Dunte's Filleno: Nine Circles of Harmony
The Initiation
The Crossroads: The Entryway
Ugh, where am I?
Wait, what is this place?
Bewildered, he found himself spread-eagled face on the ground; he felt the rough grass pressed up to his face. As the black shade faded away, he picked himself up from whatever had befallen him. He opened his eyes a crack, allowing the bright light to seep in, and looked at the unfamiliar surroundings, and saw what he had only dreamt possible. A large, although rough, grass field and a sky that was a clear light blue, but the colors were less subtle, but still vibrant. Almost like a picture out of a cartoon, but with more details and less of the angular figures. He noticed that there seemed to be no plants or any other objects in his field of vision. Even with the lack of any flora, he would have never thought that it was a true tale, until now, which those who believed would be able to get in. The land of promises and epic adventures, a sparkle appeared in his eyes. Equestria. Something rang inside his mind, to get in here… Wait… if the stories were actually true…
"I'M DEAD!?" He shouted.
He shook his head to remember what had happen to him, but no memory from his past registered. This was an odd feeling for him, as whenever he tried to remember anything from his past, he felt the memory, but could not access it. And so he sat there alone by himself, with nopony else.
He tried to stand up, thinking that it would somehow improve his memory, but he noticed something wrong -no, different- with his body. He looked down and…
"Wait… I'M A PONY ALSO!?"
He stared at his golden-orange hooves for a full minute, taking the image in. Then he started jumping around in joy on the rough grass field where he had found himself upon. The red and orange mane and tail colt was exhilarated that his one wish as a human (at least he thought he used to be one) had come true. Even though he was a blank flank, the colt was still exhilarated that he was actually a pony. The new pony had also noticed the new appendages attached to his back. The feeling was rather awkward, but when the pony looked at his back he realized what the feeling was.
"OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH! I HAVE WINGS!"
The Pegasus spread his wings trying to adjust to his new form. He admired his beautiful orange feathered wing (The Primaries and secondaries, along with the coverts) which at full spread had a large wingspan that seemed larger than his own body. The new feeling of having wings exhilarated him, and it felt like he could go anywhere at any time. Then a cool breeze flowed over him, ruffling his wings. Even such a light breeze was enough to have the Pegasus snap his wings back in, as the cold air prickled his newly founded wings.
Shaking the chill off, he looked up towards the clear blue skies. Filled with energy and excitement, he wanted to fly; so he flared his wings in preparation, yet right after takeoff he only managed to make it 5 inches off the ground. Once he reached his maximum, he fell, and landed with a somewhat sickening thud.
"Ouch. Guess I don't have full control over my wings yet."
The Pegasus rose up to his hooves, and resorted to prancing around on the soft grass. The joyous Pegasus repeatedly exclaimed in uncontrollable excitement.
"I am a Pegasus! I am a Pegasus!" He kept on repeating over and over.
Eventually the Pegasus stopped his chanting, and re-examined himself, checking new details about his new body. He mainly ran his eyes over his wings, as he always wanted to know how it felt like to have wings of a Pegasus. His eyes progresses down his body, to his hooves, where he noticed that something seemed wrong. The Pegasus's eyes were greeted with rough grass, which seemed out of palace. The ground was not covered with the familiar shade of black, but rather displayed the grass without any interference. The Pegasus wondered why his shadow did not appear, and turned around to where he thought the sun was.
What also struck him slightly disturbing was the lack of life around him. A memory floated around in his head, a memory that made the Pegasus slightly annoyed. He used to have been surrounded by people, never giving him any time to rest and constantly forcing him into a mold of society. Now, he was freed from the cage. He sat there relaxed, just taking in the pure air without disturbance. Not thinking, he was taking everything about the new land he found himself in.
Being alone still slightly bothered him, but in a short span of time, he got use to the independent freedom he had willed for. As he turned around, he noticed something wrong going on in the horizon.
