The Dangers of Travelling
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Poison Fangs and Scaly Tails
Chapter 2: The Dangers of Travelling
The three of us walked (or slithered, in my case) in silence, the heavy rainfall putting a damper on even Lucky's chipper mood.
'Honestly.' I thought to myself. 'It's as if the bad weather followed me here from home.'
“This storm must have drifted here from the Everfree Forest." Martial had deduced earlier. Now he just walked carefully to my right, always seeming to keep one eye focused on me as we walked through the mud that had previously been a dirt road, but the downpour had washed away any hoofprints that would mark it as such. I was not faring well, the combination of cold mud and rain bringing on a much stronger effect than it would have done before my change, and I was starting to feel rather ill. I was pretty sure that snakes weren't meant to get this cold. For that reason, after moving for a few hours in the rain, I asked the two ponies:
"Could we...perhapsss. Ssstop, for a bit?" I struggled to ask, still tripping over the foreign forked tongue in my mouth. "I don't feel ssssso...good. I think it'sss thisss...rain." Both ponies stopped, and Martial answered me.
"If we keep moving, we can make it to Trottingham tonight. You're just going to have to bear with it until we do." He said, unconcerned, and then continued along the path. Lucky, however, hesitated.
"Um, actually, Martial, I was rather hoping that we would stop tonight as well. It is getting dark, after all. And this blasted rain isn't helping when it comes to comfort. I know you're used to it, what with you being a rough and tumble sort of pony, but I don't really think that I can manage without stopping somewhere sheltered from the rain to warm up. Especially whilst pulling this cart." Lucky said sheepishly.
Martial gave an exasperated sigh. “Well, I’d love to stop and rest, but unless there’s a convenient cave or some other form of shelter, it isn’t going to happen.”
“Well, actually, I think that I saw a rather cosy looking cave just a bit further back. Would that be suitable?” Lucky asked.
“Oh, fine. Where is this supposed cave, then?” Martial relented reluctantly. “Provided that you can even remember where it was.” He added.
“Have no fear!” Lucky replied with a grin. “My memory is as a sturdy metal container, only opening to allow me access to its wondrous contents! Except that the box is more of a round, blobby shape, and made of…brain.”
Martial just stared at him with an expression halfway between annoyed and confused. “…What?”
“Or something like that.” Lucky added, unfazed. “Now, follow me!”
Roughly fifteen minutes later, and we still had not found Lucky’s supposed cave, which had understandably put Martial in a bad…well, worse mood.
“Lucky, we’ve been wandering around this forest for Celestia knows how long. I am beginning to doubt that this cave of yours even exists!” He yelled.
“No no, it’s around here somewhere, I am sure of it. I’ll find it in just a minute…” Lucky reassured, trotting along.
Martial sighed in exasperation. “Lucky, that is exactly what you said about 5 minutes-“
“Aha!” Lucky’s triumphant exclamation quickly cut off Martial’s declaration of scepticism.
“There it is! Isn’t it always the last place you look?” He said cheerfully, trotting over to a gap between two bushes and pushing aside the leaves to reveal a fairly large entrance to a cave.
Martial audibly ground his teeth in annoyance. “Lucky. This. Is. Where. We. Started!”
Lucky blinked in surprise. “So it is! Isn’t that funny? All this time searching and it was right here!”
“Yes. Funny.” Martial replied in a tone that suggested that he thought it was anything but.
“At leasst we found it at lasst.” I interjected in an attempt to calm everyone down.
“Indeed! All’s well that ends well! And I was right; it does look big enough to hold all three of us. It will be perfect for us to stop and rest, so long as it does not already hold some foul creature of the dark, teeth as sharp as knives, curved claws ready to tear apart our flesh in a moment, black and soulless eyes staring unthinking into our minds...”
There was silence as we all considered this.
“Well, I’m going in.” Said Lucky eventually, unhooking from the wagon, and began to walk cheerfully to the foreboding entrance. However, his progress was swiftly halted by a blue glow encasing his tail and yanking him backwards.
"Don't be stupid!” Berated Martial. “In case this cave is home to something, then I should check it out first! You." He glared in my direction. "Come with me. I don't trust you to be left alone with Lucky." He ignited his horn to act as a light, and gestured for me to go into the cave, with him walking almost by my side, but slightly behind. "We won't be long. Stay out of trouble, Lucky." He called back to the waiting pegasus, who was standing there next to his cart, awkwardly shuffling his hooves.
The inside of the cave was just as dark, and consequentially, spooky, as the entrance had been, and even the light from Martial’s horn didn’t help much, throwing up threatening looking shadows behind wherever the glow landed. I knew that nothing living was casting those shadows, thanks to my new thermal vision, but the odd shapes still added to the ambience, making me feel uneasy.
The size of the cave was slightly bigger than I had estimated from the outside, the ceiling in particular much higher than could be seen from outside. Occasional drips of moisture from the stalactites above dropped into puddles on the floor, indicating that this cave was not quite as dry as we had thought. I yelped as one of the icy droplets dropped onto my back, earning me a disdainful look from Martial.
Tense as the atmosphere was, the cave appeared to be mercifully free from monsters or creatures. However, as we turned to leave, I spotted a small red glow at the back of the cave.
“Martial!” I alerted the sullen unicorn. “I see something back there.” I pointed to the reddish aura I could see.
“What? I don’t see anything.” Martial replied irritably.
“That’ss because I can ssee it with my…thermal vision.” I explained.
“What vision?” Asked Martial in confusion.
“Uh…I can see heat. And ssomething is giving off heat over there. I can’t see what’s causing it, though. Could you bring that light over there, please?”
“Oh, I suppose so.” Martial followed me to the red glow, and once we had arrived at its source, the blue light emanating from his horn allowed us to see that the cause of the heat was…
“Eggs?” I said, almost disappointed. And indeed, five dirty white and green eggs sat in a dark hollow inside the wall. They were fairly large, larger than a chicken’s egg by quite a bit, and the hollow was well hidden enough that we would have missed it had I not possessed my unique sixth sense.
