The Tale of Scale

Chapter 5: Always Consequences

Excuse me for one second…

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Aaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Aaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Aaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY BRAIN IS ON FIRE!!!

Ok, deep breaths. Deep breaths. One. Two. Three.

Pain. Searing pain lacerated my mind.

It was morning and I woke up, nothing unusual there. Except that I was in my bed, my HUMAN bed in my HUMAN apartment. But I was also in my dragon bed in Canterlot. I couldn’t be in both, but I was! The human/dragon mind is not meant to live two lives in two places at once! It wasn’t possible, but I was awake as both a dragon and as a human. And my brain felt like it was almost about to explode!

“Arghhhh!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Both me as a dragon and me as a human shouted out in pain from our separate beds. “Ahh!!!” I couldn’t contain the sheer pain and shock of being in two places and as two different species at one time.

A loud thumping came from my door. But which one? Was it in Canterlot or on earth?

“Jake, you ok in there?” a muffled male voice asked.

Jake. That was my human name. And the voice, I knew that voice; it was my apartment neighbor, Ralf.

“I-I’m fine,” I shouted back from my bed through gritted teeth. “Just a headache is all.”

“If you’re sure,” Ralf’s voice barely reached my ears through my throbbing mind.

Then silence, he must have left. But my morning was far from over. Another door pounded open. This one was in Equestria. Bursting through the door and charging at me were two royal guards ponies, clad in golden armor.

“Sir, are you alright?” one of the guards asked.

“NO!!!” I released the full outcry of my agony in their faces.

I began to thrash around on my bed, tearing up the soft mattress with my claws, scales, and spines.

“Get the Princesses. I’ll try to hold him here,” the other guard commanded his companion.

The first guard rushed out of the room while the other remained behind. He was holding a sharp spear gingerly in front of himself, but stayed a good distance away from me.

“Now, just settle down,” the guard spoke calmly to me. “Try to relax. Can you do that?”

Putting my entire concentrated effort to bear, I was able to stop myself from tearing up the bedspread any further. I gritted my teeth and began to breathe through my teeth heavily. My pain was so intense that smoke even began to pour out of my nose and tears began to well up in my eyes.

Hearing the guard in Canterlot, I tried to do the same in my apartment. I breathed in and out slowly, gritted my teeth, and tried to not murder my bed sheets. I closed my eyes in both worlds and let the tears roll out freely.

“Scale,” a gentle voice echoed in my ears. I opened my eyes and Princess Celestia was standing in my dragon room. She was regal and elegant as always, but this time more strict in appearance. She did not appear to be scared of me in my predicament.

“Scale, now listen to me. Don’t be frightened, but for safety reasons we are going to tie you down. Try not to resist.”

I didn’t know what was going on! My brain was trying to kill me and now lots of guard ponies were climbing over my body. They picked me up and set me down on the floor where they began to tie my legs and feet down. It took all of my self-control to not flinch and accidentally hit one of them. But soon my entire dragon self, including my tail, was pinned snuggly on the floor with a small contingency of guards surrounding me. Then Princess Luna ran into my room, the guard who had first left was right behind her.

“What has happened?” Luna spoke to her sister.

“I don’t know yet,” replied Celestia. “Scale, can you tell us what’s going on?”

“My mind is on fire!” I screamed. More tears rolled down both my scaly cheeks.

“Can thou elaborate?” Luna queried worriedly.

All I could manage was a light grow and some whimpering.

“Guards, leave us.” Celestia commanded. “I believe my sister and I can handle this.”

The armor clad ponies promptly exited my room until the only ones remaining were Celestia, Luna, and myself.

“Scale,” the white Princess said soothingly, “I have a feeling that whatever this is, it is related to your magical appearance in Equestria. Am I correct in my assumptions?”

I slowly nodded as the painful throbbing continued within my mind.

“Can thou speak at all?” Luna asked kindly. She even came up close to me and placed a tender hoof upon my wet cheek.

“…I…am awake…both as a dragon…and as a human.” I shakily whispered.

