Sakka no Kouma's Tales from Home

by AriaStormshine

Of Nightmares and Night Mares

Another night of storytelling had passed, and as the ponies finished cheering and went on to the rest of the festival, Sakka no Kouma was ready to call it a night. Everypony seemed to enjoy the show, and the couple from the night before helped tell their story again. This night however, Sakka had a special guest in her audience. The princess of love herself was there to watch this love story be retold and waited for the rest of the crowd to disperse so she could speak to the ponies in question personally.

"Princess Cadance, it's an honor to meet you!" Shoeshine said, bowing before the alicorn. Sakka and Lilyheart followed suit.

"It really is quite nice to have one such as yourself in my audience, princess." Sakka said.

The princess gave a small laugh before speaking. "Thank you. It was a lovely show. It was a true story, correct?"

"Yes, it was." Sakka answered. "And these two were the actual couple."

Cadance looked at the stallion and his eight-legged partner and smiled. "That's great. It warms my heart to see love blossoming anywhere. I can already tell by looking at you that your love is incredibly strong."

The couple blushed and smiled to each other, Shoeshine snuggling his head up against Lilyheart's warm chest, both of them happy to hear their relationship had just gotten the princess of love's blessing.

A crystal pony guard approached Cadance and whispered something into her ears. Cadacne nodded and looked at the group. "I apologize for having to cut this short, I am needed elsewhere, but I am glad to have met you all. Take care." Cadance spread her wings and took off, flying to whatever urgent business she was needed to attend. The crystal ponies sighed with an annoyed expression as they watched their princess fly into the sky without them. After a moment, they started to follow the direction the princess flew off to.

"Well I'm gonna go see if I can get some booze" Akamori said, walking towards the center of the festival grounds. "See you later."

"I suppose we should take our leave as well." the spiderpony said. "Farewell!" Shoeshine and Lillyheart walked towards the rest of the festival as well.

"Take care now, you two!" Sakka said, as they all went their separate ways. As she headed back to her wagon, Yuki followed along. Sakka, noticing the white fox following her, asked "Something wrong? Is my help needed again somewhere, Yuki?"

"You were right. I'm sorry."

A silence filled the air as they finished their walk to the wagon. Not wanting to stay in the cold air of the autumn night, they both hurried inside, Yuki lighting a candle on their way in. "Sakka, I'm sorry. I know I've been distant these last few years. I've had a great many things on my mind lately that have occupied me. I do regret not talking with you more personally."

Settling down in her bed, Sakka looked at Yuki with a smile on her face. "Yuki, it's fine. I'm just glad you're opening up again. You've been so focused on your duty lately. I missed my best friend."

Yuki's throat started to choke up when he heard that. 'I missed my best friend.'

"You know, Yuki. I wonder something. When us ponies get old, our colors fade. You're so young for what you are, and you're all white. I wonder what happens to your coat when you grow old. Does it stay white, or does it darken and go grey?"

Yuki just sat there silently, their silence speaking volumes to Sakka. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask such things." the mare apologized. The warm fire continued to burn, the candle's warm scent filling the wagon with it's familiar scent. "Sakka, I..." Yuki stopped themselves.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing." Yuki said. "It's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. You should get some sleep. You must be tired after today." 'I can't tell her. It's been too long. I've been lying too long now, I just can't tell her. It would break her heart to know.' Yuki thought to themselves.
Sakka smiled as she turned over on her side. "Okay then. Just remember, if you ever want to talk to me, just do so. I'm here for you, and always will be."

Yuki turned away to hide the tears starting to form in their eyes. 'I should be the one saying that to you, you fool... But you are right, aren't you?' As soon as Sakka fell asleep, Yuki hopped out of the wagon and started to talk a walk into the Everfree forest. As he entered the forest and disappeared into the trees, a cold breeze entered the wagon, snuffing out the candle's flame within.

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Akamori had transformed himself into a maroon coated stallion with a short and scraggly beige mane and a bottle of moonshine for a cutiemark. He made his way towards a bar and sat down, ordering a drink. A royal guard pony sat at a table across the bar, clean white coat and orange mane, talking to his colleague, who had a silvery coat with a royal blue mane. No normal pony would be able to hear their quiet conversation of whispers unless they were in between the two, but Akamori could hear them just fine.

