My Little Dream Becomes Reality

by Tilltheafterlife

Chapter 15: Vital Competitions

*Night 5*

*Ponyville*

The moon rose for the fifth time, greeting Equestria to another night of probable chaos. The damaging effects from previous days have yet been cleansed. And harmony in Equestria is facing a slow decline thanks to whatever force barged in.

An argument for great decisions and precautions was now in session. It was taking place in the Town Hall, a convenient place for a meeting. Every pony in charge there played a big role in Equestria's economy, health, and critical management. And of course Luna, now the last remaining princess of three, held the most authority over them.

Luna had put herself in a leading position that she found nerve-wracking, considering her rule over Equestria being over a thousand years, she was new to the new. Every pony had their eyes pinned on her as she smiled artificially and spoke to them dramatically.

She struggled. As great as it sounded to gallop or fly away from such pressure, she couldn't. It was her duty to stay and argue. It was her duty to protect them no matter what.

One at a time, each pony kindly gave their question, and Luna answered them fluidly. Fifteen questions by her calculation is how many she received for her debut on Celestia's supposed job. She managed to answer them by giving away wise tactics and reasonable statements. Though, only 3/15 of those questions really had her mind intrigued.

1) "Has Celestia gone insane or been possessed?" asked a purple eyed business stallion, his lackeys gazing at the night princess from behind.

"I am unsure. My sister is many things; a deranged mare is not one of them. I don't think I have it in my power to stop her. But I do hope she has great reasons for unleashing her wrath to take Canterlot back with such a limited army and resources."

2) "What about the monster that murdered my BBBFF?! Aren't we going to do anything about that?!" Twilight asked with hate in her tone.

"Twilight, dearest me. I know you have suffered a heavy loss, but that act is not a way of peace. Yes, something will have to be done. But you must be patient Miss Sparkle. Tis been three days since the incident and that creature you hold hate for was last seen by pony eyes after those three days. It is unlikely that creature will have any more means to step foot in pony civilization once again. It has what it wants after all..."

3) "Is the demon that you banished from our dreams a threat still?" asked a mare with tacky shades.

"That fiend is some pony else's menace if he no longer resides here or in your dreams. If he threatens to return, I will make sure to rid him of your dreams immediately."

The meeting came to an end before anypony knew it. Many decided to call it a day and poured out of the Town Hall while talking amongst themselves. Only a few ponies stayed, including the princess, who appeared both bemused and pessimistic.

Princess Luna was lost in a train of thought, and she began mumbling things to herself at the end. It felt like the fate of Equestria rested in her hooves all of a sudden. And the sudden weighted pressure from Equestria's conflicts brought her even more unease. Such as random criminal acts over poverty, monsters showing up to attack, and worst of all: villains old and new stirring their nasty intentions through pony lands. It was all too much.

With Celestia somewhat out of her league, everything felt hopeless. Luna thought that alongside her sister, there wasn't anything they could not do.

While they both played separate roles, Luna always thought of her older sister as the 'better sister.' Even though Luna possessed a special ability to access the dream realm that Celestia had no way of understanding, the princess of night still felt a sort of unfairness between her older sister. Celestia was the pony responsible for Equestria's functionality, and every pony's playfulness realistically. In Luna's eyes, Celestia was better than anypony else.

"You know, now that I look back to when me and my sister were thousands of years younger, I think I'm starting to realize where my jealousy came from," Luna spoke calmly near Twilight Sparkle, her face covered in shade of regret.

Before Twilight gave away her comforting intentions, a rich stallion intervened. Twilight shot a glare unnoticed by the very same stallion who questioned Luna about her older sister's sudden madness. As the stallion caught Luna eye to eye, the princess couldn't help but to have a suspicious feeling over his pupils.

"Princess..." he was hesitant, but he bowed down.

"You may speak your mind," Luna stood up and stared down with interest for the stallion's own comfort. She noticed his fear growing as he raised his head upwards, showing his mysterious violet eyes again.

"You're majesty, I am here on behalf of my queen to bring about a message we hope you will accept," he said, noticing the princess's suspicion.

"Go on," Luna requested, her tone sounding a little impatient, as if this specific business stallion standing before her was here at a bad time. The word 'queen' that came in his last statement only raised her hunching thoughts even further. And she couldn't deny that something about that stallion was off.

"After the invasion of Canterlot and the humiliating retreat to this village, we see you and your sister's struggles. However, we have a solution," the stallion closed his eyes as a cylinder of green flames gave way to his real identity: as a changeling. His other comrades did the same in front of the princess.

Luna's fighting instincts sparked as a reaction, but she held her own. Despite their highly unwanted visit, Luna held a hoof to put a stop to her guards who were about to tackle each changeling closest to them. With hooves covered in dark armor, they skidded only a few inches towards the imposters before halting. The guards turned their attention to Luna and saluted, while also keeping a part of their concentration on each trespasser.

"No. I would like to hear them out," the princess said firmly. "Leave them and focus on what's outside of here, for I am far more than capable of handling these 'insects' without their queen."

Her small protectors nodded and made a quick exit out of the only door. At this point in time: only a few ponies including Luna and Twilight Sparkle have entered, but have not exited through the door yet. Twilight found herself in a bit of shock once her eyes caught those who stayed. Their faces were cold stone as they stared at the changeling's intervention. And something about them gave away a sketchy feeling to Twilight.

What business would those ponies have here at this time? It wasn't like they needed to stay. Or did they?

Banners swung back and forth as Twilight observed them several hoof steps away. Half were stallions and half were mares. While their facial and body structures didn't match, their suits, mane, coat, and tail did. And what's crazier was the fact that they donned the exact identical type of shades for agent organizations. Finally, Twilight took notice of their cutie marks. She nearly screamed at what she was seeing.

An equal sign for a cutie mark didn't appear freaky, until the poor unicorn realized they ALL had an IDENTICAL cutie mark.

Twilight gave herself false thoughts to cover the disturbing truth. She would always set her mind to imagine an unpleasant situation having a simple solution rather than a complex one. Maybe those ponies are just playing dress up, and are using equal sign stickers to cover their ACTUAL cutie marks. Right?

With no specific identification on who they were, Twilight took her regard away, believing them to be a group of ridiculous ponies spying on the princess. While Luna wasn't exactly the princess who looked after Twilight as a foal, the lavender mare still held high esteem for Luna as she did for Celestia. Despite the fact that Luna formally wanted to bring about eternal night to all of Equestria.

'There isn't anything good about spying on a princess. I should tell her about these weird ponies after this little bug situation is over,' Twilight made a mental note.

"Our love problem has been taken care of. We no longer crave the love from ponies since we have something else to satisfy our hunger. With that, we ask that you offer us your forgiveness over the inconvenience we unleashed," Pharynx requested, mainly because of Chrysalis's orders.

"Forgive!?" Luna's face became stern. "How can I be sure this isn't a foolish lie from a bug? Where is your queen? Why send you here, as a messenger?"

Pharynx buzzed his wings irritably while his younger siblings refused to make a sound. 'Ugh, stupid moon pony! Just give me a yes or no answer so we can leave already! This place reeks of pitiful friendship and discolored rainbows! I swear to Chrysalis, if I'm ordered to bake cupcakes with pink frosting as my next special assignment, I will EXPLODE!'

Convincing the princess nicely was going to be a lot more daring than a poor Pharynx could imagine. He wasn't necessarily the charming talkative type as he usually relied on his powerful shape shifting abilities to get things done right away. But he sensed the alicorn's power, and refrained from any aggression.

With a sigh of annoyance, Pharynx kept on. "Look, I understand you don't want to trust us, but we just want you and your sister to know that we won't lay a single hoof on any pony unless you lay a hoof on us. If you didn't know, Discord, the Lord of Disharmony rules Canterlot in our queen's stead."

Luna's heart sank. There were many eyes in front of her while she stayed in a frozen state. While there were several mentions of Discord's return, a part of Luna didn't believe it. But now, that part of her was beginning to dust away.

"Discord is free from his stone casing again!?" Luna reacted with a flinch. It was at that moment that the changelings for a first saw her in fear.

"Yea, he's been back ever since we established our throne." Pharynx saw her expression, and figured out why it came to her. "Ah, you must be concerned about your older sister. She seeks to punish our queen, but doesn't realize she's about to punish the wrong individual."

"You mean that in both a literal and metaphorical way don't you?" she eyed Pharynx even closer, a little too close for his comfort.

Pharynx nodded. "Face it princess. Without those elements of harmony, you and your subjects are nearly powerless to the unknown forces outside of Equestria. If I were you, I would stop thinking about revenge against us and focus on what can empower pony civilization away from torment. And to be honest with you, this village's defenses we sneaked past: armed pony or brick wall, lack the essential criteria of a defense."

Luna was about ready to accept the changeling bidding. However, before doing so she questioned Pharynx about a specific creature, who she believed built a coalition with Chrysalis. This made Twilight lose all imaginative thoughts as her ears were plugging themselves into their conversation.

"Do you really need to know more about that... guy?" Pharynx asked, hoping it wasn't a serious matter.

Luna nodded solemnly. "That creature is responsible for the Elements of Harmony's disappearance, and responsible for the death of her brother," she pointed to Twilight who was glancing at them carefully. "And he could be the sole cause to Equestira's sudden spike of warfare occurring day by day. After all, no pony has ever seen anything like him before. We are unsure of his abilities."

The changeling shook his head while muttering out his thoughts. "I don't think he is the one causing your disasters. He may be playing a role in them, but he is too... annoying and innocent at the same time to be such a danger you believe he is. I didn't know what Chrysalis saw in him when she decided to ask me of all changelings to be his little caretaker. But I do know he has great ambition."

"Would you mind speaking his location? There needs to be... a talk about his motives."

"About that," Pharynx spoke unresistant."He isn't with us anymore."

"What do you mean?" Luna pushed on, her head tilted.

"I mean he was transported someplace else by Discord," he grumbled. "None of us, not even the queen have an idea where he is now! So if you want any chance of finding him, ask The Lord of Chaos!"

"..."

"Now enough getting off topic," Pharynx rushed. "Do you forgive our actions or not? Our queen promises it won't happen again."

"Very well. Tell your queen that I, Princess Luna, approve of your peace offer."

After that statement, Pharynx faced his comrades and made a sound of consecutive chirping. Twilight and Luna paid close attention. From what they were hearing, it sounded like a language spoken only by changelings. The two ponies couldn't exactly make out what was being hissed, buzzed, or chirped in Equestrian. But despite that, the two were most knowledgeable enough to comprehend it as ordering.

Luna observed the changelings salute to their general, Pharynx, as they picked themselves up from the floor with their bug-like wings. Without giving a nice goodbye, the group of changelings exited the Town Hall like a swarm of giant mosquitoes. The doors were left open after they buzzed away in a rush.

"That... went better than I anticipated," Twilight said.

Luna made a thrilling grin and gently closed the doors. Her hopes for peace were now on an ascent. She had no way of telling if it was because of a successful agreement for peace with the changelings, or simply a rewarding feeling of confidence when things start to get better during hard times.

Either way, Luna enjoyed the feeling, and didn't bother questioning anything, not even Twilight. And speaking of questioning, Twilight snapped the princess out of her little haze when the talented unicorn asked about something that Luna failed to acknowledge during her talk.

"My apologies, Miss Sparkle. My mind must've been distracted over a little pride. What seems to be the matter?" Luna asked, her eyes following Twilight's extended hoof.

"They, are the matter princess," Twilight pointed out.

"Who-" Luna made a faint gasp when she finally took notice. A line of grey ponies, each of them taking a step into the moonlight with perfect unison, is what Luna heeded. Her thoughts of their appearance turned out to be a match of Twilight's. Matching cutie marks, attires, and coat colors was unnatural for pony kind.

Twilight tilted her head to her upper left and whispered into Luna's ear. "They've been standing there since the beginning. Clearly they want a word with you; I just don't know what exactly."

"They must be part of an organization I am unaware of," Luna muttered while the ponies gave her an uneasy feeling. "There are still many secrets from the past thousand years that my sister refuses to share."

Twilight turned to her with a frown. "Could you try to get them to leave?"

Luna couldn't respond, as her face lost any will to acknowledge Twilight's level of easement. The 'agent ponies' stared at the princess as if they were emotionless robots, their bodies refusing to make any movement. Having an unreadable intention, Luna drew near them and then stopped once a thing happened.

The thing that happened made Twilight's eyes widen. In her lifetime of studying magic, she never thought she'd witness a spell invented by Star Swirl the Bearded. But she was witnessing it now, from those questionable ponies.

"The Fusion Spell..." Twilight said out loud, gazing at the process. The 'agent ponies' disintegrated into tiny particles of themselves, then came together as one. Each particle from each pony reacted the same when they were brought into physical contact. From Twilight's view, it was like a magical jigsaw puzzle putting its own pieces together to form an image.

Once each particle became a piece of matter, and once each piece connected in formation, a mare was formed into existence as a result of the spell. A jaw drop from Twilight is what the mare received as soon as she gained consciousness.

Luna kept still while getting a good look at the strange mare. Static similar from a TV ran through every part of the mare's body including her eyes, and Twilight, being the curious mare that she is, decides to get closer. However, the mare took her own right hoof and stomped before Twilight had an attempt to speak, Her one hoof stomp made a wave of static that plunged into Luna, Twilight, the Town Hall, and all of Ponyville.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!" she screamed in agony after her unreasonable action, confusion drifting upon Luna and Twilight. They then glanced at the mare's grey coat and tail, which seemed to be gaining more static as the mare's body began to disunite and deteriorate.

Twilight fought her hesitation to speak up and asked the mare with a concerned tone of voice. "Hey... what are you-"

"No," the mare groaned. "You're not the pony I seek. That man lied."

"Who lied? What is your business here pony?" Luna asked.

The mare didn't look intrigued, but she pinned her corrupted white eyes on the two in front of her. High levels of static occurred once her eyes flashed.

..........

*ID: Princess Luna*

*Status: Reformed*

*Level of Power: 28*

*Regarded Abilities: Lunar Energy Blasts, Teleportation, Flight, Royal Voice Intimidation, Control of the Moon, Dream Wanderer and Bender.*

*Goals: Forget the Past and Eliminate all Nightmares*

..........

*ID: Twilight Sparkle*

*Status: Broken*

*Level of Power: 16*

*Regarded Abilities: Advanced Levitation, Quick Comprehension, Teleportation, Rapid Firing of Magic Attacks, Supportive Spells, and Other.*

*Goals: Avenge her Brother's Death and Recover Lost Memories*

..........

Twilight could tell the mare wasn't about words, but that didn't mean she was mute. Just in time before the increasing static overtook her, the mare had managed to analyze the data shown, groaning in pain even more as she felt her time fall short.

"Princess Luna..." she said in a disorderly voice.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "We beg your pardon?"

The mare laughed in response. "What fascinating natural numbers you have in your existing code. You have my interest, princess."

When static finally engulfed the last remaining parts of her body, she exploded into a tiny sphere that immediately fled out in a flash, leaving behind a gray trail.

"Hey! Wait!" Twilight yelled, galloping outside with misfortune as she realized the trail left behind was gone. She turned behind and caught Luna trotting after her, utterly abandoning the Town Hall. They stared at each other while giving away their bewilderment. "Who... was that?"

Luna only answered once her head turned to a position of difficulty, outside and inside combined. "I don't know."

Twilight groaned over her ignorance. "Well... guess we should call it a night? The meeting is over."

"Nay," Luna's tone grew cold. "We are not through. However, thou, Twilight Sparkle, deserve rest. We on another hoof need to obtain answers on what's happening in Equestria. Tis a pity that we only know of one who could provide such answers we seek."

"What?"

Luna sighed. "Listen to me, Miss Sparkle. I need you to keep an eye on this village while I am gone."

Twilight gasped. "Me?! Why me?! Where are you even going?!"

"To Canterlot, dear," Luna prepared her wings for take off.

"But we need you princess! You can't just leave!"

"You need Celestia as much as you need me. I must be sure she'll return in one orderly fashion. And if what the changelings said are true, then Discord has Canterlot in his claw and paw. I must speak with that draconequus if we want any chance of knowing what is to come."

---

*Canterlot High School*

"ONE HEAD DOG COMIN' UP!!!" Horror Sans broke the utter silence, readying his ax to get the job done.

Sam's heart ran cold, instincts screaming for him to keep his guard up. He may have not a clue on what attacks the mad skeleton possesses, but had a few ideas. His new pony friends stood next to him, unable to sense what was coming.

The skeleton was only in front of them for a moment, then within a single blink of an eye, he disappeared. But during the very next moment, Sam gasped, eyes wide as he ducked under a lethal attack from behind before any of his friends could react. A resulting heavy gust of wind blew by, alerting Sam's friends to Horror's dirty plan.

Sam/Rarity, out of pure panic, decided to blow the skeleton away with a surrounding force of space magic. The friends were accidentally blown as well, but nevertheless, none ended up injured. The skeleton recovered back up with a heavy groan and shot a glare at Sam.

"ERGH! ya big beefy flesh of meat! hold still!" Horror Sans shouted from afar.

Sam shook his head, disgust written all over his face. "I don't think so. It's really horrifying for me to have some skeleton like you, chop my neck off behind my back."

Horror Sans raised his ax, its stained blood now visible. Lyra Heartstrings gagged at the skeleton's disturbing ways. His way of torturing and killing was more slow paced, creepy, and done in a wicked orderly fashion. Everypony against the skeleton got that clear description once Sam prepared for another sneak attack. But instead of a heavy melee attack from behind, a set of cleavers in a circular vertical motion rushed towards him as if they were thrown by cruel hands.

The cleavers' sharp edges had a thirst for blood, but in spite of that, Sam/Rarity conjured a projectile shield which bounced the cleavers' in the opposite direction. Two unicorns, Lyra and Sunset, levitated the runaway cleavers' and flung them towards Horror.

In astonishment, Horror Sans scarcely dodged each cleaver. While he thought his reflexes were on point, Rainbow Dash swooped in, charging at Horror like a mini missile, then became the first to inflict damage. Horror felt a crack form in his ribs as the athletic pegasus attempted to pin him down.

"Take that you creepy bonehead!" Rainbow Dash insulted.

"oh yeah? take this in return you rainbow headed moron," Horror clenched his left empty hand and brutally punched Rainbow Dash in her muzzle. She then fell to Horror's right side with a bleeding nose.

Rainbow couldn't help growling over the skeleton's cockiness. In her eyes: Horror Sans was like a big bully, who felt excessively sure of his ability to bring other ponies down. No matter how outmatched his opponents are, he still keeps a nasty grin on his face. That was something Dash desired to wipe off.

"*pant* ugh. y'know this heat is quite a pain," Horror glared at the sun, which appeared to be in a sunset position. "no wonder the boss sent me here. going against you all would be a piece of human if I wasn't being drained constantly."

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"

More sound waves mean more shattered windows for CHS to replace. Thanks to Sunburst's bad luck, he ended up getting cut a couple times from sharp falling glass. But apart from that, Boyfriend's high-pitched voice stunned Horror. While Horror's head didn't explode like the rest of the undead, a successful stun was enough for BF to land the second hard blow.

"Beepo skdoo skbep beepaa boop bappity beepaa be beepaa beepbop skdoo skbep skdoo skdabeep baaaap be bopo bep beep bappity' beepaa beepbop beep bappity skebap beepo boop brep baaaap bop boop boop de skbep!" Boyfriend tossed his microphone, directly pounding Horror in the face.

The skeleton snapped out of his stunned state, following with a glare at what appeared to be a little human child. Horror wasn't smiling any more. "another human, eh?"

"Be bop bepo skdoo be bopo skbep beepo baaaap! bep beep bappity' beepaa baaaap be bopo beepaa boop beepo beepo, bop be bappity boop beepbop boop beep skebap!"

Horror didn't exactly catch what BF said, though he assumed it was an unpleasant attitude. "beep and bop all you want little boy," he gripped his ax tightly with both hands, eyes shrunk menacingly. "because today will be your last to do just that."

"I don't think so," Principle Celestia stated from behind Horror Sans.

"wha-" Horror failed to notice the injured alicorn at the beginning, and as he turned, he caught a fiery blast straight in his chest consequently. Then, as a part of Principle Celestia's spell, a raging fire started spreading through Horror's jacket.

Rainbow Dash smirked after hearing Horror scream his lungs out. She watched the bone monster burn with a bit of satisfaction. But nice moments don't always last long; it took only an eye blink again for Horror to disappear and reappear back to where he was summoned. The raging flames were extinguished over his swift teleportation.

Sadly for Horror, the burned damage remained; everypony noticed Horror's ruined jacket, his burnt bones, and his ruined slippers. He at this point wasn't in much of a fighting condition compared to the start when extensive pride took hold. He admitted to himself that he had underestimated the enemy, or rather the 'enemies'. But, either way, Horror Sans couldn't disobey a command given by his boss. He'd be seen as a cowardly piece of trash if he fled from the scene.

