//------------------------------// // Happiness Found // Story: Finding Happiness // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// The very next morning the girls, Spike, along with Anton, Zayton, and their pets had just arrived in Canterlot and walked up to the castle. As they walked Applejack spoke, "Are you sure that letter you received from the Princess didn't say why she needed to see us, Twilight?" "Nothing. It just came out of the blue." Twilight admitted, while Anton and Zayton smirked to each other. Pinkie gasped, "You think it's for some kind of top secret mission?" "If it is I'm ready for action." Rainbow said, while getting pumped. "I don't even know what I should wear." Rarity said, as she was mentally debating. "Girls, let's not jump to conclusions." Applejack calmed them. "Yeah. We need to find out why we're needed." Twilight added. Fluttershy spoke up, "I'm sure it won't be so bad. I hope." "So do we." The boys answered together, while making sure to keep it casual. Once they entered the castle, they were brought before the Princesses, "Good morning, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Twilight greeted them. "And a good morning to all of you, as well." Celestia greeted them. "All right, Princess, whatever you have planned for us we're ready to face it." Rainbow said as she flew around. "Calm yourself, Rainbow Dash. There is no threat to Equestria that needs you girls." Luna replied. "There isn't?" Rainbow asked feeling disappointed. "So then why were we summoned?" Twilight inquired. "Because Anton requested it." Celestia answered. "Anton?" the ponies and Spike asked collectively before turning to said boy. "Hey." he answered. "When did you send a message to the Princess?" Twilight asked in confusion. "For that matter how did you send it so quickly?" Spike wondered. "Well, a little thing happened last night." Anton answered, as he explained the events of what happened. When he finished, Fluttershy was in shock, "Oh, Anton. I didn't know you still had nightmares about your old upbringing." she hugged him close. "I know, mom. But it's all right. Because I know how to end it once and for all." Anton began. "How?" Applejack wondered. "By giving them a little nightmare of my own to them." Anton smirked. "What?" the girls gasped. "Darling, I know how bad they hurt you, but giving them a nightmare?" Rarity asked. "Princess Luna, do you approve of this?" Twilight wondered. "While I don't make it a habit to give nightmares since this is not my field... anymore. I do however believe Anton needs final closure to let them know how he truly feels about what they've said and done to him. Provided he doesn't have them scared too much they croak in their sleep." the Princess of the Night squinted at Anton. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm not a monster," Anton replied, "Besides I just wanna scare them up a little. They've had my mom scared and terrified of their wrath so much I want them to see how they like it." "And how can you do that?" Spike asked. "I shall personally take Anton into the dream world and use my power to help him bend their dreams to his will." Luna explained. "Yes, but for this I'd also need the assistance of another," the boy continued, "One who has the kind of magic I need to really bring to life my little scare show." Suddenly stepping out from behind Anton was Discord, "Why, Anton, I thought you'd never ask me." "Hey, Uncle D." Anton said, as he and Zayton fist bumped with their surrogate uncle. "You need Discord's help?" Twilight asked. "Of course. Princess Luna did mention Princess Celestia's magic doesn't work in the dream realm. But Discord's chaos magic knows no bound." "Correct." Discord confirmed, while ruffling the boys head. "And I'm gonna need plenty of chaos magic to pull this off." Anton said. "And I will be participating in it too," Zayton added, "I wanna give Rodney a little payback for almost ripping me when I was still a drawing." The girls pondered on Anton's plan, before Fluttershy spoke, "Well, Anton, if you think this is what you need, then I support it." "Thanks, mom." Anton smiled. "While I'm not sure about this tactic, but this is your choice." Twilight added, as the rest of the girls agreed. "Thanks, girls. Well, tonight we got a big job to do." Anton told them, as they nodded. As nighttime rolled in, Luna had just brought the moon up before returning inside the castle. She entered a guest room with a huge bed with Anton and Zayton kicking back on it. Surrounding the bed was Celestia, Discord, Spike, the girls, Nick, and Duke, "Is everypony ready?" Luna asked. "All set." Discord confirmed. "And so are we." Anton added. "While you two are with the boys in the dream realm we'll be able to see what's going on from within." Celestia said, as she used a magic spell to look in on the dream world from the waking realm. "You'll protect my boys in there if something goes wrong won't you?" Fluttershy asked the Princess of the Night and Master of Chaos. "You have my word, Fluttershy," Discord began, "I'll make sure my nephews remain unharmed." "And so shall I." Luna promised. "Good." "Now all that's left is for you boys to sleep." Luna turned to the brothers. "But how when we're too excited to sleep?" Zayton wondered. "No problem, my brother I got a solution," Anton