see you in your dreams

Nightmares came for Princess Twilight Sparkle long after Discord had been defeated, waking her with a start and a gasp for air, having dreamt she was once more displaced in time. 

Breathe, she thought after one such nightmare, her face in her hooves evidence that her dream had been just that—a dream. 

She wasn’t displaced anymore. She was not trapped in a library. Discord had been defeated for over ten years now, and the peace reigning over Equestria was real.

Everything was fine. 

And yet… Ugh. 

When her forehooves left her face, her gaze drifted towards the unicorn on the other side of the bed, her back turned to Twilight. Rarity usually slept on her side, facing away, and though this had never bothered Twilight before, she found it sort of did now, wishing she could see the comforting sight of her wife’s face, hidden behind—she allowed herself a smile—a crooked sleeping mask. 

No, Twilight, she thought, she barely slept this week. 

She wasn’t about to wake her for something as silly as a little nightmare. After a brief nuzzle, having caved into engaging in some sort of affection, Twilight slipped out of bed and left their room to get a little fresh air and clear her thoughts. 

As quietly as she could, she made her way through the hallway, taking a quick moment to peek into the smaller bedroom next to hers, content to see two little bundles snoring away inside opposite twin beds. 

She stayed there a minute, happy to just watch, and then finally stepped away, closing the door behind her. She continued her trek through her home, past the kitchen, and into the living room, and then carefully and quietly opened the glass double doors leading out into the balcony. 

A sleepy Ponyville stretched out before her, a few lights dotting the moonlit horizon here and there. Long ago, when talks of expanding Carousel Boutique into a library-boutique were just that—talks—she’d been afraid that such a thing would change the town. Not the boutique itself, really, but her. That she would change it, that this place she loved and wanted to keep as it always had been would transform to accommodate her in ways she did not want because she was a princess—and not just a princess, but the princess of legend. 

But now, watching it over, she was relieved that Ponyville had not changed in the past decade. It had grown, sure, as all towns do, and changed in ways that were expected, but it still felt like a town. It was still normal, like the places she’d fantasized about in her library when she allowed herself to pretend she would get out one day. Ponyville had not expected her to change. Instead, they had welcomed her to be like them. 

Ordinary. 

She sat down on her haunches and closed her eyes, breathing in and out, enjoying the breeze against her cheeks. 

After what must have been about five or so minutes, she was surprised to feel something small press against her haunches, and she looked down to find a sleepy little filly leaning against her. 

There, in the dark, the unicorn filly looked so much like Twilight, with her pale mulberry coat and indigo-sapphire mane, that it was almost startling. 

“Mama,” she said between yawns, “why are you awake?”

“Lavender,” Twilight said, frowning slightly. “I should be the one asking that. What are you doing awake?”

Before Lavender could answer, a second small lump pressed itself against Twilight’s other haunch, and she turned around to find her other twin daughter, distinguished only by the ponytail she wore. 

“Nightmares again, Mama?” Amethyst asked, tugging at her mother’s wing, pulling it down, and wearing it like a makeshift blanket. “It’s cold.”

Twilight laughed softly, extending her wings and covering her daughters. “Of course, it’s cold. It’s three in the morning,” she pointed out. “You two should be in bed where it’s warm.”

“You’re warm,” Amethyst shot back, nuzzling her mother’s sides with another sleepy yawn. 

“Mama…” Lavender continued, pressing a hoof against Twilight’s side, “did you really have a nightmare again?”

Twilight hesitated. The last thing she wanted was to worry her girls, but… nightmares were things everypony had. They had them, too, and if she wanted them to feel comfortable sharing them with her, she should extend the same trust, too. 

“Yes,” she said, carefully. “But Mama’s okay now. She just needed to think.” 

“What was it about?” Amethyst asked. 

“It—” A lump formed in her throat, but she pushed through. “About when I was stuck in the library before Mommy found me.”

Even though she thought she sounded fine, she’d come to learn her daughters took after Rarity when it came to emotions, because no sooner had she finished her sentence, than Lavender wrapped her small forelegs tightly around her—or as much around her as she could, anyway.

“Lavender… Sweetheart, I’m okay.” 

