//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 (Dreams) // Story: Colgate and Berry Punch, Adventures in Ponyville // by Democritus of Abdera //------------------------------// Dreams Minuette was sitting in the upstairs office. Light from the spring morning outside bathed the room in a crisp golden glow. In the air, motes of dust floated, wispy arcs roiling softly though the shafts of light as they pierced the blinds. She had a book in her hooves. “Cuuuurrrssseeee Yooouuuuu Daring Dooooo!! Screamed Ahuitzotl as the intrepid Pegasus adventurer smashed the jade claw into a thousand pieces, glittering fragments raining down the altar’s face. Ahuitzotl fell to his knees, clutching at the broken shards in futile denial of his defeat, face contorted in anguish. Daring could only marvel how in such a state, even knowing how evil he was; seeing him mewling and broken before her like this was almost pitiable. Almost. She turned and grabbed the rope dangling from the temple tower and with a mighty heave, flung herself into the midnight air, pausing only to give her old nemesis a farewell tip of the hat as she flew away to the other side of the volcano caldera, and relative safety.” Before Minuette a carnation pink Unicorn filly gasped in shock, squeezing an enormous spider in her forelegs so tightly it emitted a low gurgling noise. “But…but that claw was her mentor’s prized piece! Dr. Appaloosa Jones made his career with that discovery! She didn’t have to smash it! Why not take it back? Ahuitzotl stole it first after all!” Minuette put the book on her leg and smiled. “That’s the kind of thinking that let Ahuitzotl get his evil paws on it in the first place. Daring didn’t want to, she knew how much it meant to Dr. Jones, but the claw was just too dangerous, I mean, it was the last piece of the puzzle to free Discord, and the eruption was happening any minute.” Ruby Pinch mumbled something about Daring being able to use the Chimera Idol from book five to turn Discord into stone whenever she wanted to. Minuette snickered. “Now don’t read too much into this Ruby. It’s just a story; you can’t expect the author to think of every little thing. Especially with a series as long running as this one.” From below them a voice drifted up the stairs. “Colgate! Pinchy! Breakfast!” Ruby leaped to her hooves and bolted from the office. “Coming Mom! C’mon Desmond, or I’ll eat your pancakes too!” The spider bleated as it scurried after her, crawling down the wall directly rather than opting for the stairs at all. Minuette followed at a much more sedate pace. Beyond the office was the hallway that opened to the storefront on the ground floor, here too the air was colored a brilliant gold as rays of Celestia’s dawn played across the sparkling brass and copper faces of the clocks and hourglasses that lined the shelves and windows. In the back of the first floor was the sawdust filled workstation Minuette used for carpentry projects. Her current one was a filly sized bed, with an attachment on the side wherein a creature about the size of a small dog might nestle itself, had it the unusual ability to climb sheer surfaces. The smell of cooking food wafted past Minuette’s nostrils, accompanied by laughter and the clink of china being set up. She breathed deep, drinking in the feeling as she looked over her home and her store, and out the window to the waking town beyond. Yes. This is good. This is right. Minuette felt a presence behind her. She turned to see Berry Punch, cup of coffee in hoof. “Here you go.” She said, placing the mug on a corner table. “Thanks.” Minuette enveloped the mug in her magic, and brought it to her lips, then snorted. “You put a little something in this didn’t you?” Berry laughed, brandishing her own cup. “And a lot of something in mine!” Minuette sighed, rubbing her eyes. “You never change, Berry.” Berry slid up alongside her, rubbing her muzzle in Minuette’s coat. “Yup. I’m just broke in ways you’ll never be able to fix.” The pair stared out, watching the morning pass, the sound of pancakes being violently inhaled behind them the only damper on what was shaping up to be a calm, beautiful day. Minuette felt Berry stiffen next to her, then put her mug down. She turned to look at Minuette, all mirth draining from her eyes. “And yet you’re still here. With me. Why?” Minuette stared for a moment, then reached out to touch Berry’s cheek; she leaned into Minuette’s hoof as she ran it through the loose curls of Berry’s mane, dark streaks of tears dampening her lavender coat. She pulled Berry in, till their faces were mere inches apart, till they could feel their mutual breath tickling one another’s noses. Berry’s violet eyes were as deep and wide as the sea, overflowing as she searched Minuette’s face for an answer. “Because silly, I-” Minuette woke up. Something bright green was in her mouth. Minuette gagged and spat it out, realizing then that whatever it was covered her whole body as its saliva soaked wetness simply flopped back down atop her face. “Gack!” She kicked out with both hooves, leaping from the mound of towels, dragging the soaked green and white beach towel to the floor with her as it clung wetly to her coat. Once free of its clutches, she stared blinking out the front window at the bright noontime bustle of Ponyville beyond. She saw Ditzy Doo darting to and fro, shoving post into letterboxes, careening from one side of the street to the next. More than