Day -3/0
I am sick... and tired… of being sick, and tired… I’ve been wandering for four days now… and haven’t found a single person, town, sign, or any indication of life; just fucking nature everywhere. I’m almost out of beef jerky, and it’s pissing me off as much as it worries me, because I’m a goody two shoes who can’t bring himself to litter in such a beautiful place, so I’ve been stuffing them back in my bag; and the constant sound of wrappers shifting is annoying the ever living fuck out of me... Yeah, bite me, I can appreciate nature.
At least I can when I can fucking see it! For whatever reason, if I open my left eye, a whole bunch of shit pops up in my view. It’s like a fucking computer filled with viruses I tell ya. I tried rubbing my eyes, hitting myself upside the head, splashing water in my face. Nothing clears it up. Eventually, I took a picture of myself with my phone to see if it was something else…. And forgot to turn off the flash, so I blinded myself for a moment. After my vision cleared, I looked at the picture, and nearly broke my phone when I dropped it. There’s some fucking symbol on my eye where my pupil would be. No idea what it is, as I’ve never seen anything like it before. Nearly had a panic attack, and had to take an entire day just to come to terms with it.
Nothing I can do for it, so I opted to keep my left eye closed. Wish I had something to wrap around my head to block it for me, but it seems god fucking hates me apparently. So I bite the proverbial bullet and fight back years of habit of having my left eye open, and keep it shut. I still accidentally open it, but the pain from the surge of bullshit that pops up in my vision makes short work of it. I don’t even know what it is, I can never get a good enough look at it on the off chance I do open my left eye, because I’m never expecting to open my left eye; it’s just habit.
That aside, I don’t know where the hell I am. While I’ve never seen much of the world, I’m sure this place isn’t anywhere I’ve heard of. It looks too… untouched. Colors are brighter, the sky is nicer, even the air smells and feels different. Aside from the aesthetic differences, there’s also not been a single bad day of weather since I got here; clear skies far as the eye can see, with the odd cloud here and there. But even those clouds are strange; they don’t move. Now I know clouds don’t move that fast and it could be me not paying attention properly, but I’m telling ya, they don’t move. I’ve watched a couple of the clouds I’ve seen for a couple minutes, to a couple hours, and they didn’t move a single inch. Even tested it by leaving my backpack in the shade of a cloud and waited for a bit to see if it would move. It didn’t.
I sigh and pull out my water bottle and shake it, hearing the swishing of water indicating its almost empty. Maybe 20% full… if that. I open it and take a small sip, savoring the smooth liquid as it glides across my tongue. Wish it could last longer, but I don’t have enough water to indulge myself. Makes me miss the days when I could just flip on the sink, take a few gulps, and dump the rest down the drain like the wasteful child I was. Now I realize exactly how much I took for granted. And that’s pretty much everything. Beds. AC. Electricity. Food. And of course, water. There’s more I’m sure, but it would be a waste of energy to systematically list off everything.
I miss my home… my parents especially. They’re what made home what it is. I don’t think I’ll ever get home though… I’m pretty sure I’m stuck here. But, like I told myself back in the cave, I’ll be damned if I go down without at least trying. Pulling out my phone, I open it up and look in the various chat rooms I was in. all these people I knew… gone from my life… or rather, I’m gone from theirs. Just… deleted. Of course, no new messages come in either; No blasted signal. I sigh and open up to my gallery, looking through the pictures I’ve taken. There aren’t that many, and most of my picture folders are memes, videos, and… less than savory things. I’m 14! Give me a break! But back on topic, my camera roll. Various pictures of selfies taken with my friends, to vacation photos with my parents… I feel a tear roll down my cheek, and quickly wipe it away and put my phone back in my pocket before I waste more time. Not gonna get anything done by sitting here wishing.
It’s been a couple more hours of walking. And the sun is setting. And I see civilization! Fuck yeah! It looks rural as fuck, barely gettin started, but it’s something! I take off running towards the small hamlet as the sun continues setting, casting the world in shadows. However, I’m caught off guard when the sun springs back up instead of continuing its way down. It startled me so much, I jumped back and fell on my ass backwards and scramble away from the direction I was heading. I stop in place, and place a hand on my still beating heart, thumping away in my chest with reckless abandon. “WHAT THE FUCK!?”
