You opened your eyes slowly, gradually adjusting to the bright light of the sun shining down through the hotel's window. It had been a very long time since you had managed to have an interrupted night of sleep, not to mention a night without any bad dreams.

Cautiously, you got out of bed, trying your best to not wake Rainbow Dash. Next, you walked over to the ensuite bathroom and had a shower. It was basic needs like this that you had been drained of for so long, so it felt good to finally have them back again.

A few minutes passed, and you were done with your shower. You got out, and dried off with a towel that the hotel had provided, ready to start your day slow before going to check on Princess Celestia.

Crash!

Hearing the loud sound, you immediately rushed out of the bathroom to see what had caused it. The first thing you saw was Rainbow Dash sprawled out awkwardly on the floor, surrounded by a pile of pillows.

"Woah! Are you okay?" you asked, instinctively.

"Yeah, I think..." she replied, lifting herself from the ground and rubbing her head with a hoof.

"So... How did that happen?" you asked, curiously. As far as you could remember, she was sleeping soundly far away from any off the bed's edges.

"I... Had a bad dream." she said, almost seeming a little embarrassed. You resisted the impulse to reply with 'first time?' and let her continue, "It was about the Sonic Rainboom. Y'know, the one I messed up..."

Something immediately struck you as off. When Rainbow messed up her Sonic Rainboom, she was unconscious and should've had no memory of it. The lead up to it probably just seemed like a normal Sonic Rainboom, so why was she having nightmares because of it?

"You remember that?" you asked, confused.

"Yeah... Well, kinda..." she replied, only confusing you even more, "I remember flying straight down towards the ground, and then... nothing. Just darkness."

Rainbow flew into the air briefly, before sitting gently down on the side of the bed. You joined her, sitting at her side, not seeing any point to remain standing.

"That darkness was terrifying. Something could've happened to all of you, and I wouldn't have been there!" she exclaimed, her voice beginning to sound shaky. You turned to look into her eyes, and you had never seen her look so genuinely afraid before.

"You wouldn't have known you were there, but you were." you said with a smile, "If you were to never wake up from what happened, you would've been loyal to the end, and that's what counts."

All of the fear that she seemed to be keeping inside of her seemed to melt away as you finished speaking, as her usual spark returned.

"I guess you're right. Sorry, I... I've never felt like that before." she said, apologetically. You had seen her scared before, but you had never seen her this genuinely terrified.

"It's okay," you replied, in an effort to make her feel better, "It went against your element."

A sincere smile appeared on her face, before she pulled you into a hug. It seemed to last forever, almost as if time had stopped, and you never wanted it to resume.
Unfortunately, time had to continue as you had to go and check on Princess Celestia.

"C'mon," you said, ending the hug, "Let's go see Princess Celestia."

Rainbow nodded agreeingly, "Yeah, the others are probably already there."

You looked at the wall clock, and immediately felt panicked by what you saw. It was half past eleven. The others were probably awake at the crack dawn worried about the princess, but here you were getting up at nearly midday.
That being said, you hadn't had a good night's sleep in such a long time that it might just have been excusable.

"Oh, shit!" you cried, "We've gotta go!"

"What's the rush?" Rainbow replied, falling back down to the bed and laying on her back, "I doubt that magic dust has changed much. She's probably still exactly the same as she was yesterday."

"Even if she is, we still promised that we'd stay here to check on her." you replied.

"You promised. I'd seriously like to go home and feed Tank." Rainbow said.

"Are you okay?" you asked, causing her to look confused, "I figured you'd be more concerned about the wellbeing of one of the princesses."

Rainbow Dash sat up, and let out a loud sigh. Perhaps the dream that she had had affected her subconsciously, even though the initial fear had wore off. It almost seemed like the curse of bad dreams had transferred to her, despite it most likely being a one off.

"Sorry. It's just that so much happened over the last few days that I'm worrying about everything. I'm worried about Tank and home, and I'm worried about Celestia at the same time." she explained.

Rainbow wasn't one to really worry about things that weren't her pride, so immediately you knew that something was wrong. Thankfully, due to your experience with long nights and bad dreams, you instantly understood exactly what was wrong with her.

"I think you're just suffering from sleep deprivation." you stated.

"From what?" Rainbow replied.

"Sleep deprivation." you said again, "It's basically when you didn't get enough sleep, and basic things feel harder to do and you start worrying over the smallest things. Tank probably doesn't even need feeding."

"Now that you mention it, I do feel a little tired." she replied, stretching out her hoofs.

"So why don't we go see Princess Celestia and then go home so you can get some sleep." you suggested. You thought that it was a pretty reasonable idea, and thankfully, Rainbow seemed to agree.

"Eh, alright. Let me go get ready first." she said.

After a short flight across Canterlot, the two of you finally reached the bridge to the castle. Surprisingly, none of your friends were waiting outside. That being said, by the time that you had arrived they would've probably already been inside.

"Do we just go in?" you asked, as you walked across the bridge.

"Yeah, I don't feel like waiting around." Rainbow replied, walking by your side.

As you entered the castle, two guard ponies blocked your path with their spears. The castle never usually had such fierce security, as they would typically let somepony like Rainbow Dash through without a second thought. The only other time you had ever seen such fierce security was during the Changeling attack on Canterlot.

"Halt! We're under strict orders from Princess Luna to not let anypony into the castle while Princess Celestia recovers." one of the guards stated, looking blankly into the distance.
Sometimes it was quite off putting how little emotion these guards showed.

You opened your mouth to speak, only for Rainbow to stop you, "I've got this."

"We're with Twilight Sparkle." she said, a smirk on her face. Was it really that easy to get past the Alicorn Princess' royal guards?

The two guard ponies hesitated a second, before lifting their spears back to their sides, letting the two of you through. You were a little shocked that it was really that easy, but were surprisingly thankful.

"That's all you need to do?" you asked.

"Well, Twilight is a very well respected pony, even all the way out here in Canterlot, " she explained, "And when you've been around with Twilight as much as me, the guards just start to trust you."

Soon, you reached the hallway where you had met with Spike yesterday. It seemed incredibly silent, considering the heavy security that was outside.

"Nopony here, huh?" Rainbow stated, confused. She looked down both ends of the hallway, and not a single pony was in sight.

You gestured towards the large door that was just a few metres in front of you, also the door that you knew lead to the throne room. Once again, there were no guard pony's outside the door, leading you to believe that the heavy security was simply on the exterior.

You opened it enough slowly, as to not cause any disturbance. Any little sound echoed throughout the entire castle, and if Celestia was still sleeping, you didn't want to wake her and possibly worsen her condition. The throne room was empty, just as it hadn't been yesterday. In fact, the throne room hadn't been touched. It seemed like nopony had even entered the room since Spike began caring for Celestia. Not even Princess Luna.

"Think she's still in her bedroom?" you asked, closing the door to the throne room.

"If she is, our friends will probably be up there too." Rainbow suggested, "And they're probably gonna wanna know why we're so late."

"Don't worry," you replied, "I'm sure you're nightmare works as a genuine reason. They're good friends. I'm sure they'll understand."

Rainbow looked worried for a second. If it was anypony else, she probably would've looked up and said that she wouldn't admit that she had been scared by a bad dream, but you weren't anypony else.

"Thanks," Rainbow replied, a smile forming on her face, "Now let's go see our friends."

You walked down the hallway, eventually reaching the spiral staircase that lead to the Princess' bedroom. Soon, you reached the top and proceeded down the second hallway, before finally reaching the bedroom's door. Through the door, you could almost hear what sounded like talking.

Cautiously, you opened the door, Rainbow behind you. The first thing you were expecting to see was the rest of your friends gathered around the bed, where Celestia lay in no different of a condition than she was the day before.
To your surprise, Celestia was not even laying down. She was sat up, seemingly healthy.

"There ya'll are!" Applejack exclaimed happily. You were surprised that she didn't seem even a little bit annoyed by your late arrival, "We were beginnin' to think you were to gonna show."

"Yeah, sorry, uh..." Rainbow began, rubbing the back of her head nervously, "I kinda had a nightmare and overslept."

