My Little Family

"Let go of him. Please." I begged. Chrysalis had come back to get revenge on me, and that meant hurting Thorax. The animatronics were holding me still, forcing me to watch.

"Why? After you backstabbed me, why should I listen to you?" She snarled.

"Please, don't hurt him." I begged.

"I'm not here to negotiate." She threw him on the ground and raised up a hefty axe.

I woke up to my own scream, moments before the axe struck down on Thorax. I shot straight up in bed, clutching my chest in an attempt to steady my breathing.

"Johnny?" Twilight called, creaking open the bedroom door. "Are you alright? I heard you screaming."

"Yeah, I-I'm alright." I lied. She didn't seem to buy it.

She took a seat on the foot of my bed and gave me a sincere look. "You can tell me anything."

"It's stupid."

"Obviously it isn't, or else you wouldn't have screamed, and you wouldn't be all sweaty." She wouldn't budge, and I knew she wouldn't leave before I told her.

I sighed. "I had a nightmare that Chrysalis and the animatronics came back to get revenge on me."

"How?" She asked.

"They were going to kill Thorax, and they were going to make me watch."

She nodded, gently placing a hoof on my hand. "It'll be okay."

"I'm so… scared, Twi. I don’t want to lose Thorax so soon like I lost Puppet. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt."

My voice shook and tears pricked at my eyes. She scooted closer and I wrapped my arms around her. It took her a while to get me calm enough to speak clearly.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really." I grumbled.

"Do you want me to stay with you for the night?" She looked up at me, concern clear in her eyes.

"No. I'll be fine." I pulled away from the hug with a sigh.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." She got up and went to the door. Before she left, she said, "Good night."

I listened to "Orange Horizons" for the rest of the night. The idea of losing Thorax kept me up through the darkness.

I was in my office working on some stuff when Twilight came in.

"Good morning, Princess. How are you doing?" I asked, placing my hooves together and looking at her.

She sat in a seat in front of me, and said, "Worried."

"How come?"

"It involves you and Johnny."

"What's wrong? Oh, don't tell me he sent you to tell me he wants to break up!"

"No, no, no, it's not that. Last night, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and on my way back to my room, I heard him scream. I went in and talked to him, and he had a nightmare."

"And I was in the nightmare?"

"Correct. He said he had a nightmare where Chrysalis and the animatronics came back for revenge."

"How?"

"Their plan was to make him watch you die."

"Oh, my."

"But, it isn't that that I wanted to talk to you about. After he told me about the nightmare, he said that he was scared, because he realized that a little over a week after he told Puppet he loved him, Puppet died. So, he's afraid-"

"-That the same will happen to me."

"Yes. I tried to comfort him, but it didn't really work. I don't even think he slept. I went to check on him this morning, and he was listening to music. So, I was thinking, maybe if he spent the night with you, you could talk to him, and he might calm down."

I thought for a second before I exclaimed, "That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for letting me know, Twilight!"

"No problem. It hurts me to see one of my friends like this. I'll let you get back to your business now."

She left and I continued my work. A little bit later, I went to Twilight's castle. She, Spike, Starlight, and Johnny were at the dining table eating. I put my hooves over his eyes, and said, "Guess who it is."

"Um, I guess Pinkie Pie, and when my eyes are uncovered, I'm going to be shot with confetti.” He snarked.

I pecked him on the cheek, and sung, "Try again!"

"I don't know, that could be anyone. I might need a few more to try and guess." He joked again.

I turned his head to face me, and made out with him. I lost track of time, but it must have been a while, because when our lips parted, the other ponies had disgusted looks.

"Hmm, there's only one pony I know that can be romantic like that. Scratch that, I can think of two. But, it's Thorax, right?"

"Bingo!"

"Go Fish!"

I giggled and uncovered his eyes. "How are you?" I asked.

"I'm doing pretty good, how about you?"

"I'm doing wonderful. Thanks for asking! So, how about we hang out today?"

"Sure. Let me finish my sandwich."

I sat down and talked with them, and when he finished, I used my magic to put him on my back, and said, "We'll see you later." I walked down the hall and suggested, "How about we go swimming?"

"Sure."

"Alright."

We went to his room, and I said, "Go get your swimsuit on, and I'll wait here." He got his clothes on while I sat outside his door. He came out in a different set of clothes. He giggled, and I raised a brow. "What?"

"It's just that everything you do is cute. You're just sitting here, waiting, but the way you're doing it makes you look so cute!" He chirped. I could feel my face flushing red. We went to the portal room, and we went to the pool near his house. When we got there he asked, "Is it okay if I swim without my shirt? I usually don't, but if you'll be bothered by it, I'll keep it on."

"Umm, yeah, you can take it off." He pulled off his shirt, and I found myself staring at his chest.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"How come you're staring at me?"

"I've never seen you without a shirt on. Even when I was giving you a backrub the first night we cuddled, I didn't look at your body. To be honest, you look kind of sexy."

He blushed. "T-thanks. Oh, give me a minute, I'll put on some music." He walked into a room, and a minute later, some music started playing. He came back in, and placed our stuff on the outer edge of the tiles. He tossed some pool rings and such into the water, then jumped into the deep end. Once he rose to the surface, he said, "Oh!"

"Cold?" I asked, stifling a chuckle.

"A little. But, I'm kind of used to it. Come in. The pool's big enough for both of us."

"I don't know. You said it's cold."

"If you don't come in, I'll make you."

"Alright." I jumped in, and it was freezing. I reached the surface and exclaimed, "OH MY!"

"Don't worry, it'll get warmer the more we swim around." And that's what we did. We swam around, occasionally splashing each other, and listening to the music. A little while later, Johnny got out of the pool, and said, “I’m taking a break, you can keep swimming if you want.”

“No thanks, I think I’ll join you,” I climbed out and followed Johnny to our belongings.

He dried off and asked, "Do you want any ice cream?"

"Sure."

For the rest of the time we were there, we ate ice cream, listened to the music, swam, went down the slides, and played around.

After, we went on a walk around Ponyville and decided to get dinner. We went to the Hayburger and had some food there. Then we went on top of a hill, laid down, and watched the sunset. I hugged him as we watched it.

"Celestia and Luna are good at their jobs." He smiled.

"I can agree with that." I responded.

"I would say that it's almost as beautiful as you." He looked me in the eyes with an adorable, charming smile. My face felt like it was on fire. "Keyword: Almost. You would win that battle."

"While I share its beauty, you share its heat." I said, and he giggled. "So, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Alright." He nodded, still looking at the sunset.

"Twilight came to me earlier and told me about the nightmare you had, and how you're scared of losing me like Puppet. I won't lie, I can't promise that won't happen since I can't tell the future. But, with life, we have to have as much fun as we can, like with today. I'll admit, I dread the day that you die or leave, because I love you that much. If there is one thing I can promise you, I don't plan on leaving any time soon." I wiped away some tears, hugged him, and kissed him. "Remember the plushie of me I got you?" He nodded. "I knew that this would happen, so I got that for you. So, if I do disappear, or die, you always have something to remember me by. How about we get something sweet to end off today?"

"Yeah. Just to let you know though, I don't plan on leaving you. I know just the place to go." We went to Sweet Frog and got frozen yogurt. After we had that, we went back to the Hive to cuddle and sleep. As we were cuddling, I murmured, "I had a wonderful time today."

"Me too. I feel a lot better now. Thank you so much."

"No problem, Mr. Soaps." I said, and he giggled. "Good night." I kissed him.

"Good night." He said back. He kissed me and laid his head on my chest. I hummed a song we were listening to before, and drifted away to sleep.