It was a gorgeous night. A great festival was being held to last several weeks that celebrated cultures from all over the world. There were great displays and fantastic shows from not just ponies, but other creatures from across the world. There were dancers from all over putting on shows in different places across the festival grounds, from places like Saddle Arabia to the Crystal Empire. The Zebras had put on incredible shows and plays, telling of the history of their country.
Amongst all the other grander shows, a humble little stage was set up on the eastern part of the festival grounds for a pegasus mare to tell interested festival attendees about the legends and tales from her homeland. Her wings looked bruised and damaged, the right one in a sling, but her coat was a clear white color, and her mane flowed in a way that looked like a sakura tree. Her eyes had a calm appearance to them, and were colored with an emerald green. Her cutiemark was an open book before a warm red sunrise, with cherry blossoms flowing from the book’s pages. The cutiemark seemed to change and move, almost as if it were alive.
She spoke softly to her audience who had just gathered as she introduced herself. “My name is Sakka no Kouma, though you may call me Page Turner. I come from the far east land of Neighpon, which you may know more commonly as Japony” The audience nodded in response. “I have journeyed far and come to tell you of the tales my homeland has. Such as one of a bunny who comes from the moon and hides among us. They are a prince of a kingdom on the moon and will demand to be treated as such. They will choose a pony to live with and they must be taken care of by that pony, lest the pony meet with misfortune. Those who do not give up on taking care of the bunny prince and continue forward are rewarded with anything their heart desires, but according to legend, no pony has ever taken care of the prince for longer than a few weeks.”
A curious pony in the audience asked “Why can’t anypony handle the prince for longer than a few weeks? He’s just a bunny, I’m sure a lot of us here have taken care of bunnies before.”
“Because the bunny prince of the moon kingdom is an abusive uncontrollable ball of pure disrespect given physical form.”
The story is interrupted by a noise coming from a bush nearby, startling some ponies. Every pony stops and looks in the direction of the loud rustling, expecting a young pony or small woodland creature to come out of it. What did come out of it was not what any of them were expecting. Out from the bushes, smelling of musk and alcohol, was a Tanuki. Not only was it a creature none of the ponies from Equestria had ever seen, but it was standing on it’s hind legs, drinking a bottle of sake and proudly displaying itself with confidence towards a crowd, something wild, small, furry creatures didn’t normally do in Equestria except around very particular ponies.
Page Turner giggled and offered the boozy beast a seat next to her, which it gladly took. “I was not expecting a tanuki to show up here in Equestria!” she exclaimed. The other ponies settled down after the initial shock of seeing a new creature and started to ask about it. “These creatures are playful and mischievous, with the ability to change themselves and shapeshift.”
“And make you ponies look like ********, too!” the tanuki said in a deep voice. The ponies in the audience jumped back a little in surprise at this, causing a giggle to come from Page Turner. “That is correct, they often transform themselves to make ponies look foolish or feel embarrassed. They do speak and are quite vulgar at times too.” She explained. “We also got ******* huge-” Page interrupts the tanuki and explains before he can blurt out a more vulgar sentence. “They are well endowed, yes, yes, you can stop talking now, okay, Akamori?”
The tanuki grows a massive grin on his face. “So you do recognize me?” Page rolls her eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t bring Yuki with you. I told you I was going to be busy. One of you showing up is a surprise, but if both of you-”
”Don’t worry about it, I didn’t bring Yuki.”
Page breathes a sigh of relief.
“They brought themselves.” The tanuki says with a wicked smile on his face.
If there was color on Page’s face, it would have drained by now. The bushes nearby started to rustle again. A panicked white fox rushes out from the bush. “We need help, now!” It yelled. “A well just appeared near a farm on the other side of these trees!”
Page Turner’s face went from shock to confusion. “I’m going to skip asking what you’re even doing here and just ask, why is that important? I’m in the middle of something here.”
“There’s a skeleton pony trying to drag another pony down into it.”
Page’s expression turned serious in an instant. “Any strong ponies in the audience, come with me right now! We have a pony to save!” She ran towards where the fox had come from. Any ponies who weren’t completely confused by the events that just took place followed behind.
After a few minutes of galloping, the group found the old decrepit looking well where the spirit manifested. A stallion was grabbing the outside wall of the well with all his might, trying not to be dragged in by this skeleton pony floating above the hole. His repeated screams of “Dear Celestia, somepony help!” echoed through the air.
Page instructed two ponies to grab the stallion and hold onto him while she opened her saddlebags to look for a sealing tag. Finding one she rushes onto the wall of the well and plants the tag on the forehead of the skeleton spirit, a bright light flashing from the contact for a brief moment before the spirit slowly starts to fade away. “Get him out of this well now!” Page orders, and the ponies pull the stallion out with one last tug of all their might. “Sir, are you okay?”
“Oh thank Celestia you came! What was that?!” The stallion asked.
“That was a vengeful spirit. It was created by somepony tossing a dead pony’s bones unceremoniously and disrespectfully into a well. After many years, the spirit emerges from it’s well and attacks anypony close by, transferring the grudge from itself to the new dead spirit in the well, trapped until it can pass on it’s own grudge or until the spirit or well can be cleansed.” Page explained.
