//------------------------------// // Chapter X.1: The Secrets Behind Names // Story: Another World: Tale of Chaotic Adventures // by Maniac //------------------------------// Someone once said to me that your name predetermines your fate. So, if I had a different name, would my life go different way?... Yeah, right. And that someone also said that if you want to change fate, change name. That's bullshit, don't you think? There's no fate but what we make. If you let some stupid tattoo dictate how your life will go then you're a fool, so don't be one. You still have your freedom, right? Because "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." Chapter 2.X: The Secrets behind names Someday after "hospital incident" Somewhere in Ponyville Unusual sight was walking through sleepy Ponyville. "Ahhh. What to do?" Drakon sighed. Because they made first contact with not so good first impression, Captain Siegfried and 1st Lt. Hilda departed to the official audience with local government held in that 'Canterlot' castle to clear up any misunderstandings and stuff. This would definitely take time. Nika was busy with dinner preparations and she didn't need his help, so Vladimir had a lot of free time of his hands. Trailer, and almost all their equipment and things they brought along were still up on that faraway hill. And Captain forbid him to go get it for the time being, because 'it would increase unnecessary tension'. "Damn, this sucks." For a while he was simply mindlessly strolling through Ponyville, scaring away(so some of them still afraid of us, huh?) random ponies as he walked by. Then, having nothing better to do, he decided to check on Jake, who was still lying in local hospital. Drakon entered the hospital room where Jake was stationed for the time being. Megumi was nowhere to be seen though. "Hey, you okay?" "Eeyup. Megumi's help also does it's thing." "Heh. Lucky you, huh?" "Eeyup. But I'd prefer if us getting closer didn't involve bleeding like a stuck pig and bloody vomit but, oh well." Despite his words happy smile just didn't leave his face. "Speaking of her, where is she? And by the way, you sounded like an Englishman just now." "I think she went out to the doctors office, something about necessary medicaments, their effects and all that kind of thing." "What, there is more than just bleeding?" "Eeyup, that's why I'm still here." "But it's nothing serious, right?" "Eeyup." Megumi walked in, carrying a bunch of various bottles. She smiled and waved to Drakon "Oh, hi Vladimir-san! Didn't know you were here." "I just arrived. Need help?" "Thank you but I'm afraid there's nothing you could do right now, sorry." She placed bottles on the tray, popped open one of them and poured some liquid into a spoon. "Okay, Jake-kun, open your mouth please!" "H-hey! I can drink it myself, no need to go that far! Heh-heh..." Drakon decided that it was his cue to get out of there and leave them alone. "Don't screw it up, Yankee!" He winked to Jake and left the room. Great, now his only option to kill time flew out of window. "*sigh* Boring... It's so boring around here. Boring. BORING! ARGH! This is pissing me off, there's simply nothing to do here! And the word 'boring' is stupid! And English language is stupid-sounding! Как же меня всё бесит!(Everything just pisses me off!)" Drakon became even more irritated and continued his aimless stroll. "Uh, excuse me..." Quiet voice called out. And since nobody was around he guessed this was mentioned for him. "Yeah?" Drakon turned and saw that mint colored horse pony... How was it? Lyra Whats-her-name? She's the one who helped with initial 'problems' and helped explaining everything to the locals. "Ummm, I wanted to say that, ummm, you see... If you're, uhhh..." Lyra clearly wanted to say something but kept stuttering. "You want something from me?" Drakon raised his brow. "Well... Uhh... If you're not busy..." He began to lose his patience "Out with it!" "Ah! I mean, Element bearers and I wanted to talk to one of you so, if you're not busy right now... You know..." Drakon looked at the horizon "Fine, there's nothing better to do anyways. Lead the way." And so they went. At Twilight's Twilight and co. could hear grumbling and loud heavy hoofsteps at the doorstep. *Is this the place?* *Yeah, everypony is waiting.* *Every... huh? Whatever. Living in a tree is.. Well, nevermind. Where's the door?* *Uh, right here?* *Uwah, it's kinda small.