An Out of Body Experience [Closed]

“Telekinesis.” Zestari nodded, hoping that Violet wouldn’t mistake the lack of emotion for apathy or disinterest.

She didn’t move as Violet went off an returned a few moments later with a couple of rocks in her mouth. She smiled softly at Violet. “Such trials we live without magic, Violet. Having to carry rocks in our mouths, how unfortunate it is.”

When Violet suggested feeling something on their heads, Zestari’s first instinct was to raise a hoof and touch the bony protrusion. Lowering her hoof when she realised that Violet was talking about the horn itself being the limb, she lowered the hoof back to the ground.

She tried feeling out in her head, trying to feel for something odd against her forehead, like a bony limb, or something that would make itself distinctive as a limb, like Violet suggested.

Things weren’t going so well to start with. All she could feel was a forehead. What did a limb feel like, exactly? Warm? She closed her eyes and tried to focus on a foreleg, trying to determine what exactly it felt like before trying to locate the horn on her head.

It was hard. A limb isn’t something you’re actively aware of, they’re subconscious things. In thought she worked out that imagining the limb more as something displacing everything around it, rather than a physical object itself, she could ‘feel’ the limb.

She focused back upon her forehead. She had to feel for something that was not her forehead. Her breathing slow, her eyes closed, she searched.

Finally there was something; A fleeting brush of, well, a horn. She focused on it, Feeling it, reaching out with her mind to use it. It responded. A warmth erupting from the limb that spread out across her body and down her spine in a tingle.

Opening her eyes, even the usual wall of emotional blockage couldn’t keep the sense of awe from Zestari when she spoke. “I… I think I’ve found it.”

“If you think those rocks are bad, Vi, then you should pray that you never have to use a gun or knife.” Bakewell jested, overhearing Violet’s distaste of the earth pony way of carrying objects.

“Because I can pretty much guarantee you that those rocks taste like gourmet in comparison. Sometimes weapons you have to pick up are all icky and moist from saliva and everything.” She wrinkled her snout. “Just the thought of it is disgusting. I’ve had to taste the saliva of most of my friends! Ewww. Vi, go find some purified water and gargle it once we’re done here.”

Once the mare got over the realization of what exactly she had put into her mouth all of her life, Bakewell closed her eyes, but gave a small sigh and simply reopened them after having closing them made absolutely no difference, due to her ability to see through her eyelids as though they weren’t even there.

The purple pony focused all of her attention on trying to find what she thought an extra limb would feel like. She poured every ounce of her concentration into finding this mysterious appendage. When Zestari managed to find hers before Bake, the filly got desperate. No matter how hard she tried the mare couldn’t find anything suitably limb like. Finally, minutes after Zestari claimed to have done as Violet asked, Bakewell felt… something. A kind of pressure in her forehead. She tried to focus her all on it, and her eyes flared. Feeling like twin supernovas inside her skull. Was it really there, or was she just imagining things?

“O-okay. Maybe.” She finally said, scared that if she took too much attention away that she would lose this… whatever she was feeling.

Mona, for the most part, would try to follow what Not-Kes (Who she now knew was called Jasmine, apparantly), was saying, but it proved to be quite the feat for her. Despite this fact though, she did react quickly when the Gryphon apoligized for their hyperactivity (Something which Mona was still trying to process, Kestrel acting like this was simply brain-breaking, despite the circumstances).

"Uh, it's fine...I imagine we're all a little...er...'excited' about whats happened to us...

As for your question? ...Well, to be entirely honest, I haven't thought much on it...I kinda of...lost something a bit more worrysome then my horn in the bodyswap...something which Zestari now has to deal with. It also dosn't help that I've never been the most magical of ponies...the most spells I ever knew were Basic Telekinesis, and Light, so the most losing it has done is made me have to grab stuff with my teeth, and kind of feel an annoying phantom feeling where it should be...which kind of makes me realize just how little I really even noticed it before.

