//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Am I Dead? (edited) // Story: The Flame Chronicles // by FlameBrony1625 //------------------------------// IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME READING THIS OR A RETURNING READER, I DID SOME MAJOR RE EDITING TO SOME OF THE OLDER CHAPTERS OF THIS STORY THAT I'VE BEEN PUTTING OFF FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. I BASICALLY MADE IT SEEM LIKE MY OC ARRIVED TO EQUESTRIA AROUND THE TIME COVID HIT, SO THAT SHOULD CLEAR UP AS TO WHY IM MENTIONING IT IN A STORY THAT WAS UPLOADED IN 2018. It was a typical end of summer afternoon here in College Station, Texas; So freaking hot to the point I shouldn't even be wearing a shirt! I'm only 3 months into my first semester of my junior year here at Texas A&M. It's pretty overwhelming, considering how fast the last two years seemed to have passed by, and also the fact that I'm a few steps away from enduring the psychological torture that will be adulthood. Then again I almost had to since we had a worldwide pandemic to worry about. Despite what I think will happen to me in the not too distant future, it's good to know that I won't be going into the real world alone, because all my friends, who have been stuck with me since orientation, will go through all the pain with me. It was the Friday before gameday at College Station, and every one of my friends are going to be getting drunk so bad I'm willing to bet my entire life savings that one or two of them might either be sent to the hospital, or get arrested. I will unfortunately be spending the entire night at the library trying to catch up on a project due after the weekend. It would take forever and a half, so I figured I'd get as much of it done as possible before the game tomorrow. I was in my apartment bathroom, having just gotten out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my waist. I looked into the mirror and looked at my reflection, my green eyes staring right back at me through my reflection. I was ruffling up my brown hair a little bit, which reached down to around chin length, so it was fairly long. I then scrubbed a smaller towel around my upper body. I can't say that I'm the most athletic person, but I had a pretty decent image if I do say so myself. I walked to my room and put on a clean set of clothes that would be appropriate for this ridiculously hot weather. I started packing up my things in my backpack: laptop, textbooks, all the essential stuff. Before I could finish, I hear my phone ringing on my desk. I look at the screen and it says the name Jonathan, my best friend from elementary school. I answered the phone and put it on speaker. "Whattup, John?" "Yooooo!! Where you at, bro?!", he asks me in a loud and obnoxious manner, and I think I hear some other people with him, most likely other guys we met since coming here. I love the guy to death, but geez, stop day drinking! "Are you already trashed?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer. "Nah man, I *burp* only had like......uuuhhhh....." For real? "JOHN!!" "AAAHH!!! Dude, not so loud!! I've only had a like a six pack." Yeah, whatever, freaking liar. "Uh-huh. What do you want, you freak of nature?" I asked in a teasing way. Come on, what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't give him crap? "Haha, screw you bro! We're getting the guys together and going out... you know, for good luck tomorrow." Geez, he's really not good at this. "So get your ass down here and let's get hammered!!" "Sorry dude, you know I have that Econ project due Monday." "Oh come on! You almost never go out!" "Hey that's not true. I went out with y'all last week." Lame excuse and even his drunk ass knows it, but it was worth a shot. "Yeah, for only like an hour. You only had 2 beers, and you even ordered a glass of water!" "Shut up! I had an 8 am lab that next day, even you should understand that. Plus I like to save money." I may have lied about that part, I order take out every chance I get, but come on, who doesn't?! "Uuugghhh, whatever nerd! If you're not coming tonight, I better see your ass at the *burp* game tomorrow, or you won't hear the end of it!" I'd rather spare myself the pain and suffering of his ranting. "Yeah yeah, keep your hair on your head, Bossy McAssface. You do know that we came to college not just to drink, right?" "What? I'm sorry, I can't understand people that are lame and boring." Love you too, bro. "Ouch, thou hath wounded me." "Haha, go do your egghead work. I'll see ya tomorrow, Alex! Let's go boys!!" I heard cheering before I hung up the phone. I sighed, knowing that doofus is gonna hurt himself one day, however I couldn't but laugh a little bit. Without further interruptions, I put my phone