P.O.N.E.

Day Zero: P.O.N.E

"A new life starts where the old one ends."

* * *

Black.

It was pitch black as I laid in the everlasting darkness of my mind with my head throbbing with extreme pain in the back that started dragging me out of the darkness. Inhaling and then exhaling a small breathe of air I slowly opened my eyes to find myself staring at what appeared to be a light blue glass container in front of me expanding from my head all the way to my hindlegs as my body was inside what seemed to be a metallic pod.

"Wait...where am I?"

I asked myself in my mind as I started to fidget left and right using my body to try and move around in the pod. Left & right I hit my body all across the pod and the glass, trying to break out, but every time it failed with the pain in the back of my head becoming even more cripplig by the second. For a second I halted in the pod finding it almost impossible to break free from its control now, till I felt a large hard tap on the glass from an extension on the top of my head that sent a small chill down the back of my coat in my small prison.

It was only a matter of seconds after the first initial tap that I realized that I had a horn extending from the top part of my head and that I was actually a unicorn, and I should have some kind of magic ability. Taking a breath I tried to focus and think of anything that may be a magical ability capable of getting me out of here, but as I started to focus, the throbbing pain in the back of my head jolted from the back all the way to the front causing me to yelp, and forcing my body to leap forward and smash my entire body up as hard as possible against the light blue glass and back down to my original position in the pod.

"Ah that hurts."

I yelled as the pain from my head and my body smashing up against the glass shook all over my body, and the tears dripped from my face.

"I'm not going to get out of here."

I said to myself as the continuous pain from my head slowly withdraw to its one spot in the back and the pain from my body subsided, with my tears streaming from my eyes looking at the light blue glass. Suddenly started to feel a weird sensation of something wet stream down from the back of my head, and down the back of my neck. It started to freak me and made me move my hind legs trying to get out, but I ended up keeping kicking the end of the pod.

"There is really no way for me to get out of here."

I said under my breathe as the tears kept rolling and I leaned my horn forward tapping on the glass with the throbbing pain, and the dripping of whatever it was coming down the back of my head kept going. Then the idea that this was just glass and that I may be able to break free by shattering it with repeated strikes hit me. Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes I leaned my horn and head away from the glass all the way back to the back of the metallic container and with rapid speed I sent my head toward smashing it against the glass. Pain circulated from the back spot of my head where the throbbing was and pain circulated from the front of my face where I hit the glad with a loud thud.

Again I took another deep breath and with the constant pain from the back of my head and tears streaming down my face I smashed my face even harder against the light blue glass with another thud, but this time I was able to make out a sound of a crack as the pain circulated from my face and the back of my head. Opening up my teary eyes I was able to see what looked like a small crack on the glass in front of me and knew that my plan for getting out was working.

"Okay, I got this."

I said to myself as the pain in the back of my head continued. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath I repeated the process again, smashing my face against the glass with the glass giving me the result of it cracking even more. But I couldn't stop now, still inside this metallic pod being held prisoner. Catching my breathe I repeated the process ramming my face against the glass like a mad stallion till the final end result with the final smack sending me flying forward making me open my eyes as I was falling and plummeting down into the ground.

"Oh no."

I said to myself as I went falling down from my prison and onto the floor with the rest of the light blue glass pieces, meeting the cold dusty metallic floor. I hit the floor hard head first before the rest of my body followed landing down on the glass and having it penetrate my underbelly with a strong force making me scream in terror as the pain jolted in those points. Quickly trying to get away from the metallic floor where the glass penetrated my body, with tears streaming from my eyes I jumped over to the right, and landed on my right upper side on the cold floor.

"Okay, that hurts!"

I yelled out in frustration as my body was now immobilized with pain. The tears were balling out of my clenched eyes, the back of my head was jolting in pain, and the glass inside my underbelly on the right side was pushing further as I laid on the floor and my warm blood coming out in a slow pace.

"I have to get up."

I thought to myself multiple times as the pain continued to jolt from underbelly and the blood inside me started to seep out. Letting out multiple breaths of air and stopping the stream of tears I slowly opened my eyes to see myself staring at a darkened metallic circular room with a large rectangular vault like door. It was barren, and looked as if it avoided any cleaning for what appeared to be a few years maybe even decades worth of dust was covering the walls as well as multiple pods with the same light blue glass I was stuck in with cobwebs surrounding every part of them.

I stood shocked, puzzled, and in pain as I continued to look at the room. I had no idea where I was, or what was going on. It was a good several minutes of staring at the darkened room with my blood continuing to drip from me before the back of my head snapped me back to reality and turned my attention to my situation.

