//------------------------------//
// Destruction and Rebirth  
// Story: Prince of the Sun 
// by TornadoBlitz 
//------------------------------//

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep...

I found myself dizzily swimming into the world of full wakefulness away from my dreams. As my alarm clock went off, I wondered why I had bothered to set it in the first place. I was finished with my courses for the year and wouldn’t be going back for another few months. My thoughts continued along this line until I realized that I had work to get to. 

There were times that I really hated having my job. Accepting additional hours wasn’t much better, but at least the pay made up for it. Or at least that’s what my dad had always said. With a lazy burst of effort, I managed to haul myself out of the bed and onto my feet.

After checking that all was well, I headed out of the house for my car.

The weather was awful. This wasn’t particularly uncommon where I lived. In England, it rains most of the year, except when it’s cold enough to snow. However, it was raining unseasonably harder today than it was supposed to. In spite of that, I still managed to get into work on time.

When I got there, most of the staff were ready and waiting for me to give them my briefing. Throughout my life, I always wanted to lead. Being a leader meant you were in charge and got to make the important decisions. So I tried at every opportunity to get leadership roles, but not matter what I tried, I hardly ever did. At school, it was either the popular students that got the roles or it was the students who didn’t speak up. In both scenarios, it only lead to problems. The popular students, while charismatic, often lacked humility and intuition, meaning that many projects were lost. The quiet students, while usually being more intelligent and creative, lacked the charisma or the ability to inspire others, so while they had good ideas and plans, they were usually ignored. When I tried to help or get a project on schedule, apart from a few examples, I would always get told off by the teacher. 

Regardless of people trying to stop me from taking leadership roles, I always put my hand and I always tried to give it my all. Any chance I would get, I would take.    

As it so happened today, one such chance arose

Almost as suddenly as the rain had started, a dispute broke out in the store. Several customers were getting angry about something or other, and, if history was any judge, arguments would start to break out between the customers and the staff. The day being bleak enough without some sort of altercation, I stepped in to diffuse the situation before it could gain any steam.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” I stated in a loud and clear voice, making certain that I had their attention, “please just bear with us for a moment. We apologize for any confusion that has occurred and ask for a little patience so that we can address the problem as quickly as possible.”

The customers were pacified, but I knew that it was a temporary fix, at best. Taking the involved staff to the side, I quickly learned what had started all this. 

Recently, we had started to sell these select products with a selection of vegetables included, one of them being a honey-glazed ham. Apparently, people saw the possibilities with this; it quickly became one of, if not the, most popular items we sold. So much so that the deli shelves had run empty and there weren’t any in their usual spot in the back. 

I didn’t facepalm, but only just. Really? I thought incredulously. This much fuss over a ham? However, I quickly reined those thoughts in. They weren’t helping anyone, and besides that, maybe this would be the only high point these people would reach today. 

Acting quickly, I asked three of the team to check the big coolers in the back to see if there were any more in there. The rest, I split into two groups: the first to inform the customer that the ham was not the only item that was included in this deal and to try and persuade them to alter their selection, the other to inform the customers that each of the items could be bought separately and prepared at home.

As each team went about their tasks, the customers were served in an orderly fashion. Some of them were understanding enough to alter their choice, and the rest were dealt with in a civil manner. It turned out that, while we did have some in the back, a good portion of the customers had to be satisfied with getting each individual item. It wasn’t ideal, but it was acceptable.

After the whole ordeal was over, the department manager came over to me. If the popular students lacked intuition and the quiet students lacked charisma, our manager fell into the former category. Had a good voice and was able to inspire people, but lacked the intuition to make the tough decisions in high stress situations. It seemed that I had managed to annoy him with the way I handled things.

“Mind telling what that was about?” he said “You are not the manager, kid, and if you keep pulling stunts like that you never will be. Focus on your job, don’t try to do mine.”

Then he walked off and I sighed. Just like with the teachers back in school, I was yelled at for helping. It didn’t matter though, because I would keep fighting for manager roles and leadership positions, even if it wasn’t “by the book”.
                               
As work progressed into the day and got quieter, my mind started to wander. Somehow I always pictured my life being different than this: more exciting, more colourful. Maybe it was because, when I was younger, I had always imagined the world to be different than it was. As I got older though, I learned that it simply wasn’t so. In that moment, it seemed as though someone had let the colour out of the world all at once. And days like today made it seem especially dreary. 

