• Published 10th Nov 2020
  • 438 Views, 8 Comments

Dream-Mix: Predawn - ScarfStar



The Aether, a mysterious energy begins its return to Equestria. While the Mane 6 are transported to another world to meet unknown characters . New powers and adventures await them.

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3: Night Hunters

The nightly and starry sky shined down on another town. In the shadows a pair of red eyes watched a blue scarf wearing black cat near a fountain. A few of the surroundings buildings had neon signs much like Las Pegasus for various shops. An accessory store and and an arcade in the distance. The atmosphere was quiet… at least for now.

The cat glanced around at the sky and nodded in the direction of its watcher before running off. From the shadows a black coated pony sprinted through the streets of the quiet town after it. He was wearing a red scarf and had a darker mane with a single blue streak running through it.

In an instant a swarm of tattoo winged bats descended upon the two and began chasing them. Both cat and pony continued their escape, leading the bats towards another district. It was a wide open space adorned with lampposts lighting up the area like a town centre.

“Ok! Go for it!” The pony called out and leaped onto one of the nearby rooftops with ease. The cat did the same jumping onto a roof on the opposite end and disappeared into another street.

The bats split into two groups , some following the cat while the group following the pony attempted to intercept him. He smiled and reached to his scarf as they closed in on him.

SLASH!
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Later the cat returned to the town centre frowning a bit as he looked around. The pony arrived as well, landing near one of the lampposts. One end of the scarf acting like an extra appendage held a bright gold hilt guard.

“They were a lot more aggressive than the last ones. We better find the others before we’re overwhelmed,” He rubbed a hoof to his forehead as the hilt guard disappeared into his scarf.

Suddenly there was a howl and strange purple markings appeared on the ground. They were shaped like wolves and before the pony or cat could respond they rose out of the concrete taking the form of pale furred canines, their claws replaced with purple tattoo like patterns.

Meanwhile, a shooting star fell towards the town with a smaller pink light following it before the two combined into one. The now pink star descended over town and in a flash of light Fluttershy appeared and fell through the night sky. Her descent slowed as she was enveloped in a pink aura and floated among the dark town.

Fluttershy blinked awake and instantly the aura disappeared. Luckily she was above a tree but she eeped all the same as she fell through the shrubbery and branches, landing at its base.

Fluttershy rubbed her head and stared up at the tree she’d collided with and then the night sky. While the sky looked the same, the buildings did not.

“Girls?”

Instantly her legs locked up and she shivered with worry. She’d have to find her friends quickly and get out of this spooky town.

“Stay calm, stay calm,” She whispered to herself and noticed she was wearing a yellow ribbon round her neck. There was a symbol of the element of kindness in the centre.

While poking the unfamiliar ribbon curiously, she heard the sound of a cat’s meow.
Her eyes widened briefly before she began sprinting towards the source. To her it sounded like an animal in pain and it took priority over her fears at this moment.

As Fluttershy approached the source, the calm atmosphere was drowned out by howls and metal clashing. She peered out from behind a building to the town centre as the body of a wolf collapsed near her hiding place. There were three other large wolves darting along the ground and swiping with bladed claws at another pony wielding a blade in his maw, another wrapped in his scarf.

She gasped and stepped back a bit. It was a lot brighter here too, so she was able to spot the cat wearing a blue scarf . Its blue eyes staring directly at her amidst the chaos as if it knew she was coming.

However, the cat had stumbled a bit while dodging two wolves leaping towards it. A much larger wolf repelled the blade the pony was swinging with its own clawblades and swung at him. The force of the slash sent a trio of crescent beams that cut across the pavement leaving behind flames towards the pony. He sidestepped the beams as they crashed into the building beside him but his positioning put him further away from the cat.

“Oh My-!”

She ushered out another eep as the cat was backed into a wall now surrounded by two members of the pack, there was an odd feeling about these animals compared to the ones she was familiar with. Though no time to worry about that now. She gathered up what courage she had and leaped forward to catch the cat as the wolves closed in on it. Luckily the cat leapt into her hooves just as a wolf snapped at its previous place but now she was in trouble!

