Salvation | Rebirth

Days later, Wild had awoken in the middle of the night. In the moment between sleep and wakefulness, he didn’t know what it was, and so he shifted slightly. He realized something was poking him around the chest, stomach, and a side, so he was forced to blink his eyes awake. He lit his horn, bright enough to see around himself but not bright enough to hurt his sleepy eyes. At first, his light was silver, or perhaps simply light-gray, and then he adjusted it until it was more orange - it was simply easier on the eyes. Finally, he saw what was bothering him.

The Alicorn Amulet seemed to have crumbled entirely, having broken up into small pieces that, even together, barely hinted at how it looked like before. The feeling of them against his body, to Wild, resembled how bread crumbs could poke if one was so thoughtless as to eat bread in bed, except more uncomfortable.

Wild let out a wide yawn, not feeling at all like dealing with it right there and then. However, he couldn’t continue lying in bed - the pieces were poking far too much for him to go back to sleep. With a grumble of muttered complaint, he brushed what remained on his body to the side of him, then rolled over to the other side and got up from his bed. He licked his dry lips, then summoned a pitcher of water and took a few mouthfuls from it, letting out a quiet breath once he was refreshed. Then he yawned again, his eyes half-lidded. If he were entirely honest, he would have preferred if the amulet chose to break at some other time of day, and certainly not this early in the morning. However, in Equestria, morning came when Celestia raised the sun, so it was not actually morning just yet, and probably wouldn’t be for a few more hours. Wild shook his head slightly, getting rid of that random thought.

If Wild wished to go back to bed, he had to do something about this, that much was clear even to his sleepy brain. He formed his magic into the shape of a brush, which he then used to remove the pieces of the amulet from his bed. Luna had taught him this, telling him that using his magic to form various objects, especially if he was thoughtful about the details, would help him with control, especially the finer part of it. Right now, his magical brush could only ever resemble one from a good amount of distance, but at least it was working just like he intended. It still, in some ways, resembled his hands, which was a bit freaky if he were honest. Once all the pieces were on the floor, he swept them further away from the bed to a corner of the room, making a small pile. He distantly realized that it would probably be best to call Luna to tell her about what had happened to the amulet, but he hadn’t yet had enough sleep, so he didn’t really want to. He, of course, also justified it by thinking that nothing bad had happened all throughout his time there, and nothing bad was happening right that moment either. Clearly, he was alright, and he could spend some more time catching up on sleep. If he didn’t manage to die from it so far, a few more hours of sleep wouldn’t make or break the situation.

Wild yawned once more, then dragged his body over to the bathroom to relieve himself before going back to bed. As he finished the deed, he checked whether there was some odd color to it, be it red, black, or some other clearly magically-influenced color. Finding it was nothing more than slightly yellow, which was perfectly fine as far as he knew, he cleaned himself up and went back to bed. He got under the comforter and sighed in content even as he felt a slightly cool breeze come through an open window. Within mere minutes, he drifted off to sleep.

The Alicorn Amulet, once feared and sought after, now lay in pieces in the corner of Wild’s room, inert and entirely non-magical.

***

Once morning came, Wild called Princess Luna, and she thoroughly inspected both him and the remains of the amulet.

“I believe everything is fine,” she concluded, her wariness draining away, “The Amulet is now nothing more than metal, and there is no odd magical activity around or inside you. Without a doubt, you can return to your friends today. Before you do, however, would you like to break your fast with my sister and I?”

Wild considered it for a moment, then nodded. Luna had previously advised him to spend at least some time around Princess Celestia to help him get rid of the residual fear of her. Logically, he couldn’t fault what she had done to him, and he knew it wasn’t even torture, so he shouldn’t fear her. He hadn’t been hurt at all, truth be told. However, when he expressed it to Luna, she surprised him.

