Chapter 3: A Silent Greeting
The first thing you noticed as you walked through the house was the vast array of different animal-related objects placed around the room. Cat scratchers, bird posts, some beds for dogs, the list went on, and on.
Okaaay, so either I am in the local animal shelter, or this unicorn is a step up from a crazy cat mare. You chuckle quietly to yourself at this thought, trying to imagine the kind unicorn surrounded by cats. The picture in your head was quite amusing to say the least, so amusing in fact that you hadn’t noticed the uneven floorboard in front of you.
Hitting the loose plank with the edge of your hoof you stumble forwards clumsily, just barely catching yourself before hitting the hardwood surface. Looking up you see Twilight taking extra care not to look back at you, but slowing her pace so that she didn’t leave you behind in the unfamiliar room. You see that she is trying very hard to suppress a giggle. With a slight burning in your cheeks, you pick yourself up and continue to follow the purple mare through the living room into the kitchen. ’Well at least she tried to keep my pride intact.’ You thought as the slight heat from your cheeks faded and they returned to their normal hue.
As you continue to make your way to the kitchen you notice that the small purple reptile, Spike, if you recall correctly, was fast asleep on the couch. You hear Twilight give a slight chuckle as she sees him.
“Oh, Spike,” she sighs. “I guess that was a bit too much excitement for you after all.” As you see Spike’s unconscious form you can’t help but laugh at the notion of thinking that this tiny creature was about to somehow attack you. Hearing your laugh Twilight turns her head to look at you with a humorous smile on her face.
“Usually he’s very active,” she says, nodding her head in gesture to Spike sleeping peacefully on the couch. “But I guess high levels of stress, and me freaking out, really takes it out of the little dragon.” At her last remark you pause in your laughter and glance in confusion first at Twilight then at Spike before voicing your question.
“Dragon?” You say cocking your head to one side, “That’s what he is?”
“Why yes of course, silly, what did you think he was?” She giggles while looking at you incredulously.
“Well, it’s just, I thought that,” You stumble over your words as you try to pick the best answer. Preferably one that wouldn’t undermine the little sleeping dragon’s pride. “Aren’t dragons supposed to be all,” you expand your wings for emphasis, “I don’t know, huge?”
Realization crosses Twilight’s face as she sees your meaning “Ooohhh” she starts as she begins to shake her head slowly. “No, no, nonono. Spike here is actually just a baby dragon, which is why he gets so tired so fast! If he was fully grown, or even in his early stages of adolescence for that matter, the little Spike here would actually be much, much bigger. In fact I’m not even sure if he would be able to fit in the cottage,” she exclaimed with a smile, seeming to understand your confusion.
“Oh! Well then how did you come across Spike exactly? If you don’t mind my asking, that is?” The last part of your sentence was a bit rushed, as if you are worried of causing unintentional offense. As is her nature Twilight gives another giggle at your rushed response, which, despite yourself, you cant help but notice how cute it makes her appear. Once again you feel a heat rise to your cheeks as you listen intently to what the mare in front of you has to say.
“Oh of course I mind! How could you ever ask such a thing?” She replies with a heavy hint of playful sarcasm, “Well I came across Spike during an entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The point of the exam was for me to hatch the egg that Spike was in at the time, and since dragons as a species have a very high resistance to magic themselves it would have required a very large amount of arcane energies to even crack the egg slightly. But then all of a sudden during the exam there was a very loud bang!” She clops her hoof down in front of herself for emphasis, “and a very bright rainbow flashed across the sky. And it just so happens it was one of my good friends, Rainbow Dash, who had just performed her very first Sonic Rainboom.”
