Endless seas of sand. The sun, ever bright. Creatures, constructs of cloth. And something else...
How will Fluttershy cope in a land with no life, but for one Companion...
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Crossover with the PSN bestseller Journey. Honestly one of the most beautiful games I have ever seen. It is not essential that you have played/seen it, but that would help a bit.
It spread throughout her system, leaving nothing except for the whiteness.
Silence.
It accompanied the white perfectly, leaving nothing to hide as there was nothing.
The world was a blank canvas, nothing to see, nothing to hear.
Nothing.
A speck of sand. The only thing visible in this new world.
The single speck quickly spread, leaving a patch, and then a field, and then a sea. And before long there was a desert, the dry wind whistling over the tops of the newly-formed dunes with an eerie sigh.
The sand itself was a pearly white, each individual grain reflecting the light from the glaring sun like so many mirrors.
The sun, a harshly glowing ball, hanging by a thread over the tops of the dunes, sending rays of brilliant sunlight cascading over the dunes, shading the desert perfectly.
The area of creation spread, and suddenly she existed again, an unwieldy mass of flesh and bone and feather, so clumsy compared to what she had, or rather hadn't been before. But what else was there?
There were memories, seeping in through her groggy mind like treacle. Fluttershy. That was her name, the name that was given to her not so long ago, like a personal brand, labelling her as an individual in this new world.
And it was terrifying.
She could remember things from before this happened.
Lying in her house.
Feeding her animals.
Having fun with her friends.
But what was the last thing that she could remember? Going to bed? And now what? A mysterious gentle light, caressing her and carrying her to this unknown place?
As she lay face down in the sand, the timid pegasus wondered what she had done to deserve this. For all she knew it was just her, alone, in a different and possibly dangerous place. She couldn't be in Equestria, there were no deserts proper there, and this was a desert for sure.
There was a certain feel to the air, a sense, telling her that the only things that existed for an incredible distance in any direction was nothing...
Or was there something?
She became aware of her body gradually. The idea of even having a body seemed unimaginable considering how she had 'existed' not so long ago. A strange sensation crept along her... leg? What was this feeling. She didn't like it. Maybe if she moved her leg it would stop.
The moment she did the 'pain' went away, and a memory sparked in the back of her mind, reminding her that it was something called a cramp.
But what would she do with her leg now?
It was a very unsettling thought for Fluttershy. The idea of not knowing what do do with one's own body would frighten anyone not used to it, and she was not at all used to it.
First thing's first, what could she see?
Darkness. Why? Was there anything to see here? But wait, her eyes were closed. That could be a slight problem.
Suddenly light flooded her senses. Pure, unadulterated light. It was everywhere. It glittered from the ground, lived in the air, flew in the sky.
Next came the features. The sand. It was everywhere. She could not see a single spot not covered in sand. It looked rather pretty, but sitting on it in her current position was giving her another cramp.
But how was she sitting?
Fluttershy looked down at her body, and saw the rest of her body. It was sitting cross legged, one leg sticking further out to the side where she had moved it. Her arms were resting on the ground in front of her legs, much in the position she remembered a dog would.
Or did she imagine?
But that didn't matter, there were more important things to think about.
By now her thought patterns were beginning to even out, memories sliding into place. It was almost as if she hadn't used this body before, and the idea of that frightened her. What could be worse than not only being in a new place, but in a new body too?
But her body looked the same as it always had, so there could be nothing different, right?
She hesitantly lifted her head up to look at her surrounding. There was nothing much to speak of. Just dunes, dunes, and mo-
What was that?
In the spot where she was looking, about 100 metres away, there was a large dune, slightly bigger than the rest that formed the basin in which she resided. On closer inspection, she realised that all of the dunes around her looked identical, hiding all of their secrets. Was there something behind them? There could be no finding out. She could get lost, and the only landmark that she could see lay on that one dune.
There were three curiously shaped monoliths, and from the distance where she was sitting she estimated that one was about the size of her sitting, while the two others were twice the size and slightly thicker. Each one had a semicircle shaped hollow section near the top. The two larger ones had long ribbons tied to the hollowed sections.
Not much more could be easily discerned, maybe if she moved closer?
Fluttershy moved first one hoof, then the other, and then both of her arms, and rose from her spot on the sandy floor. She could see that her sitting there had formed a small indent, but it was instantly swallowed up by the endless supply of sand, leaving no trace of her existence.
She pondered this for only a moment before started the small trek towards the tiny rectangular monoliths. There was nowhere else to go, no other destination in sight, so what choice did she have?
But how to get there. She could just fly, couldn't she? But something in her wings felt wrong, as if something was missing that had been there before. She tried flapping them, but no thrust was formed, the connection to the magic that lived in all pegasi had vanished.
Then she would have to walk.
The sound of the fine sand crunching under her weight served to soothe her nerves, which had been fraying gradually during her time pondering her situation, each hoofstep punctuated by a quiet sigh from the sand, as if the desert itself were talking to her.
Was this desert alive?