The Pegasus saw that in the opposite direction of the meadow, there was a transition from the calm, smooth grass to a rockier wasteland. Just as clearly as the idyllic meadow, the orange Pegasus saw the new half of the land he was standing on. The sky in that direction had also changed and blended into a darker shade of red, in contrast with the original light blue color that the Pegasus first saw in the sky. That side of the land had an eerie and dark feeling, not unlike the descriptions of the Everfree Forest the Pegasus had remembered. The Pegasus edged away into the lush grass, instead of curiously approaching the rocky land. As he moved towards the seemingly more peaceful land, the Pegasus sensed something coming from the rocky wasteland. The Pegasus backed up fast.
Then suddenly, approaching from the blood-red horizon, came charging a dark-gray earth pony. The Pegasus immediately turned tail and galloped. He galloped as fast as he could with his new body. The shadow-like pony seemed to glare at the fleeing Pegasus, while gliding over the ground. The Pegasus felt his heart triple its rate, and his sweat drip off this body. Extreme terror gripped his body and he started to gallop almost purely on adrenaline. He thought for a split-second to buck his pursuer, but decided against it, as he did not believe it would do anything to the shadow monstrosity.
Then he saw a shadow of a figure coming from the clear blue horizon. Blazing stumbled and fell prone on the grass. The shadow pony caught up to the downed Pegasus. With a grin full of white red tipped teeth, the figure approached. This time the shadow pony walked to the orange one, who was able to analyze his pursuer with greater detail. Flicking an unkempt gray mane to the side, the shadow shared directly at the Pegasus, and loomed over the downed pony.
"You're not allowed here."
A curved barrier of lightning appeared between the shadow pony and the Pegasus, and the shadow dissipated. The Pegasus was catching his breath while watched this mysterious person saving him. His eyes were unfocused from the adrenaline rush, which seemed to push his new body to the limit.
"Hey, you okay?"
The familiar voice sparked a memory, and the Pegasus focused to remember who this stranger was. Of course! It was Spike! Twilight's apprentice came, for some reason, to see him. Blazing wondered why Spike was here in this desolate land, he had many questions to ask Spike, but he decided to wait to catch his breath and wait for Spike to speak.
"Hello there, I'm Spike, but you would have guessed that already." Spike shrugged, "You're lucky that I came to save you from that shade pony, but it wasn't that hard anyways."
"How… are you… here?" The Pegasus gasped for breath. Blazing examined himself, and only found that he only obtained a few scratches, "I'm okay… I think."
"That's good, but don't worry about how I am here right now," Spike waved his hand to the side, "So what's your name?"
"Ummm," memories started to trickle into the Pegasus' brain, "Oh, I'm James…"
"No! Not that name, that was your human name, you need to pick a better one for yourself." Spike shook his head, "Those names just don't fit here."
"Oh, I'm not really sure then, I have a name stuck in my head," Blazing place a hoof on his face, "But I just can't recall the name I decided on before."
“Well you don’t have a cutie mark, yet.” Spike looked over Blazing, “But you do have a striking orange and red mane, almost like a blazing fire, which actually would seem rather dangerous if you ask me.”
"Oh! Thanks. Now I remember. I choose Blazing Dawn then, can't I? I think that was the name I was looking for."
"Perfect, now come along we must get going, I'll explain more along the way," Spike said impatiently and sighed.
"I can't understand why Twilight always wants me to go and guide the newbies," the disgruntled dragon murmured under his breath.
Spike started to walk towards what seemed to be nothing, and there was only just the flat plain. With nothing approaching and growing boredom, Blazing Dawn then decided to fly behind Spike, to be able to get a better view of what lied ahead. After 10 seconds flat, Spike heard a crash, and Blazing was flat on his back.
Spike sighed, "Maybe you should stop trying to fly. You're not use to using your wings yet."
Spike and Blazing proceed to walk for a while, but Blazing was getting rather bored being grounded, and decided to break the silence.
"Can't you wait for a while?"
"What is it?"
"What was that shadow, shade, thing, pony?"
