A New World
"You still think I'm a time leaper?"
Unbeknownst to the genius himself, those would be his last words before he was eventually hit by a speeding truck on the road as he was standing. A good lesson not to jaywalk. And Kisaki felt every ounce of pain from it.
He heard his bones break, his heartrate slowing down and his muscles incapable of contracting. The only reason he was still alive was because his death was not instantaneous, rather it took a minute or two before he lost his consciousness. And boy did he wish that it was actually instantaneous.
He was feeling every single bit of pain from it, and it did not help that he was slowly realizing that his organs were gradually spiraling into failure. He was constantly taking deep breaths but it was practically too late for him.
As reality began crumbling down on him, his vision started getting darker with the last thing he ever sees being a fatally injured figure that he supposed was Hanma Shuji. He was unable to make out everything else in his surrounding as he was starting to lose the ability to even observe and deduce his environment. He did know for a fact that his friend would not take his death lightly.
'Friend'? Were they really that close where he would consider him as a friend? Sure they had worked together and a portion of his plans were assisted by him, but Kisaki would draw the line of their bond from there and refer to the two of them as mere companions with a similar goal in mind.
To him, they were no more than partners in crime working together to achieve a social status. Acquaintances were more like it than ever to him. Though he did have an interesting detail regarding him that he's always wanted to know. Why would someone with the mannerisms of Hanma ever want to work with the likes of Kisaki?
How could you even consider them as friends? How could you even think of a possibility where these two would wound up working for eachother?
Kisaki's reality continued to tear down. At this point the only tint of color he could make out was Black -- Which, ironically enough is actually the absence of color itself. For a few moments he was at least able to see very vivid flashes of his surroundings, though blurry and incomprehensible. Only a few moments after would his vision be completely dark and absent of any sort of thing at all.
This marks the end of the Pierrot's journey..
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..or so he thought.
For some reason, despite his vision being complete and utterly black, he was still conscious. He could still think, memorize and even realize his current state. He was no longer feeling any sharp tinge of pain -- rather, he felt nothing at all. Not a single sense of touch, smell, or anything.
At first, Kisaki thought that this would mean he would forever be stuck at a state of consciousness yet unable to anything. Stuck in this never-ending state of vagueness and ambiguity, in an abyssal coil of thoughts and imagination.
He was afraid that due to him still maintaining his consciousness, the absence of anything and everything would lead to him meeting the ill fated root of demise itself, boredom.
He started to question on complex matters that involved religion, and specifically the afterlife. Is this how it actually is? Is there a heaven that awaits somewhere or, more precisely the gates of hell? Or is afterlife just a dark abyss where you dread about your past experiences?
Eventually it started to become meaningless.
But only a few moments after would he soon realize what an afterlife is. And it really isn't pleasing to the eye. Very sudden flashes started to appear rapidly.
Suddenly, he was able to feel. He felt his limbs in contact with what seemed to feel like warm grass. Though he was beginning to gain his senses again, something felt odd. It's as though he doesn't feel human anymore.
He felt as though he was wrapped in comfortable fur yet he could feel as though he lacked any form of apparel.
His eyes were beginning to open aswell. He suddenly felt relieved at such a miracle. Maybe the afterlife does exist afterall, he thought to himself.
As he opened his eyes, he could notice that something was off with his environment. He was no longer on a concrete street in a large city. Rather he was on dirt grass. And they don't appear normal either.
The sight of the grass looked like paintings drawn by a cartoonist. The edges looked like they were drawn as fizzles.
His feeling of relief eventually turned into confusion and concern. Was he drugged? Is he even alive? Is this a dream fabricated by his own mind to keep himself from becoming insane?
"What in the world..?" He thought to himself. It was reasonable to come up with odd conclusions at this point. He unreluctantly widened his eyes and looked around.
Everything else looked like paintings. None of it looked real, yet it felt real. He then examined himself and realized the horrors that were brought to him.
He stood up on all four of his limbs and took his time inspecting his newfound body. "What the actual fuck?" He uttered.
He somehow transformed into a dwarf horse coated in ivory-colored fur. A creature of this caliber would normally be referred to as a 'Pony'. He remembered that from an animal encyclopedia he read about equestrian animals.
"What the actual fuck!? Am I dreaming?" He shouted in confusion. To confirm his suspicion, he slapped himself around with his hand- erm... hoof. From his attempt to confirm whether or not he's having a horrifying lucid dream, he only came to the terrifying conclusion..
.. that he is not dreaming.
He looked around once more and realized that he's currently on a hill neighbouring a forest. He then noticed something unordinary from the distance.
He trotted over to the edge of the hill and was relieved by the sight of a village. This village contained houses with rooftops that were made of hay instead of wood.
