Dreamer and the Possibility of Impossibleby Bringer-of-DoomChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 1Chapter 1 It was a perfect day. The sun was shining with its trademark warmth of a warm summer day. Not a single cloud was left on the sky from the scheduled rainy day 2 days before. The flowers were in a full bloom, and the birds were happily chirping in the trees. There was a slight breeze dancing through the meadows, preventing the warmth of the sun from growing oppressive. The citizens of Ponyville were taking a full advantage of this perfect saturday, filling the many meadows, parks and lakes around the quaint town with chattering, laughing, playing and relaxing ponies. And if you had asked any of the ponies around the Ponyville their opinion on this fine day, all of them would have agreed, that this was indeed, a perfect day. Well, almost all of them. He was starting to slowly despise this, his latest endeavor. He should have known better than to try to travel in a broad daylight, especially on a day without a single cloud in the sky. Now his cloak, which had been a faithful companion on his travels, was getting suffocating in the heat, his harness, a fine help on his wanderings, felt like some serpentine beast suffocating him, and his wagon, a small sanctuary in places unknown, was akin to a millstone which he could not discard. Only his wide-brimmed hat, purchased a year or two ago from a clothier in Baltimare, offered any respite from the glaring sun. And then there were the ponies of Ponyville, which he could already hear beyond the rolling hills and meadows. He had already forgotten how much the residents loved days like these, and how it practically drove them out to the meadows to enjoy the day. At least somepony was going to see him coming unless he took the long way around the village, and that just gave the ponies bigger chance of noticing him, if only from afar. He would really have preferred nopony noticing him arrive, at least not before he got himself settled again. That way he could have simply ignored the ponies who didn’t require his services, not to mention those who would undoubtedly be leery of his coming. Not to mention the path was simply littered with Tanglekin, just lying there in the glow of the sun, as if to mock his own predicament, while waiting for somepony unfortunate to latch on. Obviously there hadn’t been anypony here to offer his kind of services since his departure 7 years before. He did his best to scatter the pesky creatures, but there was always a few foolish enough to brave a pony of his talent. Those were quickly eradicated with a simple spell. He might have felt sorry for the little critters were they actually able to think or feel for themselves, not to mention if they weren’t in quite so great abundance. He sighed as he trotted over the soot marks on the road that he had left from dealing with the Tanglekin. He really should have just waited for the nightfall before coming here. But then again, that would have meant travelling near the Everfree Forest in the dark, and although he himself quite enjoyed the beautiful forest with its many different Nightkin and Dreamkin, he was not unaware of the forest’s more dangerous creatures, especially the ones of the Flesh. But while this course of action was by far safer when it came to his physical health and continued existence, he knew that this particular choice would cost him in his peace of mind. He was already dreading the prospect of getting questioned by every single pony with nothing better to do. With another dreary sight and restrained grunt, he once again started pulling his little wagon along the road towards Ponyville. With any luck, he just might get there fast enough before anypony got curious- “Hi there!” Of course not. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had had enough crusading for the day, after they had failed to gain their cutie marks as “Cutie Mark Crusaders Dictionary Writers” (they had found out that it was, in Scootaloo’s words, “ Super-Mega-Ultra Boring”), “Cutie Mark Crusaders Gem Cutters” ( Ponyville’s resident gem cutter, mister Karat Cut, refused to assist them, and threatened to inform their guardians if they tried to help him in any way, shape or form), and lastly, as the “Cutie Mark Crusaders Cloud Watchers” (this too was deemed “boring and useless”, Although mostly due to the current cloudless day; cloud watchers were actually an important part of any efficient weather team). This long session of crusading, while disappointingly absent of earned cutie marks, had at least momentarily tired out the three normally hyper-active fillies. This in turn had driven them to simply lying down on the top of a hill, watching how a group of pegasi was racing across the sky while waiting for their strength to return. Thus they had an excellent view to the little, dark blue wagon coming in view from behind another hill, as well as to the pony pulling it. “Hey, gals, do you know who that is?” Applebloom asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that pony before”, answered Sweetie Belle. “Looks kinda suspicious, don’t you think?” Scootaloo pointed out, cocking her head as she stared at the pony. Though this may sound as being a rather rude first thought of another pony, there was a certain truth to scootaloo’s words. The afore mentioned pony was wearing a long, threadbare travel cloak. There was a hint of a blue in its colour, though for the most part the cloak was now grey. The pony was also wearing a wide-brimmed hat that was in a considerably better condition, and was coloured deep blue. The wagon behind the pony looked like a tiny house on wheels, a small, wooden construct with tilted, tile covered roof, small windows on the side, and a black painted, metallic chimney with a cap and a weather vane shaped like a crescent moon atop of it. The walls were a weathered, dark blue in colour, its window silts, lower chassis and wheels were painted pale yellow, and it’s roof tiles were a very light shade of weather-beaten blue. The wagon had patches of its side a considerably lighter shade of blue, as if something had been furiously scrubbed off of them. Though the pony’s wagon and attire could be easily observed, the pony to which they most likely belonged to could not. There was no way of telling if the pony in question was mare or stallion underneath that hat and cloak. Any possible horn or wings were also hidden by this excessive clothing. The coat of the pony, or what of it could be seen between the swishing cloths, might have been some shade of grey, though that might have been a visual effect brought on by the brightly lit Sun and the excessive clothing. Only the pony’s mane could be properly identified, a long, black mess, which looked like it hadn’t been brushed or cared for in any way for ages as it swished from underneath the wide brim of the hat. Sweetie Belle, who had almost told Scootaloo how it wasn’t very nice to say such things about ponies, looked closely at the slowly approaching pony, and was forced to admit the truth in her friend’s words. “I guess he does look a little suspicious…” She reluctantly admitted. “Or is that she?” she asked, tilting her head in slight confusion. “Ah have no idea”, Applebloom commented. “Why would any pony need that much clothing anyway?” “That cloak is so old and dirty, Rarity would throw a fit if she saw it!” Sweetie Belle gasped. “I don’t know, that hat is pretty cool, I guess. It still looks suspicious, though”, Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes in a way she thought to be intimidating (it wasn’t). “I wonder who that is.” “I wonder why he’s here. Or she. Kinda frustrating when you can’t tell.” “Wait gals. What is that pony doing?” Applebloom questioned. The pony in question had stopped his/her slow movement, and was now doing some shooing motions with its fore hoof towards the road it was travelling. Except that there was nothing on the road, or even close to that pony, for that matter. The three fillies were growing increasingly confused by this odd pony. They simply watched, as the pony in question kept making shooing motions for about half a minute to something that fillies couldn’t see. Finally the pony looked to be growing agitated, as it seemed to snort with frustration before a small but bright lance of blue energy struck from beneath the pony’s hat and to the ground before it with a tiny flash of light. At this point the fillies gave a collective little yelp at the sudden and unprovoked attack against the soil. Seemingly pleased with the devastation of the strike, the pony again started dragging its wagon back along the road, calmly trotting over the singed and still smouldering batch of dirt. A moment of stunned silence. Then the three slightly shaken fillies started to speak animatedly amongst themselves, all of their previous tiredness having been forgotten in the light of this magical turn of events. “Why would anypony do that!?”, Applebloom asked. “WHAT did that pony do? There was nothing there, except some dirt”, Scootaloo asked in turn. “Well.. At least we now know something”, Sweetie belle tried to bring up something positive to the conversation, though she was likely the most shaken of the trio. “Well it’s an unicorn, obviously.” Applebloom said. “And it definitely doesn’t seem to like roads”, Scootaloo concluded with a small smirk. “Well… Maybe it was trying to do something, and the spell went wrong”, Sweetie Belle tried to suggest. “Like, maybe it was trying to, umm, clean the road?” She asked with a forced grin. “What, with fire? That blast left soot marks, for pony’s sake!” Scootaloo replied. “Ah don’ know, Sweetie Belle. That sure didn’t look like an accident to me”, Applebloom told her unicorn friend. “Besides, what was he or she trying ta do before that? It dun looked like he tried to scatter some critters.” “Maybe that pony’s a secret agent, and there was a secret message there on the road!” Scootaloo told her friends excitedly. This was instantly followed by a loud gasp. “Or maybe he’s a spy, and that message was from his evil-overlord-master telling here to go to Canterlot, and ponynap the Princesses!” She was starting to sound more and more frantic with each syllable. “That’s just stupid Scootaloo.” Applebloom