I laugh. “Well, Isn’t this interesting. It seems like everyone’s appearing here”
Vinyl walks up to Dash. “Well, interesting to see you here”
Runner looks around nervously, before trying to make a run for it. He runs off into the distance, looking behind him. He seems to smile when he sees no one is following him.
“Should I go get him?” I ask Celestia.
“I don’t know how you’d catch up with him, but go for it, I guess” I sprint after him, quickly gaining ground on him. He sees me running up behind him, and he tries changing directions. Doesn’t work. He continues running, and changing directions, and I let him. I have no need to outrun him, I just need to out think him. He eventually ends up running towards the group he was trying to run from, because of how much he’s concentrating on running from me. He looks behind him for the last time, sees me far behind him, and laughs. And then proceeds to run right into Vinyl.
He gives up, and just stands there panting. “Well, now that you got me, what you gonna do with me?” He says defiantly.
I’m confused. “Why did you run? We’re the only way out of this place”
“Well, would you rather go with four people you inadvertently caused the deaths of, or would you rather be stuck in, wherever the fuck we are and hope you can find your own way out of here?”
What he says makes a bit of sense. Dash speaks up. “Well, you have a decision to make, don’t you? Leave with us, and possibly escape, or stay here for who knows how long? If I were you, I’d come with us”
He smiles, trying to find some sympathy. “Well, since you’ve asked me so nicely, I’ll just come with you four then”
The four of us look amongst ourselves, not sure if he means what he’s saying. I don’t believe him, and I can tell the others agree with me. We look at him. “Come on then, let’s go if you’re so reformed”
We start walking in the direction that the other two came from, and time seems to stretch on forever as we walk. Nothing changes as we walk, just the same white ground, and the same white fog surrounding us. What seems like hours pass as we walk on.
“We almost there yet?” I ask. It’s annoying as fuck, but someone had to say it eventually, so I decided to.
“Not yet” comes back the answer.
I wait fifteen minutes. “Are we there yet now?”
Vinyl turns around and gives me an annoyed look. “Really? Did you really just ask that again?”
“Well, I’m getting kind of tired you know, walking in this plane thing for about three days is kind of tiring”
“Well then, just ask the author for some help” she says.
“What? No, you can’t just break the fourth wall to make something easier. That’s just not right” I say.
A voice emanates from somewhere. “And why can’t you break the fourth wall? Seems perfectly legit”
Runner, being the cockiest of us five is the first to speak up. “And who might you be?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m the author of the story you’re in. I’m writing this line of dialogue right now, as I speak. But, of course, by the time anyone other than me reads it, I’ll have already written this”
I can hear dubstep in the background for some reason. “Why is there dubstep playing out of nowhere?”
The voice answers. “Because, I always play dubstep as loud as it goes when I’m writing. And since I’m breaking the fourth wall into the story, I guess some of the music came with me. Anyways, Isn’t there something you wanted to ask me?”
I speak up again. “Well, yeah, I was wondering if you could get us out of here quicker or something?”
The voice answers “‘Course I can. I am the author, aren’t I? I can do anything I want. Watch” The ground we’re standing on changes, until we’re standing in the middle of a field of corn. “I’m awesome, aren’t I?”
I’m getting annoyed by him. “Yeah, yeah, you’re amazing and everything. But a little focus wouldn’t hurt, would it?” our surroundings change back into blank, white, plane.
“And a little respect for people with god-like powers would be handy for you. Never piss someone off if they can make your life hell. And as for the focus, we’re waiting”
“Waiting for what?”
“You’ll see” he says with a touch of amusement. We stand around for awhile, waiting for something to happen. “She should be here any minute”
“Who is ‘she’?” I ask.
He laughs. “Nope. No spoilers. You gotta wait”- His words are broken off as a certain gray mare breaks through the plane we’re standing on.
“Hiya, boss. Whatcha need me to do?” Derpy says to apparently no one.
“Hey derpy. Nice to see you again. I need you to bring these five back. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course I can!”
Vinyl is just as confused as I am. “So, how did she get here?”
To which the voice replies “Well, you all know what breaking the fourth wall is, right? This is kind of like this, except it’s kind of a spatial variant. Called breaking the fourth panel, I think” Vinyl gives him an odd look, not fully believing him. “Do not question me!” He shouts. “I am the all powerful god-like person!”
“Alright, chill, just wondering”
Derpy focuses one of her eyes on me, the other wandering off as per usual. “You all coming? I got to get back home, muffins in the oven”
“Sure, but how?” I ask.
“Through that door, idiot!” Derpy says, pointing to a door that was not there five seconds ago.
“Not even going to ask” I mutter under my breath as I walk towards it.
