[ 2 ] The Silent Flare Ignites

Chapter Two – The Silent Flare Ignites

“Ugh, what the..?” I awoke to a peaceful setting.

My whole body felt weird and tight, like my skin had gotten sewed one size smaller. Skin… Skin? What skin? I didn’t have any skin… Well, I did, but that’s not what I was looking at through my squinted eyes.

“Fur? What the hell?” My eyes burned as the dry air agitated them. I shut my eyes, not risking permanent blindness. Why the hell did I have fur? If I recall before losing conscious, I was slung up into a changeling cocoon or something by Chrysalis. If anything, I’d expect to be a bug pony of sorts. But no, I was a regular stallion. Damn, this dream is just getting weird. Oh yea, I forgot. It’s a dream, nothing really happens out of logic. I let out a breath of frustration and looked around. I wasn’t in the castle anymore, or anywhere near it for that matter. If I had to guess I’d say I’m in the middle of the Everfree forest. Why the hell?

“Oh, good. You’re up.”

“I’m what?” I asked, dazed. My vision was still murky and unresponsive.

“You know, up. Being awake? Returning from slumber?”

“Psh, I knew that. I’m not stupid. Geez…” my voice sounded the same at least.

“Now, we’ll have to get to work immediately. I was shut down my Celestia for the second time! If you had finished the transformation before she showed up, then I would be in control by now.” Can’t forget Chrysalis’ voice, now can I? And wait a second, “in control”? Why’d she say “in control”?

“Chrysalis, I’ve got a few questions to ask…” I opened my eyes and turned my head towards Chrysalis, who was lying down behind me. My eyes still burned, but it was tolerable now. Anyway, before I could begin the inquiry, the information my eyes were sending to my brain was quite odd. I had a much broader field of vision, and I could see a long muzzle where my nose should’ve been. What the hell am I?

“Umm, you had questions?” Chrysalis looked at me slightly impatient.

“Oh yea, I did.” I took in a deep breath and asked my first question. “What am I?”

“Well, you used to be a human. You should know that though, but what was your name again? Josh? Joe? Jared? I can’t remember, but one could say that you’re a pony now.”

“A pony? I’m a pony?” I reached into my inner chi and felt a flow of something brilliant. I couldn’t quite describe it, but it was quite calm. It resembled water following a path. It flowed freely, but was contained within me. The tranquility brought peace to my mind. Until Chrysalis thought it’d be funny to poke my snout. “Are you alive? You’ve been rocking your head back and forth for a few minutes with that stupid expression on your face.”

“Me? What? I what? What?”

Chrysalis sighed, “You are a pony now. During the changeling process, normally the victim would morph into the default look of a changeling and be connected to the hive mind. For some unknown reason though, you took the shape of a pony, even if I modified the cocoon to allow you to retain your mind and thoughts.”

“I still have my own mind right?”

“Yes.”

“Why am I a…” something on either side of me fluttered before everything went calm again, “…pony?” I looked to my left side and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then I quickly swiped my head the other way to check my right flank, nothing. Just a cool-looking cutie mark. Hmm. I checked my left flank again, this time taking a look at my whole body. In my current sitting position, I had my forearms, or rather, fore hooves planted into the ground in front of me. My hind legs were underneath me and were kept warm by my stomach. I was indeed, a pony. However, what Chrysalis failed to tell me, was that I was a pegasus. A crimson pegasus. A crimson red pegasus with a kickass cutie mark. And an equally kickass dark grey tail with yellow highlights. I assumed that my mane looked just as awesome.

“… I’m a pegasus? Why didn’t you tell me? You know Chrysalis, you could’ve said ‘pegasus’ instead of just ‘pony’. That kind of information is important.” I was still inspecting the left side of my body and felt the oddity of my back muscles. It felt so weird and nothing to what I was used to. What I was used to? What am I used to? I don’t remember anything before this dream. It was so aggravating how I couldn’t recall simple memories.

“I didn’t tell you that you are a pegasus for a simple reason. That reason, is that you’re not a pegasus. You, my fine ally, are an alicorn.”

