Of course I couldn't just find some random town, walk up to everypony there and expect them to accept me.
I needed a plan.
That's were the princess of friendship comes in, and maybe the elements of harmony.Twilight Sparkle, the most respectful pony I've ever heard of. The elements of harmony, some of the most understanding and accepting ponies I've ever heard of.
They always tried to help everypony, no matter who they are. If twilight and her friends couldn't help me I don't know who can.
....so Ponyville that's where I was headed, and It wasn't far away considering my cave was only a few miles away.
Even so, it felt like I've been flying for hours when I finally approached town.
I landed a little bit away so I could get a good overview, finding the best hiding spots.
I know what I said about hiding, but right now it seemed necessary.
Didn't want anypony to report me to the princess before I had actually talked to her myself.
So flying over probably wasn't a good idea.
I found a line of houses and bushes. I snook behind them all the way to the castle. But of course the area around it was full of ponies. So I had to wait until they left.
I waited, and waited, but at last they all disappeared. I stuck my head out of a bush, it didn't look like anypony was around. But I took an extra look just to be sure.
Left: nopony.
Right: nopony.
Forward: nopony there either. And behind me was just a house.
I jumped out of a bush and walked up to the castle doors.
"Knock,knock" I knocked on the door with my tail.
"Coming." I heard a kind, sorta childish voice say. Hearing footsteps, indicating they were coming to open the door.
The door opened and a little purple dragon with green claws stood inside of it.
"Who the heck are you?" The dragon asked tilting his head, looking confused.
"....is princess twilight here?" I asked, avoiding his question. I might have time to tell my life story, but definitely not to him.
The dragon starred at me in confusing.
I stumped my hoof into the ground.
"....oh...of course the princess, I'll find her." The dragon said, snapping out of his trance.
I put my hoof up, signaling I'd rather talk inside.
"Come in then." Then dragon said while moving to the side.
I hesitated, but at last I walked in.
princess Twilight Sparkles castle was beautiful, even just the hallways.
Glass doors with pillars beside them decorated with shiny delicious gems.
While the hallway itself was rather empty, just a few tables and chairs stuck against the walls, clearly there for travelers to leave there things on or just sitt down.
" twilight!" The dragon called.
"In here!" I could hear, declared from inside the big glass doors in the middle of the hallway.
The purple dragon signalized that I should fallow him as he walked in the big door.
I did so, nervously.
Inside the door I saw something I definitely wasn't expecting. The throne room.
it was even prettier than I've ever thought or heard.
With the six thrones representing each element and the map in the middle showing every part of Equestria. And the chandelier featuring all the memory crystals.
On one of the thrones a purple alicorn sat, with a darker purple mane and red streaks in it.
She looked over in my direction.
Princess Twilight Sparkel.
I froze.
Twilight looked at me first skeptical, then confused.
She got up from her throne and started inspecting me.
( not like that.)
Lifting my wings, thuching my scales, looking me up and down.
It all felt very awkward, she was violating my comfort zone.
Causing me to stiffen up like a dead branch.
"Hua......" Twilight took a big breath.
" oh my celestia, you're.....you're a longma!" She said with excitement.
" I thought you were extinct!....apparently not since there's a real life one standing here right in front of me, and she's an alicorn......iiiiii this is so exciting !" She screamed twirling and whaling around with excitement.
Twilight started flying around finding books and everything. It was clear that she was eager to show of her knowledge about my species, maybe even get some of her questions answered. But I didn't have time for that, at least not right now.
" what is a longma?" Asked the purple dragon.
Twilight stopped and turned around to face him.
" a longma is a pony who's half dragon, half pony. Spike". she said slightly calmer.
The dragon or "spike" as twilight called him shrugged.
I cleared my throat.
Twilight looked back at me and took a deep breath.
" oh pardon me....I haven't even asked your name yet" Twilight said a bit embarrassed.
" my name is Shivers Scales.". I hesitate.
"Why are you here....Shivers?" Twilight asked.
I froze, I knew she would ask questions but I haven't yet though about how to answer them.
"I...I'm here because I need your help." I said.
She looked at me confused.
"You see being a hybrid ain't easy, especially not one that's half dragon. It causes everypony to fear you." I continued. " I want this to stop....I want..." I took a deep breath.
" I want you to present me for the town. Tell them that I'm not dangerous, mean no harm. All I want is a house, respect and the ability to be loved and help others, maybe even earn some bits." I said, proudly.
Twilight looked at me, judging my request.
"Okay, I can do that." she said after a while.
I sighed. finally somepony who understood me.
