A Phantom in Equestria

by Gigglingskull

Ch. 3: Help on the Way

Princes Luna was curled up, laying on the bed in her room. It appeared that she was sleeping, but in reality the princess of the night was deeply meditating. She found that laying down, as opposed to sitting or standing, helped it so she wouldn't end up sore once she was done.

The Princess of the Night's mind was currently in the dream world.

The dream realm took on any form one could imagine. The place actually changed its look depending on who was there. One moment, it could look like one place then the next it was somewhere else. There were only two constants. First, the dream world was always endless. This didn't have to be obvious at first, but whatever the world of dreams looked like, it actually went on forever. Second, there were always portals that lead to everyone’s personal dream realm. This too wasn't always obvious, but these doorways were always there, located somewhere.

Luna liked to have the place take on the form of the night sky with doors floating in space that acted as the gateways to different creatures' dreams. Each door was unique to the creature it belonged to, formed from their experiences and life. The form and condition of the door said a lot about the owner . . . if a pony knew what to look for.

And Luna was here, doing her job.

There were two parts to her responsibility in the realm of sleep and dreams. For the first part, she helped ponies and other creatures within Equestria deal with their nightmares and face the real reason behind them. The second part was that she protected ponies from the creatures that lived in the dream world. There were different things living in this realm, but the worst ones were dream demons. . . . especially a certain one eyed Dorito that Luna had unfortunately met and fought with before.

Usually these creatures weren't worth worrying about, but if not kept in check, they could become a problem.

Princess Luna was the only one who could truly live up to this job. Celestia had preformed admirably during her sister's banishment, but the sun princess just didn't have the talent for it that Luna possessed. First off, Celestia had to use a spell that took a lot of magic to enter the dreams of ponies unlike her sister, who could slip inside as easily as breathing. The sun princess would then try to help her ponies, but Celestia held their hooves every step of the way. (This was because, and only Luna knew this, Celestia was uncomfortable, nervous, and felt especially guilty about taking her sister's place.) This meant they didn't learn the true problem's meaning by themselves, resulting in recurring nightmares. Luna had a different and subtler style that was born of experience and the fact that this job was part of her special talent. The second problem was that it took even MORE magic for Celestia to enter non-ponies' dreams. The cost was so much that Celestia was left without enough magic to raise and lower both the sun and moon everyday. So unfortunate, non-ponies had to deal with their nightmares by themselves. Celestia hated to do this, but she had to do it so there wouldn't be even more chaos. She had tried, but the day Celestia couldn't lower the moon, there was widespread panic that Nightmare Moon was returning. It took a long time to reassure and convince everyone that everything was okay. The fear her subjects showed towards her sister pained her greatly and left her crying for days . . Not that anyone ever saw her tears.

Tonight, the dream realm was quiet with nothing really going on.

Luna was just about to call it a night and go have some fun. “Maybe I should take Vinyl Scratch up on her offer to go to her nightclub and party to her fabulous music.” The princess had found that many of the nighttime ravers loved her. It felt so good to spend time with ponies who enjoyed her beautiful night.

Luna did have the time to do this and many things . . . for several reasons. Her night court was almost always empty. So much so, Luna had been tinkering with the idea of turning them into a place to rave. Most ponies brought their problems to her sister's court time since Celestia worked during the day. It was so much easier for the ponies to bring their problems to the Sun Princess than staying up late and go to the Princess of the Moon for help. Plus a lot of the citizens still held some fear of the Moon Princess's dark past. It hurt her greatly that they did, but those who didn't and her sister's love helped her to take it in stride . . . instead of letting the past repeat itself.

Suddenly the princess of the night felt the intense suffering of one of her little ponies. She didn't know what the pony was experiencing but the darkness of the nightmare was full of pain, misery, and heart-ache. “I must help whoever it is.”

Following the horrible feelings, Luna found herself standing in front of a door unlike any she had ever seen before. It had a metal hexagon fame. There were black and yellow striped panels in the center of the ring of metal. The most concerning thing was the dents and scratches all over the thing. These were signs something bad had happened to the owner.

This is when the Princess of the Night sensed the magic coming off of the doorway. It indicated that the owner was exceptionally powerful, but that wasn't what concerned Luna. “This feeling. . . This energy almost feels like dark magic . . . but . . .” She shook her head. “It isn't. I have been near dark magic users before and this energy isn't that. . . . It feels like magic but MUCH colder.” It suddenly hit her in the face what she was feeling. “This is spiritual energy!? How could anything have this much of it and still be alive?”

