The Tale of the Opal Serpentby LunarEclipse77Chapters(1) Stranger Danger(2) A New Addition(3) Exposition, Exposition Everywhere(4) A Normal Day(1) Stranger Danger(1) Stranger Danger The Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 1: Stranger Danger “I’m going on a walk!” I yelled as I walked out of our small trailer. There was probably a reply of some kind, but I didn’t care. I was way too angry to care. Besides, my aunt and uncle were probably too drunk to actually notice my absence, even though I did everything. I cooked, I cleaned, and I picked up after them. Heck, sometimes I even had to do their jobs. Can you believe that? A fourteen year old kid, having to do his guardian’s jobs. Both of them. It’s actually kind of sad, when you think about it, considering that I did them better than they did. Anyways, I needed some air. I headed towards the small ponds in the middle of the trailer park where I lived. Don’t be too impressed with that fact. The ponds were scummy, the grass was hardly ever mowed, and the geese there were worse than anywhere else, but it was my favorite spot to escape to when the stench of alcohol was strong enough to get somebody tipsy from just breathing it for too long. I had to go there a lot. Unfortunately, I often ran into the local neighborhood idiots there. I was typically a pretty levelheaded person and not prone to violence, so I generally ignored them. The few times that any of them tried to talk to me always ended in a fight. You see, I can have a very abrasive personality when I want to. Sometimes, it shows through what everbody always sees me put up. A great big, all encompassing facade. You see, I have a tendency to burn bridges so fast that a completely random stranger can think I'm nice one second and hate my guts the next. I'm serious, that's happened too many times to count. It's the reason that I was living with my aunt and uncle. My parents despised me, and the other relatives that they'd shuttled me off to ated me just as much. The only family that I had liked were my mom's parents, but they had died a few years ago. Now, don't get me wrong. I could be nice when I wanted to. But, more often than not, I didn't want to be. As I walked around the pond, I came across a twenty-something man dressed in jeans and a sky-blue shirt sitting on a bench. Odd. That bench wasn’t there yesterday. Blinking the thought away, I simply strode past it. I got about two steps before I heard him say “So, My Little Pony.” I instantly froze on the spot. “Wha…what did you say?” He chuckled. “I said ‘So, My Little Pony.’ You do watch it, right?” “Who wants to know?” I challenged, perhaps a tad apprehensively. Nobody, and I mean nobody knew that I watched that show. Just another thing I’d be teased for. “That is none of your concern. What is of your concern is that I have the ability to send you to Equestria. Or near it, at least.” He said the last bit with a frown. I gave him a flat look that very clearly said “You’re kidding, right?” He chuckled at me. “Actually, it was more of a ‘You belong in an asylum’ look.” “What? That…I didn’t say anything!” I said. At this point, I was either going to bolt from this guy or use my... sparkling personality to either make him shut up or go away. He was kinda creepy. “You mean you can’t see…? Whatever, it’ll make sense some day. Anyways, I’m quite serious. If it works, you’ll be in Equestria with a new body and life. If it doesn’t work, then you can just be on your merry little way, back to your aunt and uncle.” I considered his words very carefully for all of two seconds before giving him my grudging answer. “…Fine.” This seemed to elate him. “Excellent! Now, what do you want to be? Not a pony, too generic…not a human…too may changelings, they don’t need another…griffin?” He said, shooting the last bit as a question at me. I quickly shook my head no. I don’t know how he got me into the idea so quickly. He just seemed to have this kind of…aura around him. I can’t really explain it. “No, they don’t seem to be your type. Hrm…How about a dragon?” He asked. He was getting a little closer to what I wanted. I almost said yes, but then I remembered the dragons in the show: rude, overconfident, and overbearing. I didn’t want to be like them. I grinned a little sheepishly at the man. “If you’re letting choose what I want to be, could I be a snake, but keep the wings?” He gaped a little at that, causing me to quickly backpedal. “I mean, if that’s okay…” I suddenly realized how stupid this was. “Just, can you get this over with? Like, soon?” He grinned at me. “Certainly. And, yes, an amphiptere, as the creature you wish to be is known as, is well within my power. In fact, I am perhaps a little more suited to that than anything else. Now let me…” He trailed off. “Vae*! I’m sorry, but it seems that there’ll be a bit of a…wait…yes, that’d work!” He said, seemingly talking to himself more than me. He then turned to me. “I can get you there, in the body you desire. Just...don’t expect to eat. Or breathe, for that matter. At least, not normally.” “WHAT?! What is that-” I was cut off by the snap of his fingers, which was much louder and sharper than it should have been. A breeze burst from the spot. Right as my vision faded, I heard him say something that I couldn’t understand. I slowly faded back in to consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes, but quickly shut them again. There was no way. I instead focused on trying to get up. I maneuvered my…what the heck?! Why can’t I move my arms? I thought. ‘Simple.’ Another voice said in my mind. ‘You don’t have arms.’ ‘What the…?! Who are you?!’ I thought at the voice. ‘Remember the one who sent you here?’ He asked, and after receiving an affirmative thought from me, said ‘I am he.” Right at that moment, I figured out that I wasn’t breathing. I tried to suck in air, but it didn’t work. I opened my mouth to gasp it in that way, but…nothing happened. ‘Hey. Why can’t I breathe?’ I asked. I was a lot calmer than I should have been, considering the circumstances. The other voice in my head replied with a bit of playful scolding. ‘Tsk tsk tsk. Don’t you remember what I said? You don’t have any internal organs. You aren’t breathing because you have no lungs, and you aren’t panicking because you have no adrenaline, nor adrenal glands to produce it. You are freed from most processes that limited you as a human. Think about it!’ ‘So, if I don’t have a brain, how am I talking to you? The voice took a little longer to reply this time. ‘Don’t think about it! It’s fine. I believe that you read once that anything on TV can be explained with ‘Cartoon Physics and Magic’?’ He challenged. ‘Now, open your eyes and look around. You haven’t even looked at yourself yet!’ He chided. I did what he told me to, and confirmed what I had gotten a peek of earlier. I was in a wasteland. The soil was bare and exposed, and cracked like clay. There were massive gashes and scars in the landscape, with great swathes of land scorched and blackened. ‘Where…am I?’ I asked. ‘You are in the Dragon Badlands, named so because the dragons fought for territory here, and burned it so badly that nothing would and will grow here. Ever. Now, look at yourself. I want to know how good I did on your form.’ Strangely enough, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I actually looked at myself, and boy did I like what I saw! I was white and shimmered like an opal. I basically looked like an enormous white snake. The ground for about a two foot radius around me was covered in frost, which I thought was pretty neat as well. My body was completely smooth, which made no sense if I was…nevermind. Nothing about this scenario made sense, so I figured I’d just roll with it. Anyways…my wings (Yes, he remembered about them. Squee!) shimmered like an opal, just like the rest of my body. They were purple tinged at the tips, which I thought was pretty cool. The only problem was… ‘How do I use these? Or, better yet, how do I even move at all?’ ‘Whoops! Sorry, I’ll get right on that…’ I heard. My vision went fuzzy for a second before clearing. I suddenly knew how to move in this body. I opened a wing and flapped it experimentally before turning to look…wait. I cursed and instead just closed my eyes. ‘How did you do that?’ ‘Magic. Anyways, I suggest you get moving. Dragons don’t take kindly to their territory being invaded.’ I snorted. Of course they would be mean and fiercely territorial. In any case, I followed my instructor’s advice and got moving, leaving a trail of ice behind me. If you want to know how slithering was, it was…different. My head was just above the ground, moving very rapidly. If I still were human and hadn’t had whatever served as my brain re-wired a bit explicitly for this, I’d constantly be flinching for fear of my face being run into the dirt. The one time that did happen, I didn’t feel anything. No pain at all. Just the dirt against my face as something that was there. It was…different to say the least, not having any organs or…anything else really. I figured that the reason for that was because I didn’t have any nerves or a brain to process the information that they would have sent. I asked the other voice in my head how I was functioning after I figured that out. ‘Your consciousness, mind and body operate entirely on magic now.’ Was his answer. As he said that, it struck me how odd this situation was – an outcast from Earth, in what seemed to be a completely different dimension, with a body that operated purely on magic – a concept that humans didn’t – and wouldn’t – ever understand. I stopped slithering suddenly as the ground in front of me seemed to vanish. ‘What’s the problem?’ The my guide asked me. I gestured impatiently to the enormous canyon in front of me. ‘Oh. Well, I still don’t see a problem. You have wings, don’t you?’ I mentally facepalmed, since I can’t actually do that anymore, unfolded my wings, and flew over the canyon. Flying was wonderful. I’ve had flying dreams since I was just a little kid, and this was all of that and more. I soared over the landscape, wishing that I never had to land again. ‘You don’t, you know.’ Guide (For lack of a better name said, startling me out of my bliss. ‘The Pegasi and Griffins aren’t the only ones who can manipulate and stay on the clouds.’ I smiled. It made sense, really. I began to look for clouds, but the only one that was in the sky was a tiny little thing. It didn’t look like it could even support my weight, let alone fit me on to it. I sighed inwardly. It had been a novel idea, but it looked like I’d have to land after all. Whatever. It was disappointing, but considering that I was in the Dragon Badlands I guessed it couldn’t be helped. Guide said a couple of words. I almost plummeted mid-flight. ‘Well, you said you wanted a cloud. These words will help you with that, especially considering that the sun is going down. Now, say it! And stop calling me Guide! My name is Sapphire!’ I repeated the words that he said, and immediately a cloud generated under me. It was actually kinda weird, just having a big, fluffy cloud appear after uttering what sounded like two Latin words. I smiled at the clouds. Even though I couldn't feel...anything, they were still incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately, my inner pessimist was showing through in my mind. 'It's not always going to be this easy. Something is going to go wrong eventually. Everybody will hate you.' 