The dream always began at night, in her bed, in her childhood home. All the lights were out and everything was quiet. She woke up filled with the nameless fear that immediately follows sleep. That moment where everything feels alien and unsure before your mind begins to assert itself, filling in the blank spaces with familiar stuffed animals and the smells of home. Except this time the fear remained. 'What had woken her?' she thought to herself. 'Mommy? Daddy?' her tiny voice called out as she moved from the bed to the floor, reach out with tiny hooves to open her bedroom door. 'Mommy? Daddy? Where are you?' there was a sickly light pervading the halls, casting unfamiliar shadows over the walls and portraits. Her parents room was empty, she moved down the stairs, a sensation of revolting dread began to fill her stomach with no definable source. Just a simple feeling of wrongness pervading the air. 'M-mommy?' the tiny filly heard motion above her in the attic, she pushed the door to the stairwell open and that feeling of wrongness and fear collapsed over her like a tangible wave. A sound. A voice. And shadow so black it eclipsed the light rose up around her, terror gripped her heart, it was something unholy, it was-

Fluttershy screamed as she fell out of her bed in a tangle of sheets that clung to her coat along with a sheen of cold sweat. She hadn't had that night terror in years, her breath came in short gasps as she fought the urge to allow last nights dinner an encore performance. It felt unnaturally cold, even though her room was filled with the warm light of a sunny morning. For a moment Fluttershy just sat with her back to her bed and calmed down. With an effort she forced herself to take slow, deep breaths until her heart had stopped pounding like a drum. It had felt so real, but they all had before she had finally managed to get her panic attacks under control.

A sudden and familiar smack on the back of her head told her that she was late in delivering Angel Bunny's' breakfast. “O-ok, uhm, I'll be right down,” Fluttershy said softly as she began disentangling herself from her bedsheets.

Smack.

“Uhm, Angel Bunny, mommy had a bad nightmare last night and-”

Smack.

“I really would appreciate it if you gave me a moment to-”

Smack.

“STOP IT!” her voice came out as a roar that sent the ornery little fluff-ball rolling backwards into a huddled ball of shaking fur. Fluttershy immediately swept both dainty hooves up to her mouth as a look of horror crossed her face. “O-oh Angel Bunny, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to shout, I just need a minute, ok?” she asked, her gentle demeanor settling back into its accustomed place. Angel just nodded slowly before peeling off of Fluttershys' bed and slinking downstairs.

Once Angel had gone Fluttershy slipped into the little bathroom attached to her bedroom and turned on a nice hot shower to wash off the night sweat. She hadn't lost her temper like that in years and felt horrible for scaring Angel the way she had.

“I'll make him a nice big breakfast to apologize,” she said softly to herself as she quickly scrubbed her coat clean. A proper, lengthier shower would come later after the morning chores but there was nothing like hot water to clear away the nightly cobwebs. A few minutes later Fluttershy was out, dried off, and downstairs humming angelically as she fixed the morning meals for herself and her animal friends. She glanced briefly at the calender that hung beside her sink, checking the days' schedule. She felt ice run down her spine as she saw the date. Suddenly everything made sense, the night terrors, the short temper. It was that day already.

“H-how could I have forgotten,” Fluttershy muttered softly as she returned to the task at hand, setting down Angel's breakfast and grabbing something quick for herself as she hurried about, finishing her chores. Once they were done she hurriedly secured her saddlebags along with her bag of bits and was outside, “Oh, I do hope Roseluck still has some of Mother's favorite flowers in stock, I'm such a terrible pony, how could I forget?” whispered Fluttershy to herself as she closed and locked her door.

Hello little one

“Hey Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy let out a strangled yelp and dropped, shaking, into the foetal position with her hooves clapped over her head. She peaked out only to see one her closest friends, and the town librarian, standing above her.

“I'm sorry Fluttershy, I didn't mean to scare you, I should've announced myself or something,” sad Twilight Sparkle as she brushed a stray lock of her mane the color of her namesake from her eyes.

“O-oh my, good morning Twilight, uhm, it's ok,” the gentle pegasus said with an embarrassed blush, “I'm just a little jumpy today, and I'm kind of in a hurry.”

