Ch5: Memories
Sleep was empty, dark, and brief as usual. Morning came swiftly. The sun was filtering in through my eyelids, and I swiftly blocked it out with a hoof. I missed the dusky green darkness of the caves, but for all the fuzziness in my brain I was super excited to get back to recounting my tail, and it wasn’t long before my hoof padded around to find that Pinkie was very much gone from my forelegs.
“Aaahh!” A splitting scream rattled me out of my half awake state.
“Aaahh!” I answered.
A pink fuzzy blob outlined by the library ceiling came into focus. Pinkie was staring down at me, her muzzle crinkled into a worried frown. It took a second before instinct kicked in. I attempted to jump up, but pain shattered through my side and down my leg.
“Shatter, sit!” Pinkie pinned me down. "Twilight, glue stat!"
Her words rolled around my head through the miasma of pain that was clouding my brain. My body froze save for little jerks timed with pulses of agony searing through my side. It started just below my right wing, and shot along a jagged path down the outside of my right front leg. My breaths came short and fast as my chest tightened from strain.
Everypony had gathered around by now. Pinkie was still pinning me, her hooves clamped down on my chest and back as if to hold my shell together. My vision blurred again, the pain was ebbing off under a flow of fuzzy numbness. I could hear everypony freaking out in their own ways, but the details became as blurry as the pain.
The world faded in a jumble of colorful ponies dancing frantically around me. My last glimpse was of Pinkie snatching a bottle of glue from Twilight, and Rarity pulling out some thread alarmingly attached to a thick carpet needle.
It felt like the worst possible time to not be conscious.
Fuzzy blackness...
For some time there was nothing but the sweet embrace of the endless empty void of dreamless sleep far from crazy ponies with glue and scary sharp objects. I never was good at dreaming. Well, that’s not entirely true. I used to dream all the time. I loved the vivid fantasies that would entertain me from dusk till dawn, and would share them now and again with my friends. I used them to help my friends until they all turned into nightmares...
Soo woozy...
I caught the thought. Nightmares. I couldn’t remember if the dreams turned into nightmares, or my friends had. Maybe it was both. It felt like both.
But that is how all changeling memories work. Dreams, hazy and distant, tickling the back of the mind in a misty thick shroud which always kept the full details just beyond the tip of a hoof.
I winced as bright light flooded my vision. Suddenly, I was surrounded by an oddly familiar room. I glanced down to see myself in pony form lying on a couch. So it begins, I grumbled.
I prepared myself. There were no good memories. So, as I watched the scene begin unfolding before me like an immersive theater all around, I knew this wasn’t going to be fun.
|| Play ||
The soft and sweet melody of my marefriend's voice snapped me awake. “Dreams!” My door thudded over and over again. “Dreams! Sweetie, wake up! We’re gonna be late.”
I rolled over on my couch to glance at the time. The target of my fuzzy squinty eyed glare, a small alarm clock, lay on a cluttered coffee table before me decorated with thousands of colorful My Little Breezies stickers.
Seven ten a.m… “Whoa! I’m up!”
I thudded onto the floor in a flurry of hooves, leaped up, and tossed my saddlebags full of books onto my back. I dodged a pile of bags full of old pizza boxes, dried up hay fries, and the worlds most diverse assortment of fast food wrappers.
I remember this. It took me months to collect all those bags of trash! Maybe they used to be valuable? I thought to myself as I surveyed the dream before me.
A disembodied males voice boomed in from the walls around me. “Messy, because you choose daily not to get your life together. Are you happy living like a slob?” I rolled my eyes.
My hoof snagged on a Ponystation controller cord, sending me tumbling into a stack of manga. The console shot out from it’s perch next to my tv to clatter to the floor along with half my games.
I don't need these memories. I discarded them for a reason… The dispassion in my voice felt alien to me.
“Ahh, plot! Seriously? This has to happen now?” I danced in place. Torn between checking up on my precious gateway to better realities, and dealing with the actuality of making it to my college finals in time.
“You’ll never amount to anything until you grow up, and stop this childs play.” Maybe the disembodied voice was right, maybe not, but my hobbies were what kept me sane.
Giving up on hobbies is not growing up! Meeting life’s challenges responsibly, and reaching for your dreams is! Pinkie taught me that.
“Dreams! We gotta go, buck, move your flanks!” The door barked at me. “I want to get this over with. I can’t wait for dinner tonight.” She added with a giggle.
