Not Here

by ulcuran

A Flight to The Moon

Okay, think we have to think. How do I-we, get out of this? I look around the room for any kind of escape. Under the bed? No. The closet? We’re not clothes we would be found in a second. Fuck, okay okay. Behind the door maybe? No that’s just stupid.

*knock-knock* The white door, my only wall of defense against whatever comes is banged on again with more force behind it.

‘’Laika, open the door.’’ Celestia’s voice with even more force comes through.

What do I say? Do I talk at all? Just keep her busy for a few minutes, I need some time! We’ll get out of here. Okay, okay, okay. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and talk.

‘’W-wha? Cel-stia?-’’ I give out an exaggerated yawn as if I just woke up. ‘’Why are you here at this hour?’’ I slowly walk back from the door careful not to make a sound, never once leaving my eyes from the door in fear of what could happen. Don’t even blink.

‘’I have something important I need to talk to you about dear. It’s about…Luna.’’

‘’I uh, sure but can you give me some time? I’m in a…compromising position.’’ That should stop her for a few moments right? Even at the cost of my dignity…right?

‘’ENOUGH! I will not play along with your act any longer!’’ A booming sound, almost enough to break the door itself comes through. ‘’Nightmare Moon! Is it not enough that you torture him, you must shame him as well!?’’ Nightmare Moon? Wha-

Before I can even think about who Nightmare Moon is, the door explodes into a million pieces with splinters flying everywhere and I get thrown back further into the room.

Ignoring the pain I raise my head and blink a couple of times, the place where my door used to occupy is now a cloud of dust and smoke, and through that cloud comes a very angry-looking Celestia and six others, all wearing golden jewelry adorned with huge gems. Selene, whatever it is you're doing, you gotta do it now!

…

Selene? Where are you? Did you leave me? Did you leave me to the hounds? Did you leave me to die? Am I alone? I am. Why do I feel cold? Don’t leave me.

A beam of rainbow comes out of the six ponies, each beam joins together and gets directed toward me. My entire body freezes, I can’t move a muscle. Then it hits me. I scream.

My skin is scalding, my blood is boiling. I open my eyes and I’m on a desert stretching for eternity. The harsh sand storms peel my skin off. IT HURTS, IT HURTS. MOM HELP ME.

My abdomen is pierced, and the boiling blood spills out. I open my eyes and I’m lying on a bed of spikes each of them penetrating deeper and deeper. IT HURTS, HURTS. DAD HELP ME.

My body freezes over, everything feels dead. My limbs freeze. I can’t move, I open my eyes and I’m inside a glacier unable to move, gradually I lose all sensation. I DON’T WANT TO DIE.

And then it comes, something foreign enters my body. It forces itself through the pores of my skin. This is wrong, is this magic? It doesn’t belong here, this is wrong. My body rejects it, I reject it, it is wrong. I try to remove it from my body. My skin color begins to change it’s turning into a sickly pale white. I feel lost, my soul is being ripped out of me. The whiteness reaches the base of my neck. Using my hooves I bash my arms. get it out, get it out, get it out. I have no nails yet I must claw my skin.
GET IT OUT OF MY BODY.
OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT

I’m falling through the endless darkness, with nothing in it. Not even my own body, just my mind. I’m falling.

I open my eyes. I’m on the moon. I feel no pain, no magic, just myself. There is nothing here except gray ash. No other planets, no moving thing, no sound. Just the moon…and myself. Have I died? Is this the end that was waiting for me? All alone? Luna, are you there? Moonlight are you there? Selene, did you leave me to suffer? Did you not want to dance together again?

Selene where are you? I don’t want to be alone. I’m scared.

…it’s so cold here.

---

Pinkie blew the hair that was in front of her face for the fifth time. Today sucked so much. She tried to apologize to Laika and become friends with him through a cupcake. When that didn’t work out she tried a different approach.

Maybe she shouldn’t have tried that though, it got worse. How could she have known that could happen!? So she was brooding in her bed, trying to come up with ways to apologize…again.

