What would have been: Chasing Dreams · 7:07pm Sep 7th, 2014
After Dream Chaser and Slip Stream board the train bound for the Crystal Empire, Dream Chaser recounts his successful youth and rise to fame. He started school at the same time the coach was reluctantly putting together a youth racing team. His talents impressed and he quickly moved up to state champion.
The train arrives at the Crystal Empire and Nova Star is there to greet Dream Chaser. Slip is excited, Dream Chaser is not. They're both invited to attend the pre-game ceremony, but Dream Chaser declines. Slip is upset and pouts until the next day. The Games take place and during the qualifying matches, Nova Star loses out of first by a few seconds. Later, before the actual match starts, the racer that beat out Nova Star in the preliminaries shows up ill. This allows Nova Star to take first place.
The Games conclude and Slip and Dream Chaser board the train back to Manehatten. When they arrive back at Dream Chaser's apartment, he offers to make something for Slip to eat before his mother picks him up. He instructs Slip to keep busy while he waits. Slip winds up in Dream Chaser's room and discovers his memory box, and go through it until he finds the newspaper articles outlining his accident. Dream Chaser is furious, but finally decides he can hold the truth from Slip no longer.
After Dream Chaser beat out Nova Star in the qualifying match, he was approached by a talent agent looking to promote him for an energy drink. He was told to meet in the western locker room to go over some paperwork. The agent trots off and Dream Chaser goes back to basking in the glory of his victory. He and Dream Catcher get into a small fight, resulting with her storming off. Dream Chaser decides to go take the agent up on his offer, and finds the locker room heavily under construction. He wanders in anyway and looks around until he's struck on the back of the head. In the darkness, he can see the red aura of magic as something solid continues striking him. His legs are bashed and gashed along with the majority of his body.
While retelling this all to Slip, Dream Chaser breaks down and reveals he was also raped by his assailant. (Though he doesn't explicitly tell Slip, it's given to the reader.) He retells about how he was sure he was dead, and the only thing he heard before blacking out was "Good luck chasing that dream." When he awoke, he was in an operating room in excruciating pain. He blacked out again. Next, he was lying in a bed in the ICU when his parents burst in. His mother looks at him in horror, but a sign of relief shows on her face. She goes up to a nurse and asks where her son Dream Chaser is. (He realizes he's been beaten so bad his own mother doesn't recognize him.)
His father runs up to him as the nurse points to his bed. His mother breaks down and his father tries to comfort her. "You're gonna get through this, son! You're strong! Your mother and I will be strong for you too!" his father shouts before being escorted out of the ICU. His father dies of a heart attack in the hospital lobby.
Dream Chaser tells Slip he was sure it was Nova Star that did that to him. Slip vows to avenge Dream Chaser's honor. (this part encompasses several chapters) He trains for the upcoming Equestria Games under Dream Chaser's former coach. The whole city is touched by the colt's actions. Dream Chaser calls in several favors from old friends to beautify the city in time for the voting to be held for which city will host the Equestria Games. Manehatten is chosen, and the teams begin choosing their participants.
Dream Chaser goes to visit Nurse Sun Stream and finds her apartment door open. Slip's father, Slip Up is giving the nurse a hard time. Dream Chaser intervenes and gets into a verbal confrontation with the drunken stallion. Slip Up leaves, but not before landing a sucker punch on Dream Chaser's leg. He recovers and has a moment of intimacy with Sun Stream.
The day of Slip Stream's qualifying race is at hand, and Dream Chaser gets into an argument with Slip Stream regarding his father. Slip wants to meet him, but Dream Chaser adamantly refuses to allow it. Slip is furious and storms off to his qualifying race. Dream Chaser, who promised to attend the race, stays home instead. He gets into an argument with Dream Catcher about why she left him. The light bulb in the bathroom blows out and he grabs the ladder to replace it. He gets the old one out, but just as he goes to put the new one in, the step ladder collapses and he hits his head off the edge of the sink.
Slip Stream managed to make the Manehatten team for The Games, and runs to Dream Chaser's apartment with the intent to apologize. When he gets there, he sees an ambulance and several ponies standing outside the apartment. Dream Chaser is taken out on a stretcher and Slip Stream breaks down into tears. The ambulance ponies refuse to let Slip ride, so he chases it all the way to the hospital. His mother is kicked out of the operating room for being emotionally attached to the patient, and is forced to sit in the waiting room with Slip.
