Wings of Dawn

With a frustrated groan and several angry sounding words that were probably very vulgar, Dawn Wings spat out the mouth-pen she’d been writing with and slammed her head down onto her desk, smearing the Equish letters across her face.

Twilight slowly lowered her pointer and considered her student for a moment.

“I think she’s had enough Twi.” Spike said from across the room as he tossed an amethyst shard into his mouth.

“Probably.” Twilight said as Dawn Wings continued to pointedly not lift her head from the desk.

“Definitely Twilight. The word you’re looking for is ‘definitely’.” Spike replied as he noisily chewed his snack. “You’ve had her at this for almost four hours straight. I’m not sure what’s more impressive: you going on for that long, or her actually trying to stick it out.”

“It couldn’t have been that long!” Twilight protested.

Spike simply pointed to the wall clock, taking no small amount of satisfaction in Twilight’s shocked expression.

“Okay, maybe it could.” She muttered with a light chuckle. Looking back over at Dawn Wings, she noticed that the pegasus hadn’t moved since slamming her face down onto the table. In fact, the only sign that she wasn’t asleep was an occasional low groan that escaped her throat. “Guess I went a little overboard.”

“A little?”

“Fine. More than a little.” Twilight muttered as she looked back to the clock. “This is probably a good enough place to stop.” Pausing, another thought came to her, as she considered the clock for a few moments longer. “Actually, I better get her to AJ’s. I bet she’s wondering where we are.”

Breaking into a trot, Twilight made her way towards Dawn Wings. As she approached, one of Dawn Wings’ eyes snapped open and fixed Twilight with the same scathing, icy look that she’d had when she’d first shown up that morning, followed by a sound from deep in her throat that was a mixture of a low hiss and a growl. Twilight paused and took a step back, more than a little unnerved by the combination of cold fury in the pegasus’s eyes and the strange, hostile, and very un-ponylike sound she just made.

Steeling herself, Twilight stepped forward and met Dawn Wing’s eye before pointing to herself, then to the pegasus, towards the door, made a couple of small circles with her hoof, and then closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side as though she were sleeping, hoping that she conveyed the message that she was taking Dawn Wings to where she was staying.

Dawn Wings stared at her impassively for what felt like an eternity. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, peeled her face from the tabletop and turned to look directly at Twilight. With a huff, she rose to her hooves and nodded.

As she did, Twilight put a hoof up to her mouth to suppress a giggle, prompting Dawn Wings to narrow her eyes menacingly. Calling upon her magic, Twilight summoned a hand mirror from the bathroom, which she put up to show Dawn Wings her reflection.

Dawn Wings took one look at her reflection before her face relaxed into a bemused smirk as a light chuckle escaped her throat. There was black ink was smeared across most of the upper part of her muzzle and face, staining her fur nearly the same shade as her mane, and making her look like she was wearing some sort of mask.

Twilight smiled and pointed to Dawn Wings before gesturing for her to follow as she trotted towards the bathroom. Once both mares were inside, Twilight lit her horn, and t.k.ed open the cabinet before summoning a second t.k. field and snatching up a bottle of shampoo and a towel. Levitating the container over to Dawn Wings, she wagged the bottle of soap in front of the pegasus, then pointed to the shower.

Taking the hint, Dawn Wings snatched the bottle with her teeth and nodded as she made her way over to the tub. With a satisfied nod, Twilight draped the towel over the towel-hook on the door before she turned away and exited, leaving Dawn Wings to clean herself up.

*****

Dawn Wings glared down at the bottle of what she hoped was some form of soap clenched in her teeth, before slowly making her way towards the tub. She had to admit, the fact she smeared ink all over herself in her frustration was actually pretty funny. But it also meant she had to clean herself up before she went to formally meet the apple farmers. “First impressions” and all that crap.

Setting the bottle down on the edge of the tub, she regarded the knobs for a moment before sighing. Like many of the things the ponies made, they bore an uncanny resemblance to those made by the humans. Which, in a vacuum, might not have been that big a deal. But, in her current circumstances, her lack of hands to turn the damn thing on was a serious barrier to actually making use of the shower.

