A new Discord

Chapters

No Rest For The Wicked
House 'Warming'
Time to Stop Screwing Around
School for Screwball & The Human Watcher
Sounds of Romance: A Chaotic Intervention
Smack-Down in Pony Town
Nightmare Saga: Oh Baby
A wild new unicorn appeared!
Unite as one
Nightmare saga: Dream bank heist
Nightmare Saga: Nightmare night
Nightmare saga: Trials revisited
Nightmare saga: The great reveal
Nightmare saga: Fight the night
Nightmare saga (finale)- The dawn has arrived
What we keep inside
A peek into reality
Chaos Reborn
Nightmare saga: The super race
Prologue to dimensions

No Rest For The Wicked

Chapter 2

As I was flying through the sky I saw the small town of Ponyville, I could see it from the castle so it wasn't hard to find from mid-air. I decided to fly overhead, high in the sky so that no pony would notice me and freak out that there was a weird creature in town, Princess Celestia said she would send Twilight a letter explaining what I was and how she could help me but until then I waited above the city.

“Maybe I should send some kind of signal that I’m here, maybe a distress flare or something. Maybe I can introduce myself to the entire town; I know Pinkie Pie would defiantly throw me a party so that’s one way.”

I perched on top of a high up building still in thought.

“Although, I guess people would still freak out once they found out that a draconequus was back in town.”

“Help!”

While I was thinking I heard a cry for help which was barely audible, I looked down below the building I was sitting upon and saw Fluttershy about to be mugged by some stallion with a knife.

“Hand over your money girly and you won’t get hurt.” He said. Fluttershy was backed against a wall looking even more nervous than usual.

“Oh my gosh, I have to stop this injustice, as a brony with god like powers it is my duty to uphold justice. Oh! And I know just the form to do it.”

I snapped my fingers, and my jacket and wings were replaced by a cape and batman's suit of armor from Batman: Arkham City.

“Excellent the transformation worked. I have the suit, the cape, the mask.” I felt around. “I have the belt and there are defiantly things in it. This is awesome! Oh right, the crime.”

I jumped down the 20 foot building and landed at the end of the alleyway. To alert the criminal I put on my best Kevin Conroy voice impression(For those who don't know, Kevin Conroy did the voice for Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Arkham City and Asylum)

“Hey!” He quickly turned around and looked at me.

“What do you want freak?”

“Put down the knife and let the mare go and I promise I’ll go easy on you.” I cracked my knuckles threateningly.

“Oh sure pal I put this knife down…in your heart!”

He put the knife in his mouth and started running towards me.

“Ugh, villains they never listen to reason.”

Feeling around my belt I quickly found a baterang and pulled out from my belt pocket. I winged it at the stallion. But, instead of hitting him in the face like I planned it flew right past him and hit the wall.

"Right, I forgot these things don't fly straight. I need a new plan."

I didn't have time to think though as the stallion was right on top of me, he tried to slash me with the knife but I dodged all his swings. Once he stopped for a second I slapped both my hands against his ears as hard as I could, this disoriented the guy and made him drop his knife, then I punched him in the throat and grabbed him by the mane and slammed him into the wall, knocking him out cold. With the thug incapacitated I approached Fluttershy who was quivering in the corner, I kneeled down to talk to her on eye level.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, I-I’m fine. I don’t know…what would have happened if you hadn’t come along…thank you.” She looked behind me to see the pony lying on the floor.

“Um…is he-“

“He’s fine, he’s just unconscious with nothing more than a busted up jaw. Get the police force to come and take him away.” I got up and started walking off. “Be careful, a nice mare like you shouldn't have to deal with this kind of thing but if you ever need help I’ll be there.” I pulled out the grapple gun and aimed for a high up roof top.

“Wait, who…are you?”

I smiled and said “I’m Batman.” Then I grappled up to the roof and away. Once I was on top of the building I snapped my fingers and turned back into my old form.

“That was so cool! I met Fluttershy, I saved Fluttershy, I was batman, I kicked some guy in the teeth.”

With that done I jumped back up into the air and spread my wings, continuing to fly in the sky but this time I flew inside the clouds as not to be noticed. Then I went back to what I was thinking about.

“Okay, if I don’t want people to freak out maybe I shouldn't tell them I’m the new Discord, maybe I’m just some guy with really cool powers. They might believe that, or maybe…”

Once again I was interrupted but this time I was pushed my some sort of blur moving past me way too fast. Before I even had time to question it three more bodies hit me, one of which yelled “Out of the way dweeb!”

“Dweeb? I know only one pony who would say something like that, or should I say griffon?”

I decided to follow them and see what was going on. I trailed behind them until I came across Rainbow Dash who was cornered by Gilda and three other griffons.

“No place to run now Dashie, time to pay.”

I knew I had to do something.

“Okay, who’s a strong aerial fighter who can take them down really quickly? Iron man? No too many explosions. Oh I know.”

I snapped my fingers and transformed into the sayian Goku. Suddenly Gilda was rushing towards Rainbow Dash and prepared to claw her, using my newfound super speed I moved right in front of Gilda and grabbed her claw stopping the attack.

Wha-" Gilda was confused as to who I was, giving me just enough time to warn Dash.

“Run.” I told Dash and she took off like a bullet away from us.

“Grah! You three take care of this chump, the pegasus is mine.”

Gilda broke out of my grasp and went after Dash while the three griffons were looking menacingly at me.

“You’d better leave now chump, there’s three of us and only one of you.”

“I know so I completely understand if you want to get about six more of your friends and make this a fair fight.”

They got angry and rushed towards me. Each one of them tried to claw me but I was so fast I could dodge all of their attacks at the same time. Soon they all stepped back.

“Look guys, I really don’t want to hurt you so if you could just…”

They prepared to ram into me but I moved instantaneously and they smacked into each other.

“Come on, I’m really not in the mood for this.”

They all rushed me again continuing to attack while I dodged and got fed up at the tediousness of this fight.

“Okay, ENOUGH!”

I created a wave of energy around me and used it to push them off with such a force that they were sent crashing to the ground.

“Tell your doctors I’m sorry. Now to catch up with Gilda.”

Using my powers of flight I flew faster than I did before and found her chasing after Dash. I was feeling generous so I just appeared in front of her and stopped her in her tracks.

“You again?” Gilda questioned

“Yeah, it’s me. So what’re you doing?”

“Nothing.” She shoved me to the side and flew after Dash again, so I reappeared again.

“You know you really need to get some better help, if you wanted to stop me you’d need about twenty griffons or more.”

“Move it.” She said. The process repeats.

“I know you’re doing something and it looks like you want to hurt that pony.”

“I said, MOVE FREAK!”

She was about to slice me but I once again grabbed her claws stopping her attack.

“We’ve done this already. Give up now or I will hurt you.”

“Grgh!” She attacked me with a flurry of swipes and kicks, which I blocked. I didn't feel like playing this game again so I just raised my hand and created a weak cone of energy, which encompassed her and sent her falling to the ground. She hit the ground hard and I drifted back down towards her barely conscious body.

“Who…are you?” she asked.

“Your worst nightmare and if you don’t give up your evil ways I’ll be here to stop you again.”

Finally she passed out and I was left standing above her. I was going to go look for Rainbow Dash but I saw her fly down towards me.

“Hey thanks mister, I thought I was done for when those griffons wanted to attack me.”

“Yeah, why did they attack you anyway? You seem like a nice young mare.”

She smiled. “Well, that griffon and I have a bit of a history. She wanted to get back at me even though she’s a complete jerk, if it wasn’t for you I’d probably be in a lot of pain.”

“Just doing my job as a hero, well I’d better be off.”

I started to fly off.

“Hang on, at least tell me your name.”

“My name is Goku, farewell.”

I flew off at supersonic speeds as far away from her as I could.

“Wow, he’s fast.”

In mid air I snapped my fingers and my black feathered wings grew back.

“All right, that’s two ponies down four to go.” Suddenly, my stomach started rumble. “Man I’m hungry; I guess I really haven’t eaten anything since I got here. I could probably head down to Sweet Apple Acres and get an apple themed food to eat, that could be nice.”

I made my way to the farm, since the skies are clear and I can be easily seen I stayed on the ground and started moving through the trees, jumping from branch to branch like a ninja. I was just going to take one apple until I heard a bell ringing.

“The timber wolves are coming! The timber wolves are coming!” Granny Smith yelled.

“Man, I cannot catch a break today. Well, maybe they’ll be able to handle them.” I said to myself, not really concerned.

I observed from the trees that Applejack was trying to take care of the wolves by throwing rocks at them, but they were too strong and started eating the apple trees with just a few bites.

“Aw man, if this keeps up all the apple family’s crops will dry up, looks like I’m going to have to intervene. Let’s use something with a bit more finesse this time, possibly more showoffey. Aha!”

I snapped my fingers and took on another form: Ripped jeans, red jacket, crazy anime t-shirt, glasses, pompadour, and a beam katana. I jumped out of the tree and started running for the farm. I saw a timber wolf on top of Big Machintosh looking like it was about to bite his face off, so I drew my green katana, the Tsubaki Mk-III, and powered it up.

“Hey wolfie!”

I got the wolfs attention so it would look at me, then with one clean slice from my beam katana I sliced it in half. I grabbed Big Machintosh and brought him up.

“Are you okay?”

“Eeyup.”

“Get the rest of your family out of here. I’ll take care of the timber wolves.”

“Eeyup.” He ran towards Applejack and Applebloom. “Come on every pony, we have to get out of here.”

“Big mac, are you crazy? Those dang timber wolves are gonna eat all of our crops.” Applejack said.

“Don’t worry sis, that thing is gonna handle them.”

They looked at me as I stood there and waved.

“Him? Big mac, he can’t…”

They were interrupted by a timber wolf jumping to attack them. I ran forwards and jumped above it and stabbing it through the head. I came down and impaled the ground with the timber wolf's head stuck to it

“Do you trust me now?”

She nodded.

“Then get out of here and I’ll handle them.”

Finally they ran off and I was left to fight three more timber wolves.

“Only three? Too easy.” I said, cocky.

The first one started charging at me so I ran towards it and then before it bit me I slid underneath it and sliced its stomach along the way. I jumped up and saw another one heading towards me, so I threw my blade up into the air and before the beast tackled me to the ground I wrapped my arm around its neck and suplexed the wolf flinging it over my head and landing it on its back, then my blade came down and stabbed it in the heart causing it to fall to pieces. As I picked up my blade I heard the other wolf charging behind me, so I turned my blade around so that my blade was pointing in the other direction and stabbed it in the top of the skull before it could reach me.

“Well that’s that. Guess I’ll be heading off.”

I powered down my blade and started walking away triumphantly with my hands in my pockets until I heard a rumbling noise coming from the ground. All the parts from the disassembled timber wolves started to levitate and come together behind me to form some short of gigantic super wolf.

“Oh yeah, I forgot they could do that.”

When the wolf finished forming it was five times larger than the other wolves and released a mighty roar.

“I’m gonna need two blades for this.”

I reached for the other sabers on my belt the dual pair red beam katana’s, Rose Nasty. I wasn't sure how I was gonna beat this thing so I gave it and ultimatum.

“Listen up wolf breath, I've killed every individual part of you and I can do it again. So why don’t you get that stick out of your ass, which is also made of sticks, and leave because if you don’t I’m going to slice you into so small parts you won’t regenerate and then I’ll use those parts to build an outhouse. So what’s it gonna be? Live a coward, or die a shit box?”

The beast roared once more signaling that it wouldn't retreat. At first I wasn't sure if I could take it down but then I noticed these little buttons on the bottom of the blades that said ‘overkill’.

“Huh. I didn’t even know these were there. Let’s see what they do.”

I flipped the switch and the blades sparked with red energy; I checked the battery and saw the energy output had doubled increasing its power tremendously.

“This will work.” “All right you overgrown tree, in the words of my master, up yours!”

The beast charged at me as I prepared to strike.

“BEAM KATANA……BUSTER BLADE SLICE!”

I started to savagely slash at the air in every direction as the beast ran towards me, and every time I finished a slash it created a wave of energy which would go forward and slice at the wolf damaging it. I slashed as quickly as I could creating dozens of waves which slashed at his face, eyes, legs and chest. Eventually, he slowed down and fell hard to the ground skidding to a stop right in front of me. I finished him off then and there.

“Say good night woodie.”

With that I impaled my blade in his eye hole and the energy in the blade caused the body to explode sending sticks and pieces of wood in every direction and covering me in green blood.

I looked over and saw that the apples were hiding behind there barn, looking in awe at what just happened “It’s okay it’s dead, you can come out now.”

Applejack, her sister Bloom, and Big Mac came out of hiding. Needless to say Applejack was shocked.

“Wha…but, I…how did you…”

“Oh, I have my ways.” I flashed my sword. “And a really cool weapon.”

“I've never seen a weapon like that before in mah life.”

“Well, you've never seen anything like me before in your life either so it makes sense."

She came closer and gazed at me. “You’re covered in Timber wolf blood; I didn't even know those things could bleed.”

“Actually I don't think this is blood." I picked some of it off of me and rubbed it in between my fingers, then I licked it and had a good idea what it was. "I think this is tree sap, probably magically enchanted to which is why the timber wolves can just reform themselves. My blade probably disrupted that regenerative process and killed the thing, in any case your crops should be safe now.”

“Thank you kindly stranger, if there’s anything I can do for ya just name it.”

I smiled; Applejack was one of my favorites, defiantly in my top four favorite ponies.

“Actually, if you don’t mind I’d like a sack of apples to take with me.”

“Sure thing.”

She walked off and quickly came back with a sack filled with around a dozen apples which I happily took from her.

“Well, I’d better be off.” I whistled and summoned Travis’s motorcycle from the first game as it came roaring towards me. I got on it and revved it up to drive away.

“Hold on stranger, who are you?”

“Travis, Travis Touchdown. Swordsman, monster slayer, ladies man.”

With that I drove off into the forest and then once I was out of their sight I snapped my fingers and turned back into my normal form and then teleported into town.

“Okay, it took way longer than I thought it would to introduce myself so I’ll just hold a small gathering, nothing to attract attention to myself and…”

Suddenly I realized where I had teleported myself to, which was the last place I wanted to be. I was right in front of Sugar Cube corner. Before I could even think ‘oh no’ the hyper active pink mare Pinkie Pie came out.

“Hey there! I haven’t seen you around here before ‘gasp’ does that mean you’re new in town?”

“….No.”

Without a second word I flew up into the sky to try and get away from Pinkie. I knew that she would throw me a party on a massive scale and many people would be alerted to the power that I had, and let’s face it if they found out Discord was back in town they would freak out and may even try and kick me out of town which I didn't want.

At first I thought I was out flying Pinkie, but I should have known better. As I was flying through the air she was bouncing from roof top to roof top trying to talk to me.

“Hey there…whatcha doin?... are we playing…tag…I love tag!”

“Ugh, I just want to introduce myself to Twilight, is that too much to ask? Wait, why am I flying when I can teleport?”

I snapped my fingers and ended up four blocks behind Pinkie so she couldn't see me.

“He’s gone? Aww but I wanted to play.”

If there’s anything that makes me sad it’s a sad Pinkie Pie so I left her a parting gift. I snapped my fingers and summoned one of Discord’s favorite tricks, the chocolate rain cloud. It appeared right in front of Pinkie which she questioned at first then she poked it and saw it was cotton candy and started nibbling it. Then she saw a note on it, it read: “A gift from me to you. Shake for a surprise.” So she shook the cloud and chocolate milk started coming out of it which she lapped up like a dog, when she finished she said one word in realization

“Dizzy?”

While she was distracted by that I managed to fly off and reach Twilight’s house.

“Ugh, I took a lot of detours but at least I finally managed to get here. I just hope she’s here.”

I knocked on the door but no one answered, I wondered where she was until I noticed a rolled up note at her door. I picked it up and saw that it had the princess’s royal seal.

“Great Twilight hasn't even gotten the letter yet. Where is that mare anyway? I need to find her so I can be introduced without people freaking out.”

I decided to go find Twilight myself and put the letter in my pocket to give to her. I was about to begin flying again but my wings felt kind of sore.

“Right, I've been doing a lot of flying today might want to give it a rest. How else can I move around here stealthy as a shadow?”

I snapped my fingers and literally turned into a shadow and was able to move across the ground without anyone noticing me. I went all across Ponyville but didn't see Twilight anywhere, so I decided to search the Everfree forest instead. At first I thought it was a foolish idea but then I saw Twilight walking down the path from Zecora’s hut and she was talking to herself with a potion in her aura. I watched her from a shadow in the trees.

“Thanks to Zecora I've got my latest and possibly greatest potion ever, now all I need is-“

She was interrupted as she tripped over a tree branch and her potion dropped to the ground broke and seeped into the ground.

“Oh no, no no no no no, I need that potion.”

It didn't seem like a big loss but when Twilight got up and started walking towards town something popped out of the ground. It looked like some kind of decayed hoof and with it came a body…the body of a zombie pony.

“AAAAAAH!” Twilight was freaking out and started running for her life.

“Damn it! I cannot catch a break today, I am so tired of saving people I don’t even care what I change into.”

I snapped my fingers and was pleasantly surprised with what I got: Red jacket, black undershirt, white hair, sword on my back, and a pair of magnums attached to my legs.

“Man, even when I’m not thinking about it I’m awesome.”

With my new form I jumped from tree to tree trying to catch Twilight and that zombie pony that was chasing her. I was so fast that I got ahead of them on the path, so I jumped out of the tree, right in front of Twilight and the zombie that was chasing her.

“Duck!” I yelled

She immediately fell to the ground and I pulled out my magnum, aimed it straight at the zombies head, and shot it right in between his eyes, killing it.

“There now the undead can stay dead.” I said triumphantly

I walked over to Twilight and out-stretched my hand.

“Are you all right?”

She put her hoof up and I grabbed it with my hand pulling her up.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Thanks for rescuing me from that…thing.

“Zombie.”

“What?”

“It’s called a zombie, a dead body brought back to life by some sort of science or magic or a combination of the two. Not to be confused with skeletons, they’re undead to but they’re just a pile of bones no flesh and no…blood.”

I looked at the corpse I had just killed and saw it began to bleed orange blood.

“Zombies don’t bleed, and even if they did their blood wouldn’t be orange, what is that?”

The blood quickly bled out of his body and it seeped into the ground.

“Where’s it going?” I asked

Suddenly another zombie jumped out of the ground and grabbed me by the leg.

“Watch out!”

Twilight’s scream warned me and I kicked it in the head before it could climb up and bite me.

“You wanna eat something big guy?” I quipped.

I did a back flip kicking the zombie in the face and sending him stumbling back, and then I landed on my feet and drew my gun.

“Eat lead.”

I shot him in the head and it died again.

“Well, at least these things are weak.”

“But where do they keep coming from?” Twilight asked

“They’re dead bodies which mean they were probably buried under this road Ms…”

“Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight, what was in that vial you dropped?”

“Nothing it was just…wait, how did you know I dropped a vial, were you following me?”

I noticed my slip up. “That’s not important. What did you drop?”

“It was a new potion I was trying out, it was meant to be a rejuvenating potion to cure illness and improve physical condition. Clearly it was so powerful it can bring ponies back from the dead.”

“Yeah, and it keeps getting into ponies bodies, but at least they’re weak.”

Suddenly as if on cue a skeletal manticore rose out of the ground to attack.

I was surprised. “That’s a manticore; I cannot catch a break today can I?”

It ran up and tried to attack me stabbing me with its tail. I ducked and dodged to the side to avoid.

“Hey Twilight, get ready for a true spectacle.”

I grabbed my sword from my back and did a strong underhanded swing sending the manticore skeleton into the air. I then jumped up next to it and started hacking and slashing it to pieces until not a single bone was connected to the other. As we both fell to the ground I saw the orange substance start to seep out of the bones.

“Oh no you don’t." I reached into my pockets and pulled out a small glass vial. "Twilight, catch!”

I threw it to her and she caught it with her magic, when I landed on the ground I grabbed the vial and scooped up all the liquid, sealing it inside.

“There we go. No liquid, no undead.” I tossed the vial to her “Here keep this safe, wouldn't want the dead wandering around and trying to eat ponies would we?”

With the situation taken care of, Twilight now had a questioning look on her face. “Thank you but I still have so many questions. Who are you? What are you? What were those things you had that killed those zombies? And where did you come from?”

“Sorry I can’t tell you that right now, but I’ll tell you why I’m here. I am a messenger and I have a letter from you.”

I pulled the letter out of my pocket and handed it to her; she grabbed it with her magic and started reading it.

“Oh my first I’m attacked by monsters, saved by a strange creature, and now the princess says a strange creature is coming to town that…walks on two legs. It’s you isn't it?”

I shrugged. “Well yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“That’s for you to find out, now you’d better go meet this person, he’s probably had a long day.”

“You’re right; I should probably invite all my friends they’ll probably want to meet this creature as well.”

“Oh I can help with that, here hand me the message.” She gave it to me and I read it over and snapped my fingers.

“Done.”

“What did you do?”

“Oh I just used my powers to memorized the letter and sent copies of it to your friends, they’ll meet you at the library as fast as they can.”

She was confused. "How do you know who my friends are?"

Crap, another slip up. I really need to be more careful if I want to survive here. "I...read your mind."

“Wow, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Not anymore.”

I snapped my fingers and was enveloped in a black cloud of smoke which teleported me back to the library.

“Okay it’s gonna take them a while to get back to the library so I guess I have some free time.” I looked up at the tree library I was standing under. “Hmm, I think I could use a squirrel tree nap, after the day I've had.”

I snapped my fingers and turned myself into a squirrel, then using my new tree climbing powers I climbed up onto one of the higher tree branches and curled up into a little ball of fur and fell asleep.

I don’t know how long I was napping but I was awoken by the sound of the door slamming several times.

“I guess they’re all in there now. Better introduce myself.”

I switched back to my normal form and jumped down to the front door. I was about to walk in until I heard them conversing to themselves.

“Sorry I was late Twilight, I had a really busy, really weird day today.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh yeah? I think my day beats yours in weirdness. First of all, the princess asks us to meet this weird creature from another world that walks on two legs, and not a day later I’m attacked in the forest by zombies and saved by a creature that also walks on two legs. He also had these weird things that killed the zombies; they looked like they were made of metal.”

Rainbow Dash was shocked. “Get out. I was saved by a creature on two legs to, only he had weird spiky hair and an orange suit, also he could fly and he shot lasers. He took down Gilda when she tried to attack me.”

“I think I saw that feller two, he had lasers but it came in some kind of fancy sword, he saved mah family’s farm from the timber wolves.”

“Um…I saw a two legged creature to. Only he was big and black and really scary, but he saved me from this stallion with a knife so I guess its okay.”

I knocked on the door three times to alert them that I was outside.

“Oh that’s probably him, I’ll go get it.” Rarity said as she came to the door and levitated it open with her magic. She saw me and being the first human she ever saw she was surprised.

“Hello, I am here to see Twilight by orders of her majesty princess Celestia.” I bowed my head and played the charm card.

“Oh my, what a gentle colt.”

“Actually my dear as you can see from my upright posture and tannish skin I am a homosapian, otherwise known as a human.”

“A human?!?” Now Twilight came racing towards the door. “I thought they were just a legend, even the princess only saw them once or twice.”

“Well you’re looking at one. So, are you going to invite me in or are we just going to stand in the door way talking all day?”

“Oh of course, please come in.”

I walked into the library and it looked exactly like the show except for the fact that it was smaller than on the show but that is probably because I’m taller than all the ponies. I walked into the center of the room; the moment I did Pinkie instantly recognized me.

“Hey I know you; you were the guy I saw in town today.”

“What? Pinkie we've never seen this person before.” Twilight said.

I interrupted Twilight. “Actually you've all seen me before, just today in fact.”

They looked confused so I decided to demonstrate by switching into all the forms they met me in.

“Fluttershy.” I snapped my fingers and changed. “I’m the hero who saved you from that mugger.”

She looked surprised. “You’re Batman?”

I nodded. “Rainbow Dash.” I snapped and changed. “I’m the guy who stopped Gilda and those other griffons from hurting you.”

“Oh yeah, you sure were fast.”

“Applejack.” Snap and switch. “I’m the swordsman who defended your farm from the timber wolves. Thank you for the sack of apples by the way.” I pulled out an apple and started munching on it.

“Thank you kindly Travis but…where did you get that sack from?”

“Duh Applejack, he’s got extra dimensional pockets like me, where do you think I keep my party cannon? Oh and I have that rain cloud you gave me, thank you thank you thank you.”

I smiled. “And last but not least Twilight.” I snapped my fingers. “I’m the guy who saved you from that zombie pony. This form is called Dante.”

She stood there confused out of her minds. “But, how? Do all humans have that kind of magical energy because the only person I've seen with that much power is…no.”

Twilight figured it out rather quickly, no use in hiding it. “Yes, let me show you the source of my power”

I let my human form fade away and transformed into the source of my power, the draconequus Discord.

“Discord! You vile fiend, you've come back to harm Ponyville.” Rarity shouted accusingly

“No guys wait, I’m not…” I tried to defend myself.

“Girls, elements, now!”

They all went off into the other room to get the Elements of Harmony.

“Look girls I’m trying to tell you that…”

They emerged with their necklaces around their necks. “Save it Discord you can talk when you’re back in stone.Now girls!”

They began charging up their rainbow beam of death and I had nowhere to run.

“Oh shoot, Pink Floyd don’t fail me now.”

As soon as they fired I summoned a giant pyramid made of glass, the kind that refracts light. I held in in my arms and used it to absorb the rainbow beam which surprisingly worked. When it was done they all looked shocked again.

“What just happened?”

“Science, now if you’ll excuse me I need to empty this thing before the energy builds up, gets too huge, and it explodes.”

I went to the nearest window and opened it up. Then I pointed the top of the pyramid out and shot a condensed beam of light into the sky, I didn't hear any screams of terror or pain so I assumed I didn't hit anyone.

“There, now if you’re done trying to attack me maybe we can talk this out like adults?”

“No! You’re Discord, the master of chaos.” Rainbow Dash said, headstrong as usual.

“Oh so just because I’m a draconequus that instantly makes me Discord? That’s racism and frankly I’m offended.” They stopped giving me death stares. “Don’t you think if I was Discord I would be out reeking chaos and not saving you guys from danger, you’re welcome for that by the way.”

I approached them slowly. “Besides this isn’t the real me.” I snapped my fingers and turned into my human form. “This is the real me, this is the me that existed before I came here, and this is the person I am now. The only difference is that I have Discord's powers.”

“Why do you have Discords powers anyways?” Twilight asked

“It’s a long story, if you want I can tell it to you if you’ll let me, and then maybe we can be friends?”

Twilight considered this. “Well, the princess would have told us if the person who was coming was dangerous, okay I trust you.”

“As do I, yah saved mah family and our apples that makes you okay in my books.” Applejack said

“I may not have been saved by this fellow but I do know that Discord would not have acted in such a gentlemanly manner, and it would be rude for me to do any less.” Rarity said.

“Um…I’ll be your friend…if that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Of course I want to be your friend, Discord was tons of fun and unlike him you’re not a huge meanie pants.” Pinkie said excitedly.

“I don’t trust him.” Rainbow said, I knew she’d be stubborn.

“Rainbow Dash…”

“No Twilight, I don’t care if he’s a different person he still has the power of the most evil villain in the world and I won’t trust him.”

I needed a way to convince her. “You know Rainbow I have wings just like yourself.”

I furrowed my back wings and spread them out.

“Wow, those things are huge.”

“Well they have to be, I weigh more than your average pony, but if we were friends maybe we could, I don’t know, race. What do you say?”

She thought about it for a moment. “All right but I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

I was so excited I brought them all in for a group hug. “Thanks girls, trust me when I say we’re going to be the best of friends.”

Author's Note

Well, I think that went fairly well. I made up for the fact that there was no action in the last chapter with four action sequences in this one. Please comment and favorite this story if you lie it, it makes me feel good about my work. Also, if you want to dislike this story at least tell me why you'd dislike it, that helps me improve as a writer, unless you're reason for disliking it is that you don't like the concept, I can't do anything about that.
Have a good one and see you next time.

House 'Warming'

Chapter 3

After introducing myself to the girls I got to know them a little better, they told me things about their lives here in Ponyville (Most of it was stuff I already knew) and we chatted about recent events. It looked as though Discord had only recently broken out so I was somewhere near the beginning of season 2. After talking for a good two hours everyone cleared out of the library except Twilight because she lives there.

Eventually it was just me and Pinkie Pie walking through town, though she was more bouncing than walking. “So Willie, when do you want to have your welcome to town party?” Pinkie asked hoping right next to me.

“Well, why don’t we wait until I get a house first so that I can settle into town and then we'll have the party there?”

“Sure, oh but it’ll take a while to get a house. There aren't a lot of places for sale, plus you don’t have a job and the economy isn't very good right now and…”

I interrupted her. “Pinkie, have you forgotten who you’re talking to here? I’m the incarnation of Discord with the power to bend reality to my whim. All I need to do is find an open space in town and then I can create a house with my magic.”

“That’s a great idea! I know of an empty spot in town, I can take you there if you want.”

“Lead the way.” Pinkie showed me into the center of town and then she took me to the empty lot. Thankfully, she took me along a path where there weren't any ponies to gawk at my appearance.

“This is it. There used to be a house here but it got turned upside down and crushed when…”

Pinkie stopped her story and that told me what she was trying to say but didn't because of my presence.

“Don’t worry about it Pinkie, that was an old life. I’m not that person and I don’t plan to be, if any problem comes to this town I’m going to stop it myself. Now on to the house.”

I concentrated and snapped my fingers and made myself a small cottage that looked like any other house on the block,

“Hmm, a bit plain if you ask me.” Pinkie said

“Oh trust me, that’s only the outside, the inside I plan to make much bigger and filled with many…unique rooms, oh it’s going to be a blast. When I get this baby finished it shall be house party worthy. Now if you don’t mind Pinkie I have some renovating to do ”

“Sure thing, I've got to head back to Sugar Cube corner it’s almost time for the lunch rush and I have to plan your super special party.”

“Okay see you tomorrow.” I waved her goodbye.

“Bye bye.”

With that Pinkie bounced off to her place of work. I walked inside and saw a barren room filled with nothing but walls.
“Time for some serious renovation.”

I worked for hours using my magic to shape and expand the house making it bigger once you got inside but it’s still small on the outside (Trademark time lords). I added several specialty rooms and quite a few I knew that every pony else would like.

“Eat your heart out HGTV.”

When I finished creating my house to the best of my abilities I went into my bedroom and laid down to sleep on my gigantic comfy bed.

The next day...

“Oh I’m so excited! Are you excited, of course you’re excited because this is so exciting!”

Twilight tried to coral the hyper active mare. “Pinkie calm down, we haven’t even gotten there yet.”

The mane six were walking to my new home for my house warming party and welcoming me to Ponyville. They arrived at my house rather quickly but as they walked through the door they were greeted by what looked like a renaissance era castle with blackened stone walls, tapestries, and torches hanging from the walls. Suddenly, I appeared out of nowhere in a black cape at the top of the staircase in front of them.

“Welcome to Castlevania!” I said with a Transylvanian accent.

“What interesting renaissance era architecture, a bit too dark if you ask me.” Rarity commented in her usual judgmental tone.

“Too much?” I asked

They nodded their heads, so I snapped my fingers and turned the decor into your classic mansion look with bright orange and green walls, and I gave myself a tuxedo.

“It’s too bad I quite liked the castle ensemble, maybe I’ll bring it back for Nightmare Night this year. Oh wait, I did keep one aspect of the castle, Rarity if you could step back for a moment.”

"Sure" Rarity stepped back. “so what is this aspect you kept darling?”

I reached for a lever that was placed on the wall next to me. “Trap doors.”

“Did you just say trap doooooooooo-” Rarity fell down very far. Every pony in the room looked worried.

“Don’t worry girls every trap door has one of four things on the bottom to break your fall. There’s a trampoline, a mattress, a kiddie pool, or a giant banana cream pie.”

I was interrupted by a large splatting noise.

“Ew! I’m absolutely filthy.”

“Oh no, it looks like Rarity fell down the hole with pie in it.”

I snapped my fingers and brought Rarity back up top; she was covered in pie fillings and looked angry.

“Sorry Rarity here let me at least clean you up.”

“I got it!” Pinkie screamed excitedly as she walked over to Rarity and started licking all the pie filling off of her. She quickly finished and smacked her lips.

“Mmmm, bannanaey.”

“Well now that that’s over let me give you a tour of the house.”

I led them upstairs where they saw a very long hallway.

“How is your house so much bigger on the inside?” Twilight asked.

“Oh I just used my magic to stretch out the inside of this house to maximize my space, and speaking of space…”

I opened up one of the doors and showed them a room that looked like it was in middle of space.

“Space room. How cool is that?”

Rarity stared in aw “This is impossible, it cannot be done.” Rarity said.

“Rarity I’m a human that was transported to a world filled with magical talking ponies, and given the powers of a thousand year old draconequus to bend reality. Try to keep an open mind about these things.” I had a great idea. "In fact, see for yourself."

"No wait!"

She was afraid of being stranded in space when I pushed her in the room but she realized her flaws when her hooves hit solid ground, even though it look she looked like she was floating in space.

I started laughing hysterically. "The look on your face was priceless!" I came forward and knocked my hand on the walls. "This isn't space, I just put space wall paper everywhere to make it look like space."

Rainbow caught on and started chuckling a bit to. "Ha! Classic prank."

Disgruntled, Rarity walked outside of the room. I closed the door and led them further down the hallway.

“Besides that I also have a training room, library, massive kitchen, and…”

I opened the door to reveal a disco dance floor with a sound system in the back.

“A disco dance floor, get ready to party!” I waved my hands in the air.

They all looked really excited and rushed onto the floor, as I switched on the power the room was filled with colors and flashing lights but there was no music.

“Right, I forgot a DJ, give me a minute.”

I snapped my fingers and disappeared, I returned about a minute later.

“Okay umm, I had planned for DJ-PON3 to be here but she was…busy so I’ll just do it myself.”

Applejack stepped forward. “No can do Will this is your party and you should enjoy it.”

“Alright then…oh I know I’ll just get someone else to do it. Let's just hope this works.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a white pony with a blue neon mane with red tips and a set of blue headphones around his ears.

“Mares, let me introduce you to the Living Tombstone. Let’s kick it!”

With that tomb got the beat started and we danced to our hearts content. After that we sat down and ate some food (mostly cupcakes) and then we started talking about whatever was on our minds.

“Can you believe all the stuff that happened to us yesterday?” Rainbow asked.

“I know right? I was running all over the place yesterday to save you guys, usually this much trouble only happens once or twice a week. But at least its all over now.” I said

Suddenly a huge roar came from outside so loud it shook the house.

“Are you serious? God, it's like some outside force is putting me into dangerous situations for no reason whatsoever.” I thought

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m fairly certain my house isn't supposed to roar so it must be coming from outside.” I looked at the pony I had conjured up. "Tomb, you're dismissed." I snapped my fingers and he dissipated into nothingness.

“Okay girls, let’s go.” They started running down the hall way but they were confused on where to go. “Wait, how do we get out?”

“Don’t worry guys, there are several instant ways out, would you prefer to launch, fall, or slide out?”

Every pony thought about it for a second until Pinkie spoke up “Oh oh oh, sliding sounds fun.”

“Thank you Pinkie you just chose my favorite option, to the pony poles!”

I banged my arm against the wall and then it slid open to reveal seven steel poles leading downwards. Everyone ran towards the poles, grabbed on, and jumped down sliding to the bottom floor. The pole ended at the top of the ceiling of the room that we entered from. We ran outside and we found what was making the roaring noise: a red dragon and a big one at that.

“Eeep.” Fluttershy was scared and she hid behind me.

“This can’t be right; dragons don’t normally attack Ponyville, what’s going on?” I questioned.

“I don’t know but we have to see if we can calm this dragon down before he destroys all of Ponyville.” Twilight said.

We all ran up to the dragon that was smashing the town with his tail and claws.

“Hey dragon breath, what’s the big idea?” Rainbow said threateningly.

The dragon looked down at us. “You…you are the ponies that forced me from my home.”

Now Fluttershy came out from behind me and started getting angry. “You? Didn't we tell you not to hurt other ponies? I thought you said you would go find somewhere else to live.”

“I tried, but everywhere I went I was persecuted. Do you know how humiliating it is to be forced out of your hoard by a group of measly ponies? No dragon land would accept me, so now I will destroy this town and take the land as my own!”

Now it was my turn to talk to it. “Back up girls, I’m going to try to talk to it.” They backed up slowly; I summoned my black, feathered wings and flew up to his face. “Listen dragon I’m sure there are plenty of caves for you to live in somewhere, there’s no need to destroy these innocent ponies homes. So why don’t you just go live somewhere else before you get hurt?”

He clearly didn't like my answer as he breathed fire on me. Every one below looked really worried until the flames finally cleared revealing me with nothing more than a charred suit (Magical barriers for the win.)

“Ugh, I really liked that suit.” I said, annoyed.

I growled and ripped of my tattered suit revealing my usual black sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers. The dragon prepared to attack the girls by swiping them with his tail but I flew down and used my magic to increase my physical strength to extreme levels so I could grab his tail and stop the attack.

“Girls get out of here; I’ll take care of the dragon.”

“Be careful Willie, one wrong move and you’ll get all burned or be crushed flat like a pancake.” Pinkie said.

“While I admire you’re concern and imagination Pinkie, seriously thank you for that, it’s me we’re talking about here. I mean look at me, I’m awesome. Now go, it’s about to get really messy pretty quickly.”

They realized the danger and so they all ran away. When they were far enough away I let go of the dragon’s tail and got out of the way of it striking me.

“Right, now that the girls are out of harm’s way what do you say we get down to our rumble.” I cracked my knuckles threateningly.

The dragon just laughed at me. “You tiny creature? Why don’t you try fighting something your own size?”

I smiled at him confidently. “Bad move smokey because that’s exactly what I plan to do. Now…RISE BURNING GUNDAM!”

I snapped my fingers and focused all of my strength and will to create the mobile suit (It’s huge and complex so it took all of my focus and power.) Then slowly a giant mech began to rise out of the dirt until finally it was fully formed and stood as tall as the dragon. When it was done I teleported inside the cockpit and formed a bio control suit around my body, this would allow it to mimic my actions perfectly allowing me to fight.

“This is your last warning dragon; leave this place now or I won't hesitate to end you!”

He responded once again by breathing fire on my armor which absorbed the heat and cooled down within the minute.

“Guess that answers that, very well you asked for this. Gundam fight all set, ready…GO!”

I used the boosters in my feet to dash towards him and punched him in the stomach taking the breath out of him, and then I clasped my hands together and knocked him on the top of the head sending him to the ground. He retaliated by using his tail to sweep me of my feet and knocking me on the ground, he then jumped on top of me and starts clawing at my chest/cockpit, I managed to kick him off of me knocking him into the forest near town. I got up and saw him pick up trees and started throwing them at me, I dodged the first two but the third one hit my mech in the face causing me to lose vision for a few seconds. That was enough time for the dragon to rushed me and tried to bite of my head, to stop him I extended my knee hitting him in the stomach and making him kneel on the ground. While he was down he grabbed a house and raised it over my head attempting to bash me with it, I knew there might still be ponies in that house so before he could hit me I grabbed his arm to stop his attack and took the house in my other hand and slowly put it back in its original spot.

“That’s it big boy you’re finished, you took it one step too far when you try to attack me with innocent ponies and now this battle will end.”

I slapped him in the face so hard that he was knocked back. With a good distance between us I started the process for my finishing move, my hand began to fill with electricity and glow.

“W-what is that?” the dragon questioned.

He couldn't see it but I was smirking in the cockpit. “I’m glad you asked, you see this hand of mine is special. This hand of mine glows with an awesome power and its burning grip tells me to defeat you! Here I go…BURNING FINGER!”

I rushed him once again and using my glowing hand I grabbed his head sending a giant electrical shock through his brain, thankfully I only used enough to render him unconscious and not kill him, it'd probably be bad for me to have a body count on my first day here, not to mention there'd be a giant dragon carcass in the middle of town and no pony wants that. On the ground I could hear all the ponies cheering for my success.

With the dragon incapacitated I now needed to find a place for him to live so that he wouldn't terrorize the village anymore. I picked him up and then took him over to a nearby mountain range, and then I used my beam saber to carve a hole in the mountains big enough for the dragon to live in and placed him inside. With a great mighty leap I jumped back to Ponyville and used my magic to condense the robot and place it in a storage cube about the size of a rubix cube if I ever needed it again. With that, I floated back down to the ground. With all my new friends around me.

“What…what was that?” Twilight asked as curious as everyone else.

“It’s a little something from back home called a-“

I was interrupted as I felt this pain course through my body, I clenched my chest as it slowly went away.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked concerned.

I slowly regained myself. “Nothing, I probably just over exerted myself after fighting that dragon and creating the robot, it took a lot of magic and I haven’t been in this body very long to test its limits. I should probably be more careful in the future.”

“Well, I’d better go write a letter to the princess about what happened. Goodbye every pony.” Twilight walked off.

“Yep, I’d better make sure the farm is okay, bye now.” Applejack walked off.

“Um…I’m going to go check on my animals if that’s okay.”

“I have to go fill out a large order for a client.”

“I’m gonna go take a nap.”

Eventually, every pony went their separate ways except for me and Pinkie.

“So, I guess it’s just you and me Pinkie. Do you want to go back to my place? I have a room that’s made entirely out of bouncy castle material.”

Pinkie bit her hoof. “That sounds like a lot of fun…but I have to go back to the bakery and help the cakes bake some new treats.”

I was a bit disappointed. “Oh okay, maybe next time.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Pinkie hopped away leaving only me to head back home. As I walked back home I felt that pain in my stomach creep up on me again making my walk extremely uncomfortable. When I got home and finally walked through the door the pain became unbearable and I fell to the floor.

“What’s happening to me? Did I really take that much damage?”

Suddenly I couldn't keep up my human illusion any longer changed into my draconequus form. I felt this magical energy surround me and cloud my vision, then I passed out from the burning feeling. After a while I felt myself regain consciousness again, I stood up slowly trying not to lose my balance. As I looked around the room I saw this little filly sitting in front of me and staring at a wall facing away from me.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my house?” I asked.

She turned around and I recognized the little filly. Besides watching the show I had also seen a good amount of the fan material so I knew who this purple filly was with curls and white streaks in her hair and a propeller cap on her head.

“Screwball?” I questioned, wondering if she was actually here or I was imagining things.

She turned around and looked at me with a big grin “Daddy!”

She jumped up and hugged me (she was really strong for such a tiny kid.)

“I missed you daddy.”

I didn't know what to do, since I was still shocked by the whole situation I did what any normal father would do and put my arm around her. “I missed you too little one.”

Now inside my head two thoughts were at war, the first was "Aw, this is so cute!" the second and more demanding thought was “Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?”

Author's Note

"Well...this is a fine pickle." - Danny, Game Grumps

How will this new development affect our protagonist (he isn't exactly a hero but we'll get to that later)? What's Screwball's back story and why is she here? Will things stop randomly happening in this story? Find out next time on " A new Discord"

Thank you for all the people who have favorited, followed, or reviewed my story so far. Your input is very much appreciated and it helps me keep doing what I enjoy doing aka. writing this story.

I'm probably going to update on about a weekly basis because that's around how long it takes me to write these chapters, it may take a bit longer for some rather than others and I might go on an extended leave if I come up with a really good idea and write out a whole story ark for you guys.

P.S: If you haven't seen the game grumps before I would highly recommend it because it is hilarious.

Time to Stop Screwing Around

Chapter 4

I didn’t see this one coming; I never would have guessed that when I got home I would have a filly that was created from my own magic hugging me. As much as I wanted to like this I couldn’t, she thought I was her father when I don't actually know her, I didn’t even know how she got here. I went on one knee and went to her eye level.

“Screwball, how did you get here and where did you come from?”

She giggled an insanely cute giggle. “That’s easy daddy, I’m a part of you remember? The reason I’m here is because I was sleeping, waiting for you to come back but then I felt this huge magic energy and I knew you had woken up. I didn’t know why you didn’t let me out yet so I let myself out and now I’m here. Isn’t that wonderful?”

I gave her a nervous smile unsure of what to do. “Yeah…great.”

She pulled on my arm and tried to lead me out. “Come on daddy, let’s go have some fun.”

I had to tell her the truth, I couldn’t tell her I was her father if it wasn’t true.

“Wait Screwball, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it daddy?”

“You can’t call me that because…I’m not your dad.”

She looked confused and a little hurt. “What? But, you look just like him.”

“This isn’t what I really look like.” I snapped my fingers and turned into my human form. “This is me, the real me. I just have your dad’s powers, I’m sorry for getting your hopes up.”

Now she looked really hurt. “How did this happen?”

I went and sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to me, asking her to come sit down. She climbed up on the couch and sat next to me.

“Okay here’s what happened, you know how your dad loves to make chaos and because of that he was imprisoned?”

She nodded.

“Well, he broke out two days ago and some ponies got hurt and a lot of stuff got broken.”

She looked sad. “I didn’t know that ponies got hurt. Why didn’t he tell me he was out? He created me because he was lonely, why didn’t he let me out to play with him?”

“I wish I knew, but I don’t. Anyway, he was out for less than a day before he was put back into stone by my friends. The princess felt bad about imprisoning him again so she gave him an ultimatum.” She looked at me with confusion. “She gave him a choice, either change his ways and be let out or stay in stone forever.”

“So did he change?” She asked

I shook my head. “No, in fact he was going to make someone else change for him so that he didn’t have to then use that person to take over Equestria. Can you guess who that person is?”

She put her hoof to her chin and started thinking. “The princess?”

I smiled a bit at her silliness. “Me. He took me from where I lived and tried to use me to take over but I stopped him.” Suddenly something dawned on me. “But now I can’t get back, everything’s lost forever. My home, my friends, and my family they’re all gone.”

I was hurting now that I realized that everyone who I ever loved or cared about was gone, and it’s all thanks to Discord. Although it isn’t all bad, because of him I now have the power to bend reality to my whim, become everything I always wanted to be, and now I get to make new friends here in Ponyville with characters that I really like. I had a chance to start life anew, and as I looked at this small filly I felt that she deserved the same.

“Hey Screwball, I may not have a chance to talk to my dad again but that doesn’t mean that you should suffer the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m gonna take you to see your dad. It’s the least I can do for you.” We both got up off the couch and I reached my hand out. “Grab my hand and I can teleport us both there.”

She grabbed my hand and with my other one I snapped my fingers and we were teleported to the Canterlot garden where Discord was being held.

When we finished teleporting we were a couple feet off the ground so we fell down with a thump. I landed on my butt and it really hurt. "Ow, okay I still need to master long range teleportation." After that I walked through the garden to find the Discord statue with Screwball standing close to me, as we got closer to his statue Discord took notice.

“Oh look if it isn’t the human. What? Came to gloat that you trapped the most powerful being in Equestria in stone?” He said, probably still vexed that he was defeated so easily.

From behind me I heard Screwball whispering. “You trapped my daddy in stone?”

“I’m sorry, he was going to get out and reak havoc if I didn't do something.” I turned my attention back to Discord. “No need to be so mean, at least there’s some pony here who wants to see you.”

He looked curious as to who I was talking about until he saw Screwball step out from behind me then his expression changed, I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad though.

“Hi dad.” Screwball said a bit reluctant.

“Oh, hi…” Discord said not very enthusiastic.

This caught me off guard “Wow Discord, I would have thought that you’d be glad to have some company after being imprisoned in stone for a second time and especially since it’s your daughter.”

He scoffed. “Pfft oh please, I spent enough time with her while I was in stone. I could hear her consciousness yack, yack, yacking away and never stopping.”

I was a bit surprised at his response. “Okay, why are you acting like this? Seriously, who pissed in your cereal that you don’t want company?”

He started to look angry. “You want to know? Fine, I’ll tell you. When I first started ruling Equestria I was lonely and I wanted someone to rule by my side. I knew every pony was too scared of me so I made somepony myself, somepony who would want to be like me, a child.”

“So you created her to be your protege, someone you could mold into your image. You didn’t originally want her to be your daughter?” I asked.

“No, I didn’t want her as my daughter but she wouldn’t stop calling me daddy so I just ignored it after a while.”

“Okay, but I still don’t understand why you don’t want her here.”

“Ugh, because when I was put back in stone she was put back into me, her body was lost but her consciousness still remained and we talked and talked for decades until I got sick of it. Eventually, I learned how to get her to stop talking and I haven’t heard from her since.”

Now Screwball looked hurt. “So, you didn’t like me?”

“Hm let’s see, do I want to be with someone who endlessly talked for dozens of years on end. Hm, let me think…no!” He screamed the last bit which made Screwball scared and she went back behind me.

“Okay Discord that was a little bit too far don’t you think?”

“No, it’s not going too far when I don’t care.”

Now I was getting upset. “You don’t care? How can you not care about a filly that you created, who is literally tied to you by her very nature?”

“Because I find her insufferable.”

Now, I was entering full on rant mode. “Insufferable? You know what I find insuferable? When people are mean to children, I can understand being pissed off at an adult, or a bank that steals your money, or even a freaking inanimate object that you stub your toe on, but I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate HATEanyone who would be mean to a child. I just met Screwball today but I can tell she’s a way better person than you can hope to be, oh that’s right you don’t even want to be a nice person you wanted to trick me into being nice for you, you manipulating jerk.”

“Oh stop being so immature.”

“I’m immature? What’s immature is to completely ignore an important part of your life just because you’re annoyed with her. And in the end that’s what it all comes down to, you’re the one who’s immature and refuses to change so you manipulate everyone else. I used to think you were a cool guy who just wanted to cause panic but you're not your just an a**hole.”

“Okay now you’re taking things too far.”

“No, you want to know what would be taking things too far?” I snapped my fingers and summoned a giant two handed war hammer. “Me smashing you to bits and ending your sorry existence when there isn't a god damned thing you can do about it!”

I raised the hammer in anger and wanted so much to smash him to bits but then I saw Screwball who was now cowering in fear behind me. I couldn’t end the life of someone else, even someone as evil as Discord had a family and I needed to respect that.

“No, I won’t end you.” I snapped my fingers and the hammer disappeared. “You may be evil but you never killed anypony with your magic and if I want to prove that I’m better than you than I’m going to at least abide by your one good rule.”

Suddenly, all that anger left me and all I was left with was a crying Screwball which I couldn’t stand. I leaned down and wiped the tears from her eyes, and then I had a thought.

“Take a good look Discord because this is the last time you’ll see her.” I told him.

“Hm? Whatever do you mean?”

“Discord in a way I’m like you, I’m lonely and all my family and friends are gone and I can’t get back to them. Now think about it, if I’m very kind and very lonely and the very last human I’ll ever know, and there isn’t anything I can’t do, can I really just stand here and watch a child cry? No I can’t, so instead I’m gonna give her a reason to smile.”

With that I snapped my fingers and both me and Screwball disappeared back to my house. We both sat down, neither one of us talking due to what had occurred. A few minutes passed by and I needed to break the silence

“Screwball, I’m really sorry you had to see that. I didn’t mean to get all angry in front of you and make you cry, especially in front of your dad.”

She was still sniffling a bit, she had stopped crying earlier but she still looked sad.

“He’s not my dad anymore; he says he doesn’t want me and that he doesn’t like me. How can I call him dad after that?”

I walked over and put my arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her.

“I know and I’m sorry you had to go through that but there are still people who care about you.”

“Oh really? Who could care about someone as weird as me?”

I laughed a bit. “Me of course, in a way we both come from the same source, your dad gave me his powers because he felt that I was most like him just nicer, and he created you with his magic. But you are way funnier, kinder, smarter, and frankly cuter than he could ever be.”

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course I do, I said the exact same thing five minutes ago and I meant it both times. The way that I see it there’s no pony who wouldn’t want to have you for a daughter; in fact I have one in particular.”

“Who is it?”

“Me.”

She looked a bit surprised. “You? Why you?”

“Why not? I mean think about it, I’ve got the same carefree and laid back attitude of your dad, I’ve got his powers, and all three of us are cuckoo for cocoa puffs.”

“Cocoa what?” She asked

“Right, you don’t have those here. The point is that you and I are very similar and I really like having you around Screwball, plus it’s not like we can leave you without a dad, you’re still just a filly and you need someone to look after you. You need someone to help you and care for you and not just be your playmate. If you’d like I could be that person, and you could live here with me and be happy.” I opened my arms. “Screwball, will you be my daughter?”

She looked at me curiously for a moment until she smiled and ran up to me, jumping up and hugging me so tightly. “Yes, I’d love that.”

I couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. “That’s great, I’m really glad you accepted me, I thought it would be kind of weird since you just met me.”

She smiled and looked me in the eyes. “You stood up for me and made me feel appreciated, that’s more than my dad did for me. You sound like a really nice man and I’d love to call you dad.”

To hear that made me so happy. “You know I’ve never been a father before. They say that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication but I have a feeling that you are gonna be worth it Screwball.” I let her down from out hug. “So, what do you want to do? It’s only around seven o clock.”

Her stomach answered for her as I heard a low grumble.

“Food right, you’re probably hungry. Come on let’s head to the kitchen.”

We walked down the hall and I opened a door revealing a well-stocked kitchen with lots of food for ponies and a special cabinet filled with food just for me (mostly meats and stuff). I also have a refrigerator because I really like to cook, and this way I can keep the food cold in case I didn’t finish it (Whenever I seemed to summon food it’s always slightly warm.) Screwball sat down at a small table meant for two and I went to the fridge to see what we had.

“Screwball, do you like apples?”

“Yeah, they’re good.”

“Then you’re in for a treat.”

I took out three red delicious apples from the fridge, grabbed a jar of peanut butter and a butter knife, and a plate to put it on. I set the knife, jar, and plate on the table. First, I took the apples sliced them into fourths so there were twelve strips of apple. Then, I picked up the butter knife, opened the peanut butter jar and spread it evenly over every piece. When I was done Screwball looked a bit confused at the food I prepared.

“I’m sorry you’ve never seen food like this before but it’s good I promise you. Go ahead, try it.”

Screwball leaned her head down and ate one of the apple slices with peanut butter on it and I could tell she really liked it.

“This is so good, it’s sweet and crunchy and juicy all at the same time.”

“Well it’s nothing special, back home I could make way cooler stuff than this but there will be plenty of time for that later. For now let’s just enjoy our apples.”

We both sat down and ate six apple pieces each with left us both full, when we finished I put my plate in the sink and sat back down at the table.

“Look Screwball, normally I’m not very serious but this is one of those times when I need to be.”

“What is it?”

“Well it’s like this, you’re a young filly right? About seven years old-“

“Eight.” She corrected.

“And there’s still a lot about this world that you need to be taught, so I was thinking that you need to be signed up to go to school.”

“School? I haven’t gone there before, what’s that like?”

“Oh it’s a great place that helps you learn things about history and people, you get to read books, learn how to do math, and you can make friends with a lot of ponies.”

She looked excited. “That sounds like fun.”

“Oh it will be.” I lied, I’m a teenager and I know school is important but let’s face it it’s really boring.

“So tomorrow’s…actually I don’t know what tomorrow is, I’ve been here for two days and I didn’t even bother to check the calendar.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a small calendar to hang on my fridge, I looked at the date and saw that today was Saturday, September 16th.

“16th? Okay so school has already started but she won’t be that far behind, that’s good.” “It’s Saturday so you can still play on Sunday and then I’ll take you in for school on Monday, that sounds fair?”

“Okay.” Screwball gave me a cute innocent smile and then yawned.

“Well some pony sounds tired, though I suppose forcing yourself out of a magical being, getting yelled at by your dad, and getting a new dad and place to live would take a lot out of you. Right then let’s get you to bed.”

She put her hooves up. “Carry me?”

