//------------------------------// // Am I going insane? // Story: The white room // by BewhoUr //------------------------------// Tick. Tick. Tick. I wake up to the ticking of a clock. Strange, I don't keep a clock. Most ponies do, and honestly, I don't get it. But I do guess I have an oddly accurate sense of time. So really, why ever would I need a clock? My head burns like fury, and I can't remember the last few hours, seeing it is midnight. I wouldn't normally be up at this time, and yet I somehow feel dreadfully awake. I wonder where I am? I'm certainly not on my comfy bed at home, because there is only a hard floor beneath me. I blink an eye open, feeling woozy, and I immediately gasp in shock. I'm not in my room. I'm not in Ponyville. Am I even in Equestria? Does a place this.. desolate even exist in Equestria? For the first time in my life, I have absolutely no idea where I am. All I know... Is that everything is a bright, clean white. And wherever I am, I'm alone. Now, if you had asked me what I would do if I was alone a couple years ago, I would have said read. Now, I'm thinking get out and get back to my friends. But that's the thing. There are no doors. No windows, no furniture. Nothing. Just me, a medium sized white room, and a clock. Its ticking continues to ring in my ears ans I flick an ear and stand up shakily. I quickly, though I feel dizzy and dehydrated, spin around and take my surroundings in for a second time. There is no clear way out. Its just me. I'm alone here. And I don't like it. Because it brings me the only thing that I have learned to fear- solitude. With the help of my friends, I defeated Nightmare moon, Discord, the changelings, found the reverse spell to a spell that made my friends have a drastic change in their lives, and defeated Tirek and Sombra. But what have I done alone? Nothing. That's what. At least, it seems like it. I mean, the things that I've done by myself are small compared to the things I've done with my best friends by my side. This thought in my head, I take a shaky breath and begin to walk around. No particular place, just... walk. Tick. Tick. Tick. The ticking of the clock follows me as a pace the room, sweat on my face and a worried look accompanying it. I glare at the clock, seeing that but a couple minutes, adding up to the sum of around a half hour, have taken place since I woke up. I have so many questions. Why am I here? How do I get out? Can I get out without the help of my friends? I don't know the answer. But for them, for me... I have to try. "OK Twilight, don't panic. You can do this. Lets see... are the walls unstable?" I raise my head to shoot a beam of powerful magic at the south wall, (I think it's the south wall, I'm not exactly sure,) only to find, with some shock, that my horn is defective. Negative. Totally useless. I gulp, my eyes narrowing. I want to scream, but when I open my mouth and take a breath, I hear no sound. I begin pacing frantically, but no hoof prints are left on the floor. I curl up in a ball, shaking frantically. I'm never going to get out of here, to my friends and the real world. I'm going to be stuck here forever... In this world. With nothing but me and the clock. I lay my head on my hooves in defeat. Its almost as if the ticking of the clock was draining my patience, focus, and energy. But suddenly, something goes off in my head. There is no possible way that I could be in a place with no escape. I was in here, with no doors or windows. But there still had to be a world outside of this box, right? I look around. There's only one place that I see that could be a clear, easy escape. "The clock!" I race over to the clock and, with a sureness in my step, reach out a foreleg and shatter the clock. Behind it is a tunnel. "Well. Here goes everything." Honestly, I'm glad to have the dreadful ticking out of my ears. But I don't particularly like the feeling of being in a dark, damp tunnel. Its quite a change from the bright white full of nothingness. And I can't tell if its better, or worse. Seeing as my horn doesn't work, I'm in total darkness. And that doesn't help when you're trying to navigate a tunnel. It's a tight fit for me, but I'm determined. At least there aren't any turns, if there were I'd probably be doomed. I feel like the tunnel is going to collapse on top of me any second. How long have I been traveling now? It seems like hours, though its only probably been a couple dozen minutes. Now that I'm getting closer to the outside world, (I think I am,) my magic and my senses are returning. And because of this, I feel awfully tired... I snap to awareness from the close call. If I fall asleep under here, I may never get out. So I take a deep breath and keep moving. I feel some water drip on my nose. Its getting damper, that's a good sign. It means that I'm getting closer to the outside. It also, however, means that I have a greater chance of being squished. I shrug off the thought and keep moving. Suddenly, I see a choice to make in front of me. One path is straight. One is curvy. According to logic, the straight one would be the fastest way out of the tunnel. But I don't know if logic is present here- wherever I am. I take a deep breath a begin to turn towards the curved path. As I walk down it, I recall why I got out in the first place- I wanted my friends. I NEEDED my friends. And all though I had gotten out without their help, if it weren't for the thought of maybe never seeing them again, I may have died in there. And I knew I must choose the curvy path, because friend ship isn't a straight line. It curves, bends, sometimes even seems like it will stop, and its varied. But it keeps going. I smell fresh air ahead of me, I can almost see the air of the starry night sky. "Well," I breathe. "Friendship is more powerful then magic. I rest my case."