The Visions Begin

Part One: The Arrival

Dreams... dreams are a rather curious thing aren't they? They can range from the wildest of fantasies to the most realistic of situations, but what happens when those dreams... or nightmares... slowly begin to become reality? How does one expect to react to this, especially if there was a role for them to play that they were never prepared for? For one young man on the brink of adulthood, his perception of reality and fiction was about to get punched in the stomach, as he will soon realize that fantasy and fiction... can indeed be real...

Eldon was tossing and turning in his bed, nightmares clouded his mind.

"No... Shining... Luna... Twilight... I watch it... because it's good..." he mumbled, his eyes darting from left to right underneath his eyelids as if he was reading a book. "Chaos... harmony... show... not the same... home... hero..."

A large storm was brewing just outside his home as Eldon continued to mumble in his sleep. A bead of sweat formed and ran down his forehead as the nightmare became more and more intense... and he was there to witness it all...

The young man awoke to find himself lying down on something coarse and rather dirty instead of his usual warm and comfortable bed.

Huh? Where... where the hell am I? he thought. This isn't my bed or my room... and it definitely doesn't smell like it either. Eldon quickly got to his feet and looked at his surroundings. A rather large throne sat in front of him but there was nothing else of interest. He quickly turned around to discover that he was in a rather large hall with a door located at the opposite end. Banners hung from the ceiling and various mosaics along with curtains lined both walls, but what caught his attention was the animal standing in the middle of the room with its eyes closed.

Okay... that is... new, Eldon thought and he began to approach the creature, which he soon realized to be none other than some sort of small, but rather familiar pony. "Excuse me! Can I have some help please?" he called out and the pony suddenly opened its eyes. "Ah! It's nice to know that you are awake now, but I really need some-" He was cut off as the doors suddenly slammed open, revealing a different pony, armoured this time, and causing the other one to turn around. The new pony began to talk, but Eldon was unable to comprehend what it was saying, for it definitely was not English.

"General! Canterlot is under attack!" the sentry shouted.

Canterlot? Now!? No… it's too soon! The princesses! Shining Armor thought. "Soldier! Alert everypony to get to their battle stations! I need every hoof possible!" Shining Armor paused and inhaled deeply, "The princesses are in danger! No Changeling shall be allowed to get to them! Go! That's an order!"

"The princesses will be safe, I swear on my life!" the sentry replied. "I shall alert everypony else immediately General!"

Eldon watched the sentry close the doors behind him and the pony that was still with him trotted over to a nearby window.

"Uh, hehe, I'm not sure if you heard me earlier, uh, little guy," Eldon said. "But uh, could you possibly help me?" Silence was the reply that Eldon received. As the sentry ran off to alert the other ponies, Shining Armor had trotted over to view the situation through one of the castle's windows. He couldn't believe what he saw.

I can't believe the Changelings are here so soon... how could they have possibly travelled such a long distance in such a short amount of time? Surely they would have needed to rest after sacking the... the Crystal Empire. I guess it was only a matter of time… Shining Armor thought. I must keep the princesses safe. Celestia and Luna, I'll not let you down! I-

A sudden BOOM rocked the castle, sending Shining Armor and Eldon to their knees. They both struggled to regain their composure when another BOOM shook the very foundations of Canterlot, causing them to stumble about. The castle windows were beginning to crack, everything was falling apart. Shining Armor and Eldon managed to steady themselves and Shining planted his hooves firmly on the ground, prepared for whatever came next. Suddenly, one giant BOOM! came and it shattered the castle's entrance, causing Eldon to stagger backwards.

"Holy crap! Is this place having an earthquake or something!?" Eldon exclaimed and slowly became slightly panicky. "Because if there is, I'm out of here... if I knew where here was!"

"In Celestia's name!" Shining Armor exclaimed. "Who goes there!?" His ears pricked up as he and Eldon heard wicked laughter coming from the entrance. When the dust cleared, it revealed the perpetrator of the whole fiasco.

