Being burned alive was nothing new to me. Feathers and flesh blackening and crumbling as the sickly green engulfed my body, reducing it to nothing more than a scattering of ash. A sense of familiarity washed over me as my essence swirled within those ashes, yet I felt nothing but dread as what little that remained of my being was whipped about by the roaring winds that surrounded me. It felt like ages, trapped in that unnatural inferno as it consumed all in its path. I could do nothing but ride the wave of death that swept the city, waiting for it to reach the end of its destructive journey.
Even as the fury of the flames began to pass, the feeling of their touch lingered. As my remains began to spin through the air of their own whim, I knew that something wasn't right. The ashes of what I once was swirled gently from all directions, coming together and glowing with an ethereal light as I felt my new form take shape. The feeling as I began to move was incredible. I wasn't sure how long the fire that burst from the city had held me, but it had be much longer than I cared for. Any other time I would have been able to coalesce myself together moments after I had completely turned to dust, even holding off for a short while if I felt it necessary. This time however, the foul magics that drove the fires had kept me apart with their intensity.
Nothing felt right. The world around me was dark save for the places where emerald flames clung to the structures of what was once a bustling street. The sky was choked with smoke and ash, yet even so the weight of the darkness around me was unusual.
I drew my wings above me, ready to take flight, but the sudden flash of color to either side stopped me cold. Twisting my head around, I looked back at my body. Where once had been a beautiful plumage of scarlet and gold, a livid green and yellow took its place. My eyes widened in shock as I looked back at what couldn't have been me. Shouldn't have been me. The horrid fire that had overtaken me had turned me into some mockery of its self. I felt I had to escape, I had to get far away from these flames that had twisted me. With a beat of my wings, I flew up into the smoke, gaining speed as the burning in my throat and eyes drove me faster.
Blackness. As the smoke thinned out, the light of the sun remained hidden. Thick, angry clouds had covered the sky, barely indistinguishable but for the flashes of lighting that tore through them. Panic set in as I flew higher, crossing between the ceiling that hid the sky and the choking floor of this empty space that covered the horrors below me. The void spread out for miles of crushing blackness, lit sporadically by arcs of light that resonated with a sound rivaled only by the blast that had heralded the wall of pure rage that had ended my previous existence.
As I drew up to the clouds, every fiber of my being was screaming for the light of the sun to wash away the nightmare I had woken to. I felt the energy in the air spread across my feathers a moment before this new word of darkness exploded into brilliant light. For the second time that day, I felt my body ravaged by primal energies.
When part of your existence regularly involves becoming a miniature pyre, even the most intense flames can be weathered with only minor discomfort. None of that could have prepared me for the force that struck me from the sky.
As I fell back towards the earth, I managed one final look up at the clouds that had barred me from the beautiful sky. I had wanted to see the sun one last time, to bask in its warmth. I had wanted to know that even after all that had happened, the sun would still be there, guiding those it shined upon to a brighter day.
My vision faded as I reached the smoke hanging over the ruins of Equestria.
*** *** ***
The gentle sound of hooves woke me from my nap. I shifted slowly on my perch, cracking open an eye to watch Her enter the garden. Light drifted down between the spires of the castle, radiating off Her pure white coat and flowing mane. She walked slowly, smiling as She enjoyed the evening air. Yet even with that kind smile, I could see the weariness in Her eyes. The world had changed. A thousand years of peace had passed since Her sister had rose up in rebellion, threatening the country. I had been there for a portion of that, comforting her on the nights when she would stare up at the moon, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. I had been there when Her sister had broken free of her prison, locking Her in the sun and refusing to let it rise. I remember the joy in Her eyes when Her favorite student and her friends had bested Her younger sister, purging her of the hate and jealousy that twisted her heart. I had seen the shock on her face when She received the news about the massacre at Littlehorn, the sound of Her breaking heart almost audible as silence swept the room.
The world had changed, and it had taken a part of Her with it.
Her eyes met mine, and for a moment I could see Her longing for the world as it had been long ago.
