Cheated Dreams

by Kodeake

11. Stormy Nights

Cheated Dreams
Chapter 11
Stormy Nights

“Who are you?” Twilight asked redundantly, staring intently at the swirly reddish-brown orb in front of her. She'd been sitting like this for the past ten minutes, ever since Rainbow Dash had gone home.

“It's not going to answer you, Twilight,” Spike called from an unknown location. Twilight disregarded the comment.

“And how am I going to find you?”

“Oh forget it. I'm going to bed,” Spike called again, this time Twilight could see him pass through the sitting room on the way to the stairs. “Good night.”

“'Night Spike,” Twilight responded distractedly. The aura continued to swirl around in its glass casing, as if caressed by an invisible wind only it could feel. Its many swirls and spirals were taunting her. Mocking her inability to find its owner. She would not be bested by some... some... magical gas!

She was shocked from her thoughts as a high-pitched clanking rang through the room, as though something were hitting against her window. It could barely be heard over the howling wind, but it came again. Twilight turned to her window, watching to see if she could spot the noise maker. The noise came once again, but she didn't see anything hit the window. Curiously, she stood, making her way over even as the noise started coming more and more frequently, becoming louder and louder from more than just one window.

As she got to the window and peered outside into the dark of night, she realized what it was; hail. The small stones of ice were already littering the ground, giving the appearance of snow. The noise from earlier continued, growing louder and near constant as the tree was bombarded by the tiny pellets of frozen water. Only, they weren't so tiny; almost the size of golf balls and growing, the ice continued to rain down from the sky faster and harder every second.

“I thought it was just supposed to be a rainstorm tonight...” Twilight thought aloud, watching as a particularly large stone landed in front of the window, making a large indent in the soft dirt. Lighting her horn, Twilight quickly ran from window, placing an special warding spell for fear of the hail breaking through the glass. Only when every window in her house had been safeguarded against the hail did she allow herself to stop and once again look outside.

“I hope Rainbow made it home okay...”

As though on cue a loud thud that was decidedly not hail rang through the library, as though something had hit the tree, something big and something very fast. Sounding like it had hit just above the window Twilight was looking out, she pressed her face against the glass, trying to see above the window to whatever had hit her tree. She jumped back in surprise when something large fell past her window. Something about the size of a pony with a rainbow mane and- Rainbow!

Twilight looked down to the ground beneath the window sill, the cyan pegasus lying unconscious on the ground, her body continuing to be battered by the hail that didn't get caught in the leaves, now almost the size of pool balls. Twilight frantically dashed to her front door and threw it open without thinking. She instantly regretted it as the wind blew through the opening, pushing her back a few inches and forcing her to shield her face. A hailstone flew past her, barely missing her head and colliding with one of the bookshelves behind her.

Swallowing nervously at the close call, she cast a force-field around herself and pushed her way past the wind into the storm raging outside. She could hear her books being thrown about in the chaos the wind caused inside the library, but she didn’t care as she ran around to the window and the unconscious form of her pegasus friend, the hail bouncing harshly off her magical shielding.

As fast as she could she picking the pegasus up in her magic and brought her inside the protective bubble, straining to maintain her barrier against the hail and to lift the pegasus. She let out a sigh of relief as she rested her unconscious friend on her back, letting her magic once again focus fully on keeping the hail away from her and her passenger.

She ran full-tilt back into the library, magically slamming the door behind her as soon as she was clear. She could feel Rainbow breathing against her back, which was good, but her lack of consciousness was worrisome. Carrying her carefully up the stairs, this time in her magic rather than on her back, Twilight took the limp pegasus up to her room and rested her gently in her bed. She took a moment to inspect the pegasus for damage; there were various scratches, no doubt from the branches of the library, and there was blood running down the right side of her face from a cut somewhere on her head hidden by her mane.

“What the hay happened to you?” Twilight asked rhetorically as she fetched her first aid kit from the bathroom. Bruises were already starting to show from the brutal beating the hail had given her.

-_-_-_-

Hail!? It wasn't supposed to be hailing! And even if it was, it wasn’t supposed to be this big!

