Blessings Of Misery

Darkness.

It surrounds us all, stalking, creeping toward our minds unawares of You and I.

Hear it, we do not. See it, we do not.

But know it is there. Standing just out of sight.

Oh, yes, it is there. For it is me.

Twilight Sparkle awakes to a splitting headache, almost making her wish she had never awoken. She clenches her forehoof tight to her head; and slowly begins to remember what had happened the night before. That party at Sugarcube Corner. Could that be why her head hurt so badly? Maby a few too many drinks had put her under; and she was just now waking up? Trying her best to shake the migraine from its crushing grip; Twilight slumps lazily off her bed, Only to find it isn't her bed. The usual purple sheets are replaced with a deep scarlet red; and the large Quinn down mattress is much larger than her own. No, this was definitely not her bed. Taking the tremendous effort to look at her surroundings, she could see that, truthfully, she was not even in her home. Cobblestone walls replace the usual wooden view of her domicile. Managing to subdue the headache that had pulsated so strongly in her brain; Twilight opens her mouth. "Where am I?" The unicorn almost jumps out of her skin when she hears a response. "You are at my home; Twilight Sparkle." Twilight turns left and right, trying to find where the voice had been coming from. The voice laughs; and she presses her already tense body against the bed. "It's no use looking for me, unless, of course, you want to borrow my mirror?" The lavender mare grows angry at the almost toying sound of the voice; and lowers back onto her hooves. "Where are you! Show yourself!" With this, the voice laughs again. "Are you truly Twilight? I seem to remember a mare with more, shall I say, ingenuity for this kind of thing." Twilight is even more confused with the unseen being; how it could know her so well. "If it answers your question, I am inside you. To be more exact, I am in your mind. So it would probably be good if we stopped talking now." Before Twilight could even question the answer, a familiar voice was heard at the room door. "Twilight, y'all ok?" Twilight curses silently under her breath, and opens the door. There stands Applejack; seemingly all the more friendly to her. "I heard 'bout what happened back at Sugarcube Corner." The earth pony looks down tho the ground with a kind of indirect inquisition. Twilight felt more lost than ever; and tapped her companion lightly on the shoulder. "I don't remember, Applejack. Please tell me what happened." Applejack looks at Twilight with tear-filled eyes; and stutters. "Pinkie Pie, she.. she's..." The unicorn, on the verge of tears of seeing her friend, once so strong and bold, worked into hysterics. The tan pony takes a deep breath, trying her best to calm herself. Looking back at Twilight, she falls back into crying. "Pinkie's dead."

The room hums with a kind of lethal silence; and Twilight Sparkle just looks dumbfounded at Applejack. Words elude her as she swims for them, trying to organize the thoughts that buzz in her head like bees. The sobbing of her companion adds to her confusion, and soon the lavender mare finds herself asking the one, most important question. "How did she die?" Applejack pauses from her sobbing, and looks up to the mare with a visage moistened with tears. "Y'all done killed her. S-split er'n two over th' counter."

Twilight feels as if her heart was burned with scalding water. 'I killed my best friend? Why would I do that?' 'How could I do that?' Millions of questions race through her already plagued mind; and it is all she can do not to scream and run away. Sure; that is what she felt like doing right now, but that would not solve anything. "Twilight, I killed her." The voice spoke again, and this time Twilight knew what it was. "WHY WOULD YOU KILL MY BEST FRIEND!? I LOVED HER!" The voice seems to be quieted by this; and before the unicorn can say anything more, Applejack has responded. "It wer'nt me! It were you! You done killed Pinkie!" Twilight shakes her head of the argument, and tries to decipher what had happened. She had heard that voice again; but had Applejack? This was probably not the best time to bring up 'the voice'. Twilight Sparkle looks at Applejack, and shakes her head. "Are you sure it was me? I mean, why in the name of Celestia would I kill Pinkie?" The tearful earth pony chokes out a small answer; and then looks back to the ground. "She was drunk... You... You..." Applejack breathes in heavily, searching for the words that were there, but somehow wouldn't come to her mouth. Instead, she just turns around, and tips her hat brim down. Twilight, still trying to get a grip on what was happening; just looks dumbfounded at the leaving friend. "I.. I..." Applejack pauses for a moment, already halfway out the door. "I'm sorry."