“Mama.” Lavender looked up at her, wide-eyed. “You can’t get stuck in the library again, can you?”

Twilight froze. 

“What?” she asked, startled when now Amethyst spoke. 

“You can’t, can you, Mama?” she asked. 

“…Girls. Of course not, no.” Twilight lay on the floor, the twins immediately cuddling against her barrel, safe under her wings. “Is this—” She swallowed. “Is this something you’re afraid of?”

“Yes,” said Lavender, just as Amethyst replied, “Nu-uh!”

“What?” Lavender exclaimed, looking at her sister. “Yuh-huh! You told me!”

“Not so you’d tell!” Amethyst shot back, upset. 

“Girls,” Twilight interrupted, and when both fillies looked at her, she continued gently, “I can’t ever be trapped there again. I promise.”

“But what if you are?” Amethyst asked. 

Twilight shook her head. “I won’t… but…”

Lavender’s eyes grew wide. “But?”

“But even if I did,” Twilight continued, leaning in and affecting a conspiratorial tone, “even if I somehow got trapped again, I wouldn’t be there very long. Do you know why?”

It was Amethyst who ventured a guess, giggling enthusiastically. 

“‘Cause Mommy would come rescue you again?” 

“Exactly,” Twilight said with a grin, knowing it was not a lie. “Because if I ever got trapped again, Mommy wouldn’t let me stay there. She’d be so angry.” When her daughters’ giggling intensified, she lowered her voice and continued, “Soooo angry. You don’t even know.” 

“Even angrier than when you broke her sewing machine?” Lavender asked, the giggling getting worse when Twilight frowned. 

“I was trying to improve it!” she protested.

“Mama! Smoke was comin’ out of it!” Amethyst exclaimed, her laughter doubling when Twilight rolled her eyes. 

“Well, anyway,” said Twilight, muffling her daughters with her wing, “she’d be just as mad as when I improved her sewing machine, yes.” When the laughter died down and the two fillies settled against her again, she promised, “But that won’t ever even happen, okay?”

“Okay,” two fillies replied. 

“Now, come on.” Twilight gestured them up. “Back to bed. I’ll be there in a minute to tuck you in.”

“Awww,” Lavender whined. 

“Can’t we stay five more minutes?” Amethyst continued. 

Twilight frowned, playful. “I don’t know, girls. It’s late.”

“Pleeeeeeease!”

Twilight knew she should stay strong. She knew they needed sleep, and proper sleep at that, in a bed, but… the stars were out, the breeze was nice, and long ago, the thought of such a scene seemed so impossible to her, so unattainable and distant, that… 

Well, why shouldn’t she indulge? 

“All right,” she conceded, grinning at their cheers. “Five more minutes.”

She watched as they cuddled against her and each other, and once they were settled, she covered them with her wings, keeping two of the three most important things in her life safe. 

It didn’t take them long to fall asleep, as she’d expected, but rather than take them to their rooms, she settled down as well, lying her head on the floor and closing her eyes just so she could take it in. Hear the sound of Ponyville sleeping, of her daughters’ quiet snoring, of her own steady breathing, and feel… Feel the wind brush against her coat, against her wings, feel the warmth of her daughters pressed against her, and—

And, with a slight start that quickly melted into a smile, feel a blanket fall upon her. 

“Well, well, well,” said the third most important thing in Twilight’s life, “having illicit slumber parties at ungodly hours, are we now?” 

“Mmm,” Twilight murmured, relishing the sensation of her wife nuzzling her. “Hey.”

“Hey, indeed,” Rarity replied, walking around Twilight to look at their daughters, her eyes sparkling with affection at the sight of them tucked under Twilight’s wings. “Did you find them out here?”

“…No,” Twilight replied, quietly, avoiding Rarity’s gaze. “They found me.”

Rarity’s expression softened. “Ah… Another nightmare?”

“Mhm.”

“Come.” Rarity stepped forward, nudging one of Twilight’s wings with her hoof. “Make some space.”

Twilight did as her wife asked, lifting her wing and watching as Rarity gently scooched Lavender to the side and took her place, then wrapped her tail around the filly. It wasn’t until her two girls were settled that Twilight lowered her wing over them, a silly grin spreading on her lips when Rarity nuzzled her almost immediately. 

