//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: Sweet Paranoia // Story: The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee // by FlanChan //------------------------------// The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee Chapter 26: Sweet Paranoia Sunlight streamed through the glass window overlooking the town, landing on dark blue covers lazily. The blankets shifted around, the bed’s occupant unwilling to rouse from her slumber despite how high the sun was in the sky. Her fumbling around only made matters worse, however, because her new position forced sunlight straight into her eyes. With a huff, she threw the covers off of her, sitting upright and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She opened her eyes lazily, giving her mind a moment to adjust. Around her were bookcases lining the walls. The wooden posts on her bed framed the door a few feet away, and she could just see her stairs leading down to the main level of her house. She turned her head and eyed the window, wishing that the curtains would close so she wouldn’t be so bombarded by the sudden brightness. Other than that, everything was just as she had left it. Twilight’s eyes flew open, any trace of sleep still wrapping her mind disappearing instantly. She surveyed the room again with her more alert perspective. This room wasn’t alien to her. Quite the opposite was true. She knew her bedroom like the back of her hoof. The eerie thing was, things were exactly as she had left them. The knot of dread in her stomach grew tighter, her eyes flicking over to the wall calendar she had hanging beside her bed. But there was no way… Although she thought she had forgotten everything from before, now that she was in it she remembered instantly. And this day’s date wasn’t one that was about to slip her mind anytime soon. She had just awoken on the same day that Emerald Joy cast the happiness spell on the rioting citizens. Maybe time had gone back somehow, she could stop everything before it started? It sounded like something that would happen to her at this point. Her mind wrapped up in her racing thoughts, Twilight’s attempt to climb out of bed proved difficult. However, she did succeed in falling out of bed. She landed with a dull thud which, after all she had been through, hardly felt like anything. After lifting her head off of the floor and regaining her bearings, she peered down at a piece of paper underneath her. It appeared to be a newspaper marked for yesterday’s date. She eyed it questioningly, pulling it out from underneath her. The cover article in particular grabbed her attention, not because of what it was about, but because of what it implied. Apparently the day before had been the summer solstice, and they threw a big party for Princess Celestia, which was only natural since she was the Princess of the Sun. But why would they throw a party for her? Didn’t everyone despise her leading them along with Princess Luna? Twilight could only guess that something like that was also Koishi’s doing, or at least Emerald Joy’s. But that wasn’t the main question at hand. Something else tugged at her attention. Did this mean that all of that conflict was just a dream? Everything pointed to that answer, and the more she thought about it, the more she began to accept it. After all, didn’t it go that whenever you died in a dream, you woke up? Dreams always were able to seem quite long, after all. Still, something in the back of her mind told her that it must have happened. She could find evidence for both theories, really, but considering she had only been awake for ten minutes, there were a lot more places she needed to look at before she could decide which theory was the truth. At the current moment, she wanted the dream theory to be true. Just so she could be with everyone again, it would be wonderful… But she needed evidence first, which she would only be able to find if she got outside and could talk to ponies. She moved through her house on instinct, retracing the path to the front door like she had done so many times in the past that it felt like yesterday. Maybe it was because it was just yesterday? Of course, she was also formulating a new theory that she had gone insane and could very well actually be in a mental hospital right then, but that one was more to humor herself than anything else. Even though she knew she had to consider every possibility, something like that was just ridiculous. Wasn’t it? She opened her front door, finding that her magic now worked completely fine, only to hear an unexpected thud as the wood swung into something. Or rather, someone. Twilight gasped and looked down to see Pinkie Pie lying on the ground, her forehead a bit red. “Hey, Twilight! That’s no way to treat your friends!” she whined, though there was a hint of humor in her voice. “O-oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Twilight stammered, offering to help her up with an extension of her hoof. “It’s fine, it’s fine! You worry too much!” she replied, following her sentence up with a good natured laugh. Twilight smiled, her face softening for a moment, but then she remembered her situation and stood alert again. “How is everyone?” she said with a sudden urgency in her voice, grabbing Pinkie’s hooves in her own to draw her in closer. “You mean the girls? They’re awesome!” “No, I mean everyone! Like, all of the citizens! Are they alright?” She shook her friend for emphasis. “Gee, I may be friends with everypony in town, but I’m not a mind reader!” Pinkie laughed that cheerful, casual laugh of hers again. “But since when were you the type to worry about everyponyin the universe? I mean, I know that you worry a lot, but you’re really taking things to the next level today!” “How are the princesses? Are they fine, too?” “Did you just get out of a thousand year coma or something? Of course they’re alright! Are you gonna ask me what year you’re in next, or how technology works?” Pinkie seemed suddenly fixated on the thought that Twilight was a time traveler, and rattled off a few more things. Twilight was so happy to see her again that she almost kept from spacing out. Almost. “...and that’s what sour cream is for! And—hey, are you listening?” Twilight snapped to attention. “Huh? Yeah, I was just… thinking,” she admitted, her gaze drifting downwards. “Ooh, what about? Is it something science related? Is it the reason ice is slippery?” Pinkie asked. Twilight laughed wearily. She really missed Pinkie Pie’s hyperactive nature, even though she used to get increasingly annoyed with it. “No, nothing like that. I’m just… happy that I can be with you here is all.” Twilight smiled knowingly, her eyes glittering with the formation of tears that she tried her hardest to suppress. She hoped that Pinkie didn’t notice. “There you go again, being all mysterious, huh?” she giggled. “That’s Twilight for you!” She poked Twilight on the end of her nose and laughed. “Oh! That’s right, I came here to ask you something! Well, not really ask, more like chaperone. Or maybe escort?” “What’s this about?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “We’re having a picnic today, remember? All six of us!” “Oh! Right, sorry, it totally slipped my mind!” Twilight laughed. She decided just to roll with everything so she could slowly readjust to her normal life, without causing any sort of unrest with her talk of what she had been through. Or imagined she had been through. Either way. “Well, come on! The girls probably have everything set up by now!” Pinkie urged. She bolted away suddenly, and Twilight could assume that she was supposed to go after her. There wasn’t any chance that she was going to follow at the same breakneck speed, though. Rather, she walked at a fairly casual pace, taking in the sights of her hometown that felt so strangely nostalgic. The smell of flowers and fresh produce wafted through the midday air, the streets busy with people going about their daily business. The cobblestone underfoot felt so natural, and Twilight couldn’t believe how much she missed feeling it. The market wasn’t terribly busy, just a few customers flowing between the stalls. She knew that things always seemed more valuable once they were gone, but she never thought that even a walk could become invaluable. “Alright, fine, we can stop and smell the roses,” Pinkie huffed, falling back into pace with her friend. She did literally that as they passed by a flower cart, much to Twilight’s amusement. They passed through undisturbed, and soon the crowd and pavement faded into a grassy knoll. She could make out Rainbow Dash and Applejack laying out the blanket over the grass, Rarity unloading silverware, and Fluttershy arranging a bouquet of flowers into a little glass vase to use as a centerpiece. A few baskets of food lay to the side, with presumably the usual picnic foodstuffs inside. Pinkie Pie ran ahead excitedly, waving her hooves and shouting to draw the others’ attention, but Twilight stayed behind for a bit. She took in the smell of the grass and the ambient noise of nature around her. A gentle breeze wafted by, sweeping some stray hairs out of her face. A few tears fell down her cheeks. The friends that she had been fighting for, the life that she had been fighting for, the hope that she had been fighting for, was all finally there. There was no more fighting. Surely, that was true happiness.