I have an economics exam in ten hours! It's at 2pm, and it's currently 4am here… I can't sleep. I thought it would be a good idea to drink the rest of my iced coffee, since this is my last night in residence and wasn't planning on taking it with me. That was a very bad idea. I have enough sleeping issues without caffeine. xD
Thanks y1fellas, ReverseSceptile, LaserLens4, and Jake-Everfree for reviewing the last chapter! I'm really grateful that I've gotten such helpful feedback from everybody so far. So thanks a lot! :D
Forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter – that excerpt that Twilight read on Freud was taken from Wikipedia.
Oh… I'm really sorry about this, but I think I forgot to mention in the warnings that there would be references to child abuse in this fic. So yeah. You have now been warned.
Me no own MLP. :D
…
As the chemistry professor – an older woman with thick glasses – rambled on with some introductory topics, Twilight tuned her out, and was on the internet instead.
Fluttershy glanced over. "You aren't going to take notes?" She whispered.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy, she's talking about valence shells for goodness sakes. And before that she was telling us how to read the freaking periodic table." Twilight pointed out, her eyes simultaneously scanning a website that claimed dreams containing unicorns were considered omens of good luck.
"I suppose so…" Fluttershy replied, one hand supporting her head as she watched the woman's lecture with a bored expression.
…
When chemistry had ended and Twilight had still not found any logical explanation for her dreams, she decided to give up. After all, dreams were weird things; maybe they didn't have to have an explanation. Dreams themselves were illogical.
Twilight didn't have another class for a few hours, but Fluttershy had music class, so they went their separate ways. Twilight decided to head over to the dining hall for lunch.
Twilight made herself a sandwich, and this time noticed Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack sitting at the circular table. They smiled as Twilight sat down. "Hi guys!" Twilight greeted.
"Howdy, Twi!" Applejack said, grinning. "How was yer class?"
"Boring." Twilight said, giving a small laugh. "What about you? Weren't you in class with Rainbow and those boys?"
Applejack chuckled. "Dash was sure determined t'prove herself tah them. Boy, let me tell ya, Ah'd never seen anyone run as fast as she did back there. Hoowee! Course, she didn't have much in terms'o endurance." Applejack crossed her arms proudly. "As for them boys, they mostly just ignored me. Chased after Dash the whole time. Ah was happier that way, really."
"Are you talking about those boys Rainbow Dash hangs around?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. At the nod from Applejack, Rarity scoffed. "They're simply uncouth! They tried to spike my drink on Saturday, did you know that?"
Twilight shook her head, looking shocked. "That's kind of illegal, isn't it?"
"Well…" Rarity muttered. "Drinking in itself is illegal, I suppose."
"I think they're nice!" Pinkie Pie announced, smiling.
"Pinkie, you think everybody's nice." Rarity groaned.
Pinkie looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Well, there's nice in everyone, isn't there?" She asked, tipping her head.
A beeping noise suddenly came from Applejack's pocket. She pulled out her cellphone, and looked at it briefly. "It's mah mother. Ah'll be right back, don't y'all go anywhere on me." Applejack headed off to a quieter area of the building.
Rarity watched her go, looking guilty. "I suppose I really should call my parents as well. I haven't spoken to them since I got here, after all. I've just been so busy…"
Pinkie giggled. "Really? Because I've called mine every single day! In fact, I called them last night at one in the morning." She said, smiling. "Time difference and all, it's just easier that way!"
"Yes." Rarity said, giving Pinkie a pointed look. "I know about that Pinkie; we live in the same room. You woke me up."
"Oh, oopsies!" Pinkie said, suddenly wide-eyed and frowning. "I'll remember to be a bit quieter when I call them tonight, or, um…" She trailed off, noticing Rarity's glare was not disappearing. "Or I'll just call them… before you go to sleep…" Rarity smiled in approvement. Pinkie turned excitedly to Twilight. "What about you? Have you talked to your parents much since you've been here?"
Twilight hesitated, her heart sinking. She realized this would come up eventually. "I, well, don't really have parents." She said, unsure how to make the statement any less awkward.
