What in Equestria is happening to me she thought. Why.. why am i standing over Twilight? And why is Pinkie bleeding from her chest. Oh no. no. no.no. Where did this Axe come from? And ... why is Rainbow Dash shielding herself from me? Am i going mad? Is this nothing but a nightmare?

That was when Rarity saw the most disturbing thing ever. When she looked in the mirror she saw not herself, but a flat and deflated maned Pink earth Pony. It was Pinkamena staring back at her. Even for a nightmare, this disturbed the white Unicorn to no end. Why was she seeing Pinkie's alter ego in her own nightmare? Then she saw something she should not of seen, almost as if bearing witness to a memory within a dream cycle. A figure came up behind Rarity and spoke in a familiar and regal voice.

Rarity was lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice that she wasn't alone. She also didn't realize that she had fallen asleep at her work desk again. She was that distracted from everything that had been happening lately. She was worried about her sister and had exhausted herself by throwing herself into her work again. She had to keep herself busy she had told herself. She had over 3 dozen orders that she had to finish and she was only halfway through the second round of dresses and suits that had been ordered. Both of her stores were going to be busy through the upcoming fashion seasons. She pulled her head up in time to see somepony staring at her from the darkness. That was when she recognized the blue flowing mane that was attached to the pony in question.

Oh, she thought to herself. Am i dreaming? Why is Luna here. I should make sure she's been properly received. Its the proper thing to see to. Which reminds me, i must get with Twilight later and see how the poor dear is doing as well.

Rarity was usually more composed than this. Having somepony as royal as Luna visit her and she wasn't even well dressed for the occasion, even if it was a dream. She really needed to remind herself that she was hosting royalty. She didn't have any tea prepared at all. She walked over to a nearby mirror and checked her mane. Rarity turned around and attended to her guest.

Luna had to hold back a slight chuckle. She was only doing her job and yet Rarity still felt the need to go above and beyond with presenting herself. Luna approached her when she noticed the mare had something to ask her.

"Princess Luna, what brings you here by chance?", Rarity asked the Princess of the Night. After awhile she started to suspect that she might have fallen asleep while working again.

"I could feel a slight disturbance in the dream realm, and thus came to investigate," The Princess told Rarity. Why did that remind Rarity of a movie reference the unicorn thought to herself. 'It was as if a million voices screamed out, and were silenced all at once,', whatever it was a reference to, it did not seem the time nor place to think of it right now. These nightmares were not going to go quietly into the night as it were. By the look on Luna's face Rarity could tell that the Princess was worried about her. Rarity decided to share with Luna what was troubling her so much. She'd been having horrible nightmares lately.

That was when she finally remembered the reference. IT was that darn Hoof Wars movie that Rainbow had wanted the two of them to go see in theaters. She never was one that could get in to Space Operas. And it didnt help that she found it so droll. She forced herself to watch it since it was Rainbow who was asking to go. Anypony else and she'd of just told them her calendar was full that week.

These dreams that Luna was now sharing with her were frightening to say the least. And most of them... She didnt want to believe it but it was right in front of her. They were so vivid and horrible. But it was the pony at the center of them all that gripped her attention the most.

Most of them revolved around her friend Pinkie Pie. Specifically, her alter ego Pinkamena. These were not the kind of dreams that you'd want to remember when you woke up. In fact, most of them were borderline traumatizing. She wanted to wretch during a few of them. They were both vivid and horrific.

"I've been suffering from the worst nightmares lately, and worst of all i have been seeing her alter ego Pinkamena in a mirror", The White unicorn told the Princess of the Night. Rarity told Luna that she couldn't understand the last part of it though. She swore she could see Rainbow Dash strapped to a table and then blackness.

"That last part of the dream is a memory that your friend had buried for the longest time. It occurred after her exposure to an alternate reality, one in which she witnessed your friend Pinkie torturing that universe's version of herself. What she did not tell anypony was that while there, she rescued herself, but not before killing the Pink Pony. That memory has scarred her since, nearly convincing her that if it happened there, then it was only a matter of time for it to happen in this universe."

Rarity remembered that event. Twilight had made momentary contact with an alternate Reality and Rainbow Dash had been exposed to it through use a portal device of some kind. They had to wait over an hour for Rainbow to return to their dimension, when she finally did make it back she was visibly shaken by the experience. The mare didn't really go into detail, only that Pinkie was crazy and harming ponies in that place and that she saved somepony important to her from being killed by the crazed version of Pinkie that lived in that reality. Now after hearing Luna speak of this, she understood why Rainbow had kept most of the information from them.

She told herself that if she saw Rainbow again after this, she'd go to whatever movie she wanted. It was only right after seeing all of these dreamscapes that revolved around her. She could tell by the look on Luna's face that she had more to show her. She could tell that this pained her as well. These were the mares that helped her overcome her own fears.

That kind of trauma was something that the fashion mare didn't want to experience because she was unsure of how'd she would of reacted if put in a similar situation. She wanted things to go back to the way they used to be. That was a luxury now she decided.

