Night-Mares (Redux)by Cloud ShimmersChaptersOld friends.Hi again.Mischief ApologyThe Story Begins again.Dark HistoryOld friends.Noble looked out the window of the train, it slowly began to slow to a halt. The view outside was bleak and foggy, but there was more, almost as if an evil had come over it. Slowly he stepped out of the car, It had been a long trip from Canterlot. He stretched his dark wings and stepped onto the platform, the fog began to clear. Before sat a small creature, a bunny, with its back turned to him. It was clearly enjoying a snack of some kind, he trotted over to it. "Hi little guy," Noble spoke to it in a gentle voice, "I'm looking for the library, can you show me?" The Bunny stopped eating its food, an ear twitched. As it turned around, Noble could see what it had been eating. A pegasus wing. The bunny screeched at him, the noise stung his ears and he ran. However as soon as he turned around he saw more of the demon bunnies, they all pounced at once.... "Ah!" Noble shouted, he looked out the window, and saw his true destination, PonyVille. It was a beautiful day, Sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. He was still catching his breath, a knock came from the door of his passenger cabin. "All ashore who's goin' ashore!" A voice called from the other side, odd since they were on a train. Noble gathered his bags, he had everything he needed, some nice clothes for parties, his type writer,(He's an author) And of course, a key to his new home. He walked out, afraid that he would have to maneuver the town without guidance, but to his surprise a rainbow maned pegasus pony was holding a sign with his name on it. He trotted over to her, expecting to be given the same boring 'welcome tour' he got whenever he visited towns for book signings and what not. He was in for a shock. "Hello, I'm Noble," He said dully, "I suppose your here to take me on a boring tour." But to his surprise, the pegasus was just sitting there, hanging off of every word. "Are you okay?" He asked with a glare. Rainbow Dash spoke, "OHMYGOSH!" She said without a pause, "Your Noble Charge! The worlds only pegasus author!" Noble laughed at this, "You don't seem the reader Miss-er" He paused. "Dash, Rainbow Dash." She said, "I'm sort of new to the whole 'reading' scene, but my friend Twilight got me started off with the Daring Do books." She blushed a bit. "Oh really?" he asked, "I always thought Daring Do was a great read." 'Making friends should be easy' he thought to himself, "But Twilight told you about me?" He sounded surprised. Rainbow Dashed giggled, "Of course, I mean, she didn't talk about you until she received the letter from Celestia. But I can't believe she doesn't talk about you all the time! Your the only pegasus author, and a good one at that!" She kept giggling. "Well," He said in modesty, "I think that anyone can write, they just need a subject, a character and a plot." When he finished pondering he noticed that a pen and notebook were being pushed onto him. He looked at Rainbow Dash who had the look of a Filly at summer break on her face. He took the pen between his teeth, seeing other signatures; Soarin and Spitfire from the wonderblots. When he finished he spoke, "Ya know I was in the same class as Soarin?" he asked her. Rainbow Dash gasped at this, "OH MY GOSH, tell me everything!" "He was afraid of heights," the author laughed, "Until the next year when he met Spitfire, we didn't hang out much after that." He said quietly, "That's when I met Twilight." At this Rainbow Dash gasped again, "What was she like as a filly?" Rainbow Dash asked as they began to walk. "Well," Noble began, "She was timid, really concerned about grades, lonely." A smiled formed on hid face, "Funny thing was, I was the one who wanted to be her friend, every day I would try to impress her with something." He paused, "And everyday she said the same thing, 'nope, no, quite it!' Eventually I got her attention." He stopped to catch his breath. Rainbow Dash spoke, "D'aaaaw, was she your first crush?" She asked in a sweet tone. "Of course," He said with dignity, "One day, our assignment was to write a story." he began his tale, "Of course it was supposed to be something a foal would write, but i got into it. I wrote about a colt who just wanted a friend, but the only one he wanted said no. Until one day, that colt did something so amazing, that the filly couldn't help but fall in love with him." He finished, Noble looked around and saw a sign 'PonyVille public library'. "Thanks for the walk Rainbow Dash." Dash stopped him, "But I want to hear how it ends!" "Oh, right." he felt silly, "Well I got her attention and my cutie mark, we were good friends until she became Celestia's protege." He finished without much gusto in his voice. Rainbow Dash looked a bit disappointed with the ending, "And they lived happily ever after!" Noble ended his tale and Rainbow Dash perked up. Hi again.Twilight Sparkle received a knock on her door, she easily guessed that it would be her childhood friend. She opened the door and saw the Dark grey pegasus, his white man and quill cutie mark made him unmistakable. "Hello Twilight!" He said eagerly. "Noble!" she embraced him for a hug. "How have you been?" she ushered him inside. "Well, ya know, traveling, writing, nightmares," he said, "the whole shebang really! And how about you? The princess' protege, your own library, shaped like a tree!" "Yeah, a lot has changed in nine years." Twilight blushed. She wasn't sure how her friend would react to having Rainbow Dash be the one to greet him. "Well your new friend seems nice enough!" He quipped. "She was very interested in my foalhood, meeting you and all." Twilight laughed, "Did you tell her about how everyday you tried some new way to get my attention?" "Of course," Noble said. Twilight giggled, her friend was still as ridiculous as ever. "Well I wouldn't want my friends to get the wrong idea." Noble laughed, "And what would that be Twilight Sparkle?" He knew he just liked teasing her, but once he saw that she wasn't amused he changed the subject. "Anyway, I didn't see you at the Gala, but apparently your friends made quite the ruckus." "Yeah, well they do that." Twilight felt she deserved to ask a question at this point, "I was standing next to the princess all night, how did you not see me?" "Well, i got caught up in a lot of, er, conversation before entering and I must have just missed you." That was a lie, the truth was that Noble was intimidated by her. After all these years, how could he approach her? 'hi Twi haven't seen you in a few years, by the way I'm losing my mind.' When he finally got the courage to talk to her, her crazy friend chased a stampede through the entry hall. "Oh, well I'm sorry I didn't notice you." Twilight was also lying, she wouldn't have known how to handle the situation. 'Hi Noble, oh your famous. Me? Oh I'm a student.' Talk about awkward. "Anyway, are you busy right now?" Noble asked, "Because I was thinking, maybe, we should catch up on each other's life?" That was the best he could do. "Of course!" Twilight said, "Would you like some tea?" After Twilight had finished telling Noble about the Parasprite incident, she wanted to confront him with his nightmares. "Build an exact replica," Noble was cracking up, "Oh, that's brilliant!" "So about your dreams," Twilight asked but Noble seemed to ignore her. "Please tell me somepony took you seriously," He was faking the laughter. "Noble, please." Twilight put her hoof on his, "I need to know." Noble looked down into his tea, "You can certainly break a mood, Twilight." The colt sighed, "I've just been having some bad dreams, it's all fine." He put on a fake smile, but it didn't fool her. "Clearly not if Celestia sent you here." Twilight asserted her role in the conversation, "I can't help you if you don't tell me whats going on. Now am I going to get my answers or am I going to have to pry them out?" Noble stuck with his story, "Really there is nothing to pry out, I told you I'm fine." Twilight groaned, her horn started to glow, "Don't make me do this!" She warned, she prepared a spell, a spell she had learned for just this occasion. The spell would let her find any secret in anyponies mind. Noble half chuckled, "Twilight, your not going to like the results of that." He saw that his old friend was serious. "Your not giving me any other choice," Twilight said through clenched teeth, "So tell me or I will come in there and get it." Noble was shocked, "You wouldn't dare! I'm warning you now, Twilight you won't like what you see!" Twilight pressed her horn to Noble's forehead, she attempted to enter his mind. However, instead of seeing Noble's dreams, she saw a memory of his. The day he saw her, she felt his emotion, struck with fear