Two Minds

Chapters

Cheese - Day 1
Boots - Day 1
Cheese - Beginnings
Cheese - What's Next
Boots - What's Next
Cheese - Surviving
Boots - Surviving
Cheese - Duality
Boots - Duality
Interlude
Cheese - Travel
Boots - Travel
Boots - Purpose
Prologue
Boots - Beginnings

Cheese - Day 1

Bird Alarms

I woke up to chirping birds. The sun was high overhead, either just before or just after noon. I was lying on my back, and trees were visible on the edges of my vision, with a large canopy high above me. Strange swirls of dim light floated through the air. ‘Pretty…’ It was quite peaceful out all things considered. Must be a rainforest, judging by the large vines I could see hanging from the trees. I would have been content to lay there if I had actually felt tired. Moving, however, proved to be a problem.

First, I tried to turn my head. When my vision did not change, I realized something was wrong. I attempted to move my arms to see what was wrong, only to have them refuse to move either. Starting to panic, I tested my legs. Again, I received no response, At this point, my mind was freaking out. I tried to scream, only to find myself robbed of my voice as well, my mouth sending no signals back to me.

Fear overtook me then. If I had been able to move or speak, I probably would have looked like I was having a seizure. As it was, I just screamed in my head. I've never been afraid of much; no arachnophobia or fear of closed spaces or silly things like that. Having absolutely no control over my body, however, was definitely not okay with me. I was trapped within my own body and unable to even see what was wrong with it. After about five minutes of mental screaming, I was able to calm my jimmies. Nothing was actually causing me pain. I felt like I was in perfect health, despite the fact that none of my extremities were functioning

It was at this point that I noticed a distinct lack of movement around where my chest should have been. Trying to keep from panicking again, I tested for all of the sensations I should have been feeling, like humidity or heat considering the locale.

I could see, I could hear. No feeling from my nose or mouth, no intake of air whatsoever and certainly no flavors. So smell and taste were out too, as well as an apparent need to breathe. Touch however... closing my eyes, which still seemed to work, I focused on my chest and discovered a pocket of somewhat comforting warmth.

Now, I could get over not needing to breathe. Could make some things, like swimming, way easier. While I'd certainly miss the smell of chocolate and rain after a storm, I’d could deal with it. However, I was certainly not interested in strange bodies of heat floating around inside my body when I had no idea where they came from. ‘Did somebody find and rape me and I’m repressing the memory? I hope not. I don’t drink, so it can’t be from a crazy night I forgot about…Wow, that's dark.’

As I mentally poked at the heat source, it suddenly burst, so to speak. At once, my entire body felt warm and tingly, overflowing with an unknown strength. At first, it was nice, filling me with peace. Soon though, it was starting to become overbearing, almost burning like too many burritos at a Friday evening cook-out. As it started to actually feel painful, I hurriedly tried to redirect it at the ground I was laying on. Maybe that’ll jump-start my arms. Or something. I was not thinking very clearly, some panic remaining from earlier. But my hasty decision did manage something entirely unexpected.

*FWOOM*

As I redirected the energy, the pain lessened slightly. However, I shot up into the air.

Oh my god what's happening why is the sky getting closer why can i still not move this is not ok!

I still couldn’t feel or move my arms. I still got no response from my legs. Just straight into the air, spinning as I went. I’d like to say I noticed more about my surrounding than the jungle flashing beneath me but I was rotating far too quickly for my vision to keep up, especially since I couldn’t do that trick ice skaters do where they keep their head facing one direction until they have to spin it. I was rather dizzy and was primarily concerned with stopping. I tried redirecting the energy towards where my legs were supposed to be.

*FWOOM*

This stopped my upwards motion slowly as I was now rocketing off in the opposite direction of my feet – which I still couldn’t see.

What's going on!?

While I was no longer going up, the spinning wound down so I was facing the trees beneath me. Now, I could see a large forest or jungle and in the distance, what appeared to be an ocean. None of this solved the issue of my continued motion and state of not being on the nice safe ground. The energy didn’t hurt anymore, though it still burned a little. So I decided to just stop directing it. As one might expect, this was a bad idea.

*FWOOOooo-phssst*

Now I was falling. As I watched the ground rush to me, my brain froze up. No thoughts or anything besides utmost terror passed through my mind as I watched the trees grow ever closer. About 100 meters above the canopy, my brain kicked back in, which was mostly useless considering I had fallen like a brick from who knows what height. But it did give me some insight.

‘Well, considering I’m about to die, I might as well figure out where my resting place is and why I can fly.’ I tried to move my eyes and was surprised when my vision shifted. I still felt no movement from my neck though. I was staring ahead of my trajectory. Seemed I was going to land in or next to a lake a mile or two in from the ocean. Knowing my luck, it would probably be the shore next to the lake I land on. Or a rock. The ground was approaching fast.

‘Why not try what I did earlier? Wouldn’t that make sense, using the funky heat power stuff? Course I’d just rocket into the sky again-’

*BAM*

Ah, hello ground… I’m not dead?

I shifted my vision around and found myself looking at the sky. And not in pain. Which was immensely confusing to me. So let’s take an account of today’s day so far: Wake up in forest after having dream about getting sucked into a rainbow vortex and reliving memories of the mane six. Check. Lack the ability to speak, the need to breathe, and the control of my limbs. Check. Discover weird body heat and use it to fly to what should have been my death. Check. Also, have yet to piss myself. That’s good. So, who gave me drugs? Cause I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m on right now, though the clarity of thought says otherwise. In a coma then? …No way to determine that truth, though, again, awareness of my situation might say otherwise… Then again, I have no idea what a coma is like. We’ll go with coma for now. Time to see if I can be more delicate with the…heat-y stuff.

Suffice to say, I had no idea what I was doing. Every attempt to will short bursts of energy ended in me jumping around in the sand like a maladapted Magikarp. Eventually I stopped trying until I had thought more about how to deal with the energy stuff. In the meantime, I practiced shifting my vision and got a better look at my surroundings. First, I was definitely in a jungle of some kind. I saw at least four toucans and even more parakeets, of various colors. I couldn’t tell how hot or humid it was though. I think I might have been able to feel heat but that could have been the heat from my insides. The "lake" I was near was only about 100 feet across and seemed to extend 50 or so feet in either direction. It was surprisingly clear considering the vegetative growth nearby, and incredibly calm. Must be visited often. ‘Which means someone might find me and be able to help me! Yes!’ Nothing else in the visible area was particularly interesting. The sun had moved to the top of its arc and was now on its downward course. Probably about 1 PM.

Since I won’t be doing anything besides laying here… What about those memories? Why did I have those as dreams? Let’s see. The first was Twilight using the elements for the first time. What was most remarkable about that? Probably understanding the elements and using them. All that magic – what a feeling! Wait… Thinking about it, that’s what this heat feels like! Does that mean I’m using magic? But how do I use it? And why do I have it? Argh, so many questions without answers!!! I’ve already “used” it, if zooming into the air and shooting myself to a pond counts as using magic. Okay, slow down. Think. What do you know about magic besides jack shit?

.......

...Okay, what do I know about FICTIONAL magic? Well, a couple of fanfics I’ve read mention Sweetie learning telekinesis and supposing this magic I’m using is similar to unicorn magic, hopefully it’ll work.. What was it? “It’s like you have a paw that can grasp and surround things with.” Here goes nothing.

My first subject was a shell near the water. Reaching out with my mind, I tried to direct the magic again. The shell shot somewhere into the forest, leaving a hole in the leaves it passed through. I heard a loud thunk in the distance. I was obviously doing this wrong. Imagining my magic as a hand instead, it tried to pick up another nearby shell. To my never-ending relief, it floated in a pale blue aura. Moving didn’t require much effort either. The shell went exactly where I wanted it. I spent some glee-filled minutes make it zoom about like an airplane, complete with noises inside my head. Can I pick up more than one at a time? I focused on another shell while keeping track of the one I was already holding. I managed it and tried to add more and more. After about an hour of experimentation, I discovered I could hold about 8 at once before I lost focus, 10 if they were in my range of vision. I had yet to test weight and how much I could lift, but that could wait. I spent another half an hour or so flying the shells into each other, playing out a silly airship scene in my head. Finally bored, I turned my thoughts inward.

Hehe, well, that was fun. What now though? I still can’t move or see what’s wrong with me. Can I pick myself up with telekinesis? Then I could hover myself over the water and get a better look at what’s wrong. I suppose it’s worth a shot, though I’m pretty sure I remember Twilight needing an extra spell for that… Oh well. Guess I can try.

Imagining a hand around myself seemed to work. As I imagined my body being picked up, my vision did shift. I was able to move myself. This was good. The warmth was decreasing faster than with the seashells by a lot however. So maybe weight has something to do with it. Or maybe there’s a reason a separate spell is required for self-levitation. Reduces the amount of magic needed? Well, time to go see what’s wrong with myself. Can learn about magic later I floated myself over the pond and looked down. What I saw locked my brain down.

I was a rock.

A bloody crystal formation.

Like the ones you see in a Final Fantasy game to save at, just a giant hunk of multi-faceted crystal.

Words cannot describe how dumbfounded I felt. I’m surprised I even managed to hold my concentration on the telekinesis holding me up. I floated there for at least five minutes, staring at the reflection, just staring. Thoughts refused to flow. Slowly, I came back to myself trying to make sense of the issue at hand. I was about three feet in length and about two feet wide around my center. My edges tapered to a point on either end of my body, which almost looked like two cones joined together at the base, only with a lot of uneven facets instead of a smooth curved surface.

Why am I a crystal? Like, seriously, what the everliving floral undergarments? I’ve had dreams before but never have I been anything other than a human! I guess that explains why I can’t move anything; nothing to move. I’m definitely not in a dream. I guess a coma is still a possibility but I’m feeling less and less like that’s the case. And I’ve been awake for far too long for this to still be considered a hallucination. So is this real then? If it is, how did I become a crystal? Wait, how am I even thinking without a brain!? Does that mean memories are stored in the soul and not the gray matter? I suppose this lets me prove souls exist. Hooray.

During this internal monologue, I levitated myself over to a boulder, leaned myself against it, shifting my vision to look at the sky and released the magic. Speaking of souls, am I even me? Am I just a clone of a personality? ...Well, that doesn’t really matter I guess. “I think therefore I am” and stuff. That applies to the situation right? Even if I am a fake, doesn’t invalidate my right to live. But man am I tired! I didn’t think crystals could get tired, though what do I know about bloody sentient geodes or whatever. Is it because I was using magic? Or maybe because I was using it on myself? I seem to recall Twilight not using self-levitation until she got to the Crystal Empire. Maybe it uses a lot of magic. Or maybe there’s a special way to do magic so that it uses less actually magic. Ugh, I hope don’t have to find mythical pastel ponies to help me. Am I even on Earth? Haaaa, I’ll just... sleep, if that’s even possible. Hopefully I’ll regain magic or something. No clues to go on at the moment.

*Crack*

I spun my vision towards the sound and grabbed a stick with my magic.

Now there’s a cat dude with a spear, staring at me with utter confusion.

“What...is that?”

My day just keeps getting weirder.

Author's Note

Yay! Next chapter is go.

CRYSTAAAAAAAALSSSSS

And thanks again to my IRL pre-readers. This would not be half as good without them!

Boots - Day 1

Benny Hill Got Nuthin' on Me

A massive blue dragon sailed across the morning sky. It was a good morning - his serfs had needed no reprimands, nor his female "attendants" any assistance. Even the meat had been good that morning. The mines were yielding huge amounts of gold, gems and other shiny objects. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a pinpoint of bright light in the distance. He turned his head just in time for an object to hurtle from the light and scrape some scales off the top of his head, leaving it defenseless and very tender. Roaring in pain, he swiped at the object, only to find it gone in some direction he couldn't follow. In a rage, he flew back to his home to organize a search party for the offending object, that he might crush it in his claws.

The sun shone high, just around 11 in the morning. A young dragon-child made her way towards the sea cliffs near her home in the dragon badlands, walking around the many hills. Living in a small kingdom of sorts, her life was not so nice as the lives of dragons who lived on their own. She served underneath a large, powerful and arrogant blue dragon who went by the name of Lord Foecruncher, working in the treasure mines. Free dragons came and went and did as they pleased; but for her and all the other dragons in the mountain, everyday was more endless drudgery.

Earlier, she had been the only dragon to see a small object shoot through the sky and land somewhere out near the sea-cliffs. Shortly after this, the lord had come back to the mountain kingdom in a rage, demanding to know if anyone had seen something in the sky and insisting a search party be organized to go search for it. When she had spoken up, she was also sent to go alone; the spot she had seen it fall was filled with all kinds of vile monsters and she was expendable.

She shivered as she recalled how he had promised her a "reward" when she returned. He probably thought joining his harem could be considered an honor. As she plodded along, she took care with her surroundings. She could spot possible haunts for the monsters out here, but her stealthy, two-footed walking would not save her from an accidental confrontation. She estimated two hours would pass before she safely reached where she believed the object to have impacted. Hopefully, she could avoid the lord's wrath for a while if she found it, maybe even find a way to refuse entrance to his harem.

I woke to the sound of waves crashing against a cliff. Opening my eyes, I discovered the nasty, mean sun and a fading headache; I promptly re-closed my eyes and rolled over.and pushed myself up. I stood and took stock of my surroundings, all of which had a dark border.

Sea - Check

Tall cliffs with spiky rocks at the bottom - Check

No vegetation to speak of - Check

Holey, craggy hills that litter the landscape like so many discarded pebbles off a dump truck - Check

I must be in Ireland.

Maybe New Zealand.

'So why am I in Ireland? Last I remember, I was watching the season 3 premiere. Then there was a swirly rainbow slide. Then I fell asleep and...dreamt I was Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Were those actually memories? Why were their weirdos at the gala? I don't remember them fro-'"AUUUGH!'

My head erupted in pain. I fell to the ground, rolling around as my brain tried to eat itself. Yet, as soon as it had come, the pain left, leaving me winded. After taking a few breaths to calm myself, I sat up and looked around. I'd never experienced anything like that before - that was far more powerful than any headache I'd ever had. As I felt around my head, I jerked my hand back as I felt something very much not hair twitch against it.

Reaching back slowly, I was met with a scaly protrusion that was attached to my head. Even more concerning was that it seemed to have replaced my hair entirely. Pulling it around revealed what I had felt before - a scaly tendril that I could feel through. A blue scaly tendril. The same color of my now scaled hands. Reaching out, I examined my entire body. I could see that most of my chest and the inside of my legs and groin was a dark tan color, though it still seemed to be made of tiny scales. The back of my arms had scales slightly larger and blue, as did the outsides of my legs. Returning to my head, I realized that I had some kind of muzzle now and that instead of ears, I simply had ear holes. I really needed to find a pool of water or something else reflective. What had happened to me?

I went in search of still water in the area near where I had awoken. Finding none, I walked back to the small imprint on the ground where I had been laying, to find something entirely unexpected - my gamer chair, that had fallen with me. Still had the galaxy themed duct-tape I used to cover up the holes. That did not answer the question of how the hell it was here, in Ireland with me, after I had- Wait, how did I get to Ireland?

I shook my head, returning to the strange headaches that plagued me before.

So what caused that? Was it something I was doing? But I was just standing there! I wasn't talking or dancing or moving at all! Was it because I was thinking? But I'm thinking about stuff right now. Thinking about thinking about thinking. Meta-woooorld! But that still doesn't really explain it. Maybe it's ca- "GRAAAAH"

Again, pain interrupted my thoughts and I writhed in place before the pain dissipated and I could think again.

So.... Maybe thinking makes my head hurt. I've always said so but now it's true. If that's so, then I need to distract mys-

Ooo, wait, am I still a guy?

....

After several experiments, I determined the answer to be yes.

I looked around trying to find any unnatural tracks or markings but found none. Survival dictated I stay in one place but that relied on people actually knowing the general area I was in. I doubted my family or friends knew I was in Ireland after being kidnapped. Probably kidnapped. Or a blue...

What am I? Wish I could see face to know proper. With scales, I could be a lizardman or a snake dude or any other kind of reptile...thing for that matter. Although...Nope, no tail

Thank God it wasn't a fursuit. No zipper.

After examining myself and finding no injuries, I decided to search for civilization. No direction had any immediate signs, like smoke or pollution haze. In fact, the only interesting landmark was a nearby mountain. As I was walking towards it through the short craggy mounds, I did chance across a still pool after about five minutes. 'Finally, some answers.'

I was likely less shocked than most people would have been but I'm pretty laid back all things considered. I recognized the facial makeup.

I appeared to be a dragonborn. No, not the dude from that one game, like a Dungeons and Dragons one. Humanoid but with scales and stuff. And my face was completely different of course.

Having a much better view of my body now, I could see the outsides of my arms and legs were layered with skin hugging scales that occasionally poked up towards my torso. My back had larger scales that seemed a little stronger. I might have been taller than I used to be; I couldn't really tell without some kind of measuring device. I had a muzzle on my face, nice sharp fangs and some cool looking head frills that seemed to act kind of like hair.

Well. I guess I finally got that height I always wanted. Even if it did come through some forgotten sci-fi freak transformation.

But back on topic. Why am I in Ireland? For now, the most obvious guess is someone drugged me, kidnapped me, performed SCIENCE! on me, and left me for dead . Now then-'

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

I turned around. Somehow, a massive scorpion, at least three times my size, had snuck up on me. I wasn't quite within range of its tail and... well, I got the feeling it was hungry. I started to back around the pool slowly, keeping my eyes glued to his tail. The scorpion started hissing. That was the only cue I needed. I booked it. The scorpion was fast but the many short, craggy mounds were slowing it down. I found a cave out of its view and ducked into it.

Taking some breaths to calm down, I turned into the cave and saw... three leopards staring back at me. I swear they were grinning.

Well, fuck you too universe

My day did not get any better.

The young she-dragon heard some kind of ruckus emanating from the mounds an hour before she reached where she suspected the object to have fallen. She heard yells, clattering, and shortly a number of terrified screams. Utterly confused, she moved closer and stood witness to one of the oddest and possibly funniest scenes she had seen in her life at the mountain.

A bipedal, vaguely draconic creature was being chased by pretty much every type of dangerous animal in the area. Ten leopards, eight scorpions, and five titan spiders were in hot pursuit; even a couple of ant-lions had crawled out of their pits to chase the strange creature. As she watched, she lost track of the participants as the zig-zagged around the rocks. Sometimes the creatures would pop out of nowhere and she swore there were more than she had originally seen. Eventually, all the participants re-convened on a single path - one that passed near the mound the young dragoness was currently perched on.

Acting before the chase could see her, she hopped down and hid in a crevice. As the biped ran in front of her, she pulled him in with her and hit the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious as the rest of the chase sped by, unheeding. Quickly, she darted away with her comparatively light cargo.

I regained consciousness slowly. My neck felt sore and bruised. Still, the ground beneath me felt comfortable at the moment, warm sun shining down on my face.

Then the monsters chasing me bubbled out of my memories. How I wasn't dead was a mystery. Clearly something had rendered me unconscious and that meant I should have been dead. Despite my evasive maneuvers, I'd never lost any of my pursuers; they'd been hot on my trail when- Something grabbed me!

Jerking to a sitting position and looking around, I thanked the good Lord in heaven there were no beasts in front of me.

"Eh-hem"

I stood and spun around to find a dragon with a strange expression behind me. The dragon's scales were dirty and dull, creating a gray coloration on what I assumed would otherwise be white scales. It was about the same size as me and was sitting on its hindquarters, arms crossed in front of it's chest. The neck wasn't long, only slightly longer than my own neck. The face was still round, kind of like Spike's but the muzzle was extended a little further and seemed less angular. I wasn't sure but I thought the body seemed more muscular than the average dragon might, though, given that my knowledge of dragon anatomy couldn't fill a thimble, that was mostly conjecture. There were a few scars here and there, marring the otherwise whole skin, detracting a bit from the majestic image.

But the eyes.... When I looked at them finally, the eyes were incredible. Unlike what one might expect, the pupils were human, almost anime-like, instead of the reptilian they should have been. The irises were truly golden, almost shining with inner glory and light. There was intelligence and power there and I found myself lost in the pools.

"Beautiful..." I mean, I don't normally compliment people outright, but those eyes were just....I can't even describe it. An itsy-bitsy-witsy little voice in the back of my head voiced some concern at my sudden lack of clear thought but I ignored it.

The dragon blinked at that as blush spread across Its face. "W-What?" I broke out of my stupor, surprised at the speech. The dragon talked! The voice seemed feminine, so I guessed it was female. Is she blushing? How do you blush with scales? Also, what was that weird mood I just broke from?

"I- uh-- that is-"

The dragon stared back at me, confusion written on her face.

“Um....Hi. Ni-nice day out, eh?” I grinned shakily

The dragon suddenly cracked a smile and shook her head. "You're weird." She stepped closer and started to sniff. What in the world? I know animals like to sniff new smells but she can talk! Doesn’t that mean a culture? Is sniffing a normal thing for her?

"What are you supposed to be?" Not the response I was expecting.

“I, uh, I'm a dragonborn. Kinda like humans. Do I smell or something?”

She blinked and stepped back, tilting her head in thought. "Uh, okay, how about a different question, what's your name?"

Do I not even get an answer? “Uh, Boots. I mean- yeah Boots.” While it wasn't my real name, something about this entire situation made me leery of giving out my actual name.

“Boots?” She inspected me a little more, crawling around and getting a full body view before stopping in front of me again.

"Well Boots, you’re my prisoner now. Let's get going." She smiled nervously. I frowned.

“Wait, what?! What did I do?”

Is she a dragon cop? They have Dragon cops in Ireland!? I haven’t even been here for an hour yet…. Yeah, okay that's silly.This is definitely not Ireland.

“I don't know, but I need to return you to my lord or I'm in trouble, so let's go." She suddenly bit my leg and tripped me, dragging me along with her mouth.

“FA! Ow, hey, what? Slow down a sec. Who is this lord? What did I ever do to him. Also, that hurts.” Man, this is some high-quality bullhockey. I wake up in an entirely new country, get chased by giant insects and now some kind of dragon-lady is taking me prisoner, by unnecessary force no less!

The dragon winced but continued dragging me. Okay, that’s downright rude. I reached up and clung to her head while I tried to pull my leg out mostly unscathed.

“Seriously, no, put me down. What's going on here?”

Instead of responding, she growled and clamped a little harder on my leg. “DAMN that hurts! Are you just going to keep ignoring me? I'm not about to go to court for something I know nothing about” I continued holding on to her head, though I’d given up on my leg. Any more pulling and I’d get a nasty gash from her teeth.

She groaned and spit my leg out of her mouth. "Look, I don't like it either, but there isn't much I can do, okay?!" I hopped off after she shook her head around.

"What do you mean? What's going on such that I have to come with you to some court, for doing something I'm not even aware of?”

She blinked. "What the heck does courting have to do with anything!" Her blush returned. "A-are you trying to court m-me? Is that why you said..." Man, that's some incredible shyness. Has no one ever complimented this girl before? I can’t claim to know anything about dragons but still. I didn’t think she was UGLY.

“Not that kind of court. You know a court of law? People on trial before a judge? Not courtship, geez. Not that you aren't- Nevermind. Not courtship. Laws, rules, stuff like that. I am going to a trial, right?”

Guilt splashed across her face and she looked away. "Well, no... not exactly."

I sighed. “Alright, please, let's just start from the beginning. Hi, my name is Boots. What's yours and what's going on?

She gave a sigh of her own, and finally met my eyes. "Hi... I'm Aurora... You hit Lord Foecruncher and now he wants you dead." I paused, trying to figure out what in the world she was talking about.

“Well, that's great. Who is this guy? And I'm pretty sure I haven't hit anything recently. Last time I punched something was...a few months ago at least, and it certainly wasn't a person.”

“No, I mean on the head, when you fell out of the sky. I'm supposed to retrieve you.”

“Fell out of the sky? Last thing I remember was sitting down watching TV and eating breakfast, followed by a massive vortex of whirling rainbows. Definitely not hitting some dragon on the head.”

Aurora gave me one of those looks when you’ve got a snake on your head and it's wearing a tiny sombrero and singing opera while... you get what I’m saying. Apparently, I’M the crazy one here.

Nothing new.

“So it doesn’t make sense. I never said that. My point is I definitely don’t remember colliding with a anyone’s skull at any point in recent memory.“

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.” She deadpans.

“Alright, if I hit this guy in the head, why isn’t he here, instead of you? Is he just too lazy to get off his ass and confront me? I mean, I’m sorry if I did but I can’t exactly apologize to him if he’s not here.”

She shrugged. “Uh, well… I guess he didn’t see you as that much of a problem?”

“Then why in the world is he even having me brought back? If it’s not a problem, can’t I just tell you I’m sorry, it won’t happen again and be done with it?” I figured this Foecruncher guy must have had more than a few screws loose.

“Well…that’s not how it goes, no. Usually, the Lord looks at you, gives judgement, and then you go into the pit.”

“So he’s a tyrant. great. You’re a dragon, can’t you just eat- Wait, no, he’s another dragon isn’t he?”

Aurora blinked at that and cracked a small smile. “Well duh, what else would he be?”

“I don’t know! I just woke up here today! I don’t know jack shizzy about what’s going on right now.”

“Okay, okay, I get it…just, please listen. I hate that it has to be this way, and I’m sorry, but I need you to come back with me now.” She pleaded, moving for my ankles once again.

I hopped away from her talons. “So I can what? Die? Cause that’s pretty much what you told me would just happen.”

She grew a frown, and whimpered. “I really am sorry about it, but there’s nothing I can do. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.”

“What do you mean there’s nothing to be done? He’s already made it clear I’m not worth personally coming to get. I’ll just leave and you can say you didn’t find me- ” As angry as this entire conversation was making me, that train of thought caught up with me. If she came back empty-handed, she would probably die, from the sound of this brute. "Or would that get you killed?" That put me deep into thought.

Which, of course, meant I also ended up on the ground in pain.

The gray dragoness backed away quickly, eyes wide in shock. “Um…?”

Slowly, the pain passed and I regained my ability to breathe. Groaning as I sat up, I rubbed the side of my head and looked at her.

“Why don’t you just run away?”

Aurora gulped just as the words left my mouth, then began to furiously shake her head. “Mm-mm, that’s impossible, there’s no chance!”

“Why not? No one is out here right now besides you and me, right?” I got to my feet and dusted myself off.

She only continued to shake her head and back away. “They’ll find me, Lord Foecruncher is relentless, he’ll hunt me down, I'd never get a moment's rest!”

Guess this isn’t working. “He's too lazy to come get me but not to hunt down a dragon he knows? Well, you aren’t leaving me much of a choice either. Either I come back with you and die or we try to escape and have some kind of chance at BOTH of us living. So, are you coming?” I tensed up, readying to run.

“No, you’re coming with me so I don’t get in trouble.” She crouched down, and I could see the muscles in her hind legs tightening.

Great, more running. I released control over my legs, dropping straight to the ground as she leapt towards me. I could see her surprised expression as she went through the air I had just been occupying. Springing to my feet, I ran in the opposite direction, fast as my legs could carry me.

Now, I'm not a sprinter but I do compete in pole vault on the track team and I’m one of the faster short distance runners I know. Not to mention, I’d just outrun a ridiculous number of bugs not half an hour previous. Even more, since my new body HAD to be stronger to keep up this running, I felt like I was flying across the ground, certainly faster than I had traveled any time before in my life.

So, when Aurora caught up to me in 20 seconds, I think my high-pitched yelp of surprise was warranted as she pinned me to the ground. I stared up at her eyes, which wavered somewhere between anger and fear. As I stared deeper and deeper, the words coming out of her mouth were drowned out by the intense sorrow I was seeing. My heart felt fit to burst. How could I possibly let her keep all this locked under wraps? Time slowed to a standstill as I saw more and more. My eyes began to moisten and soon I couldn’t hold back my tears.

Kiss her

I wrapped my arms around her neck and tried to pull her down, my eyes never leaving those golden irises filled with pain and loneliness. Her eyes shot open and she stared at my approach. just before I made contact, she hopped to a nearby wall in a flash in shock. I shook my head at the sudden disappearance of her weight and we stared and each other momentarily before she looked away, red as a tomato. In a rush, my brain reappeared from wherever the fuck it had fled to and I locked up.

WHAT DID I JUST DO!?

As I tried to process what the hell had just possessed me to kiss someone - someone I didn’t know in the slightest - Aurora also recovered from the embarrassment that had overtaken her features. The blush receded and she looked back at me. Slowly, arms shaking, she stood on her hind legs and grabbed me under my armpits, pulling me off the ground. And now I’m scared again.

“Never. Again.” Have you ever been thrown into a climbing wall? If so, I’m guessing this back-crunching feeling is what you get. Jagged rocks poked into my back after she awkwardly flung my body to the nearest hill. I fell gasping but I knew I didn’t have much time to recover. As she stomped over to me, I bolted. This time, though, there would be no straight lines. She wanted a chase, she was going to get one.

Cheese - Beginnings

Learning to Communicate Again

The cat-dude stood around five and a half feet and wore a green sleeveless fold-over shirt, with tan pants of some material I couldn't recognize. His fur was a dark orange and he had brown splotches all over his back. A swath of tan fur covered the inside of his neck and arms. His spear had been lowered but now it stood upright at his side as he stared at me. I'll call him Mr. Kitty until I know differently.

I, on the other hand, was trying to write a message into the sand with the stick I was levitating. It wasn't too bad but it was taking a while. I drew an arrow to myself and wrote

Help me, I can't talk.

This did nothing to alleviate Mr. Kitty's confusion

"I don't...understand? What...what are...you? A crystal? Is someone playing a trick? Show yourself!"

I drew a circle around me.

"..."

I wrote Only one here is me, I think

"I still can't read what you're writing."

He can't read it? But he's speaking English.....So, what do I do then? Draw pictograms? Ugggh, I'm terrible at Pictionary.

I drew a circle around my writing and drew some question marks next to it.

"You have a question?" 'Good, at least some punctuation is the same'

I drew an arrow to him, an empty circle near him and some question marks outside of it.

After studying it for a second, he asked "You want me to write something?"

I drew a check mark. Bright kid.

"Alright..."

He knelt and started writing. I was amazed. He was writing in what I recognized from the memories I had seen as Equestrian - and I understood what he was writing!!

He had written You're a dumb crystal and I hope you get shat on by a tortoise.

That's not very nice.

As I started out shakily, the knowledge of how to write the characters trickled in slowly and I began to write fairly confidently. 'And this just became a lot easier. Go freaky memories that aren't mine!'

Unused to the characters as I was, writing was hard at first. However, it came back to me much like riding a bike does. I scrawled I didn't realize you wrote Equestrian. Why do you know it, by the way? Also, it's not nice to wish others to be shat upon. Be more of a gentleman, I say.

He stared at me. I stared back. He stared some more. I stared back some more. He blinked

I wrote Hah! I win!

"That's not fair! You don't have eyes! Wait, I'm talking to a crystal. AUGH!" He held his head as he tried to make sense of his probably perturbed psyche.

You should get your head looked at if it's causing you so much pain.

"My head isn't causing me pain, YOU are! Ugh, since I can understand you now, what are you and what are you doing on Signal?"

Obviously, I am some kind of sentient crystal who can use magic. What I'm doing here, I have no idea. I woke up somewhere in the jungle and now I'm by this pond. I know nothing about this Signal you speak of.

"You don't know about Signal? How can you not know about Signal? What island did you think you were on?!"

I'm on an island? That explains the ocean I saw earlier. As to why I don't know, it's probably because before I woke up this morning, I wasn't a magic crystal of save file recording.

"Save what? And what were you before?"

I was a human, though considering you aren't one, you probably don't know what that is. Also, I don't remember any Signal Island. Might you know where that is compared to the closest large continent? His face paled when he read those words. I did not understand how fur could do that.

