Fluttershy lazily watched the clock as she tapped her pencil against her cheek, waiting for her horrid math class to end. Her teacher ranted and raved about... some type of math she already knew. And the worst part was this teacher was her seventh period, and was mostly too busy lecturing or giving an impossible amount of problems to finish in five minutes due in five minutes to let students even think about talking.
Today was one of those days he spent the entire class lecturing, explaining a subject slowly and going over tons of examples so he made sure students would like him. He was one of the most hated teachers of their grade level.
She sighed and sat back in her seat, looking up at the clock and saw all of her mental complaints rounded up to a minute of time passed. She glanced around the room and saw none of her friends, not that she was expecting them. She was a year older than the rest of her friends, they never had any classes with her, especially since none of them shared her same interests.
She was interested in animals, taking care of animals, understanding animals, every little thing you could imagine about animals, she wanted to know. And her dream was to own a sanctuary, with her own veterinary knowledge, of course.
Canterlot High didn't offer many classes based around animals, so her best bet was sciences. Which was exactly why every year she took a new science, her teachers bombarded her with questions of why. This year, she was taking Chemistry-- only because it was required, otherwise, she would much rather not have that class--, Zoology, and Botany. She had taken AP Biology last year, along with a requirement of Physical Science she also couldn't care less for.
And other than loading her brain with sciences of many types of biology, she worked at a pet shelter. Though, she was more like an intern. The owner was a great friend of hers, as she had volunteered throughout her entire high school career, and really understood she had school, a band, her friends, and a little brother to juggle. So, she got paid for whenever she actually worked.
She knew it was stupid, but she didn't necessarily care. Especially as she tapped her foot and looked up at the clock, seeing that even more of her mental groaning and complaining only resulted in a few minutes passed. She sunk into her seat, knowing she had another class to suffer through. She was only thankful she had Art at the end of the day, it was a great way for her to relax. And, she had the class with Sunset Shimmer and Rarity.
She jumped out of her seat when the bell rang, a smile on her face as her day approached an end. Being a junior in the middle of the winter, getting to the Art room before the warning bell rang was easy and seeing Sunset's yellow hand already waving at her from the back of the class.
Her smile beamed as she wished the teacher a good afternoon and started towards the back of the class, walking past the rest of the long, lab room like desks to the singular one at the back of the class. Sunset, Rarity, and her had taken that table as theirs, not that any other students in the small classroom wanted it. She walked around to the other side of the desk, standing next to Sunset. "Hi, Sunset. How are you?" She said, slipping her pink bag off of her shoulders and taking one look at Sunset's painting.
Sunset Shimmer grinned wide as she presented the atrocity to Fluttershy. Actually, atrocity was an understatement. "Hey, Flutters! What do you think?" Sunset asked, taking a step back with a wide grin and her hands on her hips.
Fluttershy looked back at it, anxiety bubbling into her throat as she fidgeted with her hands. What was she supposed to say? That it was horrible? Cause it was. It was mixes of reds, oranges, and yellows, all plastered on with an obviously fat brush. The colors mixed together to form a sun... at least, that's what Fluttershy thought it was. Half of the sun was a bright yellow that must've been painted on after the background red was. There were... short, ribbon looking things painted in yellow coming off of the other half of the sun, giving the impression of sun rays.
Fluttershy almost thought it would've looked nice, if she didn't use what looked to be a brush dried with paint to add the three colors where they didn't need to be. Like putting a messy, straying yellow streak across the canvas diagonally, orange lines messily fixing the edge of the sun and only adding more stray edges. And a huge, red circle sat inside the orange and yellow sun. It was an abomination that not even the sun would appreciate and bask on. Fluttershy smiled at Sunset. "It's great."
