//------------------------------// // Good mornging Be- you're not Beth. // Story: The Nine-Tailed Pony // by Burning Wick //------------------------------// The first traces of light touched down upon my face as I returned to the land of consciousness. I stretched and twisted in the comfort of a mattress. I paused slightly, pressing a paw into the feathered bed. It felt too real, when did Beth get a human bed? She always had a patch of grass that was open for me to use but that felt completely different than this. Upon opening my eyes, I gave my bed a quick glance. It was clean, had sheets over it and not a single rip in it. It was a human’s bed I was laying on. It just didn’t make sense to me. Why would a human put me on their bed instead of cage with pillows in it? No, it can’t be so. This had to be a dream. The room was so bright and comforting. I was sleeping on a human bed without signs of being held captive. Nothing else could explain this. Hoping the rest of the room gave off the same welcoming feeling, I rolled over to my other shoulder. Aeepi! I cried as pain erupted from my shoulder. Looking at reignited source of pain, the bullet wounds appeared to be bandaged, and quite well. This was also the first time I took notice of cast that engulfed my whole leg. This was not a dream and a human had found me. Diving off the bed was probably a dumb move from me seeing how I ended up sending another spike of pain from my leg. But I did so and regretted it after I collapsed once again. Unlike last time though, I found that I had retained much more energy and started to stand. The cast helped me keep myself stable as I looked for the door, but a slight twinge of pain echoed in my thoughts with every step. Spotting the closed door on the right side of the bed I walked over. Surprisingly, the knob was out of reach of my paws but not my tails. Turning around so my back was facing the door, I reached out and twisted the handle carefully. With a click the door swung slowly outward dragging me with it. I landed on my rear hard making me yelp once more. Panicking that whoever was downstairs or nearby heard me, I bolted underneath the bed and stared at the door way. The wait was deafening as I didn’t want to take any chances with the human or humans that lived here. My courage to venture out from underneath returned. I crept to the open door keeping my ears open for anything that might sound hostile. Looking down the stairs prove to be a great improvement to my confidence as there was no signs that the human was home. But it also improved my confusion. I heard nothing that resembled a human cleaning. Nothing smelled like a human was cooking and on a closer sniff, I realized that the smell of human never been on this house. It just doesn’t make sense, my mind said back to me as I carefully went downstairs. Why does this house look so well taken care of? Could Bethany have used some of her magic to change it when I left? The bewilderment soon changed back to panic when the door was unlocked. Leaping back up the stairs I dove under the protectiveness of the bed’s underbelly. The door swung open and closed as voices trailed upward. “You said it had metal stuck in its shoulder?” I heard woman’s voice asked. It wasn’t Beth’s voice. This woman sounded unsure of what must have been told to her before entering. There was a brief moment of silence before the woman picked back up. “Well, I read that the griffins use traps that fling metal to impair the victim’s movement. Maybe this fox came from the griffin lands.” Okay there is only one woman on a cell phone, my thoughts comforted me as started to step out before what she said hit me. Griffins? Alive? With their own land? Thoughts of last night returned. Maybe I didn’t jump to the future, but to the past. Beth said that griffins died out centuries ago. But that doesn’t make sense. There would be no traces of cell phones back then. My debate ended as I heard another voice. It was soft, really soft. If I wasn’t in a state of panic, I could fall asleep on her voice. “Oh dear, she must be so lonely being so far from home. I hope she’s still asleep.” Two sets of foot falls came up the stairs yet they sounded different. I wasn’t sure then but it sounded like a hoofed animal stepping on wood. My theory was confirmed when from my hiding spot from underneath the bed, I saw hooves. Yellow and purple hooves. “Oh dear,” the softer of the two voices said as the yellow set ran toward the bed and disappeared. The sound of bird wings flapping came from the other side of the bed. “I think she ran away.” “It’s okay Fluttershy,” the first voice I heard say as it tried to comfort the second one. “Maybe it went home to its family.” I wish I could, my mind commented on the statement. With a shake of my head, I banished the thoughts and decided to get a clearer look at the two creatures that were talking to each other. The set of hooves that I connected to this ‘Fluttershy’ reappeared on the opposite side of the bed with a gently clopping sound. “I guess you’re right, Twilight,” her angel like voice said. Taking my chances, I peeked out to examine my captor. My breath froze as I sat there staring at Pegasus. Well… not really Pegasus. The winged horse of Greece myth was a snowy white and also was a stallion unlike this counterpart. As her voice suggested, this was clearly a mare but it looked different. The face