At the end of the day, Wild was back in his dorm. A notebook was in front of him, and a pen was in his magical grasp. He tapped the end of it against his mouth, his expression thoughtful, a light frown on his face. On the open page of the notebook, there was one simple sentence.

The day was fine.

It was, in part, truth. The day could have been worse... a lot worse.

Luna asked him to think about how he felt, and... perhaps he could think about why he felt the day was fine. Was it just because it wasn’t worse? He was aware that this was quite a grim outlook. However, for the longest time, that was how he approached days, how he approached his entire life. Suffering was his companion, and he judged everything through its lens.

The day was fine because it was not worse than it could be.

Writing his feelings down felt awkward and unnecessary. What use would thinking about it all be? Besides, what if someone found this notebook? Fortunately, he was smart enough to write his thoughts down in English - as far as he knew, he was the only one who knew this language now. He hoped there were no universal translation spells that could simply lift the meaning of the writing right off the paper and translate it perfectly. Perhaps he should have checked that first, but there was still a good solution to this issue - burning it all once he was done with it. He decided to settle on that, for the moment.

Next, he could question himself about why he thought the way he did. Why did he approached his entire life with the attitude ‘if it’s not worse then it’s good enough’? He... had no good answer if he were honest with himself. He thought this way of thinking was self-evident. After all, if something wasn’t worse, then that was good. However, could he really call something good because it wasn’t as bad as some other thing? This was thinking in degrees of bad, not in degrees of good.

Wild knew he was not a person with a positive outlook on life. There were reasons for that, good reasons, and he would stick to them.

I am a negative person.

This seemed harsh despite how true it was.

I am a pessimist.

He could not be an optimist, probably not ever. He had suffered too much and had gone through too many hardships to ever consider being an optimist. If anything, he was a realist.

I am a realist because bad things happen to me.

This much was truth. His reality was often negative, so what reason would he ever had to be an optimist? Things always became worse, and it happened again and again and again no matter where he was.

Things always become worse.

Wild swallowed, tapping the end of his pen against his head. He couldn’t exactly say this was taxing - he had barely written anything - but it wasn’t easy either. In truth, he knew very few things were ever easy, if any at all. Everything required effort, without exception. Wild powered through things even when he didn’t feel like doing them, and it left him feeling drained, and yet he could only march on in hopes of... what, exactly? Of something better? If things always become worse, then why was he expecting them to become better?

I expect things to become better anyway.

He knew it wasn’t rational. He knew it wasn’t logical. He knew this way of thinking was foolish.

It doesn’t make sense.

He shook his head slightly - was he not trying to think about how his day passed? Why then was he covering nearly everything with such broad strokes? He refocused his mind on this day in particular. He had an urge to cross out what he had written before, but he decided to leave it. Maybe... maybe it would be useful to come back to later down the line.

I had an average day and it was fine. The only exception was my therapy session with Princess Luna. It was fine.

Wild wanted to hit his head on the table - all of what he wrote sounded so awkward. At least no one else would ever read it, so he was safe from the shame of being judged by it. Or, at least, as safe as he could be as long as he could ensure this journal didn’t get into anyone’s possession. Having a different language unknown to anyone but him was a good layer of security, but he could never be too careful. Besides, now he suspected he could be not the only human around. Or, at the very least, there was a connection between this world and Earth, and he had come through that connection, so it was entirely possible someone else could do that too. Did it require death? Did it require the death to happen at the specific place, at the very lake he died in? Did it require a certain pattern of thinking, of having been... a victim? Wild wished he had at least one answer to any of these questions, but he didn’t.

Fortunately, Luna’s promise turned out to be true - there were news about Royal Guards being seen setting up a perimeter around the Everfree Forest.

“We are not at liberty to reveal the purpose of these movements,” the new Captain said, the one that replaced Shining Armor after the latter’s marriage to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, “However, I can assure that there is no danger at this moment aside from the regular dangers of the Everfree Forest. As usual, we are asking to refrain from visiting it, and now doubly so as it would distract us from our mission. Thank you.”

