It was early. Lorraine was still sleeping. As was Gilda.
John trotted into the living room. Alastor was in the kitchen standing by the stove, waiting for the kettle to boil. The deer looked over as the smol bug passed. "Enjoy your walk." The deer said quietly with a nod and a slightly tired smile.
"Thanks." John replied with a smile as he trotted towards the front door. He reared up and, after a few attempts, he got the door open. He made sure to shut the door behind him quietly, before he made his way down the small path towards the road proper.
He paused, taking a breath of the cool morning air. He let out a small sigh. Then, instead of taking a left to head into town, he took a right, heading towards the forest. He paused by Fluttershy's cottage. He noted that she was doing her morning animal feeding. He paused to wave at her. She waved back, but couldn't really say anything as she had a basket held in her teeth.
John continued on, leaving the mare to her morning duties. Beyond a faint breeze, and the chirping of morning birds, it was relatively quiet. He honestly missed having a phone to play music on. He hummed. 'Maybe I should get some headphones and a mp3 player or something.' He thought to himself as he walked under the boughs of the trees that marked the entrance to the Everfree Forest.
In the morning light, the forest was downright peaceful. The leaves were starting to finally turn. There were a few already on the ground. There was the occasional bird call and the creaking of branches, but the forest didn't feel too different from Ponyville, if he was being perfectly honest. He paused his walk as a manticore walked across the path in front of him. It glared at him, but he didn't move. The manticore snorted at him, then made a gestured with its head. Three manticore kittens crossed the path and walked into the brush on the other side of the path. The manticore mother gave another snort at John, before she followed her kittens into the brush.
John smiled as he continued down the path. Nature was quite fascinating, especially in Equestria. He kept his pace until he saw a break in the trees. Said break was the cliff that looked over the rest of the forest. It was a gorgeous view. If he squinted, he could just make out the castle in the distance.
He took a breath then looked down at the clearing below. "Okay..." He said to himself as his wings started to buzz. He took a few steps back. His heart started to race. He narrowed his eyes and snorted before he charged towards the cliff.
He leapt.
He hung suspended in the air for a moment, feeling almost weightless. Then his started to slowly fall. The buzzing of his wings were only keeping him from not falling to harm or death. He really didn't want to think about actively flying. Just focusing on not falling was enough.
Thankfully, hovering to the ground was a easy enough process. He just had to wait and concentrate on keeping his wings going.
On reaching the ground he had to and catch his breath for a bit. It felt a little like jogging. At least that's the closest thing he could compare the feeling too. He was also very happy that he had more lung capacity than his previous body had.
Finally rested enough he got up and moved to the center of the clearing. He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. As he kept his slow breathing, his normally jumbled thoughts began to align and focus. He thought of Bon Bon. What she looked like. Her cream coat. Her pink and blue mane.
A warmth welled up inside him. It radiated from his core and spread outwards.
~Fwoosh~
He felt the flames ripple over him. He saw the green light even through his closed eyes. The change took only a moment.
He opened his eyes and looked down at his hooves. They were now slender, more feminine, and cream colored. However, there didn't seem to be any change in height. It was odd but not really anything to worry about. She smiled as she did her best not to think about the fact that he was now female.
She closed her eyes again and started to breath slowly again. She felt herself relax. Her muscles un-tensed. The warmth grew in her chest again.
~Fwoosh~
There was something almost comfortingly warm about changing back to his original form. It felt... familiar. Like every other form was ever so slightly off so he didn't feel quite him when he wasn't in his normal smol bug form.
The practice went well. Testing out changing into a mare body had been a success. Just knowing he could do it was enough for him.
A scent of fallen leaves and dead wood suddenly blew past his nose. As quick as it came, it was gone. Yet something suddenly tickled at the back of his mind.
The Blightwolf.
He closed his eyes and grit his teeth a bit.
Lorraine had be hurt. He did nothing. Yes, he was helpless at the time, but... he could have done something.
A growl escaped his throat.
The Blightwolf had just sat there, waiting. Like it was gloating in its accomplishment of hurting his love.
His face twisted into a snarl as he felt the heat build in his core. He started to pant, breathing in heavy quick breaths.
It wasn't warm.
It was burning. A raging fire of emotion.
It swelled, ripping through him in a blast wave of rage.
He felt a change overtake him.
He was growing.
His mind focused on the decayed creature. He couldn't even get any kind of revenge because Celestia already killed it!
He felt the change finishing in a roaring explosion of flames. His eyes snapped open. The tree tops were now far below him. His claws clenched and un-clenched as he panted in rage.
