Dreams, Nightmares, and Friendships

"...now I've seen everything." Pika huffed as she walked through the somewhat crowded streets. Lucario followed her carefully, stepping as if parts of the ground were on fire. He looked around uneasily.

"Try to be optimistic Pika; it'll help us blend better." He whispered. Pika rolled her eyes and flicked his muzzle with her tail.

"How am I supposed to be optimistic? My kid is missing, we're lost, we're in odd forms- frankly I see nothing to be optimistic about." She sighed. Lucario shook his head.

"At least nothing here seems hostile." He mused quietly.

"So? What use is no hostility if we have no idea where we're going?!" Pika asked loudly. Lucario sighed.

"We'll figure it out Pika, calm down." A cleared throat caught his attention and he looked over his shoulder at a butterscotch yellow pegasus with a soft pink mane and tail.

He blinked once. Then twice.

"O-oh...can I help you?" He asked, shaking himself out lightly. The pegasus lightly scuffed her hoof against the ground, looking towards the ground shyly and hiding some of her face behind her mane.

"I-I was...j-just wondering i-i-if you w-were lost..." She asked quietly. Lucario blinked before nodding.

"Oh, heheh...yea; first time here and such, we have no idea where we're going." He laughed nervously. The pegasus blinked.

"T-that's okay; i-if you'd like I'll help..." She said. Lucario breathed a sigh of relief just as a tug on his mane brought his attention.

"C'mon Lucario what's keeping?" Pika asked.

"This nice lady has offered to help us find what we're looking for." He said calmly. With that he turned to the pegasus with a calm smile and cleared his throat before asking, "Have you seen a fellow that goes by the name of Darkrai?" Instantly the pegasus smiled softly and nodded.

"Oh yes, he was around here for a little while, but then he went to Canterlot." She said. With that she turned and gestured with a hoof down a streetway.

"If you're intent on meeting up with him, the train station is right that way. Just ask for a ticket to Canterlot and you should be fine." She said kindly. Lucario smiled and bowed his head.

"Thank you very much miss...I'm sorry, I never caught your name. What was it?" He asked. The pegasus quickly regained her shy demeanor and scuffed her hoof against the ground again, casting her eyes to the ground. With a small voice, she said, "Uhm...m-my name's Fluttershy..." Lucario bowed his head again.

"My name is Lucario, and the orange mare is Pika." With a small nod of his head, he continued, "Oh by the way, if you happen to see a small blue young one named Fares, tell us where he went please. We've been worried sick for him." He explained. Fluttershy nodded shyly and Lucario sent her a final warm smile before heading down the street she said led to the train station, followed closely by Pika. Fluttershy blinked after them before quickly hurrying on to the spa.

~-~-~

"SECURITY IS A BITCH." Lucario quickly pressed a hoof over Pika's mouth and hushed her hurriedly.

"Pika if we make trouble they won't let us onto the train just let him search the treasure bag real quick. It's not like we have contraband in there or anything." He eased quietly. Pika glared at him and slapped his hoof away.

"No I'm not letting him go through my bag I've had it with this place it's too colorful and bright and-"

"Pika everything in this town is almost an exact ponified match for Treasure Town you're just upset because we STILL haven't found Darkrai or Fares; Chatot even has the same security systems after Team Bandit tried to rob the guild blind. Face it Pika, you're getting upset over nothing." Lucario interrupted firmly. The security stallion cleared his throat.

"Excuse me sir and madam, will you permit me to give your bags a quick scan?" He asked monotonously. Lucario nodded at him and he cast a spell on the bags for a couple of moments before smiling and stepping away from the doorway.

"Enjoy your ride my good stallion and mare." He said kindly as Pika gaped at the bags before glaring at him.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU-" Lucario sighed and stuffed a sleep seed into her mouth then picked up the bags and placed them on his back, thereafter slinging Pika over his back as well.

"Sorry for the disturbance mister, we've been travelling a long distance in a very minimal amount of time and the stress is starting to get to her." He said as he headed through the door and boarded the train. He deposited the sleeping-raichu-turned-mare on a bench then sat across the small table from her and emptied out his bag, beginning to absently sift through the objects that had spilled out.

