> The Equestrian Rider > by Anubis Grimgost > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > C1 the crash > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was mid summer and a completely clear day, Damian had got his new custom Kawasaki ZX-14r out of his garage and onto the driveway. He had said his good byes to his mum, dad and siblings. Even though he was the eldest out of 4 he was still treated like a kid by his mum. She had told him to ride safe for the 10th time before he took off down the road, he had just got the bike wrapped in a brilliant orange and white wrap with after market exhausts. Once he got on the motorway, Damian accelerated up to 70 and a feeling of relief, peace and a resound sense of belonging took hold of him…. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t see any other cars or bikes on the road, none in front of him and none behind him. He guessed that the road was his for now. Although Damian’s life wasn’t the most extravagant it was his and that’s all that mattered to him, he had all he ever needed. His family, friends, a good paying job and his motorbike. His mum had always nagged him to get a car but he had never really been a typical guy, as soon as he could afford to drive he had immediately done his bike license and steadily climbed his way up to his dream bike. Now 24 with what he could call freedom and a life with little to complain about, he couldn’t be upset with his mother even if he tried. As Damian opened up the throttle and shifted up, causing his bike to jump up to 90 mph he noticed that the once clear skies were now cloudy. “The forecast said it was meant to be sunny? Argh fuckers are never right….” He looked ahead and saw that it was clear further down the road, so he sped up to 140 in an attempt to out run the potential rain. That’s when he noticed arcs of brilliant bright blue lights dancing in and out of the storm clouds, in his amazement of the spectacular display of raw nature Damian failed to notice the static coming off his bike as the air around him heated up. Then a large bolt of lightning lit up the entire sky and everything went white, the only thing that was visible was Damian’s dash that said 299 mph which wasn’t possible. ——————————————————————— Meanwhile in Equestria a unicorn guard was patrolling the city’s outer walls, admiring the beautiful night sky in all of its glory. The guard felt truly honoured to be able to work for the princess of the night, this was because the princess had just recently been freed from the possession of nightmare moon. It was a shame that not many sheared her view, most still believe that Princess Luna was still evil whilst others just outright feared her. But then something caught her eyes, a ball of blue light that rapidly began to grow from no bigger than an apple to the size of carriage. The guard was backing away from the bright light and loud noises coming from it, the sound was like nothing that she had ever heard before and it was scary to say the least. If asked she’d describe it as something in between a monstrous roar and a long high pitched scream, the fearful mare lit up her horn and prepared an emergency flare spell to alert the castle garrison. Then the noise got to almost unbearable levels and stayed like it for a few seconds before. Silence. The guard was nearly on the brink of hyperventilating when it just stopped as she was able to recompose herself. Kaboom!!!!* “Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!” In her shocked state she released the flare spell and Curled up into a ball. The monstrous sound came back with vengeance and disappeared just as quick, looking out of her hooves she could see a red and white light zipping away in the darkness along the city wall. But she breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed to not notice her and hopefully her flare was seen by somepony. “W-what was that t-thing?” Her voice shaky and hooves wobbly. ——————————————————————— Damien was disoriented by the bright light and shock of the lightning. “What! The! Fuck!” His smoke tinted visor made it impossible to see the road ahead. “Where am I, what’s going on? Fuck I don’t remember shit? Um oh fuck! I’m riding!!” He quickly flipped his visor up but as he brought his hand passed his face, Damian noticed that his hand was no longer a human hand. Instead it was an orange reptilian like claw with fore digits and light electric blue tufts of fur on his arm. As panic began to set in and denial was at the forefront of his mind, he noted a dark blue horse in the middle of the road. No not a horse, it was a winged unicorn and its horn was glowing. Damian tried to swerve it but lost control of his bike at 170 mph coming off the crotch rocket and sliding across the hard