Lithe laughed gaily as she traipsed through the forest, trailing an errant leaf caught in the tides of the wind. She snapped her jaws playfully in an attempt to catch it, her six canines drawing furrows from her latest attempt. Bounding amongst the trees Lithe could scarcely hide her excitement as she leapt, bounded, and flipped after the silly piece of plant life. As Lithe went along she would half climb trees any time she fully lost her leaf to shake loose a new one for her to follow. Giggling madly, she didn't even hear the manticore until it had lunged upon her and was gnawing upon her lower back.
Twisting about Lithe eyed the beast with nervous yet excited eyes. She had never seen something like this before! Pulling her unmarred hind quarters from the beast's mouth, Lithe hopped side to side before batting the thing on the nose with a foreclaw. It obviously wanted to wrestle, other wise it wouldn't have tackled her. The creature regarded her oddly before lunging forward and knocking Lithe on her back, its claws and teeth searching for purchse against the oddly strong and tough fur and skin that Lithe possessed.
"Stoppit, that tickles! Okay, mercy, I give, I give!" Lithe laughed wildly as the beasts claws and teeth scrapped against the ticklish nerve of her belly.
Kicking out for mercy, Lithe felt her back claws connect with her tickling oppressor, drawing a yelp from it as it jerked back and eyed her warily before turning tail and darting into the woods in search for something easier to eat. Lithe just watched the funny creature go and she shuffled the leathery skin of her wings and shook dirt from the coppery scales that ran along her spine and out of her mane, which shared the same colour. Giving a final few brushes from her two claws on her right foreleg to remove excessive dirt from her golden yellow furred side Lithe shrugged and shook down more leaves, giving chase in her silly little game.
Leaping onto a branch and snapping at one specific leaf, Lithe found it just out of her reach and leapt out from her perch on the branch to find herself clear of the tree on a small hillock over looking one of the most amazing things she'd ever seen in her life!
A pony town!
M\(>^<)/M
As Lithe grew closer and closer to the settlement her eyes grew wider and wider with each step into the town. It was then she saw something so out of this world it blew her mind! A pony pushed a wall open and walked through it! It must have been magic or something! Rushing over, Lithe was determined to place the origin of the phenomenon.
Giving the special wall a few pushes, Lithe's two talons on her left hoof brushed against a small metallic knob that moved side to side. Fascinated, she twisted the knob this way and that before finding that the magical knob allowed the wall to open and close! Never before had she witnessed such a marvellous device. Just as she started to fully understand the opening and closing of the wall she noticed a pony further away using another amazing contraption!
Rushing over Lithe watched as the pony ran off, leaving her alone to marvel over the new item. It looked like a rounded house, but was only an entrance to a 90 degree tunnel. Looking into the tunnel Lithe noticed that there was a bucket down there floating in water. She began to tug on the rope when her wing bumped an odd protrusion that rotated, wrapping the rope around a bar and bringing the bucket closer to her! Utterly amazed that such things could be done, Lithe began reeling up the bucket before gulping down the water as it got to her. Ponies were amazing and she hadn't even met one yet! Inadvertently letting go of the handle, Lithe jumped back into an apple cart as the bucket splashed back down.
Turning about to see what she hit Lithe was shocked to see another miracle, it was a mobile table! Giving the cart a push whilst giggling Lithe was quick to make a game out of it, batting it between her wings until a rattle caught her attention.
Spinning around Lithe saw a sign shaking back and forth from a post. Eyes now drawn to anything post like Lithe was quick to notice the magical powered lamps that were lit up. Flapping up to them with a silly grin, Lithe poked and prodded at them a few times before chalking it up to the miracles that were ponies!
Just as Lithe landed a white ball of fluff launched itself at her, tickling her neck just under her jaw bone. Pulling the thing off Lithe recognized it as a cat, her dad said cats sometimes were pets for ponies. This specific cat was scrabbling at her with all four legs, presumably wanting a hug. Smiling wide Lithe pulled the cat closer to her as it attempted to get a good grasp to return the hug, its paws and claws scrabbling at her furiously. Just then Lithe heard a voice call out.
"Opalescence! Opal, where are you! Where are yo-oh my!"
There before Lithe stood the first unicorn she'd ever seen! The unicorn gave a sudden yelp and took two steps back before a second horned pony stepped past her and looked at her with her head titled funny.
"Er...hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, who, and if you don't mind, what are you?"
Suddenly realising she had no understanding of how ponies acted or spoke to one another, Lithe began to feel very selfconcious about herself and hid behind one partially uplifted wing.
