The Nexus

In the Everfree forest, a flash of light and the rustle of a bush signaled a presence of something strange, I small dark brown draconequus with black speckles lay among a pile of smoldering leaves, sleeping lightly. A small year in the sky had closed shortly after the light had faded away.

Is it dead?

Slyph Gongjiang was on a normal walk on a normal day through a not particularly normal forest when the light flashed.

The young unicorn was not one for biology, but he did know that the thing laying on the ground was not one thing. It was a mishmash of alot of... things...

Like some messed up taxidermy.

Levitating a stick off the ground, Slyph gently poked the creature.

The small creature lifted her head, seeing the unicorn and hissing pathetically in an attempt to defend herself from the stick that floated menacingly in front of her.

"UUUUUHHHHHHH." Slyph recoiled instinctual, his concentration being broken the stick dropped to the ground. "H-hey there... little... thing."

With magical creatures, one can never be too certain of the matters of sentience. Many inequine looking creatures speak fluently, while others are little more than savage bloodthirsty beasts.

"Can... y-you understand me?"

The colt gave the creature a wide berth, frozen in place by fear of alarming the creature.

The little draconequus sat down and looked up at the colt, her icy blue eyes studying him warily, her cat-like front legs unsheathing tiny claws into the ground. "Mrrrrr...." She let out a little growl, lashing her tail. "Ppppp....pon...pony.."

"Y-yes. That's me! Pony." Slyph took another few steps back at the unsheathing of the creature's claws. "P-ponies are n-nice and don't like getting clawed."

Glancing around fruitlessly, the colt reached out a desperately friendly hoof to the creature. "What's your name?"

"M...my name." The little draconequus mewed, standing up on all fours and padding over to the colt, her head just barely reaching his shoulder. "Name... Lilith."

Slyph tried to backpedal away, but on noticing the odd creature distinctly not attacking him, gulped down and let the thing come over to him.

"Lilith? Weird name for a... whatever it is you are." Slyph relaxed considerably, letting out a small laugh for a small colt.

"W-what are you doing in... Everfree? Do you live here?" The game of 20 questions continued, the young stallion's curiosity insatiable.

"I fell out of the sky." Lilith said in her soft, child-like voice. "I remember being somewhere dark.. Then falling into a bush."

"Mm. Mm-Hm." Slyph nodded pensively. "what are you? I've never seen anything like you... ever. Actually."

He found the creature oddly disarming. It hadn't done anything too dangerous of life threatening. Perhaps it was just in a bad way.

"I'm a... Um... A draconequus." Lilith said softly, flicking her ears and lifting a hind leg to scratch the back of her head.

"A 'Drak-on-a-Quest'?" Slyph's nose wrinkled. "What's a... Nevermind. Hey if you don't live here... do you want a ride back to town? Its starting to get dark and no upstanding citizen would stand up a opportunity to help a creature in need."

"Yes please." Lilith said in a soft voice, climbing up onto the young unicorn's back, holding on tightly.

"Ow. OW. Ow. Watch the claws!" He whispered, afraid to actually reprimand the creature.

And thus they went merrily on their way. Slyph diligently kept his bespectacled eyes on the gloom as trees loomed threateningly overhead. He had been lucky and not ran into any unsightly creatures into the forest, but didnt know if he would be so fortunate returning from the Everfree

Lilith yelped and quickly retracted her claws. "Sorry." She squeaked, curling up into the stallion's mane. "Where are we going...?"

"Ponyville." Slyph answered absently, his time occupied by navigating the various unkept foliage.

"Everypon-Everyone there is like me. A Pony. At least I think so... There's like... two zebras. Maybe a Griffin."

"Ponies....? Like you?" Lilith asked, tilting her head curiously. "Do they all have a spike on their head?"

"Yeah! I mean no. Not all. Some have wings. Some are just... like ponies you know? Hooves and stuff."

Slyph frowned in thought. It was a very childish way of talking, is this creature nothing more than just that? a child?

Lilith still looked confused, her big eyes staring at him. "So... Why don't you have wings?" She asked, flicking her small ears. "Oh! Is there anything like me?"

"Because... I was born this way. My mother had a horn so I have a horn. I guess thats how it works..." Slyph briefly mused on what it must be like to be a godlike Alicorn. Maybe one day if he saw one of the princesses he'd ask them.

"Like you? I don't... think so. Ive never seen anything like you." Slyph scratched his chin pensively.

The opening to the outskirts of Ponyville had just come into view. While not dark yet, the moon held in the sky above a setting sun.

Lilith looked up at the moon, her icy blue eyes going wide with wonder. "What is that?" She asked in awe.

"That's the moon, you silly goose!" Slyph giggled at the awestruck creature. "Everyday, Her Royal Majesty Princess Luna raises the moon and sets it in the morning."

He gave the young creature a queer look. "You Really aren't from around here, huh?"

"No... Where I come from, there is no moon." Lilith said, tilting her head. "The sky is always empty at night..."

"Always empty?" Slyph followed Lillith's gaze to the moon. "Not even stars?"

The boy stopped in the middle of the road and crouched down to rest his legs, careful not to disturb the young thing on his back. The sun had just dipped down and the stars were starting to come out in the East.

The moon wasn't all that cool, in Slypjh's mind. The stars, however, he always found to be the best thing in the sky besides his ever favorite clouds.

"The sky would be a lonely place without the Stars..."

"The sky is dark... But sometimes... Sometimes we see faces in the night." Lilith said, her ears drooping. "So it's not always lonely."