//------------------------------//
// Snails the Snail 
// Story: Making Progress 
// by Filler 
//------------------------------//

It wasn't every day that Snails had a brilliant thought, and of course, today was no different. As clouds lazily drifted across the blue sky above him, he lay on his stomach on a grassy field, watching a snail slime its way through the dirt.

The snail itself wasn't very descript--it was just that, a greenish-brown snail with a spiral shell, crawling over some pebbles, around a clump of topsoil, and over a blade of grass. It wouldn't be special to anypony else, but to Snails, there was nothing else in the world but him and the snail in front of him. He watched it crawl, crawl, and crawl as his eyelids slowly fell...


*


Snails looked around to see giant blades of grass surrounding him. To his left was a giant clump of topsoil, and to his right were a few pebbles. He looked down at himself. He was a snail now. 

He looked around some more. Right in behind him was himself, or rather, who he thought was himself. Snails, the big pony Snails, lay in the grass towering over him, watching him slowly crawl around. 

But to snail Snails, it didn't look like pony Snails was going to do anything to him but leave him to his own devices. He was, after all, just a snail. He crawled around for a little while, took a few bites out of a dry leaf nearby, and felt struck by a sudden feeling of tiredness. As a bird cawed, Snails closed his eyes and drew back into his shell...


*


Snails opened his eyes again to the sound of a bird's caw and saw the snail on top of a dry leaf in the dirt, holed up in its shell, unmoving. He lay on his belly in the grass, as a pony.

Did Snails dream that he was a snail, or did the snail dream that he was Snails? Was Snails the snail? Was the snail Snails? Was there even a difference the two?

Nah, he thought as he shook his head. Snails was Snails, and the snail was a snail. With that, Snails resumed watching the snail as the clouds rolled by.

It wasn't every day that Snails had a brilliant thought, and of course, today was no different.