He woke up a little past eleven, which was past his normal waking up time but he figured Lyra let him sleep a little longer since what happened last night. Though he still found odd that he had been there almost a year and somehow that triggered some kind of fear to a thunderstorm. But it was the only explanation that he could come up with.

"Oh, finally awake?" Lyra popped her head through the door giving him a little concerned look.

"Yeah, and hey about last night..." He started but Lyra cut him off.

"I understand, it's almost been an entire year since you came here. After being dropped out of the sky in a big storm like that probably left more of an impact than what anypony thought." She said as she entered with some breakfast.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry if I did make you worried." As he said that he could see her shake her head.

"Nah, with you I'm used to it. Besides, you seemed to of handled it pretty good last night, except for when you squeezed me a little hard when you were trying to act like the thunder didn't bother you." This made him look down to avoid her gaze. "But you can squeeze me like that anytime, just like I'll squeeze you."

"Ha, and thanks for the breakfast." He said taking a bite of toast.

"No probs, you ready for the auction later?" She asked as he took a few more bites.

"Yeah, but you sure you're okay with me doing this? You aren't going to get jealous are you?" He gave a laugh as she swatted him with her hoof.

"Please, you have two other marefriends and one is even a Princess." She gave him another playful swat.

"If you say so, but you know we do have a little bit of time before I have to get ready." He said putting his plate on the nightstand, making Lyra giggle a little.

"Oh, and what do you want to do to pass the time?" She asked leaning in for a kiss, though just as their lips met they heard the front door open and Derpy call out.

"Shit, maybe next time then?" He said giving a laugh as Lyra's expression turned into showing a little of her frustration.

"Yeah, next time." She muttered before calling back to Derpy. "We're in the bedroom!"

"You two decide to be lazy or something today?" Derpy asked as she entered the room, but paused when she saw what kind of position they were in. "Oh, a-am I interrupting?"

"No, but he did get a little freaked last night during the storm," Lyra answered and moved to sit next to him.

"Make's sense, after how he arrived and all," Derpy said. "Guess that the anniversary thing is bothering you a bit more than what we thought huh?"

"That's what I pretty much told him," Lyra said.

"Hey, it crossed my mind to you know? But did Dinky make it back okay?" He asked making Lyra roll her eyes a little.

"Yup, but don't you need to do some stuff before you get ready for later?" Derpy asked making his eyes go wide a little.

"Oh shit! I forgot that the Town Hall closes early today!" He yelled as he jumped out of bed.

"Can't believe he nearly forgot about that, I mean he's been talking about becoming a foster parent for Grace for a minute now. Did he even fill the paperwork out yet?" Lyra asked making Derpy give a nod.

"Yup, well I did a fair bit of it last night," Derpy answered making Lyra give the grey mare a suspicious look.

"So that's why you didn't stay! But why did he want to turn them in so fast after only just getting them yesterday? I mean it'll still take a little while before his application get's processed." Lyra said.

"That's exactly why Lyra," Derpy gave the unicorn a roll of her eyes. "Now, about what I interrupted..."

"Eh, if you would have waited for a little bit then yeah we would have been doing it right now," Lyra said giving the grey mare a sexy look before laughing as the mares face turned red. "But you are right, the foster thing is more important."

As he rushed around he forced himself to take a second to calm down reminding himself he still had the time. When he found the papers he couldn't help but groan as he remembered he barely even started on them yesterday. Though as he sat down to try to get through all of it he found that somepony had already filled them out, and when he looked them over more closely he recognized Derpy's writing and couldn't but give a huge smile.

"Did you...Mmmmmph!" Derpy managed as she was practically picked up off of her hooves and pushed against the wall in a passionate kiss.

"Hey now, let her catch her breath!" Lyra said giving a laugh as she came into the room, making him break the kiss.

"Thank you, Derpy," He said letting her back down, though she was a little out of breath now.

"Y-you're very welcome," Derpy said still a little surprised. "I-if I would have known you would have kissed me like that I would have told you what I was doing last night."

"Well, it means a lot to me, thank you." He said again giving her another kiss. "I'll go turn these in, I'll be back soon!"

"Bye and love you!" Lyra called giving a little jealous look at Derpy as he ran out the door.

"Sorry, he just seemed so excited," Derpy said giving a shrug.

"It's fine, I got him this morning. But are you still wondering why this is so important to him?" At that Derpy gave a little nod and Lyra gave a little sigh.