* To say that Twilight was nervous is to say nothing. Just imagine, a real alien! Well, she did saw those 'humans' briefly but now! Now she'll be talking with one of them, so to say, tête à tête. So exciting! Drakon finally squeezed through and saw... "Wow. What a mansion! What is this... a library?" He was busy looking around and not paying attention to the ponies "It's much bigger on the inside than I thought." Meanwhile Mane 6, on the other hoofand, examined him with great interest. Rainbow Dash thought that he did 'kinda' look cool. And a little bit awesome. For an alien. And maybe a bit intimidating. But definitely needed to be 20% more cooler. Rarity noted that his clothes reminded her of the ones she saw in Appleoosa and Dodge. Rough, plain and simple, but durable and functional. They were also colored with dim grayish camo-like spot pattern, but instead of usual green and brown it used black and gray. Fluttershy noticed that he had both carnivorous canine teeth and herbivorous molars as well. She thought(from behind the couch) that most likely humans are omnivores. Applejack didn't thought much, because they just met him and it was a little early to make any judgments. But all in all, he seemed like a honest fella'. Pinkie Pie thought about how big of a party she should throw this time, because, usually, newcomers show up one at a time. And now it was, like, 6 of them. What else can you think at a time like this, duh? And Twilight... Well, let's just say that she had a lot of questions to ask him. ~~~ "Ahem!" Twilight tried to get Drakon's attention by clearing her throat. He turned around "Uh, sorry. You're the ones that wanted to talk? ...I suppose some introductions are in order?" "Yes, indeed. I am Twilight Sparkle, student of the Princess Celestia and those are my friends: Rainbow Dash, ('I'm watching you!') Rarity, ('Why hello there') Applejack, ('Howdy') Fluttershy ('...hi') and Pinkie Pie ('Yay!'). And I suppose that you and Lyra are already know each other.('I'll sit right here')" Drakon snickered upon hearing this. Rainbow Dash immediately took a step forward. "Hey buddy, you've got a problem with us?" He started to wave his hands still snickering "No! No, it's just.. *chuckle* BWAHAHA!" He fell to the floor, laughing out loud. All who were present gave each other puzzled looks, and then looked at madly laughing Drakon. "What's so funny?" Rainbow Dash was hovering above him. "Nuttin'! HAHAHA! Yur's Rainbow Dash, right?" He was laughing so hard that tears came out "Радужное Тире нах! Или Радужный Порыв? Радужная Стремительность? Не-не-не-не, это ж бля, Радужный забег на короткую дистанцию! Ох-лол, хахахахаха!" (It's fucking Rainbow Dash! (i.e. dash as punctuation mark) Or maybe Rainbow Dash?(like gust) Or Rainbow Dash?(as in rashness) No-no-no-no, this is fuckin', Rainbow Dash!(i.e Rainbow short range sprint) Oh-lol, hahahaha!) He managed to sit down but started to laugh ever louder "А ещ-... ещийоооу... Ха-ха-ха, ещё же у нас, хаха, есть, Дрожащий Стыд, ХАХАХАХАХА!! Оооо, блин, Розоватый Пирог, Яблочная Водка, Редкость и, блядь, Полуночный Блеск! Или нет, Сумеречная Искорка! Я ебал! ХАХАХАХАХА!" (A-als.. Alsssssou... Hah-hah-hah, we've also got, haha, we've got, Fluttershy, HAHAHAHAHA!! Oooh, man, Pinky Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and, fuck, Twilight Sparkle!(midnight glitter) Or maybe, TWILIGHT SPARKLE! Fuck this! HAHAHAHAH!) He covered his face trying to calm down but kept babbling about "Ооо да ну нах, ебаный английский, блин, они никогда не поймут как это до дебильного смешно звучит на русском.. Блиииин."(Ooh fuck this, fucking English, man, they will never understand how stupidly funny all this sounds in Russian.. Maaaan.) Once he finally calmed himself he stood up(followed by confused looks) and looked closely at his welcoming party. [So, who we've got here? Let's see... First is Twilight... Ugh, Twilight Sparkle. Well it's not my place to judge local naming traditions, so whatever. Looks like she's the one to hit the books on every possibility. She also said she's the student of the local bigwig? I should note that. Next is, Rainbow Dash. Huh, sounds lame in Russian and that rainbow mane looks gay. Also appears to be (dumb)muscle of the group. Definitely one to act first and think later. And this is... Heh. Rarity. I can see she's definitely close examining... My clothes? Perhaps she's a... What's that word in English? Fashion... Cloth... Tailor or something. She's also look like someone who cares about etiquette and shit. ...Applejack. Cowgirl or something along these lines. Smell like