The Flurry of Dancing Flames ran down the path of the murky forest after the hooded figure. The more he chased after him the more his assumption that this hooded mystery man was Roxas seemed to ring true. Not only did his mysterious target wear the coat of the Organization, but he was also fast. Faster than anyone he had ever seen, maybe except for Sora and Roxas.
“Hey, Roxas, can we quit this game of cat and mouse already!?”
Axel gained no response from the hooded figure ahead of him. He didn’t even bother to look back at the fiery headed man hot on his heels. The only thing he paid any attention to was the path that he ran down.
Knowing that he couldn’t catch up to Roxas, Axel thought of summoning and throwing one of his chakrams, but decided against it. He didn’t want to start a fight every reunion.
The Flurry of Dancing Flames saw his mystery man start to slow down, much to his own confusion, and as they continued their fast pace, he heard his breathing turn harsh and ragged. A sly smile touched Axel’s lips as he began to gain on him, yet he still remained skeptical about Roxas. When did he tire this easily? Maybe… Axel’s thoughts were disrupted as his target turned a sharp corner and disappeared from view behind the trees of the ghastly woods.
Forgetting about the scenery, Axel darted after his chase through the undergrowth, cutting the corner that his hooded friend had so politely taken. Pushing low hanging branches, bushes, and other such vegetation, he appeared on the other side where the hooded figure should have been, but saw no one in sight. He looked to his left to where the character could have gone and saw nothing aside from a few more of the weird trees of the forest.
Axel scouted ahead through the foliage, and spotted something past the trees. The Nobody walked past them to see a trail that led deeper into the forest. Looks like I’ve found your secret path Roxas. You should really have learned by now to hide these things better, Axel thought as he ran down the path, it was less than a minute before he pushed a branch out of the way to see a long wooden bridge, hanging over a vast, clouded abyss. He gave a glance to the other side of the bridge to spot an old, ruined castle, vines and an odd couple of plants growing on it with rubble of the building itself dotted around the grounds of the castle.
Halfway across the ancient bridge stood the figure, staring at Axel underneath the darkness of his hood.
“You know, if you wanted to run, you should have kept on running! But then again, you’d only stop if you wanted me to follow! Isn’t that right, Roxas!?”
Axel’s smile only widened as the hooded figure stared down through the planks of the bridge. Moments later - after letting a silence linger between the two - the hooded figure turned and continued to run for the ruined castle. It must have been Roxas, Axel thought. Only he would be affected by those words.
With hope in his non-existent heart, Axel sprinted for the castle, crossing the bridge with caution. The bridge was worn with ancient age and appeared ready to collapse under his weight at any given moment. Although it had held his old friend’s weight, Axel was less sure if it would hold his own for very long. The planks did creak and groan, but they held.
When Axel came off the bridge, he took a single moment to look at the ruined castle at a closer view. “Talk about a fixer-upper.”
The castle was in worse shape than he thought; the windows had long been shattered and the stone walls looked ready to collapse.
Why would Roxas want to go into a dump like this? I know the kid has more style than this, well, unless he’s acting all serious again, Axel thought, looking through the grand doors of the citadel. Brushing off the confusion of his hooded friend’s choice of scenery, he gave a small laugh and summoned his chakrams, just to be safe. One could never be too careful. Shouldn’t keep him waiting though. The kid always hated it when I was late at the clock tower.
Now ready, Axel darted through the doors of the castle and investigated around at the inside, which was not much better than the outside. Tattered tapestries hung from the walls and broken artifacts cluttered the floor along with rubble and debris.
The black coated man fiddled his chakrams in his hands, spinning them on the tips of his fingers as he scanned the room, prepared to let them cut through anyone who’d try to give him a surprise attack, but saw nothing.
Heck, there weren’t even any bats in this place, only the ruined stone and fabric of the castle’s inside. Softening his form, Axel stood in the center of the room and searched for any sign of where the hooded figure had gone. He observed the dust on the floor to see if they could tell where his target left, but saw only his own prints with no other trace to follow.
Sighing, Axel let his Eternal Flames disappear as he drooped down at the floor. A deep sadness filled his eyes, but not a single tear was shed from the Nobody. “Still don’t trust me, huh, Roxas? Fine I see how it is.”
Axel looked up at the ceiling, holes dotted everywhere on it as vines and other plants held it all together, though that hold wouldn’t last long. It would last for a few years, maybe even a dozen, but at some point they’re going to snap apart and let the ceiling fall down and collapse on itself.
