"Capper?" The little purple dragon asked.
"Ya you know, the cat that helped save Equestria against the Storm King. He also helped Luna once too."
Spike took a bite of his alligator sandwich. "Oh ya, I remember him. He was the one who tried to sell us to that mole-rat dude."
Discord laughed at the thought. "Ya, Fluttershy told me about that. He sounds like a really fun cat."
"Well I can proudly say that he has effectively changed his ways," Spike boasted.
"Yup," Big Mac agreed as he too bit into his alligator sandwich.
Discord could not let go of the delicious taste of the food he had gotten in the town far away from Equestria. He had taken a long trip to see their old friend, Trench, in order to get some of his divine food.
"Anyways," Discord said as he swallowed. "I had a dream about him. It was really weird."
Spike and Big Mac looked at each other and then back at Discord. For Discord to say that something was weird was definitely concerning.
"Weird how?" Spike asked.
"I don't know, I guess it just felt weird."
Spike took another bite of his food as he went deep in thought. Discord hadn't had any suspicious dreams since the Cadence incident. The nightmare situation was still pretty fresh in his mind. The thought of Discord being connected once again to another supernatural event wasn't too thrilling to Spike.
"Ya so about that," Spike said as he looked over at Big Mac." Big Mac and I were talking about your "weird dreams", and we decided that we are going to take action against them."
"Wait what?" Discord's concerned voice made Spike chuckle. "What do you mean by "take action against"?"
"Well we really haven't explored or explained anything that has been happening to you."
Discord sighed as he caught onto where the conversation was heading. "Spike my chaotic dreams are weird and probably demand therapy, but do they really demand any further attention? Can't we just chop them up to bad nightmares or something."
"Seriously?" Big Mac scolded.
"Ya seriously Discord? You're going to just turn away from something that is obviously important?"
Discord rolled his eyes and took another bite. "Alright I get it, it's definitely related to the crap we've dealt with. Still, do you really want to dig back into it?"
"No, of course I'm not lining up for a supernatural Hell hole. I'm just looking for simple answers about your…."abilities"."
"More like a curse," Discord mocked.
"Regardless, don't you want answers?"
Discord wiped his mouth and ate his napkin. He put his head down and crossed his arms. The thought of his past dreams was haunting to him. Each time he dreamt about the events they were dealing with, he felt trapped and beyond helpless. He was forced to relive horrible moments of the spirit's past.
"Spike, of course I'm curious why this is happening to me, and why now. Of course I wanna know why I can do that dream stuff and not even do any of my other God chaos stuff. Of course I would like some answers, but you don't know how it feels to be trapped with one of those things."
Spike chuckled as he remembered his experience with Discord. "I mean I was too trapped-”
"Not by yourself," Discord cut in as he took a drink. "I was with you and trust me when you're all alone it's way less fun."
Spike nodded in agreement. "Listen Discord we can't really just throw this topic under the rug and forget about it. I feel like it's best to face it head on."
"And why is that solution?"
"Because otherwise we're going to have to face it once you get stuck in another supernatural dream thing. I was guessing that you would prefer to face it on your own terms." Spike watched as Discord froze in thought. "Do you concur Dizzy?"
Discord ate his cup and used the liquid drink to wipe his mouth. He sighed in defeat as he surrendered to the idea that most likely he would be forced to face it in one way or another. It was true that he would like to face it on his own terms on his turf.
Never in his whole existence did Discord ever thought he would be looking in a library for a book. There he was snapping his fingers to find a book in Spike's library. Discord was quite impressed by Spike's collection of scary superstitious books.
"Ya ever since we came face to face with an actual ghost I've decided to get….educated on the matter."
Discord looked and skimmed through each book one by one. The covers read numerous names that were quite concerning. "Life after death", "Darkness Rises", "The Demons within", "When the Dead Walks" where some of the titles Discord skimmed through. The covers were mostly plain and looked old and torn.
"Where did you get all of these?" Discord asked.
"I've been looking around for them," Spike chuckled. "And Shredder gave me a bunch."
"Dang Spike," Big Mac said as he held up a book made of skin and bones.
"Hey that's actually the book I was looking for." Spike grabbed the book from Big Mac.
"Spike?" Discord asked with concerning eyes. "Is that book made out of animal skin and bones?"
"Ya but it's really old and I doubt it's made from anything we've ever heard of"
"Shedder?" Big Mac implied.
"Yup."
Spike opened the book and started flipping through the pages. The pages were thick and too were made of skin with a bone frame. Spike skimmed through each page with impressive speed. He froze on a page that had a picture of a creature sleeping with a dream cloud above their head. The dream cloud had an eye in it with entities flying around it.
Spike began reading the book as he walked out to his bed. "Ok this looks like a solid method."
Discord hovered over Spike and started to read the page. "Well that looks like fun.” A picture of a large metal door filled the page.
"It says that for all those who seek the answers of the dead, they need to find the Keeper's Doorwatch."
"What's that exactly?" Big Mac asked.
"It's the place of the Mooti Mootu. Also known as the dream witch," Spike chuckled nervously.
