In the Eye of the Storm

Darkness. That was all there was. My entire existence was darkness. My only thought, darkness. But was it really a thought? Or was it my existence, and I had only just come to realize it? There were a few moments of murky reflection, or a few moments as I perceived it. It could well be a few hours, a few days, or even a few moons. Time and reality seemed to blur around me.

Reality. What a strange word. What was reality? To my knowledge, it was the absolute truth, not something we can see too differently. Was it reality that caused my friends to perish alongside me? A reality that I helped bring on, not thinking through… there was something there. Something locked. But if all of that was so, then where am I now? Awaiting the choice to see if I'd be brought up into some pearly gates into the sky or eternal torture? That was, if whatever foul creature brought on our demise couldn’t sway such a decision.

But there was light. A pinprick on the horizon, growing slowly closer. Was this the spectre of a being coming to whisk me away to the Alicorn Kingdom in the sky? No, it could not be. The light grew closer and brighter, and closer, and brighter, until my brain could take no more. I tightly closed my eyes, curled up, and was swallowed by the light. I felt a sudden lurch and splayed, hooves hitting ground. I collapsed there immediately as my mind struggled to handle the sensory overload.

I slowly dragged myself to my hooves, blinded by an intense migraine. I dug my hooves into the ground below me, and struggled to move forward.

Sand. I was surrounded by sand. It whipped through my mane and stung my face. My hooves move slowly through the whipping wind, and found little purchase on the loose sand. I lurched forward again, violently emptying the contents of my stomach in front of me. I wanted nothing more than to fall over and cry, but could not.

I was lost in what felt like a desert, sick and confused. I needed to find somebody.

My front hooves dragged through the sand. I couldn’t stay out here. I needed to make it back. I needed to see my friends and family again. I needed to make it for Mom and Dad, for Rarity too. I needed to find Scootaloo and Applebloom…

My eyes shot open. My friends... They were in the same situation I was. Had they made it? Were they okay? In my shock, I failed to notice the hooves before me. Long, light gray hooves that responded like my own. I looked down to see them connected to a light gray body. My body? The shock was too much, and my vision faded to black.

I awoke what felt like hours later to a calmed storm and a setting sun. I forced myself to my hooves and looked down at my body again. Light gray coat, long legs, long barrel. I had the body of a fully grown mare. I gently prodded my head with a hoof. Still had a horn, still had my long curly mane. Was I in another pony’s body, or had some strange magic arbitrarily grown me?

All these questions did nothing to solve the pain in my head. I needed… needed to find somebody. Where was everyone? I held back tears as I tried to calm myself. There was nobody in sight, so I needed to find somebody myself. Find civilization. Looking around, I saw nothing but dunes of sand, so I resumed stumbling forward, all the while replaying my last memories in my head. It was fuzzy, but I remembered the girls and I were at some sort of event. Then there was an explosion? Or was it a pony? Something had scattered us apart. My head twinged especially painfully, and I lost my footing, stumbling straight down a dune, and falling screaming right into a hole near the bottom. Landing on what felt like cold stone, I rubbed my head and looked up to find myself an inch away from a sharp-looking spear held by a very angry looking unicorn in a strange uniform. It was at this point my brain saw fit to black out again.

“...came out of nowhere…”

“...Grandmaster got involved…”

“...Commander found her at our doors…”

I strained to open my eyes. Fuzzy shapes and flashing colors came into view. I heard snippets of random conversations that changed every time I phased in and out of consciousness. I struggled to my knees and rubbed my head. This was not my day.

“She’s awake.”

As my vision came back into focus, I noticed the same angry looking unicorn from earlier. He was a young stallion with a midnight blue coat and a short teal hair. He sported a tarnished and worn royal purple armor with a spear strapped to one side and several pouches of varying sizes and shapes to the other. At the sight of his cold, ice blue eyes, I tasted metal. His very presence made me break into a cold sweat.

“Stand up.”

My body moved on its own. Standing at my full height, he still towered over me. My ears flattened themselves against my head and my legs started shaking uncontrollably and my throat went dry.

“Follow.”

Again, my body moved on its own. Following him, I broke into a strong walk. He lead me into a dark, damp stone hallway with uneven stone placement and ivy breaking through the stone at random intervals. Every seven hoofsteps or so there would be a torch radiating just enough light to see the stallion in front of me. After a couple of minutes of silent walking, we arrived at what seemed like a dead end. The stallion, undeterred, alighted his horn and revealed a hidden doorframe in a harsh forest green light. Silently we passed through it and emerged in a blindingly bright room.

I blinked hard, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the sudden change of lighting. When they adjusted, I was greeted by a warmly lit gray room shaped like a giant semi-circle, about 40 pony-lengths by 40 pony lengths. The ends of the room were covered by cafeteria tables, only breaking to open space for doors. In the middle of the room was a giant circular gray slab, sloping slightly inward from the bottom and about as tall as a horseshoe. My mind reeled and I resisted the urge to sink to my knees.

The stallion brought me in front of the slab and turned to me.

“The Grandmaster has requested your presence. You are to be quiet, polite, and only speak when spoken to. And to prevent you from trying to pull something funny, we capped your horn. You can’t use your magic.”

A hoof shot to my forehead. A metal… something was clamped to my horn. That must be the cap. As my hoof sunk back down to the floor, the stallion lighted his horn once more. The entire top layer of the gray slab started glowing white and moments later, a sunken form appeared.

While most of the pony was covered in a rough brown cloak, I could make out a snout and four hooves of some dark color flecked with white. The pony hobbled toward me, obviously elderly, and likely a mare based on the body shape.

“Name?” the mare coughed.

I swallowed hard. It was just some old mare, no need to be scared.

“Uh- uhm, my name is Sweetie Belle.” I choked out, trying to stop shaking.

The mare tilted her head slightly.

“Is that so?”

“I uh, y-yes.” I stuttered.

“You seem rather unsure.” The mare chuckled.

I swallowed hard, straightened my back, and stared the mare in the eyes.

“I am sure. My name is Sweetie Belle.”

The mare just chuckled again.

“I knew of a Sweetie Belle once.” The mare sighed. “Nice little filly, with a coat as white as snow. Took after her sister in that regard.” She smiled. “But she’s been dead a very, very long time. And I may be old, but I’m not senile. Ponies don’t just come back from the dead under a different face. So why don’t you tell me who you really are before I have my friend here get creative with you?”

My eyes shot open, and I froze. I blinked back tears and struggled to speak, but only managed a high pitch squeak.

“I… But I-I am. You have to believe me!” I squeaked out, my voice cracking.

I quickly looked over to the stallion who was walking toward me slowly, spear magically outstretched and death in his gaze. The mare cackled madly in the background. I shut my eyes tightly and waited for my demise.

The mare gave one last laugh and sighed.

“Alright, Commander, I think we’ve scared the filly enough. Release her cap and allow us a moment alone, will you?”