> A Filly's Laughter > by jediinc > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A Flash, A Bang,... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was one o'clock in the morning and the rain was pouring down hard. The downpour drenched everything from Canterlot Castle to the small town of Ponyville. The storm was actually an accident at the weather station in Cloudsdale. The Pegasus ponies there were overdue for some rain so, in their haste, they accidentally added too many rain clouds to their load. The result, changed their forecast from "light rain" to "thunderstorm with moderate rain and light wind". The storm wasn't strong enough to damage any homes or flood any animal's homes in Everfree forest, but the mistake didn't go unpunished. The Head Supervisor of the plant, Rainy Days, gave hell to everypony at the plant. Twilight Sparkle had just gotten to sleep after her incredibly long day. She usually can handle anything the day could throw at her but today had a 'special' exception. The room was dark and quiet with Twilight passed out over her blankets, sprawled out on the bed. The only sound that could be heard was the white noise of the rain hitting the window seal and roof of the library. Spike had been called away to Canterlot with business with Princess Celestia. It wasn't anything important, just some formalities about him being Twilight's assistant that needed to be resolved and would be back in a couple of days. Twilight was sleeping soundlessly, exhausted from the day when a flash of lightning lit up her room for a short second, followed by the muffled 'bang' of the thunder and... something else... a squeak... a voice perhaps? Twilight, being the light sleeper she was, slipped out of her self-induced coma to the point to where she was aware of her surroundings, but could still be pronounced unconscious, to listen to the sound a again. She was just about to dismiss it as the wind when another lighting bolt struck in the distance, in the same fashion. A flash, a bang,... and a whimper. Twilight, immediately recognizing the sound, woke up fully and looked toward her doorway, and what she saw was heartbreaking. There, in her doorway, was a little filly Rainbow Dash, trembling and obviously crying with her eyes red-ringed and teary. The lightning. It must've woke her up and scared her. it probably, didn't make it any better that her room was pitch black dark. I'm such an idiot. why didn't i get a nightlight for her? Probably because i thought she wasn't afraid of the dark or lightning. but what foal isn't Twilight? Another flash, another bang, and another, louder whimper. The whimper snapped Twilight out of her mental argument and she concentrated on the turquoise and rainbow colored figure in her doorway. Her mane was a mess; Probably from tossing and turning in her bed trying to go back to sleep. Her dark pink eyes were wide and teary-eyed from her previous sobbing and were looking around the room, almost as if she thought something was about to jump out at her. Quite frankly, Dash was terrified, and Twilight couldn't send her back to her room in that condition, even with a nightlight. So, she did the only thing she could do, she did what a mother would do. "Hey there Dash" her voice as soft as velvet, trying not to alarm the poor mare,"Are you okay? Did the lightning scare you? Dash looked straight at Twilight with wide, pink eyes. Those sweet, adorable eyes. Dash spoke in a whimper,"u-uh h-huh." while moving her head up and down slowly. Twilight put on her best motherly smile and looked at Dash with comforting eyes. "Well, why don't you sleep with me tonight? Would that be okay with you?" she said as she patted a spot next to her on the bed. As if she was waiting for those exact words, Dash bolted to Twilight's bed and crawled up to to her neck, nuzzling it and held on to her chest as she started to sob again. "The l-loud light s-scared me" Dash said as she sobbed Twilight, at first momentarily stunned at Dash's fast movement to her bed, put her right hoof around Dash's back and used her left hoof to gently stroke her mane. "There, there" speaking in her best motherly tone. "It's alright now. There's nothing to be afraid of." Twilight was actually surprised at herself. She didn't consider herself as the motherly type. She always thought that was Fluttershy's department. But here she was, laying in bed with a filly Rainbow Dash, holding her and and stroking her mane, telling her everything will be alright, like she was her own foal. Another flash, another bang, and another whimper as Dash clung to Twilight tightly. I've got to find a way to calm her down. This is tear-jerking watching her cry like that. What would Fluttershy do in a situation like this? At that exact moment, a lightbulb went off in her head. She looked down at the filly and spoke softly,"Would you like me to sing to you to try to help you sleep?" Dash looked up at the kind-hearted mare with adoring eyes and stopped sniffling long enough for her to speak. "Maybe" Twilight couldn't help but smile at the little filly who was trying to act like it didn't matter either way to her.That's. The Dash I remember. "Okay here goes" Twilight looked straight down into Dash's eyes and sang in the most soft,velvety voice Dash ever heard. "Hush now, quiet. Now it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush, now, quiet. Now it's time to go to beeed." The filly Dash nuzzled into Twilight's neck as she sang, transfixed in Twilight's voice. She continued to hold and stroke Dash's mane as she used her magic to lift the covers over both of them. She continued to soothe Rainbow with her voice. "Drifting off to sleep, Exciting day behind you. Drifting off to sleep, letting the joy of dreamland find you" Twilight started to notice the little filly's breath start to even out. it's working. Thank Celestia. "Hush now, quiet now. It's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now. It's time to go to bed" Another flash, another bang, ...silence. Rainbow Dash fell fast asleep