Grandma's Secret
a
transformation story
by
clancy688
Groaning, Jack let his aching body fall on his bed. He'd helped his uncle for hours carrying Great Grandma's stuff from her adjacent cottage into the farmstead's large attic. Great Grandma had died three months earlier, but Jack already didn't remember her well anymore.
He'd often visited his uncle's farm during his holidays, but he'd seldom interacted with his ancient relative. While uncle and his wife were living in the farm's big ranch, where Jack even had his own room while he was visiting, Great Grandma had lived withdrawn in her old, tiny cottage. It had even lacked modern heating and fluent water, but the old lady had thrown a fit each and every time her grandson had tried persuading her into moving to the farmstead.
She'd even grown her own vegetables and farmed chicken, so she'd been completely independent, and eventually his uncle had stopped trying. Truth to tell, Great Grandma had not been a bad person. She'd always smiled when she'd seen her great grandson playing in front of her garden, and she'd always slipped him sweets made from honey. But besides this, she'd been very withdrawn and had hardly interacted with him or the rest of his family.
Uncle had decided that now that Great Grandma was gone, her cottage had to yield a new silo. Personally, Jack thought that it was just a tiny bit mean demolishing the home of person who couldn't object anymore, but from the look of the cottage, it would probably crumble on its own anyway somewhere during the next couple of winters.
But his uncle hadn't been prepared to give Great Grandma's possessions the same treatment he wanted to inflict on her house.
"A person's household effects are proof of her life and personality, a reminder of her memories." he'd declared and volunteered Jack for helping him carrying those memories to some place where they could be stored to be sighted - eventually.
"Perfect, you've clothed yourself in old shreds, that's the right kind of clothing for such a job!" he'd exclaimed as Jack had appeared in front of the cottage listlessly, grinning widely over his bearded face. Jack had rolled his eyes. By now the joke was getting old. He was not wasting much time on his outer appearance, and therefore he usually appeared kind of scrawny. Today he'd been wearing dark-colored pants, hoodie and a light-colored shirt. His uncle apparently found his lack of fashion sense amusing and therefore teased him mercilessly.
That's how Jack had found himself spending an entire day of his precious summer holidays rummaging through a moldy, dark and spider-infested dungeon, packing moving boxes and carrying them all over the premises up uncle's attic. After two hours, he'd been spent like never before in his life, and the relocation had gone on for another six hours. Without the equally massive and delicious lunch his uncle's wife had prepared for them, he'd probably have dropped dead then and there.
Nonetheless, now he was finally finished, and while he was still looking for a bone in his body which didn't hurt, he had to consent that the knowledge of all the hard work he'd accomplished over the day was a totally satisfying memory. Seeing the completely empty cottage and comparing this neatness to the chaos they'd found when they'd started their task in the morning had appealed to the small perfectionist streak in his personality.
Besides this streak, he was also shy and quiet. That was why he was spending his summer holiday at the calm comfort of his uncle's house instead of joining his teenage friends in their loud and noisy summer camp. No, Jack liked it calm and quiet, where he'd have enough space for himself to read and daydream as much as he wanted, without anyone disturbing him. Except for the days where he had to fill in as a moving guy.
Slowly he raised his arm now, looking at the peculiar looking wristband he'd found in Great Grandma's house. Much to his uncle's surprise (and Jack's chagrin), they'd discovered that she had maintained an own attic, filled with dozens of old wooden crates. Some of those had been filled with mysterious flasks and tinctures. Others with what looked like cooking utensils. Although what an old woman wanted to do with a kettle the size of a washer was beyond Jack. Still others had held ancient books.
And among all those crates, Jack had found this wristband. It had probably fallen out of one of the crates, but he'd only discovered it when the attic had been nearly empty. It had been late already, and therefore, instead of looking for the crate it had come from, he'd simply pursed it into his pocket. He was sure that Great Grandma wouldn't have objected.
Carefully he scrutinized his find. It was made of silky white fur, perhaps three fingers wide. There was neat embroidery on it, showing what looked like Greek characters surrounding the surprisingly detailed image of a winged horse. Jack wasn't that versed in Greek Myths, but he was an enthusiastic fan of Disney movies. The winged horse looked like Hercules' mount out of the animated movie of the same name, Pegasus it was called, wasn't it?
