The Next Generation

by MercilessKing

I Dreamed A Dream

Despite their now friendship with Raiju, the five ponies had originally started working at the library per Pipsqueak’s request for volunteer work. They’d started working to help out around the library and they gradually became friends with the innovative Kirin. Only after forming such a palpable friendship, they noticed how hopeless he really was.

Raiju had a bad habit of oversleeping, overworking, and, worse of all, he could barely keep a stable schedule without help. He blamed it on his teacher’s habits, really. Twilight was a notorious workaholic, but he’d only adopted that habit. But, even with his friends helping him, he had more issues than just his own bad habits.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes when she looked around for Raiju. “Where’d he get off to?” she muttered. Normally, he was trotting around, putting books away and making sure they were doing their jobs. Whenever he was working, he was in charge. That was how they all saw it and how they all knew things to be when Raiju was around. He had an air of confidence about him when he was working that they all knew to be absolute. …But, there were some moments of weakness. Like anyone else, he wasn’t perfect. He overworked himself and overslept as a result. His judgment was often flawed and he didn’t always do things the way he should have, even if things did work out beautifully on a regular basis, even when he gambled. Though he was friends with all of them, she was almost undoubtedly referred to as his best friend. He told her things he wouldn’t tell the others outright. …And she was also his chief babysitter. She let out a heavy sigh when she found her boss in a small alcove of stacked books, out cold. Somehow, he was getting worse. He wasn’t oversleeping anymore. He was awake whenever they came over, but they were finding him asleep more often, too. She trotted over and tipped the books over onto him. She moved away as the Kirin immediately awoke, flailing under the avalanche of books. “You okay, Rai?”

He glared at her. And here he’d thought that Scootaloo was the prankster in their group. “I’d be better if you hadn’t tipped books onto my head,” he admitted, rubbing his head and then his eyes. “What’s up?”

“You were sleepin’ again,” she informed. She gathered the books before noticing his confused expression. “Uh, Rai…?”

“I don’t… I don’t remember going to sleep…” He looked around at the books before his horns popped alight. “I don’t even remember making the book fort…” He quickly put the books away, surprised that they all went to the bookshelves around him. Had he pulled them all down just to make the fort?

“Have you been getting enough sleep?”

He stiffened. “C-come on, Bloom,” he began, “It’s been—what?—a week? Ten days? You gave me a lecture about this already! I’ve been sleeping.” He was silent for a moment. Even without looking at her, he could tell that Apple Bloom was giving him a piercingly skeptical look. “…In short bursts,” he finally admitted. He looked at her, finding her yellow coat turning red around her face. “In my defense, I couldn’t stay asleep! I kept waking up every hour!” He pointed to his face. “The bags are getting worse, but I’ve actually been sleeping!” He paused, reading her words through the look on her face. At least she wasn’t turning red anymore. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine, okay? I’ll be up and around for the rest of the day and after closing time, I’ll go right to bed.”

“You know I’m gonna be here to make you go to bed if you’re not,” she avowed. She looked around and spotted a medical journal in their books. “Sweetie Belle was reading about this the other day. She said that most ponies can’t go more than eleven days without sleep before they go insane.” Flipping through the pages, she quickly came to the section marked out for sleep depredation. “You may be part dragon, but you can still lose it, you know!”

“Yeah, I know…” To be honest, he was coping well, but he was probably a lot closer to going crazy than he would admit. To be completely honest, he was better off using his magic to hold his mind together. He shook his head. “How about this: the next time some pony finds me asleep, do what you have to do to wake me up. …Even if you have to do it very intrusively…”

She paused. “I think we can do that,” she stated with a wide grin.

“Ugh… Why do my friends have to be so vindictive?” He went back to work putting the books away, though his tired mind wasn’t able to focus for long. Now that he thought about his sleepless nights and his mental state, he couldn’t help but question the dreams he’d had. Most of them were simple, nonsensical dreams he’d gotten used to when he was super tired, but, just a minute ago when Apple Bloom woke him up, he’d had a much stranger dream. “What was that about?” he questioned aloud before yawning. Before he knew it, he’d sat at one of the tables to read about different places. His curiosity was grating sometimes. He read through almost half the book before he found anything interesting or even reminiscent of the place in his dream. It sounded like a good place for a vacation sometime.

“Um, Rai?” Dinky looked around for a moment. She’d been around to wake him while in his study, but she’d never seen him pass out in the middle of the library! She had half a mind to let him sleep, as he probably needed the rest if he was asleep now, but that would also open up the possibility of leaving him to the prankster Scootaloo or the strict Apple Bloom. Leaving him to them would be cruelty beyond belief. She cleared her throat and went to his ear. “Rai… Hey, can you hear me?” She grinned when he smiled. He was probably having a nice dream. She placed her hooves on his shoulders and shook him gently. “C’mon, wake up! You’ll get in trouble if you stay asleep too long.”

Slowly, Raiju opened his eyes. He looked around for a moment before spotting Dinky beside him. He was silent for a moment before he began to panic. “I fell asleep again, didn’t I?” he questioned. He sighed heavily when she nodded. “Thanks…” He placed the book back on its shelf. “Keep moving. I need to keep moving.” He stood with a sigh. “Thanks, Dinky.” She was much nicer than most ponies would give her credit for. Being gentle with waking him up was a godsend, even if he didn’t really deserve it. That was one of the many welcoming traits she’d gotten from her mother. He looked at the clock on the wall and groaned when he read 9:01 am. “Today’s gonna be a long day…”

Raiju slammed his empty mug down on the table and let out a heavy sigh. He was starting to think there was something wrong with him. He couldn’t sleep during the night and he had problems staying awake during the day and even the coffee wasn’t helping him now! “Four… Four cups and I’m still ready to collapse…”

“It’s actually been five cups,” Dinky stated, refilling his mug again.

“Didn’t you stop drinking coffee?” the white unicorn questioned. With the lull in patrons, they were able to relax a little and simply talk. …Or, rather, they were able to relax and criticize their boss.

