//------------------------------// // Accepting The Impossible // Story: I ran my car into Twilight's house... // by ThereIsNo4thWall //------------------------------// I'm not sure how long I had been asleep, but I woke up feeling great. No more headache, and I could feel my legs, and my arms got feeling back into them only seconds after I unfolded them and rolled onto my back. Oh gosh! The light's still on! IT BURNS! I nearly groaned a complaint against my little brother for turning on the light in our room after he woke up, but then I realized that my bed felt an awful lot like a wooden floor... I slowly sat up, trying to be as quiet as possible while my brain recovered the details of the night before and my apparent automatic shut down. Apparently my body had decided that sleep was more important than holding a conversation with Twilight about... Whatever we were discussing. If I wasn't used to occasionally passing out in the middle of a video game or a conversation whenever I've gone too long without sleep, this would probably freak me out, but thankfully, I just found it annoying. Which is good, because I'm going to need all my freak out energy focused on the whole thinking I'm in Equestria thing. I gave a hurried look around. I didn't see any movement or hear anything that would signify someone else being awake in here, so I scooted to one of the machines that looked like it could support me while I leaned against it. I wanted to be comfortable while I tried to figure everything out. I may have sounded eerily calm at this point, but trust me, I wasn't. I could feel the panic rising up, a tidal wave in the back of my mind that was building and building as it made its way to the front. Soon it would consume any rational thinking, and I'd likely begin a proper mental breakdown. Questioning everything repeatedly, ignoring answers, and possibly breaking things in some vain attempt to shatter whatever 'illusion' I thought my brain was making for me. Sure, at the moment I was just leaning against a metal box and idly drumming my fingers on the ground, but that's because the panic hadn't taken control yet. I had a chance, just one chance, to logically figure out what to do and move forward, before whatever sense of composure I was given left me completely. So without any further delay, I went to work. Now, I'm not sure what it's like for other people, when they go inside their head and give various metaphorical concepts to symbolize their brain. Mine is often a series of rooms, with the most important one being a big control panel where one brain cell acts upon the orders of whatever the majority decrees. I credit my more idiotic actions to one of the stupid brain cells refusing to follow orders and hijacking the control room for themselves. Other times it is like a court room, with various arguments presented by various versions of me in suits, shouting objection while making up points and counter points whilst a judge prevents it from being derailed into nonsense. Right now was more of the latter, though we also had another guy with a large marker board. It would be his job to write the various theories I could come up with, while the other halves of my brain argued about each point's credibility. "Okay, we don't have long before the mob of panic strikes, unless we have a solid plan of how to act before then, we'll have no choice but to give in to their demands." The judge me spoke, wearing a black robe as he slammed a small brightly colored gavel onto his desk, the gavel making squeaking noises like some kind of doggy toy. Yes folks, he's the one in charge of keeping order... I know, we're likely doomed, but just hear him out. "Without further delay," The judge continued, ceasing his meaningless gavel banging, "Intelligence, what are your current theories?" With that, the one with the marker board, who wore the old classical science coat and for some reason larger glasses, held up the board to reveal three theories. 1. We crashed the car during the storm right after that last lightning bolt. Everything else has been the result of us being in a coma due to the crash. 2. We crashed our car, and received some type of brain damage. We're likely awake at this moment, but we've lost all sense of reason and are currently experiencing vivid audio and visual hallucinations. 3. We're really in Equestria? I mean, it's possible I guess? "Objection!" The first lawyer said, slamming his hands onto the desk before pointing dramatically. "We can't be in a coma. Everything we've experienced has been too real. We've always been unsure of our conscious state when genuinely dreaming, but we've always known what actual consciousness has felt like, even when we've suffered from sleep deprivation. We've also fallen asleep and felt pain during our time here. Clearly we aren't in a coma. "OBJECTION! The second lawyer shouted, slamming his fists onto his desk, not bothering to point at all. "We've NEVER been in a coma, and have NO idea what it would feel like. We've never even researched them before! Comas could quite possibly feel just as real as real life, we'd have no way of knowing! None of the usual rules, such as not being able to feel pain or read, could apply in this current situation, and we'd have no way of knowing!" At this, the first lawyer was silent. Staring at his shoes as if the answer would be written there. "That's it?" The judge asked, sounding rather annoyed. "You're telling me the answer to the first theory is: Maybe... All that desk slamming, and we've basically reached the conclusion of I don't flipping know!" This caused the second lawyer to stare at his shoes too, before both of them gave a weak nod. In response, Intelligence placed a question mark in front of the number one. "Very well then, second point." The judge demanded, prompting the first lawyer to look up, a mere fraction of his earlier energy returning. "Uhm, well. Uh... If we are only experiencing vivid hallucinations, then we'd still at least partially be affected by the real world, correct? Yet we've heard nothing that wound be out of place in Twilight's house, neither have we felt any strange forces of pressure that one would expect if we were being restrained in some hospital somewhere while they tried to get ready for whatever surgery could fix us, so... I don't think we're simply hallucinating." "You say these things, as if one could not be so caught up in the false world around them as to become unable to feel or hear the real world. We could have gotten up out of bed and ended up being restrained back into it without us knowing. I mean really, we already tend to go inside our head when thinking of serious issues enough to ignore a great deal of the real world, what's to say we can't go even