Act 2: Chapter 10

Act 2: The Power of Love

Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve written in this old journal, seven years in fact.  So much has happened since I first came here to Equestria, which is why I’ve decided to continue my story.  I told you as long as I was here that this story would go on.  Just to let you know before I continue the story, my life here is amazing.  I mean it took the ponies a while to get used to me, but now, I’m Equestria’s newest hero.  How you ask?  Well, it’ll become quite clear later on.  What’s up with my relationship with Fluttershy?  I give you the same answer, you’ll have to wait and see.  Now then, where to start the continuation of my story?  Oh, I know the perfect spot.

It had been one year since I had arrived in Equestria.  I was 24 years old, full of energy, was in a relationship with the girl of my dreams, and lived in a dream world.  I had managed to get a perfect home on the outskirts of Ponyville, close to Fluttershy’s cottage.  She moved in with me, but she didn’t let her place go.  It’s sort of a backup place to stay.  I (somehow) got all my electronics working, set up everything in my house how I wanted, and life was good.  Eating wasn’t a problem, but I did miss hamburgers.

The ponies would get a little cautious when I walked by.  Some were even a little frightened at first, but with the help of Fluttershy and her friends, we got them to calm down.  Even after that though, they were still a little scared of me.  I didn’t mind it though.  I was even a little accepting of it.  I was a human after all, they had never seen one of my kind.  Fluttershy’s friends of course did take a little time to get used to me.  They quickly accepted my presence though.  Rainbow Dash is actually my best friend now.  I told her she was my second favorite, and she loved that.  She loved getting recognition.  I mean she is Rainbow Dash after all.

One of the cooler things that happened now that I was in Equestria was that Fluttershy and I now share dreams together.  Celestia had granted this “power” to us when I arrived.  At least twice every week, Fluttershy and I will share dreams.  It’s always the same thing though.  We just fly together in an endless sky.  Yes, I said fly.  In the dreams, I am still a human, and Fluttershy is still a pony.  But, I have wings the dreams, and I appear to have fully mastered their use.  I love it.  It’s like the equivalent of heaven.  But the dreams started to take a little bit of a toll on me.  They would always increase my envy to the pegasi.  I wanted so badly to really be able to fly, to have wings, so that I could fly with Fluttershy, or maybe even race Rainbow Dash once I had mastered them.  These thoughts raced through my mind.

So, one day, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I knew Twilight could use a spell for temporary wings, but those wings were too girly.  They were the wings she gave Rarity at one point.  I was no engineer, so I wasn’t going to design any machines.  I thought of some other ways to get wings.  Then I remembered everypony’s favorite zebra.  Zecora.

I made my way through the Everfree Forest, heading for Zecora’s hut.  I imagined that she would have some sort of potion for me to get wings.  I had always wanted eagle wings, and in my dreams, those were the kind I had.  I had a weird vibe that told me to ask Fluttershy for an eagle feather.  She was fine with that, and got me one of her pet eagle’s feathers.

Walking through the Everfree, I could see why the ponies were so afraid of it.  This place really was nasty lookin.  I, however, was prepared.  I had brought along with me my iconic tomahawk and hidden blades for the trip to Zecora’s.  Thankfully, her hut wasn’t too deep into the Everfree.  I found her hut with relatively no trouble.  I knocked on the door and she answered.

“Well hello there Matthew, I am most pleased to welcome you,” she said, speaking in rhymes of course.

“Hey there Zecora,” I started, tipping my hood off to her, “I was wondering if you could help me with something.  Mind if I come in?”  She showed me inside, and we sat around her table.  She asked if I would like some of… whatever it was she was drinking.  I politely declined.

“I sense something troubles your mind, but what it is, I cannot find,” she said.  She always seemed to know when something was troubling someone.

“Zecora, do you have any potions that can grant people, or ponies, wings?” I asked, wanting so badly to get the question off my chest.  She closed her eyes to think for a moment.  She got up and pulled out a book from one of her shelves, probably a potions book.  She opened it and started to read through.  Shortly after, she brought the book over to her cauldron and started gathering ingredients.  One by one, she started mixing weird things into the cauldron.  When she stepped back, I looked in at the weird mixture she had just created.  It was a red mixture, and it bubbled every so often.  I was surprised that Zecora had just made this potion on the spot and didn’t even argue against what I had asked for.  I then realized I had one other question to ask before I possibly drank this concoction.

“Zecora, what if I told you I wanted eagle wings?” I simply asked her.  She looked at me and responded.