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash," Celestia replied, her voice seeming a little raspier than usual. Despite her voice, she seemed a lot better than she had been yesterday, "I know that Storm has also had some bad experiences with dreams."

"Some, to put it lightly." you replied, sarcasticly. In the end, that was what this entire thing revolved around.

Dreams.

"And that's why-" Twilight attempted to say, before being interrupted by an overly excited Pinkie Pie.

"We're having a festival!" the pink Earth pony exclaimed, happily. A festival seemed amazing, but to celebrate the thing that caused all of this just felt weird. You didn't want to be a killjoy, though. A party was a party, no matter what it was about,

"A festival?" Rainbow asked, "What for?"

"Why, to celebrate dreams, of course!" Rarity answered, flipping her mane behind her ear.

"There's only one dream that I want to celebrate..." Spike said, quietly. Twilight glanced at him awkwardly, which seemed to give him the message,

"Dreams might have been the thing that got us into this mess," Celestia explained, answering Rainbow's question, "But they were also the thing that got us out of it."

With all of this talk about dreams, you couldn't help but think of Luna, who you suddenly noticed was not present at Celestia's bedside.

"Excuse me, Princess," you asked, trying to be as formal as possible despite probably not needing too, "Where's Princess Luna? I figured she'd be here."

"Oh, Luna's already making preparations for the festival right now!" she replied, seemingly happy despite being practically bedridden.

"Yeah, and it's gonna be happenin' at Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack added, enthusiastically.

The more you heard about this festival, the more you found yourself looking forward to it. A party at Sweet Apple Acres would be like a throwback to the old times, back when you first got a taste of sweet apple cider back during cider season. Thinking about it, you really hoped that apple cider would be being served at the festival.

"Sorry, but..." Fluttershy asked nervously, "When will this be happening?"

"In two weeks! So we'll all have plenty of time to go back home." Twilight explained.

After talking about a festival for so long, you suddenly rememberered a very important question that you probably should've said as soon as you saw that Celestia was awake.

"Sorry for not asking sooner, Princess, but how are you?" you asked, causing Celestia to smile. It seemed like it was difficult for her to smile given her condition, but still she didn't let it get her down.

"I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday, that's for sure," she replied, "In fact, I think my sister can take things from here."

The seven of you, and Spike, looked at Celestia, not quite understanding what she meant, "You can all go home."

"What?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. To be honest, you were surprised to see her so bothered by the fact that she was allowed to go back home.

"I thought you couldn't wait to go home." you asked, confused.

"Well, yeah, duh! But I also wanna stay and make sure Celestia is okay!" she replied.

"Rainbow, I'll be fine. My sister knows the most when it comes to my condition," the Alicorn replied, understandingly, "Now please go home and enjoy your time before the festival."

The cyan Pegasus remained quite for a moment, ears drooped and unsure of what to do. Eventually, her ears perked up again and she nodded, settling on a decision.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Princess?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"Twilight," the princess began with a smile, "I give you my word that I will be fine. I'll see you at the festival."

"Pinkie promise!" Pinkie interrupted.

Princess Celestia let out an amused sigh, almost as if relieved that things had returned back to normal. She knew that once a pinkie promise had been made, it could never ever be broken, but thankfully this promise wouldn't be broken, "I pinkie promise."

Twilight gave Celestia a warm smile, before gesturing towards Spike, as if asking him to follow, "Come on, everypony! Let's go home."

The purple unicorn opened the bedroom door, but took one last look at Celestia before leaving, much like you did the day before. The two gave each other another smile, before she finally exited the room. You and the rest of your friends followed closely behind.

Before long, the seven of you reached the front of the castle. The guard ponies raised their weapons to let you pass, and after a short walk you had reached the train station.

"It feels like such a long time since I've been home..." Fluttershy said, seemingly looking forward to seeing her animals again, "I hope Angel's doing okay..."

"Ah'm sure Angel's doin' just fine, Sugarcube," Applejack replied, easing Fluttershy's worries, "Ah do wonder how Sweet Apple Acres is holding up, though. It needs to be in mint condition for the festival."

