Natureshy: RotE Episode 11

by Dream Volt

A day with a full lesson

I couldn’t help but notice Thorax and Ice looked a little different each day. Mostly little details, but they never looked exactly the same. I was confused by what that meant. Angel said fey can change shape, but I thought it was just like the breezies who can briefly become normal pony sized versions of themselves so they could buy snacks. At least that seemed to be the only reason the breezies ever mentioned using it for. Ice seemed to be in a much better mood today. Sadly it was just me with Sky and Angel glaring from the side of the small clearing. Ice smiled

"Okay, this I think should actually be easy for you."

"Or super difficult." Added Thorax

"But it shouldn’t be." Said Ice. "The queen is nearly certain you're a natural shapeshifter, and we shouldn’t have any trouble teaching you."

"At least the basics."

"Of course we don't have much skill at all in transformation, but as you've surely noticed we can do a few minor things." Said Ice

"Hardly important at all really." Thorax and Ice then both smiled really widely.

"Oh come on." Yelled Sky.

"That sounds like a nice idea I guess. Though I'm not sure you're right. Angel knows size spells really well and he couldn't help me much."

"I keep telling youse it was just fear holding you back. Ya woulda got in on the first try even though I barely knew what to say."

"If you say so Angel."

"You're not afraid of wings are you?" asked Ice

"She doesn't seem to be too fond of flying." Added Thorax

"No, my wings are fine. Sometimes I worry about falling if I go too high. Well, a lot of the time actually but if there is a pegasus nearby or a cloud below me it's okay. Usually."

"Well you don't really need to fly anyway." Said Ice

"Yea, and if you don't like the idea of changing wings we can try something else."

"So it's just like Pinkie's shapechanging?" I asked

Thorax turned to Ice "She's a water mage right?"

"Yes." Ice smiled. "I actually could try to teach you water style transformation, I'm one of the few ch…" Then she face hooved.

Thorax laughed. "You almost said it. I can't believe you were to one that almost did that."

"I can't believe it either." Said Sky

"I thought the dame was the smart one."

"Forget that." Said Ice "The point is yes the Ice part of my name is because I have a high water affinity as well. Which is quite rare among whatever it is the queen told you we were."

"I think it was blood flutterponies." Added Thorax

"Course real flutterponies don't got antenna, even if they is the size of regular type ponies." Angel then laughed.

"Yea, well if you're so smart why did you forget that we know fey speak too, since you know fey." Thorax then smiled.

"What, I know youse two can hear me just fine, I just don't care."

Thorax then tried to fly at a smirking Angel. He didn't get very far before Ice's antenna lit up and Thorax was held in a green glow. Sky had a big smile on her face. I frowned. Why couldn't they just get along?

"You should be ashamed. Angel, you should know better, and Thorax he's just a little bunny. Sky you didn't really do anything but…"

"Sorry." The three of them echoed all hanging their heads.

"But the bunny was disrespecting me." Whined Thorax

"He's also the high queen's de facto staff moron." Said Ice "The pooka nobles probably wouldn’t care too much, but there are a ton of rules the light have about this sort of thing we agreed to honor and the high queen counts as both so…"

Thorax's eyes went wide. "Oh, that would be bad yea. Thank you Ice. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Die. You would die, repeatedly" She sighed.

"Oh, yea." Thorax gave a little laugh

"I believe it's best we get back to business." Said Sky

"Can you put me down?" asked Thorax

"Right. Moving on." Ice looked me in the eyes and Thorax dropped to the ground with a loud grunt "We suggested wings because we know you instinctually did it once already, and we figured that was a good place to start."

"But how did you know…" began Sky

Throax was back on his hooves. "Just go ahead and give it a try. If we're really lucky we won't have to teach you anything."

"Actually it helps to note the main difference between the two methods for transformation Is growth versus direct change. Essentially with nature you use your magic to evolve quickly into a different form."

"It doesn't have to be slow of course, but it means getting some detail right can be tricky. That's why Ice's job is so important."

Ice smiled. "Thank you Thorax it's nice to…" Then she sighed and hung her head.

"Oh. Ooops. That sort of suggests…"

"Just go, please, before he can say anything else. Yesterday went so well too."

"Uh, okay."

I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to do this. I thought about my wings being like a butterfly's, but nothing happened. It's too bad really, I didn't get a chance to use them much and they were so pretty. Plus it seemed really easy to fly like that.

"It's not working, is it?" asked Ice

"What now Ice?"

"I start going into detail."

"Hmmm, how does that spell go again?"

Then Thorax summoned a pillow with a green flash. Oddly Ice didn't seem at all upset when he lay down on the forest floor and snuggled up to the pillow.