Chapter 3: Showtime
Princess Luna's black form tore through the sky above Sweet Apple Acres, the alicorn still an amorphous mist. Her movements were erratic as she frantically darted left and right as she rose into the night sky. Several seconds went by as she rose higher and higher into the air, until she was just above the lowest of the clouds above the farmhouse. Slowly, her form came to a stop, and with much calmer movements, she gently allowed herself to drift over one of the larger patches of cloud cover.
She quickly coalesced back into her natural form, and with a single flap of her blue wings, landed on the clouds below. With a heavy sigh, Luna closed her eyes, and allowed her legs to buckle and her body to collapse onto the natural pillow beneath her. She didn't want to think about anything that was going on around her—the thoughts of the experience moments before much more frightening than she wanted to think about—so instead focused on her breathing. It was only marginally successful, her thoughts continuing to drift to that experience again and again.
With a much more audible sigh, she used her forelegs to cover her eyes. “That was close... and unpleasant.”
Luna decided to lay there for some time further, the mare having no desire to move after the experience with the dream. Instead, she looked up, and tried her best to lose herself in the view of her moon. Like before—when she was focusing on her breathing—it was only marginally successful, and her thoughts continued to dwell on the dream from just minutes before. The entire time she was in the nightmare, she knew that the entire thing was harmless to her, even if it was as vivid as reality. Tartarus, even that stallion wasn't in any real danger! So why did she begin to panic as much as she did? It wasn't a question with a good answer.
With another heavy sigh, Luna closed her eyes, and willingly allowed herself to relive the entire experience of both inside and outside the dream. As she thought to herself, the one moment that started to stand out more and more was that brief moment—just barely more than a second—when the crimson stallion looked right into her eyes, and screamed. It was not like the screams of the ponies that she met during Nightmare Night almost a year ago, but one of absolute terror. The best way to describe it was that it was the scream of a pony begging for his life, even if he knew that there was no hope of changing his fate.
She flattened her ears, and with a dark chuckle, murmured, “Heh... not like it is the first time that a pony screamed at me like that though...”
Deciding that laying here moping over the situation on this lonely cloud was not constructive to her supposed night of happiness and fun, she spread her large wings, and with a leap, took off into the sky. She flapped her wings a few times to pick up a small amount of speed and altitude, until she finally leveled off and took to a much more leisured flight. In contrast to the furious speeding flight that she took from Canterlot, she found herself less using a flapping motion to keep her aloft and more the angle and shape of her wings.
It was relaxing to fly like this, and found that it was much easier to let her mind wander when flying and taking in the sights below as opposed to just laying on a cloud. Below her, the vast fields of apple trees continued to expand across the landscape—as they did to both her left and right as well. However, it would only be a few seconds longer before she would fly over Ponyville proper on her way back to Canterlot.
In the outskirts of Ponyville, several hundred meters from the border of the village—yet well outside of Sweet Apple Acres—a single solitary house drew her full attention. It was interesting to look at, considering that ponies were much more inclined to be communal rather than solitary, but maybe the pony—or ponies—in this house found the distance from Ponyville not too much of a hassle. Regardless, the home was fairly simple, with all of the standard accessories that a simple residence like this should have.
Of course, the curious aspect about this building was that the lights on the lower story were on this late into the night. In fact, Luna suspected that it was a few hours past midnight by this point—well past the normal time that ponies finally went to bed. To say that whoever was awake was “burning the midnight oil” was an understatement. With this sole exception, every other house that she could see in Ponyville was dark, with the ponies inside each enjoying the dreams that sleep brought them. Curiosity taking over, the mare tilted her wings slightly, and went to investigate.
Just like at her previous destination, she slowly glided her way down in wide circles around her target, never beating her wings once as she slowly fell from the night sky. Upon finally making it within a few meters of the roof of the residence, she lit her horn, and shifted into the mist-form that she had been making frequent use of tonight. Her first thought was to do what she did last time, and simply seep into a slightly open window. However, upon second thought, she decided that going through a second story window would not aid her very much in her mission to figure out why these ponies were still awake. So instead, she dove towards the front door, and after taking a careful peek under the small crack underneath it to make sure nopony was looking in the direction of the entryway, she flowed inside.
Once inside the residence, she quickly darted to the right to hide behind a wall. Instantly a loud and furious voice from a mare screaming at somepony entered her ears. “—and every Celestia damn night you do this! Just once—just once—I wish you would come home sober, and act your damn age, you stupid, insensitive mule!”
