Living The Dream

by Kickass222urmom

Devastation

[*Groan* Ow, my head...]
<It feels like I'm drunk...>
[... Where are we?]

I groan loudly as I open my eyes. At first, everything is blurry and out of focus. But, after a few seconds, I could make out a few details.

I was in a large stone room with windows on either side, and what looked to be a display off to the right. Artificial light shown down all around me, leaving barely any shadows.

After a few seconds, I begin to push my self up. But, once I was on all fours, I threw my head up to look around and... slammed into a shield.

The shield shimmered black upon impact and stayed a light black.

"Well shit." I muttered, looking around from a slightly crouched position.

[This is not good.]
<Uh, I don't know if you two know this but... Teleportation!>

I facehoofed and chuckled, of course.

I formed an image of my room at my house and... nothing.

What?!

I tried again, and was met with the same results.

Oh this can't be happening!

"Ah, you're awake." Val said smugly as he walked into the room.

I looked at him and glared, "Where am I?"

He smirked and trotted up to the shield and towered over me, "Why does it matter? You should be more worried about what Nightmare has planned for you instead."

"Like what?" I questioned, eyeing him with clear hatred.

He just smiled and turned, "You'll see." And with that, he trotted off, leaving me alone.

I sighed and looked around, looking for a way to escape. But sadly, that was impossible.

I hung my head and felt a tear in my eye. It rolled down my face and fell to the ground, where it sizzled against the shield.

"Why? Why can't I have one break? All I want to do is spend one decent day with my family and not have to worry about all this danger..." I sniffled before continuing, "At least everyone else is okay... no, not everyone..." More tears began to run down my face as I remembered seeing the town being blown to pieces.

"All those innocent ponies... that wasn't their fight... they didn't deserve to die." I choked back more tears as I remembered all the ponies who I knew and loved.

"Oh, this is priceless! The great Lance, crying." Nightmare said with a large smirk as he stood over me.

I looked up with hate filled eyes and snarled, "Why?! Why did you have to attack us on this day?! Why couldn't you have told us to meet you out in the forest like last time?!"

He smiled and patted the shield, "Why not? We wanted a high body count, and that was the best way to get it."

I yelled in anger and slammed into the shield, "YOU BASTARD!"

He laughed and turned to face Val and Violent Inferno, who had just walked into the room.

"Val, are you ready for the transfer?"

Val nodded his head and looked at me with a evil smirk.

"Transfer?" I muttered.

Nightmare swirled around to face me and grinned, "Oh yes, the transfer."

I raised an eyebrow and frowned, "Transfer as in?"

"You know that little trick you have, the one where you regenerate and heal yourself?" He questioned, face twitching into a smile.

I resist the urge to gulp and nodded.

He smirked and watched as Val positioned himself next to my shielded prison.

"Well, Val here knows a little trick to transfer that over to me. Sadly, for you anyway, you'll no longer have this ability." He smiled smugly as I growled in anger. "And, after this transfer is done, we'll move on to a few of your other ability's."

I stomped the ground, "That's not possible!"

<It's possible Lance...>
{I KNOW!! I just don't want to believe it...}

Nightmare tilted his head back laughing, "We'll see."

"NO! NOOOO!" Twilight screamed as she pounded against the large black shield that encased Ponyville.

Giro looked into the shield and felt a pang of quilt as he looked at the burning remains of the once peaceful town. This was his fault. He had given Lance the wrong information, and so many innocents had paid for it.

"Now!" Omnius yelled out as he and a few other unicorns shot beams of magic at the shield, trying to bring it down.

Giro looked around at all the ponies who had been outside of the shield at the time it went up, and at all of Lance's friends who were desperately trying to break it down.

Twilight continued to scream out, slamming her hooves against the shield in anger.

Giro slowly walked up behind her and put a hoof on her shoulder, "Twilight, please, calm down."

She twisted around and yelled out in anger, tears streaming down her face, "Calm down?! How can I be calm when I just saw my husband get taken by Nightmare?!"

Giro felt another pang of guilt, "I'm sorry..."

She began to scream, but stopped herself, "Giro... it wasn't your fault. I just want my husband to be okay."

Giro gave a slight nod, "I'll find Lance, I promise."

Twilight's gaze suddenly hardened, "You know where he is, don't you?"

Giro looked away, "Yes..."

Twilight turned his head back to face her, "You're taking me with you."

Giro looked into her eyes and said in a serious voice, "No, I will not allow..."

Twilight stomped her hoof and pointed it at him, "You're taking me with you and that's final!"