deadpanned at her conspiracy-enthusiastic friend. “Is not!” “Is too!” “Is not!” “Is too!” “Girls! How many times I have to say, arguing is NOT our special talent! I think we would have already gotten our cutie marks in that if it was,” Sweetie Belle broke the argument before her two friends could continue any further. “Besides, why don’t we just ask him? Or her?” “Whadda ya mean, ask him?” “Because that pony’s coming to this direction.” Indeed, the pony in question was less than a hundred meters away from them, and slowly approaching. They could already hear the sound of hooves hitting the dirt road and the creaking of the wagon as it approached them. *Gasp* “Quickly girls! Hide before that spy sees us and decides to ponynap us and use us in his evil plans!” “Ah’m pretty sure that that pony ain’t no spy, Scootaloo.” “That’s what it wants you to think, Applebloom! Run, before it’s too late!” “We could just ask him? Or her? What’s so bad about that?” Sweetie Belle once more asked, starting to get rather confused of the actions of her friends. “Are you crazy? Look what that spy can do! That pony will burn you to crisp!” Scootaloo exclaimed, grapping her friend’s face between her hooves. “Ah still say that pony ain’t no spah, Scootaloo. But ah still don’t think it be smart to talk to that pony, Sweetie Belle.” “Why not?” Sweetie Belle asked while extricating her face from between the hooves of her friend, while putting up an adorable pout. “Well that’s a stranger for one thang. And secondly, Ah don’t think that pony would want to be bothered. Just look at all that clothin’! That pony clearly don’t wanna be noticed,” Applebloom concluded. “Yeah! That spy is trying to be incon.. inconsus.. ugh, not-noticed by anypony!” “Did you mean, ‘inconspicuous’?” “Whatever! The point is, you really shouldn’t get near that spy!” *sigh* “Why do ya keep on insistin’ on that spy bit? You can’t know fer sure!” “Oh yeah? Well you can’t be sure that he ISN’T a spy!” At this point Sweetie Belle decided to ignore her bickering friends in favour of standing up and starting to walk down hill. She didn’t care what the girls thought, just because somepony was dressed like that didn’t mean that you shouldn’t be friendly towards them. (It should be noted that while this might be correct in most of Equestria, in a few choice places, such as Manehatten and Baltimare, you really should leave ponies dressed like that alone.) With the confidence of a child wanting to show her friends wrong, she quickly trotted down towards the road and the stranger, who had managed to pull it’s wagon almost next to the hill by this point. Sweetie Belle took a deep breath, and just as her previously bickering friends had finally realized she wasn’t with them anymore, she said with a clear, chiming voice: “Hi there!” Chapter 2Chapter 2 Sweetie Belle’s fearless greeting had left the world standing still. Her friends couldn’t believe that she had actually gone up and just greeted the scary stranger in suspicious clothing, who also seemed to harbor some kind of vendetta against roads. Both of them simply stood there, frozen in mid-step as they had been moving down-hill to try and stop their erstwhile friend from possibly doing a grave mistake. The stranger itself had frozen in mid-step as well, as if s/he had been caught on scene of some great embarrassment. The clothing was still covering most of the features, but it was now clear that the pony in question had a black (and very tangled) mane, and a grey coat. The wagon looked a lot larger close up, but this was more due to it’s greater than normal height, and the small stature of the fillies themselves. Even the world around the scene seemed to grind to a halt and grow silent. The slight breeze blowing through the meadows had momentarily relented, the birds had gone silent, and even the sound of other ponies had, if only for a moment, gotten muffled as if being heard from a great distance. Then the strange pony gave an audible sigh, it’s shoulders slumping as in defeat, and the be hatted head, which had already been hanging pretty low, seemed to dip even further down. And with this simple action the world started moving again, the sound of other ponies nearby reached the scene anew, the birds were chirping away with considerable enthusiasm, and the two fillies snapped out of their shock, glancing quickly to each other before galloping towards their friend. Well this was unexpected. Although Bright Dreams had originally dreaded the coming moment of forced questioning by the townsponies, his shoulders already slumping in defeat as he heard a greeting said to his direction, but as far as overly curious and gossiping ponies went, the little filly in front of him was by far the most preferred option. Little foals were usually either a lot more curious, or lot more scared. Either way most of the little foals he’d encountered so far were usually a whole lot more friendly than most grown stallions and mares. They were also usually a lot more receptive to somepony of his talent. Foals often weren’t burdened by preconceptions of possible and impossible. The unicorn filly in front of him was a small thing, young enough to lack a cutiemark. Her mane was done in surprisingly elegant curves, having a natural two-tone colour scheme (light purple and light pink). Her coat had a rather pearly, off-white ting to it, and on her face was a bright smile only an innocent could muster. What was unusual of this foal, however, was the sheer number of Tanglekin that had latched themselves on the poor filly, scratching and grabbling at her, trying to pull her down or sabotage any attempt to even move. There were clear marks of old Tanglekin mischief on her coat, and the number of Tanglekin grapping on her hooves was simply shocking. How she didn’t notice this herself, or how she was even able to move with those Tanglekin hanging from her was nothing short of a small miracle. Bright Dreams did his best to not show what he was feeling at the moment on his face as to not to scare the little filly. She clearly and desperately needed help, but he couldn’t just blast the Tanglekin away without alerting the filly or other ponies. That would once again spell disaster for him, and he might end getting driven out of the town again if that occurred, even though he hadn’t really even entered the town proper yet. While he was quickly thinking through his options, he realized that he had been silent for almost too long, and if he didn’t answer to the filly in front of him quickly, he might end up spooking the little thing away. “Hello, young one.” He quickly managed to say, only then realizing how scratchy his voice sounded, the dust of the roads seeming to have done a number on his throat. Not to mention he had once again spent several days in physical silence. Giving a small cough to clear his throat and mostly succeeding, he inquired the filly, who wasn’t smiling quite as wide anymore, “What is your name, little filly?” He did his best to try and sound as friendly as possible (not really his forte), hoping that if he at least got to know the filly’s name he might get to fixing her problem later on. “I’m Sweetie Belle!” The filly replied with redoubled enthusiasm, as if his little attempt to act friendly had actually worked. “What’s your-“ “NOOOO!!” The sudden cry caused both Bright Dreams and the filly, apparently named Sweetie Belle, to jump a little in startle, though in his case it was a bit hindered due to him being latched on to his wagon. They both looked up to the hill from where the young one had trotted to see two other fillies speeding downhill towards them, with looks of alarm on their face. Bright Dreams was already preparing himself to throwing a small shield against physical attacks to protect the filly and himself if need be before he actually realized that the two “attackers” were just small foals, hardly older than the one standing in front of him. His initial reaction was shown to be doubly false a mere moment later, when the fillies slowed down their “charge”, the other, an orange, purple maned pegasus, jumping in between him and the Sweetie Belle, while the other, an yellow, red maned earth pony, bit down on Sweetie Belle’s tail and tried to pull her away from. “Girls! What are you doing!?” Sweetie Belle shouted in alarm. “Don’t worry Sweetie Belle! I won’t let this spy lay a single hoof on you!” The pegasus shouted, taking a defensive pose that simply oozed “adorable” (probably not the effect she was going for). This prompted a rise of an eyebrow from Bright Dreams under his hat. A spy? Not the first time he’d heard that accusation, but usually the ones calling him that weren’t little foals. “What?” the ‘protected’ filly asked in utter confusion. “Wha’h whould you jus’ barge in on a strangah like that?” The earth pony asked through a mouthful of Sweetie Belle’s tail. “Youh migh’ had gotten hurd!” She was struggling to drag her friend away from the scary stranger. “GIRLS! Seriously! He’s not a spy! I just came over to say ‘Hi!’” Sweetie Belle exclaimed at her two overly protective friends. Bright Dreams chose simply to observe as the group of fillies devolved into bickering upon his status as a scary individual. He noted that the other two of the foals also had fairly recent marks of Tanglekin upon their hooves, plus what seemed to be very old Nightmare marks on the little pegasus’s aura. Most of the Tanglekin marks were likely from their interactions with the one named Sweetie Belle, and the Nightmare marks were not that uncommon, even on a foal of her age. Likely some irrational fears had opened a door for a Nightmare to follow the pegasus for a while. The Marks weren’t that deep anyway. As Bright Dreams was making his silent observations, the two particular members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders kept throwing sideways glances to the ‘Stranger’. They now could see that the pony was actually a stallion, he had a light grey coat and black mane. He also seemed taller and leaner than most ponies, though it was hard to say for sure with the way he was kind of slumped in; like somepony who was waiting to get a severe scolding (something the Crusaders had a bit of expertise in). Slowly their panic and bickering started to wane as it was confirmed that Sweetie