It was now morning as the sun shone across Equestria and at Fluttershy’s cottage. The three were still asleep in bed cuddling up together. Fluttershy was the first one to slowly open her eyes before Capper did. The cat and pony smiled at each other as Capper gave Fluttershy a morning kiss on the cheek.
“Morning, honey,” he said softly to her.
“Morning, kitty cat,” replied Fluttershy softly before giving her husband a morning kiss on the cheek.
The two looked down at their son who was sleeping throughout the rest of the night thanks the loving embrace from his parents.
Fluttershy didn’t want to wake him up after the nightmare he had last night, but she did wanted to know what it was about. However, she wasn’t gonna push it too much, not until she brings her friends over to help him out a bit. Except for Twilight though, she and Spike were away in Canterlot for a business meeting with the sisters.
The Pegasus carefully kissed the colt on the forehead before gently nuzzling his cheek and saying, “Lightning, it’s time to wake up, sweetheart.”
Lightning slowly opened his eyes before letting out a yawn and rubbed his eyes with his hoof as he looked at Fluttershy who was smiling softly at him.
“Morning, Momma.” Lightning gently hugged his mother as she returned the hug and replied, “Morning, sweetie.”
Lightning looked at Capper and said, “Morning, Papa Capper.”
“Morning, kiddo,” Capper replied before gently rubbing his son’s mane with his paw, “Did you sleep okay?”
Lightning nodded his head in response.
“Lightning, are you sure you don’t wanna talk about that bad dream last night?” Asked Fluttershy, “Because I can talk to Luna about it if it’s bothering you.”
Lightning knew that she was right and he felt like the nightmares have only just started, but he didn’t want to talk about it or make his parents feel worried. So he decided not to tell them about it.
“I still don’t wanna talk about it.”
Fluttershy gave Lightning a sad smile, she wanted to know about the nightmare and try to help him. But she still respected his choice.
“Okay,” she replied, “Why don’t we go and have some breakfast? I need to go out for something anyway.”
The two nodded their heads in response as they all got out of the bed, made their way downstairs and headed straight into the kitchen. Capper made them and himself some scrambled eggs and they ate the breakfast. After breakfast, Fluttershy said goodbye to her husband and son before heading off to do whatever she needed to do leaving Capper and Lightning to feed her animals while she was away.
While feeding the birds, Capper noticed that Lightning was feeling himself as he gave the squirrels their acorns. He was still scared from that nightmare last night and was worried he might have another one tonight. Capper knew it had something to do with the bad dream and wanted to know what it was so he and Fluttershy can help him, but he refuses to force his son to tell him. So he decided to let him tell him when he’s ready.
Once all the animals have been fed, the two headed back inside the cottage and rested until Fluttershy comes back. Capper and Lightning sat on the couch as the cat saw that his son was still feeling down.
“Lightning, are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Capper asked worriedly.
Lightning continued to say nothing and nodded his head in response to his father’s question.
“Are you still scared from that bad dream last night?” He asked politely but still worried, “You can tell me, I won’t be mad if you are. I am your papa after all.”
“I know,” he replied sadly, “But, it’s just that…”
Before he could finish, they both heard the cottage door was heard opening as they saw it was Fluttershy who has returned.
“I’m back!” Fluttershy said happily, “Well, actually, WE’RE back.”
The three looked at the door and saw Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst and Oliver walking into the cottage as Oliver closed the door behind him since he was the last one in.
“Momma, why is my aunties and uncles here?” Lightning asked in a nice way, “And where’s Auntie Twilight?”
“Aunt Twilight and Spike are in Canterlot for an important business,” answered Oliver, “I don’t know what it is really since it’s for a royal princess business and I’m the captain of the royal guards, not a royal prince.”
“I asked them to come here, Lightning sweetheart,” said Fluttershy, “Because I wanted them to help support you in telling us about the nightmare you had last night.”
