Lost

Those eyes struck deep inside me. I felt something... Strange. Eldritch could be a term for it, but now was not the time to wax poetic.

I dodged his first attack by a hair, a simple slam down of the hooves. I flew back, turning in the air. Once I landed, I started running. The pony was very obviously going to catch up, and he did. So I dodged yet another attack, a swipe of his dagger. The shining steel rang through the air, missing me by inches. So far, I was lucky. But my luck will run out, eventually.

And it did. Pretty quickly, too.

I ducked under another of his knife swipes, and dodged a magic bolt sent at me. Though it did raise some questions, I was too hyped up on that hormone we call adrenaline and the will to survive to do anything about them. So I ducked and weaved under his attacks, but I was hit.

A stun spell impacted my body and sent me flying into a tree. I let out a loud caw of pain as I felt one of my wings bend at an odd angle. This was it, I thought as the pony demon approached, murderous intent in his eyes. I kept my eyes open in a move of defiance, even as the pupils I had not realized I had dilated.

The blade came down. A splash of red. A flare of pain. I looked down, my heart thumping in my ears. There was a stick poking out of my stomach. I stared at it. I stared at it. I stared at it... Then it all flashed in my vision, the events slowly moving back from some point in reality. I can't describe it. The stick was suddenly still in the air. Time was frozen. I could see it clearly, every little detail with disturbing clarity.

The marks on the sharpened wooden pike. The little shavings hanging on, swept back in the death blow of my soon-to-be killer. Then I realized I could move, oddly enough. I shuffled to the side, my wing flaring. I kept my mouth shut. I soldiered on. I didn't care anymore. I had to do something, anything at all, to make sure that whatever this was stopped and I was out of the way. This could be my only second chance. I decided to make it count.

I searched and searched, until I felt something shifting inside of me. I grabbed the nearest object, which was a broken shard of a whiskey bottle. My wing hurt, but I had relocated it. I would hopefully be fine, and if not, I had this make-shift shield...

Bum-bum.

Bum-bum.

Bum-bum.

SCREEEEEEEECCHHHHHHH!

The stick was deflected off the glass piece, my feathers being shredded by the sharp glass piece's backwards movement. I was alive. I wasn't dead. I was alive. Again. I cawed, attempting to chuckle. Thankfully for me, this was enough to wake the minotaur.

CRACK! went my enemy's head, as the minotaur bitch-slapped him like a professional. I was, of course, stunned. But I was also grateful for my luck. I pulled myself to my feet, rubbing my relocated wing. I looked up at the minotaur who had his hand out to me.

"Thanks for the warning, little bird. I'm Iron Will." I grabbed his hand with my good wing and lightly shook it, which was quite amusing. I decided the first thing I needed to do was gather my bearings after that experience. I told Iron Will I needed some bandages, then I would be gone. He fetched some while I prepared my bag. I hadn't even planned this far but I decided to head to the nearest town to see if they service crows. At that, I asked the minotaur about the local town.

"It's a hellhole. But, I suppose you could possibly figure something out. I recommend finding that yellow pony, she's good with animals." He replied to my question, uttering the last part with a small amount of venom. Questioning why he hated a yellow pony really wasn't something I wanted to do. So I decided to just leave, telling him goodbye. He waved me off, but not before giving me a small pouch full of fish jerky.

Now, we're closing in on the present.

It was a hot morning, and I had barely slept. My soft down was working against me as the sun beat down on me, like a brick on my back. Now, normally, I probably wouldn't have a problem with that. But when you're a small corvid, bricks tend to be freaking huge and heavy, a great burden.

Thankfully, I was sweating. The cool bodily fluids slowly trailed through my feathers. It made me sigh as I though of the feeling, but I had no more time to appreciate it. I burst out of the brush, finding myself on a dirt road. I heard the clopping of hooves, and several high pitched voices. Children of some species, maybe mythological? Unicorns or pegasus? Or, satyrs? Maybe even centaurs? I wasn't sure, so I ducked back into the shrubs and scanned the path.

Three brightly colored ponies trotted on the path, playing and talking about someone called Zecora and cutie marks and other such nonsense that I assumed children from this land speak of. I decided to exit the bush, rattling it.

Three pairs of eyes darted towards the bush, stepping backwards all in tandem. One, an orange pegasus, stepped forward and rose onto their hind legs. It assumed a boxer stance and buzzed its tiny wings. I was fully out of the bush now, so I raised both wings in a placating gesture. The orange one seemed to back down, then huddle up with its friends.

Now that I think about it, I haven't fully described them all. The orange one has purple mane and tail. Its eyes are magenta, I think. There's a yellow one, which has orange or amber eyes, a yellow coat, and a red mane and tail. Finally, there was a white one. It had green eyes, a magenta and pink mane and tail, and of course, a white coat. All of them were covered in sweat, twigs, and mud. But they seemed not to care, as all children don't.

They turned back to me and the yellow one approached. "Hi, little crow. Are you from Fluttershy's?"

I had no idea who 'Fluttershy' is. I shook my head no.

"Are you lost? Do you need help finding your mother?" The white one piped in. I shook my head no, once again. It was apparent that they had never seen a crow before, as I was clearly as tall as an adult one. I remembered studying them, for some odd reason. I pointed towards the town they were obviously coming from.

"You need help getting to Ponyville?" The orange one asked. I nodded my head yes, then the white one picked me up in some odd green field, plopping me down on the orange one's back. "You might want to hold on!"

Suddenly, we were off on a scooter. I looked all around me, seeing everything pass by so quickly that it blurred. It was an experience, to say the least. My lunch piled up in my stomach, creeping up my esophagus slowly. I swallowed down my nausea and held on, closing my eyes. The wind whipped past me, sending sweat beads flying into the air. It was exhilarating, to say the least... I felt like I was flying.

Then, it suddenly stopped. I was sent into the air, flying off the pony's back and faceplanting into the ground.

"Woah, you took a bad landing there. Are you okay?" I pulled myself up and nodded yes.

"Well, we're here. Have fun doing bird things, or whatever you do." The pony zoomed off, back into the forest. I turned myself around.

A massive, sprawling valley laid out before me, thatched roof houses everywhere. I could see a crystal castle and some other wondrous sights, such as a school on a high hill, cloud-houses, and hundreds of colorful ponies going about their day.

This is Ponyville? Welp, it's time to find out. I took the first few steps forward, prepared to begin a brand new day.