Pastel... Pastel EVERYWHERE!

Chapter 2: Pastel... Pastel EVERYWHERE!

Another dreamless night.  I was hoping I'd get lucky with yesterday being the dream.  Oh well.  Deep down I know I've been through worse, even if I still can't recall any of it.  I feel like I'm being watched, but I can't find anything when I take a look around.  Hell, I'm in one of the fully enclosed rooms I could find in this place.  Plenty of sunlight is filtering in through the high windows... damn, I must've slept a lot more than I should have.

“Achoo!”

...And the pastel thing was right.  Now I'm sick.  Exactly what I need right now.  Only way this could get worse is if-

“Grrruhghhh.”

….For the love of.  No, that's not a wild animal, that's my stomach.  Eating, that's a thing, right.  I'll have to set off.  What that... whatever she was said before has me a bit concerned, but there must be some kind of civilization nearby.  I'd rather not live off furry woodland creatures if I can help it.  I push aside the various rocks I'd used as my makeshift shelter-inside-the-shelter so that anything that comes by won't be able to tell I was here and head off into the woods again.

Now I can definitely feel it as I walk.  Eyes.  Watching my every move.  I'm gonna get jumped by a pack of goddamn guard hounds or something out here while I'm unarmed, aren't I?  Wait, guard hound?  That's not anything I remembered yesterday.  Doesn't matter, maybe it mea-

…

I swear I just saw a guard hound or... something kind of like one jumping through the trees, following me.  It looks like it's made out of... wood?  No, must've been wrong, that'd be crazy talk.  Probably just some good camoflague. I decide to pick up my pace to a full run, in case they suddenly decide to pounce.  Why aren't they?  If there's one, there's probably more.  That's how these things hunt.  Am I really that much of a strange and unusual creature to this... wherever I am, that even the pack animals are unsure if they want to pounce on me?  Apparently.

After a while of running, the... whatever they are seem to have backed off.  I don't feel their eyes on me or catch glimpses of their forms jumping through the trees.  Good.  I caught glimpses of some other... weird creatures as I ran through.  Something that looked like a lizard-chicken and some other stuff.  I probably should've paid more attention but I was busy making sure those wood things didn't jump me.  Oh well, whatever doesn't get recognized kills me later.  Hopefully whatever reason they stopped chasing me isn't a bigger preda-

Well.  Definitely not a bigger predator.  Unless a town's a predator, which I'm pretty sure it's not.    A town with an industrial-scale treehouse in the middle.  Again, I'm pretty sure I've seen stupider things so we'll go with it.  All I know is right now, a town is answers... and food that's not a small lovable animal or potentially poisonous plant.  I head in post-haste, but what my eyes see as I get closer just leaves me, well... what.  More of those pastel things.  Tons more.  So they really are the sentient being here?  …How do they build these kinds of things without hands, anyway?

Great, they're staring at me now.  All of them.  With their nonsensical colors and what look like hip tattoos?  I'm still too far out to see what those might be.  They're staring at me and talking amongst themselves, so apparently they really have never seen anything like me before.  And they look scared.  This is exactly what I need, planet's main sentient species thinks I want to eat them or something and turns on me.  Wait a second, one's approaching me.  It's not the one from yesterday, though.  This one's purple and carrying a matching purple lizard.  And... it has a horn instead of wings.

“Uhh... hey there?” It... she says to me?  Either their entire species sounds like women, or I'm getting lucky in the field of four-legged suitors.  ...Never again, brain, never again.  She waves her hoof at me in what I can only assume is meant to be a friendly greeting.

“Master greeting there, Twi.” The lizard on her back snarks.  So there's sentient lizards too.  Yay?

“Forget this!”  I can't help saying aloud as I turn to book it again, back the way I came.  Some poor furry woodland creature is being turned into stew tonight, it seems.  I shouldn't have spoken though, now they know I'm not simply a 'critter' or whatever.  Oh well, that ship sailed now.  I just need to focus on-

“Wait up!” A voice calls behind me.  “Twi's” voice, as the lizard referred to her as.  I turn back behind me and sure enough she's chasing me at a full sprint... gallop?  Bah.   She's also doing much better at keeping up than the butter-colored one did.  This could be a real problem.  I take a moment to consider how I'm going to shake her, until I hear a scream.

Good news?  No longer being chased by a purple horned whatever.  Bad news?  She's surrounded by those wooden hounds.  Her horn is glowing, and she's put up some kind of bubble that deflects their pouncing at her, but they've got her surrounded.  Unless she can walk back to her town like that, I think it's safe to say she's screwed.  She's not even looking at me now.  I can just leave and...

...It's times like this I hate having a conscience.  I look around the nearby trees, breaking off a rather large branch and letting it rest in my hands.  This feels rather... natural.  I run back toward her, instinct telling me to leap as I bring the branch over my head.  I'm able to come down with enough force to shatter the branch on the wooden hound's head, leaving more than a few visible cracks behind as it slumps over.  Unconscious?  Dead?  Hell if I can tell.  The others leap back for a bit, circling us and sizing us up with hungry eyes as I pull another, smaller branch from a nearby tree.

“Thanks for the help.”  She says, her previously panicked face becoming a lot more confident as she turns back to the wood things.  “Sorry if I spooked you back in Ponyville.”

It's now I notice the lizard peeking out from her hair.   It looks terrified, though it's quickly becoming braver as it notices the hounds backing off.  “Yeah, that's right!” It jumps up, shaking its fist.  “The cavalry has arrived!  You nasty old timber wolves aren't-”  Oh dear god help me he's gonna get us killed.

“Spike!”

“Heh, sorry Twi...”

