Chapter 4
Where Art Thou Dream Catcher?
“Not good, not good, not good, this is soooo not good” Dash was saying out loud while pacing the living room floor. “He should have been back by now, what if something happened? Luna will kill me!”The Morning’s rays were just starting to appear through the window of Dashes house. Dash stopped and looked at the rising sun then rubbed her puffy eyes, she had been awake all night waiting for Dream Catcher to come home. “Maybe he decided to stay at fireballs house?” she thought hopeful. She then spread her wings and flew out of the house and after a few minutes landed in ponyville. “Excuse me Mr. and Miss Holtuck?” She asked knocking on the door of the local hat shop “hello, anypony in there?”
The door opened revealing a sleepy green male Pegasus “Dash?” he asked blinking in the suns light. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Who’s at the door honey?” a grey unicorn asked making her way to them.
“I’m sorry to have woken you so early but by any chance is Dream Catcher here?” They shook their heads. “What about Fireball?”
“No, but Fireball sometimes wonders off and spends the nights with friends” Miss Holtuck replied.
“He will probably come scampering in around lunch” Mr. Holtuck confirmed.
“Do you know where he might have gone?” Dash asked concerned. They both shook their heads Dash then left the hat shop to continue her search for Dream Catcher “He’s going to be in so much trouble for worrying me like this” She muttered.
Dash searched all of Ponyville and even some of the Everfree Forest but there was no sign of him or Fireball anywhere. She checked the house again in case he came back but there was still no sign of the two boys “Do you think this is funny Dream Catcher?!” She suddenly screamed out of frustration. “Stop hiding, you had your fun now come out…please!” There was no response to her plea. Dash started to cry losing herself to desperation she had searched everywhere…except the school! She never even thought about the school she quickly shook away her tears and made a mad dash out the door hoping to find a clue of where Dream Catcher was.
When she arrived though she was disappointed for no pony was to be seen she then started to cry again out of frustration, worry, and lack of sleep.
“What you doing Dashy Washy” Pinkypies voice echoed in front of her.
Dash opened her eyes and saw the pink earth pony looking at her curiously “Pinky! Its Dream Catcher he’s gone.”
Pinky sat down in front of her “Wait isn’t that Luna’s kid the one that you’re babysitting?”
“Yes.”
“I saw him yesterday.”
“What!” Dash then took Pinky’s hoofs “please tell me do you know where he is?”
“Nope all that I remember is him and some other ponies playing soccer then poof! They vanished.”
“They vanished? What do you mean Pinky did they teleport?”
“I don’t know all I saw was ponies then poof!” she repeated again.
“Please Pinky you have to know more.”
“Oh yes, like did you know that only earth dragons spew fire when they hiccup, or that the juyt plant smells like mint ice-cream? It doesn’t taste like it though it actually taste like seaweed it’s kind of fishy if you ask me. Also did you…”
“I meant about Dream Catcher” Dash cut in.
“Who? Oh right, nope I know nothing.”
“This is bad, bad bad bad bad!” Dash quickly flew away back to the Holtuck’s place only to find that Fireball did not return and that a Pegasus named Cloud Striker was also missing. “There’s only one thing that I can do” she sighed.
“What is that?” Miss Holtuck asked.
“I have to tell Luna and Jackson” She then took off going into a double Rain boom heading towards the mountains. A double Rain boom looks just like it sounds it was a rain boom but just doubled. It was doubled the speed and power. It took her a few years to perfect it but she was now the fastest flyer in all of Equestria because of her hard work. However even with her speed it would take half the day to reach the mountains. If Spike was still around she would have sent a message by letter which would have been much faster however he was away living with the dragons after the heartbreak he experienced with Rarity.
As she neared the mountains two of the royal guards Pegasus’s meet her in the air “halt, nopony shall enter this area by the command of Princess Celestia.”
“I have to talk to the royal family it is urgent.”
“We cannot allow that miss now if you will please leave the mountains.”
She could not accept what the guards said “There’s simply no way that they would forgive me if I didn’t tell them right away that Dream Catcher and Fireball are missing” She thought to herself. This made up her mid and she flew by the two guards who were clearly not expecting her to be so fast.