and adrenaline and hope. She then saw every attempt he made to get her attention, jumping off the school roof, rearranging clouds so they spelled 'hi Twilight', writing that story. She saw him write that story, but before she could fell the emotion of the words she was kicked out. She was rushed back into her body, "That's not possible." She had practiced the spell that day, that was the reason she had sent Rainbow Dash to pick up Noble. Before she could figure out what was going on, she saw Noble leaving. "Wait, where are you going?" She called after him. Noble stopped, he turned around, "You had no right to do that! You're so lucky I protected you!" with that he stormed off. The weather team must have been felling a bit cliche at that moment because it began raining. "Protected me?" Twilight pondered this and returned to her books, according to the spell-book, The Mind Entry spell can only be defended from if somepony has specifically trained to resist mental trauma; Nightmares,etc. Noble walked into a pub, "Give me the strongest thing you have." He demanded The bartender, called AppleCider, laughed, "Kid you must have quite a few problems, if you think you can handle THIS" The AppleCider poured something into a shot glass, "It's what they use to make the rainbow's up at CloudsDale, mixed with ethanol." Noble looked at the drink, "Is it safe?" The bartender laughed again, "Ask her, she's the only one who ever orders them." He pointed his hoof at a cyan pegasus. "Thanks," he tipped the AppleCider, 'Like granddad use to say, never drink alone'. He walked over to her, "Hello Rainbow Dash, here to drown your sorrows?" Rainbow Dash smiled, "Not particularly no, you?" She asked. "Twilight decided to invade my personal space," he said. He started regretting it when Rainbow started to crack up. "You must be quite the catch," She finished laughing when she saw he was still glum. "What happened?" "She used a spell to get inside my mind," Noble said as he downed the drink, "Oh that's gonna hurt in the morning. Luckily, I can defend my self, up here." He tapped his noggin, "Half the time," he corrected. Rainbow Dash called the bartender over and asked for more drinks, before either of them knew it they were completly wasted. "You know what Twilies problem is?" Rainbow Dash asked him, "She needs to be in control, all the time." "I-I know, I told her I was fine, and she was like 'zaaap'." He put a shot glass to his forehead to amplify the effect. "Who cares if you get night-mirrors?" Rainbow Dash put her arm around him, "Y-your awesome because your so...you!" "I-think your awesome!" Noble hugged her, "Because your all about life." "I think your drunk," She laughed. "I think your hot." he grinned, "Best pic up line ever!" "Oh my gosh your right!" She looked for something to write with, "We need to write these down! Ugh, no paper!" she sobbed. "You know who has paper?" Noble asked, "Twilight! We could totally steal some paper, that's the perfect revenge for her, buggering around in my head!" The two were about to leave when AppleCider stopped them. "You still have to pay!" the Bartender called out. Noble turned around, "here's a check buy yourself new chairs." He dropped it as the duo left. AppleCider picked it up, his jaw dropped to the floor, "Cheff, how many zeroes are here?" Mischief Mischief Rainbow Dash and Noble were on a mission, a drunken mission, but an important one none the less. They were going to steal paper from Twilight so they could right down 'the best pick up line ever'. Noble had his key to the library, which took a few tries to get to work in the dark and the cold. "Noble,"Rainbow Dash whispered, "Why do you have a key?" She asked, trying hard not to slur her words. "I've got the guest room!" He said loudly as he unlocked the door, "Rainbow Dash, please we are trying to be quite!" He shouted at her, luckily not waking Twilight or Spike. "Oh, what was I doin?" She asked confusedly. Noble just shook his head, "Her desk is right there, I'll go turn on the lights in the guest room," He said in a normal tone, clearly Noble wasn't a quite drunk. "Got it!" She loudly whispered, "I'll steal some lights while you turn on the paper!" Noble just laughed as he went down a hallway Once the two had completed there appointed tasks, they sat down at Noble's desk. "Okay, the best pick-up line ever," Rainbow Dash said with a quill in her mouth, "What was it?" Noble looked at her, "Your hot!" he reminded her. As he finished his statement his head fell onto the desk, "Hello, desk!" "Y-O-U-R," Rainbow Dash spelled out, "H-A-W-T." She spat out the quill, "Done!" Noble was still rubbing his head on the desk, "Why are we doing this again?" Rainbow Dash tried to make a Timeline of the nights events on the paper, "Drink- Noble- Drink with Noble- Drunk with Noble- Nobles says I'm hot- and oh." She gave the colt a look. "Oh, yeah." He remembered, "But when did we get drunk?" That's how wasted he was. "Not the point," Rainbow got in the colt's face, "you said I'm hot." "Yes Rainbow Dash," he agreed, "I said that your hot, I meant it to." Rainbow Dash sighed, "Ya know, usually when this scenario happens, both ponies end up regretting it." Noble chuckled, "Rainbow, I regret most of my life." He gave her a wink. "Twilight won't be happy," She reminded him. "Twilight probed my brain, and broke my heart ages ago," He said stubbornly, "I don't care how she feels." Rainbow Dash dropped her act, "The why don't we get on with this?" Noble, for once, didn't have any bad dreams that night. Even if he did he didn't remember them. His eyes opened slowly, but he shut them when he realized the terrible pain in his head. "Yeah," Rainbow Dash whispered, "Those drinks make you crazy the morning after." Noble kept his eyes closed, "What day is it?" He asked in an innocent voice. Rainbow Dash checked the alarm clock next to Noble's bed, "Saturday." She said in a relieved voice. "Oh thank Celestia," Noble whispered, "Can we just lay here all day?" Rainbow Dash giggled, "Sure, why not." she gave him a kiss on his muzzle. "After all, I'm pretty 'exhausted' after last night too." Just as the two lovers got back into comfortable sleeping positions, they heard a knock on the door. "Noble, It's Twilight can I come in?" The unicorn asked. Noble was freaking out, the hangover hadn't been helping either, "N-no, I'm really sick." He got up and went to door, "Terrible, just awfully sick, don't get to close." He warned as he faked a cough. Twilight felt sorry for her friend and levitated a platter over to the door, "I feel so bad about last night, so I mad you breakfast in bed!" She smiled as she pushed past him into the room, "I'll just set it right he-" she saw the cyan pegasus in the bed. Rainbow Dash awkwardly lifted a hoof in a wave, "H-hey Twi, ugh, good morning?" Twilight's feelings began like so: Confusion-understanding-anger- RAGE!!! Noble saw the look on Twilight's face, he saw Spike walking just outside the door, "Spike! Buddy!" he said quickly. Spike looked up, "Oh hey Noble-" he was interrupted by Noble ushering him out the front door. "Male bonding, Let's go fishing!" Noble said quickly, making sure he wasn't being pursued by Twilight. "But, we don't eat fish." Spike questioned Noble's sanity. "Spike," Noble said, "That library is about to become a battlefield of words that nopony your age should hear." Spike was confused but he quickly made up his mind when he heard Twilight scream something along the lines of 'How Dare you, you bit-' the rest was cut off when Noble slammed the front door behind them. Twilight had been arguing with Rainbow Dash for about two hours now, and for once, Rainbow was being the sensible one. "How could you do this to me?" Twilight screamed. Rainbow Dash sighed, "What did I do, Twilight? Steal Noble from you? I told him what would happen if we continued and it was HIS choice." She pointed out. "But he still-" Twilight was interrupted by Rainbow Dash raising her voice. "Cares about you?" She began, "Of course he does, or he did until you pulled that mind magic on him. Whatever you feel, you need to put aside. Noble chose to spend the evening with me, and you know what?" The unicorn shook her head. "I'm not too sure it will be a one night stand. Twilight, I know you feel bad about this but it is your own fault! You pushed him away." Twilight took a deep breath, "Your right, Rainbow. I just thought that he would never change, he did so much just for my attention when we were foals. And I just assumed," She began to cry. Rainbow Dash held her friend, "Whatever this is, you need to talk with him about it, tell him why your so sad and what the problem is." Rainbow Dash couldn't believe half the words she was saying, this was really good advice. "Again, your right." Twilight sobbed, "I was just shocked, I'm sorry I took it all out on you." Twilight got up and smiled, She knew what she had to do. ApologyNoble was walking around town with Spike, terrified of what was going on back at the library. 