Rise of the Elements Part I: The Lost Element
Chapter 3: New Greetings
Previous Chapter Next ChapterChapter 3: New Greetings
After explaining everything to my family, I bid farewell to Luna, as she had to head back to her palace for royal duties. Twilight nudged me towards the front door and told me to go meet the other ponies in town, promising to look after my family.
Deciding to make an attempt at friendship again, I turned to Spike, who had been cleaning up the library a bit. "Hey Spike, I'm going to take a walk around town. Want to join me?"
Spike seemed a bit reluctant while looking at Twilight. She simply nodded to him and he sighed. "Yeah sure. I guess I could use some fresh air." He grabbed a small saddlebag and headed out the door with me.
We wandered around town a bit and somehow ended up at a very lavish looking building that looked a bit like a carousel. 'This must be Rarity's place' Spike had a spring in his step as he realized where we were. I chuckled at this and knocked on the door. Suddenly a small white blur shot out of the door and rammed into my left foreleg. 'That's gonna bruise...' I nearly fell over from loss of balance, but luckily Spike stopped me from falling. He's pretty strong for such a small guy. I glanced back at my "attacker" and saw a small white unicorn.
"Hey Sweetie Belle, you okay?" Spike said in a concerned voice.
She sat on her haunches with her hooves on her head. "Ow...what did I run into?" She caught sight of me for a moment before turning to Spike. "Oh hey Spike. Who's your friend?"
The dragon rolled his eyes at the word "friend". Meh...it's better than outright hostility. "Sweetie Belle this is..." He then stopped and stared at me.
'Ah shit...I can't use my real name. Think...think! Aha!' "The name's Steelbreaker." I said, extending a hoof down to her.
The unicorn filly stared at my hoof before glancing up at me. She then gently grabbed my hoof with hers somehow and pulled herself up. 'No fingers...how did she do that? Must be magic or something...' She smiled cutely before doing a sort of curtsy. "Hi Steelbreaker, my name's Sweetie Belle. It's nice to meet you! Sorry but I gotta run. My friends are waiting for me at the clubhouse. Bye Steelbreaker, bye Spike!" With that she was off again.
I looked at Spike and he shrugged, so we turned and I knocked on the door to the boutique. A few moments later it opened revealing a bleach-white unicorn with violet hair.
Without looking up from a pad of paper she held, she greeted, "Good afternoon and welcome to the Carousel Boutique. Is there anything I can-" She stopped as she finally looked at me a small blush forming on her cheeks before immediately dissipating. "Why hello there, I don't believe we've met. I am Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique. Welcome!" she stated, smiling. Spike was visibly on edge.
I smiled in response to her salutation and bowed my head a bit. "Hello Miss Rarity, I'm Steelbreaker. It's a pleasure to meet you. You come with great recommendation from Twilight Sparkle."
The alabaster unicorn’s smile grew and she blushed a bit at the praise. "Ah, so you know Twilight Sparkle?"
I decided to play it safe and keep things simple. "Yes. I'm new to Ponyville and she's one of the first ponies I met here. Spike offered to give me a tour of the town since Twilight is busy."
She glanced at Spike for the first time. "Oh my little Spikey, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." She gave him a kiss on the forehead and he blushed hotly. Rarity then gestured inside and we followed her, closing the door behind us. "So," she started "would you like some tea?"
I nodded as I took in the finely decorated interior. "That would be lovely. Thank you Rarity."
"My my, so polite. If only more colts had your manners." she quipped.
Spike looked a little mad at the compliment she gave me, so I leaned in close as she left the room. "Spike, she's not my type. Don't worry, I'm not going to try and steal her from you or anything." The little dragon relaxed and nodded at me, a smile on his face.
'Finally...progress.'
After some small talk and tea at Rarity's boutique, Spike and I left to wander the town a bit more. We walked towards the town square when a bright pink pony with fluffy pink hair approached.
