Sleep came easy but staying asleep was the issue. It was light as she had taught herself to do so long ago, so as to keep alert to any hunters, she heard the unfamiliar rustling of trees and foliage, the chirps of birds and other things flying in the night, smelt the campfire smoke way off in the distance, the frogs were comforting thankfully, and crickets, when she opened her eyes to peek outside and spotted them, we're thankfully small again and not giant flesh-eating pest trying to pry off her scales in the night. Owl hoots and the sound of insect wings were slightly haunting, reminding her of the literal mothmen she would rarely come across on her travels that shouldn't have spooked her but did.
She could handle raiders, the Enclave, her own turn into a different race, her kind being hunted down and slaughtered, being on the run, fighting radioactive bears, but seeing a literal cryptid is apparently what spooked her enough to leave those territories. But onto the topic of sleeping... it was easy to fall asleep, hard to stay that way, but damn did it feel good when she managed... after roaring things quiet around the area. Once the peace and quiet settled, she stayed asleep, and for once, relaxed enough to sleep deeply.
When she awoke, there was a pair of big blue eyes staring her in the face. She blinked slowly, and flicked her tongue out somewhat mindful of the brave and curious pony in front of her, so it wasn't fully extended. She wanted out though and huffed lightly, shifting a bit in her large hallow, and watched the pony back away from the hole, she slowly slunk out and yawned loudly, a growl/purr leaving her afterwards and continuing on as she stretched. Her head slowly moved to the pony.
A yellow... winged... pony. Crazy colors AND wings! Her head tilted and she looked over and flicked her tongue out at the.. the... THE PEGASUS! That was the old word for it! The Pegasus smelled like the forest quite frankly. The denizens of it and the plant life to, with barely an undercurrent of her own pony scent, which she also smelled slightly like rain. Her ears picked up her quiet voice easily.
"I'm not sure what kind of animal you are, but if you'd like I could take you to Ponyville for a quick examination. I-If you don't mind of course, sorry if that's forwards." Flutttershy lightly swirled her hoof on the ground, looking down and ears slightly pinned back, wings tight against her sides.
She would laugh if she could, this pony, brave one minute and shy the next, she smiled a bit and nudged the pony nearly toppling her but she remained calm, and so the pony remained calm-ish to, though the excitement of her non-verbal agreement made the pegasus practically beam and she found herself being led about by the pegasus. She wondered what she could possibly see in a town named Ponyville of all things, we're there buildings like the farmhouse, skyscrapers, tiki-huts, houses on stilts, some kind of green electric city in the fantasies people would dream up about the future, shoddy tin-roofed buildings she's used to, a steampunk adventure? Her head tilted a bit as she mulled things over and kept mindlessly following the yellow pony in front of her, walking on all fours, not truly taking in the scents but still flicking her tongue out idly. She garnered the occasional glance from the pegasus beside her but she paid it no mind. She did however chose to slightly mess with the pegasus.
"Frul fahdon" She hissed out slightly. A bit of a language a nerd ripped off from a video game that ironically turned into the main language for deathclaws when the sentient ones were around, English with a lack of lips and more scales and teeth in that area actually made the draconic language usable for them but made English unpronounceable, mysterious stranger help her if she tried to pronounce the letter "P".
She watched the pegasus jump and flutter a little, looking at her curiously, she however kept walking forwards a bit as if she didn't notice, then looked back as if to say "Are you not supposed to be leading right now???". The pegasus surprisingly got the message and darted forwards with an "Eep!" and a red blush. She flicked her tongue out and purposely licked the pegasus, garnering another of the same noise, but this time followed by an "Awwwww" and chin scritches that actually took her aback for a moment before she nestled her chin against them a moment, enjoying them much more than she thought she would before nudging the pegasus away. Her tongue flicked out again, and she smelled more horses, hints of smoke, and hints of things cooking, what was cooking she didn't know but she was extremely tempted to find out, but she didn't want to wreak too much havoc on the populous... yet. It's be fun to occasionally come back. Especially for the cows more than anything else. At this point though it may be for the cooking as well if she can get her hands on it.
She scratched her horns against some trees as they passed by, back joining in as she walked by and tail following after, she looked back at the tree she just scratched to all hell and snorted, satisfied that she hasn't toppled it AND got an itch out of her system. She kept going and started following her nose a bit more. She also noticed the pegasus taking note of that change and giving her a smile. She was slightly taken aback by this but she huffed lightly in response, unsure how else to respond to the gesture but silently a little pleased in a way, still put off though she looked away and flicked her tongue out, face twisting slightly when her senses were assaulted by the multitude of scents she's approaching, she remembered why she stopped using her tongue to scent the closer she got. She huffed and snorted, head shaking a little before she slightly shuffled closer to the pegasus.
There was a break in the trees that pettered out carefully, and what she saw made her slowly rise up onto two legs and look at the village sprawled out in front of her, nostrils flaring and eyes pinned, watching the ponies going about with curiosity. It felt almost medieval, if it were not for the fact that she saw some ponies with saddle bags with things in them like toasters, books were very common, and a couple ponies carried a fully fledged couch on their backs, wood, nails, bolts, proper non-burnt upholstery and all. She felt a hoof tap her and she looked down at the yellow pegasus, she saw the concern in those eyes and she slowly got back onto all fours, ripping her eyes away from the pegasus's look to look at the town. She was tempted to run in there, smell everything, touch the furniture, eat the food, see if she could still read, maybe there were lizard pet shops.