The Nobody glanced through one of such holes to see the orange glow of a sunset. Stepping outside, Axel watched as the sun shined its beautiful colours through the forest trees.
Memories of times at the clocktower with Roxas came flooding back to his mind, a smile crept on his face as he closed his eyes and remembered laughing with his old friend. Opening his eyes, Axel watched the sunset until darkness took over the forest, smiling the whole time as if he was still at the clocktower with Roxas.
The master of fire thought of checking throughout the castle to see if his hooded friend was still somewhere inside, but Axel let that plan get thrown out the window as he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
He peered back through the looming doors of the ruined castle and decided to catch some z’s instead of tearing through the castle for his long lost friend. Turning around, he stepped back into the castle, searching for something he could use as a bed. Sadly there was barely anything he could use. Sighing, Axel leaned on one of the stone walls of the castle, thinking of his old bed in The World That Never Was.
Then a thought occurred to him and he gave a slight laugh from it. So far, in the whole time he’d been here, he had yet to think of using the RTC to go back to the Castle and see how Sora was doing with his quest to stop Xemnas. He could have even helped him with it!
Figuring he was more tired than he thought, Axel gave the place one last look before he opened the portal to darkness. Raising his hand to open it, the darkness started to form as it began to take shape to fit his body and bring him to his destination. But before completing, the portal began to quiver before disappearing entirely.
The fiery-headed man gave the place that should have been his ticket out of this dump a look of puzzlement and attempted to summon the portal again. A few sparks of darkness appeared where the portal should have opened and soon died away like the last one. He studied his hand curiously. Well it looks like I’m not going anywhere, he thought, remembering the odd journey he took to get here.
But where was here? He still didn’t know. That wasn’t a great sign, usually he’d know almost everything about a world in the time he’s been here, and all he had to go on was that there are talking ponies, unicorns, pegasi and giant wooden wolves that were highly flammable.
Shrugging off the notion, Axel started building a makeshift bed out of a few things he gathered from the rooms he could enter.
Stripping down one of the tapestries for a pillow, Axel lied down on the poor excuse of a bed and closed his eyes for the sweet embrace of sleep that hopefully would still come, even with the uncomfortable mess he laid on.
One last, unexpected thought crossed his mind before he fell into the realm of dreams. I wonder how those fillies are doing. Oh well, not my responsibility to look after them.
A rainbow trail appeared through the sky as the prismatic pegasus flew towards another of the clearings that she prayed the Crusaders were in. A twinge in her wings signaled that they started to cramp from a lack of stretching before flight. Rainbow Dash cursed as she realized she had to find the fillies soon or she’d hoof it. Ignoring the shooting pains in her wings, she continued to scan the ground below for any sign of the crusaders.
The wind whistled past as the rainbow mare broke through everything in her way without even noticing it. Pegasi clearing the sky and clouds that were idling around or ready to be moved were both knocked away as she dashed by.
Her nose cringed as the smell of smoke polluted the air, and she spotted the source of the smell. She was drawn to one of the multiple clearings between the Everfree and the Apple Farm. In the clearing, the three crusaders laid on ground, motionless, across from a dirtied pile of soot and ashes. Rainbow Dash froze in midair as she saw them. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.”
She zoomed down and landed next to her biggest fan. “Scoots, wake up!” she yelled to the orange filly, shaking her in her hooves.
Rainbow Dash gained no response from Scootaloo and began to panic. A thousand thoughts started running in all directions in her head, most of which were saying that the little filly she treated as a sister was now gone. Tears began to form in the cyan mare’s eyes as she tried to push away the truth as she held the filly tight in her hooves, closing her eyes tight and forcing the tears back.
“R-Rainbow Dash?” the young voice squeaked.
Her eyes snapped open and the prismatic mare looked down at the filly she held to see her eyes start to open, revealing the amethyst orbs underneath. Wrapping her hooves around the small filly once more, Rainbow Dash brought her into a tight hug.
After knowing that the small filly was safe, Rainbow allowed a single tear of joy to fall down her face.
Muffled voices were the only thing the small filly heard. A small groan escaped her lips as she turned slightly from where she lay, wishing to just rest a little longer. Underneath her she felt something soft; was it the grass? No, it was too soft and warm. It felt like a bed. Her eyes flickered open slightly, yet the only thing she saw was a blinding light that assailed her eyes and a shadowy figure watching over her. Before she could point out anything else, her eyes drooped down and closed once again. “Apple Bloom!” a voice called. It was so familiar, was it her sister?
