• Published 8th Oct 2013
  • 2,106 Views, 51 Comments

Flight of the Valkyrie - EonCronus



A part of the Chess Game of the Gods universe. In the mountains of Bergard, in a village called Valhalla, a young man awakens to find that everything has changed, and not all for the better.

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Dealing With These Changes

"Do you want to go to Equestria?"

That was the question that started all of this. I don't even properly remember getting asked, because I was so hammered drunk. But you know what? Even if I had been sober, I would have said yes. My jobless, bare-passing classes ass was destitute, my last bit of family had just passed away from cancer, and the world was going to shit. And here I was being offered the land of My Little Pony, my only escape from the shithole that was my life, where the Diarchs Celestia and Luna rule over their peaceful kingdom and ponies live in peace? Hell yeah!

Did I mention that I'm a fucking idiot? Even if the show was like that, what in the name of Celestia's sun-kissed plot would make me think that any place that was real could possibly be that happy and free?

Well let me tell you something sonny, it isn't.

The Equistrian Valley is only a small portion of the world, and while it is very peaceful, it is by far not the only place in the world. The rest of the planet is fraught with danger around every corner, filled with races and monsters with ancient grudges and wars that have lasted centuries. The Diamond Dogs trade slaves freely on the edges of Equestria, and the larger cities such as Manehatten and Stalliongrad have more than their fair share of corruption, just like any city in the human world.

And this? This is the story about how my drunken ass made the biggest mistake of my life... and maybe the best one as well.


When I woke up, I swore upon the names of every God that I could think of to never, ever consume another drop of alcohol for as long as I drew breath, as long as they took the screws out of my skull and made the world stop being so loud. The wind whistling outside sounded like the screech of a thousand banshees to my ears, and for some reason I felt like my entire body had been played with like a toddler had used me as an action figure. Horrid, devilish beams of golden sunlight fell upon my face and sought out my retinas even through my closed eyelids, prompting me to groan as quietly as I possibly could before rolling over and squeezing the large pole in my right hand to my soft breasts. The sunlight now out of my eyes, I resolved to--

Wait a minute. Back up just a few words.

Prompting me to groan quietly…

Rolling over…

Gripped the pole in my right hand to my soft breasts?!?!

My eyes snapped open and all ideas of waiting out the pain vanished as a very real sense of panic settled over me. I sat up in the bed I was laying down in, which my panicking mind vaguely recognized as unfamiliar, and stared straight down at two of the nicest, firmest, and most perky C-cups that had ever graced the face of the earth. The areolas were perfectly proportioned with the amount of area on the boobs, and the nipples were neither too large or too small as they stood to attention in the slightly chilly air of the room I was in. Long, golden locks cascaded down my shoulders and fell on either side of the breasts that found themselves on my body. In my right hand I held a spear unlike anything I had ever seen, a dull gold thing with a three-pronged head and intricate designs on the blade and a portion of the shaft, though I did not pay it that much mind because holy shit I had boobs. A quick touch to my midsection confirmed that it was, indeed, a complete transformation.

I was a girl. I was a naked girl. I was a naked girl with a crazy spear.

Now, put yourself in my situation. You’ve just woken up with the worst hangover that you’ve ever had, you’re naked in some unfamiliar bed, and you suddenly find yourself to be the wrong gender. I think that I responded with more decorum than most would in that situation, and here is about how that went.

Body_Recognition.exe is loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Error, Body_Recognition.exe has identified female elements.
Rerouting commands…
Commence FTFO.exe
Execute.

“HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS HORATIO CHRIST I’M A FUCKING GIRL~!” I screamed, my voice astonishing me as I realized that it was an octave higher—and much more powerful than it had originally been. My wings flared out in my shock, and I grabbed my chest with the hand that wasn’t holding something for just a moment, to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, and absently noted that my hand now had six long, slender digits that seemed much more dexterous than my original appendages. It was then that I realized what had just happened due to my shock and I looked over to my right, hoping against hope that I had misread my body’s actions, and saw one of the most magnificent sights I had ever seen. An enormous wing of the purest white, seeming as if it had been the source for the original idea of whiteness itself, was extended out fully from my back and the ends of the last primary feathers were directed upwards like the larger birds of prey. I looked over to my left, eyes wide in shock as I confirmed that I now had two angelic wings that seemed more than large enough to bear my weight.

Okay, let me be very clear here. I was not originally a female, nor was I one before I got drunk off my ass the night before, so the fact that I was one now was more than a bit off-putting. But, female thing aside, the fact that I had wings was beyond cool. It was much nicer to focus on than the change in gender, and it gave me the warm fuzzies in a good way, so I focused on it.