“But there’s no well there! Can the well move? What does it have to do with me?” The stallion asked.
“The well can not move. The only explanation must be that a well used to be here and was broken and covered up until the spirit became strong enough to manifest itself on the surface. When the rest of my people come I’ll tell my friend to come cleanse this place. She’s a shrine maiden, she’ll know how to do it right. The sealing tag I put on the spirit was given to me by her and should hold that spirit there for a good amount of time so we can cleanse the well with no troubles.” She turned back around and started heading back to the festival. “We should leave this place for now though, the festival is still going on. I think we could all use some fun to take our minds off what happened here.”
As Page started to walk away, the other ponies looked amongst themselves and all nodded with agreement before following behind. Just before entering the treeline again, the fox and tanuki showed up. “Told you to keep up, but no, I had to slow down for you, Yuki.”
“I’m tired, give me a break!” the fox whined.
Page Turner walked past them back into the woods, followed by the rest of the herd.
“See? I told you they’d be finished by the time we got here, slowpoke!” Akamori yelled. Yuki just fell over on their side, panting. “Fine, I’ll carry you back. Sheesh. Don’t know why you didn't just turn into a bird to get over here, would’ve saved you a lot of energy for moments like these.” the tanuki said, picking up the fox on his back before carrying them back through the woods, following the trail of the ponies who just went back through. “It probably wasn’t even anything too dangerous, I bet you blew it out of proportion again, you lazy fox!”
Yuki growled and smacked Akamori with three tails in the face at once. “Like you would do something?”
“Yeah I would! I’d watch!” Akamori laughed.
The festival continued through the night uninterrupted, but the most recent incident with the vengeful spirit was only the beginning, and a sign of things to come. Page Turner knew that these incidents were only going to get more frequent until the rest of her group showed up. She had a bad feeling about all this, but she was honestly kind of excited. What better way to tell a story than to have your listeners truly experience it for themselves?
Author's Note
Bonus points for anyone who can correctly guess the names of every yokai and folklore influence in the chapters, excluding the obvious Tanuki and Kitsune.
It was another late night, the festival still going strong. The Griffon kingdoms had shows going on all over the grounds of varied displays. Most ponies would fear the presence of a griffon, but during these times of celebration, the tension between them seemed to vanish entirely as the ponies cheered on the performers.
Sakka no Kouma wasn’t scheduled to get onto her stage for a few more hours, so she settled down in her wagon home. She pulled some paper and a pencil from a drawer on a table within, and set them upon the table. There was a scented candle that was lit in a ceramic bowl on the corner of the desk, the scent reminding her of the sweet smell of her homeland’s springtime. The scent was a refreshing breath of home that allowed the mare to escape Equestria’s bitter Autumn nights, if only for a moment.
Before she could could her pencil to the paper however, she was interrupted by her friend hopping into her tent. “Sakka, there’s a problem!”
“Yuki, do you ever talk to me when there isn’t a problem?” Sakka responded with a chuckle. “What is it?”
“They’re freaking out because they saw two ponies in love and getting kissy-kissy with one another.” Akamori said, chuckling as he entered the tent. “Such a child, getting grossed out by two ponies in love!”
Yuki growled at the jab. “Obviously you couldn’t see the truth with your clouded heart. You should try thinking with your head one of these days instead of following your pe-”
“Yuki!” Sakka interrupted, notably annoyed by the bickering between the two. “What is it?”
A laugh erupted from the tanuki as he responded before Yuki could explain themselves. “I already told you, they-”
“Akamori, did I ask you?” Sakka asked, her stern expression causing the loudmouth tanuki to shut up for once. With an exasperated sigh, Sakka looked back towards Yuki. “Okay, what happened?”
“There’s a stallion being seduced by a spiderpony near a lake in the Everfree forest.”
A silence filled the room for a few moments before the sound of drinking filled the air. Yuki and Sakka turned their gazes towards the tanuki, a bottle of sake in his right paw. “Yeah, that’s a load of $#%@! That mare had 4 legs. I counted.”
Sakka blew out the candle, grabbed her saddlebag and hopped out of her wagon. “That’s because you’re a pervert, Akamori. One whose heart is clouded by love or lust can not see the true form of those creatures.” Sakka then started running towards the forest. As they were running she added “They hunt after one’s feelings of intimacy and take advantage of them by disguising themselves as an attractive companion.”
“Kind of like changelings?” A pony asked, running alongside them and joining them.
Startled by this stranger showing up, Sakka tripped and fell onto her broken right wing.
“Oh my gosh! Are you okay? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you like that!” The unicorn stammered out, quickly helping Sakka to her feet.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you getting close to me.” Sakka responded. “And you are?”
“Oh! Right! Sorry, I’m Lyra! Lyra Heartstrings! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” The unicorn looked like she was bouncing in place, a very excited smile on her face.
“Well it’s nice to meet you, Ms. Heartstrings, I am Sakka no Kouma, but you can call me Page Turner.”
A Silence filled the air between the ponies before Page Turner picked herself up and started galloping towards the everfree again.