“No problem, I was just coming by to drop off that book on herbalism you were interested in, it just came in from the Canterlot Library,” said Twilight, clearly pleased to have her hooves on a new book.

“You could just stick it in your saddlebag,” Twilight suggested as she magicked the book out of her own bag and held it out for her friend to take.

“Uhm, that's a good idea, t-thank you...” Fluttershy looked pensive for a moment, her heart was troubled by the mornings events and last nights dreams, and Twilight was one of her closest friends. “Say Twilight, w-would you like to come with me?”

“Hm? Well, where are you going?” asked Twilight.

“Well... It's just that, I mean if you're not busy, I could use the company,” she stuttered around the subject for a moment before meeting her friends' violet eyes, “Today is kind of an anniversary, so... I'm going to visit my parents' graves.”

“Well of course I'll-” Twilight started before registering her friends words, “what? Wait, graves? So then...” Twilight put all the blocks together in her brain which formed into a stone that promptly sank into her stomach. “Oh Fluttershy, I had no idea, I'm sorry... of course, I'd be honored.”

“Oh, it's ok Twilight, it happened when I was very small,” she explained in her meek tones as the two friends started walking towards town. “I've had a long time to come to terms with everything, I just have to pick up a few things, today kind of snuck up on me and I didn't have the flowers ready like I usually do.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess it has been kind of a busy year, what with Discord, the wedding, and the changeling invasion,” the two friends shared a companionable laugh, “so what do you usually do?”

“Well, I bring them some of mom's favorite flowers, orange roses, and then I spend the day telling them about how I've been,” Fluttershy said, a sad tone edging over her voice, “I guess it's just my way of remembering them.”

Twilight nodded and pulled Fluttershy into a comforting hug, “well I'm here for you today so you can tell me all about them ok?” she returned the hug and let out a hiccup and a sniffle, this day was always hard, there was so many things she could never have with her parents anymore. Knowing that she had friends like this...

“T-thank you so much Twilight, you don't know what this means to me,” Fluttershy choked out as the tears started in. The two mares stood there a few minutes as Fluttershy mastered herself and pulled away, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “O-ok, I think I'm fine now, sorry I'm so weepy...”

Twilight shook her head and placed a comforting hoof on her friends shoulder, and said “you always have us Fluttershy, no matter what.”

+=+

Ponyville was never a town that one would describe as 'bustling' but it had a homey sort of charm to it and there was always some activity. Big Macintosh was selling apples at a stand and the residents were going about their daily activities. The tinkling of a bell introduced Fluttershy and Twilight as they entered the Ponyville Florist. Its' owner, Roseluck, was one of the little hamlets most memorable residents, with a permanent mare-next-door look to her that made her as pretty as the flowers she sold. This was also a comparison each and every one of her suitors inevitably made to the point that she had begun judging them based on how long they could hold off on it. Her current beau had gone on three months without making it, the longest yet, meaning he was either a keeper or impossibly dense. She was far from just a pretty face though.

“Good morning Miss Sparkle, hi Fluttershy, here to pick up your roses?” Roseluck placed a bouquet of beautiful orange roses on the counter and Fluttershy beamed.

“Roseluck, you're an angel, I'd completely forgotten to put the order in,” Fluttershy gushed, “I was so afraid you'd be completely out,” she dropped her bits on the counter and swept the floral bundle into one of her saddlebags.

“Hey, no problem baby-face, you're in here like clockwork, I figured you'd just had a busy week so I slapped them together,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively, “don't even sweat it,” the cash register popped with a bell chime and she dropped the bits in.

“Well, thank you again,” Fluttershy said meekly as she left the line.

“Yeah, thanks so much!” Twilight added a smile and left with her friend as Roseluck waved them out with a smile. “So where to now? I take it they're buried nearby?”

“Uhm, yes, we actually lived near Ponyville when I was young, so they were buried locally,” Fluttershy explained as they walked along the path leading south of the town.

“Wait, I thought Pegasi usually lived in Cloudsdale or one of the other sky-cities,” interrupted Twilight, her inquisitive nature overcoming her.

“Well usually, but my dad wasn't a pegasus, he was a unicorn, so when my parents got married they ended up living on the ground.”

