Nowhere, Never

by amastelaire

Rating: everyone
Tags: Mystery, Lightning Dust, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Original Character
Length: 4396

Creation is a long painful process, so when it happen, the world might get weird

Nowhere, Never
Nopony.

...

Wait why is somepony here?
It shouldn't have started, i wasn't ready

Published 2023-10-17 08:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-11-13 08:08:33 UTC

White Spaces

“Where am I?

The only thing I can see is this white void, stretching left and right.

I don’t feel the time passing by, as it been an hour, a day, or maybe just a minute?
I don’t know, and, to be honest, I don’t really care.

I just really wonder where I am.
Or who I am…

Yes, Who am I?
I don’t remember anything else than this white.

Do I even exist?
Do I have a name?
A house?
Friends?

…

…

…

Is something supposed to start?”

– And that’s when it started –

The whole world shifted, if you could call that a world.
Out of nowhere, but it wasn’t like space mattered, walls jumped out around me, and closed me in this room, devoid of life and colors.
Just a white box.

But it didn’t last long, as from the ground, pieces of furniture where rising, couches, chairs, drawers, tables, carpets and finally, a door.
While the place was filled with what you needed to live, it was weirdly arranged, like it wasn’t made for ponies to live in, like the one who made it didn’t quite understand what a house was used for.

The multiple drawers and countertops where too high, and you would need to stand on your hind legs to even be able to use them correctly, the bed was weirdly proportioned, and was more long than large, which is quite unaccommodating for a pony, and the doorknob was weirdly placed, and locked in a way where you could just push it, needing you to reach for it and twist it just to open it.

Talking of the door, it led to a seemingly never-ending corridor, the walls intersected by openings, doors and windows without a real logic, the corridor was also less stable than the room, like it was undecisive on what it wanted to look like.

I stood there, not moving even one centimeter, I didn’t know what I was looking at.
Where was I?
And why?

“Hello” I shouted to the corridor, hoping for an answer, but I was only greeted back by my echo.
I started to walk slowly, carefully putting one hoof before the other, and the corridor seemed to stabilize as I walk through it.

I quickly arrived on the level of the first door, it was the same weirdly proportioned door, and radiated a sort of ‘unpony’ aura, I reached for the knob and pushed the door open, letting a loud creaking sound throughout the empty space the door led to. Just an empty room, nothing more.

And because I didn’t know what to do, and didn’t want to be flooded by weird existential questions, I just walked right back where I came from, the corridor still stretching forever.

It’s been quite long now, or at least it felt like it was, I had opened dozens of doors, and still none led to anything. And even weirder was the fact that, whenever I turned back, it didn’t seem like I did any progress, the first room was always there, a few steps away.

I don’t want to resign yet, but I couldn’t say that the thought of walking right back in and lying on the couch was persistent.

I slept a little, and in the meantime, the corridor finally ended its shifting ways and is now stable.
Well, ‘stable’ lost in meaning in this place, just like every other word.
But it didn’t seem to move anymore, and wasn’t endless anymore, instead the back of the corridor was plunged in darkness, contrasting with the all-white of this world, and now that I think of it, it is the only time I’ve seen shadows, this place feel like it was immersed in light.

Well now at least I had a goal, walk through this hallway and find what lie beyond this dark,
It might not be the best idea I’ll ever have, but at least it’s something.

And it’s with that idea in mind that I entered the hallway again, this time I was less preconscious, and rather than walking one hoof after the other, I decided to trot, the hallways wasn’t that large, but it didn’t felt like it was that narrow either. The hallways was also noticeably emptier than last time, while it was now furnished with sparces empty drawers and some useless ceilings lights, it had almost no doors, I wasn’t able to discern more than three from where I stood, and the first one seemed hundreds of meters away.

Well, the drawers weren’t all empty, I quickly found one with what seemed to be a notebook. At first, I thought it was empty, the pages seemed like brand new, but the last one was not, a little paragraph was written on it, and the words didn’t seem like they had been written by a pony, the angles were sharp and the lines straight, it almost felt… Robotic, generated, just like this place, a little off, and while I was absorbed by the shapes of the words, I almost forgot what was the most important about a note, the words themselves.