"So what's the word about Celestia? I heard she couldn't make it to the festival these past few days." The one with the orange mane asked

"You don't know?" the other one asked back.

"Listen, I've been in charge of making sure Princess Twilight was safe this entire time, I haven't been in much contact with the other guards aside from Cadence's."

This juicy conversation intrigued Akamori, who quickly added some Neighpon Royal Scout armor to his disguise while nopony saw. There were a few double-takes here and there when ponies noticed him again, but they all shrugged it off and pretended they didn't notice. Akamori decided he needed to know about this. He grabbed the glass of liquor and walked over to the guards.

"Well, if they haven't been told, maybe I shouldn't tell you." the blue-maned guard said, going back to his drink.

Akamori sat right down at the table. "Hew now, do not be like that, friend. Come, tell us of what happened to Princess Celestia."

The two guards gave a suspicious look at this new pony who just sat down. The orange maned one spoke up. "Four questions."

"Okay, shoot."

"Who are you, why are you sitting here when there are several other open tables in the bar, how did you even hear us, and why should we tell you anything?"

Akamori took a swig of his drink before answering. "Well, my name is Akamori, I'm interested in talking with you two, I am part of the Neighpon Royal Guard Scout Division, so I'm trained to be able to hear conversations like that from a mile away on the battleground, and I believe if something is wrong with the princess it would be a very terrible thing to not see if there is anything we can do to assist. Celestia is the mother of one of our own princesses after all."

The stallions faced him with a stunned look on their face. It was a lot to take in, but they were convinced. The blue maned stallion sighed. "Fine, I guess I can tell you, but I don't know if there's anything you can do to help. You see, Celestia has been having terrible nightmares throughout the night that she is unable to wake from, and she is drained of energy in the morning, and it becomes worse with each night. Today, she was unable to get herself out of bed without help. Luna's been trying to help her, but to no avail."

The orange maned stallion had a face that was a mix of shock, fear, and awe. Akamori just had a serious expression on his face as he asked "Are there any markings on her body that weren't there before?"

"Yes, but only after last night. How did you-"

"Then there's still time to help her, but we need the odd chance that Luna has someone inside the dreamscape with her. Our Princess Tsukyomi is too far away at the moment and wouldn't be able to sense the distress in Celestia's dream, so Luna will have to get someone else. On the chance that she did get someone, I need to be there outside of Celestia's room with a clear view of the sky right above. I can explain later, just let me grab some things from the wagon I escorted over here for the storyteller girl and meet me at the everfree forest's entrance, Ponyville side." Akamori finished his drink and took off.

"Should we trust him?" The orange-haired guard pony asked, putting his helmet back on.

"As long as we're both there, we should be able to handle him if he's wrong and just crazy. We are desperate for answers to this, however, and at the rate this has been going, Celestia is guaranteed to die if we don't do something. If trusting him mean's there's at least a small chance of her surviving, I'll gladly take it, Sunburst." The other guard said, putting his helmet on as well. "Now come on, we need to let Twilight know we're going to borrow her chariot for a minute. we have a princess to save."

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Sakka was fast asleep. She didn't even hear the tanuki come into the tent and grab the bow and arrows from under the bed. "sorry, girl. Gonna need these." Akamori said, knowing full well she couldn't hear him. He then had a thought. He leaned in close to Sakka no Kouma's head and spoke aloud. "I do hope Luna brings you somewhere interesting. You could both use each other, I think." He hoped his words would echo inside her dreams and catch Luna's attention. He then ran towards the Everfree forest's Ponyville-facing entrance and waited. He didn't have to wait long, as the guard ponies from before arrived, ready to take him on an express trip to Canterlot castle. "Thanks for showing up, boys."

"If you have a plan to save the princess, Cobalt and I are going to need you to be there to tell us, obviously." Sunburst said.

"You have a point there."

The rest of the trip was in silence. They didn't speak till the arrived on Celestia's balcony.