She wished just to stay asleep but she had to know if her sister had finally come. “Applejack?” the young filly called out, her voice barely a whisper.
Apple Bloom felt herself drawn into a tight hug that made her eyes snap open, waking her sleepy state. At first the light blinded her, but as her eyes adjusted to it, she was able to make out some more distinct features. Unlike before, she wasn’t out in the open, but instead in a room with a blue tiled floor and a white ceiling. The rest of the room was near impossible to make out from the two turquoise curtains that were drawn on both sides of the bed she laid on. There was a single door in the room, as far as Apple Bloom could tell, that was directly in front of her bed. It was then that the small filly realized she was in a hospital.
“Apple Bloom, you’re okay! Ah thought ah lost you!” Applejack hugged her sister like she was life itself, and Apple Bloom could feel her sister’s tears fall onto her coat.
She desperately wanted to ask why her sister was crying, but she already knew all too well what the answer was. Tears of her own started to form in the eyes of the small filly. Everything was her fault. Her eyes drifted down to the covers on her bed, but immediately she wished they never had, for she spotted something that only made the filly feel worse. She saw the bandages on her sister’s barrel.
Apple Bloom was stunned for no longer than a minute, looking at the bandages, thoughts scurried around in her mind, all yelling and screaming at her for what she had done to her sister. The small filly could only blame herself for this. Breaking out of her daze, the words slipped from her lips without her realizing it.
“Sis’, you’re hurt!”
“Ah’m fine, but are you?”, the apple farmer said, her voice soft and caring for the small filly, yet still shaken by her tears.
The creak of a door brought the attention of both sisters to the doctor who started walking into the room, a stethoscope around his neck and a clipboard hovering in front of him by his magic.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything,” he began, “but I must ask you Miss Applejack to please return to your room and get some rest so your bones can heal.”
“Bones!?” the small filly shrieked.
“Ah said ah’m fine,” her sister reassured her, looking at the doctor with a pleading expression, “Could you please just give us a minute?”
The doctor studied the two sisters skeptically before sighing and shaking his head. After turning around, he glanced at them from the corner of his eye, “As you wish.” The doctor left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving the two sisters alone again.
Apple Bloom stared sheepishly back down at her covers. Her sister was injured because of her, Scoots and Sweetie were probably also in the hospital, and the Timberwolf… died because of her. She still remembered the fear in its eyes; how terrified it was of the fiery-maned creature. A tear fell from the filly’s face onto the covers, soon joined by two others, “This is all mah fault.”
“No it’s not,” her sister reassured as she wiped some of her tears away with a hoof.
“Yes it is. You wouldn’t have been hurt sis’ if Ah hadn’t gone, and that timberwolf wouldn’t have had t-... have had to…”
“Calm down, it’s all okay.”
As much as Apple Bloom wanted to believe her sister, she knew it was her doing, “No, it’s not. Everything that happened is because Ah was stupid and went into the Everfree Forest.”
Shapes became hard to make out from the tears in the young filly’s eyes. She began to sniffle and sob, but through that she heard another familiar voice, “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just your fault.”
Apple Bloom jumped slightly when she heard the voice, she looked over to one of the curtains to see a cyan hoof pull them away to show Scootaloo, rubbing away the sleep from her eyes. Rainbow Dash, her biggest idol, sitting beside the young filly as she woke up.
“Yeah, I’m actually sure it’s all of our fault,” said another familiar voice. Apple Bloom looked at the other curtain to see a magical aura gently pull the curtain away to show Sweetie Belle and Rarity.
As happy as Apple Bloom was to know that her friends were all okay, she still stared down at her sheets, “Y’all wouldn’t have gone without me, and if Ah didn’t come then none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t have been hurt sis’ and,” Apple Bloom felt tears fill her eyes once more and saw tears start to fill the eyes of her friends. “And that big Timberwolf w-wouldn’t have had to d-di-die.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, what happened to the Timberwolf?” Rainbow asked.
Apple Bloom glanced over to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who nodded their heads to the younger filly, signalling her that she should be the one to spin the tale of their quest for their Cutie Marks.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, Apple Bloom answered Rainbow’s question. “T-the Timberwolf died because of us.”
“Died? How does a Timberwolf die?”, questioned Rarity.
The young filly gripped the blankets with her hooves. Her guilt ridden-mind giving her no peace, she continued, “It was burned to ashes.”
The three mares of the room gave skeptical looks at each other, accompanying their concerns.
“Are you sure about that Apple Bloom?" the apple farmer asked her younger sister.