Just as she was in the middle of making a plan on how to make the biggest chocolate cake Twilight, The Princess, and all of her friends arrived all with serious faces. Twilight quickly explained what was going on.

Her future friend was being possessed by Nightmare Moon. This meant that he most likely, definitely didn’t hate her, Nightmare Moon was the reason he was like that. She should feel bad, but a small part of her was happy? She felt angry at herself for being happy.

She wore her necklace and they all busted through the door of Laika. Without hesitation, they all used The Elements of Harmony on the startled pony, with Princess Celestia’s help of course. Pinkie was looking forward to talking to Laika after all of this was over and he was saved.

He screamed, but it was not a scream of defeat it was one of pain. They didn’t let up, it was painful but he needed to be rid of the nightmare. His scream turned into a howl. Pinkie saw his fur began to change color into a pale white.

‘’Do not let up! We are almost there!’’ Celestia said from behind all of the elements.

His cry became louder and louder...were they really helping him?

Pinkie Pie faltered, and a white flash filled the room from the wailing stallion knocking Pinkie and all of her friends, leaving her exhausted and unable to get up, she looked at her friends and all of them seemed to be in the same state.

From the flash, a pony with a body of white and a head of brown emerged, it was him but he was no longer screaming. His eyes looked different, they were no longer the soft gray. Now they were a sharp teal. Those once soft eyes were now frowning, he opened his mouth, and out came his voice.

‘’Celestia…do you know what you’re doing?!’’ He screamed out with anger dripping down every word.

Celestia wasted no time and positioned herself behind Nightmare Moon and The Elements, shielding them.

‘’Saving a poor tortured soul from you!’’ Celestia screamed back with equal force. ‘’Was my sister not enough?! You either release him or else!’’

‘’YOU WERE KILLING HIM!’’

These words were not what Pinkie Pie was expecting to hear, and neither it was for Celestia too.

‘’W-what do you mean?! Explain yourself!’’

‘’He has no magic, similar to someone you might have known. I was barely able to save him.’’ Pinkie noticed how the words at the end were almost…painful?

‘’...No magic?’’ Celestia was becoming more confused by the second.

‘’Yes, no magic.’’ He spits the words out with fire and accusation rooted in his tone.

Twilight had gathered enough energy to speak up with great difficulty finally. ‘’B-but if he has no magic, h-how is he alive?’’

‘’Through me, I am his magic.’’ Laika’s face softened. ‘’I’m his beating heart…and he is my shield.’’

‘’S-so the alicorn magic?’’ Twilight managed to stand up, her legs were shaking barely holding on.

‘’Me. Not him.’’

Before Twilight could speak further Celestia interfered with a booming voice. ‘’Enough! You will not trick me, Nightmare Moon!’’

‘’I am not tricking you like you tricked me, Celestia.’’ He slowly moved backward until he reached the balcony. ‘’We will be leaving now, for us freedom is dear.’’

‘’You will not be leaving.’’ Celestia’s horn glowed and she was getting ready to charge if necessary.

Laika’s eyes closed and he heaved a big sigh, he looked up to Celestia with a small smile. ‘’Goodbye, Mother. I loved you.’’ he jumped out of the balcony with those words leaving a frozen Celestia.

‘’No!’’ Twilight cried out, Pinkie tried to move any part of her body, even her mouth but she was entirely unable to. Pinkie couldn’t save him.

A few seconds later he emerged back with dark blue wings of magic protruding out of his back. With the moonlight shining on him it looked as if the stars themselves were carrying him to the moon, flapping ever so gently. He was gone after a minute and the room was silent.

‘’...Selene?’’ A small whisper came out of the frozen Princess. Pinkie saw a single teardrop make its way down Celestia’s face and hit the floor.

Who is Selene?

---

Moonlight was cleaning the floors as usual. Trying not to think about what had happened earlier in Laika’s room with one of the elements.

Shaking her head she heaves a sigh and puts the mop back in the bucket and looks out the window. She could use a break.

She expected to see the city with its magnificent night lights, but what she wasn’t expecting to see was Laika, flying away toward the moon with wings of stars.