ground. He made eye contact with the winged unicorn as he slid past. His ZX-14r hit a bump in the path, throwing the bike into the air and Damian watched in horror as the bike tumbled and tore itself apart from the extreme G force it was experiencing. Then the tank ruptured and the fuel immediately ignited, the flames licked at his heals as he slid legs first with the bike. Everything was moving in slow motion as a wall became visible up ahead. “Fuck!” Crash* Smash* Crunch* “Cough* cough* cough*” Damian felt only pain racking his body, his mouth was wet and tasted of iron as it began to get hard to breathe. His vision was blurred and all he saw was the oddly Beautiful flames dancing around his bike as it became nothing more that charred remains, the the blue winged unicorn approached and blocked his sight of the fiery display. Damian tried to look up to the creature that he nearly hit and saw in clear detail that she was crying…. And did she have a Crown? “W-Why?” Then everything faded to darkness. ——————————————————————— Luna was horrified at what had just unfolded, she thought that she could help, that she would be able to earn the trust of her ponies by helping. But she had made matters worse, she had to help this creature that was laid out on the ground before her. His hind legs were broken and bent in unnatural ways and his chest heaved in a desperate attempt to cling onto any chance of life. If only she had modern medical training, everything she knew was out dated or bad practice. What was she to do? “Lulu!! Are you alright?” The dark blue mare spun around to find her sister gliding down towards her. “Dear sister! Aid us! W-we just wanted to help! Sniffle* b-but we didn’t mean to, we swear by it.” “Oh shhhhhhhhhh lulu, let me look…. Oh no…. Okay, let me handle this. Head back to the castle and tell them to prepare the emergency room.” “But how is thou supposed to move this creature there? Let us assist.” “Luna please, just do what I’ve asked of you. We don’t have time.” She look to the dying dragon like creature and stole herself before she took off. Princess Celestia let out a sad sigh as she tried to stabilise the breathing of the dying male before her, she paid the flaming reck no mind as she focused on her magic. Whilst luna rushed into the castle and attempted to find the medical ward, she had to stop and ask a maid for directions which went less then ideal. She hated that the ponies feared her but she had a mission to do and pushed those thoughts away. “We must help, thy will not fail this creature.” She ran into the medical ward, scaring the nurses and doctors that were still on duty. “We request for help!!” Unfortunately she yelled out in her royal Canterlot voice which made most of the ponies cling to the floor. That’s when her sister appeared from a brilliant golden flash. “I request for the best doctors currently on hoof, I have a patient in critical condition in need of urgent treatment.” “Of course your highness, nurse get a stretcher and alert our finest.” “Right away doctor.” Luna sat there in frustration and confusion as the ponies that she had just asked the same question to, coward in fear of her but not her sister. That’s when she was brought into a hug by her sister who nuzzled her affectionately. “I’m sure he’s in good hooves lulu but just know that it wasn’t your fault by any means okay, so don’t blame yourself. You only wanted to help.” “B-but explain to us why…. Why we make things worse? Why our subjects still fear us? Why they don’t appreciate our night? Why when we try to help, we almost get somepony killed? Why?” The princess of the night broke down crying in her sister’s hold. Celestia scrunched up her muzzle and tried to think of something to say but nothing came to mind. “I don’t know lulu, I don’t know but let’s just hope that we can have a chance to make amends….” “We wish to….” > C2 confusion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 weeks had passed since the odd creature was brought into the castle ward and still no signs of waking from his coma. Celestia had ordered the staff to inform her when the patient awoke but luna had been visiting the hospitalised creature every evening just before she rose the moon. This evening was no different. The princess of the night had taken her breakfast to go as she wondered into the room they were keeping him. But to her surprise when she entered, the patient wasn’t there. In a panic she rushed to get the doctor but bumped into her sister. “Ouch, oh lulu…. What’s wrong?” “Whom has taken the injured one from their place of rest?” “sigh* luna listen…. I’m sorry but his condition isn’t getting any better, so I had him move to the royal wing in hopes that some magical treatment might help. Please follow me, we’ll