//------------------------------// // Waking up // Story: What Happened To Friendship? // by Nolongerposting //------------------------------// A pulsating beeping noise sounded from all around me. Fluttering my eyes open, I saw my family smiling down at me. Suddenly, I was tackled by an overly excited purple dragon. "Twilight! I was so worried about you!" Blinking a couple more times, I realized that I was in a hospital bed and that the beeping sound must have been my heart rate. Smiling weakly I saw who exactly had come to see me. My brother returned my smile, alongside Mom and Dad to his right, and my foal-sitter, whom I hadn’t seen for years, standing rather closely to my brother on the left. I quickly forgot about her when I realized that Princess Celestia was also here ,next to an unfamiliar dark blue Alicorn next to her. Who was this other Alicorn? Sitting up more, I couldn't help but stare at the other Alicorn. "Who are you?" The mood in the room changed as I said this. The Alicorn herself looked down at the floor as she realized I was asking her. Celestia took a step forward and lowered her head until she was at eye level with me. "Twilight? What's the last thing you remember?" I took a shaky breath before answering. "I was in a chariot with Spike, headed towards Ponyville. You sent me there, remember?" Everypony in the room immediately looked worried and started to whisper amongst themselves.. "What happened? Did the chariot crash or something?" "Twilight. That was two years ago. And to answer your questions, This is my sister Luna. You helped free her from being Nightmare Moon. And as for what happened, we're not quite sure. Spike found you passed out in the library after it collapsed in on itself." I didn't say anything for a few minutes, the one to break the silence was my foal-sitter. "Twilight. Are you sure that you don't remember anything? Do you even remember landing in Ponyville?" I shake my head no and she exchanged a sorrowful glance with my brother. Celestia noticed this and let out a sigh before turning to face me. "You're probably tired, we'll leave now and let you sleep. Tomorrow we'll talk more about the incident." She didn’t really give me a chance to protest before she turned around and ushered everyone out of the room, except for Spike. Words were unneccecary as he soundlessly gripped me in a tight hug, which I reciprocated, as he shed a silent tear.Pulling out of the hug, I looked Spike in the eye and ask, "Spike, what's wrong?" Quickly, he wiped the tears away from his eyes and took a shaky breath before answering. "Its just that you had me so worried, and I'm just glad that going to recover." I immediately knew that he wasn't telling the truth. An awkward second passed before Celestia called from the hallway. "Spike. I know you're glad that Twilight's okay but she needs her rest. Come on." Spike gave me another hug before dropping off the side of the bed and running into the hallway. As soon as he was in the hallway, probably assuming that I couldn't hear him, he asked, "What are we going to do?" "I don't know, Spike. But probably, we're going to reintroduce her to the other Elements and hope that they can help her remember." It took a few seconds for me to process what Princess Celestia had said, but by that time my eyelids started drooping and I slid into a dreamless sleep. When I opened my eyes, Spike was curled up at the foot of my bed, but the moment I moved in my bed, he was up. He simply smiled a sad smile at me and hopped up and ran out of the room. I let out a sigh and was wondering what to do to keep myself entertained when Celestia walked in. "Twilight. I have been informed that, besides your memory loss, you are perfectly fine. You may be sore but you have been released. On the note of your memory loss, I believe that you could possible regain some of it if you spend some time with the friends you made in the two year gap in your memory. Spike?" He immediately entered, several pictures in his hands. As he gave them to Celestia I couldn't help but think that he seemed to be more of Celestia's assistant rather than my assistant. Celestia then held one of them in front of me with her magic. Looking at it, I felt nothing; no memories rising to the surface, no feelings of friendship, nothing. The only pony I recognized in the picture was myself, and I looked strangely happy about being crushed by five other ponies as they grasped me in a tight hug. There were two pegasi, two earth ponies and a unicorn who also looked happy to be with each other. Celestia then brought over another picture. This time it was of just the other unicorn. 'She looks like she should live in Canterlot, not Ponyville.' was my first thought. "This is a picture of Rarity. She lives and works at the Carousel Boutique. She's a fashion designer, and really generous." She laid the picture in front of me, like she had done with the group photo, and brought over the next picture. This one was of one of the pegasi, specifically the pallid yellow one. I could definitely see myself possibly be friends with her. "This is Fluttershy. She takes care of all the animals around Ponyville. Her cottage is where she takes care of the animals, and it's on the edge of town. Furthermore, she's the kindest pony you'll ever met." Celestia then brought over a picture of the cyan pegasus. "This is Rainbow Dash. She's one of Ponyville's weather ponies, and loves to do tricks in her spare time, but she's always loyal, and will always be there." Celestia showed me pictures of the other two: Applejack, a hard working local farmer who always tells the honest truth; and Pinkie Pie, a baker who always wears a smile on her face and can make anypony laugh. I then looked back at all six pictures and made up my mind. These ponies didn't seem all that bad, and I could certainly see myself being their friends. I looked at Celestia and said, "These all seem like really nice ponies, and if you say they're my friends, I believe you." She smiled back at me. "Well they're all really concerned about you, how about you go visit them." I smiled and nodded, thinking that nothing could go wrong. Boy was I wrong.