Wings
Year 99X A.N.M.
(After Nightmare Moon)
Drip... Drip... Drip...
Deep within a cave, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of water dripping languidly into the pools below. The sound of each drip rebounding off the cavern walls, fading just in time for the next of its kin to echo.
A newborn lay curled within the shallow water of the cave, which seemed to glow faintly with energy. Her eyes slowly opened, revealing the same strange light within them; she stared blankly at nothing until the light had entirely faded from her eyes. Gradually replaced with an alien consciousness.
-+~<*>~+-
I woke up dazed and disorientated. My entire body felt so numb I could barely move.
When the numbness finally went away, I sat up and looked around at my surroundings. Slowly realizing I was not in my bed... or even in my home, for that matter. Whatever haziness remained on my mind vanished in a puff of smoke as panic began to set in, which only got worse when I finally chanced a look down at my body. My very different body.
As my mind tried to process what just had to be a dream, I examined my body in a panic. Gently running what should be a hand but is now a claw across my scaly skin, I abruptly pulled away from the strangely familiar yet foreign feeling. That familiarity disappeared when my claw fell onto the ground beside me, and I felt a sensation I never had before.
I turned to look, seeing but not believing the sight before me. My claw was touching a tail, the long, muscled appendage curved into and seamlessly blended into the spot just above my rear and already starting to shift with my growing anxiety.
There was nothing to compare the experience to, nothing that could come close to suddenly having a fifth limb attached to my body. Yet while that was enough of a shock atop everything else, I soon realized my number of limbs hadn't merely increased by one but had almost doubled. As I examined my tail, I noticed a pair of what appeared to be reptilian bat-like wings out of the corner of my eye.
As I made a mental image of my new body, my panic only increased. The final nail in my coffin came as I examined my tail's location. I turned my sights upon the space between my legs, and a thought came unbidden into my mind.
But I was reptile now, apparently; that didn't necessarily mean anything.
Against my better judgment, I decided to check, and although I was far from an expert on reptilian anatomy, I eventually came upon another shocking realization: I was female.
At that point, the dam had finally broken, and I began to hyperventilate. I started hoping I’d pass out and wake up back in my bedroom and in my ordinary body. But unfortunately, I did not. Unconsciousness would've been far better than having to deal with waking up as a female lizard. My new body was proving traitorous already by refusing to let me pass out and forcing me to face the reality of the situation, as impossible as it currently seemed.
After a few minutes of panic, I began to feel unusually calm. At the very least, I wasn't trying to scream my head off or curl up and cry somewhere. Even though doing either sounded very appealing at the moment. Instead, I sat there for what may have been hours trying not to think of anything. I realized that maybe all these sudden events had put me into some sort of state of shock. After a few deep breaths, I attempted to focus my thoughts and analyze the situation.
I was supposed to be human, but I wasn't.
I was supposed to be male, but I wasn't.
I was supposed to be in my bed at home, but I wasn't.
So where was I? Who was I? What was I?
Focusing on my surroundings, I concluded I was in some type of cave, sitting in a warm glowing liquid. When I scooped up some of it and brought it up to my face, I noticed it felt like it had an energy to it. It felt like electricity being channeled into my body, but not in a painful way. Stranger still was that when I looked close enough, I could make out something akin to looking at an enhanced version of the night sky as if it had melted and had fallen upon the earth.
As I stared upon the liquefied starry night, the stars, the nebulas, the majesty, I couldn't help but be captivated by the overwhelming beauty. Whatever panic that remained within me seemed to just disappear in the soft, warm glow of countless stars.
As much as I wanted to remain in its warmth soaking in it all in, both figuratively and literally... I eventually realized I had rather essential questions that needed to be answered. As beautiful as it was, it gave me no real answers. I would have to look elsewhere.
I stood up from the strange pool and carefully started walking around the cave, hoping to find some clue as to the cause of my predicament. Everything was smooth and warm to the touch, but otherwise, it was no different from anything else you would expect from a cave. Eventually, I was able to find the entrance... or exit, depending on how you look at it. But after seeing the forest outside, I decided to spend more time looking at the cave itself before venturing into the unknown just in case I missed something. Unfortunately, The more I looked around, the more evident this was an ordinary cave—a cave with a strange glowing puddle in the middle of it, but a cave nonetheless.
I tried to think back instead, hoping that perhaps my memories could answer my numerous questions. But all that I could remember before waking up here was going to bed like usual. In fact, throughout the entire day -the whole week even, there was nothing out of place.
I went through every classic scenario I could think of based off of stories I knew about. Deciding to disregard the death and reincarnation scenario for the moment, I didn't want to consider that a possibility unless I absolutely had to. Mysterious artifact? Nope. Mysterious Stranger? Nope. Strange book? Nope. Virtual reality game? Nope.
I didn't even remember playing any fantasy games or watching any fantasy sho- Wait a moment.
' No, no way. The only fantasy series I saw recently would be... Do my hands look purple?'
I ran to the front of the cave as fast as I could, just in time to see the sun start to set over the horizon, which gave me an idea. I stood there, holding my breath. As I slowly looked towards the opposite horizon, Knowing what to look for. If I saw it… if it’s there, then I can narrow down the timeline, then I would know where I was without a shadow of a doubt, and all of its implications. it was the only way to be sure.
And then I saw it, the moon, or rather, the shadowy image in it.
