Thicker than Water

by FoggyHunter

The Traveler

Chapter 2: The Traveler

The sun shone brightly over the green fields and trees as a small yellow pegasus with a light pink mane and tail walked quietly through the grass towards the edge of a very dense forest. The pegasus had what looked like a tattoo of sorts of three pink butterflies on either side of her hind quarters. Fluttershy was humming to herself in her usual soft voice as she came to her destination. On the outskirts of the Everfree Forest grew some wild herbs that if used correctly had several medical applications. Fluttershy, being the master of healing according to her friends, knew very well how to use such herbs correctly. The yellow pegasus continued to hum to herself as she began to delicately pick the needed herbs and store them in the saddlebag she happened to be wearing. As she finished her errand she turned to head back when she suddenly felt something that made the hair of her coat stand on end. It felt almost like a side effect of some of Twilight's spells but somehow different. Fluttershy slowly turned her head to the direction of where she believed the feeling was coming from, only to see nothing there but the forest itself.

'hmm, maybe I'm coming down with someth-' Before she could finish her thought a blinding white light suddenly appeared out of thin air, startling the timid pegasus pony as she gave a high piched "EEP" in surprise. The crackling of energy could be heard as the light grew even brighter and even overpowered the light of the sun itself. Had Flutershy not been so busy protecting her eyes from the literally blinding light show, she would have noticed that the light was coming from what would have seemed like a dome forming on the ground several pony-lengths in front of her. After about only four or so seconds after the lights appearance, it vanished completely, leaving Fluttershy very disoriented and very, very scared.

As the kind hearted pegasus's eyes began to come back into focus, she saw that the place that was once grass, where she suspected the light came from, was now just a ring of scorched earth. What really caught Fluttershy's attention, however, was the thing that lay in the middle of the scorched ring. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. She knew that it had to be a living creature by how its chest, at least she thought it was the creature's chest, rose and fell at a steady rate, signaling that the thing did breath. Her curiosity and concern for all living things soon took over her fear as she inched closer to the creature.

Upon closer inspection the pegasus found that the creature, although much bigger than her, did have legs like she did, only that the two lower ones ended in rather strange leathery appendages, nothing like hooves, and the upper ones ended in the hooves having five smaller appendages on each. They reminded her of the paws of a monkey she once took care of. After looking even closer (somewhat too close for the cautious side of Fluttershy) she notices that the lower hooves had a resemblance to a pair of Applejack's boots, but black. She also noticed that the creature wore what seemed like clothing over a mostly hairless, and lightly tanned, skin. The only hair that was apparent on the creature was the somewhat short, curly brown hair it had on top of its head and on its chin. Its face, Fluttershy realized, also resembled that of a pony, but only flatter, and it looked like it was asleep. The curious pony would have continued her inspection had the creature not started to stir.
------------------------------------------------------
He felt like shit. This was nothing new to him since he did this a lot, but yet that didn't change the fact that he still felt like shit. The light of day hurt his eyes even through his eyelids, his head and muscles ached with every heartbeat, and his mouth tasted like a mixture of sewage and vomit. All in all, it felt like the worst hangover of his life …again. As he groaned out his discomfort to whatever world he had landed on, he heard what sounded like a small 'eep' coming from somewhere nearby. He didn't really care where it came from or who it belonged to; he knew it would be a while before he got over feeling like shit and didn't really want to do anything until then. Not even a meteor shower headed right for his position could make him get up and move.

As his mind began to clear he focused on his surroundings and sent his mind on a wide sweep of the immediate area. In an instant he knew that he was in some form of grass field right next to a somewhat hostile forest. He also became aware in that instant that he was not alone. A small equine creature with wings on its back was currently hiding behind one of the trees in said forest, eyeing him with a mixture of awe, curiosity, and fear. Mostly fear. He was used to this type of first impressions and began his routine of first-day-survival. Without moving a muscle he plunged into the creatures mind without the creatures notice and gathered only the necessities that he had to learn: language, location, culture, level of sentience, and motive.

He made a mental sigh of relieve upon learning that the creature, or pony as its kind called themselves, did not plan to attack him. As a matter of fact the pony was much too terrified to even move. Minuets went by with neither one of them making a single move whatsoever. After several more minutes of just laying around, he decided that now was probably a good time to get up and introduce himself to the timid pony. With a groan he lifted himself into a sitting position and opened his eyes for the first time since arriving in this world. What he saw didn't exactly stun him, but he knew how to appreciate simple beauty. The grass he saw was a healthy green as it swayed lazily in the light breeze. The sky was a perfect light blue without a cloud in the sky, the sun warm on his back. 'A place untouched by hardship,' he thought, 'let's hope it stays that way.'

He then turned towards the pony that was still watching him from behind a nearby tree. The pony in question gave another small "eep" and hid even farther behind the tree. He felt a small pang of guilt for scarring the timid creature but knew that he really couldn't do anything about it until he tried to initiate contact, which he then did.
-----------------------------------------
Fluttershy was, for lack of a better term, scared manure-les. A creature the likes of which she had never seen or even heard of before was now sitting in a charred ring looking in her direction. All Fluttershy could think of at that moment was 'pleasedonteatme-pleasedonteatme-pleasedonteatme'.

"You have nothing to fear, Fluttershy. I'm not going to hurt you."

Fluttershy blinked in surprised shock. Did this creature just talk to her? How? More importantly was how did it know her name?

"Please, Fluttershy, there is no need to hide."