“Coming!” I snagged a small paper bag off the counter by the door, and tossed it in my saddlebag. Luckily I’d grabbed a couple extra cheese sandwiches last night from the deli with my last two bits. “I got us lunch!”
I don’t want to remember this. It’s pointless. I sighed and resigned myself to letting the scene play out though since there wasn’t much to do about it.
I was on the verge of failing, but I’d calculated it all out. I studied hard for the finals. All I had to do was pass them. Nothing was gonna stop me!
I swiftly trotted past an assortment of Breezy figurines, and my prized collection of now disheveled graphic novels.
“Looser…”
I stopped midstride with a start, and turned towards the tiny voice. As did the disembodied me who was watching the scene.
Hay!
“Hay!”
All that met our irritated gaze was the grin of the breezy Plinky, element of happies, frozen in her silly little pose.
I shook it off, my hoof continuing it’s stride forward.
That is just cruel! Did my dreams always suck this bad? At least Pinkie makes a cute breezy.
“Lame!”
Am not!
“Am not!” I spun around, and screamed at the little toy. “She thinks it’s cute that I collect breezys too!”
The little breezy giggled, and gestured to the door. “I never mentioned what she thought, but I guess it’s obvious since you were thinking it too…”
That’s not fair! I never thought that… I think. I was remembering far more than I wanted to. I tried focusing on waking up.
The door thudded. “Sweetie! We gotta go, now!”
I spun back around, and leaped for the door. “Sorry! Plinky was picking on me again.”
“Yeah, that release isn’t as sweet as the pre-episode nine hundred thirty two blind bag series.” Came a sweet muffled reply.
“I know, but I got her off ponybay with custom hair, and it’s a rare edition with cutie marks on both sides!”
Uhg… How long is it going to take me to get to that door? Wait, there were only one hundred sixty episodes in total! Where’d she get that crazy number? Now this dream doesn’t make any sense at all!
|| Pause ||
Suddenly the dream stopped moving, and went silent.
“Uhm, also, breezies don’t have cutie marks.” Fluttershy whispered gently somewhere in my mind.
“Whoa!” I frantically searched for the voice. “Fluttershy? What are you doing here?”
Pinkie chimed in. “Wow! I do make an adooratastic breezy! Too bad she’s a little meanie. I would never judge you for collecting things. In fact, I collect lots and lots of things!”
“Pinkie! Cute word, but how’d you get into my dreams too?” I stuttered. “Uh, uhm… not that I’m really complaining mind you.”
“We’re all here sugarcube.” Applejack chuckled. “So far, this is pretty tame for bein’ a nightmare.”
“Oh my, I really really don’t want to watch a nightmare.” Fluttershy’s voice quaked in my mind. “Please, Mr. Dreams, please think happy thoughts.”
Dash snorted. “Nightmare? Pfftt… he’s being teased by a tiny doll. I’ve had worse nightmares of falling out of clouds. In fact, my boring dreams are more bone shatteringly extreme and awesome than this. Come on S.D., show us what’cha got!”
“Hello! Has anypony even noticed he’s dreaming of himself as a pony?” Twilight chirped in exasperatedly. “Shatter, are these really memories? Were you actually a pony?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you that.” I faltered. Something in my brain screamed, forbidding such knowledge outside the hive. “Oh dear Chrysalis, I shouldn’t have told you that. You aren’t supposed to know that!”
Twilight cleared her throat. “Well technically under your earlier promise of full disclosure.”
I prattled frantically. “When I was ready! I can’t just drop the exact details into your hooves!”
“I see, so… uhm, bad timing?”
Rarity giggled slightly. "You both act as if we all hadn't already figured it out. I mean, it was rather obvious."
"What do you mean?" I mentally gawked at her.
"Yep, totally figured it out." Applejack chuckled.
"Well, uhm, you did kind of tell us Mr. Dreams." Fluttershy giggled softly. "Don't you remember?"
"What? No, of course not!"
"Ehem," Twilight cleared her throat. I could hear paper rustling. "Day of one of evaluation, six fifteen pm. The subject stated..."
I grumbled defensively, and cut her off. “I’m trying to sleep! Would you all please get out of my head.”
Twilight continued. “Well, actually, you passed ou…”
Pinkie gasped. “And we were all super worried! Especially after Rarity did that with the huge needle, and the thread, and the glitter! Wow, she did amazing things with that glitter!”
Rarity proudly cut in. “Well, it really didn’t call for gems, one of the few times anypony will ever hear that phrase leave my lips, but it just looked so tacky and drab I couldn’t possibly leave it alone.”
