Chivalry Reborn

Chapter 19:

Outta My Hare

Please make the basket, please let it-

Thunk

“Ugh…” I wince silently at the sound of yet another apple hitting the wall of the Library, meaning that yet again, I probably missed the small casket Twilight was holding high against the wall. I put a hoof over my eyes sighing.

Twilight was still here with me, sitting near the staircase, watching on with a small smile that encouraged me to keep trying.  I huffed lightly, before deciding that I may as well see where this one had struck.

I looked up weakly, looking at where the fruit had landing this time. The wall before me was riddled with either splattered apple mush that I threw with too much force, or small stains of juice that spurted out when the apples that didn’t break on impact hit the wall and then fell to the ground.

I could see where my apple hit. It had hit right about the basket, right over a portrait of a giant city seemingly made out of clouds. It was rocking back and forth on the edge of the frame slowly, as if it was deciding whether or not to fall into the small basket right below or hit the ground like the others have.

I stand upright with a jump. Was this one the one to finally make its mark?  Please let it be so!

The apple shook slightly, tilting towards the edge slowly. It paused there, almost as though it was teasing me, before finally falling over the edge. It slowly made its way toward the basket.

Twilight stood up, looking on alongside me with a hopeful look in her expression.

Come on….

It hit the rim, rolling along it until it was tipping in and out of the woven carrier, leaving both Twilight and I in suspense.

Go in..!

It tilted away from the entrances, hurtling itself towards the ground like the rest.

Thud

“…..” I look at my legs in shame, watching the latest addition to the apples on the ground roll to my hooves.

“It’s okay, Winston.” Twilight put her foreleg on my shoulder, smiling reassuringly. “All you need is a few days worth of practice.” She pulled her hoof away, nodding her head like a teacher proving her point.  “Remember, magic comes from both one’s mind and heart. Never one or the other.”

…That’s right.  I could understand what she was getting at when she said that. Twilight was giving a lecture on the basics of magic of how it worked while I was making shots at the basket.

From what I heard her say, magic is the essence that inhabits all living things. No matter the size or species it hails from, there lies magic within its soul. It is the reason why unicorns can use magical spells, pegasi can fly despite their small wings, and earth ponies being able to use an abnormal amount of speed and strength. It’s also used to allow certain ponies like Pinkie to hold things much like I can with my hands as a human (I’ll still call it freaky though. You have no idea how it looks firsthand. It just looks…broken.)

The amount one carries depends on the actual being itself, and the use of any form of magic can drain a certain amount of magical energy. If overused, it could exhaust or even make the user violently ill. I could probably guess that sense they both control the sun and moon, both Celestia and Luna have unbelievable amounts of magic.

I however, am still starting out, so I’m already starting to feel the toll of so much magic being used. My legs feel weak, and are starting to buckle. And my head is starting to throb slightly. If I kept going, I might pass out. It was time to stop.

“I get it,” I started, pushing my legs below my body, repositioning myself to a full stand, “I’ll stop for today…” I looked back towards the mess at the door. “Would you like to me clean up after myself?”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” Twilight shook her head, her horn beckoning a broom, dustpan, and some towels over to her. “I’ll have this cleaned up in no time.”

“I see..” I watched in resigned silence, watching the broom pile all of the wasted foot into the center of the floor, and then proceed to push it all into the dustpan. I glanced outside, it was a little into the afternoon. I wanted to head over to Fluttershy’s before the day was over, so I guessed I’d best get moving, seeing that I’m finished here.

I guess I’ll try to turn back then. No point in staying a horse all day. Besides, considering how she behaved with my fridge, Fluttershy will probably faint if I transformed there. I can’t afford anyone else knowing about this anyway. So…

I sighed, rearing my forelegs up, so I was only standing on my hind legs. I slowly closed my eyes. I relaxed my muscles, letting my breathing come out in a slow and steady rhythm. The image of my ordinary human shape slowly formed into my mind.

Relax…Think about the form you want to return to…

The thoughts were mine, yet….weren’t. I’m not sure how I know how to do this, but I just felt right relaxing and letting myself think like this.

“Winston..?” I could hear Twilight say my name a little worriedly. “Are you okay..?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to.  I was fading, letting a warmth cover my feet. I held my breath, ready to finish the technique.

Now….Release.

A flash went off in my mind, quickly fading away. I exhaled slowly, pausing a moment before stretching backward to get my limbs limber again. I wiggled my fingers a little, checking if I had done it right. Great, that’s one scroll down. Need to practice though.

“Wow,” I groaned opening my eyes to look at the ceiling. “I am not getting used to that anytime soon.”

“Wi-….Wi-…” Twilight stammered behind me.

