My Little Dream Becomes Reality

*The Throne Room*

Celestia sat in her throne as always, preparing for the big day. Today, was an important day as Celestia herself believed. The sun was free from any cloud blockage, the entire castle was cleaned in preparation, and Shining Armor, the captain of the royal guard, was already in place for the upcoming important wedding for tomorrow.

It also became quickly evident to Celestia that she wasn't the only pony who really cared about the wedding. Just a few minutes ago, while she made a few trips across the castle halls, there was already a large portion of her royal staff wandering the castle from place to place with great busyness, that was clearly being displayed in their faces and through their tense movements.

The princess of the sun smiled at the thought of her hard-working subjects. She also thought of the list of the things she wanted to be applied into the wedding and believed that her hard-working ponies would only end up providing more than what has been asked.

As Celestia took a hold of a paper and quill to write with her magic, her younger sister, Luna, walked in with all of the energy drained out of her. The lower part of her eyelids was darkened as if she had gone through the most difficult time in the dream realm, and her mane was no longer flowing and sparkling like it would be during her time of wellness.

"Good morning sister. Overworked yourself during that night, didn't you? Well, maybe a sweet morning brought to you by your sister will cheer you up. I have prepared you some very delicious pancakes in the dining room just for you. Please, do enjoy," Celestia offered, before she began to write a few invitations to send over to several particular ponies across Equestria.

"There is no time for any small talk, sister. I have some very important matters to discuss," Luna found it difficult to breath as she talked.

"As do I, Luna," Celestia claimed. "I'm sure you have heard of the big wedding tomorrow. And I'm sure you've caught eye of my subjects' current productivity. Everything should go as planned; however, I'm afraid security in all of Canterlot must be leveled greatly. You see, a threat has been made against Canterlot, and I must make sure nothing will ruin the special day for both the captain, and princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

"A threat against this very capital? That's foolish!" Luna found it hard to believe as she had a hard time keeping her balance as she spoke. "Well, I would like to inform you, sister, a threat has also been made onto the dream realm. I require assistance now, unless you want everypony in Equestria to never ever sleep again!" Luna fell onto the castle floor after her hooves slowly gave up on her.

Celestia dropped the letter and quill in shock upon witnessing her sister's misery. While Celestia thought it was just one of those rare nights of hardship, she had just now noticed the actual condition Luna was in, and realized Luna needed help. Trotting up to her dear sister, Celestia supported Luna as she struggled to stand up. Celestia then remembered the screams of blame Luna had unleashed in her sleep last night. And Celestia knew that kind of panic and rage wasn't something she could ignore. "Tell me everything. I will not allow any harm to come to you, Luna. I promise." Celestia insistently gave her younger sister a hug.

"...A demon ventured into my realm. And made its own personal home there to feast and ruin the dreams of our subjects like a parasite," Luna turned her head away in anger and regret. "I tried my very best to fend off that fiend, but my power alone was not enough. He's using my realm as a place to spread nightmares among our subjects' deepest fears, then to feed on their negativity, and become strong. I even fear it plans on using the dream realm as its primary source of power. And soon, it will find its way into the real world and do...ugh, who knows what to our land! Please sister, the fate of Equestria and our subjects depends on us if we do not do anything now!"

Celestia paused for a moment after hearing the word demon come out of Luna's mouth, but Celestia snapped out of it and nodded her head in agreement. She had thought demons had gone extinct after the great war thousands of years ago. Seeing the condition Luna was in, this was no joke or laughing matter. Demons were nothing but heartless killers, destroying everything in their path with no mercy.

"Very well, I shall do everything in my power to stop the darkness to which you say exists. But first, I must keep Canterlot on guard from whatever threat is to come during the upcoming wedding. I will even ask for additional protection," Celestia carried Luna out if the throne room and into her room.

*The Golden Oak Library*

Twilight woke up filled with energy. And it wasn't the good type of energy some pony would expect on a sunny day. The day had just started, and Twilight was already planning on tackling Shining armor to the ground. She didn't like the fact that her own personal brother was getting married to some pony she didn't know. And it especially didn't feel right that her brother didn't tell her that in person.

She did not feel astonished that she had spent a few hours of the night in her library complaining and planning on what action would be best for her to take in her unpleasant situation. Though, she was sure to get exactly enough sleep to ensure she would be able to effectively straighten things out with her brother and the whole wedding event without a need for shut eye.