“Wake me up!” Panic cracked my voice. “Please just wake me up, throw some cold water on me, anything! Just get out of my head!”
"No!" Fluttershy shouted quietly. "Throwing water on him now can make the shock much worse, and the glue is definitely not waterproof."
"That isn't the point and you know it." I snapped.
Pinkie chimed in. "Well we can't just leave, this is the fastest way ever to get to know you, right? And if we're running out of time..." Her voice trailed off sadly into a puppy whine.
"Okay, yes, you're right. Pinkie can stay. The rest of you..."
Dash cut in. “Whoa, no way I’m leaving now! I sat through your boring story all yesterday, and you expect me to leave just when it’s about to get good? Feathers to that!”
Twilight cleared her throat, and jittered excitedly. “Besides, we may find the secret to turning you back into a pony tucked away in the furthest recesses of your memory!”
“But I like being a changeling!” I grumbled.
"Wait a second!" Rarity gasped. “Oh… my… sweet… Celestia, Shatter! What happened? How did you go from that handsomely dashing young colt to creepy… this?” I could feel her mentally gesturing to all of me.
“I thought you didn’t like my color scheme?” I asked incredulously, completely distracted from the previous argument.
“Well, darling, excuse me for getting caught up in the exaggerated glow of your dream. Obviously, you thought very highly of your looks at some point.”
Dash snorted. “Dude, seriously? You used your original form from back when you were a pony when you could have shape shifted into anything? Lame, dude, I woulda shifted into a dragon or something!”
Twilight interjected again, her voice sounding hopeful. “It was probably subconscious.” She squealed, “I bet he really wants to be a pony again, deep down.”
“Ooh, or maybe this is the image of who he wished he could be.” Fluttershy sighed, and added with a grumble. “I really didn’t miss the truth speaking part of this.”
“Noted, subject exhibits illusions of… wait,” Twilight grunted in frustration, “this is no time to be psychoanalyzing him." She paused for a second. "Well, actually it kinda is, but that is besides the point. Shatter, what happened? How did you get turned into a changeling?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, there was a lot of oaths, paperwork, and boring orientations..."
"Really? That sounds amazing! Tell me every detail." She squealed in excitement. "Please?"
I couldn’t hold down the panic from creeping back into my voice. "Can you wake me up now? I would appreciate figuring out what exactly happened to my body.”
“Well, actually, we already tried to wake you up, but maybe I could…”
“Boooring... Shell cracked, everypony panicked, then first aid was first aided. End of story, now play!" Pinkie giggled, and I heard an audible click.
|| Play ||
The scene before me, once frozen, now began moving again.
Pinkie, how’d you? I groaned in defeat, and decided it better to let it go as her giggling redoubled.
My attention returned to the scene playing out before me. I accepted the helplessness that settled in my gut. There was no hiding anything now, not that I really had in the past, but I had no control over my dreams.
My hoof reached for the door. I willed it to come back, but it continued forward intent on revealing all the painful memories I’d thought long left behind. I was an outsider staring down at myself as the little me threw the door open, ignoring the taunting giggles of the breezy.
My body leaped out into the hall smiling like a fool, expecting to see my ex who I had been so glad to erase, but my hooves missed the floor of an empty hall. The void sucked in around me as I fell back into the endless abyss, my legs splayed, wiggling frantically out to the sides. I screamed, spinning, a frisbee'd frog flung into the wind by the cruel madness of my mind.
The breezy’s taunting voice followed me. “You always played it so smart, didn’t you? You had everything figured out until your plans fell out from under you. One, by one...”
“What?” I wriggled around in panic. “Where is…” The name of my ex was garbled and lost. “What did you do with her?”
“Duh, I threw her away, just like she threw you away.” The breezy ‘harrumphed’ condescendingly. “You should be thankful…”
“She didn’t throw me away! She moved on to a better college, she was following her dreams!”
“Without you!” The voice cut through like a knife.
“But I didn’t pass! I failed the entrance exams that day…”
“And every day after. You were too busy thinking about your glorious future with your marefriend, and how amazing it would all be…”
“So what, I test badly. Nopony’s perfect! I had outstanding scores otherwise.”
“Look how much good that did you…” I couldn’t reply, I had no come back for that. I could feel the despair of my past, that I tried so hard to cut from my memories, creeping into me once more. “Your father was right, wasn’t he?” The breezy sneered.
“I did just fine for myself! I moved on to get my life together. I even wished her luck as she left with a smile. All I needed was a good paying job, and then I would have come back and offered her the world!”