Luna was taken aback. “Is that possible?”

“So you are conscious as both a human and a dragon. Alive in both worlds,” Celestia mused as she paced around the room.

The pain inflicted upon me made me cringe and shuffle on the floor. Luckily, the bonds the guards placed on me held fast or else I would have broken something.

“When magic was bent it could not bring you here as a human, but you could also not cease to be a human. How very interesting,” Celestia kept talking to herself.

“Can you make it stop?” I pleaded with the royal sisters.

“We can try,” Luna replied.

“Scale, stay as still as possible,” Celestia commanded me sternly.

I closed my eyes tight, clenched my jaw shut, and took hold of my fragile nerves. Shaking, scared, and in pain I laid in both worlds. A brief sensation flitted through my bones and my shattered mind. It was warm. It was soothing. It was gone. The pain returned and I screamed.

“Ahhh!!!!”

“Shh…” Luna hushed me back down to a whimper.

Even with my eyes closed I could hear the two sisters grunting and straining with the exertion of their powerful magic. From time to time I could feel brief respite from the pain I felt, but always it would fail. This dragged on for a few minutes until I heard Celestia sigh deeply and agitatedly. I dared to open my eyes. Both Princesses appeared exhausted. They were panting and I could see sweat on their brows.

“I am sorry Scale,” Celestia whispered through deep breaths. “But we are powerless to do anything for you.”

I wanted to say something stupid or just plain scream, but instead I held it in. Tears flowed down my face like a waterfall had been opened in my eyes.

“As we’ve stated before, when the rules of magic are bent,” Luna explained, “there are always consequences. But these consequences cannot be unmade. Whatever the outcome, it must be seen through to the end. This is one such consequence of you coming to Equestria. We are truly sorry, but thou shall have to learn to live with the pain.”

“Why?” I sobbed. “Why did I ever want to come to Equestria in the first place?”

“Scale,” Celestia spoke and placed a caring hoof on my cheek and looked me gently in the eye. “I do not know why you wrote yourself here or even why the Elements allowed magic to be bent, but I do know one thing. There is a reason for your being here. It may be hard for you at times and there may be times that it hurts, but in the end there is always a reason. If there wasn’t you wouldn’t be in Equestria at all.”

I heard the words, but I couldn’t accept them. I was in pain and I was mad, now was not the time for philosophy! I closed my eyes and turned my throbbing head away from the kind Princess in anger.

“SCALE!!!” a voice shocked me out of my agony for a moment. A familiar voice. A warm voice. Chip’s voice.

I turned my head back around to find the chocolate colored pony bursting through my door. He jumped over guards and even pressed passed the Princesses. He ran up close to my throbbing head and stopped.

“I’m here for ya’ buddy,” he whispered.

We looked at each other. In the background, the guards were attempting to remove Chip, but the Princesses held them at bay.

“I heard that somethin’ was the matter with ya’ and had to come.”

“Why?” I whispered back.

“Because you’re my friend.”

Not another word was spoken for a long while. The guards had quietly left us alone so that only Chip and the two alicorns remained. There was still pain. And it was still searing. But despite it all, I found a new reason for tears to fill my eyes. This tiny, silly, happy-go-lucky, candy colored, chef had somehow managed to find a way to break the pain that magic could not. I had a friend. No, it was more than that. After only one week, I had a friend who really cared.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Don’t mention it.”

For the first time that day, despite the pain, I smiled.

“Ack! Mister Coco! You know the rules! If you’re not on time once more you’re fired! Now get out here before that happens!” a rough voice echoed into the sweet moment. Flour.

“Do not fret Master Loco, we shall allow thou an exception,” Luna stated.

“No,” I replied. I got a few eyebrows raised from that simple word. “It’s alright. I’ll be fine. Thank you Chip, but you’ve got a job to do.”

“You got it,” Chip smiled and then gave me a quick pat on the head.

I know it’s the thought that counts and all, but never ever pat a dragon on the place that’s hurting him…ever. I winced as Chip ran out to meet with Chef Flour.

