//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Equestrian Mewsings // by Void Runner //------------------------------// Equestrian Mewsings: Prologue -o-o-o-o-o- Why? Why did it have to happen? Why did it have to be them? Just... Why? The priest was giving them their last rites, but I could only stare unhearing at the two coffins suspended next to eachother over where their final resting place would be, and the granite headstone behind them. Daniel and Edith Keyes Loving Mother and Father You were taken too soon. It was two weeks ago, and the worst of the grief had already passed, but I'd still cried when the service started. These renewed tears had long since stopped, their salty trails frozen as they ran down my face. Now I just felt a dull numbness creeping over me as the cold finally started to sink in through my jacket. "Elsa," Someone to my left said, "It's time." I nodded, and they began to lower the caskets. It was a small service, just my parents' friends and the Priest. My grandparents had all passed before I'd been born and I had no siblings, aunts or uncles. Once they were lowered all the way the others all took a small handful of soil and tossed it down before leaving for the warmth of their cars. I was the last to do so, the thin coating of snow crunching beneath my boots as I trod the path out of the cemetery. It was going to be a long drive home. -o-o-o-o-o- It was well into the night by the time I pulled into my apartment's assigned parking spot with a sigh. I just sat there for a while, letting the engine idle as I did my best to simply not think, just glad the mammoth blizzard hitting the country hadn't decided to travel this far south yet as that would have made the funeral and my trip both significantly more complicated. I'd almost managed it, my nearly cleared mind giving me an almost surreal awareness of everything outside my car, but my efforts to push that state further were interrupted by my phone starting to vibrate inside the center-console's storage compartment. I ignored it, trying to get back to that almost Zen state I'd nearly gotten to, but the low buzzing persisted long after it should have automatically sent the caller to voicemail. Slightly curious but more annoyed I opened the compartment to turn it off, but before I could I notice the Caller ID and that rather than a call they're requesting Facetime. "Arceus?" I mutterer, confused. I don't really have any friends outside of the internet or my co-workers, and I'm not close enough to any of them to warrant them changing their ID-Name or image to the God-Pokémon on my phone as a prank. Still, I slide the answer dial to deny the request. I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment. My phone keeps vibrating in my hand and the slider shoots back to its initial position as soon as I take my thumb off the screen. Great, my phone's been hacked, I think. More annoyed than I was before I try a few more times with the same results before simply opting to hold down the power button and cut whoever this was off that way but nothing happens. Come to think of it, I remember turning this off before the service. Even more confused now I just set it on the dash and let it vibrate, not really sure what to do before the illusion of choice is taken from me by the slider moving to "Answer" on its own. [Hello Elsa Keyes. I apologize for the intrusion and understand that this isn't the best of times, however my window of opportunity is limited.] I gulped, wide eyed, as Arceus stared out of the screen at me. He blinked in return. I could make out the fine fur covering his face and subtle motion of breathing. I knew that CG had gotten to the point where the hyper-realistic image could have been a prank, except for one thing. I'd felt, rather than heard, when he spoke. "Wha... What do you mean?" I asked after the moment passed a little too long and started becoming uncomfortable. [I know that you are aware of and understand the basics of Multiverse Theory, and that you are a fan of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic franchise. What you don't know is that one of the many versions of Discord decided some time ago that to relieve boredom during his imprisonment he would drop into my own prison from time to time to pester me. During one such time, he 'requested permission' to use the forms of my creations as part of a scheme should he escape only to be re-imprisoned] "That was polite of him..." I say, still slightly disbelieving at the conversation I'm having. [Indeed, it was.] Arceus projected, narrowing his eyes. I wince at the decidedly un-happy feel to the message, [I gave permission on the condition that none of my own creations were actually involved, however that does not mean that I do not feel compassion for their fate. The ones he's chosen are unknowing of his machinations, and innocent of the crimes committed against myself and my creations.] I stay quiet, as I feel he's collecting his thoughts to continue. [Discord's presence in my prison has weakened my bonds. Not enough where I am able to escape, but enough where I am able