The princess pushed this concerning fact to the back of her mind as she observed the door. Luna didn't know what to make of this doorway. “How would one even enter this . . . gateway?” She starred at it before moving closer for a better look. Once she was stand right in front of it, the yellow and black panels moved out of the way, revealing a spinning toxic green vortex.

Seeing the vortex surprised the princess even more. “Who could this belong to?” Luna couldn't even begin to think of what somepony would have had to experience to get this thing as their door. “Though this doorway would hold great importance and make sense to the owner.” She examined one of the deeper scratches. Gently, Luna traced the large gash that ran diagonally across the whole gateway. This tear was much deeper than the others, almost cutting the whole thing in half. “The pain they suffered must have been both mentally and physically scaring to cause this.” She was concerned since the doorway looked like it was moments away from fully breaking and falling apart. If that happen, it meant the owner had a mental breakdown and would never be the same again.

Before Luna could contemplate all of the confusing and worrying information, what it all meant, and what she should do to help, the Princess felt a huge spike in the negative emotions coming from the owner of the gateway. Wanting to help and knowing there was no time to waste since the negativity was growing worryingly strong, the Princess of the Night threw caution to the wind and dived head first into the portal.

Once through, Luna found herself inside of some sort of lab. The make of the place appeared to be of the highest level of technology available. The only places rivaling it would have been Canterlot's own labs . . . or maybe Twilight’s basement. That pony was so obsessed with science that sometimes Luna truly wondered if the unicorn had a fetish for it. “That dream I saw her in was a bit . . . unusual . . .I might need to consult my sister and help Celestia get her student a coltfriend.” But Twilight's interests, while a bit concerning to Luna, weren't that important right now.

Luna looked around, taking in the unusual sights, but stopped when her eyes landed on a scene so horrifying that her body froze in place as her mind raced. Tears ran down her face and her stomach wanted to empty its contents. The only comforting fact was that Luna knew this was a dream and what she was seeing wasn't real.

But that really didn't make it any better.

In the middle of the room and strapped to a table was a small tan colt. (The only reason Luna could tell the child was male was because his legs were spread, showing off his privates. That was just how androgynous the child was. Though the child's lean and elegant body did lean far more to the feminine side of the gender scale.) But that wasn't what horrified her. The young colt was in the middle of being “operated on” by a blue mare with a red mane and a large orange stallion with a black and white mane. To Luna's complete horror, his chest was ACTUALLY open, showing his still pulsating organs, with the adult ponies' blood covered hoofs inside of him, moving his parts around as casually as if they were looking for misplaced keys in a bag full of stuff. The colt was just laying there, not moving, indicating that he must have been drugged since he wasn't screaming for death.

But clearly the colt wasn't drugged enough. His eyes were wide open as tears ran down his face. After a few moments, his soulful blue eyes looked in Luna's direction, silently begging for her help or to be put out of his misery. By this time, the colt clearly didn't care with one happened as long as the horror was ended. Though death was the better looking option since after this horror, he would be scarred forever.

“He is still conscious,” Luna thought. “He is feeling everything as they tear him apart.” Normally Luna would have just help a pony get through the nightmare by giving them little hints or pushes in the right direction until they understood the true cause of the bad dream by themselves. That way they learned the lesson and it would truly stick. “But I CAN NOT do that now. This is far too horrible to let continue.” Closing her eyes and focusing her magic, Luna cast the spell that would end this nightmare and reset the dreamland. Luna could then comfort and calm the pony down before getting down to the true reason behind this horrible vision. “Not that the cause is going to be pleasant . . .though I am positive it is more so than this . . . . .This small one is probably being extremely abused by someone. . . He will most liking have to be taken away from his home to escape his abuser.”

When she finished, Luna prepared to meet the needs of a distraught child in need of a comforting hug and a shoulder to cry on. A small smile came to her snout. Though she hated for a child to be upset, Luna enjoyed helping them to feel better and discover what a wonderful place dreams could be. “This is my favorite part of the job. . . Though I enjoy helping anypony, it is so much more fulfilling helping children than adults.”