Wild knew the truth - there was danger. How much, he wasn’t sure, but with humans, there was always danger. He could only hope that no one else made their way into this world since he was reborn. He also hoped that, should Luna find anything there, she would tell him. If they found the site of his rebirth and secured it... he would rest a little bit easier.

Wild decided not to write down anything relating to this or relating to his origins. He could not take that risk, even if he did have support of Princess Luna. For now, he lived a life in relative obscurity, and he did not want to be singled out. He was already undoubtedly odd and weird by pony standards, yet all of this could be chalked up to something else. Did ponies have autism? He didn’t know, but he believed some of the odder human behaviors stemmed from that. If ponies did have autism, then he was fine with being recognized as autistic. It was certainly far better than being recognized as some otherworldly non-pony intelligent being who, for some unknown reason, had a pony body.

Considering how dangerous the Everfree Forest was, he wondered whether his body was made out of whatever bodies ponies who died there left. It would make... an awful amount of sense. It wasn’t like bodies could easily be grown like plants, but he could certainly see magic being capable of making living bodies from corpses.

That would raise the question of whether he was even alive. In truth... he wasn’t exactly alive. He existed, at least as a spirit, but he wasn’t, strictly speaking, living. His body perhaps was, and, as far as he could tell, it wasn’t some undead reanimated monstrosity. It felt warm, it had a heartbeat, and, as far as the doctors were able to tell during his health checkup, his body was in a pretty good condition and definitely living - they would have said something had he organs that didn’t function or something of that sort.

He heard a knock come from the entrance door, pulling him from his thoughts. He closed the journal and stuffed it under the mattress of his bed, wondering just who would actually come knocking. Was it Princess Luna? He went to open the door and peep outside and, to his surprise, it was Artful.

“Oh hi!” the pegasus greeted him with a smile, “So uh, me and Jade want to play a board game and I thought of inviting you. Wanna come?”

Wild blinked. He needed to write things in his journal, but... this reprieve was welcome, and so he was going to take it. He nodded, then signed if he needed to bring anything.

“No, we already have everything,” Artful replied. Wild nodded again and exited his dorm, closing the door behind him. If Artful saw some of the inside of it, he didn’t comment. Instead, Artful led him to his own dorm, which wasn’t that far off.

Wild passed by a number of doors, all of them decorated in one way or another that showed off the personality of whoever was living there. His own door had remained unadorned so far, sticking out among the populated dorms while looking like a dorm that was cleaned out and empty. Wild... could change it. Perhaps he should change it.

Artful’s door was certainly accurate to his name - it was painted over with scenes that flowed into each other, combining into some kind of a fantasy world - or perhaps it was some sort of real place, considering magic was real - which had tall mountains, floating islands in the air, colorful forests, and many other things that Wild just didn’t have time to register.

Once Artful opened the door, it was revealed that the living room was certainly different than Wild’s - instead of the default furniture, it had a couple of beanbag chairs of different colors as well as a sofa and a low table between them all. He could see shelves in the closet were bursting with painting supplies, and the shelves outside were filled with what Wild presumed were Wild’s artworks sorted from earliest to latest, considering that their quality improved when looking at each from left to right. The walls were a nice shade of green, and the hardwood floor was covered by a rather thick and colorful carpet that had an elaborate geometric pattern.

“Make yourself comfortable!” Artful invited him, “Jade should be here soon with the game.”

Wild nodded and picked one of the beanbags. It was pretty comfortable as far as he could tell, and he decided to sprawl all over it, lying belly-down on it. After a few moments, he had to adjust his position - there was some pressure on his crotch that he didn’t like feeling. However, he had to stop moving eventually because, if he rubbed enough against the beanbag... he was afraid he would cause a bit of a scene that he did not want to cause. That was definitely a downside of being nude all the time. Wild could probably prevent it by lying on his side or his back, but he didn’t really feel like it.

