Rebirth

“Be glad you’ve got me…” I mutter to my best friend and roommate, Dana, now passed out from drinking too much (again.) I don’t have anything against drinking. I’m a drinker myself, but I was just unfortunate to be her designated driver tonight. Dana and I are close friends, but we’re not dating. Everyone seems to think that, despite Dana being a lesbian.

I set her in the passenger’s seat of my car. I struggle a bit to wrap the seat belt around her. After finishing the task, I can’t help but see and smell the small amount of vomit coming from her mouth. I guess seven beers in 45 minutes will do that. Knowing her, she probably snuck in a few more when I wasn’t looking. I wipe the vomit from her face. I need to get her to stop this habit. It’ll kill her some day.

I lock and close her door and move over to the driver’s side. I’ve been having to drive Dana home after bar visits for almost a year now at a rate of about once per every three days. With a sigh of mild frustration, I start up the car. The digital clock on the dashboard reads 11:58 PM.

I’m really tired and there usually isn’t much traffic on this route, so I don’t bother putting my seatbelt on. I know it’s illegal, but it can’t get me pulled over by itself. I turn the radio on. Detroit Rock City by Kiss is playing. I turn it up in hopes that it will help wake up my unconscious passenger. It might help me wake up and be more alert.

The drive to our shared home is a little less than a kilometer long. Seattle being Seattle, several red lights are in the way. Seattle still being Seattle, it’s raining tonight.

Just as the song ends, the car forces itself forward. I barely get a chance to get a look at the rear view mirror and the car that hit mine. Without thinking, I thrust my right arm towards Dana to keep her still, even though I know she has a seat belt on. She moves forwards enough to slam into my arm. It hits the glove compartment with enough force that I hear something snap. I can’t tell if it’s in my arm or part of the dashboard.

My car comes to a sudden stop. Sudden enough that my face hits the wheel and bounces off. Without a doubt, the impact broke my nose. I can’t feel any pain from it, but I can feel the blood flowing down my face. I’m certain that also gave me whiplash. I can’t feel that, either, likely due to adrenaline.

I reach up to wipe some blood away. My hand is shaking like gelatin in the middle of an earthquake. Wiping away the blood barely works and not for very long. More blood just flows out of my broken nose.

I look to my left, only to see a large truck hit my fragile car. Time seems slows down. Seconds last for minutes. Minutes last for hours. It gives me the chance to see each and every piece of glass fly towards my face. I also get the chance to see my left arm break. I can’t feel a thing, even as a bone breaks through the skin and exposes itself to the world. Feeling nothing is worse than feeling everything.

Time seems to return to normal speed as my car flips on its roof. Without a seatbelt, I’m thrown towards Dana. She’s lucky enough to still be knocked out. There’s barely any visible damage on her, save for a few small cuts on her face. I crawl over her and towards the passenger side door. I try to open it, but nothing happens. Fuck. Why did I have to lock her door? I reach for the locking mechanism on her door. I hit it. Nothing happens. Did the impact of the truck break something inside the door?

I set my head down on her leg. I’m going to die here, all without feeling a thing.

There’s a faint tapping on the window. I look up to see a girl with black hair. She smiles at me.

A large flash of light temporarily blinds me and my vision fades to white. I see a faint gray silhouette. I try to move my head, but the silhouette doesn't move. I can't tell if I didn't move or if I did and the silhouette moved with me.

"Mark Cleveland." A voice calls out from the silhouette. I don't recognize the voice, but I can tell it belongs to a female. “I am Epona.” Epona? I've heard that word somewhere. “I am the goddess of harmony, honor, nobility, and peace.” A goddess. I'm definitely dreaming.

“Well, Epona, why are you here?” I ask, deciding to go along with what my dream wants me to do.

“I’m here to offer you a chance.” Epona says. She notices my hesitation to respond. “A chance at...rebirth, if you will. A new life.” I’m caught off guard by this. Her statement briefly stuns me, but I come to my senses.

I chuckle a bit. “A new life? I don’t believe you. I’m not dead or whatever.”

“Yes you are, Mark Cleveland. Your accident killed you. You are dead.”

“Prove it.” I ask, still not believing the one that claims to be a goddess.

“Your friend survived the accident.” Epona says without any hesitation.

This takes me off guard. How could she know if Dana survived? How could she have even known that Dana was in the car with me? I don’t want to believe that I’m really dead, but I have to. I look at where the voice of Epona is coming from. The silhouette still doesn't move. “Y-You’re telling the truth. I’m dead.” My voice is faint from this sudden revelation.