Rainbow flew as quickly as she could through the large stones of ice trying to knock her out of the sky. Her wings had to work extra hard to fight against the wind and keep her from being hit. Why the hay was it hailing!?

She new she shouldn't be flying in weather like this; rain was one thing, but hail, especially when it was this big, was a killer. One hit was all it would take to knock her out of the sky, or worse depending on how she landed. But where else could she go? Twilight's library was almost on the other side of town from her cloud house, and there was no way she was getting their without flying.

It hadn't even been five minutes since she left, and already she was seriously considering going back. She needed somewhere to wait for the storm to pass; that much was for sure. But could she really ask that of Twilight? After all she'd put the unicorn through?

Rainbow knew, in the back of her mind, that Twilight would never turn her away, especially in these conditions, but she couldn't help but feel like she was taking advantage of the forgiving nature of her unicorn friend. It was just the other day Rainbow was screaming at her and telling her she never wanted to see her again. She couldn't ask Twilight to do even more for her.

Rainbow's wings flared out suddenly, stopping her just as a massive hailstone flew past. She looked down, watching as the tennis ball sized chunk of ice crashed through a wooden bench below her. She swallowed nervously, looking down at the silver lightning blowing wildly in the wind.

Maybe asking Twilight to let her stay wouldn't be so bad...

She turned, flying her way back through the storm as fast as she could to get back to Twilight's tree. The wind was no longer fighting against her, allowing her to make progress much faster. Within two minutes the tree was already visible through the dense hail, a light still streaming through from the lower floor of the library.

Sighing with relief, Rainbow allowed herself to relax a bit as she began slowing down to land in front of the tree.

Suddenly, she felt something big and heavy hit on the right side of her head, wrenching her neck to the side and forcing her body to follow. She was unconscious almost instantly after the collision, just barely lucid enough to see the trunk of the tree rapidly approaching before she blacked out completely.

-_-_-_-

Rainbow Dash groaned as she slowly regained consciousness to the blackness of the inside of her eyelids. The first thing she managed to process was the sound of the storm continuing to rage, though it was much quieter than it had been, sounding almost muffled. Though now it sounded like regular rain rather than hail, she still panicked at the thought of being outside in the undoubtedly terrible weather conditions.

She snapped her eyes open, sitting up as fast as she could and throwing the blanket that had been covering her to the end of the bed.

Wait... blanket? Bed? Certainly not the hailstorm she remembered blacking out in.

“W-where...?” She muttered, turning her head to examine the room she found herself in. It was warm, comfortable, and filled with... books?

“Glad to see you're finally awake,” a voice called from her left, a voice Rainbow recognized well.

“Twilight?” She asked blearily, turning over to face the unicorn sitting in a chair pushed up against a desk facing the wall. The unicorn herself had spun around in her chair, draping her foreleg over the back to face the pegasus currently in her bed.

Twilight smiled, “Looks like you took a pretty bad hit from a hailstone. Luckily the wind blew you straight into the library, otherwise there's no telling how long it would take for somepony to find you,” she explained, watching as Rainbow lifted a hoof and felt at the bandages around her head.

“Yeah...” Rainbow trailed off, catching sight of a reddish glint on the desk, “You're still working at that? It must be midnight by now,” she said, motioning to the magically encased aura.

“Actually it's just past 12:30 in the morning; you've been out for a while,” Twilight corrected, before turning back to the sphere and a stack of papers next to it. “And yes; I'm still working on this. Not much point in having it if I can't work on finding out who did this.”

“It's 12:30 in the morning!?” Rainbow gasped, “Thanks for patching me up, Twi, but I should get back home,” she said, quickly pushing herself up and out of the bed. Or at least she tried, until a purple glow forced her back into a lying position.

“You're not going anywhere; not only is the storm still crazy, even if it isn't hailing, but there's a high chance you have a concussion,” Twilight said forcefully, effortlessly fighting against Rainbow's struggled as she kept her held firm against the bed.

“I feel fine,” Rainbow argued, stopping her useless struggling against Twilight's much stronger magic.

“For now,” she said forebodingly, “but I'm not taking any risks; you're staying in that bed, at the very least until the storm passes, and until I'm sure you don't have a concussion.”

