//------------------------------//
// 3. Does Anypony want to Switch Mindmates with me? 
// Story: Another One Bites the Dust 
// by ThatMrSomeGuy 
//------------------------------//

Date: Thorsday
Time: ?:?? AM (Morning)
Location: Cruise Ship

Man, I just had one hellish dream. It was a nightmare that I was a pony. I would be saying that it was weird instead of hellish if it wasn’t for the fact that people were in fact, turning into ponies. It sounds fun, but there are certainly more physical downsides. Even worse were the mental ones. None of that mattered now. I was back on the ship. The boat was idly rocking without the engine roaring. The cozy sheets were the only things stopping me from having a good day. I could move my fingers. Man, I never thought I would miss those things so much. I pulled out the sheets just to dance on my two legs. Thankfully, my brother, Greg wasn’t there. Odd, but I guess he had better things to do on the ship besides sleep in. He’d be wondering what kind of drugs I was taking that made me thankful for being a biped with hands. I think a good morning jog will start the day fresh. I opened the door.

Well, last time I checked, my cabin wasn’t a dressing room of Cloudsdale Stadium. I could easily remember the last time I saw this, ‘Sonic Rainboom’. It was the episode of MLP where Rainbow Dash did a Sonic Rainboom to win the best young flier competition. My brain has a funny way to remind me I’m still dreaming. Most dreams would have something to do with things I was more familiar about, not something that would make me think I'm dreaming. Isn't that against one of those rules from ‘Inception’ or something?

“And let’s hear a round of applause for Equestria’s best flier!”

Great. Now there’s echoing sounds coming from everywhere. The announcer voice rang like how movies depict flashbacks. What’s worse is that it’s a dream of Rainbow Dash. Everyone knows Fluttershy is best pony...well, everyone except for my brain. Wait...is that...cheering? Yeah, it was. I opened the curtains to see that I was in the middle of a performance viewing. Well, I might as well get this over with.

I took the nearest seat. Lively crowd for a bunch of non-existent fans. The stadium was empty, yet, the cheering continued. Best if I went along with whatever the hell my brain was trying to show me. Trumpet noises began to blare and fireworks took to the sky. Through all of the dazzling explosions, a pony valiantly presented herself to stun the audience. It wasn’t Rainbow Dash, it was...it was me. No, not me, the pony I’ve been embodying. I took a quick glance at myself just to make sure I was still human.

“Jeez, even in your brain, you’re slow.” The pony flew right in front of me. “No. Rainbow Dash isn’t the fastest flier in all of Equestria. That would be me.”

"What is going on?” I was already getting irritated with her smug attitude. “Who are you?”

“Hello?” The pony knocked on my skull. “Anypony home? Does the name Lightning Dust ring a bell?”

Aren’t I dreaming? She shouldn’t be in my dream...unless-

Lightning Dust sighed and grabbed my hand with a hoof. "Yes, the same mind of the pony you're borrowing Lightning Dust. Just follow me. All your questions will be answered."

As we walked aimlessly, I was starting to wonder how much control over I had over my dream. Thoughts of how dream space and dream creation worked began to cloud my mind. I was curious as to how Lightning and I were able to share a dream for a second, but it seemed Lightning spent enough time in this place to know what this was all about. After all, in the time it took for me to think it through in my head, a door appeared out of thin air right in front of us. Lightning Dust nudged her head towards it. She wanted me to have a peek at what was inside. I opened the door and was blinded by sudden flash of light it emitted.

I open my eyes again. Of course, just to mock my lack of vacation, I'm back in my cabin. This time, just to complicate things even more, there are three of us now. Me (as a human) and two Lightning Dusts. One was standing right beside me while the other was crying out on the veranda. I knew this. "It's a memory."

"Bingo," Lightning Dust replied. "This is created from your memories, not from what actually happened."

I looked around. My brother wasn't in the room. I started to understand what she meant. I didn't see Greg while I was crying, so naturally, he wasn't in the memory of the scene. The dream space was limited to what I knew. 

"Why did you choose this?"

Lightning Dust sighs again. "I didn't choose this, your subconscious did. I just showed you the door...literally. Also, I think you're subconscious likes using a lot of redundant symbolisms."

Suddenly, another flash of light later and the scene changes to another memory...back to when I was 'tortured' earlier today. "That's why I brought you here," Lightning Dust said. She pointed a hoof at Tic-tac, the other Greg. "To talk about him."

"I thought you said my subconscious brought me here. How did you control the setting change just now?"

Lightning puts a hoof on the back of her neck. "Yeah...about that...It's kind of both of our subconsciouses controlling this. This is actually our dream."

She had access to everything that happened today...that means..."You've been watching me...ever since I woke up as you. You've been watching everything that happened."

"We're kind of..." Lightning Dust then mumbles something inaudible. "Ever since you jumped out of the boat. The whole thing reminded me about flying on the dizzitron and-"

"-I had the memory too." It seemed I was becoming Lightning Dust in more ways than one. "You're continually getting more involved with what's going on in my head."

Lightning nods. "How did you know?"