“So, did you have any other family?”

“Not really,” Fluttershy answered, secretly glad of the distracting nature of the questions, “dad was an orphan and mom's family kind of disowned her after she married him,” Twilight gasped softly at that part.

“That's terrible Fluttershy, how could they?!” Twilight was angry, but Fluttershy had long since moved past that frustration.

“A lot of older families still looked down on outside marriages back then, I guess mom was kind of a rebel, sometimes I wish I was more like her,” she said wistfully.

“So does that mean you took after your father?”

Fluttershy hitched her stride for a moment but recovered quickly, “Uhm... maybe?” she paused as they continued walking and Twilight motioned for her friend to continue, so Fluttershy obliged, “I'm sorry, it's just that I don't remember him very well, I know he was a magical researcher of some kind because of some of the questions I was asked after they died.”

“Wow, that's so neat, he must have been really smart,” Twilight said, her eyes sparkling, becoming a researcher on the nature of magic was a life-long dream of hers.

“I guess he was kind of a genius, but didn't have many friends or any family outside me and mom so I never really got a chance to find out what he was like,” more sadness, Twilight couldn't know how many nights Fluttershy had spent staring at her ceiling wondering what her father had been like.

“Here we are.”

Twilight's words snapped Fluttershy out of her daze, they had arrived at the gates to the cemetery already, usually the walk felt many times longer than that. The gates opened with a rusted creak and the two entered, “It's around here Twilight,” Fluttershy said softly, turning to the right and ascending a small hillock. At its' summit two gravestones stood, one read: Marrishy, Beloved mother and daughter taken before her time, the one beside it simply read: Aether Mist, Father. It struck Twilight as curious, her father had such a simple epitaph, so unlike her mothers.

“Uhm, I'm sorry to ask this Fluttershy but... how did you lose your parents?”

Fluttershy had known the question was coming but it didn't make answering it any easier or more comfortable. She knew she could just avoid the question, that Twilight was polite enough not to press her on it. In the end she decided her friend deserved to know though.

“They were murdered,” Fluttershy said quietly, flinching at Twilight's horrified gasp. “They told me it was a botched robbery, a home invasion, I guess my dad or mom must have surprised whoever broke in and... a fight must have broken out and...” Fluttershy's voice cracked and she let her face drop as tears began rolling uncontrolled down her face. Twilight pulled her close, adding her own tears to her friends, sharing her pain. Fluttershy was the kindest and most compassionate pony Twilight knew. Nopony deserved something that terrible to happen to them, but the fact that it had happened to a pony like Fluttershy made it a hundred times worse.

“Oh Fluttershy...” Twilight tried to dredge her mind for any words of comfort but nothing felt right so she just sat there next to her friend and held her while she cried. A part of her noted grimly that, even crying her eyes out, Fluttershy still managed to look elegant.

“S-sometimes,” Fluttershy choked back a dainty sob, “I think I can remember it a little, I thought it was a dream for a long time, but now I'm not sure.”

Twilight wiped her own eyes and took a breath before asking, “what do you mean?” Fluttershy stared at her parents graves for a moment before answering.

“Every year around this time I have the same dream, that I'm a filly and I wake up scared and alone in the middle of the night.” Twilight nodded, she had read a number of books on psychology, especially those of dreams. “I would wander out of my room calling for my parents but I knew something was terribly wrong, then I would hear a noise from the attic and-”

“Wait, the attic?” Twilight interrupted, the inconsistency struck as odd, “if it were a memory wouldn't the robbers be downstairs, not up?”

Fluttershy sniffled and nodded, “I thought about that too, I don't know why.”

“S-sorry I interrupted, go on.”

“W-well, I would go to the door where the attic stairs were and I opened it, and then I'd get really scared, terrified, like there was something up those stairs, something that wanted to do worse than hurt me or kill me... I-I...” Twilight saw the panic attack coming full force and pulled Fluttershy into another hug, whispering comfortingly.

“Hey, it's ok, it's all in the past now,” said Twilight as a fresh wave of sobs wracked her friends' body. After Fluttershy composed herself she sat down again, breathing in the cool air of the day and letting the fresh scent of grass and trees calm her down.

