Darkness.
It was all around her, and she felt nothing but the confusion brought on by the endless void. It took her a few moments to compose her mind, to analyse the situation. She slowly recalled what she had been doing just moments earlier, before the void had claimed her.
She’d been laid down on the sofa, weak and thirsty, some animated show about the Justice League on the cheap little television in the family living room. Oh, how she had wished she lived in a world of super-powered beings, ripe with adventure and even magic if you happened to be Shazam. How she fantasised about it, anything was better than the reality after all.
There she had laid, head burning and vision blurring. Her mother had been in the room, and the girl had asked for some water. Her mother told her to be quiet and watch the television, not wanting to have her phone call interrupted.
She had told her mother that she was feeling worse than ever, and she told her it was nothing and she would be better soon. It wasn’t worth the medical expenses.
She wanted to believe her mother, she really did. But there was that look in her eyes, that uncaring and even bored expression that glanced the girl’s way.
Her father wasn’t much help either, he was at work. But sometimes, or a lot of the time, he would come home wobbly and with a foul stench on his breath. Her mother and father would then shout and scream while the girl could only watch. This was how it had been for all thirteen years of her life. Thirteen years in that small little house, barely leaving it, not even for things like school. So it had always been, and now she was sick and nobody even seemed to care.
So she had turned back to watch the cartoon, seeing Superman pummel the bad guy into some building or another. And then she was in the void.
It had been so sudden, so confusing. And there she was, without knowing how she got there or why. She tried to move her arms and legs, finding nothing. No hands, no feet, or a body part of any kind. It was surreal, like having an almost lucid dream but without the fine control over the dream. She wanted to think she had in fact fallen asleep, but something within her told the girl otherwise.
The void stretched onwards still, dark and confusing. Endless, overwhelming in scope and density.
And then it stopped.
The void gave way, and a vast plain of twinkling stars amidst a bright blue coloured expanse. She also had a body again, and she sat on an invisible floor breathing softly as her mind compensated for the sudden change of scenery. She brought her hands to her face, wiggling her fingers to ensure they were real. She couldn’t help but notice an almost transparent effect to her body, and if she peered enough she could just see through her hand and into the expanse beyond. Slowly, she got to her feet and looked around, trying to keep her trembling under control.
“H-hello?” she called out, receiving no response.
After a few more moments of waiting, the girl began to walk on forwards. For minutes she walked, not knowing where she was going or if there was any destination at all. She just walked and walked, until she was stopped by the sudden materialisation of a giant flat square of bright white light. She had to shield her eyes against the sudden onslaught of light, until it faded away to show a scene in a very familiar living room.
As she lowered her protective hand and examined the scene, she realised she could still see her mother talking on the phone in what appeared to be an intense debate. The cartoon was still playing on the TV, though now seemed to be reaching its conclusion. And there, on the sofa, the girl herself was laying quietly.
And she didn’t appear to be breathing.
“Wha…?” the girl muttered out, taking a step back as she seemed to be looking at her own lifeless corpse laying on the sofa yet unnoticed.
“Such a horrible sight, and yet the parent notices not,” a new voice stated from behind the girl. “I pity you, little girl.”
The girl shot around and suppressed a squeak of terror at what awaited her. A large black coloured horse, or perhaps a pony, stood here. Her mane was a transparent black and silver, flowing gently in a non-existent breeze. Her eyes were an almost lifeless grey, a vicious black horn sitting just above them with equally black feathered wings resting on the side of the pony’s torso. Her tail was equally as ethereal as her mane, and on her flank sat a mark depicting two crossed scythes in the foreground with two silvery wings in the background.
The girl shook in terror. “P-please, don’t eat me!”
The pony blinked. “Eat you? Little girl, the first thing you should know about ponies is that we are herbivorous. Mostly. We don’t tend to eat meat.”
“So… you’re not going to eat me?”
The pony shook her head. “No. There isn’t much to eat anyway, you are just a spirit from a deceased vessel.”
“You mean I’m dead?”
“Yes. My condolences.”
“D-does that mean you’re the grim reaper?”
“Ah… I can see why you might think that. But alas, unlike you at this moment, I am very much a living thing. And I am the only reason you have not ‘moved on’ as they might say.”
“Moved on? To… what?”
“I don’t know,” the pony answered honestly. “I cannot go that far, but I can grab departing souls such as yours before they get there. Though taking your from another universe was a challenge.”
Now the girl was even more confused, her mind swimming in circles. “What are you?”
“Little girl, I am what is known as an alicorn. You may call me Penumbra.”
“P-Penumbra?”
“Yes, that is my name. I have been watching you from afar, I stumbled upon you quite by chance. I have seen many things, but I must admit your plight may have touched me. Such uncaring parents, such an unfulfilling life without learning and knowledge.”
“You… have?” the girl enquired. “Are there others too?”
“I was the only one watching as far as I know. And there are very few alicorns in my world, but even if the likes of Celestia and Luna are unaware of the fact that there are other far older alicorns such as myself still scattered around our little planet.”
“Celestia and Luna?”
