"Hello?" Hell-ooooooo! Are you there?!" A black wing flew in front of my eyes.
I came to. My talons were clenched to a branch... a branch....
A branch? There are but only a few branches in the North....
And... I was in the palace... the ice palace...
And who is this?
I shook my head to get out of the daze. "Wh-what?" a voice I didn't recognize came out.
"Oh! Are you okay, little girl? You looked really spaced out! Do you know where you are?" the crow asked.
"I-I," I stammered. What do I say? Where am I? I died! What's going on?! I couldn't take it. I fainted
"Oh. You're awake."
I completely ignored the voice. I was in a hollow, I recognized. This place... I knew I wasn't in the North anymore, the air was far too warm. The South, maybe? Kreeth had once told me something about that place...
Kreeth also told me about tree hollows. And I was in one. Why?
I realised something else, too. I was laying down, my breast facing the ceiling. To my surprise, I didn't feel any of my plumage bending or broken. It was like I was just a hatchling, my feathers soft and fluffy, no primaries...
And then I realized what was going on. I was a hatchling. I panicked as I looked around the room, and found a crow. The crow—at least I thought it was a crow from what Kreeth had told me about crows—starred back at me, curious, but not scared. It subdued my panic somewhat, and I tried focusing on my abilities. I never could do it when my mind was wandering. I squinted, probably looking like a hatchling that was concentrating too hard.
My body morphed again; I was getting bigger.
It shocked me that I was able to able to change my age with will power; I knew that I was able to change my species, as I had been honing that ability ever since I could remember. Now, though, I was amazed and confused to find I had this new ability. The crow was amazed too, you could tell by how wide his eye's were.
We sat there for a moment, looking deeply into each-other's eyes before he spoke. "What are you?"
"I-I," I stammered. I didn't know how to start. "I... I am an owl..." I stood back up on my feet.
"No, you aren't an owl. What are you?"
"I... I'm a hagsfiend."
"A hagsfiend? Ha!" He made a small, dismissive smile. "You know that's a legend, right? I'd take it you're a changeling... but why an owl?"
"A changeling... that's what Kreeth called me...." I muttered. Then a faint hope popped into my head. "Kreeth? Is that you?"
"No, my name is Black."
"So... you-you are a crow, not a hagsfiend?"
"Yeah, but I must ask, what is it with you and hagsfiends?"
I had no idea. This crow said that hagsfiends are... a legend? What? Hagsfiends were quite real. "No," I said. "Hagsfiends are real... I... this isn't right. I died. I was dead. And now I'm here... why? What forces brought me here?"
"I... don't know," Black said. "Alright, then, tell me what you know of hagsfiends... if you are adamant they are real."
"They..." I trailed off as I thought of what to say. What did I know of hagsfiends? What did I know of any bird? "They... are black... kind of like black owls, but very crow-like. I think... I think Kreeth once told me that they are part owl and part crow. They... have nachtmagen, a form of magic."
"That... what? What are you talking about? Hagsfiends are just daemons. They aren't real. Daemons aren't real. The mythology is interesting, but it's not real."
"I... I'm part hagsfiend and part owl."
"Okay... I'm going to ignore that for now. You said you died though? How does that work?"
That question irked me, and still irks me today. "I-I don't know..." I said faltering and sad. The memories came rushing back; I had just proposed my love of Hoole, and then Strumajen struck me down... why? What did I have to live for after that?! What would be the point in living?!
But I'm here now. "Where-where am I?"
"Right now, you are in Equestria, on the fringes of the Everfree forest."
"Equestria?!" I said, a little hysterical. "As in equine? Ha! How could a horse possibly get a place named after it? Those things are about as dumb as a stump!"
"Wh-what?" he asked, surprised. "What are you talking about? Have you met a pony?"
"Well... no. I saw a horse once, though... Kreeth said they weren't really smart...."
"Who is... Kreeth?"
"Sh-she's my..." I lowered my voice, "mother...."
"I... see."
"If it's not too much to ask... what is your name?"
"I'm Lutta."
"It's... a pleasure to meet you, Lutta."
"Do you think I'm insane?" I asked meagerly.
"Well... I don't know. You're story sounds crazy, but I can't say you are crazy without knowing you more. I can't take it with a grain of salt knowing that you basically just appeared on the branch outside my hollow, and you just changed into a bird that I don't recognize from a little sooty hatchling."