“Those wings will require a feather, which will require you to be quite clever,” she said.  I assumed she thought I was going to have to get an eagle’s feather with skill, because ordinarily, an eagle wouldn’t want one of its feathers plucked.  But, I simply smiled back and showed Zecora the eagle feather that was already in my possession.  She smiled and pointed to the mixture, which told me to drop it in.  I did, and the mixture started turning a little bit browner, almost like iced tea.  I looked at the newly colored mixture with distaste.

“So, um… what exactly will this do to me Zecora?” I asked her.  She didn’t respond, except for her looking up and down my upper body.  I looked back in confusion, then looked at my body.  I then realized she wanted me to remove my clothes.  If I was to grow wings, they would either have no room to spread out, or they would ruin my shirt and sweatshirt, and I was wearing both my favorite eagle shirt and sweatshirt (I mean that eagles were pictured on the clothes).  I quickly removed my shirt and sweatshirt and looked back to the cauldron.  Zecora took a bowl, dunked it in, and handed it to me.  It didn’t smell too bad, and in the smaller quantity of the bowl, it didn’t look too bad.  I looked back at Zecora.

“You didn’t answer my question you know?  What is this going to do to me Zecora?  I don’t want to grow wings only to die the moment after I get them.”

“If you wish to obtain wings, then you must drink and suffer the pain, no matter how much it stings,” she responded.  I figured well enough this would hurt, but I would do anything for Fluttershy.  If it meant we could fly together, so be it.

I slowly lifted the bowl up to my face, preparing myself for this liquid to enter my body.  I started to drink, and surprisingly, it didn’t taste too bad.  It was sadly a little chunky, which made it a little difficult to keep down.  When I had finished every last drop of what was in the bowl (and fully managed to down it too), I waited for something to happen.  At first, nothing happened.  Then, a pain shot through my entire body.  I grunted first and fell to my stomach.  I yelled in pain.

“GAAAAH!  WHAT THE FUCK!?!?”  The pain was unbearable.  I started to feel something coming out of my back.  It felt like my spine was at some spots splitting in two.  I started to see blood drip from my back to the floor.  I let out one more yell before I passed out from the immense pain.  Soon after, I started dreaming of Fluttershy.  I could only hope that this would all be worth the pain and suffering I just underwent.

I woke up lying on my stomach, but I wasn’t on the hard floor of Zecora’s hut, I was on some pillows.  I looked around, trying to not move my head.  I groaned in pain.  My back still hurt and was tingling at the same time.  I tried to lift myself up, but when I put my hands on the ground, my elbows hit something soft.  I lifted myself up and turned my head over my shoulder to see I had grown a pair of wings, eagle wings at that.  They were actually white eagle wings, which was surprising considering the feather I had tossed in the mixture was brown.  I didn’t care, I loved white, still do in fact.  It was, after all, a signature color of the Assassin’s.  I was overjoyed and couldn’t stop smiling.

“Zecora, it worked!  I actually grew wings!  Zecora?  Where are you?”  I looked around, but I couldn’t find her.  I looked down to my stomach to see I had been bandaged up.  It made sense to me.  I mean I did just grow wings and bleed profusely out of my back.  Zecora shortly after walked in and smiled at me.

“I see you are pleased with the results.  But before using them, Rainbow Dash is who you may wish to consult,” she said to me, still smiling though.  I understood what she meant.  I shouldn’t just go off and start flying.  I had no idea how to use these wings.  Rainbow Dash would be the perfect person to train me.  But then I remembered that I was in a relationship with Fluttershy, who I had trained of course.  I would ask her before Rainbow.

“Thank you so much Zecora.  I can’t believe this actually worked.  I just have one question.  How long will these wings last?”  Shortly after I asked, Zecora went on to explain, in rhyme of course, that the wings would normally have lasted about one year.  But, because of the addition of the eagle feather, they would last forever.  It had something to do with the fact that eagles are naturally born with wings.  Zecora explained that the potion took note of the genetics behind this in the feather, and because eagles don’t lose their wings, I wouldn’t lose mine.  I hope I explained that well enough.  Simply put, my wings would last forever.  As I am writing at this moment, I have my wings, and they are still beautiful.  They have brought me much joy, and they are also quite useful. But I’ll get to that later on.  Anyway, back to the story.

I asked Zecora for my clothes back.  She had been kind enough to make two holes in the back of both my shirt and sweatshirt so I could wear them.  They weren’t the best holes, so I would have to ask Rarity to fix them up for me later.  I shook Zecora’s hoof, thanked her once again, and left her hut.  Folding my wings was actually pretty easy, and it proved useful for getting out of the hut.  I made my way back to Ponyville.  I couldn’t wait to share with the girls what I had just been through and what I had gained.  Fluttershy was sure to love my new wings, cause I sure as hell loved them.  Oh what a story I had to tell.