Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Chapter 6

Chapter 2

“So, darling, whatever is the matter?” Rarity asked.

Twilight hesitated. She was sitting on her throne around the table with the cutie map, along with her friends. She was grateful that they had managed to meet up, but now that they were all here, including Spike and Starlight, she thought that her nightmares are just stupid dreams and nothing serious. She felt foolish. She felt like a whining baby, who cries just to receive attention.

“Uh,” Applejack said. “Twilight, aren’t ya gonna answer?”

Twilight sighed. It was too late to turn back now.

“Well, girls,” she started. “I’ve been having horrible nightmares.”

She went on to explain her situation. The Mane 5, Starlight, and Spike all listened without interrupting.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy whispered after Twilight finished. “Those nightmares sound horrible!”

“Well, we’re here for ya now!” exclaimed Rainbow hovering over to Twilight. Pinkie nodded excitedly in agreement, and disappeared under the table, popping back up beside Twilight’s chair, giving her quite a scare.

“Of course we are!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. “We’re here for ya for anything!”

Twilight smiled. She already felt better. Soon enough, conversations slipped into different topics, other than her nightmares. During the conversations, however, Pinkie suddenly stopped yapping and stood still, frozen in one place, which was rather unusual. The others noticed, and turned their attention toward her. Pinkie was shuddering. They all knew what that meant. There was something wrong, and Pinkie couldn’t figure out what, and Pinkie knows just about everything. Slowly, Pinkie turned her head towards Twilight, which was rather disturbing, and whispered, “Twilight, be careful.”

Then, she zipped away. It was as if she teleported. One second she was there, the other she was gone. The ponies-and one dragon-stared at the spot where Pinkie was before, then all shrugged it off. All, except Twilight. She knew Pinkie was always weird, but that was unusual. What did she mean by being careful?

That night, Twilight was in bed. She felt a wave of peace. After meeting up with her friends this morning, she was confident and reassured that her nightmares were over. She had no way of knowing this of course, but she was hopeful. She closed her eyes, and soon fell asleep.

Chapter 3

Twilight opened her eyes. She was not in bed anymore. She wasn’t even in the Friendship Castle. There was a thick fog surrounding her. The ground seemed to be dirt. The only place she could think of that is this foggy is the Everfree Forest, and even that doesn’t answer how she got here in the first place. Or why. Or where in the hay Starlight and Spike are.

She walked around for a bit, and bumped into a tree. This must be the Everfree Forest. Then, she mentally smacked herself. She was an alicorn with magical powers. She ignited her horn to light her way. Problem solved, or so she thought. Her horn wasn’t casting much light or magic, as if her powers were limited. She walked forward.

Suddenly, the fog disappeared, and there stood her five best friends, their backs towards her. She felt a wave of joy. She had no idea what was going on, but the sight of her friends always cheered her up. She trotted over to them. Pinkie turned around, and grinned at the purple alicorn.

“Twilight! I’m so glad you’re here! Oh, we’re gonna have so much fun!” Pinkie cried out.

The others turned around to face her, and they all smiled.

“Yeah! It’s been a long time since we met! The last time we met was last night!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Twilight blinked. What did Dash mean by that? They met this morning, not last night.

“Wait,” she said. “Didn’t we meet just this morning?”

This time it was the others’ turn to blink. Then, Rainbow understood.

“Oh! Are you thinking of our harmonized selves? They were the ones you met with this morning. We’re the ones you met last night, at least AJ.”

Twilight blinked. Things are now getting scary. Fluttershy spoke up, her soft words disturbing.

“You had fun with us. Though, you had too much fun. It’s our turn now. It’s time for us to have fun with you.”

Suddenly, they weren’t in a forest anymore. The surroundings faded away into a room. A plain, old, dark room. There was no furniture or windows. There was only one old door. Everything was gray. Definitely not something Rarity likes, but the unicorn seemed to have no reaction. Applejack stepped forward.

“Ah must say, you done a mighty fine job fighting me last night. Though, it’s time for a rematch.” Applejack leaped for Twilight’s throat. Twilight was shocked, but she managed to teleport away from her grasp. Rainbow was ready though, and she flew over to Twilight. Twilight teleported again, but during all of the confusion, she wasn’t paying attention to where she was teleporting.

She appeared in front of Fluttershy, who blinked, then softly smiled as Dash hit a wall. Too fast, Dash.

“Well,” Fluttershy said. “It’s very nice of you to play with me, Twilight Sparkle.”

As Fluttershy continued to ramble, which was very unusual, Rarity crept up on Twilight from behind. Twilight gasped in shock as Rarity levitated her, which was unusual for her. The alicorn struggled, but Rarity had surprising strength. She did another surprising thing as she conjured a chair. The chair was plain, with splinters sticking out.

“I think you should have a seat, dear,” Rarity said, and plopped Twilight onto the chair. She felt the pricks of splinters on her butt. Rarity conjured up thick ropes, and tied Twilight up, tying her hooves to the arms and legs of the chair. She conjured up a special string, and wrapped that around Twilight’s horn, disabling her magic. There was no need to do anything about her wings. They were pinned down against the back of the chair by Twilight’s back. Twilight was surprised because Rarity was using her magic so quickly. She also had the feeling that this was all a nightmare. So much for a sweet dream.

Chapter 4

Pinkie squealed in excitement.

“Goodie!” she exclaimed. She nodded towards Rainbow, and she nodded back, done with rubbing her aching head. She flew over to a wall, and to Twilight’s surprise, she flew through it. Dash came back, pushing a cart full of blades, knives, and other sharp objects. She rolled it over to Pinkie, who excitedly picked up a scalpel. “Let’s get this party started!”

Twilight remembered those words. Pinkie had said them at the end of the Canterlot wedding.

“Hope you don’t mind,” Pinkie said as she turned towards Twilight, “I’m going to saw off your horn with this scalpel!”

She bounced over to her, and carefully cut around the base of her horn. Twilight had never felt pain this intense before. Waking up anytime now would be very nice. This nightmare felt so real, the visions, the sounds, the pain. She didn’t want it anymore.

Pinkie finished with the circle around Twilight’s horn, and she began to slice it off. Twilight screamed in agony. Pinkie frowned. The scalpel wasn’t doing the job.

“That’s strange,” she said, staring at the blade. “It’s not working.”

The others stared. Fluttershy cleared her throat.

“Um, Pinkie,” she said softly. “Shouldn’t you use a saw?”

Pinkie lit up. “Oh, yeah!” She bounced over to the cart while the other Mane 4 shook their heads. She placed the bloody scalpel onto the cart, and picked up a saw.

“Hey, can I try?” Rainbow asked. “I think it’s my turn now.”

Pinkie nodded, and gave the saw to Dash. She flew over to Twilight, and neatly sawed off her horn.

“Darling, may I have that horn?” Rarity asked. “It may be of some use later.” Rainbow nodded and handed the horn to her, then put away the saw.

“Mah turn,” Applejack said. She took a pair of scissors from the cart. Stepping towards Twilight, who was crying her eyes out, she said, “Twilight, Ah think your mane and tail are way too long.” Through her pain, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder, isn’t Rarity’s hair long?

Applejack snipped Twilight’s mane short, so short that it was shorter than most colts’ manes. Then, she did the unexpected. She yanked all of the short strands. All of it. Twilight shrieked as her head bled profusely. Applejack went behind Twilight.

“Ah promise this won’t hurt as much now,” she said. Using the scissors, she snipped Twilight’s tail off. Twilight bit her lip as the flesh was cut off. Applejack put away the scissors, and stared at Twilight in disappointment. She shook her head.

“Ah’m disappointed with ya,” she said. “Ah thought you were tougher, but instead, you cry like a little baby.” Still shaking her head, she walked away from Twilight.

The rest of the nightmare was a blur because of all the pain. As her “friends” continued to torture her, Twilight scarcely remembered when Rarity did a little “manicure” and cut off her hooves. She barely remembered the part when Fluttershy broke her purple wings, and she wasn’t sure if they were just hanging from her back, or were completely off. All she wanted was it to end.

After the Mane 5 finished slaughtering her, they stood before her, staring at her bloody, broken state. Pinkie shook her head.

“Gosh, Twilight,” she squeaked. “I thought you would be a lot tougher than that, after all, we were strong when you fought us. But it turned out you’re softer than Fluttershy. Well, we’ll meet again tomorrow night, and continue the fun. Bye!”

There, Twilight died, which ended the nightmare.

She woke up with a violent jerk, sitting up in her bed. Her coat was covered in sweat, and it was obvious she had done a great deal of tossing and turning during her sleep. She could still feel that feeling of emptiness when you lost a great deal of blood, even though everything wasn’t real. She glanced at the clock. It was noon. She had endured through that nightmare longer than she thought.

Having nothing else to do, she got out of bed and went downstairs to grab lunch.

Chapter 5

Her friends wouldn’t be able to help. Rainbow was back to the Wonderbolts, Fluttershy was busy caring for her animals, Rarity was busy making three dresses, Applejack was busy on the farm, and Pinkie...Twilight had no idea what she was doing. Pinkie never told her, since she zipped away during the meeting yesterday.

After lunch, she and Starlight decided to reorganize the library. Twilight was unusually quiet throughout the day. Spike and Glimmer knew it was an effect of her nightmares, but they couldn’t help asking how she was. Every time, Twilight would answer “Fine,” in a dead voice. She seemed to have died inside, and she didn’t even use her magic or wings to help herself rearrange the books.

When dinner came, they were long done with the books. As Twilight walked towards the kitchen, she spotted Spike. She froze in place, stopping right in front of him, staring at him. He stared back, and looked behind him. All he saw were bookshelves. So, Twilight isn’t looking there, unless she really wanted to reorganize the books. He turned back towards Twilight.

Twilight suddenly snatched Spike, lifting him off his feet. Eye vessels were visible in her eyes. Through gritted teeth, she said, “Spike! Why didn’t you wake me up when I overslept?! You knew something was wrong, didn’t you?”

Spike was shocked and terrified by this.

“Well,” he replied. “You seemed to be needing sleep, so I decided to let you rest for a bit. I never meant to do anything wrong!”

“What’s going on?” Starlight asked, coming from the kitchen. Twilight huffed.

“Nothing.” She let Spike go. “But,” she added. “If I begin oversleeping again, wake me up immediately.”

She walked into the kitchen, preparing to eat dinner. She was acting very strange indeed.

While they were eating, there was a sudden BOOM! Then, Pinkie dashed into the kitchen, hugging Twilight fiercely.

“OH! Twilight! I’m so sorry! I should have known you’ll have a worse nightmare than all the others! That’s what I meant when I told you to be careful! Please forgive me!” she squeaked, then zipped away.

Twilight blinked. Like the others, she looked utterly confused, but in her head, she thought, Please don’t return. Please don’t hurt me.

After dinner, Twilight walked into the library yet again. Having nothing to do, she decided to reorganize the library. Again. Starlight saw her mentor entering the library, and decided to ask the same question. “Are you alright?”

Twilight nodded and walked over to a bookshelf. She noticed that the front doors were kicked down, which explains the loud boom when Pinkie arrived. Starlight noticed as well, and called Spike. He immediately went to work, fixing them.

The rest of the day was dull, so dull there is simply no need to describe it. All Twilight did was making sure the books were nice and tidy.

When the night came, Twilight continued to do what she was already doing. Later, Spike waddled over to the library, and said, “Twilight, it’s time to go to sleep.”

Twilight shook her head. She had other plans. “Sorry, Spike. I’m going to stay up late. Why not you get some shut-eye?”

Spike decided not to question her behavior. He went upstairs, preparing to go to sleep.

Twilight’s plans were simple, at least to her standards. She would stay up all night long, reading books to keep her occupied. There would be no doubt that at some point she would fall asleep, but Twilight has a solution. She would conjure up a rope, tie it to her mane, and tie the other end to the ceiling. The rope will tug at her mane if her head starts to fall asleep. It might be slightly painful, but it would never match the pain in her nightmare, and she’s going to avoid it completely.

Chapter 7

Twilight opened her eyes, and got up on her hooves. She suddenly wanted to take an early morning stroll through the neighborhood. That was rather strange. She walked out of the Friendship Castle.

