Hatching in Equestria as a Silver Dragon

POV Shift Sam

After breakfast it had been a calm day, nothing out of the ordinary, I was on my chair just reading and doing my hours, if anyone needed help I was ready.

Suddenly at around 10:30am I heard knocking at my door.

"Sam? You there? I have a favor to ask you, and you may not like it." She sounded unsure, was that Jessica? She's one of the few woman who stayed over winter, around a dozen or so in total.

I got up and opened the door, there she was, looking unsure and nervous at me.

"Hey Jes, what's up? You look a bit worried, is someone hurt?" I tried to look around the door to the outside but she stoped me, I could swear I saw someone else there.

"No, no one is hurt, but we have a really weird situation and we need you to perform some tests, maybe an x ray, take a few samples, or I don't know, do a few swabs, maybe just an examination, it's... Hard to explain but I'll do my best." What was she on about? Those things were possible yes, but why did she say it like that?

"Okay but....on who? Someone is sick? Where are they?" She shook her head, looking around.

"No one is sick Sam, we just found a very strange looking animal we need you to examine for us, it's not a human person, it's a... This may seem unbelievable but it's a dragon that we found." Oh this was a silly prank, I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous notion of her just coming here to tell me all of that and then say it was a dragon.

"Hahaha you got me! gonna have to think of something clever like that to pay you back for that one! Heh thank you for the laugh, it's kinda boring here, waiting all day and nothing to do, most people here are very healthy and they barely if ever get sick, so I appreciate that, really." She looks at me with a smile, but she doesn't laugh.

"It's not a joke, but I'm glad I got a chuckle out of you, now I have more entertainment for you then. Onyx, come here and say hi to mister Sam Brook."

I scratched my head in confusion, I never heard of Onyx, sounded odd for a name.

"Please don't be scared mister Sam" I heard a child's voice come from the door, followed my footsteps that sounded strange.

How was that possible? I was a 100% sure there weren't any children at the station, it was not allowed, it was risky to have them so isolated in this place.

Then suddenly a strange creature that was the size of a large dog came through the door, it was metallic silver in color, like... I haven't seen anything like it before, its gait was not like those of lizards, instead it walked similar to a tiger, it had light blue eyes that shone like small lights, they seemed very focused on me.

"Hey doctor, I think I'm due for a checkup" it....no, he said with a childish sounding voice.

It was bizarre to see a clearly non human creature speak like a human, it was disconcerting and a little terrifying if I'm honest, I needed to sit down.

"Oh my god what's... What are you?!" I stepped back and grabbed my office chair, sitting down and sighing.

I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down, okay... If Jes was calm around it, maybe I will be fine too, it hadn't attacked her yet.

"Oh sorry, I didn't meant to scare you sir, I'm just trying to do what the other humans asked me, maybe getting checked out by you they say was our best bet to know what I was, I know what I am, as I said I'm a dragon, nice to meet you." He said with a small respectful nod of his head. He had good manners, he even kept his distance at the door and didn't try to approach me.

"I-i will, just give me a moment for me to collect myself, this is quite unexpected and a bit scary, no offense... Onyx?" He nodded, so that was his name, like Jes said.

I slowly got up and approached him, calming down and starting to see this from a medical perspective, first of all he looked very different from a person.

"May I examine you then Onyx? Please come through here and let's go into one of the beds, I'll bring sample kits. You just go sit on one of the beds and relax, we will see what we can do." He nodded and headed into the patient area, while I went to the lab and grabbed a few sample kits.

He was laying on his back on the bed, I noted his underside had a slightly paler color than his back, his tail extended all the way out of the bed, it was long, slightly longer than the rest of the body.

I didn't know where to start, maybe let's start with his head, I put on latex gloves and approached him.

"Uhm doc? Have in mind if I feel you are going too far I will refuse something, I will cooperate but you have to respect my body, so no touching in some places, my tail base is off limits, sorry but I don't feel okay with being touched there." He explained and I nodded in understanding, I didn't intend to examine there, I wasn't an urologist either way, Im a generalist.

"I understand, I will stop at any point if you don't feel comfortable anymore, first let's start with your head, you have horns, very unusual in reptiles, they are black, not sure what they are made off, mind if I take a sample?" The dragon shrugged his shoulders, interesting, he could do that, I took notes.

"If you can, go ahead, to dull my claws I use diamond abrasive files, anything else doesn't work, my horns are just as hard, if not more, but I won't stop you from trying, my horns aren't specially sensitive or anything, and they are just starting to grow out."

I grabbed the surgical knife and tried to slice off a thin flake of horn, but the knife slid off the shiny surface, it was like trying to cut ceramic with a regular knife, I kept trying for a while longer but the knife had completely dulled and the edge was bent.