Sunset beamed as the late bell rang, Rarity's sandals sounding loudly behind them as she walked up. "Hello, darlings. Oh, aren't I so glad it's the-- Oh, my heavens, what is that?" Rarity asked as the teacher announced a studio day and started playing classical music in the background. Sunset's shoulders fell as she hung her head, a frown forming on her lips. Rarity giggled nervously. "W-what I me-meant to say, dear, was that it is... um..." Rarity fumbled.
Sunset sat down with a sigh. "No, it's fine," she said, glancing up at the two sympathetic faces with a smile. "I kinda found where I'm going wrong with this thing," she said, rubbing her arm before sitting up with a proud grin. "But I'm not going to quit!"
Rarity smiled as she sat down next to her, after moving the horrible painting to the other side of the table, of course. "Oh, that's so nice to hear, dear!" She said happily, clapping her hands together giddily.
Fluttershy nodded as she dug through her bag, watching her yellow sweater bunch up over her hands as she did. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her sleeves, pulling them up on her arms before continuing her search. "Rarity's right, especially after you've tried so hard to find something you like doing," she said as she sat herself back up, holding a thick, bulging notebook in her hands.
Sunset nodded and looked up at the painting, sighing at the sight. "Yeah, I had lots of fun," she started. "That's kinda what went wrong," she said with a nervous smile, turning to Rarity as the girl spoke.
Rarity flipped her hair before pulling the back of it into a ponytail. "Why, yes. Don't worry, these things are expected when you do something creative like art or designing for fun," she explained, tying her ponytail tight before digging through her bag and pulling out a huge sketchbook.
Sunset smiled and took a look at Rarity's work as she flipped through to find the next empty page. Every page seemed full to the brim with ideas and designs as she sat up, putting her knees up to the table and reaching over and grabbing a pencil from her bag. Sunset nodded, declaring that was what was expected from a student who took Art. She looked over to Fluttershy and saw her flipping through pages upon pages full of... words.
She shook her head, checking to see if she was seeing straight. And as she opened her eyes again, she saw Fluttershy looking back and forth between a few pages. "Uh... Fluttershy. Do you write stories or something? Cause that's a lot of words," Sunset asked, looking over and seeing that even some of the margins were full of words.
Fluttershy smiled as she shook her head, sliding the notebook and letting Sunset see what filled it. Words like Moth Man and Bunyip at the tops of pages drew her attention as Fluttershy spoke. "It's mostly full of research of different types of animals," she said, taking the notebook back when Sunset saw a page with the word 'Draconequus' written at the top. The page was the only one blank with question marks doodled in the margins.
She looked up at Fluttershy. "Uh, yeah. I don't think those are the names of animals," Sunset said, finding comfort in the fact that Fluttershy giggled like there was a misunderstanding. At least that meant things called 'Moth Man' didn't exist. At least she hoped it didn't.
Fluttershy flipped back to the front of the book, showing names of rare, but completely real animals. "I already researched a lot of the animals that live around here, or I already know about them," she said, moving up to tuck her long hair behind her ear, though it only fell again anyways. "So, I thought it'd be interesting to look into creatures that were seen around here centuries and decades ago," she said, flipping to the end of the book. The only place Sunset's eyes could rest when the girl flipped through was the blank page.
Sunset shook her head when she understood what Fluttershy had said. "Wait, what? Something called a... Bungit lived here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, and almost felt stupid when Fluttershy giggled again as if there was a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings meant for easier problem solving, but if they were constantly spawned from her misunderstanding something, she didn't know how her self-esteem would take it.
Fluttershy shook her head. "Bunyip, and they're mostly native to Australia," she said, flipping to the page and looking over it. "Plus, most of them are cryptids, including the Bunyip," she said bluntly, but even Rarity peeked past Sunset with a raised eyebrow. She smiled, feeling a sense of joy wash over her. She loved animals, and it was nice to hear someone was interested in her half-full, thick notebook full of them. "They don't really exist," she said, looking back through her book and all of the imaginary creatures she researched.
