Twilight's Tough Decisions

During the early mornings of around four, the cyan pegasus woke up without knowing why. She did have a lot of energy however, and decided to get up and go for a glass of water. As she was walking towards the kitchen to pour some nice cold water, she then thought to herself about Twilight. Twilight seems to be sleeping well. Maybe the nightmares have worn off? Or maybe it's like last time where she appears to be fine, but then she's still having a nightmare.

Rainbow stopped thinking about it and decided to let it go. She poured herself a huge glass of cold water and chugged it all in ten seconds flat. She then made her way back to her bed where she saw her beautiful pony lover sleeping peacefully. She smiled at the sight and hopped back into bed while wrapping her hooves around her and kissing her sweetly on the cheek before laying her head down on her mane, smelling the sweet scent. She had suddenly thought about her other four closest friends: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack.

How come I haven't asked them for help yet? I've been too focused on trying to get Twilight help from Zecora, that I've completely forgotten our closest friends. They will obviously be able to help. I'm going to do that today. Hopefully, Twilight can come with me to help explain everything to them.

Rainbow made a plan in her head to go gather up the other four of her closest pony friends to ask for advice. Out of the four, she would expect Applejack to be the most help of them all.

Rarity is just too much of a drama queen. She also talks about fashion too much to be that much help.

Pinkie might not take it seriously enough. She might just talk about eating cupcakes to solve your problems.

Fluttershy might be able to help, but she'll just get cut off by everypony else to actually get her words out. Well, at least she's still a reasonable pony to ask for advice.

Applejack however, she's the one to put your faith into. She's the most honest pony out there. She's also the most serious about certain topics. Asking advice from her to help about Twilight's nightmares should be no problem at all.

After some time of falling back to sleep while keeping a firm hold on Twilight, the morning soon came. Rainbow Dash was the mare to wake up first. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was noon. Now would be a good time for Twilight to wake up so she could tell her what her plan was today.

"Baby Twi, wake up," the Pegasus said very softly to her lover. Twilight seemed to wake up to that as she started to roll her body over and meet face to face with her one true lover and smiled. "Hi Rainbow. How are you today?"

Rainbow was smiling even more than the past. Twilight seemed completely normal this morning. "I'm great. Did you have nightmares again?" Twilight just kept smiling and shook her head no. "No, I didn't. This was one of the best sleeps I've ever had. I felt like I was free. I just slept peacefully with nothing to disturb me." "Well that's good to hear," Rainbow replied.

"Say, I made a plan to go ask our friends for advice so they can try and help you. I'm not sure if the nightmares have completely worn off as you might have hoped. Is it okay if we go talk to them and try to get them to help?"

Twilight didn't seem to worry. "No problem, Rainbow. Though, I might stay here and get some reading done. I'm in a pretty good mood right now and I kind of want to take advantage of this for as long as I can."

Rainbow seemed to understand where Twilight was coming from. "Sure thing. I'll leave you alone here. If you need something to eat or drink, just go into the kitchen and grab a snack or some drink. It's all open for you."

Twilight couldn't stop smiling at how well she was being treated. Rainbow really did seem to understand her lover's emotions. "Thank you," Twilight calmly whispered.

Rainbow just gave a small kiss on her marefriend's lips before she got up in response of being thanked. She couldn't be happier to see Twilight all happy and cheerful this morning. She really hoped this would last forever, but that's a lot to hope for.

Rainbow then started to lift herself up to start going. But just before she left Twilight to do her own thing, she still had to be sure of something.

"Hey Twi, if your friends do ask to see you, can they?" Twilight looked over to the mare who asked the question. "Yeah, sure. I'll be pretty happy to talk to them if they need it. I'll try to get as much reading done as possible then."

Rainbow seemed to like that she was willing to talk to her friends again when needed. "Thanks Twi. I'll be back in maybe a couple of hours. Take care, baby. I love you and will always love you." Rainbow then left to gather up her friends together for a little meeting.

Twilight then felt her heart warm up. Those last few words really made a huge impact on her. Did she call me her baby? She told me that she will always love me.

Take care baby. I love you and will always love you.

Those words kept running through her mind until she reacted with a loving smile and let out a small tear. After some time to collect her thoughts, she whispered to herself. "Rainbow Dash, I love you too. I really wish to live forever with you. I love you with all of my heart and I wish you truly knew how much I love you. Thank you babe," Twilight ended with an affectionate smile to herself.