Heck, I could barely even talk about it with Zes when she asked how to use it...all my advice was was simply 'Try and feel it, then just kind of flex it'. I mean, sure it's kind of the same thing as trying to tell somehow how to use a leg, but still, what kind of stupid advice is tha-"

It quickly struck Mona that she had started rambling, as a rare blush suddenly appeared on her cheeks in embarrasment. She had never really been able to just 'express' what she was feeling...and on being given the opportunity? It all just kind of came out at once in a way the Mona wasn't even sure if it made any sense. She probably just went and confused the poor...er...Gryphon-slash-pegasus.

"...Uh...S-sorry about that..."

Violet waited, very patiently, as Bakewell and Zestari tried to reach out and feel for their horns. It took some time, which was expected, she was basically asking them to do in a couple of minutes what usually took unicorns months to do, bursts of magic while a baby notwithstanding. However those unicorns were still developing, and horn wise even Bakewell in her own body was pretty much mature, so with a little reaching it shouldn’t be that hard to find what they were looking for, at least compared to much younger unicorns.

And Violet’s endless patience was rewarded when Zestari announced that she had found it, followed shortly by Bakewell, although less certainly.

“Great!” the displaced filly said, clapping her hooves together. “Now, I need you two to both look at the rock in front of each of you, look at it closely. Keeping that focus on your horn, I want you to picture the rock in your mind, visualize where it is. Once you have that pictured in your mind, I want you to feel with your horn and imagine yourself picking it up, with a hoof, but without moving your own. Once you have that image in your head, I want you to ‘reach out’ with your horn, so to speak. Extend it out like it was a leg that you could stretch out and expand at will, feel the influence of your magic spreading and direct it towards the rock. Then, wrap the rock around with your magic and just concentrate on it.”

Violet didn’t show it, but she was worried if her instruction was good enough. She was essentially condensing and trying to simplify lessons that took her parents a week to teach her, although admittedly she was, like, 6 at the time. Still, she wasn’t sure if her heavy use of laypony’s terms and simplifications would be enough, but at this point all she could do is wait and hope her message was clear.

Zestari was already feeling exasperated by Violet’s explanation, she only just seemed to have a crude grasp on what she suspected was the magic, now Violet wanted them to pick up a rock with it?

She sat down heavily, eyes locked onto the rock as she tried to keep a tenuous link to the magic she had felt out moments before. “Reach out like it’s a hoof.” She echoed. What was magic supposed to feel like when reaching out? She tried pushing the magic, as though making it move.

She wasn’t sure if it was just her mind playing tricks on her or something else, but it felt to her like she was pushing through a jelly like substance, something shapeless yet still having texture or resistance. She shifted her eyes upwards, and noticed a faint glow from her horn.

She jerked in surprise at seeing it alight with magic, and promptly the glow faded. She sighed. With her mind no longer so heavily focused and with the glow gone, she realised how tired she suddenly felt. Apparently trying to feel out the magic when a novice was exhausting.

She gave a weak smile to Violet. “Sorry, I need a few minutes to catch my breath. This is harder than I imagined it.”

Bakewell glared at the rock as fiercely as she could manage. Trying to reach out and will the small stone up into the air. But try as she might, the filly couldn’t even budge the rock. Was she just not trying hard enough? She couldn’t even feel anything!

The purple pony tried to focus harder and harder, but all she got for her troubles was a headache. She didn’t want to give up and make Violet think she was dumb. This had to be possible.

But all progress was completely negligible. When Zestari said she needed a break, Bakewell all too happily took the opportunity as well.

“Wow. Uh, phew. Talk about hard work, I’m sweating! I think I almost had it though. I could totally feel it move.” She lied. “I think I need a break as well.”

Violet frowned as the two declared that they needed a break. Were her instructions not good enough? She had never done this before, was she a bad teacher?

‘...It probably isn’t that.’ she reasoned with herself. ‘I mean, this is kinda hard stuff. I shouldn’t be surprised they didn’t catch on right way...Right? Right.’

