Equestria is gone, a husk of the paradise you've once longed for. What has happened here to turn rapture into limbo?
You've done it. You've achieved your dream. You're now in the magical land of Equestria. You don't know how, you don't know why, but you don't care. You're happy now. And that's all that matters.
Except, everything is wrong. The trees of the Everfree stand petrified and old. The vibrant sky of blue hangs grey with decay. The land lays jagged and cracked, with stone pillars of earth towering beyond the heavens. Monsters both ghastly and unfamiliar roam unchecked. And no matter how much you search, not a single living pony remains.
What happened to this land to turn it into such a hollowed shell?
A story with a minimalistic plot, leaving most to the reader to put the pieces of details and lore together.
You rub your eyes, and take a gander at the sight before you.
A massive cave greets your eyes, darkness teetering at the corners of every light. The ceiling shines like the night sky itself, points of light shining brilliantly like stars. Gems and moss cover the walls, glowing like the nebulaes of the cosmos. Large columns of stone separate the above from below, extending seemingly miles upward beyond your sight. Your shoes stand on soft moist sand, surrounding you is an ocean that brushes against the walls of the cave.
Ahead is a small dirt pathway between large jagged boulders. You take a step forward and walk. There is no other way to progress than to drown in stagnation.
The pathway grows narrower and narrower, and you struggle to keep yourself from being poked and scratched by the sharp edges of the rocks. You grunt in annoyance as your squeeze yourself through a small crevice, pressing down on your chest as you struggle to breath. Alas, your efforts are rewarded.
You stand before a clearing. Circular and open, tall blades of grass tickle your heels above your socks. A waterfall flows from your left into a river that meets the ocean. In the middle stands a tree, with windows of light shining from the inside and beckoning you closer. You heed its call and cross the wooden bridge over the unseeable river.
The iron hinges of the wooden door creaks with rust as you push the lockless door open into the hollowed tree. Various trinkets and books lie upon shelves. Sacks of fruits and vegetables lay under a staircase. The floor is covered by a torn carpet that lays clean beneath your shoes. A cauldron rests over a fire, bubbling with an orange stew.
In the middle is figure sitting at the long end of a rectangular table, eating from a bowl with a wooden ladle. You cannot see their face, nor any other defining aspect of their appearance. Their brown robes are too large and thick.
She speaks. Hoarse and old.
“Hmmph. Another deprived furtive pygmy. Looking for an adventure? A tale of glory, romance, and friendship, I presume. Something exciting, something to break away into the freedom you so desire. You wouldn’t be the first. Or maybe…”
She stirs her food, playing with it as potatoes and carrots circle around each other.
“Maybe you assume nothing, a child simply walking along the road life provides for you. Awaiting the surprises that come and go. Solace and order is what you prefer.”
She looks at you with large pale eyes, irises degraded and thin, looking through you as if seeing something other than yourself. Her face is a bright blue and equine in shape, like a horse but much rounder and human. Like out of a cartoon.
“You’ll find both and much more, where you’re going.”
She smiles.
“Tell me about yourself, young-un. Tell ‘ol granny Trixie what you’ve got hiding beyond my poor sightless eyes of mine.
Your height.
Your build.
Your gender.
Your history.
Your family.
“Interesting.” She nods slowly, before breaking out into a laugh. “Oh who am I kidding, you’re not interesting at all.” She cackles loudly, rocking in her chair and holding a hoof to her mouth.
“I wonder, what your reason was for coming here. Can you tell me? Can you recall?”
You can’t.
Everything is a blur.
A warm cozy bed...
A convention center… You were wearing a...
No… It was a dark and stormy night. The rain was hard, and there was lightening…
But then, where did the pain come from? Or was it… You were on a ship? Or were you at home?
Why can’t you remember?
“Hmmph, just like all the others. Only this time you’re not wearing some silly costume.” She cackles some more, to your dismay. “Well, since you are already here, have something to start yourself off with.” She pulls out a rusty dagger, a large wooden staff, a sheet of paper with some fancy drawings on it, and a… crystal?
“This is a Crystal Harmony,” she says, as she holds up the jagged stone. The furnace light reflects off its dark onyx shade, its skin clear but black to the core. “A remnant of an era long past. There is so much, yet there are so little. Hold on to it, and any others that you may find. Be careful of whom you share them with, and what you do with them.
Grabbing the gem, you look deep into the swirls of colors behind the dark cover. Time seems to slow down and speed up, images of imagination filling your head. You’re interrupted as the old hag coughs loudly.
You take the items and slide them into your pockets, cides the staff which you decide to hold in your right hand.
“Now run along, little one. Go off on your little journey. I have no time for questions.” She shoos you away with a… hoof. “Any minute now, they’ll be another human walking in through my door, wearing something silly with an even sillier attitude. Must be the newest fad, kids these days…”
You give her a look, eyebrow raised in confusion. You shrug nonetheless, and prepare to head out through the same door you came in.
“Oh, and one more thing.”
You turn around.
“Actually, I think it’s better if I let you discover it for yourself, this time.”
This time?
Strange woman.
You sigh.