" any more?" She asked in curiosity.
" I....I want to meet your friends." I said nervous. " the elements of harmony....if the town somehow don't believe you, it would help having them on my side."
She gave me a puzzled look.
" Oh and before I forget...I want you to tell all the poor ponies in town that I have a giant cave full of treasure.and I'll be willing to part with it if they're willing to follow me too it. And give me some respect and acceptance afterwards, and use the money wisely of course". I said holding my breath.
" well that shouldn't be to hard to fix... At least not the first part." She turned over to spike. " Spike can you go and find my friends?" She asked him.
" yes ma" spike said as he ran out of the door to do so.
It didn't take long before Twilights friends were here, actually it only took about 5 minutes. All Spike had to do was find Pinkie Pie, and she ran around collecting the rest. She's fast.
We were all standing in the throne room now.
They all looked at me skeptically.
".... Hi...I'm Shivers." I said with a nervous smile.
Apparently my smile was more terrifying than welcoming since it caused Fluttershy to start shivering and hiding behind a pillar.
" I'm not here to hurt you. I promise." I said trying to calm her down.
well this is going great.
I sighed. This was not the first impression I was hoping on.
Twilight saw my struggle and came to the rescue.
" Shivers here is a longma, there half pony, half dragon and known to be extreme jerks." Twilight said." But She doesn't want to be that. She wants to be good and help ponies instead. But since her race has such an awful reputation she came too us, wanting us to take her side and present her for the town as the lawful citizens she is....right?" Twilight continued, putting her hoof around me trying to make me feel better.
I nodded.
Now they looked even more confused.
The orange earth pony with a blond mane wearing a Stetson hat, Appeljack I think her name was, took a step forward.
" are you sure we can trust her?" She asked twilight.
" well.... She did go trough all the trouble of asking twilight to help her." Pinkie Pie pointed out.
" I'm promise I won't and have never hurt a soul." I said trying to fix the situation.
Pinkie Pie walked up to me getting so close I could feel her breath. "Do you Pinkie promise that?" She said angrily.
I stuck my head out left of her giving the everypony else a confused look.
" oh. Pinkie Promise is when you promise something, only breaking it has consicvenses." Rainbow Dash answered.
I went back to looking at Pinkie, scared how how close she was to me.
I nodded not knowing what horrible mistake I was making.
Pinkie moved back.
" well then." She said while judging my features. " I trust her." Pinkie concluded.
" she hasn't done any bad yet so." Said Fluttershy while walking out from behind the pillar.
I sighed in relief.
" well it's nice to meet you Shivers. May I say your scales are simply gorgeous." Rarity said pointing at my back half.
" really?" I answered looking around myself. I've heard many remarks about my scales, but never that there gorgeous.
" oh yes, I would love too use them as inspiration for my next line." She added flattering me more.
I blushed.
" I think you look awesome! I mean look at those wings and that tail wish I had that." Rainbow said flying over me. " I bet cha its gonna be even better when we see her fly or use magic or...or breath fire!" Rainbow added with excitement.
oh about that....
I started walking backwards, getting more and more nervous.
They all looked at me expecting me to do something extravagant.
" is everything okay there, Shivers?" Appeljack asked me confused.
I wanted to run, but I knew it wasn't time.
" I.....I...I don't really know how to do all that." I said rolling myself into a ball.
I heard them starting to mumble.
I was too afraid to look at them, I've never told anyone the fact that i barely even know my full potential.
Laid there for a while just waiting for them to do something.
I felt a hoof on top of my scales.
" it's okay darling" I heard somepony say.
I rolled out and stood up again, finding out that somepony was Rarity.
I took a deep breath before speaking again.
" I've never fully learned everything I needed too." I said. " my parents died at a pretty early age so I never really learned how to breath fire or fly very well." I continued.
" that sounds horrible." Fluttershy said.
I nodded, thinking back to that day.
An awkward silence now surrounded us.
" well do you wanna learn?" Twilight said, breaking the silence.
" huh?"
" I mean...We do know a thing or two about stuff like magic and flying. And we do have a friend who knows how too breath fire." Twilight continued, noodling towards Fluttershy at that last sentence.
" I'm sure we can learn you lots of other things too." Pinkie added.
I was overwhelmed at their request, never thought anyone would help me like this.
" okay" I said.
" well that settles it! Tomorrow we present you for the town, and after that's done we start training you." Twilight answered.
3. The big reveal.
I was sitting inside of the town hall, My scales shivering with nervousness.
Sooner or later I was gonna go out there and tell them my story. I was just waiting for Twilight to call on me.