'Shut up.' I told it. With that, I promptly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. Author's Note Yay, a rewrite. I'm trying to flesh this out more, and I've had a few new ideas of where to go with this story, and thus, this happened. Tah-da! (2) A New AdditionThe Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 2: A New Addition I woke up slowly and quietly, savoring my state of half-awakeness like a fine wine. Wait. I didn’t even drink, I was too young. I savored my state of half-awakeness like a gourmet meal. Reluctantly acknowledging that my pleasurable half sleep had ended with that little bout of deciding how I savored it, I threw open my eyes and embraced the dawn. Did I say dawn? I meant midnight. Having completely opaque eyelids doesn’t help you discern the brightness of the outside world as much as one would think. Sighing, I curled back into a comfortable coil, trying to go back to sleep and failing miserably. Resigned to my fate, I instead chose to reflect on the events that had landed me here. On a walk to escape a shouting match between my aunt and uncle while they were drunk to the point that I probably should have called the hospital, I had met a man who, after a short conversation, had sent me to Equestria. Or near it, anyways. I had woken up as a snake thing with wings, and apparently no longer have any organs at all. How I am alive remains a question whose only answer is finicky and unreliable at best: magic. Now, with the one who sent me here comfortable residing in my head, I was determined to…What was I going to do here, exactly? I had no idea. Meeting the Mane Six was too manestream (See what I did there?), so that was out. Nah, who am I kidding, that was a must. I figured after that, travel? I could see the world better than almost anybody, considering that I could fly and didn’t have to worry about annoying things, like eating and breathing. So, Mane Six, then travel. But how was I going to get to Ponyville? I’d never seen anybody like me in the show, so I had no idea what would happen to me. Nothing good, I supposed. And where was I going to travel? The bottom of the ocean sounded cool, so I was definitely out. I had seen way too many movies about sea monsters to want to go there. What about space? I was a perfect candidate for Equestria’s space program, if they even had one. Yet another thing I need to know. I could just try to fly into space. Nah, that sounded ridiculous. Definitely doing it. Suddenly, the cloud beneath me was ripped apart by an explosion. In the suddenness, I forgot that I had wings and plummeted straight into the ground. Fortunately, my body was unbreakable (Or so Sapphire said) and I couldn’t feel any pain, so it wasn’t exactly a painful landing. Right as I got used to being on the ground again, a net was thrown at me. I blinked a little confusedly at my captors. They were standing on two legs, but I couldn’t see much more than that in the darkness. Strangely enough, as they dragged me across the ground, a word came to me, and I spoke it as quietly as possible. “Conspectuss.” My snake-like lisp/rasp at the end took me a bit by surprise, but then, I was a snake. As soon as I spoke it, I could see as if it were...about sundown. Not entirely dark, but not super-bright out either. It turned out that my captors were Diamond Dogs. One of them had a belt with several different vials, full of liquids that I didn’t have the faintest idea what they did, and held a sack that appeared to be kicking at him, and I heard a few muffled yells coming from it. The others were dressed in tattered leather tunics, and held badly made stone swords. I was no swordsman (Swords-snake?) and even I could tell that they had no idea what to do with them. I looked at the net as they used it to drag me across the ground. The threads themselves weren’t very strong looking, but they weren’t spaced far enough apart for me to slither through, unfortunately. I seem to be saying that a lot of things are unfortunate lately. That’s because they are. ‘Just bite through them.’ Sapphire said. Sensing my skepticism, he continued. ‘You yourself said that the thread isn’t very strong. You merely need to bite through them, and you shall be free.’ I dubiously bit through one strand. It was ridiculously easy, considering my dragon teeth. Did I not mention those? Sorry, I have them. Just as I bit through the second strand, a couple of claws ripped through a few inches of the leather bag the one with the vials was carrying. Instantly, he curled a paw into a fist and slammed it into the bag. The flailing in it stopped instantly. My rage rose like a leviathan off of the sea floor the second he did that, and I snapped my wings open, tearing the net holding me to shreds. “You shouldn’t have done that.” I hissed (Har har) menacingly. It took a few seconds for them to react. The first one to do so was the leader, and he threw a vial filled with some green liquid at me. I covered my face with a wing, and it shattered, spewing some sickly green gas. It didn’t do anything else, so I just ignored it and dove through it at the nearest dog, impaled him with my fangs in his chest and lifted him off of the ground like a ragdoll. While I wanted to let go, some instinct took over, and suddenly I was pumping some sort of venom into him. Based on the way he thrashed and howled, it hurt like the devil, but my iron jaws (Okay, opal jaws. Happy?) held him in place. The next dog brought down a stone sword onto my head, though the weak blade shattered, leaving him standing there, astonished at the fact that my head wasn’t sliced in half. I snorted and dispatched him like I had the first one. ‘As if a blade of weak stone could cut through Spirit Opal.’ Sapphire said annoyingly, causing me to be hit again by a dog. ‘Not helping.’ I told him as I tail-whipped the dog who had hit me, sending him flying with a sickening crunch. I dove forwards at the leader, simultaneously extending my wings. A dog was unfortunate enough to be standing to one side while I did so, and thusly my wing cut him in half. The last dog, the leader stood there with a spear (Where’d that come from?) pointed directly at the bag. “Wouldn’t dare.” He said. I merely spat my venom like a cobra straight into his face, and he fell down screaming. I took this opportunity to survey my handiw-wait…What I had done (Confound my lack of hands!). One has on the ground, staring blankly at the sky with several bones punched through his chest. Another was on the ground, bleeding out slowly from the waist and crying for his mother. The leader was on the ground, and, despite the gruesomeness of the others, he made me recoil, because he had no face. It was melted off of him. Where the first two had been were puddles of silvery goo. I slithered over to look at them a bit closer and two spheres about the size of marbles shot out of the pools and straight into where my wings connected with my body. I was thankful that I couldn’t feel pain, because it probably hurt. A lot. I slithered over to the one who I had cut in half, and he whispered to me. I leaned down closer to hear it as he repeated it. “Re…lease…me…” Feeling an immense amount of pity well up from out of nowhere, I lightly tapped his head so that he was unconscious, and then bit him on the arm. This time I watched as he melted His fur slowly turned to shining silver, slowly turning into large clumps whenever they touched each other. The rest of him slowly shrank like a balloon losing its air. It eventually formed another silver puddle. Strangely enough, his lower body did too, even though it had no connection to the upper half. The sphere flew into me as I turned away, in between the other ones. Then I turned to the leader. Or, more specifically, the bag he was holding. I went over and bit through the leather, causing the bag’s occupant to squeak with fear. I jerked back my head suddenly, ripping open the bag. Inside, there was a…griffin? It didn’t look like a normal griffin to me, but I guess it could’ve been normal. It’s Equestria, who knows? Anyways, the griffin in question had what looked like the front end of a red-tailed hawk (Look it up, if you don’t know) and the back end of what appeared to be a Siamese cat. He was about as big as one, too. “Done gawking yet?” He asked with mild irritation. I could tell that it was a he because of the voice, which was surprisingly deep for one so small. Another shocker was that his mildly deep voice for a youngster held no candle to my own unnaturally deep bass voice. “Sure. Just what kind of griffin are you? I mean, I’ve never seen one like you before.” He flinched, almost as startled as I was by my voice. “I don’t know. There aren’t that many griffins like me. Brown feathers, maybe, but not like this. And none of them have the back end of a kitten!” He said, mildly defensive. “I know. Sorry if I came across as rude. And how old are you, exactly? And what’s your name? Wha-” “My name is Raze, and I’m about thirteen.” He said, cutting off my questions. “And before you ask, I don’t know why I’m so small. I was told that most griffins had a growth spurt at about ten, and reach full adult size by twelve. I never hit it, though.” “Okay. Wow, thank you, that was pretty informative. What you to lack in size, you make up for in brains. You remind me of a certain thirteen year old that I know…” I said, surprised at the wordiness of his answer. And age. “Who?” “Would you believe that that would be me? Because I am. I was, ah, forced to look like this.” I said. ‘Hey! Technically, you asked for it! Rolling my eyes at Sapphire, even if he was right, I asked Raze something. “Since I am rather lacking in appendages with the ability to grab anything, could you please collect the bags that the dogs were carrying and bring them to me.” He did as I asked, dragging the five bags out in front of me. “And, could you open them? Please?” He opened them, then stood back as I slithered over and stuck my head into the first bag. Inside were gems of pretty high quality. I pulled my head and looked at the others, finding more of the same, as well as a few pieces of beautifully carved wood. The fifth, however, had other things. In it were about three dozen different vials, every dozen with a different colored liquid. One kind I recognized as the green gas, another was some amber color, and the last was purple. I withdrew and nosed through the straps of each in turn, then rose up, causing them to slide down and rest between my shoulders. I felt a bit of extra weight than the bags should have been and sighed, immediately suspecting something. “Raze, get off.” He probably shook his head, but the gesture was lost on me, as I couldn’t see it. “No. I’m coming with you.” He said stubbornly. I immediately got a mildly trollish grin, but I quelled it quickly. “Go back, Sam! I’m going to Mordor alone!” He looked at me, well and truly confused. “W-what? Where’s Mordor? And who is this ‘Sam’?” “You just…ruined it. You suck. Anyways, if you want to come, get a knife or something.” He complied, running off to the dogs that I had slaughtered and grabbing a crude knife with a…was that a diamond?! Yes, it had a diamond blade. Cool. With the thought of adventure in mind, I flew off. As I leveled off, flying towards the forest-y looking line of black that I saw on the edge of the horizon, it hit me that I had just killed something. Not just one something, but several somethings. And you know what really scared me? What really, truly scared me, deep down inside, on a level only matched by spiders? I felt very little – if any – remorse. I had never killed anything before in my life (Not counting a certain kind of eight-legged menace), much less sentient creatures! Sure they had tried to do…whatever to me, but I had reacted with lethal force! And according to Sapphire, I had also stolen their souls. Yes, those little marbles are souls. Don’t ask me how, because that was something that I really didn’t want to think about. “Hey, uh, mister?” My passenger asked. “Yeah?’ “Do you know where we’re going?” “Uhh…” I said. I had actually planned on settling down in the trees I had seen. Looking down, I saw that they were right under us. “Yeah. Can you fly?” He sounded a little apprehensive. “No, but I can hover. Why do you ask?” I grinned evilly. “When I tell you to jump, do it and hover. Okay?” Not waiting for an answer, I immediately dove straight down. I waited a few seconds, then shouted “JUMP!” I felt the weight on my back lesson a bit. I just powered forwards, yelling some Latin word. Seriously, where the heck were they coming from? It was beginning to sound like something that’d turn into a deus ex machinima. Getting a little too genre savvy there. Probably shouldn’t…Oh look, the ground. And with that, I slammed into the ground. It was actually interesting, feeling the force of something without the pain. It was actually more of a gentle pressure all over. I picked my head up and looked around. I had landed on a massive, flat boulder that was perhaps twenty feet across that had been split into several smaller pieces, probably to demonstrate the force with which I had landed by the auth–whoa there, getting into dangerous territory. I felt something (Presumably Raze) lightly settle on to my back. Looking around some more, I saw a thin stream running through the small clearing we were in. The dirt was covered with thin, scraggly grass and the trees were gnarly and bent from trying to live off of the devastated land. I slowly slid off of the boulder, being careful not to unseat Raze. It seemed that two particularly large pieces of the boulder had cracked in such a way as to create a small cave big enough for Raze to lay in comfortably. I wasn’t quite as scared for my safety, as the fight with the Diamond Dogs and smashing into the ground had confirmed my thoughts that this form was almost, if not completely, invulnerable. “Whelp, this is as good a place as any. Go to sleep, Raze.” I said, going off to gather some firewood. It was actually kinda fun to do so, seeing as how I basically just tailwhipped a few trees over. After I dragged them, trunks and all over, to form a kind of huge campfire, I ignised them ablaze and crawled into the middle of the fire, using it as my own cave, and fell asleep. Opal is getting a little Genre Savvy here, and also demonstrates his invulnerability. I just liked Raze too much to let him go, so here he is. I added a little bit of thought to murder, so yay. Probably not as much as I should, so I might have more on that later. This has me back into writing, so I may post some more within a few days. No promises, though. Author's Note Opal is getting a little Genre Savvy here, and also demonstrates his invulnerability. I just liked Raze too much to let him go, so here he is. I added a little bit of thought to murder, so yay. Probably not as much as I should, so I might have more on that later. This has me back into writing, so I may post some more within a few days. No promises, though. (3) Exposition, Exposition EverywhereThe Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 3: Exposition, Exposition Everywhere What is this? An update?! I think so. Shortly after the events detailed in the last chapter (What? This is my book, I can do that.) I started to think, and think hard. I had some really weird things going on. I was some sort of snake – with freaking ice powers – who was living in a forest, next to an area inhabited by dragons, in a world inhabited by talking Technicolor ponies and other various creatures. I was never going to see home again – a fact that I was more than willing to accept, given what it was like there. However, there were some perks I was going to miss, hands chiefly among them. I had a young griffin no bigger than my cat that I was probably going to have a large part in raising, while at the same time being only a few months older than it. We both were hiding from Diamond Dogs after they attempted to enslave us. Oh, and I had a god living in my head who considered it a piece of prime real estate – there was nothing else around for miles, and nothing had ever been there, or ever would. Or so he says, though I disagree. And cut to informative section. Over the next three weeks I was mentored in the magical arts by Sapphire. As the scenarios themselves were spread out over a long window of time, I shall simply condense it into an expository form. The easiest parts to start with are the basics, so I think I’ll do just that. My race of winged serpents is each made of gemstones, especially those that are naturally powerful and rare. As such, amphipteres are inherently magical, and very powerful. Due to this, they were never a very plentiful race, and as there is a very definite pool of magic, depending on the amount of amphipteres there have been, and how many amphipteres there are, they developed a few methods of controlling and expending their magic. -For a start, each amphiptere was created with powerful seals in place to keep a few things from happening. 1, to keep the magic from simply pouring out of their bodies, as they were where the magic was contained. 2, to keep the magic from overpowering their mind and bodies, and then destroying them. 3, to prevent the magic from molding their bodies into something else – a big slab of sentient gemstone. -The main method was to, you know, use it. Typically with high-level telekinesis spells, or in magical duels against one another for training – though this particular form was only used in the military, as high level magic are one of the only things that can harm amphipteres. -Another common method was to create a “power gem”, composed of a very complex spell that rendered the magic into a physical form, and then pour magic into that. However, each gem could only hold so much before filling up. Any more energy and they’d either refuse it or unravel the enchantment completely, causing the magic to disperse harmlessly into the air. -A natural form that developed over the generations, especially during times with fewer amphiptere, and thus more magic, was dispelling some through their bodies, depending on what type of gem they were made of. So, for instance, a particularly powerful amphiptere made of Sun Diamond would glow softly. Now, you may be wondering “How does how many amphipteres that have been created factor into this?” And I, of course, have an answer. For each amphiptere created, because of the magic that is inherent in the gems used, the magic “pool” of the amphiptere race increases slightly to accommodate them. However, when an amphiptere dies somehow, the pool doesn’t shrink. Instead, ever amphiptere gains a bit more magic. Now, at the height of my race’s glory, this wouldn’t even be noticed, but when there’s only one amphiptere, where there should be thousands…well, you get my point. Now, onwards to the nature of our magic itself: It can be manifested in three different ways, sometimes all at once. -The first option is through a thought. Yes, this sounds cool, and it is, but it is through applying magic in very specific ways, similarly to weaving in The Wheel of Time series. Except imagine it with water, not string, and instead of five different kinds, or powers, imagine being able to turn one flow into any other – or any shade in between or beyond – with a single thought. Now try weaving a spell with that. In practice, it’s actually easier than it sounds, but that’s mostly due to the various shortcuts one can take using this method. -The next method is achieved through words. The origin typically does not matter in the actual casting so long as the intent is there, though languages typically steeped in time, magic, and reverence fare the best – Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, for instance. Due to the nature of this magic that is natural for my kind, words sometimes simply pop up in my brain randomly. And then they just stick. So, after I think of a word or sentence, I can’t forget what it means. Ever. -The last form deals with channeling a different sort of magic – the magic granted to you that is determined by what gem you are made of. For example, my own, due to being of an ethereal kind – similar to a cold mist – “floats” on my ocean of magic. And, like the various currents inside of the ocean, it runs in a certain direction, too. This magic can be channeled in a similar way as the normal kind – even worked into spells – but cannot be changed into a different element altogether. This results in powerful specialty spells that can be created. As you can see, this was a lot to take in over a very brief period of time – in my case, three weeks. And all of this was learned in addition to application, a bit of culture, and quite a bit of history. However, due to my teacher inhabiting my head, this resulted in several awkward moments with Raze, as the need for speech verbally was nonexistent in my conversations with Sapphire. Oh! Right, I knew I had forgotten something. In case anybody is wondering about my particularly strange biology, I have an explanation. Yay, exposition again! The mind and soul of an amphiptere are contained within a gem inside of the head. Due to the color of this gem determining the eye color, amphiptere have quite a few superstitions about the eyes, regarding the eye as a window to the soul. In their case, quite literally. Amphiptere speak by using a combination of magic and willpower to vibrate the air molecules in a specific way. Because of this, we make excellent mimics and are able to throw our voices to wherever we want. Due to the magic that went in to our creation and seals, we are able to move around, and do not have to eat, as our bodies draw on ambient magic to function, though in a pinch or magic-less environment they start to draw from our own magic reserves. Our magic replenishes slowly, though in my case I have enough that running out of magic will never happen to me. Additionally, this is one of the very few ways for an amphiptere to die: To simply run out of magic for the body to survive on. It was incredibly rare, but very possible for this to happen. The other ways to die are as follows: To be ripped apart on the sub-atomic level, do be ripped apart with Immortal Magic, from which we cannot recover, to be blasted with powerful ordinary spells, for a dragon to eat our soul-stone, and for a Weapon of the Dead to cut said stone. I think I’m pretty safe. Author's Note Aannnd cue dramatic fight scene in which he discovers he is not, in fact, safe. I made this for people who were nagging me about chapters, and how I never updated. So< I discovered some time and decided to write a bit of an exposition, pulling in some ideas that I had while walking my dog. What? I always think better on my feet. (4) A Normal DayThe Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 4: A Normal Day I awoke to the sensation of powder, all around me. I could feel a few flecks of heat, but they were fading quickly. I opened my eyes to see a wall of grey, shot through with the very occasional speck of orange. Mostly, I did that just because it was incredibly cool that I felt no pain anymore, and because I probably would never get used to that. I heaved upwards, scattering ash everywhere. Looking around, I saw that the remains of last night’s were frosted over, as usual. I also saw that Raze still hadn’t gotten up – again, as usual. I chuckled to myself. I may have only had to sleep a minimal 6 hours, due to my new species, but Raze was a griffin, and a teenage one at that. I went off to get Raze some breakfast, in the form of a squirrel or rabbit. I slithered off, setting magical wards around the boundary of our camp to alert me if any intruders larger than a mouse entered. After a while of using a very simple form of detection – using a fan of wind magic as I flew in a method fairly similar to echolocation and then waiting to see what the disturbances felt like – I found a surprisingly juicy squirrel. You might be wondering how I managed to kill it and bring it back whole, due to the potent liquid spell that is known as my venom. Or not, considering the vast potential that my magic has to offer me. In any case, all it took was a simple compression spell around the brain, coupled with a few other spells to prevent anything…messy, to get rid of parasites, and to preserve the meat and fur. It was a very short trip, but hey – anything could happen, and I wanted to be prepared. In order to have some more fun, I dove back to the earth, slamming into it. As I righted myself, I heard a few scrabbles in the soil below me, and felt some small vibrations. My eyes widened. Diamond Dogs! How did they find us? Does it matter? Is Raze safe? All of these thoughts flew through my head in that break in time, the moment after the last second passes, but before the next can rush in to fill the void left behind. As soon as that second hit, and it hit it did, huge arms covered in dirt burst from the soil, grabbing in all directions blindly. Then it hit me: They couldn’t see me. The only reason they knew anything was there was because I had hit the dense earth, causing vibrations to go down, and ito wherever their tunnel had been. One of the flailing limbs at last found me and grabbed on. Soon, its brethren found me and began to pull me down