go together.” “We would like that sister….” The Alicorn sisters made their way to the royal ward and went in to the room where they were keeping the comatose creature contained. Luna immediately wondered close to his bedside and began to sing a comforting lullaby to her sleeping audience. Whilst Celestia spoke to the doctors about possible treatments to help improve his condition. In the past weeks, luna had become comfortable around the sleeping form of the wounded creature. He had been the only one to who she could sing, speak and complain to about her problems. She didn’t want to bother her sister, in her eyes she had already done that enough. So this comatose individual had been the outlet for her woes. “Sigh* please wake, we need to make amends for our foolishness. Thou does not deserve to lose thy life over a silly mistake….” When she opened her teary eyes, she was met with two large slitted blue orbs staring at her. “Eep!” “Aaaaaaaaahhhhh-hahahahahahahah! The talking winged unicorn that tried to kill me, roads are dangerous you know! Yawn* b-but you’re too cute for me to be mad at, good morning.” And he fell back asleep, leaving luna confused and flustered from his outburst. “Sister! Are you okay!” Celestia rushed in with her royal guards but they stopped as they found the princess of the night with a deep crimson blush on her muzzle. “H-he thinks we are c-cute sister.” Now it was Celestia’s turn to be confused. “What?” “We were singing and he awoke, then he scolded us and proceeded to refer to us as…. Cute.” “Oh that might be the drugs currently in his blood stream, don’t be upset with him sister but did he give a name by chance?” Luna look a little downtrodden when Celestia said that. “No…. Do you really think so, can the medicine of this age really send the injured for a loop?” “With the stuff they got him on, yes most definitely.” Whilst they were talking, Damian slowly woke back up with a smile. He remembered crashing, he remembered a winged unicorn and that’s it, the past hour before that is blank but for some reason he felt good. “Yes well we also have Twilight and her friends coming to stay, if there’s a chance of anypony fixing his thing. It’s her, so we need to get the guest rooms ready.” “But we must keep an eye on him now, he woke up sister.” “Argh, heheheheheh I feel tingly. So am I currently dreaming or something?” “Oh my, you’re awake…. Again.” “….” “Um sister we believe that you scared him, let us try.” Luna tried to hide the smugness in her voice but failed. “Is thou well, does thy remember what occurred a month ago?” “N-no but what happened to my hands?” Damian was inspecting his claws with a sense of urgent wrongness. “Um we don’t know of these “hands” you speak of but we are unfamiliar with your race, you seem dragon like but lack flight worthy wings.” “Wha?! No! B-but I’m human, I’m Damian…. I-I can’t remember my family name, I can’t remember their names. Oh god no.” His voice was becoming shaky as he began to hyperventilate, the doctors worked to calm him and laid him back to sleep with a spell. “So that went….” “Terrible…. It went terrible sister, we didn’t expect him to be so panicked…. But we can’t blame him.” Luna’s ear fell against her head. “Oh lulu, it’s fine. At least he’s alive and no longer in a coma, that’s progress dear sister.” “We guess you’re right….” ——————————————————————— 4 hours later. Damian woke up in complete darkness, he was confused and lost. He couldn’t remember his father or mother, not even his siblings or friends were in his memories. The feeling made him sick but the only thing he could remember was his motorbike, his ZX-14r but he had wrecked the bike trying to avoid that winged unicorn. He could now feel the dull pain and sore muscles of his alien body, a body not of his own but it was somehow his. He felt two large limbs the were pressed against his back in an uncomfortable fashion and trying to shift them. He tried to move but couldn’t, it turned out that he must have broken a lot of bones in the crash. He could feel that both of his legs had been put in casts and his right arm was wrapped in a similar situation. His ribs ached and a new limb that sat between his legs also ached with a soreness that felt more akin to fire. “What even happened? Sigh* all I remember is that silly winged unicorn caught in the headlights like a deer.” He looked around and tried to feel out with his one good arm. “Well I’m stuck here…. Where ever here is but my bike is fucked beyond un-fucking, shit…. Well I guess I don’t have to worry about insurance.” Damian was wide awake now and showed no signs of sleep taking over any time soon, that’s when the door to his room opened and he immediately closed his eyes. He heard clopping of hooves and then a quiet clang