//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Team Awesome Short Stories: Dream's Reality // by Caustizer //------------------------------// Dream is floating. The sensation is as familiar as it is false. Inside her dream world the princess has no limits… she can go as fast as she wants and as far as she wants through the void without anything seeming different around her. The blackness of empty space confronts her tonight like it does every night, waiting for its master Dream to manifest another creative vision. In her entire realm there is only one place that is substantial, the secret vault that she keeps within the recesses of her mind containing past dreams and figurative creations. Rarely does she access it these days however, for many of the things she finds in there are from her early childhood and she now finds them revolting. It is strange how she can remember such past events so clearly, even though no one else does. This is one of the reasons why Mother has always insisted that she not interfere with the dreams of her siblings… there are some realms that are best kept private. Unsurprisingly though, Nightmare has always made that instruction difficult to obey… her insatiable desire to terrify others used to scare Dream when she was very young, but thanks to Mother's guidance as well as hard won experience she no longer as any fear for that monster. "Where isss your spark?" whispers a voice she knows all too well. "My desire to create?" replies Dream coldly, "I left it back in the palace where it belongs. This new world is highly intriguing and I lack a thorough enough understanding to remake it here." "What a ssshame," hisses Nightmare, materializing directly behind the Princess of Dreams. The aberration's forked tongue tickles the back of Dream's neck, irritating her. "The next time you do that I'm going to rip that tongue out of your mouth!" she threatens with absolute seriousness. "Oh you never will," moans Nightmare, "…you like me too much." Dream waves her horn, creating a platform of green grass she can actually stand on. Upon landing on the false greenery it immediately expands to dimensions and appearance resembling the crater where her and her sister had landed that morning. She weaves an image of Luna, sitting stubbornly on the rock next to the impact site waiting for Mother. "Dear sister," comments Dream to herself, "when will you get over your attraction to the palace walls? We are made for so much more then that." "Ssshe hasss more sssense that you ever will," jabs Nightmare from over the princess' shoulder. "You know what?" fumes Dream as she banishes the entire scene around her, "I don't want to hear any more from you tonight." Turning around the princess faces Nightmare directly, something she rarely does. One of Dream's most private feelings is the disgust she has for the creature that inhabits her mind, and the jealousy she feels about the others having such an easy time with their evil sides. "But we are having ssso much fun…" complains the aberration, but her voice is already fading. … Dream opens her eyes to the real world. The sun has barely risen and outside flecks of dawn light cover the edges of clouds and trees in the forest. Various sounds and smells of the departing night waft in through a nearby octagonal window, providing a bit of a unique serenity to the moment. The Princess removes the mountain of blankets that she had been sleeping under using her powers and steps down onto the floor, yawning and stretching out her whole body. Unwittingly she stretches her wings too, momentarily breaking the disguise. Opps. Dream quickly shuffles them back under the magic cloak, which once again fades from sight. Best not make that mistake again, lest these ponies see through her illusion. It is better that they continue to think of her as a unicorn, that way she doesn't frighten them anymore then she already has. So far from what she has seen they are a kind and simple folk, the type who would likely not know how to react to extra planar royalty. Besides, the food here is so much better then at home. The sounds of splashing water and yelling reach Dream's ears, and she turns towards the window in curiosity. It sounds like Buck and his sister… Clementine is it?... are outside arguing about something. Peering out through the glassless frame, the princess of dreams spots the two earth ponies in the backyard. It appears that the younger sister is standing beside a wooden basin of water, impatiently tapping her hooves. Inside the tub is Buck, up to his shoulders in water. "Hey!" shouts Clementine, "You've been in there long enough, it's my turn for a bath!" "I just got in," replies Buck confrontationally, "so you're just going to have to wait your turn." The argument peaks Dream's curiosity and she dissipates into a cloud, swooping through the window and reforming right behind Clementine. Had the little earth pony noticed the spectacle she might have been impressed, but she was far too busy arguing with her brother. "You just got in over five minutes ago!" "What are you two shouting about?" asks Dream nicely, "if the tub is too small for both of you, then why not just make it bigger?" Clementine turns towards the princess of dreams, a look of confusion on her face. She isn't used to another pony around the house like Dream, especially a unicorn. "If we did it would take all day," insists Buck as he splashes water over himself to quickly get his cleaning done, "and we have to start the harvest before the oranges go too ripe." Dream looks ambitious. "All day? Hah, I could do it in under a minute… just watch." Concentrating, the princess of dreams casts an expansion spell on the wooden