“Wait…stop!” she heard them in the distance but did not comply with the orders.
“Now where are they? The guards were here so I must be in the right place” she said to herself as she looked for the royal family. She then saw Princess Cadance relaxing in a natural hot spring high on the mountain. “Princess Cadance!” she called as she flew down to her.
The princess opened her eyes “Why hello Dash how are you this fine day?”
“What is all this, I thought that you were all up here for a big meeting of some sort.”
“Ah, well…you see, about that…um…”
As the princess was trying to come up with something good to say Prince Shining Armor came from behind a large rock carrying two cups of juice with his magic “Honey they didn’t have the orange drink like you wanted but they…” he then saw Dash. “Dash what are you…” he and Dash then both realized that he was not wearing swimming trunks “Augghh” they both screamed as the Prince scrambled back behind the rock.
“Wait! Why are we screaming? We don’t wear cloths, like all the time” Dash then realized out loud.
“I guess your right” Prince Shining Armor replied and came out of his hiding now wearing swimming trunks decorated with surfboards.
“There she is!” a guard called as a squad came down and surrounded Dash who snorted at them ready for a fight. “Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance” the guard bowed “please let us handle this intruder.”
“That won’t be necessary” Princess Cadance replied.
The guard looked at her confused then bowed “As you wish” the guards then left them.
“I am curious though why are you here Dash?” Prince Shining armor asked.
“Oh, right I need to speak to Princess Luna and Prince Jackson.”
“That’s right" Cadance replied "you’re babysitting Dream Catcher for them. They are on the other side of the ridge” she then got out of the spring and guided Dash to a grassy area. Lying in lawn chairs in the middle of the clearing was Princess Luna and Prince Jackson sipping on glasses filled with what looked like chocolate milk from one of Discords clouds. Dash couldn’t believe what she was seeing the Royal family was not up here for an important meeting they were up here having a vacation.
“Dash what are you doing here?” Princess Celestia asked landing in front of her.
“Dash?” Jackson asked looking up from his sunbathing.
Luna however jumped up “What’s wrong, is Dream Catcher alright, why has thou left Ponyville?”
Dash took a short gulp “No, I’m afraid that I have bad news.” Luna gave a short gasp at this but didn’t say anything “Yesterday an emergency forced me to leave the village for a few hours, during that time Dream Catcher and Fireball went off playing. However when I got back Dream Catcher never returned home. I learned that Fireball had also been missing since last night as well as a pony called Cloud Striker. “
“Fireball sometimes stays at friends houses have you checked the homes of the other children? Dream Catcher might be with him” Princess Cadance commented.
“I have” Dash replied. “I looked all over Ponyville for them but they just seemed to have vanished in fact Pinky claimed that they had” She said remembering the story PinkyPie told her.
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.
“She said that they were playing soccer then they vanished.”
“I’m sure they are all right” Jackson replied going up to comfort Luna “they might be playing in the woods, in fact Dream Catcher is probably at your house worrying about you.”
“I hope so” Dash replied.
“I will go back to the village with you Dash” he replied.
“So will we” Luna stated obviously worried about her child.
Shining armor looked at Cadance “I will go too.”
The four of them then started the long flight back to Ponyville it was dark by the time they arrived. Dash opened her door but Dream Catcher was not there like they hoped. Shinning Armor had gone to the Holtuck residence but soon returned with news that Fireball was still gone. “Luna and I will search the forest but you and Dash should get some sleep” Jackson stated.
Shinning Armor agreed soon Jackson and Luna took to the skies leaving Dash and him alone. “So the meeting on the mountain is a lie?” she asked while closing the front door.
Shining Armor laid on the couch “Not really but it is more like a gathering to let the family relax and get to know each other better. That in turn takes some pressure off of us and hopefully leads to a better ruled kingdom.”
“I see so it is just a vacation after all?”
“Yep” he then yawned and pulled a blanket over himself “goodnight” suddenly snoring filled the room.
“Wow when he’s out he’s out” Dash commented to herself then went to her room suddenly feeling exhausted.
