//------------------------------// // Heartbeats // Story: Revelations: The Dark Void // by GhostofSandwich //------------------------------// Thump. Thump, thump. Thump. Twilight slowly awoke from her slumber to the sound of her slowed pulse pounding through her head. Her entire body was sore beyond all reason and she felt as if she had been mauled by thousands of angry manticores. Slowly, she opened her eyes and began to examine her surroundings. Happiness and relief came over her as she noticed that she was in her own room. The first thing she did was look out her window. It was night time, but a very dark night at that. She was barely able to make out the outline of Canterlot in the distance. By her side was a small table with water and a half eaten sandwich on it. She assumed Spike had made it for her. But how long ago had they found her in that dark void? Oh well, that didn't matter now. She was safe in her warm bed and was alive. There was nothing more else she could want. She very carefully levitated the glass of water to herself and happily finished the still cold glass off. She also wanted to eat some of the sandwich, but the image of all that blood was still fresh on her mind. Remembering that she had in fact just barely escaped death, she quickly looked down at her body to examine the damage. But when she saw nothing... 'How long was I out?' She tried to get out of bed, being stopped by her head ringing violently and giving her a piercing pain as if her brain had just been poked with hundreds of needles. Quickly but carefully replacing her head on the pillow, she looked around the room. 'Of all the times to not have a mirror in my room...' Not knowing what else to do and the hunger growing, she levitated the sandwich to her mouth and gratefully took a bite. Even though the bread was soft, each motion of chewing furthered the pain in her head. She quickly realized that she was still completely sapped of all energy, as she tired herself out by just chewing the sandwich. "This one is a fighter... That's for sure. It's been how long since we barely saved her from flat-lining? Five day? She immediately stopped chewing and began looking around the room. Where had that voice came from? And what did it mean by flat-lining? Had somepony nearly died? She listened once more for the voice, but upon not hearing it again, assumed it was part of her imagination. Understandably considering she had basically been dead not that long ago. Or was it long ago? "S-Spike?" She immediately winced in pain from the sudden burst of noise coming from her. "Spike!" Curiosity began to turn into worry. Where was her little assistant at? Surely he should be downstairs... After all, it was night time. Where could he have went this late at night? Not knowing what else to do, she laid back on her cool pillow and allowed it to sooth her fever. She knew she had been in a bad state, but was it really bad enough for her to have been bedded for long enough to have her wounds heal? Well that wasn't entirely sure... She still wasn't sure of that gash on her head. Reaching up and feeling, she gasped. There was no indication of there ever having even being a gash there. 'Did I dream that all? Yes, that has to be it... I probably got sick after studying too late and passed out. It was just a terrible fever dream... She sighed and fell back on the pillow with a large smile on her face. 'It's going to all be okay.' She closed her eyes and imagined her friends coming to visit her soon. Surely Spike had told them about her. "Twilight? Oh good. You're awake. You've been out cold for six hours now." Twilight perked up at the sound of Spike's voice. She grinned from ear to ear as she saw the tiny dragon. Ignoring her headache, she jumped out of the bed and embraced the dragon in a hug. "Oh Spike! I'm so happy to see you! I had the worst nightmare..." "Jeez, you'd think you hadn't seen me in weeks! Come on, get back in bed. You took quite the fall down the stairs and hit your head pretty good. I'm actually surprised I didn't have to take you to the hospital." Taking her favorite assistant's advice, she climbed back into the bed. Yeah, that all made sense... She had obviously fallen and hit her head. The stress of that caused a fever nightmare in which she had a major head wound. Probably just her brain trying to create a much worse situation to make this one seem better. And it was definitely working! Compared to that dream, this was a day at the library. "Sorry, but that nightmare seemed so real... I was in some sort of black abyss, and I had a terrible head wound... The worst part was that nopony, nor you, were nearby." "It's alright Twi. I'll get you some more water. You just rest and forget about that nightmare." She closed her eyes and nodded, the smile still plastered on her face. The tiny dragon returned a few moments later with a full glass of water, another sandwich, and a pill, which was probably a headache relief. She began to hope she didn't have a concussion, but that would still be a thousand times better than that dream. "Thank you, Spike." She weakly levitated the glass of water to her lips and happily drank the cool liquid. Afterwards, she took the pill and took another drink. "Need anything else?" She grinned and shook her head softly. "No thank you." Twilight turned away from the small dragon and looked out the window. After that dream, she had a slight phobia of the dark. She'd get over it soon though. As she looked out the window, she couldn't help but feel as if something was a little... Off. Not in the sense that anything was wrong, or out of place. But rather because it usually wasn't that dark. 