"Well... thank you, I guess, for believing me.... This is very overwhelming...."
"It's not a problem. Believing things is easy, it's un-believing that's the hard part."
Oh, I thought. This guy had a sense of humor eh? Definitely a little refreshing after being around Kreeth, and then having to infiltrate the palace and pose as Emerilla.
"Though, I can't say I believe your entire story. But, I should ask; I suppose you don't have a place to stay?"
"I... I don't know.... Does N'yrthghar... exist?"
"Hm... that's what us bird folk used to call the North a long, long time ago, but I don't suppose it does really exist, at least anymore. Princess Cadence resides over the Crystal Empire there."
"I... Oh." I knew there was no fighting this. I was not where I was supposed to be. "I... don't have a place to stay."
"Well then, I implore you to say with me, Lutta. At least until you get your situation sorted out."
"Th-thank you... I...." I wasn't sure what to say.
He nodded, understanding.
I then realized something. "Hey, who was that other crow from before?"
"That was my nest-mate, Feethe. She saw you spaced out on the branch as that little hatchling, and got concerned. Then she went over to try to get you out of the trance, and you got so startled that you fainted and lost grip of the branch and started falling. She caught you and laid you back down on this nest."
My face got hot out of embarrassment. "Oh."
"Yeah, she was really worried, but she went out to get a mouse, so she left you here with me. And then you woke up, and, well, yeah. She should be back soon."
"Oh," I said again.
I looked around the hollow; I noticed scrolls stacked up by the wall. When Black turned away, I shuffled over and unfurled it a little with my beak. The characters looked strange and I definitely couldn't read them, yet I understood Black when he spoke. It was strange.
That got me thinking; there were a few strange things about this crow. The first was obvious; he had a pile of claw-scribed scrolls laying in the corner. The second was that he lived in a hollow. From what I had been told, which was very little, crows lived in nests, and this one lived in a hollow. It was clear that this place and the place I was shared some sort of loose connections, what those were unclear though, so it was possible that crows here didn't usually live in nests.
I stepped away and turned to face him. "You aren't like other crows, are you?"
He turned to face me and nodded. "Yes."
"What is it you are writing?"
"I am recording the sky color each day."
"Really?"
"No."
"What are you recording then?"
"See for yourself."
"I can't read those characters."
"Ah, well. In time."
"Why do you live in a hollow?"
"It's out of the weather. It's spacious. Permanent."
"That makes sense..."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know... I think... I need to learn what has happened to me, however possible."
"I see."
I thought of something then. "Earlier, you called me a changeling. What does that mean to you?"
"Ah, well nasty things, really. They take the shape of ponies and steal love or something. Noone really knows too much about them."
"I... See."
"...And you appear to be one."
"No, I am not. I am what I say I am. I can only change into other owls..." right?
"In any case, I think we are both mistaken."
"No, the only one mistaken is you."
"...Very well."
After that, we didn't say anything until Feethe arrived. It was quite awkward.
Feethe arrived carrying a mouse in her beak. She was surprised to see me in the place of the little owlet she found outside the hollow. Black explained everything to her and I interjected a few times to offer my two cents.
"Wow! That's something, I guess. I thought you were cuter as a hatchling, personally."
I gave the slightest hint of shying away out of embarrassment. "Uhm... okay."
"Feethe," Black said.
"Yeah, I know. So you' stayin' here, Lutta?"
"I guess I am..."
Black continued asking me about some random stuff and I learned just how intertwined these two places are. I still am not sure if I had been sent to the future or what the logistics of the entire thing were, but apparently pretty much everything I told Black matched with historical records or bird-kind mythology.
I never told him about what I had done, though...
It worked out; he didn't press for information.
I'm honestly not sure if I could have barred to see an owl. I think I might have killed them.
But now, in any case, I'm here... in this land of horses.
Feethe and Black eventually went to sleep in different nests, Feethe's being higher up in the hollow and Black's being in the center of the room where I had woken up. Black had recommended that I get a perch, but I insisted on sitting on the ground. It was... comforting to have others like me around, even if they didn't respect the feuds between hagsfiends and owls...
The next day, I thought I'd go meet some ponies.