into their dark tunnels. I extended my wings in order to present resistance, but their pull was irresistible. As I burst through the roof of their tunnel (which was only a little bit below the surface, as there were small roots poking in here and there. I estimated perhaps five feet below.), they all snatched their paws back and whimpered. “Cold snakey-thing.” The one that spoke was apparently the first to grab me. His comment was not out of place – usually things that can frost over your fur in a matter of seconds are either avoided or things that are talked about, but never seen or experienced. I cocked an eyebrow. “Wimp.” I then calmly wrenched my body from their grasp and gazed down the tunnel. It appeared they had come from my right, which meant the South, Gem Fido. Wait, Diamond Dogs, Gem Fido, duh. Anyways, I looked back to the other side – left and North. This end of the tunnel pointed straight to...Raze. I spoke in a low, menacing voice, causing the very walls of the tunnel to hum with it. “Are there any dogs up ahead? Answer carefully, swiftly, and honestly. Your lives depend on the answer.” Immediately the one who grabbed me – the leader, by the vials he had – spoke up. “Sent three others up ahead when we felt snakey thing fall. Stayed to get thing.” I smiled. Just three. Good. I could take several times the amount of dogs surrounding me – seven or so – with just my body and fangs alone, but I didn’t have to take the slow way. I had magic. I created a small stream of white hot Fire. Not enough to manifest, but some, nonetheless. I then dammed it up, causing it to pool up and create a small, intense flame that danced in mid air and sent flickering, mysterious shadows across the wall. I then mixed in a bit of my own fog, changing the pure white flame to a bluish one. I added a bit of a mixture I call ‘explosion’ to the brew, let it mix nicely, and then poured massive amounts of magic into it. An enormous, ghostly fireball raged out from what had once been a silent, serene flame. As soon as it had appeared, I withdrew all magical streams from it, leaving the fireball contained. After it reached its climax of about twenty feet in diameter, it imploded, bringing all of the newly formed Soul Marbles with it. They all flew directly to me, and entered my body. I turned from the scene and charged blindly down the rough tunnel, eventually slamming into the end not even thirty feet from where I was. I looked around for the other three dogs, but didn’t see them. Frustrated, I used a seeker spell, but nothing happened except it focused on me. Since I was pretty sure that I wasn’t a Diamond Dog (about 93% sure), I figured it must not’ve worked. Have you thought of counting those Soul Spheres? Sapphires voice rang out through my head. I slammed my head into a wall – something that I am rather fond of doing, both now and back on Earth – I proceeded to count them. Five from the first hunting party, the seven that I had encountered and incinerated…and three more that were unaccounted for. I mentally poked a finger into each and confirmed that they were indeed Diamond Dogs from the same party. I also learned that they were in fact two different hunting partied that had met and converged a while back, as well as that they didn’t have a very high opinion of me or their fellow dogs. Good, I could use that to my advantage later, somehow. After retreating back to the hole in the tunnel, I resolved to close it so that more hunting parties could not follow them. Next time, if I were not paying attention or gone, they would actually take Raze, whom I had grown quite attached to over the last month. He was like a brother (that I never had), cousin (that I had several of that mutually despised me, whereas he liked me), a nephew (only child), and a son (I really hope it goes without saying that I’ve never had one of those). I closed my eyes and reached out with a flood of Earth, coming in all different shades, from the darkest of browns, for hard granite, to the palest of beige, for gems, and simply lifted up the earth, for as long as my magic would reach down the tunnel – several miles, if I had to guess. It was an impressive feat of magic, if I do say so myself. I also lifted myself out of the tunnel and flew to our campsite. I landed (this time somewhat more softly) in the campfire ash. I quickly recovered, as landing in a snake's body is somewhat different then landing as, say, a pegasus or griffin. You have to get about a foot from the ground, and parallel to it, and then slowly descend, eventually sliding to a halt. Apparently, my propensity to forgo this and simply slam into the earth was an approach favoured by the military and younglings. And, even after you've landed, the landing itself is more of a skid, so you have to find your bearings and occasionally turn yourself right side up. I shook the ash off of me and slithered over to Raze's crag in the remains in the boulder. I poked my head in (as that's all of me that'd fit) to hear him snoring on his pile of skins taken from prey. Huh. I thought. Must be pretty comfortable, for him to still be awake. Unfortunately for him, my presence had cooled down the area, and he started to wake up, even beneath his furs. He blearily cracked an eye open and quickly closed it due to the light. I guesstimated that I had woken up at six or so, and had been active for an hour or so. So that made it...seven o'clock. Right. He groaned and tried to snuggle back into his blankets, but was wrapped in Air and dragged outside. "Wake up and...seize the day! Somehow, after I started singing, Raze (and a number of suspicious disembodied voices) joined in. Open the gates and seize the day Don't be afraid and don't delay Nothing can break us No one can make us Give our rights away Arise and seize the day Now is the time to seize the day Send out the call and join the fray Wrongs will be righted If we're united Let us seize the day Friends of the friendless, seize the day Raise up the torch and light the way Proud and defiant We'll slay the giant Let us seize the day Neighbor to neighbor Father to son One for all and all for one Open the gates and seize the day Don't be afraid and don't delay Nothing can break us No one can make us Give our rights away Neighbor to neighbor Father to son One for all and all for one! The vigorous song and dance/choreography, whichever (which I was somehow able to perform - don't ask me how) served to effectively wake him up, at which point I threw the squirrel at his talons/feet/whatever. "Dig in." I told him. I had no intention of telling him how close he came to being recaptured by Diamond Dogs - it'd just scare him unnecessarily. Although...now that I'm thinking about it... I mused, and expanded my wards set around camp about a hundred yards out - now underground and in the air, instead of just above ground, no higher than the treetops. It pays to be prepared. After Raze had scarfed down his squirrel (seriously, that kid can eat. Pound for pound, he was probably a match for me when I had been on Earth - and I was semi-legendary for my ability to do that), he decided that he was hungry, so we went to the nearest stream, about half a mile away. Now, if you're curious as to why I didn't just magic up some water - we're still technically in the Dragon Badlands. So, very little water, even less...anything, except for dragons. And if I just transfigured some clay - well, a transfiguration spell will eventually wear off, and even if I threw enough power into the spell to make it semi-permanent, it won't get rid of the taste of cracked, burned, and generally abused dirt. Eww. However, something I would do with my magic was pull enough water to wherever Raze decided to drink from so that he had enough, as well as filter it and add a bit of magic to it to make it better. After I had dragged enough together, Raze walked down the gentle slope to the riverbed and lowered his beak into the water, opening it as he did so so that I could create the filter spell - a combination predominantly made of Water, with some Earth at the edges to attract whatever was in the water. Another two streams of pure Magic fed directly into the water right as he drank it. The two were very small, but easily the two hardest, as I couldn't mentally "lock" them into place - I had to concentrate on their location, and the location that I needed them to flow into, otherwise they'd snap into whatever - it could be something as dangerous as turning the water to neurotoxin, or as benign as forming a bit into a goldfish. You could never tell with wild magic. While he was drinking, I felt several of my wards break. Initially I was quite startled by this - Had the Diamond Dogs already sent forces to retaliate? However, I quickly relaxed as I felt the wards close back around whatever had broken them. Based on the time and amount of wards broken, I'd assume one creature, slightly smaller than a D-Dog. My knee-jerk reaction was to check it out, but I realized that we weren't in the camp. Whatever had broken the wards was too small to be a threat, and there was only one besides. After Raze finished drinking I told him about the intruder, and about how they hadn't left yet, making sure to keep my voice calm. And then he surprised me, by asking me with sincere curiosity, and nothing else: "Is it a mutt?" . "No. Unless it's a runt, it's build is too slim to be a dog." Raze actually looked a bit disappointed. ....A bit of sneakiness later... I saw what looked to be a cross between a fox, cat and human laying down in front of Raze's crag. It looked like enough of a diamond dog to be confused as one, but they were dissimilar enough to tell the difference. [i.]Wait. Sapphire spoke up suddenly. Are you really going to.... Terrify it, just for the lulz? You bet I am. His (for the sake of humanizing the thing, let's call it an arbitrary gender) eyes suddenly snapped open. He lay there for a second, and then got up and inspected himself for a bit. Then he stood up and started to pop his back. Figuring this was as good a time as any, I leaped straight for him, jaws open. He leaned backwards, limbo/twister-style, then began to run as fast as he could away. I, however, had wings and flew after him. After I was withing range, I shot off a bolt of Acid at a tree right next to him and "threw" the source of my voice to be around him, and him only. It wasn't a ventriloquist trick - I actually moved the source of my voice, and said "Don't move." Then, figuring I'd continue with the ruse, I slithered in front of him and stared straight in to his startled eyes that were giving me the classic "deer-in-headlights" look. I asked him a question as menacingly as I could. "Where's the rest of your hunting party?" Wh-what?" He asked, clearly shaken. On the outside, I was oozing malice. On the inside, I was positively bursting with laughter. This was hilarious! Oh, yeah, did I mention that I can be a bit sadistic, like most humans can? "Don't play dumb!" I snapped. "Where's the rest of your party?!" “I have no idea what you're talking about. And, wow, those are some really nice fangs I might add, and your eyes, they're so…purple. And your skin is just drop dead gorgeous.” He said. What? Was this his version of a blue-screen of death? Did his brain just turn off? Whatever. Aiming for the finale, I hurled myself at him, wings outstretched. I could feel Raze hang on for dear life. “One, I’m not a Diamond Dog. Two, I have a name. And three, if you kill me now, I will become more powerful than you could ever imagine.” I just lay on top of him for a moment, dumbstruck. How in the- "How did you learn that phrase?" I asked, perplexed. unless he was being sincere (in which case I had either run in to this world's Obi Wan or some lunatic) or he was...the possibility was too strange to consider. "How'd YOUknow that phrase?!" He asked. We both stared for a moment, before my suspicion was confirmed by the spark in his eye. "YOU'RE HUMAN?!" We both exclamed. Author's Note Sorry about that "false" publish! I have no idea what happened. It was fun to write Fox's character. And yes, I know that the wording is slightly different. Deal with it. (I wish I had sunglasses right now...) This is a crossover with Red Fox's story, Hi-Jinx I do actually hit my head on walls sometimes.
