Chapter 2
Perspective change: Orion
"AHHHH!!!" I yelled as I landed back to the ground. I fell to my knees then curled into a ball on my side and cradled my head. The pain was so bad that I had to fight to keep my consciousness. I began to black out, but managed to stay awake by holding as still as I possibly could. I felt like I was having at least 6 aneurysms at once so I just did the only thing I could. Breath slow and rest.
You see, I did mention that if I used my abilities in my human form, I would end up with a chronic headache, and possibly black out. Good thing I didn't black out this time, I was however very exhausted now and needed sleep, but I was exposed here on the ground. I would have to find a safe place to camp before anything else. Then after I wake up, I will need to find some food and water, water being the bigger priority.
With my plan set, I tried to push myself up up the ground. I got up into a sitting position when I heard someone groaning a few feet away. Still cradling my head, I turned to see who it was, and I had a hard time believing my eyes when I did.
Sitting a few feet away from me was that same tan pony from before. 'How!' I shouted I'm my mind. 'The only way she could be here too is if she made contact with me before I ported.'
I tried to carefully stand up and almost blacked out again from the rushed movement, but I managed to hold my ground. The pony hadn't noticed me yet. She was still groaning on the ground.
I began to slowly back away from her and got behind a tree. I was about to turn away from this pony and bail as fast as I could, but a sudden scream from her made me look back and I saw a pool of blood beginning to grow underneath her. "AHHHHHHH!!!" She screamed again as she rolled onto her back and that's when I saw her injury.
She had a rather large stick sticking out of her left side, just above her hip. I looked away to the horizon then back to her again. Could I really leave her here to bleed out?
NO!
I got behind the tree and took my shirt off before I began to transform into my hybrid form. 'Ok, so right leg first' I told myself as I began to concentrate on that area.
*CRACK* *SNAP* *CRUNCH*
I hissed in pain as the change applied itself. It wasn't as bad as it used to be, but it still did hurt. After my leg changed, I concentrated on each other individual body limb and made them change before transforming my torso, which made my wings and tail grow. I that finally began to transform my head. This bit always hurt the most.
I grabbed my tail and squeezed it to try and compensate for the pain. You see, when my head transforms, my facial structure has to brake down and be re-constructed before the horns grow and the scales push their way through the skin. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to think through my pain.
And as quickly as it came, the pain receded as the transformation was complete. I looked myself over to see if I had missed anything but was glad to see I didn't.
I then closed my eyes and concentrated, making sure I still had control. When I was still learning to harness my Hybrid form, I found out the hard way that if I transform too quickly. I would loose control. And trust me when I say 'That is a very bad thing.'
Happy that I had transformed successfully, I looked back over to the pony. Only, she was unconscious and my smile dropped instantly.
I jumped over to her, rolled her on her side so the stick was pointing up and inspected her injury. From as far as I can tell, there was at least 3 inches of the stick imbedded in her stomach. I had an idea. An incredibly stupid idea, but it just might save her life, and being in my Hybrid state would make it possible.
I put my left claw on her stomach near the stick and grasped said stick with my right. I then yanked the stick out quickly, yet ever so carefully and her blood spurted everywhere.
I had to hurry. I put my right claw on the wound and my left claw on top of my right. I then began to focus my telekinesis to manipulate my biological healing to her temporarily and her wound began to heal extremely fast.
She would remain asleep from the trauma for now, but she would be fine. I removed my claws from her body and saw that she didn't even have a scar.
Now I needed to find a place to camp. Same plan as last time but this time I did not have a knife in the back of my skull feeling. I love how pain disappeared in this form due to its resilience. It took a hell of a lot to cause it pain. I began to walk away only to remember something.
'That pony. I cant leave her here asleep' I thought to myself. I looked around the surrounding area. 'God only knows what's in here and what would happen if I did. What the hell should I do?'
Sighing because I already know the answer, I put my shirt in my pocket before I walked back to the pony and picked her up in my arms. I then began to walk in a northern direction using the sun to show me which was is west.
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'This place is weird' I said to myself. The forest I was in was dark. But at the same time, it was bright. What I mean is this place has brighter colors than it should.
It was getting dark now anyway, so I was going to have to find a place to camp soon. I was looking around as I was walking, being mindful of the pony on my back. I was carrying her in a piggy back like fashion and her head was resting on my shoulder. It was beginning to get colder and the pony had snuggled up to my back subconsciously.
I had been walking for at minimum, 1 hour, at least. and finally, finally I had found a place to camp. It wasn't a cave per say, more of just a concave dent in the wall of a small hill. It wasn't much, but it would be enough shelter for the night. I walked over to the dent in the wall and lay the pony down inside, using my shirt as a pillow for her.
Next thing we would need is a fire. I turned and walked back into the trees to get some firewood and I soon got back with a large pile of wood. When I did bet back however, I realized I had a problem.
How do I light a fire? I'm not dumb, but I don't have a lighter, am not good at the stupid stick rubbing crap, I got no stones that I can cause a spark with, I'm not going to waste any bullets from the pistol I have to do it and I couldn't think of any other way.
