Blossom Heart opened her eyes to find a dark-colored ceiling, the same thing happened to her yesterday on a nightmare.
“No, not again please!” the Pegasi begged to nopony.
Her pulse increased as she got up from the cold ground and looked around, it was the same endless hallway from her last dream. Decayed chains were hanging from the ceiling and bloodstained hooks were scattered all over the floor. The distant sound of harrowing screams started ringing all around her. She knew what was going to happen next. A shadow appeared in front of her, it was another Pegasi.
“Dad, it’s all my fault isn’t it?” Blossom Heart shouted.
“Yes, and I hate you. Why did you just stood there and watched me die during the changeling attack?” His voice was deep and serious, the complete opposite of how her Dad talked.
“It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault,” the crying mare repeated to herself again and again. As she curled up in a fetal position.
Suddenly, she heard the wind coming through a window and the sound of singing birds outside. The mare finally opened her eyes, she was back to her bedroom, the nightmare was over once again.
------OO------
“For how long can I keep going like this?” she thought “I need to relax before I start breaking down.”
Trotting downstairs after getting off the bed, she came across the kitchen. Her mom, Aurora Skies, was the only pony at the table. Blossom Heart peered at the clock across the room, 6:30am.
“You woke up early today, have some coffee, I only made a little bit for me, but there should be enough for the both of us,” explained her mom.
After Blossom sat down, Aurora couldn’t help but notice the pale and distant expression on her daughter’s face.
“It’s the third time you have been looking like that every morning, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not fine, I’m starting to get worried.”
Blossom Heart finally got the courage to look directly into her mom’s eye.
“It’s just some nightmares, don’t worry about it,” exclaimed Blossom Heart.
“Ok then,” Aurora sorrowfully said. “I got a letter today, it’s from the university, the classes are starting today at noon. The building didn’t get damaged during the changeling raid three days ago, so yeah.”
“Can I skip class today?” Blossom Heart asked with no emotion in her voice.
Aurora Skies got surprised by her daughter’s request, she dreamed of becoming a lawyer since fillyhood, she studied a lot and never skipped classes.
“S-sure, soldiers are still guarding the streets, a lot of buildings are destroyed and most ponies will stay indoors for a while anyways.”
“I’ll just go to the park for a while,” Blossom Heart said. “I just need to take a walk.”
Before her mom could say anything, the mare walked out of the house.
“This has been going on for long enough, she needs help,” thought Aurora as she looked over the quill on the other side of the table.
------OO------
Luna
My daughter, Blossom Heart, has been suffering from nightmares since the changeling raid on Canterlot. It’s probably because of her Dad’s death during the attack, you are probably busy, especially on these last three days. If you have some spare time, please help my daughter, I can’t bear it anymore. She was so happy, so energetic. Now everything that I see is the pain on her face. I just want to have my daughter back.
Sincerely,
Aurora Skies
After reading the letter, Luna quickly teleported to Aurora’s house.
*Knock Knock*
Opening the door, Aurora was surprised to see Princess Luna at her doorstep, she was glaring down at the Pegasi.
“I got your letter, I presume you are Blossom’s mom?”
“Yes, thanks for taking your time to come here, Princess!”
“I must say, your family has an impressive military history, especially your husband. He would be a good Pegasi to the Wonderbolts, it’s a shame to see such a fantastic Royal Guard leave us like this. You also made a name for yourself in the intelligence group, didn’t you?”
Before Aurora could say anything else, Luna interrupted her.
“But, we should probably check on your daughter now.”
“Yes yes, come in, she is upstairs in her bedroom. She just got back from a long walk outside.”
Both mares sat down at the kitchen table, Luna looked at a clock across the room, It was exactly 6:00pm. The house was simple, but it had a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
“Good, night time is coming,” she mumbled to herself.
“So, what are you going to do?” asked Aurora.
“I need to know more about your husband, Blossom Heart is having those nightmares because of his death, just like you told me in the letter, but how did it happen exactly?”
