Danny, Doctor of the Gods

by Sage Quill

Deepening Storm

Have you ever woken up in a panic? If you have, then you know how everything seems to blend together. Sights and sounds mix together with your dreams, or in my case, nightmares.

Whizzes and cracks of incoming rounds were broken up by the shouted commands from my superiors. I scrambled out from under my blanket, groping around blindly for my M4. Instead of feeling the ground with shaking fingers, my hooves clopped dumbly across hard rock. The pissed-off shouts of NCOs became screaming as my focus sharpened back to reality, my brain listing off facts to quicken the process. I'm in the body of a Kirin, so no hands. I'm in Equestria not Afghanistan, so no weapon. And people don't scream like that without a damn good reason.

A blanket covered form across the dark tent shot up, throwing the covering off with a shake as I rose to my hooves. Dusk's wings flared as she cast alert glances from one side of the tent to the other, taking stock of her surroundings with startling professionalism. Her eye found me. "You! What did-?" Her question was cut off by another shrill scream from somewhere in the village.

Around us, Zecarien and her family stirred awake. "By all that is good and bright, what is the meaning of this clatter so late at night?" More like, how did she come up with a rhyme out of a dead sleep? I felt a pressure on my foreleg. Looking down, I found Zala's small silhouette shaking as she huddled against me. Poor kid. She was already afraid of lightning, but combined with the dark and the sounds of panicked adults her fear was quickly becoming terror.

Shouts of alarm went out across the sleepy village, but they were indistinct against the backdrop of the raging storm. The villagers might have been trying to organize, but the confusion would be complete with no way to light their torches in the rain. Nothing leads to a cluster' quite like a mob in the dark.

Zecarien sparked the cooking fire back to life with a pair of flints and quickly gathered her foals, casting wary glances out the tent flap as more cries of alarm went up from around the village. She had to practically pry Zala off my leg.

As I watched her take up a wooden spear hanging from a pair of clasps on the tent wall I became abundantly aware of something sharp pressed against my neck. "Don't move," came Dusk's voice from my right. I looked down, careful not to move my head in the process. Dusk held a knife in her mouth and had it placed just under my jaw. It was a curved blade and well worn, but it looked recently sharpened. She'd used this knife a lot judging from the small line of rust where the blade and hilt met. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked slowly, annunciating each word sharply. They were edged with an unspoken threat.

I tried to keep myself from swallowing. "Would you believe me if I said I had no idea what you're talking about?"

Dusk weaved her foreleg behind my hoof, and with a jerk, threw me off balance and onto my back. Before I could recover she was on me, locking her legs around mine so I couldn't move. She pressed the curve of her knife to my throat again. From the other side of the tent I heard Zecarien gasp in surprise. "You expect me to believe that?" Dusk growled.

I put on the most innocent look I could manage. "Well...yeah," I said lamely, "Look, I have no idea what's going on, but if you let me up I can help you find out. How's that sound?"

"Like a trap," she replied without skipping a beat, pressing the knife a little harder into my throat, "Safer if I just kill you now." Wow. Okay, I had to admit, I wasn't expecting her to play the safe and sociopathic paranoia route.

The pressure of her knife increased to the point that I thought she was trying to strangle me instead of slit my throat. I coughed and choked for breath, panicking as my body struggled for air. The look in her eye went from cold determination to alarm and confusion as one of my legs worked free from her hold. I lashed out, planting my hoof in her stomach and kicked away with everything I had. Which was apparently a lot considering I was almost twice her mass. Dusk caught five feet of air time before smashing into the chest Zecarien had procured our blankets from.

"Oh yeah... take that... you psychopath," I managed between gasps of air, "You was talkin'... all that good shit... a moment ago... then you got kicked in yo' chest!" Okay, so I gloated a little. A near death experience makes you do and say all kinds of crazy things.

The remains of the chest stirred as Dusk drew herself back to her hooves with a groan. Her mane was a mess thanks to the scuffle and revealed a simple black eye patch covering her normally concealed eye. Her other eye however, fixed me with a look that could kill lesser men. Thank god I'm a smidge above mediocre.

It also didn't help that despite the murder in her eye she was still an adorable pony and half my size. "I guess being part freak does more than make you ridiculously tall," she hissed, sparring a look at the now marred blade of her knife and glaring at the offending scales running down my throat and underbelly.

I circled away from the fire, not taking my eyes off Dusk for a second. If my hunch was correct, a second would be all she'd need, and I sincerely doubted she'd make the mistake of targeting any area on my body protected by scales again. "Yeah, I guess it does," I whispered to myself, taking note that learning what my new body was capable of was top priority in my down time. Hell, I had a horn. Maybe if I worked at it I'd be able to get some magic up and running.

My daydreams about spells and life beyond the current crisis were cut short by Dusk closing the distance between us in a sudden gallop, the knife brandished between her teeth. Now, I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting. Sure, I didn't know squat about fighting intelligent quadrupeds, and I didn't know any fancy martial arts beyond what I'd seen in movies or the basics taught to every soldier, but I'd gotten into my share of bar fights before I swore off drinking. More than one fight had involved some yahoo with a knife and too much liquid courage. Dusk might not have been a plastered punk but the basics applied, which was get the hell out of the way before I got stabbed.

