E̵͈̮̹̘͐̿̆͋̒̀͘͝#̶̼̏͐̿̎̀͂̃̈́0̸̙̩͖͔̯͆͐̊̓̀͘͝~̷̧̳̐͌̄̾a̷̧̤̰̪̗̞̦̭̍̓̃Ÿ̷̥̮̲̘̓̈́̔̈͐̈́͐͜*̷͍̜̭̓̋̇͛į̶̛̩̠͈̲̲̥̈̐͒̒^̶̺̍̕͘n̵͕̍̀
She twitch, opened eyes sharply, then rested fore hooves on the surface beneath her and lifted herself up. In front of her was a field of wet earth and withered, dead grass. The horizon was drowned in a gray haze.
She looked around, but no matter where she looked, the picture didn't change. No buildings, no trees, no living beings. Emptiness and gray gloom overhead.
She get to feet carefully and took a step, then another, but nothing changed, only the grass crumbling and rustling beneath her hooves.
”Where am I?” she asked, and the sound of her own voice in the silence made her shudder, it seemed so unexpectedly loud.
She coughed and tried to remember how she got here, but... nothing. About where she was. What year is it, what day is it, finally, who she is...
Nothing.
Empty.
Not a single memory in her head.
”Is there…” she wanted to ask, but immediately flattened her ears back in fear. She didn't understand why, but the thought immediately occurred to her that it would be better not to make any noise. Not to attract attention...
Whose? Whose attention? a new thought flashed across her mind, but there was no answer.
She looked around, but not finding any landmark and decided to just stride in a random direction.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The ground, dead grass and haze still floated out in front of her, sliding past and fading behind her.
”…”
Her ears flicked up. Some kind of sound, an indistinct echo, reached her from somewhere in the right front, making her stop and freeze. Listening with holding breath.
”...on…”
She sprang forward. Hooves thudded, carrying her lightly over the springy ground. The grass shattered to dust under her thrust, and a ghostly plume stretched behind her.
”No... eas... a-a...” came from far to the right, almost behind her. She stumbled, her legs tangled, but she was able to hold on and scraping the ground with hooves, darted in a new direction.
”Hey! Who's there? Answer me!” She shouted, still running. Her ears fluttered, trying to catch the slightest sound.
”I'm here!” It sounded very close, somewhere to the left. The unicorn corrected her running course, but then she almost fell over when she heard a scream filled with terror and pain. ”What- Aah! No, no, no, let me go! A-a-akhhh...”
She braked and focused on listening. When someone’s voice cut off abruptly, her heart began to thump a wild rhythm. The blood in her ears was loud and deafening. Breathing deeply, she stared into the haze, but she couldn't make out anything. Sharp glance around - nothing, not on the sides or behind her. Silence.
She took several deep breaths. Overcoming her fear, she took a step in the direction where she'd last heard the scream. And another step. And another. Finally, as her heart began to calm and noise in her ears subsided, her eyes caught a glimpse of a faint shadow in the haze.
Step.
The shadow seemed closer.
Step.
She saw the ground ripped up by the hooves. The trail stretched on.
Step.
Something dark was lying on the ground. It barely moved, as if the wind was flattering a mourning shawl in the grass.
Step.
She was terrified. She could make out a body, a head, legs. But it all looked shaky, unnatural. It seemed to waver, like mud in the water, as if someone had walked across the bottom, disturbing the silt. Absolutely black silt.
She stood breathless, afraid to move. When she came to her senses, she took a step back.
Step.
Step.
When the shadow was almost hidden in the haze, she gasped. And immediately regretted it - a soft rasping, rustling, moaning sound came from the shadow.
She walked on again, slowly, quietly, hoping it would be all right. The shadow, disappearing for a moment behind the haze, began to reappear a few seconds later, but now it wasn't lying on the ground - it was standing.
It's coming for me... it's coming behind me! she thought in a panic, feeling the horror coming on. The rustling grew louder and louder, and with it the shadow became clearer and clearer.
Step.
Step.
Step.