Another voice, this one much heavier and deeper than the previous, rebutted just as loudly, if not more so. “Don't you give me that crap! I’m the one who makes the damn bits in this house, and I'll do what I want with them!”
“Make the bits my flank! You only make enough to get yourself drunk every night. I’m the one that makes the bits that puts the Celestia dammed food on the Celestia dammed table! If it wasn't for me, we would've STARVED!”
“Oh don't get on all 'self-righteous' on me, you stupid little whore! You and I both know how you get those dirty bits, and it ain't from your waitress job! You do your repulsive shit, take your bits, and flaunt them in front of me like the little bitch you are, just so you can yell at me!”
“How... how DARE you think that I make those bits for myself! I do all those Celestia dammed things for our Celestia dammed daughter!”
“Our daughter? Our daughter!? Our damn daughter my flank! She doesn't even look like me!!”
“Screw you!”
“Screw you, and screw that dammed filly! If I had half a mind, I would—”
Luna zipped up the stairs as quickly as she could—the alicorn unable to stand listening to the terrible argument any further. Weren't ponies supposed to be happy and carefree all the time? That's what she had seen ever since her return, with maybe one or two exceptions, with one of those exceptions being her own Captain Vigilant. Hearing these two argue... no... verbally assault with each other completely shattered that mental image of her subjects. Were these two just part of the exception that she had heard about, and most ponies were still living in happiness and harmony? Or maybe this is what most ponies were like outside of the public eye—terrible creatures that would fight each other, fathers that would abandon their children, and stallions that would pay mares for such... carnal services.
While Luna wanted to believe in the first one, considering the mare's other profession and the fact that it appeared to be a lucrative one, Luna was inclined to believe the second.
With the sounds of yelling still filling her ears, she finally made her way upstairs, and found only four doors up there. From the left, the first door was a simple linen closet—that much was obvious just by looking at the closed bifold door. The second room was a simple bathroom with the standard amenities to go along with the room. As she peered in, the only noteworthy thing about the bathroom was that there was only one set of toiletries—a single toothbrush and a single manebrush being the most prominent of examples. This led her to believe that it was only the filly that used this bathroom, while the paren... no... the adults had a separate bathroom in the master bedroom. Said master bedroom was in front of Luna—the door slightly ajar—and while she could easily see into the open doorway, she had absolutely no desire to look inside the room that those two slept in.
To Luna's right, a closed door separated herself from the final bedroom, the one that most likely had the mentioned filly within. As the sounds of arguing continued to enter her ears, she looked near the floor, and noticed that the light was out inside the bedroom—a sure sign that the filly was at least trying to sleep. Luna was still in her mist form, so it was only a matter of slipping through the small crack to get into the bedroom.
The room was fairly mundane, especially for a pony this age. The walls were mostly bare, with the only decoration a single framed picture of what looked like the filly and two of her friends playing with her in a field on the wall above her bed. Other than the picture and bed itself, there wasn't much else in this room. A single desk sat against the right wall, though from the looks of things, it was used more as a shelf for random clutter than anything else. The only other thing of note in the entire room was the occupied bed, which was situated in the far left corner.
Sadly, even with the door closed, Luna could hear the the constant yells and screams of the terribly broken couple downstairs.
Coalescing back into her alicorn-form, Princess Luna slowly walked up to the small bed, and frowned at what she saw. On the bed, a small orange pegasus shivered in the dark. The filly had curled herself up into a ball on her side, her wings and magenta tail visibly twitching in unease from the noises outside. Short, frantic breaths passed through the small pony's nose, to the point that the filly must have been on the verge of hyperventilation. Through her closed eyelids, her eyes darted in every direction in what must have been a terrible nightmare, not to mention the tears that cut across her cheeks. At some point in the night, she must have bucked off the sheets, for they were bundled up at the hoof of the bed, long forgotten in her terrible slumber.
Luna scowled. How dare those two think about themselves before their child. The mother was slightly redeemable, for while she did perform such terrible things, at least the mare apparently did them in an attempt to take care of the small filly. The father, on the other hoof, appeared to be an absolute monster when it came to their home life, as well as an alcoholic and pitiful excuse for a pony. Luna had half a mind to storm downstairs, give those two a piece of the Lunar Goddess' verbal wrath, take the filly, and save her from this atrocity. Sadly, she knew she couldn't do anything even remotely like this—the scandal of stealing away a child without warning would be irreparably catastrophic to the image she had been working so hard to build after her return.
