Starting over

When Lucas woke up, he felt a comfort he couldn't explain. His eyes weren't open, but he felt like he was back in his bed in Tazmily village, when he was living a life he could scarcely remember. When Lucas looked around he saw a seemingly endless field of sunflowers. He smiled, but couldn't help let a few tears go. They reminded him of someone he remembered fondly.

In order to maintain his composure, Lucas looked up at the cloudless sky as he walked, he didn't know why. Perhaps it was because he felt that he was too old to cry anymore, we may never know.

When Lucas stepped out of the sunflower patch and into Everfree forest, he couldn't help but look back, and pick a small sunflower as a memento.

Everfree forest reminded Lucas of the forest near his hometown, Sunshine forest, but to Lucas, Everfree forest felt a bit more magical. It had an air of mystery about it, but it was also vibrant and lively. Birds were singing a chorus and insects created a symphony of buzzes and chirps.

Then it struck Lucas, what was he doing here? The Earth he remembered was ravaged only a few minutes ago. "Am I dead?" he thought. It boggled his mind, but then a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Um, excuse me, but you look a little lost. Can I help you?" The voice was soft and gentle. Lucas couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand the thought of making another close companion and watching them die, so he ran, no he bolted away with tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't even look at the source of the voice.

Lucas stopped running when he didn't hear footsteps behind him anymore, he was relieved. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Lucas ate berries, he wanted nothing to do with any kind of violence again. At night, Lucas climbed high in the trees and slept on a thick branch.

In his sleep, Lucas dreamed of the destruction and devastation he had caused to the world. He dreamed of his brother's corpse lying in front of that needle, almost like an omen. He dreamed of Porky Minch, mocking him, knowing that Lucas could never exact revenge on him. He dreamed of his mother impaled on a fang. The memories wouldn't stop coming.

"Everyone's waiting for you, Lucas. Everyone's waiting to throw rocks at you, spit in your eyes, and make your life hell. Who's everyone? Everyone you love." Those words never stopped repeating in his head, like a broken record.

Lucas woke up sweating but what he witnessed was a spectacle. He saw the Wonderbolts fly through Everfree forest. Lucas hid himself with some nearby leaves, but he couldn't help but watch. They were so graceful when they zoomed by, they all followed a systematic pattern of loops and rolls. Lucas became so captivated that he forgot that he was looking a a group of pegasi. But then again, Lucas had seen very, very bizarre things on his travels.

It was noon, and Lucas climbed down from the safety of the tree he was perched upon to scavenge berries. It wasn't too hard to find a bush with berries in it. The berries Lucas had found looked like shriveled blueberries, he put a few in his other pocket.

After about a half hour of berry picking, Lucas was tired, and he noticed a couple of sticks and logs lying around nearby, so he sat down on them, big mistake. From behind him, Lucas heard a growling noise. The logs and sticks had joined together to become a living creature that resembled a wolf, the next thing he knew, Lucas was surrounded by three of them.

Although, Lucas was terrified, he subconsciously knew that handling them would be an easy task, he just wanted to avoid conflict. One of the wolves took the first strike, it lunged at him, and he sidestepped it. Lucas tried to yell and make himself appear stronger, but it did no use. Every time the wolves lunged at Lucas, he just dodged it without much trouble. Then, all three wolves tackled him. They began tearing his shirt to shreds and their claws pierced his skin like a balloon. He was lucky enough to grab a nearby stick, and force the wolves off of him. He held them back with the same stick, but it seemed as if they had unlimited endurance, even when it seemed Lucas had reduced them back to sticks and logs again, they just reshaped themselves.

Then it became clear to Lucas, they weren't just going to become tame or back down, Lucas had to kill the wolves, or they would kill him, it was a battle of survival. All Lucas had to do was to point at the wolves and say the magic words and they would disappear forever, it was that simple. Lucas looked away from the wolves, pointed at them and said the magic words: "PK Fire alpha!" His voice was forceful, but it cracked a little bit.

It worked, the wolves whimpered and howled as they died a slow, painful, death. Lucas couldn't help but break down in tears. "What have I done? I'm a monster!" he thought. For hours, Lucas lay ever still, feeling like he commit a crime. Fighting the wolves had taken out a lot of his energy, so he let himself take a quick nap.

From a distance, a trotting noise could be heard. A feminine voice gasped

"Oh no! You poor thing... Who could do something like this? Mommy's going to make it all better, okay?"

When Lucas woke from his nap, his surroundings were once again different. He was in a house that seemed like it was from a fairy tale. Bunnies were skipping about, Birds were singing, and the whole house seemed to have a cheery mood about it. There was no doubt about that.

"Oh, you're awake, feel free to make yourself at home." a figure appeared at the top of the stairs. Lucas was shocked, what he was looking at was a talking pony, or rather a talking pegasus. She had pink, flowing hair and yellow fur. She looked a little embarrassed when she saw Lucas looking so wide-eyed at her.

"I'm sorry if this is a little sudden. It's just that when I saw you asleep in the middle of the forest, covered in bruises, you looked like you needed a little help. You can call me Fluttershy. Do you want to tell me your name?" said the Pegasus sheepishly

"Lucas." he replied quietly

"I get the impression that you're not from here. Do you have parents?" asked Fluttershy

"They're-, well..." began Lucas

"I understand. It must be hard, why don't you just get some rest for a while, your wounds haven't healed." said Fluttershy understandingly