Visions of the Inevitable

by 6-D Pegasus

Chapter 3: Releasing Steam

"Oh, Twilight! How are y-, oh. Oh my."

Twilight closed the door to the spa room and trotted over behind the steaming rocks, opposite of where Rarity had seemingly been situated for a long time already. She raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Rarity's eyes flickered all about the room, to the platform of rocks in the middle, the ring of benches along the edge, the rack of towels near the door. "Twi, darling, your... mane."

Twilight shook her head wildly, letting her dripping wet mane fling around wildly before settling straight down. She blew up to push a bit of her bangs out of her eye. "Sorry about that, I dunked my head in the spa pool before heading over here. I just really needed to clear my head. I didn't really sleep well last night."

"Oh, no no, dear, that's not what I meant. Now hold still." Rarity lit her horn and delicately arranged Twilight's mane into its usual style before holding it in place. "If you leave your mane like that soaking wet when you come in here, it's going to dry looking like a sad Pinkie Pie mane, and it'll be a nightmare brushing it back into its normal, wonderful appearance."

Twilight allowed a faint smile onto her muzzle, lighting her own horn and carefully slipping her mane out of Rarity's magic aura. "Thanks, Rarity. Don't worry about that, if it ends up looking all silly, I'll just wash it again later. Right now, I just reaaaaallllyyy need to lay back and relax."

Rarity nodded and shifted her magic to the rounded faucet handle on the wall, giving it a precise nudge. A thin stream of water trickled from a cleverly hidden spout on the ceiling and onto the smoldering rocks, releasing a cloud of relaxing steam throughout the room. She started to lean back when she noticed Twilight's downtrodden expression. She sat back up gazed with concern at her friend. "Still upset with Rainbow?"

"No, this is something else..." Twilight lowered her head and gazed into the red-hot glow of the sauna rocks. "And no, I'm not upset with her anymore. What she said was correct, and I overreacted. I'm just... worried she's still upset with me. About everything."

Rarity carefully scooted around the sauna rocks to place herself within reaching distance of Twilight. "Why don't you try talking to her about it?"

"I've tried, Rarity. Every day, I go by her house, but I never see her."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "You go by her house every day? The one floating miles up in the air?"

Twilight looked away. "I mean, I... go under it and look for her."

Rarity rolled her eyes while maintaining her smile. "Twi, you have a cloud-walking spell, and free access to Cherry's hot air balloon should you need it. Have you not once tried actually going up there and knocking on her door?"

"...nooooo?"

Rarity placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Then nothing will change between you two until one of you talks about this. This is the first time you two have ever had a real fight in your relationship, of course it's going to seem like the end of the world. Trust me, I'm quite well read on what goes on with the relationships in Ponyville, and none of them are perfect. What matters is that each time two ponies have a falling out, whether they're together or just simply friends, they almost always bounce back together, reforging their bond even stronger than it was before!"

Twilight weakly raised her gaze to meet Rarity's. "...almost?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't you start going for the worst case scenario again. Since you like your numbers so much, here's one for you. In the many years since I took over the Carousel Boutique to now, I haven't seen a single friendship end, or a single couple break off on bad terms. Zero percent! Not 0.0001 whatever, just flat out zero."

Twilight said nothing, mulling over the words, so Rarity continued. "From what I've heard from you and Rainbow about this, this shouldn't at all break you two apart. This is just the period of time where you two take some space to breathe and cool off."

Twilight's ears perked. "You've heard from Rainbow? Wh- when did you see her?"

Rarity stuttered. "I- ah, I didn't mean to mention it, but..." She sighed. "Yes, she came to talk to me yesterday, with her own feelings and concerns."

Twilight practically dived onto Rarity. "Well, what did she say?! How's she feeling? Is she okay? Where's she been? Why-"

Rarity gently peeled Twilight off her before the heat of the spa could fuse their bodies together. "Twilight, darling, I just said I didn't mean to mention it. As in, it was something she wanted to be kept secret."

"Oh." Twilight pulled back and sagged down. "No, I understand."

Noticing the change in behavior, Rarity reached out again and stroked Twilight's back. "Twilight, don't take it the wrong way. All I'll say is what she told me is nothing to worry about. She's just... deeply concerned about you. I told her the same thing I told you too, that this whole thing feels like something that'll blow over pretty soon. She seemed to lighten up at that."

Twilight, in turn, perked up ever so slightly. Rarity smiled, but she looked away briefly as she recalled the earlier bits of their conversation.

"If it's alright, dear, you said the main issue bothering you right now was something else? Something not Rainbow Dash related?"

