Chameleon

by amastelaire

Rating: everyone
Tags: Original Character, Mystery, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 3071

Something, Somewhere, Sometime. it feel like it never even happened.

Did you ever feel empty?
Did you ever feel lost?

When you're outside of space, time and reality, what are you?
Can you decide for yourself if you feel like a stranger?

This story is in the same continuity with Wallbreaker, and take place before it.
If you just want context for the following of this canon, only the chapter "Aftermath as a prologue" is needed

Published 2023-07-30 21:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-07-30 21:30:01 UTC

Green

The monotony of the walls starts to crumble, their form disappearing into an empty noise, or maybe you're just losing it.
The walls totally disappeared, and you entered an unconfined yet claustrophobic place.
It was even more empty—the emptiness was engulfing you.

But in the distance, a small shimmer could be seen. You didn't know which direction you were going towards, to be honest; you don't even know if you moved that far from the start. Everything felt the same, but that, that was different.

A small gem floated, as if held by magic, and it was not white, it was...

It was green.

You should have thought about this before, so when you would have faced the colors again, you would have been ready.
Could it be green?

You try to think, what does green mean?
Green is strange, it's the in-between.
It's warm and cold,
filled and empty,
dead and alive.

Green is the color of lush forests and empty hillsides.
Green is the color of plants, but also poison.
It's the perfect blend of a deep, cold, frostbitten blue and a gentle, deep, warming yellow.

But green isn't used so much, think about it. Green is oddly unnatural in a natural way.
It became so plant-based that seeing a green creature seems uncanny if it isn't tied back to the foliage.

But how would you know how that feels? You've never seen a forest; you've never seen anything other than these empty halls.
You can only wish for something to listen to your plea, to come and save you from this never-ending nightmare. Maybe even death would be better.

But yet, you can't even seem to value death. What does dying even mean if you aren't alive?
You're stuck in this mystical in-between.

But then you saw it, far away did the walls shape themselves back up again.
But that wasn't what you noticed,
It was a small dot, a yellow hue on the horizon.
It wasn't much, but it was a beacon of hope, a guiding lighthouse...

Maybe you could finally leave,
Green was much less your color than yellow anyway.

Atermath as a prologue

Nebula couldn't believe what she saw. It was a magnificent gravel-gray pegasus, with a striking yellow and orange-striped mane. Her eyes were a piercing light brown, and her cutie mark seemed to represent a circular calendar made of wood or copper, as if she were always on an mission transcending time and space.

"This can't be me!" you gasped. For the first time in your life, you felt full, you became something.

You weren't sure if this was thanks to this "Stellar." While he may have created you, he insisted that you had made yourself this magnificent, this stunning.

Stellar was strange, you said, now alone again. While you were crying and shouting at him, his voice remained calm, even a little saddened by the hate you had directed at him. He genuinely sounded sorry for not being able to give you the best, and he seemed to have conflicts of his own.

Even stranger, he introduced himself as Stellar and Stargazer. Maybe the second one was just a pseudonym, but why would he want to hide his real identity, and why would he reveal it to you? You tried to put everything in place, but were still lost if between sympathizing with that odd character or just ignoring him.

"That's a good way to resume him," another voice echoed through the empty and vast world around you. This time it was more feminine and a little less calm and compassionate.

"Who are you?" you asked, a little startled by the appearance of a second voice.

"I go by Colibri, but that's just a codename!" answered the voice quickly. "When I found myself lost in Stargazer's world, he raised me like an apprentice, and now I'm helping him cut ties with a secret agency that doesn't really like him."

This was... strange to say the least. For most of your life, you felt alone, empty, and now you met your creator, found your true self, and had been faced with so many revelations you thought you might explode from processing errors.

"Anyway, Stargazer is gone now, and I need to finish something before leaving. He told me to paste this into your storybook once he was gone."

As the voice pronounced her words, the world shifted. The empty walls and floor started to colorize as the sky seemed itself incrusted in stars, the sun, and the moon. The place you were standing on became a cliff, and an enormous observatory was building itself on the side, half of it hovering above the void that was slowly becoming an endless sea.

The building itself was magnificent, arranged in all the colors of the rainbows. A tower stood tall, ending in a dome with a telescope. The side of the tower was arranged like the home of a fisherman or a lighthouse keeper. On the side, above the sea and supported by two magnificent fir pillars, was a gigantic open-air library, filled with books of all colors.

"You see, Nebula, Stargazer wanted you to become the worlds-keeper. Each of those books is the story of a creature on a world, some are true worlds, some are fake, but each of them feels real to the ones who are in them. The telescope on top of the tower is a lens towards those worlds, allowing you to see what the characters feel. It took him almost a decade of story writing, proofreading, and research to end up with it working. You were his biggest project, Nebula. He started to make you before I was even here!"

This was a lot to take in for you, and as you approached the building, you could see a sign placed on the wall, with "For Nebula" written on it.