She was backing away, afraid to stop, afraid to turn tail on it. And so she saw it clearly as something came into clarity. It echoed the shape of the pony's body, but it was all made up of a wavering, shaky shadow. Like a swarm of gnats. Like a carpet of spiders. Without moving its legs, more like flowing forward in parts, it followed.
I need to stop it... I need... I... I need light! the convulsive thoughts flashed through her mind. As if awakening from a dream, the knowledge began to seep into her memory.
A formula...
A force...
A horn! she realized and calling to her body. The warmth of hope surged, growing in her chest. She drew confidence from it, wrapping the power emanating from within in a shell of knowledge, shaping and guiding.
A moment later, a blue spark, bright as a sun that had forgotten this place, darted forward. The spark hissed through the chest of thing, and then faded into the wet earth.
The reviving shadow swayed, shake, faded, and moved to follow her again, covering the hole.
No! More! I need more!
She created another spark, then a second, a third. When the fourth hit thing, the shadow turned gray and crumbled.
She almost yelped in shock as paper-thin, translucent bones slid out of the scattered shadows. As bones struck the ground, they burst into flames, flew up in flaming sand, and turned into a brightly colored bird that flew straight toward her.
”No!” she exclaimed in fright and trying to dodge the energy, but she couldn't. The flash flew straight into her chest and...
... and she felt a pleasant warmth.
Her heart, which had been pounding furiously before, began to slow down. She felt that this energy was not evil. It was like an embrace. The warmth of a living body. A forgiveness.
I-I did everything right, a thought occurred to her. Whoever it was, now he had found peace.
She sat down with her head bowed. A speck of dust on the withered grass was all that remained of thing. But I heard voices... they were alive, before... before... Her heart, thudding painfully, continued its measured pace. She took a few deep breaths and exhaled, calming down finally.
I need to move. I need to figure out what's going on. I can protect myself. And I hear there are pony alive here. Maybe if I…
Her ears twitched, picking up a sound. She spun her head, trying to figure out what she was hearing and where it was coming from. But when she did, she immediately felt a terrible, paralyzing fear: the grass was rustling, on all sides.
They heard me. They heard my scream! They… they came for me.
She leapt up, feeling her legs trembling. There were many of them... She turned one way, then the other. Everywhere she looked, there were new shadows through the haze.
Nowhere to run.
Again and again she sent sparks into the approaching shadows and spun in one spot. One of them fell, and the ashes, turned into a fiery bird, flew away into the gray gloom in the sky.
Then another one.
Once more and more...
How many of them are here?! flashed a panicky thought. She was already feeling tired and internally exhausted when another bird rise from the ashes and flew toward her instead of the heavens. I can handle it. I must cope! A moment of warmth, a surge of strength gave her hope, but then the realization came to her. It was close, that's why the bird flew towards me... Break free! I must to break out of the ring!
Panicking, she began to put more and more energy into each spark, trying to break through the path in front of her. She managed to take a step, then another, but her strength quickly faded. She swayed on unsteady legs and sank to the ground.
”N-no... no!” She cried out, trying to get up again, but then something slid up behind her. She felt her flesh crackle, drying, as the shadow touched her back. She shrieked, trying to kick, trying to crawl away, tearing up the ground with her fore hooves, but soon the cold reached her heart, stabbing and....
Я̸̛̠̠͙̖̄̊͊̀͝x̶̢̛͙͆̏̂ͅR̵̫̖̹̣̮̽7̷̝̤̓̈́́̋́̉́́̚ã̸͚̘͍̀̇c̶̩͚͍͙͖̯͇̜͌̇͝ͅ@̷̹̀̋̑̅͆̚+̷̛͔̫͕̣̭̳̲̒ǫ̵̰̖̱̗̪͆͑̇̂H̷̡̙̥͚̳̲͇͚̻̔̇̈͒̔͊̀
She jerked sharply. She took a deep breath. Her eyes opened wide. Her gaze raced around her surroundings in fright.
Nothing.
Getting dirty in the mud, she struggled to her feet on the third try and she looked around in a huff. The body was convulsing - the mind still remembered that intolerable, drying pain, terrifyingly fast and yet unbearably slow, creeping under the hide, the way it consumed every cell and made it squirm, screaming in agony.