"Honestly I don't know why Cresselia had us pack all of this extra garbage. Escape orbs reviver seeds luminous orbs- why did she pack us gummies?!" Lucario asked himself. Then he paused and looked around before beginning to scarf down the silver and orange gummies.

"Yea okay I'm not complaining anymore." He sighed happily as he finished off the last one and sat back, going over the inventory several more times before rubbing his temple.

"-WERE TALKING A- wait where am I?" Lucario jumped at the sudden noise and looked up as Pika glared furiously at him.

"You drugged me with a sleep seed like you did that one time with Chatot, didn't you?" She grumbled. Lucario gave her the best poker face he could muster then smiled.

"Have I ever mention that your ear twitches in the most hilarious and adorable way when you're angry~?" He smiled cheekily. Pika growled loudly and tugged on her ears then stood up.

"Whatever!! I'm gonna explore this stupid train for a bit, try not to get another mare tripping over you." She said angrily as she stomped away dramatically.

"...Pfft whatever. It's not like I try." Lucario said, looking out the window. His eyes found interest on the mountain, and the castle that stood out precariously on the side of the mountain.

"How does it stay up there...?" He mused to himself.

"Hmm? Oh, it's supported by magic enhanced columns." Lucario jumped slightly and looked over his shoulder at a lavender unicorn mare with a six pointed star as a cutie mark. Lucario blinked and twisted so that his top half was facing her and he rested his chin on one hoof.

"Magic enhanced, huh? Man, there's a lot of stuff in this country I feel completely clueless about." He sighed. The unicorn tilted her head.

"You a foreigner sir? You don't seem like you're from a different country." She mused. Lucario shook his head.

"You could say I'm practically not from this world." He chuckled, closing his eyes. Catching himself, he opened his eyes again then smiled.

"But yea, I'm from a pretty far away place. From where I come from nobody uses magic at all." The unicorn's eyes widened.

"No magic at all?" She asked. Lucario shook his head again and smiled.

"Nope; though we do have some pretty cool tricks. For instance, check this out." Lucario looked around before smiling and holding his front hooves together. Soon a bubble of aura formed between then and he held it out, letting it expand to encircle the train cabin. The ponies inside began glowing in several different colors, including the unicorn and Lucario himself. He smiled.

"Aura trick I learned a long while ago. One of the first ones I got down actually-"

"How are you doing this when you're an earth pony?!" Lucario blinked as the unicorn caught his shoulders, an excited and curious gleam in her eyes as she smiled.

"Hm? Oh uh...I.....u-uh I'm...n-not sure I've just...kinda been...able to." He shrugged nervously. The unicorn tilted her head.

"Can you at least explain it?" She asked. Lucario relaxed and smiled, nodding.

"Yea, I can do better. I even taught Pika a few basics of aura sensing. Come on." Lucario pulled himself out of his seat and he stood in the middle of the aisle way. The unicorn hesitated before getting up and standing in front of him.

"Alright, so first thing's first is the basic idea of aura. Aura is-"

"The distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround and be generated by a person, thing, or place." The unicorn interrupted, smiling and closing her eyes. Lucario blinked before smiling.

"Kind of. That's...a literal definition I suppose, but I'm talking about the spiritual sense of the word. Aura is a life force's own personal aurora, a projection of their thoughts and feelings and who they truly are within their deepest of hearts. Aura is practically, in every sense of the word, your soul. Since I was born, I've been able to kind of...see it. Or at least sense it. I can even use it as an offensive means, but only when I needed it." The unicorn seemed to positively drink in his words, listening attentively and occasionally nodding.

"So then, you're a unicorn, so I'll bet that you know something about energy, yes?" The unicorn nodded.

"Well, energy is directly linked to Aura, and I've noticed that a unicorn's magic is often tinted in color by their aura. Such as yours being kind of lavender violet, mixed with the slightest bit of fuchsia. Might I add it's filled with energy and potential, like it's a kind of sub-conscious being almost. It's quite amazing if you ask me. Anyways, you can already see a unicorn's aura when you look at their magic, but it's harder for pegasi and ponies. For now, I'll try and explain how to sense it rather than see it. Deal?" The unicorn nodded excitedly and Lucario smiled again.