"Bleh! My, he looks certainly dreadful after exiting a furnace!" Rarity commented.

'Yea, well, the good news is that the flames did a number on him. Plus, thanks to this dang heat that's been making me and you all sweat like sick throughout this whole bizarre day. I think it's coming back to repay us,'

"Repay us? What do you mean by that, Sam?"

'Just look at him. His bones are fried, and each part of him leaks sweat. He's weak to heat.'

Sam continued staring at a drained Horror Sans. Glancing back at his new friends for a moment, Sam gained a small amount of confidence. Surprisingly, his friends were in good shape, and Sam wanted to keep it that way.

Without a warning, Lyra and Sunset fired their heaviest blasts. Clearly, Horror didn't deserve a warning from the two unicorns. But he also didn't need one either as cracks formed on the concrete in front of him.

'What the?' Sam put a good focus on the expanding cracks and nearly gasped once a wall of spiked bones shot out of the cement. The bone wall now serves Horror as his own protection, which proved itself by going by its purpose completely. The wall received severe damage, parts of bone scattering across. But despite that, the wall held itself through the unicorn attack.

"One lethal attack after another, all of you will be my dinner tonight!" Horror claimed.

Sam fixed his senses on another spike of energy. He was glad his own senses were made keen when given birth, and thankful they haven't reached a terrible downgrade throughout aging. His sudden appreciation of senses was increased by a ton during the fight because of a multitude of rumbling cracks occurring below his feet. The same ground cracks were happening each below his friends' hooves as well.

After a half second of confusion, Sam's nerves went into overdrive when he realized what Horror Sans was up to as the cowardly skeleton hid behind his bone wall.

'CRAP!!!'

Not wanting to risk his life over a second of relaxation, Sam swiftly leapt far away from his original standing position. From where he once stood, he saw another set of bone spikes arise from the cement, ready to impale any living being in its zone till death.

Lyra, Sunset, and Sunburst who also were in the zone of rising spikes, were immediately flung out of the zones after Sam took precaution over their lives. The bone spikes then rose, failing to hit any target.

Sam could hear Horror Sans mumble out impatient complaints, but Sam retained his focus on his friends. Sure, the three of them groaned unpleasantly after Sam/Rarity used an unexpected force, but at least they weren't impaled or killed by Horror Sans.

"Okay, that's it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She galloped in front of Sam and leapt into the air. Her wings kept her suspended in mid-air before she decided to hurtle her way down towards the bone wall at an incredulous speed. "Come on out of there and face me, bonehead!"

From plain sight, Rainbow's left hoof was extended while her right hoof was seen bent during her reckless charge. A faded rainbow streak followed her downwards as well. Sam knew what the crazy cyan pegasus intended and immediately called her out. "Rainbow Dash, STOP! He's lurin-" but it was too late.

Rainbow Dash had already driven herself into Horror's trap that Sam suspected. Although she did break through Horror's defensive bone wall, a spiky circular object, caught her left hoof after she landed. At that moment, Rainbow Dash couldn't stop herself from screaming in agonizing pain as the object's snapping jaw bit into her leg like a timber wolf with steel teeth. The jaw was shut tight, and it only tightens even more if Rainbow made any swift movements in hopes of breaking free.

"ha. you couldn't just keep standing there cautiously with your friends, huh? bet you had it in your dumb gut to charge at me by your self without thinking of the risks. you fell right into my trap. well, my bear trap to be specific."

"Shut up!" Rainbow yelled angrily. "This isn't fair!"

Horror chuckled. "awwww. is the little feisty pony mad? or are you just using that anger to cover up your FEAR?"

Rainbow Dash at her best, tried to unsnap the bear trap, but only managed to pull it slightly open before it snapped closed again, worsening her hoof injury.

"it should rather be called a pony trap; considering you aren't a bear," Horror got a glare from the pegasus in response. He shrugged and held his ax firmly, face becoming a sicko one as he got closer to Rainbow Dash.

Every pony far from the scene for some reason didn't do a thing but watch.

"Sam! Stop idling around and help her! She's injured and helpless for Celestia's sake!" Rarity snapped, grabbing Sam's attention.

'Yea I will now, now that I know Rainbow Dash actually NEEDS my help so badly!' Sam said, running towards the scene. His feet carried him as far as he could get, but unfortunately, Horror spotted Sam approaching. Showing a crazed smile, the horrific skeleton launched a barrage of sharpened bones, each stained in blood.

"I hate sharp things my horrific man," Sam/Rarity once again used space magic to create a field that followed and repulsed a majority of speed or force to zero movement. Each bone that was launched inside the field instantly froze. Gravity then did its work and the bones fell on the cement as Horror watched in disapproval. The skeleton shrugged a second time and he refocused on Rainbow Dash as she continued to struggle her way out of the pony trap.

"welp, guess you all win this round. to be honest, one individual against five or six individuals wasn't fair. but i'll be sure to play unfairly next time. and before I face defeat..." Horror raised his ax viciously high in the air, being only an inch away from Rainbow.

Then, for the first time, Rainbow Dash showed a face of fear. Horror's red eye disappeared, and his mouth drooled out a disgusting black ooze. "I BETTER HAVE SOME FUN FIRST! HAHAHAHA!!!!"

"HURRY SAM! THAT MONSTER IS GOING TO-"

*Chop*

Rarity lost the will to say anything to Sam after..........

"..." Rainbow Dash fell silent. There was no scream or squeal over the damage, except for a scant breath release. The miserable mare's magenta eyes gently closed as she plummeted on grass. Blood splattered out of Rainbow's gashing wound which in turn gave the green around her laying position a color of red.

'That skeleton must've had his bones chewed by a pack of dogs to inflict that much pain,' Sam charged forwards with his fists clenched in hatred. He watched Horror's cocky smile return, and for some reason saw the horrific skeleton fiddle with his ax. Did he find drips of blood a satisfying feature for his ax? Would he really chop the flesh of a living being like a wooden log to get a nice distraction? Sam didn't care.

Horror let out a weak groan once a blue force stiffened his entire body, preventing him from making any movement. He knew this was defeat. Clearly the human wasn't going to show mercy. Horror could see the sick hate in Sam's expression. It was the kind of hate that involved the desire to kill. And during this, Horror even saw one of Sam's flaws in combat after getting punched in the skull directly by Sam. Horror shook his head with a laugh to go with it.

"c'mon buddy. is that all you got? the way you fight is so predictable. it literally has no style," Horror Sans commented.

"So what? It gets the job done," Sam responded stubbornly with another hard punch, knocking Horror in the middle of the road. And again, Horror was caught in a force he couldn't break free from.

"you and your bare fists alone won't be able to stop my boss once he reaches his full potential. if it wasn't for those ponies behind ya, and that stone you carry, you wouldn't be standing in my boss's way, kiddo."

"Ah, so you're saying I need to improve myself if I want to stand a fighting chance. Finding a great weapon, or getting skilled in combat would suffice, right? Well, that sure is good advice but... I ain't got the FREAKING time!"

"..." Horror's gaze caught Sam's friends surrounding a dying Rainbow Dash in dread. He of course chuckled at his work and their reactions over it.

"Now let me and Rarity kill you real quick. You've done enough!"

"rarity? who would that be?"

Horror looked at the gauntlet, then the blue stone. He wasn't given a direct answer by Sam, but when the stone made its glow for only one second, he could've sworn he saw a white unicorn mare glaring his pitiful self down by the human's side. He wasn't able to fully capture her appearance as she was only there for a brief second. However, Horror caught the hatred in the mare's face. Was she a ghost?

He later peered at an enlarged smoky portal; a result of the stone's ability combined with Sam's will. The portal's presence and size took every pony by surprise, including those inside of CHS. For a portal nearly the size of a shack, Horror couldn't see the point in its excessive size. If Sam planned on pushing him through to the other side, he could've positioned the portal closer and at least made its size close to his own.

"a portal rather than a punch in the face? that's so much more effective," Horror said sarcastically. "what harm is that big nasty portal going to inflict anyway? oh, lemme guess, it's going to suck me in like a black hole and then I'll be trapped in an empty void once I reach the other side."

"Nah, that's not its purpose. Maybe you should take a closer and longer look," Sam suggested while pointing a finger.

Sounds of honks came echoing, along with a constant sound of running motors. Horror and Sam's friends all gazed at the portal. Half of them were unable to predict what was about to be transported through from the other side. And within an awkward second or two, several incoming trucks accidentally drove themselves into the scene as each one rapidly came through the swirling blue circle.

Horror said nothing after figuring out his dire situation. Instead of being tied down on western rails for a train to simply run over him; he was being held by a force of space so a set of military trucks can do their unintentional death job. He didn't know how, but actual ponies were operating the sturdy trucks, using their hooves to steer and mash pedals.

"Get bashed over ya horrifying piece of crap!" Sam yelled, remaining focused to keep Horror idle.

Horror frowned, bracing for a peril collision. He noticed the military stallion operating the vehicle take notice as well, mashing the brakes. Though, either way, Sam and Rarity got their way. With a loud sound like a busting stick, the stallion's truck ran over the skeleton, dangerously losing control afterwards.

"SWEET MOTHER OF-" the military stallion also lost control of himself as a result. With little to no pause, the stallion launched himself out of his vehicle, miserably rolling down a rough road. The truck then maneuvered itself on its own and carried Horror Sans towards a tall building.

Then afterwards came a loud crash followed by an explosion which dismantled the truck to a poor hunk of junk. Flames which clogged the air with smoke had engulfed it all around because of a gas leakage. The last time Sam sensed Horror teleport in the face of danger was when Celestia ignited him on fire. However, because there wasn't that 'feeling' Sam gets deep down somewhere in his mental state, Sam assumed Horror Sans had taken the full impact of the truck collision and explosion. The only question that remained now was if the skeleton were dead.

"Wh-wha. What's going...on..." Rainbow Dash said, her friends witnessing her going out cold as high amounts of blood leaked out of her wound.

'Rainbow Dash!'

Sam mumbled something to himself, hope resting in his eyes as he ran towards Dash.

"Where's the dang nurse?!"

"Redheart's probably in the medical room where you chose to rest last night. We should check to see if she's there right away!" Lyra exclaimed.

With a given thought Sam softly and briskly took hold of Rainbow Dash in both arms. He felt her pulse and heard her slow paced hefty breathing; she was still alive! Though, every pony knew that wouldn't be the case for an extension. Rainbow Dash had put herself in a deadly mess thanks to her reckless side and action was needed to ensure she'll live.