"You're...a human...just like the Captain..."

Excuse me?

"Ugh, this was just supposed to be a recon mission! How did I end up with one of the crazy things!?"

I see my reputation precedes me somehow. Suspicious. You still didn't answer my question, by the way.

"Ugh, the nearest continent is the Equestrian one. Before you ask any more, you're no longer on your planet or dimension. And now I need you to accompany me to the town. Also, welcome to Signal Island, where the people are free and the company friendly. I think that's what we were told to say if we found a human."

I took a few seconds before I responded. I have no problem following you back to wherever this town is, as I don't exactly have anywhere else to go. However, I will need some more time to recover my magic as it's the only way for me to move and I expended a lot today, unintentionally. And I'm sorry to hear I'm no longer on Earth. This will certainly put a damper on a number of things. Like my video game playing. I glanced around and saw the sky was darkening.

Despite my cool, calm and collected manner, courtesy of not having a face, I was pretty bothered and confused by the entire situation. Normally, I was not very easy to surprise or bother. On the one hand, it was not the first time I'd been away from home for an extended period of time. And this reeked of adventure, adventure that I couldn't have at home. A different dimension sounded like fun. On the other hand, I had no idea how to get home. There was nowhere to return to once the day was won and the adventure over. But, if I was trapped here, then I'd have to just make a new home. Easier said than done. Just as depressing either way.

"That's it? You're just going to come? I thought it would be harder."

Why?

"Humans seem to be rather...difficult creatures."

Oh, that's definitely true.

"You don't seem to be difficult."

You don't know me that well yet. Anyway, I think I need to sleep, or whatever it is that I do now. After that, I'll travel back with you. Okay?

"Okay...but I'm keeping an eye on you."

Feel free. I'm not going anywhere.

"Right..."

I looked around me once more.

.......

Damn is that a lot of scribbles. I've got to have taken up the entire ducking beach. As I looked at the sky, I noticed the sun was setting. How did it get that late? Man, writing in sand sure takes a lot of time. But now I need to sleep. I imagined closing my eyes as I had before and my sight deactivated. I can't help but feel like a part of me is missing. Spending some time now, it's like a hole. A hole in my very being. I hope I can find what was filling it.

I did not wake to chirping birds that day.

That day I woke up to a screaming cat-dude.

My senses came into focus quickly. It was still fairly early morning. I looked around and saw what troubled my new feline friend.

Five oversized buzzards had descended on him. They were all at least twice the size of the normal carrion-eating birds and seemed to have decided that Mr. Kitty was either dead or would make a good breakfast. Probably the latter, as he was very much not dead. I still haven't gotten his name have I?

I liked Mr. Kitty. Eating him was not okay. Thankfully, my sleep had brought back that nice, glowy feeling I had come to know as magic. It seemed there was more than yesterday, but the burn wasn't there. Does that mean I can increase my capacity? I'd be glad to hear that.

First, I grabbed one of the birds with my magic. It was a lot harder to do than with the shells, as the bird was squirming about as I focused my magic. I then mimicked my first experiment with a shell and sent him streaking into the forest. A loud crunch resounded from the jungle. I felt a little bad but he had been hurting Mr. Kitty. It wasn't the first time I had needed to hurt an animal to defend something, though it was normally myself being defended. While I had been focusing, Mr. Kitty had done his best to keep the other four at bay. I yanked another bird into the forest and another, hearing that same satisfying crunch each time. By this point, the last two had started to notice the magic I was using.

One determined the source of the magic aura his buddy was thrown in and flew to me, obscuring my vision. Blasted body aura giving away my position. Mr. Kitty yelped as something happened to him. The bird was attempting to lift me up but my faceted body gave him no purchase. It also seemed his claws weren't scratching or otherwise marring the surface of my body. That's neat. I suppose it's not easy to do damage to any kind of crystal. Wonder what my hardness rating is?....I'm glad I can't say that out loud, cause that would have been terrible

I grabbed the over-sized bird and threw him into the jungle with the rest, just in time to see Mr. Kitty hit the ground with a crunch. That...doesn't look good. His legs were bleeding. A lot. Bird first.

I flung the last bird into the forest, leaving a trail of destruction. Grabbing myself in telekinesis, I floated over to the cat who was groaning on the sand. I wasn't sure how high he had fallen from but his legs were definitely not supposed to stick out at that angle. Normally, I'd call for help on my cell phone and try and keep him from moving but without a proper body and no cell, I obviously couldn't do anything

"Help...*pant*...need to...Signal...."

Oh yeah, I have magic. That would help. I picked up my trusty stick and and waved it around myself, hoping he would get the message.

"...can't talk...right...*huff*... that way..." He pointed with his left arm in a direction.

Time to save a kitty-cat.

I lifted him in my magic field as well. My magic was dropping faster than before but it seemed I would have enough to get wherever I was going. Hopefully. Maybe. Floating us above the treetops, making sure his body didn't move from it's current position, I found the direction he was pointing and rocketed us that way.

Looking down, I discovered I was going incredibly fast, faster than a speeding car for sure. Definitely going to have to practice this more. At the same time, my magic reserves were dropping far faster than they had at any point so far, from making both myself and Mr. Kitty travel so fast while keeping him still. Can't have any jostling to his leg.

After only a few minutes, a lighthouse came into view. Hoping this was the village, I tried to slow myself and was relieved and surprised when it started to work. Wish it could have done that yesterday. Good thing it is working though. My magic was running very low and I felt exhausted. As I approached, I started to hear yells and screams. I was able to land in the middle of the town with my charge, setting him slowly down in the recently cleared plaza. He had passed out during the trip.

I was amazed by the variety of species I saw. There were ponies and griffons and diamond dogs and more of the cat people, dressed, or not dressed, in all manner of things. I think I even saw some tacky Hawaiian shirts. Holding onto my consciousness a little longer, I levitated a rock and dug Help him into the ground. Then I, too, fell to fatigue.

I'm spending far too much time asleep recently. At least my magic is back. Is it a little larger again?

When I opened my sight after an indeterminate amount of time, I found myself staring at a ceiling. Moving my vision around, it appeared I was strapped to a hospital bed. Random electrodes were attached to my crystalline form without pattern. I didn't remove the straps. With the entrance I made, I was pleasantly relieved to not find myself in a cell. I couldn't find a nurse button, so I resigned myself to thinking while I waited.

So, I'm not on Earth anymore, supposedly in another dimension. That sounds fun. And with the ponies I saw earlier, I must be in Equestria or at least on the planet. Mr. Kitty said an island right? Actually, come to think of it, how did they know I wasn't just a rock? Probably my aura. Maybe Mr. Kitty is awake! He could have explained some stuff to them. Although, now that I think about, I didn't really tell him much. He seemed to have heard of humans though. That's weird. If I'm in Equestria, how does he know about humans? I'll have to ask him about it. I don't what I'd do if I got sent to Equestria, though singing would probably be part of it. Too bad I can't sing. Wonder if there's a spell to play music...Or grant me speech? That would be even more useful. It's bothersome writing everything out. Takes way too long.

My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and a light tan unicorn with a dark brown mane in a lab coat walking in. Seeing as he probably had no way of knowing whether I was "awake", it's not surprising he went directly to the various machines surrounding me. He seemed to find the results unsatisfying but I doubt there was any good way to measure anything about me, except for maybe magic. I'm not really sure what I'm even made out of.

Looking around, I spied a pen on a table. I levitated it and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump. After waving the pen in front of him, I brought it over and tapped it on my shell.

"Er...I see you're...awake?"

He started pacing around my bed.

"This is the first time in ten hours there's been any magic around you, though your internal reserves have been replenishing steadily, at least as fast as a unicorn's, possibly faster. I'm hoping you can hear me. The scout you flew in earlier, Kahner, said you seemed to be able to hear but couldn't talk. He woke up an hour ago. I find this hard to believe considering the size of your magic reservoir, but if he's right about you being a human who just arrived, I suppose you wouldn't know how to use magic. Although... you do seem to have mastered simple levitation, not to mention the spell you must have used for the speeds at which you were flying."

He stopped pacing, turned towards me and...bowed?

"Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I am Dr. Quiet Peace and I've been monitoring you since you tipped over in the plaza. Normally, a nurse would be doing these simple procedures but with you being... whatever you are, I took the matter into my own hooves. Not to mention, yesterday was Hearth's Warming Day and I didn't want to call any of the nurses back. Unfortunately, the only thing I've been able to measure is your Biological/Magical Index, which I'm thinking is healthy, though I can't be sure considering I've never even heard of something like you. I have some questions for you but first I'll need a way for you to talk to me. Writing takes to long, so I'm going to cast a spell that allows you to project your thoughts for some time. We normally use it for patients who have injuries preventing them from talking, but it should be useful for your situation as well. You should be able to just focus like you're talking."

He took a second and his horn glowed white. I could feel magic washing over me but I couldn't really tell how it worked. I tried talking, like he said, and was pleasantly surprised to hear my voice again.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Oh hey, I can talk! Finally! Writing everything takes way too long. Thanks for that Doc, it was really bothering me. Oh, you said you had questions. Ask away! Oh, and can you teach me how to do that spell? It's reeeally useful." I couldn't tell where exactly my voice was coming from on my body, but heck if that mattered, I could talk again!

"Uh, yes... I'm probably not the best to teach you but I know someone who can. For now, you say you were a human. Do you know how you got here?"

"Nope! One day, I'm sitting watching ponies on the internet and the in the next moment, I'm falling down a pit of rainbows. I fell asleep and woke up somewhere on this island. As for how I got to the town, I've been directing magic out of my body. I'm pretty sure it's completely inefficient but I don't have much of a choice when I have no idea how to use it properly."

"Ah, you humans and your "internet"... So, you don't know how you got here. Do you have a plan, now that you're on Equis?"

"Um.... Not really. The world's called Equus? Interesting...I guess if there's one thing I need to do, it's find whatever I'm missing. Before you ask, I feel like I've got a hole in my....self. Like I've got a broken heart except it's not my heart that hurts. Does that make sense?"

"..Possibly. I've heard of people with only partial souls experiencing such a phenomenon but it usually leads to them losing some of their sanity. As you might imagine, it's an incredibly rare occurrence. Have you been hearing voices or noticed any changes in thought since you've come to this world?"

"Oh, certainly not, though I haven't been here for much more than a day. But no, I'd recognize the signs I think. I am - well, was - going to college to be a psychologist and abnormal psychology is what I'm best at. I haven't had the proper episode to be labelled bipolar or depressed, nor have I been experiencing any paranoia or hallucinations, unless this entire thing is a hallucination, in which case, no one has come to cart me away yet. I feel like the other part of my soul, if that's what's wrong with me, is really far away though. I'm sure I'll come to it eventually. These things tend to work themselves out for me."

"Right... So other then dropping onto an island, would you say you feel healthy?"

"I guess? I don't have a sense of touch, taste, or smell anymore, which kind of bothers me. But I can't do anything about that. Maybe I can get someone to teach me magic for that."

"I may be able to help you. For now though, supposing you aren't a threat to the town and you aren't injured, the Mayor has requested to meet with you at your earliest convenience. I can give you directions to his office when you're ready."

The doctor stepped up and removed the straps holding me in place. Stretching my magic for the day, I lifted myself off the bed and to a hover about six inches off the ground.

"Hey doc, how long is this talking spell going to last?"

"It should last for the rest of the day. I put more power into it than we normally do for patients, since I didn't know how long we'd need to be talking to you for. Normally, we gauge the time to exactly what we need, as if it's in place on a pony when they go to sleep, it... allows them to talk like as they do in their dreams. We've had a few nurses walk in on a patient and hear some, ah, interesting dreams on occasion."

"Like wet dreams or something?"

"...Yes, exactly. Before you go, what's your name? I forgot to ask."

"Oh, right, uh..."

What was I going to go by? I liked my name but being in a different universe, it could be fun to screw with people without them knowing about it. What to say? Cucumber? Chuck Norris? No, that one's terrible. Negi? I loved that manga but calling myself that is just asking for trouble. Cheese?I thought about it for a bit. Yes. Ooooooooo, Cheese MF Oak. That's what I'm going by. Gary reminds me of a Gary Stu and that's NO GOOD.

"My name is Cheese. Cheese MF Oak. I'd tell you what MF stands for but it's not the most polite thing to say. Now, how about those directions? Thanks again for the speech spell by the way. Also, where's Kah- Ku- Connor's room? I'd like to check and see how he's doing."

"Not a problem, Mr....Cheese. Do be sure to stop by later so I can direct you to the unicorn who can teach you. Hopefully, she'll be able to help you. Mr. Kahner is just two doors down on your left. I have the directions to the mayor written down here." He held out a sheet of paper.

After taking the paper in my telekinetic hold, I exited my room to a hallway with rooms only on one side. Turning left, I saw two cat-people leave a door and making their way towards the exit. I made my way to said door which has a temporary plaque reading "Kahner Smithsbury" ' Smithsbury? Strangely human name. And how do I say his first name? Ka-nor? Con-nor? I'm going with Connor. Well, let's see how he's doing.'

I knocked with the pen I'd inadvertently snatched and opened the door. Connor was lying on his back, his legs in casts hung from the ceiling. As I hovered in, he turned his head towards me and waved.

"I hear you caused quite the scare when you flew into town. Thank you though. I'd be in pretty bad shape if you hadn't gotten me here when you did. My family was just in seeing how I was doing."

"Not a problem." His eyes widened when I spoke. "Yeah, the good doctor cast a spell for me to speak. I'm coming back later to get directions to someone who can teach me. So, is it just a couple of broken legs? Nothing else wrong?"

"Yeah. Your voice is higher than I expected it to be. No, just some minor bruises besides my legs. Again, you saved me. It would have been worse. As it is, there won't be an infections or things to complicate the healing magic." His face grew concerned. "So, what are you going to do now? I can't imagine being thrown into a new world being an easy thing. Though this might be the best time of year for it to happen."

"Why is it the best time of year?"

"Hearth's Warming was just two days ago. While most people are on break, everyone is also pretty happy. Hearth's Warming is-"

"Actually, I know what it is. I knew about it when I was human. Dr. Peace mentioned it too. It was only two days ago? Damn! I missed my favorite Equestrian holiday!"

"You humans and your freaky knowledge." He shook his head and sighed. "Yeah, it was only a couple of days ago, so everyone has still got all the cheer. But what are you going to do now? Being on Equus and all."

"Well, right now, I'm going to meet with the mayor about something. After that, I don't know. I know I've lost something, I just don't know what. I'll probably go search for it. I know it was important to me, so I need to find it."

"Where are you going to start?"

"Here. I know I won't find it here; I can tell that it's very far away. But if I'm going to go adventuring throughout the world, I need to understand myself better, now that I'm in a completely new body. I only just barely understand how to use magic and that's going to have to change. I also don't really believe I know much about this world. I know some stuff about Equestria but nothing outside of a few towns. I've certainly never heard of Signal - at least, not before yesterday. No, I have much learning to do before I go anywhere."

"Wow. Well, I'll be bed-ridden for a while yet. Come visit so we can talk some more. I know I'll be bored and maybe I can help fill in your knowledge blanks. Maybe introduce you to my family. I'm sure they want to see who saved my life."

"I'll do that. For now, I'm off to see the wizard - er, I mean mayor. T-T-F-N, Tata for now!"

Waving with the piece of paper I was holding, I turned and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind me. I followed the exit signs out, waving with my directions at the strange looks I got from the few nurses and other patients there were in the building. A couple children in the lobby gasped at me and asked their parents what I was. I just waved back with the paper, chuckling a little. Smile and wave boys, smile and wave. How nice it felt to be able to laugh. I walked out the doors to this new world I was in. It was just waiting for me to discover it, I could tell.

Author's Note

Because this is probably confusing people, yes, the character has had his mind split into two separate people. Vhat a tweeeest!

Because Pokemon is awesome and you know it. And Gary M*****F****** Oak says so.

Thanks again to my IRL pre-readers for their input!

Signal and everything associated with it are a reference to Griffin the Griffin/Falling Feathers

Cheese - What's Next

Contact the Authorities

The afternoon was coming to a close. By the time I moved out of the hospital, It was probably around 5 o’clock, though I had no way of knowing for sure. I miss my wristwatch already. I feel naked without it.

Looking at the paper, I took my time to follow every direction to the letter. As I was floating around, I got a better view of the town. I was moving through a shopping district. Fish vendors, fruit stands, and bakeries all existed in equal amounts. A huge number of races were present, just as diverse as the stands. There were ponies and griffins and diamond dogs and the cat-people, all in seemingly equal representations, all milling about happily. Felt like I was in some twisted version of a sci-fi space hub.

As I floated by, many of the residents gave me strange looks. Understandable, considering I certainly didn’t see any other floating crystals meandering about. I was probably quite the oddity. Nothing new. I was an oddity as a human. Come to think of it, why am I a crystal? Of all the things I could have turned into or been turned into, why did Monsieur Universe pick a crystal? I suppose there’s no use asking. Who can understand the means by which God accomplishes his tasks?

And why am I here? I mean, it’s not every day one gets booted to another dimension, especially one from a child’s TV show. There was something at the end of the memory train....”Please Help Protect This World.” Right! ...Er, how am I supposed to do that?

I arrived at the city hall then, breaking my thoughts up. The receptionist took my name and took a short trip to tell whoever the mayor was that I had arrived. The waiting room for the hall wasn’t terribly large and was empty save for myself. A few red chairs like the one I had set myself in lined either wall. After a couple of minutes a griffin came out from the back. He walked over and waved his hand in front of me, to which I responded by waving back with my directions.

“You must be Cheese. I’m Mayor Bluebeak.” He had been a bit startled by my wave and backed up. I floated myself off the chair and spoke.

“Yes, I am he. I’d like to thank you for the positive welcome I’ve received upon coming to town. Where I’m from, individuals would not be so keen to go about their normal business after seeing something strange like me. Though I suppose it is only a couple of days after Hearth’s Warming.”

“Ah, you can talk! Yes, about that. You say you are human?”

“Yes, before I woke up in the jungle yesterday, I was a human. You can thank Dr. Quiet Peace for putting a spell on me letting me talk. It’s not permanent but I plan on learning the spell. It’s hard to talk in writing.” We walked back to his office. Well, he walked and I floated.

“I see. That may explain your strange form. Over the past year or so, humans have been appearing all over the world in a large variety of shapes. Most arrived a good deal of time ago, so I've heard, so you seem a little late. There’s not much I can tell you about though. I just know they are here. “

He opened the door to his office. The office was about what one would expect from a mayor: lots of reference books of some kind, with a large desk made of dark wood. He sat behind it in a large comfy chair, while I let myself rest in a chair set in front of his desk.

“For now, what do you plan to do? I can set you up on a ship traveling to the mainland, if you want to go to Equestria. You could get directions to the rest of the towns, such as Canterlot, from there. If you want, I can even send a letter to Princess Celestia in advance if you plan on going there.”

“Wow. There’s a lot going on that I don’t seem to know about. Um...well, I don’t plan on leaving Signal for a while yet. I’m new in this body and need to take some time to learn how to use my magic at a basic level, as it’s the only way for me to interact with the world. I don’t suppose you have a library in town? Equestria does sound pretty awesome but I don't know if my search will take me there. As for the letter, why not? It’d be cool to send a letter to the Princess. In fact, do you think you could let me write one?”

“We do have a library, though it’s not very big. There might be some books on magic there. You can ask almost anyone else about magic as well.”

’What does that mean?’

“As for the letter, I don’t see why you couldn’t write one. Let me get you some paper and a quill.” He reached under his desk to get the supplies.

“Here you go. Hand it to me when you’re done. I’ll need to write my own, so take your time.”

After passing me the supplies, I thought for a minute and began to write. Now, writing with a quill isn’t like a normal pen. No, it kind of acts like a fountain pen but is more touchy on the paper. After a few failed first attempts, I wrote:

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned a valuable lesson about hospitality. Even when you’re far away from home, just meeting the right people can be all it takes to feel at home again. So long as you make others feel welcome, they’ll be just as friendly as someone you’ve known your whole life. One should always take the time to make everyone's day a little brighter, even just by saying hello!

By the way, I’m Cheese MF Oak. I come from a distant - very distant - land. I arrived on Signal Island the other day by accident and am in need of some guidance. The town has been very friendly to me so far. I didn’t even know Equestria had islands! I plan to stay in Signal for a while yet, however, to get used to my new surroundings. I plan on travelling through Equestria and would be honored if you would have an audience with me. I have some questions about myself that I'm hoping you might be able to answer.

Your faithful not-student,

Cheese MF Oak

P.S. Happy Hearth’s Warming or as I would say, Merry Christmas.

I rolled up the scroll and placed it with the quill on the mayor’s desk. He had, conveniently, just finished his own letter as well.

“Ah, perfect timing. I’ll send these out shortly. Now, you said you wish to stay in Signal for a time, yes? I can offer you a room at a hotel, for a few days at least. I’ll set you up with someone who can help find you a temporary job and get to know the town better. At some point, you’ll have to find a way to pay for your own lodging, but seeing as your physicality is rather unique, it may be quite a bit less expensive than for the average citizen. I’m guessing you don’t need to eat?”

“As far as I can tell sir. I don’t believe I have any internal organs at all. Rather nice, I think, not having to eat. Takes a little more off the daily schedule. Where should I go to for lodging? And what are the hospital and library hours? I feel I may be spending quite a bit of time in both places.”

“The visiting hours for the hospital are 10 am - 6 pm. The library is open about the same hours. Tomorrow is the first day it will be open after Hearth’s Warming too. For now, I’ll set you up in the Galloping Griffin, near the hospital. I’ll have someone over there around 9 AM to get you started. Sound good?” He passed me directions and a letter stating my business.

“It sounds great. Thank you for taking so much time to help me, especially on what must be your day off.”

“It’s just how we run Signal. All are welcome so long as they commit no crime. And humans are...a little more concerning than most things. I have had plenty of time with my family, so don’t sweat it.”

“Just like any town. I’m glad to see that holiday cheer is a constant between worlds. Well, I suppose I can see myself out. Have a nice day Mayor Bluebeak! Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

“Anytime Mr. Cheese! And to you as well!”

A thought stuck me as I left the building.

I can call myself Señor Queso now.

YES.

...

Why didn’t I think of that earlier!? That's so much better than Cheese Oak. Oh well.

Onwards to great victoriez? Onwards to great victoriez!

I left the establishment and wandered over to the inn I was staying at. It was probably around seven or eight now. That had taken longer than I expected it too. Most of the.... people? Beings? I need a plural to call everything. Durn is that hard. Most of dem peeps bez already in deyz houses, hiding deyz kidz and wives and husbands too, cause they be raping everypony out here.

....

Note to self: never think anything like that ever again.

Seriously.

I feel nauseous.

The Galloping Griffin was one of those taverns that doubled as an inn. As I floated in, it seemed there was some kind of karaoke going on. No, wait, that’s the Hearth Warming carol.

The fire of friendship lives in our hearts

As long as it burns we cannot drift apart

Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few

Laughter and singing will see us through

We are a circle of merry friends

A circle of friends we'll be to the very end

As the song was going, I found myself singing along, unbidden. Still, I managed to move over to the barkeep to show him the letter. He nodded and passed me a room key, singing all the while.

I still had some time before I wanted to sleep, so I decided to float my way over to the music section. Beings stopped and stared as I passed them and the room was silent. After telling the band what I planned, I moved onto the raised platform serving as a stage. A unicorn spoke up.

“You’re that thing that saved the Bast scout earlier! What are you doing here?”

Assent murmured through the crowd.

“Me? Yes, well, I’m not from around here. Since you seem to know of them, I’ll say this: I’m a human.”

The whole place gasped. I swear I was in a wind-tunnel. All that air whipping past me was quite loud.

“Wow. I guess that’s a big deal? Anyway, right now, I want to sing to you. Hearth’s Warming was only a couple of days ago and I felt I should sing one of the carols for it from my world.”

“You have Hearth’s Warming on your human planet!?”

“Not quite but something similar. Anyway, I have a song I wish to share. Will you listen?”

Apparently they were drunk enough. A ‘hear hear’ went up from them.

So I sang. I probably don’t have the best voice ever but I like to think that I’m pretty good. I do practice when I can.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose...

The crowd was enthralled and soon, they joined in. The band provided a minimal accompaniment, providing a subtle layer to the song. As I neared the end, the entire bar was singing along.

...And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although it's been said many times, many ways,
Happy Hearth’s Warming to you

As I sang the last section again, I saw many happy faces in the crowd, full of the love I had put into the song. They clapped - not a rowdy, drunken clap, but a polite, practiced clap. I’d have been grinning from ear to ear if I could. I didn’t even question how the band had known the song.

Soon a cry went up.

“Encore, encore!”

Good thing I no longer have to take breaths. That’s so useful, not needing internal organs. Makes it easier to reach some notes too.

“What kind of song should I sing then?”

“A fun one!”

“I wanna dance to it!”

“Yeah!”

“Okay....I have a couple in mind. Do you wanna hear both of them?”

“Sure!”

“Bring it on!”

Here goes nothing. Jingle Bell Rock seemed like an appropriate match.

The patrons got into the beat pretty quickly. Didn’t even seem they cared if they understood the words I was singing. I was singing in a lower key than the song was normally sung in but that was okay. It still worked.

The next one was quite a bit sillier. I like silly and there aren't many Christmas songs sillier than The Christmas Can-Can. Some of the crowd even joined me for the background parts, even though I was sure they had never heard the song before, though if other humans had been here, it wasn’t impossible. Or it could be freaky cartoon logic.

That’s an interesting thought. Cartoon logic? I’ll think about it later.

And yes, they made a can-can line.

When I had finally finished, the crowd was roaring. Some of them were even throwing bits at me. That was pretty surprising. It must be 'cause they're drunk.

I was also finally growing tired. My magic wasn’t anywhere near as low as it had been the past two times I had “slept” but I was still tired enough to make my lower point scratch lightly on the ground. So, I thanked the crowd, gathered the bits strewn about the stage, and exited towards my room. They moved right into another song, one I didn’t recognize.

Must be an Equestrian tune. "Spread your wings, Neon Pegasus..." The rest faded out as I floated away.

In the end, today went well, all things considered. Met the mayor, got a temporary room to stay in, discovered some things about the world I was in and even made some bits. I had not expected things to go this well. Certainly better than what I would have gotten on Earth.

And for the first time since I arrived on Equus, I prayed.

Now, I’m not the kind of Christian who goes around mashing it in other people’s faces. That doesn’t do anyone any good and just makes people dislike you. But I am a pretty devout Christian. I don’t pray every night. I really don’t think there are many who do. Earth is a pretty busy place. This night, however, was special. A journey into a new world, a new adventure - and, if push came to shove, a new life, had just opened up. That was definitely deserving of a prayer.

’God, thank you for providing me with this opportunity. I don’t know why you’ve sent me here or why you chose me, but whatever I’m to do here, I will try to do it to the best of my ability. I will be your instrument in this world. Guide me as you always have. Amen.’

Author's Note

And one more chapter! A little shorter but that's okay. Don't wanna burn out. Anyway, I make a few references to other CGoTG stories.

Signal and everything Associated with it are a reference to Griffin the Griffin/Falling Feathers

Jack's Mangoes is supposed to be a jab at "Mango" Jack from Through Feline Eyes

The Neon Pegasus song references a drunken night in A Broken Peace

Thanks again to all my IRL pre-readers making this as good as it can be. And the site ones as well.

Boots - What's Next

First Escape

Morning rose over the badlands. Green-scaled and irritated, a dragon flew in a search pattern over the land. With every flap of his wings, his eyes zoomed in on the surroundings, looking for any sign of the dragon who had fled the previous day. Muttered curses escaped his lips as he went, a result of his anger at having to leave his whores in the midst of the act. ‘Why did it have to be me?’ or ‘Stupid slaves, doing whatever they want.’ He was more worried about the time spent away from the mountain; the capture itself should be relatively simple. It was only one dragon, an adolescent at that.

The dragon snorted as he remembered her. She was one of the better workers in her sector of the mine, due to her exceptional strength. It was good she had never realized it. Otherwise, she might have attempted this escape from inside the mountain. Sure, she would have been contained, but she would have gotten far enough to give others ideas. A peasant revolt was the last thing they needed. A blur of motion brought him out of his thoughts.

Looping back to what he had seen brought a smile to his face. There, near some cliff-like rock formations wandered two specks - one of them was clearly a dragon. Quickly, the pursuing dragon made his descent.

In the morning, our breakfast consisted of the meat from the day before. We hadn’t spoken much after getting up, as Aurora still seemed tired from the day previous. Although I couldn’t be sure, I had a feeling we’d actually slept in fairly late. I estimated two hours passed before it was midday. By that time, Aurora had woken up completely, just as we stopped for lunch.

“You’re awake now?

“Mmm, yeah. I haven’t slept that well in a long time.”

I fidgeted before asking her what was at the forefront of my mind. “So, I never actually asked. Where… are we, exactly? Like, what’s the name of the country or whatever?”

Aurora frowned. “Well, the mountain was called Coldfire. I think what you mean is the Dragon Badlands though. That’s what my parents called it.”

“The Badlands being all these hills and stuff?”

“Yeah. My parents said it’s where dragons have always lived.”

“But there’s not really a government?”

She screwed up her face in concentration. “I think I’ve heard that word before. Dad said we had an... an oligarchy? But that was a very long time ago.”

I frowned. “If you had that back then, what do you have now?”

“We don’t have anything, I think. Mom said dragons just do whatever they want now. It’s why Foecruncher can have slaves.”

That sounds pretty terrible. I opened my mouth to ask something else, when a shadow caught my attention. A moving shadow. Looking up, a speck was just barely visible in the sky.

I pointed at the dot. “Hey, Aurora, what do you reckon that is?”

A look of dread overtook her face. “That’s….!” The speck was moving at incredible speeds; in fact, it wasn’t really a speck anymore.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

My hands jumped to my ears as what was most assuredly a dragon roared from his dive. Even after my hands came away, the ringing in my ears did not stop. We began running immediately, heading for some cliff-like formations nearby. Keep it up and you’ll be an olympic meda- NOW IS NOT THE TIME, BRAIN!

I looked back to see where he was, only to find him not 500 feet above me in his dive. I scrambled up a short mound as he landed and whirled to face me and Aurora, who had stayed by me while I ran.

“Give up, little dragons, and I won’t maim you before we go back.”

Despite my fear at the 60 foot dragon before me, I stood my ground. “We aren’t going anywhere. Just leave and go elsewhere. We can leave each other be. “ He’s not going to take that bait. What can I do?

“Haha, foolish dragonling. Why would I give up the riches my lord gifted me, for the life of a nomad?” His face turned to rage. “Now, you shall come with me.” He reached out to grab us. I moved back, extending my arm over Aurora.

“I said no.”

“Then you shall burn!” He opened his mouth, and I could see the fire building in his gut. A burst of blue flame flew over my shoulder, scalding the inside of his mouth. My head jerked in surprise to look at Aurora, as he reared back, closing his mouth on the fire he had built up. She smiled at me sheepishly. A hacking noise, brought me back, and I tugged at my friend to began running again, leaving the coughing dragon behind. We only got a couple of hills away before another roar erupted behind us, though much more subdued. Probably fried his own vocal chords or something. “Thank you. I didn’t know what I was going to do.” Her smile brightened just a bit.

“You’re welcome!”

I looked back over my shoulder to find the dragon glaring at me. Shit.”We need to split up.”

There went the smile. “What!?”

“He can only chase one of us. You go hide somewhere and I’ll see if I can do… something.”