“Neat! So you were talking about spiderponies? They sound like they’re similar to changelings! That’s fascinating!” Lyra stated enthusiastically, levitating a notepad and pen beside her while she ran.
“Actually, Changelings feed off the love and leave their target drained of whatever magic they possess, weakening them so that draining the love forcefully is possible, but these spiderponies don’t really feed off the love or lust of ponies. They just use those to catch ponies.”
“Fascinating!” Lyra explains, scribbling down notes as she goes along through the trees of the forest. “So if they don’t feed on the pony’s love or lust, what do they feed on?”
“The ponies themselves. They can also sustain themselves on eating insects, but they can't cheat death by only eating bugs. Eating a pony lets them live longer.”
Lyra’s eyes lit up with amazement. “I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but that’s… FASCINATING!” Lyra wrote down the notes as she giggled with glee.
“Why are you so interested in the spiderponies?” Akamori asked, finally catching up with the two ponies while riding a flying leaf.
Lyra let out an audible squeal. “Oh my gosh, an actual Tanuki! This day was already amazing before, and it just got better!”
Catching up alongside them, Yuki asked the unicorn “What made this day amazing before this?”
“My marefriend proposed to me today at the festival.”
“Well that’s great!” Akamori said. “I love it when two mares come together, hehe.”
“Akamori!” Page scolded.
Lyra’s face could not be beaming more. “A kitsune?! And a white one at that! This might be the best day of my life! At least until my wedding day!”
Yuki smirked. “Well if seeing me makes it the best, or soon to be second best day of your life, then it’s an honor.”
“The lakes just up ahead, we gotta be quiet.” Page Turner stated.
They all slowed down and approached the lake, hiding behind some bushes.
“Ya know, miss, ya never answered my question. Judging from the cutiemark, ain’t you more of a musician?” The tanuki inquired.
“Yeah, that’s my main talent and job, but I totally love cryptozoology.” The unicorn responded. She peeked through the bush and saw the creature seducing a stallion by the lake bed. “Oh wow, they’re a lot cuter than described! I thought they’d have 8 spider legs, not 8 pony legs!”
“Okay, Sakka, how come she can see it but I can’t? You said-”
“If your heart was clouded with love or lust you could not see them for what they truly were. Her heart is not clouded as her love is solidified and set to one recipient. You on the other hand are obsessed with finding it. Your heart’s journey is focused on it, and hers found it on the way of a different path.” Page Turner explained.
“Too long, didn’t listen.” The tanuki retorted.
“Because she’s not a dirty pervert like you, dingus.” Yuki said.
“So what are we doing here?” Lyra asked, her notepad at the ready.
“Checking whether or not the spiderpony is in love or just hungry.”
“What?” Lyra asked, confused.
“It’s not uncommon for a spiderpony to actually harbor feelings towards a pony. Part of their behavior is to lure ponies towards a lake. When feeding, spiderponies draw their victims to a lake so that they can use the water to increase the stickiness of their strings, sneaking them around their victims legs so that they can drag them and drown them before feasting on them. But if a spiderpony trusts a pony they care for enough, they will often force their true form to become visible, and a deep lake like this one offers a great escape route if things go wrong.”
Lyra wrote down everything Page Turner said, totally invested in what she was teaching her about this creature.”So why don’t we just go and say hi? If they’re friendly, we’ll know by how they react, right?”
Page shook her head. “Actually, if we disturb them during this time-”
“BRRRAAAAAPPP!” Akamori belched out.
Everyone stared in disbelief at the loud tanuki. Within moments all of them were caught in sticky strings that they couldn’t get their legs out of. Lyra instinctively stuffed her notepad into her saddlebags , but the strings wrapped tightly around her horn, interrupting the flow of magic and causing her pencil to fall into the bushes before she fell over onto the ground with a loud thud as her legs were pulled towards the lake.
Yuki shut their eyes as they started to get dragged away, the sticky strings slowly covering the rest of his body, leaving only the head exposed.
“Hey! What’s the big idea you freak! Let me go! I can show you a good time if you do! Hehe, I’ve never gotten to-MPH!” Akamori was interrupted by the strings covering his mouth, leaving him to breath through his nose.
“What’s going on?!” Lyra asked.
“When they are interrupted during this part, they become immediately aggressive. They feel threatened and outnumbered and thus insecure, as they feel most vulnerable when doing this.” Page stated, barely managing not to groan i pain as her broken wing gets crushed by the tightening strings.
“Lilyheart, what’s going on, what are you doing?!” The stallion asked in a confused frenzy.
“Sorry dear, I wanted this to be just us, but now that more have shown up, this has become much more complicated!” The spiderpony spoke.
Some muffled moaning came from Akamori before the spiderpony glared at him and squeezed her strings around him tighter, causing his moan of pleasure to turn into a groan of pain
“I wasn’t planning on a feast tonight, but I suppose I have no choice.” the spiderpony said, hanging her victims upside down from a large tree, slowly lowering them into the lake.
“Lilyheart please! I know you’re in there, stop this! Please!” The stallion pleaded, tears coming from his eyes. “It doesn’t have to come to… whatever this is!”
