A soul to spare

I was going back to the cage, one more day we were allowed to survive because of what I did… what I had to do. He looked like he was in pain, like he wanted it to end… I guess I could relate at that point.

“What happened? What did you do?” I hear a female voice ask from the other end of my cell.

“I did what I had to do.” I looked down, to see my hands still stained with blood. Some of it is

mine, but most of it belonged to another poor soul.

“I’m scared.” She whimpered softly, as she looked towards me.

“Don’t worry I’m still here, I won’t let anything happen to you.” I said in an attempt to comfort her while slowly moving towards her.

But she let out a scream and scrambled away towards one of the corners of the cage.

“Don’t come close. I-I’m scared. You’re scaring me. Just stay away. I-I’m not sure who you are anymore. The **** I know would never do things like that” She screamed. I wanted to go and hug her, to say that everything will be fine but I can’t. I just can’t.

But it doesn’t matter, if she will never even look at me again. If she even ends up hating me, I will make sure that we survive, that she will survive at least. No matter what it would take.

*********************

I woke screaming, from the images that were in my head. I was covered in cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably. I was no stranger to nightmares at this point, but that did not make it any easier. And to make it all worse there was something different about that last one. I had always thought that I had been alone when I was trapped in that place, *Was I wrong?*.

I couldn’t think about it anymore, the possibilities just freaked me out even more. I didn’t want to believe the things my mind came up with. I was wrong… I had to be. I needed to calm down, to escape from my thoughts. Luckily winter was scheduled to start today. The cool air and the bright snow was just what I needed right now, winter had always been my favorite season anyways.

I threw the blanket off me and stood up, only to immediately fall on my face as I tried to take my first step. My whole body felt wrong, I felt more front heavy and I had something on my chest. It was just too dark to see anything here, so I got to my feet again and slowly made my way out into the living room so I wouldn’t fall again. It was still so early that the sun hadn’t come out, and the moonlight did not help me very much.

After a while of fumbling around in the dark, tripping over every item possible, I finally found my way to the bathroom. It had both a candle and a mirror so I could see what was wrong with my body.

Igniting the match and lighting the candle, I finally got a good look at myself, and I could not believe what I was seeing. I was speechless, words could not describe it. After a short while I simply could not take it anymore, the pressure had been building, and it simply had to be let out.

“What the fuck?!”

It was simply incredible. My body was the same in most aspects, still scaly with my long hair even the scars had remained. But I was slightly smaller, my hips were wider and I had two large growths on my chest that weren’t normally there. I grabbed between my legs to check if the most important part of me was still there… it wasn’t. In its place was something entirely different, I reached down to touch it but recoiled almost immediately. It felt wrong, but so right at the same time. “I’m a chick?”

I had to find some way to fix this. Melandra would surely know about a cure or something that would help… but then she would actually have to see what had happened first. I really did not want her to see me like this. It would be extremely embarrassing and she would surely have the time of her life teasing me.

I had some booze hidden away in my room. I had gotten some as a gift from Celestia when I left Canterlot, some of the special kind. Over the past weeks I had been diving into my reserve every now and again, careful not to take too much since I did not have easy access to it anymore. But this situation required alcohol, lots of it. I looked at myself in the mirror and over to the fridge where I had fruits and vegetables, some whose shapes would make you question what kind of dirty mind the farmer that grew them had. *Alcohol and a whole lot of experimentation.* I thought to myself as I picked up a few things and locked myself in my room. If anyone had decided to walk past that particular room for the next few hours they would be leaving with a gigantic blush from the sounds that could be heard from inside the room.

The hours flew by, I spent some time exploring this new body of mine and a little time simply curled up in my bed, thinking. It was late morning when someone finally knocked on my door; I couldn’t hide forever now could I?

“You in there Jake? There are some customers are looking for you. They’re here to pick something up” I heard Melandra yell.