“She’s telling the truth. The Timberwolf was b-burned,” Sweetie reluctantly answered.
Apple Bloom saw her sister was about to say something, but then the mare held her tongue, seemingly thinking about how to respond, “Ah’m not saying you’re lying, but how could the Timberwolf have burned? There wasn’t any smoke or we would have found you earlier.”
“There wasn’t any smoke because that, th-thing, turned it to ashes in three seconds!” Scootaloo countered.
“Thing?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, the g-guy with the b-bl-ack coat,” Sweetie Belle added, understanding where Scootaloo was going with it.
“You’re saying a pony did that to a Timberwolf?” Rainbow asked.
“He wasn’t a pony, he was some...thing. He had these two really weird wheels with spikes on them,” Sweetie confirmed, her voice cracking every now and then with teary eyes as her sister put a comforting hoof on her. From the corner of her eyes, Apple Bloom saw her sister and Rarity share a questioning glance before all three mares had centered their attention back to the young fillies, completely lost in what they were saying.
Apple Bloom looked to the other two crusaders through teary eyes. They looked back to her and nodded through their own tears. Apple Bloom then began to explain everything that happened, she explained to her sister and her friends about the weird creature, and through deep shaky breaths told the three mares about how he had saved the three crusaders from the giant Timberwolf, and how he then proceeded to turn it into a pile of ash before their very eyes before he fled, leaving the three crusaders behind.
As Apple Bloom finished, she waited for the inevitable and for her sister and her friends to start saying, “You must have been imagining things,” or, “That’s impossible,” telling her that she was just lying to them. She waited and waited, wanting to just get it over and done with, but instead, when she glanced up from her covers, she saw her sister nod her head to the other two mares.
“Are you sure about that sugar cube?” Applejack asked.
She looked up at her big sister and nodded, a tissue was levitated in front of her by Rarity’s magic and Apple Bloom thanked her silently before taking the tissue and wiping her eyes of their tears.
“There was a pile of ashes there,” Rainbow commented.
“Maybe we should get Twilight. I’m sure she’d know of such a thing,” Rarity said, receiving a nod from the other ponies of the room.
“Alright, Ah’ll go get Twi, you two stay here and watch these three here,” Applejack said, giving her sister a kiss on the head before trotting towards the door of the room.
“Hey AJ, as much as I know you want to get Twi yourself, I think you should actually do what the doctors said and take a break,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“Rainbow Ah said Ah’m-“ Applejack’s eyes closed slightly and she fumbled backwards slightly as a hiss of pain escaped her lips when trying to look up at the rainbow pegasus hovering above her.
Applejack stared at her friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders through one eye before sighing in defeat. Her ears splayed back on her head, “Fine. Rare’ could you watch over Apple Bloom for me until Big Mac and Granny get here?”
“Of course darling. What are friends for, after all?”
“Could you also look after Scoots while I’m off getting Twilight?”
“Rainbow Dash, you didn’t even have to ask.”
“Thanks, be back before you know it!” Rainbow Dash stated as she flew out through the window.
Rarity brushed some dust off of herself that was blown onto her by the rainbow mare who just flew by, scoffing slightly, “I wish she would use the door for once. Using the window is very un-lady like.”
Applejack gave a wry grin before opening the door to the room. As she was about to leave, Apple Bloom looked up at her sister through teary eyes, “Sis’…” Her sister stopped in her tracks at hearing her sister’s cracked voice, “Ah’m sorry, for everything.”
Applejack turned her head around and gave a ghost of a smile, “Ah’m sorry too.”
With that she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Apple Bloom felt her eyes droop and she pulled the covers over her form as she began to fall back asleep as she wanted to before, wishing this all just a dream she could wake from.
It was a nice quiet day in the Golden Oaks Library. Spike slept soundlessly, for once, which gave the whole place a feeling of serenity. No noise, no ponies to borrow books, nothing. It was just her and her book.
Twilight sat on the couch, basking in the sunlight that beamed in through the windows. It was a beautiful day outside, a perfect day for reading.
She flipped another page of the latest Daring Doo book, trying to finish it before Dash started begging her for it. As much as she loved Rainbow’s passion for reading adventure books, mainly Daring Doo, it sometimes became a little… irking.
Laughing slightly, Twilight turned the page of text again. “Chapter Nineteen, The Hunt Begins…” she said to no one in particular.
Page after page she read, enjoying the book just as much as she enjoyed the lemonade she had made just for the occasion. Taking a sip of the refreshing lemonade, Twilight flipped to the next page.
