Author's Note

Apologies for the long delay. Long story short, I got distracted with having to write up the story for October and for a writing contest. But anyway, back to this!

16: Birth of Imagination

How does one create a world from scratch?

To adults, such a concept is… difficult. After all, one usually takes what already exists and remixes it a little. Maybe taking pieces here and there. A familiar culture here, some rules/troupes there, a familiar-ish setting on the side, populated with characters and bingo! You have a world.

But for Lauren, this was different. For the first time, she isn’t helping to craft a world for a movie or a show. Not because she’s used to doing so for kids, but the fact that the one who is going to do it… is made by a little, little kid. At first, she was unsure of this because Alice was so young. But on the other hand, if she managed to make an alicorn out of nothing, perhaps it would be interesting to see how far this would go.

That, and from how the palace staff described how Sky Cloud came into existence, she has a way to do it.

“I must say that I never expected this,” Celestia commented.

There is a portion of Canterlot Castle that most ponies have overlooked. Next to the palace, there is a space between the walls and a waterfall that is shaded by tall pine trees. This small plot of land isn’t very big either, but the reason why was that it was out of the way, in a place that Lauren knows for a fact no one would think to look. Lauren held Alice in one arm with a bag full of paper and crayons in the other. Behind her were Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Sky Cloud.

“Neither would I.” Twilight agreed. “So, Lauren, why are we here again at this hour?”

It was barely morning; the sun had risen with the only sounds of this still dawn were from distant bird calls.

“We’re waiting on Discord,” Lauren said. “And this is to help out Sky Cloud over here.”

“Me?” Sky Cloud pointed a hoof at himself.

“Simply put, we’re going to make a world for you – or rather… Alice is gonna make a world for you.”

Luna looked between Twilight and her sister. “You know, Mother, this is not what I would expect from you. Although why did you invite us?”

“Partly because out of everyone in Equestria, you three know best how certain things work. Alice might come up with things that she might not even thought about so this is to help her nudge in the right direction. And partly as a just in case.”

“In case of what?” Twilight tilted her head.

“If, in case something goes wrong. To be honest, I’m hoping that what Alice makes will be kept a secret. Not just because of the possibility something might go wrong, but if someone happens to discover this. It’s the reason why we’re gonna be making a door here – because it’s the last place in the world anyone would think of looking. And it’s the reason why I haven’t asked anyone else to come – not even Spike. Because the fewer who know of this place and where it is, the better.”

“Maybe it’s because I was made yesterday,” Sky Cloud said, “but it sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.” The ears on the enormous Alicorn folded flat against his head. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No sweetie,” Lauren went over to pat his neck. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Alice is going to make a place where you can be happy.”

“So where do I come in?” Discord suddenly asked and appeared. He was leaning against the side of the mountain in overalls, an orange construction hat, and a plaid shirt.

“Oh good, now that everyone’s here.” Lauren went up to him, “So how is it done? The whole pocket dimension thing?”

Discord raised an eyebrow. “You tell me, this is your idea.”

“Okay well… how do we start?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It needs to be attached somewhere first.”

“Attached?”

“Of course,” Discord thumbed one of his pockets and stretched it. “It’s called a pocket dimension because a fabric of reality attached to something. Could be anything really. A painting, the back of a coin, in a toilet, someone’s shoe-”

“How about a door.”

Discord nodded. “A door works too. But where are you going to put it?”

Lauren sat Alice down and took out a pink crayon. “Can I draw a door?”

“A little childish, but it would give me a good idea where to put it. Go ahead.”

Going over to the purple mountainside, Lauren knelt and began to sketch out a door. As big as she could make it. Going from one end, she made a series of small lines going up. Then over her head as far as her arm could stretch, down another end before connecting it to the first marking.

“Mom,” Alice pointed out, “What about a…” She gestured with her hand, turning in the air.

“Oh, right.” Getting up, Lauren made a small circle to represent the doorknob of this imaginary door. Standing back, she asked Discord, “Would that work?”

Discord glides over, inspecting it. Eyes squint, he hummed thoughtfully. Looking through every line up and down as though looking for a flaw of some kind. After a minute or so, he nodded, “Yep. This will do.” Craning his head around, he said, “All of you wanna step back for this part. This must be done delicately.”

Everyone took a step back. “Eh… A little further.” They took another step back.

“Right then. I haven’t done this in a while… Okay, at least over a thousand years, but I’m pretty sure I can do this.” As Discord said this, He stretched his arms, rotated his tail, and snapped his neck. “But you can do this. Just remember, delicately…” Discord took a moment to center himself. Concentrate. Breathed.

And kicked down the door.

The outline of the door fell over. Leading to a place of nothing.

“Honey I’m home!” Discord proceeded to walk into the void before realizing that no one was following him. “Aren’t you coming?”

Picking Alice up, Lauren walked behind Discord. Blue Sky followed after, then Celestia, Luna, and Twilight. They all entered into a space where everything was as blank as a canvas. An undescribed stretch of nothing in every direction and further.

“It seems so… empty,” Luna observed. Her voice echoed in the vast space.

“Of course, it’s empty.” Discord turned around. “For there to be something there hast to be nothing first.” Facing Alice, he said, “Okay boss, what now?”

Alice looked around, “Me?”

“Yup kiddo. This is your moment now. If I’m going to help build a world, I need an idea of what it looks like first. I like to know where to start.”

Lauren sat Alice down, along with the bag of paper she was carrying. “Remember hon, keep your friend in mind. What does Blue Sky’s home look like?”

