Shadows of Sins Past

*Two days later*

The two days Westwood lost his consciousness were filled with anguish, his body shaking in pain and fear the entire time he had his eyes closed. The images of his massacre continued flashing in his mind in between the actions that his body had taken when he was a human. His new body would not allow him to sweat, but he twisted and turned in his sleep. Growls began echoing in his throat as his mind repeated the images of his past. A voice could be heard from that dream which Westwood's eyes snapped open, his eyes now a bright red color as he sprung up from the place he rested with his new claws reached out to the source of the voice. His eyes looked at the figure in front of him as well as the room around him. It seemed that he was in a hospital room and the subject that he saw was a white pony with what looked like a nurse's uniform. Slowly his eyes shifted back to the yellow color, his mind was back to normal and he saw that he was about ready to tear open the pony's throat.

It was then that Westwood looked at his newly formed hand, the black scales and claws frightened him and he jumped up trying to leave the bed that he was in, "Get me out of here. I don't care who the fuck you are. You aren't cutting me again!" He shouted out while the nurse pony tried to restrain him.

"Stop moving. You have to rest. You might still be injured!" The nurse pony called out to Westwood. The plea was falling on deaf ears which lead to the nurse being hit and flying to the other side of the room and hitting the wall behind her.

Westwood shredded the sheets that held him down before jumping out of the window with a loud crash. His body impacted the ground hard. His body had finished recovering in those two days, but his mind had to adjust to the new reality he was in. This was made difficult when he pushed himself off the ground and saw the crowd of ponies. His eyes watched the crowd in confusion, the yellow eyes showed the fear and confusion which stunned the crowd more than just the dragon jumping out of the hospital window. The drake clenched the dirt under him, the sharpness of his claws left marks in the ground, "What the hell is going on?!" He roared, the wings on his back fluttering involuntarily in his confusion.

The drake began getting to his feet though before he could go too far he felt something strange grab onto his wrists and ankles. The force then pulled him upward forcing his arms and legs to separate from each limb as though something was keeping him from doing anything stupid, "That is enough!" A strong feminine voice called as though this action was predicted. A small pony was walking forward, her violet coat being the most prominent feature as well as the horn that protruded from her forehead.

Westwood struggled against what he could see were bonds of sparkling light that and held the strength of steel. Westwood struggled against the bonds, flashes of his time in the labs motivated him to struggle against the magic further, "I'll kill you before you cut into me." He spoke clenching his claws while attempting to pull his limbs close.

The unicorn then spoke seeing the dragon as being afraid, "No one is going to cut you. I'm using a spell to keep you from hurting us or yourself." She spoke showing some struggle to keep the dragon from breaking free.

Westwood stared at the unicorn seeing the struggle in her face, the glow on her horn then doubling his vision back to his bonds, "Spell? This is magic?" He asked calming somewhat and relaxing his arms and legs which lead to Twilight struggling less to keep the six foot tall drake from breaking free, "What is your name horse? Seeing that you things can talk in this world." He spoke hanging loosely from his bonds.

The unicorn felt less struggle and the drop in stress made it easier to hold the dragon still, "I'm a pony. And my name is Twilight Sparkle." She spoke keeping her concentration on Westwood to hold him still.

Westwood laughed hearing Twilight speak and looked up seeing the sun shining in the sky, "Sorry about the rage. Sensory overload. That happens when you're stuck in a dark cell for years then you wake up in a hospital bed somewhere where the impossible happens." He spoke with a grin showing the large fangs that protruded from his mouth. The sarcastic nature present in his voice just like it was when he was still human.

Twilight Sparkle watched the dragon carefully still, "So if I let you down you won't hurt anypony?" She asked eager to release the spell since Westwood was heavy compared to what she was used to.

Westwood moved his right hand in a way that was showing the motions for a 'cross my heart and hope to die' promise, "I cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye." He spoke before feeling himself slowly descending to the ground once again. The feeling of the ground beneath his feet did feel good after his ordeal dealing with the magical unicorn, "Since you gave me your name I guess I should give you mine." He started as he rubbed his wrists that still felt pressure despite the fact they had already been freed, "Name's Westwood. Don't know what I am now, but whatever." He finished looking at the ponies around that still had fear in their faces from his display after he jumped out the window.

Twilight still remained defensive despite the fact that Westwood had promised with his life that he would control himself, "You don't know that you're a dragon? And what do you mean by NOW?" She asked trying to understand what Westwood was talking about.