Upon seeing me, she suddenly bolted towards me and Spike, a huge grin on her face. "HI! I'm Pinkie Pie! I've never seen you before, and I know everyone in Ponyville! *GASP* You must be new here! We need to-"
I stopped the incoming speed-rambling by placing a hoof on her mouth. "Yes Pinkie Pie, I'm new. You know what you should do? You should organize a PARTY!"
Her eyes lit up, and she dashed off, a small dust cloud in her wake.
Spike only shook his head. "Do you think that was a good idea? Her parties can get a little...crazy. It took me two days to get all the frosting cleaned up last time she had a party at the library."
I nudged him. "Ah, it'll be fine. Besides, you have to admit, she does know how to brighten any mood." Spike chuckled, but nodded.
The day was winding down, so we decided to meet one more pony before we called it a day. My guide told me I'd get a kick out of her, so I nodded and followed him to an open field with a few clouds overhead.
I looked around at the seemingly deserted area and asked, "Why are we here? You're not going to murder me or something, are you?"
Spike looked at me with confusion before bursting out laughing.
After a few minutes of laughter, he finally caught his breath and just shook his head at me. "Yeah...you and Pinkie will get along just fine."
I shrugged. "Okay, so why are we here?"
Spike pointed at a small cloud in the air, and I could see a bit of rainbow-patterned tail hanging off the end. Spike inhaled a big breath. "Rainbow Dash!" She didn't move. He rolled his eyes. "OH CELESTIA, IT'S THE WONDERBOLTS!" A rainbow-maned head popped up from the cloud, and the cyan pegasus fell off her cloud. I was afraid she'd get hurt, but she quickly righted herself in the air before gliding down to land in front of me and Spike.
She glared at him for a moment. "Haha, very funny Spike."
The small dragon shrugged. "Hey, it worked didn't it? I tried calling your name, but you didn't even move."
The pegasus nodded and turned her attention to me, confused. "Wow...you're tall." She then looked at the dragon again. "Spike, who's this?"
Spike nudged me, and I coughed before answering, "Oh, I'm Steelbreaker. I'm new here to Ponyville, so Spike was just giving me a short tour to meet a few of Twilight's friends. I heard you're pretty fast, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash just shook her head. "No, I'm not...I'm the fastest! Winner of the Best Young Flyer's award and future Wonderbolt. Not just anyone can pull off a Sonic Rainboom."
I chuckled. "Well normally pride like that can get annoying, but from what I've been told I think you can afford to be proud."
She blushed a little. 'Holy feather-fuck, Batman! Did the great Rainbow Dash just blush?' "Well thanks, Steel. It's hard work to be as good as I am. It's nice to know somepony can see that. It's too bad you're not a pegasus. It'd be fun to race you, I think!"
I shifted a bit uneasily. "Y-yeah...that's too bad. Well Rainbow Dash, it's getting a little late, so I think I'm going to call it a night."
She nodded. "Alright then, Steel. I'll see ya around then. Where are you staying?"
I nudged my head back towards town and answered, "Well, I'm staying with Twilight for the time being. Look me up there if you're in the area. I'll catch ya later, Dash."
The cyan pegasus nodded again. "Will do. Alright then, see you guys later. I recommend staying inside tomorrow though. The weather team has a thunderstorm planned."
I smiled back at her. "Okay, thanks for the heads-up Dash. See ya!"
When Spike and I finally reached the town, Celestia's sun had already gone down, along with the last bit of daylight. Luckily Luna's moon was bright in the sky and full, so we wouldn't have trouble finding our way back to the library.
"Thanks for the light Luna, I appreciate it." I said out loud.
Spike looked confused and asked, "Umm, Steel? Princess Luna's not here. Who are you talking to?"
I sighed as I looked towards the full moon. "Well, back in my world, I would thank Luna and Celestia for their work. Seems that they heard me, because they knew what I'd said one of those times, verbatim. It was the last time I thanked them before coming here that I'd wished to meet them face-to-face. Obviously, being here, I got my 'wish'. If they could hear me all the way from another dimension or universe, I'm pretty sure they can hear me on their own planet."