“Probably from a bird of some kind. Nothing to worry about.” Martial replied dismissively. “Now come on, Lucky’s still out in the rain.”
And with that, he turned back and headed to the mouth of the cave.
My gaze lingered on the glowing ovoids a moment longer, but shook my head and followed Martial out of the cave. There Lucky was still waiting, completely soaked. His face lit up as he spotted us emerging from the cave.
"At last! Is it safe to stay?" He inquired anxiously.
Martial nodded. “Just some eggs, nothing dangerous.”
"Marvellous! Now, let us make it a little more...homely. A fire must be built!" He continued, hooking up the cart and trotting merrily past us, pulling it into the cave.
"Now, let's see...sticks! We need sticks for a fire! I know that!" His face fell. "Oh, but they'll all be completely soaked! We'll never get a fire going with damp wood!"
"Don't worry, Lucky." Said Martial as he walked into the cave. He pointed to a stick that was inside the cave, and thus completely dry. "There are a few pieces of dry wood here inside the cave." Using his telekinesis, he gathered up all of the sticks and placed them in a pile in the centre of the cave. Then, he moved some stray rocks into a circle around them.
“Ah, excellent! Now, how to ignite them? I believe it has something to do with flint…” Lucky mused.
“Allow me.” Martial said with a hint of smugness. He pointed his horn at the pile of sticks and rocks, and a blue glow encased them both. A few seconds later, the sticks burst into flame.
"Ah, Martial! You've been practicing!" Praised Lucky, who then moved over to the fire and started to warm himself.
"Don't get too comfortable. We still need to get the sleeping bags from the wagon."
"I'll get them!" I offered, eager to be of some use. After a nod from Martial, I slithered to the wagon, and poking my head underneath the protective cover, searched for the sleeping bags. There was a lot of stuff in the wagon, seemingly without any real order, but I found both of them, and dragged them out of the wagon, then picked them up in my tail and put them near the fire, earning a thankful smile from Lucky.
"I'll jusst ssleep on the floor. Right?" I asked.
Martial nodded. "And I will keep watch, to make sure that no-one..." I saw him glance at me. "...Sneaks up on us."
"But, Martial, surely you need your sleep as well?" Lucky protested.
Martial snorted in amusement. "I'll be fine. I am a guard, remember? I've done plenty of night shifts before, I'm used to it."
"If you say so..." Lucky said dubiously.
I moved to the side of the fire closest to the back of the cave, and coiled my body up, hissing in contentment as I felt the warmth of the flickering fire on my skin. Martial sat near the cave's entrance, watching me carefully. Despite this, I soon found myself dozing. After a while, I was woken up by noises, high pitched...chirping? No…clucking.
'What, are there chickens here? That’s weird.'
Then I heard Martial. "Cockatrices! Lucky, get up! Wait, don't look into their- oh, darn it Lucky!" I heard him shout. I was still feeling drowsy from the cold, and so couldn't get up very fast.
"Stay the hay away from him!" I heard Martial growl, and I could hear the clucking of the cockatrices.
I opened my eyes, and slowly rose up from the ground. I turned to face the source of the noises. There were five cockatrices: four similar to the one that I had seen in the episode Stare Master of My Little Pony, being led by a larger one, probably a rooster. It had a darker colouring on its feathers, and a comb on its head. I could see the petrified Lucky, frozen with an expression of shock halfway between getting up. They were surrounding Martial, who held in his telekinetic grip both the larger of the half-chickens, and his sword, held out to keep them at bay. All the more impressive was the fact that his eyes remained tightly shut, protecting him from petrification.
Just as I was about to try and help, Martial threw the cockatrice that he was holding at two of the smaller ones in front of him, and with a swing of his magically held sword, beheaded the other two as they turned to look at their fallen companions. The largest cockatrice was the first to untangle itself from the heap, but before it could turn its gaze to Martial, it was impaled by his floating blade. The two remaining cockatrices took one look at the lifeless bodies of their companions, and ran for the exit, clucking all the way. However, before they could reach it, one of them was cut down by Martial's sword, while an azure glow surrounded the cockatrice on the left, and it was pulled towards Martial, hissing in panic. Martial moved the cockatrice up close to the petrified Lucky.
"Change him back." He said coldly. The cockatrice turned its head away, folding its wings in a huff.
Martial nodded. "Alright then. I see how it is." The half chicken, half snake creature got thrown over to me, and I recoiled slightly, hissing in distress.
"How about this? You see that basilisk?" The unfortunate creature just squawked in panic.
"Well, he's feeling pretty hungry. And you're looking mighty tasty to him right now." I caught on, and eager to play the part, opened my jaws and hissed threateningly.
"So, how about you change him back." Martial said casually, nodding towards his stone cousin. "And I don't feed you to him?" His eyes narrowed. "Deal?"
The cockatrice nodded furiously, then clucked in surprise as it was whizzed over to the motionless Lucky. It turned its gaze to the statue, and opened its eyes wide. The stone surface vibrated, then cracks began to appear, spider-webbing across until they covered the entire statue, before the stone covering shattered completely, allowing Lucky to slump to the floor, coughing. Suddenly, Martial was at his side.
"Are you okay, Lucky? He asked with concern.
"Y-yes, I think so. Oh, but that was a rather unpleasant experience, I must say. I shan't be doing that agai- ...Uh, Martial?" He pointed to somewhere behind the blue unicorn.
"What?" Martial asked in confusion. Then he noticed the cockatrice still floating in his magical hold. "Oh." He flung the half bird, half reptile creature out of the cave, and the creature ran off, clucking in distress. "I'm glad to see that you're okay." He said. After making sure that Lucky was okay, he looked at the corpses strewn about the cave.
"I should probably clean those up..." He mused. Then he turned to me.
“Say…” He began.
“Um…yess?” I acknowledged cautiously.
“You’re a basilisk. You eat this kind of stuff, right?”
'Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that to come from a pony. It seems a little…dark. Efficient thinking though.' However, I certainly wasn’t feeling well enough to eat anything yet, and so I shook my head.
“I’m not hungry, actually. Uh, thank you, though.” Then I remembered something. “Hey, I think that I know who those eggss belong to.”
Martials eyes widened in realisation. “Cockatrice eggs? Hmm. What should we do with them?”
There was silence as each of us gave thought to this conundrum.
“We could sell them.” It was Lucky that finally broke the silence. Martial and I just stared at him for a moment.
“Well, cockatrice eggs are highly prized by some.” Lucky defended.
Martial shook his head. “I don’t think that carrying around the eggs of half lizard abominations is a good idea. What if they hatch, for one thing? No, too dangerous. I’ll just get rid of them, along with the adult cockatrices.” With that, the corpses and eggs were lifted into the air, and moved out of the cave, Martial just behind. A few minutes later he returned, free from eggs and cadavers.
"Well, panic over. You can go back to sleep now.”
I was roughly woken from my sleep by the sensation of a pebble colliding with the side of my head.
"Come on, basilisk. We need to get moving, and I'm not waiting around for you." The voice of Martial Prowess met my drowsy ears.
'Now there's a thought. Do I even have ears? Well, never mind, there are more important things to be done.' Groggily, I uncoiled myself, and opened my eyes to see that the two ponies had already finished packing away the temporary bedding, and the fire was already out.
"Come on, we're wasting Celestia's sunlight!" Said Martial impatiently. I slithered over to where he and lucky were waiting with the cart. As soon as I reached them, they set off, apparently eager to make for civilisation.
The weather was much improved from last night, with the traces of the Everfree born storm having all but dissipated, the still wet ground the only indicator of it's passing. My new body happily soaked up the sun’s warmth, and soon my tiredness was eliminated, replaced by cheer.
"Sso." I asked casually. "What will happen when we get to Trottingham?"
"We'll probably get stopped by the guards. No-one likes to see a basilisk slithering up to their town." Answered Martial.
Lucky cut in. "But, with any luck, we can explain how you mean no harm, and hopefully get you some medical treatment for that spear wound. How is that, by the way?"
I winced. "Sstill sstingss. But it's not too bad."
"Good, good! Glad to hear it!" He said enthusiastically. Turning to Martial, he said: "I must say, I am excited to be going back to Trottingham. I just know that you'll love it, Martial!" Upon hearing this, I turned to Lucky in confusion.
"Again?" I said quizzically. Lucky nodded.
"Oh, yes! I was born there, actually! It's a wonderful place! I very much enjoyed the time I spent in it. However..." His cheery expression faltered a bit. "I chose to leave it, a time back, due to some...family differences." His happy demeanour returned. "But, water under the bridge! I fully look forward to returning and attempting to make my inevitable fortune!"
I blinked. "Well...good." I turned to Martial, who was stoically trotting his way along the path.
"Were you born in...Trottingham too?" I asked.
"No." He said curtly. A few moments passed. I looked away in defeat, assuming that was all the information that I would receive, but looked back when I heard Martial sigh, and reluctantly begin to elaborate.
"No...I was born elsewhere. A little town called Ponyville." Suddenly, despite my lack of legs, I somehow tripped and face-planted the ground.
"Oh, dear. Are you alright?" Asked Lucky in a concerned voice.
"Uh, yess, yess, fine, it was jusst the, ah, wound. Yess." I said sheepishly as I picked myself up, and we carried on moving. "You were ssaying?" I asked Martial.
'Ponyville?' I thought to myself. 'He did say Ponyville right? Well. That's...unexpected. I wouldn't have expected someone so...stoic to have come from a place like that. And I don't remember seeing him as a background pony...'
Martial looked at me suspiciously, but shook his head and continued where he left off.
"As I was saying, I was born in a town called Ponyville. I'd always wanted to be a soldier or a guard, but there wasn't much call for it in such a peaceful town. So, when Lucky arrived telling me that he was going to travel around Equestria to seek his fortune, I readily agreed to come with him." He sighed. "It's certainly been more exciting."
'Ponyville? Peaceful?' I thought to myself skeptically. 'I guess it must have changed since Martial left.' Suddenly, I became aware of someone asking me a question.
"Anguis?" Lucky was saying. "Did you hear me?"
"Oh...ssorry. What did you ssay?" I asked.
"I said, what about you?" Repeated Lucky. "That is, where were you born?"
I looked at him blankly. "Where wass I...born?" I said carefully.
Inside, I was panicking.
'Aw, snap. I haven't thought about this! What should I say? I don't know where basilisks are supposed to live. What if I get it wrong! And I don't think that telling them that I'm basically an alien would be a good idea...Okay, calm down. You've got this. Sorry, mother...but it's time to be vague again!'
"I...come from...uh...somewhere really far away. I don't think you'd have heard of it." I answered carefully. 'Hah! I knew I could do it! And it's technically not a lie!'
"Oh? How intriguing! Somewhere in the unexplored lands, perhaps?" Asked Lucky with a hint of excitement.
"Uh...well..." I stalled.
'Stop asking! Why are you asking? Oh, I shouldn't have asked about them! I should have known that they would ask me in turn!'
"Well...I'm not ssssssssure what your ssssssssspeciessssssss would call it..." I said, really milking the whole "Snake talk speech impediment" thing for all it was worth, to buy more time.
"Well, what's it like?" Lucky pressed.
"It'ssssss, uh...oh look! A cobblesstone road! Doess that mean we're getting closse to Trottingham?" I asked hurriedly, gesturing to the road in question.
And indeed, the dirt path was slowly turning into cobblestone as we travelled along it. I was glad to find a way to change the subject, but I was also legitimately curious.
Lucky turned his head to look to where I had indicated. "Oh, indeed it does! Wonderful! It shan't be long before we reach the walls of Trottingham." He said, thankfully forgetting about getting a more precise answer. I sighed in relief, but could see Martial glaring suspiciously at me out of the corner of my eye.
