First Crushed

"Don't get too wrapped up in the dreams you create and protect, Twilight..." Shimmering Beauty had warned me, when she was training me in my dream walking abilities. "For it can only lead to you utter ruin and sorrow."

But I had to learn that lesson the hard way, like many young mares and stallions who think they know better than their elders. We all make mistakes in the folly of our youths, when we think things we'll never change, and nothing bad could ever possibly happen to us.  I remember the one time I tired to selfishly use my power over the dreams of other ponies to grab a little happiness myself, and I remember the terrible heartbreak I suffered for my error.

It was my first year of being a dream beauty, and long before the wonderful Tornado had entered my life.  I was eighteen and still inexperienced enough to think I could do no wrong. I was doling out dreams left and right, giving my sleepers the dreams they seemed to want, instead of what they might have needed. But hey, everybody was happy, right? I saw the images their minds were producing, and gave them the scenarios they wanted. It wasn't until I ran across a dream I knew well, that I stopped to do a double take.

I was going though the slumber of the ponies of Dream Castle, when I stumbled across a football game, going on in one stallion's mind. The blue pony with the pigskin cutie mark had the ball at the ten yard line, and went plowing into the opposing team from Hoofkaido as he carried the ball towards the opposite goalpost. My eyes going wide at the realization of whose dream I was in, I could only stare blankly from the sidelines, as the athletic stallion made a touchdown to the roaring cheers of the crowd.

"Good job, Quarterback! Another touchdown for our hometown hero!" A voice echoed over the PA system. "Let's hear it for our Dream Valley team!"

His name was Quarterback, and he was one of the best football players to ever have been turned out by Dream Valley. I knew him well because I had gone to school with this pony since the first grade, having had a hopeless crush on him for just as long. But what chance was there that he would ever notice a shy bookworm? Oh, to be sure he was a little rough around he edges, but Quarterback always had the sweetest personality that any pony could ask for.

But while he was always friendly with the little pink filly who tried again and again to talk to him, it was clear he would never notice how I felt, or even feel the same way in return. It was always the Cheerleaders his eyes were on while we were growing up, not the silly unicorn filly in the corner who watched his games now and then. I just wasn't his type, and even as I put his football dream in order and chased the nightmare imps out, I realized there was no way he would ever notice a silly little mare like me in the waking world.

In the waking world.... I told myself over and over again, an idea forming in my own brain.

I studied his dreams for weeks after that, watching for his likes and dislikes, his own wants and desires. It was then one night an alluring and very beautiful white earth filly with a pink mane joined the cheerleading team in his dream. Happily throwing her pom poms high, and shaking her well-curved flank right at Quarterback. It was of no surprise when the white stallion trotted up to her after a few games, and struck up a conversation with the newcomer.

"Hey there, never seen you around before." He asked, taking off his helmet, and pushing a stray stand of his mane back over his head. "What's your name?"

"Oh wow! My name is Pom Pom!" The air headed mare giggled. "And I'm like, soooo happy to meetcha!"

"Cool! I'm guessing you're new in Dream Valley." He replied, smiling with a smile that made me melt like butter. "Would you like to go grab a malt at the satin Slipper?"

It had worked, that silly stallion didn't even recognize me! It did make sense though, as I had altered my voice, appearance, and mannerisms to be exactly what he dreamed about. Besides, he had barely recognized me in real life, why would he notice the real Twilight here? He and I went to the Stain Slipper for our next dream, happily sipping sodas while I listened endlessly to tales of his grid iron exploits. It had gone so well, that I noticed that Quaterback was looking much more happy and refreshed during the following day when he was awake.  So I decided to continue with my little plan.

I slowly began shifting his dreams away from the football field, I started arraigning more 'dates' for Pom Pom and Quarterback. One night I sent us to Luna Park in Bright Valley, where I clung to his hoof as we rode on the rollercoaster together. I really loved it when he won me a stuffed Princess Celestia at the horseshoe toss. Another night, he took Pom Pom to the traveling Circus Maximums from Fort Dash. There I ended up holding him when he was frightened by the clowns. How was I to know he had been scared of them since foal hood?