'This is a nightmare' Spike was showing Noble all the good places to eat, from the pub the night before to a quaint cafe. He looked at Noble, who wasn't paying any attention to the dragon's tour. "So what happened?" Noble thought for a second, "I'm not sure Twilight would appreciate me filling your head with vulgar ideas." Spike laughed, "Noble, Twilight's made me read the anatomy books, I think I can handle it." Again, Noble thought, he thought of a way to turn his acts into 'age appropriate' language, "You see, Rainbow Dash 'spent the night' with me last night." Spike began cracking up, "That's what Twilight is so upset about? Geez Noble, you've got some real sorting to do with her." Spike was finished with his tour, they decided that three hours was probably enough time to let Twilight cool off. Noble hesitated at the front door, Spike rolled his eyes and turned the handle. Inside, Twilight was sitting there, "Noble, can I talk with you for a moment?" It wasn't anger in her voice, just a bit of sorrow. "Uh, yeah." Noble said to the unicorn, the two walked into the guest room. Rainbow Dash had left, Noble expected as much. "Here's whats really bugging me," Twilight began, "Your here for my help, to get rid of your nightmares, and here you are getting drunk and sleeping around." She waited for his excuse. "I didn't have bad dreams last night," Noble confessed, "and I've narrowed down the reasons, alcohol, sex, or Rainbow Dash, which would you rather it be?" Twilight thought for a second, obviously Rainbow Dash would be the best of that scenario, however Twilight changed the subject back to him. "Well, you need to trust me if you want help." "Trust you?" Noble questioned, "Trust the mare who invaded my mind? I threw those memories up as walls because I don't want you to see what I suffer through." He explained, "So no, Twilight, I don't think I can trust you right now." Twilight felt her eyes start to water up, her oldest friend saying these words, cut her heart like a knife. She decided she needed to get her feelings across, she leaned in and kissed him. Noble was shocked, Twilight had never shown any interest in him before, why would she now? Was she jealous of Rainbow Dash, or was this of her own will? He decided it best not to stick around to find out. Noble broke the kiss and stood up. "I thought..." Twilight murmured. Noble turned around as he heard his friend crying, "I need to think about things." He assured her and left the room. He walked out the front door and decided to walk around PonyVille, try to get his bearings. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and before he knew it, he had reached a farm of some kind, huge fields of apple trees surrounded him on all sides. "Great now I'm lost too." He stretched out his wings, gave them a few flaps and took to the sky. Noble perched himself on a cloud and looked around, PonyVille was right there, but he looked at a different place, an obstacle course. "C-can't resist!" He felt his wings pulling him towards it. Before he knew it he was directly above it. "Okay Noble, self control!" His attempts were futile, his wings kept pulling him through each obstacle. Even as he struggled he managed to avoid crashing into hoops, pillars and anything else in the way. Any ponies watching were stupefied that a pegasus was doing Rainbow Dash's course, backwards. When he finally landed he gave a sigh and spoke to his wings. "There, you two had your fun!" He looked up and saw three fillies watching him talk to his wings. "Gee mister that was amazing!" The earth pony said with a southern accent. "T-thanks?" he wasn't sure of what he did, he had terrible spasms whenever he saw an obstacle course and his wings usually end up taking over his whole body. The orange pegasus spoke next, "Have you ever considered going for the WonderBolts?" Noble laughed at this, "No thanks, I've had enough fame for a while." The only one who seemed awestruck was the unicorn of the bunch, "Your Noble Charge!" Her friends looked at her with estranged faces. "You don't remember? The book I was reading at the clubhouse?" The pegasus spoke again, "You mean he was the guy who made you want to get a cutie mark for time travelling?" The unicorn nodded her head, "Would you come by our clubhouse later and sign my copy?" An older unicorn walked up and spoke, "Oh, hello. Have these little fillies been giving you troub-" the fancy maned unicorn was stood with her jaw dropped, before she returned to reality. "Oh, I'm so sorry Mr. Charge." Noble cringed, "Please call me Noble, that reminds me of my dad." His fathers words echoed in his head 'Your never gonna get her, kid.' He was right in the end, Noble never got his dream girl. "Oh okay, Noble." The word seemed unfamiliar to her mouth, "I am Rarity, this is my sister and her friends." She thought for a moment, "Y-your not Twilight's friend 'Noble' are you?" Noble nodded his head, "though, we're not on the best of terms." Rarity thought to question it but chose against it, especially when she saw Rainbow Dash approaching the course. Noble saw Rainbow 'speaking of dream girls.' She walked up to him. "Hi," Rainbow pecked him on the cheek, Rarity stood there, shocked. "Her?" Rarity questioned, "Your dating Rainbow Dash?" She got into a bit of a huff, it was her destiny to be with a famous rich noble colt. The Cutie Mark Crusaders dragged Rarity back to her boutique. Back to the two lovers, Rainbow Dash had asked Noble how his talk with Twilight went. "Terrible," He told her. "She kissed me, like it would make all of this go away." Rainbow Dash instantly forgave her friend, after all it was her idea for Twilight to tell Noble how she felt. "Did it?" Noble thought, Twilight was his first crush, she was his dream girl. But Rainbow Dash listened, she didn't care that Noble was having those god awful nightmares, she also showed her affection. She didn't keep her feelings bottled up for nine years. "No, absolutely not." He returned the gesture she had made to him a few minutes back. "Really?" Rainbow Dash asked, "But I thought." The words mimicked the last Twilight had said to him, "I don't have to think about this, it feels right, Twilight betrayed me. But you, you trusted me with everything." Rainbow looked into his stone grey eyes, "I think this'll work out." The Story Begins again.Noble returned to the library, the wooden door opened with a thud. As he stepped inside, he noticed that it was business as usual, it was warm inside but it was big and empty. He heard a voice call out to him. "Noble," Twilight spoke from upstairs, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for what I did earlier." She had a sincere look on her face. Noble looked up at her, and he smiled. "I know Twilight, I'm sorry too. I tried ignoring my problems and thought they would go away, but there is something I need you to know. I love you, and I always will, but right now," He turned toward the door, "I love Rainbow Dash more, we talked about it and I just can't be here anymore." Twilight heard Noble's tears in his voice. "Because I will always care so much," He continued, "That I won't let you feel my pain." He continued his steps out the door, everyone a bit of sorrow escaped him, but he sucked it up. He wasn't leaving PonyVille, just the library, "I'll come by tommorow and we can work this out, okay?" He left before Twilight could answer him. Twilight thought for a moment, Noble was right. If he had stayed there was a good chance that he would abandon Rainbow Dash, simply because he would always love Twilight. She didn't cry, she just admired the colt who had just walked out the door. Rainbow Dash flew with Noble as they talked about what was said and what was going to happen, she saw that he was sad but he assured her that he wanted to stay with Rainbow. "Well then, I guess its settled, I'll make some room at the house," Rainbow said with a smile. "If it isn't any trouble!" Noble assured her, "I wouldn't want to impose." Rainbow Dash scoffed, "Noble, it's a big house, I get lonely anyway." Noble just looked at her, remembering the thought he had earlier that day, 'The library, so big and lonely.' He shook these thoughts as they approached the cloud home of Rainbow Dash. From the outside it looked just like a regular cloud, apart from the rainbow pond dripping off of it. On the inside, however, there were all sorts of WonderBolts merchandise, and a special bookshelf with Daring Do books by her bed. It was a big house, and there were a lot of unused rooms, which concerned Noble. "Who used to live