She could only watch as her hero flew away.

---

Amidst the silence, I wander the moon finding nothing and no one, its deserts stretch as far as the eye can see, its mountains the highest I’ve ever seen. Yet there is no sound. I close my eyes and let my body fall to the floor.

‘’My, my, already making yourself comfortable?’’ A feminine voice filled with mystique and elegance and power appears out of nowhere. I throw myself into it.

‘’Wh-what!?’’ I see a dog, a dog whose fur is white to the neck, its head a light brown with a horizontal streak of white in the middle of its face, have I seen this dog before? ‘’Who are you?!’’ I don’t know if I should be scared or happy. The dog had strength and power I could not even imagine, it radiated that power just by existing. I could somehow feel it, though I wish I didn’t.

‘’Calm down, I’m not here to hurt you.’’ The seemingly familiar yet foreign dog speaks.

‘’T-then…am I dead?’’

It laughs and smiles. ‘’No, no you’re not dead. I just wanted to speak with you and ask for your help.’’

‘’My help? W-why?’’

The dog looked away into the empty void. ‘’Because I can’t. Maybe you can.’’ A soft piano plays at the back of my head. ‘’There is this one…’’ The dog's eyes wander around as if it’s trying to think of the right word. ‘’-girl. She suffered much and she always looked at me for comfort, I tried my best yet I could only give her so little, I’m not my brother. My light always did reach her and she always loved me for it and I loved her.’’

‘’Who is this girl?’’

‘’You’ve already met her. She took my name, ‘Selene’.’’

Selene? She…she abandoned me, left me in my time of nee-

‘’No, she would never do that.’’ The dog adopts a frown and looks deep into my eyes. ‘’She is the reason you’re alive right now.’’

‘’S-so she didn’t leave me?’’

‘’Never.’’

That word brings comfort I didn’t know I lacked.

‘’I want you to help her.’’ The dog's tail slowly swings from left to right. I swear I saw this dog before somewhere.

‘’I-...how?’’

‘’Help her live, help her feel alive…help her dance.’’ It chuckles. ‘’Don’t leave her alone, she’s been alone for far too long. Be her shield, and she’ll be your heart.’’

‘’I think…I can do that.’’ I want to see her eyes again and dance with her again.

The dog beams and its tail starts swinging in swift motions. ‘’You’re just as wonderful as I thought.’’ Wait…I think I know this dog.

‘’Laika?’’

‘’Oh, took you long enough!’’ It-she laughed. ‘’I took on this form from your memory.’’

‘’Wai-wait I’m confused, who-what are you?’’

She grinned and took a step forward placing her face way too close to mine.

‘’You look at me every night and call me a queen yet you still don’t know me?’’ She laughed again. ‘’I’m flattered dear but I’m a little too old for you.’’

I-what? What the hell is she talking about? I don’t remember anything about me calling someone a queen. All of a sudden the ground shakes and I struggle to stand up and not fall down.

‘’Looks like that was our time. Hopefully, we won’t meet again.’’

‘’What is going on?’’ I look around and see that the pieces of the void are being cracked and falling onto the moon’s floor leaving behind a white light that shines through the openings.

‘’You’re waking up.’’ The real Laika, or whatever it is placed a small kiss on my cheek. ‘’Please do dance with Selene a lot, and just know that I’ll always be with you and her through my light.’’ She pushes me and I fall down onto the ground, it cracks and I descend into the void which turns into a hallway of stars from all directions.

‘’Goodbye ‘Laika’. May I bring light to your way through this journey of life in this world.’’

I wake up.

---

I would never leave you, you told me that we would dance later again.

The voice of Selene instantly greets me. I’m glad.

Of course, we will. I’m sorry for thinking that. It’s…alright, I won’t blame you. It’s me who should be sorry. I was too late, and your body suffered for it. How bad is it?

…It’s best if you see for yourself. I finally raise my head to look around and see that I’m in a forest, the sound of a small river’s water flowing could be heard to my right. So I slowly walk towards it and look into the water.