When her eyes opened, Luna froze. What she saw caused her smile to instantly disappear as a shocked gasp escaped her mouth. The princess now knew without a doubt why the child's door was so damaged and almost falling apart.

The nightmare hadn't dispelled.

“Nay. .This can not. . . NNNAAYY!” The princess's speaking pattern had reverted back to her old style. This only happen in certain extremely trying situations. And right now was one of those times. Luna felt like her heart was going to stop. This time she actually did throw up, just missing covering herself in the stuff, as she fell to her behind. Her body shook. She felt so distraught and honestly didn't know what to do at the moment.

The reason why the spell didn't work horrified her. Luna fought the urge to curl up in a ball and weep.

“The spell didst not worketh because this is not a nightmare. . . . This is a MEMORY. . . This actually hath happened to him.”

“We has't to stop this,” Luna said in a determined tone as she stood up and wiped the mouth. She desperately racked her brain for an idea. It came to her after just a moment. “Tis the only way. . . . We has't to awaken him.” Her eyes glowed white as Luna flared her magic around her horn and aimed at the colt.

The moment the magical beam hit, the memory ended as the colt and Luna were simultaneously thrust out of the dream realm and back into the conscious world.

Sitting up in her bed, Luna looked around her room. She still felt deeply troubled and terribly disturbed about what just happened. Her body was shaking. “If we art this affected by that. . . .” The princess couldn't find the right words to express how bad what she saw was. “ . . We can not imagine what that child is experiencing right now.” The distressed felt by the princess was so strong that she got up out of bed and was going to do something she hadn't done since she was a small foal . . . (Okay truth was she had been doing this for a while after being returned to normal, but never after a trip into the dream realm). . . . go snuggle up with her big sister Celestia until she felt better.

Quickly and silently moving through the castle's hallways, Luna made sure that no one, especially her Nightguard, saw her on the way to Celestia's bedroom. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by her actions . . . okay maybe a tiny little bit of her was . . . “We art an adult and a princess after all, we shouldst beest stronger than this.” But the princess couldn't resist the comfort that she knew her sister would bring her.

Luna also knew that if anyone saw her this upset, they would start to worry something was majorly wrong. Word may then spread and a small panic might start. Ponies might fear that the world was in danger or, since Luna was the one so upset, that Nightmare Moon was returning. (Only those who still feared her would jump to this conclusion). And when the situation had to explained to the public, Luna didn't look forward to her actions being revealed just to calm everyone down. (This was the curse of being famous across the world.) Plus everyone would find out what happened to this child and Luna didn't what anyone knowing unless they absolutely HAD to know or if he wanted them to. The colt was a victim of horrible abuse and he probably didn't want anyone to know what happened to him. He probably didn't even wanted the Princesses to know, even if they would help him.

When she was standing outside Celestia's room, Luna looked up at the large golden doorway. The doors were decorated in mirrored images. There was a large sun that matched the princess's cutie mark in the sky. Ponies were depicted playing and working under the sun's raises of light.

After a moment, Luna slowly and quietly opened the door. She quickly slipped in before silently closing the door again. It was late, practically the next morning, and she knew Celestia would still be asleep.

And Luna was right.

Celestia was in her bed, covered by her blankets and peacefully asleep. Stepping away from the door, Luna crept further into the room and over to the bed. She looked down at her sleeping sister. “Perhaps this is not such a valiant idea. Tia does has't a lot of work to doth tomorrow and needeth her rest, otherwise all that paperwork is going to beest a nightmare.”

The moment the word “nightmare” went through her mind, it caused a reaction by her subconscious. Usually her mind would torture her with a flash of her past dark self smiling cruelly as she did something evil. But this time, her subconscious had new material to use. The image of what she saw happen to the young pony assaulted her, making her quickly change her mind about waking Tia.

Gently nudging her sister with a hoof, Luna quietly whispered “Tia.”

Slowly Celestia awoke and sleepily opened her eyes. “Lulu.” She knew it was her sister since only Luna would call her Tia. The princess yawned as she turned towards her sister. “Is it time to raise the sun already?” She released another large yawn. The sun princess looked like she was going to fall back asleep while sitting up. “If not, can whatever it is wait for the morning?”

“Tia.” Luna's voice quivered with sadness as tears appeared in her eyes. The horror of what Luna saw and the comfort that she knew Celestia would give her had finally broken down her tough outer shell.