Discord was laying on the ground with candles surrounding him. Spike and Big Mac sat in front of him with blue paint. Spike read through the book and drew a mark on the floor.
"Alright Dizzy this time I'm not just going to throw you into a dream. I'm going to hopefully help us find out why you're having these dreams."
Discord nodded slowly. "How exactly are you planning on doing this?"
"By throwing you back into another dream."
"Yup," Big Mac agreed.
"Yup, that's just what I expected," Discord sighed.
"Ok," Spike said as he put a pendulum in front of Discord. "I want you to focus on this and nothing else. While you're doing this I want you to repeat something for me."
Discord gulped as he read the words out loud. "I seek the one who bleeds the red, take me to the place of dread."
Discord sat up and looked around. He saw Spike and Big Mac staring at him with blank faces. He was about to say something before a weird sensation overcame his body. He stood up and slowly turned around. He stepped back as he saw his unconscious body laying on the ground.
Discord walked up to his body and touched it. His body didn't move but a strange wave echoed outward. The sound of the wall vibrating willed his head. It was certainly different than any of his previous dreams.
He did his routine check and walked over to the window. Ponyville looked mostly the same except the ponies were misty and walked slowly. Their forms shifted in weird ways. He turned to see that Spike and Big Mac were misty as well.
Something rushed past the doorway with blinding speed. Discord stood and stared as he debated if he should investigate. He clenched his fist as he sighed. He ran to the door and peeked into the hallway. He saw the figure slowly walking around the corner. Discord looked back at his body before he ventured out.
The hallway walls were strange. It shifted in and out of existence. Every footstep he took had an uncanny echo to it. Reality lost all its meaning in the place he was at.
A fog settled over the path and made it harder to see. Discord carried on through the mist with hesitation. The path eventually led to an old steel door that was old and rusty.
Discord took no time to examine it. He simply opened the door and took appreciation for its loud creak. Discord remembered that while he read the book Spike had he recalled something about a door he must pass through to get the answers he was searching for.
The room was dark with only rays of moonlight being the guide. Discord could see skulls hanging from the ceiling and animal parts nailed to the walls. He could feel the presence of someone else in the room. He turned to the dark corner of the room. No light dared to approach it.
Discord could hear the cracking of bones as the figure moved. It stretched out its hand which was boney and covered in body cloth. It had three long distinctive fingers. Besides the long dripping hair and round head, most of its presents were hidden by the darkness.
"What are you?" Discord asked.
"What are you?" The voice echoed back. The voice was dark and raspy. It seemed to choke on its words.
"What is this place?" Discord asked as he took a step forward.
"If chaos was death then death would be the world."
"What?" Discord swallowed as he took another step forward. "Where am I?"
The figure turned its head as its bones cracked. "We are the unheard, and you are in the place where the sound of silence echoes. The world between the world."
Riddles were never his strong suit but he dared not to repeat the question. "Why am I here?"
"You are the few you can enter without knowing death."
"How?" Discord whispered.
"Dream walkers are not welcomed by many here, but they wield great power in this place."
Discord froze as he searched through his thoughts. He recalled what had been said so far, but he realized he still really didn't have answers. "What is a dream walker?"
"What are you?"
"Dream walker?" Discord answered slowly.
"Why have you come here, Dream Walker?"
"I'm here for answers. I don't know why I have these dreams or why I can see the things I do."
"Oh, you lost soul. You see the dead, the lost, for them." The figure pointed towards Discord.
Discord turned around to see a random spotlight. Under the spotlight stood Silver Blitz. She was crying and screaming for help.
"Silver Blitz!" Discord screamed as he ran towards her. The light turned off and Discord ran into the wall.
"You came to help them. To feel their pain, and make it your own."
"What do you mean? What is all this?" Discord screamed as he felt a sharp pain in his spine. He fell to the floor as blood dripped from the ceiling. He looked over to the figure as it stood up. It dragged long tentacles behind it and stood on two legs. Its hair dripped of blood and its body was literally rotting skin and bones. Discord couldn't move as it approached him.
Shira had explained everything to him, yet somehow he still had so many questions. The Guardians had been an ancient species that had protected the living world for eons. The swords that they carried were ancient relics that were forged by holy light. The swords were only meant to be wielded by a true Guardian.
Shira spoke of Capper's father. “He was a Guardian, and the sword had belonged to him. Since he was dead, the sword had no master and remained dormant.”
"A dormant sword is a very dangerous state," said the golden armored cat from the casino. The cat threw the stone sword on the table in front of Capper. "In this state, its raw power can be used by any creature who knows how to."
Capper looked back down at the stone sword. "What makes it so dangerous?"
Shira sat down next to Capper. "When he said any creature could use its power, he meant any creature. Our enemies could potentially use its raw potential for anything they desire."
"I'm sorry," Capper said as he looked up from the table. "But I never quite got his name."
"It's Arch."
"Well then, Arch, if you can't leave it in its current state then why don't you take it." Capper shifted in his chair.
Arch slid the sword closer to Capper. "Because the sword is sworn to only your bloodline. It was your father's sword, and it will only be yours."
"You knew my father?" Capper whispered almost to himself.
"Knew him?" Arch chucked.
"He was my brother."