“Hmm? Say what? An alicorn? Don’t I need a horn to be an alicorn and possibly the ability to, you know, wield magic?” My words were bathed in sarcasm and disbelief.

“Jake, you are an alicorn,” Chrysalis retorted with a serious look on her face as she took her right hoof and brought it a little ways above my forehead. She then tapped on something that was protruding from it. Every tap shot a jolt of pain down my body. Wow that was quite painful… Not as painful as the cocoon experience, but it was something along the lines of hitting your funny bone on something hard. Wait, what? What’s a funny bone? Where did that analogy come from? What’s wrong with me..?

I shook my head and shivered. It hasn’t even been a whole day yet and I’m an alicorn in Equestria. But damnit, it was a dream. That really sucked a lot.

“Can I, uh, cast spells?”

“Yea, I guess you could if you knew how to.”

“Ha, it can’t be that hard. I’m sure I’ll figure out how in no time whatsoever.”

“Based on your power level, I’d say the same.” Power level… why did that sound familiar? Ugh, this was incredibly annoying.

“How about you teach me how to use magic?” I smiled my best grin and stared at Chrysalis convincingly. She waved her hoof, dismissing the notion, and said, “No. Not yet. You could still be recovering from morphing or something.”

“Recover? From what? I feel fine!” I jumped to my hooves and bowed my head low and flared out my wings unevenly. I flashed a grin at Chrysalis again and simply waited for a response. Several minutes passed but my confidence didn’t falter. The Changeling Queen must’ve seen this too because she eventually let out a sigh of defeat and got up onto her hooves.

“Fine. We’ll start magic training tomorrow. I haven’t the motivation to complete any tasks at the moment. Goodnight.”

“What? It’s nighttime? But I just woke up! Come on Chrysalis, don’t be like that.” Chrysalis ignored my begging and continued on her way towards a tree that had fallen over, creating a mound of dirt before it. Why would she walk over to a mound of dirt? Maybe that’s where she slept. I continued to gaze in the direction of the Changeling Queen as she approached the mound. Chrysalis simply walked behind it and sank into the Earth.

“… what?” I was at a loss. How did Chrysalis do that? Where did she go? I started to make my way towards Chrysalis when I noticed how lop-sided I was walking. “Ew, I’m gonna have to change that. Hmm, that’s probably why she didn’t want to teach me magic right away. She knew that she’d have to teach me how to walk and fly first.”

I lowered my head and sighed. Whatever, I guess we should just wait tomorrow anyways. I lied back down on the cool earth and laid my head on my front hooves. This is a weird dream. The more I thought about it, the less this felt like an actual dream though. What if this wasn’t a dream? What if I was a real pony? Ahem, alicorn. What would Derek do without me? I was kind of his only friend. Damn, I feel pretty bad about Derek. I raised my head up and tilted it slightly. What if, now this is just a thought, but what if Derek was actually Chrysalis the whole time? Holy crap, that’s scary. Derek and I did so many stupid things together. I don’t believe it. Derek couldn’t have been Chrysalis. That’s impossible… Or was it? Damnit brain, STOP. Sorry.

I put my head back down and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately, I had just recently been awoken from my slumber. I won’t be able to sleep again for a few hours or so. Geez, what time is it? I surveyed the area around me and saw that I was the only pony around. I was the only animal around, to be honest.

The eerie lonesomeness made me uneasy. “I don’t feel so safe, which way did Chrysalis walk again?” I asked the question to myself, looking around in confusion. “Well, she walked towards a fallen over tree with a mound of dirt in front of it. That should cut a few directions out of the picture.” But, no. There were so many trees that had collapsed with mounds of dirt around them. I’m never going to find the way Chrysalis went. Damnit. Well, since Chrysalis walked to a mound and disappeared, I can guess that if I do to, then I’ll go where she went, if I found the right mound… This is really irritating. What if I just called for her? Yea, that’d work. I sucked in a deep breath and held it. Wait, I can’t shout. It’s in the middle of the night. Like a balloon, I slowly let the air leak out of my barely agape lips.

