Darkness, a pitch black void of nothingness. This is what her life had become; a life that until recently had been full of colour and brightness. How had it come to this? Why had life dealt her this card? She felt trapped, confined to a tiny spot of infinite bleakness. As she lay still in her bed she couldn’t help but try and piece together the room in her mind. She knew what it should look like, the clinical green walls and pristine clean floor, the small cabinet that sat next to the bed she lay in upon which a small lamp sat.
But was the cabinet on the left or the right of the bed? She froze, she should know this. She moved her head but the darkness stayed with her, thwarting her attempt to ease her mind of its question. She reached out with a hoof but in both directions but all she felt was empty air. The void returned to her. Desperate to fight it back her mind clung to its question, trying desperately to work out which answer was correct. Left! It was on the left!
Her mind calmed but only for a moment. Through the darkness tendrils seemed to work their way towards her. She pulled the covers of her bed further around her trying desperately to hide from the nightmare that was approaching her. And yet nothing could stop its approach, the darkness remained and the tendrils of her mind inched closer.
“No…” she whimpered softly, shutting her eyes as she curled up into her blanket.
The action did little as the tendrils crept up to her. She could feel them wrap themselves around her, sliding around her limbs as if it was their rightful place. She kicked out, part of the blanket flying off her form in the process sending a blast of cool air across her body. She shivered, it was all in her imagination. There were no tendrils; there was no danger…just the infinite blackness that would be her home for the rest of her life.
Just then a collection of voices cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. They were familiar yet different, each one sounding concerned and mournful. She felt the tendrils retreating but she knew they were still there, hiding amongst the darkness. Part of her felt happy to hear the voices but the other parts began to boil with rage and sorrow. She curled up tightly, trying desperately to control the building emotions in her mind. This wasn’t their fault, it had been an accident…an honest mistake…and yet..
The door opened, the voices flooding the room with concern and alarm. They all mingled together, her ears assaulted with words upon words. She couldn’t take it. Curling up again she put her front hooves against her ears, desperately fighting to contain the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.
“That’s enough everypony, give her some room,” announced a voice over the noise.
The other voices stopped and she felt herself frozen in time. It was her, the one who had…
“Twilight?” she said slowly as she uncurled.
“Yes…it’s me…” came a sullen reply, “…I’m sorry…I’m so so sorry…”
She could feel her rage refresh itself, her mind wanting nothing more than to tear the pony apart for what she had done to her. And yet for the moment her control remained. She pushed herself up, trying her best to sit up in bed only to find herself tumbling forwards as she nearly ended up on the floor. A set of hooves caught her, each one strong and steady.
“Let me help ya,” came a different voice, the accent strong and broad.
“…Thank you Applejack…” she replied quietly as she felt herself being moved into a sitting position.
She felt terrible, she couldn’t even sit up properly. As she looked up at them she could hear the collective gasp of shock they gave. She didn’t know what she looked like now; she would never know what she looked like again. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes once more. Another set of hooves wrapped themselves around her, pulling off to the other side slightly as she was embraced.
“I’m so sorry about what happened,” sobbed a new voice, timid and shy it wavered like a leaf in the wind with each word, “It’s just terrible.”
Slowly she placed her own hooves around the new pony, her own tears starting to flow, “It’s ok Fluttershy…it wasn’t your fault…”
“No, it was mine,” said Twilight quietly.
Once again she felt rage begin to boil inside her, a fiery demon threatening to explode at any moment.
“Wasn’t there anything you could do?!” accused a new voice, brash and full of annoyance.
“I tried everything I could think of and some things I found in the library Rainbow!” protested Twilight, “I didn’t sleep for four days! Every last moment was spent trying to find a solution to the problem…and yet there isn’t one. You heard the doctors, there’s nothing we can do.”
“This sucks! This just totally sucks!” replied Rainbow, her voice uncharacteristically saddened.
As Fluttershy finally released her she realised that one voice had yet to make itself known. A voice that was normally never reserved or quiet, a voice that was always bouncy and filled with life.
“Is…Pinkie Pie here?” she asked slowly.
“I’m here,” came a quiet reply.
Unlike Fluttershy it wasn't timid or shy it was just quiet and sad. The usual spark that filled the party pony was gone, absent.
“It's just…I was going to throw you a get well soon party…and then a ‘woohoo you’re better’ party but…you’re not going to get well soon…or get better. I don’t know what to do.”
Nopony spoke, the room silent apart from the various sniffs and sobs that echoed around the room. She couldn’t take it anymore. Her growing rage finally reached its breaking point and despite the clenching of teeth or the tensing of her body she could find no way to calm it. Her front hoof flew up, knocking Fluttershy away from her as she stared into the darkness in front of her.
“This is all your fault!” she seethed, her breathing coming in sharp shudders.
“Rarity I…” came Twilight voice from her left side.
She adjusted her aim, moving her hoof round to point in the direction of the voice, “Shut up Twilight! I don’t care about what you have to say! My life, my entire life is ruined. I can’t see! How can I make dresses if I can’t see? How can I do anything if I can’t see? Everything I’ve done, all the struggle and toil. The hours spent stressing over fabric and the long night sewing…they have all been for naught! Everything is ruined! Every…”
Rarity couldn’t contain it any more. She broke down, sobbing openly into her hooves as the five ponies around her just stared. Fluttershy was the first to move, throwing herself around the sobbing unicorn and joining her own tears with hers. Pinkie Pie and Applejack followed suit, Pinkie also breaking down although Applejack managed to hold her integrity for the time being. Even Rainbow Dash wasn’t immune to the emotion flooding the room. She teared up, shaking the loose drops from her eyes with a shake of her head. She quickly joined her friends in comforting Rarity.
Only Twilight remained, the alicorn watching the scene before her with glistening eyes. Whilst she didn’t want to believe it what Rarity had said was true. It was her fault. She didn’t want to believe it, she didn’t want to believe there wasn’t a problem she couldn’t fix. And yet here she was standing in the aftermath of an event that had taken everything dear to her friend and destroyed it in one blow.
Her other friends didn’t even seem to notice as she turned tail and ran. Bursting out of the room she exploded into floods of tears. She had to get away, she had to give herself time to think. As she ran a single thought swirled around her head, a thought that had haunted her for the last four days…
“My fault…”
