My Little Dream Becomes Reality

*Canterlot*

"Leave me Twilight! I'm far too weak to escape!" Cadance shouted after she helplessly fell flat on the ground from a strange projectile. The guards were charging forth in an attempt to capture both Cadance and Twilight due to Cadance/Chrysalis's trickery. But before they could, Cadance managed to point her hoof in the direction where the creature had fled for Twilight's sake, believing Twilight would find safety following the creature's footsteps. But Twilight wasn't finding the idea to be easily agreeable.

"I-I can't just leave you here!" Twilight didn't want to just abandon her greatest foal sitter and regret not helping when there was room for aid.

"I'll be fine! Save yourself! I believe I will only slow you down!"

Twilight had to make a choice fast, and she chose to leave Cadance upon seeing a few guards merely several hoofsteps away from them. At this point, helping Cadance get away without failure was hopeless for Twilight.

"O-Okay," Twilight nervously agreed, and galloped into the dark alleyway where the human creature took off. She took a moment to turn her head and watch the guards pile on top on Cadance before dragging her away. "I'll come back for you!"

Twilight didn't get a response back. She shook her head as she kept galloping and galloping while making as many turns through the alleyway as possible to avoid getting caught. Many thoughts ran through her head with no end. Most of them being thoughts of how worse the day was getting. There were two Cadances, one of them being evil, and an unknown creature stealing Equestria's strongest defense. Not even the Lord of Chaos, Discord, could withstand its power. Just what does the creature want with the Elements? Power and control?

Her consistent galloping went on for a while, as Twilight did not want to risk getting caught by any Canterlot patrol members. Now, while her running pace was getting her pretty far away, Twilight was beginning to run out of breath from the intensity she was putting on her body. But despite her gradual exhaustion, she smiled at the sight of an exit out of the alley way.

Through relief, she jumped out of the alleyway and instantly spotted the bakery right in front of her. The bakery was pretty big which made her think it would be a good place to hide in. Although there were possibly a few ponies in there that could possibly give her away for a handsome reward if the guards were actually searching for her. But Twilight didn't know that for sure.

The doors to the bakery opened, getting the attention of a few mares including Applejack. "Twilight! I'm so glad ya decided to show up. I've been meaning to have ya try our delicious food. I even finished carvin' the ice sculpture," Applejack took something in her hoof and shoved it in Twilight's mouth.

Twilight was shocked at first while also finding Applejack's unexpected action unpleasant, but Twilight only remained silent in surprise as to just how tasty the food that was just shoved in her mouth turned out to be. "Wow! A job well done Applejack."

"Oh shucks, ya givin' me too much credit," Applejack replied.

Twilight smiled nervously. "Eh heh. Say, Applejack, you wouldn't happen to have someplace to hide around here, do you?"

"Uh. Yea I think so. Why do ya ask?" Applejack became a little confused for a seemingly strange question, though Twilight knew Applejack had no suspension on her just by looking at how joyful the orange country pony's mood was.

"Well, I don't know how to exactly explain it. You see-," Twilight was cut off by the sound of a loud bang coming from outside. Every mare in the room ignored it until the same sound came again multiple times.

"What in tarnation is goin' on out there?" Applejack and every pony else walked out into the open. And each and every one of their eyes were widened in shock, to witness a sudden appearance of hundreds of pony sized bugs surrounding Canterlot in an unfriendly manner. While the bugs were not able fly into city right away because of the pink forcefield bubble, many of them were currently inflicting damage to Shining Armor's spell, attempting to break in through both brute force and magical attack power.

Twilight sighed in both great annoyance and worry. "This day just keeps getting worse and worse. Worrying about one monster I still don't know about was hard enough, now we have hundreds more to worry about!"

Applejack and the other mares stared at the changeling horrid without giving Twilight much regard at the moment.

Twilight then thought to herself whether she should let Princess Celestia handle this herself or reunite her friends along with the elements.

Reuniting her friends would take a while, and who knows where the mysterious monster could have gone with the elements. Then again, Twilight is being hunted by the guards patrolling Canterlot, all thanks to an evil version of Cadance.

If Twilight were to help in this situation, Cadance/Chrysalis wouldn't be able to convince Princess Celestia to put her in the dungeon or something over betrayal.

"Okay Applejack, things are starting to get dangerous around here. We need to find the rest of our friends and retrieve the Elements or Harmony to stop these bugs. I'll search for Pinkie and Rarity in the castle. You search for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. We will meet back at the castle courtyard. Got it?"

"Yeah, I sure did. I just hope ya know whacha doin' Twi." Applejack obeyed and galloped off at a much faster speed through the benefit of being an Earth Pony. "Good luck sugar cube!" she wished, as she left Twilight to fulfill the task the unicorn had set for herself.

******

Twilight ran into the castle avoiding any interaction with the guards as much as possible. The majority of the castle guards thankfully ignored her and only a few of them looked at her with a bit of suspicion, but, nonetheless, all of the guards did leave her be. None of them did seem to really care about some prancing unicorn who appeared defenseless.

Once again it was going to take a great amount of Twilight's time and energy to locate two of her friends through the will to gallop constantly from place to place. It was as if she was trying to find the exit of the alley way all over again. Although, instead of jumping out of a dark alley way to end the suffering, Twilight found herself galloping up a set of stairs that led to the party room of the castle. There, in the party room, is where Twilight found the one and only Pinkie Pie, who appeared to be distracted on a task.

Twilight's vision was a near blur due to her second exhaustion of the day, but she swore she saw Pinkie Pie shaping the balloons into shapes similar to animals or happy faces.

"Hey Twilight! You have got to try this!" Pinkie Pie grabbed and pulled Twilight towards one of the tables with balloons. The table was fine and well built, but what wasn't fine, was the familiar bottle that stood on the table. A quarter of the dark fluid filling the bottle was now gone.

Twilight was still breathing both rapidly and heavily from her previous gallop, but she was able to regain her mind and reacted with a dramatic gasp at the sight Pinkie presented to her. Although, she was also relieved that she had found the thing Lyra stole which could have gotten Twilight in trouble in some way.

"Pinkie! Don't tell me you just drank out of it without evening acknowledging the negative effects!" Twilight observed Pinkie Pie's entire body. To Twilight's surprise, Pinkie Pie seemed perfectly fine. She appeared to be the same goofy pink pony Twilight could remember. "You're not sick, are you? And how did you take it from...whoever?"

"Take? Oh, you silly filly. Lyra gave it to me! And you know what? It wasn't just sweet and tasty. It was AMAZING!" Pinkie bounced around Twilight in excitement. "Not only does it satisfy your tongue like chocolate rain, but it can also give you possibly forbidden information no pony is supposed to even know! Like, did you know all of Equestria with every pony in it, isn't even real! That we are merely made of imagination, not flesh and bone! This entire world is a dream, not for us, but for the human, or rather the monster who came here to steal the elements!" Pinkie took a deep breath and let it out.