"Wait, if you knew why this was important to him then why did you ask why he wanted to turn them in so soon?" Derpy asked.

"Because it really shouldn't be me to tell you. But I know he won't mind," Lyra gave another sigh and as Derpy looked at the unicorn she saw whatever it was it was bothering her a little.

"It's about his nightmares isn't it?" Derpy asked making Lyra give a nod.

"Mainly about one that's been reoccurring. It's not the most pleasant of ones, but most of his nightmares aren't that pleasant." Lyra shuddered at remembering which one it was.

"I-I see, but you know you don't have to tell me because I sense that it's bothering so much," Derpy said gently rubbing a hoof on one of the unicorns cheeks.

"Yeah, I know and like I said I know he wouldn't mind me telling you, and the reason why he hasn't gone into too much detail with you is that you know..." At that Derpy gave a nod and a sigh.

"Still afraid of that huh? Not that I can't blame him since it's hard to get over fears." Derpy said. "But I still want to help in any way I can."

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," Lyra said walking over to the couch and patting the seat for Derpy to come over.

Though Lyra knew that Derpy knew just how bad his nightmares can be at least from how he reacted in his sleep, but actually hearing them in detail was another thing. After the two sat down she began telling the Pegasus of the particular nightmare that made Brandon want to be a foster parent for Grace. As she started to get to what happened in it of what he had remembered she could see a look of shock on the grey mare's face.

"...and he still sometimes sees the little girls eyes staring at him when he closes his eyes." Lyra finished now looking at the table in front of them.

"T-that's..." Derpy started but couldn't finish.

"I know, it's been hard for him." Lyra took a deep breath.

"B-but these are just nightmares right?" Derpy asked though Lyra shook her head.

"Luna explained it a bit and it's also why she had trouble getting into his dreams when he first started having them. It's because of the fact that most dreams and nightmares are like fictional story's. Stuff that you deep down inside either want to happen or just stuff that you're scared about.

But there are these different kinds of nightmares that are very rare. You see how Luna described these is that when a pony goes through a traumatic event, and even when the pony suffers from amnesia or just blocked out what happened to them the memories can manifest in different ways." Lyra said making Derpy's eyes go a little wide.

Lyra knew that Derpy had figured it out and didn't say anything else about it and the two sat there in silence. Though Lyra had a nagging fear that she made a mistake in telling the Pegasus. But somepony would have to tell her eventually even if the mailmare wouldn't see him the same way again.

"A-at least I understand it now, why he wanted to foster Grace after none of her family claimed her, and why his nightmares always seemed to make him through a fit in his sleep," Derpy said breaking the ice. "Oh, poor Brandon. It must be hard to remember even fragments of what happened."

"Yeah, just please promise that it won't you know..." Though Lyra stopped as Derpy gave her a hard glare.

"You think this made me see him differently? At least in a bad way?" Derpy asked making Lyra regret she even had the thought. "No, I love him just as much as you or Luna. My heart breaks for what he has to carry with him!"

"Derpy, I-I'm sorry for even..." Lyra started folding her ears back in guilt.

"I know but I'm just more frustrated that none of you ever told me any of this!" Derpy yelled a little but she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "But you guys were just trying to protect me in a way huh? I mean that is a hard pill to swallow knowing he was involved with something like that, but it doesn't change how I feel."

"I'm glad to hear that." Both mares jumped at the sound of his voice making both of them look at him in surprise. "Before you ask, I've been here before Lyra finished explaining about my nightmares."

"B-brandon I'm sorry, I know you wanted to tell her..." He raised his hand and gave Lyra a little pat on the head.

"You handled it better than what I would of, even if you did mess it up a little towards the end there." He then turned his gaze to Derpy, who he could see was fighting back some tears. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what they were about, but they just..."

He couldn't finish as now he couldn't meet her gaze as a little rush of guilt ran through him. While he did tell her about some of the nightmares he could never bring himself to tell the mailmare about the bigger ones. Not out of fear for losing her but he had a tough time even telling Lyra about them, and Luna had been in some of them so he didn't have to tell her in detail what they were about.

"S-so this thing with Grace, is it because of the little girl in your dreams?" Derpy asked breaking the silence making him give her a hard look.

