The World Inside Aurora Rayby boardgamebronyChaptersBlackout on 281Just Another DayEmpire of SandThe Plan for ProofTraining DayBlackout on 281To the whole world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the whole world… As the sensation of the mental takeover washed away from Aurora Ray’s mind, he turned to stare at the crashed semi-trailer down in the ditch off Highway 281. Down in his arms he saw the young boy, no older than eleven, shivering in fear. He turned back to the trailer and looked at the crushed cabin as fluids started to leak from underneath. Fire, was all he could think of in his mind. “Stay here,” he said to the young boy and started off down the path. “Where are you…?” Ray yelled as he stumbled down the path. “I’m here!” a voice responded from the cabin of the semi. I’m not talking to you, Ray thought. He listened and heard no response in his head. Damnit, where are you? I know you did this! Show yourself! He moved closer to the cab and stepped around the leaking liquids to get to the driver’s side door. DAMNIT, say something! “Hey!” the trucker said, his face visible from the cracked window. “I’m stuck!” “Just hold on,” Ray said. “We gotta be careful not to cause a spark. You’re leaking fuel!” “Don’t hit the door handle, then! The metal will cause a spark for sure!” the man yelled. Ray reached for his phone, but his pocket was empty. WHICH ONE OF YOU TOOK IT? He yelled in his head. Where is it?! I need that phone! He heard a response from a calm, female voice, which filled his mind with the image of a purple unicorn with wings. I left it in my car?! “DAMNIT!” Ray yelled. “Hey I could really use your help getting out of here, man,” the truck driver said. “Do you have a phone?” Ray asked. “Or a CB radio or something?” “The transmitter on my radio flew off and is below the seat. I can’t reach it. My phone is outta battery.” Ray walked around the side of the truck and opened the passenger door. He crawled in and saw the driver’s legs stuck underneath a collapsed steering wheel. He reached down under the seat and pulled out the radio transmitter. The buttons were broken off, like it had been crushed. “Damnit! I must’ve stepped on it when it hit the ground somehow!” The truck driver said. “Hey, you think you can pull this wheel up? I can get out if you and I push it off together! Just bend it up!” “I’m not strong enough for that,” Ray said. a voice said in his mind. His hands weren’t his own anymore as they clutched the top of the steering wheel. “Come on,” Ray’s voice said, even though it wasn’t him who was speaking. He and the driver pushed the wheel upwards, trying to bend it. It barely budged. But it was moving. “Harder, push it now!” Ray’s voice said again and somewhere deep in his mind, Ray could only watch. You’ll hurt him! Be careful, Applejack! “Ah got this,” Ray’s voice said with a distinctly southern drawl. “But ah’m using the wrong tools.” Applejack leaned back in the seat and put her legs right under the top rung of the wheel. “We push as one. Ready?” “Yeah yeah,” the truck driver said. He started to sniff loudly. “You smell that right?” “Yeah, tha gasoline…” “No, the smoke!” The driver and Applejack peered at the broken and battered hood of the car and saw trails of black smoke start to issue from the sides. “Hurry!” “GO!” Applejack said as she pushed hard upwards on the wheel with her legs while the driver screamed and pushed upwards with his arms. The wheel bent up just enough for his legs to move. “GOT IT!” the driver yelled and scooted his body to the side. He yelled in agony. “My legs are broken!” “Out of the car!” Applejack yelled as she pulled on his jacket and moved him to the edge with all her might. He helped by pulling himself with his arms but now he hung a good five feet off the ground. Applejack underestimated her own strength and accidentally pulled him too far. Applejack, he’s falling! Ray thought. Applejack hit the ground first and rolled to the side. The large truck driver fell. Head first. His body rested in the gasoline as the smoke started to pour from the engine up above. He did not move. Applejack crawled over to him. “Wh..what do ah do? I can’t…I don’t know how to check for a pulse!” a white mare appeared in Ray’s mind with a Red Cross symbol. Nurse Redheart put her hands on the driver’s neck and felt for a pulse. “He’s alive,” she said aloud in Ray’s gruff voice. “We need to move him away from the accident or that fire’s going to ignite the gasoline and burn us alive.” We can’t move him with just our strength alone! Ray thought. Nurse Redheart turned to the kid who had been saved a minute before. He was sitting fifty yards away on the shoulder of the road. “Who’s good with kids?” Nurse Redheart asked out loud. answered a voice. The kid saw Ray approach him on the side of the road, but he couldn’t see the deep berry purple pony filling Ray’s mind as she bent down and spoke softly to the child. “Hey,” Cheerilee said, “I know you’re scared, but I need your help okay? I need you to be a hero because I can’t do this alone. Can you be strong for me? This man needs us.” The kid nodded. Cheerilee offered her hand. “Let’s do this together, okay?” The kid nodded again. Cheerilee jogged with the kid back to the scene where the smoke was getting worse. You know you’re putting the kid’s life in danger, right? Ray said in his mind. Cheerilee spoke up in response. “If things look dangerous or a fire breaks out, I want you to run, okay? Don’t stay. I need you to be safe.” The kid nodded one more time. “Promise me.” “I promise,” the young boy said. They both knelt down by the unconscious, gasoline-soaked truck driver and grabbed him by the shoulders. “We move him on three, okay?” Cheerilee said. “Fire!” the kid yelled as he pointed upward. Tongues of flame were licking the air above the smashed hood of the semi. Cheerilee turned back. “You need to run! Now!” “NO!” the kid yelled, causing Cheerilee to recoil. “MOVE HIM! GO!” Cheerilee and the kid pulled with all their might as they managed to drag the heavy man a few feet before they both had to rest. “Leave!” Cheerilee yelled. “It’s my fault he’s dying!” The kid said. “MOVE! GO!” Both pulled again and moved the man a few more feet as the fire blazed higher and hotter. a wild fiery pegasus took charge of the body and clasped the arms with her hands. “No more screwing around, kid. We pull him as far as we can this time or that fire will overtake us. You ready?” Spitfire asked. “Yeah.” “Kid, I better hear some fire in your voice or we ain’t gonna make it! READY?!” “FUCK YEAH!” “GO!” Spitfire and the kid yelled with all their might as they dragged the unconscious man three feet, six feet, and finally ten feet onto the edge of the road and off the gasoline-soaked grass. The two collapsed next to the body as the truck exploded into a blazing inferno. The grass around the truck caught ablaze. “We…did it!” The kid said between wild breaths. The herd in Ray’s mind fell back and he came forward again. He looked around, aware of what happened, and still not believing it. “Yeah…we all did.” -- The interior of the San Antonio Police Department was dingy and poorly lit. Ray sat in the seat next to the investigating officer. “Kid said you saved that man’s life. And his,” Officer Linda Lopez said. “You’re lucky the kid had a phone on him. The driver will live, but he’s got some serious injuries.” Twilight Sparkle said in Ray’s mind. No talking right now. I need to focus, Ray thought. And please don’t take control right now, unless all of you want to spend the rest of our lives in a mental hospital. After a strange silence visible only to Officer Lopez, Ray spoke up. “I did what I had to do. I’m just glad they’re both okay.” “And you’re a hero for that, Aurora.” She looked down at the name on her report and cocked an eyebrow. “Aurora? Isn’t that…” “A woman’s name. It’s complicated. Please just call me Ray.” “All right then…well, Ray. You see there’s a bit of a complication with the story you and the kid presented us,” Officer Lopez started. Twilight Sparkle said. “What’s that?” Ray asked. “Your car was two miles back down the road. And yet you were on foot when you saw the kid in the road and the driver moving towards him. You were there just in-time to pull him out of the way. Why was your car so far back down the road?” Spitfire said. Guys, I don’t remember why it was so far! Which one of you walked me over to the scene? Do you remember? Nurse Redheart spoke up. Feign? I wouldn’t be faking it, Ray thought. “Mr. Ray?” Officer Lopez asked. “You okay? You look like you zoned out there for a minute.” “Sorry Officer. It’s been a long day. I’m…trying to remember what happened. The events are all mixed up in my mind.” Redheart said. “I think I…must’ve gotten carsick and walked out of the vehicle for a bit. Maybe I went too far. Ended up down the road. Two miles, though? Are you sure that’s right?” The Officer was quiet for the briefest of seconds. “Approximately two miles. You would have had to have been walking for at least 30 minutes at a gradual pace to make it that far. And as far as we could see your vehicle was not broken down. It was in perfect working order.” “Huh,” Ray said. Spitfire said. “No!” Ray said aloud and caught himself a little too late. “No what?” the officer asked. Spitfire said. “No…this is all wrong,” Ray said, trying to cover. “I feel like we’re missing some vital piece of the puzzle here.” “You’re telling me,” Officer Lopez said. “You were there. How ‘bout you fill me in?” “The kid…there were on the road, right? So maybe I was following them for that stretch of time, wondering what they were doing till I saw them get in trouble.” Spitfire said. “You think ‘maybe’ that’s what happened? How are you not certain, Mr. Ray?” “Officer, I can’t remember very well. The whole situation jarred my brain. I must be dealing with some sort of post-traumatic stress.” “Of that I have no doubt,” she said. “But that stress happened LONG AFTER you got out of your car and walked the two miles to the scene of the accident. Whatever you were doing happened before this incident occurred. That’s what I want to know. Are you really saying you can’t remember why you were out there in the first place?” Spitfire said. No! You’ll ruin it! She’ll notice the difference! Ray thought. “Officer, you’re right. This stress happened because of the incident, but I still can’t remember why I was out there. I deal with...a LOT of stress in my job. Sometimes I zone out when stress gets to me. It’s really difficult to deal with. And I forget a lot. That day on the road, I was coming back from work and I know that lately I’ve been dealing with a lot of pressure from upper management. I probably had an anxiety attack on the road, pulled off to the side and got out and walked because I didn’t want to cause and accident. And yes, I have anxiety attacks. I’ve had them for a long time and you can check with my doctor on that.” The officer nodded and waited for Ray to finish his story before responding. “That is the most plausible thing you’ve said so far.” She wrote down what Ray said on her computer. Spitfire said. I focused on whatever I knew to be true and that was it. See? That’s how it works, Ray thought. “Okay Mr. Ray,” Officer Lopez said, “You’re free to go, but I will be calling you for a followup later when we get some more information on this, so keep yourself available for the next week. Please make sure to come back here when we ask you. You don’t want to see me at your home. Trust me.” “Oh. Kay,” was all Ray could say, rather dorkily. -- Ray sat down at his kitchen table in his apartment by himself. The events of the day had worn him out and he was holding a bottle of Jack Daniels. He could not seem to bring it to his lips, but not without trying. “All right,” he said aloud. “Which one of you is stopping me from drinking this time?” Twilight said. “I’d say it matters a lot, Twilight,” Ray respond verbally. “I want to know who’s taking control of my life this time.” Fluttershy said. She hadn’t spoken up all day and Ray sighed. “Really, Fluttershy? You, of all ponies?” she said. Ray put the bottle down and held his head in his hands. “Please just leave me alone. I want silence for at least an hour. Is that so hard to ask for?” Twilight said. “You know damn well what happens when I go to sleep. You’re just waiting for me to do so. Then, I’ll find myself inside Canterlot again speaking to Princess Celestia or her sister Lunar.” A loud, boisterous voice called out. “Whatever, your majesty,” Ray said as he got up and went to his bedroom. He sat down and turned on his computer. “If I can’t drink, I’ll do something else.” Twilight asked. “Looking up porn. Hardcore porn.” Twilight said. Luna shouted. “Luna, I’m going to say this once,” Ray started. “If you try and take over when I’m ‘busy,’ we’re gonna have some words.” she responded. Twilight spoke, “Why?” “I don’t know. And I don’t want to think about it. Let me…deal with my problems. They aren’t yours anyway.” Twilight said. Ray kept clicking on websites. Luna spoke up. Twilight yelled. Luna said. Twilight said before disappearing from the front of Ray’s mind. Luna said. “I didn’t ask for this responsibility,” Ray said, before shutting down his computer out of frustration. Luna said. “Why?” Ray asked. -- The interior of Canterlot castle was unimaginably beautiful. Ray traced a hand over a marble column and felt the cold of the room, the impossibly vivid sensation which could never make sense in a dream. “I’ll never dream again…will I?” “If you could have this over a dream, would you choose the latter?” Luna’s voice rang loud and clear through the hollowed chambers. Ray looked up at the staircase as he strolled through the ice-blue glow of the room. A serene feeling pervaded his heart as he eyed the stain glass windows. They were fragmented images of beauty arranged in a mismatch of forms. “I feel like a stain glass window. Easy to see through. Just tons of tiny pieces and each one, held by one of you,” Ray said. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the most gentle of mournful songs. He wondered who it was and figured he’d meet them later anyway. “It’s who you are now,” Luna said. “I know it’s not the life you wanted, but it’s the life you were given.” “By whom?” Ray asked. “Because I’d like to have a word with them.” He turned and stopped. Down the staircase strode the soft and silent star-studded steps of the Princess of the Night. Her mane and tail flowed like a nebula casting light in all the shadows of the room and drawing everything within it. The light of the moon fell upon her face and accented every loving curve. Like a celestial accretion disk, Ray’s gaze could not escape the eyes of the Princess staring back at him. When she stood in front of him, the whole universe watched. And when the thought ran through his mind once more, he realized that he was the universe. And she was his night. “Ray,” she said. “What are you looking at?” “Someone who makes me wish I’d never awake,” he said. Tears fell from his eyes. She wiped them away tenderly. “Every time you hurt, we all feel it. We could shut it out, and some do. But I won’t. I need to feel what you feel.” “Why is my life like this, Luna?” Ray asked. The moonlight fell upon he and Luna alone. “Why can’t I have a normal life?” “Would you rather we ceased to be? And this whole universe turn to naught?” He shook his head. “No. You deserve to be just as much as anyone else.” She took him by the hand and they stepped up to the stairs towards Luna’s castle spire. The room was bathed in the light of the night. Everywhere he looked, Ray saw the sparkle of stardust swirling in slow, graceful dreamlike motion. No matter what Luna touched, it was always made more beautiful because she had been there. Ray found his voice. “I wish my thoughts were always this beautiful.” Luna guided him to the canopy bed, with a ceiling of constellations and shooting stars, and held him close. He said nothing and smiled. Surely, this was a better end to the day than most. “Visit me tomorrow, please,” Ray said. “Wherever you want to go.” “Wait till later at night. We’ll go somewhere special. Somewhere we can all enjoy,” Luna said. Ray laughed quietly. “Gotta take the whole crew.” “Always,” Luna said and smiled. -- Author's Note Extra Story Details Writing Time: Approx 3 hours Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, Texas, San Antonio area, SAPD Station Story Themes: Worlds in Minds, What is Real, Friendship in the most unikely spaces, personalities or separate people? Note: This is a "B" Story, meaning I wrote it second during a marathon of story-writing one night. "B" stories are designated by having a quick setup, but taking a lot longer to finish and often develop deeper concepts and character connections rather than a more contained idea presented in an "A" story. Story Background: (Inspired by a talk I had with fimfiction user CakeBomb, where I was inspired to make more uplifting stories. I know this isn't exactly an "uplifting" story, but it is MORE uplifting than the other ones I've done. so YAY! PROGRESS!) Just Another DayAurora Ray woke up to Twilight Sparkle’s voice in his head. Ray gritted his teeth. “It is too early, Twilight…” he said. Ray was silent and nodded very slowly. “You want a pony to go with me to work so she can learn to take over my body?” Ray asked. “No. Absolutely not.” Twiilght said. Ray got up and went through his morning routine showering, getting ready, eating breakfast and checking his email as Twilight did everything she could to convince him to allow the new pony to be at the forefront of his mind. “Damnit, Twilight,” Ray said. “Think about what you’re asking me. Why would I say yes to this? Why would I be willing allow a pony to take over my body when they know nothing of the world? Honestly, I’d rather you guys NEVER take over my body, but that doesn’t seem to be something I can help, now can I?” Twilight said. “What. A. Shame.” Ray exhaled very loudly and held it out for a long time. He hit the side of his leg with his fist before groaning. “What’s her name?” Twilight said. “Okay, here are the rules,” he said. “She doesn’t talk unless spoken to. She sits quietly and watches me work. If she has a question, she waits until I’m not busy to ask it. She does NOT speak to me when I’m in the restroom. She doesn’t take control of me today AT ALL. She lets me eat in peace. She does not interrupt me when I’m talking to co-workers. And she MAY NOT hug me. At all.” There was silence for a good while. By the time Ray was already sitting in his car with his hand on the ignition, Twilight spoke up. Ray jumped a little in his seat at the sudden sound in the silence. Then he turned the key, put the car into drive and headed towards work. Twilight said. There was a feeling of a hug in his mind. Ray grunted. “Wait,” he said. “What does she need to get ready for? What’s she doing? Twilight? TWILIGHT?” -- The Rivercenter Mall in San Antonio was three floors of consumerism packed tightly into the center of the city. Organized in a “U” formation, the center of the layout led out to a concrete outdoor eating area for the various restaurants in the food court, including finer establishments for consumers willing to spend twenty dollars on a steak. A man-made river spun around an elevated platform connected to the concrete eating area by a tiny bridge. Small open-air boats floated slowly through the river, carrying out-of-towners who were thrilled by the sights and sounds. The mall was dwarfed on all sides by massive downtown offices, hotels and parking garages. Every level of the mall was covered in glass, allowing visitors on any floor to look down onto the riverboats below. Ray couldn’t see any of this right now, though. He was stuck inside the security office staring at his boss who has closed the door so the other guards couldn’t hear them. Ray knew this couldn’t be good. “You needed to see me, Jerry?” Ray asked. He slouched in the chair, legs out, staring up at his supervisor with the least amount of respect needed to get by. “Ray…” Jerry started. The overweight elderly man seemed hesitant to speak. Ray knew something must be wrong, because Jerry was the most assertive person on staff. He never seemed unsure of himself. Save for today. Jerry pulled out a newspaper and held out the front page. The headline read: Local Hero Saves Kid, Driver from Burning Semi “I wanted to talk to you about this,” Jerry said. “I’m open to any raises you’re willing to give,” Ray said with a smile. In the back of his mind, he heard a sigh, but didn’t know which pony it came from. Jerry chuckled. “After this, I don’t think I’d be able to afford the kind of raise you deserve. But…I wanted to talk about something. Here, let me read you this:” The child who had been pushed out of the way of the truck by Mr. Ray said that the local man took charge of the situation and moved quickly to remove 42 year-old Gabriel Rivera from the truck before it ignited. “He kept talking himself into doing it. I heard him talking to someone when he was next to the unconscious man. I think I know who it was!” Oh. Shit, Ray thought. His featureless expression froze as Jerry continued reading. “He was talking to his guardian angel! I know it! I thank God someone was watching over us all! Mr. Ray is a hero!” Ray couldn’t help but smile. Jerry put down the paper and looked at Ray. “Is there something you wanna talk about?” “Yes, Jerry,” Ray said. “As you can see, I can clearly talk to the gods. So $8.00 an hour isn’t going to cut it for someone who can communicate with the other world.” Ray smiled, then realized how his terminology was a bit too on-point considering what the ponies had told him about Equestria. Even in his lies, he told the truth. Jerry shook his head, all the while showing a snarky smile which translated to You cocky son of a bitch. “I was psyching myself up, Jerry,” Ray said, now more serious. “I’ve never been at the scene of an accident before. I needed to get them out of there.” “You’re been through a serious life-threatening ordeal. I’m just wondering if you need to take a break,” Jerry said. “I like my job,” Ray lied. “It keeps me occupied from…all that stuff.” “I don’t think you understand. I want you to take a break,” Jerry clarified. “I need the money, Jerry.” “You’ll get a week’s vacation with pay.” “I’m taking that break.” Ray said immediately. “But why so generous?” “You’re one of our senior staff,” Jerry said. “You just went through a stressful situation, and you were seconds away from dying. I know you like to pretend you’re too tough to feel the effects of any of this stuff. Hell, look at the way you’re presenting yourself right now. Sitting there like you aren’t worried about a damn thing. Ray, I’ve known you long enough to know you only do that when you’re hiding some serious emotional stress. Ever since you told me about your time in Afghanistan, I’ve been noticing small tics that you have.” Ray listened intently. Not just to Jerry, but to anyone else listening along with him. He heard nothing. And he was worried. “What tics?” He said, defensively. “Hold on. I’m not attacking you, okay?” Jerry said. “I noticed you space-out a lot. Like you’re thinking about something far off. Sometimes it takes us several tries to get your attention. We can’t have that with someone who needs to respond quickly. I mean, you’ve gotten better about it in the last few months. But after that accident, I don’t want to risk overworking you. You’re one of my best. And I don’t want you to leave cause of burnout.” Ray looked down at the ground, intending to look away from Jerry for a chance to think about what he said. Instead, his eyes went wide as his gaze locked on the form of a small, mint green pony sitting right below Jerry’s desk. She had minty hair lighter than her coat color with streaks of white in the tail and mane. A small golden harp symbol rested on both of her flanks. Her eyes were golden and very bright. And she had a tiny horn atop her head. Ray couldn’t believe he was seeing a tiny, dog-sized unicorn sitting in the room right now. “Ray?” Jerry said. He sighed and then leaned in closer as Ray switched his gaze back to his boss. “Ray, I think I know what’s happening to you. You might be undergoing PTSD. Just know that whatever you’re seeing…it’s not really there.” He had no idea how to respond to that. He chanced a glance back down at Lyra, who was smiling, before looking back at Jerry. “It’s hard to…deal with some of this stuff,” Ray said. He was going to ride the PTSD excuse for as long as he could. Jerry sat down behind his desk. “Believe me. I know. I’m a Vietnam Vet myself. I tell you what.” He pulled out a card from his wallet and handed it to Ray. “This is a support group for veterans that I attend every week. We met down at a local library. The address is there. You should come.” Ray felt his heart drop. It isn’t right to push this excuse any further. Not like this. “Jerry, I’ve been through some tough stuff, but it doesn’t compare to what you’ve gone through. It wouldn’t be right for me to attend this meeting. I’m not going to take time away from veterans who need to work through their problems. I’m sorry, I…I’ve been through some stuff, but it’s not PTSD.” Lyra smiled at him from the floor. Her eyes were very compassionate and she wouldn’t stop looking at him. He was starting to feel uncomfortable. “Ray,” Jerry started, “You are going through something. I don’t know what it is. But it’s affecting you on the outside as well the inside. Rather than judging yourself unworthy of attending this group, why don’t you try it? You don’t have to speak. Just sit there and listen to the others talk about what they’ve gone through. If you can find some common ground and you decide to share, then you can do so. Maybe you’ll find some hidden issues you’ve been suppressing for a while.” Ray couldn’t stop staring at the small pony that apparently only he could see. She walked right up to him and curled up at his legs, waiting patiently. Somehow, he could feel the warmth of her body on his legs. She made little cute noises as she cuddled closer and rested on his shoes. Holy shit, she’s adorable. “REALLY!?” Lyra said as she sat up instantly, her eyes aglow with sparkles that had to be magical. “You think so?!” Ray looked up awkwardly. “I…uh…I have to go. I’ll be there, though.” He said. “Thank you, sir.” He shook Jerry’s hand. The handshake was just as real to him as the pony moving around his legs like a little puppy. “Didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, but I understand,” Jerry said. He released the handshake and looked at his calendar, marking it. “Your vacation starts immediately. Go somewhere that makes you happy. Leave this whole place behind.” “Right. Thanks Jerry,” Ray