Chapters It was evening in Equestria, and the town of Ponyville prepared itself for a good night’s rest.The sound of crickets could be heard as the streets were - save from the main district - completely empty, it was in this calm scenario that Bronze Ashes found herself.Skirting on the borders of the small town, she, covered in a heavy, dusty brown cloak, trotted in silence to her destination, a small cottage in the outskirts of the town, that she had rented a week before, by letter to the Mayor, so that she didn’t need to meet anyone.
“And of course, to not scare them to Tartarus and back… ”
She had left Dodge Junction not two weeks ago, the many reasons for she didn’t want to think about right then and there, the only thing on her head was getting to her new home, and as quickly and quietly as possible.
It was because of that that she didn’t notice a trio of ponies sneaking on her.
“Zecora? ‘s that you?”
The voice made her spin around, to her surprise three little fillies were staring at her with curiosity, the little group consisted of an earth pony, a pegasus and a unicorn.
“Who?”she said back trying to think about how they had got to her without being noticed.
“You ain’t her? huh, Ah didn’t expect to see a pony wearing a cloak” it was the earth pony who spoke, a yellow cream colored with a red mane and pink bow,”Ah’m Applebloom” the filly pointed at herself ”that’s Sweetie Belle” she pointed at the unicorn, who had a white coat with a two toned pink and lavender mane,”and that’s Scootaloo” she turned to the last one, a pegasus with a orange coat and purple mane ”who’re you?”
“Uhh, shouldn’t you girls be at your home? I mean, it’s almost night right now…”
“My sister keep saying that, but we were passing when we saw you,”said Sweetie Belle,”and we thought to come here and s-”
“AH! look at the time, I should go, see ya later!” and with that she trotted off, leaving behind three confused fillies.
“Huh, what a weird pony…” murmured Scotaloo,”We should be going girls.”
“Hm, hey, did’ya see that if she had a horn?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, why?”
“Cause Ah think Ah saw wings on that cloak of hers.”
“Don’t be silly, the only pony with wings and horn are the princesses” said Sweetie Belle,”And she didn’t seem to be one.”
“Hm…”
“That was too close. ”
She had gotten to her new home, locked the door, shut the blinds on the windows and then laid down on the floor, panting in a cold sweat.It had been too close, and she was lucky that the sun wasn’t shining on her, because if it had then those fillies would have noticed her.
“Damnit, not only I got here just today and I already have to worry about three fillies that saw me, I knew I should’ve waited till nightfall before coming… ”
She got up from the ground and looked around the room she was in, other than the couch in the far end of it, it was bare.The small house was indeed small, having only a kitchen-living room place and a bedroom with a bathroom,the only thing that could be said to cost something was the small fridge on the kitchen’s corner, there wasn’t even a furnace present.
“Perfect for me anyway. ”
She took off her cloak, revealing her body.It had an ash gray colored fur, but what caught the attention of almost everyone that looked at her like that were her wings.
Gigantic, leathery dragon wings.
Bronze Ashes’ species was known as a Kirin, the offspring of a Dragon and a Pony.Because of their resemblance to the fire breathing flying murder machines they were feared throughout Equestria, legends that spoke of her kin usually came together with the destruction of villages and cities, all done by her race.The fact that the last three times that she had tried to reveal herself she had been shunned from the community spoke highly of what she felt towards most ponies.
Anger and fear.
Ponyville was a small risk that she was willing to take, the small community would surely notice her, and sooner or later she would need to escape, but that didn’t matter to her.She only needed a few weeks to gather enough bits and food to go out again, and everything would go in accord to the plan if those three fillies hadn’t met her.
‘I may be overthinking this, they couldn’t have possibly noticed me, the light outside was too dim, and I’m sure that the cloak hid my wings, at most they saw my horn, but then they could just assume that I have a slightly pointy and sharp one... ’
She shook her head, it wasn’t time to think about such things now.Moving to her bathroom, she quickly got inside the small bathtub there and turned the water on, the cold liquid helping her relax.After thoroughly scrubbing her fur and washing her fiery orange mane, she set off to a good night of sleep.
‘I’ll take care of food tomorrow. ’
Bronze woke up to the warm light that shone through the bedroom windows, she yawned as she stretched, getting up from the floor she had fallen asleep on.
“I should get a bed, or at least a mattress.Sleeping on top of my cloak on the floor can’t be healthy ”, she thought as she went to the kitchen, opening the fridge yielded nothing but the cold stale air inside it.”And also get some hunt, at least there’s that forest nearby… ” she closed the fridge’s door and went back to her bedroom, in a few seconds she had her cloak around her again.”Now, it’s probably close to midday, and the streets should be full of ponies, but if I fly through the win- ”
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
“Horseapples… horseapples horseapples horseapple- ”
*Knock-Knock-Knock* “Anypony home?” shouted a voice outside her home,clearly a female one, and older than those three from the day prior.
“Well there goes all my plans… unless… ” she quickly made her way to the door, and opening it just barely gave her vision of what was standing in front of her house.
It was a purple colored unicorn, not what she wanted, surely she was resistant to magic, but that only went to direct attacks such as beams, if this unicorn wanted her stuck, she wouldn’t be able to do much about it.
“Hello, sorry if I’m interrupting something.My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I heard from my friend Rarity that her sister, Sweetie Belle, had seen a new pony in town.” she said, smiling, “I tought I could come here with my friends to welcome you and-”
“Not interested”
SLAM
“Alright, that may have been a bit overkill… ” she didn’t want to take any chances with it, sure, slamming the door on her may have been a tad excessive, but she couldn’t let that pony inside, and if what she said was correct, there were more outside.Hopefully she wouldn’t be bothered anymore.
“Hey! what the hay was that for!?” she heard another voice, and before she could do anything she was thrown backwards by the door bursting open.She staggered to regain footing, and in front of her hovered a small, cyan colored pegasus.
So much for that.
“What was that for? if you didn’t want us coming in you should’ve just said so, not like…” her voice trailed off, and slowly she went to the ground as her eyes became wide as plates.
Bronze moved her hoof to her nose, the feeling of a warm wetness on it confirmed her suspicions about the pain that she was feeling, but that wasn’t what worried her the most, no, it was the fact that her hood had come off, showing to the world her head.Her muzzle, slightly slender than most, had a set of fangs protruding from the sides, and on top of her head there were three horns, one in the forehead and two,nearby her ears,one of the most distinct characteristics of her species.
“Rainbow?” Twilight trotted in, but before she could do anything she too became paralyzed.
“Hey, what are you all doing?” a bubbly voice, followed by a extremely pink pony entered her house, but unlike the others she didn’t stop when she looked at Bronze.
“You must be the new pony! my name’s Pinkie Pie! what’s your name - “ *gasp* “ - I should throw you a welcome to ponyville party! it will be so nice, there’ll be punch, and cake, and cupcakes, and games, and more cake!”
“Pinkie! get away from her!”
Before she could react she was forcefully levitated to the air, and her cloak was removed by the same purple aura, revealing her draconic wings.She was quickly put on the ground, hitting face first on it.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” asked Twilight, she had recovered faster than Bronze had expected, and now she was holding her down on the ground, almost crushing her with the strength of her spell.
She tried to move, but to no avail as the strength of it increased, and pain shot through her back, making her wheeze and squirm under it.
“What? you’re going to kill me now?”