Looking over to the sink, she saw that her options there were similarly limited.

Either the ponies had some way to operate the devices without fingers, or both spigots were operated by telekinesis. With how casually she’d seen the unicorns flaunt their magick, she had a feeling it was the latter.

Grumbling to herself, she found the humor of her predicament swiftly draining out, and replaced by annoyance. Of course, she had a way to get around the problem. She was just reluctant to do it, because if she did, she’d risk the unicorn coming back and seeing her do it. Even if she and the lizard were in on her secret, she didn't want them seeing her change forms if she could help it. Princess Strawberry Smoothie's reaction was clue enough that such a thing wouldn't go well.

Glancing towards the door, she spotted what she hoped was a lock-button on the knob. Trotting over, she pressed it in with a hoof, satisfied to hear a soft click as the lock engaged. It was something at least.

Now assured of some manner of privacy, she turned her attention back to the matter of the shower. With a moment of concentration, she called forth the change. Instead of allowing the change to wash over her entire body, she focused her will on limiting the transformation to her forelegs and hooves. Doing this sort of limited transformation was not simple, but she didn’t want to go full crinos and not be able to fit into the shower stall. And as tricky as it was, she was more than experienced enough with the process that it barely took more than a little extra focus to limit the change.

Flesh began to warp and reform itself as the change spread down her limbs, her hoof shrinking and being joined by new digits formed from her body like wet clay being molded and pulled by an invisible force. Within moments, her two forelegs had transformed into a pair of feathery wings bearing taloned, tri-dactyl hands at the wrists.

Reaching up, Dawn Wings grasped a knob and turned on the water, hoping that she had chosen the cold-water. She never really liked warm-water. It just felt wrong to her somehow. As the pleasantly chilly liquid began to flow from the showerhead, she stepped into the stall and sat down in the stream before popping open the bottle with a talon. Once she poured a generous amount of the soap onto her upturned palm, she began to scrub her fur clean of ink.

*****

Several minutes later, Dawn Wings emerged from bathroom, her fur now mostly clean of ink. Beyond scrubbing her face, she’d washed her entire body as well, and done her best to make herself look presentable. After she’d finished her shower and dried herself off, she’d taken some time to brush her unruly mane and tail into something a little bit neater. While she probably wouldn’t be presentable enough to attend any high-society functions, she had at least cleaned up enough to look and smell like she didn’t just come from two months of roughing it in the woods.

While she might not care too much about such things, she had a feeling that the ponies might.

Descending the stairs, she spotted the unicorn, whose name she’d determined was properly pronounced Vinemana Vishicta, and lizard-boy, Tlectalae, lounging in the main foyer of the library, the former with her face in a large tomb, while the latter was engrossed in what looked a comic-book of some sort. At the sight of the latter, Dawn Wings could only shake her head and sigh.

‘Just one more parallel with the monkeys.’ She thought as she continued her descent.

As she approached, both of the library’s occupants heard her hooffalls and looked up from the books they were reading. At the sight of her, the unicorn smiled warmly and stood up before trotting over, while the lizard-boy only briefly regarded her before turning his attention back to his comic. As the unicorn approached, she gave Dawn Wings an appraising look, probably to inspect how well she’d cleaned herself up. From the small, swift nod she made, Dawn Wings figured the unicorn was satisfied with the pegasus’s appearance.

Slowly flicking her head towards the door a couple of times, the unicorn turned towards the lizard-boy.

“Lora vitima Tlectalae.” She said.

“Naletha marali tashacata ve moha.” He said in response, before grumpily putting down the comic and rising to follow the unicorn as she made her way towards the door.

Rolling her eyes at the display, Dawn Wings trotted after the pair, happy that, even if she couldn’t understand them yet, she at least was starting to hear the words a little more clearly.

*****

All around her, the town was beginning to wind down for the day as shops began to close up and ponies headed home. Dawn Wings trotted a few paces behind her guides as they made their way through town, the lizard having hopped up onto the unicorn’s back soon after they left the unicorn’s tree. Their pace was casual and easy, and the two of them chatted with each other as they walked. Dawn Wings, for her part, was content to simply follow behind and watch the town start to make ready to bed down for the night.

