//------------------------------// // Dream // Story: Little Glimpses // by Skijarama //------------------------------//     “Twilight? Twilight, can you hear me?”     Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes slowly, groggily roused from her restful slumber by an unknown voice. It sounded like the voice of an adult mare, speaking urgently yet softly at the same time. Twilight squeaked in alarm when she saw her surroundings. She wasn’t in the room Princess Celestia had just given to her the previous night, nor was she in her bedroom in her parents’ house.     She was in an endless white void. Prismatic ribbons of magic and color slowly weaved all across the endless expanse, illuminating her and the flat, jagged platform upon which she had been resting. The little lavender filly stood up, looking around for the owner of the voice. “Who’s there? Where am I?!”     “It’s hard to explain, Twilight…” the voice answered solemnly. Some of the colorful ribbons began to swirl together, taking on the vague shape of an adult alicorn mare. Through the swirling magics, Twilight could see a pair of purple eyes open to look back at her. “And I can’t say much.”     “What does that mean? What’s happening?!” Twilight asked, taking a step back and looking around fearfully.     “It’s okay, Twilight… trust me, it is. I just…” the alicorn-shaped energy sagged and seemed to sigh. “I just wish I had enough time left to see it.”     “Huh?”     “I can’t tell you anything except this,” the alicorn stood and trotted up to Twilight before sitting down in front of her, meeting her gaze nostalgically. “You need to be brave, Twilight. Things have changed for you, and those changes are going to make your future… uncertain.”     “What are you-”     “But I know you can do this, Twilight. Just… please, keep your friends close. Whatever this world throws at you, you must keep your friends close.”     “Friends?” Twilight scrunched up her face, nonplussed. “I don’t have any friends. I don’t need any. I have Princess Celestia, my parents, Cadance and Shiny. They’re all I need.”     The alicorn sighed and then gave off a humorless chuckle. “I know that’s how you feel. But I also know you’ll change your mind. I had to, after all.”     “Are you going to start making sense?”     “...I wish I could, Twilight. Just be strong, okay? For our sake,” The alicorn silhouette looked up, the ribbons of magic making up her ears swiveling around to face directly forward. She then nodded to somepony unseen. “I’m sorry… I’m truly, truly sorry.” she then looked back down to Twilight. “I’m out of time, Twilight… all of it is yours now. Use it wisely.”     The ribbons of magic holding the silhouette together suddenly disbanded, swirling and fading away into the white void. Twilight looked around in confusion, her ears falling flat against her head. She reached a forehoof up to her chest, realizing that suddenly, without explanation, she felt sad. She shook her head and looked back up into the void. “Oh, come on! You’ve got to tell me more than that! Now I’m curious!”     No answers came. Instead, the crystalline surface upon which she stood abruptly shattered. A terrified yelp tore it’s way from her lungs at the feeling of plummeting into an endless fall. The white void around her began to darken, gradually fading into a black abyss. Any and all warmth she had been feeling before left her body to be swiftly replaced by a bone-chilling cold. Twilight screamed out, flailing her forelegs for something to grab onto. Nothing came. The last thing she saw in this abyss was countless lavender feathers, drifting slowly downward. She passed through them.     And then she awoke.     Twilight awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright and looking around. The dream was perfectly fresh in her mind. In fact, it didn’t even feel like a dream; it felt real. Twilight groaned tiredly and flopped back down into her pillow, staring up into the ceiling of her room as if it were the sky. “That was weird…” she mumbled before closing her eyes and rolling over to get some more rest. Her alarm hadn’t gone off yet and, despite her complaints about it, she followed Princess Celestia’s advice to get in enough rest before she got up.     Then another alarm went off, one in the form of a three-month-old baby dragon making little ‘growling’ sounds while clambering onto Twilight’s bed. Twilight grimaced but looked at the approaching baby dragon with a warm smile. “Aw, good morning Spike.” She mumbled sleepily, reaching out to the little guy. He sloppily pawed at her hoof, making sounds that Twilight could only describe as being ‘pitifully demanding.’     She sighed in defeat before glancing to the clock on her nightstand. Her normal alarm would be going off in a few minutes anyway. Might as well get a small head start. She glanced back down to Spike, who looked back at her pleadingly. “You’re hungry, Spike?”     