Can you really blame me?

It was while I was admiring my new wings, slowly stroking my free hand over the feathers and reveling in the sensations that the new appendages granted me, that I heard a light cough from the other end of the hut followed by a demure voice that said, “Excuse me, but are you alright? I heard shouting.”

Now, I am normally not one to gawk, at all, but this girl in front of me made my jaw unhinge and roll somewhere under the bed I was sitting on. Her hair was nearly platinum blonde and braided into a thick weave that extended only to her lower back, as opposed to my golden hair which hung freely and pooled around where I sat due to its length. Her face was soft and almost childish, though it possessed enough womanly charm to let anyone who looked know that this was no child that they were dealing with, and her blue eyes were like the deepest sapphires in existence. Her wings were a strange shade of off-white that I couldn’t quite place for a bit, before I realized that they were the same shade as snow when it has fallen heavily and unbroken on a field, an almost blue tint.

Her attire was simple, a white summer dress that was tripped along the top and bottom with red, as well as a green-and-gold chestguard and shoulder pauldrons. She wore lace-up sandals, the kind that you see in those movies about ancient Greece, and clutched a large broadsword that seemed to be a bit too large for her to her chest in a slightly defensive manner. Her hands bore the same type of digits as my own, though they seemed even daintier than my own.

I was immediately smitten.

“Uh… I have… wings…”

So, of course, I made an idiot of myself. Brilliance of the caliber I had just displayed deserves to be immortalized in the hall of Moments of Failure in Human History.

The girl looked at me like I had just grown a second head before giggling in the most adorable fashion I have ever seen and good god that should be labeled as a WMD! “Well, silly, of course you do! You are a Valkyrie after all… although, I haven’t seen you around Valhalla. My name's Eir Holybell. Are you from Jotunheim? We haven’t had any news from there in a while,” she said sadly, which might have made me want to wrap her up in the tightest hug possible were it not for my utter confusion.

"I'm sorry, back up for a sec. I'm a what?" I asked obliviously, hoping that she was just mistaken or that she might be making a mistake. After all, last time I checked I was a human, even if I swapped genders... and grew wings... shit... I might not be human anymore, guys.

Judging by the horrified expression on the face of the girl who managed to make even deep concern for sanity look adorable, I was the one that had been mistaken. "Oh, no, you must have really hit your head hard," she muttered as she set her sword against the wall and rushed over to me, placing a hand against my head and pushing with a surprising amount of strength, forcing me to lay down. I could feel the heat rushing into my face as she hung over me, concern laced on her features as she checked my eyes for signs of a concussion. "No wonder you were out in that field. If I hadn't been flying overhead, you could have been seriously hurt!"

As ecstatic as I was to have a girl this cute fawning all over me--and trust me, it pushed all the right buttons--I couldn't help but have a small panic attack as I tried to come to terms with what I had just been told. I mean, what does she mean I was in a field? I lived in Charleston, South Carolina! There were no fields anywhere near the spot where I went to drink, so how in the hell did I get there and what on earth was that girl doing. She held her hands over my head and closed her eyes seemingly in concentration, prompting me to raise a questioning eyebrow before she let out a single breath and began to speak.

"Oh, spirit which dwells within this form, awaken to your true memories! I, Eir, command you!"

My eyes widened in shock as I realized that the language she was speaking was not English anymore, though I could still understand her, just before my vision went dark and my memories came rushing back to me.


I felt like I was swimming through a thick gelatin as I fell back through my memories, reliving the moments before I lost awareness the night before. I had planned to spend the night watching more My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic—yes, I’m a brony, so sue me. It’s a good show. Anyways, I was planning to do that, but one of my acquaintances from my college called me up and asked if I wanted to go out drinking. I had just recently turned 21, and so like an idiot, I had agreed. We got to the bar, I had my first drink, and after that things began to get hazy until I finally saw him.

My sight was filled with the visage of an old, one-eyed man who was staring directly at me, a knowing smile on his face. My vision seemed tinted around the edges, almost a golden color, and when the man spoke it came through as if it were an echo. "Hail and well met, now that thou art lucid enough to understand me. I am Odin Allfather, king of the Ǣsir and your sponsor in this game. If thou art hearing these words, my champion, then thou hast been found by Eir. This is beneficial to thee, for she is a kind soul who shall not hesitate to help thy cause. If thou art not hearing these words, then thou hast been consumed by a beast of the wilds, and I have no pity for thee. Even if thou were inebriated, I granted thee several opportunities to void this contract, though thou simply said, 'I'd love to go to Equestriash, ye old fert!"