The author speaks up as the six of us walk. “By the way, Vinyl, I’m going to have to erase this from your memory. I don’t feel like rewriting this in your side of the story”
“You’re writing my side of the story? How far back would you be going?” She asks, trying not to sound suspicious.
“Oh, just from when you first got to college, until maybe a year or so from now. Why, something you don’t want everyone to read?”
She turns bright red. “Nope, not at all” She says, lying horribly. “And I suppose there's no point in arguing with you, is there? Just gonna do what you’re gonna do”
“Yep”
I walk over to Vinyl, and punch her hard on the should. She turns around, and stares angrily at me. “I’ll get you for that, you better watch out”
I laugh in her face. “No you won’t. You’ll forget this even happened. The opportunity was”- I’m cut off as she rams into me, sending me sprawling.
“What did I tell you?” She walks to the door, and through it. I pick myself up off the ground, and follow her through.
The door apparently had the ability to cross dimensions or something, because we wind up inside of Derpy’s house. I look behind me, but all I see is a blank wall. I walk up to it, and tap it. Completely solid. I walk forward a little bit, when I hear a little popping sound, and I look over to see Celestia standing where she wasn’t five seconds ago. The same happens with Dash. I wait for Runner to appear, but he doesn’t. I walk with the other two into the living room/dining room, to see Vinyl laying on the couch, asleep. I can hear a song coming from her mind, but it’s so quiet I can’t make it out. I go to wake her up, but at the last moment, I decide not to. I sit down on the couch next to her. Dash and Celestia walk in also, and each pick their own seat.
We sit there, looking at each other, before I finally speak up. “Never thought I’d see you to. Can you explain, or?”
Dash answers me. “No, I can’t really explain anything. Probably the same reason as to why you’re not dead”
I nod, and then my thoughts trail off. I jump when a person just appears, sitting on the couch next to me. I look, and it’s me. Same black hoodie, headphones and all.
He speaks up. “Thought I might” -he pauses for effect- “drop in for a little bit. I got a little bit of explaining to do, bringing you guys up to speed. You see the thing is, none of you are supposed to exist in the way things are now. The only story I’ve been writing is Vinyl’s” He nods at Celestia and Dash. “You two were never supposed to have died. I managed to bring you back, but I don’t know if I can do it again”
I think I know where he’s going, but I want to make sure. “So then why are we here?”
“I’ll tell you, just hang on for a moment. I write all my stories on Google Drive. Nothing too exciting about that, I’m not a tech genius, so I use simple stuff I can understand. However, it seems as though my Gmail and Fimfiction accounts have been hacked, and these stories published under my names. I’m no genius, so I can’t do any fancy encrypting” He points to me. “The entire reason you exist is because of that hacker. I had no plans to do anything even relating to this, and yet, here you and that Runner character are”
I don’t like how my entire existence was started because of some random person on the internet. But I’m not going to complain, otherwise I wouldn’t be here at all. “Talking about Runner, where is he?”
“I’m holding on to him for a little bit. And I don’t know if Vinyl would like waking up, fully alive, to see him sitting and talking with everyone. Anyways, I don’t know the hackers purpose, or anything about him or her, all I know is that they’re messing with stuff here. And I’m not sure where here is exactly. I might have either opened some interdimensional portal thing using my home computer, accidently created some weird alternate dimension using the internet, or something along those lines. Either way, you and Runner aren’t supposed to exist”
“What do you mean I’m not supposed to exist? I might have been some error or something, but I have every right to exist. Even so, what are you going to do about it?”
“What I was planning was to delete this story, which should erase all the events that have happened, along with anyone who shouldn’t exist, mainly you and Runner”
“That sounds alot like flat out murder. You can’t just delete me because you don’t like where I fit in. I deserve to exist”
“Technically, you’re just a computer program thing that’s malfunctioning. I have every right to. And no you don’t have the right. You’re not a person, you’re probably not even real”
I try and find an argument. I look over at Dash and Celestia, only to see that they’re frozen, as if time was frozen.
“And yes, I paused time for a moment to talk to you. You see, I don’t have a choice. By you existing, you’re threatening the stability of this entire world. I have no choice but to delete you”
“I see. For the greater good, right?” I look down at myself.
“I suppose I could give you some time. A day?”
I look up at him. “Yeah, I suppose”
“Alright. At sunset, I’ll meet you back here. See you then” he fades out, and time once again moves forward.
I stand up on my four hooves, savoring the feeling of my existence. “Well, I’m going to have to leave. I got stuff to do” I walk out of the room before either of them can say anything. I walk through the back door, and onto the street. I walk down the sidewalk, not knowing where I’m going. I look up at the sun, and see that I have maybe two or three hours until evening. I realize I have absolutely no idea where I am, and that I’ll probably have a hard time finding my way back. I look around, trying to find somewhere to get something to eat. I might as well have a last meal. I look, but I guess I’m in some residential area. And completely lost.