“Alright, that’s fine.” she replied after that moment of introspective. “This usually takes quite awhile for a foal to get the hang of, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make some progress before we have to go! Probably. I mean, we still have plenty of time.” She looked up at the cloud-obstructed sky. “...I think. Kinda hard to tell with that...Wait!”

She looked down at her’s/Bakewell’s foreleg, the one covered by a pipbuck. With Bakewell’s normal eyes, she could actually use one of these things. And, it was bound to have a clock function, right?

“Should be something about time in this...” she muttered to herself as she started flipping dials with a hoof. She’d ask Bakewell for help, but now that she had her eyes, she’d be as lost as she usually was with this stuff.

...Although Violet even with normal eyes didn’t feel like she was any less lost then she’d usually be. She felt just as lost as she was in Stable 113 with that computer. While she could see what she was doing this time, but that didn’t really help. She had no idea what she was actually doing, at all. Either because she really didn’t have a head for computers, or it’s just because she hadn’t touched one until after she really couldn’t use them.

Regardless of which, the filly-turned-mare found herself angrily muttering to herself as she tried to wrangle the miniature computer on her wrist, without much success.

“No...No...No, I don’t want you to do that...Stop...Stop...Go back...Why aren’t you stopping...Pipbuck...What are you doing...Pipbuck...Stahp.”

Violet let out a half groan/half growl of frustration. She had to resist the urge to just smash the thing in anger, partially because she didn’t want to ruin Bakewell’s stuff, partially because she pretty sure that’d do bad things to Bakewell’s leg if it was still attached (And she had no idea how to remove it). Both of which were things she didn’t really want to happen.

Speaking of Bakewell, Violet was just about to give up when she realized that the mare-turned-filly in question and Zestari were still watching her, watching her as she made a fool of herself trying to get the blasted Pipbuck to work. Violet’s eyes flicked up from the device to the two unicorn’s watching her, face flushing red in embarrassment.

“I...Erm...” she started, trying to find words as she slowly lowered the pipbuck-leg to the ground. “The...Erm...Thing...Erm...Little...Pip...Buck...Wrist...Thingy...Said...Um....It’s about...Erm...That...time...”

She was suddenly silent, rubbing the back of her head as she averted her gaze, face still flushed red, too embarrassed to speak.

Bake was about to agree that there would be plenty of time for magic practice later, but all thoughts of magic were instantly banished by the horrifying event known as “when Violet decided to use Bakewell’s pipbuck.”

The unicorn could do nothing but stare in growing shock as Violet attempted to use her forelimb mounted technology. The shock, and in direct correlation the size of Bakewell’s eyes, only widened and increased as the without a doubt intelligent pony currently in her beige body proceeded to perform an elegant display of complete and total hopelessness. The purple filly opened her mouth to try and offer a word of assistance, but found herself instead just letting it hang agape as she continued to stare. What was she… No, why was she fiddling with the dial? The time was as simple as one but- yes! That button! Wait what was she doing now no no no she had it stop arrrrrghhhh.

When the technologically impaired earth pony noticed her unicorn audience, Bakewell quietly reached up with a hoof and closed her mouth, teeth coming together with a surprisingly firm click.

“Right. Yes. That time. Good job. Thanks!” She said with a forced cheer before closing the small gap to Violet and snatching at the limb. Her strange eyes’ inability to read the screen was something she felt she would never get used to; but she didn’t need to read the screen in order to access the clock. With a firm and sure hoof she selected a single button. ‘Data’.

“Top right corner.” She quietly hissed to Violet. “And be more careful. This thing’s dangerous.”

Bakewell didn’t even want to think about what would have happened had Violet accidentally accessed S.A.T.S. The total freezing of anything and everything around you was horrifying if you didn’t expect it, even more so if the pony had unmeaningly triggered a chain of attacks against one of them on accident.

“I’m serious. You could have killed us.”