HELLO, MY LITTLE PONY,

THIS IS THE SPAWNPOINT, THE PLACE WHERE ALL OF IT START,

SOON ENOUGH, YOU AND I WILL DISCOVER WHO YOU ARE.

I HOPE IT WON’T BE TOO DIFFICULT, SO IF YOU EVER NEED HELP

JUST ASK ME

STARGAZER

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa,
I wasn’t ready for that, so let me get this straight, this note knows who I am? Well, not the note obviously, but that ‘Stargazer’, who is he, I would have said that his name doesn’t ring a bell, but it’s not like I remember the name of anypony, if I ever met any before…
And what does he mean by ‘too difficult’?
And why was this note in the drawer and not somewhere else, I don’t know, like the place I woke up ?! This is like, vital-level information, and it’s just here in a random drawer I could have never opened!

I need to pause for a bit, just to put my thought together, maybe I could ask him?
But how would I, I don’t know where it is, who it is, what its like to talk with ponies, if it is even one.

Okay, I’ll just take a deep breath and continue on, and apparently, always look in drawers, it’s important.
At least the first door isn’t too far, but I made it way closer to the shadowland than I thought I would, or was it that the shadows came closer? They now almost stretched to the door, and were creeping underneath it.

But it will not frighten me, I came a long way, or at least I think, and it wasn’t a little darkness that would deter me from entering this room, so I put myself on my hind legs, twisted the badly placed doorknob, and pushed the door open, ready to enter

The first trial is starting

Blackrooms

The “CREAK” of the door wasn’t really loud, but it felt like it was, breaking through the silence I had been engulfed in until now, now replaced by a strange humming sound, like the rooms were singing for me to come in.
One hoof, then another, I passed my head through the doorway.
Three hooves, now four, and as I fully entered the room, the door shut close.

The room was dark, it seemed to twist and turn, but it was hard to discern the details in the shadows that kept moving, twitching from left to right, rising up before falling back down in the dust.

I stepped again, the right wall seemed to lead to an opening, and whatever this “TOO DIFFICULT” would be, I am not really excited to stay still and find out. So, with my half-might, I just continued to walk slowly, hugging the right wall to be sure not to lose it in darkness.
And here it was, another room, still dimly lit by those monochrome shades. Whatever this place is, it doesn’t feel complete, giving of this eerie feeling that something is off, like I should not be here…

Well, Whatever. It’s not like I could just get out of here, because if I could, I would have done it from the start.

I sank deeper in this maze, rooms after rooms, all coming in different shapes and forms, but always with the same sets of blacks and whites. The structure seemed to make less and less sense, some rooms stretched like hallways but led to nowhere, other were clipped by walls in different angles, some had random steps and sets of stairs that led to nowhere, or just back to the rooms before.
It wasn’t normal, this place wasn’t normal. Was it some sort of trial?
Was I lost in a place I wasn’t meant to be in?

It’s been quite some rooms now, but something changed, COLOR!
Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but this room has red dots painted on a floor, two to be exact,
The only strange thing is that, whenever I come close to them, they move away, always trying to put as much distance between me and them as possible.

I don’t really know what to do now, I lost the entrance I took to this room and even by following the walls, It doesn’t seem like it’s here anymore. And the dots stopped moving across the floor, now they are on the walls, staring I me like a pair of red piercing eyes.

The color that had me excited is now a little frightening, just here, never stopping to move away from me, and I might be hallucinating from I know how long I’ve been stuck in this place, but I’m almost certain I saw the shadows move again, crawling across the already black walls, engulfing the dark in darkness.

The dots started moving again, even when I stay still, they don’t seem to care anymore, and now instead follows the pulsating shadows. Those shadows move in patterns, like they are trying to form something but can’t quite decide yet, sometime they wrap around the red dots, forming a pony form, sometimes they just engulf them in a sort of blob, and sometimes they make others creatures, but it never quite stays, the longer I’ve seen the shadow take a shape was when they merged into what seem like a pegasus mare, but it didn’t stay like this for long.

