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                   Libera Me From Sleep                    
                       -by Psyga315-                       
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                     Hour 0: Prologue                      
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Hour 0: Prologue
The loud, constant droning of rain had become too overbearing. Thankfully, the bass from the stereo helped balance that out. You smile and sighed to yourself as you turn from the rain-filled town to the vibrant party. There was a time where the sight of horse-like creatures would freak you out, but over time, you got used to them… Maybe even liked them.
One such creature grabbed your attention, a pony with a pink fluffy mane with a lighter pink coat. Though that was because you remembered her as the first one you met. Well… fully met. Other ponies you just glanced at before you turned the other way and ran off. Though that was before you met her. Whereas most other ponies shied away from you just as much as you shied away from them, she persisted and followed you until she stopped you and talked you down.
A creepy and stalkerish method, you admit, but it did the trick. You remembered the time you first met her.
It was just after you spent five minutes trying to get away from her. You had entered a shed that you thought you’d be safe in. You took in a few moments to breathe until…
“Hiya!” Her voice almost deafened you as your body jumped up. You shrill out a small scream. You tried to run, but the pony held your legs down. However, they weren't in an aggressive manner, but rather a calming pat. You tremble and just sat there, ready to listen to what she has to say. “Now that I got your attention, let’s introduce ourselves! My name is Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?”
You hesitate, but the look in her baby blue eyes as they almost bulged out and pressed against your eyeballs got you to say your name.
“It’s Andrew.” You said. Pinkie Pie took her hooves off your legs.
“Nice to meet you, Andrew! Sorry for scaring you like that, I just needed to let you know that you don’t have to be alone.” She proceeded to sit right next to you and that’s when you notice that she was about your size… or maybe you were her size… or maybe you were a different size but going through that random portal in that mirror must have shrunk you to their size. Whatever the idea, you now worry about how small you are compared to fully mature horses.
“I’ve seen you the past couple of days running away and hiding from everypony, including Fluttershy, and that’s supposed to be herthing.” She said. “You must have been lonely these past few days.” You nodded. She had a point, after all. Suddenly, you could feel like your ribs were about to be crushed as Pinkie Pie held you. “Well don’t you worry! Your auntie Pinkie Pie’s gonna fix that!” She said.
And fix she did. Within the short span of ten minutes, you ended up acquainting yourself with almost twenty-five ponies in the town. One of whom was roughly your equivalent to a scientist… if science was just advanced magic. You brought up your problem of how you got here to said scientist and while she couldn’t find a magic ‘fix everything’ spell to send you back, she didpromise to find the mirror you fell through or where it’d lead to. However, it was gonna take a while.
So you figured to make the most of the time you had. Thankfully, there was a vacant home you stayed over at for the next couple of days. This is where today came in. With a little help from the scientist and Pinkie Pie pulling a few strings, you were able to walk with Pegasi as they arranged the clouds to create a gigantic thunderstorm.
It took a while to grasp the idea that weather, the seasons, and even the day and night had to be manually operated. And by a while, I mean you had to endure lecture after lecture from the scientist about the place you were in, aptly named Equestria, as well as several other basic information on ponies, such as the aforementioned control of the weather. You remembered her lesson on the day and night, though mostly because she wound up going into a gushing fit over this “Princess Celestia”.
Yes, apparently they had a monarchy there. Go figure. Come to think of it, you never asked if Equestria had a Queen... Eh, questions for later.
However, the lectures were worth it. Watching the Pegasi move the clouds and even assisting them made you feel like a tourist, taking time out of your normal life, stepping out of your comfort zone, and embracing another culture and belief. By the end of it, you didn’t feel like you sat through some boring history lesson but rather you lived through an experience.
After all the clouds were gathered into one place, one of the ponies in charge declared that in five minutes, the thunderstorm would begin and advised people to head home and shelter themselves. You made arrangements prior with Pinkie Pie that you’d stay over at her place for a grand “Thunderstorm Watching Party”. The owners of the house were gone for the weekend, and so Pinkie Pie had free reign over the entire place... Pray to God it doesn't turn into Project X.
Your train of thought was derailed as a loud burst of thunder pierced your ears. Everything instantly went black as the sound of the stereo quickly dying echoed. Several of the ponies began to panic, though you heard Pinkie Pie quell the worries down with two loud words: “SLUMBER PARTY!” The ponies cheered and got ready to sleep. You were surprised with how many sleeping bags they prepared just for this occasion.
Pinkie Pie jumped over to a trembling yellow-coated Pegasus. You’ve seen her when you were at the creation of the thunderstorm. In fact, you actually assisted her, since she was too afraid to move most of the clouds. Though by assist, you basically rode on her and motivated her into pushing clouds. It was the first time you ever rode on a pony before, though you never took the time to enjoy it, as you felt the Pegasus’ body wince every other second and you were too worried about either hurting her or making her cry.