apples though. And.. That yellow one. Fluttershy. Uhh, I can say that she's definitely shy. She's afraid of me that's for sure. Pinkie Pie. Ugh, she reeks of pastry. I hate candies. She's all quirky and shit. Definitely need more info. Well, let's get this show on the road...] At first Drakon almost extended his hand for a handshake but changed his mind, because he thought it would be the same as the command 'paw' to the dog. "Huh. Well, my name is Vladimir Yeremeyev, but you can call me Drakon. It's my nickname." He scratched his head, sat on the nearby chair and then added "So what exactly do you want? Why you wanted to talk with one of us?" "Well, Mr... Vladimir is it? To be honest, I'm curious. We've never seen likes of you before. And... When you first came here you scared a lot of ponies, you know? Sooo..." First attempts to start a dialog were quite awkward for Twilight. Rainbow Dash suddenly interrupted "We wanted to be sure that you're not planning to hurt anypony!" "Uh, Rainbow Dash? It wasn't very nice..." Fluttershy added her two bits from behind the couch. Drakon stood up "What? Hey, you know!.. Ugh, well, yeah, I guess it'd be quite unsettling if some aliens suddenly showed up and scared the hell out of everyone." He sat back on the chair and ran his hand through hair "Captain Siegfried right now is holding a meeting with your... How was her name? Ah yes, Princess Celestia, about that we are not hostile, we've just had an accident. That's why we barged into your hospital. Sorry if we scared anyone." "Yeah, about that... Was one of you injured? I've been told that blood was all over the hospital..." It was quite unpleasant for Twilight to talk about something grim like this. "Uh-huh, something happened to Jake, but he's all right now. That strange impulse from that castle of yours..." "I see...[one of them was injured by power of love??] Well, I have more questions if you wouldn't mind." "Sure, go ahead. I've got nothing better to do." Twilight took out her quill and paper scroll "I was told that you are called 'humans', but can you tell me more please?" Drakon leaned back and looked at the celling "You want me to explain humanity? Do you know how long that would take?" “Didn't you say that you 'got nothing better to do'?” Dash queried amusedly. Vladimir scratched his head "You got point there, alright. Oh well, this is gonna take long." Time flies fast when you talk. "...And I think that's about wraps up about what I can tell about humans." Twilight facehoofed "So, let me get this straight... Humans evolved from primates, your world has no magic, you do everything with your hands and science is dominant, and overall your species are quite militant... Sounds about right? And that seriously all you can tell me?" Drakon only scratched his head again "Well... Yeah. Hey, cut me some slack, a'ight? I ain't no speechmaker, I'm just a dumb muscle, what did you expect? Oh and yeah, this is all I can tell. Until further notice from Captain at least." "...Something is different about my theories on humans though..." Lyra muttered it to herself, but was heard by Vladimir "Theories? What theories?" He turned to her "I'm all ears, fill me in." "Uhhh, I thought you guys were in touch with nature and stuff. All my findings on the dig sights assumes that... Well, just take a look yourself, here's my notes." Lyra handed to Drakon her notepad "Hum-hum, les'see... What is this, faux cyrillic font? Nevermind, it's still readable... Okay... Huh... Uh-huh. Wait, what? I see..." After some reading he returned notepad to Lyra "Uhhh... You see..." Drakon was busy finding right words "..What the hell, from what I understood, all this time you've been looking for elves and not actual humans. Or maybe hardcore hippies. But that's unlikely." Lyra stood up with eyes open wide "Elves? What elves??" "You see, humans have fantasy tales, featuring all the fantasy folk, which for you is ordinary animals: manticores, giants ursas, etc, etc. Hell, even you unicorns and pegasuses [Rainbow Dash corrected: 'It's Pegasi'] are non-existent from where I am from. So, if cut to the chase there's always elves in place of humans in those stories... Or something like that. ['holy shit, there's actual elves in here?!']" Drakon yawned after long speech. "I forgot to ask this but how come you speak Equestrian?" Twilight finally asked main question that's been bugging her all day. Surprised Drakon almost fell down from his chair "Equestrian? What Equestrian? I'm speaking English and so are