Having full concern for only Rainbow Dash and nothing more, Sam clenched a fist before transporting only himself and Dash inside CHS by manipulating space. The rest of his friends were left outside by themselves with a burning truck, a setting sun, and several military ponies.

Sunburst kept a wide open mouth after witnessing a familiar pony's spirit who overcame the CRYSTEM process successfully. If he was correct it was same pony or lady rather, who terrorized him and Sam back in the Crystal Empire; the lady, Rarity, later on made a decision to be friends over an enemy. The Crystal Heart, Rarity's well being, and Sam's guidance together, was what gave birth to the element of space.

"Wow! There's so much more I can add about these events in my book!" Sunburst claimed. "Maybe I should make a history section written over several empty pages of this book. It would be great for some pony as observing as myself to research this lengthy adventure."

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes with a smile that screamed: 'Classic Sunburst.' "Wow, I thought after you flunked out of magic school and went through years of dark times, you'd change for the worse. Turns out I was wrong. You're still the same Sunburst I know from Celestia's school."

"Hey!" Sunburst murmured with a slight blush.

"It's true y'know," she shrugged, turning to Lyra who was now for some reason looking at them both in frustration. "What, Lyra?"

"What? What?! What do you mean, WHAT?! Sam, left us behind again! And you two are just going to talk about something casual like nothing crazy out here just happened?!" Lyra spat.

"Bep bap beep beepop baaaap skdoo skbep bopo skbep bopo beep beepo beepo baaaap bep beep skbep bopo beep beepo skdabeep be bap brep boop beepaa beepbop boop skbep boop skebap beep baaaap skbep," Boyfriend stated his honest opinion.

Sunburst and Sunset looked at each other, a little embarrassed over Lyra's outburst. Sunset then turned back and did the talking, "I mean... doesn't he always just leave us behind when he's in a rush because of something presumably important, or of great necessity that shouldn't involve us?"

"Whatever is happening to him should always involve us! That's what friends are for!"

"HEY!!!" a stallion voice yelled, angered. The group of four each sought who intervened with the loud mouth. A couple of the four already raised their eyebrows at the newcomers after facing them.

"Yes?" Lyra asked, a bit nerve racked.

"Care to explain what's going on and who's responsible for the damage of MY PERSONAL VEHICLE!" the stallion yelled once more. His hat later tilted over his stress, but he re-positioned it back. Lyra caught a glimpse of his brown mane before his hat hid it away. The stallion appeared familiar to Lyra, but she couldn't quite catch why. His brownish eyes and green coat didn't help, even if a spark happened in her head upon sight.

"Uh... who are you exactly?"

"I'm General Dan, the leader of this squad you clearly see in front of you," he said before his comrades saluted. "There's been a report of a strange phenomena occurring near here at this very school, and we all have been sent here to investigate."

"That's cool. But we already have it all under control. We do not need military involvement for this," Sunset stepped in.

"There will be military involvement whether you all like it or not! We have our orders after all," Dan said firmly.

"Orders? By who?"

"It's none of your business," Dan ordered the soldiers under his command to pull out their guns. The friendly group of four flinched as each one of them had guns pointed in their direction. "But if we want to talk business... advise us with what you know, or die. It's nothing personal."

Lyra looked at him, befuddled. "What do you mean advise you?! We have not the slightest idea in Celestia's name on what's going on either!"

The general huffed irritably over impatience and disbelief. Normally he'd refrain from wasting any time on the young obnoxious, but this time a round was different for him. His suspicion was high on the group of friends, especially the short boy.

"Maybe you can explain to us why a portal magically appeared out of nowhere; maybe you can tell us why a spoiled child-sized teenager of all people is still human, unlike everybody else who now struggles to make a single hoof step rather than a simple foot step on this planet!" General Dan gestured to Boyfriend who in turn gave General Dan the finger.

"Skbep bep bap boop beeeep be skdabeep skdabeep baaaap be bopo be bepo boop bap skebap skdoo skbep bep skdoo de beepo skdoo bappity boop skebap skebap bopo brep brep baaaap! bappity be bappity boop be skdabeep bopo skbep beeeep beep bappity beepaa baaaap be bopo beepbop boop bap boop, skdoo skebap skdoo be beepaa!" Boyfriend retaliated, clearly seeing the general's jealousy.

A glare formed on General Dan's face. "You better watch it you little punk. In case you forgot, I can give the order to rain fire on all of you whenever I want. And if I still had hands instead of these worthless hooves, I'd give double of my dirty fingers in return to your spoiled face!"

As the general continued his rant, he found himself distracted over a lack of self control. Because of that, he failed to take consideration of the fighting going on between his soldiers from behind. Not only that, he paid no attention to the sudden sounds of 'ahhhs' coming from above.

Lyra, Sunset, and Sunburst, being fed up with the general already, decided to focus on the sounds instead. Lifting their heads with neck muscles, they glanced at three flying creatures.

General Dan also wanted to get into their interest. Instantly, he regretted looking up as well. Three monstrosities, each with a tail of a mermaid, and a horse body as their upper part were swirling around them like vultures. The source of 'ahhhs' was their doing all along once the three creatures sang louder than before for a second time.

Uncomfortable at what the creatures were doing, General Dan coldly ordered his troops to shoot the singing trio down. But, there came a problem. He nearly yelled out his order again before realizing his soldiers were in the middle of tackling and fighting one another. They spat, hit, shoved, and glared into each other's eyes. For what cause? Sadly, the general didn't know. Dan knew his soldiers well, and knew this wasn't them.

"Break it up, all of you!" Dan ordered. And for a third time his orders were ignored. "Looks like they're asking me to command the rough way."

Lyra returned her focus on the soldiers, then on Dan. The general pulled his sleeves, popped his hooves, and went into the soldier frenzy. Figuring the soldiers broke away their care for answers, Lyra and the other three galloped out of harm's way and into the school. She along with Sunset caught a glimpse of the three strange singing creatures staring down at them from the sky.

The four friends were given permission to lock the school entrance by Principle Celestia. And Lyra didn't hesitate to dash through the halls in search of Sam.

Celestia watched the other three follow as she retreated to her office. During that time, the moon slowly rose upwards as the sun drifted below.

Nightmare's spirit was lurking in the shadows as he observed everything. He grinned over the coming night; then his third top eye followed the three singing figures in the sky. Intriguing ideas formed in his thoughts after seeing their feeding ability.

"Creatures that can absorb negativity similar to me? Hmmm.... how interesting."

---

If Nurse Redheart could say one word to describe her job it would be 'tiresome.' Every students' health including the newcomers all rested in her hooves. It was all up to her to decide whether her patients depart from the medical room alive, or stay in the beds till death. That last statement was a bit exaggerated.

"Okay Sticker Picker, you're all set. I've checked every part of you and can conclude you're free from any sickness or infection," Redheart said to her last patient.

"Are you sure? The monster that attacked me sure did have icky nails," Sticker glanced at her stitched up wound on her front leg, She felt disgusted and flinched her head away to the ceiling as a reaction.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now head back to class. I have other things I must attend to."

"Like what? Isn't it almost nighttime?" Sticker asked, getting a chuckle from Redheart.

"Paperwork deary. Lots and lots of paperwork I must fill in."

"Why?"

A sigh escaped from the nurse, which in turn brought Sticker a shameful feeling over herself. The nurse was exhausted for the day and was in need of rest. And questioning a tired pony wasn't helpful.

"Because it's my job," the nurse replied.

"Oh... well, isn't that...boring?"

Redheart smiled, gently placing her hoof under Sticker's chin. "I'm fine, deary. I'll get a chance to rest the next day. Don't worry about me. I have all the equipment and medical knowledge required to take care of both myself and every student in this school all together. Sure, some days for me will be rough, but what matters is that I provide the healthcare that every student in this school deserves."

Sticker's guilt washed away as she gave her one and only favorite nurse a cuddly hug. Nothing was wrong with a hug before a sweet goodbye was an order, especially towards those she loved most. After all her name did match her mindset. She turned out to be an unusually picky one when it came to relationships and habits. But whenever she finds a relationship that certainly feels suitable, she would pick it. And after a long period of time of gaining trust and a closer loving bond, she'd stick with that relationship for long, much like a sticker on a fridge.

"Is something wrong Sticker?" Nurse Redheart looked at her concerned.

"No," she shook her head and leaped out of her bed. "Just... thinking about myself. Heh."

As the young pretty mare exited the medical door, what happened next completely caught their attention. Out of nowhere, a portal formed in the back corner of the room. Sticker and Redheart heard a clutter of flying paper, a thrown office desk, and sounds of metal baskets clanking on the marble floor.

Then, a man the nurse knew out of all the possibilities, came through the portal before it lessened out of existence. What it left behind its stead was a mess of office paper scattered across the floor. That only meant more work for Redheart as she would have to reorganize every single bit of information on each unordered sheet of paper. But that definitely would have to wait.

"Alright nurse," Sam started carrying an unconscious mare towards the same recovery bed he was forced into. Several bruises and a LARGE flesh wound had been inflicted on the poor rainbow manned mare as Redheart eyed them both closely. Sam on the other hand appeared free from any severe damage, but of course was panting like a tuckered dog after they went through whatever chaos the nurse didn't see.

"My goodness! What happened out there?!" Redheart trotted next to Sam while he took his time setting the pegasus down. After that, he stepped aside and gestured to Rainbow Dash with both hands.

"All yours," he said.

"W-what?" she didn't know what to say right away. His out of nowhere second visit without an appointment or a pleasant knock on the door had shocked her, figuring why he desired that stone to begin with over their first encounter.

"Shoot! I don't know what! Just FIX the mare! I'll do anything to pay for your health expertise!" Sam entreated. "She's losing a lot of blood as we speak! And I don't know how to heal anybody or anypony like her in this case worth a penny!"

Nurse Redheart's expression went serious and she pinned her eyes on the damages; the over-sized cut especially. "I'd appreciate to get the name of my unexpected patient for the night."

"Course," Sam wavered a hand. "Her name is Rainbow Dash."

There came no acknowledged response by lip, but the nurse took out a plastic clip board that she used to write on. With a pencil in her mouth she wrote on a piece of paper which she later gave to Sam.

"Here, fill that in for me," Redheart hoofed over her pencil as well.

"What's this for?" Sam asked, assuming it was what he thought it was, but better safe than sorry.

"Just fill in what you know about, Rainbow Dash. There might be some questions you won't know; you can just leave them blank if you really have no idea."