“I thought so, too,” he groaned, rubbing his face, “I’m not sure if I keep falling asleep because I’m tired or to make sense of my dreams…” He’d grown used to the normal dreams, not the dreams that led to his new, strange visions.

“I don’t think you ever elaborated on that,” Pipsqueak stated, preparing another pot of coffee for him. Even if he’d gotten his giggles from scaring Raiju awake, he was really beginning to worry now. Raiju was the only other guy in their group and one of his best friends. He was the only one to have bro moments with. That’d be completely ruined if he lost his mind from a lack of sleep. “You keep saying you’re having weird dreams. Does that mean you’re having more of those dreams where Pinkie was a pegasus?”

“No, and I swear up and down I’ve seen a pegasus that looked just like that before,” he said immediately. He sighed. “I just keep seeing places I’ve never been. A huge apple tree surrounded by deer, a forest full of monsters and butterflies, a festival with blue and yellow balloons all over…” He trailed off, nearly falling asleep again until he shook himself awake. He sighed. “And that was only counting the times you all woke me up… I also saw this place…” He rubbed his head. “It was… A field of fog with ley lines running through out…”

“That sounds like something I read about,” Scootaloo stated. The orange pegasus had taken up a regular habit of reading, much like her sister figure Rainbow Dash. The only difference was that she liked reading more factual material instead of fictional novels. That helped her to become a very knowledgeable pegasus instead of a simple minded thrill seeker. “Maybe those are real places?”

“How would I know? I’ve never been there. My mother had me in Canterlot when they found out she was pregnant.” The simple fact that there was another Kirin in the world was an astonishing thing. Their births were usually complicated and thus they were almost all born in Canterlot where there were ponies who knew how to deliver the hybrid creatures, no matter their parents. “The only places I’ve ever been were Canterlot and here. I’ve never seen a forest like that—none aside from the Everfree Forest.”

That was a dilemma. None of them knew why he was having these dreams and it was already disproven hat he was just imagining it. Most ponies couldn’t dream images they hadn’t seen or at least had a vague recollection of. “Maybe you saw some pictures of places like that and just had dreams about them?”

He shook his head again. “I’ve never seen an apple tree that big. It’s like the size of the ivory tower in Canterlot—probably bigger!” He sighed, but then a thought struck him. “Maybe…” He tapped his chin. “Hey, Scoots… Go in my study and get my map. Belle, there are some red pins in the kitchen. Retrieve them please.”

The white unicorn looked at her peers in confusion. “Okay, I guess…” She couldn’t tell what he was up to. She quickly trotted to the kitchen. Under his care, the library had become much larger and more extravagant. Aside from growing to more than four floors through his magic combined with Twilight’s, the two had gone through remodeling it as well. They’d even remodeled the kitchen with help from her and Rarity. She found the small pack of red pins and trotted back to the main floor. When she came in, she saw the Kirin spreading his huge world map on the table. “What’s this about?” she asked, placing the pins in his hand.

“A couple hunches,” he informed. He sighed heavily and looked the map over. He was bleary eyed, but he could still—somehow—read the labels and names on the paper. “The first place… A huge tree with deer all around…” He looked around on the map for a moment before he smiled. “There!” He placed a pin on a place called Cervidas.

The point on the map was stylized with a large tree symbol as well as two deer around it as well.

“Cervidas… There’s a huge tree there called the Yggdrasil… Every fifty years, it bears fruit that’s said can lengthen one’s lifespan.”

“What’s so special about that tree?” Apple Bloom asked, “It’s real amazin’ and all, but why’s it so important? That place is across the ocean and Eternity’s Bridge broke way before we were even born.”

He tapped the map. “The tree’s fruits are apples the size of a pony’s head.” He grinned when she stared in thought before moving on. “Secondly… There was a huge forest, maybe five times the size of our Everfree Forest… Maybe more…” He looked it over for a moment before placing a second pin on an island. “Everfree Island is a huge island covered in forests full of monsters as well as a few very rare breeds of butterflies.”

“Rai, what are you getting at?” Dinky asked. She wasn’t usually onboard with his gambles or his incoherent thoughts, but this one was much less complete than normal.

He shook his head. “I know I’ve not gotten sleep and this probably sounds like a lot of nonsense, but I think I’m onto something.” He placed another pin on the Kingdom of Haven. “A city of clouds surrounded by a raging storm and the skies are always graced with beautiful rainbows…” He shook his head. His dreams were all interrupted by each of them. It bothered him even more than usual now that each dream seemed to resemble ponies he knew. “And in Hosstralia, there’s this huge festival that lasts for a week… In my dream, there were blue and yellow balloons all over the place…”

Sweetie Belle grinned. Some time ago, she’d been one of the densest of the Crusaders. She was always slow on the uptake. But, now, she was the first to realize what he was talking about. “Rai, I think you should get some sleep. Do you really think those dreams of yours are gonna help to find Twilight and the others?”

He shrugged. “I dunno… It’s not like any pony’s really had any luck and I’m the only one with a lead thus far—albeit a flimsy one.” He sighed, marking out the forth destination from his dream: the Crystal Empire. “I remember seeing a weird cavern with three blue gems in the wall… That’s Rarity’s Cutie Mark…” He fell silent, counting five points instead of six and he frowned when he realized which was missing. “Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie… No Twilight…”

“What? Your weird dreams didn’t give you a lead on Twilight?” Scootaloo teased, poking the Kirin. She was a little concerned when he didn’t even flinch. He had ticklish kidneys and she’d poked him right in his side. Was he really that deep in thought?

“I mean… There’s always the foggy place with the ley lines,” he stated, placing a point on the point known as The Echo. He sighed as his friends shuttered. “If Twilight is in the Echo, then we might as well forget about it. It’s impossible to get out of the Echo, especially when you’re looking for the exit.” He groaned loudly, ruffling his short mane. “And I was so close to making sense of all of this…”

“How were you close to that?” Pipsqueak mused, looking at the map, “You think your dreams are signs leading you to the Elements of Harmony?” He was usually one of the first to understand his nonsensical gibberish, but today he couldn’t draw the parallels.