The mayor was already informed about me, and she didn't seem bothered by it. She said that if I were evil I would just have flown over the town and set it on fire. She made a valid point.
I just hope it works this time. Last time I did this it didn't go so good.
It was 3 years ago now. I went to canterlot doing the same thing I was doing now. The princesses had gathered the whole town. They told them all about me, but when I stepped out on the stage everypony started throwing stuff at me. Tomatoes, apples, hay somepony even threw a torch causing the hole stage to catch on fire.
I haven't spoken or even let anypony see me since, Too scared of what they would think. That's why this is so important. if I fuck this up its over, I'm forever doomed to hide.
"Knirk" I heard the door open. I looked over expecting to see Twilight, but instead I saw a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and butterflies as her cutiemark.
Fluttershy.
of course it was Fluttershy I bet twilight sent her over here to comfort me.
" can....I come in?" She said standing in the door.
"Sure." I said hesitate.
She walked over to me.
" are you okay?" She asked softly.
" if by okay you mean completely overblown with nervousness, then yes I'm okay." I answered looking away.
" so it's that bad." Fluttershy said shyly.
I nodded in her direction.
The yellow Pegasus walked around a bit, trying to find something to make me feel better.
After a while she turned around facing me. Only she wasn't looking at me but the pen and paper in front of me.
I met her gaze. " oh that.....I tried to write a speech for myself, but my tail was shaking to much.....it's completely unreadable." I gestured toward the paper.
Fluttershy came over and looked at it. Just a bunch of scribbles. She sat down opposite of me.
" I know how you feel." She said awaiting an answer.
I didn't give her one so she just continue. " all those ponies steering at you waiting for you too prove yourself good. It must be horrible."
If that was ment to help me, then why did it only scare me more.
I looked up at her with a worried expression.
".... But it will be fine. Twilight have set up a force field around the stage so nopony can throw stuff at you. And she's gonna amplify your voice so everyone can hear you. All you have to do is make a good impression." She said cheerfully. " besides there's no way you're evil since you haven't even preformed any schemes yet.....right?" She looked at me worried. I nodded " couldn't hurt a fly....even if I wanted to." I said disappointed.
We sat there for awhile. Me trying to pluck up my courage while Fluttershy just kept me company.
I heard the door open again. I looked over and saw Twilight standing in it. She waved her hoof at me signaling I should follow her out. I looked down took a deep breath and stood up. " good luck!" Said Fluttershy to me as I walked out the door.
I knew ponyville had many ponies, but not this many. The whole town square and a bit more was filed with ponies. This made me very nervous.
Me and Twilight moved forward on the stage, I heard ponies mumbling some even tried to throw a tomato at me, but the force field blocked him. Twilight stomped her hoof in the ground, killing the mumbling. " everypony meet Shivers Scales." Twilight said calmingly.
They all looked up at me, eyes steering just waiting for me to do something.
Twilight bobbed her head in my direction, signaling it was my time to speak. I steeped forward and cleared my throat. ".....hi everypony....my name is Shivers Scales....., but you allready know that......I'm a longma....you know that too." I struggled.
I looked at the crowd, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and started over.
" I have a cave just a few miles from here. so if I wanted to hurt you I would have done that a long time ago." I stopped letting them take in my words. " I could have just went in here and stolen everything, or burnt this town down to the ground. But I didn't, and I won't do that. When I came here to ponyville it wasn't because I wanted to trick you, no it was because I had nowhere else to go. Where else could a town accept someone like me." The crowd started mumbling again.
"I asked the princess of friendship here, to present me because I wanted everypony to have an opportunity to understand me without any misconceptions." I said pointing my hoof toward twilight. " all I want is a chance. A chance for you to see me with blank pages. Be loved, respected and appreciated. I could never hurt anyone, I've seen enough destruction to know that that's bad. And I know I look horrifying, but I can barely even use any magic or fly. My social skills might be bad, but the princess and her friends promised to train me so that I could do good with it." I took another breath.
" I hope that whenever I'm done with this presentation that I'll have the opportunity to get a house, get a job and for everypony to at least try to accept me." I said ending my speech.
Everypony was steering at me, mumbling. I could hear stuff like " this can't be real.", " she must be lying.".
I was about to walk back into the town hall again when I just remembered. " oh and about that cave I have..... Inside of it is a large treasure filled with gold and gems and bits." I said awaiting there response. Everypony looked up at me. " if any of the poor ponies in town is willing to follow me to it and give me what I told afterwards then I'll be willing to give my treasure to them. If not I'll throw it all into the river." I said.
