She'd seen enough to know when someone would die soon.
Her eyes fluttered open and shut, the cold ground feeling less and less like an insult to injury and more like the most comforting bed she'd ever laid her head on. Feeling slowly ebbed away from her extremities as she felt only the weight of her digits in her hands, the only sign that they existed to begin with. The feeling, or rather the lack thereof, continued to spread. Her wounds barely even hurt at this point, not that she couldn't tell that she was quickly bleeding out. The sensation of pooling blood was cold, so very cold. She'd have to be naïve to hope for anything different and even the thought of having such a trait is a privilege of the untainted.
She tried to inhale, only to realize that at some point her lung was punctured and had collapsed. The breath started to turn into a sputtering cough that lacked any sort of power towards it. Slowly, she shut her eyes. There was no real point in struggling, the wound is quite fatal as it is and no one would be coming for her. What a shame, what a shame with how far she had fallen. Surely this was the part where she got what was coming to her If only they could see her side of the world. If only they could come down from their ivory towers and see the struggle of people like her. If only she had better chances. If only, If only...
Ah...but the time for wistful thinking had long since passed. All that remained was the all-consuming darkness that had finally come for her. Complete and utter null. No more touch, no more sight, and eventually, there was no more thought, at least, not in this vessel. Posthumously, her body could finally have some sort of peaceful look on its face, now that its source of life, vigor, and malice had been permanently separated from its only host.
That same source now moved through its natural motions, becoming one with the wheel of reincarnation. At that same time, something special lingered about it, something so truly remarkable that it could only spell disaster if not treated properly. The "something", which nearly overlapped at the time, began to move out of sync. Inch by metaphysical inch it moved away from its source. It trailed like a stalker, behind its own soul, unable to keep up with its pace; However, the path was already carved out for it. The difference in space simply meant that it would take longer for it to get there. What would that mean for the prediction of tragedy in its wake?
Sunny Flicker sat up quickly in her bed, her heart ready to jump out of her chest. She panted, lifting up her hoof to wipe the sweat from her brow. Looking out of her open window, it was still very much the middle of the night. Her curtains billowed in the wind, could that have been the cause of her...nightmare? It felt too real to be just a simple dream but too foreign to be called reality. She reached over to her nightstand, pulling a small notebook, and attached pencil with it. With a faint, purple glow of her horn, she grasped the pencil and began writing down all she could detail from her vivid dreams. Tonight, the dreams were much more realistic than any of the ones before. More details to remember, clear visions, and sensations. The terrible cold she felt shook her to her very core. Even if her parents didn't believe her, she knew what she saw. Something wasn't right about them at the very least...especially that body she called her own.
Five digited…claws? But they weren’t exactly sharp like a griffon’s own, how odd. Looking at her own hoof, if she squinted she could see the weird shape of it.
"They weren't just claws, don't you know that at least? They were fingers, and they are so much more well equipped for life than your blundering hooves." A voice chastised, rattling around in her skull.
Sunny let out a silent scream, feeling her heart all but stop at that moment. Her pencil went flying out of her magical grasp, finding its graphite point lodged in her ceiling. She's no potty-mouthed filly, but what the buck is going on? The voice did little but giggle in her own head. She desperately looked around her room for a possible source, only to come up with the same things she'd seen the day prior. Her closet, desk, dresser, and bookshelves all rested in their usual places and aside from the rare shadowy parts of her room, everything was surely the same. Even taking a hoof to her ear brought nothing but the expected matter.
"Wh-Who are you..?" She whispered softly, hoping that she wouldn't get a response. Being tired would be so much better than the possibility of having a voice in her head, a real, living voice in her head. What would happen to all the lovely little things that she dearly enjoyed, like privacy?
"You may call me...Tempest." The voice spoke, as if it were beamed directly between her ears. There was something so much more distinct about it that differentiated it from her own thoughts that it almost overwhelmed her the first time she spoke.
"Why are you...here? Why me? Couldn't you find some other foal or pony to bother?" Her voice began to crack, starting to sound hoarse. It wasn't often that she got like this, but who else wouldn't freak out at a situation like this? She was still just a little filly after all.
"Breathe deeply, in through your nostrils. Hold it for a few seconds and let it out slowly from your mouth. I'd desperately prefer it if you didn't die. Horses are fairly prone to stress if I remember my trivia correctly."
"Shut up, please shut up, that isn’t what I even asked you to answer for me! Could you please just… Oh dear Celestia, there's a voice in my head." The filly felt pure ice running through her veins, felt her stomach churn with the contents of that night's dinner. The world around her started to grow hazy and out of focus. What...was this feeling? The only few thoughts she could maintain were ones of dread and despair.
Seconds pass, then minutes, as the air is consumed by sounds of heavy breathing and sniffling. Slowly, but surely, Sunny calms down, slumping back into her pillow and exhaling. A hoof comes up to wipe the tears from her eyes and cheeks, letting them soak into the blanket once placed down. In through her snout, out her mouth, right?
"Why?" She said finally, as if she were pleading.
"Well, I just happened to come to you. Not by choice, and not by chance. Do you at least happen to know what Reincarnation is? I'd rather not turn this into a lecture on what certain words mean if I can avoid it. I prefer not to waste my time on something so tedious. Not that I actually have much to do now…" Her voice was soft yet strong, undeniably she knew exactly how to command respect from the first words out of her mouth. Respect and undeniable reverence. Her voice let nothing out but the feeling of pure superiority.
"I'm not an idiot! But what does that have...to...do...oh." The realization slowly dawned on her. "So, you were my past life?"
"In another time, another place, and another body, but yes. Essentially." She spoke softer, so much more softly it could almost be soothing. She used her words to ease her heart and her steady tone to ensure safety and security in her mind. It was almost as if she was being rewarded for meeting her expectations.
Sunny sighed as if she understood, resigning herself to this fate but her face quickly soured. Something still didn't feel right but she kept her skepticism to herself. The filly shifted in her bed until she could lay her head back and look at her ceiling. Shadows danced across the plaster as she tried to focus on everything and nothing at the same time.
"Tell me about yourself, your life on...wherever you came from." She spoke wistfully.
"I was a...mage of sorts. That term should make sense to you." It started almost like a fairy tale. That same far-away feeling of a story that was too rooted in make-belief. "It was just me at first, doing everything I could to grow and get better at my art, like anyone else with their own craft. Then people took notice of my strange ability and a certain charisma. From there they decided to follow me. It made sense, I was the only one of my kind." In that small tale, she almost seemed vulnerable. A past where she didn’t come off so confident.
"Only one of your kind?" The concept was over her head. Only one? Only one of what? The only creature with fingers? Only creature to get so good with magic?”
"The only one of my kind to do magic at all. It was simply something that didn’t happen where I was from. At least, not that I or my peers knew of at the time." Tempest spoke as if reading Sunny's mind. The words knocked the wind out of her chest and left her without the strength to take another breath. "So, I worked, and I grew and I relished in that. Power and prestige for not only me but my friends too. It was great – for a time." Those final words, they carried a weight that seemed to hang over Sunny's heart.
"I understand." The filly said finally.
"And you?"
"Well..." She let out a yawn, getting more comfortable in her bed. "I've always wanted to become a great mage. Like the princesses, especially Princess Twilight. She was just like me, y'know? She was just a normal unicorn but now she's a princess. That could be me one day! But...In the meantime, I'll…I’ll just have to work hard to get there. My first goal is to get into Princess Celestia’s School of Magic and work my way up from there."
Tempest grew silent, seeming to contemplate their next few words with the utmost caution.
"Although...our magic might be different. Should it be applicable, would you let me help you? No, I demand you let me help you. "
That seemed to take her up, for the most part. Sunny looked like she was trying to blink the sleep from her eyes. "Y-you mean it?!" She scream-whispered. "You'll really help me?"
"As I said, it’s not as if I have anything better to do. Your ambition reminded me of myself anyway...but we can focus on that at a later date. Nothing will get done in the middle of the night. Rest."
"Are you serious? After telling me something like that you won’t even show me a little something tonight?" The filly whined.
Even in her mind, Tempest's sigh and barely hidden amusement were obvious, yet she remained aloof in her inflection. "A rested mind remembers well. You won't learn anything from a half-night's sleep. Rest well and our training will begin when I’ve decided on it. Wait patiently. Consider that to be your first lesson, patience and temperance will serve you well.” She said finally. There would be nothing else from the oddity
With an annoyed grunt, Sunny Flicker flopped back onto her pillow, looking up at her ceiling. In just these few minutes, she feels like her life has changed dramatically. Even the way she sees the world feels like it's different. With each blink the world seemed to fade out of view, her heart filled with glee with the idea of what was to come. Knowledge, prestige, the joy of growing one's skills.
She was promised magic, what more could she ask for?