Chimeric Grace

by zack black

Chapters

• Prologue
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven

Prologue

Prologue

The door slammed shut, followed by the sound of a car starting and pulling out of the driveway with a high pitched squeal of friction. Well, that kind of sucked. We were now left home alone... again.

Our foster parents were out doing god knows what, like usual. My older brother Colten and I had grown tired of the stories that our supposed “guardians” had been feeding us, so we stopped caring about them lately. Not like it matters anyway. If we're being sent back to the orphanage, who cares if we listen to their lies, their deception is of no concern to us anymore.

This day started out like any other, with lots of intense arguing. We never get along with the families who try to adopt us, usually because of Colten. He is always saying that we shouldn't have to take their bullshit (his words, not mine) since we’re both practically men already. And you know what, who am I to disagree? Colten's a pretty smart guy, smarter than me at least, probably more mature too, but that’s besides the point. He believes that if he studies enough, he'll get a good enough job to support the both of us. Then, with a little time and a lot of patience, we'll buy an RV and travel the world together. It's highly unlikely, but it's still nice to have dreams.

Anyways, it seems that Mr. Finch, one half of our most recent guardians, reached his limit today. After having a yelling match with my brother, he grabbed his wife and stormed out of the house. The last words he said to us went something like, "This is why no one wants to keep you. You’re nothing but low life, good-for-nothing pieces of shit! And that's all you'll ever be! Pack your bags, because tomorrow we're giving you back!" Truly, he’s such a generous and nice guy, right?

No one got hurt, so I guess everything is fine. Actually, I am surprised that Mr. Finch wasn't the violent type. You can’t blame me, the guy’s constantly yelling at us about how “we’ll never make it out there!” or how “we’ll never amount to anything!”, but my personal favorite is “I can see why your parents left you!”. That last one always cuts deep. It’s why I don't care too much for the Finches. Well, mostly it was just Mr. Finch who I don’t like. Mrs. Finch on the other hand is a rather nice lady. I like her a lot, but she’s not strong enough to stand up to her husband. Its a shame it didn’t work out, I could’ve gotten used to her delicious chocolate chip cookies. Oh well.

Now, Colten and I are just hanging out in the living room, awaiting for the inevitable. We, fortunately, had the entire afternoon to do as we pleased. Colt decided to spend his time buried in some book about politics and how they work... Boring! I, on the other hand, had a date with my friend, Tivo. There aren't any good TV's at the orphanage, and the few channels we got sucked, so this was my last chance to enjoy some quality entertainment. While I could watch so many other things, I decided that I’d rather watch a marathon of My Little Pony, especially since I wouldn’t be able to watch it soon. I’m what you would call an ‘out of the closet’ brony.

I say "out of the closet" for two reasons:

1. I don't have anyone to hide it from. Colten was pretty chill about it when he found out and that's all that really matters to me.

2. Why should I give a fuck what other people think about me!

Ok, lets get one thing clear. I love Tivo, no questions asked. You see, all I have to do is go to the menu, click on "TV shows", scroll to the section labeled "Family" then, I just type in the letter "m" on the search bar aaaand... Badda Bing, Badda Boom! Ponies! I instantly have a list of all the latest updates as well as some of my favorite episodes, so I'll say it again. I love Tivo!

I flopped onto the couch, in front of the TV, and prepared my body for the shitstorm of adorableness that is MLP. Once I found my favorite episode, my finger mercilessly spammed the "select" button.

But, what happened next was far from the magical show of techni-colored ponies. No, instead it was something so incredibly interesting that it forced my brother to stir from his book. The TV screen, it just...well...turned blue. I just blue screened the TV....the hell!?

The room was submerged in an extremely awkward silence. I turned to Colten in hopes that he had the answers to this phenomenon, but he was just glaring at me. Not with anger, but with annoyance. We only get angry with outsiders, never each other.

"What did you do?", he asked with a groan.

I just stared at him dumbly, as his dark green eyes met my light blue ones, seeming to look past me and stare straight into my soul, it made me shiver under his gaze. Colten seems to have that effect on people so it’s nothing new. Shrugging my shoulders I replied, "I have no clue! It just sort of died on me and then turned blue."

Colten wasn’t convinced.

"Zack, technology doesn't just break on its own. You don't have to lie to me. Just tell me what you did so I can fix it.", he explained.

"I don't know what the hell happened! All I did was go to the menu and put on some ponies. Honest!", I exclaimed, while using my flimsy arms to emphasize  my confusion.

What the hell, I’d never lie to him. what’s his deal?

Colten was about to give his retort when a heavy, disembodied, voice cut him off.

"Good evening.", it hummed.

The voice was very raspy, with static in between each word uttered. We frantically searched for the source of the voice, but after a quick scan of the living room, we confirmed that no one else was around. Then, who was...

"Over here!", the voice yelled, clearly irritated.

Our eyes instantly grew wide as dinner plates once it finally dawned on us. We slowly turned our attention to the bright blue screen in front of us. The screen now had a dark red line across it. Kinda looked like a heart monitor when it’s flat lining, only without the obnoxious noise.

"Greetings young ones.", the voice boomed.

With every word, small, red bumps would wave across the screen, like in Futurama when Bender talks. Right now I was past being shocked and had begun to freak the hell out! This was the. coolest. thing. ever!

"Oh my god, Colt, the Tivo knows how to talk!", I squealed excitedly.

"What?!", Tivo asked, not knowing what a "Tivo" was.

"Holy shit! You’re right, he can talk!", Colten shouted gleefully.

This was so kick-ass. Suddenly, the TV screen went bright red, with a black line instead of red.

"Quiet!!!", Tivo yelled.

The force of his voice shattered all the windows in the immediate vicinity. Glass lightly tinkled to the floor, while car alarms could be heard in the distance. Colten and I shut up quickly after that display of raw power. We sank in our seats out of fear of what the insane TV would do next.

Once his colors returned to normal, Tivo calmly continued, “How would you like to play a game? I’ve seen both of you struggle, witnessed your pains, and I believe I know of a simple solution. Make it all... disappear. All I ask,” he finished with a deep, metallic chuckle, “is that you trust me.”

Okaaaay, our TV is now talking aloud, asking us to ‘trust’ it, and I’m pretty sure I’m still awake. In other words, we’re probably tripping balls from some non- existent drug that was in our soda. After what seemed like forever, Colten finally sucked up his gut, and dropped a pair, breaking the uncomfortable silence that haunted the room. Thank Tivo HE did, because I sure as hell wasn't going to.

"W-what kind of game?", he asked nervously.

Tivo chuckled to himself. Obviously, we had missed the joke, because we sure as shit weren't laughing. I guess being a god (learned about that later) makes you go a little cray cray after a while.

"If you could, would you want to go to Equestria?", Tivo questioned.

Oh hell yes!

"No.", Colten replied.

"What the fuck?", I cried.

We both turned to each other. Colt gave me his best "are you kidding me?" face, which I more than happily returned. He then opened his mouth, shut it, then started blubbering, his voice pleading, "Dude, it’s too girly there. Besides, it doesn't even exist! Listen to me bro, I know you’re into that kind of stuff, but there is no way I would willingly step one foot into that prissy, pink, pony world. Could...could we just forget about it?"

"You’re fucking kidding me, right?! You want to go back to an orphanage, instead of a wonderful utopia, full of wonderful and amazing creatures?! Also, I'd like to point out that we didn't think a talking Tivo existed a few minutes ago, and look how wrong we were! Who knows what else we could be wrong about!", I growled back angrily.

Now, I love my brother very much, but I wouldn’t let that stop me from slapping the shit out of him in front of Tivo. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and he is just going to throw it out the window! That's just crazy!

"You’re actually both wrong.", Tivo interrupted.

Wait, is it weird that I almost forgot that the TV in the room was talking to us? Breaking our little spat, we both turned and looked at Tivo questionably.

Seeing as we were going to let him finally talk, the talking picture radio began to explain, "You see, the Equestria that you are describing does not exist. The harsh, yet honest, reality is that Equestria, and the world it is located in, is in terrible turmoil. Cities burn, the innocent are slaughtered, and slavers rules with an iron fist. The land is on the precipice of war.

What the fuck? War? When the hell did ponies turn violent?

"Months ago, a Draconequus started a game. You don’t need to know the specifics, but each player must choose a piece. Now the pieces are causing mayhem and destruction wherever they travel. I would like to see how much pandamonium you two could cause, it promises to be quite... amusing.", Tivo continued.

Draconequus? Isn’t Discord one of those? Well, it sounds like him, but why would he do that? Wait, does that mean that the pieces are responsible for...

"Now do you see why I told you I didn’t want to do this, Zack?", Colt shot at me, his glare capable of melting steel. After holding it for a few seconds, he turned back to Tivo, his glare still firmly in place. "You’re not very good at recruiting. Why would we decide to go with you, if Equestria is in such terrible shape?"

Tivo only chuckled before responding, "Who said anything about letting you decide?"

Suddenly, the entire world started to fade away. As the world began to disappear, I realized two things.

1) I had just been drafted.

2) I never got to watch my MLP marathon.

"FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuu...."

Chapter One

Chapter 1

My ear twitched, waking me up from a very peaceful slumber. Shifting slightly, I discovered I was laying down in some grass, under the warm sun. I didn’t exactly know when I got outside, but I wasn’t complaining.

Then, the sunshine started messing with my eyelids, which is a bunch of shit. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes, only to get the full blast of the sun's blazing rays. ‘Yeah, I hate you too, nature.’ I squeezed my eyes shut trying to shield them from the brightness; sadly, it was all in vain. The damage was done and I was now fully awake. ‘Still not going to open my eyes though.’ Yeah, that's me, finding ways to fight the system the best I can.

Laying there, I basked in the warmth and tranquility of it all, sleep, slowly trying to retaking my body. Might as well get a few more minutes in, right?

Wrong! Apparently God said ‘no’.

“Zack, wake up. You’re going to want to see this,” Colten all but hissed at me.

Why is he hissing? I haven’t the slightest clue, but right now, I’m too tired for all this.

I groaned and lazily swatted him away with my hand. “Five more minutes.” I could already imagine him rolling his eyes at my response, but I don’t care and there’s not a think he can say to change my mind.

