By the time her tale made it’s way to the end we had both shifted into lying positions, with our heads sitting on top of our crossed front hooves.

I cock my head to the side curiously, “So, you were trapped in the beautiful stone inside of the pendant that charming colt gave me?”

She blows a strand of her mane out of her face, “Yeah, pretty much,” she says as she twists her hoof around in front of her face, inspecting it curiously, “I think I might still be in there though, being with you is definitely helping. I’m feeling much better already.”

As I watch her play with her hoof I try to come up with something to reassure her, all I can think of however is the obvious, “So, are you with me all the time now or something? I’d imagine that might get a bit… awkward at times.”

She blushes a little before scratching her head with one hoof, as if in thought, “I dunno, this is new for both of us.”

I sigh, “Well if you are,” and this isn’t just some silly dream, “it’s good to know I have someone looking out for me. Just let it be known that I don’t need nor want everything to be watched.”

She blushes, smiling widely at me, “Alright, fine,” She says, sounding almost disappointed, “Really, I’m just glad I have someone to talk to after all this time,” She shivers, before smiling again sheepishly, “Uh, what’s your name again?”

“It’s alright, we weren’t properly introduced. My name is Emerald Shine,” I put my hoof out to shake, she appears momentarily confused by the gesture, uncertainly she clops her hoof against mine, That works too I guess, “What’s your name.”

She frowns, a look of uncertainty coming over her face, “Uh, I… don’t seem to quite, erm… remember?” Her ears splay flat against her head, her face turning downcast, “I’m sorry.”

I reach out to her cheek with my hoof to comfort her, she looks up at me, her misty purple eyes starting to tear up, “It’s alright, maybe you’ll remember it eventually.”

She sniffs, managing to hold back her tears, “I don’t think I will. Like I said, I can’t remember all that much from before.”

Still looking her straight in the eyes I smile, “If you want we can come up with one for you, together.”

Her frown disappears, as the corners of her mouth slowly turned upwards. She lifts her hoof up to her eyes, wiping away the tears, “That would be wonderful.”

I look around, taking in our surroundings. We are still floating in the same purplish void, perhaps her name could be something purple-related? “Hmm, what would you call this shade of purple that surrounds us?”

She gives me a questioning expression, “I’m not sure if you noticed but there are a lot of shades of purple around us right now, you’ve got to be more specific”

I sigh, “Alright then, what would you call the shades of purple around us?”

“Okay, I don’t really see the point of this, but fine,” She studies the moving void around us, “It looks a bit like lavender,sorta violet in the darker parts?”

I sit quietly, contemplating the colours. What would go well as a name? “Hmm, something like Amethyst, or Violet maybe. Hmm,” I mutter to myself.

She waves her hoof in front of my face, startling me, “Oh, I’m sorry for startling you, but, well, how do I say this? Both of those sound lovely but I’d prefer something...” she motions at herself, “More original?”

Quite surprised by her sudden outburst I find myself slowly edging backwards. After settling down I clear my throat, getting her attention, “Well, I was thinking, I’m Emerald Shine and wouldn’t say, something like Amethyst Shine compliment that nicely?”

She shakes her head, “No thank you, as nice as it would be I don’t feel as if it would really fit all that well.”

I sigh, moving into a sitting position, “Hmm, well, yes, now that you mention it Amethyst makes for a rather inappropriate name. Your stone, my stone?” The mentioned stone materializes before us.

I study it closely for a second before coming to my decision, “No, that stone is clearly not an amethyst, not even a quartz really. It’s more of a… I’m not actually sure what type of stone that is. Whatever it is looks quite exotic however.”

She seems quite surprised by my analysis, “Huh, I didn’t take you to be someone into rocks.”

I give her a warm smile, “Well, looks can be deceiving. No?” I shift my position, turning my flank towards her, displaying my cutie-mark.

She appears to be confused as she blushes slightly, her eyes glued to my flank, “Why are you showing me your rear?”

I blush slightly at the misunderstanding, “No, no, I’m showing you my cutie-mark,” I shake my flank, causing her blush to redden, “See, right there, up on my flank.”

“Oh, the butt tattoos? What exactly do they mean? All of you ponies seem to have them,” She asks curiously, motioning to her own flank, devoid of any markings.