“Nice excuse, but get some self esteem, and drop the plot. You let go of everything that ever mattered to you, and it never came back, because you weren’t brave enough to fight for it.”
“But, I would have held her back if I followed…” The fight drained from my voice. The color drained from my body. “I just needed time...”
“Pathetic! Keep talking, maybe you'll actually believe your own lies when you stop crying yourself to sleep.”
Hay! I was young and stupid! I was fighting in my own way!
“And, you never saw her again.” The voice stated calmly, knowing it had already won.
She must have met a nice colt somewhere down the line. I stated flatly, emotionlessly. It was so long ago in a life far far away, I honestly didn’t care anymore.
Images of a faceless mare, and colt sitting by the Canterlot falls in the waning sunlight popped into view.
Whatever, life moves on... I snapped irritably. It suddenly dawned on me that the image of myself was gone, and the breezy was addressing my thoughts directly.
“Except yours. You never went anywhere. You stayed in the same apartment playing games, collecting useless junk, and failing at life while everypony around you made something of themselves.” The voice giggled, and suddenly sounded a lot like Fluttershy’s. “Oh my, did you need to be taken care of?”
I can take care of myself! I growled.
“I can get you more newspaper, and water if you’d like.”
I've had enough of this…
“And everypony’s had enough of you.” The voice sent a chill down my spine. I recognized it as my fathers. “Get a job.”
I had a job!
“Get a real job, not that dead end excuse for a highschool dropout position you are working now. There is no real advancement opportunities in it, and it doesn’t have anything to do with your cutie mark. Why did you go to college anyway? Think of your future! Follow your cutie mark, it knows best. I know you can do it if you would just put your mind to it. You have all the potential in the world…”
Enough! Nopony teaches you how to be an adult. Everypony is left up to their own methods to figure it out for themselves. I learned the hard way. My cutie mark was fun, but it didn’t pay the bills, and I moved on to find a new place in the world! Not every cutie mark brings in the bits.
“Did they teach you that, dear?”
Mom?
A faceless mare popped into view. I vaguely recognized her. “Maybe, you should just find a nice mare, and settle down. Don’t worry about your father, he’s just trying to give you a nudge, but you should really listen to him. Lots of pony’s have talents that don’t bring in a lot of bits, but at least they are happy working. I’m not so sure about your new friends either, honey. I really worry about you. ”
I was facing off with my mother directly. I barely noticed that I had been pulled physically into the dream, and given my own body. My thoughts were no longer projected into the void, but verbalized directly. I quickly missed the safe anonymity of being a disembodied voice.
“But… but I like my new friends…” I passed a hoof over my newly shaved head. “It’s never good enough for anypony is it? I can’t just be me, being me, enjoying being me, for the sake of just being me, can I? I always have to change for somepony. I’m never good enough. I needed better grades to keep my marefriend, I needed a better job for dad, I needed better friends for you, I gotta live up to my cutie mark for everypony, because that is what society expects!”
A new voice, and a dark shadowy figure behind glowing green eyes to accompany it. "And you need a better life for yourself, because you can never be happy with the mediocrity the talent you were born with will garner.”
“Yes!” I harrumphed triumphantly. “Exactly! I have dreams and aspirations.”
“And a world which is always pulling you down. Remember how I found you. Down, out, crying on the side of a bridge ready to throw it all away with one fatal step? City life isn’t like the country. Cutie mark talents are a dime a dozen here. The market is flooded with talented ponies, because every single pony has one.”
“Well, yeah…” I replied sheepishly. “Hence why society is prosperous enough to offer generous social services.”
“There you have it. It’s the same tragic story over and over again, friend. In fact it sounds a lot like my own. Pony gets cutie mark. Pony gets excited about vast unlimited potential. Pony gets promised a job in said area, and then pony finds out that he’s just a drop in the trough of thousands of others just as special as he is. And finally, pony’s dreams are crushed under the weight of the constant struggle to meet everypony’s impossible expectations, including their own. Then pony ends up living on the princesses bit.” The figure inched forward to whisper in my ear. “Makes a special talented pony feel not so special, now doesn’t it?”
I grumbled. “I’ve done everything I can think of to get ahead! I studied, I worked hard, I earned credit, but no matter where I look, if there is a method or niche to make bits at doing something then somepony is already doing it! It’s like you really have to know somepony to get anywhere.”
