Wingbeats

12: Turns out... Everyone's Nuts!

The mare directed (okay, manhandled my freaked out self) towards a soft cushion of straw and sort of shoved me into a sitting position as my mind started to shift back into the "on" position. She smiled creepily at me.

"Whyle requested a special treatment for you honey, something a little more feminine. You're going to look absolutely beautiful when we're done!" She seemed so excited at the prospect, but my stomach dropped.

Um, no, hell no, I had no idea what they're little "treatment" entailed, but I'd seen enough of their artificial creepiness to know that it was not something I wanted to experience.

"Let's get started!" She clacked her hooves together and I was swarmed by a mass of what appeared to be owls holding- who knows what they were holding actually, I was panicking too much.

"Okay, nope, no, nope nope nope- I'm outta here, this is a huge no go!" I scrambled to my feet.

"But you have to stay! You have to look beautiful!" the artificial mare chirped.

I just gave her a massive wide eyed glare, going slack jawed. "You're all insane! Do you even know how freaky you look?!" I shook my head, "I've made a terrible mistake; Angel out!"

Unfortunately for me, the stupid people inside of this spa hut had other ideas. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck, muttered 'aw crap', and felt the drugs once again turn my limbs to noodles. Darn you magical pegasus-drugging unicorns.

DARN YOU.

...

Nox crawled to the surface of consciousness, feeling soft pine needles beneath him as the world came back to focus. He opened his eyes to find himself lying in unfamiliar forest, far away from Stenmark's establishment, so far away that the trees around him seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at their freedom from the Unicorn King's grip. Nox sucked in a free breath and forced his muscles to bring him to his feet in one gigantic shove.

He stood there, shaking, for a little while and thinking something felt wrong, and then it dawned upon him; it wasn't that something felt wrong- it was an absence of the agony he had been feeling in his wings before he blacked out. Nox's head whipped around so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash.

He let out a half horrified gasp as he stared intently at his wings.

Not a feather remained on them. In place of a single wing arm there were now the long ribbing fingers of a dragon's wing, complete with smooth leathery skin stretched between each finger and talons tipping each as well as the top of his wing like a massive hooked claw. He unfolded them gently and they rippled with muscle, feeling powerful and wonderfully painless.

Nox stifled his fear and smacked both of his wings out powerfully, creating a massive sheet of wind that stirred up his mane and sent him snorting with excitement; the skin stretched taught between the bones flexed as if to catch the wind in its embrace. Without really thinking, he started to run, picking up speed and putting out his wings out to grip the air lift him off.

The canopy of leaves rushed to meet him as he took off into the air, climbing quickly and bursting through the foliage into the sunlight, wind whipping across his face. Blue sky greeted him like an old friend as he soared above the forest below him, letting out a wild shrieking neigh.

He was finally home again, up in the sky where he belonged.

...

I woke up to find Whyle's face inches from mine.

"Do you not understand the concept of personal space you freak?!" I squirmed backwards from him fast enough to make Secretariat jealous and managed to get just far enough away from my stalker to leap to my hooves. Whyle advanced towards me with slow, deliberate steps and I heard the 'stranger danger' alarms go off inside of my head, (hello, earth to Angel, THIS GUY IS NUTS!) that sort of thing.

Sweet mother of Pegasi, why must I end up with the creepy ones? I kept inching back as Whyle just kept prancing towards me, my hindquarters finally smacking into the live wooden wall of the tree house-hut-building we were in. I had no idea how high up we were, but I noted to my left a window large enough for a pegasus to fit through (or a unicorn to get shoved out of, depends on where this was heading...) and I pegged it for an emergency exit despite the fact that my wings were still firmly clamped to my ribs.

"You're stunning Angel, absolutely stunning." He nickered softly.

Which, knowing Whyle's most likely version of beautiful, alternately meant I looked like a my little pony or a horse dressed in drag- take your pick, either way I'd just had the worst makeover in my life.

"I'll take your word for it since I'm too horrified to look." I yelped, inching discreetly to the left... and my escape hatch.

Whyle followed me, flicking his ears sweetly in my direction, arching his neck proudly. "It was your fire that first attracted me to you Angel, and now here we are," he gestured to the lavishly built (or would that be grown since this is a living tree?) room we were in, "together at last as mates. Our pairing will unite the king-"

I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "Hold up, stop the train! I met you like, three days ago- max- I don't know you, or like you for that matter, and suddenly we're engaged? Not to mention I'm being held against my will and you've done who knows what to my brother. What are you?!" I gave him a sickened incredulous glare, flattening my ears out to either side, "INSANE?!"

He looked nonplussed. "My father has given his blessing. We are to be mates; it is our destiny, your destiny. There is no escaping it Angel."

... Yeah, I was going to go with insane... and completely lacking in social skills.

"Good luck with that," I whirled around, diving out the window before Whyle could stop me.