once she would facehoof and double back, frantically replacing mail in one box with mail from another. Minuette shook herself free of the spectacle and stood. She brought a hoof to her chest, to quell her racing heart. That was…that was totally inappropriate. Cold sweat ran down her spine, and she shivered as the memories of the night before came rushing back. My name is Ruby Pinch… Mommy works there most nights… I need ya, Pinchy needs ya… Wow, Minuette thought, my subconscious is damn good at putting two and two together. I know, right? Don’t make this weird brain. Well, weirder. Toooo laaaate…. “Agh! Shut up!” She was beginning to notice the onset of a rather prominent headache. Wincing as its throb began its travel from her frontal lobe to begin the classic hangover tapdance upon her temples, she trotted over to the kitchen. All of the perishables in the refrigerator back in Canterlot had been thrown in an ice chest for the trip, and one of the first things Minuette had done yesterday afternoon was get the contents of the cooler back out and into her new fridge here. She had yet to clean up the large puddle of former ice on the kitchen tile created from her haphazard drag and drop of milk, juice, onions, potatoes and such. She pulled out a carrot and the milk carton, taking a large bite and a swig without bothering hunting for a glass. According to the table clock in the kitchen, it was now almost 2pm. At least its dark in here, I don’t think I’m going to be leaving the house today. Direct sunlight right now would be…unhelpful. As if to emphasize the point, the little pony dancing in her brain seemed to trip, careening into the wall of her skull with a mischievous “whoops!” Minuette could only take another swig, and do her best not to turn her head too quickly. Ugh. If I’m this bad I can only imagine what Berry’s going to be like when she wakes- Minuette made a small *meep!* Celestia’s tits, Berry’s here right now. Right upstairs. In my bedroom. The dream was still prominent in her mind. The light, the sounds, her smell- Damn the dream. I can’t think about it right now. I…I need to go up there and check on her. It’s the right thing to do. Minuette felt her heart beating faster again. She drained the last of the milk carton set it down on the table. Each step on the staircase seemed to be as loud as the entire house collapsing during an earthquake, Minuette didn’t know how much of that was the hangover, and how much was the rising level of terror she felt with every step. Finally she reached the landing, and could hear the now semi-familiar sound of Berry’s snoring. Still asleep, that’s good. The longer she sleeps, the more sober she’ll be when she wakes up. Berry had moved from her position last night. She had kicked the covers free at some point and was now splayed across most of the bed, legs stuck out at crazy angles. Her mouth was hanging open. Once again Minuette couldn’t help but find the display a little amusing, stifling a chuckle as she went over to check the cookpot. Empty. In a way not a good thing, getting some of that alcohol out of her the direct way might have been preferable to having it all metabolize in her body overnight. Minuette’s assessment could probably have been summed up by somepony else as “Damn, she can hold her liquor!” She checked the blinds again, saw that none were letting in any light, and deftly attempted to re-cover Berry as best she could. Minuette took care not to actually touch Berry’s skin, feeling more than a little dirty after the place her mind had taken her in the night. She also left the cookpot where it was, just in case, though the worst was probably over by now. Berry looked much better as well; her face was peaceful, unmarred by whatever remembered pain had surfaced last night. Satisfied her obligation as hostess was accomplished, Minuette did not spend a moment longer in the room than she had to, not until she had some time to think. Doing something with her hooves had always helped her think, perhaps preparing some food for Berry when she did wake up to take the edge off her hangover would be just the thing. It’s not like a cold glass of milk and a carrot shoved under her nose when she finally regained consciousness would be polite or sufficient. Minuette busied herself quietly pulling out and setting up kitchen things. Her other cookpot, and lid, a big spoon and her can opener, some water from the sink- “Hayseeds and Manticore snot!” The stale copper smell filled the kitchen, and Minuette once again had to wait a bit for the pipes to clear. While she waited, thoughts began to bubble free from the mental lid she had them clamped under. The last time she’d had dreams like that was back in college, it was one of the reasons Minuette tried to avoid drinking too much. Because they inevitably let her to make bad decisions. She had always…admired Moondancer from an aesthetic perspective… That’s a nice way to put it. But obviously Minuette had simply been overjoyed that somepony as talented and beautiful as her would want to take the time to be Minuette’s friend, and was quite content to keep it that way. Then there was the debacle at the-well, let’s not relive the details of THAT too shall we? The point was it took weeks of apologizing and Melodia acting as a go between delivering said apologies before Moondancer finally forgave me. And this is exactly the same thing, happening again. Berry has a child, which means