Chasing Dreams

by Final Draft

Chapter Eight-Where The Streams Meet

“I think I’ve still got a few more in me,” the white unicorn stallion replied. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll get the title of oldest champion as well.”

“Now THAT would be impressive,” the host commented. He then flipped through the notes on his desk and turned back to his guest. “Mr. Star, thank you again for coming on our show tonight.”

The unicorn flipped a lock of his blonde mane back into place and smiled at the camera. “It’s been my pleasure.”

“Before we cut to commercials, would you mind if a few members of the audience asked you some questions?”

“Not at all,” he replied confidently.

The camera panned over to the audience and hooves shot into the air. “Late Nights with Ruby Ringer” appeared in the left corner of the screen. After a moment, the host walked down a row of seats, levitating a microphone with him. He looked around at the sea of excited ponies and stopped in front of an exceptionally excited blue mare.

“Hello honey, what would you like to ask Mr. Star?”

“I love you Nova Star!” she shouted into the microphone. The white unicorn simply looked at her and gave a wink and a wave. The camera focused back on the mare as she fell backwards in ecstasy.

“That wasn’t a question, but alright!” the host said into the microphone. He continued along the aisle until he reached an unenthused Pegasus mare with her hoof raised in the air. “Ma’am, you appear to have something on your mind, would you care to share?”

“I would, Ruby,” she said, taking the microphone with her wing. She turned to glare at Nova Star. “How do you sleep at night?”

The audience looked taken aback and the camera panned to Nova Star. He was unfazed and brought his hoof up to examine it casually. “I sleep just fine, thank you.”

“How?” the Pegasus asked in disbelief. “After what you did to Dream Chaser?”

“Excuse me who?”

“Dream. Chaser.”

“Oh! That poor stallion from Manehatten? If you recall, I was acquitted and even put a large sum of bits to aid law enforcement in finding the real—”

“You rigged that trial! We all know it!”

“And that’s all the time we have!” Ruby shouted as he levitated the microphone away from the Pegasus. “Mares and Gentlecolts, thanks for join—”

The livid mare pushed Ruby out of the way and grabbed the microphone again. “You knew you couldn’t beat him! He was better than you! He would have won, had he competed!”

She threw the microphone at Nova Star, hitting him squarely in the head, and then proceeded to rush the stage. Security guards tackled her to the ground, just short of the shocked stallion as the audience hooted and hollered. The camera panned around until it stopped on Ruby, who was signaling the camera pony to cut the feed. The screen went black, and then cut to a newsroom where a mare and a stallion were sitting at a desk.

“Nova Star was treated at Coltafornia Medical for a minor contusion and released this morning,” the mare said, looking at the camera. “The racing legend has stated he will not be pressing charges.”

A short musical interlude played and the camera focused on the stallion. “When we return, we’ll look at the events that shocked the world ten years ago at what will be remembered as “The Equestria Games Tragedy”.

The camera panned back to the mare and a picture of a purple Alicorn appeared in the corner of the screen. “Also coming up, Princess Twilight Sparkle breaks the silence about her alleged sexual involvement—”

All the TV’s in the electronic shop’s display window went blue and a high pitched alert sounded. The alert shook Dream Chaser from his trance and he wondered how long he’d wasted watching TV. Seeing Nova Star across several screens had distracted him from his journey, so he had wedged aside a few other window shoppers to watch the broadcast.

A pre-recorded voice spoke monotonously after the tone: “This is the Equestria Emergency Broadcast System with a storm warning in effect for this evening in the following areas: Broncolyn, Manehatten, Kings, and Trotshire County. Expect high winds and torrential downpours. Power outages are likely and you are advised to stay inside.”

The monotone voice repeated the warning and three beeps signaled the end of the EEBS. The cable feed resumed, showing the end of a fashion boutique’s commercial.

Dream Chaser separated himself from the shoppers and continued down Mane Street. He had two possible routes home and neither had very much appealed to him. One would take him past his old house; the other would take him past his old school. The latter had fewer memories associated with it…and at least, the school was still standing.

He limped through the shopping district relatively unnoticed in the mass of ponies who had gathered for their Friday afternoon activities. For the time being, the sky was still clear and a gentle breeze blew through the city streets. Hard to imagine another storm was on its way.

Dream Chaser’s mystery medications had begun to take effect and he easily identified the Altrivin’s numbing sensation. The other one remained a mystery, but he certainly felt more relaxed. The crowded sidewalk didn’t seem to bother him. The occasional double-takes and stares actually made him feel a bit of pride that ponies still knew who he was.

He wasn’t half the stallion he used to be, sure, but he had been well-known even before the tragedy.
His mind went back to the Ruby Ringer clip that had been on the news. Nova Star was still in peak health and still as pretentious as ever. The mare had been right though. Had it not been for Dream Chaser’s inability to compete, HE would have been the champion, not Nova Star.