"Wow...that is a lot to take in right there. But to be honest Pinkie, I don't think you should leave it out on the table for some pony to dri-," Twilight was cut off as Pinkie Pie shoved the bottle into Twilight's mouth forcing her to drink it. The unicorn then grew irritated as a result and levitated the bottle out of her mouth with her magic. "Pinkie! What is wrong with you!? Why are you talking about your personal theories of existen-uh, huah..." Twilight began to feel dizzy, and after a few seconds her eyes glowed and changed color. Her entire right eye turned completely white, while her entire left eye turned completely black. The next thing she knew, was a black void surrounding her.

******

"Pinkie? Where did you go? This isn't funny!"

Twilight couldn't feel anything. It felt like the entire world didn't exist anymore. There was nothing but darkness. Then, a white flash hit her in the eyes. When it cleared, she found herself in a cave with six other ponies. One of those ponies seemed all too familiar to her.

Looking at the familiar pony closely, it was a unicorn with a wizard hat and a long beard. Twilight stood there overjoyed to see the one and only Star Swirl the Bearded.

"Star Swirl?!" Twilight didn't get an answer even though she was only a few inches away from the legendary unicorn wizard. "Uhhhh? Hello? Star Swirl?"

This was Twilight's dream. The greatest unicorn wizard in all of Equestria was standing right in front of her. Was this really her moment? Well, she couldn't exactly tell. And she was beginning to think this was all just a dream or something.

All Twilight could really do, was watch as the unicorn she always looked up to pull out a shiny glowing seed. When the seed was presented in everyponys' view, including Twilight's, Star Swirl planted it into the ground. "This seed will protect Equestria in our absence. It will grow into a powerful being of pure magic. No evil will ever set foot in Equestria at the sight of its power!"

"Um, Star Swirl, have you ever thought of giving it a name? I mean, if it's going to replace us permanently, it deserves a name, does it not?" one of the ponies asked.

"Hmmm. It shall be known as...Harmony. The spirit of order. Now no time to lose. It is time to put an end to the Pony of Shadow's rampage," the unicorn wizard casted a teleportation spell, and in a blink of an eye the six ponies were gone, leaving only Twilight in the cave.

She didn't know what was going on. She remembered being in Canterlot trying to assemble her friends, but then she randomly ends up here. And before Twilight could think of leaving, she heard a strange voice whisper her name into her ear. "Twilight."

"H-huh?" Twilight looked down to see the small seed glowing from inside of the soil underneath.

"Castleofthetwosisters. Findmethere. Thisworldwillfall without you,yourfriends, andhim," the strange voice warned.

"Wait. Just who are you?" Twilight asked.

"IamknownasthespiritofHarmony. ItismyjobtoprotectandkeepEquestriaatpeace. Iamheretoaskforyourhelp. Yourfriendshipwillbethekeytodefeatingthemonster thatthreatens Equestria'sentireexistence. Findme." Harmony's voice became quieter until no sound could be heard. The cave was then consumed into utter darkness.

"Hey wait! I have so many questions!" Twilight once again didn't get an answer, only silence. After several seconds had passed, the darkness cleared.

Twilight found herself no longer in the cave, but in a grassy meadow. She aimlessly trotted around for a few minutes and stopped after she saw Ponyville in the distance.

'First, I was in Canterlot, then a cave, and now I'm near Ponyville. Is this all a joke?' As Twilight got closer to her hometown, the bright blue sky started to slowly turn purple and black the closer she got. When she finally reached Ponyville, it was all but empty, except for six mares and a two-legged creature.

Twilight looked at them in great confusion. The six mares standing in front of her were an exact replica of her friends. Twilight thought she had gone crazy. She was seeing herself. The only thing different between Twilight and her copy was that her copy had wings instead of a horn only. And the two-legged creature was the very same creature that saved the real Cadance from the caverns beneath Canterlot, only this time it looked stronger than ever, and it carried a unique gigantic sword.

Along with the creature's enhancements, Twilight could also see the Elements of Harmony contained within the creature's gauntlet. And Twilight couldn't help but wonder if this human creature thing was exactly the monster who was said to have stolen the Elements of Harmony.

They all stood there with a serious expression on their faces. Twilight wondered what they were readying themselves for, until a strange darkness came out of nowhere.

"This is the end of the line for you, Mr. Samuel," a creepy voice said out of the darkness.

"Nah, I think you got it all backwards, Nightmare," Sam leapt towards the demon hiding in the darkness and slashed it with his bright sword. The sword's brightness caused Twilight's eyes to melt like marshmallows, and the damage it caused made a loud explosion enough to wake Twilight up from her...dream?

******

"Hey. Are you alright sugar cube?" Applejack tapped a hoof on Twilight's head.

"W-What. What happened?" Twilight sat up in her comfortable bed again. She was back at her library with her friends grouped together.

"Well, after you drank out of that thing called 'Coke' or whatever you eggheads call it during the Canterlot invasion, you fell asleep for so many hours! And Pinkie Pie had to drag you all the way back to Ponyville. None of us could wake you up. I even grabbed a bucket of water and splashed it all over you," Rainbow Dash smirked.

"Wait. What exactly happened to Canterlot while I was out?" Twilight asked in concern.

"Huh. Where do I start Twilight? I hanged out with the very beautiful Rarity, then suddenly the changelings invaded all of Canterlot. Every pony panicked until Princess Celestia gave out orders to retreat to Ponyville. Hundreds of guards are now surrounding our peaceful village. And Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, is feeding on the love of all the ponies that failed to escape, or she is enslaving them. Oh, and you just abandoned me when you were searching for your brother!" Spike gave Twilight a stern look, expecting an apology.

"Sorry Spike. I was just so upset with Shining Armor that I had forgotten my number one assistant," Twilight gave Spike a hug before she turned to look Pinkie right in the eye. "Pinkie Pie. What have you done with the Coke bottle? I need it back, now."

"Wait! You wanted it back?! But! But! I thought you would've wanted me to- ughhhh! I'm so sorry, Twilly! But... I just did the thing I thought you'd do!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with honesty.

"What do you mean do what I would do?" Twilight inquired.

Pinkie's voice changed into the sound of a nerd. "Hand it over to the princess for her to study," she switched her voice back to normal in an instant. "Isn't that what you would have want after experiencing the effects?!"

Twilight's jaw dropped to the floor. "You did what?!"

"Well duh! What else would the Great and Magical Twilight do," Pinkie Pie snorted over her own unexpected joke that flew out of her mouth.

"Pinkie! This isn't a joke! Do you have any idea how much trouble you've gotten us into?! If Celestia finds out that we've been playing with dark magic, we'll all be punished severely!"

"Twilight, my dear, calm your nerves. It probably has nothing to do with dark magic. You and Pinkie have already tasted it, and you all seem fine to me." Rarity put her hoof around Twilight to comfort her. "Besides, we should all get some rest. Princess Luna needs our help anyways."

"Princess...Luna? What do you mean she needs help? Help with what?!" Twilight's anxiety levels were beginning to clearly fire up.

"W-we have to fight against that...thing, in our dreams." Fluttershy shivered in fear.