Belle was indeed alright, no the stranger hadn’t done anything and yes, Applebloom and Scootaloo really should stop panicking. Finally, all the three little fillies turned to face the strange stallion, who had patiently waited for the foals in front of him to calm down. There was a ghost of a smile on his lips as he regarded the little ones. “Are you three alright?” He asked, and Bright Dreams was glad that his voice now much closer to normal. Hopefully, he might be able convince the fillies that he wasn’t a bad pony. Maybe he could even get some additional information from the three if he was lucky. “We’re fine, mister.” the earth pony said quietly. “Sorry for calling you a spy, mister.” The orange pegasus muttered. “Please don’t be angry with them. They were just worried”, Sweetie Belle pleaded, with a quivering lip and eyes wide and moist, obviously trying her best to tug at his heartstrings just in case he was actually angry. Bright Dreams couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. It wasn’t every day that he heard somepony being sorry to him. With a small smile tugging at his lips, he leaned himself just a bit closer to the fillies while tilting his head just a little so that they could see his eyes from under his hat. “It is quite alright, everypony,” he said with a calm smile. “My name is Bright Dreams. What are your names?” As he tilted his hat and told them his name, the girls had to admit that the name fit. The stallion’s eyes, though tired and a little weary, were by far the most interesting thing about him in their opinion. They were some light shade of green and blue, and they were very bright, shining, even. It was like looking at two little stars in the darkness of his hat. Bright Dreams almost chuckled out loud. He knew it was a bit cheating to use the Calming Eyes on the little fillies, but he really wanted to make sure that there wouldn’t be any wide spread panic. And nothing raises the anger of a community like the panic of small foals. Besides, it was just a little bit to help them calm down. The fillies stared at his eyes for a small moment, before each of them snapped out of it with a simultaneous shake of their heads, none of them noticing that they were now a lot calmer than a moment before, instead focusing on thinking how to answer the presented question. “Ah’m Apple Bloom!” The little yellow earth pony replied. “And I’m Scootaloo!” the pegasus in turn answered. “And together we are…” Sweetie Belle trailed off, while inhaling deeply. “THE CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS!!” The three little fillies all screamed out in a manner that would have been adorable were it not for eardrum bursting volume. Bright Dreams even noticed a few of the Tanglekin that had been hanging from Sweetie Belle dropped off and skittered away in clear discomfort. After wincing at the pain in his ears, even under his hat, and after glancing around to make sure that no unwanted attention had been brought to him due to the damn near explosive sound he asked with a an almost visible trepidation: “The Cutie- what now?” “We’re on a crusade, a mission!” Apple Bloom answered, thankfully with a much lower volume. “To find our special talents!” Scootaloo continued with considerable vigor. “And to earn our cutiemarks!” Sweetie Belle concluded, at which point the three fillies clopped their respective fore hooves together with an exited “YEAH!” Bright Dreams idly wondered if these fillies knew the actual origin of the name they had adopted for themselves, and briefly considered if he should tell them, but he quickly squished that intent. Besides, he needed some information, and these fillies might be able to help in that regard. “That’s very nice,” he said, while doing his best not to sound condescending, “but could you girls do me a small favour?” The fillies quickly glanced to each other in slight confusion to this sudden turn of events, then turned back to Bright Eyes. “What kind o’ favor?” Apple Bloom asked with just tiniest hint of suspicion in her voice and posture. “Could you tell me is the Mayor’s Office still at the Town Hall? And is Miss Mare still the Mayor?” Bright Dreams asked, while doing his best to sound sincere. “Yes it is! And Mayor Mare is still the Mayor! Why, was her office somewhere else before?” Sweetie Belle answered and asked with innocence. “Nonono, I just wondered if anything had changed since.” Bright Dreams answered with a little hesitation. “Ever since what?” Scootaloo asked with barely concealed (obvious) curiosity and suspicion. ‘Oh horseapples’, Bright Eyes thought to himself. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have a lot to do before the day is over. Thanks for your help my little ponies, and have a nice day!” Bright Dreams talked quickly with an obviously forced smile, while starting to drag his wagon away as fast as he could. “Hey, wait a minute!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, as the stallion started to move past crusaders. Bright Dreams didn’t show any signs of stopping; in fact he was trying to move faster. “Where are you going?” Sweetie Belle asked with slightly hurt tone. “To the town.” Came a curt reply. Where in the town are you going?” Scootaloo inquired. “Personal information. It doesn’t concern you.” ‘Technically true’ he thought to himself, ’but they don’t need to know that’. “Can ya aht least tell us why ya blasted that there road before?” Apple Bloom asked in turn. ‘Oh Moon’, Bright Dreams thought to himself, ‘they saw me blast those Tanglekin!?’ “Blasted? Road? I didn’t blast at any road.” He replied with feign ignorance, something in which he had gotten reasonably good. Besides, that too was technically still true. “But we saw you! We saw you just go, ‘Whoosh’, ‘Shazam!’ and then ‘BLAST!” Scootaloo insisted with overly dramatic re-enactment with waving her fore hooves in the air and everything. Bright Dreams looked to his side to see the Crusaders somehow keeping pace with him, though to be honest, his wagon was very heavy, and he was not the strongest of stallions. “Look, I am very glad that you girls helped me out, but if you don’t mind, I actually have something important to do,” he replied with rapidly growing panic and irritation. “What kind of something?” Scootaloo asked with clear suspicion. “Just some personal business I need to take care off. So, without further ado, Crusaders, Sweetie Belle.” He replied curtly, while reminding himself to try and fix the filly unicorn’s situation even as he started to pull at his wagon even harder in an effort to put distance between him and the three inquisitive foals. At this rather curt reply the Crusaders finally relented, and stopped following him. That didn’t mean they were done with him yet, oh no. Not by a long shot. “I don’t care what he says, but that pony is hiding something,” Scootaloo said with furrowed eyebrows. “But he didn’t actually say much, did he?” Sweetie Belle pointed out. “Well yeah. But that only means he didn’t tell us really nuthin’, save fer his name.” Apple Bloom reminded her friends. “Why did he blast that road?” Scootaloo asked. “Why’s he’s goin’ to town?” Apple Bloom wondered. “Why he looks so dirty?” Sweetie Belle wondered. This particular pondering quickly gained her a double blank stare from her friends. “What? Didn’t you see how tangled his mane and coat was?” “And that is important why?” I don’t know, I was just wondering.” Sweetie Belle answered with slight rejection. “Whatever is goin’ on with that pony, we need to find out about it.” Apple Bloom said with conviction. The three fillies looked at each other for a moment before a grin split each of their respective faces. This was followed by a loud gasp of air, and a shout that could fill anypony hearing it with sheer, blood-freezing terror: “CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS INVESTIGATORS GO!!” Chapter 3Bright Dreams was now in the town proper, and feeling if not much better, then at least less panicked. Though the particular three little fillies had sawn him blasting those Tanglekin, it was very unlikely that any of them had actually seen them. If even one would have, they would have likely tried to get rid of those Tanglekin smooching off of Sweetie Belle themselves. And since they were just little foals, the possibility of any grown mare or stallion of actually listening to what they had to say about the weird stranger was less than slim. Besides, considering the usual attention span of young foals, it was unlikely that those three would even remember that incident come tomorrow morning. That last line of thought showed just how little he still blissfully knew about the Three Fillies of Apocalypse, which would undoubtedly see him damned for later on. As he traveled through the town, Bright Dreams was proven to be right in his assumption that nopony had tended the Dreamkin of the Ponyville. There was scarcely any Dreamer nests to be seen anywhere, though he planned to do a thorough search and assessment of the situation at hoof later at night. The wards had for the most part either frayed away with time, or they had been carelessly just thrown away when the building they had been part of had been renovated or demolished. And it showed. The Tanglekin were in abundance around the whole town, either lying in waiting, or clamped on a pony at the very moment. Bright Dreams had to restrain himself from just simply starting to blast them away, so great was his disgust. And worse, there were clear signs of Terrorkin and Nightmare activity on the auras of the ponies around him, some of them quite recent. He had to wonder how anypony could remain as happy as the ponies outside the town had appeared to be in a place haunted by such creatures. And speaking of the townsponies, Bright Dreams was glad to see that there weren’t many curious ponies on the streets at the moment. Besides the little fillies from earlier, all he had gotten from the ponies around here were some curious looks and a few greetings spoken to his direction. Bright Dreams was dealing with curious looks by simply ignoring them, while the greetings were answered with a slight wave of his hoof, not so slight as to be considered rude or overly meek, nor with enough enthusiasm to give a reason to further communication, all the while keeping