began, as he whispered, "Pretend you're listening to one of Twilight's lectures. Twilight managing to hear that called, "Hey!" The brothers laughed, as they began envisioning Twilight giving one of her lectures, before their heads fell backwards on their pillows, "It worked." Pinkie smiled. "Ok, Discord and I are going in." Luna said, as she activated her magic teleporting her and Discord into the dream world. Once they arrived, they picked up the brothers in their own dreams before walking down the corridor. Anton and Zayton walked while gazing at every door, "So behind each of these doors leads to somepony's dream?" Zayton asked. "Yes, but they're only available when one is asleep. You can imagine this place is almost empty during the day." Luna explained. "Unless you're napping." Anton said. They walked before coming across two doors with Rodney and Katrina's names above them, "These are their dream worlds?" Discord asked. "Precisely." Luna confirmed. "I want them to share the dream together so I can get them both over with." Anton said. "As you wish." Luna used her magic to connect both doors, and they entered. Upon entering, they were floating inside a magic bubble. Anton whipped out his sketchbook he held onto from his dream, "Discord I'm gonna need you to bring my creations in here to life for this dream." Discord looked through the sketchbook, "Ooh, you've got quite a collection here. Well with just a snap they'll be at your command." "Then let's put on a show." Anton smirked. Meanwhile in the dreams of Rodney and Katrina, both of them woke up in individual rooms but noticed they weren't in their own, "What is this place?" Rodney asked, as he looked around. "Where am I?" Katrina asked, as she walked around before both mother and son bumped into each other. "Mom?" Rodney asked, "Where are we?" "I don't know. And I don't like it." Katrina said nervously. Suddenly the two could hear some wailing and moaning sounds, "What's that?" Rodney asked, as he started getting scared. "It's coming from around us." Katrina said, as the two stayed close as the sounds kept getting louder and closer. "Make it stop!" Rodney cried, as it was freaking him out. "We're getting out of here." Katrina took Rodney's hand and started started running for what she thought was an exit. Upon reaching it they were cut off by a creature based of Mr. Hyde, "Going somewhere?" he laughed evilly. The two screamed and ran for another direction. They pulled to a halt upon seeing an alien creature that looked like a cross between a mantis and a spider. They cried upon seeing it's mandibles and ran for it. The next monster they ran into was a wolfman who growled and barked at them. The two endlessly kept running away only to keep running into more monsters and villains you'd think were part of the Scooby Doo Mysteries. The two kept running from the creatures before they hit a dead end, "We're trapped." Rodney gasped. Katrina looked at the monsters before trying to be tough, "You freaks stay back if you know what's good for you." "They don't follow orders from you. They obey me." came a familiar voice to them. "What?" they gasped. The monsters cleared a path, as Anton stepped forward. He stopped before his aunt and cousin giving them a clear view. Needless to say the two were in shock, "You?" Katrina asked in confusion. "But that's impossible!" Rodney said in disbelief. Anton shook his head, "Nothing is impossible to me, worm!" Katrina was in shock, but regained her composure, "You're not real. You're just a figment." "Not real?" Anton asked, "If I weren't real would I be able to do this?" he vanished and suddenly appeared in front of them and stomped on Katrina's foot hard. "Ow!" she cried before hopping on one foot. Anton turned to Rodney who was startled, "And in case you don't believe me." he elbowed Rodney in the gut making him groan from the impact. "He's real." the mean cousin groaned. "What is this?" Katrina demanded. "Just coming back to give you two some much deserved payback for all you've ever said to me and my mom," Anton began, as he walked to the side and suddenly appeared at their side again startling them, "You, Katrina, were always in competition with my mom. Or rather thought you were," he stepped to the side, as they saw flashbacks of Katrina's life from childhood, teenage years, to present time. Each memory was of Katrina competing against Stacey for their parents attention, friends, or just to be seen, "Everything you did was just so you can one up my mom who wasn't even trying to compete. That's why grandma and grandpa scolded you so much because you always treated everything like a game. Mom wasn't the favorite because they favored her. They liked her because she didn't constantly act like an attention hound!" Katrina was swept away from Rodney as she was surrounded by dream versions of her parents, Stacey, and Ron, each having something to say to her, "You always acted like a pig for attention when something wasn't about you for a change." her mother began in a disappointed tone. Her father spoke next sounding equally disappointed, "If you tried being more like Stacey perhaps we wouldn't have to discipline you so much. But you always were a spoiled brat." "Mom! Dad!" Katrina gasped as flood of memories were coming back to her on how everyone treated her