But before she could think about waking Spike up, something in her head brought to her attention that something was missing. Looking around, she remembered a bottle sitting on the very wooden table she would always keep an eye on when she left bookmarked books that she didn't finish reading. Twilight slammed a hoof on her forehead. "Oh no," Twilight couldn't believe that she had forgotten to search Lyra for the dark fluid. She realized she was so caught up in the sudden disappointing news that her head lost focus as to why she even showed up to Lyra's house in the first place. 'Ugh. I'll have to deal with that later. Right now, I need to deal with my brother.'

Twilight walked downstairs to see Spike reading a letter. She approached him slowly to get a better perspective while noticing another letter folded up on the ground next to him. "What do you got there Spike?" Twilight tapped him with a hoof.

Spike turned around in surprise as soon as he felt Twilight's gentle hoof. Then, he genuinely let out a small burst of excitement. "You're awake! Here, I've been waiting to give this to you," Spike handed Twilight the letter. "It's an invitation to a wedding in Canterlot, with the preparations beginning today, and the actual wedding itself happening tomorrow," Spike noticed Twilight's mood changing from a bad mood to a good mood after reading the letter.

"Thank Celestia!" Twilight felt relieved. "For a second there I thought my brother, Shining Armor, had forgotten all about me." Twilight picked up the second letter next to Spike and began reading. The letter contained details on what she and her friends will be doing. Applejack makes the food, Rarity makes the dresses, Pinkie Pie plans a party, Fluttershy gets the birds to sing, Rainbow Dash does a sonic rainboom, and Twilight is the one to make sure everything goes as planned.

"Come along Spike, we have a train to catch," Twilight left the library with Spike following her from behind. As the two made their way through the village, a few ponies caught both Twilight's and Spike's attention for a few seconds. The two of them however, only slowed down into a trotting pace as their concern for the wedding was greater than their concern for the ponies in question. The ponies seemed to be extremely exhausted, or even frightened and traumatized over something for what Twilight and Spike could see. Was it because of a bad night or sleep?

Twilight had seen a few ponies sleepy throughout a day before, but she had never seen exactly THIS many ponies exhausted off of their tail because of one pitiful night. But despite her concern, now was not the time for her to focus on the health of those ponies as she herself needed to focus on her own mental health. Twilight strictly shook her head and continued galloping to the train station.

Reaching their destination, Twilight saw her friends standing on the station's wooden platform while having a conversation with each other and waiting for the very slow train to arrive.

"Hey girls! Here comes Twilight!" Pinkie shouted, grabbing the attention of the other mares.

"Yea yea, I bet you are all as excited as I am," Twilight smiled as she approached her friends, but her smile wasn't really as exciting compared to the others, especially Pinkie's. "You girls must've gotten an invitation from the princess too. Do you each know exactly what you'll be doing there?"

"Oh yeah! It's gonna be awesome!" Rainbow Dash confidently answered with a load of carefree energy. "I'm gonna make the most amazing sonic rainboom the princess asked for, and everypony including the Wonderbolts themselves will be drooling at the sight of my stuff!"

"My oh my, Twilight. You don't seem to be excited about this wedding at all. Whatever is the matter darling?" Rarity asked, only getting an annoyed expression from Twilight as an answer.

"Oh, I'm doing just fiiiinnneee, Rarity. It's not like a companion of mine who decided to wait the last minute to tell me today's the day he's getting married by some nopony is upsetting me right now. Nope, I am totally relaxed right now. And speaking of companions, do any of you girls see Spike? I swear he was right behind me when I found you girls," Twilight claimed, searching for where her young assistant dragon may have run off to.

"Uh, Twi? He's right behin' ya now," Applejack pointed a hoof, causing Twilight to turn to the one direction she didn't check, and saw her precious little dragon walking up from behind her. Although, his movement speed was more of an amble than a normal walk. And Twilight just noticed the utter exhaustion Spike was expressing passively through the drops of sweat running down his head.

All of the other five mares noticed it too, and they quickly became concerned for the poor dragon.