When Violet saw Bakewell rushing over, she initially felt relief. Her friend was going to come help her so she stopped looking like an idiot. She should have guessed, Bakewell must remember using a pipbuck that she’d just remember which button brought up the time display, she was using one most of her life for Celestia’s sake! Violet wasn’t sure why she didn’t think of that before, she blamed the stupid wrist thing distracting her with its incomprehensibility

Of course, that relief vanished when the mare in her body hissed at her, telling her that she could have killed them. Violet was initially puzzled by this, how could she have killed anyone with the Pipbuck? Did it explode if you press the wrong button or something? That’d be kinda stupid.

Violet’s mind started going back to what she knew about Pipbucks, what they did. She may have never used one before, and she may have no idea how to use them, but she heard enough about them to know some of their capabilities. Radiation detection, personal medical analysis, item sorting, automatic targeting spells...

...Automatic targeting spells...

It hit Violet like a Steel Ranger shot out of a particularly large cannon. SATS, that weird targeting spell that controlled your actions after queuing up a series of commands. If she accidently activated that, and in her confusion targeted Bakewell or Zestari...

As the full realization of what she could have done hit Violet, the filly-turned-mare’s eye’s instantly widened, before her ears flattened in shame as she looked down at the mare in her body.

‘Stupid Stupid STUPID! Why didn’t I think about that before I started pressing buttons like an idiot? Why didn’t I remember about SATS? She’s right, I could have killed them both! Stupid stupid stupid!’

While internally she was berating herself, externally she just looked ashamed. Her eyes cast down to the ground, not looking at Bakewell as she unconsciously tried to make herself look smaller, although with the mare’s body that didn’t exactly work. If she was embarrassed, humiliated before, she was mortified now.

If she had done something to Bakewell, even by accident, she wasn’t sure what she would do to herself afterwards.

“I-I’m s-sorry...Bakey...” she mumbled quietly. “I-I...Didn’t...Didn’t know...I...f-forgot...”

Without missing a beat, Jasmine smiled and shook her head as Mona apologized. She leaned in slightly as she made direct eye contact with Mona, giving momentum to her already spirited conversation.

"Oh don't apologize! You were hardly rambling, its nice to finally meet someone who loves to chat away as much as I do!" Jasmine giggled as she was filled with glee. Meeting new individuals usually gave her a surge of energy, so much so that she snorted- causing her to cover her beak in embarrassment. Jasmine held her birdie hoof in place over her beak as her eyes panned her surroundings. She couldn't help but sink slightly when she reacted, underneath her feathers her skin was flushed a deep red.

After a moment Jas shrugged off the awkwardness and hopped back into the conversation. "But anyways, on that note you should have no problem continuing..." Jasmine took in a deep breath and paused for a moment before she continued. "What did you mean that she has something of yours to deal with? Bad back? Bad knee? Bad breath? Bad luck?!"

Jasmine tried to playfully joke along hoping to win over Mona with her friendly demeanor. Making a new friend was simply always on Jasmine's high priority list.

A nearby swear cut off Jasmine's focus which ended up coming from a nearby orange pegasus. Jasmine's eyes shifted toward the sound to see an orange pegasus brewing tea. Her eyebrow raised as she watched Kestrel struggle with the tea. As frustrated as she was with him, or her, she hated to see others experiencing any frustration themselves. She watched hesitantly before taking a deep sigh and calmly asking...

"...Did you need help?" Perhaps a gesture of kindness would show Kes that she wasn't quite ready to shun him in public.

Kestrel had been caught up in his thoughts, watching the tea slowly finish brewing when the mare had called out to him. He looked up slowly, eyes locking on the one that now controlled his body.

His body...his scarred up, predatory, familiar body. The very idea that anyone was in it aside from himself still caused a growl to rise in the griffon-turned-pegasi's throat. The events earlier today had left Kes with a bad taste in his mouth, all he wanted was some tea, and now he couldn't even enjoy that.

Needless to say, Kestrel was NOT having a good day.

He kept his temper down however, and managed to grunt out a curt response. "I need cups. In the foot locker in the tent. Left side. They are made of clay." he said looking back down at his brew. He tried to smell it again, but once more his senses failed him.