"Relax Fluttershy. Every pony is going to be there to teach that monster a lesson, especially me," Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves together repeatedly. "It caught me off guard last night, and I'll make sure it pays for messing with the wrong pony!"

"Monster? What monster?" Twilight then remembered what Princess Luna had said to her last night in the dream world. 'A great darkness had been unleashed into her realm.'

"There's some kind of dream demon turning our dreams into nightmares, and we need to stop it ASAP. Once every pony falls asleep, we will be ready for whatever it throws at us. Now, all of you, let's get in bed. I want to be included in this fight. I might even impress the wonder bolts with my fancy fighting techniques!" Rainbow Dash pulled out a few sleeping bags to sleep in, since Twilight's bed was not big enough to fit all of the seven friends combined.

*Princess Luna's Room*

*After Celestia's Previous Retreat*

Celestia teleported into Luna's room and woke her up immediately. The princess of the night was quick to react with a great outburst of rage, believing some random pony was daring enough to disturb her sleep during her hunt for the dream demon. She even began shouting aimlessly with her royal Canterlot voice as she tried to find her undesired waker. Even a charging blast of magic from Luna's horn was enough to show how much she hated being interrupted in her sleep.

But, when the princess of the night realized it was the responsibility from her older sister, her mood softened. Although Luna was still absurdly confused as to why she was alarmed out of bed. Of course, Celestia would always explain everything quickly in both a reasonable and fashionable manner. Usually, at least.

"There is no time to waste sister. We must abandon Canterlot and save as many of our subjects as possible before they all become love sources for the changelings," Celestia teleported both herself and Luna out of the room before Luna could say a word. The two sisters were placed in front of the last remaining guards left to defend after the teleportation spell.

"All of you. Save everypony you so happen to come across and transport them all to the village known as Ponyville. We must make a full-fledged retreat," Celestia commanded while noticing a few guards appearing nervous over her requests. "Am I understood?

"Yes ma'am," the guards all bowed in unison along with their response. And they all made the decision to split into three groups with each group heading in a different direction to fulfill Celestia's orders. Once the Princesses were left alone, Luna started to shout at her older sister but refrained from going as far as to using her Canterlot voice.

"Sister! Why must you disturb my sleep! Do you know it takes so much of power and energy to fend off the awakened darkness in my realm of dreams?!" Luna let out a huff.

"My apologies, dear sister. I do, however, have a very good reason for doing so. As you may not have noticed, the changelings have invaded Canterlot and have succeeded in taking it into their own hooves. Leaving you there would only result in you too falling into their custody."

Luna calmed herself after hearing those words and chuckled. "You just wouldn't stand to live without me. I'm assuming you also require my assistance."

Celestia smiled and put a hoof under Luna's chin. "I do."

Luna blushed and looked away and asked her older sister a question, "who are these 'changelings' you speak of sister? Are they really that much of a threat to us?"

A rare frown formed on Celestia's face before she responded. "As much as I despise to say it, yes. They shattered away at much of our defenses without much struggle, and I sensed their queen's magic to be slightly more or less at my level. It would have been foolish of me to battle both the queen and her army alone."

The two sisters then teleported themselves to Ponyville after Celestia made Luna understand the current crisis at hoof. And they waited very patiently for any escorting troops to hopefully arrive with any survivors.

Instantly, several residents of Ponyville spotted the two sister princesses not too far away, and they all didn't hesitate to gather around the two alicorns. Eventually, the number of ponies surrounding the sisters formed into a crowd. Luna was easy to become overwhelmed over such an attention span, but Celestia on the other hoof did what she always did best: 'smiling and waving at everypony.'

******

Hours and hours passed until Celestia and Luna spotted the guards escorting several other survivors to the village entrance.

Six of those ponies who were brought back to safety were of course the six special friends that wielded the Elements of Harmony, and the baby dragon of course.

When the guards reached princess Celestia to report the results of their mission, they all bowed as they waited for Celestia's permission to speak up.

"Well, I'm very proud of you all. You managed to bring back a total of twenty ponies back to this village. Did you all so happen to have any luck in retrieving the elements?" Celestia only stood there with a normal smile, waiting for the news.

"Our apologies your highness, but the queen of the changelings has already secured the elements. But a few of us had the chance to spy on the queen. And from what we saw, she appears to be reviving the monster that you had defeated right before the invasion started. We have no idea what her plans are for Equestria right at the moment, but we can guess that the queen is up to no good. And this is hard to say but, Shining Armor, is...dead your highness." After the guard had finished, Celestia's smiled faded and was replaced with a neutral expression.

"I see. You will now have new orders. Gather every pony in the village and take them all into the town hall. Me and my sister have many things to discuss." Celestia requested again, flying away from the public as soon as their present business was taken care of.

******

*Town Hall*

Pinkie Pie was the first to enter the town hall, carrying an unconscious Twilight on her back and a strange bottle in her mouth. She gave the Coke bottle to Celestia and explained what happened to Twilight after she drank it. Pinkie then asked if she could skip the meeting and stay in Twilight's home to look after her. Celestia nodded and Pinkie left in an instant, leaving her friends behind.

Once almost all of Ponyville came into the town hall, they all stared at Luna. Already, Luna knew exactly why so many eyes were on her.

"Please, princess! Protect us from that demon!" one of the ponies begged. "Why have you not done so?!"

"Yea. What kind of princess walks around the night and fails to care for her own subjects first? No wonder you turned into that monstrosity, Nightmare Moon," the pony earned a slap on the muzzle from one of Princess Luna's nightguards.

"Please! I need you all to remain calm. I am trying to handle the issue as best I can," Luna looked unsure of herself. Her last fight against the dream demon turned out to be a draw. Casting a spell to pull every pony into one dream to fight against the demon might result in a different outcome, but Luna didn't want any of them to get involved. Fighting the demon alone again, however, has a risk of her failing to protect every pony's dreams.

She could feel the negativity in Equestria has increased drastically, especially after the unexpected insect visitors in Canterlot. And if Luna didn't hear or notice correctly, the demon becomes stronger the more negativity floods the air.

The ponies waited for her answer impatiently. After a few moments of silence, Luna, had decided. "My fellow subjects. It has become clear to me I cannot win this alone. I require every pony's assistance if you want that monster to be no more. When you all fall asleep, know that you all will find yourselves in one dream along with the demon. Thou shall not worry, for I will always ensure a dream ends happily no matter how messy things become."

The ponies stood there with zero words. As much as they hated the idea of getting involved with the battle, they agreed to do so. The meeting was then over, and every pony left the town hall to go about their day.

Once a few hours had passed, it was now time for Celestia to lower the sun and for Luna to raise the moon. The two closed their eyes and channeled their power into their horns. After several minutes, it was now nighttime.

"My guards and I will continue to guard this village. You on the other hoof have some unfinished business to attend to I believe," Celestia said to her younger sister.

Luna nodded in understanding and left her sister alone, knowing it was time for her and her subjects to deal with the fiend. Luna then flew up to the one and only windmill and harnessed all of the power she had into her horn. Hundreds of white glowing like strings came out of her horn and traveled into the homes of everypony. As the strings all connected to the heads of the ponies, a white flash of light covered Ponyville temporarily.

