Dreams About Friendship Are Magic

by Soft Story


Chapter 1

Celestia stood completely still, with Spike balanced between her wings, as the large crowd of ponies gathered on the palace grounds cheered. She gave a soft sigh, turning her attention from the large crowd to the pony held in chains on the small stage with her, “Dream Wish, do you have any last words?”

This silenced the crowd. They all glared at the stallion. He didn’t look at Celestia, his gaze was unfocused looking out at the city in the distance, “I still believe what I did was right. That mare was trying to steal your throne.” This statement drew a huge round of booing and shouting from the crowd. Any further words the stallion had were lost to the noise.

Celestia walked a few paces away, and her horn glowed. There was a jolt of magic and the stallion collapsed. The crowds negative calls suddenly turned into cheering. Four unicorns dressed in Army Uniforms lifted the body and carried it off. Spike was still watching the body be carried away as Celestia headed for the palace door.

Just inside was a soft tan colored unicorn holding a clipboard in her magic, “Princess, the Griffon Embassy has sent you and Lady Sparkle a gift. It’s been put in her room.”

“Thank you, Jot Down,” Celestia said softly, not slowing her pace. When she felt Spike sit down on her back she asked, “How does it feel, Spike?”

The little dragon looked a little more lively than he had in the past year, “Good. It’s finally done. It’s been so long.”
Celestia nodded, “It has, but Twilight would never forgive me if we bypassed the rules. He had the right to those appeals and investigations.”

Jot Down flipped pages on her clipboard, she was trailing a few paces behind the Princess, “As per your wish the rest of your week is free of any items.” She stopped walking as the Princess approached the door that led to her bedroom. “Please let me know if there is anything we, the staff, can do. We all miss her.”

Celestia looked back and gave a very small smile, “Thank you. Tell the staff they can have tomorrow off. Everyone. The palace will be closed.”

Jot Down nodded, “Of course.”

Spike gave the friendly mare a small wave as he and Celestia walked into her room. The door closed quietly. Celestia’s usual bedroom had been renovated. One of the walls had been removed so that her room was open to the room next door, nearly doubling the space. Her huge bed was pushed back into the other room, where a sleeping purple unicorn currently laid, hooked up to all manner of magical and medical devices monitoring her condition. A smaller bed that Celestia now slept in was a few feet away from her old bed, and between the two beds was Spike’s basket. The other side of the room was a large work study so Celestia could watch Twilight while she worked.

Celestia approached the bed and looked down at Twilight. “It’s nearly been a year,” she said softly as Spike jumped from her back to the bed. “The doctors keep saying the same thing. There’s no change.”

Spike’s voice was firm, “She’ll wake up.”

“I’m starting to lose faith,” Celestia replied.

“It’s Twilight. You know she’s coming back. She’ll be upset if you’ve given up on her.” Spike sat down next to his friend and surrogate mother, “Or given up on Equestria.”

The Princess nodded, “Don’t worry, Spike. I’ll handle Equestria just fine.”

“I meant more how you’re handling international relations,” Spike commented, long ago the two had agreed to just be straightforward with each other. “You could at least let the Prime Minister visit Twilight. You know how close they are.”

Celestia sighed, “Very well. Next time he visits he can come see her.” She moved away from Twilight’s bed, her horn lighting up as she magically grabbed a book from the nightstand. She gently pulled herself into her own bed and opened the book to the page where she had left off earlier. She started to read aloud, reading to Twilight.

Spike, after a few minutes, silently got up and left, most likely to find lunch for himself and the Princess. Celestia continued to read, her gaze focused on the word in front of her to prevent herself from just watching Twilight sleep.

Several hours later, the sun nearly set, Celestia heard a sound she had not heard in a very long time. A soft groan. Twilight’s soft groan. The one she gave when she woke up, usually after pulling an all nighter. Celestia jumped up and looked to the bed next to her, sure enough, Twilight had moved slightly. “Twilight?”

The unicorn groaned again, “Five more minutes.”