The comment made Twilight snap, the moment her spell faltered Bronze shot up to the air, spreading her wings in a manner to fly away as fast as she could, but even before she could leave the house she was again stopped by the magical aura, and brought back to the ground, this time more gently.
“Nah-ah, you aren’t escaping missy, now answer me.Are you a Kirin, and what’s your name?”
“Twilight?” the one named Pinkie spoke, “why are you doing that to her?”
“Pinkie, she seems to be a Kirin, legends tell that they could burn an entire city in a night, and that they are dange-”
“Hah! as if in the last millennia there was any recorded attack” she felt the strength of the spell increase again, making her squirm on the ground.
“Then you are one?”
“I thought the multiple horns and draconic wings would give it away,” she smirked showing a set of sharp teeth “and no, a Kirin could easily burn a city in a hour, give or take.”
“Twilight,” the one named Rainbow, appropriate, considering her mane, spoke, “is this really necessary? I mean, I dunno what you’re talking about, but she doesn’t seem to be dangerous.”
“Yeah, think that. ”
Twilight looked at Bronze, she tried recalling any moment where the Kirin had appeared aggressive, and other than trying to flee it had only squirmed.In fact, if one would look at the situation through other’s eyes they would think that herself was the bad one.Sighing, she spoke up, “I’ll release you as long as you don’t fly away, alright?”
“Deal.”
Bronze felt the spell give away, and slowly got up, she looked at the three mares that were in front of her.Pinkie seemed to be either unaware or didn’t care about her being a Kirin, Rainbow seemed to be wary of the situation, but didn’t show any negative feeling towards her.The only one that seemed to be bothered at all was Twilight, but now she seemed to look more guilty than angry.
“Sooo, what’s going to happen now?” she asked, hopeful that if she acted cool about it they would leave her sooner.
“Well, seeing that there’s a creature that was supposed to be extinct, or at least very rare, I’m going to inform the Princess.About you, I would suggest that you stay here, Pinkie, Rainbow, we should go.” and as simple as that, the trio left, but not before Pinkie left something and winked at her.
“A Cupcake, how quaint ” she took the little treat, and in a few bites she ate it entirely, “Well, if what the purple one said, she’s contacting Princess Celestia, and well, there’s no other way out of this huh? ” she closed the door, went to the bedroom and promptly fell on the floor again.
“I’m fucked.”
Princess Celestia was in her private office, reading the last Gryphonia and Equestria’s trade agreement when a parchment scroll materialized in front of her, in a pop of green flames.
“That’s rather soon for her, the last Report was only five days ago, ” she took it in her aura, removing the simple purple seal from the letter, and after opening it, she started reading.
Dear Princess Celestia.
Something extraordinary happened today here in Ponyville. Just in the morning, when I was in the market buying my groceries, I stumbled upon Rarity.We chatted for a bit, and she told me that her sister, Sweetie Belle, had seen a new pony in town,and as such, I thought about going with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to welcome this new pony. It was about midday when we went, and after some searching we found where the new pony lived, a cottage on the very outskirts of the town, nearby Fluttershy’s and the borders between the Everfree forest and Ponyville, we thought that this new pony wanted to be either alone or wouldn’t spend much time here, since not only she lived in a almost never sought after area, but she had rented the cottage by mail to the Mayor. Apparently the reason this new pony was being secretive is because she is a Kirin. After opening the door, she simply shut it on my face, Rainbow got angry, and went inside forcefully, doing that she knocked the pony backwards, revealing a face that before was covered in a hood.This is the first proof that I think this pony is a Kirin, having multiple horns, a set of carnivorous fangs and cat like irises. We had a scuffle, she tried to run away, but I managed to pin her down, removing the entire cloak revealed a pair of draconic wings, huge enough that I have to question how she managed to hide it.After talking with her, I’m almost one hundred percent sure that she is indeed, a Kirin, since she didn’t seem deny it. I asked for Rainbow to watch the air around her house, since I fear she may escape. I await instructions from you.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.
“A Kirin? after a thousand and a half years they come back… somehow. ” Celestia re-rolled the letter, and attached the same purple seal back on it, together with a silver seal with a crescent moon.Touching her horn on the letter she casted a simple teleportation spell, making the parchment vanish in a bright flash.
“I’ll have to talk about this with Luna, we can’t let what happened before happen again, I’ll not let it. ”
*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*
“Aerghgh”
*Thump* Thump* *Thump*
“Aerrehhgh… damn it…”
*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*
It was the second day Bronze Ashes woke up on Ponyville.The second day in anywhere wasn’t the best, in most occasions, it meant either you had fooled everyone or you would need to flee, but this time it was something else,something completely different.Not only she had been discovered on her first day, an associate of sorts of the Princess knew about her, and as such, the only thing left for her to do was wait.
“Cause I’m dumb now the Princesses know about my existence… and maybe about the rest of my kin.Well, that doesn’t matter now. ”
Bronze got up from the floor again, and after putting her cloak on she went to see who was knocking on the door, she had a knack for thinking that it probably was a certain purple unicorn, but then again there could be anyone.
Opening the door indeed reveal Twilight Sparkle.
“Well well, if it ain’t the Purple Menace, came here again to do what now?”
The unicorn sighed, and after a few seconds of staring at Bronze she finally asked, “Can I come in? I want to talk with you for a while, and I think it would be better to do so inside your house.”
Opening the door, the Kirin slowly walked to the fair end of the main room, and after laying on the ground she motioned for Twilight to sit, “Anywhere’s fine really, heh, I wouldn’t recommend the couch though, it’s pretty uncomfortable.”
“It’s pretty… bare, if you don’t mind me saying that.”
“Heh, not like I’ll be staying for long am I?”
“Look,” Twilight stopped for a moment, apparently steeling herself for what she would say next, “I’m sorry for yesterday, I overreacted after seeing you, and I thought about coming here to apologize.”
Bronze lifted one of her eyebrows, that wasn’t what she was expecting to hear, “So, what are you really trying to say?”
“Urgh… okay, the first thing I did after seeing you was pin you to the ground, and I’m sorry for that.There were reasons for me to do it, but now I’m not so sure those are good anymore, yourself said that there wasn’t any attack on the last millennia done by your kind, and I looked around a few books and indeed there weren’t.So in the end all that I really did was attack you because of a preconception about you, and I’m sorry.”
That, that wasn’t indeed what she was expecting, “So you went and checked the facts? that’s a first,” she rose up from the ground, “and now I suppose comes the catch?”
“I would like that you came with me to my house and get to meet my friends.”
“This is probably the dumbest idea I’ve ever had… ”
Clad in her cloak, Bronze was doing one of the dumbest things she had ever done in her life,at least on her opinion, she was walking around, in the full light of midday, in the middle of the Ponyville.
“At least the fact that i’m only getting curious glances means that either they don’t know what I am, or they don’t care, which I would be very surprised. ”
The town was bustling with activities, ponies walked around, talking, playing and shopping in the main district, the smell of sweets ever present in the area made her remember of a fair she had gone to when she was still a hatchling.Those days, when she could be easily concealed by her mother’s foal satchel were one of the most idyllic on her life, there wasn’t a need to be unseen,and remembering such things made her smile.
To be fair, Twilight herself had, on a way to convince her to get out, told her that if anything came crashing down she wouldn’t need to worry.Apparently the unicorn had experience with strange individuals that wore full cloaks, a case of a zebra named Zecora, if she had explained it correctly, had made the townsponies more “receptive” towards strangers.