Lightning started to feel worried as he frowned at his mother. He can tell that she’ll get way more worried that he was if he tells her about the nightmare.
“Lightning,” Fluttershy began to speak again but in a calm and soft tone, “I know you’re scared, and it has something to do with the nightmare. If you tell us what it was about, we can help you get over it.”
“We won’t be mad at you, kiddo,” added Rainbow politely, “You only have to tell us what the nightmare was about, and then we can help you.”
“So tell us, honey,” Sunset said softly, “What happened in your nightmare?”
Lightning looked to the left in fear.
“N-Nothing.”
“Nopony has a nightmare about nothing,” said Applejack, “Come on, sugarcube. What did you dream about?”
“I-I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Why not?” Asked Starlight worriedly.
“Because…because, I…”
Before Lightning could continue, he looked back at his family as he saw something that made he gasp in fear. His aunts and uncles all turned into unversed floods one by one while Fluttershy and Capper turned into Cozy Glow and The Storm King as the evil filly chuckled evilly and grinned at the colt.
Lightning started to shake in fear while stepping back a bit.
“U-Unversed?! C-Cozy G-Glow?! S-Storm K-King?!”
The ponies and the cat were surprised, but also confused, by what Lightning just said.
“What are you talking about, darling?” Rarity asked, “We’re not unversed, Cozy Glow or The Storm King. We’re your family.”
Lightning, however, continued to shake in great fear as he took a few steps back while his eyes continue to make him see The Storm King, Cozy Glow and the unversed.
“Lightning, what’s the matter?” Pinkie asked in a worried tone.
Fluttershy walked up towards her son and tried to touch him, but he quickly moved back a bit before hiding his face in his hooves. “N-No! L-Leave m-me alone, C-Cozy!”
“Lightning sweetheart, Cozy Glow is not here,” said Fluttershy softly but still worried, “It’s me, your Momma.”
Lightning said nothing and continued to hide in his hooves with tears of fear starting to flow down his face as the ponies and Capper slowly walked up to him with worried expressions on their faces.
“Lightning buddy, it’s us!” Sunburst said.
Lightning poked his head from his hooves, while still shaking, as he saw the yeti, filly and the Floods coming up towards him with the king and evil pony laughing evilly.
“Lightning!” The ponies and Capper shouted worriedly making a bright light appear and then disappeared after a second making Lightning’s eye sight go back to normal as he saw his aunts, uncles, mother and father staring at him with worried looks.
Lightning’s tears of fear started turning into tears of sadness as he planted his face in his hooves again and cried. Starlight walked up to her nephew and carefully picked him up before pulling him into a warm comfort hug.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s okay.” Starlight gently rubbed Lightning’s back with her hoof. “I know. The invasion of The Storm King and the unversed was the scariest threat we’ve ever encountered, but nothing like that will happen again. I promise.”
Lightning cried in Starlight’s chest as he started saying, “D-don’t leave m-me! D-don’t leave me, p-please!”
“We’re not gonna leave you, sweetheart,” said Starlight softly, “Never have, never will.”
Fluttershy walked over to the two before saying softly to her son, “Lightning sweetheart, can you please tell us about your nightmare last night?”
Lightning sniffled before looking at his mother and saying, “O-Okay.”
“I may not be able to hurt you on the outside,” said Vanitas, “But I can hurt you, on the INSIDE!” Vanitas slowly moved his Keyblade up in the air ready to slash Lightning Twister with it.
“N-n-no!” Lightning screamed in great fear while covering his face with his hooves knowing that there’s no way of escaping now.
Vanitas swung his Keyblade to the left as a loud clash sound was heard.
Lightning’s parents, aunts and uncles were in complete shock after hearing about the colt’s nightmare. He was dreaming about the ruler of the unversed telling him that it was his fault The Storm King died again and he can still hurt him on the inside. But there was one thing he didn’t understand, why did he have a nightmare about Vanitas after the day he was defeated along with The Storm King and Cozy Glow?