"But a few people say they've seen some of them, and I just find it interesting how much you can learn about something that might not even exist," she said with a wide smile, looking over all of the pages full of just ideas and theories about the existence of many imaginary creatures. She stopped on the blank page, running a hand over the huge question mark she had drawn in the middle of the page earlier in her English class.
She turned to her friends curious faces. "And after all of the imaginary creatures that might exist, I looked into some creatures that could never exist."
"Like what?" Rarity asked, putting her sketchbook down and staring at Fluttershy intently, ready for their next lesson.
"Like a griffin," Fluttershy started, flipping to the page with an especially detailed drawing near the bottom, though it only led for the top margin to be littered with small writing. It was a drawing of a creature with the hind legs, tail, and body of a lion. It also had the head, talons, and wings of an eagle. "It's a legendary creature that's known for guarding treasure."
Rarity sat back in her seat with a smug grin. "Oh, darling, you should show Rainbow Dash," she said as she crossed her legs. "She'd totally think that thing is awesome."
Fluttershy nodded as Sunset pointed at the book, silently asking for it. Fluttershy handed it over, watching as Sunset looked for a certain page. "What are you looking fo--" Fluttershy started, and then saw Sunset stop on the blank page. Her shoulders fell at the sight. "Oh."
Rarity sat up and saw that the left side of the spread was covered with notes over Hippogriffs, the right side was blank with question marks. Sunset stared down at the page, especially at the word 'Draconequus'. She narrowed her eyes on it as she spoke. "Why is there nothing here?" She asked, though the word was itching at her. She felt like she should've known what a... draconequus was, it sounded so, so familiar. But, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Fluttershy sat back in her seat, her overjoyed smile falling slightly. "Oh, it's just because there's nothing I could find about it," she said, staring at the blank page and feeling disappointment settle in her stomach. "I found the name on a list of cryptids and mythological creatures, but there's nothing else on it. I don't even know how to say it correctly."
"Dra...con...a...ques?" Rarity gave her shot at pronunciation, looking at Fluttershy and getting a nod. Though it felt wrong of her tongue as she said it. She bit her tongue, remembering she had a French test next Tuesday.
"That's what I thought, but something just sounds a little off," Fluttershy said, staring at the word and feeling her heart hang in her chest. "And for some reason... I really want to know what it is," she said, noticing Sunset's determined stare. "Sunset?"
Sunset shook her head slightly and smiled up at Fluttershy, shutting the book quickly. "Uh... it's nothing," she said with a nervous smile, handing the notebook over to Fluttershy. She knew how to pronounce it, for some reason, she just knew. But she saw how depressed it made Fluttershy to even see the blank page, she didn't want the successful pronunciation to open up a door that had, somewhat contently, been shut.
She stood up, looking at her painting that got worse the more she looked at it. She walked to the back of the room and grabbed everything she'd need to redo it, grabbing Primary Red and Primary Yellow, paint brushes, and cups of water. She set them down on the back counter, and grabbed the easel holding her, now dumpster-deserving, painting.
She set out with another determination to fix it, and not try her hand at any extra textures she thought might look good. Rarity and Fluttershy saw that as their time to separate and work in mostly silence. Rarity sat back up in her seat, her knees sitting on the edge of the table as she sketched.
Fluttershy pulled her phone out of her bag, glancing up at the teacher to see if her was noticing. He wasn't. She sat her notebook up in her lap, hiding her phone behind it. She flipped to a page that had only a quarter of it done, the word 'Chimera' sitting in pen at the top. But she couldn't focus, the thought of the mysterious draconequus consumed her mind.
A creature that no one knew, no information other than it's name was known by people. It made curiosity blossom in her until she'd kill to learn about whatever a draconequus was. It might've been out of spite for the world, but she thought it was more just the sheer mystery that surrounded the name.
She wanted to know what it was. And she felt as if the creature haunted her, because ever since she decided it was the draconequus' time to be researched, thoughts of it didn't leave her mind.
