Twilight was about to ask Pinkie if she would have lunch with her when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." she said while using her magic to open the door for her.
There stood Fluttershy. The mare looked like she just finished crying her eyes out. She flew inside and zeroed in on Pinkie Pie, hugging the pink mare for her dear life.
"O-oh Pinkie!" Fluttershy sniffed as fresh tears rolled down her eyes "I-it was a-awful! I was inside this d-dark cave and Angel was there a-and my bear friends were also there!"
"There there Shy-Shy" Pinkie Pied cooed the yellow pegasus "Just let it all out."
Before Twilight could question Fluttershy about what was wrong, there was another set of knocks on her door.
Twilight narrowed her eyes, having a distinct feeling that this was going to be another problem needed fixing. Sure enough, her eyes widened when she saw the familiar form of her cyan pegasus friend standing at the other side of the door. To her expectation, the cyan mare was looking side to side warily, a clear sign of nervousness.
"Rainbow? What are you doing there knocking on the door?" She asked in bewilderment.
Rainbow Dash looked offended as she gave the purple unicorn a look. "What? Am I not allowed to visit the library unannounced?"
Twilight merely shook her head and smirked at the pegasus "It's not that. It's just that I'm used to you going through the window without my consent and messing up some of my bookshelves and not even apologizing about it."
Rainbow Dash blinked "Oh... I guess you're right." she then looked down and sighed "I would've done that if I was in a better mood."
Twilight immediately got the hint and once again narrowed her eyes. Huh, how many times had she done that today? Twilight shook her head. She was losing focus, again. She needed to remind herself to read a book about concentration.
"Rainbow" she said her friend's name slowly "Does this have anything to do with the dreams you recently had?"
Twilight's assumption was confirmed when she heard Fluttershy gasp from behind her and Pinkie had to calm the yellow pegasus down.
"H-how did you know about th-that?!" Rainbow stuttered as the purple unicorn got it in one go. How does that mare do it? Rainbow Dash thought. She never voiced it but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be as smart as Twilight Sparkle, to be able to answer complex riddles in a few minutes and, most importantly, able to do math.
Twilight just shook her head and motioned for the cyan pegasus to enter. She still didn't understand why some ponies had to wait by the door to be invited in. This was a library for Celestia's sake! "I didn't. Now, where was I? Oh yes. Rainbow, if you don't mind, please take a seat over there."
Twilight motioned Rainbow Dash to sit next to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, the latter was still hugging the daylights of the pink mare. Rainbow just shrugged and did what she was told. It was times like these that she wouldn't question anypony like Twilight Sparkle, most of the time. If it involved being experimented on, that's where she drew the line.
"Ok girls, raise your hoof if your answer to the question is yes, otherwise don't. Pinkie, I meant after I ask the questions. No, you don't need to ask permission to go to the bathroom. Well... I know it's rude to just up and go but... Ughh... fine."
"Ok, let's get this started then" Twilight each looked at the mares in front of her. Each of them had a look of uneasiness.
"Which of you here came to this library because you had a dream, specifically a nightmare?"
All of the three mares raised their hooves. Twilight Sparkle anticipated that.
"Which of you here first thought that those nightmares were real?"
Once again, all of them raised their hooves. Twilight Sparkle still anticipated that but she was also feeling uneasy all of a sudden.
"Lastly, which of you here saw themselves do something that they could never imagine ever doing?"
This time, only two hooves rose. Twilight looked towards Rainbow and noticed that she had her eyes closed shut and she was shivering in fear. Twilight Sparkle blinked at that, that she didn't anticipate.
"Dashy? What's wrong?" Pinkie asked worriedly, her usually bright poofy mane was now flat and a bit darker. Hmm... interesting... Pinkie seems to change color depending on her mood and her mane deflates if she was sad enough. Twilight speculated while the others were distracted by how Rainbow was acting. Note to self, ask Pinkie about strange changes after fixing these problems.
Rainbow Dash breathed "I'm good. The reason I came here is because I had a nightmare but not the ones that you mentioned Twilight. My nightmare was worse than that."
Rainbow Dash proceeded to explain to the others about what she dreamed while taking a nap, in detail. When she finished, she gazed at every occupant in the room, trying to see how they reacted. It didn't even surprise her to see Fluttershy dropped down on the floor with her hooves covering her face, she could also hear her yellow friend crying.
