//------------------------------// // Pinkie's Advice // Story: Sour Dreams // by PieDisliker //------------------------------// Night Two: Spike was out along Rarity, helping her find gems to collect. The weather was nearly perfect, the soil was in good condition, and best of all, no diamond dogs to capture Rarity. Not that Spike was afraid of them, he just couldn’t stand to see something so terrible happen to Rarity again. They had already found enough gems to fill half of the wagon, and Rarity was being extra generous; she was letting Spike have one gem out of every pile he dug up! This was going to be a great day. All of a sudden, Spike heard a voice off in the distance. “…pike…rare...” “Did you hear that?” Spike asked Rarity. “No,” Rarity replied. “I didn’t hear anythi-” Rarity was interrupted by a much louder voice. “Spiiike! Rariteeee! Thank goodness I found you, Ijustcouldn’timaginewhatIwoulddoifIcouldn’tfindyouguys. Itremindsmeofthattimewhenwewere-” “Pinkie,” Rarity interrupted. Well, attempted to interrupt. Pinkie never stopped talking, but it prevented Spike from hearing her. “andthenwehadtogoaheadandcatchRainbowDash,” Pinkie continued as she got close enough for Rarity and Spike to talk to her. “PINKIE!” Rarity shouted, in shock at Pinkie’s presence. “Why are you even over here?” “I was getting to that!” Pinkie said in an annoyed manner. “You see, my knees wobbled, then my eyes fluttered, and then I shook! That means a tornado’s heading our way! Weneedtogetoutofherebefo-” “A tornado?” Spike repeated. “Rarity, we’ve got to get back to Ponyville, now!” “But my gems! What would I possibly do without-” “This is no time for gems! Look!” As Spike pointed at the sky, heavy clouds rolled in and the sky became much darker. The storm rolled in so fast, it was almost like it was being summoned. They needed to get out of there as soon as possible, or else they’d be in even worse danger than they were already. “Oh alright,” Rarity pouted after one last look at her gems. They ran off, ignoring the gems and heading straight to Ponyville. A lightning bolt struck behind them and Spike twitched, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. They kept running, but it seemed like Ponyville was farther away than ever. Spike took a moment to glance back and see if they were in any danger. Not only did he see the tornado, but it was close! It must’ve been as big as thatthe library, if not more. Why was this happening to him now, out of all times? This was supposed to be a special day for him! Now he was wondering if he would even live to see anypony have a special day. “It’s…gaining on us,” Spike stuttered in fear, as he turned his head away from the tornado, his jaw dropped. Pinkie and Rarity were nowhere to be seen. “Rarity! Pinkie! Are you there?” There was no answer aside from the roar of the storm. That was it, this day officially sucked. Spike was running for his life, his friends were nowhere to be found, and he was being run down by a tornado that was about to kill him. To make matters even worse, Spike stumbled on a stone jutting from the ground. As he tried to get up, he saw that the tornado upon him. ~ ~ ~ Day Two: Spike opened his eyes and started breathing heavily, trying to deal with the shock of his frightening dream. He breathed in and out, in and out, in and out, much like he did into a paper bag after Rarity had been captured by the diamond dogs. The more he breathed, the more calm he became. It was going to be alright. It was just another nightmare. Sure, he didn’t remember ever having two nightmares in a row, but he had a lot to look forward to later today. * * * “You’re going to what?” Spike asked in disbelief. “I’m going to visit Rarity to help her work on her dresses,” said Twilight. “She figured we could work together and make them even more extravagant.” Spike brought his fingers up to his forehead, making his point clear while still trying to be respectful. He knew Rarity was a close friend of theirs and she needed help. There was no way that Twilight would turn her down, and he understood that. “You know,” Twilight continued as she used her magic to pick up a few books. “You could still come with us. You might find something interesting, even if you don’t enjoy it.” “No thanks,” Spike said as he rejected Twilight’s offer. As much as he enjoyed accompanying Rarity, he was a little afraid she would try and convince him to wear one of her outfits and tell him how cutesy-wootsy he looked. “It’s not my thing,” Spike admitted. Twilight rolled her eyes and went off, telling Spike that she would see him later before she headed out the door. Spike sighed and went to work on his chores, starting off with dusting the less-read books. It was weird how she would keep track of stuff like that, he thought, but he wasn’t the librarian. He was still pretty proud of Twilight for advancing her magic so far. Who would’ve thought she’d be able to give Rarity wings or Fluttershy gills? The more he thought about it, he was actually pretty lucky to have Twilight caring for him. Sure today wouldn’t be exciting, but maybe later on she’d advance even further with her magic abilities. Keeping this in mind, Spike was a little happier when dusting off books. Spike was happy for quite a while, until he looked over at his bed to check to see if it was a mess. It wasn’t, but it reminded him of the nightmares that he had the past two nights. He rarely ever had nightmares, let alone two in a row. Spike was sweeping the floor while thinking about them. The more he thought about them, the sadder he felt. As he thought about his terrifying dreams, his stomach rumbled, and he decided to go to Sugarcube Corner. He grabbed a small bag of gemstones and anotheran equally small bag of bits and went off. * * * It didn’t take Spike very long to get arrive at his destination. To his relief, Pinkie was