I wake up with a start, quickly sitting up and groggily surveying the room. I immediately regret this decision, because I’m met with a massive throbbing headache as soon as the sun makes contact with my eyes. I groan as I bring an arm up to block the sun, and flop back down on the couch, letting the crook of my arm cover my eyes. In the quick second where I was able to see, I noted that all the girls were still asleep.
It’s another ten minutes before I muster up the willpower to actually get up; I don’t wanna overstay my welcome. I vaguely remember how I got here, remembering that I drank last night. The hell was I thinking… What else happened last night...
I get up and stretch, once again cringing in slight pain and euphoria with each pop. that’s kinda concerning… my body isn’t this fragile, is it? Has it always been this way? contemplating that thought for a moment, I shakily get to my feet, and start heading downstairs. Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, I see a small purple and green dragon in the kitchen. He glances at me, looks back at the stove, then doubletakes back to me and I can see apprehension spread across his face. I let out a sigh and walk towards him.
“Look Spike” I begin, using my eye to find out his name. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya or anyone else, alright?” I say as I squat down in front of him, and boop his nose.
He goes cross eyed looking at his nose where I touched it. He rubs it, then looks at me. “You’re Null, aren’t you.” he says, barely able to not stutter.
“Oh? So you know my name. What else have you heard about me I wonder?” I question.
“Only what the girls told me. I heard about what you did though… or rather, tried to do. Are you really that mad at her?” he inquires with that youthful curiosity only innocent kids could have.
It’s tough to keep my temper from flaring up at the mere mention of her, but it wouldn’t be fair to Spike if I didn’t. Taking a deep breath, I slowly nod. “I have my reasons Spike.”
He looks me dead in the eyes, some sort of conviction in them. “Are you going to try and kill her again?”
Frankly, I’m a little shocked he’s mature enough to fully understand the weight behind that question. I debate giving him a legit answer, but decide to give him the respect of a real answer. “I don’t know. I want to, but I know she’s important… if it makes you feel any better, I got things holding me back from doing it.”
He raises an eyebrow questioningly. “What kind of things?”
“Well, Luna for starters. She’d never forgive me if I did, and I don’t want to do that to her anyways. Next, my own desire for a normal life. I know if I go through with what I want, I’ll never have that opportunity. I want people to stop being afraid of me… but that’ll take time, I know that. Then there's people like those six up there. They at least seem to be trying to help me, if letting me stay was anything to go off of.” I look at him. “Does that answer your question?”
He contemplates my answer for a long moment, then finally looks at me and gives me a nod. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding, and give a weak smile. I raise up a fist, and he bumps one of his own against mine, smiling a bit himself.
I get up and stretch, heading towards the front door. “I’m gonna head out, tell everyone I’m sorry for just leaving like this.” I say. “Your foods starting to burn by the way.” I toss in, noting the slight burning smell in the air. He jumps with a panicked yelp, and immediately turns to try and salvage the dish.
Making my way out the front door, I shut it gently behind me, and look around. Letting out a deep breath in the crisp morning air, and let it out. “What am I even doing…” I say out loud to myself. I glance towards the distant Canterlot, contemplating whether or not I should try to get back, or take my time and explore a bit. Remembering the amount of pain it took to get here, which was numbed by whatever I was drinking, I didn’t exactly want to go through that again.
I let out a chuckle as an amusing thought crossed my mind. “Maybe I can get the town to attack me so I can get there without the pain. Certainly would be easier.” Shaking the dumb thought from my head, I start walking, deciding to keep to the path, no matter where it took me. I don’t care about being seen, as there’s no point; everyone probably already knows I exist, public statement from the princesses or not. How they’ll react, now that’s another question entirely.
As I walk through town, I start to drift more and more into my own thoughts than actually paying attention to the town. I wonder if anyone knows anything about me other than when I tried to kill Celestia. Absentmindedly walking around the fountain, I kick a rock to the side and continue down the path. Wasn’t I a god at one point? Am I still a god? Probably not; Celestia probably put a stop to any worshipping right quick. But, then again, cults are still a thing… I shudder a little bit imagining what a cult might be doing to try and summon me. If they heard what happened, they probably think they succeeded and expect me to lead them to a new era or something. Pft, like that’ll happen. What was I even the god of anyways? Luck or something like that? Hm… guess I’m lucky to be alive. Nobody really knows how I got free. I allow myself a small chuckle. Maybe I am the god of luck here. Have to be pretty lucky to come back from the brink like I did. Bah, I doubt it. Best not to get full of myself anyways.
