Whooves and DanG

Chapter 1

Dropping In

The kirin filly ran for her life. Hopefully somepony, maybe Mrs. Dash, would show up in time to drive off the timbers. The trees around her began thinning out. Suddenly she found a cliff wall in front of her. She put on the brakes to avoid slamming hard into the rock at the base of the wall.

Immediately she turned to find a different path. Unfortunately, she only found herself surrounded on all sides. She blew a small burst of flames in an attempt to stave off the would-be predators.

The display did all but what it was intended to do. It even spurred the wooden lupins to close in faster. The kirin foal curled into a ball as mouths dripping with saliva inched closer. She knew that only a miracle would save her. As she prepared for her end a cry for help called forth from her heart and mind.

Moments later that call was heard. The being that heard the plea awoke from a stone slumber that had begun many  years ago. Only two others had noticed his awakening.

a young girl's voice screamed in my head. In an instant, my body had gained full awareness of it's surroundings. They only thing that mattered more was that I had to save that filly.

Like a mortar, I shot from my stone shell and sped through the air toward the source of the mental s.o.s. During the trip, I shifted from human to Mega Charizard Y morph. In my head, I could see the destination as if I was a spectator. The little filly that had cried out was only half pony. The other half was a dragon which made her a kirin.

Minutes later I was diving in on a pack of timbers who'd cornered a purplish kirin filly. I arrived on the scene taking out a few of the preds with a fire punch. Following that I landed between the filly and her attackers, blowing flames in a threatening manner.

Seeing this the timbers backed down. The tore off whimpering with their wooden tails between their legs. They were smart for not wanting to challenge a superior opponent. As soon as they were clear I turned and gave a thumbs up to the foal behind me, attempting to convince her that I was friendly. Then the amount of energy suddenly exerted took it's toll on me and I blacked out.

When I next awoke I found myself in a small cave with a fire built in the center. Across from me, on the far side of the fire, was the kirin. She had a nervous expression as she stared out at the cave entrance.

I attempt to sit up to give my arms a break and get the circulation moving. I barely got to my elbows before falling back to my face again with a loud grunt. The grunt was enough to cause the foal to look in my direction. Her expression contained signs of both fear and curiosity as she analyzed her chances against me if she needed to fight or escape. Curiosity won out as I was obviously too weak to even threaten a parasprite.

Instinctive shame at my weakness caused me to look away. Her steps easily told me how much closer she was getting as she approached. Suddenly a few half eaten berries landed in front of me.

"Eat, you'll need your strength if we're gonna get back to town," She commanded in a familiar snobbish tone. I did as I was told and began chowing down. The kirin laughed at my voracious appetite before deciding to curl up beside me. It seemed as if a purple mountain made of scaley hairs (or was that hairy scales) had landed next to me. She took this moment to start a conversation.

"Name's Crystal Clarity but my friends call me Claire for short." Claire softly spoke as she introduced herself. Her expression had softened to one of friendliness and generosity. She knew she was taking big risks but managed to curb her fear for the sake of repaying a debt.

She waited patiently for my reply. I took my sweet time gauging her thoughts. I was looking for clues about who she was and what her personality was like outside of our current situation. The main thing I could pick up on was how much she made me think of Rarity. "What kind of foolishness got you the attentions of a pack of hungry timbers?" I finally asked in a blunt tone.

"Long story short my friends and I were hanging at the edge of the Everfree and when those uglies showed up I played bait to save my friends," Claire whispered in shame. She turned her head to hide the telltale expression. Mentally she was berating herself for her actions.

"I don't condone foolishness in that kind of situation but I will commend you for your courage and for choosing to protect your friends, therein you have no reason to beat yourself up." Began my cheer up speech. Claire turned her head to face me straight on. Her eyes were tinged with the worry and fear of the way the situation had gone. "Just don't do it again and you mightn't have to worry about being stuck out in the wilderness with no protection and no clear direction toward safety." I finished with a dramatic bit of grouchy irony.

Claire could only blush and rub the back of her head at my last comment. I waited until she was done wiping the tears from her face before continuing. "Now if you're willing to give me a lift, I'm confident I can get us back to Ponyville unscathed and we can talk more on the way." I offered in direct response to the smile Claire was now wearing.

As the sounds of civilization grew I could feel Claire's tension lessen. Her pace became more leisurely as a number of buildings began replacing trees. At the same time, my tension began ping pinging between being relaxed by familiar turf and being tenser because of the differences that would soon be made known. Either way, both of us were excited to be entering town. All seemed quiet until a voice both Claire and I knew that stopped us both.

"Claire, Darling, wherever have you been, we all were so worried." Rare's voice rang out. Seconds later several shadows loomed over us. "Say nothing." I hissed as my form blended into the mane between Claire's horns.

As Rare ran up and practically put Claire in a vice-like hug others landed around us. Among them were the royal sisters who's faces expressed only that they were searching hard for evidence of something being in the area. Standing  behind them and nearly over the group was a full grown purple and green dragon. Then came the rest of those I'd come to call family in Equestria. Bringing up the rear were around ten foals of varying species.

"As if you disappearing over night wasn't bad enough, the statue in the center of the entryway mantle shattered and left quite the bit of a mess all over the boutique." Rare gossiped as her hug ended. She then turned to the dragon with a darker look. "Spike, please tell your son never to leave his sister alone in that kind of situation ever again," Rare commanded of the creature looming over the group.

Shock hit me so hard that I nearly blew my own cover. The kirin I was supposed to train was Claire. All the facts and warnings Doctor had given me now came rolling across my eyes.

They were quickly interrupted by movement from Claire's left. The princesses were approaching with Tia in the lead. Luna was keeping both eyes trained on Claire from behind Tia. I had a feeling about what came next. Tia didn't fail me when she sweetly asked: "The creature in the statue, did it save you and do you know where it is?".

Before Claire could reply Luna broke in. "Do not expect to lie to us young one, we know he is here but expect that he is afraid and trusts only you at this moment." Reassured Luna busting both Claire and myself. It seemed as if my time to play the role I was covering as had come.

"Unless you count on a friendly face appearing followed by other faces she told me were friendly and I totally trust her by trusting them," I said as my body seemingly materialized between Claire's horns. A round of shocked gasps proved my dramatic entry fruitful and put a huge grin on my face. Luna and Claire were the only ones not to have gasped. Instead, Luna ripped me off Claire's head using a levitation spell and crushed me in a hug. A quick memory check sorted out her affection.

Turns out that while this time's me napped in his stone casing, Luna kept in touch and developed a friendship with him. She'd explained everything about Equestria to him. There were updates when events happened and games played while Luna was on duty.

"So. madame, I must concede that I was heavily convinced that all that happened to us was some kind of meeting place in our dreams and that we'd wake up in opposite planes." I interrupted her hug. "For that I must apologize and we must discuss a way for me to make up for that." I bowed out the remaining half of the apology with whatever room I could muster between Luna's hooves and her chest. I looked past her to the other faces that were so familiar yet way too different to be the ones I knew. They all had expressions proving just how eager they were to meet me. I could only think of one thing to say in reply and I spoke them aloud for all to hear as I yelled: "Until then, I must test my memory and see how well you've taught me about these other ponies you call friends and family.".