The dune approached faster than she had expected, and now there was only a small climb to the top. The sun lay on the other side of the rise in the desert, leaving her side coated in darkness. But the darkness was a peaceful darkness, only being a duller section of the light, faded ever so slightly by the dune's presence.
But that mattered not. The top was right above her, and another few steps brought her up next to the monoliths.
They were not particularly breathtaking affairs, scratched and faded by time and the desert. The ribbons were in a much better condition, but even they had signs of wear and tear on them. Up close she could see the monoliths better.
They were extremely simple, no more than rectangles wedged into the shifting sand. They could be no wider than herself, and the smallest of the three came up to eyes level.
But it was what lay behind the monoliths, far away in the distance, that held her attention.
As she stepped over the crest of the dune, the sun blinded her momentarily, but the subsequent sight took her breath away.
A mountain. An enormous, beautiful mountain. It was shrouded in mist and clouds, the area below the peak shrouded by the aforementioned water formations. But possibly the most curious thing about the mountain was the peak.
It was divided in two, a perfect V in an otherwise flawless landmark. A mysterious white beam shone from the split in the mountain peak, as if sending a message, a call to all observers, telling them to come, to travel to the spot where it resided. A pilgrimage of an unknown faith.
The beckoning destination...
Fluttershy was not immune to the call, but even she could tell how far away the mountain must be. It rose far above the land, barely a silhouette, but still spearing the clouds. She could make out no other shapes but for the outline.
But where else could she go? The light that shone to her was inviting, welcoming even, a beautiful thing in an otherwise dull landscape. And who would she be to deny its call? And it positively radiated power. Could this be it then? Could this be the thing responsible for bringing her here?
There was only one way to find out. And she would do anything to get back to her homeland, even if it meant trekking all the way to this light.
She would have to go to it. And the journey always begins with a single step.
The moment Fluttershy stepped to the other side of the dune she lost her footing, sliding down on the loose sand, barely able to control herself. But at least she was going in the right direction.
She ended her impromptu slide at the foot of the dune in a pile, her yellow coat covered in white grains, her mane tangled. She hurriedly shook herself, ridding herself of most of the debris, leaving only a disheveled mane and ruffled coat as evidence.
For the first time she took a good look around her. She had rolled to a flatland, barely any variations in the sand height in a straight line in front of her, as if leading her on. More of the smaller version of monoliths lay scattered in front her with no apparent reason to their arrangement. They merely filled the area in front of her, showing pointless spots with stone markers.
But behind them? Was that a building?
Behind the field of stone, there was a half submerged piece of wreckage. It lay upright, but only 3 metres of it stuck out from the desert, having succumbed to the relentless march of time long ago. The once brilliant red had become faded and dusty with time.
But what was that on top of it? Movement! There was something there! And a small pinpoint of a glow as well!
Fluttershy took off, desperate for her first sign of company in the barren landscape, paying barely any attention to the markers she ran by, caring only for the movement that was on top of this rubble.
But what was it?
In barely any time at all she was at the building, and a series of convenient step-like protrusions stuck out from the side, giving her an easy way up to the roof. But it was obviously in disrepair, chunks falling off and laying in the sand around her, having long since fallen apart. Fluttershy hurriedly ascended the 'steps'.
She reached the top a-
What were they? The moving things? They looked almost like... cloth?
But these weren't ordinary. They were flying around in a circle, making gentle patterns around the glowing point. The source of the light itself was only some sort of ball, strange marking floating through and in it. They were all positioned in front of a broken sculpture of some sort, the top broken off, leaving only a misshapen trapezium.
The sunken building...
Fluttershy tentatively took a step towards the moving cloths. each one was about the size of her hoof and was rectangular, the length being about double the width. Four of the cloths in total revolved around the floating orb. Should she get closer? The orb did look inviting... And the cloth scraps were not showing any aggression, merely floating lazily above the ground, circling the orb.
It too, like the white light from the mountain, was radiating a sort of soothing warmth, permeating her body. Could the mountain's light and this orb be related?
Before she knew it, she was standing before the glowing orb, relaxed completely due to its presence. But what now?
She never got to properly answer that question. The orb had moved and drifted towards her, breaking apart into streams of golden light that flowed around her, supporting her, lifting her slightly even without the support of her wings. What were they doing?
A curious sensation spread across the pegasus' torso, and then her limbs. The streams of light were doing something, weaving together. But what exactly?
The light abruptly went away, leaving her standing there, as if nothing had happened.
But something had happened. The light had sewn her something, something important for survival in this place.
A cloak.
It was a simple affair. A basic design, flowing down to the top of her hooves. A deep set cowl threw her face into shadow, hiding all from the sun. It split exactly down the centre, falling into to halves. Fluttershy felt at home in this garment straight away, as if it was meant for her to wear. It even had slits in the back, circularly holes that perfectly fitted the base of her wings. It, like the building, was a faded red, but showed no signs at all of wear, having only just been formed.
But there was an extra feature. The scarf.
It was only very small, a tiny protrusion from the rest of the cloak, attached to the back of the cowl at a simple point, letting it hang loose. But it was obviously there and before Fluttershy could do anything to it the four floating cloths noticed.