Taking a small breath I then positioned my hindlegs and front legs so I could stand up and look at my body, but that only made my situation in my underbelly worse as I could feel the blood drip in faster as the glass continued to push forward even more. In absolute pain and using all the strength from my shaking hooves I pushed myself all the way up and cocked my head backwards to look at the blood stains as they started to spread all over my coat.

The glass inside me wasn't as bad as it felt and didn't look as if it penetrated anything important in my body. Exhaling a breate and taking a step forward with my shaking hooves on floor.

"That's it. Come on, I can do it."

I said to myself under my breath as I started moving a few feet away from the pod I escaped from. It was weird; when I was in the pod, I was able to kick my hind legs and move around with tremendous ease, especially when I landed on those large fragments of glass on the floor, but that was probably from the adrenaline coming from my desperate panic & frustration as I was trapped & was trying to get out. I had really no idea where I was going in the room at first trotting around. Thinking calmly I could check on those other pods to see if another pony would be in there trapped like I was, or I could have went to the vault like door that kept me enclosed in this room, and try to find a way to get out.

But for some reason I kept thinking the most important thing I needed to do was to remove these shards of glass from my underbelly, and get the back of my head checked as its constant throbbing of pain was absolutely horrible, yet there was no way I could do that without any kind of assistance of another pony.

Then without any hesitation I focused my mind on the sole purpose of getting out, and cleared my mind of the repetitive pain in my underbelly and my shaking hooves, and used my strength to clearly straighten up my stance in trotting so I could walk over to the door, passing by two pods on the dark room wall which I couldn't help but to look over at. It took me by surprise though when I looked inside the pods and could clearly see through its glass that the pod was empty, and so was the other one near it.

Then with a itching feeling in the back of my head that wasn't the constant pain I took a second to look at the other pods that were on the walls of the room, and tried to get a zoomed in look at them without having to deter from my path of getting to the door by stepping closer to my left side. And as I looked at them while trotting I could see that they were all empty as well. Every last one of them with no pony inside.

It was just like the pods had been swept clean, but if that was true then why was I left in the pod if there ever were ponies inside those pods in the first place? Or better yet, why was I even in the pod in first place? But as I started to think about this new situation, getting closer to the door, I started to feel light-headed, and a whole new emotion began to form in me. It was panic from me not being fully able to grasp what was going on as I was alone, crying, bleeding from my underbelly, and scared.

Trotting closer to the high vault door  I could start to make out a small rectangular box with a large lever pulled up with huge wordings I couldn't make out in the darkness of the room, but I couldn't really be bothered with it as my mind was only focused on the door. Only standing in front of it I came to the realization of how small I was compared to it. It was probably because of the fact that I was far away at first before I came close the door.

Raising my right hoof up to touch it, I could feel the semi-smooth steel & an incredible amount of rust on the surface. Then giving a little strength into that hoof I started pressing forward on it in hopes of opening it, but to my disappointment it didn’t even a budge. I was expecting it to fall outwards due its age & rust. Setting my right hoof back down, and looking at the vault door I was left with no way to get out of this room, and I was left trapped now like a rat in a small circular prison.

Then without warning the strength I had originally used to straighten up my posture in order to walk started to fade as I became more focused on my imprisonment in this room making my hind legs shake, and finally give up, making me land on my bum hard. Sitting quietly now in the darkness of this prison I could start to feel my upper body go numb as I heard the continuous dripping of blood hit on the ground, and my mind begin to distance itself from reality. It was hopeless; I wasn't going to leave this room.Then a thought hit me like a bolt of thunder. It concerned that lever on the far right wall that I forgot about.

"Maybe, just maybe that lever could open the door, and allow me to get out."

I thought to myself, and with a new self-determination to get out I forced my mind to come back to reality, and regain control of my numb upper body that was shivering with a feeling that was near the complete coldness. Taking a deep breath I started to force myself to stand up once more, quivering still and my blood still dropping onto the floor. Progressing slowly to the lever, raising my hooves up slowly & steadily, I was able to make out a small writing above it written in white paint saying:  "Emergency Power Initiator - EPI."

"Emergency Power...so this should open the door?"

I thought to myself as I stopped dead in front of it, and leant my head forward towards it to grab the lever’s handle with my mouth. It was light and graspable as I held it in my mouth and pulled it down. Upon doing so, however, I started to hear several large clanks of metal moving. It must have come from the door as it was slowly starting to swing open, and the lights of the facility lighting up the entirity of the room, blinding me and making me see nothing, but white.

"Come on, get it together."