Unable to hold back her tears, she fell to her knees. She was pounding with sobs. She tried to hold back, to calm down, afraid that the noise would attract the shadows and she would have to go through it all over again, but she couldn't. Burying her face in the dry grass and covering herself with her hooves, she continued to sob, whimpering softly in fear…
...until she felt the pain.
She never noticed the shadows coming.
F̶̧͓̝̼̞͗̿̅̒̑̚͜͝2̵̧̡̢̛̜̟̥̩̪̼̋͌̅̄̏͝͝P̵̗̜͒̔r̷̢̢̠̞̘̖̹̰̯̉̈́̌͂͒́͂̈a̶̠̻͇͉̫͌́̈́̿̈́͛͌̔c̸̣͈̳̱̟̋̌̇̾̈́̑̎͘͠$̷̨̨̪̟͔̜̏̈́͘ḯ̷͚̜͇̏̈́̋́̀͠≯̭̟̠̘̒̂͊%̷̢̨͙̰̱̖̠̲̃
She jerked sharply. But this time, she didn't get up. Squirming, she whimpered softly, biting down on her foreleg.
I don't want this! Why is this happening?! I don't want this!
The pain she'd inflicted on herself made her wake up and clear her thoughts. She slowly lifted herself up on her hooves, wiping away tears.
This place was different.
Instead of a vast field of dead grass, there were huge, rough-hewn slabs of stone beneath her feet. There was sand and small dead bushes in the joints between them. A sparse rain dripped from the sky.
But, as before, the haze made it impossible to see far, and a gray gloom hung overhead.
Looking around worriedly, she moved forward, keeping along the joints between the slabs.
Lightning flashed in the far distance.
Maybe if I stay in one direction, I'll find something. It's a road. Or a town. It's just impossible that I won't find something along the way.
Thunder rolled to her hearing, quiet and muffled.
Step.
Step.
Step.
She moved forward. Her hooves clattered softly on the stone. Her ears kept listening to the silence, trying to catch the eerily familiar rustle.
Nothing.
Step.
Step.
Step.
She stopped. The slabs beneath her feet were several times longer than her body. She'd walked a dozen of them already, but nothing was changing around her.
She turned right.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Nothing.
Impossible. Insanity. Is this place infinite? Where do I go? What do I do? What...
”…”
Oh… no. No-no-no…
She squirmed, not wanting to hear what came through the fog.
It's happening again… It's happening again. They'll be here soon…
”...on’t! A-a-a!”
She whimpered again at the terror climbing to her soul, at the feeling of helplessness, at the phantom pain that skittered like a thousand spiders under her skin.
She didn't want to feel it all again.
I-I have to pull myself together. I have to be quiet. I have to avoid them at all costs.
”No! Stay back! Stay awa… a-a-a!”
The lightning hit close, cutting off the cry of pain. The flash illuminated the surroundings, and she saw shadows appear through the haze for a brief moment. Dozens, hundreds. All the way to the horizon, they lay, stood, moved toward the so rare spots of color.
This is a nightmare... a terrible dream. I want to wake up! I want to wake up!
She couldn't take it anymore and broke into a gallop. Shadows flitted from all sides, stretching toward her. Trying to reach her. Touch her. To hurt her.
She tripped over a bush, then slipped on a wet rock. Awkwardly placing her hoof , she twisted it, and stumbled forward. Her heart skipped a beat as she barely managed to get up on three legs, and then, overcoming the pain, she took a step.
There's no way she can flee now.
”No! No!” she whimpered, watching the shadows inevitably catch up, surrounding her.
At the last moment, squirming in all-consuming pain, she greatly envied the one who was able to end her agony with a lightning strike.