“I don’t know what else it could be,” he admitted, “Unless the stress is making me go crazy, there’s no other explanation.” He tapped one of his claws on the table before he noticed something. Slowly, he placed the last pin, putting it on the Griffon Kingdoms, but not just the kingdom, but the capital: Gryphus. “There… There’s a library in the capital that’s full of grimoires and magic books from all over the world.”

“Huh? How do you know that? Do you even know any griffons?” the purple unicorn questioned. He had a lot of connections, but this was a little much. Unless he didn’t tell them about all of his connections, that bit of information was a little unexpected.

“I…” He stared in confusion. “I don’t know… It just came out…” He sighed again and ruffled his already frazzled mane again, absently trying to restyle it in a saner looking pattern. “Ugh… These points are where the Elements of Harmony are, but what’s the seventh point for? Is it the princesses? Would the princesses be together in this… This mess?” He groaned and put his head down. “I don’t understand…”

“Maybe you’re just tired and stressed out,” Sweetie Belle suggested, “How about you just take tomorrow off? You can sleep in and take a break from the weird dreams and stuff. …And, maybe take a break from the weird theories as well,” she recommended. She often found herself worrying for the Kirin’s wellbeing, but this was even more concerning than normal.

“Or,” Dinky began as her horn popped alight with her pink magic. She levitated a book down from the second floor and placed it in front of him. “You can take a little vacation and go to Canterlot. We can take care of the library while you’re gone.”

“How exactly is that gonna help with my dilemma?”

“I’m on your side with this,” she stated, getting odd looks from the others, too, “My mom and I went to Canterlot once because I was having nightmares. There was a guy there who analyzed my dreams. It was a fear that I’d never find my Cutie Mark, but maybe he can help you out, too.” She flipped through the book to a section about dream reading. “He was the one that wrote this section of this book. He’s Dr. Freud, and he’s a psychiatrist. If any pony can help you, it’s him.”

He looked at the book, silently reading. After a moment, he sighed. “…It couldn’t hurt to have someone official look into this for me…”

“That’s the spirit,” Dinky cooed, patting his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, stop patronizing me.” He stood from his seat. “Pip, you’re in charge while I’m gone. I’ll be sure to get back as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir,” Pipsqueak cheered with a salute. With as stressed as Raiju was with his current situation, he was glad the Kirin was getting some real help with this. Hopefully, after he got some help, he was able to sleep tight and finally get back to normal.

The train hissed, spewing steam as it got moving again. It pulled out of the station, leaving its former passengers behind in a cloud of mist.

Raiju waved the steam away from his face as the train moved away. He sighed heavily. He’d packed light for this trip as he hadn’t expected to stay for more than a day or so, but he was also sporting a specially made necklace from Sweetie Belle and Dinky Doo. It was charmed to grow hot whenever he slept too long with it on. It was great for keeping him awake on the train so he didn’t miss his stop, but it was just annoying otherwise. He looked around, spotting the ponies all around before he got moving. He trotted at a brisk pace into the city. He’d announced his arrival to Dinky’s former doctor, Freud, so he didn’t have to worry about surprising the doctor, but it was still a little odd. He wasn’t used to trotting around Canterlot. It had been a while since he’d been here. After wandering for a few minutes, looking around at the parts of town he hadn’t seen in his years in Ponyville, he made his way to a three-story building.

The building was set up in an odd way. There were more windows on the lower floor than there were on the upper floors, but there were still a few scattered about. There was a staircase leading to the second floor on the outside of the building, but there was no doubt there was one on the inside, too considering it didn’t get to the third floor.

He—somewhat hesitantly—went in. He looked around the inside, happy to have a waiting room to sit around in. He went to the desk and quickly signed himself in. As soon as he’d written his name, he quietly sat in one of the seats and looked around.

He was the only one in the room.

Somehow, that seemed to make him more uncomfortable. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. It sounded great in theory, but now that he was actually there doing it, he was more worried that this was stupid. Maybe his dreams were just dreams. After all, they’d formulated this plan two days before he got on the train and he hadn’t had any odd dreams since then. Maybe it was just a passing thing, or a stress dream? That was probably it. He stood. “This was just a big mistake,” he muttered to himself. He headed toward the door. “I’ll go get a fancy Canterlot dinner and head home on the next train to Ponyville.” That would make him feel better.

“Raiju?”

He paused before he could even grab the doorknob. He looked back and saw a unicorn smiling at him. Too late to back out now. He turned around and cleared his throat. “Raiju Oshe,” he said, offering a claw to the pony, “You’re, uh, Dinky Doo’s doctor, correct?”

The unicorn—an older stallion—smiled at him. He had a pale brown coat and a short black mane. He was balding a little, but it was mostly unnoticeable. He had large purple eyes that were both sympathetic and piercing at the same time. His horn was short and rounded at the tip and he was wearing a dark grey blazer, a white shirt and a red tie around his neck. He happily shook the Kirin’s hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Dinky’s told me a lot about you.” He looked at the Kirin’s horns. “Though, I don’t think she did your horns justice…”

He raised a brow. Immediately, he showed a feature that most unicorns found odd about him: he moved his horns. They moved around like an insect’s antennae, though they were a lot more like prehensile tendrils. They weren’t at all like a regular unicorn’s horn, which was part of the skull. They were completely independent from the bone underneath. “No one ever does,” he answered, laying his horns back again.

Freud chuckled. “I’m surprised they can move.” He stepped aside for the hybrid pony. “Please, step into my office.”

