We are our Habits

by Agarwaen

Death Changes Us

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Ariscoltle (334 Before Celestia)

Somepony once said, “We are our habits.” Without our actions, our past, and our morals, we are but a shell of a being. Would one act completely on instinct? Would one act at all? This is a something that one pony is about to find out. And that pony is you.

*****

Pain… Stillness… Coldness…

***

As you reenter the state of consciousness you see lights and shadows shift before your eyes through a veiled darkness. Then, like a stampede of buffalo, it hits you. Searing pain endlessly courses through your left wing, and a dull throbbing accompanied by swirling dizziness fill your mind. Reflexively, you try to scream, but it is as if there is no air in your lungs. You hear the faint murmurs of a pony yelling, miles away. That is when you realise that an extreme pressure on your chest prevents you from breathing. Your world fades, once again, into non-coherent thoughts.

***

Movement stirs you. A warm liquid rolls down the side of your muzzle and across multiple points of your wings. Some of the weight pressing down on you has been lifted. Instinctually, your body takes a fast, almost panting, breath in. The acrid odor of rusty iron is overwhelming; it makes you cough, and a similar tasting liquid sprays from your mouth. The weight on your left wing seems to shift, and it presses down harder, drawing a weak yelp from your mouth. A weak breeze blows past your left wing as the weight is completely lifted from it.

“Twi, over here! Ah found him!” Your breaths are getting shorter and shallower. A few more weights shift around your body before you hear that voice again, this time quieter “You’re gonna be alright, Sugar cube. We’ll get’cha outta this here rubble pile and over to the Ponyville Clinic in no time.” More time passes, and the pressure on your body gets lighter. The hope of being rescued from this situation is almost enough to make you forget about the pain coursing through your body. Slowly, the extreme pain you have been feeling is being replaced by other strange sensations, the feeling of being stabbed with thousands of needles, fuzziness, and then numbness. You find that you have to constantly remind yourself to breath in and out.

“Twilight, Hurry the hay up!” You hear the familiar voice scream.

“I’m here, Applejack. Where-“ a new voice says before it is interrupted.

“Where? Maybe that there wing sticking out of the pile o’ rubble.”

“Ok, I’m on it,” the second voice, presumably Twilight, replies.

Your vision seems to ignite with a purple aura as every object pinning you down suddenly lifts up and floats away. No longer buried in a cocoon of rubble, Celestia’s sun overwhelms your eyes, forcing you to snap them shut lest they be engulfed in the excruciating pain that has now withdrawn to your body. With the weight off of your body, you attempt to move, but your limbs do little more than quiver.

“Wow, he looks bad, Twi. You need to get him over ta Nurse Redheart, now!” Applejack commands.

Slowly, your eyes open as you feel yourself being lifted off of the ground; an ethereal purple aura surrounds you, carrying you over to a purple unicorn. As you’re gently placed onto her back, you catch a glimpse of the ground where you had been laying. There is a dark red stain in the dirt nearly twice as large as a pony. The spinning sensation in your mind worsens, and tendrils of grey and black begin to fill your vision, filling all parts of you consciousness with a warm, haze.

***

Even in your non-conscious state you feel what happens next. Every molecule of your being seems to be stretched and pulled in every imaginable direction. You feel a quick ripping sensation, not unlike removing Velcro, throughout your entire body. This is quickly followed with the sensation of falling, punctuated by a high speed, but painless, impact.

***

You flap your wings quickly, propelling yourself on a constant bearing. The wind coursing through your mane always makes you feel like the world is yours for the taking.

The weather team has done a wonderful job clearing the sky today. As such, the only clouds left in the vast blue expanse are some very-high, wispy stratus, and even the most intrepid weather Pegasi would know that those clouds are way above the limit of their flight. “I’ve not seen a sky this beautiful in my entire life!” you say to yourself, through a giant, wacky smile. Celestia’s sun is very nearly set. The horizon is a deep orange, fading upwards into a yellow and then fuchsia before it tailors off into a deep blue.

A frigid squall hits you from the side, and the cold air leaves you breathless. You close your eyes as your entire body shivers from the unexpected change in temperature. When you recover and open your eyes again, you notice that you have flown under thunderhead.

“Oh well, At least I can still see the sunset from here,” you reason. Celestia’s sun is only a few minutes away from crossing the horizon, and you can’t think of a better place to be to see it. Well, maybe you can… But, if this random thundercloud would go away, you couldn’t. You turn to give the cloud a good buck, and just as you rear, you hear a mare shout.