She stepped off the path towards me, calling out, "There you are Philomena. I have been looking for you." As She reached the base of the tree, I cooed a greeting to her, spreading my wings and gliding down to her outstretched leg. "I have a special request for you. Soon it will be time for you to molt and renew yourself, and there are some ponies in Manehattan who have been studying phoenixes and wish to witness one's rebirth first hand." I squawked indignantly, remembering the last time I had gone somewhere when it was 'my time of the decade'. It was bad enough being around ponies as my feathers fell out and my body became all lumpy and pale, but to have them actively studying me as it happened? And with them knowing what was to happen, there wouldn't be a chance to have a little fun with them to pass the time until my body combusted.
"Now now," She said. "The eggs at the Manehattan Gardens have only just hatched last month. It will be quite some time before any of them will be going through their first cycle. And besides, it will give you some time off from the castle and the officials."
Of course she knew how I felt about some of those in Her sister's fledgling government. I would puff up, ruffling my feathers when one would walk about as though he owned the place, or hoot angrily when others would treat me as though I were just simple animal, nothing more than a "pretty bird." Maybe some time away would be nice.
Sighing defeat, I straightened up and gave Her a quick salute with one wing.
"Thank you Philomena, I'll have somepony ready fly you over to the Gardens first thing tomorrow morning, unless you feel up for the flight yourself," She added wryly.
Puffing out my chest, I spread my wings and took to the air, singing a long note as I circled over my long time companion, the sun gently warming my feathers...
*** *** ***
Warmth. Warmth... and a chill. I opened my eyes to see smoke drifting lazily overheard, lit with an eerie green glow. Gently rolling myself over, I realized I felt good. As I got up to balance on the rubble I had landed in I realized I felt great. Yet somehow, all of this was wrong. I should feel like I had been run over by a sky wagon, or maybe one of those awful black ships the pegasi used to move their armies thought he skies.
Instead, I felt like I could fly from the Pony of Friendship to Canterlot Castle and back, all in one go.
The area around me was filled with a fierce green glow, though I didn't see any of the sickly fires close enough to cause it. I slowly flexed my wings, confirming for sure that yes, I felt like a million bits. Probably ill-gotten bits at that, as there was that little chick in the back of my mind that insisted that what was going on was completely unnatural. As I looked over my new neon colors, I noticed that a faint green energy was bleeding off of me. As I flapped my way up to a partially toppled wall I realized that I was the source of the glow around me.
As I twisted about, checking to see if any of my original colors had survived, the last section of the wall that served as my perch shifted and began to fall. I took flight with a startled squawk and watched as the bits of wall tumbled down into a massive crater. The city had been devastated for blocks, leaving even the sturdiest buildings as nothing more than scattered, free standing walls. At the center was a blackened pit that had been blasted into the earth, still mostly burning from the magical flames that had scorched away the very ground the city had been built on.
I felt a strange sensation, almost like the tingling one might get in their wing if they fell asleep on it. It warmed me inside, and the thought that something so terrible would feel good sickened me.
Wanting to distance my self from this filthy pleasure, I took wing and angled myself towards the harbor. As I got further from the crater, I started to see signs of what happened to the citizens that had been caught outside when the ground shook and death filled the streets. Blackened spots on the ground came first, the occasional outline on a wall where the force of the blast had thrown someone against it before the fires had washed over them. As I flew past buildings that had weathered the storm better, I saw smoking corpses in the allies between them. Some were clutching others, more had been clawing at doors, trying to get off the streets. One or two looked almost peaceful, heads up and facing towards the crater, like they had accepted their fate as they lay there and stared death in the eye.
I let out a mournful note as I flew over, feeling my heart ache for the unimaginable loss of life that had occurred.
Ruins.
When I looked down at what remained of the city, all I could see were ruins. Many buildings still stood, faces blacked and cracked, though most had been gutted by the flames. I could see a tower off in the distance, standing tall among the rubble that surrounded it.
