//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine-Restless Night // Story: Chasing Dreams // by Final Draft //------------------------------// Dream Chaser sat with the ice pack pressed firmly against the back of his head, with Slip Stream sitting across from him, his own ice pack against his eye. The sound of boiling water was only barely audible over the torrential downpour outside the cozy apartment. Dream Chaser drew a heavy sigh. It would have been rude to refuse the offer of dinner, especially considering if he went home, there was nothing to eat and he would have gone to bed hungry. However, the hour was growing late, and the storm was only beginning to get bad. Sunny—Nurse Sun Stream—dropped the carrots she’d peeled into the boiling water and turned to the two bruised ponies. She looked exhausted, but managed to put on a smile regardless. “Thank you, Mr. Chaser, for helping Slip home, and thank you for having dinner with us.” “Thank you for having me,” he replied, lowering the ice pack. After sampling her cooking, he had been fully intending to make a mad dash for home. He had been thinking of flagging down a coach, convincing them to let him pay another time, but Sunny had no intentions of letting him leave. She saw him eyeing the window anxiously and stepped in front of his gaze. “The sofa folds out into a guest bed,” she said. “You’re more than welcome to stay the night.” “I should really—” “I insist.” She spoke to him like she would to her own son; an adult who knew what was best, even if the colt thought otherwise. Dream Chaser looked at her firm expression and realized she would not yield. “Thank you.” The mare smiled and went back into the kitchen, which was only about two steps, considering the small size of the apartment. She went back to stirring the vegetables absent-mindedly. Slip Stream, who had been relatively quiet since his mother’s arrival, squirmed in his seat. “So, Slip, how old are you?” Dream Chaser asked, trying to break the silence. “I’ll be eight in a couple of weeks,” Slip replied. Dream Chaser glanced over at his nurse and caught her staring. She had been his nurse for almost eight years and he’d never known her to have a child. “Eight, huh? That’s a great age. Have you been living here with your mother this whole time?” “Yeah, but she’s always at work taking care of sick ponies,” Slip said. “Is that how you know her? Are you sick?” “No, no, I’m not sick,” Dream Chaser replied. “I just had…an accident.” “Was it something to do with racing? ‘Cause my mom told me about this one pony who—” “Slip,” Sunny interrupted, “Can you go get Mommy the mail? I forgot to grab it on the way up.” She took a key from her purse, which her son eagerly grabbed. “Make sure you time me!” Slip shouted. He opened the door, put his head down, and scratched at the carpet in front of him. An imaginary whistle went off, and he galloped down the hallway, leaving Dream Chaser and Sun Stream alone in the apartment. “I’m sorry about my son, he’s just—” “Energetic,” Dream Chaser finished for her. “Yes,” she exhaled. “I hope he isn’t a bother.” “He’s fine. He kinda reminds me of myself back when I was starting out racing.” The mare smiled awkwardly, but said nothing. Dream Chaser set his icepack down on the table and asked, “Why don’t you want him racing?” “He told you that?” Sun Stream asked. “He did…Is it because of what happened to me?” She looked at her hooves with guilt in her eyes. Dream Chaser slid out of his chair and walked over to his nurse. “What happened to me was circumstantial, “he said. “You shouldn’t deny your son his dreams because of something that happened to a foolish stallion.” Slip Stream burst back into the apartment, letting a bundle of mail scatter across the floor, as he opened his mouth to shout, “TIME?!” Dream Chaser looked up at the clock in the kitchen, pretending he’d actually kept track. “Forty-two seconds,” he said, making his best guess. “A new record! The crowd goes wild!” Slip Stream then began imitating the cheer of his imaginary spectators and posing for photographers. “Slip, pick up that mess, and get ready for dinner,” Sun Stream said, returning to the boiling pot. Slip quickly gathered the bills and letters into a messy pile and sat in his seat. Out in the hallway was a piece of mail that Slip appeared to have missed, so Dream Chaser stepped out to get it. Looking up from a mass-produced flier was Nova Star, advertising the date and location of the Equestria Games. Dream Chaser looked around and saw a trail of mail leading from the stairs that had been left in Slip Stream’s wake. He sighed and reluctantly walked the hallway, gathering the envelopes up with his teeth. Bill, bill, junk, junk, he thought to himself as he quickly scanned the writings of the envelopes. It seemed Slip Stream had been more concerned with racing than actually retrieving the mail. Dream Chaser was surprised that any of the mail actually made it into the apartment in the first place. He turned to go back to the apartment with his bundle, and it was then that Dream Chaser spied a letter he’d somehow missed the first time, sitting in the