The crowed oh-ed and aw-Ed at this. " how do we know that this is safe?" Somepony asked.
" you'll just have to trust me." I answered confident. If they didn't believe me now then they will after we were back.
" step forward if you want to come with me, but you have to have good intentions for that money." I said.
" and don't try to fool me I know who is poor and who isn't." I added.
When I had to steal for a living I learned myself a spell who told me what something or someone was worth. It was very useful when deciding who to steal from and who not. Always the rich and greedy who had no better to do than do get more money.
And it is very useful now.
I looked out at the crowd waiting for someone to step forward. The crowd got quiet, just a few ponies mumbling about whether to take the offer or not.
A blue Pegasus stallion with a raggedy unkept brown mane and tail, his cutiemark being a microphone, stepped forward. My horn started glowing as I looked at him.
" I will." He said proudly.
" what will you use it for?" I asked.
" to buy myself a place to live and start doing comedy again" He said confident.
I nodded. He passed, looked poor and I could detect that he hadn't had a real meal in days unless you count garbage.
A more ponies steeped forward. and Before I knew it a big crowd of ponies stood there right before me, waiting for me to lead them. And they all passed everyone of them was either poor, money crisis or was simply in depth.
" any more?" I asked out in the crowd. A brown stallion wearing a white dirty cape, black mane clearly gelled but still messy, stepped forward. " me." He said with confidence. I lit my horn letting my magic analyse him. I found something peculiar.
" you're not poor...you're rich...filfy even I would never bring you there. You have enough wealth and a talent for making more of it I see." I said shocked. Somepony came forward and stole the cape of off the brown stallion, reviling a cutiemark of moneybags. Some of the crowd gasped. " well it was worth a shot. Really I was just testing you kid." He said turning around and running back into the crowd.
I nodded. Looking out at my crowd.
" twilight will you open the force field?" I said looking in her direction.
" are you sure?"
" yes"
"Okay." Twilight said lilting her horn and lifting the purple barrier around the town hall.
I waited for something to happen, something to get thrown at me, but nothing happend.
My crowd was waiting for me to start leading them.
" I'm gonna need someone to guard us." I said nodding towards rainbow dash and Appeljack.
" of course." Answered Appeljack.
" I'm in" answered Rainbow.
" let's go." I said walking down from the stage, and on to the path. A crowd of poor ponies following behind me.
Author's Note
Just so you know every time I don't say Pegasus or unicorn before the gender of a pony there an earth pony.
1. The curse of being a hybrid.
1. The curse of being a hybrid.
" Chum". Said the wall as I pushed in the button to open it. Inside was a large brown cave full of treasure.
Gold,gems, bits, you name it, I've got it all. There were also a few other essentials like a blanket, mirror, fire pit etc.
I unloaded my bags of new treasure and levitated it on top of the rest.
My pile was becoming rather large.
Ahh, stealing was easy, unnecessary easy.
When I was a filly stealing just to be fun. Something I can boast about and make longmas/ dragons proud or even jealous. But since my parents died, stealing became a necessity.No food, no bits I just had too.Now I'm 16 and I can finally take care off myself without it.I know how to hide myself , cook, hunt and if not for my looks,I would have had a pretty good shot at a job here.
Then why do I do it?
Isn't it obvious?
I'm only trying to grow out one of my parts so that I'm no longer a hybrid.
Dragon or pony I didn't care. Dragon was the easier choice though. Greed, it's easy to feed.
But no matter what I did it didn't seem to work.
I was and stayed a longma.
And it didn't exactly help that I looked like a horrifying mess of a creature.
My coat was magenta while my back half, tail and lower part of my wings were covered with scales.
I had no cutiemark, and there weren't all lot of space for it either.
there was Purple claws covering my hooves and tail.
My wings were pegasi.
My mane was purple, curly and short, with bangs trying to cover my three horns.
One unicorn and two deer like ones spiraling upwards.
Ears were stuck to each side of my head instead of on top of it like normally.
Eyes red from all the destruction I've seen.
I sighed. anypony seeing this creature would probably run for their life, or worse fight me.
That's why I was always under a spell so that everypony could see me as one of them, a pony.
But I was tired of that now.
Tired of hiding.
tired of stealing.
It had taken me long, maybe to long to make this choice, but I had to do it. Couldn't wait any longer.
I went over to my saddlebags.Filling them with food and at least enough bits to get a house.
"It's time". I said levitating them on to my back.
I walked over to the opening of my cave.
Closed the wall. "It's time to let my life begin, no more hiding" I said as I took off into the distance.
