When a man's plane crashes on the way back to Colorado from a vacation in California he wakes up in the middle of a the sky, except not as a man. But instead as a Phoenix in another world entirely. Guess Reincarnation really is real huh?
When a man's plane crashes on the way back to Colorado from a vacation in California he wakes up in the middle of the sky, except not as a human. But instead as a Phoenix in another world entirely. Guess Reincarnation really is real huh? Well, It's a free fall before him, will he fly? Or will he fall? Find out now!
[On Hiatus, Beating my head against the wall trying to rework a few things because I've once again changed where I'm heading with this, and I simply don't have time to be writing right now.]
I don’t remember the plane crash, I just know it happened. It was a normal day, I had boarded the plane after having spent the weekend in California visiting the beaches and stuff. We took off normally and I eventually nodded off. Then suddenly I was startled awake by a loud ripping noise. Looking to the source of the noise I saw that a few rows ahead of me the plane wall had been torn open. And people were being sucked out. Then I heard a cracking noise come from my window. Looking towards it I had just enough time to mutter “For fuck sake” before the wall exploded open, Launching me out of the plane. The only thing I heard after that was the rushing of the wind, and screaming. Sometimes I heard my own screams, Sometimes I heard others.
The spinning eventually made me pass out. And when I regained consciousness I was still in the sky, though no longer in my seat. But the strangest thing was it was nighttime, and I felt different, VERY different. Not the sort of difference you’d expect to feel while falling to your demise. But the kind of difference that gives you the sensation of not being in your own body. The next thing I did was something that I have absolutely no idea why I did. I spread out my arms and moved my legs together to where they were positioned behind me. And surprisingly? It fucking worked! I felt my arms catch the air, and I started to GLIDE. Which is weird because human arms are like, not meant for flying at all. In an attempt to figure out what the fuck was going on I looked to my left, and what I saw scared the ever-living shit out of me. What I saw wasn’t my arm, but a WING. Specifically a bright GLOWING orange wing with what looked like a yellow set of secondary feathers which were ALSO glowing.
The only thing I could do was scream out the only words I knew to accurately describe what I was feeling. “HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE HELL???” I had about enough time to realize that my words had come out in a squawk before something in the back of my head screamed at me to pay the fuck attention because I’m currently FLYING. Turning to look in front of me again I realized that my head must have been slow on the uptake because it warned me WAY too late to avoid that tree that seems to be rapidly approaching my face. Everything around where I impacted was treated to a cartoonish WHACK as I plastered myself across the trunk of said tree. After a couple of moments, I pushed my wings against the bark and plopped off the tree onto the ground. Only to faceplant directly into the mud.
I’m not gonna lie, I stayed there face down on the mud for a while. Not sure how long to be honest. My face hurt, my ears hurt, my wings hurt, my legs hurt, basically, my everything hurt. Eventually, I heard a noise, a continuous noise that sounded like a kid crying. Ok, now that’s something that warrants investigation, a kid crying in the woods? That’s never good. I may be hurt but a kid is a kid. Pushing my wings against the mud I lifted myself onto my legs. Turning toward the noise I noticed a small filly looking thing standing in front of what looked like a massive gorge. Wow, I could have hit that gorge, guess I got lucky. Though I don’t get why a filly is crying, eh what the hell? Somehow I got transformed into some sort of bird, nothing should seem crazy now.
I was about to call out when suddenly I saw the kid take a few steps back, then do the little hoof kicking thing horses do when they’re about to charge something. With widening eyes I realized what the kid planned to do, and I wasn’t having it, here’s hoping I weigh enough. Flapping my wings is still new to me so I wasn’t able to get very far off the ground but that wasn’t my aim thank the lord. She began running, and I began flying. Our paths intercepted just before she hit the gorge. Pushing my head down so that my beak didn’t pierce her skin or anything I shoved the top of my head into her shoulder. And both of us went rolling. When we stopped I was on the ground, and she was a few feet away from me, staring at me in complete surprise.
“w-why did you do that?”
The question wasn't unwarranted, but I had the same one.
"I could ask you the same thing, what the hell were you thinking?" I had better things to worry about other than the fact that this horse was both orange, and talking. This kid just tried to END itself. Though unfortunately me being some sort of bird didn't help on the communication part...
