//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 Between the Nightmares // Story: In The Twilight of Harmony’s End // by Leonofsweden //------------------------------// In The Twilight of Harmony’s End Chapter 3 Between the Nightmares **** With a large gasp, Twilight drew in a pained breath before coughing violently from where she lay on the ground. As memories flooded into her mind, she remembered who she was; Princess Twilight Sparkle, not Scootaloo, the orphan from the terrible dream. “Good, you are awake. That took a little less than an hour to go through one day. Excellent! I was afraid this would take a lot longer, but if it works similarly for your friends, then this will all be over and done with before the day is through,” the gleefully happy voice of Void rang out through the chamber the Elements of Harmony were all now trapped in. “What? What do-” cough! “do you mean?” Twilight asked while she forced herself up on her hooves, the rattle of the chain around her neck once again reminding her of the situation she was in and the fact that she was the last Princess standing between Equestria and total destruction. The impact of that memory alone drove Twilight back to her knees. “No… Celestia, Luna and Cadance you can’t all be-” Then she remembered the most horrifying thing of all. “Brother! NO!!!” Twilight screamed as she surged up on her hooves again looking around herself frantically. She could now see that four of her friends were chained to the floor around her in a semicircle and all of them were unconscious. Rarity was still covered in filth from her earlier treatment of being chained down in that trash filled hole, while Applejack didn't look too worse for wear, except for the fact that she had two clearly marked rings around her hooves, where she had rubbed herself bloody trying to get out of the stockade she had been stuck in earlier. Beneath the metal collar Applejack now had on Twilight suspected her throat and neck would be in a similar state. Next to Applejack, Fluttershy lay on her side. When Twilight saw her stomach she almost screamed again. She had so many scratch and bite marks across her soft under belly it would be impossible to get a hoof tip in between them. Eyes wide and breathing rapidly, Twilight turned to the last of her friends she could see. Pinkie Pie, who was lying next to Rarity, actually looked to be completely unscathed, except for the fact that her mane was completely straight and flat. A sign Twilight knew meant she was not fine at all. “What have you done?! And where is Rainbow!” Twilight yelled angrily up towards Void, who sat upon a black throne, looking down at her and her friends. Void’s only answer was to chuckle darkly. “I decided you shouldn't be the only one to know why this is all happening. You should all know the role you played in making sure you ended up here. I think it's rather poetic really, how the six great heroes of Equestria couldn't even help one little filly. And, because of that, your whole world came tumbling down on your over bloated heads!” Void shot back. “No! There is no way! Yes, Scootaloo seems to have been a lot worse off than I ever could have imagined, but all you had to do was ask us for help! Why didn't you ask us for help Scootaloo, instead of giving yourself to the Nightmare!!!” Twilight yelled angrily up at Void. Void sat quietly, staring back down at Twilight with disbelieving eyes. Suddenly, an enraged sneer sprang into existence across her features as she surged up out of the throne. “You think I didn't try!!!” Scootaloo’s own voice shrieked. “I begged you guys to help me in the end, but you all turned me away!!! You all abandoned me to nothing! All you cared about was your own little bubble of happiness! Me being miserable in your midst didn't fit in in to your worldview, so you all turned your backs on me! Everyone did, except… except…” Twilight stared, wide-eyed, up at Void, who had tears streaming down her face. “You all kept them from me! I had nobody… and you kept them from me… You should all die alone so you could see how it feels!” Scootaloo’s own voice once again rang out. “What? No… if you had asked any one of us, we would have helped you. You are being deceived by the Nightmare, Scootaloo! Please, fight it! I know you're better than this!” Twilight tried calling desperately for Scootaloo to regain her sense and see how ridiculous her claims were. Void snorted back at Twilight. “Really? After all you six have… wait… you truly don't remember anything yourself, do you?” Void asked incredulously. Twilight’s blank expression as she looked back at her told void everything she needed to know. “What is the last thing you remember, Twilight?” Void asked, now rather intrigued. “I was at my coronation, then, after the party, I went to bed in the Palace… and then I woke up here,” Twilight said, disdainfully looking up at Void. “Wow… I thought you were just pulling my chain-” Void suddenly chuckled at her unexpected pun. “Sorry, just realized that was a bad choice of words at the moment. Still, I would say you've lost about a month and a half of memory; from when you became a Princess to when I became what I am today and crushed you all beneath my hooves,” Void said with a chuckle. Twilight grew cold inside. Could that be true? Could she really have last one and a half months of memory? “I guess I might have overdone it a little bit when I captured you, Twilight. I did completely catch you unaware when I shot you