Shadows of Sins Past

Back in Ponyville, it was business as usual. The crowds had been walking about either with purpose or aimlessly. The flow of ponies seemed to move like fish swimming against a current of other ponies present. Westwood was the one thing that stuck out in the crowd, whether that was because he was nearly twice the height of the rest of the group or the fact he was the only shiny scaled object in the entire town was up to debate. With Westwood, all the excitement had started to die down and his stomach began growling, he hadn't eaten in over an entire day not including his time stuck in that cell as a human. His other problem was that he didn't have any money or any way to earn a cent, or bit in the case of his new world as he soon found out.

After nearly an hour of wandering around the town trying to find a way to scrounge up some scraps from a trash bin or something of the like, he finally just sat himself down in front of a building and let a long sigh come up from his mouth. His hand drifted to his stomach while he felt a burning sensation in his stomach, he supposed that with the new body came a different metabolism so he would get hungry faster than when he was a human, "What the hell can I eat in this place?" Westwood said to himself as he felt his stomach churn from the lack of sustenance.

Something he didn't expect came when he saw a cream colored hoof in front of him as if trying to help him back on his feet. The black scaled drake looked up and saw the innocent look on the familiar pegasus, "I didn't know I would see you so soon Westwood." The soothing voice of Fluttershy spoke.

Westwood just let a laugh come up and gently pushed Fluttershy's hoof aside, "I'm alright. A little hungry, but I've gone longer than a day or two without food before." Westwood spoke getting back on his feet not wanting some pony that knew him to see him in a vulnerable state like he was in.

Fluttershy gave Westwood a shocked expression, "You haven't eaten in a day?" The pegasus asked not sure if the drake was strong or just plain stubborn, "Don't worry. I'll get you something if you are hungry." Fluttershy added in with a smile that seemed so cute that it gave a squeal just from how she made her face.

Westwood looked at Fluttershy's smile and heard the squeal, he couldn't seem to resist that look and gave a sigh. He was in no position to refuse a meal no matter where it came from, "Alright. I can't promise that I'll like it, but I'll take anything I can get at this point" He spoke in annoyance.

Fluttershy nodded in response, "Follow me." The pegasus said to Westwood though it felt more like an order than a request to the dragon.

Westwood groaned, "And here I thought I'd stopped that when I got thrown out of the marines." He spoke under his breath catching the tone in Fluttershy's voice. He looked away despite the fact that he was following the one pony that should have matched her name.

Fluttershy stopped in front of a set of tables in front of a small building which could be described as the pony equivalent of a restaurant, "Sit down." Fluttershy spoke and like a hypnotic suggestion the dragon took a seat near the first table that he could find. He looked around trying to understand what had happened to get him into this position, but his stomach growled loudly to break him from his thoughts and all he wanted was to eat.

"So. What's good here?" He asked not looking at any of the menu since more than likely it would be food that he would not be accustomed to. His human diet was pretty much gone since he was thrown in a cell, but even at that he was going to be eating what ponies would be eating. Thinking back to Spike he saw that the small dragon did have a bit of a gut on him so the food might not be as bad as he suspected.

Fluttershy picked up the menu looking through the text to find something that would be suitable for the large dragon sitting across from her, "Well, there is always a hayburger. Or perhaps you can try alfalfa fries." She looked through the text and the pictures of the variety of meals and dishes that looked appealing.

While Westwood was trying to imagine what these items would look like though at the same time it was to be assumed that it would have to be pony friendly food since the population seemed to consist almost entirely by pastel colored ponies with hardly anything else being a sentient creature, "I guess that I'll at least try a hayburger. Can't say that I hate it is I never tried it right?" He asked with a small laugh that was interrupted by another loud growl from his stomach with a burning pain singing the lining of his stomach, "I'm too hungry to laugh right now." Westwood finished setting his head on the table in front of him and holding his stomach.

Fluttershy watched the dragon which she set the menu down, "Why didn't you get something to eat yesterday?" Fluttershy asked with some concern in her voice, "I'm sure that you had a chance to at least use a bit or two for a small something." Fluttershy added in.

Westwood moved his eyes to look at the pegasus, "So that's what money is here? A bit? I don't have anything. I didn't even know what this place uses as food." Westwood replied not moving his head outside of just his eye movements, "Now I find out that it's a bunch of things that I swear to god are just jokes on what I used to eat." The disgruntled words flowed out letting out a small huff as he watched Fluttershy like he was expecting something to happen after he made his comment.

Fluttershy seemed a bit befuddled when Westwood mentioned jokes of his old food, "I don't understand. How are they jokes?" She asked setting her head on her hooves as though getting ready to hear a story.

Westwood narrowed his eyes at the pegasus, "In my world a hayburger, as you call it, is called a hamburger. And your alfalfa fried are called french fries and they are made out of potatoes." The drake spoke which didn't help the confused look the pegasus gave, "You know what? Forget I said anything." He spoke before a unicorn approached with a note pad hanging in mid air with a yellow aura surrounding it with a pencil hovering right beside it.