You started to understand what he meant by "you can write your story yourself." You were now the keeper, the guardian of all those worlds. You were made for that. But destiny wasn't already written, and this didn't seem to be the worst life ever. The place was nice, you had infinite stories, and just needed to guard this knowledge. Maybe that's what your cutie mark was for, this forever time-watcher you became, an eternal companion for an eternal guardian

Red

Is red your color?

It's hard to describe a color, as it is only defined by itself.
A little like ponies, if you think about it.
Yet red is different from blue, or pink, or green!

But why?

BUT WHY?

Your head is starting to hurt, if you even have one.
Now that you think about it, what even are you?

No, it isn't the time to think about yourself. You need to remember, is red your color?
Kinda hard to answer, "is red your color?" How can you know if you don't know who you are?

No, focus on the task. What does red mean?

Red is a warm color.
Red is also the color of blood, of anger, of fire.
It feels strange, red is warm, too warm. It represents the worst kind of heat.
Almost as if it has a dark side, as if it is on the wrong side of the forces of this world.

You look around again. What is this world anyway?

Red is bad, red is the color of evil, the one who fights for power, for wealth, the "Bad Guys."
If you think about it, you can't name a single good red creature.

Oh, no Big Mac!
That's not the best example; he's red like apples, not like flames and blood...
And his main character trait is not speaking much; that doesn't really represent you!

Or does it?

You can't remember, and all of this is starting to give you a headache. Maybe you should just walk away.
It's like you know everything, except yourself. You don't know who you are, what you are, what you look like, what you did, where you are, how you got here, how long it has been...

Daydreaming again?
This needs to stop; you're overthinking everything.
Imagine how much easier life would be if you didn't need to think!

You may not know yourself, but it doesn't feel like red represents you really.
You may only be a blur in your own mind, but you aren't evil, at least you hope so.

You feel calm, not angry, nor bloodthirsty!
Yeah, red isn't your color.

Maybe you should go deeper; there is an opening to your left.
The hallway is crammed, but you will get through it; you just need to-

The sound of metal falling onto stone could be heard behind, and you can't help but look for what it was.

The bucket had fallen on its side, red paint dripping on the ground like a bloody murder scene.

Yeah, Red definitely isn't your color.

Blue

The quartz walls started to fade into a bigger opening; the clearing was spherical, like an observatory for the clouds and the sky, with small pillars of stone arranged around, mimicking nonexistent constellations.

How do you know the exact shape of all constellations but not even your name?
Meh, it's been long since the encounter with red, and white is starting to become repetitive. Not knowing yourself is just a bother, nothing much anymore.

"Long," you aren't sure, it feels... wrong.
Yeah, you lost touch with time, but you should know if it has been minutes or years, yet you can't.

Everything is still white, but something stands out in the center of the clearing, on a pedestal, it's...
It's color!

A long cylinder is placed atop the white room, colored in various shades of blue, ranging from a snow-light to a night-dark.

Maybe blue is your color, you think out loud, it's not like anything will hear you anyway.
And if it was, then which shade?

Blue is a colder color, and a very common one.
It's in the sky, even if here everything is white and black.
It's in the water too.
But there isn't much life that is colored blue, isn't it weird?

Maybe you're dark blue, like the night sky, it's a blend-in color, and also strangely calm.
The night is strangely calm.
When everything is asleep, you're left alone only with your thoughts.
Doesn't that make you think of anypony!

Yeah, dark blue hits too close to home, maybe it would be best to take a break from "alone."

What about light blue? It isn't the night...
No, light blue is the sky, the winter, the cold.
You don't feel like you're someone cold. If you think about it, you don't feel anything at all!
This place seems to have gotten you numb.
How long has it been anyway? It's hard to say when nothing gets affected by the outside. Everything is monochrome, the sky is fixated above, and the walls are all the same.

But Rainbow Dash is blue, and she doesn't feel bland.
Maybe you need to get more colors?

Just when you thought you were done with those existential crises, here they come again, galloping!
Maybe you should do like your problems and just try to run away.

Blue wasn't your color anyway.

Yellow, Orange, Brown

Yellow!

Yellow is your color!

Yellow is hope!
Yellow is a new beginning!

Your surroundings start to fade away again, but this time, colors are appearing everywhere.
The walls colored themselves in shades of yellow,
the sky is now a faint orange,
and the ground is an earthy, even muddy brown.

That's it, you found your color!

Yellow, Orange, Brown.
The colors of dawn,
The colors of a soothing fireplace.
Just the right amount of light so that it doesn't blind nor burn you.
Just enough light to shine through whatever is thrown at you.

You ran, beckoning for the renewal that yellow, orange, and brown would give you.
Yet,
Yet it didn't feel right.
Is yellow really what you want?

Those are the colors of dawn; it is a new beginning, but also an end.
An abrupt fall, a forever spring.

