Darkness.

As I turn, I see nothing but darkness.

Consuming and cold.

It chills me to the bone.

I move forward looking for light and warmth. I hold my arms to my chest to try and keep myself warm.

It feels like I have been walking for an eternity, cold and blind.

I see a light in the sea of darkness ahead. I move towards the light, picking up my pace with each step I take. To the point where I am at a full sprint. I run and run, the light slowly getting closer. I feel my legs start to burn, and I run faster than I ever have.

I sprint into the light, the warmth taking me. I feel the cold leave my body and replaced by warmth. The fatigue from running leaves, as I feel better than I have in 30 years. The stiffness washes away from my body and is replaces by a vigor I haven't had since I was in my twenties.

While standing in the light with my eyes closed, absorbing the warmth. I don't notice that my surroundings have changed.

When I open my eyes, I see I am in a white room with a table and two chairs in the middle of it. No sign of the darkness, or the endless sea of light I was bathing in, just the light of a florescent bulb lighting up the room.

"Sit. Please." I hear a voice ring out at me. It sounds like two people speaking at once. A female and a male.

Seeing as I have no other choice, I pull out a chair at the table and sit down. Averting my eyes, no more than a moment. But when I look to the other side of the table a being in all white sits at the other end. Dressed in a simple robe, the being has golden eyes, and hair that is pure white. With no determinable features that would define it as male or female. It places a folder on the table, that has my name in black letters across the front of it.

"Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your time on earth this time." they say. Its voice is that mix of male and female voices I heard before.

"Let's see here, how you died this time." they say as they open the folder.

"Hang on, what do you mean I'm dead. And what did you mean by welcome back?"

"Allow me to show you." They say as the reach out and touch my forehead with a single finger.

As they do, it is like the flood gates just opened. Memories of lives I lived come rushing back to me. A life as a Buddhist monk, an English blacksmith, a general in the Roman Empire, a Merchant in Venice, a Native American Hunter, and French Solder in the trenches, a Spanish inquisitor, and a German Chemist. All mixing with my current memories of an Accountant. Years of memories merging together. Lifetimes worth of experiences becoming one.

I clutch my head and shake as they all come rushing back to me. My breathing ragged, as I work on trying to make sense of what is happening. As I sit there one thing from all these lives is constant. This room, and this being returning the memories each time. The same thing occurs every time. Every time I die. Every time I am reborn.

I look at the being, a smile across its face. The smile I have seen 8 times before. That damn smug smile.

"Now you understand don't you. The cycle is once again complete. It is time for you to make a choice of where to be reborn." They say as they pass a piece of paper towards me.

Each time I have had a choice of when and where I am reborn. But I have no idea of what life is waiting for me in said life. Pulling the paper towards me, I see 10 options presented before me numbered 1-10

1. 1444 Hungary

2. 3053 Japan

3. 760 France

4. 2096 India

5. 2100 Africa

6. 1600 South America

7. 100 Indonesia

8. 400 Mongolia

9. 2459 USA

10. ????????????

Looking over the list, some of them look enticing, when comparing them to the ones I have seen in the past. But the tenth option, the one with not date or location listed is something that grabs my attention immediately. Something like his has never appeared before in any of the other times I have been here.

"What is with the tenth option?" I ask

"Let me see." they ask as I turn the paper towards them. "Well, this is certainly a surprise. It looks like you have a sponsor."

A sponsor? "What do you mean a sponsor?"

"It is quite rare to see this. It means a being like myself, has offered you a chance to be reborn into the world they guard over. Think of it like winning the lottery 10 times in a row, an event like this just doesn't happen." they say as they turn the paper back towards me.

I look the paper over, with the words of the being stuck in my mind. Think of it like winning the lottery 10 times in a row. The way that was phrased makes me think that the tenth option is one that is too good to pass up. I will lose my memories once I reincarnate anyways. Might as well try something different.

"I choose option 10."

"Very well. Enjoy your life." The being says as they wave their hand and fade from existence.

Darkness, pressure, warm, and sound. The sound I hear is muffled, but I hear the grunting, breathing, and screaming that coincides with each wave of pressure. Something I have felt before. I am being born. But, why do I know what being born is like? Shouldn't my memories have been taken away? Why do I still remember? Why do I remember everything? When the being waved me away it should have taken my memories along with it.

With each wave the sounds become clearer.

"You are doing well Azure Moon, just keep pushing."

"Come on honey, you are almost there."

"Please step back Rocky Ice, let Dr. Wintersong do his job."

What kind of names are Rocky Ice and Azure Moon? I asked myself as my body was pushed again. I could feel temperature difference on my head now. I must be crowning.

"Okay, on the count of three one more big push. Ready? 1. 2. 3. Push!"