I see the same face, the same tan color but it has a white line right between the eyes and the body? My body below the neck was ivory white almost as if the colors themselves had died.

Another transformation…I’m getting further and further away from being human. I’m sorry.
Don’t be it was not your fault. I turn away from the water and look around again, stopping my shaking arm. Selene where are we? The White Tail Woods.

…okay? And?

Oh, sorry, We’re west of Canterlot. Thanks. I lay on the soft grass and looked up at the stars and the moon, the latter seemed to shine even brighter, at least to my eye.

So where do we go from here? Any suggestions? I propose we go even further into the west, to the west is unexplored territory. Equestria has no influence there. So we won’t be found by Celestia…and Luna there? It’s our best bet.

I look to my left and see moonlight passing through the leaves of trees, they look as if forming a road. A soft tune of piano plays in the back of my mind.

Hey Selene where does that lead? I point to the road of light. That way? Hmm, it should be west. I stop my shaking arms, stop it, get up, and follow the road. The piano slowly fades.

Even though it’s night time it doesn’t feel as cold.

---

‘’Let me go!’’ Scootaloo screamed at her captors while pulling on the bars of the small cage she was thrown in.

‘’Quiet you!’’ The small diamond dog with brown fur and a nose that was always drooling with snot banged on the bars with the shaft of his spear, barely missing Scootaloos hooves holding the bars.

‘’You’ll all see when Rainbow Dash gets here and kicks all of your butts!’’ Scootaloo yells again but she doesn’t hold the bars this time.

How in Celestia’s name did she get here? Diamond Tiara had made fun of her wings again about how they couldn’t be used for anything and she was worth less than a normal pegasus. She was used to it at that point, so she learned to ignore Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s endless jeering.

But Diamond crossed the line when she said her wings were the reason why her parents left. Scootaloo barely held herself back from jumping at Diamond. Her friends tried to comfort her but it still stung.

She would prove that she was better than that pink obnoxious filly, so she got on her trusty scooter in the dead of the morning and took off. Her mission? Find a diamond prettier than that Celestia damned tiara.

She may have gone too deep into the hills and she may have gotten captured by these ugly, dog things but it was fine. Rainbow Dash would come in and save the day when she learned that Scootaloo was missing! …right?

Suddenly her cage got picked up from the ground and was put on a cart.

‘’W-what’s happening?!’’ Scootaloo asked at the same guard who tried to hit her hooves earlier. The dog licked its snot and snickered at Scootaloo.

‘’You’re being shipped off to the Kingdom! It’s far away west, so your pretty princesses can’t do anything! Hawhawhaw!’’ He laughed and snorted.

Rainbow Dash would save her…and she’d show her paren-Diamond Tiara that she was not useless.

Comments

[GlitchyFox]

luna is gonna be pissed at celestia and demanding answers about everything

[LoserkidUwU]

:( my boy just can't catch a break,
also I have zero clue what the "Real Laika" stuff was about.

[Luckyfanisaac]

Is everyone gonna start hating Celestia now I wonder!?

[Chrysaorix]

...And so it all proceeds further...

[GlitchyFox]

11868909
He used a fake name for himself since getting to equestria and to moon seems to have had a bit of fun by taking the form of the dog he found the name from

[ulcuran]

11868909
A little hint, you should look back at the 'Big thinkin' ' chapter, our boy does call something a queen. A celestial body perhaps? Maybe that will help?

11869020
Into the great unknown we go, how much further can we go until it all breaks down?

[LoserkidUwU]

11869068
Oh

[LoserkidUwU]

11869086
I'll look back at it. Hope you're having as much fun writing this story as I have reading it!

[f0st3r21]

Luna:
Doctor: …
: …
Doctor: … so, let’s get this straight.
: 😓
Doctor: You exploded the door at my recovering patient…
Luna:
:
Doctor: Then you vaporized him?
: I mean.. not completely-
Doctor: You mostly vaporized him?
Luna:
: Wuh- anything would sound bad with that attitude.
Doctor:
: Well, I, um, you see~ it’s a funny story-
Doctor: Funny, ‘ha ha,’ or~?
:Uh~
Luna:

[ulcuran]

11869207
Oh, I do! But with everyone's comments, and yours that fun triples in size!

11869217
Doctor: So...where is he?
Luna:
: H-hehe, about that...

[ChaoticSymphonies]

Now he has Laika's color pallet! At this rate Laika will transform again into a Diamond Dog and become their emperor! He even can get a pegasus version of Tempest out of Scootaloo. Final form alicorn diamond dog?

[ulcuran]

11871219
Laika: Fetch me that bone! Your emperor demands it!
Selene: Must you keep using that title?
Laika: Yes. It's funny.
Selene: ...okay, maybe it's a little funny.

[Hollowed Specter]

When everything breaks down, do the one thing that we HUMANS do: create, build, invent. Your beating heart is in pain, and your shield is cracked. So make a sword to bear some of the burden of the shield. Build armor for your heart so that it never breaks. Temper your will in the forge of experience and steel your mind with the prospects of life. REJECT FATE AND MAKE YOUR OWN PATH!

[ulcuran]

11872998
A sword of pure moonlight, able to cut even the toughest of meta-what the hell are you talking about? Shut up, I'm trying to sound cool here. I think it was a bit cool, of course you would believe that was cool.

[Hollowed Specter]

11873086
jaksndlajs Also, as I have been playing a certain game again (try and guess), all I can hear is a narrator saying this as his resolve is tested.

"Many fall in the face of chaos; but not this one, not today"

Then when Luna hears the news: "Frustration and fury, more destructive than a hundred cannons."

Also, what is about to happen to Twilight: "Reeling, gasping, taken over the edge into madness!"

And for the rest of the 6 "Behold, the abyss is made manifest!"

[ulcuran]

11873098
As Selene saves Laika from certain doom: ''How quickly the tide turns.''

Laika falling through the endless darkness: ''As life ebbs, terrible vistas of emptiness reveal themselves.''

[Hollowed Specter]

11873118
When Laika wakes up: "Patched up, if only to bleed again."

Now I want him to travel on a Stage Coach ... because it's efficient and have a dream about that place. Maybe about the Weald Laika as a Highwayman (Pos 2). Anger mask (they need a nickname or something) as a Leper (Pos 1). Happy Mask as a Jester (Pos 3). And Selene, as a Vestal (Pos 4).

The real question is if it would be a dream or a nightmare but "As the light gains purchase, spirits are lifted and purpose is made clear." O well have fun!!

[hyperiumon]

11874788
Even with all that taken into account he's acting like a 16th century peasant given cocaine amd forced to play rainbow six seige no context.

Only a couple of stories I know do this but it very much seems like the author kinda wants to cover a "normal" humans reaction to some zany stuff that happens in universes like mlp since that isn't a strong suit for many stories but (very much no offense) overblown it by miles my g. The authors feels like a basement dwelling schizophrenic who's barely interacts with people and hasn't had a friend in a decade,ok not that bad im being hyperbolic.

I mean cmon he was dropped into a colorful world of talking ponies and horses and was turned into one, I'd understand a freak out but the author is writing like our Mc was dropped into a 40k world mid tyranid invasion as a peasant farmer. Extremely overblown and overstayed its welcome. There's a reason most stories have the Mc freak out for the first chapter/first mane six interaction and then move on, they are in the a world of colorful ponies not a zombie apocalypse.

Sorry if I'm abit heated but it's very hard trying to take this story or Mc seriously at the Start which should be where you're trying to hook me in to read the story.

[hyperiumon]

11874788
Just to reiterate I don't hate you or your story I just very much dislike that particular part of the story.

[ulcuran]

11875075
he's acting like a 16th century peasant given cocaine amd forced to play rainbow six seige

okay, this made me laugh lol

But I'm sorry I couldn't really write the character you wanted, I hope you had fun at least on the other parts of the story! If not, then ehh still thank you for taking the time to read it even if you didn't like what was happening!