of metal, then a second set of hooves followed in. Paranoia was slowly taking hold as the two fiddled with something attached to him. “There…. That should have him right as rain your highness but if I may ask, why do you want this creature healed so fast.” “Sigh* it’s a selfish request but my little sister is beating herself up over him, she believes that she is solely responsible for his crash.” “I see…. Well I won’t question it any further, but I believe we must leave and allow the patient to go to sleep.” Damian’s heart sank at those words, he knew that the choice of words were deliberate.” “Yes I believe we should allow Damian to rest.” “Wha? But how?” “We have you hooked up to a machine that scans your brain waves sir.” “Oh…. And that can tell if I’m awake or asleep?” “Yes, of course it can.” “Well I believe that this is enough chatting for tonight, please go back to sleep, me and my sister will be here tomorrow to speak with you. You gave us quite the scare though, with that little panic attack earlier….” “Sorry….” “Don’t be, it was a completely normal reaction to forgetting key parts of yourself, oh and where are my manners? I’m princess Celestia but I must bid you good night.” “Wha? Um g-good night p-princess.” The two ponies left Damian’s room, this gave him some time to contemplate his situation and What was his plan going forward were. After a few hours after his encounter with princess Celestia, he was confused and scared. What if he had upset the princess or disrespected her? Then he was doomed for sure. ——————————————————————— Damian slowly began to wake up but as he became more aware of his surroundings, he noticed a pink pony in a nurse’s uniform. She noticed him looking at her and gave him her attention. “Oh good morning there, how are you feeling…. Dam-ian?” “It’s cough* cough*” “Here have some water.” She picked it up with her hoof and passed it to him, he drank it and continued. “T-thanks and it’s Damian, my name is Damian.” “Oh sorry Damian, the name is definitely different but rolls off the tongue quite nicely. So how are you feeling?” “Um in a bit of pain but alive at least.” “Oh my!” Damian followed the mare’s eyes and looked down to his legs, there he saw the sheet was pitched up like a tent and he realised that he had a bad case of morning wood. “Ah um sorry! I’m sorry!” He tried to rollover but couldn’t, so he used his one good claw to press the alien member against his fluffy stomach. “Oh it’s okay dear, I was just taken by surprise is all. You definitely don’t have anything to be embarrassed about, it’s a natural reaction.” Even so, he still felt ashamed but he couldn’t help but notice a bounce in the nurse’s step as she walked out. Flicking her tail around the doorknob and inadvertently flashing Damian which made him turn crimson. “Ahhhhh why, she’s a pony….” A couple of minutes later the nurse returned with a tray of food, Damian didn’t recognise what was on it but he definitely liked the smell. “Here you are Damian, for breakfast you have a daffodil and sunflower toasty with pineapple slices and some small gems if you can eat them.” “Um t-thanks but could I please get a drink?” “Oh of course, is there any particular drink you want?” “Just some orange juice please.” “Not a problem, I’ll have that brought to you right away but are you going to be alright with just one claw? I don’t mind feeding you.” The gesture was kind but his pride wouldn’t allow it. “Thanks but I believe that I’ll be fine.” “Very well sir, I’ll bring your drink as soon as possible.” And with that she left him alone to eat. He immediately inspected the toasty and took an experimental bite, upon biting into it he found the toasty to be tasty but he was weirded out by his mouth. It was elongated and if he tried herd enough, Damian could see the tip of it. His mouth was muzzle like and had plated scales but when he touched it, he was surprised to find that they were soft and tender. “What the ffuuck?” That’s when the nurse trotted in and found the cute display. “Heheheheh, you look like a foal discovering their muzzle for the first time.” She placed the glass of OJ on his table and took her leave but not before letting him know that if he needed anything to just press the button by his claw. Damian had come to the conclusion that his crash was so bad that they had to give him painkillers so strong that they made him see talking ponies. That was the only logical conclusion, right? Right? He looked down at his meal and let out a tired sigh before forcing the food down. After downing his glass of orange juice Damian tidied up his tray and waited patiently, gazing out of his window. The door swung open and the nurse trotted in with a smile and took the tray, it was a few moments before she came back with