As she walked, she noticed that the sky was pitch black with no stars or moon. Princess Luna would never do such a thing. Ponyville was equally eerie, with nopony in the streets at all. Surely, some ponies should be up. No sounds at all. Not even her hooves were making sounds. She stopped walking, and to test it, stomped her hoof against the ground, ignoring the pain. Complete silence.

Suddenly realizing that taking a walk was a poor idea, she turned back, and to her horror, the castle wasn’t there. Instead, a small, gray, old building replaced it. The building seemed vaguely familiar to her. Walking towards it, she saw an old door. This building has no windows, so she couldn’t see what was in the building. She opened the door, and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

After she did that, she regretted it. She wished she had stayed outside, and opened the door to peek inside, then close it immediately. Or, even better, stayed at her home. For the Mane 5 were in the building, frowning and shaking their heads at her. Twilight stared at them in horror, then turned around, trying to open the door. It wouldn’t budge, as if it was locked, but the door knob didn’t have a lock. She tried to force it down, using her hooves and magic to no avail.

“It’s no use, Twilight,” Rainbow said. Twilight stopped.

“I can’t believe you just did that, Twilight,” Pinkie said. “Ditching us like that. Don’t you want to spend time with your friends?”

Twilight shook her head wildly, turning around to face them.

“No!” she cried. “No, I don’t want to spend time with any of you! Y-you’re my not my friends! You’re my enemies!

The others ignored her. “Rainbow, dear?” Rarity asked. “Do you know how much time we have left before Twilight wakes up?”

Twilight realized it now. It was another one of those cursed nightmares. Wake up, she thought, Wake up!

“Let’s see,” Dash said. “I believe we have…10 MORE MINUTES?!”

The five mares screamed, and Rainbow dashed over to Twilight. Twilight rocketed up into the air, using her own wings. Rainbow chased after her, and soon tackled her in mid-air down to the ground.

Twilight felt pain searing through her head as she crashed, but ignored it. She knew she’ll face worse pain if she doesn’t manage to escape. She bucked Dash off. Rainbow was pushed off of her, and Twilight flew to the air again, looking back. Dash didn’t follow.

Twilight was confused. She looked forward. She stopped. Fluttershy was hovering ahead of her, waving her hoof with a small smile. Twilight flew down to avoid her, making Fluttershy frown slightly. Twilight then realized that she was flying too low to the ground, and before she could ascend, Pinkie leaped up to her. Twilight was still several feet above the ground, but Pie managed to wrap her front hooves around Twilight’s neck.

“I just wanna give you a big hug!” Pinkie exclaimed, wrapping her back hooves around Twilight’s neck as well. Pinkie continued to tighten her grip, to a point that her strength matched Applejack’s. Twilight became desperate for air.

Then, Pinkie fell. One moment she was choking Twilight. The next, she was falling to the ground, broke her pink back, and was knocked unconscious. Fluttershy stared at Pinkie in horror, then back at Twilight.

“You,” she said. “You. Hurt. PINKIE!”

Suddenly, Twilight’s wings disappeared. She screamed, and fell to the ground.

“Wh-what happened to my wings?!” she cried, glancing at her back. The Mane 4 stared at Pinkie, then at Twilight.

“Well,” Rarity huffed, “in your mind, you are remembering the times when you were a unicorn. Dreams can depend on what the mind is thinking of.”

Twilight suddenly noticed the necklace around Rarity’s neck. The hanging piece of the necklace was her own purple horn from her last nightmare.

As Applejack stepped forward, Twilight realized that her tail was used as a scarf for the orange pony. Twilight’s mane was wrapped around Applejack’s hat as decoration. Her mane and tail were also from the last nightmare.

“Well, Twilight,” Applejack said. “At least be grateful that you’re not suffering now. We’ll be waiting for ya in the future. Keep that in mind.”

Twilight woke up. She was still on the floor. It was still early morning, about 6. She was still panting.

The book. The book she was about to pick up earlier had put her to sleep. She got up to her hooves and searched everywhere for it. It was nowhere to be found.

Chapter 8

As the day passed by, Starlight and Spike definitely noticed that Twilight was acting strange, even more bizarre than yesterday. Her mane and tail were no longer straight, but frizzled and messy. Her wings weren’t preened, the fur of her coat was a mess, and there were dark bags under her eyes.

She was terribly silent.

Starlight and Spike had been questioning her state. They were very concerned about her. It came to the point when Twilight suddenly answered them in a disturbing way.

“Are you okay?” Starlight asked. Twilight jerked her head towards her.

“YES! I’m perfectly fine!” she cried out with a huge grin on her muzzle. “Hehe, hehe.”

After that, Starlight and Spike didn’t dare bother her anymore.

There was a point in the day, when Twilight was flying by the chandelier, and she noticed that two of the gemstones were black, holding no memories. Starlight and Spike noticed too, and they both agreed that the Mane 5 should come over to examine this. Twilight didn’t.

“No!” she had said. “Don’t call them over!”

They didn’t bring up the topic again after that.

Despite her lack of sleep, Twilight refused to take a nap during the day. She was afraid she would have another nightmare if she did so, even during the day.

Nightfall came yet again. Twilight, unfortunately, didn’t manage to stay awake for another night. As she expected, the horrible nightmare came again, with the same amount of pain and tears. Pinkie’s back was still broken, but she was flying, a dream she always wanted to come true. She was flying by using Twilight’s wings from before. When the alicorn’s wings had disappeared, the wings somehow went to Pinkie.

She woke up yet again, panting in a state of a mess.

The night came.

She woke up, panting.

The night came.

She woke up, panting.

It was this exact same process happening to her daily. It continued for a month.

Each night would carry a painful nightmare, and each day, Twilight would notice that one more gemstone of the chandelier would be black, holding no memory. Twilight’s mind seemed to be working the same way, because that missing memory would be missing as well in her mind.

After a month of Twilight acting so bizarre, Starlight and Spike made a decision. They would call the Mane 5 over, and they would work together to help Twilight, despite her strange demands that they shouldn’t call them over.

Starlight and Spike thought that it will be best if they didn’t tell Twilight they were going to invite the Mane 5 over. Instead, while they were waiting, they gave a lecture to Twilight that her friends are her friends, and that they wouldn’t harm her in any way. They would help her.

Twilight didn’t seem to believe that. She kept calling the Mane 5 her enemies. Starlight and Spike couldn’t believe what she was saying though. It was clear that the nightmares were worse than they thought, and that they were driving Twilight insane. She didn’t even remember the great times she had with her friends.

The nightmares were convincing her that the Mane 5 were her enemies. She was convinced that they would truly harm her the same way in the nightmares if they come over. Her true memories of them are replaced by the memories of them in her nightmares.

Starlight and Spike walked Twilight to the table of the cutie map, and sat Twilight down on her chair. Twilight had no idea what was going on, but she followed along with them. They waited.

The front doors opened. Five mares walked in. The very first one was Applejack.

The moment Twilight saw Applejack walk in, she snapped.

Two voices in her head argued, trying to tell her what to do. One voice sounded like her own, telling her that her friends were just trying to help her, and that she shouldn’t harm them. The other was more like a hiss, telling her that they are her enemies who are trying to kill her.

“Don’t worry,” her voice said. “Your friends are just coming over to help you.”

“Kill them,” the hiss said. “Kill them before they kill you!”

It was a battle in her mind. A part of her is still her. Most of her, though, is completely insane.

She slowly got out of her seat. Her own voice frantically tries to tell her to stop. The hiss encouraged her.

She ignited her horn. Then, suddenly, she let go the magic, blasting it towards Applejack’s chest. Applejack was too shocked to move. She was knocked unconscious from the blast.

Twilight collapsed onto her seat, hugging her chest, trembling. She realized what she just did.

“What have you done?” her voice whispered.

“Good job,” the hiss said. “Now, kill the rest!”

Everypony was shocked by the incident. They stared at Twilight.

“Hurry up, fool,” the voice hissed in Twilight’s head.

Twilight slowly got up from her chair. For a moment, the others didn’t move. But before Twilight could do any more harm, Starlight cast a spell against her, putting her to a deep slumber.

The others stared at Twilight’s sleeping body. Finally, Fluttershy slowly stepped towards Applejack’s body. She crouched down, putting her hoof to Applejack’s chest.

Everypony held their breaths. Fluttershy stood up, and sighed in relief.

“She’s not dead, everypony,” she finally said. “Her heart is still beating.”

The news were so glorious that everyone else continued to hold their breaths instead of sighing in relief. A few moments later though, they realized they needed oxygen, and that they were still holding their breaths.

Everypony, plus a dragon, sighed in relief. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were prancing in place happily. Rarity and Starlight, however, thought that prancing in place is a foolish thing to do-and in Rarity’s case-an unladylike thing to do. So, they trotted over to Applejack. Rarity put a hoof to Applejack’s chest, wanting to check her heartbeat.

It seemed like happy moments, but there were other matters to worry about.

“Why did Twilight-” Rarity began, but was interrupted by a dark blue smoke rising out of Twilight’s body.

“Finally,” the smoke hissed. “I’ve awoken.”

The smoke surrounded Rarity and Applejack, Starlight just outside of it. Starlight stumbled backwards. Rarity screamed. Applejack was silent, considering the fact she was still unconscious. And everypony else were shouting, panicking, frantically trying to think of what to do.

The smoke continued to close in on the two ponies, and soon the two ponies seemed to be squeezed together. Finally, the smoke disappeared. What was left in place was...nothing. The two mares were gone.

Everypony stared at the spot Rarity and Applejack once were on. Tears streaked down their cheeks. But before the waterworks became any worse, the dark blue smoke rose up again from Twilight’s body. Everypony stared at it.

The smoke seemed to be cackling.

“Who, or shall I say, what are you?!” Dash shouted, pointing her hoof at it in anger.

“I?” the smoke hissed. “I am the Nightmare. And I’m here to fulfill my desires.”

Everypony blinked.

“B-but,” Pinkie squeaked. “You’re gone! We destroyed you by using the Elements of Harmony! That’s how we freed Princess Luna from your grasp! You shouldn’t exist anymore!”

The Nightmare merely laughed.

“Fool, I was never destroyed. Just weakened. Terribly. Close to the point of being destroyed. But, I managed to recover via Twilight Sparkle, staying in her body like a shelter. Her nightmares came from me. I created them to weaken her, making her vulnerable to my clutches. Finally, my recovery is almost complete.”

Everypony stared with hanging jaws.

“Though, if you really want to defeat me, I shall give you the solution. Solve a series of riddles. I made them myself. Each riddle will relate to an element of harmony. If you will not be able to solve one, one of your friends will be eliminated.”

“Where are our friends?” Fluttershy managed to whisper, before cowering in fear.

“Your friends, Applejack and Rarity, are safe. For now. I won’t tell you where their bodies are, but their souls are now wandering in Twilight’s mind. Twilight’s soul is doing the same. I will use her body.”

As everypony pondered on what the Nightmare meant by that, the blue smoke flew back to Twilight’s body, entering it. The Nightmare was gone. For now.

“What the hay just happened?!” Starlight cried out. Everypony were asking the same question. Suddenly, Twilight twitched.

Everypony jerked their heads toward her body.

“That’s strange,” Starlight muttered. “Twilight shouldn’t be waking up now.”

Twilight twitched again.

Afraid that she might cause destruction again, Starlight conjured up some ropes, and tied Twilight’s hooves and wings. She used a special thin thread to wrap around Twilight’s horn, disabling her magic.

By now, Twilight was fidgeting. A moment later, she opened one eye. Then, she jerked against her ropes violently, snarling, now with two wide open eyes.

“Release me!” she hissed, and managed to make a small tear in one of the ropes.

It was the moment when everypony realized something. The Nightmare is now in full control of Twilight’s body, the same way it possessed Luna long ago.

It also seemed to have incredible strength. The Nightmare continued to struggle against the ropes.

Rainbow boldly stepped forward. The Nightmare had told them the solution to their problem. It seemed as if the Nightmare was one of those evil spirits that are just reckless, giving away the solution that destroys their plans. Rainbow decided not to question it. Instead, she asked, “So, what is the first riddle?”

