White Hawk's Fate

Chapter 4: A Beast In Ponyville

I didn't wake up in a bed today, I woke up in a wooden chair. Why am I in a chair, where's Fluttershy. Huh, I got used to Fluttershy being there when I wake up. I stretched both my arms out wide, wait, both arms. He almost leaped out of his chair when he realized what he did. My arm is healed! Wow it's only been... What 3 days? I was over joyed! I didn't care how I could have healed so fast I was just glad that I wasn't going to have to be careful and avoid my left arm anymore.

I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes, but to no avail. Fluttershy wasn't downstairs at least so I went to get some water. On my way to the sink something caught my eye, a broken pink collar with butterflies on it. Last night flooded back to me, and the migraine that came with it. Pain was pulsing through my head as I remembered what had happened. I looked at my arms not believing that a few hours ago they had been wings. How was it fucking possible?! it wasn't a dream, but I can't even control it. I held my hands over my ears as if that would help the pain. The pain just kept growing though, eventually I couldn't help but scream. I screamed until it felt like my longs would burn, above my screaming I could hear the faint clopping of hooves on the path outside. A moment later Fluttershy burst through the door, I couldn't really see her because my eyes were shut but I could hear the door slam shut behind her.

"Gavin! Oh please be alright." I could hear her voice get closer to me, I could also hear a ringing begin to form in my ears, as her hoof steps got closer the ringing got louder. I felt her fore legs wrap around me, and when they did the ringing stopped. The pain however took a few minutes to subside. I was confused as hell and thought this pony could help me figure things out, so I forgot about all the things Discord could do to me and nodded when Fluttershy asked.

"Are you alright now Gavin." Her eyes widened slightly when I did but her expression slowly turned into a small grin. "After last night I suppose the fact that you just gave an intelligent answer to my question wouldn't be too weird huh?" I shook my head. She sighed and set her head on my shoulder. "Don't suppose you can tell me what turning into a giant white hawk was all about?" I was about to shake my head again when an angry looking Discord slammed the door open and walked in.

"I tell you to be a stupid animal until I tell you, but you go and communicate with Fluttershy! Is being stupid really that hard?!" I nodded in response before I carefully moved Fluttershys' head off my shoulder and made her stop wrapping her fore legs around me. After doing so I promptly stepped up to him and stomped on his dragon like foot. He gave a satisfying YOUCH and shouted what I assume are pony cuss words, horseapples is one thing he shouted. "You dare bring pain to chaos himself?!" His eyes began tog low with a fiery light.

"Discord what is going on here?!" Fluttershy stepped between me and Discord. The glow in Discord's eyes began to fade and he gave a nervous grin.

"Well you see Fluttershy uhm, well, are you aware of any legends involving ancient nature spirits?" Flutteershy shook her head. "Well uhm" Discord cleared his throat. "Well there are supposed to be seven ancient nature spirits, once they awaken the beasts that hide inside humans will start to awaken. Now tell me have you noticed any odd behavior in humans recently?" Another shake of the head. "Well you need to get out more often, anyways I noticed this behavior so i began to channel my magic to find these spirits, I found that they were still sleeping soundly accept for one, I found one spirit in another world." He then pointed to me. Fluttershy went wide eyed.

While slightly surprised still, I heard this all last night. "Even though he was in another world it was still affecting the humans here, see ponies are no match for the beasts that sleep within humans so if Gavin here stayed in his own world we would be doomed! Isn't that wonderful?" Fluttershy shy looked very confused.

"Wait so if there are seven and Gavin is one of them do you know where the other six are?" Discord only nodded his head. "Can you tell us?" Discord shook his head. "Why not?" Discord sighed.

"Because if I were to simply tell you there would be no challenge, no point for this story to continue!" Discord pointed at something we couldn't see.

"Uhm what are you pointing at, and what do you mean no point for the story to continue?" Discord looked at us as if it were painfully obvious.

"Why the people reading the story of course!" I just shrugged this off as Discord being crazy.