She was too cute to resist so I picked her up, placed her on my back, and took her to bed. Since she was going to be living with me now for a few years I needed to make her a room to sleep in, we walked up to a room that was right next to mine and I put my hand on the door to activate my magic for the room. I shaped it, made a few changes, and put a mark on the door so Screwball would know which room was hers, it was her cutie mark a baseball right next to a screw. After about a minute I was happy with the result and opened the door revealing her new room.The walls were a shade of purple, the same as her coat, with a medium sized bed with a blue blanket for her to sleep in, a dresser to put things on, and a bookshelf filled with stories I could read to her.

“This is your room Screwball; hope you like it I made it myself.”

I wanted to see if she liked it but I looked behind me and saw her already starting to fall asleep. Gently, I placed her on the bed, tucked her under the blankets, and kissed her forehead good night.

“Good night Screwball.” I said softly.

"Goodnight." I heard her murmur.

I quietly shut the door to her room and crept into the living room, I sat down on the couch and just reflected on everything that happened. I still find it hard to believe that in two days my life had completely changed forever, whether it be the magical powers, making friends with the ponies, and now I have a small filly to look after. Was I said that I may not ever see my friends and family again? Of course, but I have a new life here and now i've got some pony who's going to depend on me to help them. I have a lot of things before me but I know I can handle it. Watch out Equestria, things are gonna get chaotic.

Author's Note

Not much to say for this one actually. Again please favorite and follow this story if you like it, or recommend it to your friends if you'd think they'd like it. Allyour review are appreciated and I hope you all have an excellent day.

School for Screwball & The Human Watcher

Chapter 5

When I was a little kid I had a hard time falling asleep, I would constantly toss and turn and it would take me forever to fall asleep. So, when I got older I developed a trick to fall asleep, I would think of all the impossible things that I wanted to live and I would create a world that I could live in and I fell asleep much faster. However, recently I found that whenever I would dream I would never remember it, like an old memory which I just couldn't find no matter how hard I tried. Tonight was not one of those nights.

I saw myself walking through a dark forest at night, hearing my thoughts echo through the sky. Questions about myself, what I’m doing, and some weird stuff about cheese raced through my mind as looked up at the night sky and saw the full moon. Although, there was something odd about this moon, there seemed to be some kind of shadow on it, I couldn't make it out but then I realized what it was.

“Luna, if you’re going to watch me you could at least come out and meet me face to face.” I shouted. I remembered that she watched pony’s dreams in “Sleepless in Ponyville” so it made sense that she would try to watch me to.

Sure enough a minute later I saw that shadow disappear from the moon and fly down until it was right in front of me, and it was indeed Princess Luna in all her navy blue beauty.

“How did thou know you were being watched?” She asked.

I needed to make up some reason that doesn't sound like I had foreknowledge of what she’s done. “You’re the princess who guards the night, a big part of nighttime is the dreams that all ponies dream so it makes sense that you would be able to look into their minds. In any case I’m glad that you’re here.”

“Why?”

“Because now I have company, and since I am aware that I’m dreaming I can do this.”

I waved my hand over the ground and suddenly dozens of white flowers started popping up.

“Oh my, these are lovely flowers.” Luna leaned down and sniffed one.

“Thank you they’re nightingales, white flowers that can only bloom at night.”

“I have never heard of such flowers.”

“You wouldn't have, I invented them. It’s a dream remember?”

She nodded in agreement. “Tis true, although I’ve seen few people with such control over their dreams as you.”

“Years of practice...and daydreaming from severe boredom, that’s probablywhy I’m so good at using my discord powers.”

She smiled and we walked together through the moon lit forest.

“So you have a daughter now?” Luna said.

I was a bit surprised that she knew, and then I remembered that all my thoughts were being echoed so she probably heard them as I did. “Yes, it’s a bit odd how she came into my life isn't it?”

She nodded. “Odd yes, but you don’t see it as unwelcome, you are more than willing to look after her because no one else will and also because you really want to.”

“Yeah, I guess I do. Come on, let’s sit for a moment.”

We walked up this small hill and sat underneath a tree.

“I really like this; it’s nice to have you here with me in the nighttime Luna. I honestly prefer night time to the day.”

She looked surprised. “You do?”

“Of course I do, the day is so hot and uncomfortable while the night is cool and relaxing with a slight eerie feel, you can’t stare at the sun to appreciate its beauty but you can do that with the moon, back home a lot the interesting stuff happens during the night, heck there are animals who sleep during the day just because they like seeing the night more.”

This raised Luna’s spirits, I knew that after she came back from the moon she had a tough time adapting so every little bit helps. “Do you really mean that?”

“Completely and utterly, Luna you're nights are fantastic and you should never tell yourself otherwise.”

She smiled and reveled in my compliments. She got up as she felt some kind of disturbance. “The dawn approaches, I must return back to my body so that I can lower the moon.”

“Wait.” I stopped her. “Luna before you go tell me, did this really happen or did I just create an elaborate illusion?”

“It has actually happened and I will take your words to heart I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Now do me a favor and wake up, some pony’s waiting for you.”

And just like that my world went black and I woke up. I opened my eyes and got up groggily until I looked to my left and saw a small purple filly sitting on my bed which startled me and caused me to fall of the bed.

She giggled a bit. “Good morning, sorry if I scared you.”

I got up and tried to pretend like nothing happened. “What, scared, me? No, I wasn't scared." I nervously moved my eyes from side to side. "Anyways, at least I’m awake now. Quick question, why were you waiting for me?”

“It’s nine o clock and I was hungry.”

“You couldn't have just woken me up?”

“You looked very still, I didn't want to disturb you.”

I shook my head. “Fair enough, I guess I’ll have to get used to getting up earlier. In the meantime…” I snapped my fingers. “I just made you a big stack of pancakes with maple syrup, it’s on the table in the kitchen so you go eat those and I’ll get ready for the day.”

She jumped off the bed and galloped into the kitchen while I went into the bathroom for a quick routine cleaning process (Shower, shave, brush teeth) About thirty minutes later I came out and snapped myself up a new outfit, blue jeans and sneakers with white socks, and a red t-shirt, I walked out and saw that Screwball was finished with her pancakes.

“Good you’re all finished, did you like the pancakes?”

“Yep, they were yummy, so what are we doing today?”

“Well, we have to head down to the school house and register you so that you can go to school but other than that we should have the rest of the day to ourselves. So, grab your cap and let’s head out.”

Screwball grabbed her cap and put it on but as we walked to the door she stopped me.

“Wait daddy, did you eat breakfast to?”

I looked a bit incredulous. “Well…no but-“

“You need to eat breakfast; it’s the most important meal of the day.”

As much as I wanted to deny it she was right. “Okay I’ll eat something, geez I’m already getting told off by a six year old.”

I reached into the cabinet to find something for me to eat, after a bit of searching I found a banana. “Oh a banana, I like banana’s.” I peeled the banana and then swallowed the entire thing in one bite. “There, are you happy?”

Screwball nodded.

“Okay then, let’s go.”

We walked to the door again but then I stopped again. “Wait, I just remembered something.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I haven’t really introduced myself to the ponies around town and they may or may not freak out if they saw me so I need a disguise.”

I snapped my fingers and turned myself into a pony, I was a unicorn stallion with a light blue coat and a dark blue mane with a white stripe in it and a snowflake for a cutie mark.

“Yep this form will work, I shall call myself…Flash Freeze, yeah that’s a good name. Okay let’s go out for real this time.”

We both walked out the front door and headed off to the school house; thankfully no one was strong enough to sense my illusion so I stayed incognito. Eventually, we made it to the school house and thankfully Miss Cheerilee was there so that I could talk to her.

“Excuse me Ms. Cheerilee-“

She sat at her desk and looked up at me. “Yes, can I help you?”

“Hi, my name is Flash Freeze, I’m new in town and I was wondering if I could enroll my daughter in school.”

She smiled. “Sure thing, I’ll just give her a small talk about what to expect from the school year and what she’ll be learning.”

“Great! Would you like me to stay here or…”

“No, I prefer to talk to them myself, come back in about an hour.”

“Alright, if that’s what you prefer I’ll leave you two alone. See you in an hour.”

I walked out of that building and stared at the town before me not sure of what to do.

“Great, I’ve got an hour on my hands and no idea what to do with it. Maybe I can go introduce myself to some pony and make a new friend.” As I thought this to myself I saw a pony I recognized, the lovely Lyra Heartstrings, passing by. “Oh, and I think I just found her.”

I used my magic to transform back into human form and then while no pony was looking I jumped on top of the roofs and started running across, thankfully no pony noticed me as I followed Lyra back to her home to surprise her.

5 minutes later…

Lyra got back to her home and walked inside, she was about to sit down for a nice relaxing cup of tea when suddenly there was a knock on her door. She went to see who it was but when she opened it up there was no one there except for a large cardboard box. When she tried to open the box with her magic, the lid unfolded and suddenly a creature jumped out with confetti.

“Surprise!”

It was me; I put some confetti in the box and waited to surprise her.

“Wha…what are you?” Lyra asked confused.

“I’m a human of course, I just came to Ponyville and I heard you have a thing for humans so here I am.”

I expected her to be ecstatic but she glared at me instead. “Okay ha ha very funny, play a prank on the crazy mare who believes in humans. Bon Bon, is that you in this costume?”

She used her magic to grab my head and try to pull it off like a costume, I pulled as well because she was pulling too hard and it hurt.

“Ow, watch the head I need that for living.”

Once she stopped pulling on my head she realized that I was for real. “Oh my gosh, you actually are a human, I thought that they were an ancient species that only the princess had seen. I didn't know they actually existed.”

“They don't, I came from an alternate time line in an alternate universe.”

Now she looked confused. “What?”

“It’s…complicated.”

“Fair enough, but tell me why did you come here to me?”

“Why not? You’re Lyra Heartstrings the mare who believes in legend, the human enthusiast, and might I add a fantastic lyricist by which I mean pony who plays the lyre. You’re just…ugh, how do I explain it?”

Then I realized how I could explain it, in song. I snapped my fingers and then a tune started up out of nowhere (You can probably guess where I’m going with this so you know which song it is) and I summoned a tuxedo, top hat, and cane for myself. Then, I began to sing.

Will: Human beings fascinate you, being just the way they are!

Tell me little pony, can you push a cart or drive a car?

Lyre is your instrument, but I can strum a sweet guitar

My reality, anthropology!

Lyra started to get into the spirit of things.

Lyra: Fingers, toes and tiny noses, brownish hair and tannish skin

Would it be too much to ask to see the world you’re living in?

Everypony tells me that it's old and fake mythology

It's a mystery, anthropology!

Will: Aren't you bored of brushing your coat, styling your mane with your hooves?

I don't mean to butt in or gloat, but ancient history proves...

I tossed Lyra a book on anthropology.

Lyra: Humans don't have wings or magic. They don't need it; they don't care!

All they've got's imagination, new inventions everywhere!

Babies, children, teens and elders, all alike have clothes to wear

It's so real to me, anthropology!

I summoned a projector and a white board so that I could do a little slide show.

Will: Albert Einstein, Cleopatra, William Shakespeare, Elton John,

Michael Phelps, Barack Obama...who's to say that they're all gone?

Maybe humans like you too and dress like you at Comic-Con?

It's so real you see anthropology!

Lyra: Yeah, you've had a couple of fights,

Nobody's perfect you see,

Still I say I'm born with the rights

to study whatever I please!

Will: I don't need to horse around now; I can stand on two legs!

I will use my magic powers to give you some new legs!

Time is right, my magic’s booming

I’ll turn this mare's turned to a human, you!

That is what I’ll do!

As the song ended I snapped my fingers and turned Lyra into a human being, she looked to be in her early 20’s with a mint green sundress that had her cutie mark on the side and the same mint green hair with a white stripe in it, I mad her skin beige like mine and took away her horn.

After the transformation was done, she was freaking out. “Oh my, I’ve got the...and the…and these…I think I need to sit down.”

She went and sat down on her couch and found it to be much more comfortable now. “Hm, with this new human body sitting like this isn’t as uncomfortable.”

“Right?” I sat down next to her. “So, how do you like your new body?”

“It’s so cool, I have hands now and I can pick up stuff without my magic.”

“Well, if you want it you still have it.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, in case you still wanted to use your magic I rerouted the magic control in your body so that it goes to your hands, go ahead and try it.”

Lyra looked at a flower vase over by a coffee table and outstretched her fingers, she focused on that vase and a glow appeared around it and her newly formed hand as she brought the vase closer to her.

“This is amazing!”

“Yeah well don’t get used to it, the transformation is temporary and it will only last for about an hour. Well, it was nice to talk to you Lyra but I have to go.”

I was about to walk out the door but she grabbed my arm.

“Wait, I had a fun afternoon with you and you gave me this amazing gift at least let me thank you with a cup of tea.”

“That sounds nice; I think I’ll stay for tea.”

She went into the kitchen and got the tea ready; it was a nice green tea with a bit of lemon in it. As we drank we sat down and talk about our lives, she told her about her roommate Bon Bon and asked me why I had my magic. I didn’t feel like telling her I was the reincarnation of Discord so I told her that I was a special case which is why I had my magic powers. Without knowing it fifty minutes had sped by just like that and I needed to get back to Screwball.

“Well this was nice but now I actually do have to leave, I have to get back to my kid.”

She looked surprised. “You have a kid? But you’re a teenager, how does that work?”

“It’s…look, my life is really complicated and it would take more time than I have to explain it so until then, goodbye.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported out of the house, at first Lyra missed me but then in a second I returned.

“Oh, before I left there’s something I wanted to give you.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a small bag filled with powder and handed it to Lyra.

“What is it?”

“It’s worm sage powder.” Lyra made a gross face. “It’s not as gross as it sounds; it’s actually a highly magical dust that can absorb a spell for use later. Sprinkle just a little bit of this on yourself and you’ll turn back into a human for two hours.”

“Thank you very much.”

“No problem friend, now I’m leaving for real this time.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported back to right outside the school house. I walked inside and saw that Cheerilee and Screwball had finished their conversation, however when Cheerilee looked at me she was shocked and a little bit disgusted.

“What’s wrong?” I looked at myself and then remembered that I forgot to change back into my pony persona. “Right the transformation, I forgot it didn’t I?”

Cheerilee slowly nodded her head still focused on me.

“Alright I think it’s about time I come clean. Miss Cheerilee I am not a pony, I’m actually a creature called a human who was given incredible magic powers and I plan to use them for good. I know I may seem scary but I can assure you that I mean you no harm, if that was the case I never would have brought my daughter here and I wouldn’t have given you those flowers on the desk.”

“I don’t have any-“

I snapped my fingers and summoned a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase onto Ms. Cheerilee’s desk. She looked at them for a moment and then admired their beauty. “Thank you very much Flash, I will put these in my garden so that all the children can enjoy.”

“Great, so my appearance doesn’t scare you?”

“It’s strange at the very least, but nothing about you says that you’re a very scary or bad person. Also, if you didn’t care you wouldn’t have brought your daughter here.”

Screwball got up and started walking towards me. “Yep, she means a lot to me. So, I’m guessing we’ll see you again tomorrow for class.

She nodded her head. “Yes and I look forward to seeing Screwball tomorrow. Have a wonderful day you two.”

“Thank you, and by the way my name’s Will.”

Screwball and I walked out of the school house and headed back home. “So Screwball, did you and Ms. Cheerilee have a nice talk?”

“Yep, she told me about all the things I could learn and all the friends I could make and she showed me her garden.”

Unfortunately when she mentioned Cheerilee having a garden I had some…less than appropriate thoughts. “Damn it brain, there’s a child here be cool.”

When we reached the house I waved my hand over the door knob which unlocked it and then I opened the door. However, as I walked into the dark home something felt…off.

“SURPRISE!”

Suddenly the lights turned on and I was greeted by Pinkie Pie and about two dozen other ponies. I was so shocked by the ordeal that I fell backwards and hit my head on the floor. As I tried to get up I saw Pinkie come over to me.

“You okay Willie?”

I rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Pinkie, what are you doing here, and how did you get into my house?”

“Well, I was in Sugar Cube corner baking but then I got this funny feeling which I usually get when somepony new is in town, so I rushed around trying to find the new pony but I couldn’t and then I stopped feeling the feeling so I went back to work.” Pinkie took a deep breath. “So, I waited and a little while later the feeling came back and so I rushed to try to find it and then I saw a small purple filly with a blue unicorn I hadn’t seen before. What’s strange is that the girl felt new but the unicorn didn’t and so I thought who do I know that has enough magic to make themselves look like somepony else and the only person I could think of was you, so I came here and started preparing the welcome to Ponyville party for…”

Pinkie finally stopped talking because she didn’t know the filly’s name. “Oh right you son't know her name, Pinkie this is Screwball and for lack of a better word she is my daughter.”

Suddenly the rest of the main six came out of nowhere and looked equally shocked. “Daughter?”

“Well not in the traditional sense, let me explain…”

And so I explained how Screwball came to be and they all looked enthralled by my tale.

“That is an interesting story, although I question your logic. From what I read being a parent is very difficult are you sure that you can handle the responsibility?” Twilight commented

“Guys, I know you’re worried that I can’t handle the responsibility of raising a filly but I think this will be good for me. Think about it: I’ve got magic powers beyond belief so that will make it easier to take care of her, despite me being young I think I’m mature and an excellent teacher, and also Screwball is literally made of my magic so she’s part of me and I refuse to give her up for any reason.”

“Well, if you think this is the right decision…”

“Of course I do, this will be good for her and for me as well. I can’t wait to watch her grow up and learn things it’s gonna be great. But, Pinkie went to all the trouble of planning this party let’s go enjoy it!”

The party lasted for about three more hours and I managed to meet every significant background pony and side character and introduced myself which made me happy. After a while every pony started going home and I saw them out.

“Bye guys, thanks for coming to my awesome house party. Bye Twilight, bye Rarity, bye Vinyl, bye Derpy, bye Berry,bye Fluttershy, bye Rumble, bye Rainbow Dash, bye... the rest.”

Every pony stormed out of my house leaving only Screwball inside and Pinkie who was bouncing towards the door. I pulled her to the side for a second because I wanted to talk to her.

“Hey Pinkie, thank you so much for planning this party for me I really think it’s what I needed for every pony to start warming up to me.”

“No problem Willie, I love throwing parties so I don’t mind setting them up.”

“Well, I still feel like I need to thank you somehow.” Then a thought crossed my mind and I opened my arms. “How about…one of these?”

She came up to me, got on her back hooves, and gave me a large hug which I enjoyed, it was warm and inviting and I could smell her candy scented hair. Within a minute it was over and she walked out.

“Good night.” I said

As Pinkie walked further down the block I closed the door and I saw Screwball looking at me curiously.

“Why did you hug Pinkie?”

“I don’t know sweetie, ever since I got these chaos powers I’ve had all these weird thoughts and I feel urged to do those thoughts. That’s why I changed my bed into a cloud.”

“Why would you do that?”

I shrugged my shoulders “I don’t know. Well we should probably get to bed, goodnight sweetie.”

With that Screwball walked off to her room and me to mine. As I entered I looked at my new cloud bed and got on carefully fearing that I would fall through. However, when I found it was solid I enjoyed the comfort and puffiness of it.

“Oh my gosh, no wonder Rainbow Dash takes so many naps on these things, they’re so comfortable.”

I settled into a comfortable position and slept soundly.

Author's Note

Really guys? Not a single comment on my last chapter? I mean I understand if it isn't great but there isn't anything I could fix? There was nothing you could say about it that you liked? Not even the fact that WIll's rage came a bit out of nowhere and was possibly unwarranted?

Whatever. Despite your indifference I did manage to come up with a cool idea for a new story that I will probably pursue when this one is over. All I've thought of so far is the title and basic concept, and since the title is an acronym I invite anyone to try and guess what it means.I shall tell you whether you're right or wrong and I will reveal what it means when we reach 1,000 views so there's a little incentive to spread the word about the story.

The name of the story in acronym form is: CWMA (Good luck guessing it, it's tough.)

Seriously though, I hope you guys liked this story and please leave a comment telling me any thoughts that you had about it. Until next time, may the winds guide your blade and may your enemies' heads hit the floor without you taking a scratch.

Sounds of Romance: A Chaotic Intervention

Chapter 6

I usually don’t like waking up early in the morning but today it was necessary, it was Screwball’s first day of school. I’ll admit, I don't know how she's going to react to the whole thing or if she'll fit in at school but I'll deal with these problems as they come. I had to wake up at 7:00 in the morning which left me a little groggy but I needed to get Screwball up for school. I walked into her room and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.

“Come on Screwball, it’s time to wake up and get ready for school.”

She slowly opened her eyes and got up, stretching her forearm’s as she yawned. “Good morning.”

“Good morning sweetie, come on let’s get you ready for school.”

She hopped out of bed and followed me down the hall to the kitchen.

“So, who’s up for some oatmeal?” I asked

Screwball raised her hoof.

“Good.” I snapped my fingers and summoned two bowls of apple cinnamon oatmeal. We sat down and ate our warm breakfast, me with a spoon and Screwball with her muzzle.

After we finished Screwball put on her cap and I put on my black ensemble and we both walked down to the school house. As we were walking I wanted to see what Screwball thought about all this, it occurred to me that I hadn't aked her how he felt about all this.

“Are you nervous Screwball?”

“A little, I’ve never done anything like this before and I don’t know if I’ll like it.”

It was my job to reassure her even though school isn’t my favorite thing in the world. “I’m positive you’ll like it, school is filled with interesting things to learn and do, plus you’ll be able to make friends with other fillies and colts. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

She smiled at me “Yeah!” She said with enthusiasm.

“Good, trust me you’re going to do great.”

“Howdy Will.” As we were walking I heard a voice address me, I looked over and saw Applejack and Applebloom not too far from us.

“Hey Applejack, I see you’re here to drop off Applebloom at school as well.” I said

“Yes sir, oh this must be Screwball. I remember meeting her yesterday but I don’t think her and my sister have been properly introduced.” She nudged her sister. “Go on Applebloom go and talk to her.”

Applebloom walked over to Screwball. “Hi I’m Applebloom, nice to meet you.”

Applebloom stuck out her hoof and Screwball returned it with a hoof shake. “Hi I’m Screwball; this is my first day of school.”

“Really? Well then you’re gonna love it, you can meet Ms. Cheerilee and my friends, we can do crafts, and you can join the Cutie Mark…” Then she noticed that Screwball already had her cutie mark. “Oh you already got your cutie mark.”

Screwball looked dejected at first but then her spirits livened back up. “Well, that doesn’t mean we still can’t try to be friends.”

Applebloom smiled at that. “You’re right.”

The bell rang. “That’s the bell, we have to get going.” Applebloom said.

Screwball walked up to me and I leaned down and I gave her a hug. “Bye.”

“Bye Screwball, have a great day and i'll come pick you up when its over alright?"

She nodded. "Okay."

"Oh, and if you see any red flowers could you pick one for me? I love red flowers.”

Screwball nodded again and she walked off with Applebloom inside.

“I suspect my daughter is going to become friends with your sister’s friends.” I said, at least I hoped they would. The CMC may have their problems but deep down they're good kids and I hope Screwball becomes good friends with them.

“Probably.” Applejack said

“Well, I’ve got six hours of time to kill and I’m not sure what to do with it, any suggestions?”

“We could buck.”

The idea caught me severely off guard. I looked at Applejack with curious eyes. “Come again?”

“The apple trees are ready to be harvested and I was wondering if you’d like to help me buck all of the apples off.”

I exhaled in relief. “Sure, a little physical labor sounds good.”

I followed Applejack back to her farm and into her apple orchard. When we got there I was amazed at how massive it actually was, you could see apple trees for around a mile in any direction.

“Now, I don’t want you using your fancy magic to bring down all those apples, you got to do it the old fashioned way. Got it?”

At first I was a bit bummed I couldn't use my magic but I did offer to help and I had to stick to my word. “Okay, I’ll get them down the old fashioned way.”

“Good man, now I’ll take the apples to the east fields, you handle the western field.”

I nodded and headed off to the west and made it to the first tree. Now Applejack said I had to bring them down by hitting the tree but no normal person could hit a tree and have the apples fall down so I used my magic to increase my physical strength to super human levels, then I round house kicked the tree which caused all the apples to fall down into the baskets and my leg to hurt like hell.

“AH! Damn, even with increased strength that still feels like liquid death on my legs.”

I continued along the path kicking all the trees and knocking down the apples, however around the eighth tree I started to get tired and my legs began to burn like hell. This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that there were around two dozen trees left and I was fairly certain by the end of it my legs would be broken. That was where I drew the line

“All right, time for a combination of the old way and the magical way. Apple trees get ready to meet your match in the form of… WILLIAM’S PULVERIZING PINBALL!”

I curled myself up into a ball and started rolling in place to gain momentum, once I was fast enough I launched myself forward bouncing from tree to tree knocking down all the apples into the buckets. About 20 minutes later I had finished getting all the apples down, however when I stopped spinning and got up I had serious dizziness and fell down onto the ground. A short while later Applejack walked above me.

“You alright there sugarcube?”

“Just a knock on the old…monkey bus. Help me up please.”

I put my hand up and she grabbed it yanking me off the ground and onto my feet. I grabbed my head trying to keep my balance.

“Well, you got all the apples off the tree for me, why don’t you go home and have a little lay down?”

“Flibber flab man I’m as jacked up as the next hamburger.” I tried to walk forward only to stumble and almost fall down again. “On second thought maybe I should head home, see you later Applejack.”

“Take care Will and thanks again for your help.”

“No problem.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported into the center of town, unfortunately one I materialized again I slammed into a pony and knocking over her groceries while landed on my butt . After getting over my daze I looked up and saw I ran into Pinkie Pie.

“Oh no Pinkie I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to knock into you and make you spill all your groceries.”

She got up on her hooves and shook her head. “It’s okay; I should have expected something like this. I got a crick in my knee and a buzzing in my ear that means something is gonna come out and surprise me and boy was I surprised.”

I laughed a pity laugh. "Yeah I didn't think anyone would be around here when I materialized but clearly I was wrong. Although it could have been worse, science says that if I preformed that incorrectly our atoms could have merged together and we'd be one thing."

Now Pinkie began to laugh at that concept.

'It isn't funny, that could have been seriously bad."

She continued to laugh. "It's not that. I was imagining you with my hair and me with your legs and it's hysterical. Ha ha ha ha ha!"

I had to admit, the image of us being one being did look a bit funny and also pretty terrifying. “In any case, let me help you with your groceries.”

I used my magic to levitate all the objects that fell back into their proper bags and picked them all off the ground. I gave half to Pinkie but I held the other half with my magic. “Here, let me help you carry these home.”

She smiled. “Gee, that’d be great.”

I took the bags as I walked behind Pinkie back to Sugarcube Corner. As we walked along things were calm until we walked past one random house on the block from which there was yelling.

“What do you want from me Tavi?!?” A distressed voice asked, although I had a suspicion who it was.

“All I ask is that you pick up your stuff once in a while so that this place isn't a complete pig sty!” Said another slightly more civilized tone confirming my suspicions.

“Well maybe it isn’t my fault, maybe this is a normal amount of messy and its you who has to get the stick out of your…”

“Enough! I will not be talked to like this; I have a concert to get to in Canterlot we will talk about this later.”

“Oh yeah that’s just like you, afraid to fight it out so you walk away like a wuss. You know what, I don’t have to deal with this, maybe I should just get a new roommate so I don't have to deal with this bull.”

“Good! That would solve both our problems.”

“Fine!”

Then a mare stormed out of the house, she was a light grey earth pony with a purple bow tie, the one and only cellist Octavia Melody. Pinkie and I started our walking again after the argument was over.

“So...sounds like somepony has issues.” I said, a little bit awkwardly.

“I know, the whole neighborhood knows about Vinyl and Octavia’s fighting, they've been going at it on and off for a couple days now.”

“I know,when we had that house warming party for me I tried to get Vinyl to play the music at my party but when I teleported in I saw her arguing with her roommate so I decided not to interrupt them,”

Pinkie sighed. “And not even a party can solve their differences, I wish there was some way I could help them.”

“Yeah, I wish…”

I pondered this statement along out entire walk back to Sugarcube Corner, when we finally did arrive Pinkie set all the bags on the ground and I put down mine.

“Thanks for your help; it would have been hard to carry all those bags home myself.”

“No problem, now if you’ll excuse me I have something I need to get done.” I walked off with a devious grin in my face. Unfortunately, Pinkie noticed this and before I could walk out she stopped me.

“Hold on a minute, what’s with that devious grin?”

“What? I’m not grinning deviously, I’m just grinning.” I tried to sound as innocent as possible.

“Don’t give me that, you've got a look on your face that says ‘I have an evil plan and I plan to do it’ so what evil plan are you planning?”

I made a fake gasp of shock. “Evil? Pinkie my dear I would never commit an evil to two such innocent ponies. Now turning their chaotic friendship into something else on the other hand is a completely different story”

“And what exactly are you going to turn it into? A dove”

“Oh I don't know maybe...a relationship.”

Pinkie gasped a bit and fell backwards for drama. After the shock she got up and looked at me with distrust. “You can’t make two ponies fall in love, it isn't right.”

I chuckled a bit. “Oh yeah? Three words Pinkie, Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

Pinkie looked confused “What do they have to do with this?”

I realized my mistake. “Right, that hasn’t happened yet. The point is that i'm not forcing them together, i'm simply taking the emotions that already exist between them and adding my own little spin to it. Also think about this, if it does work they’ll be so much happier and they won’t fight anymore.” That’s a lie, couples fight all the time if not more.

Pinkie still gave me that look and wouldn’t back down.

“I’ll tell you what we’ll decide this with a flip of a coin.” I pulled out a quarter from my pocket. “If it lands on the heads side I’ll only solve their problems, if it lands on tails however I try and get them together, deal?”

Pinkie nodded. “Deal, although I’m not familiar with this weird kind of coin.”

"Too late, you agreed." I flipped the coin and it spun around in the air, when it came down it was…

“Yes tails, I win Pinkie.”

She shrugged. “Fine, do what you want, but try to be subtle about this okay?”

I laughed out loud. “Sorry, that words not in my vocabulary. Smoke bomb!”

I threw down a smoke bomb and teleported out of the restaurant. When I was back out on the street I formulated a plan.

“All right, so I have to get two mares to stop fighting and love each other with no background information on them, no plan, and no idea where they are right now, and I've only got…” I zapped a watch for myself and saw that it was about noon. “Three hours to do it, which should be enough time. First things first, I’m going to go home and make myself a sandwich because I am hungry. Secondly, I’ll use one of Discords oldest powers, the ability of deception, misdirection, and finding flaws in others. Third, I’m going to head to both Vinyl and Octavia and convince them that the other isn't so bad. This is what my powers were meant for, to twist people's emotions and it's about time I start using them for their intended purposes.”

I went home and made myself a sandwich (pastrami on rye with mustard and pickles) then I headed out of the house and towards the local club. I had met Vinyl at the huge house party Pinkie threw for me the other day and she told me that she works at a club as the DJ so I headed there. Normally she wouldn’t preform until later but Vinyl likes to come in in the afternoon to set up her equipment so I could go and see her now. To get her to calm down I plan to shape change into Octavia and tell her a bunch of positive things, and hope it will work.

As I approached the outside of the club I snapped my fingers to shape change into Octavia, I got every detail down and all I had to worry about was the voice.

“Hello, hello…” I worked my voice to become higher and more feminine. ”Testing, testing… oh hello Sir Reginald, are you having a grand evening at the fancy dinner party?" At this point I had copied her voice perfectly. "Ha ha, now that I’ve got the voice down its time to put it to the test.”

I walked into the club slowly and carefully like Octavia would and I approached the little turn table set up where Vinyl was preparing for the show. Vinyl took notice of me as I got closer.

“What are you doing here Octavia? I thought that we agreed work was a mutual zone.” Vinyl said, annoyed at my mere presence.

“I’m not here to fight Vinyl; I’ve only come to talk.”

“About what? About how foolish I’ve been? About how lucky you’d be if I was gone?”

I started to walk closer to the stage. “No quite the opposite in fact, I’ve come to say…I’m sorry.”

Vinyl looked shocked. “You’re apologizing? You never apologize for anything.”

“Well this is a special case. Look Vinyl, despite what you may think of me I actually do listen to you complaints about me, I know I’m a bit uptight but that’s because we’re from two different backgrounds and growing up I was always held to a really high standard so i'm used to that."

Vinyl's expression softened, she was definitely moved by my words.

"Can I be honest with you?” As I got closer I saw her eyes behind her shades and they looked like she listening.

“Of course.” She replied

“When I moved here from Canterlot I was sort of an odd duck, every pony around me acted differently and I wasn’t sure what the status quo was. But then I met you and you were so fun, carefree, and filled with energy. Only after I settled here did I realize you had so many qualities which I wished I had.”

“Octavia…”

I was only about a foot from her now and getting closer. “Please call me Tavi, it reminds me that we’re friends, that you see the real me and not some high class mare.” We were only inches away. “If all this fighting means I lose my best friend in the world then I won’t fight anymore. Vinyl, I’m really sorry about all this, can we please put this behind us?”

She nodded her head slowly. “Yeah, I guess we can.”

I looked overjoyed and came up and hugged her. “Oh, thank you.”

As I pulled back from the hug I looked at her and took off her shades revealing her magenta eyes. “Ah, I love the color of your eyes. I always wondered why you kept these silly glasses on even when you’re not working.”

“They make me look cool.” She replied.

“Well, can’t argue with that.” She grabbed the shades with her magic and put them back on her eyes. “Well, I’ve still got a concert to get to and I don’t want to be late.” I walked off the stage and towards the door. “One more thing Vinyl, if I’m late for my concert because of our little talk I might be a bit sore about it so prepare for that.”

“Okay.”

“But if I’m not…” I looked at her raising my eyebrows in a very suggestive way. “I'll have to...thank you for this little chat. Ta!” I walked out and around the corner before changing back to my original form.

“Well, that ought to leave her with something to think about. In the meantime, I need to head for Canterlot and give a similar speech to Octavia.” I was about to sprout my wings and take off but then I had a different idea. “Sure I could fly there, but I've been doing a lot of flying around and teleporting lately, I think it’s about time to mix it up. To the train station!”

I ran down to the train station and headed for the ticket counter, behind it was a brown earth pony with a striped hat.

“Sorry son you’re out of luck, the train left ten minutes ago and there won’t be another one for a whole hour.”

I flashed a confident smile. “Didn't need the train buddy, just the tracks.”

He looked confused until I snapped my fingers and made the spirit train engine from Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Once it was there I hopped aboard, put on a black conductors hat, and blew my whistle loud and proud.

“All aboard for Canterlot!” I yelled.

“Hey, I’m going to Canterlot.” One pony said.

“Me too.”

“Me three.”

Suddenly I had about a dozen ponies walking up to me. “Can you take us to Canterlot sir? If I wait for the next train I’ll miss my job interview.”

I looked at him suspiciously. “Is that the truth or do you just not want to pay for the other train?”

He looked at me nervously until I laughed a bit. “I’m just messing with you; you can all ride the train for a fraction of what it would cost normally.”

“Really, how much?”

“Four bits, much less than the average train service right?”

Now they all looked really happy. “That’s a bargain, I’ll take it.”

“Good, every pony else come up to me, pay me your four bits and then head into the passenger car.”

I pulled out a small bag for the ponies to put their bits in; when every pony paid and got in the cars I had about fifty bits.

“Now where was I? Oh yeah, ALL ABOARD!”

Suddenly a pony, who I assumed was in charge of this station, ran out towards me. “Hey! You can’t drive that train on these tracks, it isn’t authorized.”

“Oh yeah? Well look how much I care.”

I pulled the lever and then the train started rolling off at a pretty admirable speed.

“Wooohoo!” I was so excited to be driving a train, sure I can fly with giant black bird wings but there was something so invigorating about feeling the wind on my face while driving a two hundred pound steam locomotive. Thankfully the train only has two levers, one for changing speeds and the other for changing directions on the track so it was easy to maintain. After about 15 minutes I started losing adrenaline and got a little bored.

“Now I remember one of the problems with the game, sometimes these train sections take forever! There has to be a way to speed this up.”

I looked over to the speed controls and saw that there was still one notch left, I kicked it up to maximum and suddenly the speed picked up and I got excited again. As we came over a hill I could see Canterlot about twenty minutes away, unfortunately I also saw a train that we were quickly approaching, if I didn’t do anything quick we were gonna ram into them. Of course I could have just slowed down, but I was in a more creative mood so first I zapped an intercom to warn every pony what was about to happen.

“Folks, this is the conductor speaking. Please hold on to something, the ride is about to get rough.”

With one quick magic enhancement I put another whistle on the other side of the train and super charged them, then I pulled the chain as hard as I could and steam shot out of the twin whistles like a missile propelling us in the air and allowing us to jump above and over the train, thankfully it was much smaller than the other trains in the show so I made it over without damaging the train. As we landed in front of the other train I saw the conductors looked very confused so I looked back and them a quick two finger salute before rushing off ahead.

Fifteen minutes later I slowed down so that I could pull the train into the station carefully, every pony got off the train and thanked me for that rather fast trip and even liked it when we had to jump over the train, quite a few of them thought it was cool. With everyone off the train I snapped my fingers and the train in my garage (Yes I have a garage, it’s where I’m keeping Travis’s motorcycle and the Gundam robot. Vehicles are harder to conjure than everyday items so instead of creating them from scratch every time all I have to do is get them from the garage.)

With that taken care of I walked through town, getting many strange looks from the upper class ponies until I came up to the Canterlot Symphony hall. I would have walked inside but I was stopped by two guards blocking the entrance with spears.

“Um, can I help you two gentlemen?” I asked

“Sorry sir but no one is allowed inside after the concert starts unless you work here or have a ticket. Do you work here?”

I thought of a totally believable alibi that would get me inside. “Yes, I’m new and I’m here to pick up my employee identification card so if you’re gonna ask me for I.D you’re outta luck.”

They both looked at me suspiciously, keeping a deadpan expression.

“Not buying it huh?”

They nodded.

“Well, can’t blame me for trying. You guys do your job well; I guess I’ll be off.”

I would have been bummed, if I didn't have about a dozen different powers that could get me inside. So when I got out of their line of sight I phased right through the walls and walked inside the building. When I got inside I snapped my fingers again and turned into Vinyl Scratch.

“Hello, hello?” This one had to be feminine but still as deep as my normal voice. “Yo, yo… d-d-d-drop the bass! Yeah, I so got this.”

I walked into the concert hall but was stopped when I saw Octavia on the stage playing her cello in front of a large crowd of ponies, I decided to sit in the back of the audience where she couldn't see me and waited until the show was over. Now I don't know a lot about music but she was excellent at playing the cello, it felt so inspired and emotional, like she was telling you a story through song and this was the end result.

Half an hour later the symphony ended and I made my way through the crowd and towards the stage area, sneaking my way behind the curtain and backstage. I found Octavia decompressing after her performance, she didn’t see me so I alerted her by slowly clapping. The minute she heard me she turned around.

“Vinyl, I never would have expected to find you here.” Octavia said, surprised but also a bit distantly.

“Well you know, it’s always a good idea to try new things.” I replied

“Why are you even here anyway? Don’t you have a club you should playing at?”

I gave a confident smile. “You know me; I’m always one for being fashionably late.” I moved closer to her. “Anyways, there’s a reason I came out here and it wasn't just to listen to your excellent cello playing.”

Octavia looked at me with surprise. “You like the way I play my music?”

“Of course I do, just because I’m into dub step doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy other types of music. Do you think I would have taken the half hour train ride here, deal with all these over-zealous and stuck up ponies, and possibly miss my gig if I didn't think this was worth it?”

Octavia looked a bit surprised by my actions. “Well- I suppose not.“

I nodded. "You might not think so but underneath this tough exterior there is a very nice and caring pony."

"Vinyl, I-"

I put up my hoof to stop her from talking. “Octavia can I tell you something a bit personal?”

She nodded.

“As you probably could have guessed I’ve never been a very girly or sophisticated mare like you but I was happy. But then I met you, and despite how I act around you I’m a little bit jealous.”

Octavia smirked a bit. “You, jealous of me? How did that happen?”

“Because whenever I’m out on the town ponies know me, but they treat me at face value and just see me as some hard partying rebellious DJ and nothing else. For once I’d like to meet somepony who doesn't just think they know me, but somepony who knows me for who I really am. Somepony like…you perhaps.”

Now Octavia looked really shocked. “Vinyl…”

“What I’m trying to say is that through the years we’ve know each other I’ve learned a few things from you, and you taught me things by just being around me and I'd like to think i'm a better mare for it. I really don’t want to lose you as a friend so I was hoping we can end this fighting between us, okay?”

Octavia nodded. “Okay.”

I came up and hugged her. “Thanks Tavi, you have no idea how much this means to me. I promise i'll try to be better, for both of us.”

I walked away preparing to get back to town and wait for the result of my work.

Octavia interrupted me. “Hey Vinyl…” I turned around and looked her. “I'm glad that you're my friend to, and for what it's worth I think you're a really nice pony.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thanks Tavi, I wish that I could say everything I want to say about you but...I can't, not now at least.”

Octavia looked confused as I walked out of the theatre through the back entrance. With no one around I transformed again back to normal.

I pumped my fist in the air for a job well done.

“Yes! Mission complete.” I looked at my watch. “And I’ve still got a whole hour before I have to pick up Screwball from school, time to head back home.”

I snapped my fingers and suddenly the webbing between my fingers disappeared and my hands became sharp and pointed on the ends turning them into claws.

“William used dig!”

I burrowed my hands into the ground and started digging underground, making my way back to Ponyville.

45 minutes later…

Pinkie was cleaning up the trash left by ponies at their tables when suddenly she felt a rumbling beneath her hoofs and the ground shook a little. Before she had time to question what was the cause the floor began to sink and a head popped up revealing a boy with dirt covering his face.

“Finally! Sugarcube Corner, I tried like three times to get here and I always ended up in the wrong spot, the second time I made a wrong turn at Al-buck-kerky and met a rather nice family of moles, but I’m here now and that’s all that matters.”

Pinkie looked happy to see me. “I guess you did your thing.”

“Yep, I apologized to both of them as each other and planted the ideas of romance in their heads, if all goes well they should be together by the end of the week.”

“I have to admit I didn’t like your plan when I first heard but when I went outside today I saw both Vinyl and Octavia when she got off the train and they both looked really happy, you’ve done a good thing.”

I smiled confidently. “Yep that’s me Mr. good deed doing…guy, I can be sensitive and fight dragons all in one day.” Suddenly I realized something Pinkie said. “Wait, Octavia’s back in town? When did she get back?”

“About fifteen minutes ago, why?”

“Because…” I snapped my fingers and summoned a crystal ball. “With my crystal ball I should be able to see if they’re going to make up or not.”

I rubbed the crystal ball as it searched for our two potential lovers. I saw an image appear on the ball, it was the outside of their house.

“Ah good, the crystal ball is closing in on them, now let’s see if… oh my. Well there definitely making up...and then some”

Pinkie tried to look at the ball. "What is it?"

This was kind of a private thing between them so I didn't want to show Pinkie. "Um, nothing."

She tried to maneuver her head around me. "Come on, just show me."

"I said it was nothing"

We both went back and forth for a bit with Pinkie moving her head all around me to try and get a better look and me pulling it away. Not wanting this to continue I threw the ball to the ground causing it to shatter into several shards of glass. Pinkie looked surprised by my actions “Whoops, it...slipped.”

“What the hay was that?” Pinkie asked both curious at what I saw and why I would throw something to the ground.

“Um…nothing.”

“If it was nothing, then why did you throw that thing to the ground? And further more-“

“Oh Pinkie I’d love to stay here and play ‘why is William so weird’ but I really have to go pick up Screwball from school so…yeah.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported to the school leaving Pinkie confused and with a mess to clean up.

As the school bell rang all the fillies and colts rushed out of the building and headed for their home. However there was one filly that stood in front of the school waiting as Applebloom passed by.

“Hey Screwball, why aren't you heading home?” Applebloom asked curiously

“I'm waiting for my...um, caretaker. He said he’d come and pick me up from school but I don’t see him anywhere.”

“I’m sure he’s just running a little late.”

Applebloom walked over to Screwball started staring into space. Suddenly, Screwball noticed there was a small red flower in the ground and remembered what her dad said earlier that day and decided to pick it. She walked over to it and grabbed it in her teeth and pulled but it was really stuck in the ground, she pulled harder and harder trying to get it out of the ground and when she did she noticed there a hand attached to it, belonging to me.

“Hello sweetie.”

“Hey!” She hugged me despite the fact that I was all filthy from being underground and I happily returned it. When she was done I got up on my feet, shook the dirt off of me, and we both made our way home.

“So Screwball, tell me about your first day of school.”

“It was great! First I met every pony and a lot of them were really except for two of them with…gemstone names, I forget.”

I scowled at the very mention of those two bullies, they made my heart burn with pure rage. “If they give you any problems you know you can come talk to me right?”

“Uh-huh, then during the day I got to play with a train.”

I found this situation amusing. “Funny, so did I.”

“And we learned about creatures that burrow in the ground like worms or moles.”

Yet another coincidence. “Heh, I saw them to.”

Screwball looked at me with disbelief. “Really? Gee you sure do some interesting things.”

“Yeah, I do.” As we were walking I heard a rustling coming from the trees, a suspicious rustling at that.

“You know, maybe one day I can have just as interesting…”

As she was talking I heard the rustling grow in volume and I had a nagging feeling it was bad.

“Get down!” I grabbed her and pushed her down as well as myself, seconds later I saw a mass of brown feathers pass me by. When it slowed down and I got up I saw the source, an old foe.

“Gilda.” I growled angrily.

“I’m back!” She proclaimed loudly with an evil plot in the back of her mind

Author's Note

Wow, we're not even ten chapters into this story and already i'm reusing villains? How lazy can I get? Well you'll see what's going to happen next time on "A new Discord" and you're either going to hate me for it or love it.

Also, because I won't see you guys for a week happy Valentines day to whoever out there has a special someone they can call thier own. I hope you're all happy and I hope you have a really great week.
Laters!

Smack-Down in Pony Town

Chapter 7

As Gilda hovered in the air above me I could feel all this anger swelling inside me and it took everything I had not to punch her in that stupid beak of hers.

“You've got a lot of nerve showing your face back here after what you pulled Gilda. I hope for your sake you've come to apologize.”

She scoffed in mid-air. “Ha! Yeah right, me apologize to a dweeb like you? As if.”

I decided not to do anything to her until she did something underhanded or despicable, then if she tried to harm any of us I’d annihilate her. “All right, if you’re not here to apologize then for what purpose?”

She gave an evil smile and outstretched her claws. “Revenge.”

I raised my fist and cracked the knuckles on my right hand. “Well if you’re that insistent on getting your butt kicked why didn't you just say so?”

She chuckled a bit. “Not just you hay for brains, now I want revenge on all of your friends.”

I scoffed “Ha! You’re kidding right? There’s no way I’m going to bother Rainbow and her friends to deal with a problem I could handle myself.”

Gilda looked unimpressed then looked at my side and saw Screwball. “Oh I get it, you’re afraid of getting embarrassed in front of the runt, is that it?”

That made me angry, I teleported behind Gilda and she didn't even notice, when I got behind her I pinched her left shoulder tight enough to hurt her a little and so that she would notice me. When she did I leaned in closer to speak no louder than a whisper

“Listen closely griffon, that ‘runt’ as you call her is my daughter, she’s called Screwball and that’s the only name you will address her by unless you want to be in a hospital for the next month.”

She got out of my grip and turned around. “An empty threat, you got lucky last time and now i'm gonna take you seriously.”

I chuckled a bit underneath my breath. “You honestly think you can beat me after last time? Let me tell you something, what you saw last time wasn't even half of what I’m capable of.”

Gilda disavowed my statement. “You’re bluffing; you were probably trying your hardest to beat me and won by just a tiny bit.”

I scowled at her over confidence. To prove to her how much power I had I raised my hand to the air and opened my fist, a ball of energy began to build and it just kept growing and growing in diameter. I could have made it bigger but I stopped when it was about the size of a tree. Gilda looked up at it with fear.

“You see this ball Gilda? If I dropped this ball right now it would be strong enough to wipe out you and probably this entire town. That’s how strong I am and that’s how much power you’re dealing with if you want to mess with me or my friends.” I forced the energy back down into my hand and waited for her reaction.

“Oh what, you think I’m scared? You’re just trying to get me to run away so that you don’t have to embarrass yourself fighting me.”

I descended to the ground back next to Screwball; I could clearly see that Gilda wasn't going to back down unless she got a fight.
"Why do you even want to fight me, let alone all of my friends?"

Gilda didn't really give me answer, she just looked away from me with an angry expression on her face. Although she didn't say anything I had a feeling I knew what it was.

"Oh I get it, you're having an image problem." I said matter of factly.

This got her attention. "What?"

"Yeah it all makes sense. You probably consider yourself one of the coolest people that ever lived so it must really hurt to see Rainbow Dash give you up for some other ponies who you consider inferior."

"Shut up." She said
I started pacing around. "You don't really have any other redeemable traits do you? All you've got is your edgy and in your face attitude and i'll bet when that fails you you're lost. You don't exactly know what to so you came back here to try and win Dash back..."

"Shut up!" Gilda said.

"Absolutely pathetic." I took Screwball and we began to walk away.

"I said...SHUT UP!"

I turned around to address her once again but before I could I saw her claws smack me right in the face. Her blow made me recoil and I put my hand up to the part that she hit. I felt something inside me click and I was done being nice.

“That's it feather bitch, you want trouble? Well you just got trouble."

I snapped my fingers and summoned all six of my friends to my side; a lot of them looked confused as to what just happened.

“What are we doing here? I was just in the library reading a book and then poof here I am.” Twilight said

“Sorry to bother you girls but we've got trouble.” I pointed to Gilda who was standing a few feet from us and suddenly all the girls
were on their hooves looking focused and ready to attack.

“What do you want Gilda? Same thing as last time I assume?” Rainbow Dash said

“Oh dash, always so brash you assume I’d just keep trying for the same things over and over again. No, this time I’m taking out my anger on all of you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Rainbow growled. “Arrogant freak, how dare you…”

I raised my hand signaling Rainbow to stand down as I formulated a plan to get us out of this situation.

“Well, if you’re so confident in yourself Gilda then why don’t we make a sport of it?”

I snapped my fingers again and from the ground raised a pentagon wire cage with two bleacher stands and four rows next to it. As they rose up from the ground Gilda looked a bit surprised.

“What’s with the ring?”

“I just thought that maybe you’d like to set an example to the other ponies in town about how serious you are by showing off your fantastic skills. And now to get a crowd.”

I pulled out a microphone from my pocket and spoke into it.

“Mares and gentle colts!” My booming voice got the attention of every pony in the approximate area. “Some of you may be wondering why this stage has suddenly appeared out of the ground, and if you haven’t you probably need to get your eyes checked.” A few ponies chuckled at my joke. “In any case we've got a special event for you tonight, I’m sure some of you remember Gilda here who visited town not too long ago?”

Most ponies shot her dirty looks. “Well in any case she’s here today to test her might against the seven of us in a one on one cage match.” The ponies got excited and some of them clapped. “This will be a fight unlike any you have ever seen folks, the tough griffon with a heart of acid going up against six of Ponyville’s poster ponies and one walking freak show. Truly a fight that cannot be missed, am I right?”

Now the ponies were really getting into the spirit of things and started cheering. “Here’s how it’s going to work: Gilda will go up against one of us and we will fight until the other is knocked out, if Gilda wins she’ll continue fighting after her injuries have been healed and if she can defeat all of us than she’ll have proved that she has muscle to back up her empty threats.”

“Hey!”

“So, be here in one hour to see this feathery foe go up against her first opponent, the pegasus who’ll knock you out faster than she can fly, Rainbow Dash! Are you excited ponies?” I was met by an uproarious applause. “Then I’ll see you all in an hour, don’t miss it.”

As the crowd dissipated I turned and faced Gilda. “You hear that Gilda? They’re really excited for the match. The only question is, who are they rooting for?”

I smiled confidently knowing that Gilda must be getting nervous. “Whatever, I’ll see you guys here later. Don’t be late.”
With that Gilda flew off leaving the seven of us to prepare.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Twilight asked.

“Positive, did you see how she reacted after I made sure her display was going to be seen by at least two dozen ponies? She’s scared.”

“No she wasn’t. I looked at her the whole time and she still looked the same, super mean and no fun at all.” Pinkie said.

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong Pinkie; you see everybody deals with fear differently.” I pulled a cupcake out of my pocket and started throwing it up into the air and catching it. “When dealing with fear some people like to pretend that everything is fine and some people like Gilda try to look tough on the outside but deep down…” I squished the cupcake in my hand. “It crushes them, she’ll crack I’m sure of it.”

Twilight thought about it. “Hmm, from a psychological perspective that does make sense, but out of curiosity why did you pull out a cupcake to talk about fear?”

“If only you knew.” I started licking my hands to get the icing off. “Mmm, red velvet. Well, we’d better get ready for the fight. Dash, I’m sorry for putting you on the spot back there but I thought you’d like to get at her first.”

Rainbow gave me a look of determination. “You thought right, Gilda’s my friend and last time I thought I could solve this peacefully.” She brought her hoofs together. “But if the time has come to fight, I’ll fight.”

“That’s what I like to hear, everyone get to training and we’ll meet back here in fifty minutes.” I grabbed Screwball’s hoof. “Come on Screwball, let’s go.”

I led her back home and inside. We walked through the halls together until I found the room I was looking for. I opened up the door to reveal a solid white room.

“Ah, here we go.”

Screwball looked confused. “What are we doing in a white room?”

I smiled at her ignorance “This isn't just any white room sweetie, this is the pinnacle of my power: a training room.”

“But why is it all white?”

“Well it’s because the room itself is slightly psychic.”

“Psychic? What does that mean?”

“It means it has the ability to access people’s brains and read their thoughts. This room is designed to create challenges unique to the person who enters it with random difficulties and enemies with several ways of completing them. I usually have it set for random challenges however I can change it directly with a thought.”

I pointed my finger and suddenly weights and training equipment started to sprout out of the ground. “There now I can train and for you…” I pointed my finger at the other side of the room and sprouted a make shift playground complete with a jungle gym, monkey bars, swings, and slides. “A play ground to play in, hope you like it.”

Screwball looked giddy as she ran over to the playground while I snapped my fingers, changing my sweat shirt into workout clothes. I pumped weights, did push ups and sit ups, and even ran around a large track to increase my strength speed and flexibility while Screwball played on the swings. At one point I was doing pull ups and had a rather...interesting conversation.

"I have to get stronger, I have to beat her at her own game."

"Or you could just kill her."

I wasn't thinking that. "What? Who said that?"

"Ah good you can finally hear me, and as I said why not just kill her? It would be so much easier to kill her than to do this idiotic fighting match. You have literally dozens of ways to finish her painfully and quickly why not use them?"

I shook my head. "No, I have to follow the rules."

"What rules? You mean the ones you set for yourself about not killing? Not to burst you heroic bubble or anything but didn't you kill a timber wolf not a week ago?"

I hated to admit it but it was right. "Well...that was different, it was a mindless monster."

"Uh huh, and tell me wasn't he just doing what all animals do? Searching for food and defending themselves from predators? Did that really deserve death? Don't lie to yourself buddy you did it and you know you liked it."

I got off the bar. "I'm not lying to myself, i'm lying to you."

In my mind I could hear him chuckle. "Oh you stupid human...I am you."

Those last few words unnerved me, that thing couldn't be me I wasn't like that. But...it was in my head so I don't know what to believe, it didn't talk back to me so for the time being I believed that it was gone.

Forty five minutes went by pretty fast and soon I had to get ready to go fight. Once I had cooled down and switched into my normal clothes I led Screwball out of the room.

“Well I think that was a pretty good workout, I defiantly feel a bit tougher than normal and that’s without magic. What about you Screwball? Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, that was fun! So what’s next?”

“Well, I just need to go in my bedroom for a second and then we’ll go to the fight okay?” She nodded and I headed to my room to prepare.

Screwball waited for about five minutes until she got restless. She walked inside the room. “Hey, what’s taking so long?” When she walked in however there was no one there but she did notice a note on the bed. She trotted over, sat on the bed, and read it.

