Strange Happenings
Midnight. They always came at midnight. The chimes from the old grandfather clock in the den jolted Daniel out of his restless dreams. It wasn't the chimes that woke him so much as the knowledge that They were coming. It was the same horrifying ritual, every single night.
The room was illuminated by an eerie pale green glow. Three figures in haz-mat suits stood around his bed. One of them held a large briefcase, another held a gun, and the third--the apparent leader, from the way he acted--was making entries into a large handheld computer. Daniel tried to escape, to run, to even move, but some unseen force held him in place, as immobile as the bed itself. The leader looked up from his computer and signaled to the one holding the briefcase, who set the case down and began to open it. Daniel strained to see its contents, but couldn't from his position. If only he could move...
The leader reached forward, grabbed the bedcovers and--
The shrill blast of Daniel's alarm clock filled the room. He'd had that dream again, the same one he'd been having every night for nearly a month. Except that it didn't feel like a normal dream. It felt more like a memory, but one that had been partially forgotten. Anyway, Dan had more important things to worry about, so he pushed whatever it was aside for the moment. Today was the last day of school, finally. All he had to do was survive his last few final exams, and he'd be home free. He wasn't about to let a creepy dream get him down.
***
Dr. DiCaoz glanced over his biology classroom. "Is anybody still working on the final?" he asked tiredly. He paused for a moment, then said, "If everybody is finished, you may talk quietly amongst yourselves for the remainder of the period." As the class erupted in chatter, he went back to nursing his hangover.
Daniel loved his biology class. It wasn't just that he was good at it, or that it was the last class of the day. By some bit of luck or fate, he happened to be in the same class as his four closest friends, Gassan, David, Pammy, and Jake. Gassan, David, and Pammy had become absurdly popular since coming to high school. Gassan was Lebanese and therefore "exotic," David was a star swimmer, and Pammy was a cheerleader. In retrospect, popularity was an inevitability. To the other popular kids, Jake an avid follower of the Furry subculture (he called it a craze, but nobody else did) and Daniel, the introspective writer, were social liabilities. Still, Gassan, David, and Pam never let their newfound "friends" keep them away from Jake and Dan. Privately, Daniel was grateful that he had managed to befriend the four people who appeared to be immune to high school drama.
"So, what'd you guys think?" Pammy whispered.
"I'm pretty sure Dr. Di is a nutcase," Gassan answered quickly. He was met with a chorus of approval from his companions.
"Anyway," Pam continued, "are we having our annual Thank-God-The-Schoolyear's-Over party tonight?"
"I can't go," Jake said, "I've got a convention."
"I can't go either," said David, "My dad's taking me camping. He's on a back-to-nature kick."
"I'm visiting my grandma," Gassan said. Pammy rolled her eyes.
"Alright," she sighed, "when do you guys get back?"
"Sunday"
"Sunday evening"
"Sunday, but it'll be late."
"So," Pammy continued, "is Monday night alright with everyone?"
***
The days passed quickly. By the time Monday arrived, he had gone an entire weekend without his mysterious dreams. He was mostly relieved, but part of him wished the visitors would come back so he could find out what they were up to.
The streets were charged with an eerie calm. A summer storm was coming. As Daniel reached Pam's door, he couldn't help but feel a strange foreboding. Something was decidedly wrong. He rang the bell.
"Come in," called Pammy. Dan opened the door and found friend sitting on the floor in a tidy circle. They were all staring at him, an unsettling hunger in their eyes. "We are playing Truth or Dare," Pammy intoned mechanically. "Please, join us. Truth or Dare?"
"Please choose Dare," Gassan said, in the same unearthly voice.
"The Truth is never any fun," agreed David, still in the same tone. Throughout the exchange, none of the four took their eyes off of Daniel.
"Is everything alright?" he asked. "You all seem...different."
Pammy answered in the same monotone as before: "We are collectively unnerved at a series of recurring dreams we have been having. Perhaps you too are experiencing these visions?"
"Yeah," Dan said, "but I'm not acting that weird about it."
"Perhaps," Pammy said, "All will be made more clear if you answer this simple question: Truth...or Dare?"
Written by Zodiac on 31 May 2008
Forgotten Memories
Daniel was taken aback by their behavior, more because they appeared almost zombified and not very attentive to things that were going on around them. If there was a fly buzzing around in the room somewhere, he doubted any of them would notice it over their uncanny focus on him. Answer the question, that seemed to be the unwary contract held between him and these puppets that were his friends. Maybe they were tired and exhausted after their respective weekend activities, but Danny had a hard time trying to justify those darting glances between each other like a conspiratorial borg hive mind.
"You guys okay?" Dan asked, hoping that this might be one last spark to yank them back onto the road of sense, but no dice.
"Truth or dare, Danny boy?" Jake intoned almost without any inflection, his hair still smelling of lingering traces of a bit of grime and sweat. At least that part of him was normal, as well as the mild scent of latex or rubber on his skin from the inner liner of a high end fursuit.
He quickly saw by their behavior that he wasn't going to get anywhere until he played their little game, whether these were actually his friends or not remained to be seen. It wasn't an easy choice to make either, as he knew what they were waiting for, expectantly ready for a hinge to snap like a spring on a mouse trap. "Dare." There, he said it. He let the genie loose.
"Was that so hard?" Pammy made a flourish of her arm like a cheer and chuckled, drinking from a pink sports bottle and looking around at her friends in on the secret. "So, who has a dare?" It seemed a rhetorical question, only one thing was on the mind of these pleasant imps.
It was hard, but only because Daniel had that voice in the back of his head that told him this was all wrong, but he couldn't put a proper face to those nagging feelings. They were obviously up to something, but his birthday wouldn't be around for several months. "We dare you to-" Jake paused, licking his thin lips as he savored the following moment like a morsel set before a snake.
Daniel was waiting on edge for them to continue. As much as he dreaded what was going to follow, a part of him wanted to get it over and have things back to normal. When Pammy finished his previous sentence, an odd bluish twinkle in her eyes that appeared and vanished so quickly that he wasn't even sure it was there in the first place. "Remember (indistinct unrecognizeable phrase)". Those words were like a trigger, well the latter one was because he'd never heard it before and yet something came rushing into his head. Memories. Lots and lots of disjointed memories that weren't his and couldn't make any sense. It was if he were remembering the past life not of another person, but an animal with a completely different set of senses.
Before he knew what was happening, his mind was rushing through a strange vocabulary he had never used: people, places, and things that never existed before. Except, they did, more real than he could possibly exist as though he shared a body with two souls. "What did you do?" He gagged out, collapsing and trembling on the floor like a seizure as they gathered around him and bundled his pathetic body in a big comfy blanket. They knew this would happen, and they were prepared. "You do not remember, Dan, but you will soon." Gassan said soothingly, rubbing his back like he were comforting an addict out of a hellish bout of withdrawal. Maybe it was, as his hangovers never felt this terrible and he hadn't taken anything more illegal than a few stim pills for studying late overnight.
