> iNSaNiTY > by RoxanWonAxiom > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 ~ After the Party (Part One) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Twilight Sparkle was done talking to Tempest Shadow, she looked and listened to Songbird Serenade singing. Songbird was happy at the moment, but she was getting tired. Being a singer meant she was busy. All the time. She doesn't even remember her last break, but she knew that she needed to sleep as she had a recording session the next day. She had to get back to her hotel. Songbird Serenade started sweating and she gently wiped her forehead with her hoof. Dang it. I have to be careful. She thought. No one noticed that the singer was worried about something and she liked it like that. She was getting ready to quit, but she couldn't. She couldn't quit in the middle of her famous song, "Rainbow", so she finished it and when she did, she was relieved. I have a very busy schedule. Songbird Serenade also thought, tiredly. She sighed and she tried to enjoy the rest of the party, but she couldn't. Songbird felt like she could fall out at any given moment and she knew that if she left early, the princesses would get worried and she didn't want that. When the party was finally over, Songbird Serenade saw Princess Twilight Sparkle talking to Starlight Glimmer and she didn't see Pinkie Pie, everypony's favorite pink party pony, so the singer prepared to leave. "Ms. Songbird?" Princess Celestia's voice stopped her, though and Songbird tried to relax her wings, which were stiff. She sighed softly and she turned around to face the Princess. "Yes, Princess Celestia?" Songbird Serenade asked politely and with a smile on her face. Princess Luna was right beside her older sister and she knew that she was tired, so she quietly told Princess Celestia this, so she stopped her speaking. Songbird Serenade was grateful for the interruption. "Can we talk to you tomorrow, Ms. Serenade?" Princess Luna asked, only for her to see Songbird Serenade accidentally dozing off slightly. Princess Luna looked at Princess Celestia with a 'I-told-you-so' look on her face. "Ms. Songbird?" Princess Celestia's gentle voice shocks Songbird Serenade awake and she looked at both of the princesses with fear in her eyes. Her mouth went dry. "We'll see you tomorrow, is that alright with you?" Princess Celestia asked. Songbird Serenade nodded her head and she started dozing off again and she shook herself awake. Princess Luna looked at Songbird Serenade with sympathy in her eyes. "You need to rest, so I'll escort you to your car." Princess Luna tells Songbird Serenade. Songbird Serenade could only answer in sleepy syllables, so Princess Luna gently lifted the mare onto her back. She walked the mare to her car. Her bodyguards gently took their charge into their rough hooves and they gently set her on the seat of the car. "Get her home safely." Princess Luna tells the two stallions. They both nodded their heads. They sat in the car and they told the driver to drive to the hotel where Songbird Serenade was staying. The drive was long and Songbird Serenade was snuggling one of the bodyguards. He blushed, but his partner glared at him. "She needs a pillow, not a partner." He told the stallion. "I know that. She's just so beautiful." The stallion commented on Songbird's appearance. The other stallion agreed with his partner. "I agree, but let's face reality. She would never fall for us." He said, watching Songbird Serenade sleep peacefully. However, Songbird Serenade was not sleeping peacefully as her bodyguards thought. She was having nightmares about the failed invasion, again. This nightmare was horrible than the last. She didn't complain to her bodyguards, so they didn't know about the nightmares, but she forgot about Princess Luna being the Princess of the Night. "Songbird Serenade, you're having nightmares about the failed invasion." Princess Luna commented when she appeared, but she didn't mention the dead bodies of ponies everywhere in sight. Songbird Serenade did the one thing she could do in her dream and she cried. "It was horrible. What if anypony had died?" Songbird Serenade revealed one of her fears to Princess Luna. Princess Luna wrapped a comfortable wing around Songbird. "Everypony has that fear of dying, even I do and I can't die." Princess Luna reveals to the singer. Songbird Serenade looked up at Princess Luna in shock. "You too, Princess Luna?" Songbird Serenade tells Princess Luna. Princess Luna merely nodded her head and she looked at the landscape of Songbird's nightmare and it looked horrible. What did she suffer from in captivity? Princess Luna wondered. She looked at Songbird, but she didn't question her. She was afraid that the singer would have lied to her. But, she wanted to know what had happened to Songbird Serenade and why she was having nightmares like these. > Chapter 2 ~ After the Party (Part Two) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Luna looked down at her subject. Songbird Serenade was calming down from an death that had just happened and it was brutal. The pony's jaws was ripped off and the pony bled to death. Songbird Serenade had screamed for at least 4 minutes. When she finally stopped, she was reduced to sobs and finally her loud sobs were reduced to whimpers and tears coming out of her eyes. When she finally calmed down, Princess Luna wished she could change nightmares to peaceful dreams, but that was not in her power. That power lies in the dreamer and this dreamer was suffering to even think about anything happy. Another pony was suddenly stabbed to death, his heart being shoved out of his body. Songbird closed her eyes. What did happened?! Princess Luna wondered. Songbird forced herself to calm down and she looked at Princess Luna. "This was the most violent and bloody nightmare I have seen one of my subjects in. What happened?' Princess Luna asked without thinking. When she realized her question, she cursed to herself. Songbird Serenade looked at her in fear and shock. Tears started falling again. Princess Luna couldn't see her eyes due to her hair, but the tears she could see. Damn it! I made her cry. That wasn't my intention. She thought. Princess Luna felt guilty and was shocked when she saw Songbird Serenade calming down. "I guess it helps to talk about it?" She had asked the Princess. Princess Luna sighed in relief. "Yes, it does." She answered calmly, knowing that that entire ordeal would be horrible in Songbird Serenade's opinion. "It started when you princesses were imprisoned in stone and when the rest of us were in cages. It frightened me so deeply that I thought I was going to die." Songbird Serenade tells Princess Luna, who looked shocked. "I tried to calm myself down by singing, but one of the guards who were watching us told me to be quiet and I stayed quiet. I didn't have anything to comfort myself with and I had passed out due to to extreme fear." When Songbird tells Princess Luna this, she was giggling slightly. Princess Luna then realized that the ordeal affected her mental state, but she stayed quiet about it. She didn't want to judge Songbird Serenade and make her scared even more, so she stayed quiet. When Songbird was done telling her story, Princess Luna knew that Songbird was going insane, however, she thought that it was just a little after affect of the invasion and that Songbird could get through it without much help at all. "You'll get through." Princess Luna says, looking into Songbird's soul. Songbird's soul were hurt and scared and full of hope. She was grateful for that small piece of hope in Songbird's soul. "I hope so." Songbird Serenade had said softly. Princess Luna didn't hear and she was grateful for that.