But Twilight was more focused on the criticism side than any personal care as she yelled, "Spike! You had me worried sick! Didn't I tell you to stay close to me at all times and not run off someplace else, even for a brief-"

Spike fell on the wooden floor before Twilight could finish, and the poor dragon lifted his head to speak. "Come on Twilight. You know I can only run so fast on two legs. Can you at least slow down for me when you're running off somewhere?" Everypony stared at Spike and giggled after realizing that the little dragon was alright and that he wasn't in much of a severe condition of injury. "Hey! It's not funny. You girls always get ahead of me because you can fly, teleport, and even walk perfectly on FOUR hooves instead of TWO pitiful small feet," Spike presented a small splinter on the bottom of his pitiful right foot to express his frustration, and the dragon hopped up and down to prevent his fall as he pulled out the splinter while standing on only his left foot without any pillar to lean on for support. "See what I mean?"

Spike flung the prickling piece of wood away before looking up at the six mares to spot any signs of pity written on their faces. Fluttershy was of course the best pony of the six to show any feeling of care through her face, but Spike was more interested in seeing Rarity's expression of care than any other pony. The dragon even attempted to put on his best 'cute dragon act' to hopefully earn the girls' hearts. But even though he put on his best act, the six mares didn't show any signs of giving away the dragon's wanted emotions as they rather looked at him funny as if he were overexaggerating. Which he was. And Applejack herself could tell as she turned out to be the only mare who presented a questionable face.

It wasn't too long until they could all hear the sound of a train whistle. All of the mares turned to the direction of the sound in joy and felt relieved that the tormenting wait was officially over. The attention Spike had earned for only a few moments ended up leaving him quickly, as they all boarded the train to Canterlot.

******

They each sat in a seat that was only capable of holding two ponies each, as the majority of them chatted like there wasn't a tomorrow at all. And as the minutes ticked by, their conversations eventually led to the events that they experienced just yesterday. The seven of them were even sure to be honest, knowing Applejack would smell a lie as if it were an explosion of toxic gas.

Pinkie Pie was the first to start, telling her friends that she had an exciting party, with loads of fresh cupcakes that were perfectly stacked in a pyramid that she quickly mowed down with her sweet shredding mouth.

The conversation then went to Rarity and Applejack who both had to deal with their differences again. Apparently, the rain from the previous storm bothered Rarity as she forgot to pack her umbrella that day. And Applejack was forced to pull her out from under a bench that Rarity decided to use as an alternate way to prevent her dress from getting wet. Only then did Applejack accidentally pull Rarity into a mud puddle, soaked and stained her favorite dress in the process, and the two had an underwhelming argument about whose fault it was before the storm was incinerated. But a single lesser argument such as that would never break up their friendship with one another.

Finally, there was Twilight Sparkle, the next pony who took hold of the conversation after the conductor of the train alerted them that they were getting close to their destination. She told them all about Lyra the other night; how she was being all crazy in the head about humans again, that the reckless unicorn even broke into the library to steal something that was believed to be related to the specific species she outrageously admired. Everypony in the train busted out in laughter after hearing Twilight's personal story.

"Ha! Classic Lyra. She's always so obsessed with those things. And to make things better, me and Fluttershy believe we saw a real one fighting against a pack of timberwolves!" Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves with a smile.

"Really? Ya sure ya ain't makin that all up? Where in the wide world of Equestria did ya see all that?" Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, just somewhere in the Everfree Forest. Right, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash faced Fluttershy expecting her to act nervously.

"Y-yes. We s-saw it after Angel told us. I-It was h-horrifying to see, but...the creature di-didn't seem to b-be enjoying it. He l-looked frightened! I-it was i-if he was lost in that f-forest, w-with...no wh-where else to go!" Fluttershy felt her own sweat run down her muzzle.

Twilight was already willing to ask the shy pegasus mare questions, but she held her mouth shut and pushed her thoughts aside once she and everypony else saw something pink pass right through them as the train came to a stop. When the conductor finally gave the announcement that it was time to depart the train, everypony packed their things with amazed solace as they got up from their seats and slowly exited the train.

Twilight and her friends were the last to depart, and when they did, they were immediately accompanied by multiple guards surrounding the area. It was pretty clear that the guards were there for security reasons, but it did fell a little over kill to have THAT many in one spot. And along with a whole pink magic barrier surrounding Canterlot, which Twilight easily recognized as her brother's magic, it became clear that her brother was already here to add icing on the excessively large cake of guards.

Twilight galloped past the guards in anger, while her friends looked at her worried.

