//------------------------------// // 41 // Story: Complications // by Hiver //------------------------------// I looked at the whirling dark portal before Luna and me. Twilight Sparkle were having a rather bad dream. “You go,” Luna said and gave my ear a quick nuzzle. I nodded and nuzzled back. When working together, we had a system. I did the adults, she did the little foals. She liked helping them and I didn’t mind the adults. Their dreams tended to be easier anyway, if sometimes darker. “Be back in a bit,” I agreed and gave her a quick nuzzle before I walked in through the dark and stormy circle, horn first. The dream formed around me and the first thing that struck me was the haze of haze of smoke and fire drifting across what could only be described as a battlefield. Mostly because it’s what it was. Flashes of spellfire in the distance, the sound of metal against metal, screaming. Dead ponies on the ground. Dead… not ponies. Changelings, griffons, the Storm-Kings yetis. Who had been fighting who and what had happened was almost impossible to determine, but I could draw my conclusions about what had happened here. An airship moved overhead, the propeller slowly turning as an explosion rang out through the air, the large craft bursting into flame and going down, crashing a couple of hundred meters away. That was one thing that was bad about as smart as Sparky were. With great intelligence came great imagination. And strong, realistic dreams. Based not only what you have experienced or read about, but also things that you could think up yourself. Sometimes ignorance really is a blessing. The air suddenly cleared enough for me to spot Twilight. She was in her Princess Regalia, laying on the ground with her hooves on a white shape on the ground. Even from this angle and with the armour on, I could recognize Shining Armor. Beyond him was Rainbow Dash, the normally energetic pegasus missing a wing. She didn’t seem to notice though as she hugged a yellow pegasus with pink mane, slowly rocking back and forth. Sunset were laying on the ground next to Twilight and Shining Armor, not moving. I walked up next to them and looked down at the sobbing alicorn. She looked like she had gone through hell. “No,” I said and tapped my hoof against the ash covered ground, “This never happened. Will not happen.” A ring of reality spread around me like a ripple across the pool. Where the ripple touched, the ash and damage and bodies went away, leaving smooth grass waving in the wind, the smoke above fading away, leaving a blue sky and bright sunlight. Everything faded away but Twilight. She remained where she was for a long moment before she shifted her wings and looked around. She had tears in her eyes, breathing heavily. I sat down next to her, “I see Celestia told you.” Twilight blinked her eyes, rubbing them with one hoof, “That… that wasn’t real,” she said before continuing to herself, “It wasn't real.” “No,” I said and hugged her softly with my wing, “And it never will be. I promise you that, Twilight Sparkle. It’ll never happen.” She swallowed sniffled before she then pushed my wing away with hers as she looked at me sadly, “You can’t promise that.” “You’re right. I can’t,” I said before I smiled sadly at her, “But I can promise you something, Twilight Sparkle. That’ll everypony will do everything we can to stop it from happening. Me, you, Celestia, Sunset… everypony else.” “...I guess…” “This happened when Celestia asked you to go visit the troops at the border?” I asked and settled down on the soft dream grass, idly poking the ground with my hoof, sending small ripples in reality with my will. Butterflies and bees appeared, flowers poking up among the grass. “Just… it just hit it home,” Twilight admitted quietly, “that it could really be war. Not just… a monster or something we could fight and defeat. My friends, other ponies, my family… they could die! If this happens, ponies would die. Hundreds… thousands!” “I know,” I said quietly, “Everypony hopes that it won’t come to that. And I did tell you the truth, we are going to do everything we can to stop that from happening. Won’t we?” “We will,” Twilight agreed, pressing her lips a bit together, brushing the tears from her eyes with a hoof. “...Besides,” I then said with a small shrug, “We have a Discord. As much as I dislike the chaotic being personally, he does seem to like Fluttershy. I can’t see him not twisting reality into a pretzel to keep her safe. Alicorn or not, I can’t see her not outliving us all.” Discord. Hmm. Now that was an idea. Twilight nodded and sank down fully onto the grass next to me. “So, when are you leaving?” I asked after a long moment. “Tomorrow… today I guess. When I wake up, we’ll head to the train,” Twilight said and nibbled at a grass straw as it swayed close to her, “Rainbow is coming along.” “Would have expected Sunset would have volunteered too,” I said with a small frown, “But she didn’t mention anything at dinner.” “She asked,” Twilight admitted and looked to me, “I said it would be better if she stayed.” “...You don’t want her there if anything goes wrong,” I said after a second as I looked at her. Twilight just nodded a little, “Yeah.” “Can’t say I blame you,” I admitted after another couple of seconds with a small sigh, “...but I also know that if I tried, she’d kick my tail. I know how she feels too. I’m just delighted to be stuck in Canterlot until this is over,” I snarked. Twilight smiled a bit, “Not fun?” “Not really,” I said before I sighed, “I think the worst thing is that I can’t really argue it either, I can see the logic behind it though. I just feel like I can help more than I am.” “Keep Sunset safe for me?” “Sure thing, Sparks. I’ll keep your Kitten safe.” I’m not entirely sure where she got a snowball from, but I suspect she might be learning a bit about dream magic on her own.