Every pony found themselves outside of Ponyville along with Luna struggling to keep the dream together. They all looked around in awe. It was like a different world.

They all gathered around Luna after they finished wondering around. "My fellow subjects hear me. The demon is here. Do not fear him. If you do, you will only give him the advantage!"

"HA! HA! HA! What do we have here?"

The ponies turned to the sketchy new voice and gasped in horror to see the demon haunting the dream realm. Most of the ponies backed away while only a few stood their ground out of great bravery.

"We're not afraid of you!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Oh really? When I ruined your dream, you feared me before. What is so different now?" Nightmare's smile loosened a bit.

"That's because I was alone before!" Rainbow Dash flew in front of the crowd and tried her best to motivate them. "Listen up! That three eyed ugly sack of teeth ain't got nothing on us! He may be strong, but we can be stronger if we all band together!"

"Yea! And we can also do whatever we want in a dream!" Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof to Derpy, who seemed to have changed her size through the power of imagination to become many times larger than any pony else.

"Oh, how very threatening you ponies make yourselves to be without any fear of failure, yet you forget this is only a dream," Nightmare unleashed his tentacles from his back, preparing to eliminate every single pony in sight, but before he knew it, a chocolate cake covered in pink icing that was the size of a cottage, fell on top of him. Nightmare broke out of it in annoyance. He was really about to manipulate the entire dream world into a full nightmare, but another unknown force was stopping him. Was it all of the ponies being in one dream?

A blast hit him in the chest. He looked up to see a red alicorn stallion glaring at him. Behind the stallion were now powered up ponies surrounded by loads of dream power. A few had different forms while some imagined random items like books turning into a weapon.

'This is going to be a rough night,' Nightmare thought to himself. "When you ponies face the reality of my existence, I can assure all of you will lose every ounce of hope in the end."

*Seized Canterlot*

Queen Chrysalis confidently walked through the hallway and entered one of the royal bedrooms she had kept Sam in to recover after the excruciating incident with the sun princess. "Wakey wakey my dear pet."

"Huh? *yawn*. Five more minutes ma, and then you can make me read whatever pointless information I don't even care about," Sam moved himself into a different comfortable position in one of the royal beds. His head was clearly half asleep as he hadn't acknowledged the fact that he was no longer at home. To Sam, the presence of Chrysalis herself while in bed, felt like his own mother coming into his room and waking him for school after forgetting to turn on his own alarm clock.

Chrysalis then gave him a slap on the cheek, just like any strict mother would for any form of disobedience. "Now is not the time for sleeping! I saved your life. And you can thank me by getting out of that bed. You've been recovering under MY care for the past five hours, and you will begin your training as a personal guard of mine in a few hours."

Training? After all the crap I went through? Ugh, that sounds like a lot of bull.

Sam pushed the covers away and stood up lazily. He stretched around for a few seconds and looked Chrysalis right in the eye. "Alright, what exactly do you want?"

"If I have to repeat myself a second time for you to understand, then I will. If you don't get it, then maybe a punishment for you is an order," Chrysalis threatened. "I saved your life from the princess. Do you not remember being cooked alive? I spent so much of my time and magic to restore you all the way back to full strength and you repay me with laziness?"

The word laziness got to Sam's head, and not in a friendly way.

Gosh. I honestly can't tell the difference between her and my mother. They both call me lazy! And I seriously don't understand why. Because the truth is, I don't spend all the time in the world sitting on the couch doing nothing. I go to school for like seven hours per day or something when I'm supposed to, and I productively spend time playing video games for sixty hours each week.

It was in Sam's nature to be lazy, but of course his mother didn't like it. "So, what is it Ms. bossy pants?"

Sam once again got another slap to the face. "Ow! Jeez!"

"You shall address me as Queen Chrysalis. Or do I have to make myself clear in a different way?" Chrysalis's horn glowed bright green, and a green ball of energy could be seen coming from the tip of her horn, and she pointed her twisted horn towards Sam's head. Not to a surprise, Sam could feel the spike of fear enter his heart. As much as he HATED giving respect against his will, he didn't want to get blasted in the face.

"Understood my Queen," Sam said with a frown.

"Good. Now I've got plans to make with my subjects. Remember that your training will begin soon. In the meantime, Pharynx will take care of you," Chrysalis said, right before she left Sam all to himself for a little amount of time.

******

*One hour later*

Pharynx came in with a table filled with several large pieces of cooked meat, fried eggs, and three fillies tied together on a plate.

"Eat!" The purple eyed changeling demanded, getting a look from Sam. "What?" Pharynx asked with aggression.

"Is it dinner time?" Sam looked closely at his food, slightly disgusted and unwilling to eat it. The fried eggs were the only parts of it that seemed edible. Other than the eggs, the meat was undercooked and sickening to look at. And of course, he wasn't about to eat the cutie mark crusaders who were coincidentally the three fillies that were brought in as Sam's unwanted meal.

"Um. What's this supposed to be?" Sam picked up a piece of meat with his bare right hand and showed it to Pharynx.

"Are you stupid? It's pony meat of course. We didn't know if you preferred meat cooked, so we gave you raw meat as well," the changeling pointed to the CMCs as the 'raw meat'.

"Uhhhhhhh," Sam finally noticed the horror through the three fillies' eyes. They just couldn't say a word as their mouths were forced shut by a set of thick tape. "Thanks, I guess. Would it be okay if you were to leave me alone, please?" Sam let the meat go onto the plate and pointed a finger at the door.

"Ouch. Very hurtful words. But you know what, it's an even bigger pain to watch over a pathetic creature like you when I have better things to do. Oh, and just one more thing. Don't even dare talk to those fillies. I've taped their mouths shut for a good reason."

And with that, Pharynx left Sam be. And when Sam was sure no changeling was coming into the room after Pharynx, he searched around and spotted his traveling bag storing the Elements of Harmony. It was just there, laying on the floor.

Huh. Didn't expect Chrysalis to leave the Elements of Harmony with me.

He put the bag around his shoulder and sat down in his bed to eat whatever was on the table.

They didn't give him a fork or a knife to cut with, but this was Equestria for goodness' sake. One of the biggest reasons why Sam dreamed of living in Equestria instead of his own hometown was of how free he could be. He wouldn't have to show any table manners, which also meant he could just eat like a pig without being judged. And wearing clothing was optional in public. And almost every pony was so kind and caring. If only the world he lived in were the same.

Sam picked up a fried egg with his hands and just in one bite, he wanted more. He took all of the eggs and shoved them right into his mouth. In less than a minute the eggs were gone. The fillies looked in horror at his sharp teeth, imagining how painful it would be for their flesh to be torn right through.

The horse meat took longer for Sam to clean. After he finished, all that remained fully on his plate were the fillies. The CMCs wiggle wormed relentlessly, trying to break free from the ropes tying them together. When they realized escape wasn't an option, they tried to scream for help, but the tape put around their mouths prevented any sound from coming out.

