My eyes were met with a familiar blank canvas. So many times had I visited this place of eerie tranquility. So many nights spent dreaming an eternal expanse of blank nothingness from which only nothing could come. So often did I visit here. But as I grew accustomed to the void of white, I let myself be lured into a sense of security and peace. Ever since the first night, it had been absolutely empty and void of anything. I was in for quite a shock.
At first it was much of the same: the same old empty husk of space; the same old stale air of serenity. Nothing to see, nothing to do. But, after some time, something seemed off. It felt... Different. Occupied. Like I was being observed from afar. It was so impossible, but it was there all the same. I didn't know what else to do, so I called out to it.
"Hello?" Silence.
"Is someone there?" Again, nothing was heard. There was, however, a more solid presence in the area now.
"Hello?" The presence was solidifying more and more every second. I looked around trying to find it.
What was it? A nightmare? A new part of my dreamscape? A sudden twist brought the intruder to my sight.
A strange thing, that presence. A tall creature, shrouded in a dark cloak. And it stood on two legs! Never in all my life had I even heard of something like that! It was, without a doubt, the most bizarre thing I had ever seen! But that wasn't all- it had these little stubs on the end of its forelegs. Similar to a dragon's claws, but with five on each paw instead of the normal three. They were long and spindly, with two little joints on eight of the longest. Two of them were shorter and thicker than the rest, with only one joint in the middle. The shorter stubs were situated inward, closest to its body.
"Do you know why you are here?" it asked. I was startled by its question, and jerked my head back in response.
"W-what?" I stuttered. It repeated itself, this time more slowly.
"Do you know why you are here?" The question was perplexing to no end.
"What do you mean? I've come here every night for years. This is my domain! If anything, I should ask YOU why YOU'RE here!" I countered. The being stood for a moment, as if contemplating my words. After a moment, it threw back its head and laughed. It laughed like I had just told it the funniest joke in history.
"I'm afraid you've got it all wrong. You're in MY domain. And, more importantly, you're here for a reason." Its words confused me all the more.
"Huh?"
"You mean you don't remember it?" Just when I thought it couldn't get any stranger, the creature says THAT. I just gave a bemused look and stared at it.
"You've been here before. It was quite a while ago, but you did come here before." What did he mean by that?
"Well, of course I've been here before! I've been coming here every night for years!" The being shook its head.
"No, no. I mean before THAT happened." He placed emphasis on "that" and gestured widely to me. I looked around uncertainly before focusing my gaze on him again.
"I'm sorry?" I asked. To say I was confused wouldn't begin to describe it. The thing again gestured to me before speaking.
"Before you became this." Nothing it said was making sense!
"What the buck are you talking about?!" It gave what I assume to be an exasperated sigh.
"You'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, have a memory." A small card formed into its claws, which grasped between two and flung towards me with a flick of its wrist. The card should have fallen to the floor, but it didn't. It flew at me true as an arrow, the distance between it and I closing fast. I took a tentative step back. The card continued its path. I was tempted to run, but before I could react, it reached me, pulling back at the last second and floating at level with my eyes. I sat there and looked at it.
It was rather large. Cut into a simple crown shape, with a picture of me on the front. Although disturbed, I was also intrigued. I grabbed it with a hoof and twisted it around. The back was black at the top and faded to white at the bottom. An outline ran around the outermost part, staring white at the top and fading to black. In the center was a strange symbol. An outline of a heart, thin and elegant. Definitely a bizarre object.
I looked up towards the creature, only to find it had disappeared. Once again I was alone, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to be now. I looked back to the card in my hoof.
What was it supposed to be? A "memory"? How was that supposed to work? Memories were a recollection of a past event specific to the individual, not some object with one's picture on it! To claim the object in hoof was a memory was like claiming Celestia was an Earth Pony!
Having no other options, I reached out with my magic and lifted it from my hoof. At least, that was my intention. Instead, I was met with a shocking sensation that jolted from the point of contact with the card to my brain. My eyes went wide as waves of darkness scrolled across my eyes, and I could swear I saw the card in my grasp break into white fragments.
I shut my eyes and rubbed them with my eyes, trying to restore my sight. A strange sight greeted me. I was looking down at an alley during what appeared to be night. Nothing was around: no piles of trash, no possessions left haphazardly out on the ground. Nothing for an infinite stretch of distance, as it sprawled as far as the eye could see in both directions. I couldn't place the strange sensation that was growing inside me. It was similar to déjà vu, but somewhat different. I knew I had never been here before, but somehow it was so familiar. I couldn't explain why this place was so bizarrely recognizable. No amount of thought could bring about the reason, making it all the more perplexing.
An egg-shaped splotch of inky blackness appeared, snapping me out of my thoughts. It stayed for a second and then expelled another creature, similar to the one I had just encountered, before fading into nothing. I gave a resigned sigh and decided to watch the newcomer. It stood still for a moment, staring straight ahead before turning around and walking off into the stretches of the topless corridor. Something began to move me after it. I no longer bothered to question the lack of sense that the situation generated and simply stared after the thing making its way through the alley.
I had followed the creature for some time before I realized that my position relative to it had changed. I was now level with its head, and was much closer than when our venture had began. Not wanting to endanger myself, I tried to pull myself skyward. My effort was met with little success, and I attempted to use magic to raise myself higher. I didn't get very far though. As soon as I began to work my magic, the being turned around and looked toward me. I froze, and we both held our positions for what seemed like eternity. The dark entity was the first to break its position. It raised its claws to its head and threw back its hood.
