Scootaloo sprang to her hooves.
"GAH!" she exclaimed, more surprised by her own movement and voice then anything in particular. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, taking deep breaths. When she calmed down enough she lay back down. But then she realized something was wrong. VERY. VERY. WRONG. Scootaloo opened one of her eyes to glance around. But then sat straight up in panic.
The world around her was NOT the bedroom she fell asleep in. Everything was DARKNESS. There was NOTHING. So much NOTHING existed Scootaloo even wondered if Equestria existed at all.
"That's silly Scootaloo, of course Equestria exists." she stated to herself, just to make more things to focus on. "If Equestria didn't exist then where would you, Scootaloo, come from, and if there is no Scootaloo then..." She swallowed nervously. "W-who am I?"
Scootaloo looked around, looking for anything, ANYTHING to focus on. But then she noticed her hoof. It was still the same hoof she knew and remembered, but there was so much nothing that it seemed to GLOW orange. Looking at the rest of her body, still the same, it too glew. Scootaloo put a hoof to her chin.
"Hmmm..." she hummed in thought.
The orange filly examined where she stood, how she seemed to be standing on a perfectly flat surface. She tapped the "solid". There was no noise. There didn't even seem to be anything for the light she emitted to show. She tapped the "floor" again. Still no noise.
"Hello?" Scootaloo called out, looking up from her experimenting.
"Hello." something replied.
"Gah!" Scootaloo jumped in surprise.
Looking around, a white star of light floated above Scootaloo's head.
"I am your personal assistant AI" the light stated. "Would you like to configure your settings?"
"Uh... No." Scootaloo stated. "Where are we?"
"You are currently housed in location:Twilight's Ugly Castle." it replied.
"... No we aren't." Scootaloo corrected.
"Incorrect. Your hardware is currently housed in location:Twilight's Ugly Castle. Your software is experiencing the data stream. Would you like to connect to the Central Network?" the light asked. Scootaloo was confused.
"Uh... Sure?"
"Connecting!"
Suddenly Scootaloo's dark world was not so dark anymore. Great streams of pulsing light appeared in the distance, connecting even brighter stars to each other. Every where the orange filly looked, there was a light show that could rival Luna's night sky. And all of it, connected to the white mote that floated above her head, and from the mote to her.
"Woah..." Scootaloo awed.
"Connected!" the mote at her head chirped. "You have 1 new message."
"Message?" Scootaloo asked.
"HJD-63826 Central HUB requests that Unit:Scootaloo checks into Central Administration."
"Uh..." the filly mumbled uncertainly.
"HJD-63826 Central HUB is that way." the mote wiggled a bit, and bright neon blue sparks started falling off the line that connected Scootaloo to the rest of the far away lights.
"Uh..." Scootaloo repeated. "How?"
"Adjusting user settings to 'Beginner'." the mote wiggled. Suddenly all of the lights shifted, transforming all the lines and stars into a vast floating city made of light. Soaring vistas were connected by bridges and catwalks. The nearest "buildings" were stylized to look like trees, with gracefully thin windows and doors. High above however the buildings were more blocky, and more practical looking that reminded Scootaloo of Manehatten buildings. Where there was once nothingness surrounding her, Scootaloo now stood on a platform made of orange light that was shaped like rough stone bricks. On the side nearest to the floating city was a train station that was made of white light similar to her companions. Neon blue sparks formed hoof prints on the floor, leading from Scootaloo to inside the train station.
Surprisingly however, the mote of light still remained unchanged and still hovered by Scootaloo's head.
"HJD-63826 Central HUB is that way." the mote repeated, wiggling towards the station.
"Ok..." Scootaloo stated, still unsure about her current situation. She walked slowly into the station, peering left and right for any surprises.
The inside of the station was what one would expect. A train station. There even was a teller's desk and a board for train hours. Except the desk was unoccupied and the board was empty. The neon hoofprints continued inside, leading to a train door that opened just as Scootaloo looked at it.
"Eep!" Scootaloo jumped, not at all expecting the door to open. She held still, ready to bolt, but nothing came out. She cautiously approached the open train and stuck her head in. Inside was, an empty train. It was a perfectly normal, albeit empty train. The orange filly crept inside.
When Scootaloo was fully inside, the door behind her closed, and the train lurched.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed, bracing herself.
CHUG CHUG CHUG
Scootaloo dashed to the nearest window, which was the window right next to the door, just in time to see the orange platform slide backwards.