Passing a couple of guards who both flinched at the angry unicorn plowing by, she continued to search for Shining Armor, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey um, do you know where Shining Armor is?" Twilight asked one of the guards patrolling the streets.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but Shining Armor is busy trying to catch the monster responsible for the Elements of Harmony's disappearance not too long ago." The guard pointed his spear towards what appeared to be holes on the castle wall, leading up all the way to the room containing the elements.

"A monster stole the Elements of Harmony?! What kind of monster?! Has Discord returned?!" Twilight asked.

"Please Miss. Calm yourself. We are unsure of the monster's origins, and we have yet to catch the monster. But I can assure you that it is not the Lord of Chaos you speak of. One of us was knocked out into a temporary daze by a single hit to the face from the monster. And they described the monster like a dragon, except scaleless, wingless, stronger, and intelligent. It is thought that the monster also has the ability to climb walls which is why you see parts of the castle walls ruined because of the monster's carelessness. And it is believed the monster is still here trying to find a way out." The guard directed Twilight to a shattered glass all the way to the top. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza said it jumped out of that window with the elements in its hands. But we sadly couldn't trace to where exactly the monster ran off to."

Twilight froze, "So, the monster really did get away with the Elements?!"

"I'm afraid so, Miss. We don't know what the monster's intentions are with the elements. But no matter what, the elements should never fall into the hooves of somepony else except for Celestia's. Now if you would excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to." The guard gave his last bit of respect before trotting past Twilight Sparkle, and into the castle. And Twilight was unfortunately still left unanswered about her brother's whereabouts.

******

*10 minutes later*

"Ugh! Could this day get any worse?!" Twilight dramatically questioned herself, taking out her list of preparations for the wedding as she continued to rant by herself. She knew it would only be a matter of time before her preparations were expected to be finished, but the sheer outrageous disappointment Twilight had against her brother for not directly speaking in advance about his plans for today made it difficult for her to even care about the wedding preparations in the first place.

But, somewhere in the unicorn's head, a part of her did not want to disappoint her mentor no matter cost. That is why Twilight made the decision to take a deep breath before focusing on the current task at hoof. All Twilight could remember from princess Celestia's requests, was that she needed to ensure everything was perfectly set up and prepared at its best. In other words, she needed to check on her friends to see how they were doing, and to check off the things they've done, and to mark off the things they didn't/forgot to do from the request checklist given to her in the letter.

Applejack was the first on the list and the closest in Twilight's area to her own convivence. Twilight was then able to quickly spot and follow the cobblestone path leading towards the bakery with an upset frown on her face. Today has already been rough for Twilight and even niggling as well. At this point, the poor lavender unicorn felt that if the day were to go any further downhill; she would literally explode.

Shining Armor, about to get married to Princess Mi Amore- whatever her name may be, without being told in person? And a monster roaming around Canterlot, keeping Shining Armor way too busy to even spend any time with her. The day surely was not playing nice on Twilight.

The path leading to the bakery felt too long for her, so she decided to take a shortcut instead, which was an open grass area that was surrounded by several cafes and several picnic tables. The area to her surprise, turned out to be completely guard free. Only a few ponies were there, enjoying their day as if they really had nothing to worry about at all.

Twilight easily grew jealous over the joyful smiles on those ponys' faces as she passed by. And with her focus being on those ponies, she was able to recognize one of them as Octavia, a musical leader in Ponyville, who appeared to be getting served a large beverage for only a bit. Octavia gave Twilight a friendly wave after noticing Twilight passing by. Twilight did the same and carried on.

*💣✋💣✋👍*

Surprisingly, Twilight felt better about herself after receiving and giving a friendly interaction with some pony she barely even spoke to. And a warm smile formed on Twilight's face after a single lightbulb lit up in her head.

'Maybe it's just a little friendship that I need to give away to brighten this day. Yea, that's it! I just need to reach Applejack and- WAHH!'

"S-sorry, I...didn't see you there," Sweetie Drops offered a helping hoof along with her apology to Twilight.

It took Twilight a few seconds to come to her full sense as she shook off the dizziness before she knew exactly what happened. "No worries. I didn't see you either. I guess my mind was not in a good place since I've been thinking about how bad this day could be," Twilight took Sweetie Drop's hoof and accepted the apology after being helped back up. Then, putting a hoof under her chin, Twilight thought about whether she should abandon her tasks for the wedding just so she could spend all the time getting back the dark fluid. She thought about 'Lyra's dealer' who was said to have bought the dark fluid from Lyra's hooves through bits, but there was not enough proof for Twilight to believe that such a thing had happened.

Sweetie drops noticed Twilight was once again in her own head, and she made an awkward smile and started to walk away until Twilight decided to ask, "Say, Bon Bon, have you seen your friend, Lyra, anywhere? I'd like to speak to her again."

Sweetie Drops paused and took a deep breath. "Yes. She's out on the streets asking every pony to try out that dark potion that she prefers to mention as...soda or something. Pretty strange, huh?"

"Yea, if there's anything I can agree with almost everypony who knows Lyra, it's that she's weird. Period!" Twilight pointed out, with bias in her tone. "Wait...did you just say she's asking ponies to take a sip out of that...that...!"

A nod from Sweetie Drops was all Twilight needed to comprehend.

"HA! HA! I knew it! I knew there wasn't a dealer! I knew Lyra was keeping that potion all to herself all along!"

Sweetie Drops didn't say anything in response about the current subject. The mare's eyes simply wandered off for a moment as a part of her partially agreed, while another part of her did not.

Instead of getting the response Twilight expected, Sweetie Drops opened up with another random apology out of nowhere. "Hey, Twilight, I just wanted to let you know that I apologize for sort of defending Lyra; I was only doing what friends are supposed to do. These humans Lyra keeps mentioning every day is driving me nuts! Not only does it make her look bad, but it also makes me look bad!"

"It's alright Lyra, helping your friends in need is a good thing. But there are times where you have to say no, even if it means losing a friend that may not even be who you really think they are." Twilight wrapped her hoof around Bon Bon's neck. "Look, if you really wanna get good friends, I suggest getting rid of the bad ones first. Do you know if the potion has affected any pony yet?"

"Well, no I don't think so. Almost everypony who Lyra offered the potion to immediately rejected it with no questions asked. I'd be surprised if anypony would be crazy enough to even be a part of Lyra's experiment. Oh, but don't tell her I said that! She's my only friend. And if I lose her..."

"Hey, no worries. I can be your friend if you'd like!" Twilight offered.

Bon Bon's face turned from regretful to grateful. "Really?! Thanks Twilight!" Sweetie Drops dug into her saddlebag to grab a very unique book. "Here, I've been planning on giving this away to a friend. Lyra wrote this book for me many years ago. I got to say it wasn't all bad for a book about a human."

"Huh? She wrote an entire book on just one human?" Twilight grabbed the book with her magic and studied the cover. "My Little Dream Becomes Reality?" The cover was a simple drawing, plain green hills, a beautiful sky with clouds, and a familiar bottle sitting right next to what looked to be a young alicorn with the look of concern. "What's this book all about? And what's with the weird monster like thing hiding in the darkness above?"

"Oh, the book is just about some fictional prophecy Lyra made up. She thinks a great evil will be unleashed upon Equestria, and a human will show up to save the day. In the end, the human sacrifices his own humanity to defeat the evil monster. And is cursed to live forever in Equestria as a pony, only because he cared for us all. Pretty good story if you ask me. Now if I may, I must attend a little event that needs me on the other side of Canterlot," Sweetie Drops instantly galloped away from Twilight in such a sudden hurry.

*☜☠👎 👍⚐💣💣🕆☠✋👍✌❄✋⚐☠*

"Hey! Wait just a- huh?" Twilight turned to the direction where Bon Bon ran off, but she was nowhere in sight. With confusion entering Twilight's head, the unicorn observed the book given to her. She started flipping through the pages, seeing that the book was not even finished.

She shrugged, sighed, closed the book before adding it to her saddle bag, and carried on.

******

Twilight continued down the guard free path while carrying the strange book in her saddle. The search for Lyra began, but she was worried she would miss out on organizing everything with her friends.

'Oh, sweet Celestia. What am I supposed to do? I have so many things pilled on my hooves right now! And it's not like I can do them all at once!'

Twilight's anxiety level had clearly shot through the roof, and she was at a loss on what she could possibly do to solve her dilemma. She didn't want to upset Celestia by avoiding her expectations, but the poor unicorn mare also didn't want to be held part of Lyra's ridiculous act in sampling teaspoons of a dark magical potion for the sake of proving the existence of a species.

"Oh boy. I can see the light is at the end of tunnel. We can finally get the heck out of here!"

Twilight stopped and put her focus on the echoing voice. Her nervousness no longer on her tasks for the day, she nervously and curiously trotted towards the voice which led her to a cave in the middle of an abandoned area in Canterlot that tunneled underground.

