The aging V8 roared as Tinker floored the pedal, but it was no use by this point. Again, he'd managed to get the sedan stuck. Why did he think it was a good idea to DRIVE to the crystal empire? In a Crown Celestia, no less? He should've taken the van...
The engine shut off as he turned off the key, and he shoved the door open with a grunt, stepping out of the car. For what felt like the 40th time, his horns fired up with magic as he gripped the frame of the vehicle, to drag it back onto the road. But... he couldn't. He strained, gritting his teeth, but he'd been using up magic faster than it could recharge, and by this point he was out.
Well, fuck. Damn. Shid. What did he- Wait. He saw something. Over the roof of the car, which was already being covered up with snow. It's not like he could tell what it was, just... some sort of movement? Ugh, maybe it was just his mane getting in his eyes? He opened the passenger door, pulling out a red scrap of fabric that he kept in the door.
It was meant for putting in the window to block out the sun, but for now he tied it to the tip of the antenna, hopefully enough of a marker so that he wouldn't lose the car. He left his phone in the car, there was no point taking it when there was no service along this road. As he locked up the car, he donned his keyring around his neck, which was soon hidden in his thick fur.
His family wasn't too sure how it happened, but something in the genes he got from his dragon mom and stallion dad gave him a thick, floofy coat of fur. In the summer it was miserable, but right now? He felt fine, honestly, though his paws were a bit cold. Just annoyed, that he was stuck here until his magic- There it was again. This time his eyes caught something darker than the snow disappearing between two drifts, before he could register what the shape even was. The dragonpony scrunched his snout, tail flicking as it sent some snow into the air.
Sure, he could sit down and wait for the train to come past, since the tracks bordered the road, but what was the point? They couldn't stop for him, not with how fast it ran through, the best they could do was call for someone to go back and get him when they got to the empire. And they'd do that on sight of his car, whether he was there or not.
His eyes followed the lines of the snowdrifts, and... hmm. Seems like the car hadn't just slid into a ditch, but into some sort of path. The snow was shallower here than the rest of the drifts, as if it was a sidewalk after a snowstorm; covered, but not as much as everything else. So he started down the path... whenever the blustering wind started to make his snout cold, he'd blow jets of fire out of his nose, keeping it somewhat warm.
Seems the path led into the forest... he'd stop at the treeline, looking back at the increasingly snow-covered sedan, before sighing and setting off into the woods. Why not go for a walk to regain some energy? Though even after he regained enough power to drag the car back onto the road, he still had to drive the rest of the way to the empire. Ugh. Tinker jumped a little as he heard the clear sound of a tree branch cracking behind him; even more startling than usual due to how silent the forest was.
Nothing behind him... but tree branches don't just break on their own! Turning his head forward again, he-
Mare.
Staring at him.
Frowning,
Her fur was brown on top, but lighter on her underside... but she had brown eyes, just like Tinker. A blackish mane, like the ashes of a burned-out fire. Naturally, the larger creature was spooked enough to jump back a step, choking out a "H-Hi?" Whatever the mare said, Tinker couldn't understand it. Sounded like a question?
"I-I uh... I don't know what you're..."
She sighs. Great, now he was annoying her. He looks behind himself again, still suspecting some sort of- Another mare. Of course. This one was just as cute as the other one... darker brown, brown eyes, brown mane, she kinda looked like he did, just a little. The first mare's cutie mark was a bit hard to get, but this mare wore a pinecone for her cutie mark, and she even had a few of them stacked up on her back.
Adorable.
He turned around again, but the first mare had left, walking further down the path. She looked back, glaring at him, and then he felt a nudge from behind. O-Okay, they're taking him somewhere. Sure. Why not? Maybe? Seemed like they didn't trust him either though, since the mare behind seemed to be keeping a close eye on him. Or his behind.
Soon enough, they came to a little village, nestled in a clearing next to a softly burbling little stream of water. Teepee-style huts were arranged around the edges, fish hung from weird arrays near the water, and there were even more of these fluffy ponies around.
Tinker was awestruck enough to not realize that ponies were staring at him until he was being nudged towards the center of town, where a campfire stood tall, but unlit. At the fire sat an older mare, her fur faded, and her eyes... dim. She didn't look unaware, but it didn't seem like her eyes offered her much use anymore. She wore a headdress with feathers in the front, and a leathery outfit with tassels on it. Perhaps the older ones didn't keep warm as well...
