Salvation | Rebirth

The former human sat in one place, deep in thought over his current predicament. Despite the initial horror of the realization, he quickly accepted his rebirth. There was no use crying over what he couldn't change and what was completely out of his control. He did all he could to find out what would be there after his death... or so he told himself as he mocked himself for being so stupid. To him, it was obvious he missed a piece of the puzzle, dooming him to never learning about the life after death until it was too late to change anything. It was his fault he was still alive, it was his fault he didn't learn of this strange reincarnation.

However, that was in the past, and he would never be able to change it, he rationalized. The truth was now staring into his face, and the universe would be laughing at him if it had any sapience. It would mock him and squash him like an insignificant piece of life on a green rock in the middle of nowhere that he was.

He inhaled sharply, pushing the dark and unstable thoughts away and recollecting the rest, putting them in proper order. He wasn't mocked, he wasn't laughed at. The universe was simply cold and uncaring, without a mind to make any thought. He was all alone now. He was free from the consequences of his actions on Earth, but the bitterness, depression, and anger remained along with the rest of his mind's contents.

Indeed, he was still alive. He sniffed, trying to force back the tears, the control over his mind loosening. The unfairness of his situation continued to sting him painfully, almost breaking out in a cry. How could he be simply robbed of one simple thing, of the only thing he wanted? After all that had happened to him, why was his death taken away from him?

A couple hot tears rolled down his cheeks and then dripped on the stone. Was his suffering not enough? Was the pain too pleasant yet? He could find no rationale, no reason for his life to continue, and yet there he was, standing, breathing, feeling. He sniffed, the blinding tears still in his eyes. He wanted to cry, wanted to let it all out, yet he also refused to do so. He must not cry for himself no matter what. He told himself it didn't matter, tears would never fix anything, and he was simply wasting energy.

After many shaky breaths, he was able to calm himself down and force his mind to think clearly. He awkwardly wiped away the tears with one of his front legs, then stood up. He must do something, even if it meant finding a different, permanent way to die. And if he could find no sure way to cease existing, he would have to see if the new world was at the very least tolerable to live in. Perhaps, this rebirth gave him more to do, even if it meant fighting until his last - or perhaps not last - breath. If he had to endure a life of suffering again, then he had to do the most he could to change it somehow. It was, after all, entirely possible his new body would be stronger, more capable.

His legs were steady now, his body fully under control. He finally brought himself to the edge of the large pool where the cocoon with him emerged minutes ago, and he peered at his reflection in one of the crystals growing near the shore. The surface of this one was perfectly flat and one hundred percent reflective as if purposefully made to allow the former human to see himself. He wouldn't disregard this thought - with a new world, anything previously deemed impossible was now possible.

First thing he noticed was the overall shape of his head - it was vaguely horse-like, but certain features were inexplicably more human. He could feel his facial muscles, and with them, he was able to produce reasonably recognizable expressions. Then he turned his attention to the scars, which were similar to those he had as a human, and they covered his face and upper body, albeit now hidden in the blue fur. A piece of his left ear was likewise still missing. His mane was thick and of medium-length, its colors the same as his tail. His eyes were still gray, and he noticed his horn, which finally explained the strange feeling in his forehead.

He was not only an equine with unusual body colors but a unicorn. If he was still on Earth somehow, someone would certainly try to enslave or kill him for this fact alone. He wouldn't go down without a fight, of course, but there was little he could do without weapons and the ability to use them. He preferred not to think of the treatment he would receive if anyone could get a hold of him.

The best he could do was move out and wander around until he found some form of civilization. As deadly and downright horrible and cruel as people could be, some of them could be negotiated with even with his... problems. As long as he was smart, he could stay out of trouble for long enough until he was ready for it.

At the border of the Everfree Forest, an outpost was situated, twelve guards always on duty to look out for dangers exiting the gloomy forest or ponies trying to enter it. A few similar outposts were located around the perimeter of the chaotic anomaly, and their station was a standard practice employed for centuries after the Castle of the Royal Sisters was abandoned and the forest was once again untamed. Despite the chaos at the Night of Luna's Return when the Everfree was left unguarded, everything returned to normal once the Night ended.

A unicorn was standing on top of a tower in the outpost, surveying. A pegasus partner sitting nearby, reading a book, all but ignoring everything else around him.

The horn of the unicorn briefly lit as a scanning spell went through the forest. However, as brief as it was, the spell lingered at the end, and the unicorn furrowed his brows, catching something with his senses. The intensity of the spell-light returned, and the unicorn nodded to himself in confirmation before ending the spell.

