A warm and humid climate was aloft in the air. A small blue butterfly rested on a branch of a tree and fluttered its wings. A second one that was pink landed beside it and they touched antennae…An adorable sight, yes. But to a creature watching close by, it was a delicious meal…
~SNAP~
A long tongue shot out at an incredible speed and snatched the blue one off the branch. The pink one fluttered away quickly but wasn't fast enough as the tongue again lashed out and snatched the pink one from mid-air.
An unusual creature was on the other end of the tongue. He had a pony body, a tall pony body that was about a foot taller than a normal pony, but draconic wings, dragon claws complete with opposable thumbs on his forelegs (but still was a quadruped.) He had pony hooves on his hind legs, a black body with green reptilian eyes and a full set of sharp teeth. He had no cutie mark and his mane and tail was a dark green with grayish highlights. His hair was unkempt and let out a low growl as he finished the tasty treats. Then, he spoke in a deep, slightly raspy voice. "That was a cute little gesture of true love, Ms. Pink butterfly." He grumbled sarcastically. "…abandoning your loved one instead of going after him. It's a good thing I did that for you, eh?" He leaped up to a tree and clawed up to the canopy and lied down on a branch.
Meet Black Daze. He's a hybrid between a dragon and a pony due to a curse. The reason he's…well…the way he is was because of his past. He was born a pony, a healthy colt with large green eyes, a black body and a forest green mane. No reptilian features about him. But something happened to him in the Everfree forest…something he'd never forget…
8 years ago…Back then, Black Daze was simply called Dazer. He was a lazy but kindhearted colt with a love for the night and an even bigger love for adventure. He did well in school and read lots of books, mostly about the wild and legends of Equestria, but at night he would sneak out of bed and go play with his friend, Snuffle. Snuffle already got his cutie mark at the time as a super-sniffer and currently uses his gift to track down criminals. One fateful night, Dazer got out of his bed and met Snuffle at the edge of the Everfree Forest, his favorite 'playground.'
"So where we goin' now, Dazuh?" Sniffles said with a notable accent.
"To the place nopony has dared gone before…the Great Dragon Burial Ruins!" Dazer whispered to his friend.
Snuffles was dumbstruck by his friend. "T-the G-g-great Dragon B-burial Ruins…? Isn't that where all the ponies of old suddenly died out one day and archeologists can't figure out w-why?" He started shaking.
"Yes," Dazer said to his shaking friend. "But do you know WHY they can't figure it out?"
Snuffles took a step back from his daring friend. "W-why?" He asked curiously, still shaking.
Dazer took a step towards him and said "Because nopony has gone inside the ruins before is why! The Archeologists were all too chicken. …You're not chicken, are you, Snuffles?" He taunted his scared friend.
Snuffles shook his head and and took a step towards Dazer. "Who said I was chicken? I'm no chicken! Let's go!" He said rather quickly.
Snuffles quick change in heart surprised Dazer a little bit. But he WAS known for having a rather…heated reaction to being challenged.
"I'll lead the way." Dazer whispered as he took off into the forest. Snuffles followed closely behind.
After about a half hour of walking, the two earth ponies found what they had been looking for. Broken stone columns with carvings of dragons were strewn about the plant-overgrown cobblestone floor. The carvings were exquisite with detail and many of them had vines all over them. Some around their jaws as if they were keeping their jaws shut. There was a misty, eerie atmosphere in the air and the two ponies were strangely excited at the sight before them. Especially Dazer, who just stood there in awe.
"Woooow! This is way better than the books said that it would be!" Dazer managed to get out.
"That's probably because they were trying to keep ponies like YOU out of it." His friend responded. Suddenly, he caught a whiff of something, something strange and unfamiliar. It smelled like…mystery. That was all he could think of. He followed the scent and Daze gave him a weird look.
"Snuffles, what do you smell now?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not sure," Snuffles responded. "but I'm about to find out!"