"Welp, no luck there, you are right, the horns are too hard, can I give you a face examination? I promise to not poke your eyes or anything like that." He snorted a laugh at my comment, he had a good sense of humor, I wonder how old he was, he sounded young, I'd say about 10, but by his proportions and size were really hard to make a conclusion.

"I'll forgive an accidental eye poke only, but go ahead." At the given consent I approached his head and started to examine him, first checking for a breath, it was clear he was breathing, but... It was cold, so very cold like as if he was not alive, sort of, I then touched his neck with my finger, there was a clear pulse, not much different from that of a person, but his body temp was very low, I would say it felt like touching a bag of ice wrapped in a towel.

His scales were not smooth like a snake, they had texture to them, and felt much thicker.

"Are you normally this cold? If I was not seeing you move and breathe I would think you were dead and left outside in the cold."

"Yah, I was born this way, I'm cold blooded literally, my blood is cold and my body is cold, I thrive in cold temperatures." I wonder how that even works, where had he come from? May as well ask.

"I have to ask, where did you come from? I saw that light show and the explosion, did you have anything to do with that?" He seemed uncomfortable at the question, as if he didn't want to admit something.

"Was anyone hurt from that? Gosh I hope not, i didn't expect the light show or the explosion." So he was the one who caused it. I had no idea what this meant, was he an alien? I was stumped for theories, none of this made sense, I needed to perform more tests.

"It's fine, no one was hurt or anything, but we were all surprised and confused, mostly confused." He relaxed and smiled at the news.

"Oh, that's some good news, I was afraid something had gone wrong with the process, and yes it was me who created that, it was not on purpose really, I just wanted to explore and I thought this place was completely empty of anything living, I expected to find some penguins at most." Huh? How did he knows about penguins? He wouldn't find any penguins here so far inland.

"I'm sorry to say that there is no penguins near here, we are too far away from the sea and they live off fish they catch near the coast." He pouted at this, his ears lowering in a funny way, he reminded me of my sister's cat.

"Awww but I wanted to show them to my mom! She thought penguins were funny, im gonna have to travel to find them, won't I?"

"Yes, they're very far away I'm afraid" I grabbed a cotton swab to get a DNA sample.

"Can you open your mouth for me and stick our your tongue?" He nodded and did as I asked, I grabbed a cotton swab, which I rubbed on his tongue, i noted it was very different from a human tongue, being thinner but longer and forked at the tip. It was also indigo with some areas between blue and purple. I stored the swab on the sample bag for DNA.

"Thank you Onyx, you can relax now." He was well behaved, not that I had any concept of how a dragon would behave, but he was pretty calm and relaxed.

I doubted this, but I wondered if he carried any disease, the only way to find out was a blood sample.

"How do you feel about giving me a blood sample?" He immediately shook his head at that. Damn it!
A blood sample would have been perfect to test for unknown pathogens, it would also maybe help me find out how a creature with cold blood could survive and how energy was transported through his body, his metabolism, and a lot more of useful things.

"Sorry but no, I don't want to, maybe someday when I'm older." He definitively didn't like the idea at all, but I couldn't force him.

"It's fine, but it would have been very helpful to determine if you carry any disease"

"Don't worry about that, I'm immune to all disease, my body is too cold for diseases to reproduce and multiply anyways, they would just freeze to death or go into hibernation until they eventually are removed by my body's immune system."

"I suppose that makes sense... Well there's something else we can do then, do you consent to getting an X-ray Onyx?" He looked thoughtful, but nodded.

"Yes, I don't see the problem with that, I can give you samples but I won't give any living tissue samples." I scratched my head, his voice didn't match his way of speaking, it was odd.

"How old are you again?"

"I'm 9 years old, but I'm very smart mister, I go to school! And as to where I come from, its... A secret, but it's a place full of wealth and with beautiful architecture, I live with my mom and my dad, they let me come to visit here because I can defend myself very well, and I also want to let them have time for themselves, you know how it is." He has a family then, probably much larger dragons, I wonder if his parents consider him able to defend himself, how strong is this creature?

"How strong are you then? You are very young, why do they consider you can defend yourself?" He looked at me with a confused face.

"Well I can lift twice my body weight and not be hindered in the slightest, but that's not what my parents meant when they said I can defend myself, thats just how strong i am, physically, I'm not exactly a fighter, I only play fight, but im far from defenseless." His smirk was a bit unsettling, it was not malicious but more of a challenge.

"I-i don't think I want to get a demonstration on that, let's get you ready for the X-ray, I'll need you to come and stand here, if you can, stand on your hind legs and stay like that, I'll prepare the machine."

He nodded and I went to setting up the detectors on the wall behind him, then turned on the labs computer and went to plug the x ray machine, then set it up.

