Twilight stared at the door before her and listened for the soul crushing sounds, a gasp, then a grunt, followed by a moan, and finally a male groan. She’d been there before, in reality. Twilight did what would inevitably follow the noises, she pressed a hoof on the door and it opened silently, as it had when she’d first opened it. Only, it led to a field with an orange maned Pegasus, whom lewdly flirted with her colt friend, teasing him with her lithe form.
“She’s frigid, only interested in books,” the mare said before she nuzzled Flash, and moved her tail under his chin as she slithered past, “She can’t compete with me. I’ll let you do anything you want, baby.”
The dam broke at the sentence, and soon tears fell. The miserable lavender alicorn curled up in a ball, in an attempt to remove herself from existence. To somehow erase the fact that this had happened.
Then the whispers came, “Nerd, Geek, Egghead, Frigid mare!”
The voices grew in number and intensity before Twilight bolted for the nearest door. Only, it lead to the last place that she wanted to be, Her room in the castle.
Twilight faced the bed and watched, perhaps for the second or third time. Flash atop the Pegasus mare, rutting her, grunting loudly as he plowed his length into the home wrecker.
“She doesn’t do this for you? Ah, Let you go bareback? Unh, You can forget about her, harder, keep going!” she yelled then squealed in orgasmic bliss.
“I deserve this, I-If I wasn’t such a-a…” Twilight couldn’t finish the sentence before she dropped to the floor and openly bawled, not really caring that this was a dream.
Twilight was there for a few more moments before Spike ended her suffering as he woke her up.
“Twilight? You ok? You were crying and-,” Spike asked, only to be cut off by a tight hug.
Twilight hugged her number one assistant deeply and calmed herself down before she replied, “I-I just had a bad dream, Spike.”
She lied, and she had no illusions over the reason.
“I don’t want to get Spike in the middle of this,” she thought as Flash entered his marefriends room.
“Hey Twi, did I wake you? Sorry for being late, the patrol was more taxing than I thought,” Flash said with a small laugh.
Then he noted her tear stained face and rushed towards her.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.
Confront him, get him to admit it.
“Nothing, just a bad dream,” Twilight lied, as she realized that now wasn’t the time.
“Aw Twi,” he moved towards Twilight and kissed her on the cheek after he climbed into bed.
Soon, both he and Spike were fast asleep, Twilight however was wide awake as the scent of foreign perfume the entered her nostrils.
He’d done it again, he slept with that other mare! The proverbial knife had been twisted in her heart, and the wielder was blissful in doing so.
“No sleep tonight,” Twilight thought as she laid there, Spike at her left, Flash at her right.
Twilight was surprised when she found herself there again, in a hall looking towards her bedroom. She sunk to the ground, and lacked the stomach to open the door again. Even as the lustful moans started, even as the other mare screamed in release. Twilight bawled and just wanted this horrific memory to end. All went quiet and the door disappeared, where she cried alone in silence.
Her prayers were answered when a silvery voice spoke, “Salutations to thee, Twilight Sparkle.”
The alicorn’s ears perked up at the unmistakable voice, Prince Artemis was here, evident in the way that he materialized before her. He stood tall and proud with his mane in a neat ponytail that was draped over a shoulder.
The Dream Warden’s eyes widened at the scene as soon as his eyes landed on her.
“Good heavens, Twilight, whatever is the matter?” Artemis exclaimed as he surged forward to her.
“P-Prince Artemis,” Twilight tried to greet her co-ruler only to feel a wing cover her and pull her into an embrace as the prince dropped to his knees beside her.
Twilight finally let it all out, and pressed herself into Artemis’s barrel.
“Shh, shh, there, there my dearest friend, calm thyself,” Artemis whispered before he flared his horn and light engulfed the area.
Twilight looked at what had happened and sniffled, before she noted that they were no longer in a hallway, but an ivory room. Twilight looked around her new surroundings, to her astonishment, it actually felt real.
“W-“ she began but sniffled, “What is this place?” Twilight asked, if it weren’t her current mood she’d have been giddy at the scope of the place’s design.
An ivory table, chairs, porcelain tea cups which sat on a marble counter. A mirror and a mahogany grandfather clock which stood between two love seats. It was like a gargantuan lounge.