Not that it made her completely at ease.
But, if going with the wishes of Twilight gained her credit, she could make herself a way to escape the town without being chased.Again.
“There it is, my house and the town’s library,” Twilight pointed at a gigantic tree, not far away from them, “I’ll go inside and tell them that you’re here, and then when I tell you that you can come in you may do so.”
The plan, at least the part that she heard over the babbling, was to get inside the library and let Twilight explain what she was, and then remove the cloak - which would be the hardest part to her - and become… friends with them? “Well if it all comes crashing down, then at least I’ll be the one nearest the door.
The time she spent waiting outside she did so by watching those that walked around.In the little time she had spent observing the town she had noticed a few interesting facts, the first one is that the ratio from mare to stallion was very much in favor of the fairer sex, and the second one was that there were much more earth ponies than pegasi and unicorn.Probably due to the fact that the town was founded by a earth pony matriarchy.
On the other side of the door she could hear a muffled conversation, there were many distinct voices, and it seemed to be mostly mares talking, with one voice that could be both female or of a child.
Finally, after two or so minutes the door opened, and Twilight came out smiling, “Well, they’re all here,should we go in?”
“Well, it’s now or never.”
Author's Note
First part of this one, since the chapter is hella big.
“I’ll go inside and tell them that you’re here, and then when I tell you that you can come in you may do so.”
Leaving the kirin behind, Twilight opened the library’s door, her home, and went inside.In the middle of it sat four of her friends and her assistent, chatting happily while eating what appeared to be cookies.
The first one to notice her was Applejack, who waved her over, “So, where’s this ‘special pony ’ you told us woulda be coming here?”
“Oh, Twilight, I didn’t see you coming in, do you want some tea?” said Spike, getting up from the small stool he was sitting on.
“Sure Spike, and to answer you question Applejack, she’s waiting outside.But there’s something I want to tell you all before she comes in.”
“Is she that the creepy looking pony we visited yesterday? she didn’t seem to be in the mood for your visit Twi,” said Rainbow Dash, wiping a few stray crumbs out of her muzzle, “and you didn’t seem to like her for some reason.”
“I reacted on impulse Rainbow, I already apologized for my actions to her and she came here on her own volition.”
Rarity looked at the two mares with a puzzled expression, “Am I missing something important here?” she asked, and looking at Twilight she continued, “And what did you do to this pony that you needed to go apologize to her?”
Sighing, Twilight answered, “Girls, she is somepony very different from what we are used to, and I think it would be best if we let her explain all of it, but it appears I’ll be sitting here while our guest is outside, waiting.”
“Well then, let’s not let her wait, go on, call her in and tell Spike to make some tea for her too.”
Twilight nodded, other than Pinkie and Rainbow, all of her friends were in a state of curiosity, Rainbow looked like she didn’t care about it, and Pinkie Pie… well, let’s just say that after the visit the first thing she thought about was giving the kirin a welcoming party, she wasn’t concerned.
Leaving the room she went to the kitchen to let Spike know to brew one more cup of tea, and bracing herself she went to the door and opened it.
“Well, they’re all here, should we come in?”
The insides of the tree-brary, a name Bronze spent too much time thinking about, were very much what she expected.What she could see from the doorway confirmed her suspicions that most, if not all, of the furniture was carved from the tree itself, giving it a strange look of uniformity.
The smell of green tea was the second thing that came to her, the sweet scent making her muzzle wrinkle in distaste, she never considered herself a fan of it, and while she could drink it, she would rather not.
After walking a few steps, she found herself in the very middle of the building, if the uncountable books strewn in organized piles and shelves were any reference, forward, almost on the very centre of the place were five mares, drinking, eating, and paying utmost attention to her.
“Well, I feel like the centre of the world all of a sudden. ” she slowly walked forward, feeling the weight of every step taken.The five of them, now six if she counted Twilight, were all different looking.
The first one to claim her attention was the most unnoticable of them, a butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane that covered almost all of her face in long, slightly curly at the end bangs, she looked frail enough to snap at a strong breeze, and appeared to be extremely nervous.
The second one was Pinkie something, the too pink to be real pony was looking at her with a grin that bordered on maniac levels.In contrast to the pegasus at her side she looked like she could explode with eagerness.
A white unicorn was the third to catch her attention, the cleanliness of her coat, the pristine condition of her stylised purple mane and tail screamed ‘Noble Snob’ at her with a force so grand that it might as well knock her out cold, but the curious expression on her face and the overall amicable posture seemed to suggest that she wasn’t some prissy little thing.
Rainbow Dash, now that Bronze could look at her without fear of being strangled in a purple aura, noticed a few characteristics that she hadn’t on the day before.She had a cyan color much like the midday sky, and the multicolored mane of hers was the opposite of the white unicorn, unkempt and slightly dirty.
The last one looked like the most normal of them, an orange earth pony with a long, golden mane and a Stetson on top of her head.Her expression was of mild curiosity, and if the few bite marks on her forelegs and a small scar on her face, near her muzzle, were of any indication, this pony either was some sort of guard or had close encounters with wild beasts, Bronze would keep tabs on her.
She sat on her haunches slightly away from the table, and after a final quick look on everyone present, she spoke, “Well, here I am… I guess,” she looked at Twilight, who was smiling at her encouragingly, “name’s Bronze Ashes, and I already met two of you,” she casted a look at Rainbow and Pinkie, “but I wouldn’t mind if you were to tell me your names again.”
“Shouldn’t you remove your cloak? we’re inside after all, unless…” the white unicorn trailed off as Bronze removed the hood part of her cloak, letting them see her head, “well, that wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“Ahem, my name is Rarity, and I suppose you already know Twilight, over there is Rainbow Dash,” she pointed at the cyan mare, “Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack,” she continued in order, pink one, orange one, yellow one, “if you don’t mind me asking though, what are you exactly? I have never seen a unicorn with more than one horn.”
“She doesn’t know? wait, does only Twilight there knows what I am? ” for a moment Bronze looked at Rarity with a dumbfounded expression, but quickly she recovered “Uhh, do you really don’t know what I am?”
“Well darling, I am not exactly sure of what you are, but the fangs and the other two horns up near your ears don’t ring any bells.”
“Well Ah’ve to say that Ah’m with Rarity on this one, Ah’ve never seen a pony such like you before,” Applejack chimed in, “and the way yer talking seems ta me that everypony should know that, but Ah’ve no clue.”
Bronze looked at Twilight, a eyebrow raised in question, her answer was a shrug, “Well then, I’m a Kirin, a sub-type of dragons, or more appropriately a offspring of a pony and a dragon.My father was a kirin like me, fourth generetaion, and my mother is a Branzer dragon, wich explains the multiple horns,” she took a small breath, and continued, “it actually impresses me that you don’t know what I am, conciderating the story of our kind.When I entered here, I really expected you to try and stab me or something.”
In fact, she had expected to be blasted with magic, stomped and then be sent off packing.But apparently Ahken was being nice to her this time, and had decided to stop his antics with fate.
“Wait, wait wait wait, you mean to tell me that a pony and a dragon actually… went and did THAT?” Rainbow exclaimed, her cheeks turning a color darker, “I mean, shouldn’t that be impossible or something?”