“But-”

“No buts! Go!” She split off from me and I kept running. Behind me, I could hear the dragon flap it’s wings to get off the ground. Peeking over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions - he was attempting to dive for me. I always have been good at drawing the aggro. I only passed one more hill before he had caught up with me. I jumped to the side but wasn’t fast enough. His right claw barely caught my chest, but that was enough. The very tip of his claw ripped an opening straight across the pectoral muscles in my chest. “Rrrrmmmm!” I stumbled back against the mound as his body whooshed past. It seemed superficial and actually didn’t hurt to bad but I didn’t have time to look over the wound. I resumed my run to the cliffs. They were only a few hundred feet away and a small opening looked just big enough for me to get in without the dragon following.

A torrent of flame passed above me. Behind me already!? I spun as I went, intending to move out of the way again, but tripped over myself instead, landing on my back. His left claw grazed up my stomach, leaving a long cut all the way to just below my neck. This one hurt a lot more than the other, especially at the intersection of the two slices. Breathing heavily, I pushed myself off the ground. The dragon was still circling above, so I began a half walk, half jog to the opening. It was only a little further away. The dragon began a third dive, barrelling down at me. It hurt to walk. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to move. Only 20 more feet. “RAAAAAAAAA!” 10 feet. Flames on my neck. 5 feet. A burst of speed got me inside the cave.

*BOOM*

I looked up as I fell against a wall. The green-scaled brute flopped to the ground in a daze. He had been so focused on me, he had run headlong into the cliff face. I sat panting as the cuts bled out. Taking my hand away, revealed it covered in blood. Nothing hanging out at least. Good. Would hate to die with my intestines everywhere. There is no way I am moving anytime soon, and the moment he recovers- A rumbling throughout the mountain snapped me back to reality. The dragon’s head wobbled as he twisted to look up above the cave mouth. Something he saw shocked him, and he tried to move; his muscles didn’t respond like he wanted, and he only succeeded in tangling himself up. I couldn’t help but laugh slightly.

He glared at me as best he could. “If I am going to die, then you will die with me.” His mouth opened again, and once more the fire built-up. I tried to move away, but my injuries had caught up to me. The rumbling grew louder. The fire blasted out at me, searing my wounds shut as I let out a short scream.

*CRUNCH*

The flame stopped abruptly. I lay on the ground, panting harder than before. Twisting my head, I was able to see a boulder, his head and- Oh, that amount of blood can’t be healthy. And is that…? Yep, that’s a stomach or something. I quickly let my head fall back to rest. I did not want to see anymore. And sleep was sounding like a very good idea right then…

Aurora heard a boom echo from the mountain. She had done as Boots said as he had drawn the dragon away. Scurrying to the top of a mound, she gasped. A tail marked where the dragon lay front of a cave. Boots was nowhere to be seen. There was only a mound of rock and what looked like blood.

Making a disgruntled face, the dragoness slowly made her way towards the cliffs.

“B-Boots?” She all but whispered, slightly scared of the chance that the dragon was the victor. A morbid thought raced through Aurora’s head and she nearly collapsed. What if they were both crushed?

“Nononono.” She repeated quietly to herself. Where would she go now? She didn’t know anything about the badlands! She didn’t know how to hunt, how to hide, how to do anything. She wasn’t even sure where the mountain was anymore! If he was dead-

“Nnnnnn…”

“Boots!?” Pushing some large rocks out of the way, she found a gap to squeeze through. There on the ground, Boots lay, dry blood smeared underneath him. He released another groan and she sighed in relief. He was alive. She bit into his leg as lightly as possible and began dragging him out of the cave. She had to move a few more rocks to create space but in the end, she got him into the sunlight.

Looking over him again, the burned flesh on his chest gave her pause. He hadn’t had that before. Unsure of what to do, she chose a direction and kept dragging him. However, she encountered a problem. When dragging him and facing forward, he bounced against her forelegs, causing him to grunt each time. When she turned around to drag him, she couldn’t see where she was going. She sat down to think. What if he was on her back? She looked around at herself. Drawing up to sit on her back legs, she picked up Boots and reached her neck under him, pushing across the ground and then gently laying him down on her back. He slumped against her neck as the rest of his body lay against the soft spines.

Even though he was unconscious, she felt just a little bit safer with him nearby. It felt… nice having him lay there. She stumbled a bit while she got used to the new center of gravity, but quickly grew used to the light load. She continued walking in her chosen direction, silently hoping it to be the same as the one they had been traveling.

The day wore on, with not even half as much excitement as the morning had provided. Every so often, Aurora stopped to readjust Boots so he didn’t fall off. Occasionally, she passed a small stream, hardly big enough to dip her claws into. Slowly, the sun approached the horizon behind her. Finding a cave to stop in for the night, Aurora pulled the makeshift sack Boots had created using the pelts from the day before to her and untied the knot at the top. Inside was the meat they had leftover from the leopard bodies. They probably enough for the night and the following morning. Setting Boots against the wall, she portioned his meal out and set it to the side.

He had not woken up once, the entire time she had carried him. Even now, he did little other than groan. She watched him as she ate, looking for any sign of consciousness. His brow creased every so often, as though he was in pain. This was often accompanied by a hitch in his breathing, and the muscles around the newly destroyed flesh would twitch.

Then she realized she was staring and went back to her meal with a blush. He had just risked his life for her. He’d showed her how to hunt. He’d offered her the chance to escape, even when they had first met, when all she had wanted was to take him back to the mountain. And the attempt he made to kiss her…

Aurora buried her head in her claws at the memory. He had apologized for that! She didn’t need to be embarrassed about something that shouldn’t mean anything. Yet, the heat that filled her cheeks told a clearly different story. No dragon had ever taking interest in her like that. Groaning, she rolled onto her back, head facing his limp form. With her meal finished, all she had now were her thoughts. And her thoughts were refusing to let her concentrate on anything other than-

“Boots!”

Her blue friend began to stir, raising his head. “Guh…”

Aurora scrambled back to her feet “You’re awake! Are you alright?”

“Ugh… Could be better.” He looked around. “So, where are we?”

“I don’t really know. After I found you, I just picked a direction and started walking.”

“I guess that works.” He tried to sit straighter and hissed in pain. “Oooo, that’s going to need stretching while it heals.” Unsure of what he meant, she took his meat and began cooking it. He slowly pushed himself upright. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome” She allowed herself a smile as she passed him his food. He grunted as he moved, reaching for the meat just out of his reach. “Um, I can help you if you want.”

He seemed surprised by her statement. “No, thank you. While I appreciate the offer, I need to keep the skin moving while it heals. If I don’t, the new skin will be very stiff and hard to move.” He reached again for the meat. “Gah!” He lay back against the wall.

“Are you sure?”

He sighed. “I guess I do need help. I did only get the injury today. It’s probably a little early to be worried about scar tissue.”

“Yeah, and about that… what happened?”

“I got lucky. He sliced me a couple times and then ran into the cliff. Suddenly, rocks.” He flinched again as he instinctively moved to illustrate his point.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Yeah, but it’s nothing big. It’ll hurt for a while. Just gotta get used to it.” He scooted back, taking care to not use his arms. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” He opened his mouth for the first bite.

Aurora blinked at him curiously, then nodded in realization. “Oh, right…. um, here.” She grabbed some more of the leftover meat and ripped it into some small chunks.

“You want me to just… shove it in?”

Boots groaned and dropped his head back against the wall. “Yeah, basically. Just, please don’t say it like that.”

With that request blowing over her head, she shrugged and slowly shoved a claw full of meat into his mouth, being careful not to cut him as she did. The rest of his meal passed in silence. She could almost taste the awkwardness permeating the air. Boots wasn’t all that thrilled to have someone invade his personal mouth space, and Aurora just fumbled with what to say next.

“So, um… what’s the plan?”

“I guess we just keep going. East is as good a direction as any.”

“How do you know we’re traveling east?”

“Well, supposing the sun works the same here as it does at home, the sun sets in the west. We’ve been traveling in the opposite direction.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” A loud yawn escaped her mouth. The sun had already set, stars twinkling in the sky above.

“Sounds like it’s time to sleep.”

“Do you want to lie down?”

“Naw, this is fine.”

She made herself comfortable, circling her chosen spot three times before lying down on the ground. Boots wore and odd expression but it disappeared quickly. For a time, she was left to her thoughts. On the verge of sleep, she heard Boots speak, but not to her. She listened.

“Lord, I don’t know why you brought me here or where I am. All I can ask is that you watch over me and guide my path, as you have always done. Help me to trust in you, that I may better serve your purpose. And help me to keep her safe, even as she has protected me. Amen.”

Her mind faded to sleep. She would have time for questions in the morning.

Author's Note

Oof.

Thanks to all my IRL pre-readers. This wouldn't be half as good without them.

ATTENTION: Next Cheese chapters contains ridiculous amount of exposition. You have been warned.

Cheese - Surviving

How Do Magic?

Just as he said, the mayor had somepony over to my apartment at 9 AM sharp.

In a manner of speaking.

The sun shining through my window activated the two senses I had left to me. I felt at peace. Even if this was a different dimension or world or whatever, I was in Equestria! That was something to be excited about, regardless of some weird thing with humans going on.

Oh, if only I could actually feel the covers! I bet I could roll up nice and cozy in a ball and just drift back to sleep. I didn’t, however, knowing I was expecting a visitor. Curses! I wish I had a clock to check the time.

The room was fairly quiet and the street was starting to resound with hustle and bustle. However, a light breathing alerted me that someone else was nearby. I hadn’t initially realized it, as I thought it was my breathing, which didn’t happen anymore of course. Lifting myself and shifting my vision, I discovered half of my bed occupied.

By a mare.

If I’d still had a heart, my pulse would have sky-rocketed. But I didn’t, which was still rather disconcerting.

NOT HAVING ORGANS IS WEIRD.

The unicorn’s coat was a pale sea-green and her crazy mane was the bright blue of the sky on a bright sunny day. Her cutie mark consisted of headphones or perhaps a headset superimposed on a blue diamond. It looked like her mane was normally straight but she’d probably been drinking; that would logically explain her presence in my room. Knowing she hadn’t been there before I had slept, I was pleasantly surprised to find the door closed. I figured she would have been too drunk to close it. Huzzah. Testing led me to discover my voice was gone again, so I poked her with the beer stein I found on the side of the bed she had fallen asleep on.

She woke with a start and then groaned. Probably had a hangover. I went to the restroom, rinsed out the mug, and filled it with water. By the time I got back, she had started to cuddle with a pillow. Good thing I moved. Still kinda cute. I wanted to let her rest but at the same time, I was bored with nothing to do. Also, the mayor’s escort was supposed to arrive soon.

So, I poked her with the stein again, being careful not to spill. She woke again, and mumbled something about the light. Closing the curtain, I tried again. This time, I got her to roll over.

This would be so much easier if I could talk. Le sigh.

Realizing I would need it, I snagged the complimentary pencil and paper and wrote down a few questions and answers I anticipated. Then I tried once more; this time I was rewarded with open eyes.

After she stared at me, the mug, and my first question for a few seconds, she let out a squeek and hid under the covers. ’Adorable but...’ Sighing internally, I tapped her on the head with my pencil. She peeked out from the covers. ’I really need to learn that speech spell.’

I hastily scrawled. I’m not angry. You were obviously drunk. What’s your name?

“Um...My name is Free Speech. Are you sure you aren’t angry?”

Yes. Also, have some water. You seem pretty hungover.

“Oh, thank goodness! Ow ow ow...” She had tried to jump as she spoke but the combination of sudden movement and loud speech made her hold her head in her hooves. I held the mug of water out for her. Surprisingly, she didn’t use magic but held it with her hooves. Must be part of the hangover. She drained the mug quickly.

Wait here, I’ll get more.

After her second mug, she seemed a little better. I asked my next question.

So, why are you in my room instead of your own?

I expected an answer along the lines of “I got confused” or “I couldn’t see the room numbers.” Instead, I got:

“Oh, well, I got a message from the mayor asking me to come and get you at 9 AM today. I was already here drinking, so I just paid for a room. I loved your singing by the way. As for your room.... I may have gotten drunk enough to decide it would be a good idea to just sleep in here to wake you up. Sorry...” I was mildly surprised.

At least I wouldn’t have to explain to the mayor’s representative.

How long til you’re good again? And is there anything I can do to help? She squinted at the notepad before pulling back and nodding. My Equestrian penmanship could use some work apparently.

“I guess some more water would be good. I should be fine by once I take a shower. Do you mind?

Not at all.

While she took her shower, I leaned against the window. The populace was awake now, traveling about, doing their business. Certainly, it seemed emptier than even the small suburb I had come from on Earth, but the streets were still rather busy as shops opened, ovens fired up, and hawkers started calling. Free Speech took about half an hour before she wandered back into the room, her mane only barely damp.

“Sorry again for all this trouble. I’m going to have breakfast first and then we’ll be off.”

It’s fine. Kinda. Where are we off to? We walked down the stairs and sat at a table. She ordered some waffles.

“There’s a bulletin board in the town plaza for available jobs. We’ll also see if there are any signs on shop fronts or windows. By the way, why aren’t you talking?” As she ate, I noticed her magic aura was teal. Pretty.

Yesterday, the doctor overseeing me cast a spell to let me talk as I used to be able to. I need to go back later and find out who he learned the spell from.

“Dr. Quiet Peace?”

Yes.

“Oh, I know the spell then. He learned it from me.”

That’s convenient. Can you cast it? I fear I’ll run out of paper shortly.

“Sure.” The spell didn’t take more than a couple seconds.

“Better?”

“Immensely. Not being able to talk is horrible. I’m still planning on visiting the hospital. I’m keeping the guy I saved from being bored. I also need to go to the library to research magic, as I really don’t know anything about it. I barely figured out telekinesis. The mayor said they might have some educational books there. Come to think of jobs, what’s yours? I know it’s not escorting humans around for the mayor...right?”

“Well, you’re the first one to show up on Signal, so maybe this will become a thing for me. But you’re right. Normally, I act as long-range communication between Signal and other parts of Equis. If I’m not doing that, it’s boring paperwork. Still, it’s not too bad working here. The pay is good and I get to live on a tropical island! Living here is so much fun, what with the perfect beaches and fruit straight from the forest. And this place makes the best martinis!" She noticed me twirling my pencil and coughed. " Anyway, since I work directly for the mayor, I occasionally get sent on an odd assignment, like you.” She finished eating and we left, thanking the innkeeper.

"So you're kind of like a secretary."

She tapped her chin in thought. "Yeah, I guess so. Still a secretary on an exotic, tropical island."

“If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your special talent? I’m not sure I understand your cutie mark...”

“Oh! I’m very good at communication magic. Got into postal work a few years back and made a name for myself as a priority mailmare. Got paid extra for how quick I got get stuff where it needed to go. It’s one of the reasons I got to come to Signal.” She smiled happily as she talked.

“One of the reasons? What's the other?”

“I saw a fun time and took my chance.”

I learned a little more about her as we moved towards the plaza. She was all too willing to keep talking. I didn’t mind really; talkative people were easier to converse with. ‘Free Speech’ indeed. I learned that her parents were reporters for a newspaper in Canterlot. She was only recently out of journalism school when the founder of the island stopped through on a band tour in Canterlot recruiting. Apparently he led a weird, not-quite freedom fighter group for griffins; they founded Signal with their efforts. Free Speech, herself a excitable, adventurous sort, "took up the call", so to speak.

My job hunt was not as successful as my conversation with her. None of the shops had need for hired help, unfortunately. By the time we had reached the plaza, we had checked at least 20 different stores. The bulletin board in the square wasn't much more promising. The only listings were for manual labor to build new homes and other structures.

"Can't say I'm surprised by that," Free Speech said. "There aren't many unicorns on the island who are unemployed, so manual labor falls to everyone else. Since the town is still growing, there are normally a lot of construction jobs around. Unfortunately for you, most consturction is on hold for the holidays. Still, better take what you can."

We copied down the information for the small amount of locations and jobs that were posted and headed off to answer them. They were spread all over the town, so Free speech planned a path that would end us at the hospital, trying to be efficient as possible.

As we progressed, I was actually able to take on more than one job over the next few days and still preserve time for the library and visiting with Connor; I was proud of myself for being so on of things. Unfortunately, all the jobs were one-time deals. I still needed a more steady station, even if it was going to be temporary. The whole path around town took us til about 1 in the afternoon, about three hours since we left the plaza. I took the time in between to get to know the streets better. Finally, we finished our loop.

“...And that’s the last one!”

“Great! Now I can get to the hospital and talk some with Connor.”

“What about the library? You said you wanted to research magic.”

“Phooey. I just have too much to do. I can get to it tomorrow. Anyway, I need to take a break soon. My magic is running a little low. I really need to learn a self-levitation spell, this telekinesis on myself is tiring. Don’t happen to know one of them by chance?”

“Hehe, unfortunately not. It is rather surprising though. Normal unicorns can’t just brute force magic like you are; at least, not after their first few magic surges. Foals can do weird things during surges, like fly. I suppose it might be due to the fact that you’re made of crystals or gemstones or something. Levitating yourself is generally regarded as impossible without correct spells, and even then, it’s incredibly difficult, just short of age-altering spells."

Free Speech paused and closed her eyes to smell something. "Mmmmm, why don’t we get lunch over there?” We wandered over to a cafe a couple blocks from the hospital.

“So...I’m super magical?”

“That’s one way to put it. I remember a teacher for health class or something mentioning mental limiters or some such thing I never paid all the much attention. Maybe you lack those? I dunno.” It’s weird seeing a pony shrug.

“I guess I’ll just have to see what I can find tomorrow. Can you teach me that speech spell now, before we get to the hospital? I don’t want it to run out on me.”

“We should have enough time over lunch. Technically, my only job all day is working with you. It’s been fun so far!” I tilted back in my chair after the waiter seated us. He then handed us menus. I took a look, even though I wasn’t going to order anything. The waiter didn’t even look twice at me. Pretty accepting here.

The menu had all manner of dishes, from the daffodil and spinach sandwich I remembered being classic pony cuisine, along with plenty of other dishes a human could never eat, to fruit parfaits and even some meat dishes. I was surprised to find cow on there as well, as I knew cows were sentient in Equestria.

“They serve cow here? Aren’t cows sentient in Equestria?”

“Oh, yes, but only in Equestria apparently. In less magical places, cows don’t develop the brain power as in more magical infused lands. It’s sad really.” The waiter came back and I gave him my menu without ordering. I couldn’t really eat, so I’d be wasting food. I did get water, so as to at least seem like I was participating in the meal. People feel more comfortable eating when others are as well. I guessed eating was just as social an event for ponies. She ordered a daffodil and spinach sandwich.

“Mmm, I do love me my daffodils. So. Magic. Where to begin..."

"Perhaps at the beginning?"

"Oh ha ha. Well, magic is all about combining elements or at least unicorn and innate pony magic is. We can talk about gem magic later, though I find it unlikely you’ll use it. There certainly aren’t any books about it in the library as it was only recently rediscovered. Anyway, unicorns use a Rainbow Classification system for magic, which has six elements in it.” Her sandwich arrived and she began to speak in between mouthfuls - mostly.

“Only six? I feel like a rainbow should have seven...whatever.”

“Yeah, I always found it funny too. So, six elements Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Dark.”

“Because THAT set isn’t cliche as fuck. Continue, please. Ignore my ramblings.”

“Right... Anyway, many spells and other ‘element’ magics, like ice, are just a combination of some of those six. Unicorns, and the spell I’ll be teaching you, use light magic primarily, though unicorns are by no means limited to light alone; it’s just the one we start out with, as levitation, the most basic magic a unicorn learns, is a class of light magic. Illusion magic, such as this speech spell, is also a light magic and is often combined with other elements for effects.”

She had finished her sandwich and ordered a fruit dessert. Ah, it looked so tasty. Almost made me wish I could eat again. Almost. “The speech spell is actually a little complicated but maybe you can work it out. First, you have to learn to harness your magic, which you’ve already done, obviously. Next you have to learn how each element ‘feels’ to you. Not everyone can feel every element either. Often, unicorns have one or two elements they’re very good with and don’t use the rest much or at all. For instance, my magic uses a lot of air and light, while a blacksmith’s might involve fire and water. The speech spell does take a little bit of water magic to access the brain.

But back to feeling elements. Your connection to elemental magic is based on how you as a person view elements. The less experience you have with each element, the harder it will be to use. There’s a simple test to check for affinities. First, find your magic and see if you can find a way to ‘connect’ with each one. Then try to focus it into a small orb or other representation. We’ll start with light, just as a test.” It’s a good thing I’m interested in this stuff, cause that was a lot to take in. If this was biology, I wouldn’t remember a quarter of it.

“Alright...Harness magic, elements feel different, combine for effect, focus into ball for now.”

Light seemed easy enough, seeing as I had apparently already accessed my light magic before and did so constantly. So, I went to my magic and focused it into a ball like she said. I would not have been able to explain it worked to someone else. I was focused on happy feelings and brightness. When I opened my sight again, there was a small ball of light floating in front of me.

“Good. Release that, and next let’s try fire. It’s related, so it probably won’t be too hard.”

“Fire, huh? Let’s see....”

I remembered back to scout campouts of old. Ah yes, the hypnotizing flicker, the heat on my skin, the sweat drying as quickly as it came. The caress of the flame. Suddenly, a new, hotter presence was there, in such a manner that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. I felt as though it had always been there. Which probably means that the others are here too.... Air for the speech spell right? Air, air.... Running! Running with the wind and breathing in and out.... And there it was, a new presence making itself known, floaty and airy compared to the warmth of the other two and the sooty feeling from the fire.

“Cheese? You’ve got the fire... It’s a little big...”

Unfortunately, I didn’t hear what she was saying, so enraptured in my discovery as I was. But how do I combine them? Just mash them together? Can I do it in small streams and portions like a chem set or something? Ugh, chemistry. At least it’s not biology.

“Hey, Cheese, What are you doing???”

I suppose I’ll just make two balls and shove them together. Or maybe weave? Let’s weave.

And then there was a small explosion right in front of me.

Frantically opening my sight again, I saw Free Speech putting out the singed edges of the tablecloth. My water glass had shattered, keeping some of the tablecloth from catching. Most of the other patrons were staring at us with surprised or angry expressions. A waiter was hurriedly walking over with what looked to be a manager close behind. Pre-empting anything he might say, I pulled out the coins I had gathered- Wait, where did I just pull those from?

Anyway, I hovered out of my chair and pulled out a few bits I had earned from my singing the night before, and put them on the table. I wasn’t sure how much a glass and tablecloth costed but I put down 15 just to be safe. If a cherry was worth a single bit, hopefully my guesstimate wasn’t too far off. Even if I was wrong, I'd made an effort.

“Sorry about that. I am completely willing to pay for this. I’ve only just recently come into possession of magic and, well...I was experimenting. I’m sorry. Hopefully this should be enough.” If I’d had a mouth, I would have been giving one of the most awkward grins of my life. As it was, I just hovered there and picked up that glass so no one would step on it, setting it on the table.

“Uh, well...I guess if you can pay for it, it’s fine...” He was surprised I was willing to pay. Strange. I suppose I AM a little strange. What am I saying, I’m an anomaly.

But really, I only think in candy flavors once a week.

Silently, he took the money and explained to his boss, who was also surprised at my willingness to pay. Really, what’s up with that?

“Anyway, If I may, I’ll take my leave. I’m sorry for causing so many problems.” With that, Free Speech, who had been silent for my entire conversation, paid for her meal and spoke up once we were out of earshot.

“What were you thinking?! You can only practice explosions OUTSIDE the city! I didn’t even get to Power, Pattern and Will. I think you’ve got the hang of the elements. Find the other three on your own time, sheesh.”

Heh, I didn’t get berated for creating explosions. Success! We began moving towards the hospital again.

“Anyway, Power, Pattern and Will. Power is what makes magic work, the energy that makes it go. For you, that’s obviously what you gather naturally. That little warm feeling in your chest. Next is Pattern. Pattern is the method of how you direct the magic. For non-unicorns, this can take the form of words and such when used with a focus, such as gems.”

“So, wait, there are magic incantations?”

“Er, yes. According to the captain, there is a language known as Latin that can be used. Apparently you humans have some knowledge of it?”

“LATIN CAN BE USED FOR MAGIC!?” Free Speech tripped and landed on her plot. Can't take the Thu'um, get off the mountain.

“Um...yes?”

“Wow. Just like my Japanese mangas!"

Oh Lord, did I really just say that?

"Sweeeet. You said my body was a massive focus?”

“Uh, theoretically...”

“So I can use magic two different ways! Score!” She raised her eyebrows at my enthusiasm.

“Right. So. Like I was saying. Pattern is the way you direct your magic. For unicorns, after basic stuff, it often consists of mathematical formulas.”

“...Oh. How advanced? I’m not good at calculus...”

“I think only the higher level spells deal with that kind of math. But maybe you don’t have to do that. You aren’t exactly a unicorn. Finally, there is Will. Nothing works without willpower behind it; otherwise, magic would be going off anytime someone spoke something remotely resembling your ‘Latin’.”

“Awesome. This is going to be AWESOME! I live in a world where people don’t actually care if I create explosions and, if I can remember enough Latin, I can do magickyness of the highest degree! I live for teh beautiez.” I really want an arm so I can clench my fist.

She just stared at me.

“BUT! I must learn my talky-talk spell. Please, continue.”

“I’m not so sure I should anymore, but okay... Back into elements, when you figure out how to access water, you’ll need to funnel a small portion to yourself, along with a lot of air and a moderate amount of light for power. Next you...” She gave me a formula that somehow involved determining the speed of sound and what I believe to be an estimate of the distance to Luna’s moon. Read: Confusing. “...and then you ‘insert’ the magic into the variables. It might be a little confusing but hopefully you can do something with it.”

“Yeah.....That’s going to take a while. Like, I only kind of understand what you just told me. Maybe I’ll find a way that I can understand better. But thank you for trying.” We arrived at the hospital.

“And we’re here! I guess you’re free to do whatever you want now Speech.”

“Please, call me Effy. My name gets easily mixed up in sentences. I’ll stay with you, I wanted to come in and see this guard you saved anyway.”

“Oh. In we go then.”

The nurse granted us access and we wandered back to where I had found Connor yesterday, knocked, and walked in.

“Heyo Connor! How are you doing?” I pronounced as I walked in.

“Oh thank Celestia! Hospitals are so dull!” Effy walked in behind me. Is that a blush on Connor’s face?

“So this is the guard, huh? He looks a little weak.” Ooo, harsh. Connor’s blush grew.

“Hey! S-Shut up! You wouldn’t look so great after those birds either! Who are you anyway?” What a precious sputtering face he has!

“Cute pouty-face. I’m Free Speech, your rescuer’s guide while he’s on Signal. I was just coming to see who you were. Do you have a problem with that?” Man, that blush on his face just won’t go away!

“Okay, f-fine, whatever. You met me.” Poor chap. Effy turned to me.

“Hehe, you should keep him. I’ll see you later Cheese!” A distinctive sway in her hips marked her exit and...I need eyebrows to raise.

Tails. Tails are the reason we never see “things” in the show. Tails can move.

As the door closed, I shifted my vision to my beet red kitty friend.

“So!” I smi- I can’t smile! WORST. BODY. EVER.

“What?” He frowned, his head snapping to me. I want something to make faces with. Like, a holographic image of myself or something. Oh, I can do that with magic! Later though.

“So that. You’re into mares. Judging by your reaction, she’s pretty attractive...” Connor winced “or you’re inexperienced...” He winced again. “Or both.”

“No! Well, maybe...No! No, I, umm...”

Oh, I should stop teasing the dear shouldn’t I?

Naaaaw.

“Haha, cute indeed! I could probably get her to stay for a bit next time...” He took a few breaths and calmed himself. Aww....

“No, it’s fine. Pretty she is. Very pretty. But with a name like Free Speech, I would guess she’s reckless, which will end up getting her hurt.” He sighed.

“...Do pony names really have that much to do with personality” I ‘sat’ down on a visitor’s chair.

“Most of the time. Not ALL the time but often it at least has SOME influence on their path in life.” Connor got comfortable in his bed, the straps around his legs jostling. “Now then, what did you want to talk about?”

“Yay! First thing. Humans. There are apparently a lot of them around here? I'm not the first to show up. What can you tell me about the other ones?"

“Not much besides what I know about the founders of Signal. The Griffin Pirates have been going around for nearly a year, freeing slaves from diamond dog dens and similar things. Signal is their first city in the new Griffin Dominion. My family and I were slaves at a den called Clay Pallor and the Griffin Pirates freed us. That was around three months ago. Signal was already named and quite well off. The pirates also did a tour as a band in Equestria and their last stop was at the Gala, which was apparently even more lively than normal. Something about a bunch of humans being there.”

“So these other humans - you don't know much of anything about them? Mayor Bluebeak didn’t have much to say on them either.”

"Not really. A lot have been supposedly popping in the past year or so, all around the world. It’s why Signal has a protocol for them.”

“Does anyone know why?”

“I certainly don’t. I’ve heard the captain does and others also seem to have some idea but what exactly that reason is... You don’t know why you’re here?”

“Nope. I fell in a pit of rainbows and woke up here.” He stared at me. “Hey, that’s what happened. I didn’t say it made sense. So, humans appear around Equestria for unknown reasons. Cool.”

“Well, not just Equestria. They apparently appear almost anywhere in the world. I think someone said the captain dropped up near the edge of the Dragon Badlands.”

“Wait, there’s more than just Equestria?” He looked at me funny before understanding.

“Right, you wouldn’t know. Equestria actually is just the central country, and the only one with a government, on it’s continent. There are 6 other major regions surrounding it. In the north are, from east to west, The Griffin Dominion, Gem Fido, and the Dragon Badlands. In the south, from east to west, are the Black Marshes, the Feline Jungle or Southern Rainforest, and the Volcanic wastes. There is also a ring of islands around the world called the Zebrican Isles. Far to the south lies another continent but few know how big it is or what lies there besides desert. Not many travelers come or go that way.”

“Good gravy! Alright Connor. Exposition time. Tell me everything you can.” This planet must be huge!

“Uh, everything? I don’t know a whole lot about some of it though...”

“That’s why I’ll be going to the library, to get what you don’t know.”

“Alright... Where should I begin?”

“Humbaba... How about the Dragon Badlands? Dragons sound fun.”

“Hardly. I don’t know much about the land itself, only that many dragons live there and travel in and out consistently. I’ve heard it’s full of exposed lava and active volcanoes. What I can tell you is about dragons. The vast majority of dragons are at the top of the slave trade.”

“Oh. Not fun.” I frow- I NEED A FACE!

“Yeah. For a very long time now, dragons have been forcing a tithe of gems or slaves from diamond dogs on threat of the den’s life. In turn, many diamond dog warrens enslave any other races they can to either give up in tithe or work in their gem mines. This lead to a drastic decline in the population of griffins, so I've been told. Their population has dropped to somewhere below 10,000 total in the world. Don't quote me on that.”

“Whaaaaaat? That’s ridiculous! How long has this been going on?”

“I recall hearing the griffin government being dissolved almost a thousand years ago after they tried to take over the world or something. Probably since then.”

“Damn. That’s depressing. But then, why are the dragons doing that? Are they just that kind of people?”

“ I don’t know. Again, rumors say dragons might be running out of gems but no one knows. I think they’re just mean like that.”

“Kay. So. How do dragons threaten diamond dogs? It doesn’t sound like they live in the same area.”

“Actually, since Gem Fido, the diamond dog ‘country’, is directly east of the Badlands, it’s a primary target. Gem Fido is also the richest source of gems the world. Diamond dogs aren’t known to be particularly intelligent, beyond alphas. This can make them easy pickings.”

“I never did like dogs much. What do you mean by alphas? Pack mentality?”

“Exactly. The alpha, generally a dog both mentally and physically a cut above the rest, is the leader until another dog beats him. Most alphas are too strong for a takeover like that though.”

“So why all this fighting for gems? Are they just that shiny? Or are they hard to find? I know dragons eat them, but...”