“I do not have a name for it, but it is a realm that I made to collect mine thoughts after taxing nights. But enough of that, We shalt make sure that thou art comfortable, wouldst thou like some tea?” Artemis answered after he stepped away from her toward the counter.
“Hmm?” Twilight needed a moment to snap out of her wonder, before she realized that she hadn’t answered Artemis’s query, “Yes, please, tea would be nice.”
Twilight would have stood at her spot only for a mobile chair to pick her up and gently brought her to the table.
Instead of answering her question Artemis began the process of brewing the tea. Once the kettle was over the fire brewing the water and a bag placed inside, the night prince took his place, opposite Twilight. Then the table shortened it’s length and became a square as it brought the two closer together.
“Please, forgive me for breaking into your dream, but you were under such stress that I feared for you, that you’d be stuck in a nightmare. So please, if thou wouldn’t mind my inquiry, what has transpired to put you in such a state?” Artemis asked, before he levitated two saucers, spoons, cups, and finally a pair of napkins to the table then did he pour the fresh tea.
Twilight placed a cube of sugar into her drink and stirred the liquid before she took a sip of tea, only then did she answer, “My coltfriend is… cheating on me.”
Artemis’s expression turned from curiosity to stunned before he scowled deeply, and for a second Twilight swore she saw his eyes turn cat-like, before the intense gaze softened and Artemis bowed his head but said nothing. His mind raced with a storm of thoughts, chief among them, a reenactment of the Battle of Red Pass in the very immediate near future, with Flash Sentry as the Caribou.
The lavender alicorn felt tears well up and further explained, “He’s been sleeping with another pegasus, I’ve never really met her before. This is all my fault, I wanted to wait for marriage, and Flash said that he was going to stand by me. But now, it’s just, why me? If I wasn’t such a nerdy....”
Twilight wept after that, unable to continue, until she felt the table shift again and now Artemis was beside her, with a wing comfortingly placed over her shoulders.
The Prince was silent for a moment, until he took a breath and stood up. Twilight’s face was gently turned up to face the Prince of the Night who tenderly wiped her tears away.
“Twilight Sparkle, being a traditionalist isn’t the same as frigidity, nor is it something to be frowned upon. The fault doesn’t lie with you, it is him and her that are to blame for this,” Artemis comforted with a smile, his gaze however, held a simmering rage which morphed the smile into a frown at the indirect mention of her colt friend and his lover.
“I-It’s not my fault?” Twilight asked, confused.
“Neigh, tis not. Intimacy, is a precious thing. We are of two minds on this Twilight Sparkle, and if I may add that it is a mare and a stallion’s duty to let their desires be known and for significant partners to respect boundaries. And this if this whelp cannot do that then he isn’t worth thine time,” Artemis relayed in a passion, never seen before in the Prince of the Night.
For a moment it seemed that his little speech revived a little confidence in the lavender alicorn before she was filled with self doubt.
“B-But what about me being… nerdy?” Twilight questioned.
“Believe me, Twilight Sparkle, when I say that many, many, stallions prefer a mare with an actual brain. Let not his deceit fool thee, there are plenty of stallions wishing for intelligence in their partner over willingness to spread their legs. In fact…,” Artemis trailed off, and let the unfinished thought hang.
“In fact, what?” Twilight asked only for the prince to look away as he cleared his throat.
“Nothing, I do not wish to cause turmoil,” Artemis lied as be looked away but Twilight saw through it.
“In fact, what? Please, tell me,” Twilight pleaded, moving herself to be, once again, inside his field of vision.
Artemis’s sapphire eyes found hers and Twilight saw what she’d seen on nightmare night a year ago, vulnerability. The dropping of the guard, and presenting oneself for pouring out.
“I, I care for you. My heart aches when I see you in pain, and the mere thought of this whelp,” he spat out the word as if it were an insect, “stripping you of the confidence and drive that I know you possess, is nearly enough to… return me to that Nightmarish state.”
Twilight’s face flared red, before she responded, “Y-You like me? A-As in “l-like me”, like me?”
The question wasn’t answered as Artemis looked to the ground in shame before he babbled, “Forgive me, tis an inappropriate time for confessions. Please, forget my say-“
Artemis stopped apologizing as Twilight placed her lips on his cheek.
“It’s ok, thank you. I’m really flattered but I need time,” Twilight said with a smile, perhaps her first in days.
Then the clock made itself known to the two occupants of the room as it struck twelve and a bell was in turn struck.