The sun does NOT do that! It’s been fine the past 4 days, and now its just defying physics!? Why the fuck did it go back!? I look at my watch and confirm that the time still shows that it should be approaching night time. Then, almost as soon as that thought goes through my head, the sun darts back down past the horizon, shrouding the surrounding area in complete darkness. I’m quiet for the next few seconds, my mind drawing a complete blank. Then the sun darts back up, almost as if playing a game of peek-a-boo. At this point, I’m getting more irritated than anything else. “Alright, what the fuck is going on!?” I yell out to the sun. of course, I get no response.
I decide to get up and start hoofin it to the small village as the sun and moon keep being bipolar. Maybe they’d know something about this, but I highly doubt that. When I’m halfway to the village from where I was, the ground suddenly changes to a fucking purple checkerboard, tripping me up and making me fall flat on my face. I bring myself to my hands and knees, examining the ground below me. Knocking on it, I find it to be some kinda of hard plastic or something similar. Putting this information in the back of my head, I get back to my feet and keep running. I slow down but keep running as I see a couple strange animals running by, except they seem more like one of those ‘has science gone too far’ animal mix up memes. Fucking long legged rabbits with antlers, bats that are fatter than a grapefruit, some that are actually grapefruit with bat wings. I raise an eyebrow and keep running. Par for the course I guess. I DO stop running however, when something pops in front of me from out of nowhere with a positively chaotic cackle. Once again, I’m on my ass and scrambling away. “WHAT THE FUCK!” I yell out, but immediately throw my hand over my mouth and curse myself and my mouth.
The creature before me, some kinda amalgamation of various animal parts congealed together in some sick and twisted looking way, stops his cackling and turns to look at me; and my heart fucking sinks… like, past my stomach and down into my fucking foot. Then out the foot and deep into the earth below me. That’s how fucked I felt.
“And, What in the wide wide world of Equus might you be? My my, certainly not something I conjured, that’s for sure. Some sort of monkey perhaps?” I don’t even have time to react or ponder my confusion at the things he apparently said, as he disappears from in front of me with a snap of his clawed limb, and reappears beside me, lifting me up and holding me by my arm and eyeing me somethin’ fierce. “No no no, not enough hair. Unless you’re a hairless monkey... “ he pulls my mouth open, and I panic as I feel it stretch open to lengths it shouldn’t be able to, and he sticks his fucking head inside my mouth! “Not the right kind of tooth formation either…” he states as he lets go of my mouth, and I feel it snap back to the way it’s supposed to be. He spreads my fingers and even pulls one off, examining it. At this point, I’m freaking out, and looking at my missing digit in horror. However, it isn’t bleeding, nor does it hurt. It just… isn’t there. I can still feel it, but I feel it in the grip of this reality breaking creature. Wiggling it around, it wiggles in his grip too. It disappears from his grip and pops back on my hand after he tosses it away carelessly and looks back at me.
“Y-you’re the thing causing all this fucking madness!” I stutter and point at him.
He seems surprised I can talk, but his surprised expression quickly melts into a smirk. “Ah, what a lovely word you used to describe it. I prefer the term chaos myself, but you’re word works just as well. Do you like it? Oh I hope you do, I did put a lot of hard work into it!” he disappears again and appears coiled around me with his weird elongated body, and whispers into my ear with an elbow nudge, “between you and me, I really didn’t. I can do way more, but I like to let things progressively get more chaotic.” he says, then gives me a wink and chuckles. Now, I have no idea what compelled me to do what I did next, but I was startled and annoyed.
I fucking punched him.
And, my hand literally phased through his face. His chuckle dies down as he looks at me, my arm literally in his head. And going out the back of it. And he’s fine. “Now that’s a bit rude, don’t you think?” he snaps his fingers and reappears on the path towards the village, leaving me behind him. “I’ll deal with you later. Whenever we next meet...“ He says with an evil smirk as he looks at me over his shoulder. Before I can even respond, he snaps his fingers and the entire world is gone in an instant. I feel like my body is tearing itself apart and putting itself back together, being squashed and stretched, pulled and pushed… all sorts of feelings that shouldn’t be possible to feel at the same time, and with such intensity. It all passes in a second though, and I hear a pop and feel myself falling yet again.