It was at that exact moment the total weight of my situation finally fell upon me. I mean, after all, any fan of the series could easily recognize the Mare In the Moon.
I summarized my feelings on the entire situation quite elegantly.
"Oh, buck my life."
Day Two
Choosing to go back into the water seemed to help. It was warmer and more comfortable compared to lying on the stone floor of the cave. A part of me also hoped that it would somehow take me back if I slept in it. There was also a strange feeling when I touched it, a sensation that put me at ease. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it; for all that I knew, it was dangerous. But something inside of me said this was the safest place for me to be for now. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I was in the same cave as before.
Indeed, I had no choice but to accept what was really happening. Or I could remain in complete denial and just think myself insane; though, that may not necessarily be denial but acceptance.
The same feeling as before, the one that told me the water was safe, was now telling me it was time to explore the forest. Maybe I could find some more information on my current predicament.
It was a strange sensation, but I couldn't shake it, and so I exited the cave completely for the first time and felt the sun on my skin. It was a soothing sensation that warmed me down to my bones at first, but a breeze quickly reminded me that I was still naked.
Not that there was anything I could do about that, and if I was where I thought I was, it wouldn't matter, but it made me self-conscious nonetheless.
Walking through the forest in my new body was a strange sensation, my bare feet touching the ground as I walked. The rocks and twigs did not harm me like they would've before. All of my senses felt alive, sharpened, more tuned to my surroundings. I usually needed to wear glasses, but now I could see everything in such vivid detail. I could smell the leaves, the trees, the grass, and things I couldn't identify.
Unfortunately, I was repeatedly made aware of my state of undress and the new additions to my limb count, thanks to the occasional gentle breeze. The new appendages felt so alien and yet at the same time familiar, like they've always been there. I thought if I focused on the conflicting feelings too much, it would drive me insane. as awkward as it may feel, the lack of clothing was a decent distraction.
Eventually, I heard the babble of a stream near my location, so I followed the noise until I found its source. I could actually smell the water before I even saw the river. When I finally found it, I could see a good reflection coming off the surface, and a thought occurred to me as I approached. I felt curiosity and fear gripped me as I came closer to the edge of the river. I already had a pretty good guess about what I was about to see, but I needed to confirm it.
I did.
The image staring back at me seemed so strangely similar yet completely different from whom I was thinking of. Looking back at me was a violet dragon with green accents and an overall design that looked far too much like Spike. But at the same time, there was distinct femininity to it.
I collapsed by the river in the mental fatigue of everything. The calming presence from the pool of star water no longer shielded me from my own feelings. The whole situation was just so insane! I've been transported into a cartoon and was a Rule 63 of one of its characters. How does something like that even happen? And why? How do I fix this? These were just a few of the thoughts that repeated in my head. I wish I could tell you that I did anything more productive than just sitting on my butt staring off into nothingness, but I couldn't.
What I did do, however, was get hungry.
Hunger was apparently a good enough motivator for me to finally start moving again. Besides that, I was driving myself crazy by thinking the same questions over and over again. I got up and began looking around for anything that might be edible. Still, considering my lack of knowledge on foraging and I wasn't quite sure what was edible for a dragon, the odds were not in my favor. I knew Spike could eat certain types of crystals, but what types? Were there poisonous crystals? I never liked hunting, and for all I knew, the fish were sapient in this universe. I had way too many questions on just basic survival and this body.
Fortunately, whatever forces govern the universe, the multiverse? Whatever, apparently decided to have mercy on me and gave me a stroke of good luck.
While wandering around aimlessly and trying not to get lost while I was at it, I managed to stumble onto what looked like an artificial path winding through the forest. With no better options, I decided to follow it down and see where it led me. While I didn't pick the correct direction to find a town, I did pick one that led me to what looked like a logging camp of some sort.
Looking at the camp, I spotted two individuals working there who were apparently relatives of Bigfoot, judging by their appearance. I assumed they were intelligent since they were both wearing overalls and working with complex tools, So I approached them. I hoped they didn't consider dragons a delicacy, or thought that I was an intruder that needed to be chased off.
With an admittedly meek greeting and keeping my wings wrapped around me, a surprisingly easy feat, I called out to them. I took them not screaming and putting down the sharp pointy objects as a good sign. I explained that I was hopelessly lost and wanted to know if they could tell me where I was or give me directions to the nearest town. They informed me that I was in a place called the Golden Forest. When I inquired about the name, they said the entire forest looks like it's made out of gold at certain times of the day. They also said the closest town was nearby; I just had to follow the path in the opposite direction, a place called Yetisburg.
The pun almost hurt.
The two introduced themselves as Larry and George, surprisingly common names, and were kind enough to escort me to the town. It wasn't a problem for them, considering they were almost done anyway.
Once we arrived in town, I felt slightly more at ease with one problem out of the way. Now I just had to deal with my other immediate issues, namely food and shelter.
Not to mention I felt uncomfortable walking around in the buff, dragon or not.
The two accompanying me were apparently lumberjacks, big surprise, and were more than happy to let me have some food for just a little bit of work. I was surprised at just how strong I was as I lifted several trees that day as if they were nothing. After eating some type of soup made with candied yams, the two were more than happy to recommend a few places that I could work, including their own lumberyard. They also paid for a hotel room for the night, seeing as I did a decent amount of work for so little.