Dear Screwball,
I’m sorry that I left you unexpectedly but this is something that I didn't want you see. There’s going to be a lot of violence at this match and I don’t want you seeing it all, I’m sorry if you’re disappointed and possibly angry with me but I’m asking you to please respect my wishes and stay home until I get back.

Screwball didn't want this and she prepared to get up and find her father but when she tried to get up her whole body felt heavy and she couldn't, she also began to get sleepy. As she fell down on the bed she looked at the bottom of the paper and saw some additional stuff.

P.S: I know you aren't going to stay home it just doesn't seem like you, so just in case you don’t want to stay home (which you probably don’t) I coated this paper in a high powered sedative to put you to sleep. Don’t worry, you won’t be out too long and by the time you wake up I’ll be back home. Have a nice nap.

As Screwball finished reading the letter she passed out.

Back at the arena with only five minutes left before the match Rainbow Dash was preparing to fight Gilda as I teleported right in front of her.

“Hey Rainbow, are you ready for the fight?” I asked

“Pretty much, but to be honest I’m a little nervous.”

“That’s natural, but why are you nervous? Usually you’re so confident in your abilities I would have thought you’d be ready for this.”

“I am ready, but it’s not just me I’m worried about it’s all of our friends.”

I was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Personally, I think we’re the only two people strong enough to take her down. I mean you took her down without even trying, and I’m pretty strong and fast enough to dodge her but I’m not sure about the others. Applejack's kicks are pretty strong but she’s also kind of slow, Fluttershy would be too scared to fight, Rarity is too uptight to do anything so ‘un lady-like’, Twilight probably hasn't been in a real fight in her life, and Pinkie…well actually I’m not sure about her.”

“I wouldn't bet against Pinkie in a fight but I’m not sure if she’s up to it either.”

“If we fail, Gilda could end up really hurting our friends and I can’t let that happen.”

I thought about what she said and she was right, that was something I hadn't thought about. This required me to change my plans quickly and after racking my brain a bit I came up with something.

“Oh, that’s a really bad idea but it just might work.”

Out of my jacket I pulled out a white boutonniere and put it on my jacket. “Hey Rainbow, I thought about putting on a flower to spruce up my outfit, tell me what you think.”

She moved closer to observe the flower and when she got close enough it sprayed her with gas, she began to get woozy and fell backwards while I caught her stopping her from hitting the ground.

“What…did you-”

I pointed at the boutonniere. “This is a fake flower Rainbow, filled with knockout gas. I’m going to take on Gilda myself…without my powers.”

“Wha…but you can’t…I-“

“Sh sh sh sh, just let the chemical do its job. You aren't fighting today and our friends don’t get hurt on my watch, and that includes you.”

“You…jerk.” Then she passed out. I had to hide her in a nearby bush so no pony would find her. When that was taken care off I rushed over to the ring where Gilda was already inside and preparing to fight Rainbow Dash. I pulled out that microphone from my pocket again and started the show.

“Mares and Gentlecolts! Take your seats because the fight is about to start.” As ponies filled up the seats they looked excited for what was about to go down, I even saw the rest of the mane six sitting in the rows waiting to see her friend fight. if only they knew what was about to come.

“In the first corner weighing in at 237 pounds we have the fighter with nothing nice to say but she talks anyway, the slicer of nicer ponies like yourselves, Gilda the griffon” The crowd audibly booed but was silenced when Gilda gave them an angry look.

“And in the other corner weighing in at…” I stopped for a moment to build up tension. “Folks there’s been a change in the program, in the other corner weighing in at 145 pounds, he’s nuttier than peanut brittle and twice as delicious, he’s got the power to be the man of hour and he’ll make it rain chocolate, give it up for...Bedlam!”

With that I ran out into the arena and through the door. “Bedlam, that’s a good name I think I’ll keep that one.”

Gilda looked surprised. “What are you doing here? I thought I was fighting Dash.”

“There’s been a change in plans, unless you’re scared to fight me?” I asked confidently.

“What? No, I just don’t want to fight you because it’s unfair, you've got all that power and junk.”

“Well, that can be easily fixed.” I held out my open hand and then suddenly a crystal ball appeared, and then slowly that crystal ball began to be filled with red until it was full. “Done, I've put all my magic in this ball so now I’m just a man. Twilight, catch!” I threw the ball into the crowd and Twilight caught it with her magic.

“Now that that’s taken care of, I think it’s about time I taught you a lesson.”

“Heh, there’s nothing you can teach me runt.” She said snidly

“Oh there’s always something new you can learn, let’s start with getting your ass kicked 101.”

Gilda psyched up and charged at me, as she prepared to slash me with her claws. I jumped up dodging her attack and elbow dropped her back causing her pain. Unfortunately, she pushed me off her back and onto the ground and then she kicked me with her back claws sending me across the floor, and it hurt.

I grabbed my chest as I got up and prepared to fight again. “What’s the matter Gilda, afraid?”

“Disappointed. You’re not a real fighter.”

“Oh, I know what this is about, maybe you’d rather be fighting a girl.”

That got her angry, she lunged at me and started punching me mercilessly in the stomach seven times, she pushed me up against the fence and I could only escape by kicking her in the jaw with my longer legs.

I moved away from there trying to get some space between us. When she wasn't looking I made a punch for her but she dodged and punched me in the back, I turned around and tried to punch her again but this time she grabbed my first in her claw then she grabbed my jacket with her other claw and lifted me above her head, spun me around a few times, and sent me flying to the other end of the arena. I got up feeling the pain in my stomach and jaw grow as the crowd cheered at the display while my friends covered their eyes.

A little ways away Rainbow finally came to and realized what had happened. “That idiot!” She quickly got up and headed toward the ring where she saw me on the ground trying to get up. “Will!” She rushed over to the cage and tried to open the door only to find that it was locked. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I got up slowly and rather painfully. “Teaching her a lesson she’ll never forget.” I ran at her again punching only to have her dodge and then punch me in the face sending me to the ground again.

“Gilda, stop it!” She pleaded.

“He asked for it, whatever happens to him now it’s his fault.”

I got up again and faced her, wiping the blood away from my mouth. “So when are you gonna start, has been?”

She growled as she kneed me in the stomach and I retaliated by grabbing my hands together and hitting her over the head. This didn't hurt her that much as she slashed me across the chest with her claws causing a big mark on my chest, she then bitch slapped me across the ring. She walked closer to me slowly, then she rolled me onto my back, got on top of me and started slashing over and over again causing even more cuts and pain.

Breathing heavily I looked up at her. “I don’t have any powers, and you’re still too old and too weak to knock me out.”
That finished it she grabbed me by the collar, raised me up and with one big uppercut sent me across the ring again but this time I stayed down, and everything faded to black.

“Get up runt, I’m not done with you yet.”

She walked over to me and turned me over on my back. “Hey, are you in there?”

She was that my eyes were closed and I wasn't moving, she picked up my arm to see if I would get up and it fell to the ground, worriedly she put her head against my chest and felt that there was no rising of air, and no heartbeat. She looked back at me in horror.

Pretty soon every pony understood what was going on, looking in horror at the scene or turning their heads away. My friends were the one that took it the hardest, they all looked horrified and Pinkies hair went straight. Quickly, they rushed down towards the arena as Rainbow Dash flew over the gate and into the arena she rushed over to me and put her head against my chest to see if I was still there. Then she punched Gilda in the face.

“What have you done? How could you do this to someone?”

Gilda just looked at the infuriated Rainbow Dash with fear and regret. “I…I don’t know. I didn't mean to kill him, I just wanted him to back down.”

“Just to BACK DOWN?!? You piece of shit, I’LL KILL YOU!”

She began punching Gilda again and again trying to get her anger out until her friends came in and held her back.

“NO! No, let me go, let me go!” At this point Rainbow couldn't take it anymore and broke down into tears.

A few minutes later every pony left leaving just the six ponies I had known the closest huddled around my body. Pinkie was the first to walk up to me.

“Willie, I didn't know you very well but you seemed very nice. You liked it when I threw you those unexpected parties, you mad me that chocolate rain cloud which I still like to use whenever I’m feeling a bit down, and… you were a great friend.” She lent down and kissed me on the cheek. “I promise you, I’m going to give you the best funeral service ever and then maybe we’ll stop feeling so bad.”

I opened my eyes slowly, still feeling the effects. “I’m flattered Pinkie…” They all looked at me with faces of shock and joy, and Pinkies hair began to gain volume. “Even in death, you’d want to throw me an awesome party, that’s dedication.”

When I stopped talking they all rushed me and gave a great big hug, which hurt because of all my injuries.

“Guys, I’m still really hurt so please be gentle.”

They all backed away slowly until Rainbow got up in my face. “What the hay was that? Why would you do something so stupid, we all thought you died.”

I smiled “Ah, but I was only pretending to be dead. Twilight pull out the thing from my left pocket.”

She used her magic to reach into my pocket and then pulled out a needle. “It’s a needle.”

“I had that little thing in my pocket before the fight. If you’ll recall…”

Flashback…

She then bitch slapped me across the ring. When I was on my stomach and no pony was looking I pulled out the needle and injected it in my arm and quickly put it back in my pocket. That’s when Gilda came over and flipped me on my back.

“The needle was filled with a toxin which lowers your heartbeat to two beats per minute, keeping you alive but making it seem like your dead.

“You wanted her to see what it would feel like to kill someone.” Twilight said, fully realizing my plan.

“You think it worked?”

Everyone was too preoccupied to notice Gilda walk over to us. “It worked.” She reached down and helped get me on my feet. When I was on my feet, I stumbled a bit about to fall over when Twilight and Pinkie came over and helped me up.

“Twilight, do you still have my magic?”

“Yeah, here it is.” She levitated the ball into my hand and I absorbed all the magic back into my body.

“Oh yeah, oh that feels so much better.” I said, glad to have my powers back.

“Yeah, but you've still got tons of cuts and bruises all along your body.”

“Right, I need to heal, can you take me back home?” They nodded as we started walking off, until I stopped them for a moment. “Oh and Gilda…” She looked at me. “If you can ever find the goodness in your heart again, you’ll be welcome back into this city. I know it.”

She gave me a blank stare and then just flew off without saying a word.

Screwball woke up from her forced nap and saw me walk in the house with the two other ponies.“Huh?”

“Hi sweetie, how was your nap?”

She observed me closer and saw all my injuries. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing, I just fell down some stairs.”

“You look really bad.” She said, a bit worried at my exterior.

“It was a lot of stairs. Twilight, can you guide me into that room?”

We walked into my blank room and I snapped my fingers painfully and summoned a Vita-chamber from Bioshock.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“Advanced healing technology called a Vita-chamber, this thing will heal me before sunrise tomorrow but I need to stay inside it and I can’t get out. Pinkie, while I’m inside can you take care of Screwball for me?” She nodded. “Thank you. Now I just need to push the button to open the doors.”

I pushed the big red button and the doors opened, the two ponies put me gently on the ground. Then they pushed the button sealing me in the chamber and giving me time to fall asleep after a very strenuous day.

Author's Note

Like I said, you were either going to love this chapter or hate it. I wanted to go a less direct route with Gilda and force Will not to just beat the crap out of her.Please like, favorite, and comment on the story because it makes me very happy and it'll help me work on this chapters as efficiently and quickly as I can. Also, I tried out a new way of displaying the chapter, do you like it or do you think I should go back to the old way?

One final thing before I go, you guys have been doing some really good job with the guessing on what CWMA means, they've been very amusing to look at and so I decided to help you out. The C does not stand for colts but it is pony related and also there is and "and" between the W and the M (I probably should have mentioned that at the start) I hope that helps you guess and i hope one of you gets it right so I can finally share this idea.

Well that's all I can think of, now if you'll excuse me i'm gonna go play some Persona 4.

Nightmare Saga: Oh Baby

Author's Note

Quick explanation before this chapter get started, if you look at the tile of the chapter you'll see the words "Nightmare Saga" and you may be wondering why it's there. Since this story will not have a story ark that goes from point A to point B and then it's over i'm breaking it up into a series of small arks where a problem arises and then it's dealt with after a while (Similar to DBZ) So this chapter has something to do with a looming threat and its your job to guess what it is.

Nightmare Saga: Oh Baby

Chapter 8

Screwball was sleeping soundly having a dream about peanut butter, when suddenly she was awoken by a large explosion. She awoke from sleep startled and felt very groggy, she looked out the window and saw that the sun had just started to rise. But back to the explosion, she walked down the hall to investigate and when she did she saw a room with the door blown up and black powder along the doorway. She looked inside and saw me with a scientists lab coat on, which had turned gray due to the explosion and random bottles filled with colorful liquids scattered all across the room.

“What are you doing? The sun just rose up.”

I was surprised. “Really? Last time I checked it was still night time.”

Now she looked confused. “Are you saying that you’ve been up all night?”

“I guess I have. When I was healing in that chamber it must have used some kind of adrenaline to keep me up during the healing process, when I was done it was around eight o clock at night and I wasn’t tired so I thought ‘hey why not take up a hobby?’ so I tried alchemy.”

“Really?” She reached for a group of vials filled with liquids.

“Don’t touch those!” I said loudly.

“Why? What’s wrong with them?”

“You see how there’s a black label on the glass? I put it there because those potions are explosive and if you jostle them too much they’ll explode.” I yawned a huge yawn. “Great, now I feel really sleepy, I haven’t gotten any sleep and I’m probably going to be really cranky today, oh well.” I looked down and realized I still had one potion I haven’t tested yet.

“Hey Screwball, since you came in would you like to help me test this potion?”

I handed her the bottle and she looked at it curiously. “What does it do?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m testing it. Don’t worry I’ve already checked and it won’t explode so give it a go.”

She stared at the bottle a bit more before deciding to drink it. “Okay.” She brought the drink to her mouth and downed the whole thing in one go.

As I turned around to clean up my supplies I was curious what the potion did. “How do you feel Screwball? Any different?”

I heard no response so I turned around and found that the room was empty. “Screwball? Sweetie, where did you go?”

I walked around the empty room a bit until I stubbed my toe on something heavy but soft, suddenly that thing started…crying? I looked down and saw a tiny purple baby filly crying at my feat. Worried, I quickly picked her up and cradled her in my arms.

“Great, it looks like my potion reverted her age so know she’s the age of a baby.” I yawned again. “And I’m in no condition to look after a baby; I don’t know how this could be worse.”

Suddenly, Screwball started crying again and I was snapped out of my sleep deprived train of thought. Slowly rocking her in my arms I tried to calm her down.

“Sh sh sh sh, don’t cry sweetie, there’s no reason to be sad, daddy is here. Oh dear, you’re naked let’s fix that.”

I snapped my fingers and gave her a diaper just in case, however it seems my words did not seem to help as she kept crying, so I brought her into my room and used my magic to summon a rocking chair in the corner of the room. I sat down and slowly rocked the chair trying to calm her down but it still didn’t work.

“Come on, what’s wrong with you?”

I heard her stomach gurgle a little bit and then realized that she was hungry.

“Oh you’re hungry? Of course, you just got up of course you’d be hungry.” I snapped again and made her a warm bottle of milk, she took it in both hooves and drank down the whole thing really quickly letting out a cute little burp at the end. After she finished the bottle she looked much more content.

“There you go, now doesn’t that feel better?”

She yawned a cute little baby yawn and started to fall asleep in my arms. Seeing her asleep and being in this comfy chair made me sleepy as well, I slowly began to drift to sleep as well.

I wasn’t sure how long I slept but I was awoken by a knocking at my front door, I looked out the window and saw that the sun had risen and was prominently in the sky so it must be at least after eight. The knocking persisted so I got up to answer it, but first I made a little crib for Screwball and put her in it so she could continue her nap. On the way downstairs I snapped my fingers and changed from my mad scientist jacket to my normal clothes. I opened the door and saw Twilight knocking.

“Will, we’ve got trouble.” She said. It was short and to the point so it must have been serious.

I yawned loudly. “Twilight, it’s too early in the morning to be asking me for help, can’t you ask your friends to help you?”

“No, this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Last night, a scream was heard and when two ponies went to investigate it they saw a mare being carried off by a shadowy figure. They said…it looked like a griffon, I don’t want to assume anything but there’s only one griffon we know of who would do something this horrible.”

I groaned. “Ugh, look Twilight I just… I lack the energy to be pissed right now okay?”

“Rough night?” She asked curiously

“Not at first, the healing went along just fine but then I couldn’t go back to sleep so I stayed up all night brewing potions and now…I’ve got something else to deal with.”

Twilight was getting a little impatient. “What could be more important than the kidnapping of a pony?”

Then the sound of crying which I was all too familiar with started up again.

“Why does it sound like you have a baby in your house?”

“Because I do, well technically I don’t it’s just…ugh, just come inside and I’ll explain.”

Twilight followed me back inside and I led her to my room where Screwball was crying again. She looked in the cradle and observed the crying Screwball.

“I’ll ask again, why do you have a baby?”

“It’s not any baby, it’s Screwball. Last night, when I tried making potions I gave her one to test and it seems to have reverted her age to that of a baby. Now that you’re up to speed let’s see what I can do about that crying.”

I picked her up out of her crib and put her in my arms.

“Come on sweetie, what’s wrong? We took a nap, you’re fed, and no loud noises went off so what could it be?”

I gave a quick sniff in the air and then realized the problem. “Ugh, I’m glad I put that diaper on you before otherwise this could’ve been messy. Hang on a second Twilight; I’ll take care of this.”

I put her on the bed and summoned myself a new diaper, and then I undid the snaps of her old one and put the new one on her. I have a younger brother so I’ve a changed a diaper a couple of times in my life. When I finished, Screwball looked much better and I looked and saw Twilight smiling at me for some reason.

“What? Why are you smiling at me?”

“Because of what you just did.”

“Oh you mean my hands? Yeah, they’re funny looking but they’re much more ambidextrous than hooves so…”

“No no, I mean what you did to change the baby.”

I was confused. “What do you mean? I changed her, isn’t that what any parent would do?”

“Exactly, with your magic you could have changed the diaper to clean but you didn’t you went straight in for the more manual approach without thinking, that’s instinct on your part and it’s a good sign of maturity.”

“Really? Huh, that is interesting.”

I threw the old diaper into the trash and picked up Screwball again. “There you go, doesn’t that feel better being clean? Now I can do this.” I pressed my face against her stomach and gave her a zerbert causing her to giggle uncontrollably. “Ah, as cute as you are as a baby we should probably try to find an antidote, do you agree Twilight?”

She nodded her head. “Yes, although if we want an antidote you should probably go see Zecora in the Everfree forest. While you’re doing that, I’d be more than happy to look after Screwball for you.”

“What? No, I want to keep her with me, I’m running on very little sleep and keeping her around helps me stay up.”

Twilight looked like she understood where I was coming from, but her expression was still blank. “I’m sorry Will but the Everfree is too dangerous to take a child, you’ll have to leave her with me.” She took Screwball from my arms with her magic.

I didn't like leaving Twilight alone with a toddler, especially my own, but I knew that she was right it was too dangerous. “Ugh, alright you can watch over her. Just please be careful with her, and here I’ll send some supplies over to the library.”

I snapped some supplies and teleported them to the library, just the essentials: Bottles of milk, cradle, diapers, pacifier, and a rattle for her to play with.

“All right, I’m going to go get an antidote from Zecora, see you two in a little bit.” I was walking out of the room when I accidentally smacked into the door frame instead of walking through the door.

“Um, are you sure you’re okay Will?”

I got up and dusted myself off. “Yeah I’m fine, without a lot of sleep I can’t really preform as well but I think I’ll be alright.”

“I don’t know, maybe you’d like something to help keep you up, like coffee or something.”

“Sure that sounds great; I’ll go make some right now.”

I walked into the kitchen and took one of those instant cups of coffee and put it in the machine, a few minutes later fresh hot coffee was filled in a mug.

“Ah, you’re right Twilight this is exactly what I needed.” I then took the mug of hot liquid and shoved it in my face causing a burning sensation and me screaming in pain.

“Aaaaaaaaaah!”

“Oh my gosh, why would you do that to yourself?” Twilight said, shocked and confused.

“You said use some coffee.”

“I meant to drink not pour on your face and scald yourself, why would you do something like that?”

“Because I hate coffee, have you ever tried drinking it? It’s like your taste buds just died in your mouth, it’s awful.” I got over the pain in my face. “But apart from the searing pain in my face I do feel much more alert now. Good luck Twilight, I should be back soon.”

I rushed out the door and into the forest down the dirt path that I knew led to Zecora’s shack. I could run pretty fast and made it there in about fifteen minutes. When I reached the humble shack of the apothecary zebra I knocked on the door three times.

“Come in.” I heard her say in her African accent.

As I walked inside I saw her working on a few potions until she turned around and saw me.

“Ah it’s nice to see a new face, but tell me what has brought you to this place?”

“Hello, Miss Zecora I've come to you asking for help. I've had a mishap with a potion I've created and I was told that you knew a lot about elixirs and might be able to help me find a cure.”

She thought about it for a second. “Hmm, I’m no master but I shall see, now please describe the symptoms to me.”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure what I put in it but it caused a filly to become younger and turned her into a baby.”

Zecora went to a nearby bookshelf and pulled out what I’m guessing was a book of recipes. “It appears you’re not the first to make this error so please my guest, dismiss your terror. There is a way to get her treated, and here are the ingredients that are needed: Moss from an oak tree, a chocolate chip cookie, scales from a bass, and a cylinder of glass. Gather these things and I’ll give you the rest, then feed it to your victim and you’re problem’s addressed.”

I nodded. “Understood, I’ll be back as soon as I can with the ingredients.”

“I know what I ask you for is quite odd but please hurry back new chaos god.”

As I was about to exit the door that last sentence stuck out to me. “How did you…”

She chuckled a bit. “You think that I did not hear? I get the news even out here.” She gave a sly smile as I walked back out the door.

“Man, I don’t feel like collecting all those ingredients, it sounds like it would take way too long. Wait, I know! Activate transition cards!”

45 minutes later…

“Zecora, I’ve gotten all the ingredients that you’ve asked for.” I said after making my triumphant return to the shack.

“Well done you’re task is almost through, now hand them to me and I’ll begin part two.”

I gave the ingredients to Zecora and she put them in a large cauldron of bubbling green liquid, when she did the liquid jumped up and it changed color to blue. When it settled I dunked in the glass vial I had collected and filled it to the top.

“Just give them the potion with food or with drink, and they should turn back to normal, I think.”

I nodded. “Thank you Zecora, for all your help and especially for trusting someone you haven’t met before.”

“Though we haven’t met face to face, I can tell that you benefit the pony race. I have no more to say, please see yourself out and have a nice day.”

I put the concoction in my pocket and walked back down the path I had come from. However, I found that my energy began to wane, I didn’t want to run and I felt the urge to sleep creep up on me again.

“Oh no, my adrenaline rush is wearing off and I’m not even close to Ponyville. I need a way back but I’m too tired to fly or use my super speed, maybe I can use a travel animal, oh I know!”

I started moving my hands together to create symbols of power, like Naruto. “I call upon the power inside. I summon you- come, spirit animal.”
A beam of light appeared before me and my spirit animal appeared, it was a giant dolphin with huge muscular human arms and a yellow bowtie.

“I am Ayo-shima, guardian of the spirit forge and your spirit animal.”

I sighed to myself. “Yep, this makes perfect sense.” I pulled myself up onto his back and pointed towards Ponyville “Onward Ayo-shima!”
He slapped his tail against the ground and we flew up into the air, as we flew a rainbow trail appeared behind him.

“I’m…not even going to question it, I’d just be wasting my time.”

As we soared through the sky I began to lose my energy and slumped over because I was tired, eventually I closed my eyes and drifted off for a quick nap. While we were flying I felt the wind pick up a bit but I didn't feel it in my face, I opened up my eyes and saw Ayo-shime...above me...going farther and farther away.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

I flipped over on my stomach and realized that I was indeed free falling to a quickly approaching Ponyville. At first I was scared and flailed around in terror but then I calmed down and remembered my powers. I summoned my wings and used them to slow down my decent.

"Ha ha! Suck it gravity! I have escaped your evil clutches today, nothing can..."

As I was gliding I didn't pay attention to where I was going and so I smacked into the tree; since I had lost all forward momentum I began to fall down that tree hitting several branches along the way. When I finally hit the ground pretty much everything hurt and I had landed on my own leg, I didn't want to get up or couldn't because of the pain. After a while Ayo-shima came down and landed next to me.

"Oh, hey Ayo-shima."

He looked at me with a distressed look. "My rider, you are hurt."

"Yeah, that's what I get for not being careful and for riding a dolphin without a saddle."

"Let me help you." He stared at me intensely. "Aqua ring!"

Suddenly water came out of his blowhole and started to wrap around me, when it disappeared I felt better and was able to stand up without any discomfort.

"A dolphin with arms that knows pokemon move, I really have outdone myself. You have done your service for me Ayo-shima, you are free to go."

He bowed his head a little bit. "Thank you master."

I snapped my fingers and sent him back to wherever I got him from. From there I into town the library, when I got there I saw books everywhere and Twilight who looked stressed out and her hair was all frizzy like when she went crazy during Lesson Zero (Speaking of which when does that happen? That was like episode three right after Return to Harmony and I’ve been here for a couple of days, what gives?)

In any case, Twilight looked tired and she was relieved when I stepped inside.

“Oh Will, thank goodness you’re here, I didn’t know how much more I could take.” She said exasperated.

“What’s going on Twilight?”

“After you left Screwball was only asleep for another twenty or so minutes before she woke up and started freaking out that I wasn’t you. So I gave her a bottle and a rattle to calm her down which worked but then she started crawling all over the place and insists on picking up and looking at everything.”

I sighed in happiness. “That’s my girl, ever curious about the world she lives in.”

As Twilight was talking to me I looked behind her and saw Screwball trying to climb up a book case but only managed to shake it which caused the books to start falling down. As quickly as I could I pointed my finger at the spot and put up a small barrier around Screwball so that the books hit the barrier and not her, when all the books stopped falling I took down the barrier relieved that none hit her. Unfortunately, one last book I didn’t fell down and fell on her leg and then she started crying from pain.

“Oh no!” I said worried. I went over and picked her up trying to calm her down. First, I made a little ice pack and wrapped it around her leg to get rid of the pain, and then I brought her upstairs to where Twilight had put the crib and sat down on her bed, rocking Screwball slowly and calmly.

“There you go, come on you can’t be sad, not when I’m so silly. Like this!” I made my pupils spin around in my head and she looked at me curiously. “Or maybe this…” I turned my head into a fish and did that thing fish do with their mouths, which caused her to giggle. “And this…” I turned my head into a dog and started to lick her face like dogs would do; now she was laughing uncontrollably.

“You see? There’s no need to cry when daddy’s here because everything is wonderful.”

As I was holding her she yawned a little bit.

“Tired again? Well I suppose if you were used to having a lot of energy before and then had it drained from you you’d be pretty sleepy too. Well then, let me sing you a lullaby.”

I pulled out a small music box from my pocket and sang her one of the only lullabies I knew.

Stars and moons and air balloons, fluffy clouds to the horizons
I’ll wrap you in rainbows and rock you to sleep again.
Teddy bears and pink, ducks and lambs of white
Don’t you cry dear I’m here now; I’ll be your night light.
Stars and moons and air balloons, fluffy clouds to the horizons
I’ll wrap you in rainbows and rock you to sleep again.
Smiles to cure the frowns, twirling and tumbling and laughter
Someday life will always be happily ever after.

When I had finished I put Screwball back in her crib and gave her a small kiss on the forehead, as I exited the room I saw Twilight standing in the doorway looking at me with a look of shock, appreciation, and proudness (if that’s a word)

“How long have you been standing there?” I asked

“Ever since you turned your head into a fish. What you just did there was…fantastic, it’s almost like you knew exactly what to do.”

“I wish I knew exactly what to do, to be honest I just did what felt natural and what she wanted.” I looked behind me and saw Screwball sleeping soundly. “Let’s talk more down stairs.”

We walked out of the room and into the library and continued to talk.

“Honestly Twilight, I’ve never been a father before especially to an infant.”

“Well, you certainly don’t show it. You have this way of just taking control of a situation and having it work in your favor.”

“Yeah, but when things don’t go according to plan that’s when it all comes crashing down hard.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the vial of blue liquid. “In any case I got the antidote from Zecora, when she wakes up I’ll mix this in with her milk and she should return to normal.”

“So we’ll just wait for her to finish her nap?”

“Pretty much. To be honest I almost want to keep her like this because she’s so cute, but she has to go to school and stuff and if her consciousness is still in there I know she wouldn’t like being stuck as a baby.”

Twilight and I sat in silence for about thirty minutes until I heard a thumping noise come from upstairs.

“She’s up, I’ll go get her.” I said

I walked up the stairs and looked into the crib but when I did I felt my heart stop, Screwball was missing. I looked all around the room but didn’t see her anywhere, I rushed to the window and looked on the ground but I still couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Screwball? SCREWBALL!” I screamed looking for her everywhere. When I couldn’t find her anywhere I rushed downstairs to ask Twilight for help.

“Twilight, Screwball is missing.”

“What? Where did she go?”

“I don’t know that’s why she’s missing, we have to find her.”

We both rushed outside as we searched the streets.

“She’s pretty small so she couldn’t have gotten far, maybe we should check…”

I was interrupted as Twilight pointed something out. “Will, look up there!”

I turned around and saw that she was pointing to a figure in the sky, flying away from town. The figure was dark and I couldn’t make out any details about it but I did see a little purple bundle in its claws, when I did I felt my anger boil and I was filled with rage.

“That’s looks like the same thing that stole that mare last night.” Twilight observed.

“Yeah? Well it just fucked up because it just messed with my girl and now… IT WILL PAY!”

I sprouted my wings and rushed into the air flying after the figure as fast as I could, I picked up speed and started to gain up on it, soon I was really close.

“Hey ugly!”

It turned around and when it did I gave it a strong right punch in the jaw which caused it to drop Screwball, when it did I dive bombed down to catch her and make sure she was safe. When I knew she was safe I gave her a hug.

“Oh sweetie I’m so glad you’re safe.”

My moment was interrupted as I heard that black griffon growl in anger. I couldn’t leave Screwball with anyone this time, I had to take her into the fight, so I made myself a papoose for her to ride in (It’s what you call that thing adults wear so they can put their baby in it and carry them around without carrying them.)

“Now you just stay here sweetie" I cracked my knuckles, preparing to fight "Daddy’s got to go kick some ass.”

The griffon flew down at me and tried to swipe me with its claws but I dodged it by moving to the side, then I grabbed its throat and held it tight enough to stop it from attacking.

“Now then, since you’re not gonna be hurting me anymore let’s have a look at you.” I gave the griffon a look over; I couldn’t tell whether or not it was male or female. “You know at first I thought you were Gilda, the only griffon I knew who would have the balls to try something like this but you aren’t giving any witty banter, no condescending remarks, you’re just abducting and attacking like a mindless animal. But then that begs the question, why are you black? There are no black griffons and this isn’t a costume or paint so maybe…”

I was interrupted as the griffon bit down on my hand making me let go of it. When I released my grip it started to attack me again but I was fast enough to dodge it, then I uppercut it in the stomach to stop its attacks and then kicked it up further into the air. I flew up into the air after this evil griffon but it surprised me by stopping suddenly and punching me in the face which only raised my anger.

“That was…the last straw.”

It tried to punch me again but I teleported out of the way as the griffon looked behind itself it saw me several feet away.

“You know, if you were Gilda I might actually enjoy this. You see right now I’m in no mood for a long drawn out fight so I think I’ll just finish you right now.” Energy began to build up around my hands and sparks flew between my fingertips, I raised both my arms and shot them forward sending dozens of small energy shots at the shadow griffon, there were so many blasts that she wasn’t fast enough to dodge all of them and was hit by one after another.

When the blasts stopped the griffon was bruised and badly damaged but no gone, it struggled to keep its head up and when it looked forward it saw me only inches away from it.

“Aww look you’re hurt.” I looked into its eyes, which were a light blue, and saw her irises contract. “And you’re afraid of me, wonderful. Let me give you some advice…run.”

As soon as I finished the griffon turned tail and ran away from me as fast as it could.

“I don’t know, maybe I let it off too easily. What do you think Screwball, should I let it go?”

I looked down at her and she shook her head no.

“That’s why I love you, you barely have any idea what I’m saying and you still know exactly what to say. Well, since I’ve been using a DBZ style theme for this fight, how about I finish this off with a fan favorite?”

I clasped my hands together, then cupped them and brought them close to me preparing for my final attack.

“Ka…me…ha…me…” I felt the energy build up in my hands begging to be unleashed and after a few more seconds I obliged “HA!”

I unleashed the monstrous beam in the direction of the griffon, it was far away but within a minute the beam caught up with it shaking the trees with its raw power and ripped the griffon apart leaving no traces of its existence.

“Alright, I saved the day and no pony is the wiser.”

I turned around and a few feet away I saw Rainbow Dash sitting there on a cloud with her mouth hanging wide open. I was a bit nervous to explain why I had just flipped out and unleashed that much power.

“Oh, hey Rainbow.”

Even after I acknowledged her she just sat there with her mouth hanging open and when she tried to speak it just came out garbled.

“Wha…with the…and the…haa, boom”

“Yeah sorry you had to see that, as you saw I have a lot of power and if need be I can unleash tons of it and just…obliterate people, but I don’t because I wouldn’t kill anybody who didn’t absolutely deserve to die. And you have to admit that was…AWESOME!”

That shocked her out of her trance she looked at me and her smile grew wide. “Yeah it was!”

She raised her hoof and I gave it a fist bump. “You have got to show me more of those moves, that was…beyond awesome, maybe even cooler than me.”

“Wow, Rainbow admitting something is cooler than her? That’s serious.” “Sure, I’d love to show it to you some time.”

Now Rainbow looked confused. “But what about…”

“Right, okay to get you up to speed, I accidently made a potion that turned Screwball into a baby. I went to Zecora’s hut and she helped me make an antidote, however before I could give her the antidote that shadow griffon kidnapped her and…well, you know the rest.”

“But what about…”

“The griffon? I killed it, but I have a feeling it was dead long before I got there; it was completely black and didn’t talk, like some kind of feral creature. I wonder what could have caused such a transformation?”

“But what about your wings?”

“My wings?” I looked behind me and saw that my wings looked different than each other; one was a blue feathered bird wing while the other was a purple bat wing. “Huh, that’s new. I guess it’s because I was in a hurry and just didn’t have enough time to make a matching set of wings. In any case I have to go home and mix this antidote.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported back home. When I arrived I got a bottle of milk and put the antidote inside which turned it a very pale blue color and I mixed in some honey to mask the flavor of the antidote so she’d drink it.

“Here you go Screwball, drink this and you’ll feel much better I promise you.”

She took the bottle from me and drank it all down. I placed her on the couch and within a minute she had turned back to her normal age and size. When she did she was a bit stunned, and looked at the room groggily.

“Daddy? Is that you?" She asked.

"Yes it's me." Then I realized something that she said. "You called me dad."

"Well yeah, aren't you my dad?" She asked, as if he answer was obvious.

"Of course I am, it's just... I've never heard you say it before. It's nice."

She groaned a little bit. "What happened? I can’t remember much.”

“That’s okay just try to remember everything you can.”

“I see…you, holding me in your arms and you have a dog head. I see miss Twilight, and then blackness and…a giant blue light…”

“That’s good remembering on your part, if you want later tonight before you go to bed I could tell you what happened.”

“Like a story?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, like a story.”

The day went on and I relaxed after such a tiring day. After a while night came and Screwball was going to bed and I sat on the edge of the bed.

“So tell me a story daddy.”

“Okay, so after you drank the potion…”

She shook her head no. “No, I’d like to hear a different story.”

I was a bit surprised. “Oh, okay. Any preferences?”

“Tell me a story about hero’s like you.”

“She thinks I’m a hero, that’s sweet.” I thought. I needed to come up a story for her so I decided to pick a story based on one of my favorite games.

“Okay sweetie, get comfortable, and I’ll tell you a story.” She shifted in her seat. “This is the legend of Link.” I reached into her bookshelf and pulled out a blank book. With a wave of my hand the cover changed and a picture of the triforce was emblazoned upon it.

“Once upon a time in a kingdom called Hyrule there was an ancient artifact that was the source of all magic in the entire world called the triforce. Because it was so powerful many ponies tried to take it but no pony ever succeeded though many came close, eventually they thought it was too much power for one pony to have so they split it up into three pieces. Legend says that the triforce of courage had to be earned and so it’s power was divided and placed in several perilous dungeons, the triforce of wisdom went to the princess of Hyrule named Zelda, but the last piece the triforce of power went to an evil person, a wicked sorcerer named Ganondorf who only used its power for evil, conquering the land around him and raising an evil army.”

“As the evil wizard Ganondorf continued his conquest he set his sights on Hyrule, defeating its guards and kidnapping princess Zelda. When he kidnapped her he learned that it was she was the one who held the triforce of wisdom, he knew that all he needed was the triforce of courage and he would have control over all magic ever. When people heard that Hyrule had fallen and its princess had been kidnapped many were afraid but there was one who was not, his name was Link just another anonymous knight who was devoted to the princess and so he set off from his home town whose name has been lost to time on an epic quest to save their ruler from the evil Ganondorf.”

As I talked the words began to magically appear in the book so that she could read it later. I wanted to continue with the story but Screwball looked tired so I closed the book. “Well that was an exciting opener; I’ll tell you more tomorrow but until then get some sleep okay?” I leaned down and kissed her on the head.

“Okay, that was a great story dad.”

“Thank you Screwball, have a good night. I love you.”

“I love you to.”

I turned the lights off and went into my own room to get some sleep myself. I took my clothes off and changed into my pajamas, as I did the bottle of antidote Zecora made fell out of my pocket, I picked it up and saw that there was still a little bit left in it.

“Well, I know I’m not supposed to take other peoples medicine but…what the hell? What’s the worst that could happen?”

I drank the rest of the liquid in the bottle which was about a quarter of a cup and it was really bitter. However, the effects seemed to work shortly after drinking it I felt myself getting older and taller. After the process was done I was surprised at how I looked.

“Whoa!” I said surprised at what happened and then I realized. “Whoa, I didn’t think my voice could get any deeper, that’s interesting.” I looked over my body and tried to find any noticeable changes, after looking…everywhere (If you catch my drift) the only noticeable changes were my voice, I was about half a foot taller now, and I had more hair.

“Well, this is going to be fun to show the girls tomorrow.” I said, waiting for tomorrow

Meanwhile at Sugarcube Corner…

Pinkie was helping the cakes clean up the bakery when suddenly she shivered as she felt something pass through her. Mister Cake took notice of this.

“Is something wrong Pinkie?”

“I just felt a disturbance in the world, it’s like somepony had four birthdays and I didn’t plan a party for any of them. Weird.”

She dismissed the feeling and resumed her work.

A wild new unicorn appeared!

AN: Hello everyone, before this chapter begins (and because I can't place authors notes in two places) I want to give you a warning. Some of you may have noticed that this story is now rated teen for violence & sex, this is because from this chapter on I will be putting in many innuendos, some will be discrete, some...not so much. I will use my best judgement and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 9

I should have seen this coming, somehow even though I was sleepy all day now I can’t fall asleep, maybe it has something to do with me aging four years instantly and my body is working over time to catch up but I’m not sure. Regardless, no matter what I tried I couldn’t fall asleep and stay asleep.

“You know what? Screw it, there’s got to be something for me to do.”

I got up out of bed and snapped myself some clothes, I crept down the hallway and headed for the front door trying my hardest not to wake up Screwball. When I reached the front door I opened and closed it slowly and quietly, once I was outside I thought about what I could do.

“Let’s see, I could go to a club but clubs kind of suck, I don’t know anypony who would be up at this time of night. Oh wait... yes I do, and she’s got video games.”

I snapped my fingers again and teleported my way to Canterlot.

Meanwhile there was another pony that also couldn’t sleep, Princess Luna, she paced the room not knowing what to do until I popped into her room very unexpectedly and fell to the ground.

“Oh my, young Will...or should I say not so young Will, is that you?” Luna said in surprise.

I got up and cracked my back after that rough fall. “Yeah it’s me. Ugh word of advice, teleports only work short distances and not over dozens of miles. I would have been better off taking the spirit tracks.”

Luna's eyes flashed with excitement for a moment. “Ooh, I loved Spirit Tracks it was a very fun and colorful game, like Wind Waker but portable. But enough about Zelda, what happened to you? You look different than the last time I saw you.”

“Well to make a long story short, I drank a potion that was supposed to revert an eight year old filly back to her proper age, but I took a smaller dosage so I only aged four years making me twenty years old.” I said as I continued to stretch out my limbs.

Luna nodded, listening to my exposition. “That would explain it, with your new Draconequus body you won’t age like any normal being, you’ll be eternal like my sister and I and you’re exterior will age much more slowly. Although you seem to be very in tune with your inner workings if you could pick up on that happening.”

I listened to what she said and had a horrible realization. “So that means eventually I have to watch everyone I know and love die?”

She nodded.

“Wow that’s heavy stuff. But that’s not the reason I came here, I’m having trouble sleeping and I was wondering if we could hang out.”

Luna smiled. “Yes that sounds lovely; I myself have had trouble sleeping as well thanks to a nightmare.”

“The princess of the night has nightmares?” I asked a little surprised.

“Of course, no pony is immune to nightmares, not even a master of the dreamscape such as I.”

“Alright, what do you want to do?” I asked.

She walked up to me slowly. “Well since you’re different now, there is something I would like to try.”

She used her magic to pull up a plastic package with a circular thing inside.

I saw it and was a bit off put. “Oh, um I’ve never done anything like that before.”

She smirked at me. “First time eh? Don’t worry I’ll show you all there is to know.”

30 minutes later…

It was a long thirty minutes for me and Luna on her couch but when it was over I felt much better than I did at the beginning.

“Wow...that was fun!” I said

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, you were a little rough in the beginning but you defiantly got better over time.”

“Thank you Luna, that was an awesome first time…playing Call of Duty. I can’t believe that I hadn’t played this game sooner.”

“Well, when you told me that this was your first time playing Call of Duty I felt obligated to show you its awesomeness and you seem to have gotten good at it.”

“Yeah, and now that we’ve played one of your games…” I snapped my fingers and summoned a copy of Dragon Ball Ultimate Tenkaichi. “How about we played one of mine?”

50 minutes later…

Two legendary warriors, Goku and Vegeta, stand beaten badly in their battle with each other. They are both weak from fighting for so long and only have enough energy for one last grand attack. Vegeta began to store up his energy as his body exploded with a golden aura.

“HAAAAAAA!”

At the same time Goku cupped his hands together and built up his super move.

“Super Ka-me-ha-me….”

Vegeta finished building up his energy and prepared to unleash the devastation. “Final…”

But Goku beat him to the punch “HAAAAA!”

Goku unleashed the massive blue energy beam and launched it at Vegeta as he finished launching his own attack. “FLASH!” This time it was a golden beam that launched from Vegeta’s hands and rushed forward. Eventually, the two beams met and they fought for dominance.

Outside in the real world, Luna and I were sitting on the couch and I was mashing the button as fast as I could to see if I would win. It was close but in the end I was a little bit faster than her and my Final Flash enveloped her, ending the game and making me victorious.

“Yes, ha ha got you again.” I said victoriously.

“Hmph!” Luna grumbled not enjoying being defeated.

“Hey don’t act like that, you did really well those first three times before I started trouncing you.”

“You have more experience than me, it’s not fair.”

“All’s fair in online war Luna, except for spawn camping, hoarding weapons, acting like a bitch, blaming it on lag…actually there’s a lot that’s unfair in games, never mind.” I looked at the controller for a little bit. “Speaking of which, how is there even this kind of technology in Equestria? The game console is highly advanced technology and even if it was available, where did you get it from?”

Luna was a bit hesitant to answer my question until she got up from the couch and walked over to the balcony. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for your answer as well as our best 10 of 13 match, it’s time for me to lower the moon so Celestia can raise the sun.”

Luna stood on the balcony and focused her magic in her horn, then she rose up from the ground and I saw the moon disappear from the sky and the sun took its place. Watching the night sky turn brighter and the stars disappear as the sun took the place of the moon was absolutely breathtaking as I stood there in awe. When the process was over Luna walked back in and saw me being awe struck.

“Did you enjoy the display?” She asked.

“It was amazing, it’s unlike anything I’d ever seen. Back home the sun and moon move naturally so you don’t get to see it all happen at once.”

Luna made a noise that sounded like and interested 'hmm' “You’re home certainly sounds strange.”

“Yes, it’s a good fit really, a strange man from a strange place. But if it’s morning then I’d better get back home, the question is how to do it? I don’t want to fly and teleporting leaves me very tired. Oh I know!”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a giant cannon that aimed for Ponyville and after a little more adjusting I made sure it would hit my house.

“This looks like a job for the human bullet.” I climbed inside and prepared myself. “Fire me Luna!”

Luna walked over and grabbed the pull string in her mouth, and after pulling back hard the cannon launched sending me flying through the air at incredible speeds.

After a couple of minutes I started to descend and headed for the ceiling of my house. Shortly I crashed into it and was lodged into the roof, after a quick look I noticed that I landed in Screwball’s room and that the impact of me breaking through the roof woke her up.

“Daddy?”

I waved at her a bit. “Hi sweetie, how did you sleep?”

“Fine, why are you stuck in the roof?”

“Well I’m sure not going to be stuck in the floor, that’s beneath me.”

She giggled a bit.

“I thought you’d like that joke, now just let me get out of the roof and we’ll get some breakfast.”

I wriggled myself a little trying to get loose and eventually I fell through the hole and landed face first onto the floor. Afterwards, I got up, had some muffins with Screwball, and walked her over to school, after all was said and done I walked through town with my hands in my pocket.

“All right, I’ve got the whole day to myself and I have no idea what to do. Maybe I could check in with Lyra, I haven’t talked to her since I gave her the transformation powder.”

I walked over to Lyra’s house and knocked on the door.

“One second!” I heard her yell from inside.

I waited another forty five seconds before she came to the door in her human form with what looked like a curtain wrapped around her. When I saw she was human I freaked out.

“Whoa Lyra, what are doing in human form outside? What if somepony sees you? Or worse, what if Bon Bon sees you?” I loudly whispered concerned for her safety

She giggled nervously and put her hand behind her head. “Yeah about that, Bon Bon already found out about this, but it’s totally cool. I showed it to her and thanks to some…persuasion she accepts my choice. Look.”

She pointed towards her couch and I saw what looked like Bon Bon as a human laying on the couch covered in a blanket and nothing else.

“Ah I see what you mean.” My mind started thinking some very…inappropriate things. “Don’t do this to me brain, don’t say that’s hot, don’t say that’s hot, don’t say that’s hot…” “That’s hot.” “Damn it!”

Lyra looked at me in confusion. “What did you say?”

I panicked. “Umm…nothing.”

She scoffed. “It’s alright, I suppose the thought of two mares together would give anyone…ideas. Just keep it under control next time okay?”

I nodded. “Alright, I can see you’re busy so I’ll just shove off.” I stated walking away. “I’d say have a good morning but I can see you’re already having one so…yeah.”

I walked further down the block talking to myself in my head.

“That was… awkward. Why did I just blurt that out there, I’m usually way more careful with what I say. Well since Lyra’s busy I’ll have to find someone else to hang out with, and when all else fails look to Pinkie Pie for a good time.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported to Sugar Cube corner, I could have walked there but I did a good amount of walking for now. When I arrived in front of the bakery I walked inside but instead of seeing Pinkie at the front desk I saw Mr. Cake.

“Hello there Mr. Cake sir.” I greeted.

He turned around and looked at me. “Ah, you’re that new creature Pinkie keeps talking about right? The human?”

I nodded. “That’s me and my name’s Will, I was actually looking for Pinkie, have you seen her?”

“Yes, she’s in the back right now baking some more things for us.”

“Great, I’ll just talk to her for a quick second and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

I walked into the kitchen and saw Pinkie stirring something in a bowl.

“Oh hi Willie, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, I was just checking to see if you wanted to hang out but I can see you’re busy." I was so looking forward to having fun with her. Wait, maybe I still could. "Hey, what if I help you?”

Pinkie smiled. “That’d be great, then I can get done faster and you and I can go do something.”

“Sure, so what are we making?”

“Cupcakes.” She smiled

“Ah, I do love making cupcakes, and from what I’ve heard it’s pretty easy.”

“It is easy; I even made a song about it…”

From out of nowhere I heard a simple and sweet tune, I don't know if it was in my head or Pinkie was making it but I had a feeling we were about to break into song.

Pinkie: All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix.

I saw where this was going and decided to join in on the fun.

Will: Next I’ll take a little something sweet not sour…

Pinkie: A bit of salt?

Will: Just a pinch.

Pinkie: Baking these treats is such a cinch, add a teaspoon of vanilla.

Will: Add a little more and you count to four, and you never get your fill-a! Cupcakes! So moist and tasty.

Pinkie: Cupcakes! Don’t be too hasty.

Will: Cupcakes!

Pinkie: Cupcakes!

Will: Cupcakes!

Will & Pinkie: Cupcakes!

That short song helped us make more batter for the cupcakes, soon we were done and Pinkie poured the batter into a tin and placed them into the oven. Unfortunately for me I looked at her when she was bending over to put the cupcakes in the oven which made me look at her…plot.

“Ah, I don’t want to look at that it’s rude and...kinda hot, dear god what is wrong with me today? Universe, if you love me you will give me a way out of this.”

Suddenly Pinkie looked up in confusion and zoomed outside.

“Thank you the universe.”

I ran after Pinkie but before I could catch up with her I snapped my fingers and summoned about three dozen cupcakes for Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I didn’t know how long we’d be gone and I don’t want them to be low stocked.

When I went outside I saw Pinkie looking at the ground and into the crowd of ponies.

“What’s up Pinks?” I asked.

“I got one of those feelings again, that there’s a new pony in town and when there’s a new pony in town you know Pinkie’s going to have a new friend.” Pinkie said.

“Ah so it’s your Pinkie sense going off again? Well, I’ve seen it work its magic so I know that it’s accurate. All right I’ll help you.”

She looked at me. “Really?”

I nodded. “Sure, come on let’s start looking.”

We started searching the town but I didn’t see anyone that looked unfamiliar, plus this place is filled with background ponies who I had never seen before. Having no idea if they were new or not made this more difficult.

“Oh, I found something!” Pinkie said in an excited voice.

I walked over to her. “What did you find?” I asked

“This.” She pulled out a paintbrush from the ground.

I facepalmed. “Pinkie, that’s a paintbrush.”

“Yes, but I don’t know anypony who uses a paintbrush in town so this maybe a clue.”

I thought about it for a little bit. “Alright, I see where you’re going with this; I’ve got a plan, stand back.”

I backed up a bit and began a transformation, my hands and feet were replaced by paws, I began to grow black fur, and my ears got much pointier. I decided to turn into wolf Link from Twilight Princess, since he was able to track scents I thought it would help us find whoever new was in town.

“Oh, a wolf! You’re so cute, yes you are.”

Pinkie put her hoof behind my head and began to scratch my behind my ears which made me wag my tail with happiness, but back to work. I gave the brush a quick smell and then I focused until I started seeing in wolf vision, everything around me was black save for the outlines of ponies and a trail of green leading through town which I followed.

“What’s up wolfie, you smell something? Lead the way.”

I followed the trail through the town until we came across… a rock, but it had the same paint on it that was on the brush.

“Oh, a rock with paint on it, that’s nifty I should hold on to that.” Pinkie picked up the rock, put it to the side of her, and then it just disappeared like she had some kind of invisible pockets.

“I will never understand that mare, anyway back to sniffing.”

I kept following the trail through the town, and eventually it came to a stop. “Oooh, there he is.”

Pinkie was able to point out the guy but I couldn’t see anything with my wolf vision so I un-transformed (if that's even a word) and turned back to human. When I could see clearly I saw that Pinkie was standing on top of a tan unicorn asking him pretty much all the Pinkie questions, I decided to cut the guy a break and picked up Pinkie and got her off of him.

“Easy there Pinkie don’t make the guy uncomfortable.” I looked at the stallion. “I’m sorry she gets easily excited, so you’re new in town?”

He looked at me. “Yes I am, it’s nice to meet you. My name’s Tilted Easel.” He held out his hoof and I shook it, while I did that I got a good look at him, he is a tan Unicorn stallion with dark brown and black mane and tail. His mane style is the stallion version of Dash's mane (basically shorter in the back) and his Cutie Mark is a crooked easel with a paintbrush and a chisel in a skull-crossbones style.

“Tilted Easel? So I’m guessing that you’re painter?” I asked curiously

“Yeah, I do really well with painting, sculpting, and drawing, really any kind of art but those are my favorites. How’d you guess I was a painter? Was it my cutie mark?”

“Well there’s that and the fact that every pony seems to be named based on their talents later in life, coincidences? I think not.”

He looked at me strangely. “What?”

“Oh sorry, I kind of went off on one of my crazy tangents, I tend to do that.” I apologized.

He put his hoof on my shoulder. “I know that feel man, I get those all the time when I’m trying to create something and I just can’t envision it properly, I’m a little bit crazy myself.”

“Oh really? Well then I think you and I are going to get along just fine, especially since you’re the first pony who didn’t either gawk at me or ask me what I was.”

“Aww, what’s the fun in knowing what you are? Mystery just adds to your character.”

“Ha, I like you friend, did I mention that?”

Pinkie got up. “Yes you did, see Tilts? You haven’t even been in town a whole hour and already you have two new friends.” She said

He smiled. “Cool, I didn’t think people would like me here, back home I didn’t have many friends because I was awkward around other ponies.”

Pinkie frowned. “Aww that’s sad, every pony should have a ton of friends like me.”

I leaned in to talk to him. “Trust her she’s got a ton of friends, in fact why don’t you come over to my house tonight and I’ll make dinner for every pony and introduce you to the rest of our friends.” I offered.

Pinkie looked excited. “Oooh, that sounds like a great idea, I was just going to throw him a party but your idea is good to. We’ll be at you house around six.”

Tilted looked confused. “Wait a minute I don’t know where either of you live.”

“Don’t worry, Pinkie can lead you to my home, inform our friends of what’s going on and find you no matter where you are.” I leaned in and whispered the last part. “She’s creepy like that.”

“All right that sounds good, see you guys later.”

“Oh before we go, I think these belong to you.” Pinkie reached into her extra dimensional pockets and pulled out the brush and painted rock we found.

“Ah, my brush, thank you. The rock you can keep.”

He took the brush with his magic and I picked up the rock and closer examined it, the painted part had what looked like an image of a pony on a rectangular thing in the sky, it was hard to tell exactly what it was because the image was a bit muddled because it was on a rock.

I pointed to the painted part. “What is this anyway?”

He looked at it. “Oh, sometimes I get struck with inspiration so I paint what comes to mind on whatever’s close by.”

“Cool.” I pulled a watch out of my pocket and looked at the time. “Wow, I’ve got to go pick up my kid. Sorry guys I’m going to have to cut this meeting short, see you guys tonight.”

I spawned my wings and flew up into the air.

This surprised Tilts. “My word, he has wings to? I didn’t see them before.”

I flew back down quickly to address his question. “Oh yeah, another thing you need to know about me is that I’m full of surprises, anyways I’ve got somewhere to be and you’ve got a house to move in to so I’ll see you tonight.”

After I finished talking with Tilted I flew over to the school house to pick up Screwball and we walked home.

“How was your day sweetie?” I asked.

“Good.” She replied.

“I have something to tell you.” We both said at the same time which made us laugh.

“Okay, you go first.” I said

“Well, I decided to join the baseball team.”

“Oh that’s great honey, I knew there was a reason you were called Screwball and it wasn’t just because you’re wacky just like your dad. But that’s exciting, so when’s your first game?”

“Well, we’ll be practicing until the spring which is when we have our first game so I’ve got some time to prepare.”