“I don’t see why every pony is so surprised. There are spells to turn a pony’s tail into a hand, grow facial hair, give unicorns wings and make earth ponies walk on clouds. Are prehensile horns really that odd?” he asked, stepping into the office. Though, granted, he’d inherited the tendril-esque horns from his mother, it still wasn’t the strangest thing about him. He quickly and quietly took in all the details about the room, though the design was so simplistic that it really didn’t warrant much analyzing.

The room was dark, but comfortably so. There was a desk near the back wall made of mahogany with two chairs in front of it and one behind it, and was adorned with several knickknacks including two snow globes, a newton’s cradle, and a magnetized top amongst other things. There was a bookshelf on the right side of the room and there were two framed pictures of the pony and—assumedly—his family. Beyond that, there was a table with a glass bottle and a small collection of glasses as well. The bottle had a brown liquid inside, probably bourbon. On the left side of the room was a small table with a lamp on it, a leather chair and a couch as well for patients to lie on.

He trotted in and waited for the doctor. “Do you run the office all on your own?” It seemed like a smaller operation, but even he needed help with the library. How did the doctor coordinate his appointments? Was he really that organized?

“Well, my assistant takes most of my calls, but yes, I do run things on my own mostly.” He closed the door and went to his desk. He plopped down in the cushioned chair behind his desk. “Please, Oshe, sit.”

“I’d prefer you called me Raiju,” he admitted, sitting in front of the desk and leaving his bag beside the chair, “I’m not gonna lie: this is my first time in a psychiatrist’s office. I’m honestly a little nervous…”

“Don’t be,” he requested, “After all, I’ll be picking your brain soon enough.” He pulled a notebook from his desk. “Let’s begin. You were Princess Twilight Sparkle’s student, correct?”

“Still am.”

“Interesting. After her disappearance, I’d expect you to have taken a past tense label on that designation.”

“I just prefer to think she’s not dead or anything…” He looked away. “That’s actually one reason I’m here… I was hoping you could help me to make sense of the odd dreams I’ve been having. I keep feeling as if they’re pointing me toward my teacher and her friends.”

“Is that so?” he questioned, using his magic to scribble down the small details, “Would you care to elaborate a bit?” Unlike the Cutie Mark Crusaders, he listened without all the sarcasm and the jovial behavior. Even then, he was still light hearted and sincere, too.

He nodded. Instinctively, he stood and began pacing. It was something he’d done while in his study when he needed to think over a difficult spell or potion. “I keep having these odd dreams and I keep relating them to my teacher and her friends. I… There’s a dream about this huge tree in Cervidas bearing fruit and there’s one about Everfree Island and its weird butterflies, and the Crystal Empire and its gem mines… I keep relating them to my teacher and her friends, but I can’t tell why.” He laughed aloud. “There was even a vision of standing in front of a library in Gryphus just outside the market place…”

He nodded in understanding. “Might I ask, how real are these dreams and visions of yours? You might just be reliving memories your mind locked away.”

He shook his head. “I asked my parents and all—I’ve never been outside of Equestria. I didn’t even know about the tree in Cervidas until a few days ago and there’s three books on it in the library I work in!” He sighed. “And, the dreams are painfully real. I could feel the chill of the Crystal Empire’s tundra on my scales and I could smell the herbs from the market place!” He sighed again. “Please tell me this is just a stress dream and I should sleep a little more…”

He chuckled. “Not at all. Dreams have meaning.” He wrote more notes before speaking again. “In my opinion, this sounds more like your mind telling you to travel more. Visions of places you’ve never been are strange, but not unheard of, especially in unicorns. You’re half unicorn, so you might be a similar case. There’s an occasional Oracle when it comes to unicorns who see things they’ve never seen before. It usually starts in dreams and later becomes a norm for their waking lives as well.” He stood as well. “But, nonetheless, I will analyze your dreams for you. Tell me, what are all the locations in your dreams?”

“Ah!” He went to his bag and quickly retrieved his map. He used his magic to stretch it out before the both of them. “The library in the Griffon Kingdom, the giant tree in Cervidas, the gem fields in the Crystal Empire, the Corves Festival in Hosstralia, Everfree Island’s forests, the skies above the Kingdom of Haven and the outer wall of fog of the Echo.”

“I thought you said it was your teacher and her six friends, but there are seven locations.”

“I’m not sure why the last one stood out to me. It’s just there as far as I know. It could be a tip to find them as well, but I don’t know how. …I’ve tried to study the Echo, but it’s dangerous and confusing…” He shook his head. “I don’t know why that stood out to me, but I’m sure it’ll make sense sooner or later…”

He nodded. “Well, if you ask me, it could be a key to finding answers you want or if could be your mind telling you to just go and see the world. If you are an Oracle, then you’ll know once the visions come to you in the waking world as well, but, even then, you’ll have to see these places to know if they’re really keys or not.” He looked the map over again. “…You’ve really looked into this a lot, haven’t you…?”

“It’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last month and a half. It makes sense that I’ve been able to make this map.” He’d never thought he’d be admitting he’d been obsessing over his teacher’s disappearance.

“Even so, it could help to look into traveling a little. …With the exception of going to the Echo. It could be dangerous there. Try going to the other six locations. It could be good for you, especially if you work as much as Dinky told me you do.”

“I don’t work that much,” he chided, “Er, maybe I do and I just don’t know it…” He shrugged and shook his head. “I wouldn’t know…”

He laughed again. “I believe you.” He looked at his clock. “Raiju… I’m sorry to cut this meeting short, but I have another appointment coming in very soon. If you could come in tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have more time to talk to you about those dreams of yours.”

He nodded. “I understand. Thank you for your time.” He went to the door and looked back at Freud. “I guess I can’t really hope for this to be a stress thing anymore…”

“It could be. Even so, the stress was what awakened this ability. All in all, maybe this is a good thing for you.”

“Maybe… I guess things are going to be different for me now with my magic.” And this change was for the better if it could help him get his teacher back.