"So can Gavin understand us at all?" I face palmed.

"Why yes he can, quite clearly actually where he comes from everyone would. Well not everyone in his world but everyone from his country" Discord elaborated

"Can he talk? I mean if he is intelligent you would think he can talk."

"Oh yes I took that ability away from him when I took him here, now that you know he's intelligent there's no point in not letting him talk." With a snap of his fingers I felt a sort of ticklish sensation on my neck.

"Now go ahead boy choose your first words in Equestria very carefully." He didn't have to say that, I already knew what I wanted to say.

"What the hell?!" I shouted. Fluttershy looked like she had just been slapped, while Discord was rolling on the floor laughing. "Can you explain to me why I'm a nature spirit thingy and not normal old Gavin?!" I asked only about 3/4 serious. Discord however sounded very serious for once.

"Now that chap I really don't know, it perplexed me too. I just decided to roll with it as the saying goes." He snapped his fingers and was  now in a barrel rolling across the floor.

"So Gavin?" Fluttershy started.

"Yes?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"You're not mad at me for uhm accidentally moving your arm so much are you?" I chuckled at that question.

"Why of course not! you know what's weird though, my arm is already healed and it's only the fourth day since it's been broken." The injury should have taken weeks to heal!

"Oh the doctor commented about that, she wanted to take tests on you." She gave a sheepish grin. I was about to reply to that when Discord spoke up.

"Guys one more thing before I go, I do not want you telling anypony about this Fluttershy. If people find out then they find out but we do not need to cause any panic. If anypony finds out then you can tell your friends but until then I bid you farewell." In a puff of smoke he was gone.

"So what's for breakfast?" I asked jokingly as I closed the door. Fluttershy's left eye twitched when she heard how casual I sounded. "It feels great to be able to talk again. Gets boring having to listen to everything and not be able to say a single word in response." It was kind of funny to see her so quiet after she had been so talkative for the past few days.

<<------- Fluttershy ------->>

I didn't know why I was so shocked by it, hay I should be delighted! I was hoping for something like this. That one moment, that gentle touch.

"Are you ok Fluttershy?" Gavin sounded worried. I felt kind of guilty making him worried about me. I blew my mane out of my eyes before I said.

"I'm just shocked really, so uhm the first time you stroked my mane?" I could see the calculating look in his eyes, although with the answer he gave me I couldn't see what he was thinking about.

"Well you just looked so adorable" He smirked for a moment. "I just couldn't help it! Not even a new born puppy is that cute, well maybe a lab. but come on that's not even fair!" He laughed. His laugh sounded strange, but perhaps that's because I have nothing to compare it to.

"It's kind of weird to think that I treated an intelligent being like an animal." She said changing the subject.

"It wasn't a big deal, just wish you wouldn't have kept causing me pain!" I don't understand how he is in such a good mood. I found myself giggling anyways.

"Well I've already had breakfast, while you were asleep actually. If you know how I have the ingredients for pancakes." I said after I got my giggling under control. "I dropped my bags when I ran the rest of the way hearing you scream, I'll be right back." Before I was out the door Gavin shouted.

"Hope you didn't waste any money on a new collar! Especially when you could have Twilight fix the old one!" I blushed realizing I hadn't thought of that. Gavin laughed when he saw I was blushing, a smile plastered on my face I just rolled my eyes and walked out the door. Besides for the initial shock I'm taking this quite well, it's probably because I WAS hoping for something this. Besides for the whole nature spirit thing. If it's possible for us to be actual friends now... Is it possible for... No... Everypony thinks thinks humans are just dumb sex toys. They would just think it odd to be in a relationship with one. I sighed. Where did I drop those saddle bags? I threw them off by accident when I spread my wings out from surprise. She had bought a collar that was suppose to mimic the pattern of a white hawks wings. She also had it made out of an elastic material this time. She started heading back once she found her saddle bags by the trunk of a tree that looked to be 3 to 5 years old. When I opened the door to my cottage my nose was filled with the smell of cooking pancakes. There was a plate in the middle of the table that had a stack of seven pancakes.