The sun had begun to set, filling the sky with an explosion of beautiful color. Even if she knew that it was just a trick of the atmosphere, the sight of Bridgid giving this part of the world one last display of beauty before moving on to warm another spot with her life-giving light filled the corax with a comfortable sense of peace. Taking a deep and contented breath before letting out a happy sigh, Dawn Wings soaked up the ambience of the display.

Looking back to her companions, she saw they were staring at her, both of them wearing confused looks. Gesturing with her hoof, Dawn Wings pointed to the horizon.

“What? It’s a beautiful sunset. Can’t I enjoy it?” She said, taking a small bit of satisfaction at their obvious confusion over her words. It might have been a little mean spirited of her, but she still got a kick out of just how the ponies reacted to English. Suppressing a chuckle, she wondered just how much she could really mess with them by mixing in some Spanish, Chinese or Kawaiisu.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the three of them, before the unicorn simply shrugged and continued on her way, with Dawn Wings turning to follow. Dawn Wings had to admit, the town had an almost delightfully quaint feeling to it. As far as towns went, it wasn’t that bad…

All tranquil thoughts flew out of her mind as a familiar chill ran up her spine to the nape of her neck. A fraction of a second later, spiritual energy bloomed from her body as she sent out a pulse of her threat detection gift. To her dismay, she sensed three very close by, one ahead and two behind.

‘Not good.’ She thought as she continued to walk, controlling her body language to not let their stalkers know they’d been found out. Though she didn’t have any proof, she had a feeling that the threats might be ticks. She hoped that they were just tailing her guide, and not planning to make a move.

Looking at the unicorn and lizard, Dawn Wings found herself weighing her options. Abandoning them was the first that came to mind, but not one she liked. Outside of the repercussions of leaving Celestia’s protégé to her fate, the thought of leaving them to fend for themselves didn’t sit right with her. Sure, the unicorn hadn’t exactly made a good first impression, but Dawn Wings was rapidly coming to terms with the fact that she wasn’t a bad person, for a mage. A little annoying, over zealous, and a touch insensitive? Sure. But that didn’t mean Dawn Wings wanted to see her get hurt.

Warning them also wasn’t an option. She couldn’t exactly tell them that they were being tailed, and she doubted there was any way she could use body language to subtly warn them. After all, they weren’t corax. Even if she could tip them off to the threat, she had no idea how they would react. She was confident in her own ability to keep cool under duress, but both the unicorn and lizard were an unknown quantity. Even if they didn’t freak out, the unicorn’s body language would potentially change enough to alert the ticks they’d been had. And that could put an uncomfortable spotlight on her, because it would be obvious that she was the one who tipped the other pony off. And that would raise questions of how she knew. And if there was one thing that creatures who tried to keep themselves incognito hated, it was someone being able to sniff them out.

And fighting was probably her least favorite choice. She had no idea what these ticks were capable of, and the prospect of having to reveal her crinos form not only to the unicorn, but the ticks as well, was not one she liked at all. If she wanted to stay incognito, any connection between her and her alternate shapes had to be kept on the down low. And short of making sure she killed all of the ticks that were following them, she couldn’t be sure one of them wouldn’t get away and tell the others about what she could do. Even if she fell back, shifted into crinos, and returned, it still didn’t guarantee that she’d get all of the ticks. And even if the unicorn was in on the secret and knew about her war form, she didn't want to deal with a potential freak-out.

Her thoughts a whirlwind, she was at least thankful that they were currently on one of the main routes through town, and that there were still plenty of other ponies around. If the ticks were anything like the leaches back home, they’d try to avoid drawing any attention to themselves.

That didn’t alleviate her concerns for what would happen once they approached the farm and had fewer potential witnesses.

*****

The sun had nearly set when they crossed from the edge of town and road opened up to reveal the vast orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Looking about, Dawn Wings was once again impressed by the sheer magnitude of the entire operation, especially since she’d never seen anyone but the Apple family tending to it. How three ponies managed to harvest, process and distribute so many apples before they went bad on the trees was simply incomprehensible, even with what she’d seen they were capable of.

