Chapter 1: Leaving the Void

'Darkness' Chapter 1: Leaving the Void.

Normally, when one imagines reality as a whole, things go in a particular order, progressing into larger forms as it goes. The usual is Individual, Planet, Solar System, Galaxy, Universe, Multiverse, then finally, Omniverse. And in a sense, they're right, up until the whole 'Omniverse' part of it. People usually see it as some major hub, where one can see all the different chains of realities, perhaps in large white spheres, or portals that show you where you can magically go to.

The reality, however, was nothing like that. The area between realms was, quite simply, a void...to anyone who knew of it, that was all it was called. An empty void, with nothing in it except the multiverse it held within...naturally, anyways. There were some unnatural things scattered about, usually bits of architecture or a star, left in the wake of whatever catastrophic event had removed it from its reality, or flat-out destroyed it. And yet even among the anomalies, there were still more unnatural occurrences; one such unlikely happening was when a living creature existed there. They were usually only small, unintelligent creatures, unable to comprehend anything well enough to get any info on the area. And yet, once in a blue moon, a sole, intelligent creature would be sucked out into the Void.

One such example would be a seemingly metallic creature, stuck in a position of being flung, or of being pulled backwards by the waist. The body of the being was tall and somewhat slender, with a lower body structure that would imply it walked up on its hind legs primarily. As could be expected of a creature that had feet like that, its forearms had hands and fingers on the end, reached out as if clawing for something just out of its reach. The main body was somewhat a mixture of cloth and metal, forming a durable-looking main body. Along the arms, legs, and main back, there were larger chunks that looked more like armor, like a frontal breastplate, a back covering, and leggings. Connected to the hip area was a sword-like attachment, somewhat rounded out on the blade part. There was also a large, triangular object attached to the top of the spinal area, with no immediately identifiable purpose. The head of the metallic body was somewhat rounded out in the form of an cylinder with a rounded top and back, and a somewhat triangular front, although the front of it, where the face would be, had no distinct facial features; rather, it looked more like a visor, with three horizontal greyish-silver lights lined up on the front, and two vertical lights along the sides of the front, glowing and illuminating the rest of its body. Looking at the creature, it could easily be considered to be some form of robotic being.

Yet behind the visor, a pair of hazel male eyes stared aimlessly ahead, attempting to look into what lay beyond the helmet. But in the end, as there was nothing beyond the visor, the creature, known as a human, saw only darkness. An empty, impenetrable blackness that held no light, no sound, no smell, and no time. And as the Void constricted his entire body, allowing no movement, he could only think to himself. In his mind, he had tried to keep track of how long he had been in this nightmarish realm, but the answer, should there be any, was hazy; the best he could come up with was that it had felt like years upon years since he had last known anything other than this empty hell.

But one thing still confused the human; one thing that baffled it completely. Every once in a while, there would be a flash of white light, somewhere off in the distance. Where and what it was, he couldn't tell. But what he did know was that with every appearance, it seemed...closer, somehow. It would seem larger, and warmer, yet at the same time, nothing changed. Although recently, the flashes had become more consistent, more rapid. And within a few 'days', it had become almost constant, although in bursts. Whatever it was, the human did not care; it was something, and be it evil or otherwise, it was better than being alone and immobile.

Eventually, the flashes were so close, and so bright, that it hurt the human's eyes with every burst. And yet, among the flashes, small changes began to occur in the Void. The human began seeing faint, transparent streams of color flow from the flashes, whisping out past him into the Void. There would be brief smells that would force their way into the human's nose, filling it with the scent of both sweet and horrid smells, but they were unrecognizable to the human, due to its mentally long period of solitary confinement. Loud bangs, whispers of others, and sounds of some indistinguishable happenings sunk into his ears, echoing into his mind. But the biggest change, and the most surprising, was what the human could now see.

In between the flashes, he was able to figure where the flashes were coming from...not a literal point, but it was close enough he was actually able to figure where it was. Specifically, they were originating from a point a few feet in front of him. There was no originator to speak of, but the flashes kept coming. And as the flashes came closer and closer, the human pondered what would happen when he reached it.

And then it happened. One last, blinding flash of brilliant white light, enveloping the human. And when the glow subsided, the human was gone.

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Canterlot. To many, it was a place of esteem, where the finest and richest ponies could be privileged to live in. To others, it was a place to acquire said riches, selling their wares to the wealthy. But to everypony in all of Equestria, there was one thing that was constant in their thoughts of Canterlot. Canterlot was where the Royal Pony Sisters, Celestia and Luna, lived, up in their castle upon the top of a mountain. To all ponies, they were a beacon of light, and of hope, a promise of good fortune and the sun and moon.