I said to myself in my head as I couldn't let the brightness of the room hold me from getting out with the continuing clank of the moving metal from the door before it finally swung open, and the white light in my eyes faded away. The rectangular vault door, now fully opened, lead outside on what appeared to be a metallic staircase that had rusted with a strong brown coloring, surrounded by cobwebs. There was a blue bag near the very entrance where I stood.

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, with my underbelly still ringing with pain from the glass inside, I took several small hoof steps forward out of the room and towards the blue bag, stopping in front of it. There was something extremely wrong here, and I knew it as I stood at the bottom of the staircase just staring at the blue bag in front of me, but taking a gulp and licking my lips I leaned forward, unzipping the bag, and picked it with my mouth dumping everything in it down on the floor with a large clap-like sound.

Throwing the bag over to the side from my mouth I found a very small book which title held in a gold color read "The Book Of Reason." . Blinking at it and lifting up my head looking back into the room I exited and the near staircase and back at the book I wondered what was in it. Leaning in and placing my hoof on the soft paper of the book I flipped to a random page and began reading it.

"Praise Leviathan for it is all that holds everything together after the end. Praise Leviathan for it binds all of our fates. Praise Leviathan for it is the light in our darkness."

"Given the secrets of the world I can foresee its future.

Ponies forever imprisoned in the absurdity of others, shocked & disgusted by their actions.

Marching on the ashes of the old world losing their will to carry on within a barren land never to blossom again.

Unable to watch it any longer I decide to help those in the barren land giving them a reason to live, my reason.

And my reason becomes their whole life never to faultier.

Rising up from the dust of the land is my army of the dominant rulers, Leviathans. Built from their commitment to me.

I am the beginning of the end, I am Leviathan, and what I say is absolute.

Leviathan is Obedience.

Leviathan is Salvation.

Leviathan is Hope.

Leviathan is Reason."

Then just blinking at everything I just read I came to a very fast conclusion that everything written in the book was absolute nonsense, and I pondered on what kind of sane pony would read this type of literature. And the only answer I got from it was none. I mean, just analyzing it, any pony could see it was nothing more than a bunch of ramblings. Then reaching out my right hoof to finally close the book I noticed what seemed like a ripped page sticking out on the side. Blinking, I was thinking to just ignore it, but there was a certain force that was telling me to go to that page, and I did.

But upon turning to the page within the book instead of coming face to face with what I thought was a torn page I found a white separate piece of paper that looked as if it was torn out of another book. Looking at the paper I could see something written on it that was almost like chicken scratch making it almost unreadable...almost, but I could still read it with it saying

"Kill The Assurance.".

"The Assurance. Who is that?" I asked myself. Inhaling slowly, I could feel a weird sensation at the tip of my tongue about that name that was almost re-memorable. And reaching into my brain and trying to find something like that I got nothing except everything that transpired a few minutes ago and me standing in front of the damn book I just read.

Taking my eyes off the piece of paper and over to the blue bag I threw over to the side I contemplated whether or not to grab the book & paper to take with me as it may be of some importance. If I did, I would be carrying around useless junk that would eventually slow me down, but If I was to abandon it I might be throwing away something that may have had a connection to my past as it was pretty clear that the blue bag with the book with the letter was placed there specifically for me, and I could have the chance to meet somepony who could make sense of everything for me. With pain in me I got up off my ass and decided to take the book and letter, and I grabbed the bag and put the book in it with my mouth.

From the corner of my eye I looked at the stairs I so blatantly ignored, and started trotting towards it with the bag. Coming up to the stairs and placing my hoof on it. The staircase was cold, and sent shocks up my hooves and to the rest of my body which I threw off fast before going up it. Hoof by hoof I ascended the staircase, letting a flux of bright light hit my eyes which burned for a second before I looked back up to see what appeared to be a closed cellar door with torn off wood letting in the light block my path at the top of the metallic staircase.

Approaching it and just putting my right hoof on it I could feel that the cellar was unlocked, and whatever had held it locked in place was degraded and old. Taking a breath of air before exhaling it I used my strength to swing it open with an eerie creepy sound coming from it, and stepped outside into very bright sunlight that made me close my eyes on the way out.

Coming outside I was greeted with the sound of several birds chirping and very strong sunlight that felt warm on my coat and face which gave me the assumption that I was maybe placed somewhere near a grassy green field during the summer. However, upon raising my hoof up to my face to block out the sunlight and opening up my eyes I found myself to be in an immediate state of shock that let my jaw drop.

Instead of being where I assumed I was, I found myself to be out on the ledge of a rocky terrain that held a dark gray color in the middle of nowhere with a descending path in front of me. The sky was of a near dark blue color. The land from my perspective and looking over the rocky terrain looked dead, deserted, and burned. In horror I stood breathless from what I was seeing.

