Lots of things happened and new revelations were unearthed which were pretty much the reasons why I haven't posted this on April 9 (the day I made this). Got very lazy in the last few weeks but at least I got inspiration building up in me. The pony on the right is my friend's oc. Rest in peace, dude.

Lighting is horrible, I know. Shadows are my forte. Should have done it monochrome I suppose.

Part 7 knocked on the door and greeted hello. He brought words! Quite a lot of them. Oh dear, Celestia it's too much! The words are multiplying!
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The first thing he noticed was the bright light that came from the stranger's lantern. He averted his eyes away from the light. He blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust the searing brightness that came from the pony's lamp. When his eyes finally adjusted themselves he looked at the pony that was staring at him with brownish-black eyes. The pony's coat was pale ivory and their mane was black.

As he was inspecting the stranger, they cleared their throat to garner his attention. He stopped and looked at them.

"Hello, Tech"

Once he heard his name, he visibly cringed. Hearing his name felt like a whip that cracked into the air but he was curious as to how this stranger knew his name, or at least, his nickname.

"Hi? Who are you?"

"Don't you remember me?"

The yellow unicorn thought hard but he couldn't find any memory of where he could have seen the stranger. He felt like he was on the clock and the timer was ticking slowly down. The seconds passed by and he began to panic. What if they lose patience? What if he can't remember? The thoughts kept piling up on his head until he couldn't think of anything but his inevitable demise of being lashed out by-

"Shhh… deep breaths. Calm down"

"Huh? But- but- what if you run out of patience? What then?"

"I can wait. Don't worry"

The stallion partially believed in their words and began to think back to where he last saw the stranger. His calmer mind fought back any doubts and fear that came to wreck his mind. He found a small snippet of his life in the waking world where they were both talking about something.

"We were talking about something. I don't remember what though"

"So you do remember me. What else can you recall?"

He dove deep into his memories again. He found numerous other times where they were talking but in most of the memories there was a third pony right beside him. It was… her. The mare whom he was close to for almost a year.

"We were friends and there was another pony. Her name was…" Before he could say her name out loud, he stopped himself.

"Yes, I know. Listen Tech, you can't wallow in despair after you both left each other. Both in the waking world and in this dreamscape. You have to move on"

The stallion stood silently. The idea of moving on felt like a weed in a garden of tulips. He didn't want it to be there and any thought relating to it was thoroughly picked apart.

"It's hard but if you keep thinking about it, the harder it is to break out of it. While you still have the chance, you have to escape"

The stallion bit his bottom lip. Unable to make a choice. The stranger saw his indecision and spoke one last time.

"Please. You can't keep hurting yourself like this"

"I… I'll try. I'll try to get out of this"

"Do you promise?" The stallion went silent again.

"I do"

The stranger looked at stallion as if they were sizing him up then nodded before they turned their head away from him. The yellow unicorn was perplexed. Seeing the complete stranger walked away from him like nothing ever happened between the two of them. He tried to call out to the stranger but they didn't respond back. When the pony turned around a corner, the stallion was left in the dark with his lantern.

He wondered if he should follow where the pony went to or stay in one spot until sleep took him. The answer was obvious enough to him as he began sprinting off to the direction to stranger went to. He turned around the corner and saw a silhouette of a pony and a bright light just turn around another corner.

The stallion wasted no time to think and galloped towards them. When he rounded the corner, he saw the pony turn to the left of a crossroads and their light looked a bit dimmer. The unicorn slipped on the turn but regained his speed. How are they moving so fast?

The pony turn a right on a T-junction. The stallion could barely make out the pony because of how dim the lantern light had gone. His thought process went back to where he first found a completely blackened pony with a smashed lantern. Was it happening to them too?

He turned around one more corner and stopped at the sight he saw. The once colorful pony was now merely a black and cold husk of a pony. Right beside them was a cracked lantern. Just like the last one, the glass was smashed and the once bright light that it emitted was reduced to nothing. Being near the dead lantern still gave him shivers up his spine.

What was causing this phenomenon? He didn't have any answers but he can't shake the feeling that one day, he would end up like this too.

With the initial shock wearing off, he felt tired. Unbelievably tired. He didn't want to leave the body of the stranger alone so he curled up beside them. His fur touching the sides of the cold pony. His lantern providing a dim light to both ponies.