I could hear my new mother scream and my body was pushed though the passage into the cool air. As the pressure subsided, I could feel my lungs burn for air and I couldn't stop myself from letting out a cry to settle my body's craving for air.

"Congratulations Azure Moon, it's a healthy unicorn colt." the doctor said as he cleaned me off with a towel and handed me to my new mother.

"Look at him honey, he is perfect."

As my lungs stop burning for air, I am able to calm myself down to the point where I stop crying. Opening my eyes, I am greeted to my first sight in this world. My new mother. Her face looked like that of an anthropomorphic horse, but with a muzzle that extends only a few inches from her face. She had large yellow eyes with a slit like irises, silver hair, and light blue fur. On her head I noticed a pair of horse ears with tufts coming out of the tips of them.

"Look him, he has your ears." Said my new father, as he came into my view. His facial structure was like my mothers, but more masculine and his ears didn't have the tufts of fur like my mother did. His eyes were green, and he had brown fur, and very light blue hair, to the point where it was almost white.

What an odd combination. Looking down I can see I had a muzzle as well and was covered in dark blue fur. But without a mirror, I won't be able to tell much more about myself.

"What should we name him?" My father asked

"How about, Moonshadow Flash." The fuck kind of name is that.

"Sounds perfect my love." My father said as he kissed my mother.

I would be angry, but it was at this point, I realized how empty my stomach was. My more basic instincts kicked in and I started crying again. Which even I knew wasn't going to stop until I got fed.

Almost on instinct, my mother brought me to her breast, and I started drinking milk from her breast. Honestly, it was the best thing I have tasted in this life so far, even if it is the only thing I have tasted. Drinking my fill, I felt myself dozing off to sleep.

During the first five years of my life in this world, it was nothing to talk about. Mainly consisting of eating, sleeping, playing, and crapping myself. A day after we arrived back from the hospital, I noticed that my mother had a par of bat wings on her back, later in life, I would learn that she is Thestral, commonly referred to as a batpony.

I learned to walk at 8 months, which you would think would be easy having done this 9 times in other lives, but what made it hard was the fact I didn't have feet. Rather, my legs ended in hooves. During one day, my parents weren't paying attention to me for a good 10 minutes, so I took the time to go find a mirror and examine myself. Looking in the mirror my fur was indeed dark blue, my ears did have the tufts of fur like my mother, yellow eyes like my mother, and I had a small horn on my head, slightly hidden by silver hair. I'm guessing the horn will grow as I age. Opening my mouth, I notice most of my teeth were that of a molars but had a pair of what looked to be fangs in the front, like what my mother has. I wonder exactly they are supposed to be for. I didn't get much farther that day, as I heard my parents approaching.

At the age of 3, my magic started to kick in. The first few times it felt like a migraine, as I was learning to control it. And I may have sent a lamp out the window at one point and it hit someone square in the head. I only know this because the poor bastard came to our front door. Thankfully, when he learned it was a kid he let it go.

At the age of 5, I started this world's version of kindergarten. And boy, I thought human children were bad. Try having to deal with kids flying around the room, and levitating objects at mach speed. It was here during the few times that it wasn't pure chaos, that I was able to learn a few things about the world we lived in. Like the ruler was an alicorn named Princess Celestia, that the year was 975, how to adapt my vocabulary to fit in this world, and that the entire currency system is fucked. My merchant past was practically having a heart attack as I learned there was only one currency with one denomination. And I lost it when I learned that something like an apple could cost 3 bits. How does it make any sense? How does the currency stay stable? How has the economy not collapsed over 20 times by now? It took me a day to recover from that. My parents were worried when I stopped talking for that period of time.

At age 6, I learned that magic could affect things down to the atomic level. Which made my inner German in me giddy with possibilities. Imagine, altering the structure of an object on an atomic level. I could turn coal into diamonds, and split salt into chlorine and sodium. Create a perfect bond between two objects. Split water into hydrogen and oxygen with a thought. My mind was racing with possibilities, to the point I started cackling like a mad man, it gave my parents quite a fright when they came into my room and saw the crazy look in my eyes. But the fear was replaced with joy when I got my cutie mark. Which is basically this world telling you this is the thing you do best. Mine happened to be three atoms. Which I guess means I'm the best at reorganizing matter into what I want. Wunderbar.

At around age 7, I started to show I had an affinity towards magic. Which made my parents want to send me to something called Celesta's School for Gifted Unicorns. Which apparently was so prestigious, that you had to pass an entrance exam to even get into the damn thing. I tried to study for this exam, but apparently, they design different tests each year. We had to take a train to get to this school in the capital city of Canterlot. I have to say; the city is quite stunning. The school itself nice as well. Looked almost modern, almost. As I was painfully aware that electricity is nothing more than a science experiment and has not yet been commercialized. I'm going to have to change that. After entering the school, I was told the test was broken down into two parts, a written test, and a practical test. The written part mainly consisted about math, literature, and magic. The piratical part is where things got interesting. I was ushered into a room with a group of 20 other ponies who had passed the written test and were told we could request one item to assist us with a demonstration of out magic. I requested a 5x5x10 foot block of coal, the face on the poor girl when she asked if I was serious. She sighed and wrote it down, before proceeding down the line to get the answers from the others in the room, before heading over to the judges and handing the list off to them.

