Facing Your Fears... Literally

by NoPonE

Chapter 1: Facing The Past

Uuuggghhhhhhh... Twilight was on the 7:45 bus headed to Canterlot High. Classes began at 8:30, but since she lived in the city, this was the latest bus that she could ride while still making it to school on time. Every day, she would wake up at 6:30 in order to get dressed, wash up, and eat breakfast. After that, then she would leave the house around 7:30 to walk to the bus stop.

Usually, Twilight's morning routine wasn't hard for her to follow. Today, however, she had overslept, meaning she had to rush through everything. As a result, her hair was unkempt, her eyes had dark circles under them, and her glasses rested on her face slightly crooked. She also didn't have time to eat breakfast, so her stomach rumbled with hunger. All of this could be traced back to one particular problem...

Another Midnight Sparkle nightmare, Twilight groaned to herself. Ever since the Friendship Games, Twilight had been experiencing nightmares about turning into an evil she-demon again and ripping the whole universe apart. At first, her nightmares were somewhat manageable, but recently, they had been getting worse. Each nightmare felt even more real than the last, and Twilight was starting to lose more sleep due to these horrible ordeals.

Despite this, she hadn't told anyone about them yet. Although she had six wonderful and supportive friends in her new school, they had only known each other for a few weeks. Well, technically the six of them knew her for much longer than that, but that was a different Twilight that lived in another world. In any case, Twilight wasn't ready to share something so personal to a group of people she barely knew, and frankly, being around so many people who knew so much about her was rather intimidating. However, Twilight's mind was focused on something else.

Okay, so I went to bed at around 1:30 because I had to study for the chemistry test, then I woke up at 3:02, tried to sleep again but couldn't until 6:13, so that totals up to... She did the math.

"ONLY TWO HOURS AND TWELVE MINUTES OF SLEEP!?" Twilight didn't realize she had screamed that out loud until she froze and looked around the bus. All the other passengers were facing her with shocked and stunned expressions. Considering she was looking down at everyone, Twilight concluded that she had involuntarily stood up during her outburst. No one moved or said a word. Even the bus driver stared at her for a few seconds through the rear-view mirror before focusing on the road again. Twilight's cheeks quickly flushed with a bright shade of pink as she quickly sat down, ducking her head behind the seat in front of her. Everyone else turned around resumed their previous activities.

That was embarrassing.

Finally, the bus arrived at her stop. Twilight hurriedly got off the bus, though not before whispering a quick "Sorry!" to the bus driver. As the bus drove off, the tired and groggy high schooler dragged herself towards campus. Despite oversleeping, she had somehow managed to arrive about fifteen minutes early. There weren't as many people riding the bus today, so it had skipped a few stops along the way.

As she got closer to her school, Twilight noticed that her friends were sitting on the front stairs, chatting with each other. Twilight wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone this morning, so she considered entering the school through the side entrance instead. Then, she paused.

These nightmares have been driving me crazy for the past few weeks, and now they're affecting my daily routine, Twilight thought to herself. Maybe... maybe it's time that I ask them for help.

Twilight hesitantly walked towards the front entrance and her friends. Most of them were talking to each other, though a certain rainbow-haired girl was strumming a guitar while another girl wearing a stetson was clapping her hands in rhythm. As Twilight approached the group, the six girls took notice of her, then waved at her cheerfully. Twilight waved back nervously while smiling sheepishly.

"Hi!" greeted Pinkie Pie in an energetic and high-pitched voice. She quickly jumped to her feet, bouncing up and down on the spot while still waving her hand. Applejack sighed and grabbed Pinkie Pie's arm to stop her from spazzing out.

How is Pinkie always so hyper? pondered Twilight. Oh well, a question for another time.

"Oh my stars, darling!" gasped Rarity, who was wearing a brand new blouse and skirt that Twilight had never seen before. Well, it always seemed like Rarity was wearing a new outfit every single day, so this didn't really surprise Twilight.

"You look, umm... what's the word..."

"Terrible?" offered Rainbow Dash, placing her guitar back in its case.

"Rainbow, normally Ah'd be the last person to say this, but there is such a thing as being too honest," deadpanned Applejack. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"Don't mind them," laughed Sunset Shimmer. She got up and ran a hand through her red-and-yellow hair to move a few strands out of her face. "But yeah, you don't look so good. Is something wrong?"

Twilight twiddled her thumbs and teetered in place.

"U-uh..." started Twilight nervously. "Y-you see, there's... s-something that's been bothering me for a while..."

"Oh?" asked Fluttershy quietly, who also stood up. "What is it?"

"W-well," continued Twilight, "I've been having nightmares about Midnight Sparkle. You know, the, um, evil she-demon I turned into about a month ago... And every night, it feels like my nightmares are becoming more real. So... uh... what do you think I should do?"