“I’m sorry, deary, but it does have to. I’m really, truly sorry!” The spiderpony spoke.
Suddenly, a flash of gold radiated from Yuki’s body, engulfing the area in a bright light. Once the blinding light has settled down, Yuki floated there, free from their bindings, sporting 5 tails spread out in a star pattern behind them. “Release them. Now!” Yuki commanded, their voice feeling like it had the power to shake the earth itself.
The spiderpony pulled the strings back towards the ground near the base of the tree and severed her connection to the strings holding them in place. She waited there like a foal put into time out, just watching the strings evaporate at the touch of the kitsune’s tails. After Yuki finished releasing everyone from their bonds, they turned to face the spiderpony. “Look me in the eyes.” they demanded. The spiderpony followed the command obediently. “Explain yourself before I destroy you for hurting Sakka no Kouma.” Yuki barked at the spiderpony.
“Yes, please! Tell us what’s going on, Lilyheart! What is this? What are you?!”
The spiderpony sighed before explaining. “I fell in love with this stallion here, and I wanted to show myself to him here. I was on edge and nervous. I’m sorry. I trusted him to see it. I didn’t want anypony else to see me. I panicked, and just reacted the only way I knew how to defend myself.” She turned towards the stallion. “Shoeshine, This is who I am. This is what I am. I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone forever if you don’t love me.”
The stallion went silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth. “How disgusting of you.” He said.
Lilyheart’s face bore a pained expression. “I’m sorry, dear.”
“I hope you are! You think I loved you for some superficial reason like appearance?! I saw through you the moment I laid eyes on you! I chose to speak to you because you looked so lonely. I never thought that making a friend would blossom into this romance we have now, but I am glad it happened! I loved you, Lilyheart, not your appearance. You were so sweet and kind to me, and you actually cared for me! We weren’t lonely anymore! Why would I give that up just because you weren’t a typical Equestrian pony?”
Tears erupted from Lilyheart’s eyes as she cried out one last “I’m sorry!” before her speech devolved into an unintelligible mess of sounds. Shoeshine ran up to the spiderpony, who stood a little higher than he did, and hugged her. “It’s okay! I’m sorry I yelled at you, sweetheart. Just don’t ever think I won’t love you! You know that will never be true!”
Yuki settled down, three tails vanishing from behind them, leaving only two visible tails left. “Well that went better than expected.” They commented.
Lyra’s face returned to the surplus of excitement that was there before. “I get to see two love stories play out in one day, too? EEEEEE!” Lyra squealed and started shaking in place.
Page chuckled at the overly excited pony. “This certainly has been quite an evening.” After a few moments passed, the odd couple hugging their problems away just nearby, Page Turner suddenly gasps. “Oh no, I gotta head to the stage for another storytelling session, and I forgot to write the story out beforehand!”
Lyra turned to Page “Hey, you got a beautiful love story right here to tell your audience.” The unicorn turned to look at the couple. “And maybe some visuals to go along with the story. Hey! You two! Wanna come back to the fair with us? We could use you guys for an awesome story!”
“We?” Page Turner asked.
“Yeah, I can provide the music and set the mood tonight. Oh! And I’ll invite my marefriend, she’s probably worried sick wondering where I ran off to!”
Page laughed. “Okay, that sounds good. I’ll see you when the show starts, Ms. Heartstrings.” Page turned towards the approaching couple. “You two lovebirds want to help me out with telling a story? I’m sure the audience would love it!”
“Sure! We could help.” Shoeshine said.
“Great! Then come with us and we can get the show ready!” Page said as she led them all back out of the Everfree.
The story came to a close, and the audience cheered. Page walked to the center of the stage and motioned for Lyra, Lilyheart, and Shoeshine to come out onto the stage. “Thank you everypony for coming to hear me. Tonight is a special night and I want to thank my friends who helped me. The lovely musician, Ms. Lyra Heartstrings, and our beautiful lovebirds, Lilyheart and Shoeshine.
They all took a bow, and in the clear light of the stage, Lilyheart’s body was clear and visible. Her legs and body coated with soft yellow fur, white and pink dots scattered throughout the coat in a symmetrical pattern. Her eyes shone with a gleaming royal blue. And Shoeshine’s simple tan coat with his auburn mane was now clearly visible as well, his cutiemark being three white seven-point stars. The audience’s applause died down after a few minutes and everyone went their separate ways. Page Turner said goodbye to her newfound friends as she retired to her wagon for the night. After the excitement they went through tonight, they needed the sleep.
The pegasus mare reapplied the bandages to her broken wing before pulling the covers of her bed over herself, happily drifting off into the world of dreams. Meanwhile, somewhere off in the distance, in an empty field, the ground shook gently for a few moments before stopping.
Author's Note
once again, if you can guess the folklore creature that inspired today's monster, a cookie for you!
Of Nightmares and Night Mares
Another night of storytelling had passed, and as the ponies finished cheering and went on to the rest of the festival, Sakka no Kouma was ready to call it a night. Everypony seemed to enjoy the show, and the couple from the night before helped tell their story again. This night however, Sakka had a special guest in her audience. The princess of love herself was there to watch this love story be retold and waited for the rest of the crowd to disperse so she could speak to the ponies in question personally.