Thinking about the festival, you honestly couldn't wait. After the events of the last few days, it'd feel nice to just let go for a while. It'd be nice to spend some time with your friends again without the threat of imminent death awaiting around every corner.
Soon, you had become so enthralled in your own thoughts that you hadn't even noticed each of your friends stepping onto the train carriage before you. If it wasn't for Rainbow waiting behind and snapping you out of your thoughts, you wouldn't have been surprised if it left without you.

"Hey, Storm." Rainbow called, waving a hoof in front of your face, "You coming or what?"

Immediately after snapping back to reality, you made eye contact with her, and an amazing idea filled your head.

"Actually, why don't we race back home instead?" you suggested, a mischievous smile on your face. It had been quite a while since your last friendly competition, and it was about time you beat her again.

"Well, it has been a while..." she replied, thinking, although deep down she already knew her answer, "You're on!"

Rainbow Dash flopped down onto her fluffy cloud bed, wings extended to her sides with exhaustion. She let out a loud sigh as she made contact, flailing out her four legs besides her.
Next to her, you already lay on the bed in a much more composed position: head resting on your hoofs as you stared up at the ceiling, smiling.

"Told you... I'd beat you..." Rainbow said between breaths.

There was a reason that she was out of breath and you weren't. It was because you had let her win. After all that each of you had been through, you figured she deserved it.

"You sure did," you laughed, "Looks like it's taken it's toll on you, though."

"Hey!" she whined, sitting up in the bed, "I didn't see you flying at mach speed just then!"

You let out another laugh, "Well, I guess you were just better."

Strangely, instead of the usual cockiness you were expecting, Rainbow Dash didn't say a word. Instead, she lay back down on the bed and shuffled closer to you, rubbing her multicoloured mane against you. It felt warm, a warmth that you hadn't felt in a long time.
It felt nice.

"I wouldn't normally admit this, but..." Rainbow said, quietly, "I've missed this."

"I didn't think I'd ever hear you say such a thing," you mocked, pushing yourself further into her mane. It felt almost like a second blanket, only this one was far more comforting.

"Well there's more where that came from," she added in response. You let out a faint grunt of confusion before her hoof wrapped around you, pulling you into a hug.

"I love you, Storm."

Your eyes widened as you stared up at the cloudy roof. Your breathing momentarily became heavier before thankfully returning back to normal, but even then you still couldn't believe what you had just heard.
Rainbow Dash just admitted that she loved you.

Noticing the lack of a response, Rainbow perked her head up, giving you a concerned glance. Before she could say a single word, you said the very thing that you had wanted to say for so long.

"I love you too."

The cyan Pegasus gave you a sweet smile as her ears perked up, and you felt your heart flutter. Her head lowered back down, now resting on your chest, and you could hear her breath against you. With every intake of oxygen you took, her head raised slightly, and with every exhale it lowered.

You wanted to talk about everything that happened, reflect on the journey that you had all shared together, but right now it was just you and her. What's done is done, and you sure as hell weren't going to ruin this moment with what had happened earlier.

This was the end of a chapter, and now it was time for a new beginning.

Author's Note

Hi.

I don't know how long it's been, maybe four months if I've done the math correctly, but here I am!

So, where have I been? This time, I think I have a more genuine reason than simply playing Cyberpunk 2077.
Firstly, exams came around again and thanks to the virus that shall not be named, we didn't know about them until they actually happened. Pretty dumb, but they seemed serious so I had to focus on them.
Secondly, I had a few health issues that I had to deal with, which then lead on to a few mental health issues I had to deal with. Thankfully, most of it is under control now.
Thirdly, I went through a break up which further affected the mental health issues I was previously talking about. This is still fairly recent, but I feel mostly fine now, so I should (hopefully) be able to finish the story soon.

Now, about this chapter.

Long wait, huh? Sorry that it isn't as long as some of you might have expected. Despite it not being that long, I tried to get as many different genres in here as I could. Some lore at the beginning, Slice of Life in the middle, and romance at the end.
The first half was written before my disappearance, and the second part was written literally just now, so if there's a sudden shift in tone or characterisation, then I apologise.

I think that's everything for the time being, so until next time :)
(Hopefully not in 4 months)

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