The Dreamcatcher

by Show Stopper

Still more Reunions

Chapter 6
Still More Reunions

Talon was thinking about magic.

Of the many topics she thought about seriously on a daily basis, magic was not one of them. She thought about school work, friends, the position she held in the public eye as one of President Sol’s adopted daughters, religion, the occult, paranormal forces that may or may not exist, books, experiments, what she would be having for dinner, and a number of other things. Magic was only ever a passing fancy from her fantasy books. She liked to imagine it, sure, but she’d never given it any serious thought.

That was before she’d woken up as a pony. She’d been considering the possibility of magic ever since she’d realized her situation, but only now was she giving it serious thought. Applebloom had talked about the Dream Catcher having magic as if it were a natural thing, and she’d described the Elements of Harmony as the “most powerful” magic items in Equestria. “Most powerful”, as in, there were other less powerful magic items. Finally, Sweety Bell had mentioned magic as well, even commenting that she could perform it, though apparently not very well. This could mean only one thing: in this world, magic existed!

The thought nearly made Talon squeal with joy.

Magic! Actual, real, not just smoke and mirrors magic! I can’t believe this! And it’s not just powerful evil villains either, if Sweety Bell can do it. Hm, I wonder if all ponies can do magic. Sweety bell’s the only one who’s mentioned being able to do it. Maybe it’s just unicorns. That’d be too bad, if some could do magic and others couldn’t. If it’s just unicorns then I might be out of lu- wait a minute. I AM A UNICORN!!! OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! I COULD DO MAGIC! This is great! I wonder how it works. Is it a “force of will” thing, or a “limited only by your imagination” thing? Either way, there’s sure to be someone who could teach me magic while I’m here. Maybe it’ll even stay with me when I go back home! I’d have to keep it under wraps, but it would still be awesome. OH MY GOSH, MAGIC EXISTS!!!

Talon was starting to creep out Applebloom. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left the boutique, and she’d practically started skipping a few minutes after, occasionally giving a quiet giggle or squeal. Applebloom didn’t know what was going on in her mind, but she was more than happy to let it stay there.

Talon didn’t know for how long they’d been walking, but eventually her thoughts about magic were interrupted by Applebloom’s voice. “We’re here, Miss Talon. This is th’ Ponyville Public Library, where Twilight lives with her number one assistant, Spike.” Talon looked up at the building Applebloom was pointing at, except it wasn’t a building.

It was a tree-house. Not a traditional tree-house, as in a house built on a tree, a tree-house as in a house that WAS a tree. There were a number of windows looking into the house, and even a second story balcony poking out of the thick and obviously living foliage. Talon couldn’t understand; how was the tree still alive if it had all of its innards carved out? It didn’t make sense. It was impossible! She voiced these observations to Applebloom and got an answer back that she really should have been expecting. “It’s magic.”

Applebloom pushed open the front door and walked in, leaving a frustrated Talon to follow. “Spike!” she yelled up a nearby staircase, “Are you here? I have news about Twilight.”

“Twilight? You’re sure? Don’t move, Applebloom, I’ll be down in a second.” The voice caught Talon by surprise. Applebloom had called this Spike an assistant, but the voice sounded so young. Was Spike Twilights younger brother or something?

That question was soon answered when Spike came down the stairs. Talon had been expecting a young colt, probably the same size as Applebloom. Well, he was the same size alright, but he wasn’t a colt. He wasn’t even a pony. Heck, he wasn’t even a mammal. Spike was a reptile: a purple reptile with a green chest who ran down the stairs on his hind legs. He had green spines running from the top of his head all the way down to his tail. Talon had never seen anything like him before. Then again, she’d never seen unicorns, wooden wolves, or manticores before either.

Spike ran over to Applebloom, not even noticing the pony in the cloak, and practically pushed his face right up against hers. “Well? What’s happened? What do you know? Tell me!”

Applebloom back-peddled quickly, blushing furiously. “N- now calm down, Spike,” she stuttered. “I- I can’ talk with you pressin’ your face up close like that.”

Spike took a deep breath to calm down a bit. “Sorry, Applebloom. I’ve just been so tense lately. I mean, the weird dreams stopped three days ago. They should have been back by now. If you know anything, then please, tell me.”

Applebloom opened her mouth, but hesitated before talking. She looked over at Talon and seemed to be thinking about something. Eventually, she nodded and made a sweeping motion over her head with her hoof. Taking her hint, Talon reached up and pulled back her hood before turning back to Spike.

Spikes eyes widened. His jaw dropped. He started to say something, but something stopped him. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, obviously confused about something. He walked up close to Talon and looked her directly in the eye. They stayed that way for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes, before Spike turned to Applebloom. “Ok,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “who is this, and what kind of spell went horribly wrong THIS time?”

It was Applebloom’s and Talon’s turns to drop their jaws. “H- how did you know?” asked Applebloom.

Spike shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s something about the eyes. So,” he turned back to Talon, “where is Twilight?”

Talon started to explain the situation like she had for Sweety Bell, but Applebloom cut her off. “We think she might be in a whole other world. This is Talon. She and her friends woke up a couple of days ago in th’ bodies of Twilight an’ th’ other Elements of Harmony. We think that they must’ve switched minds with ‘em.”

Talon narrowed her eyes a bit, annoyed at being interrupted. “That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell. Care to explain why you didn’t let me say that?”