Jack kept examining the wristband for a couple of minutes. Then, out of curiosity, he slipped it on, eyeing the artifact on his left wrist. Until suddenly something unexpected happened.
His wrist began to tingle under the wristband and he tried to use his other hand to scratch his itching skin.
"What the...?"
Abruptly and ignoring his sore bones, Jack sat up in his bed, staring at the wristband. His fingers searched for the gap between the band and his wrist, but there was nothing. And not only that... suddenly shivery, he stroked over the wristband's fur. And he felt it. He felt it as if he was stroking his own skin.
And then, the fur started to spread in both directions. Wide-eyed, Jack watched as it crawled up his arm, his entire lower left arm already being covered in fur.
"What is happening?" he blurted out panicking. He grabbed for the space where the wristband had been, only meeting his own body's new fur. "Where is the damn wristband? Why can't I take it off? Argh, I need to take it off!"
Abruptly, the fur's advance stopped and Jack ogled as the wristband was dangling on his wrist once more. There was a neat, tidy strip of his human skin below it, and the rest of the fur which had started encasing his arm was beginning to disappear as well. Seconds later, it was gone and Jack tore the wristband off as fast as humanly possible.
Stunned, he looked at the thing, lying innocuous on his bed. His thoughts raced.
What the hell did I just experience? That's impossible! The fur covering my arm, that was like magic. But... magic doesn't exist! Albeit... I found it on Great Grandma's attic. Between all those other strange things... kettles... ancient books... flasks. Does that mean that Great Grandma had been a...? Is that the reason why she'd lived so withdrawn? To guard her secret? But that's... impossible, isn't it???
He contemplated the outrageous. Jack was the product of a technology loving society. Magic doesn't exist. Can't exist. Science says that it's impossible. But still...
Jack eyed the wristband again. Gingerly, he reached for it. What he was doing now was dangerous and inconsiderate, but he couldn't stop himself.
If that wristband is really doing what I think it's doing, and if it's stopped before because of what I think made it stop...
His heart beating furiously in his chest, he slipped the wristband over his left wrist again. And again it fused with his skin, white fur starting to race up and down his arm. Fascinated he watched as his arm changed. And not only his arm. He could feel that all over his body, fur was starting to grow. His fingers and toes began to feel funny and he looked at them as they started to become smaller, stubbier.
At the same time, he felt his shirt and pants suddenly stretching, his body becoming bigger.
Okay... he thought, trembling a little. Now comes the delicate part... I don't want to rip my clothes, so let's see if this works.
He concentrated and formed one thought, this one as 'clear' as possible. I want the wristband to come off my wrist!
And it worked. From one moment to the next, the wristband was a wristband again, the fur on his body receding and all changes reversing themselves. This time it took a little bit longer, but soon he was his normal, teenage self again.
"That's a transformation wristband..." Jack said awed, looking at the small, unimpressive looking thing in his hand.
And if what's embroidered on the wristband describes into what I will transform when I use it...
Jack was feeling dizzy. His whole world had been upturned in a matter of minutes, but the unexpected discovery was exciting him like nothing had in his entire life. He looked wistfully out of his window where it was already dark night.
Today he wouldn't be able to fully test his new treasure. But tomorrow...
Full of expectation, he went to bed, but his fantasies of what tomorrow would hold in store for him kept him awake until well after midnight.
************************************************
On edge, Jack watched his uncle's car disappearing. It had been hard, very hard, not to show his impatience to his uncle and his wife, but soon the charade would be over. Today, his uncle wanted to visit an agriculture exhibition and he was taking his wife with him. It was the best possible thing to happen to Jack today.
Then their car disappeared around the bend and Jack darted away, running eagerly towards the barn he'd chosen for today's experiment. Inside, he started undressing again, until he was completely naked. It was cold in the barn, and he felt himself getting goosebumps, at the same time, hay was prickling his bare foots.
Jack grinned as he took the wristband out of his pocket. Both wouldn't be a problem soon and his heart was throbbing madly as he reflected again what was supposed to happen.