"Someone is alone in the forest," he said sharply to his partner.

"Eh, we'll probably see 'em before long," the pegasus replied lazily, his eyes not leaving the pages of the book despite the tone of the unicorn, "Can't get inside the forest without passing by one of us."

"No, someone is already in the forest," the unicorn emphasized.

"What? How?" the pegasus put his book down and stood up, sudden tension in his body and voice, "Alright, that doesn't matter, we just need to get them out of there right now."

"Stand by for info, triangulating for their location with others," the unicorn said quickly, his horn once again lighting up in varying intensities as another spell was cast. He connected with the other unicorns, now three of them working on finding out who the mysterious person was. Meanwhile, the pegasus put on his helmet and readied his wings. In a moment, the unicorn spoke again, "Signature - a young unicorn. Location defined."

The unicorn then used his horn to tap on a gem inside the breastplate of the pegasus, and then the winged guard immediately took off. Another pegasus followed, and the unicorn knew other outposts were sending their Aerials up as well.

However, the situation was abnormal. A young unicorn - even as old as fourteen - was very unlikely to have a teleportation mishap that would land them in the Everfree Forest. Practice of teleportation was strictly prohibited in the immediate area next to the forest as well, and not even the inhabitants of Ponyville would be foolish enough to enter the aptly named Alert Zone. There would also be very few ponies willing to enter the Danger Zone which was the forest itself. Of course, some had exceptions allowing them to travel in and out of the forest without escort, but this particular pony had no such exception.

The unicorn thought of whom that pony could be, and the more he thought about it, the less right the situation seemed. First of all, the pony was not detected approaching the forest. If it was a teleportation mishap, the teleportation spell was likewise undetected. It looked like the pony simply popped into existence in the middle of one of the most dangerous places in Equestria.

For a moment, the unicorn considered calling off the search - something simply wasn't right. However, the weather above the Everfree was mostly clear, and pegasi were unlikely to get into trouble while flying. The best course of action was to wait and see whom they would soon find. Perhaps the detection spells simply failed for one reason or another, maybe the unicorn was just a regular pony trying to prove something to someone and thus teleported themselves into the Everfree.

Despite this possible justification, it did not alleviate the worry - something was suspiciously wrong. The unicorn had a feeling whoever was inside the forest would prove to be an interesting person.

After all, no ordinary pony goes to the Everfree.

The exit from the cave was easy to find, and soon the former human stood outside amidst dark trees. The cave behind him was heavily obscured by vines and flowers, making it impossible to see if one didn't know it was there.

His mind was sharp and alert as the young man looked around, his ears subconsciously moving independently from his eyes and between themselves. Flora and fauna was certainly alien - one such sign was a spider with a bright stylized blue star on its back. The trees were crooked and resembled nothing he had seen on Earth, and even the grass seemed different. He couldn't see the sun, but it was obviously daytime despite the darkness of the forest. There were many things off about the place, and no doubt was left in his mind - he was indeed in another world. On one side, it was a relief, being away from humans and what he left behind, now he was absolutely certain of it. On the other side, he could easily die a horrible death in the wilderness or worse. Death in of itself didn't scare him, but the prospect of suffering beforehand did.

The atmosphere in the forest was thick with various scents and heavy with a feeling of inexplicable danger. It was not an instinctual and natural fear of the unknown, it was more conscious, as if the former human was aware of the existing danger. He frowned - his second life had a chance to end early. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad thing, but he had no way of knowing. In any case, he had to move, so he picked a random direction and headed that way, walking through tall grass and around the thorny bushes.

In a short while, another feeling made its way into his mind, placing itself next to the sense of danger, and it was a crawling suspicion of being watched. The former human was ready for an attack, but he couldn't see anyone or anything moving towards him. But he knew he couldn't stop, so he continued on his way, hoping to be out of this accursed forest as soon as possible. Yet, his movement was slowed down by the absence of a good road, and the various obstacles in his way included fallen twisted logs, suspicious flowers, and strange bushes.

He had no idea where he was headed, but he forced himself to walk forward. Maybe he should've waited inside the safety of the cave, but no plan can be made without information, and he had none. He was going in blind, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Perhaps he would have died of hunger or thirst if he remained, but it was hardly a painless death.

His ear twitched as he heard soft yet quick steps behind him. More instinctively than consciously, he dove to the side, and whoever or whatever was behind him flew past him. He quickly turned to the danger and saw a wolf, but it was no regular wolf - it was made of sticks, logs, bark, and leaves. Its green glowing eyes were looking at the former human with both hunger and caution. He maintained his own stare, his mind turned to the fighting mode. Adrenaline flowed inside him, a rush that gave him strength and would take away the pain until after the fight.