"Ugh... If you don’t hurry breakfast might get cold," Colt said tauntingly.  

That immediately got my attention. My eyes shot open, sunlight annoyances long forgotten, and I sat up quickly. Instantly, I froze at what I saw before me. My bewildered expression contorted to a look of fear as I started trembling at the beast before me. Instead of my brother, a giant, black snake looked back at me, only inches away from my face.

There comes a time in your life when you are faced with tough situations - like giant snakes for instance - with your back against the wall and the only tools you have to help you are your own fists. I found myself in one of these situations and did what any regular person would do.

Quickly, I stood up and tried to run away. “Tried” being the key word here. The moment I stood up, my legs collapsed under me. I tried to get up to walk again, but I immediately tripped over my own feet and smacked right into the forest floor. ‘We’re in a forest?’

I spat out a good pile of dirt before flipping over onto my back. The evil beast was right on top of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. So, I accepted my fate and closed my eyes, waiting for the snake to attack. The pain would be immense, yet swift. One quick strike and then I'd become this snake’s next meal.

I slowly opened my eyes and found the snake still there, staring at me with a deadpan look on it's face. Before I could express my vivid opinion on how ugly it was, the snake decided to break all logic as we know it.

"Would you be serious for once and get up!” the ‘snake’ practically hissed at me, again. I couldn't believe my ears. It's impossible. It couldn't be!

"Colt?" I asked.

Staring at him in shock, Colten slowly nodded his head. ‘This can't be real... does explain all the hissing though.’ As I tried to figure this out, Colt decided to continue his destruction of logic.

“Okay, you done now?” He asked with a hint of exasperation.

The most I could give in response was a slight nod of my head. ‘This is surreal. How did he turn into a snake? Why are we outside? What the hell is going on?!’

“But, what? How are we in a forest?! Where are we?” My brain felt like it was going to explode. Suddenly, I was spooked by Colt nudging me lightly with his nose to my shoulder, in a failed attempt to comfort me.

“It’s ok, calm down. Take a deep breath, and I’ll explain everything.”

In a very calm and collected manner, Colt began to remind me of the events that  brought us here. I myself got up off the ground and listened attentively.  After a few sentences, it all started coming back to me. The argument with Mr. Finch; our Tivo coming to life; the whole ridiculous game that got us sent here. ‘Here. Where is here?’

A smile slowly plastered itself across my face. Colten saw my look and rolled his eyes. He knew what it meant, he also knew what came next. With a sigh he granted. “Go ahead, let it out.”

I wasn’t even listening as I began to bounce up and down vigorously, not like I needed his permission anyway. “OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh! We’re in Equestria! Yesss!”

Oddly enough, Colten began to shake along with my bouncing. I  abruptly stopped my foolishness and looked at him, tilting my head in confusion.

He seemed to have read my expression perfectly as he said. “Oh... that’s another thing. Now, as you’ve probably noticed, you're not exactly yourself anymore either---”

I held my newly acquired paws out in front of me and stared at them. “Yeah, the paws are new... also, it’s a little hard to stand up.”

Colten frowned at that. “Well, you're a lion... with horns.”

“That’s awesome!” I looked up to see if I could catch a glimpse of my horns. No good. “Dang it.”

“There’s more to it, but you have to swear you won’t scream, or yell, or panic. This might be a hard pill to swallow,” Colten continued. I nodded and sat down in front of him, taking a deep breath to signal I’m ready for the news. “Well, I’m just gonna put this as bluntly as possible. You have wings and I’m attached to your butt.”

“...”

“Zack, you okay?” Colten tilted his head with a worried look on his face. I’d completely frozen up. I slowly looked down at Colten’s tail and followed it down to the tip...except there wasn’t one.

“W-what the fuck?!” I finally stuttered out.

“Okay, not the reaction I expected from you, but yeah...” Colten tried offering me a sheepish smile to lighten the mood. It didn’t help, but at least he tried.

I forced a smile back at him. Then, suddenly, I just snapped and started freaking out. After dramatically falling to the ground, I began rolling around on my back screaming out profanities. I don’t like change, it challenges me.

My brother tried to use calming words to soothe my troubled mind, but nothing was working. He probably would have tried yelling, but something caught his attention over in the brush yonder. I didn’t care that much to look myself as I was a quite busy squirming with the shitstorm within my mind.

I was so busy I almost overlooked the arrow that whizzed past my head and implant itself in the ground only a couple of inches over. My brother’s eyes went wide as he looked to the arrow then slowly back at me. We met each others gaze for a split second, before I could even blink a second arrow swivelled past Colten’s head.

“Zack, move! Now!” Colten said as I rolled to my feet.

I stumbled around a bit as I began to run away from the direction the arrows had come from. Behind me I could hear lots of loud hissing and yelling. These guys were getting closer with every second I wasted trying to figure out how to run. It was as confuddling as it was frustrating.

The only word running through my mind was ‘Run!’, but my body wasn’t getting the message. I’d just about figured it out, when a giant blob of fur jumped down from the tree’s and landed in front of me, swinging a spear at me with the intent to kill. My first instinct was to quickly spin around and slam the guy with my tail. ‘Sorry Colten.’

I must be pretty strong now because that dude went sailing into the air and slammed right into a tree with a loud crunch. ‘Ouch.’

Looking around, it was plain to see that I was surrounded. By what exactly, I can’t really say. They all looked like humanized cats. Think Skyrim and you’ll get what I mean.

There were at least a dozen of them all circled around me. My eyes quickly scanned for any possible escape, but I found nothing. I was trapped.

Then, one particular cat/person/thing caught my eye. It was different from the others, quite literally. Must be a different type of cat than the rest of the pack or something. But that’s not what really got my attention, this cat had a bow drawn and aimed right at my head.

I froze up again and gulped. This could be it. All my life amounted to was being orphaned and hunted down like an animal! Not really what I had hoped for.

No, I can’t think like that. I’ve got to live! Not just for me, but for Colten! Now, how do I go about living? I don’t have that many options. From what I can tell all the cat people are armed to the teeth and have me completely surrounded, so running is out of the question. I can’t fight them all, that’s just suicide. ‘Think think think, what should you do?! Wait, what’s that noise?’ Suddenly, an electric charge kicked started my brain and I grinned. “Brainblast!”

Suddenly, I burst forward and rushed towards the archer. Now this had the potential to end very badly, but I was staring death in the face here... again... so I think my actions were justified. Running closer, I let out a mighty roar and pounced the cat. Things went all according to my poorly thought out plan. The cat person flinched and missed his easy shot. He let out a small yelp as I tackled him to the ground.

After a bit of wrestling I somehow got behind him, his vulnerable neck right in front of me. I opened my mouth and bit down on the fur of his neck. Then l picked him up by the scruff and growled. ‘Yay, My first hostage!’

The others heard my growling and slowly backed away. ‘Good, maybe now we can negotiate.’ Just as I thought that one of the more feminine looking cats chunked a spear and nailed me right in the paw. ‘.... ohmygod.’ I was about to scream before a remembered what was in my mouth, so instead I just bit down on the little kid’s (Just a guess really.) neck. ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!’ I screamed inside my head. The pain was immense.

I breathed heavily and looked down at my paw the best I could. It was a bloody mess. ‘Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge.’ It has to come out or it’ll just get in the way. God, this was just not my day. I grasped the spear with my good paw and yanked.

I bit so hard into the cat in my mouth I could feel his blood trickling. It let out a pained cry. ‘Sorry kid, but I think I’m in a bit more pain than you are right now, so buck up and shut up.’

My ears twitched, I heard that noise again. It almost sounded like... I quickly took off in a random direction, walking now almost impossible. I slowly hobbled to the next clearing over, keeping the other cats at bay by biting down on the cat and making him squeal in pain. They stayed back, but kept following.

Before I knew it I came up upon a ledge, right next to a raging waterfall. The roar of the water splashing down is what drew me here, this was perfect. I turned back to the others and continued backing up to the edge of the cliff.

“Z-Zack, what are you planning?” Colten asked nervously. “Don’t do anything rash, just think this one out... maybe we can talk to them.”

“Apturētu, zvērs!” one of the frisky felines yelled out loudly.

Me and my brother both blinked at that. “Okay, maybe not,” Colten oh so very graciously conquered.

‘Okay, that won’t work, but maybe Colt is right. Maybe this can be worked out if I could just have them hear me out.’ The second I thought that, another spear flew past my head. ‘Yeah, fuck that, I’m doin’ it.’

I took a deep breath through my nose, then jumped back.

Chapter Two

Chapter 2

Flora

My eyes grew wide as I watched the beast jump, and I let out a terrified scream as I witnessed Baldon get dragged over the cliff along with it. The pleading look in his eye as he disappeared over the edge was heart stopping. Quickly, I raced over and knelt, looking down at the water below.

It was too late. They were gone. Tears began to well up my eyes as I sat there, useless. I gritted my teeth at the thought of his death. My one friend, dead. Gone. That can’t be how it ends. He can’t be dead, not now, not yet.

I realized that people were staring at me with a look of bewilderment, confusion and concern. Had I been saying all of this out loud?

“Flora... he’s gone. There’s nothing that we can do. At least the beast fell with him,” my pack leader said. My eye twitched at those words.  Was this my leader’s piss-poor attempt at comfort? Is this what my clan thinks of me? That I can’t do anything? No, fuck them! I thought angrily to myself.

“You’re wrong! He’s still alive, I know it!” I yelled back.

“Be reasonable!”

I turned to stare my pack leader in the eyes. Her deep brown met my bright blue irises.

She was standing closer than I had thought, her necklace gleaming in the morning sun. Draped across her shoulder was a bow, a symbol of power and the favor of Bastet. I towered over her in height yet she was still my superior, in more ways than one. She was a fearless and noble leader, wearing the scars of her past battles with honor. On her hip she wore a sheathed double bladed dagger made of carved bone; her signature weapon and most feared tool. My pathetic stone carved dagger paled in comparison.

Even with such an intimidating appearance, she was one of the only few people I could call a friend. She knew all about my feelings for Baldon and how much pain I was in. Yet, here she was, against me.