"Thanks..." he said, then took a seat on an orange chair as the nurse started an advanced medical procedure.

Sam didn't feel like watching the nurse do her thing, and that's exactly what he did in the next passing moments. While he could be observing the mare do her job and potentially learn something from it, he instead focused on filling in the sheet of paper given on his lap. Tapping his head using Redheart's borrowed pencil over his own confusion towards the first set of questions, he filled each empty blank with gibberish answers, or wrote N/A on other particular ones he didn't know how to answer.

'Goodness! Whether I'm at school or not, I always find myself having to do boring paperwork no matter where I go! Although, this ain't as bad as answering questions on a test. Because not knowing the answers on this ID sheet will not count against me.'

'Ha! I feel you there.'

'???'

Sam whipped his head side to side and found a young mare sitting down peacefully on his left. She was staring at him. For now, Sam decided to pay no attention and continued on finishing what needed to be finished. He heard the nurse prance around the room like an actual wild horse, which he did find distracting as heck, but he didn't complain about it. On a good note: a prancing mare was the complete opposite of a lazy mare. And a lazy nurse was the LAST type of nurse Rainbow Dash needed for life's sake.

"Excuse me, sir," the mare finally piped up. Coincidentally or intentionally, Sam had filled in the last remaining blanks before the mare spoke up to him within the next second.

There was a brief pause, but Sam steadily faced his left to meet the mare's eyes. Her eyes were as pink as pink frosting.

"Yea? What's up?" he asked, a bit intrigued by her pinkish appearance.

"You're still human," she looked at Sam from head to toe, a charming smile forming on her cute face. "How? Everybody else including me turned into talking horses. Why haven't you?"

"Because I'm not from here," he answered honestly. "Not to be rude or anything but I'm in the middle of an apocalypse. What business do you want with me? Whatever it is, it better not be trouble."

"Hey! I was just curious. I'm not looking for any trouble, I swear."

"Then why bother talking to me? Do you really think I'm worth interacting with?"

The mare's nice expression changed over the salty attitude she wasn't expecting. "Well, YEA! You just came out of a magic portal! How can anybody not question you and your personal goals after seeing you do that?"

Sam nearly rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I ain't going to be staying here for long. I'm just here to keep watch of her recovery," Sam pointed a finger to Rainbow Dash.

The mare then annoyingly glanced at Dash. She blinked once and blinked again after returning to face Sam. "What's so special about her?" she asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Why do you care? She's just a pegasus I care about. It's not your concern."

Finally, the mare lost the will to smile. "Geez, what's up with you sir. Don't you think you're being a bit, unnecessarily edgy?"

"..." Sam sighed, revealing that he was frustrated about something beyond her knowledge.

"Look, why don't we start over. My name is Sticker Picker. What about your name?"

'Ah, I see. This little pony wants to be my friend. Guess I should play it nicely for now since it looks like I'm going to be here for a while.'

*3 hours later*

In that span of time, Nurse Redheart was almost done with the last bits of strapping and stitching on Rainbow's torso. The pegasus wasn't losing blood anymore as a result. For Sam, he knew healing wasn't an easy process, and knew it was something that required time. That reason alone was exactly why he even bothered speaking to Sticker Picker; to pass the time quicker.

Apparently three hours had already passed once they both reached a point where they couldn't say more about themselves. Although Sticker Picker obtained a feeling deep down that Samuel was keeping something secretive away from her. Sam read her mind, but didn't speak of it.

A little elbow nudge took her away from her thoughts. Sticker returned her focus on Sam before he spoke.

"Hey, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for acting up. I guess my mind misjudged that smile of yours," he said apologetically.

Sticker nodded, confirming she understood. "It's okay. I've known many others with trust issues. You're not the first."

He smiled and put a leg over the other as he slouched to relax.

"By the way, where are your friends?"

"My friends?" Sam looked at her confused at first and then snapped in realization. "Ah crap! My friends! I forgot all about them."

"Sam, I bring news about Miss Dash's condition," Nurse Redheart intervened, crushing the subject completely. "Good news? Or bad news first?"

"Bad news," Sam demanded without hesitating.

"Rainbow Dash... seems to be in a coma. And before you ask, I don't know when she will regain consciousness."

"Alright. If that's the bad news then what's the good news?"

"The good news is that Rainbow Dash is alive and well thanks to a miracle. I have managed to stitch each wound, including the ginormous one. Her bruises will fade away in time and she won't die from blood loss," Redheart blinked. "So um, would mind explaining how this happened? I must say those injuries were madly severe."

"Again? I just explained a bunch of past information to uh... Sticker, right?" Sam pointed to Sticker Picker with two fingers and a closed eye.

"Yes. Oooh! Oooh! Let me tell her!" Sticker excitedly raised a hoof while vibrating on her chair.

"I don't see why not," he shrugged.

Sticker coughed to clear her throat. "Okay, so long story short. Sam and his friends including Rainbow Dash were battling scary monsters! Next thing they know, a horrifying skeleton with an ax jumps out of nowhere and brutally chops Rainbow Dash on her side. Out of hate, Sam opens a portal that lures a big truck through; that of which crashes into the skeleton. And now he's here with us."

'Meh, good enough I guess.'

'Of course it was good. Are you that hard to impress?'

'???????????????????.........What?'

"..." Redheart blinked and her eyes twitched. What she just heard felt like a complete story made up by a filly. A magic portal and a walking skeleton was greatly far fetched to her. But on second thought she remembered how Sam made his entrance. And believed a nasty sharp ax was a possible cause to Dash's deadly wound.

"Wow, it's nighttime already," Sam broke the awkward silence, gazing at the moon through a window. "I'm not even sleepy yet."

"Not sleepy?!" Sticker exclaimed, yawning in the middle of her next sentence. "How can you not be tired? I haven't done anything productive all day and I already want to sleep in the dorms," she got up and stretched a hoof. "Well, whatever floats your goat, I'm going to bed. It was nice speaking to you Sam!" she gave a friendly wave before departing for the school dorms.

'There's something about that mare that is raising my nosy levels.'

'...?'

"Hey, wait!" Sam quickly caught Nurse Redheart before she made her departure as well from the medical room.

"Yes?"

"If you see any of my friends, tell them I'm in this room safe and sound."

Redheart paused. "You're staying here for the night?"

"Yep. Someone's gotta keep watch of the rainbow pony."

In spite of the offer for a convenient sleep, Sam rejected it. He cared more for Dash than his own comfort. And would go through many difficult times to keep her alive.

"Hmph. Well, have a good night Sam," Redheart kindly said.

"You too," Sam walked and stood next to Rainbow Dash as the nurse exited and closed the door shut. Now, it was just him and an unconscious Dash chilling in the medical room. He patted Rainbow's mane with care, the colorful fluff comforting his bare hand. Sadly, there wasn't any telling when or what it would take to awaken her. But all Sam cared about was the fact that she was alive.

He took a hold of the nursing bed's blanket and gently covered Rainbow Dash as nice as he would himself whenever he went to bed. The heart monitor continued its purpose with beeps that gave a healthy feeling over his stay. However, Sam also thought something was missing. He returned to a mode of thinking.

'Dang. I should've been more alert and protective. If I wasn't daydreaming throughout parts of the fight, she wouldn't have gotten chopped by Horror's ax.'

"Don't blame yourself. We both tried our hardest. Besides, fighting is undeniably not everyponys style. I for one am a mare of style, but my stylish ways do not include blood-lust."

"Hmph. That's a fair point, Rarity. I do still feel a little bad about the whole thing though. Also not gonna lie, this room feels kinda darker with less ponies for me to talk to."

Even the nightlights connected to each outlet didn't fill the room with enough light Sam intended. One by one they flickered as if they were dying.

The room was getting darker with each flicker. Darker yet darker.

Something was off. They couldn't tell what. They felt alone but at the same time not. The darkness in Sam's head was consuming him without inflicting any pain. Almost as if it were dragging him into a void of nothingness.

"Sam... what's going on?"

'It's... him. This darkness is too familiar. It's the same presence that came to me after I sought to help you back in the Crystal Empire.' Sam answered. That answer turned out to be the last thing he said to Rarity. At least for the time being. Rarity didn't say a thing back, since a twist of a door knob silenced her entirely. Next, sounds of creaks occurred as an effect of the medical door slowly opening on its own.

Coming at a stop at a 90 degree turn, the door had opened for a figure just outside of the medical room. No, it wasn't just a figure; it was a man.

"✋ 💧☜☜ ✡⚐🕆 ☟✌✞☜ ☞⚐🕆☠👎 ✌☠⚐❄☟☜☼. 👎⚐ ✡⚐🕆 ☼☜💣☜💣👌☜☼ ❄☟☜ ☞⚐☹☹⚐🕈✋☠☝ 🏱☼⚐👍☜👎🕆☼☜ ✋ ✋☠💧❄☼🕆👍❄☜👎 ☞⚐☼ ❄☟☜ ☞✋☼💧❄✍" the man spoke in a language Rarity couldn't comprehend. His decapitated and melted body maneuvered smoothly into the room. And then, a loud door slam followed.

Sam froze, and only his mouth could dare move. "You again.............."

******

*Cloudsdale*

"Leave me alone!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"Oooh what are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash!" the bully responded, insulting her.

"Keep making fun of me and find out!"

"Haha! You think you're such a big shot? How about you prove it to us," the other bully said with a smirk.

"I will prove it! Just... uh... wh-what do ya have in...mind?" Rainbow asked, her confidence not with her at a bad time.

Sam stared at the scene, his gaze peering over to a pegasus colt with wings of an angel. By a look of things, the larger colt potentially had a sort of bond with Rainbow Dash's two mockers, who were both now challenging her to a race. Rainbow Dash gulped and her lips vibrated out of control. She was about to face a trio of bullies on her own.

While she may have considered being titled incredibly awesome if she won, she also regarded that if defeat were to occur, humiliation would hit her like a boulder on the inside. Not only would defeat give the bullies an even better reason to mock her, but worse, everypony in Cloudsdale would see her as a fool. A fool who overestimated their own abilities.

"You're on," Rainbow Dash said.

"Yea, we're on. And you'll be off," the first bully pointed away off into the land below.

"Off?" Rainbow tilted her head.

"Off of Cloudsdale once we beat you, dummy," the second bully laughed. "You'll be so embarrassed that you'll leave and never come back."

"We'll see about that!" Rainbow Dash immediately flew off to the racing area and her bullies followed her there.