"Princess Cadance, it's an honor to meet you!" Shoeshine said, bowing before the alicorn. Sakka and Lilyheart followed suit.
"It really is quite nice to have one such as yourself in my audience, princess." Sakka said.
The princess gave a small laugh before speaking. "Thank you. It was a lovely show. It was a true story, correct?"
"Yes, it was." Sakka answered. "And these two were the actual couple."
Cadance looked at the stallion and his eight-legged partner and smiled. "That's great. It warms my heart to see love blossoming anywhere. I can already tell by looking at you that your love is incredibly strong."
The couple blushed and smiled to each other, Shoeshine snuggling his head up against Lilyheart's warm chest, both of them happy to hear their relationship had just gotten the princess of love's blessing.
A crystal pony guard approached Cadance and whispered something into her ears. Cadacne nodded and looked at the group. "I apologize for having to cut this short, I am needed elsewhere, but I am glad to have met you all. Take care." Cadance spread her wings and took off, flying to whatever urgent business she was needed to attend. The crystal ponies sighed with an annoyed expression as they watched their princess fly into the sky without them. After a moment, they started to follow the direction the princess flew off to.
"Well I'm gonna go see if I can get some booze" Akamori said, walking towards the center of the festival grounds. "See you later."
"I suppose we should take our leave as well." the spiderpony said. "Farewell!" Shoeshine and Lillyheart walked towards the rest of the festival as well.
"Take care now, you two!" Sakka said, as they all went their separate ways. As she headed back to her wagon, Yuki followed along. Sakka, noticing the white fox following her, asked "Something wrong? Is my help needed again somewhere, Yuki?"
"You were right. I'm sorry."
A silence filled the air as they finished their walk to the wagon. Not wanting to stay in the cold air of the autumn night, they both hurried inside, Yuki lighting a candle on their way in. "Sakka, I'm sorry. I know I've been distant these last few years. I've had a great many things on my mind lately that have occupied me. I do regret not talking with you more personally."
Settling down in her bed, Sakka looked at Yuki with a smile on her face. "Yuki, it's fine. I'm just glad you're opening up again. You've been so focused on your duty lately. I missed my best friend."
Yuki's throat started to choke up when he heard that. 'I missed my best friend.'
"You know, Yuki. I wonder something. When us ponies get old, our colors fade. You're so young for what you are, and you're all white. I wonder what happens to your coat when you grow old. Does it stay white, or does it darken and go grey?"
Yuki just sat there silently, their silence speaking volumes to Sakka. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask such things." the mare apologized. The warm fire continued to burn, the candle's warm scent filling the wagon with it's familiar scent. "Sakka, I..." Yuki stopped themselves.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing." Yuki said. "It's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. You should get some sleep. You must be tired after today." 'I can't tell her. It's been too long. I've been lying too long now, I just can't tell her. It would break her heart to know.' Yuki thought to themselves.
Sakka smiled as she turned over on her side. "Okay then. Just remember, if you ever want to talk to me, just do so. I'm here for you, and always will be."
Yuki turned away to hide the tears starting to form in their eyes. 'I should be the one saying that to you, you fool... But you are right, aren't you?' As soon as Sakka fell asleep, Yuki hopped out of the wagon and started to talk a walk into the Everfree forest. As he entered the forest and disappeared into the trees, a cold breeze entered the wagon, snuffing out the candle's flame within.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Akamori had transformed himself into a maroon coated stallion with a short and scraggly beige mane and a bottle of moonshine for a cutiemark. He made his way towards a bar and sat down, ordering a drink. A royal guard pony sat at a table across the bar, clean white coat and orange mane, talking to his colleague, who had a silvery coat with a royal blue mane. No normal pony would be able to hear their quiet conversation of whispers unless they were in between the two, but Akamori could hear them just fine.
"So what's the word about Celestia? I heard she couldn't make it to the festival these past few days." The one with the orange mane asked
"You don't know?" the other one asked back.
"Listen, I've been in charge of making sure Princess Twilight was safe this entire time, I haven't been in much contact with the other guards aside from Cadence's."
This juicy conversation intrigued Akamori, who quickly added some Neighpon Royal Scout armor to his disguise while nopony saw. There were a few double-takes here and there when ponies noticed him again, but they all shrugged it off and pretended they didn't notice. Akamori decided he needed to know about this. He grabbed the glass of liquor and walked over to the guards.
"Well, if they haven't been told, maybe I shouldn't tell you." the blue-maned guard said, going back to his drink.
Akamori sat right down at the table. "Hew now, do not be like that, friend. Come, tell us of what happened to Princess Celestia."
The two guards gave a suspicious look at this new pony who just sat down. The orange maned one spoke up. "Four questions."
"Okay, shoot."
"Who are you, why are you sitting here when there are several other open tables in the bar, how did you even hear us, and why should we tell you anything?"
Akamori took a swig of his drink before answering. "Well, my name is Akamori, I'm interested in talking with you two, I am part of the Neighpon Royal Guard Scout Division, so I'm trained to be able to hear conversations like that from a mile away on the battleground, and I believe if something is wrong with the princess it would be a very terrible thing to not see if there is anything we can do to assist. Celestia is the mother of one of our own princesses after all."