The next day I went back to work at the lumberyard. I tried to gain some information by subtly asking questions about where I was and the exact date. I needed to know what place in the timeline I was, assuming this was indeed the same universe as in the series. Stuff like, "Have you heard of a place called Equestria? Don't know where it is from here, but I heard it's nice." And "They have something called the Summer Sun Celebration, and they keep score on how many times they've had it. What number are they up to?"
I soon found out I was halfway across the world from the land of pastel-colored ponies, and it was around seven years away from the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.
I was soon introduced to Gertrude and her niece Anni, who apparently were good friends with Larry and George. When I mentioned how I wanted to buy something to wear when I had some cash, they gave me some spare clothing from when Anni was younger. I was actually surprised how well they fitted me, especially considering the tail. If I have to hazard a guess, wearing clothing was the norm for these yetis, and they thought that I was just trying to blend in.
Or maybe they were just being polite and chose not to comment on my lack of clothing.
Now that I had a source of money, clothing, a place to sleep, and some food, I had enough breathing room to think about my situation. But I still was left with the question of what I was going to do.
I suppose the easiest solution was to go to equestria for help. Surely the Princess would have some ideas or at least a clue on where to look. But doing so could alter the timeline in some way which, according to every form of media ever made, could have disastrous consequences.
I suppose I could simply wait for the series' events to run their course, which meant I had a long time to wait.
So what was I going to do? I couldn't just sit by and do nothing. I had to find some way to be proactive.
Or at least needed a more stable housing and income situation.
Fortunately, by sheer accident, I ended up starting a career as a blacksmith.
It all started one night out of simple curiosity. I attempted to touch a candle flame to see just how fire-resistant this body was. To my surprise, I could feel the heat, but it didn't burn me, at least not immediately. It took a few minutes for the heat to rise to an uncomfortable level.
From that moment onward, I decided to continue to explore my draconic abilities. I mean, if I was going to be stuck in this body for the unforeseeable future, I needed to know at least a little about how it functioned.
My first round of experiments started with me trying to use my flame breath. It was difficult at first, but after coming up with an idea to make myself sneeze with pepper, I achieved success when one of my sneezes managed to produce a flame. I can't quite describe the feeling, but it felt like filling up a third lung and blowing with it. I memorized the sensation, and after quite a bit of practice, I was finally able to create my dragon's breath at will. When one of the metal tools in the lumberyard broke, I decided to try using my breath to fix it.
Using the knowledge I had gained from my experiments, I heated up the metal then used my hands to reshape it back to its original condition when the metal was soft enough. Much like the candle, it took a while before the heat started to bother me. This was especially true to things heated up by my own fire.
Apparently, my own fire didn't hurt me nearly as much as any other type. I figured there must be some type of mystical property that attuned my body to my breath. Making me borderline immune to it, whereas I was just highly resistant to any other kind.
Almost immediately afterward, the local people started asking me for favors concerning metalwork. They even started giving me money for my work. I made some extra cash by sculpting some glass on the side. Pretty soon, I had not only saved up enough for a modest house and clothing, but I also managed to build my very own workshop.
Now don't get me wrong, throughout this entire endeavor, I was still struggling with the questions I had since the beginning, but now, I had something to take my mind off my problems. Before I knew it, it had become routine as time went on.
Day 50
By this time, I managed to build a decently respectable reputation as a blacksmith and managed to make a decent living out of it. It was surprising how quickly I adapted to my situation, both as a blacksmith and as a dragon.
At first, I was only doing it to keep myself busy and to have a source of income for survival, but I slowly began to enjoy creating things with my hands. Looking back, I had always found glass blowing fascinating to watch, and I did enjoy working with clay the few times that I did it.
Furthermore, despite my appearance, the townspeople had already become acclimated to me. Though hesitant at first, for the most part, they didn't treat me any differently despite being the only dragon they'd ever met.
It seems like everybody in the town knew who I was. Of course, being the only one with scales wasn't exactly going to help me stand out.. Nevertheless, my metal and glass sculpting skills had become well known at this point. As an added bonus, they didn't ask me too many questions about where I had come from, which I appreciated.
One of the strangest things, though, was how well I had adapted to my own body. In the beginning, I was constantly aware of my new appendages. Always worrying about getting my tail caught in a door or being stepped on. But now, I’m as used to them as my arms and legs.
I even surprised myself by not setting anything on fire accidentally.
As for my wings? I never bothered trying to use them to fly. For one thing, I wasn't exactly comfortable in high places. That's not to say I had a phobia, but I was far from the type who would enjoy the view from a ten-story building while leaning against the glass. At least I could fold my wings close to my body to keep them from getting tangled up in something.
As for the rest of my features, I had discovered dragons have a transparent third eyelid, just like Spike did when he had his greed attack. When I looked through it, I had some difficulty seeing. I guessed it was either for protection during combat or to act like natural welding goggles to protect their eyesight from their own fire. Possibly both.
I actually found it quite helpful at times when I was working the forge.
I found that because my scales are heat resistant, I could sculpt molten steel like clay. Now that's not to say I didn't have the tools of the trade or that they didn't come in handy. Forging a blade is a lot easier with a hammer instead of my bare fists.
I had also discovered I had a limit to my heat resistance, though it would be more accurate to call it a time limit. It's like bathing in a hot spring. Humans can withstand some decent temperatures for a while, but prolonged exposure could cause heatstroke. So while I could use my hands for molding hot metal, I could only do it for so long before the heat starts to get to them, almost like washing your hands in hot water. At some point, it's a good idea to take them out and cool off.
