Chapter One: Neverland (the Star)
Release me from this cage; relivemy memories.
“Forgive me, Grandsire.”
I distinctly remember uttering those final words as the creeping cold gripped my body. I’d stared into that… monster’s bright red eyes, and the next thing I knew, I couldn’t move. My legs planted themselves to the ground, sure as if they had previously ingrained roots embedded deep below the surface. I strained to lift them, to flee from the abomination that inflicted its death-like curse upon me. Alas, my muscles had already solidified, weighing me down like a boulder upon my back.
I glanced around at myself, feeling the breath catch in my lungs as my tail became the next casualty. Numerous lengthy blonde strands began to crack and snap off, petrifying hair by hair. I felt an agonising tug at the base of my rump, the pain increasing steadily as my tail stretched taut from the additional creeping weight.
My chest tightened and constricted. I felt as though my skin was no longer my own. I started to choke and splutter as blood turned to ice inside my veins. The chill spread from my tail and my hooves, down along my back, also snaking up my legs. I turned my head to examine myself, my vision already beginning to blur while I watched frigid grey stone replace soft brown fur.
I remember shivering then as the biting chill spread; my stone prison continued its relentless progression, freezing me to the core. Not even the past winter had affected me to such a degree. This was the cold of an endless night—a night with no sunrise to bring the kiss of respite. Then, soon as the malicious chill had set in, all feelings in the afflicted areas simply disappeared. My racing heart beat its last. A small cry escaped me, before any and all remaining air was trapped inside my chilled, dense lungs.
It had taken ten seconds. Ten miserable little seconds had destroyed my future. Ten seconds of fear, dread, cold. My eyes watered with the knowledge that the last thing I would see was the scarlet stare of oblivion. Never again would I play with my brethren or frolic with my cousins in our peaceful, verdant meadow.
Before the stone could arrive at the base of my neck, I’d forced my head low and embraced the dark. A slight trail of water sneaked through my eyelids and came to rest on my cheek. My blonde mane caressed the Earth beneath me. It was then I’d voiced my regret, my lament of a life not lived, a life that I nor anypony else would ever know again. My voice box joined the rest of my body in petrification; no more words would I, or could I speak.
Although, why I’d chosen that particular phrase, I will never remember.
I felt the water freeze on my cheek as I thought no more...
* * * * *
Take me back to a place that I know.
It was the warmth that brought me back; I could feel my blood flowing again, a tingling sensation that spread to all sections of my body. My pulse pounded inside my head as if it had never stopped. Welcome, glorious warmth returned to me, layered on top of and concentrated inside my body. I likened it to lying in a meadow back home and basking in the summer sun. I could almost smell the azaleas, lilacs, orchids and more that were in bloom all around me in my own little paradise. A slight breeze blew over me from behind, laying its gentle touch upon my coat.
Touch, smell… smell! I could breathe again! I immediately inhaled the deepest breath I’d ever taken. I relished the sensation of air whooshing past my lips. Oh, yes, the sweetness of the cool, crisp air around me was delicious. I never thought I could enjoy being able to breathe so much, as opposed to simply having to. I quietly promised myself that I’d never take it for granted again.
If I could feel, hear and smell, then surely...
I opened my eyes—eyes that had seen nothing in… well, I wasn’t exactly sure. It could have been seconds, days or years. I’d known nothing but a deep black slumber for time immeasurable. After creaking open slowly, they viewed the ground, vastly different to the one I remember standing on. Tendrils of blonde swayed in front of me, though I’d not moved save to raise my eyelids. In my periphery, I caught the edge of a glimmer barely within my line of sight.
I lifted my head. Before me stood three ponies I had never seen before. The first—a pegasus—shone a cobalt blue, brighter than any sky or lake I’d ever beheld. The second—an Earth pony, slightly larger—radiated with the orange glow of vesper. As for the third…
Amber met sky-blue as gazes widened. The pink pony stared into my soul while I beheld her shining brilliance. She… she was the one who brought me back. A cerulean heart suspended by a chain of purple stones was strung around her neck.