"Ah, Shining Armor, how are you my dear?" Chrysalis asked sarcastically.

"Who the hell are you?" Eldon asked, but yet again, this newcomer's appearance was very familiar to him. Another thing he noticed was that the black swiss cheese creature had said something he was able to make out. Shining Armor...

"Chrysalis! Why are you here in Canterlot!? Why are you doing this!?" Shining Armor shouted. "What have you done with Cadance!?"

"Chrysalis? Cadance?" Eldon asked out loud. "I... I'm getting something here, will the both of you just hold up for a second? Thanks." He closed his eyes and began to search through his memories. The names had rung a bell, it was on the tip of his tongue... Meanwhile, Chrysalis threw her head back and laughed.

"Don't worry Shining Armor, Cadance is safe with us... as for why I'm here, Canterlot has something I require, something that'll help bring the master into this cursed world! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some catching up to do with your other precious princesses!" Chrysalis said mockingly.

"You won't lay one hoof on them you fiend!" Shining Armor shouted angrily as he snorted and stamped his hooves.

"Very well then, I had wanted to do this the easy way, but you leave me no choice. I hope you are ready to face your worst fears!" Chrysalis exclaimed with evil glee. "Oh King Sombra!"

King Sombra? But he was defeated! Oh no… this is bad! Shining Armor thought. Darkness began forming behind Chrysalis, revealing the shadowy face of the evil king. Shining Armour rose up to his full height, horn blazing with magical energy, and prepared to fight for his very life.

"Aha!" Eldon shouted. "I know where I am now! This is... Friendship is Magic... right? You know, for a second there I thought I was-" He stopped once he opened his eyes and saw the massive black cloud swirling in front of him and Shining Armor. A face soon formed from the shadows, a face that Eldon immediately recognized. "Sombra...? Didn't he die all those episodes ago...? I would move if I were you Shining."

Shining Armor continued to stand still, his horn glowing with purple energy as the shadowy king laughed at him and spewed shadows from his mouth.

"Shining! Get out of the way!" Eldon shouted and he began to run forward. He didn't know what had urged him to do so, but he couldn't stop himself even if he had wanted to. I'll never make it in time! Just as the shadows were about to converge on Shining, Eldon jumped in front of him, letting the shadows strike him instead and it enveloped him in darkness... yet he felt no pain.

When Eldon began to see the light again, he found himself to be in the exact same room, except this time Shining had vanished, along with Chrysalis, Sombra, and the shadows.

"This is getting weirder and weirder," he whispered to himself. He immediately noticed that the doors to the throne room were fixed, but he also began to hear voices coming from behind him.

"...Twilight Sparkle, I'm assigning you to be his teacher until you have deemed him worthy using magic on his own," one of the voices said. Curious, Eldon turned around and his eyes widened at the sight on the opposite side of the throne room. On the throne sat a white pony and alongside her was a smaller, dark blue pony that sat in a different seat. A group of ponies stood before them, along with a rather small... lizard?

"C- Celestia? Me? I thought you would have taken him under your wing," the lavender pony replied. As Eldon slowly approached the group, he was easily able to tell who was who since he had seen them plenty of times before.

"The lavender one is obviously Twilight," Eldon whispered to himself. "There's also Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, I'm pretty sure that the lizard is actually Spike the dragon, Celestia, Luna... but who is that pony standing next to Twilight?" The pony's coat was the colour of chestnut and his mane was a cobalt blue with streaks of white running through it. He was just able to make out the tip of a horn that poked through the tangled mess of a mane, but Eldon still couldn't figure out who it was. The mystery Unicorn suddenly turned to face Twilight and awkwardly knelt before her.

"I know that you and I have our differences Twilight," he said. "But I would be honoured to be your student..."

That voice... why does it sound so... familiar? Eldon thought and rushed towards the group. "Hey! Does anyone know how-" He immediately stopped talking when he passed through them as if he were made of nothing and his surroundings began to fade to black once again.

The darkness slowly began to dissipate again and Eldon felt weightless.

