Temporal Troubles || a BFDI AU

BFDI 1a: Back to Beginning

It was a beautiful day in South Goiky. Twenty or so objects were running around on the endless, grassy plains, talking to friends, pulling pranks, and just generally having a good time (except for the victims of said pranks). This was the life they had always known, and the life they thought they would always have.

Except for one very confused writing utensil.

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"...il? Pencil, are you ok?"

Pencil opened her eyes. "uuuuuuUh??" she groaned, sitting up. Standing in front of her was her bestie, Match. "Erg... what happened?"

"I was about to ask you that. One moment, we were talking about how Flower is, like, so afraid of bugs, and the next, you just pass out! Are you ok?"

"Uh... maybe?" She shook her head. "Wait. Haven't we had that conversation before?"

Match frowned slightly. "Nope. I'm, like, pretty sure that you never knew about Flower's fear of-"

"What are you talking about? I've known about that for years."

"Pencil, we haven't even existed for, like, years."

The graphite stick's thought process screeched to a halt. "Huh? Actually, no, hang on. I need to get my bearings."

She stood up, took a look around, and slowly realized that she was not in North Goiky anymore. For one, the grass was a different shade of green, and there were almost no trees. She could only see a dozen plus objects, rather than the usual sixty plus. All of the hosts were missing as well. Four, X, Two, the Announcer, Purple Face... not one of them could be seen.

With a start, it hit her that the only objects visible were the original batch that had competed in the first season. And for some reason, she was back in South Goiky. As Pencil continued to watch in confusion, she began to recognize the actions of those around her; Snowball gliding along on his hang glider, Teardrop launching Woody into the air, Firey and Coiny slapping each other on top of Spongy.

An overwhelming mixture of nostalgia and déjà vu washed over her. She had seen all this before. "Match," she said slowly, turning to the woodsicle. "What's today's date?"

Her friend thought about it for a second. "December... no, that's right! It's January, like, 1st now! The very first day of 2010. A whole new decade!"

Pencil staggered back from the revelation this brought. She had no clue how or why, but somehow, she'd been transported back in time to BFDI 1a.

She had to sit down from this thought. Words of concern came from Match, but Pencil absorbed none of them as her dizzy brain tried to un-dizzy itself.

Eventually, her mind cleared somewhat, and she examined her surroundings again to see if she could pinpoint exactly what time it was. She spotted Eraser talking to Blocky, Pen, and Snowball in the distance. He must be complaining about Golf Ball's bossiness, she mused.

A thought struck her. Wait, but then that means-

Slowly, Pencil's eyes drifted to the sky, where she could see a gray, rectangular object falling towards Eraser.

"So yes. Whoever stays on the bar the longest wins."

As everyone slid out of the Announcer's pipe system onto a large, wooden balance beam, Pencil was still reeling slightly from the fact that she was back in BFDI. It was too weird to be real, but it felt too real to be a dream.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Flower shove off several objects from the other side of the beam. Oh yeah, I remember that. After that... what came after?