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In Your Dreams

by Samsara

Chapter 1: Prologue

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Prologue

Thunder intermittently broke the white noise of heavy rain on Fluttershy's roof; first every few minutes and then every few seconds.  The terrified little pegasus sat in her bed, holding the covers up above her head like a checkered shield against the storm as per the usual routine.  Apart from the natural drumming and cymbal crash of the rainstorm, all that could be heard in the pale darkness was a chattering of teeth and the occasional whimper of an exhausted pony who had been kept up all night by it.  Fluttershy's mind always wandered —usually to darker places— when the elements turned against her: rain was alright, but frequent lightning or high winds could set her to fits.  This stormy night was no exception, even though she had been counting down to it for about a week.  Rainbow Dash had taken the time to give her a warning of the next lightning storm, though it didn't help quite as much as she'd planned: poor Fluttershy just had nightmares about its arrival during the following six days.

Fluttershy's animals, on the other hand, all slept like babies in their warm shelters during storms; Angel in his absurdly ornamented house, the rabbits in their warrens, the mice in their holes, the birds in their nests and the other critters snuggled together in their various dens, burrows, nooks, clusters, et cetera.  Fluttershy cast her gaze over all of them and was able to  pick out the pale blue and gray shapes of her friends' sleeping areas mostly by memory.  She envied them; mostly for their ability to sleep through just about anything, but again for their mates.  For as long as she'd been tending the edges of the forest, no one but the animals showed any particular interest in her, or she was just too oblivious to notice.  As we all do, Fluttershy longed to feel comforting warmth around her and the gentle pulse of breath on the back of her neck.  Just the thought brought a smile and blush to her cheeks, though only briefly enough for her to remember just how lonely she was.  She sat in her bed, abandoned to consciousness even by her animals, and wrapped her forelegs around herself.  Even though it was entirely simulated, the soft embrace she gave herself so often got her through nights like this one.

After about five more minutes of trying unsuccessfully to sleep, Fluttershy let out a huff of frustration and threw her covers off of her body as aggressively as she could muster.  As with all of her actions, though, these were gentle and kind; the heavy blanket was carefully aimed so as not to disturb any of the ferrets that had made their home under her footlocker, and the "huff" was more of a quiet sigh.  The pegasus quietly trudged around animal beds and beneath cages with all the care of a jewel thief, and her ultimate goal was her bathroom.  Apart from being one of the only places that animals weren't constantly occupying, Fluttershy had a stash of several different kinds of medicine hidden away in there, one in particular that was a new arrival.  Twilight was concerned about Fluttershy's lack of sleep and recommended a preferred brand of sleeping pills.  The pegasus stepped into her bathroom and silently shut the latch on the door, gave a sigh, and walked over to the counter top.  She looked herself in the droopy, bloodshot eyes and had to fight a smile from the visage that looked back.  Her hair was so messy from tossing and turning all night she looked almost like a yellow Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy reached out a hoof and opened up her medicine cabinet, which twisted her doppelganger out of view and replaced it with an eclectic assortment of differently colored pill bottles.  She selected the one with the least amount of dust on it, Twilight's recommendation, and wrestled off the cap with her teeth.  Before doing anything, Fluttershy held the bottle up to the light and read over the side effects.  This was a common ritual of hers any time she used conventional medicine —she often preferred more holistic methods of healing, if possible— and, to no surprise, she found and read aloud the laundry list that followed.

"Burning or tingling under the hooves, dizziness, drowsiness...  Well I hope so... stomach pain, dry mouth, swelling of the face or tongue, changes in appetite, unusual dreams, thoughts of suicide, and occasional headaches..."  Fluttershy looked up into the medicine cabinet once more and kept her face fixed in one position as she closed it again.  

"What do you think, Fluttershy?  Worth it?"  She asked herself with a smirk.  The reflection of an exhausted pegasus shrugged and gave its reply, "Meh, roll the dice."

With that decision, Fluttershy popped two of the small blue pills, reattached the foal-proof cap —with a small degree of frustration, of course— and headed back to bed just as carefully as she'd come in.  Somehow her sheets felt warmer, her pillow felt softer, and she simply felt more relaxed.  Time slipped past in a greater and greater distortion, and the little pegasus's mind drifted from barely conscious to a deep, unrivaled sleep.  As she slipped into the medically induced coma, she remembered seeing the colors flash in from a bolt of lightening, which split in her window until she saw every color she knew existed.  The bright flash of color, and the simple pleasure of falling down into the depths of unconsciousness painted Fluttershy's subconscious before she even arrived, and for the first time in weeks she fell asleep.

