//------------------------------//
// Making New Acquaintances 
// Story: 1000 Years Later 
// by DekaSkittalz 
//------------------------------//

I wake up with a start, quickly sitting up and groggily surveying the room. I immediately regret this decision, because I’m met with a massive throbbing headache as soon as the sun makes contact with my eyes. I groan as I bring an arm up to block the sun, and flop back down on the couch, letting the crook of my arm cover my eyes. In the quick second where I was able to see, I noted that all the girls were still asleep.

It’s another ten minutes before I muster up the willpower to actually get up; I don’t wanna overstay my welcome. I vaguely remember how I got here, remembering that I drank last night.  The hell was I thinking… What else happened last night...

I get up and stretch, once again cringing in slight pain and euphoria with each pop. that’s kinda concerning… my body isn’t this fragile, is it? Has it always been this way? contemplating that thought for a moment, I shakily get to my feet, and start heading downstairs. Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, I see a small purple and green dragon in the kitchen. He glances at me, looks back at the stove, then doubletakes back to me and I can see apprehension spread across his face. I let out a sigh and walk towards him. 

“Look Spike” I begin, using my eye to find out his name. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya or anyone else, alright?” I say as I squat down in front of him, and boop his nose. 

He goes cross eyed looking at his nose where I touched it. He rubs it, then looks at me. “You’re Null, aren’t you.” he says, barely able to not stutter.

“Oh? So you know my name. What else have you heard about me I wonder?” I question. 

“Only what the girls told me. I heard about what you did though… or rather, tried to do. Are you really that mad at her?” he inquires with that youthful curiosity only innocent kids could have.

It’s tough to keep my temper from flaring up at the mere mention of her, but it wouldn’t be fair to Spike if I didn’t. Taking a deep breath, I slowly nod. “I have my reasons Spike.”

He looks me dead in the eyes, some sort of conviction in them. “Are you going to try and kill her again?” 

Frankly, I’m a little shocked he’s mature enough to fully understand the weight behind that question. I debate giving him a legit answer, but decide to give him the respect of a real answer. “I don’t know. I want to, but I know she’s important… if it makes you feel any better, I got things holding me back from doing it.”

He raises an eyebrow questioningly. “What kind of things?”

“Well, Luna for starters. She’d never forgive me if I did, and I don’t want to do that to her anyways. Next, my own desire for a normal life. I know if I go through with what I want, I’ll never have that opportunity. I want people to stop being afraid of me… but that’ll take time, I know that. Then there's people like those six up there. They at least seem to be trying to help me, if letting me stay was anything to go off of.” I look at him. “Does that answer your question?”

He contemplates my answer for a long moment, then finally looks at me and gives me a nod. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding, and give a weak smile. I raise up a fist, and he bumps one of his own against mine, smiling a bit himself. 

I get up and stretch, heading towards the front door. “I’m gonna head out, tell everyone I’m sorry for just leaving like this.” I say. “Your foods starting to burn by the way.” I toss in, noting the slight burning smell in the air. He jumps with a panicked yelp, and immediately turns to try and salvage the dish.

Making my way out the front door, I shut it gently behind me, and look around. Letting out a deep breath in the crisp morning air, and let it out. “What am I even doing…” I say out loud to myself. I glance towards the distant Canterlot, contemplating whether or not I should try to get back, or take my time and explore a bit. Remembering the amount of pain it took to get here, which was numbed by whatever I was drinking, I didn’t exactly want to go through that again.

I let out a chuckle as an amusing thought crossed my mind. “Maybe I can get the town to attack me so I can get there without the pain. Certainly would be easier.” Shaking the dumb thought from my head, I start walking, deciding to keep to the path, no matter where it took me. I don’t care about being seen, as there’s no point; everyone probably already knows I exist, public statement from the princesses or not. How they’ll react, now that’s another question entirely. 