(1) Stranger Danger(1) Stranger Danger The Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 1: Stranger Danger “I’m going on a walk!” I yelled as I walked out of our small trailer. There was probably a reply of some kind, but I didn’t care. I was way too angry to care. Besides, my aunt and uncle were probably too drunk to actually notice my absence, even though I did everything. I cooked, I cleaned, and I picked up after them. Heck, sometimes I even had to do their jobs. Can you believe that? A fourteen year old kid, having to do his guardian’s jobs. Both of them. It’s actually kind of sad, when you think about it, considering that I did them better than they did. Anyways, I needed some air. I headed towards the small ponds in the middle of the trailer park where I lived. Don’t be too impressed with that fact. The ponds were scummy, the grass was hardly ever mowed, and the geese there were worse than anywhere else, but it was my favorite spot to escape to when the stench of alcohol was strong enough to get somebody tipsy from just breathing it for too long. I had to go there a lot. Unfortunately, I often ran into the local neighborhood idiots there. I was typically a pretty levelheaded person and not prone to violence, so I generally ignored them. The few times that any of them tried to talk to me always ended in a fight. You see, I can have a very abrasive personality when I want to. Sometimes, it shows through what everbody always sees me put up. A great big, all encompassing facade. You see, I have a tendency to burn bridges so fast that a completely random stranger can think I'm nice one second and hate my guts the next. I'm serious, that's happened too many times to count. It's the reason that I was living with my aunt and uncle. My parents despised me, and the other relatives that they'd shuttled me off to ated me just as much. The only family that I had liked were my mom's parents, but they had died a few years ago. Now, don't get me wrong. I could be nice when I wanted to. But, more often than not, I didn't want to be. As I walked around the pond, I came across a twenty-something man dressed in jeans and a sky-blue shirt sitting on a bench. Odd. That bench wasn’t there yesterday. Blinking the thought away, I simply strode past it. I got about two steps before I heard him say “So, My Little Pony.” I instantly froze on the spot. “Wha…what did you say?” He chuckled. “I said ‘So, My Little Pony.’ You do watch it, right?” “Who wants to know?” I challenged, perhaps a tad apprehensively. Nobody, and I mean nobody knew that I watched that show. Just another thing I’d be teased for. “That is none of your concern. What is of your concern is that I have the ability to send you to Equestria. Or near it, at least.” He said the last bit with a frown. I gave him a flat look that very clearly said “You’re kidding, right?” He chuckled at me. “Actually, it was more of a ‘You belong in an asylum’ look.” “What? That…I didn’t say anything!” I said. At this point, I was either going to bolt from this guy or use my... sparkling personality to either make him shut up or go away. He was kinda creepy. “You mean you can’t see…? Whatever, it’ll make sense some day. Anyways, I’m quite serious. If it works, you’ll be in Equestria with a new body and life. If it doesn’t work, then you can just be on your merry little way, back to your aunt and uncle.” I considered his words very carefully for all of two seconds before giving him my grudging answer. “…Fine.” This seemed to elate him. “Excellent! Now, what do you want to be? Not a pony, too generic…not a human…too may changelings, they don’t need another…griffin?” He said, shooting the last bit as a question at me. I quickly shook my head no. I don’t know how he got me into the idea so quickly. He just seemed to have this kind of…aura around him. I can’t really explain it. “No, they don’t seem to be your type. Hrm…How about a dragon?” He asked. He was getting a little closer to what I wanted. I almost said yes, but then I remembered the dragons in the show: rude, overconfident, and overbearing. I didn’t want to be like them. I grinned a little sheepishly at the man. “If you’re letting choose what I want to be, could I be a snake, but keep the wings?” He gaped a little at that, causing me to quickly backpedal. “I mean, if that’s okay…” I suddenly realized how stupid this was. “Just, can you get this over with? Like, soon?” He grinned at me. “Certainly. And, yes, an amphiptere, as the creature you wish to be is known as, is well within my power. In fact, I am perhaps a little more suited to that than anything else. Now let me…” He trailed off. “Vae*! I’m sorry, but it seems that there’ll be a bit of a…wait…yes, that’d work!” He said, seemingly talking to himself more than me. He then turned to me. “I can get you there, in the body you desire. Just...don’t expect to eat. Or breathe, for that matter. At least, not normally.” “WHAT?! What is that-” I was cut off by the snap of his fingers, which was much louder and sharper than it should have been. A breeze burst from the spot. Right as my vision faded, I heard him say something that I couldn’t understand. I slowly faded back in to consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes, but quickly shut them again. There was no way. I instead focused on trying to get up. I maneuvered my…what the heck?! Why can’t I move my arms? I thought. ‘Simple.’ Another voice said in my mind. ‘You don’t have arms.’ ‘What the…?! Who are you?!’ I thought at the voice. ‘Remember the one who sent you here?’ He asked, and after receiving an affirmative thought from me, said ‘I am he.” Right at that moment, I figured out that I wasn’t breathing. I tried to suck in air, but it didn’t work. I opened my mouth to gasp it in that way, but…nothing happened. ‘Hey. Why can’t I breathe?’ I asked. I was a lot calmer than I should have been, considering the circumstances. The other voice in my head replied with a bit of playful scolding. ‘Tsk tsk tsk. Don’t you remember what I said? You don’t have any internal organs. You aren’t breathing because you have no lungs, and you aren’t panicking because you have no adrenaline, nor adrenal glands to produce it. You are freed from most processes that limited you as a human. Think about it!’ ‘So, if I don’t have a brain, how am I talking to you? The voice took a little longer to reply this time. ‘Don’t think about it! It’s fine. I believe that you read once that anything on TV can be explained with ‘Cartoon Physics and Magic’?’ He challenged. ‘Now, open your eyes and look around. You haven’t even looked at yourself yet!’ He chided. I did what he told me to, and confirmed what I had gotten a peek of earlier. I was in a wasteland. The soil was bare and exposed, and cracked like clay. There were massive gashes and scars in the landscape, with great swathes of land scorched and blackened. ‘Where…am I?’ I asked. ‘You are in the Dragon Badlands, named so because the dragons fought for territory here, and burned it so badly that nothing would and will grow here. Ever. Now, look at yourself. I want to know how good I did on your form.’ Strangely enough, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I actually looked at myself, and boy did I like what I saw! I was white and shimmered like an opal. I basically looked like an enormous white snake. The ground for about a two foot radius around me was covered in frost, which I thought was pretty neat as well. My body was completely smooth, which made no sense if I was…nevermind. Nothing about this scenario made sense, so I figured I’d just roll with it. Anyways…my wings (Yes, he remembered about them. Squee!) shimmered like an opal, just like the rest of my body. They were purple tinged at the tips, which I thought was pretty cool. The only problem was… ‘How do I use these? Or, better yet, how do I even move at all?’ ‘Whoops! Sorry, I’ll get right on that…’ I heard. My vision went fuzzy for a second before clearing. I suddenly knew how to move in this body. I opened a wing and flapped it experimentally before turning to look…wait. I cursed and instead just closed my eyes. ‘How did you do that?’ ‘Magic. Anyways, I suggest you get moving. Dragons don’t take kindly to their territory being invaded.’ I snorted. Of course they would be mean and fiercely territorial. In any case, I followed my instructor’s advice and got moving, leaving a trail of ice behind me. If you want to know how slithering was, it was…different. My head was just above the ground, moving very rapidly. If I still were human and hadn’t had whatever served as my brain re-wired a bit explicitly for this, I’d constantly be flinching for fear of my face being run into the dirt. The one time that did happen, I didn’t feel anything. No pain at all. Just the dirt against my face as something that was there. It was…different to say the least, not having any organs or…anything else really. I figured that the reason for that was because I didn’t have any nerves or a brain to process the information that they would have sent. I asked the other voice in my head how I was functioning after I figured that out. ‘Your consciousness, mind and body operate entirely on magic now.’ Was his answer. As he said that, it struck me how odd this situation was – an outcast from Earth, in what seemed to be a completely different dimension, with a body that operated purely on magic – a concept that humans didn’t – and wouldn’t – ever understand. I stopped slithering suddenly as the ground in front of me seemed to vanish. ‘What’s the problem?’ The my guide asked me. I gestured impatiently to the enormous canyon in front of me. ‘Oh. Well, I still don’t see a problem. You have wings, don’t you?’ I mentally facepalmed, since I can’t actually do that anymore, unfolded my wings, and flew over the canyon. Flying was wonderful. I’ve had flying dreams since I was just a little kid, and this was all of that and more. I soared over the landscape, wishing that I never had to land again. ‘You don’t, you know.’ Guide (For lack of a better name said, startling me out of my bliss. ‘The Pegasi and Griffins aren’t the only ones who can manipulate and stay on the clouds.’ I smiled. It made sense, really. I began to look for clouds, but the only one that was in the sky was a tiny little thing. It didn’t look like it could even support my weight, let alone fit me on to it. I sighed inwardly. It had been a novel idea, but it looked like I’d have to land after all. Whatever. It was disappointing, but considering that I was in the Dragon Badlands I guessed it couldn’t be helped. Guide said a couple of words. I almost plummeted mid-flight. ‘Well, you said you wanted a cloud. These words will help you with that, especially considering that the sun is going down. Now, say it! And stop calling me Guide! My name is Sapphire!’ I repeated the words that he said, and immediately a cloud generated under me. It was actually kinda weird, just having a big, fluffy cloud appear after uttering what sounded like two Latin words. I smiled at the clouds. Even though I couldn't feel...anything, they were still incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately, my inner pessimist was showing through in my mind. 'It's not always going to be this easy. Something is going to go wrong eventually. Everybody will hate you.' 'Shut up.' I told it. With that, I promptly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. Author's Note Yay, a rewrite. I'm trying to flesh this out more, and I've had a few new ideas of where to go with this story, and thus, this happened. Tah-da!