Artful was humming some kind of song to himself as he put a tray with three cups and a kettle on the small low table.

“Would you like some tea?” Artful asked Wild, “It’s mint.”

Wild nodded hesitantly, and Artful poured him a cup. Wild took it and took a careful sip - the temperature was hot but not scalding. The tea... tasted good. He inhaled its smell, and he liked it as well. It was... calming. He was already calm, or so he thought, but it was... better now, somehow.

A thought entered his mind - what if the tea was drugged? He banished it immediately - Artful would never do that. Sometimes, Wild had the oddest of thoughts and the lowest of expectations for people. Where did that even come from?

Luna told him to be thoughtful about what he felt, and now... why did he feel this way, even for a fleeting moment?

“Is the tea not good?” Artful asked, pulling Wild from his thoughts.

“It is good,” Wild replied, “I was... thinking.”

“Oh, okay,” Artful said, “Um, you could add sugar if you want?”

“No, thank you,” Wild shook his head. As a kid, he loved plenty of sugary things, but now he didn’t have much taste for it, certainly not to any excess. Sweet drinks in general put him off a bit, and he couldn’t exactly tell why. He took another sip of the mint tea, simply enjoying what he had.

Soon enough, Jade arrived.

“Hi, come in!” Artful greeted them, and they paused when they spotted Wild.

“Hi,” Wild greeted them somewhat awkwardly.

“Um, hi,” they greeted him in turn just as awkwardly. Fortunately, they entered the dorm and settled down, and Wild didn’t think that they put any deliberate distance between themself and him. He could also detect no thought floating around that would point to Jade being truly uncomfortable with his presence. As far as he could tell, both Artful and Jade were a bit nervous, but that was about it. In truth, he was nervous as well - he had never really done any sort of... tabletop game. Aside from that one from the book about medieval castles.

“Alright, now that we’re all here, let’s go over the rules,” Artful put the game on the table, “This is Epic Fights of Battle Mages. It’s a fun game about fighting each other as mages, and-”

He went on to explain the rules of the game, including that each player has a certain amount of life they begin with as well as mana that starts at zero but can be gained and then spent for extra effects. There were three kinds of cards that could be combined to form a spell, although any amount of cards out of three could be used, and the spaces that were not used were to be substituted with something creative but which wouldn’t actually affect the game. There was a special kind - chaos magic - that could be used to place instead of any card and would give some random effect depending on what card the player got from the stack. There were, of course, more rules, but that was the gist of it. Wild, Artful, and Jade each picked their mage hero, although it didn’t exactly matter which it was. Each of them got eight cards, and the game started. Wild could definitely chuckle and perhaps even giggle at some of the card names as he assembled a spell.

“I have three cards,” Artful declared once everyone got a spell ready.

“Three too,” Jade said.

“Three,” Wild nodded.

“Okay, what about initiative number? Mine’s seventeen.”

“Thirteen.”

“Two.”

“Alright, then I am first, then Jade, then Wild,” Artful said, and everyone nodded, “I cast demonic sharknado by Swirlyswirl the Beardless!”

The game was on from then and Wild, despite his awkwardness, was pulled in. Unfortunately, he did not look closely enough at his own card, so his face reddened as he read out his spell.

“I cast explosive quartet of diamond dog nobles by... by Lustlestia.”

Artful and Jade both giggled at that, and Wild could only look down at his cards with his face burning. He should have known this pose the character was drawn on the card was... suggestive. Perhaps he would have noticed it sooner if a stallion was depicted instead, but what was done was done. At least he didn’t have any other similar cards left.

Lives were lost, mana was gained and used, and in the end, Wild, to his surprise, wasn’t the first to be out for the round - it was Jade. Wild didn’t have much of a strategic mind, but it appeared he was good enough not to be defeated easily. As Artful and he faced off against each other, Wild could honestly say that he was having fun. The spells were funny, the graphics on them adding to that effect, and the game in itself was entertaining. Slowly but surely, he began to relax and get more into the game, forgetting any of his worries.

