The Comfort of Loved Ones
Twilight Sparkle suddenly woke from her nightmare, screaming at the images of her dead friends lying motionless at her hooves, their bodies broke and mangled, as Tirek stood smiling down at her. Tears stung her eyes and a loud sob broke free from her as the images of her friend's mangled bodies refused to leave her mind. Twilight screamed once more and buried her head in her pillows to muffle her uncontrollable sobs that racked through her body.
No matter how much Twilight tried, she couldn't get rid of those horrible images of her friend's dead bodies, she couldn't stop her dreams from forcing her to relive her battle with Tirek. But in these dreams that were so real to her, when Twilight gave up her magic, Tirek burst the bubbles keeping her friends captive, allowing them to fall to their deaths.
Twilight let loose another scream of anguish. She had been suffering from this nightmare each and every time she fell asleep, and each and every time she woke up screaming and crying. This time was different though. This time the nightmare had been so real, she couldn't tell reality from fantasy.
She was now sobbing so much it was becoming difficult for her to breathe. Then a thought entered her mind that made her blood run cold, and her heart to shatter into a million pieces.
Rainbow Dash.
Even though Twilight knew deep down that her friends were fine, that they were alive and well, her overwhelming emotions of grief and pain from her nightmare were chasing away any logical thought. She had to see her marefriend with her own eyes, she had to make sure that the rest of her friends were okay.
A flare of magic sent her sheets flying across the room and Twilight ran as fast as she could out of her room. So many tears of heartache and pain at seeing her friends dead were running down cheeks so fast, that they left a wet trail behind the distraught alicorn.
The front door of her new castle exploded as a blast of violet energy removed the obstacle from Twilight's path to finding her friends and making sure they were okay. Twilight's sobs continued to come out in heaving breaths with no sign of stopping.
No matter how many times she tried to reassure herself that what she had dreamed wasn't real, Twilight couldn't stop herself from running as fast as she could to the park where they had scheduled a picnic. She couldn't stop the tears from falling. She had to see for herself that her friends were okay, that they hadn't died in their battle with Tirek.
The nightmare had been so real to her. She could still recall the hot blood of her friends spattering against her fur as their bodies hit the ground and exploded in showers of crimson liquid. She could still see the looks of absolute terror on her friends faces as they fell to thier deaths. She could still recall Rainbow Dash giving her an apologetic look as though everything was her fault, as though she had failed in protecting her friends.
She couldn’t stop reliving the nightmare, she could still feel the heartache of not being able to reassure her marefriend that nothing was her fault. She couldn't free herself of the despair of not being able to tell her pegasus how much she loved her, how much she meant to her.
Everypony she passed gave her concerned looks and asked if she was okay. But Twilight ignored them. She had to get to her friends as fast as possible. She had to know they were alright.
Twilight gave a desperate whimper as she came across a produce cart blocking her way. Had she been in a right frame of mind and not worrying about the safety and well being of her friends, she would have thought to teleport, or even fly over the wreckage blocking her path, but she was too desperate to get to her friends. A stream of violet magic blasted the cart into a million tiny pieces.
She ran through the wreckage ignoring the cries of outrage that came from the ponies covered in pulverized fruit. The only thing that mattered to her right now was getting to the park and making sure her friends were okay. Especially Dashie.
The park soon came into view, and a wracking sob was torn from her throat as she noticed her group of friends were no where to be seen. Twilight searched desperately through the park trying to find her friends who had informed her of their plans for a picnic. But they weren’t anywhere.
Twilight eventually came to a stop and let out a tortured scream as the images from her nightmares overwhelmed her mind and reasoning. Several ponies gave the distraught princess concerned looks and began collecting their children to take home.
The rational part of Twilight’s mind was trying to tell her that her friends were still alive and well, but the emotional trauma from her nightmares was too overpowering for to think rationally. The only thing that could calm her down was seeing her friends safe and sound, and holding her pegasus once more.
Twilight’s horn glowed and everypony in a twenty meter radius was blinded by the massive amounts of raw power she was asserting. Thick streams of pure magic began flowing around Twilight in a massive hurricane like pattern, and the alicorn let out one last scream of anguish before slamming both her front hooves on the ground. A massive shock wave of violet energy erupted from the point of impact and spread out over the entire town of Ponville.