you!" He then yawned again "By the way I also wanted to ask you how you know... English... *yawn*" "So in your world you know Equestrian as... how did you say it? Ing-lish?" Twilight was busy writing, and so was Lyra, rewriting her theories and facts in her notepad. "Yeah, English. What a quirk of fate eh? We have the same language, well almost, except for your writing. It's readable but with added hoofmarks and some Cyrillic letters thrown to the mix, heh-heh." He started chuckling from that but was interrupted by his stomach grumbling. "Oh man, with all this talk I actually forgot that my last meal was... 20 hours ago." His face expression turned sour. "Oh, I'm very sorry! Uh, here, I'll make something right away!.." Twilight headed to the kitchen but stopped in the middle "Umm, what do you eat?" And before Drakon could said a word, Fluttershy stated "He's omnivorous, but I think his main diet is meat." Surprised by her own actions she quickly retreated back to behind the couch. Drakon turned to her, surprised "..Now how did you know that? "Umm.. I saw your teeth." She tried to hide herself again. Unease filled the room. Rainbow Dash took a step forward "Hey you, you're not planning on eating us would you?!" But Drakon only laughed "Relaaaax, I'm not some wild beast! Okay, so I do eat meat but I don't eat sentient species. It's unethical." "Unethical? That's not very convincing, buddy." Rainbow Dash looked at him with suspicion. "I mean, I'm a hunter but not a murderer, okay? To eat something that talks, thinks and feels it's just... It's just sick, you know? Like cannibalism. You just don't do cannibalism." "So you're not gonna eat anypony then?" Applejack looked him in the eyes. "Of course not, why would I eat ponies?" He started laughing again. Then he proceeded to the kitchen himself "Besides, it's not like we're the only meat-eaters here. From what I understood there's also a lot of other carnivorous folk like griffins and such, yet you talk with them without fear, eh?" Applejack realigned her hat and nodded "Fella' have a point there." During his walk to the kitchen he thought ['Heh, as if someone sane would eat ponies. It's not like... Oh crap. Ponies are small horses and... I do eat horse meat. Well, better not mention it. For a while at least.'] Drakon clapped his hands "So! How about I spare you the trouble and cook something myself? Don't worry, I'll keep it vegan." Lyra almost flew through the air "Can you?? Oh my, oh my, I'm gonna see a human at work!" Everypony else also drew near. "Can I? Ok! Uhhh, I'll need a couple eggs, butter, bun, preferably not sweet, salt, pepper... Umm, a cucumber, tomato, some garlic, cold milk... And a, uhh, a shot glass. You have all this stuff?" Drakon turned to ponies "Here you go!" Pinkie Pie appeared out from nowhere with all needed stuff in a bag she held in her mouth. With can of cold milk already on the table. "Woah! Where'd you... Nevermind, that's pretty neat, thanks." He took off his gloves, jacket and his PDA/Tacpad and threw it on the couch. "Let's get down to business, shall we?" He took out his folding knife and trick-flapped it open. "Woah. What's up with that knife? Looked so awesome!" Rainbow Dash was captivated by Drakon's knife He turned to Dash, trick-closing his knife "You mean, you never heard of butterfly knives? They also call them balisong... Holy shit!" His knife fell down and so did his jaw. "H-h-h... HOW THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THAT??" He pointed at Applejack who picked up an apple with her hoof. Applejack looked around and raised her eyebrow "Do what?" He walked up to her and took her hoof in his hand "THIS. This. Is. Nuts. There is nothing that can hold that apple... Your hoof is completely flat... It's impossible!" Everyone in the room snickered. Applejack pulled her hoof away from Drakon and laughed "You sure are strange, mister! What's so mysterious with picking up an apple?" "But!.. You!.. *Sigh.