'Gah, I've got to remember to avoid questions like that again. Martial's suspicious enough without my vague answers.'
After this we travelled mostly in silence, save Lucky's reminiscing about his childhood spent in Trottingham, when finally, the city in question came into view. Distant walls of stone with little blurs, which I assumed to be guards, walking on top of them. As we neared, these smudges became more distinct, and I was able to make out frantic shouts and activity as we neared the walls.
When we were close enough to the city to be able to see individual ponies, which still wasn’t all that close, an authoritative shout came from the walls.
“Halt! What is your business in Trottingham?” We looked up, and saw that the voice was coming from a stern looking pegasus pony, who was wearing a face concealing helmet.
Martial stepped forwards and shouted in return. “I believe that you are expecting us. I’m Martial Prowess, your new guard, and this is Lucky Silver, my cousin. We have the correct papers.” At this, he nudged Lucky, who hastily pulled out a stack of papers from wherever ponies take things out of. Seriously, I was watching him, and I still didn’t see.
“Let’s see those.” A different voice said, and the papers glided up to the slightly indistinct unicorn pony on the wall, encased in an auburn glow.
There were a few moments of silence, presumably as the guard pony read through the papers. Then the second voice called down to us again.
“Well, these seem to be in order. We’re expecting you…but we’re certainly not expecting...that.” The figure gestured with a hoof towards me. “Can you tell me what a basilisk is doing in your company?”
This time, Lucky smiled and answered. “Oh, don’t worry! He’s perfectly harmless!”
The helmet clad pegasus’s tone seemed skeptical, as he answered before the unicorn.
“Really?...Well, I’m not sure about the regulations on a dangerous pet like that, but I’ll talk to my sergeant…”
"Pet?" I interrupted, slightly miffed at this assumption. "I'm not a...pet." The guards looked taken aback at this.
"It..it can talk?" The pegasus asked in surprise.
"Yes, it took us by surprise as well!" Lucky laughed.
"Pleasse." I spoke again. "I do have a...wound that I need to take care of, and I don't ...mean any harm."
"I can vouch for him." Lucky added. "He helped us with a little diamond dog problem, actually. I can guarantee that he won't be any trouble if you let him in.”
“And you?” The helmeted guard directed at Martial.
I waited anxiously as Martial remained silent, but to my relief, he sighed and spoke.
“I too vouch for him. He has given no reason for me to believe that his intentions are anything ignoble.”
“Yet.” I saw him mouth under his breath.
There was muffled whispering from the top of the walls, then the pegasus called down to us once more.
“Alright, a few guards will be down in a second. Don’t try anything.” The iron gates swung open quietly and efficiently, contrary to my imagined ominous creaking. I don’t know why I thought that would make sense, actually.
Then, just three ponies stepped out: Two unicorns and a pegasus, all wearing chain mail. The unicorn on the right had a purple coat, and did not wear a helmet, allowing his short ginger mane to be seen. His armour prevented me from seeing his cutie mark. The unicorn on the left possessed a green coat, with a long blond mane, again with his cutie mark obscured.
For a moment I thought that it was a little strange, sending such a small number. However, a bright glint from the walls caught my attention, and I looked up. There, 10 or so crossbows arranged along the wall, each encased in a different coloured glow, were pointing at me. This soon changed my opinion on that decision.
The lead pony stepped forth. It was the last of the trio, the pegasus. He was wearing a helmet, albeit a simple iron one that did not obscure his face, though a visor of sorts was resting back on the top of his head. The reason for the extra protection the helmet granted was clear: his armour covered a lot less than the other two guards overall, to give room for his wings to move unrestricted. The reduced amount of armour meant that I could make out the pegasi’s cutie mark – an arrow moving past a white shield.
Then, the pegasus spoke with what I assumed to be a Trottingham accent.
“Well, well, well. Now this is something I don’t see everyday. Or any day, for that matter. A talking basilisk. who’d have thought it?” Another pause, leaving me fidgeting nervously under the guard’s gaze.
“I, am Sergeant Sidestep, and I, along with Constables Keen and Sharp here, will be your escort. I must say that I have my reservations about this, but, if we let the likes of diamond dogs and griffons inside our walls, why not basilisks?” He gestured to the purple unicorn, who produced a strip of cloth from his previously unnoticed saddlebag.
“I ‘ope you don’t mind, but I’m gonna need you to put on this blindfold. Can’t ‘ave you petrifying ponies right and left, now, can we?”
I didn’t like the idea of being blinded, but I could understand the reasoning behind the request, so I nodded.
“O..okay.” I started forwards, but stopped with a yelp when a feathered bolt thudded into the ground in front of me. The sergeant cursed under his breath, then turned and looked back at the space where the bolt had originated from. “By Luna’s light, Constable Spry, put that thing down before you ‘urt somepony!” One of the crossbows quickly vanished behind the wall, and the Sergeant turned back to us. “Bloody newbies.” He complained, shaking his head.
I wasn’t eager to move again, after such a close call, but Sergeant Sidestep, apparently sensing my hesitation, reassured me.
“I promise you won’t be shot. Don’t be shy, now.”
Reluctantly, I made my way over to the trio of guards, stopping just short of them when the green unicorn held up his hoof.
“That’s close enough. Now, close your eyes, please.” He said, and I obediently did so. I could still see the red blurry heat signatures of the five ponies, so I could see one of the unicorns, possibly the purple one, walk over to me. Then I felt the blindfold slip over my head, and pull tightly , ensuring that it would not fall off.
“Well, now that that’s done, per’aps you’d like to follow us?” I heard Sidestep’s voice say. “Maybe you two could guide your friend there.” He said to Martial and Lucky.
“Oh, that’ss quite alright. I can find my own way.” I reassured.
“Well, if you say so.” The glowing red blurs moved along, and I followed behind them. Suddenly, they unexpectedly turned right. Lucky voiced the concerns that I was feeling.
“I say, where are we going? This seems rather out of the way!”