"Good; anyways, first you wanna concentrate on your own aura. Get a sens of what it feels like to be in touch with it. Don't think about your accomplishments or your failures, or what's happened in the past or what might happen in the future, I want you to try concentrating on yourself, your heart." The unicorn closed her eyes and concentrated, flattening her ears slightly. Lucario paused before gently pressing a hoof against her chest, close to where her heart was.

"Don't concentrate too hard; think of it as grabbing a bar of soap, or a stick of butter. If you grab too hard, it'll slip out of you grip, but if you be gentle about it and be patient, then it'll come to you." He explained. The unicorn slowly relaxed, letting her muscles slide loose, and suddenly her eyes snapped open and she looked at him, eyes wide.

"I think I felt it!" She exclaimed, legs shaking slightly.

"I've never felt anything like that; is that what aura always feels like?" She asked. Lucario smiled and shrugged honestly, closing his eyes.

"If you're right and you did feel it then yea, it'll feel like that. Now that you've got a taste of aura, can you feel the distinct difference in the air?" He asked. The unicorn nodded, shifting her hooves slightly.

"Yea, it kinda feels all charged; like when you're using magic and you put yourself near the field of energy, that's what it feels like." She said. Lucario winked and pointed at her with a hoof, smiling.

"There; you've got it. That charge you feel, it's everything's aura. The trees', the grass', even the train and the ground, and every else who's on this train. You're feeling their aura." He said. The unicorn tilted her head.

"But how can a train and rock have an aura? I thought you said it was like a soul." She asked. Lucario shrugged.

"Kind of. Everything around us has a bit of energy, even if it isn't a living thing. Aura is a mix of energy and soul, so that's why non-living things have less of an aura than living things, but everything has a slight bit of aura." He explained, patting a nearby seat and smiling before looking up as gravity seemed to shift as the train began slowing.

"Looks like we're at the city's train station." He said, blinking as he looked out a window. The unicorn frowned then nodded.

"I guess so." She mumbled as she pressed her face against a window. She suddenly paused and blinked.

"Hey, I never caught your..." When she turned her head to look for the stallion, he was gone.

"...name?"

~-~-~

"Darkrai, you need to find something else to do with that colt you brought in." Darkrai didn't bother to look up from reading on the balcony of the room he'd been given and calmly flipped the page, reading onward and ignoring the hoofsteps until finally he felt the slightest brush of an ethereal breeze and a hoof on his shoulder.

"I don't particularly care if he's causing trouble for the staff; perhaps you forget I never 'agreed' to come here at all?" He asked half bitterly.

"I know you didn't enjoy being taken out of Ponyville but-" Celestia stopped herself and instead completed her sentence in her head, even though she could feel practically feel Darkrai's irritation at her strengthen just because she'd cut herself off.

"Because you don't trust me at all." He growled. With that he set his book down and stood up, glaring Celestia in the eye.

"I'd like to respectfully ask you to leave me alone, Princess Celestia. I haven't the patience nor am I in the mood to partake in your research of my amnesia." He grumbled as he shoved past her and exited the building, opening his wings and diving off of the stairs to swoop over the castle garden and land near the gate that lead into the city. With a sigh he walked through and folded his wings against his sides, looking around. Well if he had to stick around here for god knew how long then he might as well get familiar with the town.

He regretted that not even ten minutes later. Everyone avoided him like he was the plague, sending him nasty looks from across the street and skittering away like nervous deer if he so much as glanced at them.

"This is ridiculous; this whole city. And the ponies in it." He muttered as he walked through a market area. Several ponies shied away as soon as he came within five feet and he heaved a sigh before suddenly becoming aware of something holding onto his back left leg. Blinking, he looked over his shoulder.

"...Fares forgive my language but what the hell?" Fares grinned at him and stood up, letting go of his leg, and pranced up to his side.

