Time is a strange fluid that we manage to stumble through in our brief moment of existence. We can never truly understand the degree of how large time is. All we get to know is the segments of moments that are presented to us in a unified, organized, and chronological order that is our life. Like a book, we go from the first page of our birth to the last page of our final days. Yet, like nearly all living beings, we seek to go back to our past. Whether it is to relive the moments of nostalgia by reading the same passage over and over again or to rip the tainted pages of our lives and rewrite things to the way we want them to be. It may be too fast for us to obtain the foresight needed to perfect our lives and it may also be too solid to change the outcome. It is indeed a question to ponder over. But no matter what we want, time moves forward.
Except for this instance.
***
She was falling.
Falling down an endless cataclysm of pure, unyielding whiteness. Above, below, all-round her was nothing but white. The setting was neither bright nor dim. There seems to be no source that emitted light. It was all uniform. It was just there. These observations came to her in pieces. Her mind kept waving in and out of consciousness. It was hard enough to keep herself awake. It was near impossible for her to focus on her surroundings. Is this what dying was like? She may as well be going through that process. For she didn’t even know who she was. She was empty. Just a shell sliding against the sands of time.
This all came to pass. It went on. Be it a minute or perhaps an hour. Days even. Months maybe. Even a year. Or closer to five years. Decades were possible. Centuries are unlikely. It could have gone on forever. But something broke the monoamniotic. It was two words and a brief jolt of memories.
Sunset Shimmer
The words caused her to gasp. She opened her eyes completely. The name Sunset Shimmer was a part of her. It was her name. She knew it belonged to her. It was the name given to her at birth. The set of words that kept her anchored to this universe. With sheer will, she gathered all the memories that came with this name.
They were all coming to her now. Slowly at first, a small trickle of thoughts and feelings. Then it began to flow quicker. Events that define her life. Her parents putting her to bed. Going to Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns. Practicing her spells. Demanding to be taught more. Leaving Equestria. Plotting her revenge. Finding the Element of Magic. Scheming to obtain it again after she lost it in the struggle. Facing Twilight and getting nearly destroyed. Building herself up again and vowing never to fall into temptation. Meeting the Sirens. The incidents in the Friendship Games. Gloria. Wallflower. Starlight. Using the power of friendship and magic to help the world and protect her friends.
Sunset felt dreadfulness enveloping her. Something happened. It happened to her. Something dealing with time, space, and even matter. It dealt with the entire universe and the dimensions around it. But what? Her memories aren't perfect. She felt something slipping away from her. It felt like the more effort she put into recalling what happened to her, the more difficult it became to hold it. It was like fighting a tide. After countless attempts to put the pieces together, Sunset looked to where she was.
It looks like she was still falling. Falling down a white abyss that had no end. How is she going to get out of here?
Barely that thought came to her when a sharp pain came to her. She let out a scream. Sunset felt her body burning. A familiar pain that she only experienced once. A transformation of dark deeds. The fire cascaded across her body in a brief flash. In the wake of change, it left Sunset’s body in a demonic form. Sunset glanced down at her outstretched appendage. A red claw greeted her.
“No!”
The first words she said since she came to this place.
Then suddenly her body changed again. This time the change wasn’t painful. It was weird no doubt. But it came in a tingling, vertigo change instead of the fiery sensation associated with her demonic change. Sunset looked at her body again. Before her, was a yellowish-orange hoof. Her pony hoof. The original body she was born with. Before she could get used to it, another change came to her. In a moment she was in an angelic body. The changes came again and she returned to her human form.
This cycle repeated itself for quite some time. Sunset couldn’t stop it. She went through the different forms she inquired in all her life. Right up to the moment she got here. She tried her best to keep calm but it was too much. Sunset took in all the frustrations and let it all out in a painful shout.
“STOP!” she said at the top of her lungs.
A small pause and then things change.
Suddenly Sunset felt herself stuck completely in her human form. Colors suddenly flew past her. Then her body began to tumble as external forces slammed against her. Before she could get her bearings straight, Sunset saw something coming from beneath her in the corner of her eye. Then she hit something really, really, really hard. She felt herself bounced off the surface a couple of times. She tumbled and rolled before her momentum slowed down and came to a complete stop. Finally, she had landed.
It took a while for her to adjust. During this time, Sunset laid on the new surface, wincing in pain. She eventually felt herself returning to normalcy. The pain and dizziness ebbed away. Her breathing began to slow down. Whatever happened, she needed to assess her surroundings. One by one, she uses her senses to gather the information around. The floor underneath her was definitely hard. It felt like a plywood surface with vinyl bordering it somewhere. The air felt cool like a slight breeze was coming from somewhere. Everything was quiet. It seems to be something out there might be making a sound. But it was too far away for Sunset to hear it. Sunset felt her eyes fluttering open. Her vision blur before returning to normal.
Sunset turned her head. She landed in a hallway of some sort. It was vaguely similar to the ones in Canterlot Castle. A regal, high maintenance hallway that had fancy paintings hanging on the wall along with flowers in an expensive vase and a rich carpet covering the floor. Sunset got up gingerly. Her body still ached from her recent fall. She looked up. A hole was formed from her landing. But it didn’t look like a hole by a falling object. Instead, all the edges were smoothed out. rings forming in a pattern. Parts of the ceiling still remain intact. It was like it was eaten through. Either from water, acid, or fire. Above the hole was the foggy whiteness of the world beyond. Sunset then looked at the various windows around her. It too presented the blank environment.
Suddenly a noise was made and Sunset quickly snapped her head to the direction. At first, she didn’t see anything. It was just the empty hallway that stretched on forever. Sunset then felt a slight breeze hit her and another noise was produced. She looked to see a piece of paper drifting to her. Sunset snagged it. It was a notebook paper. Similar to what she had in her diary from long ago. It looked like it was even glowing too. Sunset looked at it and saw words were written on the paper. She read them.
Greetings Sunset!
You may have questions right now but let’s focus on getting you out of here. It isn’t safe for you. Just keep going down the hallway. Eventually, we will get you to a safe haven.
Sunset wondered what this person meant. How is this place not safe? Where was she? How did she get here? These questions were only the tip of the many running around in her head. But before she could linger on them any longer, a new set of words appeared. Except it was just one word. It was written larger and bolder than the previous ones.
RUN!
