A Successful Round of Introductions

Wind is such a strange thing, I thought, my eyes watering from the cold sting of the air. A force we cannot perceive with our eyes, yet as beautiful as the break between night and day. A force that can be as cataclysmic as the most destructive of this world's weapons. Truly, it is an oddity that resembles humanity all too well.

The wind lashed at my cheeks and feet, the only exposed flesh that hadn't already accustomed itself to the conditions. My eyes were experiencing increasing levels of discomfort but I didn't really want to blink, despite the obvious need.

I suppose some would find the destruction beautiful in its own way. I can't say I disagree with the sentiment but I'd much rather remain alive. While the topic of my internal monologue was an interesting one, it failed to distract me from my growing frustration. But where is this wind coming from? There's not even a storm going on! To accentuate my point, I glared through the canopy to what I could make out of the clear blue sky.

Something brushed against my face, wrenching me from my confusion-induced irritation. I turned my head to the right; a bird had set itself on my shoulder. It let out a series of chirps and tweets.

"I suppose I am a bit miffed. Why?"

Two clipped chirps followed by a shuffle of the wings.

I snorted. "It has everything to do with the wind." I stared at the bird in silence. "Did something happen?"

The bird shuffled his talons on my shoulder before letting out a singular tweet.

"News then?" A cocked head. "Of what?" He flew atop my head. "The gate? You should've said that first." I made to move but he began to flap wildly.

I sighed. "Then come on," I said, grabbing him from his perch on my head. He was calm up until I tried to place him inside my shirt; that was met with much resistance. "Look, if you're coming, I can't have you getting blown away. Yeah, you could fly but I'd rather keep you close." His resistance ceased— somewhat— so I tucked him into my shirt and kept him supported with my arms.

I pulled myself through the portal and was immediately punished for it. The wind was a lot worse here than it was back in the forest. The only reason I hadn't just turned back was because the wind wasn't bitingly cold. It was only a small comfort.

I took in the area of my appearance. I was at the edge of a forest, overlooking a small town. The forest was obnoxiously dark— something that I had already known from previous trips to this world. Though, I only stayed for a few minutes every other time. The town was chock-full of obnoxiously bright colours thrown about in a haphazard fashion. The houses themselves looked fine; it was everything else that bothered me.

As my gaze moved across the landscape, I came upon what had to be the source of the wind problem: a tornado. It didn't cause the damage I'd expect; it only pulled a few errant leaves in its direction. That added to the confusion on my part as it felt rather powerful to me.

I shuffled my arms to make sure my avian friend hadn't fallen in between the transition. "It's as good a time as any to introduce myself to the populace."

I began to walk towards the twister, swearing not to test my luck once I got close.

^*^

Fluttershy continued to circle in the air even after the tornado had dissipated. Though, whether it was because the butter yellow Pegasus couldn't stop or because she still believed that she was helping with the funnel was yet to be determined.

Rainbow Dash responded swiftly and caught Fluttershy in a cloud she'd grabbed. "Whoa, girl, take it easy!"

Fluttershy shook off her confusion. "Wha- what? Did we do it?"

"Yeah, we did it," her rainbow-maned friend replied, before pulling her into a hug. "You did it." The two gave each other a high wing and flew down to meet with the rest of the Pegasi.

Once they had landed Flitter and Cloudchaser gave Fluttershy their own congratulations to which she smiled sheepishly. As Rainbow Dash watched she was surprised to hear praise directed towards her. Well, not the praise itself but the voice that had given it.

She turned around to find Spitfire, who then went on to commend her for her guts.

"Thanks, but if you wanna talk guts, ya' gotta give it to my Number One Flier"— Rainbow pointed in the direction of her shy friend— "Fluttershy! Let's hear it for Fluttershy!" All the Pegasi gathered began cheering and started a chant for the aforementioned Pegasus. One shout eventually rang out over the rest.

"Truly, a wonderful display! I've never seen anything like it!" Nopony thought much of it but they all looked in the general direction of the cheer regardless.

A tall bipedal creature— perhaps as tall as the princess— stood some distance from the conglomerate of ponies, clapping rather loudly. Eventually, it noticed the growing silence and its applause slowed to a stop.

"Was that not the cue for me to cheer? It sounded quite like it was."

^*^

I waited patiently for them to say something; it wouldn't do to come across as rudely impatient. This would be our first meeting after all.

How did they manage to fly with those wings? The wings looked a bit small but soon enough I decided that magic-assisted flight was a possibility seeing as there was a Unicorn.

The bird had been released from my shirt as soon as the winds had died down and had left immediately. 'To look for food', it had told me.

The Unicorn was the first to recover, or, at least, the only with enough sense to do something rather than stare like an idiot.

"Excuse me... sir?" I gave a nod. She moved closer to me before speaking again. Behind her followed a purple and green lizard... thing. A baby dragon perhaps? Hmm. A Wyrmling then. "May I ask what you're doing here?"

I smiled slyly. "You may." She frowned at my response. I 'd thought my joke was pretty funny. "I was wandering and the random tornado caught my attention so I came over to see what was happening. " As the two of us spoke, the crowd began to disperse until there was nothing but the Unicorn and three Pegasi who were still a fair distance away.

