Amethyst van der Troll woke up in a cold sweat, heart pounding. The nightmares had begun infrequently enough, and she wasn't known for having them, but she could clearly remember the feelings that came with them—the terror, unease, and the crushing sense that it was all her fault. And this was the fourth night in a row that she'd had them. Something had to be done, but she wasn't sure what.
When the early-morning haze faded and afternoon set in, Amethyst used her spell phone to call her friends. The group chat feature made it easy to be in sync, and she greeted her friends as cheerily as she could manage, but to her surprise Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, and Onyx looked as shaken as she did.
"Don't tell me," Onyx began. "You guys all had nightmares last night, and not the so-spooky-they're-cool kind. Which I would greatly prefer."
"Ugh, I wish I had one of those cool ones. A nice dream would be even better! But nooo! I get the so-spooky-they're-scary ones," Topaz groused.
"Same here," said Sapphire, pushing her glasses down from her hair to cover her eyes. "If I didn't know better I'd swear it was one of Simon's plans, but he's been gone for a while now. So the only logical explanation…"
"Is that it's just us and our stupid problems. I must have tried a dozen spell beads guaranteed to give sweet dreams but all I got was a breath mint and the smell of chocolate mixed in, which actually made them worse," Ruby huffed.
Topaz was about to ask if she rhymed the spell with 'sweet' or 'dreams,' but the look on Ruby's face made her think twice.
"Well…maybe we could all get together at my house and try something, or even just talk it out. We could make it a Good Dreams Party," Amethyst suggested, eyes sparkling at the thought.
The other girls quickly agreed—Onyx would bring the food, Ruby the movies, Sapphire the books, and Topaz the cosmetics—and that evening they all gathered at Amethyst's house.
After a long night of fun, movies, and food the girls sat around the couch. Wa-Wa was fast asleep in another room, so they could be as loud as they wanted without waking her, but no one felt sure how to approach the topic of the nightmares. Sapphire had cleared her throat a few times in preparation, but then fell silent, earning an unamused look from Onyx.
To everyone's surprise, it was Topaz who made the first move, and she looked as serious as they'd ever seen her.
"Do you ever, I dunno… wish there was a spell to, like, alter your memories? Or maybe forget them?"
"Hypothetically speaking, we could use a blank spell bead to try that," Sapphire said with a nervous tone. "The closest prefabricated spell bead for that effect is the one that makes your friends forget it's your birthday so they give you more presents, which isn't exactly the same thing. And I wouldn't go that far yet."
"Well why not!? These nightmares are keeping me up at night and giving me awful bedhead besides!"
"Tope, we need our memories to help us shape our future. But… I do get where you're coming from," Amethyst admitted. "I've had nightmares too. Like when we broke the Sacred Altar and almost ruined magic for everyone, and almost killed the five Ancients. I keep getting these visions of what would've happened if we were even seconds late…and then Grandma and everyone would have…"
"I've had them too," said Sapphire. "Like the time Simon tricked me into unleashing a portal to the Shadow World in the middle of my room! If my mom had come in there… we were lucky none of those orcs made it past. Not to mention how Trollzopolis as we know it would have been sealed in the Middle Ages and we would have been trapped in amber for eternity if I hadn't stopped Simon's machine in time."
"Not to mention turning Coal into ice, getting tricked into going to the Shadow World, unleashing Simon and Snarf in the first place, and having Simon take over my body," Topaz listed, tacking each point off on a fingernail. "Plus there's what he did to Zirconia and Spinell. I don't know about you guys, but being a tree or a dragon for 3,000 years would not sit well with me!"
"Ditto," Onyx remarked. "The night after Simon almost turned me into a tree I kept getting these weird flashes of my hands turning into bark and my hair turning into leaves. Couple that with turning most of the good magic evil and destroying our ancestors' home, those mannequins and walking trees he sent after us, and Snarf's ogre form and you have the perfect recipe for messed-up dreams."
Ruby winced at the bad memories but covered it with a scowl. "You think you have it bad! I still think about the time when Simon pretended to be Garnet and…well…when you guys were brainwashed and…sorta… tried to kill me."
She petered off, looking ashamed and a little frightened. "But it's not like all of what we went through was Simon's fault. Remember that stone ogre that chased Mica, or those awful ghost dogs that would've killed Rock?"
"And us too, no thanks to your bus-breaking spell," Onyx pointed out.
Ruby let out a huff, but sighed in defeat. "Yeah… You guys don't have nightmares of me, do you?"