“A-after that I would w-wake up... the doctors all told me it was just post-traumatic stress, that so long as I didn't let it rule my life it would fade in time.” Twilight nodded, that was usually the case, though they might not have told her it could take decades to fade and it would never completely go away. She watched solemnly as Fluttershy laid the bouquet between her parents graves and bowed her head, Twilight did the same, offering a moment of silence.

“Fluttershy...” Twilight spoke up after a minute had passed, “did they catch them?”

She didn't answer for a long time, her face was covered by her pink locks as she stared at the graves silently. Something was different though, a tension in her shoulders and back, a sudden air of anger that Twilight could never have imagined coming from Fluttershy.

“No, they never did,” her voice was deathly quiet, it wasn't the meek tone Twilight had grown used to tuning her ear for. That had been the voice of a cold and smoldering anger.

“Did you see who did it?”

Fluttershy flinched and Twilight instantly regretted the question, she silently cursed her nature, she always had to know and it always got her in trouble. She started to apologize but Fluttershy cut her off before she could get the words out.

“Maybe but..” her next words were rich with emotion, “I can't remember.”

“O-oh, well... maybe,” Twilight searched for something to say, this wasn't a side of Fluttershy she had ever imagined could exist, “I... and you've... tried to remember?” Fluttershy nodded miserably but didn't say a word. “Well, you know...” Twilight hesitated, what she was about to suggest wasn't just unorthodox, it could be downright dangerous which was probably the reason it was never suggested.

“There are spells that can unlock memories you know, and I might know one that could help you remember.” The silence became deafening, it felt like the world stopped for a moment as Fluttershy slowly turned her gaze to stare directly at Twilight. Her normally soft blue eyes had gone wide and as hard as ice in the dead of winter.

“Y-you do?” her voice still a whisper. There was something in her gaze, something dark and feverish. Twilight had the feeling this was a secret guilt that had been nestled in her friends heart for a very long time. Still, Twilight wanted to help however she could, and she didn't trust anypony else to perform such an exacting piece of spellwork. so despite her reservations she nodded.

That simple motion was one of the worst mistakes she would ever make.

Two days had passed since Fluttershy had taken her friend with her on her annual visit to her parents' final resting places and her nerves were getting the better of her. She had wanted to do it quickly before she could lose her nerve but Twilight had told her that two days was the very soonest she could be ready. This wasn't an easy spell, she needed components, preparation time, and of course a babysitter for Spike which Rarity had kindly volunteered for, no questions asked.

Spike had been ecstatic.

Now here she was, standing outside the Golden Oaks Library and trying to find the courage inside her to live through it all again. She didn't want to see her parents die. She didn't want Twilight to see her parents die.

But...

Fluttershy never let on to her friends but secretly she hated who she was, she hated being scared of everything and everypony. She hated being weak and helpless and only able to tolerate the company of animals, as much as she loved them. She didn't live on the edge of the Everfree because she liked it, she lived there because it was far away from all of her fears.

“But what if I can catch the ponies who did this?” whispered Fluttershy rhetorically to nopony in particular, indeed, there was nopony at all to talk to. Ever since the tragedy that had taken her parents from her she had begun to develop a habit of talking to herself. Her doctors had tried to break her of it many times but for a filly that was already suffering from crippling shyness she was only driven further from the company of other ponies by her 'issues'.

So she talked.

Of course what she had never told anypony, especially not those stuffy psychiatrists, was that sometimes she also pretended to answer herself as though she was somepony else.

Somepony brave and capable. The kind of pony she wished she could be in real life. She doubted anypony would have anything good to say about that.

“No no no, we can't run from this forever,” with a small huff of defiance Fluttershy made herself be brave. “After all, this could be it, we might finally find out who...” she shook her head, there was no point in thinking of that stuff. Mustering up her courage she reached out and-

Open the door

Fluttershys' heart skipped a beat. She'd heard something, a voice that was less than a whisper. Hadn't she? She shook the thought away, thinking that maybe the doctors were right about the talking and tapped on Twilights' door which swung open almost before she was done knocking.

“Hey there, I was wondering when you'd finally knock,” said Twilight with a grin, “You know talking to yourself is the first sign of being crazy right?”

