Remember our friendship

Pain. That was all Twilight Sparkle could feel as she rolled around on the cold, metal floor. Red, black and yellow spots danced in front of her vision, as she screamed, a long drawn out scream. Something was happening to her. There was a high-pitched, whistling noise in Twilight's ears which seemed to amplify the pain inside her head. No matter how hard she tried, the Unicorn couldn't remember why this was happening to her or where she even was. It was like water trickling steadily through a sieve. It felt like she was losing something. Something important. Though it was hard to think about anything other than the pain, coursing through her skull. It was like hot needles piercing her skull, over and over again. The writhing around only seemed to make it worse as the pain in her head intensified. It was so bad she thought she was going to pass out. But as soon as the thought entered her head, the pain ended. The flashing spots stopped and the Unicorn collapsed to the floor with a choked gasp.

Something was defiantly wrong. She couldn't remember anything. Twilight felt panic rising inside her as she attempted to center herself. No matter how hard she racked her pain-befuddled brain, nothing sprang to mind. No faces of friends, no sights...nothing. It was like something had gone through the Unicorns head with an eraser, removing everything. Well, almost everything. Twilight's panic abated slightly at the thought. She could still remember her name. Twilight...She screwed up her face in an attempt to remember. Through the fuzziness came the words: Twilight...Sparkle. Yes, that was her name. Though her name didn't bring her much comfort as the Unicorn attempted to take in the room around her. The blurry room around her swayed, giving her no insight into where she actually was and only succeeding in making the Unicorn feel sick. There was a loud click and a bright white light shone, forcing the Unicorn to cover her eyes. In her weakened state, the light was like the sun, blazing so harsh and hot, it threatened to burn her eyes.

"There we go!" Said a rough, male voice. A hoof snaked under Twilight's chin and pulled her head up forcefully. She blinked in the harsh light and another Unicorn came into view. This one was wearing a lime-green bodysuit, obscuring his fur color though what could be seen under the giant, opaque goggles he was wearing, was a cream color. The other Unicorn was smiling thinly as he held up a clipboard. "Do you know where you are?" Twilight shook her head nervously. Looking up into the Unicorn's face, she saw herself reflected back through his goggles. Large, frightened purple eyes stared back her from underneath a long mane of deep purple. There was a light pink streak going through it. Messy purple fur covered her body and a long pinkish-purple horn extended from between the folds of the mane. "Do you know your name my dear?" The Unicorn in front of her asked, giving another of his small smiles. Twilight looked down, suddenly unsure whether or not to give him her name. "Unicorn, I asked you a question!" The other Unicorns voice had suddenly turned sharp and impatient.

"T-T-Twilight Sparkle." She stammered.The Unicorn jerked backwards. His mouth opened and closed several times. He seemed unable to process the fact that Twilight had said her name. "I-I can't remember much else though." She added as an after-thought. The Unicorn lent forward, his lips now pursing. The Unicorn tilted his head and placed a rubber-covered hoof against his ear. Getting the gist, Twilight nodded. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. That's all I can remember." Twilight glanced about the bare room. All Twilight could see was a bare room with grey metal walls. "Where...am I? Can you tell me?" She asked. The Unicorn in front of her had frozen, still with his hoof attached to his ears. His mouth had fallen open. Twilight didn't like that. The confused Unicorn had a nasty feeling that she had done something wrong. Apparently recovering from whatever shock he had suffered, the Unicorn reached down and hauled her to her feet. Twilight staggered slightly. The headache hadn't abated yet and she swayed on her hoofs, her forelegs shaking violently, threatening to collapse from under her.

"Follow me." The other Unicorn said, using his magic to pull her out of the room. Twilight staggered out but the Unicorn refused to give her any leeway. The outside of her room had the same motif. Streamlined grey walls, identical doors indented at intervals. Unicorns and Earth-ponies, each wearing the green bodysuit dashed hither and dither, some leading confused looking ponies about, some carrying clipboards. With a start, Twilight saw that each of the bodysuit wearing ponies had a strange, glowing symbol floating behind their heads. A set of three glowing circles. The outer two were glowing silver while the smallest was an orange color. The circles were spinning slowly, and followed the ponies heads as they turned. Twilight, now feeling thoroughly confused, tried to get a feel for her surroundings. Though the headache was lessening, the bland grey walls, floor and ceiling didn't give her any clues as to where she was or how she'd got there for that matter. The Unicorn in front of her would periodically glance back at her, though the goggles he wore obscured the expression on his face.