“Well, I don’t need to tell you the details, but I am here, so it’s not impossible.” Bronze’s eyes twinkled with amusement, “But if you do want to know…”
The reaction was almost immediate, and as she saw everyone’s cheeks turning a color darker, she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Well, other than those type of things, you just said that your father was a kirin, but you also said that you’re offspring of a pony,” but before Twilight could continue she cut her in;
“Well, since a kirin is both dragon and pony, it’s easier to say that our ancestrality comes from both, instead than saying that we can be both children of kirin and dragon or pony and dragon.Although the difference between a first generation is quite big if you compare with the later ones.”
“Generations?”
“Well, a first generation will have almost half of the father’s characteristics and half the mother’s, if the offspring’s mate is a pony, then the second generation will be more pony like than the first, the inverse if the mate is a dragon.You can get kirins that are almost lizard ponies, and kirins that are almost pony, but with a few dragon traits.”
“Interesting…”
The conversation died for a while, and considering all of it, Bronze was feeling pretty alright.Not only her worst scenario didn’t play, but something completely random broke the ice.Although, she couldn’t understand why Rainbow’s first question was that one, she was grateful for it.
Before anyone could restart the conversation another voice, this time male, spoke.
“Huh, so you must be the new pony right? the Keereen or something.”
Following the voice, Bronze turned her head to see something she thought she wouldn’t ever see, neither in Draconia, much less in Equestria.A very young Branzer dragon, purple scaled with a set of rounded green spikes going from the top of his head towards his tail, and very well fed, if his roundness was of any indication.
“Kirin, and who, pray tell, are you?”
“Name’s Spike, want some tea?” the young dragon said, holding in his claws a small tray with a tea kettle and two cups on top of it.
“I would rather not,” she turned her head to Twilight “Twilight, where did you find a Branzer egg?”
“A what now?”
Rolling her eyes she continued, “A dragon egg, where did you find one?”
“It was part of the entrance exam for the Gifted Unicorns’ school, why?”
“Because it was an egg, and dragons put one egg every what, two or three centuries in between each one? and only one or two at best.The mother never leaves any egg behind, so this egg was either stolen or this school of yours got it in some shady way.”
Twilight’s mouth opened to say something, but she quickly closed it, after a few seconds she finally talked, “Well, I have no idea of that, all that I know is that they said it was a infertile egg, and that it shouldn’t have hatched.”
Bronze tough about continuing with it, but she decided best to let the matter down, “Well, I suppose you’re his guardian now, and he seems okay, so I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” she let out a long sigh, “should we go back to the main topic?”
The conversation continued for almost an entire hour.Bronze explained a few things about her, but managed to keep most personal information to herself.It helped that Twilight derailed the topic to ask about her homeland culture, and after much talking they decided to finally end it, since the day was almost ending.
“To think that I would be having a normal conversation with ponies, if I had told myself a week ago that this would happen I would laugh at myself.And I can’t seem to decide if I’m more impressed with the fact that they don’t seem to care that I’m part dragon, or that they have a friggin dragon themselves… which I still want to know from where he came from. ”She finally notice that she was walking around, in the town, without her hood on, and the biggest reaction she could see was that there was a radius of distance most ponies kept from her,”Alright, this town is too damn crazy. ”
She sped up, and instead of going through the city she started to take the side streets, a few minutes later she was in her home.Opening the door, she let herself smile at the thought of finally having a home, one that she wouldn’t need to ditch at the end of the week.
It was then that she remembered something very important.
Sighing, she dragged herself to the bathroom to wash up, and finally, after cleaning herself, she dropped straight down on top of her cloak.
“And also, get a mattress.”
Author's Note
So, the Introductory part is over, finally, and we can start with the slice of life thing that I had originally planned.
The cold floor had woken Bronze up a hour or so ago, but instead of getting up she decided to stay put there, on top of her cloak, lazily spending time doing nothing.
The past two weeks had been a frenzy of activity, since the talk with Twilight and her friends, Bronze had decided to give the community a try.The next day she had gone to the town’s Mayor, who was surprised to see the ‘Mysterious Letter Pony’ turn up to actually extend the time that she was going to rent the house.
Actually, in the end, she had gotten the house for her, free of charge, other than the rent she had already paid that is; the Mayor’s reasoning being that nopony had expressed interest in that area from some time already, having a resident there that could contribute to the economy would far outweigh the fact that she had gotten the house for free.
That’s also when Pinkie Pie appeared, on her house, with over half of the town’s population, for a surprise “Welcome to Ponyville and We are Happy that You Got a New Home Party”.
And a job,that was something else that suddenly became of grand importance.She had never taken a actual, state regulated job.The best that she had done in the past on that regard was being a “courier” on Manehattan, six years ago, since she didn’t need to show herself to either her clients or her boss.
And as such, she found herself doing odd jobs to the town’s residents, things such as gathering and cutting firewood, fixing small things that didn’t require much expertise, and even helping haul construction cargo once.The fact that she earned bits and got to meet new ponies around town was a good benefit, but even then she hadn’t enough to buy furniture to her home, yet.
But at least small things, such as food, water and a place to sleep weren’t a problem anymore, such thing that her, a few weeks ago, would pay a foreleg or two to acquire.The forest nearby, a place named Everfree, was overflown with small critters and wild beasts, she quickly learned what to avoid, and what she could hunt without much problem.
Well, that is, if a certain yellow pegasus hadn’t discovered of her hunting practice.
Fluttershy understood that she had to eat meat, even if she felt sad about it.She knew that a grown dragon’s diet usually included animal protein, and unless Bronze could find a never ending source of gems and precious metals, she would need to continue hunting.At last, Fluttershy relented, but still made her promise that whenever she killed, it would only be for food, and that the death of her prey would be painless and quick.
Bronze finally got up, and after slowly stretching she donned her cloak.She still found amusing that she continued to hide her body like that, even if most of the city knew how she looked like already, she just felt naked without the battered old thing.Going outside she could feel the cold air that swept over a few fallen leaves and small clouds of dust, fall had set in a good week or so ago, and the temperature in the early morning had started to drop accordingly.
However, being part dragon had it’s perks; concentrating, she felt a small burning sensation on her throat, and with a small exhalation, a puff of inky black smoke billowed from her nuzzle, leaving a warmness that slowly spread through her body.Since she had started to eat regularly, she had regained enough strength to breathe fire again, and little tricks such as these helped immensely when the cold started to set in.
After warming up, she made headway towards the Everfree, intent on hunting a early morning meal.The same day she had stepped inside the forest she found the place fascinating, the untamed wilderness, the uncontrollable weather, the overall spookiness of the place.It reminded her somewhat of the forests on Draconia, only if those were more evil and had manticores.
Yes, manticores, never again.
The entrance of the forest lied away on the other side of the Town, the time she spent walking there was reserved for thinking about her situation and what she could do to either improve it or maintain it, “Still need a Mattress, it would be good to get at least an Ice box, so that I don’t need to eat inside the Everfree, and be able to stock meat.It would also be nice to see if Rarity could cut two holes on this cloak, altough I feel it would lose it’s purpose, I may not survive another encounter with those oversized chickens if I can’t fly, and I need that for the job today… I feel that I’m missing something important, there’s something about tomorrow or what have yous, but well, food’s more important now. ” her musings ended as she came closer to the forest, the dark treeline that marked the entrance almost looked like a clean cut of a knife from up above, wasting no time, she entered the forest.