“To repeat myself, I’m here to offer you a chance at a new life. If you accept, you will be sent to my home world.” Epona says. A light comes from above her head. The light illuminates the area so I can clearly see her. She's a large white unicorn. Her mane is long, flowing, and black that looks like a dress. She looks like that girl I saw after the crash. She also has what looks like a tattoo with a sword and shield on her... thigh? Flank? Whatever it’s called. The location of the light keeps me from getting a good look at the tattoo. It takes me some time to notice the wings on her side that blend into her coat. I stare at the unicorn with wings. “Do not be alarmed, Mark Cleveland. There will be many more like me in your new home, should you choose to accept my offer.”

“A world full of unicorns? What the fuck…” I say. The latter sentence comes out of my mouth on its own.

Epona looks at me with what I assume to be disgust. “I am no mere unicorn. I am an alicorn.” She flaunts her wings. “Not all of my kin will be alicorns. There are indeed some, but most will be unicorns, pegasi, or earth ponies.”

I understood some of what she said. “Uh...Okay?”

The alicorn sighs. “But yes, you did indeed d-die in your world.” She seems to stutter a bit on the word ‘die’, as if she doesn’t understand what it means. “I am giving you the chance to live a new life in my world.” The way she said that makes it seem like she made the planet she wants to send me to.

“Wait, you said you were a goddess, right?” I ask. She nods in response. “Does that mean there are others? Just the way you said it makes it seem like there are.”

Epona nods. I think I see her frown. “Yes, there are other deities within my pantheon. Many have been lost in time, but some remain. I am one of them.” Alright, that works as an answer. “Do you accept my offer?”

The alicorn seems impatient. Since I apparently died and I’ve never had any beliefs of afterlife, the decision comes quickly. “I accept.”

Epona straightens her body. Her horn lights up quickly. My vision fades to black.

When I wake up, it feels like I haven't had anything to drink in a week. My throat is dry as a desert. I look around. There are trees all around me, except the clearing to my left. The trees are short enough for me to clearly see the blue sky. There isn’t a single cloud above.

The usual sounds of my home aren't there. No cars driving. No people talking. No construction. Nothing. Just silence. It’s both terrifying and deafening. I’m far too used to the sounds of Seattle.

Determined to find some sort of life besides plants and insects, along with sound, I stand up. A wave of vertigo surrounds me and I nearly fall over. I catch myself on a tree and almost throw up. I try to remember what happened for me to get here.

The car crash is the first thing to enter my mind. It’s a nightmare I’ll never be able to forget. The memory lingers in my thoughts for what feels like hours. The horrible memory eventually shifts to black, then the words from that… winged unicorn. Alicorn. Whatever. It sent me to this place. It didn’t even bother telling me the name of this place. The name of the creature returns to my mind. Epona.

My legs wobble as they try to move to another tree. It takes some time to get my legs to work normally. I empty my pockets to see if I had anything with me. I did, and everything I had with me during the car crash was with me now. The solar charging iPod that my brother gave me, headphones, my Swiss army knife, my wallet, some hard candies, a cigarette lighter, and a pen. I put the headphones in my ears and turn on my iPod. The first song to play is Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. How fitting.

It slowly dawns on me that I’m in the middle of a forest with no exit in sight. How far away is civilization? Is there even any in this place?

I run off in a random direction, not having any idea where it would take me. My lungs struggle for air and I eventually stop. I look around. Nothing about the area seems to have changed. “Son of a bitch.” I say out loud. I keep wandering the thick forest. As with before, nothing about the landscape seems to change. I’ve got to be close to some sort of civilization. Of course, there’s that saying… Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Eventually, I decide to stop walking and just lean next to a tree. I rub my temple in frustration. I pick up a small rock next to me and throw it as hard as I can towards a tree. The rock misses and I hear a soft ‘Ouch!’ coming from behind it. Despite it being quiet, it makes me jump. After a second of hesitation, I step away from the tree and move towards the sound.

My eyes rest themselves on a tiny horse, one like Epona but smaller. This one has cream colored fur and a long, straight pink mane. Her head is turned away from me. The pony has wings and what appears to be three butterflies on her flank. “Ow…” The pegasus rubs her temple.

Not only did I just hit a mythical creature with a rock, the damn thing just talked. Did someone spike my drink? Needless to say, it’s a little more than shocking. It takes time for me to say something. “Are you okay?”

The pegasus flinches, but quickly recovers. “Y-Yeah. S-Something hit me in the head.” Good. She speaks English. She rubs her head again. Surprisingly, there is no blood. I threw that rock pretty hard. She turns to look at me and gasps. “W-What a-a-are you?”

The question didn’t surprise me, but I wish the pegasus worded it differently. The question makes me feel like I was sent to a distant planet. It might be true. It probably is. “I’m a human.”

The pegasus stares at me in astonishment. “Wow… I’ve never heard of a human before. I thought humans were just… myths.” A myth? That’s an interesting twist of fates. She looks at the rock that hit her. “Did you throw this at me?”

“On accident. I meant to hit a tree, but I missed. I’m sorry about that.”