Once ready I called him over and he slid off the bed and jumped down from it, walking over and standing where I told him, going on two legs, he looked very stable like that, almost like he could maintain that position for a while.

"Are you able to walk around on two legs?"

"I can, but I'm slower and I get tired faster like this, I am not exactly very active, I'm out of shape, I promised ma that I would start to work out when I hit puberty, but that hasn't happened yet."

"Yeah, it's better to start until puberty to do weight lifting, but maybe you should do some exercise and go outside more, play and run, I can only recommend that, I don't know much about your species but all animals are adapted to run and move often, you and me included, I bet."

"Yeah... You aren't wrong about that, I just focus too much on my studies and I don't have much time to go exercise, but I do already play often with friends, I love to play fight, do you know any humans who like doing sports here? Or play fighting? I would love to see who can beat me, and to play something fun with someone, what do you all do here for fun?"
He was a chatty kid for an alien, I didn't want to put him in a fight so I recommended something less dangerous.

"They have this... Games every few days, today I think there is a game session programmed, I don't know much about this game but I think it has something to do with dragons, maybe you could have fun there? I can take you there if you want to, once the test are done, now stay very still and don't speak."

He did as I told him and I started to take x rays. I took one of his head, one of his shoulder, one of his chest and one of his belly, but I was curious.

"Do you mind if I take an x ray of your... Private area? It would help greatly in understanding your species, at least your full biology, I will personally assure that it's not taken out of a purely scientific context, it's not like x rays will give us much detail but it can begin painting a picture of your anatomy so that maybe we can learn something from.
With time and your samples."

He seemed to consider it, but nodded.

"Fine, I'm curious to see what I'm like inside too, so I'll accept and allow this as long as I can look over the x-rays."

"Sounds like a fair deal to me, now stay still I'll take the last picture then."

After we were done we both went to the computer and I started to check the files generated, I chose patient's name as new and typed in Onyx.

Then I added all the new files, I opened the first x-ray, and right away I could see issues with it.
The scales were much denser than I expected, more dense than human bone, so it was already barely any information about the internal organs and tissues, the only thing you could make out was the bones, who were much denser than even the scales, they were solid white, between the bones you could make out faintly outlines of organs, two hearts, three lungs, no diaphragm.

"How fascinating, you have two hearts and three lungs! I have never seen anything like this... I don't even know how this even works, the lungs don't have a diaphragm to inflate and deflate them, do they have some other system?" It was hard to tell, the x rays didn't penetrate well enough for higher resolution.

"It makes sense that I have three lungs, I have a certain power that would requiere an extra lung, but I won't say what" He said cryptically, he was just trying to confuse me, wasn't he?

"It's fine, let's see the head X-ray, and here... What? It's... Oh, the bone blocked the x-ray, how are your bones so dense? Do you eat rocks or metal? Because I don't know what else could be causing this bone density, it makes no sense! All of your bones completely block X-rays."

"As a matter of fact, I do eat rocks and metal, I mean... Metal I rarely eat but I can have a treat now and then, right? Metal is less crunchy and more chewy, and tastes blander than gems, but it's not bad." What?! Okay this was... Really concerning, I better don't tempt him with the machinery here, there weren't many replacement parts.

"O-okay but please don't eat any of the metal here, this medical equipment is not easy to get all the way here."

"Fine, I wasn't hungry yet anyways." He said a little grumpy, but then went back to his neutral expression.

"Let's see, shoulder x ray, oddly similar to a human, looks more sturdy, but not much different, an x-ray isn't the best way to check this, but it's a start."

"The stomach looks slightly different, thicker walls, intestines look like they're longer, and also thicker, is that... Oh right, you eat metal and rocks, of course there will be pulverized by the point it reaches here, okay moving on, the last X-ray."

"This is interesting, i don't know much about internal reproductive systems, but as you can see, everything's internal, as you are covered in scales this makes sense, an animal biologist would know more about this, but all the same glands humans have are there."

"Oh, so that's where they are... I wondered where my balls were all this time, well, we're done here right?" He said impatiently, he probably wanted to go watch this game.

POV shift Onyx

While the tests and x-rays and all of that was interesting to see, I felt I had enough for today, at least now I knew where my balls had gone, always good to know I hadn't lost them somehow when i was reborn as a dragon.

I gently pushed the doctor along so he can tell Jess where to take me to see this game, he looked shocked at first but then realized I was just trying to push him to the exit.

"Let's go, the girl that accompanied me here will take me to the game room, you just tell her where, then go back to your test results and send them to whoever you want, just don't get me in too much trouble, okay?" He nodded, then walked faster, getting me to the door.

"Hey Jes, sorry for the wait, I've tested as much as he let me, for now it will be enough to reassure the others that he's safe, I'll go to make the announcement once ive compiled the info and made a file on him, I know a few things now at least."

