When you woke up, you couldn't say how much time had passed. Your head was swimming with a strange fogginess that made it almost impossible for you to do anything but lie on the cold, hard ground. Your eyelids felt as if they had been cemented shut, lifting even one of them was a herculean effort. There was no way of telling how long you just lay there in this strange limbo of consciousness. But after an eternity - or maybe just a minute - you finally managed to force open your eyes. With a heavy groan, you stumbled to your feet, the excitement of exploring a new world rushing back to you. The mere curiousity of what kind of place you might have ended up in swiftly whisked your exhaustion away.
To your dismay, this place looked... drab. No, not even that. It looked like... nothing. It was dark, though not completely. A faint line of light shimmered somewhere ahead of you but it was much to close for it to be the horizon. Looking up, there were no stars, just blackness. And all around you, the only thing you could see was the same, grey material of the floor you had woken up on.
This seemed like a cruel joke. If this was the world you had been so excited to explore, you felt utterly crushed. Compared to this, even the most ordinary day in your life felt like a rollercoaster. Your disappointment was immeasurable, your day ruined. Maybe you should just return to your video game, play a few more rounds, and head to bed. Who knew, maybe you had already fallen asleep and this was just a strange dream.
You turned around, looking for the portal to return to your flat. But there was no sign of the pulsating sphere of light that you had entered. You couldn't help but shiver with nervousness. Were you stuck here in this land of grey and darkness? Had the portal closed?
This was bad, really bad. Sure, you had stuffed your backpack with a bit of food and a few bottles of water, but how long would that last you? Three days, a week if you only ate once a day? Like a thorned knot in your stomach, you could feel the panic settle into you, cold sweat breaking out on your face. There had to be something you could do...
'The light' you thought to yourself, desperate to calm down. Maybe you had just landed in a bad place, but there seemed to be something more. Yes, that was it. You probably had just ended up in a cave or something but the exit was right there. No need to panic, surely.
Holding onto the hope of finding something else instead of this grey expanse, you made your way towards this faint line of light. As you walked, lost in your own thoughts, you suddenly noticed something. A sound! At first you thought you were just imagining it, but it was definitely there. It wasn't a regular sound, not like the drum of a heartbeat. But more of a wave, the intensitiy of the noise suddenly rising every so often, but just as quickly lowering again. Everytime it did, the sound washed over you and the closer you got to the light, the more things you could pick out. It almost sounded like... cheering?
Your eyes grew wide. Now that you were closer, you were certain. It was definitely the sound of an excited crowd cheering someone on, like the continous roar of a football match's audience it ebbed and flowed, probably depending on the team that was currently ahead. The anxiousness that had built up inside you, subsided. Now that you knew that there were definitely people here, you couldn't wait to meet them... and also get out of this cave. Eagerly you rushed ahead, your backpack bouncing against your back as you picked up the pace. The light was coming closer and closer and as you did, the chanting of the crowd grew louder.
"GO WONDERBOLTS!"
The name of whatever team was playing, you were sure. Strangely, you didn't hear any other chant. Everyone was cheering on these Wonderbolts, and you didn't hear any mention of another group. Maybe this was something else, not a competitive sport? It didn't matter, you just kept rushing ahead, trying to finally get out of this place...
When you reached the light, you were out of breath but elated. Light was streaming towards you, though the exit was a lot more narrow than you had expected, forcing you to crouch down ever so slightly to make your way out of this cave. At first, you were disappointed. The ground in front of you was the same odd, grey material that you had been walking on this whole time. But at least there was light and as you slowly made your way outside, you noticed something strange.
You weren't... outside. Not in the slightest. Though they were far away, to the left and right of you, massive walls rose into the sky, enclosing you completely. They didn't seem like natural structures. There was none of the roughness and edginess a natural cliff would have. No, these walls were perfectly smooth, as if someone had polished the Grand Canyon into utter boringness. Occasionally, the walls changed color, from a dull, chalky white to deep brown. Confused, you looked towards the source of the light that was streaming around you. There, above you was something that almost looked like a sun, but the light was too pale. It felt more like...
