Slowly feeling returned to Micheal, and it wasn't a pleasant kind either. His head was throbbing like the deep base of a drum, his body ached like he'd been dipped in arctic waters.
“Ughh, what the hell did I hit my head on,” Micheal groaned, rubbing his hands on his aching temples.
Except, those didn't feel like hands, the skin felt rough, the fingers longer and tipped by sharp points
Vision focusing once more, Micheal looked at his hand, or rather paw. Both paws were missing a finger from his normal hand, covered in smooth leathery obsidian skin to the elbow and in place of normal nails were long black talons.
Looking up the rest of his arms and down his body, he was indeed something else, covered head to tail in charcoal feathers.
“Wait...tail,” Micheal mumbled, his eyes followed a long tail as it swished and twitched in agitation, the silver blade capping it sparking as it struck the stone floor.
Micheal released a scream, none too manly either. Then he finally noticed the obsidian blob that was constantly in his sight, patting the spot he realised it was hard and bone like, shaped much like a beak, again he screamed.
Jumping up, he tried to stand on two legs, but promptly lost balance and fell to the side winding him.
“Okay, deep breaths, calm down, calm down,” Micheal muttered to himself, trying to steady his racing heart.
I can't believe this is actually happening, this has to be some dream...I must have fallen over something and knocked myself out something terrible...yeah I'll wake up, Micheal thought to himself, sitting back down.
…
“Well this isn't working...perhaps I have to do something before I wake up,” Micheal muttered.
Sighing he rose and and made for the door he'd been led through before, and promptly fell over again.
Micheal growled at the pain and released a furious shout. “HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING!”
A loud clang was coming behind his prone form, his tail thrashing around slamming onto the stone, sending sparks into the air.
“And how am I going to control you,” Micheal growled at his tail, watching it strike around wildly, yet at the same time it was oddly calming.
Soon he felt calmer, his frustrations easing as he began testing his body. Micheal imagined as if crawling around on all fours, and so far it was working seeing how he'd made it to the doors without another tumble. His tail on the other hand was different, he thought of it like an arm, except one that was as long as he was stretched out and had far more freedom of movement.
Micheal brought his tail around and gripped the end inspecting the blade attached. The silvery blade wasn't scratched or blemished, the blade's edge was still keen and undamaged, strange he thought considering how hard it had been hit against the stone floor. More interestingly, the blade appeared to be attached to the tail, melded naturally in.
“Honest to god I dream of the weirdest shit sometimes,” Micheal sighed.
Micheal began to open the doors, as he did his ears perked up as he heard voices in the hallway outside.
“I'm telling you, I heard someone screaming down here somewhere,” a feminine voice said with concern.
“And I'm telling you that no pony would be crazy enough to come this far into the Everfree, least of all this place,” a male voice grunted. “the captain's going to have us on sanitary duty if he knew we'd detoured from our duty,”
“Relax Dusk, if you're right, then we'll be the only ponies here for miles around, so there'll be nothing to worry about,” the feminine voice replied.
“I worry for you sometimes,” Dusk sighed.
“Aww, big ol' Dusk showing feelings,” the female cooed.
“Shut it Azura, I'm not afraid of ponies lurking around here, I'm afraid of the beasts that do,” Dusk growled.
“Well even most of the creatures avoid this place, so we'll be fine,” Azura said, mirth still evident in her voice.
Dusk sighed.
The voices were drawing closer every second, Micheal quickly looked around for a place to hide, but the only cover was some broken benches and tables.
Quickly he stumbled more so than ran to hide behind a pile of debris in a shadowy corner of the room and pushed himself as low as he could, he grabbed his tail to stop the blade from causing noise from its paranoid twitching.
Micheal heard the door creak open with protest, peering ever so slightly from his cover he saw two small horses clad in dark purple armor with varying shades of darker purples and blues, an icy blue eye sat at the center of the chest plate, the helmets had a fin running down them, shaped much like a bats wing.
“Wait...are those actual bat wings on their sides?” Micheal muttered.
“What was that!?” Dusk said in alarm, quickly looking around.
