To ocean and beyond

I stood there, surprised as the fluffy winged rabbit hopped off of the dragon and flew over to me. The other dragons were running and flying away by now. Were they really that scared of a tiny little rabbit creature? "W-who are you?..." I asked in awe "Me? Well... I'm called a Gruciren by all of... them... But my real name is" He pauses for a second and scrunches up his face in disgust "You know what? Don't worry about it..." The Gruciren was just about to fly off when I shout "WAIT! You can't leave just like that! I saved you and... now you're just going to leave me here? I don't even know where I am! I need... help..." I slump down now. "That rabbit must think I'm lame" I think to myself. I think I'm starting to cry now too. "No! No! No!  I don't want to cry! I'll only embarrass myself!" I think. I try to suck the tears back into my eyes but a few of them drip out anyways. I don't hear a thing. The Gruciren must have left me by now. Right when I was about to fly away i heard his soft kind voice "Nibble" He said "My name is Nibble. Now you tell me your name or I AM going to leave you here." I bound up with joy and say "Thank you! Thank you sooo much for staying here! My name is Ripple." I chuckle and he smiles a shy yet strong smile back at me. I get back up and ask him quietly "so... do you live somewhere around here?" as I ask Nibble the question, his face looses its color and the smile along with it "SHOOT!" he yells "Ripple... follow me but don't say a thing okay? And do EVERYTHING i say." He quickly grabs my hoof and dashes into the surrounding forest. After about 15 minutes of walking we reach a short tree with an unusually wide stump. The stump was nearly as wide as 2 ponies standing in a line. A small hole sat at the bottom of the tree. It was only big enough for my head to fit through but Nibble had no problem squeezing through the burrow. "wait here" He said to me as he leaped through the dirt doorway. I sat and waited outside of the small hole whilst Nibble seemed to be talking to someone with a deep cracking voice. Most of their conversation was muffled but I did happen to hear them cursing about dragons and ponies. Eventually, after about half an hour of what seemed like endless waiting, Nibble came out of his burrow with a little back-pack and a slightly larger one. "Here" He said and handed me the larger back-pack. "My dad just made this. Custom made, just for you. You should be thankful. He barely ever makes things for ponies like yourself but you're lucky. He said he sensed that you aren't like the others. That you are an outsider. Is it true?" He paused and looked at me waiting for an answer, one of his eyebrows raised. I opened my mouth in awe and said "Wha.... How did he know?!" Nibble answered me with a shrug and said "I don't know... My dad just gets these feelings sometimes I guess. Somehow he knew that the dragons were after me and I haven't talked to him in years." I nodded taking in what he just said and then realized something "Your dad somehow knew I was an outsider so... do you think he knows anywhere I can stay? By the way, what is this back-pack for anyways?" Nibble looked at me surprised as if I should have already known the answer "Um... He isn't some kind of travel agent. I told you, he just gets these weird feelings sometimes. And the back-pack? That's so that you can um... carry luggage easier. Haven't you ever seen a back-pack before?" I shrugged "yes I have seen one before, but this back-pack is unusually large compared to the others I've seen." Nibble sighed. "yes. Well it's meant for traveling long distances so you can carry lots of food and supplies with you.It can carry much more than most other back-packs can. I thought it was obvious. Now can you stop with all these questions? We need to get going as soon as we can. Before the dragons get here..." Dragons? not again. "The dragons are coming back? How do they know you're here?" Nibble looked back at me with an annoyed glare " I thought I had asked you to stop it with the questions?"

"Oh right! Sorry Nibble..." Nibble smiled and then said quietly "That's what I thought. Now then, I'll grab the supplies and we'll start heading north towards civilization." Civilization. The word almost sounded calming to me. Before I knew it we were headed through the forest to a city I never would have imagined.