in my pocket and started packing the rest of my stuff into my backpack. I then put on my A&M Aggies hat on. Gotta represent and all that. I put my backpack on and walked out of my apartment, and headed to my car, driving to campus for the library. It wasn't a very long trip, which is surprising considering how bad traffic usually is before and during gameday, but it's the Friday beforehand so I'm not all that surprised about it. I parked my car in front of the library, and started heading to the front door. While walking to the library, I heard my phone go off in my pocket again, so I picked it up and turned it on to see what it was. I saw on my screen it was a text from Jonathan. It was just a selfie he took of him and a bunch of other guys, possibly going bar hopping. I chuckled a little at the ridiculous photo. Not gonna lie, I kinda wish I was with them. I hate feeling left out of fun things. But this damn project is calling my name, so I need to do as much as possible before the game tomorrow. I was about to respond to John's text, not realizing I wasn't looking where I was going. Before I could finish my text, I found myself bumping into someone, who let out a yelp and fell to the floor. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I wasn't..." I tried to apologize, then when I got a good look at the unfortunate victim's face, it was a girl I recognized immediately. "Megan?!" "Uuuuggghhh" she groaned. I felt much worse than I already did, so I immediately helped her up. She was a couple inches shorter than me. She had red hair that went down past her shoulders. she was wearing an Aggie T-shirt and brown skirt. She was finally able to gain her composure and looked at me, and I could only stare at her blue eyes, and I'm pretty sure I can feel heat rising in my cheeks. "Alex?" she asked in shock. "Meg, I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" I apologized frantically, flailing my arms around. Pretty sure I looked like a complete idiot in front of her. Unexpectedly, she actually laughed. "It's ok, Al. I'm fine. I've taken worse falls. Whatcha doin'?" I calmed down a little, knowing she was ok. "Well, I was just about to go to the library to do some of my Econ project, before... well, ya know." "Yeah, hehe..." There was a bit of an awkward silence between us. I could do nothing but rub the back of my head and look away. I heard her clear her throat. "Listen, I need to catch the bus before it leaves." This caught my attention, because I know she has a car. "Bus? What happened to your car?" "Ugh, the transmission gave out. I knew it would happen sooner or later. Stupid piece of crap." I thought about that for a second, and I knew what I had to do. "Do you need a ride?" She looked at me in confusion. "What?" "Yeah!" I gave her a bright smile. "I'd be more than happy to give ya a lift." She looked at me with wide eyes. And was that a blush? "Oh, uh.. I could never let you do that. You just got here." I laughed a little. "Haha, I can come back." She closed her eyes for a second, probably to think about what she wants to do. She then opens her eyes and looks at me. "Look, Alex. I really appreciate that, but I'm just gonna take the bus tonight." "...Oh." Yeah, I was a little disappointed. "I'm gonna miss it if I hang around too long, so I'll see you later, ok?" She walked past me without looking at me, and I could only look at her walking away. However, she stopped all of a sudden, and turned around to look at me. She looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes, and smiled sweetly."That was really sweet of you, Alex. I won't ever forget that." This made me have a warm feeling in my heart, and maybe a little rise of heat in my facial regions, so I smiled back at her. "Anytime, Meg. Though if you ever need a lift, my offer always stands." She giggled lightly, and sent me a wink. "I might take you up on that offer. See ya!" She waved and ran to the bus hub. "Later!" I waved back. I sighed and turned back to the library, ready to get this damn project over with. But first, never ever forget that coffee. "Oooooohhhh myyyyy goooooood." 