Loyal Defender

“So...this’ll only tickle, right?” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I just sat there, letting them hug. If anything bad happened, a hug would be a kind of sweet goodbye. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Laying down on the couch, I replied, “We see what the issue is. We don’t fight it – we only examine it. We’ll need to know how it works first. Spike, if anything goes wrong, or if we’re not back withing...say, an hour, wake me up, okay?” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Within several minutes, we were at her cottage, and the insided looked the same as before. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“In a place where you can actually die? I think not….actually, what about...well, we’d need a place where everything can be peaceful enough to maintain a stable dream. What about Fluttershy’s cottage?” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Good job! :3) “Well...alright. But to be safe, let’s do this in a more secluded area where no disturbances can be made...but you know, it’s still accessible. Just in case we get stuck and somepony can find us.” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well...I mean the thing I don’t know is if Luna has a Dream Sense and goes into whatever dream bothers those who sleep..I wouldn’t wanna disturb her for her to find out YOU'RE handling the problem and she wasted valuable time and then she seems annoyed that she got worried over nothing, and-- I'm worrying too much, aren't I?” (just like a certain bookhorse used to do) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“And now it’s--” *looks outside to see that the sun has just barely touched the distant mountain as it sets* “…..son of a ….ugh, it’s too bright to sleep! But this idea has to come into play SOMEtime!” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Wait a minute...Princess Luna! She enters ponies’ dreams to prevent them from turning into nightmares! If I can get her into my dreams, she may be able to look into my mind and tell me what the problem is!” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well...it was depressing, it sounded like me, and it wouldn’t show itself...I get the feeling Tia wouldn’t know about this, and neither would Luna.” (Unless ‘A Royal Problem’ somehow counts.) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well...I felt like SOMETHING was in the mirror, but I couldn’t see what.” (I, uhh...drink vanilla coffee creamer when no one’s around. It just has a good taste idk why) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Appear before me? Did you see something in the mirror?” (Can I share a secret with you?) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Milk on steroids indeed. I just...I personally wonder if it energizes me.

“Thanks, Twilight….so, what do we do now? Aside from not going down there again.” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

@Everyone Go for it. I personally do vanilla. Takes some getting used to, but it's kind of addicting to me, though I don't do it much anymore (only sometimes.)

I will be honest, and I know I'm not the only one who does this - I drink coffee creamer. Something about IT instead of coffee is better.

@Everyone I could go for some green tea. Never hurts to diversify.

“It...said it was a ‘remnant of my old past..’” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “That was….unpleasant, really. It was trying to convince me that heroes like you girls don’t keep their friends in mind and only focus on saving the world and nothing else.” (I’m gonna get some dessert.)

(eHay XD) “Well, I’m happy to tell you it works, because it tried to convince me you didn’t care about me. And I couldn't hear you calling for me if you were.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Why in Equestria did you have a depression magic mirror down here?!” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just before he’s hit, a clear voice shouts in pain, and the magic hits the mirror, shattering it, knocking Loyal out of his trance (and into the wall). “OWW! What the hay was that for?! Where’d you come from?” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(DISNEY REFERENCES! :D) Still nothing. Seemed something was really distracting him...but what? The only thing in the room was...the mirror. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That time, all I heard was a faint shout, though I thought it came from…..well...me. “They’re not even trying? Do you see my point? They mean nothing to you!” “They mean EVERYTHING to me! Why can’t you accept that and leave me alone?! Just get out of my head!” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t hear her. I was too sucked into the conversation (it’s not like I WANTED to be). _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________