Her questions were becoming alarmingly strange, and quite crude, “Ah- please don’t be so crass, they are cutie-marks not, ugh, ‘butt-tattoos’. Surely you must know what they are?”

She shakes her head, “I seriously have no idea what these ‘cutie-marks’ are. Could you please enlighten me?”

“Oh, my. You are serious?” She nods, “Well, a cutie-mark is a visual representation of your speciality, whether it be a hobby, a job, or just an interest. You gain your mark, usually when you’re a foal, when you realise your true purpose in life. As your flank is well, blank, I assume you haven’t found your talent yet.”

“Well, as far as I know, I’ve never gotten a tattoo in my life,” She says matter-of-factly.

“Well again, it’s not a tattoo, it appears on it’s own when you discover your talent.”

“So, you get a permanent indicator telling you what to do with the rest of your life?” I nod, not seeing where she is going with her train of thought, “Doesn’t that seem a little bit ya know, restrictive?”

“Well, you see, it doesn’t represent what you have to do, only what you are best at. It enhances your skill and gives you a greater affinity for your talent,” I explain as best as I can.

She appears to be deep in thought, rubbing her chin, “So, it’s like magic or something?”

“I guess it is magic of a sort,” I admit, not sure of the exact facts, “Not a sort that anypony has really looked into though. Unicorn magic is the only sort that has real documented information.”

“Unicorn magic? Is that what you call that telekinesis thing that unicorns do?” I nod in response, allowing her to continue her questioning, “What else can you do with it?”

“Well,” I start, “I myself am not all that knowledgeable on the subject, but like I said, there is a fair amount of documented knowledge about the various schools of unicorn magic.”

A smile begins to grow wider and wider on her face, “Could it say, get me out of the stone? Give me my own body?”

I try to say it as gently as I can, “I’m not sure,” Her smile begins to falter, “But,” I say, causing her to look me straight in the eyes, “It might very well be possible. You’d need to consult some sort of professional on the matter”

“Oh…” Her gaze falls to her hooves and the void below us before returning to look me in the eyes once more, “Could you take me to see a professional? I don’t really have any form of self-locomotion at the moment.”

“Me?” She nods, a hopeful smile on her face, “Well, I mean I guess I could. But to just up and leave my life here behind?” I shake my head, “I’ll need to let everypony know first. My mother, that charming colt, and… well, I guess that’s all I have at the moment.”

“Well,” She waves her hoof dismissively, a look of fierce determination on her face, “It’s not like I’m impatient or anything, I can wait a couple of days if you need me to.”

“You might have to wait quite a bit more than a couple of days, my mother is on one of her ‘business trips.’” I shake my head, sighing, “No, I can just leave her a note, she can handle herself.”

“So, that just leaves your boyfriend?” She asks innocently.

“I, oh- my,” I feel my cheeks become hot as I struggle to form a response, “Well, I can’t just cancel the date, he’d be so distraught!”

She shrugs, “Why don’t you just bring him with us? I’m sure he’d appreciate an extended date.”

“Oh, that hadn’t occurred to me,” Was she being genuine or was she just trying to get me riled up? “Though do you really want to bring somepony else in on this?”

She thinks about it for a second before pointing her right foreleg towards me“I’ll trust your judgement for now. Also, without him I wouldn’t have ended up here with you.”

“I’m flattered. Anyway, I’ll have to ask him when I see him tomorrow.”

She rubs her chin with her hoof, “Well, it looks like we have a deal.”

“Yes, I guess we do,” I say, “ So, what happens now?”
“Well you should be waking up soon, we’ve been talking for quite a while now.”

“Oh, okay. See you later, tonight maybe?” I move to stand up.

She remains seated, waving with her right foreleg, “We’ll see how things go, I might be able to communicate with you still when you wake up.”

I watch her form turn back into clouds as the void around me begins to fade away into darkness. The clouds begin to swirl around above me, gathering in one big, dark mass. I can see flashes of light within the dark clouds.

A bright flash of white blinds me as the deafening roar of thunder rings out around me.

Author's Note

Dialogue is a lot easier to write when there is a physical setting with which your characters can interact with. I find that writing extended dialogue in a void with nothing besides the characters speaking becomes incredibly repetitive, with not much going on in between.