6 freaking hours later, I finally did it. I've spent about $20 on coffee and had about 4 bathroom breaks. But it's finally done. I was only planning on doing a good portion of it, but the more I did it, the more motivation I had to just finish it. I think it was about to hit midnight. I walked out the front door and, of course, it was a super starry night. Thank the Lord it was an afternoon kickoff tomorrow. I was about to walk towards my car, but I actually wanted to stop and take a moment to view the infinite amount of stars in the sky. "Geez, I don't think this view will ever get old." Oh god, I'm talking to myself. As I was looking at the stars, I managed to spot something I've never seen in my life. It looked like a shooting star, and a pretty big one at that. While most shooting stars pass by in the blink of an eye, this one was moving very slowly. For some reason, that kind of creeped me out, but it was still a cool sight. Another thing that stood out was that instead of a white trail some shooting stars usually leave behind, it had many colors of a rainbow. I took my phone out and opened the camera app and took a picture of the shooting star. "Might as well have some proof. Nobody would ever believe me." As I was about to take another picture, I noticed something about it while looking through the screen. It actually looked like it was changing course, which is odd because shooting stars just pass by, no matter how fast or slow they're going. "Hmm... maybe it's nothing" I said while I put my phone away, because I knew that when they enter the atmosphere, they evaporate within seconds. So since I had nothing to worry about, I started walking to my car. I was several yards away from reaching my car, but as I got closer, I noticed the entire area around me was getting brighter, and as each second went by it slowly got brighter than before. "Huh? What the hell?" I said as I stopped walking, trying to figure out the cause of this. There weren't street lamps or anything, so those were out of the picture. Before I could put my detective skills to anymore use, I actually started hearing something behind me, and it sounded like flames during a forest fire or something. Of course my first instinct was to turn around, and when I did, I was partially blinded by multicolored light, covering my face with my arm. When my sight finally adjusted, I saw the source of the brightness being adjusted around campus... It was the shooting star... but at this point, it looked like a giant meteor being scorched by rainbow-colored fire... and it was coming right after me. I could only stare at the humongous and yet... somewhat beautiful object as it gets closer. ...Yeah, this is the point of a situation like this where I should SNAP THE HELL OUT AND RUN! After snapping myself out, I rapidly pressed the unlock button of my car fob and then turned tail, fearing for my life. However, because I was so eager to not die, I didn't watch my footing, and somehow out of stupid luck, I tripped and fell into the hard pavement of the parking lot, my arms and legs stinging from the impact. "Ahh, goddammit!" I was able to get up on one knee. However, I looked up once again, and I saw the giant fireball of rainbows just seconds away from colliding in my area. "Son of a bi-" Before I could finish that sentence, everything turned black. Am I dead? I don't think I am, but boy do I feel like I'm at Death's door. I'm... in.... so much pain. I barely had enough strength to open my eyes. Of course everything was a complete blur. I couldn't move a damn muscle. I wouldn't be surprised if I was paralyzed. And to make the situation so much better, I could hear a very aggravating ringing in my ears, making my pain worse than it already is. I tried looking around, but my blurry vision couldn't let me identify where I was. However, I could very faintly see that everything around me was more... colorful? What the hell? Is this heaven? Then at that moment, I saw a couple blurry figures approaching me. I may not be able to see very well, but I could definitely tell that they weren't human. I started hearing muffled voices, but I couldn't understand them since my hearing is basically below zero at this point. Please... the pain... I... can't... I slowly felt myself drifting away. I guess I really am about to- "Fear not, young one..." What the.... who said that?! I can't even hear or see... Wait... Was that in my mind? "Indeed it is. But please, do not be afraid. I will help you." The voice sounded female...and very... reassuring and gentle... like she really wants to help me. Please... help me... "I assure you. You will live." And then finally, I blacked out again. Beep..... Beep.... Beep..... Is that a heart monitor? Am I in a hospital? I groaned and moved my head around. I flinched a little, knowing now that I have a small headache. I still had my eyes closed, but I did notice that I was lying in a bed, with the sheets covering my whole body "Am I... alive?" I asked out loud to no one in particular, believing I was alone. "Indeed you are, son." I yelped and opened my eyes, but quickly shut them and hissed in pain from the headache. "Easy there, sport" the masculine voice said to me, but I didn't look at him since I'm still in slight pain. "You shouldn't move around so much. You're still recovering from... well, whatever happened to you. We still haven't figured that out unfortunately. But you were in pretty bad shape when the guards found you." 