I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling. I rolled my head to the left. White and empty. I rolled my head to the right, but only saw white endless space. I checked to see what I was laying on. I was lying on…. nothing? Just more white. I sat up. What just happened to me? I closed my eyes and tried to remember how I got there. Visions of me sent flying forward, flames surrounding me, and a girl with pleading eyes flashed before my mind.

“Am I… dead?” I spoke to myself.

“Why, yes you are.”

I stood up. My eyes widened as I looked around me to see if there was anyone around me. Still the same white emptiness. “Did I just imagine that?” I thought.

“No. You are in heaven. Or, close enough,” spoke a voice that seemed to emanate from thin air.

“Heaven? So you’re God?”

“Well actually I’m St. Bartholomew. God and Jesus are too busy watching over the Earth to deal with dead people that weren’t priests or popes.”

“So I am dead…” I looked down as my mind tried to accept the fact that I was truly dead. I would not see my friends or family ever again. My body began to shake all over and I fell onto my knees. Tears streamed down my face as memories of my life on Earth went through my mind. I had thoughts of ending my life, but now that it actually happened, I wanted nothing more than to go back. I curled up into a ball and continued to cry.

It may have been a few minutes. It may have been hours that I continuously wept. There was no way to tell, everything was white, no way to tell time passing. I stood up again, wiping off the last of my tears. I sighed and looked up into the vast whiteness.

“Now, I know this may seem bad. But luckily, you have a chance at a second life.”

I gasped. “So I can go back to Earth and live again?”

“Well yes.” My eyes widened and a slight smile crept onto my face. I could go back home. “But, your life would never be the same. Your body suffered severe burns and your head was split. If you were to go back, you would never recover and suffer major trauma and brain damage.”

“Oh…” I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. So much for getting my hopes up.

“But don’t fret! You do have a chance for a second life,” St. Bartholomew said cheerfully.

I looked up questioningly. “What do you mean?”

“You have a choice to where you go next,” Bartholomew started, “You see, most people are able to live a life long enough for God to choose whether you go to heaven or hell. But there are special cases like yours, when you die unexpectedly. We don’t have enough eyes to look at every single person on Earth. Overall, your life so far had been good with just a few bad instances. Your life was short enough for you to have another chance to live again. So, you can choose to go straight to heaven, go back to Earth, or have a life in a different world with a new body.”

A new life. I could go anywhere I pleased. But first…

“What is heaven like?”

“I can’t tell you that unless you have chosen to go there. And so, I will leave you to your thoughts…”

“Wait wait! I have more questions!”

No reply came.

“Bartholomew! St. Bartholomew! Barty!”

“Don’t you dare call me that!” screamed Bartholomew.

I held my hands over my ears to drown out his yells. “But I have more questions…”

No response.

Ugggh… those saints with their need of respect. Barty is a nice short name for Bartholomew. I mean, who wants to say Bartholomew every time they address him? I shook my head. Might as well get started planning. The first thought was to go to Equestria and live life as a pony. Nope… I need to plan things out in case there is better options. This is my way to work out the problem.

I could go back home, but Barty’s warnings seemed serious. I could choose any world I wanted to live in, seems so much better than staying in the hospital for the rest of my life.

Then, there is heaven. The happiest world possible. But, there was too much I didn’t know about the place. How am I supposed to know what the happiest place in the universe is like? Anyways, if I died a second time in my new life, I would go to heaven no matter what, as long as I played my cards right.

So any world I want to go to. Equestria, Pokémon world, become a Jedi, Hogwarts, Land of Ooo. Too many options to think without seeing them all written down.

“Hey Bartholomew, can I have something to write with and some paper?”

No reply.

“BARTY!”

Something dark came flying towards my face. I held my forehead as a piece of charcoal struck me. It hurt quite a bit. Better not mess with this guy, he’s willing to throw rocks. I checked my head for blood. No red appeared on my hand this time. I guess since I wasn’t on Earth, my body couldn’t be injured. But it could still feel pain.

“What am I supposed to do with a rock, Barty?” Another piece of charcoal was sent flying. It struck me on the same exact spot as the other rock had. It hurt even more the second time. The name was just a slip-up too. I picked up one of the rocks and saw that it left a dark spot on the whiteness. I raised my eyebrows as I realized I could use the charcoal to write on the white floor. Even if there wasn’t really a floor there.

Alright, so first of all, Equestria. I wrote down “Equestria” on the ground.

Next, I could become a Jedi and live my life saving the galaxy. Spend my time mastering the force and protecting the peace. Darth Vader would have feared my name. I would make an awesome hero. But then again, my life would constantly be in danger, and I risked dying sooner than I wanted. And I don’t think I would have a third chance at life. That pretty much got rid of all places where I had a good chance of dying.

I spent more time trying to think of places. All of them were extremely risky. My eyes widened as I remembered another place to go. The land of Pokémon. I would be a great Pokémon trainer and the life wasn’t too deadly. I already thought up of great strategies when I was in my obsessed phase. I would love to start off in the Hoenn region with a Torchic.

Now, the decision of my life. Literally. Equestria or Pokémon? I could spend a peaceful life spending time with the Mane Six and adventuring. Or I could become the world’s greatest Pokémon master. Well, I really want to spend an easy life without too much work. So Equestria seems to be the better choice. Then again, there were some girls in the Pokémon world that I would like to… get to know better…

“Alright. Equestria it is,” boomed Bartholomew’s voice.

‘Wait! I never decided on that!” I argued back.

“With that inappropriate thought, you are going straight to the pony world.” I felt the ground under me slide. There was a large hole under me. As the sensation of falling took over my body. I looked up to speak my final words.

“You’re an old, ignorant virgin!”

I was falling through the sky. Blackness changed to sky blue. I looked towards the ground. The land was flying towards me like a bullet. I took a deep breath as I was about to hit the ground.

I woke up with a start. I was surrounded by trees. The sun was directly overhead in the sky. I looked down at my hands. I did a quick-double take as I saw my hands were no longer hands. They were hooves. I checked out the rest of my body. I had a jet black coat with a neon yellow mane and tail. I checked for wings. Nothing. I put a hoof up to my head to find a protruding horn. I was a unicorn. Awesome. I guessed I was in the Everfree Forest. That being the only forest that really came up in the show. Hmmm….. I had to think of a cool pony name. Of course, I spent time thinking what my cutie mark would be on the show back on Earth. I checked my flank and saw that it was empty. There was only one talent I had on Earth that would make a good cutie mark. And my name would have to fit my talent and looks.

So, time to start my new life. The life of Night Rave.

“So… which way is Ponyville?” I asked myself.

Grrr… A growl was coming behind me. My heart skipped a beat as I saw a manticore ten yards behind me. They were a lot bigger than I thought on the show. It was easily three times my new pony size and a mouth large enough to swallow me whole. And there was a hungry look in its eyes. It was ready to pounce.

“Ummm…. adventure time?”

Next Chapter: The Road to Ponyville Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 57 Minutes