tub. In seconds it grows to twice, three times its normal size. Unfortunately, cracks begin to appear in the frame as the waxy seals in the wood come apart. Water gushes out of them, pouring onto the ground until the entire basin is completely empty save for a soaked and dishevelled looking Buck. "Aww," complains Clementine, "thanks a lot, now none of us get to wash." Undeterred, Dream places a hoof to her chin in thought. After a moment she reaches a solution. "You had best get out of the way Buck," informs the princess with confidence. The earth pony obeys haste, jumping out of the now useless bath and backing up far out of the way. He knows what happens when Dream starts messing with her powers and he wants no part in it. Charging up her horn yet again Dream melds the broken tub into one solid block of wood, discarding all the seals and metal rivets. "Good, now I think we need some water," she observes while continuing with the spell. Keeping her concentration the princess forms a magical purple lash and snares a nearby cloud, dragging it viciously into position above the basin. Teleporting to on top of it, she speedily squeezes it like a sponge drawing out a torrent of rain. Within a few seconds it is full to the brim and even spilling slightly. Invigorated by her success, Dream releases the cloud and jumps down to the ground. Out of curiosity, Clementine sticks a hoof in the newly expanded bath before quickly withdrawing it again. "Oof, it's too cold…" "Allow me," insists Dream as if she had fully anticipated the problem. A thunderous blast of magic later and the pool is steaming with heat. Once again Clementine sticks out her hoof to sample the water, but the princess quickly stops her. "You might want to wait a few minutes for it to cool down," states Dream, though a bit of embarrassment sneaks through her reassuring smile. "Wow that's pretty impressive," comments Buck as he finishes drying himself with a swift shake, "say… you're great to have around." "I'm glad you feel that way about me," returns Dream with an approving look. Perhaps it is something about the way she said it, but Buck turns away shyly. He doesn't want her to see him blushing. … Following a fairly uneventful (but refreshing) bath and another delicious breakfast Dream and the two Orange family children are waiting outside the house with Papa Thickskin, who is resting with his hat over his eyes in a chair. Finally, Tangerine emerges with three small sacks over her back. "Buck, Clementine, here are your lunches," the pony matron declares before adding, "one for you too Dream." Eagerly Buck and his sister take the food and trot away to attend their morning duties, while the princess takes hers more gingerly. Considering that just yesterday the whole lot of them had thought of her as an enemy, their generosity has absolutely astounded her especially given how little they have. Dream knows it is hard for them to get by without the gifts of flight and magic, and deep down she feels an urge to repay their kindness or at least try to make their lives easier with her powers. "Thank you," replies Dream, though she appears thoughtful as the two Orange siblings shoulder a set of baskets and carry on into the woods, "say… where are they going?" "Out to the fields," replies Papa gruffly from under his cap, "to put in an honest days work, not like you and yours." The gruff reply doesn't sit well with Dream. "Just ignore him," comments Tangerine dismissively, "the nearest unicorn castle is on the other side of Manehatten to the west. Just walk towards the setting sun." Dream nods with courtesy before she leaves, and takes a few moments while walking away to reflect on the whole brand new experience she has had with these creatures. … It takes half an hour for Buck and his sister to make it through the fields to their Orange Tree Orchard near the river while carrying the collection baskets on their backs. The Orange Family has been trying for years to save up the money to buy a cart so they can carry more oranges to market at once, but a string of calamities had one after the other bitten into those coins. First there was the Zap Apple Storm that gave the Apples a great crop but rained out half the trees in the Orange Orchard, and then Papa broke his leg while walking through the mud, and then there was the draught when the pegasi decided the rains were more needed elseware (rumour has it they used the surplus for a storm that damaged a unicorn castle far to the east). The long story short is that the Oranges have been in dire straits ever since and working from behind to pay the food taxes required by the Manehatten Council to keep their land. "Alright sis," begins Buck as he drops his baskets on the edge of the orchard, "Papa wants us to bring in at least four dozen oranges before sundown… we'd best get started." To her credit Clementine didn't complain. Harvests are a fact of life, and her family is depending on her in order to survive another year. Still, fifty oranges is over thirty trees and unlike apples they sometimes don't fall off through bucking and need to be picked manually using a step ladder making it fairly demanding for a young filly and an older colt to do. On the very first tree, problems start to arise. Buck kicks it multiple times, but only a few fruits reach the ground. Clementine examines them and finds that all but one have been broken by the pecking of birds and the burrowing of worms. Frowning, she cleans the good orange off with her fur and drops it into a basket… only four dozen more to go… "Okay we're going to have to use the ladder for this one," comments Buck, "you climb up and I'll hold the bottom." Clementine is already frustrated, and