* Nevermind. ['Damn, this place sure taking it's toll on me. How did I even put up with all this until now? Magic? Talking ponies? Clouds bleeding with rainbows? Riiiight..'] Drakon rubbed his forehead and picked up dropped knife "So, where we left off? And please, just let me eat first, all remaining questions after, ok?" --- It goes like this... Twilight and others watched his actions with great interest. Especially the hands movements. Both Lyra and Twilight were making notes on how quickly and effectively he moved them. Sure there was the Iron Will but minotaur isn't the one who they could call both technologically superior and have no magic abilities. "First, the milk." He took a cup and poured some in. "Feels cold, good. Now, the taste..." Vladimir took one gulp but suddenly grimaced. "Ugh, it's not skimmed! ...Huh, actually it's pretty tasty." "Next is garlic..." *chop-chop-chop* With practiced move he quickly chopped garlic clove "And the taste is... *chomp* UWAH, HOT DAMN! This is one hell of a hearty garlic I tell you, perfect" . Rainbow Dash was flying above him looking at what he was doing with the knife "Who actually eat this garlic stuff? It reeks." Her muzzle cringed in disgust. Drakon looked back at her "Hey, it's good for your immune system! And it's especially tasty with mea... Ahem. Nevermind. Sampling is finished, gotta get the rest out of the way." Tomato and cucumber were cut in a neat slices. But then he slapped himself on the forehead "Darn, I forgot about... Do you have.." And before he could finish he was interrupted by Pinkie Pie again "Sure we have!" as she hoofed him a slab of cheese. For a while Drakon looked at slab of cheese. Then at Pinkie Pie, who was busy happily jumping around. And then he gave a long inquiring look onto the rest of Mane 6 and Lyra. "It's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, don't worry about it." Twilight 'answered' his silent question and looked at Pinkie "Just try not to think about it too much." Drakon rubbed his forehead again "...If you say so." And cut few slices of the cheese into cubicles. Making sure that all components are ready, cooking finally started. First you need to cut bun in half, don't forget to cut off both top and bottom of the said bun. Now you've got two round bun slices. Use shot glass to make round hole in both bun slices. Spread butter on both sides of both slices of the bun. Have a frying pan ready and start frying both of them. While making sure that they don't get burned, prepare the eggs. Crack them open and pour contents into a bowl. Add salt and pepper while slowly stirring them for a while, also add cut garlic.(Garlic is optional though) Don't forget to take frying pan off the flame at once when slight crust is formed. Once you've done with eggs place frying pan back onto the flame and put both halves on each other, then pour contents of the bowl into formed hole. When it bottom gets fried enough, quickly, holding liquid top side with a spatula (or something similar), turn this mini-tower upside down. Now simply continue to fry until it's ready. It's ready, you can eat! "Aaaand, it's ready! I call it 'the Champion's snack'!" Drakon put finished meal onto plate "It has just about enough nutrition - protein, fat and carbohydrate, to fill you up with needed energy. And if you also..." He gulped down a big cup of milk "If you also drink a glass or cup of milk you'll feel well fed." "And for those vegetables..." He was busy munching down his mega-cheese-egg-sandwich "You can *nom* eat them with this sandwich as a side dish. *nom* It provides a good amount of vitamins, antioxidants and other good stuff. *nom* And garlic is a natural antibiotic, helps preventing heart attacks and other various related heart problems *nom* It even can decrease chance of getting cancer! *cough* I really shouldn't speak with my mouth full." He hurriedly and hungrily returned his meal in silence and after few moments he made a sated belch. "Oh, sorry about that. But damn, that was tasty." He then poured himself another cup of milk "And all stuff needed costs only about 100 rubles to make one!(around 3-4 US Dollars) How cheap is that for a complex dinner?" Pinkie Pie: "Yeah, you guys should totally try making one!" Twilight: What are you two were looking at, and who you were talking to?? "Phew, I'm alive again! Thanks for the ingredients by the way." Drakon happily sprawled on the couch. "So, any other... Wait, where's my jacket.. No, where's my stuff?" He found both his jacket and tacpad with Rarity and Rainbow Dash examining it. While Rarity was interested in alien cloth, Rainbow was more attracted to cooler looking thing. It was jet black, with a shiny display and small buttons, way small for her hooves, all over the thing. And oh boy, did it look cool, display kept showing some weird symbols and stuff. She couldn't understand any of it but she felt that that thing breathed awesomeness "Ahem." Drakon coughed a little to attract their attention "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to touch other people's stuff