The pouring rain pounded against the leaves and branches of the tree he’d used to shelter himself for the time being. Normally, at this hour, with this type of rain, he’d be out like a light. The fact that Golden Oaks library was a giant tree in of itself meant that he’d always be able to hear the rain, but it was always dulled, dampened by the leaves of the tree. But now, he wasn’t sure he’d get a peaceful rest for a long while. The evidence that he hadn’t gone very far were the lights of Ponyville in the distance. Without a doubt, the ponies in town were still working to clean up his mess. His greed-fueled rampage had done a number on the poor town. He could even still remember that giant footprint, right in the center of town. His spines were still short from how they’d been sheared off in his giant form. He wasn’t even sure he’d had nerves in those until he felt the sting from the rain hitting their bases, irritating the wounds. He was still crying, but now it wasn’t loud sobs, or choked blubbering, just tears streaming steadily down his face, as he attempted to shelter himself from the rain to hopefully get some sleep.

It was his fault really. He was the one who destroyed so much. He was the one who let his instincts get the better of him. Sure they might have been able to take some precautions, but overall, he should have realized what he was doing was wrong. It was all his fault.

All his fault…

“I can’t believe you, Spike. I understand wanting a few nice things for your birthday, but this is ridiculous. I thought you would be better than this.” Spike stared at the ground, nervously shifting the dirt around with his foot. His arms folded behind his back.

“I’m really sorry, Twilight. I’m not even sure what happened.” It was an honest statement. He didn’t know what happened. Up until he’d turned back his memory was a foggy mess. Twilight didn’t seem like she was having any of it though.

“Can you even comprehend the magnitude of what you’ve done here?! Half the town is a mess, the water tower was destroyed, homes have been broken, and the Marketplace is in ruins! I don’t know how we’re going to rebuild any part of that in a timely manner, much less all of it. I can’t believe you. And worst of all, you almost hurt my friends, your friends.”

“I-” He trailed off shifting back and forth on the balls of his heels. He really couldn’t think of anything to say. He instead decided to focus on the sunset in the background. When he turned back to Twilight she had her face in her hoof.

“Now I have to explain to Princess Celestia how you destroyed a town, and how we need her help to fix it.” He curled in on himself, little by little. She eventually turned and left him to be. But not without some words that would haunt him until he died. “After all I’ve done to teach you, you’ve turned out just as bad as those other dragons.” Seventeen. Seventeen simple words, and his whole world came crashing down. For the rest of the day he tried his hardest to stay out of the way, but failed at every step of the way. Most ponies failed to even acknowledge his existence, Twilight included. When he finally got home, he never slept. Eventually he gave up. He grabbed a few things, and made his way out the door. He turned around to get one last look at where he’d spent the better part of his life, and saw Twilight standing in the doorway. He waved goodbye, not expecting a response, turned tail and ran.

What hurt most was that she didn’t try to stop him.

He woke to a decently sunny day, and what at first glance appeared to be a goat standing above him, holding some sort of blanket in his hands. Wait, hands?

“Ah, you're up, you’re up! I was starting to get worried you’d sleep the whole day away. I had just gotten you a blanket when you finally started to stir.” The creature was standing upright on two hooves, and rather than having front hooves like a pony, he had hands like Spike. If not completely covered in fur, with pads on his fingers like most animals. His upper half was mostly hairless with dark brown skin, except for a regular goat head with what was essentially a mane pulled into individual braids on top of his head. He had curved horns around his goat-like ears and the weird horizontal pupils that goats have, but his face was weird. He had the scruffy, curly tufts of hair on his chin, like most goats have. but his face seemed slightly smaller than a goat’s. Not completely flattened, but still slightly flatter. The creature was wearing a scarf for whatever reason, but based on the brisk spring they were having, it would make sense. He was still wearing a coat though, so it was kind of odd. He had a toothy smile, the kind you give to a long time friend. It seemed… comforting. If a little weird since he didn’t really know the guy.

