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One Final Stopover
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Trixie, Aurora, and Fluttershy had truly burned through their friends’ various dreams, saving each of them as they went. The process largely sped up when Trixie realized that it was faster to take them to the next dream before Aurora removed the spell brainwashing them.
They took Rainbow Dash to see Rarity, who was having a horrible time trying to control the weather. Dash realized what she loved to do, when she cleared the sky for her unicorn friend. The spell was broken instantly.
Applejack was convinced that she was a seamstress, and was hellbent on making a beautiful dress. As soon as Rarity sat down in front of the sewing machine, she remembered her true calling, and Aurora was able to remove the necklace from her.
Pinkie Pie was convinced that she needed to run the Apple farm, and spent the last few months of her time working herself harder than even Applejack would. When the orange earth pony appeared back on her farm, it only took a single buck on a tree for everything to come back to her. The chaos was removed from her as well.
Finally, Pinkie was taken back to Fluttershy’s dream, where her natural born entertainment ability was able to break through to the impossible crowd, and cause the biggest party in Ponyville’s history to instantly break out. The curse was removed from her as well.
They all now stood in the Ponyville Library, with only one pony left to save.
“I guess it makes sense that Alex wouldn’t have had his cutie mark switched,” Trixie said to Dash, as the pegasus paced back and forth, clearly worried, “He didn’t have one in the first place, so he was probably subjected to something else… besides. I couldn’t see him being miserable doing any of the things you were all forced to do.”
Rarity agreed, looking to Aurora as she cast the spell that would take them all to his dream, before turning her gaze toward Dash, “Do you have any idea what he might dream about?”
“I… don’t know.” Dash shook her head, looking at the ground somewhat guiltily, “Alex doesn’t take anything seriously… but that doesn’t mean that nothing bad has happened to him. I mean, he fell from that blimp, there was Bolt’s death, when Dax ‘died,’ when he thought I had cheated on him… Those things bug him, he’s just too proud to show it.”
“Okay.” Trixie nodded, looking to Aurora, “Is the spell almost finished?”
“Almost. I’ll send them all back to their own dreams, then I’ll—“
“Wait!” Pinkie spoke up, jumping as high as she could, “We’re not coming with you to save Alex?”
“I wish you could,” Trixie said, looking at the clock and frowning, “But you all need to be in your own bodies when we break the final spell on Alex. Because when you all awake up, you’ll need to hit Twilight with your strongest spells before she can react.”
“Then you two can save her?” Fluttershy asked, as everypony looked to Trixie for an answer.
She didn’t answer. She instead looked at the floor.
“We’ll try our best,” Aurora spoke up, stepping in front of the blue unicorn.
“Well… okay.” Fluttershy said, before giving the other yellow mare a bright smile, “It was lovely to meet you, by the way.”
“Oh, yes!” Rarity agreed, stepping forward toward Aurora, “I was so glad we could finally meet you! Trixie has always spoken so highly of you!”
“Thanks…” She blushed, as Pinkie, Applejack, and Dash also approached her.
“You really did change her,” Applejack said, “Before Trixie met’cha, she was talkin’ ‘bout herself in the third person!”
“I know, I always bugged her about that,” She said, her voice wavering a bit as she spoke.
“When all this is over, I’m sure Twilight could find a way for you to come out of Trixie’s head! So then we can all have a big party!” Pinkie said excitedly, “Oh! When is your birthday? We could have like, twenty belated-birthday parties for you in one night!”
“That’s sweet of you to say…” She began, before Dash cut in herself, “But I don’t think—“
“That’s be a blast!” Dash agreed, a big smile growing on her face, “We could throw it in the barracks if you like. Way more space, and I have the keys to the place! …Oh! We’re also doing a spa day next week, if you’d wanna come with us there too.”
“Oh, you simply have to have the VIP treatment there, it’s simply divine!” Rarity added.
“And if you’re really afraid of little critters, you could always spend some time with me at the cottage, they’re really nice once you get to know them.” Fluttershy offered.
“And if ya’ prefer somethin’ a bit more serious, you could come spend some time on the farm!” Applejack said, baffling everypony with what her idea of a good time was, “Applebuckin’ is good fer the soul!”
“Oh! And my wedding!” Dash said, lighting up as the thought crossed her mind, “You’d have to be in the wedding party! After all you’ve done for us, it’s the least we could do for you!”
Everypony had been so engrossed in telling Aurora what they’d be doing, none had noticed that she had started crying.
“Thank you all so much, I wish I had known you before I died... I really do.” She said, tears pouring down her cheeks, “Goodbye.”
Before any of them could ask what she meant by her tears and farewell, her spell was cast, and a portal appeared beneath them, sucking each pony back to their own dream, except for Rainbow Dash, who was quick enough to catch herself, and hover above the spell.
“W-what are you doing?” She creaked, her heart obviously pounding, “Why are you crying?”
Aurora didn’t answer her. She just broke down, and began sobbing.
“Uh, did you not want to be in the wedding party?” Dash asked, scratching her chin.
Trixie walked over to her friend, knelt down next to her, and placed her head on her shoulder.
It didn’t take Dash long to understand.
Five minutes slowly passed as Aurora sobbed in a heap on the floor. She was quietly comforted by both Dash and Trixie, until she finally felt strong enough to say something.
“You know…” She said quietly, her sobs finally stopped, “I almost made it this whole trip without breaking down. But then you and your friends had to go and… show me what I never had in my life…”
“I’m sorry… I had no idea…” Dash said, her heart panging with guilt, “I didn’t know that this was… the end for you.”
“Don’t apologize!” She said quickly, looking up and shaking her head, “At least I got a glimpse of what it’s like to have so friends who care about you…”
“I wish you could have met them in real life,” Trixie said, her own cheeks stained with tears, “I wish… you hadn’t been sick.”
The two embraced again, and sniffled into each other for a few more minutes.
“I know this is hard to say…” Dash spoke up again, looking at the clock mounted on the library wall once again, “But we don’t have a lot of time, if we still need to rescue Alex.”
Both Aurora and Trixie sighed, and separated. As they righted themselves.
“Did you say ’we?’” Aurora asked, sniffing and wiping her eye, “You have to—“
“Look.” Dash said, spreading her wings, as they began to glow black, “I can do your spell. I can leave after we save him.”
True to her word, a cyan portal opened in front of her. Through the portal was clearly the cottage that she had been in last.
"R-really? Aurora asked, clearing her throat.
“Wait-“ Trixie said, truly taken aback by this spell, “How can you do that? Not even Trix- Not even I know how to do a spell like that!”
“Well... Honestly… Twilight taught me.” Dash laughed, scratching the back of her head nervously, “I sometimes jump into Alex’s head while we’re sleeping. So… we can… dream together...”
She turned beet red.
Neither Trixie nor Aurora wanted to laugh, but sometimes a pony just can’t help them self.
The two, in contrast to their emotions just minutes ago, burst in to a fit of laughter that would have put Pinkie to shame.
“I-I’m sorry Dash,” Aurora said, her wet cheeks being dampened once again, “That’s so cute… it’d just never expect it to come from you!”
“Yeah yeah…” She said, itching her cheek with the tip of her hoof.
Trixie, on the other hoof, was surprised to see things swing in the opposite direction so fast. But was thankful to Dash nonetheless. She had definitely turned things around, and keeping a positive attitude was going to be a necessity for the final step of their plan.
Now, all that stood between them, and their defeat of Twilight, was a nightmare worse than any they had experienced so far.
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