Not to mention her dearest sister wouldn't approve, though Luna didn't give two bits about that part.
Snorting a frustrated breath—and with a hardened glare—Luna brightly ignited her horn. She turned, released the spell that she had charged, and shot the door she had just come through. With a muffled thud, the spell impacted the door, and it spread through every single wall of the room as well as the window on the far wall. Almost immediately, the sounds of the arguing ponies from downstairs were reduced to a hushed muffle, leaving the room in a blissful silence. She made sure that the spell held, and when she was sure that it was properly in place, she cast another spell onto the walls of the room.
With a smile, the Night Princess whispered, “There. That silence spell will activate every night for at least a few years...”
Now much more satisfied with the mood of the room, Luna turned back towards the bed. She took the discarded sheets into her magical hold, and with a slight tug, pulled them over the small orange body, so that only the filly's large head poked through. That job complete, Luna—carefully as to not wake the small child—used her magic to gently stroke the filly's magenta mane, and tried to do her best to straighten out the tangled mess in the process. Finally, Luna began to hum a slow tune that she learned from her mother well over a millennium ago—a lullaby that was as slow and calm as the night was dark.
It took a few minutes, but the combination of the strokes, the song, and the now properly placed sheets—as well removing the awful noise from outside—began taking effect. The small filly's body stopped quivering in unrest, her eyes began settling into a much more relaxed state, and the tears that once leaked out of her eyes had now dried up. Even more heartwarming was the small smile that began forming on the small pegasus' muzzle—a much happier dream replacing the previous nightmare.
Finally, Luna's soft lullaby came to an end, and with a smile, she softly whispered, “There. All tucked in and ready to sleep.” Luna sniffed. “Like a good sister would help you do...”
Even with the thought, it didn't hurt her upbeat mood. Now that the filly was in a much more pleasant dream, Luna felt that her job here was finished, and with a happy sigh, she got herself up onto her hooves, and made her way towards the window—the thought of going back through the room downstairs, as well as the argument, was not on her list of priorities. She was glad that she made this particular pit-stop, for she had been able to help the small child, at least in—
The filly's voice whispered through the dark, “Rainbow Dash...”
That brought the alicorn's attention back to the filly behind her. Her attention now firmly on the small orange pegasus, Luna turned around, and made her way back to the bed in the corner. Still tucked under the sheets, the pegasus had snuggled deeper into the warmth of her bed, her little nose still sniffling slightly from her previous crying. Little movements from under the sheet—right around where her wings would be—rounded out how completely adorable the scene was.
With a smile, Luna prepared her spell, bent down, and touched the tip of her horn to the small filly's head.
High above the ground in the clouds above what looked like some kind of stadium in the middle of nowhere, Luna's gaze fell over the landscape. The cloud that she had appeared next to was the only one in the large expanse that was the mid-afternoon sky. The breeze was slight, and while it was much more preferable to fly when when there was no wind at all, the slight wind was something even the most amateur of pegasi could handle. Adding to the wonderful breeze, the air was just the right temperature for a pony to relax or play in.
On the cloud itself, stood two ponies. The first was the orange pony that the dream was created by, her coat and feathers blowing slightly in the wind. She was just slightly larger than she was in the real world, though all of the proportions—from her wings to her head—were exactly the same as her normal filly-self. Her wings fidgeted with anticipation for the flight that was most likely soon to come. It was impossible to see her face from this angle, but Luna could imagine that the filly had a steeled stare of determination on her. Her flank was bare of any cutie mark—the child apparently unable to dream of a suitable mark for herself—but from the looks of it, she either didn't notice, or didn't care.
The second pony on the cloud was much more familiar, her rainbow mane flowing in the breeze as she walked up next to the child. Suddenly, the older mare spoke, her voice rough and scratchy compared to a typical mare's. “Are you sure about this, Scootaloo?”
The filly—apparently named Scootaloo—chuckled as she shook her head. “You act like you think I’m not good enough to do this.”
“You and I both know that I don't feel that way,” the older mare said as she nudged her companion with her shoulder. “I'm just worried that you don't realize how complicated this actually is.”
Scootaloo chucked for a few seconds, before she turned to the pegasus to her left. Still chuckling, she flapped her wings a few times in eager anticipation. “Hey, you said that I was good enough to do this no sweat, right?”