Mortified, Fluttershy felt the blood drain from her face.

“Oh, hey, hey I was just kidding Fluttershy, I just noticed you muttering to yourself out my window and figured I'd wait til you were ready, and besides,” Twilight leaned in conspiratorially, “I talk to myself all the time too.”

An tiny laugh escaped Fluttershy's lips and she suddenly felt much better. She felt so lucky to have a friend like Twilight. Although Twilight was more of a shut-in by choice than circumstance. Twilight motioned for her to follow and they both entered the massive old growth tree that had been shaped into the magical prodigy's home-away-from-Canterlot.

“But seriously, you're still sure you want to do this right?” Twilight had spent the intervening days since she'd accompanied her friend to her parents' graves researching every minute facet of the spell she was about to cast as well as collecting the necessary implements.

“I am, and Twilight, thank you for doing this, I know not just anypony could...” she trailed off, not really sure what it was her friend was about to do.

Nonetheless she was right, in fact it was one of the reasons Twilight had begun regret her rash offer. Mind magic wasn't just tricky it was borderline illegal and for very good reasons. It was at least as dangerous to the caster as it was to the recipient of the spell. Fortunately, or so Twilight had reasoned to herself, she wasn't trying to change anything in her friends mind, just... unlock a few doors. She wasn't taking anything out or putting anything in that hadn't already been there and that was where the danger lay. Still, Twilight didn't want her friend trotting into this unaware.

“What I'll be doing is putting you into a relaxed state of mind and then a trance, that will make it easier for you to reach the memories you've kept locked away,” the purple unicorn explained in a voice usually reserved for a lecture hall. “Once we've done that it should be a simple matter of retrieving the memories, and then...” Twilight fished around a rucksack that had lain undisturbed during Fluttershy's visit til then and withdrew a flawless crystal sphere, “I draw it into this so we can see it!”

At Twilights' last words Fluttershy made a sound like a dainty hiccup, “W-well can't I just... see it in my head? Like a regular memory? I mean... I don't...”

Twilight shook her head wearing a pained expression, “If we're going to find out who m- who committed that crime years ago then other ponies will eventually have to see it, besides...” now she got to the meat of her reluctance, “Fluttershy... your mind locked these memories away for a reason, because they could really hurt you, opening them up without a medium to process them through would be like, I don't know, handling a cauldron of boiling oil without mitts or magic.” Twilight sat the crystal between them and looked her friend square in the eyes, “I won't be responsible for hurting you Fluttershy, so if we're going to do this...” she trailed off, her expression making it clear in no uncertain terms that if Fluttershy didn't take agree to her precautions then the spell wasn't going to happen. So with her friends' small nod assent Twilight let out a silent sigh of relief, she hadn't expected Fluttershy to fight the matter but it hadn't stopped her from worrying.

“So... will it hurt?” it was the voice of a filly heading for her first vaccination, Twilight wished she had a different answer for Fluttershy but life wasn't so easy.

“Yes, it probably will, you might think emotional walls get easier to push through as we get older but, at least in terms of magic, it's the opposite,” Twilight gestured to a thick tome so old it seemed to have acquired a permanent patina of dust. “We're lucky it only happened a little over a decade ago, much more than that and, well, let's just say the mind fights pretty hard to protect itself.”

“S-so, my mind will fight back?” Fluttershy asked, concern coloring her voice.

“Well yeah, I mean, it's been keeping those memories walled up for years because it's afraid of them, I expect there to be some resistance...”

“Is there any chance you'll be hurt?” Twilight opened her mouth to answer her friend, sat for a moment, then closed it. She'd been so worried about her own friends' safety that she had completely neglected the peril the spell might present to her own psyche.

“W-well, there's some risk to every spell but so long as I take all the precautions neither of us should be at serious risk,” Twilight skated across the answer, it was less than honest but she didn't care, her friend was more important. Besides, she was protégé to the Princess of the Sun herself, if she couldn't do it then nopony could.

“So, uhm, what do I have to do?” asked Fluttershy, shadowy worries flitting through her mind of how she could screw up and even endanger her friend, fortunately to her relief Twilight had a comforting answer.