'Dammit' he thought eyes narrowing dangerously.

Would grimace when jasmine reffered to her love to chat. In another situation, that might have been funny, but now, it just felt awkward...however, she did still respond to her question.

"...More like "Bad brain'...you see, usually, I ha-"

Before Mona could start talking though, she would have her focus turned to Kestrel and his attempt at tea makink. In mast cases, seeing Kestrel get frustrated over anything was a slight cause for worry. But in his new body? It was actually kind of adorable, and she had to fight to avoid letting out a chuckle.

Jasmine fought the urge to tell him off. First he slapped her, then had the nerve to ask for her help. Jas stared at Kestrel and let out a heavy sigh. She turned back to Mona and bowd her large feathered head.

"One second Mona, sorry!"

Jasmine trotted off to the tent as instructed. She searched briefly and found the object of Kestrel's desire and began to return with it. Along the way she tried to let go of her hostility. Maybe a simple gesture of kindness was all the pegasus needed to help him/her get accustomed to the transition. Jas knew that on some level she wasn't used to it herself. The individual she grew to admire may still be under that fur. As she arrived back she trotted up to the side of Kes and placed the cups at Kes' non-birdy hooves.

"...Here you are..."

The once-griffon grunted as the cups were placed at his/her hooves, a mumbled 'thanks' coming out a moment later. Well at least that's that dealt with. Now came the other annoying part.

Looking at the brewing pot Kestrel noted it was time to move the tea into cups...the issue was that the pot was MADE for griffon use and thus he'd have no idea where the hell he was pouring the, hopefully, delicious brew.

This was going to suck.

Leaning forward Kes grabbed the pot and was instantly struck with how warm it was...and how bad it tasted. Kes persevered though! He'd get this done one way or the other! Picking the pot up, head turned sideways, Kestrel fumbled around for the cups; knocking a few over in the process.

The growl in his throat began to grow.

Righting the cups Kestrel did what he could to orient the pot of tea and himself, the carefully, almost shakily, he began to pour the brew out....right onto his hoof.

A violent hiss erupted from the ponies throat as he quickly righted his head again, the scalding hot tea flowing down his left forehoof in painful rivers of heat. DAMMIT that hurt! And it wasted his TEA! Stupid new body...wasting his tea. Breathing heavily for a moment to gain his bearings again, the now-pony tried again. This time he managed to hit a cup.

For the next few cups it was like this, the pony would burn herself, hiss, get over it, and continue filling, until finally all the cups presented were full; six in total.

Setting the pot down Kestrel relaxed a bit and looked at all the cups. He'd spilled more tea than he'd filled with...but he'd managed to fill them. One would think he'd be proud at this, that he would relish in the achievement.

He didn't.

No if anything, this just made the idea of being stuck in this limited husk he called a body now all the more displeasing.

"Tea's done." He announced to all that could hear him, voice rather shrill and happy sounding by nature, offensive to his ears even now. That said, he took his cup of tea and pulled it close.

Maybe it could help sooth him....hopefully it could help sooth him...it'd damn well better sooth him.

Jasmine looked over each glass filled with tea cautiously. Her keen eyesight saw nothing of interest in the cups, only hot water. Slowly she lowered her head, and dipped her beak into the water. After filling her beak with a moderate ammount of water she shut her mouth, raised her head back and let the water trickle down her throat.

"Agh! Oh my goodness this is as hot as it is delicious! Mona, you have to try some right now!"

Jasmine closed her eyes and giggled as she thought about the gesture. Kestrel, in her body making everyone tea. Despite the difficulty he/she went out of his/her way to make them something to drink. Maybe he's not as mean as she thought he was, and this was his way of showing her he cared. It didn't make up for that slap, but it was a start. She looked at him ignoring all nervousness and offered a polite statement of grattitude.

"Thank you Kes, this was very thoughtful..."

Kestrel grunted and gave a nod as he was thanked. He didn't really say anything after that, the pony awkwardly fumbling with his cup as he dared to take a sip.