"I am going to take this bow, and I need you two to keep guard while I wait for something to change up in the clouds. I have dealt with this kind of creature before. We could be here for a few days if we are to be unlucky." Akamori stated. "I would appreciate all the help you could offer, for the sake of the princess." Akamori in his pony form stood upon his hind legs and held the bow up to the sky, aiming at the dark clouds that rested above Celestia's tower. He prayed Luna got his message.

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Luna was thrust out of her sister's dream once again, panting with exhaustion. She took a deep breath through her nostrils and slowly let it out through her mouth, calming herself so she'd be ready for another attempt to figure out how to help end her sister's nightmare. Before she could go back in however she heard her name called from a distant dream. Her named had been called in dreams before but for some reason this felt different. This felt like someone was purposefully trying to contact her. She sought out the dream in question. If a dream needs her help, perhaps solving this smaller issue would help her figure out how to solve this larger one. She came close to the dream in question and could hear the message clearly, repeating every so often. "I do hope Luna brings you somewhere interesting. You could both use each other, I think." The way it was said seemed to imply someone had knowledge they should not have. Intrigued, the night princess opened up a doorway to the dream,, embracing the smell of cherry blossoms.

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Sakka no Kouma was alone, enjoying the view from upon the bench where she sat, surrounded by endless Sakura trees, blowing in a wind that was not felt. She sat there enjoying the sounds of music that came from nowhere. The calm was interrupted by faint murmuring however, confusing Sakka for a second before it disappeared. Before Sakka could gather her thoughts and figure out what happened she heard Akamori's voice telling her to find Luna.

Luna. That name sounded familiar to Sakka, but she couldn't quite put a hoof on it. She didn't have to ponder for long though, as the sky seemed to tear away. All haziness in Sakka's mind was gone at this point as she became lucid and realized what was going on. "Princess Luna! What are you doing here?"

Luna beckoned for the pegasus to follow her. "WE HAVE NEED OF THOU!"

Sakka was taken aback by the shouting. "Wha-"

Luna looked somewhat flustered as she spoke again. "I apologize. I am still getting used to not using the royal Canterlot voice. It seems it is not needed anymore as it once was. I do however believe you may be of assistance. I know not why but I can not shake this feeling that I may need you. I believe it may have been your friend who asked me to take you with me, so come." Luna turned towards the rift in the sky, and beckoned Sakka to come with her.

"My wing is broken, though, how am I supposed to fly with you?'

"Your wing is not broken here, young pegasus. Not that it would matter, I once had a small earth pony filly travel with me through the dreamscape."

"Wait, really?" Sakka asked, looking behind herself to notice her wings were indeed not broken here. "Then of course I would help in any way that is needed, my princess." Sakka flapped her wings and flew alongside the night princess into the dreamscape, leaving the smell of springtime behind her as Luna led the way. "What would you need my help with?" Sakka asked the alicorn.

"My sister is plagued by nightmares that drain her of strength. I fear she may die if we can't solve it, and I am having trouble coming up with a plan by myself to fix it. I was hoping that solving another problem would lead me to new ideas for approaching the issue, but perhaps just having another head to think in a different way could help." Luna explained as she opened a new door to her sister's dream. "If we are forced out from the dream, it will take a lot out of you. I would not be surprised if you may need a moment's respite before venturing into the dream again, but remember to persist. we must find a way to end this nightmare."

The two ponies entered the dream together, ready to try and save Celestia from this nightmare.

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Yuki wandered through the everfree and stumbled across the lake where they met the spiderpony. They looked into the lake's reflection and saw themselves, a few stray strands of golden hair starting to show in their coat. They sighed and lowered their head, eyes closed for a moment before they started to growl, slapping the surface of the water with a paw before turning around. As they started walking back through the forest they noticed it started to snow. They continued to walk until they came across a clearing, the ground coated in a blanket of snow. In the center of the clearing was a beautiful mare of pure white, her eyes an icy blue that seemed to pierce one's soul. Her long straight mane fell over her face, reaching the ground and leaving her right side covered, and her tail also fell upon the ground leaving a long trail behind her. She turned to the kitsune and spoke with an ephemeral voice. "Hello again, child of Shiromori. I was expecting you to not be hiding those beautiful tails of yours."

Yuki became engulfed in a blinding golden light, and is it died down, they seemed to glow with a golden radiance as behind them were nine glorious tails, swaying back and forth. "Yuri." Yuki said, their tone colder than the snow that surrounded them. "What are you doing here?"