“Are you really going to be fine?” Celestia asked after Chip had gone.

“Yes, I think so. But…no practice today?”

Celestia chuckled ever so slightly. “Sure. No practice today. We will be monitoring you should you need anything.”

She and Luna released my straps and levitated me back into my shredded bed. The white Princess turned to leave.

“I believe thou hast found a suitable dragon roar,” mentioned Luna before she also left.

I half-growled, half-chuckled at the comment. The rest of the day was a pain. The throbbing never stopped, but I did begin to tolerate it. All that day I lay in bed and simply tried to get to sleep. Finally, at noon, I did manage to fall into rest. Of course, that’s when things got even stranger.

Only part of me slept, my dragon self. My human self was still fully awake. I was still in bed, in my apartment, fully awake and the pain was totally gone. I was once again a fully functioning human being with no pain. But that wasn’t the strange part, no the strangest part was what time it was. The entire debacle in Equestria had only taken half an hour on earth. It certainly felt like it had been half a day in Equestria, but it also felt like it had only been half an hour. Both my internal human clock and internal dragon clock told me different times. The scary thing is; I think that both were correct. I had lived both half a day and half an hour as two separate beings at two different speeds. Equestria was weird!

Finally back in control and without pain in my noggin, I got up. I made some breakfast, forgot to make my bed, and turned on my laptop. I looked at my calendar, today was Sunday. I pondered over all that had happened. I thought on all that was happening. I decided to turn on my small TV and let the background noise calm me down as I tried to comprehend everything. For the next few minutes I stared blankly at the screen as colors and noises filled my tiny apartment. Sometimes it felt good to just sit and do nothing. But this was not to last for long.

The pain flooded back into my mind. I woke up as a dragon even while I stared at my TV screen. It had only been about three minutes, but it had also been about three hours. In Canterlot the sun was just beginning to fall. On earth the morning sun hung bright and clear in the sky. It felt so wrong, but I knew it was also right. I somehow knew that both times were correct. But I didn’t have much time to consider these things as the pain of being two different creatures was flooding my mind again. I winced in both worlds and put my hands to my head. I breathed in and out slowly; the pain was less severe than last time.

In Canterlot I found a small pile of gemstones had been placed at the foot of my bed. I smiled, knowing who had brought them. A mouthful of the succulent jewels later made my stomach stop growling. In only a few more hours of being bedridden, it had turned to night and I, Scale, was once more asleep.

On earth I noticed that it had only been about 20 minutes. It was now 8 am on earth, nowhere near nighttime. The pain had left the exact instant Scale fell asleep, just like last time. I began to do some quick calculations in my head while I had the chance. I had been asleep for one night on earth, but in Canterlot I was around for an entire week. I slept for three hours in Canterlot, but had only been awake for a few minutes on earth. Yep, time was jank. Screw logic! Equestria runs on magic. Ooo…magic. That topic sounded far more interesting than time configurations. But what did I know about magic? I couldn’t even breathe magical fire as a dragon; much less perform it as a human. What to do? Well, for all good questions, there is one place that humans can always turn to: The Internet.

I threw my half eaten cereal into my sink and then hopped over to my laptop. The screen flashed on bright and beautiful. A sight I had not beheld in an entire week, and yet one that I had seen just last evening. No! Focus! Time was jacked up. I needed answers and I needed them before I woke up in Equestria again.

I clicked on my internet browser. It came up with a loading screen and I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Then I checked my connection.

“What?! It’s down?! Now? Why now?” I yelled into laptop.

With a grumble I exited the browser. Grumpily I crossed my arms and stared blankly at my screen. Then an icon caught my gaze, the document I had written on last night. I quickly opened it. There were those words, “I am in Equestria.” In fact, that was the only statement on the entire document. As I sat and pondered these four seemingly normal words another thought entered my mind. It was the words of the Princesses when I had first come to Equestria.

“His magic must be powerful,” Luna had stated.