"Only when you're in drama queen mode," Amethyst said with a wink, assuring her friend she was joking. "But even when you did cause trouble, you recognized it and apologized for it, Ruby. That counts for a lot."
Ruby smiled, clearly relieved. "And you guys kept forgiving me! I think that counts for a lot too."
"Well duh," Topaz said. "We're the BFFL! Friendship is, like, our super power or something. That's part of why Simon was always after us!"
"Yeah! It's not every day friendship can calm an active volcano… or a lack of friendship can cause it to become active," Sapphire said with a smile. "Good thing we have the Magic of the Five!"
Onyx examined her spell bead bracelet, deep in thought. "Maybe Obsidian was right when she said we'd bring a new era of magic to the Trollz. We have the Magic of the Five already, and if it can amplify existing magic and seal Simon away, what can't it do?"
"News flash, Onyx: It can't fix these nightmares," Ruby pouted.
"Ruby's right. If we tried to use the Magic of the Five for a memory-altering spell, it could end up erasing our memories completely… or worse," Sapphire said with a gulp.
Topaz snapped to attention, clearly horrified. "What could possibly be worse than that? I'd forget all the latest fashions, my parents and little brother, and you guys too! I guess compared to that these bad memories aren't so bad."
They fell silent for a while; Amethyst in particular seemed lost in thought. When she spoke the girls jumped a bit.
"You know… Just being here and talking with you guys has helped a little. I mean, we hang out a lot anyway, but it's nice to know we can talk out our problems even when the fate of the world isn't on the line. I feel like… even though we may still have bad dreams on occasion, if we talk about it and think about it together maybe we'll have them less often. We already went through a list of our fears, and seeing them out in the open makes it…"
"Less scary," Onyx finished.
"Yeah, a little. But also easier to bear."
"Aw, Am, we'll always be here for you!" Sapphire said, pulling her into a hug.
"And each other," said Ruby with a grin. "There aren't enough boys in the world to stop me from helping you guys if you need it. Just give me a call!"
"Which is good cause you're still dating Rock," Topaz grinned.
The other girls joined in the hug, and when it broke even Onyx admitted that things felt lighter, easier to deal with.
"You know," Amethyst said at last, "maybe we can't use a spell to alter or erase the bad memories… but I bet we can use it to make them easier to deal with."
"How do you plan to do that," asked Sapphire.
Amethyst grinned.
"The same way we always, do, Sapph. With the BFFL!"
Taking out a blank spell bead, Amethyst thought about what sort of spell she wanted to create. In moments, she had it, and the bead began to glow and respond to her gem's energy.
"When nighttime fears and doubts have grown, friendship shows you're not alone!"
The spell bead exploded and left a warm, comforting light that settled on each of the five girls. It felt the same as their earlier hug, only amplified.
When the feeling faded, though, Onyx frowned. "As cool as that was, I wish I could feel that way when I'm by myself. We can't hang out all the time, and as much as I love my parents and my little bro, they haven't been through what we have. It's not like I could go to Trollhiti all by myself to be with Spinell, either."
"I know that, On. But we'll be there in spirit," Amethyst said. "Just thinking about you guys makes me happy! I hope it's the same for you."
"You get me there, Am. We may not operate on the same wavelength, but I couldn't ask for better friends than you guys. …I need to stop with all this mushy stuff."
"Without you there to rein me in I'd probably be as bad as Coral," Ruby said, thinking of how the head cheerleader seemed in a perpetually stuck-up mood.
"And I'd have no one to share my latest fashion designs or hairstyles with," Topaz said.
"Or my latest theories on how magic and science can coexist," said Sapphire, who quickly frowned as if coming to a realization. "…You know, without Simon's interference the Trollz world might not have as much technology as it does now."
"Sounds like a good essay topic for later to me. Now come on, let's get back to the party," Ruby said.
The other girls were quick to agree, and they spent the rest of the night having fun. It was enough to make them forget about the bad dreams entirely, at least for a while, and as Amethyst waved goodbye to her friends that night she felt sure that between her friends by her side and the spell she'd cast the night's sleep would be a good one.
She was surprised when they turned out to be just normal dreams—not bad, not good. Amethyst woke rested, but not refreshed.
But it was okay. Baby steps, she thought.
Normal dreams and a restful sleep were better than nightmares and insomnia.
Maybe next time, Amethyst thought, they'd be just good dreams.
Or maybe not.
Maybe it would take time to get back to normal.
The nightmares might relapse now and then, especially if Simon returned with new evil plans.
But even if that were so, the BFFL would handle it the way they did most things—together.