The Spirit Within

Twilight was awoken by the sun shining on her face in the afternoon.

“Ughh, I must have forgotten to close the curtains before I fell asleep last night.” She said as she got up from her bed and walked over to her mirror to brush her mane.

“What the…” the mare started to say as she looked at her left side, “What is that from?”

As she looked closer at what was there, she noticed that her skin was scarred and visible in about 5 little spots. “Where did I go yesterday that could cause marks like that?”

She continued to get ready for the day, and as she did so, she felt sore all over. “Something happened yesterday, but why can’t I remember what it was? I should ask Applejack.
A knock came to her door while she was getting ready.

“Hold on a second, I’ll be right there!” She called out.

“A-Alright Twi.” Said the pony that stood behind the door. When she heard the voice, Twilight’s eyes flew wide open and she shuddered.

“T-That sounded like,” Twilight whispered, “Applebloom.”

Twilight’s thoughts were flying now, thinking of the worst situations that she could imagine. ‘Did something happen to Applejack? What about the farm? Is there something that happened to Big Mac or Granny Smith? Did something happen that prevents them from running the farm? Did they lose the farm?!?!’ Twilight was freaking out, but forced herself to calm down. she put her head down and covered it with her hooves until she settled down a bit.
When she gathered herself again, she went and opened the door. She was not prepared for what she was met with. When the door swung open, she was able to see Applebloom laying in front of the door crying and Granny Smith over her, patting her head and trying to comfort her. She too, had tears in her eyes. Twilight was lost for words and began to tear up from what she saw. Once she got her breath back, she forced herself to ask them.

“What happened? Did something happen to Applejack?”

“Whadda you mean!? You know exactly what happened! you were the one that….that…” Applebloom couldn’t speak anymore. Her words word drowned out by her sobs and tears.

“How could you!?” Granny Smith yelled, speaking the words that Applebloom couldn’t.

“I-I” Twilight stuttered.

“No! Don’t even try to make what you did seem ok. Don’t even think about talking to me or Applebloom after what you did!”

“B-but I-”

“Shut up, you foul mare! How dare yo-”

“STOP!” Twilight screamed in misery, “I don’t know what happened! I don’t know why you’re mad and crying! I don’t even have a memory of what happened yesterday!”

“Hah, you can’t be seri-”

“I can’t remember where I got these scars on my side! I don’t remember seeing you two or even Applejack yesterday. In fact, I was just getting ready to come to see her and ask about what happened!” Twilight shouted back, stopping Granny Smith mid sentence.
Granny Smith stared at Twilight for a moment, not sure what to say anymore. “I don’t know what’s going on with ya, but ah don’t wanna see you ‘round Sweet Apple Acres no more. Or Ponyville, either.” And with that, Granny Smith turned around and walked away.
Applebloom stood up and began to follow her, but she turned around to say once last thing to Twilight before she left. “Why, Twilight?”

Twilight stood in silence and watched the two ponies walk away. Once they were out of sight, Twilight began crying and fell to the ground. “What did I do?” She said that over and over again in her head for a few hours, nopony caring as they walked by.

Twilight managed to drag herself into her house and slam the door shut. She dropped onto her bed, soaking it in the tears that have been falling for what seemed to be forever now.

“First it was Fluttershy and Rainbow. Then it was Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie. I mean, I haven’t seen them or anything for too long now to be a coincidence. And now something happened to Applejack. Why else would Applebloom and Granny Smith come to me crying in like that?”

Twilight just laid in her bed for hours on end, falling asleep and waking up randomly, not being able to get her mind off of what has happened. She didn’t move at all. She cried all day and fell asleep for a little bit. Then woke up and started crying again.

She went through that cycle all day, into the night, until she heard another knock on the door. She shot up and was unable to think of anything except one thing. “Is it Granny Smith again? She said she didn’t want to see me in Ponyville anymore. Is that why she is here?”

She ran over to her mirror and fixed her mane so she didn’t look like a mess and went to open the door.

“Hey there Gr…” Twilight started to say, but she stopped when she saw who it was that knocked on the door. Her heart dropped.

“Twilight Sparkle, my beloved student,” Princess Celestia said with a disappointed look on her face, “I have been informed of a certain event recently that happened at Sweet Apple Acres. Would you care to explain?”

“Actually, I don’t know what happened. Granny Smith and Applebloom came over today in tears yelling at me about whatever happened though. I tried to tell them that I have no memory of yesterday.” Twilight replied.

“Well from what I had been told, you had dropped your friend Applejack in a pool of acid that you created.” Celestia said.
Twilight began to tear up and felt a surge of terror flow through her.

“W-What?” She tried to say in between her sobs, “I would never harm my friends, no matter how mad I might have been.”

