Chapter Five- Why I Take The Pills

I get a tablet from the pouch, but it drops out onto the floor. In the dark of night, the tablets don't stand out as well as they should. Searching, I catch a glimpse of the night sky through the hospital window. Now intruged, I disregard the lost pill, and stare at the twinkling void above. I think of how mesmerizing it is. Imagine the number of stars and planets I'm probably looking at. Who would have thought that night was so beautiful? And the moon was full. It was the bright, clear ying, to the nights gloomy, dark yang. You could see the craters on its surface it was that clear. And to think everypony just sleeps through such an amazing spectacle.

I could stay there for hours, but I knew better than that. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about the pill, still somewhere underneath my hospital bed. I get comfy, rest my head against the soft pillow, and drift into...a nightmare.

My memory loss is now becoming dangerous.

The nightmare began with a blinding flash of intense white light. I was completely exhausted, but I couldn't feel any part of my body. I had no idea if I was in a room, or what. A sort of ambient humming could be heard. As I gain realisation of where I am, a mare comes into perspective. Her eyes were glowing with whatever emotion she felt, so at that point, they would have been white.

"Who are you?" I cautiously ask.

"I? I am you, Sparks. Remember? We last met four years ago. How could you forget?" The mysterious mare says in a strangely robotic voice.

"That makes no sense! How can I have met myself four years ago?!"

"Oh, believe me, it make much sense. You just don't understand..."

The mare slams a hoof to the ground, which gives me the ability to feel. I look up, to see my front legs have been pulled above my head with chains. My hind legs weren't touching the ground, so I was suspended from what I assumed was a ceiling. The 'room' was a very dark, murky red.

My nerves get the best of me.

"Oh no...no-no this can't be happening...please, this can't be real..."

"I assure you, this is very real." The voice spoke, eyes turning from white to pink.

"Aww, you look cute like that. All helpless."

"Get me down! Please!"

"Hmmm, no."

The mare cuts a hole out of the ground beneath me and attaches chains to my hind legs somehow. They didn't have anything on the ends of them, so this didn't seem necessary.

"P-please...I beg you...I will do anything...this is hurting me!"

Her eyes became white once more.

"Do anything? By that logic, you will give me anything, yes?"

I began to cry, the skin of my arms started to stretch, and a burning sensation became apparent there.

"...yes...please...just get me down..."

The strange eyes became a minty green.

"Splendid! But remember, I can only get certain things with your permission."

There was a pause.

"I want your memories. All of them."

"...my...memories? Wh-why?"

A voice could be heard from outside of...wherever I was.

"Ember! Don't worry! I will get in there!"

I took the chance to try and get an escape.

"Help! Oh please! Whoever you are! I'm in here!"

"QUIET!" The mare shouts as she slams her hoof on the ground again, eyes glowing red.

I could no longer make a sound.

"Your going to pay for that, Ember! I treated you so well, too! Ungrateful mare."

Cement bricks are put on the ends of the chains attached to my legs, pulling them down. The vocal strings of my throat were rattling, but no sound is produced. It was agony. I was being pulled apart.

The eyes changed to yellow.

"Oh, I'm Ember! I'm such an unlucky mare, please come save me! I don't deserve to lose my memory! I'm such a coward!"

I struggled, trying to shake the chains off my legs somehow.

"I'm going to try again. And this time, no screaming, ok?"

I nod.

She bangs her hoof on the floor, giving me my voice back.

I didn't say anything when I could, I just whimpered with the pain.

"Right, so, I want the memory of...aww, there's so many to choose from!...uhh...that one! Your best friend! Can I have it?"

"...just...have it!"

She proceeds to scan through my mind, and pull out the memory.

"And while I'm at it, I will have the rest of your friends, too!"

They get taken away. I start to cry quite loud at this point, so the mare increases the weight of the bricks.

"Your getting too loud, Ember!"

She delves back into my mind.

"And why not?!? I will have all those memories, too! I'm sure you don't need them, so I will just take them!"

I can feel my mind getting emptier by the second.

"Your favorite things, now my favorite things! Your hero, now my hero! And your school life, now all mine!"

My left hind leg gives in, and gets pulled out of it's socket.

"AAAGHHH!" I scream.

"Aww, don't be so sad! I will put it back in!"

"D-don't touch it! No!"

The mare slots my leg back into place, but it just falls back out again, causing me immense pain.

"Huh. Well nevermind, you will live. What memory should I take now...?"

The skin around my joints had tore open, and were bleeding, profusely.

"Hmmm, I will have to ask permission for this one! Can I have your parents?"

"...no...I can't forget...them..."

The mare further increases the weight of the bricks, taking my other leg out of its place. My voice breaks when I scream.

"Pretty please?"

I didn't answer, I just cried, so stops my breathing.

"Look, just answer me. And answer yes. That's all you have to do."

She didn't stop strangling me. She must have assumed I could still answer her request, even as I was. The blood from my arms had made its way down my body, and was dripping from my hooves.

"Answer me!"