"Oh right, I cant understand you. Guess I should have expected that." I glared at her and gestured toward the gorge with my right-wing which was bent at an odd angle. Then I did the bird equivalent of raising my eyebrow, which is to just slightly close one eye and open the other. Wait a second. Wing, bent at an odd angle. Opening both of my eyes wide I turned my head to my wing, what I meant to say was along the lines of "JESUS WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?" but all that came out was a squawking sound. Reaching to it with my other wing I attempted to put it back to the angle it looked like it was meant to be at. And surprisingly? It worked. I was surprised at first but then I got my first good look at myself. I was covered in mud, yeah but it wasn't hard to figure out the species of bird I am. I'm a fucking phoenix!
Satisfied by the fact that my wing was healing, though flying wasn't gonna be a thing that would happen for an hour at least. I turned back to the kid, Once again performing the gestures trying to figure out what the fuck is going on with her and the gorge. And it finally clicked in her head. Her pupils shrunk into her eyes, and her ears flattened against her head. She seemed ready to run and hide. But I made sure to position myself between her and the gorge, just in case.
Eventually, she cracked. And by cracked I mean completely fucking broke down. She collapsed to the mud crying her eyes out and trying to speak. Though with her crying I couldn't make any of it out. Walking was still awkward but I managed it. I moved over to her and wrapped my wings around her barrel, in an attempt at a hug. She seemed to appreciate it, and we sat there for a while. Not moving a single inch. And eventually, under the night sky, she nodded off. So I spread myself across her like a blanket. Wrapping my wings around her in an attempt to keep her warm. She was slightly bigger than me but I did what I could. And eventually, I fell asleep too.
I woke up first, But I didn't move. It was morning, yet I didn't dare disturb her. Instead, I began to think, about both my circumstances and hers. In my case, I have no fucking clue what's going on. I WAS on a plane on my way to Colorado, On my way home. But then I was in some sort of accident. But something happened, something weird. Like I jumped dimensions or something. If my math is right then we should be somewhere in Utah, but I don't remember Utah having any gorges. But then again I did fail geography. But then again if there were talking horses in Utah I'm pretty sure they would have appeared on the news at some point. Which points to this either being another world, or a different time. Maybe re-incarnation? who the fuck knows. And if I really am a phoenix why did the crash bang up my wing like that? I mean it's pretty much healed now, heck I can hardly tell it was ever hurt. Which the second half makes sense but the first half?
From what I've read phoenixes are pretty damn hard to hurt, even harder to kill. Actually, whenever a phoenix dies they rise from the ashes. So what the hell happened with the wing? Did that happen when I hit the tree? or at some other point before I regained consciousness? Maybe it's something with being fresh out of reincarnation? Ah, shit no way to really tell at this point, Something to look into later. But in the kid's case? Something doesn't add up. Surely her parents would be looking for her? Why haven't they found her? And why the hell was she trying to throw herself into the gorge? What the hell could possibly have happened? Something traumatic for sure, but I've no idea what that could possibly be. All I can do is ask her when she wakes up, oh wait. I can't even do that because I can't even talk to the damn kid. Not only am I in deep shit, so is she presumably. And I don't know what to do. All I know HOW to do is hug her. I cant communicate with her to console her or ask her what happened which means all I can do is give her physical comfort. And a hug is the best thing to do that with.
My thoughts were interrupted by a groaning sound from below me. Realizing she was waking up I decided to pretend I was still asleep, see how she reacts. That way I can gauge where I stand with her, and where she stands on how she's feeling. After a few moments I felt her lift her head, she looked back and forth before presumably seeing or feeling me on her back. "So it wasn't a dream then. Hey, wake up! I never thanked you." I lifted my head and opened my eyes, the first sight after doing so was her big, purple? eyes. She seemed to want to get up but she also didn't want to do so with me on her back. After realizing this I slid off of her back and moved to where I was standing in front of her. She stood up and looked at me in complete amazement.
"Wow! I never thought I'd see an actual phoenix! And I especially didn't think I'd meet it by it saving my flank."
Ok so it's confirmed, I'm a phoenix. But that doesn't explain a great many things. Like why the hell she's out here in the first place. But I've got no way of asking her anything right now. Well shit, all I can do is stand and look at her.
"I guess you can't really talk huh?" I shake my head no. "Well thanks for saving me there, I thought it was right. But after trying it and failing, I realize what a big mistake I was about to make. Thanks for saving me back there. I should really get back to town. Oh, and before I leave, I'm Scootaloo." And with that, she turned and started walking in a direction that, presumably, led to a town.