Okay, the perfect impersonation of my drunken voice was a bit more scary than the fact that this wierdo was talking to me through my memories, but I was already changed into a winged girl today. Not much else could go wrong--did he say Equestria?

"Aye, I did say Equestria. Currently, your body resides in the Valkyrie's main fortress, the hanging city of Valhalla, but the details art insignificant. The point is that the land of harmony thou sought so long to enter is finally yours to roam. But be wary, for it is not the land of milk and honey thou hast been led to believe. It is dangerous, and because of this danger, I hath given to thee two great gifts, and seek to impart one final piece of advice. The first and foremost of these gifts was to make you into one of my favored children, the Valkyries, and given you my blessing. Thou shalt find that the abilities of the body thou currently possess art far beyond this pathetic shell I hast been watching drool on itself for the past five minutes," he said with a chuckle.

Okay, now that was just rude.

"Secondly, I grant thee my spear, Gungnir. It shall never dull, it shall never break, and most importantly, as long as thou knowest where thy aim is, it shall strike true without fail. Never hast there been an armor capable of stopping my spear, and I pray for thy own sake that thou never find one. And finally, the advice," he said, his tone switching from joviality to dead seriousness. "Do not use thy real name in this world, Alexander Hayes. True names have true power among the darker members of that world. Your new name shall be Skuld. Use it whilst thou art among my children, and in your travels throughout the land. And know this: I have done more for thee from the very beginning than almost all of the others do for their champions throughout the game. Use these gifts wisely, lest I be forced to take them from you."

He paused for a moment, looking down at the ground with a look of concentration on his face as if he were trying to remember something, before he looked up and gave me a grin that all but promised wickedness. ”Oh, and look out for the vase.”

And with that, the memory faded away and I was filled with a sense of falling, screaming wordlessly in protest as I plummeted straight down, down, down…


I awoke once more with a start, jerking up out of the bed that I was lying in and gulping in a few precious gulps of air as my eyes rolled about, searching for the danger on instinct. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned with my hand raised, prepared to strike, before I realized who it was that had just attempted to get my attention. It was Eir, the beautiful girl who had helped me when most others would just leave me to die, and she was cowering away from me as if I was some kind of monster. I lowered my hand and softened the wild expression on my face when I realized that I must have seemed like one to this gentle soul. I slowly wrapped my arms around her and instinctively enveloped her in my wings, a blush coming onto my face as I buried my nose into her hair and whispered, ”Thanks, Eir. I was really confused for a second, but you helped out a lot.”

I was still utterly baffled, of course, and that cryptic message about the other champions that my oh-so-gracious sponsor had spouted did not serve to lessen my confusion, but at least now I had more information than I did when I started. I pulled away from her and gave her a smile which she returned after a moment before she asked, "What's your name, by the way?"

I almost responded with 'Alexander,' before I remembered the warning that Odin had given me about using my real name and caught myself. I trusted Eir, hell, anyone who spent even a second with her would trust her implicitly, but I still didn't want to incite the wrath of a God who had played with my body and mind like I was some kind of play-dough. And I don't even like playdough. Anyways, getting off topic. "I remember my first name's Skuld, but I don't remember my last name," I responded carefully, remembering how she had introduced herself with two names.

She looked down at my chest and then away with a cough as we both realized that I was still naked. Before I could even begin looking around for some clothes she offered up what looked like a dress much like the one she wore, though it seemed a bit larger, and said, ”Um… when you fell unconscious, I thought that you might want some clothes when you awoke.” I took the clothes and began putting them on, feeling slightly emasculated at the notion of wearing a dress. Though, when the alternative was to remain completely naked in front of a chick, I figured it was the lesser of two evils considering I had grown tits and lost… something else.

“You knocked your spear on the ground when you were tossing in your sleep, and I couldn’t pick it up. It is very heavy,” she told me when I had secured the belt that kept the dress close to my body, preventing it from flowing freely in the wind. I looked down and saw the three-pronged weapon on the ground before I nodded to her in thanks and reached down to pick it up, half-expecting to be unable to. You can imagine my surprise when, upon pulling up with all my strength, I nearly took my host out and sent the spear flying through the roof! I extended my wings and pinwheeled my left arm to balance myself out, looking ridiculous enough to make Eir laugh once again. That is, after she had gotten over the terror of almost having the dangerous-looking weapon cut off her head.

