Strange Winds

by Caelum

Chapter 1: Rude Awakenings

Once again thanks to Howitzer for editing this for me and helping me get the ball rolling for this story idea thingy, but anyways happy reading.

Chapter 1:Rude Awakenings

With a groan you squeeze your eyes shut as tight as you can. Trying desperately to shut out the radiant light from the sun and go back to the sweet numbness of sleep. With a sigh you turn over to your other side, stubbornly keeping your eyes firmly shut hoping for even a few more minutes of sleep. As you lay there, you notice how unusually quiet it is for a Thursday morning. Normally in the city all you could hear in the wee hours of the morning are the alarm clocks in other tenants’ apartments; buzzing and beeping away for their cursing owners to get out of their beds. That, or the sounds of angry and impatient drivers in the streets below leaning heavily into their horns while shouting insults of incompetence and mockery to their fellow road users.

This morning, however, was different. Instead of the unpleasantness of the usual city atmosphere, all you could hear was the chirping of a collection of birds. Doubtlessly they are nesting outside your window. It’s pleasant nonetheless. There is also the sound of trees swaying in the breeze. You take a deep breath of the sweet air, and you let out a great sigh. You slowly open your eyes, content to just lay there forever in the soft warm confines of your…

‘..bed?’

Faster than a bullet you whip your head around, taking in your surroundings. This isn’t your bed. Hell, this isn’t even your room.

‘Trees, sunshine, BIRDS?! Just where the hell am I!?!’

You quickly back up to the nearest tree trunk, desperately trying to blend into the colour and texture of the dark brown bark, now digging into your back. Squeezing your eyes shut you attempt to bury your face in your hands flinging them up to your-

‘OW!! Why did that hurt so mu-ahhh ah AHH!’

Ignoring the pain in your face, for the moment, you stare in shock at where four fingers, a thumb, and a palm should be, only to see what appeared to be a hoof of some sort. Whatever it is, it is definitely NOT your hand. You slowly shift your gaze to your other arm, and you see the same odd protrusion where your other hand should be. Then you notice something is wrong with your arms as well! Your arms seem to be covered entirely in short, cream coloured hair! You attempt to stand up on your two legs with the plan to run. You don’t know where you’ll run, but somewhere, anywhere, is better than here. As soon as you push down on the ground, though, you wobble. You feel incredibly unbalanced, and fall down a slight hill near where you had been resting.

‘Ow, ow, ow, dammit! Gah!’ These were only some of the many thoughts going through your head as you rolled down the hill, hitting god-knows-what along the way. You must have hit several trees, branches, and even a few rocks. Then, just as you thought it was over, you roll off a slight ledge and land face-first in a rock strewn creek bed.

You’re in no rush to exacerbate your injuries, so you slowly bring yourself up from the misshapen heap you had somehow managed to land in, and stand up. You look down at the water, and your reflection, and you see a small, cream coloured, winged horse looking back at you.

Now, being a very rational person, and having dealt with your fair share of bizarre situations you did the very first thing that came to your mind. And, to be perfectly frank, it seemed the best course of action in the current predicament you found yourself in. You screamed. Very, very, loudly. And for quite a while, too. Then, when you had finally ran out of air and felt you couldn’t scream any longer, you took a deep breath and promptly fell to the ground, unconscious.

*****

It was night. That was the first conclusion you came to when your eyes opened for the second time that day. Lying there, in the cold evening air, in a small creek, in a forest god-knows-where, you shiver. You slowly realize just how cold the night air was. Slowly, but surely, your mental faculties return, and you start thinking of what you saw before your unexpected blackout. It rushes back to you, and with a jolt you stand. Flicking your eyes to the surface of the creek you notice that the moonlight isn’t quite enough to see your reflection clearly. With a curse you look down to where you hands should be, only to see two cream coloured appendages with hooves on them. Your eyes, now widening to roughly the size of dinner plates, slowly make their way to your back, already dreading what you knew you would see. But you found yourself unable to continue without seeing it. You were surprised to see a pair of wings, neatly folded, on your back. They were a light cream colour, the same as your newly discovered equine body.

