Twilight frowned as she and her friends came upon what looked like a swamp. “I don’t like this,” she said, bringing the group to a halt.
“What’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying up next to her.
“Look at where the forest ends and the swamp begins,” Twilight said, point at said area.
Rainbow Dash looked, but didn’t see anything wrong. She looked back at the others to ask if they saw anything weird, and saw Applejack looking at that spot with a strange look. “AJ?” she asked.
“Twi’s right,” Applejack said after a moment. “Look. There’s a clear line between the forest and the swamp. That’s not supposed to happen. It’s supposed to be gradual change.”
Twilight nodded. “Meaning we’re dealing with one of two things; the chaos magic in the Everfree Forest causing random and abrupt environment changes… or a trap.” She looked around. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m assuming trap. This happens right after Nightmare Moon figures out we’re here? Definite trap.”
“But… what do we do then?” Fluttershy asked.
“Leave it to me! I’ll fly over and scout out a safe route!” Rainbow Dash saluted, flying off. Or she would have, if Twilight hadn’t snagged her tail on the way by. “Hey! What gives!?” she complained.
Twilight just raised an eyebrow at her, then looked at the sky over the swamp. Rainbow Dash followed her gaze, and her expression drooped when she saw the furious looking thunderclouds that were almost pitch black. “Oh…” she mumbled weakly.
“So… ideas?” Applejack asked around.
Twilight grinned. “Well, she went to the trouble to make us feel welcome. I say we accept the invitation,” she said, beginning to walk towards the swamp.
Everyone stared at her like she was crazy. “Um… why?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight stopped and turned to the group. “We know it’s a trap now. The trap won’t be nearly as effective when it springs, as we’ll be ready to counter it.” Her eye took on a predatory gleam. “Besides, I’m not about to let some smoke and mirrors get between me and my prey,” she said cheerfully.
Then she spun around and resumed her march into the swamp.
After a moment, Sunset made to follow. “She’s right. Any trap that’s magical in nature will lose a lot of its power due to the fact that we are expecting it.”
That said, everyone also followed.
The moment they all stepped over the line separating forest from swamp, they were consumed by darkness. Everyone but Twilight froze. Twilight bent over and picked up a moderately sized rock, roughly the size of her fist, and touched a glowing finger to it the rock started glowing like a miniature sun. Using telekinesis, she directed it above the group, but frowned when she noted that the magical light was unable to pierce the darkness beyond roughly five feet.
She looked at her friends and shrugged. “If a darkness spell is the best she can do, I’m going forward.” She turned around and put action to her words. The others followed closely, remaining within the border of the light.
“What is this? Shouldn’t there be some light from at least the Moon?” Applejack asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, but Princess Luna, and in turn Nightmare Moon, gains her power from the aspect of Darkness, so she may be trying to set the stage for a confrontation.”
Rarity wrinkled her nose. “Aspect of Darkness? No wonder she’s evil. She must have been born that way.”
Twilight came to a sudden stop and turned to Rarity, her eye stern. She opened her mouth to speak, but paused. Then she sighed. “No, it’s not that important. Too much is happening right now to get into something like that.” She narrowed her eye at Rarity, making her flinch. “We will be having a discussion about this afterwards however.” That said, she turned and continued marching.
Rarity blinked. “Um… okay?” she half asked, half confirmed.
Sunset glared at Rarity, before walking away in a huff. Even Rainbow and Applejack looked upset with her, walking past with a frown.
Confused, Rarity followed.
---
After some more walking, something interesting finally happened. That something interesting was, perhaps predictably, Rarity screaming.
It was the third time since entering the dark swamp, so everyone was more exasperated than anything when they turned to her.
“What now, Rarity?” Applejack grunted.
Rarity, looking far more fearful than disgusted, pointed a shaking hoof ahead. “L-l-look!” she managed in a stuttering voice.
Everyone turned, and froze solid. Then they all collapsed into a heap, their eyes open wide in terror. The stone that was emitting light fell to the ground with a thud, flickering out.
Nightmare Moon materialized from the darkness, smirking in triumph. “That should distract them for now,” she muttered, before she collapsed into a mist of dark blue magic, shooting off to return to her primary body.
---
Rarity whimpered as a variety of nobles critiqued her spring line of clothing. Words such as “disgusting,” “abomination,” and “terrible,” were only some of the many that were being passed around like chips.
This was a terrible idea. Why had she thought a lowborn such as herself could ever be on their level?
She started shaking, fighting valiantly to not break down, when she spotted Princess Celestia scowling off to the side at a rack of dresses.
Her hope lifted somewhat when her mother stepped through the door. That hope died a horrible death, alongside her control, when she instantly became disgusted with what she was seeing.
She felt her legs give out, and didn’t even bother to stop the tears.
This was her worst nightmare.