Little did Twilight know, Rainbow Dash was still hiding outside, hearing everything Twilight was saying about her as she wanted to hear her reaction to the truly loving words she said. The words that Rainbow heard had also seemed to warm her heart up as well. She then gave a very small whisper while finally heading towards her friends. "Thank you for your kind words Twilight. I will remember them for all of eternity."

She made her way towards the ponies that are her life, her four other closest friends. As she was flying, she started to think about where the location of the meeting should be. Sweet Apple Acres? Fluttershy's cottage? Sugar Cube Corner? Rarity's boutique? I'm not sure. Should I pick a location that could be in between all of those places? Where would be a good choice?

Rainbow thought for a while longer until she finally picked the place in which she thought would be perfect. Ah ha! Twilight's castle! That should be a nice and easy place to get to for all ponies. I would have to ask Twilight to unlock it if I want to get in, though.

She made her way first to Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack would be. Once she spotted the Apple family working on the farm, she made her way over to the one farm pony she was looking for. "Hey Applejack." The farm pony was suprised Rainbow visited at random. "Oh, hey Dash. What brings you along?" The farm pony smiled kindly at Dash. She'd always like to talk to Dash. Their competitive history had made them like each other a lot more.

"Are you available for a meeting at Twilight's castle in an hour?" Applejack had to think for a bit. She wasn't sure if she would have time. There was a lot of work to do on the farm, as usual. "I don't know Dash. There's a lot of work to get done here," Applejack said with uncertainty.

Granny Smith overheard the conversation and walked up to the two mares with a smile on her face. "Applejack dear, don't you worry. We can handle the farm today. There's not that much left to do. Why don't you go along with Rainbow Dash for a while. This meeting sounds pretty important."

Applejack was still unsure about this. She did play a huge role in the farm after all. "Are you sure you three will be able to handle it without me?"

The smallest member of the Apple family's voice could now be heard talking from a few yards away. "Don't worry Applejack, you can count on us," young Applebloom said.

Applejack was starting to think it could be okay after all. Granny did say that there wasn't much work left. She put back the smile on her face before turning back to the cyan pony before saying the words she wanted to hear. "Okay Dash, I'll go."

Rainbow's face lit up widely. She leaned in to hug the farm pony tightly as a way to say thank you. "Yes! Thank you Applejack. And you're right, Granny Smith. This meeting is really important. I'm going to be on my way to gather up the rest of the crew. Remember to be at Twilight's castle in one hour," Rainbow finished before she took off.

The farm mare turned back to her family after her little talk with her athletic friend. "Well, I think I can still help before I have to go in one hour. How about we get back to work so you three can relax after?" They all seemed to agree to that and got back to finish their plowing.

Rainbow then made her way towards Fluttershy's cottage. "Hopefully, Flutters will be an easy one to talk into going to my meeting."

Once the Pegasus arrived at the cottage, she knocked gently but loudly, as to not startle the many animals that was in there. After a few seconds of waiting, she heard Fluttershy's voice trying to calm down the animals to get to the door. "Out of the way please. I need to get to the door. I don't want whoever's at the door to wait any longer than they need to."

Once Rainbow heard the hoof steps approach the door on the other side, it swung open and she was greeted with Fluttershy. "Oh, hi Dashie. It's a surprise seeing you here," she said in her usual timid voice.

"Hey Flutters, I was just dropping by to see if you would be available in one hour for a meeting at Twilight's castle. It's very important."

The timid Pegasus smiled at the request of a meeting. A time where all of her closest friends would get together and talk about something. That seemed fun. "Sure, I can be there." Rainbow smiled at the response she got. "Cool. Thanks Flutters," Rainbow said before taking off.

Rainbow's next stop would be at the carousel boutique for Rarity, so long as she's not too focused on making clothes, she would also be an easy one to convince.

She made her way to her boutique and just went in, knowing that the shop was opened to anypony at this time of day. Once she spotted Rarity alone, she made her way over to greet the fashionista. "Hey Rarity."

Rarity's attention shifted towards the pony talking and gave a usual smile. "Why hello, Rainbow Dash. I didn't think I'd see you coming to my boutique. Care to try on some clothing?"

Rainbow just brushed it off. Of course she would ask her to try some clothes. "I'm good. I just came over here to ask you a huge favor. There's a meeting at Twilight's castle in one hour. I'm getting the rest our good friends to talk about something that was going on with Twilight."

Rarity just smiled. "Of course, darling. Anything for our friends. I'll make sure to close up shop early then. I'm not really getting any customers right now."