“Be generous,” the Nightmare hissed, then continued to struggle against the ropes.

Everypony blinked. That was not a riddle. That was more like a task, an objective. But, they decided not to question it.

“Well,” Dash said. “C’mon everypony. Let’s go.”

Everyone started towards the door, when suddenly, the Nightmare spoke up.

“No!” it cried out. “Starlight and Spike must not participate in solving these riddles. Only you three can. If you break this rule, one of your dear, fellow friends will face an unnecessary fate.”

The others stopped.

“Well,” Starlight said with a weak smile. “It’s probably for the best.”

She leaned in towards the other three mares, whispering, “Besides, somepony, or two, should keep an eye on the Nightmare.”

She glanced at Spike, and he nodded. They both walked back towards the Nightmare.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie stepped outside. Their task starts now.

Chapter 9

“Well,” Pinkie squeaked. “We could be generous to anyone! Let’s just pick a random pony to be giving to! Of course, that doesn’t seem fair, being generous to just one pony, but I’m sure that if we find the time, we can-”

“Shush, Pinkie,” Dash said. “We need to focus. This is serious.”

Pinkie nodded excitedly, and bounced over to Lemon Hearts, who just happened to be nearby.

“Hiya, Lemon!” she exclaimed.

The yellow unicorn stared at her with wide eyes. She seemed to be shocked. Then, she backed away from Pinkie, turned around, and galloped away.

Pinkie only stared after her, shocked. When the others arrived by her side, they noticed that tears were in her eyes. It had hurt her when Lemon galloped away from her.

“Pinkie?” Fluttershy whispered.

Pinkie closed and opened her eyes, as if trying to get rid of her tears. She struggled to paste a smile on her muzzle.

“I-I’m fine, guys,” she said weakly. “Lemon Hearts just seems to have better things to do.”

Suddenly, she became a happy ball of energy, as if nothing had ever happened. She bounced on forward, and the other two mares shook their heads, walking along with her.

As Pinkie bounced, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her right front hoof. She stopped bouncing, one eye twitching.

“Pinkie,” Dash asked. “What’s wrong?”

Pinkie lifted her hoof. A rock was on the ground.

“I stepped on a rock,” she strained to speak.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “You didn’t just step on it, you hopped on it. Are you alright?”

Pinkie nodded.

Fluttershy picked up the rock, noticing something.

“Girls,” she said. “There’s a message carved into it.”

The others gathered around, urging her to read it. Fluttershy squinted as she read, “‘You may have noticed that the townsponies are acting strange. I used my powers to terrorize them, slowly driving them insane. It’s not only them. It’s all of Equestria as well, minus the princesses. Perhaps I’ll gain enough magic to do the same to them. ~The Nightmare.’”

“The dang Nightmare managed to do that?!” Rainbow cried.

“And it managed to write that message on that rock?!” Pinkie cried.

They stared at her.

“What?”

“Well,” Fluttershy said. “Magic can do lots of stuff. I personally don’t think that it’ll matter if the princesses are driven mad like everypony else. We’re not allowed to have any help from other ponies, remember? If we don’t do this alone, one of our friends will-eep!”

She didn’t say anymore. She didn’t have to.

“Well,” Dash said. “At least we have each other. But if the Nightmare has that power, wouldn’t Starlight and Spike start to become insane from fear? And, what about us?”

“I’m pretty sure Starlight and Spike will be going through what others are going through,” Pinkie said a bit too happily. “The message said all of Equestria, after all. All, except the princesses. But maybe not us, or we’ll be running around town by now!”

She gasped. She bounced over to Derpy Hooves, who was sitting at a mushroom table, preparing to eat a muffin.

“Wait! Pinkie!” Rainbow cried out, realizing what was on the pink pony’s mind. “What are we gonna give Derpy? We don’t seem to have anything in order to be generous.”

Pinkie paused. Then, she smiled and produced a muffin out of nowhere. She gave a wink to her friends.

They just shook their heads.

She continued to bounce happily over to Derpy.

“Hiya, Derpy!” she squealed. “You want this muffin?”

She put the muffin on the table.

Derpy looked at the muffin, then looked at her own in her hooves. She looked back at the muffin Pinkie gave her. Then, she opened her mouth wide, stuffed her own muffin in her mouth, then flew away, leaving the muffin Pinkie offered behind.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were all shocked. Derpy loves muffins. Why didn’t she accept the offer?

“Well,” Rainbow said. “We were generous. Let’s go back to the castle, I guess. We’ll tell the Nightmare that we’re done, and that we’re ready for the next riddle.”

Fluttershy nodded, but Pinkie leaped into the air, gasping.

“No!” she shouted. “We should go to Rarity’s Boutique! We didn’t solve the riddle!”

She galloped away.

The others had no choice but to follow her. Pinkie was traveling at an incredible speed, so Fluttershy had to cling onto Rainbow while she was flying.

They arrived at the boutique a moment later. Pinkie opened the door, and they all stepped inside. What they saw was a shock.

The boutique was a huge mess. Mannequins were thrown around. Fabric was hanging here and there. Thread and needles were on the floor. Accessories were everywhere. Rarity would never have done this. In the far corner was Sweetie Belle, frightened and crazed. She must have done this. She spied the three mares, stood up, and ran, screaming. She ran past the mares, pushing the door, and galloped outside.

The Nightmare was true to its words.

Fluttershy spotted another message. It was sewn onto a piece of silk. She picked it up, and read it to her friends.

“‘You have until twilight to solve a riddle. If you don’t finish on time, one of your friends will die. ~The Nightmare.’”

“Dear Celestia!” Pinkie cried, glancing at the clock. “It’s one o’clock already! We’ve got to hurry!”

She ran all around the room, searching for an answer.

A moment later, they all spied the answers. Three mannequins were there, standing together perfectly, as if they weren’t bothered at all. Each one had a dress, three identical dresses that Rarity had obviously made.

The three mares stopped and stared at the dresses. They each felt a draw to them. Without a word, they walked towards the mannequins, and they each put on a dress. They didn’t even know why, but they felt like these dresses were the key to the riddle.

They didn’t know a lot of things. They don’t know why these dresses are still here, as they remembered Rarity made these dresses about a month ago. Rarity had said so during the meeting with Twilight a month ago. Rarity must have been extremely late to finish the dresses, or that the three mares who ordered them were extremely late to pick them up. It didn’t matter. They needed these now.

The three mares walked to the door, opening it. What they saw outside was shocking. Instead of seeing the town of Ponyville, they see an extremely thick forest. Huge trees were grown closely together. Shrubs and thorn bushes scattered the ground. Rarity’s Boutique was extremely misplaced in this forest.

“What in Equestria happened?!” Fluttershy gasped.

Rainbow noticed a message carved into the door. It was rather disturbing and creepy that messages from the Nightmare keep appearing out of nowhere, but there were other matters to worry about.

“Girls,” she said. “Here’s a message. ‘Good job solving the riddle. Now try to find your way back to the Friendship Castle. ~The Nightmare.’”

“That’s no fun,” Pinkie pouted.

“It’s going to be easy though,” Dash said. She winked.

She opened her wings, ready to fly above the forest to find the castle. But before she took off, more thick trees grew from the ground. Behind them, Rarity’s Boutique disappeared, and from that place, more trees sprouted from the ground. The sky was completely covered. They were surrounded by the thick forest. There was no room for flight. If the pegasi tried to fly, their feathers would be torn from their wings, and wings ripped from their shoulders. Pegasi wings are delicate and sensitive, no matter how strong they are, including Dash’s.

The three mares looked at each other in dismay. Without another word, they walked forward into the uncertainty of the strange forest.

Chapter 10

“What in tarnations happened?!” cried Applejack for the fiftieth time. Rarity facehoofed.

“I told you already, Applejack,” she said for the fiftieth time. “Twilight attacked you with her magic, and before we knew it, you and I were trapped in a dark blue smoke, which turned out to be the so-called Nightmare. So, here we are in ugly, black nothingness which is, supposedly, Twilight’s mind. Quite some time ago the Nightmare explained everything to us, so you shouldn’t be asking again, Applejack.”

Applejack knew all of that. She just couldn’t believe it. All this time, ever since they defeated Nightmare Moon, she always thought that their worries concerning the Nightmare were gone. The idea of the Nightmare coming back is simply not welcome in her stubborn mind.

Just as she opened her mouth to ask the same question again, they heard sobbing. Off in the distance, they saw a purple glow. They trotted towards it. The purple glow was none other than Twilight Sparkle herself. Or Twilight’s soul. Applejack and Rarity were no different themselves now. They have no idea where their bodies are now, so they’re souls in Twilight’s mind.

“Twilight?” Applejack asked. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight raised her head, looking at them with sad eyes.

“Everything’s wrong.”

Rarity crouched down. “Whatever is the matter, darling?”

Twilight inhaled and exhaled shakily.

Then, she shouted in an agonized voice, “Me! I’m what’s wrong! All of this is my fault! I should have told all of Equestria about my horrifying nightmares! But instead, I let the Nightmare continue to drive me mad and, eventually, possess my body! I let my nightmares convince me that you guys are my enemies! All of Equestria is in danger because of me! We’re here, trapped and helpless, because of me! I’m crying because of me! I lost my own element because of me!”

She broke down again, crying her eyes out. Rarity and Applejack stared in shock.

Twilight sighed sadly. “Everything’s better off without me.”

As she continued to break down, Rarity and Applejack saw something. The glow from Twilight’s alicorn soul was slowly fading away. Her soul was dying. Not her body, her soul. If it died, it’ll disappear from the universe forever, all memories of her eventually fading away if that happens.

“Now look here, Twilight,” Applejack said firmly. “Look me in the eyes.”

Twilight raised her head, staring at her with tearful eyes.

“Admit it, Applejack,” she muttered. “I’m a worthless, useless soul.”

Applejack put a hoof under Twilight’s chin.

“Now listen to me here,” she said. “You’re not worthless. If you are, why are you here? Why are you an alicorn? Your body’s an alicorn, and your soul’s an alicorn. We all see that right now. You’re obviously not worthless because you’ve obviously done something incredible multiple times to earn your status. To become who you are. You’re not worthless.”

Twilight smiled softly, wiping her eyes.

“Applejack,” she murmured. “That was amazing! I’m glad you’re all here.”

She stopped.

“Wait, where are the others?”

“Well,” Rarity answered. “Our other friends are out there in the real world, trying to save us and Equestria. They are perfectly fine. I hope.”

“Well, I’m glad for that,” Twilight said. “There might be a chance that everything will be okay. Friends are always the best.”

“Ah’m just wondering,” Applejack said. “What did you mean earlier when you said that you lost your element?”

“It’s true,” Twilight sighed. “I’m not the spirit of the Element of Magic anymore. The harmony and friendship sort of crumbled after all of this.”

She sighed again.

“Look at all of this, my friends,” she said, gesturing the darkness with her hoof. “There is something familiar. And that is the chandelier. Remember the gemstones? They were black, holding no memories. My mind is the same now. It seems like my mind and the chandelier are connected somehow.”

Rarity and Applejack still have a lot of questions, but they thought that now is not the time to ask them.

“We’re here for you darling, don’t worry,” Rarity said.

“Thanks, guys,” Twilight smiled. “It’s great to know that you’ll always be there for me, and that I can always turn to you, to all of you.”

Suddenly, there was a flash of light in the distance. They turned toward it, and saw a white glow far ahead. They glanced at each other.

“What in the hay was that?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Twilight. “Let’s go find out.”

They walked toward the mysterious glow together, and it was great for them to know that Twilight’s mind isn’t completely dark.

Chapter 11

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie had wandered through the forest for quite some time, hours even. Some point during their journey, they had received another message from the Nightmare, telling them that the dresses they’re wearing must not be ruined.

Not that they would want them to be ruined. Rarity wouldn’t like the fact if her work was for nothing thanks to her friends.