The funny thing is, It was the little things that proved to be the most distracting: the lack of hair on my head for one thing.
It just felt weird at first.
I also used to wear glasses, but now my vision was better than ever, possibly even superhuman at night. Though I've always had excellent night vision.
As for my change of sex? Well, that took considerably longer to get used to. Being called things like miss and ma'am definitely threw me off.
At least I didn't have to wear a dress.
Surprisingly, I didn't even tend to notice it until somebody, in some way, pointed out my current gender. That's not to say I didn't notice it at all, but I could ignore it for the most part.
Surprising tidbit; Dragon females do not have breasts, but their underbelly in that area is slightly more sensitive... Go figure.
When I was asked for a name, I had to quickly think of something that sounded vaguely Dragon-like.
I replied with the second thing that popped into my mind; Flare.
The first thing was Barb, due to the influence of the fandom naming a gender-flipped Spike. But I wasn't going to call myself that. If I was going to be stuck with a name, it had to be something I was reasonably comfortable with, and Flare sounded reasonably gender-neutral.
After a while, I started calling myself “Flare Blacksmith” because of my job and how it usually came out of my mouth.
"Hi, I'm Flare; blacksmith." Just sort of naturally evolved that way.
My reputation eventually got me where I am today, when three strangers started a fight at the local bar.
-+~<*>~+-
I woke up with the sun shining directly on my face. I tried to escape from the light by pulling the covers over my head. The distant chimes of the clock tower told me it was sometime around 8 o'clock, which meant I had to get up. I would've bought an alarm clock for myself, but I personally had a bad history with them. Either I would turn them off in a half-sleep state before falling all the way back to sleep, or they would give me a heart attack which would make me feel miserable for at least half the day.
My current living situation, however, allows me to keep some decent time without one. My window was positioned so that I wouldn't get the first ray of sunlight, but I would still get light before noon. Thanks to the clock tower, I could always tell what time it was, so I knew just how much of the day had passed. I may not start the day on any set schedule, but it works for me.
The commute to my work was also a breeze, considering my forge and shop were part of my house.
So after waking up a little bit more, I climbed out of bed and felt a chill in the air, which made me glad that dragons were not cold-blooded. It was the twenty-second of October, and the weather was starting to get pretty cold outside. Fortunately, the morning sun did an excellent job of warming up my house, and there was a fireplace if needed. Then again, I was basically a living fireplace, but that's beside the point.
As I walked on the carpet that led between my bed to my bathroom, (thank goodness they have indoor plumbing,) my reflection in a full-length mirror caught my eye. There she was, the same female dragon I met about fifty days ago. I had learned the date that I had awoken was the twenty-second of September, which made sense to me. You see, for whatever reason, I had noticed that the number twenty-two always coincided with some type of significant event in my life, good or bad.
Don't ask me why; I don't know.
It was strange how fast I had grown used to that reflection. Even the fact that I was wearing what I believe they called a short camisole and panties. Now, you're probably wondering why I would bother to wear anything at all. You could probably come up with quite a few reasons why it wouldn't make sense, especially women's clothing, but I did have a reason.
I remember reading something once called the Proteus effect, which describes a phenomenon when an individual's behavior within virtual worlds is changed by the characteristics of their avatar. A similar effect can happen depending on what kind of clothing you're wearing. Studies show that whenever a person dresses like the character they are role-playing, they perform better at the tasks the characters are expected to do. It's almost like a type of self-hypnosis. The more you look the part, the more you can play the part.
And I was playing the part of a female Dragon, but I was also human.
I think I had become a fusion of those two factors. In my mind, this is what a young woman would wear in this situation, dragon or not, and I felt compelled to comply. Put simply, I felt too self-conscious to walk around with nothing, and to a certain extent, the same applied to my sleeping habits.
Would it be unusual to say I found myself strangely attractive? Yeah, it probably would.
Unfortunately, none of this prevented me from having a moment of depression. So far, absolutely none of my searching had turned up even a single clue or hint about how I ended up in this place or how to go back. But having this train of thought wasn't going to do me any favors. So I went straight to the bathroom and started a nice hot bath. It was unusual for me to have one right after getting up, but I wanted to warm up a bit more and relax before starting work.
It was more or less the same routine; get up, get ready, work as a blacksmith, interact a little bit with the locals, and search the immediate area for clues. As with my previous life, for lack of a better term, I mostly kept to myself with only a few exceptions. Those exceptions being those I had already met or those who worked at establishments I frequented. It wasn't that I was unfriendly; I just feel incredibly nervous around individuals I have not met before.
As for keeping close to the town, not only did I want to stay close to the cave as it was my only clue, but I had a similar nervousness when it came to traveling alone. Not to mention I was terrified of what kind of creatures could be out there. But despite that, I couldn't help but look over to the horizon and wonder what kind of wondrous things existed in this universe. This was the universe where it seemed like anything was possible, and I wanted to see more of it.
The problem was, I was just so uncertain of myself. I did not have enough confidence to believe that I could survive in this type of universe without help.
I had no idea what would happen if I encountered an actual dragon.
When the clock tower struck ten, I decided I couldn't put off the day any longer. So I got out of the tub, got dressed, and went straight to work. Outside of occasionally making stuff of my own to sell or just to keep from getting bored, work usually entailed waiting around for somebody to put in an order. I got plenty of requests from shopkeepers who bought my stuff in bulk to sell at the market, but usually, I handled small personal orders. If anybody came by before I was up, they would usually leave a note; and possibly whatever they needed to be fixed if that was the request.
