//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Team Awesome Short Stories: Dream's Reality // by Caustizer //------------------------------// Today things are working out amazingly for Dream. The Oranges are such a tolerant and caring family, the Princess of Dreams finds herself no longer feeling sympathy for their lack of flight or magic, but pride at their ingenuity and will to do all the necessary work to survive with what they have. About an hour earlier Buck, Clementine and her returned back to the homestead at Orange Orchard Acres with a week's worth harvest completed, only to meet with a mixture of appreciation and surprisingly distain. Once he had recovered from his shock, Papa Thickskin criticized them for picking too many oranges too soon (the produce buyer won't ready in town until the end of the week) but Tangerine talked him down and expressed her thanks. Buck and Clementine were given the day off, and Dream was rewarded with a shiny silver object called a 'bit'. "What exactly is this for?" asks the Princess of Dreams as she examines the bit in detail with one eye closed. Dream and Buck are walking down the dirt road into town. Ever the industrious type, Buck had volunteered to go into Manehatten for supplies. He had been planning to go into town anyway at the end of the week after the harvest, so it was no issue to go a few days early. Naturally, Dream wanted to go with him to see what this 'village' they keep talking about looks like. "It's called a silver bit," exclaims Buck with a smile, "see there are three types of bits… bronze, silver and gold ones. Ten bronze bits make a silver one, and ten silver ones make a gold one." "Interesting," replies Dream with curiosity, "so what do you do with these 'bits'?" "You trade them," answers Buck matter of factly, "for things like bread and milk." "Oh I see. So then other ponies give you bits for your oranges?" "Yep that's how it works." "I can't wait to get to Manehatten," exclaims Dream with a bit of excitement, but she seems distracted by a nearby apple tree near the side of the road. Buck doesn't look nearly as enthusiastic. "Listen, maybe it's not such a good idea for you to come with me…" "Why not?" asks Dream as she picks an apple from the branches. "Because there are some rules," answers Buck with concern, "laws that everypony has to obey or else they get in trouble... big trouble." "What kind of rules?" inquires Dream with a hint of boredom as she takes a bite of the apple. "To begin with, there's no stealing. Like taking fruit out of trees that belong to another family." Dream halts in mid snack to look around, and notices that there are indeed dozens of apple trees all around them… do they belong to somepony else? She quickly tosses the half eaten apple into the bushes and hopes that Buck didn't see her. "What else?" "No hurting other ponies or damaging their stuff." Dream rolls her eyes. "What makes you think I'd do that?" "No offense, but you seem to have a bit of a temper sometimes." "YOU DARE ACCUSE ME?" shouts Dream, adding a bit of magic to make it more intense. Buck jumps nearly a foot in the air and cowers before her. "Just kidding," adds the Princess with a mischievous smile. Buck recovers quickly, realizing how foolish he looks. "I'm serious though," the earth pony continues, "not everypony of my kind is as nice as we are, if Papa's any example. Manehatten is crawling with bad blood, and they only tolerate unicorns because they bring in money and buy things." "Then I should fit right in," comments Dream with a wink, ending the conversation. … The two of them walked along the dirt cartway for a few hours before reaching a fork in the road. Up until this point they hadn't seen any other ponies, but that changed quickly as a single pinkish mare came into view. She is hopping along quite joyously, a small sack of goods hanging off her flank and bouncing with her hoof steps. She doesn't look that dangerous to Dream, but for some reason Buck seems alarmed. "Quick, we gotta hide!" "Hide, why?" inquires Dream with annoyance, unable to detect any reason for such a measure. "That's Sweetie Pie… if she sees us-" "Hello fellow pony travellers!" Sweetie calls out in excitement, before changing her direction to hop towards them. "Wonderful," complains Buck quietly enough that only Dream can hear him. "Wait a minute is that you Buck? Hooray!" cries out Sweetie with joy, springing forward and wrapping her hooves around him before he can get away. "Nice to see you too Sweetie," replies Buck nicely, though his eyes bulge slightly as her hug begins to squeeze him too tight. After a moment Sweetie Pie lets him go. "How've you been Buckwheat? It's been a while since the bags at the Harvest Festival." "We ran in the pairs bag race last year," explains Buck. "And the year before that, and if I'm still thinking straight the year before that too!" announces Sweetie with pride. "That's… interesting," comments Dream with awkwardness. Buck shrugs, like it wasn't the best decision he had made in his life. Either that or she was the only pony left when partners were chosen and he hadn't had a choice. "Hey that's a great fake horn you've got on there," points out Sweetie with her hoof. "What makes you think it's fake?" inquires Dream, raising an eyebrow. "Cause there's no way my best friend Buck would just be walking around the countryside with one of those snooty, stuck up unicorns." Sweetie didn't sound mean with those last remarks, but more like she was either stating a fact or trying to tell a funny joke. Regardless, it fell flat and after a long strange silence she finally clued in to the truth. "Wait a minute, you're a real unicorn?" Sweetie asks uncomfortably. "In the flesh," returns Dream with a smile. Sweetie's expression immediately hardens, and she glances at Buck who is grinning in embarrassment. No wonder he wanted to avoid her at all costs. "Hah, I see what you're up to!" she declares with defiance, "you're using your dirty magic tricks to try and seduce my Buck." "Not really, no," corrects Dream with indignity, "I am trying to go into town to trade this silver bit. You can have him