“-et away with this, Discord!” I hear a female voice call from below me. I, however, start screaming and hit the ground with a sudden and sharp pain in my back. My eye screws shut in pain, and I wince, trying to roll over and get off my back. At least I apparently wasn’t that high up. Through my pain, I notice the sound of silence. Nothing but the wind. Then, laughing. No… cackling… of the chaotic variety… this same mother fucker is laughing at me! I wince and slowly bring myself to a sitting position, and glare at him.
“My my, how nice of you to drop in!” he says between laughs, putting extra emphasis on the word drop. Fucking hate puns. I’m about to say something, but I’m startled when I hear another voice behind me.
“What is the meaning of this Discord? An attempt to distract us?” I turn and face the voice, and I’m even more confused when I see two horses standing there, clad in armour and weapons floating beside them, encased in a glow. Actually, getting a better look, I notice they have wings and fucking horns; horns that are encased in the same glow as the floating weapons. Are they doing that? is all I have time to think before this ‘Discord’ finally stops his laughing fit and wipes a tear from his eye, and starts talking again.
“Oh please, Celestia. This is as much a surprise to me as it is you, I assure you.”
After hearing him say that, I had to call bullshit. He knew what he did with me! “Bullshit! Don’t act like you didn’t just start fucking around with the world not 10 minutes ago!”
After that, I stare at him, and he stares back. I can feel the stare of the ponies staring at the back of my head as well. To be honest, it’s a little uncomfortable. Then, for whatever reason, Discord starts giggling. Then chuckling. Then breaks down into full blown laughter. I turn to the ponies behind me to see what they think of this, but they’re looking at me like I’m crazy.
The blue one who’s name I didn’t know brings a hoof to her mouth and coughs into it awkwardly, then speaks up. “Creature, Discord has been wreaking havoc across the land for four days now.” she’s about to say something else, but Discord doesn’t give her a chance as he buts in with something to say of his own.
“OOooooo, havoc. I like that word. Better than the one this thing used four days ago.”
After hearing that, my mind just stopped. ‘Four days? But I was just talking to him 2 fucking minutes ago!’. My eyes, both of them are wide open in shock. The pain from all the clutter clouding my vision is completely numb, and I just stand there in shock. The world seems to continue on as if I wasn’t there. I think Discord and those two horses are fighting. Now that I think about it, the area does look different… that village and the path to it is nowhere in sight. Despite the chaotic look Discord gave it, I can still discern it to be a different location. How else would I have gotten here? Getting to my feet, my jaw clicks shut as I pick it up off the floor, but I continue to stare straight ahead. All I hear around me is the clashing of blades against… something… I didn’t care to look. ‘Four days… did he send me into the future?’
Things go quiet, and all of a sudden, I feel an intense pressure all over my body. I try to move, as this sudden pressure snaps me out of my little stupor, but find that I’m unable to. Panic starts to grip, and I struggle to move, or do anything; breathe, close my eyes, anything. It’s all in vain. I start to lose my sense of feeling. After a moment, I realize I no longer feel the need to breathe. However, I also don’t feel anything else. All I see is my clusterfuck of a vision because my eyes are still open apparently. I can still hear everything going on around me though, so I focus on that. I hear footfalls approaching me, in groups of four. Four seems to be a common number recently, eh? Panic stricken however, I barely register the two horses who I assume are in front of me talking. I catch something about relocation, and that’s all I get before I pass out from the mental overload.
WHOOOOO boy. I'm sorry this took a bit longer than I was hoping it would. what with it being spring break right now (just about to end), and proofing for others with that free time as well as enjoying myself (because it was spring fucking break), my time just sorta got eaten up. I swear, I've proofed more in the past week than I have in the past month before it. either way, that's besides the point! now we know how null got got! well, now you do. it also took me a while to get this out because I may have struggled to think of how I wanted to conclude this little arc, given what I could do in the time frame I set, and sticking with the overall style of the story.
either way, lemme know what you think in the comments down below! I LOVE feed back!