I mindlessly side step a pony who either didn’t see me, or was actually approaching me. I casually look over my shoulder to see which of the two possibilities it was. To my surprise, I see the pony continuing to walk with her head pointed at the ground. She's a pink unicorn with a purple and teal mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a purple and white star with two blue glimmering streams. Raising an eyebrow, I stop and turn around, and follow the pink pony. What could be troubling her so much that she doesn’t even notice me almost tripping on her? Let alone not notice me to begin with.
As she continues to walk, I decide to find out for myself. I jog up to her and tap her on the shoulder. She stops, seemingly shaken from whatever deep thought she was in. Turning to face me, she looks like she’s ready to chew my ass out, but her expression immediately morphs into one of confusion, with a hint of curiosity.
I simply wave. “Uh, hi? You alright there?” I question, even more curious about this unicorn since she didn’t run away. Maybe her mental state isn’t so great?
She sits down, staring at me wide eyed, her jaw hanging. I wave my hand in front of her, and even snap my fingers a few times, but she remains the same. reminding me of myself here…
I decide to read her info card and crouch down in front of her. Her name is about as unique as any other pony name, so there isn’t much to comment on; Starlight Glimmer. I clap my hands in front of her face. “Yo, Starlight Glimmer! You alright?” I ask.
She shakes her head clear of whatever funk was clogging it, and looks at me again, with slightly less wide eyes. “Y-you know my name?” she asks with wonder. Giving a simple nod, she looks me up and down, head to toe. “H-how?”
I actually let out a laugh. “I know everyone’s name.”
“Um… a-are you Null?” She asks.
Honestly, I’m a little surprised she knows my name. Of course, she probably read about it in the paper or something. Upon seeing me give another nod, her face slowly takes on a smile, and she proceeds to pounce on me, knocking me to the ground easily due to my crouched position.
At first, I thought she was a crazy Celestia devotee and had a crazy smile for having a chance to get me for attacking her princess. However, after a moment of panicked scrambling, I realize she’s not attacking me at all. In fact, she’s… hugging me? Okay… now I’m confused. Why is she… so god damn soft… I shake my head from the weirdness that was that thought, and look down at the pony currently burying her face in my chest.
“S-so, what’s on your mind? You were so deep in thought that you didn’t even notice me walk by you.” I ask trying to ignore the awkwardness of the entire situation. Wow, I sound really self absorbed when I say it like that.
She looks back up at me with a look of disbelief on her face. “WHAT?! I walked past a literal GOD and didn’t even notice?! I’m SO SORRY!” she yells, panic quickly setting in her face.
Once again, I’m shocked. I didn’t think anyone even remembered me. I decide to voice this query. “Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second, you know I’m considered a god? How?”
“That’s… a long story? I heard about you when I was young. I did a little research, and liked your whole shtick. It was… a nice escape from reality; Luck was something I was really down on at the time.” she answers. “Tell me, do you have a cutie mark?” she asks with a hint of what sounds like hope in her voice.
“Uh…. No? I don’t even think it’s possible for me to get one.” I answer truthfully. What would my cutie mark even look like anyways?
Her smile only gets wider, and she throws her hooves into the air. “Perfect! Can I come with you?! You’re probably preparing to re-establish yourself in the world, right?” She looks side to side conspiratorially, then whispers to me behind a hoof. “I can help you overthrow the Princesses!” she then giggles in glee.
