//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Rolling Dreams // Story: The Lost Changeling: Rolling Ends // by AizakkuHorooee //------------------------------// Somehow, when I open my eyes, I’m in the Ponyville Hospital again. I’m surrounded in the waiting room by a familiar trio of ponies as well as a cloaked unicorn that I don’t know. Immunity, Rusty, and Pane are all facing ahead of me along with this stranger. A doctor comes in and motions the stranger as well as me to come into one particular room. Apparently, there’s two friends of this pony under emergency care named Feather Blade and Open Fields. Wait a minute. Open Fields? Oh, please tell me that pony doesn’t have what I think he has for a cutie mark. Feather Blade is a grey coated pegasus with a red to pink mane that reminds me a bit of Rainbow Dash. When I look under the covers that she’s under, I see a cutie mark that contains a mill with a feather beside it. Somehow, I don’t pay mind to it. All of a sudden, I find myself anxious to see Open Fields, so much so that I’m the first pony to see him. Beeping off and on aside, I see a three-color mane and tail, tan, yellow, and brown, with a white coat. I also notice that he doesn’t have any covers, so his cutie mark is in plain sight. And, swing and a miss, he has the cutie mark of a sun with eight ray stripes over three green hills. Suddenly, the beeping becomes a tone. “No! NO!!! DON’T GO!!! NOOOO!!!” I suddenly spring out into a sitting position, somehow without falling, and not being able to see anything anymore. I feel wet in the cheeks. Immediately after my scream, I hear a gallop down the stairs as both Rusty and Pane may’ve heard my cries. Finally, the door to my room bursts open. Rusty and especially Pane look worried. “Carve, are you okay?!? W-what’s going on?!?” “Rusty!!! Pane!!! It can’t end like that!!! We can’t lose him!!!” “Lose who?!?” “Open Fields!!!” Rusty has a look of shock now. “Open Fields?!? I swear that sounds familiar!” “Who’s Open Fields? Did you meet somepony in Ponyville?” “I-I don’t know, Pane!!! I saw this pony whose cutie mark was the same as that logo!!!” “Logo? Which one?” “A sun over three hills...” Then, Pane and Rusty calm down. “Oh. I think Rusty and I might know what that nightmare was about. You were dreaming about Rolling Acres, weren’t you?” “I-I guess! But why would I get a nightmare like that relating to-” “Shh... Carve... nothing’s going to happen to Rolling Acres. Why would you think Rolling Acres would be gone?” “Ugh! I don’t know. I just hope this isn’t a repeat of January thirteenth. I don’t want to spend the next day crawling with nightmares.” “Well, that nightmare’s over, Carve. With me and Pane on the premises, I doubt you’ll have another one of those. Now, is there anything else you want before you turn in again?” I buzz my right wing for Rusty to see, who figures out what that means. He walks over to my left and sits down. A second later, I’m pulled to my left by Rusty’s wing. The feeling that results reminds me of wearing a saggy, yet comfy and fluffy winter jacket, facing opposite to an active fireplace on Hearth’s Warming. “Thanks.” “No problem, Carve. You can rest now.” And with that, Pane leaves the room as Rusty follows suit. I fix up my nest and get back into a comfortable sleeping position. Briefly looking around the room, I take note of the fallen piece of paper in the corner of the room farthest from my door: the poem I wrote earlier this year. Five years ago, I found my forever home. It was the best week of my life, and A Great Deal More. The invasion was nothing but a complete disaster. But not if it made me change, and A Great Deal More. I hope I can still reminisce to this day. Otherwise it’d be a sad sight, and A Great Deal More. After reciting my soliloquy, I begin to close my eyes again. ;=; Once again, I’m in the Ponyville Hospital. There’s that pony again... Open Fields. But this time, he is translucent. Carve... “Huh?” Carve... “H-how do you know my name?” ...I’m an earth pony... ...why... “Why what?” ...why didn’t you fix it? “Fix what?” ...ROLLING ACRES!!! “Um, Rolling Acres has been in complete disrepair. I don’t know what it used to look like before I was-” You didn’t fix Rolling Acres when you had the chance!!! That chance has been over for almost ten moons!!! You do know who I am. Do you? “Was it Open Fields?” Yes. Now, I have to go... “Open Fields... WAIT!!!” And just like that, Open Fields disappears from my view. “He’s gone.” Fading into my view in place of Open Fields is a pony I definitely have heard of before. “Princess Luna?” “Yes. It’s the lunar ruler of Equestria in the flesh. Two ponies have told me that a changeling in Las Pegasus needed help. Are those two friends of yours?” “Yes, if their names are Rusty Flashlight and Pane Fall.” “Then I have come to the right place. Are you anxious about this place you hold dear called Rolling Acres?” “Some random earth pony told me that I failed to take a chance to fix Rolling Acres before it ended ten moons ago. I don’t know what happened ten moons ago that would indicate the end of fixing Rolling Acres.” “That sounds particularly interesting. It reminds me a little bit of my battle with the tantabus. For whatever harm I had exacted upon Equestria, I had pondered what I should’ve done instead. With enough knowledge, there will be a light at the end of any tunnel if you do what you feel is best to do. I have cast all my doubt that I have changed aside in order to keep Equestria safe.” “What?!? BUT THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE!!! My doubt has no relevance to Rolling Acres! Applying what you say, I guess that means that if I cast all my doubt aside, nothing will come between me and Rolling Acres!” “Someday, you will see what I mean when I say to do what you feel is the best to do. The message will become clear within time, Carve.” And with that, Princess Luna walks away, fading out in the process. In the fade’s wake, the color brightens until it blinks to a black, causing me to gasp. “What did she mean when she said that? I might want to ask Pane and Rusty.”