"M'Lithe...."
The purple pony shrugged, a set of wings Lithe hadn't noticed rustling when she did so.
"Emleeth?"
Shaking her head, Lither lowered her wing just enough to show her face.
"My name is Lithe, I'm a Draken-pony...."
Then like that the wing was back up, Lithe's orange eyes just barely showing over the top edge of her wing.
"Well I'm Twilight Sparkle, resident Alicorn of Ponyville." the purple pony, Twilight, responded with a calm and gentle smile, "So, what brings you about?"
Before Lithe could say a thing four other ponies can careening around the corner to stand by their friend's side except for one. A flying pink pony came to a sudden and abrupt halt next to her and began eyeing her and poking at her sides. Confused and somewhat shy, Lithe began backing away from the 'assault' before a loud voice snapped through the air.
"PINKIE!"
The pink pony froze before turning and facing Twilight.
"Yes?"
"Leave her alone, you're scaring her!" Twilight grumbled with a shuffle of her wing, "So Lithe, what are you doing here?"
Lithe watched as the pink pony bounded back over to her friends and Twilight stepped a bit closer while weaing a disarming smile.
"So, what brings you to Ponyville, Lithe? Also, what exactly is a Draken-pony."
Not exactly sure how to answer Twilight, Lithe suddenly realised that this must have been what her dad meant by 'be herself' when she met the ponies. She just needed to act like they were like the dragons back home! Happy that she'd finally figured out how to act, Lithe raised her head to speak only to realise that all six ponies were staring at her intently. Cheeks suddenly flushing a healthy shade of blue Lithe quickly ducked back down behind her wing as Twilight giggled slightly and stepped forward.
"You must be shy, sorry. How about just you and me head back to the library and we'll figure it all out, okay?"
Suddenly Lithe's head shot up, her orange eyes practically sparkling with excitement.
"You have a library?"
Giving a laugh Twilight nodded while motioning for Lithe to follow her. Before walking away she turned and spoke to the other five ponies.
"Go let the town know that there isn't any threat, just a new visitor."
Lithe watched as the other five ponies ran off before trailing after Twilight. As Lithe followed, she kept finding her attention pulled off to some random object or device. For every item the Lithe found herself investigating Twilight would explain what it was and how it worked, much to the wonderment of the Draken-pony.
It wasn't much longer before the pair reached the library, Twilight leading Lithe inside as Lithe blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to her first view of magically produced artificial lighting.Everything now looked yellow tinted to Lithe, most likely due to the way most magic affected dragons differently. Upon adjustment, Lithe went straight for the books darting shelf to shelf in anticipation. Never before had she seen this many books in one place before! Flitting this way and that by way of her wings Lithe collected the first ten interesting books she'd found and shot over to a spot in the floor, circling three or four times before laying down, confident that her spot was secure.
M\(>^<)/M
Standing ramrod straight, Lithe refused to move a muscle as the alicorn Twilight began explaining such things that were both foreign and confusing to the Draken-pony, having come from a land where dragons ruled and the lifestyles were so different. First on Twilight's list of new terms and phrases was shower and bath. Such as dragons used lava/magma to cleanse themselves of dirt and other grime, ponies used water. On top of that, ponies were accustomed to cleansing themselves in private, not public.
Second came eating habits, namely that food stayed in the kitchen, and books in the library, that and you sure as heck did not read books whilst hanging from the ceiling eating food!
Those two main lessons followed up by a number of books on modern pony culture and society were enough to tide Lithe over for the night before the Draken-pony climbed up onto the highest self she could find(after relocating the books there) and settled down to sleep.
Two blinks later Lithe was away to dream land.
M\(>^<)/M
Yawning widely as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, Lithe then stretched her legs out until her claws connected with wood. Securing her grip, the draken-pony made her way through to the kitchen. As Lithe entered she used a wing to tap on Twilight's shoulder, as the alicorn was already awake, to get her attention.
"I should get a job. Ponies have jobs, and I'm supposed to be all ambassador-y and such, so I should learn everything about how to live as a pony for a better understanding of the culture. Oh, and that and something called applebucking totally sounded like fun, cause it makes leaves fall."
Twilight did a double take for a second, both at the cheer in Lithe's voice as well as the fact that the draken-pony was currently clinging to the kitchen ceiling.
"Wait, makes leaves fall?"