Twilight raised her head and groaned tiredly. "Yuh huh. You remember the weird dreams I said I've been having lately? The... ones that started this whole split between me and Rainbow?"

Rarity nodded. "Mhm, all those weird bits of us in some desolate future, I remember. Honestly, I still think Daring Do's latest novel might be getting to you with its darker tone and-"

"They might not be dreams."

Rarity blinked. "They what now?"

Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. "Last night, I had another one. But it didn't really feel like just another dream with us exploring a landscape or looking for some artifact. It felt like a nightmare, and a real one too. I was all alone this time, in the same landscape. Tornadoes were manifesting by themselves, without any pegasi around. Lightning was striking erratically, almost hitting me! And the scariest part was it felt real. The burst of searing heat near me, the rough texture of wooden splinters scraping across my body as I stumbled away, the painful ringing in my ears from my thunder. Normally, dreams feel pretty real until you wake up and try to remember the experience. Last night was different... I can still remember it like it actually happened."

Rarity hummed in thought. "Perhaps you were reallllyyyy into that book and-"

"I went to see Princess Luna, too."

Rarity paused and, after a moment of silence, nodded for her to continue.

"I figured, if there's anypony who could help me figure out what's going on, it'd be her, the Princess of the Night and Guardian of the Dreamscape itself." Twilight shivered. "She told me what I had witnessed last night lined up an awful lot to the dreams that Starswirl the Bearded reported having in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. Dreams he described as 'visions'."

Rarity stared at Twilight for a bit before giggling. "Oh, Twilight, visions? As in, 'seeing the future' sort of visions? Sorry, but isn't that-"

"Just an old pony's tale?" Twilight chuckled dryly. "That's what I told Princess Luna. Originally, I went to see her because, after last night's dream, I figured enough was enough with the weird sights and maybe she could help clear the nightmares away like she normally does. She pretty much told me she could only help dispel a nightmare if, well, it really was a nightmare, something created by my mind from some existing negative feelings or experience. I guess somehow. she determined whatever I was seeing wasn't actually coming from my mind. Not a single bit of my own thought was influencing the dream."

Twilight's breathing quickened. She shut her eyes and wrapped her forelegs around herself tightly. "She said... whatever these visions were that Starswirl was seeing, his disappearance was his way of holding it off for as long as possible. I suppose... 'long as possible' must mean a thousand years give or take, because it seems to be approaching..."

Rarity's ears fell, and she put a hoof to her chin in thought. "So... if you've been dreaming about what sounds like the end of the world, and Princess Luna is saying your dreams are 'visions' of what will come true in the future, then does that me-"

"I don't know!" Twilight slammed a hoof on the bench beside her, but wilted upon seeing Rarity's shocked expression. "Sorry, I just... I don't know what I'm supposed to think right now. The timing of everything is just... so wrong. Of all the times to worry about some possible warning signs of impending doom, it had to wait until I'm in the worst mental state to put up with it. If the universe is playing some sort of sick joke with me, it's not very funny."

Rarity sighed as she watched as Twilight curled further into herself. "I know, dear, and I guess I should have thought about that before pestering you about something like this."

Twilight looked up and cracked a weak smile to her friend. "No no, I wouldn't blame you for wanting to ask some questions after hearing this bombshell of an update on my situation." She stared ahead distantly at the wall of the spa room. "When Discord wrought chaos and havoc across Ponyville, it still looked more intact than the Ponyville I saw last night. Sure, buildings were flying around, some with wings and others, and ponies were... also flying around. But for the most part, Discord had just scrambled the town like a deck of cards. Almost everything was still there... and not... in ashes and smoke and debris everywhere."

Rarity noticed Twilight shuddering from the recollection, and scooted a little closer. Slowly and gently, she wrapped her forelegs around her in a soft hug, which Twilight subconsciously leaned into. "There there, Twilight. Everything will turn out fine, as it always had does! If there really is some looming disaster, I know you'll jump to scour the libraries for information about it, and come up with an ingenious plan on how to stop it. And if that doesn't work, we'll... we'll... blast it with the Elements of Harmony!"

Twilight let out a genuine, heartfelt chuckle. "Oh, Rarity. We can't just solve everything with friendship rainbow lasers, what if these stupid dreams are a metaphor warning about the economy crashing?"

Rarity snickered and waved a hoof through the air as if gesturing to some wide, imaginary field. "Then we'll blast the banks and royal treasury with the rainbow lasers instead!"

Twilight practically wheezed with laughter, and soon both unicorns were fumbling over each other in a fit of giggles. Twilight was no fool, she knew very well Rarity was playing a naive fool in an attempt to cheer her up. But just the thought was enough to clear her head of her worries, at least for now. She knew no matter what, her friends would always be there for her, and not even the end of the world could stop that.