“Magic? I don’t have any magic.”

“Your writing magic?” Celestia replied.

Yes! That was it! Writing magic. I might be crazy, but I might also be able to do something as a human after all! But what was it that I really wanted? What could I test my powers on? I knew I was low on time and would have to think quickly or else the pain would come back. I couldn’t think straight when I was two people at once. Trust me, it’s an experience.

“Ah ha!” I shouted back at my screen in triumph.

My fingers flew across the keyboard until a few new words appeared, evenly spaced, below the first line.

“Scale can breathe fire,” I spoke aloud and then began to laugh like a lunatic.

“Ha! Ha ha! Ha ha ha! Take that Celestia! Who says that magic takes time to learn?”

I pointed a grubby finger into my laptop screen with glee. Then I sat and waited, smirking to myself at really nothing in particular. It would only take a few more minutes, I hoped, until I could see the brilliance of my genius in full force. Writing magic for the win! If my brain had to hurt, then at least I could get my fair due from its advantages.

The next minutes passed by slowly. It was like waiting for Christmas morning when you were a kid and you couldn’t get to sleep. I spun around in my chair like a goofball and checked the clock every single minute. I didn’t even know what time I was waiting for. But, finally, it came. I felt the pain slowly crawling back into my mind. I gritted my teeth and grunted. This time, however, I was ready for it. Besides just spinning in my chair, I had grabbed some ibuprofen. Take that magic! What you got on science?

I chugged down the pills with a tall glass of water then I felt my mind being torn in two places. Scale was waking up.

Even though I was awake as a human, my dragon form still felt the weariness of recently waking up. How strange it was to feel both fully awake and still drowsy. But with that searing pain in my mind I really didn’t stay tired for very long. I ground my dragon molars against each other and snorted painful bursts of grey smoke from my nostrils. The pain was less severe than yesterday I noticed, but it still hurt.

Then my thoughts began to refocus. Instead of simply holding back the pain, a feeling of eager happiness filled me. It was time to test out my newly found “writing magic”. It was time to breathe some serious dragon fire! Despite the pain, my dragon self began to chuckle. I pulled in a deep breath and then looked at my surroundings. Oh! I was in my room, which was most likely not fireproof. Not a good idea. I mean, I still wanted a bed to sleep in instead of the floor.

I let the air puff out slowly so that not even a hint of smoke came out. I trudged slowly out of my room. The pain made it difficult to walk and I had to move slowly. Outside my room stood two guards. I calmed them both by mumbling to them that I was fine and that I would be outside should anypony need me. They gave me some nervous glances, but eventually consented. After what felt like the walk of my life, I reached the open palace grounds.

The scene was peaceful. The Princess wasn’t there this morning. In fact, I couldn’t see a single pony in the vicinity. I allowed the sunshine to warm my black scales before testing out my fire breath. It felt good to simply stretch, especially with the pain I was in. It made my life feel more…normal I guess. Because, you know, being a dragon in Equestria is normal. There wasn’t time for me to fool around with though; it was time to get down to business.

I gulped down obscene amounts of oxygen. I stood there and waited. I could feel the magic building up in my gut. It felt just as warm and enticing as ever. The magic wanted to be free. It wanted to burn bright. And burn it would. I was ready.

“Arrggghh!” I roared as a beautiful stream of golden fire burst from my mouth.

Success! I began to dance around. My massive form stomped and shook the very earth below my feet. There was really only one problem. My mouth still felt like it was on fire. It wasn’t that nasty aftertaste that announces failure. No, this was different. I slowed my happy dance down just a bit and opened my eyes open to find out what the problem was.

I was still breathing fire. Alright! I can not only breathe fire now, I can breathe it out for an insane period of time. I will be the most powerful dragon EVER! Fear me and my magical writing powers all ye mortals! Fear the fire of Scale! Ok, but it was time to stop.

…

The fire kept going. I needed to stop. Come on brain, I know that you’re hurting but I really, really need to stop breathing fire now.