Written by FluffyPony on 01 June 2015
Not human
Gassan, he was remembering, was not the Lebanese kid's real name, nor was he really Lebanese. He came from a far-flung place called The Star Realm, and that was why he was so strange compared to the rest of them. The Star Realm: no such place existed on Earth. Then again, none of them were from Earth, were they? He was remembering bit by bit of where he was from just as he felt something seize up in his body. His muscles were cramping at odd angles and his skin was burning up with a maddening itch all over like a sunburn trying to peel away. "And with the memory will come the mission." Gassan added, now a bit more familiar as someone who had come from a completely different squad to lend assistance.
Daniel remembered the squads, but didn't remember what they were for or why they were needed. Was he a brainwashed terrorist or assassin or something? He hoped not, as he liked his life in America a great deal and wanted nothing to do with any enemy entities. His mission. What was his mission? The burning on his skin turned into a fervent fever intensity as he lost all control and had to throw back the blankets just to scratch, well, everywhere. His fingernails were working frantically to scrape away this unbearable crawling sensation all over his flesh as he felt an odd pain in his back. On occassional touches back there, he could feel two nubs growing out of his skin almost like horns. It was pointed bone trying to escape as he ignored it over trying to get the mosquito-like bites to stop harassing him.
Little by little, the itch did stop, but each place where it ceased there were tufts of cushy pure black fur a few inches long. He noticed a similar much smaller nub growing out of the top of his buttocks like a horned tramp stamp, but ignored it as he tried to make sense of the shiny coat of hairs instead. He was turning into some kind of animal and didn't understand why, yet to all of his friends, this seemed quite normal and par for the course. In fact, as his memory of the previous life came back, he realized Gassan wasn't even supposed to be here except for emergencies as the recon coordinator. Recon. Who were they spying on? Earth.
That last bit of information floored him and he tried to make sense of it just as more changes spread over his body like accelerated wildfire in a dry wheat field. The fur was all over him and the itch was gone. Just as he calmed down, the blanket was thrown back over him and they all pressed in close with firm massages through the fabric against his body. The fur was just the beginning as he felt something pop out of his shoulders and elongate into poles of bone-shrouded flesh, growing in strength and bulk with a whispery lightness and lack of weight. Whatever was on his back was almost intangible and didn't feel like it was there, at all.
His hair, normally so neat and formal, was now growing to meet his collarbone and beyond. The words of wisdom, "It will grow back," couldn't possibly be anymore true. It was longer, but it didn't feel like his old hair anymore, instead a little more wiry and thick with a nice polish to it like it had been shampoo'd to oblivion. The thing growing out of his rear was the same story, as he could feel whatever it was lengthen through the backs of his thighs where there was a similar texture of shiny silky hairs.
Was that it? Were the changes over? No, he was still in the middle of them as his face seemed to elongate a bit, creating a strange accordian effect with his eyes that he wasn't sure he was seeing. He couldn't take it in fully, anyway, as the semi-dark state under the blankets was like a cave or burrow just allowing the tiniest peeks of light within. Still, he could feel just fine. It was a very long nose and his mouth was further away than normal. Would he come out of the covers looking like some kind of sheepdog?
After that was the last touch, as something funny happened to his hands and feet. They came together as his skin seemed to induce a hostile takeover of his fingers and toes like a creeping mold or tangle of vines. His fingernails themselves grew much longer and connected with each other, feeling very much like large teeth attached to his limbs, but the ones on his wrists, for as hard and bony as they seemed, were still unusually dextrous to leave any doubts of holding objects without grounds. Whatever these things on his arms were, they seemed made for walking on and holding most objects. After all of that, it was over as he didn't feel any other changes overtake him, although all those muscles and bones rearranging did leave him sore and stiff. Daniel wouldn't doubt that when he came out from under the covers that he would be looking at himself as a werewolf.
As much as he wanted to see what had happened to his body, his friends wouldn't let him. Instead, they encouraged him to sleep. As antsy and curious as Dan was to see the new look, they were right: after an ordeal like that, he needed the rest so his overextended body could recover from what had been done to it. Even so, It was still a very difficult rest as all kinds of sore spots would jar him awake at random moments with protest.
Written by FluffyPony on 02 June 2015
The Reveal
When he awoke, it was like someone played hell on his muscles. Everything hurt in some unexpected way, and he felt a bit more bare beneath the blanket as his clothes had evidently been taken away. This probably made more sense, since he had too lush a coat of fur to wear anything over it too easily, but the idea of being nude like an animal unsettled him. With his stirrings, each of his friends took their notice of him a few at a time, but it was Pammy that went to him first. "Are you ready to see the truth?"
Truth or dare. He should've known. Now, he was going to get both because this was their way of easing him into an uncomfortable awareness that he had a past life and had gotten too immersed in a lie. That he had forgotten the whole reason why he had been sent to Earth, but had been converted to something he wasn't. Daniel was remembering now, bit by bit. If he had a gold for every time that happened, he'd be living in a Sky Castle. That last thought stopped him in his ruminations, causing him to wonder where he'd heard it before. Was it something Garran or Jake said?
"The truth, yes. Let's start with that." Dan finally spoke gustily, a strange higher-pitched voice came out that he didn't recognise as his own, or even male. It startled him. Still, there was nothing for his bewilderment as they helped him rise to unsteady feet in front of a tall plate glass mirror on a closet. As the blanket fell away, it was hard to figure out who or what was staring back at him. Her. The body was that of a horse with wings, with black fur as dark as a moonless night, and a pair of eyes full of sharp but questioning curiosity and intellect. There were no doubts toward gender, the way she accomodated those nice curves and luscious bumps of her pegasi body.
She was remembering, but not very quickly, so they had to fill in the gaps as she stood there curiously staring at the other bipedal naked female pagasus in the mirror like a stranger quickly becoming a tangible old friend, and then after that, her rightful self as familiarity dawned. "Night Rider, The Old King sent us on a mission into other realms to colonize with friendship and wings after he was rejected from the Greater Realm for his forward unconventional ways. He is under cover at their United Nations scoping out the political scheme while we awaited as sleeper agents to acclimate to the culture and prepare for the arrival of further like-minded allies to bring our winged glory to this world." It all seemed so strange, so unconventionally weird that Night had to stop and think it through for herself as her friends looked on expectently in their human forms hoping she would remember soon and get back on the friendship-spreading conquest bandwagon like the rest of them so they could go on observing and slowly perfecting a ponification formula for the humans.
Night Rider remembered, but that didn't mean she accepted what was going on. Even so, she knew that refusing outright would just earn her a couple months or more in the solitary confinement of the reconditioning chamber back at home base in Greece. Instead, she had to take hold of this insanity and accept it on the outside like some exposed conspirators did a few years back before The Old King's first failure at forced colonization of the Greater Realm. "Yes, let's get to it every peg. May the wings be freedom." And that was all Night had to say to trick them into thinking she still believed in the old regime while reviling it every second with vile about to come up the back of her throat.