said as he stepped out the door, then stopped. He looked down at the mint green pony. You must be Lyra. She nodded eagerly. I need you to sit on the chair. Wait there. “Okay,” she said and stood on the chair. Ray turned to Jerry. He feigned looking for something in his pockets. “Hey Jerry. I think I dropped something here around the chair. Can you help me look for it?” Jerry got up and stared at the chair. His expression was unreadable. He can see her! Ray thought. Yes! I’m not crazy! Jerry bent down and looked underneath the chair, then across the top of it. Lyra looked down too. Ray pretended to look behind, but never took his eyes off Lyra and Jerry. “Check the space underneath the cushions. Might’ve slipped in there.” Ray said. Jerry moved his hand towards Lyra and the chair. She started to move out of the way. DON’T MOVE, Ray told Lyra. She froze. Jerry’s hand went right through her body and into the couch cushion. “I don’t feel anything here. What did you lose, Ray?” My mind, he thought. -- Author's Note Extra Story Details Ponies in this chapter: Twilight, Lyra Writing Time: Approx 1 hr 50 min Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, San Antonio, Texas, Rivercenter Mall, Security Guard Room Story Themes: Reality Tested, Honesty, Integrity, Cute Ponies Being Cute Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Story Background: Who doesn't want a little Lyra following them around everywhere? :P Watched the following video about dialogue in movies before writing this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l293Qyua5QM Empire of SandAuthor's Note (The following sequence exhibits a depiction of wartime violence. Anyone who may be sensitive to any triggers caused by such an event should use caution and determine whether they wish to read this chapter) Extra Story Details Writing Time: Approx 1 hr 30 min Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, Afghanistan Story Themes: Reality Tested, Wartime Violence Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Empire of Sand The last thing Ray remembered was a massive blast tearing through the jeep as the car flipped through the air. The improvised explosive device packed a bigger punch than the ones they’d seen previously and managed to land the vehicle on its driver’s side, elevating the passenger side up in the air. Ray was pinned to the driver’s side rear door by the weight of his fellow soldier. They shouted something far off and distant as the ringing in Ray’s ears prevented him from hearing almost anything. Gunfire hit the bottom of the jeep. Its armor plating stopped most of the shots and deflected the rest. A soldier climbed out the upended section from the front-passenger door. His squadmate yelled something to him as Ray looked on, dazed. He heard the solider discharge his weapon. More gunfire hit the HMMVW before the soldier ducked back into the car. He had a bullet-mark on his helmet, which had saved his life. One of the soldiers was calling someone on the radio. Ray didn’t know who. The voices were too far away. There was a loud buzzing sound heading towards the jeep. The bottom of the HMMVW was rocked as the armor-plating barely stopped the explosion from breaching the cabin. The car flipped over on its top, trapping the soldiers upside-down. The one soldier who had exited the door fell half outside the vehicle when it hit the ground. Gunfire hit the ground around him as he crawled back inside the jeep. Ray looked out the window facing down the road in the direction they had been driving. He couldn’t see anyone. Seconds later, several bullets reflected off the sides of the door he had been staring through. One hit the window directly and bounced off. He jumped with each impact. The soldiers looked around inside the protective shell of their HMMVW. They saw a truck driving up from the far in the distance. It was not U.S. military. Several more gunshots hit the side of vehicle as Ray started to get his hearing back. He heard the voices of his squad mates yelling at each other, though his mind couldn’t make sense of the words. He was frozen in-place, staring at the truck moving them. In less than sixty seconds, it would reach the vehicle. He spotted several men with rifles and automatic weapons standing on the back of the truck. “Truck incoming!” Ray shouted. “4 men! 1 driver! Armed!” One of the men pulled out a long slender weapon. “RPG! RPG!” Ray yelled. “OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!” One of the other soldiers yelled. The doors opened on the opposite end of the cabin. They flooded out onto the side of the road and rolled to a stop on the ground. Ray was having trouble removing his seat-belt upside-down. He released the buckle and flipped over, lying on the ceiling. There was a blast from the truck and Ray had half a second to brace for impact. The rocket-propelled grenade slammed into the front of the jeep, spinning it around as the front window ripped apart. The open doors on the opposite end now pointed towards the incoming truck. Ray saw the men open-fire. He reached for the door handle and slammed it shut just in-time to see the bullets bounce off the armor. The front door was still open, and the bullets entered the cabin front seats and tore through them like paper. Gunfire spewed forth from the three squad mates hunkered down on the side of the road. One of the men on the truck spasmed and fell off the side, hitting the ground. The truck veered off to the side as the three men on top opened fire. The one with the RPG was hit as he was reloading and dropped back into the bed of the vehicle. Ray looked around. Through the explosions and the gunfire, he felt something even more off. “I…I’ve already been here.” He opened the side door and stumbled onto the ground. Gunfire pockmarked the ground around his feet as he ran around the side, weapon at the ready. He aimed at the driver of the truck and opened fire. And waited. The truck had stopped moving. The men on top stood perfectly still, aiming their weapons at the three squad mates on the side of the road. One soldier was already falling backwards from a shot to his chest armor. Ray looked around. The sounds of battle had ceased. “Hey!” He yelled. “HEY!” He raised up his rifle and scanned the area across the top of his barrel. “I know you’re out there! Answer me!” He scanned the horizon and then looked back at the frozen scene. He walked around the truck and saw the driver, his features never forgotten. Ray raised his rifle and pointed it point-blank at the driver’s head. “RAY!” a fierce feminine voice called out from behind him. “I already killed this man. Let me finish this.” “You ALREADY finished it!” the regal voice said. “You finished it half a decade ago.” Ray spun around with his weapon aiming at the voice. He glanced wildly around the desert. “WHERE ARE YOU?” “Are you going to shoot me, Ray?” the voice said, still hard to identify, but very familiar. It sounded almost like Luna, but more mature. “I’m not going to come out if that’s the case.” “Just tell me who you are. Why am I here?” “Your mind put you here. This isn’t a dream. It’s a memory. You’re having a flashback. You’re not even asleep. You’re standing outside your apartment, in the forest.” “What?” he said. “That’s impossible. That’s never happened to me before.” “Put the gun down and I’ll show you.” “But if it isn’t real, then why does it matter if I have this gun?” “Because I can still be hurt,” she said. “Please put the gun down.” Ray watched the scene. Looked at the man in the truck, the men standing above with weapons drawn, and felt immense hate for them. He heart tore in his chest as he pointed his weapon at the truck. He screamed in anger as he fired at the sides of the vehicle and across the wheels, watching them pop and explode. The barrel smoked as he stared at the bullet holes and realized he had managed to avoid hitting any of the men. He threw his weapon to the ground and turned around. The sun ignited on the horizon, casting a corona of brilliance around the white winged mare, standing in regal radiance cast by the light of her own star. Her mane spread high and into the sky, painting the colors of the sunset in pastel hues of soft, welcoming light. The golden colors of her vibrant regalia shimmered with each ray of light, showing a perfect beauty which was impossible on earth. But it was her eyes that made the biggest impression, surrounded by such magnificence and yet so soft and loving. “I'm sorry, your majesty,” Ray said as he lowered his head. Princess Celestia smiled. “You don’t have to do that, Ray. You’re not one of my subjects.” “So I’d have to do it if I was a subject?” “Ray, you’re staring at a celestial being and the first thing you decide to do is be a smartass?” “You took away my gun. What else do I have?” The two walked in silence for a while as Celestia toned down her mane just a bit so it was contained within a mass of shimmering light just behind her. “You know, most ponies don’t give me sass after I’ve made an entrance like that.” “I’m not most ponies. Or a pony. At all.” He looked around. “I thought I wasn’t asleep,” he told her. “What exactly am I physically doing right now?” “Walking through a forest, lost in thoughts so deep you might as well be dreaming.” “These flashbacks have happened before, but I knew what they were. I didn’t go out wandering on my own.” “They’re getting worse,” Celestia said. She appeared worried. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” “I’ll manage.” “I need you to see a psychiatrist.” “What?” Ray said and stopped walking in the desert sands. “Your mind is a wreck. You suppress so many things and when they finally boil to the surface, you get trapped within them. Stop trying to be tough and start being responsible.” Ray sighed. “I thought I could get by on my own.” Celestia was about to speak when Ray held up a hand. “But I can see that’s not the case. I’ll see a psychiatrist.” “Wow. That was fast,” Celestia said. “You don’t usually agree so quickly.” “I’ve had a lot of support from your subjects. Including Luna.” Celestia’s eyebrows raised. “Do you and my sister have…a thing?” Ray was silent for a moment. The wind blew around the desert. “Oh hey, I think I stopped walking in real life. Time to wake up,” The desert began to disappear. “Hey!” Celestia said. “Sorry your majesty. Important human business to attend to. See you later!” “You better not break her heart, Ray!” Celestia yelled. “Or you’ll find yourself waking up naked in the mall somewhere! I guarantee it!” -- The Plan for ProofRay sat in his car and stared at the stars above as Lyra Heartstrings waited in the front passenger seat and said nothing. The San Antonio sky was especially clear tonight, despite Ray’s confused mind. It was a cool night and the edge of the local park was a great place for him to clear his mind. No one strolled about, which left him a chance to talk. That is, if he finally decided to. Lyra stood up on her little back pony legs, hooves held down in front of her almost dog-like as she stared at Ray. She put her forehooves on the gearshift and waited for him to say something. When he stayed still for almost five full minutes, Lyra sighed and put her head down on her hooves. Only when he saw how bored she was did Ray finally speak. “You know what bothers me the most?” Ray said. Lyra picked up her head and waited. “That I have no purpose. That after all those years in the military, putting my life on the line, I get back home and become a nobody. Somehow I black out and find myself in the middle of a truck accident, and then get put on vacation leave when you show up. And last night the dream came back where I was stuck in the Middle East all over again.” Lyra didn’t know what to say, so she waited. Ray continued. “I guess the problem is that I’ve never really aimed that high to begin with. And now here I am. Age thirty and still unsure of what to do with the rest of my life. Feels like I’ve just been surviving this whole time.” “You’re thirty?” Lyra asked. “I never would have guessed that. I’m actually…” “Yeah. I probably look ragged for my age,” Ray said. “You look tiny, though. Like a puppy. What are you?” “I am a full-grown mare, good sir,” Lyra said with the slightest bit of offense. “Just because I’m slightly under two feet tall doesn’t mean I’m some inexperienced foal.” “And how small are children in your society?” “Almost a foot tall,” Lyra said, putting her hoof at the height she mentioned. “I bet you could fit a foal in your pocket. I wouldn’t though. You’d get arrested quick.” “By who? What could they possibly do?” Ray said. He moved to grab Lyra and she dodged. “Stay still for a moment.” “No, you’re gonna do that creepy thing again where your hand goes through my body!” “See, that’s what I’m talking about!” Ray said. He looked around at the park. No one was around to see him argue with what was essentially an empty seat to everyone else. “I’m the only one that can see you. To everyone else, they see this car has one guy talking to himself. But why is that? Why aren’t you out here, physically sitting next to me if you’re real?” “I don’t know,” Lyra said. “I only know how to talk to you. I don’t know why it works.” “But this means that Equestria exists in my head. If I die, doesn’t all of Equestria die?” Lyra sat back. Her eyes seemed to focus on something Ray couldn’t see. She exhaled at the heaviness of the