Now hold on a second. Am I really about to let a child escort herself through a possibly dangerous forest all by her lonesome? I may be irresponsible but I'm not THAT irresponsible. So with that, I started walking after her, following her from a distance. I'd fly but I still haven't really figured out how to do that. I'll make sure she gets through the forest at least. After that, I'll take some time to figure this out. And with that final thought, I began weaving through bushes and trees to try and keep her in sight, but myself out of sight.
I'm not one for judging time based on the sun, but it took us well into the morning to get back to where Scootaloo was going. She had left the edge of the forest and was marching towards a town that I could only assume she lived in, trotting sadly but determinedly toward the place. I hesitated at the forest edge, watching her go as I pondered my situation. She was surprised to see a "Real Phoenix" as she put it, Implying that they weren't common. In fact, phoenixes may be just a story told to kids here or something. Walking into town after her definitely wouldn't be a good idea, I'd only draw attention to myself before I figure out what the hell is happening.
And so I turned around and walked back into the cover of the forest, reasoning that in town she would be reasonably safe. I had my own problems to work out, and I didn't have time to look out for a kid, especially not one of a species I knew nothing about. I don't know how long I walked in the line but I was reasonably surrounded by trees, I stopped and perched on the root of a tree and looked over myself, desperately trying to remember everything I could about Phoenixes.
From what I could recall, Phoenixes were mythological creatures that possessed incredible regenerative capabilities, even if killed they were known to come back from death from their ashes. There are rumors that they transform into human shapes and other rumors that they can move faster than light. The last one I'm finding hard to believe, but maybe the first one gives me options. Anyhow, moving on, I've heard about their superhuman strength. Such strength that even in a human form they could break free from a nailed-shut and buried coffin in the ground. I'm sure there's more but I just ca-
I winced as a lance of pain shot through my head, causing me to let out a squawk and collapse to the floor. It took me a few moments, but I managed to get back up, Holding a wing up to my head. Was I still hurt? Hells Bells I really need to figure this shit out... I got up and kept walking, Trotting, Whatever the term for a bird walking is. If I could find a proper river maybe I could get something to drink, Heck now that I think about it I haven't had anything to eat or drink in a day or two... Was river water even drinkable? Hell, I really should have read more on Emergency Survival Situations...
Hours Later.
After a while, I just kinda zoned out... Mulling over the events of the past 2 days almost fervently as I tried to make sense of it all. Hell, I was so unfocused on the area around me that I nearly walked straight off of another cliff! I noticed just in time to stop and stumble backward onto my back, Rolling over onto my feet to find that I had found a canyon. Whether or not it was the same canyon as last night, I had no idea. This one seemed less wide, and I could see a broken bridge further along the canyon. Some sort of Castle Ruins across the way seemed to be my best hope of shelter, Too bad it was on the other side of the damn bridge.
I looked pensively at my previously damaged wing, flapping it a few times experimentally. No pain shot through my body so I could probably assume it was at least relatively functional... Ah screw it, maybe there was something I could use in there, at the very least it was a roof to hide under if it started to rain. These cheerful thoughts filled my head as I stepped back a good 8 to 10 feet, clawing the dirt a little bit getting ready to make a run-up.
'Alright, Just don't look down, and keep moving. Speed, Get speed, Let yourself glide like you did from the plane...' I attempted to focus out the background, my gaze locked on what was in front of me. And with a final stamp of my leg, I took off like a shot, far faster than I expected but I ran with it! I flew over the ledge at a solid sprint, my wings snapping out wide as I glided across the gorge with relative ease. I should have known it was going too well however, because when I got to the other end of the gorge I hit the ground belly first and slid a good foot or two before coming to a halt... 'Really hope nobody saw That either...' I grumbled to myself in my head as I stood up, looking up at the looming ruins ahead of me. And, shaking out my ruffled feathers, I started marching towards it.
A few minutes later
I came into the ruins at some sort of throne room, many hallways and doors leading in many different directions. I took note of the fact that this room seemed to lack a ceiling, and I took a glance up at the bright blue sky. I basked in the warmth for a good minute or two before shaking my head again, 'Focus, Find a place for tonight, then see if this place has a library or something...' And with a solid goal in my mind, I started walking.
