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// Dream #3: Iron Will 
// Story: 11 Short Dreams About Equestria 
// by FanficReader920 
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It was just as he pulled up to the stadium that he got swarmed.

"Mr. Will! Mr. Will! Do you have anything to say about the allegations of malpractice against your businesses?" There must have been at least ten minotaur reporters trying to get a quote from hi—.

Wait, malpractice?! Iron Will wasn't a stranger to reporters crowding around him once in a while whenever his business ventures, be it speaking tours or cruise liners, happened to do something newsworthy, but malpractice!

"Iron Will always conducts himself in a professional and legitimate manner," he responded, getting out of his carriage and sauntering to the VIM entrance. "I guarantee that any accusations that are made against Iron Will are nothing more than misunderstandings or outright falsehoods. Iron Will comments no further!"

With that declaration, the crowd seemed to back off. Whether it was genuine respect for Iron Will's personal space or fear for his retaliation, he didn't know, nor did he care. All Iron Will wanted was to have a fun night at the races. Was that so hard?

Maybe Iron Will should invest some of his vast net-worth into building a racing stadium closer to his estate. It was always a pain whenever he had to come to Minótavros for any reason. Even if there were the races and the night life, there were also all these blasted reporters, draining business meetings, and the odd government hearing in the capital.

At least with a stadium closer to his residence, he'd have a shorter carriage ride and a smaller chance of this many reporters bombarding him, not to mention stadium owner privileges… yeah, that settled it. He'd begin exploring that opportunity first thing tomorrow. For now, however, it was race night.

As he entered the stadium's club level, Iron Will made a beeline to the betting booth. It always made race night more interesting. As he gazed at the list of athletes’ names displayed above the betting booth, one caught his eye.

"Iron Will puts 10,000 bits down on Steel Nerve," he announced to the bookkeeper, a dark grey minotaur with a glazed look that would only be complete with a giant "I really wish I weren't here right now" sticker. The bookkeeper stamped a small slip of parchment and slipped it to Iron Will before collecting his bag of bits.

In return, Iron Will slipped him a business card. He always kept them on his person in case he ran into a creature that could benefit from his services. "If you think you were meant for more than this, then let Iron Will teach you how you can be the minotaur you were meant to be at his next seminar."

The grey minotaur looked down at the card, and a ghost of a smile appeared. "I think I just might do that, Mr. Will."

"Iron Will will see you there!" He bid the bookkeeper goodbye as he went to take his seat. Tonight's maze looked pretty difficult. If there was one type of person Iron Will admired, it was athletes like these. Not only did they have to be fast and strong, but they also had to have the wherewithal to navigate their way through the maze without any help: a perfect competition that required both a minotaur's brains and brawn. The only reason Iron Will himself never wanted to be an athlete like this was because the training for it would take so much time out of his day that he'd become bored with it sooner or later. That said, he was an avid fan of the sport and would always attend a race if he could.

Soon, a bell was rung to indicate the start of the race. Iron Will picked out Steel Nerve, a light brown minotaur with solid white horns and a large #219 bib on his abdomen. Once the field of racers entered the pristine grey walls of the maze, they began to diverge, each racer with their own strategy for how to navigate the maze.

As a spectator, Iron Will was able to see if any of the racer's paths could lead to success, and luckily for him, Steel Nerve was one of them. Races normally lasted an average time of three minutes, but it depended on a maze's difficulty.

As more seconds passed and the main field continued to thin out as different racers chose different paths, Steel Nerve was now one of two that were on the right path to the maze's end. The crowd, full of minotaurs young and old, a good portion of them, likely Minótavros residents, began going crazy.

More seconds ticked away, and the finish line came into the racers’ view. Iron Will was on the edge of his seat. Steel Nerve and his opponent—Molten Nickel, if Iron Will remembered correctly—made a mad dash to the finish. As they crossed the line, he couldn't tell who'd won.

He waited for the stadium loudspeaker to give the word on who won the race, more sweat pouring off his face than when he would work out in his overly large private gym.

"And the winner, by the tip of a horn, is… Steel Nerve!"

"Iron Will is victorious!" Iron Will shouted triumphantly at the top of his lungs. Just as he said that, he found himself covered in what seemed like enough bits to fill a large bathtub.

If Iron Will had been hesitant on building his own racing stadium before, he certainly wasn't now.



Luna exited the dream looking like she’d finished a particularly bad book: drained and unsatisfied.

"We really need to make sure he keeps his business ventures out of Equestria," Luna noted to herself. She still remembered the fiasco that happened after he scammed the Sparkle Family into being the main attraction on his airship cruise.

Hopefully, the next dream she picked out would put her in a better mood.