I ran through the pitch black forest, having fallen and skinned my knees a few times. My face had been lashed at by stray branches, I imagined I looked like I'd been apart of a B.D.S.M Orgy, but with clothes on. Everything hurt, and all just to get out of the rain. I couldn't even remember how I got here. One moment, I was dreaming of an old childhood friend I hadn't seen since we were midgets (my representation of her having grown up, of course), the next moment, my pants are wet with the one thing I wouldn't expect; water.
Woken from a nice sleep, in a fowl mood because it was a steamy dream and I was just about to put it in, I began to scurry for the nearest shelter. Suffice it to say, I hadn't found anything yet. For once that evening though, fortune smiled upon me as a particular patch of darkness caught my eye. It was the kind of darkness you'd find in a cave in the middle of the night. What if there's a bear in there? I thought to myself. And a chair as well? Shut up brain. I'm pissed off, and I'm starving. A bear wouldn't register as anything short of Breakfast, I'm that hungry. I argued with myself. The first sign of insanity. It'd been going on since I was born.
Hurrying into the cave post-haste, I was somewhat relieved to discover it was empty. My stomach wasn't so relieved. Why am I so hungry anyway? I usually go hours after waking up without eating. I asked myself. During my school years, I'd traded in breakfast for more time to sleep. Unfortunately, that often bled into the weekends too. Normally I wouldn't miss much, because Dad would often burn the bacon, but the smell of the traditional bacon and eggs always left me wanting.
Suddenly, without warning, the wind picked up and my Goosebumps suddenly got Goosebumps. Being clothed in little more than some underwear, pyjama pants and a tank top, I was surprised my balls weren't shrivelled up... any more than they were by nature. To sum it up, I was lightly clothed, soaking wet, freezing cold thanks to those two things and the addition of the wind. I was in for one fucker of a night. With any luck, the cold would bring me into unconsciousness very soon and I could pick up where I left off with my oldest friend.
Lying on the cold floor, I tried my best to get to sleep. Just as I was about to nod off, a sound beyond the raging wind and the rain, thunder and Lightning all striking the ground at different frequencies, reached my ears. It was a subtle thing at first, I almost didn't hear it. And I couldn't see for shit. So I had to rely on sound for the time being. It came again. The distinct sound of an animal. It was a delicate yip, like that of a small dog, or a medium sized one with no balls. As I listened to the sound, making sure not to make any noises myself, my eyes slowly focused to the darkness, and I could make out shapes. It was kind of like those shadow puppet shows, only these shadows were sharper.
Another yip sounded and I caught the form of a tiny animal entering the cave. At first, I thought it was a dog, but the ears were too pointy and large. Then there was the tail. It was bushy and waved with the grace a cat's. No, only one canine had a tail like that to the best of my knowledge. It was a fox. A very young one given it's size. Up close it might have been about as long as my shoulder width.
With the wind blowing towards me, the little fox couldn't see nor smell me, but thanks to the occasional flash of lightning and the general dark, but pale purplish hue of the night sky, I could see it. I could hear it too. It's slender figure wasn't much to go on, but I figured it must have been female. I didn't understand much about the anatomy of a fox, but I figured the males must have been slightly bulkier in the leg department.
My theory about the wind blowing my scent away from her must have been slightly off. Given the cave had only one way in or out, the wind must have circulated, my scent carried along with it. The fox stopped her approach just feet away from me. I decided the panic would have been too cruel, so I shuffled slightly to make my presence known to her. I watched her as she made a one-eighty for the cave mouth, but skidded to a halt at the sound of the thunder and the flash of lightning. My eyes couldn't keep up with her and I felt a ball of wet fur crash into my chest, curing up. She'd taken a chance with me. Hungry as I was, I wasn't about to make her regret that chance. Besides, she wouldn't have touched the sides, she was that small.
My mind made up, I scooped the little fox up and brought her closer to my chest, using my arms as a shield from the wind. At least my torso would get some warmth from her fur.
"Good night, little fox." I whispered to her. The small bundle in my arms registered by shifting her position slightly. I felt her face nuzzle between my shoulder and my neck. I knew she wouldn't be there in the morning, but she would have served her purpose that night. As would I for her. The last thought that went through my mind as I drifted off, was the question I'd been asking myself since I woke up in this freezing hell; The Fuck is this?!"