"What the hell could have happened to the land to make it like this?"

I thought before turning around to see the cellar which I exited out of right next to the wall of a tall black, nearly destroyed building with a high tower sticking up from the top. Taking one last look around me, and having nowhere else to go I started to trot forward down the rocky path, dragging my backpack losing and my footing from the glass stuck in my underbelly.

* * *

Moving forward I had no idea where I was going, but it had to be somewhere as I managed to get away from the weird building & underground facility I had awoken in, and found myself in a deep dust grey canyon area that looked unnatural in its creation. Then looking back up at the sky from within the canyon I started to see a weird colored streak in the sky in the distance. At first I thought I was just seeing things from the blood loss, but as it continued to shoot up I knew I wasn't hallucinating, and in one burst that I could hear away where I was at in the canyon a loud boom went off.

And in less than ten seconds flat after the loud boom, a mushroom cloud of rainbows exploded in the distance where the streak was. It was beautiful as it lit up the sky with unimaginable colors I myself couldn't ever think of right before it released a small circular wave that was spreading outwards, disappearing into the sky.

Letting out a few "Uh's..." I stood almost breathless for what seemed like hours, staring at the sky. What just happened over there in the far distance out of the valley I didn’t know. But what I did know was that whether it was good or bad it just created one of the strangest, and most beautiful things that I have seen.

Then, biting my bottom lip I started to hear an echo from within the valley of what sounded like a yawn of a middle age stallion waking up that sent the hairs on my coat up, but I didn't understand why as I was looking for somepony the entire time. Taking in a deep breath I started forward, making a curvy turn around one of the valley's rocky wall before seeing what appeared to be a pegasus stallion sitting down having his body propped against the rocky wall. His coat was of a very sickly dark brown coat with light green eyes, and grey mane.

The stallion was wearing some kind of body armor that looked hard and a little bit degraded with a weird dark green & orange coloring, and a light green vest on his chest. His patch held a weird wooden-like wolf being comforted by two yellow pegasus wings expanding from behind it. In white underneath the picture there were several words that were etched on it, but I couldn't truly read out what it read, but could guess it said "K & L". Next to the pegasus on the ground was a weird I wouldn't say large, but medium sized weapon with a long barrel at the front and mouth hold piece.

Glancing at him without him detecting me I could eavesdrop on him having a conversation with himself out loud saying.

"Stationed all the way out here in the New Moon Valley with those damn things running more rampant. Those fucking mares in charge. I thought we didn't even have a command structure when I joined."

Just listening to him say the word "Stationed" my mind just immediately forgot everything else he said in the belief that he was a part of some kind of organization of guards that could help me. Dropping my blue bag I yelled out to him the words "Excuse me." revealing my location around the rocky valley wall which put an expression of shock on his face after he spotted me.

Speaking quickly I could barely understand a word he said as he tried to get up from where he was sitting, but I guessed within his gibberish speaking & trying to get up he was referring to me by me hearing him say the word "Mare." Responding with simple saying of "Hi." he then gave me a long pause along with a weird piercing gaze as if he was trying to see through me which wasn't working in any way.

Letting out several coughs and then looking at the weird metallic object next to him as he stood, the armor wearing pegasus then asked me in a crystal clear voice that echoed in the valley to identify myself. Which left me at a standstill letting out a few "Uh's.." as I stared at him, and slowly let my mind drip back with the thought of "Who was I?" before the throbbing pain in the back of my head shot me back to reality letting me say a few "ow's" underneath my breath.

Looking back at the stallion and not to let my mind wonder as I knew I would get that weird pain again I tried to open my mouth to say something to him before he interrupted me saying "Hello mare, you there?" leaving me to say "Huh?" to him out loud. I know he could see perfectly fine, and I knew he could see the condition I was in. Then again I was pretty sure the condition I was in was nothing to him.

But then again I could have been completely wrong as he pointed out my condition by saying: "Hey you look to be in bad condition mare," like an idiot.

Nodding my head hastily in agreement I said "Yeah. I know."

Then listening to him say "You're so small..." I started to feel very uncomfortable now as he was starting to approach me.

Then, not saying a word to him, I watched as he got closer to me, and continuing where he left off from in his sentence "And you never identified yourself," which started to freak me out before he snapped out a nasty sentence towards my face that sealed the deal in me wanting to get away.

The pegasus said "Why not come on down to our Temperance base not far from here, & we'll patch ya right up nice & tight."

Now backing up out of fear building up inside me I opened my mouth to say to him in a very kind voice "That's very generous, but not necessary. I'm sure I'll do fine. Thanks for the offer, nice stallion."