They quickly swept down, and touched her scarf, symbols that had previously been hidden appearing for just long enough to jump from their bodies and onto her scarf, the cloths instantly returning to their previous flight patterns once their jobs were done.
As they did this, the yellow mare felt a new sensation arise, a new limb if you will, as if another appendage had been hidden from her this entire time.
Unsure of what exactly this new limb was, she tapped into it, unknowingly releasing the pent up energy. A sighing noise from her scarf, and she lifted from the ground slightly. She immediately fell to the ground, frightened by this new turn of events, staying low to the roof of the building. The power she had tapped into had vanished completely.
But it was hard to be afraid of this place, it was more awe-inspiring than anything else. She turned her head and looked at the stubby scarf on her cloak. It was completely blank, but as she watched, the flying cloths swept down again and gifted her with their unknown symbols. As they did this, she felt the 'limb' strengthen again, renewed by these cloth scraps, these tiny shards of material flying in circles in an endless desert.
Fluttershy accepted this quickly, not stopping to puzzle over something so foreign, so alien to her. She knew better than to question these things. It didn't matter how it worked, but it seemed that this temporary flight would help.
But what now? The cloth fragments had returned to their aimless wandering of the same spot, and the glowing orb had imparted its gift already. It was obvious that they would do nothing more than what they had already done.
So what would the quickest way to the mountain be?
She turned her head to look off the side of the submerged building, past the broken sculpture that lay on its roof behind the cloths, and to the desert, and more specifically, the mountain.
But what was this? There were more of those cloth things, scattered at regular intervals along the desert floor? Were they leading somewhere?
Fluttershy leapt from the building, landing with a small thud in the soft sand. Tapping into the power that the cloths had given her, she lifted up slightly and opened her wings, allowing her to glide but not fly. Gathering more of these symbols from the cloths further on she lifted up again, and again, and again, using the interspaced cloths to recharge the symbols that lived in her scarf, visibly showing when they were sitting there.
The area was quiet but for the gentle whistling of the wind, barely audible, and the occasional hoofstep she took after landing, the cloths swooping down to deliver their precious payloads, before jumping back into perfectly imperfect formation.
But then, all of a sudden, there were no more cloths. Instead, there was something much, much bigger. A large cloudosseum shaped clearing, far below the level of the surrounding sand, lay right in front of her. Fluttershy was caught in its grip almost instantly, sliding down the edges. But she didn't panic. This place wasn't hostile. She just knew it. Everything about this place exuded peace and solitude.
The area had a large cylindrical building rising up from the centre, to a height of about 10 metres, a dusty red colloration, just like the previous building that she had found. Seven larger building were actually imbedded in the walls of the dip in the dunes, the backs completely submerged while the fronts were open. They were placed in a semicircular fashion, with the centre most building being almost directly behind the large platform in the middle.
But where would she go now? There was nowhere to go, but for the mountain.
Were that only true. Instead there was an incredible tall gate behind the rearmost building, creating a split in the wall that kept her enclosed in this sand bowl. But how to get to it? It was too high to jump to, and the sand walls were too steep to climb. A bridge looked to have connected the platform with the gate behind it to the centre platform, but the middle had fallen away.
The sunken pit...
Could she fly? Maybe if she jumped to the centre platform she could hop to the building in front of the gate. The desert almost seemed to echo this thought, as a current of wind swept by her and flew towards the building.
Fluttershy walked towards it, wading through the shallow sand. This building too had step-like protrusions, but these were more rubble than anything else. Still, they would serve their purpose.
Wasting no time, Fluttershy jumped up each step in turn, until she had reached the top of the building, barely even touching each step before jumping to the next. But a strange sight awaited her.
An extremely long ribbon, roughly 6 times her length, was sticking out of the roof, swaying gently in the breeze. It almost seemed to beckon to her, inviting her closer, urging her to caress its dusty and stained surface.
Until she did. At that moment, the dust simply vanished, leaving behind a brightly glowing symbol, much like those on the flying cloths. A high sound whistled from the ribbon, and it started dissolving into a mesh of golden lines.
But things only got more confusing.
These lines reformed into more flying cloths. Lots of them. There were probably about 40 or so, all hovering around the top of that platform, in the middle of the pit in the desert. They were peacefully flowing around her, getting her nowhere. The gate was still by the building in the far side of the sand-wall. How would she get to it?
Maybe the cloths were telepathic? Maybe they were good at guessing? Who knows? What can be said however is that as Fluttershy thought this, the cloths froze, all pointing towards the cloaked mare. As one, they swept down and picked her up, each cloth bearing the load of her for only a second before returning to its spot around the platform, its energy temporarily spent. They lifted her, and they dropped her at the far building, the fabled gate looming tall above her.
But how would she open it? It was massive, and there was no visible mechanism.
But there was something else. A sculpture, much like the broken one at the place where she had found the glowing orb, but this one was intact. It seemed to depict a creature in a cloth, much like the one that she was wearing. Around this statue, in a V formation, were stone markers. If the V had of formed one half of a diamond, then the statue would be in the middle of said diamond.
