Chapter 1: I Found You
The rain beat tirelessly upon the old thatch roof sounding like an army of drumers playing with brushes. It wasn't a grating sound. The sound was a melodic hum that could lull a pony to sleep, but it was far to cold to sleep. The Autumn winds made their winding way through the cracks and crevasses of the old abandoned hut and with it came the pungent odor of dirt and decay. In all actuality it was miserable; but it was dry and that was all that mattered.
Shivering she tucked her head under her wing. She always favored her left wing because of its warmth. The dark feathers warmed her face and tickled her nose. The right wing was cold but cool, well atleast she thought so. It is...was an bat like wing covered with a thin membrane of alabaster skin and fur. Now it was brown and dingy because of the filth that covered it. Before the rain set in she had collected enough, mostly dry, twigs and wood to build a decent fire but it was still early and she didn't have enough to last the whole night. So she had to make do with her own body heat for now.
She hated being board. Not doing anything was tantamount to death and death was one thing she hated thinking about. The last two years were full of death and mayham. Forced to grow up fast she escaped the worst of the massacres that she remembered adults called war. Even when her kin won it was still a dirty business. She never understood it. When ever she got in a fight with another kid her parents and adults in general would tell her not to fight. Yet when adults got mad at each other it was ok if they faught. It was even ok to kill your enemy. The were hypocrites and they were wrong. The were...alive.
"Why did you all have to leave me," she muttered as she faught back her tears. Choking back her sobing she tried her best not to let herself feel, "feeling hurts".
"Shut up crybaby! Do you serously want to be that kind of person. Boo hoo! I'm alone. I want my mommy. I want somepony to hold me. I want to be safe." Her eyes shot open as her inner voice berated her. She hated him as much as if not more than she hated her on species. Yeah she hated all the dragons because they were responsible for the death of her kind but she hated her kind, the Draconequi, more because they started it. She hated herself for being so weak. Even when she had the chance to take the life of another as he lay helpless at her feet she couldn't.
"Your weak and pathetic. Where is your Draconequus pride? This world is no place for someone like you. A draconequus greatest assets were her cunning, her charm, her ingenuity, and her cruelty. Look at you! You're stupid, uncoth, unimaginative, and soft. You arn't a draconequus, your a bunny. And you know what is funny, your not even cute enough to be a bunny. An't that funny...ha ha," the voice bitterly quiped.
"Go away! Please?" she wined as she lay back her ears.
"Go away! Go away. No chance dear. I fear you are far to much fun." he replied.
Sobbing she collapsed in a heap on her makeshift bed of thatching, moss, and hay. Closing her eyes as tight as she possibly could she started to count back from one-hundered, the only thing that helped her focus. The only thing that kept the mean grating voice at bay,
"one-hundered, ninty-nine, ninty-eight, ninty-seven, ninty-six,....".
"This is only temporary my dear because I'll always be back and you will always need me." the voice said as it faded into the black.
"He is wrong, you know that right?" asked a different voice. The voice was warm and velvety. It was soft but strong and it was so unlike any voice she had ever heard. She was scared. Her muscles tensed. Her elongated body was shaking and slowly gained a shimer as sweat beaded along her coat. It hit him like a wave crashing against a rock shore. It was a smell that was all too familure in these unselted time, it was the stench of fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I could never hurt you." he said nervously.
Slowly she raised her head from out from underneath her wing and looked at the intruder. She couldn't help it but her mouth fell open in surpirse and shock at what stood before her. He shot her a kind smile and walked closer. He then promptly sat down.
His coat such a deep shade of purple that it was almost black and his mane bellowed out behind him like it was caught in a strong wind. The way his mane moved wasn't the only thing amazing about it, it was like a dark spider web that had caught hundereds of fireflies. Pined to his sides were equally dark wings and tail. Upon his head he wore a silver crown that shimmered with an inner brighness that held the same lusterous glow of the full moon. Proudly a long horn rose from his forehead like the very nedled the stiched together the cosmos. Of all the things he possessed the thing he possesed that caught her eye more than anything were his eyes. They were a brillant shade of green and warmer than the grasslands in springtime. He was everything she was not, he was beautiful.
