//------------------------------// // Chapter 3. Through the Woods // Story: A Long Sleep // by SilverEyedWolf //------------------------------// “Five thousand years,” I said again, staring up at a patch of cirrus cloud. The colors seemed brighter than they had before, the sky a deeper blue than it had ever been. “A little under, but yeah. You don’t remember anything about the time passing?” The purple one stood beside me. Twilight. The Scholarly Princess, one of four rulers of a united land called Equestria. My head spun a little, but I ignored it. “No my lady,” I said, ignoring her flush. Apparently no one acknowledged royalty as anything other than ‘Princess’ now, but it felt wrong to call my awakener anything besides Your Highness, which she wouldn’t allow. “I only remember faint dreams, and some of Dovbormah’s memories. Mostly what it is to be a dragon, and how to use certain abilities.” “How to project your… soul?” she asked again, still doubtful. Sighing, I looked at a nearby tree, dead in the heat of the summer. “Yol,” I whispered, concentrating on a certain branch. Instead of that one branch catching, the entire tree burst into whirling flame. We watched it burn for a few minutes, the intense flames quickly turning the tree to ash. When it collapsed, Twilight turned from it to look closely at me. “Is that some other form of lost magic, or is that..?” She looked away for a second. “Dragonfire,” I answered. “I don’t know how I learned it, or how I know how to use it. It just feels like something I’ve always known.” Twilight stared into the mid distance, and I thought she was lost in thought until she whispered to herself something that sounded like “Fire”. I watched the bush she was staring at nervously for a minute before chuckling. “Sorry Princess,” I said, “but I think it’s a Dovah thing.” She nodded ruefully, then looked into my face. “How are you feeling? I should have asked first, but… Anyway, surely you’re feeling at least a little displaced?” I smiled, looking across the plains I’d ran across, only barely similar to the ones I remembered from what was yesterday. “I have always felt displaced. Why should now be any different?” Twilight nodded, understanding showing through. We turned to the entrance as several large thuds alerted us to the other mares joining us. They each had several large bags near or on them, bulging with what could only be gold. I felt a tick take over my eye, and rage slowly built in my chest. Realizing what was happening, I shook my head and grinned. “Now, who said you could have all my stuff?” I teased. The five shared a startled look, then shameful eyes all glanced at the floor. “We’re all sorry Mr. Qilin,” started… Flutershy. “We didn’t mean to take your gold, we kind of just…” I laughed softly and shook my head. “Take no more, please. Call it a finder’s fee. But I think I’ll need gold soon. The cave is nice enough, but I think I’d like somewhere closer to civilization.” “You don’t need gold for that silly!” The one who knocked on my jewel piped up. Pink Posey? Pink… something. “Twilight has Royal pull; she can just get you a house!” Twilight looked uncomfortable, but I quickly waved my claw. “I would much rather buy my own residence, thank you. Although, I wouldn’t know where to go, especially with my current… form. I imagine I would startle quite a few ponies as is.” With a shared look, the group broke into a collective grin. “You know, I hear the house on the corner…” “The stone one?” “Of course darling, no other one would do for a fire-breather.” The gem collector looked me over. “And I think it was even designed for ponies of his… stature.” I looked between them, scaly eyebrow… I reached up and felt my eyebrow, confirming it did indeed crinkle with scales. Gods, but this was strange. Realizing I was standing there feeling up my face for other changes, I dropped my claw and looked sheepishly at the group. “May I assume there is a house I may be able to acquire?” ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** “Are you completely sure that no one will be startled by me?” I asked again as the town popped into sight. “I mean, a dragon-pony twenty-one hands…” “Two-hundred ten centimeters,” Twilight corrected. “A tall dragon-pony wandering into town would have caused chaos and panic in my day,” I finished, ignoring Twilight’s muttering about centimeters. “It will likely cause a small panic,” Rarity said blithely. “They’ll calm down soon enough when they see Twilight with you.” “Hopefully,” Pinkie said joyfully, bouncing along beside Rainbow… Her first name was easy, but I still can’t remember… Dash! She was bouncing alongside Rainbow Dash. Twice as impressive, when you considered all the trees lining the path. I reached back to hitch at the saddlebags, hoping along on one hoof… paw for a second while I adjusted the weighty load. Twilight was a genius, but even with shrinking she couldn’t take the weight away from the horde currently stashed in my bags. It had taken a bit, and a siphon to direct all the coins into the bags as they shrunk, but it had been much quicker than making the eight trips Twilight had estimated we’d need. After we’d cleared the gold the cave had been eerily empty, only the char of the knight left. Rarity was a bit of an earth magic expert, and had made the floor of the cave liquid to bury Dovbormah. I’d used some of the ruby I’d been borne in to inscribe a small epitaph in, just his name and how he died. Apparently the stone was quite valuable, and Rarity had nearly passed out when I’d told her she could have most of it. I’d kept a small stone, half the size of my fist, and tied it around my neck with a cord. As my mind wandered back, it sounded like she was trying again to explain to me what I was giving her. I shook my head at her, smiling. “All the money in the world it may be worth, but all it’d remind me of is my birth. It’s basically a large doorstop to me, you can have it sweetie.” Cocking my head, I looked around the group, then to Applejack. “I think we may near Zecora’s,” she had said, shrugging. “Maybe her magic is messing with yours?” Keeping my mouth shut, I nodded and continued on the path, hitching at the bags again. It was strange, walking through an old forest that hadn’t been here last time I’d passed through. The girls seemed agitated and high-strung the entire time, but I enjoyed walking through the old trees. I could almost feel them breathing, as they took in our breath and exhaled air for us… Dizzy, I sat down suddenly and shook my head, trying to not think about the trees anymore. The girls stopped, picking out their own spots and joining me on the ground. Rarity bothered to spread a cloth that seemed to be for this explicit service, but everyone else ignored the dust of the path. This was the fourth time I’d experienced this kind of vertigo, the first being the moment I’d seen the sky again. Then again when I’d realized that I could feel the earth moving, spinning on two axis tied to each other. That one had almost made me vomit, until I realized that I didn’t have anything to throw up. Then again when I felt the grass breathing, and now another sort of plant life. “What was it this time?” Twilight asked, bemused. She’d been fascinated when I’d revealed that I could feel Equis turning, and that I felt it turning multiple ways. She’d attempted to explain the physics of gravity and how the earth turned around the sun and its poles, but I’d shaken my head. “Not always,” I’d said, memory stuttering. “I think, long ago, the sun merely scorched the earth while it sat, stagnating. The dragons of old… Much bigger than the ones today… pushed…?” I’d lost my train of thought then, and was unable to recover it. Twilight had been extremely interested, and mentioned a couple of spell she used on herself whenever she couldn’t remember something, but I’d hastily declined and staggered to my feet, walking around to get air. She was still obviously interested in everything I had for her, and I had a feeling she always would be. “It was like the grass this time, but all the forest fauna. The trees release much more oxygen, comparatively.” I shook my head gently, almost feeling the vapors of thought clear away. “I’m okay to walk again, whenever you ladies are ready.” We stood up, everyone eager to be home, when there was a tearing noise and my saddlebags fell off of my hips. Looking down, I saw that the top halves of the strap looked ragged, like someone had been sawing at it. “Was that one of Pinkie’s practical jokes you’ve been telling me about?” I asked Twilight, who looked at the just as confused pink mare. Shaking her head, Twilight gently pushed me out of the way and stared at the frayed cloth, examining it almost microscopically. A spark in her eye, she reared up and placed her hooves on my flank, moving my shaggy coat around. Craning my neck, I watched as she moved the fur away from my spine, revealing a row of short spikes. Gingerly she ran a hoof over one of the spines, observing her hoof as blood slowly filled the small cut. Shaking her head, she put some sort of magic covering on her hoof before letting herself fall from my