You are confused by this, and it must show on your face. Twilight continues with an apologetic look on her face. “Which I cannot explain truthfully. Rainbow is much more knowledgeable on the subject than I am.” She adds sheepishly, “But, anyway, after the Rainboom occurred I felt a massive pressure being released from my chest, and a feeling much akin to being dunked in a tank of ice water. Then all of a sudden my horn began to glow from a dark purple to a bright white, and a surge of power unlike any I had felt before washed over the small egg in front of me,” Twilight exclaimed, obviously becoming lost in her reverie. “And then when the bright spots on my vision had faded there was Spike, as cute a baby dragon as ever, sucking on his tail. But don’t tell him that I told you that last part, I wouldn’t want him to be embarrassed” she adds with a conspiratorial wink.
“So wait,” you begin trying to understand, “to him, Spike, I mean, you’re like a mother figure of sorts?” Immediately you can see this was not the case at all, as it is Twilight’s turn to be embarrassed. She looks away quickly with cheeks darkening by the second.
“Oh! Er..no…well,” she begins as if unsure how to respond to your remark. Realizing your mistake you start to apologize.
“Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t know that-” you begin.
“No, no, it’s quite alright, it’s my fault I didn’t-” Twilight stammers.
“Well it just seemed that-”
“Spike’s my friend, and that’s… um-”
“Well, yes, now that I think about it I don’t know how I saw that.”
“Wait, what?” Twilight looked quite confused at what you had just said.
“Not that I don’t think you could be a mother! Of..welll..uh…” You trail off and look to the side, very much aware that Twilight is doing the same. You are also very much aware of the burning heat of your face as you keep from making eye contact with one another. Very faintly you hear a slight grunt of annoyance from the couch.
“Ugh” mumbled the now awake Spike. “Twilight, if you don’t let me sleep in peace I’ll tell him just what you think abou- mmmf mm mfffmm.” Spike never got to tell you what it was that the unicorn had an opinion about, as at that moment the blanket that had been draped over the baby dragon had flown into his open mouth, efficiently gagging him, and preventing him from finishing his sentence.
As the aura around Twilight’s horn faded away it seemed almost as if the glow from it had stayed on her face, as she quickly spun around and began to trot away. She spoke quickly, mirroring her embarrassment. “Why don’t we go meet Fluttershy? I think she’s in the kitchen, this way!” She quickly turned the corner, and entered the next room. You give an apologetic look to Spike, who had just managed to remove his impromptu gag. Spike just grumbled, before flipping over on his other side as you trot off around the corner Twilight had just rounded, to find where she went off to.
*****
As you walked into the kitchen you see a very brightly coloured toucan sitting upon the fridge in the far corner of the room. However as soon as you open your mouth to ask about it, you walk straight into a yellow pegasus, causing her to drop the cookbook she was carrying. “Oh! I’m so sorry,” you stammer quickly. “Are you alright?” Without a word the yellow pegasus simply nods her head, and looks back down to the ground.
“Um, well what’s your name?” You ask valiantly, trying to start a conversation with the seemingly mute pegasus. “Mine’s...uh...” Your voice drops off as you speak. You suddenly realize just how difficult it was to not have a name. Turning your head sideways, you glance out the window, thinking to yourself about what your name could be when you hear a small sound. It was almost as if the small rabbit in the corner had coughed. “What’s that,” you question as you come back from your thoughts to the small kitchen again.
The yellow pegasus’ eyes darted back up for a split second, fixating on your own, before darting to the side as she mumbled something in the quietest voice you could possibly imagine. The only part of the word you could actually hear was an ‘F’ at the beginning and what sounded like ‘shy’ at the end. Slowly a small inkling of understanding leaked into your confused mind, and with an unsure note in your tone you speak up, “Um... it’s Fluttershy, right?”
Meekly, the yellow mare looked up and nodded before her eyes darted back down and another unintelligible mumble came out of her mouth. You were about to ask what she said, but, before you could do so, a bright purple flash came from outside of the house, quickly followed by a yelp and a splash. Both you and Fluttershy race outside to see the source of the noise, only to see a very disgruntled, and very wet, Twilight Sparkle clambering out of the small creek that ran by Fluttershy’s cottage, muttering darkly under her breath.