The more she tried to apply Gaian logic to this place, the less sense it made.

Even with the momentary distraction, she was still keenly aware of the looming threat of the nearby ticks. They’d kept their distance the entire time her little group was making its way towards the farm, but now that they were clear of town, she could feel them starting to close in a little.

Thankfully, they reached the front gate of the farm without incident, and made their way towards the barn-house. Much to her relief, the ticks didn’t follow them onto the property, instead remaining in the cover of the outskirts of town. Dawn Wings inwardly sighed. But, it still begged the question, would they try something when the unicorn went home? She furrowed her brow in frustration. She had a feeling she’d be trying to slip out and follow the unicorn back just to make sure she got home safely. It wouldn’t do to have her killed and replaced like the mare she found in the canyon.

As the neared the house, the lizard-boy hopped off of the unicorn’s back and took up a position on her right, while Dawn Wings took note of several things about it that started raised a few red flags in her head. The entire place was quiet, save for the sounds of some of the farm animals. The house itself was completely dark, and had the curtains of the windows drawn. At this time of day, she’d expect there to be at least some sign of the farmers, either out in the orchard or around the building. While her instincts weren’t warning her away from the area, and her power was only detecting the ticks moving off behind them, she was still wary. After all, she knew from experience that they weren’t 100% dependable.

Had the family gone out for some reason? As far as she knew, they’d arrived more or less unannounced, so she supposed it was possible. It wasn’t likely that they’d turned in this early in the day.

Her musings were interrupted by an energetic and cheerful series of barks. Turning her attention in the direction of the sound, she spotted a white and brown border collie cheerfully bounding towards them. She recalled seeing the animal around the last time she’d been at the farm, usually close to the orange mare. Dawn Wings watched with great amusement as the dog happily ran up to the unicorn before jumping up and licking her face, causing the mare to giggle and happily chide the enthusiastic canine before gently pushing her off and patting her on the head.

Dawn Wings watched the exchange with an amused smirk as she approached the newcomer. ‘Guess dogs are dogs, even in this place.’

Her amusement was short lived. As soon as she approached the dog, the animal switched her attention from the unicorn to her. With an enthusiastic yip, the dog ran up to her and began to run circles around the pegasus, happily alternating between barking and sniffing the newcomer. Dawn Wings found herself chucking at the animal’s antics, even as she shifted her body slightly to keep the dog out of her personal space. Eventually, the dog decided she knew Dawn Wings well enough to give her the same tongue-bath treatment that she’d given the unicorn.

“All right! All right! Enough of that! Down!” Dawn Wings chuckled as she gently pushed the dog off with her hooves before scratching the animal behind the ears. The dog responded happily to the attention, turning her head slightly to make it easier for the pegasus to scratch just the right spot.

Looking at the unicorn and lizard, Dawn Wings just shrugged at their amused look.

Eventually, Dawn Wings stopped her scritching, much to the dog’s disappointment, and made her way to the unicorn, her new friend padding up along side her. Pointing to the house with her hoof turned up, Dawn Wings raised and eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

The unicorn shrugged in reply, then turned to the dog and spoke to it in a sweet tone. “Baethaleta co vanathei di Maeitechusho.”

Of the words the unicorn used, the only one she could really catch was techusho, which she had learned was “apple.”

In response, the dog barked enthusiastically and ran up to the door, before scratching at the wood and whining.

“Pamale botae patama cos medéa.” The lizard said as she walked up to the unicorn, which caused the mare to perk up instantly.

“Tulushäe peshama valáe mataeta MaTe. Amalâlta henale van Vinemana Vishicta.” She said as she knocked on the door. From within the house, Dawn Wings heard a familiar, rough, contralto voice respond, though she couldn’t really make out the individual words through the wood. Upon hearing the farmer’s reply, the unicorn pushed open the door and ushered Dawn Wings inside.

The corax narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the pony, before rolling her eyes and trotted towards the door. Yet, the moment she stepped into the darkened house, she felt an ever so slight chill ran up her spine. Before she could turn and warn her companions, she heard the unicorn and lizard enter behind her and close the door.