“Well, if I can’t find her and there’s no one around, I might as well practice walking.” I’m not going to lie, saying it out loud made it sound so much easier than actually thinking about it did. I stood upright on my legs and took a step forward. Huh, not so bad. It was as if my muscles were already used to walking as a quadruped. A quadruped… have I been anything else besides one? Maybe I was some tall monster with two arms and three legs? That would’ve been cool. While I was in thought, I was mindlessly trotting in a circle around the sunken patch of dirt that I had rested in not too long ago. Well then, it seems I have walking down, how about I run? I was still walking, so I simply just picked up the pace by a little and enlarged my circle.

I was trotting along finely, kicking up dirt every now and then. To be completely honest, it felt kind of good to jog around in a circle. I started to see my vision spin so I slowed myself to a slow canter before falling to my haunches. Alright, I’ve got walking and jogging down, but I’ll have to rest a bit and get my mind straight once more. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.. Exhale… My breathing grew steadier and slower with each exhale. Soon enough, I found myself in the sweet embrace of sleep. Oh, sweet sleep. It’s just like being dead, but you frantically hallucinate and at the end, you wake up again. Haha, everyone’s a zombie then. That’s pretty cool.

When I awoke, the air was warm and the air was fresh. Probably because I was in a forest. In the dirt. I let out a long, well spent yawn and opened my eyes. I blinked a few times before swiveling my head from side to side. This isn’t where I fell asleep. Where am I..? I heard a soft snoring to my right followed by a yawn. I took a gander in the direction and saw that Chrysalis was sleeping peacefully right next to me. Did Chrysalis come and get me in my sleep? I guess so. What else would’ve anyway? I scoffed quietly and continued to stare at the Changeling Queen. Her mane was a mess and there were holes in her horn, and all throughout her hooves. For a second, I was tempted to poke my hoof through one of the holes on her hoof but decided against it because I might wake her up in the process.

I looked forward again and then looked directly above me. It appeared to me that we were in some kind of dugout or cave. The room was a simple enough room: a simple circle. However, the opening to leave the room was directly overhead. The only way in or out would be to fly. Well, not necessarily, I guess you could fall in, but the only way out would be to fly. I tried to stifle a yawn, but it was futile. The yawn was a louder yawn and I smacked my lips a few times before laying my head back down. I poked my hoof at Chrysalis’ body and whispered, “Chrysalis? You still asleep?”

To my surprise, her body was ice cold. My eyes narrowed and I was immediately at my hooves. “What the fuck? Chrysalis? Uh, hey Chrysalis?!” Worried thoughts were flying through my brain crashing into each other leaving me standing there stupidly without a single idea of what to do. Chrysalis moaned and shifted her body slightly to get comfortable. I sighed with relief and sat back down next to Chrysalis. Only then did my brain cooperate. Maybe Changelings were just naturally ice cold. Maybe that’s why they live in these warm holes. The air was so warm and snug.

“Mmf, what? Wha joo wann?” Chrysalis groaned and half opened her left eye and gazed at me like a drunk.

I simply looked back with a soft and gentle expression before remembering what I was doing the night before. “Uh, if you don’t mind, maybe a little bit of magic practice?” I grinned hopefully that she’d comply in my favor. Chrysalis simply blinked a few times before standing up. She let out a few high pitched squeals as she stretched her legs out. My eyes gleamed at the chance to finally learn magic. She put a hoof on my shoulder and drew in a breath. Chrysalis sighed before looking me straight in the eyes. Hmm, I was pretty much eye level with Chrysalis. That was interesting, sort of. I thought ponies were smaller.

“Yes, fine. I’ll teach you magic. However, I am still tired and want to sleep. Therefore, in the meantime, you must find a name for yourself because I have no idea whatsoever regarding what to refer to you as. You are no longer human so I’m going to wait for you to choose a name for yourself.” Chrysalis then returned to her spot in the dirt and flopped back to the floor, snoring almost instantly.