The glowing filly took a single step forward. The clop of her hoof upon the stone ground echoed throughout the wide chamber. That single step might as well have been a colossal elm, crashing to its demise, for the amount of sound that carried to my freshly awakened, hypersensitive ears caused them to ring.
Something broke. I know not whether it was my memories, my comprehension or the sheer impossibility of it all. All I knew was that I was alive. I was free. I had been saved. With that moment, I had been given a second life. Of course, I promptly thanked the glistening filly before me in the most logical, acceptable and polite manner I could have.
The ground rushed to meet me. I never felt the impact.
* * * * *
A vision in the mist. A dream beyond the stars.
Arise, Free Spirit.
I let out a low, drawn-out groan and shifted my body. My left temple pounded; I brought a hoof up to massage it. For the second time, I was greeted by a vision of the ground in all of its ethereal, rainbow glory.
Wait… what?
I slammed my eyelids together and shook my head. No, it couldn’t have been possible. I should have had solid ground beneath my hooves. My eyes flew open, blinking a few more times for good measure.
Your eyes do not deceive you. Have no fear, my little pony—you are quite safe.
There it was again: that…voice? Could I even call it that? I heard the words—at least I thought I did. It felt more like… well, I suppose I could say I felt them, too. I saw them in my mind. The best way I could put it is that they simply came to exist. The words filled my senses from an unknown source, direction likewise a mystery.
I took a deep breath, savoured its still-sweet taste for a moment and expelled it, a small amount of fear following. I felt my heartbeat slow a little. I used my front legs to push myself up. It was strange, pressing into an invisible solidity to stand in a world of swirling colours. No ground, trees or even landmarks at all lay within sight.
Then I turned on the spot and saw… her.
In all the days I’d lived, only two had I seen of her kind: Celestia, like a surrogate mother with her calm demeanour and watchful gaze; Luna, fighting evil in our dreams by moonlight and winning our love by daylight. Two nights before my fateful journey to the wood’s edge, my aunts has left us to our own devices and sought to combat some kind of malevolence, festering within the deeper sections of our realm.
The alicorn stood tall, higher even than I remember Celestia being. Her short auburn mane—vastly at odds with my own—fell about her shoulders in perfect formation, even all the way around. Her tail—much the same style—fell just shy of touching the ground. Her body of purest white dwarfed my own chestnut frame; my horn barely came up to her stomach.
All this I took in with a single glance, though her eyes held me in another stasis. For the second time, amber met piercing blue, keeping me enthralled as she too appeared to see right through me.
I am pleased that you could join me here, Free Spirit. You have been… well, let us call it ‘asleep’ for quite some time.
Her mouth never moved, yet the words still filled my senses. I realised then that my own mouth was hanging open. I clenched my jaws together while I continued to drown in the deep blue of her twinkling eyes. Deeper than any forest pond I’d seen, those two small irises seemed to contain the expanse of the universe within them.
Eventually, I released the breath I’d been unaware of holding. It took another moment longer before I remembered how to use my tongue.
“Who… are you? Where am I?”
The words fell out of my mouth in a mumbling mess. Even I could barely understand myself.
You find yourself within my realm of Elysium: a sacred place that no mortal can willingly access. It is from here that I watch over all of my little ponies and observe as they go about their lives.
She brought her head down to look me in the eyes, her graceful, swan-like neck drooping below her shoulders. Her mane swung before me to compliment that gaze of hers that I’d begun to both fear and love.
“So… do you mean, we’re in a different… land of some kind?”
Hm. Yes, I suppose you could say that, she said. However, it would be more correct to consider this place a completely different plane of existence. Here, time has no grasp, no power to change anything. It is a realm of pure bliss, an endless expanse whereupon I dwell.