Lithe then went into a lengthy story through out breakfast about how the Hollow only has evergreen trees, and that she had never seen a deciduous leaf before. She then further explained about how she liked to watch the leaves float through the wind. As Lithe finished explaining her fascination with leaves Twilight gave her a smile.
"I suppose that answers my first question, I was wondering what you wanted to do today, so I suppose we can head over to Sweet Apple Acres. It's my friend Applejack's farm. Actually, if you're going to be staying for any length of time it would be prudent for you to meet all my friends, as well as try to befriend some of the other townsponies." smiled Twilight.
Lithe nodded, hearing and understanding the words, but partially ignoring them in favour of the odd flat bread that had been presented to her. She wasn't confused by it mind you, but instead was devouring the food ravenously, having never had such a treat before. Twilight, noting the draken-pony's obvious enjoyment of the meal, promptly poured out some more batter and made a few more before proffering them to Lithe.
"Enjoying the pancakes?" grinned Twilight, "I make them like my mom used to, a bit of cinnamon and pumpkin spice tossed in for an extra kick."
Stopping for but a moment to reply, Lithe licked her chops in approval before giving her thoughts.
"Your mother needs to be recorded in the great Dragon Annals for such a creation, I love them!"
Lithe quickly finished devouring the pancakes and licked the plate clean of any crumbs before grasping it in her foreclaws and bringing the plate up to her face to nuzzle it near lovingly. It wasn't until a few seconds later that Lithe noted Twilight looking at her curiously, causing her to flush blue.
"Really good...sorry."
Giving another disarming smile Twilight just shook her head.
"If it makes you feel any better, I tried to crawl into the pan when I was a little filly because I thought it held more of them." admitted the alicorn with a mild red blush of her own.
"Do you want a couple more for the walk to Applejack's?"
Five minutes later the pair were headed out the door, two pancakes quickly disappearing into Lithe's mouth as they went.
M\(>^<)/M
As it turns out, Lithe had an amazing knack for farming, the dragon-borne muscles in her body able to snap out strikes on the trees on par with Big Macintosh. This was exactly what the Apple family was looking foe coincidentally. Big Mac was needing to make a run into Manehattan after hearing the Oranges been having some issues. On top of that Applejack was set to run a stall in Canterlot that was going to bring in big business. The worry had been that they wouldn't have found somepony for the job, and on that note they'd been right. As it were, there was a very pleased half pony that was more than willing to take the job.
"Now you sure yer up fer this, sugarcube? It can be a lot of work, and to be honest, mah younger sister an' her friends heard all about you and Ah don't want 'em botherin' you if yer not up for it." Applejack explained as she cast a wary look at Lithe.
"You can count on me!" Lithe barked while snapping a quick salute with her right wing.
Applejack cast a few more glances across her farm before nodding and heading out towards the train station. As Applejack walked away Twilight got Lithe's attention.
"You need help or if there's any trouble, you fly to the library and come get me, okay?"
Snapping a second salute Lithe turned and moved towards the trees. She had a quota of ten and five trees bucked and ten and five treefuls of apples brought into the barn and she was darn sure she wouldn't be late. Setting her mind to the present task Lithe pivoted on her foreclaws and struck hard against the first tree causing every apple to drop into the awaiting baskets. Nodding her approval at her own claw-work Lithe couldn't help but bounce giddily at the rush of a strike well placed.
Moving quickly with aide of her wings Lithe danced a merry dance throughout Sweet Apple Acres bucking the apple trees and basketing the apples in record time. After moving the baskets to the barn Lithe went and rolled amongst the leaves for a few minutes before realising that she should probably tell somepony that she was finished. Moving towards the cabin Lithe's movements shifted slowly from those of a happy, giddy, carefree mare to a more subdued, shy step. It suddenly seemed as though she was unsure of her task as she knowcked on the front door and an elderly green mare answered it in reply.
"Why hello there young'un, you must be that filly Twilight told me was coming to help." Granny Smith smiled with the warmth only the elderly could pull off. "Were you needin' a few pointers on how to buck all them trees?"
Shaking her head meekly Lithe gestured to the barn, the front of which was open to reveal that all the apples were in baskets and placed inside.
Granny Smith's features lit up suddenly at the sight.
"I'll be darned, you done and bucked all those apples already. You have yourself a special gift there little missy. Not every pony under the sun can even do half of that in the time you have. Well, if you're done then there's not much else that you can do. Why don't you come on inside and I'll cook you up something nice for your hard work for lunch?"
Lithe assented and began moving inside, slowly warming to the general accepting attitude of the elderly mare. So far it was a good day.