“But darling,” began Rarity, “That was months ago when Cozy Glow and Vanitas tried to make you like The Storm King, how come you’ve started having a nightmare after that long?”
Lightning sadly looked down before slowly shaking his head as another batch of tears rolled down his face. “I d-don’t k-know. B-But it still s-scares me. T-The n-nightmare.”
“Oh baby,” said Fluttershy sadly as she gently stroked her son’s mane.
Just then, there was a knock on the cottage door.
“Who could that be?” Applejack asked in confusion.
The cowgirl pony walked up to the door and opened it. Her face went into shock as she saw Twilight, Spike, Celestia and Luna standing there.
“Tw-Twilight?! What are you, Spike, Celestia and Luna doing here? I thought you had business to do in Canterlot.”
“We did,” answered Twilight politely, “But then we heard that Lightning wasn’t…feeling himself from last night, so we came to see him.”
“We’ve cancelled all of the meetings so Twilight can focus on helping the poor colt,” said Celestia.
“We came along to help too,” added Luna, “We care about young Lightning just like you do too.”
“Well, he’s right here,” said Applejack as she stepped aside to let the princesses and the baby dragon enter the cottage.
Twilight walked up to her poor upset nephew, sat on her haunches and smiled at Lightning while saying softly, “Hello, Lightning sweetheart. I’ve come to see you.”
Lightning looked at his Auntie Twilight, but he then quietly gasped in fear as his eyes started playing up again. He saw Twilight smiling at him before a quick flash of light turned her into Vanitas who was grinning at him and then turned back into the smiling Princess of Friendship.
The scared colt let out a small scream before running upstairs and headed towards his bedroom leaving the ponies, princesses, dragon and cat in complete shock.
“What was that all about?” Rainbow asked.
“Don’t know,” said Pinkie Pie, “Might be something he saw that made him scared before running to his room.”
“Could have something to do with the nightmare he had?” Asked Applejack.
“I sure hope not,” replied Sunset feeling more worried about Lightning.
“Fluttershy, can I go talk to Lightning please? Twilight asked politely.
Fluttershy was a bit hesitant. She didn’t know how Lightning would react after what just happened. Fluttershy however decided to let Twilight talk to her little colt. Fluttershy nodded and Twilight began to make her way upstairs towards Lightning’s bedroom.
Lightning was hiding underneath his bed covers shaking in fear while holding his Bendy plushie. His eye sight was getting more worst all thanks to that nightmare from last night. Now he doesn’t know what was real and just a nightmare illusion.
Lightning saw Twilight’s shadow hovering over the bed as he nervously poked his head and hooves out and saw the princess walking up towards him. Twilight carefully reached her hoof out to stroke the colt causing him to lower his head beneath the blanket. But he then felt Twilight gently stroking his mane which made him come out. Twilight smiled at her nephew like she always does. But Lightning started to cry again, so Twilight gently picked Lightning up and pulled him into a warm comfort embrace.
“Shh, shhh…it’s okay, Lightning sweetheart. It’s alright. I’m here.”
Outside Fluttershy’s cottage, the young six was making their way towards the cottage. They wanted to see if Lightning wanted to come out and hang out with them.
“I sure hope Lightning’s in,” said Ocellus, “It wouldn’t be much fun without him hanging out with us.”
“Well, there’s only way to find out,” said Gallus as they approached the door of the cottage.
Meanwhile back inside the cottage, the ponies, sisters, Spike and Capper were still in the living room wondering why did Lightning run up to his room after seeing Twilight. They were starting to get more worried about the poor colt.
“I do hope my baby boy’s doing okay,” said Fluttershy worryingly, “Whatever’s happened to him must have also scared him in the nightmare he told us about.”
“Don’t worry, love,” said Capper softly as he gently hugged his wife, “I’m sure he’s doing okay now that Twilight’s comforting him.”
Just then, another knock on the door was heard.
