The fire crackled slowly as Twilight forced her eyes slowly open. She expected to be back in that dark void, but instead she found herself laying in front of a dying fire in the middle of a barren cave. With a yawn, she stood and neared the warm fire. The previous night forces it's way back into her memory and with it the fact that she is trapped.
"How long have we been here, Delphian?"
"No Idea, Mystia... Seems like centuries..."
"No telling time... No escape." The voices had stopped startling Twilight. Sure, it was still strange that she could hear them, but it had become normal for her. And they made a point... She had no way of telling how long she had been in that void; that shape-shifting plane of nothingness. It could have been only a day, or it could have been years. Either way, she was tired of it and just wanted to be back home.
'This cave has to go further than this. Come on, Twilight...' Her head felt reasonable, but she feared too much exertion would cause her to get a terrible headache. Steadily, she focused magic into her horn, making a light source from it. Something as simple as that caused her head to feel as if there was pressure being applied on it, but she felt she could make it.
Relief filled her body as she saw a small opening just big enough for her to crawl through. It could just be a little alcove, but it was worth a shot. She crawled through the small hole, exiting out into another cavern.
The cavern of hope, they called it. The thought rushed into her head as she looked around. Where had she heard that before? No, she had read about it... But from where? The walls on either side looked as if they had been chiseled with extreme mathematical precision. The further down the cavern she went, the straighter the walls got.
It exist not in the mortal realm, rather in each of us. The cavern is in a different plane of existence, commonly called the realm of internal sorrow. I went there once... I still remember that dark void... Yes, she had indeed read about this place somewhere before. She couldn't quite recall where from, but she was more worried about how she got there...
'What else did the book say... Come on, think!' Her head began to throb from the excessive amount of work it had to do. In all honestly, she shouldn't even be awake with a head wound of her caliber. It was a miracle it wasn't still bleeding. But she couldn't just carry on until she was sure that she would be safe...
The place was a terrible... My friend and I both suffered through so many hardships. There was no telling the time; no knowing if you are even alive or not. Then we reached that damned cavern... Everything went downhill from there. But we couldn't turn back... Twilight immediately turned around to ensure that the exit was still there. We camped outside of the entrance to the cavern. It was a cold night, since there was a raging blizzard outside. Not like we had a choice to be in there... The entrance had collapsed.
'What... Am I following in the footsteps of the pony who wrote that book?' She struggled to try and remember the book, but to no avail. Looking back down the to the dull light at the end of the cavern, she sighed and began to walk down. Each step brought sorrow down upon her from somewhere.
I remember that dreadful walk down that long cavern corridor... The walls had gotten smoother and smoother as we continued down it. The weight of sorrow fell upon us from somewhere. Still to this day I know not where the sorrow came from, but it was heavy... Still today I feel it. Tears began to well up in her eyes as the sorrow of ponies unknown filled her. She felt the pain of losing a loved one... Felt the pain of knowing you'll be leaving the world soon; felt the sorrow of everything.
We toughed through the sorrow... It wasn't easy, but it had to be done if we wanted to survive. Twilight couldn't help but feel she was right there with the author. Each step was a burden on her fragile mind, up to a point that her magic ceased to work. Darkness engulfed the room around her, the only light being the dull yellow one at the end of the hall.
There was a light at the end of the corridor. It taunted us mercilessly... Even as we grew nearer, it never increased in size. Then again, out hope was very slim... Far as I could tell, we were the first ponies to make it that far. The days before were hard to get through... The dark void forced us into three different scenarios, each a painful one in itself. One of them was one that caused great physical harm to both of us, the other two of our greatest nightmares. The light shimmered at the same velocity, no matter how close she neared. Still, it urged hope into her...
Then... We finally reached the light. We thought the dark void was bad... The nightmare was just beginning Twilight stopped in front of the orb that was emitting a very small amount of light. Not having any other options, she reached out and touched it.
We thought everything was over when we first touched it... Far from it. The cavern began to light up all around her. Her jaw slowly slid open as carvings of everything she knew and loved started to appear on them.
That cavern gave us hope... Perhaps it was that hope that kept us going. The carvings all slowly began to fade away, as did the entire cavern. It didn't fade like normal, rather everything slowly started to blow away like leaves in the wind.
"What's happening?!"
"Looks like we're done here..."
"Mystia, I'm scared.
"I am too.
"So am I..." Twilight felt a strange out of body experience. Looking down, she saw her hooves turning to a dust and flying away. Her body slowly began to fade into dust as it traveled from her hooves to her body. As it reached her neck, she closed her eyes and awaited whatever was to happen.