"Now what can I help you with today?" The unicorn spoke giving a friendly smile that made it difficult to tell if it was genuine or a very convincing act to make herself more pleasant to be around for the few minutes that she spoke with a customer.

Fluttershy flashed a smile back to the unicorn, "Yes. My friend will have a hayburger and I'll have a dandelion sandwich please." The soft voice spoke audible over the chatting that was outside of the cafe like spot.

The pencil levitated to the note pad and wrote down what Fluttershy had ordered for the two of them, "Alright then. I'll get that right out for your two." The unicorn replied tucking the note pad and pencil into a pouch that was on what looked like a shirt meant for the pony's horizontally set bodies.

Westwood sighed looking forward again. He was silent just as much as Fluttershy was. It was an odd moment, Westwood didn't feel like talking at the moment though Fluttershy looked flustered like she had wanted to talk. The next ten or so minutes felt awkward for the both of them, the silent moment broken finally when the Unicorn finally came back with two plates. The hayburger stacked tall with vegetables and a mound of hay shaped much like a patty and the dandelion sandwich on Fluttershy's side looking exactly the opposite with a few flowers exposed past the sandwhich bread that it was set on.

"Thanks." Westwood spoke lifting his head from the table and moving to his meal as Fluttershy had as well and then biting into the large sandwhich losing any manners that were possible as he sated the hunger with the heavily vegetarian meal. All things considering it tasted like a hamburger. This confused Westwood seeing that the hay pressed into a patty had to be flavored with something to give it such a familiar flavor. The thought vanished from his mind as he began chowing down more.

Fluttershy was about to eat when Westwood let caution fly out the window, "Westwood. You really should slow down. You don't want to choke." The quite voice of the pegasus spoke.

Like clockwork, Westwood felt something get caught in his elongated throat where he began pounding his balled up fist into his stomach to try and jar the foreign object loose from his wind pipe. After a good four or five strikes he finally coughed up a small chunk of bread and greens that landed on the plate, "Sorry. It's been a while since I've actually eaten anything." He spoke catching his breath after his windpipe was blocked by his meal.

Fluttershy felt some relief when Westwood had fixed his own condition, "Just be careful. You don't want to choke again." Fluttershy repeated herself now that Westwood was actually paying attention to her.

Westwood groaned, "Yeah. I got it." He said to Fluttershy as he looked back to his plate. The first thing that he grabbed was the ball of crushed and chewed plant material which he popped back into his mouth to chew and swallow properly instead of the rush he was in to fill his stomach.

Both parties finished eating, Fluttershy removed a small coin purse from under her wings and set a few golden coins on the table to pay for the meal, "You're welcome Westwood." The pegasus spoke being more firm in her tone as Westwood stood to his feet.

Westwood grabbed the back of his head and sighed, "I thought that I said thanks already." He started then saw the look on Fluttershy's face, "Thank you. It was better than I thought it would be."

Westwood looked down seeing a black form streak on the ground. He had remembered these as the shadows or hostile aircraft overhead when he was a marine and also of specimens that had escaped and attempted to attack him, "Get down!" He shouted jumping to the ground and holding his arms to guard his face.

The crowd at the cafe looked at Westwood like he was insane, but seconds later a heavy ball of flames dropped onto the cafe building and lit the building up like a candle. Panic then started scattering the ponies about leaving Westwood and Fluttershy alone on the ground near the cafe.

Like an instinct, Westwood attempted to grab something from behind his back about at his waist line. He looked back seeing that what he tried to grab for did not exist. He looked overhead seeing the frame of a dragon much like himself, but this own was a bright red color and it was attempting to dive bomb the black scaled dragon.

At the last second, Westwood rolled to the side letting the dragon bombing at him collide with the ground. The dust settled and the red dragon showed itself to be a few feet taller than Westwood was, "So your race hasn't been extinguished like we thought a century and a half ago. That princess knows what the agreement was." He spoke before a loud cracking could be heard as the red dragon cracked his knuckles.

Fluttershy was once again in fear, the image of the fierce fire dragon ahead of her paralyzing her with fear like when they were in the forest.

Westwood took a defensive position looking like he was ready to start boxing the much larger dragon on front of him, "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Westwood spoke moving to cover Fluttershy as she stared in horror.

The fire dragon laughed at the smaller drake, "You don't know what you are?" He spoke with a grin, "That just makes my job that much easier." He spoke swinging a massive claw at Westwood.

Westwood stood his ground not wanting Fluttershy to get hurt if he were to have moved to evade. His eyes started to fade red, but something began pushing the rage back into the depths it was contained in, "No. Not this time." He spoke to himself before pushing his arms forward and catching the massive dragon's claw with his two.

The fire dragon struggled a bit against the strength at first, then he pulled away to throw Westwood off balance which was followed by a second swing that sent Westwood flying into the blazing cafe. The dragon chuckled watching the building crumble atop of the black scaled drake.

Fluttershy watched the events in horror and when what looked like Westwood's demise happen she screamed at the top of her lungs. Even with her normally low tone the voice echoed throughout the town, "Westwood!" She screamed in terror before the fire dragon turned to face the pegasus. She was met with the dragon licking his lips seeing her as a snack.