his head low and eyes on the road. Bright Dreams had developed this particular manner of travelling on his journeys, and it practically shouted “Don’t Mind Me, I’m Not Even Here”, save it didn’t, because nopony paid much attention to it. Of course his attempts to move as inconspicuously as possible were a bit sabotaged by the fact he was pulling a rather large cottage-wagon behind him. Nevertheless, for the most part he managed to travel through town mostly unnoticed. Mostly. “I must say, Applejack, that I was actually rather surprised that you got the time to join us for a lunch today.” Rarity replied to her farmpony friend. “Ain’t nuthin’ to it, Rarity. I’ve done mah fair share of runnin’ the market stall this week, an’ nearly all of this week’s harvest has been taken care of. ‘sides, it was Big Mac’s turn to mind the stall today anyhoo.” “I’m just happy that we could spend some time together, since none of the animals need me at the moment. And it is such a nice day.” Fluttershy added to the conversation. The trio was enjoying “a little get-together” as Rarity put it, to enjoy the day and each other’s company. They had chosen the Prancing Mare, a popular (and a bit snobby by Applejack’s opinion) little restaurant just next to the Ponyville’s Mane Street. “By the way, girls, did you hear the news? There are some new ponies from Canterlot moving in Ponyville”, Rarity inquired her friends, excitement clear in her voice. “Yeah, an’ another family comin’ in from Fillydelphia. Ah heard a couple of cows, Molly an’ Milena, talkin’ bout it yesterday at the market. Said that one of their cousin from Fillydelphia heard that a family was moving here.” Applejack answered. “It seems like the cows see everything, or at least it would look like that at times, wouldn’t it?” Rarity tittered good-naturedly. “Ain’t nuthin’ to it Rarity, just families keeping together no matter what. Though Ah myself ain’t all that pleased of all tha gossiping they do, but Ah guess that’s just the way it is, ain’t it?” Applejack replied while taking a sip off her drink. “Indeed. Though returning back to the original topic, have you heard anything else of the ponies moving in?” “Nuthin’ more than that their moving in in a couple o’ months, an’ from where their comin’ from. Ah ain’t so intent on gossiping anyhoo, ‘specially when there’s apples to sell.” “Umm excuse me, but, ummm, why there are so many new ponies into town?” Fluttershy asked with a slight trepidation. “Why Fluttershy, it’s cause Ponyville’s a great place ta live!” Applejack declared with a humorous smile. “Well while that is ONE reason, perhaps it is because we are so close to Canterlot, but still a ways away from the city? That could be a good reason”, Rarity pondered while giving a small smile to her friend’s antics. “There seems to be a lot of ponies moving in Ponyville these days, though. Their buildin’ some new houses at the edge of tha town, an’ Mayor Mare’s talkin’ bout renovating the Train station… Seems like lot of folks want to move to Ponyville these days”, Applejack pondered, Fluttershy’s question having piqued her interest. “True, but seeing how often Princess Celestia has visited our little town ever since Princess Luna returned, and the fact that Princess Luna was saved from Nightmare in here might have something to do with it. It seems like our little Ponyville is getting quite a reputation”, Rarity said. “Oh, I just hope that nopony is coming to look for me. I don’t want everypony looking at me, especially after I stopped modeling!” Fluttershy exclaimed with a terrified whisper, looking just about ready to bolt. “Don’t you worry none, sugarcube! I doubt that any of them ponies movin’ in even know you live here!” Applejack said while putting a calming hoof on her friend’s shoulder. The conversation carried for quite some time in this fashion, only being broken by occasional bite of their respective dishes. It was in between one of these silent moments when Rarity noticed something large moving on the other side of the street. “Oh look girls, another traveller.” “Kinda big wagon for a pony that size.” Applejack commented. “Well, at least he looks… Nice”, Fluttershy offered meekly. “I suppose so, but look at that cloak! And that hat! How he could have gotten clothing of such high quality so dirty and torn!? Simply dreadful!” Rarity exclaimed in what her friends had learned to be an overly dramatic manner. “Well whadda ya think happens when travelling by hoof, Rarity? Most o’ the roads around are just dirt roads, oh course yer gonna get dusty on them”, Applejack answered with a slight exasperation. After a moment of consideration she added, “Wait, ye can tell that’s a stallion? Kinda hard to tell, to be honest.” “Oh darling, you should know by now that I have an eye for these sorts of things. But back to the point, the state of the roads is no excuse for keeping care of the clothing you choose to wear,” Rarity answered matter-of-factly. “I just hope the poor dearie isn’t too exhausted. That wagon looks very.. *gulp* Big.” Fluttershy interjected before Applejack could give a heated comment back to her designer friend, in an effort to dissuade the growing tension between her friends. She really didn’t like to see them arguing. (But considering their natures, it wasn’t a too rare of an occurrence.) “Actually,” Applejack said, stroking her chin thoughtfully, “that wagon ain’t actually that big. Just a bit taller than most travellin’ wagons. Though it’s no doubt seen better days”, she concluded while eyeing the wagon critically. “On that point we agree, darling. And it clearly used to have such a nice colour scheme! Shame that it’s in such disrepair” Rarity answered to her farmer friend. Applejack rolled her eyes while smiling slightly, of course Rarity would first care of the colour of a wagon. Never mind that the wagon in question needed some new roof tiles, the rear axle was obviously a bit skewed, along with the left rear wheel, the chimney was clearly not properly insulated, and some the wallboards needed to be replaced. Not to mention that the harness was a bit too large and heavy for pony that size. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. “By the way, Rares, does that wagon there remind you of anypony?” She asked thoughtfully. “I can’t say that it does. Does that wagon seem familiar to you, Fluttershy?” “I-I don’t think so,” she offered in her usual manner. “Why are you asking, Applejack? Have you seen that wagon before?” Rarity inquired her friend. “Ah honestly don’ know. It kinda reminds me o’ the wagon that blowhard, Trixie, was using. ‘Course, Ah might have seen somethin’ like that outside o’ Ponyville, too. Ah don’t even know,” Applejack concluded giving annoyed sigh for her own inability to remember. “I think I know what you mean, Applejack, that colour scheme and exterior does slightly remind of that little imposter”, Rarity agreed, while taking a sip of her tea. “However, I must point out that despite this stallion’s similar choice in clothing he is obviously nothing like her.” “How come?” “Well for starters he hasn’t made any dishonest boasting yet,” Rarity answered, and both her and Applejack had a slight chuckle for that remark. “And secondly, he is obviously trying to be inconspicuous. See how he is moving? Silently, eyes to the ground, just moving along rather quickly. Clearly doing his best to be unnoticed,” Rarity concluded. “But that begs the question: Why?” “Umm, maybe he just doesn’t like attention? Ponies looking staring at you can get very unconformable,“ Fluttershy answered her friend’s question, having some expertise on what anxiety unwanted attention could cause. This comment stunted the conversation for a while, as both of Fluttershy’s friends considered her words. “Ah still get a feelin’ Ah seen that pony somewhere before. Though Ah might be wrong…” Applejack shaked her head in mild frustration. “Let’s just git back to eatin’. So what you were sayin’ ‘bout dem other newcomers, Rarity?” Bright Dreams couldn’t believe his luck. He had almost gotten to the Town Hall in the middle of a day on a Saturday in Ponyville, the most gossiping village on the face of the world, and not once he had been stopped and questioned after entering the town proper. All though he had to admit, as he quickly glanced again at his surroundings, it looked a lot different to what it had been all those years ago. The buildings were larger and there were more of them. A lot of the buildings around the Town Hall had been either renovated or just outright replaced. There a whole lot more ponies and the population seemed to have a lot more unicorns and pegasi as opposed to being almost exclusively earth pony village in the past. Ponyville was certainly growing, and Bright Dreams hoped that it had done so in more ways than one. He was starting to feel unusually hopeful, when suddenly, he heard a voice amongst the murmur of the town. Moreover, he heard a certain accent… ‘No.’ He listened more carefully as he trotted down the road, and soon enough he could hear that voice and accent again on the other side of the road. ‘NONONONONO!!’ Bright Dreams very nearly bolted out of his harness when he realized to just whom did that voice belong to. The very thought of it filled him with dread and panic. ‘Calm yourself!’ He thought to himself, doing a conscious effort not to look at the source of the sound, nor to stop moving or to bolt away from it. ‘You knew that she might still live here when you decided to return. Just move on, don’t draw any attention to yourself, and if things go badly, DENY EVERYTHING.’ Taking a calming breath and just moving on EXACTLY as he had just a moment ago, he proceeded to drag his wagon towards the Town Hall that was already visible as the tallest building in the exact center of Ponyville. Author's Note I've finally managed to cobble together a new chapter, along with a whole lot of headcanon notes to myself so that I can stay consistent to my writing. And by the way, if you notice something horribly and disgustingly wrong with my grammar, feel free to point it out for me, and I shall seek to fix it. Also, writing the lines for the members of the Main 6 is hard. I was constantly fighting NOT to write their lines in the same manner as I myself speak, that is, ramble on and on and going off tangent. I don't think I was very successful.