For just a moment I considered taking a closer look before a chill went down my back. If Manehattan had been struck, what of the other cities? What of my home in the mountains? Surely She had to have known this was coming, had to have some way to keep Her chosen city safe.
As I drew near to the shoreline, I could smell death in the air. There were fewer bodies in the streets this far from the epicenter, though nothing moved below me. I came to the boardwalk and paused a moment on a lamp post. The Pony of Friendship stood out in the bay, its rusted shell scorched but intact. I thought for a moment that someone might have been able to survive in the base of the structure since it seemed to have held against the inferno better than most buildings. I took flight again, hoping to find someone alive to give me hope that I wasn't alone in this new world. That's when something int he water caught my eye.
A pony floated in the bay, face down with a blackened side. The swells slowly rocked her, pressing her into another unfortunate pony who floated in the sea. I could only stare as I glided overhead, too shocked to move otherwise.
There were hundreds.
Up and down the boardwalk, bodies drifted. The ones who weren't blackened looked red and blistered. I had seen angry flesh like this before, when one of the cooks at the castle had spilled a large pot of stew. These ponies had fled to the water to escape the flames, only for the ocean to boil in rage with the intensity of the flames. I immediately flew back into the city, panicked by the site. No one deserved such a fate.
*** *** ***
I had flown steady for a time, keeping myself near the coast before banking inland to follow one of the main roads. I forced myself to look down as little as possible. I had seen enough horrors from this city to cover all of my lifetimes and many more to come. The rubble of the city had given way to smouldering suburbs. Soon I would be leaving this awful place behind, and I couldn't help but worry about what I would find when I got to Canterlot once more.
Maybe I would arrive and everything would be fine. Maybe She would fly out to meet me, overjoyed that I had made it home despite this disaster.
A skywagon on its side, passengers little more than burned husks spilling out the open top, snapped me out of this fantasy. It was too easy to hope for the best, but I knew better than to expect the worst. Being nigh immortal had taught me the importance of patience. Speculation would only cause me more undue stress... or set my hopes up to be crushed.
The building on the outskirts of the city seemed to have fared the best. Most were still burned, some had lost a wall or two, but the flames had burned themselves out mostly before reaching this point. I thought I saw tracks in the ash leading from one of the more intact houses, but decided against a closer look. I was nearing the last few buildings before passing into the hills outside of the city and could not wait to put some distance between myself and what I had seen here.
A piercing scream broke the silence, sending those thoughts from my mind.
*** *** ***
It was a good life. Simple and happy. Nothing to worry about except catching my next meal, or maybe the eye of one of the others. No one bothered our kind, not counting the dragon fledgelings that came down from the mountains once in a while, but they bothered everyone.
So it was with some surprise that I stared down at this strange four-legged creature at the base of my tree.
Her coat was the most vibrant green I had ever seen. It seemed to radiate light with how bright it was. Her hair was short and wavy, a mix of deep violet and blue. Eyes that matched the blue in her mane stared up at me in wonder as I regarded her with a cautious curiosity. Having gone though my first cycle, I had been around long enough to see a few of the hoofed creatures of the forest. Deer who lived in their small family groups, never staying in once place long, while the large buffalo preferred the grasslands just beyond the trees. Never before had I seen one so small, nor so brightly colored. She had a single horn on the top of her forehead that glowed gently and she moved a stick across a small flat object.
After a few minutes of this, she walked beneath my perch, and I was forced to turn around to continue looking at her. A small frown formed on her face as she looked up at me, and she moved back to her original spot, again putting her behind me. While I turned again to look at her, she let out a small huff.
Again she surprised me as she spoke in the same language as I had heard from the buffalo. "Now how am I supposed to draw you from behind if you keep turning towards me?" she asked. I cocked my head at her, only picking out the meaning of a few words.