As I walk through town, I start to drift more and more into my own thoughts than actually paying attention to the town. I wonder if anyone knows anything about me other than when I tried to kill Celestia. Absentmindedly walking around the fountain, I kick a rock to the side and continue down the path. Wasn’t I a god at one point? Am I still a god? Probably not; Celestia probably put a stop to any worshipping right quick. But, then again, cults are still a thing… I shudder a little bit imagining what a cult might be doing to try and summon me. If they heard what happened, they probably think they succeeded and expect me to lead them to a new era or something. Pft, like that’ll happen. What was I even the god of anyways? Luck or something like that? Hm… guess I’m lucky to be alive. Nobody really knows how I got free. I allow myself a small chuckle. Maybe I am the god of luck here. Have to be pretty lucky to come back from the brink like I did. Bah, I doubt it. Best not to get full of myself anyways.

I mindlessly side step a pony who either didn’t see me, or was actually approaching me. I casually look over my shoulder to see which of the two possibilities it was. To my surprise, I see the pony continuing to walk with her head pointed at the ground. She's a pink unicorn with a purple and teal mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a purple and white star with two blue glimmering streams. Raising an eyebrow, I stop and turn around, and follow the pink pony. What could be troubling her so much that she doesn’t even notice me almost tripping on her? Let alone not notice me to begin with.

As she continues to walk, I decide to find out for myself. I jog up to her and tap her on the shoulder. She stops, seemingly shaken from whatever deep thought she was in. Turning to face me, she looks like she’s ready to chew my ass out, but her expression immediately morphs into one of confusion, with a hint of curiosity. 

I simply wave. “Uh, hi? You alright there?” I question, even more curious about this unicorn since she didn’t run away. Maybe her mental state isn’t so great?

She sits down, staring at me wide eyed, her jaw hanging. I wave my hand in front of her, and even snap my fingers a few times, but she remains the same. reminding me of myself here…

I decide to read her info card and crouch down in front of her. Her name is about as unique as any other pony name, so there isn’t much to comment on; Starlight Glimmer. I clap my hands in front of her face. “Yo, Starlight Glimmer! You alright?” I ask.

She shakes her head clear of whatever funk was clogging it, and looks at me again, with slightly less wide eyes. “Y-you know my name?” she asks with wonder. Giving a simple nod, she looks me up and down, head to toe. “H-how?”

I actually let out a laugh. “I know everyone’s name.”

“Um… a-are you Null?” She asks.

Honestly, I’m a little surprised she knows my name. Of course, she probably read about it in the paper or something. Upon seeing me give another nod, her face slowly takes on a smile, and she proceeds to pounce on me, knocking me to the ground easily due to my crouched position.

At first, I thought she was a crazy Celestia devotee and had a crazy smile for having a chance to get me for attacking her princess. However, after a moment of panicked scrambling, I realize she’s not attacking me at all. In fact, she’s… hugging me? Okay… now I’m confused. Why is she… so god damn soft… I shake my head from the weirdness that was that thought, and look down at the pony currently burying her face in my chest. 

“S-so, what’s on your mind? You were so deep in thought that you didn’t even notice me walk by you.” I ask trying to ignore the awkwardness of the entire situation. Wow, I sound really self absorbed when I say it like that.

She looks back up at me with a look of disbelief on her face. “WHAT?! I walked past a literal GOD and didn’t even notice?! I’m SO SORRY!” she yells, panic quickly setting in her face. 

Once again, I’m shocked. I didn’t think anyone even remembered me. I decide to voice this query. “Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second, you know I’m considered a god? How?”

“That’s… a long story? I heard about you when I was young. I did a little research, and liked your whole shtick. It was… a nice escape from reality; Luck was something I was really down on at the time.” she answers. “Tell me, do you have a cutie mark?” she asks with a hint of what sounds like hope in her voice. 

“Uh…. No? I don’t even think it’s possible for me to get one.” I answer truthfully. What would my cutie mark even look like anyways?

Her smile only gets wider, and she throws her hooves into the air. “Perfect! Can I come with you?! You’re probably preparing to re-establish yourself in the world, right?” She looks side to side conspiratorially, then whispers to me behind a hoof. “I can help you overthrow the Princesses!” she then giggles in glee. 

