Notes:

And with that, this story of mine finally comes to an end.
It has been a truly wonderful road to get this far, though we have certainly met more than a few roadblocks along the way.
For the longest time, I did not think that this story would be complete. That I would just let it die, because, honestly, I was not having fun in writing it anymore. But, I felt like I owed it to you guys, the readers I had, to finish it. And while it took way longer than it should have, we made it in the end.

About the ending... I know that it's not the most satisfying one, but it was the one I had in mind before the first chapter was even done. I knew how this story would end before it even started.

With that being said... I thank those of you that have joined me on this journey. This was my first attempt at fanfiction, and it was truly a joy to write, and it taught me a lot and helped me grow.

Will there be a sequel?.... who knows.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. I would love to hear what you guys thought of this story of mine now that is is finally completed^^

Extra Ending

Author's Notes:

Due to popular demand, regarding the cliffhanger ending, I decided to make and release this, a chapter that may shed some light as to exactly happened to Jake, and what his future may hold. Keep in mind, I strongly dislike straight-out giving out the answer to things, so take from this chapter what you will.

I was floating. Or maybe floating would be the wrong word, for I no longer had a body in which to call my own. This fact should have shaken to me to my very core, yet I was as calm as I could possibly be. It was like nothing could ever cause my mind worry again. Everything was simply… perfect.

Perhaps it was that I no longer had a body in which to contain me which felt so freeing. I was like the wind, soaring above the clouds, and through the lands at my every whim.

Under me was Canterlot, the wondrous city that I had once called my home. It stood on the mountainside, like a shining beacon to all of Equestria, shining hope and prosperity out onto the land. It was a true beauty, and I had never before truly appreciated it like I now could.

A thought was all that was necessary, and my view shifted, causing Ponyville to come into view. No effort was necessary, it was like breathing, like I had always done so and been like this.

The quaint, little town had not changed a bit. The Apple farm was still as large as it had been, or perhaps it had grown a bit. They were always expanding, the Apple family never did anything without putting one hundred percent effort into it.

Granny Smith entered my mind for a spell. I knew that I should have felt ashamed, worried, horrible... But I did not. I could not. I knew that I should feel worried about this, but just like before, I could not.

It was free, in every sense of the word. And I could see everything.

A thought was all that it took and I could see every tree in the Everfree Forest. Every river that stretched throughout the land, and all the fish that inhabited them. I could see every strand of grass that filled the endless fields of Equestria, the bugs that lived among them, and the worms that lived under.

I was free, and it felt like nothing else ever could.

I looked back to Ponyville and saw that it had changed. More buildings had appeared, like they just had sprouted up like the grass that surrounded them. Forests had disappeared, and rivers had been shifted.

I glanced back to Canterlot, and saw that it too had changed, though not nearly as much. The roads had been smoothened out, cobblestone now filled the streets where only dirt was before. The homes had changed too, though the castle itself remained the same. It was a never changing symbol.

I blinked and everything had changed again. Roads appeared where forests once had been, cutting through them like a snake did as it chased its prey. Other settlements had sprung to life too, popping up like dandelions throughout the land.

What was once small, quaint towns were now huge, wondrous cities, teeming with life and industry. Ponies were running through the streets, each and every one of them filled to the brim with ideas and hope.

I blinked again, and some of the settlements had disappeared, only ruins left in their wake. Where some had flourished, others had perished. It was the way life worked.

Though, none had flourished such as Ponyville had.

The orchard had almost tripled in size, and the town itself was twice the size it once was too. Foals ran through the streets, laughing like children should, without a worry in the world.

Everything was changing, and at the same time, nothing truly was.

As I drifted up above the clouds, I could see how familiar everything still seemed. Towns had grown, cities had flourished, and others had died. Rivers and streams had found new pathways, creating beautiful patterns throughout the land. But despite it all, Equestria was still what it once was and would hopefully always be. A home to those within it, hope to those that needed it, and a chance to those that strived for it.

It was beauty like nothing else. Perfection could be found within its flaws. I could not understand how I had never truly seen it for what it was before.

“Jaaaaake.” A voice brought my out from my thoughts as it echoed around me.

It was like nothing I had ever heard before, yet, it felt so familiar at the same time. I could not tell if it belonged to a man or a woman, only that it filled me with a warmth like I had never felt before.

“Jaaake.” It called out again, and I wanted to answer, I wanted so with all of my being. But found myself unable to do so.

“It's time to wake up Jake.”

Wake up? Was I sleeping? And did I even want to wake up if that was the case, if it meant leaving this freedom, this perfection behind?

“You are young, where I am ancient.” The voice spoke again, and I could feel myself drawn towards it. “You have too much more to see, so much more to do. That is why, you can't remain like this.”

His words had wisdom in them, and they struck my core like a hammer. True and hard.

Perhaps he was right, and after all, I had been able to witness this perfection, and I would always keep it with me. Treasuring it for what it was, for what it would always be.

I could not tell you why, but I trusted the voice. I felt… knew that he spoke the truth, and that he wanted what was best for me. He was right, it was time.

“We will speak again in time, Jake.” I was ready. “For now, greet the world.” Light started shining all around me, consuming everything in its path. Yet it was not blinding, but comforting and warm. I welcomed it.

“Wake up!”