New World, New Start
I was in the same white room, sitting on the same chair, with the same desk in front of me and the same chair behind it. It swiveled around, and there was Chaos. But he was different. His tone was a darker green, and his physique was slightly different.
"What's with the new look?"
"I'm the entity of Chaos. It's in my nature to change things. Oh, and congratulations on a safe trip to Equestria."
"Alright, tell me why you're here."
"Simple. I just want to chat with you a bit. I must warn you so that when you wake up, don't freak out."
I began to get worried.
"Wait, wait wait wait wait. Why should I be freaking out?"
"Oh, don't worry. You'll be perfectly alright. You just don't want to startle the ones who are currently taking care of you."
"Tell me again why I'm in this new world."
"My dear boy, you are now a player. Think of it this way: the gods are playing a mostly uncontrollable videogame, and you are the characters. And to spice things up, everyone is different from the native species."
"So what am I?"
"I'll leave that to you to figure out. But let me tell you, it was difficult finding a species for you to have. Most all of the others are taken. I am one of the late-comers to this game. I had to dig in history."
"So all the other humans are different species, and none of them are the same?"
"Yes."
"You know what? I'm just going to stop trying to understand. This is just confusing."
"It's meant to be confusing to a degree. You must be a little bit insane to understand it. Now, wake up, and remember. Don't. Freak. Out."
"Yeah, that totally makes me feel relaxed. Thank you, Chaos."
"You're welcome. Oh, you know what would be fun? If you could roleplay to be somebody noble, or something similar."
"Sorta like in the MMORPGs?"
"You catch on quick. Now wake up."
The dream slowly faded and was replaced by darkness. I was awake, but my eyes were shut. I groggily tried to open my eyes, but was met with limited success, them only opening a crack so I could see blurs. I groaned and shifted my head as I felt a small amount of pain and some restlessness. Voices came into existence around me, again speaking in a language I didn't understand. I could see some blurs moving about, and one approached me. It said some words that I didn't understand.
"Ungh. Sorry. Can't understand you."
"My pardons, ancient one. I did not realize you spoke Equestrian and not Zebracan."
"No apologies necessary."
"Here. Drink this, for it will help you."
The source of the deep, yet female, voice handed me a small wooden container. I weakly clutched it and put it up to my lips. I almost spat it out, it tasted so nasty.
'Okay, thought process engaged. Nasty liquid with an unknown purpose. Don't know what to do with it. Analyse facts. The one who gave it to me was respectful of me and obviously wanted to help. Usually, nastiness equals medecine or something similar. I'm weak, possibly from sleeping too long without eating. Perhaps a nutrient substance. Well, over the lips and through the gums, look out tapeworm, here it comes. Not that I have a tapeworm.'
I put the liquid up to my lips again and started to drink it. It was revoltingly bitter, but I could feel my strength slowly returning to me. Almost as soon as I had finished it, another cup was handed to me.
"Drink this as well, if you may. It will rid your mouth of the bitter taste contained in the potion."
'Ah-ha! Point for brain. Nasty liquid is a medecine. New liquid is probably good-tasting.'
I brought the cup up to my mouth and tipped the liquid inside. It was less runny than water, and when it hit my tongue, it was an explosion of taste that nearly overwhelmed me. It was like honey got mixed with sugar and got lemon and apple juice mixed in, with a strong aftertaste of mango. I drained it and sighed.
"Thank you, ma'am."
"It was not even the least I could do for you."
"You are most kind."
I then opened my eyes fully, with much less difficulty. The sight shocked me considerably. Standing in front of me was a zebra. And not the kind you see at the zoo, this thing was a cartoon-drawn animal with various rings adorning it, as well as some African-looking charms and necklaces on it. I blinked twice and stared with my mouth open.
"If you wish, I can bring you some sustenance."
"J-just one minute, Miss, uh..."
"My sincerest apologies. I have been most rude. My name is Jangara, and I am the shaman of this village. We saw you crash into the ground and brought you here to look after you."
"Thank you again, Jangara. Could you wait one minute, please? I am a bit befuddled by a few things."
"Please, take the time you must."
I took a deep breath and lifted a hand in front of my face. Only it wasn't a hand anymore. It was a black talon. And not a rinky-dinky little thing that you would see on a regular eagle. These new fingers of mine were thicker than human fingers, and quite long. Looking at my other claw, I saw that it was the same. Three fingers going in one direction, and one going the other way, presumably acting as a sort of thumb. I saw that I was laying on my stomach on top of what seemed to be a sort of mat, and slowly raised myself. Interestingly, I was more comfortable on all fours, and I couldn't shift my balance enough to get on two legs. I took another deep breath and looked down at myself.