“Exactly! But you do know somepony, and, friend, have I got the perfect opportunity for you.” I recognized the voice now as Darkwing, my hive recruiter. The shadowy figure threw his leg over my shoulders. “Walk with me, and let me tell you a little about where I come from. We offer full benefits, guaranteed work, full room and board, and a close tight nit understanding community who won’t judge you for who you are whether you follow your cutie mark destiny or not. The vast majority of us don’t, so trust me, we will understand if you deviate and simply accept you for who you are.”
“I don’t have to change for anypony?”
“Not at all, unless you really want to. Believe me, if you want to, then we make it really really easy to change into whoever you want to be. Of course there’s an ample trial period, just in case you change your mind.”
Elation flooded through me. “Whatever, sign me up!”
The void opened back up, and I could feel myself falling again. The deep green pulsating hugh of the caverns back home slowly glowed into view below. The panicky drum of my heart calmed as I plunged towards the thrumming of my hive. The stress of life ebbed away, I breathed a deep sigh of relief, and let the rythmik hums of my brethren run through me.
“So good to be home…” I welcomed the green hue of the caves that swallowed me down into the depths of their welcoming comfort.
|| Pause ||
“Whoa, whoa pony!” Applejack screamed. “Just, whoa a minute. Did you seriously volunteer to be a changeling?”
I hesitated a second. “Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. There is a process, and a lot of chances to pull out, and…”
“And Mr. Dreams never once took any step backwards, because the changelings had everything planned from the beginning. They played on your feelings to manipulate you into wanting something different, and waited until you were at your lowest emotional point to drive their methods home!” Fluttershy actually growled. “Why those manipulative, advantage taking… oooh, I’m so angry. They should be ashamed!”
She paused for a moment. “Uhm, they can’t hear me, right?”
“No silly, it’s just a dream.” Pinkie giggled. There was an edge to that giggle. I could feel Pinkie’s mask of smiles slowly cracking again. “Dreams can’t hurt anypony.”
“Well, technically this is all based in memories.” Twilight cut in matter of factly. “So, Shattered Dreams has already been hurt, but we’re safe.”
“Nopony hurt me!” I snapped irritably. “I chose this willingly…”
Rarity cooed. “Oh, you poor thing. You’ve been brainwashed beyond recovery.”
“I’m not brain…”
|| Play ||
I was forcefully cut off as the scene around me suddenly jerked and swirled past. I fell deeper into the endless tunnel. I felt the sensation of falling rapidly, but save for the green glowing veins in the rock around me, it was impossible to orient myself.
“Such is the nature of dreams,” I grumbled. “Pinkie?”
No answer. The scene moved faster and faster. Green streaks continued to zip and swirl past.
I shouted out louder. “Pinkie! Fluttershy? Girls?”
I heard myself breathing more than anything. The air sucked in, and sighed out softly. The swirls of green were so calming. “I missed this feeling…” My eyes began to slowly close as I resigned myself to the comfort of the tunnels of my homeland.
“Dreamy...” My name called at me soft and distant.
“Shhh…I’m tired, just let me enjoy the glow for a while.” I yawned.
“Dreamy! Wake up!” Still distant.
“I know that voice…” I mumbled softly. Breath in, sigh out. I continued to fall. The walls glow pulsated gently with my breathing. Green veins of royal jelly extended from the rock, and whipped around me in a soothing dance that calmed my heart further.
I wanted to hear that voice again, though. It was a nice voice.
“Dreamy!”
The green tendrils faltered before engulfing my body.
“Yay…” I giggled. It makes me happy. I turned from the calming glow of the emerald veins, and looked on ahead. A pinpoint of light appeared off in the distance, and steadily grew larger. The voice was coming from that light.
“Hay, Dreamy! Pay attention silly!” Pinkie’s voice came in loud and clear.
I smiled in excitement. The pinpoint of light flashed brightly, filling my vision with blue sky as the rock tunnels shattered around me. I blinked a few times, and squinted at my surroundings. I was laying in a tuft of grass under an apple tree.
Pinkie danced in place in front of me. “Come on Dreamy! You are always napping all the time. You are going to miss your first day of work!”
“Work?” I yawned.
"Well yeah! This is totally the best place to earn some bits! I know the mare personally, she's one of my best friends. In fact you even met her already. You kinda batted at her hoof the other day outside Fluttershy's cottage." Pinkie giggled. "That was soooo unexpected. It was totally cute too." Pinkie stopped to rub her chin thoughtfully. "I can't figure out if it was cute because it was random, or if it was random because it was cute."
“I’m lost, where are we again? How’d I get here?” I shook the fuzziness out of my brain, and stood up.