Celestia was immediately awake and in full big sister mode at tone of Luna's voice. She sat up straight and asked “Lulu, what's wrong?”

“We . . We . . the d-dream . . . v-very much . . . horr'r. . ” Luna couldn't hold in her tears anymore and started to sob uncontrollable.

The older sister acted quickly and pushed her covers off of herself before pulling her little sibling into her bed and a tight hug. They sat there with Celestia holding Luna as the moon princess wept openly. Luna knew Tia wouldn't judge her. Celestia never did. Not even after she was returned to her true self and came begging forgiveness for becoming a monster. There was not a moment of hesitation in Celestia when she forgave Luna with open loving arms. In fact, the sun sister had tearfully asked the moon princess if SHE forgave HER for not being there for Luna all those years ago when she truly needed Celestia the most. Luna replied that she did. From there they spent the whole night holding each other, happy that they were finally back together as they should be. For what was the day if she didn't have her sister, the night.

Though right now the sisters weren't the alicorn princesses that everyone saw and held the highest respects for. They were just two loving siblings. The older one trying to comfort the distraught younger one.

“What happened to upset her this much?” Celestia rubbed Luna's back as she said “Everything is going to be okay.”

Her words only caused Luna to wail louder, surprising Celestia.

Between sobs, Luna said “Nay it won't. We (sob) did see something unbelievably (cry) horrible in the dream realm.”

“What did you see?,” asked the sun princess in concern. . . . especially since Luna had reverted to her old pattern of speech. The Moon Princess had worked HARD day and night to update her speech. Celestia knew this regression was only caused by extreme emotions in her sister. Anything that upset Luna this much, was something for Celestia to worry about. For a moment, the Sun Princess was concerned that this was another End-of-Equestria-and-the-World event. But looking at her sister, Celestia knew it wasn't. Luna wouldn't be crying if it was. She would be collected and prepared to help form a plan to save them all. Whatever she saw wasn't world threatening, but was deeply upsetting none the less. Thought it still made it to the top of Celestia's priority list since her sister was so deeply affected by whatever it was.

Getting herself together, Luna knew words wouldn't do justice to what she saw. So instead, she pressed her horn to Celestia's. The tip glowed brightly and the memory of what Luna saw passed through to Celestia's mind. The Sun Princess felt tears gather in her eyes. The sight of one of her little ponies in so much pain, suffering something so horrible, was almost to much for her. Before she could completely break down, a thought came to her mind that if true would be the silver lining to this terrible cloud. She clung to it desperately, since if she was wrong, Celestia didn't know what she would do. “That is a truly horrible vision, but surely you put an end to this nightmare the moment you saw it.”

Luna had calmed herself down and stopped crying. At this point she didn't think she had anymore tears left. She was almost surprised that Celestia wasn't crying after seeing what happened to the colt, but Luna realized that her sister didn't know what she knew. That was why the Sun Princess wasn't crying right now. “But she shall beest.” Releasing a sad defeated sigh, Luna said “We . . . . . ” She released a sad whimper.

Celestia was silent and waited for her sister to continue. She had a feeling she wouldn't like what she heard.

“We couldn't,” Luna said as her body slumped in sadness, causing Celestia's concern to spike and her gripe on her hope to release. The sun princess prepared for the worst.

Luna's voice took on a serious tone and her face gained a neutral look. “For it wast NOT a dream.”

A shocked look came to Celestia's face. The tears finally escaped as realization finally came to the older sibling. She had tried to mentally prepare herself for this, but she wasn't truly ready to hear that someone had dissected a child. Who in their right minds would be okay after hearing what happened? NOPONY would be was the answer . . .but if they were, then something was seriously wrong with their brain.

“It wast a memory. I couldst only end it by flaring mine own magic, ejecting us both from the world of dreams.”

Silence fell over the sad princesses.

After a bit of time, Celestia whipped the tears from her eyes and looked at Luna. “Where you able to determine the location of the colt?” There was a small desperate tone to her voice that very few have ever heard from her before. Celestia didn’t let her little ponies hear her like this. If they did, there would be wide spread panic. But she desperately wanted to find and help this child. If she had to, Celestia would take him from wherever he was and let him live in the castle. She would even go so far as to adopt the pony herself if that helped things.