without permission?" "Ahhh... Sorry, I guess? But this thing looked so cool! I just couldn't help it..." Rainbow put up a guilty smile and poked Rarity "C'mon, say something too!" "Oh! This clothes are really fine tailored but... What is with that horrendous look? Those blackish and grayish camouflage-like spots? Horrible! Not refined at all! And that sewed on things, they really clashes and stands out on this... design... Ugh!" And even though Drakon gave her a stern look she just continued as if nothing happend "Although overall quality is unbelievably high as well as functionality, I guess I should say that this is a rather fine piece of work, if only horrendous looking. But it does make you look... Intimidating, I think." Drakon was about to get angry but then he smiled "Man, you ignore everything I say, then you say bad stuff about my possessions and act like nothing happened. You sure are something, I tell ya." "Oh. I guess that was pretty rude of me, indeed. My apologies." Rarity was abashed by her behavior "Don't sweat it. Me too was not on my best behavior today so I think we're even now, heh." He put back on his tacpad, gloves and jacket. "Well, see here. This isn't exactly civvies, so lemme explain something first." He pointed at straps and insignia "See this? This one here is my country's flag. White represents honor and openness. Blue - loyalty, honesty and virtue. And red stands for courage, generosity and love." "But what about that one?" Applejack pointed at his another shoulder strap. "This is the USSR flag, our countries alliance flag. Red color here represents a symbol of heroic struggle of soviet people worldwide. Hammer and sickle means unbreakable union with both working class and countryside peasants, foundation of every society. And star stands for all 5 continents of Earth, living together in peaceful alliance." "Woah. Sounds nice." Drakon sighed "Well in theory at least. United States of America sometimes refuses to work together and sometimes there's troubles on our end... Well, we have our share of problems, so it's not all sunshine and flowers, sadly." "Where was I? Oh yeah. Look at the one below USSR flag. It's a chevron meaning that I am a member of military personnel, or a soldier, in Soviet Union's army." "Next up is this," Vladimir pointed at his chest straps "This here has my name written on it, see? It reads: 'Vladimir Yeremeyev'. Below it is my blood type and Rh factor. And before you ask: if I'm ever get wounded in the field this helps medics to know right away all the stuff needed in case of blood transfusion." "Other stuff includes our squad insignia, The Wolf Pack, here, my former military branch here and that's about it." He looked around his clothes. "As to why it colored in such a way... It's called urban camo. It was used in urban combat as name suggests. And by the way, this pattern is really outdated. It's mainly used for showing your affiliation with military and, you know, it looks cool." Drakon smiled a little "Any other questions?" Rarity asked "Yes please. I've been wondering about your strange... necklace." "This?" Drakon grabbed his dogtags "We call it dogtags. All wearer's basic info is stamped on it. It helps with identifying bodi...." Rarity cut his explanation short "I think I rather don't want to know, dear. You sure are... a violent bunch." Even thought of unnatural death scared her. All of them looked frightened at the prospect of this, but he only chuckled again "Hey, it doesn't mean that we have wars everyday or happily kill each other, it's actually getting better. Dogtags are a precaution, or more like... A tradition, I don't know. Sure our world a bit dangerous but, you know... Our world is just different from yours, that's all." After few minutes of awkward silence conversation livened up over small talk. "So, now can you tell me what's this?" Rainbow Dash poked at Drakon's tacpad, accidentally pushing one of the buttons. "Hey, don't touch that! Wait, what did you push?" And answer came in form of projected hologram. Tacpad's holo-projector projected small figure on top of it. "Hi! Hatsune Miku's here! What song shall we sing today?" "Oh god..." Torrent of questions came like a hurricane. And the adventure continues! Author's word: This is still unfinished product. I have to clean this up, do some extra illustrations and I feel the dialogs need some more.ironing out. But I've haven't been updating for a while so I guess for the time being this'll have to do. Hope you enjoy and comment.