//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Bats, Breakfast, and Broken Treasures // Story: Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams? // by TikiBat //------------------------------// The gentle touch of the cool evening air was the first thing that Scarlet noticed as she slowly drifted into wakefulness. The serene sounds of nature surrounded her, giving off this peaceful feeling of calmness that reminded her why she had moved up here in the first place. The weight of the blankets she was bundled up in surrounded her in a soft comforting embrace, but something was missing. For one, she was bundled up in a pile of comfy blankets, which she didn’t mind at all, but her newly christened stallionfriend was also absent. She slowly peeked open an eye and glanced around, trying to see if maybe he was just rolled over in a different part of the small open air tent, but as far as she could tell, he was missing.  Maybe he ran off to go to the bathroom or something? She thought to herself, shrugging it off as she slowly rolled over in the makeshift tent. Another blast of the cool mountain air sent a small chill down her spine, making her thankful for the comfy assortment of blankets that Silver had no doubt left her in. I’m sure he’ll be back in time, she thought to herself again. He had left their dream earlier than usual, so no doubt he was up and about already, and hadn’t wanted to disturb her from her sleep.  Her thoughts began to drift toward the previous night as she cuddled up in the blankets again. A warm smile spread across her face as she remembered the evening spent together. They had definitely made some good memories, memories that only made her happier to have Silver near her as both a friend, and now something closer. Maybe ponies were more social than humans, to the point of even being too close at times depending on who you asked, but she didn’t care. She had met her other half, and she couldn’t be happier that he had felt the same about her.  The previous night’s memories only got better when she remembered some of the late night bonding they had done. Setting up the tent, chatting under the stars, and even some of the more intimate moments that made her blush as she remembered them. It was definitely a night she’d remember for as long as she lived. As if the universe had decided that she was too happy right now, the thoughts of what had happened to her poor telescope flared back up in her mind. It was almost like a dam had broken, and for some reason she couldn’t take her mind off of it, even though it was like crying over spilled milk… or at least that’s what she was trying to convince herself of.  It was just a telescope, those could be replaced… but it was also the tool that fueled her life’s passion, and something she was definitely attached to. As she dwelled on the memory more she couldn’t help but let out a frustrated groan. Ponies weren’t supposed to get angry over this kind of stuff, but night ponies were different, and her instincts demanded that she do something about it! She cursed her night pony instincts and took a deep breath, knowing that Silver didn’t mean to break it, but it still didn’t lessen the blow that she felt. Scarlet rolled out of the blanket pile and began to absentmindedly tap her hoof on the ground, unable to let the sight of her most prized possession lying broken on the ground leave her mind. At least it wasn’t out in the open anymore, and in fact it seemed to be carefully set aside in a neat organized pile. She didn’t remember moving it before, so she could only assume that Silver had. She couldn’t blame him for taking so much care in it, he had seemed so upset over the accident— even more than she had last night. The poor stallion probably felt like he blew his chance with her right then and there, even after all of the romance that had followed. Great Scarlet, you probably scared him off because you just had to be upset about a stupid telescope, she angrily thought to herself. She began to kick around some of the loose leaves, trying to burn off some steam to no avail— the cascade of thoughts just continued to flow.  She let out another annoyed groan and more out of frustration than anything else, she lashed out and bucked the nearby tree with one of her back legs, cursing as her hoof made contact. A momentary burst of pain surged through her leg, before dulling to a low sting. Great, I probably screwed something else up now. Great idea Scarlet, now you can add a doctor visit to the list of unneeded expenses. She took a seat and inspected the cracked trunk of the tree, letting out a frustrated yell and earning a scared sounding squeal from Silver, who had just rounded the bend.  The stallion’s ears flopped down, against his head, and he nervously glanced over toward the broken bark and the frustrated night pony, “Is… everything alright?..” Scarlet thanked her luck that he couldn’t see her embarrassed blush through her dark red fur and then nodded, relieved that she hadn’t scared him off after all… yet. She fumbled to try and try and find the right words to salvage the situation, hoping for the best, “Yes… just uhhh… getting some frustration out is all. I’m not angry at you or anything, just going through some stuff.” “Angrily kicking the tree doesn’t sound like a very great way to get through that,” he noted. “You sure everything’s okay?” “It is,” she reassured him, “I’m just frustrated at a lot of things right now, and I probably hurt my hoof in the process too. Another thing to get annoyed at I guess.” “Understandable,” he trotted toward her and nuzzled up next to her. “You want to talk about it?” “I don’t really want to, but I guess I should,” she leaned into the embrace. “This is normal to you?” She asked with widened eyes, amazed that he hadn’t ran off after her flimsy excuse of an explanation.  “Sure,” he shrugged, “gotta get that out somehow. I’m just glad I wasn’t the one getting kicked into oblivion.” She slowly smiled, letting her anger fade a bit, “You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that. I thought I scared you away.” “You could never scare me away,” he laughed, standing up and helping Scarlet to her good hooves, “I was more afraid that I turned you away with the whole telescope thing.” She shook her head, carefully testing her weight on the injured hoof, wincing slightly “I’m mad at a lot of things right now… I don’t really know what, but you’re definitely not one of them.” Silver laid a wing across her back and started leading her away from the splintered tree, “Glad to hear, I half expected that whole commotion to ruin everything.” “After the romantic night we had together?” She laughed, “I’ll take that as your apology for it, even if it was just an accident.” “Well the apologizing isn’t done yet. Now let me give you a hoof, I’m not a doctor but you should definitely keep your weight off of it for now. I’ll look at making a splint when we get back home, it might not be the best but it’ll at least be better than nothing, even if it’s just a little sprain.” “If you say so, doc,” she slowly started forward again, keeping close to Silver. “Now let me guess, that’s what your little evening stroll is about?” “Something like that,” he laughed, “just act surprised when we get there.” “Surprised about what?” she replied with a smug grin.  “That’s the spirit!” Silver cheerfully laughed back. “Right… So how long have you been up anyways? I was starting to get a little worried when I woke up all by myself today.” “Just a couple of hours, that’s why I disappeared for a bit.” “Ahh… did you have a rough day or something?” “Kinda?” he admitted. “Not saying our little cuddle session wasn’t relaxing and comfy, I just had a lot on my mind.” “I’m guessing you can’t stop thinking about last night?” Silver slowly nodded as they continued to follow the small creek, “Yeah… I know you said it wasn’t my fault and you weren’t mad at me, but I still feel awful about it.” “Don’t,” she replied back, “it was an accident, I know you didn’t mean it.” “I know, but I ruined your telescope and that’s your passion. I wanted to do something to make it up to you.” “Silver, you don’t need to do anything. I already said it was okay.” “Then consider this our second date,” he cut in, gesturing over toward a small picnic blanket down by the edge of the water. A basket full of fresh fruit was already laid out waiting for them, and Scarlet could already tell that he had worked hard to find her favorite fruits. Scarlet paused for a moment, emotion swelling up inside her. Without warning, she pulled the stallion into a tight hug, catching him by surprise, “I really love you Silver. You didn’t need to do any of this.” Art by: https://twitter.com/FanDrawsArt  “But I wanted to,” he replied back as he embraced the hug. “I just saw how upset you were and wanted to make it better, or at least try to.” “Well you did a great job with it,” she broke the hug and cheerfully trotted over toward the delicious looking food. “Where did you even find all of this?” “I kind of didn’t know where to go, so I took a walk and ran into one of the earth ponies back in town. Bountiful Harvest I think? He picked up that I was feeling down and asked about it, and long story short he wound up taking me over to his greenhouse. The stallion’s got all sorts of good things over there.” “I can tell,” she licked her lips as she looked over the collection of fruit, pausing as she took sight of a delicious looking pineapple.  Silver gave her a short nod, “Well dig in, I didn’t just get this to look nice.” Without any further hesitation Scarlet reached over to the fruit, turning it around in her hooves for a moment and trying to find the best way to get to the juicy center. For a moment she considered stomping it apart, but that would risk ruining the fruit and probably cause more of a mess than she wanted to deal with. She paused as an idea came to her head, and in a moment she excitedly bit into the fruit, hungrily eating it from the outside in, almost as if she was eating corn on the cob. Before any time had passed, the remnants of her previous frustration melted away as the juicy tropical fruit bombarded her senses.  The stallion let out another long laugh as she ate away, “I’m glad you like that. It wasn’t easy to get, had to barter with one of the traders because Harvest didn’t have one.” Scarlet wiped her face with a hoof and nodded, “I love it!” “Glad to hear. To tell you the truth I had no idea how you’d even cut into that, and I didn’t want to spend too much time digging around the cabin to try and rig something up to make it easier.” “Well you got your answer,” she replied with a smirk, licking some of the pineapple juice off of her leg. “We definitely need to get more of these.” “I’m up for that,” Silver agreed. “I talked with the trader I got it from and she said she’ll probably pass through pretty often. Lives just down in the city so she’s not too far away at all.” “Maybe we could try and grow some too?” she offered.  Silver nodded, “Now you wanna become pineapple farmers? That’s a little overkill don’t ya think?” “Maybe? How about just for the two of us, and only us,” she added. “My dad showed me how to grow them from the tops. It takes a while but we could use a cute little houseplant to liven up the cabin.” “Well we’ve got all the time in the world up here, don’t we?” Scarlet leaned into him and nuzzled up against his head, “We sure do.”