It was dark and warm… As if I was inside a hot tub and the warm water was embracing my body and mind. For an indeterminate time I just stood there, in silence and in peace. Nothing else matters to me at that moment.
"I guess you won then." A voice echoed in my mind. It was a very familiar voice.
"Yes… I'm sorry it had to be that way, but you went out of control." I answered to that voice.
"Pff. That's what I do… I go out of control, it's in my nature." The voice said again.
"Yes… But don't worry… I won't let you go out of control again." I said. "I'll take good care of you now, so we will never need to fight again."
"You better do that because next time we might not be so lucky!" The voice scolded me and I could see who was talking. In the darkness a pair of bright red eyes stared at me. It was a black dragon laying on his stomach and looking at me. It was my chaos. But this time he was not so big as before. He had the same size of an average pony.
"So… no hard feelings?" I asked and my hand caressed the dragons head.
"All forgiven…" He sighed in resign. "How could I not forgive you? In the end, we are the same person… And you did what was necessary to protect your friends and save you from yourself. "
"Thank you…" I said and then the dragon disappeared… The silence came again and I just enjoyed the peace of that dark and silent place.
I don't know how much time passed in that peaceful darkness but, slowly, I started to feel that I was awaking. My whole body felt numb and light. I tried to open my eyes but something was preventing me to do that. I could feel something holding my movements… something was holding me. I started to move my limbs and legs, trying to break free but it was so hard.
As I moved my head, something hard touched my face. A voice at the back of my head was telling me to tackle it and so I did. I pulled my head back and then moved it against that hard thing. One, two… three times. The fourth time I did that I heard a 'crack'. That sound made me so happy… I was braking free! I hit it harder and harder, until finally that hard barrier broke. First thing I felt was fresh air filling my lungs. I breathed deep and pushed harder.
The light attacked my eyes and it took some time until I could open them. My whole body was still trapped in that warm place, but now my head was free. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw seven colorful ponies around me. They had soft smiles on their faces and big and very expressive eyes. At first I got confused… but then all the memories struck me like a spear. I knew their names, I knew who they are and I knew what I had done to them… also, I knew that something was wrong… VERY wrong. Why were they so big!
When I looked down I felt my head spin for what I saw. My whole body was trapped inside a white egg with red strip! Panic filled my guts and I started to kick and struggle as hard as I could, until I broke free completely. I felt the warmth fading as my whole body was exposed to the air now. I was in some kind of nest made of hay and the six ponies watched me with increased interest. I looked at my hands and saw that I had only four fingers now that ended in retractable claws. Touching my own face, I felt that I had a muzzle now and a pair of small horns. Looking at my back I saw a pair of wings and a tail. My scales were dark green with some details in red.
The panic started to grow, more and more and more in my chest… My mind was numb and everything looked very scary. Something started to burn in my stomach. It started to hurt and I opened my mouth to scream for help, to ask anyone what had happen to me! But my voice came in as a tiny roar and a cone of red flames erupted from my throat. The six ponies jumped out of the way, barely escaping from the hot flames.
"Calm down!" I heard one of the mares saying, but this was impossible to me. My heart was racing and I was breathing in a heavy way.
A pair of cyan hoofs grabbed me from behind in a tight hug and pulled me up to sit on her lap.
"Shh… calm down now… you are ok… you are just fine…" It was a familiar voice… As I looked at the one that was holding me I saw a rainbow maned mare… Rainbow Dash.
I closed my eyes, trying to get a hold of my emotions. Slowly my thoughts started to align and some blank spaces in my memories started to be filled. After a while I finally felt confident enough to speak…
"It… it was true… Princess Celestia really transformed me…." My voice sounded childish, as if I was a 7 year old boy.
"Yes…" Twilight said lying in front of me to be at the same level of my head. "And it's amazing that you have all your memories too… We thought that it would take more time for you to remember it all."
"Why… Why am I like a baby dragon! I thought she would only transform me in a dragon and not… not this! " I asked really frustrated, ignoring the second part of what Twilight said. Not only I was not a human but now I was just a baby!
"Well, I'll try to explain it as simple as possible… At first the Princess tried to only change your body, but since you are not even from this world it was impossible to keep your body stable in the dragon form..." Twilight started to explain. "She then traveled personally to the land of the dragons in search of an egg. Of course, she would not steal it... The princess searched for days for an egg that didn't have any life activity in it."
"Wait… Wait, wait!" I interrupted her. "Are you saying that she used an egg with a dead dragon inside!" I was really shocked with that.
"Well... yes... you can say that..." Twilight said a little uneasy now... All the other ponies were looking at her now...