Today, however, it looked like I wasn't going to receive much business.
Larry, George, Gertrude, and Ann would occasionally walk by and greet me. Sometimes even strike up a small conversation. They never pushed too hard about my past, and the few times they did, I think they got the impression that I didn't want to talk about it. Larry and George usually kept the conversations to a friendly, business-like atmosphere; Whereas Gertrude and Ann made it more like what I assumed was typical girl talk.
I found myself actually looking forward to when they visited, especially on the days when I didn't have much to do. Them passing by for a quick hello was the most excitement I had for a couple of hours.
When it got close to 2 o'clock, I decided it was time to take my lunch break. I usually have my lunch at two because, for whatever reason, people love to drop off stuff when they went on lunch break.
I went off to my favorite place to eat: Louie's Bar and Grill- the best place to have a good piece of fish. The only meat I could eat. I could try to eat something else, but considering that most creatures of this world seemed sapient... I didn't want to have to argue with my dinner before every meal.
I guess you could say it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Eh? Eh?!
…
No sense of humor.
The place itself was pretty nice. Good lighting, clean, a band was usually playing, and plenty of open space. As I walked in, I gave Louie the owner and bartender, a gesture indicating I would have my usual at my usual spot. A lovely little table away from the more crowded areas.
It didn't take me long before I had my fish and baked potato stew. The fact that they also served a high caffeine soda was always the cherry on top for me.
I'd rather have that than coffee any day.
I was already halfway through my meal when, I kid you not, a unicorn, a griffin, and a minotaur walked into the bar.
Sounds like the setup for a bad joke, I know.
It was pretty easy to spot them considering that, besides me, they were the only ones who couldn't be mistaken as stunt doubles for Chewbacca.
The minotaur was built like a tank and had quite a few scars on his body. I noticed that he was carrying one of my creations; a battle-ax to be exact. He was a dark gray, but I could see shades of white beginning to show; he must have been older than me, relatively speaking. In hindsight, I had no idea how old I physically was now. Dragons can sleep for a hundred years, so who knows how old I was by their standards.
He had an open cowboy or military vest on; its design made it hard to tell. The large backpack he was carrying indicated that he had the lion's share of their luggage.
Which was an ironic statement considering one of the other members of the group was, in fact, half-lion. At least, I think it was a lion. The other half looked like a broad-winged hawk. Besides a backpack, she had a bandanna, sunglasses, and some type of bracelet that looked like it was made out of shark teeth, beads, and feathers.
The last was a unicorn with a white tail, orange coat, and black mane. He was also carrying a camera around his neck.
I couldn't get a good look at his cutie mark quite yet.
Judging by the items they were carrying, they looked like stereotypical explorers you'd expect to see in a cartoon... which makes sense, all things considered.
I kept an eye on them, sizing them up when the unicorn seemed to accidentally eat somebody else's slice of pie. It seemed he wasn't paying attention. That alone could cause trouble, but he just had to get the one belonging to Darwin.
Darwin was enormous, even by sasquatch standards. To say he could be mistaken for a bear on steroids would be an understatement. Heck, the guy could win a fistfight with a bear. I should know; I've had the misfortune of fighting him a few times myself.
Now, Darwin was really a sweet guy and was pretty sensitive. But unfortunately, that sensitivity had a tendency to manifest as a short temper. When you're somebody as large as he is and has a peculiar speech pattern like he does, you end up getting mocked a few times. This gave him a bit of a complex that I, unfortunately, did not know when I first met him. So when I made a comment about his large size, he took it as an insult.
I found out I was pretty durable soon afterward... When he punched me through a wall. Luckily, I was able to get back up without any broken bones, much to my surprise.
Fortunately for me, I was a lot quicker than he was, and his fighting pattern was pretty easy to figure out. Every time he took a swing at me, I was able to get out of the way. At one point, I started fighting back. I was amazed when I actually managed to beat him, and even more so when he started crying.
But it was his turn to be surprised when I sat down next to him and tried talking to the big guy. It was then I found out that Darwin had a complex about his size and speech pattern. People had called him all muscle and no brains more than once. I ended up giving him a lecture about how if he resorted to violence every time he was provoked just a little bit, he was proving them right.
We repeated this process a few times, and I always gave him a lecture about anger management afterward. In a way, I should be grateful to him. Those fights taught me more about what I was physically capable of than anything else. He became quite friendly with me after that. Interestingly enough, because I eventually ended up on such friendly terms with him, other people started becoming more relaxed around him as well.
Only a few people in town know he’s basically a big old teddy bear.
Unfortunately for the unicorn, I don't think he was about to be introduced to that teddy bear, but rather the grizzly bear.
"Hey, you take Darwin's pie!" He yelled as he stood up, towering over all three of them. The unicorn tried to talk himself out of the situation, only for him to make a comment about him being big enough as is, and he didn't need the pie... big mistake. The griffin stepped between the two and tried to negotiate, but to less than stellar results.
"Little pony makes fun of Darwin, Darwin no like that. Darwin teaches little pony lesson."
All patrons decided it would be best to move away from Ground Zero, not that I blamed them.
But I needed to do something before things got ugly. This was how it usually played out. Somebody did something particularly stupid around Darwin, and being the only one durable enough to put up a fight against him meant he was my responsibility.
