Focused and intrepid, the sickening fog brushed through Twilight's fur and danced through her mane. Holding her breath wasn't an option, she wasn't going to let her lungs explode, but she didn't want to breathe in the toxic fog that could cause her mind to break from terror.
She inhaled the contaminated air the moment she entered the fog, the atmosphere around her was tainted with misery and abhorrence, leading her to feel nauseous. Her goals were still clear, she was trying to prevent Tartarus breakout from Chrysalis and Fright, which weighed more pressure onto her. Feeling a little queasy, she noticed her vision began to grow questionable as well as worrying.
However, as long as she had her friends by her side, she would overcome any sort of trouble. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Princess Celestia were all there... Or so she thought...
Much to her shock, Twilight's blood ran cold when she noticed that Celestia, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had just vanished; disappeared without any sort of evidence of being there. She was alone; lost in the fog that would corrupt her mind.
"Princess?"
Her head began to twist and turn while her eyes tried to investigate through the grim, silvery mist. Sadly, a part of her felt defeated as she failed to see any form of life.
"Rainbow Dash?" She called out, but feeling defeated when no one answered. "Applejack?" Her voice grew more desperate, but still no answer.
She couldn't help it, but panic was cutting deep, wounding her mind. The moment she blinked, the whole of her world went black, her eyes only absorbing darkness. Her breathing became more noticeable, her mouth was drenched with the taste of doubt.
Despite her efforts, she tried to work her magic, to produce a light through magic, but nothing worked. This was odd, especially for a pony like Twilight. There was no doubt about it that the fog was messing with her.
"Come on!" She growled, attempting to perform some sort of light spell.
Her struggling was interrupted by a heavenly voice calling upon her.
"Twilight!"
Upon hearing the voice, she instantly recognised it to be Celestia which cured Twilight's worries.
"Celestia?"
She tried to pinpoint the source of location, following her voice, but instead, she witnessed a bright light at a distance. Again the voice called out but sounding more desperate.
"Twilight!"
The lavender alicorn quickly motioned herself towards the light and quickly it took the form of her mentor; her princess; her friend. She finally made contact with somepony in this black, endless void.
"Princess!" Twilight spoke in relief, happy to see her. "I'm so happy to see that you're okay, have you seen Applejack or Rainbow Dash?"
"They're fine, Twilight," Celestia answered. "But right now we have important matters to attend to."
"You're right, we need to stop this breakout."
Suddenly, Twilight felt her mentor's wing making contact with the side of her face, staring directly into her eyes.
"I was referring to your punishment," Celestia said in an angered tone.
"My... What?" Twilight spoke, dumbfounded and worried.
"The breakout has already happened, Twilight... All because of you."
"What?!" Twilight's shouted, her jaw nearly breaking off. "But we just entered the-"
Suddenly, a bright light illuminated from Celestia's horn, piercing the darkness around them. As the dark retreated from the light, their surroundings became clear. They were in the throne room of Canterlot's castle and she was in the centre of the room while Celestia was on her throne and by her side were the two other alicorns. Luna and Cadence.
"Princess," Twilight spoke with a hint of relief. "I... I don't understand. What's going on? We were supposed to be in Tartarus." Finally, she took notice to the two princesses beside her throne which only built up the confusion. "What is this?" She asked, her words beginning to fade lower in volume.
"What is this?" Princess Celestia answered in a mocking tone. "This is justice!"
"What?"
"For many years I looked at you as my own daughter, Twilight, but now I see you are nothing but a tyrant!" Celestia scowled.
Twilight's heart broke upon hearing her insult, what did she do wrong?
"But... What did I do? I followed your orders; your lead. What did I do wrong?" Twilight begged for an answer as her words trembled.
"The breakout, Twilight!" Luna barked. "It happened because of you! You allowed Fright to escape Manehatten's invasion and that has allowed him to free every cruel monster and demon within that prison."
"But... That wasn't my fault... I-"
"And what about Spike, Twilight?" Cadence reminded. "Did you really think it was acceptable to torture him? Do you think it was appropriate to destroy every little bit of mentality he had?" The Princess interrogated.
This wasn't right. Were her ears deceiving her? The princesses were accusing her of Spike's torture.
"But... I didn't torture him, that was Fright's doing! I may have hurt him and I am ashamed of myself for that, but it was nothing compared to the psychological tortures he committed!"
"You replaced him, you left him to decay in darkness!" Luna shouted. "You corrupted his mind by fears and made him sink into the depths of insanity!"
"What were you thinking, Twilight?!" Cadence spoke, her voice feeling a little betrayed. "Spike loved you and all you did in return was hurt him. Your brother and I are disgusted."
"Princess of Friendship? Your actions towards Spike has tainted that title," Celestia commented as she looked down at her. "All of those lessons you learnt, all of the journeys you went on to explore friendship, were they all lies?!"
"No!" Twilight denied with her eyes reflecting grief.
"Who's next, Twilight?" Luna asked. "You've gone so far to break the mind of Spike, it only makes sense if you continue to hurt others."
"You could hurt Flurry Heart next, your own niece!" Cadence reminded, warning her. "Would you do the same to her as you did to Spike?"
"No!" Twilight denied, feeling a little betrayed on hearing that question. "I love Flurry Heart, I'm proud to be her aunt, I would never hurt her!"
"Then why Spike?" Luna questioned, her eyes pinning down Twilight with trepidation. "Did you think his assistance needed to be downgraded to slavery?"
"Spike's my best friend, I would never go to such lengths to hurt him!"
Before Twilight could get another word out, Celestia roared.
"Enough!! Her voice echoed through Twilight's ears. "Twilight Sparkle! Due to your actions of abusing Spike, we hereby strip the title: Princess of Friendship away from you!"
Overcome with confusion and sadness, Twilight could only feel herself aching away. She was completely shocked to the bone to hear such dread. "But... It wasn't..." Her words broke down into a mess as she burst into tears, streaming down her cheeks. "It wasn't my intentions to hurt him! This isn't happening!" She exclaimed, feeling more and more emotionally damaged with every second ticking away.
"It most certainly is!" A familiar voice told, causing Twilight's ears to ring.
The frightened and sorrowing alicorn turned her head to see her parents. Needless to say, both of them looked disgusted, their eyes judging her.
"Mom... Dad..." Twilight's voice broke off into a shred of heartache.
"Hurting, belittling and neglecting the one who was considered a family to us! We expected better from you, Twilight, we raised you better than that!" Twilight Velvet shouted with hatred.
"I'm ashamed to call you my daughter..." Night Light shunned his gaze as he crippled her emotions.
"No! Mom, Dad! Please, it was a mistake," Twilight cried, begging her parents to listen.
"A mistake we won't allow to happen again!" Luna barked, her voice almost exploding Twilight's ear drums.
"You're clearly insane, Twilight!" Cadence insulted. "We can't have an unstable alicorn corrupting innocence throughout Equestria!"
"I'm..." Twilight sniffled. "I'm not insane!"
"I'd say otherwise..."
Only to sting her grief further, Twilight took notice of her friends lined up aside the throne room.
Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer all stared at her like a target, their disapproving glance only weakening her even more.
"Rarity?" Twilight said.
"You denied Spike's friendship and treated him like a slave! You're no better than the beasts lounging in Tartarus!" Rarity said.
"I can't believe it was you who actually brought us all together, Twilight... You were smart, friendly and devoted to your friends, but now look at ya!" Applejack growled. "Feeding off of the cruelty you produce!"
Twilight's ears were beginning to burn from the insults her friends spat at her. At this point, she was feeling like a misunderstood animal.
"But..."
"You can't deny it any longer, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You're a monster!"
"What crossed your mind to even think it was okay to hurt Spike like that? He was your friend! A baby dragon and you showed no remorse for the pain he was feeling!" Fluttershy said.
"I..." At this moment, Twilight was feeling emotional punches to her heart. She sobbed, "I'm sorry... I didn't..."
"I can't believe I was actually friends with you! You are insane!" Pinkie Pie insulted.
"Being taught by you was one of the worst mistakes of my life," Starlight Glimmer commented.
Now emotionally broken, Twilight began to stutter, "I-I... I thought we... were friends..."
"Not anymore!" Rarity stated, looking away in disgust.
At this point, the grief was almost being welcomed within Twilight, her heart just snapped into shreds of misery. Whatever will she had left, it vanished... All she did was look at her friends, the family she had built... All she could do was cry, allowing every bit of tear to run down her cheek.
"You're insane..."
"You're sadistic..."
"You're unstable..."
"You're pathetic..."
"You're disgusting..."
"You're cruel..."
"You're broken..."
"You're far too dangerous for this world, Twilight Sparkle... You need to be confined from Equestria to save the innocent from your madness..." Celestia said, her eyes moving past the sobbing alicorn.
Right now, Twilight was a mess. Her eyes were brimming with depression as every tear continued to spill. She felt her whole body weighing down as if the insults that were spat at her made her feel weak.
"I... I'm sorry," Twilight cried. "But why? I'm not the enemy! Why are you all against me after everything I've done?!"
"Everything! Face it, Twilight..." Celestia shouted as the throne room fades to darkness once more.
Swiftly, candles hovered through the darkness, revealing that her parents, friends and princesses were gone. The throne room was now rotten, miserable and contaminated with misery.
"You're no different from the rest of us vandals."
Hearing his bone-chilling and lifeless voice punched her mind. Twilight gazed upon Celestia's throne, seeing that it was made from bones and seeing Fright rest there as his lifeless eyes pinned her down through the dark room nearly gave her a heart attack. His hood concealed his face, his jaw only visible to her.
Refusing to believe the image in front of her, Twilight stumbled back a bit while shaking her head. "No... No!"
"Welcome to the pit of fears... Your nightmares await..."
Abruptly, the castle crumbled to the ground, breaking down brick by brick, but as it hit the ground, it vanished. Twilight raised a barrier around herself, safe from danger, but as the castle's destruction was brought to a stop, her barrier was lowered and Fright along with his disgusting throne was left unscathed.
The castle grounds of Canterlot was unrecognised, instead, they appeared to be in a graveyard. On this horrific land were tombstones, all belonging to her friends and family. Celestia, Starlight, Shining Armour, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Luna, her parents... Spike. They were all buried deep under the ground she stood on.
"My... My friends?" Twilight's voice weakened as her eyes felt like they were stabbed through this heart-breaking image.
"Deny this image all you want, Twilight." He told, his harsh, dead-like voice ringing through her ears, becoming more terrifying. "But no matter the outcome, you will lose the ones you love. Perhaps they will die by the hands of your enemies... Maybe they won't die, but they will surely turn their back on you like they did during the wedding... Did they ever apologise for that?"
"Shut- Shut up!" Twilight clamoured. "You know nothing about our friendship!"
"Perhaps... But I do know that you will outlive your loved ones... That is one of the many gifts of being an alicorn... Or is it a curse?"
"SHUT UP! I'M NOT AFRAID! I'M NOT AFRAID!" Her voice roared, her tears beginning to break loose.
"Want to bet?"
The ground before her began to shake; rumbling as if an earthquake had struck. As Fright remained seated, the ponies buried deep into the ground began to ascend. Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all rose from the ground. Their eyes were blackened like the darkness from outer space.
Sickened and horror-struck, Twilight watched as the lifeless corpses of her friends rose from their graves, their skin rotting as inky black liquid poured from their agape mouths. Slowly, they limped towards her with Fright watching. The alicorn struggled to breathe, almost as if someone was choking her. Distressed, her watery eyes enlargened and her heart was racing.
Her friends' discomforting and bone-chilling moans grew closer, it was brought to the point where Twilight was almost shivering, wanting to scream, however, the fears she was feeling brought her feeling stunned to do anything at this moment.
Stumbling back a bit, she forced her words out as the lifeless shells of her friends endured closer to her.
"Gi-Girls..."
Only freakish moans escaped their unlocked mouths, however, the closer they got, whispers became apparent, crawling down Twilight's ears and tainting her mind with apprehension.
"Why did you leave us?" The whisper of Fluttershy crawled down her spine.
Reversing herself, Twilight couldn't take her eyes away from the rotting bodies of her friends as they continued to limp towards her.
"You did this..." The whisper of Rainbow Dash crippled her emotions.
Her friends' discomforting and bone-chilling moans grew closer, it was brought to the point where Twilight was almost shivering, wanting to scream, however, the fears she was feeling brought her feeling stunned to do anything at this moment. She was in a trance of horror.
"We're dead because of you!" The whisper of Rarity infected her thoughts.
Just as the life-extinct body of Fluttershy tried to effortlessly tackle Twilight, she quickly leapt back, watching the decaying pegasus trip and fall to the ground painlessly.
"Please save us..." The whisper of Pinkie Pie pierced her heart.
"STOP! STOP IT! STOP IT!" Twilight screamed.
"Help us..." The whisper of Applejack wounded her.
Exhausted by the lingering fears around her, the frightened alicorn cautiously evaded the lifeless shells of her friends. Rainbow Dash and Rarity tumbled to the ground, failing to block her path. Their eyes growing more desperate for terror.
"We needed you and you left us..." The whisper of Starlight Glimmer slivered under her skin.
Appalled by her friend's tormented corpses, Twilight couldn't last any longer, the thought of seeing them move like puppets while Fright pulled the strings was gut-churning. To avoid the horrors, she turned back and ran while the whispers and moans still revolved around her ear drums.
"HELP! PRINCESS! ANYPONY!" Twilight desperately screamed.
Continuing to run, the ground beneath her crumbled away and within her peripheral vision, dark blurs became apparent fading in and out. This whole world of fears was messing with her mind, trying to drain her sanity. The sound of her panicked breathing overcame the whispers and moans, however, her the blurs messing with her vision continued to toy with her.
Unexpectedly, her skeleton nearly jumped out of her skin the moment the body of a pony fell from the sky, landing just in front of her. Daring to look up, the sky rained corpses of ponies, all falling to the ground, but no screams were heard. They fell like rag dolls.
Knowing the situation she was in, the best option was to run and that's all that Twilight did. She ran until she approached the side of the island. Below was an empty, bottomless and dark void. Turning back, the corpses rose from the ground while letting out disturbing moans of pain while limping towards the distressed alicorn.
She spread her wings, taking flight, getting away from the creatures that were pursuing her. But catching her by surprise, the dark void beneath shot barbwire, drilling upwards and tangling her wings.
The alicorn produced a scream of pain as the barbwire tightly wrapped around her wings; securing them and pulling her down into the darkness. All while being dragged down into the pit, her scream lasted until her vision was consumed by total blackness.
With the way this nightmare was going, Twilight's heart was wanting to punch itself out of her chest.
She could still hear her own exhausted breathing meaning she was still alive, but the darkness she could see was unexplainable.
Out of the blue, a spotlight appeared in the distance, shining over a tattered, wooden chair. There resting on the seat was a beaten and bruised purple dragon, with his head slouched down.
Debilitated, Twilight felt her bones beginning to erase from her body. She was dazed by the dragon hunched over on the chair, but emotionally, she was overwhelmed by the sight.
"No... No please! Not this again! Not... this again..." She pleaded, too scared to move.
The ground lit a pathway for Twilight, telling her to advance towards him. If it was an option, Twilight would have stayed where she was, but considering she was in a world where fears come to life, anything could happen which grew her paranoid. From exhaustion, she could almost feel her bones cracking.
After taking the first few steps on the lit pathway, a screen to her left activated, showing footage of her memories. It showed Twilight... She was shutting down Spike; rejecting him.
"Sorry Spike, but the girls and I have plans today. But in the meantime, could you clean the library?"
Spike's emotions were clearly displayed on his face, he wasn't mad, but sad. He twiddled his fingers while looking away, "Well... I just thought..."
"Thanks, Spike!" Twilight said, saying her goodbye and leaving.
The moment she left through the door, Spike's body slumped over as he emitted a sigh of disappointment.
Then, the screen replayed the tape; constantly looping. Already, Twilight took notice to the way Spike felt. Was she really that ignorant? She advanced forwards only to notice more screens start up; appearing online left and right. They were all her memories, relating to the damage she and her friends caused Spike. Some even belonged to Spike's point of view.
"Can we... Hang out?" Spike asked.
"That'd be great, Spike, but I need to head off to Canterlot and prepare for tonight's gala. Ask our friends to hang out with you, I'm sure they wouldn't mind." She advised, leaving the house.
"But-" Spike raised a finger, trying to reason with her friend, but she left without acknowledging his reply. "They're going with you..." He sulked.
"Wh-wh-wha-t was-s that for?" Spike forced out, holding himself as the freezing cold water sunk into his scales.
"Pfft. Lighten up Spike," Pinkie Pie obnoxiously said. "We were only fooling. A brave and tough dragon like yourself can surely take it," Upon saying this, she couldn't keep a straight face while saying 'brave' and 'tough.'
Spike looked around and noticed there were a few other ponies in the café laughing at his pain.
"Yeah, a 'brave' and 'tough' dragon that wears a frilly apron can sure turn out to be a lame dragon," Rainbow Dash laughed along with Pinkie, a few others were laughing as well.
Twilight noticed an odd screen, one that broke her heart instantly. It showed Spike in the castle's kitchen, sitting on the counter while fidgeting with a gem. This was Spike's birthday... The one they never showed up to or bothered to say anything. The other screens showed events she couldn't bear to go through again, she couldn't even stand to look at them.
"Memories?" Twilight levitated the book towards her, she was astonished to find that the book was her memories, her past. She flicked through all the pages in horror to see every photograph of her memories burnt away. "Spike... how could you?!"
"It was an accident, I swear!" Spike pleaded.
"Every memory I had was in this book, every achievement. What were you thinking?!" She scowled angrily.
"But Twilight, it was an accide-"
"If I've told you once then I've told you a million times: stay away from the books when sneezing!"
"I know, but-"
"Every happy memory, the photos I could look back on and be proud of were in that book and now it's gone all because of your foolishness."
"Twi-"
"Do you literally not listen to a word that I say, can't you follow the simplest of instructions. Why must you be a nuisance! I swear sometimes I think you-" Twilight stopped herself the moment she heard the sound of the poor dragon sniffing, slowly choking on his tears. "Spike? Are... are you crying?"
"I did, but no matter how many times I tried you still didn't listen, you would just keep yourself busy with reading or having fun with your friends while I was kept in the dark. Do you even love me?" He asked, quivering his lip a little.
"Spike I do love you and you are my friend, I didn't mean to leave you out on purpose... It's just that... I forgot about you..."
Spike felt his heart being pierced, sliced into tiny pieces the moment Twilight said the word forgot. His eyes began to swell up with tears. "Forgot about me..." He repeated Twilight's exact words.
After being reminded of the way he was cut down, emotionally hurt and rejected, Twilight could only witness the remnants of the past; the memories on the monitors. By the time she reached her way to the spotlight, the glowing screens faded away and all Twilight could do was look down at her assistant, she trembled, her mouth refusing to open; not allowing her to speak. All she could do was absorb the emotional pain he must have suffered while she was having fun; leaving him to dwell in his sadness.
"You didn't deserve this." She spoke. "Everyday, all your life you've treated me like I was your family, you cleaned for me, you cooked my meals and you helped me when I needed you the most. You were there for me. Now, look at you... Look at what I've done."
The lifeless dragon didn't move a muscle, Twilight didn't even know if he was alive or real, but she felt like she needed to let all this sadness out. Sniffling in between words, she couldn't help but slowly break down.
"I want to say Fright's caused this pain more than I have... But I'm the one who neglected you, hurt you, belittle you, replace you... Forgot you. I'm the one that made you leave; I made your greatest fear come true. I looked you in the eye and confessed your fears: That you were being forgotten; becoming a dying remnant in my memories."
The weight of misery broke down on the alicorn, crying, "I should have been sitting in that chair, I should have been the one who suffered in the dark and experimented on, not you! I caused this... And if I could trade places with you, I would. Please, Spike... I need you to look at me, to know that I'm here... For you. I'm here." She cooed, her hoof motioning towards him. "Harmony and friendship can make you better."
Surprisingly, the dragon exhaled, producing a sigh. "What will it take for you to understand?"
Nothing could have prepared Twilight for that sentence. Spike's head raised upwards unhurriedly, his eyes dripping with the same black liquid that consumed her friends and his lips had been sowed with stitches, resembling Fright's mouth.
"Harmony and friendship is nothing compared to fear," Spike growled. "You should have found me... You should have saved me. You're no Element of Harmony. You're no Princess of Friendship, you're no friend... You're no family..."
"I'm sorry," Twilight deeply apologised, finding the state Spike was in heartbreaking.
"No, you're not. You don't care, you never cared. You're not sorry." A cough interrupted his sentence, his voice beginning to deepen a little. "But you will be."
Abruptly, the dragon's scales rapidly shredded into pieces, falling onto the ground. An agonising scream escaped his poorly stitched mouth, sounding like a demon's nightmare. With the alicorn watching with disgust and horror, her assistant taller, a little taller than her. In the process, bones cracked and the what remained of the dragon's scales stretched to pieces, the tail just falling off and onto the cold ground. Now, injured coughing was audible... Then a rather eerie laugh, easily recognisable to be Fright.
Spike had transformed into Fright in the most disturbing and nauseating way. The sound of the black liquid dripping became louder as it poured from Fright's eyes and mouth. It dampened his rag of face a little as he stared into the soul of the petrified alicorn.
"Scared yet?" He asked, cockroaches, spiders and maggots pouring and crawling from within his eyes and mouth.
Instantly, Twilight shattered into pieces of trepidation, the whole of her body crumbling down onto the cold ground as she trembled; shivering in the hands of fears. Her eyes locked shut, refusing to open them to the horrors before and around her. She couldn't take it anymore, she was losing it. Her senses were plagued by fear.
Alone on the cold ground, she continued to conceal herself from the world, trembling away from the monster that stood before her.
"Please! No... more!" Twilight sobbed. "I can't.... take it! No more!" Her cries muffled.
A tight grip pulled her wings to the ground and some unknown force restrained her hooves. She couldn't move and this was the mistake she made when opening her eyes. The deformed, stitched hand reached out to Twilight, wrapping around her face like a blanket, and then everything went black.
"Let us descend deeper into this madness."