Ever since, you felt something weird, a strong desire to give her a great big hug for her effort. Oh God, were you having… feelings? You blushed and gulped. That’s when Pinkie Pie shot a glance at you and nudged her head. She obviously wanted you to come with her, so you followed her as she carried the Pegasus with her upstairs to her room.
You entered her bedroom as she set down the Pegasus onto the floor. Pinkie Pie jumped to you as you kept up your guard.
“So here’s what I was thinking: while all the ponies sleep on the ground floor, we get to sleep in my room!” She said. “I figured that my bestest best friends would get special treatment, though then I remembered that only one of them was here, so I figured to have you tag along too!" You can tell with her looking in your general direction that she was talking about you. "Oooh this is gonna be so exciting!” She rushed over and began to fix up the bed.
You note that the bed sizes were comparable to your own bed sizes, though you weren’t exactly sure given the whole debate of how big you actually are compared to a pony.
“Oh… Um… Pinkie Pie, you shouldn’t have…” The Pegasus spoke up. It didn’t take a genius to know that she was the Fluttershy that Pinkie Pie told you about. “But… There’s only one bed.” She said.
“Of course there is, silly! We’re all gonna sleep on it!” Pinkie Pie said.
“W-we are!?” Fluttershy muttered as you can see a very visible blush on her. You also noticed that her wings seemed to have sprung up. You're not quite sure what that is... Maybe you'll bring that up with the scientist. Pinkie Pie nodded as she jumped onto the bed.
“Come on you two! Hop on!” She said. You felt a bit of a chill in your spine. You were never one for sleepovers. The only sleepovers you ever had were at your cousins’ house, and even then, you ended up sleeping in the basement on an uncomfortable spring-based mattress. You went over and feel the mattress with your hand. You know those beds they always talk about in the commercials? The ones with memory foam that makes it feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud? Yeah, that’s what you felt.
You get onto the bed. While it was roughly a King in terms of size, you felt like the bed was pulling you into the center of the bed. You look as Fluttershy hesitantly got onto the bed as well, almost like she was checking the waters in a pool. She got onto the bed opposite of you, with Pinkie Pie in the middle.
“Let’s get super snugly-wugly!” Pinkie Pie then grabbed you and Fluttershy, squeezing you and her tightly together. “Come on! Hold me!” She giggled. You do exactly that, holding onto Pinkie Pie like she was a teddy bear... only for your hand to be exactly where Fluttershy’s hoof is. While you could feel the muscles in Fluttershy’s wrist begin to twitch, it didn’t retract like you had feared. Instead, you just heard her mutter something while blushing.
“Oh my…” She said.
“Well, nighty-night you two! Sleep tight!” Despite the huge amounts of energy in her voice, she instantly wiped out and began to snore.
“Um… Well… Night.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and she too began to sleep. That only left you. Despite feeling comfortable, you feel like something is bugging you to be awake. It's your insomnia. You have had this problem since a couple of years ago. To this day you wonder how you keep healthy when half the eight hours of sleep is spent tossing and turning in bed.
You remember having this distinct problem even in Equestria, so you brought it up with the scientist, hoping she was also a doctor. While she sadly wasn't, she did suggest that the reason for this chronic case of insomnia was due to stress. Stressing over what? You begin to wonder just what it is that would be stressing you. Could it be the weather storming down and hard? Your innermost desires to give Fluttershy the hug she so desperately wants? You look at Pinkie Pie’s sleeping face.
Maybe you have some feelings towards Pinkie Pie. After all, she was the first friend you met when you went to Equestria. She was the one who made you feel like you weren’t alone. You never did properly thanked Pinkie Pie for helping you calm down and settle down in Ponyville at least until you or the scientist found a way to get back home. You also wondered if Fluttershy had any feelings for Pinkie Pie. You weren't sure what was with the wings, but you had a bit of a hint from her blushing that she was happy to see her. Your heart raced as you then began to think of this being just one giant race. Who would confess their feelings first? Will anyone find love tonight?
You needed to take your mind of this before it stresses you further. One of the tips was to just be in the moment. And so, you did just that. Your head lay just above Pinkie Pie’s chest. In time, the two snores overlapped and overpowered the sound of the rain. Your face was rubbed up against Pinkie Pie’s fuzzy fur, though the fur around Fluttershy’s wrist felt more fuzzy. For now, you just let the comfort calm you into a very light sleep. Little did you know that this would be the beginning of something you would call:
THE LONGEST NIGHT EVER