//------------------------------// // CH 31 (Physical and Shapeshifting) // Story: Accepting Change // by drFraud //------------------------------// Patchwork   “Have you rested?” Celestia asked me after teleporting back to our impromptu arena. Putting the empty love bottle to the side, and reminding myself to throw it away later, I stopped for a moment to take note of my current state; fully fed, full love stores, mana reserves restored. After I was satisfied, I nodded my head and walked over to our starting area. I had quite a bit of time to think about how to approach this challenge I placed on myself. I was focused. Celestia ignited her horn and started removing her peytral and her hoof-guards placing them on the side and putting them under a shield bubble. I raised my eyebrow and she cleared her throat after standing in front of me. “This second round will be physical only. Same rules apply, begin when ready.” Snorting loudly, I lowered my stance and opened my wings. We both stood still for a few seconds gauging our movements. Not spotting any openings I decided to make my own. Buzzing my wings loudly I propelled myself forward as fast as I could aiming for her legs. Just as I was about to reach her, she opened her wings and jumped over me, buffeting me lightly with her wake. Digging my claws into the dirt I swiftly turned around and chased after her. I wasn’t as fast as her, but I was better at air maneuvering. Celestia dodged my swipes and kicks without fighting back until I managed to clip her hind leg with a punch. She then twisted around and threw a swift hind kick to my chest that I barely managed to block. The kick was powerful enough to push me back into the ground with my arms tingling from the impact. I frowned but jumped quickly back into the air. I swiftly closed the distance between us throwing a punch the moment I got into range. Celestia twisted her head to the side avoiding my punch and throwing her wing wrist at my head. Raising both of my claws I caught the wing and, grabbing tightly, I pulled the wing and Celestia along with it to the ground. I felt bad at her gasp of pain, but I grit my teeth and threw her to the ground when I was close enough to it. Just before she hit the ground though, she pulled her wings tightly to herself and hit the ground in a roll. Chasing after her, I had to pull back when she jumped to her hooves in a whirlwind of feathers. She then dashed towards me and I had to dive to the side to avoid her. She did manage to clip my hind legs with her wing, but I was able to keep steady, turning myself around and running after her. This time she held her ground and while I managed to get a few solid hits the few she got me with shook me to the core. Backing away I shook my head to clear the daze and started circling her. Celestia pawed at the ground, snorting loudly. Taking a deep breath, I lowered my stance and jumped into the fray. Trying to play it smart, I got up on my hind legs and started to throw punches boxing style keeping a close distance to her with my wings. It seemed to catch her off guard based on her widened eyes and frantic dodging. But she quickly got her bearings and jumped back out of my range. I planned for this however and immediately engaged my wings swiftly closing the distance and surprising her with an uppercut that struck true knocking her head up. I was about to celebrate my short victory, only for Celestia to follow through with a quick flip back, clipping my arms with the front of her hind hoof. Taking a step back I raised my arms in a block the very moment I noticed Celestia making a quick hop to close in and her hind hoof exploded with the speed I did not expect. My entire body vibrated with the force of the kick and I felt myself fly backward. Closing my elytra before I landed on my back, with my arms stinging badly. Raising my head, I was shocked that she pushed me well over ten meters away. Looking over my arms I wasn’t surprised that the chitin was badly cracked and oozing greenish blood in a few places. “I believe that we had enough, for now, my dear.” Celestia quickly donned her finery while approaching me. I was still lying on my back, looking over the incredible damage she caused me with a single kick. It wasn’t difficult to admit to myself that I was slightly terrified of this mare’s strength. Rolling back on my stomach I gingerly stood up. “Hmm, I think I may have over did it,” Celestia looked at my injury with a sad expression. “Do you think you can heal this?” “With enough love and a bit of time, yes,” I nodded my head and sat down removing a bit of pressure off my damaged plates. Summoning several bottles of love, Celestia nodded, “Very well. Heal yourself up and we will resume tomorrow. I doubt your plates will fully heal in a few minutes.” I opened a bottle and started drinking, forcing my body into overdrive with both my magic and my physical manipulation to heal the broken damage without issues. I reminded myself that according to Mantis my ability to self-heal is beyond rare from his experience. I helped teach him a few things but I’ve yet to see him use them. “Patchwork? Are you listening to me, dear?” I looked at her with a bottle still in my mouth and a raised eyebrow. She giggled and turned to leave. “I said that we will continue this tomorrow. We have one more aspect of your abilities that I wish to see, then I will give you my opinion on where you need to improve and some advice along with extra training.” “I… Okay.” I felt a bit drained with additional work piled up on top of me, but I needed more help if I was to challenge Chrysalis. After finishing off the rest of the love bottles I picked up the empty trash and made my way to the castle to dump the waste. I was nearing the end of my first year in Equestria. Outside of my ‘prison’ anyway. … I was sitting in the practice area watching the sun slowly move from morning to midday. Yesterday was