Author's Note

This chapter includes inner monologue and bickering. I will distinguish the two from each other by marking the conscience with red text.

On the Wings of a Dream

“Now, flying is all about balance. You need to keep your weight even on each side of your body.” To demonstrate, my spunky instructor quickly got herself airborne and spread out her limbs, showing her even distribution of her weight. “See? I’ve got my weight spread evenly, and neither one of my wings is having to work harder than the other.” Folding her wings, she allowed herself to fall the short distance to the grass that awaited below, grinning at me confidently. “Now, you try it.”

Concentrating for a moment, I focused my powers on my wings, picturing them extending from my body in my mind. They soon sprouted from my back, growing larger as I poured more energy into them, soon growing to match the size of Dash’s own set. With a few small flaps, I shakily rose a foot or so off the ground, wobbling slightly as I did, eventually settling into a somewhat-stable hover. After holding my position for a while, I gradually become more stable in my flight, eventually able to maintain a fully stable hover before my wings suddenly dissipated, sending me down to the ground. Sweat beaded on my brow as I struggled to get myself even into a kneeling position, one hand still down on the ground to brace myself from falling.

“Hey, hey hey hey, you alright?” Dash rushed out, hurrying to my side and helping me to my feet. She was incredibly concerned, evident in both her voice and face. Deciding to help me to a bench, she put my arm across her shoulders and helped me to it: a comical sight, taking into account that she was at least a full six inches shorter than me. I began to chuckle as she set me down, causing her to raise an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re tiny compared to me, and yet you’re the one helping me to a bench to sit down.” I continued laughing to myself as she simply shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. Before she could reply, however, I continued talking. “I’m fine, really. Just ran outta juice. Gotta recharge; only question is, where can I go…?” Looking up at her, I asked her. “There a TV store or something around town?”

She paused at my question, initially shocked before she seemed to mull over the question. “Um...I do know one, but…” She turned around, looking at the sun’s position. A lot of time must have passed since we had began training around noon, after discussing where to start over lunch, as the sun was now fairly low in the sky. “It’s probably closed now. You’d have to wait until tomorrow to get in.”

“Yeah...anyway, it ain’t all bad. Just one power set I can’t use.” Finally getting to my feet, I looked down at my body as it began to swirl with smoke, smiling as it faded back into my body. “I’ve got others. But, uh…” Looking up, I bit my lip: her house was far, far above us in the sky, and there was no way I’d be able to reach it on my own. “You, uh...mind givin’ me a lift?” I asked a bit sheepishly, holding out my hand to her for her aid. She rolled her eyes at me, but took my hand regardless, toting me back up to her home before setting me down just outside the door.

“I guess I can this time, but next time? Don’t use all ya got: save a little bit for the trip home, hot shot.” She smirked at me, flicking my nose mockingly. “Or, at least, don’t get so distracted by the pretty girl. Gotta be focused on the flyin’, not the fanny.” She teased, hand on hip as she mockingly wagged her finger at me.

You do realize that what she’s saying is true, right?

Hey, just because she’s right doesn’t mean I’m going to say that.

So you admit you were staring at her ass at least a few times?

No, I’m admitting that I was staring at her in general, not a specific part of her.

“Whatever ya say, hot stuff. And by the way, I wasn’t starin’ at your ass, just...you in general.” I shrugged my shoulder as I spoke, crossing my arms and gesturing as I spoke. “And even if I had been, could ya really blame me? Sure, ain’t what I’d call big, but, as they say, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.” She seemed a bit taken aback, looking at me with a small blush on her face before she turned away, muttering something under her breath as she opened the door to the house, quickly entering in and heading to her room. I stood in the doorway for a few moments, simply standing there before calling out to her. “Did I fuck up, or…?”

When she finally came out of her room, about an hour later, I was simply sitting outside the front door, feet dangling off the edge of the cloud.

“Alec? What are you doing out there?” She asked, obviously confused.

“Well...ya never really invited me in, and I didn’t want to intrude if ya wanted some alone time, so...I’ve just been, kinda...sitting here. Waiting.” I rose to my feet, cracking my back as I turned around to face her. “So...mind if I come in?”

She simply stared at me for a few moments before chuckling and shaking her head, waving for me to enter. “You know, every time I think you’re this huge badflank that doesn’t care what anyone thinks, you do something like this and show me that beneath that badboy exterior, you’re just a big teddy bear.”