“Diamond dogs also use them for food. Ponies like them for decorations and magic stuff. Hence, the are a valuable resource. So yeah, popular.”

“Alright then. Since we’re going that way, the Griffin Dominion is east of Gem Fido, yes?”

“Yep. The Griffin Dominion. A once proud country, it’s government dissolved, now home to the few free griffins left in the world. Their settlements are few and far between, mainly in natural caves or large trees. The captain aims to change all that, though he’s currently under the weather.”

“Under the weather?”

“Oops. Er... I guess it’s kinda public knowledge. A few months back, the captain admitted himself to psychological treatment in Canterlot. He’s a lot better now I hear.”

“Psych treatment? That’s some heavy stuff. Not something you can get over quickly.”

“I guess? Not my forte.”

“No, but it’s my forte. On Earth, my planet, I was going to school to be a psychologist. So yes, that kind of thing takes a while. Moving along, that leaves... three regions to talk about? Let’s talk about your region.”

“The Feline Jungle? Short version or long version?” It was still bright outside, though it was starting to get late according to the clock.

Eh, lateness.

“Long version. I have time.”

Author's Note

Sorry about the exposition. History is important!

Boots - Surviving

Angry Dragons

Pain woke me. The cuts on my chest still ached, both from the burns and initial slicing. Sitting up, however, the pain was much more bearable than the previous day. Aurora was still asleep. That was the first chance I had to really look at my injury. One line across, one line down. I’ve got a plus mark on my chest. Although….it’s actually more of a cross. Not sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, I’ve got a cross on my chest and that’s cool. On the other hand it feels like I’m advert-

I groaned as the rather familiar headache returned, drowning out my thoughts. Sitting up after it had faded, I rubbed my neck and sigh- Wait a sec, what are these lumps? Feeling around a bit more, I discovered what felt like ten paired glands lining the side of my trachea, five on each side. They were small, but I could still feel them if I pressed. Almost like swollen lymph nodes. Can’t be lymph nodes though, not ten of them. What then? Humans don’t have any glands there, none this big. I stood and stretched, hissing quietly at the burn near the scar.

The sun was just rising, spreading it’s glow across the dry landscape. But you aren’t human anymore, are you? I snorted What, I can breath fire cause I’m a dragon now? The thought struck a chord in my memory.

Y’know, that actually could make sense. If I’m anything like the D&D race, silly as that would be, I should have breath weapons. I hopped to the top of the rock, in one jump. Ah, that feels good. If there was one thing I loved about my new body, it was that my jumping capability had increased significantly. Considering I was the only white guy I knew with hops, that meant something, to me at least.

But how do I do it? Supposing I have such a natural weapon. I let the breeze blow over me as I watched the sun rise. It felt nice, breathing in the crisp morning air. I don’t know how long I sat like that, my mind surprisingly clear of thoughts.

“Boots? Where are you?”

I looked down to see Aurora wandering out of the cave. I waved. “Good morning!”

“What are you doing up there?”

“Felt like it.” I hopped to the ground.

“Er, right…” Her tail swished about as we walked inside and gathered the food we had left, which I bundled back up in the pelt like before.

“So… uh…” Aurora’s voice was unsure.

“What is it?” I sent a questioning glance her way as we began walking.

“I, um… Nevermind.” She looked aside, embarrassed about something.

Raising my eyebrows, I shrugged. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. What is it?”

She stared at me for a second, opening and closing her mouth without noise.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to say what-”

“I have a question!” She blurted out, surprisingly loudly.

I closed one eye and twitched away at her volume. “Alright, shoot.”

“I, um… I heard you talking to someone last night. Who was it?”

My brow furrowed in confusion before I realized that she was referring to my prayer. “Oh. Um, how to explain… Do dragons have a religion? Gods?”

“A what?”

Well, crap. “Em…. A religion is kind of like a way of life. On Earth, there are a lot of religions, each one with a god or gods that they worship.”

“What are gods?”

I scratched my head. “The technical definition of something like beings of power that hold some amount of control over the world.”

“So, like Foecruncher?”

“Not exactly. Foecruncher is still hu- er, he still exists in the world and can be killed. Theoretically, a god is more… ethereal than that. You can’t touch or feel them or see them unless they want you to.”

She seemed to think about that for a bit, almost like it confused her.

“You can kill Foecruncher?”

“I mean, I’ve never met him but he’s a dragon, isn’t he? And dragons aren’t immortal, right?”

“But you don’t understand, he’s bigger than most of us, and he’s dark blue, and really scary… you don’t just kill him.”

I snickered a bit and whispered “My God is bigger still…” before coughing. “But he’s still a dragon. No matter how big and scary he is, a mortal is still mortal.” She continued to make weird faces at the concept.

“Let’s drop that for now. I’m sure I can explain it better one day.” Crags glided past in an endless cycle as the hours passed, with no change in sight. We walked along in silence. No point in explaining so much new culture all at once.

Midday rolled around and we stopped for lunch, next to a tiny stream, barely two feet wide. The water cascaded up around the edges, only to dry quickly. Despite its warmth, the water was still refreshing, and I realized I hadn’t had any actual water since before I had arrived. The sun beat down on the land but strangely, I did not feel it as much as I expected.

Our lunch consisted of more leopard meat. It would run out at this meal too, so hunting would be a priority tonight. I sighed. Never thought I’d be eating cat as a regular food source. Still, it felt nice, being out under the sun, since it was winter back home. Wherever home was from here.

That brought a question to mind. Maybe Aurora knows something? A clue or hint… “Hey, Aurora.”

“Yes?”

“What can you tell me about the world?”

“The Dragon Badlands? Not much, I guess. it’s where dragons live.”

“Not just that. What about the rest of it? The dragons can’t be the only thing on the planet.”

“I don’t think…” Her brow furrowed in thought again. “My parents used to tell me stories.”

“Stories?”

“Yeah. About other species, non-dragons. I’ve never seen any though.”

“You don’t believe their stories?” I suppose I might not either if all I ever knew was that mountain.

She frowned. “No, I guess not.” She picked at her teeth with a bone, before crunching it to bits and swallowing.

“So these non-dragons, what are they? Like the ‘humans’ I described to you?”

“No, nothing like that. Things called griffins and ponies.”

Ponies? Hah, that would be a laugh, if I was actually in Equest-

“I think they called the place Equestria.”

I froze. There’s no way. But she said it herself! Ponies and Equestria. It has to be. I laid on the ground, hand on my forehead.

“Are you alright, Boots?” Aurora walked over to me in concern.

“We’re… We’re near Equestria?”

She stared at me wide-eyed. “No… It’s supposed to be far away from here.”

I felt like I was vibrating. I’m in Equestria! Or near it at least. “Far away, you say? Do you know how far?”

She fiddled with her claws, nonplussed at my question. “No, not really. Why? Do you think it exists?”

My grin could not have stretched wider without tickling my earbuds. “Aurora…” I skipped around gleefully. “I could not be more sure that it exists! Oh my dear Lord God, Equestria! Haha!” I spun around, gathering the pelts into a bundle, as it was the only thing we had at the moment. I couldn’t help, myself - I started dancing. “Going to E-ques-tri-a, Going to E-ques-tri-a” I sung to myself.

Aurora watched this with awkward amusement. She didn’t seem sure why, but something was pulling her in with me. I could see that smile spreading on her face. Eventually, I calmed down and we began walking again, a new skip in our step.

“So, how do you know that Equestria is real?” Aurora asked.

“Ah, that will take a bit of explaining. You see, on Earth, we have really advanced technology. There’s a thing called a TV and-”

“-so when the atoms clash together, energy gets emitted. That’s why the sun shines, because it’s a gigantic, nuclear furnace.”

“ Wow…” Aurora drunk in every word I said. A day had passed since I found out we were on whatever planet contained Equestria. In that time, I’d given her a very brief overview on a few topics regarding Earth - namely Equestria as a show. We’d started talking about science that morning; since she basically didn’t have any education I decided, why not.

Lunch time was approaching once again and in the distance to the east, a dark band was forming on the horizon. Hopefully that meant a change in scenery. Dry dirt got old real quick. We had encountered some more leopards since then, which helped bolster our food supplies but water was far harder to come by. Thankfully, I seemed need less water than normal, so the minuscule streams we had come across, while not the nicest looking, had served to give enough, even if they weren’t very large.

“So, we never got around to actually talking about those other stories. What else did your parents tell you about the world?”

Aurora put a claw to her chin and thought for a bit. “Well, the ponies are supposed to have a land of peace and prosperity, like you told me. The griffins however… I think my dad mentioned them starting to die out.”

“Oh… That sucks.” That means Gilda was the member of a dying race?

“Yeah, I guess it does. Mom talked about one other race, the diamond dogs. They live closer and take lots of slaves apparently.” That didn’t surprise me a whole lot as I recalled the little I knew about diamond dogs.

“Huh. Do they have names for where they live?”

“Um… I think so but I don’t remember what they are.” She gave me a small smile. “Sorry.”

“Eh, it’s fine…. Do you know if there’s a name for the planet?”

She brightened. “Yeah! Dad said it’s called Equis. Don’t know why though.” Good, I don’t have to call it pony planet anymore. We finished the rest of our meal quickly, as I had run out of questions for the moment, and continued our trek. With no map or anyway of searching for civilization, the best strategy, terrible at best, was to travel in a single direction and hope for luck.

The headaches still occurred if I got too deep into thought, so the constant walking helped clear my mind. It also, unfortunately, meant I couldn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about what was going on. I still didn’t know why I was here. I still didn’t know how I got here, how much time had passed since I was sucked away, or anything beyond my immediate surroundings. I hadn’t been able to think about my, rather, the ponies’, memories. Why did I have them and why did they feel like my own?

The cracked earth had no give underneath my feet and just so, my questions could never receive answers, not until I found anything to help. If Equestria really was here, then maybe I could find somepony to do just that. I sighed, eyes scanning the rocks jutting out of the ground like so many pebbles on a giant gravelly beach.

The most boring place to end up. Nothing around for miles except sun and wild animals.

Aurora tapped my shoulder, eyebrows scrunched in thought. “Boots, if the sun gives off light because of chemicals, does that mean the moon is a…. star as well?” At least Aurora was here to keep me company. This would have been so much worse without her.

“Ah, no, that’s a funny thing. See, the sun and moon are almost always on different sides of the planet. Because of this, the moon reflects the light given off by the sun.” Our animated conversation continued as we walked, keeping me in a positive mood, for her sake, if not for mine. Negative spirits could not be allowed on such a quest as ours.

"What are those!?" Aurora froze, staring warily at the strange objects in the distance. The dark band had grown close and it's composition was now visible. Aurora had never seen such reaching limbs, garnered in green. They appeared to reaching for the sky, gently swaying in time with each other.

"Really?" Boots asked. "You really don't know?"

“No! I don’t like the look of them. Do you know what they are?” A grimace flashed across her features. “Are we going to have to fight them?? They look so huge!”

“*Snort*Bwahahahaha! Oh- oh Aurora, no, no those- Hah! Those aren’t monsters. No, those are the nicest thing we could have come across: trees.”

“Trees? Wait, my mom mentioned them once. Something called a plant?”

A bemused smile crept onto Boots’ face as he shook his head at her. “Oh, you really are from the backwater boonies. Yes, those are plants. Great garnish, good fiber, and beautiful every time of year except winter. Nature, the nicest escape a man can get. Well, dragon in this case.” He stuck his hands on his hips and stared at the horizon. “It’ll be just like camping. Without the s’mores but that’s okay.” She stared at him. “S’mores are a kind of dessert, by the way.”

“Uh… Okay. You’re sure they aren’t going to try and eat us?” Aurora fiddled with her claws, shooting glances at the green limbs in the distance.

“Yes Aurora. We’ll be fine. Besides,” He hopped on top of a crag to look for a second. “Those trees probably mark the edge of the Badlands is my guess. That looks like a pretty definitive natural border. Also shade. Shade will be nice.” He jumped down. “Let’s be off then. If we’re quick, we might make the border by lunchtime.”

“So do we go under them? It doesn’t look like there’s much space…”

“No, no- Well, yes. Not underneath the ground though. You’ll see when we get closer but those trees are actually plenty far apart. We should have no problems walking under the canopy.”

A thought struck the white dragon. “So we won’t be visible to the sky?!” The blue biped nodded. “Then Foecruncher’s dragons won’t be able to see us! We might actually be able to escape.”

“You really think he’ll keep sending dragons? Not that I have any experience with gigantic dragon tyrants or even met the guy but I feel like no king would go through so much effort to keep just one subject, especially not just a worker in the mines.”

Aurora shook her head. “No, he’ll send dragons. No one has ever gotten away. Even if the escaping dragons got away from the mountain, they were always brought back within a couple of days.” She shivered. “I heard some even came back with strange wounds no claws could cause.”

Her scarred companion scratched his head. “Alright, maybe you need to tell me a little more about life in the mountain.”

“Um…. Where should I start?”

“Wherever seems easiest. Just start and the rest will flow out.”

“Ok, here goes.” She took a moment to gather her thoughts and looked at some passing clouds. One looked like a gemstone to her. “I worked in the mines, I mentioned that once already but I was in the Crimson wing of them. The mines are large; the mountain itself is a few hundred dragons tall, hollowed out in the center with a ramp spiralling all the way up. The mines extend for miles underneath; I wouldn’t be surprised if a newer tunnel is even all the way out here. I lived with my parents, both red dragons, on an outer wall cavern about midway up. Apparently we’re an odd bunch. Most dragons don’t live as a family but on their own.” She sighed and scanned the wastes around her.

“Foecruncher may be lazy but he’s not dumb. Everything flows according to the system. That system is run only by dragons loyal to him; they get to keep their wings. He tempts them with riches and” She forced down some bile. “female dragons. If they aren’t big enough to boss other dragons around as slave drivers, he uses them as fetch servants or sends them out to keep watch. Every day is the same: wake up, mine for gems, get your allotted midday meal, mine more, allotted end of day meal, sleep. Meals are usually some kind of meat, though I don’t know what it was they served us. It was always the same stuff though.”

Boots listened intently, eyes wide. “That sounds terrible. He must have a lot of dragons in his ranks to keep even more under his thumb.”

“She thought for a moment. “I think there are around 1,200 dragons in the mountain? I’ve never counted really but there are hundreds.”

Boots’ jaw dropped. “In one mountain?! And he refuses to let even one escape? He is truly insane..” Boots shook his head. “Well, I guess I get it now. That’s so… silly. Mind blowing even. Well, I guess that’s all the more reason to get to those woods. Let’s pick up the pace.”

Skipping merrily along, twirling every so often in time with some internal rhythm, Boots wound around the trees with ease. His injury was bothering him significantly less than the day after he had received it, something that he seemed pleased with. Boots was currently unaware of Aurora’s gaze; she had been giving him funny looks whenever one of these strange spells of extraneous movement came over him - looks which she suspected he actually enjoyed. This time, however, her eyes were not glazed in confusion.

No, ever since they had crossed into the forest earlier in the day, Aurora had been thinking about Boots’ outburst of happiness about Equestria two days previous. He knew so many things that it was hard not to believe him but still, she found hard to take. Could such a land of happiness really exist? Coldfire mountain and the mines were all she had ever known. She assumed there was more to the world but where? How far? When would they get there, if it even existed at all? The trees around her astounded her initially but they also made her realize just how little she really knew.

Boots continued his twirling dance ahead of her, twinging a bit as the scar triggered his nerves and oblivious to the deep thought going on in Aurora’s head. He was teaching her so much that she had never known, even if it was being lost on her the first time he said it. She trusted him, certainly now, after he risked his life but… He couldn’t know their path anymore than she did.

And he didn’t know Foecruncher. The green dragon that scarred Boots was only the beginning, and they had been lucky. Cruncher would eventually send more and more; nothing escaped him. They had managed to find food here and there but how long could they keep going, with all this mostly aimless wandering?

A knock on her head snapped her out of her reverie. “Wha-”

A tree was not an inch from the end of her snout. “You were pretty deep in thought Aurora. Gotta look out for those trees, they’ll reach out and bite ya.” Boots waggled his finger mockingly.

“I- Yeah. Thanks.” Her forehead kept it’s crease.

Boots cocked his head. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

“I don’t even know.” They continued their walk. “There’s too much to think about. Where are we going? We don’t even know where Equestria is, if it exists or where we are to begin with. Can we even walk all the way there? What are you going to do when we get there? What am I going to do when we get there? I don’t know anything about ponies or towns or- or- science or history or anything! What if they hate me? Or try to kick me out? Or- or-” Her eyes popped wide as Boots clapped his hands in front of them.

“Hey. Look at me.” She did, trying to slow her breathing. “Right now, we can’t worry about any of that. I’m sure we’ll be fine; ponies are pretty accepting people, to my knowledge. All we have to worry about is getting there, ok?” She nodded. “And what that means is finding food and not dying. So! Look around us and what do you see?”

She paused to look. The couldn’t be very far into the forest - the canopy still seemed only 20 feet above them and sunlight still shone on the ground at their feet. No wind blew through but the shade kept the area cool. As she listened, the sound of birds surrounded her. “I see… trees? Wait, I think I hear-”

“Water? Because I certainly do. And I haven’t had a bath since I woke up here, so it is time to get clean!” He skipped ahead, bounding off of trees and roots. A bath. Aurora wasn’t unfamiliar with the term but it wasn’t something dragons did often. It had been long since her last one though.

Following behind wasn’t difficult for Aurora, though she wasn’t sure how he was so agile. It reminded her of her failure to keep up with him when they first met. Even though he was so small, she couldn’t understand how he could move so deftly around and above rocks and trees and whatever else was in his way. Just one of the thousand questions she could ask him.

As she turned around another tree, a splash of water hit her in the face. Boots started laughing."Whee, water! Ahh, this feels so good." Boots was already relaxing in a large stream. A nearby cliff in the hill provided a small waterfall. “It feels like I haven’t cleaned myself in ages, even if it’s only been a couple of days. The water’s a little cold but it feels wonderful, let me tell you.”

She lowered herself in as he wandered to take a drink from the falls. He was right; it felt like are her worries were floating away in the water. She stared at the canopy. A bird flew lazily overhead. The overwhelming presence of nature brought up feelings of contentment she’d never experienced before. As though the whole world was just waiting to be explored from her lookout. The entire forest was so far away and yet right there at her claws. Like she could reach out and- “Ow!”

Boots backed up from her outstretched claw. “That almost went straight up my snout, geez!” He rubbed his nose. “I realize the clouds look tasty but that doesn’t mean you have to reach for them.” They stared at each other for a moment.

“Heh… hehehehe… Hahahahaaha!” All the stress, the worry, the pain and the surprises over the past few days- and he’s just worried about his nose! “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” She couldn’t remember the last time she had actually laughed, much less like this. Where had the time gone, where were they going, who were they running from? It didn’t matter! None of it did! She was out, she was free. So what if more dragons came, they could outrun them, or hide or something. And then… “Hahaha...haha..ha… Boots…” She looked over at her perplexed friend. He cocked his head.

“Yeah?”

“What… what are we going to do when we get there? To Equestria that is. I’ve never even thought about life outside the mountain, much less in such a faraway land.”

He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m hoping to talk to someone I know and get some answers. Well, I don’t really know her but I’m hoping she’ll recognize me anyway. Other than that… I hadn’t really thought about it. Get a job and move in? Supposing I can’t get home, that is.”

“Equestria isn’t your home?”

He sat beside her, the waves lapping against her scales. "I guess I never told you, did I? Or maybe you got confused by my explanation of TV. No, I live… probably on a different planet or universe or alternate reality or something. Home is likely very” he sniffed “very far away. Not that I have issues being away from home. Do it a lot. But now, now I don’t know if I can get back.”

She followed his gaze before realizing he was no longer looking at the riverbed. No tears fell and yet the sigh was far too complex to leave alone. Tentatively, she placed her claw on his shoulder. “There there.”

He chuckled. “I”m guessing ‘There there’ was all you had. Oh Sheldon.” He leaned into her and closed his eyes. Aurora’s mind was reeling. She wasn’t used to physical contact outside of her parents. Normally it meant something more or going fur- “Thanks. I needed that.” She mentally slapped herself. Of course it didn’t mean anything; she was getting all worked up over nothing. He just needed a friend. They stayed like that for a bit, just enjoying the company, silently. Not for too long of course.

“Well, let’s keep a move on. We still need to find food and shelter for the night. Who knows what lurks in these woods.” Stretching, he reached to help her up. “Those creases in your forehead will become permanent y’know. Stop thinking so hard.” He smirked.

“Really!? I’ll get permanent lines?”

His face flatlined. “Okay, the next thing I’m teaching you is sarcasm.”

Author's Note

Huh? Wut? Storee not ded? Whoops.

Cheese - Duality

Letters From Solar Royalty

“When I was young, my parents and I lived in with the Garnt tribe, on the corner of the rainforest near the Black Marsh and the desert in the south. We numbered around 120 cats in our small clearing. Many generations previously, that section of the jungle had been cleared so the tribe could live there. While the jungle wasn’t dark, our clearing certainly provided a way for us to live away from some of the dangers the forest provided due to the extra light. As a tribe, we had no neighbors. No other tribes dared venture so near the marshes and desert. Most of our food came from a nearby lake; fish made up the majority of our diet. Not to say it was routine; fish are delicious, especially when garnished with pineapples.

The jungle is exactly what you would expect: beautiful and deadly at the same time. Lush canopies and green underbrush hid all kinds of beasts, from manticores to basilisks, living under the massive trees; even more lived in them. Occasionally, the tribe would go on hunts to reduce their population and keep us safer. Obviously, these trips were often very dangerous and so only our best fighters would go out on them, often taking the job training while they were being raised. They also gathered alchemical ingredients while they were out, both from plants and from any beasts they defeated. Our tribe, as with many, has quite a penchant for making potions to keep us healthy.

Despite the dangers, our tribe lived in relative peace. Since no other tribes were nearby, we never had squabbles over land or supplies. Due to our hunts and our proximity to the marshes and desert, we were rarely attacked by bandits or roving bands of beasts. The occasional Roc feeling gutsy might come near but we could drive it away with numbers. Our biggest threats came from the marshes and the desert but we rarely saw anything come out of either and knew to stay well away from anything that did. Bogfleshes and sand spirits are not things to be messed with.

I was trained in the way of any child; first to fish, then to fight and hunt on my own. As we often had little else to do, I took up basket weaving as part our culture. Each day was simple. Wake, hunt, train, eat, sleep. But it would not last.

One day, when I was twelve and shortly after my first solo hunt, diamond dogs attacked. My entire village was taken, dragged through underground tunnels of some great distance. It took us three days to reach the main mine shaft. None of us escaped; those who tried quickly grew lost and were brought back. A couple were even killed as an example. The central area was….massive and disgusting. 50 feet across, in a circle, 200 meters from top to bottom. Platforms sprouted out of the walls, stairs and ramps traveling at random between them. Slaves walked up and down with carts and buckets, moving gems and metals from place to place. No one looked clean and many were emaciated. It wasn’t just us cats either, though we made up the majority. Ponies, griffons and even a minotaur or two were spread out randomly in the mass of movement.

My parents and I were, thankfully, kept together. Many of our kin were separated; parents from children, husband from wife. The pain must have been unbearable. Quite a few of our fellow tribespeople were killed as an example for the rest of us after we arrived, not counting the ones left to rot in the travel tunnels. Some of them decided to end it on their own. I would guess only 80 of us were left by the time we were a few weeks into our slavery there. It was terrible. Every day, we went to work in the mines, looking for gems or ores. Cave-ins were common, as no tools were provided to prop-up the tunnels to any reasonable degree. Even mining was hard, as our shovels and picks were made of cursed stone tablets bound with cloth to sticks. They constantly broke, so much so that we were instructed to give a call of “frakked” whenever one broke and the dogs would send a new pick and shovel down, regardless of which one broke. Food was always in short supply and I saw 100 beings of various races die, just within the first year we were there.

It was also in that first year I learned where we were. This particular den was known as Den Dekza and was located in the middle of the Black Marsh.”

“Why don’t you tell me about the marsh while you’re at it?”

"I suppose I could. The marsh is a festering bog of rotting plants and animals, kept in constant degradation by its decomposing and disgusting inhabitants. Beyond the treants, bogfleshes, and poisonous insects, all of which thrive in the environs there, exist the Skaven. The Skaven are a zealous race of rat-like beings for whom worship of their foul gods is tantamount. During my three years at Den Dekza, we had around 50 raids on the mine by Skaven parties. Always in groups of 13 and always with the goal of capture or torture – mostly for fun. More than anything though, I remember their “rotters”; pot-bellied vermin that smelt so badly flies dared not even go near. I remember seeing some diamond dogs try once, only to throw up once they got within 6 feet. The very air around those virulent creatures rots and the ground turns to death at their passing. That is why the marsh remains black, even when the Skaven take root in the jungle to the west.

However, it receives the term “black” for another reason as well. Dark forces are at work underneath the earth, deep below. I had heard rumors in my village before we were taken but in the mines…. The presence of the undead became most noticeable. Every so often, while mining down some new tunnel, someone might encounter a box or coffin or even just bones. Such a thing seemed innocuous enough but the dogs already had a protocol for such things. The only question was if you got the code word out fast enough, though the code word always seemed a little weird to me. I think, most of the time, the darkness moved to quickly. Screams of terror were much more common. Often I would see one of my kind or a pony or whatnot travel down a tunnel...and on my way back from hauling, I would find that new path blocked off, to hold something at bay.

I only had one such encounter, thank the heavens. Halfway through my third year at Den Dekza, I encountered bones. No sooner had I shouted “THE COLD!” than the pile sprung up and formed the skeleton of a being I have no name for. It swung with a fist as I scampered off. The last look I got at it left me with an image of two glowing eyes staring out of a increasingly metallic skull that resembled my ancestors bones but with a body that did not match. A cloak of dark particles and a sword absent of light were just forming on it as I rounded the corner. An unearthly shriek sounded out of the tunnel as soon as I was back to the main shaft. Twenty-some dogs boarded up the entrance to the tunnel inwards by thirty feet. They are fast workers when they need to be. That was the only day I ever received a break.

My final days at Den Dekza were spent on high alert, at the end of the third year. Recently, word had arrived that another den was going around conquering and pillaging. Five days after that first alert, they struck. I no longer remember the name of that pack, but they were swift and efficient, much better at fighting than the dogs of Den Dekza. The dogs were all dead or made into slaves themselves by the end of the fighting. Some of the slaves may have managed to escape but I doubt there were many. The attacking pack seemed to come out of everywhere all at once. The hike was far longer this time, and many more of the slaves died. If I wasn’t emaciated from lack of nourishment before, I certainly was when we arrived wherever it was. There was a better food supply once we were there, however, and many of the slaves quickly regained their strength. The mining was mostly the same, though we were no longer in the Black Marsh, as no longer did the dead rise in tunnels. However, our time there was not to last.

After about three months of working there, another den attacked. The fighting was much more brutal and evenly matched. More slaves died and more slaves were taken by this new pack. We got moved and settled at a new location. This cycle of mining, conquest and resettlement continued for about two years until finally me and my parents ended up at Clay Pallor. Here, the dogs ran even more efficiently. The entire compound was a well constructed mass of tunnels covered by an impenetrable exterior, kind of like a big turtle. These dogs were very powerful, as well as numerous and well controlled. They even held a dragon captive. The mining was again, much of the same. Find gems and metals, pass them along.

On the rare occasions we saw him, many of us noticed the alpha was off somehow. Bulkier and seemingly angrier. None of us knew why but we all believed it had something to do with “The Hole”. The Hole itself was really more of a ravine. Any slave that proved too troublesome was tossed in. The only thing set up in there was a bucket on a pulley. Every slave was shown it as a means of inflicting fear in them when they were first brought to the den. And boy did it work. This was…. only about a year ago now but it was even more terrifying than my encounter with the necromantic demon. The Hole, as even the dogs called it, radiated evil and darkness; even the dogs avoided it at as much as possible. You couldn’t see the bottom of that pit and even being on the other side of a wall from it, you could hear ghastly howls and screams of pain emanating from the depths. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, after about 9 months into our slavery there, a group of pirates led a revolt from the inside. I still don’t know quite how they did it but it involved magic, that’s for sure. And so, here I am.”

“Wow. That’s quite a tale.” I looked up at the clock in the room. 5:59.

“And just in time for me to get going too! Visiting hours end in one minute. I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow, eh buddy?”

“Uh, yeah. I look forward to it.”

After I had made my way back to the tavern in which I had my room, the bartender approached me.

“Hey! Mr…. Cheese, correct? I’ve got a proposition for you. You see, when you sang last night, we got more customers than we’ve ever had before and considering the small size of the island, that’s quite an accomplishment. I was wondering if you’d like to become a regular evening singer here at the Galloping Griffin.”

I was rather taken aback, though my lack of features didn’t display it. Oooo, I have the best poker face now! “While I’m certainly interested, I don’t plan on staying on Signal beyond the end of the week. Is that alright?”

“Well, it’s less than I hoped for….. But it would certainly be enough to pay for the room you’re using after tomorrow. The mayor could really only give you two nights before I start losing money on it.”

“Yeah, I can do that. What time at night do you want me to start?” We meandered over to the stage area as we talked.

“I believe 7 pm is the most appropriate starting time. Customers started wandering in a little beforehand, and the crowd builds as the night goes on.”

“Sounds good to me, sir! Did you want me to sing tonight as well?”

“If you’re up for it, yeah.”

“I already have some songs in mind. I’ll be up there at 7.” He thanked me, and walked back to the his position behind the bar.

Just as I said, I was up on stage at 7, ready to sing. I wasn’t sure what kind of songs they wanted, but if the crowd was drinking, there was a pretty surefire way to start them off. "It's 7 o'clock on a Saturday..."

And the night went from there. I sang a few more songs interspersed with some of the other, more regular performers. I won’t tell you what else I sang, as there were some much more interesting scenarios for some of them. Suffice to say, I began to think of myself as an “Equestrian Crooner” in the vein of Frank Sinatra - though with much more modern music. After that, I went to my room, with quite a few more bits than I’d had before. Tips were truly a great thing. I spent some time trying to work out the equation Effy had given me but it was too confusing, the whole “insert magic into the variables” thing. How does that even work?

It wasn’t long before I put myself to sleep.

I went to Kahner early in the morning, to see what more I could learn, as well as have the spell recast, as I had yet to learn it on my own. Sadly, he didn’t have much to say about the Volcanic Wastes, other than there were a lot of volcanoes and that harpies and pirates lived there. He was similarly unknowledgeable about the Southern Continent with only a basic knowledge of the things that dared come near the jungle occasionally. Still, he was smart and, while a slight bit too literal, I enjoyed his company. After spending the morning talking to him, I made my way to the library. Time to get me a basic understand of magic.

A pale yellow earth pony greeted me as I entered, plaque claiming her the librarian. Gold-rimmed half glasses, with a chain, hung from her neck. "What can I help you with to... day?" Her eyes rose from her book and condensed into confusion.

"Ah, hello! If you could direct me to the section containing information about unic- er, magical basics, I would be most appreciative."

Her eyes skewed further as she heard my voice. Ah, just like old times. Show up dressed weirdly and nobody can look at you quite right.

"The, uh, section you're looking for is two isles down, on your right." She pointed to a back corner.

"Thank you kindly." She stared after me as I made my way towards her given directions. I found the shelf I needed with little issue. There were quite a number of reference books on the subject, though it seemed to me that the selection was probably lacking. Not that I had any basis for that. I picked out Magic: A Preliminary Guide to Arcana And found a table to read at, hoping that I would be able to keep up with what the book contained. I'd never enjoyed textbooks much - really, I'm sure the only people who do are the ones who wrote them - but reading about magic held my interest enough.