"Aw, crap..." Scootaloo cursed. Deciding there wasn't anything better to do, Scootaloo sat in the nearest seat.
The ride was eerily smooth to Scootaloo. There were no bumps and clacks from the tracks, only a smooth singular piece of metal suspended over nothingness. The view however was incredible. The track rushed through to the lower city of trees. Most of the buildings, now that Scootaloo could look at them closely, were obviously still under construction. Cranes and construction equipment she had no name for operated themselves to build towers that Scootaloo could easily mistake for a natural tree, if for not the fact it seemed to be made of green and brown light.
Things took a turn, literally, when the train veered for one of the few tree buildings that was complete. It was the largest in the lower part of the city, where tracks of light shot upwards into the sky, connecting the upper and lower parts. Her train switched tracks and rushed into one of the many orifices the building had. Several rapid track switches that Scootaloo couldn't keep track of and suddenly the view out the window was turned 90 degrees UPWARD.
Still moving at the same pace, and not feeling at all like she should be falling backwards, Scootaloo kept a death grip on her seat, fearing if she didn't she'd fall to the back of the train with a splat. The train lurched again and Scootaloo's view was turned back 90 degrees to normal.
"That was wierd..." she commented. Now the cityscape outside the window was that of a completed city. The most shocking thing though was how clean it looked. There wasn't a piece of garbage or dirt anywhere Scootaloo looked. Not only that, there was a clear layout pattern that simply wasn't there in Manehatten, with a clear overall theme that connected each building. The effect it produced gave the impression that nothing was out of place and was designed to be as logical as it could be.
Before Scootaloo could examine further the train pulled into a station.
"HJD-63826 Orbital HUB Central Administration." Her mote of light waggled helpfully as the train stopped. Scootaloo didn't waste any time getting off the train. It simply was just too weird that the train would suddenly turn upwards and downwards.
The station was bustling with activity. While the norm seemed to be bipedal ape things, the denizens of this strange city came in all shapes and sizes. Eyes that looked more like microscopes, arms more akin to tool sheds, and rubber wheels or tracks in leu of legs. They talked and haggled over slates of holograms, much like ponies would at market over fresh produce prices. What the glowing slates actually were though, Scootaloo could only guess. The weirdest part however, were that they all, without exception, were giants. Tall and oddly skinny, they loomed over Scootaloo. Much like how Princess Celestia would lord over a cat.
There were enough weird things here that even if this was all a dream, Scootaloo would be set for life as a science fiction author.
Thankfully, none of the giants seemed to notice her. Or if they did, they gave no reaction.
If everypony was this weird, I suppose somepony really small wouldn’t faze them.
“Mental Communication rating: 7/10” the white mote commented.
“... Thanks…” Scootaloo murmured, as she brushed through the crowd.
The Station didn’t connect to a street, but instead let into a massive building that had a high ceiling. There were lines of aliens waiting patiently, each line in front of a teller counter, of which there must’ve been at least hundreds.
“Direction: please wait in line.” the mote wiggled.
“Thanks.” Scootaloo repeated, looking for the shortest line and claiming a spot. The wait wasn't too long. It seemed that all most had to do was turn in a form or simply sign a document, they then left immediately.
Finally it was Scootaloo's turn. The teller, an ape thing with a head that had only a single eye, but had six arms on each side of their body, glanced around, noticing the lull in the line.
"Down here." Scootaloo stated helpfully. The thing then peered over it's desk.
"Ah, was wondering when you'd show up." it stated in a genderless tone. It then sat back in it's chair and sorted through several piles of papers.
"You were expecting me?" Scootaloo asked curiously.
"It's not every day a primitive organic gets cybernetics and needs registering." the robot stated with a mirthful tone, finally finding the paper it was looking for.
"Hey! I'm not primitive!" Scootaloo protested. "I'm just short!" The teller looked her up and down.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you are incorrect on the latter and correct on the former." it stated. Scootaloo didn't really know what that meant, but assumed she had just been insulted.
"Look, my day has been very weird, I just want to know what the hay is going on!" she exclaimed.
"I imagine so." the teller commented. "But first I need you to register." it held the paper in one hand and a pen in the other and offered both.
"FINE." Scootaloo grunted, ripping the paper and pen out of his hands and scribbling her name on the line. "Happy?"
"Good luck!" the teller cheerfully stated.
"Wait wha-"
And then her vision was consumed by moving squares of light.