“Pretty much nothing, just do your best to stay calm and relaxed while I complete the immersion spell then it will be like falling asleep,” she answered, smiling as she saw some of the stress ease on Fluttershy's face. “The mind works off of symbols, associations, that kind of thing, once I'm in your mind I just have to decipher the locks that are keeping the memory in place.” Fluttershy nodded, most of her major worries having been put to rest.

“Ok, lets start, and Fluttershy?” the pastel pegasus looked up questioningly at her friend. “I'll find your memories,” said Twilight, crossing her right hoof over her chest then flaring it out to the side before pressing it to her eye, “Pinkie Pie Promise.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly and nodded, with that Twilight reached into the rucksack and withdrew a metronome, setting it on the table beside them just above the crystal sphere which lay perfectly between them. With a flick of her hoof she set the metronome ticking and began the spell, her horn effervescing a soft glow.

Tak tak tak tak tak tak tak

“I want you to relax Fluttershy, close your eyes and take deep and measured breaths through your nose, then let them out though your mouth.”

Tak tak tak tak tak tak tak

“Let the world fade away, sight goes first, then touch,”

Tak tak tak tak tak tak tak

“No more smells, no more tastes.”

Tak tak tak tak tak tak tak

“Finally, the sound fades too.”

Tak tak tak

“Just re-”

Twilight's mind was suspended in a colourless void. Occasional flashes of sound, voices, images, disturbed the limitless emptiness but-

Come closer precious one

A voice that tasted of oil and bad dreams crossed her perception followed by pain, like a migraine with teeth and claws.

Precious foal, so small and pretty

She didn't like it, in fact she hated it. It was such a terrible sound, but where was it coming from? As if in answer a door appeared, there was no sound or sensation, one moment there was nothingness, then a door. It appeared like any normal entrance to any of the ordinary houses in Ponyville. Instinctively knowing that the spell had worked Twilight expanded her senses, working in reverse order she restored herself.

First... Sound.

First there was only blaring noise, eventually Twilight mastered her reclaimed sense and deciphered voices.

Angry voices.

The first was a mare, it was pleasant and mellifluous, like Fluttershy's but possessing confidence and strength.

“I don't want you doing your sun-damned experiments here Aether, not with our daughter in the house!”

The answering voice was arrogant and clearly male.

“Where else am I supposed to do them Mar? I need to finish my research and-”

“You got fired from a perfectly good job BECAUSE of that research! This... this is just like you, it's always about knowledge, advancement of magical studies, you don't have a care for the collateral. Goddess, you put an innocent mare in the psych ward, maybe for life!”

“She was an idiot, she disrupted my containment circle, it was her own damned fault for-”

“FOR WHAT?! For accidentally tripping over the lead researchers' ILLEGAL EXPERIMENT?!”

“Don't you take that tone with me Mar, what I was doing could have revolutionized-”

“Not. In. Our-”

The sound of a physical blow rung in Twilights' ears followed by a sob of pain and betrayal. Then the sound of tiny, filly-sized hoofsteps running up the stairs.

Twilight shook the sensations away, these weren't her memories which meant that they were Fluttershys'. She focused her mind, more senses.

Now Taste and Smell.

The sound of a door opening, the taste of dust and musty boxes. A place for storing old memories, pleasant and unpleasant alike shoved into faded cardboard and just as quickly forgotten. Over that were newer smells, fresh paint and the smell of books.

And a voice that came from within.

Come closer little one. Precious one. Pretty one. Come closer.

That voice. That oily, tarry voice.

I will love you little foal. I will give you everything you wish for and more.

It hurt. It was like the caress of a jagged edged knife, it tore her mind.

What was this? What kind of memories were these? Where were the symbols and all the things the book had said would be there. It was almost as if something were drawing her forward. Still, Twilight thought firmly, she had to keep going.

Touch and... Sight.

Color filled her vision, muted and grainy as if she were seeing it through a bad filter. She was small and in bed. It was late in the night and bad dreams had woken her. Evil dreams of whispering voices and painful memories. She slid from her bed and opened her door.

'Mommy? Daddy?'

