Xanterlot University

by Neonz

Chapter 4

Twilight spent several hours in the library researching dreams and unicorns, but couldn’t find much of a connection.

Frustrated, she pulled out another book that was meant to explain the connection between dreams and reality.

She flipped through it absently. ‘Several theories have been made concerning a connection between dreams and future events. There have been several claims by people worldwide that what they see in their dreams represents their destiny.’

Twilight sighed. Unless she was about to change into a little purple horse sometime in the near future, she doubted any of these books had relation to her experience.

The dark-haired girl shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She didn’t have time to worry about it anymore; classes started the next day.

Twilight squinted up at a clock hanging on the library wall. Five thirty. She realized that if she was supposed to meet Pinkie Pie at six, she had better leave.

A large plaque that was placed above the exit caught Twilight’s eye. It looked very old, and seemed as if it was supposed to read the name of the school’s library, but the first letter was replaced with something similar to a long apostrophe. It simply read: “anterlot Library”, and was covered with secure plastic barriers. Twilight looked briefly around for evidence of what it was before leaving, but couldn’t find anything.

Twilight made it back to Kismet with fifteen minutes to spare. She hurried into her room, and was a bit surprised to see that Fluttershy was already gone. She didn’t think anything of it, and quickly fixed up her hair and threw a bit of makeup on. She hoped that Pinkie Pie wasn’t expecting anybody to dress up.

The bookworm made her way over to room 303, and noticed that it was already open. She walked in slowly, and four smiling faces turned her way.

Three of them Twilight recognized. Fluttershy was perched on the bed on the right side of the room, and Rainbow Dash was sitting beside her. The rainbow-haired girl seemed fine, despite her heavy drinking the night before and the boy’s concerns about her. On the other bed, Twilight recognized Applejack as she tipped her hat in greeting.

The last girl was sitting in the desk chair on the same side of the room as Applejack. She had luscious, long, curly black hair, bright blue eyes, and was wearing a white summer dress that was bejeweled around the bust area.

“Oh, come in, dear,” the girl in the chair said, gesturing for Twilight to enter. “It’s so nice to meet you; the others have said wonderful things! My name’s Rarity; I’m Pinkie Pie’s roommate.” She stood up and offered her hand, which Twilight gladly shook.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Rarity!” Twilight said in return, smiling. “Your dress is really something, by the way. Where did you get it?” Twilight wasn’t really interested in fashion, but sensed from the number of dresses strewn across Rarity’s side of the room that she certainly was.

Rarity looked down, surprised. “Oh, this old thing? I made it myself, as a matter of fact.” She smiled, appearing touched by the compliment. “So I take it you’re Fluttershy’s roommate?”

Twilight nodded. “That’s right.” She glanced over at Fluttershy, who smiled shyly. “And you said you’re Pinkie Pie’s? She seems really nice and all, but I’d imagine sharing a room with her might be a bit… overwhelming.”

The others laughed in appreciation, but Rarity shook her head, smiling. “Not at all, seeing as she’s hardly ever here. It’s perfect, really!” She gave a small laugh. “There’s no need for you to stand, by the way, Twilight. Go and have a seat next to Applejack on my bed.” Rarity pointed to the bed on the left side of the room, then sat back down in her chair.

Twilight did as she was told, and exchanged smiles of recognition with Applejack. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?” Twilight whispered, wondering why the party-lover wasn’t at her own party.

Applejack gave a small laugh. “Oh, don’t you worry none. Ah reckon she’ll be here soon as it’s six.” Applejack pointed out an LED clock at the end of the room, which read “5:57”.

Twilight nodded, deciding not to question it. “Did she wake you up this morning too?”

Applejack looked confused for a moment. “Pinkie Pie?”

“Yeah, she was the first thing I saw when I woke up this morning…” Twilight recalled, still a bit annoyed at the intrusion.

Applejack laughed. “Boy, Ah’ll tell ya, that girl sure is an energetic one! But nah, Ah met her last night. She told me ‘bout this party of hers today while Ah was already awake. Ah have a single across the hall from here.”

“Lucky you…” Twilight said with a small smile. She turned her attention to the other bed, where Fluttershy was saying something in a low voice to Rainbow Dash. Upon noticing Twilight looking at her, she prodded Rainbow and smiled at Twilight.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, looking sheepish. “Uh, listen Twilight… I’m really sorry about yesterday. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

Twilight smiled at the apology, though wasn’t entirely sure if she could shake the first impressions from her memory. “Don’t worry about it. How are you feeling today?”

“A lot better thanks to Fluttershy.” Rainbow glanced at the girl beside her, who smiled shyly.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, a bit taken aback.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, she was awesome. She was the only one who bothered checking on me. Got me water and food and everything!”

Fluttershy blushed at the compliment. “When her friends were knocking on her door, I don’t think they heard her saying that the door was unlocked... The walls are so thin that I could hear her from my room, so I thought I’d check and she was, well…”

“A mess,” Rainbow Dash finished, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. “I can’t believe how much those guys convinced me to drink. I mean, any other day I’d totally be able to handle it… but, uh, first day and all. I was excited, obviously! Might have went a bit overboard.”

Twilight was more surprised at Fluttershy’s behaviour than Rainbow’s. “Fluttershy, had you even met Rainbow Dash before today?” She found it hard to believe that her roommate would go out of her way for a complete stranger; she seemed way too shy.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I hadn’t… but sometimes everyone just needs to be shown a little kindness.” She gave a small smile, which a slightly taken-aback Twilight returned after a second.