Artemis looked back to his dear friend and spoke, “Oh my, midnight already? Alas, it would seem that our time is up. If I don’t make sure that your circadian rhythms aren’t disturbed you’ll be awake for a week. I must send you into a dream, but before I do, please, recall our discussion. The colt isn’t worthy of your affections. Now, do you have any requests for a dream?”
Twilight thought for a moment on the kind of dream that she’d request and smiled before she whispered into the Prince’s ear.
The request brought a touched look to the Prince’s face as he answered the request with a soft smile.
“This, I can manage,” he said before his horn glowed and Twilight shut her eyes as she was bathed in a warm light.
Once alone Artemis’s eyes slowly turned to a mirror. He then, with an eerily calm tone, spoke, “Show me to the brain of Flash Sentry.”
The mirror widened to allow for the Alicorn to pass through, and once it was did he stride forth. He passed by the Abdulla Oblongata, then the Hypothalamus, and finally reached where he wanted to be, the Motor Cortex.
“Now, Flash Sentry, tis time you began to pack,” Artemis uttered darkly as he made the body stand and move.
Then he turned his attention to the dream web, and fought the urge to sent a pulse of magical energy into a strand which was attached to his new nemesis but relented, as his punishment would be enough.
Artemis then let out a surprised noise as he had unintentionally ran Flash into a wall.
“Oh, how out of practice I am. No matter, We shall rectify this,” Artemis declared with a sinister chuckle as he moved Flash’s body.
Twilight hummed in approval at the smell of the morning coffee as it brewed. As usual, she was up around the crack of dawn to make her morning brew. Flash, who sat at the kitchen table behind her, yawned in disapproval at being made to wake up at this time.
“You ok, sleepy head?” Twilight asked as she made them breakfast.
Orange juice, and mini muffins, dark chocolate to be exact. The best breakfast for what she had in mind.
“I’m good, just had a bad dream. What’re we up so early for?” Flash asked with another yawn as Twilight brought the plate of muffins and his orange juice to the table.
“Oh, I just wanted to have you all to myself this morning. I mean, we hardly ever see each other, ever since you started sleeping with that tart from Cloudsdale,” Twilight revealed, not changing the sweet tone of her voice until the last moment.
Flash nearly choked on a muffin that he’d had started to eat, and washed it down with a splash of orange juice. He coughed as he tried to catch his breath.
“W-What?” he asked when he stopped coughing.
“I just wanted to send you back to Shining with a full stomach. He should be getting my letter by now,” Twilight mused as she poured a cup of coffee for herself as Flash caught his breath.
Flash’s mind raced in a panic, blood drained from his face as Twilight sat down at the table.
“Twi, babe, Lightning meant nothing to me. It was a moment of weakness,” Flash defended, only for his glass of orange juice to implode.
“Only a moment? You slept with her last night, Flash! You’re lucky that all I did was send you back to the crystal empire!” Twilight retorted with a yell.
The stallion’s orange coat lost it’s color at being reminded of what Twilight did before he asked, “How could you do this to me? Shining will kill-“
The Pegasus was cut off by Twilight as she slammed her cup down onto the table.
A look of absolute loathing was fitted upon Twilight’s face as she reversed his question back towards the stallion louder than she thought possible, “How could I do this to you, Flash? You F-Fu,” she couldn’t bring herself to curse in front of a now awake Spike, “How could you sleep with that tramp in our bed?”
“Well, you weren’t putting out so-“ Flash fought back only for he and his belongings to be thrown to the ground outside the castle.
“So you thought that you’d find somepony who would? Well, I hope she was worth it, because your train leaves in ten minutes,” Twilight informed when she reached her front door, and with that left the Pegasus to scramble to the train station before she slammed the castle door shut.
“H-hey Twilight?” Spike called from the throne room.
The lavender alicorn took a shaky breath and sniffled before she smiled at her number one assistant.
“Yes, Spike?” she questioned as he gave her a comforting hug, one she returned with as much tenderness as was given.
“Somepony left something for you on the cutie map,” Spike informed and gestured to the room.
Twilight’s brow furrowed in confusion before she headed towards the room. Her apprehension mounted as she could only guess at what it was. It took a second, but Twilight smiled as she spoted it, a clipped rose in an amethyst vase with a black ribbon tied in a bow around the stem.