“Tavark! He’s alive! I know it!” I insisted.

Shaking her head, Tavark replied, “No one could survive that kind of fall. He’s gone, Flora!”

Closing my eyes in frustration I retorted angrily, “You’re wrong.” I looked back over the edge. All I could see was the ripples of water as it sped over the side. “And I’ll prove it to you. I’ll find him, and bring him back.”

“That’s insane! Get back over here! That’s an order, step away from the ledge!” My pack leader demanded.

I simply looked over my shoulder and glared. “Fuck you.”

Turning back around, I took a long breath, then jumped off. Suddenly enveloped by total darkness, all I could feel was the wall of water pushing me down stream. Having no air, I desperately fought to hold my breath. Blunt rocks bruised me as I was swept forward. No hope, as I closed my eyes and kissed life goodbye. Before I lost consciousness, I felt the sudden lurch of someone pulling at my arm, then nothing.

Groggily, I opened my eyes, only to find myself staring down the maw of...

The beast!

It pulled away and gave me a toothy grin. “Heeellllllooooo!”

Suddenly, a large object obscured my vision. There was a great pain, then I was out again. Nothing, but black.

Zack

“Did you really have to tie them up?” Colten asked for probably the thousandth time.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “What else would you have me do? It’s not like we can just expect them not to kill us in our sleep. Can’t be too careful.”

“I understand, but we don’t want to take it too far. I want to try and reason with these cats, and if you treat them like that, they’ll be unreasonable,” Colten stated.

I honestly couldn’t argue with that logic. We’d need some help if we want to survive out here.

Reluctantly, I caved. “Fine. I’ll untie them once they’ve woken up.” I was too tired to argue anyway. Had to drag those two for at least a couple of miles. Plus, had to find and gather wood to make a campfire. Saying I was tired was an understatement.

With a huff, I laid down on my stomach next to the nice warm fire. Sad thing is that even laying down has become a chore for me. While laying down, I have to use my front legs to support me. I can lay my head down and rest, but I still have to have my legs under me. So, I go for the most lazy position I can find, which is on my side.

Again, that comes with a problem, because soon I’m baking my own belly and have to flip over. Which then the same damn thing happens to my back. I just can’t seem to win.

After some more flip flopping, I find the perfect position. Not sure how I got it to work, but I’ve found a spot that is just far enough to not be too hot and just close enough to not be too cold. I’m about to close my eyes and finally get some sleep, when I hear someone stirring.

Sunava... I thought sourly.

I rolled to my paws, looking over to the two cats tied up next to a nearby tree. Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise, my guests are waking up. About damn time.  I walked over.

Our little archer was stirring. I was actually excited about this one. Don’t know why, but this guy just appeals to me more than the other. Maybe it’s because of just how gosh darn cute this little guy is. I mean, the best way to describe him is an anthro version of a Silver Short Hair. He’s a small little fur ball so I can only guess that he’s pretty young. I’ve always found it easier to talk with kids so this is more than likely going to be fun.

With a small cough the little guy opened his eyes and turned to face me. Now, I don’t know why I didn’t, but I should of seen this next one coming. He immediately froze on the spot. His pupils dilated, and he began to hyperventilate. His first instinct was to tried and get away, to run, but he quickly realized that he was tied up. He began to squirm in a feeble attempt to escape.

With a sigh, I stepped back away from him, crouching down onto my stomach to get on eye level with him. That always seems to work in the nature shows and stuff. Makes them feel less intimidated or something. I think it worked, because once I did that he seemed to calm down. He still had the fear in his eyes, but his face had a look more along the lines of confusion.

To try the nice approach I gave him a big toothy grin. That made him start trembling. Okay, maybe I’m not as good with kids as I thought.

“Well, good going, Zack, you made him wet himself,” Colten pipped up.

He was right. A small puddle was forming under the shivering cat. I internally slapped myself. Just great, scare the kid half to death why don’t you.

“Ugh, okay, enough of this. Kid, please calm down. I won’t hurt you.” I assured.

The small kitty did not look convinced. “A-Aren’t you going to eat me?” He finally stuttered out.

Colten and I just stood there with our mouths hung wide open. I didn’t expect this guy to even understand us, let alone know how to talk back.

I finally shook my head out of the clouds and found my words. “Of course not, why would we do that?”

“... Because you’re a giant monster, and I’m a small bast,” he explained. “Big creatures like you eat little guys like me for breakfast.”

Shaking my head, I smirked. “That’s ridiculous. I’d never eat you, if only because I would probably die of diabeetus. I don’t feel like taking that chance, so you’re safe.”

The bast tilted his head and blinked at me. “Dia-beetles?”

“Close enough, now lets get you away from that mess on the ground and out of those ropes.”

He blushed at that and looked away in embarrassment.

Walking past the embarrassed kitty kat, I bent down and grabbed the ropes that held the other cat with my mouth and picked her up. I then walked over, a little closer to the warm fire and carefully set her down. Turning around, I went back and did the same thing for the little guy. He squirmed around and whimpered a lot at first, but once I got him over next to the fire he’d calmed down quite a bit.  

Once I set him down I placed a paw on his chest and pulled at the ropes, snapping them easily and setting him free. It surprised the heck out of me that he didn’t get up and run away right there and then. Instead, slowly he pulled the rest of the ropes off and tossed them to the side, then he scooted closer to the fire.

We were sitting around the fire, the soft breeze making the fire crackle, a cool shade coming down from the palm trees as the sun began to set. I was taking all the questions I could, but this little guy was just firing them left and right.

“So, what are you?” The bast started out.

I arched an eyebrow and smiled. “Colten, what did you say it was called?”

“Chimera.” Colt stated simply.

“Right, we’re that.”

Tilting his head he asked. “You don’t even remember what you are?”

Smirking I replied. “Yeah, I think that fall rattled my brain a bit.”

That one actually made him giggle, well at least we’re getting somewhere.

“So, do you have a name?”

That one actually made me think. “Well, I have two now that I think about it...anyway, You can call me Zack, the snake back there is my brother, Colten.” I said as I Pointed behind me.

“What about you? You got a name?” I questioned.

“Baldon”, he mumbled.

I guess he’s still a bit shy around me, can’t really help that. Just got to keep talking and maybe he’ll warm up a bit.

“Baldon, eh? Cool name.” I complimented.

He seemed to like that as he smiled. “Um... thanks.”

“Hehe, no problem.” I said as I suddenly sniffed in his direction. ‘Big mistake!’ Phew, that smell is rank. Making a disgusted face I turned away from the stinky kit, so I could breath.

The kid just sat there, not even aware of how bad he smelled.

“Geeze kid, shower much?” I snarked.

I was suddenly hit upside the head with a stick. Through gritted teeth Colten said. “Zack, don’t be rude.”

“Ow!” I yelped. Rubbing the back of my head I replied. “What?! I’m just saying, it wouldn’t hurt for him to take a bath.”

There was a sudden squeak that caught my attention. I turned towards the source to find Baldon sitting there, looking down at the ground, cheeks flushed.

‘Oh my god, he squeaked...That’s adorable!’ I thought to myself. The only thing holding me back from hugging the little furball was that horrid smell. Yeah, it was that bad.

I started shaking my head, I’d made up my mind. Without warning I walked over to the small cat, picked him up once again by the scruff of the neck, and hauled his ass over to the river and threw him in. *Splash!*

“And don’t come out until the smells gone!” I ordered.

I was suddenly bashed upside the head once again with a wooden stick, notably smaller this time.

“Ow, Colten, that hurt!” I complained.

I glared back at him, slightly confused by why he decided to do that.

“Why’d you hit me?” I questioned.

Colten’s eyes were as wide as plates. “T-That wasn’t me...”

“...huh?”

Another Stick flew at me and bounced off my head. My eyes suddenly matched Colt’s. Following where the stick had come from I turned to see a very pissed off kitty, giving me the death glare as the last of her binding fell to the floor.

“Well............Shit.”

Chapter Three

chapter 3

Before I could even react, I was rushed, getting jabbed right in the face. God, it hurt like no other. My vision was blurred as her next attack, a swift right hook, connected with my already bruised muzzle. The blow was devastating. Staggering back, I let out a loud roar of pain, only for it to get cut off by yet another punch. This time to the throat.

Having my larynx bashed in is not the most pleasurable feeling out there, let me tell you.

“Glack!” was all I could make out as I fell to the floor choking.

All the while, a silver furred, black striped cat was splashing around in the river nearby, having a grand old time. You could hear his happy laughter echo around the trees, along with the sounds of my gagging. Little guy was oblivious to the ass kicking happening not ten meters away.

I gasped loudly as I regained my ability to breath. I tried to think of my options of fighting back, but my chances of getting a shot in were slim to none. This chick is fast. I doubt I have any chance of even coming close to beating her...

“Jūs patētisks ķēms!” she yelled in a fairly feminine tone.

I knew it, she was female! Colten owes me money! Suddenly, I was reminded that now was not the time, as her heel came smashing down on my head. That’s gonna leave a goose egg... Good thing I wasn’t panting that hard or I’d of bit off my tongue.

Man, this is getting old. I mean, isn’t she getting just a little tired of whooping my buns? And just as I thought that, who to show up, but none other than the fur ball himself.

“Flora, pārtraukt!” Baldon cried out as he jumped in front of her. “Nav ievainots, viņš ir draudzīgs!”

As I slowly collected myself, I could only wonder what these crazy cats were saying.

Baldon

“I know he’s probably not the smartest, but I think he means well. Flora, just hear me out here,” I pleaded.

“Baldon, that’s insane! Look at him. He’s a monster! A demon! He kidnapped you and threw you off of a cliff, and you want to help him?!” Flora retorted angrily.

“But... he didn’t hurt us when he could have... that must count for something, right?” I reasoned.

“What if he wants to use us to get to the village?! Did you ever think about that?” Flora yelled.

I visibly flinched, and looked down. “I-I didn’t think about that... what should we do?”

Flora sighed and looked at me with a warm smile, her mood flip-flopping instantly, throwing me off completely.

“It’s okay. What we need to do is find out what it wants, and stop it. Easy as that.” Flora explained.

