//------------------------------// // The Newspaper // Story: Maintaining Harmony // by DiabloGuapo //------------------------------// Sunlight shone through the window of Twilight Sparkle’s bedroom. However, the unicorn had been awake for hours, and it showed. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess. She hadn’t been able to fall back asleep since she awoke from the nightmare she had last night. When she awoke, she cautious looked around room while hiding halfway under the covers of her bed. She would feel silly for acting like a little foal again, but this dream caused her to throw all rational thought out of the window. She sat there in her bed, debating whether should she get up and go about her normal routine or to try to catch up on the lost sleep. Ultimately, she chose to get out of bed. She made her bed and started to head toward to the stairs. As she walked, she noticed that Spike was still curled up with his blanket in his basket. She had always felt a little guilty for making her number one assistant sleep in a basket at the foot of her bed. The purple unicorn walked down the stairs and then entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She pulled two bowls from the cabinets and filled one with oats. The other one she filled with a few gems for Spike. She placed the bowls on the table and headed back upstairs to wake the baby dragon. She walked over to the dragon and was going to gently shake him to wake him up. “I’m awake,” he said before she even touched him. It surprised her to see him up this early. “For how long?” she asked. He rolled over to reveal that he too had bags under his eyes. “All night,” he confessed. He looked at her shabby appearance. “You look terrible.” “You don’t look too good yourself,” she retorted with a snort. “I didn’t sleep well. I had a bad dream.” “Oh?” What were the chances that they both lost sleep over nightmares last night? “What did you dream about?” “I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said with an upset look. Twilight was concerned, but she knew what might cheer him up. “Hey, how about we go down to Sugarcube Corner later. Maybe the Cakes can make you another sapphire cupcake, or maybe an emerald cupcake.” Her offer did seem to raise his spirits. He smiled and his eyes did light up, in spite of the sleep deprivation. “Yeah, that sounds great!” he exclaimed as he hopped out of his basket. Twilight was happy to see the improvement in his demeanor and they both went downstairs for breakfast. “Spike, slow down!” Twilight scolded as the dragon inhaled the bowl of gems. “You’re going to make yourself sick!” “I can’t help it! I’m starving!” Spike had just finished his third bowl of gems and was headed to the pantry where they kept the gems to get more. “If you keep eating like this, you won’t have room for that cupcake.” “Actually, I feel like I could eat Tom!” the dragon exclaimed. “Tom?” Twilight asked while raising a brow. “Yeah, you remember. Rarity’s boulder that she thought was a diamond,” he reminded the unicorn as he was about to fill his bowl again. He was stopped when a magenta aura surrounded the bowl and pulled it from his grasp. “Hey, give it back!” “No Spike. At this rate, you’ll eat them all before noon.” She cleared the table and put away their dishes. “Humph. Fine, but we’re still going to Sugarcube Corner today.” “Yes, yes. But first, I have to do some research,” she said heading out of the kitchen. During her studies, she looked for everything she could find about Changelings. She couldn’t get that nightmare out of her head. She wondered how Cadance and Shining Armor were doing on their honeymoon. Scratch that, she didn’t want to think about it too hard. Speaking of scratching, her scaly assistant was busy trying to reach that spot on his back. Twilight wonder if he maybe had a rash or something. Whatever what was going on, it was disrupting her research. “Spike, do you mind? I’m trying to read.” The unicorn looked up from her pile of books to look at the itchy dragon. “It’s that spot again. It just won’t stop itching,” the grunted as he tried to reach said spot. Twilight shook her head at his antics. He looked at her with the best sad puppy dog face he could muster. “Could you…” “Oh no,” Twilight declined, feeling a little disgusted at the thought of scratching the dragon’s back. After a few more seconds of him begging with that face, she sighed and conceded. The dragon came over to her and she took a look at his back. She was surprised to see two red spots on his back on either side of his spines. “Spike, you scratch yourself so much that you left red marks on your back.” “Well, could