The stallions faced him with a stunned look on their face. It was a lot to take in, but they were convinced. The blue maned stallion sighed. "Fine, I guess I can tell you, but I don't know if there's anything you can do to help. You see, Celestia has been having terrible nightmares throughout the night that she is unable to wake from, and she is drained of energy in the morning, and it becomes worse with each night. Today, she was unable to get herself out of bed without help. Luna's been trying to help her, but to no avail."
The orange maned stallion had a face that was a mix of shock, fear, and awe. Akamori just had a serious expression on his face as he asked "Are there any markings on her body that weren't there before?"
"Yes, but only after last night. How did you-"
"Then there's still time to help her, but we need the odd chance that Luna has someone inside the dreamscape with her. Our Princess Tsukyomi is too far away at the moment and wouldn't be able to sense the distress in Celestia's dream, so Luna will have to get someone else. On the chance that she did get someone, I need to be there outside of Celestia's room with a clear view of the sky right above. I can explain later, just let me grab some things from the wagon I escorted over here for the storyteller girl and meet me at the everfree forest's entrance, Ponyville side." Akamori finished his drink and took off.
"Should we trust him?" The orange-haired guard pony asked, putting his helmet back on.
"As long as we're both there, we should be able to handle him if he's wrong and just crazy. We are desperate for answers to this, however, and at the rate this has been going, Celestia is guaranteed to die if we don't do something. If trusting him mean's there's at least a small chance of her surviving, I'll gladly take it, Sunburst." The other guard said, putting his helmet on as well. "Now come on, we need to let Twilight know we're going to borrow her chariot for a minute. we have a princess to save."
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Sakka was fast asleep. She didn't even hear the tanuki come into the tent and grab the bow and arrows from under the bed. "sorry, girl. Gonna need these." Akamori said, knowing full well she couldn't hear him. He then had a thought. He leaned in close to Sakka no Kouma's head and spoke aloud. "I do hope Luna brings you somewhere interesting. You could both use each other, I think." He hoped his words would echo inside her dreams and catch Luna's attention. He then ran towards the Everfree forest's Ponyville-facing entrance and waited. He didn't have to wait long, as the guard ponies from before arrived, ready to take him on an express trip to Canterlot castle. "Thanks for showing up, boys."
"If you have a plan to save the princess, Cobalt and I are going to need you to be there to tell us, obviously." Sunburst said.
"You have a point there."
The rest of the trip was in silence. They didn't speak till the arrived on Celestia's balcony.
"I am going to take this bow, and I need you two to keep guard while I wait for something to change up in the clouds. I have dealt with this kind of creature before. We could be here for a few days if we are to be unlucky." Akamori stated. "I would appreciate all the help you could offer, for the sake of the princess." Akamori in his pony form stood upon his hind legs and held the bow up to the sky, aiming at the dark clouds that rested above Celestia's tower. He prayed Luna got his message.
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Luna was thrust out of her sister's dream once again, panting with exhaustion. She took a deep breath through her nostrils and slowly let it out through her mouth, calming herself so she'd be ready for another attempt to figure out how to help end her sister's nightmare. Before she could go back in however she heard her name called from a distant dream. Her named had been called in dreams before but for some reason this felt different. This felt like someone was purposefully trying to contact her. She sought out the dream in question. If a dream needs her help, perhaps solving this smaller issue would help her figure out how to solve this larger one. She came close to the dream in question and could hear the message clearly, repeating every so often. "I do hope Luna brings you somewhere interesting. You could both use each other, I think." The way it was said seemed to imply someone had knowledge they should not have. Intrigued, the night princess opened up a doorway to the dream,, embracing the smell of cherry blossoms.
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Sakka no Kouma was alone, enjoying the view from upon the bench where she sat, surrounded by endless Sakura trees, blowing in a wind that was not felt. She sat there enjoying the sounds of music that came from nowhere. The calm was interrupted by faint murmuring however, confusing Sakka for a second before it disappeared. Before Sakka could gather her thoughts and figure out what happened she heard Akamori's voice telling her to find Luna.
Luna. That name sounded familiar to Sakka, but she couldn't quite put a hoof on it. She didn't have to ponder for long though, as the sky seemed to tear away. All haziness in Sakka's mind was gone at this point as she became lucid and realized what was going on. "Princess Luna! What are you doing here?"
Luna beckoned for the pegasus to follow her. "WE HAVE NEED OF THOU!"
Sakka was taken aback by the shouting. "Wha-"
Luna looked somewhat flustered as she spoke again. "I apologize. I am still getting used to not using the royal Canterlot voice. It seems it is not needed anymore as it once was. I do however believe you may be of assistance. I know not why but I can not shake this feeling that I may need you. I believe it may have been your friend who asked me to take you with me, so come." Luna turned towards the rift in the sky, and beckoned Sakka to come with her.
"My wing is broken, though, how am I supposed to fly with you?'
"Your wing is not broken here, young pegasus. Not that it would matter, I once had a small earth pony filly travel with me through the dreamscape."
