“Ris!”

River’s eyes open with a start.

Where is she? Why is she floating? Where is…

Anything?

Drifting in nothingness. Drifting in a void.

Her body.

It doesn’t feel whole.

It feels incomplete.

What’s happening?

Why is she feeling like this?

It’s like she’s a vessel, not fully present, just sort of there in her incomplete body. Like she had no weight to be, like she isn’t even solid, translucent, transparent.

She tries to move her limbs, but she can’t. She knows she has limbs, but she just can’t feel them.

Or even see them, for that matter…

She can’t even wriggle around, it’s almost as if she’s paralyzed. It’s not even a numb feeling.

Can the lack of feeling anything even be considered a feeling? It’s as if-

“Jahu!”

She gasps sharply, her eyes going wide.

Her body, it’s back!

She can move, she can feel, she can, uhh, do things! Again!

She orients herself upright- At least she thinks it’s upright, hard to tell which way you’re facing when everything around you is completely dark.

Not quite like floating in water, but not falling either. It’s like she’s hovering in place, with complete control of her movements, but that doesn’t matter much when there’s nowhere to go.

In fact, there’s so much of nothing that she’s starting to get worried, very worried. Her expression falls as she keeps ‘swimming’ through the void, trying to find someone, anyone. “Pops?” She calls out, her voice able to be heard, but there’s no echo, no resonance, it simply exists, and then it doesn’t.

“Neesha?” She calls out again. No response. Nothing.

How did she end up here in the first place?

All she remembers is just going to bed and falling asleep, nothing more.

Did something happen to her?

But, why would something happen to her? It’s not like-

“Lohk!”

Her body feels as though it’s burning from the inside.

Her eyes scrunch tightly shut, hands balling up into fists as she clenches her teeth, a fiery energy welling up inside of her.

To say ‘it’s painful’ wouldn’t even begin to describe it.

Every time one of her eyes peeks open just the slightest bit, she can see some kind of residue lingering from her body.

Like a greyish, green energy.

Is that what’s blazing around inside of her?

What is it?

Why does it hurt so much?

It feels like it lasts forever, an eternity.

But eventually, the excruciating pain finally dies down, subsiding.

River is left doubled over and panting heavily, the lingering energy emanating from her like smoke.

What even is this?

Why is this happening to her.

Her breathing slows down, groaning as she slowly orients herself back upright.

In the darkness in front of her, she sees an eye.

One single eye staring back at her.

She can’t muster the strength to react, her body too spent, too tired.

She just knows she feels a horrible sense of dread washing over her.

Another eye opens, right next to it.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

One by one, eye after eye opens and opens and opens, all staring directly at her, glowing and illuminating in the darkness.

She can see… Shapes, make out the shapes of something.

Outstretched arms.

Hooves.

Slowly, faintly, a large creature begins to fade into the void.

She recognizes it.

That Ponyta from the mural she saw in class earlier.

The Creator.

Her heart is pounding in her chest, she can’t will herself to move, body still too exhausted to do anything.

All of those eyes are bearing down on her.

Despite all this, though, she does not feel threatened.

Though she does not feel comforted.

She simply is.

The Creator drifts closer to her, her eyes gazing down at her as a smile curls up on her lips.

And then…

She speaks.