After I made it through the first chapter, I took a break and checked the time. An hour had passed but making that much headway in such a book gave me confidence that maybe I could do this after all. At least, the reading bit. The actual magic was going to take a bit more getting used to. From what it sounded like, even the way each unicorn viewed the “equations” they used was different enough to make it unique. The “inserting” Free Speech had talked about was just the way that made the most sense to her. Which meant I got to figure out my OWN way. Great. The book did do a better job explaining the whole “elements” thing, though I still feel like there should be seven, not six.

I spent the rest of the day trying to piece together different concepts regarding magic and how it worked. While I was still lost at 5 pm when I left, I had a good enough understanding of chants, direction, and matrices to attempt the spell - which had worn off some time while I was reading. I felt around inside for my little ball of warmth. Now I sound pregnant. The air came easily enough and I found my water flowing around me but the light proved a little trickier after I was already balancing the other two. Next came the hard part. I remembered as best I could the formula Effy had given me and then pushed the thoughts through my focus, my body, and tried to mesh the variables with the elements. Power started building and then, with a whizz it dissipated. Testing, testing- fiddlesticks. Well, getting it right on the first try would be pretty astounding. I sighed to myself and I meandered back to the Griffon. I was surprised to find Effy standing outside the door.

"How was your day? Have fun talking to the kitty cat?" She smirked.

Picking up a pebble, I began scratching Equestrian characters into the dirt when I felt magic suffusing me. "I see that the magic end wasn't totally successful. Did you make it to the library?"

"Thanks. Yeah, I picked up a book on magic but my first attempt fizzled. I'm having problems making the magic follow the formula you gave me... or maybe I didn't remember it properly. I've always been bad at remembering formulas. Geometry class was hell." We walked inside, approaching the bar. "I did spend the morning with Connor though. He's a cool kid, if a little prudish."

Effy snorted. "Well, I'd be surprised if you got the magic immediately. It's not a simple spell either. But really Kahner seems more than a little prudish. He's a cute little kitty when he blushes."

I was again reminded of my missing eyebrows. "Uh-huh."

"Hey, a girl can admire, right? He looks so soft too!" She giggled.

"I suppose so. Cats are the most adorable creatures after baby animals. Thanks for coming to visit, by he way."

"Hey, you're the most interesting thing to happen since we started building this place. Plus, I figured you'd need my help. Magic and all." She ordered a drink, seemingly some kind of beer or maybe a cocktail.

"You were right about that. Still, I've got time, I guess...." The thought struck me a little hard. How much time did I have? Or rather, how much time DIDN'T I have? Saying I'd get help from Celestia was one thing but actually finding a way home? I had no idea what was involved or how long it would take. I didn't even know what brought me here in the first place, much less how. Where would the princess even start looking?

"Hey, giant lightbulb, you there?" I shook my imaginary head, cursing again my need for physical language.

"Sorry, I got lost. "

"I'll say. I've been trying to ask what your home was like."

"I..." Home hadn't really crossed my mind til moments before. "Are you reading my mind? I was just thinking about that. Cheater." A sigh escaped, even with no lungs. I chalked it up to the spell. "Home was normal I suppose, though, I guess that social concept is probably different here. Um... I had a supportive family, even if I didn't always get along with my father. My mother did much of my upbringing. My dad was always gone on TDY's - well, business trips we'll say, at least when I was young." I paused. Did they even know I was gone? Was time passing at home? "I'm used to being away from them, both because of college and summer camps, but this is a little different. I can't speak to them or tell them I'm okay. They might not even know I'm gone."

A silence fell over us. Effy seemed still, watching me quietly, her normal energy seeming to have momentarily vanished. After a time, she spoke "I guess I never really thought of that." She frowned. "I've never been so far from my parents that we couldn't speak, especially since I can send messages anywhere. To be so completely cut off- " Her eyes dropped to the floor. "Not to mention your friends and family - everyone you know, gone beyond your reach." A tear rolled out of her eye and she reached out to hug me. "I'm so sorry."

I did nothing to stop her embrace, even if I couldn't feel it. "Yeah... " We sat like that for a bit before I spoke. "But, I mean, it's not like they're dead. I'm just not there. They can still go about doing whatever. I'm just... not there with them." That phrase echoed through my thoughts. I'd never really worried about life at home or missing out on things but now... now I was thinking about the opportunities I might miss, of the birthdays, the weddings, the funerals - so much that could go on that I'd miss if I couldn't get home. I spurred the thoughts out. "I'll be fine. Even if it takes a few years, that's hardly more than college. It'll just be, like, an exchange program." Effy leaned back on her stool as the bartender walked up. "You're up now, kid. You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm good to go. I'll be fine Effy, no worries." I rose and hovered on stage, here eyes still downcast as she watched me approach the mic.

"I've got a special song tonight folks, about life and what can be done with it." The hall quieted down as the pianist started a familiar melody. I did love this song.

"I'm fifteen~ for a moment..."

The next day brought a some progress on the magic. I once again spent the morning with Connor and this time, we reversed roles. Since he’d given me such a big exposition the first day, I didn’t have a huge amount of questions right off the bat for him. I learned a little about diamond dog and kitty-people anatomy but that was about it. Instead we talked about my home and technology and places. He was surprisingly interested in the history of the world, though that may have just been the easiest to talk about

The first book I'd picked on magic proved to be what I needed to get the spell down. More importantly, it provided simpler spells for me to practice and get used to controlling the weave and mesh of spellwork. However, I did spend time on historical pursuits as well. The biggest amount of information I got regarding the world was about Equestria. There was some stuff I knew from the show but a lot more I didn’t know, like some of it’s cities or a little bit about it’s history, which was incredibly long. Over 3000 years, if the books were right.

My speech spell fizzled again that night and once again, Effy was waiting for me outside the tavern. I was beginning to enjoy her companionship as well. Even as she was light-hearted and snarky, she always calmed when we talked about a somber subject, like my home. Like Kahner, she began to learn about where I'd come from, though more specifically about me than the environment in which I'd lived.

The rest of the week passed much the same. In between my various one-off jobs, I'd go to the library, and visit Kahner in the morning. Free Speech always met me in the evenings and we would speak at length before I went on stage. The two were quickly becoming close friends to me. On the Wednesday of the week, I got a return letter direct from Celestia through Free Speech. I was flattered to be of such importance to get it directly from her, rather then in the mail.

Dear Cheese

First, I must address your mistake regarding Signal island. As you will have no doubt learned by the time you receive this letter, Signal is a part of the new Griffin Dominion, not Equestria. With that being said, I welcome you to our world. I find it interesting that a human not only possesses the means to communicate so quickly but is also willing to. You are the only one I have met so far that has not only immediately contacted me, but done so with a degree of seriousness others have initially lacked. I believe most humans are so confused by what their god did upon arriving that even those you call “bronies” often forget some of what drew them here in the first place.

As it is, I would love to have you stop by Canterlot. Having a human psychologist would be immensely helpful, as we have seen a large influx of humans recently and we need a good base for diagnosing them. Please write to me ahead of time when you plan on leaving Signal so I can be prepared for your arrival.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

Of this letter, one thing in particular stood out. Celestia mentioned that some “god” brought me here and she talked about it as though it was not just a singular god that was doing this. This did not sit well with me as a devout Christian. The closest I’d was willing to believe about other "gods" was that they were powerful, reality-altering beings, like Celestia and Luna. They could be considered “gods” in terms of power but I'd never worship or follow them. "God" seems an inaccurate term for something that doesn't have complete and total power. Regardless, there wasn’t a god that brought me here unless it was my God and while I couldn't say he didn’t bring me, Celestia was talking about it as though the “gods” made themselves known before whoever it was reached Equestria. I did’t think rainbow slides counted.

I also found it interesting that Celestia would be in need of a psychologist for humans. Were they really that common, such that the small percentage with some kind of major issue were present? Hah, maybe she’s starting a clinic...

Although if this griffin pirate is any indication... that actually makes a lot of sense. Maybe the "gods" just picked the crazy ones. Well. That’s not so funny anymore. I guess she would need a good base for humans, though they probably aren’t a huge amount different than ponies. Less prone to panic, just as socially inclined, omnivores instead of herbivores, progress-oriented...

That’s all I could think of off the top of my head. I would have to come up with more if Celestia was to have a good set of differences. I began a second letter back explaining a number of things I was confused about.

By the end of the week I had mastered the stupid talky spell and figured out what the whole deal with “latin magic” was. Latin magic was a lot simpler than unicorn magic, as it only required the proper word or phrase said in latin and the intent to use it. The problem was that I remembered next to nothing about Latin, even though I’d had a year and a half of it in high school.

Fortunately, English was still considered a romance language because some words did have Latin roots. I was able to come up with a couple Latin words that way, the most important for me being Sonor, which allowed me to talk, though I discovered through my personal magic-practicing regimen, better known as floating around all day, that the unicorn spell, which took me the entire week to get, was more magic efficient. I gleaned a few other Latin words from some other sources I remembered - one of my favorite mangas, game mods and some other loose words here and there. Still, any magic regarding gems was incredibly limited for me. I didn’t know a word that could translate to fly or levitate, which would have been immensely helpful. I didn't want to even imagine what kind of mathematics would be necessary for self-levitation.

Honestly, after Celestia's return letter, I was quite excited to go visit. Signal was a nice place but he prospect of meeting the princess still had a bit of an effect on me. Due to my odd jobs and singing tips, I had gathered quite an amount of bits, enough to finally pay for passage to the Equestrian mainland.

Author's Note

Whoo, finally got this out! sorry it's so late. My head has been swimming with finals and a...secret project for the group. Shhhhhhh. Nobody knows aaaanything.

Anyway, tell what you think!

EDIT: The secret was a prequel that never happened.

Boots - Duality

Royal Night Visit

After my bath in the stream, we resumed our walk into the forest. Some plants were recognizable to me as food sources – wild grape vines, blackberry bushes, stuff like that. I took the time to teach what I could to Aurora, who grew excited over having another new option available to her. My occasional thoughts drifted back towards the event that brought me here. Over the few days since the green dragon had attacked us, I’d been able to piece together an ongoing train of thought on the matter.

Not that I had anything beyond the strange memories, the floating words at the end and a brain three turns from candy cane lane to go on.

One of those things was not very useful. Magical, floating commands did little to illuminate the matter after all.

In the end, most of those memories were really just point of view changes for various events I had already seen. Nightmare’s day of darkness and Discord’s trickery were nothing new, nor was Chrysalis’s banishment. The Tale of the Royal Pony Sisters was a childhood story I intended to tell MY children. However, those were big events for Equestria, ones that could have changed the world.

So how did the Gala fit in? If the pattern continued, that meant that specific gala had some huge impact on Equestria as a whole. I could maybe understand a Gala being super important but nothing really stood out about the scene other than the band and the changeling, neither of which I knew enough about to make conclusions. Always more questions, never any answers. None of these things really got me anywhere.

That left the final scene: the Mane Six in the Crystal Empire library. Presumably, that was as important as Discord or Nightmare Moon. Moreover, the spell was definitely summoning spell, if the prose was any indication. Combined with the words I saw after… Well, I'd been summoned to help. Which didn't sit well with me.

Not to say that I didn’t want to help Equus with whatever trouble it had gotten into – supposing that theory was correct. However, I doubted my own ability to be useful. I was just a hyperactive oddball from Earth. I wasn’t terribly strong or smart. Just a guy. My brief time in martial arts was unlikely to be useful. Why would I be picked out of the millions of people, when there were absolutely stronger or smarter or more caring people out there? It didn't fit, at least, not to my mind.

On the plus side, I’d never had anything so interesting simply HAPPEN to me. That was nice. Well, relatively speaking. Going on the run from a megalomaniac dragon after being transformed into strange fetish fuel and getting sliced up was hardly nice but eh, take the good with the bad. New planet, and no social constraints holding me down; exploring the unknown and all. The more I thought about it, though, the more the novelty wore off. If it kept spirits high though, I’d focus on it. Believing I could find Equestria and explore the boundaries of the world was a better thing to hope for than a death in wastelands.

I sighed. Hopefully reaching Equestria would allow me to get some answers. If the ponies couldn’t help me figure anything out, I didn’t know who could. A new plant attracted my attention.

“Ah, see this Aurora? This is called Sourgrass or Yellow Wood Sorrell…”

The night air was refreshing. The cool forest temperature was calming, reminiscent of many nights I had spent camping. We had spent our nights in caves while traversing the crags, curled against the walls. Rocks were more comfortable than I remember them being. Tonight, we had found a large tree to take shelter under, with a stream passing in a nearby clearing. We’d had to surprise some animals, as the last of the leopard meat wasn’t enough, even when combined with plants, some of which Aurora couldn’t stomach.

I hadn’t had the chance to see the night sky on my own since arriving on Equus, so I stood out in the clearing, gaze upwards. The stars were just as beautiful as the first time I had seen them. I found it interesting that so many of the constellations were the same. There, the Pleiades, and there, Pegasus. I suppose some things just work out that way.

Finally, I focused on the moon. I have a peculiar habit of talking to the moon when walking by myself at night. Not really sure where or why I picked it up. I tend to treat it as a kind of conversation with God, imagining a response in my head.

“Hey Mr. Moon! Though, is it Miss Moon now, since Luna guides you? Well, no matter. How have you been?”

I gave the moon time for an imaginary response.

“That’s good to hear. And the kids?”

…

“I’m glad. Fianto was always a headstrong boy. Well, I’m doing alright. As you can see, I’m not on Earth anymore. Kinda weird, right?”

…………….

“I don’t really know how I got here, though I have a suspicion I’m hoping is wrong. Yeah, it’s certainly an interesting place…. I wonder if I’ll ever go home? Not that I have any more of a purpose there but still. What do you think?”

… ….. ……

“You’re right. No use worrying about it. Equestria is the best bet for that anyway.”

…. ….. …… .. …

“Aurora is a nice girl. I mean, she tagged along with me without a second thought. Well, maybe a second thought but you know what I mean. I hope she can find a better life somewhere in the world.”

…… … ….. .

“Yeah. Anyway, I’ll go sleep now. Need to be up early.”

…….

“Good night!”

I wandered back to Aurora, satisfied. Talking like that always felt good. Aurora was already asleep, curled against the trunk of the tree. I laid on the ground nearby, sinking into the mossy underbrush. The smooth motion of the canopy and Aurora’s regular breathing lulled me to sleep.

White

Up? White

Down? White

Everywhere was pure, unshaded white.

And then it was a pond. A clearing in the woods, a clear view of the night sky.

I stood from my laying position and walked to the pond. I was human again in my reflection but…. only half of me. I lifted my hands and I could see the scaly skin I had grown used to in my week on Equus. I looked down again, my human reflection still missing its left half.

A glint.

A dark speck in the pool grew larger and larger until it breached the surface, spraying me with water. I looked back as the shape landed behind me.

Luna.

I knelt. “Princess. It is an honor.”

“Please, rise”

“Your Majesty”

“It has been long since we- er, I, have heard the moon spoken to in such a manner.” Her voice was hard and stern but her face masked with confusion. “How hast thou come to speak so closely with it?” A chill passed down my spine. This was surreal. There were any number of reasons I should be freaking out and yet I felt drenched in calm, peace flowing through me.

“It is a habit. I often spoke with the moon on beautiful nights, such as this, back on Earth. No one has ever actually replied of course.” Her mouth flattened in thought.

“So, as I thought, you are not of this world.” Her eyes flashed white momentarily. “Indeed, you appear human, however…. you are not whole.” I must be dreaming. Actually dreaming and Luna is visiting me.

“You can tell?”

“Yes, I can see you for what you are. You are missing an entire half of your soul. What caused this?” Did talking to the moon really bring her here and surprise her so much? I would have figured ponies loved the moon like humans did, nowadays at least.

“I know not. I felt a hole in my being not long after I arrived over a week ago; the extent of my loss was unknown to me until just now. I’m somewhat surprised you know of humans.”

“They are becoming common nowadays, with the game going on.”

“I hope they have not been too bad a representation of our race. What game do you speak of?” A waterfall of calm washed over me again, calming the nerves that were beginning to fray again. Was she doing that?

“Ah, not every god explains. The god that sent you has chosen you to represent them in a rather barbaric game for power. Generally, the last piece standing is considered the winner and granted a wish. What did your god offer you in coming here, if you don’t mind my asking?” Gods? Wishes? A game? Well, something is wrong in Equestria, that's for sure.

“Um...no ‘god’ asked me anything. I fell into a pit made of rainbows and woke up on a cliff north of here.”

Luna frowned “But… Someone must have brought you here. Are you sure no one approached you beforehand?”

“Yep. I didn’t go out all day. Heck, I had just woken up. Only been awake about thirty minutes and POP! Rainbow slide.” As surreal as the dream I was having, one would think rainbows would be a little more common in Equestria. What with all the magic and such.

“Hmmm...Give me a moment…” Luna’s horn began to glow.

“What are you doing?” I was more curious than anything. I doubted Luna was going to banish me or anything. Hopefully. Though, she probably would have had a good reason to, ruling a country and such. Don't let the super depressing thoughts get to you or anything Boots. I'm sure moon banishment is as fun as a barrel of monkeys.

“I am searching for something...There- huh?” Her eyebrows creased above her closed eyes.

“What is it?” Magic in a dreamscape. Fantasyland hoy. Oh right, I guess this does confirm Equestria, not that I had doubts anyway. This is my reality now. Better get used to it.

“I have found the link I was looking for but it doesn’t seem to connect to a god. Moreover, I see a fainter path to the other half of your soul, which is far, far away from you. But this link, whoever summoned you is much closer, judging by the strength. It’s still quite far - somewhere within my own country if I am a good judge. They did something wrong with the spell they used, which is why your soul has been split. Normally it should have just sped back to you but...something is containing it. I cannot say what though.”

“So you don’t know who summoned me?” I asked.

“I cannot say for sure. The magic is familiar in some places and entirely foreign in others.”

“That's... unfortunate. I was hoping you'd say Twilight Sparkle.” Luna’s horn was at my throat instantly.

“How do- “ She removed her horn, blushing ”Of course you know that name, if you know mine. I apologize, I do not always think before leaping, as I believe they say now.”

“I-it's fine. I should have expected you to react like that. Doesn’t it bother you that I know who you are though?” I spoke tentatively, rubbing my neck. Who knows how dreams and reality were tied? Hopefully not like the Matrix.

“It does not surprise me greatly. Many other humans that came before you also knew of Equestria. I assume you watch the, what was it, ‘TV program’? But perhaps you should introduce yourself.”

“Of course! Where are my manners? My name is Boots. Um...Nothing special about me beyond that. I’m a college student studying Psychology.” I figured I might as well continue going by the name I'd given Aurora.

”The Psychology of humans? I think my sister was interested in that. While your name is odd by our standards, it seems strangely fitting and certainly is on par with the names other humans have taken.” She paused in thought. “What made you come to the conclusion Twilight summoned you?”

“Well…” I described to her the memories I had received during my unconscious period between realms. She listened, asking minimal questions. When I reached the end, her eyes opened wide at my mention of the white words.

“Truly? This spell...it sounds similar to one used millennia ago, also to summon a human. That spell has been buried deep within Canterlot though… For something so similar to exist in the Crystal Empire is amazing." She straightened up and coughed. "I must ask that you make haste to Equestria. While the logic of the spell is yet veiled, it's intent brooks no doubt. It would seem you have been called to arms in defense of our world.”

I sighed. “I figured it would be that. Just, why me?”

She looked at me curiously. “You would not wish to do what you were summoned to?”

“No,“ I said “it’s not that I don’t want to serve some purpose but, like…” I looked to the sky for inspiration. “If you were pulled from home, from your sister and your life right now, to a world you’d only ever heard of, to do some grand thing, would you not be just a little put out? Especially when you don’t even know what you’re supposed to do?” I chose a stone off the beach and skipped it across the pond. One hop.

Luna’s eyebrows scrunched up, looking across the dream water. “I… suppose so…”

“Sorry, maybe that sounds weird. I’ve spent a lot of time with my nose buried in works of fiction. And it's different for you anyway, being a powerful deity-like, uh... pony.” I skipped another stone. Two hops. “I guess it bothers me most that I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing or who I'm supposed to help. Why me, for what purpose? Is there some grand scheming villain? A terrible artifact of power, prophesied to arise?”

Luna selected a smooth stone from the shore. “I do not believe so. My sister has gotten better at including me in plans after so long without me. I do not know, uhm, Boots.” Luna shuffled her hooves, squinting out over the water. "I should probably say, though, that I do not believe the spell reached for you specifically."

"What do you mean?"

"I mentioned that the spell was performed incorrectly, yes? With what you have told me, I believe that, rather than badly performed, the spell was never completed in the first place." She cast a sidelong glance at me. "The spell chose you at random.

I grimaced. “That's almost worse, in a way."

"I apologize. I do not mean to make you seem of less import." Luna said.

"I mean, not being important kind of relieves the pressure. But it doesn't change where I am. I just feel so lost right now.” I spun another stone out of my hand. One hop. “I haven’t had time to think since I got here." Luna looked at me again, selecting a new stone and dropping the previous one. "Really I can’t. I get powerful headaches whenever I try. There’s so much to take in about this situation and I’ve been so focused on surviving…” Luna looked to me, frowning. “Well, they aren’t your troubles really. Sorry, I got wordy.” I threw one last stone. Four hops. “Now there’s a good throw.”

Luna spun her stone in magic and projected it away like a bullet. It skimmed the water and hit a tree on the other side. “Show-off”

Luna gave a half-smile before speaking."I'm sorry I cannot offer words of comfort. I do know something of exile from home though." An ever so slight droop in her shoulders appeared.

"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry Princess. And you had a thousand years of it too. Here I am, some young whippersnapper complaining about something that's not even half bad to someone who lived a thousand times that, in twice as terrible a condition. Forgive me."

Her ears perked up as she looked at me. "There is nothing to forgive. Mayhaps, your exile is not a terrible as a thousand years, but 'tis still an exile nonetheless." She shook her head. “It matters not. You are here and we will try and help. Even if you don't believe it now, magic can work in ways that none comprehend. Hopefully one day, understanding will come. Now, if I may, what do you plan to do?”

I thought for only a moment. “Well, obviously I need to find my soul. Before that though, I have a promise to keep. I need to escort my companion to Equestria, in hopes she can find a better life. After that…. I don’t really know. I suppose I'll try to figure out what brought me here and maybe, if I can get home. Do you have some plan in mind, your highness? I certainly lack direction and I haven’t really thought anything out well - whenever I try, my brain feels like it’s splitting apart.”

She nodded sagely. “That is likely a result of your soul’s damage. While you are outside of Equestria, there is little I or anyone I know can do for you. However, now that I know of you, I would ask that when you arrive on Equestria to make your way to Ponyville - not only will you be able to ask some more of Twilight and the spell it appears she used, Ponyville also has a direct train to Canterlot. You knew that though, did you not? I would greatly like to converse with your physical being, as I’m sure my sister also will. Please come find us. I will let Twilight know you are coming, though I expect it will be a long time before you arrive, correct?”

I nodded “It seems I am currently in the Dragon Badlands, or rather, I just left it to, I think, the east?”

“Oh dear.” Her face scrunched up.”To think you are… I’m sorry, I wish there was more I could do to help. You are currently in the most troublesome part of the world. The dragons are carnivorous beasts but if you have gone east, to the Diamond Dog lands then… Be careful. The dogs will have no qualms capturing or killing you.”

”Not much different than the dragons then.” I scratched my face and shrugged “I’ll probably be fine. These things tend to work out for me.” I sat down, letting my feet rest in the water. “Thank you for visiting me Princess. You have answered a lot of questions. If you'll humor one more...”

"Yes?" Her eyes glinted, even with no moon to light them.

"If I've gone east, which way is Equestria?"

She looked at me pensively. "Far, far to the south. Through jungles and hills of troubles."

"Good to know. Thank you, Princess."

Luna turned towards the stars above her. “Thank you, Moonfriend. It is good to know my skies are appreciated. May your journey here be swift and safe. There will be much to discuss when you arrive. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, your maj...esty?” I opened my eyes. Daytime had just begun, its early light pervading the canopy above me.

Well then. I wonder what she meant by “Moonfriend”? Eh, time to get going.

Always more questions.

Author's Note

Wow it's been a while. School happened. Trying a new style of formatting, let me know if it's good bad or whatever.

Also, pie. Meaning this has not been pre-read or proofread yet. Hopefully I didn't miss any errors.

Interlude

On The Plane Beyond

Sean arrived back to his 4-person apartment late that evening. He had run pretty well at the cross country conference meet earlier that day and was looking forward to watching the newest episode of ponies when he got home, possibly with Boots, if he hadn’t already seen it earlier or wasn’t occupied playing Halo 4. Sean’s roommate had been playing it every chance he got since it had come out earlier in the week. The young man hummed to himself as he walked up the steps to his apartment and let himself inside.

The first thing he noticed was that the gamer chair was missing and Boots’ Xbox was still whirring away, though the TV was off. It had probably been left on, as Boots liked to set games down and pick them up again later without bothering to power down consoles. Still didn’t explain the missing chair. Sean texted Boots asking if he knew what happened to the seat and while there was no immediate response, Sean didn’t worry about it. Boots was probably just busy. The two girls who took up rooms in the apartment asked about it when they came in and Sean told them as much as he knew.

Sleep came easy that first night.

When Sean awoke the next morning at 10 am, he was surprised to have received no message back from Boots, who was generally very quick in responding. Unsurprisingly though, Boots wasn’t home, as he went to church every Sunday, getting up at 8:30 or earlier to do so. Time for more Dwarf Fortress! When Boots’ mom arrived in the afternoon, Sean was doing laundry and was just realizing that Boots car had remained parked the entire morning, meaning that Boots must have walked somewhere. His mother had neither seen nor heard from him all day and decided to come over to see if he had skipped church. Sean passed along that Boots seemed to have dropped out of contact and didn’t know anything about his whereabouts. With growing concern, Boots’ mother called the police to help organize a search, while Sean got in contact with his friends and teammates. Within an hour, over 200 people had been gathered to help.

By Wednesday of that week, he had not been found. The campus and much of Springfield had been covered before Sunday evening and it was too dark out. Every building on the campus had been thoroughly searched Sean and the two other roommates had to find somewhere else to stay for the evening, as their apartment became a crime scene. No one had seen Boots leave or at all, in fact, since his apparent disappearance on the previous Saturday. Forensics were unable to piece together anything from the apartment other than some of their instruments occasionally glitched in the main living area. No unusual hair, no sign of a scuffle, no blood, no chemicals at all that weren’t something immediately found in the apartment. It remained as though everything were the same except the lack of one of it’s occupants, a gamer seat and a wired controller. The police guessed an abduction or a willing disappearance and put up a report for as much.

Far worse than an empty apartment was the effect the disappearance had on the team and Boots’ friends. His roommates found it hard to sleep at night, from fear of being abducted, as well as from concern for Boots' wellbeing. The team felt a hole where once there had been a bustling whirlwind of confusing energy. His classmates grew fearful of their paths home. The college stepped up security looking for suspicious individuals. Many of those friends lost their interest in their favorite pastimes. Grades dropped, though they were forgiven by the college and professors in general.

A few miles away, Boots’ parents held each other tight and his mother cried herself to sleep. Every night. The next few weeks were spent in almost continual search. While his father went to work as usual, his mother spent all of her time sending messages or calling or otherwise looking for her son. It became clear by Christmas, he was not to be found. The depression that followed was devastating. Her scout unit almost fell through the cracks. The church she attended was very supportive and helped her through the trial of grief. Life continued, although in much a sadder way.

Time dragged on.

Author's Note

Short chapter indead. Much sads.

Cheese - Travel

Seas and Swamps

A week had passed since I'd fallen to the island. The morning I was scheduled to leave, Free Speech met me in the bar below. Over the course of the week, we’d become pretty good friends and she loved my singing. Apparently, earth music was all the rage since the founding pirates' trip around Equestria. It was interesting that people thought the leader would have been some kind of leader on Earth, since he was one here. If he had been, he certainly wasn’t world-renowned or close to where I resided.

“Morning Effy.”

“Morning Cheese. Glad I don’t have to cast that spell for you anymore.”

“Me too. I hate not being able to do things for myself. What's crackin'?”

“A letter from Celestia arrived for you when I woke up this morning.” Free Speech had mastered the art of sending and receiving letters while in school - special talent and all - and was one of three or four ponies that essentially acted like the post office for the island. Because of this, the island didn’t need any pegasi to cross the sea travel for mail, removing a large amount of the danger. Unfortunately, sometimes letters arrived at awkward times during the day - such as while she was sleeping or in the shower. Apparently, she has even woken up buried in paper once, early on in her work here.

“Really? Well, let’s have a look.”

Dear Cheese,

Your suggestions regarding the nature of humans is much appreciated. I hope to learn even more from you when you arrive here, as we will have much to discuss. I am, in fact, planning on opening a clinic for the humans who have arrived, many of which have problems from their past on your home world.

The fact that you express no knowledge of any god or the game we are playing causes me some worry. First, it makes me wonder just what other power could have brought you here. But it also makes me worry for you. If you are not a piece but still from another land, the entire game could be upset. Other gods may find you to be a great threat to their progress and decide to attack. Unlike others brought here, there is no rule preventing you from being permanently removed.

However, as you seem to be a far bit more sensible than many other humans here and I have need of your help, I have an offer. There is no rule stating that a god can’t choose a human in the world, so long as he lacks a contract. What I propose, so as to ensure your safe travel, is to accept you as a piece of mine for the game, until such a time as I can find you a more fitting benefactor.. This will prevent you from becoming a direct target, should any god see fit to make an attempt on your life, though being in the game has risks all it's own. If this is amenable to you, please respond with a letter.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

“...Well that’s an interesting piece of news….”

“What is?”

“Something about a game played by gods? You know anything about it?” Effy just looked at me in confusion.

“Thought so. Eh, whatever. Help from Celestia might not be a bad idea. I’ll send her a response later.”

“You’re getting help from the princess!?” Effy looked shocked. I guess I had just kinda dropped a huge bomb there….

“Actually, yeah, wait a minute. I’m just getting help from the princess??? Just like that?” I stared back at Effy. This was actually a kind of exciting turn of events.

“How did you manage that?”

“I guess being human is just that important or something? I mean it’s partly because she needs the expertise I have on human psychology but… Eh, whatever. I’ll write her letter while I’m on the ship.”

“Oh, that’s the other reason I’m here. I’m actually taking a vacation to head back to Canterlot and visit my parents. So I’ll be joining you!”

“Cool! I’ll take some company on the trip. I’d probably be kinda bored otherwise.” Tucking the letter away, I said my goodbyes to the barkeep and the few regulars I’d come to know. All of them were sad to see me leave but I assured them I’d be back at some point. They were glad to hear it. Apparently my singing left quite an impression. Free speech and I took our leave.

“How long are you going to be visiting them for?”

“A few days. Can’t spend too long away from my job at the island. I’ve been trying to get them to come down once they’ve retired. I think they like their mahogany apartment though....What?” As soon as she said mahogany, I adopted a completely blank face.

“...Maaahogany.” Oh wait, I don't have a face. This is much less funny now.

“Wha-”

“Maaaaaahogany” Entirely necessary continuatoin.

“Right, I’ll just accept that as a thing you do.”

“Hehe. So who is taking your place while you’re gone? Is the island still going to be able to get mail?”

“Oh they will. Special talents aren’t necessarily unique after all. There are a couple of other ponies with long range capability...but I have the farthest reach. I can actually send mail all the way across the Equestrian continent.”

“Wow. that’s quite a range. Have you ever sent one that far while you were here?”

“Well, maybe not all the way across, but I did get a letter to Appleloosa once. It was a bit of a strain but I managed it.”