But these markers seemed to be different. The cloths had deposited her next to them, and as she neared them they lit up, glistening slightly. All of them were lit in an instant, and the glistening flowed from the tips of the markers and formed a glowing circle on the ground.
The circle was just like the light from the orb and the mountain. Could all of these things be linked?
Fluttershy was about to step past this circle and towards the gate when she felt the Presence. It was completely peaceful, but nonetheless it was forceful. Without any choice on the matter the pegasus felt her legs moving under her, moving her towards the circle. It was positioned in front of the sculpture, as if honouring it. She was forced to sit down, cross legged in the circle, the Presence nearby, watching her invisibly, observing and controlling ever so lightly.
She wondered what exactly was happening, and how she was going to get away from this Presence and to the mountain, when she saw the world turn white. Fluttershy only hoped that she would be able to get to the mountain after this, knowing that she had no control over the proceedings.
Hello again audience... Well, the few that actually read this story...
Just here to say that I do not own Journey (Although I wish I did), and the views that I have about the game are purely my opinions, if you have had different experiences then you can have them, everyone has different experiences playing...
^ That disclaimer applies to all chapters...
Read on!
The Eternal Peak
First Confluence
That whiteness, it had returned.
And it was everywhere.
The instant that the presence had appeared properly had been the instant that the new world had disappeared. One moment, Fluttershy had been standing on the top of the ruined building, wondering how to open the giant gate, the next she had been dragged into the glowing white circle, and now? White.
It had come in a wave, accompanied by a peaceful ‘whoosh!’ from the wind, blocking out anything and preventing any chance of a possible escape. But Fluttershy got the odd feeling that this was natural, that this whiteness was just a normal occurrence in this new world, a thing that had to be experienced to truly move on.
But what of the Presence?
There was nothing to see in this light. The animal lover didn’t even know how long she had been sitting there, isolated in her own thoughts, almost drifting in the quiet atmosphere.
But how long would this all last for? She had no way of knowing just what the point of this was.
Was she… dead?
But she couldn’t be, she could feel her body, scrunched up beneath her, sitting on the hard white surface. She just couldn’t be dead.
She couldn’t…
But when would something happen…
There! Something in the white! An object perhaps? Something that she hadn’t seen in her thoughtful state?
It was very big…
But it was moving, ever so slightly, so it wasn’t an object. It was alive.
But what was it?
The Presence...
An uneasy feeling started to spread throughout the timid Pegasus, freezing her to the spot. That would have made a difference if she could have moved in the first place, but as it happened she was stuck in place, unable to move at all.
She was at this thing’s mercy…
But it wasn’t moving; it was just standing there, watching her. Fluttershy was unable to make out much, but she could see the faintest outline of it. It was giving a familiar feeling. This must be the Presence that she had felt earlier.
From what she could see, the Presence was made from the white, blending in almost perfectly. Its shape was conical, and it almost looked to be wearing a clock, much in the same fashion that she was wearing, but this one was perfectly white, with brilliant gold patterns threaded into the cloth, spreading around the hem and reaching up towards the top. They almost seemed to depict something, but what? The cowl of the cloak only gave a view of a completely bone white face, gold lines running along it. Was it wearing a mask?
This thing was just standing there, on the verge of invisibility, as if it wanted to observe and not be seen, as if it was judging her silently. But what did it want her to do? It looked to be twice her size at the very least from its place a few body lengths in front of her, so there was no way that she could overpower it. Maybe it was suspicious of her, was she different? Did it think that she was dangerous? That she would attack?
But would she even want to attack it? This Presence was not moving, and didn’t give the feeling of hostility. No, it was just the opposite. It gave a feeling of mystery, a curiosity that demanded to be fulfilled.
But what could she do?
Fluttershy sat there, completely immobile, in front of the Presence, for an unknown amount of time. It was standing there, hidden by the white and its cloak. The cloak fell perfectly to the ground, sealing away any possibility of viewing underneath.
And then it called. Or at least, it seemed to.
An unimaginably perfect, beautiful sound emanated from the Presence, clearing away any thoughts from her head, filling her with its purity. There was only a slight movement as it did so, as if it took minimal effort, and little caring. Did it not feel much about that action?
But an image was appearing as well. As the sound pierced the whiteness, it fell away, blowing the whiteness, and the Presence, away on the nonexistent wind. Leaving only the story.
The mountain appeared in the new whiteness that overtook the old. It only showed a slight outline of it, the beam from the top somehow being even whiter than the surroundings.
And then that went away too, but not entirely, but enough for her to realize that something about it had changed, leaving a wall surrounding her instead of the whiteness. It had markings all along it telling some sort of story, but the entire meaning was hidden. Fluttershy tried to move her head to look further around the wall, but was unable to move at all, still held in place by some force.