Giro gulped and clenched his teeth, "... Alright, if you come, you stay behind me."

Twilight smiled slightly and turned to face her friends, who had trotted over to them as they had their slight fight.

"Are ya okay Twi?" Applejack asked with a look of concern.

Twilight nodded and pointed towards the shield. "Listen girls, we know where Lance is. Giro and I are going to go find him. I want you girls to stay here and help the ponies in need."

"Now look." Applejack said sternly as she eyed her friend, "We're not gonna allow you ta run off and face all those guys by yer selves. If ya go, we go."

The other's nodded their heads in agreement.

Twilight held a hoof to her face, "If you all come, we'll only be..."

"Twilight." Giro said as he looked at the group.

She turned to face him, frowning.

"I think we'll need their help with this."

She raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

He waved his hoof over them all, "You're all the elements of harmony. That's the most powerful weapon we have against them. We're taking them with us."

She began to say something, but Giro shook his head, silencing her.

Twilight sighed and turned to her friends, "Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash looked up at her and stood up straight.

"Go to Canterlot and get the elements of harmony. Once you have them, bring them back here."

Rainbow Dash saluted, "On it!" She then spun around and shot into the air, heading at top speed towards Canterlot.

She then looked at the others, "While she's gone, we're going to help as many ponies as we can when that shield goes down."

Giro smiled a little as they all gave a small cheer.

Not all ponies are bad... like they are in his future.

Giro trotted down the street, looking at the burning remains of the buildings. A few ponies stumbled around, blood covering a few.

The sight was painful for him, he'd know many of those ponies.

After he cleared the streets and came to the center of the town, where most of the fighting must have taken place, he saw a few ponies laying close together.

When he was closer, he recognized them as his friends, or, the ponies who were his friends in the future.

Only one of them was standing, Frederic. He was looking around, tears coated his face.

Giro looked down at the others and winced when he saw Grace. Her right foreleg was twisted in an awkward angle, clearly broken, and bruises and cuts covered her body.

Peter's face was slightly swollen, blood seeping out of his broken snout.

Greg.... didn't have a scratch on him, only a large bruise around his neck.

Frederic tilted his head up to the sky, "This is my fault..."

Giro shook his head and put a hoof on his side, "No it's not. If it's anyone's, it's mine."

Frederic looked down at him sadly, "I could have beaten my father.... I just refused to actually use the skills he taught me back on earth."

Giro cocked his head slightly and raised an eyebrow, "He taught you skills? Why would he do that?"

Frederic sighed and hung his head, "My father always wanted me to be part of the family business. He kept forcing me to take all those fighting classes. He made sure I learned how to fight hand to hand... but... I told myself I would never use what he made me learn... I'm so stupid."

Giro put on a reassuring smile, "You're not stupid, you just did what you thought was best. If you..."

Frederic sliced a hoof through the air and flared his horn, causing a saddlebag to lift off of the stage and float over to himself, "I will no longer go about this peacefully! If he want's to hurt and kill others, then I'll just have to stoop to his level!"

Before Giro could ask, Frederic pulled out a rune and focused his magic on it. A bright light flash, causing Giro to look away.

When Giro looked back, his eyes widened in awe. Frederic was dressed in a full on suit of steel colored armor, the same one he had used on that night so long ago when Cody was trying to kill him. He still had the two swords by his side, each one with the name 'Sanger' and 'Yolosh' carved into the side of the sheath.

"You still have that?" Giro said in slight awe.

Frederic looked at him, half his face hidden behind the metal mask, "Of course, I knew I would need it." He then leaned forward, becoming deadly serious, "Now, were are they."

"Can you wait till..."

He stomped his hoof and growled slightly, "Tell me!"

Giro recoiled and pointed towards the Everfree Forest, "They're at the Nightmare Castle, the one from the show."

Frederic closed his eyes, "Thank you." He then turned and lowered his head, "I'm going to make him pay for all the pain he's caused."

His head snapped up and he shot forward suddenly flying at a high speed towards the Everfree forest.

Giro took a step after him, but the groans from Peter stopped him. Instead, he moved to the side and kneeled down next to Peter, "Peter, can you hear me?"

Peter groaned again and gave a weak nod.

Giro put a hoof on his shoulder, "Hang in there. Help will be here soon."

Over to the side, Grace let out a weak whimper as she sat up and looked at her broken foreleg.

Giro stood and rushed over to her, "No, stay down Grace."

She began to protest, but allowed him to lay her back down.