The frown on his face deepened as he sipped the tea. It was delicious sure...but not as delicious as it should have been. His tongue could feel the heat, taste the intricate dance of flavors...but it was like everything else he was experiencing; dulled, and denied to him.

He did what he could to enjoy the tea;however little pleasure it brought him.

“Well, we don’t have plenty of time,” Zestari corrected. “Really only until this evening, but no good hurting ourselves or the bodies we’re currently occupying trying to work this magic out.” She raised a hoof and rubbed the horn.

She stood there for a moment watching Bakewell try and tap into the magic, hoping that her housemate would fare better than she had. After watching the filly’s face screw-up in concentration, Bakewell similarly gave up. Magic, it seemed was not an easy affair.

Turning back to Violet, Zestari gave her a sympathetic look as the former unicorn had trouble with the pipbuck, spending some frustrating moments on the functions. Zestari wanted one of the amazing devices for herself, indeed, she had coveted such a complex device with so many devices all contained in something easily worn upon the hoof for some time. Up until now, however, she’d never really considered the devices to carry an element of risk. What sort of function could really be hazardous? Or even kill a pony?

Zestari raised a concerned eyebrow, but said nothing. Hopefully if she ever got one of the devices in future, she’d have somepony to teach her how to use it.

Her attention drifted back to Violet, “It’s fine. I’m sure it’s fine.” She interjected as Violet in Bakewell’s body began apologising. “No harm has been done.” She wasn’t sure about the sincerity of her voice. Her mind made it difficult to convey emotion in her speech, after all. “Perhaps we should go and see what the others are doing and try this magic thing again later. Does that sound okay?” She asked trying to change the topic of conversation.

“Yeah. It’s fine.” Bakewell agreed as Zestari stepped in and tried to fix the situation. It felt as if, whenViolet tried to make herself smaller, Bake’s heart did the same. But there was something else. Some mild form of disturbing satisfaction at seeing the big beige bully shrink pathetically in front of a her. Bakewell quickly forced the idea from her mind, she had other things to focus on right now.

“I know you didn’t know, Vi. You don’t need to be sorry. It’s not like you actually hurt us or anything. If any of us should be sorry, it’s me. I didn’t mean to upset you like this, I just… I needed you to understand that a pipbuck isn’t a toy. It’s dangerous and a huge responsibility. I should have found a better way.” The filly explained, grabbing onto Violet’s leg and hugging it.

What was with Bakewell today? Sure, waking up in Violet’s rather unique body had been extremely scary and upsetting, but that wasn’t a good excuse. It seemed like every time she had spoken to her friend today, it had caused harm.

“That’s a great idea, Zestar! Let’s go check on the others, Vi.” The purple filly suggested, attempting to tug the large beige mass over. If she could get Violet to talk to somepony else for a while, Bakewell herself would be able to stay quiet. If she stayed quiet then she couldn’t ruin anything with her big mouth.

Violet shook her head. “No, Bake, you were right. I knew these things had that targeting spell and didn’t even think about that when I started mashing buttons. I could’ve hurt somepony or worse. If I accidently activated that...I’m sorry. You were right to stop me before I accidentally did something I’d regret.”

Violet tried to put a smile back on her face. Nopony was hurt, everything was fine. She was just an idiot child when it came to computers apparently. She vowed not to touch the wrist-mounted supercomputer again for the duration of her stay in Bakewell’s body. Or anytime afterwards for that matter, the thing was unusable with her normal eyes anyway.

“Y-Yeah.” she replied to Zestari and Bakewell, agreeing. “Lets go see what the others are doing. If we have time maybe we can finish later.”

Jasmine continued to peck at the water, tilting her head back after gathering enough. It appeared that she was getting used to this bird thing pretty quickly. She happily pecked away and turned to Mona after getting her fill, smacking her beak from the flavor of the tea.

"I'm sorry about that Mona. What were you saying before about your brain? I'm simply fascinated by them!"