“Their stuff is laying in the second drawer in the living room” I yelled back. I hadn’t noticed but my voice had also changed before this point, and hoped that she did not pick up on it.

I heard her go, walking away from the room, and let out a sigh in relief. I did not need her catching me in this body or with stained sheets and a bed full of suggestively shaped fruit. That would be a bitch to explain. Though I was sure, anyone would have done the same in my situation.

I threw on a pair of pants before I started throwing the fruit out the window, had to get rid of the evidence one way or another. I was sure some animals would get rid of it, if not I would just have to come back later and make it disappear. The smell on them made things rather obvious what they had been used for after all. It wasn’t long before there was another knock on my door though.

“I know that something’s not right Jake. Either you come on out or I will bust down this door” Melandra called out to me. She was a simple dragoness who didn’t tend to beat around the bush. Why handle something delicately when you can simply bust down the door or wall. Being a humongous dragon has its upsides I guess.

She had given me an ultimatum, I was tempted to choose option C and just jump out of the window and make a run for it but that would only delay the inevitable. Besides, I knew it was going to be extremely embarrassing but I needed her help to change back.

I went over and slowly opened the door, meeting the face of an extremely surprised dragon in pony form.

“J-Jake?...” She asked and I simply nodded. “B-but how? What happened, what did you do?” She asked me, she had snapped out of the little shock she had when she first saw me.

“Well I just woke up like this.” I explained. She was beginning to slowly walk around as it looked like she was inspecting me. “Do you know what could have done something like this?” I asked her, gesturing to my entire body.

“Hmm” Melandra sat down and looked like she was in deep thought. “It could have been done by a powerful unicorn. Or….” She paused for a second before a look of realization came over her face. “Did you happen to see a blue flower last night in the forest?” She asked me.

“Well yea, I found an entire field of them. For some reason the timberwolves would not go near the flowers though” I mused. “They tasted really weird too” as soon as those words left my mouth Melandra facehoofed hard; I even think I heard something crack.

“You WHAT?” She raised her voice and I could see her holding her anger back. “You ate them… what in the world would drive you to do something that…” She let out a sigh. “No, I don’t want to know. What you ate is something called poison joke, we dragons are mostly immune to it. But when you ingest one the effect can even surpass our immune systems.” She waved her hoof around, “the effect varies a lot. Basically the plant plays a joke on the victim, as you can see. Nothing harmful happened to you, but it’s a little humorous” she giggled slightly.

I stood there slightly baffled, *The flower did this to me?* I felt a slight breeze and covered up my chest with a nearby towel, I never wore shirts anyway. “So this is all a joke?” I asked her. “So, is there some sort of cure? I mean, I don’t have to stay like this forever…right?” I said hopefully,

She looked at me with her large eyes, as the silence got uncomfortably long.

“No” She let out a sigh.

“There is a cure… it’s quite easy to set up if you know how… but…” of course there had to be a but coming; no matter what it’s about, there is always a but waiting around the corner grinning like a madman.

“As I said, we dragons were immune to the poison joke normally…. That also goes for the antidote… I think I can make one that would work for us…” She could see me smile and let out a sigh in relief. “I said, I think… no dragon has ever been so stupid to do something like that before”

“Hey, im not from around here, as you know. Why wouldn’t there be a sign or something in front of the forest, saying something like; Poison joke, do not touch. Or something like that… well, how long do you think it will take then?” I asked her.

I could see the gears in her head; turn as she just stood there for a moment before she answered. “A week most likely. I’ll have to pick up some ingredients from Canterlot and some other places…” She must have picked up on some of the subtle hints about how uncomfortable I was feeling right now… like the grimace I was making, holding back a scream.

“A whole week? I got customers, how do I explain this to them… and then there is Annie” A look of pure horror became visible on my face. “By Celestia… she was supposed to come over in a few days… what am I supposed to do?”