Wow, that changeling’s got some massive sleeping issues. Well, it must be difficult for her sleeping schedule when she’s tried to take Equestria twice, and failed twice. Eh, can’t blame her. That kind of stuff must be tiring.

I deeply inhaled before exhaling slowly and with control. I had to think up a name for myself.I looked back at my flank and took into account what my cutie mark was portraying. I had a special talent… and I didn’t even know what it was. How dandy. Anyways, the cutie mark is two clashing swords. One is on fire and the other is consumed in what seems to be electricity. To be honest, it looked pretty awesome. I really want to use my magic and perform a spell. ANY spell. I was getting anxious to the point where I couldn’t contain myself. I scoured the small room in search of something I could use and came across a few rocks. Welp, better than nothing. I jogged over to rocks and lay next to them, eyeing them intently.

I just lay there, staring the rocks, not knowing what to do or expect. I guess that I could try picturing the rocks doing something. I reached into the depths of my mind and imagined the rocks stacking themselves up one on top of the other. Nothing happened. I snorted and blinked a few more times before eyeing the rocks again with even more intent. Once again, I imagined the rocks stacking into a tower. Nothing. This sucked so much. I wish I had appendages that jutted out from my hoof. I could just grab the rock and throw it or something. I imagined my hooves becoming something similar to the claws that griffins had. My hooves immediately caught fire and the hole was illuminated in a great yellow orange light as I screamed as loud as I could.

“Wuhh? Whutter you doin?” Chrysalis immediately woke and blinked a few times and noticed the sudden brightness of the room. She brought a hoof to shield her eyes from the intense light and heat. Unfortunately, her hooves were holey. The light flowed through her hooves and invaded Chrysalis’ eyes. It all happened so fast. As fast as the fire started, it went out and the light in the room vanished. My fore hooves have been replaced by same claws that griffins had. These claws however, were the same red crimson hue as my fur. They didn’t have fur on them, but they were the same color. I sat back on my haunches and observed what just happened when an idea nudged itself to the front of my brain again.

My eyes grew wide with excitement and the edges of my lips curled up. I looked in Chrysalis’ direction and squealed “MAGIC!!!”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and moved to sit next to me. She raised her hooves in front of my face and kept them there. After a short wait, her hooves glowed green and were replaced with claws, just like mine, but with a dark greener color instead of my crimson red. My mouth was agape and I just stared at Chrysalis. “I can morph? It wasn’t even that hard…”

“So it seems. You must have a thing for magic. Even if you haven’t mastered anything else, I can tell that it’ll be pretty easy considering how you’ve maneuvered yourself when your hooves were morphing. You were running and jumping around the whole place.”

I blushed slightly and replied, “Yea… um. You saw that?” Thank the lord my coat was crimson red. No one will be able to see my blush. Ever.

“Of course, I was in the middle of it all.” Chrysalis snorted and looked at me.

“Ahem, anyways… Magic?”

“Yes, magic… Let’s leave the room first, it’s getting stuffy in here.” Chrysalis then morphed her claws back into her trademark holey hooves and took to the sky. She floated up until she was out of the entrance hole. I sat awestruck at how easy it seemed for her to morph and to fly. She didn’t even have to think about doing any of them. It was all like a force of instinct or something like that. Wait, how was I supposed to get out? I never actually used my wings for flight yet and I’m not entirely sure if I could actually do it. I gulped nervously and trotted directly under the hole above me and unfolded my wings. My wingspan was pretty incredible. It looked bigger than the pegasi in My Little Pony. My Little Pony… boy, where am I getting all these memories from..? Ugh. I shook my head, relieving myself of the thought and continued. Well, then again. I’m kind of a big pony… so, yeah.