This was it. The fun times they had trying to get their cutie marks ends here. In the end, they will all die as blank blanks.

A tear ran through Apple Bloom's eye once she saw the monster standing in front of her and her friends. The three fillies looked at each other and nodded their heads as a sign of acceptance.

Sam turned his hand into a small blade and slowly, he cut off the ropes. The CMC's eyes widened in shock as the monster carried them all in his arms. "I'm not going to hurt you three. I'm just going to need yall to prove my innocence or something," Sam opened the closet door and threw the trio in. Closing the door, he picked up an entire dresser and barricaded the door.

Just in the nick of time, Sam managed to hide the CMCs in the closet right before a changeling came into his bedroom a few seconds later. "Queen Chrysalis wants you now. Follow me."

Sam turned to the changeling, nodded, and did what he was asked to do. While he followed the changeling through the halls, he saw what changes they had made to Canterlot during his recovering slumber. Sam had to admit to himself how cool the changes were, but it definitely wasn't as cute as it used to be since then. After a minute of traveling, Sam noticed a few changelings bow down in respect on his way to which he could assume was the throne room.

Huh? I wasn't expecting that to happen. Normally they would hiss at any creature that isn't a changeling, especially a pony.

The doors to the throne opened and Sam was met with the queen herself. She sat on a new made throne, which seemed to be the same design Sam remembered from the season six finale. "Wow. That's a nice throne you got there," Sam looked up and saw lots of ponies inside of the green changeling cocoons, hanging on the celling.

Chrysalis then gave a smile at Sam's entry. "I've been expecting you. How was the food?"

"It was alright," replied Sam, not wanting to say anything mean.

"Really? Did you know that cooked meat is from that white guard stallion you fought earlier? He was of no use to us since you killed him. Though I figured his corpse could provide of some use to you," Chrysalis made a look of intelligence.

But Sam was in shock negatively after hearing the words come out of the queen's bug mouth. "Wait. Shining Armor is dead?!"

"Ah, yes, the name brought to me about some dead nopony. Ha. Like I care. And I have brought you here to also take care of this USELESS princess. I was expecting to get so much love from the princess of LOVE. But ever since that Shining Armor died, she has become heartbroken. In other words, the love inside of her is dead and will not contribute to us with our feeding," Chrysalis threw Cadance right in front of Sam like a bag of trash. "She is in a very bad condition. I think it would be best if you ended her misery."

"So, you want me to kill her?"

"Or eat her, whichever way you prefer. Also, don't be embarrassed, but I've been studying your body while you were in bed. You really have a unique ability that I envy. The ability to gain power after killing your foe. Apparently, the more ponies you kill, the stronger you become," Chrysalis smiled with greed written all over her. While Sam had already created some nasty thoughts for what is to come next in his head. The queen could only laugh as if she were insane. "This will truly be fun. Allowing you to kill and devourer out our future foes for more power."

Great, she wants me to level myself up. I had no idea this dream would turn into some video game. Well, more like a dream game to be honest.

Sam had gotten sick of grinding after throwing elixirs at magic pots so he could kill them for large amounts of exp and ap. This only meant another long journey to level 99, but in real life.

"I want you to become even stronger. I will make you into the perfect warrior. No pony will ever stand in your way. Whether you like it or not you're going to become my strongest, fastest, and smartest bodyguard. Am I understood?" Chrysalis and the rest of the changelings in the room all stared at him, waiting for his response.

Killing ponies specifically just for power didn't sound right. He had already killed some pony, and that some pony was Twilight's brother. Sam didn't want to think about what would happen if Twilight were to know about her brother's death. But refusing to listen to Chrysalis would be a big mistake. It would only be him against hundreds of bugs. And if he couldn't get past Celestia, how would the chances of him winning a battle against Chrysalis be any better?

Sam had no choice but to comply. "Yes mam. Can I leave now?"

"Hm. I don't know, cannnnnnn you?" she asked with a smirky grin.

Sam gave her a face of annoyance. "May I leave now, please?????"

Chrysalis nodded. "Yes, you may. Your training will administer in an hour by the way."

"Cool, thanks," Sam silently huffed, carried an unconscious Cadance on his back, and traveled back to his room.

******

Making sure no changeling was around; Sam removed the large dresser and opened the closet door to free the CMCs. Grabbing the trio in his arms, he jumped out the window and began his attempt to escape Canterlot without getting caught.

Holy crap! Holy crap! Hew! I ain't doing no training under some controlling bug today! I got a demon on my arse, and I don't have any time to stay there any longer!

Sam saw a path leading directly out of the city, but he chose not to take any risks. About fifty changelings were guarding the path, so Sam had to find a different way out. So, just like before, Sam converted his hands into dark claws and started climbing the walls of Canterlot, reached the top, and jumped off to the other side where his freedom resided.

He ran and ran and ran until he eventually came to a cliff that was just across the Everfree Forest.

The idea came to him that sliding down the cliff to reach his destination would be extremely reckless. Though he could always regenerate any wound caused by fall damage.

Yea, I'm tired of playing it safe. I'm gonna slid down this cliff. But I better hold tightly onto these three fillies and the princess of love, so they don't slide to their death.

Carefully, Sam jumped and slid down the longest cliff he had ever seen, safely slid down to ground level, and quickly entered the Everfree Forest. The CMCs almost passed out from the long drop while Candance stayed on his back, dazed the entire time. As for Sam, it felt only like a trip down memory lane when he rode the Fury at Carowinds.

Once they came to a stop, Sam released the fillies out of his arms once he was sure they had escaped changeling territory. "Okay, can you three promise me you won't go running off anywhere, and you will stay with me at all times?"

He watched all three of them aggressively rip the tape from their mouths before they started to speak their minds for once.

"Wait! Hold on! What's going on!?" Sweetie Belle moved around in panic.

"First ya tried to eat us, and now ur helpin' us!?" Apple Bloom glared at Sam with suspicion.

"Yea! And how do you expect us to follow you wherever you go? You could be leading us into a trap!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Well, if you haven't looked around, we're in the Everfree Forest. I highly doubt you three know your way around this area. And who's going to protect you if some dangerous creature comes out of the bushes to have you for lunch or something?" Sam waited for a reply. He didn't get one. After shrugging, he turned around to follow the path to the Tree of Harmony without the fillies.

Welp, I tried. Only reason I wanted to protect them was to earn their trust. Guess I'll-

"Wait! What's your name mister?" Apple Bloom asked.

Sam stopped in his tracks to answer the question. "The names Sam."

Apple Bloom smiled at her new friend. "My name is Apple Bloom, and this is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. We're the cutie mark crusaders."

"Heh. Your all so friendly. I've never felt this much emotion since I was twelve years old," Sam's non depressing moment was cut short once he saw darkness fill the sky. He could feel Nightmare's presence within the darkness and knew he was running out of time "Aw crap. I need to hurry up," Sam took off running to the Tree of Harmony, leaving the CMCs behind. Even with Cadance on his back to slow him down, he was still pretty fast.

