The Traveler

"Well, they've been missing for nearly a week now and guard patrols don't ever go missing, especially those with Pegasi among their ranks." Celestia said, yawning a little. It was getting late.

"If they didn't get lost, then we have to assume some kind of animal attacking them, but there is next to nothing that could wipe out an entire guard patrol." Luna replied. "Twilight, you've been quiet so far, what do you think?"

"I think it's more likely they got lost; the Everfree isn't exactly the most well known place in Equestria," she responded. "And besides, what in its right mind would go after six fully armed guards? What in its right mind would even try violence?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Luna said, unsure. "But still, an entire week. The only way I will agree is if-"

A cry for Celestia interrupted the blue Alicorn. In response, Celestia stood and walked to her door, half annoyed for being pulled away from her tiny reunion, but the thoughts were dismissed when she remembered that something like this would only happen if it was serious. She opened the door, her sister and Twilight in tow.

A Pegasus guard nearly barreled into her, having to expand his wings to slow down in time. He bowed. "My apologies for interrupting you, your Majesty, but one of the guards in the patrol you sent has returned," he said.

"What news did he bring?" Luna asked.

The guard looked down. "So far, he has been unable to speak, and we haven't found the other patrol members yet. Please, we need you in the guardhouse as soon as possible" he said, turning around and starting down the stairs. The three Alicorns followed.

The group walked in silence, taking a couple shortcuts so they could arrive at the guardhouse relatively quickly. The two Earth Ponies at the front opened the doors, revealing an abandoned interior, save for a couple doctors and guards huddled around a bed. Celestia approached them, then nearly jumped back when she saw the patrol member.

Bloody gashes and bruises covered his body, staining the bedsheets. His face was contorted in pain as the doctors tried to ease the pain, to little avail. He would occasionally whimper when one of the doctors touched a wound with a wet rag, but other than that, he was silent; instead of the chilling screams and groans that one would expect from a pony injured so badly, this one just laid there, staring at everypony with pleading eyes. It was incredibly unnerving.

"What in Equestria happened to him?" Celestia asked. One of the guards turned around, a frown chiseled onto his face.

"We don't have the slightest clue, your Majesty, and he still can't talk. We were thinking telepathy could work, but none of us know how to do it. Maybe you could try...?"

"I will, but it has been a while." Celestia replied, stepping forward. As horrible as it sounds, I hope his mind is too broken to resist. She closed her eyes, her horn glowing yellow as the spell was cast.

The usual wave of nausea associated with entering another pony's mind passed over the Princess, followed by sudden distortions of the guards thoughts that interrupted the endless plane she currently stood on. She heard him say something inside his head. "W-Who's there?"

Celestia thought up a reply, "It's me, Princess Celestia. I need to ask you about what happened to you and the other guards in the Everfree-" She was cut off as a barrier slammed down in front of her. Oh... Light returned to her eyes as she ended the spell.

"Well? What did he say?" Luna asked, cocking her head.

"As soon as I brought up the Everfree, he tossed up a barricade."

"Oh... Well, if it's that bad, maybe we shouldn't try to force it out of him, lest we injure him further than what has already been done."

Twilight spoke up as well. "I agree with Luna this time. We should just wait until he is ready to speak."

Celestia paused for a moment. "...No. Unless we can find out exactly what caused this, it will only continue," she said, casting the spell again. Ignoring the now slightly more intense nausea, the Alicorn started beating on it, slowly putting dents in until a crack appeared. Focusing her strength on it, it flew open and exposed the guards memories to her mind. A few blurred images passed by, completely unreadable. Celestia pushed deeper, right before a terrifying image of a bipedal figure thrusting a sword into a cowering guard caused her to lose her focus, and the barrier reformed. Before she could prepare for another assault, something shoved into her physical body and knocked her to the ground, ripping her mind from the spell.

Opening her eyes, Celestia saw Luna standing over her, visibly angry. "Luna! What are you doing?!" Celestia said, equally unhappy. Luna simply pointed at the wounded guard. Confused, she stood up and looked.

The guard was thrashing around on the bed, mouth opened in a soundless scream. The doctors attempted to hold him down so he wouldn't fall off, only making him struggle more. Celestia felt like a dagger had been shoved into her heart. "Sister... I didn't know it would do this to him, I swear..." she mumbled, unable to get over knowing how much pain she had just caused.

