Darkness. All around me was Darkness. There was nothing else. No light. No sound. Just a black and empty void. Before finding myself in this void I had gone to sleep and awoke to find myself in this never-ending darkness. I found that I couldn't move at all. I tried and tried but nothing came of it, as I started to panic a voice called out to me from the darkness.
"Fear not little one. You are in no danger." the voice said booming all around me.
"Who are you? Where am I?!" I shouted into the void near the point of hyperventilation as panic began to grip at my soul.
"This is the void between life and death. You passed away in your sleep." the voice answered it seemingly coming from all around me. My heart skipped a beat at hearing that. Dead? No... there’s no way I could be dead. The doctors said I had a year at least! This… This had to be some type of dream cooked up by my chemo-addled mind. Well, it’s one hell of a dream. I'd give it that or would it be a nightmare? Doesn’t matter now anyway since this is a dream I might as well play along I might as well see where this rabbit hole goes.
"Why am I here then? Shouldn’t I be in heaven or hell instead?" I questioned into the void skeptically.
"You have been given a chance to live another life. Do you wish to accept this gift or do you want to move on into the afterlife?" the voice boomed from the void.
I thought for a while. If I chose to move on then I'd find out what heaven or hell was like, but I was also curious about what reincarnation was like. Or something else entirely could happen this was a dream after all. Candyland could be right around the corner.
"I wish to have another life," I answered into the abyss. And the abyss answered . Not even a second after I gave my answer the world went white as I blacked out. Not knowing what was about to be in store for me.
It was a peaceful night in Equestria. The moon was high in the sky as the stars sparkled in their many patterns. Princess Luna had truly outdone herself tonight as the very night sky looked as if it were to be sitting in an art exhibition instead. Only a few ponies noticed this however as almost everypony was asleep. The few that weren’t were assigned to the night shift or worked as security guards as well as the Princess of the night herself. She was looking around the dream realm for any disturbances when suddenly she was thrown out of her trance by an earsplitting bang reverberating all throughout Equestria.
The cause of this sound, despite the distance, created an earthquake that could be felt all the way to Canterlot, possibly even Griffonstone with the amount of energy it must have contained. The earthquake was accompanied by a giant pillar of crimson red light that stood high in the sky. It was as if a star had suddenly appeared in the night sky. Its light illuminated Equestria in a deep crimson glow. But just as quickly as it appeared the light became smaller and smaller until it vanished and the tremors stopped as if they had never happened to begin with.
"What in my sister's name is going on?!" Luna said in shock as she began to hear the sound of the panicking populous below her.
My eyes slowly fluttered open as I found myself lying on the ground in the middle of a forest. It was night but I could still see clearly as the forest was illuminated by the full moon in the sky. When I tried to stand up and get my bearings I immediately fell down again hurting myself in the process. ‘Wait... pain?’ I thought in confusion. This was supposed to be a dream! It’s impossible to feel pain in a dream. Panic once again gripped at my soul.
‘This isn’t a dream’ I thought grimly. ‘That means everything that voice said is true... Oh god… I really did die!’ I scream mentally, panicking. I could feel myself begin to hyperventilate as the facts began to set in. I really did die and was reincarnated into some forest. I needed to calm down. I am in a forest with no immediate civilization around. If I kept panicking nothing would get done and I really didn’t want to see how many reincarnations I got to work with. I slowly began to get my breathing back under control and began to calm down. I could deal with it later right now I needed to see what I was working with. As something definitely felt wrong.
When I lifted my head again I noticed that I was no longer human, but a horse of some kind. As if dying and being reincarnated wasn’t enough I had to be reincarnated as a horse...thing. I had dark red fur with a few white spots here and there, a long frazzled brown mane and tail, dragon-like wings and a tube mark of some kind on my flank. I noticed a pond not far away and forced myself up on all four hooves. It wasn't easy and I tripped and fell about five times before I could get a look at my reflection in the water. When I looked into the pond I saw that my eyes had slit pupils with fiery yellow iris', I had long sharp teeth even though I was some kind of horse and I had a long orange horn sticking out from my forehead. I looked like a monster out of some children’s show.