I nodded. “Okay, well if you ever want assistance I’d be more than happy to help you with your pitch or swing. Now for my news, there’s a new pony in town and since me and Pinkie want to be friends with him I invited him and the rest of our friends for dinner at our house tonight.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It is, I’m going to cook the food from scratch and we’ll get to talk and find out more about this guy, it should be a wonderful quiet evening filled with many laughs. I’m sure that it’ll be very relaxing.”

It wasn’t…by the end of that night I would be stabbed, poisoned, blown up, and create a giant robot, but we’ll get to that.

Author's Note

Fun fact: This chapter is only a half of what used to be a much longer original chapter. I thought there was too much content in one chapter so I cut it in two, and if you thought this chapter was a bit lacking in the wow factor don't worry because the next one will blow you away. I guess you could say it's going to be...powerful. Ha, I made a funny, you'll understand why next time.

Please favorite, comment on what you liked and what you think I could add or improve, and check out the new cover art for this story designed by yours truly.

Good day everyone.

Unite as one

Chapter 10

We got into the house a little later, Screwball went into her room to do her homework and I went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. I could have used my powers make the process go by a bit faster but using telekinesis to cut food and move it into bowls just felt like cheating. It may have taken a bit longer than I expected but I did get everything done before everypony else arrived, the only trouble was that I had to remember to make all the food vegetarian because these ponies weren't an omnivore like me. Pretty soon I got all the food ready and six o clock rolled around, as I was setting the table I heard a knocking at the door (The door is enchanted so that knocking echoes throughout the entire house because this place has never seen door bells before)

“Oh those are our guests, Screwball sweetie are you ready?” I asked

She ran down the hall to my side. “Yes!” She said excitedly

“Good, I don’t think I need to remind you to be on your best behavior. Especially since you’re so good all time so just remember to make nice conversation with everypony okay?”

She nodded and I went to open the front door, when I did I saw everyone there except Pinkie and Tilted Easel.

“Hey guys, I assume Pinkie went to go pick up Tilted?” I asked

“Yep, Pink’s said that she has to lead Tilted here and that she’d be here a little bit after we got here.” As soon as I shut the door and they all walked inside I heard another knock.

“Speak of the devil and she shall appear, you girls go sit at the table.” I opened up the door to see Pinkie and Tilted Easel. “Hey guys, you got here quicker than I expected.”

“Well I did say I’d be here shortly after the rest of the girls.” Pinkie said

“True.” Pinkie walked past me and I led Tilted inside. “Hello Tilted Easel welcome to my humble abode, please make yourself at home.”

Tilted looked at my house and was in shock. “It’s bigger on the inside, how is that possible?”

“Magic my friend, and mine is more powerful than most ponies. In any case, let me give you the grand tour.”

I walked him into the kitchen where the other seven girls were seated.

“All right, this is the dining room where I do all my eating and cooking. I also fight a gang of pirate ninja’s here every other Tuesday.”

Twilight looked confused. “Wait, I don’t remember that happening the last time we were here.”

“It’s a new feature. Anyways Tilted Easel allow me to introduce you to my friends.” I pointed to Pinkie Pie. “You've already met Pinkie Pie; party planner extraordinaire, laughter expert and excellent baker who works at Sugar Cube Corner.”

She gave him a little wave.

Then I pointed to the rest. “Then there’s Twilight, she works at the local library, is one of the most magical unicorns there is, and is a personal student of Princess Celestia.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Twilight said.

“Rainbow Dash is a loyal pony who works for the weather patrol.”

“And I’m the fastest flyer in all of Equestria.” She said boastfully.

I leaned down and whispered in his ear. “She’s also got a little bit of an ego.”

This made him snicker while Rainbow just looked at us curiously.

“Applejack’s one of the most hardworking and honest ponies in town, she also works at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“If you’ve eaten something with an apple in it, I’ve probably bucked from a tree myself.” She said proudly

“Very nice, also I like your hat.” He complimented.

Applejack tipped her hat in a way that said ‘thank you’.

“Rarity works at the Carousel Boutique as a fashion designer and is quite generous in a pinch.”

He looked curiously at her. “Really? You know miss Rarity, our jobs are quite similar.”

“And how so darling?” She asked.

“Well, both of us create something out of nothing with a sense of vision, aesthetic beauty as well as symbolic meaning ranging in several different colors and styles,”

Rarity looked surprised. “Oh my I never thought about it before. I think you and I are going to get along fabulously darling.”

“The final two are my daughter Screwball-”

Tilted looked confused. “She’s your daughter? But she looks nothing like you.”

“She gets it from her mother’s side.” Finally I pointed to Fluttershy. “And Fluttershy, she takes care of a lot of the animals you’ll see around town and she’s the kindest mare you’ll ever find with a heart of gold.”

After I mentioned her Tilted Easel couldn’t help but look at her.

“She is… wow.” He walked up to her. “Has anypony ever told you that you look magnificent?”

His comment seemed to make Fluttershy nervous because she hid behind her hair.

“Subtle Tilted, very subtle..” I thought.

“Oh my…” She poked her head out a little bit. “Do you really think so?”

“Of course, your hair is so smooth and straight and its color complements your light yet vibrant coat beautifully. Not to mention your shy nature, soft voice, beautiful turquoise eyes, have you ever considered becoming a model?”

“Um, actually I tried it once and it wasn't very nice. Everypony was looking at me and I had so much to do, I didn’t like it.”

“Well you simply must let me paint you some time; you would be perfect for it.”

“You really think so? I mean… I’ll do it if you want me to.” She said.

“It would be my honor and privilege if you would let me paint you.”

Now Fluttershy opened up to the idea. “Um…okay, that sounds nice.”

I interrupted. “Well now that that’s settled what do you say we eat? I’m pretty hungry myself.”

I snapped my fingers and all the food I had made previously that day floated onto the table.

“Will, this looks delicious.” Twilight complemented

“Thank you very much but it’s nothing special, I made a Caesar salad, eggplant parmesan, and some boiled carrots. Dig in everypony!”

Suddenly a ninja wearing a pirate’s hat and eye patch jumped out right behind me.

“Hiy-argh!” He cried.

“Watch out!” I said as I round house kicked him so hard he vanished into thin air. “So where were we?”

30 minutes later…

“Whew! I don’t know about you guys but I am stuffed.” I said.

“I’ll say, granny says I've got the hunger of a full grown stallion and that was enough for even ma appetite.”

I got up slowly, since I was very full. “Well now that we've eaten how about I give you the grand tour of the house?”

Tilted nodded and I led them down the halls of my home.

“Thanks to my magical powers I’ve been able to make this house much larger, filling it with several special rooms that switch positions depending on what’s needed. Currently I have several relaxation rooms, a swimming pool, bedrooms, alchemy lab, bathrooms and the culmination of all my magical talents.”

I pointed them to a solid white door. “This is my training room, a psychic hall that randomly changes size, environment, and the obstacles. One time you could be fighting a giant and the next it’s a pack of hell hounds.” I opened up the door for them to see. “On its normal setting it’s completely white for miles.”

“Um, actually I see a field.” Rainbow pointed out

“What?” I looked inside and saw there was in fact a field. “Oh great, that means the thing’s active and whatever’s inside could be very dangerous.” I snapped my fingers and a cutlass appeared in my hand. “I’d better check it out; this will only take a second.”

I walked into the room and the girls stood outside waiting. Through the door they could hear the sound of lasers, explosions, screams of pain, and buzzing. In mid-battle I stuck my head out to talk to them.

“Hey girls, so um this is going to take a little bit longer than I thought.” I said a bit sadly.

“Can we help you?” Twilight asked

“No I’m doing just fine.” I said. Suddenly, laser beams shot out of the door trying to hit me I turned around and started firing back. “Look there’s a room down the hall and two doors to your left, just play in there for a little while and I promise I’ll be there in like five, ten minutes tops.”

Reluctantly she nodded and I went back in to fight. They walked down the hall and opened the door and opened their mouths wide at what they saw. There were multi-colored balls and lanes everywhere, there were also flashing lights which designated this place as...

“A bowling alley? Sweet!” Rainbow said as she rushed to a lane. “Okay how are we going to do teams?” She asked

20 minutes later…

They games quickly got underway with the two teams being Pinkie, Tilted, Fluttershy, and Screwball on one while the rest were on the other. Fluttershy said that she wasn’t very good but Tilted insisted having her on their team. They were in the middle of their second game and things were getting heated.

“You think that he’s doing okay?” Twilight asked

“Of course darling, if he needed help he would have asked us right?” Rarity asked a little unsure.

“I guess, but he has been a little overconfident lately, he thinks he can do everything himself and loves to show off .”

“You mean like Rainbow Dash?” Applejack added.

The other girls snickered while Rainbow Dash got in her face. “Hey!”

“What? You know it’s true.” She said

It was now Applejacks turn, she set the ball on the ground and gave it a mighty kick sending the ball across the lane with lightning speed and getting a strike. Everypony cheered and congratulated her, so loudly in fact that they didn’t notice me walk in.

“Nice job AJ.” I said

Shocked they turned around and saw me.

“Willie, you’re back!” Pinkie cheered

“Yep, told you I could handle it. Hey, let me play on the winner’s side when this games over.” I laughed a bit but then there was a searing pain in my abdomen and I grabbed it, it hurt so much that I had to sit down in a nearby chair to endure it.

Fluttershy looked concerned and flew over to me. “Oh my, what happened to you?” She asked tenderly.

“Nothing much just a…ah! Little bit of a scratch.” I said with a brave face.

She stared at me. “It can’t be that little if you’re in this much pain, let me see it.”

“Alright.” I unzipped my sweatshirt and she could see there was a fairly large wound on my stomach, about the size of a softball, it didn’t go all the way through but it was pretty bloody.

“Oh my goodness! This is a pretty big wound.”

“Don’t worry, it feels worse than it looks. No wait, that’s a bad thing.” It was pretty bad. I couldn’t move my body very much and I felt a burning sensation go through my veins. “Ugh, Twilight can you get something for me?” I asked.

“What do you need?”

“I have an alchemy lab two doors down from here, go in it and get me a yellow spray bottle, okay?”

She nodded and ran out the room.

“Why couldn’t you just get it?” Fluttershy asked.

“I can’t get up and it…hurts to move my limbs.”

“Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine.” Fluttershy said, trying to calm me and make me feel better.

“I have to, there’s so much I have to look forward to. So many new faces to see both good and bad, so many battles left to fight, and the crowning of new royalty.”

Fluttershy was confused. “Huh? What new royalty?”

I smiled at her, I couldn't believe I had revealed that in my weakened state.“Spoilers.”

Twilight rushed back into the room with the spray bottle in her magic. “Here you go.”

She levitated me the bottle and I took it from her. “Thank you.” I aimed it over my wound and sprayed the yellow mixture, within a few seconds it started to do its job and my numbness went away as well as the boiling sensation. “Oh yeah that’s much better.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a roll of bandages and wrapped them around my wound.

“Wait, what was in that potion?” Twilight asked.

“I forgot what exactly I put in it but I've nicknamed it full heal, it sterilizes a wound and get rids of any problems caused by the wound like burns, freezing, poison, and paralysis.”

“Oh, well did you at least beat the thing in there?” Twilight asked curiously.

I sighed. “No, I couldn't beat it, it was too strong.”

“Well, maybe you should have let us help you. I know you think you’re incredibly powerful, and you are, but we’ve been able to beat menaces before with the power of friendship so this shouldn't be any different.”

I looked up at them at smiled. “You’re right Twilight, I shouldn't try to do everything myself. You guys are my friends and if I need help I know I can count on you and I hope you know you can count on me.”

“I know, we’re a team.”

Then we were all brought in for a group hug, which was a bit weird at first but it was a little bit nice, plus while we were hugging I had a great idea.

“Team…team, that’s it! Guys, I just thought of a way to beat this thing. Come on.”

I led them back down the hall and they followed behind me.

“Darling are you sure you’re up for this? You did just suffer an injury and had a battle.” Rarity said concerned

“Don’t worry about me; I know that if you six girls work with me we can beat this thing without much trouble.”

We stood in front of the training room door once again, we were about to go in but I felt something tugging at my sleeves, I looked down and saw Screwball tugging at them.

“Daddy, I want to come and watch you fight to.” She asked

“No it’s too dangerous in there for some filly as small as you. Even I had a hard time and I’m really strong so I want you to stay out here with Mister Easel and be safe, okay?”

She looked disappointed. “Okay.”

“Good, and because you’re being so good about this I’m going to do you a favor.”

I snapped my fingers and next to the door a window appeared showing a large field. “Here you go, now you can at least watch the fight from here.”

This brought her spirits up and she smiled at me.

“Alright girls, let’s go.”

I turned the knob and the door slowly opened to reveal a wide open field with the sun bright and high in the sky.

“Um, am I missin something? Where’s this bad fellar?” Applejack asked.

I held up one of my fingers. “Wait for it…”

Suddenly a giant humanoid bee monster jumped out of nowhere.

“Ah, I didn’t think you’d bee back here after your beating last time.” He said snidely.

“This time will be different Grumble Bee, I brought help.”

Rainbow looked at me curiously “Grumble Bee?”

“I needed to give him a name and that one just seems to fit him well.”

“Ha! Even with help you’ll never bee able to defeat me. Super stingers!”

He reached his arms out and a bunch of energy stingers shot out, hitting all of us and causing an explosion which knocked us to the ground.

“Ugh, you were right, he is tough.” Applejack said as she got up slowly.

“He managed to take us all out at once, how can we possibly beat him?” Rainbow added

“Because now I’ve got two things I didn’t before, you guys and these.”

I snapped my fingers and created a wrist device for everypony.

They looked at the things curiously. ‘What are these?” Rarity asked.

“Morphers, when activated they will transform your bodies giving you the power to fight this guy and take him down.”

“How do we work these things?” Rainbow Dash asked

“Just touch the sides to activate them and follow my lead.”

The group pressed the buttons on the side of the device and I pressed it on mine. Then I crossed my arms like a cross as the girls followed my example.

“Go go friendship force, ha!”

I thrust my arms backwards as the girls repeated and that activated the transformations.

Twilight felt energy rise from her hoofs upwards to the front half of her body creating part of the suit, then she back flipped which created the pants with her cutie mark on it, finally a helmet formed which had a bump in it to make space for her horn. She stretched one of front hooves in the air and posed.

“Red ranger ready!” She exclaimed. She sounded confident, a good quality in a leader.

The process repeated with the rest of the girls, first it was Rainbow dash whose costume had a space on the side to cover her wings while still allowing her to use them. “Blue ranger ready!” She said in her usual cocky attitude.

Next was Fluttershy which had the same wing space. “Green ranger ready, um…I think!” She said with some confidence and some shyness.

Next Applejack, I made sure that she’d still have her Stetson since it was iconic. “Yellow ranger ready!” She said.

Then there was Pinkie who for some reason still has her hair sticking out, I guess it wouldn't fit in the helmet and just found its way outside. “Pink ranger ready!” She said excitedly in a sing song voice.

Next was Rarity, who had the same basic design as Twilight’s just a different color. “White ranger ready!”

Finally it came to me, I raised my arm in the air and the energy traveled down my body giving me the same design but my emblem was on my chest and it was the triforce (I needed a symbol and that was the first one that came to mind) “Black ranger ready!” I said confidently

“Rangers together, friends forever!” We all shouted together, then we posed and there was an explosion behind us.

After that the gang took a better look at their suits and admired their design the pattern was one similar to the Mighty Morphing rangers with their class color and white pentagons across it, with a black visor in the helmet for them to see out of.

“Wow, so these suits are supposed to help us fight?” Twilight asked.

“Yep, they’ll increase your physical strength, speed, and agility to super levels. Now then…” We all got into a battle formation. “Let’s take him out.”

“Ha ha ha! I still can’t bee-lieve you think you can beat me. You should know that when you shake a bee’s nest they sting back. Drones!”

He summoned about two dozen smaller soldiers for us to fight.

Behind my helmet I was smirking confidently. “All right, I like these odds. Hya!”

With that we started running towards the soldiers and they ran towards us. Soon we collided and I couldn’t really make out how the rest of the girls were fighting because of the chaos but they seemed to be doing okay. I was surrounded by about five guards and they all attacked me at once, I blocked a few with my arms while kicking the others making sparks appear on their bodies, then I grabbed one of them by the arm spinning him into the others knocking them all to the ground, unfortunately they quickly hopped up back on their feet.

“Ugh these guys won’t stay down. How are you doing over there guys?” I shouted over the sounds of battle.

Twilight was holding a few of the soldiers back while blasting others with magic from her horn. “Not bad.”

“These creature’s sure are tough though, I wish we had a better way of beating them than just using our hooves.” Applejack added.

“Yeah, like some kind of weapons.”

“Weapons?” I thought, smacking my head as the realization hit me. “Of course! Every ranger always got some kind of weapon, why didn’t I think of that? Girls, heads up!”

I snapped my fingers and all of their morphers started to glow and gave them each a weapon.

Twilight’s weapon was a pair of purple boomerangs. She smirked and threw them knocking down several of the bee drones, and when one tried to attack her from behind the boomerangs teleported to behind the drone and knocked him upside the head, then they returned to Twilight’s hooves.

“Alright, magical boomerangs!”

Next Fluttershy got a long green staff with ivy wrapped around it. She held it in her hooves looking down at it curiously.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” She asked.

Unexpectedly two drones ran up to her screaming, this startled her and caused her to cower with the stick still in her hooves. When she ducked it accidently hit one of the drones in the face, as she turned around to see what happened it hit another guy.

“Oh, that was lucky. I think I’ll call you a shy staff.”

Applejack got a modified lasso with a large metal ball at one end, she swung it around like a normal lasso but it had so much force that it launched the drones very far back. At one point she wrapped one of them in the lasso, and then tossed him in the air and when it came down it had so much force it caused a shockwave knocking others to the ground.

“Very nice, an earth mover lasso.”

Pinkie got two hoof mounted party cannons which could shoot confetti with such force that it knocked them to the ground.

“All right, fun blasters!”

Rarity got a bow with jewel tipped arrows; they were so powerful by shooting one arrow she pierced through four drones causing them to explode.

“Well I think the proper name for this weapon would be a crystal bow.”

Rainbow waited for her weapon to appear but nothing happened.

“Hey, why don’t I get a weapon?” She asked.

“Listen to your heart Rainbow, and I don’t mean in a metaphorical sense I mean literally.” I shouted. I was running out of ideas for Rainbow Dash so I had to take some liberties.

She didn’t know what I was talking about until she could hear her heart beat growing faster and faster by the second, her hoofs got jittery and she felt the urge to move more than ever before so she just started flying. Her speed was incredible, she punched each drone furiously moving from one to the next so fast no one could keep track; she left a rainbow trail behind her and when she stopped she looked behind her and all the guys she punched exploded.

“Aw yeah, rainbow blitz.”

“Actually I was going to go with rainbow rush but yours works to.”

Finally it came to me and mine was my favorite. I clasped my hand together and a solid black sword started to appear from my hands.

“Chaos blade!” I exclaimed, slashing several of them in the chest quickly and having them fall to the ground. Then when I was surrounded I switched it up.

“Circle of blades mode!” The blade flew out of my hand and split into seven smaller short swords attacking all the guards at once causing them to fall to the floor defeated all at once. After they were done the blade flew back together and reformed in my hands.

“All right!” I cheered. All the girls ran up to me and we reformed our group.

“That was great Will.”

“Thanks girls, you all did a good job out there, but we've still got one more pest to deal with.”

We all stared at Grumble Bee who started to look a bit nervous.

“Oh no, um is it too late to bee friends?”

“Way too late.” I said flatly. I held up my sword in the air and started the finishing move.

“Gunblade mode!”Suddenly my sword turned into the gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII. “Girls, give me your energy!”

They all put a hoof on my shoulder and the sword began to glow, I pointed it at Grumble Bee and he just stood there frightened.

“Six color barrage! Time for some exterminating.” As the gun reached full capacity we all yelled “Fire!” and a Rainbow colored beam shot him, and passed right through him causing him to fall to the ground.

“AH! That really stings!”

As he fell to the ground we all turned around as he exploded behind us. When it was all done the girls were cheering and congratulating each other.

“That was awesome!” Rainbow said

“Yeah, I can’t believe we did it.” Pinkie said.

“Thank you guys, now that the boss has been defeated this room should return to normal.” I stated

I waited for a few seconds but the room stayed the same layout.

“Um Sugarcube, why isn’t the field gone yet?” Applejack asked.

I suddenly remembered that I forgot one important detail. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh, what do you mean uh oh?”

As soon as Applejack asked a giant form of the Grumble Bee started to rise from the ground

“You’re out of luck now rangers, now you’re really going to get bee-ten.”

Everypony looked on in horror at the new giant creature.

“What are we going to do now? We can’t beat that thing, it’s huge!” Twilight said scared and baffled.

I stayed determined. “Don’t worry girls, there’s still one feature left.” I pressed a few buttons on my wrist transformer and raised my arm in the air. “Summon megazords!”

The marks on the girls costumes started to glow and six giant robots began to descend from the sky landing right next to them, each one a giant copy of the pony that pilots it.

“These are your megazords: harmonic integrity, harmonic compassion, harmonic joy, harmonic benevolence, harmonic devotion, and harmonic mysticism. Each one is suited to your skills and can be easily controlled, just jump inside.”

They all nodded and jumped into the air and as they came down they landed in their respective zords. I however didn’t have one, it saves up some energy and I’d prefer to be in the cockpit helping them drive the thing.

Twilight examined the controls to the robot and was baffled at them. “How am I supposed to pilot this? These controls are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Time for you to bee crushed!” He screamed.

Grumble Bee brought his foot down in an attempt to crush Twilight, she panicked and pulled one of the levers and the robot dodged the attack rather gracefully.

“Hey, I did it!” She said gleefully.

I communicated to her over the com system in each robot. “Don’t worry Twilight, you don’t have to do this by yourself. You probably noticed these robots are a bit smaller than the bee yes?”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Applejack added.

“It’s because these robots were meant to fight as one being, everyone press the rainbow buttons on your machines and we’ll begin the final phase of this fight!”

Looking at my transformer I saw six different colored bars begin to light up showing that the robots were ready.

“All right, zords combine!”

All the robots flew into the air and began the transformation, Fluttershy’s and Rainbow’s robots bended their legs back and up to form the legs with their cutie marks forming a sort of knee guarder, Applejack and Rarity became the arms with hands and their cutie marks were on my forearm, Pinkie became the chest with her cutie mark in the middle, and Twilight became the head with her sparkle cutie mark acting like a facemask with her horn on top of the head. When it was all done I jumped into the cockpit and stood at the main control panel.

"Harmonic Megazord, ready!" We all shouted. At this point the robot stood about the same size as Grumble Bee if not a little bit taller. “Time for you to buzz off Grumble!” I yelled.

Two pairs of wings sprouted on our legs and we dashed forward, giving him a mighty punch in the stomach causing sparks on his body and knocking him back.

“Grgh! Super stingers!” He shouted launching the energy stingers at us.

“Rarity, now! I commanded.

“Right, power gem!”

The robots arm outstretched and she shot several energy crystals at him, they collided with the stingers blowing each other up in the process.

“Now let me show you a real cannon…” Pinkie said, a hatch opened on the chest revealing a large cannon. “Party uni-beam!”

A large energy beam shot out of the cannon and blasted the bee causing him to explode, but then he jumped out from the smoke and tried to come down on us. We blocked the attack with one arm but we were struggling to hold him back.

“Applejack, would you mind launching this guy?” I asked

She shook her head “Not a bit, earth force uppercut!”

Her arm glowed a little bit before it punched the bee so hard it launched him into the air really quickly.

“Alright time to finish this!” I pushed a few buttons to power up this thing’s finishing move. The girls followed suit and pulled a lever.

“Mega horn activate!”

The horn on our head began to glow and grew to three times its normal length with a sharpened tip.

“Here we go!”

We jumped up into the air with thrusters coming out of our legs, one rainbow flame and one pink flame. Then each cutie mark on our megazord began to glow and emanate energy.

“Friendship drill charger!”

The megazord began to spin in midair and the energy turned into a rainbow coned drill, soon we met the bee in midair and passed right through him causing some serious damage. As we landed on the ground, he fell closer and closer to the ground.

“AAAH! Looks like it’s time for me to bee gone.”

We turned around and posed as he exploded for the last time. Inside the cockpit we all cheered and rejoiced that the battle was finally over.

“Friendship rangers; victory is ours!” I said triumphantly.

After that was done we all jumped out of the megazord and landed back on the ground where all the grass was slowly disappearing and being replaced with solid white.

“Power down.” I said. Then everypony’s costume disappeared and went back into their morphers. “Great job guys, I couldn’t have…ugh…” Suddenly I felt all the energy leave my body and I fell on the ground, I was about to pass out but I focused my mind and stayed with it.

“Come on Will stay up, you can do this…” I slowly got up; mustering all the energy I had left. “Sorry, I used up a ton of energy doing all that stuff and my injuries are making it hard to stay up. Seriously I could probably power a small town with how much energy I used. I’m about ready to crash and sleep for a really long time but I still have a few things I need to do first so…”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a shot of soda, I quickly drank it and the buzz helped me stay awake.

Pinkie looked curiously at the substance. “Ooh, that looks good, could I…”

“No!” I said quickly “Pinkie this stuff has a lot of caffeine in it and I shudder to think what would happen if you had some of this stuff.”

I regained my composure. “Anyways, thank you guys again for your help, I couldn’t have done it without you even though you didn’t need to help me.”

Twilight smiled. “We’re friends, that’s just one of the things we do for each other, plus you’ve saved our flanks at least three times so I think we owed you.”

“Right, now let’s get everypony out of here so I can sleep.”

I escorted them out of the room and closed the door. When I was outside I saw Screwball and Tilted Easel staring at the window intently.

“Oh right, I let you guys see all that. So what did you guys think?”

Screwball was the first to respond by jumping towards me and giving me a big hug. “You were awesome in there daddy, you were all bzzt, brrgah, kaboom. And then you summoned the robot and it was like pew-pew, katuch, brshh.”

“So basically you like it?”

“Very much.”

I tussled her hair. “I’m glad, how about you Tilted? What did you think?”

“That was the single craziest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Do you do something like this every day?”

“No, yesterday I fought a shadow griffon and blasted it to pieces with an energy beam.” I said

“You have the craziest adventures my friend.”

“And it’ll get even crazier now that you’re here. Welcome to Ponyville friend, I hope you’ll stay here for a very long time.”

He nodded. Then Screwball gave a little yawn.

“Well it’s getting pretty late; I’d better put this little one to bed.” I picked her up and she clung to my shoulders like a cat. “In fact I think we all should get some sleep.”

“Yeah that sounds pretty good; I’ve got a ton to do tomorrow.” Rainbow said.

“Yep, and I’ve gotta be up early to help Big Mac with the apples.” Applejack added.

“Alright well I’ll let you get to your homes. Girls, if you could give me your morphers on the way out I’ll put them in the armory with the rest of my weapons for later use.”

As they walked passed me they all handed me their morphers and then I teleported them into my armory where I kept the rest of my weapons.

“I hope you had a good time Tilted, have a good night as well.”

“Right, I should get going. Have a good night everypony.” He gave a final look at Fluttershy. “Especially you miss Fluttershy.”

This made her blush from the attention as they all walked out.

“Was that…did he…nah.” I thought to myself as I carried Screwball to her room.

“Did you have a good night?” I asked

“Yes.” She replied.

“Do you think tomorrow will be even better?”

“Probably.”

“Me too.”

I walked into her room and set her down on her bed, tucking her underneath the covers and giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Good night Screwball.”

“Good night daddy, I love you.” She said sleepily.

“I love you too.” I said sweetly. Then I walked to my room and just flopped down on the bed, sleep overtaking me easily. The end of a great day, with another soon to come.

Author's Note

Yep, power rangers.

Nightmare saga: Dream bank heist

Chapter 12

I’ve had many strange dreams in my life, but the one I was having now was among the worst, I could only see flashes of a cohesive scene pass before me but I managed to piece together what was going on. I saw me, I was at Sugar Cube Corner and I was with Pinkie Pie, no pony else seemed to be there. I see her face was scrunched up like she was struggling, was she hurt? No we seem to be moving some big piece of furniture, a bed I think. We place it in her room; we have sweat on our faces, we’re both tired after carrying it up stairs and feel like napping. We both fall on the bed, Pinkie seems to be jumping up and down on the bed while I just lay there, she seems like she’s having a good time….maybe a little too much. Wait, what’s this, whipped cream? I wouldn’t put it past Pinkie to bring a dessert into her bed, geez there’s so much…wait.

All those events seemed to flash by in a second and I awoke slightly startled. I looked around the room realizing the events were a dream and was relieved…until I saw someone pitched a tent last night.

I got up out of bed and saw this bright orange foldable tent standing in the middle of my bedroom.

“What the heck is this doing here? I don’t remember pitching a tent last night.”

I folded it up and put in the plastic container it came in and then placed that container in my closet.

“Now what about that dream I had last night? I haven’t had ones like that since…oh no.”

I put on my clothes for the day and headed towards my VR room, it may be mostly for training but I can still reshape it with a single thought. I walked into the all-white room hoping it would help me find some answers since it was enchanted to do practically everything and anything I needed.

“Computer.” I addressed the room and it suddenly seemed to come to life, I could hear a buzzing sound and the walls seemed to glow a brighter white. “I need a medical examination, bring up a doctor with the holographic interface.”

I waited for a few seconds for the room to begin materializing a doctor type person, unfortunately when it was done it gave me Dr. Robotnik.

“Eh good try but I was actually looking for a medical doctor, not a mad scientist doctor. Try someone else.”

The image disappeared and a new one began to construct, it wasn’t until it was fully formed that I saw that the room had chosen David Tennant to be my doctor.

“Ah that’s much better, hello.” He waved at me.

“David, good to see you.” I said happily, I liked this doctor.

“Oh I’m not David, I’m just a picture to be used as an interface for the holographic image program, the room saw that you liked this image very much in your mind and since I technically am a doctor it seemed appropriate.”

I nodded my head, understanding the process. “Right well, I need a medical examination so could you do that for me please?”

“Of course, beginning bio scans, please hold still.”

I stood perfectly still and a light came down from the ceiling and I could feel it penetrating my body. It was over in about a minute.

“All right, tests are complete just give me a second to bring up your files.”

He swiped his hand and suddenly a kind of holographic board of information came up displaying some symbols I couldn’t make out (Man, I didn’t know that I could make something this complex with my magic I must be better at this than I thought, or at the very least crazier than I thought)

Finally he seemed to be done. “All right here are your results: you’re a pretty good height and weight for your age, you’re keeping your cholesterol down, your magical levels are fairly high but I suppose that’s to be expected from a draconequus.”

“Thanks doc but what about that dream I had last night?”

“Hmm.” He pondered, continuing to look at the data. “Ah here’s the problem.”

“What is it?”

“A few days ago when you ingested that aging potion your body aged 3 years faster than it normally would have. Your body was able to compensate because of its high magic capacities but your human mindset and physiology still had to catch up with it so that’s basically three years of hormones condensed all at once. To put it bluntly my friend you’re…backed up.”

“Ah.” I said picking up on his less than subtle metaphor.

“Yes, that explains an increase in aggression levels, craziness, competitiveness, and well… desires.”

“All right, thanks. See you later David, computer end program.”

He slowly began to disappear and I walked out of the room and walked down the hall.

“Alright, the doctor said that my hormones are a little out of whack. That’s it, nothing else, there’s no other possible reason for this right? Right?”

As I began to ponder over this something jumped out at me. “Arrgh!”

I was startled as Screwball jumped out of nowhere in a pirate costume with a wooden sword in her mouth. “Screwball, you scared me.”

She giggled. “That was the point silly; I was trying to scare you.”

“Oh well mission accomplished. But tell me, where did you find that pirate costume?”

“Oh, I looked in my closet this morning and I saw that it was filled with dresses and shoes and costumes, they looked really fun so I decided to try one on.”

“Hm, the house must have put a random selection of clothes in their based on what we like, I’d ask how it does that but you never look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially here where everyone is a horse.” “That sounds fair. You know I would look really cool as a pirate to.”

She looked at me suspiciously. “Riiiiiight…of course you would.”

“I would! Watch, I’m gonna go put on some pirate clothes, be right back.”

I ran into my room to get changed; I summoned a pirate shirt, hat, vest, pants, and boots. To go for extra authenticity I threw in a cutlass and two flintlock pistols. I looked at the gear I had laid out on the bed.

“Hm, these are all cool things but I still feel like I’m missing something. Something important, something a ton of pirates have.” Then I looked at both my hands and it hit me. “A hook for a hand! Of course, all the best pirates have hooks on at least one of their hands. I need to fix this.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a chair and a small wooden table, on which was a hook and a butcher’s knife. I sat down in the chair and picked up the knife.

“All right, this should be fairly simple just chop off my left hand and put a hook on there. If it doesn’t work I can probably just regenerate it right?”

I exhaled, took the knife in my right hand and prepared to do this. “Okay, 1…2…”

Before I could finish Luna burst into my room. “Will! Will! I have something very important to tell you and…are you trying to chop off your own hand?”

I looked nervously and stood up to face her, putting the hand with the knife behind my back. “Um…no. What do you want?” I asked pointing the hand with the knife at her accusingly, then putting it back behind my back after realizing what I was doing.

Luna dismissed the problem. “Look we have a problem. Last night I was out in the dreamscape, making sure that no ponies where in trouble and then I went to check on you and I came across…your dream.”

I could feel my face blush. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Luna giggled, but not in a funny way almost like a pity kind of way. “Don’t be like that; it’s perfectly natural and it happens to all of us at one point or another.”

“Ha ha ha, shut up. Anyways, is this going anywhere?” I asked a bit annoyed that she would barge into my house like this.

“Yes, you see there’s this place called the dream bank where we store certain good, bad, or helpful dreams for ponies that are incapable of dreaming. In your case I decided to…save it for later viewing but to do that I needed to fill out a form and…”

“And?”

“Instead of checking off save to file I may have it…send to party involved.”

I was confused. “I don’t understand, what’s the problem? I was in it, so it should come back to me.”

She paused a bit. “Not exactly. You see we have this system where if a dream was already sent from you so it can’t go back to you, it has to go to the other party involved, in this case…Pinkie Pie.”

Now I saw her error and I may have overreacted. “WHAT? Luna, do you have any idea what you’ve done? If Pinkie sees that dream she’s going to get confused, she’ll see me in a different light than before, this could possibly destroy our friendship!”

Luna looked at me with hurt in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

I exhaled, relieving my stress. I knew she didn’t do it on purpose and I suppose I would have to forgive her. “You know what we have to do know right?” I said

“Put down the knife, accept my apology, and pretend like this never happened?” Luna said with a nervous smile.

“Yes…what? No! I meant no! Well, maybe the first one.” I put the knife down on the table. “No, we need to break into the dream bank and take back my dream before Pinkie gets a hold of it.”

“We can’t just break into the dream factory, especially since I’m in charge of the factory and Celestia would kill me if something happened.” Luna said, not wanting to help me.

“Don’t worry Luna, if I’m careful we can sneak into the factory, take the dream, and get out before any pony even notices that it’s missing.”

Luna was still hesitant. “Eh, I still don’t know if this is the right thing to do.”

I started to lose my patience. “All right let me put it this way, if you don’t help me Luna I will come into your dreams and I will haunt you for the rest of your days.”

Luna shrugged off my threat. “Oh please, I’ve been around for much longer than you; I doubt that you could scare me.”

Suddenly, the lights in the room began to flicker in an erratic pattern, as if they were losing power. I decided to set the scene to demonstrate how serious I was.

“Poor choice of words Luna.”

As darkness filled the room I began a metamorphosis, not a quick transformation like before because I wanted Luna to really experience terror. I grew much larger than normal and began bloating up, my skin became pinkish and cracked, filled with multiple pours and tentacles. As the transformation finished the room was completely dark and all Luna could hear was some low groans from right in front of her. Quickly the lights turned on and I screamed a high pitch scream and revealed my most horrible form: the brood mother from Dragon Age Origins.

Luna was in absolute horror as she saw the beast in front of her. “AH! Oh gods it’s horrible, make it stop! Please, make it stop!”

As she cowered in a corner of the room with her hooves in front of her eyes I quickly changed back to normal, full on body transformations are fairly draining and I didn’t want to use up all my magic for the day. Luna peeked from behind her hooves and saw that I was back to normal.

“So will you help me now?” I asked

“Never… ever do that again and then yes, I will help you.”

I clapped my hands together. “Excellent.” I put one arm across my chest and bowed. “You have my word as a gentleman that I shall never take that form again.”

“I only hope so.” Luna shivered as she got up. “It will be no easy task to get to the dream factory; it literally exists inside the dreamscape so we have to travel there by falling asleep.”

“Well, that should be no trouble. I made my way into the dreamscape one I can do it again.”

Luna shook her head. “It’s not that simple, the dreamscape is huge and no pony stumbles across the factory by accident, you’ll need me to guide you there and the only way for that to happen is if our minds are joined together, and that only happens if we…sleep in roughly the same place at the same time.”

I felt my eyes widen a bit. “Oh, I see. Well I’ve got a fairly comfortable bed here and it’s more than big enough for two ponies, even larger ones like ourselves, so I think we should be fine.”

We walked over towards the bed.

“Alright how do you want to do this?” Luna asked.

“I think the rule is ladies first. So you get comfortable on one side of the bed and I’ll be on the other.”

She nodded and climbed in, choosing to lie down on her side. I got in next to her and lay on my back facing the celling. As we lay there Luna turned to face me.

“Doesn’t sleeping like that make you uncomfortable?” She asked

“No, we humans have much more flexible spines than horse so we can lie on our backs comfortably. Besides, this takes up less space than me on my side and I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Oh no I am quite comfortable, this bed is very soft.”

“Thank you, it’s filled with one half clouds and one half feathers so it’s very easy to fall asleep in. Now then, what happens after we fall asleep?”

“We should appear in roughly the same spot once we’re in the dreamscape. From there I can guide you to the dream factory; you’ll break in, grab the dream, and get out as fast as you can.”

“Alright, sleep well.” I turned off the lights and closed my eyes as I drifted off to sleep.

A few minutes later…

“Will…Will, wake up!”

I was jolted awake by Luna’s voice, I opened my eyes and I saw that I was surrounded by darkness again so I knew that I was in the dreamscape.

“Geez you’re a heavy sleeper, it took me around two minutes to get you awake.”

I got up from the ground and stood up. “Sorry, I’m a sound sleeper.” I looked down at myself and saw that I was still wearing clothes. “Why is it whenever I go into the dream world I’m always wearing clothes? Not that I’m complaining but it does seem a bit odd.”

“Well it’s because-“Luna thought about it for a second but couldn’t come up with an answer. “Huh, I honestly don’t know.”

“Never mind, how do we get to this dream factory?” I asked

“I don’t know exactly where it is because the dreamscape is so huge but I can point us in the right direction.”

Luna focused and her horn began to glow, she began pointing it in several directions like a metal detector. Eventually she stopped and pointed in one direction. “There, it’s that way.”

“Any idea how far it is?”

“Far, at least five miles.”

“That’s too far, we need some transportation.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a motorcycle and two helmets for us, Luna looked at the motorcycle with confusion.

“What?” I asked. “Oh right it’s too small for the two of us, I can fix that.”

I put my hand over it and the motorcycle started to glow, then it grew six feet longer.

“There that should be enough for the two of us.”

I put on my helmet then took my seat at the front of the bike, I saw Luna just standing there not knowing what to do.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s get going.”

“Sorry it’s just…I’m not quite sure how we’re supposed to ride this thing.”

“Oh for pete’s sake.” I didn’t feel like explaining anything to Luna so I just used my telekinesis to bring her to the bike and sit her in an upright position then put the helmet on her head.

I revved up the engine and we started racing forward in the direction Luna was pointing. Thankfully there were no other cars here so I didn’t have to be as careful driving as people normally would on a crowded road. While we were driving I looked behind me and saw that Luna was wobbling a bit, she was probably having a hard time not falling off at these high speeds.

“You could hold on to me if that’ll help you.” I told her.

Then I felt a pair of hooves wrap around my torso.

“Thank you.” I heard Luna say

“No problem, you’ve never ridden a vehicle like this one before so it’s only natural that you’d have some troubles.”

She nodded. “I’ve never seen something like this before.”

“Humans are much more advanced than ponies, and to compensate for our lack of magic and flight we’ve invented devices that make life easier. We used metal and fossil fuels to create things that allow us to travel from one point to another faster than walking like this motorcycle, it’s fast, light weight, and highly maneuverable.”

“My word, it would take us decades to invent something like this.”

“Maybe longer than that, from what I’ve seen you ponies never really had to adapt. Once you were set on one way of life you stuck to it whereas humans needed to constantly change and evolve to our environments. Although you must have some kind of technological advancements I mean you do have that television and the Xbox.”

“Uhm, yes that…”

Something about her answer felt odd; like she was hiding something from me I need to look into that. Suddenly she looked much more alert like she was surprised.

“What is it?” I asked

“Were coming up on the dream bank, it should be just ahead.”

As we kept going I could see the factory from a distance away and it was getting closer, it was a fairly big building but I didn’t think I could just walk in the front door. Then I saw there was a large roof as well and I knew how to get us inside stealthily.

“Alright, Luna I have a plan to get us inside but when I say so I need you to spread your wings and fly.”

“What?” She asked

“Hold on!” I revved the bike up to maximum speed and snapped my fingers to summon a ramp down the way.

“Is that a ramp?” Luna asked nervously.

“Yep, say weeeeeeeeee”

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!” Luna screamed as we reached the ramp and we flew into the air flying at great neck speeds. As we reached our peak height I dissipated the motorcycle and we both spread our wings gliding onto the top of the roof and landing with a small thud.

“I told you I could get us there quickly.” I spoke to Luna, however I couldn’t see her. I turned around and saw that she was still shaking and latching on to me for dear life. “You can let go now Luna, we’ve come to a complete stop.”

“Huh? Oh right, right.” She realized we were on the roof and let go of me, brushing it off like it was nothing. “So, what do we do know?”

“Well now that we’re on the roof I’ll just punch my way through it and we’ll be inside.”

I punched the roof but instead of it breaking I felt a very bad and stinging pain.

“Ow!” I shook my hand in the air to dull the pain. “What is this thing made of?”

“Stone mostly.”

"Hm, note to self: Need to increase strength of punches." I thought to myself.

I snapped my fingers and summoned a small laser pen. “Well, because this roof hurt my hand it’s going to get lasered.”

I used the laser to make a fairly big hole in the roof, big enough for the both of us to slip through easily, as I finished making the hole the large block of stone I cut out fell to the floor but before it could hit it I grabbed it with my telekinesis and brought it back up here.

“There we are, don’t want that getting us caught. Let’s go.”

We both jumped into the hole and landed on the ground silently.

“Wow this place has surprisingly low security.” I said, surprised something hadn’t happened yet.

“Well yeah, I mean who would want to rob a dream bank?” Luna asked.

“Us apparently.”

“Oh right.”

The room was filled with rows upon rows of bottles stacked upon shelves; I’m guessing that inside those bottles are the dreams.

“Alright we’ve just have to find my dream, should be easy enough.”

I picked up one of the bottles and looked inside, I saw a green pegasus swimming with dolphins in the ocean. “Ah! Not this one.”

I picked up another one and was treated to a dream about frosting. “Not this one either.”

“You know there are labels on these right?” Luna said matter of factly.

I didn’t realize this. “Well I…I can’t be fucked to ‘read’ right now Luna, there’s no time.”

“If you say so.” Then she wandered off to go look through more of the bottles.

I kept looking through all of the bottles in the room until I came across one with a very special label that read “Lulamoon, Trixie”

“Trixie’s dreams eh? My brain has just hatched a devious idea.”

As I was plotting Luna came back having found the right bottle. “Will, I found it and…oh sister, what are you doing with that?”

“Luna, how mad do you think someone would be if they wanted a dream and they ended up with one of my horrible nightmares?” I laughed a bit to myself about the whole situation. “I have to do this man, it’s too funny.”

She looked at me with a sense of disdain. “Yes Will you’re a riot, go ahead and ruin someone’s good night sleep.”

I pointed at her. “That’s the plan, just give me like three minutes to step into this closet and cook up a good nightmare.”

Now she had a look of disbelief. “What? Seriously, three minutes to fall asleep?”

“It’s still the middle of the day it takes a little bit longer for me to fall asleep at that time. Now shut up and watch the door while I head into this broom closet.”

I walked into the closet and propped myself up ready to take a nap.

“Ugh I can’t believe I’m guarding a door while you’re having a nap behind me.”

“Yeah Luna, I was really hoping to break into a dream bank today, get some perspective.”

As Luna was watching the door she could hear a guard coming by and he took notice of her presence. “Freeze!”

“Oh no.” She thought to herself, worried she had been caught

“You think you can just walk in here and make off with all the dreams tough guy? Well you just…” the guard shined his flashlight on Luna and immediately recognized who she was. “Oh your highness, I’m terribly sorry for yelling at you like that.”

Luna sighed with relief. “It’s quite alright you were just doing your job and I’m doing mine. Just checking up on the dreams and making sure that they…smell nice.”

I walked out of the closet not knowing what was going on. “Okay I’m done-wait what the hell? Why weren’t you watching the door?”

“What were you doing in that closet?” The guard asked me.

“Why don’t you mind your own business?” I replied snappily

“Protecting the dreams is my business!”

“Ugh fine buddy you got me, take it.” I threw him the bottle with the nightmare in it and he caught it with his hooves. As he opened the bottle to examine it I got close to Luna and whispered “Hold on” in her ear. Then I grabbed her and snapped my fingers, teleporting us away from here and back to where we had begun.

As the guard looked into the jar he saw the most horrible nightmare I could concoct, filled with gore, death, plagues, skin being torn from bodies, and death all around. He screamed as he saw it and fell to the ground.

“You two are in-” He looked up and saw that we were gone. “Oh shit.”

When we reappeared back at the spot we began at we cheered for ourselves.

“Ha ha yes! I can’t believe we pulled that off!” I said joyously.

“We my friend just robbed a dream bank!” Luna said, probably happy that we didn’t get caught

“Ain’t nothing that gets between us and dreams. Woo!”

“They thought they could keep their dreams from us? Ha, guess again.”

“Yeah, we just…we just broke into a building to steal…dreams. Wow I could have gotten arrested for that, didn't even consider it.” I said, realizing that I just sort of rushed into something without really thinking about it. (A theme that will occur constantly as my adventure continues)

Luna laughed. “Don’t worry, you’d only be in the dungeon for about a year if you got caught, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to how long you could be in there. Besides I could have arrested you at any time back there but I didn’t because this kind of was my fault and I felt bad. And…”

She stopped in mid-sentence. “And?”

“That was one of the most exhilarating things I've done in a while.” She said honestly

“Ha, yep nothing like a little thievery to get your blood pumping.”

“Indeed, and now that that’s done you can have your dream back.” She tossed me the bottle and I put it in my pocket. “Well while this has been fun I’d better get back to Canterlot, my sister will begin to question where I am.”

Luna closer her eyes trying to wake up but when she tried she couldn't do it.

“Why can’t I wake up?” She questioned

I raised my hand. “That would be my fault.”

She looked at me seriously. “What did you do?”

“Before we came in here you said that our minds needed to be joined together, to sync up as it were. Well, if two minds were working together in one body then that means you can’t move one leg unless both of them want to do it. In other words, you’re stuck here because I’m forcing you to stay here.”

“What? Why would you do that?” She asked

“Because of your nightmares Luna, you've been having them for over a week now and whenever I try to talk to you about them you change the subject on me. So when you said we needed to bring our minds together I forged a plan to make you tell me so I can help you.”

Now Luna looked hurt. “Why would you do this to me? Don’t you think that maybe if I kept changing the subject that meant I didn't want to talk about this?”

I sighed; I knew this was going to be tough. “Luna, that’s the whole reason I’m trying to do this, by refusing to talk to me you’re refusing to help yourself. You need someone to talk to and I want to be that person no matter what.”

She wouldn't look at me. “You don’t understand, this is too personal. I don’t think I can talk about it with you.”

Man she was stubborn, I couldn't find a way to get her to tell me what was plaguing her…unless…

“Tell you what, how about we make a deal?”

This got her interests. “Hm? What kind of deal?”

“You said you haven’t told anypony what your nightmares are about right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Well then, if I tell you something about me that I've never told anypony before will you tell me what your nightmares are about?”

Luna considered it. “We shall see, first tell me your secret.”

“All right here we go.” I walked right up to her. “Before I do this I need you to keep an open mind because this may come as shocking.”

She nodded “I understand.”

“Here we go.” I opened my mouth wide enough that Luna could see my teeth.

“I-I don’t get it, all I’m looking at is your teeth and…” Then she looked closer and saw what I wanted to show her. “Oh my god, you have canines!”

“Yes Luna, I have canines and that means I’m a meat eater, in fact practically all humans eat meat. But before you freak out on me let me just say two things: one, I’ve been trying to cut back on the amount of meat I eat, I still need a little bit in my diet to keep me healthy but I barely if ever eat it now. Two, I would never kill an animal for its meat and I have never eaten horse nor would I even consider doing it.”

I looked at her and she seemed to have zoned out. “Are you okay?”

“Yes I am, it’s just… a bit much to take in.” She said, wrapped in thought.

“Do you feel any differently about me?”

“Other than I know this now…no.”

I smiled at her. “See? I trusted you with this information and you treated it very well, sometime it pays to tell things to people you trust because they can help you. Now Luna, do you trust me?”

“Okay…I’ll trust you.”

She closed her eyes and her mane began to flare up and energy began to pulse from her body. Then she opened her eyes and they glowed white. Soon the blackness around us began to fill up with color and shapes and I began to see a forest.

“For the past ten days I’ve been having nightmares, most of them are always the same: I see me in a forest from a first person perspective, I seem to be walking around aimlessly and whenever I come across something like an animal or a pony they seem to cower in fear of me and then they disappear or just walk away.”

I listened to her nightmare and made an analysis. “This could be stemming from your hatred of yourself for the thousand years that you were Nightmare Moon or because you think no one would want to be around you because of your intimidating stature.”

“For some reason even though these dreams don’t sound scary I always felt a sense of dread, like there was something dark here. This was the norm until about a week ago, now in my dreams I felt like I was taking them in the dead of night. Then at one point I even took a baby and then…”

“Then what?”

“I felt pain, lots of pain, faster than I could keep up with. At the end of it all I saw a blinding light and when I finally got a look at what was causing it I saw…you.”

I was shocked. “Me?”

“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid that you would hate me because I thought you were a monster who would harm me.”

I moved in closer to console her. “Luna I’m not mad at you, everypony has nightmares, even you. I’ll admit I’m a little bit hurt that you thought I would…” Then something hit me. “Wait, you said you abducted a baby and then I killed you?”

“Yes.”

Now I was very shocked. “Luna…that actually happened.”

“What?”

“A few days ago Screwball got turned into a baby and then she was abducted by this shadow griffon creature and I killed it with my energy attacks.”

“That sounds awful, I hope she was okay.”

“Don’t worry Screwball didn't end up any worse for wear but why would you be having dreams about something that happened to someone else? Luna, have you had any more like this?”

“Yes…last night I was in this sort of swampy place and I saw a blue thing with spikes that stood on two legs, then I saw Twilight’s friend Rainbow Dash, and then there was this blinding light and an explosion and then I woke up.”

I thought about everything she said. “Luna, that happened to me yesterday, you’re having visions of my past.”

“But why? Why am I having these visions and these horrible feelings of pain and sorrow?” Luna said, sounding very sad

“I don’t know, I don’t understand magic very well but what I do know is that you shouldn’t feel this way.”

Now she looked at me perplexed. “Why?”

“Are you still evil now?” I asked

“No.”

“Did you pay for your mistakes while you were on the moon for a thousand years?”

"Yes.”

“Have you learned from your mistakes and devoted yourself to being a better pony?”

Now she looked happier. “Yes.”

“Then you shouldn't feel this way Luna, you deserve to be happy. A thousand years alone is more pain than anypony should have to endure and now that it's behind you you shouldn't remember that it happened, instead remember why it happened and I know you'll be on the right track.”

This made her smile; suddenly the landscape around us began to crack apart. “What’s happening?” I asked

“We’re waking up, you solved your problem and subconsciously took down the mental barrier that was keeping us both in here.” Luna explained

“So I guess our dream time is over then?”

She nodded. “Yes but I will remember what you did for me Will, thank you.”

I gave a small bow. “You’re welcome Luna, and I had a really fun time with you as well.”

The land completely disappeared and I could feel myself going back to my body. Pretty soon I found myself awake and back in my own bed, I rolled over and saw that Luna was still somewhat asleep and struggling to get up.

“Aw, that’s like me every morning, not wanting to get up.”

She stretched her hooves in the air and sat up from the bed, and then she slowly opened her eyes and saw that I was looking at her.

“Were you staring at me?” Luna said.

“Oh crap was I? I didn’t mean to, I’d better apologize.” “Sorry Luna I didn’t mean to stare at you, it’s not every day that someone wakes up to find a princess in their bed.”

She laughed. “True, true.” She removed the covers and got up from the bed. “I’d better get back to Canterlot; my sister has probably noticed that I’m missing by now.”

I got up from the bed as well. “No need, I’ll teleport you there.”

“That would be very kind of you Will, I appreciate it.”

“No problem, now hold still.”

I held up my hands and blue energy began to build around them, once it was large enough I shot it at Luna and it began to envelop her.

“Sorry, I’ve never tried teleporting someone else before so I chose a slower and more careful method just so you don’t end up with an extra anything on the other end.”

The energy finished building up and a portal appeared behind her and she began to go into it slowly.

“Oh one more thing before you go, catch.” I threw her the bottle with the dream in it and she caught it with her magic.

“Your dream bottle?” Luna asked

“I want you to have it, you helped me a lot today to get it back and you deserve to keep it.”

“You do realize what’s inside of it right?”

“Yeah I have a pretty good idea and all I ask is that you are responsible with it, plus if absolutely necessary you could use it as blackmail material.”

Before she disappeared I saw a great big smile on her face as she took the bottle with her. I was glad for her, this was the happiest I had seen her in a while, even happier than when we play games together. Then another thought came to me.

“Did I do the right thing there? Do I really trust Luna so much that I’d give her one of my most embarrassing items even after only knowing her a little while? Did I really have that dream on purpose? Do I really feel that?”

Before I could think about it any further I heard knocking at my door. I went to open it and saw Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Will, I’ve got about forty minutes before I have to be somewhere and I was wondering if maybe I could get some training in.”

“Yeah sure, come on in.”

I don’t even remember much of what I taught her that day, I was too preoccupied with my own worries. I had a lot to think about and soon things would only get more hectic.

Author's Note

And that wraps up that. I hope you guys enjoyed that and I hope that you favorite, like, and comment on this story.

Also, I have a bit of sad news. You see I wrote these last few chapters ahead of time before I published the story so that I could get them out at a quick pace. Now i'm all caught up and I have to write all these new chapters from scratch. As such the time between chapters will be extended from 1 week to 2 weeks- a month. It may be a while but I promise that it will be worth it because next time the Nightmare Saga is in full swing and you will get answers about the events that have been going on.

Goodbye friends, and if you read on any other site i'll have you killed.

Nightmare Saga: Nightmare night

Chapter 13

It’s been a few weeks since the dream bank incident and at this point I was starting to get worried, I had been seeing Luna less and less both in real life and in my dreams. She always said that she was too busy to hang out and even in my dreams she remained elusive, I couldn’t find her for the life of me.

It wasn’t all bad though, it gave me some time to focus on my friends here in Ponyville and find out what they were doing. One day I was in the library reading some of twilight’s tomes on magic seeing if there were any abilities here I could learn and use for myself, most of it I already knew. There was really no pony else here, even Twilight was out doing who knows what, so it was just me and Spike in awkward silence.

While I was reading I heard the bell on the door ring and instinctively looked up to see who it was. It was Twilight, she came in and then went to her desk and wrote something down on a scroll. I couldn’t read it from the position where I was sitting but knowing her it’s probably something important.