“That’s pretty impressive. I have no idea what that entails, nor do I want to try. But awesome.” By this point we had reached the docks. Effy left her bags in the pile of luggage to go on board the ship. We made our way on the ship, as I took in its appearance. It was similar to a blimp in many respects but this particular ship was for supplies. There were a few passenger rooms, which were what me and Effy were staying in, but most of the hold was used for food and exports. The hull-area was shaped more like a ship for sailing than the enclosed compartments attached to blimps back on Earth.

Once we were on board, I was surprised to find a familiar face among the guards.

“Connor! What are you doing on board?”

“Hey Cheese and...oh.” Connor got that lovely, ever so slight pink tinge to his cheeks, while he frowned. “You.”

“Geez, you got that stick shoved up there again?” Effy laughed. I should probably explain. Free Speech did, in fact, visit Connor with me a couple more times over the past week. Every time, Connor had put on a bit of a blush and done his little tsundere bit while Effy taunted him. He got better at controlling himself around her during the second visit and they even began a small friendship, though I’m sure Connor didn’t see it as such. Nor would he willingly admit his attraction to her.

This made it that much more hilarious for me. I’m going to ship the fuck out of these two.

“Hey now, don’t make fun of him. His might be the next bed you sneak into while drunk.” Effy’s eyes went wide as a blush rushed forward. Connor’s ears perked up.

“Say what now?”

“Why did you have to mention that! I said I was sorry…”

“Ohohohoho! And I didn’t say I was mad either, did I?”

“Hold on, what’s this about sneaking into beds?” Connor’s face was fighting between open interest and cautious worry.

“Well, you see-”

“NOOOO, don’t say it!”

“Are you going to stop telling him he’s got a stick shoved up his bum?”

“I...but...Fine, tell him.” She groaned, turning away from the conversation.

“Wow, she must really like insulting you. Weird. That first night I spent in the hotel? She got drunk and snuck into my bed.”

“What!?” I could hear his neck snap as he stared at Effy.

“Haha, jealous?” Another snap as he turned back to me.

“NO! I ju-”

“Shhh, it’s okay. nothing happened. In case you hadn’t noticed I’m a solid mass of crystal. I couldn’t attempt anything if I wanted to.” He began sputtering.

“N- ju- I- You- NNNNG!” His eyes bugged out as he tried to come up with a response. Suddenly he began staring upwards, as though locked onto a mental image. Sure enough, that blush of his began spreading over his face.

“Oooo~, someone’s thinking about you Effy.” She turned back to the conversation, having calmed herself down enough to giggle a little at what I had been saying.

“Ah, so he is. Gonna do something about that, guard boy?” She smirked as his attention was drawn out of whatever he had been thinking about and back to us.

“You-” His eyes are twitching “Gaah! Stupid- I’ll talk to you later!” With that he sped off to some other part of the ship to hide his embarrassment. Maybe it was a little much.

“I never tire of that.” Effy laughed.

“I think we really should be a little nicer to him. What happens if one of us falls overboard and he’s too mad to do anything?” She waved me off with her hoof.

“Eh, another guard will catch us. Besides, he doesn’t seem the type to do that.”

“True enough. Well, I’m going to go find my room. Catch you when I’m done.”

Later that night, I spent some time out watching the stars above the planet. Some of the constellations - the Pleiades and Pegasus, for instance - were the same but I couldn’t be sure just how many. I only remembered a few from the astronomy course I took freshman year. Connor was on guard duty at the stern of the ship. I heard a clip clop behind me and shifted my vision to see Free Speech coming up behind me.

“I always did enjoy the nighttime.” Free Speech stood next to me, staring up at the stars.

“Really? I was always under the impression ponies kept away from the night because of Nightmare Moon stories.”

“A long time ago, that was the case. But in the past 200 years or so, that’s stopped being true. With Luna’s return 2 and half years ago, ponies avoiding the night has pretty much stopped altogether. Sure, she’s a little scary and not everyone trusts her, but for the most part, she’s become accepted, if not completely liked.”

“Oh. That’s certainly an improvement. I do like her more than Princess Celestia, even if I don’t know them all that well.”

“You only arrived here a week ago. How would you know about them beyond what the books in the library told you?” Shit, do they know about the show? Eh, whatever, doesn’t matter.

“Ponies have movies, right? Imagine, if you will, an electronic contraption that plays very short movies all day long, with each movie being a different, ongoing story called a ‘show’. Following me?” Effy nodded.

“Each week, a new ‘episode’ or super-short movie is released to continue the story from the previous week. All kinds of shows exist as entertainment for humans, some of which are played by actual actors and others are simply animated drawings, normally done by using of electronic contraptions that we have created that are much more complex.”

“Okay....and this deals with the Princesses how?”

“Just explaining. Don’t freak out.” I paused ”Equestria is the setting for one of those shows, which follows the Elements of Harmony.” Effy stared at me. I could see the gears turning in her head and centimeter by centimeter her mouth formed a silent “oh” as she reached the conclusion. Eyes wide as saucers, she opened her mouth and a stream of questions flew out, almost faster than I could pick out.

“Calm down, one question at a time. No, we can’t ‘see’ your world from ours. It’s an entirely weird coincidence that we know appear to have fairly accurately depicted stuff about Equestria. I should mention there hasn’t been a lot about most of the world though. The show mostly focuses on Ponyville and sometimes Canterlot.” Her excitement visibly fell when I said this.

“So… You’ve probably never seen me before. I guess that’s okay, I’m not that important when compared with the Princesses after all.” She sighed.

“Hey, you’re my friend now at least and that makes you important. Besides, you don’t wanna know what you might have been made into if you were on that show. Some of its fans are more rabid and like to produce, well, porn of it. I like you as you are, without any of that taint.” The smile returned to her face as she stared back out at the stars. ”You’re such a sweet-talker.”

“Really? Never been told that before.” We resumed our stargazing and Free Speech began pointing out constellations I didn’t know about. Some of them were similar to earth but others had completely different names, such as the Starswirl constellation, which funnily enough, replaced Cassiopeia. It felt good to just stand and talk with someone. Back on Earth, conversations like this were hard to come by for me. I was they guy people would laugh with, sure. But just sit and talk with? I’m too awkward for that. I never feel like I have anything to talk about.

A shout from the bow of the ship interrupted our conversation. “Storm! 25 degrees to port!”

“Captain, it’s changing course too!”

“What!?”

I hovered to the front of the ship. Sure enough, on the horizon - not more than 10 miles away and moving at incredible speeds - a black thunderhead rolled along towards us. Underneath the cloud poured immense amount of rain. Lightning veins coursed through the clouds every so often, illuminating the sky around it.

“50 degrees starboard!” As the airship made it’s course in the opposite direction I could see the cloud suddenly blowing to intercept. A corner - a corner - formed as the clouds changed direction. There was something going on here. Especially since the massive thunderhead was a lot closer than it had been when I first looked. It couldn’t be more than a mile off now.

“It’s no use captain! That cloud isn’t natural!” Wait, why am I still out here? I should get below deck! The storm was only seconds from being on us when I jetted for the door, grabbing Effy on my way. She too had been entranced by the strange behavior of the storm.

“Brace for impa-” Just as I got to the door, the ship violently swerved and I smacked into the wall instead, dropping my unicorn friend in the process.The wind whipped about the guards above deck, tearing at their armor. Every new gust rocked the ship as people scrambled to something to hold onto. I wasn’t having problems floating but actually keeping with the ship as it shook about - I certainly couldn’t get to the bloody door. Every time I tried, something would hit me and push me off course.

A scream brought me back to the fact that I wasn’t the only one with problems. On the port side of the ship, Free Speech clung for dear life onto the handrail. Kahner noticed from where he was holding onto a crate too. Both of us rushed for her at the same time, even as supplies toppled around the ship; one box went over board, knocking a lifeboat off it’s ropes. I reached her first and grabbed Effy in my magic. I about had her on board when another gust jostled the ship. Suddenly, I was no longer hovering above the deck but above the ocean far below. In no time, another crate tripped over the rail and knocked against me, breaking my magic.

As Free Speech and I fell, I heard Kahner give a yelp; looking back, I could see him reaching overboard for us. Even as I regained control over myself and my magic, lightning struck the side of the ship. Kahner obviously felt some of the heat and electricity from it and passed out over the railing, following myself and Effy downwards. I dove for their falling forms, catching them slowly after 50 feet. My magic was dropping to less than quarter capacity-

But when I spun to return to the ship, it was already gone, swept away by the storm. Cursing my luck or whatever was directing the storm, I dropped down with my cargo to near the ocean level. If my magic was going to run out, I didn’t want my friends falling from a height where water acted like concrete. Thankfully, I spied the lifeboat that had fallen overboard before. As much as it rocked in the waves and wind, it appeared to be mostly undamaged from it’s fall, at the cost of being half filled with water.

Delving into my quickly dwindling magic supply, I removed the water from the boat in one go and set my passengers down, seating myself towards the stern of the small boat. Kahner remained unconscious, but breathing, and Free Speech appeared to have simply passed out at some point. This did nothing to alleviate the danger of our situation, as the rain soaked my compatriots to the bone, with the waves getting larger by the minute.

Hoping my week of self-enforced magic training wouldn’t go to waste, I muttered “Motus” to myself, and was glad when the boat began moving forward. Silently thanking my memory for its accuracy on video games, I began steering the boat in what would preferably prove to be out of the storm. The heavy rain made this all the more difficult and every five minutes or so, I’d have to dump the water back overboard.

I’m not sure how long we went on like that, but eventually the winds lessened and the rain stopped coming down. Light peeked out from beyond the clouds; we had traveled through the whole night. I was spent. I could feel the last dregs of magic holding me awake and knew I needed to stop. As the boat ceased its magical drain on me, I quickly found myself lost to the land of dreams.

“....e…….ese…….CHEESE!”

My sight came rushing back. The sun blazed a burning orange on the horizon, out over the ocean. My voice wasn’t working and the tip of my body glowed blue as I recast my speech spell. I hadn’t fully recovered yet but I was feeling better.

“I’m up, I’m up. What happened?” We were sitting on a beach, the boat pulled onto shore a short distance from where I was. Kahner was not in sight, while Free Speech sat next to me.

“Phew, you’re awake. We were worried that…. Well, you’re awake now. As for what happened, we just woke up in the boat and it had stopped raining. This shoreline was nearby, so we paddled over to it as best we could. That was about an hour ago. Kahner is out looking for food and wood.”

“Do we know where we are?”

“No, I have no idea. We are near a swamp though.”

“Hey, you got him up?” Kahner wandered out from the trees bearing wood and what appeared to be fruit of some kind.

“Yeah, he just woke up.” Effy and I moved to meet Kahner on the beach.

“That’s some good news.” Kahner frowned as he began to arrange the logs for a fire. Effy turned to him questioningly.

“What is it?” Kahner sighed at her question as doubt fell over his face

“I can’t be completely sure but… I think we’re in the Black Marsh. Gah!” Kahner’s right arm spasmed and locked up for a moment, dropping the log he was carrying. Seems the lightning really did a number on him. Looking closer, I could see the scorch marks on his clothing - a black spot on his arm marked what was probably the entry point for the lightning. The exit was probably on one of his feet. Effy paled at the sight, but moved over to him, trying to knead out the muscles in his arm.

“The Black Marsh, huh?” I wondered aloud. “From what you told me, it seems like a pretty nasty place.” I levitated the rest of the logs to the fire as Kahner continued to get his arm worked by the unicorn. We fell quiet as I sparked the fire with my magic. My thoughts traveled back to the storm.

Something was controlling the wind and those clouds. The angle and speed were far too unnatural, even if a whole team of pegasi were pushing it. Celestia’s letter popped into my mind. Was it a “god” then? I don’t see why Celestia would be lying and it would explain the impossible weather. I should probably take her up on her offer.

“Hey Free Speech, got any paper?

Author's Note

Another chapter, yay. Thanks to PetitPoney for pre-reading.

Now I'm off to go write for other stories.

Boots - Travel

Above and Below

A shuffling to her right woke Aurora. She jerked awake, confused by her surroundings. Tall, brown pillars with green, overhanging tops surrounded her, swaying slowly back and forth. She pressed herself backwards against something solid, her breathing fast.

“Aurora!” Her head snapped left at Boots’ voice. Her eyes focused on him, and she recalled the previous day. They had crossed into the forest. These were trees. Plants. They weren’t going to hurt her for waking up late. There was no waking up late now. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Safe. She was safe. Boots was here.

“Are you alright?” Her eyes opened, looking back into his face. The pools of blue examining her face spoke concern as Boots hunched over her. She shook her head.

“I’m fine. Just, it’s all so new.” She got to her feet. “I’m not used to plants yet.”

Boots straightened his back. “I suppose I’d be frightened by trees too. New stuff and change are scary things.” His face smoothed over, as though something new had struck him too. “Here.” He tossed her a red orb. “Another fruit for you, though I don’t know entirely what it is. I find it highly unlikely they’d be growing here, but it looks like a peach. Smells like one too.” He popped his own open, juices spraying out. “Yeah, that’s a peach. Weird. Well, that’s good news too. Hopefully there are other fruits growing in the wild like this.” He bit into half, licking the juices back from around his mouth.

Aurora looked down at the fuzzy fruit in her claw. Her mind was still reeling from waking up somewhere other than a cave. The trees had seemed so ominous from afar and their height still confused her. She shook her head, splitting the peach in half like Boots had done, watching the juice drip from the tender flesh inside. Well, if Boots thought it was okay to eat, then she could try it too. Her first bite overwhelmed her with sweetness and she almost spit it back out. Could food even taste like this, so sweet and tender? A memory shot through her mind, from early in her life.

A speck of a gem, pale yellow, rocks still attached to it, popped out of a minecart in front of her. She scooped it up without thought but paused before depositing it back in the cart. She looked around. Only fellow dragon-slaves nearby, eyes glazed over with the internal workings of their minds. She opened her claw, looking at the speck within as she walked along, pulling her cart behind her. It sparkled in the light and she felt a bit of drool escape the side of her mouth. Surely, no one would notice a stone this small missing? She looked around her again and slowly put the gem in her mouth. A taste like none other melted over her tongue and she had to constrain her moan of happiness. She dared not risk another though.

This was that flavor, experienced so many years ago she had forgotten it. This time she popped the whole thing in her mouth, not bothering to hold back her voice. The juice flowed around her mouth and she chewed thoroughly, trying to get every squish she could out. Another hum escaped her throat. A small cough brought her out of her reverie. Boots had his fist to his mouth, head turned away as though… embarrassed? “You, uh, enjoying your fruit there Aurora?”

“Yes, it’s quite good. Why?” She cocked her head in confusion.

“Oh, no reason.“ He finished his fruit quickly and got to his feet. She finished hers off slowly, enjoying every bite to its fullest while he gathered their hide bags. His head frills twitched oddly . “Welp, whenever you’re ready then.” She stood and they began their climb through the jungle.

They walked in silence for a time, which let Aurora take in her new surrounding with a mind fresh from sleep. The trees lost the menace they’d held for her that morning, once again reminding her of the protection from the skies they gave. Her head swam with all the things Boots was explaining to her. Who knew that the stuff that made the sun made her as well? Or that these plants didn’t eat but got food from above? There was so much to learn it was overwhelming.

Her mind returned to Foecruncher, and worry plagued her again. She had no doubt he was still hunting them but… somehow, that menace seemed far and away, not so immediate when surrounded by this lush, green matter around her, so inviting and full of life. How could that dragon keep them from such things, such beauty and happiness? A spark of anger grew in her and her fear couldn’t crush it. She’d felt it before when she had shot fire down the dragon’s throat but this time it refused to leave.

She was changing, she realized. Boots was opening the world to her, one leaf at a time, and her fears were falling with her ignorance. She giggled as she thought of her panicked state when she’d captured Boots, almost a week ago now. Goodness, had it been that long already? And yet, no sign appeared of another dragon pursuing them. She looked forward at her guide, who seemed to move with more purpose today. Maybe he was right after all. It had been three days since the last dragon. Maybe Foecruncher HAD given up.

They crossed a stream and Boots stopped, peering at the sky for something. Smiling at what he saw, He motioned for Aurora to begin walking again. “I got a bit of good news last night.” She looked at him, startled. News? “Well, It’s a bit hard to explain but I can say with utmost certainty that we can find Equestria now.”

She sped up to walk beside him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I have a vague direction to go in. We need to head south, far to the south. Moreover, we’ve entered the land of the Diamond Dogs now. You’ve heard of them?” She nodded slowly. Where was he getting all this from? Yes, he’d always been smart but never so sure of his direction or position as he was now, always lamenting the lack of a map; “sarcasm” he’d called it. She didn’t really understand it.

Her confusion must have been evident as he spoke again. “I had a dream. Now, normally I wouldn’t put much stock in dreams. But this was different, for a very specific reason. I met one of the most powerful dreamwalkers this planet has to offer. One of the rulers of Equestria, Princess Luna.” Her eyes widened. She wasn’t sure what he meant by dreamwalker but one of the pony rulers? If he’d met her that must mean he was pretty important, right?

“So are you a king or something?” It seemed reasonable to her but Boots smacked his forehead and laughed.

“Oh goodness no, Aurora. Hahaha, no, no, I’m not that important-“ A frown flickered over his face. “Well, I shouldn’t be at least. No, I’m no king. Why did Luna visit me in my dreams? Well, apparently, it was because I was admiring her moon.” He snickered to himself and mumbled something like “Luna’s full moon”. She couldn’t quite make sense of it. “No, apparently, as I took my walk last night, I attracted her attention by admiring the night sky. It doesn’t quite get the attention she’d like it too and my reverence for it somehow reached her. So, she made a visit to my mind. As in, yes, she entered my mind. She’s quite powerful.”

Aurora reeled back. The pony leader could enter a dragon’s minds? She felt a little self—conscious now, remembering guiltily some of her thoughts regarding Boots. Like how she felt so safe when he was next to her or patting her head or how his li- No, no further with that thought. She promised herself she wouldn’t think of that or how special it made her feel or how it brought warm fuzzies to her stomach or-

She groaned and smacked her face. How did she get from pony princesses to Boots? Now he was staring at her, eyebrow raised in that questioning look he gave. She coughed. “So, she can read minds? Is she reading our minds right now?”

“Well, it’s not so much mindreading as dream reading. She’s the princess of the night and so, the realm of dreams is her domain. She guides ponies through the night and uses dreams to teach lessons – or something like that. So no, she’s not reading our minds right now.” Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. “In any case, like I said, she made a visit last night. Not only does this confirm that Equestria is real but more importantly, it gives us direction. One direction.” He pointed towards the sun and then through the woods. “South.”

Having woke up late, Aurora and Boots found the sun approaching its zenith earlier than the past few days. After their initial conversation, Aurora had asked to learn more about plants and nature, especially what Boots could tell of her surroundings. All the green enraptured her, made her feel free, removed from her past in a way she’d never felt before. He wasn’t familiar with many of the plants but he could at least give enough broad strokes to let her figure things out on her own, even as she learned from him.

He delved into other subjects as well, he said, like chemistry and physics, though she had a little trouble making the distinctions when everything flowed into one another. The most basic stuff, atoms, made everything and, when combined, made bigger and bigger things until they reached the level she could see. That this structure had to be divided to be examined was lost on her. She supposed she would pick it up eventually but for now, she was content to just absorb all the knowledge she could.

After another lunch of primarily fruit with small portions of meat from what they could catch, they went two hours before discovering a large but shallow crack in the forest floor.

“Now now, what have we here? This formation doesn’t seem entirely natural.“ He crouched, pointing as he explained. “There, see how the striations in the rock are visible? There’s also no valley leading away, so this hole isn’t the result of erosion. The hole is also a little too straight and in fact…” He peered over the edge. “Yep! That’s a tunnel. Still dirt walls but a tunnel none the less. I think I can even see a torch.” The bottom was about 12 feet down, rubble having fallen down from both sides.

“A cave-in happened here but not enough to cover the openings, probably because of how close to the surface it was. I think we’ve found our first signs of diamond dogs. Let’s hope this tunnel is old enough that there’s nothing to worry about nearby.” He cocked his head, frowning, as though hearing something far and away but shook his head. “Let’s just press onward. Better to put distance between this and us just in case.”

They walked around, moving forward into the forest, when a shadow passed over the canopy, drawing Aurora’s attention upwards with a crack. Boots, turned to look at her-

“ROOOOOOOOAAAAAA-“

“RUN!” A red dragon flew through the treetops, burning them as he swooped in for the pair. Boots was already ahead of her. “Into the tunnel!” He was down the slope in a leap, only slowing to grab an unlit torch from the wall. Aurora sat where she was, terrified. He sent another one! I knew it was too good to be true.

The dragon was making for a second pass and Aurora found she couldn’t move. Her mind was locked into a cycle of all the things she would be forced to endure when the dragon dragged her back. Here he comes. She shrank, cowering. Just as the red dragon’s claws came to snatch her, something else was faster. The claws snapped closed just where she had been and she watched as the dragon was forced to swing upwards, away from the ground. She was rushed down and away from the light, as the tunnel slowly closed around her. The angry roar echoed around her and she saw the dragon land, peering into the tunnel. Its mouth opened and a jet of flame spewed forth, illuminating the cave.

Flames soon lost their ground as the view retreated. A minute or two of heavy breathing later, her rescuer slowed and, finally, slumped to the ground. “Haaa, haaa, you know, haaaa, when I said run, I did mean run. Hooooo…” She felt Boots lean against her, breaths coming erratically. Aurora found herself doing the same.

The dragon had come for her. For them. Foecruncher had NOT given them up for good. This dragon hadn’t even spoken. Straight in, no questions asked. Straight for them and no one to stop him. And- and- She looked to Boots, even if she couldn’t see him. He saved me, again. Tears lept unbidden to her eyes and she grasped for him in the darkness, pulling him close. “Aurora?” Tears fell freely, holding him as close as she could. Here, again, he’d risked himself for her. No one had ever treated her like she was even worth looking at, much less saving, yet here he was, having done it twice in a single week.

Boots seemed to understand, and shifted so she could pull him in closer. “Shhh, it’s okay. We’re safe now. He can’t reach us here, wherever we are.” She shook, sobbing into his neck. “There, there. Heh. It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe.” His hands stroked her head quietly, and as she sat, unable to quench her tears, he began to softly sing, wordlessly. The tune was unrecognizable to her, though she knew little music to begin with. Eventually, her tears slowed and stopped and she just held him, as he sang, slowly drifting to sleep.

It was a few minutes before I noticed Aurora’s slow breathing. It had taken a while for her to fall asleep. Slowly, I extricated myself from her grasp. Thankfully, that time was what I needed to recover from the half mile sprint through dark tunnels carrying a 250 pound dragon. For some unknowable reason, such a task took a lot out of me – one can only wonder why. Not to mention the scars on my chest barraging my head in protest. They weren’t quite recovered yet but at least the soreness indicated recovery. Still, I could not see well in the pitch black tunnel. I felt around for a torch, finding one a couple of feet away on the wall. There were still rags wrapped around it and *sniff* yes, they still had oil on them. Not as old a tunnel as I’d hoped then.

Now, how to light it. I didn’t want to wake Aurora – poor girl needed her sleep. Hopefully I’d be able to get her going again when she woke up. The resilience she’d shown me before was surprising. Which really left one other option: figuring out if I could, in fact, breathe fire. So, how does one begin breathing fire? Assuming I was right about the glands in my throat, I needed some way to activate them. A cough? Spike shot fire when he sneezed…. Maybe it was like hawking a lugie. I tried feeling for nerve bundles in my throat.

Well, I’ve found them. Now, I have to use them. I moved to what I hoped to be a good distance away from Aurora, so as to not disturb her already deep slumber. Supposing they were glands, that meant I had to get something out of them. The muscles tightened and I felt a trickle of something odd in my throat. Whoa, don’t swallow that. Breath out like you’re trying to blow your nose. And ‘blow my nose’ I did, as a spurt of flame escaped my mouth and caught the torch. “*hech, hah* Bleeeh, that does not taste good.” I massaged my throat, suddenly feeling a little raspy, like I was actually sick. At least I have my torch. Let’s not try that again until I’ve got some expertise on hand.

I returned to Aurora and tried to plan our next move. The tunnel so far had no branches or at least none I could see. We couldn’t go backwards, as the dragon would certainly be waiting. Which meant going in the depths and trying to find another escape. Well, at least there won’t be spider spawners. Next I had to figure out how to carry Aurora. I could walk with her, no issue, but how to do it and still carry the torch, especially when she was actually a little bigger than me – that was the question. A bridal carry was out of the question; my arms would get tired too quickly. She was no shawl to be draped around my shoulders either.

Could I piggyback her? She wasn’t awake. As slowly as I could, I snaked her forearms around my neck and crouched to pick up her hindlegs. A barely noticeable sniff happened right next to my ear holes and suddenly the arms around my chest constricted mightily, nearly pulling me back to the ground. Maybe I could just wait for her to wake up… but no, not if this was only recently vacated. The dogs may wander past and then we’ll be in a world of trouble. Best to keep movi- “F@$&!”

I cursed as my head split open again and I nearly fell back to the ground. I’d been doing so well at keeping my thoughts sporadic that I hadn’t had to worry about the headaches for nearly two days. All the more reason to keep walking. At least she seems to cling to me enough to walk. Regaining my posture, I wrapped her hindlegs around my waist and sighed when she constricted them. Let’s just hope my bladder doesn’t build up soon. Raising my torch in one hand and holding Aurora’s arms on my neck with the other, I began my hunchbacked trek into the earth.

Aurora woke to a mix of strange, yet familiar smells. She was lying against a dirt wall, facing a figure hunched over two burning torches. As she began to move, one of the torches went out. “Boots? Where are we?” Her friend turned around and helped her up.

“Underground, in an abandoned mine. Have to admire the dogs work, nice, straight and level. Nothing to hit my head on. You’ve been out for a few hours now. Ready to get moving?” As she stared at him, her nose was attracted to something wonderful smelling in the wall. “Wait a moment...” He’d said it was a mine. Did that mean it had gems? She didn’t know anything about diamond dogs other than they existed. But that smell… she dug into a nearby wall and smiled at her prize, then, immediately frowned. She was good at mining but it just meant she’d been a good cog for the machine at Coldfire Mountain.

A machine lead by a dragon that still chased her. “Boots, I- You should have left me with that dragon.”

“What?” She couldn’t turn around to look at him. He was didn’t even know where he was and he was helping her escape and she was just putting his life in danger.

“I’m just a burden to you and now, those dragons are going to kill you because of me. I… I should never have left, I should have just-“ Without warning, he spun her around and she melted into the comfort of his arms, forgetting the rest of what she was going to say.

“You are not a burden to me, not now, not ever. You’ve saved me just as much as I’ve saved you.” He tilted her head up to look at him as her tears threatened to break free. “What would have happened if you hadn’t found me?” She remembered the scene well. “I was being chased by half a dozen predatory animals, all far larger than me. I would have died if you hadn’t pulled me away. The same goes for the first dragon. If you hadn’t smoked him, we would both have been dead. And no,“ He clasped his hand around her mouth. “It is not your fault he was there. Cap’n Cruncher is just insane. He sent the dragon, not you.“

He stepped away, staring down at her claw in his hand. “I wouldn’t be half as calm as I am now, if I didn’t have you here. I wouldn’t even have a purpose to drive me. I’d be sitting dead in those wastes, with no idea how to get home. You’ve given me a reason to survive, to get to a place we can be safe.” He looked at her, the torchlight flickering darkly against the wall behind him. “I will get you to Equestria, to a better life, okay? I’ll make sure of it.” His eyes drooped downwards and he smiled. “We’ll be okay, yah? We can get through this. So, no tears young one.” She smiled slowly as he picked up the torch. Maybe he was right. Two dragons Foecruncher had sent and they’d escaped both of them. She reached over and put her claws around the torch, taking it from him.

“I’ve got it.”

“You sure?”

She shook her head. “I’m not really sure of anything. But we can’t give up hope. You’ve given me so much and protected me when I…“ She faltered.

“There’s nothing wrong with being afraid.”

“But I can’t keep being scared anymore. I’m free now; I should act like it. I don’t have to be afraid anymore.” She straightened her shoulders. “Now, here, hop on my back.”

“What!? Nononono-“ She wrapped her tail around him and plopped him down just before her scarred wing joints. Despite being roughly the same size, she felt he fit there perfectly.

“No buts now, you’ve carried me for long enough. And don’t think I haven’t noticed those twitches. You’re still hurt and shouldn’t be carrying me around like you have.” Aurora began her walk forward. “Please, let me do this. I have to do something at least.” Her comment stopped whatever rebuttal he’d had. “I’ve been leaning on you so much and never even thought what it might be doing to you. Please?”

“Fine, fine, if you insist. I’m not used to letting peo- others do things for me.” The torch flickered ahead of them, illuminating the way forward. “You know, I’ve never thought about it before. I’m 22, how old are you?

She blinked up at him in surprise as they disappeared down the tunnel “Only 22!? How do you sound so old? I’m 65 and I don’t know half the things you do!”

“WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?”

The pounding of Aurora’s feet did nothing to stamp out the skittering whirlwind behind her. Her legs could not carry her away fast enough from the horrible, horrible monstrosities behind them. How such creatures existed in such an amount, or at all, she couldn’t imagine. Never had she seen anything scarier in her life.

“I swear, why do mineshafts always come with cave spiders?” Boots had that tone like he was talking about something but it was lost on her. All she cared about was putting as much distance between those crawling, feeling legs, with their eight-eyed heads and herself. Boots wasn’t much help on her back – he was constantly ducking to void the ceiling. They’d been walking for hours and Boots had been trying to wrap his head around her age.

Apparently, humans only lived 100 years at most, nothing compared to the millennia she’d heard of some dragons reaching. Granted, most of the dragons on Coldfire had died before 200 but by then, they’d been worn out by the mines, despite having just barely entered early adulthood. “The earliest of the earlies” Boots had snorted, more of his sarcasm, the concept of stating the reverse to make a joke confusing her. Still, herself having only just finished her second growth spurt, she found it strange that someone so much younger than her was beyond her years in physical maturity.

Regardless, their conversation on relative lifespans and physical aging was interrupted when the sounds had started. Soon, swarms of spiders had come barreling out at them, most smaller than Boots’ fingertips but some nearly as large as Aurora. She was ashamed to admit her shriek at the horrible beasts but they were terrifying! Now, they rushed blindly down passageway after passageway in their escape.

“We’ve got to figure out a pattern soon!” Spiders streamed from some of the side passages, and even if she thought she’d lost them, they’d pour from a new direction entirely. Aurora was too concerned with running to give his words any thought. She couldn’t go forever though, and she couldn’t tell what Boots was doing on top. She could feel him twisting his torso this way and that but he could have been avoiding spiders as much as anything else.

“I think I’ve got something!” Aurora swerved as a particularly large spider led a swarm out of a passage to her right. “The directions are going to come quick though, so make sure you’re listening.” She nodded, not caring if he could see her. Anything he had to get them out of here was fine by her.

“Left!” She swerved down the passage that opened. The path was clear and she kept her pace. The torch fanned wildly in her wake, straining to reach ahead of her to light the path. “Right!” She hoped whatever Boots had locked onto was working. The millions of legs behind them were keeping pace. “Left!” She reared back at the horde ahead of her. “You’ve got fire, use it!” She dropped and belched a gout of flame, wondering as the swarm in front of her scattered from the heat. “Go!” Boots’ voice broke the hold on her and she leaped away as more spiders swarmed the passage behind them.

The dark tunnels moved swiftly by as Boots directed Aurora, their pace never ceasing. She wasn’t sure, but there were times she thought she was headed uphill, hopefully away from the caverns they’d traversed for hours. “There it is.” After the last turn, light spread from somewhere up ahead. “Let’s hope I was right.” The spiders, as if sensing their direction closed in. Small, scuttling bodies appeared on the edge of her vision, growing closer than any such creature should. To anyone. Ever. She put on as much speed as she could, hoping the light was the outside like she was hoping.

