//------------------------------//
// Outside I 
// Story: Distant Memories 
// by Lord of Nothing 
//------------------------------//

"Where are we?" I mumble to the ground, staring on in disbelief at the wasteland before us. It's lifeless, but far away from empty; the ground is littered with debris of all shapes and sizes, each looking as if it'd come from a different source. It also looks as if some great machine lays off maybe a mile or so away from us, though what its purpose could be is something I can't even begin to guess. Just beyond that, a thick cloud of fog cancels out everything else, creating a solid-looking barrier between us and whatever might lay beyond. A quick glance skyward would make it seem that the sun had gone dim and the sky simply gave up and turned itself black to match.

"What do you mean?" she asks calmly. 

Although I'm still propped up against Blue, I turn my head to look directly at her. "What do I mean?!" I shout right in her ear before trying desperately to cover my mouth. It's too late though, because, before I can manage another word or motion, she lets out a yell of her own, and then I'm on the ground in a cloud of dust. I shift a bit, trying to get on my side to take pressure off my leg and make the best of the situation. I know I should apologize somehow while she paces back and forth, because such a thing was inapropriate and unnecessary on my part, but I just can't believe how cool she seems to be about whatever state the world around us is in. 

I wait a moment or two, then try to say something, but she tells me to just shut up, which I quickly do. Somewhere off in the distance, past the irritated noise or two Blue makes, and more than likely well beyond our barrier of fog, I can hear a great groan, as if a humongous structure had finally began to settle. That natural sense of curiosity all creatures have rises up from within me, almost pushing me to break my silence and ask my companion if she knows anything about that noise, but concerns for my well-being and sanity quickly beat the urge back down; after all, if I can barely handle what all of this is in front of me, why would I be anymore able to handle whatever happened to lie out further?

Blue suddenly stops her pacing and sits down, looking directly at me. I'm not too sure about what she may or may not be getting at, so I try and avoid making contact of any kind. However, after a few seconds, she lighty taps a hoof against the dirt and whistles, an obvious attempt to get me to pay attention, which I do, though still keeping quiet. 

"I told you who I am, right?" she asks, and I nod. "Can you tell me who you are then?"

Damn. This is one of the many moments I've been trying to ready myself for since meeting her, and, unsurprisingly, just like all of said moments, I'm horribly unprepared. I think and think, but nothing comes of it. I could just name an object, but she'd no doubt see right through that. As I search the surrounding area for an answer, I meet her gaze, and she looks just as calm as she did minutes before. 

"Having some trouble?"

Celestia above, it's like she can read my mind or something, as much as I'd like not to think about the possibility of that being the truth. 

Still, I nod, and she looks as if she understands my struggle.  She repositions, laying down from her upright position, then starts talking again before I can ask her what she's trying to accomplish. 

"How much do you remember?" I open my mouth to question, but she adds, "About anything."

That really gives me a lot of room to work with, so let's see. Well, for starters, I remember Blue's name, and that everything around us is bleak, and that I was just trapped inside of something, and that my head was bandaged, and, uh...then...oh, shit. 

"Having some more trouble?" she chimes again. 

"What do you want me to say?" I ask, beginning to get fed up with the unicorn. 

"Nothing, I just want you to listen to me."

And now I'm frustrated and confused with her. If she wants me to listen to whatever she's got to say, she needs to stop asking questions and get to speaking, because all I've done is listen since we met not ten minutes ago, and she's failed to tell me anything thus far.

"Why do you think my name's 'Blue'?" she begins with yet another question. This time, however, she gives me time to answer.

"You have unoriginal parents?"

The comment seems to strike a chord with her, but I realize I haven't really been able to determine anything about her just by looking, so I drop the subject and wait. 

"Well, as easy as it'd be to say I do and leave it a that, the answer's much simpler. Do you see my coat?" I nod. "That's where I got my name."

"So, your friends gave it to you?"

"I didn't have any friends; I gave it to myself."

Now that's just dumb; of all the names a pony could give themselves, why would she choose to make it one as boring as that? That's like if I called myself...Gray...

I look up at her as my revelation ends, and she just tilts her head and asks "Yes?", almost as if she were making fun of me for finally understanding. Unfortunately for her, she won't be coming out on top. 

"I don't care what my name really is, but I'm not going to call myself that."

"Whatever, Gray."

Goddess, it sounds even stupider when said aloud. Hopefully we'll be able to live on in such a way that we never have to say one another's names, just so I never have to hear that again. 

Blue clears her throat, probably getting ready to go back to what she was originally going to say. 

"Now, do you know why I gave myself that name?"

Not wanting to endure another small victory of hers in conversation, I remain quiet and let her say what she needs to. 

"It was the only thing I could think of. You know how you woke up under all that rubble?" I nod once more, becoming somewhat interested. "Well, I didn't wake up like that; I woke up out there." She finishes by gesturing towards the abandoned area in front of us. "And when I did, I couldn't remember how I'd gotten there. Surely you know how that feels, right?"

Gears were turning faster than I thought they could inside my head.

What was Blue trying to say? That we both blacked out in random places and woke up without any ideas about anything? I could feel my initial suspicions about her returning, only now I don't feel that she knew what she was doing; she is nothing more than a loon, and now she's trying her best to make me the same, and it almost started working. I try to counteract and deter her from trying any harder by just telling her outright that she's wrong. 

"Listen, Blue, I don't think you know what you're talking about. I mean, there's just no way that that's possible."

She repositions once more, now standing on all fours and staring down at me. "No, listen to me, Gray; if anyone doesn't know what's happening to us, it's you."

Another groan, much like the one from before, echoes again around us, though sounding a bit louder somehow. We both stop and wait for a moment as the air settles, but then she looks back to me. 

"You were the lucky one. You were able to wake up sheltered, while I had to find my way around in the middle of that. Do you know what kind of things I saw out there?"

She had me there; I honestly had no idea what she'd seen, though I'm sure it was all just in her head, perhaps an overreaction to waking up lost. 

"I highly doubt it could have been much worse than waking up trapped and practically blind."

"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"

Very quickly, just with that statement, I went from sure in my abilities to defend myself against an attack to mildly concerned about whatever insane trick she may or may not have up her sleeve. I wipe a nervous bead of sweat away with a hoof, not taking my eyes away from her. 

"Actually, Gray, why don't we take a little walk?" she says, suddenly seeming more composed, once again throwing me off. All traces of mild insanity she showed were no longer present on her outer shell, but I know they linger inside. 

She takes the few steps over to me, then extends a hoof and waits. I eye the appendage cautiously, then, figuring I have no other choice beside her and dying alone on the ground, slowly reach out and accept. 

We work together to get me up and moving, and she lets me lean against her again. We take a step forward as a single being, but I stop us before taking another. 

"Where exactly are we going to go?"

"Why, out there, of course."

She moves, forcing me to as well, and we slowly but surely make our way even further out in to the great unknown, with neither of us being fully prepared to face whatever we may find.