you scratch them? They itch like crazy,” “It’s best not to. It might make it worse.” She looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost lunchtime. “Come on, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner. I believe that I owe certain itchy dragon a cupcake.” When they arrived at the bakery, they noticed that the most of their friends were there. The only pony missing was Rainbow Dash. Twilight also noticed that everypony seemed so grim. Like her, they all looked like they hadn’t got a good sleep last night. This bothered her. What’s going on? First, Spike and I both had a lousy night’s sleep, and now it looks like everypony had one too. Twilight sat down at the table beside Applejack. “Wow. Looks like everyone here had a rough night’s sleep. Is everyone okay?” “To be honest with you, ah didn’t quite have pleasant dreams last night,” the cowpony sighed. Fluttershy meekly nodded her head in agreement. Rarity’s perfectly styled mane seemed to be tad frazzled. Pinkie Pie was unnaturally silent, and her poofy mane seemed to be a little flat. “We didn’t either,” Twilight spoke for herself and Spike. Spike mood returned to how it was this morning after being reminded of his dream. Mrs. Cake walked in from the kitchen and noticed that Twilight and Spike had joined the melancholy group. “Hello Twilight. Hello Spike. Can I get you anything?” she asked compassionately. “Oh, well I was wonder if you had any gemstone cupcakes,” Twilight asked the blue earth pony with a swirly pink mane. “Hhhmmm...I think I could whip one in a moment. I assume it will be for Spike.” The baker looked over at the dragon and gave him a smile to see if that would help cheer him up. “Any preferences? At the moment, we’ve got a few sapphires left over from your birthday. I think we might have a few rubies and emeralds. Ever since the two of you moved here, we try to keep a few gems in supple for everypony’s favorite dragon.” “Thank you, Mrs. Cake. How about emerald this time?” the dragon smiled a bit. She happily nodded and headed back to make him his cupcake. The happy moment quickly faded and everyone was sad again. “Huh, I wonder where’s Rainbow D…” Before Twilight could finish that question, the blue pegasus came flying through the door. Like the others, she also looked like a mess. She also had a newspaper under her front leg. “You guys are not going to believe this,” she said as she threw down the paper on center of the table. The others curiously looked at the paper that was laid before them, but Rarity picked it up first. “Surely the wedding has got to be all over the front page,” stated Rarity as she raised the paper to take a closer look at the headlines. She gasped at what she saw. “I know right!” Rainbow exclaimed as she saw Rarity’s reaction. “What? What is it,” Twilight asked the shocked the unicorn. “‘Changelings Invade Canterlot. Equestria Gripped With Terror.’ I can’t believe this!” The fashionista laid the paper back down on the table so that the others could also see. The group huddled around the newspaper, and Rarity continued to read. “‘During the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor, the ponies in attendance were shocked to find that the bride was replaced by the Changeling Queen and was planning an invasion right under Princess Celestia’s nose. Eye witnesses report that Twilight Sparkle, the Princess’s personal student, stopped the wedding from proceeding by returning with the rightful bride and exposing the imposter.’” “‘Under Princess Celestia’s nose?’” quoted Twilight. “I don’t like how they phrased that.” “Oh, that’s not all! Listen to this! ‘…with the Changeling threat still at large and with the Princess inability to distinguish between an imposter and her own family, citizens all across Equestria are begining to doubt in her ability to properly protect our fair kingdom.’ Can you believe it!?” Rarity was outraged. “How dare they question the Princess’s ability to govern Equestria,” roared Twilight. “They’re just rattled. It was quite a dozy,” admitted Applejack. They were silent for a moment, but then Applejack spoke again. “Ah mean, even ah had a nightmare about it last night.” “Me too,” added Pinkie. “Same here,” confessed Rainbow Dash. “I'm glad that I’m not the only one,” said Rarity. “I-it was so scary,” whispered Fluttershy. She started to tear up and her face was partially hidden her long, pink mane. Applejack instinctively placed a hoof on top of hers to help soothe the yellow pegasus. “Maybe we should tell each other our dreams,” suggested Twilight. Her friends looked at each other and then nodded. “Very well. Maybe I should start.”