Sadly, my dream wasn't quite as hot as the last one. It didn't even involve my long lost friend. All I'll say is it had something to do with the Lunch lady at School, let's leave it at that. It was probably the one dream I was happy to be woken up from. What woke me up made me even happier. That familiar little yip sounded once, which stirred me. As I was slowly beginning to accept the waking process, another louder yip accelerated it. I sat up, still blurry-eyed and damp from last night's cold shower. I turned my head to the source of the noise and blinked a few times to try and clear my vision. The first thing that entered clearly was the fox that I had kept warm that night, and coincidentally kept me warm in return. Second, came the two fish she'd dragged back with her.
I smiled at the little fox. "You got me breakfast?" I asked, not expecting a response. The tiny fox yipped in confirmation before grabbing one fish in her mouth, separating it from the other. She brought it closer to me and dropped it near the hand that was supporting me. She then moved back and took her own fish, picking a random location to begin chowing down.
While her gesture was gracious, I couldn't eat a raw fish. "You know," I began. Surprisingly, she stopped just short of starting. She gave me a look that suggested she was inquisitive. "If I can start a fire, you and I could cook these up and they'll taste much better than they would now. What do you say, feel like waiting until I get what we need? It'll be worth it." I kind of felt silly talking to her as if she could understand me. I soon felt freaked out when she did understand me. She even nodded and everything. At that moment, the logical side of my brain was screaming 'Aliens!' while the imaginative side was shouting 'Awesome!'.
"Alrighty then!" I said casually, getting onto my feet. The fox did the same and even climbed up onto me. She scurried around all over me, trying to find a comfortable place to perch herself on. She finally rested on my shoulders. She slung herself around my neck like a fox-skin shawl, preferring the left side. Her claws felt ticklish in certain places, in others, they downright hurt. Fortunately, once she was comfortable, so was I. With that done, I carried us out of the cave in search of some fire wood. I wasn't much of a camper, so I only had the general knowledge to go by, combined with simple logic. These two things told me that wet wood wouldn't make for much of a fire. So dry and thin to start out with. We could get some fire log sized ones afterward.
"So, I guess you've decided to stick with me for a while, huh?" I asked the fox, striking up a one-sided conversation. Nevertheless, she nodded, nuzzling into me. I smiled, even going so far as to chuckle a little. She was cute, she was friendly, and she wasn't hiding alien probes anywhere that I could think of, or want to think of. I decided to brush the fact she could understand me off for now. "Well if that's the case, I'll have to introduce myself. I'm John." I said. I didn't bother offering my hand. She just nuzzled me again.
"Now, you can understand me, but you can't exactly talk to me. So I'll have to guess your name." I chuckled. She just looked at me, waiting for me to begin. "Now I'm gonna guess you don't have a traditional human name like I do... so I'm thinking you're a... Aria?" she shook her head. "Alia?" I asked. She shook her head again. "Okay, I know it's got Alia in the name." she nodded.
After a cacophony of names, I decided to take a shot in the dark. "Alright, last guess... Thralia!" To my great relief, she nodded, nuzzling me in congratulations afterward. I laughed hysterically. Of all the names. I was part of an animated web series here the main character was called Thralia. One of the characters I voiced had a crush on her.
The rest of the scavenger hunt was bountifu in terms of conversation and dry wood. With a small amount of help from Thralia, if you could call carrying a single stick in her mouth which she would then accidentally proceed to poke me in the face with it help, we made it back in one piece no worse for wear. The fish were where we left them and all seemed just so. I gathered some of our collection together and took the least thin branch I could find and began to stick it in the middle of the pile. I then placed both hands around it and began to rub them together really quickly. The trick was to have a bit of tree bark at the bottom and make sure that you rubbed your hands together as far down as you could get without displacing the surrounding branches. Of course, it helped if the wood was flamable. If it wasn't, I was fucked, and Thralia was ripped off over a warm meal.
Fortune smiled upon me constantly since I got here. smoke began to rise from the base of the fire and as soon as the smallest ember showed, I leaned closer and blew, trying to spread that ember. With that done, it was simply a matter of keeping the fire going. I saved two long sticks from the fire, instead having found a better use for them. I skewered our fish with them and dug them into the ground. The fish were now leaning over the fire. Smoked flake. I wondered if it would be anything like grilled flake, only without the batter.