Rainbow was really surprised. That was a little too easy. "Well, okay. Thanks Rarity. I knew I could always count on you." Rainbow gave Rarity a quick hug before flying out of the boutique.

Rainbow then made her way to Sugar Cube Corner, a place where the Cake family and Pinkie would obviously be at. Pinkie Pie was the last pony to invite to the meeting. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too much of a hassle to get.

Once she got there, she went inside the shop and greeted the Cakes. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake," Rainbow happily said.

"Hi Rainbow," both cakes said simultaneously.

"May I ask where Pinkie Pie is?" She didn't need to wait long before Mrs. Cake answered almost immediately. "She's upstairs in her room right now."

"Cool, thank you two," Rainbow replied.

She made her way upstairs to the party pony's room and found Pinkie playing with Gummy. "Hi Pinkie Pie," Rainbow greeted.

Pinkie's attention turned towards the cyan Pegasus and gave an excited response. "Hi Dashie! What brings you to me? Did you and Twilight like the salads last time you visited for food? I'm not really a fan of salads. I prefer sweets like cupcakes, cakes, ice cream, and candy of course. So what are you doing here?"

Rainbow waited until the party pony finished her rant, which was unusual for the pegasus to do since she would normally just interrupt. "There's a meeting at Twilight's castle in one hour. We need you to be there for something important which needs to be taken seriously," Rainbow finished with hopes that Pinkie would actually take it seriously.

"Well of course I'll be there for my friends. Don't worry, I'll try to really help the best that I can."

Rainbow was glad to hear that. "Thanks Pinkie."

The athletic pony then made her way back to her house in Cloudsdale. The only thing left to do would be to unlock the door so they could actually get in.

Once the cyan pegasus made her way back to Twilight, she saw the cute nerdy mare reading another Daring Do book and asked her with a smile, "Hey Twi. Do you have the key to your castle? I invited all of our friends to your place to hold our meeting."

The purple alicorn looked up and remembered that Starlight should've been back by now from her little trip with Trixie across Equestria. "I think you can just go. Starlight went with Trixie on a trip across the lands of Equestria and should be back already. I'm sure she could let you in."

Rainbow had forgotten that Starlight also lives in Twilight's castle. "Oh, okay. Thanks Twilight. I'll come back when everything gets finished."

"Okay, thank you Rainbow," the alicorn happily replied.

And with that, the pegasus flew back towards the castle to see if Starlight was there to open the door.

She knocked as soon as she arrived. Within a couple of minutes, the castle door opened and the multicolored mane pony was greeted with a smiling Starlight, as expected.

"Oh, hey Rainbow. Didn't expect to see you here," the pony asked surprised.

"Hi Starlight. Is it okay if my friends and I stay here for a bit to have a meeting? I arranged it in one hour for it to be here."

Starlight just stepped aside and gestured the cyan pony in. "Sure thing, Rainbow. Hey, have you seen Twilight by the way? I came back from a trip with Trixie and couldn't find her."

"Yeah. She's at my place in Cloudsdale reading some books and relaxing," the pegasus responded.

Starlight was happy to here that she was okay. "Well that's good to hear. I'm going to go head back to my room. You can wait here or do whatever until your friends arrive."

Rainbow smiled at the kind pony. "Thanks Starlight," Rainbow said before she saw her go back to her room.

Rainbow waited a while at the door for her friends to show up. They all seemed to come in all together. That would save a lot of time.

"Hey guys," Rainbow said cheerfully. "Hey Dashie! We're here for the meeting," Pinkie enthusiastically said.

"We're going to be having the meeting in the map room. Starlight is in her room right now, so she shouldn't be that much of a disturbance," said Rainbow.

They made their way to the map room and sat down on their each individual throne. Rainbow was first to start the conversation.

"I bought you ponies here to talk about something that has been going on with Twilight," Rainbow talked in all seriousness.

"What is it RD?" Applejack asked nervously.

Rainbow decided it would be best to get straight to the point.

"It started from Sunday, just a couple of days ago. I came over to her castle to talk to her because I didn't see her in a while. When she opened the door, I saw her feeling down. There were a lot of moments that she cried and I had to be there for her. One time in the middle of the night, I heard her crying in her sleep. It turned out that she was having a terrible nightmare that she was crying in that lead her to cry in her sleep. She had been having a lot of nightmares recently and I suggested that we go to Zecora to see if she could make a potion so that Twilight could see a vision to help stop it. Today, she didn't have any nightmares. That seemed kind of odd that it would just stop out of no where. That's why I came to you ponies. Twilight has agreed to let me talk to you four to see if you could offer help of any kind to help her overcome this difficult time."

