"…light?... …n you hear m…. Twili…. …oming in"

My head felt like a lead weight, my eyelids were like heavy stones, the familiar ache in my head was gone in a way but it was replaced with a sort of hazy and disjointed feeling. Frankly it felt like someone had replaced my brain with a rock.

The voice cut through though, "Twi…t… I don't kn…. …ear me but I'm… in…"

"C-Celestia?" I whispered through the murkiness.

"Twilight?"

It sounded strange, off…

"Oh Twilight!"

That voice… no…

"Come on silly-filly! Wakey wakey!"

My eyelids were pulled open forcefully and assaulted with an almost offensive amount of pink.

"HA! You're finally awake! Goody, I was afraid I'd hafta stick a needle into you and pump you full of adrenaline!" Her voice still carried that same cheery tone it always did, even when talking about… those things. I struggled for a moment before realizing I was pinned to a table, my hooves stretched spread-eagled and locked down with thick leather restraints. I blinked the haze from my eyes and took in my surroundings, I saw Fluttershy hanging painfully by her hind legs from a rope attached somewhere in the darkness of the ceiling, and…

"Applejack!" I cried out, despite our situation I couldn't help but feel relief, she wasn't dead… she wasn't… I gulped back remembering the struggle at the memorial statue. She was tied to a vertical rack, her head hung limply but naturally, in a way it couldn't have were it truly snapped.

"B-but how?" I asked nopony in particular, trying to make sense of it all.

"Heehee, you wanna know how jacky survived her little attempt at some permanent gallows humor?" Pinkie Pie asked as she turned towards me, sharpening a blade on a long strap with the same mannerisms she might use while cleaning a dirty cup before use. "Heehee, can't you tell yet?" she badgered me, before stepping up to the table I was strapped to.

I shook my head, I couldn't… I didn't know what was going on.

Pinkie Pie sighed dejectedly, "Wow Twi, I always thought you were the clever pony, it's no FUN if nopony GETS IT!" she said, punctuating her words with a bounce, "Right Moony?"

Pinkie glanced over her shoulder, speaking to somepony out of sight, a slight popping sound was all the warning she had before her head slumped unnaturally to the left, "heehee, oops."

A curt and regal voice cut through the pink ponies laughter, "That's disgusting dear, you may have been one of the ponies that helped banish me but really, couldn't you have a bit more decorum?"

A tall stately dark mare stepped partially into my view, her silver armour glinted like the moon and her main was all but the night sky itself.

"C'mon Moony! I have plenty of decorum! See? LOOK AT ALL THE STREAMERS!" Pinkie Pie fell into a fit of raucous laughter as the armoured mare shook her head in disgust.

"N-Nightmare Moon? So Fluttershy was right… It is you doing this." I felt a deep anger, at both myself for not realizing my own failure and the wicked mare for inflicting this torment on us.

She smiled mirthlessly, "Doing what? Oh dear me Twilight you must be mistaken, this…" She gestured a perfect hoof grandly, encompassing the whole room, "…is none of MY doing, I'm simply a guest here, or if you would prefer a more… common…" She said the word in the same way another pony might reference a particularly unpleasant form of fungus, "…term, 'I just work here'."

I blinked slowly; none of this was making any sense, "What? What do you mean? If it's not you then who?"

Nightmare Moon started laughing cruelly, an effect that was almost wholly ruined by the bubbly and genuine laughter of Pinkie Pie as she joined in, Moon's laughter faded as she narrowed her eyes at her Pink companion.

"Oh I'm sure it will eventually dawn on you, how I was ever defeated by such thick ponies I will never know." Nightmare Moon levitated one of the freshly sharpened blades, "hmmm, you know Twilight, as much as I dislike my companion here, she certainly does know how to care for her tools," She commented as she admired the weapons razor sharpness. "As to your initial question, you wondered how your friend survived her, ah, attempt? I will allow you the benefit of a… practical demonstration."

With those words she plunged the blade downward into my eye, the pain was unspeakable, I could feel the blood flowing, I think I was screaming, I don't really know. I think I felt it enter my brain, I knew I should be dead but I wasn't, my body was twitching and spasming uncontrollably as the blade sheared through gray matter like it was soft butter. After what seemed like an eternity Nightmare Moon withdrew the blade, the pain lingered for a time, I don't know how long, the damage skewed whatever sense of time I had left, all I know is that after a while it was as though it had never happened.

"Heeheeheee, see now? It's reeeaaaaally obvious if you think about it! I mean, what good is a party like this if you just DIE?! I mean DUH!" Pinkie Pie was standing on the other side of the table grinning from ear to ear.

I stare up at the ceiling trying to wrap my… my mind around what just happened, I had died, or at least I should have. Nightmare Moon simply smiled cruelly down at me. apparently pleased to be finally getting her vengeance. For a moment I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, it was only then that I realized I could hear a soft sobbing from somewhere in the corner of the room. I craned my neck and bent my back slight to get a good, if upside down, look. It was Luna in a cage suspended above the ground, there were very painful looking surgical needles jabbed into her back pinning her wings to her haunches.