“Excuse me, still alive over here. What's up with the gibberish?” Zack butted in.

“... Baldon, how can he...” Flora tried to ask, but was also interrupted.

“Hey, Baldon, what’s up with your girlfriend anyway? She’s kind of a bitch,” he so eloquently stated.

Flora’s eyes went wide after that. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She turned to me with a confused and slightly angry look on her face.

“You told him your name?! What, are you two best friends or something now?” she yelled, switching languages suddenly.

“Hey! What’s wrong with that? Where I come from, telling someone your name is the polite way to greet people,” Zack stated matter of factly.

“How do you know this language? Who and what are you?!” Flora yelled at the chimera.

I just sort of sat back and watched to see where this was going.

“Um... let me see, because I was taught it from birth, duuuuh. Any more dumb questions?” He smirked. “And I’m called a chimera, just so you know.”

“A chimera? What’s that supposed to be?” Flora questioned.

“It’s what you see in front of your face. You’re not very smart, are you?” Zack said in the sassiest manner he could. Oh no, he went there.

That seemed to really rub Flora the wrong way. What a shocker. From the look of it I thought she was going to beat him to a pulp, but to everyone’s surprise, she just started smiling.

That’s not really like her... She gracefully approached the chimera, giving him a big smile and then punched him in the face. There it is.

Zack dropped to the ground like a brick. I don’t think I’d ever seen someone cry so much over one little punch. But, this is Flora we’re talking about, so it’s understandable. I was about to step in, when a calm voice beat me to the punch.

“Okay, Zack, I think you’ve dug yourself into a big enough hole, now it’s my turn to step in,” the large black snake chimed in.

This caught Flora’s attention, and when she looked to see who it was talking, I think something went wrong because she just sort of froze up out of nowhere. She had a weird look on her face that I’d never seen her wear before.

Her eyes shrank down to the size of pin pricks. Slowly, she took one step away from Zack, then another, she kept going until she was pressing herself against a tree.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around it; what in the world is she doing? Suddenly, it all became clear when Zack stepped forward. He didn’t even look menacing, just kind of confused; all the same, Flora flinched when he moved towards her. There was the answer, plain and simple. Flora was...scared.

Zack

“Hey, what’s up with you?” I asked as I took a step closer. The second my paw touched the ground she flinched like I’m about to rush her. What the heck? I thought to myself as I took another step.

And another flinch... what is up with this girl? She is jumpy as hell! I can’t take five steps without her freaking the fuck out. She seemed fine just a minute ago when she was kicking my ass! Just, out of nowhere she gets all twitchy and scared. What could have changed to make her afraid of me now and not earlier? Wait a minute... maybe.... nah... I’ll just ask. Deciding that, after the longest inner monologue of all time, I just went with the easiest way out.

“So... seriously, what’s wrong with you?” I asked bluntly.

Yeah, I get my abruptness from Colten. Except I think I do it wrong or something, because for me, people get pissed, but for him, people don’t mind as much.

“There’s nothing wrong with her!” So says the little rugrat.

“Okay, then explain, what’s up with her?” I questioned.

“Zack, you’re coming on too strong here, let me try and talk to her again,” Colten butted in for, like, the millionth time.

With a heavy sigh, I turned around so Colt could face the cats.

He began with a deep breath. “Hi, I’d like to--”

His sentence was cut off by the blood curdling shriek of fear coming from the female feline. The scream could be heard for miles. God that was some loud shit.

“Way to go Colt, you iced it,” I chuckled.

She was still going at it, screaming like she was about to get eaten or something. What’s the name for snake phobia? Doesn’t matter, this chick’s got it good.

“She’s just overreacting, this is ridiculous,” Colten scoffed.

I let out a laugh, and looked over to Baldon. “Maybe you should try calming her down, man. We’re kind of at a loss here.”

Nodding, the little cat walked over to the larger one and talked in that backwards language of theirs. Whatever he said, it worked; she finally shut up. I had grown bored of watching them have some type of moment with each other and had gone to sit next to the fire again. Colten and I had started to plan out what to say next to these two.

“Okay, so introductions didn’t go as planned,” my brother proclaimed.

“No, really? I thought it was going good, when she started beating the shit out of me, I felt a real connection,” I said with my usual snarkiness.

“Well, jokes aside, what do we do?” Colten asked.

I just stared at him. “I don’t know! You’re supposed to be the guy with the plan, man!”

“It’s not that easy, Zack. We’re in a different world, if you haven’t noticed. I don’t know what to do in a situation like this!” he exclaimed.

“You and me both man, this is as surreal as it gets. I mean... we just got done talking to cat people for gods sake!”

I think that got their attention, because right after I said that I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind me.

“So uh... yeah, hi, still here,” Baldon said.

The little guy had grown a pair, I guess, because now he just walked up to us no problem. About time too. The scared routine was getting old. And guess who was hiding behind him, performing the same god damn shtick.

“Anyway, guys, this is Flora,” he continued, stepping off to the side to reveal the scared cat girl.

Her eye’s were instantly fixed on Colten, the fear fairly noticeable on her face. But, she showed a little courage and didn’t hide away. Instead she just kind of looked down at the ground. Great, now she’s got the shy routine going on.

Something caught her eye, because out of nowhere she spoke up.

“Are you okay? You look hurt,” she said while looking down at my paw of all places.

“Really?” I asked, looking down to inspect my paw.

Turns out she was right, I was still cut up from that spear earlier. I’d completely forgotten about that. Huh, didn’t really hurt much anymore, but now that she mentioned it I can’t really leave it alone, now can I?

First, I felt it was my duty to piss this cat off as much as possible.

“No fucking shit, I just got stabbed, jumped off a cliff, and was beaten by a deranged cat girl. I’m more than hurt, dammit!” I exclaimed angrily.

I received a deep glare and a low growl for my douche antics there, so I’d say a job well done. I thought I’d finally pushed her over the edge, but she pulled a fast one on me.

“I could help bandage that up for you,” she mumbled.

I have to say, that did surprise me. I mean come on, can you blame me? She was acting like she hated my guts and all of the sudden this. Make up your mind, dammit!

“Yeah, I... it’s just, you need help, and I can help you,” she whispered kind of awkwardly.

That didn’t even make any sense! That is literally no reason to help us! Gaaah, forget it! I thought loudly.

“Um... okay, knock yourself out, I guess,” I said as I handed her my paw.

Without so much as a flinch, she walked up to me and took my paw into hers and began to examine it. I was on guard at all times, just in case she tried something.

Yet, all the cat did was look at my paw. Once she got a good enough look she let go and started messing with her dress looking thing. There was a sudden ripping noise and Flora turned back to me with a long strip of cloth.

“What are you--” I didn’t get to finish as she sat the cloth down on the ground next to me and ran over to the trees, but not before assuring me that she’d be back. Well, couldn’t really do much but go with it for now, so I sat with Baldon nearby and waited.

“Been pretty crazy, hasn’t it?” I asked, trying to instigate some kind of conversation.

“Y-Yeah,” Baldon replied back awkwardly. He seemed to be rubbing some spot on his neck. It took me a bit of effort to see what was up, but after a while I was able to spot some marks on his neck before he could cover them. Shit, that was my fault.

With a sigh, I broke the long silence that had fallen over the both of us. “So, listen, I’m sorry about all this. I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand.”

“Yes, do understand that we aren’t from here and we just happened to wake up at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Colten pitched in.

Letting go of his neck, the little cat responded. “Oh, it’s fine, really. It probably hasn’t been the best experience ever, but it was kind of fun.”

The kid tossed me a friendly smile that I more than gladly returned. Before we could say any more, Flora popped out of the woods. She had what looked like a butt load of plants. So, she went to go pick some flowers. Yeah, I’m sure that will help with the huge gaping hole in my paw! I thought to myself.

“Chew on this.” Suddenly, I found myself with a mouth full of leaves and I started chewing. Within a few minutes, the pain slowly dulled, giving me great relief. I couldn’t even believe it. I’d never stopped to realize just how much pain was there.

“W-Whoa,” I exclaimed with a smile. I spit out a few leaves and looked them over. Didn’t look out of the ordinary, I guess. I’m not a leaf expert, so hopefully it won’t kill me.

“What is this?” My head started to spin as I said that. Before I knew it I had to plop down on my rump before I fell over or something.

“It’s an herb called kā guļ. It should relieve your pain long enough for me to clean and wrap it up,” Flora explained, with kindness in her voice.

It just doesn’t add up. What’s she playing at? Why is she doing all this?

“Why?” I asked vaguely.

“Why what?” she asked as she tilted her head and blinked at me in confusion.

“Why are you helping me? It doesn’t make any sense. I kidnapped your boy friend and hit you over the head with a rock. What gives?”

“... I owe you for saving my life,” she said quietly.

My ears flicked a bit. “What are you tal... you mean that? You remember that?”

With a nod, she continued. “You reached in and saved me... I just thought I’d return the favor.” Before I could say anything in return she continued, a sudden blush on her face. “And he’s not my boyfriend!”

Suddenly, our little moment was over, if you could even call it that. Either way, it was all ripped to shreds when I started howling in laughter.

“Hehe, sure you aren’t. Then why did you jump off a cliff to come save him? Admit it, you crazy about him.” I chuckled out the last bit of laughter before I finally settled down.

I was quickly put in my place, as Flora retorted with a scoff. “And you say I’m stupid... I’m his guardian, his protector.... basically, I’m his godmother.”

Whaaaaaaaaa?! I couldn’t even tell if I said that out loud or if it was in my head. Didn’t really care.

“W-What?!” I repeated. Still couldn’t tell. Lots of shit just filled my brain for, what, the third time today?

Giving me the look that said something along of the lines ‘Well, yeah, duh,’ Flora answered my very stupid question with guess what? Another equally stupid question.

“What?”

What, am I talking to, a parrot?

“What do you mean, ‘godmother’? You look almost as young as him!” I barked.

“I’m old enough! What do you know anyway? You’re just a loony freak!” Flora shot back.

“A freak, eh? I’ll remember that the next time you’re about to drown. Instead, maybe I’ll just sit back and fucking watch!”

“Zack...”