The ashen-maned mare pointed at one of the mats arranged around the fire, and after a moment of hesitating, Tinker just decided to obey. The darker brown mare walked up to the elder, softly talking to her, no doubt telling her about the creature they'd found. She began to smile, which made Tinker feel at least a little better?
"I'm sure you speak Ponish, brown one...?" Her voice was coarse, well-worn over its years, it seemed.
"O-Oh, I uh, yeah, I'm... Tinker..."
"You're not the first one to get your carriage stuck here, but you are the first that didn't need rescuing..." Even though she wasn't looking at him, there was a twinkle- perhaps knowing- of curiosity in her eyes.
"I'm... half dragon, and it gave me... well, a lot of fur, so I'm doing pretty okay..."
She sat back a little bit, rubbing her snout with a hoof... "Haven't met one of your kind since I was a foal... Big fellow, white fur if I recall, used to trade with us"
"Where... did he live?" Tinker asked curiously.
"In the mountains, but with the return of the empire, seems he moved on somewhere less busy..."
"But thankfully, we remain unbothered here in our home". Oh, her words carried an undertone that time. A sharp one, not exactly a threat, but a warning.
Perhaps better he didn't have his phone, because he'd certainly want to take some pictures... "....what happens to the ponies you have to rescue?" Perhaps an accusatory question, but he was curious.
"We keep them safe until someone comes to retrieve them, or we send them off when the weather improves... we just ask that if they ever do return, that they do it alone".
"I suppose it works, cause... I uh... I've never seen anything like you ponies before..." Ah, fuck, he hadn't looked up at the village for a while. A bunch of the ponies were staring at him now, which made him shrink a little and wrap his wings partway around himself.
A soft giggle from the mare, who was laying herself down at this point. "I've lived here my entire life, as well as my mother, and her mother, and her mother before her" she hummed softly. It made him just a little homesick, because Ponyville had a lot of old earth pony families too.
"Wow... I guess you guys can handle the snow thanks to all of your fur..."
"Well, what about you? I don't even hear any shaking in your voice from the cold..."
"H-Heh, yeah, I'm doing pretty okay... I wish I lived somewhere like this, I'd never be hot again... summer is awful..."
"I've been to hot places before... truly miserable, here the sun brings light, but there it brings misery".
Speaking of the sun.... it was going down. Damn. Was he going to have to stay the night?
A stallion, large and bulky, sat down next to the fire, picking up two stones. The older mare seemed to recognise the sound of his frame hitting the ground, because she spoke something to him, making him grunt and put the rocks back down. "Tell me, can you breathe flame...?" she asked, a playful undertone to her voice.
"Y-Yeah..."
"Breathe it into the wood, and stop once you begin to see smoke". Oh fuck, they were all looking, oh damn it-
A deep breath, and he leaned forwards, spewing a bright stream of flame into the heart of the wood. There were gasps from the ponies that were watching, but he heard one or two of them cheer as he cut off the flow, letting the fire get to work consuming the thin wooden sticks at the center of the fire.
"Of course, even we get cold as night approaches, so we rest up at the fire" the mare hummed. As the light faded, the fluffy ponies- the vast majority of them mares- began to gather around the fire, sitting on mats like the one Tinker sat on.
A younger mare walked up to the older mare, softly speaking to her... but to Tinker's surprise, she responded in ponish.
"Come on now, how are you going to practice your ponish if you only ever talk to me? Someday you'll be the one to scold ponies for getting themselves lost out here..." She scrunched her brown-topped snout, searching for words. She was the cutest one so far... light tan fur, a dark brown mane and tail, and that adorable brownness on top of her snout. And her bright blue eyes, too.
"....but! It's... diff... hard!"
"He strikes me as a patient one...."
"Pat..." He could only assume she defined the word to her, from the way the mare was nodding. It was a bit startling as she sat down rather suddenly on the mat with him, even leaning against his side a little. But... it made a little more sense as he looked at the other ponies. Mares cuddling up to each other on nearly every mat, even the perpetually frowning mare that had found him.
".....hello".
"Hi there..."