“That’s up to you to deal with; I’m not your foalsitter.” She said as she walked over to the front door and opened it. “Cleo is sleeping in the basement; she was so tired I didn’t want to wake her up. I would say try to keep her out of trouble, but you can’t even manage that with yourself” she sighed as she took to the air, leaving me standing there looking at the spot she had been standing in. I had expected a lot more teasing from her. Perhaps she had sensed how uncomfortable I actually was, or actually she was just saving the best for when she returned. As I stood there one thing she had said, still troubled my mind though.

“I have a basement?”

*********************

“How could you not know, that you had a basement?” Cleo was sitting with me at the dining table. She had taken the fact that I had seemed to change sex overnight extremely well.

“I just thought that the entrance would be more out in the open. It’s like it was hidden on purpose, or maybe whoever made it just wanted to be a dick.” I sighed out. We had spent some time talking after I woke her up. Turns out, Sphinxes are rather rare here in Equestria. They are an ancient race, though she doesn’t like it when I use that word. Think it makes her seem old.

Apparently they date back as far as recorded history went. But their numbers have been slowly diminishing over the past hundred years. I could tell that there was more to it, but she didn’t want to discuss it any more.

“Well, it just never came up. Besides, with an entrance as well hidden as that, who can blame me?” I tried to ignore the fact that Melandra had apparently found it in minutes. If she didn’t take off so fast to get the ingredients to help me with my so called curse, she wouldn’t have let me hear the end of it.

I was planning to look over the entire basement later. From the looks of it, I could probably use parts of it for storage, and who knows that else.

“Now… about that last riddle” Cleo grinned slightly through her smile as she looked at me.

I really did not want to go through with that. I had agreed to it, but Melandra must have had a reason for disliking it so strongly. From what I knew from Sphinxes from my old world, I knew that it was a bad idea to back out from an agreement with one. Or so I thought at least, I really did not want to chance it.

“If we must” I sighed out, in defeat.

Cleo let out a loud squee in happiness as her smile was as big as I had seen it.

“The pony who invented it, doesn’t want it. The pony who bought it doesn’t need it. The pony who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?” She said in the strange voice that came forth when she told her riddles.

It also sounded familiar, though I could not remember from where.

“I’ll think about it. I still got the whole day after all” I smiled at her. I wanted to get this right. Even if she promised that she would not kill me, I don’t know why, but I trusted her on that. Still, why take the chance.

“Okay” She let hummed happily to herself. She acted just like a child with her temper tantrums and the way she carried herself. I knew she wasn’t but still.

She reminded me of someone, someone I hadn’t seen in so long. The memories seemed right there, teasing me, staying just out of reach like they had for so long.

“Jake….” I looked up to her again; her voice sounded a little off.

“W-why are you crying?” I blinked, and immediately brought my hand up to my face, and I could feel the tears on my cheek. I hadn’t even noticed.

“I... don’t know” My hand was shaking, as I tried to figure out why. I was honestly scared. Not just because I was crying. But because I couldn’t stop, because I felt like I had forgotten something so important, words couldn’t describe it.

“I can’t remember” I had started laughing slightly as I held my head.

“Jake?” She placed her paw on my shoulder, concern clearly visible on her face.

“Leave me alone” I got up and walked past her into my room, ignoring her calls as I locked myself in.

My mind was a complete mess. I was scared, angry, and probably a lot more. My new body did not help in the situation, if anything it made things worse as I felt unstable enough as it was. I remembered parts of my imprisonment. When I had looked at Cleo, my mind had jumped there. When she had touched me I was so close to lashing out. I didn’t want to hurt her. Or anyone else for that matter.

I opened the hidden compartment behind my bed and took out the few bottles of alcohol I had left. I knew this was a shitty idea, but I couldn’t make myself care. My hands shook as I brought the bottle up to my lips and began drinking. Many would probably say that I had a drinking problem, not that they would be wrong.