"I will admit that it a big part of it, but it's not to try to redeem what I did or didn't do. That is done with and while it still haunts me I have made peace with it if even just a little. But I want to protect that filly like I couldn't protect that girl. I want to give her a home, a place where she can be loved. She deserves that much after all she has been through!" He couldn't help but yell a little.

Though he soon felt a hoof on his cheek and as he breathed a little heavy as he started to calm down he saw Derpy giving him a comforting smile. He looked away from her eyes out of guilt and dropped to his hands and knees. The weight of all his guilt and fears that the nightmares had brought weighed heavy on him in full at that moment.

"Brandon, I love you and I can understand how hard it must be to talk about this, even to Lyra I bet it was difficult for you. I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you of not caring about Grace because I know you. I know you care about everypony who comes into your life.

If I'm telling the truth, I don't even care that you didn't tell me. I mean everpony has some secrets even from those closes to them. I do believe that you want what's best for her, to protect her. I can even see that you might also have other reason for wanting to foster her especially after dealing with her family. While I understand it, it does make me mad.

While I wasn't as close of a friend to you like Lyra by a long run, nor can I dream walk like Luna, I still want to know what's bothering you. Try to take some of the weight off of your shoulder, for no pony no matter how strong should never shoulder such burdens by themselves." At that Derpy put a hoof under his chin to lift his head up to give him a gentle kiss.

As she broke the kiss he kept looking into her beautiful eyes seeing a little anger but mostly compassion and love. It took everything he had not to fully break down and he could tell that the two mares could sense it. Lyra wrapped her front legs around him from the back and rested her head on one should, and Derpy did the same from the front and they stayed like that until they heard a knock at the door.

"Let's ignore them," Lyra whispered.

"Is anypony home? Rarity sent me with a message about the auction!" They heard Spike call making the three of them give a collective sigh as they composed themselves.

"Coming!" He replied with a little bit of a shaky voice as he managed to get up and go to the door.

"Oh, sorry did I interrupt something?" Spike asked as Brandon opened the door.

"Just, talking about the past and how it leads to the future from time to time." He answered giving a weak smile.

"Alright, sorry about this and here's that message. I'll, um, let you guys get back to talking." Spike said and took off as fast as his little legs could carry him.

He shut the door letting out a little sigh as he felt the two mares looking at him to see if he would break down. Taking a deep breath he turned to meet their eyes and then went to go sit down on the couch. He fiddled with the scroll for a bit before the two of them joined him.

"Hey, listen, Brandon, if you aren't feeling up to do this we'll just donate some bits to the auction and you can just stay home," Derpy suggested making him give a sigh.

"I-I'm fine really, and thanks." He said wrapping one of her hooves in his hand, and one of Lyra's in the other. "Without you girls, and this includes Luna too, I don't think I would have made it this long. You three gave me something to live for, just as becoming a foster parent for Grace. It gives me something to look forward to. But I love all three of you with every bit of me."

"I could say the same thing about you," Lyra said giving him a nuzzle, and Derpy leaned in on the other side. "But, what does the message say?"

He rolled his eyes at the unicorn for ruining the moment, but he forced himself to let go of each of their hooves and picked the scroll back up. As he opened it he couldn't help but grumble a bit as he just about instantly stood up. The two mares gave him a questioning look.

"She wants all the bachelors to come extra early for final preparations." He grumbled as he made his way to the room to start getting ready. "And again, it may hurt but I'm fine as long as I have you all by my side."

At that, he went into the bedroom leaving the two mares sitting there in silence. Though they looked at each other and an understanding passed between them, an unspoken plan formed. It wasn't long before he came back out with a slight look of embarrassment on his face as he was carrying his dress shirt and vest for tonight.

"Um, w-would you two mind..." He didn't have to finish as both mares gave a laugh and got up to help him.

"You know like I keep saying you are looking really good when you don't have a shirt on." Lyra once again began her teasing, which seemed to dissolve a fair bit of the awkwardness.

"Thanks, you're too kind," He joked back which made the green mare give a little smile. "A-and Derpy, again I really didn't mean to hide all of this from you."

"I know like I said everpony has a right to keep some secrets. Just remember, I want to be as close to you as Lyra and Luna." Derpy whispered the last part in his ear making him give a little shiver as he also felt her hoof trace one of his wings.

"Um, uh, w-well thanks for helping me again. I guess I'll see you two later?" He asked making the two mares nod their heads in agreement.

Author's Notes:

Happy Easter, and remember to smile, smile, smile!