The shadow finally decided what shape to take, a wolf-like figure, still twitching and changing from the indecisive shadows, walked as one, the red dots, now completely free from the confine of the walls, had became glowing orbs, likely the eyes of the creature who was now circling me, like if it was studying me, trying to understand who I was, what I was.

The silence that built up from this situation only made it more tense, I was too stunned to even breathe audibly, but that silence was quickly shattered when the creatures started to talk in a weird voice, like a mix of hundreds of different ponies trying to speak at once.

“Pegasus I see, Interesting…”

I tried to ask what she was talking about, but the wolf was already at my side, its warm ash-like paws caressing my side with a gentle touch, gentler than you would think coming from this type of creature.

“And a gray coat, odd choice, I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

It felt like the wolf was describing somepony, but who? Me?
“Wait, I am a pegasus?” I asked, babbling words out of incomprehension and excitement

“Well, yes,” The wolf tilted its head, seeming a little surprised. “How would you not know that?”
“It’s you. You should know who you are, right? I did not make any of this!”

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘Make’?”

“…”

“…”

“I… I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Well, Answer me!”

“You’ll have the occasion to talk about that later, All of this isn’t ready… I didn’t think you’ll be awake so soon, It… It shouldn’t have started like that.”

And with that, the shadows dissipated, the two red orbs falling and shattering on the ground in dozens of little fuming shards.

What does it mean? I need to understand what just happened.
I look down to my hooves, colored in a light gray, just like the shadow-wolf told me, and on my sides were two wings, two wing I had never see, I had never felt, I had never known existed.

I am a pegasus.

I think you can understand the excitement I felt surging through my body, I was a pegasus! I could fly! And even better, now that I was jumping around, trying to take flight, a blur of orange crossed my vision, a bright orange, the color of my mane. I had a colored mane!
Finally a substantial break from the monochrome, something bigger than just red dots on a wall, because it was a part of me.

But the rejoicing couldn’t last forever, and the shattered parts of the orbs, now lying on the ground, oozing a shadowy smoke, moved again, regrouping and reforming the two dots on the wall.
The shadow moved, drawing the outline of wolf around them again.

It didn’t take long for the wolf to leap from the wall and crash into me, its glowing red eyes looking straight into mines in an animal ferocity, and it was obvious it was no longer here to talk about coat color.

Skygazing

This was clearly a test, I didn’t know what prompted this ”friendly” wolf to jump on me, but it wasn’t here to joke around, at least not anymore.

Sigh, A fight was exactly what I needed to wake up.
I am not the best at quick-time reaction, and I can say that its first hit got me right in the muzzle, and I was not expecting so much raw strength coming from something made out of, well, shadows.

I was now upside down, the wolf facing me on the other side of the room, showing its teeth like it was trying to make me cower. But jokes on you, terrestrial shadow-monster, because I am a pegasus, and I can fl–

“whoa!”
“whoa!”
“CRASH”

–y…

Yeah… maybe I won’t try flying for this fight.
But, to be honest, the sound was so loud it seemed to leave the wolf dazzled. The poor creature seemed unable to even flinch for at least a full twenty seconds.

And twenty seconds were enough to give me back the upper hand, the enemy wasn’t the most resistant either, as a single it punched a hole through its smoke-like body, promptly sending it back to reality and waking it up from whatever mode my crash had put it in.

The wolf tanked a few kicks before finally turning back into puffs of smoke, which dissipated quite quickly afterward, only leaving behind its broken eyes-orbs, which also melted away into nothingness, lasting only a few seconds longer than the rest. Safe to assume I had just killed it, or at least incapacitated him for a while.

This win was answered by a loud shifting sound, coming through one of the wall, where the black shifted to white, before totally disappearing, leaving an opening to the hallway behind.

The white hallway was still white, even after all the time that had just passed, the only difference were some mirrors placed sparsely across the walls.