"I decided to go exploring about an hour ago then I spotted you a little while ago and I've been following you!" He said gleefully, smiling. Darkrai stared at him before heaving a sigh.

"Alright, climb on, might as well keep an eye on you." He said. Farest grinned and clumsily jumped onto Darkrai's back, sitting comfortably between his wings and grinning.

"Hi ho Darkrai, AWAY~!!!" Fares shouted loudly. Darkrai flinched slightly before shaking his head, smiling slightly, and taking off at a brisk trot.

"I didn't think that'd work since I thought you were an always serious butt like Chatot but apparently not~!! Can we go faster? Oh wait can we go UP? I wanna see what the city looks like from up in the air!!" Fares asked, gripping Darkrai's mane slightly. Darkrai sighed again.

"Faster or up, your choice child."

"Well...faster for now! Let's head for the edge of the city I wanna explore some more!" Fares yelped, unprepared, as Darkrai suddenly broke into a sprint, blasting across the streets and sidewalks at high speed, and soon the colt began laughing at the surprised and irritated ponies they passed by.

"Enjoying yourself, child?" Darkrai asked. Fares smiled and nodded excitedly.

"Yea, I am!! Hey wait wait wait!" Darkrai skidded to a halt as Fares yanked on his mane and followed the colt's pointed hoof towards a stallion that was loitering in an alleyway between two fancy looking clothing stores. He cast a coupe of skittish glances around before his eyes landed within Darkrai's gaze and the stallion's eyes widened before he shifted his hooves then bolted.

"That's a burglar. Mom taught me their behavior inside and out! Get after him!!" Fares shouted. Darkrai hesitated for half a second before growling, spreading his wings slightly, and taking off after the stallion.

"Leave me alone freak I ain't done nothing to you!" The stallion shouted over his shoulder, dodging around a pair of mares while Darkrai simply launched himself over them.

"P.E.A. Fares and Darkrai stop right there thief I can practically SMELL burglary on you!" Fares shouted. With that energy began building around his hoof and he threw it forward and a ball of energy jetted towards the stallion, and upon colliding with the ground exploded into a wave of water that swept him off his feet and into a building fifteen feet away. Ponies yelped, screamed, and ran as Darkrai skidded to a halt nearby and Fares jumped down, tackling the stallion and ripping off his bag, revealing a soaked bunch of jewelry and bits.

"Oh hey look at this! No receipts no proof of ownership! Oh it isn't even my birthday dirtbag!" Fares snapped triumphantly as he yanked the bag away and threw it over to Darkrai, who caught it with a hoof and frowned.

"Fares, I am not entirely sure-"

"I know a thief when I see one Darkrai! Check that jewelry, it still has the tags on it!" Fares interrupted loudly, spinning to face the large black coated stallion and gesture toward the bag. Darkrai hesitated before dropping the bag, opening it, and scanning over the visible jewelry, realizing that indeed each and every piece still had its price tag on it. When he looked up he sighed.

"I suppose you were right then. Go ahead and take the bag to the authorities." He relented. Darkrai watched the colt go with the slightest of smiles before noticing the stallion trying to sneak away. With a loud snarl his eyes suddenly went bloodshot and darkness built around his hooves as he reared upwards then slammed his hooves back to the ground, causing massive spikes made of pure darkness to erupt forward. The stallion screamed in fear as the spikes arched upwards then down to dive into his shadow then rise around and engulf him. His screams were muffled, but far from silenced, and Darkrai let a crooked grin break across his muzzle as he batted away the darkness, revealing the stallion on the ground, passed out and still screaming. Darkrai's mouth split apart and his teeth sharpened to razor sharp blackened points as darkness began leaping from the stallion's eyes and mouth into his own maw and a dark laugh crawled out of his throat.

"The nightmares of the pitiful and useless are always the best tasting!" He crowed as the stallion woke again, shivering and soaked in cold sweat.

"Whu...what are you?!" He asked, scrambling to try and get away. Darkrai's hoof slammed into his ribcage, pinning him to the ground and grinning.

