//------------------------------// // Sweat dreams // Story: A time of sadness // by Slick Dash //------------------------------// Luna stirred on the ground. “LUNA!” Celestia ran to her sister, closely followed by all my friends. I stayed rooted to the spot, petrified by what had just happened. I stared off into the distance not really seeing anything. I felt cold, I felt week, I felt foolish. I felt as though i had betrayed everything I cared about. The princess, my friends, and Tom...Tom would have never wanted me to hurt anyone! Why had I ever thought that would be what he wanted? Discord. He had twisted my mind to near breaking point, and now that the pressure had been released. Only now did I see the true horror of what I had done. I turned to look at the blue Princess, she was being helped to her hooves by her big sister, with each of my friends crowded around her checking if she was alright. She smiled sheepishly and shakily, the blood had stopped flowing from her nose but she looked slightly pale still. The dried flakes and splatters of dried red liquid coated her chest and the sides of her face. Dear Celestia! What had I done!? How could I have done that? I was the element of Loyalty! And yet I’d gone and done this to one of the rulers of Equestria, what a failure I am! I felt sick to my stomach! My stomach felt as though it was about to empty its contents in disgust at myself. I had fallen to my knees at some point, I couldn’t tell when. But now I stood, my legs felt even shakier than Luna’s had looked. Tom, would you ever forgive me? Maybe I didn’t know you as well as I thought. The love of my life, and I couldn’t even tell what he would have wanted or not! I approached the group ahead slowly, my friends all turned at the sound of my hooves getting closer. No one said a word, they merely parted ways so I could reach the dark blue princess. She looked fearful, of course she did! She had been unconscious the entire time Discord had been here, for all she knew I was insane and wanted to kill her! I reached her hooves, I stopped, and then fell to my knees. I bowed my head in shame and pressed my forehead against the base of her ornate blue shoes. Tears. Yet again the salty pearls fell from my eyes as I lay there before the princess I had nearly killed. My heart felt as though it was breaking all over again. Tom had never been near me, supporting me, he was simply lying in the ground back at ponyville church. The sudden realisation of his absence, and the actions my grief stricken mind had caused both hit me hard. And I broke down into tears. “I’m so sorry! I...I... I can’t explain... how sorry...I’m...I’m sorry!” I wept into the grass below and on the dark princess’s shoes. My voice would hardly work, I couldn’t say a normal sentence anymore! I couldn’t speak, and yet I needed to say the most important sentence of my life. How could the dark princess even think to forgive me? I had needlessly attacked her, I had thought I’d had proof, but it had all been a lie. The picture of me and the girls at the gala lay close by, I could feel the frame pushing into my rear leg. Discord, he had tainted my mind. He had used what I’d cared about the most to turn me into something I hated! A traitor. How could I look my friends in the face again? How could I look any citizen of Equestria in the face again after attacking one of their rulers! My mind raced with all these thoughts in a matter of seconds, the tears cascaded down my cheeks as I feared what would come next. I felt something warm on my back. Shakily I looked up to see Luna, she had lowered herself down to her knees, and laid her slender head over my body. I wept even harder. Letting all my emotions run wild and free. Another warm body. Twilight had come over. She sat next to me and rubbed her head against mine. Rarity, on the other side of me began to do the same. Applejack then approached, who began to stroke my mane gently and caringly. Pinkie came over and just hugged the part of my back that wasn’t covered by Luna’s head. And fluttershy? I heard her approach, but I didn’t feel her near me. Was she too mad at me? I’d understand completely if she was. Silence for a moment, and then. She began to sing. Her voice quavered on the verge of tears as she let out every quiet note, and yet soothing me as I shuck from every heaving sob and every breath I took. “Hush now, quiet now It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now It's time to go to bed...” I felt myself beginning to drift away. The exhaustion of the last two weeks had finally caught up with me. The lullaby, the warmth of everyone around me, it all made me sleepy. And soon I dozed off in the middle of the statue garden. .................................................................................................. I was lying on a cloud, the sun drenching every part of my body. The warmth was wonderful. I heard a shout, was it my name? I turned over and looked through the bottom of the cloud. I couldn’t see anyone there. I began to pull my head back into the sun when I heard it again. “Rainbow?!” I stood up on the cloud, and looked to ponyville below me. It was almost entirely empty. I should be able to see who’s shouting me. “Rainbow!” I spotted movement. Just outside my house. Something was standing in the doorway. I hopped off of the cloud and dived straight towards my house. As I approached, the figure entered the house and was lost from