The pegasus led the way a bit before she pulled a collar and leash out from under her wing and looked at her. She rolled her eyes, and plopped down on the ground, upturning her nose to accept the materials, if not sassily. She heard her snicker and snorted in response, tail thumping the ground lazily until she heard the click of the collar and clinking of the leash, then she got up on all fours again. She quickly sat again though when she saw the pegasus start actually flying, those wings defied logic. She... didn't know how to respond other than to ignore it, so she did just that. Shook her head, dug her horns into the ground and dragged them a bit to get some pressure on her horn beds to relieve the stress. She shook off the dirt after and followed the concerned and hovering pegasus.
She had armor on her back, her soft spot was her belly, she could handle a pegasus. She saw ponies either pay her no mind as the pegasus walked her through town, or they stared and gawked, she spied a familiar orange one and turned her head slowly to watch the mare, seeing her legs suddenly give out from under her and her ears pin back made her a little amused and she kept walking next to the pegasus. Head turning away and she looked elsewhere, glad her mass was big enough to cover the sight from the yellow pegasus walking her. Her tail lifted and curled a bit, brushing against the ground afterwards before settling down. She felt the air shift and her body instinctually shifted, she found herself contorting and grabbing onto a speeding blue pegasus before said pegasus could even register that she had come to such a sudden halt. Everyone was amazed and some scared, the blue pegasus definitely looked shocked, and the yellow one had braces for an impact that would never come.
"Mey lok key." She muttered. Turning about, she nudged the yellow pegasus and huffed at her hair.
Fluttershy was nudged out of her brace by her new animal friend. She couldn't yet understand them aside from body language but so far so good. She looked around, not seeing Rainbowdash for a moment until she moved around her charge to look at a prone and shocked Rainbow. She quickly rushed over and landed to fan her with a wing.
"Rainbowdash! Are you alright? I'm so sorry you ran into my new friend so hard, are you hurt anywhere, I know they're pretty spiky."
Rainbowdash snapped out of it, and shook her head a bit before nodding. "Y-Yeah, fine, just fine Fluttershy, they just caught me is all! Totally 100% cool, maybe even cooler, ya know how it is." There was a nervous laugh, she saw the odd look from the new 'friend' of Fluttershy's and forced herself to look at Fluttershy.
"Anyways, sorry for almost crashing into you! GottakeeppracticingbyebyeFluttershy! See you later!" And like that, Rainbowdash darted off.
...She wanted to snort and laugh so badly, Pony ville, Fluttershy, Rainbowdash, next thing she knows she's gonna hear someone named Phony Horseshoes, or see a shiny sparkly pony named Glitter Face or something. Oh goodness don't think about it too much, she felt the smile on her reptilian muzzle growing but she was able to take a deep breath and stamp it down, feeling a tug on the collar she followed the newly dubbed 'Fluttershy' to wherever she was being taken and found herself coming up to the gaudiest building she had ever seen. Her head tilted. A giant crystalline tree. Sparkling. Glittery. Tree. She just had to fucking think it didn't she.
She was being led inside where she was promptly uncollared and she went about the cool place sniffing and flicking her tongue at every conceivable thing. Right until she found herself licking scales. She blinked owlishly and then promptly scooped up the 'tiny' lizard she found and bringing it back into the main lobby to curl around it and nuzzle the hell out of it gently. Tongue flicking over it a few times to familiarize herself with this scent and paying zero attention to any words from anyone. Until the little one poked her and she looked at him, she saw the intelligence behind those eyes and seeing his eyes widen a fraction he saw hers to. She didn't mind at the moment and gently nuzzled him, hands holding him close. If this didn't already obviously have a home she'd have ran off with it by now. She heard snickering from two ponies and looked at them, growling softly and holding the lizard closely, who looked obviously a bit upset. She tuned in to hear them both squeak.
Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "Hehe, goodness. They seem pretty attached to Spike. Hey, Fluttershy, where'd you find our... uh, guest? And are you sure they're okay?" She leaned towards Fluttershy to whisper that last part to her and grinned nervously, glancing between her and the whatever that was in the main foyer.
Fluttershy nodded. "I found them in whitetail woods, Applejack came to me last night with the crusaders and was talking about some scary monster that erm... got Muriel the cow while they were out. I'm pretty sure she was talking about a manticore or maybe even an alpha manticore considering they have spikes in their mane. Then in the morning I found them under a tree hollow they dug out, and fell asleep in. They seemed pretty lonely and confused so I wanted to take them to my cottage. So far they've been pretty behaved until now.
"Grind fin mey key." She hissed out slightly, loud enough for the others to look over in confusion but not understand why the hissing, but enough for Spike to hear clearly.
He had a feeling of understanding and papped whoever it was holding him. "Don't be mean to them." He muttered to them.
Her eyes widened and she looked at him in surprise. Hackles raised a bit and tail twitching about. She wasn't expecting that at all. She was totally gonna do something stupid and ask a nerd question.
"Dovah?" She hissed softly to him. His confirming nod and confident grin made her worry. Dragon. She was holding either a very foolhardy lizard, or a very young dragon. She huffed, squinted, and shifted, getting up, but carefully picking him up in her jaws as well, finding a couch, and putting him on it, hands pressing into- Oh gods this is what heaven feels like isn't it? She purred. Deep, loud, and she immediately laid belly-down on the couch and hugged onto its cushions, eyes closing, tongue sticking out, and leaving Spike wrapped in her tail and stuck between her legs on the couch as she sprawled out. She heard the snickering and didn't have it in her to care at that point. She was in bliss. Even as the purple pony came over and started examining what she could. The sound of writing on paper brought her peace. Today was nice so far.