she is quite obviously straight. Why do I do this to myself? Minuette put those thoughts aside for the moment, focusing on food preparation. Now, since hangovers are dehydration sickness, the key is to hydrate the patient as much as they can stomach. So lots of liquids, and then more liquids disguised as food. Minuette pulled out another carrot, a couple tomatoes and potatoes, some celery stalks and an onion and proceeded to chop them all up with a head of broccoli. I wonder if Berry takes meats in her food? The majority of ponies, something like three quarters, were nominally vegetarian, consuming only dairy products and sometimes eggs to augment their diet with protein. It was kind of unavoidable, since eggs and milk went into nearly all baked goods. Minuette knew some hard core vegan ponies, her friend Melodia was one of them. But a significant minority of ponies also ate meat to varying degrees. Scientists said it was in response to the transition from the herd/prey animal ancient pony ancestors had been, to the more intelligent gatherer/hunter tribes ponies formed as they mastered tool making. Minuette had read a fascinating article in Equestrian Geographic magazine once about an ancient tribe of Pegasi believed to be highly predatory and almost exclusively meat eating. Pegasi had historically been the last of the pony subspecies to develop agriculture. In fact, the tribe that had taken part in the founding of Equestria itself had not at all, instead relying on earth pony tribute in return for weather manipulation. Minuette herself did have a bit of a meat tooth so to speak, and occasionally enjoyed ham and poultry, and was debating on whether throwing some chicken in the soup. Better to err on the side of caution I think. The potatoes provide a lot of nice absorbent starch already; it will have to be enough. Minuette left the chicken in the fridge. She could always grill it for dinner after Berry had left. By the time the soup had been brought to a nice frothy boil, Minuette’s headache had lessened to the point she could look around relatively quickly without the edges of her vision shrinking into hazy shadow. In hindsight, it probably hadn’t been smart to be chopping vegetables by hoof in this state. Still, she might even be able to hazard attempting some magic soon. Experimentally, she reached out with her mind, and saw the characteristic sparkle of the levitation field engulf the stirring spoon on the countertop. The pony inside her head began breaking out the power tools. The pain was substantial, but Minuette thought she could feel it leveling off at a manageable level, enough maybe she could levitate Berry’s soup up- “Hey.” Minuette dropped the spoon with a dull clatter and leaped almost a full meter into the air before falling in a heap and rolling into the corner countertop. Behind her was Berry Punch, giant brown comforter wrapped around her like a cloak, bleary eyed and bloodshot. “Woah. You’re really jumpy.” She stuck out a hoof to help Minuette up. “You…startled me. I thought you were still asleep.” Minuette managed between gasping breaths that felt like they were sucking her lungs back into position after they had tried to vault out her throat. Berry winced as minuette spoke. “Please. Not so loud. Somepony really botched the lobotomy they gave me last night.” Berry sank into a chair at the kitchen table, putting her head in her hooves and moaning slightly. Minuette started to speak again, but stopped after the first syllable at Berry’s upraised hoof. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Minuette took the lid off the soup and resumed stirring. Outside, a taxi carriage trotted by, kicking up a light cloud of dust that sparkled in the afternoon sun. Minuette was once again reminded of the dream. I hope she’s not upset with me. Oh Celestia, I wonder how much of last night she remembers? Does she even remember me? I wish she would say something… “So.” Berry said, as if reading her thoughts. “Minuette?” Minuette stopped stirring and came to sit on the other side of the kitchen table. “Yes Berry?” “Is this your house?” “It is Berry. Across town from Café Celeste. I-” But Berry raised a hoof again. “And…that was your bedroom I was sleeping in?” Berry was gripping the blanket awfully tight, Minuette thought. “Yes...” Berry's bloodshot eyes locked with Minuette’s. “Please. Tell me we didn’t…didn’t do anything last night. Not last night, of all nights…” What? “What’s so important about last ni-” “TELL ME!” Berry lunged across the table and grabbed Minuette’s hooves, preventing her from recoiling away. “No! No, damn it! We didn’t do anything! I dragged you upstairs and threw you in my bed and slept on a heap of towels down here.” Damn you subconscious! How could you do that to me, showing me something that beautiful when there’s less than zero chance of it ever happening?! Berry fell back into her seat. “Oh. Oh thank Celestia.” Minuette could not hide how angry she was quickly becoming. “Don’t worry Berry, I’m not the kind of person to take advantage of ponies when they are unable to protect themselves. Or have the judgment to say no.” Berry’s eyes went wide. “I…I didn’t mean-” Minuette got up and turned away. “I’ve made soup. It will help take the edge off that hangover. You’re welcome to some, but afterward I would appreciate it if you would leave.” With that, she trotted out of the kitchen and up the stairs, leaving Berry alone at the table.