//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Pain, Lots of Pain, and Only Pain // Story: Harmonic Reverberations of the Heart // by UnamusedWaffle //------------------------------// Noises.  Shouting.  That’s all I can make out. What is happening? I realize it’s dark. Too dark? Huh? Oh yeah. I open my eyes and immediately slam them back together as I hiss from a splitting pain in the front of my head. What happened? As the pain subsides slightly I try to focus on the voices around me. I can barely make out what they’re saying, let alone actually comprehend it. “Is that...?” “I tho...h...ied!” “H...alive?” “...ow is...alive?” What the fuck is happening? How did I get here again? Wait, I was playing at the venue for the wedding! How the Tartarus did I get here?!  Okay, something is very wrong. I open my eyes, slowly this time, and the voices around me become clearer until I can make out hushed murmurs from the crowd around me.  Wait, why is there like a 10-meter gap between myself and the crowd?  I start to move my hooves under me to stand up but when I look down, I pause. Looking out from my position to the edge of the gap the crowd left, I see black scorch marks on the stone.  “What the fuck…” I mutter under my breath. As I stand up, I feel my muscles protest but I ignore them, gritting my teeth.  I have bigger problems right now, like “why?” and “what?” When I raise my head up to look at the ponies around me, some of their jaws drop, others’ eyes widen and others still cover the eyes of their foals and turn them away.  Oh come on, I’m not that ugly!  “What?!” I cry. “What are you all…?” I trail off and my voice dies in my throat. I follow their eyes with my hoof and when I feel my forehead, I freeze.  Long, cylindrical, periodic grooves. Most definitely wasn’t there before... Yep, I’m definitely fucked. I slowly look up and to my complete and utter horror and confusion, a fucking horn fills my gaze, piercing the heavens with its unholy bullshit.  What the fuck is this shit?! I didn’t ask for this!  But when my hoof touches my horn, the crowd takes a collective step back and some of the ponies gasp. What, do they think I’m- “He’s trying to overthrow them!” “Back away, he’s dangerous!” “Stay away from us, fowl beast! You will not tarnish the good names of the immortal Alicorns while we are around!” To my horror, the pastors have pushed their way to the front of the crowd and are now beginning to fuel the flames of this clusterfuck. I try to say something, anything to push back at them but that brick wall decides to rear its ugly head again.  Why can’t I just speak like a normal pony?! Great, just FUCKING great! I freeze in fear as memories of similar incidents make their way to the forefront of my mind. Two years ago, some power-hungry governor tried to consolidate as much power as he could before being disavowed by the local churches and the Princesses soon removed him from power. A few months ago, a family maliciously set a forest on fire to celebrate the birth of their foal. At least, that’s what the church-sponsored tabloids said. And now I’m being lumped in with them.  Why did my parents have to be right? When I refocus myself, I see two ponies standing over me wearing purple and black robes. Looking into their eyes, I can’t help but pause. I can sense a burning hatred, a passion, and most of all, fear.  Intense fear.  A fear so all-encompassing and consuming that I almost succumb to it as well. And it's all being directed at me. I can see their mouths moving and their hooves extended, but nothing else registers in my mind beyond the intense emotion being directed at me right now. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and focus myself, the pain in my head now dulled to a manageable level.  Wait, I saw those robes earlier, at the wedding! I don’t think they can be anything other than church members, nopony else wears anything that colorful, let alone robes. Alright, if I run now, it’ll look like whatever bullshit they’re doing is working, lending credibility to them. Maybe if I try and talk it out...eh, highly unlikely that’ll work, why would one pony suddenly change their worldview? Not to mention the other preachers have almost definitely gotten the local guards to come and arrest me for disturbing the peace or something. Crafty bastards, I guess I’ll take the former.  Before they can start another verse, I spread my wings. Ignoring the cries of fear from around me I fly up and speed toward my apartment as fast as I can. It isn’t far, thankfully, but before I could make it any further, rhythmic thumping fills my eardrums and I look down more towards the streets and see a small platoon of ponies clad in black, green, and brown camo, marching towards the center of town Before I can do anything to react, one of them points up at me and shouts something. When the rest of them look up at me, I start to speed in the opposite direction, back towards the center of town.  