They had been searching ponyville for two days but there was no sign of the missing ponies anywhere even with the village helping in the search. “Where can our little boy be?” Luna cried as another lead turned out to be a dead end.
“We will find him Luna” Dash stated. However she wasn’t sure about her claim they had looked everywhere. “Maybe Pinky was right and they really did vanish?” she thought. She then decided to visit the soccer field just in case Pinky was telling the truth. “I will be right back” she told Luna and took off towards the field. When she arrived nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for a few burnt soccer balls. “Fireball, was defiantly here…” She then saw a huge patch of dirt that was missing from the field almost like a small crater “that’s interesting” She said to herself feeling the loose dirt.
“Yes it is” a voice responded.
Dash looked around the field but didn’t see anypony “Who’s there?”
“Just everybody’s favorite spirit of chaos and mischief!” Discord answered as he appeared in front of her.
“Discord, what are you doing here? I thought that you stayed on the mountain with the other members of the royal family.”
Discord moved towards the patch of dirt “Screwball was supposed to contact me today and she didn’t so I came here to investigate” he replied. “Hmmm this is interesting…” he mumbled as he touched the air around the dirt patch.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Yep, without a doubt Screwball opened a few portals in this area.” He then snapped his fingers and Cadance, Celestia, Luna, and Shinning armor appeared.
“Discord what’s the meaning of this…” Celestia began but was stopped by discord holding out his hand.
“Celestia come here and tell me what you see” Discord replied.
Dash saw Jackson fly into the clearing answering Discords summon as Celestia went to where Discord stood “there was a portal here…but I can’t quite make everything out” Celestia replied after she investigated the area.
“Yes this portal was made by Screwball, however I see two other powers mixed into the portals folds yes that of Fireball and Dream Catcher if I’m not mistaking.”
“Wow you can see all of that?” Dash asked amazed.
“I learned a long time ago that Discord can see more than he leads us to believe” Celestia commented. She then turned to Discord “what else do you see about the portal?”
Discord squinted as he cracked the portal open a tiny bit so they could all see the purple vortex inside. “This side of the portal is in good condition but the other side is worn down and has begun collapsing on itself. It’s as if…yes, the other dimension that this connects to is on a faster time schedule.”
“Where does it connect to?”
“I can’t be certain but some of it feels like you did when you came to our world Jackson.”
“You mean Jackson universe?” Celestia asked. Discord nodded in response.
“I think so, but it might not be. When the portal does collapse though any trace to where it went will be gone. A portal this big would have pulled the kids in when it was created none of them were powerful enough to control it.”
“Portals” Jackson cursed “I guess I will have to go get them then.”
“There’s one more thing this portal is unstable if it is used again it will fall apart, the dimension it connects to and ours will then merge. I’m actually surprised that they went through it without it falling apart.”
Jackson stopped “and if it connects to my world and they merge the sprites can come to Equestria freely.”
“No! Jackson we have to get our son!!!” Luna shouted. Jackson sadly looked at the ground.
“you know the danger Luna…” Celestia started to say.
“No! we will not leave our son in another dimension, never!”
“Jackson, you once told me that for every day that passed in Equestria a year passed in your world” Shining armor stated. “Would our sons still be ok after so long?”
Jackson lowered his head even lower he knew far too well that since Dream Catcher was made of Living Energy that he was probably dead. He went over to Luna who started crying “Luna…even if Dream Catcher is alive we can’t risk endangering all of Equestria. We have to have faith in him to find his way back home.”
“Nooo…I..cant…not my little boy!” Luna cried.
“I agree with Jackson” Celestia sadly replied.
“I’m sorry Cadance, Fireball would understand” Shinning armor said to his wife who looked like a pony whose heart was just torn to pieces leaving her an empty shell.
“No” Cadance finally choked through her tears “Fireball…” she then flew off and Shining Armor went after her.
“Discord summon my guards, we have to quarantine this place” Celestia stated.
It has been ten days since Dream Catcher disappeared from Equestria in the portal. Most of the royal family decided to leave the kids in the other dimension but Luna and Cadance could not accept that decision. It might have been motherly instincts but they could not leave their sons in another dimension even if it meant the dimensions merging with each other.