'Guards?' How the hell did I find myself in medieval times? I must really be dead then. I finally opened my eyes and noticed I was in a pale white room. I looked around a little, but I couldn't really move my head a lot since I had a headache and I was under the covers full body. "Where am I? How did I get here?" "You're in the Canterlot Hospital, and a couple travelers found you unconscious just outside the city gates, and you were basically half dead at that point." 'Canterlot?' Just where the hell am I?! "I'm sorry, but... did you just say Canterlot?" "Yessir, I did." I noticed his voice had a bit of pride in it. "The finest city in all of Equestria." Canterlot? Equestria? Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I had to take a look at this guy and ask him myself. I threw the covers off my body, and turned slowly so I can finally look at him. "Just what the hell are you... what... the...." I felt my eyes widen and my mouth hang down after seeing what was sitting beside me. A horse... I'm looking at a freaking horse... He was male, obviously from his voice. He had brown fur, and a gray mane, and he was wearing a white doctors coat and... wait... is that a tattoo... of a syringe... on his butt?! But then what really should've driven me to the point of insanity was the horn on his head. A unicorn... Yep. I'm dead. "Is there something wrong, son?" I know I've been talking to this horse for a minute... BUT HOLY CRAP THE HORSE JUST TALKED! "Y-Y-You're a... you're a talking horse!" He raised an eyebrow at that. "Um, I'm actually a pony... a unicorn to be exact." He poked his horn to emphasize his point, and then looked at me with visible confusion. "Are you telling me you've never seen a unicorn before?" Oh yeah, we have plenty of those back at home. Wait, does he not know I'm not really from... whatever the hell he said? I should probably keep that in the down low for now, so I gave him a simple head shake saying 'no'. He put a hoof to his chin. "Hmm, very interesting... could be a case of amnesia, considering the shape you were in when you were brought in. Give me a minute and I'll be right back." He got up from his chair and clip-clopped to the door while i just stared at him with eyes still wide and mouth still open. He unexpectedly stopped and turned his head to look at me. "I'd say rest for a bit, but you seemed to have recovered well, aside from the mild headache, so you can move around the room if you want. Just be careful." He then fully exited the room. I was still staring at the door with wide eyes and a lower jaw that should be touching the ground, because I just witnessed a horse who just conversed with me. I lightly shook my head in hopes what I just saw was a hallucination. I decided to take 'his' advice and get out of the bed slowly. But as soon as I got on my feet... THUMP.. "OW!!" I found myself face first into the ground. Why the hell did I lose my balance like that? I know I just recovered for who knows how long, but I should stand fine. I sat up and groaned in pain and annoyance. My headache came back and I put my hand on my head, rubbing it. Wait... Why does my skin feel different? Why does it feel so... rough? I removed my hand from my head and... "WHAT THE F-" I quickly shoved my hand across my mouth to stop myself from finishing that sentence. I noticed my mouth felt a bit... longer. Like I have a muzzle or something. I'll worry about that later. I slowly brought my hand in view from my face. It wasn't human that's for sure. It was a dark, bluish color and was covered in scales, which explains the roughness. I also saw that I had claws, but they looked like little stubbles, which looked kinda pathetic. Feeling myself about to have a panic attack, I frantically looked around the room to see if there was a mirror or anything, and I managed to spot one in the corner. I tried running to it, but I quickly tripped after my first step and stumbled and rolled across the floor, landing on my stomach, but I got close to the mirror. I desperately tried to get up and try to get a look at myself in the mirror. I managed to reach my scaly hands on the counter top, and pulled my upper body in front of the mirror. "HOLY CRAP!!" I quickly jumped and landed on my back as soon as I saw the monstrosity that was my reflection. I was panting heavily and felt my heart beat a million miles per hour. I quickly got up and wobbled around the room. I felt my face and noticed I indeed had a snout of some kind. "No." I felt the top of my head and felt that I had a small tuft of hair. "No!" I was jumping around on one foot like an idiot while grabbing my clawed foot. "NO NO NO NO NO!" I stopped and turned around, noticing I had wings and a tail, which I wiggled around from left to right. .... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I heard the door slam open. I saw three unicorn ponies galloping toward me with worried expressions. The stallion I met earlier came up to me first. "Are you alright?! What happ-" He couldn't finish his question as I grabbed him by the face. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME!?" "Hold him down!" I heard one of the nurses yell before I felt myself being pulled to the ground by an unseen force. "What.... the hell's... going on? I... can't... move." I could barely lift my head up to look at the source of my struggle. I saw both the unicorn nurses looking at me with furrowed eyebrows, and their horns were... glowing?! Are they using magic?! I saw the stallion walk up to me with what looked like regretful eyes as I saw him lift a syringe with his... magic. "Don't even think about it, horse face!" I warned venomously as I was still struggling to move. I wasn't even thinking about what I was doing or saying. Obviously it's the panic attack. "I'm sorry, son. But this is only for you're own good." He began moving the syringe closer to my neck, and it was only inches away. "Poke me with that thing and I swear to God I'll... I'll... uuuggghh..." I felt the needle in my neck, and the effects were obviously kicking in very fast. My vision was getting blurry, and I think I felt magic around me cease. Then right at that moment, it became black again. I slowly but surely felt myself starting to wake up, and I prayed to Jesus that that whole experience was just a dream, and I'll find myself back in Texas, in my soft bed, and will be able to go to the game with my friends. I opened my eyes, and found myself still in a white room. I tried to get up, but I couldn't move my hands. I looked at them and saw that they were strapped down tight. Yep, I'm still in this nightmare. "Oh, well this is just perfect." I heard the door open and saw the same unicorn that I met the first time I woke up. "Hello, son. How are you feeling?" I gave him a deadpan expression. "Oh, I'm just fine. I wake up to find myself as a freakin' dragon, and learn that I've been transported to a world full of talking ponies, and I'm also tied up to a bed like I'm in an insane asylum. But other than that, I'm good." I'm not usually a sarcastic person, but that was a stupid question on his part. I also just realized that I mentioned that I wasn't from this... world, but his expression didn't change, so he must have missed that part thankfully. He gave out a sigh and walked toward me. "I know you must be going through a lot, but please understand that we are helping you as best we can." "And you're idea of helping is to inject me with a syringe and tie me up to a bed?!" He facepalmed...facehoofed... whatever, and let out an obviously annoyed groan. "Look, I don't know what you've been through and I understand you must be very confused, but your sarcasm is not going to make things easier. I came in here and found you panicking like a madpony, not to mention my face was a little sore after that whole schpiel. I had to take action, and what I did was necessary for you and for us. Now I'm going to ask you very politely to please cooperate with us, and we can help you. Can you do that at least, son?" I was getting lectured by a freaking pony. If I'm not dead at this point, then I've really gone insane, or John must've spiked my coffee with LSD or something. Although, I would be lying if I said I didn't see his point. Me acting like some mad mental patient isn't gonna help me get the answers I want. I let out a sigh and gave him a soft look. "You're right, doc. So much has happened to me, and I wasn't thinking straight. I'm somewhere I'm not supposed to be and I just got really freaked out. I'm sorry if I scared you and those nurses. I'll be fully cooperative if it'll get all my questions answered. I just... really need to soak all of this in, ya know?" We stared at each other for a moment, then he gave me a friendly smile. "Thank you, son. I'm glad you were able to listen to reason." "Honestly I'm surprised I was able to listen to anything at all." I was partially joking about that part, but then again I was somewhat honest about it. "Would ya mind untying me, please? This is a little uncomfortable, hehe. I promise I won't go all psycho again. I also wanna take a look at myself in the mirror." He raised his eyebrow, but then sent me another smile. "Sure, son. But pull a stunt like before, we'll have to double the restraints. Got it?" I quickly nodded, and he did the same. I saw his horn glow, and the restraints were covered in a yellow aura. Soon enough the restraints were