After three days in Canterlot, Raiju was glad to be back in Ponyville. He’d gotten to the point where he could sleep regularly and without the odd dreams. Sadly, he hadn’t really come into his abilities as an Oracle, but that could come later. Coming to the door of the library, he let out a heavy sigh. It was odd how only three days away could put things into perspective. He opened the door of the library and found the lights off. It was a bit late, but not near the closing time. He couldn’t fault them for closing early. He stepped in and closed the door behind him, but he flinched when all the lights suddenly snapped on! …Or, maybe it was the party poppers that popped when the lights came on.

“Welcome Back, Boss” was written on a large banner strung across the banister to the second floor for all to see when they came in. There were balloons and confetti all around and even a large cake on the table. The five ponies were present and accounted for, all with party favors to shower him with confetti.

“Hey! Welcome home,” Pipsqueak cheered immediately as Raiju brushed confetti out of his mane.

“I was gone for three days,” he stated, “I’m not sure if it’s really enough to warrant all of this.” He really wasn’t one for parties, but this was still a nice gesture, even if it was a little unnecessary in his eyes.

“Sure it is,” the orange pegasus chided, “We got to see how hard it is to run this place when you’re not in charge…”

“It’s nice to see you’re so helpless without me,” he teased. He trotted in but left his bag by the door. “I’ll have you all know, I’m cured. No more weird dreams, no more falling asleep during the day. I thank you all for your concern, but I’m not in perfect working order again.”

“Yay. We like when you work like a machine,” the pinto colored pony crooned, eliciting chuckles from the others as they cut into the cake.

“Shut up,” he chided, though he couldn’t help laughing as well. It really was nice to just enjoy his friends sometimes. They were such an interesting medley of personalities that it all seemed odd that they’d even be all together. It was nice to know that, even without the sisters and the teachers, they were still friends and that thought put a smile on his face.

“Uh, Rai…? What’s going on with your horns?” Dinky Doo stared at her boss as he used his magic in front of her. For as long as she’d known him, his horns had always been laid back on his head. She’d never really seen him during his magic training, but his magic was always ever prevalent, but she’d never seen them do that. “W-why are your horns moving like snakes on your head?”

He paused. “Huh…?” He touched his horn, finding it unfurling from his head. “Like I told your therapist, there are spells to turn a pony’s tail into a hand and to make earth ponies walk on clouds. This is just par for the course,” he stated. This was odd, though. His horns curved forward, making almost like a curved tuning fork. He usually only readjusted his horns like this when he was practicing combat magic with Twilight. Even then, he didn’t usually have to unfurl his horns for magic and they never did this without him wanting them to. Looking up, he could see the tips of his horns glowing with magic, but not his magic. One glowed gold and the other sapphire. This was highly anomalous.

“Wow, he’s in Canterlot for three days and he’s got new magic tricks to show us,” Scootaloo teased, “What’s this spell? Gold and silver sparks?” She’d never personally seen his lightning magic, but this looked as close as ever. …And that thought made her put her hooves on the floor. No need to become a conductor for no good reason.

“That… That’s not what I’m doing,” he said. He rubbed his head. “I’m suddenly really lightheaded…” He shook his head, trying to dispel the sensation. “I’m not doing this on purpose. This is just happening for some reason…” Suddenly, he knew what this was. He knew exactly what spell this was! It was one of the few spells he’d seen Princesses Luna and Celestia cast. It was a spell meant to create a star map. He focused the spell a little and immediately formed a huge map imprinted on the walls of the library thanks to his magic. “Whoa…”

The ponies all looked around, suddenly entranced by the spell. A spell like this was unique on several fronts. If Raiju had learned this from Twilight, they’d have known. …But, at the same time, the magically perceptive duo was able to tell that this wasn’t Raiju’s normal magic. It was different, more powerful, almost divine!

Looking around for a moment, Raiju immediately spotted some similarities between the map he’d made and the map Twilight had given him. Soon after spotting the similarities, he spotted the country of Cervidas! It was outlined more brightly than the other spots on the map. He shifted to point it out, but the spell immediately failed and his lightheaded sensation returned, tenfold! “I… I-I don’t… Feel so good…” He tried to stay upright, but collapsed. The only thing that kept him from hitting the floor was Apple Bloom catching his head.

“Rai? Raiju?!” The yellow pony began to panic. “S-Scootaloo, go call a doctor, Dinky, get ice and a pillow.” He laid him down on the floor. “Rai? Wake up!”

A thick fog rolled over the area. Nothing could be seen past the fog but a mass of rainbows in the distance. There were a few rock structures nearby, but they looked as if they were moving if one looked at them long enough or from the corner of their eye.

Raiju stayed perfectly still. He sat still, looking around with only his eyes. His horns were pointed forward and he was ready to lash out with the usual offensive measures of his lightning if something came out to attack him. “This isn’t real,” he said to himself. The longer he stayed, the more nervous he became until he could only channel his nervousness into his swaying tail. “This isn’t real. How would I get to the Echo in an instant like that? The only way for that to happen is with a teleportation spell, and the distance is too great, even for my magic.”

“That is correct.”

He flinched and immediately turned to the source of the voice. His horns popped alight, sparking wildly, as he stood in a battle stance. “Come out,” he ordered in an oddly authoritative tone. At a distance where he could see the intruder, he could easily utilize his personalized offensive magic and that was almost a guaranteed hit. “Come where I can see you,” he ordered as the figure drew closer. His nervousness was almost palpable, but he still kept an air of calm as well. He dug his claws into the ground and got ready for a fight when he saw the unicorn’s horn, but his heart nearly stopped when he saw wings unfurl as well. Almost immediately, he protected his face as the fog was partially cleared and he stood face to face with the Princess of the Moon.

Princess Luna stood before him with a small smile on her lips. She looked odd, though. Her mane flowed freely, still adorned by the sparkling shine of her constellations, her eyes shimmered brightly as she looked him over, her coat, still the rich dark blue coat, was unmarred as well. That was probably the issue though: her coat was unmarred and uncovered. She didn’t have her crown, the chest piece, and the crystal slippers she and her sister normally wore didn’t cover her hoofs. She looked much less formal, but still, somehow, intimidating.