EDIT: ALRIGHTY! seems allot of people are confused about that ending. So instead of answering comments again and again, I'll explain what happened here. First off, the entire thing is from nulls perspective. So some things are left vague because him as a character isn't aware of some things. That aside, what happened is this. Discord warped null to a random point in the future. Random for him as in, even discord don't know when he would show up again. Turns out, he ended up a measly 4 days into the future. They had their little talk, and null was so shocked in his Revelation, that he opened both his eyes. During this, the princesses were fighting with discord, for quite a while. Null just happened to be that frozen in shock. After they got discord with the elements, Celestia managed to convince Luna to help her use the elements on null as well, as he was a potential threat due to his eye, and Celestia didn't want to risk fighting another heavy battle so soon. To understand these decisions, you must understand that Celestia is the less trusting, and older sister; while Luna is the younger and impressionable one, still somewhat in the mindset that her big sister can't possibly be wrong about anything. Luna however, didn't see his eye, which is why she needed to be convinced, and Celestia didn't let her go see it on the off chance something happened. As for why Celestia would convince her sister to do this? Sometimes, people make mistakes, and make bad decisions. I could make a chapter on what happened from someone else's perspective but I honestly don't think I could fit enough words to make it worth doing. Maybe I'll do it maybe I won't.
oh! and guess what? first bit of fanart! honestly was not expecting it, and surprisingly enough it came in like... 10 minutes after I posted the previous chapter.
Drawn by a fimfic user who goes by the name of "Coco Bunny"! thanks man(or woman)!
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9528532
as stated in the first chapter of the story, they stoned him because of his eye. and as was hinted at in the most recent chapter (as of me writing this comment), his eyes were wide the fuck open. plenty of time for them to see it.
So, he's standing there confused in the middle of the room, and Celestia just backhoofs him with a petrification spell? How rude.
9528544
elements of harmony actually, but same concept. not a room either, they're outside.
9528551
Eh, six of one, a half-dozen of the other. Either way they really ought to have at least exchanged a few words. Ah well, hindsight and all that.
I cant wait to see what he does when he stops being a statue
9528602
wouldn't we all?
Oooohhh Celly is going to feel like shit once she finds out just what she did and to whom. Yeah, I know I'm repeating myself
9528679
no you will not have to wait that long my friend.
So wait? Was his Sealing an Accident? Was he caught in the same blast as Discord? That kinda breaks what has been said up until this point!
Or did they Seal him simply due to fear of something that COULD have happened? If so then shame on Celestia! He visibly Scared, Confused and lost! that should have been Redflags that he was not Involved in ANYTHING Discord did!
If they DID Seal him due to Fear then anything he does once he get's out is on Celestia's Head IMO
Nice an update! Great job with this chapter
Huzza an update!
great chapter
9528899
alot of this is confusing for most because you only see Null's perspective, which is pretty much nothing. he's sitting there confused, trapped in his own mind out of shock. what actually happened is intentionally left vague, as to make the reader think . but as for the stuff that was hinted at, think about it. his eyes were wide open, so they saw what his left eye was. in the first chapter, it was stated that they nailed him cuz of the potential threat he posed, and they didn't wanna have to deal with another issue so soon after such a heavy fight. it definitely didnt come across well in the chapter, but that fight went on for quite a bit of time. he just didn't catch any of it cuz he was in a stupor.
he was not caught in the same blast however, as in the first chapter it was stated that Celestia had to convince Luna to use the elements on him. thats where the silence before the pressure comes into play.
9528899
Yeah we kinda need some clarification on this, please, author?
9529137
Yeah I remember, Just was confuzaled!
I honestly don't know why Celestia used the Elements on him, yes they got out of a fairly long fight, but from what we know so far he didn't Participate in it. He didn't pose a threat then and had they spoken to him, helped him, I doubt he would have been a threat down the line either.