I paused as I entered, midway in closing the door. Closing it the rest of the way, I turned back to her. “Oh yeah? That’s big talk coming from the girl who rushed away when a boy said she was cute.” At this she flushed slightly again, this time scowling at me.

“Shut up, you.” She shot back, indignant. “Now hurry up. If you want food, you’d better get in here before I eat all of it.”

The mention of food perked up both my head and my stomach, which responded with a loud grumble, causing me to smile sheepishly and place a hand over my stomach. “Shh. You’ll get food in a minute.” Raising my head, I flashed her a smile. “So, whats for eats?”

Dash’s cooking is...not exactly impeccable, but it was much, much more than just edible. It might have just been my famished stomach speaking, but I’d have to say that that might have been the best batch of Mac’n Cheese ever made. After thanking her for the food and promptly crashing onto couch, I finally laid down to get some rest, looking forward to recharging after a long day of training.

That night I awoke in a cold sweat, gripping the blanket that had been loaned to me by my housemate. My chest was heaving, and it took me well over a minute to calm down. The events of my nightmare were still fresh in my mind, and I wish that those images didn’t still haunt me to this day.

I stood in a forest clearing, the same one I had awoken in when I had first arrived in Equestria. Across from me stood Joey. However, he looked different than he had when I’d last seen him: he looked twisted and evil, as if a rage had consumed him and he was an embodiment of hatred and anger.

“I don’t want to do this, Joey. You’re my friend.” I yelled out to him, hand raised as smoke curled around my arm in long, snaking tendrils.

“Funny, because I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. Ever since we got here, I’ve lived in your shadow: all those years that you were here, I was nothing but an extra to our ‘friends’. But once you left, I thought I had a chance to take your place: to be a leader, and to have people look up to me. But no; they turned to Lindsey instead! They never even considered that I could help them in their time of need!” He shouted angrily, teeth bared as he raised his sword, pointing it at me. “And now this is where it ends, Alec: back where it all began. This is where we came here, and this is where only one of us will leave.”

I tried to speak, to think of something to calm him down, to reason with him, but nothing came. Despite how badly I wanted to believe otherwise, I knew that my only option was to fight him.

He charged at me, yelling with a fury finally released, slashing at me wildly with his blade. My chain snaked out from around my arm, glowing and becoming rigid as I charged it with my powers, using it to parry and deflect his reckless blows. After a particularly wild swing, he was sent momentarily reeling, and I took it as my chance to go on the offensive. Recoiling my chain, I ran towards him, dissolving into smoke just before he could strike me, reforming in the air behind him, grabbing him by the chin and dragging him down to the ground, slamming his head down to the dirt. He hit the ground hard, bouncing about an inch off of the particularly hard ground before rolling to his feet, raising his hand and leveling it at me.

“You might be stronger, Alec, but so am I.” Without any more of a warning, rats began to scurry out from the underbrush, hundreds of the vermin swarming towards me as Joey retreated into the shadows, disappearing into the darkness. Before I gave the creatures a chance to overwhelm me, I crouched down before launching myself skyward, body dematerializing into three balls of smoke, each trailing behind it a tendril of fire and ash before joining together, reforming my body. Turning back towards the ground, I forced myself to gain momentum, speeding myself toward the ground with help from twin jets of smoke and fire ejecting from either of my hands before slamming into the ground, totally obliterating the vicious vermin. The clearing was now covered in a thin layer of smoke, which slowly began to coalesce together, eventually becoming my body once again.

“Alright, Joey. No more games. Let’s end this, right here and now.” I called out, hand raised as I turned about the clearing, searching for my friend-turned-enemy.

“I thought you’d never ask.” I heard from behind me. Just as I turned around, a shot rang out, catching me in the center of my forehead. Joey’s pistol was leveled at my head, the barrel still smoking from a recent shot. “Boom. Headshot.”

I slowly crumpled to the ground, body already beginning to dissipate into smoke. As Joey stood over me, he smirked, shaking his head at me. “You always had to be the hero, Alec. But every hero has a villain, and you know that. And in this story, the bad guy wins.” Moments later, my body was gone, nothing more than a cloud of dispersing smoke. Joey turned away from my body, and was met by a face only inches from his own.

“No. The good guy always wins.” My hands gripped his face as I channeled energy into my hands. He began to shriek in agony, clawing at my hands in an attempt to tear them away from his face as smoke began to rise from his face. When his cries stopped, I released him, and he crumpled to the ground, two hand-prints forever seared into the flesh of his face.