So instead of walking, the three mares were leaping from tree branch to tree branch. The trees have branches so thick that the ponies could hop from the lower branches. It helped prevent the dresses from being torn. It also allows them to avoid dirt, thorn bushes, shrubs, and whatever kind of dirty stuff someone could find on the forest floor. The only problem is that it was a bit difficult to jump from branch to branch.

Everypony know that all ponies have magic in them, not just unicorns and alicorns. Pegasi and earth ponies have magic in them. It’s just that they have little to no control to their magic compared to unicorns and alicorns.

Dash, Fluttershy, and Pie knew that, but they thought that perhaps they could control their magic if they tried. It could help them keep the dresses safe.

Apparently, it was working. They were also leaping gracefully now, instead of displaying their clumsiness earlier.

Then, Fluttershy smelled a familiar scent. It wasn’t rather pleasant. She stopped, lifted her nose in the air, and sniffed. The others paused as well, catching the smell.

“That smell,” Fluttershy whispered, “it’s…SMOKE!”

Indeed, the smell was smoke. Smoke in a forest usually means something. Fire.

The three mares rushed through the trees, feeling more like monkeys than ponies. The smell of smoke was getting stronger and stronger. They did not dare look behind. They hoped that they would be able to find the edge of the forest before being consumed by fire.

Suddenly, Rainbow stopped. The others paused as well, staring at her.

“We can’t keep up like this!” Rainbow shouted. “We’ll have to find a way to carry these dresses instead of wearing them! They’re slowing us down!”

The others nodded, and each mare frantically scanned their position, searching for anything useful. Then, Dash saw it. Above her head. It was as if it appeared just at the right moment. A long vine.

She snatched the vine, and used her teeth to cut it into three pieces. The others waited. She tossed a piece to each of her friends, and they took off the dresses, folded them hastily, and put them on their backs, holding them there while wrapping a piece of vine around their bodies.

Once they were done, they scrambled through the trees again, leaping around much faster now. But then, they saw a sight ahead of them. A horrible sight. Another cloud of smoke, another fire. The fire was heading towards them. They looked behind. A cloud of smoke was heading towards them, the one they first knew about. They looked from left to right. More fires were coming.

They were completely surrounded.

All seemed hopeless, until Rainbow spotted another wonderful thing. It seemed a bit too convenient, but Rainbow didn’t care. The others noticed as well, and they all headed towards the opening in the top of the trees, the brilliant blue sky.

They were coughing violently as they rushed towards the opening. Pinkie was the first one to arrive, and she waited for Dash. Rainbow soon came to her side, and Pinkie immediately leaped into her front hooves. Rainbow flew out of the opening, carrying Pinkie. The trees were not growing so closely together at this spot, giving just enough room for her wings.

They flew into the sky, then waited for Fluttershy. They looked down. The opening was still clear, and the smoke wasn’t billowing out of it yet. Even so, Fluttershy still hadn’t come out.

The smoke was starting to rise up from the the hole into the sky. Rainbow and Pinkie watched with wide eyes as they grasped onto their dying hope. Fluttershy must come out.

After what seemed like an eternity, Fluttershy still hadn’t come out into safety. Rainbow and Pinkie couldn’t believe it. They didn’t want to, but Fluttershy should have came back to their side by now.

Dash and Pie closed their eyes, tears streaking from their eyelids down their cheeks. Suddenly, they heard an unpleasant pleasant sound. It was a sound that they wouldn’t enjoy hearing. But it was also a sound that told them great news. A cough. A soft, desperate cough from the itchy throat of Fluttershy.

They opened their eyes, and sure enough, Fluttershy was flying through the smoke, coughing violently with tears in her eyes. Despite her terrible state, Fluttershy managed to fly up to them. Rainbow and Pinkie were only able to grin and cry tears of joy at the sight of their friend. Rainbow was so happy that she almost dropped Pinkie.

“Are you alright?” Dash asked, still grinning and shedding tears.

Fluttershy coughed for a few moments. “Yes, I’m fine,” she replied. For a few moments, it were just happy times. But then, they soon went back to focus. They looked back down at the forest. But to their surprise, Ponyville was below them, not a burning forest. It was as if the town was there all the time. Even the smoke they saw earlier was gone.

The mares stared at the town, then glanced at each other.

“Well, that was weird,” Pinkie squeaked. “But fun!”

The others shook their heads. As they flew down to the ground, they each had a lingering feeling. It was the feeling that you experience when you feel like you’re missing something, that you’re not quite done with something, that you’re fully aware of both of those things. It was mysterious and unpleasant.

The three mares reached the ground, and Rainbow dropped Pinkie. Then, they walked over to the town’s cemetery. They didn’t even know why. It just felt right. Perhaps it was destiny guiding them, or maybe their own magic, pulling them towards the place where they should be right now. It didn’t matter.

They walked through the old, rusty front gates, and saw the stone graves of the graveyard. The mares walked around the yard, glancing at the graves. Fluttershy paused in front of a grave for a young colt from decades ago. The words carved into the stone said that the colt was murdered by his own mother. The mother was driven insane by depression due to the father’s death, which led her to killing her own son. The mother later killed herself, not able to take the pain and loss anymore. The graves of each family member were next to each other. Fluttershy thought she could take a moment to mourn for the family.

Rainbow stopped in front of a grave marking a young mare. The mare was murdered by an outlaw, which also happened decades ago. Dash took a moment to feel sympathy for the mare who could have lived a longer life.

Pinkie wasn’t bouncing around at all as she stopped in front of three graves. The graves looked relatively new. She squinted to read the letters. She widened her eyes as she took in their meanings. She screamed. Rainbow and Fluttershy snapped out of their mourning, and rushed over to Pinkie.

“Pinkie!” Dash cried. “What’s wrong?!”

Pinkie pointed a shaky hoof to the graves. Fluttershy and Rainbow read the words on the stone and their eyes widened as well.

The graves marked the spots of Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, and Cloud Kicker. The young mares were found at the bottom of a lake in Ponyville. The authorities had no idea why they were dead, and the mares had no idea why they didn’t know about their deaths sooner. Especially Pinkie. She knows everypony in town, and she would have heard news if ponies were missing.

Fluttershy hung her head. “Guys,” she whispered. “It’s a sad truth. Common ponies don’t get much of a funeral. If an everyday pony died, their body would just be put in a casket and get buried. Ponies of higher status receive more than that. It’s not a wonder why we didn’t know about these poor losses.”

The mares stayed silent, standing at the graves. Each mare was standing in front of one grave. Then, they had the feeling that they finally solved the riddle. At least, they almost did. The lingering feeling was still there, but faint. The mares glanced at each other, and without a word, they ripped the vines around their bodies, and took off the dresses on their backs. It seemed that puzzle pieces were falling in place. Rarity had made these three dresses, yet the mares who ordered them didn’t pick them up. The reason why was because they were dead, so the dresses remained on the mannequins. That’s what Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie thought, and something was telling them that they were right.

The three mares each put a dress in front of a grave, returning the dresses to the three dead mares. After all, the dresses were theirs. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie stood there for a moment to mourn for the losses. Then, they turned around, walking out of the sad cemetery. They finally felt done, the lingering feeling gone.

Fluttershy looked up at the sky. The sun was starting to set. Her eyes widened. “It’s almost twilight!” she cried out. The mares realized that this was true, and they all galloped towards the Friendship Castle. The mares were so nervous about their deadline that they accidently galloped way too fast, and knocked down the front doors. Well, Spike is just going to have to fix that.

They skidded to a halt in front of the Nightmare. Starlight and Spike were trying to feed it by shoving food and water into its mouth. The Nightmare was refusing to eat or drink. There were also more ropes bounding the Nightmare. Twilight’s body had also changed due to the Nightmare’s control. Fangs were visible. The eyes had turned narrower, the pupil more like that of a snake. Finally, the Nightmare ate a tiny bit of the food. It was obvious why. The Nightmare must keep Twilight’s body alive in order for the Nightmare to continue to control it.

“So,” the Nightmare hissed, its voice sounding like Twilight’s voice. “Have you solved the riddle?”

The mares believed they knew the answer. It was somewhat grim. Being generous to ponies is a great achievement. You shouldn’t be greedy. Even if somepony is dead, it’s noble to act generous to them. In this case, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie had been generous to three dead mares.

And that’s what they said to the Nightmare.

They held their breaths as the Nightmare fell silent. “Correct,” it finally said. The mares sighed, filled with joy.

“Here is the next riddle: always be kind to animals. Why did the chicken cross the road?”

The three mares froze. They had been so busy celebrating their victory over the first riddle that they had completely forgot that there were more. They glanced over to Starlight and Spike. They looked tired, but they managed to give the mares reassuring smiles. They smiled back.

Without another word, they turned and walked back out the door, leaving Spike with the task to fix the doors. They paused, and stared at the sky. The sun wasn’t setting. It was noon. The time seemed to reset, giving them a new start.

They pondered on the strange riddle. Why did the chicken cross the road? That joke was old and horrible, but they all knew the answer to that. The answer was also old and horrible. They didn’t know why that was part of the riddle, but Fluttershy didn’t mind at all about the part to be kind to animals. They all knew where to go. They all walked over to the outskirts of Ponyville, to Fluttershy’s cottage.

Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight continued walking towards the light in the darkness of Twilight’s mind. They had no idea how long they had been walking. It must had been quite some time, but the light didn’t seem any closer, no matter how much they walked.

“Ugh,” Applejack groaned. “Twilight, how large is your darn brain? We’ve been walking here for quite some time now.”

“Oh,” Twilight replied in a somewhat embarrassed tone. “My brain isn’t that large. I may study each day, but that doesn’t make any difference to my mind at all! We’re probably just really small souls!”

Rarity and Applejack glared at her. Twilight laughed nervously. Moments passed by slowly. Then, Rarity decided to pass the time quicker.

“Say, Twilight?” she asked. “Do you remember the time when we first met? When you knew nothing of friendship? We all changed so much from that day.”

Twilight nodded with a fond smile. “Of course I remember!” she said. “That day is one of my favorite memories!”

The white glow ahead of them seem to be getting brighter. Or perhaps closer. The three mares continued walking towards it. Then, to their surprise, they walked into the light. They didn’t even get blinded by it. For a moment, the light surrounded them and they couldn’t see anything. Then, either the light dimmed enough for them to see, or that their souls adjusted to the brightness. One thing was sure, the glow was still rather bright.

The souls stood around for awhile. Then, the white glow changed into vivid colors of purple and pink. Twilight looked around, and noticed a rectangle. It was just floating in place. The rectangle was acting like a screen, for it was showing Twilight and Spike arriving in Ponyville, meeting the Mane 5.

This was reminding Twilight of the time when Princess Celestia took her to a strange place. It was the place where everything seemed to be blue, sparkles everywhere. Rectangles showed scenes of her with her friends. It was the place where she became an alicorn.

Twilight walked over to the rectangle she was seeing now, among the midst of glittery colors of purple and pink. She stared at it. It was indeed showing one of her favorite memories. Rarity and Applejack stared at her, having no idea what this place was, or why there was a floating rectangle showing Twilight meeting her friends. Twilight looked back at them.

“Girls,” she whispered softly with a small smile. “I think we’re restoring my memories.”

Chapter 12

Rainbow and Pinkie watched as Fluttershy flew from one place to another, feeding and petting the animals. She had always trusted Discord, but she never really wanted to leave her cottage full of animals alone. Discord just couldn’t handle all of them.

She had no problem feeding the animals at all. It was part of the riddle, being kind to creatures, after all. She ignored Rainbow and Pinkie, who were just standing around. They had no idea how to care for animals like Fluttershy, especially Rainbow. Dash could still remember the time when she had Fluttershy’s cutie mark instead of her own. She had to take care of animals, but she had failed miserably. As a result, the animals tied her up with rope, put her in a cauldron, and marched around her, utensils such as knives and forks raised in the air. She swore that they were about to eat her because they were so hungry, and sometimes she would have nightmares about the scene. So, she’d rather stand off to the side, watching Fluttershy feed the animals.

