The Lies We Live

With a squint and a moan, the world came into focus. Twilight looked about her room and squinted her eyes tight at the sight of the morning sunlight beaming through the window. She groaned and rolled over in her bed and sat up, giving a yawn and rubbing the morning grit from her eyes. A sluggish day it would seem.

With her sight and sense of touch finally returned from their own slumber, Twilight gazed about the room. It was rather simple and functional. The bed sat off to the side of the room and a small night stand with a book set upon it sat to the side of the bed. At the other end of the room was a desk with three opened books and a scroll with unfinished scrawl marks. The walls were lined with bookshelves, each filled to the brim with books of all kinds.

Twilight thought back to the odd dream she had woken from, another in a series. She looked herself over to see she had no wings but the body of a normal unicorn, as she had always had. Such fancy to believe she could become a princess, much less an alicorn.

She hopped down from her bed, giving a short wobble, and had to lean against the bed until her still tired legs could support her. The effect of the dream continued to berate her as she expected to find a small dragon sleeping in a small bed at the foot of hers or to find such walk in to see if she was awake yet. Yet no dragon was present.

With the dream still fresh in her mind, Twilight walked over to the desk and examined the scroll, a report on a study of levitation magic. She walked over to the window and peered out at the busy streets of Canterlot below. She looked back at the book lined walls and the unfinished report on the desk. Her life as it had always been.

She thought back to the dream once more. The friends it had created and the adventure it had designed. Yes. That was all it was. A creation of the subconscious, nothing more.

There were no wonderful friends or grand adventures. There was no crown she wore or castle she lived in. There was no small dragon who was like a little brother. Nothing. A figment of the imagination and nothing more.

Twilight picked up a hoof and stared at it. She gritted her teeth as tears began to well up in her eyes. Why? Why could she not have that adventure or those friends from her dream? Why was she left alone?

She reared up and slammed her front hooves into the floor. Why could she not have the wonderful things that her dream had shown her? Why did it tease her with wonders and joy only to fade and remind her of her loneliness? Why?

Night after night, the dream had taunted her with a fantastical life full of joy. Friends who were as close as family and a life of importance and prestige. And each morning, the dream faded and her real life was laid out before her. She was alone.

Twilight felt her teeth begin to grind and her hooves scrap the floor. Why was she alone? Why did her subconscious torment her night after dreadful night? Was she expected to do something?

She thought to the many ponies she had seen and compared them to the friends her dream had created. Yes, created. It seemed that no such friends existed. And what did she care for those she did see? Haughty and self-centered. Focused on mindless things and personal gain. If ponies such as those in her dream did exist, they were not to be found in Canterlot.

But what of her? Day in and day out she toiled away to gain whatever knowledge she could. She devoured the teachings of the wise and knowledgeable. And she had hidden herself away, looked down upon the thought of making friends. Just as others had refused her, she had refused them.

She stared down her hooves as tears dripped from her face to the floor. Was it all really that bad? She was a talented, even gifted, unicorn. She had managed to prove herself and had not only be admitted to the School for Gifted Unicorns but had shown such promise to become the personal student to Princess Celestia, the only alicorn known to exist. Such talent, such promise. Was this not worth a bit of loneliness? The princess had even grown to be like a second mother.

Twilight felt her rage subside and her tears cool as they continued to stream down her face. Could she have more? Even just something small? A single friend. One small journey to satiate her wanderlust. Something.

She went to the window once more and looked out at the ponies below. She could change. She could be the friend she wanted. She just needed an opportunity. One chance to change it all. Just one was all she asked for.

But how did she make friends? She tried to think back to the dream but only recalled having the friends and not how to make friends. How did one become friends with others? She needed to know. She only need one friend. That would be enough.

She felt a smile cross her face. She would do it. She would change and make a friend. No matter what it took, she would end this dreary loneliness that hounded her. Please, just one chance to make just one friend. That was all she asked for.

She turned to the door and froze, her body unwilling to listen to commands. Her room stretched and the door moved far out of reach. A ring echoed in her ears and incited frustration. The room continued to stretch as she felt herself being pulled away from it all.