Rarity frowned and looked apologetic for bringing the topic up, but Pinkie Pie just looked confused. "That's not possible. Haven't you ever taken health class?" Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much, or I guess if they've just had too much to drink and forgot to use protection - "
"Pinkie," Twilight quickly interrupted. "I just mean I've been in and out of foster care my whole life. I've never met my biological parents, or had anyone to really call mom or dad."
"Oohhhhhhhhh," Pinkie Pie said, finally understanding. "Well isn't that a coincidence! I've never met my real parents either." She giggled. "But I've had three different sets of adoptive parents! …I was kind of a handful as a kid. But I kind of think it's more fun that way, don't you, Twilight?"
"Uh… I'm not sure…" Twilight said uncomfortably.
"You know." Pinkie Pie said, suddenly intent. "I've talked about this with Applejack and Rainbow Dash before too – they were both adopted as well! Isn't that cool? We're all like, total misfits." She said happily, seeming oblivious to any offensiveness her words may carry.
"Well," Rarity said, "I certainly wasn't adopted. I carry a lot of fortune in my family name! 'Rarity Collinsworth'!" She said, proudly. "I'm going to be a successful business tycoon, just like my father!"
Fortunately for Twilight, Applejack reappeared at the table, which halted the rather unrelateable conversation.
"What did your mom want?" Twilight asked.
Applejack smiled. "Just tah say hi, y'know, she just wanted tah check up 'an all. Must be lonely fer her… Ahm her only child, an' she was never married or nothin' like that." Applejack said, frowning.
"Oh, how fortunate for you, I wish I was an only child!" Rarity exclaimed. "I have an older brother. I miss him, but I certainly do not miss his annoying habit of leaving the toilet seat up."
Applejack sighed. "Y'know, Ah always kinda wanted a big family…"
"Ooh!" Pinkie said, beaming. "Well I have two little brothers and a sister! And before that I had three sisters, two older, and one brother the same age! And before that…"
Twilight sunk in her seat, feeling left out as her friends went on. What was so great about having a family anyways? She'd certainly gotten by fine without help from her good for nothing parents. Though, deep inside, she couldn't help but wonder about the family memories that never were.
…
The next few days flew by rather uneventfully. Twilight's physics class turned out to be dull, but overloaded with homework.
To Twilight's relief, her odd dreams appeared to have stopped. As she was finding out, however, Fluttershy's nightmares were continuing to plague her. For the third time that week, Twilight found herself awoken by Fluttershy's panic-stricken cries. The dark-haired girl glanced blearily at her alarm clock: 2:40am.
"Please…" Fluttershy murmured. "Don't hurt me… G-get away…" She let out a small squeak of terror. "I'm sorry… please, whatever I did, I'm sorry." Her body shook as she sobbed, though she was completely asleep. Twilight watched helplessly. The last two times it had happened, Fluttershy seemed to wake herself up after a little bit, and usually after a bit of comforting from Twilight, managed to get back to sleep fairly quickly. Not once had she ever given any indication of what she dreamed about, other than that they were not pleasant.
Tonight it was going on a bit longer than usual, and Twilight was getting fed up with it. As sympathetic as she was, she wanted answers as to why she was being awoken every second night. Maybe she could help.
Twilight stood up, and carefully made her way over to Fluttershy's bed. "Fluttershy?" She whispered.
"No, please, stay away…" Fluttershy said, panic lacing her tone.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight said in a firmer tone, while gently shaking the other girl's shoulder.
Suddenly, Fluttershy's eyes shot wide open. She let out a terrified scream, and punched a surprised Twilight in the face.
Twilight yelped in pain as she was nailed right in her eye. The force of the blow was enough to knock her over.
"Help! Oh, God, Twilight, are you there? Wake up, somebody's in our room! HELP!" Fluttershy screeched. With her vision blurred and impended by the darkness, it took Twilight a couple seconds to realize that Fluttershy was screaming at the empty bed across the room.
Twilight clutched her eye, groaning. "Fluttershy, for God's sake, I'm down here!" She shouted, clearly irritated.