released from my hands. I gave an exaggerated sigh as I rubbed my left wrist with my right hand. "Were they too tight?" he asked worriedly, but I just laughed it off. "Nah, I've seen people do that and I thought it looked cool." We both shared a short laugh, but he quickly looked at me with confusion. "Wait, 'people'?" I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and realized these ponies aren't actually 'people'. "Never mind." He simply shrugged. Then I realized that I really wanted to know something. "By the way, how long was I out?" "After that little scuffle, about 2 hours. But I bet you were wondering how long after you were dropped off here. You've been in bed for 2 weeks." My eyes widened after hearing that. "Are you serious?! Was I that bad?!"' "As far as we can tell you had severe cranial trauma, the rest is a complete mystery. You wouldn't happen to know how that happened would you?" "I... don't remember... everything's a blur right now." I had to lie about that. I didn't want to risk mentioning to him that I was never a dragon to begin with again. He nodded. "I understand. Maybe everything will come back to you in time." He stepped away from me, probably to give me room I slowly started climbing out of the bed, and placed my hind legs on the cold ground. Unlike before, I prepared myself for the fall and landed on my forelegs, but it didn't stop me from wobbling to the right. The stallion was able to catch me from falling. "Take it easy. Don't go hurting yourself again." He said with a smirk, to which I chuckled sheepishly. I noticed that he was probably an inch taller than me when I'm on all fours. "You know, I think you're the first dragon that I've seen that walks on all fours like us ponies. It's very interesting." "Umm... thanks? Wait... you mean there're other dragons?!" I couldn't believe it when I heard it. He looked at me as if he couldn't tell if I was serious or not. "Umm... yes?" Crap, I did it again. This is probably gonna be harder than I thought. "Right, hehe, silly me." He looked at me suspiciously, but I ignored it and made my way, or at least attempted to, to the mirror. I balanced my upper body to the counter top and looked at myself in the mirror. And yep. I'm a dragon alright. But why would I be a dragon when I could've been a pony. That doesn't make sense. Then again, nothing does at this point. I looked at myself carefully. I noticed that I still had my green eyes. but what kinda freaked me out was that my eyes were as big as dinner plates, like the stallion. I was right when I thought my face felt longer, because I noticed I had a snout. It looked like it was as long as the stallions. My body was a dark bluish color, and I had an underbelly section that was green in color. I looked at the top of my head and saw that I had a small tuft of green hair. Do dragons even have hair? I thought they usually have horns... why am I thinking about this so much?! I decided to try to get a good look at the rest of my body. I saw on my back that I had a pair of dark blue, bat-like wings with green highlights running down on the bony parts of it. Not gonna lie, the wing part's pretty cool. I'll have to ask how to use them. The last thing I noticed was that I had a tail. It wasn't incredibly long, but it looked like it was as nearly as long as the rest of my body. "By the way." The stallion's voice caught my attention. "I don't think I've ever introduced myself. I'm Doctor Saddles." Why did I know it was gonna be a horse pun? He held out his hoof. I stared at it for a bit, because I couldn't tell if he was going for a shake, or a bump. Using my instincts for when I'm with a bunch of my friends and meeting new people, I decide to bump his hoof with my fist. "Nice to meetcha, doc." I gave him a friendly grin. "Haha, not exactly what I was going for, but I welcome it. And what's your name?" Ah crap. Should I just tell him? I don't think it'll hurt anybody. "Alex... Alex -" Before I could say my last name, the door slammed open and one of the nurses from before came running in with a piece of paper. "Doctor! This letter's for you! It's-" She stopped after seeing i was standing and awake, and gave me a glare, which made me flinch. "Relax", Doctor Saddles walked up to her. "He's harmless and has been very calm and apologized for earlier. No need for the dirty looks." The mare softened her look toward me while I gave her friendly smile. She then turned her attention to Saddles. "Doctor, this letter came from the castle. I think it involves the patient." The doc grabbed the letter with his magic and started reading it. After about a minute he turned towards me and looked at me with a nervous expression. "The princesses want to see you." 'Princesses?' Ah... Crapbaskets.