badly because she treated them worse. Ron spoke up glaring at her, "I wasted the best years of my life being stuck in a loveless marriage with you." Stacey finished, "Calling me a bad parent? What would you ever know about raising a child, when all you've done is spoiled your selfish brat? And you wondered why everyone from school rejected you? Because they knew you were nothing but trouble." As the four continued to talk down on Katrina like she did to everyone in her life she pleaded for it to stop. Rodney was left with Anton who spoke to him, "You said I was only allowed to live with you because it's your Christian duty? What would you know about being a good Christian? You're the spawn of Satan's dog!" "Don't you talk about my mom that way!" Rodney ordered. "Why not? You've always talked smack about my mom to my face," Anton argued, as Rodney tried to punch him. His fist went right through Anton who burst into smoke leaving him shocked. Anton reappeared behind him, "Nobody ever liked you, Rodney. You hated everybody from our fellow classmates to even adults. You expected them to worship the ground you walked on when you never gave them reason to. You mocked, ridiculed, taunted, teased, and even bullied others into fearing you. But beneath their fear was resentment and anger. But they didn't have the courage to stand up to you. Unlike me that time I finally let you have it." he threw his arm back and planned to punch Rodney in the mouth again. Rodney flinched as Anton pretended to nail him. When he saw Anton didn't do it, he felt smug only for his teeth to suddenly fall out like how they did when he was first punched. He panicked until feeling a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with a life size drawing of Zayton who peeled off the paper. The red haired boy spoke, "Bet you wish you didn't try to tear me in half now, did you?" he asked, as he backed Rodney away, "You treat my brother like gum at the bottom of one's shoe, and you didn't even care. Well, why should you care? You're nothing but a selfish diabolical spoiled little rat. You even treated your own father with disrespect. It's amazing that you're related to him at all." he pushed Rodney back and he landed on a big piece of paper and turned into a drawing. Zayton called over to his brother, "Hey! Swap ya?" "Sure." Anton agreed, as he went to torture Rodney while Zayton went to continue the torture on Katrina. Anton looked at Rodney as a blank drawing, before smirking, "I should give you some color," he said as a paint set appeared at his side, "And I got just the colors for you." he started painting Rodney making his skin orange, his clothes lime green, and his hair pink. Rodney looked himself over and screamed, "What did you do to me?" "That's nothing compared to what else I'm gonna do," Anton said, as he used his paints and art tools to change up Rodney's appearance from giving him a donkey's tail, buck teeth, dorky glasses, braces on his teeth, big ears, a pig's snout, and given an extra few pounds. Anton smiled, "Success." "I'm hideous!" Rodney cried. "No more than usual." Anton chuckled. "Mommy!" Rodney cried, only to see Zayton return while dragging Katrina curled up in the fetal position. Anton smirked, as suddenly Rodney came out of the paper and was back to normal. The mother and son huddled together in fright, as the MacLeod boys stood before them. Anton spoke, "I want you to know I don't care what you told anyone of what happened to me since I left you. Because I found a better home. Where others love me, care for me, make me feel like I matter which you two never did. I don't ever plan on seeing you again, but know this: I have the means of coming to you like this. So unless you want to deal with more of what you've just endured you'll shape up your sad pitiful excuse for lives and start respecting others. Do you understand me?" he asked while suddenly gaining a deep voice. The two nodded and whimpered in fear, as Anton spoke with his normal voice, "Good. You can start by going to my mom's grave and pay her with a thousand apologies. And I would probably change your bedsheets when you wake up. See you hopefully never." Anton said, as he and Zayton vanished into the darkness of the dream realm. Back in the guest room at the castle, the girls, Celestia, and Spike who had been watching the whole thing were shocked, amazed, and laughing at how the payback went, "Did you see the way they squirmed?!" Rainbow laughed while rolling on the floor. "The way he painted his cousin and redrew him was a laugh." Applejack laughed. Pinkie was laughing up a storm, "That was hilarious!" "I'll say." Spike chuckled. "Oh, I need to stop laughing before I faint." Rarity said, before plopping down onto a pillow. "They really did it." Twilight smiled. As Discord and Luna reappeared, Discord laughed, "Oh! I haven't had this much excitement in a long-long time. And by that I mean last Tuesday." he grinned. "The deed is done. They shall now awake." Luna said, as the brothers awoken. "How do you feel, boys?" Fluttershy asked. "Like I'm finally at peace." Anton added. "That's what I'm talking about." Zayton agreed, as they fist bumped. The two got off the bed, and were greeted by their pets whom they picked up and hugged them. Celestia spoke to them, "I'm glad to see it all worked out