Thralia watched in anticipation, licking her chops occasionally. It then occurred to me that I didn't know when the fish would be done. Usually, there would be some discolouration to signify that it was done. I began to look out for the sight of scales browning.
"I guess we should discuss where we should go from here." I began, catching her attention. "While this cave is nice and dry, it doesn't do much to protect us from either the wind or any predator hungry enough to fix their vision. So we can either think of ways to fortify this place, or go looking for somewhere else. What do you think?" I asked. I didn't know how she would answer. I didn't even know if she could. I watched her look out into the forest with uncertainty, then back to me with that same expression. Clearly she found cause to worry on both accounts.
"I figure if we go first thing tomorrow morning, depending on how deep in we are, we could perhaps find the edge of the forest or even a better place to make camp." I suggested. Thralia simply nodded, going back to eyeing her fish. I looked mine over too. They seemed to be done. The scales were browning in areas. I took mine away from the fire and patted the surface. It was hot. That was a good sign, right?
I helped Thralia with her fish and she dug into it without waiting for me to remove the stick. Poor thing must have been starving. "Is it cooked all the way through?" I asked. she nodded without looking away. I took her word for it and bit down. I was too hungry to care about the fact that I was eating it's innards as well. Usually they'd have been cut out, but in the absence of a knife or the will to give a dead fish a prostate, I took what I could get.
Just as we were finishing off our breakfast, we heard a roar in the distance. It was far away, but the sound itself made us nearly break our necks turning to look towards the mouth of the cave. "That didn't sound like any predator I know of." I said. Thralia raced over to me, scurrying into my lap. She was shaking. I was surprised that I wasn't shaking with her. Whatever it was, it sounded big.
The roar came again, this time closer, but still far off. Not just big, massive, like Godsilla massive! My mind told me. I was inclined to agree with it. I began to wonder why we heard it now of all times. My gaze was drawn to the ceiling of the cave. The smoke from the fire had piled up and the only release was towards the mouth of the cave. Whatever that thing was, it must have seen the smoke.
"I think our minds have been made up for us, Thralia. Come on." I said, lifting her into my arms as I stood up. She circled around my shoulders again before draping herself around my neck like before. Clearly, she trusted me to protect her. I didn't want to let her down. I was always fascinated by foxes. I walked to the edge of the cave and stood for a moment. Looking back, I noticed that the fire was almost dead. It would be gone before whatever made that sound arrived, and the smoke might just have cleared in time. Still, that wasn't a chance I was willing to take. Together, we departed that cave without the intention of returning. It had served it's primary purpose in keeping us sheltered from the rain that previous night.
A few minutes into the forest, we heard the local wildlife around us. Some of it sounded natural, the rest sounded like the swamps of Dagobah from Star Wars. "We must be in an uncharted part of the Amazon." I said aloud. Thralia gave no comment. She just buried her head into my neck. She was scared. "You're not from around here either, are you?" I asked. She raised her head to look at me before shaking it. She then returned to necking me. With a sigh, I stopped to gather my bearings. The sun rises in the East and sets in the west. It couldn't have been later than eleven in the morning. Looking up, I squinted to see that the sun was just shy of directly above. Given it's position, I realised that we were heading West. What little natural instincts I had told me to head South from where I was.
After a moment of internal debate, I decided to do as my instincts told me. Just as I was about to take a step, I heard that roar again. It was coming from above. I hurried over to the nearest tree and hid behind it. Thralia and I both peeked out and looked skyward. A massive shape blew by, blotting out the sun for a moment. I caught my breath for a moment and went into a panic attack. I backed up against the tree and began to hyper ventilate.
"Wh-wh-what... the FUCK... WAS THAT?!" I yelled out. Thralia flinched and buried herself further into my neck. I placed both hands over my face and sighed heavily, pushing myself further against the tree.
"Ooooh my god, where.the.fuck.am.I?" I asked no-one in particular. I honestly felt as though I was in some sort of rendition of Jules Verne's 'The lost World'. I slid down the tree into a crouched position. "I think I'm gonna hurl!" I stated, leaning forward. Thralia did her best to comfort me. It helped a little, but the panic was still present. I felt incredibly cold. I realised I was almost scared to death. "H~oh shit!" I groaned, getting a grip on my hair. Thralia's worried whimper made me try to collect myself. I took a deep breath through the nose and exhaled slowly through the mouth. I repeated this three times before I managed to think properly again.