Twilight, starting to get so focused at the task at hoof, kept on walking closer and closer, but stopped when she heard hoof steps coming from the cave. She stood there for several seconds, curious as to why somepony would be down there.

A tall, light pink alicorn rushed out of the cave, panting. Twilight was very fast to gasp appropriately with a wide-open smile. "Cadance! Is that you?!"

"Twilight!" Cadance welcomed Twilight with open arms.

Twilight's misery fell right off at the sight of the best foal sitter in all of the history of foal sitters.

"Sunshine sunshine lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadance and Twilight both sang their favorite silly little song ever since they were fillies. And when the sudden graceful memories flooded back in Twilight's head; she felt like she was in paradise for a brief moment.

Unfortunately for Twilight, her beautiful moment came to an end when she saw a tall figure standing behind Cadance. The figure in question was utterly unrecognizable, and without a word, Twilight backed away in both bewilderment and fear.

Cadance eyed the figure and turned back to Twilight with a smile and a bit of an eyeroll for Twilight's ridiculous panic. "Don't worry, he's harmless. He's the one who helped me escape from the cave underneath Canterlot."

"Escape? You were imprisoned?!" Twilight asked.

Cadance let out a sigh. "There's no time to explain. My doppelganger is going to ruin everything if we don't stop her now." Cadance turned to face Sam, begging him for his assistance. Sam didn't say a word but stared up from above. Twilight and Cadance stared in the same direction to see Cadance/Chrysalis flying in the air with several guards by her side, including Shining Armor.

"Those little twerps are the targets! Seize that imposter!" ordered Cadance/Chrysalis before she presented an unnerving smile and shot something green into the air from her horn. The green blast exploded in mid-air like a firework and Sam quickly figured that things were about to go all ham.

"Alright, it was good to see you guys, but I'm out of here!" Sam took off running, leaving Cadance and Twilight to fend for themselves as the guards charged at them with no hesitation, believing they were going to catch the impostor as they were told, but they didn't realize that they were doing the complete opposite.

Sam kept running expecting to see more guards, but none came. Although, when he got to the areas of Canterlot more out in the open, he realized what was keeping the guards. Apparently, most of the entire Canterlot army from what Sam could tell were putting their attention and energy on the hundreds if not thousands of flying pony bugs on the outside of the pink magic shield.

What the? Chrysalis already gave the order for her minions to attack already? Shoot. If I knew she was gonna do that today, I would've took off as soon as it started! Sam looked around at the barrier surrounding Canterlot, to see the changelings aggressively banging their entire bodies onto every part of the shield.

Truthfully, Sam didn't know exactly why Chrysalis placed in the order so early. All he knew was that the attack only occurred during the actual day of the wedding, when Chrysalis herself was exposed. Sam could at least assume that the invasion was scheduled early due to his actions having a potential change in events.

The first thought that came to mind in the current situation was bad luck, but he figured it could be used as a great opportunity to escape, since the changelings were banging themselves hard on the barrier, which will definitely cause the barrier to shatter, allowing Sam to have a chance to escape. And since Chrysalis didn't have as much time to weaken Shining armor, it should take the changelings a while to break through, allowing Sam to prepare his stealthy exit.

"Don't let the monster escape with the elements!" Shining Armor shouted, alerting his fellow comrades.

Ah crap...so much for stealth

Sam acknowledged a few guards beginning to chase after him as fast as they could. Being the scaredy cat that Sam knew he was, he ran off, hoping they would leave him be if he chose to not fight back at all.

The boy once again knew he couldn't outrun a creature on all fours. Figuring that the guards weren't going to stop, knowing that he still had the Elements of Harmony in his traveling bag, Sam believed there was no other way but to fight his way out of this.

Once he got close enough to the barrier, he turned to face them. One guard pointed his spear and stabbed him in the chest. The guard felt what seemed to be a brick hitting him on the side of the head as Sam punched him with his hardened fist in retaliation. And with that, the fight had begun.

Two pegasi guards flied at Sam from both sides. To Sam's luck, he was quick, and he managed to punch the one on his right and blocked the one on the left by turning his left arm into a dark shield and smashed the other pegasi guard into the ground. Then, there were four more guards, one of them being Shining Armor.

