Void Palette

by Valuable Ashes

Chapter 3

Red and Orange stared at the hut that emerged from the ground with intrigue and confusion respectively. The hut was similar in shape with Red's house. Possibly the same furniture inside Red too. The only noticeable difference was the shade of the building.

Red house for red pony, orange house for orange pony. If any other ponies showed up with a different color, no doubt a new home will be made for them. How many buildings are even under this island?

Both outlined ponies went into their households to take a rest. Without clocks or watches, they have nothing to reference the time between waiting and adventuring. They simply have to wait it out and hope it's closer than they think.

Red pondered on their vague memory of sleeping in their house before awakening in the void. However, since they had no other ideas or memories to piece together with, they came up with nothing. No correlation of anything that could have made them pop into this bleak existence where the land is empty and the skies are dark and dull.

The ruby-outlined pony gazed out the window, seeing the neon red and orange pathways go far into the void. So far that they cannot see the parkour course that they had to go through. They thumped their head on the window frame. Impatiently waiting for a new path to open up.

They exhaled loudly. They wanted to see adventure. Wanting to be out there and live their life. Then they remembered their wall climbing abilities. That couldn't have been learned immediately in the void. They had to have some kind of training before. But when?

They didn't want to be stuck in their color assigned hut for long. They opened the front door and leapt outside for a quick jog.

Silence. After the door shut quietly on the door frame, all that surrounded them was complete silence. No wind nor the chirping of the birds in the air. It was surreal.

Their hooves came in contact with the solid island sounding like a big block of carpet and began to trot to the edge of the island. They planned to jog all around the island with a small part of them hoping to find the next walkway soon.

---

They were tired but pleased. While they haven't spotted the next path, they had a neat jog around the island. There wasn't much to see but in doing so, they realized how big of an island they were on. The two little houses that they always see in the center of the island looked so distant. At one point, they could barely see Orange come out of her hut to do something that wasn't visible to them.

Once Red completed one loop, they jogged back to the center of the land. Visiting Orange sounded like a good idea. Their hooves were sore and they were sweating. At least, they felt like they should be sweating. The air around them was not cold nor hot and there was no sun to increase the temperature.

It took Red a long time to notice the lack of plants. They initially thought that they were walking on grass but with how solid and carpet-like the ground was, was it really grass? What were they breathing? Were they still breathing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide? So many questions with no answers.

Red stood in front of Orange's door to knock. The door swung open and behind it was the only other pony in the void.

"Hi Red"

"Hey Orange. Can I come in?"

"Yes, I would like some company" Orange opened the door wider and Red walked in her house. The furniture was the same like theirs. Two chairs, one table, a window, and a bed except with an orange hue.

"We are the only ponies here. You don't need to knock"

"It's only polite"

Both ponies sat on the chairs. For a moment it was quiet.

"Who do you think will come next?" Orange asked.

"Well, I'm thinking of somepony yellow. Because if the next pony we meet is yellow then..." Red trailed off.

"Wait, do you think it's a rainbow pattern?"

"It's the only idea I have. Red, orange, yellow, then green, then blue, and violet"

"Blue, Indigo, and violet" Orange corrected.

"Right. Forgot about that one"

"So... seven colors. Seven ponies?"

"Pretty much" Red shrugged.

Silence again. The red earth pony looked anywhere but avoiding any eye contact with the mare in front of them. They didn't need to make it more awkward along with the silence. They could not tell if the pony was also doing the same thing or she was staring at them stare off into the distance.

Being the only source of red in this orange shaded household made them stand out so much, they began to feel conscious with themselves.

"Do you remember anything from before you got here. Anything besides sleeping?" They heard Orange ask. Red internally sighed in relief.

"I don't. But it's weird that I know a lot about wall climbing before I got here despite me not recalling a single time of me wall climbing. I think it's all muscle memory at play here, not mental"

"It is kind of weird. Like, we have no recollection of who we were before but we still know a bit of it somehow"

"Who do you think you were before?"

"I think I was a... designer of sorts. Artist? Sculptor?" Orange laid a hoof on the table. It made a thunk sound, "This is wood and I can tell this wood is mahogany. The chairs are mahogany as well. The walls, concrete. The ceiling and floor, oak wood. I can't tell what the roof is made of. I'm... I can't reach that high"

"So you can feel the material and know what it is already by texture?"

"Yep. I just found this out" Orange smiled.

"Can you check what my furniture is?"

"Sure we can but aren't we supposed to be we waiting for this next path to open?"

"I don't think the path is gonna pop up anytime soon. Can you check mine, please?"

---

The next walkway appeared minutes later much to Red's chagrin. Red and Orange stood at the edge of the white island. Similar to Red's theory, the next path was yellow. Two lines of yellow stretched far into the horizon, warning the two ponies to stay within the lines lest they fall into the limitless void below.

The neon yellow reminded them of the sun. Something that they haven't seen for a long time. Will the new pony be the Princess herself to save the two of them? That's a thought. To them, it was more likely that the next pony will be like them. Awaking from their last slumber in a world of color to this bleak place. Confusion, panic, whatever will go through their minds when their minds start working again.

All they had to do was walk an unmeasurable distance until they find something. Red sighed, wishing they had a watch or something to tell the time.