a sponge and some bottles off something in a basket. “Okay mister Damian, let’s get you cleaned up. It’s been a whole month since your accident.” “Wha? Wait? But my casts?” “They are water proof so there’s nothing to be concerned about, so please don’t panic.” “Oh okay….” He was against the idea but he also knew he wasn’t in any state to oppose the pony nurse and she hadn’t done anything out of pocket. He watched as she unhooked him from the IV and heart monitor, it let out a loud beep before she put in a passcode that stopped it. She then proceeded to wheel him into a side door that he hadn’t noticed until now, inside was a wash room that had a shallow pool on one side. “Um hey? Should I be moved around?” “Normally no but thankfully the doctors have cleared it because your bones have ready begun set and started to heal, so if you’ll just wait a second for one of the unicorn nurses to tend to you I’ll prepare a shallow bath.” “Gulp* I don’t know how I feel about that, I don’t remember the last time I was washed by someone else….” He muttered to himself. Knock* knock* knock* “Oh that’s him, come in Healthy Hoof.” The door open and a pony a little bit taller than the mare came in, he spoke with a tone of inexperience and Damian felt slightly less comfortable. “This is Healthy Hoof and he’s a new staff member here at the castle ward, so please be patient with him but don’t worry I’ll be here to help as well.” He just nodded dumbly and he also noticed that the other pony was doing the same thing, so that was at least somewhat comforting to him that he wasn’t the only one having things explained to him. Then a light blue aura lifted the sheets off him and he instantly tried to cover his private parts but the only free limb was a…. Tail!?!? At first the mare took hold of his tail and pressed a sponge against it, the appendage wrapped around her leg and she let out a set of giggles. “Aghhh~ p-please stop.” Damian managed to get out on shaky breath. “Oh sorry, I’ll slow down and be more attentive. I didn’t know your tail was so sensitive.” “Um nurse Redcross? What should I do?” “Well make sure the patient is comfortable of course, Damian are you in any discomfort?” “…no not really, well other than my tail but I don’t know how to stop it from doing that…. Oh actually, could I have a flannel to cover my bits…. Please?” Nurse Redcross looked to her inexperienced colleague and waited expectantly, then it clicked in the stallion’s mind. “Oh sorry sir, here.” He lowered a flannel over Damian’s crotch and continued to support his head with magic. “T-thanks….” “Good work nurse Healthy Hoof.” The stallion’s nervous expression turned into one of pride, Damian thought that it was a stupid thing to be proud of. “So Damian, if you don’t mind me asking. Why is it that you’re so adamant about covering your body and hiding it from others?” Damian blush and averted eye contact with the mare. “Um it’s not so much my body just the private parts, it’s a um well it’s frowned upon to show your bits to anyone who isn’t your partner….” “Oh. Wow okay well I’m terrible sorry for my nonchalant behaviour just now, so you’re kind is monogamous?” “Ummm if that means that you only have one partner, then yes but in some cases it’s different…. And partners tend to cheat more often than I’d like to admit….” “Oh my? that’s just cruel, why?” Damian scoffed, letting out a deep seated anger for only a second but it was enough for the nurse to get a sense of why he spoke so harshly about it. She tried to make sense of how a species could be monogamous but be so unfaithful to one another, it seemed stupid but she wasn’t about to voice her opinions here. “Well I’ll explain how things work here in Equestria, it some cases you have couples that consist of two ponies or you have herds that typical have one stallion and two or more mares.” Damian looked perplexed but the nurse continued the explanation, she wouldn’t normally speak about such things but it seemed to fascinate him enough to take his focus off the bath she was giving him. But then she went to wash his inner thighs, this elicited a yelp from him and a certain part of him to expose itself. Damian turned a dark crimson and began to stammer his words but the nurse handled it with a sense of professionalism that calmed him down. “Sorry about that sir, if you’d like I can allow you to clean that part of yourself.” “T-thank you….” “Nurse Healthy Hoof, please make sure to help if necessary. I’ll be outside the door if needed.” “O-of course nurse Redcross.” After Damian washed himself and was dried off with unicorn magic, he was completely convinced that he was actually in a coma. Or dead. He was placed on his stomach and the mare and stallion began to run brushes through his fur, he found it