"Looks like yer fergot to tell'us a few details..." Apple jack said to the purple unicorn.
"I'm sorry... The princess wanted to me to keep the secret until he was born." She said lowering her ears "But, long story short, Princess Celestia found an egg that had no life activity in it, and through a really complex spell, she moved all your vital energy, your mind and, I dare say, your very soul to the egg. And with a little bit of her own life energy, she brought the egg back to life with your soul in there."
"That feels... weird..." Was all that I could say.
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie started. "It's like, you are a dead dragon that is not dead anymore and don't have a dragon soul, what makes you not exactly a dragon, and it's also a little creepy to know that your new body was dead before it was brought to life again by the princess. And you have a little of the princess energy in you too. I guess you can be a... undead dragon human alicorn!... a Drahumelindead!" Pink Pie said smiling widely and everypony around looked at her totally lost.
"Aaanyway..." Rainbow Dash started to say "I don't think that it all matters right now... I mean, you are alive, and that's what it counts, right?" She asked me.
"Yes... I think so... although is still creepy to know that this body was dead once." I said looking at one of my hands and using the other to caress Rainbow Dash's hooves that were still wrapped around me. I felt so small there… I was barely 50cm tall "By the way, Twilight, you said that the Princess took days to find an egg to be used... how much time passed since that day in Applejack's farm?"
"A month... maybe a little more..." She said thinking
"A month! Wow... It is a lot of time to be out..." I said in Awe.
"You have no idea..." I heard Rainbow Dash whisper and hug me a little tighter. I simply ignored her for this was not the time to discuss that topic.
"Yes... while you were still in the egg a lot of things happen." Twilight said.
"A lot of things like... what?" I said a little curious.
"My brother's marriage and an invasion of Chagelings..." Twilight said.
"Yeah! That was THE party!" Pinkie Pie said excited.
"Invasion of what?" I asked a little lost and Twilight explained me the whole episode of the invasion. Starting from the day she got the invitation, about the forgotten mines under the castle of Canterlot and how Princess Celestia lost in a magic duel with the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis.
"Wow... sorry girls... If only I was there to help..." I felt that would be really good if I was there to help, since I was the more experienced in battles and, from what I knew of these six ponies here, they didn't like violence.
"Don't worry with that darling..." Rarity said "It was not your fault after all."
"She's right sugar cube" Applejack started to say. "An' even if'n you weren't there, ye still helped us."
"I did? How?" I asked curious... If I was not even there, how was it possible that I had helped them?
"When you came to us, we never had any real contact with violence" Twilight started to explain. "and your presence taught us that, sometimes, we don't have any choice but fight... Even thought what really saved the day was not violence, it still bought us some time." She concluded.
Suddenly I felt my head really light and a yawn escaped my mouth.
"What the..." I said confused. Twilight simply giggled
"It looks like your body is tired already..." She said. " Since you are a baby now, you body will act as a baby too... I think we should let you sleep now..." She said standing up.
"I'll take care of that." Rainbow Dash said, putting me on her back, right behind her wings.
"Uhh... Rainbow? Are you sure?" Twilight said.
"Yes I'm... I… see you girls later!" Rainbow Dash said, walking to the exit and passing through the door before any of the girls could say something. "Hold on tight..." She said in a serious tone and then took off to the sky.
I held on her mane as tight as I could while we flew. The sun was not far from the horizon...A few stars were already visible as the night was advancing. I was finding it really hard to stay awake... every minute was a torture to me. I could barely see now, my vision was all blurred and I couldn't stop my body from laying on her back... my face against her soft mane... and then I fell asleep.
I don't know how much time I slept... All I know is that as my conscience started to come back but I still thought that I was in another dream. I could feel something really soft under me, nothing like I have ever felt in the real world, only when Discord pulled me to those dreams. I could feel something warm right next to me and something caressing my chest. As I opened my eyes I saw Rainbow Dash right next to me, using her hoof to caress my chest. She was so big now, at least twice my size. Looking around I saw walls made out of clouds... and the bed was made of clouds too. That's why it was so soft and comfortable.
"And to think that when I arrived, you almost beat me to death..." I said. That childish voice was really annoying to me.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked at me.
"Heh... and you even could hold me in your lap..." She smiled.
I forced my body to sit, but it felt like something was weighing me down. I looked back and stared at my new wings… I tried to move them a little, just out of curiosity.
"Damn… how do you manage to keep control over your legs AND wings at the same time?" I asked Rainbow Dash. I could move my wings but it was not something so natural as to move my arms.
"I don't know… it's kind of natural to me…" She shrugged.
I forced myself to stand up now and almost fell. My legs were hard to control and when I moved one of them to step forward I felt my new tail lashing to the side and hitting something.