“Huh?” I turned around to look at her.

She had her eyes on me, with an expression of pure shock. “…Winston?” She said that almost as a whisper.

Ah crap. I started to feel a little guilty for a moment. Maybe I should have told her before I actually transformed. “Um…” I scratched the back of my head slowly, thinking for something to say. “Sorry if that startled you.” I gave a small smile, hoping she wouldn’t snap at me.

“That….was..” Twilight slowly spoke, her eyes growing larger with every word.

“AMAZING!” She dashed up to me, her eyes glistening with fascination. “What spell was that, and how’d you learn to do it!?” She was bouncing in place, eager learn where I had learn the transformation skill.

I blinked at the lavender mare bouncing right in front of me. I could safely say that this reaction pretty much surprised me.

“Um..” I paused to think. I couldn’t afford to let Twilight know I got this info from the scrolls. Who knows what she’ll try to pull if she figures out I learned the move from the scrolls.

“I just let myself go is all.” I spouted out my lousy excuse for a lie to Twilight. “I have no idea how I’m able to do it, but I just…can.”

Twilight seemed to deflate almost immediately. “Oh…” was all she said, looking like she had just been told that her pet died. She thought for a moment, before brightening right back up . “Well, could you when you learn more about it?”

I turned towards the door, stepping around the fruit massacre I had just done. “Sure thing. I’ll drop by tomorrow for more practice.” I opened the door, waving back to Twilight. I'll just tell her the truth later. “See ya tomorrow.”  I started to jog.

“Take care, Winston.” Twilight waved back, going back to cleaning up the wasted fruit while closing the door.

I slowed to a stop at the entrance of a small forest. I glance around myself slowly. The trees looked healthy and pleasant, and the grass was a lush green, a rare sight to see back on Earth.

This must be the forest the Fluttershy lives in. I pulled out the map Rarity drew for me from my back pocket. The map showed that I had to go out of Ponyville Central and through the park, passing my house to get to the forest. Okay, that’s where I am… The dotted line continued until it was in the center of the forest before stopping, and then taking a sharp turn eastward before stopping with a small circle.So basically I need to get to the heart of the forest, I suppose. I recorded the directions in my mind, ready to go down the trial.

“Fine.” I muttered to myself, folding the map back to a square. All I had to do was walk in a forest until I got to the heart of it. I’ve been on hikes in the past with my father, so I know how to survive in wildlife in case I somehow got lost. I should be just fi-

Boing

I suddenly don’t feel anything in the hand that held the map.  I look at my hand. Empty.

What the hell? I automatically look at the ground, looking to see if I had dropped it without thinking.

Instead, I saw a small white rabbit right in front of me, holding the note in his tiny paws with a slight glare of disapproval on its face. He looked up towards me, still having a small visible frown on his face.

I blinked, staring back at the rabbit. I crouched down, taking a knee and holding out my hand.

“Come on,” I said gently, extending it towards the rabbit, “give me that back.”

The rabbit simply look back and forth between my hand and the folded directions in its possession.

“Well…?” I narrowed my eyes slightly, waiting for its response.

It then hopped into my hand, and in another leap...

BOP

Kicked me square in the nose with both its feet.

“Ah!” I pull my hand back, rubbing my nose gently. “What the hell was that for..!?”

I looked back in front of me, noticing that the rabbit was now gone. I looked up ahead to just barely catch sight of something white speeding down the trail.

“Hey!” I shouted, stumbling a little to get up. I bolt my leg outward, pushing myself forward. “Get back here with my map!”

I let my foot hit the ground, pushing forward, going into a rush. I don’t like being made a fool of, and no damned rabbit is going to start with me like that!

I step over an overgrown root from a tree, ducking under a low branch. I could barely see the hare bounding down the trail, weaving past all the obstacles in its way with ease.

Thwack!

A tree branch hit my side hard, scraping across my skin. I winced a little, but picked up my speed despite the pain. I could tell that the distance between us was closing. I couldn’t afford to let him go now.

I began to push my legs to their limit, going into an all out sprint. I slowly get within grabbing range of the fleeing white varmint. It glanced back with a blank look on its face, before turning back around.  It’s bouncing start to get higher, and he was slowly beginning to pick of speed.

“Oh, no you don’t!” I yelled in objection, swinging my hand downward.

I leapt forward as I brought my hand down to give me one final boost. My fingers slowly grazed the paper, as I naturally clamped my fingers together to grasp it between them.

“YES!” I quickly yanked my hand back, slamming my feet into the ground. My shoes skidded across the stone trail, forcing my momentum to slow to halt. To my dismay, the ivy along the ground wasn’t letting me stop, so I was actually sliding directly toward a tree.

