Mitternacht

Twilight was lying on a bed, and every part of her body was in pain. She looked around, struggling to open her eyes, and realized she was in an hospital room. She saw a series of empty beds around her, a closed door on the other side of the room, in front of her, and a window on her left, also closed, its curtains shut. She tried to get out of bed, but her limbs hurt too much for her to do it, so she just rested her head on the pillow and waited.

After some time had passed she heard hoofsteps coming from outside, followed by the sound of a door opening, and as she looked up she saw a nurse getting closer to her. She tried to speak but her mouth felt too dry, so she simply waved her hoof at the nurse to catch her attention. The mare came closer to her and looked at her. There was something weird about the way she looked at Twilight, but she was too tired to notice it. The nurse exited the room and came back shortly after holding a plate with food and a glass of water that she gave to Twilight before leaving again.

A few minutes later, after having eaten the contents of her plate, Twilight heard again the sounds of hoofsteps outside the room, but this time there was clearly more than one, and after they stopped in front of her door she could make out a voice speaking.

"She just woke up and she's still weak, you'll have to go in one at a time and you can only stay in for a little while. You'll also have to wait between visits."

The door opened and Rarity entered the room.

"Oh Rarity, I'm so happy to see you again!" Said Twilight, despite the words hurting her throat.

"Hi Twilight." The white unicorn answered. Her voice sounded flat and uninterested, and her eyes revealed no more empathy than what she would have felt if the she was speaking to the bed in front of her rather than the pony resting on it.

A look of confusion overtook Twilights face. Before she could reply, Rarity spoke again.

"I'd better go now, I'm not allowed to stay here too long and I don't want to tire you." And as she said so she left the room, leaving the door shut behind her and Twilight alone with her thoughts again.

Minutes passed, and the door opened again. This time, Applejack came in.

"Hello Twilight." She said, her voice clearly angry, her face even more so.

"Applejack, wha..."

"What? Why am I even wasting my time here!" And with that she slammed the door shut behind her.

Twilight felt overwhelming confusion in her mind. She had no idea of what was causing her friends to act this way, and nothing she could do but wait. And so she waited.

The door opened once more, and a visibly sad Pinkie Pie slowly walked in. Hermane had almost gone completly straight, her coat was now a far less bright, and her head hanged low, her eyes pointed to the ground. She sat in the middle of the room, looked up at Twilight, and asked one simple question.

"Why?"

Twilight almost started to cry at the sight.
"Pinkie, I..."
But she had already ran away.

A short while later, the door opened again, just a little this time, and Fluttershy's head poked out of it, only to be taken back out a couple of seconds later.

Sooner than the other times, and with a clear disaggreing from the nurse, the door swung open again and Rainbow Dash entered the room. She looked furious, like she was about to shout, hate in her eyes. She spoke, and her words hurt Twilights heart far more than any knife ever could have.

"You! You! I..." Her voice shifted, and Twilight saw tears forming in her eyes. "I trusted you!"
Before she could say anything, Rainbow had left.

After interminable minutes, the door opened one last time.
Celestia looked Twilight in the eyes and remained silent.
For what felt like eternity, Twilight looked into those eyes. There was no love nor hate in them, no feeling, only cold, hard judgement. And Twilight felt herself being judged for her actions, she felt a horrible, undeniable sensation of guilt in her mind.

And then, silently as she had come in, the princess left, and Twilight was once again alone.
She couldn't take it. She didn't know what happened, she didn't remember, and she had found nothing here.
She tried to scream, but nothing came out, and as sadness started to overtake her she suddenly thought that this, too, could have been a dream. And she wished it to be. And whether or not it was, she didn't want this to be the world she was in. Worse than a world whitout her friends, one where she could no longer call them as such.

She looked up, and noticed the window was open. She looked outside and saw nothing but white. She didn't bother to clear away the tears from her eyes to see if that was the truth. If this was a nightmare, she wanted to wake up, if it wasn't, she would have preferred never waking up in the first place. But it had to be one. She hoped, she told herself it was, she tried as hard as she could to convince herself it was.

She closed her eyes, and she jumped.