She floated something out of the pouch on her side and lifted it up to me. I leaned back for a moment before curiosity got the better of me and I looked in the shallow container. Seeds. Seeds could be hard to come by with all the furry critters hoarding them away, but I had sampled enough to know that I liked them. Some were familiar, but there were some new kinds I had never seen before. I coo'd softly as I pecked at the bounty before me. After a few moments, the bright creature pulled the tin back, and I ruffled my feathers at her for removing my treat.
"Now let me draw you from the other side, and you can have the rest."
Tilting my head at her again, she rubbed her hoof against her chin for a moment before brightening up. She motioned at me, spun her hoof slowly in the air, and pointed behind me, smiling softly. She gently shook the tin of seeds at me for emphasis.
She seemed nice so far, so I wasn't too worried about having my back to her. And I could really go for some more of those seeds. All I had to do was be patient...
A light gust of wind threw off my balance and I snapped awake. The sun had moved behind the mountains, casting the forest in a deep shadow. Soon it would set completely and the stars would come out from their hiding.
I looked around for my visitor, finding her nowhere among the trees. I even turned around to double check behind me before I noticed the small tin of seeds had been left on the branch. Well, I suppose that made up for the potential hunting time that I had spent napping instead. Catching your next meal was difficult enough in the daytime, but my faint glow made it next to impossible at night.
With a slight shiver, I stretched my wings and took flight. The nights were growing colder, and I wasn't particular to getting buffeted by the wind all night. Some of the thicker trees would do much better as a roost for the night. It was just a matter of finding one that didn't have any residents that might bother me.
The nighttime breeze started to pick up as it carried me over the treetops towards the thicker woods. As I approached a cluster of old oaks, the wind carried something new with it. A faint howl drifted through the growing darkness, causing the feathers on my neck to bristle lightly. The wolves of this forest weren't much of a problem if you stayed away from the lowest branches, but I had never enjoyed the thought of something stalking the ground below me. It surely didn't help that they were almost indistinguishable from some wood that had gathered on the ground when they cared to remain still.
More howls called out, closer this time, before silence fell again. I circled a particularly tall oak, searching for something comfortable near the top to rest on. Spying a nice bough, I drifted to a gap in the leaves when a scream broke the silence. A quick snap of my wings drew me up from the trees as I tried to place where it had come from. Many creatures of the forests were unfortunate enough to meet a predator at night, though none had made that sound before. Another scream, and I found myself flying towards it. There was only one new creature in these woods.
A large river cut through the forest, digging ragged gorge through the land. It was fast and wide, forming rapids as it raced over the boulders that it had pulled away from the walls over the years.
As I flew overhead, I barely heard angry growls over the rushing water. A cluster of wolves were circling a group of boulders that still clung to the edge of the river. One of them made a short sprint at where two of the larger rocks met, scrabbling at a hole in the ground between them. The other two perked up as another scream rang out past the first, followed by a bright glow and a loud clack. The wolf yelped and back out from the hole as the glowing continued and a speeding rock followed its retreat.
My worries had been confirmed. Being a predator myself, I knew it was just a matter of time. The wolves would simply wait her out or finally work their way into her hiding place. It wasn't my place to meddle with how things worked. Yet this creature had been kind and gentle to me. She was not a resident of these woods and might not have been in the area if not for her fascination with me. I knit my brow and took a deep breath as I angled myself towards the group.
I let out a fierce screech as I dove at the wolves, causing them to pause and look up towards me. It was too late as I flew into one, grabbing at its back and throwing it to its side. Its back legs slipped over the edge of the rocks that stuck out over the river, and I looped back as it lost purchase with its front legs and fell with a wail into the churning waters below. The others growled and snapped at me as I circled them, lashing out with my claws whenever I found an opening.
Another glow shone from the boulders as a rock clipped the closest wolf. It yipped and turned towards the source, giving me a chance to rake across its back. The remaining wolves retreated further from the hole their prey had taken refuge in, snarling and barking at me as they went. With another defiant scream I flew low between them and their goal, releasing a sharp burst of light that lit the sky for miles. With a final howl of fright, the wolves turned and raced into the undergrowth of the forest.