He started putting the wristband on but then realized that there still was one accessory he hadn't stripped. Smiling, he removed his dragon's pendant. Its creation had been an assignment during art class, and he'd been wearing it pretty much every day from thereon. But he didn't want the cord to snap and so he put it carefully to the side.
Now he positioned himself in the middle of the barn, took a deep breath and slipped the wristband on. Immediately, he was greeted by the now familiar tingle and the white fur racing up his arm and appearing all over his body. Expectantly he held both his hands in front of his face and watched in awe as his fingers shrank, becoming stubbier, while at the same time his nails changed their color to a deep, glossy black, starting to encase his hands.
He felt the same thing happening in his feet, as well as an unknown sensation in his knees. Suddenly it became hard to stand upright and Jack had to bend forward, until he lost his balance and fell over. Instinctively, he put his hands in front of him and with a loud 'clop', he landed on his new front hooves.
Jack found himself standing on all four... well, legs now and it felt perfectly normal. Enthralled he looked back, realizing that his legs', now his hind legs', knees bent backward. His look back was just in time for him to feel a pushing sensation in his posterior and he saw a tail emerging, of the same snow-white complexion as the fur on the rest of his body. He'd been getting steadily bigger and bigger, his body, with exception of his head, looking more and more equine with every second going by.
And then he felt the tingle encompassing his head as well. He felt it stretching, becoming larger, eyes traveling to the sides, mouth pushing out in a muzzle and ears going to the top of his head. But the transformation wasn't over yet. He felt another, pushing sensation and from his flanks emerged another pair of limbs. Thanks to his now very flexible neck, he could watch as those limbs became longer and longer, until they had a span of several yards in each direction. Instead of fur, they were growing feathers and soon, in addition to his horse's legs, he was sporting two tremendous wings.
The transformation couldn't have taken longer than a minute or two, but to Jack it had been an eternity. The tingles which had accompanied his change now vanished and he took in all the differences he was feeling.
He felt unfamiliar muscles moving as his ears swiveled individually, perking up to listen to formerly unknown sounds. His nose was suddenly smelling so much more. What surprised him was his eyesight. He had anticipated to become colorblind, but instead it was the exact opposite - he was seeing everything so much more clearly. Moreover, his field of vision was much larger then before, he could basically look all around his body.
Fascinated, Jack raised each of his four hoofed legs, then flapped his large wings softly. He craned his neck and inspected his totally changed body.
Incredible. he thought. It has actually worked. The wristband has transformed me in a Pegasus!
And indeed his body had become that of a majestic pegasus, a winged, snow-white stallion. Although to him he looked a little bit small. Perhaps, because of his age, he'd changed into a juvenile Pegasus?
Testing, Jack started to walk around the barn. To his surprise, he had no problems in doing so. His whole body felt familiar, despite being so fundamentally different to the human one he'd worn for 15 years. If he'd still had a human mouth, he'd have laughed in ecstasy, instead the Pegasus voiced an exuberant whinny.
This is awesome! Jack thought while his hooves were clopping on the barn's concrete. Now let's try this body out...
Cautiously, he pushed the barn's door open with his muzzle and peered out. Nobody to be seen, perfect.
Swiftly, he exited the barn and cantered over the courtyard. There was the fence coming up which marked the end of his uncle's property and Jack wanted to turn, but then he thought otherwise.
Well, why not? he grinned inwardly and raised his speed to a thundering gallop. And then, shortly before the fence, he tensed all his muscles and jumped.
If he'd only have used his four legs, he'd have cleared the fence's top by well over a yard. But he'd almost forgotten that he currently wasn't only a horse, but a winged horse. And the moment he jumped, by instinct he spread his wings as well.
So instead of simply jumping over the obstacle, he glided over it - several yards high and several dozen yards wide.
Surprised by his sudden and unexpected flight, Jack folded his wings back in - and plummeted to the ground like a stone. He'd very nearly have crashed, only his powerful leg's muscles prevented him from landing muzzle first.
Stunned he stopped and looked back to the fence - which was far away.
I've flown! he thought. I've actually flown. That was... great...!
Jack scanned his surroundings. He was now standing on a large meadow. The perfect runway for a winged creature like him. Slowly at first he started to gallop and then spread out his wings. This alone, coupled with his speed, gave him enough lift to momentarily lose contact with the ground.