"We need to get as far away from that thing as we can." I said. I took a step forward, then another, and another. I picked up my pace until I was moving at a cross between a jog and a brisk walk.
It was an hour until I realised I was completely lost. The trees had blotted out the sun, so it couldn't be used to navigate us. I had to rely on the hope that I hadn't deviated from my course. My instincts were telling me that I was on the right path. Where it would lead, I didn't know. The roars had continued at the same distance throughout the hour. It was tracking us, slowly. And it didn't have any problem letting us know it. My mind was overloading, trying to figure out how it was tracking us.
"Argh! I just don't get it! How could it have picked up our scent?! The smell of the fish alone should have... covered our scents... Son of a fuck!" I crouched down, covering my face again. "The damn fish! It's coated us like bad odour and that thing's tracking us that way." I explained to Thralia. She obviously hadn't realised this either as she began sniffing me then herself. She looked worried as she confirmed my suspicion. "We have to find a water source. Water masks all scents. He shouldn't be able to follow us afterward." I said, moving Eastward.
My sense of direction was impeccable. We came upon a river just deep enough for me to get my entire body under. I grabbed Thralia and went through what we were going to do. "Alright. You're going to hold your breath for ten seconds. In that ten seconds, I'm gonna dunk you in the water, scrub you down and pull you out. That way, you won't drown. Okay?" I swear, if animals could blush, she was doing it at that moment. She hesitantly nodded. "I'll keep to the edge so I don't lose you to the current." I said. "We have to move quickly. I want to get as much distance from whatever's following us as possible." I concluded.
I knelt down on the edge of the river and slowly placed Thralia in. "Okay. On three. One, two, three." I said. Thralia sucked in air and closed her eyes. In that instant, I forced her down and began to just rough her up like you do when playing with a dog. As the tenth second approached, I grabbed her tighter and pulled her out of the river. To say she looked funny was an understatement. Her tail looked like the branch of a weeping willow. Sadly, she was shaking profusely. I removed my tank top and wrapped it around her, proceeding to dry her off.
As soon as she was done and fluffed up, I removed the rest of my clothing and folded it on a rock near the edge of the river. I ran in, wailing as the cold bit me all the way. I ignored it to the best of my abilities and focused on scrubbing myself down. I held my breath and just flailed about in the water, rubbing my entire body all over. Time was of the essence and I didn't have the luxury of being graceful. I scurried out of the river and shook myself dry like a dog. It wasn't enough to completely dry me, but I had little choice. Choosing to forego my tank top, I threw my underwear and pants back on and continued on my way with my tank top over my arm and Thralia over my shoulders.
I smiled as the next roar we heard was far off and pissed. It had worked. The creature couldn't track our scents any more. That victory was short lived, however as another roar came and it was much closer. "How the hell is he doing that?!" I cried out, going into a full-on run. The creature kept up, even began closing in. It obviously knew that its prey was intelligent and wasn't going to risk losing another means to track us. Oh, how I hated that big bastard.
Pretty soon, Thralia began to yip frantically. I turned my head to look at what she was going off at. It was a massive tree, big enough not to be uprooted by the monstrosity that was tailing us, but small enough for us to hide in. I broke the line Southward and headed towards the tree. Among the roots, they formed a sort of thin archway. I was just able to squeeze through with Thralia. And not a moment too soon. The surrounding trees from the North crashed and the source of the roaring arrived. I leaned against the side of the small space, the archway just next to me. I held Thralia in my arms, ready to shush her should she be startled by any sudden sounds.
I heard the creature stepping around the tree, as if it knew we were in here. Before I knew it, the creature shoved its nose through the archway, blocking off most of the light. I saw crimson scales, rows of sharp surprisingly white teeth and smoke billowing out from its nostrils. There was no doubt about it; that was a dragon chasing us. Three things went through my mind. The first thing saw 'Thank god Thralia and I were out of reach'. The second thing that went through my mind was 'Where the Fuck am I?'. Finally, 'How the hell did it know we were in here?!'.