It spoke again, but now she noticed that its voice sounded male in a way and … kind? This entire situation was becoming difficult to grasp for the pegasus pony. Fluttershy peaked out from behind her hiding spot ever so slowly to see that the creature was looking towards her… and smiling. It was a friendly smile from what Fluttershy could tell, and the creature looked to have an almost laid back posture. Had it not been for the still sizzling ring of burnt earth she could have sworn the creature was relaxing.

"Hello," it spoke again, its smile never fading.

"H-hello," whispered Fluttershy in her quiet and timid voice. She managed to gather enough courage to say, "H-how do y-you know my n-name?" Although she wasn't hiding behind the tree anymore, she still unconsciously tried her best to hide behind her pink mane.

"I know many things, young one. I am known mostly as the Traveler, but you can simply call me Trevor, if you want."

Fluttershy was taken aback by this statement. The creatu- no, the Traveler, was indeed intelligent, but she did not expect him (she now concluded that he was indeed male) to speak with such confident wisdom. It reminded her of Equestria's ruler. It was at that moment that she noticed his eyes. Though smaller than a pony's eyes they were nonetheless breathtaking. The irises were pale emerald in color, with small streaks of white around the pupil. They shined with the light of one who had seen many things, both good and bad, in his lifetime. Those eyes reminded Fluttershy so much of the eyes of her current ruler, Princess Celestia; so full of wisdom and kindness. It was because of this that Fluttershy began to feel her fears melting away by the presence of this Traveler. She may even dare to say that she felt safe when close to him.

"P-Pleased to meet you, Trevor. My name is Fluttersh- oh, well, I g-guess you already know that." The pegasus blushed slightly from the last part of her statement. Trevor's smile merely grew wider.

"May I ask you a question," Fluttershy continued, "if that's ok with you?"

Trevor let out a light, happy chuckle before saying, "I would be surprised if you didn't have questions. Ask away."

"Ok, well… um… not to be rude or anything, but …um… what are you?"

Again, Trevor chuckled (causing another blush from the yellow pegasus) before answering, "I am many things. If you are talking about what my species is than I suppose the correct answer would be 'human'."

This did not help Fluttershy much since she had never heard of a "human" before, but she then thought it unwise to inquire further. Instead she changed the subject: "um… where did you come from."

"Oh, nowhere in particular. I am, after all, a travelor."

"So, um…you… you don't have a home?" Fluttershy asked, somewhat shocked by his response.

"Nope," was all he replied, almost as if he was proud of it. Fluttershy could hardly comprehend this information. 'A living creature without a home, how can that be?' Fluttershy thought, an unchecked feeling of pity building up in the kind-hearted pegasus. This she could not stand for.

"Well, um… if you want… you could come stay at my home. That is if you want to, of course."Fluttershy blushed deeply as it dawned upon her what it was exactly she was asking.

Trevor smiled his signature smile as he said, "You are very kind, Fluttershy. I accept." With that, the Traveler rose to stand on his back hooves(? Fluttershy really didn't know what to call them). It was only then that Fluttershy noticed just how much taller the newcomer was than her, maybe even taller than Princess Celestia herself. Not only that, but the Traveler also only stood on two legs instead of four like most of the creatures she knew of. This, surprisingly, did not startle her as the newcomer's aura-like presence kept her with a deep feeling of safety.

"So, shall we go?"

Fluttershy jumped slightly from the question before saying, "Oh… yes, of course. Just, um, follow me please." With that, Fluttershy lead him across the grassy fields towards her tree cottage, Trevor following close behind with his long strides. 'I wonder what Twilight and the others are going to think when they find out about this?' thought the young pegasus pony. Meanwhile, Trevor had only one thought that crossed his mind: 'This should be interesting.'
------------------------------------
In the Castle of Canterlot, within the royal bedchamber, slept the Co-Ruler of Equestria herself: Princess Celestia. Being a goddess, the Princess didn't necessarily need sleep, but though she had the soul of a goddess, her body was, more or less, just as mortal as her subjects. She could use her powers to counteract this fact if she wished, but refrained from it as sleep gave the overworked goddess a reprieve from the constant political nightmare of ruling a country which spanned the entire planet. In this case, the Princess was merely taking what some would call a 'power nap'.

However, during this power nap, the Princess was visited by a dream for the first time since Nightmare Moon's banishment. She found herself sitting in a large room. From the tapestries and stained glass windows, Celestia knew that this was her thrown room and she was currently resting on her throne. She also noticed that she was alone, save for one pony standing at the foot of the stairs that lead to her ascended throne. This pony was hidden in a dark purple cloak that had a large eye imprinted on the hood which was covering the ponies muzzle. No part of the pony could be seen past the cloak it wore, but somehow Celestia sensed that what stood before her was not a real pony. Taking the initiative, Celestia spoke.

"Who are you?" she asked in her strong, motherly yet authoritative voice.

"To answer that would mean the listing of countless names," answered the mysterious pony. Its voice sounded so other-worldly to the Princess. It was not exactly male, yet not exactly female, either. Even with all her years of ruling Equetria, Celestia could not describe the strangely soothing voice coming from the cloaked figure. Then a realization hit her.

"This is no dream," Celestia said, her ancient mind reeling with what was occurring in her own mind.

"In a sense, you are correct."

The monarch considered her next question carefully before finally asking, "What is you purpose here?" She could have sworn that the eye imprinted on the mysterious pony's head actually smiled at this question.

"I am here to make you a proposition, your highness." Had Celestia not know better, she would have thought there was a mocking tone to the last part of that statement.

"If you have countless names as you say, then which one should I know you by?" Celestia didn't bother to hide the suspicious tone that was used in her question.

The cloaked pony stood there without a sound for several seconds before finally answering, "If it would please you highness to be given a name, then you may call me … Tzeentch."