Murder I Wrote

Murder I wrote

Chapter 2

Shadowflash

I feel an odd pain as I awake from my slumber. I sincerely hope it was only a bad dream, and that one of my best friends didn't actually murder me. Too bad that's not what happened. I was murdered, and then brought somewhere else. Somewhere unexpected. It was queer, feeling my own body crack and reform into something else entirely as I was taken out of that dark place.

My eyes remain closed. I feel a light beaming down on my eyelids. I am lying down in an odd position, on what feels like either grass or dirt. Maybe the coarse feel of the ground makes it seem like grass, I don't know; there is too much on my mind already. I finally decide to open my eyes.

I am greeted by the sun shining onto me, through the cracks of trees that hang above me. The trees seem to be large oaks, and I appear to be laying down in some sort of park. There is a fountain directly in front of me. Around the fountain is an assortment of benches that are made out fairly plain wood, and shaped for something different from a human. Besides the benches, mostly trees that surround it, along with myself, and a yellow pathway that most likely continues on past the fountain.

I sigh, unsure of where I am. I take a moment to stand up on my legs. I slowly push my hoof onto the ground t--

"Wait...what the hell?!" I exclaim as I take a look at a light grey hoof, right where my hand should be.

I start to panic, wondering if this is a nightmare. I stare at my left hoof, seeing it isn't a hand, either. I turn my head to see that my body is no longer that of a homosapien, but that of an equine. I stand up on my four hooves, trying to walk forward, and immediately stumbling. I faceplant onto the ground, my mouth taking in some dirt.

Spitting out the dirt, I try again, this time moving slowly. I lift my right forearm first, bending my cannon and pastern, moving my limbs forward and landing my hoof on the ground. I lift my back-left, gaskin, cannon and pastern, bending it in a similar fashion as my right forelimb, and moving the limbs forward, making contact with the ground with my hoof. I can feel my hock on my left-back limb push into my bending limb, which feels odd, but then again, walking with four legs feels odd, too.

I keep repeating the process, carefully making my way to the fountain. I find that it is easier to move the back leg first, and then move the opposite foreleg second. It feels natural as I do this, finding that it is like crawling as a human, only more limbs are bent to propel myself along.

As I get closer to the fountain, I can see it is made up of a marble material, looking similar to a Lavabo, only much more detailed. Around the base are small carvings of equines running around it, and miniature pillars to separate each equine. The middle piece is a large pillar, which has a bowl within the middle of it; small pipes hang off the circumference, in which water gently springs out from. Within the bowl, there is another pillar, which rounds upwards into a pyramid that has another set of pipes that gently pours water into the bowl of the bottom pillar.

It really is a remarkable fountain, but there are more pressing matters. I move my body slowly to the base of it, and look at the water. It's an odd blue colour, pastel, like cartoon water, almost. That water kind of freaks me out...but then again, I'm apparently a horse, now. I look into the water, and am greeted by the face of a unicorn. A black and white mane flows down the back of my neck, along with smooth ears that gently peak at the middle of each. My face is the same colour as the rest of my body; my eyes are red, and my horn is slightly rounded at the tip.

I lift my right hoof, slowly, and bring it to my horn, touching it. It feels weird, and makes my spine tingle. I guess the unicorn horn is sensitive. I continue touching it, softly poking it. I sigh as I look back at the water, and stop poking my unicorn horn. I set my rump onto the ground, looking away from the water and up at the sky.

Unfortunately, the bright green leaves of the oaks around me are blocking the view, so I can only get a glimpse of a bit of blue and white here and there. The environment here is very calm, and I can feel a gentle breeze push against my fur, mostly on my back, loin, and croup, along with my mane.

Suddenly, I hear a crack; my ear twists towards the noise. I turn my head and see another equine standing there. The equine is fairly tall and is a matte black colour, with a dark shade of blue for eyes, something like a steel blue, or maybe yale blue. It’s hard to tell the difference. The equine is a Pegasus, as I can see his wings resting firmly against his sides. His mane is a bit wild, much like that of Rainbow Dash's, and gently frizzes upwards from his forehead. At least, I think it's a 'he'.

"What're you doing?" His voice is deep, and he walks closer to me, in a somewhat menacing stance.

I'm not sure how to answer; instead, I stand up, turning around. His voice made it seem as if he was authority, because he sounded a lot older than I was. Being so, I answer politely, a small smile growing on my equine face.

"Uhm...looking around?" My voice still sounds normal, like before. A bit deep, and has a sort of a rasp to it; nothing noticeable.

"Oh, really?" he responds in question, raising an eyebrow, "Why are you walking so funny?"

Uh-oh...must've seen my awkward walking. I probably looked like a newborn foal. C'mon, Carl, think!

"I’m, uh, tired." I reply calmly and loosely.

Good one, Carl. He just stares at me, narrowing his eyes. I give a nervous smile. After a moment, he just starts laughing.

"Well, I know that feeling! We all get tired every now and then. Anyways, my name’s Ferrum. What about you, what’s your name?" 'Ferrum' holds out a hoof, and I just start to think of something that sounds reasonable.

"Sha-..." Uhm...I guess it could work? I stumble on my name for a moment, as I hold out my hoof to his, and attempt to shake, as I wrap my pastern and heel around his.

"Shadowflash." I smile, trying to stifle the nervous embarrassment coming to my face.

"Nice to meet you. So, why’re you here?" Ferrum asks me, and I just shrug.

"Don't know. Where am I, exactly? Kind of, uhm, got lost,” I say to him, giving myself praise for keeping my cool.

"Ottipaw, this is one of the national parks. Beautiful, isn’t it? I think it’s called...Stone’s Edge Park. I'm assuming you're on vacation, too?"

I nod, giving a smile to him. At least I know where I am. I guess I can say I'm vacationing...would make sense, at this point. This Ferrum, though...I wonder...

"Say...may I ask you something?" I ask, face-hoofing in my mind.

"You just did, but, go for it," Ferrum replies with a chuckle.

"Do you know a ‘Rainbow Dash’? Light blue Pegasus, rainbow-coloured mane?" I feel silly for asking, but to my surprise, he nods, grinning.

"Well, I ought to! I’m married to her. Didn't think ponies this far out would know about her, but I guess word travels pretty fast. Then again, so does she,” he adds with a laugh. “Do you come from Ponyville?" I shake my head at his question, but I'm surprised to find that this is the Ferrum I know from before.

"Where do you come from, then?" Ferrum seems to be sitting on his rump, now, so I do the same, answering his question.

"I come from, uh..." I stall for a moment, thinking of a reasonable place a unicorn would come from. I just say what comes to mind first. "Canterlot."

"Canterlot, huh? You don't look very high-class. Unless you're one of those rare Canterlot ponies who isn't stuck up." Ferrum chuckles to himself, and I join in.

"Ha, no, I tend to try not to be an ass in front of peop--ponies," I say, smirking a bit.

"Say, do you want to come over to our room at the hotel? Maybe I can introduce you to Rainbow Dash? You seem like somepony she’d want to meet." My mind is jumping for joy, the brony inside me wanting to explode out of my horse body.

Instead, I speak calmly, letting a smile creep onto my face and widen with happiness, "Sure, why not?"

"Well, follow me, then!" Ferrum stands up, and starts walking around the fountain.

I quickly follow behind him, trying my best not to let him see my awkward walking style. I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it! I know, I know, I know, I know, I know I want you, want you! The song plays in my head as I bob my head up and down from the joy I feel at the very idea of getting to see the Rainbow Dash. Okay, gotta’ stay calm! Oh, man, this is going to be so awesome!