"A lamp...?" you mumbled to your self. You looked around again... and the realization hit you like a truck. You weren't in a cave, and had never been. No, this was... a room. A massive, utterly gargantuan room. A hallway to be exact, lined with doors so massive that a whole skyscraper could have easily fit through them. The ground wasn't some kind of strange rock, but what seemed to be the grey, inoffesinve flooring a gym might use for their changing rooms. Speaking of...
With a mixture of newly rising panic and wonderment, you pushed yourself back into the room you came from, just to confirm your suspicion. You had a hard time seeing in the dark now that you had been 'outside' for a moment, but through squinted eyes you could make out shapes in the darkness.
After you had looked up the first time and didn't see any light sources, you had thought you were underground and not bothered to keep looking. But now, you could see something more, even if your eyes barely picked it up. You saw shapes, square and as massive as one of those doors... or even the door you were currently standing under, you thought to yourself. With a start, you recognized the shapes as lockers... it truly was a changing room.
Just as you tried to digest this new found information that you had stumbled into a world hundreds of times your own size, the cheering of the distant crowd rose to a deafening roar. Instinctively, you pressed your hands against your ears as your eardrums threatened to burst under the stress. But just as quickly as it came, it subsided, replaced by something else. A single voice, utterly clear and loud enough for you to understand what was being said.
"And that's it for the WONDERBOLTS!" the person - a woman, you realized - yelled, "Give us a big hand for our great performers!"
The cacophony of applause almost forced you to your knees and you crawled back into the dark changing room to somewhat dampen the assault on your ears. This time, the avalanche of noise lasted a lot longer, five whole minutes as the crowd kept cheering, applauding, begging for an encore. You were certain even if you didn't go deaf from this, your ears definitely didn't appreciate this amount of stress.
Finally, the sound subsided, now replaced by a mixture of simple, excited cheering and disappointment at not getting another showing of... whatever was happening.
"Now, don't you worry!" The female announcer shouted, "If you stay around for a while, the Wonderbolts will meet you in the lobby! If you want to get an autograph, that would be the ideal time. But for now, thank you for watching this great showing of Equestria's top flyers! You've been a great audience!"
You perked up. Equestria was the name of this place? How interesting... even though you couldn't dwell on it too much. The sound was still too much for you, but thankfully it was getting quieter the more you retreated into the changing room. Sidling up against the massive, pillar like leg of one of the benches, you caught your breath. But the short peace didn't last long.
THUD
The sound shook you to your core.It sounded like something large had fallen down, like a boulder rolling down a mountain into soft earth. Not a crash, but something deeply resonant. It wasn't even that loud... but it was close. Extremely close. Your eyes widened, and despite your better instincts, you inched closer to the door to find out what it was.
Your suspicions were confirmed as you looked into the hallway from beneath the door. Despite your limited field of view, it was clear as day: someone was approaching. Enormous legs, clad in what seemed to be an incredibly tight spandex suit rose up in the distance, each massive step shaking the earth. The giant was coming closer with a speed that should be impossible for something this large. It would only take a few seconds for them to arrive.
But you couldn't move. You were transfixed by what you were seeing, because these giants... they weren't human! Though they had the proportions of a human, their face was very different. Covered in brightly colored fur, with a small, protruding snout, and big, bright eyes they looked more like a being from a fantasy film but they were all too real for you.
With a blush, you also realised that all of them were female. It wasn't like you were looking specifically for that, but... the tight spandex suits very much emphasized their curves.
As the group of gargantuan creatures thundered closer, you finally snapped out of your trance. You had to act! On one hand, these creatures probably wouldn't even notice you. But they seemed as sentient as humans. Surviving at this size alone couldn't be easy. But did you truly want their attention?