"L-Luna!"

Nightmare Moon strode into my distorted sight to poke at the weeping pony, "Oh yes, my erstwhile prisoner and one-time host. She was so very glad to rid of me, which rendered her rather shocked and speechless when I rode down the hallway in a torrent of shadows to snatch her up." The would-be queen gestured for something that was out of my sight, a glowing hot poker floating into my vision. "I have so been enjoying reminding my little peanut here who is REALLY in charge." She began prodding Luna with the searing hot tip, eliciting small shrieks of pain from her. "Really, there was a reason I awoke in her heart in the first place, Luna has such a very dark streak in her, I mean, you saw what she did to Pinkie Pie."

"N-n-nooo… I'm sorry… please…" Luna pleaded as Nightmare Moon continued prodding her.

"Oh no dearie, don't bother yourself, I am perfectly capable of telling such an interesting story"

"Twilight… I'm so sorry…" Luna whispered before being silenced with another jab from the poker.

"Aw, poor little Luna…" Nightmare Moon cooed in an evil hiss. "Yes, she was quite distraught by the disappearances in Ponyville, foals and fillies, unicorns and pegasi alike, all vanishing under strange circumstances. She devoted so much time to discovering the truth, and when she finally got a lead she followed it up like a good little investigator."

"Twilight… I didn't mean to… I didn't mean to-" Luna's words were cut off by a swift blow to her muzzle from the levitating poker.

"DIDN'T MEAN TO? Oh peanut, what didn't you mean to do?" Nightmare Moon cackled in pleasure at her prisoners' pain. "You didn't mean to follow your tracer spell to Sugarcube Corner? Did you not mean to sneak in and make your way down to the basement?"

"No… please… I didn't…"

*CRACK*

Another blow from the poker silenced her.

"You didn't MEAN to pick the lock on the door and go inside?"

"Don't… please don't tell her…" she pleaded earning another smack across the head from the heated metal pole.

"You didn't mean to employ forbidden magics in a fit of pique and rage when you saw what Miss Pie had been doing under the cover of the night, YOUR NIGHT?!" Nightmare was shouting now, apparently immensely enjoying the horrible pain it was causing Luna.

"You didn't mean to enslave Pinkamena's will with your magic, or should I say MY magic since I was the first to use it in that body after all," Moon smirked with satisfaction as Luna winced and hung her head in silent shame. "You didn't mean to force Pinkamena to weave a noose from the 'streamers'? Didn't mean to make the poor sick pony HANG HERSELF FROM HER OWN RAFTERS?!"

"I… I was so… so angry… so ashamed… It was my fault… the night was mine… I couldn't… She was using it to cover her evils… I… I… Please… I'm so sorry…" Luna squeaked out her words in a weak and utterly defeated voice.

Nightmare Moon seemed satisfied with the damage she'd inflicted and moved back to Twilight, "Well, that was exhilarating, I think I'll pass the torch though, I'm going to go prod the little yellow one some more, she makes the most delightful shrieks. Bring the slave in here Dashie dear?"

I heard a door kicked open, "Yea yea… keep your bridle on," I saw Rainbow Dash… or her horrible revenant… step into view. She looked back through what I assumed was the open doorway, "Well? You coming or should we put you back on the rack?"

I heard a small broken voice answer, "N-no… I'm coming… just a moment…"

Rarity stepped into view, her coat was still well kept but her hair was a ragged mess and the trace of neatly healed scars criss-crossed her face like a road map. She choked a little when she saw her friends, "Oh… oh Twilight… I'm so sorry…" she walked over and began caressing my mane reassuringly, "I'm sorry for everything but... the pain won't last, it always goes away ok? Just remember that and it won't be so bad."

I gaped at her… her eyes were distant and bright with delusion.

I heard Nightmare Moons cruel laugh cut through, "Oh yes… Poor Rarity, how she screamed. You and Miss Pie spent hours of fun together right?"

I heard a shuffling in the background and Pinkie Pie re-entered the room, I didn't even remember her leaving, though it must've been sometime during Nightmare Moons tale. "Mmm.. yah! WE shpent lotsha timesh togezhur" she said through a mouthful of baked good, "Myum myum… *gulp* Heehehe, Hey Rarity! Remember that time I shoved an entire basting tube through your ear and… heehahahaehee, IT ACTUALLY CAME OUT THE OTHER SIDE?! HAAHAAHAHA HEEHEHEE… Oh that was hilarious, especially the popping sound it made."

I looked over to Rarity her eyes were glazed over and wide, staring off into the distance as she shook.

"Rarity… Rarity, it's ok, come back… we'll get out of this…" I whispered softly to her, her eyes found focus again and she stared down. "Oh Twilight… don't you know? We're dead… we have to be, look, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, even Nightmare Moon is here. And none of us can die… where else could we be?" She whispered back to me with tears of despair in her eyes.