“It was about the library,” Twilight whispered, finding she wanted Rarity’s comfort. “That I was displaced in time again. I—” Her ears lowered. “Did you know the girls are afraid of me getting trapped again? Because I didn’t, and apparently they’ve talked about it before.”

“Ah. Who told you? Lavender?” Rarity asked. “I found her crying about it in the middle of the night last week.”

“You did?” Twilight gasped in a whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“She asked me not to. She didn’t want to worry you.”

“I’m her mother,” Twilight blurted out. “It’s my job to be worried about her!”

“Darling…” Rarity met her gaze. “She asked me not to tell. I wasn’t going to betray her trust when she’s just worried about you. They both are, and you know how they get when Seeking Night is around the corner. It’s not exactly easy for them to learn in history class how their mother was imprisoned for millennia.”

“I thought they liked Seeking Night better now,” Twilight protested. 

She still remembered the Seeking Nights spent with two fillies clinging to her back legs, afraid the Spirit might come back for her. She thought they understood it was over, now that they were older, but… 

“They do, Twilight. But they’re allowed to be afraid sometimes. It’s perfectly normal,” Rarity said, stern. “It even happens to me. I can’t tell you how many times the reason you’ve woken up to me clinging to you was because I woke up in the middle of the night to make sure you were physical.”

“What? Rarity, that’s awful!” She lay her head down on the floor, groaning. “Ughhhhh!”

“Twilight, stop that. Stop.” She nuzzled her wife’s head, which did little else but elicit more groaning. “Sweetheart, I’m saying all this so you’ll give yourself and us some grace, not so you—” She gestured at her pouting wife. “This.”

“But—”

Rarity frowned. “No. No ‘but’s. We’re in this together, like we’ve always been, even if sometimes that means you have to let me be the one who worries over the kids. Besides.” She raised an eyebrow. “Who do you think told them they should talk about it with you?”

“I just—” Her eyes drifted towards Lavender, her face poking from behind Rarity, and her tail shifted around Amethyst, wrapping her tight. “They shouldn’t have to worry about that.”

“But they will,” Rarity replied. “They will, and they would regardless of anything we do except for lying to them, which you and I agreed we’d never do.”

“What if I am lying?” Twilight whispered, and suddenly, she didn’t feel very much like a strong princess, wife, and mother of two. Suddenly, she felt very much like a lost little unicorn with wings she didn’t earn, waiting alone inside an empty, forgotten library. “I mean, I know I’m not. There’s nothing Discord can do to hurt us, but—but what if.”

“Twilight, you know I loathe playing what-ifs when it comes to that,” said Rarity, before quietly clearing her throat and continuing with aplomb, “but even if that were to happen, even if it somehow could, you’d be back home and safe before the girls even realized something went wrong.” 

“Oh?” Twilight allowed herself a smile. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Why?” she asked, still as smitten as she was the day a silly unicorn confessed her love to her after trying to protect her from chaos magic. “Because you’ll rescue me again?”

How her heart thundered at the sight of her wife’s radiant grin. 

“Precisely,” Rarity said. “Right after I find Discord and murder him.”

 “Murder him.”

“With my bare hooves, Twilight Sparkle. And then I would go off and do what’s needed to get you home in time for the girls’ bedtime story.”

It felt good to laugh, Twilight thought, and it felt even better to kiss Rarity, her silly nightmare now a distant concern. 

“What is it?” Rarity asked when they pulled apart, her cheeks ever so flushed under Twilight’s intent stare. 

“You would do it, wouldn’t you? You would actually do it all over again to rescue me,” Twilight said, a little awed. “Even if it was dangerous, even if—I don’t know, we’re old now—”

“Speak for yourself!”

Twilight giggled, rolling her eyes and finishing, “But you would. You’d actually do it.” 

“I would,” Rarity replied. “I would be furious the entire time, but I would go through hell again if I had to. For them? For us?” She fluttered her eyelashes. “For you? Well, my stance has hardly changed.”

“‘For you’,” Twilight quoted, leaning her head against Rarity’s, their daughters sleeping soundly beside them, “‘For you, a thousand times over.’”