Written by FluffyPony on 03 June 2015
Next day
Night Rider stirred restlessly in her sleep on the carpet. Her body was very cushy and padded so it wasn't as uncomfortable as one might think. It was the dreams of a previous life as a human which she gradually knew to be false. This life as Danial couldn't be true, as it already felt as if it had been a hundred years ago. True, she did have memories of the town she currently lived in, but not growing up as a human boy, but instead as a pegasi who took on a different magicked form to be with the humans and not arouse their suspicions as she went about investigating the town.
Not even the Biology class on the last day of school three weeks ago seemed particularly tangible or real to her. It seemed as though she woke up out of a coma and just wanted to get on with her life. The others never questioned the fragments of personality woven into her mind, reassuring Night that it was just a side-effect of doing recon in another form for a long time. So, she was never really human? It was just something that she had tricked herself into believing for the year that she was fitting in to learn the strange customs of this other sentient species that the pegasi just happened to discover and colonize.
Besides the memories reasserting themselves fully into her conscious mind like a warm waterfall of comforting realization, the aches and pains of her body were also fading into nothingness. The bruises barely visible under the lush grey fur were nearly gone, allowing her to stretch and move muscles that previously ached in protest like cranky hinges not properly oiled. When those pains were finally gone, Night wanted more badly than anything to go out after sunset and fly again as she was accustomed to doing in her land, but knew this would be a mistake that could bring about suspicions before the pegasi empire was ready to bring about their plans of colonization.
Instead, she was doubtless stuck to roam the house that Jake owned under guise of his parents leaving on some ambiguous never ending vacation that he refused to openly elaborate on. It was a nice two story house with an attic and basement, and Night could have free range of it so long as the curtains were drawn so as to keep everything hidden inside. The strangest aspect, though, was that while she was in her natural form again, the rest of her friends elected to stay human and she had very few reasons why. Was it because transformation took a great deal of energy and time to perform with a long rest period, or were they in the middle of their own tasks outside the house that would require subtlety? And of course, it could be a combination of the two, as pegasi were always considered a whimsical but practical people.
The dreams that came, she had a lot of time to think about those, what parts she remembered. The strange doctors that injected her with the chemicals had an aura of familiarity, despite being so alien and peculiar. Aside from the ambiguous way they were dressed and moved, they didn't seem like doctors or scientists at all. Now, Night Rider didn't have many good experiences of actual doctors on this planet to base her observations on, but the way they held themselves was all wrong. In fact, instead of the practiced but casual air that doctors exhibited when they performed a test or procedure that was very commonplace and easy ( such as an injection for instance ), these cloaked creatures huddled around the bed in her nightmare had a much different presence to them. If she had to guess, it felt more like some kind of sanctified or religious ritual that they had performed by doing the injection in her sleep.
The next day after that revelation, Night slowly stopped paying attention to the old memories or the scary dreams of priestly doctors, putting them out of mind as irrelevent distractions that kept her from focusing on the goals of the pegasi collective. Even her earlier ideas of standing against the colonization effort in secret were left aside as silly and not truly her own idea. What the pegasi were getting ready to do to the humans was a good thing, and even in her more skeptical frame of mind she could see that. The only real problem Night Rider had was this inescapable boredom that slowly swallowed her up inside the house as she felt a creeping restless insanity resting over her thoughts. She had to get something done, but didn't know what. Maybe that was the most troubling thing, the helplessness and the waiting for something to happen. When she'd been healing from the transformation it wasn't so bad, as she slept most of that off in exhaustion. Now, she seemed rejuvenated and awake with lots of energy but no meaningful way to spend it that wouldn't jeapordize the operation.
Since she had no better ideas, Night went downstairs to make breakfast for her friends before they woke up. Pammy was the one who went to get the groceries, and she was efficient and thorough in getting all the basic things they would need weekly. Pegasi, even in human form, were still unapologetically Vegan and therefore did not eat anything that came from another animal, not even milk or cheese. Although this limited her cooking options, the things she didn't have weren't of interest to her anyway, so it wasn't as if Night could say she missed having any such things as scrambled eggs. Instead, a meal for equine tastes would focus more on things that were grown in soil with a few luxuries such as bread or sugar. Oh, and molasses. Can't forget toast with molasses spread on it.
As she made pancakes with molasses, apple extract, and a meatless substitute for the eggs in the mixture to help pancakes hold their shape, her allies came down the stairs a few at a time to sit at the small humble table nearby. It must be a strange thing to see a female horse up on her hind legs making food like a person. Well, she wasn't actually a horse, but it was plain they shared the same appetite and the four of them came hungry. They were all starved, but Night Rider was the only one who wanted answers instead of a meal. The better question was if they shared any of her dreams of being a human or if they knew how to interpret her nightmare about the strange doctors she kept having and why they were relevent to the mission they all shared.
Written by FluffyPony on 02 July 2015
Memories
The meal was nearly finished except for the drinks, which would be the easy part. All she had to do was make up some tea from instant powder and mix in some apple juice to give it an almost cider-like tang. There were other options when it came to refreshment, but it seemed a faux pas to a horse not to have apples at every meal. Lack of molasses could be forgiven, but not apples: equine crack cocaine. While she stirred the powder into chilled water and measured a proper mix of green apple extract into the hallowed beverage, the conversation amongst her friends had already started without her.
At first the discussion seemed very much benign and almost commonplace. Gassan was making polite overtures to excuse himself from their secret club so he could go back to other pegasi cells that needed his expertise and subterfuge more than the four fake high school students that had taken up most of his time for the sake of mere friendship. He was itchy to go to Ireland, where that group of soft-spoken shamrocks were having their fair tail shake of difficulty trying to blend into the common populace. Where David, Pammy, Jake, and "Danny" had succeeded, the Irish pegasi's efforts had been more marginal. This was most likely due to that country's current climate of suspicion for domestic terrorism from the Irish Republican Army.
David was in agreement with him in spirit, but still didn't want to see Gassan go. After all, pegasi were very sociable friendly creatures and having such a small group of nice faces to interact with must surely shunt their interactions in some way or other. Jake thought it would be wiser to blend into the furry community at large and create an effective counter-culture that would eventually lend itself to humans being more amendable and willing to be transformed. This concept wasn't so strange, when they took note of most furs' fetish for transformation, so perhaps they might eventually seek out the pegasi colonizers instead of waiting unsuspectingly for operation Sandman.
Sandman. A chill worked up Night Rider's spine when she heard that word for the first time in this context. It was a strange usage of the word, and almost seemed interchangeable with a preplanned assassination attempt. No, it was their code word for the forceful transformation of the unwilling, it seemed. The pegasi would carefully case someone out and hang around with them as a kind of probation period while deciding their amenability and overall usefulness to the cause before proceeding. Night Rider was nearly done stirring ice and apple flavor into the pitcher of tea, but decided to linger in the kitchen to throw off their attention of her, at least, that was the impression she was going for.