(2) A New AdditionThe Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 2: A New Addition I woke up slowly and quietly, savoring my state of half-awakeness like a fine wine. Wait. I didn’t even drink, I was too young. I savored my state of half-awakeness like a gourmet meal. Reluctantly acknowledging that my pleasurable half sleep had ended with that little bout of deciding how I savored it, I threw open my eyes and embraced the dawn. Did I say dawn? I meant midnight. Having completely opaque eyelids doesn’t help you discern the brightness of the outside world as much as one would think. Sighing, I curled back into a comfortable coil, trying to go back to sleep and failing miserably. Resigned to my fate, I instead chose to reflect on the events that had landed me here. On a walk to escape a shouting match between my aunt and uncle while they were drunk to the point that I probably should have called the hospital, I had met a man who, after a short conversation, had sent me to Equestria. Or near it, anyways. I had woken up as a snake thing with wings, and apparently no longer have any organs at all. How I am alive remains a question whose only answer is finicky and unreliable at best: magic. Now, with the one who sent me here comfortable residing in my head, I was determined to…What was I going to do here, exactly? I had no idea. Meeting the Mane Six was too manestream (See what I did there?), so that was out. Nah, who am I kidding, that was a must. I figured after that, travel? I could see the world better than almost anybody, considering that I could fly and didn’t have to worry about annoying things, like eating and breathing. So, Mane Six, then travel. But how was I going to get to Ponyville? I’d never seen anybody like me in the show, so I had no idea what would happen to me. Nothing good, I supposed. And where was I going to travel? The bottom of the ocean sounded cool, so I was definitely out. I had seen way too many movies about sea monsters to want to go there. What about space? I was a perfect candidate for Equestria’s space program, if they even had one. Yet another thing I need to know. I could just try to fly into space. Nah, that sounded ridiculous. Definitely doing it. Suddenly, the cloud beneath me was ripped apart by an explosion. In the suddenness, I forgot that I had wings and plummeted straight into the ground. Fortunately, my body was unbreakable (Or so Sapphire said) and I couldn’t feel any pain, so it wasn’t exactly a painful landing. Right as I got used to being on the ground again, a net was thrown at me. I blinked a little confusedly at my captors. They were standing on two legs, but I couldn’t see much more than that in the darkness. Strangely enough, as they dragged me across the ground, a word came to me, and I spoke it as quietly as possible. “Conspectuss.” My snake-like lisp/rasp at the end took me a bit by surprise, but then, I was a snake. As soon as I spoke it, I could see as if it were...about sundown. Not entirely dark, but not super-bright out either. It turned out that my captors were Diamond Dogs. One of them had a belt with several different vials, full of liquids that I didn’t have the faintest idea what they did, and held a sack that appeared to be kicking at him, and I heard a few muffled yells coming from it. The others were dressed in tattered leather tunics, and held badly made stone swords. I was no swordsman (Swords-snake?) and even I could tell that they had no idea what to do with them. I looked at the net as they used it to drag me across the ground. The threads themselves weren’t very strong looking, but they weren’t spaced far enough apart for me to slither through, unfortunately. I seem to be saying that a lot of things are unfortunate lately. That’s because they are. ‘Just bite through them.’ Sapphire said. Sensing my skepticism, he continued. ‘You yourself said that the thread isn’t very strong. You merely need to bite through them, and you shall be free.’ I dubiously bit through one strand. It was ridiculously easy, considering my dragon teeth. Did I not mention those? Sorry, I have them. Just as I bit through the second strand, a couple of claws ripped through a few inches of the leather bag the one with the vials was carrying. Instantly, he curled a paw into a fist and slammed it into the bag. The flailing in it stopped instantly. My rage rose like a leviathan off of the sea floor the second he did that, and I snapped my wings open, tearing the net holding me to shreds. “You shouldn’t have done that.” I hissed (Har har) menacingly. It took a few seconds for them to react. The first one to do so was the leader, and he threw a vial filled with some green liquid at me. I covered my face with a wing, and it shattered, spewing some sickly green gas. It didn’t do anything else, so I just ignored it and dove through it at the nearest dog, impaled him with my fangs in his chest and lifted him off of the ground like a ragdoll. While I wanted to let go, some instinct took over, and suddenly I was pumping some sort of venom into him. Based on the way he thrashed and howled, it hurt like the devil, but my iron jaws (Okay, opal jaws. Happy?) held him in place. The next dog brought down a stone sword onto my head, though the weak blade shattered, leaving him standing there, astonished at the fact that my head wasn’t sliced in half. I snorted and dispatched him like I had the first one. ‘As if a blade of weak stone could cut through Spirit Opal.’ Sapphire said annoyingly, causing me to be hit again by a dog. ‘Not helping.’ I told him as I tail-whipped the dog who had hit me, sending him flying with a sickening crunch. I dove forwards at the leader, simultaneously extending my wings. A dog was unfortunate enough to be standing to one side while I did so, and thusly my wing cut him in half. The last dog, the leader stood there with a spear (Where’d that come from?) pointed directly at the bag. “Wouldn’t dare.” He said. I merely spat my venom like a cobra straight into his face, and he fell down screaming. I took this opportunity to survey my handiw-wait…What I had done (Confound my lack of hands!). One has on the ground, staring blankly at the sky with several bones punched through his chest. Another was on the ground, bleeding out slowly from the waist and crying for his mother. The leader was on the ground, and, despite the gruesomeness of the others, he made me recoil, because he had no face. It was melted off of him. Where the first two had been were puddles of silvery goo. I slithered over to look at them a bit closer and two spheres about the size of marbles shot out of the pools and straight into where my wings connected with my body. I was thankful that I couldn’t feel pain, because it probably hurt. A lot. I slithered over to the one who I had cut in half, and he whispered to me. I leaned down closer to hear it as he repeated it. “Re…lease…me…” Feeling an immense amount of pity well up from out of nowhere, I lightly tapped his head so that he was unconscious, and then bit him on the arm. This time I watched as he melted His fur slowly turned to shining silver, slowly turning into large clumps whenever they touched each other. The rest of him slowly shrank like a balloon losing its air. It eventually formed another silver puddle. Strangely enough, his lower body did too, even though it had no connection to the upper half. The sphere flew into me as I turned away, in between the other ones. Then I turned to the leader. Or, more specifically, the bag he was holding. I went over and bit through the leather, causing the bag’s occupant to squeak with fear. I jerked back my head suddenly, ripping open the bag. Inside, there was a…griffin? It didn’t look like a normal griffin to me, but I guess it could’ve been normal. It’s Equestria, who knows? Anyways, the griffin in question had what looked like the front end of a red-tailed hawk (Look it up, if you don’t know) and the back end of what appeared to be a Siamese cat. He was about as big as one, too. “Done gawking yet?” He asked with mild irritation. I could tell that it was a he because of the voice, which was surprisingly deep for one so small. Another shocker was that his mildly deep voice for a youngster held no candle to my own unnaturally deep bass voice. “Sure. Just what kind of griffin are you? I mean, I’ve never seen one like you before.” He flinched, almost as startled as I was by my voice. “I don’t know. There aren’t that many griffins like me. Brown feathers, maybe, but not like this. And none of them have the back end of a kitten!” He said, mildly defensive. “I know. Sorry if I came across as rude. And how old are you, exactly? And what’s your name? Wha-” “My name is Raze, and I’m about thirteen.” He said, cutting off my questions. “And before you ask, I don’t know why I’m so small. I was told that most griffins had a growth spurt at about ten, and reach full adult size by twelve. I never hit it, though.” “Okay. Wow, thank you, that was pretty informative. What you to lack in size, you make up for in brains. You remind me of a certain thirteen year old that I know…” I said, surprised at the wordiness of his answer. And age. “Who?” “Would you believe that that would be me? Because I am. I was, ah, forced to look like this.” I said. ‘Hey! Technically, you asked for it! Rolling my eyes at Sapphire, even if he was right, I asked Raze something. “Since I am rather lacking in appendages with the ability to grab anything, could you please collect the bags that the dogs were carrying and bring them to me.” He did as I asked, dragging the five bags out in front of me. “And, could you open them? Please?” He opened them, then stood back as I slithered over and stuck my head into the first bag. Inside were gems of pretty high quality. I pulled my head and looked at the others, finding more of the same, as well as a few pieces of beautifully carved wood. The fifth, however, had other things. In it were about three dozen different vials, every dozen with a different colored liquid. One kind I recognized as the green gas, another was some amber color, and the last was purple. I withdrew and nosed through the straps of each in turn, then rose up, causing them to slide down and rest between my shoulders. I felt a bit of extra weight than the bags should have been and sighed, immediately suspecting something. “Raze, get off.” He probably shook his head, but the gesture was lost on me, as I couldn’t see it. “No. I’m coming with you.” He said stubbornly. I immediately got a mildly trollish grin, but I quelled it quickly. “Go back, Sam! I’m going to Mordor alone!” He looked at me, well and truly confused. “W-what? Where’s Mordor? And who is this ‘Sam’?” “You just…ruined it. You suck. Anyways, if you want to come, get a knife or something.” He complied, running off to the dogs that I had slaughtered and grabbing a crude knife with a…was that a diamond?! Yes, it had a diamond blade. Cool. With the thought of adventure in mind, I flew off. As I leveled off, flying towards the forest-y looking line of black that I saw on the edge of the horizon, it hit me that I had just killed something. Not just one something, but several somethings. And you know what really scared me? What really, truly scared me, deep down inside, on a level only matched by spiders? I felt very little – if any – remorse. I had never killed anything before in my life (Not counting a certain kind of eight-legged menace), much less sentient creatures! Sure they had tried to do…whatever to me, but I had reacted with lethal force! And according to Sapphire, I had also stolen their souls. Yes, those little marbles are souls. Don’t ask me how, because that was something that I really didn’t want to think about. “Hey, uh, mister?” My passenger asked. “Yeah?’ “Do you know where we’re going?” “Uhh…” I said. I had actually planned on settling down in the trees I had seen. Looking down, I saw that they were right under us. “Yeah. Can you fly?” He sounded a little apprehensive. “No, but I can hover. Why do you ask?” I grinned evilly. “When I tell you to jump, do it and hover. Okay?” Not waiting for an answer, I immediately dove straight down. I waited a few seconds, then shouted “JUMP!” I felt the weight on my back lesson a bit. I just powered forwards, yelling some Latin word. Seriously, where the heck were they coming from? It was beginning to sound like something that’d turn into a deus ex machinima. Getting a little too genre savvy there. Probably shouldn’t…Oh look, the ground. And with that, I slammed into the ground. It was actually interesting, feeling the force of something without the pain. It was actually more of a gentle pressure all over. I picked my head up and looked around. I had landed on a massive, flat boulder that was perhaps twenty feet across that had been split into several smaller pieces, probably to demonstrate the force with which I had landed by the auth–whoa there, getting into dangerous territory. I felt something (Presumably Raze) lightly settle on to my back. Looking around some more, I saw a thin stream running through the small clearing we were in. The dirt was covered with thin, scraggly grass and the trees were gnarly and bent from trying to live off of the devastated land. I slowly slid off of the boulder, being careful not to unseat Raze. It seemed that two particularly large pieces of the boulder had cracked in such a way as to create a small cave big enough for Raze to lay in comfortably. I wasn’t quite as scared for my safety, as the fight with the Diamond Dogs and smashing into the ground had confirmed my thoughts that this form was almost, if not completely, invulnerable. “Whelp, this is as good a place as any. Go to sleep, Raze.” I said, going off to gather some firewood. It was actually kinda fun to do so, seeing as how I basically just tailwhipped a few trees over. After I dragged them, trunks and all over, to form a kind of huge campfire, I ignised them ablaze and crawled into the middle of the fire, using it as my own cave, and fell asleep. Opal is getting a little Genre Savvy here, and also demonstrates his invulnerability. I just liked Raze too much to let him go, so here he is. I added a little bit of thought to murder, so yay. Probably not as much as I should, so I might have more on that later. This has me back into writing, so I may post some more within a few days. No promises, though. Author's Note Opal is getting a little Genre Savvy here, and also demonstrates his invulnerability. I just liked Raze too much to let him go, so here he is. I added a little bit of thought to murder, so yay. Probably not as much as I should, so I might have more on that later. This has me back into writing, so I may post some more within a few days. No promises, though.
(3) Exposition, Exposition EverywhereThe Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 3: Exposition, Exposition Everywhere What is this? An update?! I think so. Shortly after the events detailed in the last chapter (What? This is my book, I can do that.) I started to think, and think hard. I had some really weird things going on. I was some sort of snake – with freaking ice powers – who was living in a forest, next to an area inhabited by dragons, in a world inhabited by talking Technicolor ponies and other various creatures. I was never going to see home again – a fact that I was more than willing to accept, given what it was like there. However, there were some perks I was going to miss, hands chiefly among them. I had a young griffin no bigger than my cat that I was probably going to have a large part in raising, while at the same time being only a few months older than it. We both were hiding from Diamond Dogs after they attempted to enslave us. Oh, and I had a god living in my head who considered it a piece of prime real estate – there was nothing else around for miles, and nothing had ever been there, or ever would. Or so he says, though I disagree. And cut to informative section. Over the next three weeks I was mentored in the magical arts by Sapphire. As the scenarios themselves were spread out over a long window of time, I shall simply condense it into an expository form. The easiest parts to start with are the basics, so I think I’ll do just that. My race of winged serpents is each made of gemstones, especially those that are naturally powerful and rare. As such, amphipteres are inherently magical, and very powerful. Due to this, they were never a very plentiful race, and as there is a very definite pool of magic, depending on the amount of amphipteres there have been, and how many amphipteres there are, they developed a few methods of controlling and expending their magic. -For a start, each amphiptere was created with powerful seals in place to keep a few things from happening. 1, to keep the magic from simply pouring out of their bodies, as they were where the magic was contained. 2, to keep the magic from overpowering their mind and bodies, and then destroying them. 3, to prevent the magic from molding their bodies into something else – a big slab of sentient gemstone. -The main method was to, you know, use it. Typically with high-level telekinesis spells, or in magical duels against one another for training – though this particular form was only used in the military, as high level magic are one of the only things that can harm amphipteres. -Another common method was to create a “power gem”, composed of a very complex spell that rendered the magic into a physical form, and then pour magic into that. However, each gem could only hold so much before filling up. Any more energy and they’d either refuse it or unravel the enchantment completely, causing the magic to disperse harmlessly into the air. -A natural form that developed over the generations, especially during times with fewer amphiptere, and thus more magic, was dispelling some through their bodies, depending on what type of gem they were made of. So, for instance, a particularly powerful amphiptere made of Sun Diamond would glow softly. Now, you may be wondering “How does how many amphipteres that have been created factor into this?” And I, of course, have an answer. For each amphiptere created, because of the magic that is inherent in the gems used, the magic “pool” of the amphiptere race increases slightly to accommodate them. However, when an amphiptere dies somehow, the pool doesn’t shrink. Instead, ever amphiptere gains a bit more magic. Now, at the height of my race’s glory, this wouldn’t even be noticed, but when there’s only one amphiptere, where there should be thousands…well, you get my point. Now, onwards to the nature of our magic itself: It can be manifested in three different ways, sometimes all at once. -The first option is through a thought. Yes, this sounds cool, and it is, but it is through applying magic in very specific ways, similarly to weaving in The Wheel of Time series. Except imagine it with water, not string, and instead of five different kinds, or powers, imagine being able to turn one flow into any other – or any shade in between or beyond – with a single thought. Now try weaving a spell with that. In practice, it’s actually easier than it sounds, but that’s mostly due to the various shortcuts one can take using this method. -The next method is achieved through words. The origin typically does not matter in the actual casting so long as the intent is there, though languages typically steeped in time, magic, and reverence fare the best – Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, for instance. Due to the nature of this magic that is natural for my kind, words sometimes simply pop up in my brain randomly. And then they just stick. So, after I think of a word or sentence, I can’t forget what it means. Ever. -The last form deals with channeling a different sort of magic – the magic granted to you that is determined by what gem you are made of. For example, my own, due to being of an ethereal kind – similar to a cold mist – “floats” on my ocean of magic. And, like the various currents inside of the ocean, it runs in a certain direction, too. This magic can be channeled in a similar way as the normal kind – even worked into spells – but cannot be changed into a different element altogether. This results in powerful specialty spells that can be created. As you can see, this was a lot to take in over a very brief period of time – in my case, three weeks. And all of this was learned in addition to application, a bit of culture, and quite a bit of history. However, due to my teacher inhabiting my head, this resulted in several awkward moments with Raze, as the need for speech verbally was nonexistent in my conversations with Sapphire. Oh! Right, I knew I had forgotten something. In case anybody is wondering about my particularly strange biology, I have an explanation. Yay, exposition again! The mind and soul of an amphiptere are contained within a gem inside of the head. Due to the color of this gem determining the eye color, amphiptere have quite a few superstitions about the eyes, regarding the eye as a window to the soul. In their case, quite literally. Amphiptere speak by using a combination of magic and willpower to vibrate the air molecules in a specific way. Because of this, we make excellent mimics and are able to throw our voices to wherever we want. Due to the magic that went in to our creation and seals, we are able to move around, and do not have to eat, as our bodies draw on ambient magic to function, though in a pinch or magic-less environment they start to draw from our own magic reserves. Our magic replenishes slowly, though in my case I have enough that running out of magic will never happen to me. Additionally, this is one of the very few ways for an amphiptere to die: To simply run out of magic for the body to survive on. It was incredibly rare, but very possible for this to happen. The other ways to die are as follows: To be ripped apart on the sub-atomic level, do be ripped apart with Immortal Magic, from which we cannot recover, to be blasted with powerful ordinary spells, for a dragon to eat our soul-stone, and for a Weapon of the Dead to cut said stone. I think I’m pretty safe. Author's Note Aannnd cue dramatic fight scene in which he discovers he is not, in fact, safe. I made this for people who were nagging me about chapters, and how I never updated. So< I discovered some time and decided to write a bit of an exposition, pulling in some ideas that I had while walking my dog. What? I always think better on my feet.
(4) A Normal DayThe Tale of the Opal Serpent By: LunarEclipse77 I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters. Chapter 4: A Normal Day I awoke to the sensation of powder, all around me. I could feel a few flecks of heat, but they were fading quickly. I opened my eyes to see a wall of grey, shot through with the very occasional speck of orange. Mostly, I did that just because it was incredibly cool that I felt no pain anymore, and because I probably would never get used to that. I heaved upwards, scattering ash everywhere. Looking around, I saw that the remains of last night’s were frosted over, as usual. I also saw that Raze still hadn’t gotten up – again, as usual. I chuckled to myself. I may have only had to sleep a minimal 6 hours, due to my new species, but Raze was a griffin, and a teenage one at that. I went off to get Raze some breakfast, in the form of a squirrel or rabbit. I slithered off, setting magical wards around the boundary of our camp to alert me if any intruders larger than a mouse entered. After a while of using a very simple form of detection – using a fan of wind magic as I flew in a method fairly similar to echolocation and then waiting to see what the disturbances felt like – I found a surprisingly juicy squirrel. You might be wondering how I managed to kill it and bring it back whole, due to the potent liquid spell that is known as my venom. Or not, considering the vast potential that my magic has to offer me. In any case, all it took was a simple compression spell around the brain, coupled with a few other spells to prevent anything…messy, to get rid of parasites, and to preserve the meat and fur. It was a very short trip, but hey – anything could happen, and I wanted to be prepared. In order to have some more fun, I dove back to the earth, slamming into it. As I righted myself, I heard a few scrabbles in the soil below me, and felt some small vibrations. My eyes widened. Diamond Dogs! How did they find us? Does it matter? Is Raze safe? All of these thoughts flew through my head in that break in time, the moment after the last second passes, but before the next can rush in to fill the void left behind. As soon as that second hit, and it hit it did, huge arms covered in dirt burst from the soil, grabbing in all directions blindly. Then it hit me: They couldn’t see me. The only reason they knew anything was there was because I had hit the dense earth, causing vibrations to go down, and ito wherever their tunnel had been. One of the flailing limbs at last found me and grabbed on. Soon, its brethren found me and began to pull me down into their dark tunnels. I extended my wings in order to present resistance, but their pull was irresistible. As I burst through the roof of their tunnel (which was only a little bit below the surface, as there were small roots poking in here and there. I estimated perhaps five feet below.), they all snatched their paws back and whimpered. “Cold snakey-thing.” The one that spoke was apparently the first to grab me. His comment was not out of place – usually things that can frost over your fur in a matter of seconds are either avoided or things that are talked about, but never seen or experienced. I cocked an eyebrow. “Wimp.” I then calmly wrenched my body from their grasp and gazed down the tunnel. It appeared they had come from my right, which meant the South, Gem Fido. Wait, Diamond Dogs, Gem Fido, duh. Anyways, I looked back to the other side – left and North. This end of the tunnel pointed straight to...Raze. I spoke in a low, menacing voice, causing the very walls of the tunnel to hum with it. “Are there any dogs up ahead? Answer carefully, swiftly, and honestly. Your lives depend on the answer.” Immediately the one who grabbed me – the leader, by the vials he had – spoke up. “Sent three others up ahead when we felt snakey thing fall. Stayed to get thing.” I smiled. Just three. Good. I could take several times the amount of dogs surrounding me – seven or so – with just my body and fangs alone, but I didn’t have to take the slow way. I had magic. I created a small stream of white hot Fire. Not enough to manifest, but some, nonetheless. I then dammed it up, causing it to pool up and create a small, intense flame that danced in mid air and sent flickering, mysterious shadows across the wall. I then mixed in a bit of my own fog, changing the pure white flame to a bluish one. I added a bit of a mixture I call ‘explosion’ to the brew, let it mix nicely, and then poured massive amounts of magic into it. An enormous, ghostly fireball raged out from what had once been a silent, serene flame. As soon as it had appeared, I withdrew all magical streams from it, leaving the fireball contained. After it reached its climax of about twenty feet in diameter, it imploded, bringing all of the newly formed Soul Marbles with it. They all flew directly to me, and entered my body. I turned from the scene and charged blindly down the rough tunnel, eventually slamming into the end not even thirty feet from where I was. I looked around for the other three dogs, but didn’t see them. Frustrated, I used a seeker spell, but nothing happened except it focused on me. Since I was pretty sure that I wasn’t a Diamond Dog (about 93% sure), I figured it must not’ve worked. Have you thought of counting those Soul Spheres? Sapphires voice rang out through my head. I slammed my head into a wall – something that I am rather fond of doing, both now and back on Earth – I proceeded to count them. Five from the first hunting party, the seven that I had encountered and incinerated…and three more that were unaccounted for. I mentally poked a finger into each and confirmed that they were indeed Diamond Dogs from the same party. I also learned that they were in fact two different hunting partied that had met and converged a while back, as well as that they didn’t have a very high opinion of me or their fellow dogs. Good, I could use that to my advantage later, somehow. After retreating back to the hole in the tunnel, I resolved to close it so that more hunting parties could not follow them. Next time, if I were not paying attention or gone, they would actually take Raze, whom I had grown quite attached to over the last month. He was like a brother (that I never had), cousin (that I had several of that mutually despised me, whereas he liked me), a nephew (only child), and a son (I really hope it goes without saying that I’ve never had one of those). I closed my eyes and reached out with a flood of Earth, coming in all different shades, from the darkest of browns, for hard granite, to the palest of beige, for gems, and simply lifted up the earth, for as long as my magic would reach down the tunnel – several miles, if I had to guess. It was an impressive feat of magic, if I do say so myself. I also lifted myself out of the tunnel and flew to our campsite. I landed (this time somewhat more softly) in the campfire ash. I quickly recovered, as landing in a snake's body is somewhat different then landing as, say, a pegasus or griffin. You have to get about a foot from the ground, and parallel to it, and then slowly descend, eventually sliding to a halt. Apparently, my propensity to forgo this and simply slam into the earth was an approach favoured by the military and younglings. And, even after you've landed, the landing itself is more of a skid, so you have to find your bearings and occasionally turn yourself right side up. I shook the ash off of me and slithered over to Raze's crag in the remains in the boulder. I poked my head in (as that's all of me that'd fit) to hear him snoring on his pile of skins taken from prey. Huh. I thought. Must be pretty comfortable, for him to still be awake. Unfortunately for him, my presence had cooled down the area, and he started to wake up, even beneath his furs. He blearily cracked an eye open and quickly closed it due to the light. I guesstimated that I had woken up at six or so, and had been active for an hour or so. So that made it...seven o'clock. Right. He groaned and tried to snuggle back into his blankets, but was wrapped in Air and dragged outside. "Wake up and...seize the day! Somehow, after I started singing, Raze (and a number of suspicious disembodied voices) joined in. Open the gates and seize the day Don't be afraid and don't delay Nothing can break us No one can make us Give our rights away Arise and seize the day Now is the time to seize the day Send out the call and join the fray Wrongs will be righted If we're united Let us seize the day Friends of the friendless, seize the day Raise up the torch and light the way Proud and defiant We'll slay the giant Let us seize the day Neighbor to neighbor Father to son One for all and all for one Open the gates and seize the day Don't be afraid and don't delay Nothing can break us No one can make us Give our rights away Neighbor to neighbor Father to son One for all and all for one! The vigorous song and dance/choreography, whichever (which I was somehow able to perform - don't ask me how) served to effectively wake him up, at which point I threw the squirrel at his talons/feet/whatever. "Dig in." I told him. I had no intention of telling him how close he came to being recaptured by Diamond Dogs - it'd just scare him unnecessarily. Although...now that I'm thinking about it... I mused, and expanded my wards set around camp about a hundred yards out - now underground and in the air, instead of just above ground, no higher than the treetops. It pays to be prepared. After Raze had scarfed down his squirrel (seriously, that kid can eat. Pound for pound, he was probably a match for me when I had been on Earth - and I was semi-legendary for my ability to do that), he decided that he was hungry, so we went to the nearest stream, about half a mile away. Now, if you're curious as to why I didn't just magic up some water - we're still technically in the Dragon Badlands. So, very little water, even less...anything, except for dragons. And if I just transfigured some clay - well, a transfiguration spell will eventually wear off, and even if I threw enough power into the spell to make it semi-permanent, it won't get rid of the taste of cracked, burned, and generally abused dirt. Eww. However, something I would do with my magic was pull enough water to wherever Raze decided to drink from so that he had enough, as well as filter it and add a bit of magic to it to make it better. After I had dragged enough together, Raze walked down the gentle slope to the riverbed and lowered his beak into the water, opening it as he did so so that I could create the filter spell - a combination predominantly made of Water, with some Earth at the edges to attract whatever was in the water. Another two streams of pure Magic fed directly into the water right as he drank it. The two were very small, but easily the two hardest, as I couldn't mentally "lock" them into place - I had to concentrate on their location, and the location that I needed them to flow into, otherwise they'd snap into whatever - it could be something as dangerous as turning the water to neurotoxin, or as benign as forming a bit into a goldfish. You could never tell with wild magic. While he was drinking, I felt several of my wards break. Initially I was quite startled by this - Had the Diamond Dogs already sent forces to retaliate? However, I quickly relaxed as I felt the wards close back around whatever had broken them. Based on the time and amount of wards broken, I'd assume one creature, slightly smaller than a D-Dog. My knee-jerk reaction was to check it out, but I realized that we weren't in the camp. Whatever had broken the wards was too small to be a threat, and there was only one besides. After Raze finished drinking I told him about the intruder, and about how they hadn't left yet, making sure to keep my voice calm. And then he surprised me, by asking me with sincere curiosity, and nothing else: "Is it a mutt?" . "No. Unless it's a runt, it's build is too slim to be a dog." Raze actually looked a bit disappointed. ....A bit of sneakiness later... I saw what looked to be a cross between a fox, cat and human laying down in front of Raze's crag. It looked like enough of a diamond dog to be confused as one, but they were dissimilar enough to tell the difference. [i.]Wait. Sapphire spoke up suddenly. Are you really going to.... Terrify it, just for the lulz? You bet I am. His (for the sake of humanizing the thing, let's call it an arbitrary gender) eyes suddenly snapped open. He lay there for a second, and then got up and inspected himself for a bit. Then he stood up and started to pop his back. Figuring this was as good a time as any, I leaped straight for him, jaws open. He leaned backwards, limbo/twister-style, then began to run as fast as he could away. I, however, had wings and flew after him. After I was withing range, I shot off a bolt of Acid at a tree right next to him and "threw" the source of my voice to be around him, and him only. It wasn't a ventriloquist trick - I actually moved the source of my voice, and said "Don't move." Then, figuring I'd continue with the ruse, I slithered in front of him and stared straight in to his startled eyes that were giving me the classic "deer-in-headlights" look. I asked him a question as menacingly as I could. "Where's the rest of your hunting party?" Wh-what?" He asked, clearly shaken. On the outside, I was oozing malice. On the inside, I was positively bursting with laughter. This was hilarious! Oh, yeah, did I mention that I can be a bit sadistic, like most humans can? "Don't play dumb!" I snapped. "Where's the rest of your party?!" “I have no idea what you're talking about. And, wow, those are some really nice fangs I might add, and your eyes, they're so…purple. And your skin is just drop dead gorgeous.” He said. What? Was this his version of a blue-screen of death? Did his brain just turn off? Whatever. Aiming for the finale, I hurled myself at him, wings outstretched. I could feel Raze hang on for dear life. “One, I’m not a Diamond Dog. Two, I have a name. And three, if you kill me now, I will become more powerful than you could ever imagine.” I just lay on top of him for a moment, dumbstruck. How in the- "How did you learn that phrase?" I asked, perplexed. unless he was being sincere (in which case I had either run in to this world's Obi Wan or some lunatic) or he was...the possibility was too strange to consider. "How'd YOUknow that phrase?!" He asked. We both stared for a moment, before my suspicion was confirmed by the spark in his eye. "YOU'RE HUMAN?!" We both exclamed. Author's Note Sorry about that "false" publish! I have no idea what happened. It was fun to write Fox's character. And yes, I know that the wording is slightly different. Deal with it. (I wish I had sunglasses right now...) This is a crossover with Red Fox's story, Hi-Jinx I do actually hit my head on walls sometimes.
