Only Just A Dream

by Desert Nocturne

One: Introduction

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
― C.S. Lewis

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”
― John Lennon

Only Just a Dream

By: Desert Nocturne

Part I: Way of the Dragon

One: Introduction

Edwin sighed as he pulled into his garage, exhausted. He let his car, a late model black hatchback, idle for a moment before setting the parking brake, shutting down the engine, and closing the garage door with the remote clamped to his sun visor. For a time he just sat in the cool darkness, allowing relief to wash over him. It had been a hell of a month. He had been working long hours at his job during the peak season. Waking up before the sun and getting to sleep after midnight had definitely not agreed with him. Now, it was finally over.

His appearance was haggard, and he looked much older than his twenty-six years thanks to the bags under his eyes and the growth of stubble coating his face. His appearance was otherwise largely unremarkable. He was of middling height with a moderately muscular build, with black hair, brown eyes, and darkly tanned skin that was marked with the occasional scar. His full name was Edwin Montero, an aviation professional working part-time at the local air freight carrier as he struggled to find full-time work in a down economy. As of late however, that part-time work had turned into a full-time commitment as customers clamored to get their packages delivered during the holiday season.

He frowned at the memory of the mountains of packages that he had handled that day. He had started very early, helping the morning crew with their heavy workload, which was primarily preparing freight to be delivered locally, though they also loaded a number of small “feeder” aircraft destined to small markets around the state. After coming home for a nap, he had returned again to his customary afternoon shift, assisting with the outbound package sort and then helping to load the outbound wide-body aircraft. His work had been so busy that they had run out of parking spaces for the incoming jets. In the end, he had actually been forced to leave as he had logged the maximum of twelve hours for the fifth time that week.

The peak season had ended tonight, and he was planning on getting a good night's rest for the first time in weeks. He forced himself to open the car door. He had waited so long in the car that the automatic light of the garage door opener had shut itself off and the interior of the garage was black as pitch. He took out his phone, a battered iPhone due for replacement, and lit the screen with a push of a button. Using its poor light, he shuffled slowly to the door leading to the interior of his home, a sensibly small, two-story tract home in the suburbia surrounding the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

The door opened on the kitchen of his home and he looked despondently at a fruit bowl set on the counter. He lived alone, having always been a solitary person, and the room while neat, was obviously the kitchen of a bachelor. Its walls, counters, and refrigerator were bare, with the exception of a child’s drawing of a pony held by a magnet to the refrigerator, a gift from one of his neighbor’s daughters. Deciding he was too tired to eat anything, he staggered up the stairs toward his bedroom. He stumbled, coming down on one knee, and he took a moment to breathe and collect himself. His body's behavior was scaring him slightly. He had never been as tired as he was now. I better take it easy for the next couple of days, this is ridiculous, he thought, as he came back to his feet and continued on to the second floor landing.

Edwin arrived in his room and collapsed onto his bed. The walls were again mostly barren, and the room looked neat but spartan. There was a single, small poster on the wall, with an image of a cute cartoon pegasus with crossed eyes hanging from a branch on it.

It was captioned 'Hang in there' in emulation of a certain classic cat photo. A small nightstand complete with lamp and a dresser flanked the queen sized bed in the center of the room. Against a wall of the room was a simple black desk with three large widescreen monitors on it. A pair of speakers was also on the desk flanking the monitor setup. A back-lit gaming keyboard and mouse completed the setup. Under the desk, next to the knee-hole, was a sleek, black, mid-tower computer which hummed along quietly, displaying white LEDs on its many fans. Opposite the computer, a sub-woofer sat on the floor, its LED power indicator glowing softly. If not for the poster, one might think this the room of an overly fastidious man, the type of person who would make his bed in the morning and line up his shoes at night.

Even in his exhaustion, Edwin did not fall asleep immediately. He was still in his work things, but that wasn’t the problem. His mind was still going over the events of the day and the things he had planned for the weekend ahead. Being busy during the day meant that he could usually only do such thinking at the end of the day, multi-tasking not being a strong point of his. I can watch another episode tomorrow, he thought, smiling to himself as he reclined with his hands behind his head. Edwin, having long been a fan of internet culture, had found himself wondering why images from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic had proliferated on the internet a few weeks ago. A quick search on YouTube had yielded the first episode of the series and he had watched, intrigued, as the plot developed. He had always appreciated clean humor and good animation, and the art style and writing on the show had piqued his interest. After finding the first season of the show on iTunes and, on a whim, purchasing it, he was now nearing the end of that season while watching new episodes of the second season as they came out.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm his mind. It's so bizarre, I am completely exhausted, but I still can't go to sleep. He generally had no issue going to sleep, in fact often had issues staying awake, and he chuckled at the irony of the current situation. Despite his often grim demeanor, he found that laughing at life's little inconveniences sometimes had a therapeutic effect.

His restless mind started going over another situation. He had gotten another call from his mother today bemoaning her lack of grand-children and exhorting him to go out and search for a wife (not for the first time). Once again, he had not had the heart to tell her that he was not interested in children, or even a girlfriend at the moment, choosing instead to divert their conversation to safer waters. He loved his mother, but he was not sure how to explain his resistance to such an idea.

