//------------------------------// // Normalcy // Story: A Dream is a Wish...or a Nightmare // by Mekon //------------------------------// Dear Princess Celestia, The other day I reaffirmed how wonderful it is to have understanding friends. I was having some trouble with a personal, very private matter, and while they truly wished to discover what it was, they gladly accepted the fact that I would reveal it to them in time. So while my friends desperately wanted to learn about what was troubling me, they accepted that there are some things a pony must keep to themselves until the time is right. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle Twilight reread the recently penned letter again to check for any grammatical and syntactical errors, nodding in approval as she deemed the latest report fit for her mentor. “These friendship reports are rather nice really,” Nightmare commented sincerely as she read the newest addition to the library of reports Twilight held in her memories. “Yeah,” Twilight agreed softly, “Sometimes, I think about what would have happened if I hadn't stopped you that day. I'm glad that Princess Celestia made me come to Ponyville.” The dark alicorn chuckled. “Even if you hadn't come that day, the other elements have a deep connection with you, much more than just surface meetings and encounters. It was fate really. I would have lost one way or the other.” “Fate huh?” the lavender mare mused as she called upon her number one assistant to help her send her letter on its way. Rolled up and sealed officially, the friendship scroll disappeared in a puff of green dragon magic where it would arrive within moments of it being sent. “Alright Twilight,” Spike began as he pulled out a long list of things to do, “On today's schedule there's helping out Lyra with some magical problems, working on the pocket dimension spell, and escorting Fluttershy through the Everfree Forest towards Zecora's house.” The purple unicorn nodded and thanked her charge, trotting out the door to begin a normal day in Ponyville. ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ “So who is Lyra exactly?” Nightmare questioned as she rifled through a few spare memory files that were floating around in Twilight's head. She couldn't exactly piece together a clear picture of the pony because Twilight didn't make everything readily available in her mind anymore. “Mint green unicorn pony. She's got a lyre as her cutie mark,” Twilight answered mentally as she sent her housed goddess a quick picture while she trotted through the early morning streets of Ponyville, greeting the traditionally early shopkeepers with a fond and friendly “Good morning.” “Wait a minute...I thought you said she was a mint green unicorn pony. Why do I have a picture of a beige-coated, earth pony with pink and dark blue, curly hair?” Nightmare asked suspiciously, waving the image in front of Twilight's consciousness. The unicorn cursed. Of course she would accidentally send a picture of Lyra's marefriend opposed to the actual mare herself. The purple pony had used lists and schedules all of her life, mainly because her own thoughts and mind were so jumbled up and disorganized it looked like the library when Rainbow Dash crashed through the windows. “No pony,” she covered up quickly and poorly, her mental voice a bit higher than usual. Twilight knew that if she revealed the fact that Lyra liked mares like her, all sorts of trouble would come from it. “Oh look! We're already here!” Twilight announced before Nightmare could get another word in. She pushed the unlocked door aside and waltzed in, forgetting to knock or announce her sudden arrival. Most of the ponies in Ponyville kept their doors unlocked during the day, used to the trust and family community they had. However, Twilight had walked into the house at a rather unfortunate time. As she trotted into the main living room, she stopped suddenly, her mouth falling to the floor as her face erupted in a crimson fire of pure mortification as she saw what was happening on the couch. Lyra and Bonbon were wrapped up in intimately each other's hooves, Bonbon's absolutely red face hovering just inches over Lyra's light green horn, a small trail of saliva hanging from the edge of her mouth, connected to the tip of Lyra's shining horn. “Uh...Good Morning?” Bonbon breathed out, unfortunately still speaking in her sensual, bedroom voice, causing everypony in the room to flush even harder. Abruptly, Twilight had the sense to shriek and jump into a random room, stammering her loudest apologies and shaking from the absolute embarrassment as all of the blood in her body rushed to her face. There was an awkward rustle of hooves as the now-disentangled pair wrenched themselves from the couch, speeding off to prepare for their unannounced guest. While Twilight soaked in her state of shock, Nightmare was having a field day, howling with laughter in Twilight's head. “Oh my! That was priceless! Now I know why you thought of that earth pony mare, Bonbon. Naughty, naughty Twilight.” “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Twilight