“Granny Smith and Applebloom said that Applejack attempted to splash acid onto you while she was in it, and was able to get a few drops on your side. Turn please, Twilight.”
When Celestia said that, it seemed too horrible to be true. She didn’t want it to be true, but the story fit. And she couldn’t deny it either, because she had no memory of what happened the day before. Now that she thought of it, she had lost her memory the other day as well. Something was going on and she knew i-

“Now, Twilight.” The princess said, getting irritated now.
Twilight turned and showed Celestia the little scars left from the acid that Applejack splashed onto her, or that’s what Granny Smith claimed, anyway.

“Oh my…” Celestia said, shocked at what she saw.
Princess Celestia stared at the small scars for a few minutes in disbelief.

“Princess...something is wrong here, and I need you to believe me,” Twilight began. “All of my friends have died in the last couple days. I have no memory of the days when they died, and when the next day came around, I’d be told that somepony died. I can’t remember anything from yesterday and only knew that Applejack was killed because you just told me. I don’t recall anything from the day that Fluttershy and Rarity died, and I was told about their deaths by Pinkie Pie in the morning. After she told me about their deaths, I blacked out. And when i regained consciousness, I was laying in my bed and I never saw Spike nor Pinkie again. Not to mention that I haven’t seen Rainbow Dash ever since we talked about her tricks that she wanted to show off to the Wonderbolts.”

“This sounds very odd, but one thing is true,” Celestia replied, still trying to think everything over. “All of your friends are dead, and there is proof that fits with the description of the death of Applejack.”

Twilight began to cry, and she knew that she was about to be taken away to the dungeon of Canterlot. Before she was thrown in there until her trial, she had to ask for one thing.

“You are going to take me away to Canterlot aren’t you?” Twilight asked for reassurance.

“I’m afraid so, Twilight.” Princess Celestia said sadly.

“Well, I only ask for one thing. May I please attend the burials of my poor friends?” Twilight asked, holding back her tears as much as she could. Not very successfully though, as the tears were flowing down her cheeks like rivers.

“Of course. I will make sure that you are granted permission for that. The burial is tomorrow, but some of the bodies aren’t there. We gathered some of their belongings and photos and placed them in their coffins. I will leave you here tonight and will bring you back to Canterlot tomorrow when you are prepared to leave the burial.”
And with that, she left. Twilight closed the door and ran up to her bed. She couldn’t believe what she was just told.

“Accused of murdering my closest friends? How could I ever do that?” She looked at her side again. “But, the story matches with my scars. That explains why Granny Smith and Applebloom were mad at me and why they were crying. But what about the others?”
Twilight couldn’t take it anymore, so she focused on falling asleep. And, she was lucky enough to be able to sleep until Princess Celestia came to escort her to the burial. There was a horrible storm over Ponyville, which was fitting for the horrible occasion. It wasn’t a long walk over to the Ponyville cemetery, and once they had arrived, the ceremony began. Celestia went over to the stage that was placed behind six gravestones that marked the holes of Twilight’s best friends. Twilight stood near the front of the crowd, and everyone stared at her, for they knew of what happened to Applejack. The murder of a pony isn’t something that is kept secret.

“Hello everypony. We are standing here today to bring peace to 5 beloved ponies and an unforgettable dragon who all died recently. They will never be forgotten, and they will live on in our hearts. We are all indebted to them for their extraordinary feats that saved Equestria from danger time and time again. I think that I speak for us all when I say that Equestria will never be the same without them.” Celestia spoke as the coffins were walked over to the corresponding graves and gently placed into them.
Princess Luna took over from there. “We are truly filled with sorrow at this terrible occurrence in Ponyville. As horrible as this is, we must move on. We want to give our sincerest regards to the families and friends of these poor ponies, not to forget the baby dragon who was cared for and loved by Twilight. Before we bury the coffins, would anyone wish to say a few words of one of the deceased?”
Luna looked over the crowd, and it was obvious that everyone was crying too much to say a word. But, right before Luna ordered to finish the burial, Twilight raised a hoof and asked to speak. Princess Luna allowed her to come up and speak. Twilight took a deep breath, wiped the tears out of her eyes, and began to speak.

“I’m sorry to all of Equestria for what has happened to my dear friends. I don’t know what happened to them, and the worst thing for me is that I am being told it was because of me. I know all of you hate me now, and I can’t blame you. I would be too, and I am very sorry for any caused by me. I honestly don’t have memory of anything from the last few days, but I promise that if I did any of those things, you won’t need to worry about them happening anymore. I will be leaving Ponyville and won’t be seen again here after today has passed.” Tears fell from Twilight’s face as she finished up. “Thank you all, and I’m so very sorry. Goodbye.”
As she walked off of the stage, everyone just stared at her in anger. She was unwanted, and she knew it. After that, she went to the back, sat in her spot, and watched a group of unicorn guards shovel dirt into the holes slowly. The only sounds that Twilight could hear were the shovels that picked up the dirt and the sobbing ponies all around her.
After an hour, everyone had left the graveyard except Twilight. She had stood unmoved, and once everyone had left, she fell to the ground and cried uncontrollably. This went on for about 35 minutes.