“Even with no physical harm, you were still hurt by my sister,” she told him, “There are no ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’ with feelings. Even if, in your opinion, it was not ‘that bad’, you have still gone through a stressful situation, and it leaves a mark, even if temporary. I am glad you are willing to work on that fear, but that fear is not something to be shunned.”

Wild didn’t think he agreed with that, but he decided to let it go.

Next, of course, was the matter of Celestia promising to give him something if he asked, all as compensation for the harm that she had caused. With his original idea of convincing her of the dangers of humanity and making her prepare for what he believed to be an unavoidable massive conflict should the two words ever connect on a deeper level proven nonviable, he was left with... nothing. He could perhaps ask for money - there was the concept of emotional harm which, legally, could be compensated with money. While Wild couldn’t say that what he had experienced couldn’t have a price, he also couldn’t name a sum he would be willing to accept for it. If he were honest with himself, accepting money for it felt... not right. He couldn’t explain exactly why that was the case, so he tentatively brought it up with Luna.

“If you want monetary compensation, you will be granted it,” she told him, “There is no shame in it. I will not judge you for it, and neither will my sister. Money may not buy you happiness, but it would allow you to find a way to spend it that would give you a positive experience that could, perhaps, outweigh the negative feelings you have experienced due to my sister’s actions.”

Wild, hesitantly, nodded. Luna’s words helped him ease his mind and consider that perhaps he could indeed simply ask for money. But how much? Besides, he feared it would somehow sour the relationship between him and Princess Celestia despite Luna assuring him that it wouldn’t.

If he were honest, he had no idea what else he could ask for as compensation. He searched for a solution, yet none could be found. He could ask for some thing, but then wouldn’t money give him the same result, except he would purchase it under his own power?

In the end, Wild settled on getting money out of this situation if only to get it over with. He would figure out what to do with that money later.

“Very well, I will inform my sister of this,” Luna said once he explained her decision to her, “You will be compensated fairly, without a doubt.”

Since then, he only heard that there were legal issues to get through with, namely documenting all that happened in order to have a proper paper trail for the money Wild would receive. He was in no hurry, considering that he didn’t exactly need money right that moment, but he did wonder what he could spend it on. After a short while of homelessness, which nevertheless felt like a lifetime to him, he was content with having a roof over his head and regular access to food, water, and a bathroom. As a kid, he wanted various toys, then a good computer, but toys no longer really interested him, and computers were yet to be invented or, at the very least, hadn’t reached the size of a desktop yet that would allow them to be used at home and not in some sort of special purpose-built building.

And now he was on his way to share breakfast with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Many, without a single doubt, would be excited beyond belief at the prospect, but Wild found himself looking forward to food far more than anything else. The princesses, he had found out, were just people, if extremely powerful in a number of different ways. He recognized that his perspective might be skewed because of his relatively close relationship with Luna, and he honestly had never thought of royalty or rulers in general as something worth getting excited about. The president of the United States, to Wild, was some self-important shmuck who didn’t give a single damn about people like him, and royalty like Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom would certainly never spare a thought towards him. He knew that, without their positions, they would be nothing.

Wild, for the first time in plenty enough days, was outside. He closed his eyes, letting the rising sun bask him in the morning light, and he deeply breathed in the Canterlot mountain air. Canterlot, in his opinion, could hardly be called a city, and he suspected only around twenty thousand people, perhaps up to fifty thousand lived in the entirety of it. Which would perhaps be surprising to many, considering that Canterlot was Equestria’s capital, but it was a city built on the side of a mountain, and this was a city for the rich and powerful of Equestria. There were workers as well, but almost all of them came from outside Canterlot and were only there for the work, not to stay even a single night.

Wild followed Luna into a carriage, this one far more casual than the one used to bring him to the Canterlot Castle. It was open, allowing wind to brush past him as it was pulled through the air by a pair of pegasi Royal Guards. Wild wondered how exactly the carriage was floating and whether it would float without the pegasi to pull it.

“How do you feel, Wild?” Luna asked him as the carriage flew through the air.