I suppose that would be a great help for me.

"Thank you doctor Sam, you are doing me a big favor, I won't forget it!" I approached him and lifted my head, giving his a warm smile.

"May I hug you sir? I will need to stand on two legs for that..." I said just in case, I didn't want to scare him or get into his personal space unannounced.

"Okay sure, you've been well behaved for a 9 year old alien kid, come here" he smiles and opens his arms for a hug, stand on my hind legs and hug him gently, he hugs me and pats me on the back.

After a few seconds we both move back.

"That was adorable! You really are not just a group hallucination huh Onyx?" Jessica said as we hugged, I turned to her and she smiled at me, seemingly feeling a bit more calm around me.

"Of course not, I'm an alien! Ask Sam if you don't believe me." She stared at me with an 'are you serious?' expression on her face.

"I'm afraid he is telling the truth Jes, he is... An animal, but not of any type I can think, there are things that just don't make sense for any of the animal kingdoms, his body temperature by itself already is impossible to explain for me, it's too low, as in... Artificially low, it regulates itself to be this low, like you or me regulate ourselves to be 36c, he has three lungs, two hearts, and apparently eats gemstones and metals!" Each word made Jes more and more confused, but at least she didn't look scared.

"When everyone is gathered I may tell you more about me, but I don't feel like explaining a dozen or more times to each person about myself, so... Sam, inform the rest of the humans, meanwhile Jes take me to the game being held now, Sam told me there's a game room where they play table games, I want to see!" I excitedly jumped a bit, but then realized it was too small in here to do this and didn't want to crash into any of the equipment.

"O-okay... I'll take you there, bye Sam! And do as he says, everyone will need to hear this." With that we left.

5 minutes later of walking, and we reached the game room, Jes left me at the door and went in to sit down and relax at the other side of the room behind a bookshelf, all while I just stared at the people inside.

There were 5 people, all playing a game, some were dressed up, one was an Indian man and had a wizard hat, the other one was white with black hair, had a hood, one of the guys was just dressed like normal, also a white guy with a short beard and the other had a martial art band on his head and looked latino, the one at the other end of the table, facing the other 4 people, was white, blonde hair, had thick looking glasses and short stubble on his face.

"Your turn Jack" The guy that was facing the others softly said.

I hid behind from view fully and decided I was gonna just take a moment to see what this man were doing, I used Invisibility on myself -20 mp and just went to the couch and sat down to see.

"My fighter will rush the Gnoll and attempt to slash it across the chest." Jack, I assumed, explained to the rest.

Jack rolls his eyes but smiles and throws two dice, it looks like a 20 sided dice and a 10 sided dice.

"16! Nice, plus proficiency plus strength bonus... 21.
The attack dice is... 5 plus the strength modifier is 3, no extra bonuses. So I deal 8 damage to the knoll by stabbing it in the chest, I end my turn."

"Yes, you cut across it's chest and its blood splashes on you, it has only 14 health remaining, your turn ends, now, Viktor, what do you do?" Interesting, this game seems like it's not made for kids, violent and simulating combat? I could perhaps try it sometime, I have a vague memory of seeing something like this in a tv show or movie in my old life, but I wasn't sure what it was or any other details, I had never played it after all, but what I'm seeing so far looks like they are having fun, if the smiles on their faces are any indication.

"Yes, my monk approaches from the left and attempts to use his staff to hit the foe in the head, and then a flurry of blows on the already stunned and wounded Gnoll." He grabs the two dice and rolls both.

"A 10, plus weapon proficiency, plus dex modifier, 15! Yes, now for the damage, oh, a 1 plus the dexterity modifier it's 4, not bad, now... Let's see for the flurry of blows." He now rolls both dice twice in a row, this confused me for a few seconds.

Is he able to attack twice in a single turn? Or three times? How does that work? And why the other guy was only able to attack once? I need to ask them about all this, but at least I think I'm following along.

"A 13 and a 20! Yes natural 20! Now let's see the damage... First hit deals one four side dice, and it's 3 plus 3 from my dex modifier, in total the first unarmed hit deals 6 damage, the second is two d4's
Hmm 1 and 4 plus 3, I deal 8 critical hit, boom, one less Gnoll."

He's right, the Gnoll was already at 14 health and he hit it for 4 with the first attack, leaving it at 10, and the other left it at 4 hp, the last critical hit finished it off.

"Your devastating attacks break the bones of the monster, caving in it's skull and breaking it's neck, chunks of brian and bone fall off as it falls to the ground in a heap and blood starts to pool around its caved in head."

"Wow George, that's pretty brutal, cool!" Viktor, I believe, told the guy directing the game, I think he was sort of narrating what happened, but I wasn't sure he was directly playing. Now I knew his name was George.