Rainbow humphed, sinking deeper into the bed and crossing her forelegs as Twilight's magic released her. “Fine, but where are you going to sleep? I'm kind of in your bed.”

“Oh that's alright; I didn't plan on sleeping much tonight anyway. I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to track down our enchanter. Besides, I need to keep an eye on you; it's a pretty common occurrence for those with concussions to not notice or come forward if they start suffering from some of the symptoms,” she explained, shrugging off Rainbow's surprised expression as she turned back to her notes.

“You weren't going to sleep!?” Rainbow asked, her voice coloured with disbelief. “Look, Twi; I get that you're trying to help, and I really appreciate that, but it's not something to lose sleep over.”

Twilight looked up from her work curiously. “It's really not that big of a deal, Rainbow; I'm used to pulling all-nighters for my studies.”

“I don't care; I've caused you enough problems already, and I certainly don't need to know you're neglecting yourself to help me,” Rainbow protested loudly, adopting a defiant look as she stared at the unicorn sitting next to the bed.

“Whether I'm doing this or not doesn't matter; I still need to keep an eye on you after that hailstone you took to the head. Doing this will just help me pass the time. And besides that, it's never a problem for me to help one of my friends; you should know that by now,” Twilight explained, the sincerity in her voice only serving to make Rainbow feel worse.

“I still don't understand how you can call me your friend after some of the things I said to you,” she muttered.

Twilight shook her head. “We've been through this already, Rainbow. Now, you're going to get some sleep, I'm going to make sure you're alright, and maybe make a little headway on this,” she said, motioning to the ball of magic before her, “and I don't want any complaints from you.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to continue her argument, but closed it when she saw the 'that's final' glare Twilight was giving her. She slumped into the bed, accepting her fate. “Fine,” she groaned, “but I’m telling you right now I'm ok.”

“I'll believe that when I see it, now sleep!” Twilight commanded as she lit her horn, her magical glow engulfing the candles around the room and snuffing all but the one on her small work desk, her quill once again being lifted in her magic and scratching against the paper as she took notes from various books.

Rainbow blew out a breath, shifting around to get comfortable in the unfamiliar bed. She laid silently beneath the blanket, listening to the steady, soothing scratching of quill on paper, mixed with the occasional pause to get more ink. It was a steady, methodical, soothing rhythm that Rainbow had grown accustomed to long ago when she had started spending more time with the lavender bookworm.

So it wasn't that sound that was keeping her wide awake, nor was it the miniscule amount of light the unicorn was using to read and write. But rather, it was the simple fact that the unicorn was there, at 12:30 in the morning, doing something for her, while she slept in Twilight's own bed. The facts tore her apart with guilt; who was she to demand so much of Twilight? Who was she to force the unicorn out of her own bed so she could recover from a concussion she was positive she didn't have?

“Look, Twi, at least let me use your guest bedroom in case you do decide to get some sleep tonight,” Rainbow insisted, already shifting to get out of bed. When she didn't feel Twilight's magic pushing her back down, she looked up to see the unicorn focused intensely on her work. Smiling slyly, she gently and near-silently crept out of bed, intending to sneak past her lavender warden and get to the guest bedroom just down the hall. Unfortunately, the second she was standing of her own accord, a sudden wave of nausea and dizziness washed over her senses, making her legs buckle and forcing her to cling to the bed she had risen from.

Twilight's head snapped around as she heard a low, pained groan come from beside her. She found Rainbow, barely standing, with one hoof hanging onto the bed for support and the other holding her head with her eyes closed firmly.

“Rainbow!” She admonished, levitating the now obviously concussed pegasus back into the bed, “I told you to sleep. You should be fine after a couple days, but you need plenty of rest to recover.”

The pegasus remained silent for a few moments, keeping her eyes shut firmly as she tried to fight of the nausea. Eventually, she managed a weak, “But what if you want to sleep?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, saying, “Then we can share the bed, but until then you need it more than I do and you're in no condition to get up yet. The more rest you get the faster your brain will heal. Now enough of your whining; I have work to do.”