I threw my hindquarters to the left as hard as I could and let the weight carry my front end with it. Dusk flew past me in a flurry of cuts and jabs, nicking my cheek with the blade. I struggled to keep my hooves below me and landed behind her in a ready-ish stance. Being a quadruped didn't do much for fundamental abilities like turning, but Dusk made it look easy as she leapt into the air and planted her hooves on one of the tent's wooden supports, launching herself back in my direction. Once again she passed by in a near miss, leaving a line of red from the end of my eye to my ear.

I huffed and fixed her with a look of mild irritation to cover up my rising panic. She was damn good with that knife. "Okay, you... uh..." I floundered, trying to accurately describe my assailant, "...Adorable, homicidal cyclops. That tares it! Just because your visually challenged doesn't mean you need to dish out involuntary optical surgery! Hell, I like seeing things--it's one of my skills!"

"By the Sisters, do you ever shut up!?" Surprisingly, she flipped the knife with her tongue as she spoke. And I thought I was talented.

It took a very tangible effort not to respond with a smartass remark as my reply would have gone along the lines of, 'I'll stop talking when I'm dead,' and I didn't think she needed more motivation to kill me. Instead, I changed things up a little and charged her before she could get the chance herself. This was a great idea until Zecarien decided enough was enough and darted out of the corner she was sheltering her foals in, spear in hoof. I only got half-way to Dusk before I skidded to a halt, finding her spear leveled at my eye. "Seriously, what is it with you peo-uh-equines and trying to poke my damn eye out!"

My rant was about to pick up speed until a look from Zecarien stopped it like a car hitting a brick wall. That zebra could give the drill sergeants back home a run for their money.

"What? She started it!" The pony in question spat at me in response. "Oh, come on! That's just gross."

"Enough!" Zecarien shouted, changing her spear's target between the Dusk and myself as she spoke. "The both of you are acting like foals. Now calm yourselves and show some self-control."

"Okay, I don't know where you've been, but she's the one trying to kill me! I'm just trying to defend myself," I shot back without taking my eyes off Dusk.

She looked like she'd like nothing more than to wear my entrails as trophies. Pleasant...

"Dusk, you are the one who shouted of lies and spies. I believe it's time for you to apologize."

Dusk growled under her breath, making it clear she would do no such thing. "You expect me to believe the village being attacked the same night he shows up is nothing but a coincidence?! That's crap!" She turned her glare back to me. "Now tell me the truth! What's your role in this?!"

"Listen sweetheart, I'm just as in the dark on this one as you!" I fumed in frustration, unable to do much more with a spear pointed at my eye socket. "And if you're so determined to find fault with someone, why don't we go outside and actually take a look at what's going on?!"

I was so caught up in my outburst I didn't even notice my slip up with the word 'someone', but at that point I wouldn't have cared anyway. That colorful horse was being a grade-a bitch.

Zecarien looked to Dusk appraisingly. "his idea is both fair and sound. Maybe you both should go outside and have a look around."

"And please, for the love of all things good and holy stop with the rhyming. I suspect this morning's gonna be enough of a hassle without a headache tacked on," I grumbled irritably. Don't get me wrong, I loved poems and such, but having someone speak purely in rhyme was enough to give Dr. Seuss a migraine.

She looked about to reprimand me, but Dusk cut her off. "Fine. We'll do this your way, freak-for now. But the second I think you're setting me up you'll find a knife buried somewhere your little scales won't protect you."

"That's fine by me. I've got nothin' to hide," I said, glad that the topic of my murder was being put aside for the moment. "Now let's get out there and see just how screwed we really are."

She looked enraged at my delicate wording of the situation but the look was quickly replaced with worry as she glanced over at the foals still huddled in the corner.

"Stay with your family, Zecarien. You've been a good friend to me over the years and I aim to repay that in kind," Dusk said in a way that almost made me forget she'd just tried to kill me. Almost. She looked back to me skeptically and gave a derisive snort. "Alright! Come on, you. Let's get this over with-and no funny business, or I'll rip out your heart and feed it to you."

"Has anypony ever told you you're a downright gem to be around," I replied sarcastically, "But yeah, let's get this over with."

With a 'good luck' from Zecarien I made my way out of the tent with Dusk close on my heel, and into the oppressive darkness of the pre-dawn storm to find the source of the screaming. Needless to say, this wasn't the greatest of ideas.

Comments

[DarkParable]

YAY! An update!

[Captain_Savage]

So what crazy scientist raised you from the grave?

[Purple Lightning]

Well glad to see an update after so long. I didn't quite care for the random psychopathic actions of Dusk, and it's left me kinda hoping she dies. That's just me though, hope you'll be able to find a more steady update schedule. Looking forward to finding out where you'll take this.

[ponyheart07]

Is this story dead?