Author's Note

For those who complain about Luna's speaking patterns, was using an old English translator to convert modern English to old English, so some translation errors are tobe expected.......

https://lingojam.com/ModernEnglishtoOldEnglish is the translators address is anyone was wondering

let me know what you think, still a work in progress but time tells all

Aint in Kansas anymore

~within the dreamscape~

A solitary blue winged mare of the night descends into what could be charitably at best called a hellscape, swooping low towards a looming figure overlooking the madness below from atop a mountain top. The smoke of fires obscuring the bright moonlight night of the dream they had entered, but at last they had found the one sought tirelessly. "Finally, we hast found thou, interloper. What hellish madness is this scene ere us?" The alicorn of the night, Luna, it taken abit back by the carnage below as the figures nine glowing orblike eyes seem to study her intently.

"This little one, is but one of many battlefields I have found and survived upon, in my travels. Not all my vacation destinations end up as planned after all." One of the six arms folded across its chest gestures to the battlefield below and the screams of the dying and injured. Grotesque bestial gargoyle like monstrosities can be seen dive bombing and killing what looks like bipedal soldiers in heavy armor. Other limbless entities can be seen floating around releasing waves of psionic chaotic energies at groups of fighting soldiers. "One past attempt at a vacation was interrupted by a species known as Tyranids. They were abit of a pest species in the dimension i was visiting, adaptive evolution types that had a mindset like a hive yet also like locusts. They swarm and consume planets for the sake of biomass, and unless a species is considered not worth the biomass it takes to kill, all other species are considered prey to them."

"And thou encountered these things and survived how haply. Should they are as dangerous as thy words imply how goes't still alive having witnessed such a conflict?" Surveying the carnage below, Luna looks between the being she had spent the past few weeks hunting in the dreamscape and the madness before her eyes. A scene that even would make Discord pale from its sheer brutality and bloodshed.

"When you pity two adaptive evolving entities against one another, the one who can think more independently usually will win in the end. Like the Tyranids my species is adaptive evolutionary type in nature, but instead of being predators, we are scholars. For myself there is nothing more soothing than visiting other realms, seeing what I can learn from them, then returning home to try and understand how I can use that knowledge to create new inventions. Thus, when I go on vacations, usually I visit someplace I have yet to travel to. Be it a star, a planet, a moon, or even a new multiversal dimension. The destination matters little, it's what can be learned along the way that is the most important to myself." Gesturing with one large hand again at the battles below he sighs deeply," These creatures ended up ruining one of my planned vacations and by the time the dust was settled, I was deemed not worth the biomass lost to fight me alone. I am a scholar, but I am also a warrior blooded across almost a hundred micro wars in my home dimension. The more I am forced to fight the deadlier I am, but I take no pleasure from killing." Wagging a thick finger, he chuckles abit before folding his arms back across his chest. "Some days I envy my simpler comrade Ryan, he was like a fired arrow. Didn't care what was in the way of his task, just completing the task as efficiently as possible."

"So, thy saying thou fight this Tyranid species on superior footing yet, that thou are still a seeker of mostly knowledge. Surely thy jesting? these creatures look like they are spawned from the vilest of nightmares and I wot nightmares." Giving a quick snort, Luna glares up at the figure that's looming over her, her temper slowly rising at the perceived falsehood. "I am Luna, Princess of the Night and all it entails! Surely, thou don't expect me to receive these impossibilities thou speak of?"

Casually he shrugs adjusting his robes and cloak before looking from the fighting down to Luna," Believe what you wish little Lulu. The multiverse is a vast and wild place and those who traverse it either adapt fast or end up being swept along in the flow. For what it's worth, my name is Ebony Ekin Shade, and I am merely a simple traveler who's seen far too much and is trying to enjoy a peaceful vacation for once. I intend no harm towards your lands and am simply relaxing with good company while staying out of your lovers quarrel with Discord." As he speaks, he waves his hand dispelling the dream images and turning it to a starry void, taking on the human disguise he had been using while residing with Chrysalis and her hive. "Us meeting in the dreamscape was because I sensed the presence of a dream magic based searching spell trying to connect to my mind. In truth my kind, once fully matured, don't usually need to sleep. It's a luxury used mostly to expediate the passing of time or for those of us with a dream walking talent to converse privately."

Slightly taken back by the dream being dismissed and sudden change of surroundings, despite believing herself originally to be the one fully in control of the dreamscape, Luna listens carefully to his words to try to find any deceptions. At being compared perceptually to a lover of Discord she scowls," We are 'i no way 'i a relationship with that buffoon! Surely, thou want thy mind checked if thou regard I hast any romantic feelings towards one such as Discord."

He chuckles deeply placing both hands across the back of his head, reclining to lay on his back in the air looking at her with one eye closed," Oh no, little Lulu, I am sure you have no feelings for him that don't reside on the head of one of your pony soldier's spears for all that Discord has caused. Your sister on the other hand, as strait laced as she is, strikes me as the type to also for a time fall for the proverbial bad boy. Especially if it means shaking loose from the shackles and stress of trying to lead and being independent like you both were in your younger days." He frowns abit before closing both eyes and shaking his head," No matter how we chase the ghosts of youth, they will never be fully grasp. This is one of the few truths of growing up is it not? One can't even truly change past mistakes, even with time magic. For todo so would merely create a branching alternative world and without temporal anchoring there is little chance of returning to one's true time period."