My chest was white. White as in white feathers, but they also had a few thin black streaks, like what you would see on a bald eagle, and they also had a slight tinge of sky-blue on the edges of each feather. Below this, there was a line that divided the area of white feathers with a larger area of light brown feathers which continued till the area where they met my legs, which kind of resembled a T-shirt in the way that my birdlike arms were covered a bit above what would count as the elbow, the black talons contrasting lightly with the light brown feathers. I turned my head over my shoulder and ovserved what was there. Light brown feathers, going all over my quadruped body. Quadruped. Funny how that worked. I was a bird, and I had four black talon-legs.
'Okay, so, I don't know what I am, but definitely not a griffin. I should have wings. After all, what bird doesn't have wings? Even penguins have wings, even though their counted as flippers. Oops, going slightly off-topic here. Returning to examination of body.'
I slowly moved my shoulders, and then my upper back, working my way slowly down the spinal cord area until I found what I was looking for. Slowly, two gigantic wings lifted up, brown on the top and the same bluish-white of my chest, and from what I would guess, my head, on the bottom. I was so absorbed in my wings that I didn't realize that my back muscles were still moving, so imagine my surprise when another even larger pair of wings sprouted out behind my current ones. I was flabbergasted. Two pairs of wings? Okay, I can tolerate four talons, but four wings? Wait, so far, in the last few hours of my memory, I've been struck by lightning, talked to by a supposedly omniscient entity, transported to a new world, and given a new body. Of course I can tolerate four wings. Heck, it's pretty cool. I just hope I can use them. Closing my new wings, I continued my search to see a bird's tail. Just a simple fan of feathers with a pretty big size. I took a deep breath and waited for my brain to process the information.
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Results Received
33.33% of brain says Awesome
33.33% of brain says Wierd
33.33% of brain says Freak Out Now
Awaiting Decision...
Memory Interference...
An image of Chaos appeared in my mind, saying 'Don't. Freak. Out.'
Decision: Freak Out Now Eliminated
50% Awesome
50% Wierd
Awaiting Decision...
'Okay brain, shut up. I'm going to go with pretty cool, but not enough to freak out. Wait, I haven't even gotten a look at my face yet!'
I turned to the zebra.
"Excuse me, Jangara. Do you happen to have a mirror handy?"
"Yes, I shall bring it for you."
She stepped through a doorway and then came out, holding a decent-sized mirror in her teeth. I received it from her and looked at the reflection portrayed there.
"...Wow." was all I could say. Staring back at me was basically the head of a bald eagle, but, of course, way bigger. The same eyes, the predator eyes, that I always admired in a bald eagle, for they made him look noble and fearless. A curved yellow beak, the end quite sharp. The feathers that were on my chest were also on my head. Blueish-white, with small black streaks. But some things different than what would be normal on an eagle. Two small feather crests, where my ears would be, like those on a great horned owl. The eyes were an electrifying blue with just a hint of purple.
'Like real lightning' I thought to myself, remembering with scorn the false image of a yellow lightning bolt, and the true lightning image of thin purple and blue strands spreading out. I handed the mirror back to Jangara, and she carefully set it upon a shelf, among several other items that looked very african.
"You are confused?" she asked me. I decided to go with the truth, or at least a part of it.
"This was not my body before." She looked at me in shock. "It may come as a shock to you, but I was something else. You probably wouldn't know what it is, as they aren't from around here. But the question remains unanswered to me: What am I now?"
A zebra came through the doorway with a decent-sized portion of fruit, which he set before me. To my surprise, he gave me a small bow before saying something I couldn't understand and trotting off.
"Did he just bow to me?"
"It is a sign of respect for your kind. Please, eat, while I find the one who can explain what you are the best."
She walked out of the hut, and I devoted my attention to the plate of fruit, which was filled with mangoes, bananas, apples and various other fruits which I didn't recognize. I shrugged and bit into the ripe fruit, realizing with delight that they were the best I had ever tasted. Soon, my attack on the food stopped, and shortly afterwards, Jangara re-entered the hut, followed by a shriveled old crone of a zebra who stopped before me. She said something indeciferable to me, and Jangara quickly translated.
"As I am the only zebra in this village who speaks the language you speak, I shall translate for you. This is Ok-Rena, the oldest and wisest elder in our village. She will tell you the story that involves what you are and your kind's history. The words she has just spoken are these: It is with greatest respect and honor that I set eyes upon a legendary creature such as yourself. If you wish to learn about the past, I will tell you."