“CLEAR!”

Your rear hooves come in contact with the giant thunderhead, and the deafening “BANG!” of thunder is heard. Your mind seems to be tugged in every direction, and your surroundings temporarily seem to change to a white room, a bright light shines down on you. You shake your head to purge this strange sight from your mind. Celestia’s sun is just now starting to cross the horizon and make way for Luna’s moon.

“CLEAR!” You hear the mare’s voice shout again.

In a split second, a blinding light flashes before your eyes, and your ears are overwhelmed by another thunderclap. A sharp pain courses through your entire body, starting from your chest and radiating outward to the tips of your hooves. Gravity takes hold of your body, and you begin to fall. The smell of ozone and burnt feather stings your nose. All of your muscles seem to lock up and fall limp, and no matter how hard you try, neither your wings, nor legs will respond.

Your vision shifts to the white room, once again, and you no longer seem to be falling; instead, you are sprawled out on your back, on a bed. A very bright light is shining down on you, and blurry shadows are gathered around you. The only sound that's clear to in your mind is a long steady, "BEEEEEE---".

You open your eyes to find that you’re falling, the wind rushing past your body is dreadfully cold. The ground is starting to get really close, now; it must be only a few more seconds before you turn into a Pegasus pancake. Once again, you attempt to flap your wings with no luck. Looking over at them, they are singed and hang lifeless to your side, not even tucked into their normal closed position. You look up to the horizon; Celestia’s sun is barely a sliver in the now nearly purple sky. As you see it move completely below the horizon, a great green flash emanates out across the entire sky.

“Clear...” This time the mare’s voice is brittle and wavering.

Author's Note:

Re-proofread. Though, it still needs a lot of work. 12/10

Comments

[Agarwaen]

A/N:As is the case so often, this is my first Fiction. So In the past I've written background stories for my (Yes it's nerdy) DnD Characters. Mostly tales of heartbreak and betrayal leading to cynical, angry, and ham-fisted characters. So you can imagine that writing a love story would be a difficult thing. Oddly enough, they are the kind of stories I most enjoy. After Baby Cakes, and Nurse Redheart having a voice being canon I decided to write a shipfic between 'you' and her. I am a terribly slow and methodical writer, as such this first 4000~ words took me about 3 days worth of typing. (Mind you I worked 2/3 of said days, so I didn't have much time those days). If this goes over well, I hope to end this out at 15-25k words. And I think I intend to include some steamy, but not cloppy content. We'll see when we get there, If it doesn't seem right, it won't happen.

I Just finished reading My Little Dashie, so I needed a boost. that Is why I'm currently pushing this out instead of waiting until I have 4-5 chapters ready to push it out. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed, and I don't think I have to say it (As pretty much all of the comments I've seen on other fics have been pretty sincere) but plz If you don't like it, just say so. Don't be uncouth about it.

[Mystic]

Not too bad at all, especially considering that this is your first fic. One thing I would mention, however, is that there are a fair few missing commas, especially in the beginning.

For example: Then like a stampede of buffalo it hits you.
Should be: Then, like a stampede of buffalo, it hits you.

Other than that, I'm liking what I see. You, good sir, have earned yourself a track. Keep up the great work!

I agree with Mystic very nice writing style here and I'll be eyeing it closely.

one mistake I noticed was this line "With that sight, your vision fades into darkness for the yet again."
Not sure if you meant to go with "fades into darkness for the second time" or "fades into darkness yet again" just a heads up ^^

[Taranasauruso_o]

136044
Hey, I started writing from DnD, nothing nerdy about it. Right? Right?

Anyway, a great start. Tracking, also, have some stars.

[Moon_Fire]

this is VERY intriguing and I will read the rest when FIMFic stops derping and giving me a 502

[Pony Joe]

Verry good! followed

[Lord Legion]

As you see it move completely below the horizon, a great green flash emanates out across the entire sky.

This makes me think of Pirates of the Caribbean for some reason. On another note, this seems like a very good read. So far I like it.

[Scribblesheet The Scribe]

Hmmmmmm most interesting.

[CORRUPTED-DATA]

7600132
Not to be rude but your username sounds like a D & D Spike

[D-F]

10849572
why spike specifically?