We'll Face Ourselves

"Do you seek the future?"

The voice awoke Twilight with a start, but she...well, she wasn't awake. She was in a dream, or thay's what she thought, anyway. The voice in particular reminded Twilight of when she had that other dream about the "Velvet Room", as the voice sounded like the one belonging to the colt Time Turner.

Do..d-do I seek the future? The question rang in Twilight's mind. Does she seek the future? What does the question mean? Does she desire to see what will happen next in her life?

"Uh...hello?" Twilight called out to nowhere in particular. Her vision cleared; well, sort of. She could see, but fog stopped her from seeing anything.

The only thing Twilight felt she could do was walk forward, so that's what she did. She galloped forward cautiously, feeling a chill run down her spine. Where was she?

"Do you seek the truth?"

That voice again.

Twilight shuddered as she continued on.

"Then, come and find me...."

"Who? Who am I supposed to come and find?" Twilight desperatly called out, trying to find out who was speaking, but no answer appeared.

She decided to continue galloping.

The fog grew thicker, and thicker, and thicker, and it was hard to see. Twilight found herself falling on her face a couple times.

After recovering from a rather tedious fall, Twilight noticed something on the other side. It was red and black...swirling and swirling together as if it was trying to hypnotize her.

"What is this-" Twilight questioned, but stopped herself when she realized that no pony would answer. She trotted closer to it, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to see clearer.

Suddenly, a chill, not like any other, ran up her spine. It was a chill that surfaced like a sense- a feeling that something was happening.

Something was beyond that door.

Fear striking Twilight at every angle, she pressed her hoof against the red-and-black structure. Light began to shine through the fog, and Twilight had to shield her eyes from it in order to not go blind. However, this wasn't enough: the light was pressing against her like a hammer pushing harder and harder. Soon, light engulfed her entire sight.

When she removed her hooves from her eyes, her vision cleared to be met with a peculiar silhoutte of a pony...almost like a shadow.

"So you came...are you the one in pursuit of me? Heh...try all you like...I will not stop you."

Suddenly, a feeling struck Twilight as if lightning had hit her. "Ngh...aaaagh!" She yelped in pain, and suddenly, a voice came to light in her mind.

I am...thou art...

time is...open...

The sound was chopped up, as if there was more to be said, but it was cut off.

Before anything could happen, a blue card rose above her, just in the line of Twilight's vision. "H-huh...?"

She reaced out to touch it. The moment she touched it, it shattered, and the lightning worthy pain struck her again. Another silhoutte of some sort of thing she'd see out of mythology appeared, though Twilight could not make out what it was. It struck at the pony silhoutte, but the silhoutte did not falter.

"Might it be you can see...you are not ready to control it."

What was the silhoutte saying? Keeping its word, it did not strike back. Twilight felt the card fall down again-she just could tell when it was appearing somehow. Tapping it once more reluctantly, pain shot through her- this time more forceful, and she winced, trembling as the mythology silhoutte appeared again.

"The sweet delusions of the world are all created through this fog...this is what people want."

She struck again. Though the pain shook her, her sight never wavered, and her energy never faded.

The silhoutte finally attacked. The fog seemed to grow even thicker.

When Twilight attacked, it didn't even connect, and the pain grew worse. "What the- I..."

Dark shadows began to envelop her line of sight.

"Perhaps we will meet again..."

Then, it all went black.

"Hey, heey! Twi-nii! Twilight-nii! Wake up!"

The squeaky, innocent voice brought Twilight to attention. It was none other than Little Spark, who was calling her 'Twi-nii" and "Twilight-nii" for some reason.

"You gotta get ready for school, Twi-nii!"

That woke her.

"Nyaaah! I'm gonna be laaate!"

"T-twi, you're not gonna be late, you ju-"

"Nyaaah!"

In a rush of clothes, hair ties and slightly burnt toast, Twilight was out of the house. "Bye, Watch Light-san, Spark-chan!"

It was a long walk to school.

It was quiet..and boring...and...foggy?

Really foggy. It was so hard to see, which was probably one of the reasons why it was a long walk to school.

The boring silence was broken not too long after though.

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

It was a high pitched yell of fear, and before she could react, something pink wheeled past her. Shortly after, a CRASH sounded.

"Whoah!" In a hurry to get to school but still figure out what was happening, Twilight rushed over to where she heard the crash.

There was a pink tricycle that was dirty and a bit cracked. It had balloon motifs all over it.

There was also a light pink mare with a dark pink mane of bubbly puffs and cyan eyes that whirled around and around in the "I'm dizzy" motion. Her cutie mark consisted of three balloons.

"Uh..are you okay?" Twilight offered a hoof to the mare.

The mare lept up without the help of Twilight, and paying her no mind, she bounced off, leaving the confused Twilight and the tricycle behind.

"I was just trying to help..." Twilight said, feeling a disappointed growl place itself inside of her.

This was going to be one heck of a school year.