“Oh m-my!” You almost jumped as the reclusive yellow mare beside you spoke up with a tone much louder than the inaudible mumbles she had been using before. “Twilight! Are you okay?”
“Oh yes! I’m just fine and dandy!” Twilight blurted this out in a rather huffy voice. When Twilight noticed the reaction in Fluttershy her expression softened drastically. “Oh horseapples, I’m sorry Fluttershy. I didn’t mean to shout. It’s just, ugh, what with unicorn teleportation being prone to emotional distraction etcetera, etcetera, I didn’t think that I would wind up, well soaked.” She finished with a small flick of her tail, shaking some water out.
“Oh, well that’s alright Twilight, I’m sure you had a good reason to be emotionally distracted” Fluttershy said with a small smile. “But, if you don’t mind me asking, what was it that you were distracted from? Oh, but you don’t have to tell me, only if you really want to…”
At this the purple unicorn flushed deeply, and started to shift from hoof to hoof while looking at the various trees to either side of her. “Er, well Fluttershy, um, it was, well that is to say.” You see the slight spark of an idea appear in her eyes. “Well it was about our new friend here! And about what we might, um, do about him to help him and, ah, how he might be feeling and other things…” Twilight trails off, and you ponder the meaning to what she had said, quickly becoming confused at the unicorn’s odd behaviour.
“Well, um, since you’re all wet Twilight, maybe you’d like for me, but only if you want me to, to go get some towels so you could dry yourself off? Oh but only if you want to. If you like being wet that’s fine too…” Fluttershy hesitantly commented, obviously not wanting her friend to stay in discomfort.
Twilight’s features lit up with a warm smile, directed at the yellow mare. “Why thank you Fluttershy! Sure lets go inside, um, are you going to come inside as well?” Twilight added directing the question at you, with what seemed like an eager look in her gaze.
“Um, well not right now” You reply, but upon seeing Twilight’s eager face fall you are quick to correct yourself. “But I will in a bit! Just being inside, I guess, has taken its toll on me. I just need some fresh air, that’s all.” Finishing your explanation with a warm smile you see Twilight’s features light up once again.
“Okay,” she says with a hint of relief. “We’ll probably be upstairs or in the living room when you come in, is that okay?” You nod, and the two mares make their way into the cottage, commenting on how Twilight had miscalculated her teleport so badly. Not having any clue whatsoever as to how magic worked you rustled your wings slightly, and gave a mental shrug. Looking from the small dwelling around the yard you realise just how much the nearly silent pegasus must care for the animals in the surrounding area.
While looking around the yard you spot a small mockingbird sitting upon a tree branch. As you stare at it, the avian creature gives you a cheerful whistle then flies off of the branch, flitting away to the other side of the cottage. After the small bird is well out of sight you find your eyes lingering on the light blue of the sky. Unconsciously you feel your wings rustle and twitch as you begin to get the strongest urge, no need, to feel the wind blowing across your face hundreds of feet above the ground.
Giving a cursory look around, and making sure that nopony is around to see you, you raise your powerful cream coloured appendages high over your head. Looking to either side of you, you take in a gasp of breath, never before had you truly seen your wings before now. Never before had you seen such elegance. You feel a blush rise to your cheeks at the narcissistic thought. You once more glance around for a sign of anypony else, and flex your wings. Thinking to yourself, ’Hey I did it in the forest, how different could it be?’
Almost as in response your head gives a slight throb reminding you of the episode in the forest. This recollection of the events almost made you turn back to the cottage so you could just go lay comfortably back into the bed that awaited there.
Almost that is. With one mighty downsweep of your wings, powerful enough to rival even that of the one from earlier, you rocket into the sky as a cream blur and you feel the wind fly past your face.
You laugh to yourself as you take to the sky. ’I’m flying, I’m actually flying. This isn’t that hard I could do this all day, easy peasy lemon squeezy’
No words could describe how wrong you were about to be.