all to yourself." The situation just became even more embarrassing to poor Buck, whose cheeks are turning red. "You have money!?!" pipes up Sweetie suddenly with excitement, "why didn't you say so? Allow me to introduce the latest confection of the Puddingcake Bakery… the Cookie!" Sweetie Pie reaches into her sack and pulls out a strangely flat looking brown blob with little black pieces in it that look like berries of some kind. Dream eyes it with curiosity, always having an interest in food. "My mom and I just made them this morning," continues Sweetie, "and we're looking for a customer for the first batch. Care to try one?" Evidently the racism in earth ponies doesn't go as deep as the coin purse, thinks Dream. Hopefully the rest of them are the same way. "Of course I will." The Princess of Dreams picks the biscuit up off Sweetie's hoof and is about to take a bite when she is interrupted by the swooping arrival of another creature from the sky. The light purple pegasus comes in so quickly none of them notice her until her hooves are ramming into the ground beside them. "Well well," shouts Magenta Dash defiantly, "what's going on here… earth ponies and unicorns plotting together I see. Making plans behind our back!" Sweetie and Buck both step back, but Dream holds her ground. She recognizes that pegasi's voice… it's the same one that chased her out of Cloudsdale the previous day. This 'Dash' is an aggressive one. "What kind of a stupid idea is that?" challenges Dream. "Don't try to pull a feather over my eyes," answers Dash with a threatening flap of her wings, "you unicorns are making the earth ponies take away our food and give it to you instead." The two earth ponies recover and are about to defend themselves, but Dream is incessant and she wants to play verbal hard ball with this new arrival. "Right, so you're saying that I, obviously a high ranking representative of the unicorns, am here in the middle of nowhere working out a shady deal with a baker's daughter to confiscate all the food reserved for the pegasi right in the open where the whole world can see us?" Dash falters for a moment, and starts to think jumping in here may have not been such a good idea. "Well, I… uh… I'm here on a secret mission from Lt. Pridewing to keep an eye on you unicorns, so you better not try anything." "Hmm… it's not that secret of a mission if you just told us about it now is it?" Sweetie starts to laugh, and Buck feels himself relaxing. A moment ago he was regretting not bringing his hoof bow, but now it's clear that Dream has the situation under control. Magenta Dash, on the other hoof, looks absolutely foolish. "Look, I'm trying okay?" she shouts in frustration, "I just want to get into the Sky Guard so bad…" The pegasus starts to look upset, and backs away like they're about to pounce. Dream is about to attack again, but finds herself feeling a little bit sorry for her. The others do too, especially Sweetie who isn't a fan of fighting for no reason. "Hey I got some more cookies if you want one," suggests Sweetie. The cheerful earth pony pulls out another cookie with her hoof. She approaches the pegasus, and offers it to her. Dash's expression lightens for a moment, as if she is thinking about taking it, but it is quickly replaced with anger. "You can't fool me" accuses Dash, "that's clearly been poisoned." "Suit yourself," answers Sweetie, and she snaps up the cookie with glee. Dream takes a bite of hers too, and is absolutely blown back by the flavour. How come the food here tastes so much better then Mother's back home? Perhaps because she is so busy doing other things she doesn't have time to come up with new things when she cooks. "Wow this is pretty good," comments Dream with satisfaction. "I admit, you sure make good cookies," adds Buck as he has one of his own, "is that raspberry in there?" "Yep," answers Sweetie, "we're also thinking about doing ones with cherries and blueberries." "I don't know what those are, but they sure sound delicious," returns Dream with sincerity. Throughout the exchange Magenta Dash hangs out nearby, pouting at the situation she's been put in. She'd been so sure when she saw them conspiring that they were up to no good, but that dark skinned unicorn had made a complete fool out of her. She continues to look on as Dream, Buck and Sweetie eat all the cookies until there is only a single one left. "Hey, do you think we should save her one?" whispers Buck to Dream. Dream sighs, and turns to face the pegasus who looks away when they are about to meet eyes. Sure Dash was obnoxious and mean, but it's not right to leave her out just because of that. In the Palace the team's entire childhood consisting of lesson after lesson taught by Light teaching them how to get along with one another, and looking back they nearly wore her head to a point but they did help her understand why other ponies act the way they do. Maybe Dash just needs a friend to lighten up a bit. "Hey," tosses out Dream as she approaches the pegasus with the last cookie. "What do you want?" demands Dash, though not with the same force she carried earlier. "Listen," continues Dream with a hint of guilt, "we don't have to hate each other just because I have a horn and you have wings." Dash crosses her front legs, but doesn't say anything. Dream sighs once more, and sets down the cookie in front of her courteously. Unsure what else to say, the princess turns to see that Buck and Sweetie are already on their way into town. Suddenly, she smiles cleverly. "Just between you and I, you should keep working on those wings… you almost caught me." Within a moment Dream dissipates into a purple cloud, and races to catch up with the other two. Dash's expression turns from one of defiance to utter astonishment. That unicorn was the cloud that she couldn't wrangle yesterday… what a dirty trick! A mixture of anger and frustration flares up in her veins, and she stomps the cookie with her front hoof. Taking to the air, Dash resolves to follow her… she's obviously up to something that Pridewing would want to know about. Maybe that position on the Sky Guard isn't so far away after all.