Applebloom rolled her eyes. “Because when you told Sweety Bell what happened, it took you twenty minutes. I figured we’d jus’ get it done quicker if I said it.”

Spike chuckled a bit. “I guess you aren’t too different from Twilight after all. So, you’re from another world with no idea of how you got here or how to get back?” Talon nodded. “Well, I guess this means it’s time to contact the princesses.” He walked over to a desk where a stack of paper and some quills lay. He began writing as he continued, “I’d been thinking about writing to the Princess Celestia all day, but I figured I should wait. Well,” he turned back to Talon and Applebloom, rolling up the letter he’d been writing, “no reason to wait now.”

“How long will it take to send that to her?” asked Talon.

Spike smirked. “About three seconds.” With that, he inhaled deeply and breathed out a tongue of green flame. Talon felt her jaw drop again. The fire quickly consumed the letter, and the smoke and ash produced flew out an open window in a green haze. Magic!

“There it goes,” said Spike, as if he’d done nothing more than drop a letter in the mailbox. “She’ll probably respond as soon as she gets it. I don’t know how she’ll fix this, but she’ll find a way. You don’t get to be ruler of Equestria for over a thousand years without picking up a few things.”

"R-right," Talon stuttered, eyes still on the window where the letter had vanished through.

Spike raised an eyebrow. "Everything OK, Talon?"

Talon snapped out of her daze and grinned at Spike. "Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked eagerly.

Spike raised an eyebrow. "How to use dragonfire?" he asked incredulously.

Talon shook her head. "Not that! Well, if I could learn how to do that then I would definitely be up for it. I meant magic in general."

"Oh," said Spike. "Well, I'm not sure how much I can help there. Dragonfire's sort of just something that happens. It's as natural to me as breathing. Dragons can't really do magic like unicorns can."

"But I could learn?" asked Talon hopefuly.

"I don't see why not," Spike replied, shrugging. "If you're a unicorn, you can use magic. It's as simple as that. You just need to find someone else to *BURP*" A spiral of green flame shot out of Spike's mouth again, this time condensing into a scroll. Spike snatched it out of the air and read it quickly.

"What's it say?" asked Apple Bloom.

Spike looked up at Talon and smiled. "You'll want to get the rest of your friends. Princess Celestia's coming to town."

Talon's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Really? When?"

Spike looked at the note. "In about an hour," he replied, reading from the note. "I look forward to meeting the six beings who now possess the bodies of her faithful student and her friends. I will do my best to assess your situation and send you home as soon as possible. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Sol of Equestria, Ruler of the Sun, Princess of the Day. Man," Spike looked up, shaking his head, "she must have left one of her guards to finish the letter for her. She never uses her full title like that."

Talon rolled her eyes. "That's royalty for you," she said. "If it isn't a personal correspondence, they have to give at least a title or two just to keep up the expected appearance. If Twilight is her personal student, it's no wonder you've never seen a signature like this. May I see?" Spike showed her the letter and Talon examined it. "Yep," she said, nodding, "that's a royal signature if I ever saw one. Your princess and Twilight must have been close if Princess Celestia never had to use titles." She turned and began to walk out, pulling her hood back up. "Come on, we'd better get everyone else."

Spike and Apple Bloom quickly followed as they started back towards Carousel Boutique. "So," said Spike after a moment, "you sound like you're familiar with royalty. Are you a noble or something?"

Talon laughed. "Not at all. There are no nobles where I come from. Not in my country, at least. My country's government is a representative democracy, where leaders are elected by the voice of the people. My mother, Celeste Sol, is the current President of the United States of America." She paused as she considered the coincidence in name similarities before shrugging and continuing on. "She's been the President for 7 years now. My sister, Faith, and I were adopted by her when we were 8 and 9. Mom was going to adopt just Faith, but she refused to leave me behind. She stared Mom down for almost 5 minutes before Mom laughed and agreed to adopt both of us." Talon chuckled and shook her head. "And Faith hasn't gotten any less stubborn since, and she's even more protective. If I was taken from her, she'd probably react in about the same way as Big Mac did, except she'd beat you up first, and ask questions after."

"That's cool," said Spike, "but then how did you recognize the royal signature?"

Talon laughed. "I guess I did get a little off track, didn't I," she said. "Well, being President Sol's daughter came with some perks. For Faith, that meant vacations to go on safari to Africa to study the wild animals there. For me, that meant lots of first-hand political study. I spent so much time at Mom's side, learning all that I could about countries and governments, that I was able to waive my Government class in High School. I can spot a government document from across the room, and most government signatures. Royalty always has a certain style when signing."

"That's cool," said Apple Bloom, not bothering to keep the boredom out of her voice. "Hey, look! We're here!"

They had indeed arived at Carousel Boutique. They walked in to find Ruth talking with Sweetie Bell about Rarity's designs while AJ snoozed against a wall. "Hey, girls!" called Talon as they walked in. "Ready to meat some royalty?"

AJ tipped up her hat which had been covering her eyes. "What're you talkin' about, Talon?"

"Princess Celestia is goin' to be here in less than an hour," explained Apple Bloom. "She wants to meet with all y'all."

Ruth's eyes widened. "A-a p-princess?" she stammered. "A princess wants to meet us? We're going to meet a princess! I-I can't believe it! I'm not ready to- to..." Eyes rolling up, she fainted again.

Sweetie Bell glared at Talon. "Do you know how long it took for us to wake her up?"