They were hiding in the bushes looking over the portal that Shining armor and some soldiers were guarding. “Doth thou remember the plan?” Luna asked Cadance who was shaking from nervousness.
“Yyy..eeess” she managed to say between her clattering teeth.
“It is time then my cousin.”
“What now!? Can we wait for the next shift?” Cadance asked pleadingly. Luna stared at her and she felt as if she shrunk under her piercing gaze “ok” she then slunk out of the bushes as Luna gave a signal to a filly that they convinced to help them.
Suddenly a shriek pierced the air as a grey filly came storming into the clearing catching the guards attention “Dragon! There’s a dragon after me!!!” Luna started to work her magic and made several loud noises come from the direction the filly was pointing.
“Get behind me” Shining armor told the filly as he and his guards started to make their way to where the noise was coming from. If they looked back they would have saw Luna and Cadance slinking low to the ground making their way to the portal.
“Were going to make it!” Luna thought to herself and winked to a nervous Cadance who gave a nervous smile in return.
“I knew it!” Jackson’s voice then reigned in the night’s air. “Shinning Armor you’re slipping if you fell for such an obvious trick” Jackson then flew down between them and the portal.
Shinning Armor turned to see his wife “Honey what are you doing here?” she did not answer him.
Shinning Armor just stood there trying to figure the situation out, Jackson rolled his eyes “I guess I have to tell you. There is no dragon it was just a distraction for these two to enter the portal without you knowing.”
“But the sounds in the woods…”
“Magic” his horn then glowed and the dragon noises stopped.
“What? I can’t believe you Cadance! How could you put all of Equestria at risk like that?”
“I couldn’t…I…I…cant…” Cadance began.
“I heard enough, I know that losing Fireball was tough, but you know better.”
“They’re not Lost!” Luna shouted then sent Shinning Armor flying with some magic. “Cousin!” she called to Cadance as she made a mad dash towards the portal.
“Stop!” Jackson yelled and started to push against them with his overpowering magic “please don’t make me do this.”
“Out of our way!” Cadance and Luna both called and shot their magic at him making Jackson stumble but even their combined magic was too little and he began overpowering them.
“Noo” Luna yelled as her magic started to slip. “Let us go my love, Dream Catcher needs us!”
“You know that I can’t do that Luna” Jackson replied sadly.
Cadance saw that Shinning Armor had recovered and was coming towards them “I’m sorry Fireball” she said to herself.
As all hope for them faded Shinning Armor suddenly disappeared “No! What are you doing?!” Jackson shouted.
“That which is not logical” a familiar voice entered Luna’s ears. She looked up and saw the Spirit of Chaos above them softly smiling.
“Of course” Jackson sighed.
“Discord?” Luna stared at him confused “what are you…”
“You’re not the only one who lost their kid in the portal” he then looked back at Jackson and sent a wave of chocolate milk towards him. Jackson put a barrier up around himself as the wave washed over him, Jackson then created multiple cords from the ground that shot at Discord who in response teleported behind him. “Too slow Jackson my boy” he was expecting Jackson to turn around but he didn’t as Discord looked closer he realized that it was a wooden dummy. “That was a good one” he commented as Jacksons magic slammed into him from behind pinning him to the ground.
“Thanks” Jackson replied as he continued pinning Discord.
Discord then melded through the ground and reappeared a few feet away “Luna, Cadance go!” he shouted at the two dumbfounded ponies.
Luna was the first to recover “Come!” she grabbed Cadance and they ran towards the portal.
“Aghh!” Cadance cried as a golden beam shot her in the back.
Luna knew that magic far too well it was Celestia “Luna stop this nonsense!” Celestia called.
“Nay sister thou must understand that this is one command that we cannot abideth by.”
Celestia looked at her sister sadly “I know” her horn then shot another beam at Luna.
Luna braced herself as the magic flowed towards her but it was suddenly stopped by Cadance’s own magic “Luna go! I will hold off Celestia.”
Luna nodded and flew towards the portal “No!” Celestia shouted as she cast Cadance aside but she was too late for Luna’s back hoofs were already disappearing into the portals opening.