Rarity couldn't believe or shake away that feeling the dream had her gripped in as of the moment. She saw herself towering over the body of one of her friends, and it scared her to no end. The weapon used for such a grisly scheme was bathed in a blue and cerulean aura, as it stay levitated in front of her. Not to mention what Luna had told frightened her as much as it made her sorrowful towards Rainbow Dash. To witness a reality that brutal would of made her numb like it did her friend. What she didn't know at the time was that their friend Pinkie Pie was being held in Canterlot. But they would soon. Rarity kept the detail about Princess Luna's visit to herself.

The horror of the dream paled in comparison to what she'd actually commit if she knew the truth about one of her 'good' friends. The only question now was did she have the patience and persistence to follow through if came to it, and see any course of action through if she needed to. Even if it was something that needed to be taken to the bitter end as it were.

Rarity's descent into madness was beginning. If the dream she was suffering through was of any sort of consolation, her friends were completely blind and oblivious to what she was suffering through right now. Her sister was in the hospital, a victim of something most heinous, and she'd do everything she could to make sure Sweetie Belle was well taken care of. The whole thing seemed like something out of a movie. But Rarity knew it was real. She could feel it as plainly as one of her work days. There was something amiss though, she snapped out of it when she noticed that Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. She would of been one of the first of their friends to stick balloons and other such items around Sweetie Belle's hospital room to cheer the place up.

She left the room for a moment and spotted Twilight coming out of an adjacent room.

"Twilight?", the white unicorn asked, " What are you doing here?", Rarity said albeit confused as to why her alicorn friend would be visiting the wrong room in her mind.

"I was just checking up on Scootaloo", Twilight answered," We recovered her last night from a ponynapper," The alicorn told her friend. Rainbow Dash had decided to fly her 'sister' to the hospital to make sure she was alright. That kind of action just put Scoots in more awe of her idol. It made the filly understand that Rainbow cared for her a lot. If she knew how to fly she'd repay Rainbow back for her kindness towards her. With her disability though, she'd never fly in the traditional sense. That's why she had that scooter of hers. But she decided to put that out of her mind for now. She had to get better for Rainbow Dash and her other friends.

"How's Sweetie holding up?", Twilight asked, already knowing the situation, but she still wanted to give Rarity an extra shoulder to cry on if came to it.

"They said she's stable now, but there's no telling if she'll wake up at all", Rarity started to break down. As strong hearted as she was for her friends, something like this brought back a very deep and painful memory. Many years ago, she had been walking through town when she came to rope bridge crossing a ravine near the Everfree Forest. Rarity was a foal then, so she thought she'd be able to cross it seeing that she was light enough. It wasn't until she was half way across when the ropes began to snap. The only ones that were close enough to her screams were Applejacks parents. They found her clutching the rope close to top of the ledge.

After all these years, she thought, I've held onto to that painful memory. I suppose its only proper, it was one of the few events that started Applejack and i down the path to friendship, and more, after all. Rarity continued to cry into Twilight's shoulder, the alicorn oblivious to what was going through her friends' mind.

"Hold on Darlin' , we gotcha", Applejacks dad yelled to Rarity.

As soon as they managed to get her up and over safely, the ground beneath them gave out. Rarity stood there and watched in horror as both Apples plummeted to the bottom of the gorge. Right as she screamed for help, a small tannish orange foal poked their head around the corner.

"What y'all screaming abou-", the filly stopped mid sentence when she went to investigate further. As she looked over the edge, her eyes began welling up with tears. Tears of pain, sorrow, and sadness as she came to realize that there were two ponies lying still at the bottom of the accident. And a light brown stetson sticking out of the rubble from the collapsed bridge. She turned to her friend and buried her face in Rarity's chest. The small white Unicorn could only hug a young Applejack, and comfort her in this dark hour. Even when she found out why, she was never angry at her friend. She kept sobbing into Rarity's white fur. And Rarity surprised her back by crying onto her friends shoulder.

Seeing her sister like this now, brought that memory back witih a roar. Twilight didn't know the circumstance herself, only that AJ's parents ha passed away years ago, but never the real reason for it. Twilight held her friend close. Rarity held the embrace as long as she could, and because she knew Twilight would do the same for any of their friends. They had been through so much together. There was a bond that not even time could break.

Almost like an echo she could hear a song faintly playing, almost like it was beckoning her. The lyrics just barely reaching her ears, she could make out a few of the lyrics.

Now that you have gone away
i feel so cold
why did i stay
remember Ill remember your face so pale...

The words were sad to say the least. But the song hit her in the heart strings just as strong as anything produced nowadays. All she could do was think of her sister, lying in that hospital bed, dead to the world, but not to her. She would do whatever it took to provide for her, even if it meant transfering ownership of the Boutique to somepony else. She had enough in the bank to last her for 5 years.

Author's Note

enjoy.