"Well, this is not what I expected reincarnation to be like," I said in a deep booming voice. My old voice was notoriously known for having a high pitch and now I sounded like freaking Batman!
Not long after I said that I heard sounds coming from the bushes behind me. When I turned around I came face to face with a lion and scorpion hybrid-like creature that was staring angrily at me. Why God why did you have to do this to me?
"U-um....Nice Lion?" I said nervously, beginning to back up as best I could. It didn’t go very well as I tripped backwards and fell onto my flank.
The Lion-Scorpion didn’t take this too well and answered by roaring at me and for some reason, a form of instinct took over and I roared back with all my might.
The roar I let out was extremely loud and sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard causing my own ears to instinctively flatten against my head, but it was effective in catching the creature in front of me off guard. Before I could think about what just happened my horn began to glow and my mouth opened as a pink beam shot out of it and hit the Lion-Scorpion point-blank in the chest. I fired several times and when I stopped the creature was nothing but a pile of bones. I was shocked and felt like I wanted to throw up, but my body wouldn't let it happen. I decided to just look away and walk the opposite direction in shock at what I had just done. I had just killed something, sure it was in self-defense but it still felt horrible now that the adrenaline rush had worn off.
After walking for what felt like days I heard three small voices scream in fear. I wasn't sure if I should jump in or not, but the voices sounded like children and that meant danger. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave those children in danger if I could help it. I started to run in that direction the best that I could as I almost tripped over several times. But with those children lives on the line tripping wasn’t an option if I wanted to get there in time. After a few minutes of running and tripping, I found the source of the voices. Three small ponies were being chased by a wolf that looked like it was made of branches and leaves. The ponies were all different, one had wings with orange feathers in contrast to my red bat-like ones, the second and a small white horn and the third one didn’t have either. Normally I would've ran away as fast as possible when faced with danger, but with those children's lives in the balance, my impulse took over and I jumped out from my hiding spot and intercepted the wolf. I couldn’t care less if they weren’t human, they were still children and they wouldn’t be left to die when I could do something to stop it. The wolf growled at me and got into a pouncing position, and I answered by roaring at the top of my lungs. The sound alone caused the wolf to recoil slightly, but it didn't back down as it prepared to attack again. My horn began glowing once again.
'Oh God no. Not again!' I thought as I opened my mouth to once again fire a pink beam that went right through the thing. Incinerating everything it touched. When I closed my mouth once again the wolf had been completely disintegrated. Only ash remained where a fearsome creature once stood.
I looked behind me to check on the three fillies, who were sitting behind me with their jaws hanging wide open and eyes at the size of dinner plates. Were they terrified? Amazed or in shock? I couldn’t tell as they sat there looking up at me.
"Are you three alright?" I asked them in the most friendly voice I could muster hoping to ease their fears. These horses were clearly like me so the fact that they could speak and were sentient wasn’t out of the question.
"That. Was. AWESOME!!!" the winged pony exclaimed in awe.
“Wuh?” I did a double-take. They weren’t scared?
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!?!" the one with the horn shouted.
"THAT WAS SO COOL!!!" the one without either added.
They continued to shout in excitement and awe asking me questions and introducing themselves as the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. From what race I was to how I shot that beam from my mouth, their questions were endless and I couldn’t answer a single one of them! One of the questions was about the mark on my flank. Apparently it was called a ‘Cutie mark’. When they finally ran out of breath It was my turn to ask the questions.
"What were you doing out here?" I asked them. Three unattended children in a forest where clearly dangerous creatures lurked, where the hell were their parents!?
"There was a big explosion around here last night and we wanted to check it out." the now-named Scootaloo said.
"YOU wanted to check it out!" the other two named Sweetie Belle and Applebloom said in unison.
I chuckled at that statement as they looked at me again.
"What's your name by the way?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"My name is Destoroyah." Wait what? That wasn't what I meant to say.
"Desto- What now?" Scootaloo asked.
'Okay. Just excuse yourself and say your name. It shouldn't be too hard to say 'James Connor'. Right?
"Destoroyah."
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!