The four ponies stared at each other with shock. How could this be happening to Twilight and none of them knew about it except for Rainbow? Something wasn't right and they all suspected that. "Um, darling? How come you knew about this and we didn't?"

Rainbow was quick to come up with an explanation. "Well, you see. Twilight and I have been talking a lot recently. We've been having feelings for each other and it made it easier for her to talk to me about it."

Applejack was confused. "Feelings? What do you mean you two were having feelings with each other? Wait, you don't mean..."

"Yes," Rainbow jumped in. "Twilight and I are marefriends."

The room was filled with silence. Everypony was so surprised to hear that they were in a relationship beyond friends. Pinkie was the first to yell out about how happy she was about them. "Oh my gosh, Rainbow! You got a lucky marefriend!? We are so proud of you girls!"

The other ponies in the room seemed to smile at how energetic Pinkie was about their relationship.

"Wow. I think we're all surprised to hear that," Fluttershy calmly said in a soft voice.

"I'm not surprised. I know you don't really expect me to be a lesbian, but I am. Twilight says she is too," Rainbow said calmly.

Everypony just looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, I'm happy for you two. I know myself that I am straight, but that doesn't mean I don't love you two being together. I think you two make the perfect couple." Those words coming from Rarity's mouth really made Rainbow feel the impact.

"Thanks Rarity. It really means a lot to me."

After Rainbow realized that they were getting a little off topic, she quickly changed the subject back to focus on Twilight, not on them being together. "As much as I appreciate you guys loving us being together, we got to focus on Twilight. She's the one that needs the real help and advice from her friends."

This made all of them turn back on their serious faces and actually give advice.

"You said that Twilight was having nightmares?" Applejack quickly said, trying to get the conversation back up and running.

"Yeah, some pretty extreme ones too." Rainbow explained.

Fluttershy then decided to speak in next, wanting to get more detail. "What are the nightmares about?"

Rainbow had to think for a moment before remembering that they were about demons. "Twilight told me that they were about demonic ponies coming after her. She said one time at Zecora's hut that they would break her and make her join them in Tartarus. That's about as much as I remember. In general, we need to help her with her nightmares."

This scared everypony in the room, mainly Fluttershy. "Well, how are we going to do that? We don't have some sort of super power that could just help fix the problems Twilight is having. We're not that powerful," said a fearful Applejack.

"I agree with Applejack. There's absolutely no way we can help fix nightmares. How is that even possible to do?"

Rainbow was starting to lose hope. That was until the timid pegasus had some sort of idea. "How about if Twilight does some mind exercises to help her calm down before she sleeps. You said that she's been having a lot of nightmares recently. Maybe the amount of nightmares puts a lot of stress on Twilight and makes her think negatively. What if she does something like meditate when she wakes up and before she goes to bed? I'm sure that could help her out at least a little."

This idea really seemed to stun Rainbow Dash. "That's amazing, Flutters. I'm sure the demons are after her because she so stressed. If she calms her mind down, they won't be as needy for her. That's the best idea," Rainbow happily said. "Are there any more ideas you ponies have?"

The room went silent for a few seconds as they were all trying to think of something. Rarity then had another idea. "How are you holding her when you two are sleeping together?"

This question seemed to shock the cyan pony a lot. "Why would you need to know that?" Rainbow asked the unicorn very curiously.

"I assume that because you two are a couple, that you hold each other at night, am I right?"

Rainbow just nodded without saying anything.

"If you hold Twilight in a way that makes her mind calm down until she goes to sleep, I'm sure that would also help. Stroke her mane. Read a book to her. Give her sweet and loving kisses. Show her how romantic and affectionate you can be. She needs to know how much you truly love her by giving her everything you've got."

Rainbow really loved the ideas Rarity was giving. Sure, she'd wrap her hooves around her and give her kisses occasionally, but did she really make her heart warm up? Sure she did, but there could definitely be more moments like that. She would soon plan on showing Twilight how much she truly loved her.

"I really appreciate your guy's help. Is there anymore advice you guys could give?" Rainbow looked around the room only to see nopony else giving advice.

"Well, I don't really have one. I just hope Twilight can be safe. Hopefully everything goes well," the party pony said.

"Same. I'm sure everything will be just fine. I just hope you will always be there for her whenever she needs it," Applejack included.

