Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

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.”