A soul to spare

“Me… W-what do you mean? Do you think that I did it?” To say that I was surprised or caught off guard would be a severe understatement.

“No” Razor Dash shook his head. “I know you better than that, or I like to think that I do at least. Sadly that is not the only evidence against you. A witness claimed to have spotted an unusual creature leaving that neighborhood during the night, and from the description she gave it could be no mistake that he was describing you. You have a unique physique to say the least.” He glanced back down to my house where the guards, his guards, were continuing to turn my house upside down. “Let’s head away, when they don’t find you they will start searching the nearby area” He said, surprising me even more as we followed him.

“Wait, you’re not here to take me in?” A sudden pain erupted in the back of my head as that comment had earned me a slap from Melandra.

“You oaf, of course he is not planning on taking you in. Why else would he alert us and lead us away before the guards would arrive.” She scolded me, and she was right to do so. “But the captain of the guard wouldn’t do something like this normally. How bad is it really?” She asked Captain Dash, who in turn shook his head and let out a sigh.

“It’s really not good to be honest. I don’t think he did it, nor does Celestia, but with the amount of evidence it’s hard for either of us to do anything for him; officially at least. And Jake” He looked back at me. “You don’t exactly have most of the nobles on your side either. You remember professor Strings?” that name did sound familiar.

“You mean that annoying stallion that always wanted me to elaborate on where I was from and my knowledge from there, since he found out that I was from another world?” Yeah, I remembered him alright.

“Wait, you’re from another world? How come you never told me this?” Cleo complained as she kept up with the rest of us

“Because I didn’t want to talk about it, I can’t return anyway so I did not see a reason too. Why were you asking about that crazy stallion?” I asked Razor. I don’t think Cleo was satisfied with my answer because she huffed and pulled a little ahead.

“Because he has been riling up the nobles, turning them against you, I don’t know why he did it but he succeeded. That’s why Celestia sent me, to warn and watch over you until all of this is sorted out.” He thought for a moment before speaking up again. “What we should do first is start to look at the so called evidence against you. I suspected that the scales were planted, but I didn’t have any proof. And I’ve heard that it’s next to impossible to remove them from a dragon without said dragon noticing. Do you have any clue on how somepony could have gotten their hooves on them?”

He was right; I had tested that out in the past. Forcibly pulling out a scale was not a pleasant experience, and not something I would do again. “Well I’m not missing any right now. I mean I went through shedding now that I think about it but that was a long while back” I said, catching Melandra staring at me.

“And where did you put them?” She asked, while glaring daggers at me.

“Umm… I threw it away?” I immediately knew I had messed up by the look she had upon her face.

“You don’t throw your scales away,” She let out a sad sigh. “All dragons take great care in keeping their scales alongside the rest of their hoard. Dragon scales are worth incredibly much to the right ponies. It’s illegal to buy or sell them, but there are still some cases where they are used for potions or other creations. Have you even read the Draconicon I passed on to you?” She asked.

“Have you seen the size of that thing? Not only that but I could swear that there is something magical about that book. I like to think that I have read a good portion of it, but I never seem to make any progress. The thing seems like it’s never-ending.”

Melandra sighed sadly once again and hit me on the head while Captain Dash laughed.

“The universe must think that it is hilarious that I ended up with someone as useless as you as my student.”

“Hey, this was not my first choice either.” That remark got me yet another slap in the back of the head.

“As fun as it is to watch you two squabble, we have some ground to cover. So let's move it!” I wanted to retort, and even get a bit of revenge on Melandra. But Razor Dash had a good point. So we all silently followed after him into the night.

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

“So, about that talk you promised me.” Cleo had wandered off from the center of the camp, to the outskirts where I had settled down. It was a fairly basic camp. Some leaf and foliage had been gathered and used to make some makeshift bedding. We couldn’t start any fires, it would have made it too easy to spot us, but Melandra had cast a spell over the others, protecting them from the night's chill. It was far from perfect, but we needed to rest.

“Right, I guess I did promise that” I let out a sigh as I glanced over to her. She had continued to pester me throughout our journey, and eventually I had promised her that I would tell her everything.

She was taking things pretty well, better than I was, at least considering what had happened this morning. I just couldn’t think of anyone that would frame me for something like this. It’s not like I had made enemies, well not that many enemies since I got here.

Well, I guess there was that one professor. And most of the maids in Canterlot castle really know how to hold a grudge. Oh and there was that… Well I guess that I had managed to piss off a fair share of people since my arrival. But surely not enough that would result in something like this. I blinked as a paw was suddenly being waved in front of my eyes.

“Hello? You kind of zoned out there for a moment. Are you alright?” Cleo asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry. Was just lost in thought there for a moment. Before I start though, I have a question for you. You have told me a lot about yourself and Sphinxes in general, but have you ever heard of something called a human?” I asked her, while using one of my claws to draw a rough outline of one.