"OUCH!" I heard Rainbow Dash yelp and covering her eye with a hoof.
"Ops… erm… sorry. Still getting used to this new body…" I said and tried to give another step. My tail lashed to the other side again and I fell to the opposite side.
That was so frustrating… I could barely walk now… how was I supposed to be useful? I think that my frustration was really obvious because I felt a hoof over my head, caressing me softly.
"Take it easy ok? You can't expect to go flying and running around… you are not even a day old."
"I'm nineteen years old, if you have forgotten" I said a bit angry with her. Why was she treating me like a baby too?
"You WERE nineteen before the Princess transformed you. Now you are just a cute baby." She teased me.
"STOP IT OK!" I snapped at her and she blinked a few times in surprise. "It's already bad enough that I'm not human anymore! I'm so helpless that I can't even walk on my own, for Odin's sake! I DON'T' need you teasing me like this!" I said and rolled out of that cloud bed. I forced myself to stand up again and used all my concentration to move my legs. Each step was s big challenge to me. My tail didn't stand still and my wings weighed me down too. I wondered if I could ever get used to this body with so many extra appendices.
It took me at least five minutes to walk out of the room and reach the front door. I felt myself so exhausted… walking the small distance felt like running miles and miles without stop. My heart was beating fast and I was panting. I looked up to the knob on the door and sighed. I was so short that even to reach the knob I had to stand on the tip of my toes. I stretched my body as much as I could and opened the door. As the door opened I fell on the floor… outside the home, I could see the sun high in the sky and felt that soft cold breeze.
I thought about standing up again but I simply rolled to the side, my stomach facing up now, and rested. A cyan head with a rainbow mane appeared over me, covering the sun.
"Calmed down?" She asked with a neutral tone.
"Yes… a little…" I said not facing her. "Look… I'm sorry I snapped at you ok? It's just… I was a warrior… I was someone that could stand my ground and fight when need be. But now? I'm helpless… I'm useless… And having your pity only makes it worse." I said not looking at her. "I think you should take me home… to MY home." I said and looked at her. She looked confused.
"But… But I thought…" She started to say but I interrupted her.
"Please Dash… Take me home… I can't stay here…. It was a mistake for you to bring me with you." I said simply.
She looked away and closed her eyes for a second… her expression was a mix of frustration, sadness and a bit of angry. Despite all that, she grabbed me and flew down taking me to my tree house, where I used to live with Steel Head. For the whole trip we didn't speak at all. Soon we arrived at my house… it was just like I remembered it. The trunk had a grayish brown color and not a single leaf on the branches. In the first floor there were two windows and the front door and at the second floor, more two windows and a balcony.
She dropped me at the front door and then looked at me for a second. I saw sadness in her eyes… She opened her wings and flew away, without a single word. I sighed and turned to see the door. I forced myself to stand up and reached my arm to knock. I just hoped that Steel Head was home, or else I would be stuck outside until he arrived.
The door suddenly open and the hard wood hit me in the face. My small body was tossed back and I landed hard on the floor.
"Eravel! Oh Celestia, I'm sorry!" Steel head ran towards me and crouched. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't see you there! I thought you were at Rainbow Dash's house! How'd you get here?"
It took me a few seconds to understand what was happening around me... The whole world was spinning, Steel Head's voice was just an echo in my ears and my sight was all blurred.
"uhg… I-I'm ok… I think…" I said in my new childish voice. I shake my head and looked at the white royal guard. "I asked Rainbow Dash to take me here…" I said forcing myself to stand up but I found impossible to hold my balance and fell again.
"You did? Why?" He looked curious.
"Can you take me inside? I think I need to lie down… and I mean lie down in my bed." I said with my eyes closed.
"Erm.. sure.." Steel Head said picking me up and putting on his back. I grabbed his mane and he took me to my room on the second floor.
The room was the same, except for a thin layer of dust in some places. My armor was arranged in a support. My sword and axe were there too. It had a thick layer of dust on it, as if no one had put a hoof on it in days. Except for that, the whole place was still in order and looked like it had at least a weekly clean up.
Steel Head put me on my bed and I crawled to my pillow.
"Being a baby sucks…" I said and yawned.
"Heh… really?" Steel Head chuckled. The bastard was probably having fun looking at me in that kind of powerless situation.
"Yes… I can't stay awake for even an hour… I can't walk… and this damn childish voice is driving me nuts…" I said feeling harder and harder to stay awake.
"Relax Eravel…" He said and pulled the cover over my body. "You will get used to this in no time... You'll see…" His voice echoed in a ghostly way and before I knew, I fell asleep again.
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