“I really, REALLY hate pain,” I said as I came to. Of course, there was no one to hear me. I thought. My eyes were closed because I had one hell of a migraine. “Anybody there?” I asked.
No answer. Great. I was still alone. My voice was all gravelly too, like when I woke up with a bunch of phlegm in my throat. Slowly, I opened my eyes, careful not to let too much light in. When open sky greeted my sight, I thought for a minute that the whole thing had been a dream. That, however, was dispelled the moment I registered the clouds. Fucking cartoon clouds man, they’re the same everywhere. Or should I start going with ‘bucking’? After all, if Chaos or whatever his name was lived up to his word, I was there.
First things first. I was DEFINITELY no longer human. I felt a tail. That much was obvious. I shook my head, noting a lack of swishing or anything of the like. Blinking, I looked down. Purple scales. Scales. Purple. Fuck yeah, I’m a dragon. Buck yeah, sorry. I’m a freaking dragon. Headache forgotten, yes, it’s happened before (the forgotten headache part, not the dragon part), I rolled over. Gingerly, I rose to all fours. It felt very natural to stand on all fours. Inspecting myself, I found that beside my important parts, I was a variety of dragon that went like that most of the time. I was kinda humped on my back, with some wicked-cool silver spikes going down my back like a stegosaurus, and I had WINGS.
Chaos thought my greatest wish had been to come to Equestria. Well, that bastard was dead wrong. Sure, it was pretty far up there, but my greatest wish of all was to bucking fly. Not on a jet, or a plane, but on my own. A jetpack would have sufficed. But this was better than that – my own pair of wings. Quite possibly the. Greatest. Thing.
Back to my changed anatomy. My forelegs ended in claws, so I’m going to go ahead and go with arms. I found that I could balance on my legs for a couple of moments, but if I didn’t shift or do something specific, I lost my balance and crashed back down onto my arms. I flung my tail around, watching it move to my every whim. Do you know who weird it is to have muscles you didn’t have just a few moments ago? So. Weird. But, anyway, the wings. You know how you sometimes actually notice your shoulder blades? It feels strange to move them while not focusing on your arm movements. Imagine that, but with huge leathery things attached, and the bones aren’t connected to your arms.
Yeah, it doesn’t really work, but it’s the best comparison I’ve got. Sue me.
I took the opportunity of relative peace to check out my surroundings. It looked like I was in a pleasant forest meadow (NOT Everfree, by the looks of it, thank goodness), and it was about midday. I thought about trying to fly, but decided that maybe it was best to try and get some sort of shelter or cave around me before I did any real exploring. Chaos wanted me to help him? Well, buck that guy. Thanks for bringing me to Equestria bud, but I didn’t sign any papers. I was gonna sit tight and…
Damn. That’s right. Robin, Sam, Geoff, and Chrissie. Where could they be? Were they dragons too? Did Chaos bring them here at all? Those questions would have to wait to be answered. Deciding to try and make a home base before doing any of that. Learning to fly would help, too.
I moved forward into the forest, walking at first a bit shakily, but getting a handle on it pretty fast. It’s like walking on all fours as a human, just way less awkward.
It really was a nice day. I started whistling “Mister Blue Sky” as I plodded along, glad I could still whistle. It didn’t really fit, since my new friends might actually be in trouble and there were actually a lot of clouds in the sky, but whatever. Like I said, sue me.
The trees were really boring me, though. I hadn’t seen much wildlife, just a bird here or there, but that was probably because a big, violet dragon with kickass silver spines on his back (they were so bucking COOL) was taking a walk through the forest like he owned the place.
However, maybe half an hour into my walk, I began to hear voices from afar. I slowed my pace in order to quiet my footsteps, hoping to try and get a bit of bearings.
“…ill a couple days from Hoofington. We’ll rest in a small town called Crescentville at nightfall, is that okay with everypony?”
I contemplated that as I heard various noises of approval. Nice to know that not every stinking place in Equestria was pun-themed. This must be a travelling group. I had to make a decision, though. Ponies (they were likely ponies, hence the ‘everypony’) likely wouldn’t take my presence too nicely. And if what Chaos said was true, there was a chance they could be violent towards me. I had to find a way to communicate with them before revealing myself.
“We move in five,” the voice I had heard first said. I continued to pad along, staying as quiet as I could. I noticed that my senses were improved – normally I had terrible hearing, but a predator like a dragon would definitely have sharpened hearing, sight, et cetera. I didn’t know how far away they were though, not being able to test my hearing well. Being a dragon for all of less than an hour will do that to you.
“So. You say your name is Robin, no?”
I froze. Robin? Could it be? I nudged forward further.
“Yes,” came a reply. Definitely her. I had to get to her somehow. Determined to find something familiar, I began to dart between trees in an effort to stay hidden. I almost fell over once I caught a view of a blue shape on the ground in the trees. I hid against a larger tree, pulling my wings in completely so I’d not be visible. I heard water hitting the ground. Great, the pony was taking a piss break. And I could smell it. Ugh. Note to self, find a way to turn smell off.
“Why won’t you tell us where you’re from, Robin?”
“I just can’t. You wouldn’t believe me,” she replied.