'You're just over thinking, Twilight.' She turned back to the small dragon and smiled. He smiled back happily as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. --- Twilight's eyes slowly opened as she awoke. With a yawn, she sat up and began to look around the room. 'Yep, still in my room. Guess that nightmare last night was just that, a nightmare. I'm going to have to have a little talk with Luna the next time I'm in Canterlot...' She looked down to Spike's bed, seeing it empty. Her worry was almost immediately suppressed as Spike's foot hit the nearby floor by the stairs. "Hey Twilight, you're up early." "Well I did get a good amount of sleep last night. Well, besides the nightmare, but at least it didn't revisit me." "That's good. Here, I made you some breakfast." Spike extended his arms, a nice hot plate of pancakes drowned in syrup on it. "Thank you, Spike." She carefully levitated the plate onto her lap and looked at the inviting food. "This looks delicious." "Thanks. I'll be back up in a few minutes to get the plate." "There's no need for that, Spike. I feel much better." "Nonsense, Twi. You are staying in bed today, got it?" "Okay, if you insist. But tomorrow, I'm treating you to breakfast in bed." She chuckled softly. Much to her relief, it didn't hurt her head at all, which had dulled down to a mere occasional throb. And even that wasn't nearly as bad as the previous night. Spike departed down the stairs while whistling a happy tune as Twilight began to dig into the pancakes. For five minutes she ate while looking out the window into the town of Ponyville. Upon finishing, she sat the plate on the table next to her bed and laid back down. Everything was perfect, now all she wanted to do was see her friends. "All done?" Spike poked his head over the top step and came up. "Yep. That was some of the best pancakes I've ever had. Thank you." He laughed and blushed slightly as he grabbed the plate. "I'm still holding you to that breakfast tomorrow." Spike began to make his way back down the stairs, before Twilight interrupted him. "Hey, Spike?" "Yeah, Twi?" "Think you could go get Rainbow Dash and the others?" Spike stopped and turned around, a look of worry on his face. "Uhh, Twilight? Are you sure you're feeling alright?" "Yeah, why?" Spike sighed and returned the plate to the table. "You really don't remember?" "No, remember what?" "Rainbow Dash and them all disappeared in the winter wrap up blizzard three months ago." The words hit Twilight with the force of a fully speeding train. When had this happened?! How did she not remember that? No, he had to be pulling some sort of sick joke. "Spike, that's not funny." "I'm sorry, Twi, But I'm not joking. They never found them or... their bodies." Twilight choked a bit. Was this really happening? No, no... She had to be having another nightmare. Without any hesitation, she levitated a book to her and pinched herself with it. When she didn't wake... 'No... It can't be... How did I forget something like this?!' She wanted to outburst at something, anything. But managed to keep herself from doing it. How could the past few hours be going so bad? 'First I have the worst nightmare of my life, and then... this...' She slowly began sobbing to herself. "Look, get some rest. We'll go to Canterlot and see if-" She screamed out in pain as the world around her immediately began to distort. The small dragon himself simply stopped moving, until he collapsed into a puddle of water. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" The yell, of course, sponsored no answer. Confusion turned to horror as the walls around her began to dissipate, being replaced instead by a black abyss of nothingness for as far as the eye can see; the floor turning to cold black marble like flooring. She fell to the ground and closed her eyes, opening them a moment later. "No... It was all an illusion?" She looked down at her body, which was now sporting multiple bandages, most of which were red. "It all seemed so real..." She reached up to her head and traced the line of the bandage on her head, which was crisp and crusty with dried blood. "What in Tartarus is going on?!" Luckily, her head wasn't so bad that she was immobilized. In fact, she now had most of her energy back, save for the occasional burning pain from her head wound. All the other cuts on her body had scabbed or scarred over though. Sighing, she began to look around the dark void, hoping to spot something; anything. Seeing nothing, she falls back on her haunches and looks at the pitch black floor. It gave no reflection back, even though it is smooth as glass. Strangely, it had a strange feeling of emptiness to it. There was no way of telling, but just by touch you could feel the cold emptiness of it. The air around her wasn't much different either. Looking up, right, down, left, didn't matter. It was always the same darkness with the dark fog floating around it. Her temperature had dropped from the time she had been near death to now, so she now felt how cold this place actually was. But it wasn't a cold that comes from temperature... It was a spiritual cold, the kind that made Twilight cold on the inside. 'Well... At least I'm alive.' She stood and began walking in a random direction. "Love you like a daughter..." She jumped slightly as the voice intruded into the silence around her. It was the same exact voice she had heard when she first woke in this place, but it now seemed distorted. Thinking that her brain now might be up to it, she began trying to remember who the owner of the voice was. After five minutes, she was still drawing the same exact blank. Because her mind didn't want her to remember what had happened... or who had caused it.