After a good hundred paces into a hallway though I heard a distinct Click as I felt one of my feet sink a little further than the other. I had about two seconds to feel horror flash through my mind when a simple bolder dropped from the ceiling. Smushing me flat onto the rock floor, and leaving me breathless as I lay there panting. 'Right...' I coughed out. 'Durable as hell...' Experimentally I moved both wings to push against the floor, Heaving with all my might. And to my surprise, the thing rolled backward off of me. I turned and saw a boulder a good 5 feet tall rolling down the hallway I had just come from! I swear I almost laughed, but Instead, I shook myself out and kept moving.
It only took me a few more minutes to find a relatively intact sleeping area, though I made sure to walk on every part of the floor just to make sure it wouldn't try to kill me either. It was a large ornate room full of reddish hues, sun-themed decorations filling the chamber. A large wardrobe in one corner, What looks like a woman's makeup thingamajigger sat on the opposite corner from the wardrobe. There seemed to be a large standing space on a big sun-themed carpet in the middle of the room, and the bed was a queen-sized bed with white and orange hues for its covers. I saw a trunk under the bed and managed to drag it out, and instead of looking in it I used it as a stepstool to get more easily onto the bed.
Now I know I said I'd find shelter and go find a library or something, but I'm not to proud to admit that when I flopped down onto the bed, I passed out hard. It had been a long few days so far and I was sure it wasn't gonna be getting any easier. I just didn't have enough willpower left over to drag myself out of the comfort of the old dusty sheets. And not long after, I drifted off as black filled my vision.
As the sun started to set, I winced as sunlight blared in through the window and pulled the covers over my head again. But as I tucked myself further in I frowned, something felt.... off. So I threw the covers off of my head and sat up, looking around I didn't notice anything in the room with me. I was still in that big sleeping spot with the sun decorations, Nothing had entered the room as far as I could tell. But then I decided to look down, the reason I made that decision being the fact that I was sitting up. Which was something that would be difficult to do as a bird.
I tossed off the blanket and was dumbfounded, like literally speechless. Now I'm gonna be honest, I ignored the hell out of the mixture of genders between my new legs. I did NOT wanna think about that right now. But I did think about my actual legs and the fact that they now ended in hooves. My whole body had taken on the appearance of a pony pegasus! Now I'm not going to lie, I did scream, I screamed rather loudly in fact. I tried to get up but tripped over my new legs and smacked nose first into the ground, and I felt wings on my back flapping wildly. Now normally that would be funny, until the wild flapping sent me careening into the nearest wall.
Pain flashed through my new nervous system as I heard a rather loud and rather graphic Crunch as my wing was mashed between me and the stone wall. Now as I lay there, rather sure I was bleeding onto the floor, I began to think. Why was I suddenly a pegasus when I was a bird earlier? Why had it happened while I was asleep? And why, oh why, did this keep on happening to me?!
I managed to compose myself a while later, okay a long while later. Sunset had long passed, and the moon shone high in the sky. I had managed to figure out how to move around with FOUR legs now and sat frowning at the window trying to take stock of myself. But then I realized something... Why does the moon have a mare marked all over its surface? Okay, that just about confirms that this isn't anywhere near where I came from... Anywho, back to my new configuration. Yes, I had confirmed that I was Both mare and stallion. Now that in and of itself was disturbing, but I had also taken on a rather LARGE wingspan. Well, one of them was long at least, the other was still mangled and bleeding.
Don't look at me like that, I'm not a doctor I'm a professor! And even if I were a doctor none of my knowledge would apply to this stupid horse's body. Anywho, I had ended up with what I could only deem as a female face, judging only by that kid's face I saw earlier. When I tried talking, I was able to but It came out in a raspy girl voice. Before I had gone to the window I had observed myself in the makeup thingamajigger and realized that I had a firey mane, like If someone had taken to my head and dyed my hair as If it was burning. What freaked me out was the fact that it flowed on my head despite the lack of wind!
I had an orange pair of eyes, and the sclera of my eyes seemed to fade from orange to black in a sort of sunset with my orange iris acting as the sun. My pupils were long tall slits rather than round giving me a predator-type look, a far cry different from what I had seen on that cute little filly. When I opened my mouth I had pointy teeth and long sharp fangs that hung from my mouth, and as my gaze trailed down my new body, I realized that my tail behaved in much the same way as my mane. And I had a weird collection of feathers tattooed on my ass.