Sadly Luna could not answer this question positively. “We art afraid we didst not.” Her lips quivered a little. It felt like she had failed. “In mine own hast to end his torture, we did remove us from the dream world before we couldst determine his resting place.” Inside, Luna was kicking herself. If she had just waited a few moments to act, Luna would have known exactly where this pony was and go get him right now. “But we couldst not allow him to continue experiencing that horror.”

Seeing the defeated look on her sister's face, Celestia leaned into Luna' side and nuzzled her. Using a comforting tone, she said “You did the right thing. I am glad you were able to end his . . horror.” She mentally shuddered at the memory Luna gave her, almost wishing the moon princess kept it to herself. “That image will forever be burned into my mind. I don't think I can EVER forget it . . . and neither will that child.” That fact greatly saddened the sun alicorn, thought she kept it out of her voice as she said “I'm sure you will see him again in his dreams . . . since no one who has suffered that and lived, will be sleeping soundly for long.” It was a blessing and a curse. Yes, Luna would be able to find this pony again if they dreamed of this horror. The negativity produced by the dream/memory would be like a beacon to Luna now that she knew what to look for. But Celestia and Luna felt sicked that the only way they had to find this child in need was to sit back and wait for him to suffer. She lifted Luna's head so they were looking into each others' eyes. Luna could see the support in Celestia's eyes and it helped her to feel better. “I know you will do every you can to help this colt face this.”

“Aye.” Luna's strong and confident tone brought a smile to Celestia's face, despite the sad situation. “And we . shall . . . .” Luna stumbled over her words since she had just realized what she had been doing subconscious. “I will make sure I can find him in the real world when we meet again.”

Celestia smiled when Luna's speech patterns returned to how the Princess of the Night wanted to speak. She knew that meant that Luna had truly calmed down inside and had collected herself. . even thought the princess was still upset.

“And together,” Celestia leaned into her sister side and gave her a hug, “we will make sure this colt gets the help he deserves and needs.”

Danny vaulted up out of his sleep. He was panting and sweating. Still trembling from his dream/memory, Danny looked around the room in fear. He couldn't help the fear that his parents were going to jump out of the shadows and drag him back to that white room with the examination table, the painful experiments, and . . . . mind breaking . . dissections.

Tears escaped his eyes and he just wanted to be comforted. “I want my m. . . .” He froze in shock. “I almost called out for Mom. . .” He shook his head. “No, Maddie doesn't have the right to that title anymore . . . and I know they don’t see me as their son either.” He didn't feel like he had the strength to admit these thoughts out loud. That would make just how alone he currently was too real for him. He was in a world clearly not his or the Ghost zone. He was in the body of a different body. He had no friends or family by his side. Even just thinking all this brought more tears to his eyes. After a few moments of continued thought, Danny realized who he really wanted. “I want Jazz.”

Mentioning his sister caused his tears to increase and to flow freely. He didn't know what happened to her or how she felt about him. “She probably hates me like the rest of my family or she gave in to the GIW to save herself like my friends.” But a voice from the back of his mind, that sounded just like Jazz, shouted that she would stand by his side until the end of time and that she would find her little brother no matter what he had turned into or where he was . . . even if she had to tear up everything in her path to get to him. “Then she is in jail,” Danny thought sadly as he laid his head on his crossed front hoofs.

After a moment and before he could break down into an uncontrolled sobbing mess, Danny couldn't help remembering something that helped to drive off his depression . . . . The horse thing that he saw in his dream.

Focusing on her image helped Danny to forget about his sadness for a few moments. “She had wings and a horn . . . what does that make her . .” He tapped his chin in thought. “I know I read it some where . . .”

Ever since he became half ghost and the spiritual world had been proven real without a doubt to him, Danny had been looking up all kinds of different kind of mythical things. He figured that if ghosts were real then other supernatural things could be too and knowing about them might be helpful in the future.