"Ponish... annoying".
"You'll get it eventually..."
"I'm... am... Frosty, Flakes".
"...your name?" She nodded.
"I'm Tinker..."
"Tinker..." She said it a few more times, seemingly trying the word out.
The older mare spoke again, and since he picked out his name in her words, it seemed she was explaining the /word/ Tinker to Frosty. "Tinker... Tinkering...!" Frosty said, as she reached up, and flopped Tinker's ear around a little bit, gigging to herself.
"Well, close enough..." He couldn't help but grin...
The sun was below the horizon now, and the fire was coming to life. Tinker sighed... as the wind blew through the clearing, he was starting to feel it now, without his dark fur absorbing the sunlight. He wrapped one wing tighter around himself, and with some hesitation, he wrapped his other wing around Frosty. She seemed fascinated by it, which he supposed made sense. They'd probably never seen a batpony or a dragon before... Wait, hell, he couldn't see a single pegasus here. Or a unicorn. Were these guys all earth ponies?
One mare was walking around the fire, her saddlebags full of... fish, it looked like? He didn't like fish... Seemed everypony took one or two of them, the stallion swallowed his whole, but the mares seemed to be eating it more normally.
Tinker took one when the mare came past, and he did his best to work with his dragon instincts as he swallowed it whole, letting his belly do all the work of digesting it. Frosty just giggled, cuddling up to his side as she began to munch on hers. Seemed like it was frozen... made it easier to eat, maybe?
Once the older mare finished her fish, she zonked right out to sleep for the night, though it seemed like everypony else was busy talking about... whatever. He couldn't understand any of it.
"So... your parent... only one pony?" Oh, she actually did want to talk to him.
"Y-Yeah, my mom is a dragon... and dad is a stallion".
"Hehe... big pony... have, uhhh, horns too!"
"Yeah... I use them for magic" He lit them up, picking up some snow and forming it into a ball... his magic felt stronger, but not "dislodge his car from the snowbanks 40 more times" strong. Oh well.
"Woah... and... fly, too?" She was poking his wing again, seemed to be enamored by the smoothness.
"Yeah... not very good at it though".
"None of us can... fly"
"I noticed..."
And she just shrugged. Not worth worrying about, he supposed. "Sleep... with you?"
He managed to hold his tongue, becase there's no way she meant it that way. "Do you uh, want to?"
She cuddles herself closer, just nodding. Well, fuck it, why not? Not the first time he's slept outside, but not in the snow! Tinker hesitated a little bit too long, prompting Frosty to nudge him until he laid down on his side. She slid herself in place as the little spoon, even pulling his wing over her like a blanket.
He curled his tail between their hind legs in hopes of keeping it warm, and he didn't try to stop Frosty as she hugged it to her chest. And then he just... laid his head on the mat. Across the campfire, one mare was laying herself down on her belly, so her friend- skinnier, but with thicker fur- could settle down on top of her, like a mare blanket. The stallion was sitting up, gazing at the stars while holding a mare to his chest who seemed to already be asleep. On another mat, two mares were settling themselves into matching loaf positions, but leaning ever-so-slightly against each other.
Tinker let his eyes drift to the sky, where he was able to see more stars than he ever had before in his life. These ponies lived lives that compared to his own were probably much more simple, but... he was just a little bit jealous. Snuggling up to your friends every night at a fire under the stars... it was beautiful.
For the first time, he was glad he got the damn car stuck. It wasn't long before Frosty began to let out quiet little snores, and as snow began to tumble down from the heavens, Tinker closed his eyes too. As he was drifting off to sleep, his ears picked up a faint echo of the pony express steaming past, on the other side of the forest where his car was.
Across the campfire, a fluffy little mare with an ashen mane looked to one side, and then the other. Satisfied that all of her friends- and the odd creature- were asleep, and that no danger seemed to be present... She smiled. Just a little bit. Soon enough, she was asleep just like all the others.
Author's Note
Not my best writing, since I started it as a greentext and had to reformat it into something more normal, but if at least someone enjoys it, then it was worth it I suppose.
The concept of Tinker befriending snowponies has been in the back of my mind for a long time, if it wasn't for his responsibilities back home in ponyville, he would fit right in.
Well, if he could get used to Feesh.
