I find myself standing in a void. And by void, I mean on a grey platform in literal blackness. I look down and see bright yellow fur; by bright, I mean literally glowing. Like I am creating light from my body. Normally, this would be a cause for panic, right? like usually somebody found in this situation would be scared shitless. Me? I'm more confused than anything. Like just five minutes ago I was working on the engine in my jeep when suddenly I shocked myself on one of the wires and passed out. Then I found myself here.

Struggling to keep my balance, I wobbled a little bit, but I stabilized when my tail shot out seemingly on its own. Wait, Tail? Fuck this is worse than I thought.

"Ok, man, don't panic; you're probably just having some sort of weird dream while you're being rushed to a hospital or some shit." My voice echoed around me, and it seemed more electronic than I thought it would be. Like I'm speaking through a voice modulator or some shit. Not robotic or anything, but more... reverberated? I don't entirely know how to describe it.

Suddenly I was snapped out of my confusion by some very evil-sounding laughter. Female in nature.

"w-who's there?" I'll admit I stuttered a bit from fear. I mean, who wouldn't be afraid of being in a void surrounded by evil laughter? I was about to call out again, demanding what was going on when suddenly, a flash of white light blinded me. Blinking it away, I realized there was some sort of rectangular gateway there.

"Finally, something other than blackness," I grumbled. Stepping through the gateway proved difficult, thanks to my legs being digitigrade in nature, but I managed it after a second or two. And what I found on the other side brought everything to a halt—my thinking, my movement. Only one thought went through my head.

"What the fuck?"

I had found a quadropedic bug-horse-looking thing standing over several other horses, some normal others with wings or horns, some with both. And all eyes were on me. The bug-looking one looked at me and back at them before screaming.

"THIS IS YOUR TRUMP CARD? A TWO-LEGGED CAT? DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT MANGY THING IS ENOUGH TO STOP ME?!"

Okay, did she just call me mangy? I may be confused, but I will not be insulted like this! In an offended voice, I yelled at her, "Hey! I don't entirely know what's going on, but I am NOT mangy!"

"OH PLEASE, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU HAVEN'T HAD A DECENT WASH IN YEARS!"

"Hey! At least I don't have holes stuck throughout my body, you bug-looking bitch!"

"WELL HOW ABOUT WE FIX THAT!"

"Wait, what?" Was about all I could manage before I noticed her horn begin to glow a sickly green, practically dripping with power. Launching myself into a leftward combat roll, I barely avoided a ball of energy being launched at me. I landed on three limbs. 2 feet and 1 hand on the floor while the other hand was splayed out, claws extended. "Ok, insults I get, but trying to kill me? fuck you!" Charging at her at full speed, I swiped my claws at her. She ducked down and attempted to stab her horn into my torso. Quickly bending myself I threw my balance to the right, this twisted my body into a sort of C shape allowing her horn to pass by harmlessly. Landing on my back, I rolled over onto my belly and did a weird buck, somewhat difficult considering my bi-pedal form, but it worked. Her head kicked back as my feet collided with it. Quickly pushing myself up onto my legs, I whirled around just in time to see her charging up another attack. Not having enough time to jump out of the way, I brought my arms up to block the attack.

Big mistake. The reason for this is that when her magic collided with my arms, it acted like acid, burning into my fur. Surprisingly I didn't feel anything, maybe this is actually a dream? If it is a dream, then it's a fuckin weird one. Whipping my arms back behind me, I flung the acid off and immediately charged her again, claws out. I swiped my right and then left paws, and she ducked behind each blow. Suddenly, her horn flared, and my vision was knocked out for a second. Long enough for her to charge up a longer blast and send me flying backward, outward through a window. Which was apparently on a VERY high floor. I felt myself smash into the window, and my momentum carried me out. I fell into a tumble, falling head over my paws as I spun through the air. Until suddenly, I stopped.