After being thanked for my work, I clocked out and decided to head home. With the weather being as bad as it was earlier, I made certain to go exceptionally slow to avoid any accidents. However, I found that my mind still wandered to my thoughts from earlier. I began to wonder if I should just accept life as it was, in all of its dreariness, or make efforts to change it. 

As I was crossing an intersection, a truck approaching me from the other way lost control. The roads were too slippery from the rain for the driver to stop. All I could do was watch helplessly as he blared his horn with the truck heading straight at me. A sound like a buffalo stampede crashing into an iron door filled the air, and I was killed.

Surprisingly, everything seems a lot more peaceful when you're dead. The thing that was the most eerie about it was the absolute silence. There wasn’t a single sound, almost as though I had been submersed into a watery cocoon. Much to my own surprise, I managed to remain calm, despite everyone else around me frantically screaming at the carnage that lay in the middle of the road. Gradually, I felt myself rising from the scene, watching as the figures below me were eventually reduced to blurred smears. 

It seemed very welcoming, almost soothing. So I closed my eyes and waited for new life of eternal bliss 

“Is this really how you want things to end?” a powerful and authoritative female voice asked.

I opened my eyes to see that someone was moving in front of the light. I couldn’t make out any features, save for a beautiful shadow. It seemed to have the body of a horse, yet the neck of a swan. However, it also had a horn and a set of large wings. I was in so confusion and awe of this differently strange creature that words simply failed me.

“Answer me,” the voice said again, “Is this really how you want things to end? With you accomplishing nothing?”

That snapped me back to reality faster than anything. It was true; I hadn’t a legacy worth bragging over and would soon become nothing but dust in the ground. As I abandoned my state of awe, I shook my head vigorously. 

“Good,” the voice said approvingly, “because such a fate would simply be a waste of your talents. I come from a land where such talents will be exceptionally useful in the times to come. The only remaining question is: are you willing to embrace it?” 

After the sensation passed, I tried opening my eyes to see what had happened, but I couldn’t. They wouldn’t respond. Was the creature just some post-death hallucination?

Am I still dead? I thought. I don’t know. I don’t feel dead, not that I would really know what that felt like. If this is what it’s like to be dead, then being dead sucks!

Then, I felt something at my side. Wait.... I’m moving, but how? I’m not moving my limbs!! What’s going on? And why do I feel so cold?!

“Congratulations, Your Majesty. You are the mother of a handsome colt,” said a new voice.

Your Majesty? Colt? What’s going on? I thought, slowly getting more and more panicky.

With the cold feeling still there and my thoughts going haywire, all I could really do was cry. As I cried, I felt someone poking and checking things that I couldn’t see. Soon enough, however, I felt something soft wrap itself around me, restoring some of the warmth. While it did help somewhat, it did very little to stop my crying. That changed as soon as I felt someone else take hold of me, giving me even more warmth. It also seemed to be trying to soothe me with soft humming and small caresses. 

After managing to calm down a bit, I attempted to open my eyes again. While I did get better results this time, my eyesight still had to adjust to the normal luminosity of the light-bulbs. My pupils were still used to the glorious holy light of recent departure.

When I finally opened my eyes fully, I took in my surroundings. I could make out two figures here with me. One was dark blue with a horn and a pair of wings, much like that deity figure from earlier, with a mane that shimmered like a blanket of starlight. Although she had the air of someone very powerful, she looked at me with obvious fondness and love.

I moved my eyes to the other figure, the one holding me. This one was pure white and looked older than the other one, but not by much. While she also had wings and a horn, her flowing mane was colored with several gentle hues of green, blue, pink and purple. Much like the previous figure, she was also very powerful and important. However, there was something about the white one that made me feel safe. I wasn’t sure what it was, since I had never met the creature that was now was holding me, but there seemed to be another part of me that told me that she was there to protect me. That she would cause me no harm.

Although tears were streaking her face, she was smiling when she spoke. “Hello there, my foal,” she said softly. “I am so happy that you are finally here.”  

My foal? I thought. What does she mean by that? 

I didn’t get any time to figure out, though, because she brought me closer to her and began nuzzling me. I was expecting for this to feel weird, considering my current state of mind, but instead, it was actually very comforting. It was as though all the fear I had been feeling before was gone. I nuzzled back and smiled at her, prompting her to give me a kiss on my forehead.

“He’s adorable,” said the dark blue figure. “What will you name him, sister?”

“I have thought about it for a while; before now, it was thought that alicorns could not breed. When I found out that I was pregnant, the whole kingdom rejoiced, and the light I once though lost returned to me, so I will my foal as such. Hello there, Mythic Light.”