You shake your head again,
NO!
You won't flee anymore.
You won't seek things anymore.
If it means a new beginning, let's have it!

The world shimmered around you; you felt yourself change. The colors were gone again, but you could see yourself, you could feel yourself.

It wasn't consistent for now; your hooves were almost fluid-like and seemed they would fall apart, yet they didn't.
You still felt empty. Now that you were a shell, the feeling was even worse. You had a form, but nothing in it.

You looked again at your hooves; they were almost see-through. You then turned to your flank, but there was no flank to look at. It was like the world didn't totally decide what creature you were.

But the world was still white.
Where have the colors gone?

Purple & Pink

It wasn't lining up, you found your color, didn't you?
Yes, it wasn't truly you, but it still corresponded in some part, most parts even.
The most out of every color you came across so far.

It's strange, everything is black and white in this world, but when colors appear, they are shaded with themselves.
You are black and white, yet a mix out of all the colors.

The hallways started to fold on themselves, becoming smaller and smaller, almost forcing you to crawl.
The long tunnel you engaged in was way darker than the rest of this plane, almost pitch-black. You needed to use your newfound front hooves to navigate whatever was here.

"Ouch!" That was your muzzle; you just bumped into a wall, but this one was different. It seemed friable, almost like glass, and even though you couldn't see much, you could swear this wasn't black nor white.

With a powerful blow, you shattered the wall, finally entering a wider room. The room was still white, but the small shatters of glass on the floor weren't; they were purple and pink.
Maybe that was your color?

No, purple is the color of magic, of the unknown, of corruption...
It's something mystic, something important, something defining,
And you were lacking definition.

"Focus, Dumb whatever-pony," you shouted to yourself. To who else could it have been for?

Take Twilight, for example; her purple symbolizes magic!
Now take Sombra, while mostly black, his dark magic is purple.
If purple doesn't define you, it outlines your own darkness.
But how can you come around with darkness? You don't have anything!

You turned on yourself, walking in circles as you reflected on what you were. Maybe it was pink all along?
While pink is just a pastel red, it has nothing to do with the beastly, bloodthirsty rage that emanated from that color.
Yes, pink was still radiating with energy, but this time it was pure joyful energy. Pink is lighthearted, pink is loving, caring, supporting...
Pink is the color of the heart over the brain.
But you don't have a heart...

Maybe you aren't made for colors.

Monochrome

Maybe that was it after all, you tried to flee the white and black for so long, but what if it was what you were meant to be?

If you think about it, it make sense, every time you tried to tie with a color, nothing was black and white, so what about black and white themselves?

This, this feel strange, it's the last option, and it seem logical, yet you arent truly sure of it.
If you truly didn't have color, then all of those mix and match and midlle-grounds you found yourself stuck in would mean nothing.

If only you knew who you were, where you are, why and when.
It would all be easier.

You could only wish to rest, you aren't exhausted, you don't even think you could ever be, but you just wanted to stop and lay on the ground.

Wake Up, &#è@ç~

Black is darkness
White is emptyness

Both are bad, Both are good.
You are so indecisive

Your just like me, you can't decide.

I cannot wait anymore.

If you can't make a choice, I'll have to leave you for now!

"What, who are you?"

Me?
I'm the narator, the creator, the 'god' if you want!

"So you made me?"

Yeah...

"And who I am?"

I don't know, I'm stuck
I have no ideas anymore
I think we're both lost.

"What do you mean? You created me!"

I know, But i don't know what for, i started making you to fulfill a prupose, and now i don't know how to continue.

"..."

...

"..."

I'm waiting for you to choose for me.

"So you are telling me that this is all your fault? I'm stuck here because 'Mister the Writer' has no idea what the name of his creation even his?"

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, calm down, It important that you choose!

"Then do it, Do you know what it is to be stuck in eternal limbo, running around trying to find what you truly are 'Mister the Writer'?"

You couldn't guess how much i know...

"Wha- ?!?..."

I... I'm sorry, but I need to go, I don't have time.

"No! Don't go, I didn't want to be mean..."

It's not your fault Nebula, but i'm sure you can write your story yourself, look at how much you've made!

"I barely did anything, i don't even have a race or a color!"

You should look into your reflection, Nebula, You made so much, I'm so proud of what you've done.
If only i could say the same about me...

"Before you leave, what's your name?"

I go by Stargazer here, but deep down, I'm still Stellar, the fallen star.

"So you're Stellar,"

Bye, Nebula.

"And I'm Nebula."

Maybe you are shaded, you nod,
"Stellar", what a strange creature.
You need to find a mirror, now that you have a name,
"Nebula" is quite a beautiful name.

You turn back on the room, there are still some shards on the ground, and one of them seem reflective enough.
You walk toward it, not knowing what to expect, but the sight is so strange yet so grand.

"That's... That's Nebula... That's Me!"