She then turned her gaze towards Twilight and noticed that she had a noticeable frown on her face. She didn't know what the purple unicorn was thinking but that didn't really matter since she never did understand half of the things that came out of her egg-headed mouth. Not to mention she was probably thinking of things to ask her on how these dreams emerged, not that she had any ideas anyway.
Finally, she turned last occupant in the room, a pink mare who was surprisingly quiet for a 24-hour party pony. To say that she was surprised to see the expression on Pinkie's face was like saying that Fluttershy was just mildly scared of her own shadow. The pink party pony didn't show any emotion at all. Pinkie was just staring at her with blue eyes that was so cold that she could freeze the lake without even trying. What made it even more uncomfortable was that the pink mare was just staring at her Not a single sound escaped from her lips. A shiver ran down the cyan pegasus spine as Pinkie kept staring at her, unblinking.
Before Rainbow Dash could voice out her concern, the four mares were suddenly engulfed in a bright light.
"Wh-what's happening?! Yoh Twilight, can you explain this?!"
"Oh my!"
"I don't have anything to explain this! I don't even have any idea what's happening! This does not compute!"
"Wheeeeee!" For some odd reason, Pinkie seemed to cheer up at the sudden events, even though the others were clearly panicking.
And just like how the light appeared, all of them vanished, not even leaving a trace that 4 mares just preoccupied the place.
Twilight groaned as she awoke with a start. Her head was pounding with a raging headache and she didn't had the strength in her to cure herself of the pain.
"Twilight Sparkle" said an elegant but authoritative voice "I know this is sudden but I am in need of your assistance"
Twilight started massaging her temples "Ow... Sure, just give me a minute to regain myself. I think my brain is about to burst."
"Apologies. It is my fault that you are in this predicament right now. Here, let me help you remedy of your pain."
Twilight could feel some kind of magic wrap around her head and soothed the throbbing of her head, it was somewhat familiar but at the same time it wasn't. She sighed in relief and finally started focusing on her surroundings. She was somewhere dark but she could still make out her surroundings. The walls had cracks in them. The windows were hastily covered with stones and planks of wood and the carpets adorning the floor were filled with scratch marks and holes. The place looked like a throne room or some sorts based from the size of it. She couldn't wrap her hoof around it but this place was kind of familiar for her. She raked her brain for answers but she got nothing.
Forgetting about the familiarity for a moment, she then shifted her focus on the other occupants in the giant room, mainly on her friends. All of them seemed to just woken up and, just like her, their heads were engulfed with the same light that teleported them to this place, which probably meant all of them also had raging headache.
It was then did the purple unicorn notice a solitary source of light. She turned her gaze towards the figure and gasped in shock in what, or who, she saw.
"It has been too long, my little one" said Princess Celestia in all of her glory, or what's left of them. The princess wasn't wearing her crown, for one, and she looked like she hadn't had a bath in a week.
"P-princess?! What happened to you?!" Twilight was so shocked at what she saw that she even forgot to bow to her and walked towards the princess.
As Twilight got closer, she couldn't help but gasp. The princess in front of her was not she was expecting to see in a lifetime. The princess' mane was disheveled, her body full of scratches and wounds and there was no calming aura around her.
Twilight hesitantly approached her teacher "H-how did th-this happen to y-you?!" she whispered
Without warning, the princess crouched down and hugged Twilight Sparkle as hard as she could. Her once beautiful wings, now broken and battered, wrapped around the purple unicorn like she would disappear any moment. Maybe Twilight was imagining it but she swore she saw a tear ran down from the princess' eye.
"P-princess?"
Princess Celestia rose and looked sadly at Twilight. "Oh little one, there is so much I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
Princess Celestia stared at the ceiling for a second before returning her focus on Twilight "Don't worry, my little one. All your questions would be answered. I know this is all confusing but please bear with me for a minute."
Celestia looked behind Twilight and smiled a little "After everypony else regains their consciousness, of course."
Twilight raised an eyebrow "Everypony else? I thought my friends were awake."
Before Princess Celestia could answer, groans could be heard behind the confused purple unicorn. When she turned around, instead of just three mares there was an additional number ponies with them.
Four stallions in fact.