Did it not want her to see these things? Or maybe, the time just wasn’t right…
Fluttershy looked properly at the markings in front of her. It lay exactly where the outline of the Mountain had been, and it was a perfect copy, the only difference being that it was made out of the curious drawings that sat on the way, a surrealistic depiction of it.
But it had a story to tell.
The call of the Presence was only just starting to fade away; the ringing still lay in the ‘air’. Reverberating. The Mountain seemed to hear this, and the wall changed.
From the very top of the Mountain a small ball of light appeared, drifting from the split and moving along. The wall started to move around silently as this happened, ghostly quiet.
This white ball was drifting along in the sky, and in an instant, the stars grew from the blackness, filling the void with a beautiful tapestry of lights.
The stars kept appearing, getting closer and closer to the ground. And then the growth stopped. Fluttershy felt slightly sad after this, but the sadness went away as she saw the effects. Birds appeared in the air, impressionist drawings with clear meanings.
But they looked strange, they had glowing symbols contained in the spot where their chests would be. Were they really there in the real world?
Plants appeared soon after, growing from the ground, but they too had symbols, these ones hidden where their roots would be.
And then the ponies appeared. But were they really ponies? No, they looked like something else. They looked like the Presence. But there were more of them, at least four.
However, they were unmistakably the same as the Presence, the distinctive white cloak and shape. They never wore anything else. Was it a position? Were they called White Cloaks?
But these beings were no exception to the rule, and those glyphs appeared in their chests, right where one might imagine the heart would reside. Did these glyphs represent life? And they came from that first glyph that shot out from the Mountain.
Did the Mountain create all of these things? The stars? The birds? The plants?
The inhabitants?
Did it create life?
But what was that last shape? It grew from the ground, in between where the four white cloaks stood. It snaked out of the ground, high up into the empty space on the wall, a glyph appearing in its base. A cloud of things that looked to be cloths were flying around its top in a random formation.
Wait, was that a ribbon? And if it was, why did it have a glyph? Surely it couldn’t be alive…
A memory flooded Fluttershy’s mind. It had her, standing on top of the sunken building, a newly formed cloak fitted on her body, a stubby scarf draped on her back.
Cloths, flying around her and darting to touch her scarf.
Her standing in the sunken pit…
The ribbon, begging her to touch it and release its children, the cloths.
Were all of those things alive? Was there life in the endless desert?
Was she not alone?
The story looked to have reached its end for the moment; the wall had stopped revolving, even though there was still a lot more to see. But alas, this was all that she would see for now.
The wall disappeared. Suddenly all that was left was the sound, the faintest traces still hanging in the white void, bouncing against the hard floor, reaching to Fluttershy in her sitting position.
And then that too was gone, fading away, and it dragged the whiteness along with it. The desert almost mourned its disappearance, a sad whistling rushing by her.
And then she was back, sitting in the white circle, surrounded by the glowing stone markers and the sculpture of what she now knew to be a white cloak. Without knowing it, the statue had actually started glowing, lighting up to be a pure white. But as she watched that luminosity drained away like water down a drain, vanishing, leaving the statue as the cold lifeless lump of rock that it had been before.
It was sad; it had almost seemed alive while it had been alight…
Before Fluttershy could properly think this over there was a clunk, and a scrape, and then the gate was opening, as if it had known that she had seen the wall, the story, the possible explanation of all life’s beginning. It was splitting down the centre, the two halves of the massive structure moving apart to reveal a passageway through the sand, an incredibly tall corridor, and a tall roof supported by columns, leaving a path through the centre.
There was nothing that lay for her in the rear, and everything in the future. This passage would lead the way to the Mountain.
Fluttershy stood, almost not realising that she was able to move again. The white circle had vanished long ago along with the statue and the stone markers as well. It was almost as if life was fading away in this area, giving her a taste of what lay ahead.
With that thought in mind, the excited Pegasus set off towards the gate, the corridor, and the unlimited possibilities afterwards.
As she took her first proper step on her long journey, she had no idea of what experiences and hardships she would encounter, but she knew she had to get to the Mountain, in it lay the answers to everything.
What she was really thinking about was how her friends must be feeling, and how long it would take her to return, those were the thoughts on her mind as she strode along the corridor through the sand.
For a moment she almost thought she saw something moving at the end of the corridor, about her size. But that was ridiculous. There was no other creature in the desert with her, no company…
This place only seemed to be getting stranger than it already was. Fluttershy had barely emerged from the other end of the long corridor, blinking in the sunlight, when the rushing noise had assaulted her ears. Or maybe caressed them… It was hard to tell with the ever-changing acoustics.
But there were a few easy things to see the moment the Pegasus looked around. The first was that the corridor had ended and the surface she was standing on ended abruptly about 5 metres past the end, petering off gradually, as if something giant had fallen on top of it and snapped the span.
The Basin
In front of her lay a massive chasm. Near flush with the outer wall of the corridor was a line of cliffs, blocking access behind her, while on the other side of the chasm was what appeared to be some kind of a waterfall. But this waterfall didn’t have water. A more accurate description would have been to call it a sandfall.
