@Yeller: No longer? What do you mean?

edited 4th Jul '12 9:35:29 AM by AceOfScarabs

So last night I think I experienced sleep paralysis.

It's not something I would ever advise doing, really.

Death: They didn't really inquire more about. They were just interested in the rest of the story. If they use the story, both TVTropes and the ATG will get mentioned in the DVD.

Sleep paralysis sounds horrifying to me.

Can you even have sleep paralysis on purpose?

(I'm almost tempted to ask if a succubus was involved, if only because they were associated with sleep paralysis, if I remember correctly, which I sometimes don't.)

Eh. I would think an out-of-body experience when completely and utterly tired but unable to sleep is more creepy.

It gets creepier, if somewhat reassuring, when Death asks you "What are you doing out here? You've still got sand in your lifetimer. Ugh, please don't say that it is an out of body experience, I keep getting that these days."

Sleep paralysis, I don't get that any more since I can manually break my dreamstate and lift the motor control disconnect.

edited 4th Jul '12 9:41:09 AM by AceOfScarabs

I would say, "I just want a nice rousing game of chess, if that's okay."

@Kyler: I've had it a few times. Not much fun.

And yeah, I tend to bottle up stuff deep down, so I can see how Fluttershy could be doing the same. It doesn't seem she had a particularly great childhood either.

Fluttershy might be older than Applejack, but the fact that Applejack was last in her class to get her cutie mark makes this less likely. Also, we know that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy weren't in the same class as when Rainbow claimed that she was first in her class to earn her cutie mark, she had no way of knowing that Fluttershy didn't earn her's first.

Huh, I just found some interesting fanon about the animals in Ponyville. You know how the animals in the Canterlot gardens in 'The Grand Galloping Gala' acted like normal animals, instead of the sentient ones elsewhere? This fanon says that years of interaction with ponies can caused some of the magic that the ponies have to slowly, over generations, diffuse from the ponies to the animals, causing them to gain sentience. This is why Livestock, which would have been domesticated since the start of Pony civilisation, are able to talk, while animals that interact less, but still live in proximity to ponies for whatever reason, seem to have a lesser form of sentience, though different species take different amounts of time to gain sentience. The ones in the gardens were stated to be exotic animals, and therefore wouldn't have much interaction with ponies.

I actually have an idea to add to this, that it's not ponies that are the source of the magic, but another species that have had heavy influence by this magical leakage. It's something else that creates sentience, it just resides around where ponies first come from. That just makes more sense to me, but then what is the source of this magic? The Elements Of Harmony? The Everfree Forest? The Alicorns? Space Giants?

Yeah, it was kind of totally terrifying. Imagine you know, in spite of everything, that there is something in your room with you, that more than likely has harming you in mind, and all you need to do to get rid of it is just to be able to move a little bit - but you can't. Most I could do was shift a little, so I ended up straining and rocking back and forth to try and wake myself the rest of the way up.

Also it's funny you should mention succubi: there wasn't a succubus, but there was an Incubus.◊

Same here on the feeling helpless part. It's probably my worst fear. This was my first instance of sleep paralysis though. Hopefully the last.

edited 4th Jul '12 9:45:39 AM by kegisak

I've had sleep paralysis multiple times before. It's extremely unpleasant. I hate feeling helpless.

EDIT: @Cookoo: Interesting idea. I like the Chinese zodiac hypothesis though.

edited 4th Jul '12 9:45:13 AM by Sereg

@Cookoo: We should study the geology (or an energy map) of Equestria. It's likely there's a powerful force (Living and Intelligent?) that uplifted the ponies, and the uplifting is contagious and spreads to the other fauna.

For me it's less sleep paralysis and more "ugh too tired going back to sleep."

edited 4th Jul '12 9:45:26 AM by AceOfScarabs

I've had sleep paralysis before. And yes, its pretty scary. Always weird hallucinations I see, sometimes accompanied by freaky noises.

I still remember a few times.

@ keg

Oh my god! You ok?

I think I had sleep paralysis few times, but it never was long.

@Kegs: Yikes.

I've had sleep paralysis a few times too, it's pretty much the most horrible feeling. I've never had the "know something dangerous is in the room with you" aspect of it, but I didn't need to. Just the feeling of being 100% awake and alert but completely unable to move my body is enough to terrify me.

@Kuroi: Sounds like you had an amazing time, way to go.

The "who wad Fluttershy marry?" question from earlier: Pony Steve Irwin.

I hadn't even heard of sleep paralysis until now, let alone had it. Is it painful?

@Applelight: Yeah, I'm okay. Incidental sleep paralysis like this isn't really a health issue, just something going kinda wonky. In my case it's basically that I was just falling asleep and I decided I didn't want to. So I remained aware while I slipped into REM.

Freaky as hell, but not dangerous. I'm... still a touch on edge, but I'm fine. Thanks, though.

It's not PAINFUL, per se. I put a lot of effort into moving, so I strained myself pretty good, but never to the point of hurting. It's paralysis, so you simply can't move.

edited 4th Jul '12 9:52:27 AM by kegisak

It's not painful, its just really freaky.

@Cookoo: No, not painful, it just gives you a really horrible sense of helplessness. Basically, you're fully awake, but cannot control your body at all.

Sometimes when I nap on the couch, I experience the symptoms of sleep paralysis, but I don't see anything particularly scary. But it only happens when I'm drifting in and out of sleep.

edited 4th Jul '12 9:55:04 AM by edvedd

I seem to be able to break sleep paralysis easily. It's like I fall out of somewhere back into my body and bed. pomf

I still think this is Chrysalis's leitmotif

More commonly, I just experience Hypnic jerks. I hate those.

edited 4th Jul '12 9:56:41 AM by edvedd