Sweet Dreams

With that business over with, I decide to go and find my bit bag for some shopping. I head to the little tiled-floor kitchen, complete

with oven, stove, and toaster, and find it on the counter. Finally, I open the door, sunlight once again flooding the doorway, and

head out. The cobblestone road is mostly empty save for a few stalls and a couple early birds, which is honestly how I prefer it.

Always watch your back, especially in crowds. Anyway, paranoia aside, I head down the road to the flower stall, currently being

watched by a younger earth pony filly with a green coat and red mane, a filly I knew all to well.

"Heya, Uncle sweet!" she calls enthusiastically, waving at me.

"Hey, Bud!" I say as i approach the stall.

I close the distance and get tackled in a hug by bud. Nice little filly, my friend Petal's little sister. I ruffle her mane playfully, eliciting

a giggle from her. She lets go and goes back behind the stall.

"What'll it be today?" she asks, going into businessmare mode.

"You have any wild cherry blossom today?" I ask hopefully. Cherry blossom is my favorite, after all.

She looks in the compartment under the stall, humming. Finally, she pulls the delectable, unmistakeable petals out and wraps them

in a bouquet. Some more ponies are out and about now, but at the moment, I could care less, watching the petals of the flowers as Bud worked. Finally, they're wrapped up in a sizable bundle.

"Here we go! That'll be five bits!" she says.

I reach into my bit bag and toss five bits on the counter, levitating the bouquet with my magic at the same time. I remove one flower,

idly munching it, and put another in Bud's hair, getting another giggle out of the little filly.

"The flower goes well with your eyes," I tease, chuckling. In truth, her eyes were a shade of green just lighter than emerald. I feel a tap from behind and am on my guard instantly. Though when I turn around, I see Petal. Her green eyes shone in mirth as I dropped my guard.

"My, someone's on edge today!" the deep pink earth pony laughs. "And you're up early! What's the occasion?" She adds, giving me a wink. I just smirk and pop another flower in my mouth.

"I'm just-" I immediately stop, sensing someone was watching me. I look around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, then i spot her.

A sky blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane was watching me intently from the air. I look back at her, narrowing my eyes. Seeing she was caught, she immediately flew away, toward the castle. That mare was fast, have to hand it to her. I look back at Petal and Bud,

who were giving me strange looks.

"Do you know who that was?" Petal asks in a somewhat worried tone. Truth be told, I didn't.

"No, not really." I admit, scratching the back of my head.

"That was Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty!" Bud answers, smiling in self pride for knowing.

"...And? National hero or not, you know I hate when people stare. Especially in my blind spot." I comment.

"Sis,sis! Can I hang out with Uncle Sweet today?" Bud asks Petal, giving her those puppy eyes I can't say no too when aimed at me. Petal puts a hoof to her chin in mock thought.

"Well, alright. I'll watch over the stall." She finally answers, smiling at Bud, then turning to me. "Can you have her back by three?"

"Sure! Shouldn't be a problem." I reply, bending down slightly to let Bud on my back. She climbs up my mane, her head peeking

out from behind mine. Petal giggles and goes behind the stall as Bud and I head off to the main market, closer to the castle. She does some sight seeing from the top of my head as we walk, eating the cherry blossoms I recently bought.

Oddly enough, there seems to be more guards on duty today, watching the street and patrolling. While indeed odd, it doesn't warrant much attention from the citizens, I notice sadly. Ponies really need to watch for these things.

"Uncle Sweet, can we go to pony Joe's?" Bud asks sweetly, pointing a hoof at the doughnut bar in question. It was a simple doughnut shop, with a sign that say "Pony Joe's" on the front, with the second "O" replaced by a giant doughnut. I think for a minute,

then shrug. What harm could it be?

"Sure, Bud." I reply as I turned to the direction of the shop.

Bud seems really happy, bouncing on my head in excitement. I smile at her antics, having a quiet laugh. Upon reaching the doors, I

notice what appears to be a purple dinosau- I mean lizard, sitting at the bar closest to the register.

I reach the counter to hear, "Another doughnut! Extra sprinkles!" from the lizard. I reach up and lift Bud off my head, sitting her at the

seat closest to us.

"Ah, good to see you again Mr.Dreams! And you too, Bud!" the pony behind the counter exclaims happily. At the mention of my name, the lizard- no wait, that's a baby dragon. my bad- looks over at us, his eyes widening slightly.

"I'm just here to get something for her." I explain, ruffling the filly's hair playfully. she tries to swat my hoof away, laughing.

"What'll it be?" he asks, leaning on the bar.

"How about a jelly?" I ask Bud, who nods in agreement. I notice the dragon has left...Hmm, better watch the door.

"Alright, jelly doughnut coming right up!" Joe says, then goes in the back.

"How about we get a booth instead?" I suggest.

"Okay!" And with that, we moved to a booth by the door. Somepony might think I'm paranoid, but I've learned not to take many

chances. Joe walks over to our booth, passing the plate with the baked good to Bud, who tucked into it eagerly. As he goes back behind the counter, I hear the door open, causing the bell to jingle. I look toward the door and immediately see a familiar sky blue

pegasus and rainbow mane.

She walks in, looking around the shop. On instinct, I cast a shroud spell on me and Bud. I don't know why she's following me, but

it's safe to say that the baby dragon is working with this "element of loyalty." My thoughts are immediately interrupted by the arrival

of five other mares. A butter yellow, pink maned pegasus. A unicorn with a styled purple mane and coat so white it almost hurt to look at. An orange earth pony with a blonde mane and stetson. A lavender unicorn mare with a purple mane with a pink stripe running through it, and...a bright pink earth pony mare with the same mane as me, but poofy. The pink one immediately looked over at our booth upon entering, and an impossibly wide smile broke out over her face.

I reenforce the shroud spell, hoping the dim light our booth will hide us. The pink mare starts walking toward the booth, and I break out in a sweat. She stops, looks dead at me.... then says loudly, "I can see you, silly!"

This draws the attention of her friends. "You find him, Pinkie?" the blue one asks. I remember her name was Rainbow Dash, the one that I caught watching me. The whole group moves to the booth, and I drop the spell, sighing. "Why are we following me?" I ask, a

little irritated. Bud looks up and sees the group.

"These are the bearers of the elements of harmony, Uncle Sweet!" she pipes up.

The purple one speaks up, "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy

Rainbow Dash." after her introduction, I rub my temples with my hooves, feeling a headache coming on.

"That doesn't explain why you've been following me." I note, crossing my forelegs.

"We need yer help." Applejack says bluntly. I raise my eyebrow at this, and Bud looks interested too.

"Any of you having nightmares?" I ask, my bored facade coming back to me. The lavender one, Twilight, rubs the back of her head nervously.

"In a way, yes. We do have a Nightmare problem." she says, trying to be vague. Too bad for her, I immediately put the pieces together. I rest my head in my hooves, elbows on the table.

"You think she's coming back?" I ask, somewhat nervous. Twilight looks at the others, then back to me.

"Yes."