Raiju deflated, nearly falling to the dusty ground. “P-Princess Luna? How…? I-I mean, I’m happy to see you, but… Y-you…” He looked just past Luna and spotted Celestia coming out of the mist as well! “You too? Where even are we?” He squawked when a pink blur suddenly slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. He laughed when he got a tight hug. “Hi, Pinkie.”

“I can’t believe it worked,” the pink pony admitted, “Twilight told them it was way too risky to try and get messages to you, and even trying to create this place was going to be hard, but sure enough, the princesses made it happen! They really can do anything, huh?” She gasped. “And if you’re here, too, then does that mean we can use your magic to help us get out of here?”

“No, Pinkie Pie,” Luna stated, “This place is merely a dream state. It’s what our draconic friend thinks of the Echo.”

“Well, he ain’t wrong,” Applejack stated, announcing her presence as she trotted out of the fog with Rarity, “But, I dunno if it really looks this creepy on the inside…”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t,” the Kirin stated, getting up again, “This place is the epitome of places a pony doesn’t want to go. It makes sense that it’d be scary and full of nightmares.” He looked at a stone pillar he’d thought was a monster. “Or, at least that’s my assumption…”

“Please,” Rainbow stated, swooping down out of the mist, “The Echo is just a big wasteland. I don’t know why so many ponies can’t just fly over it.”

“You can’t fly over it,” the Kirin stated with a grin. He chuckled when he earned a glare from the cyan pegasus. “Don’t worry. If any pony can, it’s probably you, Rainbow.” The fastest pegasus in the world really did have her work cut out for her if she wanted to claim that record as well.

“Please, we don’t have much time.”

His every muscle tensed when he heard that voice. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in quite some time and it was one he couldn’t forget even if he tried. He looked around before spotting his teacher, Twilight Sparkle coming out of the fog with some assistance from Fluttershy.

Twilight looked worse for ware. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in days and she looked thinner than usual. Her mane was frazzled and the feathers of her wings were torn and offset. She managed to smile when she saw her student again, but it was only there to comfort him. “Hello, Raiju,” she cooed. She was coming over to him, but she flinched when the Kirin quickly hugged her. “I’m happy to see you, too,” she laughed, returning the hug, “But, we need to get this message to you quickly.”

“Er, right,” he said, nervously breaking away. He wasn’t usually this affectionate, nor was he this popular. “I have to ask: what’s the problem? …And why are we in the Echo?”

“This is where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are,” Twilight stated, “It has them trapped here. So long as they try to escape, they’ll only become more lost. That’s how the Echo works. They brought us here through your dream so we could speak with you.”

“And why do you look so sick?”

“Twilight is doing what we cannot from this forsaken place: she is keeping the other Elements alive,” Luna stated, “Without Twilight’s power, they will perish. It made sure to put us somewhere we couldn’t help her from.”

“I guess ‘it’ didn’t count on your tenacity,” he said with a grin, “What is ‘it,’ by the way?”

“The Void,” Rainbow stated, “It’s a monster that Nightmare Moon made when it came off of Princess Luna.”

“It leeched off of my magic as well to become the demon it is now,” the alabaster unicorn stated indignantly, “It’s become incredibly powerful now.”

“So… The Void is what made all of you disappear? …And Twilight is…” He immediately turned to her. “You… You can’t keep this up…” Using magic to sustain something’s life was incredibly taxing. Twilight was a powerful sorceress, but she had her limits. Using magic like that was costing her sleep, burning calories, draining her of her life force to sustain theirs. If the Princess of Friendship kept this up, she’d expire.

“And I can’t just quit, either,” she stated, taking back her authoritative teacher tone.

“So, you’d just kill yourself to keep every pony alive a little longer while we try to find a way to get all of you back? That could take months and you look like you’re about to collapse now!” Twilight was the only princess he’d ever take up such a tone with. He knew her well enough to be disrespectful every so often, especially when it meant he was looking out for her wellbeing when she didn’t.

“That’s why we contacted you,” she stated, “If any pony can help, it’s you and with all of us sealed away, we don’t have any time to argue about this.”

There was a short, tense moment between them as they glared at one another. They were both surprisingly stubborn when they were angry. After a moment, Raiju let out a sigh and turned to the princesses. “What do I have to do?”

“You’re really gonna take this mission? After all that, you’re still gonna do it?” Rainbow Dash laughed aloud. “Man, you’re just full of surprises, all the time.”

He chuckled. “No, I just don’t want to see anyone die.”

“You already have the keys to freeing the Elements of Harmony and, when you do, they’ll be able to free Luna and myself as well,” the white alicorn stated, “But, your mission isn’t over yet.” Her horn popped alight with her golden magic.

Immediately, the dream changed. The mist turned to darkness, forming the magic representation of the monster that had kidnapped them all. Soon, the mist formed together, creating a creature that didn’t even look like the monstrous Nightmare Moon! It shaped into a huge amorphous cloud at first before becoming a huge serpent of mist-like magic. A face and horns appeared on one end, appearing with jagged teeth and two huge red eyes, too. It floated around him, solidifying into a massive serpent, even hissing loudly at him.

“The dreams you had point out the events linked to locking us away,” Luna’s voice rang out, echoing limitlessly in the darkness, “Go to those places and your magic will be enough to free the Elements. After you free them, they will free Celestia and myself. You, though, must face Void before it can consume the rest of Equestria.”

Despite looking into the nightmarish face, Raiju kept his calm quite well. “I assume it’s a powerful monster?” he questioned, unwavering. Despite his calm, he was still nervous. Even if this was a dream, it was still intimidating.

“Terrifyingly,” Twilight stated from the shadows.

“But, it did have to get the princesses and even Rarity off guard to defeat them,” Fluttershy said, informing them all.

