Wind

The Room faded, closing in lazily like a piece of burning paper. The lights seemed to dim, and even the sun withdrew it's beam from the window. Measure took a deep breath, let his eyelids fall, and lowered his head onto the cool wood of the desk.

This particular dream was so intense and material, but Measure couldn't work out why.

He had no reason to be experiencing it; he'd never had problems such as head trauma or insomnia, but still it plagued him at the worst of times.

First of all, it was... quite frankly, dumb.

Dumb and foalish, as Measure had told himself many a time. But it just seemed all too real, much too real to not be true in some manner.

The pony often seriously wondered if this was some kind of vision into another version of the world, where the containing circumstances were true. Measure knew he should probably see a psychologist about the whole of the ordeal, but, truth be told, he was too frightened of the pony in question (and possibly others) mocking him for it.

The vision commenced, the town landscape appearing out of nowhere and jarring his non-existant eyelids into squinting.

It was usually the same with minor differences each time. He would still be himself, but not quite himself. He felt brighter, more jovial. His mane was too neat, and he wore the kind of smile that was too wide to be purely happy.

Although there was no sound and the view was somewhat hazy, considering it was all in his mind, he could definitely see a good amount of differences. Once or twice he had seen the inside of his flat. It was bigger, as if it had been built for two.

Cleaner as well. There weren't any more wrappers on the shiny-looking carpet, or dishes piled in the sink. But the main detail always stood:

Measure was now a pegasus.

He saw through his his newly-rebuilt form's eyes.

He was trotting briskly through town, greeting ponies and them doing likewise with their silent lips. He felt his facial muscles contracted into a small but genuine grin that seemed to be dripping with that smug "Hey-I'm-an-approachable-guy" likeness that Measure despised.

Then, at the peak of it all, his wings unfurled and he took to the sky. He viewed with anticipation the wild blue sky ahead, like it was calling him; waiting to be discovered.

Measure couldn't exactly control his movements while in the trance, but at the same time he didn't feel surprised by any of them, like it was what he was supposed to do.

He felt himself flap harder, faster, climbing the with air currents and joining a few other pegasi out on the autumn morning.

However, Measure climbed past them, his pegasus instincts begging for more speed.

When he reached an ample altitude, the aquamarine pegasus paused to survey the aerial landscape around him.

He was just below the first cloud layer, the morning pegasi traffic and the town of Ponyville far below.

He spied the Everfree Forest, just outside of town, like an angry predator, dark and menacing, twisting off into the blazing horizon.

Measure took a moment to study the small, multicolored forms moving about on the inches-wide streets and avenues, disappearing and reappearing from the shops and homes with their ever so perfect hay-thatched roofs.

However, the pegasus quickly grew bored. His joints were literally twitching to be stretched and bent.

     Measure shut his eyes, silently counted to three, snap-folded his wings, and dived.

He felt the moisture of the occasional cloud, and could even smell a bit of the fresh batch of pastries the Cakes had just pulled from the oven.

But the Wind.

It was almost indescribable. It felt better than... well, a few things Measure could name.

It hit every part of his body at once, sliding across it and changing direction constantly, coursing through him and giving him even more adrenaline than he already had.

It pushed his fur back, cooling him just as fast as he was heated.

The air resistance did little to slow him, for his wings were flapping almost to the point of blurring.

It was at this point that Measure knew he was born to fly.

He opened his eyes, a difficult task against the air flow. He processed what was in front of him.

Not a few seconds away was terra firma itself, falling toward him tremendously fast. Measure calmly pulled up and curved upwards at a slight angle to the right. He had come quite close to a month in intensive care, but the thought didn't cross his mind.

A few ponies had seen the close call and were either stomping their hooves in excitement, looking up with shocked expressions and short gasps, or jeering at him for almost ruining their bone structure, as well as their day.

Measure was hardly aware of any of this and flew silently steady for a few minutes, reflecting on the dive. He cockily thought that maybe even the element of loyalty would be impressed. He had heard she was an incredible flyer, but the name eluded him. He vaguely remembered her being in the newspaper for something.

The dive had only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed like forever more.

The newly rejuvenated pegasus descended and made a soft landing on a side street. He was just getting his bearings when he heard a voice, seemingly from all directions.

"Meeeaaasssssuureee......"

He didn't speak. He only looked around him and started cantering in a random direction. The voice seemed to be feminine, but Measure wasn't exactly concerned with that at the moment.

"Clooockkwooooorrrk  Meeeaaaaassssssuuuurreeee......"

He ducked into an alleyway. The speaker was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind.

He banged his eyes shut once more, and thought of flying, flying straight out of reality. He felt the air grow warmer around him.

The ambient sounds disappeared.

"Measure? Alright there, bud?"

Measure forced his eyes open and his head up from the desk. He looked frantically around. His office; thank Celestia. He checked the clock.

Only 2 minutes later from when he had entered his reverie. He registered a form to his left.

"Rrr... Redheart?" His voice was croaky.

She cocked her head and gave him a concerned look. "Yeah, it's me alright. What happened here?"

"Wut?"

"You had your snout in your desk and your head in the clouds."

It all flashed back to the stupefied pony, and he chuckled at the irony of what Redheart had just said.

"Uhh.... well..."

Nurse Redheart stepped a bit closer and put a gentle hoof on Measure's shoulder.

"Mes, are you sure you don't-"

"Please don't call me that" Measure said curtly, turning slightly. It was a pet peeve of his.

"Right. Sorry."

Redheart kept the hoof on his shoulder, which he found uncomfortable. "I'm just a bit worried about you. You're usually fairly upbeat. But every day for two weeks you come in all down-looking and-"

"Red, I just- can I call you Red?" A nod.

"I'm just having a lot of personal... complications. I don't need to bother you with them, and I won't."

Nurse Redheart thought for a moment. "Well, I don't see it as a burden. I see it as you helping yourself to get something off your back which is so obviously troubling you" She threw him a small smile.

"Well, maybe we could start with you taking your hoof off my back" Measure half-joked.

"Right. Sorry." Redheart stepped back and grinned encouragingly.

They stared at each other in silence until Measure realized she was waiting for an answer.

"Oh! Oh yes, I suppose if you wanted me to.. um... talk to you.. I could do that." Measure said with a nervous chuckle.

"Good. We'll have to work something out later. Berry is just a little too paranoid about her foal's cold, so I should probably get back to-"

"Nurse?" Berry Punch's husky voice sounded from the lobby right on cue, along with more coughing. "I think Ruby needs a larger dose!"

Redheart rolled her eyes and turned to go. "Later then?"

"Later" Measure confirmed.

She closed the door soundlessly.

Measure the earth pony tried not to remember the vision, as he pulled the abysmal stack of papers toward him once again, but this time, he didn't feel burdened by it in the least. As he sighed, something suddenly occurred to him.

This was the first time the vision had actually been difficult to "come out" of; usually it just ended on it's own. It had also been more vivid, the colors had seemed to jump out more than usual and the crowd of ponies hadn't blurred together as much.

He entertained the thought for a moment, before catching himself being paranoid, and putting the thought behind a mentally closed door.

As he began to write, Measure the earth pony hummed an entirely made up, and off key, tune.