She sat down on the ground in a fairly human position, legs crossed and sitting with her back as straight as her old bones would permit it. My back legs lowered until I was sitting as well, and I realized how much larger I was than the zebras; I was double, if not triple, their size. The old zebra carefully set a plate in front of us both and put various herbs and incensces on it. She mumbled something and a billowing cloud of smoke lifted up and remained suspended. I could tell that this, in some crazy way, was real magic. She began speaking in a hoarse and crackled voice, and Jangara translated what she said to me.
"Long ago, many many years before the raisers of the sun and the moon, many years before their grandparents, there was but one race of intelligent creatures: The Perfect Race." The smoke swirled around until it adopted a sphere shape. "When the gods first created this world, they created this race to populate the world, and then left. Unbeknownst to all, the god of Chaos placed a very discreet curse on the perfect race before they all went away. One century after the race was created, a strange fate befell them. A third of the population gave birth to dragons, the mighty reptiles." A part of the sphere separated and formed the image of a dragon. "They left the Perfect Race and went out into the world, where they changed little. Two centuries after the creation of them, another third gave birth to the alicorns, the magic ponies that when they went out into the world, became the ancestors of earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, zebras, buffalo, changelings and even the mystic seaponies, that are claimed to be a myth by many in these days." Another part of the smoke went out and formed a winged horse with a horn, and many other figures appeared as she mentioned the other species. "Three centuries after the creation, the remaining population of the Perfect Race gave way to the cynogriffins, the winged wolves which became the ancestors of diamond dogs, griffins, and a few others."The remaining part of the sphere formed into the image of a winged wolf, with various other figures around it. "But this is where written knowledge stops and the legends were passed down by speech. As it turns out, not all of the remaining members of the Perfect Race reproduced during the end of the third century. Some became stubborn, and decided not to give birth to cynogriffins. Curiously, these beings did not age any further, but instead lived on and on. But they soon became unhappy, for they grew sad and melancholy. Finally, they all decided four centuries after the creation to reproduce. But the results were unexpected. Instead of being dragons, alicorns or cynogriffins, they became what can only be described as legendary creatures." The smoke shifted again, one figure being a sort of elongated armadillo-like creature, reminding me slightly of the pokémon Sandshrew, but stretched, another was a creature with long legs and webbed feet, resembling a frog, and the third, a four-winged, four-legged eagle. My breath was stolen from me. "These legendary creatures were masters of earth, water and air, and they could control their elements to a certain extent. It is thanks to the earth beings that alicorns managed to form earth ponies, and thanks to the water beings that the seaponies came into existence. Moreover, the beings created simpler life forms, such as birds, fish, and lesser beasts." The smoke cleared. "Time has erroded the names of the water and earth beings, but it is known to zebras, as the beings lived once in Zebrica, that the names of the air beings were the ventolians, or, as directly translated from the zebracan word, the heavenly winged ones. But through unknown circumstances, they died out, leaving the control of the sky, the sea and the land into the hands of the ponies, who did not worry about the change, for they didn't know about the beings. They were thought to have died out long ago, but some have held theories of surviving members." The old crone pointed a hoof at me. "You are a ventolian, a heavenly winged one, and you have the powers of the sky, and the knowledge that your kind were the creators of birds. That is the reason why we hold a deep respect for you, for you are a living legend among us zebras."
"Wow. I'm all that? But I'm not really a ventolian. Or at least, I think I'm not. I wasn't a few days ago, that much I know."
Jangara translated my message to the old zebra, and she said something back.
"The elder says that no matter what you were before, now you are a sky lord."
I groaned a little bit. "I don't really want people bowing and living in fear of me just because I look important."
The elder responded through Jangara.
"We do not bow in fear of you nor because you may look important. We bow to you because that is what we wish. You have our respect, as we can see you are special in a way worth respecting. It is marked clearly in your aura."
"Well, I didn't fully ask for all this respect, so I don't think I'm going to act like I enjoy it. I really don't deserve it-"
I was cut off by a massive roar which seemed almost to shake the small building we were in. I turned to Jangara, who had become suddenly very nervous.
"What's happening?"
She turned to me, fear displayed in her eyes. She said one word that sent chills down my spine.
"Dragon."
Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn! Ruh-oh! Dragon attacking village! Ouch. Anyways, the Perfect Race theory originated by Cloud_Surfer in his story 'The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon'. I simply elaborated on a fact that Gustave didn't know, and thus, ended up with an explanation of the creature that Tyler is. Also, I came up with the creature myself, but I wouldn't be surprised that if you look hard enough, you'll find it's been done before. Such is the way of the Internet. Anyways, thanks for reading, and keep your stick on the ice.
P.S.: The story has been up for only around 6-7 hours, and it already has 11 thumbs up and 23 favorites. Wow. Also, I've been complemented on having a better backstory than Rust or Blackwing? Fordregha, you flatter me.