When the doctor finally comes out, he informs them Dream Chaser's head injury wasn't severe, but they found a brain tumor when they took the x-ray. (The tumor was what caused him to constantly see Dream Catcher and see his past so vividly.)
He recovers in time for the Equestria Games, and even attends the pre-game ceremony. The night plays out similar to how it had when he'd competed. When Slip Stream is summoned by his coach, Dream Chaser and Sun Stream are left alone. They slow dance, and finally give into their attraction and kiss. It's implied that they have sex that night.
The next day at the games, Nova Star announces that he will retire at the conclusion of the Games, and he vows to leave with the victory. During the qualifying match, he takes first and Slip Stream takes third. Slip is excited just to actually be third, but he still wants to beat Nova Star. During the actual race, Nova Star starts showing his age, and struggles to keep the lead. On the second lap, Slip Stream takes first. Nova Star uses his magic (which was blue, but appears red with the horn guard he wears), trying to trip up Slip Stream. This backfires and results in him tripping over the rut in the track he'd made. Dream Chaser witnessed the whole thing and realized that's how he tripped all those years ago.
Nova Star stands up realizes he can't possibly beat Slip Stream. So he uses his magic to levitate a javelin off the center of the field as he runs. Dream Chaser realizes what's going on, but the rest of the crowd is too focused on the neck at neck battle Slip is having for first with another racer. Dream Chaser rushes onto the field and tries to catch up to Nova Star to stop him. As he runs, the pain leaves him and his cutie marks shine through the scars. He catches up to Nova Star in an instant and tackles the unicorn to the ground. The crowd is baffled by the occurrence and security rushes out onto the track. Before they can get there, Nova Star jams the javelin through Dream Chaser's chest.
Slip Stream crosses the finish line in first place and looks around at the crowd, expecting cheers, but instead finds the audience screaming and crying. He sees security tackling Nova Star to the ground, and he sees Dream Chaser with the javelin sticking out of his chest. He runs over and has a heartfelt goodbye with the stallion that had meant so much to him.
Epilogue: Ten years have passed and the Equestria Games once again return to Manehatten. Slip Stream dedicates his performance to Dream Chaser and unveils a huge statue in the center of the field, commemorating the stallion. The Games commence and finish, resulting with Slip Stream taking first place. After the cleanup, and as the sun is setting over the field, Slip goes out to meet with several ponies by the statue. There's all of Dream Chaser's old friends, such as Smoke Storm, Chewy, and Short Stack, and the rest. As he talks with them, his mother walks up to him with a filly who is about nine years old. This filly is his younger sister, Sun Chaser. She has her father's gold eyes and red mane.
Just as Slip is about to leave, he notices a white mare standing off to the side, staring at the statue. He doesn't recognize her at first, but he recalled seeing her in a picture from somewhere. He talks with her and finds that she's Dream Catcher. She explains her remorse over leaving Dream Chaser, and how she wished she could have gone back and tried again. Then she sees Sun Stream and her daughter, and feels at peace knowing Dream Chaser had found love before he died. She smiles and leaves the ceremony without another word.
The End
Too much on your shoulders? also i am quite peeved that you FUCKING KILLED DREAM CHASER!!!!!!!
2436672
That is the ending I was commissioned to write. I took on the story as a favor for a friend. He gave me guidelines, and I intended to follow them.
2436800 okay I understand. I was kidding about Dream chaser
Dying by the way. I am sad though...
readbodylanguage.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/profound_sadness.gif *sniff*
'Nuff said.
And so ends another tale of pony fimfiction that will never be finished, and never reach great acclaim.
So is life in a world of art.
...Or so I'm told, it's not like I can art.
Great ending to the story, would have loved to see it in full, but this'll have to do.
I hope to see more great work from you.
My feels!
But seriously, this is THE BEST story I've ever read! Beautiful!
Congratulations. This is the first book that has ever made me cry. Its a shame to see something I loved so much go, but I'm just going to have to live with it.
Okay, holy shit, not quite sure how I wound up here but I'm glad I did. It's a shame it was cancelled but the summary of the end was just as satisfying as could be. Apart from the obvious reference to the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tanya Harding incident, it has strong "The Fugitive" and "Million Dallor Baby" vibes.Though the ending escalating into brutal murder seems a little bit extreme it still fits the story's atmosphere. Glad I was able to find this.