Despite the cold of the evening air, or the bone chillingly frigid temperature of the small creek, you sank to the ground, numb from shock, and disbelief. A small break in the clouds overhead allows the, now, bright light of the moon to shine through the canopy of trees, and onto the surface of the water. You gaze at the creek, and see your reflection staring back at you once more. With the light from the moon you can now get a clear look at yourself. You have a light cream coloured coat, two wings, which were sagging down to the ground in what appeared to be defeat, a brown mane which seemed undecided whether it wanted to be a darker or lighter shade, and two very large, very frightened, bright green eyes staring back at you from the depths of the water. Without warning the immensity of the situation you are in hits you at the same time that the reality of it sinks in. You reel backwards for a moment, feeling a sensation much akin to that of despair.

The reflection staring back at you from the calm creek is disrupted as a single tear falls from your muzzle into the slow moving water. Reaching up with your hoof to wipe away the tears you give a wet snuffle as you shakily stand up on all four legs and try to take a step forwards, only to overbalance yourself and fall face first into the rocky embankment of the creek.

Choking back a sob of anguish you try twice more to rise and walk to the opposite embankment, only to fail on each attempt. After falling for the third time, the tears you had been trying to hold back finally flowed freely from your eyes as you gave up on trying to walk. Using your front to legs to drag yourself underneath the overhead cover of a tree, you curl up against the trunk. You weakly raise a wing to drape over the rest of your shaking cold form. You slowly fall into a restless sleep, filled with thoughts of fear and uncertainty throughout the night.

*****

“Come ON, Twilight! Today’s the day that Mr. & Mrs. Cake told me that they would make me that sapphire cupcake that they were hinting at all last week! Do we REALLY need to come out here?” Spike said with a hint of exasperation in his voice as the Number One Assistant of Twilight Sparkle trudged along with her. They were making their way down the dirt path that ran along the edges of the Everfree forest and the small creek that flowed near Ponyville.

“Spike,” Twilight began, “you know as well as I do that Mr & Mrs. Cake weren’t hinting at that cake. You accidentally heard it from Pinkie Pie during one of her, erm, moments, and secondly you mischievous little dragon,” she added with a knowing glance, “we need to be out here so that we can get Rarity some more of those blue orchids she uses to dye her fabrics, you do want to do something nice for, how did you put it? Your ‘sweet lady Rarity’, don’t you?”

“Oh! Well, um, I-I guess y-you’re right T-twilight, b-besides, I bet that c-cake isn’t even f-finished yet and it’s such a, uh, beautiful d-day” Spike stammered nervously while his scales showed the amazing ability to change from their original hue to one of a much darker violet as he quickly looked away from Twilight’s amused look. Suddenly, Spike tripped over a stray rock on the path that they were walking on. With a quick shout of surprise the little dragon stumbled sideways through the small bushes that lined the path that they were walking on.

”Spike!! Spike are you okay!?” shouted Twilight as she stuck her head through the bushes, trying to catch a glimpse of her fallen friend hectically casting her gaze into the gloom underneath the tree canopy.

“Uggh yeah, I’m fine Twilight, you don’t need to worry about me” came the reply from the shade “but it is a bit da-whoa!”

“What, what?! What’s wrong?! Are you hurt?? Is something down there?? Spike? SPIKE??”

“Whoa whoa whoa Twilight! Calm down!! I’m fine, but there is something-“

“What? Spike, what is it?” Twilight shouted into the dim light of the forest.

“TWILIGHT!” shouted Spike with a commanding air that Twilight had not known he could muster, “I’m sorry for shouting...” he added in a downcast tone.

“I-It’s alright Spike” said a rather shocked Twilight Sparkle, “I should have listened to you, now what is the thing you saw down there?”

“Well Twilight that’s the thing it’s not what I saw down here, it’s more so who” explained Spike, “There’s somepony else down here!”

All of a sudden the tranquility of the small forest clearing was shattered by an ear-splitting scream. You were the source of the scream, since, at the moment that Spike was looking at you, you woke up. It’s bizarre form, slitted pupils, and coloration all came together to form a creature that shook you deeply. So, once again, you let out a piercing scream.

Comments

[MetaLucario]

not bad, I'll be keeping an eye on you, someone so skilled at discriptive writing should be watched closely. I'll be getting in touch with you one day, till then, bye

[5007]

Finished first 4 chapters this evening. Review:

Nearly fell out of my chair laughing once I realized I had no thumbs.

Huh. Pegasus. I'd prefer to be an earth pony myself. Just saying.

AHAHAHAHAAA! Yeah, I'd probably yell too if a large reptilian shook me awake. Though, once I realized Spike was a dragon I'd try to hug him. I looove dragons.