Empty Stands and Barren Lands
If Rainbow were to let out a yell, it would bounce back and forth through the concrete walls and empty colored seats, like a foal after candy. It would rattle about the barren walls until it found its way up into the open air, where the echo would quickly fade away into nothing at all.
She stood in the press box, staring out the open shutters at the large expanse of the stadium before her. There were a million different sports that could be done here, some more conventional than others.
It must have cost billions to have this built, Rainbow thought. And it was probably worth it: this stadium would be for a long, long time. Each seat was numbered and marked, indicating an exact location within the stadium and giving an identity to each chair. Because though they looked the same, every one of them was different.
Rainbow was reminded of what she learned during training: that while they all wore the same uniform, each pegasus was as unique and different as the next. But oftentimes it was hard to remember that, especially in a life where individuality was sometimes frowned upon.
The paint in the press box was freshly done, indicating that the facility was still being cared for and maintained. The metal table and chairs were arranged precisely where they needed to be, and the tile floor was dull and uninviting. Something about it made Rainbow feel uncomfortable: like a vampire caught in the sun.
She sighed, staring out over the vast and empty rows of seats. The walls of concrete gave her a strange, discomforting feeling, as if she didn’t belong here. In this world. In this life, perhaps.
There was a flash of light outside of the window. Rainbow squinted, making out some vague shape darting in between the seats outside. She blinked, and it was gone.
Something stirred deep within Rainbow, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Something she never thought she’d feel again. The stadium suddenly felt smaller than she thought it was.
Rainbow bolted out the door and out onto the field, trotting out to the center. Rows upon rows of empty seats stared back at her, but she looked past them and up into the air. A loose grouping of clouds hung far over the stadium, drifting lazily through the air. They threw shadows against the ground far below them, making shades of black against a white and gray canvas.
But something was moving up there. Some strange form was shifting up above the clouds and moving in the winds. And Rainbow was determined to find out what it was.
She shot into the air as she had many times before, feeling the wind rush past her face and fill her system. The world blurred around her as she cut through the air, defying gravity and rising farther and farther. It wasn’t long before she broke through the clouds completely.
And as she landed on a cloud, a pony stood to greet her. One in a familiar shirt and pith helmet. “Well, took you long enough. Thought you’d never get here,” Daring Do scoffed, folding her forelegs and smirking at Rainbow.
Rainbow froze at seeing her. “D-Daring? Is… why are you here?”
Daring Do laughed, punching Rainbow in the shoulder. “You really think I’d miss out on this? Come on, Dash, where’s your sense of adventure?”
Rainbow blinked a few times, trying to put the pieces together. “What… what are you saying?”
“It’s a whole new world out there, Rainbow. One that’s waiting to be explored!” She gestured grandly to the skyline around them. “Aren’t you excited?”
Rainbow glanced behind her, staring down at the city below her. The stadium sprawled out underneath her, like a giant net cast into the ocean. Its tall floor lamps towered over the bleachers, ready to rain death upon the darkness at a moment’s notice.
Yet the stadium itself was surrounded by a sea of asphalt and concrete, held at bay by a series of turnstiles and gates. It seemed that in a moment the barriers would fail, and the entire stadium would be stormed by wave after wave of black.
She turned away from the parking lot to find Daring eyeing her curiously. Rainbow sighed and cleared her throat. “I… I don’t belong here.”
“I mean… you could,” Daring replied. “And I guess you do, in a sense.”
Rainbow closed her eyes and imagined it. Her memories seemed so vivid and real, but something about them felt off. She could picture herself prancing about in food courts and lounging about in airport halls, or browsing the aisles of a discount store or travelling by subway. But something about the memories felt off. She just couldn’t place it.
“Do you ever feel like… I dunno, a character in a story?”
Daring eyed her strangely. “Well, aren’t we all characters in a story?”
“Yeah, but like... “ Rainbow kicked at the cloud they stood on, feeling the water inside bounce about. “It just isn’t right,” she finally said.
“How so?”
Rainbow absently gestured to the stadium below her. “I mean this place. This world. It isn’t where I belong. It’s moving on without me. For once in my life I’m not fast enough to catch up with it.” Desperation began crawling into her voice as she spoke, as if she was begging for some impossible answer. “This place… it’s not mine. It never will be.”
Daring shook her gently. “Woah, calm down, Rainbow. Just… here.” The adventurer guided her over to the edge of the cloud and pointed towards the stadium.
As she watched, the stadium came alive with sounds and color. She could see ponies in the stands, eagerly shouting and cheering as an announcer riled them up. A squadron of pegasi flashed across the sky, heading parallel to the ground and flying right past them.
The crowd grew louder and the air was filled with the roaring of engines. A couple of sleek gray fighters then tore through the air, screaming and whistling as they flew. And when they passed over the stadium again, it was empty.
“Look, Rainbow, I know it’s hard for you, and I know it feels like time leaves you in its dust. Trust me, I’ve spent my life studying history,” Daring said. “But… well, there’s something I picked up on a while ago. I was talking to a university colleague about the concept of time, and how it changes everything.”
A stray gust of wind blew through the empty stadium.
“We were debating the concept of beauty and life, or something along those lines. My colleague claimed that we only know if something’s beautiful if it doesn’t last forever. You remember those debates everyone would have about whether or not the Princesses were immortal?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “I remember we talked about that when Twilight ascended.”
“Well, my colleague thought they weren’t. See, he was really big on the concept of time, and how everything and everyone is temporal. He posed me this question: if you lived forever, why bother doing anything?”
Rainbow blinked a few times. “That’s… kind of a weird question,” she replied.
“It’s philosophy, it’s supposed to be a weird question,” Daring said. “But I guess that isn’t the point. My point is that the world always changes, whether we want it to or not. And it’s not easy trying to keep up with everything. But just because you fall behind doesn’t mean you’re out of the race.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. “I… think I get it,” she said uncertainly. “But how do I know for sure that I still belong? That I still matter?”
“Well, your friends say that you do, and I trust their judgement on that,” Daring said, fixing her pith helmet. “So chin up, Dash, you’re almost out of this. And we’ll be waiting for you on the other side… no matter where you end up.”
Rainbow smiled, shaking hooves with Daring. “You promise?”
“Count on it,” smirked Daring.
With that, the explorer gave a salute and fell backwards, spreading her wings as she fell before shooting up into the sky. Rainbow watched her leave, following her contrails until they vanished up into the waiting sky.