"No, I refuse to believe it, even if Pinkie was crazy… Rainbow Dash wasn't like this. She was loyalty, you knew her, she would never blame us."

"But… but…"

"No buts… just do what they say for now," I grimace slightly, "Whatever they say, and know that… that I forgive you."

Tears started falling as her head hung, "O-ok Twilight…" in a much smaller voice she whispered… "thank you…"

At that moment something flickered, my consciousness, my sight, something on the edge of my vision moved.

I bent somewhat painfully to glimpse…

Myself?

As a filly… although it was gray and distorted, like a black and white photograph, I looked utterly dejected.

"Celestia… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…" the little filly said, tiny tears running from her face. I looked up and saw an equally distorted version of Celestia, as regal and unchanged by the years as ever.

"Oh Twilight… It wasn't your fault, I told you not to cast the telekinesis spell until I was there but really, I'm well over a thousand years old, I should've known better than to tell an excited filly not to do something," She laughed benevolently, "After all…" She leaned down to my younger self's ear, "It's most certainly what I would've done when I was your age." I laughed softly along with my younger self, I wondered if this was the last moment of peace I'd know before whatever hell these apparitions were preparing to inflict on me began.

"But… I wrecked the whole lab…" my filly self said; still upset.

"It's because you're powerful, much more powerful than I anticipated, once again my fault. So how about this, if you forgive me, I'll forgive you." Celestia said, I smiled as I saw my younger self's face light up and nod enthusiastically.

A sudden pain in my ribs brought me back to reality, I bit back a scream as I saw Rarity drive a knife into my side, and tears slid down her face as Rainbow Dash looked on in satisfaction through her one good eye.

When the pain subsided enough to speak I whispered, "It's ok, just do as I said…" to Rarity, "I forgive you Rarity…" I said with a pained grimace that I hoped counted for the smile I'd intended, she nodded and drove the blade in deeper, I gasped in pain.

"Heh, that's better, and I thought miss prissy-hooves would chicken out like usual." Rainbow said mockingly.

"Oh c'mon Dashie! That's rude, Rarity is trying her bestest!" Pinkie said with a bounce, her eerily familiar smile still made me shudder.

"Both of you be silent, you're ruining my fun," I heard the sound of something heavy being swung through the air and loud smack followed by the sound of weeping. "Oh Fluttershy, you're just too easy," Nightmare Moon's wicked laughter reached my ears and I found a new anger in my heart.

…ilight…

I turned my head around, that voice again, I was sure I'd heard it.

Twilight… open the way…

I whispered softly into the darkness, "I don't know what that means… I don't know how."

You must… it's the o… ay…

The voice began to fade again.

"Please… tell me what to do…" I whispered, begging the voice to give me something, anything. I couldn't see my friends hurt anymore, in the end all of this was my fault, if I had just seen Pinkie Pie for what she was becoming, if they wanted to hurt me then I would allow that, I deserved it, but my friends… they were my friends, they were everything to me.

"Please…" I asked softly to Pinkie, Dash, and Nightmare Moon, "please let them go, whatever you've done, just let them all go, you can keep me but let my friends go."

"NO!" Fluttershy screamed, "No Twilight! If you're here then I'm here, and Applejack too, none of us will leave you!"

"But… but it's my fault… in the end I should've seen it…"

*CRACK*

A pair of hooves snapped my head to the side, I was fairly sure it snapped my neck, but whatever dark magic was in this place wouldn't let us die.

"STOP IT DASH!" Fluttershy screamed again, "It's not your fault Twilight, we all share it, it's all of us…"

The sound of the poker being swung split the air and silenced Fluttershy.

I hung my head back as my spine slipped painfully back into position.

Tears burned against my eyes, maybe Fluttershy was right… maybe it was all of our faults… maybe we all did deserve what was happening to us…

"Hey Rarity, stab her again!" Rainbow Dash said with a hateful sneer.

"B-but… I don't…" Rarity answered, tears were coming from her own eyes.

"Do it you little priss," Dash said venomously.

"It's ok Rarity, remember?" I whispered.

She nodded, "a-and… Twilight…" she whispered back, "It wasn't your fault but… I forgive you too…" she said as she drove the blade into my stomach again.

I cried out, unable to bite back the scream this time. Maybe it was the pain, how it burned and seemed to drive every extraneous thought from my mind, but for a moment I had clarity. I saw the pain that we had all inflicted, I saw the sins we'd all committed; Luna's temper, my own pride, Rarity's weakness, Applejacks blame, and Fluttershys silent shame. We all did so much damage to each other without even knowing it.

I felt the blade pull from my stomach, I cried out again.

This was punishment… it was…

My eyes snapped open, I felt the bottom fall out of my heart.

It was my fault.

All of this was…

"Rarity," I whispered, "I know what we have to do."