//------------------------------// // Everfree searching // Story: Wrong Door, Perfect Oppurtunity // by DuskNote //------------------------------// I don't know how long I stood there. The memories and feelings syncing up with my old reality combined with the surreal experience of talking to a pony inside a dream meant I was a rambling mess. Getting even the smallest thought out into the open just caused the rest to come tumbling after it. I had gotten so used to talking to the voices in my head that being in my head, in a dream sure but it was still my head, caused me to relax a lot more than I should have. It was fine. Just had to sidestep her. Wiping my eyes I put on a smile. "Out of everything I said that's what you pay attention to?" I tried to sound genuinely curious, like what I said meant absolutely nothing. "Why? You are quite right. A month is nowhere near a proper amount of time to form a proper relationship. Since you are so set on dying at the end of that time." Whether I was successful in my attempt didn't seem to matter much. She would not be distracted. Well, if I couldn't persuade her to forget it. Maybe I could convince her it was unavoidable. I really didn't like what she might be implying either. "What are you trying to say? It's not like I can change anything. I practically summoned the strongest creature in Equestria just to give myself a way to leave this place. Once I'm gone it should go back to sleep. It's only after me." "And you are so sure that we can't protect you?" Luna's reply baffled me. Had she not heard of an Elder Dragon? Well I suppose I hadn't really explained what was after me. Doing so, being sure to stress how impossible it was to beat, didn't seem to change her mind. Well the Princess of the Night was not one to back down it seems. "If what you say is true and it takes true understanding of the magic of Love and Friendship to beat this creature than why are you so determined to leave the ones with knowledge of this power?" Opening my mouth to respond I realised I couldn't. If I wanted to beat the dragon then staying near the Princess of Friendship, whose sister-in-law may as well be the Princess of Love, made the most sense. "Because I don't want to beat it. I want to test my strength against it and move on to my next story." "Even after what you've just told me? And, what I believe, you have just admitted to yourself?" I really had no idea what she was talking about now. So what if I won against the dragon. Id be stuck here waiting for my emotions to go haywire again? "I don't want to get them involved. And besides I'd be a human in Equestria. That's by no means normal. And, while I bet it would be interesting for a time, I'd be bored. Not like I can settle down. I'd be better of building a cottage near Zecora. Or fixing this place up and hiding here." I gestured around me. It could be done. It would be difficult but there are quite a few spells and wards I had learnt that could help me do it. In response to my thoughts the worn down walls and decorations started fixing themselves. "If a life with ponies would be uncomfortable for you I'm sure Twilights friends from the human world would be happy to have you." Okay now I was really getting confused. Either my desire for death had made her completely forget the bombshell I had dropped before or she was ignoring it. Since the Lunar Princess didn't seem the type to forget things easily it made me wonder why she was ignoring what I said. What purpose could she have? "Life with ponies doesn't bother me. It's how it would bother them. We've been over this your majesty." "Yes I know. Your one month time limit does make it hard for any relationships to form. But that's no longer a problem once the beast threatening you is dealt with." While I had started to slowly walk closer to her Luna just shook her head dismissively, her starry mane flicking slightly. Okay what? "You realise I'm a human right?" "Do not be condescending to us. We are fully aware of what you are. It's why we offered the idea of the portal should you wish it." The Princess frowned and her voice got louder. The fact she also slipped into the Royal Plurals meant I touched a nerve. "I apologise your highness but I'm getting confused. My problems revolve around my feelings that I'm sure you heard me express. There's no guarantee that I can keep those bottled up. Even if I do get to know the ponies over time the slightest thing may make me slip up. How would they deal with that?" I had reached the step up to throne. With my emotions firmly under control, for the time being, I could be more Slytherin in my dealings. Though being blunt seems to work much better so I'd have to see which way had the advantage. "Why I'm sure you're making a much bigger deal of it than it will be." The Princess of the Night waved her hoof uncaringly and I saw