…
…
…?
It was peaceful. Everything was peaceful. All was still, nothing moved. No...something did move. A gentle breeze blew past him, gently tussling his hair.
Then it was gone.
Everything was peaceful.
Hello.
A voice. It reverberated around him, like the voice was everywhere. It felt like it began from him, and expanded to all around him.
Silence.
Nothing.
How are you this night?
There it was a again. A soft voice, yet strong and unyielding. Inquisitive and beautiful. Full of confidence.
Why thank you. I think you have a nice voice too.
The voice tried to flatter him.
I’m serious. Your voice is very comforting. That is why others listen when you talk. That is why others like to spend time with you.
So the voice claims, but he had always thought it was his rugged good looks. A soft giggle chimed all around him.
That too is a part of your charm. That must be why your new friends like to spend so much time with you.
They are so curious, so lively. It felt good to be with them. To not be...alone.
…
…
It was nice of them to give you the amulet.
Yes. He still couldn’t believe that they had given it to him. A real, magical amulet. Made of gold too.
Really? How lovely.
Those Princesses probably did it to show off. Celestia seemed very caring when he met her, but he was sure she had a wicked sense of humor too.
I’m sure of that.
The voice was sharp, and loud. Now it felt like it pierced him and stayed inside of him, instead of going outwards. Everything around him felt colder.
You know, it makes me jealous to see you with such a beautiful amulet. Wish I had one too.
There were probably many other amulets.
Of course there are. You must have seen others before.
H...had he? The ponies don’t wear much, except for Rarity. Luna’s dress was also pretty.
Yes yes. You have seen another one, haven’t you?
He...there was...Trixie’s amulet. He recalled it.
That’s right. It was a very beautiful amulet.
Maybe… He didn’t care for it.
I would love to wear something like that.
Would you?
Yes. It would go well with my style. What happened to it?
It...but it was...it was bad...Twilight told him.
Who cares what ‘she’ thinks.
He does.
You shouldn’t. You can make your own decisions. You shouldn’t have to do what someone else thinks. If she doesn’t want it, fine. But I want it. And I want to know where it is.
No. The amulet was bad. The voice shouldn’t use it. It would just cause more trouble.
Where. Is. It?
The voice had become bombastic. It echoed around him with the force of a thunder.
Tell me.
It requested.
Tell me.
Insisted.
Tell me!
Demanded.
But he couldn’t say.
Where. Is. The. Amu-
“BEGONE, NIGHTMARE!”
A spear of light. Soft and glowing. A rush of wind, the coldness went away. Silence.
“Your nightmares have been banished. You are fine, my friend.”
A sweet voice.
“Rest now. Sweet dreams to you.”
And a soft touch.
********************
Huff huff
…
…
tip
tap
tip
tap
tip
tap
…
…
click
…
...
“Tartarus damn it, he didn’t know.”
Okay. That was interesting.
this wasnt ominous at all
i.imgur.com/Ygb5sEk.jpg
...
Interesting...
I really liked the simple Slice of Life feel of this story, but I think this chapter does a good job of introducing a more adventurous/mystery vibe to the story.
... Oh fluffy sheep. This isn't good. Thank goodness Luna was there to help.
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Now if only anyone could figure out what it all means.
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Well, It's easy to understand what it means: A power hungry creature wants to find the amulet and tried to use Scruffy believing he would be easy to manipulate.
The big question is who this entity is, maybe Chryssalis, the Tantabus or someone completly new. If it is the Tantabus (or some form of evil dream creature) it probably has some form of ability to look into someones mind as it seems to know Scruffy pretty well considering it knows about his friends, the amulet and it knew that it could play to Scruffy's insecurities.
Maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong but that it what makes this short little interlude so interesting and I will look forward to how things turns out .
ooooooo ominous
Interlude is a bit of a misnomer. It implies something that the chapter really doesn't contribute to the story.
I suggest renaming it to "Night Mare". That has several meanings, all of which apply to this chapter -- the voice, Luna, and his dream.
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Naming it nightmare immediately gives away what's going to happen in the chapter for those who haven't read it yet. So I changed it to just ??? instead. We'll see what my editor thinks about it.
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Ahhh...but you forget, Alandro: all Anime lip-syncing matches English dubbed versions better than the original Japanese
8821448
Oooh, so that's the secret ingredient in the Dark Side's cookies that makes them so addictive. Yumm!
This doesn't the story's going on hiatus, does it?
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What? No. Why would it mean that?
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I just remember their being a few stories I read where they like took a long ass break from writing after an interlude.
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If I take a break, I'll make sure to make a blog post about it.
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Awesome
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Tantabus? Wasn't that more or less a force rather than a conscious being like Nightmare? And how on earth would Chrysalis invade Scruffy's dream? It all sounds much more like Nightmare's modus operandi. For all we know, maybe she was banished to Earth when the Elements blasted her out of Luna. With human's having so little magic, they can't be invaded or influenced. That was, until Scruffy wore that amulet of strong magics. Scruffy could be inadvertently become a carrier for Nightmare and let it back into Equestria.
Good thing Luna's on the job! She'll kick Nightmare's smokebutt to infinity and beyond. (Oh! Ponies need to watch Pixar movies!)
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I agree that Nightmare Moon is the most likely candidate and I agree even more that Scruffy should show the Ponies some Pixar movies .
Luna's nightmare looking for a comeback! Will she get the band together and rock Equestria? Or will she fall to the lure of sex and drugs that hound Rock 'n Roll? Stay tuned!
Two updates in one day? Unexpected but very welcome huzzah!
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images2.fanpop.com/images/quiz/64345_1221909012721_423_300.jpg
Since you two seem to like to think and theorize, I'll give you a 'hint'.
Morphy: Black Black White Empty
Phantom: Black Empty White Black edited
There are bread crumbs scattered around in the story. The only question is if anyone is crazy enough to be able to follow them.
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Editor dropping in. Here are a couple of applicable definitions for the word in question.
Interlude:
1. An intervening episode, period, space, etc.
2. Any intermediate performance or entertainment, as between the acts of a play.
We just finished the final part of the Friendly Visit act, and this is in between that and the next major act or more substantive (in volume) chapter. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to call this an interlude.
Further, this is inline with the precedent set by previous "interludes" of the story, many of which contain paragraphs with a significant impact on the story or characters. A couple are already of chapter length, though they are small compared to what they came between.
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"ponies can't salt fruits and veggies"
images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91pjtwwC75L._SL1500_.jpg
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Don't listen to this nut-bar. He's under the delusion that this will all somehow make sense to most people eventually.
Nice. This is an interesting development.
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The funny part is, that's actually technically possible because of an interesting difference I read about between how western and eastern animation is done.
(Apparently, we record the voices first, then animate the mouths to match. They animate first, then have the voice actors attempt to follow along. That would certainly justify the simplified mouth movements in anime and leave room for the dubs to match more closely.)
I can't wait to find out that this was actually Pinkie Pie who legitimately wants the amulet because it looks nice. Accidental dream invasion sounds like something she'd do.
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Heh. ”Most people". If I ever write anything, I'd settle for "anyone, including myself".
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I find it interesting that this moment didn't happen until Scruffy wore the amulet to bed. Our mistery nightmare may be having as much trouble viewing his dreams as Luna is. That, or it is related to Twilight passing through the portal since Luna had no issues when Scruffy was on the other side.
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Yes, what a coincidence.
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Now if only I could remember the rules to Mastermind...
Hmm... I suspect someone female, but I'm not sure who. The spirit of Nightmare Moon, by chance? Chrysalis? But she's never shown any propensity for dream magic before. The "Pony of Shadows" as claimed to be a fragment of Nightmare moon?
Starlight? I thought she didn't come in the picture when she became Ali-Twi
......nightmare moon?
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The PoS is still in limbo at this point. Tip tap... bipedal. My guess is Sombra...
Or you could pull a Gen 1 outta nowhere and it's Catrina.
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Not "Nightmare" but "Night Mare" -- not the same thing. Although the second might mean Nightmare the character, it isn't necessarily so.
Foreshadowing. Love it.
Since it's hard to reach through the portal to sense things on Earth, it would have been very difficult to find Scruffy among seven billion humans until he had a significant amount of active magic on him.
It's unclear if the tiny bit of inherent magic Scruffy has is something natural for Earth, or if it's the result of it leaking through the portal to the surrounding area.
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Or it would be very easy because he is the only one on earth with a magic item, the amulet they gave him to help speak.
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Who is this figure... Who could it be...