I looked around and found myself floating in the air, a whirring sound coming from my back. An odd feeling came from my back and beyond, as if I suddenly had extra limbs. "What the fuck?" I tried to look behind myself but found myself drifting when I tried. "Ok, look when I land. If I can land, that is." Suddenly a massive pink blast emitted from the room above me, the one I was just launched from. A massive pink wall suddenly expanded from it, knocking into me and carrying me away from the city. It suddenly stopped, and my momentum kept me going. My extra limbs could not stop my tumble as I fell to the ground.

As I collided with the ground, I bounced at least three different times. Losing momentum each time. Eventually, I came to a stop, laying there as I slowly took in my surroundings. Around me was a bunch of trees, and I could barely hear the sounds of a river nearby. Suddenly, pain lanced up my body, first from my arms and then from my back. "Shit, not a dream then." The pain from my back was actually way less than the pain from my arms. Makes sense considering they were blasted with acid. I slowly sat up and looked around and promptly froze. Scattered about was a whole swarm of unconscious bug horses. I tried to stand up but thanks to the pain and partly thanks to my new legs I fell over. The sound of me hitting the ground roused a few of the bugs.

They grounded and looked around before spotting me. They immediately jumped up and charged at me, demanding I surrender. Not really being in any shape to stand up and fight them, I did just that. A few of them surrounded me, staring me down as if studying me. Eventually, a few more turned up, and then the big one strolled into the area. She saw me, and immediately, her eyes filled with anger.

"YOU! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE AFTER YOU RUINED OUR ATTACK!."

Great, she's yelling again. And I ruined her attack? She fired off the first shot, so I was defending myself.

"You know what? fuck you! You attacked me first."

She seemed to hesitate now, gears turning in her head.

"W-Wait, so you're telling me that if I hadn't attacked you, you would have left us alone?"

"Well, I'd have no reason to step in; otherwise, I barely know how to fight. Why would I do all that to defend a bunch of horses I don't know?"

She stopped completely; you could practically hear the gears turning in her head. Suddenly, anger filled her eyes again.

"WELL, YOU STILL RUINED OUR ATTACK! AND YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED! YOU WILL SERVE IN THE MINES BENEATH THE HIVE!"

Suddenly, she whipped around and bucked me in the face, and everything went black. Slowly, I could see again, though when I opened my eyes, I was in another void. Not the same one as earlier, this one was more of a dark blue void. While I stood on a light blue platform. I looked at myself and found myself without injuries, though I still felt the extra limbs on my back. Turning to try and get a good look, I managed to get a glimpse of my extra limbs. They were kinda like wings, but instead of being covered in feathers as you'd expect, they were entirely made of metal. A full black with a blue stripe running from the beginning to the tip, and at the tip, it went around to the bottom and stopped halfway back to my back. It also had a circle in the middle edged with blue, making something that looked like a sci-fi engine. I managed to move it around to where both of them were sticking out of my sides, giving me a better look.

I tried to recreate the feeling I had when I was floating with them—or flying, I guess. Suddenly, the engine started to glow extra bright, and the wings sparked a little bit. Suddenly, a bit of the blue launched downward from the wing's engine, propelling me upward. But because of the angle I had them at, I just ended up in a front flip and landed back down on my face. Slowly, I stood back up and shook myself out a bit.

"Okay, then. Well, since I'm stuck here until another portal decides to open up, I might as well use the time to learn to fly." For the next few hours, I did just that, crashing into the ground over and over again as I tried to teach myself to fly.

Author's Note

OK! So I finally got this re-done. I hope I've got it up to a decent quality. If you do spot any problems with it do not be afraid to notify me. I hope this is better than the absolute shit-quality chapter I uploaded last time. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about my other stories, I've just had a bit of writer's block, And a time crunch. Haven't had a whole lot of time to stop and just write in a bit. Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great summer!

• FixerFox
  PS: Sorry for the many different names, I've had to change from the SandboxFox because people from real life found my account and started fucking with me. So I've been trying to find a new name that will stick.

PPS: When I say made of metal I don't mean metal feathers. I mean something more along this design.