She smiles at that. “Oh, that’s okay. You don’t have to be sorry about accidents.” Her response makes me smile. She’s already nicer than most people I know, and I don’t even know her name.

"Thank you. What’s your name?” I ask in hopes of getting someone to show me around the area.

“F-Fluttershy.” The pegasus stutters softly.

If names like that are common around here, it will be difficult to learn everybody’s names. “I’m Mark. Mark Cleveland.” I look around at the forest. There’s still no obvious exit. “Can you point me towards a town? I have no idea where we are.”

Fluttershy lifts her leg and points her hoof in the direction behind her. “My home town, Ponyville, is in that direction. We’re just inside the Everfree Forest. Be glad you aren’t deep inside. It’s dangerous and scary in there.”

Ponyville… I assume it’s named for the abundance of ponies and not humans. I remember hearing about an old show on TV from twenty years ago involving ponies. If Epona sent me to live in that show, I’m going to be a little bit pissed off. I rub my temple due to a headache that just arrived. The idea that I’m the only human here stabs into my mind.

“A-Are you okay?” Fluttershy asks. My pain must be incredibly obvious.

I hold onto my head and lean against a tree. “I don’t think so. It’s just…” I trail off. There’s no way she would believe what happened to me. “I… I think I need a doctor.”

Fluttershy trots up to me. “Can you walk?”

I nod. “Probably not very far.” My headache gets worse by the second.

Fluttershy looks at the ground, then quickly back to me. “Um… I don’t t-think we’ll get to the hospital soon…” She looks around the area. “D-D-Do you want to stay a-at my home?” She stutters and seems to blush faintly. I nod again. Fluttershy lets out a soft sigh of relief.

I follow her to her home, which is fortunately close to where we were. Her house is like a giant bush. It seems to be something you’d expect to see in a fairy tale. The doorway is short. To avoid hitting my head on the way inside, I duck while entering her home. Fluttershy’s home is larger on the inside than I expected. It makes sense, though, seeing that she is a pegasus. Creatures with wings tend to need room to fly around.

I sit on her soft, yet small, couch. It’s comfortable, like it could be a bed. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I didn’t want to spend the night in the forest.” I tell her.

The pegasus smiles kindly. “I’d do it for anypony. I couldn’t just leave a creature unprotected in the cold.” She says, then frowns. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

I look at her. I don’t see how she could have offended me there. “What do you mean?”

The pegasus rubs her foreleg. “I… I said ‘creature’. I didn’t mean to…” She looks like a kid that just broke their mother’s expensive vase.

So that’s what she meant. “It’s okay. I didn’t even catch you saying that.” Fluttershy still looks sorry. “You don’t have to worry about that. It was an accident, right? You don’t have to be sorry about accidents.”

Fluttershy smiles at that. It always feels good to make people feel better. Well, ponies, in this case. It still feels pretty good.

The two of us talk a bit. I give her some history of myself, but avoid my last moments in my previous life. It’s not like I’m trying to hide it or anything. I just don’t want to talk about it. She also gives me a brief tour of her house.

The day comes to a close. Fluttershy goes to her room and I sleep right there on the couch. It takes a long time for me to fall asleep. There are several reasons why. The fact that I’m likely surrounded by talking horses. The fact that I’m in a new world. The fact that I missed the chance to say ‘I come in peace.’

“Mark Cleveland.” A vaguely familiar voice wakes me from my slumber. I identify it as Epona’s. “It is a good thing that you have arrived safely in Equestria. I have not sent any humans to my planet in many millenia. I feared that I would have made a mistake with your form.” Epona says, leaving the implications where they should stay.

I attempt to nod, but can’t move. Do I not have a body? It doesn’t appear that I do. Maybe I still am dreaming? “Yeah, it’s good to have a perfectly working body. Well, besides the headache, I mean.”

Epona looks at me as if I spoke in a different language. “Headache?”

That surprises me. Well, if she truly is a goddess, I guess she wouldn’t know what a headache is. Goddesses are immune to pain, right? Lucky bastards. “Pain in the head.” I say. She asks what pain is and I do my best to define it. It’s surprisingly difficult.

“Apologies. I may be a goddess, but I am far from perfect.” She says.

“Right, right. Is there a reason why you’re talking to me right now?”

“I wished to make sure you made it to Equestria safely. It appears that you have, for the most part.” Epona says. I think I see a smile on her face.

“Yeah, I’m doing okay. I don’t like the headache, though. Could you do something about it when I wake up?”

“I will do my best.” Epona says. Her horn lights up for a second. The light turns off shortly after it arrives. “Do you have any more questions?”

Honestly, I have hundreds. Thousands. I don’t ask Epona, though. “N-No. Not right now.”

Epona nods once. Her horn lights up again and my vision fades to white.