here?" He entered an old room, that hadn't seen Rainbow's attention before now. "Some family from Canterlot, why?" She saw him touching the wallpaper. Noble realized two things, one; he needed to get out of this place, and two; this was his childhood home. He looked at Rainbow Dash, "Cloud homes can be moved so easily." He half-chuckled. "W-whats wrong?" She asked him. "This was my home, when I was a foal. When my mom," Noble started half laughing half crying. He knew why he was laughing too, 'I'm sorry Mom, I ran away.' Rainbow Dash saw Noble fall to the floor, "Noble!" He was just lying there, asleep. Noble was walking through the house, 'I have to get out of here!' His greatest fear was coming alive before him, he was going to relive the absolute worst moment of his life. He walked into an room with no significance to it. In it was a mare lying there, her child beside her. Noble tried to walk away, but the door behind him was locked. He tried to throw up his emotions as walls, which cracked instantly. He was being forced to watch this. "N-Noble," the mare called out, "Take care of your brother." Those were her last words. The small colt that was Noble, lied there, trying to wake up his mother. "Mom, why won't you wake up? Mom?" Noble watched as the door opened, and his father walked in. "You stupid kid, she's never going to wake up." Adult Noble shouted at the ghost, "You didn't even give her a funeral!" Noble's father turned to the door, not feeling Noble's blows. "Why, won't you die!" Noble felt the feeling that plagued him even more, as he turned around he saw all of his guilt. A small brown pegasus, his brother. "N-Nimble?" Nimble was holding a stuffed pony that looked just like his brother, he spoke to their father, "When's Noble coming back?" Their father laughed, "Never, he doesn't care about you!" Rainbow Dash dumped a bucket of water on Noble, waking him from his terrible sleep, he was shacking. "I left." Was all he had said. "What?" Rainbow Dash said, snapping him back into reality. "What?" Noble looked around the ghosts were gone. "You passed out and where freaking me out, what happened?" Rainbow was lost as to what happened. "This was my home when I was young, some bad memories." He went to the sink and got a glass of water. "A-are you okay?" Rainbow Dash couldn't read any emotion off his face. Noble was using his emotions as barriers, to prove to himself he was in the real world. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine just need some fresh air." He walked outside, taking in all of the air he could, that was the first time his curse had used his memories against him. Rainbow put her foreleg around him, "Come on, you need sleep." "I just woke up," he laughed. "Maybe you don't want to sleep next to me then," She winked at him. They had an early dinner and passed out, Rainbow Dash had work in the morning. Noble was able to block any dreams from harassing him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight was looking at an old photo, from a school field trip. Noble was standing next to her, making a goofy face. She was looking at a brochure. 'That's not right, I'm sure we were friends by then.' She picked up the next photo, again Noble was next to her, this time he had his foreleg around her shoulders, again she was just reading. 'I really did push him away.' Twilight went to bed with a lot on her mind, she remembered the one day Noble didn't come to school. His brother Nimble had come up and spoke to her. "Hi, uh, are you Twilight?" the little colt had asked her. "Yeah, and I'm busy." She was looking at a book for beginners telekinesis. "Well I just had a message for you from my brother, Noble." The colt shyly backed away. "Oh, I didn't know you were his brother," the filly version of Twilight became much nicer, "What's the message?" The little colt sniffled, "He wanted my to tell you that he won't see you again." 'But Noble was there when I got my acceptance letter.' She picked up the letter from her memory chest, it was dated the day before Nimble had given her the message. Dark HistoryNoble was still just sitting in this room, where he spent so much of his foal-hood. Where his mother had loved him. 'I don't even remember her name.' Noble sighed to himself, he went outside and just felt the breeze. He decided that maybe, just maybe, telling Twilight about his issues was a good idea. He took off and flew towards the library. Twilight had been awake for quite some time now, she had been looking at every school picture from before she had been accepted for the School for Gifted Unicorns. Every picture was usually the same, Noble was standing next to her while she was just reading something. All in all only two of the pictures stood out, one of the day when Noble presented his story, and the other was from a few days before he disappeared. He looked so tired, like he hadn't slept in a few days. "That's when it started," Twilight said out loud, "What could have happened to make him run away?" As she pondered this a knock came from her door, she closed her memory box and went downstairs. "Hey, Twi." Noble said glumly, "I'm ready to talk." "Good," Twilight said, "Come on in, do you want anything?" "Just some water," Noble said with no emotion. Twilight was in the kitchen filling up a glass, when she turned the faucet off she heard something; crying. "Noble?" She set the glass down and went over to him. "Its getting worse," Noble sobbed, "I-I almost lost my mind." Twilight wrapped her forelegs around him, "I'm sorry." Noble shook his head, "Do you remember my mother?" Twilight thought about this, she had never actually met Noble's mom, or his dad for that matter, "No I don't." This seemed to make Noble even sadder, "I don't remember her name." Twilight shushed him, "We're going to focus on the positive, what do you remember about her?" Noble thought, "She was kind, happy, she loved my brother and I." Twilight smiled, "That's good, what about your brother?" Noble smiled, "He was always happy, nothing could make him sad." "And your Dad?" Twilight asked innocently. Noble's smile faded, "He hated us, he hated everything about us, he was lazy and I hated him too." He recalled the image of his deadbeat father from his vision, "In fact, I don't think he deserved my mother, I hope that old bastard dies alone and afraid." Twilight looked at him, 'How can anyone so sweet hate another like this'. Noble couldn't take the anger, he felt himself slipping away, any attempts to protect his mind were futile, he collapsed into Twilight. "Noble?" Twilight shouted, she took his cup of water and threw it on him, nothing. "Okay, your probably going to hate me for this." Her horn began to glow with power and she pressed it against his forehead, she was sucked into his mind. Twilight looked around, she saw Rainbow Dash's house, "Why am I here?" She looked around in the building, and one room stood out above the others, the door was opened slightly and she could hear crying. When she poked her head in she saw a foal crying next to a mare lying motionless. When she entered fully she felt as though she didn't belong, she walked over to the small colt and put her foreleg on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for your loss." The foal looked up, "Twilight?" He asked. She closed her eyes and nodded, when she opened them she was staring at Noble, fully grown. Noble looked around for a minute, "Let's get out of here." "Agreed," Twilight said as she helped him up, "How do we leave?" "The front door," He said in a funny way, "Come on-" He turned and saw his father standing face to face with him. "Boy," His father said, "What are you doing, bringing street urchins into my house!" Twilight was about to say something when she saw Noble change back into his younger self. "That's better," His father said, "Now get her out of here!" The little colt led Twilight to the door, then opened it for her. "You first," Twilight said. "I can't leave like this," young Noble said, "I've tried but it puts me back into that room." "Your stronger than this, stronger than him," Twilight said, "And I can't leave until you do." She smiled warmly. Noble returned to his full self and left with Twilight next to him. A white light enveloped them as they vanished from the sepia-tone world. Noble awoke panting, he turned to see Twilight next to him, "Hi." "I really am sorry." Twilight said, "Especially since you have to live through that again." Noble shook his head, "You helped me today," he said, "My mom's death was lingering over for so long, that I couldn't let her go, you helped me Twilight." Twilight smiled, "Its the least I can do." Noble looked at the clock, "I have to go," he said, "Thank you for everything today." "No problem," Twilight said as she waved him off. A really short chapter, because the end might be coming soon.