I pick her up and set her down in front of me, then sit cross legged in front of her. I fix her with a hard look. “Alright, let’s set things straight here missy. First, there will be no overthrowing of anyone. As much as I’d love to take out Celestia, I care too much for Luna. And those are for my own personal reasons, nothing to do with a desire to rule or gain power; So get that idea out of your head. Second, I’ve no idea what kind of god you were told I was, but to spell it out for ya, I was considered the god of luck. Okay? I was the Auspicious Observer. I don’t have any plans to lead any sort of cult to a new era, nor did any cult summon me.” I actually don’t even know if that’s true or not… but she doesn’t need to know that. “if that breaks your faith in me, then go find a different god to worship.” something clicks in my head. “And that’s another thing! I’m not even a god! That entire belief was started when Luna put a plaque on my pedestal like, 547500 days ago; and due to me not being a pony, people just assumed I was a god and word spread. Know why ya don’t hear anything about me these days? I was stuck down in a ditch for who knows how long! I can only guess that I was brought to canterlot sometime in the middle of Luna’s banishment; gone long enough for word of me to just stop. An-”
I cut off my rant after taking a breath and using the moment to look at who I was talking to. She’s looking at me as if I had just kicked her puppy. Hurt, and sad. I let out a sigh, and take a couple calming breaths. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ve just… been through alot, and never had a chance to tell my side of… anything till as of recent really. I didn’t mean to yell at you…”
She takes a moment before responding. “So… you’re not really a god?” I shake my head. “So all that time I spent praying, hoping that things would get better, were all for nothing?! My entire life I believed in you!” she yells, clearly upset with tears in her eyes.
I can’t think of anything to really say, so I just let whatever words come go. “Look. It obviously wasn’t for nothing. It got you here to where you are today. If your faith got you through tough times, then that’s all that matters. If I brought you luck, or made your day better just by being a thought, then it wasn’t for nothing. Besides, what did you expect of me anyways? You thought I could just snap my fingers and everything would go right in your life or something? Of course not. There’s nothing special about me except my eye, and I don’t expect you to know anything about it.”
She looks down at the ground, obviously still distraught. Man, now I went and made someone sad… I mean, how else would someone react when they were told their god was a fake?
Groaning, I roll my neck and cringe again in the pain. “Look, I can’t just make everything better for you. But I can hear you out at least. You still never told me what was troubling you.” I lead on.
She looks up at me with a contemplative look. She lets out a sigh. “I suppose I’ve got nothing to lose from telling you.”
“That’s the spirit! Oh, one more thing. I may not be a god; Celestia and Luna are closer to godhood than I ever could be. But I can still kill one; If you try to do anything to hurt Luna, I’ll make you regret it.” I state.
She raises an eyebrow and actually steps up to me. “Oh yeah? I thought you said you had no power.”
“I said there was nothing special about me except for my eye. Knowing your name isn’t the only thing I can do with it. Haven’t you read the paper lately? I tried to kill Celestia and nearly succeeded. Luna stopped me, but the point is still there.” I explain. No point in me trying to keep that a secret, and better to hear it from me than someone else who would make it sound 10 times worse than it already is.
Her eyes widened at the word ‘kill’, and I can guess why. Ballsy little pony doesn’t have what it takes to be a killer. Good, nobody should.
“Simply put, I can be your best friend, the last thing you see, or a nobody to you. Take your pick.”
She regards me with another skeptical look. “You said you can’t get a cutie mark?” I raise an eyebrow, but shake my head anyways. “And you’re not lying?”
“Why would I?”
She thinks it over for another few minutes, then smiles to herself. “Alright… friend.” she giggles to herself as she says the word ‘friend’.
Getting up to my feet, I start walking and motion for her to follow. She does so and walks alongside me. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere more private I guess. Unless you wanna tell me what had you so down in the dumps in front of a whole crowd. We made quite a scene.” I say as I point over my shoulder with a thumb at the crowd of ponies who were watching us. What they think, I can’t be sure; Too many for me to care to figure out.
She looks back and is visibly surprised to see that many people.
“Relax, it’s more likely they’re apprehensive about me than anything you might have done. They were probably even concerned for you.”
With that, she turns back around and I hear the crowd disperse. We continue walking along the path in amiable silence until we’re pretty far down the path; so far that we’re actually outside the town approaching a forest. Suddenly, my eye immediately puts a pop up in my vision about the forest, forcing me to look at it.
Upon reading it, my eyes widen in surprise.
The Everfree Forest
Well now, this should be an adventure. I look forward to seeing what comes of this.
