//------------------------------// // Twilight // Story: The World Beyond Her Dreams // by Foals Errand //------------------------------// Light. Blinding light. Light brighter than any sun she could remember was what met Twilight first. Next, was pain. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, and an attempt to move caused her body to scream in protest, her muscles barely inching her limbs along. She couldn’t figure out for the life of her why it was happening, but it wasn’t right. Had Chrysalis captured her? Discord? Sombra? She blinked, her ears catching something. It was an annoying, long, keening noise screaming in her ear. Where it came from, she didn’t know. What was causing it? No. All she knew was that it was annoying. Twilight barely managed to place a hoof… No, a hand, on the floor, and pushed against it. It was weak, she could tell that much, and she didn’t move an inch because of it. The more she tried, the more fear that rushed into her system. What was she going to do if she had somehow caused her body to become paralyzed? What had happened to do something like that? And then, a radiant, white face with soft rainbow colored hair came into her vision. It was one she had memorized over the past years, and she barely managed to croak out, “Ce-Cele- Celestia?” Two more hoo- hands touched her, holding her shoulders as tears came to her old friend’s eyes for some reason. Was she that injured? Was she on the way to being dead? Oh, she really hoped that wasn’t the case. Celestia swallowed hard, whispering, “P-princess, or just Celestia?” Twilight blinked a few times, her head hurting at the question. She knew Princess Celestia. In fact, that was the only Celestia she did know of, but… this wasn’t the princess. This was a human. And yet, she still trusted her like the princess… “Just?” Celestia swallowed again, more tears coming to her eyes as she turned towards the door. She thought about calling for her fellow nurses, but then they would be here too… She bit into her lip, before slipping her arms underneath Twilight’s legs and back. Lifting her up from the floor, the nurse noticed two things. One, the multiple stickers that had been torn off of Twilight when she fell off the bed. Two was just how weak Twilight had to be, and how Celestia should have realized that before. Years of atrophy and simple nutrition had left her muscles and weight to wither to nothing. Even if she was out of shape, she wouldn’t have needed any help to lift her patient. She set Twilight down, frowning. Twilight noticed the expression, and blinked back a couple of tears herself. “C-Celestia, i-is there so-something wrong with me?” Celestia slowly shook her head, reaching over to grip one of Twilight’s hands. “No, just… what do you remember last?” Twilight blinked, before frowning. She could see a purple pony that was her, but, also not her. And five others, all of other colors that filled her heart with joy, before they changed to match the sort of fleshy skin tone that Twilight had now. Those were the re- “Ah!” Celestia reached over, her eyes widening as she gently wrapped Twilight into her arms. “What’s wrong? What is it?” Twilight’s body began to shake, her mind remembering the last dream, and what Sunset had said during it. And… and what she had said back when. Before the dreams. “I left to go get some tools. I was only gone for maybe twenty minutes, because I needed to find something to carry it, but when I got back, everything wa-” Twilight was cut off as her body caught up with her mind and mouth, and her throat, unused to making words and sentences closed up, forcing her to hack and cough for air. Celestia slowly stroked Twilight on the back, helping her through the fit as she cooed in the girl’s ear. The other nurses were in her peripheral, but she ignored them. They could wait while she focused on her dearest patient. “It’s okay, Twilight. We know what happened, and it wasn’t your fault.” Twilight blinked a few times, trying to get control of herself, even as tears continued to stream down her face. She couldn’t say anything, not yet, but she could nod. Sunset had said just as much, and she… She couldn’t keep blaming herself and hiding, not now that she was away from her little ponies. Luna stepped closer to Celestia, whispering in her sister’s ear, “Is it alright if I start making some calls? Her friends and family deserve to know, and it’ll still give you a few hours first.” Celestia nodded, gently cradling Twilight in her arms. The girl needed time to adjust anyways, and those she knew would help her make the transition back to this world. Even if she wanted to be all that Twilight needed it, the nurse knew better than that. After about a half hour of tears, Twilight began to quiet down, weakly clinging to Celestia’s shirt as she lifted her head up. She had finally gotten past at least the first wave of pain that came with the past, and now her mind was turning to the opposite. “I… I’ve missed… so much. What… what now?” Celestia looked down for a few moments, contemplating how exactly to put