screamed, wishing she had mental bleach on hoof. Just hearing the name caused her to relive the scene she had just walked onto. “You should have asked them for some pointers for the future. From what they were doing, I'm sure they have a huge variety of techniques that you could borrow,” Nightmare continued mercilessly, enjoying how Twilight became a spluttering, stammering and blubbering mess while her face lit up like a ripe cherry. “That was pretty hot. Too bad you didn't join in the festivities mistress.” Without any effort at all, Nightmare conjured up a few pictures of her mistress caught in between the two mares, her horn just a few centimeters from the precious.... “Arrrghhhhhh!!!” Twilight actually yelled as she smacked her head against the wall, convulsing on the floor as her mind was assaulted with rather explicit pictures of her doing naughty things with the two mares on the couch. The poor, purple unicorn was pretty sure she'd never be able to walk into their house normally again without having a small episode, and she was absolutely sure she would never look at couches in the same way ever again. “Um...Twilight? You alright there?” Lyra ventured nervously, shuffling her hooves uncomfortably as she watched the normally composed librarian spaz in the corner of the kitchen. “Uh..Sorry about that...we forgot to lock the door last night.” Taking deep and long breaths, the Ponyville librarian slowly composed herself. She kept repeating to herself that what Lyra and Bonbon were doing was perfectly natural for couples to do, but it didn't make it any less awkward for the virgin mare who hadn't even reached the dating stage in any relationship. “No...no..It's my fault for not knocking,” the purple unicorn answered in shaky breaths, struggling to her feet as they shook violently from the mental shock. Lyra chuckled, “Oh well...what's done is done. What's a few sexy scenes between friends right?” At that, Twilight fell into her second, spaz coma for the day. It was almost like it was Nightmare talking to her! “I like this mare!” Nightmare announced with a cackle of amusement. It took a bit, but Lyra was finally able to pull Twilight out of her state of pure shock and set the unstable librarian on a kitchen chair. “So...so...what's the problem Lyra?” the lavender mare continued bravely as her frame shook, “You said your magic was acting up.” “Probably from all the horn sex,” Nightmare answered with a cheeky grin, giggling to herself as she watched her mistress light up again in front of her friend, who didn't seem to suspect a thing. “Yeah,” the mint green pony answered bashfully, rubbing the back of her head nervously, “It's been doing weird things.” “Like what?” Twilight trooped on through the constant teasing of her housed goddess, giving up on trying to stem the blood rushing to face. “Here, just let me show you,” Lyra answered simply as her magic came to life. Her aura engulfed a small cup lying on the sink, levitating it a few inches off of the counter top. Unusually, the aura of Lyra's magic seemed to flicker between the colors of green and beige, causing the floating cup to waver with each change. Immediately, Twilight's demeanor changed from embarrassed to scientifically intrigued. She walked over to the cup and observed the floating and wavering mug, noticing that the change intervals between green and beige were seemingly random, jumping rapidly or slowly transitioning at a whim. The purple unicorn had only seen magic truly change color for one pony: Princess Celestia. “Hmm, it sure has been a while since I've seen a regular unicorn change their magical aura,” Nightmare commented with an appreciative grin. “Wait. What does it mean? I mean, I've seen Princess Celestia change her magical aura, but I thought it was just because she was well...Princess Celestia,” Twilight asked. “It's a rather rare occurrence really,” the black alicorn responded, “Ask her if anything important or life changing has happened recently.” Twilight did just that, and the mint unicorn blushed in response, looking down at the kitchen table as she drew unspecific shapes with her hooves. “Well...um,” Lyra stammered, “I uh..proposed to Bonbon last week...and we're getting married in a month.” “Oh my gosh! Congratulations!” the lavender mare exclaimed, enveloping the lyre musician in a tight hug. “Well that would explain it: emotional instability and flux,” Nightmare summed up with a smile, “Lyra is still recovering from the fact that Bonbon agreed to marry her. In the end, her magic will normalize.” “You're fine then Lyra,” Twilight assured as she pulled away from the flushed unicorn, “Your magic is just responding to your strong emotions. They'll balance out eventually.” “Really?” Lyra asked, her eyes lighting up in relief, earning a nod in the affirmative. “Thank goodness! Bonbon was really getting worried. She started wondering if it was because she played with my horn too much. I can give her the good news so she won't have to worry anymore.” As expected, Twilight's face flushed crimson as she flailed her hooves frantically in her seat, desperately wishing that physical movements could dispel mental images. Nightmare snickered. “I really like this mare. We should hang out sometime.” Lyra giggled as she patted the traumatized unicorn. “Sorry about that Twilight.” “Yeah...yeah...” she squeaked, “Let's just not mention it again.” “Ahh...but Bonbon does it so great. She takes the entire thing into her mouth and does this funny thing with her...” Lyra blabbed, only be cut off by the sound of Twilight running out the door in a frantic panic. The mint green unicorn giggled as she waved towards the retreating figure of Twilight Sparkle. “Thanks again Twilight! I'll make sure to invite you to the wedding!” she called as she chuckled to herself. ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ “Well that was some good morning fun! Wasn't it mistress?” Nightmare asked with a joyful snicker, eliciting a groan from the mentally scarred purple unicorn. “Why is it that everything in my world just suddenly became perverted?” Twilight lamented to no pony in particular, face-hoofing as she walked back home. “It's just the natural order of the world Twilight. You've just never noticed it,” Nightmare continued cheerfully, earning a disbelieving snort. “You can't deny it either my little vixen, Ms. I-want-to-buck-the-night-senseless.” “Quiet you,” the lavender mare responded weakly, unable to keep the blood from rushing to her face. “Oh just admit it,” the black alicorn teased. “No.” “C'mon! You totally like it.” “Absolutely not.” “At least admit that you like the idea then, bucking that is.” “I refuse!” “Look. It's not a big deal. Nearly all adults do that.” Twilight sighed. “I'm not just looking for somepony to buck...I'm looking for somepony to love, Nightmare,” she admitted, her face still holding its crimson color. “I want somepony that will be there for me for everything....not just....that.” Abruptly, the dark alicorn stopped her teasing parade and smiled. “I know Twilight.” ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ Creating a pocket dimension hadn't exactly gone according to plan. The half destroyed fields laying outside of Ponyville were a testament to that fact. “I don't get it!” Twilight exclaimed for the umpteenth time as she paced in the middle of the decimated field, “I calculated everything perfectly! It shouldn't have destabilized into a miniature black hole!” “I'm sure you'll get it eventually Twilight,” Spike soothed, not really able to offer any sort of explanation as to why the experiment had failed so spectacularly, his knowledge of magical jargon being severely limited. “Perhaps it was because your magical matrix was too unstable at such high levels of output. Leakage of magical residue compounded with possible resonance might have destabilized the dimensional rift,” Nightmare offered sagely, “I would recommend finding a better amplifying medium or increasing your own magical output.” Twilight huffed dejectedly, but did take mental note of the alicorn's suggestion; it held some merit. However, both alternatives would be extremely hard to accomplish. The unicorn was just so frustrated. She had been testing this spell for a few weeks now, and Twilight had yet to even create a pocket dimension big enough to hold a single bit! “Look on the bright side mistress. You created a black hole,” the black alicorn joked, despite the fact that they had all almost died from being sucked into an alternate dimension and time. Luckily, the experiment ran on Twilight's magical power and thus, she had the power to turn it on and off. If she could have, Twilight would have stared at the dark goddess with an unamused face. “Maybe tomorrow Twilight,” Spike said with a shrug, “Remember. Fluttershy is waiting for you.” He pointed towards Fluttershy's hut which stood on the perilous outskirts of the Everfree Forest. The pegasus was waiting patiently in front of her house, bags at her side and trembling a little from being so close to the unnatural forest near nighttime. Twilight sighed but nodded, knowing she could do nothing else today. Twilight teleported to where Fluttershy stood, causing the already nervous pony to “eeep” in surprise. “Oh Twilight, it's you," Fluttershy breathed out with relief as she peeked out from her hair fortress to check if the coast was clear. “Yup!” Twilight cheered, unable to act sad around any of her friends, “Ready to go?” “Um...I guess. I hope we don't run into anything scary!” the Element of Kindness squeaked as she hid behind her hooves, imaging a pack of powerful timberwolves waiting for them in the forest. “I'm sure that nothing bad will happen. The path to Zecora's is pretty safe, save for the poisonjoke patch,” the lavender mare assured, deciding to take point. “Well then, let's go Fluttershy.” “O..Okay,” the butter-colored pegasus said, following the braver pony into the mysterious, dark forest ahead that seemed to watch them with hungry eyes as they entered. No matter what Twilight had said, Fluttershy couldn't shake the feeling that something out there was watching and waiting in the shadowy grove of the monstrous forest.