I DID NOT MEAN TO SAY THAT! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!? WHY CAN’T I SAY MY OWN NAME?!
"Cooooool." Scootaloo answered.
Fuck it. It’s too late now. I might as well roll with it.
"Anyway now that that’s out of the way, I think you three should head home. From what I've seen this forest isn't a place for fillies like you." I said. Hiding my shock and confusion over the name thing.
"I guess you're right, but can't you come with us?" Sweetie Belle said.
'Well. This day can't get any weirder. Right?' I thought amused.
"Why not? I don't have anywhere to go so-" I wasn't able to finish that sentence as the three fillies somehow climbed up on my back and one of them managed to crawl up on my head. I got the urge to shake them off, but I couldn't pay it any thought as the filly on my head began giving directions.
Remember when I thought that the day couldn't get weirder? I was wrong.
Very wrong.
Author's Note
Welp. Destoroyah is from the 1995 movie 'Godzilla vs Destoroyah'
I walked into a clearing that turned out to be the border of the forest to see a much better and less threatening view. Lush green meadows rolled on for miles with several large mountains visible on the horizon. In the center of my view, a town of some sort was visible in the plain below.
"Over there Destoroyah! That's Ponyville." Scootaloo, who was sitting on my head, said with very obvious and infectious happiness.
I chuckled at her enthusiasm. These ponies have to be the happiest pe- or well ponies I've ever run into. Just as I was about to ask the three fillies where to go next, three individual shouts came from the town.
"AppleBloom!!!" Was yelled in a southern drawl
"Sweetie Belle!!!" Came a high-class shout.
"Scoots!!! Scootaloo!!!" Was called in a scratchy voice.
"Oh Fiddlesticks!" the three fillies said in unison.
"What is it?" I asked, even though I was kind of aware who was calling for them.
"My sister." the three fillies said, once again, in unison.
The three jumped off and turned to face me.
"We'll go and sort out our little situation. Meanwhile, you can have a look around town. Maybe make some friends." Sweetie Belle said before running off to join the rest of the crusaders.
I stood there for a few minutes watching them run before beginning my walk towards the town. When I had just stepped a few meters into the town itself, I felt something bump into one of my front hooves. I looked down and saw another little filly. This one was a Unicorn with a pale, light violet fur and her mane was two shades of light goldish and grayish-yellow.
She looked up at me and a few seconds of awkward silence followed. Just as I was about to say 'hello', my ears were violently assaulted by loud screaming. I swear I heard someone shout 'The horror. The horror!' through the incoherent screaming around me. My sensitive ears reflexively flattened against my skull as I tried to drown the painful screams out. Soon though it fell silent again and my ears slowly perked up as I opened my eyes again. Because I had squeezed my eyes shut my vision was blurred and I had to blink a few times to refocus my sight once again.
Once I had my sight back I saw a group of seven ponies with the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing in front of me.
Just as I was about to lift my hoof to wave, a magenta light shot past me. I yelped in surprise, although it was more of a screech. The mare that shot the laser towards me was some sort of cross of a Pegasus and a Unicorn having both a horn and a pair of wings. She took a few threatening steps forwards as the others behind her followed. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were shouting for them to stop, but it fell on deaf ears and were drowned out by the group of mares shouting for them to get back while calling me...a monster?
For some reason that hit pretty hard for me. Yeah, I was a pretty sensitive person, but I had been called a monster before. Why was it suddenly so hard-hitting? Was it because of the tone they used? I didn't know for sure, but I began to back away slightly. I gave a hopeful glance at the CMC in hope that they could attempt to stop this, but they sat still. It was understandable why though, and they didn't look like they wanted this to happen.
"The thing is after the kids!!!" a blue Pegasus shouted.
Shit.
"Like we're gonna let him get to them!" an almost vibrating pink earth pony shouted.
Out of the frying pan and into the flames, godammit.
