Through Desert Sand and Forest Storm

My story all started on a day like any other. Actually, scratch that, bit better than average actually. I actually had money for once, which is why I was in that cafe in the first place. I wasn't exactly in a bad financial state, but, let's just say if I wasn't able to steal food from work, I probably would've starved.

Anyway, back to the story. I was in the cafe, enjoying some coffee, when this guy walked in. First thing I noticed about him was his height. Seven foot six at least, considering he had to duck to get into the building. Second thing was what he was holding, a small video camera on a tripod. There was a proportionally sized professional mike on the front of the camera. Looking at that and the dark gray suit he was wearing, I figured he was a reporter of some sort. And yes, I do enjoy randomly profiling the people who walked into that cafe. Gives me something to do while I drink my coffee.

He looked around for a moment, before spotting me. That was when I got my first clue something was wrong, although at the time I figured it was just my head being a little fuzzy. Hadn't quite finished my coffee, after all.

Have you ever had a moment where you're speaking, and you forget the word you're about to say? When you know what you're trying to say, you can picture it clearly in your head, but you can't for the life of you remember what it was called? His eyes were the color of that feeling. I could see the color in his eyes, I just had no idea what that color looked like. I'm aware of how much sense that doesn't make, but that's just the best way I can describe it.

He walked over to me and sat down on the other side of the table, looking at me. I got a feeling I'm sure is similar to the one a baby antelope gets when it sees a lioness hiding in the grass. Like I should find someone easily tripable and put them between me and this guy in case I needed to run.

“Can I help you?” I asked after a moment.

“Yes,” he responded in a deep baritone, “do you know where I can find a brony around here?”

I sighed. Another reporter wanting to make a name for himself by finding some crazy-ass super fan clopper brony and writing about how we were all sexual deviants. Well, joke's on him, I'm pretty damn attractive for a struggling college student. Okay, maybe not, but I at least look like I get out of the basement more than once a year. “You're looking at one,” I responded.

He smiled. It did nothing to ease the predatory feeling around him. “Well then, I believe I have an offer for you, one I'm most certain you'll enjoy.”

“I'm fine with the size of all parts of my anatomy, and I will not give you my bank account number to help you move your alleged Nigerian millions,” I deadpanned.

He looked confused for a moment, then chuckled. “Yeah, you'll fit right in.” Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all. “Being a brony, I'm sure you're familiar with the country of Equestria.”

“Of course.”

He leaned a few inches closer, like he was about to share a secret. “I can get you there,” he said.

I paused for a second, then laughed. “Sure you can. Let me guess, it's just a hop, a skip, and a jump over the rainbow?”

He chuckled again, although it sounded less pleasant this time. Less like a chuckle, and more like gravel crunching underfoot. “Don't believe me? Turn around.”

Humoring him, I turned around, expecting to see the wall of the cafe. . .

. . .and instead seeing the landscape of Equestria.

We were on top of a mountain, overlooking the valley. I could see Ponyville from here, and the Everfree. I turned back towards the man, and saw Canterlot not far behind him.

“Well?” he asked, “believe me now?” I could only nod. “Thinking about accepting my deal?” another nod. “Good. Now, I'm going to have to set you down someplace a bit different from here. Can't have you dying on me too soon, after all.” Wait, what? But this was Equestria! Why would I die?

Before I had time to think any more, the man's hand slammed into my chest, and everything went black.

~o0O0o~

“You are a pawn, human.” The words were everything. All around me was shadow and silence, a void filled with nothing but myself. And the words. “Nothing but a pawn. But, a pawn forgotten or ignored can be quite the asset, used correctly. You are far from Equestria, far from the chessboard, but you will go there. Gather an army, or go alone, I don't care, but go. Equestria is North, across the Grand Desert and the North Ocean.

Go, my pawn, and slay the Knight.”

~o0O0o~

My head hurt.

Well, to be honest, my everything hurt. My head, my arms, my stomach, my tail, which is apparently a thing I have now.

The tail might've freaked me out if I'd hurt any less, probably take a few seconds of computer-like loading in my brain, but I hurt way too much to care, so I just acknowledged it and moved on.

