Rebirth

I don't remember when I fell asleep. It could have been anywhere from an instant to an hour. When I'm tired, time seems to lose all of its meaning. And dreams? Time doesn't seem to exist in them. I've had dreams that felt like only seconds long but have lasted hours in the land of the awake. The opposite is also true.

This dream starts off in a forest at the base of a tree. It reminds me of when I first came to Equestria just a few days ago. It feels longer than that to me. It's felt closer to a month rather than half a week.

I stand up. There's a heavily worn down dirt path just a few feet in front of me. I turn to look at both ways to take. Both directions just seem to head deeper into the forest. I'd get just about as equally lost either way, so I doubt my choice would matter too much. I walk down the path to my right.

Trees are the only things to my sides. I'm still not used to living in an area with so many trees. I know I'm in a dream, but I spend most of my time in the world of the awake. A thin layer of fog or mist slowly shows up.

What was down the other path? I don't have any realistic ideas. My mind wanders the possibilities, though. Maybe it's a way back to Earth. No matter what's down the other path, it's going to stay in my mind.

I stop walking and look down at the path I chose. This one doesn't seem to bring me anywhere. Maybe I should have chosen the other way. I look back and sigh. It's too late to turn back.

I look forward. There's a mostly humanoid figure standing in front of me. I say mostly because he has two heads pointing towards his flanks. I blink, and the figure is gone.

"What the fuck?" I ask myself. Was that...?

That must have been Janus, the Roman god of... what was it? Choices? Something like that. This is a dream, so it would make sense seeing a god. I should probably get used to seeing gods in my dreams.

I don't even know if this Janus-like creature was even a god or just something my mind is making up.

I keep walking down the path. Trees are still the only things to my sides. I should have gone the other way. This one is just too... boring. It's far too repetitive.

This is a dream, though. My dream. I can change it to anything I want to. But... What if I change it to something I regret in the morning? It could end up being a nightmare.

I stop walking and look down. I sigh, then I look up. There's another figure standing ahead. This one is quadrupedal. I can tell they're equine. A mare, too.

"Epona?"

"No, Mark. I am somepony else." She says. I recognize that voice.

"Princess Luna?"

"I thought I asked you to just call me Luna. There's no need for formalities." She replies. "I can tell you're troubled."

"Troubled? What do you mean?"

"You have something on your mind you can't just fix easily. You're just trying to ignore it, right?"

"I don't think so."

Luna sighs. "You're in denial, Mark. I know what's on your mind. Rainbow Dash recently asked you out, correct?"

"She asked me to go somewhere with her, yes. It wasn't for a date." I reply.

"So you say." Luna says with doubt. "I understand why you deny this fact, Mark. You've only been romantically involved with members of your species. I can't say I've been in your hooves, being attracted to a different species."

"Who said I was?"

"You did. You just didn't say it." Luna says.

I think about that for a second. "What do you mean?"

She smiles. "Mark. I'm not an expert on love or romance, but I know you're attracted to a certain somepony." An image of Rainbow Dash appears next to her head. "Don't try to hide it from yourself."

"I'm not hiding anything." I cross my arms. "Rainbow Dash and I are just good friends, alright? That's all."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I can handle it, Luna. You don't need to worry about it or me, alright?"

She lets out a sigh of what could either be annoyance or defeat. "If you say so. I won't help you for now, if you wish."

"Yeah, just let me handle myself. I'll be fine." I reply. "Why do you think I need help?"

"I have already seen Rainbow Dash's dream. I don't like to speak of other pony's dreams, but I can say that you were involved. I was inspired to visit yours. My knowledge is limited on your world's religions, but that man with the two faces... I know enough about him to assume you are quite troubled."

I shrug. "You assumed wrong. Like I said, I'm perfectly fine."

Luna looks at me for a second. Her face is shrouded by the mist, so I can't easily identify any emotions. "If you ever need any assistance, please don't hesitate to ask me. Or your goddess." She adds that last part like it's an afterthought.

Like how I fell asleep, I don’t remember waking up. When I realize that I’m actually awake, I get out of bed. That dream is going to stick with me for a while. I need something to take my mind off it.

I should probably avoid Rainbow Dash for the next few days. She’s kind of responsible, directly or not, for this. Avoiding the other Elements would probably be smart, since they’re so close to Rainbow. There’s no doubt she’d come up at least in conversation.

I could talk with the ponies I met at the market the other day. Colgate and the blacksmith are the first to come to my mind. I'm thinking Colgate. She's pretty damn cute, so that's a bonus. Of course, as I am repeatedly reminded, pretty much everypony in Equestria is cute. There's also the blacksmith. She's cute too, but in a different way. More of a dirty and grimy kind of way. I'd like to see her talk with Rarity out of morbid curiosity.

I get out of bed and put on a shirt. Having to put a shirt on is probably the worst part about sleeping shirtless. Although, in a world filled with ponies that say clothing is optional, I don't have to wear a shirt. I'm still going to wear one. I head outside. The sun is low, but it's warm outside today. Is it summer in Equestria? It feels like it. Early autumn, perhaps? I can't tell. I'll have to ask somepony.

My feet move themselves toward the marketplace. I don't even remember where it was, but my feet do. It's strange that I knew a massive city better than I know this small town. Of course, I lived in Seattle for 19 years. I've only been in Ponyville for about a week. I stop walking when I get to the market. Colgate isn't here. Most ponies aren't. Hammer is the only one here.

I walk up to her stall. "Hey, Hammer." I say to her.

She looks up. "Oh, hey, Mark. Need anything?"

"Not really. I thought I'd just talk."