weird when he felt the brush go through his hair and continued down the back of his neck, then down his spine and eventually along his tail. The sensation was nice but it just felt wrong to him, whether it was because of his human nature or the thought of this not being his own body. He didn’t know. Eventually the nurses were satisfied with his appearance and tucked him back into his bed just before leaving him alone. “What is going on?” Was all he could ask himself. > C3 royal meeting > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna and Celestia were currently speaking to the elements of harmony about Damian’s crash and sudden appearance all those weeks ago. Twilight was struggling to contain her excitement upon being told about the bright light and his odd mode of transport. Whilst Rainbow dash only gained interest when she heard how fast the interloper was moving. The others were a little unsure and far less excited to meet him, well all but Pinkie Pie. She was currently bouncing up and down excitedly. “Princess Celestia, please please please let me see the wreck. I’m sure I can fix it, oh and think of the technological advancement if I do. I could even write a book on it, gasp* please?” “Heheheh my faithful student, please have patience. I must first gain full consent from the owner.” “Oh! Um s-sorry….” The purple unicorn turned red from embarrassment. “Well I guess it’s not as fast as me but that’s no surprise, after all I’m the fastest in Equestria.” Then Fluttershy spoke up with her soft voice. “Oh Rainbow I don’t think you should be bragging, I feel bad for him, could you even imagine forgetting my family….” Rarity rubbed the saddened butter yellow mare’s withers. “Oh darling I’m sure he’ll remember, by the sounds of things. He had quite the crash and must have hit his head pretty badly.” Then Applejack spoke up. “So princess, what’s gonna happen to ya guest once he’s recovered?” “We have yet to decide on that but unfortunately we don’t think he’ll be walking for another couple of months. It’s a miracle that he survived….” Luna winced but nopony noticed. “Oh was it that bad, dam I’ve had some bad crashes but never life threatening ones…. close calls don’t count.” she muttered that last part. “So not only do I have to prepare a welcome to Equestria party but a get well soon Damian party and a hooray for surviving your crazy crash party! Gassssp* I need to get started on planning this super duper party! Bye!” Luna just looked at the last known location of the pink menace in disbelief. “How did the pink one know of Sir Damian’s name?” The group of 5 mares just a shrug of their shoulders and shook their heads. “Well I believe that once Damian is fully recovered, then you can meet him properly because I don’t think we should overwhelm him.” “Um I see where you’re coming from but why are we here princess?” “Because I thought it would have been nice to just catch up, I’ve missed the little filly that lived In my Library.” Her more motherly side showing for a second. The look on the purple mare’s muzzle was priceless, Twilight’s friends were trying to suppress their giggles whilst the princesses suppress their own. Rainbow dash quickly realised that they only now that he’s a guy and his name, they didn’t know what he was. “So princess, what is he exactly?” “Oh I must have forgotten to say, he says human but…. He’s clearly a dragon but definitely not one that’s a known species that has been documented before. He’s a completely new breed.” And that was enough to make Twilight’s uncontrollable urge to learn, go from a spark to a blazing flame. “Gasp!!* oh my gosh oh my gosh, a new species of dragon to document! This is the best day ever! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Meanwhile in his hospital room, Damian let out a soft sneeze that the nurse giggled at. “Awww that was adorable.” “Argh! It was just a sneeze….” “A cute sneeze, like a kitten.” “Shush….” “Heheheheh~.” “Sigh* so how long am I stuck here for and more importantly, when do you take me off the painkillers?” The nurse looked at him with a straight face. “You aren’t on the painkillers anymore and more importantly, you aren’t walking around for another few months at best.” “Shit….” “Excuse me, that’s no way for a young stallion…. Or young drake to be talking, now. What if the princess had of hear you?” “…” “Exactly, so watch that tongue of yours.” Damian was trying to understand what she had meant by drake, he had heard the word before. But for some unknown reason it escaped him, this frustrated Damian to no end. “I’m going to sleep….” “I’ll wake you up for food then.” “Thanks…. I guess.” And with that he drifted off to bed. Luna had felt his presence enter the dream realm and she was already curious of him, so she