Penumbra sighed. “I do believe I am getting ahead of myself, my apologies. My point is, I have decided to allow you a second chance at life.”
“A second chance? I don’t understand…”
“You get to live life anew. I cannot say how it will turn out, but you will at least have a chance to be happy.”
“I can be… happy? What are you going to do to me?”
“You shall see. But worry not, I shall allow your memories of your past to remain, and it is up to you what you will do with that knowledge. Tell others… or don’t. It is your life to live,” Penumbra said, but then leaned down towards the girl with an air of warning about her. “But be warned, this is the one time I act without a penance upon yourself. Should we meet again, it won’t be without cost.”
“I still don’t understand, I’m scared…”
“It is understandable, child. I expect that you will understand one day. But, for now, I cannot expect anything more from a newborn filly.”
Penumbra’s horn flashed, and everything went dark again.
???
The girl yawned. She still felt quite drowsy as she awoke from what felt like a nice little nap, the world slowly blurring into view. The girl laid quietly as she took in the bright blue day’s sky above her, taking in slow calm breaths. She must have been dreaming after all, but she couldn’t remember for the life of her how she got outside.
Glancing to her sides revealed what appeared to be walls made of… cardboard? With returning confusion she realised she was in what appeared to be a gigantic cardboard box tucked in a blue blanket.
Or perhaps she was simply smaller than she had been?
She began to feel panic, her young mind being overwhelmed as new sensations began to make themselves known. Two new little limbs fluttered nervously on her back, and the child realised she could not wiggle her fingers or toes.
She brought what should have been an arm, but what in fact seemed to be a foreleg, to her face. She saw a little hoof covered in blue fur staring back at her, a strand of light brown hair falling in front of her eyes.
Panic overtook her completely as she realised the new limbs on her back were tiny wings, and that she was definitely no longer human. One of her ears twitched as she breathed in heavily, making baby-like squeaks as tears began to breach her eyes.
And then she screamed.
Tom117z Presents...
Soaring on Little Wings
Me To Girl's Parents:
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/594/457/bec.png
Nice premise, but whoever that alicorn was is a dick.
"Oh I am gonna leave you with all your memories so that you can be extra confused, scared, and probably seem insane to others. Also you can forever live with the image of your own dead corpse lying on a couch and probably never trust parental figures ever again based on your previous encounter with them. Enjoy!"
8315317
She revived her because she had genuine sympathy for the girl, but I will admit she isn't the nicest person.
Oh, you have no idea...
"Oh, so you can't ea-"
"I'm just going to eat your soul." And then it morphed into a Lovecraftian horror.
The girl was all like: "Nooooo! They told me this WASN'T going to be a grimdark fic! MY LIFE IS A LIE!!"
8315317 Well, if her memories are gone... is she still herself anymore?
What's the point of reincarnation if a person is reduced to a blank slate every time? It's completely insensible.
Now THIS part is pure dickery:
HUH?! Why does this helpless sickly girl owe a penance at all? She had nothing to do with her circumstances! What cost could this alicorn who can reach through dimensions and control life and death possibly exact from her anyway? This makes no sense!
I'm afraid I'm going to have to go full-on Deus Ex Self-Insert and perform unspeakable acts upon this flank-hole alicorn OC.
Perhaps you meant to write vicious?
8264526
Kill them with a plastic spoon
8402104
Whether or not anyone beat me to this punchline, I dont care.
hhhhmmm nice start, but I right now I noticed I got tired of the grim reaper stuff.
Most of the time it is some higher being, that comes back more often in the story and is used in ways that I doesn't like very much usually.
I hope this isn't some kind of guide for her, that kind of allows her to cheat on "learning how to be a pony".
8264526
Come on, a pen?
img.memecdn.com/theres-no-kill-like-overkill_fb_1351785.jpg
Do it right or not at all.
Oh to hell with those "parents"! Those don't deserve the honour of parenthood.
I hope the girl has a better life this time.
Um, the photo at the end broke. Anyone remember what it looked like?
with all the "I HATE THE GIRLS PARENTS OMG SO CRUEL" comments going around, I have one response:
It is not an unusual thing.
8612245
Honestly, I was relieved her mother was just unaware how bad it was (instead of say, actively trying to murder her through sickness)
While I agree for humans that's not super abnormal (albeit still tragic) for ponies that would seem excessively shocking.
8612245
They aren't cruel, that would imply malicious intent. The two were just apathetic, seeing as they just didn't care about their daughter, and were ignorant to her health. If you're going to form opinions on someone, or groups of people, it would be appreciated if you did them for accurate reasons. Otherwise, your opinion is less than worthless.
I made a pony I think would look like Penumbra and I was wondering if I credited your story and you if I could post it on Deviantart? This is the base I used https://www.deviantart.com/selenaede/art/Female-Alicorn-Royal-Guard-Base-329039382. I can't show you the finished version without a link and I don't have one yet.
9040277
Sure thing.
9041011
Here she is. It's not the best but I tried. Here's the link. https://www.deviantart.com/princessofthestrals/art/Penumbra-754242190
0:18
9055860
The 'its' is correct there I believe.