…

I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I CAN’T STOP! Dear Celestia, what have I done!? No, it’s not over yet. If I just focus…I can…close my mouth…There! Ha! Oh, oh no. No! No! Not through the nose! Not the-! Ow! Ow ow ow ow! It burns!

“Aahhh!!!” I roared as a massive fire erupted from my gaping jaws.

Yellow light spilled through the sky and painted everything a with light. The shadows slunk away in terror of the nonstop fire. It might have looked sort of pretty if I wasn’t screaming. Something landed to my right. I turned my head to look and almost singed the blue wings of an alicorn. Luna deftly dodged away and stood there looking at me as the yellow fire continued to pour out. We both stared blankly at each other.

“I see thou hast learned how to breathe fire.”

“Ah comft shtofph!!!” I roared through the fire.

“Come again?”

“Ah comft shtofph breephink firr!”

At this Luna began to chuckle and then she promptly broke into a fit of laughter.

“Scale, I shall never get to bed if thou art here to keep me awakened at these odd hours!”

“Ahh!!!” I screamed.

I wanted to stop. I NEEDED to stop. This was starting to hurt. My brain was already hurting and now my mouth was hurting. What have I done? Why can’t I stop?!

“Luna, what is going on here?” a new voice entered the conversation.

Celestia was now gazing over a blue alicorn who was doubled over in laughter.

“S-Scale tried to talk whilst b-breathing fire. Go on. S-Say something else Scale!”

Luna couldn’t stop laughing. I couldn’t stop breathing fire. Celestia couldn’t stop looking between both of us with an odd expression. It was quite the scene to behold.

“Scale,” the sun Princess finally spoke. “I’m happy that you have learned how to breathe fire, but now you need to stop.”

“Ah camfpht!”

I began to sob. Whenever a tear would roll a little ways down my face it would evaporate near the yellow flame. Luna just broke into another fit of laughter.

“I-I shall miss raising the m-moon one day because of thou S-Scale! Ha ha ha!”

“Scale. You need to stop. Now,” commanded Celestia. “And sister, shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“H-How could anypony sleep w-with him around?”

Thank you Luna. I’m really glad that you’re enjoying yourself, but MY MOUTH IS ON FIRE! LITERALLY!

“Scale, that is enough,” Celestia glared at me seriously.

With nothing else that I could do, I clenched my mouth closed. The yellow flames shot out of my nose again. I fell to the ground and buried my head in the dirt. I started to sob into the ground and fill my mouth with the dust. I hoped that something, anything, could stop the fire. It was useless. The fire was unquenchable.

“Scale, are you alright?” Celestia’s voice turned in an instant from threatening to worried.

Luna started to laugh anew at my antics, but she soon sensed that something was terribly wrong. The Princess of night stopped her laughing and came to look upon my pitiful state.

“Is something truly wrong?” asked a now concerned Luna.

“Mmfff. Umm humph!” I gurgled into the earth.

“No. You didn’t!” Celestia’s eyes suddenly went wide.

Luna’s eyes soon joined her sister.

“Surely thou hast not bent magic yet again, hast thou?”

“Ahh!!!” was the only noise I was left capable of uttering.

“We both warned you about bending magic. Why didn’t you listen?”

“Sister, is there anything we can do for him?” Luna asked.

Celestia nodded resolutely. “We can certainly try.”

The sisters put their magic to the test. Both concentrated on my fire. In no time, the yellow hue changed color. It was now a green flame, but I was no closer to being able to stop it. It changed again to orange and then to red. I swear the red fire began to whistle at me. But then it switched back to green and stayed put. I turned my head. The royal sisters had stopped.

“Once again, I am sorry,” Celestia stated sadly. “You have bent the rules of magic and now must pay the price. We are powerless to stop this.”

By this time, a good number of curious ponies had popped their heads from the castle windows. Noble ponies and guards alike watched the scene from a safe distance, but I doubt any could actually hear what had been said to me.

“What are we to do with you Scale?” Celestia asked, but she didn’t expect an answer.