"Wait, really?" Sakka asked, looking behind herself to notice her wings were indeed not broken here. "Then of course I would help in any way that is needed, my princess." Sakka flapped her wings and flew alongside the night princess into the dreamscape, leaving the smell of springtime behind her as Luna led the way. "What would you need my help with?" Sakka asked the alicorn.
"My sister is plagued by nightmares that drain her of strength. I fear she may die if we can't solve it, and I am having trouble coming up with a plan by myself to fix it. I was hoping that solving another problem would lead me to new ideas for approaching the issue, but perhaps just having another head to think in a different way could help." Luna explained as she opened a new door to her sister's dream. "If we are forced out from the dream, it will take a lot out of you. I would not be surprised if you may need a moment's respite before venturing into the dream again, but remember to persist. we must find a way to end this nightmare."
The two ponies entered the dream together, ready to try and save Celestia from this nightmare.
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Yuki wandered through the everfree and stumbled across the lake where they met the spiderpony. They looked into the lake's reflection and saw themselves, a few stray strands of golden hair starting to show in their coat. They sighed and lowered their head, eyes closed for a moment before they started to growl, slapping the surface of the water with a paw before turning around. As they started walking back through the forest they noticed it started to snow. They continued to walk until they came across a clearing, the ground coated in a blanket of snow. In the center of the clearing was a beautiful mare of pure white, her eyes an icy blue that seemed to pierce one's soul. Her long straight mane fell over her face, reaching the ground and leaving her right side covered, and her tail also fell upon the ground leaving a long trail behind her. She turned to the kitsune and spoke with an ephemeral voice. "Hello again, child of Shiromori. I was expecting you to not be hiding those beautiful tails of yours."
Yuki became engulfed in a blinding golden light, and is it died down, they seemed to glow with a golden radiance as behind them were nine glorious tails, swaying back and forth. "Yuri." Yuki said, their tone colder than the snow that surrounded them. "What are you doing here?"
"You need to tell her."
"Answer the question, Yuri!" Yuki barked.
"I'm here to talk to you before you go and ascend, obviously. I thought foxes were supposed to be clever and wise."
Yuki was visibly agitated, but kept their composure. She wasn't wrong. "Tell who what, may I ask?"
"The mare believes you to be 700 years old now. You must tell her the truth. Your age is becoming obvious."
Yuki bared their fangs at the mare with a growl as they started to circle around them. "You hold your tongue."
"Child of Shiromori-"
Yuki interrupted. "My name is Yuki, and you will address me as such! Leave my mother out of this!"
The white mare nodded. "Very well. Yuki, you can not keep this lie up forever. You should not have to live with an eternity of regret and guilt."
Yuki's moment of anger subsided as they responded. "I can not let her know. If she learns that her trusted friend has been lying to her for her entire life, it would only break her heart."
"And if you don't tell her, it will destroy her." Yuri said, a grin starting to appear on her face. Yuki stopped circling around the mare and sat themselves down. There was a moment of silence before the mare started to tease the kitsune. "You were so protective of her, and now you're going to be the greatest source of pain for her. I do ever so love the irony in that." Tears started to fall down Yuki's face. They couldn't bear the weight of crushing the heart of the one they helped raise. "And here you are, crying like a cub over the thought of you two being separated. Imagine how she must feel once it actually happens and you leave this place is a blaze of glory!"
"Shut up."
"And her face when she watched you leave in that golden flash of light! Oh I can see it now!"
"I said shut up!"
"She'd probably kill herself in grief and some misguided attempt to be with you again."
"SILENCE!" Yuki yelled, his tails flaring out as his golden radiance extends out farther, the snow disappearing off the ground throughout the clearing.
"And at the rate your hair is turning gold, it should only be a matter of time! Oh what beautiful tragedy it will be when she finds out that her protector for all these years has been lying to her when he has to take to the skies and become one of the stars looking down on her in cold silence!" The mare started to laugh maniacally.
Yuki stayed silent as his eyes started to glow a bright gold. the clouds above the everfree condensed and turned into warm rain, coming down and coating the mare in the clearing who turned to ice and shattered piece by piece as the drops of rain hit her, laughing to the end when she was not more than a puddle with ice cubes scattered within. The rain continued to fall and Yuki stayed there in the open clearing, crying to himself throughout the rest of the night. Knowing that he had to tell Sakka the truth. He was 999 years old and was about to become a celestial spirit, never able to interact with this world again. Never able to ensure his promise that she would be safe would be kept. He stayed there crying for hours before finally succumbing to exhaustion and falling asleep when the rain finally let up, his coat gaining a few golden streaks along his tails.
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Sakka entered Celestia's dream alongside Luna and was greeted by a darkly lit, lush forest. Luna spoke, explaining the situation at hand. "There is something keeping me from getting to my sister. I can hear her cries for help from beyond a door, but whenever I get close I am greeted by seven creatures and asked to come into contact with the one who will end the pain."
"What creatures show up?" Sakka asked.
"That is the baffling issue. The creatures are of a different selection each time! There must be some clue to this riddle that we have not found yet."