“You don’t even fucking know me you bitch! How are you going to come up to me and call me loony when you’re just some punk ass kid!”

“Zack!...”

“You want to throw this kind of shit at me, fine, fire away you little shit. I can take more than you could ever fucking dish out!”

“ZACK!!” Colten yelled.

I stopped and turned to my brother, only to see the look of disappointment on his face. I’d seen that look a lot growing up... I never thought I’d see Colten use it. I visibly quailed from the look he gave me.

“Both of you need to calm down and go to sleep, now.” He ordered through gritted teeth.

“I don’t have to do what you tell me!” Flora exclaimed.

With that she turned and stormed off to the other side of the clearing. Huffing, she plopped down onto the ground, crossing her arms. Grumbling to herself about god knows what.

Poor Baldon didn’t even get a word in. With a tired sigh, he went back to go check on Flora.

And I, I just sort of stood there, feeling a whole load of mixed feelings about everything. I turned to Colten and started to apologize.

“I think you’ve said enough today, lay down, it’s time for bed. We’ll figure this out tomorrow.” Didn’t even look at me when he said this.

With my head hung low, I did as I was told and laid down next to the fire. I flipped to my side with a sigh. I really screwed this one up.

After a little while of moping I started to close my eyes, slowly setting an end to my first day in the land of Equestria. And I’ll tell you what, this place isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Chapter Four

chapter 4

I must have been really tired, because I slept like a rock! Oh god, and being fluffy, it’s like you are your own pillow. So soft! And to top it all off, I woke up the best way possible, from the smell of food! What more could you ask for?! I thought happily.

Thankfully, reality kicked in and reminded me that life is still a bitch. And I mean quite literally kicked as I was suddenly greeted with a foot to the gut.

“Breakfast is ready!” Flora almost hummed as she retracted her foot and took a step back.

“Oof! Sonofa, god that hurt!” I opened my eyes to see a smiling kitty looking down at me innocently.

“Are you okay, sir?” She could have gotten away with it, if I didn’t already know how much of a bitch she was.

“You suck, you know that?” I grumbled, sourly, as I picked myself off the ground, shaking some twigs and leaves out of my fur. Why is it that shit like that always gets caught in my fur? It’s extremely annoying to get out and takes freaking forever.

Okay, enough complaining, I’m getting off track. Anyway, Flora decided to repay me for last nights fight with burnt food. God dammit. It’s sad when you get treated like crap and know you deserve it.

I looked over to Baldon, still asleep, curled up in the fetal position with a thumb in his mouth. He must of been nice and toasty from the fire all night because he had a small smile on his face as he slept.

“Hehe, almost makes it worth being treated like this.” I mumbled to myself.

“Hmmm?” Flora questioned.

I shook my head at her and just turned back to Baldon with a smile. “Nothing.”

I don’t know what she made of that, don’t really care, it’s what she said next that threw me off.

“You’re not one of those guys who likes little kids are you?” She asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

Immediately I spit out the crispy, burnt chunks of what I think was supposed to be juice, all over the floor.

“W-What?!” I nearly choked out, good that food was dry.

“Well, I mean, it just seems like-” She didn’t get to finish as I was instantly in her face.

“I do NOT swing that way, hear me?” I growled.

And all my viciousness was thrown out the window as I realized she was laughing her happy little ass off at me.

“I-I’m just messing with you.” She said through chuckles.

My jaw nearly dropped. I couldn’t believe it, she totally got me. That’s messed up!

“You’re a bitch!” I yelled in frustration.

She just rolled her eyes at that. “So you keep telling me.”

Then, she has the nerve to brush me off and walk over to Baldon to try and wake him up. I could see the smirk on her face all the way from where I was standing!

Oh my god, I’ve met the troll of equestria, Tivo save us all.

“Baldon~” She whispered in a caring tone. “Wake up, it’s time for breakfast.”

Shaking him gently he started to wake up, his smile sticking as he sat up. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and giving a small yawn, he looked around. At first, he seemed confused as to where he’s at. The first person he saw was Flora, so that gets an even brighter smile to spread across his face. Then he turned over and noticed the freakish chimera sitting not ten feet away and his smile just vanished.

Dammit.

The awkwardness during breakfast was unbelievably strong. Not a single word was spoken. Both cats stayed on the opposite side of the now smoldering fire. I’m sure flora had built it back up to last through breakfast, but who cares. Warmth is better than no warmth, and the fire might have been the only thing keeping them here in the first place.

It’s around this time that Colten decided to establish his existence, seeing that everyone had somehow forgotten about the giant snake. Can you blame me though? He hasn’t talked much since we got here.

“So... I take it we slept well last night?” He asked.

It was a pretty shit way of breaking the ice, but I’ve got nothing better, so I can’t really talk. I still wasn’t used to him hissing with every other word. It kind of got annoying after awhile, but at least we could understand him, for the most part that is.

“Mhmm!” Baldon replied enthusiastically.

Flora looked to him with a smile before glaring back at me, then to Colten.

“Yes, well, it was warm I guess,” she stated with gruff voice.

That tone was getting old.

“Oh, well, good...” Colt said, failing to keep the conversation going.

Might as well have a go at it. Only thing I could do now is make things worse, I thought to myself.

Since there was nothing else really to do except for sitting there awkwardly, I decided to go with the more interesting option.

“So, what’s up with you two?” I blundered.

“Um...What do you mean?” The silver hair questioned.

“Well... You look different than everyone else that was on the cliff, just thought that seemed a little off.”

“Um...”

“And didn’t you have a bow yesterday?” I continued.

That elicited a loud gasp from the usually quiet cat. His little eyes grew wide, and his face dropped it’s happy smile. This is the third time I’ve seen him freeze up, what is up with him?

Baldon

I lost it...the one thing left that I had to remember her by...and I lost it... I thought sadly. How could this be happening? Where could I have left it?! No no no! I began to pummel myself in frustration.

“Whoa whoa, kid, calm down.... was it something I said?” Zack asked curiously.

Flora approached and put a paw on my shoulder, which I quickly shrugged off.

“We have to go find it...” I announced abruptly.

Zack looked at me like I was crazy. He obviously didn’t understand.

“What are you talking about?” he asked with a stupid frown on his face.

This was all his fault in the first place. I lost it, all because of him!

“We need to look for it, and we need to find it, now,” I said through a low growl.

“Well how exactly do you think we should go about doing that, oh great and wise one? Also, go after what? I’m not following you anywhere,” Zack ensured.

“Hey, you kidnapped him, the least you could do is follow along!” Flora said, quick to back me up.

Giggling, the Chimera responded, “Hehe, that’s not how it works.”

“Yes, it is, it’s only fair!” I retorted.

Suddenly, he burst out laughing. He was starting to get on my nerves.

After sitting there laughing like an idiot he caught his breath long enough to speak. “F-Fair? Did you just say it’s not fair? Ha!”

I try to keep my head when jerks like him come along, but for some reason Zack was getting to me. Sitting there, I just stared him down as he continued to lecture me on how life isn’t fair and that I should be old enough to understand that, blah blah blah blah.

By the time he was done talking I’d already lost interest and started getting ready to go.

“Oi, what are you doing?” he catechized.

“I’m going to find my bow, with or without your help,” I declared with slight enmity.

Not having much to really carry with me, I just started following the water up stream. I figured I’d find the waterfall soon and figure out what to do from there. Suddenly, a noticeable presence creeped up behind me. With a slight turn of the head I verified that it was indeed Flora following me. Don’t know what I expected, but I was glad to find out it was her. I wish she wouldn’t sneak up on me like that, I bellyached to myself.

Not even ten steps into the journey and we’re stopped by a loud holler from behind us.

“Wait, stop!” the annoyance pleaded.

We both turned around to see a very pitiful sight. The hellion himself was crouched down low to the ground in what I’m guessing was supposed to be a begging position. His eyes were watery and his lip quivered.

“P-Please, don’t leave us alone.” Zack supplicated.

I guess he was speaking for Colten as well, who had hardly said a thing this entire time we’ve talked. Sad thing is, he really does try to get his word in, but his correspondent isn’t getting the message. In fact, I bet this guy wouldn’t know how to read said message.

“Why? After the way you treated us, why should we do anything you ask?” Flora intervened.

Zack

“Because, I’m sorry... this place is kind of a whole new world for me. I’m stranded, I’m scared, and I’m completely alone.”

“Hey~!” Colten complained.

I rolled my eyes at my brothers outburst and resumed my very pathetic pleading. Have to say, not my proudest moment, but I’ve dealt with worse.

“I promise, I’ll be nicer, and helpful, please, let me come with you,” I begged the saddest way I could.

I really had to sell this if I wanted them to take me along willingly. Of course if this didn’t work I could always just follow them anyway. We’ll save that as a last resort though.

“I don’t think so,” Flora said as she turned and continued to walk.

“...” Baldon stayed and just kind of stared down at me. Which was cute, and very creepy at the same time. Kudos to him for figuring out how to pull that off.

I gave him a sheepish smile and kept low, showing that I was at the mercy of his decision.

“... Okay... you can come,” he finally said with a warm, yet reluctant smile.

Flora wasn’t happy. “Baldon, no, you can’t be serious. You’re going to buy into that sob story? He’s a giant kimpa! He can take care of himself.”

“Chimera.”

Oh, thank god Colten was here to save the day. What would we have done without his OCD? I thought.

“Whatever. Please, listen to me, Baldon. That there is a bad creature. We shouldn’t hang around with bad creatures,” Flora said condescendingly.

The smaller bast frowned at that. “Quit talking to me like that! I’m not a dumb kid! And you can call him whatever you want, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he saved your life and protected us while we were knocked out. It might not be much, but it counts for something.”

This kid is full of surprises. That’s some good points coming from a kid his size. Well, they were at least good enough to shut Flora up. Now to seal the deal, been wanting to do this since I met the little guy. Not even a second thought was wasted as I rushed forward and glomped him to the ground.

“Thank you!” I chirped.

“Gah!” he yelped as my overly massive Chimera body smothered his inferior bast body. I didn’t actually put all my weight into the hug, though. I wanted a reaction from him, not to kill him. He went down without a fight.