The Unicorn spoke up again. "Well, if that's the case let me be the first to say 'welcome to Ponyville'. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

I've heard worse names for towns; Humanity, for example. I don't know what the founders of that place were thinking.

Soon after her impromptu welcome, the Pegasi had made their way over to us.

The first to speak was a rainbow-maned Pegasus. "Hey Twi, who is this guy?" Twilight turned towards the Pegasus.

"I was just getting to asking that, Rainbow." The two of them turned towards me expectantly, as well as the two other Pegasi.

I stared back at them. We stood in silence and I swear, somebody was clearing their throat in the background.

"What's your name?" Twilight asked after our staring contest.

"Oh? I am Dirk Forrester. But you, little Unicorn,"—I leaned forward and pointed at Twilight—"can call me Dirk." Based on her expression, I could tell she didn't particularly enjoy being called little. Something to avoid in the future, I suppose.

'Rainbow' let out a laugh. "Twilight isn't that small; you're just huge, is all." Twilight frowned a bit but said nothing otherwise. "I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way, and this is Fluttershy." She gestured with a hoof to the pale yellow Pegasus on her right. She tried to hide behind her mane while I nodded as if told something worth pondering.

The third took this opportunity to introduce herself as well. "The name's Spitfire," she said with an easy smile. "Though, I can't quite say that I've met anything like you before."

My smile soon matched her own. "Likewise," I replied, voice as smooth as this mare's gaudy bodysuit. A new record, it would seem; I've already found somebody that I have no reason to like.

I turned towards Twilight as she spoke up again. "I have to agree with Spitfire; I'm not sure I've even heard of a species like yours. If we take your body structure into account then a Minotaur or Diamond Dog would be closest in relation." She continued to theorize while keeping her scrutinizing gaze trained on me.

Her wyrmling companion sighed. "Now look what you did," he complained in a boyish voice. Silently, I congratulated myself for a correct assumption of his age. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire only laughed while Fluttershy had a small smile on her muzzle.

"Well, I'd better get going. See ya, Dash." I watched as Rainbow gave her own farewell before Spitfire spread her wings and launched into the air. I turned my attention to the Wyrmling.

"And you?" The Wyrmling stop fussing over the Unicorn to look at me.

"Huh? And me what?"

"What is your name? You've yet to be introduced." For a second, I thought about whether that came off as rude.

"Oh. I'm Spike, Twilight's assistant." It was an unnecessary addition but information is information.

I looked back towards the forest as I scratched my head. The place looked to be plenty habitable— even if a bit dreary— but it never hurt to check. I turned back to the group. "Say, Spike?"At this point, Twilight had ceased her rambling and Rainbow had taken to hovering half a meter from the ground next to her demure friend.

"Yeah?"

"On a scale of one to ten, with one being 'not' and ten being 'don't try anything', how dangerous is that forest over there? I'm thinking about—" I let out a yawn. I stretched my arms out before continuing. "— I'm thinking about taking up residence there."

^*^

Twilight and Spike exchanged a look before Twilight turned back to Dirk. She had to ask. He couldn't be serious, could he? Much to her dismay, both Rainbow Dash and Spike beat her to the punch.

"You're kidding, right?" The two perfect in almost perfect synchronisation.

"You're gonna stay in the Everfree Forest?" Rainbow had been the one to continue.

Dirk had a frown on his face but the three assembled ponies— plus dragon— had no clue why. "A forest is a forest, regardless of whether or not it is 'ever free', as you put it." He'd barely managed to finish speaking before he yawned again.

"That's not really what I meant," Rainbow deadpanned.

"Right," he rubbed his eyes. "That's the name of it, right? Yes. Okay. Anyways, yes. I plan to stay there. I have none of the local currency in my possession so I would be unable to afford a stay at an inn. The forest is my best and..."

For a second, the group wondered if he would continue, but once the silence had been stretched for too long, Twilight decided to speak up.

"Your best and what?" She asked a bit slowly.

It took longer than they were comfortable, but Dirk eventually answered. "Best and uh... only bet." Twilight watched as he struggled to keep eyes open. This drew her attention to his eyes themselves. The irises were both mostly green; one seemed to be in the process of turning brown.

Eventually, Dirk's eyes did shut but he still stood. Fluttershy approached him while Spike and Rainbow proceeded to watch awkwardly. Twilight continued with her own silent observation.

"Excuse me?" The only indication that Dirk had heard her was a sound akin to humming. Fluttershy continued. "Are you feeling well?" This time she was met with no response.

Fluttershy made to ask him once more but stopped when a bird landed on his shoulder. She listened as her own message was conveyed through the bird to Dirk and while she saw no evidence of the bird actually communicating with him she was finally given her response with a "Yeh," before Dirk collapsed.

She and Twilight panicked just the smallest bit.

Author's Note

As I've said for what must be the third time; the original was absolute trash and I ran out of ideas for it. So yeah, same basic plot but I plan on changing a lot.
And yes, 'high wing'; I'm sorry, alright?
And yes, I did rip the scene straight from the show. What did you expect me to do?

Note: I'm going to leave this story without the Alternate Universe tag for now, but if it gets too out of hand, I'll add it.
Post Note: Short chapter. I know and I'm sorry.
~~Post Note Note: I~~ really ~~couldn't~~ Nevermind, it's not imporant.