A few mirrors could seem loke not that big of a deal, but it was the first time I was able to fully see myself, a light gray pony, its coat close to the that of a stone, with two larges wings merged at its sides, making it a pegasus, its mane a pure orange, like the one of a pumpkin, with a single streak of oak brown across it, two fiery piercing eyes, colored by an orange similar to its mane, if not a little brighter, and on its flank, no cutie mark, at least yet.

It's a little weird to not have a cutie mark, especially when you are a fully grown pony, it felt like I should have one, but I can’t remember anything I’ve ever been particularly good at. It was unnerving.

The corridor was still going in both direction, I could either go back to the place I started, the “SPAWNPOINT” as called in the note, or I could go deeper, the next door seeming only a few dozens steps from here.

“Hello?” a voice called.
“Is this working? You should be able to hear me.” Called the voice again.

“Are you… what’s the name again? Stargazer?” I answer, sending back a question to the strange voice.

“Well, Yes. I go by Stargazer here. I needed to talk to you in person after that weird interaction you and the wolf had. It really didn’t go as planned.”

“Yeah! What was all this nonsense?” I almost yelled “What did it mean by ‘made’?”

“Slow down, Slow down” Stargazer answer, his voice slightly wavering “One thing at a time. First, I am sorry about all of this, well, mess, there is no other way too put it, I did not think you would wake up this soon, and nothing was ready.”

“And is that why everything was strangely proportioned?” I asked.

“Oh, that, humm… I may have spent too much time here and forgot what a pony place look like… not my proudest moment, that’s certain.”

“What do you mean?”

“Anyway, you look quite stunning, and you made all of this by yourself! This is more impressive when you know that…”

“That…?”

“That you are inside a story, that I’m writing”

“What does this me–“

“You still exist, Nebula, you are not just a random puppet I can play with, you made who you are by yourself. That was what the trials were supposed to be for, to see who you truly are, but now I guess there is no reason to go on with them anymore…”

“Wait, Who’s Nebu–“

I didn’t get to finish my sentence than the ground was already shaking, the randoms walls around me faded into the grounds and as all disappeared, the white, the black, the mirrors, the buzzs and the hums, it finally felt calm, everything replaced by grass, an endless grass field stretching across the infites.

A long pause aired in the air before Stargazer said “Well, now we’re getting to serious business, and you’ll need to meet somepony for that.”

Dust

Stargazer didn’t speak a word for quite long now, and it was starting to creep me out.
This place was this quiet as long as I can remember, but this time it gave this eerie feeling, maybe because I was now expecting for there to be noise, maybe because this interaction just gave me more questions than it answered.
I didn’t know, and to be totally honest I didn’t really care why either.

The place I was in, however, had totally changed. Trees where sprinkled across the grass plains, flower beds blooming around their trunks, the vast array of colors totally contrasting the previous black-and-white spaces this place was, the sun now shining over me, seemingly at noon, its rays reflected almost blindingly by the sparces ponds and small lakes scattered across the almost perfectly flat grasslands.

The only thing contrasting with this fully natural setting was a gravel path not far from where I am, I had seen It not long after Stargazer stopped talking to me, and a path always lead to something, so it was the best direction to go to, right?

Yep, it was just what I thought it was, a normal gravel path, no signs, no buildings, no hoofsteps, even the path seem like it never has been used before! If only there could have been a bench…

“Dust! I need you here, I think they found my trace again!”

“Stop calling be Dust! You know my name very well!”

“No time for this Dust, Take two of the shards and go in there!”

“Are you sure? There is only 3 lefts Stargazer, you used them all the last time they caught you.”

“Oh no, oh no oh no. That’s really bad…”

“Yes, that’s what I said!”

“Well, I don’t have time. Do it anyway!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I need to go now, I think they managed to put a tracker on me, and they can’t discover you, nor her.”

“Good luck then, I’m going in!”

“Good luck too…”

I had to take a nap on the grass, I’ve been awake for what felt like an eternity, and all this running around had gotten me exhausted. I had a weird dream, like if I was overhearing a conversation. A weird one.