Fluttershy put a bowl of salad in front of Angel Bunny. Angel scowled at his meal, and kicked the bowl, knocking it down. Fluttershy frowned, then shrugged, cleaning up the mess. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Rainbow shook their heads. Nopony knew how Fluttershy could still love that bunny. Nopony could handle him, not even Fluttershy. Rainbow despises the creature the most out of all the animals.

“C’mon,” Fluttershy said. “We need to feed the chickens.”

Chickens. They all knew that the birds were in the chicken coop. They also knew that chickens were part of the riddle. They headed to the door, but Discord asked them something that stopped them. “Fluttershy, what took you so long to get back here? Also, why are Pinkie and Rainbow here with you?”

They froze, thinking. The answer to the first question was that Twilight’s soul, along with their other two friends’ souls, are now trapped in Twilight’s mind, the Nightmare had taken over Twilight’s body, and they were trying to save Equestria together, which explains why Fluttershy hadn’t returned to her cottage sooner. The answer to the second question was just about the same thing. However, they knew they couldn’t tell all of that to Discord, remembering that the Nightmare threatened to kill one of their friends if anyone else, besides themselves, tries to solve the riddles. Discord was sure to help if he knew.

So instead of answering truthfully, Fluttershy smiled and replied, “Oh, don’t worry Discord. Everything’s fine. It’s just that the meeting with Twilight took longer than I thought. I thought that the animals must be starving, so, umm, I brought Rainbow and Pinkie along because I thought, umm, they could help me feed the poor little creatures.”

This reply was rather unconvincing, even to Fluttershy, but the three mares smiled at Discord, as if it was indeed the truth. He narrowed his eyes, but went along with it.

The mares sighed, and walked out of the cottage. They walked over to the chicken coop, and Fluttershy opened the roof, looking down at the chickens. The birds seemed to be greeting her. She reached down a hoof, and collected an egg from each hen. She put the eggs in a carton, which happened to be nearby. Rainbow and Pinkie continued to watch. Rainbow kept a safe distance from the coop. Fluttershy closed the roof, then opened the door of the coop. One by one, the chickens walked out. Fluttershy took out a bag of seeds. Rainbow and Pinkie swore that Fluttershy had just done something only Pinkie could do-produce items out of nowhere.

Fluttershy fed the chickens, and it wasn’t long for her to finish. She gestured for the chickens to walk back into their coop. She closed the door once she was sure all of the birds were in the coop.

“Well,” Rainbow said. “We’re done, right?”

The other mares nodded, but all three of them weren’t quite sure. The lingering feeling had returned, telling them that they’re not quite done yet. But the mares couldn’t think of anything else they need to do. They walked away from the cottage, making their way back to Ponyville.

It was after they crossed a street when they realized something, Ponyville was still there. Of course the town should be there, but last time, a whole forest replaced the town. What if they had to face another challenge like that right now? Last time they walked into Rarity’s Boutique, then walked out to see a forest. Maybe they had to do the same thing, this time with Fluttershy’s cottage.

The mares glanced at each other. They knew that they were all thinking the same thing. They turned around, crossing the street again, and walked back to Fluttershy’s cottage.

When they arrived at the front door, they realized that they had indeed forgotten something. And it wasn’t the fact that they hadn’t solved the riddle. It was the fact that they had forgotten to close the door. They now felt so dumb, forgetting something as simple as closing a door. Now, seeing the door, they felt dread rush through them. The door wasn’t opened fully, just a crack, but Fluttershy, along with the others, knew that any animal can escape by that tiny space.

They hurriedly rushed inside, remembering to close the door this time. Discord stared at them, wondering why they had returned. The mares smiled nervously at him, then went back outside, remembering to close the door again. They had expected something odd the moment they stepped outside, but as they looked on, they saw that the town was there as it was supposed to be.

Perhaps they didn’t need to walk in a forest after all.

Yet, the lingering feeling was still there.

They walked away from the cottage, heading towards the street once again. But before they could even put a hoof on the street, they saw Angel Bunny, smiling mischievously. He was just standing in the middle of the road, smirking at the mares, especially at Fluttershy, as if he had performed a great prank. It seemed that he took his chance to escape when the front door of the cottage was open.

What he didn’t realize was the great danger he was putting himself into, for there was an upcoming carriage pulled by two galloping stallions, and Angel was right in the path. If he doesn’t move away from the path soon, he will get trampled by the hooves of the stallions, or squashed by the wheels of the carriage, or trampled by the hooves of the stallions and get squashed by the wheels of the carriage. Remember dear readers, there’s a difference between and and or.

The three friends, however, were too shocked by the appearance of Angel to worry about the differences between the words “and” and “or.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror, and she screamed like she never had before. Pinkie and Rainbow jumped. Fluttershy’s scream was ear-piercing, it was so loud that the two mares almost received bleeding ears. Pinkie, especially, was impressed. She never thought Fluttershy could reach a volume that loud, or a pitch that high.

Fluttershy rushed across the road, galloping with such a speed that made Rainbow shocked. She snatched Angel Bunny off the ground, not daring to stop, and continued to run across the street. It only took a mere few seconds for that to happen, and the carriage was still quite some distance away.

Rainbow and Pinkie took their chances to gallop across the road, and joined with Fluttershy and a very angry Angel Bunny. Fluttershy was cuddling with Angel, but then her face of relief and gratitude changed to that of horror and dread. Rainbow and Pinkie turned around, and they saw a chicken. Perhaps Fluttershy forgot to count all of the chickens, and when she had closed the chicken coop, she missed one of them.

The chicken was crossing the road, the carriage was heading towards it, and Fluttershy didn’t have the time or luck she had before to save the chicken. The stallions were galloping on the road, and by the time they realized that they were about to kill a chicken, it was too late.

The chicken was trampled by the hooves of the stallions and squashed by the wheels of the carriage. The stallions continued to gallop away, deciding that it’s best to transport whoever was in the carriage than stop to examine the chicken.

The three mares stared at the bloody pulp on the road that was once a chicken. Fluttershy began to cry. Angel Bunny scowled at the yellow pony, and released himself from her grasp. Cursing Fluttershy for ruining his great prank in his tiny head, he hopped back to the cottage, deciding that was best.

Rainbow and Pinkie tried to comfort Fluttershy as they walked back to the castle, the lingering feeling gone.

When they arrived, they noticed more differences. Starlight and Spike looked tired and distressed as they continued to force food and water into Twilight’s mouth. There were bags under their eyes, and they were a mess. Starlight’s fur and mane stuck at odd angles, and food stains covered Spike’s scales. The Nightmare had changed Twilight’s body again. Her body seemed to have grown taller, and her colors had darkened.

Fluttershy wiped her tears, and put on her assertive mask. She stomped over to Twilight’s body, or if you prefer, the Nightmare. It didn’t really matter, since the Nightmare was possessing Twilight’s body. Before the Nightmare could say anything, Fluttershy told it the answer to the riddle, or what she thought was the answer. You must be kind to animals in need, even if they are unpleasant, like Angel Bunny. Sometimes, you even have to sacrifice an animal for another animal, like how the chicken died and how Angel lived. Of course, Rainbow and Pinkie-and perhaps you-don’t agree completely with this, but Fluttershy does.

“You forgot something,” the Nightmare hissed. “You forgot the part about the chicken crossing the road.”

Fluttershy took a moment to think. Her chicken crossed the road, her poor little chicken. And she saw exactly what happened to it. Why did the chicken cross the road? To get killed by approaching carriages. And that’s what Fluttershy said.

“Correct,” the Nightmare said, much to Rainbow and Pinkie’s surprise. “The next riddle is: be loyal to the orchards. Buck all the apple trees.”

With that, the Nightmare returned to its normal struggle against the ropes, leaving a large tear in one of them. The three mares bid farewell to Starlight and Spike, who didn’t respond. They walked out of the front doors, which were already fixed by Spike quite some time ago.

They pondered on the so-called “riddle.” They didn’t know what to think of it. Was it focusing on the Element of Loyalty or Honesty? They decided to push it away. It didn’t matter. As they walked toward Sweet Apple Acres, the closest location with apple orchards, they decided that they would no longer call the ridiculous riddles, “riddles,” but instead call them “the Nightmare’s words.”

“What?!” both Rarity and Applejack cried out for the fiftieth time. Twilight facehoofed.

“I told you guys already,” she groaned, “I said that we just restored one of my memories, and we could probably do that again by recalling a fond time together. I said that for fifty times, and yes, I counted.”

For some strange reason, Rarity was experiencing déjà vu. The situation was reminding her of something, especially about the “fiftieth time” part. Applejack, however, knew exactly what this was reminding her of. She was reminded of the time when she and Rarity were asking and answering the same question for fifty times. That was before they found Twilight’s soul in the darkness.

Just as they were about to open their mouths to yell out “What?!” again, Twilight suddenly squealed in delight. Rarity and Applejack stared as Twilight pranced around like a little filly, squealing the same thing over and over.

“Yes, of course! Yes, of course! Yes, of course!” she exclaimed repeatedly.

“Twilight,” Applejack asked, “what the hay are you happy about?”

Twilight stopped. “Why, isn’t it obvious?” she replied. “We could restore my memories by talking about them together! We could get rid of the darkness!”

Rarity thought. “Well,” she said, “anything to get rid of this ugly black. We need more sparkling purple and pink!” She swept her hoof through the air in a grand way, gesturing to their surroundings.

Twilight took a step towards them, smiling. “Girls,” she said, “do you remember the time of the Canterlot Wedding?”

Chapter 13

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie glanced up at the sky. It seemed that each time they solved a riddle, the time would reset itself. The sun was higher in the sky than the position it was in while they were solving the kindness riddle. They frowned. Not riddles, “the Nightmare’s words.”

They continued to buck apple trees. The Apple family was nowhere in sight, so they assumed that they were either in the barn, or rampaging around town thanks to the Nightmare. The mares were doing the work now.

It wasn’t easy. Each mare kept failing. Rainbow almost had the same amount of strength Applejack has. So, many apples fell from the tree she was kicking. The problem was that most of the apples weren’t falling into the baskets around the tree. Those apples hit the ground, turning mushy.

Fluttershy was too weak for the job. Sometimes, she’ll gather up all of her strength, kick, and with luck, one small apple will fall. Onto the ground. It would get mushy, just like the apples around Rainbow’s apple tree. Fluttershy never got a single apple into a basket.

Pinkie was an earth pony, and earth ponies are known for their strength, just as pegasi are known for their flight, and unicorns are known for their spell-casting. So, she had no problem making the apples fall. She had a bit more luck. There were more apples falling into the baskets than Rainbow and Fluttershy’s baskets. The problem Pinkie had was that she was too hyper and fast. She usually missed the trunk of her tree, sending herself through the air due to the force of her own kick. Pinkie sent another kick, assuming that she was about to hit the tree. Instead, she found herself flying through the air. She slammed into a nearby tree.

Pinkie laid on the ground for a few moments. She was angry. She was getting extremely frustrated. For a moment, she just laid there, sprawled on the dirt. Then, she had a brilliant idea. She perked up, jumping into the air, a bright light bulb hovering over her head. Rainbow and Fluttershy stared at the light bulb in astonishment. Then, the light bulb turned into a cupcake. The cupcake fell onto Pinkie’s head. Pinkie landed on the ground on her hooves. The cupcake fell to the ground. Pinkie smiled, picked up the cupcake, and swallowed the whole of it, including the paper.

She pulled her party cannon from her mane. She grinned at her two friends, who were still staring in shock at her. She aimed her cannon at a tree trunk, and fired at it. Colorful confetti shot from the cannon. The confetti was traveling at such a speed that when it hit the trunk, most of the apples from the tree fell. And most of the apples that fell from the tree fell into the baskets surrounding the tree. Pinkie celebrated with joy. Never underestimate her party cannon. She turned to her friends.

“Rainbow! Fluttershy!” she cried. “My party cannons will get the job done!”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy continued to stare. Finally, Rainbow said, “Um, Pinkie, that’s great news, but we only have one party cannon.”

“No, we don’t,” came Pinkie’s reply. She withdrew two more party cannons from her mane. All three of the cannons were identical. For all of the time Rainbow and Fluttershy knew Pinkie, they thought Pinkie only had one special party cannon. Now, they see three identical party cannons.

