I see the light

Chapter 6

(Dipper pov)

I wake up hearing Bill yelling. I sit up seeing Bill sitting high up in a chair, an angry horse neighing up at him. I recognize it at the horse from yesterday.

"Hey hey!" I stand up getting horse's attention. I walk towards the horse but back off as it rears up. "It's okay, it's okay. Just take it easy buddy." I slowly approach the horse as he starts calming down. "Bill, you got an explanation for this?"

"It's a palace horse that has been after me since I stole that stupid crown. He's worse than any of those stupid fucking guards."

I reach up petting the horse's neck, him neighing softly. "There you go buddy." I look at the saddle on him, finding a name engraved into it. "Maximus. You must be tired from chasing the bad man around all day."

"Are you fucking kidding me? He is a bad fucking horse!"

"He is nothing but a big sweetheart."

"No he isn't."

"Bill, just get out of the damn tree." He slowly climbs out of the tree, keeping his distance from Maximus. I turn my attention to the horse. "Listen, today is a really really big and important day for me. So could you maybe not get him arrested today? Please?" Maximus neighs softly. "I will take that as a yes." I turn to Bill. "So how much further is it?"

"Uh...." He brushes some nearby tree branches aside looking down the hill. "Actually we are a lot closer than I thought."

I go to his side, seeing a bridge leading to a town with a giant castle towering over it. "That's where we're going?"

"Yeah. They probably won't be doing the lanterns until tonight, so we have the whole day to waste until then."

I grab my hat pulling it on and tucking my hair into it. "Come on come on."

I grab Bill's hand pulling him down the hill to the town, Maximus following us.

People are out on the streets celebrating, banners with that moon symbol hanging everywhere. On one wall is a mural of who I guess is the king and queen holding a baby.

"Bill, is that the lost prince?"

"Yeah, some kids painted it last year."

"Why does the baby have blue hair? Is it normal for people to have blue hair like me?"

"Like I said last night, the stories about the prince vary. The only people who saw him were the king and queen really. No one else really knows what he looked like. Don't take the mural too literally, at best it's people's interpretation of what he looked like."

"The king and queen must really miss him...."

"Yeah....he's lucky...."

"What do you mean?"

"To have parents care enough to miss him. He's lucky to have that."

I look up at Bill but he refuses to meet my eyes. I look around seeing a child painting something on people's faces. I go over to the little boy as someone else walks away from him. The little boy looks up at me with a wide smile. "Hi!"

"Hi. What are you doing over here?"

"I am giving peple free face paints. Do you want one?"

"Sure." I sit on the stool he has set out.

"Do you have any requests?"

"Um....surprsie me."

"You got it."

He gets out some blue paint dipping his brush into it and starts paintil something on my cheek. The brush kind of tickles. Bill comes over, a slightly smile on his face.

"Pinetree, what exactly are you doing?"

"Getting a face painting apparently."

"Have you ever gotten one before?"

"No. But I also never stepped foot outside of my tower until yesterday."

"All done." The boy holds up a mirror showing he painted the very intricate and detailed moon symbol on my cheek.

"Wow. It looks wonderful. Nice job kid." I hold up my hand and he smiles giving me a big high five.

I stand up walking with bill through the town square when I see a group of young girls painting something over the cobblestone ground.

"Can anyone do that?" I look up asking Bill.

"I mean I think so. There's no one dictating people painting on the street."

I kneel down grabbing some jars of blue paints. I close my eyes for a minute thinking of what to paint before opening my eyes again. I pour some of the paint on my hands, letting the paints guide me just like always. I ended up painting in a much bigger space than I thought I would, using up much more of the paints than I had originally planned to. I look down as I finish the painting, seeing I painted the moon symbol in my own style, both of my hands completely covered in paint.

"Wow......you are really good with the artsy stuff." I stand up and Bill hands me a towel that I use to wipe most of the paint off my hands but my hands are still stained blue quite a bit.

A girl walks up to us with a camera. "Smile." I feel Bill put an arm around my waist pulling me closer. I smile as the flash of the camera goes off and a picture comes out of it. The girl hands it to us before she walks off.

Bill looks at the picture before he hands it to me. "Here, you should have it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. With it being your birthday and all, think of it as my gift to you."

I smile as I put the picture in my bag. "Thank you, Bill."

"Anytime Pinetree."

Bill takes me by the hand leading me through the town, stopping at one stall and buying us each a velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting on it and inside of it. We continue walking as I take a big bite out of mine. I look up at Bill hearing him laughing softly. "What's so funny?"

"You got some frosting there." He wipes some frosting from the the corner of my mouth.

"These cupcakes are better than any I try making."

"You a baker?"

"I try. I'm not very good at it. I think I'm a decent enough cook though, just baking is a whole lot harder."

"Is this the best birthday ever yet? Or are you waiting to see the lanterns before making that decision?"

"Even without the lanterns, this birthday is the best. So thanks, for everything."

"Don't mention it, Pinetree."