Moving as swiftly as she could, while still being stealthy, she made way into the undergrowth on a moderate pace.No sights of prey yet, but she knew fairly well that she needed to move more inside, maybe nearby a stream of water or a clearing she would find what she seeked.
She quickly found a clearing, making the same way almost everyday had this effect on you, but what she found laying there made her stop.A timberwolf, or more precisely a pack of them, five in total, were either sitting or laying on the grass, basking on the soft sunlight that pierced through the thick canopy.
She spared a moment to admire the sight, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that most ponies would run away from this sight.It was Nature’s finest on display, running away from it would be pretty stupid on her books, and more than that, she didn’t want to disturb it, and as such, she decided to avoid confrontation and slipped away from the place, leaving the scene behind.
Next stop was further ahead, and slowly the sound of running water could be heard, on the midst of the threes was a small stream of water, and on it’s border, lapping merrily and blissfully on the water, was a small bunny.
“Perfect. ”
Grinning she slowly stalked, from tree trunk to tree trunk, and very silently made her way towards her pray, and just before anything could alert it, she jumped.
And stood victoriously with it’s neck punctured by her fangs.
Sitting on her haunches, she released the rather small mammal from her fangs.Holding it on her hooves, she examined the rabbit.Two deep punctures on it’s neck released blood on a steady rate, and she could feel it’s warmth slowly seeping away, a clean kill, or at least as clean as it could get.Deciding that she could begin right then, she skinned it clean, and after making a hasty campfire with twigs and stones she cooked her meal and ate it.
Of course, that one was the first of a few many.
The way out from the Everfree was, too, marked on her head like a map, she didn’t venture much into the deep forest proper, and as such remembering the landmarks that marked the way in and out was a hatchlings’ play.Just as she was about to exit the forest though, she saw something quite peculiar, and that she hadn’t seen anywhere inside the forest.
A small, fuzzy ball with insect-like wings, fluttering about merrily on a musicless rhythm, bouncing, twisting and turning around in a strange dance of sorts.She stood there, looking at it from a distance, it didn’t seem aggressive, if it’s behavior was of any indications, but then again so was the behavior of those Timberwolves at the clearing early, the little fuzzball might as well be some sort of crazed tartarus-spawn.
Leaving the forest behind, she made way to her house again.It had become routine to her: Wake up, hunt, bath, work.And as such she would now refresh herself and wash out the smell of meat from her hooves and mouth, luckly her cloak hadn’t gotten messy, or else she would need to go outside without it.
Her shower was quick, the cold water of the heat-less tub was even colder than usual, and it made her speed it up to leave the dreaded chill behind.After finishing it and toweling herself, she went back to her room, donned her cloak and grabbed a pouch that contained almost all of her earned bits.
She had stricken a deal with Fetlock-Express, or Fet-Ex for short, just the day prior.She had heard from someone or other that the town’s head office needed a pair of wings to fly some cargo from Ponyville to Cloudsdale and back, just that time however, as it had been a unexpected delivery order, and everyone that worked there couldn’t attend it.So she had taken the job herself, even tough Speedy Parcel, the pegasus that took care of administration had warned her that maybe she wouldn’t have the same luck with Cloudsdale that she had with Ponyville.
That’s why she was going to Rarity, she would still use her cloak, but then again she needed space for her wings to come out.And as such, she was going to her for exactly that.
The Carousel Boutique, “Where every garment is Chic, Unique and Magnifique”, was both Rarity’s home and workplace.The first time Bronze saw the place she almost had a laughing fit, but then again, it hadn’t come to her head that it would be literally a Carousel filled to the brim with frilly dresses.
However, she had something to do here, wasting no more time, she stepped inside the boutique.
“Coming!” she heard Rarity saying, “Welcome to - Oh! Hello there Miss Ashes, did you accept my invitation?” the unicorn had come from upstairs, wearing red glasses and carrying in her magic aura both a sketch pad and a few crayons and pencils.
“I’m afraid not, and you can call me Bronze, no need to be so formal.However, I do have something that I want from you,” she removed her cloak, noticing Rarity’s gaze on her wings, “If you wouldn’t mind, can you cut me two holes on the sides of my cloak? I’ll need it for a job I’m taking today.”
Her cloak was whisked away by the unicorn’s magic, who clicked her tongue for a few seconds, her face going through a serie of emotions, finally, she reached a conclusion, “Well… I would rather make you a new one, since this one is, well, drab and dusty and… not very good looking.But if you are in a hurry then…”
Bronze smiled in relief.It had been a few days ago, and she had showed her entire body to Twilight to see, “For Science and Recoding” she had said, unfortunately, Rarity appeared just then, and since that day she had been pestering Bronze to get her measurements to make her a set of clothings.”I have never made clothes for a Kirin, well, considerating the circunstances… but that matters not, if you wouldn’t mind showing at my Boutique later…” and since then she had reard the fashionista talk about how her body was oh so different, with shiny scales on her back and at the end of her hooves, the long, slender tail that holded so many possiblities… in the end she respected what Rarity wanted, but she wanted more than anything to not be a part of it.
“How much?” she asked, hoping that it would be between zero and one hundred bits.
“Well…” Rarity trailed, and then a mischievous glint caught in her eye, “I’ll make it free for you, as long as you let me take your measurements so that I can make something fabulous for you.”
Well, Ahken be damned.
“Ergh… alright then…”
With a high pitched squeak she was almost dragged off her hooves by Rarity, and just before she could protest she found herself being surrounded by tapes of all kinds, all of them hovering near or sometimes touching her body as the unicorn took her measurements, and just as quick as it began it ended.
Nodding to herself and muttering under her breath Rarity began furiously sketching on her little pad, and after a few minutes of total silence, saved from the scratching noise of the pencils and crayons, Rarity finally spoke, “Well, since you’re such a fan of cloaks I might as well make you another one.”
“As long as it isn’t gaudy of frilly…”
“Well, I thought you would say that.Well, go help yourself with something to drink, it will take just a moment to fix your cloak.”
Leaving Rarity to her devises, Bronze left the changing room that they were in, and went to the kitchen.There, much like most of the Boutique, was in pristine condition.Finding a small crystal glass cup, she used it to drink of some apple juice that was stored in a medium sized, magitech fridge.
After refreshing herself, Bronze decided that the best option right then was to wait, and since there wasn’t much to do, she simply laid down on a few pillows that were strewn around the main room.
She only noticed that she was almost sleeping when she suddenly jolted up when a hoof touched her.Gazing upwards, she saw Rarity with a bemused expression.
“Surely I didn’t take that long hm?”
“Eh, I’ll just say that I have the uncanny ability of easy shut-eye.” extending her forelegs, Rarity dropped the now modified cloak onto them, the two new cuts had a small border of fabric, giving the cloak an overall new look, even if it was still the same old battered thing.
“Thanks Rarity, you have no idea how much this will help.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but I wonder why you use this cloak so much, it’s not like the ponies here don’t know of your appearance.”
“True, but the job I got has me flying to Cloudsdale, and speaking about that, I have to leave.Thanks again.”
“Don’t worry darling, think of it as a Welcoming gift, even if it is a little bit late.Now go along, I have a important order that I must finish today.”
Giving a last nod and thanks, Bronze donned her cloak, now with her two wings slacking freely to her sides, and left the Boutique.
“So, you must be Bronze Ashes then, well, the package is waiting inside, you should talk with Speedy though, he wanted to be sure you were going to be taking the job.”