seemed more human like than horse and that’s pushing similarities. Sadness was clearly written on the… horse’s… pony’s… mare Pegasus’s face. Whether it was the defined lips that curved downward or those huge eyes that stared at the wooden floor, I could tell she was sad to see me missing. Maybe when she’s alone I might come and say good bye, I comforted myself with a nod. Looking back up at the creature, I added, Beth never told be about this creature though. Does she even know about it? “Fluttershy,” ‘Twilight’ said in a lower tone that I almost missed. If it wasn’t for Fluttershy’s quick lift of her head to look back across the bed, I probably won’t have paid attention to it. After a brief silence, the mare looked down at me. At me. Her smile widen at the same rate her irises did. With a glance to the other side of the bed, I realized my tails was sticking out the other side and ‘Twilight’ saw them. I pulled myself underneath the bed as the yellow flying horse lowered her head and pushed her way under the frame. “Hi there,” she said in the loudest tone I ever heard her talk that day. It still sounded like a glass harp but was rich with joy. “I’m Fluttershy. Are you feeling better?” It took a slight twinge in my shoulder to remind me of the cast. I glance back and forth from it and the beaming face as the puzzle came together. She seemed to understand my confusion as she answered my unasked question, “Yes, I was the one that tended to your wounds. When Angel woke me up to show Mr. Patches carrying you, I knew I won’t rest until I did the best I could for you.” So that was the noise I heard before I passed out, I noted in hopes to find these two and thank them for rescuing me; if I could even identify them. “Wow,” I heard from the other side of the bed. ‘Twilight’ had lowered her head to peek underneath but didn’t press her head to get a closer look. “You were right Fluttershy, she’s beautiful.” My tails maneuvered around to cover the blush I felt growing for no reason. “Awwwww,” the flying creature of flight sighed as if she was watching puppies play with each other’s tails. “Someone is a little shy.” Her purple faced friend gave a quick amused look at her before returning back to me. I took offense to those words. Granted, when I made men fall in love with me, I offend used the blush as a way to get their attentions. But here I was getting compliments from two sentient beings of a horse-like species and was blushing like I wanted their hearts to melt. It didn’t take long for me to pick up from the giggles that during my mental fit, I was brushing my tails with my fore paws. After getting control of her mirth, Fluttershy reached out with a hoof and asked, “Can you please come out from underneath the bed? It’s awful dusty under there.” You had to say dust, didn’t you? I mentally sassed her as my nose started to twitch. I started to walk closer to the outstretched hoof with caution. Another twitch in my muzzle halted me just an inch from the horse-like hoof. My eyelids join in the twitching as I involuntarily drew breath. Achoo! I sneezed loudly while sending warmth from my nostrils. I heard a yelp through my closed sight followed by a scuffle. Opening my eyes I saw that my doctor had retreated from the bed. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked as I poked my head out from underneath the dusty underbelly. Fluttershy was shaking her hoof gingerly in the air as she replied, “I-I’m fine, Twilight. It’s just a little fire.” The interest and confusion reach a peak in the other mare’s voice. “Fire? She blew fire?!” “It was just a little flame,” my doctor said inspecting her hoof before looking at me. Fluttershy’s friend started talking some more at this point. Something about dragons and demons from a place called Tartarus. I happened to pay little attention to it as I had another thing to worry about. Scrambling, I pulled the rest of my body out and rushed over to the open door. My shoulder throbbed as I applied pressure but it did little to slow me down. Taking the steps two at a time, I landed on the lower floor with a thud, making the Persian cat sleeping by them jump up and hiss at me before curling back up on something. Right about that same time, the two strangely colored mares started their cadence of hoof falls. Finding the door outside was easy. Finding the stream that I was taken from was easier, it just happened to be right in front of the house. How I didn’t see the small foot bridge that spanned the creek under a full moon, I will never know. Finding where the hare found me, I quickly started back tracking. Following the trail led me back into the trees and to mighty oak that I woke up on. At first glance, nothing. I saw nothing next to the tree or between the roots. Running around the trunk proved just as useless. The orb I had in my pocket before I teleported wasn’t there. Panic swept over my body. I didn’t find the orb, I was still recovering, there are two sentient equines running up to me, and I was in someplace that only the Eight Immortals knows where. Scratch that last part. I don’t even think they know where this place is. Without my orb, I wasn’t able to go home, I wasn’t able to defend myself, and I wasn’t able to communicate with these equines let alone trying to blend in with them. I wasn’t able to see Bethany or keep my promise to my sister. I wasn’t able to do anything aside sit and cry.