Just then, a large staircase going underground appeared. It had a small glowing red mist at the bottom. When Dazer took a step on the first step, Snuffles held out his hoof and stopped him.
"I dunno, Dazer. This has 'bad idea' written all over it." Snuffles scolded.
"Oh quit being such a baby!" Dazer said with a smirk. "I'm sure it's just fairy dust or whatever. Plus, think of what we can learn!"
Snuffles perked up at being called a 'baby.' "Hey! A little glowing mist never hurt anyone right? You're right! Let's go!" and he walked down the steps with Dazer.
At the bottom of the steps was a big and very intact stone door with red mist billowing out of it. The mist was warm, but not hot. Dazer put his hoof to the door and pushed with all his might. Because he was only a little colt though, it didn't budge. Just then, red glowing letters appeared on the door in draconic. This startled Dazer and Snuffles both.
"Draconic passwords huh?" Dazer said casually.
"D-draconic what? You mean you can read Dragon writing?" Snuffles said to his friend.
"Yes, I learned it in a book I borrowed from the royal library. And Princess Celestia told me it was a fictional book. Haha!" Dazer said with a humorous tone. Then he began reading, "It says…That those who wish to gain entry must prove their worth of entering the Great Tomb of Daravoc by reciting his chant of praise."
"His chant of what now?" Snuffles said very worried now.
"A chant of praise is basically something an old dragon makes up about himself before he is layed to rest. Only the wisest or most powerful dragons have them. I think I remember Daravoc's mainly because it was the shortest heheh..Lucky us!" Dazer replied to his confused friend.
"….Lucky us indeed." Snuffles mumbled. "Just recite the chant so we can see what's inside!"
"Alright, alright. Let me think here…" Dazer thought for a bit and then started to chant loudly.
"Great Daravoc! Great Daravoc! Voice of Power!
Harbinger of the Great Meteor Shower!
The place where you rest, the place where you sleep!
Let me enter into your tomb in the dragon hall's deep!"
Moments passed, nothing happened. Then, a loud rumble came from within and the doors went open with a loud grinding noise and the red mist poured out of the large opening. The two colts were awestruck. They just opened the door to the tomb of a dragon that could summon a meteor shower. They walked slowly inside and were shocked at what was inside.
Inside the tomb of Daravoc was a large skeleton of a dragon with black bones and a shallow stone wall built around it. 'Daravoc' himself was curled up in a manner that a housecat would if it was taking a nap, suggesting that he had a peaceful death. There was red mist everywhere surrounding him and it apparently was coming from the cracks in the walls.
"Wow! Look at this! A real dead dragon!" Dazer exclaimed. He ran over and jumped on Daravoc's skull, examining his horn.
…ssshhhhhshhhshshshhhh…..
"WHAT WAS THAT!" Snuffles shouted, and hid behind a stone column.
"It was probably just the air pressure inside these tunnels or something. You know, like when the wind howls above ground." Dazer responded to his terrified friend.
…Insolent child…get off of my skull or face my true wwwrraathhhh…"GGAAHHHH!" Snuffles screamed and bolted out of there, leaving Dazed all alone with the irate dragon spirit.
"Where are you goi…ugh. Thanks a lot, Snuffles." He groaned all too casually. "And YOU!" He said to the voice, "This is not YOUR skull, this is Daravoc's skull. So be quiet! I'm trying to study him here!"
The voice spoke much louder this time.
Foolish child…I AM DARAVOC! Harbinger of the Great Meteor Shower. Destroyer of the ancient pony race that worshipped us. You are trespassing on my tomb and you shall be punished direly.Suddenly, Dazer's annoyed expression turned very grim. He immediately hopped off of the irate Daravoc's skull and asked him another question. "Daravoc? Why did you destroy the aincient pony race if they worshipped you? And please don't curse me, I only wanted to learn and discover things like you…." Dazer found himself on the verge of tears. First his best and only friend runs off, and now he's going to be…cursed! How was he going to be cursed? Is he gonna be a Werepony? A Vampony? Will he just have bad luck? Will he be terminally ill? His thought process was interrupted by Daravoc's voice that was just as angry as before.