She finished it, rolled it up, and walked over to Spike, dropping the scroll into his claws. “Here Spike, could you send this to the princess for me please?”

“Why?” He asked; I was curious as well.

“Well, I was just talking to Rarity and she said that she’s planning a trip to Canterlot soon. I know that it’s a bit hectic around this time so I thought I’d ask the princess could maybe lend her a place to stay for a day or two.”

Once I heard it was headed for the princess I decided I would take it there myself, any excuse to talk to Luna and find out what was wrong. I put my book down, got up from my chair, and got Twilight’s attention.

“Actually Twilight if you want I could take that to Canterlot for you myself.” I said, nicely.

“Oh that’s alright Will I can see you’re in the middle of a good book and I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

“No I insist, it would be my pleasure as a good friend to teleport that scroll for you personally.”

Again she dismissed my offer. “No really it’s okay, besides I know that a teleportation spell of that distance could be very draining.”

Alright, time for a different approach. I levitated the book I was reading from the table and I put it in a random shelve in the library. This irritated Twilight and she dropped what she was doing to go put it back.

“What are you doing? You put a reference book in the non-fiction section; do you know how aggravating that is?”

Thank you ADD, while Twilight had her back turned I took the scroll from Spike. “I got that for you little buddy.” I snapped my fingers and teleported out of the tree house and to Canterlot.

Meanwhile in Canterlot, Celestia was just sitting atop her throne bored out of her mind with nothing to do. Then with a small popping sound I appeared in the middle of the room unexpectedly.

“Hi princess!” I said as disruptively as possible.

“Ah!” My appearance shocked her and she shook a bit in her throne until she gained her composure. “Don’t scare me like that Will, can’t you enter the room like a normal person?”

“Hm.” I thought about it for a moment. “Nope. Anyways, I come bearing a message.”

“What is it?”

I tossed her the scroll and she caught it with her magic. “It’s a scroll from Twilight, I think she wants something.”

Celestia quickly read through it and put it next to the throne. With my mission completed it was time to activate my evil ulterior motive.

“So, how are things?” I asked

“Fine, thank you.”

Not the answer I wanted to hear. “Oh, alright…well, there’s nothing else for me to do here. Guess I’ll just head home.”

I started to walk out of the room slowly, intentionally giving Celestia time to think

“Come on Celestia, please have something for me, please have something for me…”

“Wait!” She said. “There is something that’s been happening.”

I smirked. “Excellent…” I turned around to face her. “What’s the problem?”

“As of late my sister has been a bit…anti-social.”

“Well that seems normal for her; I mean she doesn’t really get out of the castle a lot.”

Celestia nodded. “This is true but now it’s gotten worse. She hasn’t talked to anyone or come out of her room in a few days; I fear that she’s upset and I know that you two are good friends so I was wondering if you could talk to her.”

I nodded and gave a smile. “I’d be more than happy to do that for you.”

I levitated off the floor and then floated up to the ceiling and phased right through it. As I phased through I could see into Luna’s room and she was lying on her bed with her back to me. I finished phasing through the floor and landed on the ground.

“Hey Luna, what’s the good word?”

She still wouldn’t look at me.

“Oh come on, I phase through your floor and you don’t even glance at me? That’s hurtful.”

Still nothing, she was still laying on her bed looking out the window absent mindedly.

“Come on, what’s wrong? Is it the great equestrian holiday: Luna be a grump day? Here, let me check my calendar.”

I snapped my fingers and a calendar appeared with me as Mr. October, I was wearing a sweater and playing in a pile of leaves. I checked today's date.

“Nope it’s not Luna be a grump day, which is good because if it was I’d look pretty foolish without some decorations on my home.” I continued searching the calendar and saw something interesting. “But look, Nightmare Night is next week.”

“I know.” She said, that seemed to get her attention. “That’s what has me in a…less than pleasant mood.”

“I can’t imagine why.” I said nonchalantly

Now she raised her head and looked at me, her eyes seemed distant to me, like she was here and yet she had so much else on her mind.

“Why? WHY!?! Do you know what this feels like? To know that there was a holiday created solely because ponies feared me and my evil.” She slumps back onto the bed. “And to think, I used to wonder why ponies do not wish to interact with us.”

Now that I heard it out of her mouth it all made sense, it explains why she was never around in the first season. She felt rejected and alone, pony’s fears of her did not go away even after she returned from the moon. More so is that she didn’t forgive herself because of all these constant reminders of her evil. I needed to help her.

I walked up and sat next to her on her bed, I put my hand on her shoulder. “Luna, I don’t know if this will make you feel any better but after a while holidays begin to lose their roots. I don’t know if you’ve seen what Nightmare Night is about but it’s pretty far from its origins. What started out as a ceremony created in fear of you has become a time of celebration. Ponies come out dressed in costumes, scaring each other, playing games, and eating many sugary treats and candies, it isn’t about fear anymore it’s about fun!”

She still seemed hesitant. “I don’t know.”

“Luna one more thing you need to remember; you keep saying ‘me’ and ‘my evil’ when in fact it wasn’t you at all. That was the darkest part of your personality and it’s gone now, you’ve changed and I’ve seen it for myself.”

“You say that, but I know ponies still hate me for what I’ve done.”

“Luna that was a thousand years ago, I think you’d be hard pressed to actually find somepony who actually remembers what happened that day other than your sister. The only reason ponies are scared now is because they’ve heard ghost stories about you, but I bet as soon as they get to know the real you they’ll realize that’s all they were, just stories.”

“Still, I don’t think that I could come to your Nightmare Night festival, I think ponies would be too frightened of me for me to have fun.”

I needed to get her out of the castle; it’s the only way for “Luna Eclipsed” to take place. Then I thought of something, it was staring me in the face the whole time.

“Come with me.”

Luna looked at me confused. “What?”

“Well you say that ponies will be afraid of you because you were Nightmare Moon, so they need to get to know you. To do that they have to trust you, so maybe it would help if you were seen with someone trustworthy, someone who the ponies know, maybe even someone who helped save their town once or twice.”

Now Luna caught on to what I was saying. “Are you asking to escort me to the Nightmare Night festival?”

I put one arm in front of me and did my best old butler voice. “Yes, if it pleases her majesty I shall escort you to this soirée.”

She laughed at my impression. “Alright, with you there perhaps it shall not be bad. So Will, would you like to escort me to the festival?”

I put my hand to my chin in a philosopher style. “Hm, I don’t know let me check my schedule.” I pulled out a small booklet and flipped through it for a second. “I think I can just squeeze you in.”

Now Luna gave me a glare of amusement. “Well I’m glad to see that I can fit in to your apparently tight schedule.”

“Yep, it was a bit difficult but-Oh no!”

“What is it?” Luna asked

“I don’t have a costume for the festival, and it’s in a few days!”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a small folding wall with a ton of costumes behind it; you know those little changing walls that you see in movies or dressing room? It’s that one.

“Why are you worried? You have dozens of costumes literally at your fingertips.”

“Exactly, that’s the problem. I have so many to choose from it’s going to be too hard to narrow it down to just one.”

I began to rummage through my costumes until I found one that I liked. I went behind the panel and came out dressed as Megaman X; I pointed the buster out for effect.

“Who’s that?” Luna asked

I looked at her a bit disappointed. “I seriously need to get you some new games to expand your library, this costume won’t work anyway it’s too metal and clunky.”

I went back behind the panel and came out dressed as a clown. “Nah, this is too funny.”

Back behind the panel. This time I came out dressed as Peter Griffon from Family Guy “Eh, I don’t know I mean this used to be funny but not really anymore.”

I took off the costume and put on my original outfit, after getting back behind the panel I had finally found the perfect costume. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of this earlier? It’s the perfect costume both visually and in the spirit of Nightmare Night! I’m a genius!”

Luna cleared her throat to get my attention, I looked at her. “Yes, it’s great that you’ve found a costume for yourself but what about me? Don’t I need a costume as well?”

“You’re right, hold on a second.” I rummaged through my costume box until I found what I was looking for, the black cape. I threw it towards her and it hit her in the face. “There you go.”

She picked it up in her magic and examined it. “A cloak? Really?”

“What? It’s black, cool, mysterious enough so that if you wear the hood over your face no pony will know who you are, and it’s got one really cool feature.”

“What’s that?”

“Put it on and see for yourself.”

She swished the cloak over her body, it fit her nicely and the hood was big enough to obscure her muzzle.

“Now what?”

“Watch what happens when I surround it with magic.”

I pointed my fingers at the cape and surrounded it in a magical barrier. Then the cape separated into a colony of bats and swarmed around Luna’s face for a moment, she slapped them out of fear until they flew over and clustered near my hands.

“It turns into a swarm of bats! Isn’t that cool?” I said enthusiasticly.

“No!” Luna screamed. “I mean yes but it isn’t cool when it’s attacking me.”

I laughed a bit. “Don’t worry, they aren’t real they’re just pieces of cloth filled with magic that take the shape of bats and fly around wherever the caster directs them. I’ll put them back for you.”

I pointed my fingers at Luna and the bats swarmed her again but this time they formed the cloak around her again.

“All you need to do is surround the cloak in your magic and you’ll be able to control the swarm however you want.”

“Very well, I shall see you before the festival then?” Luna asked

“Yes, I’ll come here to the castle and then we can go together and make an entrance. Trust me Luna; in a few days you’re going to have a lot of fun.”

A few days later…

This time instead of the throne room I teleported myself to the front of the castle and walked through the front door. As I did I was greeted by two guards.

“Are you the one who’s here to see Princess Luna?” One of them asked

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Follow us.”

They led me through the castle’s hallways and eventually led me to large pair of doors; I knew it wasn’t Luna’s room because the doors didn’t look right so where did they take me? I opened the door and was greeted by Luna standing next to a black metal carriage with a gothic design pulled by two pony guards with black bat wings and armor.

“Glad to see you’re on time Will.”

“Luna, what’s this?” I asked pointing at the chariot.

“You said we were going to make an entrance, so I asked two guards to escort us.”

“Um Luna I don’t mean to be a downer or anything, but if our goal is to make you less feared than…” I was about to finish my thought until I laid eyes on the guards who were pulling it, I had only seen them once before and seeing them up close was pretty cool. “Ooh, you got the different guards to pull the carriage.”

“Actually sir we’re thestrals, though most just call us bat ponies because of our wings and eyes and the fact that we mostly live in caves and only come out at night.” One of them spoke.

I had a whimsical smile on my face, I loved these guys. “Well in my opinion you are very cool and are perfect fit to serve the princess of the night.”

This made him happy as he smiled at me and nodded his head. “Thank you sir, it’s nice to hear that others respect our abilities. Now, will you be going soon?”

“Yes.” I said, hoping on to the carriage. “Let us take the night while it is young, are you ready to go Luna? Do you have your costume?”

She nodded and put on her cloak. “Do you have yours?”

“Indeed, hold on.”

I snapped my fingers and turned myself into a scarecrow that stood in place on the carriage.

Luna looked at me questioning my decision “A scarecrow, really?”

“Trust me; this scarecrow has a few surprises up its sleeves. Now hop on and let’s get going to the party.”

Luna also stepped onto the carriage and within a minute or two the guards had taken off and we were soaring through the sky.

“Hey you wouldn’t happen to know any igniting spells, like for a torch or something, would you?” I asked Luna

She looked at me curiously. “No…why?”

“I sort of need it for my costume to complete the ensemble but that can wait until later.”

“You won’t have to wait very long you two, should only be about a half an hour flight from here to Ponyville.” One of the guards said.

“Oh good, cause I had this great idea that might add to our entrance…” I began to tell Luna about how we could make this entrance very cool as we continued to fly to town.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville…

Nightmare Night was in full swing, ponies were out, good times were being had, and there was candy a plenty to satisfy every pony’s sweet tooth. We were not very far now, I could see Ponyville was just over a hill.

“We’re almost there, are you ready Luna?”

She nodded, and we used our magic’s together to part the clouds that floated above town, the thestral were able to cause a great breeze with the flaps of their wings and excite the clouds so that they created some thunder and lightning. Ponies noticed this and most looked up in shock and fear, once we were directly over the town Luna jumped from the carriage, while carrying me in her magic, and glided safely to the ground and set me down. She rose up her hood, and the drama was aided with a few well timed lightning bolts.

“All right, this is going well so far. Once ponies see that she isn’t going to try and destroy them everything should be smooth sailing.” I thought, hoping this plan would work.

When every pony realized that it was Luna they immediately bowed at her feet, then she did the trick I showed her turning the cape into bats.

“Okay this is really cool; I think we’ll be…”

“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!” She screamed in her loud voice.

I mentally face palmed. “Oh yeah, I forgot about her royal Canterlot voice.”

“WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE SO THAT YOU MAY BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!” She boomed, making my ear drums ring even though I was behind her. “A CREATURE OF NIGHTMARE NO LONGER BUT INSTEAD A PONY WHO DESIRES YOUR LOVE AND ADMIRATION! TOGETHER WE SHALL CHANGE THIS FESTIVAL INTO A BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS FEAST!”

I saw that a lot of the ponies started to back away out of fear; Luna noticed it to and looked back at me knowing that it was time to make the move.

“WE HAVE ALSO BROUGHT A FRIEND WITH US TO SHARE IN THESE REVELRIES!” She used her magic and brought my scarecrow form forward. “DOES ANYPONY HAVE A TORCH THAT WE MAY BORROW?” She asked

Quickly somepony rushed up with a lit torch, handed it to the princess, and rushed back to where she was standing.

“THANK YOU, WE APPRECIATE YOUR KINDNESS!”

She brought the torch near my body and I grabbed it from her and broke free from the post that I was supported on.

The ponies looked shocked when they found out that I wasn’t a regular scarecrow, they were even more afraid when I swallowed the torch and my whole body set itself on fire. I cackled evilly as I shambled around, waving my flaming arms at ponies making them flinch in terror.

Finally to finish my performance I somersaulted into the air, did a few flips and then landed in the bucket they used to bob for apples. I sank completely to the bottom and then slowly rose up revealing my true costume, a skin tight black and white pinstripe suit with a bat bow-tie, and I replaced my hands and head with bone hands and a skull. I was the king of Halloween; I was Jack the Pumpkin King.

Once my transformation was finished I somersaulted back out of the bucket and landed right next to Luna. During that time Twilight had gotten up from her bow, and walked towards the two of us, showing no fear (which is good for her)

“Princess Luna, it’s so good to see you here!” She then looked at me curiously. “Will? Is that you under there?”

“Were you expecting someone else?” I replied, and then I stepped forward to address the crowd again, but this time with a bit more diplomacy. “Mares and stallions, though I may look strange you should know that I am no stranger, I am Bedlam.”

When they realized they had nothing to fear from me some of the ponies began to slowly rise up.

“Some of you may know me personally, others have heard tales of what I have done, therefore you know that I can be trusted. So believe me when I say that the princess who stands before you is not even close to the wicked mare of darkness that once ruled your nightmares. She is kind and wants only to befriend you; all I ask is that you do her the same kindness that you showed me when I appeared. Show no fear, treat her as one of us, and show that Ponyville is a kind and forgiving town, because I know it is! Do you agree?”

Now they all stood up slowly and looked at me nodding their heads, I heard several “Yeah’s” “All right” “Let’s do it”.

“Then let this Nightmare Night be the greatest! Hahahahaha!” I bellowed from deep in my lungs.

This got everypony in the spirits and they continued their daily routines. Twilight looked at the crowd disperse and was pleased.

“Wow, I didn’t think that would go as well as it did. You really have a way with words Will.”

I shrugged. “Eh, it was a heat of the moment kind of speech, plus I just love to talk in general so those things go together quite well. They shouldn’t fear her as much now, it will take some time for them to perfectly co-exist, but for now it’s enough.”

Now that the speech was over Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike began to walk up to the three of us.

“Well that sure was something, glad y’all could make it Will I thought you of all people would be out enjoying the festivities so I was a bit surprised when I didn’t see you around.” Applejack said

“Well now you can see why I wasn’t around at the beginning of the festival, I had to escort the princess here and see how things went with the crowd.” I looked over at Pinkie and didn’t see the small group of children with her. “Speaking of escort; Pinkie where are the kids?”

“What?” Spike asked

“Since I couldn’t be here at the beginning of the festival I asked Pinkie if she would watch Screwball for a bit because I knew she was chaperoning a few other kids. However, I don’t see the group of kids with you, so where are they?”

Pinkie looked behind her. “Oh they probably went off to get more candy, we can go look for them if you want.”

I nodded. “That sounds good, it’ll give us a chance to walk around a bit and find Screwball at the same time.” I turned to the rest of the group. “What do you say then girls, you in?”

“Actually, I have to get back to my apple game so I can’t join you right now, maybe later.” Applejack said.

“Alright, anypony else have an objection?”

None of them spoke up so I assumed they were all okay with the idea.

“All right then we’ll be off, come on Gandalf.” I said gesturing towards Twilight.

As usual Twilight got in a hissy fit. “I am not Gandalf; I am dressed as a great wizard!”

“Gandalf was a great wizard Twilight, take it as a compliment.”

We walked through the town and took in all the things that were going on, everywhere ponies were running, screaming, and laughing with each other and having fun. As we passed, some ponies were awed by either my presence or the princesses which made things more interesting.

“So where are the rest of our friends?” I asked Twilight.

“Well as you already know Applejack has to work, Rarity said she wasn’t going to be a part of something so uncouth though she sent Sweetie Belle out with the rest of the crusaders, Fluttershy is staying inside her house out of fear, and Rainbow Dash is around here…somewhere.”

While we were talking I heard a small gasp from Pinkie. “There they are!”

She pointed her hoof in a direction and we turned around to look. There was a group of children each in a different costume ranging from a ladybug to an astronaut and…two pirates? I looked a bit closer and saw that one of them was Pipsqueak, the small colt from Trottingham (I remember him being in this episode) but it took me a second to figure out who the second pirate was.

“Is that Screwball over there with Pipsqueak?” Twilight asked.

I nodded. “Yes, I remember seeing that pirate costume a few days ago, she must have decided to wear it for Nightmare Night.” It was a really cute costume; the sleeves around her hooves were poufy, the costume was a bright red with a few black sashes around her waist, it came with a small wooden sword, and she was wearing a pirate’s bandanna and an eye patch over one eye

“Why does it look like they’re arguing?” Pinkie asked.

“Probably because they are, let’s listen in and see what it’s about.”

I focused in on the conversation they were having, they were definitely arguing because of the looks on their faces and the tone of their voices. Even though I had no ears right now I could hear, more or less, what they were talking about.

“I thought you said we were going to divide this up evenly.” Screwball said.

Pip nodded. “I did, but now that I see it in front of me I think I deserve more.”

Pip tried to take some candy but Screwball swatted his hoof away. “That’s not fair, we had a deal that if I helped you get more candy we’d split it up evenly at the end.”

“Yeah but I came up with idea.” Pip retorted.

“I did more leg work than you!”

They stared each other down, neither one of them looking like they were going to give the other an inch.

“Should we interfere?” Twilight said.

I held up my hand “Not yet, let’s see where this goes.”

I turned my attention back to the argument. Screwball raised her head and looked Pipsqueak dead in the eye. “You know what must be done.” She said

“We shall settle this like true pirates!” Pipsqueak said, using a fake pirate’s voice along with his Trottingham accent.

“Aye, matey, have at you!” Screwball cried

They both pulled out their fake swords with their mouths and they began to duel. Pinkie, Spike, and Twilight looked in shock at the display while I was feeling a mixture of pride and excitement.

They seemed evenly matched at first but eventually Screwball went on the offensive, she began slashing quickly and wildly and all Pip could do was block them. Eventually she had backed him up so much that he tripped over his own hooves; the sword fell out of his mouth as he lay on the ground defenseless and Screwball breathed heavily above him with that look of determination still in her eyes.

Since the scuffle was over I decided to talk, I walked closer to the two children without them noticing me and then spoke up. “Good…let the hate flow through you.”

When she heard my words she turned around and saw me, her eyes went wide and she instantly dropped the sword.

“Dad! This isn’t what it…um…” She sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get into a fight it just kind of happened. I hope you aren’t mad.”

“Mad?” I questioned. I leaned down and tussled her mane making her smile in contempt. “I was rooting for you.”

I got up off my knee and looked down at small Pip. “You’re Pipsqueak correct?” He nodded. “Well if you want to be a pirate you have to remember that pirate ships ran like democracies, everyone got a say and if the crew was unhappy they could over throw the captain. Life lesson for you buddy.”

He saluted. “Thank you for the advice sir.”

“You’re welcome.” I turned to Screwball. “So, how’s the trick or treating going?”

“Pretty good, I’ve got a lot of candy so far and everypony else seems to be having a good time.”

“Is everypony else having a good time?” I heard Pinkie ask.

“Yeah!” Was the collective answer.

Pinkie looked around a little more but now she had a worried look on her face. “Wait a minute…” She was pointing out each of the kids with her hoof, as if to count them “3,4,5, square, purple, apple…there’s somepony missing.”

Pip looked around. “Snake Eyes walked away a little while ago, I think I saw her hiding underneath that box.”

I looked to where Pip was pointing and I saw a giant cardboard box, I walked over to it and opened it and saw a little filly crying. The filly had a silver coat with a golden mane, her costume consisted of a light blue full body suit with many straps around the waist and a bandanna wrapped around her forehead. Wait, she was hiding under a box in a getup that looks like its used for stealth, there’s no way she could be…

“Snake, are you okay?”

The filly sniffled and looked up at me. ‘You’re…you’re that hero guy right? The one who ponies are saying beat the dragon?”

I nodded. “That’s me, are you alright?”

She sniffled again. “No, I lost my daddy and now I can’t find him.”

“Hey, don’t shed anymore tears little one, I’ll help you find your father. Tell me his name and what he look like.”

“His name is High Roller, his coat is gold and his mane is green. His cutie mark is of a pile of bits.”

I nodded. “Alright, I’m gonna go look for him. I’ll be right back I promise.”

I spread out my arms and turned into a swarm of bats, and then I flew off into the night sky to see if I could find this stallion. As I soared over every pony’s heads I could see many varying forms and colors but none like she described. Eventually, when I reached the outer limits of the city I saw a stallion entering the Everfree forest that matched the small girl’s description.

I closed in on him, then when I reached the ground I re-materialized into my Jack Skellington form. “Excuse me, are you High Roller?”

He just continued walking away from me, I started walking behind him so that I wouldn’t lose him.

“Hey fella, don’t you think you should get back to Ponyville? Your child is looking for you?”

Once again silence, now I was getting annoyed with him. I knew he could hear me and he was choosing not to listen so this time I got physical, I grabbed him by the shoulder and made him stop moving.

“Hey! What the hell’s wrong with you?”

He turned around and his stare was cold and felt like it pierced my very soul, probably because his eyes were turned completely blue. He pushed me down to the ground because I was impeding his progress.

“Well, guess that answers that question.”

“Mare…night…”

He continued to walk away from me and into the depths of the forest. I got up and brushed myself off; I couldn't help but feel that there was something sinister behind his eyes being one color and it’s my job to stick my nose in his business.

“Let us go out this evening for pleasure, the night is still young.”

I snapped my fingers, getting ready for what seemed like it was going to be one of my most interesting nights in a while.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, in the next chapter the saga's plot will finally start to unravel, events will start to make sense and there will be many trials. Limit's will be tested, evil will rear its ugly head, and finally new powers shall be learned. All that in the next 3-4 chapters of "A new Discord"

If you'd like to stay updated with this story please favorite it or follow me, I will write different stuff eventually. So please, click one of the buttons above or I will literally explode you heads with my mind...Ha ha! Just kidding

...OR AM I?

Nightmare saga: Trials revisited

Author's Note

Sorry guys, I promise i'm trying to upload these things as fast as can but I have finals coming up really soon and I CANNOT go to summer school. On the plus side, I had amazing creative streak this past month. Did you ever get an inkling of an idea but could never fully form it so you decided to save it for later? Well I decided to put together the little ideas I had for this story and it reached over 12,000 words so I have a lot of ground to cover.

In any case, I hope you like the chapter and as usual please favorite, comment, and follow me because your support really helps me be at my best. On with the tale!

Nightmare saga: Trials revisited

Chapter 14

The hour was growing later, some of the smaller fillies and colts had gone home because it was so late but Nightmare Night was still in full swing and screams of terror could be heard all across town. As a small group of ponies cherished in the fun I appeared before them.

“There you are, where did you go Will? We were getting worried about you.” Twilight said.

“Twilight, I think we need to assemble the girls. Something bad is going down.” I said, seriously.

“What are you talking about dad? Everypony is having a good time.” Screwball said.

“It isn’t that sweetie.” I turned my attention to Twilight. “Twilight, you said ponies have been disappearing recently and it hasn’t been stopping, right?”

“What? No, nopony has found out who’s taking them or even how but what are you-“

“I think I may have a lead on it.”

She nodded. “I can understand that, what I don’t understand is why you need me and the girls to help you. You’re perfectly capable of doing this yourself.”

I sighed; this would be hard to explain. “Please, trust me on this. I can’t explain it properly but I feel this sort of…presence in the air. Something dark is at work and I need you and the girls to help me get rid of it. So...will you help me?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. “If you really need our help that badly…I suppose I can’t exactly turn you down.”

I smiled. “Thanks Twilight. Come on; let’s go assemble the rest of the team.” I leaned down to Screwball. “Screwball, do you think you can stay here and have a good time with the rest of your friends?”

She nodded. “Sure.”

“Great. Spike, I’m putting you in charge of looking after these kids.”

“But I-“

“Pinkie, come with me and Twi, there’s work to be done this night.”

The three of us walked off, looking for the rest of her friends. The first person we went to see was Applejack, we knew she was in the center of town working the bobbing for apples stand and she was the closest to us so we thought we’d get her early. We walked up to her stand.

“Hey Applejack, how’s it hanging?” I asked.

“Perty’ good, business has slowed down a bit.”

“Good.” The minute I said that she gave me a curious look. “I mean not good but… we need you for something.”

“What’s up?” She asked.

I explained what I saw and she took it all in.

“You think there might be something sinister at work?” She asked me.

“I do.”

She nodded. “Alright, I’ll help. Besides, if you’re getting everypony else’s help I might as well come along.”

Our little band continued down the street.

“Okay, three down and three to go. Rarity and Fluttershy will be a bit harder to convince and I have no idea where Rainbow Dash is; Rarity’s boutique isn’t too far from here so we’ll go there next and Fluttershy’s home is on the edge of the forest so that’ll be a good spot to finish.” I said

“Why are you explaining everything in explicit detail? That’s usually Twilight’s job.” Pinkie pointed out.

“Hey!” Twilight cried, clearly not taking that as a compliment.

I chuckled a bit nervously. “Sorry, whenever I’m nervous or super focused I tend to think aloud.”

Thankfully, our walking didn’t last very long and we were soon at Rarity’s boutique, I tried to open the door but found that it was locked. She probably didn’t want anypony coming by asking for treats; I banged on the door instead to get her attention.

“Rarity?” I called for her.

“Go away! We’re closed, there’s no candy to be found here.”

“Rarity it’s Will, open the door know before I bust in all ungentlemanly like.”

I waited a few more seconds and heard the sound of tumblers turning; Rarity opened the door only a crack.

“What do you want? I think I’ve made it very clear that I will not partake in all these silly pranks.”

“Rarity, we need you. Element of Harmony business.” I tried to make this short; there was work to be done.

“I’m sorry, but I am not leaving my home until these… festivities are over with. Good night.”

God, I knew she was stuck up but not this much. Before she could close the door I jammed my arm in it so that it was stuck. As she tried to close it again I looked her in the eyes and furrowed my brow, giving her the most serious expression I could muster.

“Listen to me Rarity, you may not be able to sense it but there is a terrible darkness in this place. With every moment you wait here resisting us it grows stronger and more powerful. If you continue to dilly dally instead of coming with us there is no telling how powerful it will become, so I suggest you get your prissy little flank out here right now before we’re all dead.”

Rarity looked like she was going to poop herself; she carefully walked out of her home and looked at me with such fear.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know so much was at stake.”

“Well…I mean that’s what I think is going to happen, not a hundred percent sure to be honest with you.”

“Wha-I-hmph!” She exclaimed angrily.

Oh my gosh, the look on her face is amazing. She’s trying to come off as angry but it just fails so completely and totally that it looks hilarious. She turned around and tried to open the door but found that it was once again locked, she pulled against the door as hard as she could but it refused to budge.

“Oh no, you’re locked out of your home. I guess you’ll have to come with us now.” I said, with a bit of a smart tone.

With a reluctant look on her face Rarity joined us, walking behind us all probably because she was in no mood for this kind of nonsense. As we walked Twilight moved a bit closer to me.

“Did you lock her door on purpose so she’d come with us?” Twilight asked

I looked shocked at her accusations. “What? Me? Twilight I am hurt that you would accuse me of such things. Although, if I were to lock the door on her it wouldn’t require a lot of magic so the movement would be simple and easy to miss, say a quick clenching of my fist.”

I winked at her, saying that I did indeed do it and she winked back at me, telling me that she understood.

“All right, next we need to find Rainbow Dash. Any idea where she could be?”

“Heck if ah know, that girl’s been going all across town scarin’ folks left and right.” Applejack pointed out.

“Honestly, she’s so juvenile sometimes. She’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to go out tonight; especially after what she pulled last Nightmare Night…” Rarity shivered at her memories. “It took me hours to clean my mane out. Hours!”

Rainbow could have been anywhere, but she was betrayed by one glaring flaw: she’s atop a thunder cloud. Turns out when your ears are just big holes in the sides of your head you can hear things surprisingly well; as such I could hear the sound of that thunder cloud from over a block away. Rainbow Dash was probably trying to sneak up on us and scare the bunch of us all at once, a good try but I was ready for her.

As the sound got closer and closer it eventually remained still at one point. I waited about one or two seconds, then I turned around really quickly, made a scary face, and screamed at the top of my lungs. Rainbow Dash was scared, she also screamed and spazed out so much that she fell off of her cloud, the rest of the group found it very funny and laughed.

“Nice of you to drop in on us Rainbow Dash.” I retorted.

“Ha ha, very funny.” She said sarcastically as she dusted herself off.

“It was a good effort, but you should never try to scare the king of Halloween.”

She looked at me confused. “Halloween?”

“Human holiday, similar to Nightmare Night. Anyway, we need your help to take down some possibly serious evil, are you in?”

“I guess so, since you’ve ruined my pranks.” She said, angry and annoyed.

“That’s the happy go lucky Rainbow spirit, come on let’s go.”

With her in the clique there was just one pony left, Fluttershy. It was going to be tough to convince a pony who’s afraid of her own shadow to come out of her house on the scariest day of the year into a dark and scary forest, but I think I can manage it.

“I don’t see how you’re going to get Fluttershy to help us.” Twilight said.

“Ah agree, that girls’ more scared of this night than a mouse at a snake convention.”

I smiled. “Trust me; I have a few tricks of my own. But for it to work I need you guys to hide.”

They did as I asked and hid in the bushes, as for me I put my plan into action. My way of getting Fluttershy out of her home is simple; I focused and transformed myself into a raccoon, once transformed I got on my back and started coughing to sound sick. Within a minute Fluttershy had run out of her house and picked me up.

“Oh no, poor little raccoon, are you okay?”

I meant to say “No, I am sick” but all that came out were a few chip and growl sounds.

“Oh my, you’re sick?” Fluttershy said.

Oh yeah, I forgot she understands animals to a level where it’s almost like telepathy.

“Oh you poor dear, don’t worry I’ll make you better.”

She scratched my belly a little bit. Ah…this is nice; wait, focus Will. I began chirping a bit more to convey my thoughts.

“What’s that? You wanna tell me something?”

I nodded. I moved my claw in a motion that beckoned her closer, she moved her head closer to mine and I made some small chipping noises to convey my thoughts.

“What do you mean trick or treat?” She asked curiously.

I jumped out of her hooves and in midair I transformed back into Jack. I landed on the ground with a smile on my face. “Hi Flutters.”

“Ah!”

Fluttershy was clearly scared by my appearance, she tried to run back into her house but I waved my hand and closed the door with my magic before she could get inside, causing her to slam right into it. And now she lay splayed against her own door, somehow defying gravity.

“Sorry Fluttershy, I don’t like tricking you but I knew it was the only way to get you out of your home.”

“Oh that’s okay; I know that I can get really scared sometimes.”

“Well we need your help now. Something bad is going down and we need you to come with us.”

“Um, if it’s all the same to you I’d rather stay here.” She said, almost silently.

Alright, let’s see if this will work. “Fluttershy, I understand that you’re scared, I know what that feels like but I also know how to get over your fear. You have to find something to believe in, a sort of anchor that stops you from being afraid; this anchor can be a person, a belief, or something that you would fight for, something that no matter what you won’t abandon. Do you understand?”

She seemed to think about it for a few moments until her eyes seemed to focus. “I…I understand.”

“Good.” I went to her door and pulled her off, setting her on the ground gently. “Now come on, we’ve got a mission to do.”

“Oh…okay, that sounds good.”

We began walking and Rainbow Dash moved to the side to talk to me.

“Wow, that was some pretty inspirational stuff. Where did you hear that?” Rainbow asked me curiously.

“I didn’t, I learned it from experience.”

Rainbow now looked at me with a certain sense of…I don’t know, I’d call it slight surprise and bewilderment.

“You…used to feel like that?”

I nodded.

“When?”

My memory drifted to my past, my fist clenched as I remembered all those days I’d be in a blind rage for one reason or another. Always someone to insult me, look down on me, to fight me; so many days spent afraid, angry…hurt.

“It was a long time ago; I’d rather not talk about it.”

I picked up my pace and walked ahead of her, not wanting to talk any further. Our group was assembled; we walked back into town to get back towards the part of the forest where I saw that strange pony enter. Since it was on the other side of the forest I thought it would be easier to just go straight through town.

Once we were on the border of the forest, we all stood ready.

“All right guys, are you ready?”

I head a bunch of “Yes” Yeah!”

“Absolutely not.”

Wait, what? I turned around and saw a very tall very familiar navy blue figure walking up to me.

“Luna, look I know this is a bit sudden but…”

“But nothing, you are not leaving us again. You invited us out for a pleasant evening to celebrate this holiday we were hesitant to take part in. At first we were having fun, but then you disappear without a trace leaving us alone and now you’re going again without a word.”

Aw man, now I feel really bad. “Luna, I’m sorry, I truly am. I didn’t mean to leave you by yourself, it’s just…this is something I feel that I have to do.”

“You don’t HAVE to do this what you HAVE to do is stay with us for the duration of the night, as you promised.”

Wow she was stubborn; I needed to get out of here. “Luna this is something that I need to do, and you can’t stop me from doing it.”

Luna snarled with anger but then it disappeared and turned into a…grin? “Very well, if you will not stay with us then we shall stay with you.”

…What? “What?”

“We shall accompany you into the Everfree forest. Would you like that?”

“Ummmmm…”

Damn it she was clever, she knows that I wouldn’t intentionally bring her into danger and so the only other option was to stay here.

As I struggled to find an answer I saw Pipsqueak behind her and my mind decided that instead of taking the direct route I would take the more deceiving and distracting one.

“Hold that thought.” I moved over to Pipsqueak. “Pip my boy, how would you like to meet Princess Luna?”

His eyes went wide with excitement. “Boy would I!”

“Come on.” I rushed him over to Luna. “Luna, there’s a little colt here who is very excited to meet you.”

She looked down at him and the huge smile he had on his face, she didn’t know exactly what to say so she went with the first thing that came to mind. “Um, hello.”

“Hello princess, it’s great to meet you. Are you enjoying the festival?” He asked excitedly.

“It is…nice.”

He jumped up. “I know! This is my first one ever and it’s already my favorite holiday ever!”

Luna was surprised at his excitedness. “Well, that’s very good to hear.”

“And now I’m hanging out with my favorite princess!”

Well, that caught Luna completely by surprise. “Are you referring to me?” She asked.

“Yeah! You’re awesome.”

I saw Luna smile, but this wasn’t a normal smile. It was small but I could tell that it was a deep smile, like it meant a lot to her. “Well, that is very nice of you to say. Tell me, have you tried some of the games here?"

“Oh yeah, I’m really good at the spider launching game, do you want to try?”

She nodded. “I think I will.”

She walked off with the child and away from us.

“Well that takes care of that, all right girls let’s go.” I said

We all started walking towards the forest; the entire group was pretty close together. As we walked Twilight walked up to me.

“Wait a minute, did I miss something? You just ditched Luna?”

I nodded “Yes.”

“And you did so by tricking her and completely ignoring her request to stay by your side?”

I nodded again. “Yes.”

“You…are in trouble when you get back, aren’t you?”

“Probably, I’ll deal with that later. For now let’s focus on the mission on hand.”

We entered the forest and I led them to the glen where I saw that stallion. “He was right around here and he walked…” I remembered the scene that played in front of me and then pointed in a direction. “That way. Follow me.”

We began our long walk through the forest; no talking, not even any sound of leaves underneath our feet and hooves, only silence. It was unnerving, like there was something shadowing us that we could not see. Eventually, the amount of trees around us lessened and we could see the night sky again; we were also at the edge of a cliff and unsure of where to go next.

As we looked out towards the rest of the expansive forest we all heard a low rumbling.

“What was that?” I asked.

“That was probably my tummy; I’ve had a lot of candy tonight. Like, a lot a lot. Like a whole candy store.” Pinkie said in her chipper tone

The rumble came back but this time it was louder than before, and it seemed very close.

“Uh pinks, I don’t think that’s your stomach.”

Now the rumbling was very loud and was followed by a cracking sound. I looked underneath my feet and saw that the ground was beginning to crack.

“Oh that’s the opposite of good.” I said aloud.

I jumped over dodging the crumbling earth, but the rest of the group wasn’t so lucky. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy didn’t fall thanks to their flight abilities and they managed to catch Rarity and Applejack but Twilight and Pinkie continued falling.

“Girls, hold on!”

I jumped off the cliff and dived down towards them, I kept my body straight so that I would reach them faster. I managed to catch up with them and grabbed hold of them to keep them safe.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you two.”

“Great, but what’s gonna stop us from falling?” Twilight screamed.

“Uh…I didn’t really think it through that far.” I said sheepishly.

Both the girls continued to scream as we fell closer and closer to the ground. As we got closer I saw a rather large tree approaching us and had an idea.

“I have an idea! Girls, hold on to me and don’t let go.”

They both grabbed on to one of my sides. I outstretched my arm and formed a green slimy spiral bracelet around me that could save us.

“Soul robber!”

I thrust my arm forward and the Soul robber outstretched, creating a slimy hand that attached itself to one of the higher up branches. Using our velocity I had enough forward momentum to swing us away, only missing the ground by a few feet. Once we weren’t in danger of plummeting to our death’s the hand detached itself from the tree and we all fell on the ground and rolled over on the ground, grunting a bit in pain.

Once we stopped moving I took roll call; Twilight and Pinkie? Check. Aare they still breathing? Check. The rest of the group safe? Check.

“Is everypony okay?” I asked.

We all started getting up from the ground; I stretched myself out to make sure nothing was pulled in that fall.

“A bit roughed up, but I’m fine.” Twilight said.

“Good. Pinkie?”

Pinkie got up and shook herself like a wet dog would. “Right as reign.”

The rest of the group descended down to our location. “Thank goodness y’all are okay; I feared the worst when the ground started to crack.” Applejack said.

As we were all relieved that we survived I looked to the cliff that we fell off of and noticed something strange.

“Hey guys, come check this out.”

We walked over to the base of the cliff and saw a large cluster of pointy rocks.

“If we hadn’t saved ourselves we could have fallen on these rocks and killed ourselves.” I pointed out.

“Well then it’s a good thing we all stayed safe isn’t it?” Rarity added.

"But that’s just it; this rock formation was directly underneath us as we fell down. Look around, the rest of the stuff around here is grass, no rocks to be seen.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true.”

“And these rocks-“I poked the tip of one with my finger, it was sharp and it hurt. “They’re sharp, almost unnaturally so. Like they were meant to be that way.”

“What are you saying?” Rainbow asked.

“Call me paranoid, but I think these rocks were sharpened on purpose.”

“You mean you think someone wants to get rid of us?”

"Like I said, I could just be paranoid about this but I’ve learned to always be careful about these kinds of things. We should probably keep moving.”

Silently, the group agreed and we continued to trek through the forest. As we continued on I felt that same presence from before grow larger, making me feel a bit unsafe.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes.” I responded.

“And where is that exactly?”

“We’ll know when we get there.”

She had an unsure look on her face. “So you’re lost?”

“I’m not lost, I just-“

We were interrupted by a large roar, and out of the shadows jumped a large beast that I recognized.

“A manticore!” Twilight screamed.

I looked at the best with its giant scorpion tail and bat wings, and its fearsome barred fangs. The other ponies behind me may have been scared but I felt this spark in my heart that screamed for battle.

“Oh yeah, I have just the theme for this fight! Hit it!”

I bobbed my head to the sound of this tasty beat but Twilight and the other’s looked at me with much confusion.

“What’s he doing?” Rainbow asked.

“I have no idea.” Applejack responded.

The manticore interrupted my jam session with his load roar. Out of my rock and roll trance I stared at the monster with determined eyes and our battle began; he started by charging at me and me at him, the Soul robber began to morph and form a large clawed hand. We clashed, matching each other’s strength blow for blow neither one of us able to get the other hand. I tried a different strategy, I retracted the claw hand and the manticore was free to attack, he tried to slash me but I was fast enough to dodge all his blows and then when he was tired I morphed the robber into a giant fist and punched him hard, knocking him into a tree.

Fluttershy’s eyes were wide with horror. “Will stop this! Don’t hurt him!”

“I’m sorry Flutters but this beast isn’t going to listen to us, it’s too enraged.”

She looked at me with such wanting eyes. “Please…let me just talk to it, maybe I can get it to calm down.”

I sighed. “Against my better judgment, go ahead.”

She carefully trotted up to the dazed beast and looked him right in the eyes.

“Um excuse me mister manticore, I’m really sorry to bother you but could you maybe calm down and not attack us? If that’s possible of course.”

As the beast came back to its senses it looked down at Fluttershy; I could see his eyes, they were…caring and calm, for a moment I thought he was going to turn. But then in a second all that compassion was replaced with anger and I could tell that he was ready to attack.

“Fluttershy look out!”

I whipped the Soul Robber forward and it latched onto her, I managed to tug her away just before the manticore tried to bite her with his massive jaws. I stepped up again; diplomacy didn’t work so now this is an all-out brawl.

“Kid gloves are off now.”

The beast snarled at me, as if it understood that I wasn’t going to hold back. I smiled an insane smile and morphed the robber into a long mace.

“Let’s finish this.”

We both ran toward each other again, but this time before he could attack me I jumped up into the air and smashed the mace end of my Soul Robber into the manticore’s back, knocking him to the ground. As I landed I turned to the beast and walked over to it to see if it was down for good, unfortunately while I was distracted I barely saw its tail rise and try to stab me. I tried to move out of the way but it still grazed my side, I clutched at my side in pain and before I could react the manticore got up and slapped me with its paw, knocking me into a tree. I tried to get up from the blow but as I tried to get up I fell back down again, my head slanted to the side.

My friends looked at me with concern and fear, they wanted to help but they knew what had happened the last time when they tried to fight a manticore and now that he was even angrier it would be a foolish idea.

The beast took its chance to jump me; it leapt up into the air and planned to come down on me with his massive jaws. It opened its mouth preparing to bite down on me, but before it could I rose up quickly and thrust the Soul Robber forth; it grabbed the manticore by the throat and then I spun around him constricting it further around his throat. By the time I finished it was completely wrapped around his neck twice and I was standing behind him, pulling on it.

“Step into my shadow hell beast!”

I pulled back on the strand and his neck began to squeeze, I just needed to pull a little bit harder and…

Crack!

(Song ends)

That was it, I snapped his neck. I stopped pulling and the manticore’s body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. When the battle was over the girls walked over to me and stared at the creature that lay at my feet, they were shocked and maybe even a little disgusted. Fluttershy was the most shocked; I could even see some tears in the corner of her eyes.

“How-how could you do that? He was just-“ She began to say.

“Wait. Look at him.” I commanded.

She stopped talking and looked down at the manticore, the color began to drain from his fur and he turned a very bland gray. Then his entire body began to melt and it broke down into these little black blobs of energy.

“Not this time.” I said.

I reached into my pockets and pulled out a glass jar, and then I scooped up some of this black matter and put the lid on the jar.

“Now let’s take a good look at you.”

Twilight moved closer to the jar. “What is that stuff?” She asked.

“This is what our manticore friend was made of, I had a feeling that he wasn’t real because of the mindless way he acted and that he was able to resist Fluttershy’s natural sway over animals. Only something without a conscience would be able to resist her.”

Rainbow got a good look at it as well. “So…what? Is this like the other monsters that fought you?”

I shook my head. “Probably, but this one was different. He seemed to be smarter, and he wasn’t black like the other monsters I’ve fought.”

“What does that mean?”

I put the jar back in my pocket. “I think it means whatever’s causing this is getting smarter, it tried to hide itself so I wouldn’t know. If everypony’s ready I think we should get moving immediately.”

They all nodded and we continued on our trek again. This trip was more dangerous than I thought and it’s getting worse by the minute.

“At least Luna’s safe.” I thought silently to myself, glad that I left her behind.

Meanwhile in Ponyville…

Pip and Luna were in the middle of playing pumpkin launching, you would put a pumpkin in a small launcher and then try to hit a target that was several feet away. Luna lined up her shoot and flung the pumpkin but it missed the target by quite a bit, then Pip took a turn and the pumpkin hit dead center.

“Yes! I win!” He cheered.

Luna was disappointed that she didn’t win, but she smiled and the colt’s enthusiasm. “Well done Pip, you are much better at this game than I.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never played this game before.” He hopped down the road. “This has been so much fun! I can’t wait to tell all my friends that I got to hang out with an actual princess.”

“Friends…” Luna said to herself, then her eyes widened as she finally realized something that had happened. “Curse him!”

Pip looked up at Luna. “What’s wrong?”

“It appears that my friend has tricked me into not following him.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He wanted to head into the Everfree forest without me and I tried to stop him.”

Pip looked shocked. “Well of course he did.”

Luna didn’t understand the boys comment. “What do you mean?”

“The Everfree forest is really dangerous; there are lots of scary monsters in there, he probably just didn’t want you to get hurt.

“You think so?”

He nodded. “Yes, when I lived in Trottingham there was this little lake next to us that froze up in the winter. One day I wanted to go ice skating on it but my mother told me no because she was afraid it would crack underneath me and I’d get pneumonia. Later that day some of my other friends were skating on the lake and one of them fell in; he had the flu for about a week after that.”

“It seems your mother is very wise.”

“Yeah, she really cares about me and that’s why she always tries to keep me safe even if sometimes I don’t like it.”

Luna thought about it more. “Perhaps that is what he intended, he wanted to keep us safe…because he cares about us.” Luna looked up at her night sky and smiled to herself. “Be safe Will, and know that I care about your safety as well.”

Back in the Everfree…

“Well…this definitely doesn’t seem safe.” I said.

After walking around a bit we came across a glen of trees that looked old with very dark wood and twisted branches. Shortly after we arrived a blanket of fog seemed to appear out of nowhere and now we could barely see each other.

“Hold on guys, I’ll see if I can clear this fog away.” Rainbow said

Rainbow readied her wings but the second she leapt up off the ground her wings tensed up and she fell down to the ground.

“I…I can’t use my wings!” Rainbow cried.

“Don’t worry Rainbow, Estoy seguro de que todo estará bien.” I said. “Wait, what was that last part?”

“Are…are you speaking Spanish?” Twilight asked.

“What? No, odio a español. ¡Ah! Está sucediendo de nuevo!” I screamed, this is my worst nightmare come true.

“I…I think we should get out of here. I’m starting to get really frightened.” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, we need to…we need to…why don’t I remember what we were supposed to do? Why can’t I remember?” Twilight screamed.

“Um girls, I think we have more troubles than just this.” Applejack pointed out.

Applejack saw a pack of timber wolves approaching us, she wanted to back away, she wanted to run, but her hooves wouldn’t move her. They began to circle her now, ready to attack.

“Help! They’re gonna get me!” She screamed.

I looked over at Applejack but I couldn’t see anything, whatever she’s scared of wasn’t really there. Wait… Rarity was just incoherently babbling, Pinkie was staring into space and her mane was deflated…that’s it! Something about these trees is bringing out our deepest fears, I needed to stop this.

“Fluttershy! Ven rápido por favor.” I called to her. She looked at me with confusion.

“Necesito que me...” I fought back the urge in my brain. “I need you to push me out of the fog, please.”

Fluttershy looked at me with such fear; in her eyes she could see dozens of pairs of glowing red eyes, all staring at her.

“I-I can’t! I won’t make it!”

“Fluttershy, this isn’t real… Tienes que ser valiente. Por favor! Tienes que ayudarme!”

Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut out of fear, but she knew she needed to help. She galloped forward as fast as her hooves could carry her and she head-butted me, knocking me out of the fog; once I was outside of it I could feel the hold in had on my mind be loosened and I could think clearly again.

“Time to do some trimming!” I cried.

The Soul Robber extended and had the blade of an axe, I pun around as the blade traveled with me and it chopped down the four or five trees that surrounded us. When the trees were down the fog around us began to dissipate and everypony returned to normal.

“What…what just happened?” Rarity asked.

I tried to piece it together myself. “It appears that these trees were making that fog and while we were inside of it we experienced our deepest gut fears. Rainbow loves flying so much her greatest fear would be being devoid of her wings, Twilight relies on her knowledge so much not being able to remember anything would be a nightmare, Applejack hates timberwolves, Fluttershy…is scared of a lot of stuff to be honest, Pinkie was devoid of happiness-“

“Actually I imagined I was in a bakery but all they had were sugar free treats.”

“Sugar free?” I asked.

“Yes! It was horrifying. Have you ever tried a sugar free cookie? It’s disgusting.”

“Right… Anyways, I think we’re almost there so it shouldn’t be too much longer. I’m sorry I took you girls on such a dangerous mission.”

Rainbow batted her hoof. “No sweat, we’ve faced way worse than this. I’m sure that the worst is behind us.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m sure it’ll be much safer from here on out.” It wasn’t.

We continued on our amazing mission through the forest, as we walked Rainbow walked right up next to me.

“Seriously, your biggest fear is the Spanish language?”

I looked at her seriously. “I hated taking Spanish in school; it is the language of demons.”

She looked at me like she wanted to laugh but didn’t out of courtesy. “Pretty lame dude.”

I sighed. “Aléjate de mí caballo gay arco iris.”

She looked at me confused. “What did you just say?”

“You don’t want to know.”

Nightmare saga: The great reveal

Author's Note

It's my birthday! I first rolled off the assembly line 16 years ago so I decided to treat you guys with an early chapter revealing the villain who's been behind all this evil (even though you probably know who it is already)

Please enjoy, favorite, and like this story, because every time someone dislikes my story a puppy dies. And do you really want their cute and innocent blood on your hands? No, no you don't

Nightmare saga: The great reveal

Chapter 15

I’ve said this once before and I’ll say it again, something here feels very wrong. I expected the Everfree forest to be a bit unnerving because of all the creatures that were inside of it, but so far it’s been more dangerous than I could have imagined. We all could’ve died about twice already and I never would have brought the girls here if I knew it would be this dangerous. But above all else…I don’t think it should be like this, there isn’t supposed to be mortal terror in a kids show like this one, even in a deadly forest. Something is affecting all these monsters, something dark…but familiar.

On our long journey we came across a river, it ran a long way along the Everfree but it wasn’t that wide so we might be able to cross it. We walked towards the river to examine it.

“I’m perty sure I can jump this river.” Applejack said.

“It wouldn’t hurt to know how deep it is. You know, in case one of us jumps into it and plummets to our doom.”

I picked up a nearby large rock and dropped it into the water. The water was clear enough that I could watch the rock sink all the way to the bottom; but then it started to…rise? Um, my science knowledge may not be the best in the world but I’m pretty sure that if it sinks then it shouldn’t just float to the top.

Even the water began to ripple and then the rock rose above the water…atop the head of a sea serpent. This sea serpent had purpleish scales, ginger hair, a moustache, and his eyes were a deep and solid red.

“I…ugh, sure why not?” I said. I had enough adventure for one night, but if I have to take down this jerk as well then so be it. I walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. “You aren’t going to let us pass are you?”

He roared in my face.

“I thought not.”

He lunged at me with open jaws, trying to snatch me up in his mouth. I grabbed his open maws and tried to hold him back, it was fairly large so this was difficult. I couldn’t push him back completely so when I had enough breathing room I did a back flip and got out of his way.

I needed to incapacitate him quickly so I decided to go right for the face, I ran towards him and before he could try to lunge at me again I used my soul robber to grab on to his neck, then I jumped up into the air and using my forward momentum I spun around and landed on his back. I crawled up his scaly body and made it to his head, I started punching him in the eye but that did more than piss him off and once he knew I was up there he flung me right off and knocked me on the ground.

I got up off the ground and looked the serpent in the eyes; he was still just as angry as when we started. “Look buddy, if you don’t let us pass I’m gonna have to go all out on you. And we both don’t that so why don’t you just-“

Before I could finish the serpent opened his mouth and breathed water at such high pressure that it knocked me back, off my feet, and into a tree. I hit that tree so hard that it broke and we both fell down, my concentration was broken and I reverted back to my human form.

“Didn’t…see that coming…ugh” My head slumped and my eyes shut.

The rest of the gang looked at me with wide eyes. “Did he just knock the transformation out of him?” Twilight asked aloud.

Applejack nodded with a fearful look on her face. “Eyup.”

They all looked up at the menacing serpent “Anypony else have a plan?” Twilight asked

“Nnope!” Applejack said again.

The serpent drew in closer to the group, his maw opening slowly, preparing to gobble up each of these ponies one by one.

Suddenly, the sound of rushing water could be heard, first faintly and then it became louder. Everypony and the serpent looked to the side and saw a giant wave of water surging down the river, approaching them quickly.

“BEGONE CREATURE!” They heard somepony yell.

After that battle cry, the wave crashed into the serpent sending it rushing down the river and away from the group. Everypony was curious what just happened, but their questions were answers when they looked up into the sky and saw a silhouette of an alicorn gliding through the air, this figure landed on the ground with them and they all recognized her as Princess Luna.

“Princess Luna! What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

Luna kept her stoic expression. “I would have joined you previously; however it appears that our deceitful friend wished that I not join you.”

I held up my arm. “I resent that statement.” I got up slowly and clutched my back. “I prefer the term trickster; it’s more fun and sounds less evil.” Once I was on my feet I walked over to Luna and looed her dead in the eyes, I had a goofy smile and she had a stoic glare. I was hoping that I could defuse the situation with my charm…

I was mistaken, the second I got within range Luna raised a hoof and slapped me across the face; I rubbed the area that she hit. “I will admit that I deserve that, probably.”

“You do indeed.” Luna said. “I understand what you were trying to do by leaving me in town, but your concept is flawed.”

Oh, now she wants to challenge my thoughts. “All right then, tell me, if you do indeed know what I was doing why was it flawed?”

“You left me in town because you did not wish for me to be hurt; however I am able to take care of myself.”

I smiled smugly. “Is that a fact? Luna, we’ve almost been killed three times tonight, if something bad is going to happen I don’t want you to suffer as well.”

“You make these assumptions assuming that either I will be hurt or you will not be able to protect me, do you truly not believe in your own skills?”

“Of course I do, but-“

“Then you should have no problem watching over us?”

“Well yes, but-“

Now Luna stared at me with a smug and all knowing smile, she knew she had talked me into a corner. In truth, I suppose there was no reason for her not to follow us but I still didn’t feel especially good about doing it.

I sighed in defeat. “Fine.” I snapped my fingers and a small bridge formed over the river, connecting the two points of land. “But don’t expect me to watch your flank.”

“I should hope not, it is rude to stare at a mare’s flank without permission.”