Anyway, back to the task at hand: Flight. It’s easy, birds can do it. Why can’t I? With my wings still unfolded, I tilted them so I can get a glance at them from every angle I could. Yup. Flight. Piece of cake. With a deep breath, I raised my wings and brought them down fast. I was immediately off the ground and shooting upwards. Shit, too much. How do I stop?! I continued to jet upwards, past the hole that led down into the little room. Ah, this isn’t going to end well…

“Okay. So, I’m going to have to banish you temporarily while we get the repairs done around here.” Chrysalis was staring down at me with annoyance in her eyes as well as slight sympathy. I simply hung my head low and remained on my haunches, accepting the punishment being thrown at me. I can't say I didn't see this coming. After all, I did kind of hit the ceiling of a cave network. The cave then crumbled and filled everything with dirt, and yea. Not the best of accidents if you ask me. You wouldn’t believe how long it took to dig out every last changeling. And me.

“Although you’ll be in exile for probably a month, I won’t leave you completely helpless. Err, by the way, did you come up with a name for yourself?”

I brought my head up and stared at Chrysalis for a second, tapping my jaw with a hoof. “Yes, I have. I decided on ‘Silent Flare’.”

“Silent Flare? Really? That’s kind of ironic…”

“Well, yeah.” I began to blush again out of slight embarrassment but still approved of my self-appointed name. “Even if the flare I caused earlier wasn’t the most silent there could be, it sounds much better than ‘Loud Flare’.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and scoffed before continuing. “You have a point. Anyway, Silent Flare, your exile begins now.” She smacked the ground with her hoof in emphasis of her last word. She then dug her hoof into the ground and drew an arrow with it pointing to the east. If you follow this direction and not ONCE, stray away from the path, you will find yourself in the small village of Ponyville. There, you will be a normal pony, or at least try to in essence, and fit in with the local population.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Be off then, Flare.”

Without another word, I turned and began walking. I wasn’t all too sad, just regretful. I still didn’t get the hang of flying, but I was determined to find out on the trail to Ponyville. Once I was out of Chrysalis’ eyeshot and earshot, I looked around and flapped my wings. Not as I had done earlier in the tunnels, but much more gently. I was gently lifted off and I could feel myself hovering almost a yard off the ground. This was amazing. I was flying! Well, floating, but who cares. I flapped slightly harder and ascended. I continued to flap until I was above the tree tops and saw nothing but the forest canopy.

“If I’m going to find Ponyville, I’ll have to find it from the air. I’m not walking through that dense forest just to get to a village. I might die.” I then tried to adjust my wings, while in flight, so I could accelerate forward. I partially did it. I flapped, shooting the air under my wings behind me, but in doings so, also lost the leverage that kept me afloat. Therefore, I displaced myself forward, but began to plummet down. My eyes grew wide and I frantically flapped my wings trying to stabilize myself. My unsynchronized flaps only aided in my crazed descent. Before long, I felt tree branches whipping at me and leaves sticking themselves in my mane. Once the branches finished tearing at me, the momentum that I had lost was quickly regained as I continued my descent and smashed into the dirt with a loud thud and a ear piercing snap.

“Yep, that hurt,” I hissed as I tried standing back up. My left hind leg was badly out of shape and I could see a bone piercing the flesh.

“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. That hurts. Whoa, that hurts.” I felt a slight burn and tingling sensation as I continued to stare at the mangled leg. After a few seconds, a few turquoise sparks started to emit from the punctured area of the leg where the bone was protruding. The sparks became much more violent and flashed until I could see electricity with the same turquoise color flowing up and down my entire leg. The bone slowly made its way back into my leg and with another crack, the leg was correctly shaped and in place. The electricity continued on for a few more seconds before moving to the rest of my body. The electricity began to spark and curve, shooting out excess teal energy occasionally. I felt my cuts being mended as the electricity bounced up and down the entirety of my body. The electricity then began dying out, becoming sparks once more and then finally dispersing completely.

That was cool. My eyes were wide and I was looking around as if someone else saw what had just taken place. “Anyone else see that?! No? Just me? Okay.” I stomped my foot on the ground and started digging up dirt with my hoof for no reason at all. “I might as well try flying again. I guess my body heals itself? I dunno. Probably.” I took one last glance at my leg and wobbled it, feeling no pain. I walked in a small circle for confirmation. Still, no pain. Sweet. With a simple shrug, I began to flap my wings again, slowly elevating myself into the air. Not wanting a repeat of the plummeting to my supposed death, I remained a yard off the ground and experimented with aerial maneuvers.