On that note: Does the Eye make Him ageless? I am curious as to the Benefits it gives outside of powers. As so far the only beings sealed in stone have been immortal and I don't think a Mortal would really Survive being sealed like this as even IF the sealing suspends his aging there would STILL be degradation.
9529243
9529282
Check the updated authors notes. Hopefully that'll answer your question.
9529292
The AN on the latest chapter, yes?
Edit: okay that answered all but the Ageless question. Thank you.9529297
Yes.
9529301
Gah, replied before I could edit the other post
It did answer all but my Ageless question though.
9529297
I keep adding shit to it as I think of more to explain, lol, probably worth looking one last time. As for agelessness... I honestly haven't decided yet.
9529312
Starting to think maybe you should do a Blogpost Q&A
9529366
Honestly I probably should xD
9529292
Thx
Okay, I was going into this thinking maybe they'd have some good reason for thinking him a threat, but this is just rediculous. There isn't a reason! He didn't even do anything, aside from curse at the one the two of them were fighting. Instead of actually trying to determine if he was a threat, Celestia automatically defaulted to "Kill it now!" because an unknown creature had some connection to a thing in a book she read once, Luna just went along with it. And acting like this wasn't a death sentence doesn't work, given it was meant to permenant.
While the two of them saying they were justified, are his friends, and are trying to let him out makes sense with them try to assuage the guilty conscience then refuse to listen to, them actually caring breaks disbelief. This is because none of what they've done says they actually intend to take responsibility for their actions. The same goes for him considering the sisters his friends. When you, the author, insist that they are friends and everthing is fine it makes an otherwise good story look bad because it simply isn't believable.
Many happy for the update
Good psych for nulls interaction with discord
And i prefer mischief and madness myself or chaos and confusion thier both good
Keep true with the great chapters
9530083
Whoa whoa whoa, chill out there pogchamp. First off, none of them can really be considered his friend. It's a one way road for him. Luna and starswirl are the only ones who could be considered his friends, and that's just cuz they are trying to free him. Tia is still scared of him, and had always been, which also clouded her judgement. Fear causes people to be irrational. Luna however, now hundreds of years older, had grown and matured learning that big sister isn't always right; and regrets listening to her. Sometimes, there doesn't have to be a good reason for something; sometimes people make bad choices. Yes, saying 'sorry we made a mistake', doesn't make everything alright; but at the same time, it was never said that it was an accident they they stoned him. The idea is that he was in the wrong place at to wrong time, and that others had done wrong by him; that he was wrongly imprisoned. Also idk where you got the notion he thinks the sisters are his friends. He hates Tia with a burning passion and I'm sure I made that quite clear. Luna on the other hand, he doesn't hate, but still hasn't fully forgiven her either. Nulls story is confusing and isn't meant to make sense right as you read it, you've got to think deep about allot of things, as I did while writing it.
Hopefully this answers some of your questions or satisfies you in some way. If not, I dunno what to tell you; I've explained allot in the comments, as the story is from nulls perspective, and as such, certain things he isn't aware of or the way he interprets things and relays them to you, the reader, don't come across. some things that aren't even in the story can be learned from the comments. Thanks for the feedback tho!
I take it he's gonna be freed around the same time Luna turns into Nightmare Moon and gets banished?
9530437
;P I'm not gonna spoil the ending just like that. Who do you think I am? Gotta keep you interested somehow.
9530344
Speaking of feedback, are you fascinated on how some of the comments are so invested in figuring out the mystery to what happened to null when you first posted the chapter? And the discussion of all the little things, like morality, justice, and wondering what will happen next. It’s super fun reading some of the comments about it. People being emotional invested to your character, and all the sub-plots.
I’m just kinda curious on how do you feel about that kind of situation. And what did you think about this kinda attention? Does it give you this responsibility and motivation to continue the story? hoping the new chapter will intrigue your audience? I’m just kinda curious on what goes on whenever an author has that kinda pressure/attention. I always wondered what it would be like to be in that position. Kinda like dexters lab equestria. If you don’t want to answer that’s fine. I get some people are comfortable in discussion their work process.