Child, I destroyed them because they were just like you; Always so hungry for knowledge, always searching for answers, always questioning things. It drove us dragons mad to no end. So we demanded they stop searching for knowledge. They then revolted against us. A foolish decision, mind you. The other dragons simply called upon me to destroy them and that's exactly what I did. I regret nothing. I also will not regret placing this curse on you which will turn you partially into a dragon!
Dazer couldn't believe what he was hearing. This dragon was actually going to make him part dragon and surely turn him into a bloodthirsty beast! He also destroyed the ponies of old just for searching for answers! What a wicked dragon!
"You…you won't get away with this! I'll find some way out of this curse! I swear in the name of Celestia!" He shouted, tears streaming down his face.
Foolish brat! You can't swear in the name of Celestia because you won't be a pony anymore. They won't treat you as a pony anymore, but as an outcast. There is one way out, however. But good luck to you finding it! Hahahaha!Just then, the red mist in the room started to swirl around him faster and faster, he tried to escape it, but it was no use. It trapped him and he could feel his body change. It was painful! First he felt two wings sprout from his back and the bones inside them cracked into place. Next were his eyes, it felt like they were being ripped out of his head as they turned a more emerald green and developed a reptilian eye slit. Next were his forelegs. The scales sprouted from his coat and covered his forelegs like a bunch of shiny carnivorous beetles and then four claws sprouted from the base of his new forearms. Then, the worst part of the change of all, his mouth. The teeth he had in his mouth suddenly were ripped out root and all and he started bleeding from his mouth. Then, new sharp teeth pushed their way through his mouth cutting into it even further. His tounge became 4 meters long and forked. It hung from his mouth and was forced to taste the blood pooling from it. Dazer collapsed on the floor in a pool of his own blood and started crying. He couldn't speak, for it hurt too much for him to even move his mouth. The sadistic dragon known as Daravoc then spoke.
Your change is complete, but there are some things you should be aware of now: Your dragon abilities. You will see that being a hybrid has it's perks, foolish child. You may spew fourth a jet of blue fire and give what we dragons call a 'pride roar.' With it, you may terrify all those who stand in your path. Be grateful that I give you these abilities, for some souls in the past were not so lucky.Dazer didn't want those powers though. He wanted to be a pony again. A regular pony. He wanted to go home and forget about all this. How was he going to explain this to mom and dad? He was covered in blood and half dragon. He didn't want to think about that right now. All he wanted to do now was run. Get out of these ruins and go cry somewhere. He bolted out of Daravoc's chamber and found himself notably faster than before, much faster. He left a trail of blood where he ran and headed deeper into the Everfree forest. He wouldn't, no, he COULDN'T go home looking like this. He found a hollow stump, dashed under it and started to cry.
3 hours later…Dazer had just stopped crying and noticed something in the distance. Snuffles had a flashlight and was calling out his name. Behind him was his Mom and Dad, crying. He figured it was because Snuffles used his nose to find the spot where we were before and picked up the scent of his blood. The trail probably gave it away too. Dazer was hurt, and in terrible condition. He was covered in leaved and his mane was still messed up from the transformation, and didn't want to come out just now. But the flashlight shone on his hiding spot and Snuffles ran over.
"DAZER! Oh my Gawsh! Are ya alright? We were worried sick abou…" Snuffles stopped when he saw that something was deathly wrong with his friend. Besides the bleeding mouth, he also caught a glimpse of his sharp teeth gleaming from the flash light. Also reflecting from the light were his new scales. But the most noticeable difference were his eyes. Emerald green and reptilian with a slit for a pupil rather than normal pony eyes. Snuffles teared up, and ran off in the other direction. Dazer leapt out of his hiding place in an attempt to convince his friend that it was really him.