I held that semi-awkward hug for the longest of times. Probably wouldn’t have let go if I hadn’t been brought back to reality by the small bast’s squirming.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough Zack, please stop.” Baldon said with an embarrassed blush spread across his face.

“Awwwww, okay...” I slowly picked myself off of him. “Sorry about that, hehe.”

I helped him up and he thanked me. That over with, we both walked over to catch up with Flora who noticeably didn’t look too happy see me coming along. Together, we headed off for adventure!

Chapter Five

Chapter 5

Okay... this officially blows. Here I am, scaling a sixty foot cliff, with two creatures born for this kind of crap leading the way. My claws sting, my arms hurt, and I’m scared that if I make one wrong move I’ll die, which just so happens to be very possible from this height, it seems. I mean the view was probably fantastic, what with a horizon you could gaze across for hours. Hundreds of plants and wildlife scouring the forest, and not to mention the now setting sun on our backs. Merging it all together makes for picture perfect scenery. Here's the catch, I can’t find the time from being scared, to sit back and enjoy the view. Did I mention how much I actually hate heights? Yeah, yeah, I know I jumped off a cliff into waters below, but here’s the difference from then and now. There was fucking water at the bottom! You know what’s at the bottom of this cliff? Ground! Do you know how much ground hurts? Then there, you get the idea.

“Are we there yet?!” I griped.

Flora looked down and scoffed. I couldn’t really see the face since I was concentrating on not falling to my death, but the noise was still perceptible.

“Seriously? That’s the third time. Just look up, you can see for yourself! Quit asking every five minutes, it’s annoying!” Flora spat.

She ascended with great ease and grace, effortlessly jumping up from rock to rock. Pfft, show off.

Look up she says, yeah, easy for her to say. The girl was made for this stuff. I’m a huge chimera! I’m meant to stay on the ground dammit! I grumbled to myself, flapping my wings in frustration.

With every bit of reluctance I peer up to get a look, the cliff was pretty tall, no telling how far we had gotten. We could be halfway there for all I know-- Oh, we’re at the top. Huh, would you look at that.

“Come on, we’d like to get to Baldon’s bow today, please.” Flora persisted.

I frowned and defended myself accordingly. “Cut me some slack will you, I wasn’t made for this, you know.”

Flora just blinks at me, like how one of those dumb bimbos blink, like she can’t   even comprehend what I just said. She reminds me of a hostess on reality TV... I hate reality TV.

“Um, yeah, you are...you’ve got wings.”

Wings? What would wings help with climbing? I thought.

“What’s your point?” I asked curiously.

And here it is. That sassy “roll of the eyes” bullshit. This cat screams MTV.

“Think, what happens when you flap your wings and jump off?” Flora questioned in a very patronizing manner.

I was quick to answer. “I’d fall off the cliff and die.”

Cue douchebag smile. Perfect.

“I know what wings do, numbnuts. The only problem is I don’t know how to use them.” I continued, slowly climbing over the lip of the cliff and onto flat ground again. “Oh thank lordy jesus, glory hallelujah.”

“Who?” Baldon asked.

“Shhh, don’t ruin the moment.” I whispered.

Both basts took their time to just stare at me as I breathed heavily, my arms and legs screaming in agony. The kittens seemed bewildered for some reason.

“What’s wrong with you two? I’m going for it! Cat got your tongue?” I joked, cheesily. If only we had wine! The perfect fancy dinner. Mmmm, dinner.

“Yeah, something is wrong, you’re wrong, everything about you is wrong in some way. I mean, where are you even from anywa--” Flora couldn’t finish that sentence as I was eager to interrupt.

“Hey, this is nice and all, but... Food.”

“Food?” Baldon questioned.

“But we just ate not too long ago.” Flora responded.

Does daddy Chimera have to smack a bitch?

“No, I didn’t, what you fed me was not food. That was more than likely a burnt turd.”

She actually seemed offended. Like, I had insulted her cooking, and that I was the jerk here. Oh she’s good.

“Um... quick, can I ask something, Zack?” Baldon asked timidly.

My train of thought was already long gone, might as well start a new conversation. “Yeah, what’s up little man?”

“Um, did Colten get anything to eat?”

“Uh, no... why?” Colt responded.

“So why aren’t you bitching about not eating?” Flora snapped at him.

Bitching?! She’s the bitch here, not me.

“Well, Um, I did not eat all of my food... you can have some if you’d like.” Baldon continued, offering my brother some berries.

You know what I just thought of, and yeah, kind of late, I know, but where the fuck did she get that food earlier? There was bacon for christ sake! When did I miss the bacon tree? She couldn’t have gotten it from hunting, that would have taken too long, and there would have been blood... so what the fuck gives!

My brother could not actually pick the berries up so he had to eat from Baldon’s paw, talk about humiliating. This is just wrong, he shouldn’t have to be subjected to that kind of behavior, we’re not animals! Well, figuratively speaking we aren’t.

After demeaning himself in front of the whole group, Colt lifted his head and smiled. “Thank you.”

I seemed to have loss my appetite after that. I guess I just couldn’t stand watching him act like a damn pet to these stupid cats.

“Zack, do you want some too?” He asked, his paw already reaching for more berries.

“No, not really, I’m not hungry anymore.” Quickly, I shot down his offer and turned away. “Besides, I don’t like berries.”

That made him frown a bit, but thankfully he did not persist. We were all starting to get tired of each other. Pretty easy to tell by now.

“So, I guess we should keep going. The waterfall is just down there,” I said pointing to the distant raging wall of water. “We can use that as a waypoint.”

Everyone seemed alright with it and we carried on with our little adventure. In almost no time at all we were coming up to the waterfall. During our walk I had some time to think. I realized that once these two left for their village Colt and I are screwed. We’ll be dead by tomorrow morning, if we even survive that long. Basically, the only option I could figure out is that I follow them home, which is a promise for almost certain death as well. It’s a lose-lose situation here.

My train of thought was yet again disrupted, this time by the roar of the water nearby. Looking around I could see that we were here, now all that was left was to find this stupid bow.

“Which way do we go from here?” I asked out loud.

The cats seemed to be sniffing the air and looking at trees for some reason. These guys were hunting this bow down. Which reminds me.

“What’s so important about this bow anyway?”

That stopped Baldon in his tracks. He seemed to look off into space, in some kind of remembrance I’m guessing. He just stood there standing for a bit before turning to me and frowning.

“It just is.” He answered vaguely.

“That’s not giving us much.” Colten seemed to voice my own thoughts. He just said it in a more polite way, though.

His frown seemed to intensify. “It’s none of your business, so please stop asking.”

“Yeah, how about no. I want to know why this damn bow was so damn important that I had to climb a cliff to help come and get it.” I sassed.

“You begged me to come! And what help? All you’ve done is complain, and take up our time!” Baldon shouted.

Geeze, this kid is actually getting angry.

“Don’t turn this on to me. I still want to know why the fuck we’re searching for a stupid bow!”

Crossed the line on that one it seems, because that little bast pulled out the scariest looking death glare I’ve ever seen.

“It is NOT stupid! Take. That. Back!” He demanded.

Well shit, that’s a sure sign that I royally fucked up.

“Oh... crap, it’s sentimental to you, isn’t it?” I visibly flinched as he nodded slowly, still holding his glare.

“I-I’m so so--”

“Baldon, I think I found something!” Flora suddenly interrupted.    

“What is it?” Baldon replied

“It looks like some giant idiot smashed through here.” She grinned a bit at her own little joke, which wasn’t that funny if you ask me, then continued. “We can just follow these tracks back to where you dropped the bow.”

Suddenly, Baldon was completely done talking to me and instead headed off to follow Flora into the woods, leaving me behind.

“Whoa, wait up!” I yelled, scampering off as fast as I could to catch up.

It wasn’t long before I finally caught up to them, and for some reason they were hiding in a bush. I approached without any means of slowing down. What’s that Issac Newton la?: A rock in motion will stay in motion until someone slaps it out of air? Yeah, well I was the rock and these kids were in for a slap.

They can’t necessarily be angry at me, I did give them a fair warning before I crashed, albeit not a very loud one, but a warning is still a warning. I ended up tackling them out of the bush and into the clearing just in front of them. We rolled over each other and finally stopped, all of us laying in a heaping pile of fur and scales.

“Pfft, whoops, my bad.” I chuckled to myself. “Kind of what you get for stopping so abruptly like that.”

Squirming my way out of the pile I shook myself off and popped a few bones in my neck. The cats seemed frozen in their little huddle as they stared off behind me, pupils dilated and everything.

“What is up with you two?” I queried, curiously.

“Y-You’ve killed us...” Flora mumbled.

I know in this situation the right thing to do is run, but I couldn’t handle the suspense any longer. I mean come on, there’s no way I couldn’t look.

Slowly, I turned around just in time to get slammed by a giant black tendril. The pain was instant, and didn’t stop as my body was launched sideways. I flew for a bit there, then met the ground just as fast as I left it. After tumbling a good ten feet I slid to a stop.

“Ugh... Thanks for the warning bro....” I groaned.

My right shoulder felt stiff, that’s never a good sign. I tried moving that arm, but that just made the pain worse. Waves of agony would wash over every nerve in my limb. It was starting to flood my senses.

“Shit... That’s broken.” I announced through gritted teeth.

“Oh fuck, Zack, are you sure?” Colten questioned.

I tried it again and got the same results. Nothing, that arm is gone, fuck! What the hell am I gonna do without it? I’m right handed... paweded? I use my right arm okay! My chances of survival just hit zero. It’s over, It really is. I failed, I got to be in charge, make my own decisions and lead for a single day, and wound up killing myself, my brother, and the only two creatures I ever met in this world.

My working paw was slammed on the ground in frustration. Feeling helpless only fueling my anger. Then, suddenly, I was snapped out of my self loathing by a terrified scream.

“Help!” Flora squealed out in terror.

The perpetrator was standing over both her and Baldon, looking vicious and hungry. This creature had, a lion body just like me, It had wings just like me, and it had a creepy looking tail just. like. me...Mother of god.

“Fuck today!” I yelled.

In all my life I never thought I’d see one, and I was pretty okay with going my whole life without, but here it was, in the flesh.