Or at least he would have forgotten them all if he didn’t feel a certain warmth in his crotch. With horror, he realized that he unconsciously rubbed himself enough for... some excitement to take place.

“Um, I uh... bathroom,” he managed to say before placing his cards - thankfully, face down - and getting up from the beanbag. He managed to not look like he was in a terrible rush, but he was definitely aware that his face was a bit red. When he looked into the mirror, that was only confirmed.

Wild did indeed use the toilet anyway, then splashed some cold water on his crotch. Thankfully for him, that was managed, and it didn’t seem like anyone noticed anything, so he returned from the bathroom and took his place on the beanbag again, and the game continued.

After the first round was done - with Artful winning - there was a pause. Artful brought out some sandwiches, so the three ate and chatted.

“It is fun game,” Wild said. It was easier and easier to speak the more he did it, and he was glad for it. Now, when it was just the three of them, and Jade didn’t really expect him to be silent, he felt... freer than before. Since Jade didn’t expect him to not speak, he didn’t need to worry about seeing their reaction to it, although he was aware that his speech was far from perfect yet, plus he had a very noticeable accent that, no doubt, no one would be able to place. Fortunately for him, no one had questioned him about it so far, “We... could do it again.”

“Yeah, it’s fun,” Jade nodded, “I really thought I’d burst into laughter at the,” they giggled, “the ‘Destructive Friendship Ray by Evilton the Evil’. Just... you know, friendship ray, destructive, and Evilton the Evil!”

“Yeah, that was funny,” Artful agreed.

They chatted some more about their game , and then they heard a crack of thunder, followed by another and another and another. They looked outside and saw that it was raining - not a surprise considering that it was scheduled.

“Oh hey, I remembered something,” Artful said as he gazed thoughtfully out the window. It was already darker than usual because of the clouds, and it wouldn’t be long before the sun was made to set, “There’s a small log cabin in the woods here, how about we head over there for the night? It’s gonna be cozy, with a fireplace and all.”

Wild... was not as averse to the idea as he would have been before. This game session made him relax, and, if he were honest, he liked the company. It was... nice.

“A log cabin?” Jade asked.

“Yeah, someone built that some time ago,” Artful replied, “It’s not used often, but it’s still there, and it’s nice inside. I’d say we grab some food, something we can cook on the fireplace, and head there.”

“I... I wouldn’t mind,” Jade nodded, and then the two turned to Wild.

“...Okay,” he nodded, deciding to go all in this time. He had to become better, and for that he needed to do things he otherwise would not have. He would control his life, he was in control of his life. And this... this was an opportunity for... for something good. Or something hopefully good, at least.

It wasn’t long before they gathered some potatoes and some vegetables for the food, a cloak each in order not to get too wet before they got there, some drinking water, and some other things so that they could spend good time in the cabin without getting bored. Of course, they could always return - the cabin wasn’t exactly far - but they wanted to dedicate the rest of the day as well as the entire night to it.

Wild volunteered to carry the basket with their things, and so the three set out. Once outside, it was clear to them that the rain wasn’t too strong just yet but would soon be, so they had to hurry. The ground was mostly dry, and they followed a narrow path to the cabin somewhere within the forest inside the Royal Orphanage grounds. Wild wondered just how big the entire Royal Orphanage was, as he had never properly explored it, but it appeared it was quite big indeed. If he were to estimate, the forest itself was at least one square kilometer, perhaps a couple, and the entire Royal Orphanage was even larger. However, now was not the time to wonder about it.

As the rain strengthened, drizzle turning into light shower, the cabin came into sight. It was a squat building with a triangular roof and a couple of windows. There were a couple of sheds as well, one of them with a sign that showed it was a toilet. Wild did not particularly look forward to having the toilet room separate from the main building, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. At least he wouldn’t be forced to relieve himself in the bushes and behind trees, hoping no one would see him.

“Seems like no one’s here,” Artful said, “The cabin is all ours!”