Intimate relationships are complicated, and they are a responsibility as much as they are a boon, besides a lot of the time I just like being alone, he thought to himself. The last part of his inner monologue was something he rarely disclosed to anyone, lest they regard him with distaste or even fear. After all, he enjoyed the company of his friends as much as the next guy. He smiled as he remembered a tennis match played against an old teammate from his high school varsity team last week. An epic three hour affair, the match had been one of their best ever and they were still discussing it via text almost a week later. Still, when he got home at night, the last thing he wanted was to have to deal with anyone but himself. If that made him a horrible person, so be it. And he certainly was not going to bring a child into the mix. He somewhat understood his mother's frustration, Edwin and his two siblings had produced a grand total of zero offspring and did not appear to want any at the moment, but still his life was his life.

He grinned and laughed softly again as he thought of his mother's expression if she were to find out about a certain scrap of paper in his trash can. Earlier that week he had gone to see a movie on his day off. While there, he had been invited to join a group that was sitting near the center of the crowded theater. He had politely declined, preferring to watch alone, and enjoyed the film. Afterward, the woman who had invited him had given him her phone number. He had accepted it with equanimity and extricated himself with as much courtesy as he could muster. While he was not a cruel man by nature, he took a perverse pleasure in tossing the number when he got home. I suppose I am independent to a fault, he thought as his body finally started to relax, but at least I'm cognizant enough to see it. It’s ironic I suppose that a person such as myself so enjoys a show called Friendship is Magic.

He thought at first that such enjoyment was purely for the technical qualities of the show, things like animation, color palette, character design, etc. The creative talent behind the show was also ridiculous and the finished product certainly showed it. But there was more; the writing was engaging to a far broader audience than the target demographic and the music was incredible. Moreover, the show made him smile in a way that he had not since his own childhood. So tomorrow I'll head to the gym, listen to some podcasts, do my strength training, then come home and watch a new episode.

His mind and body had finally relaxed, an amazing feat despite his weariness, considering that he was still in his work uniform, shoes and all. As he drifted off into what would hopefully be a long night of sleep, having set his phone alarm for 8:00 AM, he heard a panicked voice in his head.

“Oh NO! This can't be happening! Run, Rarity, RUN! I'll hold them off!”

He had a hazy vision of what appeared to be a field of blood with a tall, black tower rising out of it. Beams of energy passed through it, and windows spiraled up and around the edifice. It seemed to be a place of great power; he felt it all over as one sometimes feels when close to high voltage power lines or when a thunderstorm is nearby. He saw all this for only an instant, and then was pulled toward one of the dark, eye-like windows toward the bottom of the tower, into the darkness and into the void.

His eyes were closed; he was asleep but somehow he still saw. His perception had become uncoupled from his body. He saw his body standing in the void. There was a small lizard-like creature staring at him. It began to move, as if drawn by some cosmic force, toward him at ever increasing speed. It was going to collide with him! Returning to his body, he opened his eyes and stared into the green, slitted eyes of the lizard for just a moment before...

With a jolt he realized that he was awake again. He surveyed his surroundings, taking in the odd quality of the world around him. Wait, what? The last thing I remember is falling asleep, he thought dazedly. Objects seemed to lack defined textures and the colors seemed over saturated and oddly uniform. He froze, horror rising inside him. All around him were creatures that appeared vaguely familiar and horribly menacing. They looked like wolves made of wood, complete with jagged wood fangs and leafy eyebrows and ears. Timber-wolves, the name came unbidden to him and he gasped as he made a mental connection. The odd quality of the forest around him and the wolves, they looked like something straight out of... Wait they're not moving.

He observed them closely. One of the wolves was paused in mid-leap, razor claws extended toward him. They were big, much bigger than he imagined real wolves would be, almost the size of a bear. Why aren't they moving? He took a closer glance around him and froze again for a second time. There was a very familiar white unicorn frozen in a defensive position near him. There was a distinctive design of three diamonds on her flanks. R-Rarity!?

He looked down slowly, blinking stupidly, unable to believe what he was seeing. It looked like a scene out of a television show, perhaps a bit darker than the typical My Little Pony situation but definitely not the world that he lived in. But it felt real, more real than any dream had a right to be. She's not moving either, Edwin’s mind observed. The weight of the scene around him finally fell and his composure broke; in frustration and panic he tried waving his hand in front of Rarity's face. He froze for a third time. In place of his hand was a purple, scaled, clawed thing. He looked slowly down at himself. He saw a stout body of purple and green scales; the body of Spike the dragon.

Comments

[Red Glare]

Interesting.

Tracking.

[Trollolol]

I hope Spike isn't in his body!

[IraqLobstah]

>Self insert
>First Fanfiction

Yea, Fuck off.

Cheers
~iraqlobstah

[Wilhelm]

199240
>First Fic.
>Been an asshole.
My good sir, Go have sex with yourself. (In other words SCREW YOU.)
Good day.

[IraqLobstah]

200108
[Link]

Can't blame me for being my ol' sarcastic assholish self.

Cheers
~iraqlobstah

[Wilhelm]

201024
Yes I can.
This,
Good day.

[IraqLobstah]

202369
No you can't.

Good day to you sir!

Cheers
~iraqlobstah

[AlTheDragon]

so is it like a switcheroo thing or more like yugioh except without the yelling into the sky, playing a childrens card game originated from egypt somehow, or switching minds.

[Red Bomber]

I hope his job skills and hobbies will be a help in this story.