"WAIT DON'T GOOOOHHHH!" He shouted. The pain from his mouth made his words sound more like a roar than a plea, and a jet of blue flame shot from his mouth , healing his injury to his mouth by clotting the blood, but scaring the daylights of not only Snuffles, but his own weeping parents as well.
"That isn't our son anymore, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" His father screamed. He bolted off in the direction of Ponyville and Snuffles and his mother followed closely behind. Dazer just landed on the ground and stood there…He just roared and belched out blue fire, and his family no longer recognized him as their son. He was still the same pony on the inside, just…cursed…
"What am I now…?" He quietly said to himself. His mouth was sore, but he could at least talk now that the blood had clotted. He hung his head low and then used his new claws to strike out at a tree. The tree was cut deeply by his claws and he punched another. His hard scaled prevented his hand from getting injured and put a dent in the other tree. He was starting to feel the extent of his power, and was starting to like it. "What else can I do?" He said to himself.
He approached a tree and jumped on it. Then, he used his claws to scale his way to the top quickly. Then at the top, he saw another branch and lashed out his tounge to wrap around it. It did exactly what he wanted it to do and he swung across it Tarzan style. His claws dug into the trunk of another branch and he scaled that tree too. This power was incredible, but at a terrible cost. Who would be his friend? Could anyone possibly want to be friends with such a vile looking creature? He didn't want to think about that right now. This was his new life. Here, in the Everfree forest. His favorite playground, now his permanent home. He was on his own now, and had to survive. He learned how to avoid the dangerous creatures of the Everfree forest like the Hydra and the Giant Forest Ape. He could take on a Forest Ape by hand to claw combat and fire alone, but he was no match for the Hydra. He could fly away though, and he learned how to be a fast and agile flyer. Ponies hiking in the Everfree forest were his biggest threat, however, as he did not want to be discovered by anypony. He learned to hide in plain sight and use the treetops to his advantage. If he was seen, all the ponies did was scream and even attack him. He never fought back, because he understood how terrifying he was, but it hurt more than his outside, it hurt his inside much MUCH more. He grew to resent the ponies, and everything around him that attacked him. He resented the dragons, the Forest Apes, the Hyrda, the Everfree forest, and especially himself. He changed his name to what other ponies called him when they saw him fly away. A "Black Daze." He never experienced love, joy, or fulfillment since his transformation, only satisfaction from satisfying his personal needs. The curse and the Everfree forest had shaped him into what he is today, a cynical, dangerous, and uncaring dragon pony hybrid. The only things that remained of his old form was his kindness and lust for knowledge. Both of which were dormant for the time being, for now he only knew survival. And that's the way it has been for 8 long years.
Present Day…Black Daze was having an okay day so far, food was plentiful, water was fresh, and he hadn't been attacked so far. He had been getting better at hiding himself and sightings of him in the forest had been getting less and less frequent. There were no hikers today, which had been unusual. He looked from the canopy and saw that there was a huge pink explosion coming from Canterlot. He stared at it for a few seconds before he saw thousands of tiny black dots start to draw closer and hit the forest like tons of little black meteors. Fine by him, as long as none of them hit him. He crawled down and casually walked away as the black meteors were hitting around him.
The black meteors got up, they were insectoid ponies with evil looking eyes and insect wings. They had pitch black bodies and a fang in their mouth. Suddenly, one attacked him by leaping on his back.
