Dreams, Nightmares, and Friendships

"Could I get a word in edge-"

"Shut up prisoner!" Darkrai closed his mouth slowly and glared at the Royal Guard that continually interrupted him. That was already getting on his nerves.

"...prisoner?" He eventually questioned.

"Yes! You are now a prisoner for foalnapping, trying to escape, and the attempted assassination of Princess Luna." The guard who was speaking smirked triumphantly at Darkrai's utterly bored and contempt face. "You thought you were pretty clever, hiding in the statue garden with that foalnapped colt, but you were DEAD WRONG!" The puffed up earth pony crowed. Darkrai could find no words he could say that wouldn't come out as some sort of insult. What kind of IDIOTS did Celestia think she was hiring for protection?! A Dunsparce could've gotten past these lunatics.

A Dunsparce? What are those? Darkrai paused to ask himself. He quickly tossed that thought aside as a guard prodded him with a spear.

"Keep moving, criminal!" The guard barked angily. Though he didn't quite know it, as it was more his subconscious that was speaking at that split second, he considered taking that spear and shoving it down the guard's throat and out his chest with an honest to god smile on his face as the hot-headed moron bled out, but the fleeting death threat was gone before Darkrai could even register what exactly he was thinking of; thus, it remained unnoticed by any of the current parties.

"GUARDS! WE REQUIRE A WING MASSAGE AND MOONCAKES!" Darkrai flicked an ear at the overwhelmingly loud voice as a regal blue Alicorn mare with a flowing starry mane strode towards them. Instantly he found himself staring at the stars that seemed to dance in her mane, almost entranced. Within moments the guard around him didn't exist anymore, nor did the palace or the colt on his back or Celestia, whom he was pressed to rejoin and apologize to for taking off; only the infinite night sky that expanded in those threads of midnight blue. For a moment Darkrai was completely entranced, then the sleeping colt on his back stirred and woke up, yawning and standing on Darkrai's back and looking around.

"Hey cool we're in a castle!" Fares shouted. The alicorn flicked an ear.

"GUARDS, WE REQUIRE AN EXPLANATION AS TO WHO THIS STALLION IS, AND WHY HE IS BLEEDING!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, pointing towards a couple of small cuts that Celestia forsaken spear had made. Darkrai felt his eye twitch ever so slightly.

"Princess Luna." The guard that held said spear bowed his head.

"This foolish stallion foalnapped this colt, tried to escape arrest, and attempted to assassinate you!" He said, suddenly growing a stoic expression. Darkrai glared at him indignantly and said, "For the last time, I did not attempt to 'assassinate' anyone! I have not a violent bone in my body against innocent ponies! I demand you drop these unjust charges immediately!" He snapped angrily. The guard responded by cutting his flank with the spear again.

"Silence criminal! You have no right to act such a way in front of the lovely Princess Luna!" He shouted. Luna cleared her throat.

"Lieutenant Paladin?" She said calmly. Instantly the guard snapped to attention. Luna gave him a stare. "We require solid proof that this stallion was trying to kill me." She said. The guard hesitated then shuffled his feet nervously. Darkrai's wings began to twitch as Paladin fiddled, then suddenly he turned to Darkrai.

"W-well he might not have intent to kill but he still has a foal that most obviously is not his own!" He said. Darkrai's wings sprang open and he stamped furiously.

"Such an accusation is absolutely absurd! The child was simply wandering the gardens and simply came with me as I headed back to my meeting with Princess Celestia!" He shouted. Paladin glared at him, their muzzles practically touching.

"You'd like us to believe that, wouldn't you criminal filth!" He growled. "I am not a criminal you simple minded fool!" Darkrai shot back. Luna interrupted again.

"Paladin! Did you ignore us when we requested a wing massage and some mooncakes?!" She said loudly. Paladin practically jumped out of his armor and spun to face the princess, drop to his knees, and plead for forgiveness before climbing to his feet and taking off in another direction and disappear down another hallway. Darkrai watched him go with nothing short of relief that he didn't have to deal with him anymore.

"Darkrai! I was wondering where you had gone! Where were you?!" Darkrai flinched slightly as Celestia rounded the corner.

"Retrieving this child." He stated calmly as she walked up. Celestia blinked, lost for words.

"Why?" She eventually asked. After a couple of moments, she cleared her throat and Darkrai blinked. Then shrugged.

"You...don't know why...?" She asked slowly. She was interrupted by Fares letting out a squeal and leaping at her catching her and Luna's manes  and holding onto them, prompting cries of slight pain from the two Alicorn mares.

"I have no idea what pokemon you two are, so I'm gonna steal something now!" The little unicorn foal shouted unnecessarily loudly. With that he swung himself onto Celestia's back and yanked a feather from her wing, did the same for Luna, then took off down the hallway, announcing his victory over the two 'legendary pokemon' with a large amount of pride in his voice.

"C'mon Darkrai let's go before they recover!" Fares shouted over his shoulder as he rounded a corner and disappeared. Darkrai blinked after him.

"He may be a key to unlocking my memory; I am willing to put up with him." He said calmly, looking at Celestia calmly as she cooed over her wing. With that he stepped past them and suddenly leaped forward, taking off at a loping canter.