Then keeping retreating from the pegasus, I continued my conversation with him saying: "I'll just go. Since I didn't identify myself, and I don't think you'll be able to help with this throbbing-" before I felt my rump hit against something soft that made the hair on my coat stand up, and made me make a loud squeak like a small animal.

Turning around as fast as possible I found another pegasus with a puce red coat, old burgundy mane, and pale brown eyes wearing a forest green colored jump suit with a light brown vest, and an insignia similar to the pony behind me. On the left side along his vest was a very decorative black holster with small blue butterflies & shiny steel made weapon in it.

Staring at him for a few seconds he put on a smile towards me that was kinda friendly till he started leaning towards me, and near my left ear & started smell me and said:  "You know you smell good right?" It was flattering really, but I didn't like how it was going now with the stallions, and I knew from an awful feeling in my gut that I needed to evade this situation.

Saying "Eh...thank you." I soon started to trot away before I felt something poke me from behind on my thigh area where the previous pegasus I was talking to behind me was rubbing his right hoof on me saying to me in a very calm voice: "Such a weird cutie mark. P.O.N.E." and asking me how did I get that cutie mark which made me question what he was talking about.

Looking back he was right about my cutie mark as it was letters. What it meant? How did it get there? Though it wasn't my concern at the moment as I could care less about it for I wanted to leave right now away from these two pegasi.

Saying "Okay I need to go now," quite loudly I started to go past the brown colored pegasus I went slowly trotting away from them & leaving my bag behind with them taunting me by saying:

"Where's the fire? You in a rush going into the dusts? Why not stay with us?" & "Hey, come back here." before I could hear them starting to follow me which made bolt in the valley.

Running in the valley with those pegasi behind me was painful, especially within my underbelly area as it started to leave a trail as I turned rocky corner of the valley. My heart beating faster and faster as I continued to move I could hear the mocking voices of the pegasi right behind me as I approached the exit of it. Putting on a smile I was almost out before I felt something swoop forwards tackling me from behind & shoving my face way onto the dead ground outside of the valley.

Putting up a fight I quickly turned around knocking the dark brown pegasus off of me, and I started kicking him in the face with my hindlegs before he pinned my hindlegs with his wings, and pinned my front hooves with hooves. Looking him in his eyes I was absolutely terrified of what was about to happen to me till I heard the sound of thunder roar above my head, and felt something warm & liquid-like fell on my face.

Blinking I could hear young mare’s voice above me say "Fucking Temperance, they just don't believe in staying off Diligence territory." as the blood from the dead carcass of the pony on me fell over to my side.

I wanted to scream & vomit both at the same time as the body lay next to me, but I couldn't as I was choking on very air out of fear. Lifting my head up I then could see other stallion who was chasing me in the distance at the entrance of the valley, staring at me & the mysterious mare behind me. Shaking off the fear instantly, I ran behind the pony behind me, catching a glimpse of her while I did so.

She was wearing a very heavy looking brown trench coat with a weird insignia on her side that resembled a war flag that held maroon, black, & white colors. In the center of the flag was what appeared to be a light blue phoenix with a jewel in its mouth. Inside the insignia I could read the words "Semper Liberi".

The Mare was also levitating a very long, but not heavy looking weapon with a narrow barrel & a huge scope next to her right shoulder, using her magic so she could aim down its sight with a shifting green-purple aura surrounding it. The mare was tall compared to me, & she had a very lovely vanilla coat that looked as if she kept clean despite the environment. Her mane was of a charcoal color with a single rosewood colored streak running down the center of it. One of her eyes were purple as a near dark night, and the other a light green.

Looking from behind the mare and at the stallion in the distance I could see anger and hate in his eyes, before he turned and took off running back inside the valley. Letting out a sigh, I knew that the threat of that pegasus was out of the way, but my mind went to an immediate thought about the mare that just saved me being my threat which made me cower in fear at her as she turned around with her weapon still in the air. Putting up my hooves at her I simply yelled out

"Please, don't hurt me!"

Silence passed by before I started to hear her laugh at me. Looking up I could see a smile on her face as her laughter at me got even harder. Still laughing the mare was barely able to get her sentence out saying "Hurt you? Why would I hurt you after rescuing you? That-That's just down right stupid."

Slowly calming down from her laughing fit, she looked me in the eye with a smile on her face now saying: "There's no way a mare like you who could get past the Equestrian Royal Army to get inside of Equestria would be that dumb." Which was a major insult to me as I never snuck past any army to inside of Equestria, and I wasn't dumb.

Opening my mouth I asked her who she was, and with a chuckle behind her voice she said "My name is Captain Hearth of Diligence."

* * *

End Of Day 0