As all three colts readied themselves at the starting cloud, two of them made faces over their opponent while the third taller one only had their eyes on the cloud rings. A random filly was chosen to wave the checker flag, and when she did, all four flying contestants began the race. Several other young fillies and colts cheered them on in excitement once they took off.

Rainbow Dash with a great desire to win, pushed forward. And with precise movement and speed she passed each required cloud ring and took two of her bullies by surprise after she lured them into each other as one of them attempted to knock her by the side. Afterwards, they landed onto a fluffy cloud, resting on it in a daze.

"Two out of the race, and only one to- HEY!" Rainbow Dash yelled, feeling the strange third colt swoosh by her. Instantly, the young Rainbow Dash filly grew in frustration. The third colt was definitely the most unique out of the three bullies. And by unique: he was faster, more concentrated, less talkative, and of course more confident.

His speed without an exception was on a high level, but Rainbow Dash wanted to put her own speed to the test. The two of them then passed through the second to last cloud ring without any trouble or interference. Although, despite Rainbow's accelerating speed, the colt turned out to be ahead of her. He had already dove down to reach the last cloud ring only seconds before Rainbow made the same attempt.

And with a quick and easy stunt upwards, the colt pressed onto the finish line. Rainbow Dash failed to keep up, and her humiliating defeat came after she heard a crowd of fillies cheering the third colt.

Rainbow Dash stepped on the finishing cloud, coming in second place. She growled at her rival and to all the other spectators who laughed at her loss.

"Is somepony being a sore loser?" the colt turned to Dash, a cocky smile intentionally forming on his lips.

"Yea, yea, just shut it," she spoke in a sluggish and depressed tone. The colt later ran up to her and knocked her by the side. No pony said a word or did anything after a poor Dash collapsed on a cloud's surface. And in such a mental tragedy for Rainbow Dash, every pony did the opposite of help; they laughed at her. She was about to break in tears, praying to Celestia that this was all a worthless nightmare. "No, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Her cries echoed across Cloudsdale. Surely some pegasus out there whether young or old would stand up for her right? The amount of humiliation Dash was in couldn't be true. She needed some pony by her side.

"Accepting this as a reality would be a real pain wouldn't it?" a voice called out to her.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash got up on all four hooves and checked her surroundings. The immature laughing slowly ended once confusion made her quiet. Then, out of nowhere, a grown alicorn pony appeared before her very eyes. His horn glowed red as a thick line of red waves cleared away what her eyes previously saw and thought were real.

Rainbow Dash, with her little head couldn't comprehend her situation. All she could understand was that magic was at its work. The cloud she once stood on became a straight solid road, and houses constructed of clouds formed by the magic that swept across her current location. The entire racing area had transformed into one of Cloudsdale's home areas. And to top it all off, the bully and the young laughing crowd around her dissipated out of existence as a result.

"Well, well. I think I'm finally beginning to understand," the strange alicorn looked down at Dash, showing he was now the only being she could interact with.

"Who...are you?" Rainbow questioned with a concentrated gaze. "Wait. Are you an alicorn?!"

"Eh, not exactly," his eyebrows lowered.

"How'd you do all of that with your horn? I just have to ask because whatever you did was very cool and awesome!" Rainbow Dash complimented. "You must be really powerful!"

Sam shook his head. "Nah, I ain't that powerful. You're actually the reason why I'm here with these limited magical abilities."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed onto the alicorn stranger. "What do you mean? I'm just a little filly right now. And you're a full grown pony! How can I of all other fillies be the reason for your special visit? Don't you have some pony else who's more important than me to talk to?"

"Nope. Believe it or not you are the source of my reality powers. And heck if you weren't here, I probably wouldn't be here either," Sam claimed.

"Wait a second. What happened to everypony at the race?! Are they okay?"

"Oh they were just part of my illusion. They weren't actually real."

"Your illusion? Excuse me?" she glared at him over a spike of high distrust. Her wings were even starting to twitch repeatedly like a fearful bird.

"Hey wait, lemme explain. I was just playing around and testing the new magic in my possession. But out of sheer coincidence, you just happen to fly into this area which I chose as a testing ground, and suffer through the dirty tricks I unintentionally unleashed over you."

A slight confusion presented on her face. "So... you're saying that all the racing and bullying was because of you. But you didn't create the whole shebang to disturb me on purpose, right?"

"Basically, yes."

"So um, why are you here anyway Prince...uh?"

"Sam alone is just fine for my name. And, I'm not a prince."

The statement took the young Rainbow Dash by surprise. If he wasn't a prince for being an alicorn, then what exactly was he?

"I'm actually here to protect you from danger. And I'm also here to ask that we form a sort of partnership."

*Rainbow Dash's POV*

I sat at one of my most favorite clouds in Cloudsdale, my new friend taking his time to reach me. I watched him slowly flutter his way in an upward diagonal direction while I begged him to pick up the pace. His wing flaps were clumsy as a beginner level and I couldn't stand to watch.

A bright light grabbed my attention towards the sun, its position giving me a nice recollection of my free time. My parents told me to be home before dark, and also said to stay clear of grown ponies during my time to fly freely. I knew well I was already disobeying one of their commands, but the grown pony was an alicorn for Celestia's sake. Surely, they'd understand why I would put my trust in this stranger. Right?

"Whew. You make flying look so easy," he said with a few deep breaths.

I looked at him funny, and laughed. He sounded like a joker, but I knew he wasn't actually joking. Hearing him say he was once completely something else inside rather than an actual pony on the outside was starting to sound pretty fetching, even for a pony like me who doesn't really believe in myths or tales.

"Heh, yea, that's what many ponies my age tell me," I claimed. "Not to make fun of you or anything, but who taught you how to fly?"

I noticed him think for a moment without much of a reaction.

"Well, I actually taught myself how to fly, but I'm guessing from your previous vision, my way of flying is poor."

I couldn't help but to nod afterwards. "I think I can teach you how to fly if you want. And I also think your wings are probably in good shape for a nice flying practice."

"Really?" Sam unfolded his wings and took a look at them. "What kind of flying practice do you think my wings can handle?"

My left eye squeezed as I eyed his wings closely while scratching the top of my head. "Eh, all you need for practice is to learn the basics and do a few hundred wing laps."

"A few hundred laps?! Why?" he asked, letting me know he was the lazy type. "How about twenty laps instead?"

I facehoofed myself and flew off of the cloud before Sam even noticed. My partner kept a cold stare while I stared back at him. Then, I motioned my hoof towards myself, giving out sign language as a little message. Being the clever pony that I knew he was... or whatever he was on the inside, he quickly caught on with a nod and began flying. It took a couple tries for him to leave the cloud, but thankfully on the third try, he succeeded and kept himself steady in the air.

"C'mon, partner. If you wanna learn how to fly the right way, then you need to put in the effort!" I crossed my hooves.

"I'm trying okay."

"Well, TRY harder! I've seen even the worst flyer fly faster than that!" I insulted him. To my surprise, he didn't get upset over it. Actually, he laughed in return. Pretty odd if you ask me. Then again an alicorn deciding to be pals with a little pegasus filly like me was WAY off.

"Fine...I'll stop being lazy for once," Sam looked at me with a difficult look.

"Good. Now let's go!" I waved my hoof to follow along with my onward command. "I have a great place where we can practice. That is, if you're willing to practice at all."

There wasn't much of a word in his mouth, but I guess he didn't need to say anything since he followed me all the way to the practice place after I took off. It was pretty empty when we got there, which was pretty nice for both of us. I for one find that flying alone freely brightens my focus, and that it helps me become a better flyer at a faster pace.

"Alright, we're here. What do I do, Rainbow Dash?" he asked, continuing to flap his wings.

"I was thinking about making you do a twirling stunt on that cloud, but---" I froze over the realization that he had just spoken my complete name. 'Did I tell him my name? Or... did he already know?'

"But, what? You think it's too much for a beginner like me?"

"Uh...yea. A tricky stunt would be way too advanced," I told him, plowing away my ridiculous curiosity. "Maybe we should start with the basics, and maybe work on your flight speed."

"Sounds fair."

"Well, if it all sounds even to you, then follow my lead!" I said, allowing immediate wing action to take me far within seconds of time. He didn't take even a second to follow me afterwards. And somehow, I saw the confidence in his face as he accelerated to a speed almost as good as my own. No self control of mine was able to prevent me from looking back at my trainee. Out of all beginner odds, HE, of all beginners was picking up the pace fast, and I mean really FAST.

"I'm catching up to you, Rainbow," he called out. "But I'm pretty sure you can fly way faster than your current speed. Am I right?"

I smiled at him. "Please, you haven't seen what real speed is like!" 'There he goes again with my name. Seriously, who is this, Sam?'

"Really? Why don't you show me?" he dared me. "I want to see you at your fastest."

I faced him again, this time sensing a little competitiveness. "Okay, you asked for it," I faced forward and used much of the will and wing power I was so far able to muster in myself. My speed then outmatched his speed after I started with a heavy dash to begin his dare. He also got caught up in the rainbow trail I left behind, causing him to fall behind.

Because I didn't want to lose sight of him over my speed, I made the decision to go in a loop around the open area, instead of continuing forward. Thankfully, within a minute of looping back around, he wasn't too far ahead from the starting route. I later on caught up to him by surprise and I giggled over his startled jump in mid air.

"Woah! Oh, wow. I kind of underestimated you a bit. You really are a fast pegasus Rainbow Dash," he complimented. "It's even crazier that I'm only half way to the end of this lap."

"Actually, you're only a quarter of the way done," I corrected. "Once you reach the 'end' you have to fly all the way back to the start from there to truly finish a lap."

"Really? Huh. This is going to be a little harder than I thought."

"Don't worry. Your wings just need to get stronger. Like I said you'll be doing about a few hundred of these. I'm pretty sure after several practice laps, you'll quickly get the hang of it."

His lips curved, almost to a frown. "Alright I'll keep going. But before I do, I must ask. Why are you making me train like some professional athletic pegasus? I may not be aware of many things, but I don't think a hundred of these LONG laps are necessary for plain and simple healthy wings."

I sighed for a brief second as my straight posture lowered to a slouch because of his question. There wasn't much of an excuse I could come up with in my head to escape this guilt. While I did say I would help him improve his wing muscles for better flying speed and form, I never told him what I wanted back in return. And with the silence of guilt cutting in after his question, his eyes stared into my soul.

"Rainbow?" he spoke my name for the third or fourth time with a bit of anger and disappointment in his voice.

