Chapter 5

Another day, Another Headache

"I can't do it!" I said through clenched teeth as I tried to bring the Dream Catcher into reality again. The shape was there but I kept punching holes through it with my feet as I landed on it, more like graphic glitches. My brow was slick with sweat and my breath was becoming longer but I still felt weak. Glitterlamp was by my side in a heart beat keeping a hold of me, her eyes glowing with magic as she searched me.

"We need to go lower, it's getting hard for me to breathe." Glitterlamp decided and then we began to fall freely but not out of control.

"Very well, let's choose a landing spot." I suggested as we descended.

"What about over there?" Glitterlamp pointed out to a opening amongst the rocky cliffs of Colorado.

"That'll do." I said between deep breaths. The flat rock felt very welcoming under my feet as my knees buckled to the ground unused to bearing my own weight after flying. This feeling reminded me of my first time on a horse's saddle for a few hours and getting off. Muscles I didn't even knew I had came alive to inform me that they were tired, particularly around the shoulder blades.

"Ahh!" I breathed out in relief to be able to rest my wings and back, it wasn't very comfortable with the sharp bite in the cold air. "That feels SO much better."

"It wasn't all that far, pegasi make longer flights than that." Glitterlamp certainly didn't look the least bit winded, in fact she was still buzzing in the air. "You started flying MUCH better once you ditched the Dream Catcher, you started just fine at the beginning but you more graceful without it. Either way you need practice."

"Ok." I nodded getting my breath back. "I don't think I flew that far all at once before. I'm probably just tired."

We rested at that tall outcropping for a while long enough that I dozed off and Glitterlamp found where we were on the map. Then again sleeping is no longer the same anymore, it's not like before that I would often close my eyes and open them again with no memory of a dream. Now? I always remember something or I'm not that oblivious of my surroundings. For instance this last snooze I looked through Glitterlamp's green tinted eyes. We seem to be close to a town of sorts, might as well get a more local map. The Atlas only works for so much.

The Inner Council or to say more accurately I was more at peace although now Glitterlamp's words were replaying in my head. What if Merlin wasn't strong enough to gather these elements himself? Either that technology could trump magic or the ones hiding the elements were stronger than him,

"Or the locks on the others can only be opened by a stirring Dreamer such as ourselves." Vengeance mused over the situation. His cave was very quite and easy to concentrate in. The large black serpent was curled around his gold and seemed sleepy. I grinned at him knowing that he slept as soundly as a cat, any stray sound will send him leaping to his claws.

"We can't be sure, but we will know when the time comes." Pain nodded from his throne somewhere in my mind. "And when that time comes. I have no doubt that we will overcome the obstacle."

"Let's hope so."

"Time to wake up." Glitterlamp pulled me from from the cave and into the waking world. Dusk was upon us and I could feel my eyes change so that even low light could be as clear as noon.

"Why? It's almost night." I responded rolling over trying to find a more comfortable spot.

"Yes, and I want a bed at least. You may be fine sleeping on the cold ground, I'm not." Glitterlamp used her magic to drive away all sleep by lowering a shield she had set up to keep the harsh winter air out. Now I was aware that I was lying on a frosty stone with an even colder wind blowing. The jump from a hot dessert of Appaloosa to the lofty lands of Colorado in the middle of November was NOT warm. It wasn't snowing earlier or any clouds in that matter, now? It looked as if a blizzard was on the way. A dark bulky wall of clouds loomed too close for comfort.

"Alright," I said shivering through the icy wind. I called forth the Dream Catcher to enter this world too but something was holding me back. The image was here but that's all it was, an image. "C`mon, it's not that hard." I whispered to myself. I stared at the image willing it to be real but the thoughts of freezing out here was nagging me, or was it Glitterlamp's worry?

"You're just tired. Let's just fly with our wings until we can see the Estes Park's lights." Glitterlamp said taking to the sky.

"Fine," I grumbled then jumped like a over tighten spring when a loud beeping rang from my pocket. "Oh, right. I have a phone now. Geez!" I picked up the smart phone and tried to remember how the hell to operate the thing. The loud beeping was demanding that I pick the call up but when I got the screen opened before the call went to missed messages.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Michael, we wanted to know how it was going. Did you make it to Colorado alright?" My mom's voice came through nice and clear.