Eventually, the pain died down enough for me to uncurl from the fetal position and open my eyes. First thing I saw was my snout. Mottled reddish-brown scales covering what looked like the nostrils of an alligator or a crocodile, not that I had any idea what the difference between the two was.

I looked down at the rest of my body. Reminded me a lot of a crocodile, aside from the colors, which matched those on my snout, the scales, which were large, flexible, and seemed more like a cross between alligator skin and real scales than just the latter, and the legs, which were a bit longer than any croc I'd heard of, and underneath me instead of to the sides. Well, at least I wouldn't have to waddle everywhere. I tried to get a look at my tail, but my neck wasn't flexible enough. After flailing it around a bit, I decided my tail was pretty long, although I couldn't tell you exactly how long, and about as thick around as a leg. That's what it felt like, at least. Also, tail-flailing fills the air with a lot of dust, more than enough to blind me.

When the dust settled, I looked around at my surroundings. Turns out that wasn't dust, it was sand. Lots and lots of sand, roughly the same red-brown of my scales.. I was on top of a large dune, but couldn't see anything but sand in all directions.

Wellfuck.jpeg

So, he shows me Equestria, then drops me off in the middle of a desert that is, according to him, an ocean away from that joyous place. Also, I'm a lizard. Dick move, bro, dick move.

“If you fought the Knight now, you would die.”

I spun around, looking for the source of the voice. It was the bastard who brought me here! I also tripped over my legs, but that's not important.

“I've done you a favor,” the voice continued, although I couldn't tell where it came from. “This way, you'll have time to make friends, gather comrades. The Knight is a strong one. I caught a glimpse of his future, and saw him perform a deed of blood that I thought was beyond any mortal. Shows you how far omnipotence goes these days.”

“Where are you?” I growled. Damn, my voice sounded scary. It was deeper than his now, where before it had been a tenor. Didn't sound gravelly at all though, which surprised me. It sounded more hissy, like a snake with a deep voice. If snakes had voices, that is.

“Not on this world, sadly. The rules forbid me from physically manifesting myself, although, as you can tell, I can still talk to you. Now I suggest you get moving. If you stay here, all that'll happen will be you dying of thirst, and then where'd I be?”

Welp, someone's a royal asshole. But he had a point; just standing here wouldn't do me any good. Looking up at the sun, I decided which way was north and set out. Hopefully, I'd find a town or something where I could figure out where I was, and the fastest way to Equestria.

But what did he mean by “kill the Knight?” I haven't killed anything in my life! He's treating me like some kind of soldier, and I'm barely twenty. Well, hopefully when I meet this “Knight” guy I can just talk to him instead of fighting him.

Of course, I have no idea what the guy who sent me here would do then. Or even if Knight will want to talk to me, as opposed to killing me on the spot for being an enemy pawn, or whatever. Stupid chess, never was any good at that game.

My musings were interrupted by a strange twitch on my snout. It felt like I had to sneeze, but it wasn't in my nostrils. It felt a bit higher up, and closer to the skin. Of course, it could just be a regular sneeze, and it only feels weird because I have a completely new nose than I used to have, but something made me think that wasn't the case. Also, the twitch was informing me that there was some prey approaching from the west.

Wait, what?

According to my snout, there were about a dozen animals heading this way. They were a only a quarter of a mile away, so if I climbed a dune, I might be able to see them. That is, of course, if they even are there. After all, what does my snout know?

As it turns out, it knows when there are a dozen animals a quarter of a mile to the west.

I couldn't tell what they were from this distance (did becoming this. . . whatever mess up my eyesight? It used to be pretty good!) but I could tell there were a dozen of them. I decided not to approach them, because they might not be friendly, but I could follow them. They didn't seem to be moving very fast, and I blended in with the landscape rather well, so I doubted it would be a problem.