Some hours went by before the thing finally seemed to give up. I knew it was hours instead of my imagination because when the dragon finally pulled it's face out of the archway, very little light shone through. The sun was setting by the look of the hue. The creature gave off a loud roar before everything was quiet. A minute passed and there was still no sound. Thralia began to fidget and squirm. Either she was claustrophobic, or didn't want to be anywhere near here. I couldn't blame her, but something about the situation made me uneasy. Granted, the dragon took up most of the day trying to catch us in its mouth, but without knowing how smart it really was, I wasn't willing to bet it just left like that, even after having persisted as long as it had.
"Wait!" I whispered to Thralia. Thankfully, she stopped to look at me. "I don't think it's really gone. The other animals should have started communicating by now. It's too quiet. He's waiting for us to come out." I kept my voice down, not sure how good the dragon's hearing was. Thralia gave me a very sad look. I found it strange how I could interpret her facial expressions, then again, she was very good at it. I crouched down, my back to the side of the arch way, out of reach if the dragon tried it again. Thralia was curled up on my laps.
It was well into night-time before I felt it was safe to come out. Though none of the animals around had begun to chatter away, there was one sound I was quite familiar with, even if it was incredibly deep due to the sheer size of the dragon's lungs. Snoring! The bastard was asleep. And that was the perfect chance for Thralia and I to am-scray. I whispered to her as such and lifted her onto my shoulder where she assumed her now regular position around my neck. Having a living shawl was very convenient. Perhaps no more than a regular shawl, but at least I could talk to this one.
I peeked my head out from behind the archway and confirmed that the dragon was indeed asleep and not just snoring as a means to trick me. He sounded like my dad with a megaphone. Motioning for Thralia to keep quiet, I crept out from behind the cover of the tree and tip-toed Eastward, away from the Dragon.
Things were looking good. One step at a time was key. One step at a... *snap* ...FUCK! That snort, famous for its use during someone's awakening, rattled my skeleton. I dared not move just yet. A few sounds followed before total silence. Maybe the dragon's vision was based on movement, meaning it couldn't see me if I didn't move. Thralia obviously had the same idea.
I didn't bother testing that theory though, as I felt the bastard's snout press into my back ever so slightly. It might have had the intention of knocking me over, but I was like super-bouncy rubber. The second I felt it, I shot straight forward as fast as my legs would take me. "WHERE'S THE FUCKING CHAMPION OF KIRKWALL WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!" I cried out. Without a doubt, the dragon followed. I heard his massive footsteps behind me, as well as the creaking and bending of trees as he shrugged them off.
"I probably shouldn't ask, but did you do anything to piss him off before we met?!" I asked Thralia. She shook her head, clutching onto me for dear life.
Our escape attempt was cut off however, as I noticed in the upcoming clearing, a huge gap in the ground. I was running for a cliff. If this was Narnia, Aslan could fucking keep it! With seconds to think, I contemplated the ways I could die. I could wind up a bloody mess on the other side of a river, or I could get eaten by a dragon and come out the other end a steaming pile of- oh wait, there's a bridge!
I altered my course, huffing and puffing. I didn't care about the fragility of the bridge, it was the only chance I had at the moment. I shot across that bridge like a streak of piss. I heard the dragon come to a halt behind me. He had wings, so why didn't he just fly? It'd be like something out of Jurassic Park 3. I didn't stop until I got to the other side. When I turned to look, he was already retreating back into the trees.
Feeling we'd crossed the threshold of his territory, Thralia and I let out a deep sigh, followed by heavy breathing from myself as I took the chance to catch my breath. We were safe. Taking a moment to look around, I noticed that it wasn't a cliff, but in fact a chasm. Turning around, I noticed a silhouette in the distance. It was fairly close, maybe five minutes walk? The overall structure looked like some sort of construct, but it was too far to tell what kind.
"Least it's a roof over our heads for the night." I said to my fox friend as I began the trek.
Through the darkness, I could make out the tell-tale signs of a castle ruin. I knew it was a castle because of the sheer landscape it covered. And I knew it was in ruins because it lacked any complete towers. Knowing it would be deserted, I took us through the front gate. The doorway was slightly ajar, but that was to be expected. In fact, I half expected the doorway to lack any doors. I pushed on the door. It creaked open like only the door to a haunted castle could do. If that wasn't creepy enough, the rain started to pick up once again the second I stepped through into the castle.
The interior was surprisingly well intact. Some drapes of the sun and the moon, although dusty and missing the bottom section, were still in good condition. It gave me a good idea of how the people here thought. They were worshippers of the sun and the moon, celestial bodies in their own right. The medieval castle had portraits and statues of armour, all representing horses with surprisingly human expressions, not to mention the clothes.