And that was literal. A seemingly endless supply of flowing sand was falling from the top, cresting the lip of the higher line of cliffs and landing on the floor of the chasm. But even that wasn’t accurate.
It wasn’t really a chasm; it was more of a basin. It was a riverbed, walled up on two sides by the cliffs, the floor a lethargically shifting mix of sand particles. Fluttershy herself was standing on the lip of the corridor, on the verge of falling the short distance into the basin. But there was one problem, how would she get out again?
But the answer was simple, another platform, higher then the one that she was standing on, was situated on a cliff face on the other side of the basin. The cliffs on that side were higher than on her side, and there might have been an unbroken way up to that platform at one time.
At one time…
But now what once might have been a bridge was broken, split into jagged segments. Some portions were still standing freely, staying strong in the face of time and the moving sand. Each of these portions were towering high above the floor of sand, seemingly unreachable. There were three segments in all, and a part of the bridge that had fallen down was peeking out of the ground before the first segment, giving the impression that one could start up the non-existent bridge from there.
The Broken Bridge
But apart from that there seemed to be no way along. The platform was much, much too far away to fly to, and even the closest segment would be a stretch. Even her wings wouldn’t be much help, weakened as they were.
But there was movement in the basin other than that of the sand. Ribbons streaked into the sky, anchored in some places to the desert floor, unable to escape. Could they help her up?
But there was no way of knowing exactly how they would react to her. Would they be angry? Fluttershy didn’t like to make things angry, or annoyed…
But how else would he get up to that platform on the other side? And was that even the right place to go to? There was so much else in this basin…
Actually, there wasn’t.
The basin was like a riverbed, stretching along while being bordered on two sides by some sort of wall, in this case the cliffs. To Fluttershy’s left and right the basin snaked out of sight.
But that wasn’t all…
The remnants of more bridges lay in the distance on both sides, as if there had been multiple passes all intact at one point, but that they had all succumbed at one point or another. These bridges were in various states of disrepair, but none were fully intact.
And was there even much point travelling to them? The closest bridge was at least half a kilometer away to her right, and it would be incredibly difficult fighting against the sand current.
So she would have to try and get over the bridge in front of her…
Fluttershy took a hesitant step forward, edging closer to the lip that signified the end of the corridor entirely, leading only to open air and, a short way below, the sand floor.
She hesitated before taking the crucial step, the step that, without even knowing it, meant she had embarked on the long and grueling journey to the mountain. The edge of the corridor was the first step into the world, away from the sunken pit.
She was on her own now.
WHUMP!
Fluttershy screwed up her eyes, expecting some sort of pain or jarring from the impact. But nothing came. Her wings hadn’t provided enough lift to level her out and her scarf had no symbols, so there had been no way to slow her descent, but surprisingly the sand had cushioned her, welcoming her.
It had seemed almost… happy… As if she was an old friend that it had been reunited with. The flowing motion and sea-like effect enhanced that, almost making the desert seem truly alive, dancing around her in a never-ending celebration.
But what now? She couldn’t just sit there in the sand, letting it flow around her all day.
Fluttershy opened her eyes, letting the sun shine into them and light up her world, if only for a moment. She had landed almost directly underneath the lip of the corridor, slightly to the left as the wind blew her in the air. The segments of the bridge were towing above her now, spearing the sky.
But how would she get out of this place? She would have to explore, as frightening as that prospect was. Even the constant reassurance of the dancing sand couldn’t completely eliminate the traces of fear in the cloaked mare’s heart.
But these ribbons had helped her before, maybe they would again. She would just have to-
What was that?! Movement?! A glowing light from the corner of her eye, disappearing as soon as she looked at it?!
A small formation of rocks lay to her left, rising only barely above the landscape, only a modicum of alteration in this mostly flat place. Actually, there seemed to be a lot of rock formations, but they would come later, this one had glowed, and she knew that she had seen something move, if only slightly. Unfortunately, her sensitive ears would be of no use here as the roaring of the distant falls enveloped and carried away the telltale traces and noises that accompanied small animals and other life.
So the only option now was to go and investigate…
The rocks only lay a short distance away, but the sand would make that more difficult, but even as she started moving the sand seemed to understand and shift itself to suit her needs, flowing from behind her and pushing her along on its crest.
And in no time at all she was in front of the rocks.
They were not much to speak of, but even so they were there. And there was something moving behind them. Fluttershy started to move around, hoping to get a glimpse of what it could be, anything at all…
She gasped. The horrible thing in front of her glaring at her, overbearing in every sense of the word, horrible to look at. Fluttershy edges her eyes open slightly in an attem-
Nothing. There was nothing there. It had only been a trick of the light. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. In front of her stood another of the glowing orbs, nestled in the rocks, floating gently, never touching the ground. There were no cloths in sight this time, but instinctively Fluttershy knew that this was the same thing that had given her the wonderful scarf of flight.
She moved closer, and closer, and closer…
So close now, almost within touching distance…
A sense of calm overtaking her, slowing her thoughts and quieting her fears…
No surprises, only a gift…
CHIIIIIIRP!
What?!