Twilight’s eyes were now glowing pure white as she used every last ounce of her magic to find her friends. The thick streams of magic that had been encircling her were now flooding through every house, street, and shop of the town connecting with everypony it could find and moving on when Twilight didn’t recognize any of the pony’s auras as that of her friends. Twilight gritted her teeth and began pouring even more power into the spell, she wasn’t going to stop until she found her friends’ auras and made saw they were okay.
Ponies all stared in fascinated fear as Twilight’s magic enveloped the entire town, not understanding what was driving their princess to perform such magic. Twilight could feel their fears and wander through the bands of magic that were searching for her friends but she ignored them, only focusing on finding five particular ponies.
Twilight’s magic had finally searched every nook and cranny for her friends, but they were nowhere to be found. With a desperate whimper, Twilight poured more magic into the spell and began searching the outer fields of Ponyville for her friends. The thick violet strands of magic poured along the ground guided by Twilight’s will covering every surface it could find.
Cracks began forming on the ground beneath Twilight’s hooves from the sheer amount of magic she was weilding, but she ignored it. She only cared about finding her friends.
And suddenly she did.
Her magic finally touched a group of instantly recognizable ponies relaxing beside Ponyville lake. Twilight could feel their calmness as they ate, laughed, and chatted with each other. A smile formed on Twilight’s muzzle whens he found her friends alive and well, and her tears were now those of relief and happiness.
She suddenly took off running once more, following the thick strand of magic that lead to her friends. She let go of the rest of the strands and focused every ounce of her powers on her group of friends. She felt their slight confusion as they noticed her magic rolling over them, but she paid it no mind. Her friends were safe, that was all that mattered to her.
She then began directing her magic to focus on one pony in particular.
Her marefriend, Rainbow Dash.
She was still perfectly healthy, but extremely confused at the violet magic pouring over her, as Twilight began making sure there was nothing wrong with her. Besides a few feathers out of place, and a bit of dandruff on her wings, she was fine. She then felt Rainbow’s confusion melt away, only to be replaced with surprised pleasure as her magic began fixing the crooked feathers and pulling out the bad ones.
Twilight finally made it to the lake, and the actual sight of her friends that wasn’t assisted by magic caused stronger tears of relief to fall from her eyes. She pushed herself to run faster and Rainbow’s eyes widened in worried fright as Twilight ran straight for her. She barely had time to flare her wings in preparation to take off and escape Twilight’s mad rush, before her marefriend tackled her with a massive.
The two of them tumbled a bit from Twilight’s momentum, and somewhere in the tangle of legs, wings, feathers, Rainbow felt her marefriend’s mouth on hers kissing her with more passion than she ever experienced. When the two mares stopped rolling, it was with Twilight on top who pulled Rainbow to her hooves before pulling the pegasus into a tight hug.
Rainbow’s confused delight at the amount of affection her marefriend was giving her turned to worry and concern as she noticed Twilight’s whole body trembling and shivering. She felt hot tears running down her chest from where Twilight had buried her face in her fur in an attempt to muffle her sobs.
Rainbow made a comforting noise and softly stroked Twilight’s mane, before unfurling her wings and wrapping Twilight in their protective embrace. She was clearly upset about something, and Rainbow felt her heart breaking at the state her marefriend was in.
Rainbow was about to ask what had happened to cause such a breakdown in Twilight, when she heard the muffled words the alicorn was speaking.
“You’re still alive Dashie. You’re still alive Dashie. You’re still alive Dashie. You’re still alive Dashie. You’re still alive Dashie.”
She was really worried now, so she pulled back in order to look into Twilight’s eyes, causing Twilight to give a quiet whimper and her tighter.
Soon the rest of her friends were walking over, each one wearing the same concerned look of confusion.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Rarity asked placing a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shaking shoulder.
Twilight gave another whimper and used her magic to pull her friends into a massive group hug, not willing to let any of them go. She never wanted to be away from any of them again. Especially her pegasus, whom she continued holding in a desperately tight hug. She just wanted to stay in this moment forever. This moment where all her friends were alive and well and their lives weren’t in danger from an ancient evil trying to destroy, or take over Equestria.
This moment where there were no more constant nightmares where she was forced to helplessly watch as all her friends were killed, or made to suffer. Everything was perfect now. She was in her pegasus’s comforting embrace, she was surrounded by her friends and slowly but surely their presence melted her fears and nightmares away.