"SIster, who in the evervast night sky was that, and what are...Pokemon?" Luna eventually asked as she flapped her wing then returned it to her side. Celestia, who was watching the colt and stallion disappear, sighed and shrugged. "I haven't the slightest idea Luna, who the colt is, and I'm not sure about the Pokemon thing either." She said.

Meanwhile, Darkrai had chased down Fares. Panting slightly, the black stallion pinned the blue colt's tail to the floor.

"You know, young one...it isn't very wise to run off...willy nilly in an unfamiliar place...it's dangerous." He said. Fares tilted his head at him.

"But ma says you're supposed to run into all sorts of unfamiliar dungeons with guns 'a' blazin' and spirits high!" He exclaimed. Darkrai was beginning to seriously wonder who this colt's mother thought she was, telling her son that it was okay to rush into a potentially dangerous situation screaming your head off like a drunken Siren on Enigma Berries. Darkrai paused.

Another thing I've said but don't remember...perhaps I need to keep a list to see if there's any connection... He muttered thoughtfully.

"You shouldn't listen to your mother's advise if THAT'S what she thinks is safe..." Darkrai grumbled, flattening his ears. Fares suddenly slapped him.

"Don't hate on my Ma. If she were here she'd kick your flank into a ten year coma." He said, pointing at Darkrai and giving him the evil eye before suddenly sniffing the air and looking around.

"I smell cake." He suddenly said.

Darkrai flattened his ears and checked his hold on the foal. "Don't even think about it please, we've already caused enough trouble." He deadpanned. Fares payed him no mind, kicked free of Darkrai's grip, and hot-hooved it down the hall. Darkrai sighed.

"...okay maybe I'm not willing to put up with him..." Darkrai said as he quickly galloped after the child.

About half an hour later and an encounter with two more guards that looked insanely similar to Paladin and were just as suspicious and self-centered, Darkrai finally cornered Fares, though it wasn't somewhere he exactly expected things to go well. The kitchen staff let out various yelps, cries, and angered shouts as the small blue foal leaped agilely from stove to counter, over sinks and under descending pots, with a huge black stallion doggedly chasing him, half the time having to leap clean over some of the staff to avoid clashing with them.

"Young one I am getting quite tired of this ridiculous game, come back at once!" Darkrai shouted as he dodged around a mare carrying a tray of pastries, ignore the furious cries of the kitchen staff as Fares stepped on the handle of a frying pan and launched a grilled cheese sandwhich into somebody's face. Normally he would stop to laugh at this but there was that black pegasus stallion and half the kitchen staff now chasing him. Besides, he had a mission to do. Find the cake. His eyes locked on his target, fresh out of the oven, and he paused for a split second to plot his course. He had an escape orb hidden in his mane, and his plan was foalproof! Even his ma would be impressed with his thievery once she heard of it! Fares executed a great leap over a Griffon's head and ran along the beast's back then made a flying leap for the counter that the cake was one. Whirling around, he grinned and stuck Luna and Celestia's 'confiscated' feathers into his tangled, messy, dark blue mane.

"I am Fares Manaphy and I claim this cake for the kingdom of awesomesauce!" He declared at an unnecessarily loud volume, considering the kitchen staff was definitely listening. With that he pulled the small escape orb from his mane and held it up. For a moment things were silent with utter confusion before the orb began glowing and Fares, and the cake, disappeared in a small burst of light. Darkrai stared at the spot the lunatic foal had been,

"I'm getting too old to deal with this kind of crap..." He muttered as he turned around and disappeared into the ground, his body nothing more than a wisp of a shadow as he exited the kitchen to find his new charge unnoticed, leaving the staff to clean up the mess he and Fares had left behind.

Behind him, he could hear the ferocious cawing of the Griffon.

"ALL OF YE GIT TO WORKIN', UN'LESS YE WAN' TEH GIT YER SAWRY FLANKS OUT OF ME KITCHEN!!!"

~

"-the hell?!" Lucario rolled his eyes and sighed as he watched Pika pace back and forth, flicking her new tail in irritancy.

"I mean seriously! I know Palkia said we'd possibly look different from the natives so we might form-change, but THIS?! We look like REJECT PONYTAS! The least we could do is be like Shaymin! Transform from something pretty cool to something TOTALLY AWESOME!" The Raichu/mare shouted angrily. She flicked her mane out of her eyes furiously and looked towards Lucario. He was heavily built for a pony, with dark blue fur and a creamy underbelly. An aura sphere-like mark sat on his flank, and his tail and mane were charcoal black. Lucario looked back at her, observing her orange pelt, the brown blanket of fur on her back, and her golden mane and tail.

"Honestly it could be worse Pika." He said calmly. The mare whirled on him angrily.

"'Could be worse?! Lucario! We're in a strange world, we don't know where the heck to look for Darkrai, Fares is missing and might not even BE in this dimension, and we're in strange forms! HOW COULD THINGS GET ANY WORSE?!" She shouted. Lucario just blinked calmly.

"We could have Skuntank and co to deal with." He pointed out. Pika paused and sighed.

"Yea they'd just screw things even further up."

~-~-~-~-~-~

Author's Note

HELLO EVERYPONY~! Sorry I haven't been very active, Colorado State Advancement Pretesting (or CSAP), and Acuity testing can be a pair of cruel mistresses, But now those are over. Anyways...

I tried being a bit funny in this chapter, but I think I failed horribly...