“Right...”
“Well then don't worry about it so much.” As quickly as her confidence peaked, Scootaloo looked down, and lightly kicked the cloud under her with a forehoof. “You do believe in me... right, Rainbow Dash?”
Not even waiting for a second, the rainbow-maned pegasus leaned her head closer to her companion, and gave the pony a quick friendly nuzzle. “Of course I do.”
“And you... you're with me. Right?”
Rainbow pulled back, and with a smile, gazed into Scootaloo's eyes. “Squirt, no matter where you go, I’ll be right there behind you for support.”
That seemed to calm the filly's nerves, for she gave the mare a quick nod, then faced back to the front of the cloud. The pair stood there for a while longer, letting their mutual company give them the strength and comfort that they were probably going to need in whatever event that was apparently coming up. The wind whistled across their bodies, sending both of their tails flying to the side. It was a interesting thing to see—the two heavily contrasting pegasi happily standing there on the cloud—but the thought of the two very close friends together in wonderful harmony put a smile on Luna's nonexistent face.
I just wish this filly had a life as happy as this dream.
Suddenly, the two flared their wings wide, and with a running jump, began a terrifyingly swift dive towards the stadium below. Luna moved her form closer to the edge of the fluffy cloud so that she could see the aerial display below. Before the two even began, the alicorn could see that each had a fairly distinct trail of colors—Rainbow Dash with a prismatic trail and Scootaloo with a magenta one—following them as they tore through the sky. It wasn't long until both turned skyward again, and with the entire stadium below cheering, they began their routine.
It started off as a somewhat laid back flight, with the two pegasi starting off with simple flips and turns, allowing both the crowd below to become enraptured with the two as well as giving the pair a nice little warmup. For an opener, it was a fairly simple experience, but it was just enough to give the audience below a nice little spectacle of what was to come. The entire time, the pair mirrored each other move for move—every time Rainbow did a flip, turn, or barrel roll, Scootaloo did the same.
After a few seconds of carefully planned yet simple maneuvers, the two—currently a fair distance away from each other—shot skyward, heavily beating their wings to gain the precious altitude apparently needed for their next series of tricks. They eventually became level with the cloud where they started the entire routine, and with a near perfect right-angle turn, approached one another. As soon as they got close, they both banked to Luna's left, eventually impacting each other with their hooves. The harsh hit against each other's hooves forced the two to bounce in the opposite direction while they continued to fly hard to the side. Again, they both banked towards their partner, and with the same amount of force as the previous hit, slammed their hooves together again, and like last time, broke away.
They repeated this move at least half a dozen times—each cycle only lasting about a second—until their speed began to bleed off too much for them to continue. The pair dove towards the ground, their speed increasing by a factor of ten as they did so. As soon as they neared the stadium itself, they went to impact each other again, only to stay close to each other this time. Now together, they made a sharp turn up, so that both were flying side-by-side just a hundred meters above the ground. With speed that would rival the swiftest Wonderbolt, the two tore just a few meters above the heads of the spectators in the stands.
Luna used this opportunity to whisk her way down from her cloud perch, so that she was in the stands themselves. It was an easy process, for it was only a simple teleport spell that was needed—the fact that she didn't have her horn apparently wasn't an issue—and within a second, she was in the proper place to witness the best of the action. Granted the movement sent new waves of nausea that were much stronger than in the previous dream, but the feeling was slowly becoming manageable.
The pegasi, upon passing the far end of the stadium, broke off into opposite directions with their speed intact. As they circled around the arena, the sound of the cheering crowd nearly deafened the alicorn, and as soon as they passed the quarter mark—so that they both were on opposite sides of the stadium—they blasted towards one another.
It was only then that Luna noticed the forming Mach cone appearing in front of both of the ponies.
As soon as they were near, they both banked right, and quickly began a neck-breaking right turn that took both of them into a slowly ascending spiral around the other. The rainbow and magenta colors of their trails began to blur into the other's, until they both merged into one single column of multicolored winds. Up and up they flew, their move turning the formerly calm day around them into a massive swirling colored clouds.
Are those two creating a tornado!?
Indeed, the beginnings of a funnel cloud was beginning to form, yet the pair never stopped their sharp spiral motions. Eventually—after the tornado reached self sustainability—the two split off in opposite directions once again, allowing the tornado to continue to form on its own accord. However, as the tornado began to grow more and more intense, the two pegasi turned back around, and sped back towards the swirling vortex they created. Again, Luna noticed the Mach cone forming around the front of both pegasi.