"What did you expect? You landed a critical, your punch was very devastating and it definitively overkilled the Gnoll, but now it's the turn of the other Gnolls, they've watched their comrade get its head exploded in front of them and they're enraged, the one nearest to you Jack goes first, it tries to bite you with its powerful hyena like maw, lunging for your shoulder." George rolls two dice, one of them being a 4 sided dice.

Before he can announce his result, a loud noise came from the corners of the room, from speakers set up there.

"I have an announcement for all of you winterovers, you know me, I'm Sam, I wanted to say we have a guest on board during this time, come to the cafeteria and have a seat, there our guest will be heading now to meet with all of us, don't take too long, all of you should get to meet our visitor, and for you, Onyx, have someone take you there because I know you don't know the way, hurry up, see you there! Sam out." And with that, the announcement ended, leaving everyone in the room speechless and confused for a moment before they started to get up.

"I guess we will have to continue the game next time, it was fun while it lasted.
Thank you George for inviting us, hope next time we get to fight a Yeenoghu chosen or something like that." Viktor said excitedly, the rest agreed.

"I don't know if you guys are ready for that yet, the chosen are usually leaders of large packs and you're all low level still, but we will see, maybe you are, depends how next game goes and if you manage to defeat all the other Gnolls first and level up." They picked up everything and neatly packed it away in a box and the dice inside a little pouch that looked made for money or gems.

"Onyx? Where have you gone? You said you wanted to watch the game... Oh damn he must have ran off somewhere." Jess said as she came into the room looking for me everywhere.

Everyone looked at her, clearly none knew what she was talking about.

"Oh miss Meyer, something wrong? We've been pretty distracted and didn't realize you were here all this time, who are you looking for?" Viktor was the one to ask, I was unsure what I should do, reveal myself to everyone or... No, I'll wait for her to go looking for me and then I will get her alone, I don't want to cause a scene, I'll just wait.

Everyone but Jessica headed to the galley, she went to the hallway and started to look for me, going into random rooms, everyone was going to the indicated spot, so it was mostly empty now, no one around but the two of us, perfect!

I stand behind a doorframe and stop using invisibility, casually came out of it and called to her.

"Hey miss Jessica? Where is the cafeteria?" I asked innocently, she turned to look at me and had a worried frown on her face.

"Onyx! Where were you? I've looked for you for a while now, everyone must be there already, you said you would watch the game, but I didn't see you at the game room, what were you doing all this time?"

I looked sheepishly at her and scratched one of my horns.

"I was looking for food, I'm kinda hungry, can you... Help me find the place we have to go? The cafeteria? There's food there right?" I asked with a fake excited tone, but my act was too good, and I was also somewhat excited, but mostly nervous about all of this, I really wanted to know what this people would do, I was not afraid of them, I was afraid of hurting them too much, I didn't know what a stun spell would do to a human, in fact up until now I had not bothered to inspect them, maybe I should do that before anything else.

"You... Okay fine, let's go, follow me and don't get distracted with something else again, you'll get your food." I nodded and she turned and began to walk, turning once in a while to check I was still there.

'Inspect'

LvL 15 human female
100/100 HP
Cannot use magic
150/150 Stamina
Jessica Meyer - age 26

She is the engineer that performs diagnosis on the diesel generators of the south pole station, her main tasks are monitoring and and adjusting the parameters for optional energy production, and assuring the maintenance crew correctly address any issues immediately.

She likes to spend time with Frederick Smithfield, the chief technician aboard the south pole base, they are close friends and often share their free time together playing.

Perks

Human adaptability: this creature can change their environment drastically and as long as it's not hurting her she could eventually get used to it, as well as changing the diet or sleeping habits. This changes would kill many other creatures in this planet but for humans it's just an inconvenience.

Human Ingenuity: this creature can make and use tools most creatures would struggle to even comprehend, also can learn to make tools and improve them.

Weaknesses and resistances: none

Condition immunities: none

Skills: Persuasion.

STR 10 / DEX 12 / CON 10 / INT 16 / WIS 12 / CHA 14

Oh very interesting, so humans have less hp by average than ponies and they lack magic, but they aren't half bad on other aspects, they have good stamina, probably just as much as some ponies, and this woman doesn't look very athletic.

It was good to have a point of reference for humans, of course I knew everyone would be a bit different, but the perks probably would be the same, if maybe an extra one or two, they could probably be dangerous under the right conditions, like armed and armored properly.

And I knew first hand how dangerous human weapons were, I can still remember that day, at least I didn't feel much pain when I died.

I was lost in my thoughts again, and ran face first into her, unfortunately I ran snout first into her ass, I quickly jumped back and looked at her, she glared at me.