"Heya!" I greeted taking to the sky and began following Glitterlamp towards the town. "Everything is alright where I am. No big news yet, no sign of any elements yet but we gotta be closer than a little while ago. It's starting to get dark and cold here so we are trying to find a hotel for the night. Anything going on in the news."

"Yeah actually there was some movement on Facebook today. Kinda weird here let me read it to you." Tapping and clicking for a few moments. "The gist of it that there's a vigilante group up in new york that could breathe fire, fly and a few other things. And one of dad's navy friends posted a video of his kid that could mold solid stone with just his bare fingers," then she paused. "Are you sure you're the only one that could do magic? There's a lot more stories and pictures here now."

"Hmm." I mused. "I guess it's not impossible but I think something happened in the world recently to have this change start. Was there something odd happening a long time ago? I mean when was this origin and where?"

"Let me check." A few moments passed and Glitterlamp dipped into the forest since we could see the town's lights and we'll make out final approach on foot. "Ah ha! Here we go! Hehe, I feel like such a super covert agent!" She laughed aloud. "Ok, looks like a Canterlot high school had some weird going on. . . whoa."

Mom never just says whoa. It happens as often as, well, it doesn't happen very much but in this instance this whoa might as well be a air strike siren. My throat felt tight and my teeth felt like they needed to tear into something. This silence only added to the uncontrollable urge to know what on Earth happened. Thousands of scenarios ran through my head; did Merlin's foes find my family first before they found me? Did some magical bomb went off? Did the news rewrite some fundamental fact of life!? DID THE CALL DROP!?

"Well? What happened?" I asked as calmly as I could while touching down to the ground and walking towards the town. Glitterlamp had a eyebrow arched since she could hear this conversation through me.

"From the story it just says that a school function went wrong and the school suffered minor damage but the pictures make it look like the school ate a bomb! The front is completely blown out, the lawn has a crater in it. The student stories talk about a strange girl from another world with wings sprouting from her back, there's even a picture, several actually."

"Where is it?" I asked relieved and a little more tired from my near heart attack. The wings took a little work to make disappear, it was getting harder but I managed.

"Gimmie a while. Their website isn't playing nice. Hey honey, make sure you come back just fine, love you."

"Stay warm, love ya." I said hanging up.

Could an element be at Canterlot High school? Was it this cold earlier? At least it's not snowing, come to think of it I get caught in bad weather a lot.

"I swore I saw the sign around here somewhere." Glitterlamp grumbled looking up and down a street. "How did we get further away?" The streets twisted and turned worse than a maze, Estes park was a giant tourist trap. At least it had little restaurants to eat at so I guess it wasn't that bad, just don't ask me to drive around here. So many turns.

With one of the turns we found a warm and inviting but empty cafe that we retreated into to warm up. Even though I didn't travel more than one state line I felt like I moved up from the low lands and into the tops of mountains. Things got cold here quickly, and here I am dressed for summer! Jeans, light shirt with a cat resting lazily on some witches books. I really like the cat on the shirt it was really cute. Didn't mean too much when I'm shivering like a fool, and I used to cope so well to cold weather too!

"Ev`n!" A chipper voice called out from the small cafe. "Gettin` cold out there?" A girl seemingly around my age attended the cash register with an assortment of treats and the smell of fried stuff tempted me greatly.

"Yes it it." Glitterlamp strolled up and looked up to the menu was hanging above the register. Glitterlamp got the hang of reading English faster than I could learning her odd script both changeling and Equestrian. A burger and a milkshake was ordered and we found a table for two next to a window.

"It's so empty out there." Glitterlamp remarked at the now dark streets with hardly a store light shining. The snow was coming down really hard now we could only see the dim glow of a street lamp outside the shop, barely. "I should've packed for colder weather."

"Eh, it's not so bad we just need to unpack the weather coats and remember to stay warm." I said trying to think of a way to manage the weather.

"Here's your order," the register lady said and looked outside. "I wouldn't worry about the snow too much, it's not that bad yet." She chuckled. "It's kinda odd seeing people up here during the off season, what brings ya folks up here?" The burger smelled amazing and I already had a mouthful of it.

