That is all.

If Streak felt guilty before this conversation, I imagine it's going to be a whole lot worse now.

This was an other great chapter as usual. I was honnestly expecting to see a continuation of the last chapter about Breaburn being unhappy being in Clouddaile, but instead we get to see Soarin discovering that he is not as well as he might have thought from his first encounter with his coltfriend way back then and that all the signs of his illness where all there all this time; I would easily imagine that is very scary him to be afflicted by such a condition or any conditions that might put is flying career in jeopardy, especially sense it is all built around the idea that you have to be in peak physical condition at all times.

I am on the verge of tears right now

Same here, wow. Such a twist the events are escalating with no pause and just wow. I do feel for Soarin right now and left to wonder how Brae's gonna react to this new information.

hmm. Didn't really see this coming. Can't wait to see where it goes.

Holy crap, dude. That's one doozy of a plot twist you've been waiting over two years to reveal to us.

This is the part of the story where everything gets worse and worse, isn't it? Last chapter, it was drunk Braeburn crying over trees and Soarin's doubts becoming more frequent as the chapter progressed. This chapter, Soarin's reaction to learning about his injury. And we still don't know how his legs got broken! Everything's happening so fast!

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I think that means I'm doing my job. Thanks for letting me know!

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Totally. In some ways, though, I think he feels relieved. Now he can actually make sure his friend is okay.

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There's definitely a lot for Soarin' (and Braeburn, too) to process, and as much as I wanted to show some of it in this chapter, I think it ended where it was supposed to.

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Things are always darkest before they go pitch black. It can be tough to hold back the spoilers, but the nice part about planning everything ahead of time is being able to seed things earlier on in the story. If you ever happen to re-read Sensation, I hope you'll pay attention to all the times Soarin' tried and failed to read something, especially in the chapters leading up to this one.

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Life unbearably complicated sometimes, and so is love. For now, they are in each other's embraces, and that will have to do.

And I'm glad you are relating to Soarin'. He's got some things he still needs to work out, and I'm working really hard to give him room to both grow and still be a flawed pony. I love this guy so much, and truth be told, it gets tough writing some of these scenes sometimes.

7343938 Well, I'm re-reading it anyway to pick up tidbits for my future over-analysis about the theme of reflection. You mentioned many of them in this chapter anyway

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Yeah, good point. That was actually WordGuru's idea, and I'm glad he suggested it. It's tough for me to have perspective on everything that everyone else remembers. After all, I'm thinking about the story all the time, but readers need reminders for serialized stories like this.

This might seem a little inappropriate, but I feel that this vid's song would be the theme of this fic if it were animated.

The lyrics on this vid are a bit off, but I believe that a correct version can be found here... partially

Out of curiosity, what type of Aphasia does Soarin have? How severe is it?

To elaborate on my own experiences with the disorder, though my family has not officially diagnosed the disorder itself, my father (Neurologist) has said I displayed symptoms of it since childhood. In my experience today, though I thankfully do not display any of the severe symptoms, expression in terms of finding the right words to express myself accurately sometimes has been trying. As if you know what you want to say, yet you cannot find the words to express yourself properly, forcing you to substitute with words that though adequate, don't feel like the fit in properly. To say the least, it is frustrating when trying to find the proper words to express oneself. My speech disorder back then was apparently bad enough to the degree that I was sent to a speech therapist to help me along, which I believe helped in at least some regard.

As an adult though, I feel that I still sometimes struggle with it, though I am well able to carry out a normal life. Hell, able to read and write, though sometimes slow to understand new concepts and absorb it. Thus I suppose you could say I have either Anomic or nominal Expressive Aphasia.

In regards to the story, I will admit I didn't catch Soarin having difficulties with regards to reading comprehension. Though here it is presented as a degradation over time. My question is how this will affect him for the duration of this story and his life. In comparison to myself, Soarin has acquired this condition as an adult. In this I suspect Soarin will have much greater difficulties in recovering with regards to therapy due to how the brain is less malleable at this stage in life, but it still retains some plasticity.