The hours passed, and it did not take long for my bottles to become empty, leaving me to stir with my own thought as I simply sat there. I had enough left to become slightly drunk, but not nearly enough. I had hoped to drink myself stupid and just skip this whole day. Several customers came by during the day. By the sounds of it, Cleo had greeted them at the door, and tried to make up excuses for why I couldn’t see them, I didn’t have a good excuse for it though. I just wanted to be alone. It meant that I didn’t have to make up stories for why my body had changed though. I suppose it was the alcohol, but that made me giggle whenever I thought about it. *chesticles, heh*

Cleo had been knocking on my door and trying to reach through to me throughout the day, but she was beginning to be more determined about it as the hours passed by and the sun was leaving to make room for the moon and its gentle night.

“Jake! Open up for Celestias sake.” It was the same words as she had tried so many times before. She had tried to break down my door but proved too weak to actually manage it. “Just come out and talk. You still need to answer the last riddle too” I could feel my hand tighten in anger. I couldn’t give two or three shits about those damn riddles of hers at that point.

“I don’t care. I only agreed to that because you were being a little bitch about that whole situation anyway. Leave me alone!” it was the only reply she had gotten in hours. I’m bad at controlling my emotions when I’m drunk. That was part of why I did not want anything to do with her right now, originally that was the idea at least. As time went on on the other hand, I felt like I wanted, needed something to lash out at, craved it.

“Please Jake… y-“ I slammed the door open . Making her stumble backwards, looking up at me in shock

“What? Why can’t you get it into that little head of yours that I want to be alone?!” I screamed at her. I think she was about to reply but I did not give her the chance to do so. “I barely even know you. I helped you because it seemed like the right thing to do. So if you can’t do as I say and leave me alone when I demand it then you can just get the fuck out of my house!” I walked slowly towards her as I continued yelling at her, ignoring the tears that had begun appearing in her eyes.

“J-J-Jake please stop I…” She was slowly backing away, but I followed after as I continued.

“Oh is it about that damn riddle of yours? Fine I will answer it if you get the hell out of my house after I do.”

“N-no it’s a-alright. y-you don’t have to...” She was visibly shaking as I slowly walked towards her.

“No? Because I really think I do! You have been going on and on about it, so congratu-fucking-lations. You’ll get your victory” I vaguely remember her riddle, over my anger and all the other thoughts that are rummaging inside of my mind.

“Poison?” I take another step towards her as her legs give out under her.

“Y-you r-really don’t h-have t…” I cut her off again.

“No? How about a fucking coffin then?” Another step closer. I took her silence as a no, as I continued.

“Then WHAT ABOUT-“

“Jake… p-please stop… you’re s-scaring me. Just stay away… please. You're scaring me. ”

Those words…

She had just wanted to help me. And I… what had I done? My anger dissipated completely as I looked at the shivering creature that laid before me.

“Cleo I… I’m sorry” She flinched away, when I reached out towards her. Had I really scared her that much?

I looked over towards a mirror that hung on the wall, and what I saw shocked me.

My eyes were red, bloodshot, and small amounts of mist was seeping out of my mouth. The way I was slightly bent forward made it look like I was about to attack someone.

*Monster*

“Just, leave me alone”

I didn’t say another word after that. I backed away from the shivering Sphinx until my back was pressed up against the door leading outside.

This whole day was just one big mess. One would think it was fun to get a female body, and I’ll admit, it was for a while. But it didn’t feel right. It didn’t belong to me. My balance was slightly off, and all my clothes were too big for it.

I put a hand in front of my mouth to smell my breath. It reeked of alcohol.

That was no excuse though. I had snapped. So much had just gone wrong and Cleo was the only one present, then and there she was only one thing to me; she was someone I could take my frustration out on. I had acted like a monster alright.

“What a pathetic little shit I am” I laughed to myself as I slipped outside, leaving my guest alone in my house, as I simply began walking. I needed to clear my head. I probably should have stayed and tried to comfort or help her some more, but I didn’t trust myself at that point.

