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In the cold twilight hours, as the sun kisses the sky one final time, Rainbow Dash finds herself slumped on a cloud asking one of life's most important questions.
Art by: Sage of Winds
Featured on: Equestria Daily
Ah, the ravings of a philosphical insomniac... I do love those. Wish all it took was a late night for me to get philosophical too... nope, I only get like that when touched on a deep emotional level, and even my most profound stuff typical ends up gloomy. Depression is the source of my poetry, unfortunately.
I think you really nailed it with the paragraph after "Life was just big one what if". One of my thoughts on life is that if you're happy with who and where you are, regret nothing, because you can't know what would have been. You can't answer the what if's that would accompany those regrets. You added another wonderful statement, simple and harmonious with that idea. Letting those appropriate what-ifs advise your decisions.
Great story, great message. 
Very Impressive bit of writing. I have to say you write with a style that takes nothing for granted. Your descriptions flow with the same pace that the story itself does, and that is quite hard to do. Even though I write in a completely different style, I must say that yours is simply amazing. Once again, great job and keep up the good work!
Bloody brilliant! I loved the perfectly worded to and fro of Rainbow's sleep-deprived conscience! Your descriptive powers are vast and seeming applied effortlessly!
I could almost smell the matted, oily stink of your unwashed Dash. Ugk! Thanks for that. I love the smell of sweaty, rancid pony in the morning!
Not! Blech! 
Thanks for a great story!
That was actually pretty well thought out. A good slow paced story which many could relate to and ponder about. I, too, find some relation to this story myself. What if what I was currently doing not worth the while? What if my true calling was somewhere else? What if my friends did not truly care for me? Some good questions that arose from this sweet story that I could always ponder on. Your descriptive writing and style are quite amazing and the theme fits quite well. I hope you would continue writing amazing stories like this.
Very philosophical, but very good at the same time (and amazingly well-written). If you write such stories because of insomnia, I would wish you many sleep-deprived nights. But that would be very egoistical of me, not to mention harmful to your body. 
Thanks for sharing such a gem. 
A bit wordy, to be sure, and I'm not sure how apt a sleep-deprived Rainbow Dash would be both at noticing the beauty of the world and describing it so (character voice), but those things didn't detract too much from the overall point, which you got to almost immediately. The simple message is particularly poignant for me since, in addition to having wrestled with the endless "what if?"s for many years now and continuing to struggle with it to this day, I'm working on a story that is also about a character trying to deal with the uncertainty of life. Keeping that in mind, I wonder if RD's struggle could have been drawn out a bit more. Where's RD asking what would happen if she and the rest of the mane six had a falling out and by then she also wouldn't be able to join the Wonderbolts for whatever reason? What if they had a falling out and the 'Bolts rejected her; what would she do then?
Still, I liked it.
I pull up FIMfiction to find that I have an update to this story... and it's an author's note.
Browser! One "Varying Degrees of Want" PLZ!
...
Thank you browser.
To be honest though, It was nice to see this story again. I know I risk sounding sappy when I say this, but I've said similar things before, so screw being awkward.
I loved this story. Really. It meant a lot to me when I read it, not because it was pony, but because of the contemplative message it carried. I know what it is to feel indecisive and not know what to do... and this was a bright spot in a hard day. I grant that I'm weird by some standards... probably the fact that I prefer friendshipping or hetero in my ships, and that can be an issue for some. I may be a hopeless romantic at times and at others a cold jerk, and I usually think myself and my efforts are worth nothing and doomed to fail, no matter how intelligent or creative I get told I am.
I am the first to claim that I don't know everything, but there are a few things I am adamant upon. One is that stories are meant to convey messages to their readers. Those writers that acknowledge this fact gain control over the message their story sends out, and those that don't will write stories in which the messages are reflections of their subconscious.
I know not which author you are, but regardless, the message of this story will not be forgotten.
"A mental image of a feather quill materialized in the ferocious chaos of her mind... ...in the painful maelstrom of her mind." You describe, very similarly, the storm in Rainbow's head twice in one sentence.
I had more to say but then I read >>468529's comment. So basically, what he said.
She had me worried for a second there near the end. I was like 'why despress yourself with all these hypotheticals? You don't need to choose between your friends and heroes...' and when she got to "Life was just one big what if" I was like
'You better not be getting suicidal now Dash.'Good story, I liked it. As others have already said, very philosophical.
Liked. Faved. Commented! I rarely comment. In this case, I just had to, because I can relate to Dash's thoughts and feelings here.
Very well done, but the end could have needed another paragraph or two about that weight leaving her shoulders. Maybe another hint at touching the moon? Also, lovely description of the sunset and clouds at the beginning!
>>588673 For the sake of my sanity, please get out of my head...
But i have to agree with everything Thespurgin said, each and every story that is written by an author, and I personally hold you to this standard now that you've put out this piece of art, Lynked, has to have a message in it, whether underlying or abundantly clear (I assume this is what authors refer to as a theme). Otherwise, it turns into nothing more than an interesting story that ultimately holds little substance and holds poorly to the winds of time. But this work right here, this is worth something. And as much as I don't deserve to exude such a Great and Powerful Trixie grandeur of arrogance (may not be the word I'm looking for, I'm still working on my wordsmithing), I must say that this was very much worth my time to read.
I thank you for your contemplations. :)
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" But, I will read this. 
I'm, well, ecstatic to say the least!
I figured it needed these, and I don't care if I was right or not.
Wish I could be good at writing...or drawing...or anything related to art.
Image: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4054/4550930261_b0ec9a062e_z.jpg
Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Rainbow_Dash.png
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