Zikel slowly begins to regain consciousness. opening and shutting his eyes as he stares up into the blue sky, the sound of birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees around him, the grass he was laying on felt so soft, a smiles forming across his face as he laid there. He reached up in front of him and looked at his hand.

"This must be paradise...where my family and friends are waiting for me to join them...at last.."

He then noticed something/...off about his hand, its was a dark grey, and he had..blue claws,he instantly shoots up into a sitting position, looking at his hand then up his body, the parts of flesh that were exposed were also dark grey. he reached up and felt his face, his skin now had a thick scaley texture to it. And he even had a...muzzle?!

"What in the seven hells?! What is going on?!"

He looked around for anything to see his reflection in, as he did, he removed his hood and his scarf from his body, seeing his face in the little pond near by, he lets out a scream as he sees what he had become. he had black horns with light blue tips, same as his claws/ What disturbed him the most though, is his eyes, instead of the part that should be black, it was blue, his irises were still gold, but his sclera was the same blue of his claws and horn tips And then he noticed his wings, dark grey with the membrane that same blue And a long thick tail with a spade at the end of it. He quickly got to his feet the best he could, nearly following back when he did, his legs were different as well. More like a dragon's hind legs, digigrade legs, his feet also like a dragon's, claws and everything.

"This...this is what you have me become then?! Why didn't you kill me and be done with you bastards?!"

He noticed his voice was now deeper and more gravelly. his muscles a bit larger and his over all height raised by another foot, bringing him to a total of seven foot even. White long strands of hair rested behind him,all the way down to his lower back. His hair was this long back home, but it was black. He began to try and work his wings, not really sure how they would work at all since he has never had them.

"I have to admit...at least I get to try something I have never done before though. Always wanted to learn how to fly..."

"He begins working the muscles slowly at first, getting a feel for having 'wing muscles' for the first time in his life. He had to admit,the wings he had were very beautiful to look at, but this new body of his scared him still. he was something that was proclaimed a myth back in his realm. But he was still showing some humanoid attributes in this form.

He begins to flap his wings a bit harder and faster now, feeling his feet leave the ground, he starts to get a bit excited and a bit scared as well. he flaps harder, harder until he was over the treeline of where he was, he looks around at the view, his eyes widening at the beautiful landscape before him

"Oh wow....its so lovely here...this place looks like it hasn't seen one ounce of war in its time. Perhaps this is a form of paradise after all?"

He asked himself as he began to drift forward in flight, often losing his control and still gaining a better grip on on of his new abilities. He sees what looks to be a small town in the distance. he debates on going there to ask for help. but given his current form. Should he? He could cover his face with his scarf and hood, but he can't his his wings and his tail.

"Maybe...this is a common thing for them? I am sure they have seen many dragons before..."

He said as he drifted down into the town square, landing in front of the large fountain, although not very gracefully, but on his feet non the less. As he did, he noticed something VERY odd. The town was full of...small colorful equines. No humans in sight. At all. Zikel places a hand behind his head and scratches lightly.

"Plenty of horses...but no humans.."

He said to himself. Suddenly he felt eyes upon him, and they stared hard. He looked around the see them starring at him with eyes as big as saucers and their pupils were super tiny. He chuckled lightly and lifted a hand to wave to them

"Uum...hi..I was wondering if I could speak with someone who-"

"DRAGOOOOOON! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"

One of the ponies screamed out,which caused the others to scream and panic as well. he tried tostopthem and waved his hands frantically.

"No NO...I am not going to hurt you..I promise. I just want directions and I want to know where I am is all, please!"

They didn't seem to listen as they all ran inside their homes and locked their doors and even took in their welcome matts. Zikel looked around, spotting the large crystal castle in the middle of the town and smiled lightly

"Ah, maybe their ruler here can help me. I am sure they are surrounded by guards. So I am no threat...right?"

As Zikel walked though the town, he saw eyes peering on him from the windows of the ponies. the windows quickly shutting as he got closer. He let out a sigh of annoyance, then looks up to the large castle in front of him. He walks up the stairs and knocks on the door. Awaiting for someone to answer. he waits for a few minutes, until the door opens and reveals....no one?

"Oh wow...another dragon?! Here in Ponyville?"

Zikel looked down and noticed a little purple dragon with green spines and green eyes. He lets out a sigh of relief and crouches down in front of him.

"Finally, a dragon! You there little guy. Where in the seven hells am I? First I was in my world, now I am here with these...talking equines that ran from me before I could even ask them questions."

"Well of course they would run from you. You are a dragon."

"But...so are you?"

"Well yeah...but I am a baby dragon. I guess they don't consider me a threat..."

"What are they think Iam going to do? Eat them? No thank you. I don't like horse meat."

The little dragon laughed and nodded

"On that we can agree on, that's for sure. Come on in, I will get the princess for you. She will be excited to see you. You aren't like any other dragon we have seen before."

"Princess? You don't have a king or queen here?"

"Nope, we only have princesses...and one prince who is an arrogant stallion who thinks to highly of himself."

"Oh great...nobles are just ad bad here to huh?"

They walked through the castle, passing large room and soon coming to a larger room with a large table and chairs surrounding them, sitting in the chairs were...a group of these colored equines, they seemed to be discussing something importantly, when the little dragon called out to them.

"Hey guys, we have a guest!"

"Not now spike, we are in the middle of a friendship meeting!"

Shouted The lavender one. Zikel spoke out

"I am sorry your highness...I didn't mean to disturb your meeting...I am just lost here> I don't know this land...or this worldfor that matter."

They all turned to look at Zikel as they heard his gravelly voice. They gave the same look the others did, wide eyes and pupils super small

"Oh boy, get ready for more screams.."

He said as he would cover his ears

Next Chapter: Act 2: What Is A...Shadowmancer? Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 12 Minutes