When Nightmares Become Real

Fluttershy woke up the same way she did every morning. About 7:00 in the morning, Angel lightly kicked her leg. That was her alarm clock. She would rather Angel kick her awake than be woken up by loud noises; she hated loud noises.

"I'm up, Angel. Shall we go down and make breakfast?" The rabbit tapped his foot quickly, impatiently, meaning "yes."

"Okay, then. You meet me down and get started. Just let me wake up a little." Angel, agitated, ran down stairs and began breakfast. Fluttershy was vegetarian, so it didn't matter what Angel made.

She waited a moment and looked out the window at the sun, which had just risen not too long ago. She then proceeded to fix her mane in its signature position, mostly hanging over her face, then went downstairs.

Angel had his food ready to eat, Fluttershy's sitting and waiting to be finished. "Thank you, Angel. You can go ahead and eat." The rabbit's food was gone in a few bites.

By the time she was finished eating, which was around 7:30, Fluttershy went outside to take care of the rest of her animals. Singing happily to herself made the work go by much quicker. She hadn't realized she was done until she reached into the sack of feed for the chickens, which she always fed last, to find it empty.

"Oh, I'm already done? Hmm, it just goes by quicker and quicker every day. Oh well, more time to myself before I go visit the girls." She was about to go inside her cottage when she heard an explosion; it was loud and very close.

Screaming and running inside, she peeked out a window towards where the explosion came from. No fire, no smoke, no signs of an explosion other than the original noise. "Oh dear, what was that? I had better go get Rainbow Dash and the girls so we can see what happened." Angel just looked at her, confused, and went back outside.

After an hour of searching, Fluttershy finally found Rainbow Dash, outside of the window store.

"R-Rainbow Dash! There was s-some kind of explosion in the Everfree Forest, but there was no smoke or f-fire. I was too scared to go look by m-myself, so I came to find you!"

"Explosion? About an hour ago?"

"Y-yeah, why?"

"I heard it too. Distracted me and made me crash through Twilight's window. That's why I'm here."

"Oh my goodness, are you ok?"

"Yeah, Flutters, I'm fine. Are you alright?"

"I'm okay, just scared by the explosion."

"Alright, c'mon. Let's see if we can get the girls to come look with us."

I wonder why Rainbow Dash is always crashing in through Twilight's window, and why it's the same one every time. Rarity says that Dash has a crush on Twilight, but if she should have a crush anyone, it would be me. OH! Did I just think that? Oh no, Fluttershy, you silly filly! Why would ever think something like that about your best friend? A battle was raging inside of the quiet pony's head, and Rainbow Dash could see it clearly.

"You sure you're okay, 'Shy? You're making weird faces."

Fluttershy was snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, yes, I'm just fine. Just worried about what made the explosion."

Rainbow seemed to understand, but wasn't convinced. "No, it looks like you're fighting with yourself. It's alright, I do it all the time."

"Really? Oh good, I'm not the only one who- Eep! N-nevermind!" Rainbow gave her a strange look. "Ooookay... Well, here we are!"

Sure enough, they had just gotten to Twilight's home. Rainbow knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Not even a "Can you get that, Spike?".

"That's strange. Maybe she's not home Dash."

"No, she's got to be. I wasn't gone that long. Besides, the weather ponies just got done putting in the window."

Fluttershy looked up and saw the weather ponies she was talking about flying away with the shattered window. She walked up to the door and knocked softly. "Spike? Are you home? Twilight?"

The door flew open, revealing a frightened Spike. "Guys! Get in here!" He grabbed one of both pegasai's forehoof and pulled them inside, shutting the door behind them.

"Oh, Spike, what's going on?"

"Twilight's nightmares pushed her off the deep end. She asked the princesses to come and see if they had any ideas about what was going on. Only Luna came, just about a half hour ago, and all I've heard since is crying." As if on cue, another loud sob session rang out, coming from Twilight's bedroom. "See what I mean?"

"Oh dear, is she okay?" Trying to speak over the loud wails was difficult, but they were able to. Rainbow spoke. "'Shy, does it sound like she's okay? Spike, what's going on?"

Spike sighed. "I'll tell you, but you can only tell the other girls, and in private! Nopony else can hear this!"

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded and leaned in, wanting to hear Spike's story.