through that mountainside… A little bit of memory loss wouldn't be all that unexpected, actually,” Void said with a laugh. “Wait, what?! You shot me through a mountainside?” Twilight asked, paling considerably. “Oh yes! You're an Alicorn now Twilight, anything less and you would have most likely just brushed it off and got up again. I had to make sure you would stay down for a while so I could play with your friends. Like dear old Rainbow up there,” Void answered with a grin as she pointed up into the air above Twilight. When she looked up, Twilight could see that Rainbow Dash was still suspended in the air by chains, but her head had lolled over to the side while she, just like the rest of her friends, mumbled pleading words out into the ether. As Twilight once again focused her attention on her friends, she quickly realized they were words she remembered from the nightmare Void had plunged her into. All her friends were reliving what she had just been through. With that realization, the whole day she had lived as Scootaloo came crashing back to the forefront of her mind. She gasped at the cruelty she had seen in those memories, cruelty that just couldn't be real, because it was just too… cruel. “That… That couldn't be real! It's all illusions you’re just making us live through! That's probably the lie you made Scootaloo think was real so that she would join you!” Twilight cried out in triumphant realization. She had cracked it; she knew Scootaloo would never willingly join the Nightmare. The naive little filly had just been tricked! “We'll see… You can always ask your friends if they remember any of the so-called illusions I'm showing you, Princess,” Void said with a cold sneer. Twilight clamped her eyes together. She just didn't want to believe it, this couldn't be real, those memories… That horrible place Scootaloo lived at, the way Twilight and her friends had treated her after the balloon fiasco… even though Scootaloo had not been to blame for what had happened. It just couldn't be real! And how could the Timberwolves leave Everfree? It's a known fact they cannot leave the boundary of the forest, so this has to be an illusion, otherwise that would have been impossible, Twilight once again thought desperately, trying to convince herself it was all Nightmare trying to deceive them. “Then how could they leave?” Twilight asked hotly. “They didn't do it by choice! You six forced us apart!” Void spat back true rage now showing on her features. “Wait, what?... No! I'm not talking about Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. How could the Timberwolves leave the Everfree? Everypony knows that's impossible!” Twilight shot back in challenge. Void now looked at Twilight mouth hanging open. Then the look of absolute rage came back, but ten times worse. A black aura ceased Twilight and lifted her up into the air, before ruthlessly slamming her down into the ground. “YOU-” slam! “JUST-” slam! “SAW ME-” slam! “LOSE-” slam! “MY-” slam! “TWO-” slam! “BEST-” slam! “FRIENDS-” slam! “AND-” slam! “YOU-” slam! “ASK-” slam! “ME-” slam! “ABOUT-” slam! “TIMBERWOLVES!!!” slam! Twilight throbbing head now rang alarmingly where she lay bruised and battered with most likely several ribs broken. She couldn't do anything while she coughed and sputtered onto the cold floor in front of Void who continued to glare down at her menacingly. Every single inch Twilight could register was in more pain than she could possibly have imagined in her wildest nightmares. She coughed again and blood splattered out on the floor in front of her before she took a few more wheezing breaths and coughed up more blood. If Twilight had been anything but an Alicorn she would most definitely have been killed by that treatment. “Immortality is a bitch isn’t it?” Void wondered out loud before giving the sputtering Alicorn a final kick to the sternum for good measure. “B… bu-” cough… “but… yo-” cough… “thought it… yourself…” Twilight wheezed out, not understanding why Void had reacted like that. “When?” Void asked harshly. “After-” cough… “the Timberwolves left the” cough… “orphanage… You wondered how that could be…” Twilight said and clenched her teeth against the pain coursing through her body. “HA! You idiot! You think I gave a flying buck why they were there? That was all you!!! In the dreamscape, your actions and words are exactly what I remember, but your thoughts are still your own, even though you don't remember who you are in the dream. The mere fact that you have just seen me being separated from my two best friends, only to wake up and wonder how the Timberwolves could leave the Everfree just shows where your priorities lie in life! And still, I shouldn't be surprised; it is just so… so… YOU!!! Damn cold hearted egghead… takes after Celestia more than she knows,” Void sneered and sat down on her throne again. Twilight, however, was just lying still, concentrating on breathing while the revelation went through her head. My thoughts are my own? Then I might be able to do something about this trap she has me in… She's blocked my horn… But… The dream magic is… In me… I can maybe… Wow I'm sleepy again… Twilight thought while her eyes slowly started to close. “Good. It seems the magic is pulling you down so you can live through my next day of memories… I hope this day will leave you with more appropriate questions,” Twilight heard Void say just before she plunged back into the black oblivion of unconsciousness. **** Syvvak - pre-reader/editor