The Void.
An existence that is very confusing and contradictory and bigger than the concept of big. It is where the universes and multiverse and all those things reside, including everyone’s favorite Void Dweller, Aaron Heibai.
Right now, he’s just being a lazy butt.
“Oi! I take offense to that! Wait… where am I? Hey! This isn’t my story! Where the f**k am I this time!?”
Just then, a young girl went tumbling head over heels past him, trailing glittery sparkles and knocking him flat on his metaphorical butt.
“GAH! Another one!? Oh… it’s her story. Okay okay, I got it. Time to go kick the Merchant’s ass… again.”
And there he goes, off to do the same thing he does every week.
In the Everfree Forest sits a castle that has long since given way to the unnatural weather patterns in the strange forest. Old towers now lay as meaningless rocks, decayed banners barely cling to mossy walls, and the receptacles for the sealed Elements of Harmony abandoned of the five orbs, only to hold water until they, like the rest of the castle, eventually fall to time.
Here, in the main chamber, is where the fate of this world and another begins.
With a young girl with lilac colored hair clinging to a weird black and yellow box simply appearing in flash of sparkles and weird blue numbers and letters.
And for a while, she rests.
Tiffany slowly opened her golden eyes to see an unfamiliar sky framed by a ceiling that had barely been staying up.
“H-hu-what?” She asked in a tiny voice to herself before sitting up, taking in the ruins around her. She came to a conclusion rather quickly but hoped that she was wrong.
Getting up, she looked around in greater detail before leaving via the only exit, noting that the only lettering she found was all illegible due to the passage of time.
It only left her with one way to go.
The dark and creepy forest, full of trees gnarled by time and the dark creatures living in there.
Tiffany gulped, putting the box she knew as a tin for her Chaotic cards, including her new ones, in the pocket of her green pants.
Then, with one step, she started walking across the old rope bridge to the forest, hoping to find some sort of life beyond it.
Tiffany’s eyes darted left and right as she traversed the dark forest, its canopy killing most of the light from the sun, though she thought the sun was acting weird. It seemed to jump randomly.
Finally, she reached the edge of the forest to a rather odd scene that made her just freeze to comprehend it.
There were ponies.
Lots of them in all sorts of colors and they all seemed to be fighting over one ragged looking doll she never got a real good look at.
After a moment, she turned around and decided to just take her chances with the ruined old castle and lack of food.
If she would have stayed a moment longer, she would have seen Celestia descending from on high to stop the fighting.
Tiffany kept walking, following the old path, when she heard something moving in the bush near her started rustling.
She stepped back, letting out a sigh of relief when a snow white bunny hopped out. She bent down and held out her hand. “Hey there little guy~”
The young girl cooed as the bunny hopped closer, she herself staying as still as possible. It was a calming thing to her, after waking up in a strange location and seeing fighting ponies.
That was broken by what sounded a hawk screech and a blur of brown smashing into the poor bunny, a small stain of blood being left behind on the ground and a very traumatized young woman.
Now, she was no stranger towards death, having seen it on TV occasionally, but it was nothing on the real thing. It shocked her enough to fall backwards, turning her head towards the brown blur.
From where she was, all she could see was a tail, fur, and feathers. Also, bits of white fur and blood and she could hear the creature eating.
Tiffany carefully got up and started to inch away. In this case, she should have turned her back to the scene of death, because as soon as she thought she was free to run, the back of her head struck a low hanging branch. This elicited a loud yelp of surprise and minor pain.
This also caused the creature to stop eating and look in her direction with what she thought were glowing eyes.
Tiffany felt like the entire world froze for a moment before she finally broke it by screaming and taking off.
She heard the creature screech as she ran away, her lungs already burning from the walking she had already done that day.
She practically felt her heart explode as she felt something heavy slam into her from behind, something claw like pushing her face into the dirt.
“Who and what are you?” Tiffany paused as she heard the female voice coming from the creature on top of her and responded in the only way she could really think of.
“What?” She squeaked out, trying to look at what had pinned her down.
“Answer the question, you… you... thing!”
“I-I’m not a thing, I’m a human!” Tiffany cried out in response, her eyes brimming with tears.
“I’ve never heard of a human before!”
“Well, I guess you wouldn’t have, given the ponies back that way.”
“Those stupid ponies,” Tiffany whimpered as she felt the claws on her head tightening their grip.
“Um…,” She could feel that this thing didn’t have a good past with the ponies. “Do you want to talk about it?”
The claws shifted on her head but there was a moment of silence. “Sure...,” Then the creature got off her, Tiffany flipping over to take in the creature for what it was in the dying light.
And honestly, other than the blood on its chest and beak, it looked like a small, girly griffon. Tiffany gave a snicker.
“What?!” The griffon snarled, her wings spreading out in anger.
“It’s nothing,” Tiffany held up her hands in a placating manner.
The griffon snorted before starting to explain her past with the ponies, including the fact that her friend, Rainbow Dash, had betrayed her for a pink ‘harpy’ that kept pulling cruel pranks on her.
At the end, Tiffany came to an important conclusion.
The ponies were terrifying and a bit vindictive.
“So, I really don’t think we should go there…,” Tiffany grabbed her left arm nervously. “I-I don’t think I can help you with the ponies.”
The griffon snorted. “Didn’t think you could. You don’t even look that strong.”
Tiffany looked at the ground when reminded of her weakness. “Yeah... I’m pretty weak.”
The griffon smirked. “Anyways, you need some help getting out of here? It is pretty dangerous.”
“Well,” Tiffany mulled the question over in her head. “I guess, but I know where some ruins are so I could just stay there.”
She shrugged. “Guess I’ll get my nest then if these Ruins are any good. By the way, my name’s Gilda.”
Tiffany started walking. “Um, I’m Tiffany,” She responded meekly as they entered deeper into the forest, beginning the first steps towards a destiny of greatness.