'Wait, what if I used my telekinesis to make the atoms of a space vibrate faster' I though to myself. I looked back to the small unlit campfire I had made in a fire pit. I raised my claw to the logs and created a small force field around it to be safe of the effects of making atoms vibrate. I had never done this before and I just wanted to be safe.
I tried to envision the atoms vibrating faster only for nothing to happen. I kept trying to do this for a few minutes only for a wasted effort.
"Fucking piece of shit!" I yelled, slamming my fist into the logs. Next thing I know there is a small blaze burning.
...
"Wha... bu...ha..." I tried to say but I couldn't form the words properly. I felt my eye twitch in anger.
I looked to the pony that was still sleeping a few feet away from me and I felt my anger disappear slowly as I finally took in her appearance properly for the first time.
I already said that she had a tan colored coat and wings, and I saw her dark pink eyes when I had the machete to her neck. I looked at her mane and saw that it was streaked in different shades of... well shades. Ya know, black, grey and white, all in different tones. Her tail also had the same pattern. What really caught my attention was the tattoo on her hind leg. I don't know what it means, but the gold cross reminded my for a map I once saw. It was the cross that pointed the directions of north, east, south and west.
I sat down against the wall opposite the pony, before pulling the pistol and mag out of my pocket and placed them on the ground next to me. I then looked out into the forest and tried to go to sleep. It wasn't easy with my mind being plagued but the turn of events that had happened to me recently. But I did eventually lay down and pass off into the land of dreams.
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I awoke with a start as the sun came over the horizon and shone on my eyelids. I looked around and saw that I was still in the cave. The memories came back and my eyes shot over to where I placed the pony. She wasn't there.
"Hu... what ever" I said out aloud. I looked back to myself and saw that, as usual, I was human again. That always happened when I want to sleep. Something about muscle relaxation or something. I still don't know why reverting back dosn't hurt either as much either.
I stood up and streached myself out before I realized that I was shirtless. I looked back to where I left the pony to see if my shirt was still there, only to see that it wasn't. 'Fucking pony stole my shirt' I yelled to myself.
Looking to the ground next to me, I saw that the pistol was still there (thank christ for that). I always liked these steyr m9-a1 pistols for their trapazoid iornsights. I had never fired one before, but I did like to think that I knew a bit about weapons. My favourite weapon overall would have to be the chain blade whip, or daggertail for short. The wound's that weapon could create were devastating and it could be used as an excellent stealth weapon if used correctly. Problem was that it could easily get caught on something leaving the user exposed.
Anyway. I picked up the pistol and turned it over in my hands. It was a nice weapon system to say the least and it felt comfortable in my hands. The problem was that I only had 5 rounds. If I have to use them, I have to make them count.
Another problem was that I needed a holster to hold it. But based on the heavy armour and spears those ponies using yesterday, I seriously doubt that they had any sort of firearms let alone holsters. So I was going to have to make my own eventually, but for now, my pocket was going to have to do.
I got up and pocketed the weapon and looked around. I heard my stomach rumble loudly and looked down frowning.
"To bad if I was trying to hide. I mean I know your hungry, but do you have to be so loud about it?" I asked my stomach thinking nobody could hear me. And again, I was wrong.
"Well, I would have to say that you wouldn't have remained hidden for very long, that's for sure."
I tensed when I heard the voice. I quickly spun to my left and say the tan pony standing there, looking at me frowning. She didn't move, just looked at me.
I began to get anxious from the staring. Those dark pink eyes looking at me with wonder as her mouth signaled that she wasn't happy about something.
"Will you stop staring at me!" I shouted. I didn't mean to. I was just getting antsy. She stepped back and her frown deepened.
"What the hay are you? And how can you talk?" She asked me.
I looked back to her and smiled. "Do you really want to know?" I asked
"Yes. And while your at it, tell me why I shouldn't buck you back to your own time?" She yelled.
"Ok. For starters, I'm a human, sort of. And I have no idea where on when I am. That said, I gota ask. Is this how you treat all of the people that save your life?"
"Save my life?" She asked tilting to the side. "What do you mean save my life?"
"Well perhaps you remember the pain of a stick sticking out of your side and passing out soon after" I said, my smirk growing.
Next thing I know, her pupal's expanded beyond any natural size pushing most of the dark pink into he eye sockets.
Her head the quickly spun around to the side to the left to inspect her injury only to see that it wasn't there. She then slowly looked at me but I just turned and looked back into the forest.
"Why?" She asked. I turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. "Why did you do it? You could have just left me to die."
"Listen miss. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have eased up when I had that machete to your neck" I said and she shied away.
"And why did you do that. It could have been so easy for you to..." before she could continue, I cut her off.
"Now hold up. Do you take me for just a dumb animal that would kill you as soon as you look at me? Because you are wrong. I do have morals and I don't kill for the fun of it" I said in a rather angry tone.
She didn't respond. But I could see that I was in her eyes.
I began to walk past her, but I noticed my shirt under her wing. So I snached it and only to have a pile of fruit fall fall out from it. I looked at the fruit then back to the pony.