"Okay look you got me! There is a reason why I'm doing this for you. An... uncalled for reason to be honest," I tried keeping the truth at a low, but his face was such a guilt bringer that the truth just spilled out of my mouth. "Listen, I need your help for an important race!"

"Why so? You've already proved to me that you're like the fastest pegasus filly."

I shook my head. "You don't understand! This coming race requires at least a form of partnership to enter. Age, weight and height don't mean anything; only the rules apply equally to each pony no matter how big or small they are."

He became still for a little before he made his amazing answer. "Fine. I'm in. When does the race start?"

"YES!" I shouted excitedly in the air.

***

Ponies from outside of the racing area were cheering all eight contestants, including me and Sam. We were now standing on the starting line, waiting for an announcement. A few of our rivals by all means had the nerve to talk smack beside us, but believe me, I had my full attention on Sam only; he was the only pony who mattered in this situation after all.

"Are you ready for this, Rainbow Dash?"

I watched the flag pony glide downwards on a cloud, awaiting an announcement as well. I took a deep breath. "Yea, I'm ready. You?"

"Yep. I'm ready too. Let's just hope those practice laps I suffered through weren't for nothing."

I blinked and took a moment to understand and remember every little detail about the race. The rules were in my opinion, a little strict and somewhat unnecessary. I gazed at Sam's horn without him knowing and realized one of the rules specifically states in bold words that no pony is allowed to use any magic of any kind. Sounded a little paranoid, but I guess unicorn magic can have it's bad in hoof.

With the audience quieting down, a voice echoed around us. That voice was the announcer. My heart rate quickly went up when my sudden little time for preparation for the biggest moment in my life daunted me. Most of the rude colts were still laughing out their mockery of us, clearly believing they were going to be the winners of this race, guaranteed.

Making fun of me and my older partner at this very moment was wrong... in two ways. For one, bullying is never a good thing, and is never the right thing to do. But secondly, while their main focus was on me, they didn't see the flag pony signal us to start. After the signal, me and Sam took ourselves in the air, getting the head start before those jerks. The race had begun.

The bullies got a bit spicy after we outsmarted them, but that didn't scare us one bit. I squinted my eyes and struggled to push through the high winds. We had just passed the first obstacle of the race, leaving three more to pass for a win. I looked back and gasped. Those jerks were picking up the pace, and my grown alicorn friend wasn't helping me here.

"Hey, Sam!" I said as I flew, trying to get his attention.

He thankfully caught on and tilted his entire body a smidge to make an awkward sharp turn over to me. "Yeah?"

I pointed at the fourth obstacle, and also dove down to legally approach our second obstacle. "Do you see that cloud launcher over there?"

"I do. Why?"

"..." my mind went blank over two things: one, the jerks had just flown ahead of us, and two, the sound of his voice while flying down at a high INTENSE speed, with the wind blowing hard on his face. "How are you so calm about all of this?!"

"I don't know," he answered while zig zagging by the steam powered machinery obstacles without a glimpse of a struggle. I did the same too, trying to not get distracted.

"It's like you've done this before."

"Maybe I have, Dash..." his voice turned strange.

I shook my head, snapping my mind to what was important. "Egh! Forget it. Anyways, back to what I was saying about that cloud launcher. It's the last obstacle of this race, and is the only obstacle that takes teamwork."

"How come?"

"Because one of us needs to stay in the launcher while the other gathers enough clouds to fuel it up. After that, one of us will be launched to a far away cloud. Whoever's launched to the cloud will have to grab a flag, and fly all the way back."

"Fly all the way back?"

"Yes. Fly all the way back," I assured him. "You got it?"

He nodded and made his decision on gathering clouds for fuel. It made perfect sense, since I was the faster flyer. We also let our excitement carry us through a giant storm cloud, which turned out to be obstacle three. Sooner than later we both passed the bullies during our trip through the crazy rain and lightning.

"Looks like our rivals are right on our tails. We're also approaching that launcher. I'll gather the clouds right away!"

Sam's direction of flying changed in an instant as I loaded my entire self into the specific launcher with our team number on it. After several seconds I caught the bullies and another team doing pretty much the same thing we were doing. Suddenly, I felt a little scared. Now that I think about it, I've never trained Sam on cloud handling. Sure, he may be able to bust them to nothing without a problem, but carrying them with care at a fast pace was a different story.

I continued laying back for the past couple of minutes before Sam finally returned with the last set of cloud fuel for a full on launch upward. He looked at me for a moment and without a word he quickly loaded the launcher and activated it. Turns out, I was the first one to be launched. My twirls in the air finished as I took control of myself and landed on the flag cloud. I may have become a bit dizzy, but that didn't stop me from retrieving our team flag and flying back to the bottom.

"RAINBOW DASH! LOOK OUT!" Sam alerted me from the great finishing distance, but I could barely hear him. He sounded worried, and I had no idea why until it hit me. Well, one of my 'enemies' hit me in the air to be specific. I felt my front bones crack on my insides after my rival bashed his hooves onto me during his launch boost. There wasn't much I could do since the jerk cut me off from my body. It wasn't a surprise that I was falling down like a helpless busted hot air balloon. All thanks to those dirty cheaters.

But all hope wasn't lost. I heard the audience gasp over an overwhelming shock. Apparently, for the sake of my life, a certain somepony had broken one of the rules. Out of thin air as far as my eyes could see, a thick cloud formed below my fall of doom. A red magical aura surrounded its fluffiness as I looked upwards, our team flag still secured in my mouth.

"Ha! I knew you wouldn't leave me hanging!" I exclaimed happily to my loyal partner. He nodded and the red magic followed his horn. Hundreds of eyes were on him, but I knew it wouldn't be long before those eyes would come for me. I gritted my teeth to better encase our flag and leapt from Sam's cloud. If there's something I'd put above winning this race, it would be winning with him, as a team.

My speed didn't stay the same as I kept on. I could see Sam and the winning cloud just a mile away! But, I could also see one of my troublemakers about to take the "w" away from me. I wasn't going to let that happen! With all my will, I blasted through the air and accelerated beyond what I thought I could speed up to. The air was fighting against me as my win or loss was starting to become a great stake. My wings felt like they were going to give out, but once I heard him speak I didn't allow my thoughts and feelings to get the best of me.

"You know you want to be the winner, Dash. I didn't just break the rules to save your tail for nothing. I've done my part, now it's time you do yours. Go get em!" he shouted. For some reason, out of all things that could've helped me, his encouraging words did. Confidence filled inside of me, and the weakness in my wings went away. The fight between me and the stinging air was continuing to a more intense level. My mouth was beginning to open as I neared the end. This was it. The moment of truth! I saw my rival just several wing flaps away from the finish, and it was there where I flung him out of the way with a circle wave of rainbows.

Gasps echoed into my ears as I tried to stop myself from flying excessively upward. I turned my head around and found a rainbow streak so thick and colorful that I never in my life have left behind. And after I finally looked down to the finishing cloud I realized why every pony was staring at me like I was awesome. I...had...just...done...IT!

A clear hoof wave from Sam clearly was a signal for me to follow up with an air dive to land with our team flag. I later on regained control of my direction changing, and then did just that. And with an epic land along with a gentle placement of our flag by both of our efforts, the crowd roared with cheer.

"We...WON!" I said.

"Yea. We sure di- uh," he froze over my uncalled for awesome hug, but I didn't care.

"I can't believe I just did a sonic rainboom! I thought it was just an old pony's tale."

"..."

I looked at him funny, and giggled at him. "What's with the silence? Do you think I'm too awesome for hugs, or what?" I crossed my hooves. "Hehe, you should see your face. You don't even look surprised in the slightest. You really are different in some way, aren't ya?"

He shrugged. "Eh, I don't know about that Dash. All I know right now is that what you did was more impressive than I could ever imagine."

"Me? Impressive? Psh!" I waved my hoof. "WE, were both AWESOME!"

"How was I in any way awesome?" he asked me, showing how exactly humble he really was.

"Uh, hello? You just summoned a giant cloud that stopped my death fall! I've seen plenty of nerdy unicorns and believe me, none of them are fit to do what you just did to save my life," I explained because his lack of pride after a sweet victory isn't in any way my style. I did at least bring out a confident smile from my explanation, but that was about it.

Then, out of nowhere, something was glowing at the back of my flank. I turned to see what it was and...

"MY CUTIE MARK!!!" I exclaimed while doing a few exciting twirls in the air. After I landed back down, I noticed Sam nodding at me with a pleasant smile.

"Well, that sure is something. I did it again," Sam kept that same smile while he looked above in the sky. Clearly, he became happy over me, but for some reason, he wasn't excited about it all like I was.

"☼︎☜︎❄︎🕆︎☼︎☠︎!"

The world around us became dark and empty. Everything and everypony except us were fading away into some sort of darkness. I had no clue on what was going on, and I freaked out as soon as the darkness started closing in on us like a crusher.

"Sam...please tell me this is one of your magical tricks."

He laid a hoof on his own horn. "Do you see the red glow? No. So this isn't my doing. But don't worry Rainbow Dash, this is perfectly safe."

"IN WHAT WAY IS ANY OF THIS SAFE?!" I wanted an answer ASAP after I realized how close the darkness had come.

"It's okay. Just calm down. You and I both are about to wake up from your mind."

******

Rainbow Dash awoke and lifted herself in a sitting position after the nerves in her backbone sparked. She was lying on a nursing bed, and she could see the night sky through the window to her right. She then shifted her head to her left and nearly unleashed an excessive panic that would've cluttered the whole room even more.

Sam, who awoke beside her expressed his feelings of accomplishment which later turned to a feeling of pity. To Sam, helping Dash recover what was lost inside was a good thing. But, he sensed a great unease in Rainbow Dash after she realized what EXACTLY was going on.

With memories of the past hitting her in the back of her head, she recalled one memory. The memory in which she and her friends fought against Discord and Sam brought great suspension in her trust and many responses she desperately held between her wild lips.

"How are your wounds, Dash? Do you remember anything?"

"Don't start asking me for answers, Sam! I know we've already built a nice bond within the past day or so, but that doesn't mean I fully trust you! A part of me still thinks you're a freak, just so you know." Rainbow Dash remembered what he had done to Twilight's brother and the Elements. Those actions were definitely freakish crimes. But despite his crimes, she sighed, and allowed the past to be the past rather than let it be the present. Sam did stand up for her in troubling times when she was in need of it, so she didn't want to accuse Sam of anything just yet.

"Is that so? Then, what answers do you want from me? You got your memories back, right?"