One by one foals were called up, once they finished their demonstration, they were told to sit on the other side of the room. Eventually it got to my turn, as I walked up, I saw a team of earth ponies bring the block of coal I requested into the room. I feel bad for them having to carry that huge thing. I stood in front of the table of judges and waited until they were ready.

"Name?" one of them asked. He looked like and sounded like Simon Cowell

"Moonshadow Flash" At this point in time, I had decided to adopt a subtle German accent. Honestly, I think it sounded really cool.

"Talent?"

"Transmutation."

"And what will you be doing with that block of coal? Turn it into fire?" He asked getting a laugh from the other judges and the ponies on the side.

"No, I will be turning it into a solid diamond statue of Princess Celestia." I replied with a smug grin

"Well then, we're waiting." He said while poking his colleague in the way one would to say get a load of this.

Turning around, I sat down on the floor and cleared my mind. It was only me and the block of coal in the room. My past life as a monk helped me greatly in this, as I focused on the many pictures of Celestia I have seen in the past, her form, her appearance, and the presence she enforced when in the room. With it clear what I wanted the statue to be, I focused on a core pillar in the center of the statue and started changing the bonds of the carbon atoms. Starting slowly, I changed the center of the block of coal to diamond, slowly expanding it to it's the thinnest points of the statue. From there, I moved down to the base of the block, and started turning the bottom of the block into pure diamond. It was just me and the block, nothing else. I had blocked out all external audio to focus solely on my task. Moving up, one the base was complete, I formed the rough legs of the statue, then the torso, the arms, the head, and finally the hair and tail. Finally, I smoothed the statue down until it was as smooth as glass. Going over it again and again until I was satisfied. Then, I pulled away every left-over piece of coal with my magic, leaving nothing but a smiling statue of Celestia holding a book open in her one hand, like she was teaching a class.

Slowly, I came out of my meditative state, my whole-body aching. Looking over to a clock on the wall, I noticed one and a half hours had passed. This was by far the biggest thing I have made, and it took a toll on me. I let the spell fade fully, and the Prussian blue glow around my horn faded, as I put a hand on the ground to stand up. As I stood and turned around. The judges were sitting there slack-jawed. I could tell I clearly impressed them.

"I must say, that was a sight to behold." A regal voice said from my left. Turning my head, I saw Princess Celestia in the flesh, hair flowing in an ethereal wind, dressed in what must be the finest silks, and her full regalia.

"That was quite the complex spell you pulled off. Turning a block of coal into this beautiful statue. At a distance, one might think it is made of glass. But this is pure diamond isn't it?" She asked with a smile while examining the statue

"Indeed, it is your majesty. My biggest achievement yet." I said as I started to walk towards her, only to fall over as my vision starts to go black. Right before I black out, I see Princess Celestia move towards me as I fall.

The next time I open my eyes, I'm in a bed, with a bag of pink fluid hooked into my arm. I look over to the left and see my parents asleep on a couch in the corner of the room. The clock on the wall shows it is at least 6 hours later. As I try to sit up, a hand on my right shoulder keeps me from doing so. Looking to who the hand belongs to, I see it is Princess Celestia.

"Rest now my little pony. That feat you preformed took more out of you than you thought." She said

"What happened? I remember the world going dark as I took a step forward."

"You were suffering from magical exhaustion. To be honest, you are one of the youngest ponies this has happened to in a long time. A few days of rest, and some more mana to help you recover more quickly and you will be as good as new."

"Did I get into the school?" I ask

"Yes, my little pony, you did. You passed with flying colors. I will be keeping my eye on your progress, if what you demonstrated earlier is anything to go by, your future is going to be a bright one. Now rest, you can worry about school once you are feeling better.

I nod in response, she takes her hand off my shoulder and leaves the room. As I sit there, I think back on what transpired. Sure, I was able to transform the coal into diamonds by reworking the structure of the atoms, but I want more than that. I want to bring all the good elements of earth to my new home. I want to go down as one of the greatest minds this world has ever seen. I want this life to mean more than just another one in the cycle of death and rebirth. I want this life to last a long time, possibly forever. And I will find a way to do just that.

Author's Note

Edit: added magic color
Edit 2: 9/30/2018 2 am: Fixed punctuation and spelling mistakes.
Edit 3: Fixed mistakes from edit 2
Edit 4: Added hair color