The name was on the tip of his tongue. “Was it pegacorn?” Danny shook his head. “No, that doesn't sound right. Unipeg? Unisus?” Each one got a negative head shake. “I think it is an alicorn.” This one got a positive head nod. “That just sounds right to me.” An clear image of the alicorn came to Danny's mind. “She was so pretty like someone took the night sky and made an alicorn out of it. . . . She seemed so upset seeing what happened me.” That comforted him a bit, to know that someone cared about him. “I have the strangest feeling she helped to end my nightmare.” He had seen and experienced stranger things since becoming half ghost. “I wouldn't mind meeting her in real life . . . that is if she exists at all. . . . . She is probably just a figment of my subconsciousness, born from my love of space and want for someone to be there for me. . .. .” A surprised look came to his face. “That sounded a lot like some of the psychologist stuff Jazz would say . . . I guess with all of her therapist talk, some of it rubbed off on me.” His mood then dropped. He had a feeling that if (and that was a big IF in his book) she was real, then this alicorn would be as unmeetable as his dream of visiting the moon and stars was unattainable.

Fighting the urge to lay there and be depressed, Danny whipped the tears from his face. He then stood up and decided to explore the castle since he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. Besides Danny really didn't have anything else to do . . . unless he decided to read, but he had a feeling that his mind wouldn't let him focus on that and would drift off to more unpleasant places.

Just as Danny was about to leave the room, something caught his eye. Going over to it, he picked up and held a black cloak in front of himself. The unbelievably soft fabric had tiny little sparkles in it that were only viewable if the light caught the surface just right. Simply put, it looked like the night sky and that is why Danny put the cloak on. It felt soft and completely covered body. The ends of it were slightly raged in places from use and it pooled around his hoofs a bit. In Danny's option it looked cool and mysterious on him. But what he liked the most was the smell. He couldn't help burying his face in it and taking a deep breath. Something about it made him feel safe and warm inside, like he was getting a hug from someone who cared deeply about him with all their heart. This ultimately was why him to decide to keep the cloak.

“Plus it will hide most of my scars and ugly skinny body,” Danny thought darkly.

After putting the thing on, Danny noticed that there were two unusual holes on the back. They were like slits, but the fabric was arranged in a way that they were covered and unnoticeable when not in use. “It's weird. . . almost like they were made for if I had wings.” With a shrug, Danny decided the pros of the cloak greatly outweighed this weird attribute.

With his new cloak on, Danny phased out of the hidden room to explore his current home for the time being. He was feeling much better after his first true night of rest in a long time. Yes, he had a horrible nightmare, but he did get some sleep since he didn't have to worry about white suited guys coming to preform experimentations on him. In this one night, Danny got more rest than a week at the GIW's facility. It had gotten so bad during his imprisonment that he had stopped being able to sleep, only falling unconscious when he was drugged or his body simply couldn't stay awake anymore. He also developed a fear of living things that were mostly white. Danny KNEW he was safe, but seeing someone covered in the color just made he feel scared and unsafe. Plus his healing had kicked in fully, meaning Danny could put up a fight again. While he was going around, he could practice his powers. It had been so long since he had done a full test of them.

But before his exploration or a power session could start, a strange spider with a star on its abdomen caught Danny's attention and he went to look at it.

Twilight was in main room of her library, surrounded by towers of books and empty shelves. She was currently in the middle of her monthly reorganizing, evaluation, and counting of all the books. Intensely looking at a book, Twilight realized it would need to be replaced. It seems someone had decided to draw something inappropriate in it. “I'm going to have to look up who borrowed this last and speak to them about this.”

Sighing, the young unicorn was just about to call for Spike (he wasn't with her helping since he snuck away to do something else when he learn exactly WHAT they were doing today) so that she could have him add “Tobin's Spirit Guide” to the list of books to order, when someone started knocking at her door.

Twilight instantly knew something was wrong just from how frantic the knocking was. No one would be knocking on her door that way unless it was very important.

Rushing over to the door, knocking over a tower of books in the process, Twilight opened it and gasped.

Barely standing on the other side of the entrance way was her friend Zecora. The zebra was panting and looked like she had been through hell. Her mane and tail were missing chunks and there were blooding scratches allover her body. The blood stood out very strongly against her gray coat.

“Oh my goddesses,” Twilight exclaimed. “What happened?” Before the tired zebra could say anything, the unicorn continued speaking. “Never mind that.” She quickly lowered her head and lit her horn with magic to cast a teleportation spell. “We have to get you to hospital right now.”