“I am... alright,” he replied after some thought, “A bit anxious.”

“What is the source of your anxiety?”

“...Seeing Princess Celestia,” Wild said, “I know she will not... imprison me again, but I can’t help but worry.”

“I understand that,” Luna nodded, “I will stand by your side.”

“I’m... glad for it.”

He knew it was probably all unnecessary, he knew Princess Celestia wouldn’t do it to him again, and he also knew she had made an effort to come to him and apologize in person, which spoke positively of her character as far as he was concerned. She explained her actions, and he couldn’t disagree with her reasoning, and he also knew she didn’t have to explain herself. A ruler, explaining themselves before a commoner? That, Wild knew, would never happen on Earth.

The carriage landed at a private entrance in the depth of the castle, once again on a large balcony that could easily fit more than two such carriages. Wild and Luna disembarked and were met by two Royal Guards standing by the sides of the entrance door. They straightened their posture when Luna approached them, and then wordlessly held the door open for her and Wild. They entered a short hall of white walls and tiled floor. On top of the tile there was a long carpet stretching from the beginning to the end of the hallway. On the walls, abstract tapestries hanged between the windows on one side, and there was a large mural of, presumably, much older Canterlot on the other side.

It was rather tasteful, all things considered. Wild idly wondered whether Artful could, one day, paint for the princesses - he imagined Artful would be quite delighted for the opportunity. Or, perhaps, if Wild became a great artist, his own works would be in the castle, which would be pretty nice too.

“This mural was painted by our arts tutor, Delicate Brush,” Princess Luna explained, noticing him looking at the mural, “She was a dear friend of ours, and she had been painting well into her second century. The last painting she had made was of the two of us, my sister and I, shortly before she passed away,” a small smile was on Luna’s face, “She had never left a work unfinished, and even death itself could not come before she had completed her last work.”

“Was she a unicorn?” Wild asked.

“Nearly all our tutors were unicorns,” Luna said, then frowned, “Our parents had, in truth, been quite set against non-unicorns...” she went silent then.

Wild caught a trail of her thoughts - she wondered if the beginning of her bitterness towards her sister was because her parents disliked her for being a pegasus.

The silence lasted until they reached an ornamented door, in front of which stood a stallion dressed in what Wild would say would be the upper half of a suit. Wild had to suppress a chuckle at the image of a human dressing this way - all fancy up top but with no pants or underwear.

“Ah, good morning, your majesty,” he greeted her with a bow, then addressed Wild, “And welcome to you as well, Mister Wild. Princess Celestia is already in the dining room.”

“Thank you, Excellency,” Luna offered a smile in turn. The stallion bowed once more, then opened the door.

Wild expected something grand, something fancy, but was instead met by a dining room maybe two times the size of what his own family had had. There was a round table of a decent size but not enormous, a fireplace in one of the walls, floor to ceiling windows on the other wall, a chandelier hanging from up top, and various paintings of fruit, vegetables, soups, and other meals around the walls.

“Good morning Luna, Wild,” Princess Celestia greeted the two with a chirp, “Come, sit with me, please.”

Due to the nature of the table, Wild sat between Luna and Celestia. He felt a little awkward, so he looked at the table to see what food was available. There was oatmeal with some raspberries and blueberries, a couple of perfectly yellow bananas, some sort of grayish somewhat cake-like block with seeds in it, and a number of apples and pears. In front of Wild was a plate with a number of different forks on the left side, spoons on the right side, and two knives. He looked completely lost at which one he was supposed to use.

“This is not a formal dinner,” Luna commented, noticing his uncertainty, “Pick whichever you want. The general rule is, in a formal setting, to use the farthest first, and never reuse them between the dishes.”

“It’s unnecessary complex, but some people like it that way,” Princess Celestia added, using a tiny fork with a big pear speared on it. She took a big juicy bite out of it, swallowed it, then licked her lips in an entirely un-princess-like manner. Wild, for but a brief moment, imagined someone like Obama eating that way and couldn’t prevent a chuckle from escaping his mouth which, thankfully, wasn't commented on.