“Come now. Magic is rampant in Equestria. Please, tell me.”
I could almost hear her thinking about it. I gritted my teeth together (hard to do, since they’re all sharp and stuff and fit in-between each other) as I waited for the blue pony to stop their urination and go back to the group.
“Well… would you believe that just earlier I wasn’t a pony at all?”
“I’d find it difficult to believe, yes, but could you elaborate?”
“Well, I met four other people like myself – we’re humans – and then we were attacked by this guy called Chaos. He separated us, and then I touched this mirror, and then next thing I knew, I was here as a pony.”
Well, good going, Robin. They’d probably think you were a nutcase.
“Ugh. Chaos. I thought he’d been taken care of. Well, dear, I’m not sure what a ‘human’ is, but I’m sorry, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever get back home.”
I’m not sure what surprised me more – the fact that she actually believed Robin, or the fact that she’d been so blunt about the situation. Either way, it resulted in disaster for me. I coughed, which sent a ball of silvery fire careening into a nearby tree. While it was really, REALLY cool, I also got me caught.
“Hey, who’s there?” I heard from the direction of the pisser.
“Buck,” I muttered under my breath. I soon realized that all the ponies had stopped speaking, likely waiting for a response of any kind. I spoke loudly. “Hello! My name is…” buck, I needed a name. Jason was just so LAME for a dragon. I needed something cool. Something - “Zweilous!” That worked. Zweilous. I liked Zweilous. Thank you, subconscious. “I’m going to ask you very nicely not to panic, please.”
“And why would we panic?” I heard from the mare that had been questioning Robin.
“Because I’m a dragon,” I said, not revealing itself.
“And what is a dragon doing here?” she asked. Oh, crap, I could bucking SMELL the fear off of her. It was like walking into a freaking perfume section, but way worse, because my neck prickled something fierce at the smell.
“I’m in the same situation Robin is in,” I said, trying to endear myself to them. It also didn’t hurt the fact that it was true.
“Jason? Or is it Geoff?”
That was Robin. Good. “Jason,” I said.
“He’s safe, he won’t hurt you,” she told the group.
“Jason? I thought you said your name was Zweilous,” the mare said, confusion in her voice.
“Yeah, well, Jason’s really lame when it comes to dragon names. So I’m Zweilous now. Can I come out of hiding?”
“I think you’d better. I’ll have you know that three unicorns have their magic primed on you if you try anything funny.”
I slowly stepped out from the tree. What greeted me shocked me – three unicorns were looking at me with a mix of rage and fear in their eyes. But most of all, they looked like experienced combat veterans. All three of them were wearing armor and glanced warily around, but always kept me in their vision. I stuck my hands into the air. “I won’t try anything. Scout’s honor.”
“Come with me,” the stallion in the middle said. He began to walk back, and I followed him. The two unicorn mares fell in behind me. I felt like a gorram prisoner. However, after a few short moments of walking, the forest thinned into a clearing that led to the left and right as far as I could see. I assumed the little dirt line in the middle of it meant that this was a road. I looked around, taking stock.
Other than the three combat unicorns surrounding me(so WEIRD), there were two more unicorn stallions, a pegasus mare, and two earth ponies, both female.
“Jason?” The earth pony on the right asked me.
“Robin?” I responded, raising an eyebrow. She smiled, and walked up to me. Her coat was a cream color, with a chocolate mane and tail. She conspicuously lacked a cutie mark. She reached up and put a hoof on my side (I was half again as tall as a regular pony while on all fours), smiling.
“I’ve known you for about half an hour, but I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you,” she told me.
“Likewise, sister,” I said. I shifted my weight to the left and reached out to her hoof with my right claw. Not wanting to envelope the hoof in my claws (things looked really sharp), I closed it into a fist. Realizing my intention, she bumped the fist with a hoof.
“So Jas… I mean, Zweilous, have you seen Geoff, Sam or Chrissie?” she asked me. It was weird hearing her voice coming from a pony rather than her human self. Her voice hadn’t changed like mine.
I shook my head in negation. “No, you’re the first group of anything I’ve come across.”
“So, you say that you’re in the same situation as Robin? Chaos brought you here?”
I looked at the earth pony mare (who was obviously the leader of the group), sizing her up. She carried herself well. She had an orange coat and a lighter orange mane, which flowed down nearly to the ground. “Yes,” I responded.
“Well then. You’re not the first, I’ll have you know. We’re under orders, everypony is, to bring all cases like you straight to the nearest major city. That’d be Hoofington, but it’s a day away. Can you bear to accompany us until then? We’re going to be stopping outside a town called Crescentville later.”
I shrugged(I think, hard to tell with the different anatomy), and nodded. “I’d definitely appreciate the help. Thank you so much,” I said.
She chuckled. “Don’t be too sure that it’s out of the goodness of my heart. Cases like you bring us a thousand bits a head.”
I looked at her funny. Did she just say that? “Did you just-“ I wasn’t able to finish, because right then one of the unicorns fired a bolt of magic at me. I dodged it by swinging my head around and smashed my tail into the unicorn. However, I was caught unaware as I felt something slam into my head from behind. I groaned to myself as I felt myself black out for the second time that day.
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Pre-read by Chaotic Dreams