Dreamcatcher

by Nicragomi

A Traveler Comes To Town

Dreamcatcher

Chapter 1 – A Traveler Comes To Town…

Where do we go from here? What’s next?

Twilight Sparkle considered the question as she looked up at the sky, where one thin cloud after another quickly sailed by despite the wind not being that strong. The clouds in the Everfree Forest always move around erratically without the help of the Pegasi ponies. The abrupt confusion above her was not so different from the perplexing feelings she was having in her own heart and Twilight smiled askewly.

At any rate Twilight was busy.

It had been months since The Crystalling had taken place in Crystal Empire up north. Among other events, the world was finally starting to settle down again. Twilight had returned to Ponyville to resume her role as The Princess of Friendship and helped almost every pony near and far with friendship problems. Her schedule had gotten chaotic with the amount of meetings and summits she had to attend. Even sending her friends as representatives in her place (like Rainbow Dash or Applejack) still wasn’t enough. Ponies from all over Equestria would travel to her castle to meet with her to hear stories of her and her friends heroic deeds.

“Aah.” The sigh vanished into the air. The cloud beneath her was fluffy and cool. If I don’t get up soon I’m going to fall asleep and that’ll really hurt my schedule, she thought, and yet, she still did not want to move from her comfy spot.

Work was waiting.

An atrocious amount of work and she didn’t know where to begin.

Maybe if she thought about this time as a small break, she could keep lying here like this in the middle of the day. But once she got up she knew that dream would die and she would shift into Princess mode and be all about work. Once that happened she knew she wouldn’t be able to lay right back down again. So she continued to lounge willfully on the fluffy cloud. As long as no one came around looking for her, she intended to stay this way.

“Twilight!... Twilight!!!” came a voice from below on the ground.

Twilight quickly took her wings and covered her ears, trying to drown out the sound of her name being called.

“Twilight!!... I see you lounging on that cloud…” the voice said in an unyielding tone.

Twilight recognized the voice. It was Spike, her baby dragon and number one assistant. Spike was a young bi-pedal purple dragon with green spikes. His spikes weren’t sharp; they were more rounded and fit his baby size. He could never hurt anyone with them, nor did he ever want to.

“What are you doing out here?” Spike asked.

Twilight uncovered her ears and peered over the side of the cloud.

“I’m taking a break, Spike. What is it?” she asked.

“All the way out here? In the Everfree Forest?” Spike retorted.

Twilight noticed the ground Spike was standing on was made of stone. He was standing in the courtyard of an old abandoned castle. Not just any castle, but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s castle. The one that they ruled from before Luna became corrupted and turned into Nightmare Moon.

“I just wanted to get away for a few minutes and clear my head.” she told the young dragon. Twilight then straightened up her wings and moved them in a circular motion to dissipate the cloud she was laying on. Once the cloud had all but vanished, she retracted her wings and fell backwards twisting her torso into a dive towards the ground below. A couple of feet above the ground she deployed her wings and went into a loop-the-loop before landing on the ground.

“Looks like those flying lessons with Rainbow Dash are finally paying off!” Spike said excitedly.

“Yea, these wings are still hard to get used to…” Twilight said. “Going from being a Unicorn all my life to an Alicorn has made some things more challenging than others.” Twilight moved them around to show she still wasn’t very used to them. “Anyways…” she said as she fluffed her wings, “What’s up?”.

“Some pony came to the castle and requests your presence. He said that it’s urgent.” Spike said.

“Did you refer him to any of the other girls?” asked Twilight.

“I tried to, but he said they would not do. The message was for you only…” Spike said as they walked across the courtyard.

She look down at him, “Did you explain that they had just as much power as I did?”

“I did, but he wants to talk to you specifically…”

Twilight came to an abrupt halt. She pondered for a moment as to whom might want to talk exclusively to her. Her smirk turned into a smile. Maybe this is something different that could get her away from her duties as Princess, even if it was only for a little bit. Her horn glowed with a pink aura as she pondered the thought. .

“Let us go meet this mysterious pony and see what he has for me!” She said excitedly. With the flash of her horn, she and Spike disappeared from the courtyard and reappeared back on her seat in the map room of the Castle of Friendship. The sudden change from the warm stone beneath her hooves to the cold crystal floor didn’t phase Twilight, she had been teleporting long distances for a while now. Spike had a spine shivering experience every time.

“I’ll never get use to that.” Spike said as he rubbed his feet from the sudden chill of the crystal floor. Twilight looked around her at the occupied seats that sat around the circular table made of crystal before her. There were five other seats that were the same size as hers, but at the top of each seat was a cutie mark that represented the pony that sat there.

“Welcome back darling! How was your break?” came a very feminine, cultivated voice that sat in the second seat to Twilight’s left. Rarity; a white-coated unicorn with purple, curled hair and had three blue diamonds on her flank as her cutie mark. She was sitting at her seat with the same symbols that were engraved. Rarity’s Element of Harmony was Generosity and her spirit showed it. “I do hope you had enough time to clear your head, some pony here has a message for you and says it’s highly important.” Rarity said.

