Spike, now a massive Green Lantern fan, finishes what I showed him. His eyes filled with a giddy sense of excitement! I chuckle as I put my phone away and at that moment, Twilight walks into the room. Her eyes scan the room before they land on Spike and me. Even from where we are sat and the door, I can hear her sigh.

"Spike, have you and Eric been getting along?" The both of us nod. "Good, we're now ready to go." Upon those words, I practically spring up on my feet, camcorder in hand, and follow everyone out the door. While being led through many corridors, I try to strike up a conversation

"Hey Twilight, theres something that's been on my mind."

"What's wrong, Eric?" Twilight asks

"Cutiemarks. How do they work? How does one acquire one?"

"Well, when a filly gets their cutie mark, that means they discovered something about themselves that sets themselves apart from others. They're often related to the personality, proclivity, or talent of their owners. For example, My cutie mark shows my higher understanding of magic because I studied magic and mastered it when I was a filly." Twilight is cut off by Rainbow Dash

"And mine represents my love for speed and adventure!" She boasts.

"Don't forget who dodged you, Skittles" I quickly quip back with a smirk

"And don't you forget who was running away in terror screaming like a chicken!" she claps back while making flapping chicken wing motions with her forehooves.

"Grrr... touché," I grumble through gnashed teeth. The front doors to the castle open as we step out and upon leaving, they close behind us. We continue through Ponyville (and many more stares LORD ABOVE MAKE IT STOP) until we come up to the entrance to a very dense forest. So dense in fact, I don't even think I can see another entrance apart from the one we are approaching. I point my camcorder at the forest while approaching and turn to Twilight before asking

"Hey Twilight, this forest is as thick as my neighbor's hedge when they're about to trim it. What's the deal?"

"This is the Everfree Forest. It is a dangerous forest filled with mysterious plants and predators such as Poison Joke and Timberwolves just to name a few. It's well advised that we do not linger here for very long seeing as it gets darker and darker the further we go in."

"Darkness I can deal with," I say as I gently tap my camcorder and phone "Predators that are more than likely gonna kill me? I'm gonna chill in the rear thank you!"

As we continue, sure enough, it's getting darker. The foliage really is thick, huh? No problem for me! I turn on my camcorder's night vision to better see. By now, Rainbow Dash is hovering next to my head, also looking through my camcorder.

"Hey Scott, how are we able to see through that thing? You're not a unicorn and Even Twilight doesn't know what your corder-thing does." Rainbow asks.

"It's the night vision function of my camcorder. As the name suggests, it allows me to see in the dark." I explain. "Take it like this, magic here MIGHT have an equivalent in my world as far as I know. For example, magic that allows one to see in the dark could be matched with a torch or, in my case, night vision."

"You can see in the dark with that thing?" Twilight asks. "That sounds a bit too convenient, honestly." I pick up my pace to match Twilight's and lower my camcorder to her eye level. Sure enough, she is mesmerized by the grey look of the night vision. Seeing as I'm almost unable to see, I pull it away from her and keep my eye on it. Not a minute goes by when the darkest part of the forest looms into view followed by a cave. Twilight tells me to turn off the night vision as she makes her horn glow. Illumination spell, huh? Called it! I had a feeling magic here had to have a sort of equivalent SOMEHOW.

I remove my imaginary tinfoil hat and follow the six ponies to the cave, capturing everything I can. The cave looks like a normal cave until we step inside. Purple crystals line the wall and all go further and further in until we happen upon a large opening at the end of the tunnel. At this point, I can feel a gentle hum in my pocket. Sure enough, it's that mysterious 7th element Celestia was banging on about. I pull it out of my pocket to examine it when I start to feel it ever so slightly tug at me. I pick up my pace to lead the pack when the stone drifts out of my hand slowly. I clutch it between my fingers as I let it guide me.

"Eric, darling" Rarity asks "I get you may be eager to get ahead but you simply must be careful"

"I don't know why but the stone has a slight pull to it. Ever since we entered this cave, I can feel my element slightly pulling. Like it has a string attached to it or something. Maybe it has something to do with the other elements we're currently going after?" I give myself a pat on the back for that smart-sounding theory as we go through a large opening until a... TREE MADE OF CRYSTAL? A TREE MADE OF CRYSTALS? HOW MANY CRYSTAL OBJECTS ARE THERE?

My mental freak-out is interrupted when Twilight and her friends approach the tree. They appear to do something and then six necklaces (I think) with a gem inside of it wrap around each of their necks. Spike, who had been standing next to me gives me the all clear. I continue rolling my camcorder when a beep lets me know that another SD card is getting full. Like before I switch off my camcorder, swap the batteries and SD Cards, and switch my camcorder back on. As I power it on, a brainwave hits me. Spike has claws! That means...

"Hey Spike, I wanna try something"

"What's up?" Spike's question is answered as I pass him my camcorder. He looks at me with a puzzled explanation while I explain

"Basically, mate, you have the perfect shaped hand and fingers to hold my camcorder. That's ideal for me as now I can get different angles for shots and have a chance to take this for a test drive" I reply as I slide my backpack off and pull out a small shrink-wrapped box. At this point, Twilight and her friends have rolled up to see what's happening. Spike shrugs his shoulders as I eagerly unwrap the shrink wrap, slice the tape with the bayonet, and pull out what was in there. A small black rectangular camera with a torch function and records in 1080p!

"This is a head camera. Brand spanking new!" I exclaim "It's a smaller camcorder-like device that attaches to my head to capture shots from my point of view. It basically frees up my hands. I have also allowed Spike to be my temporary camera- dragon!" I demonstrate my new toy by giving the instructions a once over, inserting an SD card that came provided, and switching it on. I then put it on my head and tighten the straps. I ask Fluttershy to see if there is a small red dot glowing on the top. After she gives the affirmative, Twilight then asks why I entrusted Spike with my camcorder.

"Eric has hands and I have claws. He thought I could hold this comfortably and I can!" he says as he waves it around. I ask him to be careful as it's been through enough today. He salutes as the others laugh. We begin to head out and while we're on our way, I give Spike a crash course on how to camera-man and how my camcorder works. To his credit, he is an incredibly good learner! Not even five minutes later, he's taking shots like a pro! He knows how to enable and disable the night vision and can stop/start recordings! That card is the largest storage one I have so he should be ok with the storage.

As I'm contemplating all these thoughts, A booming sound appears at the cave's entrance.

"Princess Luna!" I say "You look me after a football game!"

"This is no time for joking!" She desperately shouts "It's my sister!" Everyone's eyes widen as Twilight nervously asks

"What's wrong with Celestia?"

"That magic we discussed before you left" Luna continues "One hour after you left, it burst into the throne room and charged me. Celestia protected me and it went into her. And now 'she' is here in the real world! a creature from the realm of dreams!" Dream realm? That's an actual thing? I may have to have a chat with Luna when this gets sorted out.

"Who's dream was it from?" Twilight asks. Luna swallows as she states

"It was Starlight Glimmer's dream From when she swapped Celestia's cutie mark with mine. It was an evil version of my sister. Its name was...Daybreaker."

Author's Note

ITS KICKING OFF!
Feedback is very much appreciated!