---
Applejack lay on the ground, motionless save for her rhythmic breathing. The rain didn’t even make her twitch. The thunder didn’t even make her glance away. The ponies trying to comfort her couldn’t even get her attention.
Eventually, they all gave up on her and left her there. Applejack didn’t care. She continued to stare at the headstones.
Orange Jack
Proudest Father of Them All
Sweet Apple
Mother Before All Else
Applejack sobbed, but forced herself to continue.
Apple “Granny” Smith
Immortal in Wisdom
Princess Celestia had personally added that line, revealing that her and Granny Smith had been friends, and had even surprised Celestia a few times with her wisdom. The world was a darker place without her.
Macintosh “Big Mac” Apple
The Trunk of the Tree
Applejack gave a wet smile, knowing just how true that was. Quiet as he was, he was the backbone of the family, the one that was always holding it all together. She didn’t know what to do without his support.
Applebloom
The Benevolent Huntress
In a way, it was true. Applebloom was almost single-minded in her determination to hunt down her destiny. But even then she never passed by a pony in need of help. She was just that sweet.
Applejack sobbed again, once again cursing the inferno that had taken them all. The farm was gone, nothing but ash now. Not even their bones had been spared, so the graves had been planted on the ruins of the house.
Applejack had nothing left. No home. No work.
No Family.
This was her worst nightmare.
---
Fluttershy stood at the entrance to her new home, tears leaking from her eyes. It still hurt, even days after everything had happened.
Why had she tried? She knew she was too terrified, but… well, the drive to make someone proud of you could be a powerful motivator. So she had tried, despite knowing was likely going to mess up badly.
If only she had known how badly.
The Weather Factory was in ruins, Cloudsdale was lucky to still be in the air, and Rainbow Dash…
Rainbow Dash was devastated. In the process of saving her, Rainbow Dash had lost control of her magic, and the resulting explosion of weather magic had nearly destroyed Cloudsdale’s ability to remain cohesive.
Worse, the blame fell squarely on Rainbow Dash’s shoulders. Reckless, careless, and unable to see the consequences of her actions. Those were the claims of the ponies in charge when they discovered Rainbow Dash’s attempt to bind her own weather magic for training. It was what led to the explosion, yes, but only because of her distress loosening the binds.
Fluttershy knew that if she had just not tried to impress her friend, leading to the failure that had caused Rainbow Dash to save her in the first place, her friend wouldn’t have been forbidden from ever taking up residence in a Cloud Settlement again. That ban also meant she couldn’t become a Wonderbolt, as they were required to live on site in Cloudsdale.
The worst part wasn’t any of that, though Fluttershy felt horrible about it al. No, the worst part was when Rainbow Dash blamed her for everything, and told her she never wanted to see her again.
That was the last that Fluttershy had heard from her. That was two years ago. She had decided to move to Ponyville to escape the pain and the memories.
But they persisted, even here. She had no one. She could barely leave her home without having a panic attack. She feared the world, and the world cared nothing for her.
This was her worst nightmare.
---
Rainbow Dash hit the ground again, and slowly stood up. She growled and flared her wings out. She leapt, flapped her wings… and fell.
She groaned and let her head drop.
Spitfire, off to the side, frowned. “Any time you’re ready, Cadet,” she urged.
“I’m… trying!” Rainbow growled, once more standing up and leaping upwards, flapping her wings. She ended up eating cloud again. “Grrrr! Why isn’t this working?!”
Spitfire finally shook her head. “Look, this is obviously just a waste of not only your time, but mine. I only take the best, and a defective Pegasus who wasn’t supposed to even be able to fly in the first place isn’t the best.” She turned around. “Go home, kid, and rethink your dreams. The Wonderbolts don’t want you.”
Rainbow Dash had frozen when Spitfire mentioned how she wasn’t supposed to be able to fly. No… There’s no way… It was supposed to have been healed!
She looked over her shoulder, and what she saw confirmed it. Her wings were thin, frail, and the feathers particularly unhealthy looking.
Rainbow Dash felt her heart hit somewhere around her stomach. Then she stood and tried again to fly, as if to deny what she was seeing. She took a running leap, right over the edge of the cloud, and flapped as hard as she could. She threw everything into it.
She dropped like a rock.
As she fell through the sky, she couldn’t stop herself from sobbing. “Noooo…” she moaned.
This was her worst nightmare.
---
Sunset panted as she slumped to the grass in the clearing. This sucked.
It was child’s play for a unicorn of her level to realize she was under the effect of a Nightmare Enchantment, but that, unfortunately, did little to help her.
Even though she knew it was a spell, there was a reason this spell was so hideous. It didn’t use illusions. It used very real fear that was buried deep within the victim’s psyche, fear that most ponies didn’t even realize they had. Worse, it messed with your perception, making you believe it was all real, and kept doing it even after you realize the lie.
So Sunset was having trouble remaining lucid, and had in fact fallen beneath the surface of her subconscious more than a few times, and every time she did, her will to resist was battered just a little more by the words.