"You need to tell her."

"Answer the question, Yuri!" Yuki barked.

"I'm here to talk to you before you go and ascend, obviously. I thought foxes were supposed to be clever and wise."

Yuki was visibly agitated, but kept their composure. She wasn't wrong. "Tell who what, may I ask?"

"The mare believes you to be 700 years old now. You must tell her the truth. Your age is becoming obvious."

Yuki bared their fangs at the mare with a growl as they started to circle around them. "You hold your tongue."

"Child of Shiromori-"

Yuki interrupted. "My name is Yuki, and you will address me as such! Leave my mother out of this!"

The white mare nodded. "Very well. Yuki, you can not keep this lie up forever. You should not have to live with an eternity of regret and guilt."

Yuki's moment of anger subsided as they responded. "I can not let her know. If she learns that her trusted friend has been lying to her for her entire life, it would only break her heart."

"And if you don't tell her, it will destroy her." Yuri said, a grin starting to appear on her face. Yuki stopped circling around the mare and sat themselves down. There was a moment of silence before the mare started to tease the kitsune. "You were so protective of her, and now you're going to be the greatest source of pain for her. I do ever so love the irony in that." Tears started to fall down Yuki's face. They couldn't bear the weight of crushing the heart of the one they helped raise. "And here you are, crying like a cub over the thought of you two being separated. Imagine how she must feel once it actually happens and you leave this place is a blaze of glory!"

"Shut up."

"And her face when she watched you leave in that golden flash of light! Oh I can see it now!"

"I said shut up!"

"She'd probably kill herself in grief and some misguided attempt to be with you again."

"SILENCE!" Yuki yelled, his tails flaring out as his golden radiance extends out farther, the snow disappearing off the ground throughout the clearing.

"And at the rate your hair is turning gold, it should only be a matter of time! Oh what beautiful tragedy it will be when she finds out that her protector for all these years has been lying to her when he has to take to the skies and become one of the stars looking down on her in cold silence!" The mare started to laugh maniacally.

Yuki stayed silent as his eyes started to glow a bright gold. the clouds above the everfree condensed and turned into warm rain, coming down and coating the mare in the clearing who turned to ice and shattered piece by piece as the drops of rain hit her, laughing to the end when she was not more than a puddle with ice cubes scattered within. The rain continued to fall and Yuki stayed there in the open clearing, crying to himself throughout the rest of the night. Knowing that he had to tell Sakka the truth. He was 999 years old and was about to become a celestial spirit, never able to interact with this world again. Never able to ensure his promise that she would be safe would be kept. He stayed there crying for hours before finally succumbing to exhaustion and falling asleep when the rain finally let up, his coat gaining a few golden streaks along his tails.

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Sakka entered Celestia's dream alongside Luna and was greeted by a darkly lit, lush forest. Luna spoke, explaining the situation at hand. "There is something keeping me from getting to my sister. I can hear her cries for help from beyond a door, but whenever I get close I am greeted by seven creatures and asked to come into contact with the one who will end the pain."

"What creatures show up?" Sakka asked.

"That is the baffling issue. The creatures are of a different selection each time! There must be some clue to this riddle that we have not found yet."

The two approached what seemed to be Canterlot castle, but overrun by the plants of the forest, thick vines covering the walls and seeming to wrap around the castle like giant snakes. The cries of Celestia could be heard from behind a door. As the two intruders to the dream approached the door, seven creatures appeared before them. A wolf, a cow, a chicken, a mountain lion, a gazelle, a hippopotamus, and a snake all stared intently at the two visitors. A loud booming voice could be heard. "You must befriend one, a creature that can save her, else you hurt her more."

Sakka noticed something off when the voice stopped speaking. "Princess Luna, ask it a question and listen closely when they finish speaking."

Luna wondered why this pony would approach the issue in this way, but humored the idea. After all, she had not tried it before, and dreams often had strange logic. "And what creature might aid us in the rescue of our dear sister?"

A moment of silence followed, broken by the voice returning. "With sight above all, an omen hard to be found, that sings of our pain."

Listening closely the two mares could hear the faint sound of a bird's cry.