Please stop in time, please stop in time,  Please stop *IN TIME!***

I held my hands out, ready to spread out the force of the impact as much as possible. I was slowing down, but still moving as I was only 3 feet away from the tree.

“Shit!” I swore under my breath, hopping into the air.

I planted my feet and hand against the bark, pushing back against the tree to lessen the impact even further. I could feel my knees slam into the bark, scratching and more than likely cutting them  along with my forearms.

I breathed in, pushing myself away from the tree and landing once again on the trail.

“Ah..” A huge shock of pain shot up my leg, forcing me to take a knee. I glanced by at my legs, to see what was wrong. One of my ankles was a little red, visible even through my white socks.

Crap, I think I sprained it. Most have been from landing against that tree…Okay.. I shuffled to me feet slowly, ignoring the small tinge of agony from my foot. Walk it off… It breaks having multiple broken bones, that's for sure... I begin to limp forward, opening the map I snatched from that damned rabbit.

I started at the line that stopped in the center of the forest. Judging from that mad dash I just did… My eyes shift to the tree I just hit. And THIS being in the middle of the way, that must mean that the road either ends here or…

I glanced to my sides, seeing that to my left, the path had indeed suddenly changed its course towards the east. The rabbit that I had just been chasing was standing in the middle of the road, glaring at me.

I just glared back, turning in its directing and slowly hobbling down the trail. I have no idea what it was doing, or why it was messing with me, but it was getting on my last nerve.

“Oh my!” I could hear a voice up ahead gasp at something. “Winston, are you okay!?”

I blinked, taken aback a little from the sudden presence of another person. I then remembered just where I was headed to begin with, and I knew who it was.

“Yeah, Fluttershy.” I grunted a little, accidentally putting to much pressure on my injured foot. First my hands get all cut up, now my foot’s in a bind. Fan-tucking-fastic**. “I’ll be just fine. Just a little sprain is all.”

“Oh no, no! You don’t seem okay at all!” Fluttershy protested, flying into view.

She landed right next to me, looking down at my feet with genuine concern.  “You shouldn’t be walking on a leg like this...I can treat your wounds for you.” She looked to the side, fidgeting slightly. Her bright blue eyes kept darting between a nearby tree, and my face. Her pink mane was blocking one of her eyes slightly, but it was obvious she was shy about inviting me in. “Um….if you mind…”

I looked back at my ankle. It was sending a dulled signal of pain. It sharpened for a split second when the thought of just walking back home came to mind. Guess I don’t have much a choice here…

“Yeah, sure.” I smiled weakly at the light yellow pegasus. My eyes shift to the rabbit that was still glaring at me. “Just keep that rabbit away from me.” I finished with a small snarl in my tone, eyeing the hare carefully.

“Oh, Angel?” She looked to her side at the tiny white bunny, its face changing from a glare to a curious look in the small 1 second window between looking at me and looking at Fluttershy. “He wouldn’t do anything bad to you, I’m sure.” She smiled meekly at the hare. “Right, Angel?”

Angel simply looked to the side, seeming to play innocent. Fluttershy’s expression hardened slightly, staring at him.

“Angel…” She said in her small voice. No, it wasn’t small. It had an edge on it, though it was so quiet. Like she was talking sweetly to him, but there was a hint of warning in there.

Angel just kept looking away, tapping his foot quietly.

“Angel.” Fluttershy snapped silently, the atmosphere suddenly changed at that moment, as Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed onto Angel. She had changed completely, going from quiet as a mouse to sounding like a strict nanny. There was something about the way she was looking at him. It made me want to back away and just do what she said before she started looking at me like that. It was….scary. Very scary.

Angel flinched slightly, his ears falling downward slowly.  He turned to face his caretaker, nodding his head slowly with a frown.

“Oh,” Fluttershy said, slightly surprised. She had switched back to her normal self  in an instant. It was as though the weight of the air just disappeared. "Well, um, could you please not do that again?” She pleaded the small rabbit with a small smile and big puppy eyes. I’m not sure if I was just hearing things, but I could have sworn that I heard a small squeee as her smile came out.

Angel shot a dirty look at me, as if it was his silent way of saying “tattletale…” and then slowly gave in to Fluttershy’s smile, bobbing his head up and down.

“Great.” She turned back to me, smiling still. “Now let’s get you to a seat.” She walked right next to me, giving my injured leg’s side support.  “You need to get off that ankle of yours as soon as possible.”

“Thanks a lot, Fluttershy,” I smiled faintly, starting to make my way toward her cottage. “I kind of need to get better soon if I want to get things done tomorrow.”

Note to self: Don’t ever make Fluttershy glare in my direction. I might piss myself.