"Looking for something," Glitterlamp started then pulled out Loyalty from my jacket and showed it to her. "That kinda looks like this. Seen anything like it?" The jar still shimmered in the light but didn't produce a pale blue light in any direction. Looked like a regular jar with odd colored flakes in water.

"They're part of a set we would like to have." I added as she looked it over. The tag on her vest said Emily on it and she took the jar. Turning it around in her hands she looked at it closely but no recognition reflected in her eyes.

"There's a store in Loveland east of here that sold things like this." She said handing the jar back. "Used to be here but the traffic here shuts off once the cold weather hits. Go through the canyon road and it should be the first little town you see, bright lights everywhere."

"Thanks," we said at the same time and chuckled over it.

"That's a pretty armband where did you get it?" Emily asked pointing at my bracer, my equivalent for a wedding ring. The black and silver filigree with a large emerald cat eye did look out of place with my clothes. Then again Glitterlamp did want it that way. Speaking of which I could feel the pride from Glitterlamp, kinda like a high five from a best friend.

"Made it myself," I answered with a smile. "I was very happy when I finished it."

"It was a very happy day for the both of us." Glitterlamp said smiling thumbing her ring. Emily's eye's lit up suddenly and gained an all knowing smile.

"Ah, so this is your honeymoon! Well I'll you two alone to map out the rest of your trip. If ya need anything give me a holler." Emily returned to her register.

I dug through my pack and begun pulling out a jacket of three layers. Mostly because one jacket wasn't enough to keep me warm. From inside to out is my flannel jacket, a dense denim jacket and finally a light winter coat. I gazed down fondly at my jacket as we have seen through many winters and moves together but looking back out at the frozen world outside did not fill me with confidence. More of a 'this is going to suck' feeling.

Glitterlamp had my phone and begun looking through the internet with it and made a warm chuckle.

"Oh if I had this sort of technology back on Equestria my shop never would have closed." Then she looked to me. "We must have looked very simple to you, hardly any of the comforts that you enjoy."

"No. Not at all. Just different." I said taking a few spoonfuls of the vanilla milkshake, vanilla wasn't my favorite but it wasn't bad either. A few more customers came in making the cafe feel more full and alive. They spoke in hushed whispers while they shook the snow off their heavy coats, they spotted us but didn't lower their voices any but went over across the room to continue their whispery conversation. They seemed to be from around here and soon fell into a somber silence.

"Heya guys, what's the long faces for?" Emily walked over with a note pad and a smile. "Bad day?"

"Mark's in the hospital now," I didn't look at him but I could feel his eyes falling on me. "Slipped up in the mountains and broke a few bones, we were lucky to get him out when we did."

"Mark slipping? Oh, right." Emily quickly dropped her tone to until the music on the radio drowned out what they were saying.

A new sensation tickled the back of my head. It kinda felt like Glitterlamp sifting through my head but it didn't want to be noticed. Hairs began to stand slowly end to end. Stiff, like wire. Tension was building in my gut and my sense sharpened to a knife's edge. A fellow from across the cafe felt nervous, painfully so. He pulled out something small that he could hide in his hand and brought it to his eye. The man clad in winter clothing stiffened and slowly met my half gaze.

My tension had Glitterlamp's attention and looked around to see what was bothering.

"I suggest we leave before we find trouble. Flee towards the mountain slopes, we can find lodging at a ski house." Vengeance pointed out as the man began to draw his friend's attention to whatever he saw.

"Come, we need to get going before this storm gets worse." I said in a low growl. "Quickly, I don't feel right."

"Ok, ok." Glitterlamp closed the phone and pocketed the device. The men began to look at us and one seemed to see something immediately.

"Vampire!" He shouted and dove his hand into the many fold of his coat.

"This is going to hurt." Pain prepared us for the worst.

Author's notes:

AHH CRAP! I didn't meet my own goal! Whatever. I think I got my old mojo back! Hopefully I'll be able to write a little more often. I hoped everyone had a wonderful winter break since mine has now come to an end, last semester of college! This might get rough. Wish me luck!

With adoration,

Silver Top Hat.