painful but educational. It showed me where my faults are, and also gave me a few ideas on how to fix them. But if Chrysalis was as strong as Celestia, then I may as well already give up. I violently shook my head after that thought. I would not allow myself to even entertain it. I WILL defeat Chrysalis and then I would drag that parasite out of her kicking and screaming if I have to. ‘That’s how it probably likes it anyway’, I thought in a huff. Looking over the area we sparred in yesterday I was tracing the damage Celestia did. Large gashes in the dirt from her magic blasts and deep hoofprints and small craters where her punches and kicks missed. “I suggest you don’t compare yourself to me, my dear,” Celestia spoke behind me. Turning my head in her direction I noticed that Shield Strike has joined us today. She looked like she just woke up and there was a blue mist coming from her mouth that slowly got smaller the longer she breathed. “Captain, you are gonna watch us today?” “Ye, wan’ ta see wat’cha got bug-colt,” She yawned making her way to the base of the castle. Reaching the base, she waved her hoof in my direction the laid down in the large shadow. Waiving back, I turned to look for Celestia, “How did you know what I was thinking?” I asked spotting her not far from me, examining one of the larger gashes. “I did not, you were so concentrated on the damage to the landscape I just made a guess.” Raising her head, she made her way towards me, stopping just a few hoof steps away. Shrugging I sat down and waited for her. She removed her peytral and hoof guards, placing them next to Shield who barely moved. “This time I wish to see you fight with your shapeshifting ability. I will use whatever is at my disposal to defend myself this time though.” I nodded my head and she reciprocated. Lowering her stance, Celestia ignited her horn. “Do not hold back on my account though. Use whatever creature you can, whatever monster you know of, and do your very best. Begin when ready.” The fact that she entered a fighting stance told me that she did not expect an easy fight. I took a deep breath, letting it out through the nose. I closed my eyes and listened to the wind around letting it calm me down and ready me for an actual fight. When I was ready, I opened my eyes and immediately transformed into a titanic snake, whipping my tail to the side, and smashing it into Celestia. She apparently did not expect such an attack, not its speed as I managed to land a clean hit launching her to the side. Straightening herself and spreading her wings wide Celestia swiftly came to stop by burying her legs into the dirt creating more furrows, and immediately firing several magic blasts at me the moment she locked on to me. Slithering between the magic attacks I closed the distance between us transforming into a rhinoceros and slamming in a golden shield that barely held me at full speed, cracking, and spider webbing only to snap into a solid state after a flash of her horn. Celestia frowned and I was suddenly thrown to the side with a powerful strike that looked like a hammer from my periphery. Transforming into the first bird that came to mind (a brown owl), I pumped my wings righting myself and swiftly ascending while dodging thin beams of red magic. Reducing my size as much as I could I transformed into a bit larger Colibri bird and flinching at the pressure from being squeezed like that, but I managed to slip away from the beams of magic giving me some breathing room. Noticing that I ended up some distance from Celestia I landed and transformed into myself waiting for her next move. Celestia raised her head high and her horn glowed brightly. I felt the temperature around me drop sharply and before I even got to feel the chill properly a sound like a gong sounded out and I jumped to the side without thinking barely managing to dodge a large block of ice. Without looking back at the ice block, I made a mad dash towards Celestia transforming into a cheetah closing the distance between us in a flash. Jumping into the air to avoid another block of ice that flew at me I transformed, mid-air, into an elephant landing on top of a hastily raised golden shield that barely held for a moment before shattering while Celestia dove to the side avoiding my bulk. I did flinch though when a powerful blast of magic struck me, causing me to tilt slightly. Shifting back into myself I jumped into the air nearly getting hit with a large golden spear. Dodging two more spears in the air I buzzed my wings loudly and turned to Celestia only to get a string of magic wrapped around one of my claws. Pulling her head back and with a flash of her horn I was pulled towards her at incredible speed but I had a plan. Pulling my free claw back I used up quite a bit of my resin in a small active transformation that I knew Celestia wouldn’t expect. When I was close enough to her and when she lowered her horn, I opened my wings slowing down significantly but rather painfully. Raising her head slightly Celestia’s eyes widened but it was too late. My left claw clenched in a fist, now much larger and covered in additional plating slammed into her head. My stomach dropped when I saw her fly to the side and bounce off the ground a couple of times landing well over twenty meters away in a heap. “WOOHOO!” Strike whooped which got me to look at her in shock, “That’s how ya do it bug-colt.” I was going to ask her if she is crazy, but a sharp spike in temperature got me to turn my head and look at where Celestia was. Before I even knew what was happening, I found myself being dragged towards her standing form with horrifying force and stopping mere centimeters from her face. In the next blink, I was fully encased in a sphere of tightly packed dirt with only my head sticking out. I tried to wiggle but it was pointless. Raising my eyes to her I saw her chew something for a moment only to spit out a bloody tooth. There