Thankfully, breakfast continued on quietly, with him eating food while the two sisters conversed. He was silently glad he wasn’t asked questions or forced into conversations, as he honestly only wanted to go back to his dorm and see his friends again. He had been mostly bored while stuck in the Canterlot Castle, and he was thankful that nothing truly bad had happened. He had an uncomfortable conversation, but that was the extent of it.

Finally, the breakfast ended, and he was ready to depart.

“Have a good day, Wild!” Celestia told him with a smile, and he offered a small nod in turn. That was about as much as he wished to interact with Princess Celestia, at least for now.

Princess Luna led Wild out through the way they came, which wasn’t exactly exciting, but he was fine with that. Seeing more of the Canterlot Castle would be nice, but he would prefer not visiting the castle for... some time.

“There are three ways we can go about you returning to the Royal Orphanage,” Luna told him, “The first is you traveling by train to Ponyville, then making your way on hoof. The second is flying you directly to the orphanage by carriage. And the third is teleportation.”

Wild considered the options. He wouldn’t mind traveling on the train, to finally experience what it was like. He had seen trains before, but he had never ridden one in either life. He had ridden a car and a bus, and now a carriage, but nothing more, and he did have a wish to experience more forms of travel. However, teleportation would be far quicker, and he would meet his friends sooner.

“I want to teleport,” he ended up saying. He could always ride a train if he wished, and he really wanted to see what it felt like to teleport a massive distance like there was between Canterlot and the Royal Orphanage. In truth, Ponyville and the orphanage were still rather close to Canterlot, but one wouldn’t want to make the journey on hoof, and it would still take a couple of hours by train, so it wasn’t as close at it might at first appeared. One could see Canterlot from Ponyville, of course, but the actual distance between the two was far larger than one might at first believe.

“Very well. At first, let us see whether you have enough power to make such a jump,” Luna nodded. The two stepped out on the landing balcony, and Luna’s horn briefly let up. She had previously explained that the Canterlot Castle was a no-teleportation zone except for her and her sister, and so she had to temporarily give permission to him to teleport.

Wild focused on the destination - right in front of the entrance to the Royal Orphanage grounds. Visualizing it, he cast the spell, his horn vibrating in the right sequence that had been drilled into his head ever since Luna taught it to him. However, when the spell was supposed to be cast, it faltered, and he got a very strong feeling of being unable to do it. He opened his eyes - he still had a habit of closing them to focus when he couldn’t see where he was teleporting to - and shook his head.

“I will lend you my power, and you will cast again. I will teleport alongside you,” Luna said, stepping closer, “Our horns need to touch for it to work.”

Wild nodded and, although the position was awkward, he went through the steps once again. It took him more focus now when he could feel Luna’s magic through his horn, but finally, there it was. In a flash of light, feeling the rush of magic through his horn as it heat up, he and Luna both appeared exactly where he wanted them to.

He stumbled, his horn feeling slightly unpleasantly hot, although, thankfully, not to the point of damage. He blinked a couple of times to refocus on what was around him, and then a smile spread on his face when he fully realized that he had just indeed done it. Many miles covered in an instant, which was far more impressive than teleporting around one relatively small hall.

“Very good,” Luna praised him, “Now, I have business to attend to, and I wish you luck. I believe your friends are eagerly waiting for your return.”

Wild nodded to her, then went forward towards the Royal Orphanage building, a spring in his step. Finally, he was free once more, and he had more power now. The Alicorn Amulet might have taken some time and freedom from him, but now he could fully enjoy the positive results of it. More magical power, no more scars, and he could teleport.

For just a single moment, Wild allowed himself to think that perhaps life wasn’t constantly putting him down anymore. He suffered, yes, but he rose again, more powerful than before, stronger than before, and this...

This was something to appreciate.