with effort to stretch my mind across other worlds, but not my own. Through this I have been searching for a candidate to... keep an eye on things in his world for me once he makes his move. That time has come, and the reverberations of his escape across the connection to my prison have temporarily weakened it enough where I can send my chosen to Equestria. However, even as we speak those ripples are fading, and my power to act weakens. You are my ideal candidate, though there are others I can contact should you refuse.] "Why Me." I ask with a gulp, my heart starting to pound in my chest. [Many reasons, but most important is that the structure of your mind is ideal to take the form of my preferred choice of guardian Pokémon to watch over Equestria in this instance: Mew] Only slightly weirded out that he had apparently been rifling through my mind, I already see a problem. "That would make me psychic, right? Like, a really Powerful Psychic, without any prior experience?" [Yes, you would be psychic] he replied, and I could feel the amusement in his voice. [Though you need not worry about what you are, as it has been taken into account. Should you agree there will be no time for you to ease into your new powers, so instead I will put locks on them to start, and gift you the understanding and ability to control them so that you are not overwhelmed by the minds of everything around you when you release them on your own. It will still take a period for you to adjust fully however.] There's silence in my head as I mull that over before asking my next question. "What's the catch?" [Only that once in Equestria, you will never be able to return,] Arceus closes his eyes. "Can I sleep on this?" I finally ask when the silence starts dragging into uncomfortable territory again. [Certainly,] I feel his approval, [This is literally a life-changing decision, and I would not expect you to make it lightly. However, remember that my power is limited, and my window of opportunity grows shorter by the minute. Should you not have decided by this time tomorrow, I will be forced to contact my next candidate.] "Thank you." I say before the call cuts. I stare blankly at the now black screen for a minute and realize in the back of my mind that it was actually off this entire time, but that as much as what I just experienced was a hallucination, it was also very much real. I should have been freaked out by that. I should be panicking about schizophrenia or any number of other mental disorders, but I wasn't. If anything, I was more freaked out that I wasn't freaked out, and even that was easily brushed off as an overreaction. Maybe that had something to do with what he meant about my mind being compatible with suddenly turning into one of the most powerful Psychic type Pokémon in the Pokémon Universe...? I sigh and turn the key off, pulling it out of the ignition before stepping out of my car into the cold air of nighttime in January outside and heading into my apartment building. I'd had a long, trying day following a long, trying week of finalizing my parents' funeral arrangements, only to have Psychic Facetime Calls added on top of all of it. Right now, I just want to go to bed... -o-o-o-o-o- I can't sleep... Why can't I sleep? I've been lying in my bed for the last three hours, tossing and turning, but sleep has thus far escaped me in spite of how exhausted I am. My thoughts keep going back to Arceus and the offer he made me. Would it be worth it? Go to Equestria? Simply drop everything about my life here on Earth and start over fresh in a new world, essentially reborn as a new species entirely? Sure, I didn't have much holding me here. My parents are gone and I don't have any other family to speak of. I haven't had any friends, or even a boyfriend, since Highschool and everyone else went off to college while I tried to make it on my own in the private sector, but I also hate my boss and I'm pretty sure she equally hates me... Was that really enough to just give up everything instead of keeping on pushing forward and making the best of my life, though...? My thoughts kept chasing themselves around my head even as I tried clearing them so that I could finally rest, but they refused, and rest eluded me. What if it isn't about pros and cons, though? I ask myself after a while. Well, Then I guess it's more about what I want, than about what I'd be leaving behind. That just sounds selfish, though, right? If I go, and Can't come back, none of this would even matter anymore. I'd just be one more missing persons case... It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'll literally never have this chance again. I sigh again as I sit up in my bed, rubbing the heals of my palms against my eyes before staring at the wall of my bedroom as the first smile I'd had in two weeks started stretching across my face. I knew what I wanted to do. Concentrating in a way I hadn't known how to yesterday, I clear my mind of all other distractions and project. [Arceus, I've decided. I'll do it.] [Thank you, Elsa Keyes] I felt in reply as the world fell away, and then I knew no more.