“Zack?” Colten asked.

“It’s a fucking manticore.” I sighed. “We are so screwed.”

Colten suddenly became speechless as he watched in horror as the Manticore drew closer to the cats, his tail at the ready. I couldn’t watch this, it was going to get ugly, real fast. I looked away, whispering my goodbyes to them quietly.

There was another loud, ear piercing scream, then a yell. Thud! Dead silence.

Chapter Six

Chapter six

Flora

I could smell the breath of the deformed beast as it drew near. The rank smell of rotten teeth and blood emanating from it’s mouth. Disgusting I thought to myself. I’d never been more terrified in my entire life than I was right at that moment.

Didn’t bother trying to call for help again, Zack had probably run off already. There wasn’t much time to think of that demon spawn anyways. Death was looking pretty close all of the sudden. The beast cocked back it’s tail, ready to strike.

A loud shriek burst out of nowhere, it took me a minute to realize that it came from me, but can you blame me? Dying isn’t something to just take lightly. All the pain that leads up to your ultimate demise, it’s scary.

The tail came at us at as though time had slowed. I could see the stinger going straight for Baldon. No, Bastet, please no! There was nothing I could do, except watch as Baldon’s life came to an end. No, I couldn’t bare to watch! I shut my eyes and tried to wish away all the evil creatures. Just like my mother had taught me when I was a kit. I even whispered the rhyme to myself.

“1 2 3, shine on me, with your warm of day, scare all the monsters away. My dear sunshine~” I hummed quietly.

The moment I hit the last note there was a giant thud right next to me. I squeaked a bit and began to cry. Repeating the song over and over in my head wasn’t helping either. I-I should have saved him... at least said good bye... he’s gone... gone. I shut my eyes tighter and wept.

For a while there, all that could be heard was my sniffling as I continued to cry. I was a pitiful wreck, and knowing the fact that I was next, wasn’t going to help any. But, suddenly, a soothing voice called to me.

“Flora... Flooora. Open your eyes.” The voice sounded smooth, yet stern.

Slowly, I opened my tear stained eyes, red and puffy from the fountain of tears I shed, to find Baldon smiling at me, a knife in his right hand, held in a reverse grip. The silver blade was still clashed against the stinger, which was now stuck deep in the ground off to his left, in between us. From the look of it, Baldon had swung and redirected the tail at the last second with his dagger.

“No way...” I mumbled.

“Hey, um, Flora....” He smiled sheepishly at me. “I think it would be a good idea to run.”

Just then, a large growl came out of nowhere. We looked to see that it wasn’t the Manticore, who was just snarling dumbly as it tried desperately to retrieve it’s tail. No, instead it was coming from off to the side. We both looked, simultaneously to see a big, angry Chimera come charging in.

“Get some!” Zack cried out as he made contact with the beast.

Zack

My curiosity has been know to be my greatest weakness. After the thud, I turned back around to see what happened. What I saw was heart shattering. Flora sat there, crying softly, while Baldon seemed to have a stinger through his chest. Dear god, no. He was too young... I could have done something.

I didn’t though. I just sat back and watched like a coward. A sad, pathetic coward.

“Zack... we should run.” Colten sounded like he had a stone in his throat, if he could I think he’d be crying too.

Run, Ha. That’s all I ever do... I just run and run and run from all my problems. Fuck that! I’m tired of running. I’m not a fucking coward, I’m not a fucking coward! I prepped myself for this next line.

"No, not today.” I said with a stone cold glare. Awesome

Using my good arm, I slowly started to pick myself up. The pain was nearly overwhelming, but I had powered through it. It was a bit of a struggle though. Took quite a bit of willpower to keep going, but trust me. I was practically running off the stuff by now. My right arm just dangled limply as I left the ground.  

I pushed off the dirt with my left foreleg and started to prop up onto my back legs. Balance was tricky, but with anger guiding me I wasn’t about to let this hold me back. I took my first step, and succeeded in falling on my face. I let out a painful yelp as I made contact with mother natures’ dirty floor. Come on, dammit! Work!.

Tried it again, this time seemed a lot less painful than last. Once I was back up on two legs I tried for my first step again. I made this one bigger so I could center my weight in the middle and keep up right. Now the next challenge was to swing my other leg over and take another step.

Repeating what I did before, I stumbled a bit, but otherwise made it. Slowly, I started to get a feel for the motion. The pattern picked up a bit and I gained speed. Within a couple of seconds I had closed the gap between me and mister ugly over here. I turned to my good shoulder and rammed that sonofabitch.

“Get some!” I yelled as I tumbled over the Manticore and rolled off to the side of it. Not without leaving some damage, of course. I’d left a good scratch across his face, and knocked him away from the kids. Little did I know that that had snapped off his tail in the process and a little stump was now permanently embedded into the ground.

After I recovered from that roll, I got back up, ready for the second round. Just in time too, because precious was just getting over losing his tail and was coming back for more.

It charged at me, murder in it’s eyes. “Heh, predictable.” I stated smugly.

I easily side stepped the attack and kneed him in the side as he passed by. It yelped and turned around quickly, growling at me and baring its fangs.

“Ew, those are some nasty chompers you got there.” My smug levels were off the charts.

It crouched low suddenly, then pounced at me. He unsheathed his claws and everything. Aw shit, he’s pissed.

I could try this one move I saw in a movie, but it’s a long shot, which could end with him crushing me... Ah, what the hell. Might as well try it, right?

Grabbing onto his head, I fell backwards as he came at me. Once I was on my back and he was just about to fall on top, of me I planted my feet on his chest, rolled backwards and vaulted him over me and into a nearby tree.

It wasn’t the biggest tree in the forest, so it gave in to the manticore’s weight and snapped. The satisfying crunch it made was music to my ears.

With a deep breath I rolled to my feet, completely forgetting about my broken arm and landed right on it. A harsh streak of pain completely immobilized me. My stomach hit the ground hard, as I flailed around in pain. The reason my actions had become so wild and frantic was because I had not experienced pain like this before and had no idea how to react to it. Yeah, there was emotional pain, but come on, everyone knows the real stuff hurts way worse.

“Aaaaaaaah!” I screamed out.

The ugly duckling over there was already getting back up and here I was sitting around on my lazy ass. There was nothing I could do as he started to stalk towards me.

Well, this is going to suck. I thought, grimly, as the monster got ready for a downward tail slam.

“Zack! Get up, Please!” I heard the faint cry of Baldon’s voice, as the tail smashed onto my head.

Then, everything became voided of sound and the world went dark(If you are still listening to the music then I suggest you turn it off, it has served its purpose).

Baldon

Think of two unstoppable titans, clashing with sword and shield in an epic battle of good versus evil. Two ultimate forces, colliding to form the greatest conflict of all time. They meet together to perform the ancient art of battle. If you’ve got a good imagination this image probably looks pretty cool inside your head, right? Well, now imagine a fight that looks nothing like that. Most of it is one sided and very sad to watch.

It’s almost like Zack didn’t even have to try with this feud. But of course, just as I’m about to shout out in victory he goes and doubles over. He must have gotten really hurt from that attack earlier, crippled even. This wasn’t looking good.

I yelled out a word of advice, but I think it went ignored.

Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A weird glint of light, with a familiar tint. I turned my head to try and get a better look, but the full view was blocked by some tall grass. I headed off the path a bit to the clearing, wondering what it was I had seen. Reaching the patch of grass, my head was spinning as I reached down and picked up the bow I thought was lost.

I couldn’t believe it. Here it was, not a scratch on it or anything. I hugged the weapon close, purring at the memories it held. Getting this back was nothing more than a gift from bastet herself. My body surged with happiness.

“Mom.” I whispered to myself.

Flora looked away at the moment the tail smashed into Zack’s head. Her gaze suddenly fixated on me. Blinking for the first couple of seconds, she slowly started to realize what I was holding. Smiling, she walked over and sat next to me.

I offered a warm smile back, “I found it!” The cheer in my voice was apparently pleasant to her, because the smile on her face grew.

“That’s great!” Flora stated as she pulled me in for a hug.

But our happy little moment didn’t last long. The mood was shattered by a loud roar of pain coming from the dazed chimera laying helplessly on the ground.

Flora slowly broke the hug and stood up. “Come on, lets go home.”

I turned to her with a very questioning look on my face. “What about Zack? He needs help.”

She scoffed at that, staring off into space as if to think it over. Seconds went by and Zack’s death was coming closer and closer.

“Flora!” I yelled impatiently.

Reluctantly, she finally caved. “Fine... You’re right. Get ready to fire, I’ll be the distraction.”

I heard her swear and complain under her breath. Well that’s Flora for you, I guess.

Nodding I readied my bow and knocked back one of the arrows I managed to recover from my quiver. With that, Flora was on the move, running in an arch like manner so that she could come up just on the right side of the Manticore. She found a heavy enough rock and chunked it at the beast.

Bullseye! The rock met it’s target, right in the face at that. Howling in pain, the Manticore turned it’s attention towards Flora. This was actually going according to plan. Man, can she make work or what?

Now was my time to shine, I waited long enough for the monster to get a good distance away from Zack as it rushed Flora. I aligned the shot, made sure the wind was in my favor, then, fired!

Flora tossed another piece of wood onto the fire. Then went back to tending to Zack’s wounds. I just sat idly by while our chimera suffered from the pain. At the time, it was really burning me up inside that I couldn’t do anything to help him.

Zack almost looked like a mummy with all the gauze wrapped around his body. His arm was an easy fix, Flora had said. All she had to do was pop it back into place, and time would do the rest. His other injuries were another story.

Throughout the fight he had suffered major cuts and bruises all over his body along with a gash on his head. That being top priority took most of the night to clean and bandage. Once she was done with him, she placed him on a makeshift bed that I had made for him out of grass and flowers, just about everything else that I thought looked soft to sleep on I threw in.

I’d missed my shot earlier, but something weird happened and the manticore seemed to go after the arrow. It confused me at first, but then I saw him pick up a small cub by the scruff and flee into the thicket.

It all made sense. He was just trying to protect his kids. Like a good dad would.