Having never heard of this euphemism before, Night didn't know exactly why, but she had an instinct deep down that her friends might not want her to hear them discussing that word so wantonly and with such casualness as they were. Despite being a pegasi like them, it seemed like forbidden knowledge that she wasn't privy to. Maybe if she were actually in the dining room they might actually remember that she was there to hear, but since she was in the kitchen separated by a wall, it seemed to mask her presence from them. She kept stirring the pitcher of tea to keep up an illusion of being busy while eavesdropping on their chat. Normally this was something completely out of Night's character, but there was no doubt that this seemed very important to her for some uncanny reason.
Pammy was against it completely, as although things were stable in this region and Night had healed from her transformation trauma well, their colonizer cell was still relatively small due to the inability to find easy targets to assimilate in a timely manner. Unlike in third world nations where people went missing all the time without anyone around to care, America and other countries in the more developed sphere would immediately become suspicious and make a Sandman almost impossible as the first transformation after the sleeper drug injection was always so complex and a long time in recovery. By the time the target of their assimilation was strong enough to become human again to assuage the authorities, the police would most likely already find their place of refuge and get them in great trouble.
At the mention of "sleeper", she remembered the definition of that word, though not in this context. Dr. DiCaoz had taught them about sleeper viruses in Biology class several months ago, mainly in the concept of retroviruses that had the ability to change someone's DNA or RNA whenever anything randomly set them off. He defined them as a switch waiting for the right factors to flick it on. This sleeper drug that was being briefly discussed seemed to have similar properties, and by that logic, the pegasi could inject the whole of the world without their knowledge and would just need to await a perfect opportunity to turn it on. She was remembering now, though Night didn't want to. Danny did.
The green glow of the apple extract was hauntingly familiar as the sunrise shone through the kitchen window onto the bottle via slits in the closed blinds. Bright neon green and almost seemingly alive the way her hoof jostled it around in her paw. Almost immediately, he managed to clamp down on his panic as he remembered where he was and what had been done to him. For the moment, his alter ego of Night Rider was banished to the subconscious and his nightmares until he could think through the mess that he'd gotten into. If he walked into the dining area, would they notice that he wasn't like them anymore, or could he bluster his way through the quagmire of their social graces? In either case, they were expecting their drinks soon and to hesitate any longer would garner their unwanted attention almost immediately!
Written by FluffyPony on 11 July 2015
Jake
While they ate, he watched as covertly as was possible to see if he could distinguish between their eating habits and normal humans. For the most part, there were just brief nuances that would look odd if someone were really paying attention. All of them seemed to be eating in the same peculiar almost right way except Jake, who seemed better at home with his utensils and chewing. It gave Daniel a good hint that the furry wasn't a purebred like the rest of them, but more a mutt like himself.
It made perfect sense that the pegasi would recruit humans from a anthropomorhic comminuty first, given how those people would be more open to being turned and transformed into another species. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to talk to Jake in private and see what his feelings were, given that he had been in a similar boat. While he was thinking, they were already starting to finish up breakfast and Gassan was already headed out the door to go to his job and otherwise interact with the other hidden pegasi groups around the world. How he managed to do this was uncertain, but he always had news to share that the other flightful equines had offered him over their secure connections.
Pammy left shortly after ten minutes later upon drinking down her juice. Daniel remembered her routine to a degree that she was probably going to go shopping or see a movie uptown in the business district. He didn't know why she liked to watch human movies, but suspected it had something to do with learning how better to be human, herself. He didn't think there was anything she could learn from such obvious fabrications of reality, but at least it got her out of the house for a few hours.
Comparatively, David had nowhere to be, and would make things tricky if he ever managed to overhear the conversation between him and Jake. On top of that, Daniel learned very fast that talking to someone in private would be very difficult, since pegasi have no concept of secrecy. Although they hide from humans and keep their activities hidden, they don't keep any secrets from each other. So, to say that he wanted to talk to someone in private would immediately be suspicious and not normal pegasi behavior at all. His only natural recourse was to catch Jake at a moment when he was busy doing something by himself and David was off somewhere else none the wiser.
It took half the day for things to align properly to have a little chat. Pammy was taking longer than usual, and Gassan wouldn't be back home until later that night. David made things too easy by having a few beers on top of the roof so he could enjoy the clouds and bright sunlight, probably the closest he would come to flying again without actually transforming or getting a pilot license. And while he was doing that, Daniel had the perfect excuse to get Jake alone since it was time to do the laundry, and as he was stuck in this equine form, it fell onto him to do all the chores and cooking around the house.
He made sure to dump all the soiled clothing in the washer and get it running before calling Jake down. The laundry tasks would give him a good hour or so of uninterrupted freedom to get everything off his chest while he was relatively alone to do so. When the other guy came down the stairs on the pretense that Daniel needed some help getting the heavier loads down the stairs, suspicion immediately lit up on his face as he noticed there was no work for him to do, the nonhuman debating what he should do. Only when he saw the color of Night's eyes did he comprehend what was going on. "So, you're back. The human consciousness, anyway. Why have you deceived me? I will give you this opportunity to discuss it before I inform David and the others that you need to be reconditioned to our ways again." The way Jake just threw all of that out there was surprising, given that neither of them were expecting Daniel's original human personality to resurface from the false pegasi memories previously implanted.
Danny bit his lip nervously, never being the best speaker or having a particularly eloquent grasp of speech to manipulate others. This was his one chance to convince the furry that he was actually human and they should work together to escape and spread the news that Earth was secretly being colonized by pegasus aliens. "I don't think you belong with them. Your eyes are fluctuating like mine, so I know you aren't an original like they are." He finally said, hoping that it would be the right words to say to get through this. Jake only sighed to this, an unexpected human reaction to a human rationale.
It took a long pause between them before his friend managed to say anything. "You are wrong, of course. I might be human, once, but everything became so much clearer when they reconditioned me to accept their ways. And, I think that will be best for you, as well. Don't worry about it so much, it'll be fun." Jake seemed so reassuring and content. He had to wonder what kind of mind control process they put humans through to make them accept the new social order. In any case he had failed and knew what would be awaiting him. Escape was out of the question, as he was still a humanoid horse with wings and there was nowhere something like him could possibly hide. He had no background in wilderness survival, even if he could manage to fly. And that was another detail that he was unfamiliar about: did he learn to fly from one of them, or was it more keyed into instinct. Either way, he felt stuck and couldn't do anything about it. All he could do was wait and hope to convince the rest of them that whatever they had planned wasn't necessary, even though they seemed to have no hesitation doing it to Jake.
Written by FluffyPony on 05 October 2015
The home world
Daniel spent the rest of the day worrying as he awaited the rest of the household's return. If Jake and david were aware of his anxiety, they didn't show it. What was planned for him was a big deal to Daniel, so it should've been more important to them, as well, but they treated the whole affair with a kind of casual attitude that seemed wholly alien. Then again, wasn't that what they were? "So, what's going to happen?" He asked aloud to anyone to respond, that same mystical feminine voice coming out of his own lips that he didn't know if he could ever get used to.