I stood up with the spear in hand and looked down at it in surprise as I wondered why Eir hadn’t been able to pick it up, just before I heard the sound of a doorknob turning and looked over to see another Valkyrie enter the house. Her hair was a dirty blonde and her skin was far more tan than either mine or Eir’s, though it was still very fair when compared to a normal person’s skin tone. Her wings, which were marginally smaller than my own, were a dark golden hue that caught the light in such a way that they seemed to shimmer, giving her a slightly ethereal look as she strode into the house with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

”Eir~, it is Brynhildr! Do you have any blade polish? I have used the last… of… mine…” she trailed off when she saw me standing in the center of the room with a wicked-looking spear in my hand, while Eir sat in a chair at my feet without her weapon. I realized what the scene looked like, a strange woman in her friend’s house with a weapon, and only had time for one thought before all hell broke loose.

Oh, shit!


My assailant and I tumbled out into the open air, each of us fighting for dominance as the two short swords she was wielding struggled against the shaft of my spear as I used it to desperately block her access to my vital organs. I like them all exactly where they are, thank you very much, and it just wouldn’t do to have my first day in the land of ponies and magic be sullied by disembowelment. My wings worked on instinct, flapping hard to both put some distance between me and the insane woman who had decided that I would look better as a shish-kebob. Thankfully for both of us, the room I had been in was a part of a large fortress that seemed to hang from the ceiling of a massive cave, so we didn’t have to worry about not being able to catch ourselves before we went splat.

If I weren’t so busy fearing for my life, I might have taken some time to admire the sheer scope of the architectural glory that surrounded me. The size of the hanging fortress, for there was no other word to describe it, made it seem impossible that it should be hanging from the ceiling like a group of stalactites, and yet it was. How long must this cavern have taken to form? Billions of years, no doubt, and these Valkyries had come in and shaped the very stone according to their will. But, I had no time to be waxing philosophical when a crazy bird-woman wanted to make my insides my outsides.

”I told you already, you crazy bitch! I wasn’t trying to hurt her!” I screamed as I held the spear awkwardly out in front of me, not really sure how to wield the weapon that was a bit taller than I had become, which from what I could tell was around seven feet tall.

If nothing else, it felt really good to be tall for once. Back on earth, I had barely been 5’7’’.

But, back to the manner at hand, the Valkyrie in front of me was holding her blades in what I could see was a very not-awkward way, and the look of fury on her face was more than enough to tell me that I probably shouldn’t have insulted her. ”You dare to insult me, after attacking my friend?! Your blood shall stain my blades!” she screeched in a manner that very much reminded me of the call of a hawk. You know, the one that makes humans a bit nervous and freezes the wildlife for miles around in place? Yeah, that one.

I am not ashamed to admit that I whimpered. She was a fucking scary sight.

Blind luck and instinct guided me as I turned tail and flapped as hard as I could, each beat of my massive wings covering a large amount of distance as my irate attacker went in pursuit. From the fact that I wasn’t currently feeling the wind from her wings on my feet, I assumed that I was at least as fast, if not faster, than she was. Thank Odin for small miracles, right?

I looked behind me to see if she was still following me, and I found that I had put a bit of distance between us due to my far more powerful strokes. I looked ahead and searched for an opening in the fortress’s towers and, upon finding one, dove straight into the ‘alleyway’. I knew she would follow me in there and with her smaller wingspan she stood a chance of catching me, so I searched again for an open window or balcony, anything to hide from Brynhildr. I dove into the first open balcony I saw and stumbled inward as soon as my feet touched the ground, nearly falling on my face due to my inexperience with the whole landing thing.

I dove behind the wall and pressed up against the solid stone as tightly as I could, holding my breath until I heard the rush of wings and an angry yell as my pursuer flew straight by the balcony, intent on finding where I had run to. I breathed out a sigh of relief and clutched my spear tightly to my chest, slowly sliding down the wall and praising Odin for his benevolence in allowing me to live. I wasn’t a particularly religious person, at all, but when a god literally changes who you are after you meet him in a local bar, you tend to start praying.