From this distinction, the idea that there may be a functioning society with other horse-like animals similar to him popped up on his head. It was comfortable to know that he wasn't alone.
"Thank god I'm not alone, if there is even a god out there. If this is the afterlife, it just feels like a 2nd chance at life to me." He commented.
"Luckily there's a civilization just out there. If I'm what I am, there must be even more people like me. A civilization of fable-told horses!"
He began to adjust his position and quickly galloped over to get down from the hill, only to then remember that he's not so used to being a pony and fall flat on his face.
"Urgh.." He groaned, before lifting himself back up.
After learning his lesson on not to run straight ahead instinctively in a form that he's not quite used to being in, he was quickly cantering his way down from the hill and paying more attention to each of his steps in hopes of not falling on his face again.
Surprisingly it was getting easy for him to adapt to his new form and it wasn't long before he was actually starting to gallop his way towards the village.
After getting down from the hill, he started to walk on his way to approach the village. In the midst of his approach, he was beginning to vividly make out the inhabitants of the village.
They were all coated in differently coloured fur, mane and tail, and a lot of them had very weird features on themselves. A few of them could also be seen flying around. Wait, what?
Yes, you heard me right. A few of them appeared to have wings that aid in aerial movement as though they were birds. Kisaki had once read about these before on a mythological lorebook titled 'Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes'. They were commonly referred to as pegasus, or pegasi.
At some point, he slowed down and started trotting instead. Galloping from that distance proved to be energy-consuming.
It was at this point that he could clearly make out what the village had in store. Its inhabitants were, expectedly, other ponies just like him. Except they were a bit bigger, maybe due to them being a lot older.
He stopped on his tracks just over at the entrance to the village. He took the time to survey his surroundings and what do you know.
There were houses with rooftops made of hay, markets that took place just by the street, and there was an odd yet friendly vibe coming from the environment.
There were noises of birds chirping everywhere, squirrels were squeaking, people were talking, and there was just an overall busy yet calming aura coming from each and every corner.
As he wandered around the area he noted down some of the interesting characteristics that the inhabitants possessed. They were either ponies just like him, ponies with wings that are called pegasi, and ponies with horns that are called.. unicorns.
"Woah, where the actual hell am I.." he uttered in amazement of his new environment.
"This feels fake. But it feels so real."
While wandering around, he failed to notice that there was someone else on the path he was walking on. And had he realized much earlier, he would not unexpectedly bump into them.
He took a look at the person in question and it turned out to be a pink-coated mare with magenta coloured mane and a messy hairstyle.
The mare turned around to look at him, and when she did, her eyes widened in excitement as though she had known him before.
"Excuse me-"
He was suddenly cut off by a loud and exhuberant yell from the mare. Joyously, she replied with an unmatched energy towards him that felt like if it was a donut it would be strawberry flavoured.
"OOH! Are you new here? I haven't seen YOU before so that MUST mean that you're new around here!" She shouted while expressing herself in oddly cartoonish manners.
"Welcome to Ponyville! It's sssssuuuch a pleasure to meet you! My name's Pinkie Pie!" She forcibly raised and shook his hoof around. "What's yours, little fella?"
'Pinkie pie? That's an odd name.' He thought to himself.
He was starting to get discomforted by her huge outburst of energy and contemplated whether or not if he should introduce himself. He decided not to give out too many details of himself and introduced himself back towards her.
"My name is..." Before revealing his name, he decided that it would be safer to use a name of the same level of weird and childish as hers to eliminate any present form of suspicion.
"Cloudy... Bloom." He told the mare, getting the idea of the name from his surroundings.
"Don't be so shy! You can tell me about yourself! If it's a secret, then I'd pinky promise not to tell anypony about it!"
"Ooh! Have you met anypony else around here? Want me to get you familiar with the place? I'll take you around for a tour if that's what you want!" She suggested.
"Ehrm.. no thanks." He refused. "I just have a few questions regarding the place and where I should start visiting to get myself acquainted with the area around here."
"Okie-Dokie-Lokie!" She replied. "No Problemo!"
"By the way, who are you with? Where are your parents? Are you alone here? Can I meet them too? Where are you planning to stay in here? AARGH! I have so many questions!" She said as she bursted into the air.
"Okay.. anyways," He adjusted himself. "Starting off, what's up with the different tattooes on the side of everyone's.. well.. butt?" He questioned and pointed towards a drawing on the side of her flank that was a drawing of three distinct balloons.
"Tattoos?" Pinkie took a look at the side of her behind and reverted her gaze back at him. "Ohh! You mean our cutie marks!"
"What the hell's a.. Cutie Mark..?" He continued. 'What!?' He thought to himself. Things cannot get any weirder than this.