Also I’m kinda feel guilty for asking this,
Does it bother ya that you need to explain often to your audience to what’s going on? Or does it get annoying?
9530799
honestly, it is a bit fascinating that people are enjoying the chapter, and trying to figure out what happens. its fun to see what people guess and how close or far from the truth they may be. as for what i think about the attention? its not much to think about honestly. i'd lie if i didnt constantly refresh the page after uploading for the next 10 minutes, but aside from that, its always nice to see new comments and stuff. its... mind blowing honestly. yeah, i do hope each chapter intrigues the audience, because that's generally what i aim for. the pressure/ motivation to go on, honestly comes from just wanting to write the story. yeah, the comments and fact people like it is nice, but i genuinely enjoy writing. sure, i feel guilty when i dont upload in a while (*cough* Amnesiacs tale *Cough*) but i don't ever feel rushed to get a chapter out. gotta take my time, and make sure things are set properly; such is the job of laying down a deep story. and as for being bothered for needing to explain whats going on? a little bit. i am a bit biased, as i know everything already and everything makes sense to ME, but i understand others wont get everything, especially things that aren't clear from the character's perspective. i don't mind explaining things at least once, but after the third or fourth person asking about the same thing, or something else that i thought was clear, or saying something is one way when i thought for sure i made it apparant that it was either the opposite or something else. it gets annoying sometimes. doesn't stop me from correcting peoples mistakes and the like.
thanks for the questions and thoughts! i don't think i answered them all in the right order, but i tried. like null, i tend to ramble
You are aware that any story, once featured once, is guaranteed to hit the featured box with each new chapter, right? (All those dates exactly match chapter publication dates, you may have noticed). The bottom three slots of said box are reserved for previously-featured stories that have been recently updated... It's the first seven slots- reserved for featured, never-been-featured-before stories- that are the coveted ones... and unfortunately, no story can land in them twice (I think).
9533148
Mm. Never knew that. Didn't think it was like that because it was always about 10 minutes to a half hour later after posting that it would get featured. Plus, I don't think I've seen anything anywhere about how the feature box actually 'works'.
Not gonna lie, my ego took a bit of a hit there. Lol.
9533330
I learned that from finding a comment a moderator put on a story or something, I forget where... and the delay would be the same strange delay that makes publishing new stories non-instant. (I mean really, I'm a programmer- and the site can't be under THAT much load, can it?)
Yeah, sorry about that
9533666
While I'm not a programmer, I'm still pretty tech savvy. (PC master race should tell ya how much I know xD) I agree that it couldn't be under that much load. I think it's just a slow or not as efficient algorithm or something. Who knows?
9533685
Or something called a "processing schedule"... which I never understood. I mean, it really doesn't cost anything to process everything right away... Right?
9533687
Not that I would know of. I host discord servers, not websites xD.
The fact that the author reminds us that’s he’s 14 before turning to stone, OOF. That’s a hard pill to swallow. :(
9533691
I don't have much experience with this just thought I would pop in here. It might be the fact the servers themselves aren't very efficient and don't have adequate ram to process a text file that efficiently. It could also be how the data is sent to the server. Or most likely a combination of the data having to travel a long distance then be processed by an ineffective central computer before being posted to the site. But i have no idea how this works so take this all with a grain of salt
Wait, is this an actual term? I thought it was just the ponified version of "bookin' it"
9549394
Yea, it's an actual term that is used but not so often now a days
9534538
That will probably just make Celestia feel even worse for doing what she did to him. She, quite literally, ruined a kids life.
Are you the Sisko?
9615440
Damn! Someone beat me to it. Though to be honest I would gone with, “I’m not Picard.”
So Null went from “indifferent” to “on my shit list” with Discord with a single punch. GOOD JOB, BRO.
Oh yeah, I would be disturbed if I saw that. One moment I'm just relaxing beside the window - sun shining through it, and the next is the sun decided to bob up and down.
Once again, amazing backstory. But I do hate how hasty Celestia was, they could`ve waited a few minutes to see what Null would do. Still, what is done is done.
4 days to future, does that mean it's day +1 of the story?