Oh fuck, alright, change of plans. I think the Whitetail Woods is east of here or something if I’m not mistaken. The panicked wingbeats of the local militia behind me rush into my ears as I speed away. While they’ll definitely be able to catch up to me, losing them in the forest is my only hope.  Dammit, dammit, dammit! Oh yes, a random pony shows up in the middle of town or something in a looking all terrified and shit? Sure, let’s not be reasonable and try to talk it out! I thought we moved on as a society but apparently not! Alright, I think I lost them.  I think. Probably not, knowing my luck. So now the problem is how the fuck I’m going to survive out here while still hiding from the guard. Wait, how haven’t they found me yet? Surely they have unicorns capable of doing magical scans of the area, right? Maybe they just haven’t gotten here yet? If so, I should really figure out how to manage my newest accessory. But assuming the unicorns aren’t here yet, that means I have some time to figure this out. Making camp down on the ground seems like the best course of action since I’d be too easy to spot from a cloud. Or maybe I should keep moving, leave no trace and make it harder to track me. Oh wait, how long am I going to have to live like this? Forever? Wait, aren’t Alicorns immortal or something? Oh fuck. Alright, deep breaths, calm down. Making permanent camp is clearly out of the question, so that leaves temporary camps for days or weeks at a time or being constantly on the move. I think I like my chances more with staying on the move but I’m not sure if I have the skillset for that. Eh, I’ll manage. “Famous last words…” I mutter to myself. Nope, still no signal, looks like I’ll just be relying on my memory for all of this. Maybe all of those video essays I watched could be of assistance? Hm, maybe I could- The blood in my veins chill and I freeze on the spot. A rustling from behind me captures my attention.  Do something, dipshit! Something’s coming! MOVE! I whirl around and start slowly backing up from the bush. Manticore? I’d probably already be its dinner... Local militia? I’d have heard them shouting commands or seen them advancing. Probably. Timberwolves? I don’t think they live around he- Whatever’s in the bush leaps out at me and tries to take my throat in its wooden jaws. Wait. Wooden? Oh fuck me sideways, it’s a FUCKING TIMBERWOLF! “Are you fucking kidding me?!” I shout before letting out a growl. By the skin of my teeth, I sidestep the timberwolf’s attack, but not before its claws reach out in a desperate attempt to grab me, drawing blood from my front left hoof.  Fuck, that hurt! Now it’s attacking again! I go to sidestep the attack again, but making a last-millisecond decision that even I don’t see coming, I try jumping over the timberwolf instead. Yeah, this’ll work! I think I saw it in-AH FUCK! “Celestia-dammit! Fuck me!” I shout as I raise my right hoof up to see it covered in blood. Fuck, that hurts. I hiss in pain. Motherfucker, alright that’s it. I have this damn horn, time to put it to good fucking use! I close my eyes and start concentrating on the magic around me.  Alright, I think I just need to trust Twilight. Breathe. Trust Twilight.  I take a deep breath and pull on the magic around me, directing its flow towards the top of my head. When the magic touches my horn, however, I feel a pang and my head erupts, literally and figuratively. I hear a squeal and cry as I am launched backward and my back slams into a tree.  Holy shit, everything hurts. My head is throbbing so much to where I think I can feel a blood vessel bursting. My hearing has been reduced to an incessant ringing that won’t SHUT UP and my vision is starting to become blurry. Ah fuck, come on! I go to breathe, but…I can’t. I can’t breathe! Why can’t I breathe! Oh fuck, oh fu- Wait, I just got the wind knocked out of me, calm down! Breath. Deep breaths. The taste of copper in my mouth doesn’t help very much. I slowly stand up, grunting in pain all the while, and open my eyes. I’m met with wooden claws, teeth, and piercing yellow eyes that make my skin crawl.  Oh shit! In a desperate attempt to once again dodge, I turn to my left to try and leap away but my left forehoof gives out when I put weight on it.  AH, dammit, not now! Fly dammit! I definitely don’t have eno- I let out a piercing cry of agony as I feel razor-sharp teeth penetrate my wing muscles and start ripping the muscle away. AH, MOTHER FUCKER! FUCK YOU! Without really thinking, I remain still long enough for gravity to take over on the wolf’s body and for myself to rear up on my forehooves and buck backward with all of my might. My heart drops when I feel no resistance.  AGAIN! This time my back hooves are met with resistance and I hear the satisfying shatter of wood being split, like when a lumberjack splits a log with their ax. For a few minutes, I just sit there lying on the ground and taking deep breaths. After the first minute, I can still focus on nothing more than the pain.  