I just wanted to be alone.

The wind was rustling the nearby trees and the moon was casting its light down, illuminating the pond I floated in the middle off. The cold water didn’t bother me, which was one of the few things I actually liked about this draconic body of mine.

It was calming just lying there. The water silenced almost everything nearby, so when I closed my eyes, it felt like I was simply floating through a complete void.

Peaceful

I needed to go back, I knew that. I had messed up badly, completely snapped and lashed out at Cleo. She didn’t deserve any of this; the way she acted made her seem rather young too. I opened my eyes and blinked as I thought back. I hadn’t actually asked how old she was. For all I knew she could be a teenager or something along those lines. I knew next to nothing about Sphinxes after all. Maybe that was why she seemed so trusting and naive in the first place.

I don’t know how long I floated under the night sky, just letting my mind wander. I briefly thought about the riddles she challenged me with but that line of thought came to a halt as I recognized a familiar scent in the air. Every pony I had come across had a different sent to them, being part dragon apparently enhanced my sense of smell, so I was able to recognize certain ponies I had been around enough before they came into view.

But my mind was a little slow this time, perhaps because I had zoned out of from the alcohol. Because the instant I recognized the smell I heard the angry voice of a very familiar and from the sound of it, slightly angry mare that I really did not want to see right now.

“JAKE” Oh yea, she was definitely angry.

There was a splash in the water around me, and before I had a chance to do anything she had tightened the lasso, and was pulling me towards her.

`Ok help me out here brain. Why is she mad at us… did I do something wrong again? And I really didn’t want her to see me like this. Not the pathetic drunk part… well maybe that as well, but the part about how I had changed into a very, very sexy lady`. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking, but I really did not mind being tied up by a strong mare.

I was literally dragged out of my sultry thoughts as Grannie Smith had pulled my up onto the shore and was looking down at me as I lay on my back with my arms still tied to my sides by the rope.

“J-Jake?” she asked, some of her anger replaced with confusion I would guess.

“Hi there Annie” I smiled sheepishly, not bothering to hide my now girly voice. I would normally call her Granny since I knew she despised her normal name, but I thought that messing with her would be a bad idea at that point.

She opened her mouth to speak, but halted as she just looked confused down at me. Not that I could blame her. I spent a lot of time looking at myself in the mirror when it happened too. She shook her head and the anger was back.

“Whatever it is you’re mad about, I did not do it on purpose” I added quickly. I had learned a while ago that it was my fault most of the time anyway. Even when it really wasn’t. Arguing always ended up causing more problems anyway.

“You’re going to explain all of-” she gestured to all of me. “-This later. But first, explain why I found a crying Sphinx in your house” And that, was something I really did not want to explain. Then again, I really did not have much of a choice in the matter. She did have me tied up after all.

*I’m sure there was a pun in there somewhere*

“Oh, that…” I think she was a little put off by how serious I sounded. Hell, I was put off by the way I sounded. “She is a guest. She was found inside of the Everfree forest, she was banged up pretty good.” Keeping a serious conversation is not all that easy when you have had a little too much to drink. It was not as bad since it had been a few hours but I could still feel it. “Of course I had to help her. I didn’t know anything about her kind, but she seemed kind enough… she also reminded me about someone” Not somepony, but someone. “I… lost it tonight though.” I paused for a rather long moment, trying to find the right words.

“What happened, Jake?” She asked. Her voice firm but it had a little more kindness to it now.

“I lost it. I’m not sure exactly what happened. As you noticed I’m not exactly, myself at the moment” I giggled slightly as I poked my breasts. “Don’t worry, it’s not permanent. Unless you would like to have some fun like this that is” I think I had a rather stupid looking grin on my face, because she immediately stomped down on my face, making me yelp in pain.