"Hey! Where ya goin' Sam!? Don't leave us behind!"

Celestia stood on top of the Golden Oak library as she checked the telescope ever so often for any intruders. So far, Ponyville had been kept in peace while Luna dealt with whatever the thing that was ruining everyponys dreams. But her thoughts of peace didn't last long, as the pleasant peace and quiet was interrupted by a loud crack in the ground.

Darkness covered the sky and the ground shook. Multiple cracks formed on the ground and opened wide. And the guards were quick on their hooves to investigate and surround the cracks from the sudden earthquake.

They ended up pointing their spears towards a strange creature rising from above underground. The creature in question appeared to be a pony with blank purple eyes staring into the abyss. Its entire body was rotten, and its tongue came out to lick its lips in front of the guards. And they were all frightened by its disturbance that even a few guards ended up dropping their weapons out of fear before making a run for it.

The rotten pony didn't take a moment to wait, as it galloped towards a guard and bit the soldier in the leg, resulting in the guard falling unconscious as if the bite had extreme venom. Then, the creature screamed in agony once a few guards came to their senses and struck it blow by blow until it died and fell down motionless on the grass as a rotten corpse.

"What is the meaning behind this violence!?" Celestia questioned from behind.

"We're sorry your highness, but we don't know! It just came out of the ground and- SWEET CELESTIA! THERE'S MORE OF THEM?! WE WERE'NT TRAINED ENOUGH FOR THIS!" the individual guard speaking also abandoned his weapon and possibly his entire career as he galloped away cowardly from his fellow soldiers in front of the princess.

The zombie ponies that arose were already ready to gnaw them all to death. And to make matters worse, the first and previous eliminated zombie had black blood oozing out of its corpse, and the blood came together to form something solid as if the blood had a mind of its own.

"?!" The guards observed the solid blood form into a rotten hoof, and the same happened to the rest of the corpse. Well, it wasn't a corpse anymore, as the body of the slayed undead pony got back up after it regenerated all of its wounds. The regeneration process was quite similar to the two-legged creature who stole the elements. And it only made Celestia wonder if all of these terrible events were really just a coincidence.

*BOOM*

Before any pony else could be hurt or bitten, a strange rainbow beacon from the Everfree shot into the sky clearing the darkness. The army of zombies charged towards the princess, but after a few hoof steps, they were instantly vaporized by a rainbow shockwave coming from the beacon.

Once the shockwave passed through Celestia. She stood there in shock. She could feel it. That power was none other than the Elements of Harmony. Could it be?

The guards could only cluelessly stand in one spot victorious and waited for their princess to say something about the helpful incident that happened.

Of course, Celestia had to take a moment to process everything. All she knew as if now, was that the source of that power came from the forest. Which could possibly mean that the elements have been returned to where they were born, and that was the Tree of Harmony.

Believing that was the case, Celestia made up her mind on what would be next for her mental list of requests. "When the sun rises once again, I want several of you to volunteer to go into the Everfree Forest, find the Tree of Harmony, and search it for any sign of the elements. The ones who decide to volunteer will be accompanied by the six ponies who wielded the elements along the way. The dark forest is filled with dangerous creatures, and I want you all to show courage. Any more questions?" Celestia waited for a raise of hooves, and she giggled at the silence. From the looks on her troops' faces, they seem to have understood everything. Plus, she already knew her guards were overly obedient to the point where they had become unwilling to question her orders. "Very well. You all have the full night to decide."

******

All night, as Celestia said, ended rather quickly. Five hours had already passed, but it felt like a mere half an hour to Celestia after all of the stress and worrying. She didn't how she was going to deal with the whole 'changeling situation', nor did she know what she would plan on doing if the changelings or any other absurd creatures were to strike an invasion on Ponyville. And the 'fiend' her younger sister continues to yell about had finally become a part of Celestia's concerns as well.

'I cannot fail all of pony kind. I must find a way to fix all of this and set things back the way they-!!!'

Suddenly, out of straight up nowhere, Celestia sensed a strikingly familiar awakening through her horn. The awakening presence from what Celestia was sensing had a connection to the Elements of Harmony. But what really caught the princess's regard was the feeling of a great chaos being unleashed.

'It...can't be...the elements...that wouldn't make sense! It can't be him!'

"Sister," Luna spoke to Celestia through her Canterlot voice this time around to get Celestia's attention. And Celestia's attention is what Luna received after Celestia killed away her current thoughts and pinned her eyes on Luna, who jumped from the windmill and glided all the way down to meet her older sister.

Celestia quickly switched her focus on the dream demon crisis, wanting to avoid any topic related to her own ridiculous thoughts. "So...what happened in there? Did it all go well?"

"Hm...indeed it did go well, however, not in the way I intended," Luna remained calm before she proceeded to explain. It wasn't a sign of anything bad, but it also wasn't a sign of anything good or exciting. "My subjects and I all have managed to put in our best efforts to stop him from rotting the dream realm with his influence."

"And...that would be a good thing. Right?" Celestia struggled to decide whether to keep her smile up or not.

Luna let out a sigh. "We have only banished Nightmare from the dream realm. My intentions were to destroy him, but my subjects and I failed to do so. My subjects alternatively gave all of their power to me, and I unleashed it all at once at the fiend. Nightmare won't be hurting any pony anytime soon, but he is still out there, waiting for some pony to aid him in his horrible quest."

"Nightmare?"

"Yes. That is the demon's name," Luna closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly. "Nightmare."

*The Everfree Forest*

Bush after bush and tree after tree, they were all cut down by the effective swings of Sam's axe hands, which he intentionally resorted to in a rush. And the trio kept following along his path while asking him countless of questions that he wasn't in the mood to answer, but he did anyway.

"Wow Sam. How do you run so fast with only two legs? It'd be so cool to be the first pony to ever gallop on two hooves. I might even get a cutie mark for that," Scootaloo then attempted to do so, pushing her front hooves off of the ground and lifting herself up to stand just as tall as Sam. Unfortunately, her small idea was crushed in an instant as she immediately fell on her other two friends, causing Sam to take a moment to stop and chuckle.

"Aw come on. It's not fair! I have no cutie mark, and I have wings that I can't even use!" Scootaloo crossed her arms with a look of jealousy on her face.

"Why can't you just be happy with your scooter? It does fit your name anyway. I remember when I was like nine years old, I used to ride around on the sidewalk with my scooter at my grandma's house. Well, I USED to. She's dead now. And after her death, my aunt and uncle turned out to be traitors and decided to sell the house. Later on, my life just got even more depressing as I soon outgrew the small scooter.

"Quite a pity if you ask me. But enough about my crappy boring little life, I got something I gotta do, and it's not like that crappy life matters anymore. I'm now in a different world, a world I'm possibly not going to be leaving," Sam believed, as he continued his jog to the tree.

