The Wolf and the Unicorn

“Some things scratch the surface while others strike at your soul.” ― Gianna Perada

Reality was swimming again.  The shades looking like technicolor vomit from a possessed clown as they slowly formed to shape a kitchen.  Not just any kitchen, the worst kitchen in the world, and the absolute last place I wanted to be.  I'd rather die a million times then be here, not that I had any choice in the matter.

So there I sat, in stunned silence as I watched what I knew was going to occur.  The tears already streaming down my face as I saw myself sitting on the couch.  Elena, my queen, had left a few days prior to visit her family in Houston.  They had just moved down and bought a small house in the suburbs.  Growing up in Alaska, I have no idea why someone would want to be forced into a cookie cutter home, but so long as they were happy, it was fine by me.

"Stop this.  You know what happens.  Just stop.  I'll do anything you ask, just stop this moment.  Stop this...thing," I pleaded to the god who still had not appeared.

"You knew the agreement, mortal," the voice spat, more vehemently then I thought possible.  You could practically hear the sneer in the voice as I slowly collapsed to my knees and watched the same tv my past self was absorbed in.  I knew every word of this broadcast, every inflection of terror, fear, and panic in the reporters voice.

Everything seemed to loose color in the room as the female reporter said the words I dreaded.

"There was a large scale terrorist attack in Houston just moments ago.  A nuclear weapon was detonated in the path of the Presidential motorcade.  As far as we know, the entire white house staff and senior government officials are missing."  I couldn't care less about the damn President.  I tried to punch the couch my other self sat on, only to pass right through it, stumbling to the floor again.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?  To see me broken on the floor begging for death?  FUCK YOU!  FUCK YOU, YOU PATHETIC ATTEMPT OF A GOD!"

"YOU MISERABLE WHELP!  YOU KNEW THE TERMS AND YOU WILL ABIDE BY THEM.  THERE WILL BE NO PEACE OR RECOURSE UNTIL THIS TRIAL IS COMPLETE.  CEASE YOUR SNIVELING ON THE FLOOR AND BE A MAN LIKE YOU CLAIMED YOU WERE."

"If you wish dissolution after this trial, you may have it.  There are other alternatives that we have yet to discuss.  Your life nears its end in that form anyhow.  There is not long.  Be silent until then.  We both know the results of this moment, so we will away, unless you want to hear yourself weeping for eternity."

If the room could have faded any further to grey, it would have before the black took me.

"Before Equestria this was the last thing you experienced, and I must understand it."

Trees, moss, and dirt began to swirl around us to form the shadows of a forest in evening.  I knew this day.  This is the day I died and was reborn.  I had gone hunting again, the outdoors being the only place of solace I could find in a world descending into chaos.  After the attack, martial law was decreed country wide, as the highest ranking person left was some senator from Iowa.  The entire government was decapitated overnight.  Almost all of congress and the senate, the cabinet, everyone important to me, and the masses that weren't perished in that fireball.

An upside to living in Alaska is there was no real way to enforce martial law.  When you have seven hundred thousand people in a state the size of 2/3 of the country, things get strange.  Especially when you add the fact that there were almost eleven million legally owned guns in my home state.  We were pretty much left alone, much as usual.

The forest was the only place that made my life liveable.  I lost my job due to not being able to handle the stress.  The only reason I wasn't homeless was the fact that Elena and I both had well paying jobs prior to this.  We kept our bills paid well in advance, just in case we needed a sudden vacation.

This day in the forest, there was a deadlier predator.  A predator I was doing my best to run from.  Reality rippled as we slid along behind my other self, looking back in fear and hearing the panting and barks coming quickly.  Forcing every footing as I tried to get to an outcropping I knew was near.  Not near enough, apparently.

"Watch out you idiot!" I tried to warn myself against what was coming.

Now that I think about it, something did make me look over my shoulder right then.  I wonder if it was my yelling.  Either way, a bounding shape caught my eye.  Grey fur, gold eyes, and jagged teeth meant to carve flesh from bone.  The wolves were here.  I tried to bring my carbine up, only to have my foot catch on a root and drag me to the forest floor.  The loud pop of my ankle audible from a distance away.

"Motherfucker!"  I screamed as I twisted at the waist, fingers dancing on the trigger.

From the outside, my oncoming death seemed like something from a Liam Neeson movie.  I could feel every bit of the concussion from the muzzle of the rifle as it roared its fury into the world.  The streams of blood as bullets passed through wolf after wolf as they charged.  Brass clinking as it pooled on the ground next to my right knee.

And the click of the hammer landing on an empty chamber.  Months later, that still brought ice to my veins.  I didn't realize that I had fired all thirty rounds and the magazine was empty, bolt locked back.  One wolf still remaining, just the two of us.

Naturally, the predator didn't have the same thoughts that I did.  As I fished for an extra rifle magazine in a pouch, I completely forgot my revolver on my hip.  Not that it mattered really.  Just as the fresh magazine cleared the pouch, I could see the agony ripping across my face as teeth tore into my left arm.  The wolf was faster.

I thrashed with the rifle, jabbing it in the ribs and face, trying to fore it to let go as I screamed.  Yes, I screamed.  You try having a two hundred pound meat grinder attached to your arm before you can say anything.  I felt around for anything that could be used as a weapon, not even noticing the blood soaking my other hand as I grabbed my knife by the blade and slammed it into the wolf's neck.  Slicing my hand just as deep as the predator.  If I was going to die, I was going to take this thing with me.  I tightened the grip on my left hand the wolf was chewing on, intending to hold it's lower jaw and force it to come to me.  Come to its doom.

As you can tell, things don't usually go my way though.  This is where I found out that sticking your hand in a wolf's mouth is a good way to lose fingers.  Blood spurted as everything except my thumb separated in one fell bite, and then the beast lunged.  My knife forcing its way into its neck at the same moment the wolf's canines entered mine.  I could see its eyes glazing over as blood loss claimed it.  But my fingers couldn't hold the knife.  Why can't I hold a knife, I wondered as I scrambled for it, only making it slide away further as things began to fade...

The last words leaving my lips... "I'm coming love.  Wait for me."

Meanwhile in another slice of reality...

Twilight Sparkle was arguing with a certain mint colored pony.  A certain mint colored pony that was dead set on proving that these strange things called "hoomans" were real.

"Lyra, why do you insist that these creatures are real?  There is no evidence anywhere in Equestria that they do?"

"Its simple really.  I just know they do.  You have a few books here that even reference them!"

"I assure you, none of my books have anything on humans in them, not even the tomes on magic.  Please Lyra, let this go."

"Well, there is one thing you could do to prove it to me.  You are the one who is the element of magic you know."

"Lyra, why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret even listening to you.  I'll make you a deal.  I'll try to summon something that fits whatever description you have of a human.  When nothing happens, you have to admit that humans are not real.  Deal?"

The mint pony looked down for a moment, contemplating what she was told.

"Deal.  I already have a list of features ready if you want to see it!"

A ream of loosely bundled notes and sketches were thrust under Twilight's nose.  "You want me to read all that for a simple spell?  One page Lyra.  One page is all."

After a moments fumbling through the stack, one crudely written page was presented to the irritated pony.

"This one.  This one has everything important about humans.  What they eat, what they look like, everything."

After a quick glance to the page, Twilight sighed and closed her eyes, not believing what she was about to do for one insane pony.

A small breeze overtook the library, fluttering pages in open tomes as the lavender librarian focused her magic, drawing it out into the universe and feeling for something, anything, or nothing to end this crazy plot.  Naturally, she was completely oblivious to the mint pony who was staring at her intently, a grin on her face as if she knew what was going to happen.  As if her crazy theories were about to be proven once and for all.

Everything stopped as Twilight gasped and opened her eyes.  Radiant white spilling forth, as if she contained the heart of a runaway sun.  White and purple flames flickering around her form, slowly burning a ring into the soft floor of the library.  The brightness grew and grew, feeding on itself.  A roaring noise coming from seemingly everywhere came from the library, rising in intensity to a crescendo as windows all across Ponyville began to crack and break.

A wave of white magic tore out across the town, with the library in its epicenter.  Ponies dropping everything and scrambling to get away, only to be overtaken, but left otherwise unharmed.  It did not escape the view of a certain Princess however.

With a soft sigh, Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment.  When she inhaled again, she was standing behind her prized pupil, who was slumped over, gasping for air from exertion.  Shock spreading across her face as she surveyed the seen before her.  Just as rapidly as the blood of the creature spread across the floor, filling every groove in the floor, almost as its essence wanted to paint a crimson flower.

"Twlight Sparkle, what did you do?!?"

Life in Ponyville just got a lot more interesting.