Almost immediately after she finished her question, Pinkie Pie jumped up and down again.

"Ooh! I know! Just laugh in her face every time she appears in your dreams! As my Granny Pie once told me... 'Giggle at the ghostly! Guffaw at the-'" Rainbow Dash placed a hand on Pinkie's mouth, muffling her singing.

"I dunno about singing, but if they're just dreams, then they can't hurt you, right?" suggested Rainbow Dash offhandedly.

"I-I suppose so," thought Twilight, "but my actions as Midnight Sparkle were real, and these nightmares just serve as reminders of them."

"Oh, Twilight," comforted Rarity, "don't worry about your evil past. We all forgive you, right girls?" The rest of Twilight's friends nodded in agreement.

"But I haven't forgiven myself!" replied Twilight. "I can never forgive myself for hurting all my classmates and friends!" Tears started welling up in her eyes. She lifted up her glasses in one hand while using the other to wipe her tears away. When she was done, she put her glasses back on and adjusted them.

"Twilight..." said Sunset Shimmer gently. "I know how you feel. After I was defeated by you- er, the other you, and her friends, I also couldn't forgive myself either. But after some encouragement from these girls, I realized that my past is not today and that I needed to move on. Now, I constantly tell myself to just focus on the future and think about how I can improve myself." Sunset Shimmer smiled encouragingly, but her words only made Twilight fume and clench her fists angrily.

"Well maybe you are strong enough to push your evil deeds aside, but I'm not!" cried Twilight, her tears streaming down her cheeks. Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the girls stared at her with shocked expressions. A few other students heard her as well, causing them to pause and look towards the group.

"Look, Twilight, we're your friends," asserted Sunset. "And friends always forgive each other." But Twilight was having none of it.

"You throw around words like 'forgiveness' and 'friendship' like they are nothing, but don't any of you realize how serious this is for me!?" shouted Twilight. Sunset opened her mouth in an attempt to give an answer, but Twilight ignored her.

"No! Of course not!" screamed Twilight. "In fact, I bet none of you actually care to understand me, do you? You just wanna quickly forgive me so you can all go back to your carefree lives! All you want to do is play music, sing cute songs, and fool around with magic all day! You're all too busy being happy-go-lucky know-it-alls to care about my problems!"

Twilight's voice echoed throughout the commons. A few moments of silence passed. Then, Fluttershy whimpered. She quickly bolted through the front entrance of Canterlot High, sobbing and covering her eyes with her hands.

"Fluttershy, wait!" Rainbow Dash got up and followed her, though not before flashing a menacing glare at Twilight. Sunset Shimmer slowly approached Twilight, who had fallen to her knees, crying.

"Twilight, I-"

"Shut up, I don't want your advice!" interrupted Twilight. "You just assume that what worked for you will work for me, just because we share similar experiences. Well, we're not the same!"

"But-"

"Go away!"

Sunset Shimmer stood still for a few seconds, then turned away from Twilight. She looked at the group of girls who were still there and simply nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek. Slowly, the rest of Twilight's friends turned towards the school's entrance and made their way inside. Twilight then looked around at the other students who had gathered around her.

"What are you looking at!?" she shouted. Quickly, the rest of the students scampered into the school building as well, leaving Twilight alone in the middle of the commons. Twilight sighed, letting her anger subside. Her rage was then replaced with sadness and regret.

"Oh no... what have I done?" sobbed Twilight. "I can't believe I just yelled at everyone like that..." Twilight took off her glasses and cried into her hands. She wanted to run into the school building and chase after her friends to beg for their forgiveness, but after what she just said to them, they probably didn't want to be friends with her anymore.

"I'm such a horrible person," Twilight continued. "I-I don't deserve to have any friends." She swiftly got up, holding her glasses in one hand, and ran away from Canterlot High. Sure, the school bell was going to ring any minute now, but Twilight didn't care. She was in no mood to attend class or see anyone right now. She just wanted to go home and curl up into a ball.

In fact, maybe I should just stay locked up in my house forever. That way, I can't hurt anyone anymore. Yeah... that sounds like a good i- Suddenly, Twilight tripped over a crack in the pavement, sending her flying through the air. Apparently, she had been too distracted to watch where she was going.

"Wahhhh!" screamed Twilight as she flailed her arms and legs. She then looked up to see where she was about to land. Or rather, what she was about to hit. In front of her was not solid ground, but instead, the broken Wondercolt statue that Twilight had destroyed a few weeks prior. Though the horse figure itself was still being repaired, the pedestal it stood on, which was about to greet Twilight's head, was still intact.

Ohhhh this is gonna hurt, gulped Twilight, bracing herself for impact. Except, there was no impact.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Wow, that elscalated quickly.

[_-LeXx-_]

I HAVE BEEN WISHING FOR A SCI TWI AND LUNA FRIENDSHIP TYSM