further, especially if our brain has been damaged in some way." "OH MY GOSH!" The judge suddenly shouted, rising out of his chair. "Are you telling me again that we don't flipping know!" There was a moment of silence for a second, before both the lawyers nodded meekly. "AND LET ME GUESS: We don't know about the third topic either!" This earned the judge a weak smile from both the lawyers as they gave a small shrug. "I mean, honestly I doubt we can be in an entirely new world or dimension or whatever. The whole idea sounds ridiculous. There have never been any real mention of humans running into alternate dimensions or other worlds and such like this. Such things are only in the realm of fiction. As awesome as being in Equestria would be, it just shouldn't be possible." "Well yeah, but we watched tons of cartoons and anime like that as a kid, the ones where some random every day kid ends up somehow traveling to some strange fantasy land where they have awesome adventures and occasionally obtain super powers. Sure all of those things are only in fiction, but how many times have we gone around our neighborhood growing up, just waiting for such a thing to happen to us? Heck, even now we still wait for some random magic portal to appear whenever some strong storm hits or anything particularly weird happens at home. I know we believe it to be impossible, but after how long we've spent hoping for such a thing, should we really discard the idea now that we finally have reason to believe it's happened?" "Order. Order." The judge said in a deadpan tone, giving the gavel a few weak smacks against the desk. "No monologing about childhood dreams. Thanks for basically making us undecided on all three points though. That's a real help." As the judge finished speaking, the courtroom began to rumble, while a sound like several voices speaking at the same time, yet saying different things, surrounded the room. "Oh, great. The Mob of Madness is here. GOOD JOB GUYS! WE DIDN'T FIX ANYTHING!" The judge rose out of his chair again, the gavel nearly flying out of his hand at how quickly he threw them up in a mix of anger and despair. "I may be able to help." Intelligence spoke, his voice demanding attention despite its calm tone. "However, first we need to decide on an important issue: If this really is Equestria, would we be content staying here now, or would we wish to find some way to get back to Earth?" Whether it was the question itself, or the calm intensity with which Intelligence asked it, the rumbling stopped, and the judge sat back down. "No." The two lawyers spoke in unison. Even if this truly is Equestria, we don't wish to stay here, at least not like this. As awesome as it would be to be there, we still have a few loose ends at home. For one, we can't have our best friends and younger siblings thinking we're dead. Also, we've made a deal with one of our best friends, David, that in the event of one of us reaching such a place, we'd immediately try to find a way to contact the other, so that way neither of us ended up going on such an adventure and discovering such a thing as other worlds while leaving the other to deal with regular life under the belief that we had died. Finding a way back home is top priority." The lawyers spoke to the judge, who in turn gave a grim nod towards Intelligence, who gave a smirk as he dramatically adjusted his glasses. "Then we have nothing more to discuss. If we're in a coma, then our best chance of waking up from it would be to get back home. In all the fiction we've observed, doing something to leave the world created by the coma was the only way to wake up from it. If we're hallucinating, there really isn't anything we can do. Either we'll die, or something will be done to fix us. So long as we don't ignore any sudden familiar voices from home, we should be fine. If we're really in Equestria, we'd still wish to contact home while enjoying our time here. therefore, this is our plan: Act like we're really in Equestria, say nothing of the cartoon, and politely yet assertively request that a way back home be found for us. So long as we continue to make progress towards getting back home, we have nothing to fear. Either the world around us will become more and more insane as it attempts to keep us here, at which point we'll know it isn't real, or we'll simply get back home and wake up, or receive confirmation that this was all real." "Wait, so that's it?" The judge asked, a hint of his earlier annoyance in his voice. "All of this intense mental focus and near insanity, and the answer is basically keep calm and carry on?" Intelligence nodded. "What about how TABLE FLIPPING IMPOSSIBLE all of this should be! We should be freaking out! We should be freaking out about EVERYTHING!" The judge's voice boomed, sounding frantic for a second, as Intelligence simply straightened his tie. "Panic is counter productive towards both survival and happiness in all three situations. We shall remain calm. We have no logical reason to panic. We shall find answers soon enough. Until then, we shall relax while figuring out a way back home at our earliest possible convenience." At this, the judge disappeared, and so did Intelligence, as I dismantled the mental court room and turned my focus back to the world around me and the basement I was in. The pressure in the back of my head, and my desire to panic, were both gone now. I felt a little odd, like I wasn't reacting properly to the situation. Some small part of me still desired to freak out, but it was easily silenced, and with a sigh, I got back on my feet. Operation keep calm and carry on is go! Either I'm in a coma and I get to enjoy an insanely vivid dream before returning home, or I'm actually in Equestria and... I felt a sudden desire to squee build inside me. I could REALLY be in Equestria! This is so AWESOME! I thought, yelling inside my head as I genuinely gave a loud squee of excitement before making my way up the stairs. I was determined to enjoy this while it lasted, I would not give in to despair or worry, possible coma or no, I had a plan that worked for almost every problem I could think of, and I wasn't about to squander whatever time I could have in Equestria, real or not. I couldn't help but give a huge grin as I reached the top of the stairs, feeling like I was on top of the world. At least until I then hit my head on the ceiling, which hurt quite a bit. "Gee, thanks world." I muttered to... Well... No one in particular. "Here I am having just slain my desire to panic, and you attempt to give me brain damage. Real nice." I joked, giving a short chuckle as I made my way to the door at the end of the short hallway that the stairs had led me to, being extra sure to hunch over a bit to avoid another head injury.