It had been all settled for the ponies and the little colt as they managed to settle it up. Lasso had gotten permission from his parents to stay with the group for the night, as long as he would be back home in the morning. However, he knew very little about the disaster that would face him soon, and it was going to be the last time he would ever hear from them again. But he had better solutions right now that would distract him from all that at the moment, Izzy and Lasso had returned from Bridlewood with a bag that had contained all his usual evening supplies, the only thing that was not provided was a sleeping bag because Sunny had provided one for him when he returned.
Sunny had managed to round up some entertainment and snacks for all of them, she, Zipp, Hitch, and Pipp were putting the finishing touches on it when Izzy and Lasso returned, opening the door and in they came.
"We're BACK!!!!!!!!!!" Izzy yelled; it sure did not take long for the other to see that.
"Hey welcome back, did you get everything you need Lasso?" Sunny asked.
"All in this bag here, Ah've pretty much settled mahself." he answered, putting the bag down.
"Well make yourself at home kid, I've got plenty for all of us." replied Sunny.
"Thanks Sunny."
Lasso went over to a bowl of popcorn and stuffed some into his mouth, but there was plenty of snacks to go around for the group. As Lasso sat down in his assigned sleeping bag, Izzy sat down next to him, soon the rest joined in, the little colt could not have been more satisfied with the good time he was having, despite his age and limits in front of ponies older than him.
They all just sat around, munched on popcorn and other snacks until their stomachs were full. Turning to games for a while, then when they got tired of that, they chatted about dreams they had during previous nights before this one. The first one to discuss a dream was Hitch.
"Well, I had this one dream that I was surrounded by an army of rotten tomatoes. They each had vines oozing with venom, wreaking havoc on all of Maretime Bay's crop and started melting off our hooves, somehow, I managed to slip away from their venomous grasp. Then with the help of my magic in my hooves, I was able to derail their poisonous assault and restore the vegetation population, I was therefore known as The Advancer!"
Everypony laughed at such a ridiculous thing ever happening, which left Hitch in annoyance, soon after, everypony else took their share of dream stories. Such dreams from Pipp becoming the most famous actress and singer to Izzy becoming rich from her talent in making jewelry, even airing on ZBS in Zephyr Heights for special sales. Sunny's dream story was one that had already come true, seeing Equestria restored with equality and friendship, this one was what really put soothing sensations in them.
The last one who had a turn for the dream story side was Lasso, because everypony now had their heads turned to him.
"Now what about you Lasso, what dream story would you like to share with us?" asked Sunny.
Lasso was smiling from hearing all their dream stories, but his smile faded into a frown, he had only one dream, unfortunately, it was not a dream at all, but a nightmare. This nightmare was one he had for over several months, he had rather keep it hush-hush from anyone, just out of fear one would take it as a joke.
"Come on Pipsqueak, you can tell us." replied Pipp.
"Uh.....Ah'd rather not." Lasso answered nervously.
"Why not?" the entire group asked together.
Zodiac was left in the dark, "Um, because Ah've never had a dream at all?" he then laughed nervously and grinned, hoping the group would buy it, but they were not. Sunny and the others surrounded him, Izzy wrapped her hoof around his back while the others gave him serious expressions.
"Look, we can tell when one is lying to us, there is some dream you had to have at least once in your life."
"Ah' really don't think y'all would understand."
"Lasso, please tell us." replied Zipp.
The cowcolt could not bear to even think about what he was really having right now; he did really have a dream. However, this was no dream, but rather a nightmare, a nightmare he had bothering him for the past 9 months. And it involved the same sequence of events that he visioned; it was his parents being taken away from him and being killed, killed by a purple alicorn with a white mane and tail. And whenever she appeared in his nightmare, she would always glare at him evilly and tell him that he would be her prisoner.
Unable to hide it, thanks to the teamwork of the main ponies, Lasso finally budged and spoke up......
"Well, Ah' do have this one dream, only it's not a dream at all, it's more of a nightmare instead."
"What makes you say that pipsqueak?" asked Pipp.
"For the past nine months, Ah've had this dream where Ah'm strolling with mah' parents, then without a trace, they just vanish into thin air. Ah' look around to find them, but they are nowhere to be found, Ah' get scared and scream for help, but nopony is around. Then Ah' constantly see this dark figure with wings and a horn, and she stares at me with a creepy smile, stating that she is out to get me, and Ah' don't even know who or what this figure is."
Lasso could now get the quivering sensation, because his lips were shaking like how one would be when they are about to cry.
"Every night Ah' feel her shadowy face get closer and closer to me, telling me over and over again that she's killing mah' parents. Reminding me that Ah'm weak and powerless to stop her, whoever she is, she's coming after me!"
Lasso then ran over to a corner on the far side of the room and curled up in a ball to cry.
"WHOEVER YOU ARE, STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed while bawling, the group quickly hesitated and walked towards him.
"Hey hey, calm down Lasso, it's okay." said Izzy, quickly scooping him up in her hooves and rubbing his back, "It's all right."
"Yeah kid, if this creature is after you, we will protect you."
"We are all here for you, no matter what happens."
Soon, the whole group huddled together to scoop him in and comforted him as he cried in terror over the nightmares he was having. Later that night, the group soon fell asleep, and for Lasso's sake they all decided to sleep together around in the same room. Lasso of course slept with them, only instead of him sleeping alone in a sleeping bag, Izzy decided to have him cuddle with her for safety.
Izzy had Lasso huddled in her sleeping bag, her hoof wrapped over him as he lay snugged close to her chest. They had all figured that since they were all together that nothing would happen now, but they were about to be proven wrong. Because on the other side of the forests of Equestria in Bridlewood, Lasso's house was quiet as his parents were fast asleep, but a certain figure bathed in darkness was right outside their front door.
This dark figure was the same one who was watching Lasso earlier, and she did not hesitate to wait until the last possible moment. She slowly and gently unlocked the door with her magic and was now inside his parents' house before even knowing it.
Chuckling evilly, yet softly, the figure took out of the shadows to reveal herself being none other than the evil Queen Opaline. For months, she had been plotting to rid of the only two ponies known to have been direct descendants of Twilight Sparkle, and she was willing to do it by murdering them and do far worse after that. Her scheme was once she had killed off Lasso's parents, she was going to kidnap him and take him to her castle, where she would use him for not only as her prisoner, but also a tool of use for destroying equality.
Anyway, Opaline carefully hoofed up the stairs, levitating a bottle filled with smoke, but not any ordinary smoke. This smoke contained a very poisonous gas similar to carbon monoxide, and if breathed in, it would vape out a unicorn's magic from its horn. Then the gas would creep into the blood stream of the body, quickly shutting down the nervous system and then immediately poison the unicorn to its death.
Opaline had found the parents' bedroom and glared the smoke-filled bottle, giving another soft and quiet evil chuckle. She then used a magic spell to cover her face in a small bubble, like a gas mask.
"This is how revenge starts, with a slow breath of doom." she said, "Once I have the remaining two descendants of the unity crystals gone, poor little Lasso will be mine for use."
Opaline then gave one last evil giggle before slowly opening the bottle filled with the poisonous smoke, then opened the bedroom door and released the smoke into the room. The evil alicorn then closed the door and locked it tightly, so that they could not get help.
Then in the blink of an eye, Opaline was out of the house and into the night sky to continue the further part of her plan, to try and kidnap Lasso without the presence of anypony noticing. Luckily, she did have a way, and was going to do it through a form of hypnotism.