Fluttershy looked up at thick trees that towered over her, her grip loose on the straps of her pink bag. A breeze flew past her, her hair and skirt flying lightly with it, and it felt as if comfort had washed over her, because her step in felt like a step into heaven.
It was one of the warmest days of the month, and her favorite place to relax was usually off-limits during the freezing cold of winter. February was one of the most funky months of the year when it came to the weather.
But now the woods were like an old friend with arms wide open, ready for her to jump into them. And she did, she stepped past the entrance, smiling up at the blocked sun creeping in through a canopy of leaves.
She giggled as her heart swelled and she continued walking, seeing all the squirrels and chipmunks again. Birds flew overhead, her smile couldn't get wider on her face as the grass shined under her boots. The forest was attached to a park, and the city's conflicting thoughts about environmental help and building a metropolis left a huge, deep forest on the outside skirts of the city.
She had gone into these woods plenty of times with her family, but ever since she could drive, she started going in by herself. And whenever her parents thought she was old enough to not get lost and come out on the side of a highway. But there was a serenity and overwhelming comfort the tall, dark trees offered her, and it was something she didn't quite appreciate as a child.
So, now she used it for when school stressed her out, or work... or their band... or saving Canterlot High from Equestrian magic hungry demons. She sighed, she almost wished her 'stress' was caused from those things, at least then she wouldn't feel so stupid about it.
She stared down at her black boots matched with dark, honestly ugly, green tights that stretched up to a yellow skirt as she walked, her pink hair falling into her view. The name 'Draconequus' had become one of the top reasons for her visit to the woods recently.
It felt as if she was compelled to walk through them, but she always fought the urge, knowing it was too cold for her usual tights to handle. But today, it was the warmest it had ever been since November, so she didn't mind. Besides, the idea of a draconequus rang in her head louder today than any other.
And she had no idea why! It infuriated her that an imaginary, probably never seen creature plagued her thoughts. And even if there was knowledge of it, it didn't matter! It's not like the creature existed, it was mythological.
She fought over it as she walked, hoping a serene, calming walk could take her mind off things. She barely noticed the birds songs above her as she fumed, her steps turning into stomps, her smile scrunching up into a frown, and her grip on her straps making her knuckles turn white.
She had tried thousands of things to not think of the imaginary creature, and she almost thought she had done it until she got home one day last week and realized she spent the entire time at school in her head thinking about what it could possibly look like.
And now, she was thinking about what it could possibly be again. Many mythological creatures had either noble or baneful symbolisms, and some leaned to either side by just a name. The name 'Cyclops' usually gave off a bad vibe, and they were regarded as negative, horrible beasts in Greek mythology that only cared about themselves. While the name 'Pegasus' invoked courage and beauty, and they usually were beautiful, strong creatures.
But the name 'Draconequus' didn't lean towards either side. The only thing she thought of the name was that it was completely and utterly confusing. She didn't even know how to pronounce it, she couldn't even begin to think of what was the right way. Rarity's pronunciation was how she'd always said it, but it felt so wrong. It didn't even look or sound like a word.
And with the immense lack of knowledge on the creature, she couldn't even see what language it originated from, and the list she had found it on hadn't included pronunciation.
She sighed, turning her back to a tree and sliding down it, not caring about how and if it would ruin her bright yellow sweater. This creature, it always brought out such negative emotions within her. And as she looked up at the thickening canopy of leaves above her, she sighed. She didn't think the thought of that thing could touch her here.
But she assumed an unbearable urge to know something didn't go away so easily. Her stomach churned slightly as she looked up at the thick canopy. She never remembered barely being able to see the sun through the roof of the leaves, she looked around and gasped, shooting to her feet with wide eyes.
Her stomach churned more as she cowered into her hair and her sweater, her hands cupping her face as her eyes searched her surroundings. She had absolutely no idea where she was, or how to get back.