When niether of his friends gave him an answer, it left him wondering if this thing they had planned for him was meant to be a surprise. Surprises could come in two varieties, and his misgivings on the matter didn't exactly help. When Gassan and Pammy arrived back from their errands, they didn't act as if anything was out of the ordinary, either, acting as if this was normal for a human consciousness to come back into a pegasi body. No doubt it was, but they seemed particularly nonchalant over it. "This was sooner than I thought. We'll need to take her to the experts before he ruins this whole operation for us." Gassan was the first to speak, probably because he was the only one with direct access to the homeworld. No one else seemed to disagree with his assessment, so it seemed the normal course to take.
Daniel was finishing off what was left of the apple drink as he listened with both ears swivelled forward even if he didn't want to see them in motion for himself. "We can't all go. Some of us have to stay behind and keep along some sembleance of normalcy. Five people vanishing all at once and a house left vacant for a month? That's the sort of attention our colonization doesn't need." Pammy said, after a brief time had passed from Gassan's little speech. She was right about that too, a practical woman who could see all aspects of a situation and react in kind.
Just as he finished the last drops from the wide pitcher, Gassan assigned Pammy and David to the task. He had to watch as quick changes took over both of them with the growing of fur and wings as bone structure warped almost in seconds. What struck him as odd immediately was that they both became male pegasi. Strange, because Pammy was a female human now becoming a brown-furred winged stallion with tight clothing about to break apart. He suspected that the pegasi were a very gender fluid species who were not bothered by such swaps, perhaps because the society they came from didn't put such importance on pronouns.
While Pammy was brown as chestnut, David was now grey like spun silver with strange empathyful eyes of starlight. "Feels good to be back in my skin again." The silver steed observed with a stetch and slight flex of sore newborn wings, trying to get the cramps out of them as his muscles adjusted over the new equine skeleton. Daniel was at first stunned by the speed of their transformations compared to his own, but quickly came to realize that they had a lot of practice at this and he didn't. Of course with all the opportunities they had, the transformation would be quicker and no doubt less painful than the shock of going through the process himself.
David seemed to speak for all of them, as Jake and Gassan looked on him and the formerly female Pammy in what appeared to be frank envy. "It's not all sunshine and smiles, silly. We turned for a reason, you know." It was a strange declaration by a now masculine Pammy, a male pegasi that still had her patterns of speech and movement, like he had forgotten that he wasn't an Earth girl anymore. The contrast was a bit amusing, until both laid firm paws on him and reminded the black mare where he was and what was going on. "Open the door to homeworld, Protector Gassan." Stange language and honorifics indeed!
He was even more shocked when the Lebanese transfer student from another world opened up a bluish electrified portal in the ceiling by using some strange incantation and white light coming out of his fingertips forming into glowing hot starry hooves. Briefly, Daniel wondered why he would put a gateway in the house's ceiling where one would need a stepladder to reach, but then, wasn't that the reason every one of these alien critters was born with wings? Already, he could feel their muscles tensing ready to spring, wings spreading for one powerful pushing jet upwards. His nervousness only grew as they gripped him tighter but with care as pointed equine muzzles were pointed intently toward the portal.
A sudden whoosh of motion left him feeling very disembodied as sudden strong winds buffeted him at all angles, not to mention a stong tingling sense of cold that began with the electric crackling of the portal membrane tearing across his fur all the way up to the no doubt ridiculous height and atmosphere he was forced to endure for a brief moment of terror. He had his eyes tightly shut, but he could feel how high in the air they were by the way breathing suddenly became more difficult and how each breath not only lacked oxygen but stabbed at his lungs with icy daggers as he tried to breathe through his warm furred forearm to avoid most of the chilly sting of the air. "That breeze, always so refreshing after a long hiatus from our country. Don't worry, too much Danny. You'll be used to it soon enough." Came the strange authoritive voice of Pammy, most of his words could barely be overheard on the stormy winds.
What struck him as odd most was that they were actually flying higher, as he managed to touch some of the dew of dark condensation-laded stormclouds on the way up until the climb was suddenly arrested by three sets of hooves clattering down onto flat stone. Daniel looked down at his feet to see the artisan-styled brickwork of the ornamental platform, a big wide caramel brown circle that was no doubt meant to be used as a landing pad similar but not exact to the designated purpose of a helipad on a skyscraper in a given city. "What's this we got here?" It was a voice that was all command and bluster, someone who almost seemed regimented and militaristic, if said pegasi could be considered anything other than pacifists. Too tired from his ordeal to care, and lungs burning with the sorrowfully scorching icy air, he passed out before he got to see this new atypical stallion guard.
Written by FluffyPony on 12 October 2015
Reconditioning
He was sore in places he didn't even know he had, and that wasn't even the worst of it. When he had shaken most of the cramps out of his fur while in a drowsy waking state, blurry eyes fell on a golden blob that was man-sized. It took him some time to clear his vision before he could properly see what was in front of him and asking so many questions like he wasn't even there. "Who authorized this unplanned reconditioning? She wasn't due for it for another month." The voice was dubious and forceful, filling the rooftop with palpable atmosphere by itself. It took Daniel a moment to come to his senses and see that this tall muscular creature was a palomino pegasi with shimmering silver mane and tail fluttering in the wind like wet spiderwebs.
His indignation at having his schedule messed with was met by nothing less than the rightful respect owed to an apparently honorific social title held by his rank. "It was not planned that Danny would become self-aware so quickly after the transformation. Our only option was to keep him bound until the allotted date, and you know better than any other pegasi alive today that using force is not amongst our way no matter how seeming of convenience." The newly male Pammy interjected, albeit with deliberation and care towards his authority.
If their words were to believed, there were very few choices indeed! The palomino stroked his whiskered chin and seemed to think deeply, perhaps trying to remember his schedule, as there seemed nothing to write a calendar on. "Yes. You have me, there. I must proceed with this and be damned to my prior engagements." His hands were behind his back in a gesture of confidence once he had himself sorted out and made a decision. Once resolved, he turned teal eyes on Daniel's own anxious muzzle. "You there, do you know what is expected of you?" It was a strange question come out of nowhere and directed at someone tossed into a new land with new laws like little more than a newborn. Faced with such frankness, he could only disagree mutely to the declaration and give an agitated swish of his tail while rustling his withers.
The commander-esque pegasi shrugged and sighed in tired resignation, seemingly weary over a routine that was so mundane for him to carry out daily and yet so new and strange for the initiate. "I am Flightmaster Jarvi. I am the reconditioning specialist. When we are done, you will not regret the loss of your humanity ever again. Let us begin." With a speech like that, Daniel was expecting to get zapped by some brainwashing spell or be put into a mind control machine. Instead, the gold pegasi spread his wings and gave them an experimental flap that caused some rather unflattering creaking sounds from bones and muscle that had been injured over a span of years and healed improperly.
