“Ugh… Where in the Dragon Mother’s name am I?”

That was the first thought that came to her mind once she awoke.

Her body sore, the lavender scaled dragoness picked herself up off the ground, and held up a claw. Razor sharp to a point, looking quite able to render a beast of any sort limb from limb. “Actually, for that matter, who am I?”

She knew she was a dragoness, that much was clear. Vague flashes of memories erupted from an otherwise dizzied mind. Clashes of steel, clashes of claws. Roars of pain, and a plume of hot red broiling flame. Piercing eyes, staring into a soul and the dragoness’ body quivered in fear. Those eyes, they felt so evil, belonging to something beyond her mind’s ability to depict.

Twilight Sparkle. That name came to her mind in a growling tone. She knew, in an instance that was her name. It fit her like a glove, it felt so warm and so right.

“Okay, so I know my name,” the newly coronated Twilight Sparkle mused, vague flashes of the finest gold and the finest jewelry entering her mind for only the briefest of moments. “The question is now, how did I get here?”

Spreading her wings, she noticed each was tipped in one razor sharp talon before she winced out in pain having to fight back a scream. “Okay, so flight’s out of the question… for now at least.” Twilight surmised taking a survey of her surroundings. Cold, damp. That was the only way to describe it, Twilight thought to herself as the dragoness continued to walk forwards slowly trudging through the wet grass beneath her claws.

More flashes came. Mountain caves, with other dragons of every size, shape, and description peeking out of them. Home, somehow she knew wherever that was it was home.

A small log stood in her way, bioluminescent fungi glowing a teal green. Foxfire, that’s what it was called. It was a calming sight really, letting her know that in this fog at least something could guide her way, as beyond her she could see small glows of illuminations from various other fungi in the thick beyond her. Following the small lights Twilight broke out into a sprint, her long and lean body -almost cat-like in some ways, if asked Twilight would later compare it to a panther or something of the kind- scything through the fog like a blade.

Twilight wanted to scream, this fog even with the help of the foxfire helping her guide her way through it was a real pain in the scales. A warm sensation began to build up inside her, and somehow knowing what to do Twilight continued to let it build until finally, it burst out of her like a tidal wave. A warm stream of hot flame cut through the thicket clearing a path and finally Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Well, I am a dragon so it must have been natural to assume I could breathe fire if I needed in some circumstance…” she reasoned.

She remembered again, those piercing eyes and that breath of hot flame. She could almost feel the searing heat as it scorched her body.

She shuddered, it was best not to dwell on such thoughts. She wanted to believe it a nightmare, but she knew better. Something told her, whatever made those flames… It was responsible for her current predicament, Spurred onwards, Twilight continued to run as she now saw this same collection of mountainsides and passes engulfed in the fire and the flame dragons crying out in pain and fear for someone to save them. But nobody did.

Again, a shudder. Twilight knew she must never let that vision come to pass. She had to get home… somehow. Wherever home was.

It was a fool’s errand really, absolute folly! She didn’t even know where home was, or where she even was for that matter so how could she possibly find her way there? But she knew she had to keep on trying. She was urged onwards by this inexplicable force, continuously cutting through the fog with her flame blasts and continuously running until she screeched to a halt, as she heard the rushing of wind hit her face like a torrent.

She looked downwards, and waves crashed up against the rocks below smashing and battering them with all of their might and their force. As the fog finally began to clear, Twilight saw other islands beyond her own. Rocky crags peaking out in the distance, rising above a seemingly endless sea. It was enough to make one want to shudder, turn and run away back home. But Twilight couldn’t, not while she had a home to get to, beyond these lands of mystery. Letting out a deep guttural shriek, and tilted her head skywards in a challenge to whatever lay beyond her.

“Bring it on.” Twilight thought with narrowed purple eyes, her dark purple spines rippling and raising themselves. Nothing was going to stop her on her journey, not wind, not rain, and certainly not this endless sea. Beyond the horizon, there seemed to be nothing. No islands, no anything of the kind. But Twilight knew that was very well impossible. After all, everywhere led to somewhere. Even out here, in the middle of nowhere at the seeming ends of the earth, there was something just out there, lurking out of sight. Something else out there for her to see, and something else out there to help her find her way home.

When she healed, she would set off first thing in the morning. She’d follow the sun, she’d follow the stars. The oldest flyer’s and maritime compass that ever existed, and still the most reliable. For generations, she knew, sailors and the like had used the celestial bodies that lay in the sky above them as their guide, and if Twilight could just remember her constellations correctly perhaps she too could use them as her map. Now though, exhaustion began to overtake her. Now though, she needed to sleep.

Softly closing her eyes, Twilight let the realm of dreams overtake her.

Twilight drifted in and out of the realm of sleep for the next few days, almost restless in a way. It was unnatural for a dragon to stay out in the open, this defenseless for this long she knew that much. She’d found a cave, seemingly unoccupied and had taken up residence in it. If it belonged to somebody, they probably wouldn’t mind. And if they did… Well, Twilight deeply suspected a bearing of her fangs and claws and a quick blast of flame would scare them off.

Nobody wanted to risk becoming torched idiot for messing with something that belonged, and emphasis on belonged to a dragon. It just wasn’t wise. It was practically a planned suicide, depending on the dragon in question and how large they were.

Still, Twilight wasn’t healing as fast as she would have liked. While she could now move her injured wing without letting out a scream of pain or anything of the like, she still wasn’t quite sure she was ready to risk flying yet. Trouble was, she still had more recurring visions of that series of mountains engulfed in flame. She couldn’t wait on her body to heal, the time to move was now!

Some would have called her crazy she suspected, but she had no choice. It never should have even been a question. Taking a running sprint, she threw caution to the wind and spread her wings. If she flew, she flew. If she didn’t she didn’t. If she crashed on the rocky spikes below her, well she could say she died trying to do something.

A gust of wind, an updraft picked her up and she was thrown upwards and she let out a cry of triumph. Gliding between small isles, Twilight briefly flapped her wings once just to give herself some more airtime before she let out a cry of pain as her wings seized up and she at once grabbed onto the nearest ground she could find, tumbling through some woodland and smashing through a boulder her scales taking most of the brunt of the blow.

Bleeding slightly, and groaning out in pain once more, Twilight picked herself up off the ground once more. She was better off than when she started she supposed. After all, she’d covered some distance no matter how small.

“If you don’t succeed, try try again.” a warm motherly voice said to Twilight, another flash of memory hitting her. A white-scaled dragon, with a motherly gaze. Twilight, for whatever reason, let a small tear slip from her eyes at the memory before wiping it away. No, she was a dragon and dragons didn’t cry. That was reserved for the weaker species, and if Twilight was anything she certainly not was weak.

Turning her gaze towards the early afternoon sun, she sighed. Looks like these islands weren’t through with her yet. Twilight then smiled. She welcomed the challenge.

Author's Note

Okay, yes, getting ambitious here... But, I wanted to do this. Seemed like great fun. That and I love dragons and epic adventure stories.