idea. “That can’t be right. You said you’re thirty.” “Yes. Thirty years old.” “But Equestria has been around as a nation for thousands of years, and the world longer than any one pony can remember. You’re not thousands of years old, so how did all that history happen in all this extra time that you can’t account for with your short life span so far?” Ray sat back. “I don’t have an answer for that.” He stared at the stars. “Objectively, we can all only be certain of things existing as long as we existed, until you start bringing evidence of other things existing through scientific experimentation. But how in the world can I test out your existence, Lyra? You aren’t a physical being.” “Yes I am!” Lyra said. She stood up on the seat. “I can feel my body and the ground around me when I run through Ponyville. And every meal has flavor and every day I spend with Bon Bon…” she blushed. Ray’s eyebrows raised. Lyra continued. “I feel these things. How do I know YOU’RE real, Ray?” “Because everyone else here can see me,” Ray said. He looked around at the park. “Okay, well maybe not right now. But no one can see you, Lyra. How do you explain that?” “I can’t…” she said. She looked discouraged. “I was told to see a psychiatrist,” Ray said. “I’m afraid if I do, they’ll lock me up somewhere. Think I’m crazy. And who knows, maybe I am. But do I really deserve to have my entire life ruined because of something that was thrust upon me? I can’t trust these professionals with this. None of them will understand. And who knows what drugs they’ll give me and what they’ll do to my system.” Lyra looked out the window at the stars. Her eyes were sad as Ray spoke. Ray could feel her concern, her sadness. “I’m worried about what you said now.” She turned to Ray. “What if anything that happens to you somehow happens to Equestria? What if you’re somehow…a holder of my entire world?” Lyra looked down. “I don’t want to be snuffed out by something I couldn’t control…” “You and me both,” he said. “Lyra, I’ll need some evidence from you.” “What evidence?” “It’s been over twenty-four hours since I had that meeting where I saw my boss and you first appeared. I fell asleep and then went through the day to finally see you here. Tell me: what did you do between the time you saw me in front of my boss yesterday and our moment today?” “Like, what were those two days like for me in Equestria?” Lyra asked. “Yes. Prove to me you have a life separate from me.” “How?” Lyra asked. “Besides meeting with you, yesterday and today really weren’t that special. I spent time at home, watched a movie with Bon Bon. Then, I went to work today…” “Where do you work?” Ray asked. “I’m a traveling musician,” Lyra asked. She pointed to her cutie mark. “I make money playing for ponies during special events and celebrations. Business is tough right now, but Bon Bon is really keeping it together at home. She’s a party planner and culinary artist.” “So if I asked you to describe even more than that, could you?” “Yes, but I don’t understand how that proves anything,” Lyra said. “If you want proof, you’re going to need something that is undeniable. Something that shows that my world is not contingent upon your existence. Heck, we have thousands of years of knowledge.” “What?” Ray asked. “What knowledge?” “EVERYTHING,” Lyra asked. “Mathematics. Literature. Science. You name it, we have it.” Ray sat up suddenly in his seat. Lyra squeaked and fell into the floor space in front of the passenger seat. “Lyra quickly. Tell me what I’m bad at?” “Giving warnings before scaring ponies?” she asked, crumpled into a heap of hooves and twitching tail upside down on the floor. “No, all those things you just said. I don’t know ANY of them. Science is provable by experimentation and research. Things like understanding periodic tables or the proper formulas for chemical mixtures. And mathematics even more so. That can’t be faked! It can’t be made up!” “Yeah. So?” Lyra asked as she pulled herself back onto the seat. “So if you’re real, then the research your society has made is real, and I can benefit from that by having you tell me things that I couldn’t possibly know. I can’t ‘magic’ new knowledge. But if you are real, then you can tell me knowledge that I currently don’t know which is one hundred percent factual. If you aren’t real, then you wouldn’t be able to give me any new information I don’t already know.” He held out his hands. “I’m a genius.” “That sounds reasonable,” Lyra said. “You’d need to give me a day to research anything though.” “What? Why?” He asked. “Why can’t you tell me instantly?” “Because I’m here with you, silly!” She said and jumped into his lap. He suddenly felt her small fluffy body padding his stomach with her hooves. “I have to focus wherever I am in order to contact you. Right now, I’m at my house, lying in bed, using my focusing abilities to reach you.” “Huh,” Ray said as he put his hand down on Lyra’s head. Her little ears flicked at his touch and he could distinctly feel the sensation of pony fur under his hand. He poked the top of her horn and felt a prick on his finger. He looked at it. It was red, but not bleeding. “That tickles!” Lyra said. “Unicorn horns are very sensitive and that is rude, sir.” “How…?” he poked her horn again and looked at his finger. She giggled and he noticed his finger was more red than before. “Hey! Stop!” She said, her face red. “Lyra, how can I feel you?” “I don’t know. Maybe cause I’m ‘in your head’ as you say.” Ray held up an empty bottle over Lyra. “Catch.” He dropped it. “AH!” Lyra said as she jumped out of the way. The bottle hit Ray’s lap. “I can’t! I can only touch you.” She motioned for him to remove the bottle from his lap. He flicked it away and she sat down again, the warmth of her body causing him to blush. “I…I need to keep track of this. With a journal or some sort of research. We have to figure this out together.” “Cool. I’ll get Twilight to help too.” Ray nodded and held up Lyra to his chest. Her warm filled him with peace as she snuggled close and fell asleep. He stared at the stars and thought he finally had a plan to prove that something fantastic had happened to him after all. Author's Note Extra Story Details Writing Time: Exactly sixty minutes Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, San Antonio, Texas, unnamed Park at night Story Themes: Seeking Scientific Proof, Companionship Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Story Details: I've always been intrigued by sequences in stories where a character is experiencing something that might be incredibly subjective, so they have to prove what they're experiencing to others. Horror movies usually have a sequence like this, but not so much slice-of-life and dramas. Here, we see Lyra and Ray using logic to figure out how they would go about proving that Equestria is in fact real and not just in Ray's head...or perhaps discover that it's existed there all along. :) Training DaySpitfire stood with her hand on the Glock 41 Pistol, eyeing the weapon as though it were a strange alien artifact. The protective ear muffs made it easier to block out the shots fired from other gun owners on the local firing range. Ray, she thought, I know what this weapon is from observing your use of it, but I don’t understand how it works. Ray said, stuck in the back of his mind as Spitfire controlled his body. He still couldn’t get used to seeing her orange-coated hand holding his weapon. Luckily, he was the only one who could see the differences. Ray noticed the reflection of her pony head on the nearby metal divider and found it difficult to get used to how it conformed to his human body proportions. He’d yet to see what the rest of her half-human body looked like without his attire. Keep your head on straight, Spitfire said as she caught ahold of what Ray was thinking. I’m not here for that. I’m your designated bodyguard by order of Princess Celestia. If I’m to ensure your safety, I need to understand how to best protect you in a way that minimizes harm to others while using the most efficient amount of force required. Ray tried not to focus on his previous thoughts about Spitfire and looked at the weapon from her point of view. If that day comes, it will be my choice, not yours, Spitfire said. You’re in-charge of an entire world living in your head. We have to be allowed to take some responsibility in keeping you, and all of us, safe. Ray thought. Then teach me, she responded. She placed the gun on the counter of the shooting lane. Tell me what to do. Ray couldn’t change her mind. She was far too strong-willed out of all the ponies who had the ability to take over his body. She was also military-trained, just like him. Out of all the others who had shared control of his body, Spitfire was the only one who sought direct instruction from him. He sighed internally and began. I know what a trigger is, Ray. I’ve seen the basic operation of this weapon. So how is that considered safe? Spitfire asked. I’m still pressing the trigger. It doesn’t really seem much different to me. Spitfire held the weapon in her hand and stared downrange at the shadowy human form displayed on the paper target. Several circles were drawn on the chest and the head of the silhouette. If I am correct, hitting a human target in those marked areas is considered a ‘kill-shot.’ I wish to learn how to disable a person, not kill them. Ray asked. I don’t have to become a murderer to protect you. That is not my way, Spitfire said. Protecting you in prison will be exponentially harder, so keep that in mind. Spitfire was quiet. Dutifully, she aimed the barrel towards the center of mass of the silhouette. She waited. Ray asked. Spitfire nodded. Spitfire depressed the triggers. The Glock fired at the target and recoiled a bit. Spitfire immediately fired a second shot and saw it move higher and off-center than the previous. She waited. Like that? Ray could see down range very clearly. Again? Spitfire said as she adjusted her aim at the target. Spitfire shot once, waited, then shot again. The first one was closer, but the second one still hit the white spot of the target where no human silhouette was drawn. Better. Ray said to her in their shared mind. I need to practice, Spitfire thought. Ray asked. Yes we can, Spitfire said. Ray suddenly found himself holding the Glock in his hand as he stared in shock down at his body. He wasn’t human. His hands were still orange like Spitfire’s. He stared at his reflection and saw the pegasus head with wide eyes and open muzzle. Large wings splayed out his back in shock. “What the…” Spitfire said in his head. How about a warning next time?! Ray thought. We’re holding a loaded weapon! Spitfire said. Ray’s large expressive pony eyes narrowed at himself. It was as if he was talking to Spitfire through the reflection and seeing her face stare back at him, but he controlled it. He looked towards the target until he felt something swing behind him. He turned and stared. Spitfire…do I have a tail? I’m starting to feel other differences as well… Spitfire said. Ray-Spitfire pointed the weapon towards the target. Ray’s muscle memory was perfect and he fired three shots in quick succession, hitting the center of the target twice and quick-switching to hit the head once. All three hit their marks. Spitfire said. Ray smiled her smile. Spitfire and Ray continued for almost a half-hour. Ray taught the Wonderbolt Captain how to fire the weapon and in-turn she guided him through the most basic abilities of the fusion. Soon they got it down where Ray would aim and quickly switch over control to Spitfire, who would fire the weapon. Their system was so efficient that Spitfire soon got the technique down without any help at all. Ray also noticed that she had started to mark paper targets with points on the hands, legs and shoulders. Her shots to each of these locations was dead-on. Ray asked, Ray, it may be easy for you humans to commit such acts on each other, but in my training, we are taught every possible method to avoid lethal combat. If you let me do what I am trained to do, I guarantee you the casualty rate in any combat we experience will be zero. Ray didn’t know what to say. He watched as Spitfire hit her non-lethal targets with near one hundred percent accuracy. She folded up the papers after marking them with her name and the date as she put them in Ray’s jacket pocket. I will keep these for future reference. To show my progress, she thought. Ray found himself back in his body with his hand still on the paper in his pocket. He looked around as though he’d find Spitfire standing next to him. He could see himself as human once again. Spitfire? he asked mentally. No response. He kept trying to reach her as he left the shooting range and wondered where she had gone. ---- ---- Author's Note Extra Story Details Ponies in this chapter: Captain Spitfire Writing Time: Approx 62 minutes Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, San Antonio, Texas, Unnamed Shooting Range Story Themes: Switching Control, Gun Expertise, Military Training Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Story Background:I'm enjoying having only one pony really be the focus of many of these chapters. The action sequences and dramatic moments can afford to have more, but this allows for greater development of characters when it's one-on-one. Plus, less effort for Ray. :) Glock information: https://us.glock.com/products/model/g41gen4 Here's Ray's weapon: Hey, it's Gen4 too. Heh.