The sun didn’t seem to move during my nap, and I don’t know if it because I didn’t sleep that long or if it’s just another quirk of this place, but I won’t really complain, walking alone at day is way better than walking alone at night.

I do think this walk could be a great place to try and improve my flying, my situation is pretty desperate… After all, who knows how long this walk might be? It could last three minutes like it could las–

“CRASH”

Something strange just fell out of the sky, like a cyan lightning bolt came crashing from the cloud to the ground, I didn’t get to see much of it other than this blue and orange blur crossing the sky, but it seems like it fell not far from here, and in the direction I was heading to anyway.

I just came across a weird dent in the path, it look like an impact.
Well, it is probably an impact, seeing how fast that thing fell, it’s quite normal actually. What’s less normal is the absence of the fallen thing, only the crater, and nothing mo–

“Hi!”

The sudden noice almost made me jump, and because I was a little startled, I only babbled out, “Uh, Hello?”

“So, just so I’m to date, you’re Nebula Right? Is that what he called you?”

I looked around, from left to right but I couldn’t see who was my interlocuter. “I guess… Where are you??”

“Look up!”

I did as I was told and looked upward, and here it was, a pegasus mare flying just over my head. “So who are you exactly?”

The cyan pegasus landed in front of me and said “I almost forgot! I’m Lightning Dust,” She reach out for a wingshake, “Stargazer told me to come here and explain everything, but to be honest I don’t think I understood every part of what he told me.”

“How is he?” I asked

“Who? Stargazer?” Lightning Dust took my left wing and started to drag me while she walked along the path. “I guess he’s fine, but not really my type.”

“No, No, I didn’t mean it like this, like what does he do?”

Lightning Dust seem to blush a little from embarrassment. “Oh, yeah right, I totally knew that.” She said, “Well he don’t tell me much, but I know he is from Equestria, I know he is pursued by a weird organisation and he helped me when I got here so I trust him.”

“What do you mean ‘he is from Equestria’, weren’t you in before coming to this weird shifting place?”

“He didn’t tell you…” She stopped for an instant, putting her thoughts back in place “I guess that’s why he made me come here!”

“And?”

“As you may already know, this place is inside a story, but it doesn’t mean you have no control.
On Earth, stories work a little differently, they become some sorts of ‘alternate realities’, but most can’t interact with the world. But yours is different, you see, Stargazer put in this story one of the few mirrors shards he had, connecting this place with Earth so you could help him.”

“Where is earth? I know about Equestria, but not a place named Earth.”

“Well Earth is in the primordial universe, where no magic naturally exist, and every other worlds are just stories.”

“So how did you come to Earth then if they didn’t have magic to get you out?”

Lightning dust looked at me before letting out a small sigh. “Can we talk about something else, I don’t know about all of that, even Stargazer is struggling to comprehend everything!” She looked around the plains, I didn’t even realize, but I could see in the horizon a cliff, and after that, an endless sea. “I could teach you how to fly Nebula, I’ve seen your last try, and it was very funny”

“Hey! Don’t talk bad about me, I didn’t even know I had them!”

“Then let me show you what you can do with them!” she said, launching herself in the sky at an incredible speed, she was going so fast, flying so precisely, cutting through clouds by shier force of wing, turning from left to right, up and down, making a looping or two, and heading straight back for the ground, landing next to me at such speed that she dissapeared in a small Dustcloud.

“Don’t think you’ll be at that level from the start, but I’m sure you could be as skilled as me with training!” She said, her smile wide.

Author's Note

Hi, Writer here!
If you read this, then first i’d like to thank you, I know I’m not the best writer out there but I’m trying my best 😄

This story as been a way to get out of my creative block recently, and while i’m not as active as i could, it let me slip out of studies a litlle.

So i really want to make my writing skills as good as possible, so i can let other peoples rest a little by reading my stories, so if you have any tips, any advice, i’ll gladly take it!

and if you don’t, then just a little feedback, a litlle 👍 would mean the world to me!

so if you have anything to say, say it and i’ll try my best to answer :twilightsmile: