//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The Dread 
// Story: Buttercup Rose: the Breaking 
// by PoneStudios 
//------------------------------//

Buttercup sat in her room, on her bed, reading a book. She flipped the page of the book she was reading and read the next one. Normally, at this time of night, she would be watching Ponyville’s weekend play with Sunset, but tonight was different. Tonight, Scarlet had chosen to try to make her kill someone. Buttercup had, in an attempt to ignore Scarlet, picked this book up and started to read it. The plan was working well so far.
“How long are you going to ignore me?” Scarlet’s voice cascaded out of the mirror once again.
“As long as I have to.” Buttercup flipped the page again.
“So you’re going to just sit read and read that book until I go away?”
“Yup.” Buttercup flipped the page once again.
“You know… you could just go to the library to find a cure for this.” that made Buttercup look up from her book.
“That’s… not actually a bad idea. Thanks.”
“Eh. Just trying to get you to pay attention to me.” Scarlet shrugged and disappeared. Buttercup put the book down and went into the living room, where Sunset was reviewing her patients’ files. She looked up and smiled when Buttercup came into the room.
“Oh, hey, Buttercup! You done reading?” Sunset sat up.
“Yeah, I am. I was just coming out to tell you that I’m going to Princess Twilight’s public library tomorrow to do some research for a patient of Dr. Stables’ that I’m taking care of.”
“Oh, okay. If you want me to come with you tomorrow, I can.” Sunset smiled.
“Thanks, but I think I’m fine. If I need you, I’ll come get you.” Buttercup smiled and sat down on the couch. She and Sunset began to talk about various things before they went to bed for the night.



The next day, Buttercup trotted into Princess Twilight’s public library. The princess herself was sitting in the library, reading. She looked up.
“Oh, hello, Buttercup! Coming to get a book to read?”
“Yes, I am. Do you have books about mental disorders?” Buttercup smiled.
“Yes, I do. Follow me!” Twilight stood up and led Buttercup to the shelf that the books Buttercup needed to read were on.
“Thanks.” Buttercup smiled.
“You’re welcome. Hope you find what you’re looking for.” Twilight smiled and left. Buttercup took a book from the shelf titled “rare and unique mental disorders volume 1”. She opened it and began to read. She flipped through page after page, disorder after disorder, searching for the one that described her. After several minutes, she found it.
“Dissociative Identity Disorder…”



Sunset Flower trotted along the streets of Ponyville, heading to Lavender Blossom’s house. She was heading to Lavender’s house because just shortly after Buttercup had left, she’d had this awful feeling, and had gotten worried about Buttercup. So she was heading to Lavender’s house to get her before she went to check on Buttercup.
Sunset trotted up to Lavender’s house and knocked on the door. Lavender answered.
“Hi, Sunset! What brings you here?” Lavender grinned.
“I was worried about Buttercup and wanted you to come with me to check on her. Would you mind?” Sunset smiled.
“If it’s Buttercup you’re worried about, of course, I’ll come! What do you think is wrong?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know. I just… I have a bad feeling…”



“also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, DID is the presence of 2 or more different personalities inside a pony’s mind. Often caused by trauma, this disorder can cause memory loss, change of self-image, altered motor function, and clinically significant distress…” Buttercup flipped the page.



“Well, no matter what’s wrong you can count on me to be there for you and Buttercup.”
“Thanks. Let’s go!” Sunset and Lavender began to walk to the library.



Buttercup read the next page. “Cures… therapy is often used to treat this disorder…”
Buttercup shook her head. “No, that’s not an option.” she muttered.
“Medical cures… there is currently…” Buttercup began to panic when she finished the sentence.
“No known medical cure!?”



“So, what do you think is wrong?” Lavender couldn’t help her curiosity.
“I bet it has to do with the meeting with Princess Twilight.” Sunset couldn’t help being worried.



Buttercup panicked. She dropped the book and began rapidly pacing around in a circle, hyperventilating while she did so.
“Oh, nononononono…” Buttercup’s voice was panicked. “But… if there’s no medical cure… then…”



Sunset and Lavender both felt a chill go down their spine when they heard a panicked scream come from the library.
“That sounded like Buttercup!” Lavender looked at Sunset.
“Come on!” Sunset and Lavender began galloping towards the library,



Buttercup now sat curled up in a corner of the library, petting her tail and hyperventilating in panic and fear.
“But… but there has to be a cure…” Buttercup squinted her eyes shut. “There has to be…” Buttercup was so panicked she didn’t even notice when Princess Twilight galloped into the library.
“Buttercup, are you okay!?” Twilight trotted over to Buttercup.



Sunset and Lavender arrived at the library after having run all the way there to see Twilight trying to comfort Buttercup. Buttercup herself was muttering incoherent sentences.
“I keep hearing her voice in my head…”
“Buttercup!” Sunset ran over to Buttercup. She picked Buttercup up and hugged her.
“Oh no… she’s panicked…” Sunset said.
“What do you mean?” Twilight couldn’t help wondering what that meant.
“This isn’t the first time this had happened. When she’s like this, it takes an entire day to calm her down. She sees something and panics.” 
“What happened, Princess?” Lavender asked.
“I don’t know! I heard her scream and found her like this when I came to see if she was alright.” Lavender nodded.
“Okay. Thanks for trying to help.” Twilight nodded. Lavender smiled back and helped Sunset comfort Buttercup.
“What happened, Buttercup?” Buttercup only shook her head.
“You don’t want to talk about it?” a nod.
“Okay. let’s get you home.” Sunset put Buttercup down and helped her stand up. Sunset then put a hoof around Buttercup’s neck to comfort her.
“Thanks for helping, Princess.” Sunset smiled at Twilight. Twilight smiled back.
“You’re welcome. Whatever I can do to help, I will.”
“Thank you, but at this point, I think it would be better to just get Buttercup home.” Sunset turned to leave. Twilight sighed. Lavender followed Sunset.
Twilight didn’t know what had happened, but it gave a bad feeling. A feeling like something much worse than this was going to happen. It unnerved her to no end and sent a chill down her spine. It worried her. she hoped everything would be okay.