But a smile made it's way onto her face as she slipped off her bag, falling to the ground with it as she searched through it. She rolled her eyes with a silly grin. She'd just use her phone to find her way back, she couldn't be so far in that she couldn't get connection from either of the sides of the city on either side of the forest. She shook her head, thankful Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash had taught her better ways to handle stressful situations.
Her shoulders dropped slightly with her smile as she looked past her books. When she didn't find it with those, she zipped open every other compartment, her heart beat speeding up as she searched more frantically. She finally searched the side pockets, even though she could very clearly see that her phone wasn't there.
She looked up, her chest heaving as she hyperventilated. She crawled back against the tree, bringing her legs to her chest and hugging them as she looked around. She knew her brother was right when he told her to always keep her phone on her, and she didn't think Zephyr was right about anything. And now, her phone was in her car while she was in the middle of thick woods with the sun setting in an hour or two.
Tears filled her eyes and she squeezed them shut, trying to calm herself down. Applejack had told her panicking did nothing, but she didn't know how not to panic in this situation. Her heart seized as her throat tightened, her swallowing making her throat a lot dryer than it would normally be.
If she walked, she could be stuck in the width of the woods, or she'd end up in the city, or she'd end up back at the park. She had a third of a chance of getting stuck, but that third raised exponentially when she barely remembered how she even got in this far.
She groaned, it was just another thing that name did to her. She never expected 'getting me lost in the woods' would be on the list, but here it was. As angry tears fell down her face, she couldn't not worry, her chest heaving. She was lost and could be stuck in these woods for the entirety of her weekend if she was bad with direction. Her stomach dropped and tied itself in a knot. She didn't even think of walking through the same areas more than once.
She dropped her head to her knees, tears spilling out her of eyes as sobs escaped her. Her mind ran with negative outcomes and she didn't know when she'd calm down, like, what if she could never find her way out? And no one knew where she was, or that she even liked these woods, or that she walked this far--
Her head shot up when she heard an ear-splitting roar. Her chest vibrated with it as she could hear the intensity in the wavelengths, her stomach was eating itself at the noise, her ears rang. She should've been terrified, that horrendous roar that couldn't belong to anything but a mighty beast should've been reason enough for her to run in the opposite direction, even if she didn't know where it was coming from as it shook the world around her.
But she stood up and watched as the world calmed down from the mighty, terrifying roar. And she waited with open ears, watching her surroundings. Silence smothered her, suffocated her as confidence was starting to build in her stomach. And it's sharp noise sounded in her ears, imprinting the stresses of that roar in her mind.
And its sound played again, and as she put her hands over her ears, she started in a direction past the tree she had been sobbing under after slipping her bag back on. She noticed something different about this noise, something that she didn't hear before. It's loud, booming sound didn't seem like it was threatening something or communicating.
It sounded like it was in pain.
And something was enchanting her to pull her sleeves onto her hands and wipe her eyes before covering her ears again as the roar's smothering noise slowly got louder and louder. It surrounded her and shook the green leaf canopy above her.
Her eyes widened as something flew past her. She looked to it and saw a yellow bolt with moving strands surrounding the base, it had cut through two trees and sat embedded in and was currently burning one. She didn't get a chance to try and understand as the noise boomed again, beckoning her to it's source as her heart yearned to treat whatever was making such a horrible noise.
She didn't even think it could be a terrifying, threatening beast anymore as she ran towards it's source. She only heard the whines and cries in it as she slid down a hill, her eyes wide on her surroundings for any sign of what she was after. A cloud approached her, a pink one at that, and she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at it as it stopped in front of her. The crying roar died down to nothing again as she watched.
A leaf fell down slowly onto the pink cloud, but when it touched, Fluttershy jumped away. Lightning ripped out of the cloud, leaving a comical burn mark on the ground as thunder cracked seconds later. Then, it rained... brown water that smelt oddly like chocolate.