middle of the hallway. As with the rest, he read the writing of the envelope before snatching it up. “Child support,” was sloppily written across the envelope with no return address. So the boy’s father is alive. Dream Chaser tucked the envelope in the center of others and returned to the apartment. He shut the door behind him and set the mail on the table next to Sun Stream. “Whoops,” Slip said as his mother glared at him. He looked at the pile and slid the Equestria Games flier out towards him. “Aw yeah, Nova Star is so cool!” Dream Chaser took his seat and looked at the plate of vegetables in front of him, sampling a boiled carrot. Sun Stream shuffled through the letters until she came to the child support. Her eyes quickly darted to Dream Chaser, but he was busy emptying his plate. “Thank you for grabbing these, Mr. Chaser,” the mare said with sincerity. She slid the envelope into her purse under the table. “Not a problem. Thank you for the meal,” Dream Chaser replied, licking the juices from his plate. The lights in the apartment flickered as a massive thunder crash shook the building. “And thank you for letting me stay the night,” he added. “Mom! Mom! Look!” Slip Stream shouted, poking his hoof at something written on the flier. “The Games are on my birthday! Can we go? Pleeeeeeease?” His mother leaned over and scanned the flier until she found the price of admissions. “Honey, I can’t afford that,” she said, much to her son’s disappointment. Dream Chaser looked over at the flier as well. Fifty bits was a reasonable admission fee, considering the significance of the Games and where they were being held, but train fare to the Crystal Empire would be more than triple that. “If I was in the Games, I wouldn’t have to pay,” Slip Stream sulked, crossing his forearms and pouting his lips. “Nova Star was ten when he won his first Equestria Games title,” Dream Chaser said. “He still holds the record for youngest ever to compete.” “I bet I could compete,” Slip said. He looked over at his mother with childish anger. She sighed and went back to sorting through the mail. When Slip realized she wasn’t going to pay attention to him, he began poking at the food on his plate. Dream Chaser grabbed his empty plate and brought it into the kitchen for a refill. The pot on the stove was empty aside from a single floating chunk of potato. Disappointed, the hungry stallion placed his plate in the sink and rinsed it off. “You’re not going to bed until you empty your plate.” “But it’s gross!” “You need to eat.” Dream Chaser returned to the table and sat back down next to Slip Stream. The colt’s plate was still full and had been pushed towards the center of the table. Using his hoof, Dream Chaser dragged the plate back in front of Slip. “I beat you,” Dream Chaser whispered. “Huh?” Slip Stream asked, perplexed. “I finished mine first, but you can still beat your mom.” Dream Chaser pointed to Sun Stream’s still half-full plate. The mare raised her eyebrow, and then looked down at her meal. “She’s got a head start, but I think you can still win.” Sun Stream realized the game Dream Chaser was trying to play and slowly brought her head down for a bite of her meal. Slip Stream looked at his mother, and then to his own food. He wrinkled his nose but took a bite, then another, and another. Sun Stream picked up the pace and Slip began gobbling his food. Both plates were emptied within seconds of each other, but Slip held his hooves up victoriously, mashed potato dribbling out the side of his mouth. “And the winner is…Slip Stream!” Dream Chaser announced. Slip took a big gulp and wiped his mouth. He smiled at the stallion and stuck his tongue out at his mother. “Hey,” Dream Chaser said, “Be a humble winner.” “So what’s my prize?” Slip asked, looking at his mother. She thought for a moment before saying, “A half hour of TV before bed.” Slip jumped out of his chair excitedly and ran to the old television set in front of the couch. He flipped the power switch and turned the dial until a black and white cartoon pony came into focus. As he sat on the floor to watch the show, Dream Chaser helped Sun Stream with the dishes. Was this what it was like to have a family? Dream Chaser wondered as he wiped out the inside of the pot. Dream Catcher had always wanted to start a family. The half hour passed and Slip Stream begged his mother for “just five more minutes” of TV time. Had the power not gone out at that second, she likely would have said yes. She lit a candle and set it on the table as she folded the bed out of the old couch. It reeked of mothballs and mildew, and several small toys that had been lost in the cushions over the years tumbled out of the folds. “Slip, get Mr. Chaser some blankets and pillows. I have to get him his medicine,” the mare instructed as she went to the kitchen. Slip ran off into the darkness and Dream Chaser followed Sun Stream to the kitchen. She popped open his pill organizer and emptied two pills into his hoof. With no power, there was no water so Dream Chaser simply dry swallowed the capsules. “Thank you, again,” Dream Chaser said. The flickering of the candle reflected