Chapter 4: The Nightmares...?
I awoke to a bright new day. Spike lied in his bed sleeping the morning away. I stretched my arms into the air. I got up out of bed and saw the bright glare of the sun peak through the curtains. I opened the curtains wide in order to soak up the gorgeous rays of sunlight.
To my dismay, the world outside was blood red everywhere.
“Spike…What’s going on?” I asked half confused, half still asleep. I turned around to find him absent from his bed. “SPIKE!?” The shock instantly knocked me out of my hazy state-of-mind. I sprinted over to his bed and began turning everything over looking him. Then I noticed the lump in his bed. “Whew…Spike…You were just under the bed you silly dragon. Come out here,” I reassuringly said to him. A smile grew wide on my face as I lifted the bed up. “AH!!!!!!!!” I screamed.
“Thought you could get rid of me? It’s not so easy, as you can see. How dare you? You filthy piece of poo,” The black and white creature said. Her eyes grew redder than the sun outside and she sprang up at me like a rabbit.
“AHHHHH!!!!!” CRASH! I nearly fell out of bed screaming. I drowsily opened my eyes and rubbed my head where I had crashed. I guess it was just a dream. Whew! That’s a relief… Zecora isn’t here. She won’t attack me. I took a brief pause and began walking over to Spike’s bed to find him nuzzled up to his pillow. I gently shook his shoulder and sleepily he moved about.
“Wakey, wakey, eggs, and bakey!” I said gleefully. He began to rise from his deep slumber, “Oh, Spike. You wouldn’t believe the most preposterous dream I had!” I saw him open his eyes, entranced, waiting for me to continue my story, “Well, I woke up and I looked outside to see everything was blood red. I went to your bed to look for you and when I lifted the covers Zecora attacked me!” I laughed off the nightmare realizing how silly it was now that I was awake. Zecora was far too peaceful to attack somepony. “Isn’t that silly Spike? Zecora would never attack me.”
Spike’s eyes turned a deep red as he began hissing. “Spike…? Are you okay…? Calm down, it was just a dream…” I stammered.
“Oh, Twilight, you insolent fool. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one,” Spike hit himself in the head. “Zecora is dead you moron! Don’t you remember any of that? You are really pathetic. You can’t accept anything at all…”
“Spike…What are you saying? And why are you being so mean…I would never kill anypony.”
Spike shook his head as if suddenly he has a realization, “Oh, Twilly, I’m sorry. I’m just a little grumpy this morning is all. But don’t you remember? Zecora tried to take me away from you and kept calling me all these mean names. She hurt my feelings and you saved me so we could be together. But, Twilly, you made a serious mistake,” Spike said in the most innocent voice ever.
I gave Spike a queer look and after a few moments I remembered the gruesome murder. I remembered it as if I was just a mere pawn watching the entire scene play past me. The images haunted me, yet I could still not register that it truly was me who killed Zecora. To my eyes, all I could see was red. All I could feel was some suffocating sensation, as if my soul was being squeezed tightly.
“Oh, yes Spike! I remember now! Silly me! But, even with her dead, what is the problem? She definitely can’t attack me now!” I smiled at the reassurance.
“Uhm…Twilly…Did you burry the body…?
I cocked my head to one side, “No. There was no time. Why?”
“Well, uhm, because, LOOK!” Spike pointed to behind me. All I saw was Zecora lunging at me.
I screamed, grabbed Spike in my arms, and jumped haphazardly to the side. “Wha—What’s going on?” I screamed. Zecora vanished into smoke as the vapors spread around the room.
“Twilly, we have to burry her body! Otherwise her soul can still attack us,” Spike yelled.
I felt so stupid for having left her body all alone, on the dirty floor, of her hut, to be alone…The more I thought about it, the colder I grew inside. My body covered itself with goose bumps and I shivered. How could I strand anypony to be so alone…Being alone is a fate worse than death. It’s torture. . Suddenly the horrifying image of seeing Spike’s body exploded all over Ponyville popped into my mind. I shook the image out of my head. That one was actually just a dream. Yeah. Just a dream…
Spike appeared to have noticed my odd expression for he looked at me weird, “You okay, Twilly?”
“Me? I’m fine! Just still a little disoriented from this whole ordeal. But I’m fine. Let’s go give Zecora a proper burial so she can leave us alone to be happy together.”
I turned around to start walking towards the door. As I did, I saw the most horrifically evil smile perched on his face. I doubled back to look again but nothing remained except his beautifully innocent smile.
We both headed out the door.
“I reckon, if it wasn’t the gal I was looking for. How ya holding up Twilight?” I almost bumped into the orange pony.
“Oh, hey Applejack…I’m as fine as ever…” I shyly said while trying to hide my grueling death stare.
“Hey, don’t worry everything will be alright. It wasn’t your fault Twilight,” She patted me on my back. “Look, I came by to apologize if I hurt your feelings yesterday. Everything was still too fresh. But I just wanted to let you know, the funeral is tomorrow morning at 11. It’d be nice if you could come. I think it’d be good for your health. You’d get a nice closure.”
“Yeah, yeah… Sounds great,” I wasn’t even half-listening to her incessant chatter.
“Really?” She sounded eerily surprised. “In that case, I’ll just pick you up for the funeral tomorrow. I’ll be here at 10.”
“Mhm…”
“I’ll see you then,” Finally she turned to walk away, “Oh, and Twilight, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to contact any of us. We’re all here to help. Please, take care.”
As she turned away I saw the horrific scowl in Spike’s eyes as they turned crimson red.
“Spike, calm down. Let’s go. We need to get Zecora.”
He let out a growl. I went to grab his hand, yet my hoof fell through into thin air. I saw the smoke bleed out into the air and we went off, back into the depths of the woods to return to the scene of the crime like the criminals we were.