Author's Notes:

There we go, after a month of being lazy and unmotivated, here it is.

sorry.

“Shh, Rose, it’s fine. It’s just a movie!”

“I-I know, b-but…” I sniffed in heavily, the horrible sound of coagulated snot coming from my nose. “I c-can’t… I want him to make it.” I cried into Lily’s hooves as she held me tightly, rolling her eyes at my blatant over reaction. I knew how this movie went, and had never cried watching it before, but for whatever reason, I was affected ten times more than I usually was.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Lily sighed as she stroked my mane. I could tell that she was getting tired of my overreaction, but I found it impossible to stop the flow of tears or emotions, no matter how hard I tried. “Rose, he lives, remember? It was a packet of sauce, look!”

Lily pointed to the screen and I lifted my head up, watching as the main character stopped pretending to be dead and looked up at his friend that had “stabbed” him.

“See?” Lily said and I nodded, tears still dripping down my cheeks. It was a comedy movie, and I was reacting like this? I just didn’t get it, and neither did Lily. My mum was giggling at my reaction while Luna sat, blank faced as she watched the screen. The initial shock of profane language and gore in the movie had kept her silent, but now, she was silent because the movie had engrossed her so much that the only sounds she let out were laughs.

“Oh, Rose, I remember when I was like this.” My mum sat down next to me and placed a hand on my head. “I was about… six months into my pregnancy, and your father took me out to see Star Wars for the fiftieth time. I’d seen it so many damn times, but the scene with Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader made me cry like a little baby!” She chuckled at the memory.

“Y-you were l-like this t-too?”

“Hormones play havoc with your emotions, sweetie. You’ll be fine, but your mood might be a little fluctuating for a while now.”

“Gosh…” I whispered to myself and let Lily hold me tightly. I thought I was so prepared for this, but dear Celestia, I was wrong. No matter how much reading I did, it couldn't prepare me for this. Another week had passed, and the wound on my leg had almost completely healed. According to Luna, earth ponies scarred a lot less than the other types of ponies, so lucky for me, I'd be left with a tiny scar at absolute worst. The fur would completely cover any scarring up anyway, but it was nice to know it wasn't major.

I had happily returned to helping out my mum in the garden alongside Lily again, to my relief. Luna and Lily both agreed that I should still take it easy, but that wasn't going to stop me from putting in at least a few hours of gardening a day. Out of the garden, I still enjoyed the time I had spent with Luna, playing video games and talking about Equestria, but I felt I belonged out there in the dirt. Feeling the cool soil beneath my hooves, the smell of plants and flowers, and the cool fresh air on my fur, it was exhilarating. It filled me with a sense of life, the feeling that only Lily had been able to give me until I found this. I could tell that Lily felt it too, as every day, she walked back into our room with a content smile plastered on her face. She would lie down and rest in my hooves as she regaled me with the day’s events, no matter how minor. I sat and listened, smiling as she spoke, only speaking to ask questions or reply to hers.

It was weird, but I felt content. I enjoyed working the field with Lily and my mum. I enjoyed relaxing in the cool of the evening. I absolutely loved falling asleep next to my beautiful fiance every night. I knew a lot would change when Lily and I went to Ponyville, but I was getting more and more eager to return to my old life as the days went past. I only hoped that Luna took me up on my offer to come stay in Ponyville for a while once we got back. Maybe she could even meet Bonnie and Lyra!

Memories of my life in Ponyville had been returning quite rapidly over the last week. I remembered how I met Lily, how my feelings for her grew until I eventually started dating her. I remembered Bonbon and Lyra, as well as a few other friends that I spent time around. I remembered Minuette, a Unicorn that had moved to here from her home city of Canterlot to avoid the snobbish attitude of high society. Carrot Top, a local farm pony that I met through Lily who helped her grow her flowers in perfect condition. These were only a few of the friends that I had met, and couldn't wait to meet again once we returned.

“Rose?” I felt a hoof nudge my stomach. “What're you thinking about?”

“Huh?” I jolted, Lily bringing me out of my train of thought. “Oh, uh, not much. Just Ponyville.” I smiled at her. After the movie had finished, and I had sufficiently cried my eyes out, we had come upstairs and I was now lying in bed with her.

“I really can't wait to see all our old friends again.” I added.

“Yeah, m-me neither.” Lily said, averting her eyes.

“Hey, what's wrong?”

“I'm just… kinda worried, I guess.”

“About?”

“Our friends. I mean, for all they know, you passed away, and I spent the next few months shut away from the world until Discord turned up and…” Lily scrunched her muzzle, trying her hardest to fight the tears away. “What if… What if they don't want us back? What if they don't accept us?” the panic was rising in her voice. “What if… What if they think we're zombies!?”

I felt a strange urge to panic along with her rising in my chest, but I forced it down and closed my eyes.

“I d-don’t think our friends will hate us, Lily.”

“What if they're scared of us? What if they-”

“Lily, please!” I begged, some force in my mind almost pushing me to panic as it had before. “Calm down, okay? There's no point in focusing on the negative ways they could react, but if you like, we can ask Luna to have a talk with them before we show up. It'll give them a chance to process what's going on and they won't simply freak out the second they see us.” I put as calmly as possible, a struggle in its own right.

