Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

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.