Life Is But A Dream

by Cosmic Charlie

Chapter 4

The stars were still out in full effect when Twilight awoke. After a few moments she remembered the grim task she had assigned herself. She climbed out of bed and yawned mightily as she magic-grabbed her saddlebags and made her way downstairs.

She would need a few choice books. Creepy Creatures and Enigmatic Entities might come in handy, she figured. While retrieving So You Want to Be a Hydra Tamer, however, she bumped a precarious shelf of books with the surprisingly large tome and every book on it came crashing to the floor. It was so loud that Twilight froze up and squeezed her eyes shut, heart racing, waiting for Spike to wake and catch her. Her imagination ran wild as she tried to remember what she had told him she was doing, but panic had set in, she was drawing blanks.

Seconds passed like hours as she waited. At long last the rip roar of a baby dragon snore graced her ears. Twilight had never been so grateful that Spike was a heavy sleeper. She carefully put her books into her bag, adding a few apples before silently making her exit.

When the library’s front door had latched, Twilight let out a long, slow breath. A look of determination crossed her face as she looked out at where the edge of the Everfree Forest met the land around Fluttershy’s cabin. She didn’t want to risk upsetting any of the animals in that area, so she’d have to pick another angle of approach.

No one else was on the streets of Ponyville at this hour. Twilight’s thoughts turned to Princess Luna as she navigated Ponyville alone. The night really was so beautiful; how it must have pained Luna to see her efforts go all but unnoticed for so long. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt a sudden surge of empathy for the Luna of that ancient day when she became Nightmare Moon. Twilight wondered how much control Luna really had over her transformation and her actions afterward. She wondered what she would have done in the same situation, and quickly elected not to think about it anymore. Her focus had to remain on the task at hand.

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Pinkie Pie shivered a little as she sat on the cold stone floor. She had been trying to count the fireflies she could see from the balcony. By the time she had counted 941, she started to get sleepy and bored. The cold and her sense of purpose kept her awake, however, and she dutifully started over at one.

After counting to 639, she got bored again. “Come on, Twilight, where are you? It doesn’t take THAT long to get out here, sheesh!” With an indignant sigh, she started her firefly counting again. “One, two, three, four… no wait, you were two. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…”

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“Fluttershy?” Rarity called sweetly to Fluttershy’s front door as she gingerly gave it a knock. “Are you home, darling?”

The door opened after a moment of shuffling from within. “Oh, hello Rarity! What brings you all the way to my cabin?” Fluttershy smiled broadly.

“I hope you don’t mind if I come in? The wind today has been dreadful to my coiffure.”

“Of course! Can I get you anything? Some fresh lettuce?” Fluttershy stepped aside to let her friend in.

“Oh I couldn’t, darling. Fluttershy, have you seen Twilight today? I went to visit her and both she and Spike were nowhere to be found. Nopony I’ve spoken to has seen either of them.”

“Um… no, I’m sorry, I haven’t.” Fluttershy looked at the ground sheepishly, as if it were her fault. “I’ve been spending all day with Angel. The poor thing’s come down with a summer cold.” A rapid succession of bunny sneezes came from the other room.

“Then I shan’t keep you another minute. You’ll tell me if you hear from her, won’t you?”

“Absolutely. Have a good day, Rarity!” Fluttershy gave another wide grin as she walked Rarity to the door.

“Toodle-loo, Fluttershy!”

As soon as the door was shut, Fluttershy sank to the floor, her knees finally giving out. She began to sob quietly. Angel bounced over to her and consoled her with a paw on her knee. She reached out suddenly and took him into a huge hug, the tightness of which he could just barely tolerate.

Pinkie Pie walked out from the room where Angel had just been. “Wow. Talk about bad timing, huh?”

Fluttershy gave no response but more tears.

Pinkie Pie mustered her brightest smile. “It’ll be okay, Fluttershy! I Pinkie Promise we’re gonna save them all.”

More sobbing, but finally a reply. “Cross your heart and hope to fly?”

“Stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie did the gesture, and her heart warmed when it coaxed a giggle from the pegasus. “Just do what we discussed and everything will definitely, definitely work out. Okay?”

“Okay, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy sniffed. “I’ll do it.”

Comments

[Hubord68]

Oh. Pinkie story! Yay This is good so far. Have a stache.

[Ninja_Scootaloo]

This is so confusing...

I like it!