Alice lay down on the perfectly flat ground, taking out the paper and dumping the crayons. She thought about it for a moment, her mother asked what her imaginary friend’s home looked like, so perhaps she should start from there. Grabbing a green crayon, she drew a thin line.

“Look!” Twilight pointed.

Alice looked up, and right in front of her was a thick line of green. Discord immediately got on top with a lawn mower to go across the line where it became grass. It took the Draconequus a few moments to finish. “Alright, what else?” he asked.

Blinking, the little girl took a pair of blue and yellow to draw out a sun and the sky. With every jot, every trace, every zig-zag sketch she made, something was being added to this empty world. Overhead when Alice drew a circle with lines and squiggles coming out, a sun was made overhead. Rubbing the blue crayon across the page, a brilliant bright sky started to form with Discord making adjustments close behind.

She grabbed another piece of paper to continue her drawing. Adding more grass, more sky. And with a white crayon, she drew fluffy clouds. Before she knew it, a landscape was starting to form. She drew streams, mountains, trees, flowers, and bushes. Taking out another sheet, she drew a beach with the lapping waves of an ocean. But looking over at Blue Sky, she realized that her imaginary friend still needed a house.

Using a red crayon, she began to draw lines for a house. First came the corners of the walls, then the windows, the door, the roof, a chimney, and even a mailbox. She filled the walls with yellow while coloring them blue. Then to the side of the house, she drew out in black rectangle with basketball posts standing on each end. She colored in an orange basketball in the center.

Discord was close behind to solidify what Alice drew. Yes, everything still looked like a little kid’s drawing, but the ex-spirit of chaos modified it to have depth, light and shade, and for lack of better words: solid. By the time he finished with the basketball court, he tossed the ball over to Blue Sky. “Catch!”

Blue Sky reared up, catching the ball in his hooves. Letting the ball bounce and dribble it with his magic. He smiled. “This… This feels right.” He went over to the basketball court to make a shot at one of the hoops, and it went through.

A thought came to Twilight as she watched this, going over to Alice, she said, “Excuse me, do you think you could give your friend some other friends?”

“Other friends?”

“I mean, he shouldn’t be alone. Right now he’s only playing with nopony around. Would it be better if he could play his game when there are other ponies to play with?”

This gave Alice a moment of pause. This whole time, she made Blue Sky as someone to be her friend. Yet, the idea that Blue Sky could get lonely was something she didn’t think of before. She had thought that it would be just them.

So when she took out another piece of paper, she simply had no idea what to do.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Lauren asked, kneeling down.

“But… Blue Sky my friend.” Alice said.

“Of course, he is. Why don’t you draw him some friends?”

“Blue Sky my friend. He not lonely.”

“Yes, but are you going to be visiting here all the time?”

Alice didn’t answer. She shook her head and folded her arms. “My friend! He not alone.”

“If I may,” Luna placed a hoof on Lauren’s shoulder. Luna craned her neck down to Alice’s eye level. “Why did you make Blue in the first place?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Have you ever felt lonely?”

There was a pause when Alice looked up at her but didn’t answer.

“When ponies don’t get to be with others, it gets hard to be by yourself for very long. You might come here as often as you’d like, but your friend will be here always. Yes, I think he will appreciate you visiting, but you won’t always be here all the time. Eventually, you’ll have to go home. You might get to a point where it will become harder and harder to come to visit. Perhaps you might not mean to, but he might have to be left alone for a long time.

“I have been lonely before. For a very, very long time. Like being put in time out that goes on and on. You can only do so much to keep yourself busy, but eventually, you wish that you had someone there with you. I know that Blue Sky means a lot to you, but he can grow into something better when he has those he can turn to. Not to replace you. But so that he doesn’t have to be by himself.”

“But…” Alice looked down at a blank page. “I don’t know how.”

Lauren knelt down, picking up an orange crayon. “How about I help you out?” Taking one of the pieces of paper, she began to draw. If she was doing this professionally, she would have used a pencil to make many gestural lines, and an eraser to smooth everything over before making a final drawing. But she wasn’t doing that. She was doing this for her daughter, and there was no need to be professional here. So she started to loosely outline a pony, but then extended his mane into a Mohawk and using a blue crayon, drew in strips of a zebra.

As she drew, her latest creation started to take form. The three princesses gathered around as a new creature was being made in real-time. Mirroring each sketch line Lauren was making, a form of a zebra that was half the size of Blue Sky was taking shape. Discord then took those lines through a loom to weave a more solid zebra into existence. Even Blue Sky was watching, pausing his game to take notice of what was going on.

“Now all that’s needed is a name.” Said Discord.

“Why?” Asked Twilight.

“So he would officially become real, of course. You don’t expect this guy to go around like a mindless background pony drone and not have something to make him stand out.”

“Okay,” Lauren tapped the blue crayon on her chin, “I think I’ll call him…” Then through inspiration, she wrote down the orange and blue striped zebra’s name.

Ander.

As soon as she named the zebra, Ander began to move, squinting his eyes, stretching his joints as though he had woken up from a night of sleep. Shaking his head, Ander blinked a few times, taking notice of Blue Sky. “Hey there!” He said in a chipper voice, “I’m Ander.”

“Hi,” Blue Sky waved at him. “Do you wanna shoot a few hoops?”

“Sure, why not?” Ander trotted over to the basketball court. “What’s your name?”

“Blue Sky.”

Alice looked on as Ander started to play with her imaginary friend when a thought came to her. “Where does he live?”

“Why don’t you draw him a house, sweetie?”

Taking a purple crayon, she began to draw another house into existence.