Just as the very tip of the tornado touched the ground, the two ponies slammed into the walls of the colorful tornado, punching two holes into opposite sides of the weather system. Instantly, the tornado destabilized, exploding from the two missiles that punched through it. Spiraling swirls of all of the colors of the rainbow—plus magenta—reverberated through the sky alongside a crackling thunder. Once again, the deafening cheers and yells of an excited crowd deafened the princess to any other noise in the air. Even the once raging tornado—now nothing more than slowly rippling colors in the sky—could not overpower the noise of the cheering.
But... where are the two pegasi?
Out of the corner of her eye, Luna barely made out the forms of two pegasi tumbling erratically through the sky. As quickly as she could—considering she was still a mist—Luna flew herself towards where the two mares were falling just before they disappeared behind the far wall of the stadium. Soon, Luna was able to make her way above the highest rim of the stands, and upon getting there, was able to make out where the pair were heading. From the speed and trajectory that they were moving at, as well as accounting for any potential attempts at correcting their fall, she placed their landing to be within a distant forest.
As quickly as she could, she sped towards the wooded area, hoping that she would get there in time to... well... she wasn't sure what she would be able to to do. Regardless, Luna hoped that she would be able to get there to—if nothing else—witness the end result of the fall. Faster and faster she flew, until she quickly reached the very edge of the forest before her. Heedless to whatever danger might be inside, she tore through the outer edges of the forest, and made her way inside.
In a nice little spring of good fortune, it only took a few seconds for Princess Luna to find the pair. They had apparently used a few trees to slow their fall, before landing in a larger patch of shrubbery. In actually, it only because of the luck from moments before that Luna was able to find them, for the only thing that she could see from either of them in the bush was the very end of Rainbow Dash's colorful mane and tail. The only other sign that the two were in there was the small rustling of the struggling mares.
Rainbow Dash was the first one to pop her head out of the bush, and while her mane was covered in twigs and scuff marks, she looked no less for wear. For a few moments, the mare was somewhat dazed from the sudden fall—her eyes literally spinning in their sockets. Eventually, Rainbow shook her head, ridding it of the disorientation, and with a small giggle, looked around the bush under her.
“Come on, you silly filly.” Rainbow Dash giggled as she continued, “It's time for you to get out from there. Lazy time is long over.”
Slowly, the second pegasus rose from the bushes, and with the exception of the coloration, she looked very similar to how Rainbow looked right now. Small bits of twigs and leaves stuck out from her mane, and her orange coat was completely scuffed up from the massive amount of dirt and grime that she gathered on the way down from the sky. Also just like Rainbow Dash from earlier, the mare's eyes were spinning in her head, giving the mare a slightly comical look. The only other difference between the two was the gratuitous amount of tree sap all over her body.
“But I don't wanna go to school today,” the pegasus filly slurred as her head wobbled from side-to-side slightly. “I just wanna go out and play with Rainbow Dash...”
The older mare giggled again, shoving the younger filly slightly. “Equestria to Squirt! Come in, Squirt! This is Rainbow Dash calling!”
Scootaloo shook her head, and finally getting her bearings, turned towards Rainbow, and smiled. “So... did we do it?”
“If by it, you mean did we completely send that crowd of ponies into hysterical excitement, then yes. Yes we did.”
The filly smiled. “All thanks to you.”
Again, Rainbow shoved the filly to the side slightly. “Hey, I’m not the one that came up with the routine. That was all you. I was just learning from the greatest pegasus in all of Equestria!”
The pair began laughing at that suggestion—a genuine laughter of blissful playfulness. Shoving the cyan pegasus back, Scootaloo sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned her head against Rainbow's shoulder. “We both know you're the best.”
Returning the smile, Rainbow closed her eyes, and leaned her head against the filly's. “True... but you come in a close second.”
For a while, the two just sat there—their bodies still mostly in the bushes—with their heads resting on each other. It was a sweet sight to say the least, and if this wasn't in the middle of a dream, Luna would've left these two to their own private time. Sure, the fact it was a dream still meant that she was invading the private thoughts of Scootaloo, but it wasn't like Luna was doing anything to harm her or anything. In fact, if anything, this was all meant to help the filly... right?
