The Traveller

by LavenderRain24

Chapter 8 - New Enemy

Back in the Sahara Desert, it has been nearly 3 days since his daughter was labelled missing in Cairo's News Show. Yousef has taken to hiding in his house and has boarded all the open windows. He didn't want to be disturbed by any journalists or the press.

Amir came up to the front door and knocked on the wood, "Yousef? I know you're in there old friend. You've been hiding for too long." Just as he was about to try the handle, the door suddenly made a noise that sounded like locks unlocking from the inside. "Yousef?" He opened it up half way without showing himself and Amir took that as an invitation to come in. He quickly checked around him for any on lookers but it was deemed safe for him to go in unseen by the press.

Closing the door Amir was shocked at the state his friend was living in since the incident occurred. His house was a mess, clothes over the floors books everywhere piled up on tables and the couch. When he entered the kitchen it was just as bad but with dishes piling up in the sink and on the benches. Even a fly or 2 could be seen around the sink.

"Yousef! What's happened my friend? All this drama is getting to you isn't it?" The tall man sat down on the chair next to him at the dining table near the light grey couch.

Putting his bag on the table but not in between them. He watched as Yousef rubbed his eyes with his palms. "I can't stand it Amir. Where's my little precious stone? First she was was there but now she's gone. Why did I let her go to the dig site... she's just 15. What happened to her old friend?" Amir felt his pain as he too had a son that once went missing but was found 1 week later dehydrated in the desert. Alive and mostly well but it was still a stressful and frightening time for their family.

"I'm sorry this is hard on you Mr. Stone. But these new findings might shed some light on our predicament." Amir said as he flicked the draping fabric hanging from his head scarf out of the way of his face, he leaned over to open his black sports bag. He caught a glimpse of Yousef with a brief light in his eyes as he felt a flicker of hope. "Now the guys and I have uncovered a few clues in that new opening your daughter fell through. It's walls are covered in ancient symbols that look nothing like anything we've ever seen on Earth before. Except for one time during the 1800s." he took out a piece of folded tan coloured cloth covered in dirt.

Handing it to Mr. Stone to unfold he was stunned at what he found. "Blue dust!"

"This is what was left behind after the big explosion of light. I believe that this proves your oldest theory, Mr. Stone." Amir looked at his friend's lit up face with an expression of awe.

"Amir! This proves it! This dust... is magic!"

---

Sapphire began to doze off as the storm continued above. She heard echoing footsteps behind her and spun round to see the shadow of a pony coming from the darkness. "H-hello... who's there?" The pony seemed to just stand there glaring at her and then he just, laughed a deep; creepy laugh.

"You're a long way from home aren't you?" He steps forward into the night but only enough to show the colour of his fur on his front hooves. He was an ebony black pony and he had an old scar showing on his right front hoof. "Man it must be scary trying to find your way back in a strange new world you never knew existed!" He chuckled cheekily again.

"Wait... that voice." Sapphire's ears pricked up as she sat up more in the corner of the alleyway about 50 feet away from him. "It's YOU! You're the man that was talking with my father in the tent. The man in the black robe!"

"Very clever, you're smarter than you look Ms. Stone. I wonder how your father is coping.... must be tough having a daughter labelled as a missing person in Egypt. 3 days now." Sapphire knew what he was doing. He was pushing her buttons to make her mad, and it was working.

"Who ARE you anyway? Why did you talk to my dad at the campsite?" She quickly looked around for something she could use as a weapon if she had to but all that was there were the crates, a few rocks and a crate lid. Not much to work with bit it'll have to do if she needed some protection.

"Finally she asks for my name! Took you long enough... in the human world I'm known as Khalil Shade. But here my real name is Black Knight. Wizard of the Forbidden Lands.

"Khalil Shade? You don't mean... the owner of The Dark Fortress? You're pretty much famous in all of Egypt for your advanced magic shows. Now I know why you were there at the tent! You wanted to know if dad had found anything related to this world because of its magic!" She was furious that he thought he could try and take away a treasure that Mr. Stone had worked his whole life to find to prove one of his oldest theories of multiple universes existing side by side. No way she would let him destroy her fathers life work.

"Yup. The very one. Kind of ironic how the humans think my magic tricks are just fake tricks done with fancy machinery. When actually the machines are just there for display to make them think it's fake magic. But once I reveal that I'm from another world and have come to conquer Earth through my dark magic, they'll wish they NEVER set eyes on the Great Magician of The Dark Fortress! HAHAHA!" lightning flashed above them illuminating his face for a slip second as he lifted it backwards in a psychotic laugh.

"You're MAD! The authorities will stop you before you can do anything evil." She snared at him trying to strike fear in his eyes but unfortunately failed.

"I'm not mad. I'm genius! An evil genius!" He braced his body placing his weight into lower legs for support. A dark red mist formed around his horn and she knew that meant it was time to take cover. The purple mare instantly leant towards the crate lid and scooped it up with her hoof holding it high in front of her face just in time as a burst of powerful light energy rushed at her hitting the wood of the lid with a crackling sound.

"What was that?" a distant voice exclaimed from the town square. Not bothered by the voice from the square, he recharged his magic and blasted her again this time shattering her only defence. Bits of sharp wood flew every direction including scratching against her left shoulder making her flinch in pain. "I found her!" She recognised the voice that time, it was Scootaloo.

"Gah! I'll get you soon enough Sapphire! And when I do, there won't be ANYONE around to save you! I'll make sure of it!" He stomped his hooves, spun on his back legs and raced off into the dark shadows of the alleyway until it was just the young mare.

"SAPPHIRE!" Zecora shouted from behind the filly. "Sapphire there you are! How did you get lost? We've been searching near and far."

"So this is the one you spoke of Zecora?" a new pony came out of the rain shaking her navy blue mane with a purple and pink streak. "Only been in town a day and already got lost. Sounds like something I'd do." She looked at the purple mare and saw a fresh long cut in the pony's shoulder. "She's hurt, let's get her fixed up."

Author's Note:

Her dad isn't doing well coping with her disappearance, will they be able to solve the mystery? And What does Black Knight have in store for the new mare?