Chapter 1Chapter 1 It was a perfect day. The sun was shining with its trademark warmth of a warm summer day. Not a single cloud was left on the sky from the scheduled rainy day 2 days before. The flowers were in a full bloom, and the birds were happily chirping in the trees. There was a slight breeze dancing through the meadows, preventing the warmth of the sun from growing oppressive. The citizens of Ponyville were taking a full advantage of this perfect saturday, filling the many meadows, parks and lakes around the quaint town with chattering, laughing, playing and relaxing ponies. And if you had asked any of the ponies around the Ponyville their opinion on this fine day, all of them would have agreed, that this was indeed, a perfect day. Well, almost all of them. He was starting to slowly despise this, his latest endeavor. He should have known better than to try to travel in a broad daylight, especially on a day without a single cloud in the sky. Now his cloak, which had been a faithful companion on his travels, was getting suffocating in the heat, his harness, a fine help on his wanderings, felt like some serpentine beast suffocating him, and his wagon, a small sanctuary in places unknown, was akin to a millstone which he could not discard. Only his wide-brimmed hat, purchased a year or two ago from a clothier in Baltimare, offered any respite from the glaring sun. And then there were the ponies of Ponyville, which he could already hear beyond the rolling hills and meadows. He had already forgotten how much the residents loved days like these, and how it practically drove them out to the meadows to enjoy the day. At least somepony was going to see him coming unless he took the long way around the village, and that just gave the ponies bigger chance of noticing him, if only from afar. He would really have preferred nopony noticing him arrive, at least not before he got himself settled again. That way he could have simply ignored the ponies who didn’t require his services, not to mention those who would undoubtedly be leery of his coming. Not to mention the path was simply littered with Tanglekin, just lying there in the glow of the sun, as if to mock his own predicament, while waiting for somepony unfortunate to latch on. Obviously there hadn’t been anypony here to offer his kind of services since his departure 7 years before. He did his best to scatter the pesky creatures, but there was always a few foolish enough to brave a pony of his talent. Those were quickly eradicated with a simple spell. He might have felt sorry for the little critters were they actually able to think or feel for themselves, not to mention if they weren’t in quite so great abundance. He sighed as he trotted over the soot marks on the road that he had left from dealing with the Tanglekin. He really should have just waited for the nightfall before coming here. But then again, that would have meant travelling near the Everfree Forest in the dark, and although he himself quite enjoyed the beautiful forest with its many different Nightkin and Dreamkin, he was not unaware of the forest’s more dangerous creatures, especially the ones of the Flesh. But while this course of action was by far safer when it came to his physical health and continued existence, he knew that this particular choice would cost him in his peace of mind. He was already dreading the prospect of getting questioned by every single pony with nothing better to do. With another dreary sight and restrained grunt, he once again started pulling his little wagon along the road towards Ponyville. With any luck, he just might get there fast enough before anypony got curious- “Hi there!” Of course not. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had had enough crusading for the day, after they had failed to gain their cutie marks as “Cutie Mark Crusaders Dictionary Writers” (they had found out that it was, in Scootaloo’s words, “ Super-Mega-Ultra Boring”), “Cutie Mark Crusaders Gem Cutters” ( Ponyville’s resident gem cutter, mister Karat Cut, refused to assist them, and threatened to inform their guardians if they tried to help him in any way, shape or form), and lastly, as the “Cutie Mark Crusaders Cloud Watchers” (this too was deemed “boring and useless”, Although mostly due to the current cloudless day; cloud watchers were actually an important part of any efficient weather team). This long session of crusading, while disappointingly absent of earned cutie marks, had at least momentarily tired out the three normally hyper-active fillies. This in turn had driven them to simply lying down on the top of a hill, watching how a group of pegasi was racing across the sky while waiting for their strength to return. Thus they had an excellent view to the little, dark blue wagon coming in view from behind another hill, as well as to the pony pulling it. “Hey, gals, do you know who that is?” Applebloom asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that pony before”, answered Sweetie Belle. “Looks kinda suspicious, don’t you think?” Scootaloo pointed out, cocking her head as she stared at the pony. Though this may sound as being a rather rude first thought of another pony, there was a certain truth to scootaloo’s words. The afore mentioned pony was wearing a long, threadbare travel cloak. There was a hint of a blue in its colour, though for the most part the cloak was now grey. The pony was also wearing a wide-brimmed hat that was in a considerably better condition, and was coloured deep blue. The wagon behind the pony looked like a tiny house on wheels, a small, wooden construct with tilted, tile covered roof, small windows on the side, and a black painted, metallic chimney with a cap and a weather vane shaped like a crescent moon atop of it. The walls were a weathered, dark blue in colour, its window silts, lower chassis and wheels were painted pale yellow, and it’s roof tiles were a very light shade of weather-beaten blue. The wagon had patches of its side a considerably lighter shade of blue, as if something had been furiously scrubbed off of them. Though the pony’s wagon and attire could be easily observed, the pony to which they most likely belonged to could not. There was no way of telling if the pony in question was mare or stallion underneath that hat and cloak. Any possible horn or wings were also hidden by this excessive clothing. The coat of the pony, or what of it could be seen between the swishing cloths, might have been some shade of grey, though that might have been a visual effect brought on by the brightly lit Sun and the excessive clothing. Only the pony’s mane could be properly identified, a long, black mess, which looked like it hadn’t been brushed or cared for in any way for ages as it swished from underneath the wide brim of the hat. Sweetie Belle, who had almost told Scootaloo how it wasn’t very nice to say such things about ponies, looked closely at the slowly approaching pony, and was forced to admit the truth in her friend’s words. “I guess he does look a little suspicious…” She reluctantly admitted. “Or is that she?” she asked, tilting her head in slight confusion. “Ah have no idea”, Applebloom commented. “Why would any pony need that much clothing anyway?” “That cloak is so old and dirty, Rarity would throw a fit if she saw it!” Sweetie Belle gasped. “I don’t know, that hat is pretty cool, I guess. It still looks suspicious, though”, Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes in a way she thought to be intimidating (it wasn’t). “I wonder who that is.” “I wonder why he’s here. Or she. Kinda frustrating when you can’t tell.” “Wait gals. What is that pony doing?” Applebloom questioned. The pony in question had stopped his/her slow movement, and was now doing some shooing motions with its fore hoof towards the road it was travelling. Except that there was nothing on the road, or even close to that pony, for that matter. The three fillies were growing increasingly confused by this odd pony. They simply watched, as the pony in question kept making shooing motions for about half a minute to something that fillies couldn’t see. Finally the pony looked to be growing agitated, as it seemed to snort with frustration before a small but bright lance of blue energy struck from beneath the pony’s hat and to the ground before it with a tiny flash of light. At this point the fillies gave a collective little yelp at the sudden and unprovoked attack against the soil. Seemingly pleased with the devastation of the strike, the pony again started dragging its wagon back along the road, calmly trotting over the singed and still smouldering batch of dirt. A moment of stunned silence. Then the three slightly shaken fillies started to speak animatedly amongst themselves, all of their previous tiredness having been forgotten in the light of this magical turn of events. “Why would anypony do that!?”, Applebloom asked. “WHAT did that pony do? There was nothing there, except some dirt”, Scootaloo asked in turn. “Well.. At least we now know something”, Sweetie belle tried to bring up something positive to the conversation, though she was likely the most shaken of the trio. “Well it’s an unicorn, obviously.” Applebloom said. “And it definitely doesn’t seem to like roads”, Scootaloo concluded with a small smirk. “Well… Maybe it was trying to do something, and the spell went wrong”, Sweetie Belle tried to suggest. “Like, maybe it was trying to, umm, clean the road?” She asked with a forced grin. “What, with fire? That blast left soot marks, for pony’s sake!” Scootaloo replied. “Ah don’ know, Sweetie Belle. That sure didn’t look like an accident to me”, Applebloom told her unicorn friend. “Besides, what was he or she trying ta do before that? It dun looked like he tried to scatter some critters.” “Maybe that pony’s a secret agent, and there was a secret message there on the road!” Scootaloo told her friends excitedly. This was instantly followed by a loud gasp. “Or maybe he’s a spy, and that message was from his evil-overlord-master telling here to go to Canterlot, and ponynap the Princesses!” She was starting to sound more and more frantic with each syllable. “That’s just stupid Scootaloo.” Applebloom deadpanned at her conspiracy-enthusiastic friend. “Is