Words had great power, and when spoken by ponies you respected greatly, those words could be the best or worst thing you ever hear.
Hearing Princess Celestia ruthlessly command your execution for treason hurt. Hearing her parents tell her to never darken their doorstep felt like a sword to the heart.
Hearing Sunburst disown her as his sister damn near shattered her.
As the spell once more dunked her under the miasma of fear, she knew this was likely the one that would break her. And she was right. Because there, standing tall and proud was the one being she respected above all others.
“You deserve nothing!”
And she knew.
This was her worst nightmare.
---
Twilight sat crosslegged with her hand in her lap, eye closed and magic shimmering on her hands. A barrier of rose light surrounded her, keeping the murky miasma away from her.
Most of her mind had already been affected, but she had just managed to lock down her core personality and emotions within her soul, then throw up every mental defense Tirek has taught her. It was holding.
Barely.
While the emotions that the enchantment created couldn’t reach her, that didn’t stop her from seeing the images and hearing the sounds. And hearing Celestia, her parents, and her brother calling her the worst kind of monster was… painful. Yes, that was one of her worst fears. She would come back to Equestria, only for Princess Celestia to declare her a monster and either have her killed, or returned to Tartarus.
Cracks formed in the shield, and Twilight grimaced. If she didn’t think of a way out of this, and soon…
This was going to be her worst nightmare.
---
“Demon!”
“Monster!”
“Find her!”
“Burn her!”
Pinkie… was not happy. She shook her head, trying to ignore the sounds of the mob outside of Sugarcube Corner. It wasn’t easy, but she managed.
It helped that she had experience.
“I guess I should have known better than to let them seem me do that, huh?” she murmured to herself.
Pinkie knew she wasn’t normal, had known since the day she got her Cutie-Mark. She snorted at that. Yeah, when a rainbow explosion in the sky grants you instant insight into your destiny, you really should have realized something was wrong. She always knew she was different. But she chose to not let it bother her. She chose to believe in the good of ponies.
Her parents had been rattled by the revelation of her abilities, but in the end they had accepted her and loved her. That alone was Pinkie’s most treasured memory, and the reason she knew this wasn’t real. She had seen her parents out there in the mob, a mob they wouldn’t be caught dead in.
Unfortunately, the acceptance ended there. Five towns, two cities, and a nomadic tribe. Those were the places she had been run out of because of her abilities. She had been a jittery mess when she arrived in Ponyville, but had found it her to hope one last time. She was thrilled when they had, albeit hesitantly, let her in after the revelation that she wasn’t normal.
Sure, there were uncomfortable looks at first, but this town was amazing when it came to accepting the unusual. In time, Pinkie and her strange reality bending abilities were just another aspect of the town.
And woe to any who would try and run her out of town. Ponyville was created on the foundation of family and friends, and they protected their own.
But sometimes there would be nightmares. Sometimes Pinkie relapsed. Sometimes… sometimes the past was too much.
She knew this wasn’t real, but terror gripped her heart nonetheless. She was trapped, she was hated, and she was fighting desperately not to give in. Giving up was not how to change how ponies viewed you.
“And yet, here you are, cowering away like some little filly.”
Pinkie frowned. That voice was… different from the other voices.
“Where is she?”
She who? Pinkie stood up, her mane straight as a nail. Who was this voice looking for?
“She really is a lovely mare. Brave, bright, brilliant, and never lets a friend suffer. Unlike you.”
“My friends are important to me,” Pinkie muttered in disagreement.
"Then why are you cowering here, knowing they need you?
"I'm not a coward..."
“Oh? But you already know how to stop this, so why haven’t you?”
Pinkie shuffled her hooves nervously.
“You’re scared. You think you know what will happen.”
“It’s happened every other time. Why would now be different?” she asked reasonably.
“You admitted it yourself. Ponyville has an amazing ability to adapt.”
Pinkie didn’t have an argument to that.
She felt a hoof on her back, pushing her forward. “Fear has no real hold over you, and you know it. Face it.” Pinkie let herself be led to the door. “Stare it in the face. Remember every single face that needs a smile, every friends that needs a light.”
The door opened, revealing the angry mob outside. There were even pitch forks and torches. Been a while since Pinkie saw that. She felt herself smiling, her mane and tail curling.
Okay, so she was a little scared… but when has that ever stopped her from doing what she loved?
“And then you say...”
“Who wants a PARTY!?” Pinkie cried with an ecstatic grin, twisting space and making her party cannons appear and belch confetti and candy.
The anger and fear was gone, and in its place was the entire town partying like no tomorrow, just being happy.
“Ah, there she is. Like I said; brave, bright, brilliant... and willing to do anything to make a friend smile.”
This was her worst nightmare…. But Pinkie decided nightmares could politely go and buck themselves.
---
In the real world, one pink mare’s eyes snapped open, glowing with brilliant blue light.