thanks to Twilight's enchanting voice. Twilight could feel her warm, even breath on her neck and smiled at the sensation. She leaned in and kissed the sleeping filly on her forehead. "Goodnight Dashie" she said as she rested her head on top of Dash's and fell fast asleep. > Memories > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a beautiful morning after. The sun was shining bright today or so it seemed since the sky had been covered with clouds the past few days. The storm had finally let up around 4:30 a.m. Pegasus ponies who worked at the weather station could be seen flying over Equestria in the early hours, picking up the remaining rain clouds that didn't evaporate after the storm. The intended forecast for the day was "Partly cloudy with temperatures ranging as high as 67 degrees". Head supervisor, Rainy Days, flew the Pegasus ponies out to their intended cleanup site, over watching the entire operation. Needless to say, her presence scared everypony to do a good job. She even threatened anypony that screwed up, that she would personally clip their wings on the spot. Twilight's room was bathed in the Celestia-given sun. The rays seemed to bounce off of every object it touched, giving the room a warm glow. The sun was shining straight into her eyes, as if the sun was deliberately trying to yell, "wake up! It's almost noon," with its rays. After 10 minutes of fidgeting, Twilight reluctantly woke up from her slumber. She squinted her eyes at the sudden assault of light and tried to sit up and look around her room, only to find sitting up difficult. She looked down to see the still sleeping filly, Rainbow Dash, clinging to her stomach with her head resting comfortably on her chest. She stirred very little when Twilight tried to sit up and was, in fact, smiling in her sleep. "Twi..." She mumbled, before she started to lightly giggle at whatever was happening in her dream. Her smile dropped to a blank expression as she clung tighter to Twilight. The entire sight was so adorably cute to Twilight, that she couldn't help but slip out a silent "aww" as she watched her sleep. She must be dreaming about me.... I can't believe Dash is this clingy as a foal. Especially when she barely knows me now. Twilight softly ran her hoof through her unkempt mane as she stared down at the blissful filly. She was beyond adorable at this age and her innocence made it even more so. "Twi....unnn" Rainbow stretched her hooves up to Twilight and had a sad expression. Twilight couldn't help but let out another audible 'aww' as she tried to grab at the purple unicorn. Rainbow started to stir and slowly wake up as she came to from her dream. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Twilight. Her twinkling magenta eyes looked of total content as she recognized the figure looking down on her. She snuggled in closer to her and sighed. "Morning Twi.." Rainbow said shortly yawning after. Twilight smiled softly and ran her hoof through the filly's mane. "Morning Dashie." Twilight couldn't say anything else, she was too overcome with emotions to think of anything else to say. Twilight was running a hoof through her mane, as the filly Rainbow snuggled into her stomach. It wasn't long before the filly started to get hungry and decided to ask her caregiver for food. She looked up at Twilight and stared at her with pleading eyes. "Can... can I have breakfast?" Twilight stared back at the filly and gave her a simple nod to which Rainbow Dash smiled, said thank you, kissed the unicorn on the cheek, and hopped down off the bed. Twilight looked at her for awhile in thought. She's way more affectionate than I thought she would be.... its like I don't even recognize her... She got off the bed and led Dash to the kitchen. She started rummaging through the fridge in search of something for the filly to eat, after a while she spotted something to her satisfaction. Toaster waffles. Since Twilight couldn't cook to save her life, she decided that it be the best course of action since burning down the library wasn't favored. She took out two of the waffles and placed them in the toaster. As soon as she was about to click down she heard Rainbow speak. "I remember you...." Twilight stopped for a second and looked down at the filly. "What was that?" Rainbow continued, "You were always nice to me... even if I was being mean ... you... you were my best friend and... and..." She scrunched her face in annoyance as she tried to remember. "and..." "Come on Dashie, just relax and try to remember." Rainbow clenched her eyes shut trying to grasp the memory, but as quick as it came, it was gone. "OH DARN IT" the filly slammed her hoof down on the wooden floor in anger. She shook her head back in forth as if it would help bring back the memory. "Come on, I need to remember!" Twilight could see that she was on the edge of tears and immediately scooped up the filly in her hooves and held her close. After a second Dash started to cry and held onto Twilight letting her tears soak her coat. "Why can't I remember.... why Twi...." In an attempt to calm the crying filly in her arms, Twilight, started rocking her back and forth while giving her a motherly look. "its okay... it'll come back to you. Don't worry, okay?" "But why can't I remember Twi.... I don't... know... anything. Twilight cringed slightly and looked away from Dash. "There was..... an accident.... and it was pretty bad, but I'm going to fix this." She looked back down at the filly with a softer, more determined, expression. "I promise you that.... okay?" Rainbow nods and continues crying as she holds Twilight closer to her. She significantly calms down and starts to sniffle softly as she looks back up to Twilight. "Twi..." Twilight looks back down and smiles. "Yea Dash?" "Don't leave me......" Twilight looked at Dash with a semi shocked face and held her tightly. "Never." Twilight could feel tears of her own forming as she held the filly close. "and i will fix this Dash." She kissed her on top of head and smiled. Whether you'll forgive me or not.