The baby dragon nodded enthusiastically. Twilight scooted out of bed and began to make her way towards a set of saddlebags she kept with her at almost all times, filled with gem scraps and pieces lent to her by Princess Celestia so she could feed Spike. Spike crawled after her, eyes on the bag. He started to drool quite profusely. Twilight frowned at him. “Hey, what did I tell you about drooling on the rug?”     Spike clamped his jaw shut dutifully and yapped apologetically. Twilight rolled her eyes. She still wasn’t quite sure how it was he knew what she was saying but couldn’t yet form words of his own in response. She had been meaning to ask the Princess about it, but hadn’t had the chance for over a week. Princess Celestia had given Twilight the task of studying up on a specific type of spell on her own for the week, a task Twilight had dedicated herself to quite fervently.     With her face twisting slightly in concentration, Twilight opened one of the flaps on the saddlebags and withdrew a chunk of raw gem, unfit for cut or use, but good enough for Spike to eat and enjoy. She hovered it over to Spike and plopped it down into his waiting claws. He beamed at her and began to chow down, making some very gross sounds with his mouth as he did so. Twilight giggled softly. “Hey, don’t be messy, okay? I don’t want to ruin the Princess’s floor.”     Spike slurped up the last of the gem and nodded apologetically. Twilight lost her frown to a smile and trotted over to the tiny baby dragon. “Okay, come on. We should get moving.”     Spike mewled uncomfortably when Twilight picked him up in her magic, but settled in on her back when she let go, growing rather groggy once again. Twilight checked the calender on her wall real quick before nodding.     “Let’s see… if I get there quick enough I should be able to pick up a couple books on dragon physiology and still have time to drop them off here and get to Princess Celestia’s study for what she has to show me today.” Twilight mumbled to herself before smiling confidently. She opened the door to her room and left at a brisk gallop, heading for the archives in Canterlot Castle.     Celestia eyed the growing towers of Canterlot fondly, the tall and formidable structures of the city looming over them. She glanced down to the small filly next to her in the carriage, who refused to meet her gaze, instead opting to look out over the terrain beneath them. Celestia returned to looking at Canterlot as the two royal guards pulling the chariot began their descent to the landing yard.     “We're here, huh?” The filly asked next to her, still not looking at her. Celestia nodded softly.     “Yes, we’re here.”     “...Cool, I guess.” The little pegasus filly sat up, her deep pink eyes looking around at the landing yard while the chariot pulled to a stop.     Celestia looked at the pegasus sympathetically before standing up and stepping out of the chariot. “Come along, my little pony. I’d like to show you around.”     “Don’t call me that.” The filly said a bit more harshly than she intended. Her ears fell flat and she shied away from the solar Princess, half expecting some sort of punishment for bad-mouthing royalty. Then she remembered she was technically royalty now herself and grimaced.     “...I’m sorry. I know this is hard for you.” Celestia said softly, kneeling down and using a forehoof to gently draw the pegasus’ face up to look her in the eyes. “And I don’t expect you to get over all of this overnight. Take as much time as you need.”     The filly sighed and lightly pushed Celestia’s hoof away from her chin. “Look, can we just get on with the tour? The sooner I know where my room is, the sooner I can get some sleep.”     Celestia nodded and stood back to her full height. “I understand. But I do want you to meet somepony before you rest,” she turned her attention to one of her ever stoic royal guards and addressed him. “Find Twilight Sparkle and have her meet us in the private wing as soon as possible.”     “As you command, your highness.” The guard gave a bow before cantering off to do as he was told. Celestia watched him go before turning her gaze back to the cyan pegasus filly beside her.     “Well then, let’s go. Your new home awaits.”     “No offense, Princess, but Cloudsdale is my home,” the filly shot back. “I’m just not there right now.”     “Of course… forgive me.” Celestia said sympathetically before taking a step forward. “But, regardless, I think we’ve stood around long enough. Let’s begin your tour.”     “Uh-huh…” The filly grunted, absently brushing some of her wildly unkempt rainbow-colored mane out of her eyes. “Lead the way, mom.”     Celestia didn’t seem to react to the sarcastic use of the word ‘mom,’ instead choosing to simply nod and begin moving into the castle. “Follow me, Rainbow Dash.”