“Hmm, so if I do this, I’ll move forward, and if I shift my wings like this, I’ll move backwards.” Respectively, I curved my wings and continued to flap. I remained off the ground, but still moved forwards and then backwards. I continued to experiment and soon after, figured out how to move to the left and right and then simply turning in midair. Feeling confident, I took in a deep breath and flapped my wings harder, ascending faster than last time. I quickly transitioned into flapping my wings to move me forward, and it worked.

I flew in the direction that Chrysalis had pointed me in and I could start making out the edge of the forest. A few seconds later, I started to see building with hay roofs dotting the land. It seemed like a pretty peaceful, yet bustling town. It was, to say the least, just how I imagined civilization in a utopia. Reducing my flapping rate, I slowly descended back to the ground at the very edge of the forest next to a small tree cottage. Hopefully, someone lived here. I landed and trotted to the door and knocked on it three times.

“Hello? Who is it?” There was a very soft and feminine voice inside. A mare must live here. Huh.

“It’s… um. Silent Flare?” I wasn’t entirely comfortable with throwing my name around just yet. I was slightly hesitant to say it out loud, but it escaped my lips none the less so the only way to go now is forward. I waited for a response and soon enough there was one.

“Silent Flare? I’ve never heard of him before…”

“Uh, yea. About that, I’m kind of new here and I was hoping to find some ponies to get acquainted with.”

“Oh, I’m not sure.” The door cracked open and a yellow mare poked her head out. Her pink mane flowed down her head perfectly and her eyes were the perfect shade of cyan. I was standing there awestruck as the mare simply stared at me, it was obvious that she’d never seen a stallion as large as me before. What could I say, I was tall and, well, large. I shook my head to snap out of my daze and continued.

“Well, I just came from the Everfree forest. You see, there was an incident and I was forced to leave the people I was with, and I spotted this town so I – “

The door swung open and the yellow mare immediately grabbed me and pulled me inside. She then flung me onto her couch and shut the door. This mare, is strong. That’s all I can say.

“The Everfree? Are you hurt? How long have you been out there? Are you hurt anywhere? Did I already say that?” The mare began bombarding me with questions when in all actuality, I was still trying to get over the fact that she had just picked me up, a pony more than twice her size and weight, and flung me onto her couch.

I took in a deep breath, recalling her questions and answered. “Yes. No. I’m not sure. No. Yes.”

The mare then backed up a little to get a complete view of me. Her eyes grew wide and she immediately galloped out the door. I was in a massive state of confusion and didn’t know what to do next, so I stayed on the couch and waited patiently. I started surveying the living quarters that I was in and found a small white bunny stomping on the table next to the couch I was on. His face was clearly saying that he was unamused.

“Hi there, little guy. How’re you doing?”

The bunny continued to stomp his foot on the table, creating a steady beat that I couldn’t help but bob my head to.

“You know, you’d do well in the music industry.”

The rabbit then leaped up and kicked me in the face before attempting to scamper away. My eyes sent out a pulse of blue energy that enveloped the whole room and added a blue hue to everything. Without thought, I grabbed the bunny, which was in mid-air and falling in slow motion. I brought the bunny to my snout and stared into its eyes. The pulsating blue in the room soon faded and the poor rabbit tried squirming around. I continued to stare at the bunny with death in my eyes.

The door then barged open and the yellow mare walked in. She froze in place as a purple unicorn mare entered the room beside her.

“Uh, hi.” That’s all I managed to stutter before the yellow mare began shaking and leapt at me. She swiped the rabbit out of my grip and landed safely on the other side of the cottage.

“You don’t touch Angel! Do you understand!” she then began to stare at me intently.

I, honestly, didn’t know what she was doing. She was just standing there staring at me. I got uncomfortable and spoke up, “Um, what are you doing?”

My opposition immediately gasped and put her hoof to her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Okay, so by now, I’m kind of confused. This yellow mare snatches the bunny out of my hand, stares at me uncomfortably, and then apologizes. I honestly don’t know how to react to such a situation. Therefore, I stand there awkwardly. I have absolutely no idea what to do. Luckily, the purple unicorn that returned to the cottage with this yellow pegasus was here to save me from the silence.