"You've never heard of a Cutie Mark before?" She asked, to which Kisaki replied by shaking his head. "No, surprisingly. I grew up east from here so we may have been raised with different traditions and cultures." He said, lying as to remove any form of suspicion from the air.
"Ohh, that explains it! But I've never really heard of any place that's like that.. weird." She exclaimed.
"Anyhow! A Cutie Mark is a mark that's supposed to show your talent as a pony! Mine's a trio of balloons to show that I'm a party pony, and that I'm all about laughter and joy!"
"Ponies usually get their cutie mark when they're younger, around the time of Secondary School to be exact. Ponies who get it early are special since they get to uncover their talents at such a young age!" She explained. He proceeded to nod his head in response.
"An example of that would be you!" She exclaimed, pointing her hoof at the right side of his flank. "Hm?" He turned his head around to look at the supposed mark on him and was surprised to see that he had his own 'Cutie Mark'.
While hers was a trio of balloons to express her laughter and joy, his was a chess piece. The chess piece in question was the King, the piece with the most vital importance on the chess board.
He concluded that him possessing this mark in particular would mean that his talent would be his overwhelming intelligence and strategic thinking. He felt honoured to have been granted with that mark since he felt as though it was a compliment to his intelligence.
"Hey, that looks familiar!" She mentioned.
He turned his head back around to face the mare and raised a brow at her comment on his mark. "What do you mean by that?"
"Ooh, ooh! I remember! I know a filly that looks just about your size who has a similar cutie mark! But you two don't act the same at all! Weird, right?" She informed him.
"I guess so.." He replied. "Anyway, is there any way I can get more information about the town? A library perhaps?" He questioned the mare.
"Ooh, ooh! If you're looking for a library, you should visit my friend Haybarn's place called the Field of Knowledge! But if you're looking to get more in touch with the town you could ask the local ponies around! They can help you!" She answered.
"Alright, that's amazing to hear. Where's the library at?" He asked.
"Just take a few turns left from here and head west from the market! Or you could just follow the signs around!"
"Good to know. Anyways, it's been lovely to chat with you but I've-"
"Ooh, wait! Before you go, wouldn't you love to have a tour of Ponyville? I'll be your tour guide if you'd like! I can introduce you to so much of the things we have here! You'll fit in very well too! You should also meet my other friends who live just around this area! They're called Berryshine, Sweetie drops, Shoeshine, Golden Harvest-"
As she continued her rambling, he had thought to put an end to the conversation early and cut her off. But that would just wound up being a waste of his time if he tried to indulge into the conversation any deeper. He could have more use for her in the future, but right now she just serves as a baseline guide.
Instead of continuing the worthless conversation and wasting more of his time, he thought that it would be better off if he just leaves the conversation and let her continue her rambling by herself.
He trotted off into the distance and headed for the directions that were given by the mare beforehand and proceeded to head on his way towards the library that was mentioned earlier.
"-Sunshower Raindrops, Derpy, Daisy, Grass Hopper-- hey wait, where did he go?"
Kisaki thought back on the names that she mentioned just moments ago. Jesus, those have got to be the corniest names he's ever heard. Goldenshine? Sweetie Drops? Fucking straight up Derpy? He realized how good of an idea he had regarding making up a name to fit in. A name like Kisaki Tetta just doesn't sound right.
On his way to the library, he began to hear the sound of a child crying. Normally, noises like this would disappear after walking away for some time from where the noise may be coming from, but it just kept ringing throughout his ears.
It sounded like the cry a toddler, maybe even an infant would make. So childish, annoying and irritating. But no matter where he went, he was unable to stop the crying from exploding his ears.
"What.. the fuck is this!?" He said, rubbing both sides of his ears. "Where the fuck is it even coming from?"
The moment he asked that question, it started to get much clearer as to where this cry was coming from. When he looked to the direction of its source, it led to the sight of a forest just a distance away.
He knew where he was supposed to go earlier but something tempted him to find the source of the cry. It felt like it was meant for him to go there.
"Fine.. screw it. Whatever fate has in store for me, I'll take it." He uttered.
He then approached the forest and trotted his way there. Everything felt like it was supposed to lead him there. Not only was he trotting his way there, he was eventually starting to gallop like a whirlwind. Last time when he did this he fell flat on his face. Now it just feels like natural movement.
Once he got inside the forest, he was still galloping towards an unknown destination.
It wasn't long until he finally caught up with where the crying was actually coming from.
He started to slow down and began walking slowly towards the source of the crying.
What he saw before him was a foal, a filly coated in light pink and a sky blue mane. She was seen resting on a tree next to a treehouse. She had a yellowish ribbon tied on her hair, and most importantly she was crying like an absolute child.
What stuck out so much to Kisaki though was not any of those features. What stuck out to him was her cutie mark.
She had the Rook from chess as her cutie mark, similar to his.