Finally, the pair stopped. They had come to a stop in front of what looked like another wall. Though there was one difference. This wall had a large black box attached to the center of it. A glass screen stuck out of the front, under which was a large set of keys, each emblazoned with a number. Producing a pencil from a pocket of his suit, the Unicorn in front of Twilight tapped four of the keys. The glass screen changed from red to green. There was a loud grinding noise and the wall in front of the pair split in half and the halves slid apart, revealing yet another room. This one, whilst sporting the same bland color scheme, was much larger than the ones before, with a domed roof within which were several lanterns. Several of the suited ponies stood along the walls. Each had that strange glowing symbol floating behind their heads. Three long lines of ponies, each a mix of Unicorns, Pegasus and Earth ponies, stood in front of three massive...things. Twilight had no idea what they were. Each had what looked like a cushion in the center of ring of objects, almost like gigantic syringes. Twilight, who was preoccupied with the strange contraptions, jumped as the Unicorn beside her spoke, whilst giving her a hard nudge in the side.

"Step over to that line!" He ordered, pointing with his hoof at the farthest line to the left. Twilight stumbled over to the line, coming to rest just behind a Pegasus, who just like her, swayed dizzily from side to side. She couldn't understand what she was supposed to do. The Unicorn who had led her here had disappeared back down the other hall. The giant door had slid closed again. She watched confusedly as an Earth-Pony at the front of her line moved over and sat down on the cushion in the middle of the giant contraption. As one, the lines moved forward. Noting the threatening looks that the guards were giving her, Twilight moved up a spot, making sure to keep a few paces behind the Pegasus. There was a loud whining noise and the giant needles surrounding the pony, suddenly started moving forward, till they stopped, alarmingly close to the Pony, who looked slightly nervous. Suddenly, without warning, bolts of red energy exploded out of the captive ponies skin, each stream of light draining out into the needles. The Captive Pony screamed. Twilight flinched, covering her ears as the piercing scream echoed through-out the chamber. It seemed like it was going to go on forever, until the red light faded and the pony collapsed onto the pillow.

There was a buzzing noise, then the pillow holding the pony was whisked away, revealing a hole underneath. The unconscious Pony vanished, tumbling down into the hole. The pillow reasserted itself and the process began again. And again. Soon only Twilight and the Pegasus in front of her were left in the line. Twilight was beginning to panic again. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to her when she sat on the pillow but she was positive she didn't want to sit down. Twilight couldn't see what she could do however. In her weakened state, with no memory of herself, she would be no match for the guards. Then she really would be in trouble. She started as another scream rent the air. The Pegasus in front of her had finally moved onto the contraption and was going through...whatever the machine was doing to the Ponies. She watched the horrible process and even managed to watch as the Pegasus was whisked out of sight. Now it was her turn. Feeling as though her legs were about to turn to jelly, Twilight began the slow walk towards her fate. The screams of the ponies before her echoed in her ears. Twilight knew what she had to do. She had to run. And then the lights went out.

Princess Celestia stirred. The Alicorn's horn glowed a bright gold and a fire began crackling in the hearth, throwing light into the her bedroom. Picking herself out of the large bed and moving over to the giant mirror hanging in the corner of the circular room. The white fur and incandescent, multi-colored mane that stirred and floated in a non-existent breeze. The bright violet eyes. She shook her head, so that the mane waved like a flag. Something had changed. Something....important had happened. She could feel it. In the Princess's experience, when she experienced a feeling, then it was important. It was never ever a coincidence. Not ever.

"So Edge has finally made his move." The Princess whispered to herself. Celestia smiled to herself. "Will you ever learn Edge?" She snorted softly, a thin smile gracing her snout. "First you take my student from me. Then you twist her friends." Celestia's smile faded, becoming a snarl. "Now what will you do?" She shook her head again before moving back to her bed. She supposed edge could wait. Right now, she needed a good nights sleep.

Twilight turned her head about, trying to see what was going on in the near darkness. The suited ponies were hurriedly trying to get the other captives into groups with little success. The darkness seemed to have unnerved the captives who were frantically trying to attempt to find escape routes. The low sounds of murmuring was starting to unnerve Twilight who was trying very hard to fight the urge to bang her hooves on every available surface, to find a way out of this room. The urge was growing so powerful now, that her legs were shaking violently with the force of her resistance.

"Twilight..." The voice made her jump. It was soft, like a breath of air, against her ear. The Unicorn turned her head slightly. There! Out of the corner of her eye. She could see him. Standing by the wall. He was another Unicorn but he wasn't wearing the green bodysuit. Instead, thick bronze armor obscured his body, covering everything except his head. The Unicorn had a mane of silvery white, which matched the fur covering his head. A pair of crimson eyes stared at her. He was smiling. "My name is Edge." The Unicorn said, extending his hoof. "Twilight Sparkle. Come with me if you want your memories back."