I dug myself into the top of a dune and waited for them. I had noticed in my inspection of my body that my “hands” and “feet” had some pretty heavy claws on them, as well as some thick webbing going about halfway up the fingers. Most likely for digging through sand, considering the climate I was in. And they definitely seemed to work well, shoveling out a hole large enough for me to lie in. The hole was just big enough for the lower half of my body if I was lying on my stomach. With the color of my scales, there was no way they'd be able to see me.

They came into view a few minutes later. There were six guards, two animals like me, and four. . . they looked like slaves to me. They were wearing old rags covering most of their bodies, and looked exhausted. The rags obscured most of their features, so I couldn't really get a good look at any of them. The guards had two of each kind of pony, unless there were any kinds the show hadn't mentioned, which, considering it hadn't shown this place, suddenly seemed a lot more possible.

The two earth ponies weren't wearing armor, but had two small cannons strapped to each of their backs. The cannons were made of wood, but braced with metal bands. I wondered what kind of projectiles they shot, but decided I didn't want to find out firsthand. One was blue, with a dark green mane, and the other was tan with a brown mane, similar to Dr. Whooves from the show. The unicorns and pegesai were wearing light metal armor, although I couldn't tell any details about it. They were too far away, and my eyesight in this body did seem to be pretty bad. One unicorn was yellow with a red mane, the other was dark purple with a white mane.

Neither pegasi had manes, and their tails were either non-existent or hidden beneath their armor. One was pure black, reminding me mostly of a panther, and the other was a dark orange. I couldn't see the cutie marks on any of them, because either armor or cannon straps got in the way, but I doubted I'd be able to make them out from this distance anyway.

As they got near the base of the dune I was hiding on, a thought struck me. If I could sense where other animals were, could their beasts do the same? They looked to be the same species as me. . .

The tan pony reached up a hoof to scratch his side, innocently pointing the cannon right at me. I spun around, managing not to trip over myself this time, and booked it down the back of the dune. I heard swearing behind me as they saw their prey leave. Well, at least I knew we could speak the same language, as useful as that was right now. I ran to the bottom of a dune, and started running around another, sticking to the low ground. If I could keep a dune between me and them, they wouldn't be able to use those cannons on me. Can't target what you can't see!

Before I could get too far, however, something grabbed my right hindleg, tripping me. I looked back at it and saw it wrapped in a purple aura.

“Got him!” Like hell you got me! I dug my foreclaws into the ground and started dragging myself away. They'd probably already one, but there was no way I was going down without a fight.

I heard a small explosion from behind me, then suddenly found myself tangled in a net. So that's what the cannons launched. Good to know.

“Smart one, this guy. Tried to stay low instead of just heading back up a dune.” one of them was saying as they approached.

“Not smart enough apparently. How much do you think she'll pay for him?” Another responded.

“Depends. How smart are you, scales? What's two plus two?” the first one said again. He moved in front of me, and I could see it was the purple unicorn.

“What, can't figure it out yourself?” I responded. “Well, if you need a hint, it's one below five and one above three.” The unicorn just looked at me, but I could hear his companion chuckling.

“You shut up,” the unicorn said to his friend, then looked down at me again. “Do you think you're funny?” he asked.

“Well I have a few jokes. I'd tell the one about your dick, but it's just too short.” Lightning shot from the unicorn's horn, arcing through my body. White-hot pain lanced through me, and I felt my whole body go rigid from the shock.

“Help me drag him back to the group. And stop laughing!” the unicorn yelled at his companion.

I still couldn't move. The spell had probably been designed to incapacitate as well as hurt. I couldn't resist as they dragged me towards the others. When we got there, the unicorn got the net off me, and his companion (turns out it was the orange pegasus) put a manacle around my left foreleg, chaining me to the rest of the slaves.

“Shouldn't he be moving by now?” the tan earth pony asked.

“Gave him a bit extra. Bastard deserved it.” The orange pegasus started chuckling again, but was silenced by a glare from the unicorn.

“How long till he's out?” the black pegaus asked.

“Ten more minutes,” was the reply.

“Then you can carry him till then. Let's move.” He set out, with the other following him. Cursing, the purple unicorn levitated me, keeping me in the air near the other slaves, as we struck off for god knows where.