"That took you awhile Fluttershy." Gavin remarked as he flipped a pancake.

"I could uhm hear you from quite far away." I said as I set down the bags and brought out the new collar.

"Hmm that collar actually looks kinda nice, you know the only reason I wasn't really mad about having to wear a collar was because I could think of the collar as a necklace, that and it was pretty comfortable." He said it as a joke but I still felt the need to apologize. "Stop apologizing for every little thing, be more assertive." I laughed at that.

"That did not work last time I tried, I was a jerk to my friends." He gave me a questioning look. "Let's just say a lot of ponies were sent home crying." I said with finality. "Hey I have some questions to ask." I said my voice sounding uncertain when I tried to sound strong.

"Well if you want some strawberry pancakes you can ask them over breakfast." In just a few minutes I was sitting down with four pancakes on my plate and Gavin sitting across from me.

"So what ya want to ask?" Gavin asked getting right to business.

"Well first of all I just wanted to know. What's the extent of the technology you have on your world?"

"Well we can get into space with our machines, hell we even have a space station orbiting around our planet. Satellites too they take pictures and send signals to/of our planet from space every few minutes."

"That is amazing! Ok another question I wanted to ask is what was your life style like."

"Same life style as the average American, Go to work then come home and relax."

"American?"

"Oh that's what you would call people from the country of America."

"Did you have a special somepony?"

"W-what? Oh, oh yeah I did." Gavin looked sad answering that question. "Now I suppose I won't see her again... That doesn't matter I suppose though. I have a great friend like you!" Gavin perked up a bit after saying that last part. I feel bad for asking that question now.

"Well that's enough questions for now, since it appears you have no idea what's up with the nature spirit thing." I didn't pose it as a question but Gavin answered. "right." I finished off the last few bites and Gavin took my plate.

"Hey could we go for like a run or something? I swear if it wasn't for what you been feeding me I would be fat as a whale!" I thought for a moment but that was a pretty easy question to answer.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea, and you are getting a bit pudgy." I poked his stomach and giggled. "Hey!" He said with fake offense before he himself was laughing. "This is why I like other creatures more than ponies, they are gentler I understand them better and they understand me better than other ponies. They are just all around better then ponies. Hay a lot of them are cuter then ponies in my opinion." I said the last part with a bit of a blush, and of course I was thinking of him when I said it.

"I like the landscape and plant life more than I like the animals, but the one animal group I love though is birds. More specifically I like mocking jays they sound beautiful." Gavin said as he opened the door for me.

"Oh wait, Gavin humans around town have to have a collar and leash. So let's try on the new collar and leash I got!" I put the collar on him and looked him over a bit. "I'm no Rarity but I think that collar goes well with the outfit." Gavin did not take even a moment to answer.

"Well I can't really see it but I'm sure it looks fine." Gavin said.

"Oh, I'll go get a mirror if you want." I started to go inside but Gavin stopped me.

"I'll take your word for it." He gave me a big toothy grin only to be rivaled by my sheepish grin as I tried to hide behind my mane. "Come on Fluttershy I'll race you to the edge of town." Laugh at me all you want but Gavin is a fast runner. I flew and he still beat me! Well I'm not the fastest flyer, but still! When I finished he was bent down, his hands on his knees, and he was breathing really hard.

"Are you okay Gavin?" He looked up to me and nodded.

"Just... need.... To catch... My... Breath." He said in between pants. After a little bit he was fine. "I probably shouldn't talk inside town, don't want everybody or as you would say everypony to freak out." I just nodded in agreement. "The only reason you didn't freak out was because you saw me turn from a white hawk into a raven. You probably did your freaking out while I was asleep." I nodded again and smiled sheepishly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a streak of rainbow come into view. Oh no. I thought before the cyan pegasus crashed into me.

"How you doing Fluttershy? I haven't seen you in like three days!" Rainbow Dash had me pinned on my back.

"I've been f-fine R-rainbow Dash." I stuttered. Looking behind Rainbow Dash I could see Gavin struggling to not laugh.

"Couldn't help but notice you racing with your new human. How long did it take you to train him to race you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I didn't train him *cough* I think his previous owner trained him, now can you please get off of me?" I climbed to my feet as Gavin walked over to me.

"Well does he do anything besides race? Maybe you've had "fun" with him?" Rainbow Dash air quoted fun and raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"No! No, th-that's just wrong Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash shrugged and laughed a little bit when she saw me blush. Gavin was behind Rainbow Dash and he was blushing to, but he had a mischievous look in his eye's. He reached up and pulled Rainbow Dash's tail as she was about to fly away. I burst out laughing. Rainbow Dash looked at me

"Did you tell him to do this?!" She looked pissed as Gavin kept her from flying away.

"No." I managed to squeak as I gulped for air. Rainbow Dash stopped trying to fly away and just looked at Gavin as he let go of her tail.

"Hmm he looks like he was born for racing. Maybe you and him come over later and I'll see how fast he can go." Gavin walked back towards me and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Sure why not Dash, he seems to like racing." I smiled at Gavin

"That's great! I'm headed over to Twilight's right now so if I'm not at my cloud castle check there." With that she flew away leaving her signature rainbow trail.

"Well she's an interesting character." Gavin said as he watched her trail disappear. "Don't think I can beat her when she's flying but maybe when she's not foot... Hoof." He quickly corrected himself. We were walking through the market when Pinkie Pie showed up beside me.

"Ohhhh, you got a human Fluttershy?! Oh you should let let him play with Mrs.Cake She brings humans up to her room and when she's done the human always looks REALLY happy! they looks really tired afterwards too!" I just looked at her for a moment.

"Uh, Pinkie do you know what she does with them?" Pinkie shook her head.

"I assume she exercises with them! I mean like exercise is fun right?!" As Pinkie talked Gavin looked like he was thinking, when he realized what Mrs.Cake does with humans in her bedroom he had a look of terror in his eyes. He quickly fixed it though, hoping that nobody saw.

"Uhm no thanks Pinkie, I don't think Gavin would like that." I gave her an apologetic smile.

"Ah that's too bad, well I'll see around Fluttershy!" She bounced off repeating smile over and over again.

As we were leaving the market we heard somepony scream behind us. Me and Gavin turned to see ponies stampeding around us, and in the middle of the chaos a beast, it's skin was grey with a green tint, it looked like it was all skin and bone, it's hair was white and grey, its eyes were almost completely black accept for tiny red dots in the middle. Its fingernails looked like the were 3 inches long. A couple blocks away I could see all my friends coming out of Twilight's house.

I looked to my side and saw blinding light emit from Gavin's eyes, the light kept getting brighter until I couldn't look at him at all. Twilight and the others had just made it into the market when the light subsided to reveal the giant white hawk that was apparently meant to kill the beast in the market. By now almost everypony had left the market, the few stragglers were staring in awe at Gavin. He then released a deafening caw, this caught the attention of the beast who had cornered a small filly. The filly took that chance to escape. Gavin and the beast locked with each others eyes before Gavin took off straight into the sky.

After a minute or two he came crashing into the beast, the beast was launched into a nearby fruit stand, it didn't look fazed at all except for a long and wide cut on its chest. The beast got up and lunged at Gavin, he dodged most of the blow but still got a cut across his side that looked deeper then what he gave the beast. Gavin didn't care though, he took to the air again but not as if he was going to do another dive bomb. he looked as if he wanted to pin the beast to the ground this time. They both rushed towards each other, it would be left down to who had the most power. Or so it looked but Gavin moved to the side before they collided and grabbed the beast in his wing as he landed. The beast dug his nails into Gavin's skin leaving cuts and disheveled feather, Gavin appeared to have had enough because he decided to throw the creature up into the air. It looked as if it went almost a mile up before Gavin flew up after it, upon getting as high as the beast he flew just high enough to stand on the creature for a moment before kicking it as hard as he could back down to Equus.

The beast fell so fast that before it crashed it broke the sound barrier, but it did not create the beautiful rings of rainbow that Rainbow Dash creates. No, it created a ring of pure black, it looked as if it was sucking the light from the surrounding area. When it did crash there was an enormous amount of energy, that energy was released in a small explosion that destroyed the nearest cart. When the smoke cleared the beast was there in a mess of broken limbs. If I weren't so terrified of the thing I would think it funny as it flopped around trying to get at Gavin who was now at the edge of the tiny crater, Gavin must have decided to end the beast because he went into the crate and stood upon the beast keeping it still.

Blood was spewing from the wounds he'd gotten but he didn't care as he ended the beasts life. He reached his head down and dug into the beast's chest, letting it's black life's blood spew into the crater around it and into his face. I couldn't keep it in I turned around for a moment and emptied my strawberry pancakes onto the ground below me. When I looked back the beast had stopped moving and Gavin had pulled out what I was sure was the beast's heart and he had it in his beak. He tossed the heart into the air and let it fall down into his beak and down his throat. As soon as he hopped out of the crater his eyes went black and as the opposite of how he turned into the white hawk the light around him seemed to go into his eyes and soon there was a sphere of black around him.

When the light began to stream into the sphere again what I saw broke my heart. Gavin had smaller and less sever versions of the wounds he had gotten when he was the white hawk, but that's not what broke me. It was seeing Gavin on his knees sobbing into his hands, he was muttering to himself something I could not hear. I ran to him and sat beside him, he turned to me and hugged me, I returned the hug and as he cried into my shoulder I just kept telling him that it was alright that it was instinct and it was what he was supposed to do. I found that I was crying too when I saw my friends coming towards us. I know I shouldn't have but I yelled at them.

"Go away! Leave him alone!... Leave us alone. He's not a monster, freak of nature, he's my little guy." I cried out the last part.

"Fluttershy we know, we ju..." Twilight began but I interrupted her.

"Unless you want to help me carry him to my cottage, go away!" I added more bite to the sentence then I meant to.

Twilight sighed in defeat. "Ok Fluttershy... But my library is closer, we should take him there." I paused for a moment then released my own sigh

"You're right Twilight..." Applejack came up and got Gavin to wrap his until recently broken left arm around her neck. I got the other one around mine, he tried to stroke the edge of my mane as if to seek comfort, so of course I adjusted him so he could.

"Come on everypony let's go." Applejack said on the other side of Gavin. By the time we got to the library Gavin was only sniffling. Twilight opened the door for us and we adjusted Gavin so we would fit through the door without dropping him. We went upstairs in the living room so we could get him comfortable on the couch.

"Fluttershy how long has he been able to do...... that?" Rainbow Dash asked, I answered truthfully.

"As far as either me or him know, only since last night." The sniffling on the couch had turned to soft snoring.

"Wait saying that we would assume he can..." I finished her sentence.

"Talk? Yeah he can talk." A moment passed before Twilight said.

"Hmph, I do not believe that for one second! Turn into a giant white hawk and protect you is one thing, but talking is another. I'll ask him right now, if he does not answer well then that settles it!" She moved to wake up Gavin on the couch, but I stopped her.

"No! Can't you see he's sleeping? Do you think that it is easy to transform into a creature and then return to normal in like 10 minutes? That would take a lot of energy from any creature." Twilight thought for a moment.

"Fine we'll wake him up in three hours, then we will get some answers!" I just sighed and went to the couch. I pointed at the couch and gave Twilight puppy dog eyes. She knew what I meant, she rolled her eyes and with her magic she expanded the couch outwards so I could sleep next to Gavin. he rolled over in his sleep and with one arm cuddled me like a teddy bear, with the other he stroked my mane. I sighed and drifted off to sleep.