Evergreen Heart

Chapter 2
And so I lived?

Consciousness returned to me slowly. And with it came confusion. Shouldn't I be dead? Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but how in the world am I still here? I lay in the dark void for a time, contemplating my situation before I tried to open my eyes, but they would not respond. Nor would my arms or my legs. I felt a surge of panic shoot through me. Was I paralyzed? Why can't I see, why can't I feel anything? What is going on? Come on eyes, open! I need to see. I need to see. I NEED TO SEE!

Vision returned to me, but not in the way I was accustomed to. I could tell right away because I did not have eyes to open. Instead the darkness slowly gave way to light and images began to form. Its hard to describe it with words alone. It was like seeing and touching and hearing at once. I could see the forest around me just like with my eyes. But at the same time I felt it as if I had dozens, no hundreds of hands touching everything. And on top of that I was sensing my surroundings as if through echo locations. But I was making no sound at all. And everything looked different, more vibrant. Almost glowing, like looking through a thermal imaging camera. Most confusing though was that I was looking in all directions at once. Almost like having eyes in the back of your head.

With my vision restored my panic began to subside somewhat. That is until I laid eyes on my body. My very dead mutilated half eaten body lying several feet away from me, surrounded by the shattered debris of half a dozen Timber Wolves. I screamed. At least in my mind I did, for I was still unable to produce sound.

I don't know how long I screamed like that. It could have been five minutes or five hours. I was in such distress that time lost all meaning for a while. Frankly I'm surprised I'm still sane after all that has happened. Or maybe I have gone insane and simply don't realize it? After the screaming came denial. “This isn't real. I am dreaming. Any moment now the dog will wake me up and things will be back to normal.” I must have repeated that single thought a thousand times over. I suddenly noticed the sun had risen. For the warm rays of high noon caressed me, and new energy coursed through me. I found it strangely soothing. I say that because normally I avoid the sun like the plague. Some people get a tan, I get sunburn and then start to peel like old paint on a fence. Disgusting I know. But no, for the first time ever I welcomed the suns warm rays. It felt right.

My mind calmed, and my senses grew sharper. And suddenly a new feeling entered my senses. I felt the forest all around me with new intensity. I felt every broken branch, every leaf, every blade of grass. Every rock and pebble. I felt myself reaching out to them, like ethereal hands grasping. I focused on a nearby branch, I became intimately familiar with it. I felt every groove in the bark, every knob, every leaf still attached and every vein inside said leaves. And suddenly it moved. My ethereal hands grasped it and dragged it over to me. To what I have come to know as my core. I will explain about that later. I began to reach out further. Drawing in everything I could. Twigs, roots, branches, logs, leaves, moss, bark, mushrooms, even small rocks, everything! All of it came together in a writhing mass of green and brown. I felt myself sprouting roots, like tiny feelers snaking through the mass of detritus that was forming and surging around me.

I experimented with it for some time, to give it shape and form and function. I focused on what I was familiar with. A hand. I weaved together branches and twigs. I bound them with moss and vine. And slowly but certainly a hand formed. As soon as it was complete it felt so right. Like it had always been there. I flexed it and wiggled its fingers as effortlessly as if it were my own flesh and blood hand. Next came the arm, then a shoulder. A broken hollow tree trunk became my new ribcage. And my core took place within. Held secure in an intricate weave of vines and branches. Piece by piece I scraped together a body. More roots and vines sprouted from my core, binding it all together. I could feel my core pulse with energy. Like the beating of a heart. Lastly I tried to shape a head and face for myself. But it came out more like a featureless mask of bark with two holes for eyes. Not that I needed the eyes to see as I was now, but the familiarity of it helped focus my vision. Being able to see in all directions at once can be extremely disorienting for a being who is used to having a hundred-eighty degrees field of vision. When I tried to take my first step forward it felt like I was walking sideways until I mentally reoriented myself.

My new body took some getting used to. It was made of the combined mass of almost four Timber Wolves worth of stuff, so needless to say it was big. I stood at least seven and a half feet tall and almost half as wide. Slowly I lumbered over to the river and looked into the calm water. I had not fully grasped what I was doing until I saw my reflection for the first time.

“Holy crap, I'm a Treant.” I mentally said to myself. Because that's pretty much what I looked like. I could have said Dryad instead but Dryads are all female and a lot prettier than my cobbled together look. At least if popular fantasy is to be believed. I pretty much looked like a walking tree. Or an amalgamation of several trees, and various other flora. Or perhaps I was nothing more than a human shaped Timber Wolf? Whatever the case, the question that nagged at me was how did this happen? How does one go from being Timber Wolf chow to being a living tree.

“Am I alive? Or am I a ghost and I'm haunting this pile of wood?” I asked myself.

I looked back to where the remains of my old body lay. I must admit I was afraid to approach it. It's extremely unsettling seeing yourself from the outside. Even more so when your body is a bloody mutilated mess.

“What am I gonna do with..me? I can't leave my body lying there, its bound to be dragged off by predators. Do I bury it?”

Frankly the idea of burying my corpse made me sick. If I still had a stomach I would have tossed my cookies for sure. I mean how fucking twisted is that? Having to bury yourself. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. Instead I spend an hour looking around the forest until I stumbled upon a cave. After making sure it was empty I placed my body inside and then sealed off the entrance with a large boulder. Yes this new body was surprisingly strong. Anyway the cave would keep my... remains, safe for the time being. Until I could make up my mind on what to do with them.

Now it was time to get out of here. If this really was Equestria, and after being eaten by goddamn Timber Wolves I had no doubt that it was, there was only one logical course of actions. Get out of this stinking forest and meet some ponies. But what direction to go in. I couldn't just wander around aimlessly. Well okay I could but that would be pretty darn pointless.

Looking around I spotted a small mountain not far from my location. It would give me a good vantage point to figure out where to go. My path thus set I began the slow trek upward. The more I moved around the more natural it felt. My limbs had been a little stiff at first but soon walking felt as natural as it always had when I was still flesh and blood. This new body was surprisingly steady. Every step my roots would sink slightly into the ground to give me a strong grip. It made going up the mountain path a breeze. When I finally ascended high enough to look over the treetops I stopped to take in the sights.

From up here the Everfree looked rather calm and peaceful, belying the dangers that lay within. The sky overhead was cloudless and calm. And the suns warm rays filled me with vigor. In the distance a short ways away I could see the ruins of the castle of the two sisters. I was closer to it than I thought. If only I could have made it there before the wolves got me. I squished that line of thought before it could sour my mood. No use dwelling on it. Now to some that may seem awfully apathetic, but I reckon it was either shock or insanity or both at this point. I'm actually still not sure to this very day.

I let my gaze drift across the horizon until I spotted a mountain in the far distance, and on its side I could just make out the spires of what could only be Canterlot. And since Ponyville lay in roughly the same direction I now had a path to follow.