“That’s the idea. The last thing we need is to cause a panic, an’ parading a basilisk through the town for all and sundry to see will not help towards that goal. Mind your ‘ead, son.” The last part was directed at me, though I figured out this information a little too late.
“Oww!”
“I did warn you.”
Ducking lower and sliding along in a more snake-like manner, I continued to follow the blurs. As the bump on my head attested, we were now inside some manner of building, or maybe a corridor.
“Before we can let you do anything, the Captain would like a word with you three. This don‘t ‘appen often, but you’re a special case.”
“What’s he like? The Captain?” Inquired Martial. There was a chuckle, and then Sidestep answered. Or rather, didn’t.
“Good enough. ‘As to be. Anything else, you’ll find out soon.”
After that, we walked in silence, until the guards stopped. I heard the sound of a door opening, and then the guards turned to us.
“The Captain will see you now.”
Author's Note: Well! That took a while, didn't it? Really sorry about the wait, people, but I couldn't get on my brother's computer as often as I would have liked to write this chapter, which just worsened the waits caused by school related things. However, the next chapter shouldn't take as long, as I'm relatively certain about what I want to happen. I was going to put it in this chapter, but I felt that you had waited long enough. So, for now, enjoy this travel chapter!
And let's give a round of applause for the wondrous BrilliantPoint, my editor, without whom I would have taken a lot longer to write this chapter.
Poison Fangs and Scaly Tails
Chapter 1: Choices and Consequences
Before anything, allow me to ask something. Do you dream? I don't mean those brief little stories and and glimpses into your unconscious that we associate with sleeping, but proper dreaming. The kind of dreams that make your thoughts bubble and squirm, the kind of dreams that make light you up and keep you going with the terrifically exciting thought of their potential actualisation. Of course you do: Everyone does. Maybe you dream of love, or wealth, or getting a pet ostrich. For me, it was always the realm of fantasy that drove me. It was rare to find myself without thinking of some exotic land, or fantastic creature, or incredible scenario - I was obsessed with it, and this obsession was, at least in part, responsible for the events that would completely change my life, and myself, so dramatically.
You see, previously, "real life" just didn't cut it for me. I believe that to be because of how shockingly, remarkably, momentously ordinary that "real life" was to me, and that lack of motivation was starkly reflected in my schoolwork. I mean, when you can venture to a mystic land inside your head at any moment, Geography isn't really that enticing. My parents didn't really care, in keeping with their general apathy for, it seemed, anything that related to me. They weren't bad, just...well, not good. If that makes sense. They were always pretty busy with work, so I didn't really get to talk to them much.
But I return from this digression. You're probably wondering how exactly that came to be. Well, it all started, almost typically, on a dark and stormy...afternoon. In an internet cafe, in fact. And as for how I came to be in that cafe...
On, this particular miserable afternoon, I was walking home via my usual route. I slipped into the little side passage through the hedge at the back of the school, the trees above slightly sheltering me from the rain.
When I had walked the entire length of the natural path, I came out into the street just before my own. It was not a particularly busy street, despite being full of shops and cafes, though at that moment that may have been because of the rain that was still crashing down. I began to jog up down it, moving faster than I usually do, the cold droplets serving as an incentive for me to get home quickly.
'I'd better hurry up; this doesn't look like it will let up anytime soon.'
As if on cue, there came a great clap of thunder, and the downpour went from drenching to downright torrential. I sighed in exasperation, and decided to look around for somewhere to wait for the rain to stop. I heard a voice to my right.
"Hello, you there! I rather think that you should come in! That rain is looking frightful!" Shouted an older man standing in the entrance to a brightly lit internet café. The café was about half full, and definitely looked more inviting than the rain. I ducked inside, thanking the man, who closed the door behind me, and sat down in a seat near the door. I squished down on the table next to him, before being quickly accosted by someone who wished to know what I would like to order. Supposing that I could do with something to warm me up, I ordered a coffee.
I took in my surroundings while I waited for my caffeinated beverage. The café seemed quite nice, if a little plain. The paint was still bright and there was not a scribble of graffiti in sight, which was, in my part of town, practically miraculous, and hinted towards the establishment being opened rather recently. The computers, at which a variety of people tapped and clicked away rhythmically, from gamers playing MMORPGs, to teenagers that I could recognise from my school who were busy chatting on social network sites. In the corner sat a lone man wearing a business suit, glaring sullenly at something on his laptop.
As I looked around, a voice from my right spoke to me. "Looking bad out there. I think you made the right choice."
Turning to face the guy who spoke, I could see that it was the man who had opened the door for me. He was fairly old, I would have guessed around fifty, and was attired in a grey suit with a white tie, with heterochromatic eyes of blue and hazel framed by a pair of thin spectacles. I could see that he was also wearing sunglasses on the back of his head and a bow tie on the back of his neck, but for some reason that I cannot recall, I didn't think to question it.
I looked through the window, and the rain was even worse than before, the droplets converging into mini rivers that flowed into the drains. In the distance, a lightning bolt flashed. "Yeah, I guess I did." I agreed.
"My name is Sunaj, by the way." He offered.
'Weird name' I thought. "Nice name." I chose to say.
He grinned, "I've always thought so."
"I'm Daniel." He gave his name, after all. He nodded at this, and looked thoughtfully at me. It was quite an unnerving experience, gazing into those glittering eyes, and I was near transfixed by them.
"So, Daniel. I understand that you're a person who's rather...dissatisfied? Is that correct?" Sunaj asked me, still looking into my eyes. I found myself nodding.
He asked another question. "Tell me, do you think about getting out of here going somewhere a little more, ah...exciting?" He inquired neutrally, sipping his own caffeinated beverage.
"Y...yes, actually. Sometimes." I answered.
"Ah, very good! A fresh chance to be something different, yes? Be someone important, do something great, perhaps?"
This was getting to be an odd conversation with an even odder individual, but he seemed fairly benign, so I played along.
"Well, I suppose I feel a little bored here, mostly. Like, I just wish I'd been born somewhere else, as something or someone other than who I am now..."