“Okay…” Lily conceded and dropped her head to my chest again. I breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking my brain for not sending me into a panic like it clearly had wanted to.

“I love you, Lily. Our friends love us too, and I'm sure they won't be freaked out by us. We just need to take it slowly and be understanding. It's not every day that your two best friends, both presumed dead, come back into your life. We have to understand what they're thinking and give them time, right? Then they’ll accept us.” I said, almost trying to convince myself.

“Gosh, Rose, you're so smart.”

“No I'm not, I'm just… I dunno, but I'm not smart.”

“Whatever you say.” Lily giggled lightly and hummed as she rested her head on my chest. “Goodnight, sweetie. Love you.”

“I love you too, Lily.”

------

“Bonbon, please!”

“No!” The cream coloured earth mare screamed, backing away from me. I took a tentative step toward her only for her to leap backward in fear, stumbling over her own hooves and falling to the ground. “G-get away from me you freak!”

My heart stung at that single word. The absolute animosity and hate in her tone chilled me to the core.

“There it is!” I heard a call from behind me and swiveled around to see Lily, running at full steam from a group of ponies. Right at the front of the pack, levitating a spear in her magic, was Lyra.

“Lily!” I called out and galloped at full speed toward my beloved. I ran in between the mob, splitting them off from Lily and standing my ground against them.

“What are you doing!?” I shouted, my face contorted with confusion and anger.

“Rose!” Lyra stepped forward and brought her spear down. “You’re just as bad as her. You’re a freak of nature and you need to go back where you belong! In your grave!” She leapt forward, faster than I could react, and plunged her spear into my side. I instinctively cried out but stopped when I realized that although I had been wounded, I didn’t feel any pain from my injury.

When I looked back up to my assaulter, I noticed something peculiar. She wasn’t moving at all. Was this a…?

“Rose!” A panicked voice called from behind me. I turned around to see Lily stumbling back to her hooves. “What’s g-going on? Why do all our f-friends hate us?”

“I… I don’t think they do. I think this is a dream.”

“A d-dream? But… But you’re here? Wait, are you really here or am I just dreaming you are?” Lily said, her face half way between scared and confused.

“I don’t know. I think I am, but I guess you could just be dreaming that I am me? This is some M. Night Shyamalan buckery going on right now.” I joked, earning me a much needed giggle from my nervous marefriend. “If it is a dream, then… Well, I guess we can’t expect Luna to turn up to every one of our bad dreams.”

“You can for this one.” A new voice said and we spun around to see Luna, her - now usual - mane missing, replaced with the ethereal one that she had first showed herself to me with.

“Luna!” We both called out in unison and ran toward her, hugging her tightly. I looked up at her, relief flooding my mind. “S-so this is a dream?”

“Yes. What you two are sharing right now is called a Unity dream. When two ponies, usually those in love, have similar wants or worries, the magic in our bodies let’s us have shared dreams. I see the two of you definitely have the same worries.” She said glumly as she looked around the frozen dream. Lyra was motionless in front of us, spear thrust forward in her magic, while the angry mob behind them bared their teeth and shot hateful glares forward.

Almost like dust, their images began to blow away, reducing them to nothing but colorful clouds drifting in the dreamscape. Luna’s horn began to glow, collecting the dust in her magic before it seemingly disappeared. She breathed out and smiled at us.

“Are you alright?” She asked us.

“I-I guess so. I didn’t… I didn’t think I was that worried about this.”

“Sometimes, our dreams play tricks on us. Your worries are amplified in your own mind, so it makes sense that your dreams would appear so aggressive in theme.” Luna frowned before smiling slightly. “That, and you both seem to have a natural tendency to panic easily.” She added with a giggle. I tried to giggle, but the memory of the dream was too fresh in my mind.

“Our friends… Do they know of us? You know, the whole… being alive again thing?”

Luna nodded.

“They do, and I can assure you, they do not think of you as what you fear they do. You might have some ponies who are put off by your re-appearance, but in time, I am sure they will come to realize that you’re the same ponies they knew back then.”

“But…” My heart sank at a particular thought. “We’re not. As in, like, we’re not the same ponies. I know who I am, I am Rose, but tiny bits of Alex are still there.”

“Honestly, I think you and “Alex” have more in common than you think. You seem to think that now you’re Rose again, Alex doesn’t exist, but he does. He isn’t you, and you aren’t him, but deep down, you are the same in spirit. Ponies grow and change, Rose. You may have changed from who you were a little, but it is no different from you growing up, learning from your mistakes, and becoming a better pony as you would have if you stayed in Equestria.”

“I… I dunno, I still feel like ponies are going to think I’m all… different.”

Lily sidled up next to me and kissed me on the cheek.

“Rose, you’re you. No matter how different you think you are, and if they have a problem, they’re gonna have to go through me first.”

“Thanks.” I smiled at her and nuzzled against her neck. “Uh… Luna?” I said, turning back to her. “Would you be able to give us a little more of a… relaxing dream?”

“Of course.” She nodded, her horn lighting up, the vision of a quiet looking coffee shop appearing before us. Chairs and tables began to appear and we sat down after an apron wearing pony arrived and pulled the chairs out for us.

“Luna?” I said, looking back to the princess, who was now stepping away from us. “Thank you.”

“It is no problem, Rose. I’d do anything for a friend.”