But before the spell could be cast, Zecora stopped her. “Wait Twilight.” Gasping, she paused a moment to catch her breath. “Everything is actually alright,” the zebra said in a reassuring tone. Her wounds were really just simple scratches and looked worst than they really were. “It might be very nice outside, however do you mind if I come inside?” Her voice showed just how tired and in pain she was.

“Oh,” Twilight said. “You're right. Come inside.” She quickly moved to the side so Zecora could enter her tree-house. Watching her friend painfully limp inside, Twilight said in a worried tone “Are you sure you don’t need to. . .”

But the zebra cut her off with her words as she held up a hoof. “I may look like quite the mess.” Zecora went over to the unicorn's couch and laid down. Her sore body thanked her for finally letting it rest. “Though there is a bigger problem that we must address.”

Twilight decided not to argue with the zebra. “Zecora knows best. She is a doctor of sorts and wouldn't let herself be too injured and not get treatment if she truly needed it.” She didn’t even notice that some of Zecora's blood was soaking into her coach, staining the fabric. Twilight was more concerned with her friend and the problem brought to her for help than her couch. Those things came first in Twilight's book and furniture could always be replaced. . . . which was probably going to happen to the couch with all the blood smeared and soaking into its surface.

“Today a young and severely injured pony came to me. I immediately took him inside my tree.” Zecora's voice held a great sadness that Twilight couldn’t understand.

“I know that she would have done everything in her power to help,” Twilight thought. An idea came to her mind that made her very sad. “Maybe she did and it still wasn’t enough. . . and the pony died.” She looked at the depressed zebra. “That would explain why she is so upset. . . but not why she is all scratched up.” Twilight decided not to jump to conclusions and just wait for Zecora to explain what was going on before she could even consider providing help.

“I tried to give aid without delay,” Zecora said. “But it seems that I simple caused him to run away.” A tear left her eye before the zebra sent a serious look at Twilight. “Do not force this pony to comply,” her tone turned grim, “the results will truly horrify.”

Gasping, the unicorn asked “Did this pony hurt you?” If they did, Twilight would see to it that they faced the fiercest punishment they could be charged with. She would even get Princess Celestia involved if she had to.

Shaking her head, Zecora looked down at her injuries and remembered Danny’s terrified face. Felling bad about how much she scared him, she said in a sober tone “These wounds are the price I paid. It seems I upset the new friends he made.” Realizing that she needed to focus, Zecora said “None of that really matters.” Her tone showed how important this was. “We have enough to do on our combined platters.”

“His name is Danny.” Seeing the confused look on Twilight's face, Zecora could understand her thoughts. Ponies usually had more colorful names than the simple one Danny possessed. “I know it sounds a bit simple and uncanny. But that is really trivial right now. Danny needs to be found somehow.” Her tone stressed how important this was. “He is a young earth pony with a tan coat and a black mane. His soulful blue eyes hold a deep pain. Danny took off into the Everfree.” Twilight gasped as Zecora nodded. “You know how dangerous that forest can be.”

Twilight was deeply concerned about the “deep pain” and “Everfree” parts. She could just imagine it now. The small scared colt was lost in the dark forest. Curled up in a small ball, Danny was sobbing his little heart out. The normal sounds of the forest suddenly stopped. Not that the colt noticed, so lost in his sadness was he. A twig napped, breaking the silent air. This too went unnoticed by the depressed colt. Before Danny even knew what was happening, a horrible beast came out of nowhere and grabbed him with its huge teeth. Danny screamed as his flesh was pierced by the ivory blades. The creature then proceeded to devouring the colt in the most painful way possible. Eventually his cries for help ended as the colt was no more.

“NO!,” Twilight thought, breaking herself from the horrible image. “Danny will be a snack for any of the horrible things in that forest. . . I can't let that happen. . . We have to find Danny before some thing happens to him.” The unicorn was broken out of her thoughts by her wounded zebra friend.

“This colt greatly needs our aid, even though he is afraid.” Twilight couldn't agree more with the zebra. Thought there was a bit of a miscommunication in Danny being afraid. Twilight thought Zecora was saying the colt was lost and afraid in the forest. What the zebra meant was he was scared of . . . well . . ponies. The Everfree Forest didn't even faze the young child.

This was the problem with Zecora's speech patterns. Sometimes it lead to ponies not understanding her.

