“H-hello?”
Marble Pie looked around, her head on a swivel. She was standing in the front yard of their house. It was freezing cold outside and the snow reached up to her knees. She had nothing on and she was shivering, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from her fear.
Everything was quiet, save from the wind howling around her. The front door hung loosely from its top hinge, the bottom half laying in splinters on the floor. Most of the windows were broken, and the roof had several holes in it.
“Anyone t-there?” she stuttered. She couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering. She walked through the snow as she looked around, trying to find her daddy. He was her rock, her island in the ocean. She felt safe whenever she was around him, and she knew that he would be able to solve any problem, but... he was nowhere to be found.
She made her way back to the house. Her hooves were so cold that she couldn’t feel them anymore. She gingerly stepped over the broken bits of the door, taking care to not bump her head on what little there was left of it. Marble Pie checked the small kitchen first, and when she didn’t find anypony, she felt her stomach tighten as her worries grew. She turned back around and trotted up the stairs, and when she reached the top, she paused to rub her legs together to try and warm them up.
They stayed freezing cold.
She checked her bedroom, praying that she’d find one of her sisters. Pushing open the bedroom door, all it took was one quick glance to see that there was nopony there. Her bedroom was completely empty, and all the furniture was gone. She whined pitifully and turned to look at her parents’ bedroom door. For some reason it was shut tight. It was never like that.
Marble Pie bit her bottom lip as she hesitantly walked up to the door. She laid her hoof against it, then pushed. The door creaked as it slowly swung open, but instead of finding her parents, all she found was an empty room. Like her bedroom, all of the furniture was gone. Her ears flicked back as she closed her eyes tightly, for her fears had been proven true.
She had been left behind.
A loud, sharp noise from downstairs startled her, making her jump up in the air in fright. But instead of landing back down on the floor, she found herself back in her bed, under the sheets. Her forehead held beads of sweat on it, and even though she had her only hoofed pajamas on, she still felt a little cold.
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she remembered her dream. She’d had the same nightmare four nights in a row and it always played on her greatest fear: being left all alone.
Marble Pie curled up into a ball as she pulled her teddy bear up to her. She buried her face into his soft chest, silently wishing that he was a lot bigger. She wanted nothing more than to be held, to be comforted, and to be told that everything was going to be alright. She knew how much her parents hated being woken up in the middle of the night, and because of that, she hadn’t gone to seek comfort from them for the past few nights.
But tonight, that was going to change.
Holding her precious teddy bear tightly against her breast, she slipped out of the bed, taking care to not disturb her three sisters. She walked out of the room on three hooves, taking extra care to make sure that their bedroom door didn’t squeak all that loudly. Marble Pie tried to hold back her tears, but as she remembered her nightmare, she felt her cheeks dampen. As she walked down the hall, she wiped her eyes with a hoof but the tears kept flowing.
Just like in the dream, she pushed her parents’ bedroom door open, but instead of finding an empty room, she found her parents asleep in their beds. She felt a modicum of relief even as her tears flowed down her cheeks. Marble Pie stepped up to her daddy’s bed and lifted a hoof to nudge him awake. Though just as her hoof was about to touch his back, she paused. She didn’t want to anger him, but... she needed comforting.
She turned to her mother’s bed and propped herself up, laying her forelegs on the edge of the bed. Her tail flicked from side to side as she hoped her mother wouldn’t be angry from her waking her up. She laid her head on the bed between her hooves and eyed her teddy bear. It just smiled back at her, giving her a small boost in confidence, just what she needed. With a nervous whine, she poked her mother’s side then yanked her hoof back.
Her mother woke up with a small groan and cracked open an eye. “What... do you... want?” she croaked out.
“I... I had a nightmare, Mommy...” Marble Pie whispered, keeping her voice as soft as she could for her father. She glanced down to the side for a moment, then flicked her eyes back up at her mother, silently pleading with her. “I... um....”
“Just go back to... bed, Marble.” Her mother rolled over and groaned, then tucked the sheets back in around her. “You know your father and... I hate being disturbed.”
“I... I’m sorry,” Marble Pie whispered. She let her forelegs fall back to the floor, then sullenly walked out of the bedroom, her head held low. She closed the door and slowly walked back to her bedroom, her tears flowing freely down her face.
Opening her bedroom door a little harder than she meant to, she couldn’t stop it from hitting against the wall. She cringed from the sound, praying that she didn’t wake anypony up. With a heavy heart, she walked back over to the bed and slipped under the covers. She laid her head back down on the pillow, then reached for her teddy bear. Nothing but empty space met her hooves. A pit of worry grew in her stomach as she flipped over, trying to find it. But then, she remembered where it was.
She had left her precious teddy bear on her mother’s bed.
A sob escaped her lips as she curled up into a ball once more. She couldn’t risk going back into her parents’ bedroom, especially now that her mother was probably still awake. Marble Pie didn’t want to risk her mother’s wrath from disturbing her a second time, making her realize that she was going to have to sleep without her teddy bear for the first night in years.
The pillow soaked up her tears for a good couple of minutes until she heard the bedroom door click shut. She stopped crying for just a moment, then opened her eyes. Pinkie Pie stood before her, holding her teddy bear in an outstretched hoof.
Marble Pie let a small smile slip on her face as she snatched her teddy bear from Pinkie’s hoof. She snuggled with it ferociously for a few moments, then looked back at her sister. “Th-thanks, Pinkie... how’d you k-know?”
“I... kinda saw you leave and come back without it.” Pinkie Pie clambered on the bed and lay down next to her, right on the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong, sis?” She rubbed Marble’s shoulder with a hoof.
Marble Pie blinked back her tears, then wiped them away with a hoof. “I... I keep having a nightmare where you, Mom, Dad... everypony is gone. All of the furniture is gone, and I keep feeling like—”
“Like you’re all alone?” Pinkie asked softly. “Nopony deserves to feel that way! Come here!” She twirled her hoof in the air.
Marble Pie didn’t know what she was talking about for a second, but then it hit her: Pinkie wanted her to roll over. Holding onto her teddy bear, she rolled over and scooted closer to her other sister, trying to give Pinkie a little bit more room. The bed was cramped, but since they were all fillies, it was big enough for the three of them to lay side by side with a little bit of room left in between.
She felt Pinkie Pie snuggle up against her back. She blushed and smiled a little bit as she felt her sister’s warmth seep into her onesie, purging the cold from her coat. Pinkie laid a hoof over her side, then wrapped it just under where her forelegs met her body. She felt her sister lay one of her hind legs over her flank, then felt her flick her tail around her rear end.
“You’ll never be alone when I’m here, Marble, don’t you ever forget that. And also, don’t forget that you can’t get nightmares if you’re snuggling!” Pinkie said, trying to sound as optimistic as she could while keeping her voice soft enough so she didn’t wake up the other two ponies in the bed.
Marble Pie lifted her head from her pillow to look over her shoulder. “R-really?”
Pinkie giggled, then said, “Well... I just know that whenever mommy snuggled with me when I was really young, I never had nightmares because she was there right next to me. She told me she would fight off the evil nightmares when they came to haunt me, and... I never had a nightmare. So... I’ll do the same for you. That’s what sisters do, right? They look out for each other.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then rubbed Marble’s side with a hoof.
“Thanks,” Marble Pie mumbled. “I love ya, sis.” Sleep tugged at her weary mind. Her teddy bear was nestled right under her chin, held tightly against her.
“I love you, too, Marble... Now get some rest, okay?” She lay her head down, tucking Marble’s head into the crook of her neck.
“Okay... thanks...” she whispered.
“Nooooooo problem...” Pinkie whispered back with a light squeeze.