“I’m sorry, it was a joke” I added quickly as she raised her hoof again. “I know you prefer me as my usual sexy self” And that comment, rewarded me with another hit to the face. A few of Captain Dash’s personality traits might have rubbed off on me.

I groaned in pain as I felt something wet hit my cheek, making me opening my eyes again. What I saw made me ignore the pain for now and set aside any jokes or silly comments I might have had. She was looking down at me with teary eyes and a sad expression. “Once” she started. “Can you be serious for once, Jake?” She sniffed.

I used the claws on my right hand to cut the rope as I sat up next to her, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Annie.” I said softly to her. “I’ll continue. No more funny business.” I pulled slightly back from the hug, but my hand still remained on her shoulder. “As I said, I changed into a female. I stepped in some poison Joke. This change might not have helped with how I handled the situation, though that is no excuse. When Cleo and I talked some that afternoon something happened, it might have been something she said, or did. All I know is that she reminded me of someone, and I handled the situation like the biggest idiot possible. I locked myself in my room and started drinking. She just wanted to help me, like I had helped her I think. But I blew up in her face. I yelled at her, hell I think she might have thought I was going to hurt her.” She had been sitting there listening to me quietly for the most part, but once I neared the end she had pulled me into a hug again as I finished the story.

We stayed like that for a while. Annie was always someone I could always depend upon. She would call me out on my mistakes if it was needed, and she was always there when I needed her. “I messed up” I said quietly as I leaned back from the hug and looked upon her. She was smiling slightly now as she looked back at me. I really cared about this mare, I don’t think I had truly realized just how much until now though.

“You messed up badly Jake” She said, still wearing that kind smile of hers. “I think you should stop drinking Jake. Or at least tone it down. I can tolerate it, because I know how to deal with you. You need a firm hoof to keep you in check” she pulled her foreleg back and hit me in the shoulder, it was a playfully punch and I could only smile back and nod slightly. “I’m saying this because I care Jake. I know you’re an emotional individual. And that’s part of why I love you like I do” I remembered her confession from a few days ago, I really care about her. But she was still a pony. It felt slightly wrong still. “But I don’t think I have ever seen you truly angry before. And from what Cleo explained I don’t think I ever want to either”

I was truly speechless. I knew I might have a slight problem, no one is perfect after all. But it’s something else to hear it from another person, or pony in this case, especially one you care about. She was right though, I knew she was. I was staring down at the ground, ashamed and in deep thought as I felt her hood under my chin, lifting my head up to meet her gaze again.

“We all make mistakes. But it’s up to you to make things right again” She smiled brightly, her eyes shining from the moonlight as we looked at each other. “Let’s go back. Cleo is waiting at the farm and you need to make things right” It might have been the alcohol, that helped me along, but I finally realized something. I might not be into ponies, I don’t know if I will ever be. But that won’t change how much I care about the mare that is sitting in front of me right now. She has been waiting for me for a while now, and nothing in this life is certain after all. So why shouldn’t I take that chance? Who knows, it might work out after all. So with all the courage I could muster, I put a hand on her shoulder. She had already gotten ready to leave, but turned back towards me when she felt my touch.

*We only live once after all* was the last thought that echoed within my mind before I did what I should have done when she confronted be before.

I kissed her.

I think I surprised her quite a bit, because when I pulled back she just sat there with her mouth open and her eyes staring out into nothing. That was until she pounced on me, pushing me down to the ground as she kissed me back. I knew she loved me, she had said so already before I kissed her. But the feeling of her actually returning my affection after I surprised her made me happy beyond belief.

“I should be angry at you for doing something like that out of the blue” She said quietly as she pulled back from the kiss. “Does this mean that you..?” She tried to find the exact words, but I knew what she was meaning to say and interrupted her.

“It means that I’m willing to give this a chance” I smiled as I ran my hand down her neck. “I can’t promise you that it will work out. But I care about you, and I figured that it’s worth the risk” That had sounded a lot better in my head, in truth it almost sounded a little insulting to me when I had said it out loud.

