//------------------------------// // The voices in your head // Story: What the Left Hand is Doing // by SSPeanutButter //------------------------------// “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” Oh good, this is happening again. Maybe we went a bit overboard. Twilight was still screaming, and getting louder. “-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” What was that? I couldn't hear you over the person screaming at our feet, maybe we went too far. Would you say… No. don't you dare. ...That you can't... Nooooooo Hear yourself think? And that's enough of that. “Twilight!” ‘Sunset’ said as she knelt down to the girl. “Twilight, snap out of it. You have Sunset making bad jokes, and I want that to stop.” A few gentle slaps were enough to bring the girl back to reality. “Wha-but you, how, whe-” ‘Twilight’ stammered before freezing up entirely Twilight would like to think that her mind was one of the sharpest in the world, able to take in and process information as fast as the best and brightest, but every now and again it… didn’t. Now was one of those times. Sooo… Soooooo…. Sooooooooooooo… Meanwhile, outside of her head, she just stared blankly in front of her. Sunset rolled her eyes. “Do I really need to spell it out for you Twilight?” She poked the side of Twilight’s head which, because of the meltdown going on inside, rocked back and forth like a bobble head. “That little voice in your head? I have one too.” She said, but then hesitated.She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Actually, I suppose I’m the voice in the head. Sunset lost speaking privileges after that terrible joke.” Apparently this was enough information to kick Twilight’s mind back into gear. Wait, she has a me too? Well it wouldn't be a you, because you’re me, so I have you. She would have a her. So there’s two shes, you and one me. Yes. But where did she come from? And who is she? Only one way to find out. We ask her. Which her? Yes. “Smarty-Pants.” twilight grumbled, very much confusing the other occupant of the room. “What was that?” Twilight’s eyes went wide when she realised that Midnight had just spoken out loud accidently again. Woops, I guess that makes three times today. “Uhhh… nothing just talking to myself Sunse-” Twilight began, in an attempt to avoid having to explain her secret, but she stopped when it occurred to her that Sunset already knew her secret. Moreover, in an attempt to keep that secret safe, she doubled down on revealing that secret, only for it all to backfire spectacularly. There was absolutely no reason for her to try to cover it up. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Sunset happened to find this situation very amusing. “Talking to yourself huh? Very nice choice of words.” She laughed. Twilight sighed. “Sorry, every now and again it just slips out. We’re trying to keep it under control but, well, it’s not going well.” Twilight sighed. “At this rate, it won’t be long before I shout ‘Oh hi everyone, I’m Midnight Sparkle! Would you all like to participate in a thrilling round of murder?’” Sunset could only stare at her. “Do… do you have that thought a lot?” Twilight began to shudder, and her breathing became more rapid. “I-If they find out, what's going to happen?” She said shakily, her voice alternating in pitch like a speaker on its last legs. “Twilight you’re starting to scare me.” It was clear that Sunset’s words are falling on deaf ears. Twilight was no longer talking to her, instead it seemed that Twilight and Midnight were talking to each other, and their shared fears were creating an endless cycle of panic. “Would they run us out of town? Or maybe they would get us locked up in a loony-bin?” She curled into a ball before rolling onto her side. “Maybe they’ll hit us with another friendship laser and finish the job.” Twilight started sobbing into her knees, still lying on the floor Okay, I might have messed that up. Tag in? Wow, she looks absolutely terrified. Did we ever go through a phase like that? I don’t think so. First you were afraid you were going insane, then that you were still evil. Once you got over that we were only afraid that our friends wouldn't understand. We still need to help her. Sunset knelt down beside the crying twilight, and helped her upright. Once she was up, Sunset wrapped her friend in a comforting hug. With Twilights knees still between them, it was uncomfortable, but it was enough. “There, there, Twilight. Just breath. It's going to be okay.” Soothing noises. Did you really just say “soothing noises”? In our head? Where she can’t hear us? Yes. Now you translate that into something useful. Sunset was about to try when Twilight broke her train of thought. “You promise you won’t hit us with another friendship laser?” She whispered into Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset tried her best to suppress a giggle. “Twilight, I… We promise no friendship lasers. You can trust us… me… no, us.” With a sniff, Twilight stretched herself out of the ball she was in. “Now, I imagine you have some questions…” Sunset said as she guided Twilight onto the side the bed before taking a seat on the chair in the entrance way. “But first things first, we need to work out a system to know who’s talking.” “What?” “I’m pretty sure I lost track of whether it was Midnight or Twilight talking, and you’re going to be struggling to, so we need to sort something out. Maybe we could just open each sentence with our name?” She shook her head. “That’s a silly idea. Sunset. No it’s not, look how well that works! Yeah, but listen to how silly that sounds. Sunset. You didn’t do it. I AM NOT SAYING MY NAME BEFORE EVERY SENTENCE.” While Sunset argued with herself, Twilight, and by extension Midnight, sat by and watched. It was a bizarre sight to see, and it wasn’t made any less bizarre by Sunset’s insistence on injecting her own name every time she spoke. Yeah, she’s right. This is hard to follow, and saying your name over and over is ridiculous. It’s not a terrible idea… Do you want to say Twilight 1,000,000 times? No. Absolutely not. But we need something. Something that doesn’t impede conversation. Like a gesture or something? Eureka! “Stop it. Sunset. I refuse. Stop it.” Sunset continued to ‘herself’, and the grin on her face made it painfully clear she was enjoying it. Twilight cleared her throat. “Sunset!” She interrupted, but when the pair of emerald eyes were levelled back at her she lost her confidence evaporated. “-sss….” She trailed off. Come on, you got this. Show her who has all the brilliant ideas. You’re not helping! “Maybe we could raise our hands.” She forced out. “To show who’s who? Right for Twilight left for Midnight?” Why do you get to be the right hand? Because it was my idea. Also, I’ve had it longer. You've had the left hand longer too… Sunset blinked, then blinked again. “That’s… actually brilliant. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Because you were to busy arguing with yourself to come up with any good solutions.” The sentence had a sharpness to it that hung in the air. The tension in the room that had begun to fade with Sunset’s monologue reasserted itself. Twilight sheepishly smiled. “Oh, right. The hand thing.” With a robotic, over exaggerated wave of her left hand, Midnight revealed it was in fact her who had spoke. As Twilight and Midnight waited to see how the ‘guests’ in their home reacted, silence returned. Unil Sunset giggled, and raised her left hand playfully. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Midnight, you can call me.... Sunburn.”