Right as she was about to finish the chapter she started, a certain cyan Pegasus came flying through the front door, “Twilight!?”
Twilight looked up from her book towards the rainbow pegasus, “Oh, hi Rainbow. What’s up?” She began hiding the Daring Doo book away slowly, in hopes that her prismatic friend wouldn’t see it.
“Some weird creature appeared out of nowhere and we need to know what it is and-“ the cyan pegasus gasped and zoomed over to Twilight, picking up the new Daring Doo book, “Oh my gosh! Is this the new Daring Doo!? So awesome!”
The cyan Pegasus began reading page after page of the Daring Doo book, completely forgetting whatever she was talking about. Twilight watched, peeved, at the rainbow mare, grabbing the book with her magic she began to pull on it. Rainbow Dash continued to hold the book in her hooves even as the magic pulled it away until it finally slipped out of her grasp, floating down to its true owner and sending Rainbow Dash flying into one of the library walls. Rainbow smacked it dead on and sent a few books falling down onto the ground.
“Ow, Twi that hurt.”
“Sorry Rainbow, but what were you saying about a creature?”
“What, oh yeah, some weird creature stopped and killed a Timberwolf that was chasing Scoots, Sweetie, and Apple Bloom.”
“Wait, what did you say? It killed a Timberwolf?” Twilight asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, it apparently burned it to ashes in like, three seconds flat. We were hoping you knew something like that,” the rainbow mare asked, brushing some books off her body that fell onto her from her ‘crash landing’.
The lavender mare began pacing back and forth at Rainbow’s question. What creature could produce fire like that? Only dragons and ponies are known have the ability to create and control fire. But no pony could turn a Timberwolf to ashes in three seconds; not even the most powerful of spells could do that. Not even dragonflame could do that; it would take at least ten minutes with the hottest of dragonflame. This had to be a joke, trying to get a laugh out of her again. Well this time that’s not going to happen.
Twilight gave a small laugh before walking over to one of the windows of the library. “Nice try Rainbow, but I’m not falling for any prank this time.”
“Come on Twi, this isn’t a prank,” Rainbow Dash reassured, but Twilight still had her back turned to her. Twilight heard the flapping of wings and soon her vision was enveloped by the upside-down face of the cyan pegasus who had tried to fool her.
“I’m not pulling your leg Twi’, I’m serious!” Twilight stared at the rainbow mare with a deadpanned look, in all honesty though, she didn’t know what to think. Rainbow Dash could be serious, but it could still be a prank. She was puzzled as to what to think of her friend.
Before she could find an answer though, Rainbow Dash sighed and landed back on the ground. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she said, doing the actions along to the Pinkie Promise, a promise that could never be broken, and it wasn’t something to be tossed around kindly, unless you wanted an enraged Pinkie Pie chasing after you for the rest of your days.
“You believe me now Twi?” Rainbow Dash said to Twilight, rolling her eyes.
Twilight gaze lowered down to the floor in thought, her eyes moving from left to right as if she was still reading her book. “What did the creature look like?” she asked, looking back up at the cyan mare.
Rainbow Dash told Twilight everything the three crusaders had told her, Rarity, and AJ.
“That’s it?” Twilight asked, leaning forwards slightly after hearing her friend’s description of the ‘creature.’
“Word for word,” she answered in return.
“A creature that stands on two legs, has the capabilities of speech, who has barely any fur with a red spiky mane on the top of its head,” Twilight began to analyze with a hoof on her chin groove, unaware she was doing so aloud, “a creature who wields two weapons in the form of spiked wheels and can summon fire at will, wearing a black coat over its form and some sort of gloves on its odd fore-hooves.”
With each word she said, Rainbow Dash began to become more impatient. Twilight saw from the corner of her eye that she picked up the Daring Doo book and began reading. Usually, the librarian would be slightly irked or angered that Rainbow Dash would do something like that, but right now she didn’t care. She was facing a real problem. “There’s not any type of animal or civilized race in all of Equestria like that, unless…” Twilight practically jumped with joy as a sudden realization of another possibility, “Unless it’s a new species!”
She could barely contain her excitement, she dashed over to Rainbow Dash’s side, knocking the book out of her hooves, “You’re sure that that’s what they said!?”
Rainbow nodded her head and Twilight began jumping with joy. She could be known throughout all of history as the one who had discovered a new species! The feeling was amazing!
Just imagining it, giving a speech to dozens of ponies about a new species, ponies clapping and applauding her presentation as the Princesses came up to congratulate her on her newest discovery.