Spike scratched his chin before nodding. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
When we finally got back to the library, I saw that Twilight had fallen asleep waiting for us on the couch, as did my sister. I giggled (yes, I giggle...don't hate) and locked the door behind me while Spike grabbed a blanket to throw over them. After covering the girl and mare, the dragon brushed Twilight's mane out her eyes and kissed her on the cheek.
I did the same for my sister and smiled while I whispered,. "You're a good assistant Spike. Twilight's lucky to have you."
He smiled at me with a single nod of his head. "I'm not her number one assistant for nothing, you know...but thanks, I appreciate that." Spike then yawned loudly. "Hey Steel, I'm heading to bed unless you need anything."
I shook my head. "Nah, you've done enough Spike. Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning." He nodded and headed off to Twilight's room to sleep.
I then headed up to the second level to check on my brother and mother, hoping that they were handling things okay.
As I entered the guest room, I could see my mother had already fallen asleep. My brother however was still awake, and he nodded at me as I walked in. I walked as softly as I could and sat down on the ground next to him.
"So," he started, "when do we get to actually go outside?"
I felt a little bad that they had to be stuck in here, but rules were rules. "Well, these ponies can't see you in your human form...it would cause too much commotion. The sooner you change, the sooner you can get out of here. Made your decision yet?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah...I guess there's worse things I could be than a pony. It'll take some time to get over the cutsie-ness of this all, but I'll manage."
I tilted my head a bit to the side. "Well who says you have to be a pony? So long as it follows the constraints of this world, you can be pretty much whatever you want. Keep in mind though, different forms will make the people..erm, ponies treat you differently. I wouldn't recommend being a massive fire-breathing dragon for example."
He brightened up suddenly. "Well, what about a humanoid dragon? Same size as I am now, but a dragon. I could work with that."
I thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that could work. You'd need to behave of course. Twilight's assistant Spike is a dragon, and the ponies seem to be fine around him. Twilight and I would vouch for you, as would Luna if she needed to."
He smiled. "Yeah...this'll be sweet. Maybe this won't be so cutsie after all."
I glared at him and cleared my throat. "Hey hey hey, no burninating the village. Remember, we're guests here. Luna trusts my judgment of you, so please don't prove me wrong in trusting you won't make an ass of yourself...and me."
He sighed and focused his gaze out the window. "Okay okay, I'll be good."
I smiled. "Thanks. So, what did mom have to say today?"
The tall ebony-skinned human stared at me for a second before answering. "I'm not gonna lie to you, she had a bit of a breakdown. Jen and I calmed her down though and I think she's come to terms with everything. She'll be okay."
I glanced over at the sleeping form in the bed. "Yeah...she'll be okay. She's not used to real happiness, not like what we have here anyway. In all honesty, neither am I. I have a feeling she's going to be suspicious for awhile, but she'll pull through.” I then looked up at the old-style clock on a desk and exhaled sleepily. “Alright then, it's about midnight. We should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow for you, Mr. Dragon."
My brother chuckled before climbing off the floor and onto his bed, which was a bit too small for him. He stared at his feet hanging off the bed and frowned. "Well shit...even here I'm too big for everything."
I chuckled softly before climbing into bed and relaxing. As I closed my eyes, I thought of Luna guiding me back to the library. 'Thank you Luna. Goodnight.'
I was a bit surprised and almost jumped out of my bed when a few seconds later, the familiar voice of Luna spoke back in my mind. 'You have not trained in any magic, yet already you can speak to me telepathically. I am impressed. Well, we will speak more of this the next time I visit. Goodnight Drew. Sleep well.'
When she said that, I could have swore I almost felt her blushing. I chuckled a bit before closing my eyes again and drifting off to my first peaceful sleep in years.
Next Chapter: Apples, Butterflies, and Alcohol Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 16 Minutes