“Yay!” Jade replied, and Wild almost chuckled at the joyful tone of their voice.

First they stepped on a small porch under the roof and opened the door to the cabin. It opened with a soft homely creak, revealing one small room, perhaps five by five meters. There was a brick fireplace with a stack of dry logs, both whole and chopped, as well as sticks and dried grass and leaves to start the fire with. There were two small windows on one wall opposite the fireplace, a table under that window with a pair of soft chairs and a couch, and then there was a big bed that could comfortably fit at least four ponies.

“Wild, there’s a pack of matches in the cabinet over there, can you light up the fireplace?” Artful asked, and Wild nodded. The cabinet above the stack of logs did indeed contain a number of matches in a bunch of boxes, and there were some steel cups as well.

Wild got the matches, then went to arrange the fireplace. He didn’t know much about how to build a fire, but he built a somewhat organized stack of logs, put dried plants and thin sticks underneath, and lit it up. His first attempt was, thankfully, successful, and soon the fire was growing, cracking merrily, casting the surroundings in a warm red-orange glow.

Meanwhile, Artful was adding vegetables to a skewer, and Jade was looking around in wonder.

“It’s nice here,” they commented, looking at carved wooden tableware hanging off nails on one of the walls. It was all clearly made with love and attention, Wild could practically feel it.

Wild suspected that had this been back on Earth, the cabin would have already been trashed by idiotic teenagers that didn’t know the value of such a place. However, everything here looked neat and tidy, although plenty of ponies carved their names into the logs. However, it didn’t look ugly - if anything, it added to the charm of the cabin.

“It’s tradition to carve your name into logs if it’s your first time visiting,” Artful explained when he saw Wild looking at it, “Mine’s over there,” he gestured, and indeed Wild could see his name, one of the fresher ones, “You could add yours if you want.”

Wild shook his head. He was fine with not leaving his name somewhere. He never did it before, doubted he would do it in the future. This place wasn’t his, anyway, although... he probably wouldn’t mind going there from time to time.

Wild inhaled deeply, the smell of burning wood pleasantly tickling his nostrils, and there was no smoke escaping back into the room, going up the chimney in its entirety instead. As the fire grew in strength, Wild could practically hear the air roaring upwards as it heated up. The cabin, which was a bit chilly on the inside when they entered, was warming up nicely as well.

In comfortable silence, the three did their own things. Artful prepared the food and set it to cook, Jade was helping him when not looking around, and Wild was inspecting all the various carvings.

Steel Wing x Forest Runner x Whitehoof forever

Advice - get some mushrooms if you can, they’re delicious

^Of course they are delicious

^Don’t take too much, leave some for others

^But they’re so delicious

^Yeah, but everyone else wants them too

I want Princess Celestia so bad

^No chance bro

^I am not a bro

^Still no chance

^She’s like great-great-great-great-grandma to everyone, she’s not going to look at us as anything more than foals

^Yeah but she’s like a hot grandma

^Still no chance

^I am gay, I wish Princess Celestia had a brother

^Don’t we all

Wild was, in truth, fascinated by all that he could see carved into logs. Conversations spanning years, perhaps decades, the cabin definitely looked old enough for that. Wild changed his mind - he would leave something of his own. He spotted a short knife lying on the table, and he grabbed it. He found a corner near a piece of furniture, down low where not many carvings were and, in small letters, he carved a short sentence in English.

Wild was here with two

He paused there. Then, after some thinking, he finished it.

Wild was here with two friends.

That felt right.

Now that he had carved what he did, he wondered if he would find... possibly someone else's writing in a language he could understand that was not of this world. The thought was alarming, but he kept it in control as he scanned all the nooks and crannies, finding various different carvings but, thankfully, nothing that would show that someone else from Earth was there before. All the script that he had seen was entirely Equestrian in origin, and so he allowed himself to sigh quietly in relief.

“I think the veggies are just about ready!” Artful called.