Blackout on 281To the whole world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the whole world… As the sensation of the mental takeover washed away from Aurora Ray’s mind, he turned to stare at the crashed semi-trailer down in the ditch off Highway 281. Down in his arms he saw the young boy, no older than eleven, shivering in fear. He turned back to the trailer and looked at the crushed cabin as fluids started to leak from underneath. Fire, was all he could think of in his mind. “Stay here,” he said to the young boy and started off down the path. “Where are you…?” Ray yelled as he stumbled down the path. “I’m here!” a voice responded from the cabin of the semi. I’m not talking to you, Ray thought. He listened and heard no response in his head. Damnit, where are you? I know you did this! Show yourself! He moved closer to the cab and stepped around the leaking liquids to get to the driver’s side door. DAMNIT, say something! “Hey!” the trucker said, his face visible from the cracked window. “I’m stuck!” “Just hold on,” Ray said. “We gotta be careful not to cause a spark. You’re leaking fuel!” “Don’t hit the door handle, then! The metal will cause a spark for sure!” the man yelled. Ray reached for his phone, but his pocket was empty. WHICH ONE OF YOU TOOK IT? He yelled in his head. Where is it?! I need that phone! He heard a response from a calm, female voice, which filled his mind with the image of a purple unicorn with wings. I left it in my car?! “DAMNIT!” Ray yelled. “Hey I could really use your help getting out of here, man,” the truck driver said. “Do you have a phone?” Ray asked. “Or a CB radio or something?” “The transmitter on my radio flew off and is below the seat. I can’t reach it. My phone is outta battery.” Ray walked around the side of the truck and opened the passenger door. He crawled in and saw the driver’s legs stuck underneath a collapsed steering wheel. He reached down under the seat and pulled out the radio transmitter. The buttons were broken off, like it had been crushed. “Damnit! I must’ve stepped on it when it hit the ground somehow!” The truck driver said. “Hey, you think you can pull this wheel up? I can get out if you and I push it off together! Just bend it up!” “I’m not strong enough for that,” Ray said. a voice said in his mind. His hands weren’t his own anymore as they clutched the top of the steering wheel. “Come on,” Ray’s voice said, even though it wasn’t him who was speaking. He and the driver pushed the wheel upwards, trying to bend it. It barely budged. But it was moving. “Harder, push it now!” Ray’s voice said again and somewhere deep in his mind, Ray could only watch. You’ll hurt him! Be careful, Applejack! “Ah got this,” Ray’s voice said with a distinctly southern drawl. “But ah’m using the wrong tools.” Applejack leaned back in the seat and put her legs right under the top rung of the wheel. “We push as one. Ready?” “Yeah yeah,” the truck driver said. He started to sniff loudly. “You smell that right?” “Yeah, tha gasoline…” “No, the smoke!” The driver and Applejack peered at the broken and battered hood of the car and saw trails of black smoke start to issue from the sides. “Hurry!” “GO!” Applejack said as she pushed hard upwards on the wheel with her legs while the driver screamed and pushed upwards with his arms. The wheel bent up just enough for his legs to move. “GOT IT!” the driver yelled and scooted his body to the side. He yelled in agony. “My legs are broken!” “Out of the car!” Applejack yelled as she pulled on his jacket and moved him to the edge with all her might. He helped by pulling himself with his arms but now he hung a good five feet off the ground. Applejack underestimated her own strength and accidentally pulled him too far. Applejack, he’s falling! Ray thought. Applejack hit the ground first and rolled to the side. The large truck driver fell. Head first. His body rested in the gasoline as the smoke started to pour from the engine up above. He did not move. Applejack crawled over to him. “Wh..what do ah do? I can’t…I don’t know how to check for a pulse!” a white mare appeared in Ray’s mind with a Red Cross symbol. Nurse Redheart put her hands on the driver’s neck and felt for a pulse. “He’s alive,” she said aloud in Ray’s gruff voice. “We need to move him away from the accident or that fire’s going to ignite the gasoline and burn us alive.” We can’t move him with just our strength alone! Ray thought. Nurse Redheart turned to the kid who had been saved a minute before. He was sitting fifty yards away on the shoulder of the road. “Who’s good with kids?” Nurse Redheart asked out loud. answered a voice. The kid saw Ray approach him on the side of the road, but he couldn’t see the deep berry purple pony filling Ray’s mind as she bent down and spoke softly to the child. “Hey,” Cheerilee said, “I know you’re scared, but I need your help okay? I need you to be a hero because I can’t do this alone. Can you be strong for me? This man needs us.” The kid nodded. Cheerilee offered her hand. “Let’s do this together, okay?” The kid nodded again. Cheerilee jogged with the kid back to the scene where the smoke was getting worse. You know you’re putting the kid’s life in danger, right? Ray said in his mind. Cheerilee spoke up in response. “If things look dangerous or a fire breaks out, I want you to run, okay? Don’t stay. I need you to be safe.” The kid nodded one more time. “Promise me.” “I promise,” the young boy said. They both knelt down by the unconscious, gasoline-soaked truck driver and grabbed him by the shoulders. “We move him on three, okay?” Cheerilee said. “Fire!” the kid yelled as he pointed upward. Tongues of flame were licking the air above the smashed hood of the semi. Cheerilee turned back. “You need to run! Now!” “NO!” the kid yelled, causing Cheerilee to recoil. “MOVE HIM! GO!” Cheerilee and the kid pulled with all their might as they managed to drag the heavy man a few feet before they both had to rest. “Leave!” Cheerilee yelled. “It’s my fault he’s dying!” The kid said. “MOVE! GO!” Both pulled again and moved the man a few more feet as the fire blazed higher and hotter. a wild fiery pegasus took charge of the body and clasped the arms with her hands. “No more screwing around, kid. We pull him as far as we can this time or that fire will overtake us. You ready?” Spitfire asked. “Yeah.” “Kid, I better hear some fire in your voice or we ain’t gonna make it! READY?!” “FUCK YEAH!” “GO!” Spitfire and the kid yelled with all their might as they dragged the unconscious man three feet, six feet, and finally ten feet onto the edge of the road and off the gasoline-soaked grass. The two collapsed next to the body as the truck exploded into a blazing inferno. The grass around the truck caught ablaze. “We…did it!” The kid said between wild breaths. The herd in Ray’s mind fell back and he came forward again. He looked around, aware of what happened, and still not believing it. “Yeah…we all did.” -- The interior of the San Antonio Police Department was dingy and poorly lit. Ray sat in the seat next to the investigating officer. “Kid said you saved that man’s life. And his,” Officer Linda Lopez said. “You’re lucky the kid had a phone on him. The driver will live, but he’s got some serious injuries.” Twilight Sparkle said in Ray’s mind. No talking right now. I need to focus, Ray thought. And please don’t take control right now, unless all of you want to spend the rest of our lives in a mental hospital. After a strange silence visible only to Officer Lopez, Ray spoke up. “I did what I had to do. I’m just glad they’re both okay.” “And you’re a hero for that, Aurora.” She looked down at the name on her report and cocked an eyebrow. “Aurora? Isn’t that…” “A woman’s name. It’s complicated. Please just call me Ray.” “All right then…well, Ray. You see there’s a bit of a complication with the story you and the kid presented us,” Officer Lopez started. Twilight Sparkle said. “What’s that?” Ray asked. “Your car was two miles back down the road. And yet you were on foot when you saw the kid in the road and the driver moving towards him. You were there just in-time to pull him out of the way. Why was your car so far back down the road?” Spitfire said. Guys, I don’t remember why it was so far! Which one of you walked me over to the scene? Do you remember? Nurse Redheart spoke up. Feign? I wouldn’t be faking it, Ray thought. “Mr. Ray?” Officer Lopez asked. “You okay? You look like you zoned out there for a minute.” “Sorry Officer. It’s been a long day. I’m…trying to remember what happened. The events are all mixed up in my mind.” Redheart said. “I think I…must’ve gotten carsick and walked out of the vehicle for a bit. Maybe I went too far. Ended up down the road. Two miles, though? Are you sure that’s right?” The Officer was quiet for the briefest of seconds. “Approximately two miles. You would have had to have been walking for at least 30 minutes at a gradual pace to make it that far. And as far as we could see your vehicle was not broken down. It was in perfect working order.” “Huh,” Ray said. Spitfire said. “No!” Ray said aloud and caught himself a little too late. “No what?” the officer asked. Spitfire said. “No…this is all wrong,” Ray said, trying to cover. “I feel like we’re missing some vital piece of the puzzle here.” “You’re telling me,” Officer Lopez said. “You were there. How ‘bout you fill me in?” “The kid…there were on the road, right? So maybe I was following them for that stretch of time, wondering what they were doing till I saw them get in trouble.” Spitfire said. “You think ‘maybe’ that’s what happened? How are you not certain, Mr. Ray?” “Officer, I can’t remember very well. The whole situation jarred my brain. I must be dealing with some sort of post-traumatic stress.” “Of that I have no doubt,” she said. “But that stress happened LONG AFTER you got out of your car and walked the two miles to the scene of the accident. Whatever you were doing happened before this incident occurred. That’s what I want to know. Are you really saying you can’t remember why you were out there in the first place?” Spitfire said. No! You’ll ruin it! She’ll notice the difference! Ray thought. “Officer, you’re right. This stress happened because of the incident, but I still can’t remember why I was out there. I deal with...a LOT of stress in my job. Sometimes I zone out when stress gets to me. It’s really difficult to deal with. And I forget a lot. That day on the road, I was coming back from work and I know that lately I’ve been dealing with a lot of pressure from upper management. I probably had an anxiety attack on the road, pulled off to the side and got out and walked because I didn’t want to cause and accident. And yes, I have anxiety attacks. I’ve had them for a long time and you can check with my doctor on that.” The officer nodded and waited for Ray to finish his story before responding. “That is the most plausible thing you’ve said so far.” She wrote down what Ray said on her computer. Spitfire said. I focused on whatever I knew to be true and that was it. See? That’s how it works, Ray thought. “Okay Mr. Ray,” Officer Lopez said, “You’re free to go, but I will be calling you for a followup later when we get some more information on this, so keep yourself available for the next week. Please make sure to come back here when we ask you. You don’t want to see me at your home. Trust me.” “Oh. Kay,” was all Ray could say, rather dorkily. -- Ray sat down at his kitchen table in his apartment by himself. The events of the day had worn him out and he was holding a bottle of Jack Daniels. He could not seem to bring it to his lips, but not without trying. “All right,” he said aloud. “Which one of you is stopping me from drinking this time?” Twilight said. “I’d say it matters a lot, Twilight,” Ray respond verbally. “I want to know who’s taking control of my life this time.” Fluttershy said. She hadn’t spoken up all day and Ray sighed. “Really, Fluttershy? You, of all ponies?” she said. Ray put the bottle down and held his head in his hands. “Please just leave me alone. I want silence for at least an hour. Is that so hard to ask for?” Twilight said. “You know damn well what happens when I go to sleep. You’re just waiting for me to do so. Then, I’ll find myself inside Canterlot again speaking to Princess Celestia or her sister Lunar.” A loud, boisterous voice called out. “Whatever, your majesty,” Ray said as he got up and went to his bedroom. He sat down and turned on his computer. “If I can’t drink, I’ll do something else.” Twilight asked. “Looking up porn. Hardcore porn.” Twilight said. Luna shouted. “Luna, I’m going to say this once,” Ray started. “If you try and take over when I’m ‘busy,’ we’re gonna have some words.” she responded. Twilight spoke, “Why?” “I don’t know. And I don’t want to think about it. Let me…deal with my problems. They aren’t yours anyway.” Twilight said. Ray kept clicking on websites. Luna spoke up. Twilight yelled. Luna said. Twilight said before disappearing from the front of Ray’s mind. Luna said. “I didn’t ask for this responsibility,” Ray said, before shutting down his computer out of frustration. Luna said. “Why?” Ray asked. -- The interior of Canterlot castle was unimaginably beautiful. Ray traced a hand over a marble column and felt the cold of the room, the impossibly vivid sensation which could never make sense in a dream. “I’ll never dream again…will I?” “If you could have this over a dream, would you choose the latter?” Luna’s voice rang loud and clear through the hollowed chambers. Ray looked up at the staircase as he strolled through the ice-blue glow of the room. A serene feeling pervaded his heart as he eyed the stain glass windows. They were fragmented images of beauty arranged in a mismatch of forms. “I feel like a stain glass window. Easy to see through. Just tons of tiny pieces and each one, held by one of you,” Ray said. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the most gentle of mournful songs. He wondered who it was and figured he’d meet them later anyway. “It’s who you are now,” Luna said. “I know it’s not the life you wanted, but it’s the life you were given.” “By whom?” Ray asked. “Because I’d like to have a word with them.” He turned and stopped. Down the staircase strode the soft and silent star-studded steps of the Princess of the Night. Her mane and tail flowed like a nebula casting light in all the shadows of the room and drawing everything within it. The light of the moon fell upon her face and accented every loving curve. Like a celestial accretion disk, Ray’s gaze could not escape the eyes of the Princess staring back at him. When she stood in front of him, the whole universe watched. And when the thought ran through his mind once more, he realized that he was the universe. And she was his night. “Ray,” she said. “What are you looking at?” “Someone who makes me wish I’d never awake,” he said. Tears fell from his eyes. She wiped them away tenderly. “Every time you hurt, we all feel it. We could shut it out, and some do. But I won’t. I need to feel what you feel.” “Why is my life like this, Luna?” Ray asked. The moonlight fell upon he and Luna alone. “Why can’t I have a normal life?” “Would you rather we ceased to be? And this whole universe turn to naught?” He shook his head. “No. You deserve to be just as much as anyone else.” She took him by the hand and they stepped up to the stairs towards Luna’s castle spire. The room was bathed in the light of the night. Everywhere he looked, Ray saw the sparkle of stardust swirling in slow, graceful dreamlike motion. No matter what Luna touched, it was always made more beautiful because she had been there. Ray found his voice. “I wish my thoughts were always this beautiful.” Luna guided him to the canopy bed, with a ceiling of constellations and shooting stars, and held him close. He said nothing and smiled. Surely, this was a better end to the day than most. “Visit me tomorrow, please,” Ray said. “Wherever you want to go.” “Wait till later at night. We’ll go somewhere special. Somewhere we can all enjoy,” Luna said. Ray laughed quietly. “Gotta take the whole crew.” “Always,” Luna said and smiled. -- Author's Note Extra Story Details Writing Time: Approx 3 hours Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, Texas, San Antonio area, SAPD Station Story Themes: Worlds in Minds, What is Real, Friendship in the most unikely spaces, personalities or separate people? Note: This is a "B" Story, meaning I wrote it second during a marathon of story-writing one night. "B" stories are designated by having a quick setup, but taking a lot longer to finish and often develop deeper concepts and character connections rather than a more contained idea presented in an "A" story. Story Background: (Inspired by a talk I had with fimfiction user CakeBomb, where I was inspired to make more uplifting stories. I know this isn't exactly an "uplifting" story, but it is MORE uplifting than the other ones I've done. so YAY! PROGRESS!)
Just Another DayAurora Ray woke up to Twilight Sparkle’s voice in his head. Ray gritted his teeth. “It is too early, Twilight…” he said. Ray was silent and nodded very slowly. “You want a pony to go with me to work so she can learn to take over my body?” Ray asked. “No. Absolutely not.” Twiilght said. Ray got up and went through his morning routine showering, getting ready, eating breakfast and checking his email as Twilight did everything she could to convince him to allow the new pony to be at the forefront of his mind. “Damnit, Twilight,” Ray said. “Think about what you’re asking me. Why would I say yes to this? Why would I be willing allow a pony to take over my body when they know nothing of the world? Honestly, I’d rather you guys NEVER take over my body, but that doesn’t seem to be something I can help, now can I?” Twilight said. “What. A. Shame.” Ray exhaled very loudly and held it out for a long time. He hit the side of his leg with his fist before groaning. “What’s her name?” Twilight said. “Okay, here are the rules,” he said. “She doesn’t talk unless spoken to. She sits quietly and watches me work. If she has a question, she waits until I’m not busy to ask it. She does NOT speak to me when I’m in the restroom. She doesn’t take control of me today AT ALL. She lets me eat in peace. She does not interrupt me when I’m talking to co-workers. And she MAY NOT hug me. At all.” There was silence for a good while. By the time Ray was already sitting in his car with his hand on the ignition, Twilight spoke up. Ray jumped a little in his seat at the sudden sound in the silence. Then he turned the key, put the car into drive and headed towards work. Twilight said. There was a feeling of a hug in his mind. Ray grunted. “Wait,” he said. “What does she need to get ready for? What’s she doing? Twilight? TWILIGHT?” -- The Rivercenter Mall in San Antonio was three floors of consumerism packed tightly into the center of the city. Organized in a “U” formation, the center of the layout led out to a concrete outdoor eating area for the various restaurants in the food court, including finer establishments for consumers willing to spend twenty dollars on a steak. A man-made river spun around an elevated platform connected to the concrete eating area by a tiny bridge. Small open-air boats floated slowly through the river, carrying out-of-towners who were thrilled by the sights and sounds. The mall was dwarfed on all sides by massive downtown offices, hotels and parking garages. Every level of the mall was covered in glass, allowing visitors on any floor to look down onto the riverboats below. Ray couldn’t see any of this right now, though. He was stuck inside the security office staring at his boss who has closed the door so the other guards couldn’t hear them. Ray knew this couldn’t be good. “You needed to see me, Jerry?” Ray asked. He slouched in the chair, legs out, staring up at his supervisor with the least amount of respect needed to get by. “Ray…” Jerry started. The overweight elderly man seemed hesitant to speak. Ray knew something must be wrong, because Jerry was the most assertive person on staff. He never seemed unsure of himself. Save for today. Jerry pulled out a newspaper and held out the front page. The headline read: Local Hero Saves Kid, Driver from Burning Semi “I wanted to talk to you about this,” Jerry said. “I’m open to any raises you’re willing to give,” Ray said with a smile. In the back of his mind, he heard a sigh, but didn’t know which pony it came from. Jerry chuckled. “After this, I don’t think I’d be able to afford the kind of raise you deserve. But…I wanted to talk about something. Here, let me read you this:” The child who had been pushed out of the way of the truck by Mr. Ray said that the local man took charge of the situation and moved quickly to remove 42 year-old Gabriel Rivera from the truck before it ignited. “He kept talking himself into doing it. I heard him talking to someone when he was next to the unconscious man. I think I know who it was!” Oh. Shit, Ray thought. His featureless expression froze as Jerry continued reading. “He was talking to his guardian angel! I know it! I thank God someone was watching over us all! Mr. Ray is a hero!” Ray couldn’t help but smile. Jerry put down the paper and looked at Ray. “Is there something you wanna talk about?” “Yes, Jerry,” Ray said. “As you can see, I can clearly talk to the gods. So $8.00 an hour isn’t going to cut it for someone who can communicate with the other world.” Ray smiled, then realized how his terminology was a bit too on-point considering what the ponies had told him about Equestria. Even in his lies, he told the truth. Jerry shook his head, all the while showing a snarky smile which translated to You cocky son of a bitch. “I was psyching myself up, Jerry,” Ray said, now more serious. “I’ve never been at the scene of an accident before. I needed to get them out of there.” “You’re been through a serious life-threatening ordeal. I’m just wondering if you need to take a break,” Jerry said. “I like my job,” Ray lied. “It keeps me occupied from…all that stuff.” “I don’t think you understand. I want you to take a break,” Jerry clarified. “I need the money, Jerry.” “You’ll get a week’s vacation with pay.” “I’m taking that break.” Ray said immediately. “But why so generous?” “You’re one of our senior staff,” Jerry said. “You just went through a stressful situation, and you were seconds away from dying. I know you like to pretend you’re too tough to feel the effects of any of this stuff. Hell, look at the way you’re presenting yourself right now. Sitting there like you aren’t worried about a damn thing. Ray, I’ve known you long enough to know you only do that when you’re hiding some serious emotional stress. Ever since you told me about your time in Afghanistan, I’ve been noticing small tics that you have.” Ray listened intently. Not just to Jerry, but to anyone else listening along with him. He heard nothing. And he was worried. “What tics?” He said, defensively. “Hold on. I’m not attacking you, okay?” Jerry said. “I noticed you space-out a lot. Like you’re thinking about something far off. Sometimes it takes us several tries to get your attention. We can’t have that with someone who needs to respond quickly. I mean, you’ve gotten better about it in the last few months. But after that accident, I don’t want to risk overworking you. You’re one of my best. And I don’t want you to leave cause of burnout.” Ray looked down at the ground, intending to look away from Jerry for a chance to think about what he said. Instead, his eyes went wide as his gaze locked on the form of a small, mint green pony sitting right below Jerry’s desk. She had minty hair lighter than her coat color with streaks of white in the tail and mane. A small golden harp symbol rested on both of her flanks. Her eyes were golden and very bright. And she had a tiny horn atop her head. Ray couldn’t believe he was seeing a tiny, dog-sized unicorn sitting in the room right now. “Ray?” Jerry said. He sighed and then leaned in closer as Ray switched his gaze back to his boss. “Ray, I think I know what’s happening to you. You might be undergoing PTSD. Just know that whatever you’re seeing…it’s not really there.” He had no idea how to respond to that. He chanced a glance back down at Lyra, who was smiling, before looking back at Jerry. “It’s hard to…deal with some of this stuff,” Ray said. He was going to ride the PTSD excuse for as long as he could. Jerry sat down behind his desk. “Believe me. I know. I’m a Vietnam Vet myself. I tell you what.” He pulled out a card from his wallet and handed it to Ray. “This is a support group for veterans that I attend every week. We met down at a local library. The address is there. You should come.” Ray felt his heart drop. It isn’t right to push this excuse any further. Not like this. “Jerry, I’ve been through some tough stuff, but it doesn’t compare to what you’ve gone through. It wouldn’t be right for me to attend this meeting. I’m not going to take time away from veterans who need to work through their problems. I’m sorry, I…I’ve been through some stuff, but it’s not PTSD.” Lyra smiled at him from the floor. Her eyes were very compassionate and she wouldn’t stop looking at him. He was starting to feel uncomfortable. “Ray,” Jerry started, “You are going through something. I don’t know what it is. But it’s affecting you on the outside as well the inside. Rather than judging yourself unworthy of attending this group, why don’t you try it? You don’t have to speak. Just sit there and listen to the others talk about what they’ve gone through. If you can find some common ground and you decide to share, then you can do so. Maybe you’ll find some hidden issues you’ve been suppressing for a while.” Ray couldn’t stop staring at the small pony that apparently only he could see. She walked right up to him and curled up at his legs, waiting patiently. Somehow, he could feel the warmth of her body on his legs. She made little cute noises as she cuddled closer and rested on his shoes. Holy shit, she’s adorable. “REALLY!?” Lyra said as she sat up instantly, her eyes aglow with sparkles that had to be magical. “You think so?!” Ray looked up awkwardly. “I…uh…I have to go. I’ll be there, though.” He said. “Thank you, sir.” He shook Jerry’s hand. The handshake was just as real to him as the pony moving around his legs like a little puppy. “Didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, but I understand,” Jerry said. He released the handshake and looked at his calendar, marking it. “Your vacation starts immediately. Go somewhere that makes you happy. Leave this whole place behind.” “Right. Thanks Jerry,” Ray said as he stepped out the door, then stopped. He looked down at the mint green pony. You must be Lyra. She nodded eagerly. I need you to sit on the chair. Wait there. “Okay,” she said and stood on the chair. Ray turned to Jerry. He feigned looking for something in his pockets. “Hey Jerry. I think I dropped something here around the chair. Can you help me look for it?” Jerry got up and stared at the chair. His expression was unreadable. He can see her! Ray thought. Yes! I’m not crazy! Jerry bent down and looked underneath the chair, then across the top of it. Lyra looked down too. Ray pretended to look behind, but never took his eyes off Lyra and Jerry. “Check the space underneath the cushions. Might’ve slipped in there.” Ray said. Jerry moved his hand towards Lyra and the chair. She started to move out of the way. DON’T MOVE, Ray told Lyra. She froze. Jerry’s hand went right through her body and into the couch cushion. “I don’t feel anything here. What did you lose, Ray?” My mind, he thought. -- Author's Note Extra Story Details Ponies in this chapter: Twilight, Lyra Writing Time: Approx 1 hr 50 min Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, San Antonio, Texas, Rivercenter Mall, Security Guard Room Story Themes: Reality Tested, Honesty, Integrity, Cute Ponies Being Cute Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Story Background: Who doesn't want a little Lyra following them around everywhere? :P Watched the following video about dialogue in movies before writing this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l293Qyua5QM