“Don’t you remember? Fluttershy said you were house trained, and Twilight said you passed all the Equestrian basic education tests. So, now we’re here to get you a job, because you really really wanted to work!” She threw a foreleg around my shoulders, and pointed off into the distance.
“Here she comes now!“ She began waving. “Applejack!” Pinkie screamed so loud my brain rattled.
Applejack trotted down from the hill next to us with a huge grin. “Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! Ya hungry?”
I was suddenly suffering from the most bizarre deja vu.
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5021879 Sorry for the wait. I actually have a lot of unfinished chapters I can never seem to find time to attend to.
5081440 I'm glad it resonates with you so well. Means I'm doing my job right. Also, I try not to take offense at critiques. They are important for re-analyzing my viewpoints, and methods within stories. The more a critique bothers me, usually the more helpful it is. Also, can't please everyone. XD
Thanks for following the story!
5115040 I would have to agree, but don't forget that there's huge difference between a farm animal, and a sentient... oh wait, I guess in MLP there really isn't. @.o
I was playing more off the 'family' factor and how much it means to AJ.
5120328 I didn't know there was one! All my ideas are my own. I haven't read any changeling fics before that covered the areas I'm playing around with. Just rest assured I'm not going for an undead route.
Wow its lives... I hope
5311400 I write whenever I get some spare time where I'm not tired. I promise to keep plugging along. @.@
So wait, now it's going to be told via dream sequence with Pinkie playing with the play/pause button? ...okay...
And the Changelings are apparently made up of ponies that couldn't find a place in regular society for themselves, which is why they seem to hate ponies so much? Okay, I'll buy that.
It's finally heeere.
A tad bit confusing and disorienting to be honest. I think it's just because of the very nature that you were trying to convey with the dreams. It was written well, just felt disorienting overall (though, I think that was on purpose). Interesting headcanon on origins though. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us!
5316415 You are awesome! That is valuable feedback. The viewpoint did keep changing, and I did mean that on purpose. Its harder than I thought to convey that properly though, and I tried leaving markers to specify when the viewpoint did change. I would really appreciate specifics, and I will try to clarify the more confusing areas. Your feedback is invaluable, and you've already confirmed part of my fears for this chapter. I spent extra time trying to make it as easy to follow as possible, but in the end I've read it so many times that the confusing transitions aren't as apparent anymore, and I really can't judge if it's confusing since I understand exactly whats going on. Frustrating. :/
5311897 Part of why I write pony fanfiction is to test my writing skills to their limits, because I eventually want to write professionally. You will see a lot of crazy story structuring from me just because of that. I'm trying all kinds of different things, and trying not to stick to conventional methods. Some bits work better than others, and not all structures should be used in the same story, but it comes down to testing my skills to their limits. If it's too confusing, then I have failed, and will try again. Please don't be hesitant to call me out on that. I will rework the structure if things are too difficult to follow. Thank you for your feedback. :)
5312533 PANDA!! What did you think, bro? Was it worth the wait, or did I drop the ball? Also, keep in mind the next chapter will be out a lot sooner than this one took. It was originally one chapter, but it got too big and I had to split it... just like usual. XD
Also, I have a few more chapters after that one already half written. At some point I'm hoping to just be able to release a chapter every five days or so. I'm just at a gap bridging point in my written chapters, and it's taking me a while to make the transition. Thanks for all your patience, and skype nudges. ;)
5318613 The transitions of /play/ and /pause/ were good for total transitions from dream to mental conversation. That worked out well. It was the actual dreams themselves that were disorienting. One minute your seeing X pony, the next your falling down an abyss with ponies talking to you, then talking to your thoughts, then your back in your room. It's simply by the nature of the dream you were telling that it came off as a bit disorienting. Dream sequences are really hard to do naturally and without being disorienting. The part at the VERY beginning confused me a bit as I'm not sure if the breezy was supposed to be Pinkie or some other thing (before the first transition).
5319151 Thanks, I will take a closer look at those areas, and I may have a bit of an idea forming that may make it an easier read.
3.bp.blogspot.com/-A9s6SxJxoBo/U9BFx-fdzSI/AAAAAAAAFE8/9ugfEpFohZw/s1600/waiting-game-meme-generator-and-now-the-waiting-game-07fc04.PNG
Until next chapter, RGLloyd, until next chapter.
(Wow if that's how they do it, then they are extra special evil.)
5331885 Yeah, I'm going to rework the beginning a little. Next chapter is lighthearted. :D