He gave a sympathetic inclination of the head "Yes, I believe many people feel like that, especially at your young age. Still, you're young enough that it's not too late! You could still change your destiny, you know. Keep your eyes open, and recognise when you have the choice to change your life."
Plucking up the nerve, I asked him: "Why are you asking me this?" His gaze locked onto to mine, and his demeanour turned serious, at odds with the amused persona he had been wearing previously.
"Because choices..." He answered. "Are important. People have died and empires have crumbled because of them. And you will have to make many choices, soon."
"Um...what? What are you talking about?" I asked in bewilderment. This
The strange man raised an auburn eyebrow, and returned to being relaxed as he was before. "Why, the game! Many people are joining, right this second. And I've chosen you to be my piece. It's quite an honour, but I suppose you won't see it that way... Oh, don't worry. Relax. You may enjoy it! Or you may not. It depends, really."
All this rambling was making me rather nervous; this conversation was definitely not normal. So I began to edge away from him. The rain wasn't looking that bad, now.
"Riiiight. Anyway, I don't think that I'll be playing this game, actually. I'll just go home and-"
"I'm afraid not." The man calling himself Sunaj proclaimed, standing up from his chair. He was back in serious mode. "You have made your choice." To my horror, his head, along with the bow tie on the back of his neck, twisted unnaturally around until the back of his head faced me, revealing…
Another face. This one without glasses, and the eye colours switched around, bearing a regal expression.
I was, to be frank, a little perturbed by now, but the other patrons didn't seem to notice anything, continuing to click away merrily. The other face of Sunaj began to speak.
"You will be my piece in this game. It is decided. Do you have any questions before we begin?"
I was too busy screaming incoherently and attempting to open the suddenly locked café door to really come up with anything too interesting, but I managed to screech out:
"Why me, why me, why me, oh my god?!"
His expression softened. "It is not I who has chosen you, Daniel, but you who has chosen this. And you know why. This is your chance! Your new beginning, your portal to the life of excitement that you have dreamed of. Walk through, and remember: Everything begins with a choice." He extended his arm towards me, palm glowing with power.
"And the game begins...now."
There was a flash of hazel and blue, a shockingly high pitched squeal that could only have come from me, and then I blacked out.
I awoke sometime after. I don't know how long I was out, as when I opened my eyes I was greeted with naught but darkness.
I believe that it was around this point where I started to notice that things were very, very wrong. Well, wronger
I couldn't move my limbs. It wasn't just that I couldn't feel them, but I could somehow tell that four things that had been very important to me the whole of my previous life, were no longer accessible.
Understandably, I was quite distressed.
'Oh sugar. Oh sugar this is it I'm dead I'm so dead. They're gonna find me lying here in some nutjob's basement and there's nothing I can do about it.'
Eventually, however, once I'd moved somewhat past the panicked thoughts and pathetic sobbing, (Okay, the former, at least.) I managed to pull myself together somewhat. I knew that I had to try and get free, and get out of wherever I was.
I thought of attempting to rock my body around to move. However, I noticed as I was thrashing and squirming that I seemed oddly…flexible. I could bend in directions that I didn’t know were possible.
This, I'm sure I need not tell you, was a very strange experience. And now that I was coherent, I could feel that I was...longer, as if I'd suddenly grown several feet. Deciding to test the upper limits of my new-found flexibility, in order to gain at least some semblance of mobility, I tried raising myself up like I was performing some kind of reverse sit-up.
To my growing unease, it worked. I was able to support myself in this wholly unnatural position - and it felt natural.
My head carried more weight than before, additionally. My tongue felt different, and my teeth felt...sharper. And longer...almost like....
I needed to see what had happened. I wriggled around in a useless panic for a bit, before getting the hang of a sort of frantic slithering motion to move around.
I moved forwards, and bumped my head on a solid surface. My tongue flicked in surprise, and I could feel that it was rock. The place smelt damp, and full of dust and earth.
Suddenly I realised what I had just done. 'My...tongue. I just smelled things...with my tongue!'
That was the last straw. I rushed around, slamming into a few more walls in a frenzy to escape the claustrophobic confines of the cave, before I finally saw light. I hurried towards it, wishing to be anywhere else.
I burst into the sunshine, flinching at the sharp change in light level. My tongue flicked again, and I could sense that there was water nearby. I headed towards it as quickly as my new mode of locomotion could allow. Finally I reached a small clearing, with a stream filled with clear water flowing through the centre. I moved straight towards it, and after reaching it, peered at the glittering surface.
Red eyes with slits for pupils. A narrow head filled with wickedly sharp fangs. A long, thin body covered in scales painted a sickly acid yellow. I ran through several possibilities, trying to convince myself that what I was seeing wasn't true, couldn't be true. But there was no mistaking it.
There, leering back at me through the depths of the water, was a snake.
I don't know how long I stayed there, just staring dumbly at my reflection. I was taking in the appearance of my new, reptilian body. There were black ridges all along my scaly yellow spine, not spikes, just...protrusions. The weirdest thing about my new self was a weird crown shaped...crest, I suppose you'd call it. I couldn't think of any snake that had anything like that. Then again, distressed as I was, I could think much of anything.
I was forced out of my shock by a loud rustling noise to the left of me. I moved up slowly, and looked around for the source of the sound. There was a flash of movement, and I turned to track it with reflexes I didn't know I had. There, behind a gently rustling bush, was a red glow shaped suspiciously like a lion.
Moments after I had made this association, the beast leapt from its hiding place with a roar, landing in front of me. It was big, bigger than any normal lion had a right to be. It was then that it snarled and raised a segmented, cuticle-covered tail, the stinger at the end dripping with venom. 'Manticore', my mind told me, remembering the description from books that I had read. The seconds seemed like minutes as we stood there, the eyes of the Manticore filled with predatory intent.
Then it collapsed onto the ground, twitching. I stood (or whatever) there in confusion for a while. Before gingerly moving my tail to the prone creature and prodding it firmly. No response.
