//------------------------------//
// Takofuusen's Flight 
// Story: Octopus Balloon 
// by The System 
//------------------------------//

Takofuusen rised from the forest. Its ever-beating echoed into the distance as it looked out upon the beautiful world. The wind began to blow again as it began to flow across the skies.

It went on, acre upon acre of forest below it. Animals caught glimpses of Takofuusen's massive body floating with the wind. The happy look on its face was infectious to every living thing.

It began to rise higher. Its head scraped along the clouds and birds swerved around it. At this height, Takofuusen could see the whole area.

So beautiful.

-( Ponyville, Library )-

Twilight was reading an old, dusty book about different mythologies.

"Hey Twilight, what's that you're reading?"

"Just an old book I found. Lots of interesting things in here."

"Like what?"

"It's mostly about mythical creatures, likes rocs and nagas and..."

She trailed off, and stared intently at the book.

"What is it?"

"Something I've never heard about. And that's rare."

"What is it? Let me see!"

"It's a Ta...ko...fuusen. A Takofuusen. Strange name."

"Takofuusen?"

Twilight didn't respond. She began to read the pages.

"Takofuusen's origin is not known, but it's habitat is believed to be a place called White Desert, a place without color. The creature is as large as the average home, and has the ability to fly without wings."

Spike just listened.

"The creature appears to always be happy, and it's heartbeat is loud and sounds more like a drumbeat. Rare sightings have been recorded dating back to 1547 A.D. and has been "found and kept" by a mysterious pony back in 1835. The pony was said to be Starswirl the Bearded himself, but..."

She trailed off again, and went absolutely silent.

*faint drumbeat*

"Twilight-?"

"Shh! Do you here that?"

"...Yeah. What is that?"

She read the sentence over again. "The creature appears to always be happy, and it's heartbeat is loud and is more like a drumbeat."

"Then that means..."

Twilight ran straight for the door, with Spike right behind her.

She went outside, where other ponies were looking at the small, white, floating thing in the distance.

"Is that Takofuusen?"

She looked at the picture in the book again, then looked back. "Yup!"

"Keep reading."

She skipped to the next paragraph. "The creature is said to appear once a century, and is to bring a lifetime of good luck or eternal happiness. It was said that one look at Takofuusen could cure depression or sickness of any measure."

"Good luck? I could go for some of that."

"We all could."

They continued to look at the creature as the drumbeat echoed.

(-- Takofuusen --)

It continued its flight through the air to explore the land. It began to noticed villages and their people watching it from afar. Takofuusen loved this world much
more than its own.

But it knew it didn't belong here.

Takofuusen began to lower from the sky. Its time was ending. It knew it would have to go back.

As it lowered to single, white, thornless cactus, it left an imprint on its mind of this place, of its creatures, and of its colors.

Next time, it thought, next time it would stay.

Next time.