There was a hallway to the right, which I followed. It lead to a small personal library. Taking one of the books, I found that the text was not what I'd hoped it would be. I couldn't understand the lettering. Although I did notice a children's section. Going towards it, I spotted what might help me decipher the language. There were two charts. One held the numerical system in Roman Numerals, which I had a moderate liking for. I understood up to 'XXXIX' (39). The other was what I could only assume to be the alphabet. It had the symbols I'd glanced at the book, but placed in order. "I'll try to memorise that tomorrow. In the mean time, let's look for a place to sleep." I said, turning to leave the Library.
The exploration led me through the kitchen, the mess hall, the war room, and finally to the chambers. I walked to the end of the hallway which was on the topmost level still intact. Opening the door, Thralia and I noticed a room like nothing we'd ever seen before. It was a dual themed room that had colours that fit the traits of the sun and the moon. One side of the room was painted a night theme with a Queen-sized bed in the middle of it, the other side mirrored the layout with a sun theme. And in the middle, a faint violet hue connected them. It was surprisingly well done for a medieval era. I almost thought the painter to be as artistically skilled as Michelangelo. But then again, he painted the Sistine Chapel.
I looked down at Thralia who gave me a puzzled look. "So are you gonna call dibs on the night side, or shall I?" I asked.
So I woke up feeling officially grossed out. Had another sexy dream about my old friend, but just as I was about to finish up, I see Thralia. I got a start and flung her over to the other side of the bed as I sat up. Pleasant dreams indeed. Now that I was completely awake and feeling a little sorry for myself, I decided to focus my mind on other matters. I was tempted to see if I could work out that language. If an intellectual old man could translate the holy bible from Latin to English, why couldn't I translate this? The castle itself was rather Victorian, so perhaps with the alphabet and maybe a few picture books, I could get this right. It would take a while. I made my way to the library which had a little nursery for children.
Thralia decided to help out wherever she could. She began gathering books. Unfortunately, they were random, and not of any use to me at the time, but the spirit of the gesture was there. "Perhaps you could find me some paper? And something to write with?" I asked her. It was nice having a pet-like friend who understood you and did as they were told. The most I could get my dad's pet dog to do was wave at me, sit and wait until I said it was okay for him to eat. Thralia was as human as an animal could be. She understood me word for word, and it was a godsend. If she weren't an animal, she'd be the perfect girlfriend; always listened, did what I told her and never spoke.
I began to wonder if there might be something in these books that could lead me home. Perhaps I could take Thralia with me. The question was, would she want to go back with me? Perhaps she had a family waiting for her too. Come to think of it, I hadn't really thought about my family since I'd got here. Granted, I was rather cut off from society, but... nothing? I didn't miss them. It was kind of unnerving.
A muffled yip brought me out of my train of thought. Thralia had come back with exactly what I asked. Paper, or parchment if I wanted to get technical, a quill and even an ink bottle. I wondered if the ink was dry? "Thanks, sweetie." I said, taking the items from her. She curled up next to me and watched what I was doing.
I first copied the alphabet in that strange language, then placed the English letters in order beneath them. I then grabbed what I came to discover was a picture book. I went to the first picture and read the wording for it. The picture was an apple. I looked the word over and cross-referenced it with the alphabet chart I'd drawn. Sure enough, the lettering was what I'd hoped. Apple was spelled the same way, but the letters were just different. So theoretically, if I memorised the alphabet of this language, I could read virtually any book in the library.
I checked again with the other pictures, the result was the same. I even checked the title of the book. It read; 'ABC for foals.' "Foals? Maybe it's not as cut and dry as I thought." I said aloud, moving on to another book, 'The tale of the two sisters'. The book contained pictures as well, but they were just markers to the story. I read it, translating every word I could. The story seemed to read the same as the pictures, but the pony references were making me uneasy. There was no reference to people, but every kind of mythical creature and stereotypical animal was described in book after book.
I'd been through five books by the time I gave up. It was reaching late into the afternoon. Thralia was looking bored and my head was beginning to hurt with all the words I'd read and translated. I'd gained a basic recollection of the alphabet, but it still took me time to figure out which letters were which without the aid of the chart.
