//------------------------------// // Gone in the Night // Story: Gone in the Night // by SevenSwiftScribes //------------------------------// That flash of light. It filled all of my vision for what seemed like millennia before I woke with a start. I get up throwing my sweat soaked covers to the side, still shaken by the nightmare I've had every night for a week now. "Ha! If Luna truly can go into ponies dreams then why doesn't she stop me from having the same nightmare all the time?"I joke halfheartedly as I walk towards the bathroom. "Or maybe if I hadn't been so selfish back there I wouldn't need to worry about having that nightmare at all." I try to clear my thoughts as I start taking a shower to rid my coat of the salt and stickiness that remain from last night. But even as I try to wash away the reminders I can't stop thinking of the nightmare I just had, Of the pain in my heart, and the sorrow I wallow in on a daily basis. Although I now it truly isn't my fault I can't help but feel responsible in some part of what happened to one of my best friends, NO, my best friend. "I'm such an idiot! Why did I have to be thinking about cider instead of what she was trying to tell me!" I yell at myself as I begin to sob uncontrollably. For a while I just sit there crying with the water hiding the tears rolling down my face. It wasn't till I couldn't cry anymore that I step out of the shower in order to carry on with the rest of my miserable day the only way I knew how now-a-days. The flight down to twilight's library was uneventful, no surprise due to how it's become a common practice in the past week or so. I knock on the door and walk in before anyone has a chance to answer. Why wait when I know that twilight isn't going to answer it anyway? "Twilight you in here?" I don't even know why I ask, she normally doesn't leave the library as is and she definitely hasn't left since that day. Well at least not in the day. "Yeah, I'm here,"she calls out from her kitchen. the first thing I notice as I walk into the small kitchen slash dinning room are the three plates set on the table. It seems that I'm not the only one that's gotten used to this routine. "Mornin' Rainbow!" "Good morning spike. What are ya cooking today." I respond to the eager dragon. Has twilight not told the little guy? Or is he trying to keep his mind off of it? Either way he has to have noticed the drastic change in twilight's mood. "Pinkie pie's super special breakfast muffins. I thought they could help brighten the mood a little bit." Yeah he's definitely noticed, but how could you not? Out if the five of us Twilight is the only one I can truly say feels guiltier than I do about what happened to Fluttershy. She can't stop talking about how she never tried to use that spell, and to tell you the truth I'm pretty sure my presence only makes her feel worse. "How are you Twilight?" "Absolutely terrible! I still couldn't find anything to fix it, and I fear that every moment that passes we lose her a little bit more!" "Calm down Twilight, I'm sure everything will turn out fine...it always does." I whisper the last part under my breath trying to keep myself from breaking down again. It feels like for now that tiny sliver of hope is the only thing that keeps me sane. I rush to comfort her as she begins to sob uncontrollably. "You need to take a break from all that reading for a while cause all it's doing is tiring you out." I feel a small amount of warmth swell up inside me as I hold Twilight's hoof in mine. I don't know why but for a split second I feel nothing at all, not pain, not sorrow, not even hope, just the warm touch of Twilight's hoof and the blood rushing to my cheeks. I pull away abruptly knocking a cup down from the table. The cup shattered when it hit the ground a small piece of glass cutting Twilight's leg. "Oh Buck! I'm so sorry Twilight it's just that . . ." "It's okay Rainbow it's just a small cut, nothing for you to worry about." as she said that I noticed her blushing slightly. "Uh . . . do you want me to help you clean that up spike?" I offer to help the baby dragon in order to avoid making eye contact with Twilight. I can't be thinking like that, not right now, not with her. We need to find a way to get her back, I can't start getting distracted. After I quickly cleaned up the mess I made we silently eat breakfast like we've gotten used to doing over the past week. "Thank you spike the muffins were amazing!" "Aww shucks Rainbow it's my pleasure to cook for you two." "That's why you're my number one assistant" she said with a chuckle. After a long day of studying up on all sorts of spells that could maybe be used to counteract the spell that was accidentally cast on Fluttershy with no real results, we returned to the kitchen to have lunch. This time it was just Twilight and I left to do the cooking as spike was helping Rarity and Sweetie Belle on a dress they where designing together. "Do really think we can turn her back. I've tried so many different spells and of them have worked I fear that she will eventually get too wild to even be able to attempt the spells on." "You've got to find a way, your a big important princess now. Plus you are like billion times smarter than any other pony I know so there's no way you can't fix this." and for once I actually do believe the words coming out of my mouth. "What if I can't fix this Rainbow. It'll all be my fault. I would have officially ruined one of my best friends lives and I can't live with that on my conscience!" I pull her close to me with my left wing, which at first felt kind of odd as she is ever so slightly larger than me, but then I felt a fire blaze in me as I got used to it. "Don't worry I'll make sure that Fluttershy will be okay, you know I'll never leave a friend hangen." the sight of a smile creeping onto Twilight's face reassures me that one day everything will be okay.