Bittersweet Trails

A/N: Perspective change. You likey? Well too bad. Since this story revolves around Twilight and her inner thoughts, this seems the best choice.

Enjoy. The perspective is now 1st person, from Twi's accented view, or 'more inflected on the intellectual side'.

I awoke with a large start, screaming at the top of my lungs. "BIG BROTHER!"

I froze, listening to my own voice rebound off of my surroundings. Shortly afterwards, the splitting pain of a headache hit me, and I groaned. There was definitely something going on, but what? Why had I awoke in such a fright?

A gentle snort from beside me brought my senses into focus, and I immediately took stock of my surroundings.

I was in a bed, a pink one. The sheets around me were spread...dare I say, lovingly? The surroundings were unfamiliar nonetheless, and I couldn't recall a thing from the previous day. The floor was carpeted with a deep pink color, and a small dresser sat besides me. The room was furnished with many, many festival-like items that it didn't even seem worthwhile taking inventory of them all.

I turned to face the sound of the snort, and my heart skipped a beat.

Slumbering in what seemed to be perfect peace, was the ever cheerful Pinkie Pie. A slight smile graced her expression even as she slept, and as I watched, a grin of my own coming to my face, she gently mumbled in her sleep.

"Twilight...I...we...fun...chocolate truffles...with me?"

I couldn't help but to smile even wider, though my grin was still slight. One could never guess what Pinkie was up to, especially in her dreams. Each time I tried, my mind just broke into two before sinking into my stomach.

I suppose that's why my heart always spoke up first, with words that could only be summed up with 'love'.

I froze as I remembered just why I'd woken up. The festival, Pinkie, Shining Armor having...'transcended'...fainting...

I found myself almost hyperventilating as I realized the implications. I hurriedly brought myself to my hooves, and did the one thing that I always did when I was nervous: paced. I turned this way and that, trying to reassure myself of the most inevitable outcomes being dispelled. My brother couldn't be dead, no way. I haven't seen any proof of such, or heard why.

...then again, it was the princess who told me...

I found myself fretting over the possible departure to Canterlot, and the resulting loss of my friends. I was so busy trying not to cry that I hardly even noticed when a voice, high and clear, carried across the room.

"Gooood morning, Twilight! Did the bedbugs bite much?"

I turned to face the bed, finding that Pinkie Pie now sat straight up, already beaming with an energy that I could envy, especially since she just woke up.

I snorted, trying to keep my voice under control. "Bedbugs, no. Sudden discovery that your own brother is most likely dead, and you'll have to leave Ponyville? Yes."

I watched as she stared, before she collapsed into a rather strange fit of giggling. "You're funny, Twilight." she said.

I leapt into her face, nearly shouting now. "I'm not joking, Pinkie! You think this is funny?"

It was now that her gaze softened, and the smile slowly faded back to where it had come from. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Her voice was as soft and tender as I would expect my own mother's to be.

I stopped. Nightmare? Was it possible? The whole thing was just so traumatizing, that I noticed that I was shaking all over. Worse, it had taken grasp of my mind, and twisted it about twenty times each way. I didn't know whether to cry, whimper, or shout. I did manage a simple "I guess", however.

It was enough. Pinkie just nodded, and said "Okey Dokey Lokey."

"Okey Dokey what?"

She smiled in response to this. "Okey Dokey 'I'm going to make your nightmare go away' Lokey."

Before I could respond to this rather vague-and seemingly impossible-suggestion, Pinkie reached out, placing her forehooves around my neck, before gently drawing me closer into an embrace. I went to resist, but then I realized something.

While I'd always wanted to admit my affection to her, it was only now that I truly cherished the secret. As she held the hug, I felt my worries slipping away one by one, leaving a certain fluttering in my chest. If she were to know my feelings, this mere moment would likely not exist, as we would both be so scrupulously careful as to not cross another line.

With this in mind, I half-returned the embrace, laying my head upon her chest, of which she pulled me to. It was a strange feeling then, but I could call it 'contentment'' if I tried.

Eventually, she relinquished her grip, and I had to pull away. I felt much better, and when she asked if it was gone, I was able to say 'mostly'.

I didn't have the heart to tell her what the two of us did in the dream, the one thing that made it less frightening. But when she drew me back in once more, I wasn't complaining. Not in the least.

I was not able to shake the nightmare from my mind quite yet, but I reassured her that I had. While I would love to have spent an eternity locked in her soft, warm grasp, I had other things to do.

I rose, and I suddenly noticed a gentle roaring. How it got beyond me is a wonder, but I had to ask-"It's raining?"

Pinkie giggle-snorted in response. "Of course it is! That's why you spent the night here, remember? Rainbow said there was a huuuuuge storm scheduled to clear the leftover rain clouds, and it's still going!"

Huh. I didn't remember that.

"I found you wandering outside..." she continued. "You looked all cold and wet, so I took you in. I guess you were tired, because once I got you dried off, you just went to the first bed you saw and fell asleep reeeeallly quick!"

I had done that before-the bed thing, that is. "Sure sounds like me, Pinkie."

A short silence followed, as the soothing sound of the rain pierced the room. I looked around, awkwardly scratching my head.

I managed to pop a question. "So...how did your big blowout party go?"

I could tell this was a nice subject for her, as her eyes lit up almost as soon as I finished. "It was super-duper-ultra fantastic, Twilight! Thanks for helping me plan it!"