“My poor filly was coming back from the university on the day of the attack, she was all by herself, I was already working with the intelligence team that day. Her father, Crystal Glow, was scouting the north part of Canterlot, when he got news about the attack, he quickly raced to Blossom Heart, she always takes the same way back home so it didn’t take long until he found his daughter. I rushed to her rescue as soon as I got the news too, but the changelings flanked them both before I got to the scene,” Aurora started to cry. “Then, my husband saw me, he threw Blossom Heart at my direction, telling me to ‘run away with her’ while he distracted the changelings. I managed to get the both of us to a safe location at the castle. But my husband-“
“You don’t have to tell me anything else,” interrupted Luna once again. “I need to get inside her dreams, can I sleep in your bedroom?”
Luna laid down on the small bed, Aurora sat down near the mattress, closely watching the Princess, it was 7:00pm and Blossom Hear was already sleeping, unaware of the Princess’s presence in her house.
“Are you going to be okay?” asked Aurora.
“Don’t worry, it’s not the first time I’ve done something like this,” reassured Luna.
And with a little bit of magic, she was inside Blossom’s nightmare.
------OO------
Luna wasn’t prepared to what would happen next, the long and dark hallway, the chains, the distant screams… Luna never entered such a terrible nightmare before.
“What in Equestria?” Luna mumbled to herself. “How am I suppose to find Blossom Heart around here?”
Luna started to walk down the hallway, she tried to block away the screams with her magic, to no avail. After an hour or so, the Princess was just about to give up. Then, she finally found the Pegasi. Blossom Heart was in the middle of the hallway, crying.
“Blossom Heart?” calmly said Luna, trying to not scare her away.
The Pegasi stopped crying for a second and looked back at Luna, the Princess noticed the distant look on Blossom’s face, her pupil was nothing than a small dot, and the edge of her eyes was red from all the crying.
“Your mother asked me to help you out,” said Luna.
“No, just let me suffer alone!” shouted Blossom Heart.
“It’s not your fault that your Dad died.”
“He died trying to save me, I should’ve run away when Canterlot was attacked, but I just stood there, petrified!”
“Your Dad knows you better than anypony else, he knew that you needed help, he died trying to protect something he loved.”
“But his shadow told me that he hated me!“
“The shadow is not your Dad, it’s just your mind playing with you!”
“How can you be so sure about that? If I wasn’t born in the first place, my parents wouldn’t have moved to Canterlot!”
“Look, I know you feel guilty, but you need to understand that it was his job as a parent to protect his daughter. Just imagine if you got killed then, your Mom and Dad would totally be heart broken!”
The expression on Blossom’s face started to change as Luna continued to talk.
“When Nightmare Moon took control of me, Celestia had no choice but to banish me to the moon, she thought everything was her fault for not taking take of me properly. I also felt guilty for making her pass through all this trouble,” Luna started to whimper. “But in the end, we both realized that deep inside, we still loved each other!”
The hallway started to light up, the screams in the distance stopped, and the bloody hooks faded away, revealing a more colorful and clean hallway.
Luna quickly hugged Blossom Heart, the Pegasi snapped out of her insane state, as she started to cry once again with the Princess. But this time, she was crying with happiness.
During the hug, a familiar voice echoed throughout the hallway. Blossom Heart recognized it immediately. The figure of a Pegasi started to appear in the distance. It was her Dad, he was shining like the stars on a cloudless night.
Blossom Heart could only hear some of the words coming from her deceased parent.
“I’m glad you’re okay, stay strong alright?”
And with a bright smile, he faded away.
------OO------
Aurora was watching Princess Luna for over an hour, she started to get worried.
“Should I wake the Princess up?” Aurora asked herself.
Suddenly, Luna woke up and her eyes and glanced around the room.
“So, how did it go?” Aurora anxiously waited for the Princess to answer.
“Why don’t you go over to her room and find out yourself?” Luna giggled.
The Pegasi quickly rushed to her daughter’s bedroom, after opening the door, she saw Blossom Heart quietly sleeping on the bed, with a small smile across her lips.
“It’s good to have you back,” whispered Aurora as she kissed her daughter on the cheek.
Before her mom left the room, she looked at a picture of the family that was taken weeks before the Changeling attack, all of the three Pegasi in the picture were smiling to the camera, especially Blossom’s Dad, wich was hugging his wife and daughter in the middle of the frame.
“Good night to you too, love.” Aurora almost started to cry.
She slowly left the bedroom, closing the door behind her as quietly as possible. For the first time, her daughter got a well-deserved nap.