I blushed at her comment. “That’s not what I meant! I just- I meant- ugh! Just shut up and start walking.”

I decided to pick up the pace and walk in front of the group, both to watch out for anything else that decided to jump us and because I didn’t really want to talk with anypony right now. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Pinkie from bouncing right next to me.

“Wow. She made you stop talking.” Pinkie said.

I sighed. “Yes Pinkie, I noticed that.”

“I mean, no one has ever made you stop talking and she just comes up and says a few words and then-“

I extended my left leg to the side and purposely tripped Pinkie, causing her to fall on the ground. Was it mean? Maybe, but I really don’t like people (or ponies in this case) talking about my flaws.

Our journey was reaching its end; the energy that once felt so weak was now much stronger and I could feel it in my bones, so much so that I knew exactly where it was coming from. Once we found our way out of the forest we came to a drawbridge over a cliff, and in the distance I could see our destination: The castle of the sisters.

“The old castle? Why are we going back there?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s where the energy feels the strongest; I believe if we go there we’ll be able to find something and solve this problem.”

“But how exactly do you know, you talk so much about this energy and yet you don’t go into detail. I don’t know about the others but I can’t feel anything.” Rarity pointed out.

“I’m not quite sure; I still don’t understand my power completely.” I tried to explain them as best I could. “It’s like…when you see something out of the corner of your eye, you can’t exactly see it but you feel that it’s there and as your senses get better you can see it better.”

Luna nodded. “He’s right, both draconequus’s and alicorns are creatures of intense magical power, as such the magic we radiate can detect other magical fields. It’s like a sixth sense for energy.”

“Thank you for explaining that Luna, now let’s go.”

We started to cross the bridge; it was rickety but stable so I thought it would hold us. But of course, something has to go wrong on this trip and as we were walking we started hearing thunder rolling in, but when I looked up in the sky I saw that there weren’t any clouds in the sky.

“Riddle me this: how can there be thunder without any clouds?” I asked.

Luna looked up as well and pointed towards the horizon “Answer: three small thunder clouds heading our way of their own volition.”

I looked in that same direction and saw four thunder clouds flying towards us, once they came in closer I could see that they all had pegasi on top of them and each pegasi had dark shaded fur and lifeless blue eyes.

“They’re coming this way, what do we do?” Twilight asked.

“Personally, I suggest we cross this bridge before they get here.” I added.

We all started running away from them, but before we could all cross to the other side a bolt of lightning came down and stopped us in our tracks.

“They can shoot lightning bolts, wonderful.” I said aloud. I had a plan to distract them; first I waved my arms in the air to get their attention. Secondly, I waited for them to get close, almost dangerously close; once they got close they started charging up their clouds with electricity I pulled out my secret weapon from one of my pockets: the mirror shield.

Once I had it fastened around my arm I was ready to defend us, the lightning bolts came at me and I put up my shield, deflecting the bolt back at the cloud and having it dissipate into the air.

Luna looked back at me and saw the shield. “What’s that?” She asked.

“Mirror shield, it deflects any energy based attacks back at the user.”

“Very nice.”

“Thank you. Now get back.”

As everypony retreated across the bridge I was able to block and deflect the onslaught of lightning bolts that tried to fry us. We all made it across the bridge successfully, but those pegasi kept assaulting us with their lightning bolts and their attacks became more frequent. I tried to keep my arm held up but the heat from the electricity hitting shield and the constant force of the bolts hitting it were lowering my resolve.

I felt the shield get red hot and then one lightning bolt caused it to shatter and sent me flying backwards. I should have seen that coming, a magical shield could only take so much damage at once, especially focused elemental damage like that.

At this point everypony was scattered, trying to dodge the attacks and not be struck by lightning. I saw one pony in particular sneaking up behind Luna.

“Oh shit.” I said to myself. I got up and ran as fast as I could towards her, I was totally focused and ran faster than…um…damn it, I don’t know any people who are famous runners, I can’t finish the simile. Whatever, I ran really fast towards her.

“Luna, look out!”

She looked behind her and saw the pony on the cloud; I knew she wouldn’t be able to dodge in time so I needed to intervene. As the pony struck the cloud and lightening came striking towards Luna I knew I had to make a split second decision; I made a quick leap and I jumped in front of Luna taking the bolt for her… kinda wish I didn’t do that.

Once I was struck I hit the ground, I could feel all that energy coursing through every nerve in my body and it felt like my body was burning. I felt it in my arms, my brain, and my fingertips; it begged me to stay down, to give up and just die.

But I looked at the scene before me, with everypony in a panic, and I knew I couldn’t quit. I got on my hands and knees and rose up off the ground; the electricity was still bouncing in my body. I looked up and saw the pony on the cloud; he was staring at me, just begging me to make a move.

Luna looked at me with concern. “Will! Are you okay? I thought you were…” She trailed off her words.

I stared daggers at the cloud pony. “No, I’m not going down. Not here… “ You could see small arks of electricity forming on my body. “Not now…” The arks grew bigger and more wild. “Not…EVER! HAAAA!”

As I screamed to the high heavens, the electricity on my body grew and began to shoot out of my body with deadly force. The pony looked scared, but his expression didn’t last long as one of the stray bolts hit him dead center and caused him to dissipate into nothing.

When I stopped shouting I looked down and… I felt nothing, the pain electrical surge in my body was gone and all that remained were some small arks jumping between my fingers. I looked at my hands, astounded by what just happened.

Luna walked up to me, equally shocked. “Will…did you just shoot lightning?” She asked.

I clenched my fists and looked at the other pony on the cloud that was terrorizing the others; I smiled as a thought came to my mind. “Only one way to find out.”

I ran towards the pony, and I began to focus my energy. I tried to channel that same electric spark again; I looked deep inside myself and heard the words of one of my many masters:

“This power is accentuated by your erratic nature, trust your instincts. Surrender to its erratic nature, allow its energy to charge through your body and anticipate its movement. Then, unleash it!”

I cupped my hands together, and a small spark formed between them. That spark grew bigger and bigger, eventually growing to the size of a small melon. I felt it’s power deep inside, coursing through me, and I knew how to unleash it.

“Hey cloud guy!”

He looked towards me and could see that I was ready to attack, he tried to fly away from us but I jumped into the air and unleashed my fury.

“Electro shocker!”

The bolt flew out of my hands and caught up with the cloud almost instantly, causing him to turn back into a puff of smoke. I landed back on the ground and patted myself on the back, relishing in this new power.

“Whoa, that was awesome!” Rainbow cried.

“I know, and check this one out.”

I opened up my hand and the energy ball grew again, this time once it was about the size of a basketball I threw it up into the air and then starting bouncing on my head and doing tricks like you would with a soccer ball. Luna walked up to me doing my little display and she was confused.

“This is…impossible. Discord never had elemental control like this.” Luna pointed out.

“Well, I’m not him am I? I can outthink him any day of the week.” The ball of energy fell back into my hand and I crushed it, causing it to dissipate. “Now, we’re on the last leg of our journey, let’s get a move on.”

We continued our walk through the forest, while we were walking Luna pulled back to talk to Twilight without me hearing them.

“Does he frighten you?” Luna ask.

Twilight looked at her, confused. “What? No, why?”

“I have seen glimpses of his power and he is greater and yet more terrifying than Discord at once.”

“How do you figure?” Twilight asked.

“He has shown tremendous strength, creating many wonderful and powerful creations. But…I’ve also seen the multiple sides of his mood; for all the good that he has there is malice and hatred below the surface. I fear what would happen to Equestria if he went out of control.”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think that will happen princess, Will has friends who care about him, I’m sure he’ll be able to keep his negative emotions in check.”

She nodded. “I trust your judgment Twilight Sparkle.”

“You are right about one thing though; Will is a very remarkable being.”

Luna smiled. “Indeed he is.”

Our journey finally came to an end as the old castle was in view, it was still a few yards away but we knew our journey was at an end. Unfortunately, our struggles weren’t over yet because as I looked out towards the castle I could see several shadow ponies guarding the entrance. I pushed back the group, signaling them to back up.

“I can feel it; the collective energy is inside that building. Most likely they’re shadow ponies, like the ones that I’ve been fighting.”

“There are guards in front of the castle.” Luna looked at me. “I assume you have a plan.”

“Um…yes! Yes I do have a plan, it’s a wonderful plan really, great plan. Just let me think of it.”

I put on my thinking face. “Okay, if there are guards on the outside, there are probably guys on the inside as well. We need a way to take these guys down quickly, let’s see: Most of them seem to have this shadowy essence in them and-oh!”

“I have an idea.” I said aloud. I snapped my fingers and summoned a spell book “Here we go: Ferun’s century of spells, this should have it.”

I started flipping through the book looking for the spell I wanted, meanwhile Twilight tried to look at the book but I had to tilt it away from her.

“Come on, just let me see! I’ve never seen other worldly magic.” Twilight protested.

I frowned. “Sorry Twilight, but these spells are dangerous. At its weakest these spells can cause pain to others and at its highest power…it can topple gods.”

Finally I made it to the page I wanted “Ah, here we go: The sun beam spell. Concentrated light magic that deals damage to foes, can dispel negative energy, and deals extra damage to undead foes.” Now I handed the book to Twilight. “Twilight, can you use this spell?”

She gave it a quick glance over and nodded her head. “I think so, if I combine my beam spell and my light spell together that should get about the same effect.”

“Alright then, Rarity I’d like you to try and learn this spell to, Pinkie and Applejack you’ll take these.”

I tossed them both three glass bottles with glowing white liquid in them.

“Oh shiny, what is it?” Pinkie asked.

“Liquid light, it’ll drive them off or dissipate them depending on their strength.”

Rainbow looked at me a bit annoyed. “Hey, what about me? What do I do?”

“Easy, punch them.” I said bluntly.

“What? Why does every pony else get a new thing and I don’t?” She complained

“Does punching not work for you?”

“Well…I mean, I’m good at punching.”

“Well there you go, I picked something that you’re good at.”

“I guess…what will you be fighting with?”

I thought about a weapon I could use, something that would help and be cool at the same time. Concentrating I stuck my arm out and opened my hand, in it a weapon began to form out of nothingness, and then it grew brighter and brighter until it was fully formed. It was a thin golden yellow blade with a glowing white gem placed right above the handle.

“Awesome!” I exclaimed, knowing what this was.

“What is that?” Rarity asked.

“This is the Dawnbreaker, a magical sword that will do extra damage to shadow creatures like these. Now, is everypony ready?”

I got a collective nod from the group, this made me smile.

“Well then…CHARGE!”

We all ran full force towards the castle, the first two guards in front looked confused at first and raised their spears in defense but before they could even try to do something Twilight charged up the sunbeam spell and blasted one of them to dust. I rushed up to the other one and when he tried to thrust me with his spear I spun around him and my sword came down on his neck and he dissipated into dust. The door was closed so I kicked it open, alerting the other guards in the hallway.

As we charged the girls took down some of the other guards who tried to jump us while I stayed at the head of the group, slashing ponies who tried to fight back and clearing the way for everypony else. Finally we made it to the throne room and I saw one pony sitting on the throne, his fur was a bit lighter than the rest of them

“Your reign of terror is over villain!” I cried, pointing my sword at him.

He looked at our group and just glowered, then he looked back at Luna and smiled.

“It…is time.” He said in a low and creepy tone, then he flashed an aged smile that creeped me out even more.

Wasting no time, I ran for him with my sword ready but two guards put up their lances to protect him.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that.”

I jumped up into the air and then brought my sword down on one of the guards as hard as I could, the strike shattered his spear and cut right through him, causing him to dissipate. The second one tried to stab me with his spear, but I managed to side step his attacks, then when he was open I stabbed him in the leg, throwing him off balance and allowing me to come in with the final strike.

Now all that was left was this guy, I looked at him with angry eyes but his glare was one filled with mirth.

“You…cannot…beat me.” He said simply.

“Want a bet?” I asked.

With one quick motion I thrust my sword forward and jabbed him straight in the chest, killing him. But the disturbing thing is that his expression did not change, and his body did not dissipate as soon as he was defeated.

“Free…at last.” He said quietly.

“What?” I said aloud, dumb founded.

Suddenly, a black energy surrounded his body and then flew out of him and his body hunched over, dead. This black energy flew all around the room and then homed in on one pony in particular: Luna.

“Luna, look out!” I cried

But it was too late, this time it was too fast for me and the ball hit her, she didn’t seem hurt by it but more shocked; after she was hit her legs buckled and she knelt down a bit, as if under the weight of some great force.

I walked over to her with concerned thoughts. “Luna, are you okay?”

She looked at me with a pained expression. “G-get it out.”

“What?”

“Get it out! Please! I feel something crawling within me. I…can’t hold it back, I’m…I’m sorry.”

Suddenly she was enveloped in that same black aura, her eyes were shut tight and a single tear came out of them.

“What’s happening to her?” Twilight asked

“I don’t know, I don’t recognize this power I-“

The aura began to change her, it started at her legs and started moving up. As it did her coat color changed to a midnight black and some kind of armor began to form on her body.

Suddenly, it all became clear to me. ‘Oh no.”

“What is it?” Applejack asked.

“I know what’s happening to her.” I smacked myself over the head. “Damn it, I should have seen this coming.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks.

“It’s so obvious now: the dark color of everything I fought, the blue color of their eyes, the challenges we faced coming into this forest. It all points to only pony.”

Luna eye’s opened as she transformed, her irises narrowed and became vertical like a cat’s.

“The only one evil enough to do this.”

Her transformation was complete, the aura around her exploded and she revealed her new form, in all its dark and armored horribleness.

“Nightmare moon”

Everypony else in the room gasped, and when Nightmare looked at her new body she laughed a long and evil laugh.

Nightmare saga: Fight the night

Chapter 16

Darkness reincarnate, that’s the best term I could use to describe what stood before me; she was a nightmare given form, the very antithesis of good: Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon stood before me and she was laughing, she was laughing because she was here and because I am responsible for her being here. I brought Luna with me, I provoked these followers of darkness…and I couldn’t save her when the darkness overtook her body.

So now Luna is gone, and Nightmare Moon revels in this fact.

As her laughing came to a close she let out a satisfied sigh. “Ah, it is good that I am once again given flesh.”

She looked directly at me, her eyes showed no emotion and her mouth was curled in a small smile. But when she looked into my eyes I saw her smile grow wider and she giggled slightly. I shot an angry frown back at her, and tried to get the girls to back away.

“Come now, there is no need to be strong for these ponies.” She slowly started walking towards us. “I can feel it. You are just as scared as they are.”

“I am not frightened monster.” I said.

She laughed again. “Monster? Me? No, I am not a monster.” She began walking towards the crumbled throne. “A monster is feral; its desires are purely based on its nature.” She stamped her hoof down. “I am a monarch; I wish to see all these insignificant ponies tremble under me, to fall under my banner…or I will stomp them out.”

She looked at us with a sullen glare, she saw us as insignificant. I knew a fight would ensue, but first there’s something that I needed to know.

I stared at her with a slightly annoyed look, I spun my hand around as a signal for ‘let’s get this rolling’

“Well?” I asked.

“What?” Nightmare asked, not knowing what I was talking about.

“Isn’t this usually the part where the villain, that’s you by the way, tells us her evil plan and how we got to this point?” I said obviously.

She laughs. “Do you take me for a fool that would tell you valuable information?

I shook my head. “No, I just take you for a fool.”

Her look became angrier. “Very well, I suppose since you will be the first to fall under my new banner of darkness I will satiate your curiosity.”

I nodded. “Good, let’s start with how you’re here right now. Last I checked you were destroyed by the elements of harmony.”

The minute I mentioned them Nightmare’s face got angrier and more serious. “The elements…the supposed ‘great and powerful’ artifacts of harmony, they are nothing. They are a delay to the inevitable, a last hope that if you scare your enemy enough then they will leave you alone.”

“What?” I asked.

“When the elements were first used on Discord they were weak; they should have been used to kill him, but all they did was seal him in stone, and not even for an eternity. Then there was my sister… even when Equestria was at its most threatened she could not kill me, instead banishing me for a millennium. This time is no different.”

“What did happen to you?” I asked.

“These new bearers had power that rivaled my sisters, they not only managed to stop me but they also forced me out of Luna. But I was not defeated; I still existed through energy that remained in my armor, though I was in a severely weakened state. As energy I wandered around the Everfree forest for weeks on end, feeding of the fear of those who entered it, hoping to gain my old power back. Over time it worked, but then…you happened.”

I was shocked. “Me?” I asked.

She laughed again, giving me an evil smirk. “Did you really think I would not know? That I wouldn’t feel it when Discord broke free? His energy radiates all around you and it is greater than even he was capable of. With you in this equation I stepped up my plans; I began using my influence to control the minds of weaker ponies, taking more of their energy and getting them to serve my dark army. An army that would help me take over all of Equestria once I was back up to full power, but none of that could have happened with you to oppose me.”

“So you tried to kill me?” I asked.

“Not exactly, if you were anything like Discord I knew that my minions would be no match for you. So I found others, creatures who were more powerful than an average pony: The gryphon, the hydra, and the manticore were tests to see how powerful you were, and to possibly kill you if they got the chance.”

I waited for the follow up. “So, what do you think of me after all of your sick testing?”

She smiled at me, god I hate sarcastic smiles. “You are indeed powerful, but still no match for me. I am the god of nightmares, I am the most powerful being!” She cried

She finally made a mistake, she got cocky. As she monologued I got some of my bravado back and I decided to use it to find a weakness in her armor.

“Ah, but you aren’t really powerful, not really.”

She turned to me and gave me an evil stare. “You question my power?”

“I don’t, because it isn’t ‘your power’ you never had power to begin with. All your power was borrowed, stolen, and shared by others.”

My expression turned to anger and I put one foot forward, looking her dead in the eyes. “You know what it all whittles down to Nightmare? You’re just an idea, a thought, an evil dream given life through the sorrow of a princess. And that’s all you’ll ever be, just some low life parasite feeding of others because she has nothing.” I said that last word with emphasis.

Her face smiled, cocky with her own power, while her eyes were angry, enraged that I could say such vile things about her.

“You fool! I have added my power to the princess of the night, I have surpassed her potential! You are not allowed to call me weak!”

I smiled, cocky as well. “Actually I can, you can’t do anything to stop me.”

Now her expression was blank. “That’s it! I’m going to kill every last one of you, and then all of Equestria shall be mine!”

“No.” I heard someone say.

Nightmare and I both looked surprised; I turned around and saw Twilight with a resolute look on her face, she must have said it.

“What did you say whelp?” Nightmare asked.

Rainbow stepped forward. “She said no, we’re not gonna let you plunge Equestria into darkness. We’re gonna take you down!” Rainbow emphasized this notion by pointing her hoof at the ground.

Nightmare laughed a big and eccentric laugh; she was entertained by this notion. “You would defeat the ruler of the night with seven ponies?”

The girls looked ready to stand up and fight, but I wasn’t.

“No.” I said. Then I stepped forward. “We would defeat the ruler of night with one pony: Me.”

I heard a collective “what!” and Rainbow Dash approached me.

“Are you crazy? You can’t beat Nightmare Moon by yourself. Look, I know you feel like you have to protect us but…”

“No.” I interrupted.

“What?” Rainbow was curious.

“This isn’t about protecting anymore.” I stepped forward and looked Nightmare dead in the eyes. I pointed a finger at her.

“Listen to me Nightmare! You will face me, one on one, for the fate of Equestria!” I demanded. It was time for me to take the fight to her.

“And what’s stopping me from obliterating you all right now?” She asked amused.

I was angry, I scowled “Because you touch any of my other friends, and I will make your death the most agonizing thing you have ever experienced. It will make a millennium on the moon seem like a vacation compared to what I will do to you and you will wish that you were dead.”

She entertained my statement, though she showed no signs of being afraid. “Very well, I shall assist your suicide.”

She stepped down from her elevated throne and stood at level with the rest of us. I walked forward and had the rest of the girls behind me.

“Before we begin, I would like to alter my form. So as to make this battle easier for you.” I said.

“Do what you wish.” She replied.

I focused my energy and surrounded myself in a golden aura, soon that aura enveloped me and I began to take a new form. This form had a bright orange with a fire red mane and golden yellow tips, but still my brown eyes. I was an alicorn, I was the embodiment of light and heat, I was…

“Sunfire!” I called out. Showing off my new form to everypony.

All of the girls marveled at my new figure, since I was as tall as Nightmare so I towered over them.

“Wow, he’s hot.” Twilight said.

Rarity gasped. “Twilight darling, that was…wow.”

Rainbow was also surprised. “Wow Twi, I didn’t know you had it in you. Up top.” She raised her hoof in the air, expecting a hoof five.

Twilight realized what she said. “Wha-? No! Not like that! I mean he’s literally hot, I can feel heat radiating off his body.”

The staring between me and Nightmare had continued vigorously, as it was tradition to stare at your opponents for long periods of time before starting a fight. At least, that was the rule in anime.

“Let us begin our battle, for Equestria.” Nightmare said.

“For Equestria.” I returned.

Before Nightmare could do something I disappeared from sight.

“What?” She exclaimed.

I reappeared right behind her, reeled back my front hooves, and slammed into her back. My hit caused her to slide across the floor and grip her back in pain.

“Teleportation followed by an unseen attack. You’re a bit sneakier than you look nave.” Nightmare began charging up energy in her horn. “Personally I’d prefer blasting you to bits!”

She launched a teal energy beam at me. I wouldn’t be fast enough to dodge it this time so I instead put up a crimson barrier that deflected the beam harmlessly. I looked around me and saw that our space for fighting was a bit close and I wanted to keep as much distance between her and me as I could.

“This area is a bit close. I suggest we take this battle outside.”

I charged up my own energy blast and fired at the ceiling to create a large hole.

“Follow me.” I said. I unfurled my wings and launched myself up into the air.

“If you insist.” She added

She also flew up and joined me in midair. We were now hovering in our new battleground; the land was still dark black in the early hours of the morning and a faint wind blew through the air.

I felt…I don’t know what to call it. I suppose I was a little scared because I knew what I was up against and I knew the consequences of losing this battle. But I also felt…invigorated, like I was fighting for something that really mattered, not just for people but for an ideal. Above all else, I was ready. I exhaled, relaxing my body and heard a theme for battle begin to play in my head.

Nightmare made the first move; she dashed towards me and began firing her magic beams. I began flying away from her, rolling to the left or right to dodge her laser blasts. On the ground below I saw the affects her lasers would have on my body as one of them disintegrated a tree, leaving nothing but a stump with a charred top.

“Yet another reason for me to dodge her.” I thought.

I needed to think strategically, I wasn’t used to having an alicorn form so ideas didn’t come to me as quickly. The most logical thing would be to attack her where she didn’t expect; I started doing a loop, and then when I was upside down and Nightmare was directly in my sights I fired a beam of energy at her. Unfortunately, she caught on to me and looked up, seeing my beam coming at her.

“That attack won’t touch me!” She exclaimed.

She fired an energy blast at mine and the two collided, creating a sphere of the two combined energies. We fought each other for control of this power but it felt like neither one of us could beat the other. Eventually, the two beams of energy just gave up on each other and exploded, cancelling them both out.

The explosion covered my eyes for a few seconds and when it dissipated I saw nothing, Nightmare had vanished.

“Where did she go?” I said aloud.

I heard Nightmare chuckle a high pitched and echoey chuckle. “You are not the only one who moves quickly in the veil of night.”

I looked around for her but couldn’t see her anywhere on the horizon, then I turned around and saw her right in front of me.

“Oh.” I said to myself, knowing this wouldn’t end well.

Nightmare pulled back and slammed into me with her full body weight and it sent me flying down towards the ground. Before I could recover I hit the ground and slammed into several trees, breaking branches as I flew through the air, until I hit the base of a tree and slid down until I lay on the ground. I got up slowly, trying to get on all four hooves and stand proudly.

“Well, that was unpleasant.”

I shook my head, trying to get myself back in my right mindset. She was strong, stronger than I would have thought.

“You seem to be having trouble again.” I heard a voice say.

But unlike the voice before, I recognized this one right away.

“You…” I said, dripping with hate.

I had heard this voice only once before but I knew it was evil. It told me evil and hateful things to do to my enemies, dark things. I head it once before when I was preparing to fight Gilda, it told me to kill her.

“What’s wrong? Having trouble fighting the big scary black pony?” He said, teasing me.

“Shut up, I can handle this!” I told him.

I spread my wings and flew back into the thick of things. Once I was in the air I was face to face with Nightmare again.

“I had hoped that little push of mine wouldn’t finish you. I’m not done with you yet.”

“Nor am I.”

I rushed forward to punch her in the face but she put up her hooves and blocked the blow, then she grabbed my hoof and twisted it, flipping me in midair and then she slammed into my stomach causing me to fall. But this time I extended my wings and stopped myself short.

“You are holding back, I can tell.” I heard him say.

“I’m fighting as hard as I can.” I replied back.

“I mean you aren’t using your best material, it would be easy for you to launch a mountain at her and yet you refuse to.”

“I can’t…it’s still Luna in there.”

“Is it? In 1000 years she could not get rid of the darkness inside her. What makes you think she can fight it now?”

I flew back up into the battlefield, charging at Nightmare. “I…I can’t-“

“It’s not that you can’t, it’s that you won’t. You won’t do what is needed to save the lives of hundreds.”

As much as I hated it, he was right. Even face to face with an evil pony that could kill me I couldn’t find it in me to harm Luna. She was my friend, and I wouldn't ever hurt her on purpose.

I was back to fighting Nightmare moon, she only smiled her evil toothy smile at me. “You’re getting tired young one, I think this fight is almost over.”

I looked at her, with faltering resolve. “No it’s not.”

“Isn’t it?” She cried.

She fired a quick bolt of energy at me, but I wasn’t fast enough and I put up a barrier just as it hit. The barrier was weak and I could feel it cracking under her intense force. Pretty soon it broke and the beam hit me, leaving an explosion of smoke in its wake.

“Hm, too bad. That blast was supposed to kill you.” She said.

As the smoke from the blast cleared I started breathing heavily. Her attacks were starting to take their toll on my body and I felt my stamina running out.

“Let me in…” I heard him say silently.

I tried to hold it back, but something in my brain just…snapped. I looked up at Nightmare not with determination but with hatred, my gaze was cold and unfeeling and my heart was beating with white hot rage. All I could see was red, so much red in fact that even my irises turned red.

“My turn…” I said quietly.

Nightmare was confused. “What?”

Without replying I launched a beam at Nightmare, but she was fast enough to dodge it. I launched three more and she barely managed to get out of their way.

“Dodge this!” I cried.

I launched dozens of smaller energy spheres out of my horn, all headed Nightmare’s way. She put her legs up and turned her head to the side to hopefully block the attack, but the impact never came. When she looked back at me she saw that she was in the middle of a sphere made of these energy blasts.

“Nowhere for you to run now…” I said, triumphantly. “Converge!”

The minute I said that the orbs came flying at her from all directions, she tried to move out of the way but she couldn’t escape most and they pounded on her relentlessly. Pretty soon five of them hit her and once and it caused a massive explosion.

This felt good; seeing her explode takes away some of the pain in my own body, gives me a tingling sensation.

When the dust from that explosion cleared I saw that she was still standing (or hovering, whatever you wanna call it) She was good at dodging with her wings and if I gave her an opening she would just pull up a shield like I did. I needed to find some way to finish her quickly, crippling her if I have to.

“You’re very good with your wings…” I said.

Then I used my vanishing technique and disappeared out of sight. Nightmare tried to locate me again but to no avail.

I appeared behind her and pulled her into a bear hug, holding her wings against her back. “Let’s see how you do without them.”

I retracted my own wings and without them we began falling down to the ground. Nightmare saw this and tried to struggle free from my grip, but I held on to her as hard as I could, I would not let her escape this time. She tried to head butt me to get out of my grip but by my strength I remained resolute.

“Let go of me ingrate!” She screamed.

“Never! I will save Equestria and end you you revolting cow!”

This time she leaned back and jabbed me in the face with her horn, I wasn’t prepared for this and I did lose my grip. But I wasn’t going to stop my approach, as she pulled away I kicked her wings as hard as I could and I could see her retract them in pain.

“If we plummet you’ll die to!” She cried.

“So be it!”

Continuing our fall I sped up to catch up to her, and to make sure she couldn’t unfurl her wings again I began grappling with her. We began twisting and spinning in midair, punching and kicking for dominance. Once I had her pinned she could see the castle getting closer and closer to us.

“You’re insane!” She cried out, afraid of what was about to happen.

‘Then we understand each other!” I cried out, adding a hearty laugh to that sentence.

Nightmare wasn’t completely done yet; she pushed off me and got a few feet’s distance between us.

“You cannot kill me! My night shall last FOREVER!” She screamed.

She cloaked herself in a sphere of her aquamarine energy and continued to scream at me, making it clear that she was about to give me all she has.

“Time for the grand finale!” I screamed as well.

I concentrated, focusing as much energy as I could muster for this attack. Sparks began to come out of my horn, energy began building and growing bigger until I was surrounded in a sphere of blue electricity.

“Fusion bolt!” I cried.

We charged at each other with full fury, our spheres met and through them I could see her angry growl and she could see mine. We flew through the air in these orbs, meeting a few times to take a strike at each other until one big push from me caused us to plummet directly into the side of the castle, dispelling both our orbs and causing an explosion that caused the roof above us to crack.

The girls laid on the ground, thrown back by the sheer force of the blast. When they arose they looked before them and saw both Nightmare and I unconscious, laying atop one another. They feared the worst until I groaned and opened up my brown eyes slowly, staggering as I tried to stand on my four legs.

Everything hurt. I could feel quite literally every little bit of pain in my body from my lungs to my bones and to my legs. Seeing I got up, the girls quickly hurried over to me and congratulated me on my victory.

“You did it Will” Twilight exclaimed.

“That was…awesome!” Rainbow Dash said.

“I was really impressed.” Applejack said.

“When we get back, we’re having cake!” Pinkie said.

I laughed a bit, but not too much. “Thanks girls, the moral support is really appreciated.”

Twilight looked behind me at the unmoving body of Nightmare Moon. “Is she…?” Twilight started to ask.

“I don’t know, I hope not. I tried my best not to harm her too severely but… I just felt this rage and…I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Well we need to do something about this. I’ll send a letter to Celestia as quickly as I can, she can send over the elements of harmony and we can get rid of this evil once and for all.”

I sighed. “That’s nice. Now if you’ll excuse me I think I’m going to crawl into a ball…and pass out.”

Twilight laughed. “Go ahead. You’ve earned a rest.”

“Yeah, I just need to-grah!“

I stopped my sentence short as I felt something pass right through my body, I looked down and saw some sort of starry night sky. I felt myself being lifted off the ground; as I turned I saw that it was Nightmare moon, she was back up and somehow she was able to impale me with her ethereal mane. The girls looked in shock as I heard Nightmare laugh evily once more.

“If you will not break on the outside, then I will do it from within!” She exclaimed.

I felt all of my energy draining and the last thing I saw before passing out was her evil presence silhouetted against the night and the beautiful pale moon. I’m sorry girls…I think I’ve failed this time.

Author's Note

Is this chapter a bit shorter than my other ones? Yes. DId it take a while for it get here? Yes. Was it necessary for me to leave you all on a cliffhanger? No...but it was fun.

Next is the exciting conclusion of the Nightmare saga. What events will take place? What has Nightmare Moon done to Will? Can she be defeated or will eternal night come to pass? Don't miss a single line of the next exciting chapter!

Also, don't forget to like, comment, and favorite if you enjoyed this chapter. You can even leave ideas for me and if I like it enough it may just come true.
Until next time, this is Spiderwilliam signing off.

Nightmare saga (finale)- The dawn has arrived

Author's Note

Welcome boils and ghouls! I thought today would be a perfect day to cap off this spooky story ark. Conider it a little Halloween/ Nightmare Night/ harrowing treat from your good friend Spiderwilliam13. Enjoy!

Nightmare saga (finale)- The dawn has arrived

Chapter 17

I felt myself surrounded by darkness as I lie on the cold, hard ground. I opened my eyes and saw…more darkness, so my thought was indeed correct. I got up of the ground and looked over my body, I didn’t seem the worse for wear, but for some reason I was back in my human form.

“That’s strange, I don’t remember turning back. I wonder if…”

My thoughts were interrupted as I looked ahead of me and saw Luna sitting on the ground, not Nightmare Moon but the real Luna.

“Luna!” I exclaimed happily.

I ran over to greet her, and to get her out of this place with me. She turned and looked at me, but she did not seem happy at all and her face was quite sullen. I did not understand why until as I was near her I ran into an invisible wall and got knocked on my ass. I rubbed the pain on my head and got back up on my feet.

“Who put this force field here? Who does that? Ow.” I exclaimed.

Luna just looked back at the ground, sad and defeated. “You cannot break it, I have tried many times.”

I put my hands on the barrier. “Luna, I am getting you out of here. No matter what.”

I started pounding on the invisible wall but I couldn’t feel any give. I surrounded my fist with energy and punched the wall, creating an explosion of energy, but it still remained untouched.

“I will not falter!” I cried.

I pulled out a greatsword and began spinning around and around, each strike hitting the wall harder and faster than the last. It did not break. I took a moment to breathe and calm down, but I saw something that disturbed me.

There was a rift opening up underneath Luna, a swirling vortex of red energy that began to pull her through it.

“Luna!” I cried, not wanting to lose her.

I made two giant drill gauntlets for my hands and tried to boar through the barrier but the drills couldn’t break it.

“Damn you!”

I threw the gauntlets off and started throwing energy balls at the barrier which exploded but didn’t make it break.

“Aaaah!”

I was done, I put my two hands forward and unleashed a torrent of golden energy but the barrier deflected it like it was wind. All I could do was watch as the void swallowed her up.

“Luna!” I pounded against the barrier with my fist. “You have to fight it Luna, don’t get swallowed up!”

I don’t know if she didn’t hear me or she just didn’t care but she just looked down at the ground with a sad look on her face. Before she passed all the way through I saw a single tear slip down her face and heard two words leave her lips.

“Forgive me.”

She slipped into the void completely and then the barrier came down, I fell forward and kneeled atop the spot she was on.

‘No…” I said to myself, not wanting to believe this happened.

“No.” I clenched my fists in anger and raised them in the air.

“NO!” I screamed and my hands came crashing down on the ground.

As I sat there in my sorrow, I could hear a dark chuckle coming from somewhere, it echoed through this space but I could not pinpoint its location.

“Do you finally understand now? Do you see the futility in trying to oppose me?”

I stood up, looked behind me and saw a translucent form of Nightmare Moon’s head with her long flowing starry mane.

“If you cannot save one pony, especially one as important as her, how do you expect to save everyone else?”

Suddenly my eyes were invaded by images; I saw pictures of peaceful towns all over Equestria, filled with happy ponies. But then the skies grew dark and the ponies look up in fear, over the horizon there is a mass of shadows distinguishable only by numerous pairs of glowing blue eyes. They move quickly and pass through every solid object, creating chaos in the town and killing anypony who even touches them.

“Soon my army will march on all of Equestria; no pony will stand in our way.”

The skies were now blood red and bodies of ponies lay everywhere, slaughtered to the last mare and child.

“And as for your friends…”

Then I saw all the girls and all the friends that I had made, they were…eviscerated; killed and dismembered in such a way that it made me gag.

“I will take great pleasure in ending their lives.

Finally I saw Canterlot castle, Celestia stood resolute in front of her throne and Nightmare bust through the door and stared at her maliciously. Then she leapt at Celestia with her sharp fangs barred, I heard a bite and then everything turned to darkness again.

“And all this will come to pass because you could not stop one pony.”

Seeing all these horrible events passed before my eyes weighed heavy on my heart, and it hurt me possibly more than any other physical wound could.

I fell to my knees, all this emotion welling up inside of me was hard to take.

“My fault…it’s all my fault…”

The pain I felt was so great that something happened I did not expect…I began to cry. I don’t cry very often, only when I feel helpless and emotionally distressed.

A few tears escaped my eyes and I could feel Nightmare Moon standing there, taking in all of my sadness and lapping it up like a dog.

Meanwhile…

Twilight and her friends still stood in the middle of the destroyed throne room, they currently had their eyes transfixed on the two ponies in front of them: Nightmare and I, both of us were standing totally still and our eyes were a solid glowing white. Nightmare’s mane was still run through my body.

“What’s going on with them?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight walked up to us two and observed us; she waved a hoof in front of both our faces to see if we would respond. “I don’t know, at first I was afraid that she …killed him, but then his eyes went white and her eyes went white and now they’re just standing here.”

“Is there anything you can do about it?” Rarity asked.

Twilight nodded, she was curious what was happening and she was willing to try anything to figure it out. She surrounded us two in a magical aura from her horn, but as soon as she tried to apply power the energy collapsed and the shock knocked her back.

“Whatever’s going on there’s a lot of magic involved; I can feel some of struggle going on in his brain.” Twilight said, trying to guess what was happening.

“Can you tell if he’s winning?” Applejack added.

Twilight shook her head. “All I can tell is that there’s a large strain on his head right now, and it doesn’t feel good.”

Back in the crazy man’s head…

I was laying on the floor, crying, ready to give up on everything and feeling horrible that I couldn’t stop it. But then, something amazing happened…

“Hey, what’s wrong buddy?”

I heard a voice, but not just any voice. This voice was familiar and I could attach it to a human being; it was the voice of someone who I hadn’t seen in quite a while and I had hoped that I wasn’t just hearing things. I turned around and I saw him: five feet ten inches tall, dark hair with stripes of gray, glasses, and a goatee. It was him…

“Dad!” I cried out.

I was so happy to see him I immediately got up and ran to him. I wanted to hug him so hard but when my fingers touched him they passed through, he was so close and yet still out of my reach.

“Sorry William.”

I looked at him with hurt feelings. “But, it’s you. You’re-“

“I’m in your head son.”

I looked hurt. “My head?”

He nodded. “All this stuff is going on in that big old head of yours.”

I gave a small grin; he always did say that I had a big head.

“So all of this stuff that’s happening right now isn’t actually happening?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“But…that means you’re not really here either.”

“No…I’m sorry.”

I sighed again and he put his hand on my shoulder.

“Hey come on, you can do this.” He said in a reassuring tone.

“I don’t know if I can. I mean, I thought I knew what was supposed to happen in the time line but this-“ I pointed to giant Nightmare “I’ve never seen this before. What if I fail because I’m not sure what to do?”

He looked at me with concern. “Hey, look at me.”

I looked him in the eyes.

“You’re a smart kid, I know you are. You’re emotional, but all water signs are like that, you’re devoted, but you know what the best thing is?”
I shrugged.

He put a finger on my chest. “You’re not afraid to do things your way, and I really admire that. Will, I always knew you were going to do great things and now’s your chance. Uphold your knight’s code, go out there, and take down evil; it’s your turn to be the hero.”

Hearing his inspirational speech and just hearing his voice again made me feel better inside, dad was always the best at that. “Thanks dad.”

He gave me a great big hug, but I couldn’t feel him wrapped around me. “You’re welcome bud.”

I began to continue my sniffling from earlier. “I love you, and i‘m gonna miss you so much.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, but knowing that you’re here and that you’re safe is enough for me.”

He gave me one final pat on the shoulder and I could see him begin to fade away, but he had a few final words on his lips. “Go get him monkey.” And then he disappeared.

I wiped the tears from my eyes; he was right, I’m not gonna stand for this. I’ve got new friends and I’ll be damned if they’re going to get taken away by some overgrown shade.

“Hey Nightmare!” I screamed.

Her giant head turned around and she saw me. “Hm, I thought you’d be enveloped in despair by now.”

I held up the peace sign. “I’ve got two words for you.”

I extended my arms and was bathed in a white light and I was wearing a different costume, this time I was wearing the dark and baggy robes of Organization XIII. I needed something lightweight and maneuverable as well as dark and badass, plus… I don’t know it just seemed cool in my head.

“Let’s dance!” I decreed

She flashes her pointed grin and moved close to me.

“Let’s finish this.” She said.

“Is that all you’ve got to say?” I asked.

Nightmare: Well well well, what a pest you are

She summoned a dark tentacle of energy to try and attack me, I gracefully jumped out of its before it could hit me. She kept trying to hit me with them but I kept dodging.

Nightmare: Still around huh? Oh, can’t say I like that.
So why don’t you just give up? You know, surrender?

I flashed my normal cocky grin, and started building up energy.

Will: It’s over, it’s over, your scheme was bound to fail

I waved my arm and several energy bullets flew at her and hit her in the face.

It’s over, you’re finished here, you’re just too weak and frail.

I extended my hand and several more bullets hit her.

Nightmare: You mock me, you fight me, I don’t know which is worse
I must just get the hiccups, if I don’t die laughing first. Ha!

Suddenly I was surrounded my numerous dark energy spheres that just looked ready to do some damage.

Will: What’s this? A trick?

The energy extended into black needles and attempted to stab me, before they came close I thrust my arms out on both my sides and the needles broke and became harmless.

I’m not impressed, you’re bad and now you’re tall.
It makes it all the more worthwhile to see a giant fall.

Nightmare: Talk, talk, talk, but I tell you, this giant’s going nowhere.
If I were you I’d take a hike, there’s danger in the air.

She kept sending more tentacles after me but as I flipped in the air to dodge them, I started my next attack. Static electricity began to build up around my body and I started running towards her.

Nightmare: Whoa

This time Nightmare tried a different tactic, she summoned dark spikes to shoot out from the ground and try to impale me. When the first one tried to impale me I was only able to dodge it halfway and I could feel it scratching against my body.

Will: Whoa
Nightmare: Whoa

She sent more of them after me but now that I knew what she was doing I was able to get out of their way.

Will: Whoa
Nightmare: Whoa!

The energy in me had reaches its maximum and I was ready to unleash it, all I needed to do now was wait for the perfect moment. Then it came in the form of one those dark spikes.

Will: Whoa!

As It shot up I jumped up into the air to meet it and at its peak I hopped off the tip and managed to jump directly above Nightmare’s giant head.

Will: I’m the one who’ll fight the night!

I unleashed it on her face and several lightning strikes came down and blasted her for massive damage.

I landed back on the ground and caught my breath for a second.

“My mind is my own!” I cried.

Nightmare merely smiled at me. “Well aren’t we confident.”

I extended my right arm and suddenly it was surrounded by glowing red energy that manifested itself into a giant jagged red claw like the one Ragna from Blaze Blue had. Seeing this made me grin evily.

Will: Well I’m feeling angry and there’s plenty left to do
I fought your most unwelcome help and now I’m after you!
I started running for her again but she did not look amused.
Nightmare: Even if you beat me, you could never end my life
I’m pain sorrow given form, a never ending strife.

She created a horde of shadow minions to try and stop me but my claw sliced through them like a warm knife through butter.

Nightmare: Whoa
Will: Whoa
Nightmare: Whoa
Will: Whoa
Nightmare: Whoa!
Will: Whoa!

Soon her army was gone and I had a wonderful opening to hit her.

Will: You can never beat my might.

I slashed her exposed area as powerfully as I could and I could see the claw marks in her form. However pretty soon after I made those marks they healed themselves and I felt a dark wave of energy blast me backwards.

Back in the real world the girls were just standing around wondering what to do and seeing if things would get better. While they were waiting they heard me groan and wince, though I would not escape my trance.

“This…ends…here” They heard me grunt.

Back in my head Nightmare was still jovial about the whole ordeal “I’m laughing to death.”

Will: It’s over, you’re finished, you’ll never get away.
You, the princess of nightmares? That’ll be the day.

I got into a stance and started to charge up energy for a very strong attack. While I stood there and charged Nightmare looked at me with… I’m going to say a mixture of pity and contempt.

Nightmare: How feeble, how childish, is that the best you got?
You might think you’re a hero Will, but I think you are not.

She expanded herself to make her look more terrifying, it wasn’t working on me.

Nightmare: I am the ruler of eternal night!
Will: You rule over nothing!

Nightmare’s eyes flared and I could see her trying to start something, soon crimson blades jutted out of the ground and came at me in waves. Yeah, this could get bad.

Nightmare: Now it’s time for you to see what it really means to fear
Cause all the fools who scream and howl are music to my ears.

The blades were coming at me at great speeds, I tried to get out of the way of all of them but it was nearly impossible. Quite a few of them cut me and started to slash my robes to bits.

It’s much more fun, I must confess, when death is added in
So come on friend, just give up, your life is wearing thin.

In a moment of weakness Nightmare reached out with one of her tendrils and grabbed me, lifting me high up into the air. Now I was suspended in the air right in front of her face; three more tentacles came out of nowhere and grabbed the rest of my limbs. She was trying to pull me apart.

Nightmare: Whoa
Will: Whoa
Nightmare: Whoa
Will: Whoa

While she was pulling me apart I glowed with bright white energy, I had finally stored enough energy to pull off this super attack. However Nightmare noticed my glowing and immediately became suspicious.

Nightmare: Whoa!
Will: Whoa!

Before she could do anything about it I broke free of her grasp and back flipped in midair.

Will: Time for you to face the light!

I surrounded myself with all the energy at once and charged directly at Nightmare, the energy was so great that I bored right through her and made a gigantic hole in her head. I landed on the ground in a ball of explosive light and observed Nightmare’s wounded state as she… regenerated all the damage I just did to her. Crap.

She may have reformed but I saw something I recognized, cracks. The black walls that surrounded us had small white cracks forming on them so I knew that I was close to breaking out of here.

To get out of here I needed to put Luna back in control, and since Nightmare was weakened I may just have a chance of doing that.

I pulled my fist back and did a ground pound, it passed right through the floor and caused ripples of white energy.

“What?” Nightmare questioned.

I could feel her in there, her energy was strong and just begging to come forth, all I needed was something to grab on to and…ha! I got her.

I grabbed onto what felt like a hoof and pulled as hard as I could, sure enough Luna’s head came popping out of the rift and soon her entire being came out.

I smiled at her appearance. “Good to see you again.”

“You to.” She replied.

Nightmare looked at the scene with disgust. “No! You cannot do this! I am far superior to you! I am-“

Luna looked at her giant evil form in embarrassment. “My word, was I always this egotistical?”

I nodded a bit. “Maybe not you in general, but this one is definitely talkative.”

Nightmare tried to attack me with another dark tendril but I put a barrier and deflected it. However, after the barrier was down I could feel the impact that it had tried to inflict; I was running out of energy.

“Luna, I can finish her right now and put this evil to bed forever but I need you to lend me some of your power.”

She nodded. “Of course.”

She charged up a spell in her horn and I charged energy in my hand, when we were both ready we fired a bolt of energy straight up and the collided, swirling together and transforming into a magical sword.

This sword was tinted black steel with a jagged blade design; the hilt had a blue gem in the middle with two metal black wings sticking out to the side. It was a magical weapon imbued with the strength of two deities, yeah this thing was gonna tear shit up.

The sword fell down and I caught it in my right hand, giving it a few practice twirls to get the pattern right. It was a bit light so that meant it was a longsword, but used in a two handed style it’ll be fast and strong.

“This will do quite nicely.”

I turned around and gave Nightmare one final grimace before pointing my blade at her.

“Hear me now Nightmare; from this point onward any pony who thinks they can rule Equestria by force and threaten the lives of all those who I have sworn to protect will be defeated.” I got into a combat stance. “And I’m starting with you!”

I ran at her at top speeds, preparing to end her. She sent a few more dark tendrils at me but I slashed them with my sword which caused them to immediately disintegrate.

When I had almost reached her I stabbed through one of her tendrils but it would not dissipate like the others. Seeing this Nightmare tried to get me out of her way by flicking me up in the air like some kind of insect. I flew above her head and she sent a few dark energy blasts to intercept me, I batted them off with my sword as I spun while mid-flight.
As the force of the toss began to wear off and I slowed down I prepared the coup de gra. Gravity caught up to me and I began to fall back down towards Nightmare, I positioned myself directly above her head as I free fell downwards gaining more speed. I rose the blade above me as she turned her massive head to lay eyes on me.

“Greet the gods!” I cried out.

Before she could move I was already on top her and with a mighty swing I sliced cleanly through her skull and did not stop until I hit the ground. After I landed the cut I made glowed with white light and the rest of her face began cracking and the light began to showed through the cracks. Finally, the white light grew brighter until the entire head exploded; satisfied I raised my sword in a victorious manner and placed it on my back (don’t ask how).

Once Nightmare disappeared the black walls around me and Luna began to crack and glow as well. I turned to Luna and smiled at her and she smiled back.

“You’ve done it; you did in one night what I could not accomplish in a millennium.” She said.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Just lucky I suppose.” I saw the black on the walls begin to peel and fade away, making patches of white. “I’m going to be waking up soon, I’ll see you soon Luna.”

She put her head down. “I hope so.”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “I know so.”

And then everything faded.

Soon the inside returned to the outside, Nightmare’s mane which was still lodged in my body had sparks of energy traveling up it and they came to electrocute her head, the energy was so much that it knocked her out and she fell to the floor.

The light faded from my eyes and I fell to the ground as well with my legs splayed to the sides. The girls cautiously walked up to me to see if I was okay, I looked up at them with tired eyes and a goofy grin on my face.

I let this form go and changed back to human form, I carefully got up and gave myself a look over and I did not look my best. My clothes were singed and there were holes in some places, my arms had bruises, and I could feel cuts on my face, but I was alive and that’s all that mattered.

I looked over towards Luna, she still hadn’t come out of her Nightmare form yet.

“How are we going to get rid of Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked.

“I can think of one way.” I said.

I walked over to Luna and kneeled down next to her unconscious form. I leaned in very close and began to whisper in her ear.

“Luna, I know you can hear me and I need you to wake up. You might not think that you’re strong enough to beat Nightmare but you are, I know you are and I believe in you to find that inner strength. I started to beat her but you need to finish the job, show off that excellent power I know you have.”

I got back up on my feet and I stood there, waiting for some kind of reaction, hoping that she would be able to beat this possession once and for all.
The seconds passed slowly, but soon she began to move. It was slow and you could hear her groaning, fighting consciousness.

“Come on Lulu.” I said quietly, under my breath.

She slowly opened one of her eyes and the vertical irises expanded becoming more normal. I could see the black color flushing itself from her coat and finally she opened her mouth and a black mist slowly rose out of it. As it left her body I saw her slowly change back into the old Luna.

When the mist finished draining out I quickly extended two fingers and captured it midair in a force bubble. The black goop began thrashing in its spherical prison, but I knew it wouldn’t escape.

“I’m not even giving you a chance this time.” I turned to Twilight. “Care to assist me Sparkle?”

She nodded. I charged up energy in my hand and she charged up the sunbeam spell I showed her, we unleashed them both on the sphere at the same time and I saw the blackness burn and fade into nothingness.

I smiled, glad that this evil was gone forever.

“I suppose all that’s left now is to wait for the princess to wake up.”

I motioned my hand backwards. “You guys can go back home, I’ll watch over Luna.”

“But-“ Rainbow began to start

I put up one finger. “No butts. It’s been a very long night for all of us, but the rest of you have jobs or some form of work in the morning. I do not and I’ve stayed up all night before so I can watch over her until she wakes up.”

Rainbow groaned. “And I thought having Twilight right all the time was rough, now we’ve got you for that to.”

“I know, ironic right?”

“Well…” Rarity yawned. “I do know this lack of sleep is not going to bode well for my morning, I’m going to retire for the evening. See you all tomorrow.”

“Excellent.” I snapped my fingers and teleported Rarity back to the boutique.

“And I s’pose Granny would be cross with me if I was too tired to buck apples tomorrow. I’ll catch y’all tomorrow as well.”

“Night AJ.” I snapped and sent her back to the apple farm.

“I need to go check on Spike.” Twilight said.

“And you will.” I sent Twilight back to the library.

“Oh oh oh! Me next, me next!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air excitedly.

I sent her back to her room at Sugarcube corner.

“Oh, um, I don’t want to be a bother so I’ll just…”

Before Fluttershy could think of backing out I sent her back to her cottage.

I looked at Rainbow and she looked back at me uninterested.

“Do I even need to say anything?”

And with one final snap I sent her back to her cloud house.

Now it was just me and the unconscious form of Luna, I leaned my back against one of the old stone columns and began to sink down and sit on the ground. Now that all my adrenaline had worn off I was pretty tired, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes slipping into a dreamless slumber

I wasn’t sure how long I was out but I was suddenly awoken by a small noise. I looked to my side and saw that Luna was beginning to stir and what I heard were her tiny moans of waking up from a long sleep.

She opened her eyes slowly and then she turned her head and saw me. I gave her a weak little smile.

“Welcome back Luna.” I got up and started walking towards her, I kneeled down to talk to her at eye level.. “Did you have a nice nap?”

When she realized it was me she was talking to her head shot up and her eyes widen. “Will! You’re here; but that means that…and I… oh gods.”

She moved forward and wrapped her hooves around me. She was…hugging me… okay; she probably remembered all the things Nightmare had done with her form and was in shock over them. To try and be comforting I put one arm around her and patted her on the back lightly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. There’s nothing you could have done about this.”

She pulled back and wiped one of her eyes. “No, I could have held back my inner desires and let my darkness go but I chose not to. Such acts as I have done are not forgotten easily.”

I looked at her, as if I could make all of her insecurities go away with a look. “Well for what’s worth, I think the nightmare is finally over.”

I stood up and extended my hand for her to take it, she did so and I pulled her up on her hooves. She looked at me and at herself and she was a bit distraught.

“Oh my, we both look…”

“Scuffed up, I know, myself more than you. But I’m sure that’s nothing a good night’s sleep and a roll of bandages can’t cure.”

Luna looked out at the sky through that large hole we made in the castle when we dived in here.

“I must get back home, sister is probably very worried about me by now and I have duties to attend to back in Canterlot.”

I nodded. “I may be drained from this evenings events but I should have enough juice left to port us back to our respective homes. I’ll start with you.”

I extended my hand and several magic sigils appeared on the ground. In actuality creating multiple magic sigils with certain properties took less energy than actual
teleportation; I placed them on the ground and chanted the words to activate them.

“Adplicabis et lunam , ut recorder eam domi.”

The sigils glowed and a swirling portal of energy opened up.

Before she left Luna gave me one last look.

“I cannot thank you enough for what you have done.”

I shrugged it off. “It’s no big deal, I just did what any other honor bound pony would do.”

Luna shook her head. “No, you did much more than that.” She trotted closer to me until she was only about a foot from my face. “Tonight you served Equestria to the fullest, casting fear aside and risking life and limb to save it’s princess. You are a proper knight of Equestria and you shall be rewarded as such.”

I smiled and dipped my head a bit as a sign of respect. “Thank you Luna that’s very kind of you, what sort of reward were you thinking of?”

She turned her head to the side and thought about it. “Well…there is a traditional reward for a hero who has saved his princess from a great evil.”

At first I wondered what she meant, but before I could comprehend her statement she leaned in closer and…

She kissed me…on my cheek.

Seeing this happen made my eyes go wide and my body freeze, felling her kiss my cheek made my cheeks redder than a tomato and caused my vocal chords to freeze up. I wanted to say something, anything, but my body would not comply.

I think Luna saw this as she stepped back, her face looking less enthusiastic than it had a moment ago.

“I should go.” She said in a stoic manner.

She turned around and walked to the edge of the portal, she took one final look back at me.

“Pleasant dreams.” She said.

And then she walked through and the portal collapsed.

As for me, I just stood there stupefied with only one thought going through my brain

“What?!?”

What we keep inside

Chapter 18

It’s been…

I looked at the clock to see how much time had passed.

…six hours since I banished Nightmare Moon. After Luna gave me her “reward” I went home and tried to sleep off my inner turmoil. It took me forever to fall asleep, only for me to wake up after only about four hours of sleep and I’m still thinking about it.

Is it just me? Is it weird for me to still be thinking about a kiss from a six foot tall navy blue alicorn? Actually…when I put it like that it does sound a bit strange.

I was just lying in my bed looking up at the ceiling, my brain going at a million miles an hour. I could still feel it though; the cool night air blowing, the sensation of her lips on me, and the warmth in cheeks from the pure shock of it all. It was… exciting sure, but it also left me… confused.