As I was in the middle of deciphering another book, Thralia caught my attention. She'd carried the picture book I'd started out with. The apple picture was open as she dropped the book in front of me and smacked her paw over the picture.
"Oh sorry, Thralia. I didn't realise it was so late. Alright. Let's take a break and get something to eat." I said. She yipped with excitement and crawled up me like a curtain, resting comfortably on her shoulder-shaped perch. Together we left the Library. On the way, something stopped me. A sign that I hadn't noticed read 'mage's quarters'. Curiosity got the better of me and I took a detour, much to Thralia's chagrin.
Following the sign, I found a door that lead to a large room. Not as large as the room We'd slept in last night, but still pretty large. It had desks, bookshelves, alchemical stations, a bed and a wardrobe. The wardrobe was what interested me the most. Stepping up to it, I opened the doors to find robes. They were kind of small. If anything, they seemed to be a mix between a winter nightgown and a Hawaiian shirt in terms of shape. The fabric used was rather modern. It was about my size too. It had a hood and everything. Deciding there was nothing but to try it out, I did just that. Thralia shifted to the nearest desk as I wrapped the robe around me. Honestly, it was like a white hooded jacket when it was on me. Still it was warm and better than just wearing a tank top. Thralia moved back to my shoulder, but slid into the hood. She fidgeted at first, but relaxed once she was upright.
"Looks like we found a more secure method of transportation for you, eh Thralia?" I asked, chuckling as we left the room. We walked by what appeared to be an armoury. Weapons and armour would be useful should we run into that dragon again. The chances of me slaying it were pretty thin, but it would still be better than nothing. Stepping through, We noticed that the armours were specifically designed for horses, small ones at that.
"Strange. Perhaps I didn't mistranslate that foal reference after all. Perhaps horses are the dominant species here. Better than Raptors, I guess." I said, examining the armour closer. While the overall shape was designed for ponies, pieces of the armour could be adapted to my own structure. The pauldrons for example. There were different parts that fit me, including a belt, a cloak and even the swords were adaptable. I took what I felt I needed for a first time out. A pair of daggers, the robe, the belt and a single longsword. Adding these to my person, I looked pretty badass.
With myself geared up and Thralia settled into my hood, I decided it was to me to go on the hunt for any food I might be able to catch. I realised I might have to go Assassin's Creed and drop down on our food. How cool it'd be to have a pair of wrist blades. Still, the sword and daggers were cool enough to tide me over.
Stepping outside, I found myself wishing I had a spare hood. The wind was blowing chilling air onto my face. What I knew about weather prediction caused me to think that a storm might be on the horizon. Animals would be harder to come by if they could sense the change in the weather.
Three and a half hours. Three and a half hours and fuck all to show for it! I always hated Connor Kenway, but now I hated him even more; fucker made hunting look easy. Defeated and hungry, I made my way back towards the ruined castle before I heard something in the distance. I placed my hand over my sword, hoping it wasn't the dragon from before.
I tried to reach the source of the sounds, which as I got closer, realised were voices. One voice in particular. It was female, going by how light it sounded, but then again... Glee made me wonder if that was really a solid conclusion. I climbed an easily climbable tree and managed to get close enough to not only hear, but also see the speaker.
"Now Angel, don't be like that. It'll do you good to get to know some other bunnies. It did me good to get to know other ponies. Surely you'd like something like that, right?" she said. It boggled my mind how this thing was able to talk. This waist-high, blindingly colourful, butter-yellow winged-fucking-horse. There was no nicer way I could describe it.
"Oh, come on. They're not so bad. Look at their cute little faces." the horse said. As I took notice of the wings, Hercules' Pegasus came to mind. I just sat there, watching what was easily the strangest ever battle of the wills. Pegasus versus Bunny. It's gonna be a fucking bloodbath. I thought sarcastically. The rabbit just seemed to animatedly cross his arms and turn his head away in disgust.
"If you don't, I'm going to have to apologise to them for wasting their time by giving them something to eat. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how that'll cut into your own food stocks." the pegasus said, the slyness in her voice not lost to me. I accidentally chuckled when the rabbit turned back and gave in reluctantly. Clearly food took priority over pride.
Sadly, the pegasus heard my chuckle and gasped. "Who's there?" she asked meekly, beginning to shake as she looked around. I contemplated not answering, but that would get me nowhere. Perhaps if I could communicate with her, she might be able to lead us to a food source.