“What the!?” The black pony had just driven his blade through the large wolf’s torso and it instantly faded into a pale wisp after being struck. “ I hope you know what you’re doing! Quit playing around!” He called out and covered his muzzle with his scarf turning his attention to another wolf that had appeared.

A wolf charged at Fluttershy and swiped with its claw blades. She closed her eyes holding the cat close to her as to shield him from the assault and the claws slashed against her legs. It was like a set of knives had cut her and she fell back against a building wall in pain, she felt like screaming but kept the cat held close regardless.

“I-I won’t let them hurt you.” She mumbled as the wolves closed in on her. “I’ll keep them distracted so you can escape. The cat peered up at her, placing a paw on her ribbon and she felt a sudden warmth, the cuts didn’t hurt as much for some reason and her ribbon began to glow.

The two wolves leapt at her and were instantly blinded as she was engulfed in a bright light. One flying straight into a wall. As the light cleared Fluttershy was now wearing a white cat-ear hood and a matching robe with red triangular lining. She still had the ribbon but also a large red hammer! It looked like a toy but had a ring of golden spikes around it. The black cat hopped onto her head and smiled down at her.

“Nice, that’ll make things easier.”

She heard the black pony’s voice and he landed right next to her causing her to jump slightly. He gave a nod of approval to the cat and pulled his scarf away from his muzzle.

His scarf suddenly acted on its own and swung his blade in an arc motion at one of the nearby wolves.

In an instant a crescent shaped beam erupted from the blade and cut right through the wolf causing it to vanish and make Fluttershy eep in surprise.

“You can have the last one.” He gestured towards the remaining wolf .It had just recovered from leaping into the wall beside them and shook its head before growling at them.

“O-oh I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t hurt-” She stared at the wolf as it began advancing towards them and then shook her head worriedly.

She prepared to put the hammer down and the wolf quickly leapt at her. Her eyes suddenly flashed red and she frowned before instinctively swinging the hammer like a baseball bat. The force sent the wolf into the wall yet again but this time knocking it straight into the building with a crash.

Fluttershy blinked and then put her hooves to her muzzle in disbelief while the black pony whistled.

“Nice one! He ain’t coming back from that one~”

He was clearly enjoying himself as he hoof bumped the cat’s paw, said cat smirked back at him. Fluttershy noticed the blade he’d been using vanished into his scarf. Usually she’d be more wary of strange ponies but she was more at ease since the cat was friendly towards him as well.

In fact she was more wary of herself right now. What was this outfit and ribbon? What was that sudden feeling just now she got from swinging that hammer and what were those strange animals that-

“...you doing ok?” The other pony noticed her spacing out and tilted his head to the side watching her curiously. “Names Axl by the way and this little guy is Cipher,”

Fluttershy blinked back at him before smiling nervously.

“Oh, I-I’m Fluttershy,” She felt Cipher rub his head against her hoof and she decided to pet him for now. “I’m fine, just a bit …overwhelmed.”

“Ah, so is this your first time dealing with those sorts of creatures? ”

He peered at her hoof and noticed the cuts.

“We’ll have to talk a bit later. Don’t want more of those monsters' friends catching us by surprise so let’s find some place safer.”

At this moment, Cipher scurried away from Fluttershy’s petting hoof and Axl began to follow after him.

Fluttershy gulped at the thought of more of the wolves appearing and began following the two. She’d atleast found a friendly animal and someone not as scary in this strange place.

Her thoughts were back to worrying about her friends and this strange power she’d felt today.
She winced and rubbed a hoof to where the wolf had slashed at her. It had started to bleed as she started walking but now it felt warmer as she rubbed it.

It wasn’t just warm though, now her hoof was glowing and the cuts were fading. She stopped in her tracks as she noticed this and her eyes became heavy with fatigue.

She swayed a bit before falling to the ground, her vision fading as she heard the faint sounds of meowing.

Author's Note:

Art by Pridark!