Raiju immediately grinned. “Really? I remember being informed that I had more raw power than Rarity did, and I can use that raw power pretty well.” He looked at the monster again and his horns lit up. He hadn’t used basic offensive unicorn magic since he’d become Twilight’s student. The magic formed into a small sphere in between his horns before firing off like a bullet! The bolt pierced through the monster’s head, dispelling the illusion. “I know it’s not that easy, but it still seems like a bit of a punk.”

Celestia stepped forward. “You’re correct: it isn’t that easy. You will need assistance on this mission.” His unwavering confidence was concerning considering the mission they were asking of him, but it was amazing to see him so confident in his abilities. Maybe they had a chance at this if he retained such confidence and concentrated power of will.

He frowned as he thought that over. “But… The others will be going to get you and Princess Luna from the Echo…” If the Elements of Harmony couldn’t help with this monster, then he’d need other resources than them.

Luna appeared again, placing a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “The spell is wearing off. We mustn’t keep him asleep much loner.” If they tried to force the spell to last longer, they could hurt themselves as well as the Kirin himself. Putting him into a coma wouldn’t help anyone.

Celestia sighed. “I understand.” She looked at Raiju again and found him grinning. “Hm? You look as though you’ve just figured out Star Swirl’s greatest time travel spell.”

“No, I figured that out four years ago,” he admitted, “But, I’ll complete this mission.” He smiled devilishly. “I know just the group of ponies to help me out with this.”

The two elder princesses nodded in understanding. “Please, hurry. The first of the events will come to pass in only three weeks’ time,” Luna stated.

“That tree in Cervidas comes into season around the same time as the trees on Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack stated nervously. Three weeks wasn’t much, but it was what they had to work with.

“And the Primrose Butterflies hatch on Everfree Island only nineteen days after that,” Fluttershy informed. She wanted to see the butterflies, but there were more important matters than sight seeing!

He shuttered. “Even if we had access to the Peregrine Flagship, that would only leave us with five days to spare… And that’s without complications…”

“And the Corves Festival in Hosstralia is only a week after that!” Pinkie circled around to him at breakneck speed, grabbing his face. “Rai, you have to get us back to normal! We can’t miss that party!” That was one of the biggest parties in all of Equestria—or the equestrian territories—and it was undoubtedly the longest.

The Kirin chuckled. “I’ll remember that when I get to Hosstralia,” he stated, freeing his face from her hooves. He looked at the other ponies. “Three weeks to get to Cervidas, a month including the trip to Everfree Island, the Corves Festival after that… I think I understand why Void split you all up: no one can coordinate a quest to unseal you all.” And there was even the trip to the Crystal Empire to retrieve Rarity and Haven for Rainbow Dash. He frowned at the thought of going to Gryphus for Twilight, too. The Griffon Kingdom was more terrifying than the trip to Cervidas.

“Well, there’s some pony who can,” Twilight crooned, nuzzling his cheek.

He couldn’t help but grin, even as Luna’s dream began to fall apart more rapidly. “I wrote you a report the other day,” he stated quickly, “I was making all these promises that I’d help you and everyone. …I didn’t think I’d get a chance like this…” He looked around as the princesses themselves faded out of existence next. He looked Twilight over again, taking in her sickly appearance. “And I’ll work fast. It wouldn’t do to safe you just to find you collapsing from malnutrition…”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine. I wanted to see you in person again.” She hugged him again. “I trust you to do this. I have no doubt you’ll succeed, Raiju.”

“Oh, c’mon! Where’s he keep the phone in this place?!”

“W-well, he just passed out. He’ll wake up on his own, won’t he?”

“Yeah! Passing out from magic over usage is like passing out from overexertion: we can just wait!”

Laid on the floor of the library, Raiju could pick out every voice accurately. He opened his eyes, finding his cloud pillow under his head. He looked up and found Apple Bloom trying to organize every pony from his side. Good friends were hard to come by sometimes. He was lucky to have them. “In order,” he began, immediately stopping the chaotic panic, “There’s a phone in Twilight’s room and in my study. We had them installed during the remodel. I did wake up on my own,” he sat up, rubbing his head and putting his horns back down, “And that is because I passed out from magic, but it wasn’t my magic…”

“Raiju!” Pipsqueak and Apple Bloom immediately helped him up. “What happened? I-I mean, magic’s taxing, but I’ve never seen any pony pass out from magic,” the pinto colored pony admitted. His girlfriend was a unicorn and she used her magic for so many occasions, but he’d never even seen her overuse her magic in such a way. To be completely honest, though, it was a terrifying sight that he didn’t want to see happen again.

“I didn’t pass out. I feel asleep really fast,” he clarified, “Princess Luna put me to sleep so she could talk to me and Twilight was there and Applejack and Fluttershy and…” He shook his head. “There’s a lot to take in at once…” He looked around, finding confused looks on his friends’ faces. “Uh… Let me start over… Here’s the deal.”

After a longwinded and thoroughly detailed explanation, there was a painful silence that filled the air. It was uncomfortable and yet it was filled with silent messages between the ponies as the Kirin waited for their response to his explanation.

Raiju looked amongst them, letting them process what all he’d said. He wouldn’t deny that this sounded crazy. With his normally addled brain, he wouldn’t be surprised if they simply dismissed his ramblings. …But, then again, what if they believed him? That would be the long shot of the year if they did. He grinned a little at that thought. If they did believe him, he’d have to clean his study out.

“This is some kinda joke, right?”

Seemed his study would stay dirty forever if he kept linking the consequence to bets like that. “As much as I love bad jokes, this time I’m legit,” he stated.

Apple Bloom cocked her head, still skeptical. “You sure this isn’t some kinda joke? ‘Cause it seems like a joke…” She would be the first to admit that they missed their sisters, mentors and friends, but this sounded like a prank. “Didn’t you call stuff like that stress dreams? You sure you weren’t just dreaming it up?”