“….Thank you” Came from Annie as she wrapped her hooves around my neck and hugged be. “Just promise me one thing alright? Don’t kiss me again, until you change back. I do love you, but I'm not into mares” She gave me a playful smile as she pulled back.

“I can live with that. Now let’s head back. I got some apologizing to do after all” I said as I got up.

“That you do. But explain one thing to me. Why was Cleo calling you master?”

“….What?”

*********************

The months passed rather quickly after that night. Turns out that if you lose a Sphinxes challenge they can decide what they want to make you do, it’s a no set rules, rather up to the individual Sphinx. If you win one however; older and more experienced Sphinxes will often share their knowledge or give the victor a reward from their personal collection. The younger ones however, losing to them was proof that they were still young and inexperienced. Some of the younger Sphinxes would stay and try to learn more from the victor as per their old tradition. They believed the ones to have beaten them to be wiser and worthy of teaching them so to say. And I had apparently guessed correct in the last riddle during my rage. Both me and my new marefriend had several qualms about this. It turned out that it is rather difficult to get rid of a Sphinx who has decided that you were going to be its next master or teacher in this case though, we tried a lot of things. But she refused to change her mind. So much to my dismay, I apparently had a new apprentice. I finally understood why Melandra had refused to take the riddles in the first place. I really hoped that I had never been that annoying.

I got back to my normal self in time. Melandra returned with the supplies she needed, but held off on turning me back for a few days after she returned. She said it was because she needed to get everything ready, but I think she just wanted to tease me about it for a little while longer.

I was a little put off by how fast the winter came here in Equestria, but I guess it shouldn’t have been such a shock. They do control the weather after all. My business picked up throughout the winter, my wares became more and more popular, and I was able to keep up with the increase in customers thanks to Cleo.

A lot of things happened during the winter. Me and Annie Smith; she refuses to let me call her Granny anymore; even though I get it’s related to apples somehow. We still had our problems; or rather I had most of the problems. Her family hadn’t been too happy with her choice in mate, but she had taken care of that. When she set her mind to something, its next to impossible to try to stand in her way or change her mind. It had been weird for me in the beginning. Even though I loved her for whom she was, and I really did love her. We never went completely through with it and had sex. She said she understood, and wanted me to be ready. I just hoped I would someday be. She deserved someone who could love her completely.

I also managed to become the first individual to ever be banned from what they called winter wrap up. I was locked in my room for the remainder of the day with Melandra keeping guard over me while they finished the work. I just loved the winter too much to let it go without a fight. I had managed to delay them by a whole day but they still won in the end. I had been yelling and screaming that I wouldn’t let it be that easy for them the next year, which might have had something to do with why I had been banned from all upcoming winter wrap ups. Not one of my proudest moments.

Along with spring came one of the creepiest things I have ever been part of, shedding. I had gotten used to, or mostly used to my draconic body. So when I one day woke up, almost completely missing all my scales I freaked the fuck out. While I would like to say that I and Melandra had an epic battle as she tried to calm me down, it mostly consisted of me yelling for a minute before her patience had worn thin and she knocked me out.

We had also at that point given up hope about Annie Smith’s sister. The investigation hadn’t turned up any clues or leads at all, that along with the fact that the disappearances had stopped suddenly during the winter made hope of finding a breakthrough even slimmer. I knew Captain Dash was one of the ponies that was working on this case, or rather one of the ponies who was in charge of the work on that case. I hadn’t been surprised that he hadn’t visited at all during my stay in Ponyville; He had mentioned in some of his letters how much work they had on their hooves. So I was understandably more than surprised, when said pony showed up at my house one night, drenched in sweat and looking like all hell was on his tail.

I woke in the middle of the night as something shook me hard, my eyes bursting open in shock from the rude awakening to see my friend Captain Dash standing over me. He was breathing heavily, that along with his bloodshot eyes and the fact that his mane was a mess, got me worried. This was a pony that carried himself in a certain way, usually a perverted way but still. I had never seen him like that before.