informed her sister that she was tired and was going to bed. As she walked through the halls of Canterlot Castle she quickly found herself trotting at a brisk pace. Upon realising this she stopped and shook her head before looking around, thankfully there was nopony around to see her foalish prancing. “Huff* we are only worried…. Tis not like we are interested in him…. We only wish to insure his mental wellbeing after all a near death experience can bring nightmares of the experience.” She had spoken out loud to herself, enforcing the idea that she had to check on Damian’s dreams for professional reasons and definitely not any personal reasons. She then consciously trotted towards her wing and up the her sleeping quarters where she opened her own door and closed them, unfortunately she didn’t have many guards and the ones she did have were resting in order to defend her night. Luna slipped into her crescent moon bed and tucked herself in before falling asleep, immediately entering the dream of Damian. She entered it and found herself looking down at what looked to be a large flat serpent of stone that wrapped itself around a sandstone cliff. It appeared to be illuminated by an unknown source of light and atop the cliff luna saw a familiar sight, it was Damian in his weird armour on the two wheeled wagon. In the sky was a moon and behind it was a beautiful array of reds blues and purples that decorated the night sky. Then luna heard it. The roar of that wagon, it scared her but it also excited her. It scratched a primal itch that she had thought to be long dead and gone, a feeling that she had only gotten in the heat of battle. She watch from above as Damian rode down the back of the flat serpent that seemed to never end as fantastical shooting stars of white and orange lit up the sky. The spectacle and noises she was bearing witness to was beyond words alone, she ended up watching him ride faster and faster down the snake’s back. She noticed that he didn’t move his wings or tail, in fact his wings were pressed against him and his tail dragged behind him in the wind. She could not see his face but she had a feeling that he was grinning wildly with unwavering Joy. Then she felt herself being pulled from the dream as the dreamer began to awaken, she aloud a sweet smile adorn her muzzle as she left his dreams. “Yawn* ahhhh~ eep mhmmmm, w-what time is it?” “Oh you’re awake, well that saves me from having to wake you. Just give me a second and I’ll have your dinner ready…. But if you don’t mind me asking, why did you not eat your gems?” “Um because there gems and not food….” “But you a dragon and dragons eat gems, they’re apart of your diet.” “How? I don’t have the teeth to eat rocks with?” “Well of course you do Damian, now stop being silly and eat up. You need all your strength to heal up.” “Bu?” “Ay! No buts mister, now eat.” “Sigh* yes mum….” His tone mocking but the nurse ever ignored it or just didn’t notice. “Good and I want that tray licked clean.” And she took her leave. After Damian ate all the food on his tray, all but the gems because they weren’t food. When the nurse came in she looked at him and then the tray and back to him with an unimpressed look. “Sigh* as much as I want to scold you, I can’t because you have visitors. Royal ones, so please watch your muzzle.” “Y-yes ma’am….” “Thank you.” Then she left and the door was enveloped by a golden light, in came princess Celestia and the smaller dark blue winged unicorn followed in after. Damian stiffened up and locked eyes with the pure white mare, then he looked to the dark blue mare but she was scraping at the floor whilst trying not to make eye contact. He then realised that he had nearly killed the smaller winged unicorn which must have been a royal too. He only thoughts was, this is bad…. Really bad. Then princess Celestia spoke up. “Good afternoon Damian, how are you feeling?” “Um…. Alive, I think?” “Well me and my sister can confirm that thankfully, we had already spoken to you but you were under the influence of some rather strong painkillers…. So I am princess Celestia and this is my sister, princess Luna.” “Um hi….” His voice nervous and body language unsure, Luna felt horrible just by looking at his state. Then she realised that she had to greet him properly and apologised for almost killing him, the first time had been awkward but that could have been because he was drugged. “Um Damian…. We-I mean I would like to humbly apologise for almost costing you your life…. And making you crash your magic two wheeled wagon….” “…I accept your apology p-princess but did my bike survive?” “…no….” “Sigh* I guessed as much…. Argh~ at least that’s the least of my worries, so where am I?” Celestia interrupted the sister as she could tell that she