He shrugged. “It’s possible,” he admitted, “But, I also used a spell that only Princesses Luna and Celestia could use and my horns were glowing the same as theirs would. Any creature that uses magic—pony, griffon, Kirin, dragon, etcetera—has magic that is unique to them. There’s a family resemblance, but it’s always unique. You’ve seen my magic, and it’s nothing like the princesses’ magic.” His ivory horns glowed the same teal color as his eyes as he used a levitation spell. Soon, it changed to the colors of the princesses as he recreated their star map. “Unique magic is one thing, but a spell I’ve never heard of? That’s got to be pretty special.”

“Yeah, but this is you,” the orange pegasus stated, “You’ve learned spells that no pony knows. You mastered Star Swirl’s time spell!”

“And kept you from breaking your wing with it,” he stated, “But, that’s different. I mimicked Star Swirl’s spell. This is the genuine article. I could mimic Rarity’s gem finding spell or Twilight’s teleportation spell, but that’s mimicry, that was recreating. Plus, I just know a spell I’ve never heard of or seen before.”

“And the princesses told you it was there spell as well,” Dinky stated, brushing her blonde main back, “I just don’t know if it’s the easiest thing to believe…” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “I don’t know if any pony aside from us would believe you, either…”

He nodded. She had a point. His logic was pretty flawed, even for the blatant lapses. He couldn’t expect someone to simply believe him just because he said he didn’t know the spells. He could use a time traveling spell, for crying out loud! He had even more raw power than most of the unicorns he’d ever met!

“Plus, that was a dream,” Sweetie Belle stated, “Even if these dreams did show up, they showed up when you were lacking sleep and when your mind wasn’t in proper working order. Whether they were stress dreams or just the nonsense of not sleeping for long periods of time, it’s hard for any pony to believe you when you tell them you saw something like this in a dream.” She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that there was a way to get her sister back from this monster he’d spoken of. She wanted to help, she wanted to fight this, but this was simply too farfetched, even for him.

“I understand, but, even if you all don’t believe me, if you don’t come with me, I’m still going to look for them.”

That statement silenced their protests again.

“I know I sound crazy and unrested. I usually do. But, even so, I’m going to look for them. If there is a monster coming, then we’ll need help, and there had to be a very real reason as to why the Elements of Harmony as well as the princesses of the sun and moon disappeared all of a sudden. Every pony’s been looking for them for the month they’ve been missing, but no one’s found anything. Spike, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, Prince Blueblood—astonishingly enough—are all looking, and I’m the only one with even a minute lead. I’m going to help in whatever way I can, with or without assistance. It’ll just be a lot easier with help.” It was hard to tell if Raiju was just overly dedicated to his position as Twilight’s student, or if he was just more immersed in helping other ponies, but he seemed legit about this, even if he was alone. If anyone could pull off a campaign like that, though, it was definitely him.

“Psh, you’re not doing that,” Scootaloo said immediately. She stepped forward to the Kirin. “You’re a crazy, sleep deprived nutcase, but I’m not letting you go all across the world by yourself. You can’t even get up in the mornings without one of us coming to get you! You need help and I’ll provide it—even if I’m the only one.”

“I’m glad you feel that I’m so destitute,” he laughed. He shrugged it off, but he enjoyed that she was the first to step up. She was really learning a lot from Rainbow Dash about loyalty, and it showed that she could be trusted, especially with the big things. Despite being so blatantly flippant, he still gave her a wide grin. “Thanks for the help, Scoots. It’s appreciated.”

“Well, if Scootaloo is going, then so am I,” Sweetie Belle said quickly. She didn’t want to sit around being useless. She instead opted to help her friend, even if Raiju’s plan did seem a bit flimsy.

“Hey! I don’t want to get left behind,” Pipsqueak said immediately. Raiju was pretty pathetic without his friends around, but the Kirin was also one of Pip’s only male friends in town. He didn’t want to send him off on his own without some assistance. He squeaked in pain as his girlfriend pulled his ear down with her magic.

“There’s no way in Tartarus that I’m letting you go off on an adventure like this on your own,” Dinky hissed into her boyfriend’s ear, “I’ll go too, though my mom’s probably gonna kill me for just running off without an explanation…”

Apple Bloom looked around as her friends slowly made plans to leave for these mysterious locations. She didn’t want to get left behind, but she also didn’t want to leave without a stable plan—one of the few things that Raiju was bad at making. Her best friends were all going to go on some fantastic adventure, and, if she didn’t speak up soon, they’d be leaving without her. She wanted to help. She wanted to be useful. She wanted to be as diligent and as reliable as her sister was. She just didn’t know where to start. After a moment, she let out a heavy sigh. “I guess… I’ll go with you, too,” she announced, getting a wide grin from the Kirin. She blushed slightly when she realized how happy saying that had made him. “I mean, what kinda friends would we be if we didn’t help you out?”

“Bad ones,” he answered. He sighed and looked at his clock. Just looking at the date made him cringe. “Okay… If we’re doing this, then we’re on a very tight schedule. It’ll take weeks just to get to Cervidas and then to Everfree Island after that…” Happily, the other locations were relatively close, but that didn’t mean they’d take any less time to figure the Elements’ puzzles out. “I’ll make arrangements to leave for Canterlot as soon as possible. We’ll need something fast, probably an airship to get to all the locations…”

“Where are we gonna get an airship?” Apple Bloom questioned immediately, “We’re librarians! They’re not just gonna give us an airship to use.”

“Wrong,” he barked, “I am the apprentice of the missing Princess Twilight Sparkle and head of my class at the Canterlot Academy of Magic. I have connections, but I don’t know how many favors I’m gonna have to call in to make this work.” He sighed. “How’s about this: when we get to Canterlot Castle, let me do all the talking. I’ll make this work one way or another.”

Author's Note:

And here's Chapter 2. I'm a day late, but here it is. If there are any typos, errors or inconsistencies, comment below and let me know.