Rainbow rolled over away from the unicorn in an attempt to hide the intense blush that had sprung up when she'd mentioned sharing a bed. Why was such an idea, that was clearly used as more of an excuse than a serious option, making her react so violently? Why was the thought so embarrassing? Why did she wish Twilight was being serious?

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Rainbow sighed and shut her eyes, seeing no way to win this pointless argument. She rolled this way and that, trying to fall asleep in the more than adequate bed. Listening to the calming, steady sound of the scratching of a quill on paper and the low hum of magic. However, no matter how hard she tried, she found she still couldn't sleep while Twilight was still working.

“I'm not gonna be able to fall asleep if I know you're still up working,” Rainbow muttered, flipping onto her back and staring at the ceiling. Instantly the hum of magic died with he scratching of the quill.

“Oh for the love of Celestia! Fine; I'll get some sleep if it'll help you sleep. Now shove over!” Twilight commanded, pushing off of her chair and pacing over to the bed. Rainbow blushed heavily as she felt the mattress dip down and the blankets shift over, having not expected Twilight to actually share the bed with her. Apparently the unicorn was bound and determined to keep an eye on her, however, so she pushed herself as close to the edge of the bed as she could without risking falling off as Twilight slid in under the blanket.

Back to back with her pegasus friend, Twilight lit her magic and extinguished her candle. “Now goodnight,” she grumbled.

With the knowledge that Twilight was no long working on her behalf, Rainbow finally found a comfortable position in the bed, taking solace in the fact that Twilight too was getting some sleep. She allowed her eyes to drift shut, her guilt finally silencing as she felt the mattress shifting gently with Twilight's steady breathing. Before long she was asleep, her snores filling the darkened room.

As soon as Twilight was sure her bed-mate was asleep, she carefully eased her way back out of the bed, making sure to make no noise and shift the bed as little as possible. Once she was free of the blanket and had made sure Rainbow was still fast asleep, she made her way, slowly and silently, back over to her desk, where she re-lit her dim candle and resumed her research as quietly as she could.

She paused her quiet writing, glancing back over at the bed and feeling a pang of guilt at tricking the pegasus. Twilight sighed, turning back to her notes and the orb still sitting in front of her.

“I appreciate the concern,” she mumbled quietly, “but this is more important to me right now.”

Author's Note:

So that happened. For the record, this was not originally included in the plan for this story. I realized in the past couple chapters I'd been mentioning a storm coming, so I thought about it, and threw this little tidbit of Twidashing in. I don't think it detracts from the story, and it shows how dedicated to this thing Twilight is. This little plot point added two chapters of length to this story, but as I'm nearing the end (with only about three more major plot points to go) I didn't think this would hurt.

Anyway, I hope you liked it. Really all this is doing is building upon the already present Twidash feelings and, as I said, showing how dedicated to this Twilight is and how guilty Rainbow feels over the whole thing.

Comment with what you think, as always!

Comments

[Tarlek]

Great chapter, however as always I am kept waiting for more delectable stories. I may need to sprinkle some cinnamon on a few but otherwise the ice cream tastes fine!

[Stormgnome]

Nice Chapter, a few minor typos.
Can't wait to find out how they are gonna track the enchanter down.

Oh, and you can't really let a someone with a suspected internal head injury to fall asleep, you have to keep them awake to measure their responsiveness. However if it's just a concussion I think you'd be okay.

[Kodeake]

4040738
Ah-hah! While writing this chapter (over the course of about three days) I had the CDC webpage for concussions open, just for this kind of comment.

With a concussion, it is recommended you get rest to let your brain heal, however, you have to keep track of how much the injured party sleeps; if they do so a noticeable amount more or less than what is normal for them, that is a warning sign of a potentially lethal blood clot. Sleep is important, but it is important for Twilight to both make sure Dash is still breathing and that it is possible to wake her up should she need to.

[Stormgnome]

4040799
You got me there.

However if it happens to be an injury severe enough to cause internal bleeding, not blood clot, that person would be drifting between awake and alert to unconscious. So to keep track of that you can't let them fall asleep on their own accord.

So, we are both correct.