sight. That wasn’t a pony! I picked up speed, and soared through the open door and into the centre of the room. I couldn’t see anyone. I heard a happy chuckle from behind me. I turned around in awe as I recognized the laugh. Perched on the end of the fireplace, was Tom. He was leaning forward towards me, an eager smile on his face. I smiled and landed before walking over to him. Before I could say a word he swept me up in his arms, and kissed me. We stayed there for a long time, just holding one another and showing our love to one another. When the kiss was finally over, Tom pulled away and smiled at me. He leant back on the mantle above the fire place, letting me drop back to the floor. “Wow, one year already.” He said dreamily, “Can’t believe it’s been such a long time already!” his cutiemark flashed in the light of the sun pouring through the window. I laughed. “Well, to be honest I think it’s been dragging by quite slowly.” I giggled at Tom’s mock shocked expression! “My love! You wound me so!” we both laughed again. This was what should have told me if it had been Tom, in my dreams caused by Discord, I had been made to feel miserable and to harbour hate. But Tom had never made me feel like that in life, this was how he always made me feel; warm, content and happy. We grew quiet, and he looked at me with those eyes I could fall in love with a hundred times and still find something new within them. “I love you Dash, babe...have a great life! For me! Never give up. You are the greatest thing I ever had in my life. I want you to find something that means that much to you! Promice me you will!” I was confused. “What are you talking about? Are you leaving?” the room began to fade. But his smile still remained, that dazzlingly bright smile. His lips formed one last sentence. “I love you baby!” My eyes opened, and I looked to the ceiling of my bedroom. Still half in the world of the dream, I jumped out of bed and ran to the living room. “TOM?!” there was no response. I looked up to the mantle of the fireplace where Tom had sat. He wasn’t there. But there was the bottle. “Tom’s brand. Blended from 20 apples The Apple families homemade cider” It had been just over a month since Tom had died. And just over two weeks since Discord’s escape. Amazingly the Princess’s had forgiven me in an instant, and so had my friends. Discord had remained true to his word it seemed, there were no disturbances throughout the kingdom, it seemed he had been honest that he would wait until me and my friends had passed away before he started anything new. We had all returned to ponyville, and life had resumed soon enough. None of my friends bore any resentment to what I had done, they all knew it had been because of the Draconequus twisting my mind. I on the other hand hadn’t forgiven myself completely, I don’t think I ever truly will. All I could do is try and repent for my actions by helping the kingdom and my friends in every possible way. I had begun to speak with Luna through the occasional letter, every time i sent one I would apologise for my actions, and every time she replied she would ask me to stop. Pinkie had been right that day, Luna was a wonderful pony! There was no trace of the dreaded Nightmare Moon anymore, she was just a kind and loving princess, just like her sister. I took the bottle from the mantle. In my dream Tom had been right. Twelve months, a year. It had passed way too quickly. I opened the bottle, the fizzy liquid hissed as the gas escaped the glass. I smelled it, it was sweet. I took a sip, though the liquid was cold, it warmed my insides as it touched my stomach. Sweat, and left me feeling warm inside. This bottle had been correctly named. It was just how Tom had made me feel inside when he hugged me, kissed me or even just spoke to me. I moved over to the window, and looked out into the sky. Maybe it had been just a dream, or maybe it was Tom’s spirit saying one last goodbye, but Tom had asked me to find something I loved as much as he had loved me. I drank from the bottle, and looked at a particularly circular looking cloud. It resembled a hoop, almost as though the sky was showing me the path I should take, all I had to do was pass through that first ring! My wings twitched, they longed to feel the air beneath their feathers again. If there was something out there I could love that much, it would be up there in the sky where I belonged. The nightmare was over, discord was out there but he had said he would not be bothering us for around a hundred years, for now there was peace. For now there was harmony. I finished the bottle and placed it on the table, I snorted. “Since when did I get so sappy!?!” I spread my wings and beat them hard, launching myself out through the open window and into the sky. I was free again, lifted from my grief and guilt, at least for a little while. The sky was a deep blue, the same as Tom’s eyes. Thank you, for everything. I’ll always love you, and I’ll live my life for the both of us! The speed made my eyes water, the air around me seemed to bend. Sparks seemed to emit from my outstretched hooves. With a deafening BOOM the air around me exploded, and all over Ponyville a rainbow spread across the sky as the sonic rain boom propelled me through the sky. I love you...Tom, and I will forever. END I hope you enjoyed this story, hopefully you found the sad parts just as tear jerking as I did when i wrote them! thank you all for supporting the story!