not!” “Is too!” “Is not!” “Is too!” “Girls! How many times I have to say, arguing is NOT our special talent! I think we would have already gotten our cutie marks in that if it was,” Sweetie Belle broke the argument before her two friends could continue any further. “Besides, why don’t we just ask him? Or her?” “Whadda ya mean, ask him?” “Because that pony’s coming to this direction.” Indeed, the pony in question was less than a hundred meters away from them, and slowly approaching. They could already hear the sound of hooves hitting the dirt road and the creaking of the wagon as it approached them. *Gasp* “Quickly girls! Hide before that spy sees us and decides to ponynap us and use us in his evil plans!” “Ah’m pretty sure that that pony ain’t no spy, Scootaloo.” “That’s what it wants you to think, Applebloom! Run, before it’s too late!” “We could just ask him? Or her? What’s so bad about that?” Sweetie Belle once more asked, starting to get rather confused of the actions of her friends. “Are you crazy? Look what that spy can do! That pony will burn you to crisp!” Scootaloo exclaimed, grapping her friend’s face between her hooves. “Ah still say that pony ain’t no spah, Scootaloo. But ah still don’t think it be smart to talk to that pony, Sweetie Belle.” “Why not?” Sweetie Belle asked while extricating her face from between the hooves of her friend, while putting up an adorable pout. “Well that’s a stranger for one thang. And secondly, Ah don’t think that pony would want to be bothered. Just look at all that clothin’! That pony clearly don’t wanna be noticed,” Applebloom concluded. “Yeah! That spy is trying to be incon.. inconsus.. ugh, not-noticed by anypony!” “Did you mean, ‘inconspicuous’?” “Whatever! The point is, you really shouldn’t get near that spy!” *sigh* “Why do ya keep on insistin’ on that spy bit? You can’t know fer sure!” “Oh yeah? Well you can’t be sure that he ISN’T a spy!” At this point Sweetie Belle decided to ignore her bickering friends in favour of standing up and starting to walk down hill. She didn’t care what the girls thought, just because somepony was dressed like that didn’t mean that you shouldn’t be friendly towards them. (It should be noted that while this might be correct in most of Equestria, in a few choice places, such as Manehatten and Baltimare, you really should leave ponies dressed like that alone.) With the confidence of a child wanting to show her friends wrong, she quickly trotted down towards the road and the stranger, who had managed to pull it’s wagon almost next to the hill by this point. Sweetie Belle took a deep breath, and just as her previously bickering friends had finally realized she wasn’t with them anymore, she said with a clear, chiming voice: “Hi there!”
Chapter 2Chapter 2 Sweetie Belle’s fearless greeting had left the world standing still. Her friends couldn’t believe that she had actually gone up and just greeted the scary stranger in suspicious clothing, who also seemed to harbor some kind of vendetta against roads. Both of them simply stood there, frozen in mid-step as they had been moving down-hill to try and stop their erstwhile friend from possibly doing a grave mistake. The stranger itself had frozen in mid-step as well, as if s/he had been caught on scene of some great embarrassment. The clothing was still covering most of the features, but it was now clear that the pony in question had a black (and very tangled) mane, and a grey coat. The wagon looked a lot larger close up, but this was more due to it’s greater than normal height, and the small stature of the fillies themselves. Even the world around the scene seemed to grind to a halt and grow silent. The slight breeze blowing through the meadows had momentarily relented, the birds had gone silent, and even the sound of other ponies had, if only for a moment, gotten muffled as if being heard from a great distance. Then the strange pony gave an audible sigh, it’s shoulders slumping as in defeat, and the be hatted head, which had already been hanging pretty low, seemed to dip even further down. And with this simple action the world started moving again, the sound of other ponies nearby reached the scene anew, the birds were chirping away with considerable enthusiasm, and the two fillies snapped out of their shock, glancing quickly to each other before galloping towards their friend. Well this was unexpected. Although Bright Dreams had originally dreaded the coming moment of forced questioning by the townsponies, his shoulders already slumping in defeat as he heard a greeting said to his direction, but as far as overly curious and gossiping ponies went, the little filly in front of him was by far the most preferred option. Little foals were usually either a lot more curious, or lot more scared. Either way most of the little foals he’d encountered so far were usually a whole lot more friendly than most grown stallions and mares. They were also usually a lot more receptive to somepony of his talent. Foals often weren’t burdened by preconceptions of possible and impossible. The unicorn filly in front of him was a small thing, young enough to lack a cutiemark. Her mane was done in surprisingly elegant curves, having a natural two-tone colour scheme (light purple and light pink). Her coat had a rather pearly, off-white ting to it, and on her face was a bright smile only an innocent could muster. What was unusual of this foal, however, was the sheer number of Tanglekin that had latched themselves on the poor filly, scratching and grabbling at her, trying to pull her down or sabotage any attempt to even move. There were clear marks of old Tanglekin mischief on her coat, and the number of Tanglekin grapping on her hooves was simply shocking. How she didn’t notice this herself, or how she was even able to move with those Tanglekin hanging from her was nothing short of a small miracle. Bright Dreams did his best to not show what he was feeling at the moment on his face as to not to scare the little filly. She clearly and desperately needed help, but he couldn’t just blast the Tanglekin away without alerting the filly or other ponies. That would once again spell disaster for him, and he might end getting driven out of the town again if that occurred, even though he hadn’t really even entered the town proper yet. While he was quickly thinking through his options, he realized that he had been silent for almost too long, and if he didn’t answer to the filly in front of him quickly, he might end up spooking the little thing away. “Hello, young one.” He quickly managed to say, only then realizing how scratchy his voice sounded, the dust of the roads seeming to have done a number on his throat. Not to mention he had once again spent several days in physical silence. Giving a small cough to clear his throat and mostly succeeding, he inquired the filly, who wasn’t smiling quite as wide anymore, “What is your name, little filly?” He did his best to try and sound as friendly as possible (not really his forte), hoping that if he at least got to know the filly’s name he might get to fixing her problem later on. “I’m Sweetie Belle!” The filly replied with redoubled enthusiasm, as if his little attempt to act friendly had actually worked. “What’s your-“ “NOOOO!!” The sudden cry caused both Bright Dreams and the filly, apparently named Sweetie Belle, to jump a little in startle, though in his case it was a bit hindered due to him being latched on to his wagon. They both looked up to the hill from where the young one had trotted to see two other fillies speeding downhill towards them, with looks of alarm on their face. Bright Dreams was already preparing himself to throwing a small shield against physical attacks to protect the filly and himself if need be before he actually realized that the two “attackers” were just small foals, hardly older than the one standing in front of him. His initial reaction was shown to be doubly false a mere moment later, when the fillies slowed down their “charge”, the other, an orange, purple maned pegasus, jumping in between him and the Sweetie Belle, while the other, an yellow, red maned earth pony, bit down on Sweetie Belle’s tail and tried to pull her away from. “Girls! What are you doing!?” Sweetie Belle shouted in alarm. “Don’t worry Sweetie Belle! I won’t let this spy lay a single hoof on you!” The pegasus shouted, taking a defensive pose that simply oozed “adorable” (probably not the effect she was going for). This prompted a rise of an eyebrow from Bright Dreams under his hat. A spy? Not the first time he’d heard that accusation, but usually the ones calling him that weren’t little foals. “What?” the ‘protected’ filly asked in utter confusion. “Wha’h whould you jus’ barge in on a strangah like that?” The earth pony asked through a mouthful of Sweetie Belle’s tail. “Youh migh’ had gotten hurd!” She was struggling to drag her friend away from the scary stranger. “GIRLS! Seriously! He’s not a spy! I just came over to say ‘Hi!’” Sweetie Belle exclaimed at her two overly protective friends. Bright Dreams chose simply to observe as the group of fillies devolved into bickering upon his status as a scary individual. He noted that the other two of the foals also had fairly recent marks of Tanglekin upon their hooves, plus what seemed to be very old Nightmare marks on the little pegasus’s aura. Most of the Tanglekin marks were likely from their interactions with the one named Sweetie Belle, and the Nightmare marks were not that uncommon, even on a foal of her age. Likely some irrational fears had opened a door for a Nightmare to follow the pegasus for a while. The Marks weren’t that deep anyway. As Bright Dreams was making his silent observations, the two particular members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders kept throwing sideways glances to the ‘Stranger’. They now could see that the pony was actually a stallion, he had a light grey coat and black mane. He also seemed taller and leaner than most ponies, though it was hard to say for sure with the way he was kind of slumped in; like somepony who was waiting to get a severe scolding (something the Crusaders had a bit of expertise in). Slowly their panic and bickering started to wane as it was confirmed that Sweetie Belle was indeed alright, no the stranger hadn’t done