"I'm sorry! You were going so fast and I was lost in though and I didn't realize you stopped!" I apologized while looking embarrassed, covering my snout and looking at the floor.

Sometimes overthinking was strong enough to ignore even my sense of blindsight, at least I didn't have a propensity to overthinking during combat situations, now THAT would suck.

"You don't touch humans there Onyx, that's very inappropriate!" Her glare softened but she still had a serious expression.

"You're forgiven because you didn't do it on purpose, but next time I won't just accept the accident excuse you hear? Well... We're here, please try to not make a scene, follow me in and don't say anything until the others introduce you first."
I nodded, suddenly feeling a bit anxious, I probably had too much energy.

"Is it a bad time to say I'm kind of nervous about speaking to so many people?" I asked softly, my tail swaying nervously.

"There's not that many of us, only 35 people stayed this winter, barely enough to keep this station functioning, you probably could get to know all of them in a single week here, you're worrying too much for a dragon, aren't you supposed to be proud and confident?"

I didn't know how to answer to that, I don't usually think anything like that. I was not going to question her, I suppose acting like that was the best thing I could do now.

I followed her and just tried to not look around so much, I tried to look proud and sure of myself, walking straight and keeping my head held high, but I was feeling the nerves, she was right, there weren't that many people here, only a few tables and they were sitting down, some were eating and a few were just talking, but everyone went quiet when I came in.

This room was clearly the galley, or in other words cafeteria, there was about 5 tables, one was only half full, yes there was about 35 people only, there were several windows with view to the outside, the storm was raging still, I couldn't tell if it was still as severe but it was definitively bad.

To the end of the cafeteria there was a coffee bar, the kitchen itself to the left, and many trays where someone could just walk and serve themselves their preferred food.

As I approached the coffee bar, where Sam and Frederick were sitting down, I felt a slight bit of comfort to seeing their familiar faces, they smiled and gave me a nod.

Jessica approached them and sat down on the other seat closest to them, I was left just standing there, unsure as to what to do while everyone else was pointing at me and talking among themselves, I could hear theories, some silly while others confusing, a few were even right

"Hey Onyx! You decided to show up finally? Do you want something to eat?" Sam asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"Yeah I do, but what about all this people? Should I talk to them?"

"Well obviously, we all came here to meet you, and eat lunch of course, go introduce yourself to everyone or have lunch first, it's your choice, if you have any questions or need help with something, tell me and I'll see what I can do." I could think of something, but he had probably already explained to them about me.

"It's okay, I'll try to stand up for myself for one and talk, it's just... I'm not used to crowds, while this isn't that bad, it's still... No, I'm going to do it, right now, wish me luck." And with that I walked to the approximate middle distance between the tables and spoke out loud.

"Hello, everyone! I know you've heard of me, I'm the guest that Sam was talking about.
I'm the visitor who snuck into the station after coming from that bright light outside, if you want to tell or ask me something, im willing to answer, but please one at a time, and if you already had someone else ask the same then don't ask again, okay? Just raise your hand and I'll go and pick you."

Everyone was quiet for a moment and looked at me with curiosity, but also doubt a few faces were harder to read but looked upset or fearful.

Many raised their hands, and I pointed at one who was in the closest table to me.

"Why did you get inside our station?" The man asked in a serious but not aggressive tone.

"There is two reasons, but think of this example, if you travel a desert and you come across a house you think is safe, where you find refuge from the elements, and maybe even food and water, would you ignore it and keep going or stay and maybe ask for help to those living in it? I also was curious as to why someone would make a large house like this, to live in this place." With my answer given many arms were lowered but some remaining.

The man seemed satisfied with the answer and nodded, I turned to another person, a woman with black long hair, pointed at her and she nodded.

"Are you interested in anything from us? What do you want from us?" Many of the people here looked very intently at me, this question was an excellent one.

"In a way, I wanted to test if I could travel here, it was an experiment to come in the first place, of course it was successful, and for what I want? I want to trade for some things I don't have, for example, I know you have rice, and coffee, I want that, and maybe play games and sports? But now I want to eat and maybe take a nap."

"Why do you want rice and coffee? I suppose you don't have them where you come from?" The same girl asked.

"No, not that I know off, but I know they exist here, and I want them! I won't take too much, but if I could I'd like a few kilos of both." Some people seemed satisfied with my answer, some lowered their hands too, now there was only a few left with questions.

The next I let ask a question was one of the guys from the game earlier, he has removed his wizard hat and was just dressed normally now.

"Hey, I wanted to ask what do you think about humans? and why you seem to know so much about us, including our language, what we have and what we don't, you even sound like one of us, you have a bit of an accent sure, but it's hard to pin down."