In an instant, Fluttershy leaped forward, accidentally brushing the orb. She almost seemed to sink into it momentarily before it ‘burst’, the glyphs contained within spiraling out, the familiar golden lines flowing into her already existing scarf, weaving in and out.
What was happening?
And then the golden lines were gone, leaving nothing. Taking a glance behind her Fluttershy noticed that she didn’t have to try so hard to find her scarf.
It had grown.
Somehow, the glyphs had actually known that there was something there and had made her scarf longer, even going so far as to give the symbols, placing them on the fabric, giving her access to the limb that she had once lost.
It truly was a beautiful sight; a trailing piece of fabric that she could say was hers. A sense of accomplishment washed through her. She was glad that she had bumped into the orb. She almost hadn’t too, if that noise hadn’t shot thro-
Wait, what?
She almost hadn’t too, if that noise hadn’t…
Hadn’t too, if that noise…
If that noise…
NOISE?!
What about the noise?! In her excitement, Fluttershy had forgotten about the noise, the loud chirping that had filled the air, permeating everything. It had sounded eerily similar to that of the White Cloak, only slightly different, a more youthful, bouncy noise, as if the thing that made it was very young.
The timid Pegasus cautiously raised her head above the top of the rock formation, trying to see something…
Ribbons? Check.
Bridge segments? Check.
Sandfall? Check.
Giant swarm of cloths moving through the air? Che- wait, what?
An incredible ‘flock’ of cloth fragments was flying along, a dense swarm. It moved towards one of the gaps of the bride span, and started joining together. Were they helping?
Fluttershy let out a gasp, a sharp noise that cut through the air. It sounded vastly different for some reason… But that was nothing, these cloth fragments were joining together, helping her, making something…
They were building a bridge.
What had once been a loose assortment had become one, turning into a giant floating ribbon, one end joined to one of the ends of the bridge segments, the other joined to the piece of the fallen bridge that stuck from the ground.
The cloths were giving her a way across.
More ribbons were sticking from the ground, swaying invitingly to her, begging her to let them free. She wanted to get to the higher platform, and they wanted her help, so who was she to deny them that.
But how had that first cloud gotten free?
A slight movement in the distance, a shape, something trailing behind it. Was it alive?
CHIIIRP! Chirp chirp… CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRP
Well, it was loud. And it was heading close to her.
Near silent, Fluttershy ducked beneath the rocks, hoping that it hadn’t heard her. Near silent…
But she let out another gasp, this one slightly louder than the first but, like the first, it had that odd quality to it, sounding almost like the chirping of the creature…
But it had heard, and that was all that mattered…
Fluttershy’s eyes were fixed steadily on the top of the rocks. If the creature was coming to get her then it would have to go over them first. Where could she hide? Nowhere.
She could only hope, and huddle down, minimizing her form…
…
Hoofsteps on the sand, but these sounded a little odd, not quite like hooves…
Now they were on the rocks. Fluttershy started quivering. It was scary.
…
Silence…
And then a small red head appeared. It was only there for a moment, looking around. It completely missed the small bundle that was the curled up Pegasus, instead popping beneath the top of the rocks again.
It was gone, the creature had missed her. At heart, Fluttershy was still a timid pony, and the prospect of meeting a completely alien sentient creature frightened her. But it was gone.
She sighed.
Big mistake.
That quality that her voice had taken made the sigh turn into a sharp whistling, cutting through the air with ease.
The hoofsteps approached, the head appeared. The creature took another look at the hollow in the rocks where Fluttershy lay. It had already been there before, so it must have only overlooked her the first time because it was rushing.
Not this time. This time it spotted her.
Chiiiiirrrr- Whump!
A tremendous impact threw Fluttershy head over heels, flying away from the rocks and landing in the sand nearby. It had attacked her! Well, she would show it that Fluttershy was not the kind of mare to be messed with…
Fluttershy looked up, anger blazing in her eyes, ready to defend herself against the thing that had attacked her so sudden-
What was it doing?
The thing seemed to be jumping around her, making the small chirping noises that it had earlier. At one point it actually fell over, face planting perfectly in the soft sand. But that didn’t deter it as it opted instead to roll around in the sand near her.
But it wasn’t attacking her, it was playing… It was just happy to see her?
What was it?
It looked a lot like the White Cloak that she had seen earlier, but it was a lot shorter, being only a little taller than herself. It too was wearing a cloak, but this one was a dusty red, like hers, and had a stubby scarf, only a bit longer than hers, trailing along behind it as it rolled in the sand. Its cloak was shorter than the White Cloak’s, and she could see two sharp, needle like legs, only points at the end, perfectly suited to travelling in the sand. And the cloak itself differed from the White Cloak’s yet again, having only a slight pattern along the rim, the same as hers.
And its face was a pure black, golden patterns running along it, as if it was an inverse of the White Cloak’s features…
And then without warning it jumped up and leaped at her again.
Fluttershy tensed, waiting for the immanent attack…
Glomp!