…That does it…
Black Daze extended his powerful wings, making the small black creature fly off his back. He easily towered over them, but did not have strength in numbers like they did. More of the black ponies surrounded him and pounced him. Black Daze extended both wings again and they flew off his back. Then, he flew in the air and saw that the last of the black meteors stopped falling. Then hundreds of them flew up simultaneously and converged on him. It was time to get serious here. Black Daze reared his head back and let out an incredible roar that shook the very air itself. Some of the back ponies flew out of fear. The others shook it off and converged again. Black daze then shot fourth a mighty plume of blue fire and scorched all the black ponies within 30 meters of him. Then it was hoof to claw combat for the rest of them…Seething with rage, Black Daze unleashed a volley of kicks and punches and wing attacks at his incessant attackers. He probably took out about 50 or so until a loud distorted female voice interrupted their scrap.
"STOP THIS MADNESS AT ONCE!" The voice bellowed.
The remaining attackers froze as did Daze. Rising from the forest floor was an insectoid mare that was easily a few inches taller than Black Daze, had hooves with what looked like holes going through them, a crooked unicorn horn, bug like wings, and a long flowing mane. She had a sharp pair of fangs and dark green eyes with elongated oval pupils. She also had a teal mane and tail, a blue-green insect-like body plating over her midsection, and she wore a small, black crown tipped with blue orbs in her mane. She approached Black Daze and studied him. Floating around him. Analyzing him. Fascinated by him. "Interesting.." She said. Then she then asked him, "What are you, exactly."
Black Daze responded in an irate tone of voice. "That's none of your business who I am, I was attacked out of nowhere by these…things…and they answer to you, so you must be their leader or something. What gives!"
The insectoid mare responded. "How DARE you respond that way to queen Chrysalis! I will eradicate you with my magic!" Her twisted horn began to glow and she fired a green beam of power from it.
Black Daze was not amused by this "Queen Chrysalis" Referring herself in such high regard and was not about to be eradicated by some froo froo magic. He inhaled deeply and blasted fourth a rage fueled jet of blue fire that collided with Chrysalis's beam of magic. Because of her recent weakening from the blast, she was quickly overcome and was blasted to the ground. Her 'minions' were shocked by this and flew away. Queen Chrysalis soon flew back up with an injured wing then crashed back down. Black Daze saw she didn't get back up for a few minutes and flew down to see what was wrong.
On the forest floor, Chrysalis was sobbing softly. Black Daze saw this and got a look of concern on his face. Although he wasn't the same colt 8 years ago, he still had that compassion in his heart and went over to comfort the sobbing queen.
"Hey hey now, don't cry, it's just a singed wing is all, it'll heal in a few weeks. Here, you can stay with me as long as your small minions don't attack me. Is that a deal?" Black Daze could not BELIEVE what he was saying, but something inside him felt deeply sorry for her and wanted to help her out, even if they got off on the wrong foot.
The Queen raised her head to reveal her swollen green eyes. "I-it's not just that, it's…EVERYTHING!" she sobbed.
"Everything? You only lost a little battle. I normally win those, I'm part dragon, for Celestia's sake. Plus, I'm really sorry for burning your wing…" Black Daze said in an attempt to comfort her.
"You don't u-understand!" Queen Chrysalis said to Black Daze. "In that explosion, I lost everything. I lost my power, my life, and my dignity. And losing to you made me lose my minions as well…" Then she gently nuzzled Daze's forleg, surprising him a bit. "But It's very sweet of you to offer me a place to stay and heal, I think that is just what I need right now. Show me to this abode of yours."
Black Daze reluctantly walked off to the direction of his house, not sure why he was doing this to a stranger. Sure, she attacked him, but she was also helpless, injured, and probably hungry. He would have to teach her in the ways of survival in the Everfree forest. And he would need to make her a bed since the only bed he had was a pile of leaves arranged in a mattress pattern and a woven blanket he got from some careless campers once. He wanted to know more about her though…something about her was…fascinating and it awoke his long dormant hunger for knowledge.
"So tell me, what are you exactly." Black Daze asked.
"I am Chrysalis, 'former' queen of the Changlings. We feed off other's love by changing into what onepony desires the most for our own power. Recently, I had a love feast that made me more powerful than Celestia herself, but that stallion I fed off of reunited with his actual true love and caused that explosion you saw." The 'former' Changling queen stated.