A single tear rolled down Celestia’s cheek at the sound of Twilight’s voice, “Twilight. It’s me… Celestia. Can you hear me?”

Twilight’s eyes slowly opened, focused on Celestia’s face, “Mmmmrr.” The noise that she made wasn’t anything understandable, but it’s tone suggested that Twilight wasn’t really awake yet. “Princess…”

Celestia leaned down and hugged Twilight tightly, crying openly now. “Oh Twilight!”

The sound of her mentor crying was enough to get Twilight to wake up more, “W-what’s wrong?”

“I’m so glad you’re awake!”

With Celestia practically laying on her, and with that ethereal mane waving about randomly, Twilight couldn’t see anything. She spared a single moment to examine the amount of medical devices attached to one of her legs, recognizing most of them. She felt no discomfort from their presence and left them alone, knowing better than to mess with medical equipment. Instead, she focused on the fact that Celestia was openly weeping and clinging to her in a manner unbecoming of a Princess. “What’s wrong? What happened?” Twilight asked again.

Celestia pulled away, just looking into Twilight’s eyes. They sat that way for nearly a minute before Celestia finally said, “I’m so sorry, Twilight. I should have insisted you take a guard with you. Especially after we received the threats.”

Twilight quickly thought back to her past few weeks. They had gone to the Crystal Empire to meet Ms. Harshwhinny, and they had helped reform Discord. Before that Dash had gone off to the Wonderbolts Academy, and there was that issue with Trixie, but Twilight couldn’t think of anything that came with threats.

“What threats?” Twilight asked, a confused look on her face.

Celestia gasped slightly, “You don’t remember what happened?” Twilight shook her head no. “Dream Wish, the stallion that had been pestering you about your position, cursed you. You fell into a coma because he cast it improperly. Thankfully, that is. It would have killed you outright had he any skill in cursing.”

Twilight blinked and slowly worked through that. She knew of some curses, but not any that could just kill a pony. More importantly, she didn’t know any stallion by the name of Dream Wish, let alone one who wanted to kill her. “I don’t remember Dream Wish at all. Or any curses… How long have I been in a coma?”

“A little over 11 months, it’s nearly been a year,” Celestia said softly. “Spike and myself have been taking care of you.” She gestured to the other bed in the room.

“How are my friends doing? Did he curse them too?” Twilight asked, looking around at all the magical and medical devices around her bed. The room looked like one of the palace rooms, but not any she had been in before. She could clearly see where they had taken out a wall to make the room larger as well. When she looked back at Celestia she was greeted by a very confused look.

Celestia just looked at Twilight before softly asking, “Friends?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said cautiously. “From Ponyville?”

Another awkward pause, Celestia’s confusion still plastered on her face, “I didn’t know you went to Ponyville. When was this?”
It was Twilight’s turn to look confused, “What do you mean? You’re the one who sent me there… At the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Right at that moment the door opened and Spike walked in, followed by the doctor who had been attending to Twilight. The two stopped mid-step and gasped. “Twilight!” The doctor rushed over, “How long has she been awake?”

Celestia jumped back, not wanting to get in his way, “Only a few minutes. I was just about to summon you. She doesn’t remember the attack.”

The doctor began examining Twilight and the machines around the bed. “That’s not uncommon for ponies who suffer mental trauma. She might remember in the future, or she might never remember it. All that matters is that she survived it.” After a few more minutes of examination he smiled, “Well, her readings are mostly normal. Obviously I don’t think she should jump up and get back to work for a few days at minimum.”

Celestia nodded, “Of course. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

The doctor turned and headed back for the door, “Very well. I’ll check back in tomorrow at a more reasonable time. Good night, Princess. Good night, Lady Sparkle.”

Spike quickly climbed up onto the bed and hugged Twilight tightly, “Oh Twilight! I’m so glad you’re awake! I’ve missed hearing your voice and it’s just not the same without you!”

Twilight hugged him back, but looked to Celestia, “Princess, what’s going on? Why don’t you remember sending me to Ponyville to stop Nightmare Moon?”

Celestia and Spike shared a look before asking in unison, “Nightmare Who?”