If the castle exists, we are at most 25 episodes away from the mane 6 knowing of starlight, which means you are not too early to include her. It did not seem out of place for her to be wandering Equestria just thinking about her ‘SUPER EVIL PLANS OF CUTIE MARK STEALING AND EVILNESS’ and other similar ideas and just happening to end up in Ponyville.
I really liked Starlight's philosophy about not having to follow your Cutie Mark if you didn't want to. Sure, she expressed it incorrectly and forced others into her mindset through brainwashing, but there was a lot of potential for her abilities if used correctly. Unfortunately, absolutely everything in FIM is either black or white, leaving no room for a nuanced Starlight Glimmer who accepts that most ponies are happy with their cutie mark and that they can't hurt your ability to make friends, while simultaneously using her unique power to remove cutie marks from ponies who really don't want them. Imagine if you got your cutie mark while bagging groceries, and it was of a grocery bag. How badly would that suck? That destiny decided your place in the world was just to be a grocery-store cashier for your entire life?
And despite how much potential I think Starlight had, I'm also really upset that they just gave her no punishment whatsoever for creating and destroying six or seven entire timelines using forbidden magic stolen from Canterlot castle, cast while trespassing in a Princess's personal estate, with the intention of ruining several ponies' lives.
Penis
9801081
Message from 'Rogal Dorn': No.
9801063
I mean... The castle ISN'T there? The friendship castle that is. If you read that it was, that was a mistake on my part that was corrected minutes after that chapters release. But you are right, I figured she had to be wandering Equestria an had to have been doing some heavy thinking about what she was going to do. Her hatred towards the six came from them ruining her town, she would have loved to live on her days with her village mates. Maybe someone else would have finally ruined it, but still.
9801075
I fully agree with you except for one thing. Her"innate power" isn't too remove cutie marks. That was an artifact she had that allowed her to do that. Of course, she had to have the magical knowhow to use it, but it couldn't be done without the artifact.
9801208
Nope. I mean, would you? Would you even know how to? 2000 years with no social interaction will do that to ya.
9801281
Starlight Glimmer made the Staff of Sameness herself, and it uses her magic. Remember when Twilight says something about the Mage Meadowbrook not even having a ninth enchanted item? You can look back in the two parter if you want. But Starlight Glimmer was actually the first pony to ever be able to affect Cutie Marx.
Eh, it sounds like this Starlight's on a slightly different path than canon because of Null's presence in this timeline. Besides, nothing says she never passed through Ponyville before season 5 anyway.
Meh. I dig it.
Oof, haven't watched MLP since season 4 ended, so I lost interest. Who's this Starlight character again?
Introducing Starlight into this? Like that.
Intrigue!
Seriously though that's an interesting point to make, and to see where it goes, and not to mention how she reveres him, and how it will have skewed things on perspective.
Null being whom he is though. Bringing in points of pure fact and not holding back. Poor Star though, but good to see that she might hopefully gain a friend that sees things in a more stark light.
As for the Everfree, it was known as something else, but I think he can guess or even Star will tell him of its history. And I I'm interested to see how the poor guy reacts to it.
Also I loved the little line you made "Look here little missy." I love it because it fits!
And another AWESOME chapter! Xd
Starlight glimmer huh? This will drastically change part of the time line. Xp
Is Null going to reform Starlight and Dissy early? Is Starlight going to reform Null? Is Dissy going to make a Disco party with both of them?
The answers to those and other questions... Will NOT be in the next chapter
Null's eye beam reminded me of this:
Relevant time: 1:23 in the video.
Have fun!
absentmindedly walking around the fountain, I kick a rock to the side and continue down the path.
wasn’t I a god at one point?
she looks side to side conspiratorially, then whispers to me behind a hoof.
shaking the dumb thought from my head, I start walking, deciding to keep to the path, no matter where it took me.
what could be troubling her so much that she doesn’t even notice me almost tripping on her?
So, you've decided you don't need to capitalize the beginning of your sentences?
Woot! New update! Thanks for the chapter!
9801669
Oi, fucker. Yeah, who needs to capitalize?! Lol, just kidding. Thanks for pointing this out (I'm pretty sure this happened cuz using the code to make things italics, then immediately continuing, the auto capitalize doesn't kick in. Sometimes I use it as a crutch, sometimes I don't. Either way, I'll get to fixing that when I feel up to it. Again, thanks for pointing it out!
