//------------------------------// // Night 1: When you gaze into the abyss... // Story: The Voice in Her Head // by Dreagar //------------------------------// The abyss stared back. The previously black surroundings began to form wisps of transluscent shadow, accentuating the shadow around them. Them. He could feel the other presence with him, the owner of the stare. Twilight? The void began to gain an oppressive feel, hallmarked by a scream of terror splitting the void. The very world itself. Twilight! Renic tried to mentally shake the presence, which seemed to calm it down. Renic? I can't breathe! You're obviously dreaming, don't you remember going to sleep? Now that you mentioned it... The void's ethereal strands disappeared revealing a purple unicorn seemingly standing on nothing. Renic thought to look down, and found silver fur that apparently belonged to him. Twilight began to hum to herself. This must be a lucid dream... brought on by you interrupting my nightmare. She then turned to look at Renic. Huh, you look just like I thought you would. Trying to ignore the frightening implications of that, Renic replied. Must be coincidence. This prompted a raised eyebrow from the mare. Hey, since this is a lucid dream, and you're the one dreaming, maybe you can try messing about? That seemed to have successfully steered the conversation. The blackness seemed to dissolve into a variety of pastel colors that immediately matched Twilight's brief description of her room. Renic revelled in the presence of senses. He could feel the smooth wooden floor of the tree beneath his hooves, smell the cool night air and actually see the midnight bedroom. The bed itself was occupied by an excited Twilight standing atop the matress like a filly. Renic found his mouth and spoke. "Awesome." They said in unison, both enjoying different aspects of the dreamworld. "Renic?" She asked. He hummed response, simply enjoying the feel of a body. "I just thought, are you able to... control the dream too?" It was an interesting question, one that bore merit to explore. Instead of speaking, Renic closed his eyelids and began to concentrate. Nothing. Twilight caught on to it and gave a sad smile. "Well if you want anything, ask me, otherwise I'm going to live out my dreams." She spoke, giggling a bit at the last point. As she left, Renic saw the world discolour behind her. Not wishing to share the room's fate, he made to follow Twilight. Walking was weird for Renic, after spending an unknown time without any legs to speak of, he found himself using four like a natural. "So, what're you going to do?" He asked, hoping to take his mind of the encroaching wall of nothingness. She paused a moment. "I'm not sure actually. I have the chance to have anything, but I can't choose." "Well, it's going to be a boring dream if nothing happens." She nodded at that. However her contemplative frown grew into a slightly mischievous smile. "How about we just have a conversation?" If Renic knew any curses, he would have used them. "That sound great! What do you want to talk about?" He said with an over enthusiastic tone, and eager smile. Twilight shook her head. "I know you don't want to deal with this Renic, but if there's one thing I learnt from my friends, it's that there's no time like the present. Especially when dealing with problems." "You don't know what it's like!" He snapped. "What happens if I'm really not a pony? I don't want to consider that the past day of my life as the only day of it..." He added with a mournful tone, "I don't want to consider that I might not even be real." Twilight had enough. "What is real? I think you're real; just by having an existential crisis, you've proved you're a thinking being. 'You're thinking, therefore you are.'" "But say," he sniffled, "that I'm a voice in your head. Your mind cou-could just be tricking you. Doing everything you expect a real pony to do..." Twilight couldn't take it anymore, she walked up to the sobbing pony and hugged him. "I don't believe that. You implied it yourself, 'you shouldn't jump to conclusions'; let's see this out... who knows, maybe I can make you a body!" He looked up into her violet eyes. "You'd do that?" She didn't hesitate to reply. "Yes, yes I will." They remained hugging as the the world faded from around them. Casting their world into the morning light.