“No I haven’t” She paused, watching my hand intensely as I finished my drawing. “But I have seen that before. We don’t have any names for them; they are depicted on the walls in some of our oldest temples. The language was lost to us long ago. I remember my teacher talking about his theories about them. The way they were depicted he was sure that they had something to do with the beginning of our race, our creation I think he called it. That’s the gist of it at least.” I wasn’t too surprised. The Sphinx had a mostly human face after all. Maybe I could travel there and take a look at those temples myself one day.

“Well, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I used to be a human, before I came here at least.” I decided to skip the story of how I became what I was now; she didn’t need to hear that. “Why I did not talk that much about it, was not entirely my idea either. I spoke to Celestia several times about it right after I got to Canterlot. She listened intently as I talked about my world, all the wonders about it, and what was different from this world. My old world was much more technologically advanced you see. There was a lot of things about my old world which I did not have knowledge about how things worked, and while she wanted to know as much as she could, we agreed that maybe my limited knowledge was for the best in some areas. In any case, she decided that I was not to talk to any of her ponies about what I knew. That it would be better to let them figure out things for their own, without me throwing an unknown element into the mix. There were a few things that I knew that she thought could be helpful to her ponies, and she said that she would introduce them slowly and controlled. But ultimately I was told to keep my mouth shut. Not that I minded too much, she made some good points so I guess I can agree with her.”

“So, does that mean that you won’t be able to tell me anything about your world?” I could tell she was a little disappointed, Sphinxes had a natural thirst for knowledge after all, and young Cleo was no exception.

“I never said that now did I?” I said with a grin, while Cleo donned a confused expression. “I had to promise not to talk to any ponies about it. But you are not a pony, now are you? You’re my little apprentice, and I’m going to make you into a legendary blacksmith whose name will be put into the history books. I’m going to teach you all that I know and more. So don’t worry, you’ll get your stories” I laughed happily as she tackled me with a hug. With her size and intellect it was easy to forget that she was still just a little girl, barely in her teenage years. But she still had her moments where her true age shined through. Celestia would probably not be too happy with me if she found out, but frankly I did not care.

“Easy there kiddo” I tipped her over so she was no longer pinning me to the ground with her hugging. “Now, it’s quite a lot to tell, and it will take more than tonight but I guess we have to start somewhere. The planet I was from is known as Earth, it’s quite similar to this world from what I have gathered so far, but so different at the same time…

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

The time flew by rather quickly as I told Cleo about earth and humanity. We talked about nature, how everything back there was wild and free, in contrast to how it had been tamed here. I told her a little about our technology, giving her a brief history of some of our major scientific breakthroughs, choosing to go into more detail at a later time. She listened intently most of the time, only stopping me to ask questions at a few points. But it had already been late when we had started our little story session and it was not long before Cleo was out like a light, curled up in a cute manner and purring silently in her sleep.

“Got tired from listening to my ramblings eh? I would too. You probably wouldn’t understand anything if you could hear me now, but I think we humans were wrong about the sphinxes being part human, well if your looks are anything to go by at least.” I trailed one of my claws up one of her pointed ears, before ruffling her hair slightly. “Look more elvish to me, but what do I know.” I looked back to the campsite, where I could spot Razor Dash, sleeping underneath a blanket of leaves. Melandra had decided to stand guard while the rest of us got our rest, didn’t need to sleep as often, being a dragon and all.

Guess the same goes for me too. Maybe I should start acting a little more like a proper dragon…. Hoarding things, study more of the Draconicon. Taking my responsibilities as a silver dragon a little more seriously… Eh, maybe not. I think I’d rather just keep being awesome. Give myself a few centuries; I got plenty of time after all. My thought process was interrupted, as Melandra came walking out of the forest and into the clearing, she had dropped part of her pony disguise and was carrying a familiar pony in her dragon tail.

“Looks like we were followed after all, Dash may know how to hide things from his own unit, but he is not as good as he thinks he is apparently. You deal with her; she is your marefriend after all.” She said, dropping said pony down in front of me, before she picked up Cleo in her tail and carried away to the center of the campsite.

“H-hello there Jake” She sat down at my side, and was shuffling nervously with her hooves.

“Hello Annie” It did not surprise me that much that she of all ponies had managed to find us, she knew the area pretty well after all. “So I guess this means you heard of what happened right?” She nodded.

“Ah heard about pretty early in the morning, news spreads fast in a small town like ours after all.”

“That it does.” I agreed. “So do you believe them? Do you think I did it?”

“No of course not, I know that you didn’t do it. I refuse to believe that you could do something like that.” She said the last part under her breath, like she was speaking to herself, but it was still loud enough for me to hear it.

“Well it makes me happy to hear that from you” I smiled and pulled her a little closer to me. “I was framed for something I did not do, and I have no idea why somepony would do it either. I’m happy that Celestia believes in me, if she had not sent Razor Dash to warn me I would probably be behind bars right now. Sadly there is just too much evidence against me for her to do anything other than what she has already done.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“The plan is to head to Canterlot. I know-” I was interrupted before I had a chance to continue speaking.