For 15 minutes he was practicing starting, gliding and landing until he decided that his skills were proficient enough for what he had in mind next. Slowly he breathed in and out, bracing himself for this endeavor. Then he thundered forward, galloping as fast as possible, all four hooves pounding on the ground in a blur.
After a couple of seconds, he jumped as high as he could and, simultaneously, not only spread his wings but also flapped them down. This catapulted him in the air with such a violent force that he'd nearly folded his wings again in shock. In the last moment he realized that this would've been suicidal and instead flapped again, gaining more and more height.
He watched down and nearly became dizzy. It had only taken a few seconds, but he was already several hundred feet in the air! Below him, trees raced by like tiny toothpicks.
Jack felt a joy flowing through his body like he'd never felt before. That's incredible! I'm actually doing honest-to-god flying!
Carefully he put his body into a gentle curve and looked towards his uncles farm. It was looking like some gathering of toy houses! And now he finally realized why his eyesight was much better than that of normal horses. He was having a bird of prey's sight, something he absolutely had to have if he was flying around in such heights, at such speeds.
Ecstatic, Jack tested out his flying skills, even doing somersaults after a short time. Then he carved away, towards the mountains. It wouldn't be good if someone was seeing him in his impossible shape, but out there, over the mountains, there'd be most likely no unwanted onlookers.
Exhausted, Jack was flying back from the adventures of this incredible day. He'd flown for an hour, covering a distance of what he estimated to be at least 50 miles. And his wings' muscles hadn't even so much as twitched, much less shown signs of fatigue!
He'd landed in a lonely valley, first hungrily drinking from a crystal-clear mountain-stream and then explored those uninhabited woods. As he'd become hungry, he'd looked for something to eat, like berries, but then he'd remembered that he was currently a horse (of sorts, with upgrades). So he'd tentatively tried grazing and to his surprise, he'd loved the rich, juicy taste of the valley's dark green grass.
Jack had spent the rest of the day amusing himself with aerobatics before he'd realized that the mountains' shadows falling down the valley had been becoming longer and longer, that the day had been nearly over.
So he'd set a return course and flown towards his uncle's farm. Somehow, he had absolutely no doubts of the direction he'd to fly into to get home. He could have closed his eyes and accurately pointed at the farmstead with, well, his muzzle. Perhaps as a Pegasus he had not only inherited a bird's eyesight, but also its sense of direction.
Now Jack was already seeing the farm. But he was also seeing his uncle's truck on the road, less than a couple of miles away from its destination.
Just in the nick of time! he thought as he changed altitude, covering the final miles at tree-top level flying.
Swiftly and expertly, he landed in front of the barn and trotted inside. Then he willed the wristband off and immediately, he started to change back. One minute later, he was standing there in his human shape again, suddenly feeling, well, imperfect.
Jack quickly donned his clothing and his beloved dragon pendant and emerged from the barn just in time to see his uncle and his wife walking towards the farm house, apparently quarreling.
"Hi, Jack!" she shouted as she saw him approaching and winked. "Can you believe this?" she twinkled and pointed at her husband. "He's claiming that he's seen a flying horse! And he'd only had three beers at the exhibition!"
"I'm not imagining things!" his uncle growled. "It was there! Flying towards the farm! Jack, have you seen something unusual?"
"What, me?" Jack asked innocently. "No, absolutely not. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Hrmpf." Disappointed, his uncle went into the house and Jack followed, clutching the wristband in his pocket. No, he didn't want to let them in into his secret, not yet, at least.
Today had been the best day of his entire life and as long as he had his Pegasus wristband, there were bound to be more. And who knew? Maybe it wasn't the only wristband? Maybe there were more, waiting to be found, with more exotic and fun creatures to change into? Maybe even a dragon?
Grinning, Jack went through the farmstead's door. He already knew what he would be doing this evening... he just had to somehow convince his uncle to give him the key to the attic where Great Grandma's stuff was stored.
Regardless whether he'd find more wristbands there or not, life, he decided, had just become way more interesting.
Then their car disappeared around the bend and Jack darted away, running eagerly towards the barn he'd chosen for today's experiment. Inside, he started undressing again, until he was completely naked. It was cold in the barn, and he felt himself getting goosebumps, at the same time, hay was prickling his bare foots.
