A large gust of wind swept through the forest, rustling trees, and frightening small critters who scattered instantly. The trees were twisted, mangled, impenetrable and overgrown. Leaves were scattered across the ground, in no clear pathway whatsoever. The Neighagra Falls Forest was a deep, dark and damp maze, with almost no light pouring through the dense canopies. The only sound was the loud crashing of the nearby waterfall, and the occasional growl of predatory creatures, ready to attack at any moment. Anypony would have to be completely mad to be venturing alone in this death trap.
However a light purple (almost white) stallion pegasus leaped over a fallen tree, delving deeper into the depths of the dark forest. He had dark, curly hair with purple streaks through it, and a retardedly long tail that gathered the sticky mud from the forest floor. An image of a green USB flash drive rested on the side of his legs, and his eyes shone brown in the little sunlight that he was receiving.
His heart pumped beyond what he was used to, and he was sweating like a maniac. But he didn't stop, he couldn't stop. He desperately looked behind him, not able to make out anything, no monster, no anything.
He leapt off to the side, abandoning his planned course and ran a few metres down another part of the forest, sliding under and jumping over branches in the way. To his right, he saw a conveniently placed hollow tree. Without any second thought, he dashed inside of it, climbing further up through the trunk, startling a few squirrels who were storing nuts for the winter. Within moments he was far from the ground and sitting on an interior branch somewhere near the middle of the tree.
He closed his eyes, breathing heavily, a few coughs and splutters from his asthma barging in. He hated running, hated any kind of physical outdoor activities. But he would have to get used to it if he was going to live in this land for the rest of his life.
When he had caught his breath, he leaned back against the wall, longing for a drink of Ginger Beer. The word 'beer' repeated in his mind, echoing unstoppably. It made him think of Berry Punch, the first friend he had made in Equestria. He closed his eyes pitifully, a few seconds passed before he snapped them open again. Self pity never helped anyone he said to himself, besides, it wasn't my fault anyway...
He used his hooves to chip a small portion of bark out of the tree, allowing some light to get in, and allowing for him to see what was going on outside. She's still alive he kept repeating to himself, they're still alive.
TWO DAYS EARLIER
The sky glowed golden beyond the mountains, shrouding Equestria in a warm orange light. The light breeze gently moved the foliage and river water calmly lapped against the shore. Not far from a large mountain, nestled between a few hills lay PonyVille. The small town was lit up by several lights that were beginning to switch on, giving the town a friendly yellow glare.
Out of nowhere a fridge door appeared in a sudden green flash on the side of a mountain, causing minor disturbance and burning some grass. The door sat there for a while, amongst some tiny flames, still emitting its eerie green light. The door opened, causing a large amount of smoke to billow out, and the purple pegasus sprung out like an elastic band.
He landed face first on the cool grass, spluttering some mud up into the air. Rather than lie there for a few seconds, he instantly pulled himself up, rubbing his head in the process. He shook off some of the mud and grass, before turning back to the fridge door. "Not cool, bro!" he shouted in a stereotypical New Zealand accent towards the fridge.
"It's for your own good!" a voice replied from inside the fridge door, sounding almost exactly like his only deeper and more American. The pegasus snorted, before charging back at the fridge door, which instantly shut closed in his face.
"Sorry Defi," came another voice from the fridge, once again sounding almost exactly like him, same New Zealand accent, only less stereotypical, "but you're better off here." With those final words, the fridge door flashed a bright lime colour, made a few whirring and hissing noises before it disappeared out of existence entirely.
The pegasus gulped, and trotted up to the mountainside again, finding it hard to believe what just happened. He sat down staring at the mountain wall, slightly teary eyed. After a few moments, he got back onto his hooves and wiped his face before turning around.
The warm orange glow of the sky had been substituted by a cold dark purple. "Sunset," he muttered under his breath, "you had to send me at sunset. Bro, I hate sunset, it's so depressing. Why not dawn?"
His name was Deficit, he was the clone of a fourteen year old human accidentally created in the stickman universe which was a pocket universe of a much bigger universe. His name had come from the name of his counterpart's disorder, ADHD, which stood for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. He only had very minor memories of his former life, his personality and traits were slightly different, he probably didn't even have ADHD.
He looked up at the sky, the moon rose high above the land, covering the mountains in a strong white light, almost as if it was midday. Out in the distance he saw PonyVille, standing out in all the hills and mountains. It was probably best to stay away from any civilization at the moment, he knew a small amount of the land of Equestria from his counterparts studies on alternate universes such as Equestria, or was it the other guy? He rubbed his head again, the memories were quickly fading.
Deficit turned back to the mountain. They're gone he finally admitted to himself, and they aren't coming back anytime soon. He glanced back to PonyVille. He had made his decision. Spreading his wings, he leaped majestically into the cool night air... and fell straight back down, face planting on a muddy patch. He wiped his face clean of the mud (again), folded his wings back in and realized that it was probably best to walk there until he had properly learned how to fly.
When Deficit arrived in PonyVille, most of the inviting lights had gone out, leaving it in a near abandoned looking state, only lit by the light of the moon. The moon shone in his eyes, as he looked up at it. There's an alicorn princess that raises that, he remembered, dammit, what was her name? Selena? Loony? Something like that.
Deficit wandered aimlessly through the cobbled pathways of PonyVille's streets, not quite knowing where he was going. Occasionally he would find the words 'M.A.' and 'yay' drawn onto walls, fences and trees. He eventually found a small hilly park, with benches and stools scattered all around. The park was littered with fireflies, flying about, not acknowledging his existence. He eventually found a park bench in the light flare of a streetlight.
He climbed up onto it, pulling his abnormally long tail up. Curling up on the bench, he watched the moon pass slowly behind the street light. Memories of the last encounter with his friend, and himself. But those memories had almost vanished completely, they were fading faster than the popularity of a viral YouTube video. He didn't bother trying to remember them, they wouldn't help him at all. Eventually he fell asleep, his tail dangling off the side of the bench.
The first half of that night went incredibly slow. Deficit, despite him usually being able to sleep anywhere at all without any problems was finding it awfully hard to get comfortable on the bench, and he occasionally woke up every now and had to pull his tail up off the ground every single time, only for it to droop off the edge again. Eventually he gave up and let it hang. The memories that he was losing of his past life eased his depression and helped him get to sleep.
When Deficit woke up, the sky was a light greyish blue, the air was chilly. There were several ponies, mainly pegasi, trotting and flying around the park. He rolled off the park bench, landing on his back with a thud on the concrete. The ponies ignored him and went about with their every day business. He slowly climbed to his hooves, walked about two metres away from the bench on the grass, then collapsed onto the grass again. Still very slightly tired, he crawled on all fours over to a nearby lake, dragging himself over the muddy grass.
The lake was glassy and reflected the dullness of the sky, it was littered with lily pads and small blades of grass. Just behind it stood a thick, bulky oak tree, covered in moss and creepers. The ground surrounding the lake had small patches of clay and dirt. Deficit reached the lake, bent down to take a long drink, then he spotted his reflection.
It was the first time he had seen himself ever, and it was not a good state for a first impression. His mane had tight curls