was also a decent bruise forming on the right of her face along with a cut on her cheek that was swiftly closing the longer I looked at it. “Oi! Bug-colt, get yer act together or she’ll bury ya!” Shield’s shout shook me out of my stupor and with a flash of fire, I absorbed the rock surrounding me transforming into the largest green dragon I could, dwarfing Celestia. But before I could act a blast of golden magic impacted my chest lifting me off the ground and launching me backward. Transforming back into myself I backflipped and with a buzz of my wings, I landed heavily just in time to be able to dodge another blast of magic. My jaw dropped when several weapons made of golden magic flew towards me forcing me to start dodging franticly swiftly switching between several active transformations that thickened my carapace so I can absorb some of the blows. Landing on my back after a clip from a golden mace I scrambled to get up barely avoiding another blow from a hammer, but I did catch a beam of fire magic that shoved me deep into the ground. “Had enough my dear?” Celestia asked but I barely heard it from my panting. Taking a few deep breaths to steady my breathing I dug myself up from the hole spotting her not far from me. I got a few more gulps of air and then dashed towards the white alicorn forcing her to lower her head with her horn glowing brightly. Suddenly I found myself landing heavily on the ground tied down with several golden chains that barely allowed me to wiggle. I thrashed for a good minute with no progress only to stop when the chains tightened around me forcing some of the air out of my lungs. In a bit of panic, I did the only thing that was left to me. Opening my mouth, I took aim and with a searing gurgle from my stomach, I used my trump card. With a powerful crack that caused my ears to vibrate, I launched a lightning bolt from my mouth striking and exploding against a hastily raised golden shield. I did not know if I caused some damage but the chains disappeared and I slowly got up coughing all the way. The temperature jumped up again causing me to sweat and with a powerful flap of white wings the smoke cleared revealing the Sun Princess, but with an additional large bruise that started spreading along her right side. “That was not shapeshifting,” Celestia took a step forward only to disappear in a flash of light. Before I could even find her I got struck by a powerful flash from my left side throwing me into the air. Opening my wings, I managed to stabilize myself, but I was shaking from the blow. Barely managing to spot a beam of fire I dodged to the side only to get struck from the side I moved to, shoving me into a spiral and forcing me to close my wings before they got damaged. From the periphery, I was able to see Celestia but a strike at my side knocked me to the ground, bouncing off of it, and pushing the air out of my lungs. I smacked hard into a wall from one of the side towers and my head started buzzing while the whole world wobbled. Landing hard with a painful grunt I rolled to the side and stayed there breathing heavily. “Patc… work… Pa… Patchwork?” Celestia's muzzle was in front of me and it took some effort to focus on her. “Are you okay?” I tried to lift my head, but all I got was a twitch. Celestia frowned and disappeared from my vision only to return a moment later with a pink pill held in her magic. Opening my mouth with some effort the pill was popped in and it spoke something of my levels of exhaustion that I hardly even felt the rush of love. Suddenly I felt myself being lifted in a golden aura and turned around like I was on a podium causing me to raise an eyebrow when I faced Celestia. “I was just checking that there is no severe damage to your chitin,” She gently placed me down on my side. “I don’t see anything that needs immediate attention. I’ll leave you be for a minute while you heal yourself up. Then we will talk.” I nodded my head and closed my eyes focusing on healing myself. … It took well over fifteen minutes to fix the cracks and splints in my chitin as well as to be able to stand back up. I would probably take another day to fix the entirety of the damage. Spotting Celestia and Strike in the shade of the castle with a veritable feast on a low table I slowly hobbled my way there. Shield had her head buried in a salad and her wife ate daintily from her own bowl. I sat down far from both of them and ignited my horn picking up various sweet stuff from the offered bowls and piling them onto my plate. “As it stands,” Celestia spoke between bites, “You have decent instincts when it comes to combat, but you are hesitant to hurt your opponent.” “Ye, like ya had ‘er on the ropes before she smushed ya,” Shield spoke with a full mouth earning a ‘bap’ on the head with a wing from Celestia. “Manners, dear. But yes, she is correct. You had a clear advantage at one point but decided to stay your hoof.” “This was a sparring match; I can’t just go all out.” I shrugged biting on a slice of orange. “Sparing match or not, there is a difference between going all out, and knowing your and your opponent’s limits,” She pushed her empty bowl to the side and faced me. “There is nothing wrong with fighting with all your might when I asked you to.” I frowned but said nothing. She did ask me not to hold back. “Your magic ability is certainly lacking, but you did hold your own. You did much better in physical combat and your shapeshifting ability in a fight is a tremendous advantage. We need to brush up your magic and physical abilities and get more actual combat experience under your belt,” She lifted an apple and cut it into small pieces using her magic. “I shall talk to the trainers at the academy and ‘transfer you’ to study under Shield Strike.” I just kept chewing without saying a word. This new development would reduce some pressure and free up some of my time, but something told me that was wishful thinking.