Jasmine shuffled in place slightly as she tried to control her hyperactivity. Even in Kestrel's body she still had trouble controling her energy. She stooped down and took another sip before mona could answer and closed her eyes. Jasmine was a pony of simple tastes and pleasures. Usually a small act of kindness was all i t took to perk her back up and the tea appeared to be doing the trick. She wiggled her hips back and fourth as she hummed a tune that seemingly had no melody, or rhythm for that matter. Without warning she bursted out in a warbily sing song voice that would've sounded better in her old body.

"MMMMMMM ThHhHhHhAaAaAaNnnNNnNnK You Kesie for my Teeaaa!!! MMM Its so good!"

Jasmine then turned back to Mona and continued. "So were you saying that something bad happened in the switch? Hope that its nothing too serious. I'm feeling only partially disturbed by my switch. This new body is huge! I'm used to being so tiny. And I'm pretty strong. Hopefully I get to enjoy this body a little while. Longer. I was thinking of becoming a superhero or something... Already got the mask, maybe I just need a good cape to go with it..."

A grunt of acknowledged was given in response to being given thanks, Kes not really hearing the words...at least until Jasmine started talking about her plans. Trapped in the hard to control body of the tiny pegasus Kestrel's eye began spasming as he heard what Jasmine planned to do in HIS body. His/her hooves began shaking, teeth grinding, and her pupils dilated spasmodically.

A sudden crushing sound and a splash resounded in the Camp, followed quickly by a steadily growing growling sound.

The cup of Tea lay broken and forgotten on the ground.

"You aren't going to do a DAMN THING WITH MY BODY." the pegasus mare shouted, steadily growing in volume as he/she rose to her hooves. Kestrel had hoped the stupid mare would have understood it, that she would respect his generosity and return it by just shutting her mouth and behaving.

The pegasi's eyes were filled with an obvious searing rage, but deeper than that...twinkling just beyond normal sight, was something else.

Pain.

Kestrel, causing her to frown slightly. The sound of growling and teacups crashing was enough to cause Jasmine to jump. Jasmine turned and noticed Kestrel shaking and grinding his/her teeth. Jasmine heard the next words come out of his mouth, loud and assertive. Her eyes rested on the sight of Kestrel, unblinking. It appeared that she had managed to cause a repeat of earlier to happen.

"I see..."

Jasmine sipped her tea, allowing the flavor to linger in her mouth. The anger of being slapped still underneath. Resentment, anger and that feeling of vulnerability. She scooted the cup away from herself and turned her head from him as she let out a small huff.

"I'm not going to talk to you if you keep yelling..." Jasmine looked off into the distance from him. Eyes fixed in the direction of where the other mares went. "Thank you for the tea but I don't owe you this conversation Kestrel. The moment you hit me you lost my patience... If you want to talk it will be with me and not at me..." Jasmine's methods were still remaniscent of the stable she left only a short time ago. Talking things out worked great in the stable, but out in the west ponies settled differences by putting bullets through eachother. She looked at her birdy hooves, covered in scars. These were the talons of one who was a great killer and an excellent fighter. She knew that he had no problem jumping into another bout with her.

She didn't look forward to this, but she knew this wouldn't be the first nor the last time that this would happen to her. She just had to keep in the moment and maintain controll of her emotions, namely her anger and fear.

Kestrel rolled her eyes and had to resist the urge to grab a few coals and pitch them Jasmines way. By the grace of the Ova was she really this damn dense? Did she not see what was before her eyes? The truth that is was SHE who owed KES for todays earlier insult?

Apparently it was time to point it out to the damn mare. Again.

"I don't want your patience Jasmine. I want you to open your eyes and see this from my side. I want you to think about what your doing." Kes lisped out, voice dropping just enough to not be considered a shout.