Light flooded around the pair, though not the bright light of the sun. A full moon shone down over the tunnel entrance. Rubble lined the outside edge and tripped Aurora as she flew out of the cave and Boots rocketed from his perch. Still, he managed to flip over and land on all fours, absorbing the impact of their speed.

For a moment, the entrance to the cave teemed with the arachnids of varying size but a queer light fell across them and they scattered in the moonlight. Aurora looked for the source but the light, only barely brighter than the ambient moonlight, disappeared almost instantly. She breathed relief as the spiders flew back, screeching, into the depths.

Boots came over and knelt next to her. “You alright? I doubt I’m the light thing I used to be as a human.” Before she could give her affirmation, her stomach rumbled. Aurora groaned. She’d just had to have self-doubts just before finding gems for food. “I guess that answers my question.” He rose and looked around. “No fruit trees I can see and it’ll be hard to find other eatables, even with a full moon.”

“No worries.” Aurora sniffed and was glad to find there was probably still a gem or two at this entrance to the mines. Clearly, the dogs hadn’t spent a lot of time mining this area. Boots looked at her curiously as she once again began digging into the walls. In half a minute, her prize was made clear – and more abundant than she’d thought. What could only be called a stash of gems tumbled out of the cave wall, easily enough to fill one of their hide bags.

“Whoa! How’d you know that was there?”

“I did work in a mine for 60 years.” She smirked at the surprise on his face. Finally got one on him. “Youngster” She picked a few of the gems up and popped them in her mouth, the flavors flowing on her tongue as she let the gems wash down her gullet. Boots’ frills began twitching as her uncharacteristically loud voice made clear her enjoyment of the hard stones.

“Here!” She tossed him a few and he eyed them skeptically. “They’re good, don’t worry!”

“That’s not what I’m concerned about. Well, here goes.” He placed a gem in his mouth and tried to bite, squinting as his teeth failed to break through the rock’s hard surface. He spit it back out into his hand. “Thought so, I may be part dragon but… Wait, this is sticky.”

She snickered. “Of course it is, you spit it out.”

“No, like, it seems like it was kind of melting.” His eyes widened at a thought. “Of course! My teeth may not be hard enough but the saliva can still break it down. Well, I guess I’m on a diet of hard candy now.” He put the gem and a few others back in his mouth. Aurora snorted at the way his cheeks puffed with the shiny stones.

“Hutsh. Itl haft tu dew.” She couldn’t contain her giggling as he made faces getting the gems settled.

“Guess, it’s my turn to talk, huh?” She smiled at the half-dragon, the adrenaline finally leaving her veins. He motioned for her to continue. Sighing, she leaned back and looked at the stars in thought. A particularly bright star caught her eye. “You know, my parents always taught me that the specks in the sky we’re our fallen brethren.” Boots nodded.

“Long ago, there was a great war for the planet. A terrible beast of woe and destruction broke hard and fast upon the land, stealing the life from all who lived, his hordes of darkness preparing his path. The queen of the ponies found a child of the stars and set the being at the head of the queen’s armies. The son of the dragon king joined the child, leading the dragon’s forces and together, they fought alongside the wolves of the sky to bring destruction on the six-limbed beast.

“But he was too strong. Even as his army fell, the beast fought alone and squashed dragons, ponies and wolves alike. Then, six artifacts – elements, I think my mother said – found their bearers and together, they banished the beast to the world beneath the world. And the child of the stars brought her kin to Equis, living in peace with all the world. The prince of the dragons became king and shared himself with the child of the stars. Ever since, dragons find their deaths strung to the sky, their spirits dotting the blackness above.”

Aurora coughed. “Or, at least, that’s the tale. It happened so long ago, no dragon – or anyone - knows what truly happened. I’ve never really believed it but, well, I guess it could be true.” Boots watched her silently, his cheeks smaller than before as the gems shrunk in his mouth.

“That’s quite a story.“ He swished his tongue around his mouth and swallowed the last of the gems. “You’ll have to tell me more. But for now” Boots crushed himself against the dirt wall behind him. “I think It’s time to sleep.” Her eyes glanced at him as she struggled with an urge she thought she’d repressed days ago.

“Um, Boots…

“Yeah?” He left his eyes closed

“Can, um… can I sleep next to you?” Maybe confidence would grow on her one day, like it had when she took the torch from him. Today was not that day though. She readied herself for his scorning rebuke but it never came. She ventured an eye open to look at his. He was not frowning but looking at her, eyebrows cinched together. Then, he smiled.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.” He patted the ground next to him and she sat, head on his shoulder, as they drifted to sleep.

Author's Note

So, this hasn't been proofread a third time yet but I figure, eh, let's get this thing back up and running.

EDIT: The third read revealed much

Boots - Purpose

Asking the Hard Questions

Boots and Aurora made themselves scarce when they woke up the day after their sprint through the tunnels. Aurora was feeling chipper after their rest and she couldn’t quite figure out why. Was it her first, true meal of gems? Or was she still riding the excitement of the chase? Whatever it was, their trek was faster than previous. Boots had sped up, citing the need to get as far away as possible from the dragon, even if he was just as lost as they were.

They travelled south through the forests for most of the day, not even stopping for lunch. Boots theorized their lack of hunger stemmed from their meal of gems. If that was the case, gems might be even more nutritious for a dragon than a normalized diet of meats and grains, though harder to come by. They talked little through the day, for which Aurora was grateful. The events of the previous day pestered her thoughts.

Her fear had all but disappeared after Boots had spoken to her in the tunnel, whirled away and replaced by... something else. Strength? Perhaps Boots had a word for it. As though she could stand against the world. Brave? She decided to ask him later. The things he said about himself bothered her more. What did he mean, that she gave him purpose? Surely he wouldn’t have given up if she hadn’t found him but she couldn’t deny that he likely would not have survived if she had not been there. But there's no way I could be that important to anyone... She was just Aurora, the ugly gray dragon that no one liked.

To be fair, she was far from gray anymore. Ever since she’d left the mountain, her scales had grown brighter and brighter. Now, they practically shone in any light. Boots occasionally joked about how blinded he got whenever she stood in the sun. She wasn't sure if that made her less ugly, but she did love the way her scales reflected light now. The colors reflected off them in shimmering waves. Boots said she sometimes looked like a disco ball, whatever that was. They stopped to eat again as night fell, picking out a few of the gems Aurora had uncovered.

As Aurora sat waiting for Boots to siphon the last dregs of his gems, a thought struck her. "You never told me how you knew the path out of the mines.”

Boots was silent for a moment before swallowing the remnants of dissolving stone. “We’re honestly lucky I was right. I wasn’t completely guessing, mind you, but I really didn’t know if that was the way out.” Aurora’s eyebrows raised in alarm. “I had an idea, calm down! I’d been trying to pay attention to the walls as we were walking through the mines. The dogs had to have something marking their paths, or at least, I hoped they would. Thinking about it, we’re lucky it wasn’t a scent based system. But they did leave some small images here or there. I just put my bet on one of them, a little mound with lines coming off the top. I was hoping it stood for the sun or something and it looks like I was right in some aspect.

Boots stretched his arms. “Not exactly an exciting solution but those tend to work out poorly anyway.”

Aurora stared at him, mouth agape. “You’re amazing. I could never have figured anything out like that.”

Boots didn't meet her eyes, fiddling with his hands.. “You’re giving me too much credit. I just try to pay attention to everything. And you're smarter than you think. You’ve absorbed everything I’ve said, and I reckon you remember most of what we’ve talked about too. That’s faster than any human I know.” He waved his hands around his frills. “All this knowledge trapped in my head – I just come from somewhere else. It’s not that I know more, it’s that I know different stuff.”

He tapped his chin. “Take the gems you found, for example. I could probably tell you the generic names for them, just as you likely could tell me the differences as well. But I could not, for the life of me, go back down in those mines and come out with even a single gem. I have no idea how to detect the gems, dig them out with injuring myself, or identify any veins I could tap into. But I’d wager you could, yeah?”

Aurora was silent. She hadn’t thought of that. Was there really that much she knew? “Not to mention, I’m not even from this planet.” She looked back at him. “Think about it. How much do you remember about your parents’ tales? You may not really believe them yet, but I think there’s probably more truth to them than you’d think. And no, I don’t have and special powers telling me so. It’s really just a guess. But, I know none of those stories, truthful or not. You’ve got a trove of history in your head that I simply don’t.”

She laid her head on the ground. Maybe he was right. “But you know so much more.” She said, almost to herself. She just found it hard to believe that she was good at anything besides mining and that skill had come from years and years of experience. He was so much younger and yet he could talk like the universe was an open book for him to read, explaining so many details about an inside and outside to the world that wasn’t even visible.

“Well, maybe I do. But not as much as you think. It may seem like I know a whole lot, but really, the scope of my information is sorely limited. It’s simply all new for you but to me, there’s already so much I’ve forgotten, that I can’t remember, that I worry I’m not even giving you as much as you need to know to understand it all properly.”

She opened her mouth to deny that but he shook his head. “We won’t get anywhere with this conversation. I’ve had it before pretty often. ”

“I don’t know…”

“Please? I… It’s hard to accept compliments. Can we, just, talk about it tomorrow?” His eyes dropped downwards and a strange melancholy came over him. He jumped when she took his hand. He looked up at her and the golden irises gazing back held an understanding he’d never expected to see.

“I understand. Like, the more you know, or the more you can do, the harder everything will be when you fail, right? A-and you can’t move past what happens when you do fail.” Not that failure had really ever been an option for her. Boots' eyes stayed glued to hers, taking on a strange glaze, as though he was no longer looking at her.

“Exactly. If I’m so good at stuff, why isn’t everything easier?"

"And why does it take so long?" she responded.

"If I’m so intelligent, why do I make so many mistakes?" Boots spoke, almost to himself.

"Why does everyone else's success seem to ride on your own? I get it, I do." She nodded emphatically.

"Why… why do I fall to my own vices time and time again?” Watery orbs began to appear in his eyes and Aurora lost herself in the blue gazing back at her. The rise and fall of his chest. The thumping of blood in her ears. She brought her claws to his cheek.

“Because the greater you are, the greater your problems.” She swallowed hard, her voice rasping peculiarly. What was this mood she'd created? “Let me help you bear them.” Was this really happening? Her stomach fluttered as their mouths drew closer and she felt his breath blow over her lips. Still, their eyes held. “Let me be there for you, like you have for me” She closed her eyes and moved in.

I woke with a start at a woodpecker digging for bugs on a nearby tree. Daylight spilled through the canopy. We’d slept a little later than we’d planned. What was that last night? I remember eating gems and then we started talking… The woodpecker knocked again. “Hush!” I rasped. Movement on my shoulder brought my attention to Aurora’s head perched on my shoulder. Those scales are even more beautiful now. I wonder what changed to make them so shiny? Must have been pretty bad for her health in the mines. I frowned, thoughts returning to our late night conversation. I remember arguing about something and then...

The memories were fuzzy. She had looked at me and then I’d felt all the weight lifted from my shoulders but… Nothing after that. It was all blank. Certainly nothing to explain why our fingers are clasped and my arm is around her. Cursing the habits left over from my last girlfriend, I extricated myself from Aurora, rousing her as I got up.

“Huhwha? Morning already? Wait… *GASP*” With lightning speed, she backed up against the tree the woodpecker was eating from. “What did we…!” With an indignant squawk, the woodpecker drummed a staccato beat right above her head and flew off. She jumped as the sound barraged her skull.

“Birds aren’t afraid here it seems.” I gathered our bags, chuckling at her. “What did what now?” Aurora’s breathing was fast and shallow but she didn’t seem afraid. More like… embarrassed?

Aurora took a breath and held it before responding. “What do you remember about last night?” I cinched my eyebrows in thought. “Not much really. I know we were arguing about how intelligent I was an then there was something after that but I must have been really tired as it’s all fuzzy." I blinked. She's avoiding my eyes. "Whyyyyy?”

She stared at me for a moment before chuckling nervously. “Oh, no reason. I must have had a weird dream is all. Heh heh.” That smile was suspicious but I didn’t press. I’d had weird dreams before and if this one was throwing her for a loop, asking about it wouldn’t do any good.

I was feeling as happier than I had the past few days. I love hiking normally but, well, when it’s all one does all day long, it gets tedious. Especially without campfires and card games at the end of the day. At least the surroundings were all new to me. Trees bearing fruit seemed a little odd, as it had been the start of winter when I'd been pulled from Earth but that was easily explained by calendars not matching up. Who knew how far away I was or what kind of year cycle Equus operated on?

I looked over at my companion and smiled. Her muttering about whatever dream she had was kind of cute. Aurora had surprised me the past couple of days. Her timidness was starting to disappear, which I was glad for. As it was evident those dragons would actually keep following us, I would have to rely on her more than I already was.

While it was hardly a voluntary journey, I’d not really thought of it as a joint venture until last night. It had been run for our lives certainly, but I’d felt that she’d needed protecting. Clearly, I was still leading us onwards but now, now it felt much more like we were equals. And glad though I was for the change, I didn’t quite know how to feel about it. Something had shifted in our friendship. I was no longer the older caretaker or big brother. We’re partners now.

I smiled. That was it. While I was certainly still going to be teaching her all kinds of things, I felt like she’d realized she could teach me in return. Even if it felt like laziness, I could relax and let her do some of the work. When we’d hunted before, I’d taken the lead, even when we were both inexperienced. Now, maybe she would. It brought a strange warmth to my chest.

The day went on without incident. Which is to say I had more time to think. Which was bad, and not just because of my new chronic headaches.

Psst.

Yes brain?

So. Ponies.

Yes. Your point, brain?

Whatcha gonna do when, due to cosmic happenstance, they don’t have a way to send you home?

Hush.

You know it’s true. That’s how these things work.

Doesn’t mean I have to think about it.

Too late for that. I sighed. A goal like going home was really too far off to consider but that never stopped my concerns from surfacing. Sure, Luna seemed to recognize a spell somewhere along the line but that didn’t mean it could be reversed. In which case, I had no idea what I would do. I didn’t really have a specialization beyond psychology and that took a PH. D. to get anywhere on Earth. Sure, I could probably get a job for a construction company but what then? It would keep my body busy but I’d be bored to tears at work.

I wasn’t even sure what I’d do in my free time. At home, I was either reading or playing video games - mostly the latter. In Equestria, I’d have books but what else? I’d probably start hobby hopping, growing bored within a week or so of starting. It didn’t help that I’d had the same problem on Earth. I wouldn’t call myself anti-social but college parties never held much allure for me. That didn't bode well for getting myself grafted into a town.

Then there was this whole ‘soul’ business. Half a soul? Shouldn’t I be dead from something like that? Or maybe this was just a case of “magic, don’t gotta explain shit!” How did souls even work here? Maybe there was magic that focused on it? It couldn’t possibly be a good thing. Where could I even start though? Presumably, the princesses had offered me help in this but it still meant I had to search for wherever this other part of me was.

And what of Aurora? Sure, I said I was trying to get her to a better life, but the more I taught her, the more I began to think she really didn't know how to begin her life. Which made sense - she’s spent everything up to meeting me as an unhappy slave. I couldn’t possibly go gallivanting off and expect her to do fine after a month or more of being her only friend. The concept of being on her own was probably completely foreign to her.

Aurora’s dream evidently bothered her for quite a while and she was a little jumpy. A few times I had to stop her running into a tree and squirrels darting around spooked her occasionally. Once again, night was upon us and we found the gems had staved off our hunger for nearly a full day. Sadly, it looked like the stash we’d found would only last us another meal and I lamented the loss of our personal lembas bread.

“You alright Aurora? You’ve been surprisingly quiet all day.”

She looked at me startled, as though she had forgotten I was even there. “No, I’m…” She shook her head. “Well, maybe a little spooked.”

“Spooked?” I swallowed my second to last meal of gems, supposing we didn’t find any more.

“Maybe that’s the wrong word for it. The, um, dream I had was a little,” She shuffled her mouth, looking for the right word. “Personal? Happy? No, provoking?”

“Provocative?”

Her cheeks reddened. How do scales do that?

“Yeah, that’s the word.” She averted her gaze and I thought about the conversation we’d had in the mines.

“You said you’re only just entering adolescence, right?” She nodded. “So, that means that you’re bound to be going through some changes. Not just to the size of your body but also all kinds of chemical and mental changes as well. Well, I’d guess so at least.”

“Yeah, my mother said I’d start liking male dragons and thinking about their, um…” Her entire face turned scarlet, eyes glued to the forest floor.

“Oh. Oh dear.” It was that kind of dream. And here I was, having to give some form of the talk to her. “Well, if the dream was about something like that, then I think what you had is called a wet dream, if I understand you correctly. It’s natural to find males attractive and dreams like that are your body’s ways of encouraging you to reproduce. Your body is sending signals that it’s reaching an age where children are a possibility. I know it’s probably a little embarrassing but there’s nothing to be ashamed of.” I didn’t know how dragons worked, dadgummit. Didn’t they hatch from eggs anyway? Not live birth, of course but still, those eggs had to be fertilized som-

You are going to stop thinking about this right now, you damn dirty pervert.

“But the dream, it was about…” I held up a hand.

“I do not need to know. In fact, I’d probably rather not. Dreams like that are private. I don’t need to know what you were doing OR who you were doing it with, ok?” I gave her a soft smile, hoping she’d calm down.

She nodded, eyes still wide with embarrassment.

“Even I had those kinds of dreams once upon a time.” Her head snapped to attention. “It’s a natural occurrence. I don’t claim to know what other changes you have been or will be experiencing but when I was a teenager – adolescent – my body changed a lot, very rapidly. I grew taller, my voice grew deeper; suddenly, girls came to the forefront of my mind and, well…” Why did I have to be having a conversation regarding the awkward parts of growing up with a girl, especially one of a completely different species? “There are some private activities that many adolescents pick up-“

“M-Masturbation?” Now I was the one hot under the collar. I’m glad I didn’t have to explain it at least.

“Er, yes. Masturbation” My my, how interesting the stars are tonight. God, really, what did I do warrant this job? ”Suffice to say that physical attraction can become a little overwhelming sometimes. Many things to happen as a matter of course but always remember they are your decisions to make.” I was copping out of the conversation and I knew it but I was not ready to talk about this kind of thing with her. Or with anyone really. I wasn't THAT far out of my shell.

“Anyway! It’s late. Let’s get to sleep and maybe that will ease our minds a bit, hmm?” I backed myself against a tree, as I’d gotten used to sleeping upright as of late. Aurora nodded, and laid down a little ways away from me. The thoughts wouldn’t stop coming, so I went to sleep with a headache that night.

How could he not remember!?

Aurora could not sleep. That conversation had spun too many new thoughts in her mind and none of them were helping. She had a talk like that ages ago with her mother but she’d been too frozen up to say anything when Boots had started explaining. No, what had been setting her off all day was that she had NOT had a wet dream. Or, at least, she didn’t think she had.

She could have sworn they’d kissed again the previous day. She could remember everything up to that point in great detail, the anguish on Boots’ face, the rasp of her voice as she asked to help, his breath heating her face… and then she moved in to kiss him. They had kissed, right? Doubt clouded her mind. What if she had imagined it? She couldn’t quite remember the feel of his lips, thinking about it. She could feel the grit of his scales, the tiny plates covering his palms but as far as lips went… She couldn’t remember anything. Groaning, the silver dragon sat back up, noticing Boots had already fallen asleep. Good, he didn’t need to watch her mocking herself.

All day! All day, she’d been so caught up in a kiss that never happened. All that worry, all that stress and for what? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Her claws gripped the sides of her head. Boots probably didn’t even look at her that way. He’d said taboos or rules or whatever were different where he was from. She was probably just an animal, like those spiders, to him!

No, that’s not true. Look at the respect he treats you with.

Her emotions deflated. If he didn’t think of her as more than an animal, he wouldn’t have tried to save her when they met. He wouldn’t care about her now and clearly he did. Boots was quite proud of how fast she was learning from him. A strange feeling, like tiny wings, filled her chest when he praised her for remembering a fact or detail he'd spoken of. Her gaze turned to him. They'd talked a lot about science and about the inventions and culture of his world. What dawned on her, sitting there, silently watching his chest rise and fall, is that she knew very little about him as a person. Or rather, who he was. She could see him now, yes, with his care and skill and knowledge far beyond her own but, while he knew her time as a slave, being there was really very little to talk of, he'd never mentioned who he was before they'd met. Not in any great detail at least.

She looked up at the moon floating above her. The worst part now was that she could no longer deny her growing attraction for him. She’d spent an entire day worry about a reaction that wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Her mother had mentioned these kinds of things clearly when talking about mating and what her mother had referred to as "love".

This is a natural feeling, right? Why shouldn't I be attracted to him?

Boots was kind, Boots cared and that alone was more than anyone else had ever done! Even if Aurora didn't really understand this "love" her mother had talked about, she certainly understood the things only her parents had ever done for her. Then again, Aurora didn’t know if she should even be feeling this way about him. He wasn’t really even a dragon, not a proper one anyway. She supposed he didn’t have to be but until recently, she didn’t even know there were other options.

Her mother's lectures had never covered anything like this. And Aurora's parents were considered strange for dragons anyway.

Aurora sighed again and dropped back to the grass under her. This was all too confusing and arguing with herself was getting nowhere. Maybe a solution would come with the morning light. She rolled onto her side and tried to get some sleep.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” It was mid-afternoon. Aurora and I had woken up just after dawn and glad for it too. At least to me, it seemed we’d made a lot of progress for the day. Aurora had tried to apologize for the uncomfortable conversation the night before, but I’d waved it off. Conversations happened, it wasn’t like she’d offended me, hurt me, or otherwise caused harm upon my person.

“I am too. That dream had me really confused. Yeah, confused. How do you think we’re doing?”

“What do you mean?” I hopped over a fallen log as we walked.

“Like, in getting towards Equestria.”

I frowned. “I don’t know. Really, I don’t. It could be another month before we get there.” I sighed. “All Luna said is that we were far away and there was a lot of space between us and Ponyville.” I stopped myself from saying more. There wasn’t anything good to say, and I had noticed the day before that an unfortunate habit had crept back into me. I rambled, rambled to the point that no one else ever got a chance to talk.

“”Oh…”

“Hey, it’s okay. It’ll be an adventure! Better than sitting in some mine, digging dirt all day. And besides, it’ll be over before you know it. Time is funny like that.” We came to a dead drop, a valley laid out before us. “Hmmm… I think I see a path over that way.”

We climbed down into the holler, branches crunching underneath us. I’d never figured out what season the world was supposed to be in. There were no pegasi to keep the weather here, so maybe that had something to do with it. It wasn’t terribly cold or warm, kind of a weird mix of spring and autumn. While my mind was pondering the differences between these and why I wasn’t getting the smell I associated with either season, a body forced me to greet the soil.

“Aurora, what-“

“Shhh!” Her eyes scanned the sky as she pinned me beneath her. “I thought I saw…”

A jet of flame broke through the canopy behind us. I was up and running but Aurora swung me on her back again and took off. She was, in the end, faster, if less experienced travelling rough terrain. The dragon roared his displeasure behind us and Aurora changed direction. A stump appeared in my vision and I had to throw my arms around her neck to stay on as she cleared it.

“It’s the same one!” I cried, as she hurdled a log moments later. Behind us, branches snapped and the dragon bashed through without a care. Flames flew from his mouth, torching places moments after Aurora had left them behind. As I watched, fires spread from the spots we left behind Sorry Smokey, I can’t prevent these forest fires. My arms tightened as Aurora turned sharply. The airborne red was forced to swing in a wide arc to chase us again.

How he had found us after we entered the tunnels, I wasn’t sure but he could fly, so that was probably part of it. I turned my eyes ahead, looking for somewhere we could take shelter and blanched. Ahead of us was only a cliff face and we were approaching fast. In vain, I looked for an end to the wall but I couldn’t see a path up anywhere. We’re trapped.

Aurora panicked as she approached, darting left and right, as though hoping to find another way. She was too late. Claws dug in the dirt as she skidded to a stop against the wall. I was thrown off her back, bounding off the wall. The red dragon landed in front of us wings spread wide, pressing against the wall and forming a cage.

“Hahaha! You would run from me? Now, I will burn you!” Aurora looked up but his mouth was aimed upwards as he gathered his flame. Wings? Wings. I barrelled towards one of the leathery appendages, and burst through. A gout of flame flew from his mouth as he howled. “You’ll pay for that!’ He turned to chase after me, leaving Aurora at the wall. I scrambled around his fists and short blasts of flame, searching for some other way to hurt him or have a go at his wings. Without weapons, there was probably no good way to damage him but maybe just getting away would be enough.

That would, of course, require me to actually reach Aurora first. I jumped away from one of his claws while trying to move closer to her as she swiped at his hide. We might have been dividing his attention, but Aurora clearly didn’t really know how to fight anything. Probably. Did dragons even have martial arts? The dragon’s good wing clipped my head, sending me sprawling. As I got up, I noticed blood on my hands. I lifted a hand to my head and, sure enough, he’d given me a cut just above an ear hole. A crash brought my attention to Aurora, who had just been smashed through a tree stump. Before I was halfway there, the dragon scooped me up and flung me against a tree.

I coughed as I hit the ground. This was not going well. He was too big and clearly had experience fighting things smaller than him. Even my newfound strength wasn’t going to do much to those scales. Rolling out of the way of a swing, I dashed away, trying to come up with a plan. I needed to get to Aurora, then hope we found somewhere small enough that he couldn’t get through, quickly.

I chanced a look to see where Aurora had gone and paid for it. His good wing threw me hard and I slammed into a stump 10 feet away, groaning. I’ll feel that in the morning. I got to my feet in time to see Aurora’s bravery emerge. She fought more recklessly now and stamped on the dragon’s tail before darting away again. I ran behind the red beast, finally catching the webbing of his other wing as he spun around.

“Enough!” He roared and tail whipped me, flinging me into the cliff. I slumped, leaning against the cliff, head drooping. That HURT. If I had nothing broken, I’d be lucky. A whump and a cry sounded next to me, Aurora’s head falling into my lap. I looked over to see gashes all over her body. Bits of wood and leaves stuck to the blood. Failing as I tried to get up, a sound like walking trees approached us. Aurora spat flame at his grin but he shrugged it off. “Any last words?”

I felt Aurora’s arms reach and pull me in. A glance told me what I needed to know. She gazed resolutely up at the dragon, her shaking arms betraying her emotions. I choked. For the first time ever, I truly felt like I was going to die. I had accepted a long time ago I would die but I’d never imagined someone else would be dying with me. Time seemed to slow as we gazed at the dragon. For just a moment, I thought I saw him flinch but Aurora slumped against my side and it passed. Sighing, I closed my eyes to wait for the flames.

...

......

..................

Flames that never came.

“Open your eyes mortal! I need you to do something for me.” A snap brought back the sight of a dragon, seemingly frozen in time and what appeared to be a young girl, a human girl, garbed in white and burgundy robes - like a shrine maiden, though that was impossible. Her blond hair flowed down her back, with pins stuck in it as to emulate a halo of light. A Japanese-styled umbrella lay nonchalantly over her shoulder.

What in the blue blazes?

“Hello there! How are you doing today?"

"What do you want?" I grunted.

"Oh, good to hear! Straight to business! Well, I’m in the market for a… representative of sorts.” She flicked dirt from her nails and smiled at me. “Seeing as you’re in a bit of a bind, I thought you might be amenable to an agreement. We can come to terms after you’ve agreed.”

I panted, my thoughts racing. Smells fishy. Who is this lady? Representative? Definitely too good to be true. Not this conveniently. She had to have been waiting for this. Deals with the devil aside, we’re going to die otherwise. Isn’t there anythi- “OW!”

“Do hurry in deciding. I can only hold him off for so long.” I glanced at Aurora but she had passed out. The dragon’s eyes moved, darting from the newcomer to myself, face locked in a glare. We’ll never get out alive.

“Help us.”

She smiled, a scroll popping into existence in front of me. I looked at the blood on my hand and raised an eyebrow. “No need for blood, your signature will do just fine.” A pen uncapped itself and floated to my hands. I had no time to check the details - a wing twitched on the dragon. I jabbed the pen to the page, scribbling a bare minimum signature before the paper disappeared in a burst of smoke. “Perfect.”

With a twist of her wrist and a rush of air to fill the new vacuum, the dragon shot into the distance, disappearing like Team Rocket after a particularly bad spat with Ash. She turned back to me, same mysterious smile on her face. “Now that that’s taken care of, I’d better give you the details of our contract, hadn’t I?” I groaned, standing up shakily. Muscle fatigue. Weakness in the limbs caused by stress and overexertion. Pain. Her words sounded like tin in my ears and everything looked like it was covered in TV static. Something shifted in me and I realized I might have broken a rib. Or two. I shouldn't be feeling anything poking my lungs.

“Oh dear, I’d better set that hadn’t I?” She snapped her fingers and I fell against the wall for support. I could feel the bones under my skin shifting back into position and held my hand to my mouth. “Can’t have my champion dying so soon after I saved him. Now then, no heavy lifting, operating heavy machinery or bending at the waist.” I paid her words no mind. Shock. This is what shock feels like. You should be lying down, feet elevated, water in hand. But Aurora… Her wounds weren’t going to clean themselves. I needed water. I took a step and the world turned sideways. Maybe water had to wait.

“Are you listening now?” A hand grabbed the top of my head and forced me to look at the new arrival.

‘Huh? Sorry, I… “ I shook my head, trying to clear the feeling. I was leaning against a tree.

She sighed. “I guess I can wait a bit but I’ve only got so long.” Sliding down the trunk, I took stock of the surroundings. A few trees were bowled over, some bent and some looking like they’d been run through, splintered wood lying everywhere. Our bags were on the opposite side of the holler, apparently dropped when Aurora had entered the fray. Slowly, my vision cleared of the static and I could hear again.

“I- I think I’m good now. But I need water.” Grumbling quietly, the woman looked around before pointing to her right. “A stream a tenth of a mile that way.” I worked myself back over to where Aurora had fallen and, bending at the knees, perched her on my back. The left side of my body screamed at me. “What did I say about heavy lifting?” Once again piggybacking her, I stumbled slightly at the first step, pain lancing through my chest. Regaining my balance, I adjusted, keeping my torso as straight as possible. I looked at our savior.

“I need to clean her wounds. We can talk on the way.” Focusing on my goal helped block out the pain and fatigue. “Who are you?”

Floating up to me, she flicked the side of my head. “You could at least say thank you.”

I sighed, my rigid stance making for a slow walk. “Thank you for coming to our rescue. Sorry I’m grumpy.”

“That’s better. To answer your question, I am the Chichigami.” The name struck a chord in my head. It can’t be, that would be ridiculous. “I’m sure you’ve heard of me. Well, I know you have. I am a goddess of fertility. And now, champion, you are my piece.”

I frowned, shifting Aurora on my back. Bits of my dream with Luna trickled back to me. “Piece... Are you talking about the game thingy that’s going on here?”

She grinned. “Ah, you already know about it? This makes this so much easier. Then you can guess what you’re now tasked with.”

“You want me to win this game for you so… you can have more power?” Whatever that meant. Luna hadn’t been very clear in her explanation.

She laughed. “I see you do know the basics. But no, Mr. Swan, no, I do not care if you win or lose. After all, unlike the rest, you'll still be here when everything is all said and done.” I jerked to a stop, glaring at her.

“How do you know my name?!”

“I did say I was a god, didn’t I? Besides, how could I not know the name of one of my devout followers?”

Snorting, I resumed my careful paces. “I serve only one God and you aren’t him.”

“That’s true but you have adopted my most important tenant.” I frowned. If I was correct about the ridiculousness of the situation I was in right now, then I did know what she was talking about. But….

“That phrase doesn’t mean I follow you. My appreciation for such things doesn’t make me a part of your cult or whatever.”