“Seriously though,” Rainbow Dash continued, “if you ever need anything, I–”

Twilight blinked rapidly to clear her vision, which suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her hearing had completely cut out as well, though nobody else seemed to be suffering from the same thing. The four other girls were grinning at the doorway, and when Twilight turned her head, she noticed that Pinkie Pie had emerged, carrying a giant bowl containing some sort of chocolate-banana dessert.

Pinkie put the dessert down, and turned happily to Twilight. The pink-clad girl was speaking to her, but Twilight couldn’t hear what she was trying to say. Twilight could feel her heart picking up pace, and she looked at the others in the room in panic.

The voice from her dream started to echo around her. ‘Gather the elements… my faithful student, I know you will succeed… gather the elements…’ The sentences started melding together, and Twilight breathed heavily, her vision alternating between the five now very concerned faces staring at her

‘Gather the elements, you will succeed… Gather the elements... The elements…

The elements.’

Like a switch had been flicked, everything in Twilight’s world suddenly returned to normal, albeit she had a pounding headache. She became aware that Applejack was supporting her with both arms, and the others were gathered around worriedly.

“I think she’s snapping out of it…” Rainbow Dash said in a low voice.

“Y’all right, sugarcube?” Applejack asked softly.

Twilight’s breathing slowed down and became more shallow as an unpleasant feeling washed over her. “I-I think I’m gonna be…” She paled.

Rarity was quick to toss a garbage can in Twilight’s direction right before she started evacuating her stomach. Applejack frowned and rubbed Twilight’s back as the rest of the group flinched backwards at the terrible sound of retching.

“If you didn’t like bananas, you should have said so earlier!” Pinkie Pie said lightheartedly as Twilight finished.

Twilight raised her head upwards, groaning. “I’m sorry… Rarity, I’ll clean this up later.” She gestured to the garbage can.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t your fault.” Rarity said, still looking shocked.

Twilight’s vision flicked between the worried faces watching her. She appreciated their concern, but she really didn’t feel up to doing anything besides sleeping now. “I think I’m going to go to bed,” she said, standing up shakily.

Fluttershy watched her anxiously. “Do you want me to come with you?” she asked and started to stand, but Twilight shook her head.

“Thanks Fluttershy, but I really just want to be alone.”

Fluttershy bit her lip, but nodded and sat back down.

…

Twilight found herself in front of the beautiful white mare with the feathered wings and huge horn. Again, she stretched her forelegs forward, and dipped her neck. When she looked back up, the mare was watching her with a sad smile.

“Twilight, I’m so sorry.” Princess Celestia spoke. “I tried to communicate with you while you were awake, even though I knew your body wasn’t ready for it yet.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s alright. But what did you mean, ‘the elements’? I still don’t understand.”

The mare chuckled, and for the first time, extended her wings and leapt into the air. Twilight watched in awe as she circled the room, then landed near a glass window. Princess Celestia gestured to it with her horn. “The elements have been painted into the walls of this room since before any of them existed in their destined form.”

Twilight squinted at the window, but couldn’t see it clearly. She figured that wasn’t the point. “In their destined form?” she questioned.

Princess Celestia nodded, starting to walk back over to Twilight. “Yes. Especially given what happened today, I feel it’s unwise to give you too much information at once. But know this; I have kept the elements safe until this point, but it’s up to you and your friends to discover them for yourselves. It will happen in due time.”

Twilight shook her head. “I want to know more.”

The princess smiled fondly. “I know you do, but sometimes you have to figure things out for yourself.”

Twilight could only nod reluctantly. Princess Celestia laughed.

“Goodnight, my faithful student.”

As Twilight watched, the dream dissolved into a blissful nothingness that continued for the rest of the night.

Comments

[Y1]

Oh, hey. I remember this story. Back on fanfiction.net before I stopped using that site. I didn't finish it because I migrated over here and completely forget all of my fanfic stuff. Sorry about that.

[Neonz]

2064151 Right, yes, I remember you! You were the one who gave really great advice. lol

If you have the patience to wait and want to finish it, all of the chapters should be uploaded here eventually.

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

Hi, I've avidly read this story on fanfiction.net, and I'm SOOO happy to see it here! Now I can easily praise you for this awesome story!

And I can also let my inner Grammar Nazi loose and know that you're sure to be made aware of my editing attempts!

Seriously, though, this story is awesome! I won't say another word, for the sake of those who have't read it yet, but I'm pretty sure your story is one-of-a-kind! Can't wait for the chapter where Fluttershy goes all Mama Bear to protect Rainbow Dash!

Any chance you might do a sequel after you're finished with this?

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fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/345/0/9/fluttershy_approved_by_ambris-d4ivleb.png

fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/282/7/5/rainbow_dash_approved_by_ambris-d4bdn33.png

fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/277/e/a/pinkie_pie_approved_by_ambris-d4brtm4.png

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fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/282/4/e/rarity_approved_by_ambris-d4cdq6y.png

fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/060/f/5/princess_celestia_approved_by_ambris-d4rftlj.png

[Y1]

2064270
I can't believe I just stopped reading this. I posted like, a review every single chapter for quite a while.

And I don't know how I managed to give good advice, I was kind of a really terrible writer back then.

[Lhmac]

2064309
If your inner grammar nazi is picking up errors, then I've failed in my duty . Be sure to tell me off if things come up

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

2064890 Sure thing...