Westwood just gave a sigh, "Forget it. It's a long story and I don't feel like discussing my life history with a big -uh- herd of" He paused trying to remember what Twilight had specified, "Ponies." He finished not trying to sound like he had disdain for the fact he was addressing them by their appropriate term, but it seemed obvious that his time locked away in the dark had done things to him.

Twilight looked at the crowd around them and nodded, "Alright, so if I set you up somewhere private." She started and looked at the window that Westwood smashed through, "And away from hospitals, you would be alright with talking to me?" She added in figuring that the medical aspect might be unnecessary seeing as Westwood seemed to moving around fine and didn't seem in pain.

Westwood shrugged his shoulders, "If you want to hear my story that badly, then why the hell not give you my life's story. I'll just keep the gross parts out so that you don't pass out on me or some crap like that." He said to Twilight crossing his muscular arms over his chest, "So are you going to show me to this place or am I going have to try and find it for myself?" He asked Twilight tapping his toe claw into the ground where his claws had dug into the ground.

Twilight groaned at the Dragon's attitude, "Alright. Come on." The annoyed unicorn spoke, "But if I see you do one thing and you're back in that spell." She spoke to Westwood turning enough to make her way to the library from the center of town. The crowd slowly dissipated from where Westwood had crashed through the window and the mess was already in the works of being cleaned up. It was a matter of a couple of hours to clean and repair the mess that had been made from the dragon's panic.

Once the dragon and the pony were inside of the library, Westwood looked for a place to sit which lead to him just taking a seat on the ground sitting much like how he was used to when he was a human, "So do you really want to know what happened to me?" He asked keeping a defensive pose while seated on the wooden floor.

Twilight Sparkle stared at him, "Yes. If I am going to find out where you just came from then we are going to have to know everything." She spoke standing in front of the larger drake and trying to keep face to face while he was seated.

Westwood shrugged his shoulders, "Suit yourself." He started before clearing his throat in a mocking way like one would do to start telling a story, "I am not this thing you see in front of you. Whatever the hell I am right now. I was a human. I was thrown in a cell in a top-secret place where they did all kinds of bloody experiments on me. Trying to get a human to regrow body parts like lizards or some other bullshit I don't remember. The last one was to try and teleport people to other places to cut down on soldier deployment times. I went in there, got hit by electricity and started growing scales. Next thing I know I'm in the middle of a grassy field and I'm puking blood. After that I wake up to a horse dressed like a nurse watching me wake up and I'm about to tear it's throat out." He spoke keeping his terms blunt to the unicorn.

Twilight was more confused than she was before, "What are you talking about? Any unicorn can teleport so why are other ponies trying to find out how to do when they can just ask one of us for help."

Westwood's hand his face when Twilight questioned him, "Well I don't know what the hell you're thinking, but where I'm from there are no such things as unicorns, horses don't talk and they certainly don't have their own city. How the hell do you even do anything with hooves?" He asked feeling annoyed by the fact that he was being corrected by something that he felt shouldn't even exist.

Twilight Sparkle was more confused than ever, "A place where ponies don't talk? Really? And no such things as unicorns? What kind of backwards place do you live?"

It was easy to see the annoyance in Westwood's face, "Then how about I make it simple so you get it. Whatever makes you exist, PONIES talk or what ever the hell is going on here does not exist in my world. The only things that talk as sentient beings are called humans. I guess the best way to describe them are bald monkeys that stand on two legs and have a nasty habit of fighting like it's going out of style." Westwood finished stamping one of his feet on the ground, "Something that I currently am not because of all the shit that's happened to me over the years."

Twilight tried as she could to imagine a human, but everything she thought looked like some deformed demon from the bowls of Tartarus, "I'll just take your word for it right now. I'll try and see if I can get any help for you." She spoke.

Westwood, out of instinct, threw his tail forward and the tip sunk into the wood of the library floor in front of Twilight, "I am not crazy. I am telling you everything that happened exactly as I know it."

Twilight took a step back from the tail that seemed more dangerous now than it seemed to be earlier, "Alright. I won't call anypony like that. I will need to write to my teacher to get why everything has happened. Is there anything that I can use to make it a little easier for her to understand?" Twilight asked.

Westwood rubbed his forehead feeling some of his frustration giving him a headache, "Alright. Last thing is that I suffer from nightmares. I twist and turn to the point I get no rest when I sleep." He added in for Twilight.