Not long after, the food was prepared. While potatoes would be baked once there was enough ash at the bottom and fire was no longer a concern, the vegetables on the skewer were already cooked. Artful got them off the skewer and on the plate, then served Jade and Wild. A bit of salt and pepper, and it was perfect. The vegetables were still juicy enough, and the smoky flavor added to their taste marvelously. Artful and Jade both moaned in pleasure as they ate, and Wild added his own soft moan to that. It was truly delicious.

The rain outside was now even stronger, generously showering everything with water. Without a doubt, it was going to be muddy and wet in the morning, which would be unpleasant to walk through once they went to return to their dorms. However, for now, Artful, Wild, and Jade were safe, warm, and dry inside the cabin.

The potatoes were baked shortly afterwards, and were enjoyed by everyone in the cabin. With all the food gone, the sun having set, everyone was also yawning, their eyelids drooping. Any plans for another tabletop game were thus gone.

“Well, dunno about you all, but I’m ready to sleep,” Artful said, yawning widely. Wild was looking at his tongue for a bit too long before he realized he was doing it and averted his eyes, trying not to think about that.

Artful took the central position on the bed, and Jade wasn’t far behind in... lying down beside him. Wild was left standing, blinking at them in confusion even as a realization set in.

He would have to sleep with them.

“Are you coming?” Artful asked. There was... nothing improper about it. Only an innocent question, and Wild knew that. It appeared ponies didn’t exactly have a strong association between sleeping with someone and having sex with them. Perhaps Wild shouldn’t have been surprised - had he not been invited to a sleepover once where everyone would be in a pile together?

Wild hesitated, something inside of him wanting to go away, to deny himself this. And yet...

Wild steeled himself - he was willing to try this. It was hardly the end of the world, after all, and it would certainly not be anywhere close to the bad things he had experienced, this world or the previous one. The worst that would happen was... just him going back to the Royal Orphanage building alone. If he were entirely honest with himself, he knew it was not something that he wanted. He had had enough loneliness for a lifetime, let alone two.

Wild moved somewhat stiffly over to the bed and then laid down. So far it wasn't bad, which was a relief, even if a small one. He took a deep breath and silently told himself that nothing bad was happening and, logically, nothing bad would happen. He wasn't even surrounded by a bunch of strangers - he had two friends around him, even if he hadn't spend all that much time with them. Besides, he would've been able to sense ill intent if there was any, and there was not. However, even when he logically knew things were alright, that didn't mean it worked to relieve his anxiety perfectly. With much hesitation yet remaining, he got himself closer to Artful.

Artful was warm. Of course he was warm, he was alive, and Wild knew mammals were warm-blooded creatures, and warm-blooded creatures, naturally, felt warm to the touch. Wild banished the rambling thoughts from his head, simply accepting the fact that he was... surprised. Even if he couldn't exactly describe what he was surprised by.

There was some movement, and soon the three ponies were all covered by a blanket. It was... comfortable. Wild realized he was comfortable. It was... nice. He wished he had the words to describe the sensation, but at the time, they completely escaped him.

He could... he could do it. He could accept this. He would accept this because he wanted to accept this, certainly not because he had no choice. He reminded himself that, if he so wished, he could easily leave. He could throw away the blanket and jump to his hooves and away from Artful and Jade in little more than a blink of an eye.

Wild closed his eyes and allowed his body to relax.

"Alright. G'night, everyone," Artful muttered as he shifted slightly, taking the most comfortable position that he could.

"Night," Jade replied in turn.

"...Good night," Wild ended up quietly saying a few moments later. The last time he wished someone good night or had it wished to him, it was... so long ago he didn't remember. It wasn't really anything that great or important, but hearing those words made him feel better.

Wild didn't know what it was that he truly expected, but everything remained calm, quiet, and peaceful. Before long, he found himself drifting off to sleep to the sound of his friends' steady breaths.

When he was asleep and the last of the tension disappeared from his body, he dreamed pleasant

Author's Note

Wild finally agrees to do some cuddling with ponies and, to no one's surprise, finds he likes it.