Old friends.Noble looked out the window of the train, it slowly began to slow to a halt. The view outside was bleak and foggy, but there was more, almost as if an evil had come over it. Slowly he stepped out of the car, It had been a long trip from Canterlot. He stretched his dark wings and stepped onto the platform, the fog began to clear. Before sat a small creature, a bunny, with its back turned to him. It was clearly enjoying a snack of some kind, he trotted over to it. "Hi little guy," Noble spoke to it in a gentle voice, "I'm looking for the library, can you show me?" The Bunny stopped eating its food, an ear twitched. As it turned around, Noble could see what it had been eating. A pegasus wing. The bunny screeched at him, the noise stung his ears and he ran. However as soon as he turned around he saw more of the demon bunnies, they all pounced at once.... "Ah!" Noble shouted, he looked out the window, and saw his true destination, PonyVille. It was a beautiful day, Sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. He was still catching his breath, a knock came from the door of his passenger cabin. "All ashore who's goin' ashore!" A voice called from the other side, odd since they were on a train. Noble gathered his bags, he had everything he needed, some nice clothes for parties, his type writer,(He's an author) And of course, a key to his new home. He walked out, afraid that he would have to maneuver the town without guidance, but to his surprise a rainbow maned pegasus pony was holding a sign with his name on it. He trotted over to her, expecting to be given the same boring 'welcome tour' he got whenever he visited towns for book signings and what not. He was in for a shock. "Hello, I'm Noble," He said dully, "I suppose your here to take me on a boring tour." But to his surprise, the pegasus was just sitting there, hanging off of every word. "Are you okay?" He asked with a glare. Rainbow Dash spoke, "OHMYGOSH!" She said without a pause, "Your Noble Charge! The worlds only pegasus author!" Noble laughed at this, "You don't seem the reader Miss-er" He paused. "Dash, Rainbow Dash." She said, "I'm sort of new to the whole 'reading' scene, but my friend Twilight got me started off with the Daring Do books." She blushed a bit. "Oh really?" he asked, "I always thought Daring Do was a great read." 'Making friends should be easy' he thought to himself, "But Twilight told you about me?" He sounded surprised. Rainbow Dashed giggled, "Of course, I mean, she didn't talk about you until she received the letter from Celestia. But I can't believe she doesn't talk about you all the time! Your the only pegasus author, and a good one at that!" She kept giggling. "Well," He said in modesty, "I think that anyone can write, they just need a subject, a character and a plot." When he finished pondering he noticed that a pen and notebook were being pushed onto him. He looked at Rainbow Dash who had the look of a Filly at summer break on her face. He took the pen between his teeth, seeing other signatures; Soarin and Spitfire from the wonderblots. When he finished he spoke, "Ya know I was in the same class as Soarin?" he asked her. Rainbow Dash gasped at this, "OH MY GOSH, tell me everything!" "He was afraid of heights," the author laughed, "Until the next year when he met Spitfire, we didn't hang out much after that." He said quietly, "That's when I met Twilight." At this Rainbow Dash gasped again, "What was she like as a filly?" Rainbow Dash asked as they began to walk. "Well," Noble began, "She was timid, really concerned about grades, lonely." A smiled formed on hid face, "Funny thing was, I was the one who wanted to be her friend, every day I would try to impress her with something." He paused, "And everyday she said the same thing, 'nope, no, quite it!' Eventually I got her attention." He stopped to catch his breath. Rainbow Dash spoke, "D'aaaaw, was she your first crush?" She asked in a sweet tone. "Of course," He said with dignity, "One day, our assignment was to write a story." he began his tale, "Of course it was supposed to be something a foal would write, but i got into it. I wrote about a colt who just wanted a friend, but the only one he wanted said no. Until one day, that colt did something so amazing, that the filly couldn't help but fall in love with him." He finished, Noble looked around and saw a sign 'PonyVille public library'. "Thanks for the walk Rainbow Dash." Dash stopped him, "But I want to hear how it ends!" "Oh, right." he felt silly, "Well I got her attention and my cutie mark, we were good friends until she became Celestia's protege." He finished without much gusto in his voice. Rainbow Dash looked a bit disappointed with the ending, "And they lived happily ever after!" Noble ended his tale and Rainbow Dash perked up.
Hi again.Twilight Sparkle received a knock on her door, she easily guessed that it would be her childhood friend. She opened the door and saw the Dark grey pegasus, his white man and quill cutie mark made him unmistakable. "Hello Twilight!" He said eagerly. "Noble!" she embraced him for a hug. "How have you been?" she ushered him inside. "Well, ya know, traveling, writing, nightmares," he said, "the whole shebang really! And how about you? The princess' protege, your own library, shaped like a tree!" "Yeah, a lot has changed in nine years." Twilight blushed. She wasn't sure how her friend would react to having Rainbow Dash be the one to greet him. "Well your new friend seems nice enough!" He quipped. "She was very interested in my foalhood, meeting you and all." Twilight laughed, "Did you tell her about how everyday you tried some new way to get my attention?" "Of course," Noble said. Twilight giggled, her friend was still as ridiculous as ever. "Well I wouldn't want my friends to get the wrong idea." Noble laughed, "And what would that be Twilight Sparkle?" He knew he just liked teasing her, but once he saw that she wasn't amused he changed the subject. "Anyway, I didn't see you at the Gala, but apparently your friends made quite the ruckus." "Yeah, well they do that." Twilight felt she deserved to ask a question at this point, "I was standing next to the princess all night, how did you not see me?" "Well, i got caught up in a lot of, er, conversation before entering and I must have just missed you." That was a lie, the truth was that Noble was intimidated by her. After all these years, how could he approach her? 'hi Twi haven't seen you in a few years, by the way I'm losing my mind.' When he finally got the courage to talk to her, her crazy friend chased a stampede through the entry hall. "Oh, well I'm sorry I didn't notice you." Twilight was also lying, she wouldn't have known how to handle the situation. 'Hi Noble, oh your famous. Me? Oh I'm a student.' Talk about awkward. "Anyway, are you busy right now?" Noble asked, "Because I was thinking, maybe, we should catch up on each other's life?" That was the best he could do. "Of course!" Twilight said, "Would you like some tea?" After Twilight had finished telling Noble about the Parasprite incident, she wanted to confront him with his nightmares. "Build an exact replica," Noble was cracking up, "Oh, that's brilliant!" "So about your dreams," Twilight asked but Noble seemed to ignore her. "Please tell me somepony took you seriously," He was faking the laughter. "Noble, please." Twilight put her hoof on his, "I need to know." Noble looked down into his tea, "You can certainly break a mood, Twilight." The colt sighed, "I've just been having some bad dreams, it's all fine." He put on a fake smile, but it didn't fool her. "Clearly not if Celestia sent you here." Twilight asserted her role in the conversation, "I can't help you if you don't tell me whats going on. Now am I going to get my answers or am I going to have to pry them out?" Noble stuck with his story, "Really there is nothing to pry out, I told you I'm fine." Twilight groaned, her horn started to glow, "Don't make me do this!" She warned, she prepared a spell, a spell she had learned for just this occasion. The spell would let her find any secret in anyponies mind. Noble half chuckled, "Twilight, your not going to like the results of that." He saw that his old friend was serious. "Your not giving me any other choice," Twilight said through clenched teeth, "So tell me or I will come in there and get it." Noble was shocked, "You wouldn't dare! I'm warning you now, Twilight you won't like what you see!" Twilight pressed her horn to Noble's forehead, she attempted to enter his mind. However, instead of seeing Noble's dreams, she saw a memory of his. The day he saw her, she felt his emotion, struck with fear and adrenaline and hope. She then saw every attempt he made