I would love to say that I handled the reporters quite well. I would love to say that I don’t have to deal with them again. However, if I did, I would be a liar. Reporters would swarm me whenever I leave the castle. It came to the point where my foster mother had to assign a few guards to me to guard me from them. Thankfully, I don’t have to leave the castle to keep in touch with my friends in Ponyville thanks to a spell that I’m learning. However, the spell takes a lot out of me whenever I cast it. Because of this, I’m predicting that it’ll be a couple of months before I can cast it without any problems.
“Ok, lets try this again,” my foster mother started. We’ve been at this for a few hours, with each attempt ending in failure or burnt scrolls. First, I imagined the target, my foster mother. Next, I started to pour magic into the scroll while casting the spell at the same time. The end result was, unfortunately, a burnt scroll, which was confirmed when I got no message back. Sighing, I got another scroll and continued to practice. Five more attempts later, I finally got a message back.
‘I got it’ was all it said.
Smiling to myself, I whispered “Yes” before fainting from exhaustion.
I took a look around me and saw a city made from crystals. As I was about to go explore, something picked me up off the ground and held me close. As I struggled to get out, I could hear familiar voices yelling to let me go before everything melted into shadows.
What I saw next nearly drove me to tears. It was something I wished I never had to relive again. I saw myself walking through the castle like I usually did in the morning when I was ambushed by several nobles.
“Let's see you mother protect you now,” one of the nobles said. I suddenly felt a huge burst of pain flare through my wings as they were ripped off, blood pouring out of the wounds left behind. I kept shouting for them to stop but to no avail. After a few minutes of torture, I notice Blueblood trot up to me.
“You don’t deserve to be a princess,” he said before raising a knife to stab me. With tears flowing down my face, I closed my eyes and braced for the pain.
“Sunny?” A regal sounding voice said.
Opening my eyes, I noticed that Blueblood was gone, along with the rest of the scene. While I looked around in confusion, I heard the soft sound of wings flapping and a soft ‘thud’ behind me. Turning around, I was greeted with the sight of Aunt Luna. Still crying, I buried my head into her fur while Luna stroked my mane.
“It’s ok,” she tried to reassure me, “it was only a nightmare.” Her attempts to soothe me were in vain as all it did was cause me to cry even harder. Five minutes of crying and attempts to soothe my terror later, I finally stopped crying.
“T-thank you, Luna,” I managed after I calmed down enough, T-thank you for coming when you did.”
“Tis-It’s no problem,” she corrected herself, “If it meant to save you, I would of gone to tartarus and back.,” she said with a smile. It was so infectious it caused me to forget the nightmare for a moment, long enough to smile.
“Once again, thank you,” I thanked once again, “Now that I know it was a dream, I can take it from here.” Sadly, I didn’t have time to mess around in my dream because it started to fade.
“Ugh, why did I have to wake up now?” I complained to myself after I shot up into a sitting position.
“And let you still experience that nightmare?” a voice said, “Why would I do that to my own niece?”
“Good morning, Aunt Luna,” I greeted while I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. When I finally did, I noticed that I was in a hospital room...again. “Ok, what happened this time?” I asked bluntly.
“Magic exhaustion,” my aunt explained, “You overdid it when you was practicing that spell. You weren’t even due to wake for another five days while you recovered.” Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to me, though if I wasn’t due to wake for another five days then it must’ve been bad
“How long was I out for?” I asked with curiosity.
“Almost a week.”
“A week?!” I yelled while trying to get up, only to be held down by my aunt’s magic.
“None of that,” she scolded, “You still need your rest, and you know it.”
“Yes Aunt Luna,” I sighed in defeat, knowing that she was right. I just rested back unto my stomach as I watched her leave the room.
For the next few hours, I tried to get back to sleep, but my body just refused to sleep. I would’ve used my magic to get one of the many books in my room, but I was under strict orders not to use my magic until I fully recovered. So I just laid there, doing nothing, for three long hours. Just when I thought that nothing exciting will happen, the door opened up to reveal six familiar mares and my mom.
“Hey....” I said in a bored voice.
“What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked, of course she would.
“Nothing, just bored,” I sighed.
“Couldn’t you use your magic?” I just shook my head.
“See this ring on my horn? The doctors put it on there because I kept using my magic,” I explained, “It prevents me from using my magic.”
“Why would they do that?” Fluttershy asked.
“That is because she is supposed to be resting,” my mom said, shooting a stern look my way, “After all, she is suffering from magic exhaustion still. Also, even though you have the intact mind of an adult, you act like a filly that is easily bored. Maybe I should treat you like one?” she mused. I instantly paled at the thought. That was not a good sign that she was having those thoughts. “If I catch you doing anything that can land you in the hospital, I will make sure you’ll never leave the castle when I’m not around to keep an eye on you. Do. You. Understand. Me?” she said in a stern voice that honestly scared me. Glupping, I nodded vigorously, fear clearly in my eyes.
Twilight decided at that moment to step in, “Princess, you need to give Sunny a break, after all, she has been through a lot as of late.”
Releasing a sigh, my mom said, “I suppose you’re right, but my notion still stands.”
Even with Twilight’s intervention, I was still shaking so much in fear that I could tear down a house as if I was a earthquake. I was so scared of my own mother that I ended up hiding under the covers like a scared foal. Only my tail was visible.
“Now look what you did,” Fluttershy said in a stern voice. Coming over to the side of the bed, she lifted the blanket to see me still shaking in fear. She then proceeded to try and calm me down, which worked to an extent, as I stopped shaking in fear. However, I still refused to come out from my soft hideaway.
When she asked why, all I would say was, “Not until she leaves.” My mom took the hint and left.
“She’s gone,” Fluttershy whispered to me, then with a warm smile she said, “You can come out now.”
Slowly, I made my way out from underneath the covers and saw that she was right. So I just rested on my stomach. Pinkie, being the mare that she is, tried to immediately cheer me up, an action that was mimicked by my other friends. However, no matter what they tried, they couldn’t get my spirits up.
A couple hours of futile attempts to cheer me up later, a doctor told my friends that I needed to get some rest if I was going to get better. This, in turn, got them to ask if they could stay with me through my recovery. The doctor, surprisingly, said yes! The reason? Because they were my closest friends, despite my (apparent) age. After getting everypony set up with sleeping bags, we all hit the hay for the night so I can get the much needed sleep that I was pulled from earlier today.