It didn't help that I was a goody-goody who just had to prevent needless bloodshed. But, what can you do?
At least it was far less common now, and people were usually smart enough to know better.
I got up from my table and ran over as fast as I could. Fortunately, I arrived just in time to catch his fist before it hit any of them.
"Come on Darwin we've talked about this. Why don't we just sit and calm down?" I hoped that perhaps this was one of those situations when I could calm him with a few soothing phrases. Five out of eight times, he would be more than willing to listen to me.
"No! Pony make fun of Darwin. Darwin no like, Darwin smash!"
Oh joy, it was one of the three out of eight situations.
"Darwin, please calm down. I'm certain this is just a misunderstanding." I really hoped that I could get through this without another fight. For one thing, I didn't want somebody to get hurt, and for another, I didn't want to cause property damage. Both for the sake of not producing said damage... and because I would need to pay for said damages.
Because apparently, I was always the one who had to pay.
But just as I was afraid of, Darwin started throwing punches. At this point, it had almost become routine. Dodge left, dodge right, dodge left, dodge right- all I needed to do was keep enough distance between us so I could see his attacks coming.
I tried to calm him down throughout the attack, hoping he would just wear himself out. "Now Darwin, you know you can't beat me in a fight so just calm down and-" I was caught off guard when he picked up a table and threw it at me.
I was able to dodge it quickly enough, but the fact that he did something like that meant that he was losing total control of himself. Meaning not only was there going to be more property damage but somebody could get seriously hurt by mistake.
I needed to end this, now.
The next time he threw a punch, I caught his wrist, and I twisted around. "I said," using his momentum to my advantage, I tossed him over my shoulder. "CALM DOWN!" When he hit the ground, the shockwave could be felt throughout the restaurant.
After taking a deep breath, I knelt down next to him and tried talking again. "Okay Darwin, what's wrong? Why are you trying to start a fight like this? Hey, it's me. You can talk to me."
"Pony make fun of Darwin, said Darwin fat, Darwin tried to lose weight. Darwin been working out." The poor guy sounded pretty upset. I guessed that this was a big misunderstanding; judging by how the unicorn reacted, I figured he may have been the type who's mouth moved ahead of his brain. But whether or not the unicorn was responsible, by accident or on purpose, I needed to focus on Darwin for the moment.
"And the reason why he said that is because it's been working out so well for you! Look at your muscles, they're so big! And you're pretty tall to begin with. We've talked about this. Whenever you think somebody is making fun of you, violence shouldn't immediately be your first response, okay?"
Darwin was kind of like a big kid, and I was too in some ways. Maybe that's why we connected so well.
Offering him my hand, I helped him up and walked him over to the trio, hoping I could end this now. I could tell all three of them were still on edge, but they didn't react negatively when we got close, which was a good sign. I turned to Darwin and said, "Now, what do we say?"
"Sorry, Darwin have self-image issues." Good, it looked like he'd calmed down and was thinking clearly. I turned to the unicorn and said, "and you?" In a way that I hoped indicated that he should choose his following words wisely.
"I, yeah, I didn't mean you're big. I mean, you're huge- no, wait! Not huge as in fat, huge. Huge as in muscle! That's it, I didn't mean it in like, a bad way. Sorry."
Yep, the mouth has a mind of its own type.
After sitting Darwin down at a table, I went over to the trio and invited them to sit at my table. "Look, I'm sorry about Darwin. He's a sweet guy but has a tendency to overreact when he thinks people are making fun of him."
The griffin sat down next to me with the minotaur following behind. The unicorn, meanwhile, was busy keeping his eyes on Darwin. I'm guessing the encounter with the big guy shook him up a bit, not that I blamed him. The griffin's scratchy voice brought my attention back on her. "Yeah, no problem. It was Whitetail's fault anyway." She said as she gave the unicorn a look before turning back to me and extended her claw. "The name’s Grizelda, the big guy next to me is Alcaeus, and you already know mister puts-all-four-hooves-in-mouth."
I smiled and shook her claw. "The name's Flare, local Blacksmith."
For some reason, this got Whitetail's attention away from Darwin. "Blacksmith? But you're a Dragon." That caught me off guard. I was legitimately confused by that statement, "Yeah, I'm a Dragon, and?"
Grizelda looked like she was going to say something, but Whitetail cut her off. "But don't dragons usually care more about stealing stuff than making stuff?" Was that how the average person saw dragons? I mean, in the show, it was indicated that ponies thought they were big and scary but was the general opinion of them really that low?
Wait, stealing? Were dragons thought of as thieves? I mean, I know they got their hoards from somewhere, but I didn't recall anything about them stealing… Unless you count Garble, who I decided long ago not to consider a typical dragon. Otherwise, the species would be endangered by now.
I once theorized dragons were attracted to shiny objects like magpies. Still, even with my own transformation, I couldn't confirm anything.
"What he means is that we have never heard of a dragon artisan before and one of great skill no less. We've seen your workshop, and I must say you are quite talented." Alcaeus cut in to try and undo Whitetail's seemingly accidental insult. I didn't mind seeing how Alcaeus genuinely seemed to mean what he said. Truth be told, it was a little bit embarrassing to be praised so openly.
"Oh, you must've just missed me then. Well, when I was younger I used to work with clay off and on as a hobby. It's only recently that I started working with metal and glass. I'm still an amateur."