"I wonder how effective you'd be as a thrall. Should I turn you into one, pathetic thief~?! Poison your soul with darkness and drain your mind until you're nothing but a MINDLESS, PATHETIC LITTLE OBEDIENT DOG-"

"Found ya, asshole." Darkrai barely had time to register before a brown, cream, and orange blur slammed into him from above and he found himself staring into the wild green eyes of an orange pelted mare with a golden mane and tail and an excited grin covering her face. With a smirk she raised her hoof and pointed at Darkrai.

"Man I never thought somebody like you would hide in a bright and cheerful place like this! DARKRAI, THE NIGHTMARE KING, THE EMPEROR OF DARKNESS, THE PATRON OF THE NEW MOON, OF ALL PEOPLE, would hide in 'Equestria'!!" The mare let out a mocking laugh only to find Darkrai's wing planted firmly in her flank and she yelped in pain as she was thrown off with surprising force. Darkrai yanked himself to his feet and flicked his tail before scowling. Emotions ran wild through his brain, thoughts half torn between the confused side who had no idea what was going on and the unknown, infuriated side that was screaming curses, and threats HATEHATEHATEHATE who was  this mare and how did she know him KILLHERMURDERHERDESTROYHER-

Run.

Darkrai wheeled around, spread his wings and took off in a blind panic, legs too shaky for him to trust them to effectively carry him away from the crazy mare.

Just run. Don't look back. If you look back it'll happen again. Don't look back! Just run!

Before he could really register he found himself above the Palace Garden and he clumsily slammed into the ground, rolling slightly and panting, cold sweat dripping off his pelt as he stumbled to his feet and looked over his shoulder. Fear and confusion raged through him and he quickly retreated to the suite he'd been granted, opening his wings once again so he could fly up to the balcony and avoid running into any guards. Quickly stumbling into his room and slamming then locking the balcony doors behind him then double checking to make sure the main door was locked as well he collapsed to the ground, hunching over and holding his pained head.

It hurt.

More than anything he recognized that his mind hurt. It felt like it was being torn to shreds, bits of memories coming and going at speeds unknown, dark thoughts warring with his lighter ones, and a sudden, very powerful, dark...

Hunger.

~-~-~

"He's using his powers again!" Palkia looked up as Cresselia began pacing, her eyes wild with anger and desperation.

"Cresselia calm down, please-"

"YOU BE CALM, PALKIA! He's becoming active again, I can tell, he's begun feasting on nightmares! He needs to be stopped! Why haven't Pika and Lucario DONE anything yet?!" Cresselia snarled loudly, spinning to face the water dragon shakily. Palkia sighed.

"Creselia, you have to remember what a formidable foe Darkrai is. Even Pika and Lucario are going to have problems with him, like it or not. Don't worry, they've beat him once, I'm sure they can do it again. Calm. Down-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO BE CALM!! You aren't the one whose counterpart is a genocidal maniac that's back to using nightmares to fuel his strength! If we don't get him under control NOW he's going to get too powerful to fight and then he's gonna-"

"CRESSELIA!! CALM THE EFF DOWN!" Cresselia snapped her jaw shut and stared at Palkia as he heaved a sigh.

"You're losing your mind over this. You need to collect yourself, get some sleep, food, and hydration, then at least TRY to think rationally and not lose your sanity over this whole thing." He soothed. Cresselia grit her teeth before narrowing her eyes.

"Start building that portal again. I'm going after him myself."

"Cress-"

"I said start building the portal again, Palkia!"

Palkia heaved yet another sigh and without another word disappeared into his dimension, mulling over his thoughts now in peace.

"...I can't help but wonder if this is going too far." He mused into the vast emptiness. With that he flicked his tail slightly and the pearls on his shoulders began glowing as he honed his abilities to begin combing through the fine threads of alternate realities he had jurisdiction over.

"I suppose there isn't much I can do right now, but perhaps eventually I'll have to take more action. I hope not. But if I have to... *sigh* I'd hate to lose Cresselia to madness just because she's panicking over what might happen without her around to quell Darkrai's abilities in some dimension that isn't even ours."