Giro stood and looked around, watching as the uninjured ponies ran around helping the hurt ones. A few were carrying either unconscious or.. dead ponies on their backs.

He sighed and carefully picked up Grace and then Peter.

Twilight strained herself as she lifted a pile of rubble off of a pony. When it was lifted high enough, she threw her head to the side, sending it into the street. She then galloped forward and kneeled down next to the pony.

The pony coughed and looked up at her, forcing a pained smile, "Thank you..."

Twilight smiled back and stood up. She then levitated the pony up and began to walk towards the medical tent, holding the pony in front of her.

The medical tent had been thrown up in a hast, already full of ponies. It wasn't enough for everypony, but it was better than nothing.

As she reached it, she laid the pony down on a open cot and turned to leave.

But, Giro stepped in front of her, "Twilight, we have to leave as soon as possible."

She looked to the side and saw Grace and Peter on two separate cots, both resting.

"Why? Don't we have to wait for Rainbow Dash to get back?" She asked as she turned her attention back to Giro.

Giro frowned, "Frederic, he ran off to face his father... alone."

Twilight's eyes widened in shock, "He did what?! He can't do this alone!"

Giro nodded, "I know, that's why we must leave now!"

Twilight looked around and yelled out to one of her friends, "Rarity!"

Rarity looked up and saw Peter. As she made her way to him, she answered, "Yes dear?"

"Tell the girls that me and Giro are going to go now."

Rarity stopped and eyed her friend, "Now? Why now?"

"Frederic's already ran off." She said simply as she began to push Giro out of the tent.

When they were outside of the tent, Twilight started to gallop towards the forest, "Come on! We'll be there in fifteen minutes if we hurry!"

"Or five if we fly." Giro said as he galloped to catch up.

"Fly?" Twilight said as she came to a stop and looked at him strangely, "But, you don't have wings. That's one of the differences between my Lance and you."

Giro chuckled and grabbed the edge of his cloak, "Oh? That's not one of the differences between us." He then yanked the cloak off and tossed it to the side, revealing a pair of strong wings.

Twilight sighed and shook her head, "I should have known."

Giro turned to the side and lowered himself, "Well, come on then, we don't have much time."

Twilight looked up and gave a single nod. She then climbed onto his back and shifted into a comfortable position.

Giro stood up and spread his wings, "Let's get this party started!"

He then took off into the air, flying as hard as he could towards the castle.

Oh man, they didn't say this would be that painful!

I was currently curled up on the ground inside the shield, panting heavily. Apparently, that spell he uses causes physical exhaustion.

So far, they've taken my ability to regenerate and my ability to teleport. I don't know what's next though.

Nightmare and Val was currently laughing together, making a joke or something.

I look towards the window and see a flash. Lighting. Looks like a storm is rolling in.

"Do you think you can take his immortality?" Nightmare asked Val.

I shrugged, "I don't know, that's the hardest thing to take from someone. I tried to take my brothers, but failed. I may be able to, but it'll take a while."

Nightmare looked at me and smirked, "Don't worry, we have all the time in the world."

I gulped audibly, if they take that, then... I don't want to think about it.

Frederic flew down the path, a pissed off look on his face.

He was nearing the castle, only a few more minutes to go.

Above him, he heard the sound of thunder and felt a drop of water hit his face as he sped down the narrowing path.

He didn't pay attention to it, but, he did pay attention to the sudden flash of movement off to his side.

Before he could turn his head, something slammed into him and sent him flying off the path and into a patch of bushes and trees.

He slammed into a fairly large tree and completely tore it out of the ground as his body soared through the air.

Frederic growled and twisted in mid air and landed on all fours, facing his attacker.

Richard landed a few yards away and smiled, "You can still stand after the beating I gave ya? Impressive." He then smirked as he looked Frederic over, "Armor and swords? Really boy? You always was a fucking geek about that stuff."

Frederic drew his two swords with his magic and held them in front of himself, "No more games! We're going to end this, right here, right now!"

Richard flexed out his talons and grinned, "So, you've finally grown a actual pair? You're ready to take on your old man in a fight to the death?"

Frederic leaned down into a fighting stance, "I should have done this the first time we fought!"

Richard laughed and also leaned down into a fighting stance, "Oh? As I remember, the first time we fought was back on earth, and we both know how that ended for you."

Frederic let out a low growl, "This time, it won't be me who taste the cold steel of a blade!"

Richard chuckled and tensed, "Of course it won't be Freddy."

Richard then shot forward, talons raised.

Frederic also shot forward, both of his swords raised and ready to strike.

They reached each other and...