Her Forest

by AliziaRoElier

Eternity

Had Day not been annoyed at the constant visitor’s he would have found Fluttershy’s head bang funny. As soon as they’d heard the knock on the door she’d given out a small whispery scream of frustration and repeatedly banged her head down on the couch cushion. Her wings fluttered spastically above and beside her. She tiredly donned her submissive personality and went to open the door. And promptly shut it in whoever’s face it was that was on the other side.

Fluttershy looked back at him tiredly and with an expression of grudging resignation, “I’m probably not going to be able to ask about the forest tonight. I had a plan and everything too.” She motioned to the closed door and sighed, “It’s for you.”

Day snorted, “You invited me here so we could talk about the forest?” He got up to open the door.

“Well, yes, and because it was the right thing to do.”

Day nodded and opened the door. He immediately shut it as well.

“Um... is it normal for a horse’s mane to billow around like that? Celestia’s did but then, she was a sun goddess... I think...” Outside the door, he could hear a frustrated grumbling.

Fluttershy laid down on the couch again, tucked her head under a wing, and spoke from beneath, “Only for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Oh, crap... so... I just slammed the door on the face of a goddess?”

His question was timed with the door behind him slamming open. Before he could fully turn around to look, a blue furred foreleg sped toward him and clotheslined him with a clang reminiscent of a deep bass bell tolling.

It was a curious sensation to be knocked off his feet. He, in the time it took him to flip over in place, he was able to take in a few details of the room. Fluttershy was looking at him calmly. He wasn’t in any pain despite having to have been hit with the force of a freight train. The blue horse, presumably Princess Luna, was watching him flip with the most satisfied grin he’d ever seen. That was all he could get before his face slammed into the floor and left a large dent in the floorboards.

“My... that was intensely satisfying.”

Day didn’t bother to get up, just spoke into the floor.

“I’m sure you have a very good reason for busting in here and fucking laying me out!”

Day understandably raised his voice at the end of his statement. He turned his head to the side to look up at the blue Princess with a single hostile eye.

“You called Us a horse. What other action did you expect Us to take?” The Princess asked in a genuinely curious voice. Day wasn’t sure if she was serious. Luna seemed to pick up on his bewilderment.

“Oh... We apologize... We forgot We had not met you yet and We assumed that your future actions were indicative of your past self and you would understand that We were prematurely fulfilling the precedent of ‘laying you out’ when you insult Us.”

Day opened his mouth, considered his response, and closed it again. There were so many contradictory phrases and concepts packed into that explanation he didn’t know where to start picking it apart. He decided he would be best served by rolling over and sitting up.

“That has to be the most confusing explanation I’ve ever heard... so you forgot that I didn’t know about some kind of habit you have of punching out strangers?”

“No, We forgot when it was that We were appearing and what is acceptable as to Our behavior in reference to your person.”

Day turned to Fluttershy who had remained quiet during their exchange and realized she was trying to hold back laughter. His eyes narrowed, “What’s so funny? I just got punched out!”

Fluttershy attempted to hide a snort but couldn’t quite manage, “Well... you aren’t hurt are you? And you did call Princess Luna a horse. And you have to admit that the pattern of odd things that happen around you are just the smallest bit funny.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, his human emotions reached a previously untold high. Day sighed and stood up to face the blue pony. She was shorter than the Celestia he’d briefly met and her mane and tail much shorter. Physically, she was only half a foot taller than the ponies he had met in the forest and seemed to embody the traits of all three types of ponies he’d met.

“You have a horn and wings...” he commented idly. He noticed the large tattoo she had on her flank, “and an ass tattoo.” He turned around and looked at Fluttershy’s flank to notice that she had one too though significantly smaller. As he turned around but before he could ask anything, he received a hoof to the face. Again.

He let out a yell of frustration, “What!?! I didn’t even DO anything!”

“You were leering at Our and dear Fluttershy’s flanks like a common stallion of low breeding. It was insulting.”

Day spluttered, “Oh my ffffuuuuuck. I’m not even a pony. Why does everyone assume I’m some kind of cross-species pervert? First that Rarity pony now you! You look like h-,” he stopped himself before he got punched, “ponies from my own world! Why would I be looking at you like that?”

“Well, you do have the ability to change shape. Perhaps you unconsciously display amorphous sexual attraction to everything.” If Day wasn’t so upset, he might have realized that the Princess was looking at him with a sort of grim sadness.

Day finally shifted from his human form back to his elfin form. He couldn’t concentrate enough to maintain it. Beneath his new emotions, the human ones were clawing at his mind more strongly than before. He could feel them trying to get free and he ruthlessly began suppressing them beneath with the help of the forest nearby but was only partially successful. He looked up when he felt slow, heavy hoofsteps stop by his side. He didn’t look up until a blue hoof ringed in electrical charge entered his vision.

“We are sorry.” The hoof touched his chest and everything exploded into agony for a moment before freezing up. His body snapped upright and froze. He couldn’t move anything, not even his eyes. He could still think and he could still feel, but it was like his body was refusing any kind of physical changes. The world swung oddly and he found himself on Princess Luna’s back.