“Is this some pony we know?” Twilight asked as she scanned around the table, looking at all her friends who were sitting in their respective seats. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all looked across to one another and shook their heads in confusion. Twilight could see from their confusion that none of them knew this pony.

“He kept saying it was important that you hear it, and something else about how he had to leave for Canterlot as soon as he delivered the message. He seemed extremely anxious and scared that he wasn’t going to be able to leave here on time if you weren’t going to be back soon.” said Fluttershy in her soft timid voice.

“Where is this pony?” Twilight asked sternfully.

“Outside the doors in the hallway.” Rainbow Dash answered.

“Want me to get him?” Applejack asked.

Twilight couldn’t wait any longer she had to know what was so important.

“Send him in...” Twilight announced.

Applejack got up from her seat and walked over to the doors made of crystal that went out into the main hallway. She pulled the left door open and stuck her head out into the hall.

“The Princess will see you now.” Applejack said, her southern accent. As the unknown pony walked through the door, Applejack pulled the door shut and escorted him to the middle of the room where their chairs were placed among a large round table made of crystal with a projection of Equestria still active. The unknown pony was a Unicorn stallion. His mane was a a salt and peppery mix. He had two eagle feathers in his mane and sported sunglasses with a black leather vest that was decorated with some black horseshoes. The cutie mark on his flank was something the girls had never seen before, a silver compass open to overlay a silver carpenters square sitting on its corner. His most unique feature was the neon green ring at the base of his horn, it was lightly glowing. He bowed ever so graciously in front of everyone.

“Your highness, and Elements…” He said as he was knelt in front of them. His voice was gruff and had a bit of a southern slang like Applejacks, but more heavy.

“Let me start off by saying that it is an honor to be in your grace. You six have protected Equestria from many evils and for that I am grateful.” He said.

“Who are you and what message do you bring?” Twilight asked.

“My name is Yona. I belong to a small bison tribe to the south called the Yanasa.” Yona stated as he lifted himself up to all fours.

The girls all looked at each other with confused and quizzical looks. Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof, pondering what Yona just said, trying to make sense of it.

“But you are a pony, Yona. How do you belong to a Bison tribe?” Twilight asked.

Yona’s horn glowed as he used his magic to move his sunglasses to sit upon his head and horn. His eyes were a dark brown.

“I’m sorry Princess but that is not important right now.” Yona declared. Twilight was taken aback. The fact she wasn’t going to know anymore about this pony really threw her off her thought process.

“What I am here to tell you is a matter of great importance. You all have protected Equestria from many evils but I’m here to tell you… The greatest challenge still lies ahead. I’m sure all of you have felt some sort of turmoil within yourselves these past few days. Asking yourself what is to come next.” Yona said. At that moment Twilight felt the twisting from earlier come back.

“What you are feeling is how Equestria is feeling now. An ancient evil lies within the core of Equestria sealed away to maintain balance within the world. It has finally broken free and it is starting to destroy what it comes across and it won’t stop until it destroys everything.” Yona told them.

“Big deal! We have the Elements of Harmony! We can easily defeat this new threat with it!” sneered Rainbow Dash.

“You're Elements of Harmony are no match for The Darkness!” Yona snapped back. Rainbow Dash gulped at his reply. “This is a creature that was born at the beginning of time. It knows nothing of mercy it only knows death and destruction. That is what will be had if we do not stop it.” He said trembling. Twilight could tell he was afraid. Yona was shaking a little unnoticeable to the untrained eye but Twilight could see it. This creature he was talking about was very real or at least real to him and he was petrified.

“So, what can we do to defeat this Darkness?” Twilight asked.

Yona smiled.

“I need to speak with the other Princesses. Everyone needs to be on the same page if we are going to defeat this thing together.” he said.

“Spike! Send a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna telling of everything we have learned. Let them know there is a new threat to Equestria and we will request them to come here immediately. I will send a message to my brother and Princess Cadence to come at once .” Twilight directed. “Can you give us any more information about what we are up against?” Twilight asked Yona.

“Not at this time, I want everyone to be here so there is less confusion.” Yona said.

A loud boom shook the entire castle. The map that was illuminated on the table flickered and when it came back it showed a dark spot right outside Ponyville.

“What’s that?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“No!!”

The girls looked at Yona only to see him petrified. His mouth hung open like he had seen a ghost and his mane turned a tad lighter. Yona ran towards the doors and into the main hallway while the shaking slowly started to increase. Twilight and the others soon gave chase and followed Yona outside. The wind was blowing furiously making it hard to stand up straight. It felt as if a hundred Pegasi were trying to pull water up to Cloudsdale. Yona was standing still in front of them his stance showed that the wind didn’t phase him as much as it did the others. Twilight and the girls look at him and noticed he was fixated on something ahead of them. They looked past him to see what it was and could see a large dark cloud over the ridgeline in the far off distance. The black cloud seem to be consuming everything it moved over. It was creeping ever so closely to Ponyville, and as it neared the wind got stronger and stronger.

“What is that?” Twilight yelled to Yona.

Yona slowly replied,

“The Darkness has come to Ponyville… and Hell will follow with it.”