“What? You can’t possibly think going there is a good idea? You will be arrested on sight.”

“I know that it’s not the best of ideas. But the only lead we have is there. We have to find and talk with the witness that claimed that she saw me. Hopefully that will get us somewhere. Besides, we have a plan on how to get in and out undetected.”

None of us said anything for a little while, with everything that had happened today it was nice to just relax with somepony I cared about. One does not need to speak to communicate; the way she leaned against me was nice and soothing, just as I knew she enjoyed it when I wrapped my tail around her. It was a moment of comfortable silence that I think we both needed.

“So why did you come after us?” I was the one to break the silence.

“After what the guards said, what they accused you of. I had to see you, even if I knew they were wrong.” She looked up to me as she spoke.

I nodded; it was like her to do something like that. Headstrong and had a tendency to rush into things without thinking them over.

“Alright, it’s getting late though; we should probably get some sleep too. Then you head back to Ponyville in the morning.”

“But-“

“No buts. With the guards poking around there, the rest of your family is probably worried sick about you.” I knew that she probably wanted to help, and I would have loved to have her come with. But with her sister still missing, it would probably be better if she remained at home.

“Fine… you are right, I did not even say anything when I left this morning. But you are going to make this up to me when you come back.” She did a complete turnaround, from sad and concerned to smiling playfully.

“You know that I will.” I leaned down and gave her a small kiss. I was still unsure when we started our relationship, the thought of being with a pony was weird to me, and it still is. But I had grown to love her.

“I love you” She nuzzled against me as I picked her up and walked towards the campsite.

“… I love you too”

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

“I feel like I must say that I am not comfortable with this.” We were standing at the outskirts of Canterlot, hidden just off the main road and Razor Dash was whining.

“You know why we have to do it. Jake would be arrested on sight, both of us are known within this city, and Cleo makes a scene just by being herself. Now hold still, this will sting a bit.” Melandra’s wings started glowing intensely as she used her magic.

We had decided that disguising ourselves would be the best course of action. Chances were that Melandra and Razor would be fine without a disguise but the dragoness had decided otherwise. Better safe than sorry and all that.

When the light faded, a light brown Pegasus stood in his place. His mane was also brown, though it was a darker tone, and he had an hourglass for a cutiemark.

I had kept my color scheme in the transformation, being turned into a silver colored earth pony. Melandra had changed herself to a unicorn and Cleo…

“You know, you look just adorable like that” I was smiling down at the adorable little filly that Cleo had been turned into.

“I’ll show you adorable” She said as she pounced on me, almost crushing me as she slammed me into the ground.

Oh yea, that’s right. The weight does not change with the transformation, thanks for reminding me brain. I thought while trying desperately to get some air into my lungs, while the little filly on my chest was looking distraught and jumped off immediately.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

“Oh let him be, he can take worse.” Thank you for the encouraging words Dash, I will be sure to repay you when I can breathe again.

“Enough fooling around, you know where the witness lives right?” Melandra asked Razor Dash, who nodded as I sat back up again. “Good then take us there; we will see what role she has in this.” Everything in our plan revolved around this one pony.

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

“Are you sure that this is the registered address?” Melandra asked as we walked along, we had entered one of the poorer sections of town. “Most housed here looked like they were about to fall down!”

“Yes, I am sure. I remember it clear as day… but she really did not seem like the kind of pony that lived in this area.” Dash commented as he looked around. “Here we are…” We stopped in front of the most rundown house of them all. The windows were boarded shut, and I think I the door was half rotten even.

“Well here goes nothing.” I reached out and opened the door. Strangely enough it swung open without making a single sound. “Hello?” I called out as I stepped in. “Anypony home?” But I did not receive any answer.

“I can’t smell or hear anypony. I don’t think she is home…” Melandra sighed in a defeated tone.

“Well, we just have to wait for her then. If she truly lives here then she will come back and we can talk to her then.” Razor Dash said as he walked in after us and closed the door behind him.

“Right…” I looked around the house… if it could even be called a house in the state it was in. “Sorry but I don’t think…” I stopped as something peculiar caught my attention.

On the table in front of me was a small note. But what was strange was what was written on said note.

“To Jake,” Well it was apparently for me so I reached out to pick it up. I heard Melandra shout some kind of warning, but it was too late. The moment my hand touched the note, a strange light shot out from it and into my face. Then everything went white…

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

I blinked and rubbed my eyes from whatever that darned note had done to me. When I finally opened my eyes, all I saw before me was a white expanse.

It went on forever, not a single thing in sight. As far as I could see it went on forever.

“Where the hell am I? Hello!” I shouted out. There was absolutely nothing. I turned around and it was the same in that direction. I could not even make the distinction of where the ground ended and the sky began, it was all white.

“Hello Jake.” I heard someone say from behind me. Turning around I was struck speechless, he could not be here. He was dead; I knew that he was dead. I tried to back away, but fell down in terror as my head tried to comprehend what I saw.

“Or should I rather say, subject 217.”