After seeing why I couldn't answer, she lets go. I have never been so scared in my life.

"I'm feeling nice. So I'm going to let you see your parents. Then can I have the memories?!" The mare asks.

"...ok..." I reply, my voice broken, and quivering.

"Yes! Here they are!"

Sure enough, my mum and dad appear in front of me. They are expressionless, but they were there.

"...mummy...dad-dy...don't leave...please don't leave...im...so...scared..."

"See? Just like I promised! Now, the best part..."

"...no...oh Celestia no..."

As the moments pass, my recollection of them is taken.

The ponys who were once my mum and dad are now just strangers.

"There's just one more thing...I want YOUR memories, Ember."

"...take them..."

"Oh. Ok then, this may tickle a bit."

No more memories. I'm just a shell now. The voice outside is crying, pleading for someone to 'stop'.

"...can...I...come...down...?" I ask.

"Y'know, I never actually said you could come down, Ember. And even if I did, would I let you?"

My heart sinks.

"...but...I gave you-"

"The world isn't all you expect, Ember. Well, see you later then! I have got to get some sleep after that!"

The tears were just flowing. Once she warped through the wall, all went quiet. The ambience had gone. Only the *clink*s of the chains which held me, and the sobbing voice from outside was audible.

"..my...my name...what is it...who...who am...I..."

I just hung there, in so much pain. What had I done to deserve this? Am I punishing...myself? For forgetting?

The pony outside started to try anything she could to get in, smacking on the wall of wherever I was. It echoed throughout the room, and was so loud. My ears bled it was that loud. I tried so scream and say stop, but my voice was too quiet. Whoever was outside stopped eventually, and just shouted in frustration over me, making my ears ring. Could whoever it was see me?

It must have been such a long time. The pony outside had just stopped trying to get in. She gave up. The pain was more of a throbbing, numbing one now.

I was getting lonely. The least of my worries, I know, but I don't want to lose my mind. How hadn't I bled out earlier?

Time continued to pass. Did it? It never seemed to end. Oh Celestia, it never ended. The pony outside spoke.

"I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry! I have tried everything, but I cant get in!"

"...who...are you?"

"...you don't recognise...my voice? It's me, Luna! I led you into Twilights dream!"

"...Twilight?...who is..."

I struggle for words.

"Oh Celestia, this is worse than I thought." Luna says.

"Listen, Ember, I promise I will get you out of there! Just...hold on!"

There was a long stint of knocks, and quiet bangs, but still, nothing.

"...is that...my name? Ember?"

Luna began to weep.

"...yes. Ember Sparks..."

Another pause.

"...it was a few years ago...I wanted to show you something...you woke up before I got the chance..."

I didn't reply.

"You don't remember, do you?"

"...no..."

Luna explains to me whats going on.

"...your having a nightmare Ember...but you can only realise that if you see me..."

I start to hear a low, grumbling noise.

"...this is your greatest fear, just shown in a darker way..."

The noise becomes a mumbling voice. Somepony speaking, currently incomprehensible.

"...you can't see me, so this is real to you, but don't be afraid...please don't be afraid..."

The low voice puts together a sentence.

"...this mare speaks lies...this is your true demise..."

"Don't listen to it, Ember!" Luna pleads.

"...lies upon lies, that is not your name...if only you, could think the same..."

"What do you want with her?!"

"...everything..."

The voice blocks out Luna, completely.

"...get that mare...out of your head...I am the one, to reassure your dread..."

I couldn't look up. Partly because I was exhausted, and partly because whatever monster this was, I didn't want to see it.

"...if I could grant you your memories as a whole...for something I could use...your soul..."

The voice becomes closer.

"...what would you choose?"

I didn't answer. The voices tone becomes angry.

"...an afterlife of memories...or a gray existence...an easy choice, I display..."

I could feel warm smoke wrapping around my arms, and body.

"...what will suffice?"

I was too terrified to answer.

The smoke condenses, and gently lifts up my head. In front of me is just a mass of black cloud. This thing is going to kill me if I don't answer. In my exhausted state, I do eventually speak up.

"I...don't...know...Luna...where are you...?"

The smoke gets a more strong, firm grip on my head. I was immobile.

"...if you will not answer...I will..."

The fumes go into my body through my nose and mouth, which I couldn't close.

"...now stay still..."

My insides were burning, it was probably being turned into ashes. This thing was ending my torture. The light that was used to get my attention at the start was now just a gray patch of smoke. The already dark room was fading away, my thoughts were little, and my head was light.

I had the sensation that I was falling, and it lasted so long. The numb pain had vanished, thankfully I suppose. I close my eyes for a few seconds. When they opened again, I was back in the hospital, still lying on my bed. No smoke and no evil...things.

My entire body twitched at the sight of my new surroundings. I was so frightened, frantically checking my legs for out-of-place joints, blood and chains.

No such things existed.

I was twitching uncontrollably, still mortified from the whole experience. I scream. It was over, but I had the joy of remembering it. My shrieks of terror echoed through the empty hospital.