"Spike!" The unicorn shouted to what seemed to be the attic of the library, "I need to write a letter to Princess Celestia!" She added in which a few seconds later a pitter patter sound overhead could be heard in the attic leaving Westwood confused on what could be up there causing such a noise. His question was answered a minute later as a small drake with purple scales rushed down the staircase with a piece of thick looking paper, a quill and a jar of ink that he slammed down on the nearest surface that his small stature could reach.

Spike, as Westwood could guess from the name Twilight had shouted, turned to address Twilight Sparkle to see the much larger dragon on the floor. Panic struck his face remembering the great dragon migration and the teenage dragons that had caused him to suffer through tests and question his morals, "Twilight! Get out of here! I'll protect you!" He shouted jumping in front of Twilight as though trying to act tough.

Westwood snickered somewhat which evolved into a torrent of laughter as the black scaled dragon flung himself back and began rolling on the floor unable to control his laughter.

Spike was silent for a few seconds before Twilight took Spike's attention, "Spike." The feminine voice spoke, "This is Westwood. He woke up from the hospital a short time ago and I'm trying to get a story together. He says he's not a dragon" Twilight spoke trying to talk over the large dragon's hysterical laughter.

Westwood began slowing his laughter and took a deep breath, "My god. That was the funniest goddamned thing I've seen in years!" He called out wiping a tear out of his eye and sitting back up, "You're a tough one for being the size of a poodle, but you have to get the context of what's going on before you jump to a conclusion like that." He spoke flicking Spike's nose.

Spike grabbed his snout while Twilight had gone to the location Spike dropped off the writing materials to start writing, "Just shut up." He spoke with his mouth covered by the claws put over his snout.

Twilight had used her magic to roll up the scroll and levitated it towards the small dragon, "Stop complaining and send this to Princess Celestia. I need her help with trying to find out what is going on with Westwood so we can get what's wrong." She spoke to the small dragon.

Spike took the letter and blew an emerald flame which evaporated the parchment. The remaining dust flew out the nearest open window.

Westwood watched what just happened and his voice fell quiet to the point that one could not even hear his previously gasping breaths, "Mind explaining what just happened there?" He asked confused about why a letter had vaporized, but at the same time the dust seemed to follow a single file to an actual destination as opposed to scattering in flat ashes.

Spike grinned at the clueless dragon in front of him, "That was me sending a letter to the princess. I guess that somepony doesn't know anything about magic." Spike spoke with a condescending tone to his voice while staring at Westwood nearly forgetting the size difference between the two.

Westwood scowled at Spike, "You better be glad that I don't feel like squishing you under my foot right now." Westwood spoke to Spike lifting up the foot that was bigger than the purple scaled dragon was. The result made Spike gulp, only to be follow by a belch of emerald flame. A scroll appeared from the flames and floated to Twilight, "You know what. I'm not even going to ask this time." Westwood finished looking at Twilight now.

Twilight Sparkle looked at the parchment and unrolled it to read, "Alright. The good news is that we can get you some help, the bad news is that we have to wait a while. Princess Celestia is busy with other matters and Princess Luna will only be able to help us out after she's risen the moon tonight."

The news that his answers would have to come later than he wanted was annoying, but it gave him time to adjust, "So you have multiple princesses. I can see this is a matriarchy, but what about a queen? Is this just one of these places that the rulers don't want to take more responsibility?" He asked.

Twilight quickly took offense to Westwood's remark, "Princess Celestia has the overwhelming responsibility to make the sun rise every day and set every night. You have no idea what she has to go through every single day to keep everything in Equestria flowing the way that it needs to. You have no right to judge her." Twilight spoke in a stern manner as she just about butted heads with the black scaled dragon.

Westwood saw the rage in Twilight's eyes as they were nearly forced into his own, "Okay. I get it. I won't say anything about your princess." He spoke to Twilight leaning back while Twilight pressed her head into his.

Twilight sighed to Westwood the pulled back, "Good. Because I wouldn't want to use a restraining spell to have you hang from the ceiling and your horns stuck in the ceiling so all you can do is look at the floor." Twilight threatened Westwood and started to walk away from Westwood, "Don't do anything stupid while you wait. It's another ten hours before the sun goes down. I'll let you go out for now, but you better be back here by sundown." the unicorn added in pointing her front hoof at the black dragon.

Westwood nodded, "Yeah I get it. I won't do anything stupid." He spoke getting up from the ground and looking at the door. While he was comfortable in the dark, sunlight was something that he wanted to experience more than comfort, even if it meant aimlessly wandering around.