"Celestia, when you enter a pony's mind and access their memories, you are forcing them to relive those moments; and when those moments cause significant trauma, this happens." Luna said, pointing to the guard, who had stopped moving. "Now, if you insist on taking this route, at least let me be the one to remove his barrier. I can do it without causing as much pain as having your mind broken usually results in."

"...Okay. But I still need to be the one to access those memories. As soon as that barrier is down, you leave his mind and I go in, understand?"

"If you say so..." Luna responded, already starting to cast the spell. The guard violently shook at first, but slowly calmed down as time passed until he simply twitched every now and then. Eventually, Luna opened her eyes again and nodded to Celestia, who then cast her own spell a third time.

Upon reentering the guard's mind, she noticed that things seemed a little off. Blurred images flew around, and static clouded any chance of hearing. Celestia soon started focusing on the memories as they passed her, deciphering as much as possible before it vanished. Whatever Luna had done wasn't making her job any easier.

The first few images were pretty clear, showing the patrol as it moved through the forest at around sunset. the images started coming by faster, though it was unnoticeable at first. An image of a small fort popped up, and the images in general started to become more and more distorted, further showing how damaged the guard's mind was. A picture of the same biped Celestia had seen earlier flashed for the shortest of seconds before showing one of the guards on the ground, throat slashed. The fort showed up again, windows colored a deep red before a second dead guard appeared, an arrow in his chest.

The biped appeared again, another image of a dead pony following close behind. A deafening blast of static pounded her mind, and two more dead guards appeared, one of them being a Pegasus with a missing wing. The images were coming in too fast to tell details at this point. Another blast of static made Celestia cringe, and the biped appeared to be walking toward her, getting closer every couple images. A close-up view of the first dead guard, wounds sickeningly exaggerated, threatened to make her lose her focus while another of a guard who had nearly been gutted only made things worse. The spell was hanging on by a thread now, with only the Princess's own strength keeping it going. The biped was no more than a foot away, the images coming in at a speed that could have made Rainbow Dash jealous. The fort appeared again, painted with blood while dead guardponies littered the ground around it. The biped raised its sword, as if to strike a cowering foe. Celestia, for the first time in a while, felt pure fear. The blade slashed through the air, and the spell ended, the white Alicorn too shaken to continue.

Celestia opened her eyes, gasping. The depression in the room was palpable. Twilight, the doctors and the other guards had left, leaving only Luna and the guard; the latter had a dagger buried in his chest.

"W-What happened?" Celestia asked, looking at the guard.

"He completely lost it. Before we could stop him, he grabbed one of the other guards' weapons and stabbed himself." Luna said, leaving the room. "I hope whatever you found out was worth it."

Celestia was frozen to the spot. Is all this my fault?

"Tia? are you awake?"

"Yes."

"May I come in?"

"Of course."

Luna stepped through the door to Celestia's bedroom, closing it behind her. A few seconds later, the blue Alicorn joined her sister on the bed.

"Listen... I'm sorry about how I acted last night. I shouldn't have just ditched you back there." Luna said, sighing and looking down.

"No... It's okay. I'm fine now."

"Sis, I can tell when a pony hasn't been sleeping. Tell me, what's been troubling you?"

Celestia laid back. "Every time I close my eyes, the guard's memories keep appearing in my head. That, and..." she said, trailing off.

"And... What?"

"Is it my fault those guards all died?"

Luna shuffled her hooves. The question clearly wasn't something she was expecting. "Of course not, Tia. You can't control how good your guards do in combat. They tried their best, but in this particular event they were at a disadvantage. As for the most recent casualty, I honestly think it would have happened no matter what we did. None of these deaths are your fault, so don't pin the blame to yourself; pin it to that thing in the forest."

"That doesn't change that we need to stop it however... And at this point, sending guards to die will be my fault. We could outnumber it a million to one, and we would still take at least one casualty."

Luna tilted her head. "Maybe we could try a more diplomatic approach. You could send in Twilight, seeing as she is the leading expert on making friends."

"That could work... I'd like to have Shining Armor and Princess Cadence here before we take any risks like that."

"I will inform them. Now, you need to get some rest. Take the day off. I think I can handle a kingdom for a few hours."

"If you say so, Luna. Oh, and... Thank you. It's nice to know that at least one pony is still behind me after last night."

"Anytime, sis. Now, I meant it when I told you to get some rest!" Luna said, stepping of the bed and heading for the door. One last nod in her direction served as a silent goodbye before the younger Alicorn stepped through the door. After some silent thinking, Celestia decided to follow her sister's words and sleep, the latter finally being able to reach her weary eyes in a matter of minutes.