Heartache: Cherished Friendship {Book the First}

“Well,” Pinkie squeaked. “We could be generous to anyone! Let’s just pick a random pony to be giving to! Of course, that doesn’t seem fair, being generous to just one pony, but I’m sure that if we find the time, we can-”

“Shush, Pinkie,” Dash said. “We need to focus. This is serious.”

Pinkie nodded excitedly, and bounced over to Lemon Hearts, who just happened to be nearby.

“Hiya, Lemon!” she exclaimed.

The yellow unicorn stared at her with wide eyes. She seemed to be shocked. Then, she backed away from Pinkie, turned around, and galloped away.

Pinkie only stared after her, shocked. When the others arrived by her side, they noticed that tears were in her eyes. It had hurt her when Lemon galloped away from her.

“Pinkie?” Fluttershy whispered.

Pinkie closed and opened her eyes, as if trying to get rid of her tears. She struggled to paste a smile on her muzzle.

“I-I’m fine, guys,” she said weakly. “Lemon Hearts just seems to have better things to do.”

Suddenly, she became a happy ball of energy, as if nothing had ever happened. She bounced on forward, and the other two mares shook their heads, walking along with her.

As Pinkie bounced, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her right front hoof. She stopped bouncing, one eye twitching.

“Pinkie,” Dash asked. “What’s wrong?”

Pinkie lifted her hoof. A rock was on the ground.

“I stepped on a rock,” she strained to speak.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “You didn’t just step on it, you hopped on it. Are you alright?”

Pinkie nodded.

Fluttershy picked up the rock, noticing something.

“Girls,” she said. “There’s a message carved into it.”

The others gathered around, urging her to read it. Fluttershy squinted as she read, “‘You may have noticed that the townsponies are acting strange. I used my powers to terrorize them, slowly driving them insane. It’s not only them. It’s all of Equestria as well, minus the princesses. Perhaps I’ll gain enough magic to do the same to them. ~The Nightmare.’”

“The dang Nightmare managed to do that?!” Rainbow cried.

“And it managed to write that message on that rock?!” Pinkie cried.

They stared at her.

“What?”

“Well,” Fluttershy said. “Magic can do lots of stuff. I personally don’t think that it’ll matter if the princesses are driven mad like everypony else. We’re not allowed to have any help from other ponies, remember? If we don’t do this alone, one of our friends will-eep!”

She didn’t say anymore. She didn’t have to.

“Well,” Dash said. “At least we have each other. But if the Nightmare has that power, wouldn’t Starlight and Spike start to become insane from fear? And, what about us?”

“I’m pretty sure Starlight and Spike will be going through what others are going through,” Pinkie said a bit too happily. “The message said all of Equestria, after all. All, except the princesses. But maybe not us, or we’ll be running around town by now!”

She gasped. She bounced over to Derpy Hooves, who was sitting at a mushroom table, preparing to eat a muffin.

“Wait! Pinkie!” Rainbow cried out, realizing what was on the pink pony’s mind. “What are we gonna give Derpy? We don’t seem to have anything in order to be generous.”

Pinkie paused. Then, she smiled and produced a muffin out of nowhere. She gave a wink to her friends.

They just shook their heads.

She continued to bounce happily over to Derpy.

“Hiya, Derpy!” she squealed. “You want this muffin?”

She put the muffin on the table.

Derpy looked at the muffin, then looked at her own in her hooves. She looked back at the muffin Pinkie gave her. Then, she opened her mouth wide, stuffed her own muffin in her mouth, then flew away, leaving the muffin Pinkie offered behind.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were all shocked. Derpy loves muffins. Why didn’t she accept the offer?

“Well,” Rainbow said. “We were generous. Let’s go back to the castle, I guess. We’ll tell the Nightmare that we’re done, and that we’re ready for the next riddle.”

Fluttershy nodded, but Pinkie leaped into the air, gasping.

“No!” she shouted. “We should go to Rarity’s Boutique! We didn’t solve the riddle!”

She galloped away.

The others had no choice but to follow her. Pinkie was traveling at an incredible speed, so Fluttershy had to cling onto Rainbow while she was flying.

They arrived at the boutique a moment later. Pinkie opened the door, and they all stepped inside. What they saw was a shock.

The boutique was a huge mess. Mannequins were thrown around. Fabric was hanging here and there. Thread and needles were on the floor. Accessories were everywhere. Rarity would never have done this. In the far corner was Sweetie Belle, frightened and crazed. She must have done this. She spied the three mares, stood up, and ran, screaming. She ran past the mares, pushing the door, and galloped outside.

The Nightmare was true to its words.

Fluttershy spotted another message. It was sewn onto a piece of silk. She picked it up, and read it to her friends.

“‘You have until twilight to solve a riddle. If you don’t finish on time, one of your friends will die. ~The Nightmare.’”

“Dear Celestia!” Pinkie cried, glancing at the clock. “It’s one o’clock already! We’ve got to hurry!”

She ran all around the room, searching for an answer.

A moment later, they all spied the answers. Three mannequins were there, standing together perfectly, as if they weren’t bothered at all. Each one had a dress, three identical dresses that Rarity had obviously made.

The three mares stopped and stared at the dresses. They each felt a draw to them. Without a word, they walked towards the mannequins, and they each put on a dress. They didn’t even know why, but they felt like these dresses were the key to the riddle.

They didn’t know a lot of things. They don’t know why these dresses are still here, as they remembered Rarity made these dresses about a month ago. Rarity had said so during the meeting with Twilight a month ago. Rarity must have been extremely late to finish the dresses, or that the three mares who ordered them were extremely late to pick them up. It didn’t matter. They needed these now.

The three mares walked to the door, opening it. What they saw outside was shocking. Instead of seeing the town of Ponyville, they see an extremely thick forest. Huge trees were grown closely together. Shrubs and thorn bushes scattered the ground. Rarity’s Boutique was extremely misplaced in this forest.

“What in Equestria happened?!” Fluttershy gasped.

Rainbow noticed a message carved into the door. It was rather disturbing and creepy that messages from the Nightmare keep appearing out of nowhere, but there were other matters to worry about.

“Girls,” she said. “Here’s a message. ‘Good job solving the riddle. Now try to find your way back to the Friendship Castle. ~The Nightmare.’”

“That’s no fun,” Pinkie pouted.

“It’s going to be easy though,” Dash said. She winked.

She opened her wings, ready to fly above the forest to find the castle. But before she took off, more thick trees grew from the ground. Behind them, Rarity’s Boutique disappeared, and from that place, more trees sprouted from the ground. The sky was completely covered. They were surrounded by the thick forest. There was no room for flight. If the pegasi tried to fly, their feathers would be torn from their wings, and wings ripped from their shoulders. Pegasi wings are delicate and sensitive, no matter how strong they are, including Dash’s.

The three mares looked at each other in dismay. Without another word, they walked forward into the uncertainty of the strange forest.