“Get up Jake. We need to get out of here” I barely had time to blink before he bit down on my tail and dragged me out of bed. “Get up Jake, I don’t have time to explain” He said with such seriousness, I don’t think I had ever seen in a pony to that point.

“What about Cleo and Melandra?” I said as I grabbed my pants, sliding them on as fast as I could. I had already explained the situation with Cleo to Dash in some of my letters, much to his amusement. Annie was home at the farm, she switched between staying there and at my place so I wouldn’t have to worry about her in this situation it seemed, or so I hoped at least.

“They are already outside, Dragon lady grabbed Cleo as soon as I explained the situation to her, I don’t know how you slept through me barging in here.” I knew I was a heavy sleeper but even I was surprised by that. “I’ll explain everything once we catch up with them. We need to get out of here before they arrive” He said before he set of, galloping out my broken front door. I was going to ask him some more but I could only run after him. If something had him that stressed then it had to be important after all. That and I trusted him. I hadn’t seen him for a while but he was still one of the few good friends I had in Equestria.

The night sky and cold air that still lingered in spring greeted me as I followed him outside. With how dark it actually was it must have been the middle of the night, though it was hard to tell exactly what time it was. We ran away from my house and the town, towards a small hill that was located just outside where the Everfree forest began. I kept looking behind me as we run, hoping to spot something that would give me a clue to what was going on, but to my disappointment I couldn’t much due to the darkness that the night provided.

We finally came to a stop on top of the hill where Melandra and Cleo was waiting for us. The Dragon in disguise was still looking as perfect as ever, despite being awoken in the middle of the night. Cleo on the other hand was rubbing her eyes, looking like she was having a struggle staying awake for even a second.

“So what’s going on?” I finally asked as Dash and Melandra were both looking out towards the town and my house.

The Pegasus turned his head toward me and waved me over to where he and Melandra stood. “Have you been keeping tabs on the disappearing cases that had been going on?” was what he asked me when I came over to where they stood. Why would he ask me that, I wondered?

“Not much considering no pony has been taken in months” I replied, wanting to know where he was going with this. “Last I heard everything went completely silent after Annie’s sister had been taken here in Ponyville” He nodded as he glanced back out towards the town.

“Then the news hasn’t spread this far just yet” he said, letting out a sigh as he shook his head. “Another disappearance happened last night in Canterlot. We found out around midday when a neighbor reported that she had seen what looked like a trashed living room, through one of the windows as she had walked by. It had a lot of the same similarities as the other disappearances, no signs of a break-in but this time along with the fact that a struggle had gone down in the living room we found some actual evidence. The first hard evidence in this case up until this point”

“But that’s a good thing right? That would mean that you finally have a chance to find out who did all of this and hopefully get the ponies back, right?” He just continued to look out towards the own, not saying anything. “Right?”

Before I had a chance to speak again, several lights suddenly appeared down in the area around my house, slowly advancing towards it. “What is that?” I asked him again as I struggled to see what the lights actually were. It wasn’t until they had completely surrounded my house that I could see it clearly. They wore an armor which I recognized from my stay in Canterlot. It was the armor of the royal guard; my house was currently being surrounded by what looked like members from the royal guard. I barely had any time to think about that before one of the ponies down there shouted something and all the guards started storming into my house. Leaving me speechless as I could only stand there, watching.

“Like I said, we found some evidence at the latest crime scene.” Captain Dash started as he continued to stare down at my house while it looked like it was being raided. “By the mess in the living room, there was assumed that the victim managed to put up a fight and several scales were found in the same room” He turned his head back towards me and looked me straight in the eyes. “I thought they looked familiar when I first saw them, and the magical signature on them along with their size only left one possible match.” I could see the sad and tired look on his face as I realized what was going on. “They belonged to you Jake”