The walk from Carousel Boutique to the Fet-Ex head office was a quick one, however, she couldn’t not notice the increased amount of looks and stares she had received after letting her wings exposed, but, to her relief, almost all of them were curious ones.
“Sure thing Mister Hoof,” she replied giving him a nod.Going further inside the head office landed her on Speedy Parcel’s room, and after knocking on it she was asked to come in.
“Ah, you did come after all… hmm, an interesting addition to this cloak of yours, although it doesn’t look much like one now anymore,” the pegasus stallion rose from his seat, a small smile on his face, “if it weren’t for you we would have to give the pony who is using our services a discount, since our policy of delivery is of five days, thanks to you that won’t be happening.”
“Well then Mister Parcel, where can I find the package?” she asked.
“Accompain me.”
Leaving the room, both of them made their way back to the main room, a few corridors linked it and the rest of the complex.Taking the last one on their right, they proceeded towards the packages were held, the smell of old paper hit Bronze’s nose like a wall of bricks, and soon enough she found herself coughing.
“You get used to it,” said Speedy Parcel, chuckling lightly, “That one,“ he pointed at a small sized package “is yours, be careful though, what’s inside there is rather fragile and probably costs more than this entire office.”
“No pressure right?” she said, a small amount of dread welling inside her, “Well, as long as I get it there with it, and whatever is inside is still all fine i should be all right... right?”
“Yes, just head to the Mayor office in Cloudsdale, ask for a pegasus named Wing Bolt, he’s the one.”
Nodding, she went to a few open bags, choosing one that was small enough to contain the entire package, she, carefully, set the precious cargo inside it, and after zipping it close she left the building.A last glance at Speedy Parcel, and she took off, flying.
The flight towards Cloudsdale took the best of an hour and a half, since the flying city never stood in the same spot, the time that it took to fly from Ponyville to there varied from half an hour to almost three.The city was slowly moving away from Ponyville, and had already passed Canterlot, which took one hour to go by flight if you moved quickly.
And Bronze was going as fast as she could, not because she was in a hurry, but because she hadn’t flyed in weeks.The feeling of freedom on these altitudes was exhilarating, the cold air mixed with the warm afternoon sun maintained her in a slightly chilly temperature, but again, “swallowing” fire maintained her on a warm temperature, and she could enjoy to the fullest this long lost sensation.
When she was approaching Cloudsdale she couldn’t help but feel slightly anxious, something could happen to her right then, and she would have to flee if things got nasty.At least she had the reassurence that there weren’t any unicorns flying around, or else she would be more than royally screwed.
The air around the flying city buzzed with pegasi, and those who saw her had varied expressions, but what she didn’t expect was for a few of them to actually come close to her, and fly together for a few moments, and after they appeared to be satisfied, they left her again.
Except one case, a cerulean blue pegasus mare with a long, flowing aquamarine mane and two shooting stars that pointed downwards cutie mark adorning a rather athletic looking body.
“Hiya there!” the pegasus said, a slightly mellow voice for the type of greeting, “Haven’t seen you kind around here, name’s Falling Sky.”
“Bronze Ashes, if you don’t mind, can you tell me where’s the town hall?”
She heard the pegasus humm, and after a mischievous smile appeared on her face she quickly sped up, and glancing at Bronze she made a motion of Come at Me with her head.
Looking at her cargo, which still stood safely on the bag, she shrugged, “Heh, why not? ”
The two of them quickly accelerated, the pegasus small wings making her stay in the lead for a moment, but as soon as Bronze’s rather big wings caught speed she was rocketing forward without much difficulty in maintaining her speed.
However, the pegasus took a sharp turn, and seeing where this was going, Bronze followed her.They went lower, and the flight became a trial of precision more than speed, as they dodged fellow pegasi and buildings.Soon enough they were both fetlock to fetlock, and as they both noticed that, they decided to stop.
Gaining altitude and losing speed, both pegasus and kirin found themselves high up from Cloudsdale, panting with the exertion and a small smile on both of their faces.
“Heh, you’re a good flier huh.The hall’s just bellow there,” she pointed a hoof downwards, and following it, Bronze saw a dome-like roof, “well, it was nice flying with ya, if you come around here again I’ll make sure to find ya.” and with that, Falling Sky shot off, flying away with less speed than before.
“Heh, that was fun… well, time to go make the delivery then. ”
Extending her wings, Bronze slowly set into a glide, lazily circulating the town hall below.A minute later she was on the ground, and as she stood there she stopped to appreciate the beauty of the city’s architecture.
Much different from Ponyville, everything in the pegasus centric village was built using clouds, and there were different types of it too.Construction grade clouds were imbued with a permanent cloud walking spell, and they were obligatory in every house, park and government building.Common grade clouds are the day-to-day type you see pegasi moving around, the same kind that can rain and snow, although those are rare on homes they aren’t unheard of, those are usually used on walkways, roadways and non government buildings, such as stores, although most of the times those use Construction grade on the floor.
Also, everything there had a sense of balance and fluidity to it, pegasi architecture was praised for it simple yet beautiful looking aesthetic, easiness to the eyes and, most importantly, bounciness.
After her ‘Let’s appreciate stuffs’ moment, Bronze went inside the building.It’s inside, much like the outside, was simple and elegant, but what got her attention was a big poster plastered on a billboard, “Come and be a Part of The Best Young Flyers Competition, all of you pegasus that want to impress and leave a mark on history, come be part of the annual competition, Princess Celestia herself as part of the judge’s team, together with the Wonderbolts!” raising an eyebrow she quickly shrugged it, it was obviously for pegasus, and while she wouldn’t mind being part of something quite like that she wasn’t ready to be in the center of attention of everyone.
The receptionist, while looking bored out of her mind, straightened up when she noticed the kirin eyeing her, and while Bronze approached, she could see the growing unease of the mare.
“Ahm, hello there.I’m from Fetlock Express, and I’m looking for a pegasus named Wing Bolt, I heard that he would be here.”
“Ah! sure thing, I’ll fetch mister bolt right up!”
She couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the display, although she was expecting this reaction since the start, to see it happening in front of her was a completely different story.While she waited, she removed the package from inside the faux leather bag, and looking at it it seemed just like how she had found it on Ponyville’s Fet-Ex office.
A cherry red stallion pegasus with a dirty blond mane accompanied the still fidgeting receptionist, assuming that he was Wing Bolt, Bronze took the package in one of her forelegs and went to meet him.
“Well, if we don’t have a Kirin in our midst?”
The comment made her stumble, but quickly recovering she put a few steps of space between them.
“Oh heh, that was unexpected.Well, since your kind has been banned from here since what… A thousand and a half years ago? you are either the dumbest kirin alive or the banishment has been lifted, but that matters not right now, I suppose you came with my order?”
Finally finding her voice, Bronze managed to speak, “Well, it’s that I’ve flown from the borders of the city to here and no one seemed to bother with.And where I’m living no one does too… Name’s Bronze Ashes, and yes I do have your package.”
She slowly closed the distance between them, and seeing that the pegasus didn’t assume any aggressive stance she passed the package to him.
“Hm… if what you’re saying is correct, then the banishment must have been lifted.But as I said, it matters not,” he handed a pouch of bits to her, weighing easily three times that of the package, “Do you know what you brought here?” he asked to her, grinning.