So this is after Starlight's first appearance, but before the whole time travel fiasco?
9801081
[SLAANESH INTENSIFIES]
9801408
Starlight Glimmer is the Season 5 antagonist. Well-intentioned extremist who thinks that cutie marks cause unnecessary division in pony society. So she tries to get rid of them. It doesn't go well.
Later she uses time travel to prevent her initial plan from being foiled. The world gets mostly destroyed in several alternative timelines. After that she tries to play nice.
9802028
We're way back at the start of season 2. Discord jimmied the lock on Null's magical prison during his chaos spree.
great chapter
9801172
ys
amazing chapter cant wait for the next one
9802604
9802121
Message From 'Rogal Dorn': No.
9803527
While I understand your thoughts, it's just simply not how the character would act. I personally couldn't keep him in stone (cuz I'm too emotional about fake characters, boo hoo me, am I right?) . I tried to take the most logical path that he would go down. I'm gonna try to make the story unique, but I readily admit that this story is unlike the previous story. Hell, I bet if I made it similar to the previous one, people would have the opposite of your complaint, that it's just a copy of the first story or something along those lines. Simply put, I can't please everyone. There's just no logical way he could do what you suggested anyways. How would he be a wise man giving wisdom and still be an immobile statue? Regardless of the immobile factor, he'd clearly not have that mental state to begin with. He had his mind broken; for all intents and purposes, he basically died two thousand years ago when Celestia banished Luna. Insanity finally won over, and his concious gave out. You think he could take any more of that? It just wouldn't make sense.
Either way, of course it sounds generic as hell right now cuz it's early in the story. Hella hard to avoid cliches this early on (I'd know, I've proofed for plenty of people on this site and have seen plenty of similarities that just CANNOT be avoided.) Not defending people who use cliches as a crutch and give up after they run out of them to add their own slight touch to, but there is a reason those cliches exist. Cuz some of them make sense. Will Null follow those cliches to a T and never grow as a character? Hell no, but it's too early for character development to make any sort of sense.
No way in hell he'll be a Gary Stu either.
TL;DR, the story needs time to grow, just like Null. It May not follow the same format as the previous story, but is that honestly a bad thing?
9802028
No, it's prior, and prior to creation of Our Town, probably. She likely would have meet Maud Pie at Gorge, not so far from Ponyville, where that rock pony worked.
9803722
Do you know the Buddhist legends of people who go to a spot and sit all day every day?
It's an interesting experience to be out of body. To see and hear but not be there. The mind turns inward after a time. Uncontrollable self reflection. Madness and insanity take hold.
But in time the mind exhausts the possibilities from inside. It begins to rebuild, stronger and more able than before.
Then it breaks again.
And this keeps happening until the mind is turned to absorb everything. It draws it in and contemplates all.
The whole of the world can be found in a single grain of rice.
You feel me?
9804719
got a little too far with the existentialism for me m8... sorry, but I do not in fact, feel you. it just doesn't seem logical to me.
9805660
People are not logical. The mind needs to work. It will do so even if you don't want it to. Ever been unable to sleep?
Hey but, it's cool. You do you man.
I'm enjoying the story. Waiting for the deep hook. You got me nibbling but I'm hoping you make it tasty enough to trap me. ;^)
Oof
I started reading the first story last night and now I am all caught up to the present. I hope to see more of this. Liked and Faved.
Hmmm really looks forward to seeing more of this. Keep up the amazing work!
Great story, as good as the first one, refreshing to see you did not stop at being found or just freed. Expecting to see how this character plays out and how he will affect his surroundings in turn. Mabe surprise or baffle Celestia into unreal conclusions of his motifs to certain mundane or accidental actions this character does. Im Expecting the Human nature element to cause a bit of chaos amongst ponies. The moral controversy is good and unique. Cudos
Amazing chapter as always. The timeline is a bit odd, but havong starlight enter the picture so early does give way to some interesting potential options.
I’d think he’d prefer to constantly go to different places or somewhere where the scenery is always different… like the ocean, maybe. It’s always a slightly different blue and the waves are always changing.