"Sorry to startle you," I said with as gentle a voice as I could muster. "I was out looking for food when I heard you in the distance. Curiosity got the better of me and I wound up investigating." to my surprise, the pegasus seemed saddened by my explanation.
"Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting your search for food." she said. What a kind soul. I thought.
"Please, don't be. I'd given up the search and was on my way back when I heard you." I replied.
"Are you a local of Ponyville? Your voice doesn't sound familiar." she said.
I wondered what I should say. The stories I'd read with these situations (or as close to these situations as possible) never ended well either way, but then again, they always avoided common sense. "Actually, I'm from somewhere far away. I sort of woke up in this forest a few nights ago. I won't bore you with the details, but I was hoping you might be able to tell me where a good food source might be found in here. Any fruits, vegetables... animals for my pet fox."
At the mention of Thralia, the pegasus visibly perked up. "You have a pet fox?!" she practically squee'd.
"I do. Her name's Thralia. I named her after a character from a series I really liked." I explained, omitting the whole internet animation.
"That's a beautiful name. My name's Fluttershy, and this is my pet bunny, Angel." the pegasus, now identified as Fluttershy replied.
"Was his name meant to be ironic? 'cause after seeing you try to negotiate, he seems more like a little devil than an angel." I replied.
Fluttershy audible giggled and scooped Angel up in her hooves. Her dexterity was amazing. "I named him Angel because when he was still just a baby, he looked like part of an angel's wing; as small as a feather and just as fluffy." she said.
"You seem much calmer now. I'm glad. My name's Flint. It's nice to meet you, Fluttershy." I said.
"You too, Flint. I'm normally shy around new ponies, but I guess the fact that I can't see you is helping." she replied. I chuckled as a means to relieve her fears further.
"I'm glad you think so, but I'm not a pony. I highly doubt you've ever seen anything like me before. But don't let that frighten you." I said, seeing the uncertain expression on her face. It astounded me how easily I could read her expressions.
A stutter escaped her lips as she asked me, "W-well if you aren't a p-p-pony... what are you?" she asked. Her timidity was adorable. I wondered how I should go about answering such a question. In any other circumstance, I wouldn't have cared either way about her reaction, but she was my key to a full belly. I wondered for a moment if she was edible. I was Renegade, but not that Renegade. With a sigh, I answered her question to the best of my abilities.
"Ever heard of a Human?" I asked. I watched as she shook her head. "Didn't think so. I'm from another world, and before you start..." I interrupted her oncoming freakout. "I don't mean that I'm an alien from outer space. More like from an alternate reality." I concluded.
Fluttershy seemed to be taking this pretty well. It seemed like she was debating whether or not to believe me. I suppose such a tale was pretty tall. "What do you look like?" she asked. Not an unreasonable question to ask, but I'd have gone more along the lines of: 'Do you come in peace?' or 'Are you here for our women and children?' The realisation dawned on me that if I couldn't find a way home, I'd either have to go native, or I'd never get my hogie.
"It's... difficult to describe. Essentially, we look like apes, only, we're taller, thinner and out feet don't match our hands. For most of us, our hair only grows on the tops of our heads and around our... *ahem*... pubic area. The males of our kind have been known to develop some facial hair. Beards, goatees, that sort of thing." It occurred to me that she may not know what a beard or goatee even was. But then again, I just described them to be facial hair.
"My... that sounds awfully scary." she said, her timidity showing in her voice once again.
"I'll admit, some of us can look pretty menacing, but Thralia seems to like me, so I can't be all that bad, right?" I asked. As Fluttershy seemed to consider what I'd said. I decided to let her see me and make the judgement herself. As I descended towards, the ground, I felt Thralia grip me for dear life. Luckily, it wasn't a long fall, so it was over before she could really register what had happened. I heard Fluttershy gasp as I rose to my full height. "Hi." I said. I sounded creepier than I'd intended, and Fluttershy obviously picked up on it. She began shaking and took a step back.
"Look, uh... not that talking to you isn't great and all. But could you lead us to some food now? Thralia's starving." I said, trying to sound kinder than before. Thralia poked her head out from under my hood and was instantly met with an ear-piercing squee from the butter-yellow pegasus. The next thing I knew, I was bowled over and pinned to the ground by a yellow blur who began going gaga over the fox in my hood.