“Excuse me who?” Nova Star’s words echoed in Dream Chaser’s head. How could he feign ignorance at the name that had become synonymous with his? Had he truly forgotten the trial? The tabloids? The blood?

Dream Chaser wanted to run from the thoughts and broke free of the lazy flow of shoppers. He clenched his teeth around his prescription bag as he ran for the first time in nearly ten years. The adrenaline, the excitement; it all seemed so wonderful. Pedestrians stepped aside as the stallion careened up the sidewalk. Tears rolled from his eyes as the wind whipped across his face. Through the tears, he saw a white mare that stood out from the crowd. She looked at him with dazzling, green eyes and his heart stopped.

Dream Catcher?

It was like déjà vu: he was staring at the love of his life when he should have been concerned with what was immediately in front of him. His hoof caught on some unseen obstruction and the sky switched places with the ground. He landed hard and no amount of Altrivin could mask the pain he now felt. The muscles, the tendons, the ligaments; they all screamed out in agony.

“Sir, are you alright?” a blue unicorn stallion asked, hoisting him up before he could refuse the help. “Is there some pony following you? I can’t see any other reason why you would be running so fast.”

Dream Chaser shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. He looked around at the ponies that had stopped to assist him, but didn’t see the mare he was looking for. Just my imagination again.

Dream Chaser picked up his prescription bag which had landed a short distance away. He turned to the unicorn and nodded in thanks before limping into the crowd of confused on-lookers. They stepped aside as they recognized the scars and began whispering his name.

“That was dumb.”

I know.

“No, that was really dumb.”

I know.

“What did the doctors say?”

…

“Well?”

You’ll never run again.

Dream Chaser bickered back and forth with himself as he walked along the deserted sidewalk. The shopping district with its patrons was now behind him and he knew he was almost home.

Weather Control pegasi were making their way across the skies, bringing with them dark storm clouds. A drop fell out of the passing clouds every now and then, so Dream Chaser tried to quicken his pace. Something in his legs kept popping and causing jolts of pain. He would jog in bursts for as long as he could bear it before slowing to his usual limp.

The Manehatten Public School loomed in the distance and the sounds of ponies at play echoed out into the streets. School had been let out for the week, yet many of the students stayed to play on the expansive playground. Dream Chaser walked along the chain link fence and stopped to catch his breath. The building he’d attended for three years stared back like a stranger. It had been repainted, renovated, and expanded over the years to resemble every other school in the district.

“Hey mister, what’s in the bag?”

Dream Chaser turned to see a group of school ponies staring at him through the fence. They snickered and imitated his limp and he knew their intentions were malicious. What is it about this city that breeds bad ponies? He pretended not to notice them and continued walking.

“Hey I’m talking to you, cripp,” a gray colt said, smacking the fence with his hoof. He became irritated when Dream Chaser continued to ignore him even after being called a cripp. “Fine, buck you too.”

“Loser!”

“Weirdo!”

They continued to call him all the insults third graders were capable of as he limped off. He found it funny how little had changed since he was in school and let out a laugh.

Something hard made contact with the back of Dream Chaser’s head and he fell to his knees in surprise. The ponies in the school yard roared with laughter. Dream Chaser looked down and saw the large rock that had been bucked at him by the school ponies. He put his hoof to the back of his head at the point of impact and pulled away when he felt blood trailing down his mane.

“Look! I think he’s gonna cry!” the gray colt shouted. Tears had indeed welled up in Dream Chaser’s eyes, but he held them back. Without looking at the ponies, he continued along the sidewalk.

Dream Chaser’s non-responsiveness eventually bored the ponies, and they went elsewhere to antagonize some of their classmates. A silver colt who had been watching from afar approached the fence. He said nothing as he kept pace with Dream Chaser, who was barely aware of his presence.

The pony picked up a stick and began running it along the chain link fence, ultimately getting Dream Chaser’s attention. They both stopped in unison to look at each other. The younger of the two struggled to maintain eye contact; his blue eyes darting from his hooves, to Dream Chaser’s face and back.

“Hello,” the silver pony said timidly while struggling to look into the stallion’s judging eyes. “I was wondering…if…you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” Dream Chaser said through the bag he held in his teeth; his quick response sounding harsher than he’d intended. The colt folded his ears back and his eyes shot to the ground. He whispered something Dream Chaser couldn’t hear, and then ran back towards the school building.

Dream Chaser’s inner voice (which sounded a lot like Dream Catcher) began scolding him as he limped away. That was mean. He was just concerned for you. You hurt his feelings.

