Visions of the Past

She woke in a cold sweat. Trembling, she slowly became aware of her surroundings as the nightmare slowly faded away. The familiarity of her room gently calmed her as her eyes took in the book shelves, with books worn out by attention and love. Her breathing finally slowed to a normal rate as she rolled over and saw her clock hanging on the wall, next to her favorite telescope.

Back under control and feeling much more stable, she rolled over again and her breath caught in her throat as her eyes fell upon it. A deep, beautiful blue was accentuated by sparkling stars radiating elegance and grace. Her eyes misted over as she looked upon the dress she had worn to the gala long ago. Unbidden, a picture of her friend's smiling face appeared, eyes alive with hope and expectations for that night and the dreams she hoped to fulfill, but never would.

Choking down her tears, she quickly got out of bed, cursing herself for forgetting she had pulled it out last night to be ready for today. It was too much, too soon, she didn't want any reminders right now of what she had lost. Not bothering with her hair or anything, she rushed down the stairs and out the door, desperate to escape her memories that threatened to surface.

She was briefly blinded as she came out into the morning sun, but soon her eyes adjusted and she was able to see around her as Ponyville slowly came to life. Feeling better already, she headed out in no particular direction, devoid of thought and just enjoying the bliss of obliviousness. Around her, ponies went about their morning routine, sometimes looking over in slight concern at the usually impeccably tidy librarian now sporting a nest head and dazed expression.

Although some were worried at the sight, they opted to leave the mare to herself, figuring she would let them know if she needed somepony to talk to. Unaware of all the attention she was getting, she continued on and soon found herself meandering around the far side of town. A slight rippling sound brought her back to the real world and for a moment she was mesmerized by the small creek, sparkling from the light glinting off its surface.

With a start, she realized she was at Fluttershy's cottage. It sat on the slight rise looking empty and abandoned. The life that used to swarm around it was blatantly missing, and before she knew what they were doing, her legs had taken her up the path and over the small wooden bridge up to the front window. Afraid of what she would see inside, she forced down her nerves and looked inside.

Nothing moved inside, the many small animal houses were vacant and the couch in front of the fire place seemed unnaturally empty. That was silly, she thought to herself, barely anypony sat on that couch anyways, but the feeling of wrongness remained.

"Um....hello?" She turned at the sound, more like a whisper on the wind than a pony's voice. Behind her, Fluttershy had just reached the tiny bridge and had stopped, her animal friends gathering up behind her. Twi’s face went bright red as she realized what she had been doing and what it must look like.

"F-F-Fluttershy. Hi, I didn't mean to, I mean I was just checking to see if you were here, didn't want to knock if it looked like I would disturb you." she finished lamely.

Behind the yellow pegasus, her white bunny friend, Angel, peeked out and gave the stammering pony a disapproving look. "Oh ok, did you want something?" Fluttershy asked uncertainly, eyes darting to her front door every few moments as if she longed to reach it.

"I don't know? Maybe I need somepony to talk about her with."

Fluttershy's ears laid back and she hid her face, "I don't think I'm ready for something like that yet, sorry." Barely paying attention to whether her friends followed or not, the pegasus darted up the rest of the path and escaped through the door. After the other animals had made it in, Angel stuck his head out to look at her one last time and shook his head sadly before shutting the door.

Inside, she could hear as her friend began to cry, a quick look through the window showed her friend collapsed on the couch, sobbing, as the critters around her tried to comfort her. Wishing for the previous feeling the couch had given her, she retreated out of the yard and back onto the path, stumbling once as she fought the wave of sorrow and guilt that washed over her. She needed to get away was all she could think about. Going to a friend now was out of the question, she had already inadvertently brought more pain to one who didn't need it right now.

Depression threatened to crush her as she wandered on till a sudden shadow fell over her. Dreading what she'd see, she looked up and let out a choking noise. The cloud house hovered before her. It looked truly resplendent, as it seemed to be lined in gold. Cascading waterfalls of rainbow only added to its splendor, a monument of beauty up in the sky. All of it so splendid, marvelous and devastating. She tried to turn and escape but stopped at a sound.

Around her the world began to feel surreal, as if something was different, or slightly unreal.Turning back in disbelief, she stared up and, thoroughly confused, saw a rainbow maned cyan head poking over the edge of the cloud. "What do you want? I was just taking a nap."

Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to form an answer, but couldn't.

"We're going to celebrate! Rarity's latest designs were a hit!" Startled, she looked over to see Pinkie Pie shouting up to the cloud excitedly. Beside her, Applejack and Rarity were looking up too, grinning at the sight of their friend. Fluttershy was a little behind them and grinning too, but looked kinda nervous and Twilight stood beside her as the pegasus answered.

"That's great! Congrats Rarity, now let’s go party!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly as she hopped off and drifted down to her waiting friends.

Watching all this in stunned silence, she was unable to understand what was happening. Then as quickly as it had started they all faded away and she was alone again. Emotions tore through her as she felt herself starting to pant heavily, with a shriek, she turned and galloped off in an attempt to escape it all.