No where to go but forward.
And then you walk towards the light.
You tilt your head in confusion.
Instead of large luminescent cavern, you find yourself in a forest of petrified trees. You turn around to the hut, only to find the stone trunk of a tree meeting you face to face.
A jingling noise catches your ear. You look up. A fire-red bird glides through the air over you, heading towards the jagged mountains far off to the North.
Your feet slides atop small pebbles of sand. Every step forward brings a lonely sound of solace, as you steadily walk through a forgotten forest without music. The path of your road is clear and marbled, a clean-cut stone pavement with a few cracks here and there. Not a single blade of grass awaits your sight, an inch of dirt to dirty your soles, nor a flower to bring you hope of life.
Trees that once stood proudly tall now stand broken and lifeless. Their organic bark stripped and decayed to the core, transformed from the inside out into mineral and rock. Branches without leaves litter your view of the grey sky, like a great fog covering the land.
You look left and right, searching for any form of life. Ponies or birds. Maybe a squirrel or a cow. Even a manticore or a cocktrice. But no such luck. Only you walk down this path, alone like a wolf.
You grip the handle of your walking stick tighter, unnerved by the oddity and the strangeness of this place. Whispers of silence tickle your ears, as you turn your head back and forth looking for any form of life. Something like eyes invade your senses, a sensation like something is watching you. Turning round and round brings nothing but confusion, a scream of panic nor a gasp of terror brings neither change or contact.
You quicken your pace, unsure if this prison of a forest will ever be free.
The trees begin to clear. Progress.
Your journey brings you out of the forest and into a new land.
Far ahead you can see a settlement of sorts. A town, with vibrant colorful houses and buildings like crystals and candy. Beyond, mountains stand vigilant and tall, piercing the sky with their broad smooth forms. A regal white city can be seen, hanging off the side of a mountain like out of a dream. Details of its feature escape your eyes, and yet you feel a presence from there calling you. Your goal perhaps?
You look down. Deep Dive.
A grand chasm separates you from civilized land by at least a quarter of a mile, extending as far as the eye can see. A closer glance shows a slight curve in the chasm, as it circles into and around the mountains far ahead. You cannot see into the bottom of the black abyss. A black miasmic smoke flows through the deep canyon like a river. You kick a rock down below. No echo can be heard.
In your inventory is a knife, a staff, a sheet of paper, and a dark gem with a colorful core. You are not a ninja, and you have no super powers. Your legs can only take you so far. Jumping is probably not a good ideal.
You turn back into a forest of silent discords. You sigh in annoyance, having walked all the way here for nothing. Oh well. Maybe you might find something deeper within inside..
Chaos.
Amazing is the vast diversity of this forest. At first glance, the forest seems to be a normal and flat, a forest just like any other. But hidden within its chaotic decayed woods is an entire new world.
You find yourself upon an elevation overlooking the rest of the forest. The tumbleweed of grey branches covers the top of every tree, unchanging the monochrome grey atmosphere. You can feel no wind up here despite your current height.
Off into the horizon you can see another castle, almost hidden by the stone timbers. Your new goal. Someone must have settled there.
The cliff side is steep and rough, but you manage to bring yourself down to the rest of the forest. A couple close calls here where you lost your grip, and a couple scratches there where you got clumsy, but you’re for the most part intact. You vaguely wish that you had someone to catch you however. Wings would have helped a lot too.
A small cave awaits you at the bottom of your descent. Your curiosity peaks, and you walk inside. Skeletons of lions with wings are littered here and fro. Carcasses without flesh reach out from the cave, digging their claws into the earth as their jaws open in a non-existent scream. You cannot see further into the cave, and you have no torch.
A glint catches your eye, and you look to your left. A remnant of kindness, a sword impaled through the chest of a beast. You pick the sword up and gaze at it’s rough chipped edge. An old european-like sword. The pommel underneath its wooden grip is spherical and round, its straight crossguard shines a dull light. The dull grey blade is thick and rusted, diamond shaped if looked down from it’s broken-off point. No sheath or shield in sight. Better than just a knife, you suppose.
Grave robber.
Onwards south. You remind yourself you have no compass. Fun to imagine though.
A dried up river, perhaps? A large empty ditch awaits you, from the east into the west. Stones of rock litter the waterless-bed. Fish bones without their delicious meat wasted in between crevices. You half expect a serpent to come and grant you passage across its back. No such luck. You continue on foot. The rocks hurt your feet.
A passage of scary looking trees with scary faces. You can almost hear them laughing at you. You grumble in annoyance.
Another chasm, odd that you didn’t see it before, although it is much smaller. The miasma is closer to you than the one before, but so is the castle. You cross the rickety rope-bound bridge as you cross to the other side of the chasm. You stare down into the clouded abyss. Is that light you can see down there? Best not to get too curious.
You finally reach the Castle, and gaze upon it’s ruined dark blue exterior. Holes litter its fallen brick walls. The large doors are broken open, and you can clearly peer inside into its great halls. A seal of two horses with wings and horns adorn a crest above the entrance, with a sun and a misshapen moon side by side.