Elysium? Plane of existence? Timeless? With these thoughts all viciously competing for consideration in my mind, a headache was inevitable. I brought a hoof up to my face and closed my eyes. First things first.
“You still haven’t told me who, or what you even are… um, Miss…”
Of course. The alicorn flashed her brilliant white smile my way, almost too painful to behold. I am the creator of your world. Your aunts, Celestia and Luna, know me as ‘Mother.’
You may call me Lady Dimiourgia.
I watched as her head rose and she stood tall, easily thrice my height. To view her in such a regal stance left no doubt in my mind that she spoke the truth. The urge to lower my head and bend my knees grew, though I held my position.
“So… Lady Dimiourgia, is it?” I received a single nod in response and continued, “If you live here and watch over all of ponykind, does that mean you could tell me about myself? Perhaps you could inform me how I’ve so miraculously returned to life? Or where my family is?”
I know all that there is to know about every pony in Equestria. These things I can recall at a whim, with perfect memory. You could ask me almost anything and have it answered.
My companion brought her head down to my level again.
I will give you knowledge. You may ask of me but a single question, so choose wisely.
A single question? The possibilities raced around in my head while I lost myself in her kind yet crushing stare. It didn’t make sense: how could I feel like I was soaring through the sky while also drowning under all the world’s water?
I shook the thoughts away and turned around, staring into the endless realm beyond. Rainbow auroras danced and intermingled in a hypnotising display. I closed my eyes and loosed a deep exhale. I sat down slowly and groaned on the way down, my joints reluctant to comply with the motion. As I willed the wave of pain away, I sensed the lingering gaze of the Lady upon my back—or was it inside my head?
I could ask how I was released. I could learn how much time had passed. The status of my family would be a good start.
Only one question, though. I lifted a hoof and repeatedly bumped it against my head. Think, Free. There must be a way to have all of those answered with the same query.
I ceased tapping on my skull and brushed a length of blonde away from my face. Slowly, I stood again and stared once more into the distance. How could I find everything out? What did I already know?
You know nothing, Free Spirit.
That was it, really. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I had no knowledge of the new world I’d found myself revived into. To have any one question answered would only lead to more. With the prospect of having anything I wanted clarified, did I truly wish to waste such an opportunity?
I bowed my head and inhaled deeply, still appreciating the fact that I could do such a thing. I raised my head and righted about to see the Lady standing immobile before me. The corners of her lips poked upward, and the twinkle in her sky-blue eyes warmed me from within. I sighed and asked my question.
“Lady Dimiourgia, by which method may I discover everything about the past—my world, my family and the passage of time, as relevant to me—all while finding myself again?”
Silence reigned. I gulped down some bile in my throat as one of the Lady’s eyebrows rose into her auburn mane. Had I asked the wrong thing? Did she see through my wording? What if she rejected the question?
A laugh.
That was the last thing I’d expected. No, it couldn’t have been a laugh. This was a serious moment for both of us—why would she laugh? Yet there it was, a feather-light, glorious giggle of one thoroughly enjoying themselves.
It sounded again, a soothing chuckle that permeated through my body. I felt my lips begin to move upward, something they’d not done in time still unknown. Before long, I’d joined the alicorn in her bizarre amusement, my own unused facial muscles cracking as laughter passed my lips.
You ask a wise question, Free Spirit. Excellent wording. It appears that being encased in stone for twenty years has not dulled your mind in the slightest.
Twenty. Years.
One by one, the implications assaulted my mind. It was certain that I’d been abandoned, left for dead by my family. Would any of them even still be alive? Had my aunts bested whatever wicked entity threatened us all? What of my parents, Moon Beam and Violet Thistle? Or my favourite cousin, Starshine?
I fell to the ground as water welled at the edge of my eyes. I scrunched them up tightly and shook my head at the ground. I started to shake uncontrollably. A trail began to leak from my nostrils, adding to the small puddle growing beneath my muzzle. I buried my face into my forelegs.