He looked on in as much curiosity as pity while Jarvi tested his wings and limbered them up for flight with much more meticulousness and exercise than Pammy and David had done when they had first brought him here to their homeworld. Then again, they were probably younger than him and his job had no doubt led to innumerable accidents since he had to fly so frequently compared to other pegasi who surely had other jobs to do that weren't so flight-centric. "The first step in this process is to spread your wings and become accustomed to their weight and heft on your back. You have some of the instincts, thanks to Night's implanted memories, but you don't have the experience that comes with using them. To borrow a metaphor from you humans, it is like riding a bike and you will never forget again once you learn." It was all good advice, and he followed it as soon as he was reassured that they wouldn't zap him in the head with some memoray or something other scifi-ish.
Feeling the flexible things spread out was indeed a very strange sensation for him. They were light, as the bone structure that supported all those thin membranes and feathers were likely honeycombed to reduce weight. Big and yet nearly weightless, it was not difficult to hold them above his head or give them a few slow flaps as the strong winds fluttered through the feathers on the bottom arranged in neat pointy rows. It almost felt like he was dreaming, if what he suspected were actually happening. "Good. Try and do an eagle hop for me while pushing off against the air with one flap of your wings." Jarvi did not demonstrate the command himself, perhaps wanting the student to impress him on initiative, or more likely, he was saving his energy for something more vigorous.
In any case, Daniel did what he was asked since he didn't really have any reason not to, and thus far they were being agreeable hosts, if a bit pushy. He did the jump fine, but the wingflap was a bit mistimed as one wing was a bit faster than the other and made him come down hard on his left hoof. Something strained for a minute in a tendon, but it didn't hurt too much compared to how bad a sprain could be. "Good first attempt. Humans almost always get the jump right, but the wings are another matter. Only a few of your kind got it perfect the first time, and I don't blame you for your unfamiliarity for having wings. You must understand that the timing is everything. You screw that up and you could get badly hurt or worse. I'm not talking about wingflap timing, either, buttercup. I've had to respond to mid-air collisions and pegasi hitting buildings because they got distracted. It's important you be aware of this now, and hopefully that awareness will keep your head out of the clouds when you are flying, so to speak." Again, numerous good points that Daniel would never have thought about on his own if somefur more experienced hadn't been acute enough to point it out for him. The better question though, if this was what was meant by reconditioning in their species, was he meant to fly?
Written by FluffyPony on 30 November 2015
Learning to Fly
He sighed, cautious in his skepticism. To be asked to fly without a machine seemed odd, even if he had dreams at night over how natural it felt to fly. Although not asked to do so, he continued to flex his wings as he stood there to familiarize himself with their movements so he could more easily time them together in one smooth motion. The strangeness of the situation was wearing off at the least, so he could concentrate on more complicated challenges. "Right then. A little more of that, and we'll continue the lesson with assisted flight. At least they decided to give you a mare body, as the females of our species are more light and lithe than the male counterparts. I might actually be able to carry you without pulling a tendon again." Danny wasn't paying attention on the palomino so much, more focused on his exercises and trying to prepare his timing.
It was quite a surprise to feel something hot brush up against him from behind along with the hot oat-scented breath from the stronger taller male. "I'm going to pick you up around your middle and then we'll continue the lesson, but first you should fold up your wings so they won't get in the way. You can spread them out once I drop you." Just as Danny was folding his wings and digesting the words through his innate nervousness, a cold panic set into his insides when he heard the last three words of the flightmaster's command. "I drop you", in other words, he was going to learn to swim by getting dropped in the deep end of the pool and expected to either drown or figure it out in just a few seconds. He was going to yell out for Jarvi to wait, but his halted response was too late as he felt one strong paw across his navel and another wrapped around his pert tiny aerodynamic breasts.
Whatever perverse things might be implied by such an overt action were soon dispelled by platonic professionalism when the pegasi instructor got down to brass tacks and began his lesson. As with other athletic affairs, this would be more a physical demonstration than so much as an actual lecture. Daniel wondered why Jarvi was so much more buff than other examples of his species, and this was probably why, having the job of carrying another pegasi to add to his own weight. The creaking of tendon and bone in the older pegasus male's wingframe seemed to strain under the additional stress while Daniel closed his eyes against the sharp cold winds buffeting him once they had left the sheltered safety of the landing pad. He came to the conclusion that it had to be so windy to make the act of flight easier, if turbulent. Strong breezes certainly assisted flight and allowed better conservation of energy through gliding, but course corrections would be problematic due to competing wind directions.
The weather up here was much too loud to speak and be heard over, so Jarvi simply gave daniel a few firm squeezes when he had reached an acceptable height. He had the intuition to realize this as the moment of truth, that he would suddenly lose the support holding him up. At first he fought against the grip like a drowning man, wanting desperately not to fall to his death. Jarvi, expecting such a desperate fight, had a knowledge of techniques that would harmlessly disentangle them so the trainee could separate and fall down at their own pace. Once freed, his wings opened like a parachute, but he had struggles in trying to keep them spread and level to catch the updrift geysers of hot air billowing up like random pockets of warmth. He lacked the intuition for it, so he ended up missing more than he caught and was on a downward spinning spiral to the rocky ground below.
By sheerest luck, or perhaps frantic flapping out of fear, he managed to dodge most of the crags and outcroppings of rock on the jagged face of the mountain with only a few pointy edges or dead tree roots poking out snagging at his fur and wings like claws. Half the time, his eyes were tightly shut againstt the onrushing gails fluttering past his effeminate slim body, while the rest of the time was spent on trying to gauge the distance between himself and the structures of the mountain or especially the ground itself. After all, it wasn't the fall he was so much afraid of but the sudden stop once he got there. He opened his eyes a bit wider and tried even harder to flap his wings in unison like a choreographed duet of feathered rainbows, but only clumsily faltered through the exercise as he expected to hit the trees and grassy plains of the valley below any second. His body braced for the impact and the expectation of a lot of pain.
Daniel shouldn't have been so surprised by the promptness of his rescue when Jarvi swooped in like a cross between a bird of prey and Superman to save the day. One minute he was falling flat on his face while flailing around helplessly, and the next minute he was gliding slowly down to the ground in controlled flight once more as those same strong arms grabbed him as gentle as possible about the middle. Once they were safely on their hooves in a grassy plain, the older more experienced pegasi dropped back into his lecture as if nothing had happened and one of his students hadn't just nearly died. ''This is also something you humanfolk tend to not get right the first time. But as they say, try try again, and competence will follow. This is really more of a test anyway, to weed out the prodigies from those that require more focused schooling." During the course of the mini lecture, Daniel was on his hands and knees vomiting both from vertigo and the unexpected fear of death combined with its unexpected reprieve. Going through that whole ordeal was quite traumatic, and he suspected that Jarvi did that to newcomers not to be a smug bastard, but to instill in new pegasi the very real dangers of occupational flying. After all, most people who get on a motorcycle for the first time are convinced of their own sense of immortality and rarely ever learn the truth before it became too late.