there, running counter. A couple ponies were in line, but it didn’t look too busy. It was still a little early for lunch, and it didn’t take long for Spike to get to the counter. “Heya, Spike! I haven’t seen you in a couple of days! How’s it going?” asked Pinkie, excitedly. Spike twiddled his thumbs as he responded to Pinkie’s question. “Oh, I’m alright.” Pinkie didn’t seem to notice his hesitation. “What can I get ya?” “I’ll just have a cranberry muffin and a cupcake.” “What kind of cupcake?” “Doesn’t matter. Any kind will do.” Pinkie handed Spike a cranberry muffin and strawberry cupcake. “That’ll be two bits, Spike!” Spike handed her the money and sat down. He unwrapped the muffin and sprinkled some small gems on top of it, taking a small bite. Pinkie was looking at him, since nopony was in line behind him. He wasn’t eating very quickly, and sighed after he took a bite. Something was on his mind, and she couldn’t stand to see anypony sad, especially one of her close friends like Spike. Pinkie sat down across from Spike, hoping to find out what was wrong with him. “Why so glum, Spike?” “Glum? I’m not glum. Whatever gave you that idea?” Pinkie was onto him, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of his nightmares. Those were just a rare occurrence, it wasn’t that big of a problem. At least… he hoped not. “Spike, you’re more glum than a wet Rarity! Normally you’d try and eat that muffin in one bite! That’s probably the smallest bite I’ve ever seen you take out of a muffin. You can tell me what’s wrong!” Pinkie brought up her chin and smiled after she said that. Spiked sighed and realized that lying to Pinkie about his feelings wasn’t worth it. She’d just pester him about it and make it an even bigger deal than if he told the truth. “Alright,” he said and then took a deep breath, almost as if he was making a confession. “Pinkie, what do you do after you have a really scary nightmare?” “Well, I scream, obviously!” Spike wasn’t amused, if the flat look he gave Pinkie was anything to go by. “Ohhhhhhh. Well, I laugh at my dream to make it not seem so scary anymore. Dreams can’t harm you! You just need to brush it off and realize that there’s nothing to worry about, and I laugh about thinking that it could’ve hurt me. I sometimes also do that before going to bed, and it makes sleeping easier!” “Laughter, huh?” Spike scratched his chin. “So you had a nightmare?” “Not one, but two in a row.” “Woah, I don’t remember ever having two nightmares in a row. Were they scary?” “They sure were. They were pretty realistic, too. I-” “I once had a reeeeeeaaaally scary nightmare. I was making cupcakes with Rainbow Dash! We were all happy and then suddenly I got crazy and my hair went straight and I strapped her to a metal table and then took a few-” She was interrupted by hearing the door open. Another customer was here. “The point is,” she continued. “No dream can harm you, no matter how realistic it seems! You just have to laugh it off.” Despite being freaked out a bit by hearing about where Pinkie’s dream was going, he did feel better about his situation. So what if he had nightmares? He laughed it off as well before taking another bite of his gem coated muffin. * * * After a boring day of almost nothing but chores, Spike looked forward to Twilight coming back. Who knows? Maybe she learned something new while helping Rarity. It was late into the evening when Twilight finally came back, and she did not look happy. “Hey Twilight,” Spike greeted her. “How was combining your magic with Rarity?” Twilight didn’t hesitate to reply, and she sounded just as annoyed as she looked. “Awful, Spike. Just awful. I didn’t learn a thing today. And, Rarity hardly needed my help.” “What about combining your magic with hers?” “She denied saying such things. Oh the nerve of that mare!” She continued in a mockery of Rarity’s voice. “Twilight, could you get that fabric for me? Twilight, give me those scissors. Twilight, do you think this dress makes me look fat?” Spike giggled a little at Twilight’s frustration. Twilight hardly noticed Spike’s amusement during her rant and eventually decided to change the subject, burnt out from talking about it. “So Spike,” Twilight said. “Did you do anything interesting today?” “Not much, though I spoke with Pinkie Pie and she gave me a little advice.” “Advice with what?” Twilight’s curiosity was exposed. Finally something interesting, after doing next to nothing with Rarity. “To laugh and realize that no matter when I have a nightmare, it’s nothing that can harm me. Just laugh the fear away.” “Uh-huh,” Twilight replied as she nodded. She clearly remembered back when they first met Pinkie and she taught her friends to laugh at those scary looking trees. It didn’t seem like anything she could write about, since she already knew about it, but it was good to see Spike learning. “Yep, even if I have a third nightmare in a row tonight I shouldn’t be worried. They can’t harm me!” “Right, glad you learned to conqu- Hold up. You mean that you’ve already had two in a row?” “Yeah, what’s the big deal?” “This doesn’t seem very common,” Twilight said looking slightly worried, but not enough to panic or go into a research binge. “And I don’t remember anypony having two nightmares in a row, let alone three.” “Well that’s real encouraging,” Spike said in a sarcastic and depressed manner. “Sorry Spike, Pinkie’s right. Nightmares can’t hurt you…..just let me know if you have another one tomorrow, alright?” Spike yawned for a second and stretched his arms out. “Alright, I think it’s time for me to get to bed. I’m not worried anymore.” Spike went off to bed and Twilight followed shortly after. This night, sleep came much easier for Spike than Twilight, as Pinkie’s advice about laughter eased his worries. A nightmare’s a nightmare, and it doesn’t affect anypony’s life during the day. It was no big deal.