At the moment I was sitting next to Flora, thinking to myself. Flora had cooked some food which me and her were now thoroughly enjoying. Even though the food was good I found myself spacing out a lot.

Every once and awhile I’d look back at Zack and stare for a bit. Flora didn’t seem to think much of it and just kept on eating.

I thought about it for a bit then let out a small laugh.

Looking over, Flora asked. “What’s so funny?”

I continued to smile, not bothering to look over. “I just think it’s kind of funny. How things have turned out. It’s kind of like things flipped all of the sudden.”

“...Baldon, hon, what are you talking about?” She asked curiously, obviously not on the same page as me.

“Well... think about it. We started out with Zack watching over us while he slept, now the roles have switched. Just seems... Um... I don’t know the word for it.” I struggled.

“Ironic?” Flora said, solving my unasked question.

I smiled once I fit the word into my sentence. “Yeah, that’s it!”

She just sort of shrugged at that and looked off to the side. “Well, I guess it is.”

For a short while there was nothing but silence. I went back to eating the last of my food, and Flora started messing around with some rocks, clashing them together to make small sparks.

“Hey.... What do you think about him?” I inquired out of the blue.

“Hmm?” Flora responded, absentmindedly.

I motioned back to the lion/goat/snake/thing behind us. “You know, Zack, what do you think about him?”

Snickering to herself, she replied. “Well, I certainly don’t think fondly of him. That cat is a mess, and he’s incredibly annoying.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. It was kind of mean, but deep down I thought the same thing really.

She continued after a irritated huff. “Not to mention the way he treats me. You’ve heard the names he calls me!”

Couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Well, you do the same thing back, you know.”

Frowning, she quickly defended herself. “But... he’s the one who starts it in the first place!”

“Well, that doesn’t make your actions anymore right than his.” A sudden voice interrupted our conversation.

We both whipped around to see a tall, heavy looking snake looming over behind us. Me and Flora could only blink at who it was. Well, I blinked, Flora shrieked.

Chapter Seven

Chapter 7

Baldon

“Um... sorry about that.” Colten apologized.

I found myself smiling at the dark figure before me. He might’ve not looked like it, but his voice was very gentle.

“Oh, it’s no problem, Flora is just silly.” I assured.

“Huh, she does seem a bit off when around me.” He said, watching her hide timidly on the other side of the campfire.

“Well, if you weren’t so scary then maybe it wouldn’t be that way!” Flora defended.

With an awkward looking shrug, Colten turned back to me and sighed. “I think it’s about time we talked.”

We’d been walking for a while now. We didn’t know where... but that wasn’t stopping us.

“I don’t get it, why are they coming with us?” Zack questioned.

Colten laughed. “I like to think of it as them guiding us to where we’re going.”

“Yeah, not to mention you wouldn’t last ten minutes without us here,” Flora teased. “Face it, fluffy, you need us.”

Zack scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I don’t need you guys, I nearly took on that Manticore all by myself. I think I can handle anything else this forest has to throw at me.”

“Heh, keep telling yourself that, we’ll see how far you get,” Flora said, continuing to lead our group on the expedition, to Bastet knows where.

“Guys, come on, let’s not fight the whole way there, please?” I pleaded.

“I agree! This argument is pointless,” Colten chipped in.

Zack and Flora caved, looking away, disgruntled.

The next few days were filled with nothing all that interesting. Just a bunch of questions asked, and not enough answers given. Plus the never ending walking. Wasn’t the most exciting time I’ve had.

I do have to say that it’s gotten increasingly easier to talk to Colten lately. Usually, I’ll just wait for Flora and Zack to doze off before I get to start a conversation with him, but I think the wait is worth it.

Colten has pretty interesting stuff to talk about. I’m learning a lot about the apparent ‘alien world’ that they come from. Not to mention all that I’m learning about Chimerae. Did you know that they share stomachs? How does that even work?!

Anyway, this day had started out like any other. Flora and Zack bickering about random stuff, complaining about each other and at each others throats, while Colten and I try to keep them on track.

We’d gotten a couple miles into our walking session, when we saw a clearing coming up close. I didn’t think anything of it, but Zack suddenly seemed ecstatic for some reason. He was quick to rush past the field and out of view. His departure was followed by a very high pitched squee.

Curiosity getting the better of Flora and I, we raced to catch up.

The instant we cleared the brush blocking our view, we got a good taste of the sun as it suddenly blinded us both. After taking a second to readjust our vision, it all came into focus.

Turns out, the clearing was larger than I had initially thought. There was a large field, scattered with dead brush and brown earth. The sound of insects buzzing filled the air. In the center of it all was a village unlike any I’d ever conceived possible. Dozens upon dozens of buildings, big and small, some stacked on top of each other, some side by side. On the horizon, I spotted a few colorful specks roaming around the buildings.

“Wha-What are they?” I asked, blown away by the massive builds and colorful inhabitants.

Zack only laughed at my question as if it was simple.

“Hehe, It’s about damn time!” He cheered.

“Zack, what the heck are you talking about?” Flora pitched, almost or just as confused as I am.

Taking a deep breath he screamed out as loud as he could. “PONIES!!!!”

Zack

And I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m so in love, with you~’

This is the best thing ever, of all time. I was convinced that we were sent to a different world and that Tivo had lied to us, but here it is. Living proof as to where we really are. Ponies, everywhere! This town  speckled with em. All living out their lives, unbeknownst to them that  thousands, if not millions watch their every move. It sounds creepy now, wait till I tell them that we supposedly ‘created’ them.

Right now, I’m living the dream right here. So many people have wondered what it would feel like and I’m about to experience this shit for real. Fuck fucking fuck yeah! Okay, breath, keep calm, act cool.  You got this.

Another loud squee escaped me as I jittered with excitement. Calming down was definitely not going to work now. What I needed was a good slap, which Flora more than happily provided.

“Would you calm down!” She said, cocking her hand back for another smack. “What is wrong with him anyway?”

Colten sighed. “Well, you remember the other night, right?” He was met with two slow nods.

“Well, we’ve known about these creatures on our world for a long time. Zack here is a big fan of them and is currently having a fanboy moment.” He finished explaining with another exasperated sigh. “I for one, don’t care for them too much.”

“Know about them? How did... Did you know about us beforehand too?” Flora quipped.

“Well, no, on the count that we freaked out when we saw you and even had to ask what you were. We didn’t know about you guys.” Colten answered.

“Hey, not to interrupt your heart to heart conversation, but what are we doing still here?” I interjected.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Baldon asked.

“It means, lets go! I want to get there TODAY you know.” I spat.

Before they could ask anymore unnecessary questions I had rushed off towards the town as fast as I could.

“Zack, wait!” Was all I could hear as I bounded towards paradise.

Quickly, I dashed past the muddy waters and stumpy trees. I was on a mission. A quest to finally reach my dream. Nothing, not even the gods could stop me now. This was my journey, my reason, everything I’ve done has lead up to this moment. I will hug a pony or die trying.

Once I was close enough all I had to do was choose. Easy enough right? Wrong. It’s impossible to choose. Each one is special and cute looking in it’s own way. Even when they try to look badass, wearing armor and all, they still look adorable.

“Ah ha!” I yelled, changing my direction slightly.

I’d found my victim. A small framed earth pony, just going about her everyday life. Cute red coat and yellow mane design and everything. She’s mine.

Poor thing couldn’t have seen it coming. I was quick and precise. I lept into the air at the final moment and glomped the pony to the ground. Huggling her like my life depended on it. After a moment of silence my actions were met with mixed results. All of them leading up to a random guard pony bucking me in the face.

I was sprawled on the ground looking up at the sky with my one good eye. The other one wouldn’t open for some reason. Laying there, I felt comfy and distraught at the same time. Very weird feeling, wouldn’t recommend it. My face hurt really badly, but for some reason, that didn’t matter. For, I had accomplished something today.

A life time goal, and I saw it through. How many people can say that now and a day? It felt so good, the ponies fur I mean. It was as soft as I thought it’d be, but with different texture than what I would have expected. Very smooth, but still rigid in some places. Like, some of her fur was sticking out a bit. Just, those kinds of imperfections are what made it all so real.

If there was a way to describe bliss while experiencing it,Yes then that would be the answer to the universe. I have no doubt in my mind... Okay, the buck might’ve rattled me up a bit.

“Ugh, what hit me?” I groaned.

“Ma’am, are you alright?!”

“N-No.... It... it was feeling me up. I was scared.”

“...”

“Private, hold him down, I’m gonna show this creature a thing or two.”

“That’s Chimera to you sir. And I was not ‘feeling her up’. It’s called a hug, bro.” I corrected.

I could feel a set of hooves grab onto both my arms, restricting me from moving. This is was bad.

“He-Hey, listen, I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just being friendly, honest.” I defended.

I finally lifted my head to get a good look at guard who kicked me and the mare standing shyly behind him.

“Um, if I told you I was drunk would that make the situation better?” I asked sheepishly.

Shaking his head, the armored pony slowly walked towards me. “You’ve committed a perverted crime and deserve punishment.”

“What, I don’t even get a trial? What kind of bullshit is that?!” I think that might have just pissed him off some more. Great.

“...No.” And suddenly I was given a swift kick to the unmentionables.

Okay, so, that quickly got ugly. I’ll admit, not the best first encounter. I know I’ve read better that’s for sure. Also, like to point out that that guard pony hit me twice for giving another pony a hug. What the hell happen to friendship is magic!? Love and tolerance!

After my party arrived and somehow talked the guard out of arresting me we actually got him to be a little nicer. He gave us the town name, some directions to nearby shops/hotels, and privilege to explore it all on one condition. Once we leave, we never come back. Which made me wonder, what was the point in telling us about the hotels?! Anyway, I had to sign a few papers and stuff promising I wouldn’t return. And by ‘sign’ I mean I just pressed my paw in ink then stamped a piece of paper labeled contract.

Finally, we were out of that and ready to go. Before we left however we were offered a tour from our oh so caring guard. Yeah, that’s not happening. I graciously declined using native sign language. I guess flipping the bird has universal meaning cause he looked pretty offended, as he should be.

And now, today shall mark our first and last visit to the wonderful town of Wethoof.