You don’t just kiss one of your friends out of nowhere, unless it meant something. But that’s insane, Luna couldn’t mean anything by it; I’m an animal Frankenstein with demigod powers masquerading as a human to keep some sense of who he once was and she’s a six foot tall pastel alicorn with the duty of raising/lowering the moon.
It’s like Texas allowing foreigners to cross their borders; it just doesn’t make sense…man I’m glad no other humans are here, I’m fairly certain quite a few would be very offended.

I sat up slowly, decided “screw it”, and got up. If I’m not going to sleep than I might as well do something constructive with my time, especially since the rest of my clique wouldn’t be up for a few more hours.

11:00 AM- Outside my house

Twilight knocked on my front door.

“Will, you up? I wanted to talk a bit about last night.”

She knocked again and the door just randomly opened slowly, making a creaking noise as it slid of its own accord.

“Well... that’s not creepy at all.” Twilight said to herself.

She walked into my home and saw that the room was empty.

“Hello?” She called out again.

She didn’t see anyone but she could hear noise, it was quiet but still present. It sounded like…grunting; following the sound she moved down the hallway and the noise got louder and louder. Finally she came upon a white door where the sound was its loudest; the noise was definitely coming from there.

She opened it up and was greeted to quite a sight; it was me fighting with… a thing. She couldn’t quite describe it: it had the same build as a stallion with a purple coat, however once you reached the point where the legs met the body he had bone pauldrons and his skull was surrounded by a bone helmet with three small eyes on the forehead and a large one in the center of his face. Perhaps what was most disturbing was that he had several tentacles jutting out of his back where pegasi would have their wings and his cutie mark was a purple fireball.

As for me, I was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and black sweatpants and I was covered in sweat from the battle that we were having. I was attacking him with several quick jabs, bigger hooks, and spinning roundhouses. It took a few seconds for me to even realize that Twilight had entered the room; once I had steadied my breathing I turned around and waved at her.

“Hey Twilight.” I turned back around to my creation. “End session and mark data.”

“Yes sir.” The creature replied in a creepy and almost otherworldly tone.

I got a towel and started rubbing myself to cool off and get all the sweat off me. As I did this Twilight walked up to me.

“I have to admit, I expected you to still be asleep.” Twilight said

I groaned. “I wish I was, but I couldn’t sleep so I decided to do a little training instead.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, you did sustain some serious injuries last night, perhaps you should wait a bit before you start fighting again.”

I understood that she was concerned about me but I looked at her with disinterest “Twilight, if I don’t practice my skills will get rusty, and as last night showed me not only can strong enemies come out of nowhere, but I need to be better prepared to fight them.”

She nodded her head, following my reason. ”Okay, follow up question…” She pointed at the creature I made. “What in Celestia’s name is that thing?”

“I’m glad you asked.” I walked over and patted him in the back. “This is Vel’koz, an extra dimensional being.”

Twilight’s expression was confused and scared. “Okay…what’s he doing here?’

“He specializes in analyzing and replicating data so I thought he’d be the best person to help me improve my technique. Speaking of which, what are my results Vel?”

He stood there and thought about it for a moment. “You show improvement sir. Body damaged by 32% in 18 hits, most destructive hit was the roundhouse kick ranging at 8.27% percent damage done. I suggest switching up your style in the middle of your combos so as to make your attacks less predictable.”

I nodded. “Thank you very much. You are dismissed for the day.”

He nodded. “Thank you sir.”

He extended his tentacles and created a purple portal under himself, and then he vanished into it. Now it was just me and Twilight in the room.

“Well…he sounds as creepy as he looks.”

I looked at her with slight disappointment. “You know if he was here right now he would take offense to that.”

“Well he is! I’m sorry if I say what I’m thinking.”

“Well if he hears you talking about him like that he’ll have three choice words for you.”

“And what would those be?” She asked

“Life-form disintegration ray.”

That got a real shock out of her. “What?”

“But that’s not important, come we’ll finish this conversation in my living room.”

We exited my training room and went into the living room; it was nothing special just two couches and a rug in the middle, I was thinking of putting in a TV but Equestria doesn’t have television so I don’t know what I’d watch.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, I had a question but first I wanted to ask: What happened? Last night you were beaten up and bruised with injuries that would take days to heal properly but now you’re up and about without a hair out of place.”

I sighed. “Twilight you need a better memory. Remember a week or two ago when you girls came over to my house? I had that wound on my stomach which looked really bad then you got me that medicine and I was up kicking ass not ten minutes later.”

Twilight scowled. “Still, potions sometimes have side effects; you should wait a little bit before exerting yourself.”

This time I groaned. “Yes mom. Anything else you wanted to ask me?”

“Well, originally I came to ask you how everything went after we left.”

I shrugged. “It was fine. I sat with Luna after she rejected her darkness and waited for her to get up.”

“Anything else?” She asked.

“Nope, she woke up, thanked me for helping her and… that…was it.”

Crap, why’d she have to do this to me? I had finally managed to get Luna out of my mind with fighting and now she brings it up and all the emotions come rushing back to me. I can feel myself getting more and more flush by the second.

“Are you okay Will? You seem a bit warm.”

Damn her observational skills. “Uh yeah, I’m fine; it’s probably just from the workout.” I got up off of my couch and motioned Twilight to do the same. She stood up and I began pushing her towards the door, her hooves scraping across the ground. “Why don’t you leave so that I can cool off for a little bit?”

Twilight seemed shocked and slightly upset by my actions. “O-okay, I was just worried about…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy for a couple of days and I’ll check on Luna and make sure she’s okay as well.”

“Alright then.” She said reluctantly.

We made it to the front door and I opened it up. Twilight walked out of her own accord and I waved her goodbye.

“See you this afternoon Twilight; tell the rest of the girls I said hi.”

I quickly slammed the door shut and exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. Now that may have been a bit rude to force her out of my house like that but my reasons were the indirect truth, I needed to cool off and I needed to go make sure Luna was okay.

I snapped my finger and my outfit changed to my usual black pants and sweatshirt with a red short sleeve shirt underneath.

“Time for a little unannounced visit.”

Suddenly I whiffed something foul in the air, after another sniff I realized the smell was coming from me and it was disgusting. I pulled out a rubber duck and put on the frilliest pink shower cap I had.

“But first, a shower.”

Canterlot castle, later that day…

The door to the throne room opened and I extended my arms with showman like flair.

“Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!” I said.

Both Celestia and the two guards at her throne remained stoic.

“Wow, tough crowd.” I began walking towards Celestia. “Celestia, I wanted to talk to you about-“

The minute I got even relatively close to her the two guards raised their spears at me.

“Guys, I’ve been here before, there’s no need to consider me hostile.”

“They did not raise their weapons because they were suspicious.” Celestia said.

I was curious what she meant, I looked upward to look at her face to face but she was emotionless and her eyes looked dead.

“I asked them to raise arms against you.”

This shocked me. “What? Why would you do that?”

Suddenly her expression changed to one of anger, her eyebrows furrowed and I saw a spark in her eyes. That was good, that meant I was getting somewhere.
“I’ll tell you why.”

She stood up off her throne and extended her wings, I swear this very action seemed to make the light pour into the room.

“You coax my sister into going out to enjoy a holiday based around her evil past. However, it is different than it used to be and I trusted you to make sure she had fun and keep her safe. Not only does she return hours after I expected her to, but she is collapsed on her bed and covered in scrapes and bruises.”

Celestia inhales and retracts her wings, I could tell for a moment there she was really passionate about what she was saying, but now she’s dialing it back.
“Now…are you going to tell me the culprit of these actions? Or am I in his presence?”

…

Wow…she did not just accuse me of hurting Luna. That sentence made me angry, very angry. How angry you might ask?

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

I grew about 6 more feet, my muscles began to bulge out, my hair turned a dirty blonde, and my outfit turned into a white jumpsuit with a black cross on it and spiky sliver pauldrons. Apparently I was mad enough to turn into Ira Gamagori from Kill la kill.

“THERE ARE TWO THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME!”

I held up one finger.

“FIRST! I WOULD NOT DREAM OF HARMING ANY OF MY FRIENDS, INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY YOUR SISTER.”

I held up a second finger.

“TWO! THE ONLY TIME I WOULD PUT MY HANDS ON AN INNOCENT PONY IS IF I WAS GIVING THEM A HIGH HOOF, HEAD RUB, OR SOMETHING SIMILAR! OBSERVE!”

I reached my hand forward and put it on Celestia’s head, then using my index finger I began scratching behind her right ear.

“Why are you yelling so loudly? Is it necessary to-oh…oh my, that’s quite nice.”

I nodded. “THANK YOU!”

With the situation defused I shrunk back to my normal form but now I was standing in front of Celesta, scratching behind her mane. After a few more seconds of this I pulled my hand back and Celestia’s expression was much more calm and happy.

“Feel better?” I asked.

“Much. I have not been able to properly reach that spot for many decades, your digits are quite handy.”

“I am aware. Now, are you ready to talk about you problems?”

Celestia sighed. “Yes. Forgive me, I may have overreacted to this situation; I’ve been told by others that i’m very…protective of Luna since she came back, and given your powers and how you came to gain them it seemed easy to blame you for this. I’m sorry.”

Celestia was only looking out for Luna, so I suppose I couldn’t get too mad at her. “It’s okay, were I in your position I would be worried for my sibling's safety as well. Although judging by your reactions I can guess that Luna hasn’t told you what did happen.”

Celestia shook her head. “She hasn’t left her room and when I tried to enter earlier she locked me out.”

“That makes sense.”

“Will you tell me what happened?” She asked.

I shook my head. “No, that’s not my place to act. Last night was…intense for Luna and I think she’s the one who has to get herself out of this funk.”

“Will you at least talk to her for me?” Celestia asked.

I smiled. “Of course, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help?” I stepped away preparing to teleport to Luna’s room but I figured she wouldn’t appreciate the surprise. “Um, could you actually show me where her room is? I don’t want to disturb her.”

Celestia slowly nodded her head. “That’s fair.” She looked at one of the guards next to her. “Sharp Edge, please escort him to my sisters chambers.”
He nodded and began walking in a direction; I followed behind him at a brisk pace.

As we walked through the castles halls I really got a chance to take in their beauty, the walls were a clean cut stone filled with suits of pristine steel armor and giant glass windows that reached to the ceiling. I suppose this was an advantage of taking the path walked by all.

Soon we reached a large ornate door with a crescent moon in the center of it.

“The chambers of Princess Luna.” Sharp Edge said very professionally.

“Thank you Sharp.” I reached for the door but before I opened it all the way I had a thought. “Um, this may take a while; you don’t need to stand outside the door the whole time.”

He shook his head. “No sir, while you’re a guest here I need to keep my eyes on you. Guard’s code.”

I sighed internally, I was hoping for some privacy but I guess that wasn’t happening.

“Very well.” I knocked on Luna’s door. “Luna? It’s me.”

I put my ear to the door but I couldn’t hear a sound, not even a grumble or a ‘go away’.

“I’m opening the door now, if that’s okay with you say nothing.”

I only heard silence so I opened the door and walked inside. The room was…dark, and not in the sense of poorly lit, I’d been here before and I knew that it could be very bright. This was something else, the air around me was still like the room was stuck in a moment of time; the only thing that gave even a small sign of life was the mass of dark blue fur on Luna’s bed.

I walked towards her slowly, not wanting to disturb her. It was only when I was at the foot of her bed that I dared to make noise.

“Luna, are you okay?” I asked in a whisper.

Slowly her head rose from the pillow and she turned around to face me, her eyes were a light pink and the fur around her eyes was matted to her face. To cement my theory I saw two large wet spots on her pillow not far from each other.

“You’ve been crying.” I said, not trying to go around the subject

She sniffled. “No I haven’t. Someone…just put tears on my pillow, that’s what I’m sad about.”

I sat down next to her on the bed and tried to talk to her.

“Luna, I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me. Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

She sniffled again and put her head down in her pillow, facing away from me.

“It’s just…after last night-“

“Luna how many times do I have to tell you? It wasn’t your fault it-“

“YES IT WAS!” She shouted at me. I could tell from her forcefulness that she really believed that.

“You know Nightmare did all that stuff right?”

“And where did she come from? From what black pit did her evilness crawl out of and aspire for control of everypony and everything? Me.”

I sighed; I had to figure out how to get her to see it wasn’t her fault.

“You’re kidding right? Nightmare was a completely different entity from you.”

“She was born from my hate and dark emotions; she is just as much me as I am.”

“But you could never turn into her.” I scooted a bit closer to her. “Can I tell you something? When you were taken over I never once referred to you as Luna, I only thought of her as Nightmare Moon and I said to myself ‘I’m going to fight this monster so that I can get Luna back’” I put my hand on her side. “My Luna, the one who’s become my friend.”

“But that’s just the thing.” She said.

Man, she needs to learn the definition of the word context. “What?”

She rose up and looked at me again. “That’s my biggest problem with all this; I’ve fought that consciousness for over a millennium, I thought that after the Elements of Harmony destroyed it I would finally be rid of my darkness. Yet, the minute I come back in contact with it it attaches itself to me and takes me over once again and it was even stronger than before.”

I cracked a small smile. “But I was there to save you.”

Her expression remained dark. “And what would have happened if you weren’t there? Could Twilight and her friends have defeated Nightmare without their elements? Would I have been trapped in an empty shell of myself, forced to watch all her malicious action unable to do anything?”

I could see that Luna was about to start crying again and I didn’t want that. I wanted to help her, I wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay but my brain couldn’t find the words. But in my heart, I could feel it, my heart was beating in rhythm with her soul and from it a song would be born. The beat grew louder and became the thumping of a rhythm, and when the song and I were one I began to sing.

Will: Hey… everybody loses it,
Everybody wants to throw it all away sometimes.
Luna turned her attention to me and I started standing up.
And hey… I know what you're going through
Don't let it get the best of you, you'll make it out alive
Oh.

I pulled out a microphone and began singing into it.

People like us, we've gotta stick together
Keep your head up, nothing lasts forever
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom.

I did a back flip and suddenly a stage appeared underneath me.

Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
We are all misfits living in a world on fire.
Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us.

Luna now looked at me with more energy in her eyes; I could see her sadness beginning to disappear.

Hey, this is not a funeral
It's a revolution, after all your tears have turned to rage
Just wait, everything will be okay
Even when you're feeling like it's going down in flames
Oh.

People like us, we've gotta stick together
Keep your head up nothing lasts forever
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom!

Suddenly the room became much more vibrant; there were lights shining from who knows where, my sound was amplified, and I could feel my excitement rising.

Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
We are all misfits living in a world on fire
Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us

Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
You've just gotta turn it up loud when the flames get higher
Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us.

Once I had finished singing I hear Luna clapping her hooves together, I’m glad she enjoyed it. I dropped the microphone and slowly began to walk off the stage I created. As I walked towards her the stage began to deconstruct itself until I reached her bed and the stage was completely gone.

“Glad you enjoyed that little show.” I said.

“It was…nice.” She said, although I was unclear what she was feeing behind her words.

“Do you understand what I’m saying now?”

“I think so. Both your words and your performance point to one lesson: At times we will feel darkness in our hearts, but that darkness does not encompass us, it is merely part of us. It is our job to find a way to rise higher than that darkness and we will become stronger because of it.”

I nodded. “You know it, but do you believe it?”

She thought about it for a moment. “It is…hard to forget all my missteps, but I can safely say that I am better now than I was then. I believe that if I have ponies like my sister and friends like you I will be okay.”

I smiled at her. “That’s my Luna.”

I walked over towards the bed and sat down on the edge next to her. “I’m proud of you for getting yourself out of that sour mood.”

Luna giggled a bit to herself. “Good…” She began to put her head down. “Now that this existential crisis has been dealt with I shall sleep, all day if possible.”

Her attitude made me happy, I can’t really explain it but there was something about her that made me glad to just be around her. I sat on her bed and she laid only a few inches from me, her long horn poking one of my legs. I reached a hand over and began scratching the top of her head, she was just so… her, I couldn’t not do it.

She seemed to like it. “Mmph, that is very nice.”

“I’ve been told as much.”

I stopped after about a minute or so and we just sat in silence.

I wanted to talk, I really did, but with what’s happened to both of us I couldn’t find a way to talk of her without bringing it up and I didn’t want to bring it up in the first place because I was afraid it was going to make things awkward… at least more than they were now.

“Well… I’d better get going.”

I got up and started walking towards the door. This seemed like the best idea, just ignore the problem entirely, that made sense.

“Wait a moment Will.”

Unless of course Luna wanted to talk about it, then that plan is kinda shot. I turned back around and faced her.

“Yes?” I asked.

“There is something I wanted to talk to you about, something that happened last night.”

Okay, we’re doing this. I exhaled and tried to keep my cool.

“What is it?”

“It’s about the shadow ponies we encountered last night.

…Or something completely out of left field, that works to.

“What about them? They were servants of Nightmare Moon, what more is there to it?”

Now Luna stood up off her bed to talk to me better. “I thought there was something peculiar about them, some reason why there were so many of them there. And why they seemed a bit familiar.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I would assume that they were ponies who wondered into the Everfree Forest too close to Nightmare’s domain, she said she was absorbing their energy and turning them into her slaves.”

Luna pointed her hoof at me. “Exactly, which means that ponies who have gone missing recently were probably taken there.”

“Um, no offense but when I was fighting those guys they were barely shadows, I don’t think there was any chance of saving them.”

Luna’s look hardened to a glare. “Never the less, the families of those ponies must be informed if they’ve been found. So I sent a thestral group to investigate the place.”

“Did they find anything of use?”

“There was a…pile of corpses in the basement.”

That image made me a bit disgusted. “My word.”

“My thoughts exactly, Nightmare made her shadows with their souls but their bodies were trash to her.” Luna exhaled. “I had my thestrals identify the bodies and found that most of them were ponies who went missing.”

“Missing?”

“Ponies walk into the Everfree forest from time to time, whether to pass through it or out of sheer curiosity, some…do not return.”

That was a grim thought, I knew that the Everfree was dangerous but I didn’t think anypony would die, it just didn’t seem right. Wait, I followed Snake Eyes’ dad into the forest that means… oh God.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I would like you to search the forest and see if there are any more who fell under Nightmare’s spell. If they are alive please escort them home, if they are dead… bring the bodies back here and I will have them sent to their appropriate homes.”

I sighed, not wanting to do this. “Doing the work of the crows, searching for dead bodies. Not my idea of a fun afternoon.”

“You are not obligated to do this; I only ask this of you as a favor.”

I decided to suck it up. “Well if it’s you asking this favor than I really can’t refuse can I?”

Luna gave a small smile, I think she appreciated that.

I turned towards the balcony and prepared to venture into the Everfree. Because it was a grim occasion I put on appropriate attire, a long black cloak that extended to my legs and whipped in the wind.

“I will report anything that I find.” I said flatly.

“I will see you later…maybe…tonight?” Luna asked.

I smiled. “I’d like that, I could use a little break after working so hard recently.”

I stepped upon the railing of the balcony and balanced myself on it, overlooking the entire city of Canterlot.

“Luna…”

“Yes?” She asked.

I had prepared to talk to her about this but in that moment I just froze.

“You can do this, you can do this.” I thought to myself.

“Just…have a great day.”

“And you chickened out.”

She smiled and nodded. “You as well.”

Not wanting to drag this on any longer than it already has I jumped off and made my way to the Everfree.

Inside the Everfree…

I had been walking around for about an hour and couldn’t find a single pony, not even the monsters were trying to mess with me.

“It’s too quiet, I should probably take that as an omen that something bad is about to happen. Eh, I’m sure I’ll be…”

“AAAAAH!” I heard a blood curdling scream coming from off in the distance.

“Well, so much for being optimistic.”

I rushed towards where I heard the sound coming from, running through bushes and brush so I could catch the culprit in the act. But I was too late; I arrived at the clearing where the sound came from but all there was to show for it was a mare lying on the ground, bleeding out.

“Oh gods, please don’t let me be too late.” I said aloud.

I picked her up in my arms and teleported us back to Ponyville, in front of the large hospital. I ran inside as quickly as I could.

“I need a doctor!” I cried out.

The nurse saw the state the mare was in and quickly brought a transport bed for her. She put her on it and wheeled her away.

I stayed at the hospital for half an hour, waiting to see if she was okay or if she’d wake up again. I waited in the lobby until a doctor came up, I went to approach him.

“Are you one who brought in that bleeding mare?” He asked.

I nodded. “I am. How is she doing?”

“She’s stable for the moment. Would you like to see her?”

“I barely know her but…yes.”

He led me down the hall to her room, I figured if there were any wounds on her I could look at them and then maybe hazard a guess as to who or what did this. He showed me her room and she didn’t look too bad, her heartbeat was regular and she didn't have any large casts or bandages on but she was unconscious.

“You were lucky, if you brought her in here a few minutes later she would have died from blood loss.”

“Any idea what could have done this?” I asked.

He put his hoof to his chin. “Well the only noticeable wound she has is right here.”

He walked towards the mare, gently grabbed her head and tilted it to the side, revealing two small holes on the sides of her neck.

“These little marks were made right over her jugular, which is why she bled out as quickly as she did. But they’re so small that I can’t think of anything that could make that mark.”

He couldn’t, but I could.

A vampire.

A creature hiding in the dense dark foliage of the Everfree forest, killing lost victims who pass through, the small bite marks on her neck and her bleeding out, it all makes sense. This particular vampire must have been trying to feed on her but when she screamed he ran, causing her to bleed out.

“Well, I have other things that need to get done today.” I nodded my head to him. “Good day sir.”

“You as well.”

“Also, thank you for not recoiling at my appearance.”

“I have a serious job son, were I shocked by everything that passed through here my hooves would be shaking like gelatin.”

That… is actually very professional. “Well put.”

I walked out of the hospital and teleported back home. If I was going to go after a vampire I’d need equipment, both for offense and defense. I walked towards a room with a symbol of two crossed swords on it, asides from my training room this was one of my favorite rooms in the house.

It was filled with machines, bars of minerals, melting pots that glow with red fire, and tons of other types of wood and materials. This was my forge; because every weapon was made in a forge it only makes sense that I would have a forge to make mine.

In the middle of this room was a book as thick as 20 textbooks and as tall as two NBA basketball players, it was my extensive collection of weapons and armor that I knew about and the recipes for how to make them. I flipped through its contents looking for something to fit my needs, something cool but functional and lightweight.

“Oh! That’s a good one.”

I marked the page and began getting the supplies to make it; the night would be upon me soon and I wanted all the time I could to find him.

That night- 7:00 PM

A young blue mare walks through the Everfree forest alone at night; there is a light mist low to the ground. She seems scared at the darkness surrounding her which is only intensified by the sounds of animals all around her.

“Hello?” She said, meekly.

Suddenly through the darkness you can see a pair of blood red eyes.

“Is someone there? This isn’t funny.”

Within a second the eyes disappear and she thinks she’s safe, she continues along her path until…

“Hisssss!”

She heard a hissing sound, and when she turned around to see what it was a stallion jumped out of the shadows and tackled her to the ground.

“Hey! Get off me!” She thrashed around underneath him.

“Be still and I promise this will be over quickly.”

He bared his fangs and prepared to bite down on her but before he could reach her supple neck his head was between her hooves.

“You might want to pick a better choice of words, that last sentence can be interpreted in…other ways.”

While his head was still stuck she head-butted him and the force knocked him off her.

“What?”

She quickly jumped up on top of him and revealed that the she was actually a he.

More specifically, that she was me.

In a flash I transformed back into human form except this time I was wearing the armor of the demon hunter from Diablo 3. It was hard leather, animal skins, and two mini crossbows I held in my hands now pointed at him.

“Gotcha.”

But this vamp was a sly one, he kicked me in my knees so I buckled a bit under my own weight, he used this moment to get up and run from me.

“I’m not done with you just yet dracy!” I cried.

I started running after him, but his vampiric abilities seemed to make him faster than me. Instead I jumped up onto a tree branch and started hopping from tree to tree to keep up with him. I could see him underneath me so I tried to jump on top of him but he dodged and I tumbled to the ground. I got up as quickly as I could and he turned a corner, I restarted my chase but when I turned the corner he was gone.

“Damn it!” I said aloud. “I can’t let him get away or I may never find him again.”

I stood there, disappointed in myself, thinking of some way to pick up on his trail again. Then I looked at the ground; either the ground was wet or his hooves were heavy because I could see hoof marks on the ground. I decided to follow them in the direction I was chasing him and see where they led me. After traveling a few feet I ran out of tracks.

“The trail ends here. But he didn’t have wings so how could he…”

Then something caught my eye, about three feet from me was an old decrepit well.

“No tracks, a disappearing pony-“ I moved towards the well to get a better look at it. It looked like no one had used in quite some time. “And an old well in the middle of the forest.”
I smirked, impressed by the cleverness this pony was displaying. “You're a clever dog, but not clever enough.”

I grabbed onto the rope that was still attached to the well and jumped inside. I slid down pretty quickly, using the rope to stop me from falling completely. I reached the bottom of the well and it was pretty dark, so much so that I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face.

“And this is why a good hunter is always prepared.”

I reached into my satchel and pulled out a small potion, really more of a shot of liquid. I unscrewed the cap and ingested it, then I closed my eyes; when I opened them again I could see perfectly clear and my irises had turned to that of a cat’s, which is why I named this potion Cat.

With my new low light vision I could see that not only was this well dry but there was also a large tunnel that led deeper underground, I followed it hoping to find my vampire friend.
After traveling for a little bit I reached the end of the tunnel and prepared to greet him.

“Alright you vampiric pony you, you’d better be prepared to…to…”

See, I was only expecting to find one vampire pony, I was not expecting to find a colony of at least 60 or 70 vampires.

“Well…shit.”

Seeing me made quite a few of them growl and at least a dozen began to rush towards me. Seeing that I couldn’t back out of this situation I drew my two hand crossbows and prepared to fight, I took aim and…

“Wait!” I heard someone yell.

All the vampires stopped where they stood. Then, one stallion pushed through the crowd: He had a white coat but wore a deep red jacket with the same color in his irises while his mane was a short jet black color. The minute he came to the front of the crowd he smacked one of the other stallions upside the head.

“Fore shame Plasma, attacking unprovoked.”

“But father Sanguine, he found out hiding place, and there was no way he could have taken all of us.”

“But he would have been able to kill some of you, maybe even most, before he fell. I will not have my kin dying before it’s their time.”

He faced me and I holstered my weapons.

“Forgive my children, they are eager to defend their home and it sometimes blinds them.”

I nodded slowly, worried that the slightest move would get me killed. What he said was true; I might not be able to take them all before I myself am killed.

He put one of his hooves to his chest and bowed. “I am Sanguine Rose, father of this small enclave of vampires.”

I mimicked his actions. “Bedlam, chaotic demigod reborn.”

He lightly smiled at this. “Ah, so the rumors are true, Discord has broken free and shifted alignment. It is a pleasure to meet in the flesh.”

“Thank you sir. I am almost surprised you’re acting as calm as you are.”

Now his smile became toothy. “I do have the upper hoof, if you had intended any ill towards me or my kin you would not be standing at this moment.”

“Fair.” I sighed, I didn’t want to tell him why I was here right away, perhaps a little talk might ease things over.

“So tell me, you call these ponies your kin but there are so many of them. Surely you can’t be related to all of them.”

He nodded back. “In truth I am not related to these ponies in the normal sense but we do share blood.” He began pacing slowly. “The curse of vampirism is ancient, dating back to before the Lunar sister’s banishment. Originally it was a punishment given to a pony, Dracul, after he committed a form of atrocity. He was given a disease that would forbid him from ever entering sunlight again lest he be met with incineration.”

Sanguine turned back to the group of vampires. “However, this was old and ancient magic, unrestricted power which combined with his unicorn genes had more than a few side effects: For one thing he became more like an animal, needing the meat of other animals to keep him healthy. He found the action repulsing so he trained himself to get all of the nutrition he needed only from a pony’s blood, later sharp fangs became the dominant trait making this much easier to accomplish.”

“He also discovered that the magic took root in his blood, which is why it could not be removed, because it was literally bound to his body. Whenever he fed on another he introduced some blood into that victim, and slowly but surely the number of vamponies began to grow.”

Then a small smile grew on his face. “With time he did not see it as a curse, but as a new stage of life. Using his increased lifespan he began mentoring the children he created, teaching them how to use their new abilities properly and effectively, and helping us create a society where we could live and not feel like outcasts. The rest, as they say, is history.”

I clapped after his story was finished, but in the impressed sense not sarcastic. “That was very interesting Rose, you tell that story very well.”

“I should, I am his great grandson after all, his true genetic offspring.”

Now this surprised me. “No wonder you’re the leader of this enclave, you have some of his original power.”

“Indeed. Now then, you have listened to the babblings of an old man without any hesitation, you did not mean any harm from the beginning and I wish to hear the intent of your visit.”

“How did-“

He pointed to his ears, which twitched a little, and his eyes, who’s irises seemed to slightly grow. “Enhanced senses, yet another of his gifts. I can hear the beat of your heart and you have calmed down much since my children attempted to kill you; it was erratic, as it should have been, then as we talked it grew slower and slower, showing comfort.”

I merely looked at him impressed at his skills of deduction. “I have come seeking one of your children; many ponies have died who entered the forest and I believe one of them is responsible.”

Sanguine thought about it for a moment. “That cannot be correct, we do not kill our prey, we only seek to drain them. I have educated all of my kin so that they may take what they need without murder.”

“Well quite a few dead bodies have come up, bodies from ponies who entered the forest and never came out.”

“I’m sorry, I do not-“

“Wait!” I heard somepony shout…again.

This time two ponies came up, one was an earth stallion with a moss green coat and an oak brown mane. The other was a white pegasus mare with a golden yellow mane.

“I need to speak with you Sir Bedlam.”

Sanguine looked surprised. “Bog! I know you came back recently, but I did not believe that you-“

“It isn’t me! But I… look I’ll explain what’s going on but I need you to help me first.”

I crossed my arms and looked at this Bog as a parent would look at a child, demanding an explanation. “Talk first, then I’ll see what I should do.”
He sighed, trying to calm himself. “My name is Black Bog, I passed through this forest decades ago trying to get to the other side when one of the vampire ponies bit me and recruited me to their family. They taught me and I grew to appreciate them.”

“One night, about a decade ago, I was on the prowl looking for a meal. When I came across her-“

He put his hoof on the mare next to him.

“Swift Gale, my wife. Though at the time she was just a mare I was stalking, but I was so…enchanted by her beauty that I could not bite her. Instead I talked to her, and night after night I came to visit her, growing fonder of her.”

Now Gale spoke up. “After about two weeks I realized that I really liked him and asked him to be my special somepony, but I never saw him during the day. It took three months for him to tell me what he truly was, but I said I didn’t care, that I loved him for what he was.”

“After that I introduced her to the rest of the colony, and a few months after that…I proposed.”

I acted surprised. “Oh my gosh, what did you say?”

She laughed at my joke. “I said yes and I began living with him full time. About a year into our marriage I had a…surprise for him.”

“She was pregnant; I was so happy that I would get the chance to be a dad. But as weeks and weeks went by she began to feel worse and worse; we went to the town’s doctor and the news wasn’t good. Basically, because I was a vampony and she wasn’t there was a genetic difference that would not only hurt her but may also severely hurt the child.”

“He only had one option, turn me and I would be able to have the child without facing any serious harm, and so he did. I became vampony, which was kind of weird to get used to at first but with him I was able to get through it. Eight months later I had our child, a beautiful little pegasus who we named Blood Pact after the bond we shared.”

“The first three years were normal; she laughed, she cried, and we loved her more than life itself. But things got complicated; she became violent, unstable. We took her to the doctor and the news only got worse, apparently because my wife turned midway through the pregnancy the vampire genes couldn’t completely bond with her DNA.”

Although I could see a sort of problem I didn’t exactly understand the problem completely. “In laymen’s terms?”

“…she’s dying.”

Well, that cleared things up right quick.

“Her body is treating the vampiric genes like a virus, trying to expel it, and it’s killing her in the process.”

“How long does she have?”

They looked down at the ground, solemnly. “They couldn’t be certain, they said a few months at best.”

Now all the pieces fit together. “You’ve been out looking for her haven’t you?”

He started to tear up. “She ran away…three days ago, I search for her all I can but I’m afraid she’s already-“ He tried his hardest to hold back his crying.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, I’m sure she’s just fine.”

“I just-I don’t know why she left. We played with her, she did well in school, I just…don’t-“

“I’ll help you.”

He looked up at me with hope in his eyes. “Really?”

“Yes. I’ll find your daughter for you and make sure to return her to you safely.”

He put his arms around me. “Oh thank you! Tank you!”

Gale made a coughing noise, signaling him to pull away.

He stepped back in embarrassment. “Sorry, that’s the first bit of good new I’ve had in a while.”

“It won’t be the last, because you’re going to hear that your daughter is back safe and sound soon. I promise you.”

“Now do you have anything with her scent on it? Something I could use to track her?”

“Um…yes!” Bog said

He ran off away from the crowd and I stood there, wondering what he was getting. A minute later he returned with a blanket in his mouth.

“This was her baby blanket, she still sleeps with it so it should be enough.”

I took it from him. “Thank you.”

I took a quick sniff of the blanket and let that smell wander in my mind.

You wanna know something cool about being a draconequus? Since I’m basically a hodgepodge of different animals I have access to their selective animal powers; luckily one of them is the sense of smell of a wolf. I wanted to experiment to see what I could do, but no time like the present to figure it out.

I extended my arms and changed back to my long black robe, then I turned around and headed for the door. “I’ll return when I’ve found her.”

I snapped my fingers and teleported back to the entrance of the well.

Outside I began sniffing again, to see if I could pick up her trail.

“Now where have you gone little one?”

In my mind I could see trails of colors all around me, denoting different smells. The blanket had a bright orange scent but I couldn’t see any trace of it around me.

“I need to keep looking.”

I wandered around the forest seeing dozens of different colors but not the one I was looking for.After about twenty minutes of searching I finally came across something, a small hovel that was covered in her scent.

“I guess she was staying here for the night.” I took a big sniff to try and track the scent. “There’s a lot of it here so it’s probably fresh.”

From that hovel I found a trail that led away from the forest, I followed the trail until I was at the edge of the forest. When I looked out to see where I was I found myself back in Ponyville, behind the schoolhouse.

The trail ended and I found its source; on the swing set there was a small grey pegasus with raven black hair, swinging at a very slow pace. I watched her for a few moments; she looked totally normal, content even, why was she here?

“You can come out now. I can hear you in the bushes.” She said aloud.

Damn, their vampire hearing is more powerful than I thought.

Slowly I walked over to her, reaching into my bag to get something ready.

“You’re not going to hurt me are you?” She asked, not afraid but curious.

“No.”

I pressed the button on a device in my bag.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“My name’s Blood Pact.”

I smiled. “Nice to meet you Blood Pact.”

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“I came looking for you, your parents are-“

She interrupted me with a scoff. “Worried about me? Yeah right.”

“I’m serious, they sent me looking for you. They want you back.”

“Why would they want me back? They don’t care.”

I was starting to get frustrated, why was she like this? “What makes you think for one second that your parents don’t care about you?”

She looked down at the ground. “They didn’t tell me the truth.”

Oh…they kept her condition a secret from her, I suppose any parent would. “How did you find out?”

“The walls in our house are thin, I could hear them talking at night when they think I’m asleep. They say there’s something wrong with me.”

“They don’t mean it like that.”

She got up off the swing and looked at me with angry eyes. “Yes they do! Everybody treats me differently!”

“All the kids at school know that I’m not a full vampire, they make fun of me because of it, they say mean things to me. They said…my parents knew I was gonna be different and…they only kept me because they feel sorry for me.”

“And what do you do about this?”

“I bite them.” She said angrily.

“That’s…a good start, but did you tell anypony about this? Did you see if maybe they could help you?”

“N…no.”

“Well there’s your problem, you need to tell people about your problems. You know when I was your age I got picked on a lot to.”

She looked at me surprised. “You did?”

“Do you see anypony else like me? I got teased a lot for being different to, and I thought fighting would make things better.”

“Did it?”

I shook my head. “No. Sometimes I wasn’t strong enough to beat them, and even when I did win they would just come back even stronger than before. But you know what was always constant?”

She shook her head.

“If I ever came home, covered in marks, my mom would make sure that I was okay. She would kiss me, clean my wounds, and put bandages where it hurt.” I chuckled a bit to myself. “Then my dad would yell at me for getting into a fight in the first place, but he always asked who won.”

She had a small smile on her face; I could tell her mood was raised a little bit. Now to bring it on home.

“Let me ask you something: What happens after you come home?”

She thought about it for a second. “Um, mom and dad asked me how my day was and if I wanna play a game.”

“Do you like games?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I like them a lot.”

“And how do you feel when you get home?”

She looked down. “Upset, sad, sometimes angry.”

“And you feel that because the kids pick on you?”

“Yes.”

“Do your parents ask you to play a game on these days?”

“Almost always.”

“See? They aren’t doing it because they feel bad for you, they’re doing it because they can see in your eyes that you’ve had a hard day and they want you to feel better.”

“I-I…” It was like thinking about this broke some sort of dam inside her, her eyes began to well up with tears. “I’m so stupid! All this time I thought they didn’t like me! Not telling me what’s wrong with me. They wanted to protect me. I feel so stupid!”

Now she sat back down on the swing, burying her head in her hooves. “And now I’ll never get to tell them I’m sorry.”

“Yes you will, come on I’ll take you back to them.”

I tried to reach for her but she swatted my hand away. “No.”

“Why not?”

“There’s a reason why I ran away, I…I could feel something inside. Like…a feeling that you can’t describe.”

I nodded, understanding what she meant.

“I felt like I was going to die soon, so I ran away, to maybe see a glimpse of the world outside of my home. And because...I didn't want to sit there and have them watch me die, it'd be too sad.”

I honestly didn’t know what to say, she was acting very mature about reaching the end of her life and I couldn’t think of anything comforting to say.

“I…I’m sorry.”

She wiped her eyes and then looked up to me, pleading. “Will you stay with me? I’m really scared.”

I wordlessly sat next to her and extended my hand, asking for her hoof. She put it in and I held onto it, not tightly but with great care, as one would hold on to a small pet.

“I wish I could tell my parents how sorry I am.” She said, sorrowful.

“Well why don’t you tell me? Maybe that’ll make you feel better.”

“Okay.”

And so I sat in silence, listening to Blood speaking the praise of her parents. She went on for quite a few minutes after that but soon she just…stopped; she died with positive memories in her mind and a peaceful look on her face, I suppose that’s all I could have asked for.

I returned to the cove, just like I said I would, though not under the conditions I wanted. I held the little filly in my arms and carried her inside, I was met with gasps and the two parents rushing towards me.

“No!” Bog took her from me and shook her lightly. “Blood, Blodd speak to me honey!”

“I’m sorry sir I…I was too late.”

Now both the grieving parents surrounded her, openly weeping for their loss.

I couldn’t stand to watch this, I let my emotions go and tears began to form in my eyes as well.

Sanguine had somehow appeared behind me and he took notice of my feelings.. “You weep for them, why?”

I sniffled and rubbed the tears from my eyes. “To watch two parents lose their child is a heart wrenching sight in it of itself, to sit with the child and stay with her until her time came only makes things worse. Their plight has touched my heart and I feel sorry for their loss.”

He looked at me with his wise old eyes and contemplated. “What you speak of is true; I don’t feel that you are lying to me. You are a good pony like my kinsman, I respect you.”

I smiled at his approval; I still had one last piece of business to take care of though. I walked towards the two parents who held the child in their hooves.

“Gale, Bog, I have something for you.”

I pulled out a small box from my back pocket and gave it to them.

“What is it?” Gale asked

“Push the small button with the arrow.” I instructed.

She pressed the small button with her muzzle and a sound was heard.

“Who are you?”

“My name’s Blood Pact.”

They both gasped.

“Our daughter? But-but…”

“It’s called a recording device; it can record sounds and allows you to play them afterwards over and over again. I stayed with her until she died and these were her last words; I know they may not be much but it’s all I can do.”

Gale looked at me. “This more than enough, it will be tough for some time but at least now I will never forget the sound of her voice nor the good I saw in her.” She hugged me. “Thank you very much.”

I smiled back at her and began to walk back to the entrance of the cave, as I did I saw Sanguine Rose and bowed to him. “Thank you sir.”

“No, thank you child. You have helped my kin resolve their problems and put doubt to rest; you will always be welcome back here if you wish.”

I smiled at his kindness. “I understand.”

With that I spread my black wings and flew up and out of the cave.

11:00 PM – Bedlam’s home

It was late when I finally touched down back home, I quietly opened the door and slipped inside. I crept down the halls and I passed by Screwball’s room, wanting to check on her I opened the door and peeked inside. She was sleeping soundly but her bed was a total mess with pillows and sheets everywhere, she was a toss & turner just like her dad.
I moved to the side of the bad and swiped my fingers in the air, then everything flew up into the air and rearranged itself so she would be comfy. Satisfied with my work I leaned down and kissed her cheek.

I walked away but before I could leave I heard a groan.

“Dad?” Screwball asked in a low, sleepy tone.

“Hey sweetie.”

“Dad it’s really late, what’s up?”

“I was just…checking up on you, wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Mhmph.” She replied, not able to find words.

“Um…you know if you have any problems you can come talk to me right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay…good night Screwball.”

“Good night daddy.”

I quietly closed the door and smiled to myself. “She’s a good kid.”

I walked into my room and prepared to go to sleep after a long and tiring day. But something stuck out in the back of my mind, a large idea that somepony would like to hear.

Luckily I had a desk in my room for writing things down so I took out a sheet of paper, an inkwell, and a quill. I dipped the quill and began with three simple words.

“Dear Princess Celestia…”

“…today I learned that everypony has darkness inside of them, from the most noble of princesses to the smallest of children. This darkness is hungry and wants to devour us, but it cannot; when we have friends who care about us and family who love us we can find the strength to fight it and beat it. I’ve seen two cases where this is true and I suspect I will see many more. But for now, I end this letter with a lesson: Either we master our emotions or let them beat us they become our masters. With friends we can always find the strength to overcome our emotions.”

“Your faithful subject,
Bedlam”

I rolled up this scroll and put it in my hand. I opened up the window held onto my letter tighter, soon it became energy and then I threw it like a throwing knife in the direction of Canterlot Castle, it was the fastest way to get it there.

With all that said and done I lied down in my bed and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Author's Note

Holy...crap. I am never writing this much again unless I really get into it or I absolutely have to. Honestly, this chapter was hard to write, it went through several different edits to make the scenes just right and even now i'm not sure if it's as good as it could be but i've left you guys waiting for long enough.

The next chapter will come out much sooner, but it's going to be shorter because...well you'll find that out later.

A peek into reality

Author's Note

Consider this my Christmas present to you all: A look at what's to come in the future of this story. Battles will be fought, friendships will be tested, new bonds will be forged, and in the end...the main character dies.

Hope you all enjoy your respective holidays and have a happy new year. I'll see you all in 2015 for the beginning of the Dimensions saga!

A peek into reality

You want to know something interesting? When you travel between dimensions you can see into other realities, and as I flew in the space between realities I saw images. I don’t know if they were past, present, or future but all of them seemed to do with me, so I watched them unfold.

I was falling through the air and in front of me I saw a massive air balloon, I extended my arm and it shape shifted into a large jagged blade.
As I got closer and closer I raised my arm and then with one powerful slice I went clean through it; as I continued to fall downwards it exploded above me in a burst of fire.

It was loud, it was huge…and it was glorious

“Wait mister!” I heard her cry.

I turned back around to face her and she had a look of appreciation on her face, but also confusion.

“I appreciate your help but I don’t even know your name.”

I smiled down at the mare, she was something special. Totally innocent and sweet, if a bit of a clutz.

“Me? I am Bedlam.”

I raised my arm into the air and my hand became surrounded with energy and it glowed. “Giga-“

I pulled my arm back and the energy grew and formed a massive metal drill. “Drill-”

I jumped into the air to intercept her in midair. “BREAKER!” The drill created an energy trail behind it and it looked like a missile was being launched as I made contact with her and the drill ripped through her and I passed right through.

When I landed on the ground I retracted my drill arm and the glasses flew back on my face.

“I’m a human from the planet Earth given the powers of a draconequus.”

I smiled. “You guys stay here and guard the castle, keep Celestia and Luna safe and make sure no changelings can get inside. Shining, mobilize the guards and protect as many citizens as you can and leave the army to me.”

Shining Armor ran out of the room as I walked towards the balcony and prepared to take off until I was stopped Rainbow Dash.

“Oh no, I’ve been on the sidelines for too long and after having the wool pulled over our eyes I think it’s about time for a little payback.

“Rainbow I need you to stay here with the rest of the girls.”

“Psch, come on they can take care of themselves. You need me out there, there’s hundreds of them and only one of you and while you may
like those odds we want you back here safe and sound. Besides, you’ve been training me all this time, now seems like a good chance to put it to use.”

I looked at her defeated; I knew she wasn’t going to let this go. “All right fine, hold still.”

She landed on the ground and I put my hand on her forehead, suddenly a white aura began to surround her and her friends looked surprised.

“Power up!” I shouted

Suddenly she went through her transformation, her coat turned pure white and her rainbow mane stood up and the tips waved as if they were on fire. “Aw yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”

All her friends looked shocked to see this form of her, I looked at them nervously. “Oh yeah, this happened.”

“When?” Pinkie asked.

“Um, about that time we had that race and I faced the shadow hydra.”

Twilight looked shocked. “That was months ago.”

“Look we can talk about me keeping things from you guys later; right now we’ve got a city to save. Come on Rainbow.”

“My mind is 17 years old, my body 20, and my true form at least two millennium.”

I put my arms together and put all my energy into my final transformation.

“Protect the light, unleash the knight!”

I thrust my morpher in front of me and it materialized into a purple, silver, black shield with a sword hilt sticking out of the top. I pulled out the purple broadsword and pointed it to the sky, then a lightning bolt came down and the rest of my armor materialized. It was full plate armor with two wolf heads for pauldrons and a golden crest in the middle, the armor and helmet was also purple and black with a golden belt.

“Fury of the beast, knight wolf!” I shouted.

We were a formidable force to be reckoned with all right, the battle hadn’t started yet but I knew it was going to be legendary and if I survived it would be talked about for centuries to come.

“So when somepony is in trouble I don’t ask questions, I just do. I assume you don’t have a problem with that?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“In that case…” I smiled and turned around. “Allons-y my friend.”

The ponies at the table started tapping on the ground with their hooves, and then the guy in the corner started playing the flute. As soon as I felt the beat and a few words started to form in my head I hopped up on the table and began my ode.

Will: Gather round and hear the tale…

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

Will: Of a mare who tried never to fail.

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

Will: She’s got a thesaurus up in that head

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

Will: Here friends they love her, her enemies dread!

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

They slowed down a bit so I could fit more words into the next verses.

Will: There once was a mare from high society

She was socially awkward, that we all could see.

She didn’t want to make friends, not a one-

She was stuck up, hung up, and tried to have no fun.

But when push came to shove she passed the test-

Her friends were a sight, she banished the night, and now she’s the best of the best! Hey!

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

Will: The mare I’d follow to hell and back.

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

AJ: The kind of girl who can pick up the slack

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

Rainbow: A mare who’s anything but dumb.

All: Here’s to Princess Twilight!

Will: May your praise be sung for years to come!

“Girls! You’re not gonna believe this!” Applebloom cried out.

“You got a mysterious gift in the middle of the night to?”

She shook her head. “Not just that, I saw who did it to!”

Oh, that might be bad.

Applebloom began recounting her tale. “So I was just sleeping in my bed right? And then suddenly I heard this thump from the roof. I got up an’ went down stairs to see what all the hubbub was about and I saw a present in the middle of the room! Just sittin there. I wondered who had left it there, thinkin it was my sis or Big Mac, but then I hear another rustling from outside. When I went to the window I just saw a flash of red, but I knew it was something.”

The other two girls seemed off put by this story.

“I don’t know, what do you think mister Bedlam?” Sweetie Belle asked me.

I thought about what it could mean.

Flashback…

I was sitting in Sugarcube Corner, enjoying a nice cup of Pinkie’s double chocolate hot chocolate when Rarity came in looking a bit down in the dumps. She walked to the counter and ordered a coffee but she did so without any emotion, which wasn’t like her at all. Figuring something was wrong I got up to talk to her.

“Rarity, is something wrong?”

She turned around quickly, almost shocked by my presence. “Oh, nothing’s wrong dear, I’m just…tired.”

“Long nights?”

She groaned and rubbed under her eyes. “You don’t know the half of it; I’ve been making dresses by the dozens just trying to sell enough to cover the repairs to the boutique and to get presents for everypony for Hearth’s Warming.”

I sighed. “Yeah, the last giant monster attack really hit the town hard…no thanks to me.”

“None of that dear, you did what you had to to stop it…even if it did cost this town quite a bit in damages.”

Rarity got her coffee and started walking out of the shop, I decided to grab my cocoa and follow her.

At that moment I felt very guilty, I don’t like living with the consequences of my actions so it only made sense that I should try and set things right.

“Tell me something Rarity, what was it you were going to get for Sweetie Belle?”

“Oh, a new mane styling kit. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about getting it for her.”

“Why not?”

I merely gave her a subtle wink and she understood what I meant.

“You would do that for me?”

I leaned in closer and whispered to her. “Oh not just you Rarity, I’m doing this for all my friends and for everyone in Ponyville, including you.”

“Darling, that’s very sweet.”

I smiled at her compliment. “It's about time I gave back to the community in another way.” I pointed a finger at her. “But you must promise to be in bed by midnight tonight, I can only do this act if everypony is asleep and I’m undiscovered.”

“Of course, but why?”

“Call it an old earth tradition.”

Later that night I had gotten everything ready: I used my magic and my crafting equipment to make dozens of presents for everypony in Ponyville, I put them all in a bag of holding which would keep it lightweight as well as letting them all fit inside, and I planned my route so that it would take the least amount of time to hit all the houses.

Of course no make shift Santa is without an iconic form, so I gave it my own special touch; I took the form of Greninja but I included a skintight Santa costume with the same red suit and white trim cuffs, black belt with golden buckle, and hat. I excluded the boots because I needed the mobility of my frog toes.

At midnight I climbed to the roof of my house with the bag in my fist, the night was clear and I couldn’t risk being seen. The first thing I did was use Blizzard so that a cloud of ice and wind blanketed the city; once there was a veil of cold to hide me I took the bag and began leaping from building to building with my increased agility, freezing my water attacks the minute they left my hands to create icy slides for me to slide upon.

Back to the present…

“I have no idea how they might’ve got there.”

Chaos Reborn

Chapter 1

There are many forces in the world, which can affect how we live our lives. Some are good like justice, love, loyalty, kindness, and friendship. Some are bad like greed, destruction, dishonesty, and cruelty. However, out of all of these traits there’s always one that is associated with bad: chaos. Chaos is always treated as a bad thing but it can be used for good, there’s organized chaos, and chaos can sometimes lead to harmony, this is one of those times.

This is the story of one child named Will Arren, age: 16, occupation: high school student, status: single and bored out of his mind in school. Now Will wasn't bored because he wasn't listening, he was and he understood the lesson and that’s what made it boring. He may be smart but his major flaw is that his head is filled with so much imagination and creative ideas that he gets caught up in his own little world, so many things he wishes could exist (Super heroes, technology, my little pony etc. etc.) But all that changes today. As Will was half listening, half not, to the lesson he heard a voice.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Testing, testing, one two three.”

He heard a voice coming from somewhere but he looked around and no one was talking to him so he ignored it.

“Hello? Is this thing on? Wait, do I even need to turn it on? Oh well.”

That voice. He knew he had heard that voice somewhere but he couldn't identify it, not only that but the voice sounded like it was in his head. He thought he just needed to clear his head.

“Ms. Klien, may I use the restroom?” he asked the teacher.

“Fine, but make it quick.”

He got up out of his seat and walked down the hall to the bathroom, he went inside and splashed some water on his face.

“Okay Will, maybe you’re daydreaming a little too much.” He said to himself

“Oh by no means are you dreaming dear Will, I actually am talking to you.”

Now will was surprised “Great, now the voices in my head are addressing me. I really must be going crazy.”

“I’m not in your head, in fact I’m right behind you.”

Will turned around but he didn't see a person he saw a draconequus, in fact it was the legendary draconequus Discord.

“D-Discord?”

“Oh you recognize me, that’ll make this so much easier.” Discord didn't exactly have a body. He appeared to Will as what looks like a ghost or an image.

“Why are you here? You shouldn't be here, you’re not real.”

“You’d think that but I’m actually just as real as you.”

“No, you’re not real, I must be crazy.”

“Yes, I can see that but that’s one of the reasons that I've come here.”

Will finally accepted that this was actually happening and listened to what Discord had to say.

“What do you want?” he asked

“Well, as you may or may not know I've been stuck in my statue form for over one thousand years, however recently I've broken out and I had fun. Unfortunately, not even one day full of chaos went by and I was put back into stone, the princess said that maybe some day if I could reform she might let me out, but as much as I’d like to be free I just can’t change. That’s where you come in.”

“Why do you need me?”

“Although I’m stuck in stone I still have my magical powers of sight, I found you and you’re exactly the kind of person I need to be the new god of chaos.”

Now he was intrigued “You want me to take your place? How will that work?”

“I’ve spent quite a bit of time saving up magical energy to summon myself here and create a portal back to my home world. You’re going to go through it, once there I put your consciousness into my body and you become the new god of chaos.”

Will thought about it. “It’s an interesting offer but what do you want in return?”

“Oh I’ll think of something. Until then here.”

He snapped his fingers and suddenly a blue glowing portal opened up in front of Will, thankfully no one was around otherwise people would be freaking out.

“Here’s the portal, step through it and you’ll be transported to Equestria. Do it quickly though, I don’t have the energy to sustain it for very long.”

“Wait, before I go can I ask you a question?”

“I’ll give you three.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Wait, that one didn't count did it?”

“Yes it did, that’s two.”

“Why are you doing this to me?”

He chuckled “Because it’s funny, now off you go.”

As I stepped through the portal something occurred to me. “Wait, what if this hurts? What if this really hurts? Oh, I didn't think of that, is this gonna hurt?”

“Sorry, no more questions off you go.”

He then pushed me through the portal and I started falling down into a mixture of bright lights and dark abyss. It felt like I was falling for hours until I hit the ground, it was grassy, the air was warm, and the skies were clear.

“Wow, so this is Equestria? It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, yes you can admire its beauty once you’re inside your new body.”

I turned around and saw Discord in his statue form.

“Wow Discord are you sure you want to break out? I mean you've got rock hard abs, and all this time in the stony lonesome had probably made you stone cold.”

“Stop with all the rock puns and just help me out already.”

“Geez sorry, I didn't mean to agitate the gravel.”

“That…was actually kind of funny, but still we have to get you in my body.”

“Right sorry, what do you need?”

“Put your right hand on my eagle’s claw and I should be able to put your consciousness into my body.”

“And I’ll have all of your powers?”

“Oh yes the only limit will be your imagination, anything you can think of you can create.”

It was a sweet deal which I had to take, so I put my hand on his claw and felt this electrifying feeling and my mind felt like it was leaving my body and before I knew what was happening I was inside the statue. It took a little bit of effort but I managed to force myself out of that stone prison and break free.

I pumped my fist in the air with excitement. “Yes it worked…aww but I still have my old voice, I really wanted that awesome voice Discord has. In any case, let’s see if he was telling the truth about my powers.”

I decided to test my strength and conjure up something simple, so I snapped my fingers and made a glass of chocolate milk. I drank it and it was delicious, I also found that I could eat the cup because it was made of sugar and chomped that down to.

I celebrated my new victory. “Oh this is awesome! What should I do first? Go exploring out in the Ever-free forest? Build myself a home? Make friends with the ponies in Ponyville?”

“Hold it right there Discord!”

I heard a voice from behind me, I turned around to find four guards were pointing there spears at me.

