Chapter 1 - Falling Asleep

Twilight struggled with her entire body, trying to loosen the ropes that tied her down to the cold metal frame underneath her stomach.  She desperately tried to escape summoning all the magic that she had in her.  But it was useless. It was like trying to move fingers or pegasi wings.  She felt somepony’s hooves on her back and began to shriek hysterically.

“STOP! PLEASE! CELESTIA HELP! No. NO. NOO. WAKE ME UP NOW. PLEASE, CELESTIA HELP ME. OW NOOOOO-”

Twilight awoke in a cold sweat screaming.  She was no longer bound by ropes, hanging from a ceiling but rather in her own bed with a blanket over her.  Her blanket and sheets however were soaked in sweat.  Her blanket… she was in her bed.  It was just a bad dream, that’s all.  She looked around and saw that she was in her bedroom in her cozy Ponyville library and began to openly crying out of relief.

Suddenly from downstairs light flooded her room penetrating the darkness of night and tiny running footsteps punctuated the quiet.

“Twilight! Are you okay? I’m coming!” cried Spike as he bolted into her room at full speed carrying a lit candle.

“Is everything okay?! I heard you screaming!”

Twilight was still hyperventilating and it took her another minute before she could catch her breath enough to speak coherently.

“Yes Spike, I’m fine.  I think I just had a really, really bad nightmare. That’s all.  Do you think you could hand me my small mirror?”

“Sure thing right away! Twilight, you sure you okay?  How about a glass of water or something?” stammered the baby dragon rushing to her dresser and returning with the handheld mirror.

Twilight paused a second before reaching out with her hoof to grab the mirror. Looking into the mirror’s reflection, she saw herself staring back, same as always, her horn just poking out of her messy bedhead.  But that sensation she had felt during her nightmare, something had been… wrong.  The dream had been so vivid, but already after having been awake for a couple minutes she was beginning to forget what she had dreamed about.  She felt her face and horn with her hooves just to make sure she wasn’t crazy.

Yup, it’s just me… Twilight. My goodness my eyes are red and puffy. She definitely could use a spa afternoon with Rarity.

She lifted her blanket and in the reflection of the mirror now saw her beautiful six sided star cutie mark.  She had no marks on her body anywhere and a quick wiggle of her limbs proved that she in fact was perfectly fine.  Finally she exhaled a sigh of relief.  She hadn’t even realized that she had been holding in her breath all this time.

“I think I’ll take that glass of water.  I’m okay now that you’re here with me” She said pulling Spike into a hug

“Whew, Twilight, you really had me scared for a second.  Wait, are you crying again?”

“Am I?  I guess a little Spike.  Sorry, I don’t know why but I just feel so relieved.  I really truly appreciate everything that you do for me my number one assistant.”

Twilight clung onto the baby dragon and felt safe.  She was home with Spike.  She was in Ponyville.  Everything was perfect.

“Twi…light…can’t…breathe…crushing” gasped Spike as Twilight suddenly realizing just how tightly she had been holding onto him, released him.

“Oops, sorry” giggled Twilight, wiping the last of a tear from her eye

“Uh thanks Twi…. um…I’ll go get you that water now.  You really should get some sleep, Owlowiscious should be back before sunrise with the last of the stuff you’ll need for your trip tomorrow”

“Huh?” said Twilight, “what trip?”

“You know, the one to get those weird flowers you’ve been talking about.  You’ll need your energy to cast all those teleporting spells. You’re probably just stressing out from doing nothing but studying that one spell so much. I mean how much better at teleporting can you really get? You really need to learn to take a break from studying once in a while and just live a little” said Spike before disappearing to the kitchen.

That’s right.  She had been planning on taking a long trip to get some plant she had read about.  She couldn’t really remember why or the details.  She still felt like she was in shock from her dream.  She tried to recall what had happened during the dream, but the memories of the dream had faded away even more into nothingness.

‘Shoot’, Twilight thought to herself.  She should probably start up a dream journal.  It’d be interesting to study her dreams and possibly see if different factors such as how much she was studying affected the kinds of dreams she had.  But that would mean having to recording them down first thing after she woke up before she could forget them, which she hadn’t been doing.  How would she even be able to create a control in this kind of plan?  Despite her mind beginning to wander away at this new idea for research, she still couldn’t shake the general feelings of terror that came from this dream she now couldn’t remember.

Spike returned with a cup of water which Twilight levitated it to her parched mouth to drink.  She stared at the empty glass and moved it around the air staring at the aura of her magic emanating from the object. Even with such  a simple spell like telekinesis, she felt as though she was just really… drained.  She probably had gone overboard and burned herself out a bit.  Finally she placed the glass down on her nightstand before speaking to Spike.

“You know what, I think I won’t go on that trip after all Spike.  Improving my teleporting was hard work, and to be frank I don’t know whether or not I feel completely recharged yet.  Besides, Princess Celestia wanted me to study friendship, not plants.”

“You sure about this Twilight?  Is this because of that nightmare you said you just had?  Are you gonna be okay?” asked an unconvinced Spike.

“Hehe, I’m sure Spike, and I’m also sure about my decision.  Goodnight, and thanks for everything.  See you in the morning” said Twilight finding new resolve in her decision.

“Well then, Goodnight Twilight” said Spike before heading downstairs, mumbling something about indecisive ponies.