this, before sighing. “You’ll need at least a full year of physical and speech therapy to get full use of your body back. Beyond that, it will probably take at least a month for you to get used to more basic functions, such as eating, reading, and things like that.” She paused, her heart breaking as she saw the light in Twilight’s eyes began to fade. It was going to be tough for her, but Celestia hoped that she had something to give the girl something to cling to. Celestia slowly tilted the girl’s head up, and guided her gaze to everything in the room. Twilight stared at the remnants of her dreams that decorated every inch of it. Fluttershy’s butterflies hanging from the ceilings, Rarity’s and Applejack’s cutie marks covering the left wall, while Rainbow Dash’s and Pinkie’s covered the other. And, on the ceiling, were her stars, twinkling like real stars. “Your friends never forgot about you. Fluttershy visited on an almost weekly basis the whole time you slept, Pinkie is waiting to give you a party, Rarity made this wing just to house you, Rainbow Dash has a charity fund linked to her career for coma patients, and Applejack, despite all the time, still wants you back, and even made you a pie earlier this week.” “They’re all waiting for you, and I can tell you that this news will beat almost everything they’ve done while you’re gone.” Twilight blinked, feeling tears come down her face, as she couldn’t stop them, not now. She didn’t want to either, not with Celestia. “I’m… happy they… found lives.” Celestia nodded, lowering Twilight’s gaze to one last item. A simple recorder that the nurse had fished out of her pocket. “And, I think, with this, you might be able to have a life as well, even while you recover. You just need to trust me, okay?” Twilight looked up at Celestia, before slowly nodding. ======+++++====== Rainbow Dash tapped her foot against the poor writer’s chair that she was sitting behind. She’d been there for maybe five minutes, waiting on the script that he had, and it was obvious that, just like her character, she wasn’t exactly patient. Then again, everything that the writer knew about the athlete, he couldn’t hold it entirely against her. He merely watched the printer, waiting for the last few pages to come out. The minute it was out, he stapled it, and held it up, happy that he was about to be rid of the nuisance. Rainbow Dash snatched the papers from his hands, leaping about four feet away from where she had been sitting at at the same time. “About time, Dave.” The writer groaned, but Rainbow Dash didn’t care. She had what she needed, and now sprinted down the halls. She was off of training for a week, not something hard to get for her when it included being at her charity’s role model’s premiere of her greatest achievement. Rainbow didn’t care about any of that though. She was just happy to be with Twilight. She crashed through the door that led into Twilight’s office, sliding on her sneakers as she slowed down. The power slide took her far enough to bump against Twilight’s desk, but no further. “I have returned!” Twilight looked up, a small smile on her lips. She was indeed bound to her wheelchair, as she was only about halfway through her therapy, and this was easier, but things were getting easier. Besides, when you had someone like Rainbow to call your girlfriend, you didn’t really need to run. “Hey. Do you have the script?” Rainbow squatted, grinning as she came face to face with her beloved. “It’s gonna take you a kiss first. You know, as my pay.” Twilight’s cheeks turned a deep shade of red at the request, but she closed her eyes and leaned slightly forward to oblige. It wasn’t that she didn’t like kissing Rainbow, but she had never been great with these sorts of feelings, dream or life, and she had passed out when Rainbow had confessed on her third day awake. Since then, warm, soft pecks on her lips were fairly normal between the two, just like now. Rainbow sat down on the desk, ignoring the fact that there were even more papers on it. “So… do you really need to look at that script today? I know I wasn’t allowed to come back until I got it, but I also know this great chinese place I’d like us to go to, and if we left now, we’d have plenty of time to go through the park and head home.” Twilight smiled, unable to look away from her lover, despite having a rather important script right in her hands. On the other hand… “You know, I’ll have plenty to do tomorrow, so… sure.” Rainbow Dash grinned, swinging around to grab ahold of the back of the wheelchair and beginning to push it along. Twilight closed her eyes, enjoying the wind from rushing so quickly out of the building. The rest of the staff knew they were allowed to leave early, and, if they wanted to they could skip tomorrow. All in celebration for their show finally coming out. The show entirely based on hundreds of tapes, recorded over several years, and clarified and fixed by the one who rambled on them. The show was to be the world within Twilight’s dream: My Little Pony, and it’s first two episodes aired tomorrow.