A Bit of Reason

by LordBarcha

Hypnos

Miles was running. It was what he did best, after all. He had been running forever, it seemed. Cold pavement. Soft grass. Muddy earth. It all felt the same under his panicked hooves. He was running from something, but he couldn’t remember why.

The voice came again, “You can’t run forever, Miles.”

Cold reached out to embrace him. Though it tried to shut down his frantic legs, he pushed himself harder, running faster than ever before. Looming suddenly, a town flew past. Colorful and cheerful ponies happily pranced, not even noticing him. The world was dark and grey, but they acted like it was the middle of summer. Again, the cold bit at his heels. Again, he rushed onward.

Wretched and ruined, the houses lay broken. Rubble, weathered by years of neglect, filled the streets.

“You’ll die, you know,” the voice stated flatly, “You’re not supposed to exist.”

This did nothing to alleviate his fears. Indeed, they were magnified. However, his terror finally tripped the breaker. His legs locked, sending him plummeting to the ground. Fortunately, an abandoned mattress broke his stumbling collapse.

“It’s about time,” the voice sighed, “I was worried you might outrun me.”

“What do you want?” Miles gasped, struggling for air.

“I want to give you a choice,” The voice announced, finally stepping into the open. As grey as the rest of the world, it looked like nothing more than a statue. From the center of its face, a single blue eye stared at him.

“What are you? Why have you taken away the colors?”

“I have not done this. You have done it to yourself. You looked into the wrong places, found the wrong things. You could call me The Dreamer, or perhaps The Cadence, if it would make you feel better.”

“What did I find?”

“The truth. And that is why you have to choose.”

“Choose what? What truth?

“Think back. Think about your life before now. What do you see?”

In a flash, a picture came back to him. He was alone within a ruined palace. Sigils depicting the sun and the moon lay broken on the floor. Collapsed sections revealed the remains of a city. Blinking, the colors returned. Ponies, as happy as ever, danced and sang.

“Everywhere I go, I see nothing but ruin and desolation,” he answered.

“That’s because it’s reality. The world is dead. All of the ponies you have seen are nothing more than ghosts, the shades of a ruined world. They were saved by Celestia’s last action. She cast an illusion so intricate that it convinced them that nothing was wrong. They kept on living, believing that they had never died. You have slipped free of the illusion. You don’t have a body. Unless something is done, you will die.”

“So what’s there to choose?”

“Your choices are so very, very simple. You could die, leaving this ruin, or you could forget and live on, forever. What will you choose?”

Author's Note:

My thanks to LL, who proof read the thing. Comments and criticisms are appreciated.

Comments

[toafan]

Oh, that's dark. I like that one.

[NachoTheBrony]

[Gavier]

A little late, but you do deserve this late like.