“Ethali!”

“AAAAAAHHH!” *wham* “Ow!” *crash* “Vi salas ló…!”*thud*

Dawn Wings found herself tangled in a mass of hooves, fur, feathers and scales, staring at the ceiling. As her brain registered what had just happened, she realized that she’d catapulted herself backwards after being startled by dozens of voices screaming and blinding her by suddenly turning the room’s lights on. Grumbling internally, she realized that in her attempt to put some distance between her and the source of the noise, she’d inadvertently collided directly with the unicorn and the lizard. As her eyes regained focus, she saw that the room was full of ponies, all of whom were staring at the tangle of body parts she was currently snared it with a mixture of amusement and concern. Beyond all of the occupants, the room was also full of party decorations, including a large banner and several tables of food.

‘I knew it. They’re trying to kill me.’ Dawn Wings deadpanned in her head as she struggled to detangle herself from her current predicament.

*****

“Whoa! Twilight, Spike, are yah okay?” Applejack called as she, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie made her way over to her friend’s side. Seeing the snarl of limbs that included her friends and a familiar looking brick red and black pegasus, she had to suppress a chuckle as she offered a hoof to the struggling trio “Ya need ah hoof, sugarcube?”

“That would be nice AJ, thanks…” Twilight replied from under Dawn Wings, who was currently wriggling around trying to free herself and get back to her hooves. A minute later, the three newcomers were dusting themselves off. Spike and Twilight were taking the whole thing in stride, while the third member of the pileup, the guest of honor, was decidedly less than pleased, if the sour look on her face was any indication.

“Hi there, I’m Pinkie Pie! Were you surprised? You totally looked surprised!” Pinkie said cheerfully as she suddenly materialized next to Dawn Wings, causing the pegasus to flinch back. “I bet you’re wondering what’s going on. Well, I heard that there was a new pony in town, so I decided to ask around, and while I was doing that, I ran into Applejack, and she said she’d seen you, and that you would be staying with her, so I had a great idea to throw you a ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party, and thought, what was the best way to surprise you, and then it dawned on me, you would have to come to Sweet Apple Acres eventually if you were staying here…”

“Um, Pinkie…” Twilight tried to interject.

“…and since you were going to show up here eventually, this would be the best place to throw you a surprise party…”

“Pinkie.” Twilight repeated with a bit more force. She remembered how badly Dawn Wings had reacted to her when she got in her face at Zecora’s. Chancing a look at the pegasus, she was surprised to see Dawn Wings wasn’t getting angry. Instead, she was just staring at Pinkie with a confused, deadpan expression as she leaned back to get Pinkie out of her personal space.

“…so I asked Applejack if she’d let me throw you a party, and she said it was okay, so I got a bunch of ponies…”

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted.

“Yes?” Pinkie said as she turned her attention away from Dawn Wings to Twilight.

“Pinkie, she doesn’t understand you.” Twilight said as she trotted up to the other mares.

“What do you mean?” Pinkie said with a slight tilt of her head.

“Just that. Dawn Wings doesn’t speak Equish. She arrived in Equestria about a week ago, and she doesn’t speak Equish yet.” Twilight repeated, causing a murmur of confusion to spread through the room.

Pinkie froze up for a moment, then turned to stare at the pegasus, who had taken a few steps back but was still fixing her with the same nearly unreadable, deadpan look Twilight had become accustomed to.

“Uh, oopsie. Didn’t know you couldn’t understand me. Um…uh…hi?” Pinkie said with a sheepish smile and a guilty wave of her hoof.

Dawn Wings regarded her for a moment, before she closed her eyes and sighed. Then, opening her eyes back and looking directly into Pinkie's, she smiled slightly before waving a hoof at the decorations, then at pointing to Pinkie.

Interpreting the pegasus’s gesture to mean ‘did you do this?’, Pinkie smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “Yupperoonie! Oh, oops, right, sorry.”

Raising her hoof again, the pegasus pointed at Pinkie, repeated her encompassing the room gesture, then pointed to herself while tilting her head to the side.

Again, Pinkie nodded vigorously in response.

