Chivalry Reborn

Chapter 16:

Colorful Vistor

As I opened my front door, I’m greeted by a fuming the light blue pegasus, with a multicolored mane, strong rose narrowed eyes, and was looking absolutely miffed. She was glaring right at me, a scowl clearly on her face.

I sighed, getting ready to get an ear’s worth of anger banter. “What’s the problem, Rainbow?” I didn’t bother hiding my lack of amusement of her stance.

“YOU’RE the problem, ya big jerk!” Rainbow Dash returned my question with an accusation. “Do you know what happened as soon as you left the party last night!?”

“No, what?” I looked at her, confused.

I could see her growing impatience of my attitude on her face, as her stance lowered even more. She had the kind of personality that didn’t really bother to cover up her emotions, obviously.  She seriously wanted to give me a hoof to the face. I didn’t really care for her rage, though.

“When Pinkie Pie finished her song, she wanted to personally welcome you to Ponyville with a special cake.” Rainbow explained, still in a fighting stance. “When she realized you were gone, she was heartbroken!"

She flew up into my face, butting her head against mine. She had raging flames in her eyes. “Who did you have to go meet that was so important to ditch somepony’s party that was meant for you, huh!?”

I stared right back into her eyes, keeping a calm expression I usually had at times like this. “If you need to know,” I began slowly, “I was going to speak to Princess Luna. She wanted to know more about me because she believed she knew why I came here.”

She narrowed her eyes, doubting my alibi. “And just how do I know you’re not lying to me..?” She muttered, keeping her glare at soul-piercing levels.

“Because Spike saw me talking to her firsthand.” I responded to her skepticism as soon as she finished.

She hovered right there in silence, staring into my eyes for a sign that I could be lying. I returned her gaze in a relaxed stance, keeping my hands in my pockets and my focus on her. What does a guy have to do to make this pony believe me…?

“Well, alright…” She grumbled, as she settled down, landing back where she previously was. “But if I ask Spike and he says he wasn’t there, you better watch yourself...” She growled the warning harshly. I could tell she felt deeply about her friends. Normally, I'd respect that, but damn, this girl was just plain rude.

“Yeah, yeah.” I scratch the back of my head annoyed.  “Are you done here?”

Rainbow didn’t answer my question. Instead she slipped past me into my home, glancing around curiously. “What the hay were you doing in here anyway?”

“Hey!” I yelped, backstepping back in front of the multicolored pest. “You don’t enter somepony’s house without permission first, ya know!”

Dash just looked at me with a dully annoyed look. “Fine, may I come in?” She snipped at me with a lash of sass in her tone.

Ugh, what a pain in the ass. She’s already in the house, and if I try to kick her out by force, chances are she’ll be even ANGRIER with me. I groaned, realizing I’m in a bind. I was in no mood to fight right now either. Judging from that smug smirk on her face, she knows this as well. Ah, screw it.

“Fine,” I murmured with irritation present, “You can stay.” I basically gave on looking for a way around letting her stay. Chances are she just wanted something to do, so she’s taking this visit as a chance to annoy me.  Besides, all I was really going to do is try some sort of technique that probably won’t even work. Nothing could possibly happen. “But don’t touch anything.”

“Fine, fine.” She chuckled in triumph, taking a seat in an already pulled out chairs. “So, what were you doing in here anyway?” She nudged her head towards the backpack I was just going through, along with the opened scroll on the table. “Some kind of experiment?”

“Something like that, yes” I answered the tomboy-like mare casually, reading over the scroll once more.

Okay, you can do this, Flash. I started to pep myself mentally. All you need to do is find your inner animal, have faith, and release….simple.

“Hey,” Rainbow interjected, with a look of bewilderment on her face. “Why are you looking at a blank piece of paper?”

“I’ll explain later.” I said in a dark tone. I had switched to my serious personality.  With the eyesight specific handwriting, the fact they had followed me into Equestria, and could even shock me if I read in the wrong order, I had a feeling I was in for something. Probably not a transformation, but still, something.

I stood in the middle of the room, shaking out my arms and legs. “Okay…” I muttered to myself, still unsure if this was a wise to do. “Here we go…”

I closed my eyes, relaxing my body.  I kept my mind focused on the technique.

Find the animal within….find it in my soul...free it…

I kept the thoughts flowing through my mind constantly. I could feel something starting at my feet and working it’s way up. It felt…warm.

“Hey…Hey! What are you-?”

I could hear Rainbow’s voice saying something, but I can’t hear it properly to make out her words. It’s as though everything’s….fading away.

Rrrrrr…

I opened my eyes from the sound of a noise in the distance.  I’m in a dark room with seemingly nothing else in the area but a marble floor. Where am I now? What happened to my house?

I glanced around quickly. I really can’t recognize this place. Where’s Rainbow Dash? What about the scroll?

I take a step into the darkness, my footstep echoing for what seemed to be miles.