The two approached what seemed to be Canterlot castle, but overrun by the plants of the forest, thick vines covering the walls and seeming to wrap around the castle like giant snakes. The cries of Celestia could be heard from behind a door. As the two intruders to the dream approached the door, seven creatures appeared before them. A wolf, a cow, a chicken, a mountain lion, a gazelle, a hippopotamus, and a snake all stared intently at the two visitors. A loud booming voice could be heard. "You must befriend one, a creature that can save her, else you hurt her more."
Sakka noticed something off when the voice stopped speaking. "Princess Luna, ask it a question and listen closely when they finish speaking."
Luna wondered why this pony would approach the issue in this way, but humored the idea. After all, she had not tried it before, and dreams often had strange logic. "And what creature might aid us in the rescue of our dear sister?"
A moment of silence followed, broken by the voice returning. "With sight above all, an omen hard to be found, that sings of our pain."
Listening closely the two mares could hear the faint sound of a bird's cry.
Luna and Sakka both recognized the sound. Sakka turned around and found the source, a white thrush bird sat perched upon a branch. "Oh, a white thrush. Back in my homeland, their songs were seen as ill omen, and they usually sang from where they could not be seen." Sakka said.
"Then it shall be our answer this time." Luna smiled, relieved that bringing along another pony paid off. The princess floated up to the branch and reached out a hoof towards the bird. The bird vanished in a flash of light and the door in front of the castle could be heard opening.
The two ran to Celestia's aid to find a creature with the head of a monkey, the body of a racoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake charging after her. The creature stopped in it's tracks as it noticed the two ponies entering the room. The creature started glowing with a purple aura as it turned to face the pegasus mare. Luna attempted to intervene with her magic, only to see it not lay a scratch upon the beast. With a roar, the beast lunged at Sakka only to be struck with an arrow mid-leap, altering it's trajectory and landing to the right of the mare. The three of them looked on in surprise at the beast laying slain on the ground by an arrow that seemed to have come out of nowhere.
Sakka collected herself after a moment though, and returned her head to the situation at hoof. "Princess Celestia, are you alright?"
"Yes, sister, are you okay?" Luna added.
Celestia took a moment to catch her breath before letting out a sigh of relief. "Yes, I am fine. Thank you for coming to my aid dear sister."
"T'was not just me, for I would have been unable to save you were it not for this young mare." Luna said, gesturing towards Sakka.
Sakka bowed before the princess. "My name is Sakka no Kouma, but you can call me Page Turner. It is an honor to meet you."
Celestia smiled. "Sakka no Kouma? So you are from Neighpon? How is my daughter, Amaterasu?"
Sakka was taken aback by how casual that sounded. It was almost as if she was being talked to by an old friend rather than one of the rulers of Equestria. "Sh-sh-she's doing well."
Celestia laughed, her breathing still a bit heavy from fighting off that creature. "No need to feel intimidated, my little pony. It's quite alright. You helped save my life, it would be especially rude of me to speak to you like I was above you after that." Celestia gave a warm smile to the young mare.
Luna chimed in. "If there is anything you need, do not be afraid to ask. You have at least earned a favor from each of us for this endeavor."
Sakka bowed in respect to the princesses before her. "Thank you! Hopefully I would not be in such dire straits as to need a favor from you, but if the time arises, I would graciously accept the offer!"
Sakka was looking at the arrow that struck down the beast. "Can you add one more favor for a friend of mine? I believe they shot the arrow that killed the beast."
Celestia looked over to the beast before asking. "What kind of favor?"
Sakka turned to Celestia, smiling. "I might need to give him a bottle of the strongest liquor you have."
"That can be arranged."
Luna spoke up again. "I believe it is time to return you to your own dream. I can handle cleaning up this dream and helping my sister recover."
"Very well. Take care, you two!" Sakka said. "And don't forget the liquor for my friend. He may have saved all of us tonight!"
"I won't forget." Celestia said, smiling.
Sakka was shown the way back to her own dream and made her way back, saying farewell to Luna. As she came upon her own dream she noticed Yuki in a dream nearby. She came closer to that dream where she noticed him crying. She wanted to help, but knew better than to intrude where she wasn't needed and left his dream alone. She went back into her dream and relaxed for the rest of the night.
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Outside of Celestia's tower, Akamori pointed the bow towards the skies, waiting for the sign to fire. After waiting for an hour a flash of lighting traveled through the cloud, revealing the shape of the beast within. in that moment he flashed and his position within the cloud was shown, Akamori released the arrow, striking the beast through the heart from the side, causing the beast to fall onto the balcony, dead. The guards watched, awestruck with their jaws hanging out of their mouth at this bizarre creature.
"Thanks for keeping watch guys, now let's head back to the bar." Akamori said, as if he hadn't just killed a powerful creature and saved the princess. The guards would never tell this story, as they realized nopony would believe them, but they never forgot the pony who came out of nowhere, killed a beast that was killing the princess, and bought them drinks until they passed out drunk in celebration.
Author's Note
This chapter took a while to finish up, thanks to life getting in the way, but I'm glad I was able to finish it.
Once again, cookies to whoever can point out what Yokai is referenced in each chapter.
