My World Is Empty Without You
Chapter 1A
Fluttershy fell from the heavens to the earth.
This was how all of her dreams began, with a repetition of the most-significant event of her life.
But this fall was devoid of the fear that accompanied the original fall from Flight Camp. The butterflies caught Fluttershy—as they always did—and she lightly touched down on her four hooves right in front of her home.
She walked down the path, her head swinging in time to the beat of the jazzy song of her self-discovery that filled the air. She mumble-sang the lyrics, hitting the occasional note perfectly.
The tree house was missing its front wall; there was merely the mental suggestion of the windows and door.
This shouldn’t be too unusual, if you think about it: In your dreams, I bet the buildings are missing ceilings: as the god of your dream, you need to be above the action, while still seeing everything that happens. Well, Fluttershy does not look down upon her dream creations; instead she walks among them, visible or invisible to them as she wills.
Fluttershy walked into her home and took in the comforting sight. The little hutches full of mice and birds, the burrows near the floor, the hung-up teacups next to her sink in a tidy row, and Angel bunny laying on the couch, watching her, waiting.
“I think I'd like to write a book today, Angel,” Fluttershy sighed, smiling. “Isn't it terrible that I think it'll have a sad ending?”
“Good,” Angel huffed, sounding like a teenager interrupted from an evening of nothing. “Too many boring books out there. Is this the one that’s been in limbo for months?”
“Well, I think I've finally got an ending,” Fluttershy admitted with a nod, walking to her closet and opening it to reveal a small shrine to a fictional character.
A well-worn axe with a sheath hung on one wall. Two swords on the other, a hat, vest, shirt, belt, and other clothing hung over a neat pile of books, all emblazoned with the name Daring Do, the pony who looked suspiciously like Rainbow Dash.
“…But what if you had to choose?” the memory of her own voice repeated in her head.
“Then…then I’d choose the Wonderbolts, Flutters,” the remembered voice from the shadows replied. “If the only way I could get in was to leave you and Ponyville behind forever, I’d do it, and I’d never look back.
“I’ve wanted this for far longer than I’ve known you, Fluttershy. No friendship is worth giving up the Wonderbolts.”
“I think I know how Daring Do dies,” she said with somber determination.
You know, I'm sure there's a very good reason why this chapter looks completely blank to me.
...Something to set up the dramatic tension before the story really starts?
Yes, that must have been it.
10465777
Oh, I'm sure it's fine! Sometimes you have to space things out!
Fluttershy: Shhhhh, I had to set the sceeeeeene and Poodly was just going to launch into the dream without context!
And then some money-grubbing hack of a dream designer uses them for a terrible first-person cat simulator that Jim Sterling blames on Steam Greenlight.