The Story of an Owl

An owl. I was turned into an owl. Well, I reacted just as any sane person would have: I freaked out! I started flailing my feathery new appendages with fervor, trying to get them off of me, to no avail. I tried screaming for help, only for it to come out as panicked hooting. My flailing eventually caused me to slam my head into the trunk of the very tree I was perched in. That was very painful and it did knock me out cold.

I awoke to see a setting sun, meaning that several hours must have passed. I looked down at myself, letting out a sad hoot at still being an owl. But why did this happen? I saved a little girl from being killed and my reward was to spend my afterlife as an owl? How does that work?! I’ve always considered myself to be of the intellectual sort, but this goes far beyond the science of man. Almost as if were magic, but such things don’t exist, right? Oh, how foolish I was back then.

As the sun disappeared behind the mountains, the moon rose up into the sky. It was a peculiar sight to behold, seeing as there was a dark imprint of a unicorn etched into the planet’s satellite. The moon also seemed to have risen at the exact moment that the sun had set. Most peculiar, yet also very fascinating. It was at this point where I realized that I most definitely wasn’t on my birth world. That was certainly an eye-opening realization. I paced back and forth on my branch, trying to understand my new circumstances, but such a thing is impossible for a human who knew nothing of magic and occult. I almost wish I had read the Library’s copy of the Necronomicon while I had the chance, maybe it would have had a section on death and reincarnation.

Wait, reincarnation, that’s it! I must have been reincarnated! But why an owl on a world that most certainly wasn’t mother Earth? Then again, reincarnation was always just a theory for life after death, meaning there were no set rules. Hmm, most peculiar. Well, it was some form of sanity that I could hold on to. A grumbling came from my stomach now that I had decided to calm down. I was hungry, hungry for something yummy. I spied around, being an owl certainly helped me track down a midnight dinner. I spied it running across the field, maybe twenty yards away: a small little mouse. I couldn’t help myself as I dived from my branch towards the wayward rodent. I picked him up in my talons, squeaking in terror. I landed on another branch and brought the tasty rodent up to my beak. I am so sorry for this little friend, but tis the circle of life, it is. There was the sickening crunch of bones in my beak, but the taste more than made up for it.

Then I realized what I just did. I just ate a mouse of the ground! What was wrong with me?! Doing something so cruel to another living creature! I was vegetarian by choice, so you must understand how disgusting and unnerving this was for me. Then another realization came to me: I just flew! I actually flew! I was so giddy that I forgot all about my carnivorism and started to do a little happy dance on my branch. But, that flight was out of instinct, not talent. So, I steeled myself and started to stretch my wings. Now, if I remember correctly, flight for the feathered involves spreading the wings, letting the wind flow through the edges of my primary feathers, searching for just the right draft, and then, liftoff!
I jumped into the rising air current and was propelled high into the air, soaring above the treetops below me. Oh it was wonderous! A dream come true and sight that was beyond amazing! The light of the full moon illuminated the forest below, displaying a tranquil beauty that also held terrible frights. Oh how wonderful it is to fly under your own power! It was so glorious that I couldn’t help but sing my feelings to the night sky!

Of course, my singing only came out as happy, musical hooting, but it was beautiful to my ears. I landed with a smile on my beak, if I could smile, not like I had a real chance to observe my new form just yet, but I still felt happy. I hadn’t felt this happy since my wedding day all those years ago. Ah, memories. That got me starting to think back to Cortana. What if she had been reincarnated too? Could she be on this strange world? Well, I decided not to get my hopes up on that. Even if she was, that was nearly twenty years ago, plus she could have been turned into any number of creatures. Sigh, a dream, I suppose, a happy dream, but a dream nonetheless.

With nothing else to do that night, I found a little notch in the trunk of a nearby tree and settled in for the night. The next morning, I began to fly through the forest, trying to get a bearing on my new home. I fly to and fro through the trees, feeling the wind in my face. It was magnificent. Throughout my flight, I mapped out the entire area, being sure to mark certain berry bushes and fruit trees, needing a better food source than devouring the local rodent population. Yuck! Oh, I bet you’re wondering how I could do something so advanced like this, aren’t you? Well you see, I was blessed with a particular ability known as eidetic memory. I can perfectly recall things I have seen, heard, or read. If you wish for an example as to how good I am, well, I am Sheldon Cooper good!

Well, now I had a map of a places to eat and places to sleep. The only thing to do then was to live the life of an owl. How bad could it be?

Apparently, very bad! The first couple months were quite nice, being that it was late summer. Though it was strange that the night seemed strangely long one time. Then even stranger was that unicorn mark on the moon vanished without a trace. How peculiar. Not that it bothered me none, being a nocturnal animal. Oh yes, I had come to grips with my situation quite well by this point, even embracing it if I could be so bold. It wasn’t so bad living in the forest, that is until the nights began to get colder.

The summer was beginning to fade away into fall, and I was going to need some shelter or fly south for the winter.I spent most of my time flying through the forest, looking for some form of shelter, but alas, any I found were already claimed by the other local wildlife. And what life it was! I saw creatures that had only ever been spoken of in myth and legends. Ferocious manticores, terrifying cockatrice,and some strange bats with seemingly vampiric teeth. It was getting far past what would be suitable weather for a bird like me, so I needed to find someplace this night.

And then I found it! A town! An actual town! It was glorious to finally find civilization! But what was this? On the outskirts of the town, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Ponies, many multicolored ponies! It was too hard to believe, but then I heard them talking and laughing and eating enjoying… is that a meteor shower?! How could I have not noticed something as wonderful as a meteor shower happening on this night? Oh you darned fool of an owl, these are some of the most beautiful shows of nature and you nearly missed it. Well, might as well enjoy the show! A once in lifetime opportunity like this, shelter can wait!