Written by FluffyPony on 24 January 2016
A long way up
He was thankfully left alone for a lapse of time where he could get the worst of it out of his system and recover before they did something else even more terrifying. Just as he was coughing, he got a few friendly pats on the back as Jarvi looked on ahead with his sharp equine eyes to study the wind's erratic patterns as it whipped harshly through the crags of the valley. The grasses below him that weren't spoiled by his expectorations looked very sweet and welcoming, but food was the last thing he had on his mind as he waited for both his stomach and heart to settle. "You okay down there, sugar flanks? We got a long way ahead of us to get back up. I mean, you do. There's plenty to eat down here, but if you want to find a safe bed to sleep in come nightfall, I recommend you put some effort into trying." The flightmaster braced his wide stiff body for takeoff and pushed off with a powerful gusty flap of his wings that left Danny alone in little time.
Jarvi was a brown caramel speck against the side of the high mountain face above before the mare could even decide what his options were. Food was indeed plentiful, but that seemed the least of his concerns when he was on an unknown planet and had no clue what to consider hostile. The only hint that he had was that the worst of the offenders would be out in force at night. Given that he didn't even begin to understand what the solar cycles for this world were, he didn't know how much time he had left so there really was none to waste.
Standing came as a triumph by itself, as his lithe legs proved very unsteady even now, though he didn't understand why except for fatigue, as he'd already somewhat learned to use them like balancing on high heels. He had to hold his knees for a second as he doubled over, dizzy with lingering nausea from the vertigo of falling. Maybe he had time for a quick meal, but realized that it might be a bad idea to fly on a full stomach. If he made it back up to the pegasi aerie, he would surely be fed and given accomodation for rest. "If", but what if he failed and ended up stuck down here? How would he survive and avoid whatever horrors lurked down in the valley floor. It was at that moment he remembered something he wish he hadn't: fledgling birds that fell out of the nest and couldn't get back up would often be feathery meals to various predators.
Danny let out a heavy breath, shielding his eyes with both paws from the harsh glare of the sun beating down at him between the cloud cover as he looked back up to the landing platform several miles above. He shouldn't have been able to see it with human eyes, but his new pegasi eyes seemed able to telescope into focus like a sniper's scope lining a target. They probably had to, to avoid aerial predators and things on the ground that could disrupt a grazing herd otherwise too occupied in feasting. "So, that's how it is," and then he paused another moment to gather his failing energies as he came to admire the dark simplicity of this current test of belonging. He supposed that if he couldn't even look after himself, he'd become a liability to the rest of them who would have to divest their energies to help and protect him from things that he wasn't able to do alone.
Would he consider that cruelty? Well, in human society everyone had to perform some kind of function or they were considered useless, a drain on welfare and the economy. It could also be that he was jumping to conclusions and that they'd come down to get him if he failed to rise to the occasion, but could he really tempt fate and count on that kind of good will? Well, okay, it was a long way up but if he tried at it, he could get to the top eventually. If he had the knack for landings, he could even take short breaks on the rocky outrcoppings between flights on his way to the top.
Remembering his bad luck that had him end up down here in the first place, Danny spent at least twenty minutes or so exercising his wings trying to get their movements synchronized with each other. This was of utmost importance, as his flight would be dangerously unsteady if he couldn't get the flapping into a uniform pattern. Normally, he assumed that this was probably handled on an instinctual level for other flighty species, but the overall magical nature of pegasi probably meant that any matter of instinct in that regard was probably still fresh in the genetic pathways and probably not something that could become reflex immediately except through effort and exercise alone. Things like breathing and walking became matters of muscle memory that one didn't have to think about to perform. Maybe in the same manner that one learned to type without actually looking at the placement of the keys every single time, perhaps one could also commit that pattern of movements and knowledge for flight to reflexes without serious thought needing to dictate sluggish responses to the act.
Either way he thought about it, reflexes or practice, flapping in unison did gradually become easier. As he lent power to the movements, he found himself hovering for seconds at a time. Each attempt had him hanging off the meadow a foot or so in the air a bit longer until he was surprised that he could stay aloft for a whole minute and showed no discernible signs of strain or tiring. Perhaps he could make it all the way to the top without pitstops, but that might prove an unnecessary risk to someone so unaccustomed to their craft. He had to do this timely and cautiously. Any mistakes could likely see him breaking a wing and tumbling to his doom. "I'll see you there." The next time he hovered, his hooves didn't come back down for a whole five minutes, for he was too busy flapping to a low peeking cliff like a sharp toe poking out of the vast tallness of the mountain.
Written by FluffyPony on 24 April 2016
Sleep
Nightfall was slowly creeping, and he was right to be afraid. By the time Danny/Night Rider had rested and flown his way in a steady pattern at least five times, looking down had rewarded him with an intimidating view. It wasn't the ever increasing heights that terrified him, but the strange lazy glowing yellow lights awaiting in the darkened black sea of rolling grass as nearly all light vacated the pasture save starlight spearing through the clouds. At first he thought they were fireflies, except they didn't move or fly about. Once he noticed that they came in immobile pairs, he put the pieces together and realized they were eyes sharply glaring up at him awaiting his possible failure. His pegasi instincts infused into his DNA had told him what his intellect as a human watching far too many nature shows already knew: only predators had that kind of night sight.
So, he had an audience. As long as he concentrated on the task at hoof, he wouldn't even need to worry. At the very least, he'd made the right call by leaving that death trap behind as soon as he could. He took another look up above and compared it with his current progress, realizing that it would take him several hours to make it back up to the top with the method he was using. No doubt he would have to find someplace safe amongst the rocky crags to sleep before long, as his body did not yet know the fitness that other pegasi took for granted. It would be terrible to lose his mind and pass out from exhaustion if he did the stupid hasty thing by trying to get back up there with one straight shot. Besides, this was a test, not a race: Jarvi mentioned nothing about a time limit.
Danny wanted to take his own advice to sleep, but thus far all of the places he'd landed were barely wide enough to stand on, and his eyes weren't as good at night as those creatures lurking below had it. It would be terrible luck to accept this narrow ledge for rest, only to roll over in his precarious slumber right into the clutches of whatever those eyes belonged to. Wolves? Big cats? It was impossible to know unless he managed to ask one of the pegasi, or find out the hard way. He looked around with a growing hopelessness, his eyes picking up a strange waxy spherical glint from somewhere up above close by. The only reason he hadn't noticed it before was that it hugged into a side of the mountain that was a bit tucked in.
He resolved himself to one last leap of flight to see what this thing was. When the mare landed, he nearly tripped over something thick and gnarled in a random way: a tapering root as thick as an arm and outstretching itself exposed from the side of the cliff like a bony hand with thousands of tiny fingers. How an apple tree managed to grow on a mountain, he had no idea. Perhaps freak chance or creative gardening by pegasi tenders to afford a resting place for fliers who needed a treat, it was another one of those peculiar yet convenient mysteries he'd probably never remember to find the answer for.