Pinkie threw the two party cannons to her friends. Then, she aimed at another tree with her own cannon, and fired at it. Plenty of apples fell into the baskets, just like before. Pinkie grinned. Suddenly, she was zipping along the ground and through the air, firing her cannon at numerous apple trees. Soon, Rainbow and Fluttershy joined in the fun with their cannons. They were getting the job done quickly, but the mare who was helping to finish the work fastest was Pinkie Pie.

It only took the three friends a few minutes to finish. Even Applejack couldn’t beat that record. The mares stood together for a moment when they finished. Rainbow and Fluttershy returned the party cannons they used. Pinkie took them, and put them back into her mane, along with her own cannon. As expected, there were no sign of the cannons sticking out from her mane.

They were done with the harvesting. Now, they need to clean up the mushy apples on the ground. But that could take hours. And the party cannons wouldn’t help them in this situation.

“Don’t worry,” came the voice of Rainbow Dash, “I got this.” In seconds, she flew through the orchard, collected the mushy apples, put them in a nearby compost bin, and returned to her friends. She had finished in ten seconds flat. The mares smiled at each other, and they made their way out of the farm, returning to the castle.

As they expected, when they entered, the Nightmare, Starlight, and Spike had changed. Starlight and Spike looked even more exhausted, and it looked like they could use a day’s sleep. The Nightmare had changed Twilight’s body into a tall, skinny, midnight black figure. Instead of ropes binding the Nightmare, there were chains. The chains were stained with blood due to the Nightmare’s constant struggle against the steel. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie knew they were running out of time before the Nightmare manages to escape and destroy harmony.

As usual, the Nightmare asked for the answer, and the mares answered “the Nightmare’s words.” They told the Nightmare that they took care of the apple orchard. That was the answer.

“Answer this,” the Nightmare said, “was the riddle involved with the Element of Honesty or Loyalty?”

For a moment, the mares hesitated. “The Nightmare’s words” had mentioned something about loyalty, but all of that apple tree bucking had kept reminding them of Applejack, the spirit of the Element of Honesty. They thought carefully.

“Honesty,” Rainbow Dash finally answered. Fluttershy and Pinkie didn’t know why she said that, but Rainbow had the lingering feeling again. This time, it was telling her that her element-which is loyalty-will be involved in the future.

To their joy, they had answered correctly.

“The next riddle is this: if you had been disloyal to someone, apologize at once.”

Rainbow’s prediction of her element being involved in a future riddle was correct. Before they walked out of the castle, they asked Starlight and Spike if they were okay. They didn’t reply.

Understanding fully that they were running out of time, they galloped out of the castle. Upon the sight of what they saw, they had to stop. The town of Ponyville was still there of course, but it was the sight ahead of them that caught their attention. It was a small pond. It was just a few yards away from the front of the castle. It had never been there before. The mares walked toward it, curious.

Rainbow was the first to arrive at the pond. She sat down by the edge. Her friends followed shortly behind. Nothing was really unusual about the pond, except for the fact that it appeared at the front of the castle out of nowhere. It has a calm surface, the sparkling blue water displaying Rainbow’s reflection. Curious, she reached out a hoof before her friends could stop her. She touched the surface, and her reflection vanished. As the ripples faded away, the three mares saw something strange.

Rainbow’s reflection didn’t reappear. Instead, a different image appeared on the surface. It was a scene, and the objects of the image moved around as if the mares were looking into a world through a pond. The scene showed Rainbow Dash, who was surrounded by her own best friends. Her friends were each wearing the same costume, each friend disguised as Mare-Do-Well. Mare-Do-Well was never actually real, Dash’s friends just made up the figure to teach her a “lesson.” They taught her that performing amazing and heroic tasks is great, but bragging about it makes it less admirable. So, they each dressed up as Mare-Do-Well to do the exact same thing, doing heroic tasks while being brash. The plan had worked. It worked so much that Dash’s friends were even worse than Dash herself. The scene shown in the pond was showing the moment when her friends revealed themselves from their costumes. Dash was staring at them, shocked. But Rainbow remembered that she had felt something else as well. Pain. At the time, she felt betrayed horribly by her best friends, ponies she thought she could trust. She remembered that she was considering to break apart from the friendship, but her inner loyalty had kicked in, telling that her friends were still her friends.

From that day, Rainbow continued to move on with her life. She kept the pain and sorrow hidden deep within her, never wanting to be reminded of the terrible day. But now, as she gazed into the depths of the pond with two of her best friends, she felt the pain and sorrow rising. It reached into her throat, and eventually her eyes. Before long, Dash found herself crying, the pain she kept hidden for so long finally escaping. Crying wasn’t something Dash usually do. If it happens, the tears were usually silent. So, it took a moment for Pinkie and Fluttershy to notice that their friend was shedding tears.

“Dashie,” Pinkie said in concern, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? You know that I, Pinkie, don’t like frowns.”
Rainbow took a moment to wipe her eyes.

“Nothing, really,” she answered. Her voice sounded almost normal, just slightly more strained than usual. But Fluttershy and Pinkie were having none of it.

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy said softly, but sternly, “something must be bothering you. You can tell us about it. We’re your friends.”

Rainbow took a deep breath, and sighed. “It’s sort of stupid, really,” she said. “It’s just about the Mare-Do-Well incident. After I found out you two, along with the others, had played that trick, I felt...lost. I was shocked of course, but I also felt betrayed. I thought you weren’t my friends anymore. I even considered about leaving the group and giving up my element at the time. But I moved on. I knew you were still my friends, and you still are. It still hurts though.”

Silence followed. Fluttershy and Pinkie were shocked and a bit guilty. As great friends, they immediately started to apologize.

“We’re so sorry!” Pinkie exclaimed, hugging Dash fiercely. “At least I am. But I bet Fluttershy is sorry too. Right? Fluttershy!” Pinkie started to glare at the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy flinched.

“Er, yes, of course!” Fluttershy said, then more softly, “I’m terribly sorry.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond. The hug Pinkie was giving her seem to be suffocating her. Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

“Er, Pinkie?” she gasped, “I. Can’t. Breathe.”

Pinkie let her go, and waited for Dash to catch her breath.

“Ha, thanks. Apologies accepted, but the Mare-Do-Well incident is long gone. I’m fine now,” she said. Fluttershy and Pinkie gave her a hug, one that wouldn’t suffocate her. For a moment they all just stayed in their group hug, enjoying their comfort. They finally broke apart, and realized something. They had solved “the Nightmare’s words” without knowing it. Without a word, they walked back to the castle, smiling softly along the way. The moment they opened the front doors and stepped inside, their smiles were swept off their faces.

Starlight and Spike were nowhere to be seen.

“Where are they?!” Rainbow shouted at the Nightmare. “Where are Starlight and Spike?”

“I won’t say,” came its response. One of the chains that were tied to Twilight’s hooves, which were being controlled by the Nightmare, broke apart. The three friends stared in shock and horror. The Nightmare tugged again, but couldn’t manage to break another chain.

“Your next riddle is this: smile and laugh, even through the darkest times,” the Nightmare said carelessly, focusing on the chains while trying to shake off the thin thread around its horn.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie galloped out of the castle. They must use every single second wisely. But when they ran outside, they had to stop. During all of their desperation, they hadn’t realized their surroundings, or how Ponyville, their beloved town, changed.

Rarity and Applejack still had no idea what was going on. They had been recalling memories with Twilight for quite some time. Each time they recalled one, a new floating rectangle will form, holding that memory. It didn’t made any sense to them. But they followed along with Twilight.

Twilight, meanwhile, was getting more and more excited as each new memory returned in her mind. Finally, only one memory was missing. And it was a very fond one.

“Er, Twilight,” Applejack couldn’t help asking, “is all of this memory restoring science or magic?”

“Why,” Twilight replied, “it’s science!”

Shocked silence with stares.

“With some magic,” she added. “Anyway, do you remember the time when I became an alicorn?”

“Yes,” Rarity said.

“Yes,” Applejack said.

Silence.

Nothing happened. Twilight looked around. There was no new floating rectangle holding the memory. She started to panic. She looked around again. There was nothing new.

She looked back at her friends, tears in her eyes.

“Why didn’t it work?” she asked in a desperate, pained voice.

Chapter 14

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie took in their surroundings with wide eyes. During their desperation as they solved riddles, they hadn’t noticed how Ponyville changed. The buildings were no longer clean and pretty. The paint on the walls were peeling off. The windows were cracked, some of them completely broken. Doors were hanging from their hinges, some of them completely off. There were holes in the roofs made of straw. Decorations around the town lost their elegance. The cobblestone streets were cracked.

The mares walked toward the fountain of the town, which was cracked and empty of water. They were saddened to see their beloved town in such a state, but their sadness was soon replaced by surprise as a mare appeared from behind the fountain. The mare was smiling in a disturbing way, staring at the three mares with wide eyes, her pupils merely pinpoint dots. Her fur and hair was tangled, the strands sticking at odd angles. Since she was an earth pony, she didn’t have messy wings, which Dash and Fluttershy considered to be lucky. The mare slowly crept towards the ponies, the same creepy smile still pasted on her muzzle. The three friends backed away. They turned around.

They were planning to run back, but a stallion was creeping towards them just like the mare, blocking their way. They looked around them. More insane townsponies were creeping toward them, surrounding them. They looked up to the sky, thinking that will their escape, but found that pegasi were swarming the sky. A few unicorns were standing on the roofs, their horns ready to blast the three friends out of the sky. There was no way out. The three friends huddled together, their backs against each other as they watched in fear at the townsponies.

Pinkie had an idea. She withdrew her party cannon, and aimed at the sky. She blast confetti into the air. The confetti didn’t harm the pegasi in the sky, and that was Pinkie’s plan. She couldn’t hurt a friend, and everypony in the town were considered her friends. She nudged her two best friends and smiled. The others understood, and smiled along with her. They faced the townsponies, smiles pasted on their muzzles. It seemed like the three mares were putting on cheerful masks to look friendly to the townsfolk, but the friends knew the masks were all fake. Rainbow and Fluttershy’s smiles were strained, and Pinkie’s smile was huge, showing her teeth. Pinkie’s smile looked sort of like the creepy smiles on the townsfolk, except it was less creepy. Her eyes were also as wide as the eyes of the townsfolk, only instead of insanity in them, her blue eyes showed anger and impatience. They need to save the world, and Pinkie doesn’t like the fact that her friends of Ponyville were trying to stop them.

The confetti Pinkie had shot from the cannon earlier were being chased by pegasi. They zipped through the air, trying to catch the colorful confetti. They were distracted. Some of the confetti floated to the ground and on the roofs, and soon the pegasi weren’t alone in chasing the confetti. Unicorns and earth ponies were trying to catch them as well. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy took their chances, and escaped from the crowd while they were distracted by the confetti.

They had done it. They solved “the Nightmare’s words” about smiling. They entered the castle. Fear and dread washed over them. The Nightmare was nowhere to be seen.

They scanned their eyes throughout the room. The steel chains that had once prevented the Nightmare from escaping had broke apart. The Nightmare had escaped. The mares almost lost all of their hope. The Nightmare could be doing horrible deeds to Equestria this very minute. Questions and worry flowed through them. What if they were too late? What if their friends were already dead? What will the future hold? What will their futures be? What was that sound?

Indeed, the mares were hearing something. It sounded like someone was struggling against something. They listened carefully. It was coming from the kitchen. They made their way to the kitchen. What they saw surprised them.

Starlight and Spike were tied up in ropes. Starlight’s front hooves and Spike’s front legs were tied behind their backs. Their back hooves and legs were also tied together, stretched out in front of them. They were gagged, so all they could get out of their mouths were desperate hmms. As each second passed by, their hmms grew more and more desperate. The three friends saw why. A kitchen knife hung by a rope was hanging in front of their faces, swinging back and forth like a hand of a clock. The rope tied to the handle of the knife was tied to the ceiling. From there, no one knew what was the rest of the contraption, but at the end of the invention sat a kitchen timer. It was ticking away by each second, reaching closer and closer to zero. Somehow, the kitchen knife in front of their friends’ faces would stab their friends once the time is up. Of course, magic was playing a part in this horrible plan.