Alright, where the heck am I now? Eldon thought and looked around him, only to see dark clouds, dark clouds, and yet even more dark clouds. "Hey hey! I've never seen clouds of this size this close to the ground before!" That was when he noticed that his feet were not on the ground, in fact his feet weren't touching anything! Confused, he looked down to see nothing but empty space beneath him.

"This. Sucks. A looooooooooot!" Eldon yelled, his voice fading as he quickly plummeted towards the ground below. He began to flail his arms and legs, his heart was pounding, his vision spinning around and around as he tumbled through the air. The clouds quickly disappeared as he fell past them, only to be met with a gruesome sight. The land beneath him was on fire as far as the eye could see. The city of Canterlot was now nothing but a smoking crater on the side of the mountain. What the hell happened here?  A foul stench filled his nostrils, a stench that indicated the sign of decay and it caused him to retch.

As the ground rushed forward to meet him, Eldon closed his eyes and braced himself for impact... but instead of hitting the ground, he felt something close around him instead, knocking the wind from his lungs.

"So... you've decided to show up at last..." a deep voice rumbled. "I must say... your timing was rather... perfect." Eldon opened at his eyes, only to stare in horror at a mass of shadows that swirled around where the thing's head should be. He looked to the side to see that the thing was holding him about ten feet above the ground, give or take a few feet.

"Does my appearance disturb you?" the thing asked and Eldon quickly shook his head. Eldon noticed that whoever or whatever was holding him was covered in black plate armor that was smeared with blood. He didn't dare to think who's blood it was though. "Pathetic creature... and they called you the 'Chosen One'... or they used to anyway before you let me slaughter them all!"

The thing turned around and thrust his arm forward, forcing Eldon to witness the scene before him. For miles upon miles, he saw the slain bodies of ponies, Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasi alike, but what really made him sick to the stomach were the ones in front of him. It was none other than the group of ponies he saw just moments before, their bodies twisted and bent out of shape. He quickly looked away from the grisly scene and the thing laughed.

"What's the matter? I thought you would have wanted to see your friends again!" it roared and threw Eldon down onto the bodies below. splattering him in mud and blood. "This is where everything ends." Seven green floating gems appeared at his shoulder along with a sword in his right hand. "You abandoned your 'friends' Chosen One. For far too long the Elements of Harmony have been a thorn in my side, but with my own creation... the Elements of Chaos, I shall consume everything that stands in my way!" With a simple hand gesture, the seven gems fired a conjoined blast of energy at the thing's sword, setting it ablaze with green fire.

"I, The Endbringer, have dealt with this planet for far too long!" he roared. "Taste the flames of the God of Chaos mortal!" Eldon held up his hands in defense, knowing that it was futile and the last thing he felt was the tip of the sword impaling him through the chest. His final thoughts were of extreme pain until the sword was hilt deep, killing him instantly. The God of Chaos laughed as he flicked the pathetic creature off of his sword and the dark clouds finally began to unleash rain upon the land, except the downpour was the colour of crimson. To The Endbringer however... it felt delicious.

"AHGH!" Eldon yelled as he sat up suddenly, only to see that he was in bed still and patted his chest. He sighed in relief when he realized that there wasn't a gaping hole there. "Jeez... I really need to stop watching that show... it has been giving me some nutty dreams and nightmares lately..."

Eldon was a scruffy looking young man. His hair was as brown as a chestnut and just brushed against his shoulders. His eyes a deep ocean blue, nothing like his mother's brown eyes or his father's hazel eyes. He also had a fine beard, which gave him a feral man appearance, or so his friends say. At the young age of seventeen, Eldon's life was just beginning to start. He was entering his final year of high school and everything he had worked towards had finally led him to this point in time. He desperately hoped to get a scholarship for school, since that was all he needed to attend a college art class.

"Well, whatever, better get ready for school I guess," he told himself and looked over at his alarm clock, which only read five-thirty in the morning. "Five-thirty? Craaap," he groaned and covered his head with his pillow. "Well... at least it's Friday though."