Bruised Apples, Lightning Storms

Subconscious

Rainbow's Pov:

The pill rattled against the glass as I held it up, uncertainty clouding my brain. There were no prior tests or even a proper explanation of what this would do when I took it. A mild fight or flight response triggered thousands of different scenarios that might take place in my next moments, mania welling like bile in my throat. What cruel imagination.

"Whenever you're ready." Twilight stressed, caution lacing her stance as she stepped back, clipboard and quill magically suspended, attention locked on me.

Nothing could stop me from handing this 'solution' back to the princess, politely excusing myself and leaving, to live out an unpredictable, uncured life at Sweet Apple Acres with AJ.

AJ.

I sought Applejack one last time, seeking strength I couldn't summon on my own. Surprise, of that I couldn't describe, is all I got in return.

The panic in her eyes showed double what I felt. I found worry in that stare, edging on recklessness. I found pain. I found a pleading, deranged victim, exposed to the prospect of another dose of misery among countless others. But most of all, I found my own peace, knowing I would fight the odds against anything terrible inevitably headed our way; for our sake.

With much less trepidation, I took the shot.

Darkness enveloped, taking it's time in deciding on a form. First it pictured a light grey sky, plopping me on a small black bench made of thunderstorming clouds, one of many in the clearness of day. The scene erased slowly, fading into nothingness before transforming to brown, shifting as a cozy diner with a corner booth seat. Yet again the setting redesigned, over and over until settling finally on a small, enclosed room, rather similar to a tornado bunker.

Through the lack of light, I sensed something solid beneath me, probably a chair. This reality felt solid and secure compared to the others, the only one where I inhabited a body, if that made sense. Even though I knew it was my body, I couldn't see it because of some sort of veil or coat, made of something that felt like a blend between silk and oil.

One other object had materialized; a second chair, occupied by a figure who wore a draping cloak, probably the same as mine. Their hood was raised, face hidden in shadow.

Labored breath infiltrated the quiet, sleeves wrinkled as they hugged themselves around the middle, trembling hard. "She is gone. She might not come back. This is not her, this is not her, this is not her." They muttered, clutching at the dense material of their robe.

"Who are you talking about?" My voice spilled out faster than I could contain it, and I hastened to cover my mouth, but couldn't. When trying to express the fear beating through my rib cage, my face remained blank.

The stranger startled, a blackish-grey muzzle poking out as their stiffened posture made the hood fall back slightly. They relaxed considerably after a beat, an air of composure returning. "You are not supposed to be here, love."

Without such desperation, the voice was decidedly female. Although difficult to tell under the cloak, I recognized her to have a strong-built body, if not weirdly...indecisive. Her appearance flickered and faded like someone broke the settings fiddling with the rotary dials of a television.

"Why can't I move, did I do something wrong?" Again the words seemed ripped from me before I knew I even had them. "Why can't I control what I say? Why-"

She held up a hoof, shutting my mouth instantly. "You are not at fault for inexperience, much as your lack of fault in being here in the first place. This," the being gestured around us, " is your temporary settlement in what your kind acknowledge as the subconscious. Your slipping of the tongue and stillness of the body are precautions, placed in order to protect those in a position of lower merit. With you being a mortal with no prior intelligence on the power of mentality, the system automatically placed you in the role of a novice controller." She spoke sagely, in no rush to explain the complexity of her existence.