"Miss?" he asked still wearing kind and sort of goofy smile.
"Huh...oh," she said trying to come to terms with what sat before her.
"My name i-" he started to say.
"YOU'RE AND ALICORN!" she exclaimed exitedly. She had never seen one and now she understood why her mother had called them the personfication of grace.
"Yes I am and you are a draconequus, and a brave one at that," he repled as he pointed a hoof her way.
Cowering away, her thoughts raced through her mind faster than she could keep up with. She had tried her best to stay hidden and she never alowed anyone to see her in her true form on purpose in the two years she had been on the run. When they did see her for what she was all of them shuned her. She had been too caught up in the moment to cast a glamor and now she felt-naked.
He watched as she slunk away as the fear-smell return in full. Trying to keep his best his own emotions in check in truth he was more estatic than the little draconequus and he wasn't going to let her get away. Not one this draconequus filly looked so much like an old friend he had in the past. Quickly he started to cast a spell.
In horror she gasped as his horn started to glow a bright green. Having seen the effects of unicorn magic she imagined all the horrible things he could do what he could do with that horn. Before she could move the air was filled with a loud, "POP!". Her eyes slamed shut and she gritted her teeth expecting the worse-nothing came.
"You can open your eyes now, silly filly," said the alicorn in a sing song voice.
Nevously she peaked to were the alicorn had been siting but to her surprise it wasn't an alicorn looking at her with a goofy grin but a draconequus like herself. He looked just like her only he was a male and older. It was only magic but something felt different. He felt different. The air of mystery and danger had vanished and was replaced by hospitaltiy and hope.
"I know you're still an alicorn," she said in a matter of fact tone.
"I know you know I'm still an alicorn." he said playfully as he stuck his tongue out at her.
Shaking her head in disbelief she didn't know how to take this twist of events. No creature had treated her like this since her exodus. It anoyed her that he was treating her as a little filly but at the same time she relished his innocents. She hadn't felt innocent in a long time. Childhood was something that was taken away from her and until that moment she hadn't realized how much she missed it. Emotion started to boil deep inside her and she knew how painful they could be when they surface. She had to get away from this she had to escape.
Being pursued for as long as she had she had carefully planed every possible escape route incase something found her. Why she hadn't alrady run she didn't know. She turned quickly and bolted the window to her left and lept spreading her wings out wide. Flying wasn't something she did well but now it was her only hope. She wasn't pepared for what happend next.
The alicorn lowered his head and let out a long sigh, this was going to be harder than he thought. He watched as she flew out the window and then back in. She was in full out panic mode now her eyes went wide as she realized she had just passed through the window and then back into the room without turning around. Spinning out of control she rolled right aiming for the door but in fear she had forgoten to flap and she crashed headlong into the glamored alicorn.
The alicorn lept back and brought himself paralell to the falling filly dismissing his glamor as he did so. He snached the little draconequus out of the air and pulled her onto his chest and the two of them slid several feet before coming to a stop. They layed there for a few moments before the little filly pulled herself up and letting out a scrill scream as she did so. In her fear she started to stomp the alicorn under her; her tears running down her cheeks and on to him as she did so.
"Don't touch me! Let go of me!" she yelled angery.
Grimacing he let her through her fit. Hooves and claws tore at his undersides but still he did nothing. Her sides heaved and breath became a precious thing her wings drooped and she looked down at the brused alicorn below her. He was so much bigger than she was; he was four times her sized and he wore a look of sadness on his face. Everything she had did was in vain even if she used what magic she knew on him it wouldn't amount to a drop in the bucket compared to what he could do to her. Doing the only thing she could think of she fell on him and wraped her forelegs around him and sobbed, "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry," as she dug her muzzle into his chest.
Wrapping his forelegs around the little filly he pulled her close and then let out a long sigh.
"It's going to be ok now," he whispered as he started to stroke her mane, "I can't believe I found you. Oh how I hunted you and looked for you and now I've found you. I'm never going to let you be alone again, my little Eris."