And then when one of his warnings about looking out for pottery, from a memory recovered by magic, proves to be very useful, you start praising his name. I opened my eyes just in time to see the vase come flying at my head, allowing me to roll out of the way and come up in a crouch as the piece of pottery shattered on the wall. I looked up and my mouth slowly opened in an “o” as I realized what it was that was looking back at me. It was about the size of a lion, and it even had the hindquarters, tail and paws, though it was most definitely not a big cat considering the sharp beak that protruded from its feathered head, and the large wings that were outspread in what was clearly a defensive manner. One of his talons was raised threateningly as the Griffin’s large, expressive eyes narrowed in suspicion at the intruder to what was almost definitely his room. He had a large scruff of black, downy feathers around his beak that gave the appearance of a beard, and three long scars along his chest spoke of a warrior who had survived battle.

Well, if there was any doubt as to where Odin had sent me before, there certainly was not any now. I gawked at the mythical creature that had just thrown a pot at my head, my eyes bugging out of my head as I finally came to terms with the fact that holyshiti’mreallyinequestria! But, alas, the happy dance would have to be put on hold, as the griffin was now shouting at me in what sounded like German. "Was zum Teufel machst du hier? Das ist mein Zimmer! Ich bin der Botschafter aus dem Iron Claw Stamm, und ich werde nicht so respektlos behandelt werden!"

Now, for those of you who do not speak Griffonian, or German as we call it, this is what he said: "What the hell are you doing here? This is my room! I am the ambassador from the Iron Claw tribe, and I will not be disrespected like this!"

Needless to say, I do understand some German, thanks to my late grandmother, so I quickly raised one finger to my lips and shushed him as I glanced out of the room, making sure that Brynhildr hadn't followed me before I whispered, "Es tut mir leid, aber ich hatte zu verstecken. Es ist eine verrückte Frau namens Brynhildr, die versuchen, mich als eine Praxis Dummy für ihre Schwerter zu verwenden. Bitte, lass mich hier bleiben! Sie sprechen eine andere Sprache?"

The griffin slowly lowered his hackles when he heard his own language spoken back to him, likely unused to someone in a foreign country actually knowing any of it, and his wings folded down to his side when I told him what had forced me to seek refuge in his room, a grin on his beak. How a grin formed on a protrusion of rigid keratin? That was best explained by the fact that I was in Equestria. Honestly, I had just used the full extent of my German ability, and I was really hoping that he spoke whatever language the Valkyries spoke. "Ja, I speak Equish. Vat did you do to anger ze frau?" he asked curiously, prompting me to raise my eyes to the heavens in a silent thank you to whatever gods were listening. I was really worried that I was gonna end up in a jail cell.

"It's all a huge misunderstanding," I assured him as I sat down with my back to the wall, leaning Gungnir against my shoulder as the Griffin sat down on his haunches, "She saw me in her friends room with this spear and thought that I was attacking her. She wouldn't listen to either of us, and it was either run and hide or gain an intimate knowledge of what my insides looked like." My delivery was so dry that the Griffin actually burst out in a chuckle, which sounded like a series of squawks that slowly petered out. "My name's A--... Skuld. My name's Skuld. What's yours?"

The Griffin strode up to me and stuck out a talon, which I carefully shook with my own dainty, six fingered hand to prevent him impaling the appendage. "Ze name is Blitz Stahlfeder, mein friend," he introduced himself firmly, the way that all diplomats and politicians do, before he released her hand and sat back down. The next half hour was filled with him asking me questions about the specifics of my circumstances and, without giving too much away, I responded with as much honesty as I could. At the end of my tale he scratched the bottom of his beak as we both sat there, his expressive eyes narrowing in what looked like concentration before he snapped his.. talons... and brought a fist down into his open claw. "If zere is a misunderstanding, ve could ask Freya to--"

"Ask Freya who the unknown Valkyrie in your room is, Herr Stahlfeder? Or was there something else?" a powerful, slightly irate sounding voice came from the door to their right. Both of us gulped audibly as we looked over and saw a woman dressed in a very large amount of impressive-looking armor, large black wings spread out in a threatening manner as she looked down at the two of them. "Because I would certainly like to know why Brynhildr has been flying around the castle, screaming that an intruder attempted to kill my youngest daughter, and you happen to have the Valkyrie who matches the intruder's description perfectly."

I looked up into the blue eyes of what could only be the leader of these winged women that I now found myself a part of, and a sudden urge hit me with a power that was impossible to ignore. I had to say a phrase that I had never before uttered, for fear of being publicly ridiculed, but now that I was in Equestria...

"Aw, horseapples..."

Author's Note:

Hey there, readers! This is my first attempt at a fanfiction for My Little Pony, and I know I must be batshit insane to take on a Chess Game of the Gods story right off the bat. But the muse hit me, and there was no stopping it. Please, leave a comment and tell me what you think!