Sighing sadly and tiredly, Zecora said “Though there is something I must request.” She looked imploringly at Twilight. “May I stay here while you and your friends go on this quest?” As if to empathize how tired she was, the zebra reluctantly laid her head down on the couch. Getting past Lily and the other timber-wolves took everything she had. She was just lucky the beast couldn't leave the forest or she would have never made it to Ponyville. So Zecora simply didn't have the strength to go and help find Danny. Plus, she knew that she was the one that had scared him off and it would be for the best if she didn't come even though her guilt ate at her soul. But she knew that the Element Bearers were the best ones to go to for help. They would find him and bring him back to Ponyville, where Zecora could plead for his forgiveness for scaring him off. She hoped that maybe they could become friends. . . . That was IF, Danny forgave her.

“No problem Zecora,” Twilight said in a kind and understanding tone. The unicorn would have gone to find Danny even if she wasn't just asked to do it. No way would she let a child be lost in that forest with all the horrible creatures that lived in it. And her friends would be just as determined as she was once Twilight told them what was going on. Also the unicorn could tell the zebra wasn't up to go anywhere. And even if she did try to go, Twilight wouldn't allow it. Zecora needed treatment, rest, and to not go on this mission. “My friends and I will search all of the Everfree Forest to Danny and get him the help he needs.” Her tone was confident. “You just stay here and rest.” The unicorn then shouted out “SPIKE!”

Only a few moments passed before a purple baby dragon wearing a pink apron and yellow rubber gloves came running into the room. “What is it Twilight?” With a rubber snap, he removed his gloves and then his apron. “I was in the middle of cleaning the . . .” His voice trailed off when his eyes landed on the bloody sight of Zecora.

“Spike?,” the purple unicorn asked in a concerned voice. When the dragon didn’t reply, Twilight stepped between him and the couch, blocking Zecora from his view. Seeing his shocked face and eyes starring blankly ahead, she placed her font hoofs on his shoulders and gave him a small shake to get his attention. “Spike.” The glazed look left the dragon's eyes and he turned towards Twilight. “I need you to take care of Zecora while I go do something very important.”

The dragon, getting over his shock when he heard that the zebra needed him, was used to not being told things. It happened all the time with the many adventures Twilight and her friends went on. Spike knew that the unicorn would tell him all about what was going on when everything wasn't so crazy and the current situation had calmed down. So without asking anything, since he knew it was for the best right now, Spike gave a salute before saying “Right away Twilight.” He then ran off and out of view, to get the medical kit so he could treat Zecora's injuries.

When Twilight turned back towards Zecora, she saw that the zebra had her head up and was staring intently at her. “Before you go, I must warn you of the danger,” said Zecora. “For you see, to Danny, you are just a stranger.”

Twilight felt a little put off. She was one of the Elements of Harmony, helped turn Nightmare Moon back to Princess Luna, and was pivotal to turning Discord back to stone. “Most everyone knows about me and the girls . . . so why wouldn’t Danny?”

“Danny has a great power within him, so do not push him on a whim.”

That made Twilight wonder. A lot of ponies said that about herself. “Does that mean Danny is like me? . . But Zecora said he was an earth pony, so what does she mean?”

Before Twilight could ponder the question further, Zecora said in a grim voice “For if you do. . . .there is no telling what will happen to you.”

With her warning delivered, Zecora laid her head back down. Though she had to warn Twilight, that didn't mean she had to reveal Danny's ghostly nature to her. She owed the colt that much, especial if she hoped to patch things up with him. She just hoped that things went smoothly. . . But considering all the things involved . . . Zecora didn't hold high hopes. “I hope everything works out in the end. That way Danny can make many a friend.” Before her eyes could close, she saw a confident look come to the young unicorn's face.

“You can rest assured Zecora.” Twilight smiled. “With my friends by my side, there is nothing we can't do.” This statement was proven to be true again and again with all of the challenges the group faced together and came out triumphant in the end.

With those parting words, the unicorn ran out of her tree house to get her friends so that together, they would search all of the Everfree Forest and find Danny no matter how long it took.

“Hopefully we can find him before something bad happens to the little guy,” thought Twilight as she ran down the road. “Now which of the girls should I locate first?”

With unicorn gone, Zecora finally allowed her eyes to close. “I hope you are right Twilight. For if you aren’t, you girls are in for quite the fight.” With that thought, she finally let her mind fully rest and sleep quickly engulfed her.