She held her arm to her forehead, tilting backwards. That smug smile never left her face. “You wound me, Trenton. You like them bouncy and flouncy or cute and cuddly, just like me.”

I bit back an angry retort about flouncing her scrawny butt. “Anyway, that’s not important. You don’t care if I lose whatever this game is? What am I doing in it to begin with?”

“Spoilsport.” She tapped her chin, spinning the umbrella over her shoulder. ”Maybe I should start at the beginning. As a piece, you fight other pieces to knock them out of the game. Last one standing wins. You understand this, yes?”

“So… Killing them or just beating them up?”

“Well, as long as they surrender, you don’t have to kill them. But that’s not what I want you to do. How many other players do you think there are?“

I cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Only reason I know anything is because a pretty pony princess decided my sky watching deserved a night visit. Maybe, like 50?”

“Oh no, no no no no darling. Hundreds.”

Hundreds?!?

“You see, this kind of thing happens every so often. They had it on earth, oh, 70 or so years ago? I wasn’t around back then. Anyway, I wouldn’t have you pit yourself against those other players, with their hand-picked, military-grade super pieces. They’re already gallivanting around the world, tearing it to itty bitty shreds. Which is a problem for me. Ah, here we are, the stream.” The stream wasn’t very big and rather shallow.

Straining, I deposited Aurora into the stream as gently as I could. That is to say, I almost fell beneath her as she dropped from my back. I kept her head out while the stream began washing away her submerged belly. Groaning, I leaned back against a rock.

“A problem for you?” I closed my eyes and listened to the stream running past.

“Well, I’m a goddess of fertility. I want people to get busy and make babies, bring new life into the world. Keep the natural world up and running and moving forward. You might say that destruction and war are a bad thing for birth rates - a bad thing for me. That’s basically what this game is now.”

“Please don’t tell me you expect me to go around to women and-”

“Oh goodness no. I doubt you have the stamina for that anyway, hehe.” I opened my eyes and scowled at her. “Lighten up, it was a joke. No, I want you to do something a lot harder than that.” She landed lightly on Aurora’s back. “I want you to stop the game.” She pointed a dainty, well-kept finger at me. “I want you to save the world.”

I was dumbfounded. She couldn't seriously be asking me to... “You have got to be joking. Let’s say that, for some reason, you can’t do this yourself. You want me, some no name guy from the educational black hole of the U.S., to go stop what you, yourself, described as a war.” I threw up my hands, wincing as the muscles flowed over my ribs. “How? You expect me to just waltz up to, what, some god, say ‘Hey, you know buddy, you should think about the little guy here. Mind not stomping around and wrecking shit?’ and then survive his foot coming down on my head like an ant?” She cocked her head.

“Well, yes, that’s exactly what I expect.” I barked out a laugh. “I am serious. You’re the one to do it.”

“Enlighten me then. What do I do, huh? Do I get superpowers or something? Extra lives? Maybe a star power invulnerability. No, I know, I’ll grow wings, the power of God will come upon me and I will divide the goats from the lambs!” I cackled. If I’m going to be crazy, might as well go the whole way.

Her eyes flatlined. “You could try to take this seriously.”

I balled up my fists ”Take it seriously!? I'm running for my life from dragons. It's pretty serious already and I only got dropped in here a week ago! And now, you pop up, with impeccable timing, I might add, and expect me to just.. just... GRAAAAAAAH!” I screamed to the sky, startling my new patron. Aurora shifted uncomfortably in her sleep. I slumped against my rock, my anger expended. Taking some deep breaths, I reconsidered my words. A defeated sigh escaped my lips. “Fine. I suppose I’m bound by a contract now anyway, huh? What do you want from me?”

She perked back up. “That you are. And you said it yourself. I want you to talk to the gods and convince them to leave the game. If they refuse, well, you’ll have to find another way to remove them. Maybe cut their godly connection or convince their piece to surrender. Up to you really.” She admired her nails. “Maybe I should make the pink a little hotter.”

I stared at the ground. “Why are you so sure I can do this? I’m nobody. I don’t have the words or the presence. And I don't know if you noticed but I definitely have no magic legal power. I'm not a demonic notary.”

“A little lamb told me it had to be you. Something about the belly of a whale? I chose you, so it is you...” She dusted off her robe. “Well, I must be off. I meant it when I said I could only stay so long. No contact with your guy and other such details. But I did leave you a gift, from me personally. I hope you enjoy it. The heart’s desire is but a touch away...” She reached out and caressed his face, before fading away into motes of light.

"What?" I tried to stand but cringed as my ribcage bent. "Hey, get back here!" But she was already gone.

“What gift!? Dammit.” I brought my hand to my ribs, as I looked around. They throbbed painfully. The smallest twist of my chest sent pain flaring down my right side, so I had to change my position using my legs. Unable to see anything new lying about, I hobbled over to Aurora on my knees and began cleaning her wounds as best I could. The sound of running water and a brand new level of headache were the only things to accompany my thoughts.

“-Dammit” With a crackle, the image in the ball faded, leaving the room in darkness. A tapping claw drummed out the beat of thought. Divine intervention would make this more difficult than before. ’Was it worth it?’ his advisors had asked. The slave and her new abomination? No, they were not necessary to his hoard.

But the smear on his reputation could not stand. He would catch them in time, oh yes. Teeth shone in the meager light sneaking through the door. Oh, he would catch them and then, then they would be made an example of. Not just to the pitiful excuses for dragons he owned but to all of the dragons. Why stop there? Make a statement to the all of the races!

The world would learn to fear the name Foecruncher.

Author's Note

So, this was out of order for my normal release routine but at this point, i update so slowly, it probably doesn't matter. Sorry for the wait! This one took a while and I'm onto it's partner chapter, so no worries.

Prologue

Two Minds: Begin a Story

Oh! Hey there! What brings you around these parts?

You want to hear about the Game? Haha, it's no trouble. I tell the story often enough that, even at my age, the details are still fresh in my mind.

What's that? You want the super-duper extended extra-long long version? Geez, making me pull out my old notebooks. Yes, I have notebooks, even from back then. At least, I started writing it down as soon as I got books. Now where were they...

Ah, here we go! 'Six months ago, I... Poor girl... and that griffin...' Yes, yes, it's all coming back to me now. Alright, let me just get a cup of cocoa.

Sit, make yourself comfortable. It's been awhile since I had to tell this version; it's quite long. Just don't fall asleep on me. Now, I think you're supposed to say

'Once upon a time...'

I was nobody special. Just a college athlete with a taste for a certain brand of colorful, cartoon equines. After college, I thought I'd have a generic, but not boring, life. A family, good friends and a job I liked well enough. My kids would have their own and I'd be a grandparent before I died and went to heaven. That's really all I've ever wanted in life. Not fame or fortune. Not guts and glory. Just a good life, lived with people I care about.

So, then, how did I end up in Equestria, the harmonious land of ponies, happiness and dreams?

Looking back on the day makes it seem so distant. It was a Saturday, shortly after the cross country season ended. I had just woken up in the small apartment I rented from the university with some friends, who had gone off to do some errand or another at the time. I sat down next to my laptop, bowl of cereal in hand. No meet meant extra time for homework! Hah. But no, it was Saturday and a new TV season was just beginning. At least for my favorite show.

As my normal watching buddy was out, I started the stream on my own. I got comfortable in my chair as the six heroes went off to a northern kingdom, fought some advanced darkness and restored peace to a kingdom. I had to excuse myself (yes excuse myself from myself, it happens) due to secondhand embarrassment a couple of times and again in celebration during the climax. Plopping back down just before the credits however, I swiftly noticed some minor, concerning details about my environment.

The TV appeared to be higher than before…and continued to move higher and higher, at an alarmingly rapid pace. Suspiciously like falling.

My first reaction was confusion. I can't be falling, there's nowhere for me to fall! Did the floor give out underneath me? Looking down served to elevate my confusion to marginal fear. I discovered a tunnel of swirling rainbows beneath my chair.

"Ah." I said. "That would explain the falling."

As I fell, my thoughts spiralled. So pretty! Can one have a pit of rainbows? Pits are supposed to be bad, with spikes at the bottom for adventurers to fall into. Not kaleidoscopic rainbow filled holes. It must be a trap! But what devious mind could think to lure people in with the false hope of a rainbow? Truly, only a demon.

After a moment more of sinking, the chair dropped from beneath me. With a yelp, I grabbed whatever was closest to me. I started to pull myself back up with the wired game controller I'd snagged but in my haste, it happily unplugged itself and fell in with me.

Traitor! How could you abandon me to the whims of the internet! Er, I mean universe. Those are basically the same thing right?

I only fell for a few moments before the opening disappeared with a sucking noise and I “landed” on the rainbows, which were forming a solid surface.

The vortex felt plastic and slippery, like a slide, making me realize how long it had been since I’d last played on a playground of any kind. Though I was still panicking, a solid surface was calming to me, even if it was made of pulsating rainbows. I decided to enjoy the fascinating, spiraling fractals the rainbow slide was made of, laughing while I had the chance, giggling down the “slide”… at least for the first 5 minutes. Then it got old. Which was okay, as it was at this point something flipped a switch in my head.

I wasn’t tired, but my eyes closed of their own accord and I slipped into darkness.

Slowly, a stone chamber faded into view. Square windows were spaced evenly along the degrading walls, moss lightly covering some of the stones. Crumbling Roman pillars held up the broken ceiling in some places, the missing bits in piles on the floor. In front of me stood a horse – or rather, a pony - whose face I could never forget: Nightmare Moon. As my brain tried to process why she was there, I began to hear voices, voices I knew all too well. Without me commanding it, my body turned around. In doing so, I realized I had four legs, instead of two and two arms. Despite the fact this should have freaked me out or at least confused me, I began to feel calm and soon, happiness and relief. My senses were coming into focus and slowly, I began to think within my thoughts, as little sense as that makes. ‘Oh good, my friends found me! Wait, they’re…my friends?’ Suddenly, a weight I didn’t know existed lifted from my stomach and my brain clicked. I suddenly understood the 6th element – and concurrently realized what was happening. I knew this memory. Or rather, I knew whose memory this was.

This was what Twilight Sparkle saw and felt in the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, after the elements were shattered and her new best friends found her. This was Twilight’s memory of understanding. I knew what happened next but I watched anyway from my new viewpoint – I hardly had a choice. Twilight and I turned and explained to Nightmare Moon where the elements were and to whom each belonged. Twilight mentioned the ‘Spark’ that resides within every individual, that spark being friendship, which inspires souls to great feats and brings them together in times of need.

As the elements swirled around us, I could feel the magic coursing through Twilight’s body, filling her to the brim, giving her the knowledge she needed to wield the elements. Luna’s jealousy and hate were peeled away and sent to who knows where, leaving her as she once was. I watched as Celestia returned from the sun and embraced her sister. This is where the memory faded, leaving me again in darkness.

So, why am I dreaming I'm Twilight Sparkle? Did I get hit on the head during my rainbow ride?

Looking around me, there was only inky blackness. No matter how hard I looked, nothing new came to my sight.

I hope I don't go blind. Man, wherever I am is pretty boring.

A new memory faded into view. The legend of the royal pony sisters came into focus, straight out of the book. I was surprised to find I could read the book, as it certainly wasn’t written in English. Of course, it detailed Celestia’s and Luna’s role with the sun and moon, Luna’s fall into darkness, her banishment and the role of the elements of Harmony.

Towards the end, the reader looked up and gazed across her room at a picture above the fireplace. Apparently, I was Twilight again, considering the bed I was in, the window to my right and the basket nearby. Happiness and nostalgia welled up as I looked at the picture of the Element Bearers.The memory faded.

Still, these feel like memories, not dreams. So I'm seeing memories?

Another scene faded in. Knowing I was seeing foreign memories, it was clear they were not limited to Twilight. Before me was an apple orchard surrounded by hedges, with a small pool. Three piles of apples, one green, one red and one yellow, spoke to me, offering me a chance to ask a single question, which would be answered truthfully. “What’s gonna come of this here mission we’re on?” The rolling piles led me to the pond. Even so far removed from these memories as I am now, I still struggle to identify the memories I experienced in the void as something foreign to my own experience.

I felt despair then, stronger than any despair I had felt but a few other times in my life. It overcame me, telling me to lie, so that I might try to protect my friendships. I felt a change – a corruption Discord set in motion. The memory faded.

So, it's not just Twilight. But memories. Why? Who? How?

Once more, a memory came into being – though it felt quite different. Before my eyes sat Discord on his chaotic throne. Twilight was saying something to him but my body was moving to the side and I missed some of what was being said. I realized I must have been Pinkie, as my body looked up and drank chocolate milk falling from a cotton candy cloud, shouting “WAIT!!” before running back and joining my fri- er, Pinkie’s friends.

Again, I felt the magic swirling around me as the elements gained power. Again, I saw the rainbow arc and hit Discord, turning him to stone. The memory faded with the rainbow and flash of magic that returned Ponyville to normal.

Well, that was mighty interesting. I guess.

The memories were appearing more swiftly now. The first thing that I noticed was how incredibly afraid I currently was.

This must be Fluttershy’s memory.

Opening my eyes, I saw myself surrounded by changelings. Ah, even better, the Royal Wedding. Great. In between ducking, we, being Fluttershy and our- her friends, appeared to be traveling up a staircase. I entered the wedding chamber and watched as Chrysalis sang her victory ditty. Twilight released Cadence while the queen was distracted and created the magic love bubble with Shining Armor, floating above the ground. As the shield passed by, expelling changelings as it went, an overwhelming calm happiness descended on me. The memory faded as the couple lowered to the floor from their magical cocoon.

Cool. Changelings got blasted. Great. Why am I here? I already know all this. Not that I don't enjoy the show. It's pretty interesting to see things from a different point of view. Still, I don't understand what I'm supposed to be getting out of this.

The next memory came up faster and initially seemed familiar. It appeared I was at the Grand Galloping Gala, but something was off. For one, I could see Rainbow Dash dressed in a Chinese dress, the kind with the leg split - A good look for her - but she wasn’t the only thing off. A griffin was on stage, performing some song in a band. My current memory host recognized him as the captain of some pirates... or something. Huh. Interesting. Piracy in Equestria? Something is up with that. But if he was a pirate, why was he at the Gala? Wouldn’t he be under arrest? Looking to the side, a changeling came into view.

Wait.

I had to be dreaming now. How far in the future was this memory compared to the last? However, no one was questioning his presence, not even the pony I was looking through at the moment. The griffin began to sing and I could hear instruments even though none were present. Cartoon logic, I guess.

“Rarity, darling! Good to see you again.” My head turned and I saw fancy stallion walking towards me. Ah, so this is Rarity’s memory? Okay then. The stallion and Rarity had a short chat about fashion or some such thing. I wasn’t actively paying attention. My meta-thoughts were cut short as the song changed and the memory faded again, returning me to darkness.

This is getting ridiculous. Changelings and pirates at the Gala. What's next I wonder?

Another memory surfaced. I could feel appendages I didn’t remember being used before or having before, along my back. Wings? And they’re keeping me afloat too. As my sight came into focus, vision bobbing with my wing-strokes, I was staring at a bookcase numbly. "Hey girls, over here! Pinkie found something!” Ah, that's Twilight's voice. I flew over quickly and discovered Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity - must mean I'm Rainbow Dash - looking into a dusty book. The tome looked more like a journal than book really, as the binding was simply string and there was no design or name on the cover.

After a little bit of reading, Twilight spoke again. "Okay girls. I can't fully comprehend what's written here, but there is an old description saying the spell below is supposed to use the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony to stop Sombra - somehow. I figured we might as well try it and see what it gets us, as we haven't found anything else yet." After some murmurs of consent from the rest of us, we got closer in to read the spell itself:

"Seas of the cosmic, sands of time
grant us a power only thine
One once removed, from planes beyond
lives to protect, picked from the throng
Bring this land, steeped in pain
the cleansing cool of peaceful rain"

With each line of the spell, I could feel power bubbling up within Rainbow Dash. The magic was similar to the elements but different. It felt more personal, more connected to my locus of identity than to the broad emotions I had felt in the other memories. The six of us were surrounded with a glow of white. After the last line however, the magic abruptly ended. There were no flashy beams or explosions or any cool stuff like that. The magic being used flickered and disappeared.

"Well, that didn't work. Maybe the spell isn't done? Let's look for something else." We all turned around and went back to looking. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Pinkie getting a bunch of weird shakes but I / Rainbow Dash ignored it and the memory faded to black.

When no new memory presented itself, my thoughts started rolling.

‘What was all that about? My dreams aren’t normally so clear or well defined. Even if those were real memories, where did they come from? Am I getting visions? That poem-spell seems oddly suspicious.... The darkness was replaced with an image of five white, floating words:

“Please Help Protect this World”

Uh, how?

Pain erupted in my head and my senses failed me.

Author's Note

First Fanfic? Check
Tell me what y'all think! Props to my IRL friends who pre-read this for me.

Cheerio!

Boots - Beginnings

In the Land of Dragons

Left turn. Right turn. Up the crag. Jump to crag. Drop. Right turn.

I had no idea where I was going.

Being pursued by someone much faster than you tends to do that. In order to avoid a repeat of my first escape, I had adopted the strategy of changing direction at sharp angles. Aurora may have been faster than me but it quickly became apparent she’d never spent much time using that speed to chase someone.

In contrast, I was doing freerunning before I knew it had a name back home. Now, I’m not super amazing with flips and all that jazz, but obstacles courses are the love of my life. So, in a field of weird hills and mounds like that? I was right at home. And that fact was saving my sorry ass.

Each sharp turn or movement I made was accompanied by a subsequent shout or yelp from her. Sometimes there was a crash as she ran into a wall or landed on the ground. I never stopped running, however, and never looked back. Each corner was a new chance, a new opportunity to get farther away from wherever she wanted me to go. A mountain had been looming nearby and seeing as these were dragons, I assumed that’s where she lived. Hence, I was doing my best to weave away from that.

Time dragged on and just like every cross country race I’ve ever been in, I eventually had to slow down. No longer sprinting but just running. No longer running, just jogging. My breaths grew ragged, and my walk found me with my head tilted back and hands on my sides. Gotta keep walking. Hooo, haven’t had a workout like that in a while. I panted, trying to get control back over my diaphram.

My stomach had stopped doing flips just as her claw came down on my shoulder. I froze and turned my head ever so slightly. Her breathing was just as ragged. At least i’m not the only one who got a workout.

“You...fast...gotcha…” She panted out heavily.

“Hah….Haha..You’re faster. I’m...just used to doing this.” I had stopped moving at this point.

Aurora crouched down onto her belly and continued to focus on catching her breath. “Running...away?”

“Well, not the away part, but yeah, running. Distance running is something I do to keep myself in shape.” I looked over to where I thought we had just run from. “So, is that the mountain you were supposed to take me to?”

She twisted her neck around, not bothering to try and get up, and followed my gaze. She turned back and nodded her head without uttering another word, laying her head on the rock and whimpering.

“P-Please come back with me.” The grayish dragon begged.

I looked at her. “You already know what my answer is to that.” Aurora continued to collect herself on the ground. Looking back up, I noticed a cave in the side of a hill not 20 feet from where we stopped. You could carry her to the cave.

Who are you and how did you get in my head?

Please, you know better than to assume you’ve got someone else in your head. Just move her. I mean, sure, she’s a dragon but she’ll appreciate it, I’m sure.

I sighed. Fine but you have to stop making me try and kiss people.

Duly noted

I moved to her side and dug my arms underneath her. As I cradled her off the ground, I found she weighed far less than I predicted. I received a small yelp and some twitching for my efforts. That’s a LOT easier than it would have been if I was human. I’m definitely stronger.

“Besides,“ I averted my eyes from her face as I walked over to the cave. “I need to apologize for what I did back there.”

Her confusion was erased by the burning little blush slowly spreading across her face. She looked away out of embarrassment. “I-It’s…um… it’s okay.”

“It’s really not though. I don’t even know you! Not that you’re unattractive, but..um...It’s just weird for me. I’ve never been, could never be that forward. So, I’m sorry for my rudeness.” I set her down against the cave wall and leaned back next to her.

Squirming, she found a more comfortable position and let out a sigh. Tucking her muzzle in with her legs. she let out a muffled sentence of gratitude as she curled into her little ball. We stayed that way for a minute, just letting the slightest of breezes wash over us.

Finally, Aurora broke the silence. Just as I was getting used to the quiet too.

“I-I’m gonna be in big trouble now…” She peeped out from her ball. I looked at her in surprise

“So, you’re going to come with me?”

“What other choice do I have? I’ll be on Foecruncher’s list by nightfall. I’ll be called a traitor or a runaway and hunted down.” She suddenly started sniffling. “I-I might not ever see my parents again…” Oooohhh, now she’s crying. Great job, you hit that one out of the park “He might even kill them!” Aaaand now it’s even worse.That’s… really depressing if he’s actually that bad.

I sighed. But I don’t have much of a choice.

I brought my hand to the back of her head. Hesitating a moment, I placed it against the spines eliciting a small jump from Aurora. “I’m sorry. I know this is frightening for you. The truth is, I’d be pretty afraid right now, if it weren’t for the fact that I can’t think for very long without my head exploding.” I brought her head over to my lap and stroked it compulsively. “Hehe… I already don’t…” My voice faltered as, for the first time, it really hit me. “I don’t even know where home is right now.” A moist warmth on my stomach brought me out of my funk. She’s so vulnerable and afraid. I paused for a moment before finding myself again. You've made her your responsibility. You better make sure she survives. Trying to lighten the now soured mood, I brought a little more cheer into my voice. “Guess we’re on the same boat here.”

She looked back up at me with those big eyes of hers. I didn’t find the smile I was hoping for, but the waterworks stopped at least. Mission accomplished?

“Yeah… I guess…” she muttered.

“Hey, come on. Perk up. You’re free now.” I smiled.

“Not for long though. Foecruncher’s henchmen are going to find us tomorrow. Then we’re both goners.”

“Not if I can help it. I’m not going to go die because some idiot on a mountain couldn’t look out for falling objects,” My jaw set. “And neither are you.” I looked outside. The light shining down was still bright, so it couldn’t be too late in the day. Plenty of time to hike on. I placed her head off my lap and stood.

“Come on, up you get. We may not be dying but that doesn’t mean this will be easy. That’s the mountain you came from right?” I pointed into the distance.

Aurora responded with a nod as she got to her claws and stretched.

“Alright. Then we need to get as far away from that as possible.” I started off with her in tow.

The hours had whiled away and soon the bright sun was fading to a dull orange. I had no idea how far we’d traveled but it had to be pretty far. I’d managed to think in short bursts, distracting myself by jumping here and there. Aurora looked dead tired and I was starting to drag my feet with each step. That race with Aurora earlier had taken a lot out of me. Finally, I stopped and looked back. The mountain was just visible through the atmosphere. A rumble from my tummy alerted me to a problem I hadn’t even considered so far.

I turned to Aurora. “So...what do you guys eat around here?”

Her eyes went wide and she stopped in her tracks. “Oh my gosh, we’re going to starve…” I sighed.

“Don’t give up so easily. You survived out here somehow. What do you normally eat?”

“Well, normally we got meat from hunts - but I don’t know how to hunt!”

“Well, time to learn how. I probably don’t know much more than you but it’s something. No reason to expect what y’all were eating only existed around your mountain.”

“Um…okay. I don’t really know what it was in the first place, but it had fur, so it should be easy to spot, right?”

“In this landscape?” I gestured to the bare hills and cracked ground. “Absolutely. If they’re out and about at least.”

She nodded and did a full circle, before looking at me in confusion. “I didn’t see any…”

That was the first of many times my palm came in close contact with my face. “Well, we’re not going to just stand in one place. Let’s go search.” I hopped on top of a mound, and began scanning for movement. Unsurprisingly, I was rewarded with nothing but more dead landscape.

As I began to wander amongst the hills, looking in caves as I came across them, my dragon companion followed close behind, watching everything I did with intense interest - much more than my “techniques” deserved.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed her attempting to try and copy me. I don’t know exactly what she was aiming for, but never the less, it didn’t work to her liking.

“Um… What are you trying to do?” I asked, as I rounded the next hill.

Caught in the act of trying to walk on two legs, she ‘eeped’ and planted herself back on the ground. “N-Nothing...just looking for fur!” She scurried off to search a cave. I noticed a slightly different tint to her cheeks. Poor girl, can’t help it if she’s weird. I chuckled to myself at the irony of that thought and moved to the next hill.

“AHHHHHHHH!” I spun around in time to see Aurora run out of the cave she had gone into. Four leopards burst out of the cave, hot on her tail. “Crap!” My legs were already working as I jetted off behind them. It was immediately apparent I wasn’t going to catch them, so I hopped on one of the mounds.

“Aurora! Over here!” She seemed to hear me - or maybe she just chose to try serpentining - and began running towards me.

Just before the leopards passed underneath me, I leapt off my perch. A satisfying crunch marked my now broken leopard landing pad. The three others skidded to a halt, staring at their fallen mate. “YES! Hah! Hahaha .. haha…. ha….” I could feel the glares of the large cats boring into me. “Shit.”

I ducked as one of the cats jumped at me and began running. Two mounds later, I skidded to a halt, kicking the leopard that came immediately behind me. Its body slammed into the mound. Spinning around, I was too late to dodge the leopards that had circled around ahead of me. Landing on my back, I struggled against the leopard, eventually rolling it onto its back. A punch to the snout and it stopped moving.

The final cat landed on my back, scratching it superficially. Sucking in my breath, I bucked it off of me, and hopped up. I sprung to it and grabbed its head. A quick spin and it too fell.

I sat back, breathing heavily from yet another burst of draining energy from my body. As the adrenaline faded, I got a good look at what exactly I had just done. Three dead animals lay on the ground. One from a broken spine, one from a broken neck and judging by the blood pooling below the skull, one from an open skull.

I stood and moved over to the hill, where I braced myself for the dry retching that happened. Aurora came around as I heaved, just staring at me as I finished and slumped against the rough rocks.

“Are… Are you alright?” Her face no longer held the blank stare but nervous thought. I laughed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve never killed anything that large before and certainly not so gruesomely. I’ll be fine in a bit.” I kept my head turned away from the cat whose head I’d slammed into the ground. The blood was still flowing outwards.

“”You’ve killed things before?” Her question was more curious than afraid, which made sense considering what she’d told me about her enslavement. Death was probably pretty common.

“No, not really. I used to be pretty mean to my dog, which isn’t something I’m too proud of, but I’ve never really killed anything personally. Not besides bugs.”

Aurora smiled a bit. “Well, I think you did a pretty good job for your first time.”

“Yeah, I guess. I just hope I don’t have to kill anything that can talk.” I stood back up, and walked over to the bodies. “Blegh…. Crap, how do I skin these? I don’t have a knife.”

“I.. I think I could use my claws.” I looked up after she spoke. “Well, I mean, when food was brought, it always had the fur tufts kind of everywhere and, well, the rest of it had to go somewhere…. Claws are very sharp…. Nevermind, it was a dumb-”

“No, that actually works really well. Do you know how to skin?” She shook her head. “That’s alright, maybe we can work this together. Come over here.” I pulled the first body away from the others. “Alright, it’s been a while since I last skinned anything and those were fish. Let me see your hand.” She shrunk back, wide-eyed and keeping her claws hidden beneath her. I sighed internally

“W- Why?”

“Since you don’t know how to do this, I’m going to guide your hand as we go. The only thing you have to worry about is if I cut into the meat itself. You’ll be fine.” I held out my own hand, waiting. She seemed to accept my reasoning and came over. Taking her hand in mine, I closed all but one digit in a fist and began to cut Let’s hope I remember this correctly. Her hands are surprisingly soft, for a dragon. She doesn’t smell too bad either.... I banished that train of thought before it went any further.

We finished carving up the carcasses just before the sun went down, and went to an empty cave nearby. I had managed not to do too terrible of a job getting the skin off, so we now had a couple of untreated pelts and leather strips - which were, of course, nowhere near as good as they could have been if I knew how to tan leather. This left cooking the meat.

“...Shit, no wood. Hey, Aurora. You wouldn’t happen-” as I turned around from scanning the landscape, I was shocked to see she was already eating one of the legs. Raw.

“What are you doing!?” She jerked back at my exclamation.

“What? Did I do something wrong?”

“You haven’t cooked the meat!”

She looked down at the fresh meat beneath her and blinked.“But I always eat it like this.”

“I... What? You should be getting sick from that.”

She frowned. “You sure? I’ve never gotten sick from food before…”

It was my turn to blink. “Alright, I guess if it works, it works. But I don’t think I can eat raw meat just like that. You don’t… happen to breath fire, do you?”

She perked up. “Oh, yeah. My parents taught me how to when I was much younger. Why?”

“I know this seems weird to you, but can you cook my meal? I don’t think I can eat it raw.”

She quirked an eyebrow but did as I asked. Her fire was a pretty blue color, though it didn’t feel as hot as I expected it to be. The meat disagreed with my sentiment, its outer layer turning black pretty quickly. I picked away the burnt crust and quickly tore at the white meat underneath. Guess they were right. Cat is the other white meat. I snickered at the thought.

Aurora finished her meal much quicker than I did and spent the rest of the time in deep thought. When I finished eating, she spoke up.

“So what kind of dragon are you again?”

“Uh… I’m not really a dragon, per say, though I guess it could apply. This form reminds me of something called a ‘dragonborn’. It’s kind of like dragons, in that it can breath fire and has scales and stuff but it’s more similar to a human than not.”

“.... You make it to where I don’t want to ask questions… What’s wrong with you?”

“I do? Why?”

She sat down and thought about that one before answering me. “I guess it’s the way you talk.”

I frowned. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Yeah, actually. There’s kind of a list: First off, what do you mean by ‘this form’? Second, what is a dragonborn? They sound familiar, I think. And finally, you’ve said it before, but still, what’s a human?”

Well, I’m definitely not in Ireland. "Where do I start? Hmmm. Well, to answer your first question, this isn’t what I normally look like. I’m actually shorter and not colored blue, like I am right now. I’m also covered in scales at the moment, when normally i’d be covered in pale pinkish skin, kind of like the inside of my mouth. Come to think of it, I’m probably a little harder to scratch than normal.” She stared at me.

“Sorry, I’m ranting. Let’s leave it at ‘I don’t normally look like this.’ What I look like right now is a race of beings from, uh, children’s stories. This is what I mean by dragonborn; that they are a race.. There’s a lot behind them that I could explain, but that can wait.” I scratched my head.

“To answer your third question, a ‘human’ is a different race of beings. In fact, before I woke up this morning, that’s what I was. A human. Imagine what I look like right now, except slightly shorter, with pink skin, not scales, and a much flatter face. That’s kind of what humans look like. And, uh… Yeah. Normally I’d look something like that.”

Aurora blankly stared at me for what seemed like a good minute before responding. “...Okay…”

“That was a lot to drop all at once, wasn’t it? Sorry.”

She shook her head and smiled. “I didn’t really expect to understand any of it, but at least it’s out there right?”

I smiled back. “Yeah, I guess. I’m always open to questions about anything you don’t understand.” The sun had dropped below the horizon, as the land lost it’s orange hue for the pale lighting of a moon..

As if on cue, a small yawn escaped the dragoness across from me. “Why don’t we sleep for now? It’s been a long day, for both of us.”

“Mmmm- okay.” She said lazily, padding the ground beneath her before resting her head. In turn, I propped myself against a wall of the cave. Despite the lack of cloud cover, I was comfortably warm. Must be because of what I am now? Questions for the morrow. I fell to sleep slowly and in pain, thoughts of the future plaguing my descent into slumber.

Author's Note

Yet another chapter pumped out ridiculously fast. What is with me?

Thanks again to my IRL pre-readers for seeing all my mistakes and making this a better story for you guys.