I’ve managed to pass an entire hour in my wanderings, and I decide to spend the next one finding my way back to Derpy’s.
The sun is almost touching the horizon now, and I think I know where I am. But is this really how I’m going to spend the last hour or so of my life? Walking along in some neighborhood, hoping that I’m going to get there on time? But then, why am I worrying so much about it? I’m not supposed to exist to begin with, and me being here is only putting everypony in danger. It would be better if I left.
I’ve finally found my way back to Derpy’s. I knock, and wait for her to answer.
“Coming!” I hear multiple things crash, and I smile to myself. Derpy opens up the door. “Oh, good. Boss thought you might be late” I walk in, and go to the living room. And there I am. Sitting, nonchalant, as if everything was alright.
“Glad you could make it. Ready?”
I laugh, and he gives me a strange look. “Ready? How could I ever be ready for something like this? But yeah, I’m ready”
Derpy walks into the room, carrying a tray with fresh baked muffins on it. “Muffins, anyone?”
He speaks up. “Sure, Derpy. What flavor?”
“Muffin flavor!”
I get up, and look at the muffins she made. And, as she said, they’re muffin flavored. They have little tiny muffins imbedded in them, instead of chocolate chips or blueberries, or some other thing. “Derpy, how did you do this?”
“I just made them. I made little tiny muffins, and baked them into the muffin”
“But, Derpy, that’s impossible. I mean, it shouldn’t be possible to make little tiny muffins, and then bake them into larger ones”
She gives me a look. “I just did it, didn’t I?”
I sigh. “Okay, you got me there” I look at the author. “So what do we do?”
“Well, it’s hard to explain. I’ll bring the two of us to an in between dimension thingy, wipe you from everyponies memory, and then we’ll have to sever the link. I’ll close it from my end. I’ll delete Runner, giving you a little bit more power for what you can do. With that power, you’ll have to erase yourself, and then close the link from the inside”
“Why can’t you just delete both of us, and do it on your own?”
“Because, I can only do so much from my home computer. What you see here”- He waves his hand for emphasis -“Isn’t real. I’m not really here. And, now that I think about it, I can do the memory wiping part by myself”
“I see. So after this, no one will remember me?” The thought weighs me down.
“Yes” He he looks out the window. “Well, time to go. Goodbye, Derpy, gonna miss you”
Derpy tears up a little. “By, Boss. I’m gonna miss having you around. You were one of the few that were ever nice to me”
“Don’t worry, I’ll fix that. And, could you keep an eye on Vinyl and them? I want to make sure that their memory gets wiped correctly”
She lights up. “Yup! Sure can do, Boss!”
Me and him get up, and walk to a door at the end of the hall way. He opens it, and yet the only thing behind it is the wall. He walks forward, into the wall, and goes right through it. I look behind me, and see Derpy standing there , watching me. “Bye” I say, and then walk through the wall.
I’m standing on seemingly nothing, and yet it feels like there's solid ground beneath my hooves. There seems to be a light song floating about this place. It looks like the place I was at before, right after I ‘died’, but less creepy feeling. I feel tired, as though this place were sucking all the energy out of me, as if I have to hold myself together.
I look around, and yet the author isn’t here. I hear his voice. “So I’ve taken care of everything. All you have to do now is let go. Good bye”
I reach down inside my mind, feeling for the power that lets me reshape the world as I see fit. I feel it now, more powerful than it was before. I go to rewrite the world, but on a larger scale than ever before. I’m not moving myself a distance, I’m changing the very fabric of existence. The white light of this place fades, and I look down at myself. I’m dissolving.
It’s the strangest thing ever. I’m slowly fading out. As I fade out, all my energy seems to go with it. I’m scared. Not of death, I never have been, but of what comes after it. I’m not supposed to exist, so where do I go after this? I try and stop the process, to save myself, but I can’t. There’s what looks like little grains of stuff coming off me, floating away in some unfelt breeze. I don’t know whether it’s real or not, but I can see my memories playing out as if on screens in front of me. Of me with my few friends, but there isn’t much there. Of me playing games, but I wasn’t being the best at them. Of me taking exams, with high hopes, only to receive average scores. I fall to the ground, no longer able to support my self. My vision fades out, but stays long enough for me to see these memories of mine change from when I was human and on Earth, to me as a pony on Equestria. But I’m not only seeing my memories, but all the deleted ones as well, from others.
I can feel myself wanting to pass out, to slip into the void of eternal sleep, and yet I try to hang on. When I realize that me trying to stay is futile, my subconscious decides to take matters into it’s own hands. I can’t tell what it’s doing, but at this point I’m too tired to care. I have one last thought before I let myself go. What if this isn’t real, but only a dream inside a dream?