"Hand over the elements now! We will hesitate to put you down, beast!" Shining Armor put up a magic barrier around himself as Sam picked up one of the unconscious pegasi guards and threw the guard directly at his opponents, knocking down all of Shining Armor's help as if they were bowling pins.

"Come on man. Can't we talk this out. The elements are needed for my quest to save this world. So, unless you want everypony to die, I think you should let me go. And I know you can be a little overprotective, Shining Armor," Sam grabbed the spear in his chest and pulled it out, allowing his body to heal the wound on its own.

"How do you expect me to believe that? And how do you even know my name, monster?" Shining Armor took a step forward while keeping his guard up.

"Oh, come on. Can't you see the real threat here? It's literally all around us right now," Sam gestured to the changelings who were EXTREMELY close to breaking Shining Armor's spell. "Chasing after me is only distracting you," Sam claimed, turning his right arm into the same sledgehammer used to destroy the door containing the elements.

"Princess Celestia and Luna will protect us all. And the elements can stop any threat that comes our way. You will pay for not only stealing artifacts crucial to everypony's survival, but also for scaring my future wife to death." Shining Armor pulled out a sword with his magic ready for a fight. Sam, with a pump of adrenaline, swung his hammer attempting to hit Shining Armor out cold as the stallion charged forth. A strange pinkish barrier came out of nowhere and surrounded the stallion as Sam's sledgehammer failed to reach the target, hitting only the barrier.

Sam felt a sting come from his entire left arm. He looked to see his left arm sliced off by Shining Armor's thick sword. In fear for his life, Sam jumped back, giving time for his arm to regenerate the damage.

Seeing the amount struggle Sam was having, the stallion couldn't help but to take a moment but to swing his sword around in the air with a smug grin on his face. The outcome for this fight became very clear. Sam was not about to win this unless he were to find some way around that stunt the stallion pulled.

Because suffering exists for a few beings to endure, the fight continued with Sam's entire body being sliced and diced. All of Sam's attacks were failing to bash through the barrier. And the more Sam regenerated. The more dizzy and tired he felt.

Darn, I'm using way too much of my energy on regeneration. I need to find a solution and fast.

Sam threw a spear from one of the guards laying on the ground. As Sam predicted, the spear had no effect. Then, something caught his eye. The sword Shining Armor carried, passed right through the barrier as the stallion swung it around in confidence. Sam couldn't help but smile as a genius idea came up in his head.

"Ya know what? I guess...I deserve this..." Sam got on his knees and cried out for mercy.

"Aw, isn't that sweet. Are you giving up, monster?" Shining Armor asked, not getting a response. And after a minute the stallion threw his personal thick sword at Sam, expecting it to be the finishing blow to any other monster in Equestria's history.

But just in the nick of time, Sam lifted his head and caught the thick sword in his hands. It sure did burn like a raging fire on his hands to stop that amount of force, but at least he prevented any major damage.

"It's over!" Sam yelled, taking the sword for himself.

While he felt like he had zero energy to spare, he stood back up on his feet regardless and charged at the cocky stallion. Shining Armor rolled his eyes, believing the monster had become desperate.

"Monsters always lose because they fail to understand that brute force is not exactly what it takes too-URGH!"

Before the stallion knew it, an immense pain came from his chest as he was knocked onto the dirt. Shining Armor opened his eyes to see his sword stolen by the monster, covered in blood. Shining Armor's chest plate, stronger than the average armor was shattered into pieces. Shining Armor even looked at his chest in horror to see a huge cut has been made. Apparently, Sam figured out that Shining Armor's own sword had no correlation with his own barrier spell unlike everything else.

"You...monsters...won't...get away...w-with.......t-this.........." Shining Armor's eyes closed by themselves slowly until not a single breath could be heard.

The winner dropped the sword filled with regret. Did he just...kill some pony out of instinct? It was never in Sam's nature to take away one's life. Was he a monster now?

*Killed Shining Armor; 450pp earned.*

"ARGH!" Sam felt as if the sun had touched his back as he was shot by something many times hotter than fire. He got back on his feet and touched his back only to wince in pain. Turning around to confront the pony or thing responsible, he spotted a tall white mare standing in front of him. Her mane sparkled and flowed endlessly. And a golden tiara sat on top of her head.

"Princess Celestia..." Sam looked at her with both comfort and fear. He knew he was in a heap of trouble just by examining the princess's face. Celestia would always make an effort to smile throughout the entire day. And Sam wanted to return the favor by also choosing to make an effort to smile even though expressing positive emotions wasn't his strong suit. Then, he lifted his arms into the air as if a cop told him that he was under arrest.