The minotaur nodded his head. "There is indeed much room for improvement, but your raw talents are nothing to scoff at. With a bit of practice and study, there is no telling how far you could go."
I had to admit, when I started this job, it was just a way of surviving. I didn't seriously consider trying to perfect my skills, but it was kind of fun being able to create things. I found myself liking the job way more than I thought I would, so maybe I should consider it.
"So in any case, it's obvious that you guys are travelers. So, what are you doing here?" I asked, looking around at all three of them.
Grizelda was the one who answered. "We're explorers. We search worldwide for secrets and treasures. Fame, glory, excitement, all that jazz."
"And finding very little of it." Whitetail cut in, prompting the griffin to give a glare.
Alcaeus took a deep breath as he decided to explain. "Sadly, that's true. Put simply, our luck has not panned out as we had expected. Most of our leads were either fabrications or came too late, and others arrived far before us."
"Okay, so we've had some bad luck." Grizelda snapped before turning back to me. "But this time we got something solid to go on."
My heart nearly jumped into my throat as one particular place came to mind. Were they here looking for the cave? What that meant for the cave was either something very good or something very bad, depending on what they were planning on doing. So I asked for details.
It turns out there was a temple a few days from here, hidden in the mountains, and they were planning to investigate. I decided to ask them where they had already been while I was planning my next move. Perhaps they could find the answers that I couldn't. They told me about various places they had been to and some of the things they've seen.
I'm not going to lie; I found the idea of going around the world and seeing all the sights fascinating.
When I asked them if they'd explored any of their home countries, they explained that they were more interested in seeing far-off distant lands. Whitetail added: "Equestria's such a peaceful and safe place, nothing ever happens there."
...It literally took all of my mental strength not to double over laughing.
'Oh, if only you knew'
Well, it's not like he was entirely wrong.
"Oh yeah?" Grizelda said to Whitetail in a teasing manner. "What about that mysterious explosion of light that happened a few months ago?"
"Pfft, I doubt it was that big." He replied with a dismissive gesture.
That caught my attention.
An explosion of light?
The sonic rainboom!?
It may have been premature to jump to conclusions, but it was the first thing to come to my mind. That meant that I had woken up close to the very beginning of events from the series. I knew it was something worth looking into, and if it matched up, it would give me a sort of timeframe. Though the thousandth sun celebration may have already done that. It gave me some idea of the sequence of events that would transpire.
Out of the corner of my eye, Alcaeus seemed to notice the shocked look on my face. So I decided that I needed to change the subject immediately. Before they became suspicious.
"Speaking of exploring." I might as well bite the bullet and take a gamble. "There's this place I've been fascinated by for some time now, but despite all of my research, I can't find any information about it. So I was wondering..." I trailed off, gesturing toward them.
"You want some professionals to take a look," Grizelda said while nodding. "Unfortunately, we do have a bit of a tight schedule-"
"Massive discount on whatever you order from me."
"-But I suppose we could take a look."
Even both of her companions seemed surprised by the sudden response before facepalming or facehoofing. Grizelda shot them both a dirty look before exclaiming, "What!? Money's tight enough as it is, and we need new equipment."
I immediately cut in and explained about the cave, minus my involvement of course, as well as what little information I managed to get myself. Whitetail said It sounded similar to a legend he heard concerning the Everfree forest. Alcaeus said something similar. "A glowing pool of water that looks like the night sky… I believe I recall my grandfather telling me a story about something like that once."
By now, Grizelda herself looked pretty intrigued by what she was hearing and said they should go take a look. We all got up to leave when Louie stopped us. "Forgetting something?" he gestured to all the damages that needed to be paid for.
As the three started to panic over their lack of funds, I sighed and pulled out my wallet.
Like I said, somehow I'm always the one who ends up paying in these situations.
-+~<*>~+-
Walking through the Golden forest, you could really appreciate how it got its name. The way the light shined on the wood truly seemed to give it a golden glow. In fact, the entire forest seemed to bathe in golden light, which gave the whole forest a mystical feeling.
Of course, considering what universe I was in, that shouldn't be too surprising.
Nothing in the forest was untouched by this golden radiance. Every square inch, every blade of grass, Even the water flowing down the stream looked like it was made out of gold. We even looked like statues of living metal as we walked down the path. I recalled being told due to the unique properties of the trees, this effect happened during certain times of the day. It appeared we had arrived just in time to spectate this marvelous phenomenon.
The gentle sound of the leaves rustling in the wind, the birds singing; it all gave a kind of heavenly feeling. There were days when I would come into the forest just stand there soaking in the atmosphere.
My companions seemed awestruck by the spectacle, much to my amusement. Perhaps I had the exact same expression when I first noticed this glorious effect.
As we approached the cave, however, my heart sank to my stomach.
The cave looked like it had suffered a massive rockslide. "What!" I Screamed, "What happened? How could this happen and now of all times?"
Now that I had finally found someone who might be able to figure out an answer, only now this happened. I scrambled over and began to try digging out the rocks, but each and every attempt only seemed to cause more to fall.
Alcaeus brought his hand to his chin and surveyed the area. "It looks like something caused a cave-in, a pretty big one by the looks of it."
I barely heard him as I tried to dig more while muttering to myself.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, this was my only clue. This could've been my only chance..." With every passing moment, it became more and more apparent how hopeless it was to try to dig out the cave. Eventually, I just sank down to my knees and looked at the rocks in my hands. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes.
This could've been my only way back home, and now, it was as good as gone.