Thus far Soarin is well able to display fluent speech with little difficulty, though his ability to understand written word has degraded. With these symptoms in mind, this leads me to believe that Soarin has either Primary Progress Aphasia or Wernicke's Aphasia judging from what descriptions of Soarin's condition of it.

So begs the question, how are you going to further factor this into the story itself? Recovery with this condition is a long process, perhaps even a permanent one as an adult. Even if Soarin does recover a majority of his functionality through focused therapy dedicated to at least decreasing the frequency of the symptoms, it will remain with him for the rest of his life. Hell, perhaps such an accident might prompt a reform in the Wonderbolts with regards to safety equipment with regards to head trauma.

With all of this in mind, recovery to some degree is possible. But Soarin's aphasia will hang over him as a shadow, thus will be prominent in one form or another. I am curious as to how you will personally handle it, and as to what experience you have with the disorder personally, or with a know friend/family member.

Keep up the good work.

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I'm sure it's just a matter of time before Hasbro offers to buy this story so they can animate it. When that time comes, I'll pass along the recommendation. It's a great song, and it sounds very heartfelt. Thanks for sharing it with me!

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Thanks for all the info, Forlance! I appreciate all the insight. Next time, though, please put a spoiler tag around some of it, if you wouldn't mind.

As for my own experiences, when I was younger, my grandfather went through a progressive loss of his ability to speak coherently as well as to read. This may have had more to do with Alzheimer's, but the effects of it on his brain stick with me to this day. More recently, when I was in grad school, I was tangentially involved in a research project that involved new aphasia classification methods, and I learned a lot about the different types of aphasia. I know how serious it is, and I don't want to treat the subject flippantly. My goal is to be respectful of what people with aphasia go through. That's one of the strengths I've found with the frame story: by having Soarin' tell the story from his present-day perspective, I can show how it's still affecting him. Hopefully you and others feel like it's a fair representation.

To answer your questions, well, if you know me, you know I don't like to spoil anything. I will say, however, that I plan to give you more details in future chapters (you'll know it when you see it), and I'll be sensitive to how Soarin's condition continues to affect his life. I assure you, I'm not a fan of "sad porn" – there's a reason I'm doing this to my favorite pony (beyond just Rule #6).

Thanks again for reading my story. I love when people think critically about it, and readers like you make me smile. Also, fun fact: I used both of those websites you linked to in my initial research for the story.

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Huh, wonder what the intro vid would look like then...

Funny enough, I think you could supplant the protagonists of most of the Gundam serials with your fic's Soarin' and/or Braeburn and they would fit in without too much of a hitch. Especially with MSG Unicorn's Banagher Links, who is essentially a recolored, human Soarin'... Give it a watch, it's a really good series.

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I'll take a look sometime. Thanks!

Oh man, that was deep. I kind of saw something like this happen from some of the clues earlier on. Seeing it actually unfold really hit me hard, especially knowing how everything could just keep on getting worse. Just thinking of how Soarin' will deal with the fear that he has towards the fate of the career that he tried so hard to achieve makes me wish there was something that I could do to help. Even worse is thinking how Braeburn will react to Soarin's disorder and that makes me have my own lump in my throat. I just know Braeburn will take it all out on himself.

Great chapter though! It really gets the feels to start pumping. Keep the amazing chapters going and my feels will keep pouring.

Now that i finally got proper glasses and can read these better again.

What the crap?!

That definitely explains a few things...

But now so many more questions have come up!

Wow. Soarin' can't catch a break! I remember those clues from earlier chapters, but like Soarin' I bought his explanations at the time. Really his trouble with Bottom LIne's written statement was the one that seemed odd to me. Some questions are getting answered, but new ones are being formed to take their place.

I also had to look up what aphasia is. Interesting stuff. Hopefully Soarin' falls into one of the groups where it can improve over time.

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Thanks for the feedback on Bottom Line. And yeah, aphasia hits a little close to home for me, but I'm not surprised people had to look it up. Good on you for picking up on the clues.

I figured he had gotten a concussion, and I was guessing he had dyslexia after the whole “extra fake crust” thing, but this is....something else all together.

I only wish I wasn’t in public when I read this chapter, so I could’ve properly absorbed all these feels and freaked out more.