~A week later~

Twilight shivered, in the thrall of another magic-induced nightmare. In her dream, she was being chased by a Nightmare, however, she didn't know who it had overtaken, only that they looked eerily familiar under the night-black cover. She turned and faced it, tired of running, and attempted to channel magic. However, her horn quickly died out, the lack of magic seeping all throughout her. There was nothing more to do, as the Nightmare stood before her. "Twilight Sparkle. At last, you have come to your senses." The being in her dream whispered, attempting to sound gentle. Then, a beam of light fell from above, and the Nightmare entered it. A feeling of coldness reached into Twilight's soul as she realized who exactly was underneath.

"Surprised? After everything YOU'VE been through, anypony else would've been expecting this." Thus spoke the Nightmare. It turned, and a flash of blackened stars on it's flank, surrounded by blackish-purple fur, confirmed her absolute worst imaginings.

The Nightmare was her own.

She screamed in her sleep as the gentle touch of a magically-charged horn touched her own. This pulled her from her dreams as her eyes snapped open to stare into the face of Trixie. She stared, almost angrily, into Twilight's own eyes. Slowly, she could feel the magic seeping into her through Trixie's horn. "This, my little Sparkle, is the third time this week you've had bad dreams. What was it about this time?" She seemed slightly exasperated. "The unidentifiable Nightmare, again, I take it?" Aside from one isolated dream, all her bad dreams since she came back to Ponyville had been that same Nightmare chasing her. However, she now had a name to put to it. "Trixie...I-I think...I know who's Nightmare that is supposed to be." She shivered, remembering, and nuzzled Trixie's mane for comfort. "I see..." Trixie was gently stroking her foreleg, trying to calm her a bit. "Well, who was it? Dreams have a strange way of turning out to be true, in one way or another. Especially a recurring one such as this one." She sighed, then pulled back to stare at Trixie in the eyes.

"It was mine, Trixie. My own Nightmare. I saw it's cutie mark and everything!" She was oblivious, not knowing what to think, so she threw herself into a thoughtless spiral as she tried to find comfort in Trixie's embrace. She didn't see Trixie's eyes widen in fear, but instead only felt the continuing gentle stroking. It'll be okay, Twilight. I'm pretty sure you don't have a Nightmare. Nightmares are caused by bad feelings, and only happen over time. You couldn't have one." She knew that, despite the logic, her words were hollow.

Despite not knowing it, they had bonded in a bond stronger than friendship, in only one day, and then left each other for weeks, during which Twilight had been inconsolate and losing the will to keep fighting. Now that they were together, it was fine, but maybe...maybe some hidden resentment had been hidden, only coming out now.

Twilight was now unable to sleep, so she pulled Trixie out of bed and walked downstairs. However, when they got to the bottom of the stairs, Trixie murmured in her ear. "Twilight, I wanted to talk to you about something." She turned, smiling, and faced Trixie. "Of course, we can talk." Trixie stared into her eyes. "I know you already said no, but I think you need to go." Twilight was confused, her mind not yet ready for her maturity, and as such couldn't process as well as it should. "What do you mean, go? We have a happy life here, and despite everything someponies want to blame you for, you've started to make friends." Those someponies, in particular, were those five ponies that Trixie told her had accosted her at the train station to point hooves. They had since had multiple run-ins with each of them, and Twilight, for one, had had enough of those particular miscreants.

"To the Crystal Empire. Remember the invitation?" Trixie had brought the small scroll down with her, and now poked it into Twilight's field of vision. She re-read the letter, then sighed in resignation. "No. I'm sorry, Trixie, I just don't feel up to traveling all the way there." It was the same excuse, but it was still true. Magic deprivation caused many ponies, herself included, to lose a lot of physical energy, as well, further pushing the importance of unicorn magic.

"I don't care if I have to drag you there by your tail, kicking and screaming like a spoiled foal! You are going, that's final!" She looked up, shocked. Trixie had not once, ever, raised her voice to her like this. Twilight's mind couldn't cope with the idea that Trixie was angry with her, since Trixie had now taken every mental attachment Twilight could make. All at once, Trixie was, to Twilight, her mother, teacher, and marefriend. Perhaps it was mostly due to her somewhat drastic attempts to make Twilight happy, but Twilight was happy with the arrangement. However, Trixie was unaware of this, and so was unprepared for the force of Twilight's sobs.

She trotted over and stroked the deep purple mane. "I'm sorry, my little Sparkle, I didn't mean to yell. I just really think it could help you to go. Besides, I forgot to mention, Shining Armor is your brother. He'll definately want to see you, know you are okay. So, even if not for me, do it for your brother. Please?"

