"Fluttershy, open up!"
Rainbow pressed her ear against the wooden door, carefully listening for any sign of movement. Stupid birds, why did they have to be so loud? After another round of knocking to no success, Rainbow flew up to a window, positioning herself just beside it so that she couldn't be seen, but she could get a better picture of what was happening inside the cottage. A very faint, almost unnoticeable sound caught Rainbow's attention. Oh yeah, she was in there alright.
Rainbow flew back down to the front door and tapped lightly. "Fluttershy? C'mon, I know you're in there!" She called with a softer tone. "I can hear you crying!"
A wave of guilt pulled Rainbow's stomach into a pit.
"Fluttershy, I'm sorry, I..." Rainbow's words trailed off and she stepped back, fighting the urge to just fly away. "Look, I'm coming in!"
Rainbow slowly opened the front door and let herself in. From the sounds of it, Fluttershy was in her room. This wasn't uncharacteristic of her, of course. She probably just had a nightmare like everypony else and locked herself in her room to sulk. Poor thing.
Rainbow prepared to soften her voice even further as she approached the bedroom door. She looked down at a small bunny trying to push her away by the hooves. "Not now, Angel!" she spoke through her teeth, pushing past the bunny and up against the bedroom door.
"Flutters, are you alright?" The muffled sniffling from the bedroom stopped abruptly. "Look, everyone had nightmares last night. I just wanna know if you're good."
Still no response. Alright, this was starting to get on her nerves. Rainbow pushed against the door.
"I'm coming in-"
"Go away!" Fluttershy shrieked, slamming into the door from the other side, causing Rainbow to jump.
"I..." Rainbow's voice started to strain as she took a step back. "Forget it."
The train station was mostly empty, being the middle of the day, and against Twilight's luck, the trains were far and few between during these high hours. But aside from the urgency, it did give Twilight a fair bit of time to get herself ready, as well as for Rainbow Dash to briefly check in on Fluttershy as was agreed upon before they left. She hoped that pony was doing okay. It didn't take much to frighten Fluttershy, and if she had a nightmare, and if it was anything like hers...
She decided to stop thinking about it.
Luckily by the time she'd got to the station, the next train was only set to arrive in fifteen minutes. A wave of relief settled a portion of her worries as she met up with her friends by the other side. Pinkie was the first to spot her, throwing herself into a frantic wave, wearing a huge goofy smile on her face. It was almost infectious. Almost.
"Rainbow still not back yet?" Twilight asked the general group, who merely shook their heads and mumbled to themselves.
Another line of thinking that was best left for later. Well, of course, the well-being of her friend was important, but that's what Rainbow was for. There was simply nothing else she could do about it.
Time seems to drag on when you're in a hurry. It didn't help that Twilight was the only pony visibly stressing out, and although she picked up on a general sense of unease in the group, it wasn't about Luna. It felt as though everyone was looking at her, and yet somehow she was disconnected from the group, unable to reach them. Or, they were unable to reach her. It didn't matter. They simply didn't understand. They weren't from Canterlot. Not their fault. Where was that feathering train?
As if she had telepathic abilities, or she was semi-decent at reading body language, Applejack broke Twilight's spiralling thoughts.
"Train's coming soon, Twi," she tried to seem consoling. "Everythin's gonna be okay."
That struck a nerve. Okay? Was she serious? Until they got to Canterlot, everything would most definitely not be okay.
The words never left her mouth, of course.
"Thank you, Applejack."
It wasn't any easier once they got on the train. While Applejack and Rarity argued about Celestia knows what, with Pinkie interjecting every so often to throw fuel on the fire, Twilight simply sat, desperately trying to tune everything out. She focused on the rumbling of the train. No, that gave her a headache. She focused on the collective sounds of everypony talking. Ugh. That wasn't any good either.
"You okay there, Twilight?" a frowny Pinkie Pie cut through the noise.
She sighed, "It's just, well, I just can't shake the feeling that...well, I'm worried about Princess Luna is all."