Probably not.
It was a long minute before Scootaloo sighed, and whispered, “Rainbow Dash?”
“...Yeah?”
“I love you, Rainbow Dash. You're the greatest sister ever.”
“I love you too, Squirt.”
Luna smiled to herself as she watched the two ponies lean against each other, giggling to themselves as they sat in the shrubbery. She felt that now was a good enough time to leave the filly's dream to herself, and slowly ended her spell. The last thing she saw of the dream was the smiling faces of the two pegasi.
Luna pulled away from the filly's forehead, and with an ever-growing smile on her face, watched as the small pony giggled to herself in her sleep. As the filly continued to murmur the older mare's name in her sleep, Luna once again made her way to the window, and with a slight use of her magic, opened it. She morphed into a mist once again, and quickly whisked herself just outside of the window—quickly morphing back into her natural state soon after. Beating her wings heavily to keep herself in a hover, the Night Princess turned back around, and with one final look at the adorable filly inside, closed the window.
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I still say "whore" should have been "whorse."
1862365 I still say that "Kitsunehero" should've been "shut up and get back in your box"
Fascinating Scootaloo backstory, but I think later you should give her parents a dream that makes them not bate each other and less alcoholic.
I liked Scootaloo's parents better when I thought they were dead.
I always knew Luna was a big softy, and this demonstrates that fact like nothing else.
A singular years? That's some pretty powerful magic!
1862563 I literally found that ten seconds before you did. Already fixed
1862567
Wow, that's an amazing coincidence.
Very diffrent from the last chapter. This time the real world was dark and the dream wasn't! Um... yay?
This totally seems like something Scootaloo would dream about, i bet that a couple minutes into her dream and she would have gained a cutie mark, and cuteness would ensue.
Hmmm
I do like this story, but I don't understand the whole orphan or bad parent scootalo thing. Regardless, good story.
I do hope that when she makes it to Canterlot again, she will enter her sister's dreams and find out what she is thinking. Knowing Celestia, probably nightmares about Nightmare Moon and how she feels it was all her fault.
If Luna happens to end up in Twilight's dream, I'm going to go ahead and say that it will be a war of books, with book forts and word cannons and swords of knowledge.
1862508 They are...
... now. >:}
Great chapter!
I'm tired of these Celestia damned feels from this Celestia damned story.
Loved this! Best one so far.
1862508
I agree. It's always poor little Scootaloo.
Throughout the whole fanverse Scootaloo always has the saddest, most feely stories.
1862840 Or something random involving Celestia...
I would laugh if Fluttershy had really sadistic dreams.
1863589
AJ dreams of Oranges.
...that'd be a good name of a story or song. Dibs.
Almost responded to myself in this post. That would've been awkward!
1862434 Sorry, but I'm not doing dreams of any OC's. Regardless, I think my next dreamer is going to be much better than that one!
1862508 Luna could make that happen if you want...
1862551 Princess Luna is best immortal moon goddess sister by far.
1862575 Nope, it's science! Lovely, adorable science!
1862599 Yay! Glad you look forward to them! (Sorry, but I couldn't think of anything else to respond with).
1862707 Granted I never thought of it myself, I would assume she wouldn't. She can't imagine herself with any cutie mark, so she wouldn't get one. Assuming that she DID though, it would probably be just a copy of Rainbow's.
1862825 I was a little wary of doing the Scootabuse thing too, but I decided that the potential "aw" factor was way too high to not do. Also, would you please not reveal the entire ending of the story to the readers? Please and thank you!!
1862840 The pen IS mighter than the sword, so maybe she'd use a pen-shaped sword to fight televisions? Hmm...
1863079 Aaaaaaand you killed them. Great.
1863440 Thanks! I think you follow me, so you probably remember this blog post. Yeah, it was over this chapter, and me thinking that it was a little too serious.
1863568 If you think this one is good, then get ready, because I feel that these first three were alright compared to the others I've come up with (objective of course). And as for Scootaloo... it's because it's too damn easy!!!
1863589 She's fighting televisions with pictures of Celestia on them maybe then?
1863596 You can have it. Not planning on using Applejack in this story. Already used Big Mac.
1864240 Meh, they'll be fine once they get over being dead.
1864371 I'm sure not many people get over their own murders...
1862825
Either that, or ALL THE CAKE
1864240
is enough
Wow,
The difference between the two chapters were a great contrast.