“Not exactly, I was only tasked with the delivery after all.I’m not an actual worker, I’m just covering for this order.”
“Hmm.Well, what you had in your hooves there is the Best Young Fliers Competition prize,” he smirked, seeing as Bronze eyebrows rose,”now that you know I suppose it would be best for you to go back no? if I’m correct you came from Ponyville, and it’s best to fly when there’s still sunlight.”
Not arguing agains his logic Bronze simply nodded, and collecting the receipt note from the receptionist, she went off.
The next hour and a half was spent flying without any thoughts in mind.
“Well, I do see that you made it hm?”
Just as she landed in front of Fet-Ex, Speedy was closing it, but as seeing her, he decided to finish the business right then and there, and now they both were at his office.
“Yes, here are the bits and the receipt,” she said, giving him both the sack and the little paper note.
“And here’s your pay,” he gave her ten bits, and just as she was about to complain she noticed something in particular, they were all ten bit bits.
“Whoa there, isn’t this a bit too much?” she asked as she recounted it, yep, one hundred bits.
“Well, I did say that I was going to pay you handsomely didn’t I? and well, as I said, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have made the delivery in time would we?”
She nodded her head, with those one hundred bits she would have TWO hundred bits… she could Easily buy a bed now, best day ever? yep, “Thanks Mister Parcel, this is really nice of you.”
“Call me Speedy hon,” he chuckled, “and well, seeing that you made the flight there and back on this day… maybe later I could look if we have other orders like those?”
She stared at the pegasus for a while, and finally comprehension dawned on her.
“Are you offering a permanent post here?”
“Well, if I really need to be blunt then yes,” he smirked, “but then again we must let this matter to be resolved later, It’s almost night and my Wife and Kids await me.I will see you around, Bronze Ashes.”
Yep. Best.Day.Ever.
“Whuh… ”
“Wha… ”
“Whm… whu? whazzat? ”
“What’s this sound? ”
A sound of tearing and buzzing woke Bronze Ashes up, feeling confused as to why she had woken up so… late? ah yes, yesterday she was so tired…
But then again, the sound, yes, it appeared to be important, but in her’s hazy state of mind she didn’t care much.
Until she looked up.
Her roof was being eaten, literally.Small spherical things were buzzing around, munching a hole big enough for her to pass flying through it without any difficulties, all of the haziness dispersed as she stared at those things… those fuzz bals.
The next thing she remembered was a strong gust of flames erupting from her mouth in a vertical pillar.
And then toasted insect rain.
Bronze jumped from her sitting position to the air with a single leap and flap of her wings, airborne, she quickly left her house from the eaten-out hole.Outside, what she saw made her stop for a moment.
The entire Town was covered in those little bugs, and they were eating it.
Self preservation in mind, the first thing that Bronze did was to check her home, other than the hole in the roof, there was minimal damage, and apparently the fire tower she had spewed just now was keeping at bay those little insects.
With a few bouts of flames she quickly cleaned a small area around her house, the smoke and fire that lingered for a moment acted as wards against the pest.Bouncing from her home to her neighbor’s, she quickly did the same, careful enough to not set fire to things other than those that she was aiming for.
A few minutes of keeping this up she managed to keep away a good amount of the little things, and those who tried to pass her were quickly dispatched with well aimed fire bouts.
But then she still couldn’t do much against all of the swarm, if this continued the town would quickly become rubbish, and the amount of these.. things, whatever they were, would come on her full force and easily overpower her.
It was then, when she was already winding up and getting tired that some sort of music started playing in the distance, and to her surprise, all of those little fuzz balls started to bob, twist and dance on a strange rhythm, and soon enough all of them had created a long line that pointed at the entrance of the Everfree forest, and as they kept dancing they kept moving, and a few minutes afterwards the entire swarm had been dealt with.
“Well, this is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen on my entire life. ”, dropping from the rooftop that she was on, Bronze quickly made way to every house in the vicinity, seeing if there were any injured or any fuzz ball that had survived.Luckily enough, no one had been hurt on the incident, and the only thing that remained on her head was how all of this started, what happened there at the end and most importantly, how to get someone to fix her roof.
For now though, she would be content on buying a new bed.
Author's Note
And then a 5k word chapter appears.
The sound of clinking glass and loud chatter filled Ponyville’s most famous pub, ‘The Blue Jays’.A heavy scent of alcohol and fried vegetables filled the air, giving the place its characteristic scent.
“Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!”
The crowd’s voice overpowered the small fiddle being played in the distance, two figures were sitting in front of each other, uncountable empty mugs littered on top of their table.The two were drinking in hopes of winning against each other, and those who watched placed bets on top of who they thought would win.
A burly, red stallion with a blond mane, who went by Big Mac, and a ash gray kirin mare, none other than Bronze Ashes.
*THUMP*
The crowd hollered when both contestants, again, finished another round of hard cider, two waitresses hastily procured another pair of mugs, full of the golden goodness.Soon enough the crowd again chanted their pub mantra, and the two of them all but inhaled their drinks.
It was in this situation that Minuette, a fairly small unicorn mare, maya blue coated and two toned periwinkle and blue mane found herself in.She and Roseluck, a earth pony of cream coloration and raspberry toned mane, had invited Bronze for a night of drinks on the pub that they were currently in, but what she hadn’t expected was for Rose to pass out cold, and for Bronze to enter a drinking competition against Big Macintosh, who was famous for being able to hold himself in these types of situations fairly well.
She wasn’t much for drinking anything harder than wine, and as such she was the only one sober enough to be able to think properly, and probably the one who would have to carry out home a passed out mare and possibly a passed out kirin.
“Are you sure you want to do this Rose? you haven’t even talked with her much if what you told me is true.” “Well, I talked with her once when she bought a few orchids…” “That’s not talking, that’s selling a product for a customer, you both are neighbors for Celestia’s sake, haven’t you even said ‘hi, how are you?’ to her once?” “Well… she isn’t the most approachable pony… kirin, whatever she is.” “And you still want to ask her to come drink with us?” “What? is there another better way to meet her than to get her drinking with us?” “Yep, like a normal everyday conversation.That would be a better start.”
Her musings were cut short by a very loud and feminine warcry of victory, how she knew that she had no idea, but it didn’t matter as she saw the giant of a pony fall over to the ground, his mug of cider spilling over to the floor, and the winner, Bronze, yelling at the top of her lungs something incomprehensible.
Thinking that right then would be the best time to intervene, Minuette rose up from where she was sitting to fetch a drunk kirin and maybe, possibly, walk her home without needing to carry her.
“Bronze? Bronze, we should go home.”
“Heeeeeyyss… Who’sh yoo again?”
“Minuette, and Bronze, we should really get you home.”
“Eyyyy… shoop… Ahstill wanna drink more, ish there anyone that wansh to challaannm… whu?”
Grabbing the kirin by her withers, Minuette all but draged the drunken mare out of the grumbling circle of stallions and a few mares that were watching the spectacle.
“We should really, reaally get you home, you’re too drunk and you said yourself that you had work tomorrow.”
“Okaish mom, heeeey can we gesh shomethin to eat? ah’m shtarv… sharvv… hungry.”
“Home first, food later.”
“Alrigh - hic - t”
‘Parking’ Bronze on the table that she was sitting, Minuette levitated the passed out Roseluck on top of her back.Luckily for her the earth pony was quite light, being as small as she was.With utmost care to not let the drooling face of her friend’s on her mane, she set out of the pub, guiding the drunken kirin through the streets.