“Getting ambushed by guards. Well it wouldn't be first on my to-do list but I can work with this.”

“Gentleman, please calm down this isn’t what you think.” I said in a calm voice.

They didn’t put down their spears “Silence Discord, we don’t care if you’ve changed your voice or your eye color, you’re still the evil chaos making tyrant.”

What the white pony said confused me. “Eye color? Hold on a second.”

I snapped my fingers and created a small hand held mirror to look at myself with. All my other parts looked like Discord except for my eyes which had changed from yellow with red irises to white with blue irises (My eye color back on earth)

“Guys listen I’m not really Discord, he gave me his body and I’m a completely different person.”

“Stop trying to fill our heads with lies.”

Alright, it was time for a different approach. “Okay, if I really was Discord would I still be standing here talking to you? Wouldn’t I have teleported away to cause chaos or go after princess Celestia or turn you guards into frogs?”

Now my point was getting through as a few of the guards lowered their weapons.

“I haven’t hurt anyone yet.” I snapped and conjured up five chairs with me sitting in the biggest one. “So why don’t we all sit down and talk our problems out instead?”

One by one they all sat down in a chair.

“Good, now let’s start by sharing each other’s names and we’ll start with you."

10 minutes later…..

Princess Celestia had been informed by her guards that ‘Discord’ had broken free from his prison, the moment she heard this she stormed out of her chambers angrily down the hall.

“I can’t believe this! How could Discord have gotten free? The elements of harmony were supposed to seal him away for good this time. He’s probably already outside now, creating chaos in my fair country.”

However when she stepped outside she saw a normal day, no chaos whatsoever. The only thing that looked different was Discord was sitting around a bunch of her guards while one of them was crying and he was consoling him.

“There there, it’s alright. You need to realize that you’re your own stallion who can make his own decisions.” I said sweetly

I noticed the princess standing there and ended my conversation.

“Okay everyone that’s the end of today’s meeting. Good job all around, just remember what we learned today and remember to watch out not just for the good of other people but also yourself, and if you want to do something like this again start a union or something, I don’t know. Bye bye.”

I waved them all good bye as princess Celestia started walking over to me.

“Your highness, it’s an honor to meet you.” I bowed as a sign of respect.

“Get up.” She demanded as I got up. “What is going on here?”

“Well I was just helping a few of your guards with their personal problems and I learned some very interesting things. White Lightning over there originally wanted to be an artist but his parents pressured him to join the royal guard, and that guard Rock Justice confessed to dying his coat white to make it into the guards because you only accept white stallions, a bit racist on your part and…”

Suddenly, she used her magic to grab my entire head and shut my mouth.

“Be quiet Discord, I don’t care if you sound different or if your eyes look different you’re still the evil man I imprisoned all those centuries ago.”

I popped my head off to get loose from her control, leaving my head suspended in the air by her magic while my body stepped back from her. “Look Celestia, if I really was Discord why aren't I out creating chaos and making every pony’s lives miserable?”

“What if you’re just trying to trick me?”

“Trick you? Dear Celestia to trick you would require planning and I quite literally cannot think ahead. Now if you wouldn't mind.”

I outstretched my eagle claw and Celestia dropped my head in my hand, I put my head where it’s supposed to be and twisted it like a screw driver.

“Thank you.”

“Well if you really aren't Discord, and I’m not entirely sure that you aren't, then tell me who you actually are.”

“Well, I’m actually a person from an alternate dimension, Discord brought me here and put my consciousness in his body so now I have control and he’s in the back of my mind whispering ideas of chaos but I’m ignoring him.”

Suddenly and unexpectedly Will’s eyeballs changed colors back to Discords original yellow with red irises.

“Don’t tell her our plans just like that, and how do you know about me? From what I can tell I’m not affecting your thoughts at all.”

Will’s eyes shifted again back to his color. “Two reasons: One, I knew that you’d try to deceive me and two: You can’t change my thoughts because they’re already random and crazy. Now hush, the adults are talking.”

Eye change. “What adults? You’re barely sixteen.”

Change. “And a heck of a lot more mature than you, now shush.”

I turned my attention back to Celestia. “Now do you see? He’s inside my mind, although I guess as long as he’s in my head I guess you still can’t trust me.”

She shook her head. “No, I believe you now but as long as Discord still remains he will try and control you. We must think of a way to stop him.”

We both thought and wondered how to deal with Discord so that he wouldn't be a problem until I came up with an idea.

“I know exactly what to do princess.”

I snapped my fingers and the Discord statue was put back together good as new.

“I’m going to put Discord’s consciousness back in the statue and without his magic he shouldn't be able to break out again.”

I put my lion’s paw up to the statue’s head and prepared for the transfer. “Sorry Discord old bean, your plans have failed again and you’re going back to stone.”

Eye change. “No, you can’t do this to me I made you, I created you.”

Eye change. “Classic mistake, you gave me your power so I’m going to use it however I please, and i'll start with getting rid of you. Executing phase shift.”

I focused all my willpower into the statue and I felt a dark energy course through my palm and go into the statue. The whole process was draining and I felt tired as I plopped onto the ground.

“Is it over? Is Discord in the statue like you planned?” Celestia asked.

Suddenly, the statue came to life and started moving around.

“You arrogant child! You have no idea what you've done.”

I got up on my feet. “He’s in there all right. I gave him the added bonus of being able to move around a bit but no further than five feet in any direction. As a kind of way to entertain the tourists, you know?”

Celestia gave a contempt smile. “That’s good, now without the threat of Discord looming you said you weren't from here?”

“That’s right. Allow me to show you my true form.”

I snapped my fingers and I was turned back into a human. Celestia was clearly surprised.

“My word, you’re a human! And you’re um…”

I looked down and saw that I was unfortunately naked, I immediately covered myself.

“Oh geez, I’m so sorry your majesty I meant no disrespect. I’m still working out the kinks with my new powers, hold on.”

I snapped again and conjured up some clothes: Black shoes with white socks, black jeans, and a black hoodie with a red undershirt (I really like black okay? It’s a cool color.)

“There much better. So, you knew I was human but you sounded shocked, why?”

“Humans are quite a rarity here in Equestria, even I with centuries of life have only seen them once or twice.”

“Well you’ll be getting to see much more of me because from now on, I plan on staying here since I have no way of getting home, and even if I did I don’t think I would want to, this country is too beautiful to pass up. Plus, if I’m going to be staying around here in Equestria it’d probably be best not to look like the guy who plunged the land into eternal chaos.”

“Agreed, and if you’re going to stay here may I suggest Ponyville? It’s a lovely little town and my student is there as well, she can watch over you as well as teach you things about this new world.”

I liked that idea. All the best ponies were in Ponyville and it’d be fun living there.

“Tia! What’s happening? A guard informed me that Discord had broken out so I came to help and…who is this?”

Luna came bursting out of the castle in a shock over what was happening, not knowing it had been resolved.

“Not to worry my dear sister, I along with my new friend here have solved the issue.”

“Hey! I did all the work putting Discord back into the statue, the least you could do is make it sound like we did equal jobs.”

Luna just stood there with a blank look on her face. “I’m confused, what’s going on here?”

“Well sister you see…”

“Don’t worry about it princess I've got this.”

I snapped my fingers and beamed my memories into Luna’s brain.

She giggled. “He he, rock puns. So young Will you’ll be staying in Ponyville under my sister's students supervision?” she said

“Will?”

I took a small bow. “Sir William von Etenbourough the third at your service.” They looked at me strangely until I started laughing. “I’m just kidding it’s just William or Will for short.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Well he certainly has the sense of humor of a chaos god. I’ll send a letter to my student telling her of your arrival; afterwards I’ll get my guards to escort you to town in a chariot.”

I didn't want to be escorted, too flashy and noticeable, so I came up with another option. “That’s okay princess, I have my own ride.”

I snapped my fingers and suddenly two giant black feathered wings sprouted from my back, each one about seven feet across.

“Oh yeah, this is cool. If it’s okay with you princess I’ll just fly into town.”

“Very well and please call me Celestia; I’d like to get to know you better Will so you need not use my royal title. I hope you will come visit us again soon.”

“I plan on it, farewell Celestia. Oh, and Luna before I go I must ask you a question: Do you like video games?”

She nodded her head...well that was unexpected, I guess all those gamer Luna myths were true.

“Oh,great. Well, I hope we can play some time, friendly or against.”

She gave me a confident smile and nodded.

“Take care both of you. William away!”

I flapped my massive wings and took off towards Ponyville.

“I predict an interesting future sister.” Luna said

“Hopefully a good one.”

Author's Note

The story has just begun, will Will integrate well with the citizens of Ponyville? What sort of mayhem and shenanigans will ensue? Why am I asking you all these questions? Find out in the next exciting chapter of A new Discord!
Anyways, thanks for giving this story a look guys. Please like this story if you like it, and write a review telling me more specifically what you like about it or any questions or quarrels you might have. Heck, you can even say stuff you wish would happen and if I like it enough I might even make it happen, I have the power.
Good night!

Nightmare saga: The super race

Author's Note

Wow, you guys really don't like power rangers do you? Pretty much every comment I got last chapter was about how the Power Rangers thing was bad. Well suck it up cause they'll be making at least two more appearances in this story. For now, rikusorasephiroth this chapter goes out to you.

Nightmare saga: The super race

Chapter 11

Three days. I honestly can’t believe that nothing has happened for three days, at least anything out of the ordinary. Sure Twilight had her little freak out, finally, which means that “Luna Eclipsed” is coming soon but nothing really extraordinary has happened that warranted my attention or was so severe that I needed to intervene. I couldn’t even use my VR room because I had to wait for a few days for my injuries to heal by themselves so I just stayed at home helping Screwball with school, and going to visit Luna from time to time while her nightmares persisted.

On the night of the third day when I fell asleep I was walking in my dream world and felt like speaking to Luna. I searched all around but couldn’t find her anywhere.

“Luna, Luna! Where are you?”

While I was walking I smacked into something hard and fell to the ground. As I rubbed the spot on my head that was hit I looked forward and saw nothing but a lush open field. I got up and put my arms in front of me and as I felt into the open air I felt something hard touch my hands, I pushed forward a bit and suddenly the air around my hands started to ripple and the image of the field became distorted.

“Wow, it’s like some kind of hidden portal or doorway. If someone went to the trouble of putting it here, it would be wrong for me not to enter it.”

I pushed forward and completely walked through the hidden doorway. When I got out all I could see in front of me was blackness with a few clusters of white clouds scattered all across the horizon.

“Where am I? What is this place?”

I walked on the non-existent ground and as I passed the white clouds I could hear little tidbits of conversation and laughter and saw quick flashes of images. It took me a few minutes but I managed to piece the problem together.

“Hold on, I was dreaming and I passed through some kind of wall into a dark zone where I can see other ponies in just brief flashes. Is it possible that I’ve gone into that dreamscape Luna talks about? Is this the ethereal realm where all dreams reside?”

After a bit more walking I came across not a cloud but a door with a crescent moon on it, acting like a form of identification. I suspected this was Luna’s dream because it was more protected probably due to her increased skills with these powers.

“Luna did say she was having nightmares, time for some answers why.”

I walked up to the door but the second I tried to turn the knob chains appeared and blocked me off from the door.

“Is she kidding me? Sure, chains my keep an ordinary pony out but I’m the guy who can transform matter with a thought.”

I put two fingers on the chains and with a little magic they changed into popcorn and fell to the floor. I picked one up and put it in my mouth to taste.

“Hm, could use a little less salt but still not bad.”

With the locks gone I went for the door again and this time it opened completely. When I stepped inside I took in my surroundings; I was in midair above Ponyville during the middle of the day, everything seemed bright and colorful but when I looked down at my own arms they looked greyscale.

“I don’t get it, why would she be having nightmares about this?” I pondered.

“HA!”

There was a shout in the distance, when I turned towards it I saw a large blue energy beam coming at me but I couldn’t move to avoid it.

“Ah, now I get why she’s scared.” I didn’t have to stand there long as I was soon enveloped by the energy and felt a burning sensation overtake me as I slowly disintegrated.

I rose up from my bed quickly and in fright, breathing heavily from what I had just seen.

“No wonder she’s having trouble sleeping, that’s enough to make anypony not want to sleep for a little while at least.”

I’d have to ask her about it later, but the sun had come up and it was time for me to start my day. I got dressed, had breakfast, sent Screwball to school, then I decided to walk around town and see if there was anything for me to do. As I walked I saw Tilted standing in the middle of the road painting something on a large easel. I decided to go over and talk to him.

“Good morning Tilted.”

“Ah!” He said loudly, clearly startled by my greeting. “Oh hello Will, don’t scare me like that, you’ll mess up my painting.”

“Sorry, but you’re in the middle of a fairly busy road shouldn’t you expect to be bothered by ponies just a little bit?” I wondered.

He dipped his paintbrush in paint with his magic and went back to painting without even looking at me. “Nah, I’m usually that one guy that nobody wants to talk to because he’s too weird so I’m used to the solitude.”

That thought was a bit depressing. “Well that’s a bit sad. In any case, what are you painting?”

“Actually I’m just practicing right now, I haven’t had much time to paint since I got to Ponyville and I need a little practice before I can paint some more complicated things. Right now I’m trying to paint the sky but there’s this one cloud up there that’s messing up the entire picture.”

I looked at his painting and saw a deep blue sky with a single white cloud in it, and then I looked up and saw that same cloud but it was accompanied by a soft snoring sound.

“Oh great it’s snoring; now it’ll never get out of here.” Tilted complained

“I don’t think that’s the cloud. It’s just a theory but…” I snapped my fingers to summon ice cubes but when I did nothing happened. I tried a couple more times but it didn’t work. “Really? I can make twelve ton giant metal robots but when I want some ice cubes you won't give it to me? Fine, I’ll have to try something else.” I cupped my hands around my mouth preparing to shout. “Hey Pinkie!”

Suddenly Pinkie popped out of nowhere. “What?”

“Do you have any ice cubes I can borrow?”

“Sure here you go.” She stuck out her hoof and there were three ice cubes on them. I picked them up and thanked her.

“Thanks Pinkie.”

“No problem.”

With that she bounced off and disappeared from sight. I knew that Rainbow Dash was taking a nap up there so I decided to use these ice cubes to wake her up. I threw the ice cubes at the small cloud and it absorbed them.

“I don’t understand, what are you…” Tilted started to say.

”Wait for it.”

Within a minute the cloud started to shiver and shrink, then it fell to the ground as water, taking Rainbow with it. She hit the ground with a thud and soon was hit on the head by the cold water. Tilted and I found this funny and we both started laughing uproariously, much to Rainbow’s dismay.

“What’s so funny?” She said with anger.

“Nothing much, just giving Tilted here a demonstration in meteorology showing what happens when water molecules come in contact with cold air. The answer is: rain.”

“Grrrgh.” Rainbow Dash growled, clearly not amused by my antics.

“I’m sorry Rainbow I didn’t mean any ill will.” I outstretched my hand. “Put her there.”

“Ugh fine, but you really need to be more careful before your jokes go to…”

Rainbow was interrupted as she grabbed my hand and was electrocuted which caused her feathers to go all poufy. I continued my laughter as I rolled on the ground and clutched my sides but Rainbow was even more furious now. She shook her body so that her feathers went back to normal.

“That’s it pal, you’ve made me mad.” She snorted and smoke came out of her nostrils.

“Take it easy there Dash, no need to get all huffy over a few harmless pranks.”

“I don’t care if their harmless, you keep doing it even when I said to be careful and…and I don’t like how you act around here!” She said scrambling for an answer.

“How I act?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, you’re always acting like you’re so much better than everypony else and…flaunting your powers all about; well I’m sick of it.”

I looked at her with a questioning stare. “And let me guess you think that somepony needs to put me in my place and you’re the pony for the job?”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

She stared at me and I returned that intense glare as we were only inches from each other.

“All right then, you want to teach me a lesson, what do you suggest?” I asked

“How about I beat you at your own game?”

I scoffed. “And how would you do that exactly? You can’t create matter like me, you don’t know what I know, and you may be a black belt in karate but I have enough skills to take down Canterlot’s entire army.”

“How did you know that I was a black belt in karate?” She asked.

Damn it, I really need to stop letting these things slip. To fix my mistake I decided to go with a reason that seemed very ominous. “I’m all powerful and I see all.”

“I don’t believe you.” She replied dryly.

“Nightmare night is coming in a few weeks.”

“Everypony knows that.” She replied smartly.

“Applejack has a sister who doesn’t have a cutie mark, as does Rarity.”

“A little bit better but you could have found that out earlier.”

“In a few months you will be in the hospital and learn to like books.”

“Ha! Now I know you’re lying, me liking books? Come on dude, get real.” Oh if only she knew how wrong she is; I would laugh in her face right now.

“Anyways I’ve got the perfect competition for us, something that no pony has ever been able to beat me in.” Rainbow flaunted.

To demonstrate she flew up into the air did a few loops which caused the clouds to spin a bit, and then she dived straight down and landed gracefully popping out her wings for added affect.

“Speed.”

“All right that sounds fair, my magic against your speed in a race to the finish. Get everyone together on the far edge of town and we’ll make it an official race.”

“Yeah and that way you won’t cheat.” She said snidely.

“Me, cheat? I’m more worried about you cheating; I know how much you like to win.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna win fair and square and show you just how awesome I really am.”

We walked away from that conversation with a burning desire in our hearts, both of us badly wanted to win and show up each other.

30 minutes later…

We put the start line on the far edge of Ponyville where our friends and several other ponies had gathered to watch the race. Rainbow and I stretched out before we started the race, I was stretching my arms and legs so they didn’t cramp up while I was running which would be very embarrassing.

“Are you still sure you want to do this? There’s a lot more ponies here than before, wouldn’t blame you if you backed out now.” Rainbow said self-assured.

Twilight walked up to the two of us. “Usually I don’t agree with Rainbow’s cockiness, but she does have a point. Sometimes even magic can’t replace pure skill and she’s defiantly proven that she has it, on several occasions.”

“Guys I’m doing this, I said I was going to do it and I’m not backing out now even if the odds are against me.” I turned my attention to Rainbow. “Besides, my arsenal of powers wouldn’t be complete without several speedy characters, several of which can break the sound barrier. If I were you Rainbow I’d be more worried about yourself than me.”

“Whatever man, whenever you’re ready.”

“All right let’s begin than.” I turned around to address the small group of ponies. “Mares and gentlecolts, get ready for the race of the century against two of Ponyville’s stand out citizens: The mare who puts the dash in Rainbow Dash, and the master of chaos: Bedlam!”

The crowd cheered at my address.

“Bedlam?” Rainbow questioned.

“It was a stage name I took once, had a nice ring to it so I decided to keep it.” I went back to the crowd. “Now then here’s how the race will work: Rainbow and I will be racing from here all the way to Canterlot’s mountain, the first one there will be the winner.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a small flying camera. “This camera will keep track of everything that goes down and project it back here for everypony to see in the form of a hologram. Now if no pony has an objection we will get started.”

Rainbow and I walked to the starting line and were about to take our places until I got interrupted by a pink mare.

“Will! Hey Will, wait!”

I turned around and saw Pinkie running up to me.

“Sorry I was late, I had to do some last minute baking but I’m here now and I want to say good luck.”

I smiled. “Thanks Pinkie, I’ll do my best.” I prepared myself. “And now to change into my speed form!”

Before the race even began I had wondered who I should use to win this race, sure Earth had many speedy people who could probably beat her in a race like The Flash or Superman or Goku, but where’s the fun in that? I want a challenge; I wanted someone who would make me struggle to win and not win super easily.

I snapped my fingers and a puff of smoke appeared around me and enveloped me, when it cleared I gave a thumbs up in my new form: Sonic the Hedgehog. When the transformation was over most of the crowd had their mouths open in surprise, Rainbow on the other hand stifled a giggle.

“Ha ha ha! You’ve got to be kidding me right? That dinky thing doesn’t look anywhere near fast enough to beat me.” She boasted

I just gave her a confident smile and took my place at the starting line. “Trust me; this dinky thing has a few surprises up his sleeves.” I looked and saw that I wasn't wearing a shirt. "If I had sleeves.

We were both set and ready to go when Applejack walked up with a checkered flag in her mouth.

“Now I want a good, clean race from the two ah you, yah got that?”

We both nodded with a serious expression on our faces.

“Alright, ready…”

I felt my legs tense as my heart was pounding at around a mile a minute from the mounting excitement.

“Go!”

The second I heard that word I just ran as fast as I could, which created a small boom and the ponies at the starting line felt a shockwave.

I didn’t even think about where I was going, I just kept running forward as fast as I could without trying to hurt anyone or slam into something. The sensation was…incredible, I had never traveled this fast before but it felt amazing; the wind passing me at such incredible speeds, the sensation of the ground barely touching my feet, the rush of adrenaline as I kept going faster and faster, and the blurry objects that I passed and had no time to figure out what they were. The only thing I could see clearly was Rainbow Dash and we were almost neck in neck.

“How you holding up back there?” Rainbow asked.

“This is one of the greatest things I’ve ever felt! I can see why you like racing so much!” I replied

She nodded and started to speed up and pass me. Once I had a little more control over my speed I began to pick up the pace as well as we moved into the Everfree forest. While the path we were taking was fairly straight I still had to be careful that I didn’t run into a stray tree on the road by side stepping out of the way.

She tried to get ahead of me by flying over the trees so that there would be nothing in her way, I had to keep up with her so I jumped up to the top of a tree and started jumping from branch to branch as quick as I could.

However I wasn’t careful and I tripped on a branch that caught my foot, I tucked my body in to minimize the damage I would take but then I found myself spinning on my spines in a ball form. When I had an idea of what was going on I managed to get out of that ball form by hopping up and started running on my legs again.

“All right, time to put on a show.” I said to myself

I decided to use more of my magic to enhance my speed even further, mimicking Sonic’s speed boost move. As I increased my speed even further a blue trail appeared behind me and I began to catch up to Rainbow Dash. She looked behind her and saw me speeding up so she picked up her own speed as well until a Rainbow Trail began to come out of her tail.

“Oh that won’t be enough to stop me!” I screamed.

I was a few feet behind her now so I decided to try one of Sonic’s most radical moves, I jumped up into the air and used my forward momentum to propel me forward and ram into her, this caused her to slow down a little and I got to catch up to her. I fell back to the ground and now I was ahead of her.

“Hey that’s not fair!” She said.

“Is it?” I said

Now she was angry and she tried to catch up to me by flying above the trees where she didn’t have to dodge any trees, I followed her by using the midair dash to bounce from tree to tree and catch up with her. We both rushed past the forest and eventually reached a lake, I was moving so fast that I was able to run across the water without falling in but for some reason gravity caught up with me and I was pulled down into the murky water.

I began to drift down into the water holding on to what little breath I had at the time.

“What was that? One second I’m doing fine, the next I get pulled underneath. What did I do wrong?”

I tried to swim up but I kept being pulled down, and as I looked down into the dark depths I saw a pair of teal lights appear.

“I’m starting to think it wasn’t my fault that I was dragged down here.”

Then two more pairs of lights appeared next to it and a fourth right next to my leg; I looked closer and saw that they weren’t lights at all, they were eyes, which is about five times worse.

The eyes began to move up closer and closer to the surface of the water, soon we emerged and I sputtered for breath. Once I had a sufficient supply of oxygen and got the water out of my eyes I saw that I was hanging upside down; when I looked up and saw why however I was more than shocked: It was a hydra, probably the same one in “Feeling Pinkie Keen” but it looked different; this one had black scales instead of brown and I’m fairly certain that last time it’s eyes weren’t that color of blue.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it turns out the reason why I saw a pair of eyes so close to me was that it had me in its teeth, and then it threw me up into the air and opened its mouth attempting to eat me. As I came down close to his mouth I reached out my arm and grabbed on to his top lip and managed to pull myself up.

“Never have I been so glad to have hands.” I said relieved I wasn’t going to become lunch. I walked up closer to the hydra’s eyes “Now then, what are you? I know you’re a hydra but something’s different about you, something I can’t quite put my finger on something…” Suddenly a realization dawned on me. “Something I’ve seen before.”

Before I could think about this further the other mouths came at me, I jumped up above one and then cartwheeled out of an others way and then two tried to charge me at once but I dodged them and they got their necks wrapped together.

I stood on one of his heads triumphantly. “Sorry pal, you’re going to try better than that.” I walked up to him and kicked him in one of his eyes and he screamed in pain.

“Whoops, maybe that wasn’t the best idea.”

I jumped off of his mouth but before I could reach the ground one of the other heads head butted me and knocked me to the ground.

“Ow, these things are faster than I thought.”

Before I could get up it pinned me underneath one of its legs which crushed me and held me in place. Thank god he wasn’t using his full weight or I would have been crushed to a pulp, either way it still hurt like hell. One of its mouths moved closer to me, its sharp teeth exposed and looking like it was ready to bite my head off.

“I have to get out of here.”

I snapped my fingers to teleport away but it wasn’t working. I tried to grow larger, turning into a different form, and teleporting away but nothing worked, something was blocking my magic. I struggled to get out but everything I tried failed and as the beast got dangerously close, I closed my eyes and prepared for my death.

“Incoming!”

I heard an all too familiar voice scream from a distance and when the beast hesitated for a second Rainbow Dash came in and kicked him in the cheek so hard he stumbled off my body. I got up as quickly as I could, still feeling a little bit crushed.

“Rainbow, you came back to save me.” I said grateful for her return.

“I figured something was up when I didn’t see you close behind me so I turn around and find out that a hydra is using you to clean his feet.”

I chuckled a bit at her analogy. “Well I’m glad you came when you did, otherwise I would have become hydra chow.”

“RAAAAAAAAAH!” The monster screamed, interrupting our conversation.

“You want to take a break from the race and beat up a hydra?” I asked.

She looked at me incredulously. “Are you serious? You think you can beat a hydra?”

“Maybe, I won’t know until I try but I defiantly know I’ll have a better chance with you by my side. What do you say?”

I held my out my closed fist and looked at her and thankfully she hoof bumped me back.

“All right, let’s bring this thing down!” I said enthusiastically.

We both ran around the hydra as fast as we could, looking for some way to take it down. I tried ramming into it but even at high speeds it was too large to be hurt by it, even my homing attacks on its face wouldn’t cause enough damage to it. As Rainbow looped around it and tried to charge it herself, it moved its neck fast enough to dodge the attack and head butt her and knock her down right next to me.

“Ugh, how is he faster than us?” Rainbow asked.

“I have a feeling that this isn’t a normal hydra, look at its skin and its eyes. I’ve seen those two traits before, like when I fought that shadow griffon a couple of days ago.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, I remember that.”

“Whatever’s causing the changes to these creatures its enhancing them, making them faster and stronger but I still have no idea exactly what’s happening to them.”

“Well that won’t help us now I mean he’s faster than both of us.”

“Yeah, faster than both of us.” But suddenly I had an amazingly cool idea. “But maybe not both of us combined.”

She was confused. “What are you talking about?”

“On that same day as my fight with the shadow griffon you asked me to show you more of those awesome moves, right?”

“Oh yeah! Are you going to shoot your giant beam at it?” She asked

I shook my head. “No, something around here is affecting my magic and stopping me from adding or changing my form, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Among my move set there is a special technique that bonds two people together and combines their attributes into one super being.”

“How would we do that?” She asked.

“Well we simply…” I whispered into her ear my plan, it wasn’t entirely necessary but I felt it built up the suspense.

Rainbow sounded shocked. “No, I am not doing that.”

“Hey it’s the only way we’ll be able to beat him. Look out!” I pulled us out of the way as he tried to swat us with his tail. “Besides if I don’t we’re toast.”

Rainbow put a hoof to her face in frustration. “Ugh, fine but I swear if you tell anypony about this...”

I put my hands up in a defensive manor. “This stays between you and me I promise.”

“Fine, let’s get this over with.”

We took our places parallel to each other prepared to attack.

“All right just follow my lead, ready?”

She nodded and we extended our arms and hooves.

“Fuuuuu-“

We walked closer together and I pulled back a little. “sion-“

“Haaa!”

Our hands and hooves connected and we were enveloped in a bright light. Soon the two bodies of light came together and began to merge into one being. When the light had ceased the new being appeared and he/ she was…a bit odd to say the least: We seemed to have mostly Sonic’s body with rainbow’s color of fur instead of my own, my hair was the same but it stood up a little more and it had rainbow tips at the end, instead of being on my back my wings were on my legs and my feet were replaced with hooves, I had a big bushy tail, thankfully I still had my hands, and my eyes were now magenta.

“Wow this is intense, what are we going to call our self?” We said in that echo voice that fused our two voices together, although I wasn’t sure if it was me or Rainbow talking.

We smirked “Easy, I am Sonic Dash, the fastest thing alive.”

“Sonic Dash? Really?”

“Would you prefer to be called Rainbow the Dashhog?”

“Point taken.” We looked at the beast with new found determination “Now let’s go!”

Our wings spread and we charged into battle, the hydra tried to bite us but we dodged out of his way and punched him in one of his mouths. It hurt him but he quickly regained composure and tried to attack us again, we held him back with a few punches and kicks but he quickly ganged up on us and attacked us all at once. There was nowhere to go and we took the hit full force, losing altitude as we fell. We got a hold of ourselves quickly and stopped our falling.

“Grr! Cyclone slam!”

We thought of a new move and began to literally fly circles around the monster. We began to go faster and faster until the air currents began to pick up and we began to form an air funnel. It slowly got bigger and bigger, eventually it got so big that he began to get picked up by the force and lifted off the ground. While he was in midair we pulled ourselves out of the cyclone and flew to the top and with that same speed we slammed into his stomach and that sent him crashing to the ground.

The vortex stopped and he lay on the ground, seemingly unconscious. We landed on the ground, tired from the battle.

“Well done.” We congratulated our self.

“Thanks, so how do we go back to normal?”

We put our hands behind our head. “One of two ways, the first is that this transformation only lasts for around thirty minutes so we could wait for it to expire. The second is if we run out of energy.”

As we talked to ourselves the monster opened its eyes and raised one of its legs and slashed us with the claws on its foot. This attack was different, before we were expecting to get hurt but this attack was surprising and in our already weakened state it created a large slash mark across our chest. What happened next could only be described as pure unfiltered rage and bloodlust.

“How dare you…HOW DARE YOU! That is it; we are done trying to beat you! We have fought you yet you do not fall, you are trying to kill us for no reason and now we shall do the same! Time to go one step further!”

Using all of my magical power I created the seven chaos emeralds right above my head. They spun around in a circle until they became a ring of light, then that light entered our body and we were transformed: our coat was a solid and pure white, our hair stood up and the tips moved as if they were on fire.

“We are Super Sonic Dash!”

The beast stretched out with its long neck to bite us but before it could hit us we moved out of its way instantaneously, it tried again and the same thing happened. This time when it tried to attack us all at once we created a barrier of golden energy that repelled them no matter how hard they pushed, soon enough they stopped.

“Pathetic.”

We put the energy field down and then I punched the air in front of the heads so hard it created a concussive wave that sent them flying back.

“You have become a thorn in our side and are no longer worth our time. It’s time for us to end you!”

We stuck our hands out and faced one hand to the other, a ball of golden energy began to build up slowly and when it was fully formed it was about the size of a soccer ball.

“Bye bye monster, chaos blast!”

We threw the ball at the monster and as he watched in horror it got closer to him and crashed into his stomach, the resulting explosion looked like a column of white energy that went up higher than the trees, When the explosion was over all that was left of the beast was a burned ring of grass on the ground.

Slowly we floated down to the ground and were enveloped in a white light, and then we were brought back to our original bodies. Dazed from the separation I looked at myself and saw that I still looked like Sonic the Hedgehog.

“Hey Rainbow look we’re back to…wow.”

I looked over at Rainbow trying to stand up and saw that she looked different, she had a white coat and her mane was standing up and it looked like it was on fire.

“Um Rainbow Dash, are you feeling okay?” I asked, concerned for my friends condition.

“Yeah, I feel fine.” She slowly got up on all her hooves and stretched her muscles out. “Actually, I feel great; better than I’ve felt in years, like I could fly a marathon.”

“Well, I think I may have an explanation for that.”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a large stand up mirror and put it in front of Rainbow(On a side note I was glad that my magic was working again) She saw her new appearance and began to study it.

“Wow, I look pretty cool and not that I’m complaining but why did this happen to me?”

I snapped my fingers again and the mirror disappeared. “I think I have an idea, the form you’re in right now looks a lot like my Super Sonic form. Let’s see if it operates roughly the same way, try calming down.”

“All right.”

She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed down and slowly her power began to fade and her body went back to normal.

“Aw man, I felt good when I was like that.” Rainbow complained

“My theory is correct then.”

“What?”

“The fusion technique is risky and I’ve never tried it before, it’s possible that after we separated some of my powers bled into your DNA allowing you to turn into your super form.”

Rainbow stared intently trying to follow my explanation. “Okay, I think I get what you’re saying.”

“All right, you ready to continue with the race?” I asked, getting prepared to start running again.

Rainbow sat in her spot, contemplating something. “No.”

I got out of my ready stance and looked at her confused. “No? What do you mean no? I thought that you really wanted to race and beat me.”

She began to walk away from me. “Not anymore.”

I walked ran forward a bit to catch up with her. “I don’t understand, I thought you wanted to beat me in a race because I was acting like a jerk.”

Rainbow looked at the ground and scratched her hooves on the dirt. “Yeah, that might’ve been a lie.”

I looked at her demanding an explanation. “Mind telling me what this was about then?”

She sighed. “The reason I wanted to race you wasn’t because I wanted to teach you a lesson, I wanted to see if I could beat you at anything.”

“I’m still confused here, you’re the fastest flyer in Equestria why would have to worry about beating little old me?”

“It isn’t just about racing! Think about it Will, in the short time you’ve been here you’ve shown you have more power than maybe even the princesses. You’ve created giant robots, fought with technology none of us have ever seen before, hell you took on a blast from the elements of harmony like it was nothing!”

I walked closer to her. “So what are you saying?”

“Remember the first day you came here? When you explained yourself to us I believed you, I knew you were telling the truth. The reason why I stayed away was because…I was worried about you. Maybe not you as a person but I’m afraid of what you could become and what kind of damage you could do if you were evil like Discord was.”

I looked at her with shock, I had no idea she felt this way. “Rainbow, you know I would never do anything to harm you or any pony else.”

“Then why is it that instead of a hydra here there’s a giant ring of burned grass? I didn’t want to kill him but when we were joined together I felt something, something angry and wild and I think it came from you.”

In that moment I felt everything stop, how could I not realize what I was doing before? Rainbow’s right, I had created giant scary objects, shown powers most people would tremble in fear at, and…I killed two creatures in cold blood. I may have been a little out of control but I could still make this right.

I took Rainbow’s hoof in my hand. “Come with me, there’s something I want to show you.”

“Dude, what are you…”

I transformed into Super Sonic and once I powered up Rainbow turned super as well. In a flash, I flew up into the air with a golden trail behind me, traveling at the speed of light until we hit the upper atmosphere and ended up in space.

“So what do you think of the speed of light?” I asked

Rainbow just floated there in the middle of space, eyes wide open and mouth hanging open from shock. “I…I can’t…I’ve never gone that fast before.” Then she looked out at her surroundings. “Where are we?”

“Welcome to space Rainbow. Where I come from humans have invented ways to travel way up here and explore distant planets, however that technology won’t exist here for a very long time so I decided to show it to you myself.“

“Why did you bring me up here?” She asked.

“To use it as a metaphor.” I pointed my finger out into the emptiness of space. “Imagine that beyond what you can see there’s thousands of stars and planets going on for billions and billions of miles and just when you think you’ve reached the end of the universe you discover something even bigger than you can possibly imagine: The multiverse. Rainbow I’m from an alternate dimension where the things I’ve done would be considered impossible. I’ve been gifted with powers most people only dream of, to bring the greatest creations to life which we couldn’t build on our own.” I sighed. “But with this gift comes a price, I have walked the path of violence once and now I’m stuck there, doomed to always fight to protect what I care about. Second, my mind may be my own but I have the body of Discord which means I am eternal; I will live for hundreds of years after you guys are gone and I’ll just keep losing ponies again and again.”

Rainbow floated there in silence. “That’s heavy stuff man. Why are you telling me this? It’s a bit much to wrap my mind around.”

“Because Rainbow I want you to understand where I’m coming from, if I’m going to live for hundreds of years then I want to make the most of our time here now so that when you guys are gone I’ll have something to look back upon and smile at. I understand that I may go a bit over board sometimes but I’m just trying to make these moments stand out and sometimes I let my emotions get in the way. I promise, I’ll be better from now on and you have nothing to fear from me.”

She smiled, satisfied with my answer. “Alright, let’s go home.”

I nodded and used my super speed to bring us back down to the earth but we’d end up some place different.

Meanwhile, ponies back in Ponyville waited impatiently for their two racers to return.“Where could they be? It shouldn’t have taken them this long to finish the race.” Twilight wondered, concerned for her friends safety.

“Don’t worry Twilight I’m sure they’ll be back soon.” Applejack comforted.

As they waited they didn’t see a giant glowing ball of golden energy passing the sky.

“Look look, up in the sky!” Pinkie pointed to the glowing ball.

“It’s a meteor.” One pony shouted.

“Actually given that energy trail it’s more likely a comet.” Twilight corrected.

“It’s a nerd.” Some other pony said pointing at Twilight.

“It’s headed straight for us!” Pinkie shouted. “AAAAAAAHHHHHH! Any pony else wanna panic with me? No, okay. AAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

The energy ball came closer and closer to the town until it was right over head, thankfully it didn’t hit anypony as it crashed to the ground and left a small crater.

Ponies looked in that crater and saw the two figures that they were waiting for emerge from the smoke, me in my human form and Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, I told you I could get us back to town quickly.” I boasted.

“Yeah but I didn’t think it involved us crashing to the ground in a ball of energy and scaring everypony half to death.” Rainbow replied

“Aw come on, those faces were priceless. How could I pass those up?”

We both climbed out of the crater where we were met with cheers.

“Guys, you’re back!” Pinkie jumped up to us excited and wrapped us both up in a hug that felt like it was crushing me.

“Pinkie, you’re crushing us.” I breathed out.

“Oh sorry.”

She let go and I was finally able to catch my breath.

“What happened to you both?” Twilight asked

“You mean you didn’t see?” I questioned.

“No, the camera cut out about twenty minutes in when you guys were passing the bogs of the Everfree forest.”

“So she didn’t see what happened with the hydra? Good, I don’t want her to be scared of me, or any pony else to be scared for that matter.” “Well let’s just say when we passed the bog we had a problem with hydration and we took care of it.” I said, laughing at my own little joke.

“But who won the race?” Twilight asked

Since we didn’t officially finish the race I had to make something up. “We tied.”

Twilight looked surprised. “A tie? Rainbow would never let a race end in a tie.”

“Well this was a special case; anyways, we’d better be off, have a great day everypony.” Rainbow said

Both Rainbow and I opened our wings and flew up into the air and away from the town square. As we flew she struck up a conversation.

“You know, we never did finish that race.” She said

“Like I said to them, I think it would have ended with a tie.”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure I’d beat you.”

“Oh really?” I pointed the index and middle fingers on my right hand at her and transferred a bit of magic causing her to transform into her super form. “Well then would you care to explain to them how this happened.”

“Hey you were the one responsible for this, it’s only your magic that gets me to transform into this.”

“Still you helped me kill a hydra so how about this? You admit that it would have been a tie and I won’t tell anybody about what happened in that forest and I’ll teach you how to use your super form.”

She was confused. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“Maybe, do you disagree with my conditions?”

“Will I be able to do some of the cool stuff that you did?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then, I guess I’m in.”

We bumped our appendages as a sign of agreement.

“Whenever you want training come to me and I’ll see if I can work it into my schedule. For now I’m pooped, see you later.”

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; I ate, picked up Screwball from school and thought nothing else really eventful would happen that day. Then I went to sleep…and that night would start a chain of events causing lives to change forever, a domino effect going from pony to pony for years to come.

Prologue to dimensions

Chapter 19

It’s been two days since I came across that vampire enclave, they were cool and welcomed me with open arms so I felt no reason to tell of their existence to Celestia or Luna. As long as they remained covert we wouldn’t have any problems.

I had sent Screwball to school and then went back to bed because… well it was eight in the morning and if I didn’t have to be up I didn’t want to be. Unfortunately, the universe isn’t kind like that and I heard a loud knocking from the front door. I got up reluctantly to answer it.

“God, doesn’t anypony in this town sleep until ten in the morning?” I groaned.

I opened the door only to find…Twilight at my door, great. I don’t know whether it’s because she’s curious about me, she’s concerned about me (or a little bit of both) but I seem to be seeing a lot of her, more so than even Pinkie Pie. Now I don’t mind it, she’s great, but you don’t normally come around this frequently unless you want something.

“Good morning Twilight, what can I do for you this fine morning?” I said with as much fake enthusiasm as I could muster.

“Actually, it’s the princess who wants to speak with you.”

“Since when did you become a princess?”

I internally laughed at my own joke, which would come… in time.

“No, I meant I have a letter from the princess.” She used her magic to reach into her saddlebag and pulled out a finely wrapped scroll. “They have a direct line 0to my mailbox and I guess they wanted to get in contact with you quickly.”

I took the scroll from her and locked at the outside. “There’s no name on it.” I now stared at Twilight. “You’ve been reading my mail.”

Twilight gasped “No! Like you said it didn’t have any name on it so I assumed it was for me, then I opened it and saw that it was addressed to you but I got…curious.”

“So you did read my mail?”

“Technically…indirectly…yes.”

I sighed, slightly amused by her antics. “I swear Twilight, one of these days your curiosity is going to get you into trouble.”

I unfurled the scroll and began reading it:

My dearest friend Will,
I need to ask something special of you. Please come to the palace after the moon has risen, my sister and I have something we wish to speak of you about and it is of the utmost urgency and secrecy.
Your fair princess/ gaming buddy,
Luna
P.S: I still want a rematch for our last game night: planting C4 on the ground, standing on top of it, then blowing us both up when I try to kill you should not count as a win in your favor.

I looked at the note and smiled a bit at Luna’s juvenile comment. I remember that night well and she got really mad when I did that, it was hilarious…and a little bit cute.

“Well you’re lucky that this didn’t have any explicit information on it, otherwise I’d be annoyed that you read it.”

Twilight scratched her hooves on the ground. “Um…so I guess that’s it then.”

“Yep…that’s it, nothing else that needs to get done.”

She looked at the ground. “Um, actually, I was just…wondering if…maybe…”

I groaned. “Come inside.”

“Thanks.”

She walked in and I closed the door behind her. “You know you could just ask to come inside, I can see that sparkle in your eyes whenever you come in my house. You don’t have to hide it.”

“I’m sorry it’s just…so much magic went into making this house, it must be filled with all kinds of things and I want to know all of them!”

“Well, I don’t know if I can show you everything but I suppose we can take a walk down a hallway and see what we find.”

We did exactly that, we walked down one of the incredibly long hallways.

“This is a perfect example, this hallway goes on for what feels like forever and yet the house is so much smaller on the outside!” She pointed out excitedly.

I shrugged; I didn’t think much of it because I was the one who made it. Then as we kept walking I noticed something strange that made me stop.

Twilight noticed this. “What’s up?”

“There’s a door here.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “In a hallway full of doors? Very observant of you.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not just that. This door has been marked.”

On the door there was a symbol that looked like two bridged eight notes (or Vinyl Scratch’s cutie mark for those who don’t speak band nerd)

“I normally don’t mark doors unless I’ve been in them and I don’t remember going in here.”

“Well there’s a music note on the door, what does that mean?”

Curious, I reached for the door knob and opened the door; as it swung open I was greeted by a beautiful sight.

“I think it means…”

I ran inside, amazed by what I saw and Twilight quickly followed.

“That I have the most awesome music room ever!”

It was true. All around me there dozens upon dozens of instruments: Stringed instruments, brass instruments, drums, mix tables, pipe organs, accordions, even a freaking Theremin!

“Wow…” Twilight was in shock.

“I know, it’s like I died and went to rocker heaven.”

I walked over to the section that interested me the most: the guitar section.

“Do you know how to play?” Twilight asked.

I grinned madly. “Not a clue.” I started rifling through the piles of guitars until I came across one I liked, a solid black bass guitar. “But I might as well take advantage of this opportunity.”

I put the guitar around my neck and started strumming a few chords, it sounded out of tune but it was a start.

“Don’t you need a teacher for this kind of thing?” Twilight asked.

I snapped my fingers and summoned a stack of books. “Experience is the best teacher. Now all I needed to do is shape this guitar how I like and we can get started.”

I extended the guitar and my magic flowed inside of it, causing its form to change. It became smaller, the edge was jagged, and there was a silver trim around it.

“Yes, this is perfect. You are mine now and I shall name you: Black Sabbath.”

Twilight looked at me strangely. “Alright then, I’ll leave you with your guitar and just get out of here.”

“Kay bye.” I said, not really focusing on her.

She walked out of the room and I opened up the book, looking over the basic instructions.

Six hours later…

Twilight opened the door very forcefully, her mane was a mess and there was a woodpecker pecking at her skull. Also, she seemed really pissed at me.

“WILL!” She screamed.

“Oh, hey Twilight.” I said casually.

“Don’t you ‘hey Twilight’ me, I’ve been banging on this door for ten minutes now!”

I was confused at her statement. “No, you haven’t.”

“Yes I have! After I closed the door I got lost in the hallway of doors, going through one after the other to either find
you or my way out of this nightmare. I’ve been stuck in this never ending hallway for six hours!”

I was shocked to hear this. “Twilight…” I smile formed on my face that grew rapidly. “That is hilarious.”

“What?” She exclaimed, upset that I was being so nonchalant about her torment.

“You’re such a huge OCD case and calendar freak that it’s funny to see you like this after wasting a lot of your time, also the bird poking your skull is a nice touch.”

She looked up at him and swatted him away with her hoof. “Woody, get out of here.” She said as the bird un-perched itself from her shoulder and flew away.

“Woody?” I asked, curious why she named the bird.

“He was my only companion through this horrible nightmare.” She shuddered. “I have now seen things that I can never forget: Dark insidious forests, large swelling seas, horrible abominations unlike any I’ve ever conceived…”

I waved it off. “Yeah yeah that’s great, lucky for me all my practice with this guitar has really paid off, check out this sweet riff.

I extended my fingers and a set of drums began playing in the background, meanwhile I began my awesome guitar playing:

As I finished Twilight’s look had softened but she still seemed very miffed. “That’s great and all but I’m still lost in here!”

I sighed. “Sure, diminish my accomplishments why don’t you.” I raised my guitar in the air and it deconstructed into nothingness. “Took me an hour and a half to make that perfect but let’s just totally ignore that.”

I continued grumbling until I came to the doorway, I peered down the hallway looking for the exit and was shocked to find it so quickly.

“It’s literally a few feet from you.”

I pointed in the direction of the exit but when Twilight looked in that direction she seemed only more confused.

“But-but this wasn’t here before I came inside your band room, it was just a never ending hallway.”

I thought on that, it wasn’t like Twilight to make things up or have hallucinations of things that didn’t happen so there must be another reason.

“Well…maybe the house has a mind of its own.”

“Don’t be silly. Even if the house is magic it cannot develop a consciousness or become sentient.”

I rubbed the walls in a soothing manner. “Aw, don’t listen to the mean librarian; she’s just jealous that you made her get lost.”

And when I rubbed the walls I felt this sort of warm, pleasant sensation go through my hand. It was like the walls were responding to my touch.

“Maybe I wasn’t so far off.” I looked at this hallway and smiled. “You’re like the TARDIS aren’t you? You’ve got a mind of your own and can shape this house anyway you want. Brilliant.”

Twilight cleared her throat, getting me out of my own little world. “Since clearly you’re so good at finding ways out, perhaps you could escort me to the front door?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

I led her down the hall to the front door, then being the gentleman I was I opened it for her as she walked out.

“Bye Twilight, have fun rescheduling your day.”

“I…I probably will actually.”

“Yeah, you would.”

With that I closed the door and wasted away the rest of my day.

Dusk, Canterlot garden…

Celestia and Luna stood outside the castle as the night air blew through their manes.

“I wonder when he will get here.” Celestia wondered.

“Have faith sister, we have a suspicion he would not ignore our summons lightly.”

True to her word, the silhouette of two large black wings appeared upon the moon and then grew bigger and bigger until I arrived next to them, tucking my wings against my back.

“I hope I didn’t take too long.”

“Nay, I daresay you came with great swiftness.” Luna nodded her head. “Now come, we must get this accomplished quickly.”

Luna walked ahead of me and Celestia, while she led us to our destination I leaned over to ask Celestia a question.

“She seems to be speaking in old equestrian more.” I whispered.

“Yes, she still has trouble dealing with the new way of speaking.”

“But it’s weird because sometimes she speaks just like you or I and others it’s like something out of Shakespeare, what’s up with that?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen she speaks like that when she’s uncertain about a situation, or if she’s nervous.”

“Why would she be nervous?”

“We’re here.” Luna interrupted.

“You’re about to find out.”

We turned the corner to the back of the castle and I was face to face with…a rift. I can’t find a better way to describe it than a rift that just floated in midair, even the air around it was being sucked inside.

“What exactly is this thing? It looks like some kind of rift.” I questioned.

“This is no ordinary rift; it is a tear in the very fabric of reality.” Luna explained.

Well that was worse than what I thought. “What?”

It was Celestia’s turn to speak up. “Many centuries ago when Discord ruled over the land his chaos magic spread its influence over everything. Over time things got more and more chaotic to the point where even the universe we live in was at risk, and the tear was created. That was when my sister and I knew that we had to stop Discord, before everything was destroyed.”

“Well clearly you succeeded.”

Luna nodded. “Discord was defeated and all his chaotic energy was dispelled, but this tear still remained and no sort of magic that we’ve tried has managed to close it.”

“So…what’s the big problem then?”

Suddenly the rift began rumbling and glowing brighter.

“Look out!” Luna cried.

They both ducked down, scared about what was happening. But when the rift stopped rumbling an orange shot out of it and I caught it in my hand.

“An orange? You’re scared of an orange?” I said, slightly berating them.

Both the princesses got up and dusted themselves off. “It isn’t just an orange, objects keep coming through the rift at varying times. The last few times it’s happened the objects were pictures that inspired ponies to build Manehatten, a blueprint for steam engines, and Luna’s game console.”

I was surprised and turned my head to Luna. “So that’s why you have that sweet piece of hardware, and why you didn’t tell me where you got it from.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, I did not want to tell you how it came to be if you couldn’t help fix the problem, it would only bring you grief.”

“My only question is why are you worrying so much about this? It seems harmless enough and as long as nothing with malicious intent gets through we should be fine.”

Celestia looked at me with her very neutral glare. “What we failed to tell you is that this rift was once 4 feet tall when Discord’s chaos was at its peak, for a time it reverted and was no bigger than a grape. But as years and years go by it has grown, and I am afraid that it will continue growing until it really starts doing damage.”

I sighed, seeing the long term problems this thing may create. “Very well, how can I help?”

“We theorize that if this portal was created through chaos energy than maybe it can be closed with it as well. We don’t know exactly what to do, but we’re asking you to try.” Luna said.

I sighed, I wasn’t sure exactly what I should do to solve this problem but lack of knowledge hasn’t hindered my progress before. I extended both my hands, pointed all my fingers at the rift, and began feeding it energy. The energy came out as a mixture of black with hints of fuchsia and it hit the rift, slowly forming together around it and pushing it harder and harder until the rift popped out of existence.

I grinned and wiped my hands together, proud of my handiwork. “Well, that takes care of that.”

Luna laughed a bit to herself. “Well done, a burden has been lifted.”

“Glad to help, but right now I’ve got a bed calling my name so I’ll bid you adieu.”

I began to walk away from them but then the rift began to rumble again, but this time it was louder and it glowed brighter, it even started shaking a little bit.

“Um…that should not be happening.” I said

Then the rift grew to five feet tall and opened, revealing a black swirling tunnel that began to suck us all in. I dug my heels into the ground and tried to stay my ground while the princesses were flapping their wings to keep away from the portal, but it was clear they were having a harder time with it than I was. Their hooves were losing their grip on the ground and I feared they were going to fall prey to the force of the rift.

Like hell they were; I extended my arms and it created two hands made of energy, they grabbed the princesses and carried them away from the rift. Unfortunately, casting this spell seemed to have diverted my own focus so my feet were losing their own grip on the ground and after I finished pulling the girls away my feet gave out and I floated in the air.

“Will!” Luna cried.

I was now flying through the air towards the portal against my own will, I turned around and tried to stop myself in midflight but the force was too strong. Desperate for survival I pulled out the hookshot from my pocket and fired it at the castle wall, it embedded itself in the wall and it was strong enough so that I wasn’t getting pulled in.
Celestia and Luna looked at me with concern.

“Hold on Will, we’re going to help you.” Luna shouted back.

I looked at them, and then I looked back at the portal and I had made my decision.

“No.” I said, resolutely

They were confused by my statement. “What?”

“Don’t come close to me; you’ll just get sucked in as well.”

“Then what would you have us do?” Celestia asked.

I sighed. “I can close this portal myself, but if I let go of this chain I’ll probably get pulled through so…yeah.”

Luna shook her head violently at this idea. “No! We refuse to let you fall to whatever is on the other side of that void.”

I had to stay firm, no matter how much I didn’t like it. “Do you have any better ideas? Even if I could escape the pulling power of this thing it would just keep getting bigger until it eventually enveloped everything. You’re right, it needs to be dealt with now.”

“No…not at the cost of one of our friends, not at the cost of you.” Luna said, her voice beginning to sound weaker.

“Listen, even if I do fall in I’m sure I’ll find some sort of way to get back. I’m too good not to; so don’t consider this a goodbye, call it a ‘see you later’”

Against her better judgment Luna nodded.

“Before I go Celestia, I need you to do something for me.”

She nodded, telling me that I had her attention.

“Send a message to Twilight and her friends and tell her what has happened, they deserve to know.”

“Of course.”

“Also, I need someone to watch over Screwball while I’m gone.”

“Sure.”

“And tell them what I told Luna, this isn’t a goodbye but merely a see you later. I’m coming back, that’s a promise.

She nodded again.

“Luna, before I go there’s something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?”

I looked inside my heart to find the right words, thought given the scenario it was hard to think clearly.

“Keep smiling, for me.”

She looked surprised at that request.

“You’ve been sad for far too long, be happy now and know that I will return soon.”

I saw a small tear form in her eye but she did smile at me. “Okay.”

I felt my grip loosening on the handle, and looked behind me at this void. Well, I guess it was now or never.

“You know, there’s a word for a time like this.”

“What’s that?” Luna asked.

“Geronimo!” I screamed.

I let go of the hook shot and fell into the void, once I moved past its lips I pulled my arms together and the void
closed, at least now Equestria would be safe from something.

And then I was falling, the world ran past me at what felt like thousands of miles per hour; a sea of stars and colors that filled every corner of my vision. As fast as it went by it was over and I was out.

It took me a few seconds to get feeling back in my body, even longer to realize that I wasn’t in that speed tunnel anymore. I was on some kind of floor now, it was cold and metal.

Also, I noticed a large pain in the front of my head. Did I hit something on my way here? I put my hand up to my hand and felt the spot that hurt; it definitely felt big and swollen…hey there’s something on my fingers.

I looked at them and saw that it was blood, my blood. I felt up there some more and felt a lot of it.

Did I have a concussion?

My head felt heavy and I fell to the ground, unable to get up or think properly.

Yep, definitely a concussion.

Right before I lost consciousness and my whole world turned black I heard a voice in the room, it was faint but I could hear the words clearly.

“What the bloody hell?”

Author's Note

And now we begin the "Dimensions saga"

Consider this your stocking stuffers for the year, with one more present coming your way on Christmas day.

On another note, this story has officially broken the 100,000 words barrier. Thank you guys so much for your continued support, you're awesome and I never would have gotten to this point without you. But i've still got a lot to write about, that you can be certain of.