Empire of SandAuthor's Note (The following sequence exhibits a depiction of wartime violence. Anyone who may be sensitive to any triggers caused by such an event should use caution and determine whether they wish to read this chapter) Extra Story Details Writing Time: Approx 1 hr 30 min Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, Afghanistan Story Themes: Reality Tested, Wartime Violence Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Empire of Sand The last thing Ray remembered was a massive blast tearing through the jeep as the car flipped through the air. The improvised explosive device packed a bigger punch than the ones they’d seen previously and managed to land the vehicle on its driver’s side, elevating the passenger side up in the air. Ray was pinned to the driver’s side rear door by the weight of his fellow soldier. They shouted something far off and distant as the ringing in Ray’s ears prevented him from hearing almost anything. Gunfire hit the bottom of the jeep. Its armor plating stopped most of the shots and deflected the rest. A soldier climbed out the upended section from the front-passenger door. His squadmate yelled something to him as Ray looked on, dazed. He heard the solider discharge his weapon. More gunfire hit the HMMVW before the soldier ducked back into the car. He had a bullet-mark on his helmet, which had saved his life. One of the soldiers was calling someone on the radio. Ray didn’t know who. The voices were too far away. There was a loud buzzing sound heading towards the jeep. The bottom of the HMMVW was rocked as the armor-plating barely stopped the explosion from breaching the cabin. The car flipped over on its top, trapping the soldiers upside-down. The one soldier who had exited the door fell half outside the vehicle when it hit the ground. Gunfire hit the ground around him as he crawled back inside the jeep. Ray looked out the window facing down the road in the direction they had been driving. He couldn’t see anyone. Seconds later, several bullets reflected off the sides of the door he had been staring through. One hit the window directly and bounced off. He jumped with each impact. The soldiers looked around inside the protective shell of their HMMVW. They saw a truck driving up from the far in the distance. It was not U.S. military. Several more gunshots hit the side of vehicle as Ray started to get his hearing back. He heard the voices of his squad mates yelling at each other, though his mind couldn’t make sense of the words. He was frozen in-place, staring at the truck moving them. In less than sixty seconds, it would reach the vehicle. He spotted several men with rifles and automatic weapons standing on the back of the truck. “Truck incoming!” Ray shouted. “4 men! 1 driver! Armed!” One of the men pulled out a long slender weapon. “RPG! RPG!” Ray yelled. “OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!” One of the other soldiers yelled. The doors opened on the opposite end of the cabin. They flooded out onto the side of the road and rolled to a stop on the ground. Ray was having trouble removing his seat-belt upside-down. He released the buckle and flipped over, lying on the ceiling. There was a blast from the truck and Ray had half a second to brace for impact. The rocket-propelled grenade slammed into the front of the jeep, spinning it around as the front window ripped apart. The open doors on the opposite end now pointed towards the incoming truck. Ray saw the men open-fire. He reached for the door handle and slammed it shut just in-time to see the bullets bounce off the armor. The front door was still open, and the bullets entered the cabin front seats and tore through them like paper. Gunfire spewed forth from the three squad mates hunkered down on the side of the road. One of the men on the truck spasmed and fell off the side, hitting the ground. The truck veered off to the side as the three men on top opened fire. The one with the RPG was hit as he was reloading and dropped back into the bed of the vehicle. Ray looked around. Through the explosions and the gunfire, he felt something even more off. “I…I’ve already been here.” He opened the side door and stumbled onto the ground. Gunfire pockmarked the ground around his feet as he ran around the side, weapon at the ready. He aimed at the driver of the truck and opened fire. And waited. The truck had stopped moving. The men on top stood perfectly still, aiming their weapons at the three squad mates on the side of the road. One soldier was already falling backwards from a shot to his chest armor. Ray looked around. The sounds of battle had ceased. “Hey!” He yelled. “HEY!” He raised up his rifle and scanned the area across the top of his barrel. “I know you’re out there! Answer me!” He scanned the horizon and then looked back at the frozen scene. He walked around the truck and saw the driver, his features never forgotten. Ray raised his rifle and pointed it point-blank at the driver’s head. “RAY!” a fierce feminine voice called out from behind him. “I already killed this man. Let me finish this.” “You ALREADY finished it!” the regal voice said. “You finished it half a decade ago.” Ray spun around with his weapon aiming at the voice. He glanced wildly around the desert. “WHERE ARE YOU?” “Are you going to shoot me, Ray?” the voice said, still hard to identify, but very familiar. It sounded almost like Luna, but more mature. “I’m not going to come out if that’s the case.” “Just tell me who you are. Why am I here?” “Your mind put you here. This isn’t a dream. It’s a memory. You’re having a flashback. You’re not even asleep. You’re standing outside your apartment, in the forest.” “What?” he said. “That’s impossible. That’s never happened to me before.” “Put the gun down and I’ll show you.” “But if it isn’t real, then why does it matter if I have this gun?” “Because I can still be hurt,” she said. “Please put the gun down.” Ray watched the scene. Looked at the man in the truck, the men standing above with weapons drawn, and felt immense hate for them. He heart tore in his chest as he pointed his weapon at the truck. He screamed in anger as he fired at the sides of the vehicle and across the wheels, watching them pop and explode. The barrel smoked as he stared at the bullet holes and realized he had managed to avoid hitting any of the men. He threw his weapon to the ground and turned around. The sun ignited on the horizon, casting a corona of brilliance around the white winged mare, standing in regal radiance cast by the light of her own star. Her mane spread high and into the sky, painting the colors of the sunset in pastel hues of soft, welcoming light. The golden colors of her vibrant regalia shimmered with each ray of light, showing a perfect beauty which was impossible on earth. But it was her eyes that made the biggest impression, surrounded by such magnificence and yet so soft and loving. “I'm sorry, your majesty,” Ray said as he lowered his head. Princess Celestia smiled. “You don’t have to do that, Ray. You’re not one of my subjects.” “So I’d have to do it if I was a subject?” “Ray, you’re staring at a celestial being and the first thing you decide to do is be a smartass?” “You took away my gun. What else do I have?” The two walked in silence for a while as Celestia toned down her mane just a bit so it was contained within a mass of shimmering light just behind her. “You know, most ponies don’t give me sass after I’ve made an entrance like that.” “I’m not most ponies. Or a pony. At all.” He looked around. “I thought I wasn’t asleep,” he told her. “What exactly am I physically doing right now?” “Walking through a forest, lost in thoughts so deep you might as well be dreaming.” “These flashbacks have happened before, but I knew what they were. I didn’t go out wandering on my own.” “They’re getting worse,” Celestia said. She appeared worried. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” “I’ll manage.” “I need you to see a psychiatrist.” “What?” Ray said and stopped walking in the desert sands. “Your mind is a wreck. You suppress so many things and when they finally boil to the surface, you get trapped within them. Stop trying to be tough and start being responsible.” Ray sighed. “I thought I could get by on my own.” Celestia was about to speak when Ray held up a hand. “But I can see that’s not the case. I’ll see a psychiatrist.” “Wow. That was fast,” Celestia said. “You don’t usually agree so quickly.” “I’ve had a lot of support from your subjects. Including Luna.” Celestia’s eyebrows raised. “Do you and my sister have…a thing?” Ray was silent for a moment. The wind blew around the desert. “Oh hey, I think I stopped walking in real life. Time to wake up,” The desert began to disappear. “Hey!” Celestia said. “Sorry your majesty. Important human business to attend to. See you later!” “You better not break her heart, Ray!” Celestia yelled. “Or you’ll find yourself waking up naked in the mall somewhere! I guarantee it!” --
The Plan for ProofRay sat in his car and stared at the stars above as Lyra Heartstrings waited in the front passenger seat and said nothing. The San Antonio sky was especially clear tonight, despite Ray’s confused mind. It was a cool night and the edge of the local park was a great place for him to clear his mind. No one strolled about, which left him a chance to talk. That is, if he finally decided to. Lyra stood up on her little back pony legs, hooves held down in front of her almost dog-like as she stared at Ray. She put her forehooves on the gearshift and waited for him to say something. When he stayed still for almost five full minutes, Lyra sighed and put her head down on her hooves. Only when he saw how bored she was did Ray finally speak. “You know what bothers me the most?” Ray said. Lyra picked up her head and waited. “That I have no purpose. That after all those years in the military, putting my life on the line, I get back home and become a nobody. Somehow I black out and find myself in the middle of a truck accident, and then get put on vacation leave when you show up. And last night the dream came back where I was stuck in the Middle East all over again.” Lyra didn’t know what to say, so she waited. Ray continued. “I guess the problem is that I’ve never really aimed that high to begin with. And now here I am. Age thirty and still unsure of what to do with the rest of my life. Feels like I’ve just been surviving this whole time.” “You’re thirty?” Lyra asked. “I never would have guessed that. I’m actually…” “Yeah. I probably look ragged for my age,” Ray said. “You look tiny, though. Like a puppy. What are you?” “I am a full-grown mare, good sir,” Lyra said with the slightest bit of offense. “Just because I’m slightly under two feet tall doesn’t mean I’m some inexperienced foal.” “And how small are children in your society?” “Almost a foot tall,” Lyra said, putting her hoof at the height she mentioned. “I bet you could fit a foal in your pocket. I wouldn’t though. You’d get arrested quick.” “By who? What could they possibly do?” Ray said. He moved to grab Lyra and she dodged. “Stay still for a moment.” “No, you’re gonna do that creepy thing again where your hand goes through my body!” “See, that’s what I’m talking about!” Ray said. He looked around at the park. No one was around to see him argue with what was essentially an empty seat to everyone else. “I’m the only one that can see you. To everyone else, they see this car has one guy talking to himself. But why is that? Why aren’t you out here, physically sitting next to me if you’re real?” “I don’t know,” Lyra said. “I only know how to talk to you. I don’t know why it works.” “But this means that Equestria exists in my head. If I die, doesn’t all of Equestria die?” Lyra sat back. Her eyes seemed to focus on something Ray couldn’t see. She exhaled at the heaviness of the idea. “That can’t be right. You said you’re thirty.” “Yes. Thirty