A sudden burst of laughter made Dream Chaser look back at the school yard and he saw the silver pony struggling to his hooves. The group of troublemakers gathered around him, pointing and laughing at his blunder.

“Smooth moves, Slip Up!” one of them shouted.

The silver pony’s face turned red beneath his wind-strewn sky blue mane. “My name is Slip Stream,” he replied, looking the other pony dead in the eyes.

Dream Chaser watched through the fence as the colt stood his ground, the other ponies pressing in. Just run, kid, he tried to communicate telepathically.

The scene played out similar to Dream Chaser’s first encounter with Smoke Storm. The group walked circles around the silver pony, taking turns to insult him. The leader pressed through the circle to confront the pony face to face.

“Go on, why don’t you use that special talent of yours?” the older of the ponies asked. He pressed in closer, but Slip Stream stood resolute.

“No,” Slip Stream replied.

The other pony turned to his peers with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. When he turned back to face Slip Stream, he was greeted by a hoof to the nose. He yelped and fell to the ground, blood trailing from his nostrils. Only fazed for a moment, he jumped on the younger pony and retaliated with punches of his own.

The school ground ponies cheered and hollered at the brawlers as they tumbled around on the ground. Dream Chaser, being the only adult present, felt he had to do something. He hobbled towards the gate to the school yard and approached the gathering of youth.

“That’s enough!” he shouted. He pushed through to the center and saw Slip Stream pinned beneath the older colt. Using his muzzle, Dream Chaser got beneath the pony and flung him several feet. “Enough!” Dream Chaser shouted once more. The crowd dispersed and he was left to deal with the two bruised ponies.

Slip Stream had a black eye and blood coming out the side of his mouth while the other pony got away with nothing more than a bloody nose. They both looked at Dream Chaser, and then to each other, exchanging angry glares.

Eventually, the older pony blew a raspberry and ran off to join his friends who had been watching from afar. Slip Stream went to chase after him, but Dream Chaser held out his foreleg and said, “Leave it.”

Slip Stream looked up at the stallion and sighed, folding his ears back and letting his tail droop. He wiped the blood from his mouth and rubbed at his black eye.

“Now it’s my turn to ask: are you okay?” Dream Chaser asked. After a moment’s hesitation, the young pony nodded and ran his hoof along the ground. “Would you like me to walk you home?”

“W-will you?” Slip Stream asked.

A knot formed in Dream Chaser’s stomach. He had been hoping for a “no” so he could get back to his own abode. The sky was growing ever darker and his legs ached, sensing the storm was going to begin shortly.

“Absolutely,” he said with a genuine smile. “I’m sure your parents are getting worried.”

Once again, the young pony put his ears back and looked at the ground. “My mom isn’t even home yet.”

“And what about your father?” Dream Chaser asked.

Slip Stream remained silent. It had never occurred to Dream Chaser how lucky he had been to have both his parents growing up, and that many ponies, especially native-born city ponies, were considered lucky to have even one parent.

“Ah, well,” Dream Chaser began awkwardly, “we should get you home before the storm starts.” As he finished the phrase, a raindrop landed on his head, followed by the crash of thunder. So much for getting me home before the storm starts.

He let Slip Stream lead him out of the school yard. To his dismay, they began walking the opposite direction of Dream Chaser’s apartment. His legs ached as he struggled to keep up with the young pony, who had failed to take into consideration Dream Chaser’s disability.

“Hey, kid, wait up,” Dream Chaser panted. He sat down and Slip walked over to him, concern across his face.

“What happened to your legs?” Slip asked, looking over the scars. He was too young to have known about the Equestria Games that robbed the stallion of his livelihood.

“I…really don’t want to talk about it…Are we almost there?” Dream Chaser asked, changing the topic.

“Oh, um, we’re close,” Slip replied, taking a few steps before looking back and saying, “I’m Slip Stream, by the way. What’s your name?”

“Dream Chaser,” the stallion replied, getting back to his hooves and catching up to the pony. The name meant nothing to Slip Stream.

“Thank you, Dream Chaser…for…helping me,” He smiled and looked up at the stallion.

“Why didn’t you run from those bullies?” Dream Chaser asked. They took a turn down an alleyway, passing a couple homeless ponies waving tin cans that rattled with the sound of bits.

“My mom told me to face my problems, not run from them,” Slip replied. The alley let out to the slums of Manehatten, and they approached a rundown apartment building with boarded up windows. “Even if my special talent is running.”

Dream Chaser glanced down at the colt’s cutie mark as they entered the apartment complex. It was barely noticeable against his silver fur; three gray swooshing lines (that Dream Chaser could only imagine represented wind) adorned the young pony’s flank.

A big “Out of order” sign was slapped across the elevator’s metal doors and Dream Chaser’s heart sank. “What floor do you live on?”

