//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Sleeping Skeletons and New Beginnings // Story: My Life as a Hybrid // by ChaosDoomscythe //------------------------------// My Life as a Hybrid By ChaosDoomscythe/Doomscythe01 Edited by: Zaleros Chapter 1: Sleeping Skeletons and New Beginnings So, about five minutes ago I was huddling in a corner scared out of my frickin’ mind. Now, I’m not one to be scared easily. In my past life, I became a master of scaring people senseless. Their reactions were funny as heck. Here’s an example of me scaring someone. They’d be busy doing something of importance, just minding their own business and completely unsuspecting. I’d just walk up behind them, completely silent, mind you. I’d just stand there, waiting for them to get done so they could turn around. Now, here’s where it gets funny. I was 6’2”, weighing in at around 210-230 lbs. My footsteps were ridiculously heavy, and I had rather broad shoulders. So when a frickin’ giant silently pops up behind you, it makes for a rather good scare. Now, a lot of people would scream out ‘boo’ or some other such nonsense when trying to scare someone, ‘cause that’s the normal thing or most obvious thing to do. But that’s too boring, and no one likes boring. So I take the insanely creepy route. After all, what’s gonna scare someone more: screaming out ‘boo when someone turns around, or you having the creepiest bucking smiley faced grin attached to your face with a twitching eye looking like you’re ready to murder someone? Ima give you a sec to think about that one. Here’s a hint: one of the options often times ends with someone wetting themselves. Of course, that said, often times people see fit to try their hardest to scare me back. And I’m not gonna lie, a food few have managed such a feat. A good few have, indeed. In the end, all that did was train my nerves not to freak out at every little unexpected thing. It had trained me to just go with the flow. Eventually, people were unable to scare me much after that. Then again, I don’t think talking skeletons count as people. It also goes without saying that the dreaded Pinkius Piecus also does not count as people. So yeah, Bones.Totally scared the ever-living shit out of me. And I am not afraid to admit that I totally let out a less than manly scream. Honestly, you’d think that someone screaming – excuse me – shrieking at the top of their lungs would alter the guard to my distress. No such luck, I’m afraid. Pretty sure it’s ‘cause they didn’t want to get anywhere near the horrible stank in the room coming from The Pit of There-Is-No-Word-Worse-Than-Death. But yeah, I had just been minding my own business, reminiscing about my life so far here in Equestria when I heard somepony say ‘Who are you?’ It had quickly been followed by a very high pitched ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, HOLY BUCK! WHAT THE HAY?!’ I had scrambled to the nearest corner to get away from whatever horrid abomination suddenly appeared in my cell. Well, it wasn’t rally a horrid abomination, and it hadn’t just suddenly appeared, it was already there. Oh, and Bones made it painfully clear that he does not like to be called abomination, if the growing bruise on my head is of any proof. After recovering from my fright, I cautiously approached Bones and examined him. His skeleton was sitting in an upright position like a regular pony sits, but his eyes sockets had piercing red lights in the middle of each one. Gave him a really creepy appearance honestly, but having the grim reaper as a role model means that skeletons with glowing eyes don’t creep you out that much. I had asked him what he had been doing, and his response to me was ‘sleeping’. How do undead skeletons sleep? I figured I’d try to figure that one out myself. After several moments of complete silence between the two of us, I sat down several feet in front of him and the two of us just stared at each other. So here we are now, just staring at each other. And staring. Annnnnnd Staring. …………..Still staring. …………………………………. ……………………………………………….. …………………………………………………….Buck it, I’m far too impatient for this. “So…… Bones,” I began, “What’s, uh…..what’s your story?” Bones tilted his head to the left, in what I suppose is a gesture of confusion or curiosity. “Bones?” Both then, along with a little irritation. “Well, when I first got here a few days ago, I figured you’d just be, you know, a pile of bones. And I get bored easily, so I thought, ‘Why not make a friend here with this dead pony skeleton? He’ll need a name. Something unoriginal but catchy…. Oh! I know! Ima call you bones!’ And that’s how that worked out.” I swear, if bones had brows or eyelids, he would’ve given me a deadpan stare. I swear I could feel it. “What? I tend to do stupid things when I’m suffering from a combination of loneliness and boredom.” “You’re just lucky I’ve long since forgotten my real name. Otherwise, I’d probably hit you again.” Bones began looking around, having seemingly lost interest in me. I, however, had not lost interest in him, and proceeded to quell the tempest of my curiosity. “So, Bones. How’d you end up as a bag of bones?” He turned back to me, and I swear I could feel that deadpan stare again. I guess being able to feel the kind of stare he’s giving makes up for the lack of brows and eyelids. I’m also fairly certain he wanted to hit me again. Instead of responding to me, he simply pointed towards the aforementioned pit in the ground. Message received: death by stank. “Okay, so, how’d you end up as….well…..this?” His eyes flashed, which I’m guessing means he blinked, maybe? Meh, I’ll make a note of it and see if he does it again later. Anyway, he looked down at himself and then back at me and shrugged his shoulder bones. “Honestly, I don’t know. One moment I’m dead, the next I’m awake. Freaked me out when I figured out I was-“ “A pile of Bones?” I interrupted with a cheeky smile. BOINK “I totally deserved that.” I rubbed the spot of what I was expecting to be another bruise on my head. “Indeed.But, yeah. That.” He looked down at himself, and I could feel a sort of melancholy and sadness coming from him. Huh. I can still feel his emotions. I guess even the undead can feel. Good to know, I may have just gained a traveling companion. Provided we ever get out of here, that is. Speaking of which… “Bones?” “If you ask or say something stupid I swear I will knock you the buck out.” “Touchy, touchy! But no, I actually wanted to ask… why are you still here?” I sensed confusion from him. “What do you mean?” “I mean, why are you still here? Why haven’t you called for help? Or why haven’t the guards come to clean out your bon-“ I felt the glare he sent my way. “…..skeleton?” The glare receded…but only slightly. I could tell it wasn’t directed at me though.“I did. I called for help a bunch of times. The guards never came. I guess they thought I was a ghost or something. Possibly a vengeful spirit of some sort. That, or They were too afraid to get anywhere near this particular cell.” “I’d believe that.” I then gave him a curious look.“What’d you end up here for, anyhow? You don’t seem all that bad a… skeleton pony to me.” Oh, how I wanted to say bag of Bones right there! Bones looked down, and I could taste the sadness radiating off of him. “If it’s all the same to you… I’d rather not talk about it.” I’m not one to pry into personal matters, especially if they cause emotional turmoil. I’ve learned over the course of my life that some things are better left unsaid… and some things are better left not knowing. “I understand. I won’t ask if it’s too painful. However, on a lighter note, you may have your shot at freedom pretty soon. I’m supposed to be tried.” The amount of surprise on his face was plainly visible; despite the fact he had no face. “You’re going on trial? For what? What did you do to get locked up?” A thought seemed to cross his mind. “And why aren’t you dead from the fumes?” And then he seemed to finally notice my unique features. “And what kind of a pony are you?” I chuckled a little. “Well Bones, for one, I’m not all pony. I’m only about one fourth pony. And, in order to really understand what I am and why I’m here, you need to understand everything about me from the day I was born. Care to listen to a very long-winded story?” He shrugged again. “Not like I have much of anything else to do with my time.” “Hmm. Good point. Well… My tale goes like this...” ~~~~~~~Time of Flashback~~~~~~~ ‘………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………….’ That had essentially been my thought process for about ten minutes once I had figured out exactly where I was, and what I was. Not so much in terms of the fact I was a completely different species. Let’s face it, with the amount of HiEfics out there, it’s really not a surprise to discover I’ve been transformed into a different creature. Oh, yeah, I was an avid fan of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic TV show, and I’ve seen my way around quite a few fics. Reading was a favorite past time of mine, so I would often spend hours a day just reading anything I found interesting. Once I discovered MLP:FIM, and subsequently became a fan, I figured I’d go read the fictions If I ever got bored. Since then, I had been reading a lot of fics about the show, including the occasional ‘Human gets stranded in equestrian and is turned into *species*' stuff. So, being transformed into some kinda hybrid… Not really a problem for me. But being sent to, or rather, born into Equestria as a baby? A