Much to Twilight’s surprise, Dawn Wings simply closed her eyes again as she shook her head slightly, a lopsided smile on her face and a single chuckle escaping her throat. When she opened her eyes again, she reached out and patted Pinkie on the shoulder, while her smile became a little wider and much warmer. Pinkie lit up like the sun as her face split into a huge grin. Eyes still sparkling with joy, she grabbed Dawn Wings’ hoof and pulled her off to the party.

A bit of tension she didn’t know she was holding in left Twilight’s body. She half expected Dawn Wings to be angry about being startled like that, or having Pinkie in her face practically as soon as she walked in the door. Faust knows the pegasus was irritable enough around her. Instead, she looked more amused than annoyed.

“Well, that turned out better than it could have.” Spike said.

“What do yah mean Spike?” Applejack asked.

“Well, she’s been kinda… grumpy… all day. I don’t know. She’s taking Pinkie a lot better than she took Twilight the first time they met.” He said as he watched Pinkie showing Dawn Wings around the room. It was a little strange seeing the energetic earth pony giving the dour pegasus a tour without speaking.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad.” Twilight said.

“Why, what happened?” Rainbow asked.

“Eh heh heh heh. Nothing. Lets not worry about that and just have some fun. No sense ruining a Pinkie party with that kind of stuff.” Twilight said as she snagged Spike with her t.k. and dragged him off.

The other mares watched them go before following their friends to join in the festivities.

*****

The party slowly got into full swing as the evening wore on. Despite her initial annoyance, Dawn Wings found she was actually enjoying herself a little. The pink mare, Shásháme Uata, eventually stopped dragging her around showing off the party and just let her go around on her own, though she’d occasionally and inexplicably pop up next to the pegasus and hand her another plate of food. Dawn Wings didn’t mind at first, though after the third plate, she started to politely decline the dishes the pink pony was foisting off on her.

Otherwise, she fluctuated between playing some of the party games with the other guests or just stand off on her own and just watching everyone. Admittedly, this sort of party wasn’t really her thing, but she was still grateful.

It still dumbfounded her that the pink one had organized all of this just for her. She was a stranger, and yet, a bunch of ponies had gone along with the spastic one’s effort to throw a party for her. It was just flat out odd. These ponies were so like the monkeys in so many ways, yet so completely different in others. No human she’d ever met would go this far out of their way to make a complete stranger feel welcomed like this.

Of course, while Shásháme Utala and a few of the other guests seemed to genuinely welcome her, most of the other ponies felt a lot more distant. Dawn Wings got the feeling that they were here for the party rather than to make a real connection to the newcomer. Especially after they learned she was a foreigner and didn’t speak their language. They were friendly enough, but she got the feeling that the whole not being able to speak their language was more than a little off-putting, like they just didn’t know what to do with her.

Sighing, Dawn Wings regarded the throng of guests, and found herself beginning to feel resentful again. Like a starving woman in a room full of steel cans of food, and the only can opener behind a combination lock, she looked out at the other guests, and felt a painful stab in her chest. She didn’t blame Shásháme Utala. The pony was only trying to make her feel welcome, and, to an extent, she’d done just that. But, she had also inadvertently rubbed salt into a very raw wound in Dawn Wings’ heart.

She turned her eyes towards the closed windows and sighed. What she could really use right now was some air. But not just going outside to breath. She wanted to fly. To get above everything and feel the wind in her wings, and for a few minutes, forget about everything and be free in a place that felt familiar and right.

But, it didn’t feel right to just get up and leave either. Not after Shásháme put so much effort into actually making this party happen. Painful as it was, she wasn’t going to ruin that sort of effort by just up and leaving, especially since the whole thing was meant for her.

It was quite the catch-22. There was a party for her to enjoy, but ultimately, she felt like she was stuck sitting on the outside of it looking in, able to see the fun she could be having, but not really able to actually enjoy it. But she couldn’t bring herself to leave, because as unhappy as the situation was making her, she wasn’t ungrateful enough to just ditch the effort the pink one had put into the whole thing.

Even if what she really wanted was to be outside and flying.