“Again?” Applejack asked before walking up to the door again and opened to see it was the six friendship students who knocked as they smiled at the farm professor.
“Well howdy there, young fellow students,” said Applejack while smiling at the students, “What brings you all here?”
“We just came by to see if Lightning can come and hang out with us,” answered Sandbar politely, “Is he in?”
“Well…” Applejack started to rub the back of her neck, “You may wanna come in. There’s something you lot should know.”
Applejack stepped aside to let the students in as she closed the door behind them. Fluttershy started explaining to the six about what happened to Lightning last night as well as the nightmare he had. This made the six friends feel bad but also worried about their little friend. Smolder felt worried about Lightning the most since he is her boyfriend.
“Oh dear,” said Ocellus as she covered her mouth with her hoof in shock and worry.
“Poor little pony,” said Yona worryingly.
“We have to go see him!” Smolder said in a worried tone, “He needs us!”
With that said, they all went upstairs and entered Lightning’s bedroom as they saw the poor child crying in Twilight’s chest with her hugging him in comfort.
“Braveheart!” Smolder called worryingly but not too loud, “Braveheart, it’s us!”
Lightning slowly moved his face from Twilight’s chest, showing the tears running down his face, as he saw his five friends and special somedragon looking at him with worried looks on their faces.
“G-Guys…” Lightning said while still crying.
Silverstream ran up to the colt. Twilight carefully placed Lightning in Silverstrwam’s arms as she gently pulled him into a warm sisterly comfort hug.
“Shh…shhhh…it’s okay, cutie,” the hippogriff whispered softly in the colt’s ear, “I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”
Twilight walked over to the group as they all looked at Lightning crying in Silverstream’s chest fur with sad and worried looks on their faces.
“Lightning dear, did something else happened in your nightmare?” Celestia asked.
Lightning sniffled before looking at the princess of the sun and answering, “Y-Yes, princess. V-Vanitas didn’t just a-appear in the castle l-library. He w-was p-pretending to be…y-you, Auntie T-Twilight.”
Everyone gasped in shock as Twilight could not believe what else Vanitas did in his nightmare.
“Me?” Twilight said in shock, “Vanitas was pretending to be me?”
Lightning nodded his head as he was now about to cry again.
“I-I’m s-sorry, A-Auntie Twilight! I-I didn’t mean t-to r-run a-away from you! I-It just s-scared m-me!”
Lightning cried in Silverstream’s fur chest as Twilight walked over to them and gently stroked her little nephew’s back.
“Hey hey hey, it’s okay,” she said softly, “I’m not angry. Shhh, shhh…”
Twilight started to hum a soft melody in Lightning’z ear, like she did the night she first met him and the night they rescued him from Cold Wind at the gala, as Lightning’s crying turned into sniffles before falling asleep with Twilight finishing off her humming.
Twilight carefully took Lightning out of Silverstream’s arms and placed him in his bed before pulling the covers on him and gently giving him a kiss on the forehead.
“Get some more rest, little one,” whispered Twilight softly to the colt before returning to the group.
“I really don’t get it, guys,” said Rainbow, “Lightning was perfectly fine after we defeated The Storm King, Vanitas and Cozy Glow as well as destroying the yeti’s castle. So how come the nightmares of that event are happening now?”
“I fear that the events may not have effected him until upon this moment,” said Celestia, “I don’t know if something has made Lightning start to have nightmares of The Storm King’s return or someone is making him have them. But either way, it’s hurting the poor dear.”
“Do you think he may have more, sister?” Luna asked worryingly.
“I believe so, Luna,” answered Celestia sadly, “And whoever is giving Lightning these nightmares of The Storm King’s return, they want something to do with him.”
“What are we going to do?” Ocellus asked in a worried tone.
Celestia sadly looked at Lightning, who was still asleep, before closing her eyes. She reopened them and looked at her sister and everycreature in the room before saying, “We must take him to Canterlot.”