Now that was a difficult question to answer without revealing a lot about my past, what do I say? Do I just lie? I told mom I would follow some values, but I didn't want to be telling them secrets not even my dad knew about. Refusing to talk about a topic was not lying, it was within my rights.

"I'm going to be honest and just admit I don't want to answer most of that question, I could just lie and say something cryptic, but I'll just say I refuse those questions, and move onto my opinion on humans.
Very high potential for both good and bad, your creativity is unmatched and your talent for technology and for applying that technology is amazing, specially when it comes to weapons, industry and medicine."

A couple of hands lowered as they either knew I wouldn't answer their questions or already had them answered.

I pointed to only one of two remaining ones, a man with glasses.

"Hey, okay my question is, if you were to choose a place to go in our world, where would it be? You probably know where you are and how little there is so... Where?" Oh a good question!

"I had not though much about it, but I'd probably pick some place with a nice coastline, but not too hot, I don't like heat, so maybe not the tropics, I also wanted to be near civilization so I could go to the movies or ideally have a large tv with good speakers so I could watch series and movies with my family and even friends the day we got tired of going to swim at the sea or the beach, but for them, maybe I'd go to the tropics just so they're more comfortable..." I realized I was focusing too much oh myself, while my friends and family would probably prefer to swim in less freezing cold waters, I could endure a little heat for them, I could.

He nodded, satisfied with the answer, time for the last question, she as a girl again, had black hair as well with a ponytail, and looked around her 25 in age, just a guess.

"Oh I'm the only one left, my question is more personal, what are your parents like? What do they look like and how are their personalities, how would you describe them?" Yes, this was a very personal question but... I suppose them knowing about my parents was not endangering them in any way, they were one dimension away after all.

"I'll answer this, as a show of trust, I hope you all don't make me regret. My parents are not of my species, as far as I know my biological parents were driven away or abandoned my nest, or just left me there alone, in a cave. I have adoptive parents, my mom who is a sapient black wolf, a bit taller than one of your males in height." Many of them seemed confused at the thought of a sapient wolf, let alone one so large.

"And recently I have had an addition to my family, my mom has gotten a mate, they have bonded and my mom is pregnant now, she's been pregnant for I'd say about half a year, my now adoptive father is a sapient unicorn stallion." A few laughs were heard and people talking amongst each other, I groaned and shook my head in disappointment.

A few hands shot up with new questions, I pointed to someone at random, looking at them with a frown.

"You mean that your dad is a unicorn? Really? And how did he and your wolf mom even conceive? I'm not an expert in biology but I don't think that's how it works..." Honestly that was a really good question.

"Yes he is, trust me, I have not a single idea about how it even works, I think I could have a theory but I'm not about to reveal it, it's one of the topics i don't want to talk about." He nodded and I moved on to the next, it was one of the guys from the table game again, George I believe?

"So if there are unicorns you must be implying the existence of... Magic where you come from then? I can deduce that could explain a few very obvious things about all of this."

I could now hide my cringe at his correct deduction, not because he was wrong but because he hit the nail right in the head, I really didn't want to tell them I had magic, or even the fact it existed, refusing to answer would only confirm it in everyone's heads.
I suppose I could tell the truth to an extent, but first ask for clarification.

"What do you mean? What have you deduced and what's the obvious?"

"Oh it's simple, you arrived from that bright light, but you didn't come right away here, so you must have not known the base was here, if you had used a spaceship you could have probably seen the base from above using the sensors, so my theory is that you opened a portal with magic, you also don't have any equipment with you, if you were an alien I would have expected some kind of environmental suit, weapons, maybe a few drones to support you, the works."

I didn't give this human enough credit, he had me figured out.

"But you strolled right in, as naked as the day you hatched, holding not even a jacket to stop the cold, why would you need any of that? You're able to use magic, aren't you?"

I glared at him, he just smirked, confidently, I could try lying and tricking them with some made up facts like saying my spaceship was invisible or some other bs but I just nodded barely, this got gasps out of many people, probably wondering what I could do, many raised their hands, I groaned, my stomach did too, I wanted to eat and also punch that George guy in the face for blowing my cover, damn know-it-all.

"I will not speak about that, but yes that light was my doing as I told doctor Samuel, I arrived from it."

"Now if you excuse me, I'm done answering your questions and I'm going to get some food, im starving." A few disappointed groans I could hear from those who had not had their new questions answered were my response.

I turned and walked a bit towards the food trays, grabbed a plate from the pile and standing on two legs, I started to look for something appetizing, I saw mashed potato, added a bit of that, some sort of beef stew? Yeah that looks good, probably the only place where I could get beef stew again.
A few roasted veggies and some bean salad, a surprisingly varied meal, I smiled as I saw my full plate of food, I grabbed a slice of bread and knife and fork, and headed for the only half empty table.