Fluttershy sat in her fragmented reconstruction of a lovely meadow as her first dreams came to life.  The plush turf of grass appeared just before she spotted it, and oh, of course, a smell to go with it, and dew sprinkled over the blades.  It was dawn, still cool enough for her to see her breath, and behind her breath the world.  Trees far taller than any buildings, even in Manehattan, and thick meadows of beautiful flowers, every size from tiny petals to barn door sized canvasses, spread out to the very borders of her view.  In the sky sat pale, thin clouds gradually whittled down by the gentle breeze of chilly morning air which took its time to caress everything in the same valley as the dazed pegasus at the center of it all.  The dream world was expansive and unfolding before her very eyes; everything she looked at had been just finished and formed, and that which she looked away from disappeared just as quickly.  She stood, listening to birdsong that hadn't existed until that very moment, and stepped forth into the verdant painting that had become real for her.

Fluttershy danced through the tall grass and the taller flowers surrounding her.  Her mind flooded with positivity, and seemed almost to demand that she enjoy every possible second of this wonderful place that she could.  Momentarily, she had forgotten her wings, and yet was not distressed in the least; she bounded over gaps and bushes, spotting every possible being in an ecosystem that she could think of.  The insects, fish, frogs, weasels, rodents, higher order mammals, and frankly even the wind through the leaves seemed to harmonize into beautiful music as the ebullient pegasus minced by.  In that isolated instance the very meaning of life was to enjoy the world, and the only thing that had any effect on its surroundings was whatever Fluttershy was immediately focused on, everything else either randomized or went away after she looked someplace else.  The rapidly changing chaos of the dream kept Fluttershy enticed for what felt like hours, or perhaps minutes, though everything was broken through by a single, continuous sound.

At first Fluttershy couldn't identify the sound; it started out as a drone, but seemed to have a little too much complexity for merely that.  Then she thought it might be some kind of animal noise, but she'd never heard it before.  The curious pegasus stepped forth into the forest of insanely tall flowers and shrubs in search of the drone.  All the while the drone became gradually louder and more clear, and it was only when Fluttershy was just a little way away that she recognized it as melancholy humming.  She followed the tune to a fan of gigantic verdant grass blades blocking her view.  Her mind was abuzz with curiosity, but her actions were tentative as was typical for her.  Eventually excitement won the battle over Fluttershy's emotions and she stepped forward.  Beyond the blades of grass came a flourishing of butterflies whose wings were bright teal and tipped with dark purple.  When the colorful explosion had cleared away, the pegasus finally saw the creature who had lured her there, and heard him more clearly as well.

The colt was sitting upon a dense thicket of grass, patting some freshly turned earth with his hoof and continuing his song.  His coat was forest green, but his mane and tail were a few shades darker, with the odd occasional streak of teal running through their robust verdure.  Fluttershy noticed that a beautiful creeping ivy had grown up along his hind legs and had woven itself into his tail; though it had not quite reached his mane yet.  As the pony finished his sombre humming and turned away, he showed his eyes for the very first time, heavy enough with sadness to make them glitter with tears not quite drawn yet.  The large gems were the same teal that streaked through his hair, and though his eyes betrayed his depression, his snout cracked a gentle smile.  

"Sleep well, my friend."  He said with a voice that only the ring of youth could create.  He hadn't yet developed the harshness of an adult, and yet he appeared fully grown: almost ethereal in his unconventional attractiveness.  The mysterious pony stood and began to walk away from the mound; his movements were graceful and practiced, as though he had the weight of a cloud.  He trotted quickly on toward Fluttershy's general direction, which prompted the pegasus to instantly retreat back into the vegetation and hide herself.  She stepped back, breathing heavily as the adrenaline of very nearly being busted brought up her heart rate, only to be startled even worse by the same soft voice behind her.  "Hello, Miss Pegasus!"

Fluttershy tried to wheel around and look at whomever had made the sound, but found herself in quite the quandary: her legs were tangled in something.  The pegasus wrenched with all her might and let forth a scream, though she didn't realize that her movements in the dream had translated, upon her awakening, to her actual body.  Once she finally got a hold of herself, she saw that she had somehow managed to hogtie all of her legs together with her quilt, and that her screams had woken up half of the critters in her bedroom.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that everyone, I scared myself waking up..."  Fluttershy said; she found an eerie familiarity in that particular explanation.  Angel sat at the foot of her bed with his arms crossed and his foot angrily tapping.  "Oh go back to sleep."  Fluttershy said with a huff, and threw her blankets over herself; she wasn't in the mood for Angel's spoiled shenanigans.  She tried herself to fall into a slumber, but her dozing only led to a rude awakening with her alarm three hours later.  Upon waking, Fluttershy rubbed her temples and nearly destroyed her blaring clock.  With a sigh, she heaved herself out of bed and into the beautiful rays of sunlight filtering in through her curtains.

After she brushed her teeth, Fluttershy noticed that the grogginess had all but disappeared from her awakening, and she was as bright eyed and bushy tailed as most of her friends.  She eyed the sleeping pill bottle on the edge of her sink and gave a smirk; they certainly worked, and even the "unusual dreams" weren't all that bad.

Next Chapter: Lovebird Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes
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