Though I didn't want to show it, my subconscious started to play a memory from just moments ago. The scene didn't change, it was an auditory memory from right before I went to sleep.

"Physically, most certainly, they are different from us. But inside those changed bodies are human minds."

Lightning Dust looks around. "What is this?"

"It was on the radio right before I fell asleep. Just listen."

My mind went on fast-forward and hit play in the later part of the interview. I don't think I really payed attention to the stuff in-between to replay it again, anyways. “Could you play back that last part, zooming in on Pinkie Pie’s eyes," the guy viewing the vlog asks. "I want to catch her thinking about the question.”

"I wasn't paying too much attention, but then I heard the name Pinkie Pie." I had to fill in what was missing from the visuals since the program was televised and on the radio. "The show was broadcasting a vlog from Pinkie Pie. Listen to what the guy says."

"What do you think of Gilda," the Q&A voice from the vlog asked.

"At this point, the video was paused where the first voice evaluating the footage says,-"

“It is true, there’s a foreign mind in that body! They were just talking to each other at that moment.”

I am already sitting down head buried in my hands. "You haven't been in my head long enough for you to talk to me while I'm awake. I'm sure that's going to change shortly."

"So..." Lightning Dust says. "That's going to be us soon?"

I nod.

"No known way to stop it?"

I shake my head.

"...I had a feeling this was going on."

I looked up. What did she mean she had a feeling?

"Just some clues like reading your mind..." "

Oh great. There goes any kind of privacy I still had.

Look, Mikey-"

"-Don't call me that." I always hated being called that.

"...We've should get to New York. Something big's going down. We'll find our answers there."

Lightning Dust didn't have a really good poker face. She was merely keeping her hopes up thinking that it'll all be over once we're in NYC. I was doing the same thing as well. We wanted to go our separate ways as quickly as possible. She was probably the lone wolf type, the kind that don't care much about anybody except for themselves. I just wanted to be human again, not having to deal with hooves and being tossed out to go on an adventure. It wasn't the life for me. Though it wasn't my fault, I was holding her back.

"That reminds me," Lightning Dust said. The scene transitions yet again to the beginning of the car ride. I chuckled a little considering I was in the car ride both physically and in my dream. Dust and I were in the backseats. There was still LA traffic and neither Tic-tac nor memory me were talking. Lightning Dust pointed a hoof at Tic-tac. "He's holding you back. You better leave him by next morning."

"What!? Tic-tac? He saved my life!"

"I don't care what he did. The car driving is holding you back. You could make it across country in less time with ease. And getting caught in the first place and putting our life in danger was your fault. You trust the humans. This is what you get."

"Hey! It just so happens you're talking to-"

"Am I?" Dust shifts into a replica of human me. "What is a human? Huh? I certainly wouldn't consider myself one if I was thinking like you were back when you were tortured."

Damn. That's right. She was there when that happened.

"Now, if I recall, I detected a little hatred there. And to your former species, nonetheless."

I found myself shrinking...literally. As she went on and on, I couldn't even tell if I still had the mind of a human. My sudden enthusiasm that gave me the boost to leave the ship, my recent loathing of all meat products, all signs of mental change. I reflected on my reflection and saw the inner me start to show, a pony. Besides his teal coat, I looked like my human...my former human self. I had the same hairstyle as I used to the only difference being it went further down my longer neck. My face looked very much the same but with a few changes to go with being a horse now. I wanted to speak out and say "No" and deliver some oscar-worthy speech about how my inner self wouldn't suddenly change no matter what, but even I couldn't deny I was coaxing a big lie for myself to hide that I am no longer human.

"It's not just any race, the human race. Now I might not have been in your noggin your entire life, but I really doubt you said something like that when you were a human." She reverts back into her pony form. "So I ask you Michael, am I talking to a human?"

By the time that speech was delivered, I had completely believed her. What remained was the Earth pony version of myself, my true self, the one I had hid since this adventure started. I had no choice. I had to abandon Tic-tac.

"That's what I thought. Don't act like the recusant hero. You're not one of them anymore. Have it done by tomorrow morning. Else, we'll see how long you last with him on your side. Both you and I know he's just slowing down the trip to The Big City."

Everything began to fade. The dream was ending. The moment before I opened my real eyes again, I had one last glimpse at the sad pony on the other side of the window.


*     *     *


Date: Thorsday
Time: 5:51 PM 
Location: Unknown (Inside Tic-tac's car) 

When my eyes opened, I was in the same stance as I was in the dream. The reflection, however, was Lightning Dust's. The dream may be over, but she was still in my head. Her control of her body again was regaining. She would probably even have enough power to temporarily take control of her body again sometime in the near future. Then I turned to Tic-tac, his eyes still fixated on that road. I didn't know whether not I should tell him, the only real difference was the choice of either seeing the heartbreak or imagining the heartbreak. I decided to put it on hold if I were to tell him later.

Luckily, I woke up fairly calm, not attracting Tic-tac's attention. The last thing I needed was to explain to him I'm actually sharing minds with the crazy mare whose body I’m stuck with. While the sun nearly set over the horizon, it was still very bright outside. I didn’t even have to get a look at the city to know where my first night was going to be spent.

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada