Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

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.