“Twi? Twilight? Twilight!?” Rainbow shouted, snapping the lavender mare out of her stupor.
“Oh yes sorry. Spike!!!” Twilight yelled, awaking the young dragon from his slumber.
“Yeah?” the dragon groggily said.
“I need you to write a letter the princess,” she answered. The excitement, she knew, was evident on her face. Regardless, Spike obeyed and took out a quill and paper, ready to begin.
Princess Luna walked down the halls of Canterlot Castle, headed towards the throne room.
The sun began to set its beautiful colours as it made headway for the night to take over and settle over the peaceful land once again.
Since her return, Luna had seen that there was an equal adoration for her night as was for her sister’s day, and it made her happy to now see ponies out and about during her night.
But something had been weighing down on the Princess’ mind for days now, something that, ironically, made the Princess of the Night unable to find the sweet embrace of slumber. It was a dream, a dream that haunted her, a dream she hadn’t told a soul about. She knew she should have told her sister at least when it started to appear every night. But she did not, for she feared that it could be much more than a dream.
Luna paused, gazing out one of the many windows of the castle, calming herself before she faced her sister and finally told her of her foul dream.
She broke from the window and continued to the throne room, a bellow of laughter echoing throughout her mind. The Princess of the Night knew from whom the laughter came from, and she wished for her own sake, and the sake of all their little ponies, her dream was nothing more than a dream because of it.
The clink of metal snapped Luna out of her daze and she raised her eyes from the ground to see two guards saluting her, both fully clad in armour. Behind them was a set of two giant doors to the throne room she sought.
The princess stopped in her tracks, now realizing she had walked her way to the throne room without noticing it. She inspected the way she came to see the stained glass windows that told of many of the historic events of Equestria.
Luna sighed and shook her head. How could this one dream bother her so? Shrugging off the notion she walked through the doors opened by the two guards and met her sister’s kind gaze. Every time she looked at her sister’s eyes though, she saw the pain and regret that hid underneath them. Luna did not know the reason for her sister’s pain and regret, though she did have a few good guesses, she knew it would be wrong of her to ask. It would be similar to poking at an old wound. If she wanted to tell her something she would. Much like how Celestia must have seen how the dream had been bothering Luna, and waited for her to tell her what troubled her so.
Taking a deep breath, she continued towards her sister. “Hello Lulu,” she greeted to her younger sister who became slightly irritated at hearing her ‘nickname’
“Hello sister, how hast thou been faring?” Luna asked.
Her sister, as always, gave a slight laugh at her, “I’ve been fine Lulu, what about you?”
Luna glanced around the room nervously, her ethereal mane blowing into her face making her look like a mimicry of her sister, “Sister we have something to tell thou.”
A wisp of smoke shot through the window just as the Princess of the Night was about to speak her mind. It unraveled into a letter, no doubt from her sister’s faithful student.
Celestia picked up the letter in her magic and looked towards her sister, she smiled and started levitating the scroll away. “Sister, it does not bother us if you read your letter from young Twilight.”
“Are you sure Luna?”
“Yes, sister. We are sure,” the Princess of the Night responded, relieved slightly from not having to tell her sister her dream quite yet. But as her sister read the letter, she saw her eyes turn a bit harder.
“What is the matter, sister?”
“A creature of some sorts has appeared in Equestria. It burned a Timberwolf to ashes and made three fillies end up in the hospital,” she answered, some of the kindness in her voice lost by this sad news.
The Lunar Princess gasped. “It says here that, from the information my faithful student has gathered, that the creature is unknown to Equestria and is intelligent enough to speak,” Celestia continued on, her face as hard as stone and giving no expression, unlike her sister who appeared as if she had just seen a ghost.
“The creature is said to wear a dark coat and-“
“And stand on two legs, with a blue mane on the top of its head and orange eyes, a scar made in the shape of an X on its face. It has no visible hair on its body aside from its mane and it carries around with it a great claymore,” Luna finished. Fear taking hold of the Princess, her entire being shaking just the slightest, unnoticeable from afar, but as clear as day when close.
“Except it has a red, spiky mane with bright emerald eyes, carrying around two spiked wheels as weapons,” Celestia corrected. Giving her sister a chance to release the breath she had held.
The Princess of the Night looked up at her sister again, who stared back at her curiously.
“Luna, do you have something you wish to tell?”
Luna bit her lip, shifting uneasily on her hooves. “Sister, we have had a dream…”