was struggling to speak modern equestrian. “You are currently in Equestria and more specifically Canterlot city.” Luna jumped in. “And we will be letting…. You stay here as long as thou…. I mean you want….” She gave a sheepish smile to Damian. “Thanks…. Heh, it’s not like I have anywhere to go and I don’t imagine you two even know I got here…. Do you?” “Sorry but all we have is that you appeared from a bright blue light followed by a whining roar.” “The noise would have been my motorbike’s engine, fu…. Shoot I’m going to miss it…. And my family.” “We are sorry but if we find anything regarding how you got here, then we’ll look to get you home. Where ever you home is but we’ll need to get a description of your home.” “It was a place called Earth and I lived in a Country call England…. And I wasn’t…. Well this.” He pointed at himself. “I was human, a creature that stood up right and had toes and fingers with skin and hair in certain places like atop the head.” “Mhmmmmm I see, so this isn’t your real form?” “Well I guess it is from now on.” The sadness in his voice made the princess of the night wince. “Thy current form isn’t unpleasant to our eyes….” Celestia turned to her sister and shot her a suggestive look, Luna saw this and blushed. This made Damian let out a soft giggle which court the princesses attention, then Celestia added onto her sister’s comment. “Well Damian I have to agree with my sister here but if you’re clams are true about not being in this form since birth, then I’ll have to get you trained in reading body language and cultural norms here.” “That makes sense but I’m sure it wouldn’t be necessary….” “Oh trust me, it is necessary. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble over something like misinterpreting something as basic as body language.” “Oh…. Okay.” “I’ll have somepony teach you once you’re fully recovered…. In fact, you could study with my sister. She’s currently studying modern pony body language so it’ll work out nicely, what do you say Lulu?” “Ah! Sister! Thou shouldn’t call us that silly name, it’s humiliating….” “Oh sorry, so are you okay with studying with Damian?” Luna’s dark coat turned rose red and she began to stammer. “S-study? Alone? N-n-no sister, we are currently struggling with that and don’t need any distractions.” “Oh okay no problem.” She turned to the bed ridden dragon. “I’ll just have to make time and educate you…. Or if I can’t, I know somepony who will.” “So I have a question?” “Go on.” “You said magic two wheeled wagon and you use your horns to open doors.” He pointed at both princesses. “Does that mean magic is real?” “Why of course it is.” Damian shot a look of surprise towards Celestia and looked at his one good claw. “Then is there a way to get me healed up faster?” “Um…. Yes…. But I’d prefer to allow your body to heal naturally due to our lack of knowledge of your anatomy.” “Oh…. Yeah that makes sense….” “I would like your consent to have my student to take apart your (motorbike) and try to repair it?” “Sigh*” Celestia was about to speak and say how she understands his discomfort with it when Damian surprise her. “Fine, I don’t see why not.” “Thank you Damian and what about your helmet?” “If that’s in one piece I’d like to have it, it’s useless now but it’s sentimental…. I guess.” “Of course, you’ll get it once you have recovered.” “Thank you princess…. And princess Luna, I’m sorry for nearly hitting you with my bike. I completely understand why you wouldn’t want to study with me, I couldn’t imagine it’d be pleasant.” Luna didn’t want Damian to think she didn’t like him but that’s what she had inadvertently done and she was internally hitting herself over it. Celestia had bid her and Luna’s farewells and had began to leave, luna broke out of her inner contemplation and followed in an attempt to not be left in an awkward position. Once they made their way down the hall, Luna let her thoughts be known to her sister. “What is thou doing?” “What do you mean dear sister?” “We see through thou trifling games, so explain.” “Heheheheheheheheh, sorry but I have some things to take care of Lulu.” “Sister, what if one of thou subjects hears thou?” Celestia’s playfully smiles died upon hearing that. “you mean our subjects.” “Sigh* they aren’t ours, they’re thou’s subjects. The day ponies fear or hate us.” Celestia wanted to counter her sister’s words but couldn’t find the words. “…” “See. Even our own sister can’t fine a comeback from the truth.” “Luna, I’m sure with time and effort you’ll earn their trust.” “Sigh* we hope so…. Well we'll be in our room…. Resting.” “Okay…. And luna!” She turned back to Celestia. “I’m glad you’re back and sleep well little sis.” “Thank you Celestia, we will.” She was now wearing a smile as she walked to her room.