Twilight gave a small chuckle as she heard snoring almost immediately after Spike had left her field of view and picked up the mirror one last time, smiling into it.  She didn’t need to be afraid of anything.  She was living in paradise just being in Ponyville with her friends.  She made a mental note to write a letter later to the Princess telling her about how happy just living life with her friends made her.

She didn’t feel like going back to sleep at all.  Instead she quietly got up, so as not to wake Spike and checked the clock.  Applejack would be up before the sun rose to work on the orchard in an hour or two.  Out of all her friends she would be up the earliest.  Twilight decided she would go visit her and maybe bring her some breakfast.  In the meantime, she decided to write that letter to the Princess.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that just having good friends can be enough for a pony to be perfectly happy.  Sometimes somepony can become so overwhelmed by the simple and minute troubles of everyday life that they start taking for granted how lucky they are to be with ponies that they...

She paused at that point.  What word would be best to describe the feeling of protection, hope, happiness, and connection all at once.

“Love?” whispered a voice behind her.

Twilight knew that voice, and jumped nearly 10 feet in the air in joy.

Princess Celestia stood without a single royal guard in sight as Twilight Sparkle turned around and immediately bowed her head down.

“Princess Celestia! Your majesty!“ Twilight excited started blurting out.

“Shh, Twilight, Spike is still asleep now isn’t he?”

“Sorry, I just didn’t know you were coming so I was completely unprepared and otherwise I would have cleaned up the place and gotten everything ready. I hope that nothing’s wrong and that you’ve been getting all my letters. Oh no, is there something wrong? Is it with me? Am I in trouble? Did I forget to-” spit out Twilight growing gradually more and more panicked like a train going off the rails

“My dearest student, Twilight, please don’t be ridiculous.  Everything’s fine. Forgive my intrusion, but sometimes it’s easier to visit ponies if I keep it a secret so that the ponies and my royal guards don’t overwork themselves worrying about catering to me.  Besides, it’s not like I can get in trouble. I am the Princess after all” she added with a wink.

“I simply wanted to swing by and have a quick breakfast with you to tell you how proud I am of all the progress you’ve made in your friendship studies.  But I see that you’re up early writing another letter to me” said the giant Alicorn pulling Twilight into a warm hug.

Twilight beamed at her mentor.  She was proud of her progress!

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure about this Twilight? I mean even with your teleporting these flowers would take a good day or two to even travel to. ”

“Spike, I’ll be fine, at worst I’ll be back in a week or two”

“But what if the Princess sends you an important message? I won’t be able to give it to you”

“Spike, I’ve gone on trips alone tons of times without you.  This one will be no different, trust me.  You’ve given me practically a week’s worth of food in these bags”

Twilight Sparkle sighed at the young dragon’s over protectiveness.  It was true that her trip would be the longest that she’d been apart with Spike, but she had done her research and knew exactly what she was looking for.  Twilight had been studying some of the plant books that Zecora had provided her, and had been particularly interested in a rare flower that she had come across.

According to the book, the five leafed poppy flower was a plant with a very unique ability to enhance a pony’s power.  This meant that if prepared in a proper potion, it could strengthen a unicorn’s magical potential, a pegasi’s flight ability, and even an earth pony’s raw strength.  The list of effects went on and on as well about how it could be used to give an emotional boost, or act a healing remedy to many of the worst symptoms of various afflictions.  In fact, she was surprised that nopony else had heard of it before based on the sheer uses that this plant seemed to posses.

So, naturally she wanted nothing more than to be able to have a sample to study and verify these claims with.  She had narrowed its natural location to a desert in Marexico on the very edges of Equestria’s borders, where even then it was supposed to be rare.  But she was sure that the plant was distinctive enough that she would be able to find at least one sample to be able to bring back to study.

Spike was right about one thing though.  The trip would be incredibly long, requiring a train ride that would last days, followed by a few more days travel on foot to reach the region where they were supposed to grow.  She had spent the last couple of weeks improving her teleportation spell to lessen the amount of time the foot travel portion of the trip would take. The distance needed to be traveled on foot was far too large to cover with a single casting of the spell, so she would need a little time to rest after every spell so that she could recharge her magical energy and teleport closer to her destination.  But she had everything planned out on an extensive checklist so that she probably would only have to camp out for at most maybe one or two nights.

“Also Spike, it’s not like I’m going into the Everfree Forest.  There hardly are any creatures or ponies where I’m going.  I’ll probably be lucky to even meet anypony there so far out in Equestria”

“Alright, just promise me you’ll be safe.  I’ll make sure the library won’t have a single speck of dust when you’re back”

“That’s the number one assistant I like to hear.  You behave yourself, and take care of everything while I’m gone.  I’ll be back before you know it”

Twilight double checked that she had all the gear she needed and gave Spike a hug, as she stepped off the train platform and onto the boarding train.  Eight large stallions pulled this train as she headed off past the frontiers of Equestria to her borders. As she rested in her little train compartment, she could hardly contain her excitement.  Hopefully, she’d be able to find this flower and improve her magic even more.  Not just that, but when her report on this new plant and all its magical properties was finally sent to Princess Celestia, the Princess would be so surprised. Twilight began eagerly began writing up a list of all the amazing tests she would conduct when she finally found this poppy plant.