She hesitantly put her hand under the rain, watching with wide eyes as her grip on her bag tightened. She flinched as cold... water touched her hand. When she pulled away, she stared down at the brown liquid with a raised eyebrow. It moved like water, but it smelt so heavily of chocolate. So much so that she didn't even have to bring it up to her face to smell it.
She considered giving it a taste, but turned her hand and watched as it fell off just like water. If it was anything logical, it was watered down chocolate syrup, and she could only imagine how disgusting that would be. She stood up straight and slowly looked up at the cloud. It was pink, and was raining brown water that could only be something chocolate. What was going on?
She heard the beast cry again, and walked past the cloud, going around it so she could continue after the haunting noise that brought her hands up to her ears again. She furrowed her eyebrows as she stomped, watching the space ahead of her diligently with a frown etched onto her face. She wanted to find this beast, and she wanted to see if it was alright. Scratch that, she needed to find this beast, and she needed to see if it was alright. It felt like it'd kill her if she didn't.
After more randomly flying bolts and larger groups of pink clouds with chocolate rain, she finally saw a clearing past a hill, lit up by the setting sun as the canopy of leaves was... burned and sparkling with... bubbles. She ignored whatever she was seeing around her as she could only focus on the creature in the middle of the clearing, shaking next to a pond that didn't belong there.
Her breath left her as her eyes widened, her shoulders dropping with unwavering awe at the creature. It wasn't like any she had seen before and now she was wondering if she'd ever breathe again. She wondered if the memory of this majestic creature would forever have taken her breath away.
It was an amalgamation of so many other animals she had seen, but no matter what, it was a horrifying beast that was crying out in pain as it's roar weakened. It was ripped out of it's throat with much less strength and intensity than before.
It was long, with a thin, serpentine-like body that reminded her of a Chinese dragon. Around that body were spirals of yellow and purple, all surrounded by sparkles that made it look like something out of a movie. She gasped, her hands flying to her face at the huge, probably deep gash that sat across it's side, dripping blood onto the grass beneath it as it spasmed in... something Fluttershy deduced down to pain. But a gash wouldn't cause that reaction, would it?
What was even stranger was it's brown-furred body led up to a... horse-like head that was colored grey. A short and black mane ran down it's neck, topping of at two mismatched horns. One belonged to a deer, and the other was from a creature she couldn't pinpoint. It's face was long as fluffy, white eyebrows sat above eyes shut in pain, matching the long and white beard.
It's fang was obvious as it tried roaring, it's voice already hoarse and weak, it sounded like it was whining, begging. Though it's fang was only one of it's kind, it led to a world of horror when the creature jerked it's head in her direction, revealing the same purple and yellow colors spiraling inside as it attempted to roar once again. She raised an eyebrow as it stopped trying, yellow eyes with red pupils looking down and seeing those magically bright colors fall out of it's mouth and changing the warm and green grass beneath it to a pink and purple checkered floor. It didn't notice her as it clamped it's mouth shut, looking away with a growl from somewhere within it's throat.
A talon reached up and wrapped around it's throat as the creature winced in pain, the claws of the talon dug into it's fur and drug down roughly. Fluttershy followed that talon down to it's body, finding it didn't even match his other limbs as his other arm was a lion's paw that held it's body up off the ground slightly, along with it's... legs. At the end of it's torso lied a goats leg on it's left, a reptilian one with two toes on it's right. A long, dragon-like tail stretched long past either leg, light pink spines following down it's red tail with a white bit of fur at the end.
On it's back held two wings, neither matched the other as well as they folded and spread against it's back with the creatures spasms and jerks. A bat-like wing colored dark stretched as a feathered one folded, though it didn't look quite as much like a bird's as it did just remind her of when her wings and ears appeared when her and her friends band played music.
And as she watched, it's chest moved slower, it's eyes shut and it's paw and legs couldn't hold it up anymore. It fell to the ground lifelessly and Fluttershy didn't hesitate to slide her way down the small hill and race over to the creature.