I heard the words—I must have. She said them right to my face; they appeared in my mind, clear as the ground upon which I stood. They had to be fact. There was no way they could be wrong. So why did hearing a piece of goddess-given truth smash my heart into fragments, sure as if it were still made of stone?
What of my home? I knew that something terrible had happened. It was the very reason for my initial attempt at flight from the forest. I’d been a complete coward. Did I even deserve to know my family anymore, after I’d abandoned them and sought to preserve my own hide? Regardless, I had paid my price—the price of two decades worth of stasis.
Two final salty drops fell from the corners of my eyes. I swallowed a gulp of air and shook my head. The past was the past. Yes, it was time to grasp my life and create a new one for myself. I couldn’t look back.
I staggered to my hooves, my mane swinging wildly in front of my face and down past my shoulders. On the way up, one of my clumsy legs stepped on a section of my tail. I winced at the sharp pain in my rump and stumbled to my left side. Expecting to hit the ground, I widened my eyes upon witnessing the sky-blue glow that enveloped my body.
I was set gently back on my hooves, the glow dissipating soon afterward. I glanced up and saw Lady Dimiourgia’s horn alight for a second before the aura faded. Seeing the magic brought something else to mind. I reached a hoof above my head and slid it along the length of the solid piece of bone protruding from my forehead. How could I have forgotten it was there? That I could cast magic of my own?
Understand, Free, that the world is changed. Although you knew only of the forest where you once dwelled, Equestria has grown and flourished in your absence. Many lands, creatures and civilisations now dot the landscape. You cannot return to the forest now known as Everfree—you will find no welcome there.
I took a solitary step back.
Believe me when I say that the cockatrice who petrified you would be the least of your worries, lest you return to that darkened wood.
I gulped. That settled the matter. Whatever evil that my aunts had sought to eradicate had won. I had to find a new home. Then I could begin to live; then, I would find my family.
Then, I might be able to rediscover myself.
“Please, Lady Dimiourgia, answer my question. I have to know. Don’t leave me blind to my path.”
At my words, the Lady simply closed her eyes. She reared back onto her hind legs and unfurled her enormous wings, keeping her balance with gentle flaps. Her horn glowed.
I shivered as our prismatic surroundings darkened. Before long, both of us stood in a seemingly endless black void.
The light from Dimiourgia’s horn continued to glow. A trickle of what looked to me like blue vines twisted out from the tip and rose into the air above her. It hovered there for a few seconds, with its light casting an azure hue over both of our coats. Then it began to wrap around and inside itself. It eventually came to a halt in the shape of a six-pointed star.
Dimiourgia flicked her head over her left shoulder.
The star raced away into the distance. I watched as it came to rest as a tiny point in the air some immeasurable distance away.
I cantered forward stiffly ten paces and stared after it. After watching it twinkle for some time, I returned my attention to Dimiourgia. My mouth fell open as I witnessed a single white orb slowly beginning to vanish.
“My Lady!”
I made to run to her side, only to encounter some kind of invisible barrier. I bounced backward and landed on my rump. Ignoring the slight ache, I stood up once again and leaned my hooves against the non-existent wall.
“Please! Don’t leave me here alone!”
Quell your fear, my dear colt. Our time together draws to a close. Head for the star. Run wherever it shines. It will be your guiding light, wherever you may roam.
Wherever I may roam…
“Will I ever see you again?” I called as the ball shimmered.
One day, perhaps you will find your way back to me. I should hope that you would live a long and prosperous life before next we meet, though.
The ball gleamed so bright a white that I was forced to avert my sight and shield my eyes. When the glow faded, I flicked my head back. No light remained. Alone in the darkness I stood.
Remember, when you’re lost in the darkness… look for the light.
With the Lady’s final words burned into my mind, I turned around and galloped toward the star.