"I'm sure she's perfectly fine, Twilight. You can't get all worried over a silly dream you had." Rarity waved her hoof.
"What Rarity is trying to say," Applejack shot a dirty look at the mare. "Is that we can't really be sure what's going on. Everything could be totally fine for all we know, hay, if something did happen, dont'cha think Celestia would've written y'all?"
That was true. That made a lot of sense, actually. Or...
"Or maybe something terrible happened and Celestia didn't even have time to write me a letter!" Twilight yelled a little louder than she meant to. "I mean, why would she even write to me? I'm just her student! She's Celestia for crying out loud!"
For a while, no one really knew what to say. Pinkie got up from her seat and sat next to Twilight, who leaned into her shoulder, stroking her mane. Applejack and Rarity softened their demeanours, leaning in.
"No matter what happens," Applejack spoke softly, "we'll be right by your side, ya hear?"
Twilight began to sob into Pinkie's mane.
"Oh, darling." Rarity offered a hoof. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't at all mean to upset you."
"S'okay." Twilight sniffled. That feeling of isolation from before had mysteriously vanished. "I'm sure things are fine. I'm just. I-"
"Shhhh," Pinkie hummed a soft tune while she stroked Twilight's mane.
Things were not fine.
Far from it.
"I need to see Princess Luna, immediately!" Twilight stomped her hoof at the royal guard.
"The Princess is to be sleeping at these hours, Twilight Sparkle."
"Well, then, I need to speak to Princess Celestia!"
"Princess Celestia is in the middle of an important luncheon. You'll have to wait a little longer."
Twilight couldn't really say anything else, so she just huffed. Just as she thought about what she was going to say next, her ears perked up at the sounds of distant farewells.
"Girls, wait here," she commanded as she made for a sprint down the hall, coming to a trot as she reached the corner.
Princess Celestia waved her final goodbyes to the cohort of very important-looking ponies, then swiftly turned to meet an unexpected Twilight Sparkle.
"Ah, Twilight. What brings you here?"
She spared no time cutting to the chase, "I'm concerned for Princess Luna. I just came to see if everything was all right."
Celestia's face transformed into an unreadable expression. "I'm afraid she's sleeping at the moment. I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but I have an important meeting with the mayor of Manehatten scheduled very shortly."
"But I-" The Princess was already on her way before she could say anything else. "Princess, wait! If you would just listen to me!"
Celestia looked over her shoulder with an authoritative glare. "Twilight. I appreciate your concern but I simply cannot-"
"But I saw her in my dream!" Twilight planted her hooves on the ground. For some reason, this made Celestia stop dead in her tracks.
"As I said; I'm exceedingly busy," The Princess gave an empty sigh, "but I want a full report on what you saw, as well as any other dreams regarding my sister. Is that clear?"
"Yes. Yes, Princess."
"Very well."
She watched The Princess until she turned a corner and was no longer in sight. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding. Something about Celestia was just so...tense.
"Any luck, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie appeared behind her, along with the rest of her cohort.
"Sorta." Her ears drooped down as she dragged herself towards the great hall.
By the time they made it back to Ponyville, the sun had already begun to creep below the horizon, dissolving the glowing rays of sunset into a dim slumber as the shadows from the hills crawled over the town, blanketing the quiet streets in a hazy glow.
After saying a quick goodbye to her friends, Twilight made her way towards the library, the only sound keeping her company being the awakening crickets and the farewell of the distant train horn. It was a chillier fall evening, not exactly numbingly cold, but just enough to provoke an infrequent shiver.
The warm air of the fireplace escaped through the front door, welcoming Twilight into a comforting atmosphere. Spike was resting on his beanbag, still unable to pry his eyes away from his comic book. "Hiya, Twilight. How was Canterlot?"
She really didn't want to get into it. Not right now, at least. "It was nice. Have you been reading all day?" Twilight said with a smirk.
Spike raised an eyebrow. "It's different when it has pictures, Twi! Seriously, I don't get you."
"Uhuh," she smiled, making her way into the kitchen to scoff up her portion of Spike's cooking that was waiting for her in the icebox.
