In the grand scheme of things, Rhymey Ward hasn't been through near as much as most of Starfleet, or even of the world. His commander survived the near death of one planet and the total annihilation of another. The Princess of the Crystal Empire, besides losing two siblings, ran to escape a curse of no one's making.
And yet, just like them, he's having nightmares.
The source is admittedly of a much smaller scale than Lightning's or Cadance's - he fears losing his talent, in brief. Logistically, the Phantom of Magic shouldn't be able to touch him to take the eponymous; but the dream pours it into him anyway. And after a streak of... less-well-received works of late, who's to say that he can stay as acclaimed a poet as he is a soldier even without that threat?
To the desperate writer, there is only one solution to this. A magnum opus, a work of his greater than United Equestria has ever seen.
Will his duties aid him in this great task, or drag him down still further? What role will his sister play? And how much of himself must Rhymey lay bare to bring the Taleweaver to life?
A Starfleet Magic 'slice-of-life-esque' reconstruction, intended to slot into Season Four. MLP:FiM and characters © Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Some very minor original characters © myself, with one exception; the rest (incl Rhymey) © DakariKingMykan. Hack Writer © Ferry.
With the one incredibly minor nitpick that 'the impending Dark King stuff was at the risk of becoming metafictional, this was a very solid start and a relatable look at artistic insecurity, although:
Is probably my favourite moment, and I did like (as much as one can like this sort of thing) the description of what it feels like to be tortured by the Phantom of Magic. I wasn't expecting to feel much sympathy for 'canon' Rhymey but you managed it somehow, and I even find myself curious as to how you're going to handle his relationship with Fluttershy, and whether it will be a version that I can actually stand.
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You're quite right, I could've worded that a touch better. Right now there are actually a couple more moments like this within future chapter text, full disclosure - to me, they'll theoretically make sense once the idea of writing the magnum opus comes fully into play (edit: by which I mean they fit the concept of a story about stories), but I'll have to make damn sure of which ones work when put into practice and which ones don't.
RE your favourite moment: That was a fairly last-minute addition to make sure the prologue was within the 1,000 word minimum, oddly enough! But I'm glad you liked it; it does help bring things together a little more.
Rest assured, I'll do my best to meet (and hopefully exceed) expectations going forward!