To a certain recently freed draconequus, however, they merely represented a good laugh whenever he was in the mood for pranking. Such as right now.

"DISCORD!"

In a bright flash of white light, the spirit of chaos materialized himself in the throne room. He immediately gave a short, if not somewhat mocking, bow, before replying in the most serious tone he could muster.

"Why, what is it, Celestia? Does something ail you?"

If the way he acted wasn't a dead giveaway to him having done something, the sight before him was. Sitting at her throne was the Princess of the Sun, Celestia. Ruler of Equestria. The just, fair Princess of the land. And the wielder of the green afro and red clown nose. Which, Discord noted, brought out her currently narrowed eyes much more than her usual wavy pink-blue-green style.

"You know EXACTLY what's wrong here, Discord," She replied. "And while normally I can handle a joke or two of yours, lately, this has been getting out of hoof. Within the past two days, you've brought my chair to life, gave Luna's moon a large, toothy face, made it snow in the throne room, turned the interior of the castle upside-down, made it rain cats and dogs, turned everypony into an Alicorn, used Lunas mane as cotton candy, and now," Here, she raised her hoof to her new hairstyle, "THIS. I can tolerate your pranks only so much, Discord, and I feel I should tell you that you are approaching that threshold rather quickly."

At this point, Discord gave a quick snap of his talon hand, engulfing Celestia in a white light before receding, revealing her usual glorious mane and face.

"Oh, come now, Celestia. I did change everything back as soon as I had my laugh, and it isn't like anything I'm doing is HURTING anypony, is it? Besides, I've just been so bored lately, that I need SOMETHING to do!"

The spirit flipped himself over in the air, while Celestia pondered this. It was true that lately, there hadn't been much anything going on around Canterlot. Everything had fallen into a nice little routine, but as she should have assumed, this only made Discord rowdy.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Discord, who had aimlessly teleported right next to her. "Tell you what, Celestia. You let me do whatever I want for the next...say, 24 hours. And if I do anything within that time frame that causes any long-term effects, then I'll go aaaaaaaall the way over to The gates of Tartarus and give good ol' Cerberus a nice kick to the snout. And probably get torn to shreds, but hey, I've had worse."

At this proposal, Celestia raised an eyebrow. Discord's deal sounded good so far ...after all, Tartarus was fairly far away, and his scrapping with Cerberus would keep him occupied for at least a day or two. But still...

"What's the catch, Discord? It's not like you to just hand out free favors like this."

"Amusing, Celestia. But yes, there is a catch. See, if I win, and I will, then you have to go a full day looking like whatever I want you to." He grinned somewhat maliciously. "Princess Clownestia was a fun venture, but I think I could top it, no problem."

Silence reigned between the two, with Discord looking on with expectant eyes, waiting for when she took the bait. Which wasn't actually that long, as within a few seconds, Celestia nodded.

"Alright, Discord. I accept your terms."

At this, the spirit's grin grew to enormous and unrealistic proportions. He merely let out a brief chuckle, before teleporting out of the room, leaving Celestia to her devices. After all, he had some pranks to pull on the unwitting citizens and guards of Canterlot!

However, unbeknownst to either the spirit or the Princess, was that in that single teleportation, Discord had already lost the bet. For due to using his chaos magic that one more time, he altered and moved the reality just enough foe something VERY long term to happen, as out deep in the Everfree forest, in a flash of bright white light, a strange, metallic creature appeared above the treeline, before dropping down and smashing into the ground, knocking the creature within unconscious within the first moments of it arriving.

He immediately realized that he could move; the Void, being what it was, had constricted him for what felt like an eternity. He tried bolting upright, but froze before moving even mere inches. A sharp jolt of pain shocked his entire body, forcing it to go limp and collapse onto the ground below him.

...ground?

As the world came into focus around him, he came to the conclusion that he was, in fact, on solid ground. Surrounded by dark, twisted trees and muddy grass, the human felt a wave of relief course through his entire being. Relief at finally being freed from that accursed hellhole, and relief at being somewhere that there was both actual light and, more importantly, a solid surface. He let out a sigh of gratitude towards whatever benevolent being existed, before starting to feel the clutches of sleep begin to take hold of him. Despite all the time spent in the Void, he hadn't really gotten any real rest at all. And while food, location, and other creatures were important, the human could not resist the allure of resting for the first time in what felt like eons, and slowly drifted off into sleep.