for you. So, Anton, do you truly feel at peace with yourself?" "Now more than ever, Princess." Anton agreed. Suddenly materializing before them was Ron, "Hey there. How's it going?" "Uncle?" Anton asked. "That's Uncle Ron?" Pinkie asked. "How come we can see through him?" Applejack asked. "That's his astral form," Anton answered, "He's been training in the Tibetan Monastery to be a monk and has become one with all of nature and the universe." "Uh-huh. I've been visiting my nephew for quite some time at night," Ron explained, "But I truly had to come tonight, because I had to know how everything went." "All went well, Uncle," Anton replied, "Katrina and Rodney will for their sake never give anyone grief ever again." "I'm glad to hear that. And while traveling here I happened to come across two people you should see." Ron said, as two more figures appeared at his side. Everyone looked and saw appearing before them were Anton's parents also in astral form. The sight of them left the group in shock, but not as shocked as Anton himself. The boy looked at the two and gasped, "No way. Mom? Dad?" The two nodded, as Devon spoke, "Hello, son." "What're you two doing here?" Anton asked, before realizing how he sounded, "Not that I'm not grateful to see you, but..." Stacey answered, "We've never left. We've always been with you in spirit." Anton sighed, "I'm sorry." "For what?" Devon asked. "For failing you, dad. I couldn't protect mom from Katrina or Rodney as much as I could. And mom, what I said to you before I ran away..." Stacey shushed him, "You have nothing to be ashamed of, Anton. You were right. I wasn't strong enough to stand up for myself. But you were able to. You are much stronger than I was, and still are." "And in my eyes you didn't fail," Devon added, "You stuck by your mom's side until the end no matter how badly you were treated. We truly are proud of you." Anton's eyes filled with tears before he ran over and embraced them. The two spirits had managed to make themselves feel solid enough for their son to hug them. The ponies watched the scene play out with some like Rainbow trying to hold back tears, while others like Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight let them fall. Anton broke the embrace and spoke, "I'd like to you meet my new family. That's Twilight, Applejack, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Discord, Pinkie Pie, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The pony whose been taking care of me since I got here." The two adults smiled, as Stacey looked to Fluttershy, "Thank you, Fluttershy, for caring for our Anton." "Oh, you're welcome." Fluttershy answered with a faint blush. Anton brought Zayton over, "And this is my new brother who started out as a drawing I made. Zayton." "Hi." Zayton greeted. "It's very nice to meet you, Zayton." Devon greeted back. "Yes. A pleasure." Stacey agreed. "So am I like your son too now?" Zayton asked them. "If you want to be." Devon answered. Zayton smiled, "I'd like that." Anton spoke, "Mom, about what I said to you before I ran away. I didn't mean it. I was just angry." "I understand, Anton. But I don't hold it against you," Stacey replied, "All that matters is you're safe and in good hands... Or hoofs." she and Devon chuckled. "Yeah. Surprised me when I found out who he was being raised by." Ron agreed. Anton spoke, "You two have to go back now don't you?" "Afraid so, Anton." Stacey replied. "I see. Well, I'm glad I finally had this chance to see both of you one last time." Anton smiled. "And we're glad to how you've grown, Anton. Our brave boy." Devon said. "Take care of yourself, son, and all those who love you." Stacey added. Devon looked to the ponies, Spike, and Discord, "You'll also look after our son, won't you?" "You can count on us, sir." Twilight promised. "Always." Fluttershy added. "That's all we could ask." Stacey said, as she and Devon illuminated before vanishing, while Ron also vanished having returned to his body back at the monastery. Anton smiled, as Nick licked his face and he laughed followed by everyone else. Later that night, Anton was looking out from a balcony of the castle and just stared off at the night, with Zayton at his side, "You know something, bro?" Anton asked. "What?" Zayton asked. "When I first came here I wondered if I could find happiness here in this strange new world," Anton explained, "I mean I faced a lot of problems and issues, but no matter what happened mom and the girls were always there for me. And you were too." "All true." Zayton agreed. "And after all this for the first time in who knows how long I truly feel like I found the happiness I was looking for." "Well, you believed, and fought for it. I say you definitely earned it." "Yeah. Zayton?" "Hm?" The brothers turned to each other, as Anton spoke, "Whatever comes our way in Equestria no matter how problematic, let's face it together. Not just as brothers, but friends to." "Sounds like a plan to me." Zayton smiled, as the two fist bumped. Fluttershy walked onto the balcony, "Come on, boys. It's late and you two need your sleep." "Coming, mom." they said, as they followed her back inside. Anton took one last look out into the night and smiled knowing he was finally at peace, and hoped for more fun and adventure in Equestria as the years would go by.