Now the 'Timberwolves' are closing in on us.  The little lizard's outburst pissed them off, most likely.  At least six or seven of them, maybe more blended into the background, who knows?  I'm still busy computing the fact they're actually made of wood.  One leaps for us, and Twi blasts it with a shot of energy from her horn.  Right now I'll take what I can get and try to make sense of it later.  I turn to our backs to catch a second one leaping directly for her and swat it away with my stick, stunning it but shattering my new weapon in the process.  I don't have time to re-arm, though, as another lunges in my direction, and it's all I can do to dodge to avoid sharp, wooden fangs tearing at my flesh.  As I recover, I'm able to grab a low-hanging branch off yet another tree, but these ones are too flimsy for much beyond annoying something with a hide as thick as a goddamn wooden dog.

I catch a glance of my new companion to notice she's back into her bubble, being hounded by four of the things at once.  They really saw her as more threatening than me, huh?  One of the timberwolves lunges at me again, and I swat it away with my meager stick, rolling back towards Twi and the original one I downed before.  Grabbing it by its hind leg, I turn and swing it directly into one of the wolves about to pounce at her like a bat, sending it into a crumpled heap on the ground.  It doesn't take long for me to notice all their eyes are on me now.  Using one of their own kind as a weapon is probably something they're not used to and probably don't like all that much.

Three lunge at me, intent on making sure I go down, and I ready myself.  There's no way I'm blocking all of them and there's no space to roll, except into more wolves.  Twi readies a blast for one of the wolves, but... suddenly my eyes are drawn to my left wrist.  Specifically, to a pair of the inset gems on my bangle.  One green and one blue.  I can... remember...!  On instinct I drop the Timberwolf corpse, closing my eyes and clutching my hands shut.  I can feel the power... flowing... as I shoot my eyes open and open my hands, motioning them toward the wolves as my body exudes a green glow... the same green glow as before I arrived here.  The two gems I'd taken note of seconds before are now also shimmering brightly.  Suddenly, each of the wolves is encased in a ring of numerals and hangs in the air.  The ones to the sides of us are equally affected.

“Quick, let's get out of here.” I say, turning to Twi, who has a bit of a confused look on her face as she nods and runs off back towards... Ponyville?  I think that's what she called it.  This time I follow, not wanting to deal with those things when they unfreeze.

“So... you can use magic?” Twi asks me as we run.  When she says magic, I assume she means similarly to what she can do with her horn?

“Sort of.” I reply vaguely.  In honesty, I still can't remember all that much about those gems or how they work myself.  It was more like instinct took over and did what needed to be done.  “...We better run faster.”  I say, hearing the rustling from behind us.  Clearly, she heard it too, as there was only a quick nod as we picked up our pace.

“Hey Twi,” the lizard on her back spoke up, “didn't you say a long time ago that Timberwolves were noc... noctur...”

“Nocturnal, Spike, and yes, they are...”  Twi replied.  “Most of Everfree's predators are, so normally the daytime is pretty safe even if you're still better off not going in there at all.”

“The... why were the-”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out, Spike.”  She replies, scrunching her brow in thought before turning to me.  “Any ideas... err... sorry, what's your name?”

“Cloud.”  I reply quickly.  Oddly quickly, considering that's on the list of things I hadn't even tried to remember until just now.  Just as I reply, though, we break free of the woods and make a beeline for Ponyville.  Both of us turn back to make sure our pursuers are gone, but unlike last time, the wolves are right on the border of the forest, growling at us, tempting us to step back in.

“...That's new.”  Twi says, the introductions seem to have become an afterthought for her.  “Nothing ever comes right to the edge of the Everfree like that, usually...”

“They must be really mad at us then, huh!”  Spike says rather cockily from her back, like we've just done some great thing.

Twi merely narrows her eyes at the thought, slowing to catch her breath.  There's a good idea, I could use a bit of that myself.  We slow our pace to a walk as we enter the town again, me receiving more stares from the locals and debating if I want to just say screw it and try booking it in a different direction.

“Hey...” Twi says, looking up at me. “Why don't you come back to the library with me to rest for a bit?  Least I can do after you helped us back there.” She says with a bit of nervous looking grin.  I nod approvingly, rest would be good and I could try to question her about where I am.  I imagine from that curious look in her eyes she has similar motives for inviting me back.  “Oh, my name's Twilight Sparkle, by the way,” she says, before motioning with one of her oddly flexible forelegs to the companion on her back. “And this little guy here is Spike.”

“Number one assistant, at your service!” He proclaims proudly, puffing out his chest.  I think it's safe to assume at this point he's just a kid.

I merely nod at their introductions, which seems to have Twilight Sparkle a bit offput and nervous.  What does she expect me to do, bounce around and sing a song?  Soon, we reach that giant treehouse from earlier and she pushes one of her legs against it, opening the door that was clearly not meant to let in anything of my height.

“Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library!” She says cheerfully, “I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'll be your librarian today!   Apologies about the door not being high enough, I'll talk to the management about that.  Wait, I am the management!”  She looks up at me with a cheerful grin, before it slowly turns sheepish and her ears lower and press against her head.  “No good...?”

I can't help but let out a small laugh under my breath as I crouch to get into the rather large, book-strewn room and fold my arms against my chest, shutting the door with one leg and leaning against it.

“You can take a seat, if you like.” She calls to me over her shoulder, already walking toward a desk in the center of the room as Spike hops off her back.  “Spike, can you get us some tea going?”

“Tea?  No problem!  Number one assistant is on the job!”  He gives her a salute as he runs towards where I imagine their kitchen is, and I look for a decent place to sit.

It's quiet for a moment, but Twilight is the one who ends up voicing the question on both of our minds.  “So... what are you?  I've never read about anything like you in any of my books before.”