“The 22nd,” Slip Stream said, leading him over to a door with the stairs icon above it. He opened the door and a horrible smell of burning herbs wafted out of the stairwell. Three rather ragged ponies were sitting on the stairs, passing around a burning tube of nature, coughing and laughing stupidly. Slip Stream looked up at Dream Chaser and said, “I should be fine from here.”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll go with you,” Dream Chaser said, walking in front of the youth. No matter how much he wanted to get home before the storm, he was not going to leave until he was sure this pony was home safe. “Excuse us,” he said, trying to push past the stair-dwellers.

“Yo, what’s in the bag?” one of them asked, bringing the burning coil of leaves to his lips. Dream Chaser didn’t reply as he managed to wedge himself and Slip Stream up the first flight of steps. He could hear the stair-dwellers laughing and coughing below them as they ascended.

“Thank you,” Slip Stream said, keeping close to Dream Chaser. “You’re really nice.”

Dream Chaser felt his face flush a bit, but wasn’t sure if it was from the compliment, or the extra effort it was taking to climb the stairs. The lights flickered and the stairs creaked as they climbed further into the complex. Arguments could be heard through the paper thin walls along with…other…things. Hopefully, Slip was still young enough to be naïve of the going-ons of the building.

“So what’s your special talent?” Slip asked as they were passing the tenth floor. He had been staring at the scars on Dream Chaser’s legs, trying to make out the cutie mark that lay beneath.

“It was running,” Dream Chaser replied sadly. “I was fast, possibly the fastest in Equestria.” An uneven spot in the stairs caused Dream Chaser’s hoof to twist out from under him and he landed on his chest. “But not anymore,” he sighed, struggling back up as if nothing had happened.

They continued up the stairs in silence until they were at the 22nd floor. The door was rotted away and sat loosely on a single hinge. Slip Stream pushed through it casually and they walked down the smoky hallway. How could anypony live in these conditions? The wallpaper was peeling away, the carpet was thread bare, and the whole place smelled of burnt rubber. Worst of all was the noise. TV sets blasted infomercials at full volume, foals were crying, couples were arguing or procreating—surely this is where bad ponies come from.

Dream Chaser cautiously followed Slip Stream through the hallway. At the very end was Slip Stream’s apartment and he produced a key from his school bag, letting the two in. The atmosphere was much more pleasant in the apartment than the rest of the building. The walls were painted in a hue of blue, and the carpet actually had some fabric to it. It was also quieter inside these walls than the hallway, and the smell of vanilla encompassed the entirety of the space. A lone window let in the remnants of sunlight and Dream Chaser walked over to it.

The rain had begun to fall in sheets and he knew it was going to be a miserable walk back home. “So how soon till your mother gets here?” he asked, turning to Slip Stream.

“Soon,” he said. “She works late on Fridays.”

Streetwalker was the first thing to come to Dream Chaser’s mind, but he didn’t want to assume the worst. Whoever this mare was, she had raised a good colt, and managed to do so alone.

“Will you stay until she gets home?”

Dream Chaser wanted to leave, feeling he’d completed his voluntary duty, but a loud noise outside the apartment followed by shouting and banging changed his mind. “I’ll stay a little while,” he replied when the noise had ceased. He walked to the door and slid the bolt lock into place.

They passed the time talking about Slip Stream: his school, his classes, his classmates. Whenever the topic changed to Dream Chaser, he was sure to push it back to the younger pony’s interests and hobbies. He was very much like a younger version of Dream Chaser: strong, morally upstanding, and fast. Small as the apartment was, Slip Stream demonstrated his running abilities for the crippled stallion.

“You really could make it in racing,” Dream Chaser said as he watched the pony weave and maneuver around the few pieces of furniture in the apartment.

Slip stopped and looked at the floor sadly. “My mom won’t let me.”

“What? Why not?” Dream Chaser asked, baffled.

“She told me I could get hurt--told me about a pony who got hurt really badly because he was good at running.”

Dream Chaser knew it was him his mother had told him about. “You…you just have to be careful. You should always chase your dreams, no matter the risks.”

A knock came at the door and Slip Stream didn’t rush to answer it; he was still pondering the stallion’s words. Dream Chaser stood up when another knock came at the door, this time more panicked.

“Honey? It’s Mommy…Open up please,” a familiar voice said from beyond the door. “Slip, please, let me in.”

Dream Chaser furrowed his brow, trying to figure out why the voice sounded familiar. He undid the bolt lock and the door opened quickly. A mare dripping from head to hoof bumped into him and she stepped back in surprise as did he.

“Mr. Chaser?”

“H-hello, Nurse Sun Stream.”

Author's Note:

At long last, all the characters are introduced, we may proceed to the action!