“And why do you say that she seems unapproachable?” “Well… she is kinda creepy, you know…” “And why, pray tell, or what, made you change your vision on her so much that you just want to go to her and ask her out?” “I’m not asking her out,it’s we, and we are inviting her for some drinks.And she kinda saved my house on that parasprite invasion…” “Ah, so this is a very late thank you gesture?” “Eh, nah, it’s more like… Well, since that time, I kinda thought about it, and the only reason I kept my distance was because she seemed to not care about her neighbors, or that she purposefully avoided them.If she was really like that she wouldn’t have tried to save the entire neighborhood like she did.” “And did she?” “Well, she went around flying and breathing fire on those vermins, I like to think that if she hadn’t done that we would have to spend a lot more on rebuilding our houses.” “Wait, she breathes fire?” “She’s part dragon don’t you remember?”
Roseluck’s house came into vision after a good ten minutes of walking, the house, much like the mare’s store, had a very good looking front, with a variety of good smelling and beautiful flowers, a true snack garden of superb quality.
Remembering something that Rose had said sometime ago, she lifted the third vase from left to right, and on it’s bottom was a reserve key.Levitating it, Minuette quickly unlocked the door and barged in without much care.
“Goddesses, she may not be heavy but that still was a long walk.”
“Whosh yoo talkin’ to Minny?”
‘Oh hay I forgot about her… she was so quiet all the way here.’
“Okaysh.”
Minuette quickly found out that carrying somepony on your back while simultaneously going upstairs wasn’t the brightest idea she had conceived.Sighing, she strained the rest of her magic to carry Rose on her levitation aura to the mare’s bedroom.There, she tucked her friend in the mattress, and covered her with a blanket.
Downstairs she found Bronze sitting on her haunches, staring at somewhere with a distant look on her face, slightly worried Minuette made her way to the kirin with haste.
“You alright?”
The comment made the mare snap out of her trance, and back to the drunken state of before.
“Yeesh, you woorry too mooch.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle at the display.When all of this craziness had started, the kirin had acted somewhat cold to both of them, she still talked and joked like anypony would, but most of the time she had an air of distance towards them both, if somepony had said that the otherwise stoic kirin was this silly she would have told them that they were joking.
“Well, there’s her house.” “Yep.” “And now you do what you came here to do.” “Yep.” “You’re not going to knock on her door are you?” “Nope.” “If you can’t even knock on her door how do you think you’re going to ask her out?” “Why you keep sayin that? It makes me look like i’m interested in her.” “And you aren’t?” “I’m not going to dignify that question with an answer.” “So you are?” “Go to Tartarus and don’t come back” “Then go and knock on the door damn it!” “Alright… well, here I go.” They both waited, and as soon as Roseluck seemed to be leaving the door opened, and on the other side Bronze stood. “Huh, new faces.” “Hey there! My name’s Roseluck, and this here’s my friend Minuette, we were thinking about inviting you to drink with us on a pub here nearby.” They both watched as the kirin raised one of her eyebrows, a curious look on her face. “Come in, I need to finish something before.” Entering the house, Minuette saw what most would say to be a barren abode.The small place was empty of most furniture one would deem necessary.Other than a oven, a fridge and a very uncomfortable looking couch, there was nothing. “I wouldn’t sit on the couch.” Those were the last words Bronze said before vanishing inside her bedroom. “You really just blurted whatever came first on your mind didn’t you?” Maybe it was the closeness that she had to Roseluck, maybe it was because she had whispered it, but something made the mare jump in the air with a muffled shriek. “Damnit Minnu, you going to scare me to death like that!” “I think I see now why so many stallions say that you are a weird mare, you can’t even start a conversation properly.” “I am not trying to woo her or anything, so can you stop with it?” “Did I say anything about you trying to woo her?”
Luckily for her, the door was already open when both of them got to Bronze’s house.Happy that she hadn’t needed to carry the kirin like she had done to her other friend, Minuette entered the house, still guiding Bronze like one would guide a very drunk pony.
Which, in this case, was very much what was happening.
“Alright, we’re on your home.”
“Shanksh, yoo are a naishe pony Colly.”
Before she could say anything she felt both of Bronze’s forelegs wrap around her neck and shoulders, squeezing her in a tight hug.
“Well, this isn’t awkward at all!”
Silence.
“Bronze?”
Again, Silence, and drool.
“Damn it.”
“Arghhh, how in Tartarus can somepony be so damned strong?”
Resistance was futile, or at least on Minuette’s case, as she tried time and time again to disentangle herself from the kirin’s death grip on her shoulders.She could feel a start of a headache coming, and the strength she had before had all gone away on both carrying and levitating Rose.
Sighing loudly, she tried a last time. and as expected was unsuccessful on removing herself from the iron grip.Deciding, against her own judgement, the unicorn half carried half shambled towards the bedroom.
Getting herself and Bronze on the bed was another awkward moment, but after a few curse words, last strength levitations and a deliberate using of the passed out mare’s body as a support, she found herself, still entangled, on top of the quite large bed.
“I don’t care of what happens tomorrow, that’s future Minuette’s problem.”
Those were the last words she uttered before diving into a dreamless sleep.
Bronze had a hangover.
Either she had drunk moonshine, or her weight worth of mead.
But she was in Equestria now, and neither of those were common, so she hadn’t expected the pounding headache she had, but that didn’t even come close to the other surprise she had when she tried to move.
Something soft and warm was pressing against her chest and shoulders, and it was alive, since it appeared to be breathing.
“Ah, you’re awake aren’t you?”
Opening her eyes, and closing them as a wave of pain came crashing on her head, Bronze cursed herself for thinking that these ponies wouldn’t have something strong to drink, she hadn’t expected cider to do this to her, and now she was paying the price.
“Not so loud…”
She heard a chuckle, and felt the pony trying to move away from her, but failing.She quickly remedied that by unwrapping her forelegs from this pony’s shoulders and neck, and scooting away slowly.
Trying again, she opened her eyes.The pony who was on her bed was none other than the mare she had met yesterday, Minuette, who looked as disheveled and tired as one could look.
“If I knew yesterday that I would end up sleeping entangled with you I wouldn’t have come with Rose.”
“Sorry,” rolling around to face the edge of the bed, she dropped out of it, and landed flank first on the ground, “I hugged you didn’t I?”
It was more of a statement than a question, and the only answer was a nod from the unicorn, who left the bed to try and help her.
“The way you say it seems to me that this wasn’t the first time this happened.”
“Back home, when I was still a wee lass, we would drink till the early day, a few times I woke up with someone else on my bed, just like this.”
“And they didn’t do anything about you?”
“The first few times it was pretty embarrassing yea, but after some time I got the reputation of having an iron grip while sleeping, and most of the kirins and dragons there avoided helping me to my home when we drunk too much.I kinda developed a drunken sense of where home was, but I think it will take some time for me to do the same here.”
“Wait, you’re already thinking on doing this again?”
“It was fun.”
Both of them left the bedroom in silence, thinking.One about what her life had turned into, and the other how she would be able to work in this state.
“You still have work don’t you?”
“Yep, and I’m going to be late if we stay chatting.”
“Yea, and I need to go check on Rose too.”
“Say hi to her for me.”
Author's Note
Blame Risk of Rain for the lack of updates, and a minor case of writer block.