//------------------------------// // An Unusual Wakeup // Story: My Life with Nanaimo // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// Living alone sucks. I'm sure people can relate to that. Work has kept me occupied for the most part, but sleeping alone is sometimes the worst part. I had moved away and was now living in an apartment in the city where my worksite was located. Brenda had disapproved of the choice I had made for our new living arrangements and filed for divorce shortly after I had moved most of our stuff into the too-small apartment. Long story short, I was now forced to pay alimony, which kept me working to pay both my rent AND hers, which made my life absolutely miserable. At some point, she had met an unfortunate end in a car accident, which freed me up from the alimony payments, but forced me to cover half the funeral expenses. Somehow or other I was able to get it taken care of, and some months after that, I had found someone to make a life-size plush doll of one of my favorite non-canon ponies, a brown earth pony mare by the name of Nanaimo. Being in need of companionship, the plushie had become my night-time companion, doing her best to keep me happy, but deep down I knew I needed something more. Night after night I would wish for her to be made real for me -- and many nights had passed with no results. I was about to give up hope. My life meant nothing to me at that point. Then something really freaky happened. "Mmmh, those sleeping pills really did a number on me," a female-sounding voice spoke. I woke with a start to see what used to be my life-size plushie now looking at me very quizzically. She almost comedically turned her head from side to side to see what was going on. I simply stared at her while laying next to her. My mouth opened and nothing came out. The possible prospect of what had just happened at that point had caused my mind to freeze. I was stunned to see her mouth open and completely unprepared for what happened next. She screamed. Oh, how she screamed. It was the most unearthly thing I had ever heard. It shook me to my core. My neighbors aren't going to like this very much I thought. I needed to do something very quickly. I chose to hug her and kiss her on her lips at that point, which completely shocked her. Her screaming stopped as she seemed to melt into my embrace, and she returned my kiss, closing her purple eyes as she did so. She reached her forelegs around my head, surprising me with their simultaneous softness yet firmness. I broke off the kiss but continued to hold her close. Her warmth felt very nice. "So what were you saying about sleeping pills?" I asked her, flashing a grin. Her warmth is awesome, I thought. My mind started to race at that point with myriad thoughts about many memories and ungranted wishes... "Um, I had trouble sleeping, so I took one pill after another until I finally felt too sleepy to keep taking pills," she replied. "So, where am I, exactly?" "Well, you're in my bed in my apartment in Rockford," I replied, still grinning at her. That is SO cringe, I thought, also mentally face-palming. "Where's that?" she asked, her tone raising as fear began to overtake her. I tightened my grip on her, holding her even more firmly around me. Her eyes began to brim with tears at this point. I worried about what would happen if she started crying for real, but I continued to hold her in an attempt to calm her. "Um, I think you may have taken too many pills, and you might have died in your home world," I replied softly, though I continued to cradle her in my embrace. The softness of her fur seemed to be even more pleasant than the soft fabric of the plushie. I continued to be amazed that my plushie had come to life, fulfilling one of my greatest desires at that point in my life. I absentmindedly ran a hand down her backside, caressing her cutie mark which elicited a soft moan from her. "Mmm, I don't know who or what you are, but that feels really nice," she cooed softly. "But if what you said is true, then why am I here?" she asked. There was a part of me that was mystified by her ability to shed comedic amounts of water from her eyes as she cried. I was also mystified by how quickly the tears evaporated before even getting the carpet wet. She continued to cry, bemoaning her fate. I continued to hold her close, patting her on her back as she cried into my chest. "I'm so sorry to tell you like that," I said almost dumbly, though I continued to pat her on the back. Her body quivered at my touch as she continued to cry. "I'd probably act the same as you if I found out I had died and gone to a place I was completely unfamiliar with," I added softly, continuing to comfort her as best I could. She wrapped her forelegs around me and gripped me quite hard, surprising me with her strength. She seemed to cry even harder and hugged me even tighter, something that caused me to cry along with her. We held each other tightly for what seemed like an eternity before we eventually stopped crying. She looked up at me from her blood-shot eyes, giving me an almost hopeful look. "Um, if this really IS an afterlife for me, can you help me?" she asked, sniffling a little. I regretted not having a box of tissues nearby to help her. "I'll do what I can, but I'm not really sure how much I'll be able to help you," I replied, giving her a sheepish grin. We were still laying in my bed face-to-face but now we were both smiling at each other. "Thank you so much," she responded softly, continuing to smile. She lazily ran a hoof along my side, feeling the softness of my skin. The sensation of her hoof seemed to tickle me, causing me to involuntarily giggle at her touch. My giggling must have been quite infectious, because she continued to tickle me, giggling as well. This seemed to break her fear of me, because she hugged and kissed me even more passionately than I had done to her earlier. We held each other tightly in our embrace and kissed until we ran out of breath. "Whoa, you really know how to kiss, don't you?" I asked, chuckling lightly as I lazily ran a hand up and down the side of her body. I loved the softness of her fur, amazed that it felt even softer than the minky fabric used to build her in the first place. "Mmmh, I love the way you kiss me too!" she chirped happily. "I don't even know who or what you are, but you sure seem to know how to make a mare feel good!" "Thank you," I replied almost dumbly. I continued to run my right hand up and down the side of her body, almost reveling in the softness of her fur. She willingly gave herself to me, allowing me to touch her wherever I wanted to. She continued to smile at me, almost nodding her head in approval as I continued to touch her. We continued to hold each other for awhile, gazing into each other's eyes. At some point, my phone made a buzzing sound, alerting me to a text message. "Ugh, that's probably my boss," I groaned in disgust. "How do you know? What kind of noise was that? I've never heard anything like that before," she said. She tried to keep me from getting out of the bed by wrapping her forelegs around my body. "I have to see who sent me a text message," I replied, kissing her lightly on her muzzle. She giggled at this but kept her forelegs around me. "Mmmh, I need to get up, Nanaimo," I added. Saying her name caused her a bit of a shock and she released me. "How -- how -- how do you know my name?" she asked, her voice going up an octave. "Give me a moment and I'll show you," I chuckled as I made my way to the back room where my phone was still on the charger. I picked it up and checked to see that sure enough, I had about two hours before I had to be at work. I groaned again and was rewarded by another giggle from the brown earth pony mare. I returned to the front room of my apartment and plopped my butt down in the chair in front of the computer. I turned it on, causing Nanaimo to watch with keen interest. "So was that your boss?" she asked, grinning. I sighed heavily in response, getting yet another giggle from the mare. "Yeah, I've got about two hours before I have to be at work," I replied. The monitor lit up and flashed my user account, to which I very swiftly typed in my password. The sight of a purple pony's face caught the mare's interest. Then the wallpaper flashed on the screen, showing the same purple pony but in a full-body pose. "Oooh, who's that?" she asked. "That's my OC, Amethyst Shadow," I replied. "I have a lot of artwork of her -- and I have some artwork of you, too," I added.