Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

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?”