Twilight stood on the edge of a steep cliff.
Below her, lying broken on the ground, were her ponyville friends.
As she looked down she thought to herself, *I can't stand it anymore.*
Without thinking she stepped off the cliff and closed her eyes.
--
Only to wake up in her Canterlot suite.
She looked around for something to do to get her mind off of the dream, but the room was very utilitarian.
The only things that she could do were sleep, pace, sit on a sofa or write something.
Twilight did not want to go back to sleep for fear of more horrific dreams manifesting themselves. She also did not want to pace or sit on a sofa as those would allow her time to think, so she picked up a well used quill and started writing.
#A detailed history of Equestria by Twilight Sparkle
#Section One - Canterlot
#Chapter One - The founding.
The history of the famous Unicorn City came to her easily as she sat there, and word flew off the quill onto the waiting paper.
She continued writing for several hours, but after only completing one chapter she soon gave up.
Relaxing back in her chair she allowed her eyes to slowly close on the world around her.
Leaning back she felt as if she was sinking into the leather of the chair
--
Twilight sat at the dinner table in the home she grew up in.
Sitting around the table, making idle conversation, was her family.
Her brother and father were chatting about the next weeks Thunderbowl match and arguing over who was the better team in the next game.
"The Canterlot Cruisers are sure to win. They have Storm Mane as the quarterback," Twilights father was saying.
"Na-uh. The Crystal Empire Crushers will win by a land slide. Stronghoof is playing again. He just recovered from a wing injury and is ready to kick some flank!" Shining Armour countered.
"Wanna bet?"
"Name it."
"Boys, boys. Not at the dinner table," Twilight's mother scolded. "You know its rude to argue."
They both looked at her and apologized.
Twilight and her mother exchanged a quick glance and then burst out laughing.
Twilight couldn't contain her laughter. "Ha! You should see the looks on your faces!"
The males looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Eventually they all settled down and waited while Twilight and her mother went and fetched the food.
As they were bringing the food out they heard a thud and Shining call to them, "Mum, Twily! Dad's collapsed!"
Twilight and her mother dropped the plates of food and ran to her father's side.
Her mother looked at Shining, "Call the medics."
When Shining didn't move she shouted, "NOW!"
Shining ran out of the room to fetch some paramedics.
"Twilight. Help me roll him onto his side. We need to get him in the recovery position." She looked at Twilight who was frozen, staring at her father lying on the floor, slowly turning red in the face.
"I can't roll him over myself. He's too heavy," her mother said, looking at Twilight longingly.
A purple aura surrounds the figure on the floor and gently rolls the pony onto his side, with his hind legs curled up and his forelegs stetched out at a roughly 90 degree angle to the rest of his body.
As she stood there, Twilight looked down at her fathers reddening face and began to panic as his breathing became labored.
His breathing was erratic and she was scared that every time he stopped breathing he wouldn't start again.
Shining Armour came back into the house with a worried look on his face.
"The paramedics are on their way, but the dispatcher says we need to roll him onto his back and perform CPR. Two breaths for every 100 compression's, whatever the hell that means."
"Twilight, help me roll him onto his back," Twilight hears her mother say. She quickly re-positions her father using magic and moves the chairs and table out of the way to clear a path for the medics.
While Twilight does this, her mother has moved over to her father and is quickly, but steadily pumping her hoofs into his chest near his heart, in order to keep it beating.
She counts quietly and when she reaches one hundred she reaches down and pinches her husbands nose and opens his mouth. She moves her mouth down to her husbands and blows air into his lungs. She does this once more before beginning the compression's again.
They hear a wheezing noise coming from the pony on the ground and they realize that he is fighting to keep his breathing going, but his face is still slowly going red.
"Is he going to be okay? What happened? Why did this happen right before Hearts Warming Eve?" Shining Armour ask, tears running down the sides of his face.
Twilight just stands there, staring blankly into space as she holds her fathers legs apart with her purple magic aura.
The medics arrive shortly after in an ambulance and they quickly hurry inside and set up their fancy equipment that will help them to stabilize the patient.
Twilight moves out into the hallway to give the medics some room.
Her body is buzzing for no apparent reason.
Feeling the buzzing in her legs, her torso, her head and her rump she quickly lies down and breathes deeply, trying to get rid of the strange feeling.
Shining is also out in the hallway, but he has a totally different react than Twilight.
He is sobbing into his mothers shoulder while she comforts him, patting him on the back, calming him down with soothing words.
Twilight stares at the roof and feels tears start to form in her eyes. She wants to brush them away, but she doesn't have the energy. All of the energy she has left is channeled into keeping her breathing steady.
When she feels the buzzing has decreased enough she quietly stands and walks to her room.
It is only a short walk down the hall before she opens the door and flops down onto her freshly made bed.
Trying not to cry only makes matters worse and she cries even more.
Once her crying has subsided a little she moves to her desk and opens it.
Inside she finds some paper, a pair of scissors and a quill.
Levitating two of the items she walks over to her bed and plops herself down beside it, so her back is supported by the mattresses.
She quickly locates and teleports her bin next to her and opens the lid.
Taking the paper in her hoof, she cuts it into strips and quickly snips at it to create tiny segments, which fall into the bin.
She does this for a while before her mother walks in and stands next to her and places a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
"We have to be strong, sweetheart," her mother says as Twilight cries into her forelegs.
Twilight slowly stopped her sobbing and looked down at her hooves. "I'm trying, Mum. I'm really trying." Her sobbing starts again, quieter than before.
"I know, sweetie. We all are," her mother replied, smoothing Twilight's mane with her hoof.
--
The chair beneath her creaked as she leaned forwards over the desk.
Sitting on it was a letter, which she was sure she hadn't written.
On the front, in embellished lettering was her name.
She quickly tore it open to see what it contained.
When she turned it upside down a letter and a fabric web in the shape of a circle fell out.
Opening the letter she quietly read the contents.
#My Dearest Twilight
#I see you are having nightmares. Enclosed is a Dream Catcher.
#It will catch the bad dreams and allow you to enjoy the good ones, but only if it is hung in a window.
#Please do this as I don't want you to fear the sweet embrace of sleep.
#It would be a shame if I could not see you happy, even it is only in your dreams.
#Your Faithful Partner
#Princess Luna
#P.S I hope to see you again tonight.
Twilight folded the letter and placed it in the top draw of the old Oak desk.
Walking over to the widow closest to her bed, she carried the Dream Catcher in a purple aura.
Reaching with her magic, she placed a pin in the string attached to the top of the Dream Catcher and rammed it into the top of the window frame, so that the dream catcher was hanging down in front of the window.
After this she climbed back into bed, because the sun was setting in the distance and the moon was slowly rising, just showing its bright face over the horizon.
Closing her eyes she hoped that the Dream Catcher would work, because if it didn't she didn't know what dreams were going to manifest themselves.