red. No. NO! I would not let it go down this road! Stepping up so that I was face to face with her my voice went cold. "A pony and human relationship could never work. Not in a thousand years. I think your banishment has addled your brain your highness. I'd appreciate if you didn't pass it on to me. I'll head back when I'm good and ready. And I expect you to keep your word and stay quiet." With more force than was necessary I slammed my mental walls down and ended the dream. When I woke up both my arm and leg felt like they were on fire. The blood had soaked my entire pant leg and it seemed like the bandages around my arm were cutting of circulation. Vanishing them, which led to just a slight hiss of discomfort, I set about properly cleaning and treating both injuries. A few muttered spells cleaned the wound on my leg and another spell wrapped it in bandages that started to slightly turn red. This, of course, made me wonder something. Why was this wound still bleeding when I was mauled by a Mera and turned out fine.... Wait.... No. Merry. Her name is Merry now. Been so long since I've seen the fuzzball I forgot the name change. I was a kid when I named her so the first one kind of sticks out more. Was it something to do with her being my familiar? I don't know much about those types of bonds and even less on how they'd apply here. Maybe its something else about her species. I have to admit I was smart enough to stay out of her way on her first rampage and she never hurt anyone she didn't mean to after that. Well at least I wouldn't dirty Fluttershy's bandages, some part of me was really reluctant to do that. With both injuries treated as well as I could do with the little knowledge on medical spells I had, I could focus on what I was going to do now. I couldn't hide out here, ponies would check soon enough, and while Luna probably wouldn't tell them what she learned, I trusted her enough to not do that, she would probably insinuate that someone should look for me. Speaking of the moon alicorn... I had probably pissed her off. Shocked her too, I bet, managing to kick her out of the dreamscape. "I mean, it's not my fault." I muttered to myself glaring up at the ceiling. This wasn't the world I wanted and I'll be damned if I stay here any longer than I need to. Reaching into the survival pack I pulled out the map of Equestria. I assume that it would be coming from the dragon lands, that would make the most sense for an all powerful dragon to come from after all, so the best bet would be to get as close to the shore as I could. In that case the Hayseed swamps would be a good bet. Let it find me before it has a chance to scare any pony villages.... Or it could be coming from somewhere else... Like the Undiscovered West. If that was the case then I'd probably be better heading to the Smokey Mountains.... "Well, Buck me. I need to talk to Spike don't I? Maybe Ember will know something about any Elder Dragons." Wait... Who the hell is Ember? Pausing I looked through my memories. I'd only caught up to season 5 to humour Rose and the family into thinking it may redeem me. However it seemed like Season 6 was currently airing.... Where that put me in the timeline I don't know but maybe a dragon lord could help me figure out.... Or.... Standing I promptly changed out of the sleepwear I was still wearing and headed towards the doors. There's one other pony who may know about dragons, one who wouldn't fear me, one who hopefully wouldn't tell what I asked and, most importantly, one with a way of speaking that would be quite hard to write well. Take that. Still my story, I'll screw with you how I want. The throbbing pain in my arm was no longer as noticeable. So, as long as I kept my eyes and ears opened, I should be able to deal with anything. It's not like she lived that far. She wasn't on the map but as long as I followed the path I should find her. I think it should be obvious anyway. I mean this castle was about halfway in. Just got to go into the middle of the forest and look for the flowers. Being careful walking back over the bridge, using a liberal amount of spells to be sure it wouldn't crumble under me, I entered back into the forest and conjured small fireballs to float around me. Anything tried to attack me I'd incinerate them, no hesitation. Of course when I can fight back nothing appeared to challenge me. So I was stuck in the forest walking slowly for what felt like an hour. I was actually just about to give up when I found the poison joke flowers. As my luck would have it though I picked the wrong way to go. I was walking for another 10 minutes before I realised the flowers were disappearing with no sign of the cottage turning around, grumbling all the while, meant it took me an extra 20 minutes before I saw the hut. Knocking on the door I took in a deep breath and hoped this went well.