foal? That effectively shut me the fuck up, and probably short circuited my brain. Pretty sure the little mice that run on the gears up there may have had a stroke or something. Once the Doctor and my new parents snapped out of their ‘Oh-my-Celestia-that-foal-can-talk’ induced shock, they quickly snapped to attention, rushing in to put out the fire I started and check on me while several nurse ponies came in to calm down all of the foals I disturbed. Once the fire was put out, and the foals successfully laid down to rest, everypony crowded around my crib where they discovered something else that rather surprised them. Though the fire burned brightly, and had nearly consumed the entire crib, once they put it out, they saw that the crib itself was completely undamaged. After the doctor scanned the crib itself, he came to the conclusion that my fire had magic infused into it, and the flames themselves react to my will. The unicorn surmised that the reason the crib hadn’t burned to ash was because it had been an accidental burst of flames, and I hadn’t actually wanted to burn anything, so the fire didn’t. Once they figured that out, they tried to get my attention, but they didn’t know how. Everything they had tried had failed, My mind had been completely unable to recover from the complete void it had been thrust into. In the end, one of the nurses - I believe her name was Heartfelt – decided to do something that I will never forget. She started making silly faces and speaking to me in baby talk. Ironically, THAT’S what snapped me out of it. Once my mind figured out what she was doing, I was filled with rage. It was bad enough I had become a foal, I did NOT need someone patronizing me about it. As my face adopted a deadpan, I slowly turned my head towards the nurse, and my father gasped, but at the time I didn’t realize why. When the other’s heard his gasp, they looked at him, then back at me before their mouths opened in shock as well. The only pony who didn’t notice was Nurse Heartfelt, who continued making baby noises at me… up until she saw me looking right at her with all my fury. I’m pretty sure I felt a vein bulge on my forehead. I knew I was going to hate the sound of my voice, but I opened my mouth anyway. “Wha iz yur naim?” Oh my god, I wanted to strangle whoever did this to me. I’m starting to think death would’ve been better than having to hear my own voice. She stopped making silly faces when she heard me, and instantly responded, though I could tell she wanted to squeal and how undoubtedly cute I probably looked glaring at her. “N-nurse Heartfelt...” She was shaking with excitement, and I could tell she wanted to squeal. I was not amused. “My, my! You’re a smart little…um…pony, aren’t you little guy?” My father narrowed his eyes at me, and whispered under his breath, “A little too smart if you ask me…” Both my mother and I heard him at the time, and my ear did nothing but give a slight twitch in his direction. My mother, however, saw fit to nudge him with her hoof in admonishment. He ignored her completely, and just kept staring at me, as did the nurse, who actually let out a tiny squeal at how cute the glare I was giving her looked. I was definitely not amused, and I made sure she knew that. “I wuld run if I wur you.” Everypony blinked at what I had just said. Following that, all except my father, my mother and the still oblivious Heartfelt backed away. She, however, blinked again in confusion after she processed what I said, but still kept smiling at me. That aggravated me more. “And why would I do that, you little cutie?” I felt another vein bulge out. Strike two. “’Cause if you don, I’m gona set you on fiya.” She didn’t take me seriously. No, instead she did something that she almost regretted. She giggled. “No you won’t; I’m sure such a cute, smart foal like you wouldn’t do something so mean.” She was still smiling. Now, when she called me cute for the second time, that had almost made me blow my lid, but she turned around and complimented me by calling me smart. I could’ve dealt with that. But then she turned back around and called me a foal. A baby. And to make matters worse, she was still smiling. I felt something within me change. My Father must have noticed it, or maybe something else, because he gasped again, and took a step back, but then started moving towards me. But I didn’t pay much attention to that. Instead, I paid attention to the third, and slightly painful, vein that just bulged out of my forehead. That was strike three. Burn. I opened my mouth and sucked in as much air as my tiny lungs could handle, and right before I was about to let loose a torrent of flame, a silver dragon claw clamped down on my mouth. Everypony backed up when they saw a torrent of black, green and red flames that suddenly flew pout from my dad’s palm and back into my own face. I could feel the heat it was giving off, but it didn’t hurt me in the slightest. As the flames quickly died down, so did my rage and anger. When they were gone, I realized what had happened, and started struggling to get my dad’s hand off my face. His response was to poke me in a certain spot on the back of my neck. Immediately, I felt strange, and before long, my vision began to darken. He removed his claw from my face, but I lunged forward, stumbling, grabbing on to it for stability. I was losing consciousness fast. “Wah… Wah’d you do ta me? Wah…I….uuuuugh……” Blackness consumed my vision. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I felt myself moving in a slight up and down motion. I felt groggy, like I had been asleep for days. I could hear voices, but they were fading in and out, and it was kinda hard to make them out, but eventually, I could understand it. ".....can't believe he......kicked out......" "Not his faul.......Nurse hadn't done........" "....ot his fault? We didn't.....don't believe....Starting to think....….ancient lore……red and black…..” “Just because he……mean he’ll…….” “Shade you saw….. would’ve burned her alive if I hadn’t stopped him! And his eyes! How do you explain that?” “Platinum Blaze, I understand he is strange, that was to be expected when we found out I was pregnant, but I don’t want you claiming that my son is a part of some kind of prophecy from some story you dragons pass around a campfire!” “In case you haven’t noticed, Silent Shade, dragons aren’t exactly on friendly terms with each other. The only time we get anywhere near each other is during the migration, and that’s not for another 20 years. My father told me of that story, and he hasnever lied to me before in my life! “As for our son, I don’t want him to be a part of any prophecy either, but you cannot deny what you saw with your own eyes! He’s intelligent! Far more intelligent than he should be! And his eyes! They don’t just change color like that, especially when he didn’t even use changeling magic to do so!” “And how do you know he didn’t use-“ “Don’t give me that! You are far more in tune with magic than I am, and even I could tell he didn’t use any kind of magic when it happened, so I know you felt nothing!” “………….” What are they…? Are they talking about me? I slowly opened my eyes, still feeling a little groggy. I began to take in my surroundings. We were in a forest of some kind, and though it was pitch black outside, I could still see everything perfectly. I was strapped into what I guessed was a saddle for foals. Pretty sure if I was fully conscious at that point I would’ve felt some kind of swell of anger at that thought. I looked up, and saw the hide of a silver dragon walking next to me. Even in the darkness, his scales still shimmered brightly. He looked just as majestic and ferocious as any dragon would (except Baby Dragon. I hate Baby Dragon). His wings were currently folded at his side, but I could tell they’d reach an impressive wingspan if he unfolded them. His spines were sharp and lethal looking, and just as silver as the rest of him. I felt like I could lose my eyes just by looking at their edges, that’s how sharp they were. He had four horns sticking out of the back of his head, and he had these vibrant ruby red eyes that looked like there was a fire shining within them. What I found rather strange was the fact that he was only about 6 inches taller than my mom when on all fours. Shouldn’t he be taller? So… That’s what my new dad looks like, huh? Platinum Blaze... A very fitting name for him. Then again, so are most all of the names for the creatures in Equestria. It’s like they know what they’re gonna be like before they grow up. How? Well, I really don’t care, and I’d rather not break this universe trying to find out. Sides, it’s pretty obvious that this universe already has or will have a reality breaker, no need to try my hand at it. Plus, I already know the universe likes to buck with people here so… Did I just think the word ‘buck’ in place of ‘fuck’? Well hell, looks like I’m already adapting here. Gonna have to try to keep track of that so I know when I’ve fully adapted to this world. Well, now that I’ve seen dad up in detain, let’s see what mommy dearest look like? I turned my head to the left to face my mom, and she actually surprised me with how she looked. She wasn’t adapting any pony persona, so I was seeing what she looked like in her changeling form. She was black, and had the holes in her hooves, as well as fangs like a normal changeling, but that’s about where the similarities ended. She had a slicked back silver mane and tail with black streaks going through it instead of the fin-like things