back. “Rarity, can you use your sewing kit to fix his bags? You’ll need to look at his back first, so you can design the bags around… well, around him.” Confused, Rarity walked up to me and eyed my flank. Quickly, I laid down again, and the rest of the group assembled around me once again as Twilight pulled my coat away from my spine again. “Careful,” she said as Rarity reached forward to touch one of the spikes. “They’re incredibly sharp.” “But mine are dull!” Spike pouted, staring back at his own spine. “He’s not even a real dragon, why do his get to be sharp?” I felt a twitching in my shoulders, and I lowered my face until we were eye-level. “I am four thousand years older than you, plus some,” I informed him icily. “Next time you want to point out that I’m not a dragon, do so in our language.” Spike looked away, and I thought it was from shame at first. Then I noticed the lacy ice that covered his scales, and I pulled away. “Sorry,” I gasped, breathing deeply and looking into the woods. “That wasn’t intentional, I swear…” “I know,” he said stiffly, still looking away. The ice was already melting, and it pooled in his eyes as it ran down his forehead. “I think I can fix this,” Rarity broke in nervously. “But, can you please sit still while I measure…?” Nodding, I lowered my head while the seamstress went to work, measuring around and between the spines as I laid there, watching as Twilight walked over to the sulking dragon sitting against a tree. “This may be uncomfortable,” Rarity said, stirring me out of my thoughts, “But can you go lay on the saddlebags? That’ll make it easier…” I stood up and walked over to the bags on the ground, laying between them and lifting the strap over my back with my magic. Looking up, I met two startled glances, and four vaguely surprised faces. Pinkie was in the middle of a long drawn out gasp, and Spike was just looking fairly disgusted. “So, what’s weird now?” I asked wearily, letting the magic out of my horn. “You’re not only using dragon magic, but unicorn as well?” Twilight asked. My nod brought her closer, with her peering at my forehead. “Well, we all thought it was decoration, like with larger dragons. We didn’t think you were a unicorn…” I nodded, smiling. “That’s how I was born, a forest green unicorn.. My coat was a little lighter than it was, now, and the charcoal tinges weren’t here,” I said, motioning to my fetlocks, “but my mane was always pretty dark gray. Never was this shaggy, though.” “Well, you have been out of it awhile,” Rainbow said, shrugging. “I almost always let mine get like that, then chop it all off. If you like, I could help out with yours?” Rarity looked like she was about to say something, clearly scandalized, but I interrupted her with my own declination. “I think I like my mane and tail long, thanks. Although I may get some of my actual coat shortened.” Rarity nodded her acceptance, humming absently to herself as she sewed the strap around the spikes. Rainbow shrugged and floated off towards Twilight, who was now talking to a slightly smiling Spike, joking with him about some growth spurt he’d had. “All done!” Rarity called out, tugging absently on the strap as she tested it. It held under her magic, and she nodded. I stood up and shook my hips slowly, testing the weight. “It’s not as shifting anymore, and it’s definitely more comfortable. Thank you, Rarity.” She smiled and muttered something along the lines of ‘Of course, darling’, but she was more preoccupied with putting her sewing kit in her own saddlebags and making sure everything was straight inside. I left her to it, walking aver to Spike and Twilight. Twilight looked strangely at me, and Spike met my eyes nervously. Slowly, I kneeled and lowered my neck, until we were eye level again, though I was much farther away than the first time. “Spike,” I started, but he held his paw up to me. “Mine first,” he said, embarrassed. “I overreacted, especially when you couldn’t have had anything to do with your condition. I shouldn’t have been jealous, and I’m sorry.” Smiling, I touched my horn to his topmost spike. “I’ll accept your apology, if you’ll accept mine. I was far out of line, and I shouldn’t have reacted in that way. You at least have youth on your side. I have no excuse.” Spike smiled, and gently laid his palm on my forehead. Every nerve tingled and my mind tried to wrench me away from the subservient position, but I held on for a minute before slowly getting to my feet. “Come on then ladies, I think it’s time we were at your homes.” They nodded, and we continued down the forest path.