It was a convenience he wouldn't take for granted, as this angled platform boasted not just a source of food, but honest to goodness dirt. When every other part of the mountain was sharp angled peaks of rocks jutting out and piles of unsteady pebbles littering the area underfoot, it would prove a bounty for a weary form to find a restful sleep without worry of discomfort or tumble. The naturalistic manicuring of this somewhat secretive location lent more towards the argument that this space was intentionally designed with this level of basic convenience. Daniel had certainly heard of worse places for rock climbers to find solace from a storm, so this convenient space was very atypical for the terrain.
He went for an apple, a low hanging branch within easy reach due to the heavy fruits weighing it down. There was probably three or so on this one segment, perhaps more that the thick cover of leaves concealed. The pegasi could already smell the fresh wet sweetness hiding just beneath the thin layer of greenish skin, the bite that followed rending the delicate flesh of the crunchy fruit was rapture even as the copious juice gushed down his throatfur and bosom. Hunger quickly followed the wholehearted nibble and sent him further into equine ecstasy as the natural sugars made their way into his system. Althought he felt his energy returning and felt a burst of spastic activity coming upon him, the human part of his dualistic mind knew this jittering exciting feeling to be fleeting and that it would be unwise to leave the safety of the tree until he'd had rest and there was proper light out to see.
He was far too invigorated to sleep while the fresh meal worked its way through his slim body, so sleep wasn't going to see him as swift as he'd hoped. Danny lingered in the twilight of the breezy night, laying against the roughly textured bark of the tree's trunk while he stared into the sky and let his mind empty of all but the most concerning thoughts. Everything was dark that could be seen, the moon's light fleeting as each herd of clouds stampeded past its silvery shafts of white curtains. Dark, but certainly not desolate: aside from the sweeping caress of the wind taunting its way through his pointed ears, there was also unmistakeable insect and small animal noises, but nothing like what he'd ever heard before. They weren't scary or anything, but he found himself confused as he struggled to imagine what an animal or bug looked like that made one of those sounds. Tomorrow, there'd be a lot to learn, good flying the least of those concerns if this planet's strange ecosystem was any indication. He hoped the dreams that followed his imagination would not entail further bouts with insanity.
Written by FluffyPony on 29 April 2016
Owl and Spider
A promise is a bond. A lie is a shackle that weighs down the heart. These were the strange phrases echoing in his thoughts like a catchy song Danny couldn't forget no matter how he tried. The main problem was that these peculiar ravings were so simplistic that they couldn't be anything except the stark truth, if a bit childish. The odd words hung on every breath like syrup, the pegasi trying to speak them himself at times without realizing it. Last time he remembered resting under an apple tree, but now he loitered in a foggy wasteland where nothing could be seen further than a few feet ahead. As confusing as he was to be trapped here, it wasn't particularly scary; sometimes comfort and safety could be found in the strangest of oblivions.
The absence of anything, perhaps it was sweet because there was nothing here to confront or challenge him that he didn't like. There was a truth he had to find, Danny realized, and that was impossible to do in a void where nothing existed. If he awoke without finding it, he would be fine, but he couldn't help but feel as if a significant part of his being were missing. Shouting into the void would gain him no result, as there was nothing to call attention to. At least, he thought he was alone in the milky tinged darkness and dust motes scattered through the air like dull stars.
A dry noise echoed in the air, harsh staccato ripples into the path of the mind's eye. He didn't know what it was at first, captivated by a grey dusty blur approaching him from directly ahead, a slow loud flurry of elegance in motion. It was much slower than normal, giving him the rarest of glimpses, the pegasi scraping his hooves along the ground as he edged over to the vague shape of rustling feathers until the form became clearer to him as his eyes readjusted. He was looking at an owl flying in slow motion; the wings flicking in a circular motion as the joints in the shoulders seemed to dislocate or twist with every flap. As this was the only other creature in this hollow realm to appreciate, it seemed obvious that this was where he was meant to learn.
He took the opportunity to notice every detail and fault of the motion and path of the poor owl as its trajectory was isolated in time, a migration of minute long wing flaps and heaving rotund feathered chest. The legs were tucked up and out of the way, ready to make themselves felt when the predatory creature was on the prowl. The tail was outspread with its plumage of feathers like a paper fan, the nonexistent breeze catching the feathers on the tailtip and making them vibrate as if stiff starched cotton streamers. These were all things he had already known or seen for himself by watching videos on the internet out of curiosity, the disjointed flapping of wings hardly a secret.
Although trying to understand what he was seeing, Danny just didn't get the point of it. It usually took a certain level of boredom to give study the kind of intensity it required, but in this case, that simply wasn't true. This opportunity at study was more inspiring than anything else, and certainly had him pouring himself at every aspect as he fell slowly into a trance of concentration, feeling him falling into the owl as though from a cliff overlooking a great abyss. It was disorienting at first, the way his eyes seemed to unfocus while his head spinned into the void that sucked him into a gauntlet of ideas and concepts that he'd never thought of before, at least, not with a human mind. Slipping into the instincts of the owl was different, as he began to think not as a man who had sprouted wings, but a bird that had been born with them along with a driving genetic instinct that could not be taught or learnt by practice.
The joy and discovery of flight attained by humankind was akin to mockery when compared to those for which it became natural. His promise was a bond to ancestry, to those passing their physical and mental traits ever selflessly to countless offspring throughout millenia. Whatever had been born aloft, had almost known by magic how to use those gifts fluidly, for the punishment of failing this cruelest of lessons was not to have a second chance, but death at the jaws and claws of an awaiting jealous predator waiting far below. Danny was getting it, was understanding the complexitiy of the boon and curse of wings. To be agile in flight was a blessing, and not to gain said ability with their wings would be death, oblivion, an end to the dream. The apple tree was too convenient; not planted by any pegasi worth their wings: he had to wake up, NOW!
Danny managed to stir awake from his sleep with enough clarity of wit to realize the trap about to be sprung. A big outling of a hairy fat body, little shiny eyes, legs the size of bamboo spears shimmering by the dim lights of the starts. It was a giant spider sentient enough to plant a sapling in a place that might attract the fledgling pegasi to rest and let down their guard, and if he'd been just a bit more tired or preoccupied studying the wrong aspects of the owl or even ignoring it completely, he would be dead. It was a sobering thought, but of minor consequence compared to his current foe.
Just as a spindly claw stabbed out for him, Danny was already gone and flying back up to the summit amidst the hisses and clicks of anger left his his hasteful wake. It took a brush with one of his natural predators to finally realize the hidden message of the owl, as well of flight: A promise is a bond, a lie is a shackle that weighs down the heart. The promise of flight was that it was the only thing that would keep him safe, as long as he respected its power as he worked to get stronger and push himself to greater stamina. The lie of false safety on the ground is a shackle that weighs down the heart and makes one a fool, sometimes a dead one, as well. This is the one golden truth that every pegasi learns or perishes.
Written by FluffyPony on 16 December 2016