There are places even gods fear to tread, gaps in reality where things that do not exist can crawl through. In the Badlands of Equestria, there lies one of these places, a three square mile area where nothing exists. Our minds are not able to handle the concept of nothingness: we seek patterns even where none exist.
What do you imagine nonexistence to be like? Complete darkness? An endless white void? Both of these are wrong. Complete darkness implies the existence of darkness. An endless white void requires both space and the color white to exist. Try as we might, nocreature can truly grasp what it means to not exist.
As such, when we found this area of nonexistence, our minds filled in the blanks. We saw it as just a continuation of the Badlands, the red dirt and occasional boulder all that lay within. Those that entered this area ceased to exist, yet we continued to perceive them until we stopped paying attention. It was only when the third pair of researchers failed to return that we began to suspect something was amiss.
Our minds are not able to handle the concept of nonexistence. Although our colleagues stopped existing, we fooled ourselves into thinking they continued to exist. As we kept them in this state, where they existed only within our minds, they eventually grew aware of their predicament. They went mad as their simultaneous existence and nonexistence tore apart their minds. They began to resent us. They began to hate us. They began to scream at us, and with their screams, more and more of us joined their number.
In the end, it was my desire to learn that both saved and doomed me. I found the pattern in the lack of patterns, saw what couldn’t be seen. I made myself forget the others, forget what I even came out here for. And when I no longer remembered, I began to investigate. I learned, again, the forbidden knowledge, and started to hear their screams. And to save myself, I once more made myself forget.
I don’t know how many times I repeated this cycle, learned, forgot, and learned again. I do know it won’t work anymore. I made myself forget again, but the screaming didn’t stop this time. It quieted, sure, but it didn’t stop. It’s been growing louder, as I again learned what shouldn’t have been learned. It’s so loud now, I can barely concentrate on writing this. I could make myself forget again, but that would only delay the inevitable at this point. Soon, I will no longer exist. And with my lack of existence, as my friends and family remember me, I will begin to scream as well. There is only one solution to this, one way to prevent the screaming from overtaking all of Equestria.
Discord, you must take away the memories of me from everycreature that I’ve interacted with. No matter how small or inconsequential the memory may seem, it can serve to bring me into non-existing existence, make me scream. Even your own memories could cause this, and even your powers can’t affect something that doesn’t exist. No, to stop the screaming, I must be so thoroughly forgotten that not even memories of memories of me remain. Fill in the blanks with whatever you want, just make sure that no trace of me is left.
I go now, to embrace oblivion.
Twilight Sparkle
I can hear the screaming now.
When I found that letter, I didn't listen at first. Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say I didn't listen at second. I must have done as you asked the first time around, seeing as I didn't remember anything about you. But after finding your warning again, I thought it was just a joke past me was playing on future me. I shared it with Butter Breeze, one of Fluttershy's descendants, and we talked about it for a while before dismissing it as a prank.
I rarely spent much time in one place anymore. So many interesting things happening across all of Equestria. Oh, Twilight, you would have loved to see how far society had advanced. At any rate, it was a month before I returned to visit our friend's descendants, only to find that half the town was missing. And of those that remained, the vast majority complained about a constant noise, like screaming, keeping them up at all hours of the night.
Even then, I didn't recognize the threat for what it was. I thought it was all part of a mean-spirited prank I was pulling on myself. Yes, I've pranked my future selves before. And my past selves. And my present selves. The point is, I thought this was another self prank, and I had fully intended to find the past me to give me a piece of our mind, about a paw full to be precise, about the whole thing going too far. However, none of the past mes, not even the mes from before my reformation, knew anything about what was going on.
(As per the self prank guidelines, and yes, we do have those, we erased our memories of our confrontations afterwards. In retrospect, that probably saved the space-time continuum and led to my current predicament, but we just wanted to avoid giving ourselves spoilers.)
By the time I got back from my confrontations with myselves, Ponyville was completely empty. Even worse, the effect was spreading throughout most of Equestria at this point. By then, I knew this was far more serious than a prank, but it was too late for me to stop it. Too many creatures affected, too many memories of beings that no longer existed to erase. I tried my best, but when the princesses stopped existing, all Tartarus broke loose. Somecreatures blamed me for what was happening, while others thought I no longer existed, and did their best to ignore me.
I likely owe my survival so far due to not following the pattern-seeking mentality all the others did. This seemed to serve as a camouflage against the non-entities, allowing me to avoid their notice while easier pickings were all around Equestria. But there are so few creatures that still exist, and the nonexistent are seeking me out now.
While I may not seek out patterns, I'm still not able to grasp the concept of nonexistence. My mind still seeks to fill it with something I can comprehend, and the non-entities are still affected by this. They're learning to search for me, how to trick me into seeing patterns through which they can manifest. Soon, even with all the power I possess, they will overcome me with their screaming. But I still have time for one more act of defiance, one act of spite before I'm brought down.
I'll call them Pattern Screamers.
Author's Note
They're still screaming.