I pick her up and set her down in front of me, then sit cross legged in front of her. I fix her with a hard look. “Alright, let’s set things straight here missy. First, there will be no overthrowing of anyone. As much as I’d love to take out Celestia, I care too much for Luna. And those are for my own personal reasons, nothing to do with a desire to rule or gain power; So get that idea out of your head. Second, I’ve no idea what kind of god you were told I was, but to spell it out for ya, I was considered the god of luck. Okay? I was the Auspicious Observer. I don’t have any plans to lead any sort of cult to a new era, nor did any cult summon me.” I actually don’t even know if that’s true or not… but she doesn’t need to know that. “if that breaks your faith in me, then go find a different god to worship.” something clicks in my head. “And that’s another thing! I’m not even a god! That entire belief was started when Luna put a plaque on my pedestal like, 547500 days ago; and due to me not being a pony, people just assumed I was a god and word spread. Know why ya don’t hear anything about me these days? I was stuck down in a ditch for who knows how long! I can only guess that I was brought to canterlot sometime in the middle of Luna’s banishment; gone long enough for word of me to just stop. An-” 

I cut off my rant after taking a breath and using the moment to look at who I was talking to. She’s looking at me as if I had just kicked her puppy. Hurt, and sad. I let out a sigh, and take a couple calming breaths. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ve just… been through alot, and never had a chance to tell my side of… anything till as of recent really. I didn’t mean to yell at you…”

She takes a moment before responding. “So… you’re not really a god?” I shake my head. “So all that time I spent praying, hoping that things would get better, were all for nothing?! My entire life I believed in you!” she yells, clearly upset with tears in her eyes. 

I can’t think of anything to really say, so I just let whatever words come go. “Look. It obviously wasn’t for nothing. It got you here to where you are today. If your faith got you through tough times, then that’s all that matters. If I brought you luck, or made your day better just by being a thought, then it wasn’t for nothing. Besides, what did you expect of me anyways? You thought I could just snap my fingers and everything would go right in your life or something? Of course not. There’s nothing special about me except my eye, and I don’t expect you to know anything about it.”

She looks down at the ground, obviously still distraught. Man, now I went and made someone sad… I mean, how else would someone react when they were told their god was a fake?

Groaning, I roll my neck and cringe again in the pain. “Look, I can’t just make everything better for you. But I can hear you out at least. You still never told me what was troubling you.” I lead on.

She looks up at me with a contemplative look. She lets out a sigh. “I suppose I’ve got nothing to lose from telling you.” 

“That’s the spirit! Oh, one more thing. I may not be a god; Celestia and Luna are closer to godhood than I ever could be. But I can still kill one; If you try to do anything to hurt Luna, I’ll make you regret it.” I state.

She raises an eyebrow and actually steps up to me. “Oh yeah? I thought you said you had no power.” 

“I said there was nothing special about me except for my eye. Knowing your name isn’t the only thing I can do with it. Haven’t you read the paper lately? I tried to kill Celestia and nearly succeeded. Luna stopped me, but the point is still there.” I explain. No point in me trying to keep that a secret, and better to hear it from me than someone else who would make it sound 10 times worse than it already is.

Her eyes widened at the word ‘kill’, and I can guess why. Ballsy little pony doesn’t have what it takes to be a killer. Good, nobody should. 

“Simply put, I can be your best friend, the last thing you see, or a nobody to you. Take your pick.”

She regards me with another skeptical look. “You said you can’t get a cutie mark?” I raise an eyebrow, but shake my head anyways. “And you’re not lying?” 

“Why would I?”

She thinks it over for another few minutes, then smiles to herself. “Alright… friend.” she giggles to herself as she says the word ‘friend’.

Getting up to my feet, I start walking and motion for her to follow. She does so and walks alongside me. “Where are we going?” 

“Somewhere more private I guess. Unless you wanna tell me what had you so down in the dumps in front of a whole crowd. We made quite a scene.” I say as I point over my shoulder with a thumb at the crowd of ponies who were watching us. What they think, I can’t be sure; Too many for me to care to figure out. 

She looks back and is visibly surprised to see that many people.

“Relax, it’s more likely they’re apprehensive about me than anything you might have done. They were probably even concerned for you.”

With that, she turns back around and I hear the crowd disperse. We continue walking along the path in amiable silence until we’re pretty far down the path; so far that we’re actually outside the town approaching a forest. Suddenly, my eye immediately puts a pop up in my vision about the forest, forcing me to look at it.

Upon reading it, my eyes widen in surprise. 

The Everfree Forest