A peach colored face had been hidden in the hood. Although, I can't say it was actually much of a face. It lacked a muzzle, and had small beady eyes that were colored a lucid grey. Much like my own. And it lacked hair everywhere except the top of its head, which was a stunning shade of yellow. Much like my mane. Our manecuts were the exact same (bed-headed), which threw me off.
"What are you?!" I asked. It gave a bright smile before doing the most confusing thing I had seen so far.
"I'm you, of course." It stated. The statement itself was ludicrous, but what made it all the more absurd was the fact that it spoke in MY voice. I gasped and stared, my eyes as wide as saucers. This thing had claimed to be me! It looked somewhat like me! It had my voice! How was this possible?!
The longer I stared, the more I saw it. It was a thin apparition. A translucent overlay of an all-too familiar pony's head that encased the hairless face. That pony's head belonged on my body!
"The good times of today are the sad thoughts of tomorrow."
-Bob Marley
My eyes slid open slowly, oppressed by the bright stream of golden light flowing through the thin curtains in my window.
I laid there, taking in the events of my dream.
What in the hoof was that? A nightmare? It must have been. What else could it have been?
I shook my head and attempted to gather my thoughts. I looked around my small room (more of a trot-in closet, really), seeing my calendar, amongst other things, hanging in its normal place next to the window. Upon closer inspection, I saw the days leading up to Thursday crossed out. Today was Thursday, so I had to go in to work early and stay late. I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my hooves. Those damned animals would be the death of me, but I desperately need the bits that comes with them.
With a sigh, I climb to my hooves and go about my daily routine.
Get up.
Have breakfast.
Feed Winston.
Clean the litter box.
Clean self.
Go to work.
I entered into the shop and walked over to Summer, who was currently on shift.
"Summer." I said curtly. She looked up from her florist's magazine and smiled.
"Hey Rettie. Thanks again for covering my shift!"
"It's no problem." I bit back the other half of my reply, figuring she'd get pissed that the only reason I'd agreed to it was because I'd be paid overtime.
"Cool. Thanks again." She stepped out and began to walk out the door. She stopped at the door.
"Oh yeah! One thing- we've got a special order that's supposed to get picked up today around four. A miss "Shy" should be here for it." I nodded and motioned for her to be on her way.
"Got it." And with that, I was alone in the pet shop.
Business was slow that day, never more than one pony in there at a time. The only thing that broke up the mundaneness was the occasional question that even a foal could answer.
"What's the difference between this and that?", "Should I feed so and so this or this?", "What the f*ck is that thing?"
Oh. My. Bucking. Celestia. Those ponies were idiots. If I wasn't desperate for some coinage, I would've quit a long time ago.
By the time 4 rolled around I was out of it, already extremely tempted to clock out and lock up. Maybe go for a stroll in the park and relax under the shade of the maple tree. Let the cool of the shadows and wind pass over me and mix with the warmth of mid afternoon... Perhaps taking a thermos of tea with me to sip as time passed me by. Yeah, that would be nice.
"Um, excuse me." I looked up from the spot on the floor that I had been staring at. A butter yellow pegasus with a light pink mane was standing in front of me on the other side of the counter. I recovered as best as I could.
"Oh, uh, sorry miss. (Ahem) How can I help you today?" The mare recoiled when I had raised my head to look at her, and she withdrew further when I spoke to her. She lowered her head timidly and gave a reply barely above a whisper.
"I have an order to pick up." A quick glance out of the corner of my eye granted me a peek at the clock, which read just a little after four.
"Ah, yes. The 4 o'clock. Miss Shy, I presume?" The meek pegasus simply nodded, her gaze still averted.
"Okay. Wait right here, I'll be back in a moment." I made my way around the counter and brushed past her, moving on to the back room and the spoils within.
It was a somewhat spacious area. Sparsely furnished, most of the empty space reserved for stock and special order storage.
"Okay. Lets see... Shy. Shy..." I said to myself as I scanned the broad shelves, looking for whatever it was that the customer just outside the door had ordered. My gaze passed over packages, boxes, bags, and all manner of containers.
I eventually found the desired object: a square box, labelled "Rawhide Meats & Meat Byproducts", with the word "Shy" hastily scribbled across a corner. Any questions I had were pushed to the back of my mind. It was unprofessional and downright rude to ask somepony about a subject as touchy as this.
I summoned energy to my horn and willed the thing to float. It obeyed my commands, and I guided it back to the front room.
"Okay, this is it." I called out to get her attention and made my way over to the counter, setting the box on it and floating a clip board to my face.
"Let's see here... Special Order, number 877-701A... Shipment of ground beef, approximately 10 pounds in weight; holding charge. That'll be 24 bits, ma'am." The mare nodded and produced the coins, which she put on the counter. I placed them in the coin register and wrote up her receipt, while simultaneously tearing the order from the clip board and tossing it into the trash. After finishing the receipt, I handed it to her and levitated the box onto her back. She jumped slightly at the unexpected pressure, but quickly relaxed.
"Thank you sir." She said. I opened the door before responding.
"Not a problem miss. Please feel free to come back any time." She nodded and passed through the door. Once she was completely through, I closed it and sighed. I was more than ready for the day to be over.
xxx
The clock read eleven when I walked into my house. A gnawing hunger was in my stomach, but I ignored it and gruffly plopped down on my bed. I was much too tired to do anything but sleep. The last thing I remember before succumbing to sleep was Winston playfully pawing at my hoof, which dangled over the edge of the mattress.