“Rainbow?” I called into the darkness, starting to walk deeper into the shadows. “Anybody?”

Grrrrrr….

What the hell was that? I stopped at the sudden noise. It didn’t sound like an animal I’ve seen before. And I’m damned certain a pony could make a growl like that, not even Rainbow Dash.

“H-Hello..?” I called into the darkness once more, slightly afraid.

GRRRRR….

The growl was louder than it was before, and shortly after it finished, I could feel the ground shaking, along with the sound of something big walking towards me.

Thmp…

THMP….

THMP…

Before I could even react, I could sense that something was right in front of me. It was obviously a lot bigger than I was, and judging from the snarling it was making, it wasn’t very happy. I looked up into the darkness, seeing only white, sharp and shining claws. They flickered from the little sunlight, ready to cut through anything that stood in its way with one dastardly swipe.

I slowly started to back away, fearing for my life. “U-um…easy there, big guy…”

It bent downward, crouching so its dark red eyes  and menacing fangs were in front of me.

GRRRRR…. Its eyes narrowed at the sight of me.

Bad move. I should have kept my mouth shut.

GgggrrraaaaaHHHHHH!!!

OH MY GOD!!! I didn’t need another hint. I swiftly turned around and started running as quickly as I could away from the gigantic beast. It was already pursuing me, shaking the earth below me as it followed.

THMP, THMP, THMP

Oh man, this can’t be it! My mind was already starting to panic. I couldn’t be about to die inside my own mind, was I!? This has got to be some kind of joke, right!?

Suddenly, a beam of light flashed across the room, as a door out of the liar of the beast revealed itself. A figure came to the door way, gesturing for me to hurry.

“Come on!”  A familiar voice called out to me.  ”Hurry, before you’re torn apart!”

“Shadow Flare!” I rejoiced at the new line of hope.  A way out of here!

I started to go into an all out sprint, hoping I could reach the door, before that monster got to me. I could hear the footsteps get even closer.

THMP, THMP, *THMP***

I could feel hot breath hitting the top of my body. I easily understood what this meant. It’s about to gobble me! I dove as far as I could, praying it would be enough to evade death.

CHOMP

The air snapped right behind me, as I rolled through the door and landed against a nearby couch.

“Close the door,” I cried at my other in a frantic rush. “CLOSE THE DOOR!”

With a loud slam, Shadow kicked the door shut, leaving the beast inside to scream and bellow at the failure to catch its meal.

“What the hell was that…that THING?” I panted, slowly getting to my feet.

“Your inner beast,” Shadow explained in a calm voice,  “the representation of all the wild nature you kept shut in your heart…”  he looked to the side, thinking about something before finishing. “..Among other things.”

“You’re kidding me!” I stumbled slightly, leaning on the couch for support. “There’s no way I’d have something that big as my wild side!”

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong.” Shadow sighed, sitting in front of me. “There’s a ton of things you don’t know about yourself, which would explain why you don’t even know where we are.”

I paused, confused at what he meant. I glanced around for a moment, letting my eyes widen as it dawned on me.

This is…my parents’ room.

After Dad passed away, I decided to stop going into their rooms out of respect of both his and my mother’s memory. The last time I came in here was to clean it up a bit, three years ago.

I shook my head, remembering why I was here to begin with. “That’s beside the point.”

I stopped marveling at the flood of nostalgia from the room to get back on the subject at hand.

“Indeed,” Shadow smirked at the sight of me gawking at the room, “you still need a transformation until you can control your soul enough to control the big guy in there.” He tapped the door lightly, making the beast inside growl on the other side.

“So what do you suggest?” I asked, regaining my own balance.

“I suggest you make me that other.” He said that flatly.

I paused. I’m certain Luna said herself that each Flare only had one form to transform to. How would that even-

“Before you ask,” Shadow stopped my thoughts, his slick grin still on his face. “Luna DID say only one form per Flare. But, we technically aren’t a complete Flare, now are we?”

I chuckled slightly. “I suppose you’re right.” I’m more clever than I gave myself credit for.

I started my way towards the other door next to the bed. “Alright, you're on, then.”

“This should be fun.”

“Quite so...” I opened the door, letting the light flash in my face.

“Winston!?” I could hear Dash’s voice on the other side of the light.  I blinked, shaking myself out of the daze.

“What?” I asked, wondering how long I was gone.

The barrier of light died as soon as I answered, letting me see Dash flying in front of me with wide eyes.

I glance around the room slowly, checking if I was really back. Bag, dining table, and a flying cyan horse? Yep, I’m back.

“W-Winston?” Dash croaked out my name, in awe for some reason.

“What?” I answered her with the same question, looking back at her. She looks like she just saw a ghost, looking right at me.

“Wh-wha-what’s happened to you?” She was stammering her sentence, obviously in shock over something?

“What do you mean?” I look at her, eyebrow raised. What the heck is she going on about?

“Um…try taking a look at your hand…” The blue pegasus instructed me to do something extremely simple.

“Um, okay..” I complied, still not understanding what she’s going on about. “But I don’t see what this has to do wi-“

There’s a hoof in the place of my hand.

“…” I simply stared at my hoof, expression not really changing. What the hell…?

I tilted my new arm slightly, seeing that on my hoof was a black leather cover that read “converse.” Horseshoes…cute…

I turned my head downward to look at my body. My entire body was covered in jet black hair, with my black t-shirt still on my torso; however, they now had two openings on the sides, exposing my new wings.  My dog tags and pendant still hung from my neck, dangling as though nothing changed about me. It was around this time that I realized that I was now not wearing pants. What, I get to keep my shirt and shoes on, but I can’t keep my pants..? That’s kind of….weird.

My eyes shifted down towards the center of my face. My mouth had moved forward a bit along with my nose, making a muzzle.  I then let my sight move upwards, letting my eyes catch a glimpse of a long, probably sharp horn on my forehead. I get to be both an unicorn and a pegasus? Awesome.

“Winston…you okay?” Rainbow Dash started hovering towards me, looking actually worried.

“Ah,” I uttered, making the usually-rude mare double back at my sudden speech. “Well what do ya know? It actually worked.”  I lower myself slowly on all fours, letting my new forelegs touch the ground with a clop. “Splendid.”

“Huh…?” Rainbow was obviously left in the desert on what’s going on here. I couldn’t blame her.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said calmly, trying to teach myself how to walk about with my new body. “Just….-whoa…- don’t tell anypony about this, okay?”

“O….kay…?” Dash was still gawking at how a full grown 19 –year-old male turned into one of her kind right in front her, probably. The fact that I’m the same kind as Celestia or Luna probably wasn’t helping.

“Great,” I said, feeling my balance wobble a little. “Now all I need to do now  is head over to Twilight’s house, and see if there’s anything I can learn about this new body of mi-IIINE!”

BAP!

I had tripped on my own hooves, falling over into a heap face first, with my backside in the air.

“….Ow…” I muttered only that, shuffling to get back on my feet.

“PFFFTTT-HAHAHA!!!” Dash’s voice boomed out in laughter, most likely amused by my fumbling.

“Shut up!” I barked at her in embarrassment, slowly starting to learn how to properly move about without stumbling.

“This is too rich!” She gasped slightly to keep laughing, starting to fly towards the front door. “Twilight’s gotta know!”

“Hey, wait a minute!” I started to clumsily run after her. “I said don’t tell anyone!”

Rainbow stopped slowly, sighing deeply. “Fine…” She huffed, crossing her hooves. “Then you come along with me.” She made a new plan, still a little annoyed about having to drag me along. “You’re going to tell her anyway, right?”

“Yeah,” I spoke, turning towards the table, gripping the scroll with my teeth (gross..) and then rolled it up, before placing it back into the bag. “Just give me a second.”

Dash simply let out a “humph,” still hovering next to the door. I quickly check the bag to make sure all the scrolls were inside, before shutting it and slinging it across my body.

I ducked my head towards the table, slipping my glasses between my eyes. They actually slipped right on, and stayed there, much to my surprise. I turned slightly to check my hip. No knives….great. I guess in this form I can’t use weaponry like this… Instead, there was a tattoo of a single blade sticking through a planet with a shield right below. A tattoo? Where’d that come from? Some kind of feature for each Equestrian or something?

“Hurry up!” Rainbow was getting impatient.

“Fine!” I snapped back, walking towards the door, trying to move my new wings. “Let’s see if I can’t get some flight training on the way there…”

Slowly, I learned how to make the muscles in my new wings. Reluctantly, they began to open as I stepped outside.

Rainbow flew out as well, closing the door behind. She turned around after flying a few feet above the ground. “Think you can properly use those?” She was stifling her laughter, as she watched me attempt to control my new body parts.

“Probably…ugh.” I grunted in effort, forcing my wings to open fully. They snapped out a good two or three feet, the feathers letting out a loud flap as they flicked open. Okay…now then flap them at a slow and steady rhythm… I closed my eyes, shifting my muscles to order my wings to slowly begin to swish downward. The action made my feet leave the ground.

Whoa… My mind was being blown as I kept doing the same muscle motions with my wings. While wobbling just a little bit, I managed to lift myself up to Rainbow’s level. I open my eyes slowly, smiling a new found interest.  Rainbow smiled back, seemingly impressed I could even get this far without being tutored.

“Okay,” I said, starting to tilt myself towards town. Like a helicopter, I started to drift towards Ponyville.  “Lead the way.”

Dash quickly took the lead, flying slow enough for me to keep up. I was actually surprised to see that she didn’t just ditch me to go straight there.

“Alright, let’s me show you how to actually fly while we go there.”  She started to hover towards me with a

mischievous smile on her face. “You’re barely able to stay in the air like that.”

Oh no… My mind already knew that she was going to put me through flying boot camp.