He threw back his head and roared. The unearthly, shrieking cry echoed across the forest, causing birds to fly from their nests.
'My son, rage like this won't get you anywhere.'
A calm, male voice, that John only vaguely recognized, cut through his rage like a ship through a raging stormy sea.
John blinked. Like that, his rage was gone. He looked around, only seeing the treetops, the fleeing birds, and the castle in the distance. He could honestly get there in a couple minutes if he decided to walk while he was this size. Though he didn't want to damage the forest too much.
'There you go. That's better. Don't worry about what could have been, my boy. Focus on what you can do better in the future.'
John nodded. 'Who are you?' He thought.
'Don't you worry about that. We'll meet eventually. Just know that you're not alone. You have friends to talk with about things that bother you, whether you believe they do or not. May my gloriously incandescent sun shine upon you and always fill your path with warmth and light.'
John looked around again. Nothing. He looked up at the still rising sun. He squinted. The made a hiss and clapped a claw over his eyes. He had seriously just looked at the sun directly.
A rumbling laugh left him as he felt the flames, once again warm and comforting, begin to ripple over him.
As he returned to smol bug form, he laughed at his own derpiness. He sighed, smiling. He felt better, but maybe he should talk with someone about how he actually felt about the whole thing with Lorraine and the Blightwolf.
He looked around again, he was now in a crater. A crater that just so happened to be where one of his feet had been. He chuckled and rolled his eyes as he turned and walked up the crater's incline and back towards the cliff. The trek back up would be a little slower, but with his wings he could Skyrim his way up the cliff with only minimal effort.
As he began his climb, the only thing that bothered him was, who or what had spoken to him?
"John!" Fluttershy rushed up to him as he passed by her house. "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah, I'm alright." John leaned away as the mare got a little closer than he was comfortable with. "Why?"
"Didn't you hear that roar? There was something huge in the Everfree. None of the pegasi could get a good look at it though. And nobody wanted to go into the Everfree either." Fluttershy said, looking quite worried. "It disappeared not long after appearing though. From what Rainbow Dash said, it had to have been massive because she only saw what she thought was it's upper-half. It disappeared before she could even reach the treeline."
Fuck. John thought to himself.
"Oh! Yeah. I kinda hid behind a tree. I have no idea where it came from." He shook his head. Why would he want to worry the town even more? He was sure that letting the town know that he could basically turn into a Kaiju was probably bad and might stain Lorraine and his reputation even more, especially with the mares. "I didn't get any kind of look at it though, just... fuck that."
"Well, I'm glad you're okay." I think the whole town is worried.
'More fuck "Well, I think I'll go check with the friends at home." John said with a nod. "Thanks for worrying about me."
"You're welcome. Be careful anyway John. Tell Lorraine hi." Fluttershy said as the smol bug walked away.
When he got in... Everything was normal. It was still dark in the house, save for the kitchen light. Alastor was sitting at the table with a steaming coffee cup. He looked over at John as the bug came in and sat across from him.
"Have fun out there?" The deer grinned.
"Eh... Ish?" John shrugged.
"Don't worry, I soundproofed the house not long ago, just in case anything tried to wake us up to oearly." The deer chuckled.
"Ooookay?" John blinked. "Thanks for that."
"Of course." Alastor nodded. "How was being a giant monster?"
John blinked, he felt his cheeks heat up. "Oh... It was... different?"
"Don't worry, I won't snitch to Lorraine. Just please let her know that you can do that at some point in the future. If anything, so you don't scare her by snapping at something and destroying the house by turning into some giant radioactive lizard." The deer chuckled at took a sip from his cup.
"Oh I will when she's up." John nodded.
There was suddenly a flash of light. When John blinked the stars from his eyes, Luna was in his face. "Jonathan! Are you alright! We could feel you from Canterlot!"
"I'm okay! I'm okay!" The smol bug squeaked. "Well, kind of."
"Jonathan, it is dangerous to suppress your feelings. Especially when you are capable of turning into a great beast when angered." Luna nodded, taking a step back. "Would you like to talk?"
"I-" John blinked. Then he shook his head and sighed. He smiled at the Princess. "You know, I'd actually love to. Talking sounds great."
"Then we shall go get the coffee!" Luna said happily as she levitated the bug onto her back. "Come Jonathan we shall have coffee and chat."
"Okay!" John yelped, scrambling to hold on to the Princess as she trotted brusquely towards the door.
"If the ladies get up, I'll let them know you're out on a date with a Princess." Alastor called after the two.
"Alastor, don't you da-" The front door shut.