//------------------------------// // Just Girls Talking About Dreams // Story: Just Girls Talking // by MythrilMoth //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer met up with her friends shortly before noon on a Saturday at the mall food court. As she approached, her gait was a bit unsteady; she had bags under her eyes and a distinct veininess about them. She yawned through her greeting and slumped into a chair empty-handed, not having bothered to visit any of the food vendors. "Goodness, darling, you look positively dreadful!" Rarity gasped. "Didn't sleep well," Sunset grunted, stifling another yawn. "Bad dreams kept me tossing and turning and waking up all night." "That's awful," Fluttershy said. "What kind of bad dreams? Scary nightmares, or—?" "Nah, just—" Sunset broke off to yawn. "Stress dreams." She rummaged through her pockets, withdrew a handful of wadded bills, and shoved them at Twilight. "Can you get me something? And a coffee?" "Sure," Twilight said, jumping up and rushing off. "Man, those dreams must've sucked," Rainbow said. "You haven't looked this bad since that time you came to school soaking wet!" "What were you dreaming about?" Rarity asked. "Maybe it'd help to talk about it." Sunset sighed. "Eh, it's just...a little bit of anxiety about the future, I guess." She shrugged. "I haven't figured out what it is I wanna do with myself past high school, we're seniors now, I have to figure out how I'm gonna get into college here since all my documentation is fake, then there's the matter of paying for it..." She eyed her reflection in the chromed side of a napkin dispenser, making a face. "Or if I'm just gonna live on part-time jobs." Taking a napkin and wringing it in her hands, she added, "A lot of...a lot of my dreams ended with me running back to Equestria because I couldn't make it last here, and that...I don't wanna do." The girls looked at each other, shifting and fidgeting, worried and uncomfortable expressions on their faces. In the awkward silence, Twilight returned with a tray of assorted junk food, a large orange smoothie, and an equally large sugary, cream-topped coffee drink, all of which she set before Sunset. "Ooh, I remember this one time I kept having the same nightmare over and over again for about a week," Pinkie Pie said as Sunset started eating. "There was this horribly burned old cake with red and green icing, only it was alive and it had these sharp claws made of kitchen knives, and it kept coming after me, and the Cake Twins were singing this really creepy song—" "Don't sing it," Fluttershy whimpered, covering Pinkie's mouth with a trembling hand. "I had this weird dream about Rarity takin' a poop one time," Rainbow Dash said. "And I was the poop." Everyone slooooooooowly turned to stare at Rainbow. Rarity, in particular, had a nauseated and affronted look on her face that was somewhere between 'how DARE you!' and 'I need to throw up'. After an awkward pause, Applejack sighed. "Shoot, someone's gotta ask. Rainbow? Whut'n th' hell's wrong with you?" Rainbow's face colored brilliantly. "Oh come on, like anybody has any control over their dreams," she said defensively. "You made a point of bringing it UP, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said archly. "As much as I really don't want to know, I feel rather compelled to be...concerned about the implications." Rainbow ducked her head, her cheeks flushing so dark she looked like an eggplant. "It was that time you wore that really, really skimpy thong bikini," she said. "You know, the one—" "Yes, yes, I remember the bathing suit in question," Rarity said, her own face flush with embarrassment. "In my defense, I had no way of knowing it was not as...ahem, discreet in the back." Applejack arched an eyebrow. "Rarity, it was dental floss," she said. "We'd have actually seen less of you if you'd been naked," Fluttershy added. "And I was inches away from the full moon," Rainbow added. "So yeah, you can imagine Rarity's big white ass showin' up in my dreams after that." "BIG? Why—what—" Rarity spluttered, before composing herself. "Putting that aside, that doesn't explain the—ahem—context." "Hell if I know!" Rainbow exploded, throwing her arms wide and narrowly missing smacking Sunset upside the head. "I don't normally dream about poop! Especially not about being poop!" Sunset snickered. "Way too easy," she said, sipping her coffee. "You know we're your friends, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said soothingly. "We won't judge you for your tastes, your preferences, or your, umm...fetishes." She plastered a big, fake smile on her face. "PLEASE don't have a poo fetish," she added in a strained whisper. "AGH! I don't have a poo fetish!" Rainbow cried, causing some nearby mall patrons to turn their heads and stare at her. "Wow, it's amazing what I can manage to hold my appetite through," Sunset commented idly. "Actually, dreams are rarely a valid indicator of your beliefs, preferences, sexual orientation, or overall psychological makeup," Twilight said, adjusting her glasses and going into lecture mode. "Most of the research into dreaming I've read is contradictory, speculative, and confusing at best, but the most logical conclusion dream research seems to lead to is that dreams are nothing more than the subconscious mind's way of sorting, processing, filtering, and breaking down memories, feelings, and experiences." She began gesturing expansively. "If you think of the mind as a hard drive, dreams are the mind defragmenting itself while you're asleep, and the bits of random data being moved around form dreams. That's why some people dream of places they haven't been to in years but with people they know now, or people they haven't seen in years being in places the dreamer had never gone back then." "Like when I dream about Equestria except you girls are all there with me," Sunset said. "Exactly!" Twilight nodded. "Or like I sometimes dream about my old Crystal Prep classmates being at Camp Everfree with us!" Her glasses turned very shiny for a moment. "Sugarcoat's always the first dead body we find..." she added darkly. "Oh...oh my," Fluttershy whimpered. Rarity blinked. "Pardon me, darling, but wasn't Sugarcoat the closest thing you had to a friend at Crystal Prep?" "Hm? Oh, yes, I suppose," Twilight said, examining her fingernails. "That's funny," Pinkie Pie said, "every time I have a creepy horror movie dream about Camp Everfree, the Sirens are there, and we're all running from convicted serial anal rapist Ben Dover." Her hair defloofed. "He always gets me in the end. Riiiiiiight in the end." "PINKIE!" Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight howled, red-faced. "Ah think we should git back ta helpin' Sunset now," Applejack said sternly. "Thanks, but I don't really need help," Sunset said. "Like I said, I'm just...kinda stressing myself out about the future." She looked up and smiled around the table. "But I know that it'll be alright, because no matter what happens after high school, I'll always have you girls. And..." She took a deep breath. "And if I do end up having to go back..." She swallowed. "At least I know I have good friends waiting for me back in Equestria, and...and Princess Celestia'll welcome me back." She wiped at her eyes with a fresh napkin. "So I'm gonna be okay." The girls broke out in a wave of "awws", "there-theres", and comforting pats and hugs, followed by a long, warm, comfortable silence. Then, Fluttershy piped up quietly: "Sometimes I dream about being a tree." The others glanced at her. "A big tree." Sunset sipped her smoothie. "With a squirrel living in my, umm...tree pussy." Sunset spat smoothie all over everything.