//------------------------------//
// Espial 
// Story: All Smoke, No Mirrors 
// by Jinzou 
//------------------------------//

Staring back at me was a wolf. A large wolf, its hide crafted from aged, mossy wood. Glowing green eyes watched me, their glow illuminating claws the size of kitchen knives. It creaked as it moves closer, the claws leaving grooves in the dirt as it walked.

I frantically looked around, searching for an exit as the creature slowly advanced. All I saw were trees. There was no structure under which I could take refuge. No traps I could try and lure it into. I know I couldn’t outrun it, even if my legs were all good, and there was no hope of-

There! There was what looked like a rabbit hole off to my left. I have no idea if I could fit in there, but I wasn’t just giving up without a fight.

I stared back up at the timberwolf. Its hot breath hit me, replacing the subtle scent of rotting wood with the overpowering smell of smoke. Goosebumps broke out over my skin and I gave in involuntary spasm as I saw the large teeth and powerful-looking jaws that I’m sure it could use to snap my head clean off my neck.

As it closed in I moved backwards, pushing myself away and ending up landing on my back.

If I was gonna make a run for it, I could definitely use a distraction.

Not daring to break eye contact, I quickly felt the area behind me for something to use as a weapon. My desperation turned to full blown terror as I couldn’t find one. The timberwolf drew closer until I could almost reach out and touch it.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and turned my head to the side as my shoulders hit the dirt.

I was going to die.

I didn’t know if this was all real, or a hallucination, but dammit, the terror was there. My breath came in short, shallow gasps and I felt a sour sweat break out on my back. I would never forget this moment if I made it out alive, forearm pulsing in pain, ears flattened to my skull, body trembling. I’d remember the slight breeze and remember the rock that was pushing against the lower part of my right side. 

Wait, a rock!?

My plan was stupid, was definitely going to fail, and I probably made my death promised to be ten times more painful as I picked up that rock, and without a second thought, swung it directly into the timberwolf’s eye.

There was a howl of pain and I was up. All four of my hooves hit the deck and just by some crazy fucking miracle, I was able to ignore the pain of my foreleg just enough to sprint with it. It must have been some kind of natural instinct, because my legs hit the ground at just the right time to pull me into a full fledged sprint. 

And then I was at the rabbit hole, or the den of some other kind of creature. And I was digging, and I was screaming and trembling, feeling tears streaming down my face, and I could hear the timberwolf behind me running after me, obviously having recovered.

I’m not ready to die!

I forced myself in deeper into the hole, my tail disappearing just a moment before the timberwolf was on me. And then he was furiously tearing at the dirt above me, and I was wanting to curl up and cry as I realized that this was it. I could feel the dirt getting caught in my nose and mouth and the whining of the timberwolf, sounding like a dog trying to force his way to a meal. As soon as I saw sunlight filtering through the now opened den, I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I held my breath, closed my eyes, and looked away.

And then I felt teeth digging into my shoulder.

I felt myself ripped away off the ground for a moment, then there I was, slammed against the earth, and I made the stupid mistake to open my eyes, that’s when I saw the monster rear back, about to go for my throat.

For just a moment, time seemed move in slow motion. I saw the timberwolf’s rear legs contract, its shoulders roll back, and its front paws tuck in ever so slightly into its body. It’s mouth opened more, revealing the impossibly sharp stakes it used for fangs. I saw its eyes narrow as it went in for the killing bite. 

I was then interrupted as my horn suddenly burned, and I burst into bright pink flames, sending a wave of flame around me in a circle, and catching the beast on fire. It yelped and threw itself backwards, howling like a wounded animal as the flames spread across its body. And I was screaming too, rolling around, trying to get the dirt to snuff out the flames.

I heard the sound of wood catch fire behind me as I caught sight of my already blackened limbs. My forearm was exploding in pain and I was going light-headed, no doubt due to the flames sucking out all the oxygen from the surrounding area, and the world started going white. 

I would have loved a moment to cry, a moment to think of all the people and things I was going to miss, but all I experienced was the feeling of nothingness as the world faded to white.





I let out a whimper as a bright light shone down on me.

“Mmnf… what?” I managed.

I felt odd. My body was all floaty, but at the same time I felt exhausted, like I just ran a marathon. Every muscle in my body was sore and my mouth was dry.

I could feel what felt like a sheet over me, and smell the familiar antiseptic-esque smell of vodka. That probably meant I fell asleep while soaked in it again.

“Are you alright?” asked a female whose voice I didn’t recognize. “Are you feeling any pain?”

“No ma’am.” I replied hoarsely. “Where am I? Am I dead?”

I cracked open my eyes and took a moment to accept what I was seeing was actually true.

I was definitely in a hospital room, but the only other person in the room looked… off, somehow. She was pink, freckled, and her hair was purple and white. She was also a little on the bigger side.

There was something else about her… Something I just couldn’t place.