it shows through. "I always have to climb up and pluck them. Can't I hold the ladder this time?" "It's because you're smaller and easier to hold," replies Buck as he shifts the ladder into position, "I'm too big for you to hold for me." "Well your reach is longer," protests Clementine with a hint of anger. "Well Papa left me in charge, and when we get back I'll tell him you're misbehaving if you don't do as I say," shoots back Buck. "You two fight an aweful lot," comments Dream casually, "it reminds me of my sisters and I." Both earth ponies turn towards the princess in shock… neither one of them had noticed she was there. Dream is sitting next to the basket, and floating in the air next to her is what is left of the clean orange Clementine just picked. The skin has been completely peeled off, and she is eating it happily. "Oh this is hopeless," moans Clementine as she sinks to the ground, "we're never going to get this crop done on time." "Of course we will," insists Buck assertively, "we just have to stay at it until sunset." Dream shallows her latest bite of fruit, and looks at Buck inquisitively. "So you two are out here 'gathering' oranges? I didn't know you had to do that, but now that I think about it that makes perfect sense." "Yeah we pick our oranges around this time of the year," replies Buck, "we have to clean out the orchard before they all go bad." Dream looks around at all the full orange trees, a look of amazement on her face. "So you're telling me that you have to manually pick them with your hooves and teeth? That would take you ages!" "We do it though," puts in Clementine, "because we have to, otherwise we lose the farm." "Why?" asks Dream out of curiosity. "We have to pay the food tax to the council to feed the unicorns and the pegasi," explains Buck impatiently, "it's the debt all our kind pays for their sun and rain." "And after that's done we keep the rest to feed ourselves," finishes Clementine in an annoyed tone, "it's a lousy deal if you ask me since we don't always get sunshine and rain as promised." Dream nods in understanding as she takes it all in, and with another glance towards the orchard she gets an idea. "If I could gather all the oranges you need… how many should I pick?" Buck eyes her with disbelief, but after remembering the multiple demonstrations of her fantastic powers he thinks that maybe she can help them and he works out an estimate in his head. "We need about thirty one trees… that should get all the clean oranges we need for today." "Very well then," replies Dream with a reassuring nod, "you'd best get out of the way." Clementine bounds away excitedly, knowing something spectacular is about to happen. Buck doesn't look as convinced, and as the princess generates a whirling tempest around her horn he shouts her a warning. "Keep the trees standing, we need 'em to keep growing oranges next year too!" The winds are howling so loud around Dream she can barely hear him, but she makes it out enough to manage an ethereal reply. "Trust me." Having channelled enough of her magical strength, she turns towards Buck and Clementine with her eyes glowing a deep, deadly green. Dream's hair swirls about her form, and she dissolves into a ferocious black tornado. The storm is so intense that Buck and his sister have to duck for cover. The magical whirlwind swirls through the orchard, ripping off oranges, leaves and small branches in a torrent of raging air. After engulfing no more then thirty trees the rotating mass moves outside the orchard and disappears, tapering off gradually into a purple cloud. Sensing that the worst is over Clementine dashes from cover, laughing as she runs into the grasses through a rain of falling leaves. All over the ground are oranges, both good and bad. Dream had just finished a whole days worth of work for them! Buck examines the feat, clearly impressed by what he has just seen. As the Princess of Dreams rematerializes in front of him, he makes no secret of it. "That was absolutely amazing, where did you learn to do that?" "Oh, I just read a lot of spell books," replies Dream, though she is flattered by the attention. Around the palace such acts of magic are almost routine… being complemented like this is something Dream is highly unaccustomed to. She muses that she is actually growing to like this world quite a bit, given how much she has to offer its inhabitants. "Say, you wouldn't mind helping us sort these would you?" asks Clementine, the wide smile on her face begging for a 'yes' answer. "Of course I will," replies Dream with a smile, before cleverly adding, "but don't expect me to do ALL the work this time." … A few hours later Papa Thickskin rests on the porch in the same chair he was in when his children left. Ever since he busted his leg walking through the mud in the orchard he hasn't felt the same, and given the relaxation he has endured for the past few months he is hesitate to return to work once more. Buck is a strong boy… he should be able to pick up the slack for a wee bit longer. Papa jolts awake as the sound of hooves disturbs his sleep. Taking the cap off his face, he sees something mildly surprising. "Hey Pa, we're back," comments Clementine happily. Beside her is Buck, two baskets full of oranges hanging off his sides and another sitting on his back. Papa Thickskin doesn't look impressed. "Taking off early I see," he chides demeaningly, "where's the rest of the harvest?" "Oh, she's bringing it," points out Clementine. As if on cue, Dream emerges from the bushes. Above and all around her are buckets full of fresh oranges floating in the air… there must be over a hundred fruits in all. The spectacle is so shocking, Papa drops his pipe.