Now, as I sit with my head on the window sill, finally managing to stop screaming AGAIN about how fucking weird I looked, my throat hurt. And though my stomach was yelling at me about food and water, I couldn't bring myself to move at all thanks to the pain in my wing and the exhaustion that trailed behind my eyes. Now that struck me as odd, why was I so fucking exhausted despite having just slept for... Who the hell knows how long? Maybe some sort of drain from the sudden transformation? Possibly from the boulder that landed on me before I initially fell asleep? Or could I still be recovering from the whole fall from the sky thing at the start of this whole ordeal?
"Fuckin stupid piece of shit mother fuckin..." I sat there fuming. Why did this all have to be so difficult? Why had this all happened at all? What the fuck do I do about this stupid fucking wing?! I sighed... "Whatever!" I stood up and started out of the room, doing my best to ignore the agony in my wing as it dragged across the floor. My legs tripped me up now and then as I walked down the hallway. I just started flinging curses, doing my best to focus on the layout of the building.
I don't know how long I roamed like that, fuming so hard I swear I could smell smoke. Until I stumbled across something labeled "Failed Enchantment Experiments". I smiled at that, my mood suddenly improving by a small margin. Something cool like that could take my mind off of this bullshit, So I reared back and gave a quick buck to the door latch. The old rusted thing gave way easily, a small flash of light as some sort of magical lock collapsed. The door swung open and I stormed in, looking about trying to find something cool.
Now there wasn't a whole lot that seemed intact, everything in here was in some way shape, or form rusted, and or crumbled away. Except for one object that seemed to stand the test of time, it was a purple and blue shield with a glowing white crescent moon on the front. It was labeled to be a "Magic Proof Shield", created as an attempt to redirect magical attacks away from regular foot soldiers of whatever time this is from. The shield was labeled as a "Failed Enchantment" because of the failure to redirect enough energy to prevent a lethal buildup of heat in the metal guige on the shield. Resulting in permanent nervous damage and 3rd degree burns in at least 7 test subjects before they were no longer allowed to continue research and development.
Now it wasn't locked behind chains like a few of the other older and more damaged objects in here, so I figured nopony would mind if I... reappropriated such a tool. I took it off of its mount and placed it on my back, wincing as it rubbed against part of my damaged wing, but managing to ignore it after that. I was just about to head back out into the hallway when I heard a massive Crack-BOOM off in the distance.
My head snapped around to the origin point and I found myself galloping towards it, silently cursing myself for running into danger. It took me a good minute to cross the distance, and I even took a shortcut outside and over a wall, and up to the roof. As I approached I started sneaking, peaking down over the broken and damaged roof. Down below I caught sight of a rather large unicorn mare wearing ornate blue armor, her fur a midnight black as she cackled down at a smaller purple-looking unicorn. The larger mare seemed to have wings as well, which made me tilt my head to one side in confusion. And that is when she started talking again...
"You thought you could take me on Alone little foal?!" She started cackling, Her horn blazing into life as she charged it up with what I'm assuming is magic. "Pity you won't get the chance to regret such actions!"
I didn't even know I moved. I don't know what could have possibly possessed me, and suddenly I was silently pissed at myself for such a stupid choice. I landed between the Cackling Pegacorn thing and the purple unicorn, Spiderwebs spread out in the concrete as one of my legs promptly snapped in two. But I ignored the pain, I brought the shield to bear, quickly strapping it to my right forehoof and bracing my good leg on the ground. And then the blast hit the shield, light blazing from around the protective barrier. I winced as I felt the shield already heating up, I could faintly hear conversation in the background but I ignored it.
I clenched my teeth as agony shot up my leg, I could smell my flesh burning but I ignored that too. I thought I could hear myself bellowing a warcry as my shield did its job, Why oh why had I done this again? Who even was that purple mare? What could have possibly possessed me to do such a thing?!
My thoughts raged on as suddenly a bright light appeared behind me, some sort of rousing speech or whatever hit my ears but I couldn't focus on that now. And the moment the magic assaulting me let up, a light so bright it almost blinded me lanced across at the pegacorn, enveloping her in... Rainbow? I winced as I tried to cover my eyes, my legs failing me as I collapsed onto the concrete... The light let up and my eyes felt heavy, I was faintly aware of a sudden gasp from far more voices than I thought had been here originally... And then all I knew was black.