Well, it was as dead as it was going to be. The question was: What killed it? As I pondered this, I felt a pang of hunger from my stomach. I looked down at the corpse in front of me. It's glassy, unseeing eyes looked up at me.
'Oh no. No way. No *way*. I'm not eating that, stomach, don't even think about it.'
I was hungry, of course. But not hungry enough to warrant eating a half lion half scorpion...abomination However, food was a concern. I didn't even know what I was able to eat, or what I was supposed to eat. I was pretty that snakes weren't vegetarians, but that was it. And I didn't relish the prospect of swallowing some creature whole...
And so, I put my hunger to one side for now. I was still thirsty, so after a quick drink at the spring, I decided to explore my surroundings - very cautiously, I couldn't expect whatever had happened with the Manticore to happen again.
Eventually I spotted a bird, perched on a branch, surrounded by that strange red glow that seemed to follow all creatures here. It was being careful, looking warily from side to side. Moving slowly so as not to startle it, I started to stare at it. It continued to preen it's feathers, and do lots of things that weren't dying. Just as I was starting to feel foolish for even trying this, I, being unused to my new body, involuntarily flicked my tail, snapping a twig. Immediately, the avian turned in my direction, and I saw into it's brown eyes.
It uttered a shrill shriek, and fell lifelessly to the forest floor.
'Um...do I really look that horrible? What is going on here?' This was all too much to think about now. I mean, I know that I had longed for something different, but I didn't mean for it to be this different!
'Okay, it's fine. Calm down, you've been through worse, Daniel.
Well, no you haven't. Still, keep calm and carry on, and all that jazz, right? First, I should find civilisation. I don't know how people-' Suddenly, I remembered something.
So, I began to move through the forest, trying to find an exit of some sort. Now that I was calmer, the forest was looking rather…creepy. It was dark; the only light being from the cracks in the canopy above, and I kept seeing eyes glinting through the corner of my vision, and what sounded like whispers whistled through the leaves. However, I assume that my now imposing appearance kept the dangerous creatures and monsters at bay. In the distance somewhere, I could hear what sounded forebodingly like a roar....
i]’ I thought to myself as I gingerly moved around a rather sinister looking tree. I was getting better at moving around by now, and could move at a reasonable pace. My tongue, which kept flicking in and out of my mouth seemingly automatically, told me that this place smelled of damp, mud, and another scent which I couldn’t quite put my metaphorical finger on. After some time of tension filled travelling, I could faintly see light ahead. Praying that it wasn’t just another clearing, I slithered with all my haste towards it.
As I neared what appeared to be the edge of the forest, I could hear shouts, and something that sounded like growling. I began to smell the pungent aroma, of wet dog.
Making myself as flat as possible, I snaked through the grass towards the source of the noise and scent. When I got close to it, I could see shapes with my handy red aura vision thing. I could also make out voices, so I listened quietly, to try and figure out what was happening.
"I say! Let me go, I say! Princess Celestia won't be best pleased with this, you know!" Shouted an agitated male voice. It was answered by another voice, high pitched and snarling.
"Quiet, pony! You will come with us, and you will work the mines. Pull the carts and dig the gems, yes..." This voice was...familiar.
"We'll never work for you! Release us!" Shouted a strong voice, gruffer than the first.
"You have no choice." Replied the second voice, before chuckling darkly. I realised what they were. Diamond dogs. Slaver diamond dogs, from what I was hearing.
'Slavery. Damn, that's never good. Should I save them? Wait, of course! What better way to show that I mean no harm than to save some ponies from a life of slavery! I could be an unlikely hero!'
With my mind made up, I sneaked as close as I could to the nearest bipedal shape that I could see.
"The big one can pull the old heavy cart." He was saying. "The one with wings can dig!"
"What?!" The higher, more anxious voice protested. "I'm afraid that I really must protest! I can't be doing any digging! I'm a merchant, not a miner!"
"Not any-more!" The diamond dog cackled. That seemed as good a cue as any. I leapt towards the shape, bursting from the undergrowth. The dog turned at the noise, before I collided with him clumsily head first, mouth open wide. At first, it seemed like my inexperienced attack had achieved nothing, but then the dog started to scream, and I could see his shoulder bubble and smoke. One of my fangs had scraped him, and apparently my venom was rather potent. I could see a blue unicorn struggling to break free of a net that one of the diamond dogs had apparently trapped him in. The other dogs were looking on in shock, but they soon got over that. One of them was holding a pegasus in his grip, whom he threw aside and tossed a net over my head, but the venom still dripping from my fangs burned through it, releasing me. I turned to stare into the eyes of the diamond dog that had thrown the net, and he clutched his chest and died as his gaze met mine.
But then I felt a sharp pain in my tail, and whipped round to see what had caused it. However, as I did this, my tail collided with the dog that had stabbed a spear through my tail. He landed next to a sturdily built blue unicorn, who stomped on the dog’s throat, crushing his windpipe, leaving him to die a choking death. I turned back, and saw that there were two dogs left, or three counting the envenomed one writhing around on the ground. I rose up, unconsciously hissing in fear. The spear wound I had received burned, and had reminded me of the very real danger that I was in. Then, the diamond dog to the right, who was wearing light chain armour and appeared to have no weapons, threw a glass vial at my face. I closed my eyes automatically as the glass shattered on my scales, not penetrating them. A cloud of yellow gas emerged from the broken glass, and the dog howled victoriously.
After a few seconds, they realised that it wasn't doing anything. So I tried to stare into the eyes of the vial throwing dog, but he quickly averted his gaze. He had learnt from the last dog. Suddenly, a sword sprouted from his chest, encased in a sapphire aura. Taking the initiative, I dove onto the last dog and bit into him. I quickly moved backwards and out of reach of his mad flailing as he began to scream in pain from the burning venom coursing through his veins. I shuddered at the sight of his agony. Slaver or not, that looked a horrible way to die.