anything and yes, Applebloom and Scootaloo really should stop panicking. Finally, all the three little fillies turned to face the strange stallion, who had patiently waited for the foals in front of him to calm down. There was a ghost of a smile on his lips as he regarded the little ones. “Are you three alright?” He asked, and Bright Dreams was glad that his voice now much closer to normal. Hopefully, he might be able convince the fillies that he wasn’t a bad pony. Maybe he could even get some additional information from the three if he was lucky. “We’re fine, mister.” the earth pony said quietly. “Sorry for calling you a spy, mister.” The orange pegasus muttered. “Please don’t be angry with them. They were just worried”, Sweetie Belle pleaded, with a quivering lip and eyes wide and moist, obviously trying her best to tug at his heartstrings just in case he was actually angry. Bright Dreams couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. It wasn’t every day that he heard somepony being sorry to him. With a small smile tugging at his lips, he leaned himself just a bit closer to the fillies while tilting his head just a little so that they could see his eyes from under his hat. “It is quite alright, everypony,” he said with a calm smile. “My name is Bright Dreams. What are your names?” As he tilted his hat and told them his name, the girls had to admit that the name fit. The stallion’s eyes, though tired and a little weary, were by far the most interesting thing about him in their opinion. They were some light shade of green and blue, and they were very bright, shining, even. It was like looking at two little stars in the darkness of his hat. Bright Dreams almost chuckled out loud. He knew it was a bit cheating to use the Calming Eyes on the little fillies, but he really wanted to make sure that there wouldn’t be any wide spread panic. And nothing raises the anger of a community like the panic of small foals. Besides, it was just a little bit to help them calm down. The fillies stared at his eyes for a small moment, before each of them snapped out of it with a simultaneous shake of their heads, none of them noticing that they were now a lot calmer than a moment before, instead focusing on thinking how to answer the presented question. “Ah’m Apple Bloom!” The little yellow earth pony replied. “And I’m Scootaloo!” the pegasus in turn answered. “And together we are…” Sweetie Belle trailed off, while inhaling deeply. “THE CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS!!” The three little fillies all screamed out in a manner that would have been adorable were it not for eardrum bursting volume. Bright Dreams even noticed a few of the Tanglekin that had been hanging from Sweetie Belle dropped off and skittered away in clear discomfort. After wincing at the pain in his ears, even under his hat, and after glancing around to make sure that no unwanted attention had been brought to him due to the damn near explosive sound he asked with a an almost visible trepidation: “The Cutie- what now?” “We’re on a crusade, a mission!” Apple Bloom answered, thankfully with a much lower volume. “To find our special talents!” Scootaloo continued with considerable vigor. “And to earn our cutiemarks!” Sweetie Belle concluded, at which point the three fillies clopped their respective fore hooves together with an exited “YEAH!” Bright Dreams idly wondered if these fillies knew the actual origin of the name they had adopted for themselves, and briefly considered if he should tell them, but he quickly squished that intent. Besides, he needed some information, and these fillies might be able to help in that regard. “That’s very nice,” he said, while doing his best not to sound condescending, “but could you girls do me a small favour?” The fillies quickly glanced to each other in slight confusion to this sudden turn of events, then turned back to Bright Eyes. “What kind o’ favor?” Apple Bloom asked with just tiniest hint of suspicion in her voice and posture. “Could you tell me is the Mayor’s Office still at the Town Hall? And is Miss Mare still the Mayor?” Bright Dreams asked, while doing his best to sound sincere. “Yes it is! And Mayor Mare is still the Mayor! Why, was her office somewhere else before?” Sweetie Belle answered and asked with innocence. “Nonono, I just wondered if anything had changed since.” Bright Dreams answered with a little hesitation. “Ever since what?” Scootaloo asked with barely concealed (obvious) curiosity and suspicion. ‘Oh horseapples’, Bright Eyes thought to himself. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have a lot to do before the day is over. Thanks for your help my little ponies, and have a nice day!” Bright Dreams talked quickly with an obviously forced smile, while starting to drag his wagon away as fast as he could. “Hey, wait a minute!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, as the stallion started to move past crusaders. Bright Dreams didn’t show any signs of stopping; in fact he was trying to move faster. “Where are you going?” Sweetie Belle asked with slightly hurt tone. “To the town.” Came a curt reply. Where in the town are you going?” Scootaloo inquired. “Personal information. It doesn’t concern you.” ‘Technically true’ he thought to himself, ’but they don’t need to know that’. “Can ya aht least tell us why ya blasted that there road before?” Apple Bloom asked in turn. ‘Oh Moon’, Bright Dreams thought to himself, ‘they saw me blast those Tanglekin!?’ “Blasted? Road? I didn’t blast at any road.” He replied with feign ignorance, something in which he had gotten reasonably good. Besides, that too was technically still true. “But we saw you! We saw you just go, ‘Whoosh’, ‘Shazam!’ and then ‘BLAST!” Scootaloo insisted with overly dramatic re-enactment with waving her fore hooves in the air and everything. Bright Dreams looked to his side to see the Crusaders somehow keeping pace with him, though to be honest, his wagon was very heavy, and he was not the strongest of stallions. “Look, I am very glad that you girls helped me out, but if you don’t mind, I actually have something important to do,” he replied with rapidly growing panic and irritation. “What kind of something?” Scootaloo asked with clear suspicion. “Just some personal business I need to take care off. So, without further ado, Crusaders, Sweetie Belle.” He replied curtly, while reminding himself to try and fix the filly unicorn’s situation even as he started to pull at his wagon even harder in an effort to put distance between him and the three inquisitive foals. At this rather curt reply the Crusaders finally relented, and stopped following him. That didn’t mean they were done with him yet, oh no. Not by a long shot. “I don’t care what he says, but that pony is hiding something,” Scootaloo said with furrowed eyebrows. “But he didn’t actually say much, did he?” Sweetie Belle pointed out. “Well yeah. But that only means he didn’t tell us really nuthin’, save fer his name.” Apple Bloom reminded her friends. “Why did he blast that road?” Scootaloo asked. “Why’s he’s goin’ to town?” Apple Bloom wondered. “Why he looks so dirty?” Sweetie Belle wondered. This particular pondering quickly gained her a double blank stare from her friends. “What? Didn’t you see how tangled his mane and coat was?” “And that is important why?” I don’t know, I was just wondering.” Sweetie Belle answered with slight rejection. “Whatever is goin’ on with that pony, we need to find out about it.” Apple Bloom said with conviction. The three fillies looked at each other for a moment before a grin split each of their respective faces. This was followed by a loud gasp of air, and a shout that could fill anypony hearing it with sheer, blood-freezing terror: “CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS INVESTIGATORS GO!!”
Chapter 3Bright Dreams was now in the town proper, and feeling if not much better, then at least less panicked. Though the particular three little fillies had sawn him blasting those Tanglekin, it was very unlikely that any of them had actually seen them. If even one would have, they would have likely tried to get rid of those Tanglekin smooching off of Sweetie Belle themselves. And since they were just little foals, the possibility of any grown mare or stallion of actually listening to what they had to say about the weird stranger was less than slim. Besides, considering the usual attention span of young foals, it was unlikely that those three would even remember that incident come tomorrow morning. That last line of thought showed just how little he still blissfully knew about the Three Fillies of Apocalypse, which would undoubtedly see him damned for later on. As he traveled through the town, Bright Dreams was proven to be right in his assumption that nopony had tended the Dreamkin of the Ponyville. There was scarcely any Dreamer nests to be seen anywhere, though he planned to do a thorough search and assessment of the situation at hoof later at night. The wards had for the most part either frayed away with time, or they had been carelessly just thrown away when the building they had been part of had been renovated or demolished. And it showed. The Tanglekin were in abundance around the whole town, either lying in waiting, or clamped on a pony at the very moment. Bright Dreams had to restrain himself from just simply starting to blast them away, so great was his disgust. And worse, there were clear signs of Terrorkin and Nightmare activity on the auras of the ponies around him, some of them quite recent. He had to wonder how anypony could remain as happy as the ponies outside the town had appeared to be in a place haunted by such creatures. And speaking of the townsponies, Bright Dreams was glad to see that there weren’t many curious ponies on the streets at the moment. Besides the little fillies from earlier, all he had gotten from the ponies around here were some curious looks and a few greetings spoken to his direction. Bright Dreams was dealing with curious looks by simply ignoring them, while the greetings were answered with a slight wave of his hoof, not so slight as to be considered rude or overly meek, nor with enough enthusiasm to give a reason to further communication, all the while keeping his head low and eyes on the road. Bright Dreams had