Hurriedly, the three best friends walked over to Starlight and Spike to untie them. Rainbow knocked over the contraption purposely, making a satisfying crash. They helped Starlight Glimmer and Spike to their feet.

“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie said. “Are you two alright? When you disappeared, we were really worried about you. Now the Nightmare disappeared and the whole world is doomed!”

They didn’t reply. Starlight slowly turned her attention to them. Her face was blank. Then, she leaped for Pinkie’s throat, snarling with wide, insane eyes. She tackled Pinkie to the ground. Pinkie gasped, then gurgled, clasping Starlight’s hooves around her neck with her own hooves. Fluttershy and Rainbow watched in horror. Rainbow made a move toward Starlight to try to pull her away from her pink friend, but before she could put a hoof on Starlight, Starlight kicked with her back hooves. Rainbow was so surprised that her friend kicked her that she wasn’t able to dodge Starlight’s hooves. Starlight bucked Rainbow with such a force that Rainbow was sent flying out of the window.

Luckily, the window was open, so Rainbow wasn’t hurt by shattered glass. It wouldn’t be long until Dash comes back, and Fluttershy knew that. She thought she could help Pinkie until Dash comes back. She began to walk to Starlight, but felt something tugging her tail. She looked back. Spike was clutching her long, pink tail, pulling it. She tugged. He tugged back. Fluttershy faced forward and tried to reach for Starlight. They were too far. She pulled and Spike yanked. Soon, a tug of war began. Fluttershy tried her best to yank her tail out of Spike’s grasp, but Spike was a stronger dragon than she thought. Or, maybe she was weaker than she thought. Spike gave her tail a good yank, and she fell to the floor, face first.

Suddenly, Starlight stopped strangling Pinkie. Starlight gasped, her eyes widened, and she scrambled off Pinkie. Pinkie let out a last gurgle before jamming oxygen into her lungs, clutching her throat.

Starlight stood up, staring at Pinkie. Spike shut his eyes, shook his head, then opened his eyes. He realized what he was doing, and let go of Fluttershy’s tail. He stood with Starlight, staring at Fluttershy, whose face was still flat on the floor. Pinkie and Fluttershy got up to their hooves at the same time, but the only one who wasn’t standing in the kitchen was Dash. Fluttershy and Pinkie looked around the kitchen, but the only other pony-and dragon-they saw were Starlight and Spike. Starlight was shaking her head, staring straight ahead of her, while Spike simply looked depressed, looking down at the floor.

“No,” Starlight murmured. “No.”

Then in a whisper, “What had I just done?”

Starlight collapsed on the floor, hugging herself as she wept, devastated that she had attempted to hurt a great friend. Spike sat on the floor next to her, hugging himself as he cried along with Starlight.

Pinkie immediately rushed over to comfort Starlight and Spike. Fluttershy wanted to help, but she was also concerned for Dash. She rushed over to the window Dash had flew out of.

Fluttershy scanned the skies. The pegasi of Ponyville were still flying through the skies, but they were quite some distance away from the window. Surely Dash couldn’t have been caught by them. Where is she? Fluttershy thought. The blue pegasus was nowhere to be seen. Fluttershy slowly lowered her gaze to the ground. She had to suppress a scream of shock and despair.

She found the Nightmare.

The Nightmare was facing away from the castle. In front of the Nightmare was Rainbow Dash, caught and trapped. Townsponies surrounded them. The Nightmare was jabbing the very point of Twilight’s horn into Rainbow’s chest. Although it seemed like Rainbow was being stabbed, the tip of the horn was not driven deep enough to puncture her skin.

“I know you’re up there,” the Nightmare said, startling Fluttershy. “You’re in the kitchen, both of you. Come down here this instant.”

From the ground, Rainbow shifted her eyes to the kitchen window and saw Fluttershy, or at least what she can see of her friend with the Nightmare in front of her. Fluttershy looked back at her sadly. She stepped away from the window, and looked down at Pinkie. Pinkie looked back at her. She seemed to have heard what the Nightmare had said. Pinkie stood up, and the two best friends made their way to the door. They both looked back at Starlight and Spike, who were still huddled on the floor, crying. Fluttershy and Pinkie wished they could help them, but for now, they must help Rainbow. Somehow.

Applejack and Rarity watched as Twilight flew around frantically, zipping back and forth while shouting utter nonsense. During the first few moments of her panic, she wasn’t uttering nonsense. She was asking the same question over and over: why didn’t the last memory recovered? Now, she is facing anxiety, muttering complete nonsense. She zipped through her mind, completely ignoring her two best friends.

Suddenly, Applejack couldn’t take it anymore. She wanted to roar into the abyss of glittering purple and pink, to let out her anger and frustration. Instead, she walked over to Twilight. She heard Rarity gasp behind her and ignored her. She continued to make her way toward Twilight, who was still flying around frantically.

“Twilight!” Applejack shouted. The alicorn didn’t respond.

“Twilight!” Applejack cried out again. “Twilight! TWILIGHT, LISTEN TO ME!”

The alicorn stopped flying, shook her head, and faced Applejack.

“Yes?” she said, raising her eyebrows.

Applejack stepped closer to her friend. “Twilight, you need to calm down,” she said.

“CALM DOWN?!” Twilight roared, “Applejack, we failed to restore my last memory, we’re trapped in my own mind, and you ask me to calm down?!”

“Yes, Twilight,” Applejack said flatly, “Ah’m simply asking you to calm down after all we’ve been through.”

“Applejack, how are you doing that?” Rarity asked, awestruck.

“Yeah Applejack,” Twilight said, noticing something for the first time. She wondered how she didn’t realize it for the first time. “How is that possible?”

“What?” Applejack asked.

“You’re flying!” Rarity exclaimed.

Applejack looked down and saw the truth. “Wh-what?! How am I doing this?”

“Let me try!” Rarity said, giggling. She stepped forward, and before long, she was walking on air just like Applejack. She joined with her friends, smiling. Twilight smiled back, and Applejack replaced her face of shock and disbelief with a smile of her own. Twilight stopped flapping her wings, and she stood on air with her friends.

“I think we can walk on air because we’re souls,” Twilight said. “Maybe this is how ghosts fly.”

Despite the serious troubles they’re in, they laughed. Their laughs weren’t the happiest ones. Their laughs were quiet and almost sad. Yet, the laughs were still laughs. They were the kind of laughs that might be heard from someone if they are slightly sad, but that someone was being comforted. This was exactly how Twilight felt. She was sad, but she was also grateful that her friends were trying their hardest to help her. It almost made her sad even more.

Suddenly, bright white light flashed beneath the mares. They quickly looked down. The light seemed to come from the bottom of Twilight’s mind, and it seemed to be growing, reaching to the mares, toward the top of Twilight’s mind. The three mares “walked” away, and stood at a distance to watch the light. The light stopped growing when it seemed to reach the halfway point between the bottom and top of Twilight’s mind. A large, floating rectangle faded into view at the top of the light. The rectangle was holding the memory of Twilight becoming an alicorn.

“What,” Twilight whispered. “How? It worked, but it didn’t before. What did we do that helped?”

“Well,” Applejack replied. “Ah’m not really sure, but maybe, just maybe, the last memory came back because we all realized something. We realized that through dark times, we’ll always support each other. When we realized that, it helped bring a little bit more light into the dark times, just like how all of this memory restoring brought light to your originally dark mind. When we laughed for the first time in a long time, the light in our dark times grew brighter, and the light in your mind grew brighter as well. I think that’s how it happened. It happened because we made our own light, to actually become happy. I bet this might become our best memory yet.”

Chapter 15

The walk out of the castle was silent. The moment they both stepped outside, townsponies surrounded them, using their mouths, hooves-and for the unicorns-their magic to force Fluttershy and Pinkie to stay in place. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie glanced at each other in dismay.

The Nightmare laughed maniacally.

“Nightmare,” Fluttershy said softly, “we solved all of your riddles. Unless you have another one about the Element of Magic, release all of us. We defeated you.”

The Nightmare cackled again.

“Fool!” it shouted. “It was a lie! They were all a lie! The riddles were a lie.”

The three friends were taken aback by this. They merely stared at the Nightmare in shock.

“Did you really think that I’ll simply let you destroy my plans?” the Nightmare hissed. “Riddles will never help you. The riddles I made were hastily created. I put no thought to them. Now, all of Equestria will be mine!”

The Nightmare laughed again.

“Equestria will never be yours!” Pinkie shouted. “Noble shall prevail! Harmony will stay whole!”

“Harmony will never be whole,” the Nightmare hissed through giggles. “You all lost. There was a reason why the princesses didn’t do anything. Twilight Sparkle continued to have nightmares in the past because I made an illusion in the Dream World. While Twilight faced terrors in her dreams, Princess Luna will see that the door to Twilight’s dreams in the Dream World leads to simple happy dreams instead of nightmares. So, she never went to rescue Twilight because she believed that Twilight was fine. Ever since you three started solving stupid riddles, I tried my hardest to use my magic to put the princesses to deep sleep. Not everyone needs their horns to use magic. Fortunately, I succeeded to put the alicorns to sleep, so you never had any help. I knew that Equestria was bound to be mine. Evil has prevailed.”

“That’s not true!” Rainbow bravely cried out. “Friendship is magic! Together, my friends and I will defeat you!”

The three mares gasped as the Nightmare jabbed Twilight’s horn into Dash’s chest a bit deeper.

“Another word, and you shall meet death,” the Nightmare hissed. “Then again, what use do you all have? A chance to defeat me, that’s what. I remember when Luna was being possessed by me, and I thought that the Elements of Harmony would never defeat me. I underestimated them. Now, I won’t take any chances. I shall kill all of you.”

The mares feared for the worst. Suddenly, Fluttershy couldn’t take it anymore. She roared. Her roar was deafening, and it reminded her friends of her ear-piercing scream when she saw her chicken cross the road. Fluttershy didn’t have a care anymore. She bucked the surrounding townsponies. Finally free, she opened her wings and flew into the sky, kicking and punching pegasi out of the air with the same unbelievable strength she had displayed earlier.

Pinkie glanced around. The Nightmare wasn’t jabbing Twilight’s horn into Dash’s chest anymore. It was hissing at Fluttershy. It looked like it wanted to knock Fluttershy out of the sky. Rainbow had taken her chance to escape, and she joined Fluttershy, knocking pegasi out of the sky, her speed giving her an advantage against the townsponies. Normally Pinkie wouldn’t like seeing her best friends beating her other friends, but their situation was desperate. She wasn’t trapped by the townsfolk anymore. Fluttershy had knocked them down. She decided to help her best friends.

She withdrew her party cannon, and blindly fired confetti at random ponies. The colorful confetti were thick in clusters. Soon, the ponies were in a midst of brightly colored confetti. Somewhere in the midst, the Nightmare roared. Although the confetti prevented the Nightmare from finding the three friends, it also prevented them from finding each other. Suddenly, the cannon stopped firing confetti. Pinkie frowned, and shook the cannon. She had never thought her cannon would ever run out of confetti, but what just happened disproves that. Without any more confetti, the small pieces of streamers and papers in the air eventually fell to the ground. The surroundings cleared up to reveal townsfolk writhing on the ground, two pegasi hovering in the air side by side, one dumbfounded earth pony holding a party cannon, and the Nightmare.

Since Fluttershy and Rainbow were exposed, the Nightmare easily spotted them. It pointed Twilight’s horn to them. Magic coursed through the horn as the Nightmare prepared to shoot a laser beam.

Just as the beam shot from the horn, Pinkie slammed herself into the side of the Nightmare. The Nightmare’s aim became off. The Nightmare screamed gibberish as Pinkie scrambled away from it. But that gibberish was soon replaced by screams of agony as the Nightmare clutched Twilight’s head, a bright white light engulfing it. Rainbow and Fluttershy landed next to Pinkie as they all watched.

Eventually, the white light faded away, revealing three new figures. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy gasped. The three new figures gasped as well.

“Rarity, Applejack, Twilight!” Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Pinkie exclaimed.

“Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie!” Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight exclaimed.

The six best friends reunited. They gathered in a tearful group hug. Rarity and Applejack gasped.

“Why,” Rarity remarked, “our bodies! We’re back!”

She turned to Applejack and saw that Applejack was the same as well.

“We got our bodies back!” Rarity continued. “We’re not simple souls anymore!”

They whooped for joy, but then the happiness faltered as Twilight realized something.

“Wait, I still don’t have my body back!” she cried out. Indeed, she was still a slightly transparent soul. The Mane 5 thought that she slightly resembled a ghost. The six mares glanced over to the Nightmare. The Nightmare staggered to Twilight’s hooves, hooves that belong to Twilight, hooves that does not belong to the Nightmare, hooves that the soul of Twilight Sparkle is now looking at. The Nightmare eyed the group, smiling.

Twilight galloped toward the enemy, determined to somehow get her body back. But before she reached her enemy, the Nightmare spoke. It said those words casually, calmly, but it washed away Twilight’s hope and determination.

“If you try to hurt me,” the Nightmare said, “you’ll actually hurt yourself. You’ll hurt your own body, perhaps even destroy it. There’s nothing you could do.”

Twilight galloped to a stop. She realized that the Nightmare was telling the horrible truth. All hope disappeared. She felt broken, and without knowing, she just sat down. The Mane 5 rushed over to her.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Dash said. “Things will work out in the end.

“Dashie’s right,” Pinkie squeaked. “I’ll throw a party after everything’s back to normal!”

“No, my friends,” Twilight said sadly, shaking her head. “Perhaps friendship isn’t magic after all.”

Meanwhile, the Nightmare had been enjoying Twilight’s despair, hopelessness, and sadness. It was an evil spirit that simply enjoys to watch and feel negative emotions from ponies. But the Nightmare didn’t want to be reckless. After a few more minutes of heartache, the Nightmare ignited Twilight’s horn, creating a deadly spirit bomb.

The Mane 5 looked up. Their eyes widened. They quickly surrounded Twilight, and the group stood closely together. Twilight was huddled up and crying in the middle. The Mane 5 shut their eyes, preparing for impact. Just as the Nightmare let go of the ball of energy, a blast of wind flowed through the mares’ manes and tails. They opened their eyes. A shield of some sort formed around the group, but it wasn’t a normal type of shield created by normal magic. Instead of one color, the shield was rainbow, with colors swirling around. The eyes of the Mane 5 were glowing white, and their manes and tails were whipping through the air by a strange wind. Their hooves were wide apart to prevent them falling over by the wind. A strange powerful aura flowed through them, and they felt like they were being electrocuted.

The spirit bomb the Nightmare released earlier collided with the strange rainbow shield protecting the group. The spirit bomb disintegrated into nothing. The shield continued to protect the Mane 6. The mares weren’t sure what happened next, but a slightly transparent ray of colors shot from the shield to the Nightmare. The ray wasn’t a rainbow. Instead, it was a combination of red, orange, blue, pink, and purple, the colors of the Elements of Harmony, excluding the Element of Magic.

The ray of colors hit the Nightmare in the chest. It screamed in agony, as if the ray was burning it. The Nightmare became engulfed in a white glow as it disintegrated into nothing. A few moments later, the glow faded away. The powerful magic that had flowed through the Mane 5 faded away as well. They blinked away the white glow in their eyes. They each felt strange. They looked back at Twilight. They were still confused by the strange incident, but joy soon replaced confusion.

“Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed. “Look! Your body is back!”

Twilight realized that her friend was right. Her body was bloody and bruised, and she wondered why. She barely cared. She felt happier than she ever felt before. She also felt a bit dizzy. Her ears heard muffled sounds. Her vision became blurry. She listened to her friends’ distressed and worried voices as she began to black out.

Twilight Sparkle laid in her hospital bed. Her best friends were gathered around her. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie had finished telling Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight their part of the story. Rarity and Applejack had told Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie their part of the story. Twilight had stayed silent during all of the story-telling. She had been taking in every single detail, and stored them away in her mind. The Mane 5 weren’t the only ones in the room with her. Starlight and Spike were in the room as well, snoring. They definitely deserved the sleep. The Mane 6, however, simply couldn’t sleep. They were too excited. So much had happened.

Perhaps a bit too much. At least that’s what Twilight thought. But it had made her think. She had done so much in her life with her friends. The day they had all met had started their adventures. Her friends had supported her. They were the ones who made her smile and laugh. They were the ones who comforted her the most. They were the ones who helped her become an alicorn princess. Their struggle against the Nightmare was one of their most hardest, but memorable. All of the things they had been through made her want to cry tears of joy and sadness.

“Girls,” she said quietly.

“Yes?” they all responded.

“Can I have a hug?” Twilight whispered.

No more words were spoken as they all gathered in a group hug.

Epilogue

“Wow!” Moonbeam Twinkle exclaimed. “That was an incredible story!”

Twilight smiled sadly at her newest student. Moonbeam Twinkle gazed into Twilight’s violet eyes with her own set of purple eyes. Moonbeam stood up.

“I hope you’ll tell me another amazing story about you and your friends!” she said happily as she walked out of the library of the Friendship Castle.

Twilight stood up.

“Yes,” she whispered, knowing fully well that Moonbeam was out of earshot. “It was an incredible story. I hope I’ll relive my memories of my friends as well.”

She walked out of the library with heavy heartache in her chest.

The End

Author's Note

So, the story behind this story. I was just creating short, hilarious stories for my friends at school to hear. Then, one of them said that I probably couldn't create a true, good story that isn't so ridiculous. I told her that I can. So, I started the new story by telling it to a best friend. Then, I decided to type it down so I wouldn't forget. Then, I found out that I'm turning into quite a writer. Also, the friend who started all of this story-making isn't even reading my story. It's on a Google Doc, but I'm just gonna copy and paste what I have so far. I'll finish the rest of it. It might take awhile, but it's worth it. Enjoy my first story on here, I've come a long way to story-telling! :p

Done! It's finally done, everypony! Thank you if you had managed to read through it!

I like to thank those who had helped me turn this story into a masterpiece. Special thanks to my editors, littl_purple_riding_hood and 7tigers. They had helped me a great deal by fixing mistakes and adding a few more details to the story. They also had read the story, and provided great feedback. Party cannon confetti to both of you, my friends. Special thanks to a friend who has an OC named Candy. Candy was the one who dared me to create a good story. She literally started just about everything, even though she is too lazy to read my story. Special thanks to a friend who has an OC named Kawaii Heart. She was the one who listened to my story before I started typing it. Even before it was typed, she enjoyed the story, and gave great feedback. Muffins to both of you two rascals. Special thanks to my dear readers on this website. I hadn't created this story for nothing. Special thanks to my family. They made me smile and laugh, they always had. My parents also provided me Wi-Fi when I was 12. Not too long ago at all, and yes, I survived all of those years. Yet, the new change was huge, and it helped make this story possible. Special thanks to anyone else who happened to be involved with this. Finally, special thanks to Youtube. Seriously though, even though Youtube distracted me from the story, it had also helped pass boring times in life. Life can sometimes be boring, you know. :D

Just so you readers know, I posted this story on Wattpad and DeviantArt as well. So, you basically have two more options to read this. Also, the cover art was drawn by me. Yes, I draw art, not just write stories.

Obviously, MLP: FiM belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.
By no means do I own their property :)
The story, however, is indeed mine.

P.S. Moonbeam Twinkle is a character I made specifically for this series. Yes, this is a series. Also, let me know what you think!

P.P.S. Do you enjoyed this song or find it annoying? It seemed to fit the story tho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU3fCXKr_-U

Chapter 1

She ignited her horn, and shot a blast of magic towards Applejack. Applejack, already severely injured, wasn’t able to dodge the blast. It hit her right in the chest, and she slammed into the barn wall, slowly slid off, and landed on her stomach.

Twilight had just barged into the barn, attacking Applejack for no reason whatsoever. She looked like an insane monster, not the kind-hearted alicorn princess she was.

There was a large dent on the barn wall, and sharp little splinters were visible. Some of those splinters were stabbed into Applejack’s coat. She now has 5 wounds, the magic blast being the fifth one. One was on her left flank, making her cutie mark look more like a puddle of blood. Another was on her right cheek, from her cheek to her ear. Her right hind leg was broken, twisted at an odd angle, and there was a deep gash in her left side. The magic blast had left a burning spot in her chest.

Despite her pain, Applejack struggled to her hooves.

“Twilight,” she said, tears in her eyes, “wh-why?”

Twilight didn’t answer. Instead, she lowered her head and charged, ready to gore Applejack. The orange pony, determined to survive, dodged her. Or at least tried to. She stumbled, and fell on her side. Twilight didn’t impale her, but her hooves kicked at Applejack as she galloped over her. Applejack screamed in agony.

Twilight stopped, then turned around. She walked over to Applejack, and stood over her. Bringing her head upwards, she prepared herself as she brought down her head, her horn ready to stab Applejack.

“NOOOOOOO!” Twilight screamed, sitting up, panting hard from the nightmare.

“Twilight,” Spike asked, lifting his sleepy head. “Are you alright?”

Twilight slowly sighed, beginning to calm down.

“Yes, Spike. I’m fine.”

Spike, being a baby dragon, needed his sleep, and he laid his head back onto his pathetic bed, immediately going back to sleep.

Twilight sighed, yet again. She been having horrible nightmares a week after she became an alicorn. Ever since, she’ll dream about one of her best friends being attacked by Twilight herself. She never talked about it to Princess Celestia because she thought that the nightmares weren’t something very serious. As for Princess Luna, Twilight had no idea where she is during all of this. She doubted Princess Cadence could help. It seemed like nopony could help her.

Twilight knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep again. It was probably early in the morning, so she got out of bed, and walked downstairs. She went into the kitchen, and filled a glass of water. She walked over to a table, sat, and took a sip. She was wrong. There was somepony to help her. Actually, five ponies. Her best friends. She knew that all of them have busy schedules, but maybe they could all meet up. Maybe, just maybe.

Chapter 6

Twilight turned off the lights, not wanting to waste power, and chose a random book. Her plan starts now. She walked over to a table, and sat down, reading the book of law she had chosen. It. Was. Horribly. Dull. Despite that, she continued on reading, or at least tried to. It was too dark. Completely forgetting about her magic, she continued to struggle to make out words for an hour. Then, she gave up. Not with her plan, but the book. She’s done reading about how littering is bad.

She put the book where she found it, remembering her magic now and levitated the darn thing, and chose another book. Doing the same process over again, she could make out the title. This was the same book she used to cast Star Swirl’s unfinished spell, which switched her friends’ destinies. As she read through it, she found a spell that could illuminate the horn more than naturally. She cast it, and her ignited horn shone bright like a star. It was perfect for reading.

In a few hours, she finished the whole book. She glanced at the clock. It was midnight. She just realized how heavy her eyes felt. She levitated the book to its shelf, and chose another book. Setting it upon the table, she learned that this one was about mechanical engineering.

She spent her time reading about gears and levers, which was more interesting than a lecture on why littering is bad for Equestria. At one point, she fell asleep, but the rope tugged at her mane, jerking her back up. Once in awhile, she would look up from her book, and see shadows. She knew it was a trick of her eyes, but it was still creepy. Background sounds would come to her ears every now and then, making her jump. She couldn’t help the feeling of being watched.

Around 5, she closed the book. She had been reading very slowly, so she hadn’t finished it. She figured she didn’t need to, since it was already early morning. She untied the rope tied to her mane, and flew around for a bit, using her wings for the first time in quite a while. She flew up to the chandelier, the one with the magical gemstones that hold magical memories of her friends.

She looked down at the floor, and thought she saw a black hoof reaching up for her from the floor. Despite her heart lurching, she flew down to it. Somehow, she tripped over it. Dang, she thought, what is up with me?

She got up to her hooves, and saw no black hoof on the floor. Instead, she saw an old, dusty, strange book. That’s strange, she thought, hadn’t Starlight and I picked up every book and placed them on their correct shelves? She extended her hoof to pick up the book. The moment she touched it, all went black.