It was hugging her? The arms of the thing, hidden beneath the cloak, were wrapped around her, and it was making small cat-like noises, a purring with bell-like qualities in it.
What was going on?!
The creature disengaged from its impromptu hugging fest and stood back, almost begging her to do something. It’s face was strange, but even though it only showed two little golden eyes and a line above them, she could see the curious, almost pleading look on it.
But even so, it had frightened the cloaked pony, and that only made her freeze up, too worried to even move. The creature seemed to pick up on this, sitting down on the sand, unmoving, its scarf trailing behind it on the breeze
Fluttershy was watching it, it was watching her watch it, she was watching it watch her watch it…
“H-h-hello…?”
Or at least, that’s what she tried to say. What came out instead sounded more like ‘Cheep, cheep cheep…’
But the creature seemed satisfied, and it stood up and turned away, hopping along the sand and leaving Fluttershy to puzzle over the development with her vocal chords by herself. It was as if her voice had just vanished, being replaced by the same bird-like noise that the creature had. Was there something wrong with her? Was it just this place?
And then she became aware that she was alone, in the desert, without the companion that she had so recently been giving. If companion was the right word…
She quickly darted to her hooves, desperately searching for the friend, the creature that was so nice and enthusias-
It was standing there? The creature, no, her new companion was standing there, waiting for her to follow. It chirped once, then ran over the sand floor, heading towards the base of the sandfalls, towards the ribbons, jumping every few steps and tripping over its own cloak on occasion.
Fluttershy followed, having no alternative. And she did not want to be left alone in the desert. Besides, her companion only seemed to want to play at the moment.
It soon became apparent that it was much better than her at moving through the sand, its long legs spearing into the soft surface with ease. But even though it had the opportunity to move ahead without her it would stop every couple of seconds, turn around to check if she was still following, and then move on again, chirping softly to guide her, its scarf rippling on the wind as it ran.
And then they were at the ribbons.
There were about ten of the, spread out in the vicinity of the bridge segments. Her companion set off towards one of them almost immediately, leading the way. The ribbon didn’t move, only swaying on the breeze. But it was too high to reach, and she didn’t want to waste her scarf power at the moment, not knowing what would come lat-
CHIIRP
Her companion had let out a massive noise, almost having actual force behind it. The call didn’t do anything to her, but the ribbon…
The ribbon had the same reaction as if she had of touched it, seemingly evaporating into the air. But this one was different. Instead of transforming into a cloud of cloths, it opened something at its base.
A strange looking machine, torn apart with age, had the ribbon sewn to it somehow, and as it evaporated the machine moved, a grille opening, releasing a torrent of cloths into the air. They flew into the air…
…And completed another portion of the bridge, leaving two more parts to fill.
Her companion looked at her, she looked at her companion…
CHIIIRP
The next ten minutes or so were filled with the two of them calling out to all of the ribbons, while at the same time enjoying each other’s company, falling over the hems of the other’s cloak and getting slightly tangled in their scarves. She started to get the sense that it was a male. The body movements and size just gave her that impression.
But then all too soon the bridge was completed, and it was time to move on. Fluttershy looked at her companion sadly, thinking that it was time for the two of them to depart, him staying here and her moving on…
But he had other ideas. It seemed her companion was exactly that, a Companion. Another journeyer on the quest to the mountain. As Fluttershy walked towards the base of the newly formed bridge, the ribbons forming the once missing spans, her companion zoomed by, actually surfing the currents of sand, not a care in the world, trailing chirps in his wake.
He waited for her at the base of the bridge and, even though he had no visible mouth, she knew that he was smiling at her.
They both stepped onto the ribbon and it lit up, symbols appearing on its surface as it propelled the both of them along. The already existing section proved no hazard as they both flew over them, the ribbons refilling the symbols on their scarves.
And then they were at the platform, high above the sand floor, the other side of the basin fading into mist. Grilles in the floor let sand from the sandfall flow through the edge of the platform that connected to the cliff. But there was no way through, no door…
There was, however, a statue of a White Cloak, and there were stone markers lining the edge of the platform on either side, straight rows in a slight zigzag formation, parallel to each other.
An unspoken agreement passed between the two travelers. Fluttershy ran to the left hand row, her Companion to the right. As they passed they lit up, until all of the markers were glowing gently.
As before, the lights led towards the statue.
As before, they formed a circle.
But this time there was something different, a Companion. A friend. Even in this new place, where her old friends were unable to reach her, she had found someone willing to care and be cared for.
To show Kindness kindness…
The two journeyers stepped closer and gave each other one last hug, unsure if they would see each other again or if they would be swept away. Her Companion didn’t even seem to mind reaching down that little bit to hug her pony form. He was willing to put in that little extra bit of effort…
They both walked to the white circle and, as one, sat down side by side, their bodies not touching, their scarves dancing together in the wind, forming a beautiful ballet in the air, even as the white started to overtake Fluttershy’s sight, a dull whooshing noise…
She only hoped that her Companion would be there after the white went away, as they both entered the light, together, for better or for worse…
Please leave a comment, I'd like to know how you all think I'm going with this...