Dammit, focus on something else! Breathe! However, my focus can’t be ripped away from the oozing hot liquid I can feel running down my back.  This sucks. My vision starts to get blurry and suddenly my hooves feel very heavy.  Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. I am not fainting, not again. If I faint I might as well be dead. Deep breaths focus on your breathing. You’re okay, you’re okay. You’re fine. I need sugar. Looking around desperately, I try to look for some fruit and pray to fuck it’s not poisonous as well. Come on, come on! There must be somethin-wait, is that-? I spy some wild berries on the bush I think the timberwolf emerged from. Ignoring the pain in my forehooves, I limp over to the bush. When I’m right in front of it, I reach my hoof out and breathe a sigh of relief when I actually feel something.  Oh thank fuck, I wasn’t hallucinating. I then pick two from the bush and open my mouth to throw the berr-wait, no bad idea. Eat part of one to see if it's poisonous or not. Although, I doubt I could even survive anything poisonous right now.  I chuckle. Taking another deep breath, I take a slow and methodical bite of one of the berries and chew slowly. A few minutes and many deep breaths after swallowing later, I’m not writhing on the ground holding my gut so I think I’m good. I greedily yoink a hoof full of berries from the bush and throw them in my mouth before sitting down. I think that should do the trick. A few minutes and many more deep breaths later, I feel the blood rushing to my head again. A cool feeling of relief washes over me as I start to stand up again. The ringing in my ears now relegates itself to the back of my head and I can now feel myself coming back to reality. Alright, crisis averted. Oh, wait. I look back at my mangled wings spread out on my back, a small pool of blood making itself known below me.  DAMMIT! Now, what around here can help me stop the bleeding? “Why do you think he did it?” “I dunno, but I do know that I don’t care.” “Don’t care?! Did you see how angry the General was? It’s only in times like these where he almost pops a blood vessel. Almost makes you question all the training he gets from the churches.” “Well, that’s the General’s problem. I’m just here to send the bits back…”  Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, how the fuck did they not see me? Two soldiers clad in black velvet uniforms with gold accents just walked underneath my perch in a tree near the edge of one of the forest trails. They’re probably a part of some secret organization or something specializing in hunting down dumb idiots who disturb the public, i.e. me. But more importantly, how the fuck did they not see me? Surely they would’ve been trained to look up, right? Are they purposely not looking at me or something? If they did spot me… I whip my head behind me and frantically dart my eyes around. Nope, I don’t see any guards. Although I doubt I’d see them if I really wanted to.  Wait. SHIT, keep moving, keep moving! I leap from the branch I’m perched on and spread my wings. Or at least that’s what I was aiming for. My left wing is fine, thankfully, but my right wing immediately shoots a jolt of pain through me. I let out a cry and plummet to the ground with a hearty THUD, kicking up a small cloud of dirt in the process. Much to my dismay, I start violently coughing. “Oh...fuck” I wheeze out. I take in a huge breath in an attempt to rid myself of whatever is choking me, but in the split second of silence between the breath and the eventual coughing, I hear a sharp CRACK behind me. I whip around to face where the noise came from, still violently coughing.  Oh shit, it’s the soldiers, they heard me. Of course, they fucking heard me! I try to back up but I can’t muster up the energy to do much. My vision starts to blur as a dozen guards clad in armored camo and equipped with weapons I’ve never seen before emerge from the brush in front of me and quickly encircle me. “Keep ‘em right here! I want him to be easy pickings!” I hear a gruff female voice shout from somewhere in front of me. I keep trying my best to scamper backward despite my body’s protests but a sharp poke to my ass stops me in my tracks. Oh fuck. I can now barely make out an opening in the formation right in front of me. A way out? If I try to run now… But project “Run Away Screaming While You Still Can” ends before it can ever begin as somepony new emerges from the bushes. At this point, I can barely make out the blur in front of me. It’s just pink and green and black and brown and almost majestic despite it all.  Wait, that’s not a normal soldier, is it? Oh shit oh fuck oh shit oh fuck oh shit oh- “Princess…?” I sputter out before my wounds finally catch up with me.