"Can I sit here? Excuse me." I asked and approached the nearest seat.

Oh right, that was the guy who told everyone I had magic, he was sitting across from me, I wasn't angry at him, i knew magic existed here, as a concept or idea, maybe it was real but just not usable by this humans, he smiled at me.

"Yeah sit, you don't even need to ask, we all share this space and you're also here, it's good that you're respectful by asking, my name is Viktor, nice to meet you, I'm the radio operator." The man next to me said in a deep but kind voice, he offered his right hand for a handshake and I placed my plate on the table and shook his hand, standing on three legs, his grip was firm but I returned the gesture by squeezing him even further, he seemed surprised but a big smile spread across his face.

"Oh you're STRONG strong, aren't you?" I smiled feeling pretty confident.

"Yes, that's not even a fraction of my strength, and I haven't even reached puberty yet, you do look pretty strong for a human too, do you work out?" I asked him, looking him over at his muscular arms, shoulders and neck.

"I do, three times a week, you know maybe you could join us at the gym later, could be interesting to see what you can do." I thought about it, I was probably too young to work out seriously, but a bit of light training wouldn't hurt.

"Sure, I haven't gone to a gym ever, so you'll have to be patient, also, weren't you playing that game earlier with the other guys at the table?" He nodded, his face amused by my question.

"Yeah, how do you know? Ohh, maybe you were hiding nearby? I heard Jes looking for you, you prankster, you made her worry, but I'm glad she found you in the end and brought you here. Also that game we were playing was dungeons and dragons, you'd probably love it!" I've heard that name before being mentioned, but where? Some tv show or movie probably, maybe around the internet? I'm not sure.

"It looked like fun, but I was confused by a lot of things, the dice rolling for example... well I better start to eat, i haven't had any food all day." With that he nodded and I dug in, the flavor of the beef stew was delicious, it brought back memories, old and buried, of family food, of my parents, my old ones, I forced myself to think of something else.

The storm outside was a good distraction, as it raged on. The faint noise of the wind like an eerie whistle that could be heard even inside the galley, it was like being in a submarine underwater, in a way, probably a bit more spacious.

The food was soon devoured, I used a fork this time, not even bothering with the knife, the osobuco stew, I realized it was, was absolutely perfect, the other side meals were pretty good too, but mashed potatoes with this stew was a winner combination.

I let out a small burp and cover my snout, forgetting im not home, a bit embarrassed I look around and see some people chuckle.

"Oops, excuse me. The food was so delicious! Specially the stew, my compliments to the chef!"

"Thank you!" I wave and he waves back at me with a friendly smile, middle aged, Mediterranean man with a trimmed beard and short brown hair.

"You're the best dude! Love the food." With that I get up and take the plate to the washing area near the exit, then I come back and sit next to Sam.

"So, Sam sorry to bother you, but you know where I can go to take a nap?" He turns around and nods.

"Sure, follow me, there is a lot of empty rooms during winter, I'll take you to one, now that everyone knows about you and has more or less accepted your presence, you can stay here and do your thing, as long as you don't break anything or cause trouble, oh look, the storm seems to be slowly moving away, good news for us huh?" I saw he was right, the wind was slowing down and the blizzard was not as loud as before.

I followed him, but quickly we arrived at a section of the station where there was a bathroom to the side and a door that led into another smaller corridor, one after another, a few dozen doors in it.

We reached an empty one that read B-36

"You must wonder what this means, well B is the section and the number is the room number, section B and number 36 that's it, simple and easy to understand, right?"

"You're right doc, thank you, it's pretty easy to get, can I check out the room? Thank you for letting me stay here, otherwise I would have had to stay outside in the storms." He looked horrified at the idea, shaking his head.

"No way! I wouldn't let anyone have to stay outside for any reason, it's too dangerous, in this weather a person would die in a few minutes out there from hypothermia, and probably freeze solid in an hour or less."

"Yeah, but I'm not bothered by it, it's just hard to see, the cold however doesn't really affect me, for me it feels like walking outside during a windy day and that's it." He scratched his head, not sure how to respond to that, but he shook his head again, more sure of himself.

"I don't care if you are fine with the cold, you'll still be more comfortable in here than out there, trust me, it's hard to sleep with the noise and wind outside, I bet." He made good points, too strong wind could blow my tent right off if I didn't secure it properly, and doing that in the ice and snow was next to impossible.

"Hmm okay you make a good point, now imma go sleep in here." I open the door and head inside, it's quite small but I hope enough to curl into my usual sleeping position that looks like a croissant.

I approach the bed and lay down on my side, using my tail as a comfy pillow, perfect hardness for me.

Sam closes the door and turns the light off and I start to drift off to sleep, having a full belly and a comfy spot, made drifting off quite easy.