Rainbow smiled at the hope and kind comment. "I will, AJ. Thanks everypony. I'll be sure to let Twilight know about what you told me. I guess this meeting is done then. Thanks for your help."

Everypony smiled and soon got up to head out the door. "If you ever need anymore advice, you know where to find us darling," Rarity chimed in one more time before leaving.

Once everypony left, Starlight walked in. "Hey Rainbow. I couldn't help but overhear some of the conversation as I was walking to the kitchen. Is it okay if I call in two other ponies to talk to in order to further help? I feel really bad about Twilight after everything I heard," the pony said before looking sad because of Twilight having such difficult times.

Starlight asking to further help her friend brightened up Rainbow's smile. "Of course you can. All help is very much appreciated."

This made the unicorn smile greatly. "Thank you Rainbow. I'll go ahead and plan everything out and start tomorrow. Oh, could you also ask Twilight if it's okay for me to use her portal?"

Rainbow nodded happily. "Sure thing. I'll ask her and let you know tomorrow. I'm going to go ahead and fly back to Twilight now. Take care." As she flew away, she heard the unicorn say to take care as well. She was always a lovely unicorn to talk to.

Rainbow had made her way back to her house and saw Twilight still reading a book. "Hey Twilight," Rainbow said happily.

Her marefriend looked back up at her with a smile, happy to see that she was back. "Hi Rainbow. I've missed you," the alicorn said while getting up to give her marefriend a hug.

Rainbow just chuckled at how she missed her. "It's only been a couple of hours," Rainbow said while pulling away from the hug with a smile.

Twilight had a slight blush on her face. "I-I know, Rainbow. I've just felt lonely without you. I didn't realize that I've had so many feelings for you."

Rainbow came back with a hug and kissed her marefriend on the lips. "It's okay, Twilight. I know how you feel."

They stayed in each other's embrace before Rainbow spoke up again. "By the way, I got some pretty helpful advice from our friends. I'm sure they will be able to help you a lot to deal with your nightmares."

Twilight's attention went extreme. "Wow, really!? What did they say?"

Rainbow just chuckled at her friend's enthusiasm. "Meditate when you wake up and before you go to bed to help calm your mind."

Twilight thought it over for a moment before her smile came back. "That sounds like it would work. I think I'll start doing it before I go to bed today."

Rainbow just patted Twilight on the shoulder that she agreed so easily to do that.

"Is there anything else?" Twilight asked her marefriend. "Yes, but it's mostly advice for me. You'll know what I'm talking about soon," Rainbow said with a kind smile on her face.

Once the night started to arrive, Twilight and Rainbow got everything ready for when they went to bed. "Okay Twilight, are you ready to try meditating?"

Twilight looked up from her book and smiled. She closed her book and proceeded to start getting ready. "Sure."

Rainbow smiled and left the room right after she called back out to her marefriend. "I'll leave you alone for a while. Go ahead and call me back in when you're done so we can go back to bed together."

Twilight was now alone in the room all by herself. She sat down and closed her eyes, focusing on calming her mind down. By the end of her meditating session, she felt so much more relaxed at night than she had in the past after just a couple of minutes. She decided she was done and called Rainbow back in. "Rainbow, I'm done!" Her marefriend walked back in a few seconds later, smiling at how relaxed Twilight was.

"How do you feel?" Rainbow asked curiously, seeing if this actually would work.

"I'm so much more calm than I ever had been at night in the past."

"That's good," Rainbow smiled. "Let's get into bed now. I'm kind of tired. There was a lot of flying back and fourth today."

Twilight just gave a small chuckle. "I'm sure it was a lot of work. That's what I'm happy about. You're willing to do whatever it takes to help me. I really appreciate it, Rainbow." The pegasus pony gave her the alicorn another kiss on the lips before tucking them both into bed. Twilight snuggled her face into Rainbow chest and cuddled up for the night.

"Twilight, I'm going to relax you a little further now than our usual nights."

Twilight was just about to ask what she meant. That was when she felt the hoof her lover gently rubbing her back. She felt the other hoof gently rubbing her leg as well. She let out a small moan, as she had never felt anything as great as this. "T-Thank you Rainbow. Your hoof movements really do feel good."

Rainbow was happy that she was enjoying this. "You're welcome, Twilight. Now, let's get you to sleep. Hopefully, it will be like last night where you had no nightmares. Sleep tight." And with that being said, both mares drifted slowly off to sleep, leaving them both smiling as they held each other.