Twilight looked up at her between sobs. "I-I...I guess, if it means so much to you, I'll go. If it makes you happy." They smiled at each other as lavender hooves encircled Trixie's neck. She leaned into Trixie, nuzzling her chest. "I love you, and I'm sorry for acting so foalish." Trixie giggled, taking Twilight in her arms. "It's okay, I know you like it here." They sat like that for several minutes, Trixie slowly stroking Twilight's mane. Eventually, Twilight broke the silence with a question. "When do we leave, then?" The mare hiccupped with the aftermath of her intense crying. "We could leave today, if you like." came the response from the blue pony. She giggled gently. "I know you're very powerful, Trixie, but even you probably can't teleport the two of us all the way to the Crystal Empire." Trixie sighed. "I meant that the princess sent some train tickets with her letter. They should still be okay to use." Twilight blushed, realizing her error. "Oh."

Finally, Trixie stood up, and placed a happy Twilight on the floor. "Come on, let's go to the train station, if you're ready. You can bring a book to read, if you like." Twilight almost let off a girly squeal as she looked through the library, trying to find a book she had wanted to read earlier, but hadn't got around to yet. She finally found it. It was the first novel of the Daring-Do series. She trotted happily out the door, Trixie following behind with a smile, watching Twilight with love as they made their way through Ponyville. There was only one thing that Trixie thought would mess up this day.

Twilight broke into a run while Trixie was still deep in thought, and soon was far ahead of her, so Trixie didn't know what happened here until later. A rope lashed out from an alleyway, wrapping around Twilight's hoof. She tripped, surprised, and made no sound as she hit the ground and slid towards the alleyway. She was quickly grabbed by a pair of orange-furred hooves and dragged into darkness.

She was roughly picked up and slammed into the wall, a menacing look on the pony opposite her. "What've ya done ta 'er, Trixie?!" Seeing the blank, terrified look on her face, the orange pony lost it, slamming her hoof into the wall beside Twilight's head repeatedly. Another voice sounded from a little ways to Twilight's right side. "Umm, A-Applejack...What a-are you doing?" A yellow-furred pegasus crept into view, her face covered almost entirely by her pink mane.

"Ah want some answers, and Ah'll bucking get them!" The orange one was almost screaming, causing the pegasus to cringe. "O-Oh, okay...well, if it's alright with you, I'd like it if you let her go. She hasn't done anything wrong." The yellow one was nearly squeaking in fear by the end, the look the orange one was giving her wasn't helping anything. Twilight raised the bound hoof, leveling a deadpan stare at them. "Was this really necessary?" She tried to use her magic to loosen it, if not get it off, and surprised herself by being able to do so, rather easily. Applejack stared, helpless, as her old friend slapped her in the face with a hoof. "Now that that's taken care of, maybe I can get some answers? Such as why you plotted on foalnapping me?" Her voice was raised in incredulous fury, she didn't notice Trixie had found them until the other ponies started backing away.

All Twilight heard was a squeak as the yellow pegasus flew as fast as she could away. The earth pony, however, had no such luck, and was rendered completely helpless by Trixie as she levitated her off the ground. "What is going on, Twilight? I heard shouting."

The orange pony snorted with rage as she stared at Trixie, despite her helpless position. "Let Twilight go, you good-for-nothi- MMMPHF!" The rest of that sentence was cut off by a magical tendril wrapping around her snout, preventing her from speaking. Twilight cringed, hiding behind Trixie. "Please, just let us go, and we'll leave you alone." All Twilight wanted was to leave, the scene horrifying her. Trixie noticed this and suddenly dropped the pony in her magical grasp. She turned and walked off, Twilight very close behind.

"Twilight..." Trixie rounded on the lavender pony once they were a distance away. "Why did you take off by yourself? You know you have almost no magic. What if they'd...tried to..." It was too horrible for her to voice, and she seemed to struggle against tears at the thought. "Please, just stay by me..." She smiled faintly, watching Twilight take in everything that had just happened. "I promise, Trixie. I'll never leave your side again." With that, they turned and walked the rest of the way to the station without incident.

Once aboard the train to the Crystal Empire, Twilight immediately headed for a car that was empty. Once inside, she seemed to visibly calm down, as her mane had been standing on end the whole time, and just now it fell to its usual style. She sat on one of the seats, almost begging with her eyes for Trixie to sit next to her. It was unnecessary cuteness, and Trixie acted like she was considering it. Just when her face started to fall, she saw Trixie trot over and hop up right next to her. This caused her to gasp happily and snuggle up to her side. "Thanks for convincing me to come out here. Despite what happened, I'm already starting to feel good about this trip." Trixie giggled, holding her close. "My dear little Sparkle, I wish for nothing but your happiness, so trust me when I say that I believe something to be in your best interests." She giggled gleefully, nuzzling Trixie's chest as the train began to move.

Trixie allowed her body to sway with the movements of the train, which also made Twilight rock back and forth against her. "I love you, Trixie." These were her last words before the slow, steady movement did its work and Twilight fell into dreams once more. It was a nice dream, because Trixie was in it, and she was happy. "Oh, Twilight..." was all she said as they cuddled in the grass. In the dream, the sun was warm and lovely in the sky, and she felt the warmth grow even more lovely as she slept.

Author's Note

Derpy would've been proud of the way I wrote this. Don't ask. ~Honey Heart, the Filly