to get her attention, jumping off the school roof, rearranging clouds so they spelled 'hi Twilight', writing that story. She saw him write that story, but before she could fell the emotion of the words she was kicked out. She was rushed back into her body, "That's not possible." She had practiced the spell that day, that was the reason she had sent Rainbow Dash to pick up Noble. Before she could figure out what was going on, she saw Noble leaving. "Wait, where are you going?" She called after him. Noble stopped, he turned around, "You had no right to do that! You're so lucky I protected you!" with that he stormed off. The weather team must have been felling a bit cliche at that moment because it began raining. "Protected me?" Twilight pondered this and returned to her books, according to the spell-book, The Mind Entry spell can only be defended from if somepony has specifically trained to resist mental trauma; Nightmares,etc. Noble walked into a pub, "Give me the strongest thing you have." He demanded The bartender, called AppleCider, laughed, "Kid you must have quite a few problems, if you think you can handle THIS" The AppleCider poured something into a shot glass, "It's what they use to make the rainbow's up at CloudsDale, mixed with ethanol." Noble looked at the drink, "Is it safe?" The bartender laughed again, "Ask her, she's the only one who ever orders them." He pointed his hoof at a cyan pegasus. "Thanks," he tipped the AppleCider, 'Like granddad use to say, never drink alone'. He walked over to her, "Hello Rainbow Dash, here to drown your sorrows?" Rainbow Dash smiled, "Not particularly no, you?" She asked. "Twilight decided to invade my personal space," he said. He started regretting it when Rainbow started to crack up. "You must be quite the catch," She finished laughing when she saw he was still glum. "What happened?" "She used a spell to get inside my mind," Noble said as he downed the drink, "Oh that's gonna hurt in the morning. Luckily, I can defend my self, up here." He tapped his noggin, "Half the time," he corrected. Rainbow Dash called the bartender over and asked for more drinks, before either of them knew it they were completly wasted. "You know what Twilies problem is?" Rainbow Dash asked him, "She needs to be in control, all the time." "I-I know, I told her I was fine, and she was like 'zaaap'." He put a shot glass to his forehead to amplify the effect. "Who cares if you get night-mirrors?" Rainbow Dash put her arm around him, "Y-your awesome because your so...you!" "I-think your awesome!" Noble hugged her, "Because your all about life." "I think your drunk," She laughed. "I think your hot." he grinned, "Best pic up line ever!" "Oh my gosh your right!" She looked for something to write with, "We need to write these down! Ugh, no paper!" she sobbed. "You know who has paper?" Noble asked, "Twilight! We could totally steal some paper, that's the perfect revenge for her, buggering around in my head!" The two were about to leave when AppleCider stopped them. "You still have to pay!" the Bartender called out. Noble turned around, "here's a check buy yourself new chairs." He dropped it as the duo left. AppleCider picked it up, his jaw dropped to the floor, "Cheff, how many zeroes are here?"
Mischief Mischief Rainbow Dash and Noble were on a mission, a drunken mission, but an important one none the less. They were going to steal paper from Twilight so they could right down 'the best pick up line ever'. Noble had his key to the library, which took a few tries to get to work in the dark and the cold. "Noble,"Rainbow Dash whispered, "Why do you have a key?" She asked, trying hard not to slur her words. "I've got the guest room!" He said loudly as he unlocked the door, "Rainbow Dash, please we are trying to be quite!" He shouted at her, luckily not waking Twilight or Spike. "Oh, what was I doin?" She asked confusedly. Noble just shook his head, "Her desk is right there, I'll go turn on the lights in the guest room," He said in a normal tone, clearly Noble wasn't a quite drunk. "Got it!" She loudly whispered, "I'll steal some lights while you turn on the paper!" Noble just laughed as he went down a hallway Once the two had completed there appointed tasks, they sat down at Noble's desk. "Okay, the best pick-up line ever," Rainbow Dash said with a quill in her mouth, "What was it?" Noble looked at her, "Your hot!" he reminded her. As he finished his statement his head fell onto the desk, "Hello, desk!" "Y-O-U-R," Rainbow Dash spelled out, "H-A-W-T." She spat out the quill, "Done!" Noble was still rubbing his head on the desk, "Why are we doing this again?" Rainbow Dash tried to make a Timeline of the nights events on the paper, "Drink- Noble- Drink with Noble- Drunk with Noble- Nobles says I'm hot- and oh." She gave the colt a look. "Oh, yeah." He remembered, "But when did we get drunk?" That's how wasted he was. "Not the point," Rainbow got in the colt's face, "you said I'm hot." "Yes Rainbow Dash," he agreed, "I said that your hot, I meant it to." Rainbow Dash sighed, "Ya know, usually when this scenario happens, both ponies end up regretting it." Noble chuckled, "Rainbow, I regret most of my life." He gave her a wink. "Twilight won't be happy," She reminded him. "Twilight probed my brain, and broke my heart ages ago," He said stubbornly, "I don't care how she feels." Rainbow Dash dropped her act, "The why don't we get on with this?" Noble, for once, didn't have any bad dreams that night. Even if he did he didn't remember them. His eyes opened slowly, but he shut them when he realized the terrible pain in his head. "Yeah," Rainbow Dash whispered, "Those drinks make you crazy the morning after." Noble kept his eyes closed, "What day is it?" He asked in an innocent voice. Rainbow Dash checked the alarm clock next to Noble's bed, "Saturday." She said in a relieved voice. "Oh thank Celestia," Noble whispered, "Can we just lay here all day?" Rainbow Dash giggled, "Sure, why not." she gave him a kiss on his muzzle. "After all, I'm pretty 'exhausted' after last night too." Just as the two lovers got back into comfortable sleeping positions, they heard a knock on the door. "Noble, It's Twilight can I come in?" The unicorn asked. Noble was freaking out, the hangover hadn't been helping either, "N-no, I'm really sick." He got up and went to door, "Terrible, just awfully sick, don't get to close." He warned as he faked a cough. Twilight felt sorry for her friend and levitated a platter over to the door, "I feel so bad about last night, so I mad you breakfast in bed!" She smiled as she pushed past him into the room, "I'll just set it right he-" she saw the cyan pegasus in the bed. Rainbow Dash awkwardly lifted a hoof in a wave, "H-hey Twi, ugh, good morning?" Twilight's feelings began like so: Confusion-understanding-anger- RAGE!!! Noble saw the look on Twilight's face, he saw Spike walking just outside the door, "Spike! Buddy!" he said quickly. Spike looked up, "Oh hey Noble-" he was interrupted by Noble ushering him out the front door. "Male bonding, Let's go fishing!" Noble said quickly, making sure he wasn't being pursued by Twilight. "But, we don't eat fish." Spike questioned Noble's sanity. "Spike," Noble said, "That library is about to become a battlefield of words that nopony your age should hear." Spike was confused but he quickly made up his mind when he heard Twilight scream something along the lines of 'How Dare you, you bit-' the rest was cut off when Noble slammed the front door behind them. Twilight had been arguing with Rainbow Dash for about two hours now, and for once, Rainbow was being the sensible one. "How could you do this to me?" Twilight screamed. Rainbow Dash sighed, "What did I do, Twilight? Steal Noble from you? I told him what would happen if we continued and it was HIS choice." She pointed out. "But he still-" Twilight was interrupted by Rainbow Dash raising her voice. "Cares about you?" She began, "Of course he does, or he did until you pulled that mind magic on him. Whatever you feel, you need to put aside. Noble chose to spend the evening with me, and you know what?" The unicorn shook her head. "I'm not too sure it will be a one night stand. Twilight, I know you feel bad about this but it is your own fault! You pushed him away." Twilight took a deep breath, "Your right, Rainbow. I just thought that he would never change, he did so much just for my attention when we were foals. And I just assumed," She began to cry. Rainbow Dash held her friend, "Whatever this is, you need to talk with him about it, tell him why your so sad and what the problem is." Rainbow Dash couldn't believe half the words she was saying, this was really good advice. "Again, your right." Twilight sobbed, "I was just shocked, I'm sorry I took it all out on you." Twilight got up and smiled, She knew what she had to do.