One with a happy family but has nightmares.
One with a Nightmare of a family but happy dreams.
I understand that why Luna's so down when Big Mac screamed in terror at her, or rather because of her, I'm sorry that she didn't think about the positive. It wasn't directly her he was screaming at just his nightmare in his per-wakened state
But I can't wait to see Who is next, any more of the sub characters or are you going to do some back ground characters?
I'd like to see Ditsy Do or Spike or one of the Cakes.
But I would be careful with Pinkie Pie remember she can brake the fourth wall quite easily, Who knows what could happen. Ha
Well can't wait to see what you will do with the next chapter.
Hope you continue.
1866187 ♫Do you want this cake? I want it! Do you want this cake? I want it! Do you want this cake? I WANT THAT CAKE!♫
1866528 Then
1867133 No worries. I have all the ideas all formulated. As for Pinkie Pie, how I write her in all my stories, she never actually BREAKS the 4th wall. She might do things that are odd, and don't make much sense, but I'll never write her actually interacting with the reader in any way.
1865488 Silly author! Ponies aren't people! Silly author!
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1869722 Is it she who truly needs to learn?
1869725 You might not be that subtle, but those are the most obvious interpretations of those dreams. It might not be relevant to your interests -- you're telling the stories you want to tell in each chapter, perhaps focused more on giving each its own experience ("LOL wouldn't Zecora be badass in a rap battle?" "Dude, in the next chapter I'm gonna tell a horror story!") than on tying them into a coherent whole -- but these are useful things to know. Subtlety isn't about deliberately adding layers to drive home a point; that's called allegory, and allegory is often about as subtle as a main battle tank with a loudspeaker attached. Instead, subtlety about having enough depth of self and of knowledge that layers of meaning seem to manifest themselves in your work. It is often the bluntest people who need the most depth to accomplish something.
Keep writing, and you'll find that you eventually write yourself into a corner, a place where you aren't sure how to get the characters out of whatever you've written them into. Gaining knowledge of the things you're writing about will help you write your way back out of that corner.
1869816 You have three parts of this comment. I'll try to hit all three.
1) Not sure how else to put it other than at this point in time, Luna doesn't know how to dreamwalk like in Sleepless in Ponyville. If you rightfully point out "but that makes no sense!" Then I will say 1) it will in the end, and 2) I posted this story before that episode aired, so I kinda had to do a tiny bit of backpedaling on that part. It'll work out though.
2) I am a doofus. Take one look at my page (I have a section just for table flipping), and you can see that. That point made, each mini-story is meant to connected SLIGHTLY, but if you were to just look at each dream separately, or one alone, you could see each as NEARLY a fully fledged one-shot (kinda hard to explain all the details of the Zecora dream without a little backstory). When it comes to the dreams, I am not trying to be subtle about things. If X is doing Y, I'm going to straight up tell you X is doing Y. I might make it a SLIGHT mystery, but there isn't going to be any hidden meanings behind them. Other than that, I can't say too much on it, or I start to reveal things that I have yet to go on.
3) As for your final point, I see the use in those sort of things. I really do. However, I am fortunate enough to like outlining stories a lot in advance (case in point, if you count the Zecora chapter as Chapter 1, then I have outlined up to Chapter 11), so if I do "write" myself into a corner, it is only done via an outline, so if I have to, I can back up, and fix it. That goes for my other huge story I've written as well. Yes, I've outlined myself into corners before, but I am able to fix them because I can go back and do those things. Now, that isn't as skilled as doing what you said to do, but it is definitely easier for me.
I hope that's a proper response. If you understand, I can't say too much, or I start to reveal things that aren't... well... revealed yet.
scoots...
This whole chapter, short version by Scootaloo The Pony:
A night blue colored mare they call the princess
Mists into my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper:
"Go to sleep, everything is alright"
I close my eyes
Then I drift away
Into the magic night
I softly sway
Oh smile and pray
Like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep
To dream my dreams of you
In dreams...I walk with you
In dreams...I talk to you
In dreams...Your mine
All of the time
We're sisters
In dreams...In dreams
But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can't help it...I can't help it
If I cry
I remember
That you said goodbye
To end all these things
And I'll be happy in my dreams
Only in dreams
In beautiful dreams
1862371 [youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ssWoO_MZM]
When you mentioned a house away from Ponyville, I thought it was Fluttershy's cottage and the lights were on because she's afraid of the dark.