"Look around you Jasmine. Look at the body your in. It the only things in this forsaken hell I can truly call my own." Kestrel said, the words coming out strained. He felt a burning in his eyes. Tears. By the grace of the Void Kestrel was tearing up. Fighting them away he continued, his overly emotional state coupled with this new body only serving to make the words come out slower and more pained by the second. To make that knot in his stomach grow by an inch with every syllable he spoke.

"A long time ago, I made a promise to someone. And because of that promise I've sacrificed everything, fought my way out of Fillydelphia, nearly dying in the process. But i didn't. I lived, and because of it I pushed on. The last three years every cap I've made, every job I took, every BREATH I drew was for that promise. I went hungry, I slept in the cold, I suffered injuries that would kill others and got right back up." Kestrel continued his voice trembling now, his legs matching enough that he was now fighting just to stay standing. Her/his eyes flickered and shook, he/she blinked a dozen times a second just to keep the tears from falling and deep in his chest a pain he thought long since buried was in the process of churning up his new bodies guts and spitting them out.

It hurt. Why did it hurt. He didn't like this...he hated it. Every single last second he was stuck in this tiny, emotinal prison was like being back in that Hell. He'd been shot, burned, cut, broken, blasted, and buried alive a thousand times over just to pull himself back up on his feet. And every time it hadn't hurt enough to blink at.

But this? Telling some stupid pony that didn't understand what she was doing, just how much she was messing up? It was horrible. He hated it. He hated every last second of it.

And it was ALL because of some stupid mare that couldn't listen to orders.

"And then this happened. I got the one thing I truly could call my own taken from me and given to you. Twenty three years of fighting, surviving, and suffering. And your going to strip it all away because you think it'd be fun to run around and play hero with someone else's body." The pegasus mare gritted her teeth the first tear fell, a harsh and hurt tone seething from the throat of the now-pegasus as she/he glared at the pony before her/him.

Before Kes went silent again he/she had one last thing to say though.

"Take off my mask Jasmine. You don't even know what its there for."

Jasmine didn't bother turning when Kestrel responded. She stared off into the distance, next sooting on her flank until her back was completely facing him. Her eyes stared forward and didn't blink once under the furrowed eyebrows behind the mask. Her ears perked in his direction as he spoke, but her body didn't budge. A long heavy sigh left the still griffin, and her composure continued unbroken.

Until she heard the change in Kestrel's tone... As she turned around she was met with the sight of a pegasis fighting back tears. Her passiveness was a bit more effective than she wanted it to be.

Jasmine stared at the pegasis and tilted her head slightly as he was speaking. As the monologue continued her ears began to droop more and more. She saw the pegasis crying and saw a lot of herself. Someone who deep down just wanted to be loved, but was frustrated with others that didn't understand her. Is that why you act so silly Jasmine? The one thing that gives you value hurt someone... She never immagined that she'd do it, but she drove a killing machine to tears by just being herself. How valueable are you now Jasmine?

The pegasis told her to take off her mask, but by now she didn't really care. Her obliviousness did damage and she had to make this right. Kestrel didn't owe her bye removing that last sheild of safety. Her preditory form flew forward and in one efficient motion wraped him in a hug. She closed her eyes and held onto him, half-expecting to be hit again.

Her voice was quiet as her large muscular arms gently held Kestrel. "I'm sorry Kessie..."

If Jasmine had been expecting Kes to just give in and cry it out, she'd be sorely mistaken. The second her arms encircled him he began thrashing, flailing and trying to get away.

"Let me go! Don't touch me dammit!" Kes said, body jerking with each word as she tried desperately to get away; his/her voice no longer pained but once again angry. He did not like being touched, not without permission, and Jasmine did not have that right now.

A normal person would have probably turned and given in. Just let the tears keep flowing, and let out the pain and hurt inside. But Kes...he wasn't like that. He'd gotten his point across and the mare had given in apparently, but he would damn himself to the frigid cold of the void before he'd ever let her see everything behind the wall he'd built. He never let anyone that close...not even his father.

His sick, dying father, who was no doubt worried as to his sons current state of being. His son that was stuck in this damn emotional prey animal husk. Dammit...why did it have to be today.