"I guess now is as good as any time to say it. So... thanks. Thanks for not letting me die. If you want, I guess you can have some of this fruit" said the pony.
"Well your welcome" I said picking up an two apples and began eating them. She to grabbed a piece of fruit and began eating it. Thinking now would be the best time, I decided to ask some questions of my own. "Hey. What's your name?"
She looked at me confused for a moment before answering. "I'm Daring Do. Famous archaeologist and explorer."
"Well Daring. My name is Orion and I have another question. What are you? I know you resemble a pony, but from what I remember, ponys never had horns or wings" I said.
"Well I'm a pegasus pony. And the ones with horns are called unicorns" she explained. " I can't believe that you know what ponies are, being over 17 million year old and all."
Wait... WHAT!!! I started to choke on a piece of apple and repeatedly slammed my chest with my fist to try and cough up the offending object. I eventually managed to remove it from my windpipe before suffocating and began breathing in beautiful oxygen.
"17 million years! How the hell have I been frozen for 17 million years! Why was I not woken up earlier by other humans! Speaking of which, WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY!!!" I shouted as loud as I could.
"Whoa, calm down now. We don't need you to attract every predator in this place. Just calm down" Daring said trying to get me to stop yelling.
"Daring. Do you know anything about humans? Anything at all?" I asked. I needed to know if they were still here somewhere.
"Sorry. Nothing. There aren't any so called... hu-mans anywhere. The oldest recorded find were pony remains and they are just over 2 million years old and you predate them by a lot. You kind must have died out long before that." She explained.
The first question to come to my head was 'What happened to them?' But it was quickly replaced by 'Do I even want to know?'. I got up and began to walk away. I needed time to think. But before I left. I took of my shirt, took my boots off and dropped my pants infront of Daring, and proceded to transform into my hybrid's quadruped form. Even if it hurt considerably more.
You should have seen the look on Daring Do's face as I did so.
Fuckin priceless.
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I was jogging however quadrupeds jog ( I know its trotting for horses, but I don't know the right word for how a lion or tiger would jog. Considering my bone structure is equivalent to that. Just with a different head shape, horns and a dragon tail) through an open field, trying to clear my mind. I had my belongings tied around my body by my belt.
I could hear Daring running to keep up. She had to run to keep up because I was double her size. I still don't know why she didn't just fly, she had wings after all.
She was calling out to me, telling me to stop. But I didn't listen. I started to increase my speed to a run, and eventually to a sprint. I knew Daring wouldn't be able to keep up while she was on the ground. Last time I tested this form, I was able to reach a total of 104 mph at maximum running speed.
I was sprinting fast. Feeling my blood pumping and hearing each beat of my paws as they made contact with the ground. I always had fun sprinting in my quadruped hybrid form. But I had to stop. I was nearing the edge of the field and back into the forest.
As I skidded to a halt, Daring overshot me and crashed into a tree. I cringed but she got up and stumbled back to me.
"That looked painful. Are you alright?" I asked as she sat down infront of me, rubbing her head.
"Holy hay you can move fast. But why are you a dragon now? Can all humans do that?" She asked.
"Uh... no. I'm am, or was the only human that could do it. What you see now is one of my two hybrid forms. Quadrupedal and bipedal. So now that's out of the way. Ima get going" I said walking past her.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" She yelled to me while catching up.
"I dunno. Might just keep walking and see how much this place has changed over the 17 million years while keeping a low profile" I said back. I began to walk away but Daring just kept following me. "Why are you following me?" I asked.
"Because you are the biggest archaeological find of the century, perhaps ever. I'm not going to simply let that get away from me. I'm going to follow you until I am paid for finding you and I plan on being paid by a museum" she said.
"HA HA. So you want me to be in a cage for the rest of my life being stared at by little kids and judging adults until I die just so you can put my body on display. Yeah No" I said before running off back into the bush.
She took flight again and began to chase me down, but I was not using speed this time. I was using great amounts of agility to quickly pass through the trees, narrowly avoiding each one, as I blazed passed them.
"Wait! Stop! At least hear me out!" Daring yelled. But I didn't listen. I just kept running. Until I rolled around a tree to try and lose her. It worked.
She passed me, unaware of my sudden direction change and continued forwards. That is until she flew into a... net?
'Ugh. Here we go again' I thought to myself. I walked over to her laughing. "Now look what you have gotten yourself into."
"Orion! Run! Get out of here!" She urged me in a hushed tone. I tilted my head before turning it to the side and spotting the rope that was holding the net up. I walked over the the rope and cut it with a claw and she landed on the ground with a thud.
"See. No harm done. What were you..." *THWIP* I couldn't even finish what I was saying before my body went numb. I looked down to my hind leg and saw a small dart stuck between my scales. I fell over to the ground and my eyesight started to haze. But I was able to make out Daring run over to me and try to shake me back awake before she was grabbed by some ponies. I couldn't see them properly, but something was off.
I tried to stay awake for as long as I could but it was a losing battle. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.