Shellstrings

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Shellfall

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Lyra Heartstrings screamed.

She took a deep, gaping breath.

She screamed again.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

~o~You mortals are so typically prone to hysterics.~o~

The horizon flipped three times in a single blink.

Lyra did wild orange hoofy-kicks, blue eyes rolling left and right.

"Where..." She sputtered in a handsome stallion's voice. "...wings...?"

~o~Perhaps if you attempted stretching them out.~o~

"Guh!" Lyra shot each orange feathertip out to her sides. The horizon settled in place—above her eyes. The air around her whistled in a shrill howl as she glided straight for the arid landscape below. A tiny dot against the desert exploded into a murderously definitive shadow, growing larger. Closer. "Oh Goddess!"

~o~Pivot them.~o~

"Mmm—!" Lyra's voice hit an effiminate octave as she twisted her wings. Her body toppeled over, barreling harder towards the earth.

~o~The other way, fool.~o~

"Httttt!" Lyra followed the voice's suggestion. Her body was yanked upwards at a fierce angle. Feathers were plucked loose from the sheer friction of the movement, and she sensed the fibrous appendages dissolving in brief bursts of green flame behind her. She looked over her whipping blue tail in an eye-twitching gasp. "What...?"

~o~Look where you are gliding~o~

"!!!" Lyra flung a look forward.

A wall of boulders and cacti flew at her.

With a wheezing breath, she tightened her wing muscles—

~o~Think before you flap.~o~

It was too late. The resulting burst of air sent Lyra's stallion body toppling skyward, flipping several times. "Gaa-aa-aa-aa-aa!"

The goofy maneuver did—however—create a great deal of wind resistance. She rose up in a twirling arc, hit a crest, then fell once again at a loose angle. Momentum built up at the last second, and this time Lyra was far too disoriented to balance her earthward approach. As a result, she slammed into the earth hard—POWWW!!!—sending a violent plume of dust and pebbles sailing up in the hazy morning air.

"Ooomf!" Lyra rolled a few times, struck the ground again, then slidddddddd backwards across the craggy surface of the plateau. "Gkkkkk... mrffffffmmff..."

Then... after several awkward seconds...

...she finally came to a stop. Pebbles rattled, then were still. Dust settled, scattering the sharp-angled rays of the rising sun.

Lyra breathed... breathed... and breathed. She twitched one orange ear... then the other.

"How... h-how...?" A dry gulp as she shivered, and then she slurred in that deep stallion voice. "How am I still alive?"

~o~Because there may still be a chance to salvage this.~o~

Lyra's blue eyes fluttered open.

~o~Although, not in this putrid body... however important it may have become to us now.~o~

Lyra looked down at her body—but she couldn't see her forelimbs through an inexplicable layer of dark black chitinous plates... like beetle shells. She shrieked inwardly, flinching. A few blinks later—and all of the shells disappeared in a puff of green flame, once again revealing the masculine orange fur.

"AAAAAAH!" She slapped and brushed away at her limbs. Tripping over herself, she spun about and scampered to climb out of the fresh crater that her fallen body had made in the desert surface. "Oh-gosh! Oh-ick! Oh-gosh! Oh-ick!"

~o~You are no longer in the presence of those hard-headed locals. We order you to cease your adrenalized panic.~o~

"Guhhhh!" Lyra thrashed her head about, blue mane tossing. She tripped over a tumbleweed, fighting to shake it loose from her rear fetlock. The brambles and thorns stabbed at her orange flesh—but somehow it didn't sting so much. Nevertheless, hyperventilating, she rushed forward across the uneven stone landscape. "Mmmfffff... fuuuuu... fuuu—"

~o~Stop and breathe. Rest your limbs. Then listen to what we have to say.~o~

Lyra gnashed her teeth, her throbbing pupils locked on a patch of grass surrounding a lonesome pond beyond the nearest ridge.

~o~You are to relax and meditate until you can hear the hum of our children.~o~

"Grnnngh..." She stumbled, sliding on quivering knees as she clamped two hooves over her ears.

~o~Follow the vibrations. Seek out the nearest hive. We order you.~o~

"No... grnnngh... no..."

~o~Restore the brood. We order you. Obey us. Now.~o~

"Rrrrrrrrrrgh—Shut up! Just Shut up!" And Lyra galloped full-speed into the oasis.

Comments

[Razzy]

...

[IceKitsune]

Chrysalis is not very good at this, I mean for someone so old she is very bad at trying to calm them down.

[Scorch215]

Chrysalis, I think we established a while ago simply ordering Lyra doesn't work. Taking your head against a brick wall over and over again is not going to get you through it.

[DOOMRIDER]

7609074 I think this is what you meant.img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140617185622/monstersvsaliens/images/e/ef/Double_Facehoof(_Wings).jpeg