developed this particular manner of travelling on his journeys, and it practically shouted “Don’t Mind Me, I’m Not Even Here”, save it didn’t, because nopony paid much attention to it. Of course his attempts to move as inconspicuously as possible were a bit sabotaged by the fact he was pulling a rather large cottage-wagon behind him. Nevertheless, for the most part he managed to travel through town mostly unnoticed. Mostly. “I must say, Applejack, that I was actually rather surprised that you got the time to join us for a lunch today.” Rarity replied to her farmpony friend. “Ain’t nuthin’ to it, Rarity. I’ve done mah fair share of runnin’ the market stall this week, an’ nearly all of this week’s harvest has been taken care of. ‘sides, it was Big Mac’s turn to mind the stall today anyhoo.” “I’m just happy that we could spend some time together, since none of the animals need me at the moment. And it is such a nice day.” Fluttershy added to the conversation. The trio was enjoying “a little get-together” as Rarity put it, to enjoy the day and each other’s company. They had chosen the Prancing Mare, a popular (and a bit snobby by Applejack’s opinion) little restaurant just next to the Ponyville’s Mane Street. “By the way, girls, did you hear the news? There are some new ponies from Canterlot moving in Ponyville”, Rarity inquired her friends, excitement clear in her voice. “Yeah, an’ another family comin’ in from Fillydelphia. Ah heard a couple of cows, Molly an’ Milena, talkin’ bout it yesterday at the market. Said that one of their cousin from Fillydelphia heard that a family was moving here.” Applejack answered. “It seems like the cows see everything, or at least it would look like that at times, wouldn’t it?” Rarity tittered good-naturedly. “Ain’t nuthin’ to it Rarity, just families keeping together no matter what. Though Ah myself ain’t all that pleased of all tha gossiping they do, but Ah guess that’s just the way it is, ain’t it?” Applejack replied while taking a sip off her drink. “Indeed. Though returning back to the original topic, have you heard anything else of the ponies moving in?” “Nuthin’ more than that their moving in in a couple o’ months, an’ from where their comin’ from. Ah ain’t so intent on gossiping anyhoo, ‘specially when there’s apples to sell.” “Umm excuse me, but, ummm, why there are so many new ponies into town?” Fluttershy asked with a slight trepidation. “Why Fluttershy, it’s cause Ponyville’s a great place ta live!” Applejack declared with a humorous smile. “Well while that is ONE reason, perhaps it is because we are so close to Canterlot, but still a ways away from the city? That could be a good reason”, Rarity pondered while giving a small smile to her friend’s antics. “There seems to be a lot of ponies moving in Ponyville these days, though. Their buildin’ some new houses at the edge of tha town, an’ Mayor Mare’s talkin’ bout renovating the Train station… Seems like lot of folks want to move to Ponyville these days”, Applejack pondered, Fluttershy’s question having piqued her interest. “True, but seeing how often Princess Celestia has visited our little town ever since Princess Luna returned, and the fact that Princess Luna was saved from Nightmare in here might have something to do with it. It seems like our little Ponyville is getting quite a reputation”, Rarity said. “Oh, I just hope that nopony is coming to look for me. I don’t want everypony looking at me, especially after I stopped modeling!” Fluttershy exclaimed with a terrified whisper, looking just about ready to bolt. “Don’t you worry none, sugarcube! I doubt that any of them ponies movin’ in even know you live here!” Applejack said while putting a calming hoof on her friend’s shoulder. The conversation carried for quite some time in this fashion, only being broken by occasional bite of their respective dishes. It was in between one of these silent moments when Rarity noticed something large moving on the other side of the street. “Oh look girls, another traveller.” “Kinda big wagon for a pony that size.” Applejack commented. “Well, at least he looks… Nice”, Fluttershy offered meekly. “I suppose so, but look at that cloak! And that hat! How he could have gotten clothing of such high quality so dirty and torn!? Simply dreadful!” Rarity exclaimed in what her friends had learned to be an overly dramatic manner. “Well whadda ya think happens when travelling by hoof, Rarity? Most o’ the roads around are just dirt roads, oh course yer gonna get dusty on them”, Applejack answered with a slight exasperation. After a moment of consideration she added, “Wait, ye can tell that’s a stallion? Kinda hard to tell, to be honest.” “Oh darling, you should know by now that I have an eye for these sorts of things. But back to the point, the state of the roads is no excuse for keeping care of the clothing you choose to wear,” Rarity answered matter-of-factly. “I just hope the poor dearie isn’t too exhausted. That wagon looks very.. *gulp* Big.” Fluttershy interjected before Applejack could give a heated comment back to her designer friend, in an effort to dissuade the growing tension between her friends. She really didn’t like to see them arguing. (But considering their natures, it wasn’t a too rare of an occurrence.) “Actually,” Applejack said, stroking her chin thoughtfully, “that wagon ain’t actually that big. Just a bit taller than most travellin’ wagons. Though it’s no doubt seen better days”, she concluded while eyeing the wagon critically. “On that point we agree, darling. And it clearly used to have such a nice colour scheme! Shame that it’s in such disrepair” Rarity answered to her farmer friend. Applejack rolled her eyes while smiling slightly, of course Rarity would first care of the colour of a wagon. Never mind that the wagon in question needed some new roof tiles, the rear axle was obviously a bit skewed, along with the left rear wheel, the chimney was clearly not properly insulated, and some the wallboards needed to be replaced. Not to mention that the harness was a bit too large and heavy for pony that size. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. “By the way, Rares, does that wagon there remind you of anypony?” She asked thoughtfully. “I can’t say that it does. Does that wagon seem familiar to you, Fluttershy?” “I-I don’t think so,” she offered in her usual manner. “Why are you asking, Applejack? Have you seen that wagon before?” Rarity inquired her friend. “Ah honestly don’ know. It kinda reminds me o’ the wagon that blowhard, Trixie, was using. ‘Course, Ah might have seen somethin’ like that outside o’ Ponyville, too. Ah don’t even know,” Applejack concluded giving annoyed sigh for her own inability to remember. “I think I know what you mean, Applejack, that colour scheme and exterior does slightly remind of that little imposter”, Rarity agreed, while taking a sip of her tea. “However, I must point out that despite this stallion’s similar choice in clothing he is obviously nothing like her.” “How come?” “Well for starters he hasn’t made any dishonest boasting yet,” Rarity answered, and both her and Applejack had a slight chuckle for that remark. “And secondly, he is obviously trying to be inconspicuous. See how he is moving? Silently, eyes to the ground, just moving along rather quickly. Clearly doing his best to be unnoticed,” Rarity concluded. “But that begs the question: Why?” “Umm, maybe he just doesn’t like attention? Ponies looking staring at you can get very unconformable,“ Fluttershy answered her friend’s question, having some expertise on what anxiety unwanted attention could cause. This comment stunted the conversation for a while, as both of Fluttershy’s friends considered her words. “Ah still get a feelin’ Ah seen that pony somewhere before. Though Ah might be wrong…” Applejack shaked her head in mild frustration. “Let’s just git back to eatin’. So what you were sayin’ ‘bout dem other newcomers, Rarity?” Bright Dreams couldn’t believe his luck. He had almost gotten to the Town Hall in the middle of a day on a Saturday in Ponyville, the most gossiping village on the face of the world, and not once he had been stopped and questioned after entering the town proper. All though he had to admit, as he quickly glanced again at his surroundings, it looked a lot different to what it had been all those years ago. The buildings were larger and there were more of them. A lot of the buildings around the Town Hall had been either renovated or just outright replaced. There a whole lot more ponies and the population seemed to have a lot more unicorns and pegasi as opposed to being almost exclusively earth pony village in the past. Ponyville was certainly growing, and Bright Dreams hoped that it had done so in more ways than one. He was starting to feel unusually hopeful, when suddenly, he heard a voice amongst the murmur of the town. Moreover, he heard a certain accent… ‘No.’ He listened more carefully as he trotted down the road, and soon enough he could hear that voice and accent again on the other side of the road. ‘NONONONONO!!’ Bright Dreams very nearly bolted out of his harness when he realized to just whom did that voice belong to. The very thought of it filled him with dread and panic. ‘Calm yourself!’ He thought to himself, doing a conscious effort not to look at the source of the sound, nor to stop moving or to bolt away from it. ‘You knew that she might still live here when you decided to return. Just move on, don’t draw any attention to yourself, and if things go badly, DENY EVERYTHING.’ Taking a calming breath and just moving on EXACTLY as he had just a moment ago, he proceeded to drag his wagon towards the Town Hall that was already visible as the tallest building in the exact center of Ponyville. Author's Note I've finally managed to cobble together a new chapter, along with a whole lot of headcanon notes to myself so that I can stay consistent to my writing. And by the way, if you notice something horribly and disgustingly wrong with my grammar, feel free to point it out for me, and I shall seek to fix it. Also, writing the lines for the members of the Main 6 is hard. I was constantly fighting NOT to write their lines in the same manner as I myself speak, that is, ramble on and on and going off tangent. I don't think I was very successful.