Grizelda flew over the area while surveying it before landing behind me. "Yeah, I've seen a lot of rockslides back home, and this is pretty bad. it would take an army to dig this out, and even then, there's no guarantee it wouldn't just collapse again."
"What am I going to do now?" I asked myself in a quiet voice. The answer was obvious; there was only one place I could go that might have any answers, but as it stood, going there would be too dangerous now. For the time being, I had to wait.
For ten years, I had to wait.
"I'm... I'm sorry. It looks like you came out here for nothing. Let's return to my workshop. You still get your discount." I could barely muster any energy in my voice as I stood up and slowly started walking back. I couldn't help but feel depressed and slightly frightened by these current events. My possibly one and only chance of getting answers or going back home was now underneath several tons of mountain.
As we walked back, the others tried to talk to me, but I could only reply halfheartedly at best. The group's growing concern was obvious, but I was lost in my own head and could barely be reached.
When we finally got to my workshop, I sat down at a table and put my face in my hands. 'How could this happen?' My friends, my family, my home planet, I might never see any of them again. It felt like my despair had become a bottomless pit threatening to swallow me whole.
'Could this really be an accident? Just when I found some people who said they heard of something similar to-' I pulled my hands away from my face as I felt like a bolt of lightning struck my brain.
Turning to the three I asked, "You said you heard about stories of something similar to the pond correct?"
The three looked at one another before nodding to me. Then, there was still a chance! If there were other places like this, and even if they were connected to different universes, I could still discover something.
I wasn't out of options yet.
"Out of curiosity, where are you guys going? I mean, in general, after the Temple." I asked.
"Wherever our interest takes us," Grizelda replied.
The wheels inside my head started to turn; a possible solution was standing in front of me. The question was, Should I take it? Then I felt it, that strange feeling when I first woke up in the cave, that strange presence. It was just a hunch, but maybe, just maybe, Something was pulling me, guiding me... or maybe it was just my imagination. Either way, I decided to trust my instincts.
Standing up, I asked them what they needed from me, and they showed me their broken equipment. I immediately dived headfirst into my work. They were amazed by my ability to mold molten metal with my hands, so I explained the dragon's heat resistance.
Within an hour, I was able to repair most of the metal pieces myself. For some of the more complicated parts, however, it would take more time. I also needed to find things like cloth, rope, and some specially shaped pieces of wood, just to name a few. If I were lucky, it would only take me about a day.
After thinking it over for a moment, I asked them if they could come back in an hour. After they left, I was alone with my thoughts. Some would call it crazy to believe in fate, but at least in this universe, there were forces beyond our control, and it felt odd that I happened to run into those three the same day the cave collapsed.
It felt like too good a coincidence because I had seen the cave just the other day, and it was fine. I fully admit I was probably reading too much into it, But my gut told me there was more here at work than just luck.
For the next hour, I went around town collecting the supplies I needed while thinking about my current situation. This could very well be my best chance for answers, but I also knew that if those three were not interested in having a fourth companion, that option was out. I would have no choice but to travel on my own regardless of danger.
While it may have been safer to stay within the town, the chances of me finding a way back seemed close to zero.
So when they came back, I attempted to ask them if I could go along in the most elegant way possible.
"Um, I was wondering, that is, if you guys, if it wasn't too much trouble, if you could consider, possibly, maybe, if I could."
Truly, I have the gift of gab.
"Hey kid, wanna come with us?" Grizelda completely caught me off guard when she saved me from my verbal self-destruction. I honestly didn't suspect one of them to ask me that. I nodded my head yes but said that I wanted to sleep on it to make sure I was 100% in.
Plus, I needed to pack up and be ready to travel.
"It would take about a day to get all your equipment ready anyway," I added.
Grizelda Smiled and said, "We were planning on leaving at noon tomorrow anyhow."
Alcaeus stepped forward and added, "Make certain this is what you really want." He said kindly.
I nodded and went back to work and the three left. When I was done with everything I needed to do for the day, I immediately went out hunting for the friends I had made while living in this town. By now, I had a pretty good idea where I could find them during the evening and was able to track them down quickly enough. I told each of them I had something really important to discuss and to meet me at Louie's.
We all sat down at the big table, and I gave them a general idea of what was going on. Louie spoke first. "Was wondering how long it was gonna take."
When I gave him a questioning look, he continued. "Look, kid, I've seen them all come and go, and I could tell from one look at ya you were looking for something, and you ain't going to find it here. Was worried you'd go out alone, but it looks like you found some good companions. I can tell from one look at them, they're good for ya."
Larry and George said something similar about how they were happy that the meek little dragon they met had managed to grow into her own skin.
Gertrude and Anni said that I could always come back if I ever needed a place to call home.
I was utterly flabbergasted, it was like they all knew this was going to happen, and to my surprise, I found myself crying. In such a short amount of time, they had become family.
Darwin said he was sad I was going to go, but happy I was going off to find what I was looking for.
I spent the next few hours crying and spending time with the family I didn't even know I had gained.
I started the next day by dressing in the new outfit I bought with the help of Gertrude and Anni. I got it for the new journey ahead.
We all met at the front gate; Larry and George said they were going to look after my shop; they were planning to expand their operation anyway. Darwin was even going to work the forge itself. After hugging my friends, I waved goodbye to my friends in the town as I left. I couldn't help but feel like this was a new beginning for me.
And that is how my journey started.