Luna and Sakka both recognized the sound. Sakka turned around and found the source, a white thrush bird sat perched upon a branch. "Oh, a white thrush. Back in my homeland, their songs were seen as ill omen, and they usually sang from where they could not be seen." Sakka said.

"Then it shall be our answer this time." Luna smiled, relieved that bringing along another pony paid off. The princess floated up to the branch and reached out a hoof towards the bird. The bird vanished in a flash of light and the door in front of the castle could be heard opening.

The two ran to Celestia's aid to find a creature with the head of a monkey, the body of a racoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake charging after her. The creature stopped in it's tracks as it noticed the two ponies entering the room. The creature started glowing with a purple aura as it turned to face the pegasus mare. Luna attempted to intervene with her magic, only to see it not lay a scratch upon the beast. With a roar, the beast lunged at Sakka only to be struck with an arrow mid-leap, altering it's trajectory and landing to the right of the mare. The three of them looked on in surprise at the beast laying slain on the ground by an arrow that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Sakka collected herself after a moment though, and returned her head to the situation at hoof. "Princess Celestia, are you alright?"

"Yes, sister, are you okay?" Luna added.

Celestia took a moment to catch her breath before letting out a sigh of relief. "Yes, I am fine. Thank you for coming to my aid dear sister."

"T'was not just me, for I would have been unable to save you were it not for this young mare." Luna said, gesturing towards Sakka.

Sakka bowed before the princess. "My name is Sakka no Kouma, but you can call me Page Turner. It is an honor to meet you."

Celestia smiled. "Sakka no Kouma? So you are from Neighpon? How is my daughter, Amaterasu?"

Sakka was taken aback by how casual that sounded. It was almost as if she was being talked to by an old friend rather than one of the rulers of Equestria. "Sh-sh-she's doing well."

Celestia laughed, her breathing still a bit heavy from fighting off that creature. "No need to feel intimidated, my little pony. It's quite alright. You helped save my life, it would be especially rude of me to speak to you like I was above you after that." Celestia gave a warm smile to the young mare.

Luna chimed in. "If there is anything you need, do not be afraid to ask. You have at least earned a favor from each of us for this endeavor."

Sakka bowed in respect to the princesses before her. "Thank you! Hopefully I would not be in such dire straits as to need a favor from you, but if the time arises, I would graciously accept the offer!"

Sakka was looking at the arrow that struck down the beast. "Can you add one more favor for a friend of mine? I believe they shot the arrow that killed the beast."

Celestia looked over to the beast before asking. "What kind of favor?"

Sakka turned to Celestia, smiling. "I might need to give him a bottle of the strongest liquor you have."

"That can be arranged."

Luna spoke up again. "I believe it is time to return you to your own dream. I can handle cleaning up this dream and helping my sister recover."

"Very well. Take care, you two!" Sakka said. "And don't forget the liquor for my friend. He may have saved all of us tonight!"

"I won't forget." Celestia said, smiling.

Sakka was shown the way back to her own dream and made her way back, saying farewell to Luna. As she came upon her own dream she noticed Yuki in a dream nearby. She came closer to that dream where she noticed him crying. She wanted to help, but knew better than to intrude where she wasn't needed and left his dream alone. She went back into her dream and relaxed for the rest of the night.

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Outside of Celestia's tower, Akamori pointed the bow towards the skies, waiting for the sign to fire. After waiting for an hour a flash of lighting traveled through the cloud, revealing the shape of the beast within. in that moment he flashed and his position within the cloud was shown, Akamori released the arrow, striking the beast through the heart from the side, causing the beast to fall onto the balcony, dead. The guards watched, awestruck with their jaws hanging out of their mouth at this bizarre creature.

"Thanks for keeping watch guys, now let's head back to the bar." Akamori said, as if he hadn't just killed a powerful creature and saved the princess. The guards would never tell this story, as they realized nopony would believe them, but they never forgot the pony who came out of nowhere, killed a beast that was killing the princess, and bought them drinks until they passed out drunk in celebration.

Author's Note:

This chapter took a while to finish up, thanks to life getting in the way, but I'm glad I was able to finish it.
Once again, cookies to whoever can point out what Yokai is referenced in each chapter.