Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

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.