But I really enjoyed those dreams, and spending time with Quarterback like that. Imagine me, the little filly who always sat in the corner, actually going on dates, actually kissing a guy! And I was able to get to know Quarterback better, and to give him the dreams that made him happy. I discovered Quarterback really was as nice as I thought, as he always pulled my chair out for me whenever we had dinner together. He would tell me of his hopes to one day go onto play for the Bright Valley Clydesdales professionally some day, and how important football was to him.

"You know, you never do tell me about yourself, Pom Pom."  Quarterback said with a smile, as we watched a dream sunset on the hill overlooking Dream Valley together.  "Just where have you been all my life?"

"Same place I've always been." I tell him, gently nuzzling Quarterback. "Like, only in your dreams."

We kissed tenderly, as the last rays of the golden sun vanished over the horizon.

Several months went by like that, and I was actually getting to live out my dreams through his.I thought I was truly in love, and how could I possibly be hurting anyone by carrying out a dream relationship? In fact, things were going so well, that I decided it was time to make his dreams even more special. One evening, Quarterback came in to pick me up for one of our "dream dates", and found a shocking sight waiting for him.

"Hey, Pom Pom?" He asked, as the door to my apartment swung open. "You ready to-"

His jaw nearly hit the floor, as the sight of a hundred lit candles all over the room greeted him. And 'Pom Pom' lay there on the bed, dressed in a red bikini with a heart shaped bottom.

"Well, mister big shot football star."  I replied in a coy voice, giving him a flirtatious wink, and raising my flank. "What would you think of... staying in tonight?"

Looking at me for a few moments, Quarterback made no reply. Instead he only smiled, and stepped up behind me.

Needless to say, we ended up staying in that night. What followed was the most passionate dreams I had ever experienced,  so much so that I repeated it for Quarterback's slumber every night for the next two months. I was so happy with the way everything was going, I was finally with the stallion of my dreams! I was fulfilling my responsibilities, and making everyone happy! Then one day, a realization finally brought it all crashing down around me.

"Whoa, you really are. Like, something else!" Quarterback gasped, as one of his dreams was coming to an end. "I really love that you came into my life, Pom Pom!"

"T-thank you..." I replied, gasping back. It suddenly washed over me, the realization that he had said Pom Pom. Not Twilight, who I actually was, but Pom Pom. It was the one thing I had been trying my hardest not to think about. But now here it was coming out of the mouth of the stallion of my dreams, and staring me in the face. The one little, undeniable factor that smashed all of my happiness like a pane of shattered glass.

It was Pom Pom that Quarterback was in love with, a dream conjured up by the powers the starlight lantern gave me. I had been living a fantasy, and taking part in a relationship that was no more real then the room or the dates I had winked into existence in Quarterback's slumber. None of that had really happened, none of our dates or passion had occurred at all! It was all a passing dream of the night, and even if Quarterback knew it was really me, he could never love Twilight the unicorn the way he cared about Pom Pom the earth pony. And there could never be a lifebond between the two of us, and it was time I stopped living a dream.

And so, Pom Pom slowly vanished from Quarterback's repose, and his slumber returned to football games with thousands of cheering fans. Seeing him around the castle days later, I could see that he was downcast and depressed as the result of his Dreams Coming to an end.

"Don't worry about it, man. It was just a dream." I heard his twin brother, Score, reassuring him. "Someday, you'll meet the right filly for you!"

Those terrible words stung me like a knife, and ever afterward I avoided Quarterback in shame whenever I saw him after that, even if he never knew why. For a long time afterward, I ached in agony over my folly. I even shut myself off from all love and happiness, until the day a certain blue unicorn stallion finally came into my life. Through him, I finally learned what real love and passion were, and I will say that they are far greater than anything a mere dream could produce. Still, I will always remember my first love and first times of passion, and the valuable lessons I learned as a result of it.

Sometimes though, a dream Can be more real to a pony, moreso than they would ever care to admit.