After quickly finishing the report, which she decided to do herself, Twilight made for her bed, drifting off to the soft sounds of the fireplace and the occasional page-turn.
That pool of thick, bubbling sludge entered her vision again, drowning her in the deepest sense of dread. The forest was the only place that existed at this very moment.
"Luna?"
Unsure of what to do, Twilight began to panic. Her heart pounded and her skin felt like it was being pricked by a thousand needles, but she couldn't move. It was torture. That was until all unpleasant sensations were broken by the sound of a filly's cry.
Twilight turned around, facing a giant rustic door. She was in an old-looking castle, made from only wooden beams and stone. The floor had some kind of fading black and off-white checker pattern, signalling that she was in a kitchen. There weren't any visible lights and yet the room seemed warmly illuminated.
The cries returned to her attention as she slowly opened the wooden door. The next thing she saw was a small filly sitting in a round empty room. It was her. Twilight was too stunned, or confused, to figure out what to do next. The filly Twilight didn't seem to notice her, she was too busy crying into the shoulder of Pinkie Pie, who was now stroking her mane.
Pinkie slowly looked up, noticing adult Twilight, and gave her a knowing look. Like, everything was going to be okay. Everything felt okay in that moment. Pinkie's face a warm smile, which for some reason, made Twilight begin crying herself.
She was crying in her bed, again.
Pulling herself up from her sheets, Twilight couldn't shake the weirdest feeling in her stomach. A longing.
Twilight carefully stepped around Spike's bed, illuminating her surroundings with her horn just enough so that she didn't disturb any sleeping dragons. The fireplace was sound asleep as well, holding on to the last few coals that still glowed. It would be best to slip through the door quickly to conserve heat, she thought.
Trotting through the still night, Twilight noticed a large number of homes with lights on. Perhaps the nightmares were town-wide. Although that doesn't explain why Pinkie didn't have any nightmares. Well, nothing can explain Pinkie, she supposed. It was better not to think about these things for too long.
Thankfully, Sugarcube Corner's lights were on as well, so she wouldn't be disturbing anypony's sleep. Twilight lightly tapped the front door, and after a couple of seconds, it opened to Mr Cake's dreary and confused expression. He quickly invited her inside.
Mrs Cake was rugged up in a blanket on the sofa. Two steaming cups of tea rested on the coffee table. Before Twilight could ask, Pinkie Pie stepped out of the kitchen, still looking as cheery as always.
"Hiya, Twilight. You're up early." She spoke softer than usual, it was the middle of the night after all.
"So are you."
"I'm always up early, silly."
Twilight couldn't help but smile at that.
"Did'ya have another scary nightmare?" Pinkie gave a sympathetic look that caused her eyes to swell up again.
"Um, well, yes," she spoke with a sleepy croakiness, "and you were in it."
"Oh! Oh! Tell me all about it," Pinkie grabbed Twilight's face and pulled it towards hers. "Every. Detail."
And that's exactly what Twilight did, right after Pinkie invited her upstairs. The two sat on the carpet that surrounded the bed while she spoke, the whole ordeal reminding her of the little filly slumber parties she read about.
By the end of the recount, Pinkie was practically squealing as she wrapped Twilight in one of her super strong hugs. Not that she was complaining, in fact, this was perhaps the first time she really fully appreciated one of her hugs. Twilight made a mental note of that.
"You know, Twi, you should abso-dutely-lutely to stay with me overnight!"
That sounded wonderful, actually. Now that she was here, she did not want to leave. Spike could stay one night on his own...
Memories of curling up with a sobbing Spike cut through that thought quite dramatically.
Oh, right.
"That sounds wonderful, Pinkie," she took a deep breath, "but...I can't leave Spike alone. I'm really sorry."
"Oh, okay! I'll just come to yours then!"
"Oh, um, you really don't have to-"
"Too late!"
There was really no point in arguing, besides, it couldn't hurt to have some more company at the library.
And as she curled up with Pinkie, Twilight didn't have any more nightmares that night.