While his trip back to the tree didn't seem like it was going to be difficult, he felt an unwavering feeling in his gut that something was off. Aside from the fillies giving him company, he'd expected to run into an unfriendly forest dweller through the Everfree. Like another pack of timberwolves, a manticore, and heck, even some pesky mosquitos that are willing to make his trip back to the tree a challenge. But there was not any of that. It was just him and the innocent fillies. Or was it?

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like we're being watched by someone in this forest. It's just so...dang quiet! There ain't any wildlife in sight right now, and it's really creeping me out. Especially because it's night time.

Even if I tell myself there ain't nothing there, it won't shake the feeling off. It's like I'm realistically playing Minecraft on peaceful mode, wandering around in a dark oak forest biome in the middle of the night, with no hostile mobs spawning in to replace the danger that doesn't exist.

"Wuhahahaha!"

?!?!

Sam heard the small laugh echoing through the forest and was on high alert before his mind found the sound of the laugh to be familliar. The laugh didn't sound sinister or wicked, but it DEFINITELY sounded chaotic and a little bit mischievous from what Sam could tell. Could it be?

No way! It can't be. Did those three hear it?

Sam turned to the CMCs to see them still chatting peacefully with one another as if no voice was heard.

Hm. Was it just my mind playing tricks on me? Or was it really who I thought was playing tricks on me?

Before Sam could think about the laughter any further, he was distracted by one of the cutie mark crusaders who started speaking to him.

"Hey, you never did tell us anything about you. Like, what are you? What's your home like? I want to know so bad," Sweetie Belle took Sam out of his thinking for a while as she began walking up to him with a cute sad face, begging to hear a sweet backstory. "Pretty please."

"Uhhhh. I'll tell you later. Right now, I need to return the elements really quick. And it won't take long, because we're already here you three," Sam chopped down the last skinny tree standing in their way and there stood the castle of the two sisters only several feet away. "I swear, the tree better have something good for me."

"WOOOW!" the three fillies exclaimed, with ginormous pupils of excitement.

"Okay, um, I think you three shouldn't follow me at this point," Sam said preparing the Elements of Harmony in his traveling bag for the tree.

"But why not?" Apple Bloom asked, clearly upset through her voice.

"Yea! I'm with Apple Bloom on this! Why not?!" Scootaloo stared at Sam with very questionable eyes.

"I mean...aren't your older sisters, parents, or whoever else cares about yall worried sick or something? I think yall should be heading home. Because I'd hate for one of yall to get hurt during your time with me, then get me accused of the damage I did not cause."

"Aw come on! This is so cool! I like going on adventures like these all the time!" Scootaloo pressed. "Maybe, if we follow you long enough, we'll get cutie marks for being brave. And I have to say, I think being with you, makes us look so cool!"

"I agree. You look so tough mister. I don't think any pony would dare mess with you," Sweetie Belle commented.

"Please Sam. We jus wanna be with ya for one night," Apple Bloom spoke what she and her other filly friends wanted from Sam, and he quickly became frustrated.

Oh, goodness. I really don't know what to say here.

With a sigh and a short moment to think, Sam agreed to let the fillies stay with him, but he wanted his talk with the Tree of Harmony to be just him and it. So, he forbid the fillies from following him down into the cave, and suggested that they should play or explore the castle of the two sisters if they were to get bored during the wait for his return.

The fillies surprisingly respected Sam's privacy with the Tree of Harmony and reached an agreement. Once they did, both the human and the fillies went their seperate ways as the human traveled down a staircase and into a cave to meet face to face with the tree. While the fillies crossed a wooden bridge to reach the terrian with the castle itself.

******

"Iseeyouhavebroughtwhatismine."

"Uh huh. Now I want some answers. Just how in the world did I end up here?" Sam put Princess Cadance safely on the ground for her to rest and tapped his left foot on the ground repeatedly.

"Youareherenowbecauseofyourthoughts. Thisworldisyourdream. Allbeingslike ponies, dragons, griffons, changelings, theyexistonlybecause of yourexistence."

"Ah, so I'm lucid dreaming right now. But if this really is all a dream, then why can't I manipulate or control this world at all? I remember creating a nice coke bottle before that Nightmare fella came out of nowhere and screwed everything up."

"BothyouandNightmareareconnectedtothis world. Tohavefullcontrolofthisworldonemustdestroytheonethatseeksthesamepower."

"So, you're saying I have to kill Nightmare before he kills me. I guess sometimes crazy talking flowers are right. It's either kill or be killed in specific situations."

"Youdohavethechoicetogiveupandgo home."

"Eh?"

"Oncethe elements aregiventome, I cancastaspelltosendyoubackhome. Youwillfind yourself in yourbed,Nightmarewillnolongerexist, youwill feel likenoneof this had everhappened. Or, if youchooseso, youcan stayinthisworldpermanentlyandrisk yourveryownlife. The choiceisyours."

"Hmmm. If I choose to stay here, how am I supposed to get rid of that demon?"

"It's simple,I can sacrifice myself to delaythe demon's true power from being unleashed. You on the other hoof must play your part by gathering enough power and friends to prepare for a long and tremendous battle."

"Sacrifice huh. Shoot. There always has to be sacrifice involved if you're fighting for something worth your while. I guess I'll stay, it's not like I got anything better to do at my hometown. Plus, I don't think I'd find working through an office job for the rest of my life after high school worth it," Sam pulled out the elements from his bag and held them out for the tree to see without much hesitation. The elements were levitated out of Sam's hands and were magically inserted into the tree.

"Before I act, there are somethings you must know," the tree's voice had changed.

"And what are those things?" he crossed his arms as he listened.

"Killing off monsters to make yourself stronger is good, but keep in mind there is a limit to your growth. If you want to gain true power, you must seek out the new and improved Elements of Infinite Harmony that are scattered across every unique part of Equestria."

Sam was about to lose it if he was getting himself on another quest to find more artifacts. "Okay, where exactly are these...Elements of Infinite Harmony?"

"They are not just out in the open. You must obtain them one by one with certain actions. First, find the golden treasure lying somewhere in the castle of the two sisters. The golden treasure is so far the only thing capable of holding the Elements of Infinite Harmony together. Then, find each individual element. Space, Reality, Time, Mind, Soul, andPower. The six ponies you know are the key."

Sam could've sworn those names sounded familiar, until it finally clicked in his head. "What the! Do I look like Thanos to you? Sure, I got muscles here and there but it's not like I'm some beefy grown man who weighs 985.5 pounds!"

The tree ignored Sam's words and continued. "Thespace element can be found in the land of crystals.Reality is in another world similar to this one.Time is underneath the sands of the badlands where the changelings reside.Mind can be found in the area right below us.Soul has been destroyed a long time ago in the past through the broken hearts and souls of many. As forPower, it only serves a master who has defeated a powerful being capable of bringing an end to this world. Find them all. You will become my replacement. Sam, the new source of harmony for Equestria."

The tree glowed bright, and Sam covered his eyes while a rainbow beam of light came out of the tree and into the sky.

*BOOM*

☼☜☹☜✌💧☜

Just like in the beginning, before the whole adventure started, an explosion noise erupted into Sam's ears like mad, but not a single destructive explosion occurred.