È̷͕̼͚͔̳̈̄͋̎͊̈́̀͜U̴̦̤͍͇̎̔́͑̓̒̉͘9̵̧̹̳͈͎̖͔͉́ͅr̴̫̫̙̱̩̟̉͒̿̂͋͆̀̏͠ḁ̸͔̟̖͒͋̔͆͘?̸̲̝̣̦͇̫̹̑́̌̄͂͐̓͛͠t̵͈̼̠͓̞͕͗/̵̬̣̃̑͌͋̿̃̽<̵̢̭̗̲͍̜̃͐̊̃̉́͝ņ̸͈͙͕͎̳̤̇͝
1̵̳̬͓͚͂̓̉́̆͘7̵͔̰̩̗̬̊͂͗̃͆̽V̶̢̞͚́̌r̴̢̮̥̜͙͇̋̅͋͗W̴͕͓̭̄͊̍̉́͒̚̚c̶̨̟̞̻̼̻͔̍-̴̲̯͎̀̿̇͝i̸͓͖̝͈͋͊̔̾͘F̷̛̮̑͆̓̅̿̋̏n̷̛̰͈̻̘̞̓͐͋̎̑́̇͝ͅ
E̸̢̨̹̗̭̰̎͐͜J̶̞̪̝̯͐̈́́͆͘t̷̢͎̱͖̭̣̖̱̜̃̈́͛͗̓̉̋̂͠3̵͈̰̹̞̥̼͍͚͇́̃̾̏̆̐̔a̷͔̘̭̺͌͛̚c̵̯̝͒̔̀͛͘̚ṭ̶̞̈̌̆̑͑̾̓̔̕i̷̧͖̥͉̼͇͕̮͗́͊̀̈́̚͠Q̷̧͈̦̈́̀̓͛͒́̇͝ǹ̵̮̩̝̳̫́
She jerked, coming to her senses. The same haze and gray gloom of the sky was still in front of her eyes. The phantom pain didn't feel so intense anymore. Not after hundreds of repeats.
Twenty-five... Twenty-four... Twenty-three...
She lay there, in no hurry to get up, counting down the time she had before the hunt began. When she accepted it, when she began to get used to it, when the horror receded into the background, she began to analyze and study.
At first she tried to reach the other living, before the shadows, but she never could. She heard their screams, their cries of despair. Heard them die. But gradually there were fewer and fewer of them. She didn't know why. Perhaps that they were giving up, that their minds were fading away, falling into catatonia, allowing them to abstract themselves from this cruel world. Accepting the end of life without pain.
Limbo. I'm in Limbo. An endless world where only struggle, despair and death await me.
The shadows were getting faster, more aggressive each time. But she had learned a lot herself, too.
She had learned how to destroy them, quickly and efficiently. She moved constantly, trying not to let herself be surrounded. But it was all useless - sooner or later there were so many of them that there was only one way out.
And she noticed something else.
Every time, at the boundary between the beginning and the ending, this world shuddered with a word. A single word that, rumbling as if it were the universe itself splintering, rolled through it, changing and cleansing it of all evidences in an instant. The word that preceded her every awakening.
”Ḙ̷̋͘x̸̡̧͚̩͖̰͔͑̃̽̅͝t̷̬͇̩̃̎̉̿̇̉ȓ̴̬͑͊̌̿̉̂a̷͓̳̣̫͊̈́̓̋́̕͜͜c̷̜̣̈́͑͛ť̸̰̻̺̜͋̆̀͐͝i̸̛͈͍̗̜̗̣͗͋̓͒ô̵̖̈́͑̾͝͝n̸͓̩̙̓̚̕” she whispered the unknown word. She felt a response from the world, as if it froze for a moment, gazing at the one who dared to say it, but that was all that happened.
Two... One...
She stood up, preparing to hold out again for as long as possible. She didn't know who she was, why she was here, or who was to blame for her torment. But she would be able to figure out how this world worked. She could get out. She could get her revenge. All she has to do is keep trying, one step at a time.
Step.
Step.
Step.
A shadow came through the haze.
With a howl of rage and despair, she charged toward it.
***
Starlight tapped on the door frame. Her mentor and close friend, Twilight Sparkle, continued to mutter something, making notes with a quill on a scroll. The unicorn sighed.
”Twilight, can I come in?”
”Ah!” the alicorn turned around sharply, and immediately put a hoof to her chest. ”Starlight! I swear by Celestia's flaming flanks, you're going to give me a heart attack... oh, I mean...” she faltered, hiding her face behind her wings. ”Don't tell anypony that I...”