I tried one again to use words to end this ‘fight’, but again I wasn't able to say anything as the orange earth pony with a Stetson hat kicked me in the chest with her hind hooves as I let out a roar of pain that caused the group to flatten their ears in an attempt to block the beastly roar. When my roar stopped I was hit by a literal napalm of magical blasts. When it ended I was left gasping for breath as I could barely stand because of whatever magic they had fired at me, but just when I thought things couldn't get worse. I felt something forcefully push its way up my throat as I realized that my horn was glowing once again. The Cutie Mark Crusaders knew what it meant and were quick to react.
"GET DOWN!!!" they shouted in unison and this time the mares actually listened as my mouth was forced open and the pink beam of death came out.
The white Unicorn with a curly purple mane was a little slow and the beam hit her tail. Incinerating the hair.
Once I managed to force my mouth shut I saw that I, thankfully, hadn't hit any buildings or unfortunate bystanders as the group in front of me got up on their hooves once again, the white Unicorn looked over at her tail to see a mere smoking stump was left of it. The scream she let out sounded like she just learned that she was doomed to an eternity of hell.
"HOW DARE YOU?! YOU MONSTER!!!" she shouted in an absolute pure blind rage.
The overreaction made me hold back a snicker, but I took a step back to be on the careful side. I get that she was angry she lost her tail and all but she should at least be glad she didn’t get incinerated.
"It's starting to step back. Now's our chance!" the rainbow maned pegasus shouted.
Oh, fuck no. I'm not going to endure more of that. I thought as I turned around and got the hell out of dodge going back the way I came.
Even though I was running away as fast as I could, the group still landed multiple hits on me and made it difficult for me to keep my balance as I ran. I eventually reached the border of the Everfree forest, according to what the Cutie Mark Crusaders said it was called, and when I did the attacks on my now thoroughly singed backside stopped. Even though the attacks stopped I didn't stop running. I ran until I was sure that they were gone. I soon slowed down and stopped by a tree where I dropped down out of exhaustion.
"So is that like what, the third monster today?" Rainbow Dash asked as the group walked back towards Ponyville having successfully scared the monster off.
"Ah think so. Ah, wonder why they're suddenly so tartarus bent on invadin' Ponyville." Applejack answered as she shot a questioning look at Twilight.
"Don't look at me. I don’t know either." Twilight answered the unasked question from the cowpony.
The group continued into town where they found Fluttershy sitting by the crusaders looking completely dumbstruck.
"Dangers over everyone! It's gone!" they shouted. Making some of the citizens come out of hiding to continue their somewhat normal lives in Ponyville.
The crusaders, however, continued to sit dumbstruck and didn’t visibly react.
"You girls alright?" Starlight asked as they approached the small trio.
What happened next took everyone by surprise. It started with the crusaders mumbling incomprehensibly before their muzzles turned into angry frowns. They looked up at the mane 7 (except for Fluttershy) with what can only be described as pure anger.
"HOW DARE YOU?!?!" they shouted in unison, causing the mane 7 to take a shocked step back.
"What are ya'll shoutin' 'bout?" Applejack asked, taken aback by their outburst.
"YOU JUST CHASED AWAY OUR NEW FRIEND!!" Apple Bloom fumed.
"What? How can a creature like that possibly be nice? It destroyed my tail for Celestia's sake!" Rarity said whilst pointing at the stump of hair that was once a beautiful tail.
"TO TARTARUS WITH YOUR TAIL, RARITY!!!" Sweetie Belle erupted, which caused a few dozen gasps to be heard.
"Sweetie Belle! How many times have I told you-" Rarity began trying to scold her sister for cursing at her.
"SHUT UP!!!" Sweetie Belle cut her sister off with a snarl. "HE SAVED OUR BUCKING LIVES!!!" Causing another gasp at her use of language.
"He?" Twilight questioned.
"YES!! HE!!" Scootaloo answered before she turned to Rainbow Dash. "You're not innocent here either!! You've officially become 20% less cooler in my opinion!"
The CMCs stormed past the group and ran out of their field of vision, leaving the mane 7 stunned and hurt in their wake, but without them knowing it, the Crusaders went back into the Everfree to try to find their lost friend.
Author's Note
Destoroyah won't be this weak throughout the entire story, just in the beginning.
P.S. I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. It was not intentional in any way, it was because I lost motivation often and I hit several writers blocks.