Anger grew inside him, consuming his thoughts like hungry flames. The unfairness of his rebirth stung deeply still, and the hatred of his home world boiled. He inhaled deeply, narrowing his eyes, his heart beating like war drums.

He just didn't get what he wanted.

He did not die.

There was no release, and he was forced to go on.

He remembered it all. The humiliation, the pain, the helplessness. He let it out and let it out, yet it never disappeared completely, always lingering inside him. And now, someone was trying to eat him.

He huffed, lips curling into a snarl. He would never let anyone hurt him again, be it a wild beast or a thinking being.

If one declared a battle, he declared war.

With a powerful roar of defiance, he dashed at the timberwolf, aiming his horn to pierce it straight through the head. The wolf was startled, but only for a moment - it jumped back, dodging the lunge, and then struck with its paw, scratching across the right side of the former human's face. He growled, ignoring the sharp pain across his cheek and eyebrow, and swiftly dodged the timberwolf as it jumped at him. He quickly turned around and then used his front hooves to punch at the snarling maw of the timberwolf. With a yelp of pain, the wolf took a step back. Not missing this opportunity, the former human pressed forward and struck the wolf with his horn. Twigs cracked as the horn parted them, and the wolf quickly retreated, growling in pain. Then it struck, swiping a clawed paw. With a heavy growl, the former human recoiled from the strike which barely brushed his muzzle before slamming into the timberwolf again, using his entire body weight, this time knocking it off its paws. As it tried to get up, he stomped on one of its legs with force, breaking it, making the wolf yowl.

Another timberwolf jumped in almost silently, trying to bite the flank. The former human noticed it in time and bucked hard, shattering the head of the wolf into pieces, making it fall on the ground right there and then, its body becoming motionless. The first timberwolf whimpered in pain, and the stallion returned to pummeling it, stomping all over its body. In his rage, he didn't think, and he bit the piece of wood covering the wolf's muzzle before tearing it off with a grunt. The wolf howled in pain, then gurgled as tree sap filled its damaged maw. It wiggled, trying to crawl away from the former human, but it was all in vain. He struck time and time again, pummeling it into the dirt without restraint.

Feeling the pain from the wounds gave him nothing but more anger. Anger at himself for not preventing the scratch and anger at the timberwolves for attacking him in the first place. Two more wolves were approaching, eyeing him carefully. After shaking off the blood that started to drip into his right eye, the former human let out another animalistic growl, daring the wolves to approach him. He was ready, and he felt he had the strength to take them on. It didn't matter if he died in this attempt, he would die fighting.

Wordlessly, he screamed at them, his eyes burning with determination and anger. He so wished to express his rage through words, yet he could not, and all that was left was screaming. And then he charged.

Whimpering, timberwolves gave up and scattered, disappearing into the bushes, running away. The former human spat on the ground, letting out another hateful scream at the strange animals, then turned around to pace to calm himself down.

To his surprise, two ponies stood in front of him, without horns but with wings. He managed to make out the armor on their bodies before darkness took him.

"The fuck are you doing?" one of the pegasi yelled at the other as the former human fell on the ground, unconscious.

"Did you see his fucking face? the second replied, "That's the scariest shit I've ever seen, I swear on my fucking life! Like, don't blame me for throwing the spellball at him! Like, did you see how he bit into the timberwolf? Who does that?"

"Whoever he is, let's bring him out of this place, then we'll see," the first pegasus, swiftly returning the calm to his mind. What's done is done, and the spell that rendered the young unicorn asleep was ultimately harmless. But he did have to admit one thing - what they had just seen was scary. A lone pony, a unicorn - whose race was known as the weakest in physical strength - managed to take down two timberwolves, completely without magic, and was ready to take on another two. The screams he made were wild, beast-like, and they sent shivers down the pegasus' spine.

As the two pegasi assembled a stretcher to carry the unconscious unicorn away, the timberwolves reassembled. Without even looking at possible prey, they bolted into the forest, whimpering as they went.

"Fuck me..." the second pegasus muttered under his breath as he watched the timberwolves disappeared into the darkness.

The first pegasus silently agreed with him. Whoever this unicorn was - and by the looks of him, he couldn't be older than thirteen or fourteen - he was undoubtedly... interesting.

Maybe the guards needed to call in a princess on this one.