in the mare’s eyes as she blinked. “If you need anything else, I’m in the other room,” Sun Stream said. “I should be fine, and don’t worry if I’m gone in the morning. As soon as the storm lets up, I’ll be heading home.” Slip emerged from the darkness and draped the spare bedding over the couch-bed before running into the kitchen. “All set, Mr. Chaser.” “Thank you, Slip,” Sun Stream said, grabbing her son and embracing him. He nuzzled up to her and smiled. “Now, go get some sleep. Mommy has tomorrow off and she wants to spend all of it with you.” “Promise you won’t go into work?” Slip asked with big sad eyes. “Promise,” she said, squeezing her son once more. “I love you, Mom.” “I love you too.” Dream Chaser watched as Slip ran off to his room and shut the door. Sun Stream grabbed the candle off the table and walked to the couch. She made sure Dream Chaser was settled before making her way into her own room. The light from the candle vanished and Dream Chaser stared at the ceiling, listening to the wind howl. He tossed and turned for the first hour, unable to find a position in which he wasn’t putting pressure on either his bruised head or his bad hip. Eventually, whatever medicine he’d taken began to sedate him into a peaceful sleep. He was awoken by a blinding flash of light and the crash of thunder. He put his face against the pillow and watched the stars dance against his eyes. Once the stars had faded, he looked around the dark apartment. The clock in the kitchen and the weather outside were the only sounds at all. He stared at the window until another flash of lightning blinded him. He sat there blinking, but couldn’t clear a large dark spot from his vision. The blotch turned and he realized it was the outline of a pony. “Hello?” he asked. Perhaps it was Sun Stream, coming to check on him. “I thought I’d find you here.” Her voice was cold and he knew it wasn’t Sun Stream. The mare turned and another flash of lightning illuminated her features. White fur, white mane, jade eyes—it couldn’t be… “Dream Catcher? Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked, his voice quivering. “I could ask you the same,” she said, taking a step towards the couch-bed. “I always knew that there was something between you two…you and that slut.” “No, you don’t understand—” “Quiet!” “Please! Dream Catcher!” “I said quiet!” She lunged at him and pressed her hooves firmly down on his throat. He couldn’t breathe and it was futile trying to break from her grip. She stared down at him as she pressed even harder. “I loved you! I took care of you! You didn’t appreciate ANY of it!” He wanted to object to her accusations but she continued on. “You’re useless! I would have been happier had you died!” Dream Chaser coughed and gasped for air, pawing at her hooves helplessly. He tried to scream, but nothing more than a sick gurgle escaped his mouth. “Mr. Chaser?” a small voice asked. Slip Stream was standing outside his bedroom door and looked at the stallion in confusion. “Mr. Chaser? Are you alright?” Dream Catcher looked from Dream Chaser to Slip Stream and back, before giving another forceful push onto the stallion’s windpipe. “Mommy!” Slip shouted. Almost immediately, Sun Stream ran from her room. She looked at her frightened son, then to Dream Chaser. “Go to your room, Slip,” she said with panic in her voice. “But—” “Now!” Slip obeyed his mother and ran to his room, yet kept the door open a crack. He watched as his mother ran to Dream Chaser and tried to grab his hooves away from his throat. “You’re having a panic attack. Just breathe,” she said as calmly as she could manage. Dream Chaser could withstand Dream Catcher’s force no longer and went limp. His eyes rolled into his head and a warm darkness overtook him. From within the darkness, he could feel something, something he’d not felt in some time: the warmth of touch, the feel of another pony, the feel of their lips on his. Life was being forced back into him and he struggled through the darkness. Every time the lips of the pony left, he slipped further back into the darkness, only to be yanked forward once again as the lips returned. There was a light, and he could see it, and feel it, but it was just out of reach. The breaths brought him closer and closer, but just as he was about to grab hold of it, the breaths ceased, and the darkness pulled him back. Sun Stream was in tears as she held Dream Chaser’s lifeless body in her forearms. She knew after five minutes of unsuccessful resuscitation that it was time to give up. She gave one last breath of hope into his lungs and felt him react. Dream Chaser coughed and sputtered as their lips separated and he struggled to breathe on his own. Sun Stream held him close to her, feeling the rise and fall of his chest and his rapid heartbeat. She rubbed her hoof along his back whispering, “It’s okay. You’re okay.” Dream Chaser’s eyes darted around the apartment looking for Dream Catcher, but there was no sign of her. Slip Stream slowly emerged from his room and approached his mother and the shaking stallion. “I thought you said you weren’t sick,” Slip said, looking up at Dream Chaser.