Jack grinned as he took the wristband out of his pocket. Both wouldn't be a problem soon and his heart was throbbing madly as he reflected again what was supposed to happen.
He started putting the wristband on but then realized that there still was one accessory he hadn't stripped. Smiling, he removed his dragon's pendant. Its creation had been an assignment during art class, and he'd been wearing it pretty much every day from thereon. But he didn't want the cord to snap and so he put it carefully to the side.
Now he positioned himself in the middle of the barn, took a deep breath and slipped the wristband on. Immediately, he was greeted by the now familiar tingle and the white fur racing up his arm and appearing all over his body. Expectantly he held both his hands in front of his face and watched in awe as his fingers shrank, becoming stubbier, while at the same time his nails changed their color to a deep, glossy black, starting to encase his hands.
He felt the same thing happening in his feet, as well as an unknown sensation in his knees. Suddenly it became hard to stand upright and Jack had to bend forward, until he lost his balance and fell over. Instinctively, he put his hands in front of him and with a loud 'clop', he landed on his new front hooves.
Jack found himself standing on all four... well, legs now and it felt perfectly normal. Enthralled he looked back, realizing that his legs', now his hind legs', knees bent backward. His look back was just in time for him to feel a pushing sensation in his posterior and he saw a tail emerging, of the same snow-white complexion as the fur on the rest of his body. He'd been getting steadily bigger and bigger, his body, with exception of his head, looking more and more equine with every second going by.
And then he felt the tingle encompassing his head as well. He felt it stretching, becoming larger, eyes traveling to the sides, mouth pushing out in a muzzle and ears going to the top of his head. But the transformation wasn't over yet. He felt another, pushing sensation and from his flanks emerged another pair of limbs. Thanks to his now very flexible neck, he could watch as those limbs became longer and longer, until they had a span of several yards in each direction. Instead of fur, they were growing feathers and soon, in addition to his horse's legs, he was sporting two tremendous wings.
The transformation couldn't have taken longer than a minute or two, but to Jack it had been an eternity. The tingles which had accompanied his change now vanished and he took in all the differences he was feeling.
He felt unfamiliar muscles moving as his ears swiveled individually, perking up to listen to formerly unknown sounds. His nose was suddenly smelling so much more. What surprised him was his eyesight. He had anticipated to become colorblind, but instead it was the exact opposite - he was seeing everything so much more clearly. Moreover, his field of vision was much larger then before, he could basically look all around his body.
Fascinated, Jack raised each of his four hoofed legs, then flapped his large wings softly. He craned his neck and inspected his totally changed body.
Incredible. he thought. It has actually worked. The wristband has transformed me in a Pegasus!
And indeed his body had become that of a majestic pegasus, a winged, snow-white stallion. Although to him he looked a little bit small. Perhaps, because of his age, he'd changed into a juvenile Pegasus?
Testing, Jack started to walk around the barn. To his surprise, he had no problems in doing so. His whole body felt familiar, despite being so fundamentally different to the human one he'd worn for 15 years. If he'd still had a human mouth, he'd have laughed in ecstasy, instead the Pegasus voiced an exuberant whinny.
This is awesome! Jack thought while his hooves were clopping on the barn's concrete. Now let's try this body out...
Cautiously, he pushed the barn's door open with his muzzle and peered out. Nobody to be seen, perfect.
Swiftly, he exited the barn and cantered over the courtyard. There was the fence coming up which marked the end of his uncle's property and Jack wanted to turn, but then he thought otherwise.
Well, why not? he grinned inwardly and raised his speed to a thundering gallop. And then, shortly before the fence, he tensed all his muscles and jumped.
If he'd only have used his four legs, he'd have cleared the fence's top by well over a yard. But he'd almost forgotten that he currently wasn't only a horse, but a winged horse. And the moment he jumped, by instinct he spread his wings as well.
So instead of simply jumping over the obstacle, he glided over it - several yards high and several dozen yards wide.
Surprised by his sudden and unexpected flight, Jack folded his wings back in - and plummeted to the ground like a stone. He'd very nearly have crashed, only his powerful leg's muscles prevented him from landing muzzle first.
