Weird but fun MLP-inspired dream last night. I was a pony in a community of ponies, but it was some kind of darker setting where we were a group of freedom fighters banded together against some antagonistic force or group that wished us harm. We lived in a large compound, either underground or a single massive building. Neat design to it, much wooden construction and candlelight, many large interior rooms spanning multiple levels with walkways and balconies and interwoven stairways.

While I appeared as a pony myself, my brain visualized pretty much all other characters as humans. Despite that being how I saw them, my brain steadfastly insisted that they were all ponies so I just kinda went 'whatevs.' Dreams are funny like that. I quit complaining when one of the other 'pony' characters appeared in the likeness of Nathan Fillion.

As part of the setting and atmosphere I guess, pretty much everypony including myself dressed in many layers of clothing, robes and cloaks and whatever other sorts of garments had been improvised. My awareness of the dream opened with me making my way through the compound to one of the larger chambers, where a sort of ceremony was taking place. I joined a line of ponies advancing to stand before our leader, one after another each removing some of our clothing to expose our flanks to reveal whether or not we'd been granted our cutie marks. I seemed to be suffering from a problem familiar to fans of the show, where despite getting deeper and deeper into adulthood in terms of my age, I had not yet acquired a cutie mark or found my special talent. Having this once more revealed before our leader and the population of our compound was, as one would expect, a continuing source of humiliation and distress for me.

Right then an alarm was raised, seeming to indicate an attack was imminent, so everypony broke from the ceremony and rushed off to prepare. Since I had no cutie mark and therefore no known special talent, I couldn't be trusted to do much in defense of our community. What if I failed at some critical task because it wasn't something I was good at? What if our compound fell because I was put in charge of something I couldn't do? It made sense in the dream anyway. And it compounded my feelings of self-doubt and uselessness in a setting where not having a cutie mark wasn't just about whether or not you knew your true self, but was essential to one's ability to contribute to our society when it was in need.

Staying deep in the compound during the attack, out of the way of harm or responsibility, I was left alone with my sorrow until the Nathan Fillion pony wandered by to watch over me. While I can't remember specifics of the conversation, he took me under his wing a bit and spoke with me, acting as a bit of a mentor and helping me feel better.

So, MLP fanboyism meets Nathan Fillion fanboyism. Cheers for that, brain!


Also just to update, since I did it last on LiveJournal but not here, I'm getting close to getting my Ph.D. I've submitted my dissertation to my committee to look it over and suggest edits, as well as making the first deposit with the University so they can check it for formatting. My defense is tentatively scheduled for November 28, and it should be shortly after that that I'll be making the final deposit and officially graduating.

As such I'm also starting to prepare my records and documents for submitting my application for a UK visa. Big stuff going down!