“Dear Fluttershy, could We ask you not to speak of this to your friends? This must be done and We cannot afford any distractions.” The Princess’ words seemed gravely solemn - a stark contrast to her earlier tone. She didn’t offer more explanation to the pegasus but it seemed she did not need to.

“Of course, Princess. We’re glad we could help.” Day couldn’t understand how she could be so accepting of everything.

“Thank you. We will hopefully return him by morning tomorrow. Evening at the latest.”

Day couldn’t do anything as Luna carried his immobilized body out the door. She walked down the path away from Fluttershy’s home in the direction of the forest. He could feel its feelings getting stronger. When she reached the edge of Fluttershy’s property she spoke.

“We apologize for this, but We need you cured more quickly than was planned.” She started to walk away from the forest slowly and kept up a steady stream of one-sided conversation. Day’s panic began to mount. “We would usually not intervene in this situation. Our view is unique and the few times We have interfered with the lives of our subjects have never ended well. You see, we can see everything our entire history and all of our future. It is a terrible thing to know your own fate.”

The distance from the forest exceeded what he had reached when exiting it with Fluttershy and her friends. His human emotions started to gain strength and no amount of concentration could suppress them. His panic peaked and though he could not move, he tried to scream at her to stop. Gone was his unnatural acceptance of his circumstances. All the emotions he could not feel earlier returned.

Before anything, thick roiling stifling suffocating clouds of fear, panic, rage, and confusion raged through his mind and flashback took hold of his mind.

The green light it looked like sickly pale vomit. It was horrifying. Whispers were coming from the wall and they were telling him things. He’d never see his family again. He’d lost his sisters. His mother and father. His body was slowly disintegrated in what felt like the most painful way possible. And the whispers continued. Depravities of the worst kind were described in detail. Comments designed to prey at his fears interspersed with threats of torture and pain continued for as long as his ears remained whole. He stayed conscious as even his brain was destroyed even though he could have sworn it was impossible. The last thing to disappear were his eyes.

He came to beside Princess Luna and discovered he could move when he started to thrash around like he was being tortured. Another electrified hoof to his chest immobilized him and he was once again trapped in his mind. Luna’s face loomed over him.

“You are very strong, Day Roark, to have survived thus far. We know what you have been through to arrive here even though you are not aware of it all yet. You tell us soon. We know you will survive.”

His vision blurred.

Everything was dark. Nothing existed here and nothing could reach him. At least he was free of the pain. So he existed. And existed. And existed.

And existed.

He could feel the passage of time acutely. It was its own form of torture. A day went by of nothingness. Two. Five. After seven, he started speaking to himself just to alleviate his boredom. His mind slowly unravelled itself in the dark nothing. He could feel himself breaking and yet he was outside of himself and he didn’t exist at all. The triple feeling reached a critical point when his mind shattered.

And still he existed. His other perspectives slowly fell to insanity. Years and years and years went by of nothing. And then there was nothing left but a pitifully twisted and twitching scrap of his mind.

His body overcame the the magical binding Luna had placed on him and he screamed. He screamed longer and louder than his human body would have been able to. He felt Luna pick him up from his prone position on the ground and hug him tightly but he didn’t care, he just kept screaming in the face of the dual tortures he’d just remembered. She pulled his head to her chest and rocked him slowly. She spoke gently in his ear.

“We know what it is like to survive in agony though it has not occurred. And We know what it is like to exist in great nothing as we lived it not so long ago. It will be okay, Day. Calm... be calm... it will all pass and you will be free.”

His screams quieted slowly. In some small, small corner of his mind he realized he wasn’t crying. Luna’s hooves made small circles on his metal back. She continued to speak.

“We could not let you continue as you were. A thousand thousand times this has played out and each time, we were powerless to change it. No more! We are so sorry, Day, but there was no other way to change the path of things. You... you are the crux of everything. The forest and Celestia and the Elements and the future and the past. Everything. Everything is connected to you.”

The last thing he saw before he finally fell blessedly unconscious was Luna’s ethereal mane and and the vast endless expanse of starfields.

Comments

[Cadmium]

I wouldn't be honest if i said i knew exactly what is going on but i might figure it out in time.
Nonetheless i really like this story, you placed Day in a truly unique position and i find that to be extremely interesting in a story.

[AliziaRoElier]

2194243

Well. Time travel. Alternate dimensions and timelines. Depressed gods. Self-actualization.

Those are the only hints anyone gets.

[TheTownCrier]

It just keeps getting better.

[landis0080]

I think here's where I check out. Up until now I was hoping for the best but it looks like this story is suffering from a serious case of anime writing. The male lead is a goofy, moronic, pathetic punching bag yet still has superpowers and is all important. Just like every anime ever written. Do guys really see themselves like this? Are they supposed to empathize or identify with this? I'm afraid anime has poisoned your view of men if you think any of that behavior was acceptable or typical.