Stunned he stopped and looked back to the fence - which was far away.
I've flown! he thought. I've actually flown. That was... great...!
Jack scanned his surroundings. He was now standing on a large meadow. The perfect runway for a winged creature like him. Slowly at first he started to gallop and then spread out his wings. This alone, coupled with his speed, gave him enough lift to momentarily lose contact with the ground.
For 15 minutes he was practicing starting, gliding and landing until he decided that his skills were proficient enough for what he had in mind next. Slowly he breathed in and out, bracing himself for this endeavor. Then he thundered forward, galloping as fast as possible, all four hooves pounding on the ground in a blur.
After a couple of seconds, he jumped as high as he could and, simultaneously, not only spread his wings but also flapped them down. This catapulted him in the air with such a violent force that he'd nearly folded his wings again in shock. In the last moment he realized that this would've been suicidal and instead flapped again, gaining more and more height.
He watched down and nearly became dizzy. It had only taken a few seconds, but he was already several hundred feet in the air! Below him, trees raced by like tiny toothpicks.
Jack felt a joy flowing through his body like he'd never felt before. That's incredible! I'm actually doing honest-to-god flying!
Carefully he put his body into a gentle curve and looked towards his uncles farm. It was looking like some gathering of toy houses! And now he finally realized why his eyesight was much better than that of normal horses. He was having a bird of prey's sight, something he absolutely had to have if he was flying around in such heights, at such speeds.
Ecstatic, Jack tested out his flying skills, even doing somersaults after a short time. Then he carved away, towards the mountains. It wouldn't be good if someone was seeing him in his impossible shape, but out there, over the mountains, there'd be most likely no unwanted onlookers.
************************************************
He'd landed in a lonely valley, first hungrily drinking from a crystal-clear mountain-stream and then explored those uninhabited woods. As he'd become hungry, he'd looked for something to eat, like berries, but then he'd remembered that he was currently a horse (of sorts, with upgrades). So he'd tentatively tried grazing and to his surprise, he'd loved the rich, juicy taste of the valley's dark green grass.
Jack had spent the rest of the day amusing himself with aerobatics before he'd realized that the mountains' shadows falling down the valley had been becoming longer and longer, that the day had been nearly over.
So he'd set a return course and flown towards his uncle's farm. Somehow, he had absolutely no doubts of the direction he'd to fly into to get home. He could have closed his eyes and accurately pointed at the farmstead with, well, his muzzle. Perhaps as a Pegasus he had not only inherited a bird's eyesight, but also its sense of direction.
Now Jack was already seeing the farm. But he was also seeing his uncle's truck on the road, less than a couple of miles away from its destination.
Just in the nick of time! he thought as he changed altitude, covering the final miles at tree-top level flying.
Swiftly and expertly, he landed in front of the barn and trotted inside. Then he willed the wristband off and immediately, he started to change back. One minute later, he was standing there in his human shape again, suddenly feeling, well, imperfect.
Jack quickly donned his clothing and his beloved dragon pendant and emerged from the barn just in time to see his uncle and his wife walking towards the farm house, apparently quarreling.
"Hi, Jack!" she shouted as she saw him approaching and winked. "Can you believe this?" she twinkled and pointed at her husband. "He's claiming that he's seen a flying horse! And he'd only had three beers at the exhibition!"
"I'm not imagining things!" his uncle growled. "It was there! Flying towards the farm! Jack, have you seen something unusual?"
"What, me?" Jack asked innocently. "No, absolutely not. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Hrmpf." Disappointed, his uncle went into the house and Jack followed, clutching the wristband in his pocket. No, he didn't want to let them in into his secret, not yet, at least.
Today had been the best day of his entire life and as long as he had his Pegasus wristband, there were bound to be more. And who knew? Maybe it wasn't the only wristband? Maybe there were more, waiting to be found, with more exotic and fun creatures to change into? Maybe even a dragon?
Grinning, Jack went through the farmstead's door. He already knew what he would be doing this evening... he just had to somehow convince his uncle to give him the key to the attic where Great Grandma's stuff was stored.
Regardless whether he'd find more wristbands there or not, life, he decided, had just become way more interesting.