"I see, so is that why your minions were fighting me? To 'feed' off of my love? I don't really love fighting though." Black Daze asked.
"Here's the thing that fascinated me though." Chrysalis continued. "When I met you, I couldn't find any trace of love inside you. So apparently you don't really love anything. How is that so?"
Black Daze chuckled. "I don't huh? Not surprising, let me tell you why." He then recounted the tale of his past life as Dazer and how he was cursed by the dragon Daravoc. He told of how his family abandoned him and how painful his transformation was with his mouth bleeding and everything. Queen Chrysalis's face began to look very depressed as he told his sad story. Was that a tear he saw streaming down her cheek? Who knows. He didn't pay much attention. Just then, they reached his shelter. It had a woven leaf roof with a tree stump and a sturdy, short tree beside it. There was a fireplace with no fire going, cans littered on the floor (mainly canned goods from even MORE careless campers) and there was his bed in the corner. It wasn't much, but Daze called it home.
"Here we are, make yourself comfortable." He said to her.
"I think I will." Chrysalis said winking at him. Strange, they had become pretty fast friends after getting off to a bad start. Wait…were they FRIENDS! He needed to find out.
"Chrysalis, are we friends?" he asked curiously.
"Dazer, you've given me a place to recover after a terrible day. You've shown me kindness when I deserved none. Of course we're friends. In fact, we're best friends. Nopony has ever shown me that amount of kindness before."
"It's Black Daze now. And don't mention it." He said with a warm smile but on the inside he was going crazy with emotion.
Wow, she considers me her friend! Her BEST FRIEND! After all these years, finally someone doesn't brush me off as just a monster. I've never felt this feeling before, so I can't really explain it any other way than…I'm really really content right now. He thought to himself. But what he was feeling was joy, and it was thanks to the kindness hidden within his heart that brought it about. Daze thought about her and wondered if she was hungry.
"Are you hungry by any chance, my guest?" Daze asked Chrysalis.
"Oh such a gentleman you are." She responded. "Yes, I am. But what is there to eat in this forest?"
"I like these" Black Daze said as he tore off a vine from the tree by his stump and gave it to her. Chrysalis took the curious vine and tasted it. It was sweet, and satisfying too. She devoured the entire vine and smiled at Black Daze.
"That was quite satisfying, thank you, Black Daze." She said then began to yawn.
"Getting a little tired there?" Black Daze said while grabbing his blanket.
"Indeed, it has been a long day and I could use some rest so that my wing can heal." Chrysalis responded.
Daze wrapped his blanket around her and brought her to his bed. "You can sleep in my bed, I'll be asleep on the tree outside alright?"
Chrysalis blushed and said to him "Oh no I couldn't possibly sleep in your bed, that would be too much."
"I insist, you need to rest properly. I'll be fine, I promise." Daze said to the tired 'former' Queen.
"Well if you insist then I guess I shall do it then, pleasant dreams, Black Daze." Chrysalis said.
"Pleasant dreams, Chrysalis." Black Daze responded and tucked her in. It wasn't long before he heard faint snoring coming from his bed. She really was tired. Black Daze climed up to the tree and lied down on it. He could not believe what he just did. He took a complete stranger in and gave her food, a bed, and company. This was not like him. What was happening to him? He just couldn't explain it, but he was tired, and didn't want to think about it.
Perhaps tomorrow would bring an answer…
In the distance, a growl could be heard. Black Daze recognized it, but couldn't believe it. He immediately got off the tree and prepared himself for combat. He would now have to protect Chrysalis against…A King Forest Ape…Twice as big as a Giant Forest Ape, twice as strong as one, twice as mean as one, and twice as hard to kill. He was ready though, if any creature, big or small, were to threaten his new friend….
…Then they deserve no mercy…Chapter 2 coming soon!