ApologyNoble was walking around town with Spike, terrified of what was going on back at the library. 'This is a nightmare' Spike was showing Noble all the good places to eat, from the pub the night before to a quaint cafe. He looked at Noble, who wasn't paying any attention to the dragon's tour. "So what happened?" Noble thought for a second, "I'm not sure Twilight would appreciate me filling your head with vulgar ideas." Spike laughed, "Noble, Twilight's made me read the anatomy books, I think I can handle it." Again, Noble thought, he thought of a way to turn his acts into 'age appropriate' language, "You see, Rainbow Dash 'spent the night' with me last night." Spike began cracking up, "That's what Twilight is so upset about? Geez Noble, you've got some real sorting to do with her." Spike was finished with his tour, they decided that three hours was probably enough time to let Twilight cool off. Noble hesitated at the front door, Spike rolled his eyes and turned the handle. Inside, Twilight was sitting there, "Noble, can I talk with you for a moment?" It wasn't anger in her voice, just a bit of sorrow. "Uh, yeah." Noble said to the unicorn, the two walked into the guest room. Rainbow Dash had left, Noble expected as much. "Here's whats really bugging me," Twilight began, "Your here for my help, to get rid of your nightmares, and here you are getting drunk and sleeping around." She waited for his excuse. "I didn't have bad dreams last night," Noble confessed, "and I've narrowed down the reasons, alcohol, sex, or Rainbow Dash, which would you rather it be?" Twilight thought for a second, obviously Rainbow Dash would be the best of that scenario, however Twilight changed the subject back to him. "Well, you need to trust me if you want help." "Trust you?" Noble questioned, "Trust the mare who invaded my mind? I threw those memories up as walls because I don't want you to see what I suffer through." He explained, "So no, Twilight, I don't think I can trust you right now." Twilight felt her eyes start to water up, her oldest friend saying these words, cut her heart like a knife. She decided she needed to get her feelings across, she leaned in and kissed him. Noble was shocked, Twilight had never shown any interest in him before, why would she now? Was she jealous of Rainbow Dash, or was this of her own will? He decided it best not to stick around to find out. Noble broke the kiss and stood up. "I thought..." Twilight murmured. Noble turned around as he heard his friend crying, "I need to think about things." He assured her and left the room. He walked out the front door and decided to walk around PonyVille, try to get his bearings. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and before he knew it, he had reached a farm of some kind, huge fields of apple trees surrounded him on all sides. "Great now I'm lost too." He stretched out his wings, gave them a few flaps and took to the sky. Noble perched himself on a cloud and looked around, PonyVille was right there, but he looked at a different place, an obstacle course. "C-can't resist!" He felt his wings pulling him towards it. Before he knew it he was directly above it. "Okay Noble, self control!" His attempts were futile, his wings kept pulling him through each obstacle. Even as he struggled he managed to avoid crashing into hoops, pillars and anything else in the way. Any ponies watching were stupefied that a pegasus was doing Rainbow Dash's course, backwards. When he finally landed he gave a sigh and spoke to his wings. "There, you two had your fun!" He looked up and saw three fillies watching him talk to his wings. "Gee mister that was amazing!" The earth pony said with a southern accent. "T-thanks?" he wasn't sure of what he did, he had terrible spasms whenever he saw an obstacle course and his wings usually end up taking over his whole body. The orange pegasus spoke next, "Have you ever considered going for the WonderBolts?" Noble laughed at this, "No thanks, I've had enough fame for a while." The only one who seemed awestruck was the unicorn of the bunch, "Your Noble Charge!" Her friends looked at her with estranged faces. "You don't remember? The book I was reading at the clubhouse?" The pegasus spoke again, "You mean he was the guy who made you want to get a cutie mark for time travelling?" The unicorn nodded her head, "Would you come by our clubhouse later and sign my copy?" An older unicorn walked up and spoke, "Oh, hello. Have these little fillies been giving you troub-" the fancy maned unicorn was stood with her jaw dropped, before she returned to reality. "Oh, I'm so sorry Mr. Charge." Noble cringed, "Please call me Noble, that reminds me of my dad." His fathers words echoed in his head 'Your never gonna get her, kid.' He was right in the end, Noble never got his dream girl. "Oh okay, Noble." The word seemed unfamiliar to her mouth, "I am Rarity, this is my sister and her friends." She thought for a moment, "Y-your not Twilight's friend 'Noble' are you?" Noble nodded his head, "though, we're not on the best of terms." Rarity thought to question it but chose against it, especially when she saw Rainbow Dash approaching the course. Noble saw Rainbow 'speaking of dream girls.' She walked up to him. "Hi," Rainbow pecked him on the cheek, Rarity stood there, shocked. "Her?" Rarity questioned, "Your dating Rainbow Dash?" She got into a bit of a huff, it was her destiny to be with a famous rich noble colt. The Cutie Mark Crusaders dragged Rarity back to her boutique. Back to the two lovers, Rainbow Dash had asked Noble how his talk with Twilight went. "Terrible," He told her. "She kissed me, like it would make all of this go away." Rainbow Dash instantly forgave her friend, after all it was her idea for Twilight to tell Noble how she felt. "Did it?" Noble thought, Twilight was his first crush, she was his dream girl. But Rainbow Dash listened, she didn't care that Noble was having those god awful nightmares, she also showed her affection. She didn't keep her feelings bottled up for nine years. "No, absolutely not." He returned the gesture she had made to him a few minutes back. "Really?" Rainbow Dash asked, "But I thought." The words mimicked the last Twilight had said to him, "I don't have to think about this, it feels right, Twilight betrayed me. But you, you trusted me with everything." Rainbow looked into his stone grey eyes, "I think this'll work out."
The Story Begins again.Noble returned to the library, the wooden door opened with a thud. As he stepped inside, he noticed that it was business as usual, it was warm inside but it was big and empty. He heard a voice call out to him. "Noble," Twilight spoke from upstairs, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for what I did earlier." She had a sincere look on her face. Noble looked up at her, and he smiled. "I know Twilight, I'm sorry too. I tried ignoring my problems and thought they would go away, but there is something I need you to know. I love you, and I always will, but right now," He turned toward the door, "I love Rainbow Dash more, we talked about it and I just can't be here anymore." Twilight heard Noble's tears in his voice. "Because I will always care so much," He continued, "That I won't let you feel my pain." He continued his steps out the door, everyone a bit of sorrow escaped him, but he sucked it up. He wasn't leaving PonyVille, just the library, "I'll come by tommorow and we can work this out, okay?" He left before Twilight could answer him. Twilight thought for a moment, Noble was right. If he had stayed there was a good chance that he would abandon Rainbow Dash, simply because he would always love Twilight. She didn't cry, she just admired the colt who had just walked out the door. Rainbow Dash flew with Noble as they talked about what was said and what was going to happen, she saw that he was sad but he assured her that he wanted to stay with Rainbow. "Well then, I guess its settled, I'll make some room at the house," Rainbow said with a smile. "If it isn't any trouble!" Noble assured her, "I wouldn't want to impose." Rainbow Dash scoffed, "Noble, it's a big house, I get lonely anyway." Noble just looked at her, remembering the thought he had earlier that day, 'The library, so big and lonely.' He shook these thoughts as they approached the cloud home of Rainbow Dash. From the outside it looked just like a regular cloud, apart from the rainbow pond dripping off of it. On the inside, however, there were all sorts of WonderBolts merchandise, and a special bookshelf with Daring Do books by her bed. It was a big house, and there were a lot of unused rooms, which concerned Noble. "Who used to live here?" He entered an old room, that hadn't seen Rainbow's