“So, what’s your name?” she spoke up.

I turned to the speaker and replied shakily. “Si- Silent Flare… but, you know, Flare's fine.”

“Silent Flare you say… I haven’t heard of anypony with such a name. Are you new to Ponyville?”

“Actually, yes. I just came through the Everfree forest and stumbled upon this town. I’m just trying to make acquaintances as of now.”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled and she smiled the widest smile I’ve ever seen. “Friendship!”

“Um, Twilight?” Twilight’s face was locked in its mega hyped state. It was quite creepy to say the least.

Twilight’s face then turned grim as she looked me up and down before saying. “How are you an alicorn?”

“I’m not too sure.” I gave a weak smile and broke eye contact with Twilight, quickly finding the floor a very interesting subject to look at, "I woke up in the Everfree forest and I was an alicorn somehow..."

“Hmm, very interesting. Anyway, I assume you’ve met Fluttershy?” Fluttershy? Was Fluttershy the yellow mare? I looked up to see her walk up to me shyly.

“Um, hi. My name’s Fluttershy, nice to meet you.” She pushed one of her hooves in front of her in an attempt to shake hooves. It was quite obvious that she was extremely shy, but if someone saw how she leapt at me earlier, they’d say otherwise. Her extended hoof was shaking like a house in an earthquake. Noticing her discomfort, I quickly extended my hoof and grinned happily, “Hi there Fluttershy, nice to meet you. Don’t worry about earlier, it’s fine.”

“Yes, um. Okay.” The poor mare was hiding behind her mane, shielding her face from prodding eyes. She looked down at her rabbit in one hoof, which had another annoying expression on its face. I swear I want to just take that rabbit and throw it. I don’t care where, I just hated it.

I then looked back at Twilight who was staring at me like a cat ready to pounce. She started circling me, her eyes scoured my whole body and stopped at my flanks. Her eyes went wide and she immediately froze in her tracks. Psh, what a pervert. Twilight’s facial expression didn't change at all and, in all honesty, was worrying me quite a bit. I gulped audibly, not knowing what to do so I eased myself away from Twilight and started making my way towards the door that had been left open.

When I finally made it, I said with a nervous smile, “Well, it was really a pleasure in meeting you two, I hope to see you later. Bye now.” Fluttershy was looking at me and Twilight was still frozen solid, her eyes gazing off into space at the spot where I used to be on the couch. Without giving them a chance to respond, I turned and opened the door before hiding behind it, quickly shutting it behind me. I let out a relieved sigh and began to gallop towards the town nearby.

"Maybe he was in a hurry..." Fluttershy turned to Twilight and suggested.

Fluttershy's statement snapped Twilight back to reality with which she responded, “I’m not sure. He said he was from the Everfree though. We should help him, especially because of who he is. If what I’ve read is correct, then we can't risk having him as an enemy."

“Who is he anyway? Nevermind, we’ll let him explore the town today on his own before officially introducing him to anypony. Let’s meet up with the others before we move in to talk to him. Well, that is if you think that’s a good idea.” Fluttershy said quietly and trotted into the kitchen of her cottage.

I needed to find some openly willing ponies to shelter me. I didn’t want to be outside, exposed to the elements and what not. Plus, I needed somepony to teach me how to use magic, fly properly, and explain my unusual flame and electricity powers.

I was walking aimlessly in thought, not noticing that I was half a second from colliding with a turquoise unicorn mare.

We collided, inevitably, and she dropped what she was holding. It looks like she was just holding a box full of candy. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there! I was just – ” she started, but I cut her off and put a hoof in her mouth.

“No, no. It’s my fault. I should’ve seen where I was going, but I ended up running into you. My sincerest apologies.” After apologizing, I removed my hoof from her mouth and she just started smiling openly. Her golden eyes were gleaming and sparkling as she began to bounce lightly.

“Would you like to come over sometime?”