Celestia only stared at him with anger and frustration until she spoke up. "Please. Return the Elements of Harmony. If you comply, your punishment will be reduced."

"Woah, woah, wait. Before I do. I've got a question for ya," Sam's smile grew until he started letting out a chuckle.

"And that would be?" Celestia said.

"Has anypony in the wide world of Equestria ever called you...good looking?" Sam felt proud of himself for showing all that honesty. It's always good to tell the truth(not really). Celestia blushed and her eyes widened. She shook her head and gritted her teeth. Sam's smile faded away because it was at this moment that he knew...he messed up.

Celestia's horn glowed along with a flame surrounding it. Flames as hot as the sun erupted from her horn, burning Sam nonstop. "AAAAAH! GOD!" Sam moved and jumped around to avoid the flames of rage and hatred only to fail. The heat Sam felt was like burning your finger on a lit candle except having your entire body burned to crisp. "OKAY! OKAY! I TAKE IT BACK! AAAAAH!"

Celestia took a deep breath and let it out to calm herself. The flames around the monster cleared leaving only a skinless, black goo skeleton that fell to the ground along with the traveling bag containing the elements. Somehow, the bag was completely fine, untouched by the barrage of flames Celestia sent. Did the elements have a mind of their own to protect themselves from incoming attacks?

Celestia checked both Shining Armor and the monster, to see if they were still alive. Shining Armor was still breathing but barely. If the stallion were to stay laying there any longer without any treatment, there is no doubt in Celestia's mind that Twilight would be the one to bury him. As for the monster, he appeared to be dead. No pulse, breathing, or movement. But Celestia didn't fully disregard the corpse, as she wanted further study on the creature more. It was nothing anypony has ever seen.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of something big shattering into a million pieces around her. Shining Armor's spell protecting all of Canterlot was now broken. Everypony including Celestia herself, were too focused on the elements and the monster, that they have forgotten all about the changelings chipping away at the barrier.

Everypony screamed and galloped in panic as the changelings dived into Canterlot. Many of the bug ponies smashed into the ground and hissed at the ponies. To make things worse, all of the guards did a poor job at defending, most were captured and stuck in some green, liquid, gooey stuff. While the rest managed to fight a few off but retreated when hundreds more came.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show their face." Cadance/Chrysalis said from behind Celestia's back and smiled. A short burst of green flames surrounded Cadance/Chrysalis revealing her true self, Queen Chrysalis. The alicorn became speechless as to what was going on, and Chrysalis took the opportunity to shoot the princess in the chest while the distraction of her subject's cries got to the alicorn.

Celestia got back up and desperately tried to grab the Elements of Harmony from the bag next to the possibly dead monster. But before she could, Chrysalis stood in the way and ordered a few changelings to guard the monster alongside her. "Nah ah ah. The elements now belong to him. I made a deal to be sure of that," Chrysalis's horn glowed, ready to blast the princess in the face. Celestia thought about fighting back, but realized she stood no chance against a whole army.

With the feeling of powerlessness kicking in, the princess of the sun teleported away before she took any more unnecessary damage. All of Canterlot's defenses were now gone. Celestia failed, all of the guards along with Cadance have been captured, Shining Armor was out cold, the elements were still in Sam's possession, and Luna was too busy dealing with a particular demon.

"Aw, I was hoping for a fair fight," Chrysalis looked down in disappointment.

"Should we search for her your highness?" One of the changelings asked.

"Hmph. It matters not. Canterlot is now ours. And the elements are in our hooves." Chrysalis looked at the creature and sensed life. "I will take care of the creature. Do what you want with the worthless stallion."

*The Dream Realm*

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh, this is all just too pleasing!" Nightmare laughed. "It certainly would have been much more entertaining if I were there to watch your humiliating defeat. Ha! Ha!"

"Why don't you just shut up and stop cackling in my face," Sam retorted with a reasonable glare.

"Oooh! Irritated now, aren't you? Well, that's all beneficial to me. Afterall, the less confident you are, and the more negative you are about things, will only give me the upper hand."

"..."

"Though, it seems you won't be staying here for long. I can sense your life returning. You'll be awake soon enough. And I will make sure to make you suffer when we meet outside of this realm."