//------------------------------//
// A New Beginning? I think not! 
// Story: Year of the Dragon [HIATUS] 
// by Derpcadius Dragon 
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[Equestria: 2000 years in the past]

Alexander tilted her head around her new surroundings, quite unsure at what she was looking at. Currently, she was looking at a bunch of cartoonish-looking trees in the middle of what looked like to be a forest, and looking up revealed that she was the size of a small bush, maybe even a flower. She frowned, feeling her new sharp canines push against her upper and lower lips. Eyes glanced around, trying to search for something to look into to at least take a look at her face, and a better look at her new body.

Small crested ears flickered at the new sounds, however Alexander was trying to get the sounds of rushing water, which was hard to do when there was a bunch of birds and leaves making noises. She grumbled unhappily, taking a deep breath through her nose before snorting it out and causing what looked like glittery-smoke out of her nose, however by doing so she managed to get a good whiff of rain-water like smell. 

With the smell of rainwater in her nose, she began stumbling around to find a good way to actually move. This, of course, toke a while seeing how she was a long but very small noodle. Finally finding a way of moving by smoothing out her spinal cord and actually walking like a lizard, she made way to the smell, however toke note of her surroundings. Never knew when something might jump at you.

Alexander's eyes met the sight of a small but clear pond not even a, what she calculated to be, half hour later and swiftened up her pace. Peering into clear water, she got a look at her face. She had well.. scales, however they looked more like lizards skin than those of a viper, however her brow was finely scaled like a viper, with the corner of her eye having a sharp curve. Behind her eyes, she saw the small stubs of what looked like the start of the antlers of a deer of sort. Around the cheek and under the underdeveloped horns was small tuffs of white fur and feathers, just slightly erupting from the skin underneath the scales and under and around her horse-like ears. The most prominent features of her face was the sharp emeralds of her eyes along with the small tusks by the corners of her mouth. Opening her mouth was met with tiny tooth-pick sized teeth along with a forked tongue.

Closing her mouth, Alexander shifted her body to the water and toke a glance at her scales. Each were sharp and pointed, looking like they would be able to just be peeled off her body like it was glued on, however the mix of sharp spines going down her neck and white feathers and fluff in between the spines caught her attention most. Her arms were more like a lizards in terms of scales, however three wicked sharp claws and what she thought of as a thumb was what she caught note of, and she silently thanked for it, after all thumbs were undoubtedly useful for many things! Her back legs were the same, however with four sharp claws and no thumbs.

Testing her new tail, she curled it closer to her sights and was met with a face full of white downy fur and feathers, causing her to sneeze out more smoke from her nose which danced in the air with golden sparkles and then disappeared. Swishing it around a bit to test out the muscle, she discovered she could possibly use it to grab things as well, in case her front arms were full.

Blinking her newly colored eyes she began to wonder about how she would go about defending herself. She does have claws and teeth, however she knows that dragons do have a breath element, usually fire or the such. However, she wasn't technically  a dragon, but a serpent from Asian lore. For all she knows, she could have no breath weapon which would mean that she wouldn't have a long distanced move in case she can't use her other bodily weapons. She scowled, and twisted her body towards the forest as she then began to wonder on how to develop such a thing.

Alexander sighed, relaxing her muscles before lifting herself up into what looked like a sitting motion for her body and curled a thumb under her chin and closed her eyes, trying to think while also testing out the inside muscles. She had noticed the smoke from her nose, so she should be able to find anything extra should it be in her chest or such. She lashed her tail in the water, causing a sprinkle of water to splash on her dry scales.

Unable to find a new muscle (and nearly gagging at accidentally using her gag reflex) she decided to just try breathing. This... was not successful as you may think, however she did manage to hack up smoke, which she thought was a good thing, at the least. If you wanted to run, that is. However, she needed- no wanted- fire. Fire was undoubtedly useful right now, since it was growing darker (she was looking at the sky while thinking) and its not like she knows how to use the stick method and there wasn't any flint around to do that trick. She didn't even have a lighter.

Sighing, she turned to the water. It was probably a good idea to drink something to relax her body and cool down a bit, along with relaxing her throat since it became sore from trying to hack something elemental up. Shuffling her arms much like a giraffe would, she lowered her head and was about to take a sip of water when she heard the rustling of bushes behind her. Taking a quick sip, she lifted her head and twisted it to look behind her, eyes slitting as her ears perked and started twitching around.

"Who's there? Come out where I can see ya. I ain't afraid of no ghost!" She growled, turning towards the bushes and fitting into a instinctive defense stance. 

While she could (thankfully) see in the dark, she couldn't see what was pass the thick brush, but she did gulp as she noticed a pair of glowing green eyes. The bush snarled, rustled and then flattened as a large wooden wolf that was at least twice the size of her body stomped forth, causing her to gulp, eyes widening in shock.

The wolf snarled at her, and then lunged at her direction, and with a yelp she tried to dodge by rolling. This, obviously, didn't work because the wolf got a hold of her tail and started thrashing, its sharp wooden teeth digging into the scales. Holding a claw over her mouth so she would puke, she started lashing out with her other claws at the wolfs head, hoping to at least get out of the grip.

The wooden wolf yelped as the serpents claws slashed at its eye, causing a bit of splintered wood to go through the air. As the wolf yelped, it caused said serpent to go flying to the earth with a soft thud and bits of dried dirt to go into the air. Alexander stumbled to all four of her legs, and snarled at the wolf who recovered and snarled back. Cautiously, she wondered if she should run or not, taking glances around her for a safe way to get out of this situation.

The wolf lunged, and she decided to dash under it and make it for the tall oak tree behind her. The wolf went flying over her and she started clawing her way up the tree, yelping as the wolf recovered and tried to snap at her tail, but missed. Alexander curled up on a branch several feet above the beast, the thick branch holding her as she held onto it. The wolf started scratching at the tree, as if trying to either climb or make the tree fall, but failed as the old oak continued to stand and take the brunt of the attack.

The wolf snarled in defeated, turning around to run into the forest, bits of wood from the wound around its eye falling to the ground. Alexander sighed in relief, wiping at her brow despite not sweating, and lowered her head to the branch.

"Whatever that was... that was scary, and I am definitely not on regular old Earth anymore... I should try finding civilization or something, at least to learn what the hell is going on!" Alexander grumbled, before passing out in exhaustion. Her claws and tail holding her to the branch still in tense fear.