Micheal ducked back into cover. As he did a spike of pain ran up his side as he struck a broken table leg, he tried to contain himself but a muffled squawk escaped him.
“Over there,” Azura spoke silently.
Micheal heard the approaching steps of metal on stone, he pushed himself as deep into the shadows as he could.
An armored head came into view and looked down at him, eyes widened.
“Horse apples,” Dusk cursed.
Micheal released an ear piercing screech as he leapt at the bat-horse, both were sent tumbling out into the center of the room. Micheal began to furiously attack the pinned horse beneath him with his claws; suddenly over come with a bloodlust, yet the armor shielded it from most of his strikes; sending sparks into the air.
As sudden his attack was he was sent barreling off from a harsh buck to the side that left him winded. Looking up he saw both horses now facing him in defensive positions, Dusk sporting a series of scars on his armor and cuts on his face.
Every fiber of his being was screaming for him to kill these two horses here and now; to consume them and hunt more of their kind. The more rational part of his mind however told him that charging straight into them would be suicidal, instead he began to slowly stalk around them; both groups never breaking eye contact.
“What in Luna's moon is that thing,” Azura demanded quietly.
“Not a clue,” Dusk replied. “I've spent many days reading about the various monsters that inhabit the Everfree and I've never read about one like this.”
“Should we try and capture it then?” Azura asked.
“I'm more concerned about finishing what we came here to do,” Dusk said. “lets back out, after all this might be it's home.”
Azura nodded.
By the time their exchange finished Micheal had worked his way over to a low broken window, taking a quick glance outside he saw that there was an overhang large enough that he could walk on; however much was broken off and he'd only be able to get into the hallway from which the bat-horses had entered.
Micheal noticed some small pieces of debris near him, as the ponies began to slowly back away he coiled his tail around a small chunk of rubble. He watched and saw that the one called Azura was backing herself straight into a pile of rubble, which collapsed from her disturbance causing her to skid off onto the floor.
In that moment Dusk broke eye contact with Micheal; seeing his opportunity he quickly spun around and whipped his tail at Dusk. Micheal heard the satisfying sound of a crunch and yelp as he sprung out the window, quickly he began to prowl along the overhang and jumped through another window.
Looking down the ruined hall he saw a closed door, behind he heard very angry yelling.
Micheal charged for the door, bursting through and slamming behind he pressed up to the door panting. The bloodlust had passed somewhat and he was regaining more control over himself, also now dealing with the fatigue from his burst of adrenaline from his assault.
The fuck are those things anyway, some unholy union of a bat and horse, Micheal though to himself.
A clattering noise outside caught his attention, pressing his head up to the door he tried to listen in...and instantly regretted it as he was thrown back onto the ground by a mighty slam.
Dazed Micheal looked up groggily to see a furious Dusk, a dent in his helmet just above his left eye, blood trickling down forcing it closed.
“You're not going anywhere beast,” Dusk growled before leaping at Micheal.
Micheal barely had time to react as he was sent tumbling over engaging in a brawl with the armor clad stallion. The strikes from Dusk's armored horse shoes felt like blows from a hammer, while Micheal's own claws left only scratches on the horse's armor.
Inbetween blows Micheal realised that Dusk's underbelly was exposed, quickly he jabbed his tail into the unarmored sections of his assailants back legs. Dusk released a howl of pain as his back legs gave out under him; as the horse slumped down Micheal bit around Dusk's neck a couple of times, the warm blood only fueling Micheal's returning bloodlust.
Micheal took the opportunity and quickly pulled away; preparing to drive his bladed tail through the eye of the downed horse and begin his feast. Just as he thrust his tail forward he heard a defiant cry and was tackled straight into a stone column.
Micheal's world was spinning, he tried to stand up and face his assailant but only managed to stumble around a bit before falling face first into the ground.
The last thing he could recall seeing as darkness began to fill his vision was of Azura desperately trying to stop the bleeding from Dusk's multiple wounds.
Finally he realised that this was no dream, not his imagination playing tricks with him and not some crazy drug induced hallucination, but honest reality.
What have I gotten myself into