Fluttershy's head turned abruptly. "Twilight? …Oh! Oh no… Twilight!" Fluttershy said anxiously. "Oh my goodness, I'm so, so sorry…" She rushed to Twilight's side, tears streaming down her face.
There was a loud knock at the door. "Fluttershy? Twilight?" Rainbow's voice yelled. She tried the door, but it was locked. "Are you okay? Hold on, I'll get an RA!" Before Twilight could protest, Rainbow Dash had run off. Twilight bitterly recalled what Applejack said about Rainbow being the fastest in their class, and had to say that she must have been spot on.
"Fluttershy." Twilight said, frustrated. "Would you mind explaining to me what's going on?"
"Oh, Twilight…" Fluttershy said, her voice breaking. "I'm really am so sorry… Y-you just scared me… I would never mean to hurt anyone!"
"No, that's not what I mean." Twilight said firmly. "I want to know why you've been crying in your sleep. That's not normal."
"I-I get nightmares." Fluttershy said quickly. "Oh, goodness, I should really get you a wet cloth." Fluttershy stood up anxiously.
"No, stay here." Twilight ordered. "Fluttershy, I want the truth. I know these aren't normal nightmares."
Fluttershy froze. "I-I don't want to talk about it…"
Rainbow's voice reappeared outside the door. "They're in here! Hurry up, will ya? They could be dead by now!"
"Well?" Twilight pressed her roommate.
Fluttershy looked anxiously back and forth from her door to Twilight. "Okay, okay. I-I-I… I was abused as a child, okay?" Her head drooped. "Sometimes I dream about what my foster parents did to me, and it's really scary." She sniffed pathetically. "Other times, it's kind of, well, different, but - "
The lock on the door clicked open, and Rainbow appeared with a red-haired girl whom Twilight recognized as the same girl who had helped her check in the day she arrived. Fluttershy immediately shut up as they flicked the overhead light on, and looked between the two girls anxiously.
Rainbow walked over and knelt by Twilight. "Jeez, you've got a shiner…" Rainbow Dash commented, and gently touched the spot that Fluttershy had hit. Twilight flinched, and Rainbow Dash let out a low whistle. "What on earth happened? I woke up to you two screaming, then Fluttershy was calling for help! So I went and woke up Marilyn here…" Twilight recalled that the doors on the dorm rooms were fitted with an emergency lock that RAs held the keys to in case of emergency.
Fluttershy froze. Twilight looked between Rainbow and Marilyn briefly before speaking. "I-I knocked my lamp over." Twilight invented. "It hit me in the face, and scared the hell out of Fluttershy. I'm really sorry to have woken everyone…" She glanced backwards at Fluttershy, who looked shocked.
"That's alright… I'll get you a cold cloth for that." Marilyn said, and quickly went off.
"Are you sure you two are okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, raising an eyebrow at them. Both Twilight and Fluttershy nodded, which seemed to be satisfactory. "Well, alright. I'm just looking out for you, okay?"
"Thanks, Rainbow." Twilight said, completely sincere.
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Anytime!"
Marilyn came back with the cloth and held it carefully to Twilight's face. As Twilight took it into her own hands, Marilyn went to leave. "I'm going back to bed." She yawned. "Try to be more careful next time."
"Thank you." Twilight said, and both Marilyn and Rainbow headed out of the door.
As the door closed behind them, Fluttershy managed to choke out. "Thank you, Twilight. I'm so sorry…" Twilight dropped the wet cloth, and embraced the other girl.
"Don't be. Please, don't be…" Twilight murmured, and held her close as she let a few final tears escape from her eyes.
…
Sorry if that was dark. I'm also sorry if Pinkie was a tad blunt on the whole adoption thing. LOL. Please do not take anything she says personally.
Anyways, I guess I should at least try to sleep. I've barely studied for the exam (which is worth 39% of my mark… does that seem random to anybody else?), but my brain is ready to be done school by this point, lol. (By the way, I ended up with a B plus in accounting! Yay! Still waiting for stats to come back.)