Instead, the rainbow beam accomplished what the Tree of Harmony said it would do, as the darkness covering the sky had cleared from the beam's power. When the process was finished, the Tree of Harmony violently exploded into pieces, leaving thick numbers of smoke in front of Sam's face. He closed his eyes and held his breath, waiting for the smoke to clear.

After a couple minutes, he opened his eyes to see a pony, no, an alicorn, standing where the Tree of Harmony once stood.

The alicorn was white coated with a red mane and tail, and its cutie mark was a quill being dipped into an ink bottle. "Thank you," the alicorn gave its thanks to Sam.

"Um...your welcome?" Sam responded with confusion.

The alicorn only smiled afterwards and slowly disappeared into thin air, leaving Sam all to himself with no one to talk to.

"What was that all about? Eh, whatever. I guess I'm on ANOTHER quest again. *sigh* This is probably where the REAL adventure starts. Almost as if all the stuff I did was just the tutorial of the whole game. Psh, this is ridiculous. Then again, I chose this path, I guess. Better get move on."

******

Sam realized something was missing as soon as he left the cave and stepped on the grassy ground. "Wait a second. Where are the cutie mark crusad- oh yea! I forgot I suggested them to explore the castle. That's probably where-"

"HELLPPP!!!!"

?!?!?!

Sam instantly recognized the screaming and yelling coming from Apple Bloom. While it was hard to hear, he could tell it came specifically from the castle of the two sisters. And he didn't hesitate to cross the old bridge and make his way to the front castle doors to hopefully aid the poor fillies in time.

After failing to open the doors with his bare hands, he assumed the doors were either locked up or jammed for some reason. He then knocked on the doors like crazy, hoping to get the attention of the fillies to come over and potentially open the door from inside. But rather than getting an expected silence or galloping hooves, he heard what seemed to be...giggling coming from the other side of the doors.

What in the world is going in there?

"Oh, my my my. This adventure of yours is certainly getting interesting," an EXTREMELY familiar voice said out of nowhere.

Holy crap...it wasn't my imagination back in the forest!

Sam already knew the owner of that voice which put him on high alert. Looking around aimlessly, he searched for any magical traps or any doohickey that may have been set up in front of the castle. "What the heck is going on in there?! Leave the fillies alone and show yourself!"

The voice laughed. "Oh, now isn't that adorable. You sound nearly the same way I predict Celestia would speak to me about my current nature. The two of you should totally get married," a white flash of magic appeared and disappeared after the ludicrous statements, revealing the CMCs along with the greatest troublemaker himself, Discord, the Lord of Chaos.

"Oh, calm down, will you. The whole screaming and crying for help were just part of the act while we were playing 'run from the draconequus' for your information."

Sam looked at the draconequus dead in the eye and asked, "Are you here to cause trouble?"

The draconequus flinched in instant disapproval. "Me? A troublemaker?" an angel halo appeared above Discord's head. "I would never. I'm here to do quite the opposite actually," the draconequus signaled the CMCs to drop a golden gauntlet on their backs. "They were starting to get bored. So, I did you a favor and gave them a field trip around the castle. And look what we found. The Tree of Harmony wanted you to find it. Am I wrong?"

Sam grew a bit insecure after hearing Discord mention the tree. "You were spying on me this entire time? So, you heard the conversation I had with the tree. And you heard exactly what I'm going to be doing?"

"Yes, I have been spying on you," Discord admitted. "Yes, I know what you're up to...sort of. And what's wrong with me knowing about it?"

Sam rolled his eyes in his own head, acknowledging Discord obviously wouldn't give a crap about one's privacy. "Wow, what a way to be nosy. I swore I could hear the sounds of your cackling from across the forest. And how did you even break out of your stone prison by the way?"

The draconequus shrugged. "Well, my very uncomfortable stone prison is made of magic. Ever since those bugs took over, a throne for the queen had been built. The throne was not ordinary. It has the ability to surround Canterlot with some kind of anti-magic field. Thus, I was free once it was built, however, I had no magic to easily escape, my escape had to be done on foot. Then, I saw you and took my chances to follow you to escape from those hideous bug ponies," Discord floated up in the air a few feet above Sam and positioned himself to make it look like an invisible beach chair was there floating along with him.

Oooooh, that makes so much more sense now. Though, I don't exactly know if that happened because of my actions, or if this whole dream is literally designed to be an alternate universe or timeline of the MLP show itself.

Sam surely enjoyed Discord as a character because all he would do is create chaos to get the ponies on edge, like turning the roads into soap, or making it rain chocolate from cotton candy clouds. It was funny to watch. But the main concern Sam had now, was if he could keep his sanity if the same were to happen to him.

"I'm guessing that gauntlet over there is what the golden treasure the tree was talking about huh?" Sam bent down and grabbed the gauntlet. "By the way. Did the girls have fun? They aren't hurt, are they?"

"Oh, of course they're not hurt!" Discord reassured. "And I'm pretty sure we had a lot of fun together. Right, Apple Bloom?" he turned to the filly he mentioned.

"We sure did have fun! We had ourselves a fun time explorin' with Discord. Right, you girls?" Apple Bloom asked her friends, pulling both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo into a hug.

"Mhm!" replied Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

The draconequus felt proud of what he did for the three young ponies, but he continued focusing on the more important matters at hoof. "Yes, now onto business. I did overhear your conversation with the tree, Sam. And it seems you have yourself a destiny to fulfill.

"Normally I don't take things seriously even if it means being turned to stone for a thousand years. But Equestria on the verge of destruction is something I cannot ignore. Without Equestria, there will be no chaos for me to spread and enjoy," Discord snapped his fingers and a few tents appeared out of thin air. "In the meantime, lets-, oh. Looks like we have some unwanted pony guests."

Sam turned into the direction Discord was in. The two of them saw six mares blocking the way across the bridge with several guards by their side.

The boy was excited to be able to meet the mane six face to face. But he also had a bit of concern in his gut that things were about to get ugly.

"YOU!" Twilight shouted. "HOW DARE YOU KILL MY ONE AND ONLY BROTHER! A MONSTER LIKE YOU SHOULD BE BURNING IN THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS!"

The CMCs took cover behind Sam as he turned his hands into long blades to prepare for battle. "You got my back on this one Discord? You said you were here to do the opposite of trouble. Correct?"

"Certainly. Helping you should be a piece of cake. It's not like I have to even try to win," Discord snapped his fingers to unleash his chaos magic to create flying pigs with feathery wings. "This is when pigs fly."

Sam was the first of everyone there to take a deep breath for the sake of relaxation. "Oh boy. It's going to be a bumpy night."

*The Frozen North*

"My crystal slaves. I have returned! Mhmhaha!"

******

"It appears I have completely underestimated that boy and his fantasy dream of rainbow girly unicorns. That stunt he pulled off to seal away my true form for a good while was beyond any form of logic. I may need to consider forming an alliance if this is going to keep up," Nightmare suggested to himself. "Hmmm. That dark unicorn might suffice to my benefit and liking. Haha."

End of Part 1/4