attention before now. "Some family from Canterlot, why?" She saw him touching the wallpaper. Noble realized two things, one; he needed to get out of this place, and two; this was his childhood home. He looked at Rainbow Dash, "Cloud homes can be moved so easily." He half-chuckled. "W-whats wrong?" She asked him. "This was my home, when I was a foal. When my mom," Noble started half laughing half crying. He knew why he was laughing too, 'I'm sorry Mom, I ran away.' Rainbow Dash saw Noble fall to the floor, "Noble!" He was just lying there, asleep. Noble was walking through the house, 'I have to get out of here!' His greatest fear was coming alive before him, he was going to relive the absolute worst moment of his life. He walked into an room with no significance to it. In it was a mare lying there, her child beside her. Noble tried to walk away, but the door behind him was locked. He tried to throw up his emotions as walls, which cracked instantly. He was being forced to watch this. "N-Noble," the mare called out, "Take care of your brother." Those were her last words. The small colt that was Noble, lied there, trying to wake up his mother. "Mom, why won't you wake up? Mom?" Noble watched as the door opened, and his father walked in. "You stupid kid, she's never going to wake up." Adult Noble shouted at the ghost, "You didn't even give her a funeral!" Noble's father turned to the door, not feeling Noble's blows. "Why, won't you die!" Noble felt the feeling that plagued him even more, as he turned around he saw all of his guilt. A small brown pegasus, his brother. "N-Nimble?" Nimble was holding a stuffed pony that looked just like his brother, he spoke to their father, "When's Noble coming back?" Their father laughed, "Never, he doesn't care about you!" Rainbow Dash dumped a bucket of water on Noble, waking him from his terrible sleep, he was shacking. "I left." Was all he had said. "What?" Rainbow Dash said, snapping him back into reality. "What?" Noble looked around the ghosts were gone. "You passed out and where freaking me out, what happened?" Rainbow was lost as to what happened. "This was my home when I was young, some bad memories." He went to the sink and got a glass of water. "A-are you okay?" Rainbow Dash couldn't read any emotion off his face. Noble was using his emotions as barriers, to prove to himself he was in the real world. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine just need some fresh air." He walked outside, taking in all of the air he could, that was the first time his curse had used his memories against him. Rainbow put her foreleg around him, "Come on, you need sleep." "I just woke up," he laughed. "Maybe you don't want to sleep next to me then," She winked at him. They had an early dinner and passed out, Rainbow Dash had work in the morning. Noble was able to block any dreams from harassing him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight was looking at an old photo, from a school field trip. Noble was standing next to her, making a goofy face. She was looking at a brochure. 'That's not right, I'm sure we were friends by then.' She picked up the next photo, again Noble was next to her, this time he had his foreleg around her shoulders, again she was just reading. 'I really did push him away.' Twilight went to bed with a lot on her mind, she remembered the one day Noble didn't come to school. His brother Nimble had come up and spoke to her. "Hi, uh, are you Twilight?" the little colt had asked her. "Yeah, and I'm busy." She was looking at a book for beginners telekinesis. "Well I just had a message for you from my brother, Noble." The colt shyly backed away. "Oh, I didn't know you were his brother," the filly version of Twilight became much nicer, "What's the message?" The little colt sniffled, "He wanted my to tell you that he won't see you again." 'But Noble was there when I got my acceptance letter.' She picked up the letter from her memory chest, it was dated the day before Nimble had given her the message.
Dark HistoryNoble was still just sitting in this room, where he spent so much of his foal-hood. Where his mother had loved him. 'I don't even remember her name.' Noble sighed to himself, he went outside and just felt the breeze. He decided that maybe, just maybe, telling Twilight about his issues was a good idea. He took off and flew towards the library. Twilight had been awake for quite some time now, she had been looking at every school picture from before she had been accepted for the School for Gifted Unicorns. Every picture was usually the same, Noble was standing next to her while she was just reading something. All in all only two of the pictures stood out, one of the day when Noble presented his story, and the other was from a few days before he disappeared. He looked so tired, like he hadn't slept in a few days. "That's when it started," Twilight said out loud, "What could have happened to make him run away?" As she pondered this a knock came from her door, she closed her memory box and went downstairs. "Hey, Twi." Noble said glumly, "I'm ready to talk." "Good," Twilight said, "Come on in, do you want anything?" "Just some water," Noble said with no emotion. Twilight was in the kitchen filling up a glass, when she turned the faucet off she heard something; crying. "Noble?" She set the glass down and went over to him. "Its getting worse," Noble sobbed, "I-I almost lost my mind." Twilight wrapped her forelegs around him, "I'm sorry." Noble shook his head, "Do you remember my mother?" Twilight thought about this, she had never actually met Noble's mom, or his dad for that matter, "No I don't." This seemed to make Noble even sadder, "I don't remember her name." Twilight shushed him, "We're going to focus on the positive, what do you remember about her?" Noble thought, "She was kind, happy, she loved my brother and I." Twilight smiled, "That's good, what about your brother?" Noble smiled, "He was always happy, nothing could make him sad." "And your Dad?" Twilight asked innocently. Noble's smile faded, "He hated us, he hated everything about us, he was lazy and I hated him too." He recalled the image of his deadbeat father from his vision, "In fact, I don't think he deserved my mother, I hope that old bastard dies alone and afraid." Twilight looked at him, 'How can anyone so sweet hate another like this'. Noble couldn't take the anger, he felt himself slipping away, any attempts to protect his mind were futile, he collapsed into Twilight. "Noble?" Twilight shouted, she took his cup of water and threw it on him, nothing. "Okay, your probably going to hate me for this." Her horn began to glow with power and she pressed it against his forehead, she was sucked into his mind. Twilight looked around, she saw Rainbow Dash's house, "Why am I here?" She looked around in the building, and one room stood out above the others, the door was opened slightly and she could hear crying. When she poked her head in she saw a foal crying next to a mare lying motionless. When she entered fully she felt as though she didn't belong, she walked over to the small colt and put her foreleg on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for your loss." The foal looked up, "Twilight?" He asked. She closed her eyes and nodded, when she opened them she was staring at Noble, fully grown. Noble looked around for a minute, "Let's get out of here." "Agreed," Twilight said as she helped him up, "How do we leave?" "The front door," He said in a funny way, "Come on-" He turned and saw his father standing face to face with him. "Boy," His father said, "What are you doing, bringing street urchins into my house!" Twilight was about to say something when she saw Noble change back into his younger self. "That's better," His father said, "Now get her out of here!" The little colt led Twilight to the door, then opened it for her. "You first," Twilight said. "I can't leave like this," young Noble said, "I've tried but it puts me back into that room." "Your stronger than this, stronger than him," Twilight said, "And I can't leave until you do." She smiled warmly. Noble returned to his full self and left with Twilight next to him. A white light enveloped them as they vanished from the sepia-tone world. Noble awoke panting, he turned to see Twilight next to him, "Hi." "I really am sorry." Twilight said, "Especially since you have to live through that again." Noble shook his head, "You helped me today," he said, "My mom's death was lingering over for so long, that I couldn't let her go, you helped me Twilight." Twilight smiled, "Its the least I can do." Noble looked at the clock, "I have to go," he said, "Thank you for everything today." "No problem," Twilight said as she waved him off. A really short chapter, because the end might be coming soon.