”Yes, yes, the image of the cute and smart scholar-princess has to be maintained, I remember,” the unicorn sighed and rolled her eyes. When Twilight stopped acting like a chaste student and switched to the image of a harsh lector, Starlight gave a shake of her head. ”If you're going to reprimand me, you needn't - I was knocking! But you were so engrossed... By the way, what was it?”
Starlight looked in wonder at the strange machine, which looked like a complicated sphere the size of a pony's head, made of many layers of metal and crystals. It was hovering outside a reinforced glass window in an isolated room. A dark blue mist dripped from the walls of the sphere, causing a strange sense of unease by its mere appearance. It flowed continuously, swirling around the crystals and groping the air around the sphere as if it were alive. The many terminals and cases on either side of the window flashed their lights, buzzed and clicked, and one even spewed out a huge ribbon of paper with a broken graph.
”Oh! Well... anyway, remember that Star Swirl book we found in that crazy old zebra's collection? There was also the marvelously preserved scholarly works of Alais the Thieving Star of Bacchara and ”Secret Oaths” Black L'Ettere, and…”
”Twi, I remember, I helped to sort them out myself.”
”My point is that I decided to try to implement one of his theories about self-improving spells. He didn't manage to realize it at his time, but I, using the work of others…”
”Twilight, is that... a dark magic?” The unicorn asked, jerking away from the window as one of the tongues of dark fog reached toward her in a very deliberate motion.
”We-ell... yes,” the alicorn replied, embarrassed, fixing the goggles on her face with her hoof. ”But I took everything into account! The walls of the chamber have five levels of protection, plus two dozen sun seals that will burn out any evil if anything goes wrong! Plus, I was able to replace real souls with their molds, which…”
Starlight's eyebrows went up to her forehead.
”Wait... are you now talking about those recording crystals you used on all of us a couple months ago? Are they in that sphere? Twilight!”
”Everything is safe! I was able to adapt everything so that the crystals are just formulas describing us! They don't have a particle of real soul in them!”
”Twilight, I... I don't know what to think... You promised last time to all of us that it wouldn't happen again! Oh... I'm starting to think that leaving the villains' research papers in your hooves is not a good idea.”
”But... but... okay, Starlight, how do I convince you that everything is alright? Let me show you and explain everything, and you can decide for yourself if I should keep doing this? ” Twilight suggested, sighing, and added, making the most adorable face she could. ”Ple-e-ease?”
”Stop trying to use that trick, thanks to the students it hasn't worked on me in a long time…” Starlight snorted, rolling her eyes. ”Okay. Go ahead, but you promised!”
”Of course!” The alicorn rejoiced and led her friend to the control panels. ”Here, look, everything works through voice control, so the risks of contamination by external magic are minimal. But you have to use Old-Equestrian language... It starts with me inserting the activating crystal into the slot… Okay, then you have to say the commands. Ahem…”
R̸̮̝̔̅ū̷̯n̷͚͛̇n̶̯̬̒̌ĭ̵̻n̵̡̂͗g̶̖̿̽ ̶̪̱̈́͘a̴̯͛̏ ̸̞͒s̵̪̩̚į̶̰̃̇m̵̯̓ù̶̩̈l̵͓̼̎͘â̵͖t̷̻͗i̵̻̰͗͝o̵͚̔̕ǹ̵̖
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..
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….
…..
I̶̢͕͌ǹ̷̬͈̓p̴͈͋u̴̼͐ẗ̷̲́:̸͍̻̍̈́ ̵͚͉̀s̸̙͇̀a̸̺̓̅m̶͚̏͒p̶̩̻͆l̶̲̹͆e̸̜̐̍ ̴̧̞̆S̴̨͔͗̈́G̴̳̿̓ ̷̻̕͝v̶̧̮̀ë̶̝́r̶̘̗͑̀ś̴͕̰̚i̷̛͈ö̸̥́͘n̵̲̑̽ ̸̤́2̶̙̱̽2̸̖͆͊9̸͓̒͠
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..
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E̶͊ͅx̵̲͝t̵̩́r̵̢̂a̷̖͛c̸̤̐t̶͍̿ȉ̵̥ǫ̷̓n̶̞̕
Starlight jerked, coming to her senses. The same haze and gray gloom of the sky was still in front of her eyes…