She looks around the market. "I can do that. Business is usually slow in the mornings, anyway. I still like to get set up earlier than everypony else. It takes hours to get ready. I've got to move my damn anvils from my place to here every day."

"Can't you just leave them here?"

"I can, but I'd risk them getting stolen. Blacksmiths can't do much without anvils, and I can't just order them from a magazine. They're hard to find in this area of Equestria." She sighs. "If you ever find any anvils if you're out of Ponyville, could you bring them to me?"

"I don't know how I'd be able to move them. If I find a way to, I'd be glad to help out."

"Speaking of helping me out, could you help me get ready for the day?"

"Yeah. Anything you need help with in particular?"

"There's a box of things over there." She gestures with her head to a nearby box that presumably has things inside it. "Could you drag it over here and help me set them up?"

"Yeah, sure. It can't be too difficult." I grab onto the box and try to lift it. The key word being 'try.' I can almost lift it up a few centimeters. And there goes my manliness... "Did you fill this thing with rocks or something?"

"I said 'drag it over here,' not 'carry it over here.' It's heavy."

"I noticed that." I set the box down and drag it over to her. She opens it up with her mouth, revealing that it was filled, literally to the brim, with hammers. Hammers of all kinds. It's close enough to rocks.

She takes out a hammer and sets it in her stall. "I'll be able to get these myself. Do you see the forge over there?" She gestures again. I follow her movement to a small cement forge.

"Yeah. What do you want me to do with it?"

"After I put a hammer in there, I want you to pump the bellows. You know what a bellows is, right?" Hammer asks.

"'A bellows?' I don't think that's grammatically correct."

"I don't think I care. Do you know what it is?" She asks. I shrug in response. "I take that as a 'no.' It's the thing with the bag that you pump to get a blast of air."

"Oh, those. Yeah, I know about them."

Hammer looks around, presumably for the bellows. She sticks her head behind the stall so I can't see it anymore. "Here it is." She pops back out, this time with the bellows in her mouth. She spits it out. "Use this in the forge when I put the hammer in. Be sure to keep the air flow constant and at the right speed. Not too fast and not too slow."

I pick up the bellows. She puts the hammer inside the forge. I pump the bellows. "How long do you want me to do this?"

"A few minutes is best for me. I'm sure you pump those with a different strength than I do, so I don't know. I'll tell you when."

"Sure thing, Hammer." I pump the bellows at a steady pace. I look in the sky and catch a glimpse of a cyan blur with a rainbow trail following behind it. On any other day, I'd probably yell at her to get her to stop. Since I'm working and I'm not an asshole to my boss, I don't.

I wonder what Rainbow's thinking about. Probably the upcoming concert. It was a concert, right? Damn. I can't even remember what it was we were going to see. Maybe it was a play? I think the thing, whatever it was, had a name. Overcast or something like that. I don't expect it to be a weather report.

“Mark! Focus.” Hammer’s voice frees me from my thoughts.

I go back to pumping the bellows. “Sorry, Hammer.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s for your safety.” She says. I can hear irritation in her voice. “You don’t want to see what happens when the forge doesn’t get enough air flow.”

I nod. I'm not too familiar with how forges work, but she does. If an expert on something warns me about it, I should probably listen to what they have to say.

What was I thinking about? The concert I'll be going to with Rainbow Dash, I think. I don't even know what the venue's going to be. I'll have to talk to Rainbow to find out before the whatever it was we were going to. I expect her to know about it.

I hear a sharp hissing sound, almost like a snake, in front of me. I look down as fast as I can. A fire is erupting from the forge. Time seems to slow down. I can't move fast enough to get out of the way. I try to block the flame from hitting my chest and face with my hand. I see the fire slowly cover my hand and wrist.

The flame dissipates, but time is still moving slowly. My hand looks like a burnt marshmallow. The skin is charred black already. There are small bits of white. Bone.

Time returns to its normal speed. Along with it, pain hits like a freight train.

"Ah! Fuck!" I grab onto my hand, right on the burn. It makes it hurt even worse.

I turn to Hammer. Her face screams 'panic.' "S-Stay here. I'll get somepony." She's trying to be calm. She rushes off somewhere. Thanks for the fucking company...

She comes running back with another pony after a while. How long was it? Minutes? Hours? It doesn't matter. I've only been in a little bit of absolute agony. "I'm a doctor. Where's your injury?" The other pony says. I flash him a view of my hand. "Oh shit... We've gotta get you to the hospital. It's close to here, fortunately. Follow me."

This place is easily the most boring part of Equestria.

Dear Princess Celestia

I’m sure you know that I was injured a while ago while working with the local blacksmith, Hammersmith Apollo. Twilight tells you stuff like that, right? Well, if she didn’t tell you, I was injured. My hand was burnt and I’m in the hospital right now. The doctors gave me some painkillers, so I’m not too uncomfortable.

Mark Cleveland

I look over the paper. “Man. I should never be an author…” I say to myself. I never expected my writing skills to be terrible. I'll throw this away. Actually, I've got my lighter here. I'm bored as hell, too.

I grab my lighter from the table. Like any sane person in a hospital because of a burn would do, I flick the lighter on. The flame from the lighter is green rather than the normal yellowish orange. I don’t know the reason behind it. Maybe something to do with magic?

I set the poorly written letter on fire. It catches on fire and burns quickly. By ‘quickly’, I mean it burnt in less than a second. There isn’t any ash. The fire hit my good hand. It didn’t hurt at all. It’s like when Spike used his fire breath on me.

I stare at where the paper used to be. I lean back in the bed and sigh. “I’ll never get used to this crazy world…”