"Thou speak like thou hast a lot of experience playing with time, something e'en the great Starswirl had difficulties with and bid the hardest form of magic." She raises one eyebrow looking at the figure before her, not liking the implications of his words, but also not being able to fully deny her sisters fancies in the department of romance. Despite being smaller then when first she saw him, the reduced size didn't make her feel any more at ease. Instead, his seeming lack of concern and flippant nature reminded her far too much of his Discord himself acted, only with less madness.

"Time magic is a complex and dangerous field sure, but it's merely a steppingstone compared to so many harder spell forms I have come across. For example, Void and Dimensional magic is so much more complex and both come with a higher risk. Especially if someone who's not temporally anchored encounters a version of themselves who's more experienced and deadlier." A black booklet appears floating beside Ebony as he regards Luna with one eye again, summoned forth to the dreamscape as he sits up, cross-legged in the air looking at her with one eye still closed. "Before I visit a place, I try to see what I should look out for. A lesson I learned the hard way not to skip after encountering Tyranids and a lesson that has helped me to survive a few dangerous encounters in the multiverse. It also helps me plan if my vacation will be mostly peaceful by viewing timelines of where I have decided as a travel destination. The fact 40 of my powers were sealed after I entered is a good reminder to me that no matter how much I plan for, there are always things and beings stronger than me, watching for travelers." Tapping the book with one gloved finger he smirks chuckling abit ,"Within this book is the few things I could intervene with in your potential timeline, but the more I intervene in the perceived goal of making things better, the more I might create a worse future. A wise man once said, the road to hell is paved in good intentions. Something I myself have seen first-hand from past attempts to dabble in other lands."

"If thou wot what dangers lurk 'i our future, why not grant that knowledge to us to solve, if thou yourself don't crave to intervene too much as thou say? Surely some few knowledge and foresight canst not be as troublesome and dooming as thou imply?" She stares now focused intently on the book he had indicated. If it truly had a list of current future problems, surely that knowledge would and could help her and Celestia's rule.

Clicking his tongue in a tsking fashion, he shakes his head dismissing the booklet back to his storage spell. "Still so young, innocent, and naive. While not a bad thing one day you will understand my words better in hindsight. Sometimes dark things must occur so that harmonic balance can make a brighter future. Any time too much darkness is suppressed, it creates a vacuum effect, which make the next bad event usually worse than it has tobe. My one big interference I have already preformed will have a mild effect at best in the current timeline but might have a greater effect in the distance future. I helped the changelings you see take up a better potentially path, a path not corrupted by the antics of Discord more than they already had been." Holding up his hand he moves them like a scale as he speaks," on one hand, in the short run it gives Chrysalis a chance to make something beneficial to all with her hive. But on the other hand, she was supposed to be corrupted almost fully by the chaotic twisting of Discord to eventually become a villain in the far-flung future. Had I let history play out, majority of her race would have after suffering great losses, had a brighter more colorful future, but Chrysalis would be condemned to stone in most multiversal histories forever, never given a second chance, unable to move, and able to see everything. A true hell I wouldn't wish on anyone. So, I took a chance and gambled on following my own personal code, to try to help her avoid that fate."

The look of horror on Luna's face at the thought of being petrified but conscious forever, to be able to see everything but never able to move again, made it rather obvious how she felt on such a fate. While a mad mind might be able to last, a sane mind would eventually be destroyed completely. If such was the destined fate of one who would have been a villain, what would that make those who cast such a fate be. She couldn't fault him stepping in, in such a situation. Even if it met changing the future and taking a risk. She would have to speak to her sister about making a law in case of future stone imprisonments, to ensure no one ever was locked in such a state. "Join what may, I canst not bear against thou thy actions 'i this case. If mine role was reversed with hers, i too would hast preferred someone ensure I wasn't trapped 'i a stony prison forever, seeing yet unable to move." Nodding to him she prepares to resume her nightly duties, his words giving her much to think about as she completes her tasks. "Fair thou well till next we speak, haply when the changeling queen visits our home to talk, yet hitherto I bid thou good rest."

Nodding to Luna, he lays back watching her vanish back into the ethereal realm that was the dreamscape, pondering what she had said. Was it right to still hold back from helping her with the impending issue that was Nightmare Moon. Her words left him unsure if he really was taking the right step, but if he acted, he would also have to ensure Celestia didn't fall to a darkness within her, which often happened in multiverses where Luna doesn't fall to her inner demons. He also recalled worlds he had seen where both ended up killing each other and shakes his head, his plans now muddled and murky. "Even in the most harmonious of lands, why is it nothing can ever be simple and straightforward as I hoped.....", he mutters to himself as he focuses to return to the waking world. There was things todo and plans to make, he only hoped he wasn't going to make a bigger mistake of matters.