With all the dogs dead, I turned to the two would-be slaves, deliberately avoiding looking at their eyes. The blue unicorn from before was to my right, with a broken net on the ground next to him. He had a green mane styled in a very plain, functional haircut. He was big, almost as big, I would guess, as Big Macintosh.
The higher voice that I had heard belonged to a pegasus, also male, with an indigo coat and an untidy dark green mane. He was thinly built, and did not look like a fighter.
The unicorn had his head lowered defensively, in front of the shivering pegasus.
"Stay back, creature." Ordered the imposing blue unicorn. "Lucky, do not look into its eyes. Basilisks can kill with a single look."
I opened my mouth, and attempted to speak to the pair. But my mouth was very different to what I was used to, and all that came out was strangled hiss. 'That wasn’t right. Talking is different in this body, as well? And that unicorn probably won’t take me hissing at him too well…'
Without warning, the unicorn lunged towards me, sword held towards me in his telekinetic grip. Startled, I flinched backwards, narrowly avoiding another cut. I tried to speak again.
"Wi..wait..." More intelligible than my last attempt, but still not recognisable enough. The sword came down again, inflicting a glancing blow on the side of my head.
"Ssssstop!” I screeched at last, the "s" sound coming easier to me.
The unicorn ceased his attack in surprised, but held his sword in a defensive stance. "Lucky, did you hear what I just heard?" He whispered to the pegasus behind him, who peered at me with curiosity.
"I think it just...spoke?" Taking this as a chance to continue, I spoke again.
"I mean...no harm." I managed to say. The duo looked taken aback, but the unicorn didn't change his posture.
"You certainly meant them harm." He said, gesturing to the fallen dogs with a hoof. And forgive me, but basilisks aren't known for their kindness."
"I sssaw...ssslavers. Wanted to...help. I mean you...no harm!" I insisted.
The pegasus spoke up from behind the large blue stallion in front of me."D-do you absolutely swear that you will do nothing to harm us?" He asked hesitantly.
"Lucky!" The unicorn shouted in annoyance.
"Well, it did kill our captors! I for one am certainly glad to not be spending the rest of my life shovelling dirt and pulling rocks. Perhaps we could give it a chance to talk?" The pegasus, apparently called Lucky, persuaded.
The unicorn hesitated, then groaned. "Fine." He relented. "A chance. But if you try anything, basilisk, I swear I will gut you with your own fangs!"
I gulped nervously, and asked a few important things: "Who...are you?"
Lucky gestured to himself. "My name is Lucky Silver." He pointed a wing towards the gruff unicorn. "This is Martial Prowess, my cousin. Do you have a name?"
"Call me...Daniel." "Where are you...going?"
This time Martial answered me. "We're heading to Trottingham. My cousin wants to try and set up shop there, and I usually come with him. Celestia knows what kind of trouble he'd get himself into if I didn't..."
"I swear that this is it! This will be the town that will enable me to successfully start a business! And we won't have to search around anymore."
"I hope you're right, Lucky. I'm getting tired of moving from position to position all the time."
"I ssssee." 'Okay, the big question.' "Uh. I wassss wondering...could I...come with you?" As he opened his mouth to object, I spoke quickly.
"I know...you don't trussst me. I wouldn't either. I am a giant venomous sssnake! But I ssswear, I jusssst want to help! And I will find a way to...make it up to you! I don't want to have to live in a foresssst!"
"Really? A basilisk wants to be a part of the community? Hmm..." Silver pulled his cousin to the side. "Martial, think about this. A talking basilisk. And if what he says is true, he wants to help us! Basilisk venom is very valuable! Just think of the opportunities! We could be famous! We could be...." His eyes shone. "Rich! Oh, do let’s allow him stay, cousin!"
There were a few tense moments, during which both Lucky and I both waited anxiously.
Finally, Martial sighed in defeat. "You know what? Fine! Why not! Why not travel with a horribly dangerous snake! It'll be fine." He glared at me. "But I'll be watching you."
'Yes! There's hope! I won't have to stay in the forest!'
"Thank you...very much I will...repay you!" I said happily.
Lucky Silver spoke up again. "You know, Princess Celestia herself may want to hear about this. A talking basilisk! Oh, this is fantastic! The opportunities! We could meet the Princesses! Oh, how grand that would be! Say, Daniel, you said your name was? Would you at all object to the taking of one or two of your scales? It’s just that Basilisk scales are very much coveted among collectors of rare items, you see, and there is a great deal of money to be made-"
"We can discuss this later, Lucky." Said Martial firmly, cutting him off from his rant, which I was rather relieved about; the greedy glimmer in his eyes was starting to worry me. "Now, we need to get moving if we are to reach Trottingham by morning. So shall we?"
Lucky nodded. "Of course! Just let me get my cart, and we can be off." He trotted over to a wooden cart filled with assorted merchandise, and started to pull it.
"Right! Let's go! Trottingham awaits!"
I started to move, but winced as I felt the wound given to me by the diamond dog shoot spears of pain through my tail. "Ow..."
"What is it now?" Asked Martial. I gestured with my head to the stab wound.
"One of the dogs...hit me with a sssspear." The blue unicorn looked to where I had gestured, but didn’t come any closer. The wound was still bleeding, and wherever the blood fell, the grass turned blackened and dead.
"Hmm." Martial muttered disapprovingly. He turned to his cousin. "Lucky, can you get the bandages from the first aid box?" The pegasus nodded and scrambled into the cart, emerging a few seconds later clutching a box in his mouth, which flew out of his mouth in a blue glow. Martial took the bandages and wrapped them around the bleeding wound.
"There. That should help, at least until we reach town. Then you should probably find some proper medical care." He said when he was done. "Though I'm not sure who would be willing to treat a basilisk..." He added under his breath.
"Are we done? Good! In that case..." Lucky took up his cart once more. "Trottingham still awaits!"
'Well, the future's looking better, at least! Still, I wonder what will happen when I get to Trottingham...' Pushing doubts aside and placing excitement to the forefront, I took my very first footsteps on my adventures in Equestria.
...Metaphorically, that is.