She called out but her voice was weak and tiny, then she heard them. Their room was empty, she went down the hall to the stairs, she made it to the first landing before she heard them. They were fighting again over... something... they were always fighting, daddy would do something, mommy would get angry, then daddy would get angry then... the sound of a blow being struck sent a shock of empathic pain through her tiny body, she felt tears welling up and-

Come to me little one. Come to my door.

She ran, she didn't know where to but she ran up the stairs, she heard her parents call out, she reached a door, the attic door.

Open the door precious one.

There was a heavy click as a deadbolt was thrown aside and she reached out and wrenched the door open. Her daddy told her not to go in there, to never go in there but... It wasn't like she remembered it, all the boxes were shoved to one side and there were two large desks covered in books and heavy papers. In the middle of the room was a dark red circle made of hundreds of thin lines all meeting and refracting and splitting and connecting in a perfect pattern.

Come closer little one.

Precious one.

Pretty one.

She did, she heard the heavy hooffalls of her father galloping up the stairs followed by the lighter but no less frantic hooffalls of her mother. There was a slam and click as the door was shut and the deadbolt locked in place.

I will love you little foal. I will give you everything you wish for and more.

Just come a little bit closer.

Yes. That's it.

Twilight felt her mind recoil from the circle, there was something terrible inside, something that her consciousness rebelled at the very presence of. Yet she was helpless, living out her friends childhood memories, she could her Fluttershy's parents screaming and shouting for her to come to the door, to unlock it.

Ignore them little one. They do not love you as I do.

Come to me, cross into the circle.

And she did, and Twilights' world became a miasma of pain and violence. An image erupted into her mind of a being made of teeth and knives, blood and rust staining every inch of its' existence. She saw the walls of the memory spell crack as filly-Fluttershy was seized by a malignant power, a black tar boiled out of the very air and forced it way into her mouth and eyes. She was struggling to scream, to vomit, and Twilight moved to help except... it was a memory, she had to break the spell. Forget siphoning it off, Fluttershy didn't need to remember any of this, even Pinkie Pie wouldn't keep this promise. Twilight concentrated, desperately seeking to end the spell before...

YESSSSSSS

Tar and foulness moved Fluttershy's body like a disgusting marionette, the door to the attic finally flung open as Fluttershy's father rush in, his body lit up with arcane power.

“C'monc'monc'monc'mon,” Twilight muttered, going through the mnemonic pathways necessary to end the spell without frying her or her friends' mind.

Aether Mist released a powerful disjunction spell, attempting to banish whatever it was he had called up from his daughters body, but it washed across her tiny, soiled frame like water over stone. Marrishy screamed wordlessly at the sight of her daughters' form, the last noise she would ever make as Fluttershy vomited forth an appendage of bone and viscera stained black by that nameless fluid to spear her mother through her gaping mouth. With a cry of grief Aether weaved his horn in a complex pattern that even the horrified Twilight could appreciate to be a spell of immense power. With a scream from beyond sanity the creature invading Fluttershy's tiny body released another impossible appendage just as Aether unleashed his spell. Striking his daughter with azure energy, Twilight had time to see him die, impaled on the end of a spur black bone, before the image blurred. She heard a sickening slurping sound as the spell lost its' grip and she began to tumble back to the waking world.

+=+

Twilight Sparkle woke up feeling like one massive bruise. It was felt as though all of her muscles had been pulled taut for too long. Her neck ached, her eyes burned, and her body protested every movement as she lifted herself from the Library floor. As she rose up nausea surged through her carried by memories she knew were not her own.

Good sweet goddess, Twilight thought as she groaned at the effort of keeping down her last two meals, No wonder Fluttershys' mind had those memories locked away.

Fluttershy was still dozing, in a sitting position no less, just across from her. With a steadying breath Twilight reached out a hoof to wake her up, ready to try and explain that she could, and would, never reveal the truth of what had happened that night to her friend.

…

Drip...

…

Drip...

…

Drip...

…

Twilight snatched back her hoof in horror and she felt heart go cold in her chest. She stared at Fluttershys' still form, head hanging limp at an impossible angle, eyes open, glassy, and staring. Twilight let mortal terror drive her manically backward. Back and away from the tiny pool of black, oily tar that had begun to drip from her friends' open mouth.

…

Come closer little one.