years old.” “But Equestria has been around as a nation for thousands of years, and the world longer than any one pony can remember. You’re not thousands of years old, so how did all that history happen in all this extra time that you can’t account for with your short life span so far?” Ray sat back. “I don’t have an answer for that.” He stared at the stars. “Objectively, we can all only be certain of things existing as long as we existed, until you start bringing evidence of other things existing through scientific experimentation. But how in the world can I test out your existence, Lyra? You aren’t a physical being.” “Yes I am!” Lyra said. She stood up on the seat. “I can feel my body and the ground around me when I run through Ponyville. And every meal has flavor and every day I spend with Bon Bon…” she blushed. Ray’s eyebrows raised. Lyra continued. “I feel these things. How do I know YOU’RE real, Ray?” “Because everyone else here can see me,” Ray said. He looked around at the park. “Okay, well maybe not right now. But no one can see you, Lyra. How do you explain that?” “I can’t…” she said. She looked discouraged. “I was told to see a psychiatrist,” Ray said. “I’m afraid if I do, they’ll lock me up somewhere. Think I’m crazy. And who knows, maybe I am. But do I really deserve to have my entire life ruined because of something that was thrust upon me? I can’t trust these professionals with this. None of them will understand. And who knows what drugs they’ll give me and what they’ll do to my system.” Lyra looked out the window at the stars. Her eyes were sad as Ray spoke. Ray could feel her concern, her sadness. “I’m worried about what you said now.” She turned to Ray. “What if anything that happens to you somehow happens to Equestria? What if you’re somehow…a holder of my entire world?” Lyra looked down. “I don’t want to be snuffed out by something I couldn’t control…” “You and me both,” he said. “Lyra, I’ll need some evidence from you.” “What evidence?” “It’s been over twenty-four hours since I had that meeting where I saw my boss and you first appeared. I fell asleep and then went through the day to finally see you here. Tell me: what did you do between the time you saw me in front of my boss yesterday and our moment today?” “Like, what were those two days like for me in Equestria?” Lyra asked. “Yes. Prove to me you have a life separate from me.” “How?” Lyra asked. “Besides meeting with you, yesterday and today really weren’t that special. I spent time at home, watched a movie with Bon Bon. Then, I went to work today…” “Where do you work?” Ray asked. “I’m a traveling musician,” Lyra asked. She pointed to her cutie mark. “I make money playing for ponies during special events and celebrations. Business is tough right now, but Bon Bon is really keeping it together at home. She’s a party planner and culinary artist.” “So if I asked you to describe even more than that, could you?” “Yes, but I don’t understand how that proves anything,” Lyra said. “If you want proof, you’re going to need something that is undeniable. Something that shows that my world is not contingent upon your existence. Heck, we have thousands of years of knowledge.” “What?” Ray asked. “What knowledge?” “EVERYTHING,” Lyra asked. “Mathematics. Literature. Science. You name it, we have it.” Ray sat up suddenly in his seat. Lyra squeaked and fell into the floor space in front of the passenger seat. “Lyra quickly. Tell me what I’m bad at?” “Giving warnings before scaring ponies?” she asked, crumpled into a heap of hooves and twitching tail upside down on the floor. “No, all those things you just said. I don’t know ANY of them. Science is provable by experimentation and research. Things like understanding periodic tables or the proper formulas for chemical mixtures. And mathematics even more so. That can’t be faked! It can’t be made up!” “Yeah. So?” Lyra asked as she pulled herself back onto the seat. “So if you’re real, then the research your society has made is real, and I can benefit from that by having you tell me things that I couldn’t possibly know. I can’t ‘magic’ new knowledge. But if you are real, then you can tell me knowledge that I currently don’t know which is one hundred percent factual. If you aren’t real, then you wouldn’t be able to give me any new information I don’t already know.” He held out his hands. “I’m a genius.” “That sounds reasonable,” Lyra said. “You’d need to give me a day to research anything though.” “What? Why?” He asked. “Why can’t you tell me instantly?” “Because I’m here with you, silly!” She said and jumped into his lap. He suddenly felt her small fluffy body padding his stomach with her hooves. “I have to focus wherever I am in order to contact you. Right now, I’m at my house, lying in bed, using my focusing abilities to reach you.” “Huh,” Ray said as he put his hand down on Lyra’s head. Her little ears flicked at his touch and he could distinctly feel the sensation of pony fur under his hand. He poked the top of her horn and felt a prick on his finger. He looked at it. It was red, but not bleeding. “That tickles!” Lyra said. “Unicorn horns are very sensitive and that is rude, sir.” “How…?” he poked her horn again and looked at his finger. She giggled and he noticed his finger was more red than before. “Hey! Stop!” She said, her face red. “Lyra, how can I feel you?” “I don’t know. Maybe cause I’m ‘in your head’ as you say.” Ray held up an empty bottle over Lyra. “Catch.” He dropped it. “AH!” Lyra said as she jumped out of the way. The bottle hit Ray’s lap. “I can’t! I can only touch you.” She motioned for him to remove the bottle from his lap. He flicked it away and she sat down again, the warmth of her body causing him to blush. “I…I need to keep track of this. With a journal or some sort of research. We have to figure this out together.” “Cool. I’ll get Twilight to help too.” Ray nodded and held up Lyra to his chest. Her warm filled him with peace as she snuggled close and fell asleep. He stared at the stars and thought he finally had a plan to prove that something fantastic had happened to him after all. Author's Note Extra Story Details Writing Time: Exactly sixty minutes Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, San Antonio, Texas, unnamed Park at night Story Themes: Seeking Scientific Proof, Companionship Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Story Details: I've always been intrigued by sequences in stories where a character is experiencing something that might be incredibly subjective, so they have to prove what they're experiencing to others. Horror movies usually have a sequence like this, but not so much slice-of-life and dramas. Here, we see Lyra and Ray using logic to figure out how they would go about proving that Equestria is in fact real and not just in Ray's head...or perhaps discover that it's existed there all along. :)
Training DaySpitfire stood with her hand on the Glock 41 Pistol, eyeing the weapon as though it were a strange alien artifact. The protective ear muffs made it easier to block out the shots fired from other gun owners on the local firing range. Ray, she thought, I know what this weapon is from observing your use of it, but I don’t understand how it works. Ray said, stuck in the back of his mind as Spitfire controlled his body. He still couldn’t get used to seeing her orange-coated hand holding his weapon. Luckily, he was the only one who could see the differences. Ray noticed the reflection of her pony head on the nearby metal divider and found it difficult to get used to how it conformed to his human body proportions. He’d yet to see what the rest of her half-human body looked like without his attire. Keep your head on straight, Spitfire said as she caught ahold of what Ray was thinking. I’m not here for that. I’m your designated bodyguard by order of Princess Celestia. If I’m to ensure your safety, I need to understand how to best protect you in a way that minimizes harm to others while using the most efficient amount of force required. Ray tried not to focus on his previous thoughts about Spitfire and looked at the weapon from her point of view. If that day comes, it will be my choice, not yours, Spitfire said. You’re in-charge of an entire world living in your head. We have to be allowed to take some responsibility in keeping you, and all of us, safe. Ray thought. Then teach me, she responded. She placed the gun on the counter of the shooting lane. Tell me what to do. Ray couldn’t change her mind. She was far too strong-willed out of all the ponies who had the ability to take over his body. She was also military-trained, just like him. Out of all the others who had shared control of his body, Spitfire was the only one who sought direct instruction from him. He sighed internally and began. I know what a trigger is, Ray. I’ve seen the basic operation of this weapon. So how is that considered safe? Spitfire asked. I’m still pressing the trigger. It doesn’t really seem much different to me. Spitfire held the weapon in her hand and stared downrange at the shadowy human form displayed on the paper target. Several circles were drawn on the chest and the head of the silhouette. If I am correct, hitting a human target in those marked areas is considered a ‘kill-shot.’ I wish to learn how to disable a person, not kill them. Ray asked. I don’t have to become a murderer to protect you. That is not my way, Spitfire said. Protecting you in prison will be exponentially harder, so keep that in mind. Spitfire was quiet. Dutifully, she aimed the barrel towards the center of mass of the silhouette. She waited. Ray asked. Spitfire nodded. Spitfire depressed the triggers. The Glock fired at the target and recoiled a bit. Spitfire immediately fired a second shot and saw it move higher and off-center than the previous. She waited. Like that? Ray could see down range very clearly. Again? Spitfire said as she adjusted her aim at the target. Spitfire shot once, waited, then shot again. The first one was closer, but the second one still hit the white spot of the target where no human silhouette was drawn. Better. Ray said to her in their shared mind. I need to practice, Spitfire thought. Ray asked. Yes we can, Spitfire said. Ray suddenly found himself holding the Glock in his hand as he stared in shock down at his body. He wasn’t human. His hands were still orange like Spitfire’s. He stared at his reflection and saw the pegasus head with wide eyes and open muzzle. Large wings splayed out his back in shock. “What the…” Spitfire said in his head. How about a warning next time?! Ray thought. We’re holding a loaded weapon! Spitfire said. Ray’s large expressive pony eyes narrowed at himself. It was as if he was talking to Spitfire through the reflection and seeing her face stare back at him, but he controlled it. He looked towards the target until he felt something swing behind him. He turned and stared. Spitfire…do I have a tail? I’m starting to feel other differences as well… Spitfire said. Ray-Spitfire pointed the weapon towards the target. Ray’s muscle memory was perfect and he fired three shots in quick succession, hitting the center of the target twice and quick-switching to hit the head once. All three hit their marks. Spitfire said. Ray smiled her smile. Spitfire and Ray continued for almost a half-hour. Ray taught the Wonderbolt Captain how to fire the weapon and in-turn she guided him through the most basic abilities of the fusion. Soon they got it down where Ray would aim and quickly switch over control to Spitfire, who would fire the weapon. Their system was so efficient that Spitfire soon got the technique down without any help at all. Ray also noticed that she had started to mark paper targets with points on the hands, legs and shoulders. Her shots to each of these locations was dead-on. Ray asked, Ray, it may be easy for you humans to commit such acts on each other, but in my training, we are taught every possible method to avoid lethal combat. If you let me do what I am trained to do, I guarantee you the casualty rate in any combat we experience will be zero. Ray didn’t know what to say. He watched as Spitfire hit her non-lethal targets with near one hundred percent accuracy. She folded up the papers after marking them with her name and the date as she put them in Ray’s jacket pocket. I will keep these for future reference. To show my progress, she thought. Ray found himself back in his body with his hand still on the paper in his pocket. He looked around as though he’d find Spitfire standing next to him. He could see himself as human once again. Spitfire? he asked mentally. No response. He kept trying to reach her as he left the shooting range and wondered where she had gone. ---- ---- Author's Note Extra Story Details Ponies in this chapter: Captain Spitfire Writing Time: Approx 62 minutes Draft Number: 1 Draft Story Settings: Modern Day, San Antonio, Texas, Unnamed Shooting Range Story Themes: Switching Control, Gun Expertise, Military Training Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on. Story Background:I'm enjoying having only one pony really be the focus of many of these chapters. The action sequences and dramatic moments can afford to have more, but this allows for greater development of characters when it's one-on-one. Plus, less effort for Ray. :) Glock information: https://us.glock.com/products/model/g41gen4 Here's Ray's weapon: Hey, it's Gen4 too. Heh.