And I'll always be there for them.

After a while, Twilight pulled away and wiped a few small tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Rarity. I... really needed that."

Rarity smiled with relief. "Of course, Twi. I'm glad to see that grin back on your face." She looked up in thought. "I suppose Pinkie is starting to rub off on me more than I realized."

Twilight chuckled. "Maybe so! Or what abou-"

Twilight's stomach rumbled, silencing both mares. She looked up sheepishly while Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Twilight... have you eaten lunch yet?"

"..."

"When was the last time you ate?"

"..."

Rarity jaw dropped. "Darling, are you telling me you haven't even eaten today yet?? It's the afternoon!"

Twilight awkwardly rubbed a hoof on the bench. "I know... I've just been so- hey!"

Before she could get another word in, she found herself dragged out of the spa room in Rarity's magic. "Not another word! At least, not until we get a whole hayburger into you, my treat!"

Twilight weakly groaned as she saw watched the blissful sight of the spa room slide further and further away. She passed by Aloe and Lotus, who, after exchanging a confused glance, smiled and waved her farewell. Finally, once they were out of the spa building. Rarity gracefully plopped her back onto her four hooves and started trotting towards The Hay Burger. There were a million more pressing concerns on Twilight's mind, but after feeling her stomach rumble again, she shut them down for now.

After all, a free hayburger didn't sound so bad.

---

Rainbow peered longingly over the edge of her little cloud, watching as Twilight and Rarity chatted happily as they walked up the hill leading to the town's famous hayburger restaurant. She closed her eyes and swiveled her ears, focusing on the sound of Twilight's gentle voice.

It had been a few days since their fight, and yet she still couldn't bring herself to fly down and greet her again.

She didn't feel like she deserved to.

With a tired sigh, Rainbow climbed back to her hooves and cracked her neck. Spying her house floating in the distance, she unfurled her wings, ready to return home and sulk in bed for another few hours when-

"Rainbow Dash!"

She whirled around in surprise, greeting the white pegasus behind her with slight annoyance. "Blossomforth? What'd I tell you about sneaking up on me when you-... uh-..." She trailed off when she noticed Blossomforth's worried look. "Is something wrong?"

Blossomforth nodded quickly. "The team needs your help busting the last of the clouds in sector 17c."

Rainbow blinked. "That's it? Why do they need me for that? There's plenty of pegasi and-"

"They're moving too fast for us."

"... they're what?"

"Sorry, none of us were fast enough to catch up to them." Blossomforth looked away shamefully. "When you left earlier after clearing your area, we were ready to bust the last few clouds and go home too, but they started moving around and none of us could catch them and-"

"Hold on." Rainbow put a hoof up, at which Blossomforth paused. "You said the clouds started moving around? That can't be right, unless we accidentally got clouds from the Everfree Forest mixed in with our usual batch?"

Blossomforth shook her head. "There's almost no way, I personally headed that section when we brought the clouds from the weather factory down to Ponyville, and our inventory count matches how many clouds were there, so there aren't any extra. Maybe they're just catching an abnormally large breeze or something?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, tilting her wings around to feel the wind around her. "Must have been 'or something', cause there isn't any other breeze up here. Come on, just show me it so we can get this over with."

Blossomforth nodded and sped off to the eastern edge of town. Rainbow spared one more glance below at Twilight as she finally disappeared from sight through the Hay Burger's front doors, and launched herself off of her cloud and in pursuit of her colleague.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

All the while she struggles to deal with her faltering relationship with Rainbow Dash.

In which one of your stories did that happen?

[Teardrops]

"But if it's any consolation, I am truly… and sincerely… bored right now. And I really do mean that from the bottom of my heart."
- Discord

That's is an amazing quote Siks-dea! Thank you! Absolutely brilliant! Perfection transcribed unto a imperfect medium. I would 120% recommend this fic to any who get too close. Again thank you for the amazing quote!

[Soaring]

Alright, you have my attention, however, I hope you some day go back over chapter one. That was probably the roughest chapter I've ever read from you, 6-D. It doesn't have to take away the writing style that you deployed from back then, but I think the grammar is just rough overall in that chapter.

This and chapter two are very well written. Love how you portray Rarity and Twilight here. Hoping to see more from Rainbow here as that weather pattern doesn't sound all too good, and Twilight being a seer of the future impending doom just screams an apocolyptic nightmare that will definitely make Twilight weary every step she takes.

Also, I didn't get a Fallout vibe from this fic surprisingly, so that's something to note. Tracked.