Soon enough after a minute of walking, Spike and Blazing reached a dip in the ground, and saw a gargantuan gate, although Blazing didn't really see it as he was too busy examining his new body. Blazing was mainly looking at his new wings, since he always wondered what it would be to have wings, and he was also testing out his new pony body as he was confused to how to fly with this new body. Suddenly Spike stopped, and Blazing, still preoccupied, only noticed that after he bumped into Spike, and Blazing looked up. Spike was not pleased.
"Sorry, uh, where are we Spike? And where is everyon... I mean everypony?" Blazing asked when he saw the gate.
"We're currently in the entry world, also considered the crossroads," Spike replied rather swiftly, not wanting to waste time, "You'll find out where everypony is, later on."
"Okay, but can you at least tell me where we are, and how you're here?" Blazing Dawn was frustrated by the lack of answers.
"You're in a type of limbo world right now," Blazing heard a tone of reluctance, "I'm here because this is my ethereal body, not my true one, and I'm just acting as a guide for ponies like you through the trials."
"Ethereal body?" Blazing raised an eyebrow at Spike.
"Don't ask me, I can't understand half the things that Twilight tells me," Blazing noticed that Spike picked up the pace, "Come on, let's get out of this drab place. Hurry up, do you want to get left behind for that shade again?"
Spike and Blazing approached the gate, albeit a very large jump and sprint from Blazing. They reached the gate, and while Spike was knocking on the gate, Blazing was staring at it, taking in its grandeur. He saw that it was an unrealistically large, plain wooden gate with iron edges, but the extraordinary parts were the cuties marks. Around the edges glowed the cutie marks of the mane 6 with vibrant, yet almost unnatural colors; in the center Celestia's and Luna's cutie marks on the left and right gate doors, respectively. Floating over the gate in a soft dark flame, a message to anypony who stood before it…
"Abandon all hate, ye who enters"
"Huh, that's a really nice gate," Blazing announced sarcastically, as not to reveal his true awe. "Where does it lead to?
"Be quiet please. I'm trying to open it," replied Spike as he was knocking on the gate multiple times, "This is actually harder to open than it looks."
Blazing Dawn tapped his front-left hoof with impatience, while Spike was trying to push open the door. Blazing was still thinking about how in Celestia's name he got into this world, his memories were still stuck under lock and key. What Blazing did notice was that his memories seemed to arrive when they are needed, which made Blazing's head hurt, since he needed them now but he doesn't receive them. Blazing was able to remember Spike when they met, but Blazing still couldn't remember his past. He then decided to walk around the gate to see anything else that might distract him from the boredom of thinking to himself. The other side of the gate was just a reflection of the side that Spike was knocking on, which made Blazing wonder about how it will open and lead anywhere. Blazing then walked back to the "front" of the gate to see if Spike was done yet. Right as Blazing turned to face Spike, and ask how much long, Spike finally got the gate open.
"Ah ha, finally!"
"ARGH! You could've warned me!"
Light started to pour out of the now opened gate, blinding Blazing but not Spike. Spike anticipated the light show, wearing shades he “acquired” on his birthday and telling Blazing what to do.
"Hurry up and go in already," Spike shouted, "you need to get into the circles, we don't have much time."
Blazing Dawn stumbled ahead into the light, not knowing what lies ahead, as he was blinded. As he stepped through, a jolt of static traveled through him, and then just as fast as the jolt arrived, it disappeared. So, Blazing Dawn rubbed his eyes with his hooves to get rid of the techno-colored light bouncing in front of his eyes. While Blazing was busy trying to see again, Spike popped out of the gateway with a rush of static.
"Welcome to the Circle of Tolerance."
"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, but Heaven is filled with good works."
Oh my, my next Fanfic, let us see how this one comes out.
I haven't given up my life to Fanfic yet, so don't expect chapters to come flying out like apples from a bucked tree.
-Flying Off
Blazing Dawn and his accomplice: Autumn Dusk