“Thanks… Who are you exactly?” The stranger held out his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Rhel, nice to meet you.” He gave a characteristic wink. He pulled the small dragon up. “I’m a bit surprised to see a dragon so far from the dragon lands. Mind telling me your story over some food? I’ve heard that even at your size, dragons need a lot of food.” Spike’s stomach gurgled, and he nodded.

“Sure… Do you live nearby?” The creature smiled.

“By technicality. Ya see, I’m a satyr, we have powerful magic of our own, if a little strange to those who’ve never seen it. Some of the more advanced users, such as myself, can do things-” He put his hands on a nearby tree, and a crack in the bark began glowing. “-like this. We can travel through the natural world, for nature itself is our ally. All you have to do is stare into the crack and lean forward.” Didn’t sound too hard. “Also stand really close. Otherwise, you’ll end up slamming your head into a tree.” Useful information to have.

Spike walked up to the tree and stared at the light emanating from the crack. Immediately, he felt the world around him shift and he began to see a room. He took a couple steps forward, and the rest of the trees cleared away from his vision as the room he was seeing became clearer. He leaned forward, and plunged himself through. He came through standing upright, even though he logically should have been on the ground. Guess he technically didn’t fall. Rhel followed behind him.

“Welcome to my home! It’s not much but I make do.”

As Spike looked around his eyes were the size of dinner plates. New crystals, new types of wood he’s never seen. He had only one thought as he looked around the room.

Twilight would have a frickin field day in here.

There was a stairway downward and upwards, with a kitchen, and a bunch of beakers and barrels labeled in a language he didn’t understand. There was a tall staff capped with gold at both ends next to a bucket of horns labeled ‘Old Horns’. What was that about?! He was a goat, not a deer. Weird energy thrummed through his entire body, giving him the same feeling like he’d crawled under his blankets at home. He noticed that Rhel’s horns were glowing slightly and looked down to see that he was glowing the same color.

“You were shaking pretty bad there. I used a simple old comfort spell… I think I’m acting too fast. Mind telling me what day it is? Month and year too if preferable.” When Spike shook his head he sighed, before bouncing back. “Oh well. What can you do. Let’s see if I can’t cook something, okay?” He opened the fridge and gathered a number of ingredients before dropping them on his counter and getting started.

He cooked with scary speed, shooting around the countertops and stove like a hyped up Pinkie Pie. He winced for a second at the memory of his… former friend. She probably hated him just like everyone else. When he finally poured the pancakes, all finesse and dexterity went right out the window, and he poured a slightly lopsided mess of batter. Then he spilled a good bit of it on the stove, and had to scrape it off. He made a couple more, and repeated his mistakes the next two times, losing varying amounts of batter each time. The third time, he didn’t spill the batter, because there wasn’t enough left. He offered to take the smallest pancake.

Spike accepted his offer.

The pancakes were pretty okay, but considering he woke up at like 12 after not having dinner the day before, god dang it if he didn’t eat like it was his last meal.

“Alright!” Rhel stood up and dusted himself off. He was still pretty messy from the pancake batter, which was sticking to his coat in a couple of places, but he didn’t seem to mind much. “Now, you want to look around? You looked pretty interested in the place when you first came in” Spike shrugged.

Eh, why not. But first,

“Mind telling me why there’s a box of horns over there? Goat horns don’t normally fall off do they?”

“There’s different kinds of satyrs. DNA is weird. My mom was a deer type, so my horns fall off like a deer’s. It’s just not seasonal, and mine grow back quicker. I’m not sure what to do with them, so I just throw them in that box over there.” Oh that made enough sense.

“Glad to know you're not like… stealing other people’s horns or something.”

“...What?”

“... Let’s just go look around.”

Author's Note

Rhel is an interesting character to write. He's like Discord, but less malicious about it. He understands what's happening around him, and he knows a good bit of what's going to happen, but he doesn't interfere unless he's needed. Overall, he's pretty passive. He comes off a little creepy because he treats everyone through the future lens, because in his mind, they've already met. He just doesn't acknowledge that it hasn't actually happened yet, his mind is too far ahead.

I'm gonna try some advice I was given, and prewrite like 10 chapters of this story before I start uploading the actual thing, so I'm gonna write the date each chapter was actually finished.

1-19-2020