"Oh. No problem." My cheeks flamed from within, and I turned aside, hoping that no blush was visibly seen.

Another brief interval followed, which was broken by Pinkie hopping out of the sheets, and coming to all four hooves on the floor. She cheerfully bounced around the bed, coming to my side before brushing past. I shivered as her tail gently made contact with my thigh-such a light touch always sent shivers down my spine.

I didn't quite know what she was up to when she stopped, and pulled out a small beaded necklace from what appeared to be a tiny box, until she spoke. "I made this for you at the festival."

The festival? Was it real? Had she simply falsely convinced me that it wasn't real? She must have. It would be the only reason for me have woken up in Sugarcube Corner.

I leapt forward, smacking the beads out of her hooves. Perhaps if they were gone, the events would go with them. In the moment, I found myself with a rising voice, trembling more and more with each second. "No! It isn't real! None of this is, no, it isn't! He's still here, and so am I!"

Pinkie gazed in horror at the beads scattered on the floor, before looking back to me. "Twilight..." she said. "You...you broke it..."

I held a hoof in front of my face, and noted that I was, once again, shaking. Had I gone completely mad? Was I being driven insane by my own manic machinations, by my greatest fears? Or was it just the stress of holding myself back from her?

"Pinkie, I..." I found it difficult to get the words out. "...I'm sorry. I just don't feel like myself lately."

"No, no, no! This is all wrong!" exclaimed the pink mare that I found myself slightly scared of at the moment. "Now how am I supposed to tell you?"

I frowned. "Tell me what?"

"Ooh, I know! I'll just say it!"

What Pinkie Pie did next surprised me so much, I nearly leapt out of my own skin.

She walked up to me, and placed a hoof on the side of my face. She leaned in close,and I felt a little pressed for space. "I was going to say this at the festival, but...now's as good a time as any. Well, it's more of a question, but...yeah. Ooh, wait! I have a poem for it-"

I pushed her back. "Pinkie." I grunted.

Apparently, that was enough. She shrugged, and recited whatever poem she had it was. It seemed to be a rather impromptu spin-off...

"Roses are-sometimes-red,
Violets are-mostly-blue.
I was just wondering,
If I could go out with you."

Woah, woah, woah. Back that train up about a trillion miles. Is this not just a little too convenient? The fact that I've been specifically dreaming about this for weeks, and that she just asked, completely free of any anxiety or planning? Is it just another prank-

"I know, I know...it seems like a joke, doesn't it?"

Well, she certainly read my mind.

"Twilight, I..." She dropped her gaze and turned aside, as though she could hide behind her mane. "...I know when I'm joking, and...when I actually feel a certain way...a warm, fuzzy way..."

Well don't I feel like a big jerk?

"...but if you could just give me a chance..." she looked up, smiling as she always did. However, the slightest coloring of her cheeks confirmed it-she was being completely genuine about her...question.

All that was left was for me to answer.

"YES!" I froze. Too forward?

In an attempt to fix my social faux pas, I found myself stuttering. " I mean..u-uh...sure?"

Pinkie giggled, swiping a hoof at my mane. "You're so cute when you blush."

Well, if I wasn't before, I sure was now. Regardless, she continued. "How about we meet back here at...say...4:00 tomorrow? We can go ice-skating, and it'll be super-duper fun!"

Apparently, she forgot something. I frowned as I told her, "Pinkie, I can't skate. How does that work?"

"No problem!" she said, nonchalantly waving a hoof. "I'll teach you! Sounds like a plan?"

I grinned, finally seizing upon the opportunity. It was finally coming true, my most wonderful dream that even lingered during the daytime. "Sure thing. I'd be glad to learn from such an 'expert'..."

Then it hit me. "Um, Pinkie, it's still raining pretty hard. I'm pretty sure even an umbrella would have trouble holding back rain of this caliber..."

Pinkie Pie then smiled one of the most heart-melting smiles that she ever had-some sixth sense in me thought that she knew just what to do, and when. No Pinkie sense was visible, but it sure seemed to be working. "No problem, Twily!"-Oh Celestia, I have a nickname now...and to make it worse, it's my brother's-"I know what we can do! You still got that nightmare in your head?"

I could take a hint. "Oh, yes Pinkie, I do!" I said, being sure to over-stretch the anxiety. "It's so horrible and voraciously evil! Help me!"

"Vo-ra-whaaaaaat?"

I sighed. For such a seemingly psychic pony, she could be relatively shut-in...

Perhaps that was for the better.

"Incredibly, Pinkie. Incredibly."

She shrugged. "Then just say it. Now come to Auntie Pinkie Pie, and we'll see about that-"

I didn't hesitate. I immediately stepped into her waiting embrace, though this time I was able to hug her back-it no longer crossed any lines, in any case. Rather, it only reinforced them. "You really need to spend more time in silence, Pinkie..." I told her, snuggling further into the cotton candy-like mane that she beheld.

"Two hundred and sixty seven..." It was almost infinitely inaudible, but the number that she spoke was still heard, even from my place below her that I spent, squeezing her oddly soft, and pleasurably warm body.

It was strange, to say the least. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing..." The speed at which she dismissed it was a little worrying. But who cared, anyways? She was Pinkie.

And that's exactly why I loved her.

A/N: "What happened to chapter 2? Was it pointless? Did any of it happen? Is this-"

Calm down, reader, and use the foreshadowing available to you. Note that fauxshadowing is my natural talent...kekekeke.