“You’re in the Ponyville General Hospital, darling,” the female responded. “And no, you’re still very much among the living.”

I let out a mighty yawn and stretched out my arms. It took me a moment to register that my left foreleg and hoof had a cast on it.

Wait, I wasn’t supposed to have hooves.

My eyes snapped wide open.

I sat up suddenly, pausing as I got suddenly lightheaded. I looked all over myself.

Everything came racing back at that moment. Waking up as a pony, the train, the forest, the timberwolf, the fire-

The fire!

“Woah woah there little miss. Take it easy.” The nurse--the pony nurse put a hoof on my shoulder. “You just woke up, the anesthetic will take some time to wear off.”

I stared down at my good forehoof. The mental image of a charred black foreleg flashed before me, but my forearm now looked fine. Still an eggshell white, but not burnt at all.

“How badly was I burnt?” I demanded, ready to hear all about my horribly disfigured face.

“Oh, not at all.” The nurse smiled. “Good thing, too. The fire got snuffed out quickly enough, but you were right in the middle of the area. Good thing you're so unique, isn’t it?”

A pang of terror welled up at those words. She knew I wasn’t normal. I wasn't ready to explain what had happened! I didn't even know what was going on!

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, fighting to keep my voice neutral. “I’m just a regular pony.”

“Oh darling,” the nurse soothed. “I know you’re not a pony. Don’t worry, it’s not like we’re gonna judge you for the circumstances of your birth.”

“Heh, right, I forgot, I’m a dragon.” I chuckled weakly, avoiding eye contact.

Shit, I’m a terrible liar. 

“Well… partially, yes.” The nurse’s eyebrows knit together.

I blinked back at her, starting to think we were maybe talking about different things.

“What I was told is that the scales and fire abilities of your race were due to dragon DNA. There was some testing done, but we haven’t really made contact with other Kirin until recently.”

Scales? Fire abilities? Kirin?!  The only thing I know about Kirin was that they were a sports drink and a beer in Japan.

Okay, so slow down, think about what you’re gonna say before-

“Can I see a mirror?” I blurted out.

Well okay, or do that.

The nurse rummaged around in some of the drawers for a few moments, before grabbing the handle of a hand mirror in her mouth and carrying it over to me.

My vision was brought first to my horn. It didn't look like a normal horn, it honestly looked more like a… well, it looked like a special toy you might find on an adult website.

Looking down, I had a normal-ish looking cartoon pony face, but my muzzle had-

Holy fuck I had a beard!

I brought up my good foreleg to my chin instinctively, feeling nothing there. Upon a closer look, I didn't have a beard, but my - I guess "mane" is the right word here-  blonde mane traveled down the sides of my head and met up on my chest.

Well, I was still green-eyed, that was also the same. 

I turned around a couple of times, observing my whole body as the nurse watched. 

So my tail was different, I had extreme floof, and a sex toy attached to my forehead. And that wasn't even the last freaky thing.

I had scales.

From the top of my muzzle up, and on my back forming almost a… a carapace. I guess it’s a good thing the nurse told me I was part dragon, because I’d really hate to be half pony and half fish. 

Actually, speaking of her…

“Uhm, ma’am?” I spoke in my annoyingly high voice. “I don’t think I caught your name.”

"Oh!" the nurse said with a start. "Terribly sorry, dear. I'm Nurse Sweetheart. What is your name?"

Okay, think of a convincing pony name. My real name would not fit- wait, shit! What if Kirin names are different?

I gotta come up with something, how about…

"Sunny Meadows"

Yeah, shit, sounds good to me.

"I'm Sunny Meadows." I said slowly.

“Well it’s very nice to meet you,” Sweetheart smiled. “But can you tell me what you were doing in the Everfree Forest in the first place?”

Okay, so if I want to make a convincing cover story, I need all the facts.

“First off…” I trailed off. “Can you tell me how I got here?”

Sweetheart cleared her throat. “Well, according to the couple that found you, Golden Harvest and Written Script, their daughter was playing not too far from the Everfree Forest when they saw the magical fire plume burst into the sky. Written Script recognized it as fire from a Nirik transformation, and decided to go see if anypony was in danger. Then they saw you passed out in the middle of a blaze, and he pulled you out as the weather team put out the fire.”

Well that revealed several things to me. One, this “Written Script” character was either the bravest or stupidest person I had ever heard of, I had caused a fire with a “Nirik transformation”, probably burnt down a good portion of a forest, and killed or destroyed the homes of a lot of innocent woodland creatures. Nice going, me.

Now, Nirik transformation. Nirik was obviously Kirin backwards, so creativity points for that, I guess. The nurse seemed to be implying that it caused the fire, and I know when the fire started, my forelegs were black, and now they weren’t. They were completely untouched. So did this “transformation” turn me black? And now that I was a “Kirin” again I was back to normal colors?

Man, I was weird.