on the back of their heads and the stubby tails. Her wings were shaped like a pony’s wings, but were still made up of membrane like a changelings were, and overall, it gave her a dark and mysterious look. But what really stuck out to me were two specific things. The first thing was the green chitin plating over her midsection, and the second were her eyes. The looked almost exactly like the eyes of Queen Chrysalis, with the exception that there was a slight red overtone to them. The first thought that went through my mind when I saw this? No. No no no. HELL NO! Please, for the love of god. Someone PLEASE tell me I’m not related to Chrysalis! After I recovered from that rather shocking piece of information (as well as my quick 5 second panic…..okay maybe it was a four minute panic), I noticed something about her. She didn’t have a horn on her head. But I remember seeing her as a Pegasus with visible changeling traits, like her fangs and eyes back at the hospital. But she looked completely different now. Can she use magic without a horn? Can I? I vowed to figure that out as soon as I physically could. I could see how my mom got the name Silent Shade. I couldn’t hear any of her hoof steps. She was as silent as the night. While I was stuck in my musings, I had failed to notice that she had stopped moving and was looking directly at me with concern, curiosity, fear, and trepidation on her face. My father, who had walked several feet ahead, somehow noticed my mom had stopped and he turned to look at us. When he saw me, the look on his face… To this day I can’t tell what it was that I saw there. But the look had quickly vanished as he turned around and approached us. He sat next to my mom and the two just stared at me as I stared back. The silence was deafening. The entire forest around us had gone silent as well, as if the nocturnal creatures were waiting for someone to speak first. I was far too impatient and curious to let the silence continue. “Furst aff, dad? Don you eber poke me der again. Dat sucked. Secund, I wanna know wha you were talkin ‘bout. I only heard bits ‘nd peicez, but it soundz lahk I’m a paht ub some pwophesy? And lastly, I HATE MAI BOICE!!!” Silence. Complete and utter silence was my response, and honestly, I don’t blame them. I couldn’t if I wanted to. We’ve all kinda been thrust into a situation that none of us were prepared for, but seeing as I had no choice in the matter, I was determined to make the best of it. I was gonna start by getting some answers. I watched as my mom’s eyes lit up with magical power, and felt myself being levitated out of the saddle bag and set down in front of her (okay, so she can use magic without a horn. Sweet! Now I gotta see if I can... just as soon as I figure out if I can even use magic.) Mom and dad looked right at me, neither of them saying anything. I saw one of my mom’s eyes start glowing again, but this time, one of dad’s eyes started flowing too. Didn’t take me more than five seconds to figure out what they were doing... which, I admittedly still found awesome. “Hey! No tewepathy! Tawk ta me! I deserb ta know! Tew me! Tew me ‘nd I’ll exprain my stowie ta you!” Their eyes stopped glowing as they turned towards me again. My mom looked genuinely surprised that I knew what she was using, but dad just narrowed his eyes at me. I continued on unabated. “Wook, I know tings seem stwange, but you godda bewiebe me! You godda gibe me a chance to tew my side… pweeeeeaaaaase…?” And for the first time, I decided to use my new found powers to their fullest potential, and I gave them what I hope was the most adorably…cute… puppy dog eyes I could muster. Which was basically me widening my eyes as I possibly could (pretty sure I nearly felt them pop out of their sockets) and sticking out my bottom lip while holding my hooves together. Honestly, I have no idea if it worked or not, and knowing my luck it probably didn’t, but it got me results. My mom and dad shared a look, nodded, and once again turned towards me. Dad spoke up. “Fine. We’ll tell you, but you tell us first. But not…not now. We’ll wait until tomorrow for this. Right now, I think we could all use some sleep.“ Mom was about to say something, probably to agree with dad, but I beat her to the punch. “You may be tired, but I feew wike a miwwion… uhh… bits! Besides, we can awways tawk on da way home, right? Not onwy dat, but I-“ My words were cut off as a look of horror slowly spread across my face. Dad looked at me curiously, while mom began looking very concerned. She could probably feel the level of panic I was giving off. What was the reason for my sudden panic, you may ask? Well... Let’s just say that just like most new born babies and foals… …we lack control of our bowels. Well, isn’t this just shitty.