"Yea, I did get them back. But, to be honest, I don't want to talk about it," Rainbow Dash left her bed and removed every cast and bandage that covered her...injuries? Sam gazed at her, astonished to see that her body was left without a wound or even a scar!

"Good gosh, Dash! How the heck did you recover so fast from those wounds? I'm not a biologist, but I'm pretty sure wounds take years and years to fade away to nothing."

"Dunno. Guess I'm born healthy," she shrugged and crumpled all the medical paper into a ball that she later threw into a trash can. "By the way, what happened to that freak skeleton?"

"He got run over by a military truck I transported through a portal," Sam told her, catching her off guard.

Rainbow eyed the blue stone in Sam's ownership. "Really? Shesh. I was kind of hoping I would be the one to put him in his place. That skeleton really did get on my nerves!"

"I couldn't agree more Rainbow Dash," Rarity spoke up, still forgetting only Sam could hear her through the stone of space.

Suddenly, somepony knocked on the door.

Sam assumed it to be Redheart. Although, the slight aggressive knock and utter silence afterwards gave him a second thought. Rainbow Dash noticed his awkward pause and decided to fly over and open the door for him. It wasn't Nurse Redheart.

"Hey, Sam. Is this a bad time?" Lyra asked, intrigued by the two in front of her.

"Nah, you're good. Sorry for leaving you again. I have a moral to save others like her," Sam gestured to Rainbow Dash who was about to dash out within the next few seconds.

"Don't sweat it. I totally understand. I just came here to check on you both and to tell you that we have another threat at this school."

"Whatever it is I'll be sure to give them a nice kick in the face!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Don't be so rash, Dash. This threat isn't what you think. You're being cocky once again," Lyra criticized.

"But, confidence is my middle name! What is it anyway? Some over-sized bug creature?"

"Not really. I'm not sure how to describe them. They look more like flying sea monsters or something."

"Flying sea monsters? How many are they?" Sam crossed his arms with a receptive look on his face.

"I believe only three hover around the school so far. Why?"

"..." Sam shook his head and sighed. "Do they sing or hum in a strange way?"

"Uh, y-yes actually. Sam, how'd you know?"

"ERGH! Gimme a break already! Where's the rest of the group?"

"They're in the school gym and-"

"Cool, lets get a move on," Sam squeezed his way past Lyra and left the room in a haste. It had been only a minute since he did what needed to be done for Rainbow Dash, and now something else needed to be done about a trio of mythical creatures. Sam knew he was running out of breath with each heroic act he took in for the sake of others. He needed a break. But despite his heavy thoughts and sores, he strives to push forward anyway.

His imminent stomping echoing across the halls came to a hiatus, and he eyed Rainbow Dash who for some reason flew in front of him to block his way.

"Whoa there. Where do you think you're going?"

"The gym of course," he replied, quickly attempting to pass Rainbow Dash. She took action and pushed him back.

"Uh I don't think so. You don't look so good, Sam. I think you should let me take it from here. Whatever's going on now, I'm pretty sure my awesomeness can handle it!"

'Rainbow Dash against The Dazzlings alone. Psh! Ridiculous.'

"I have to agree with her, Sam. You REALLY don't look good at all."

"Dash...we're going to deal with whatever NEEDS to be dealt with," Sam's blue eyes darted from Rainbow Dash to a portal suddenly behind her. She struggled to keep Sam/Rarity stationary. But in the end she was pushed through the other side of their portal and into the gym.

There, the trio was met with Vice Principal Luna who stood firm in pony form.

"You..." the alicorn eyed them, especially the human.

---

The whole discussion of the 'singers' didn't surprise Sam at all. And luckily for him, he wasn't being accused of summoning the 'singers' over to CHS. While it may have been his fault in some way, V.P. Luna came to an understanding that it wasn't in his intentions to lure them over. Granted, he was responsible for teaching Sunset Shimmer the values of friendship, and was well respected by P. Celestia after saving her life.

Sam faced Luna, he saw his friends behind her as well. Lyra, Sunburst, Sunset, Rainbow Dash, and most importantly, Boyfriend. They were all there. He was a little befuddled as to why it was just them. School gyms were usually crowded at a large rate, so it would be hard to ignore the rampaging voices echoing across the place.

V.P. Luna then explained what trouble the 'singers' brought upon CHS and its students. Their singing was affecting nearly every student behavior in a negative way and only a few were unaffected. Choosing the gym as a hiding spot was a strange choice in Sam's eyes, considering how open and lengthy it is in size.

"So... you're telling me we're like the only ones immune to their singing?"

"I'm afraid so," Luna replied honestly.

"Shoot. Any idea why it's just us?"

Luna took a breath. Her head lowering as she came up close to Sam, her face showing pity towards him. "I think it is because of you. You are the reason why they are here. And I've already spoken to them. I asked them what they wanted, and they told me they desired you. For what reason? I am unsure."

"Well, I don't care what they want from me. Whatever they want, I'm going to make sure they don't get it," Sam thought about one of two things. "Either they're seeking to suck the magic out of me dry, or they want me gone. After all, I am doing the complete opposite of what they're doing."

"And what would that be?" Sunburst butted in.

"Friendship of course. What else would it be?"

"Um... sound wave repelling... space magic?" Sunburst answered, a drip of sweat present on his head as he smiled nervously.

"Eh, kind of true," Sam then put his focus on Boyfriend.

"Regardless, I have gathered you all here because I believe the six of you are capable of stopping them. I have seen your battles since you've arrived. Putting those three on mute will not be easy, but also not so hard for you six."

"Nah, the whole six of us stopping them together is a bit excessive," Sam dashed towards Boyfriend at lightning speed and held an arm around the rapper's neck. "I think me and BF can take those three down."

"Bopo skdoo bappity beepo be bepo boop beeeep skdoo beepaa beepbop brep boop be bap skbep be brep boop beepaa beepbop skdoo bappity bapboop?" Boyfriend questioned, still being unheard.

"Are... we certain that... you two can handle those... 'singers'? Just... the two of you?" Luna stammered.

"Yea. I think we can handle them. Plus, some of my friends might wanna stay to fend off any horrific monsters that may cause trouble or injury. If there are any still among the undead that is."

"Well, if you both are going against three. May I suggest I send along a certain somebody to... provide... musical support? Just to even things out in terms of numbers."

"Who would that somebody be?"

"You'll see them when you're outside. They too are immune to your opponents enchanted voices."

"Cool. Guess we'll get a move on then," Sam gently tightened a grip on Boyfriend's left arm and stammered out of the gym, bringing BF with him without permission in the world. "Come on BF! We got some sirens to rap with!"

*10 minutes later after Sam's and BF's departure.*

The punch being served on one of the pong tables was cold as ice. A perfect beverage for a relaxing process of peace. Several student ponies entered the gym in a nicer manner, their faces filled with regret despite the fact that they have been told that there wasn't any penalty over their bad behavior.

At any rate, the gym would soon reach its capacity to hold anymore students. Luna's plan to secure every student inside the gym later became a success as the last set of students decided to show up. Gathering every student was the hard part. The easy part for the main team overall is barricading doors afterwards. They did just that.

Apologies filled the gym from every student once under the spell. Mindlessly fighting over the littlest of things wasn't ever a good thing. And hearing the students pity themselves gave the main team an understanding that there wasn't any action or speech needed at all.

Sam and Boyfriend were on duty. Music could even be heard through the school walls. With sounds of beeps and ahhhs combined, the Sirens were clearly distracted. And it became clear they were not going to mess with the students any time soon.

With an understanding reached, the main team gathered in V.P. Luna's office. Her place of work was stocked with paper stacks, and a coffee mug rested on her desk, a written text displaying: "Next Best Principle" around its outside. With a team of five staring off at one another, Rainbow Dash was the first pony to speak up, not wanting awkwardness to get the better of their confidence.

"So... explain to me again WHY we're keeping every pony locked up? When you said I had an important task, I thought it would've come with fighting loads of bad guys!" Rainbow complained to V.P. Luna.

"We are certainly not keeping our students locked away Miss Dash. We are actually keeping them safe."

"From what exactly?" Sunset Shimmer spoke up to aid Dash. "We've dealt with the monsters wandering outside, and Sam and that rapper are out in the middle of the night dealing with those 'singers.' What more could there-"

A sudden power failure intervened. The main team jumped over the fear of this unpleasant surprise, and feared the possibilities of an attack.

"Engh! Can any pony see anything?!" Sunset asked incredulously. She twisted her head in every direction only for her eyes to meet pure darkness. Then, she came to realize there was magic. Using a bit of her effort, a red light emitted from her horn. The office became visible to the team of five as Sunset's horn served as their only candle in the dark. "Ah, there we go."

"Whoa, who cut off the lights?"

"Is this by any chance a power failure?" Lyra muttered.

"I believe so Miss Heartstings," Luna released a sigh. "Now really isn't a good time for such technical issues like these. And to make matters worse, the backup generator is being used on the-"

A shattering window cut Luna off, while the darting glass shards pierced Lyra by the cheek, leaving a few annoying cuts. They were puzzled at first, but when they saw the cause, they immediately broke into action. Lyra fired away as many magic projectiles she could muster towards an intruding monster that broke through the window.

It dropped dead on the floor within a few seconds.

They felt a little relieved over its death, but at the same time, they were GREATLY concerned.

"Wait. There's more of those freaks?! I thought those guys became monster history after we showed them our stuff!"

"Apparently there's more..." Lyra added.

"and more of me ya fools of flesh meat!" a horrifying voice echoed into the room through its door.

The team of five quickly turned their attention before an ax was swung from the other side. The ax chopped through, and the wielder grabbed it once again, preparing for another violent swing to break in. With a crack left on the door, Luna teleports all of her assistants out of the room and into the dark halls. Thankfully, Sunset Shimmer was still maintaining her spell to light the way. So, there wasn't any need for them to scamper about. They only needed to keep focus.

"Okay, why is HE still alive?! Didn't a truck squish him into a pile of bone meal or something?"

Horror San crept in the dark; even he intentionally had his ax scrape along the school walls to sound terrifying as he walked. And just because he wore a smile as he approached, it didn't mean his intentions were pleasing.

"where is the boy? answer me you fictional little ponies! or do I have to do this the messy way?" Horror presented his ax with both of his hands gripping its handle, clarifying his threat of violence. "don't play dumb with me. you five are friends with him."

"What's with you, bone freak?" Rainbow deadpanned. "Did you seriously come back from the dead to settle your unfinished business between us?"

"to settle a score with that boy! the tall one, i mean," Horror stepped a few feet closer. His injuries from the crash and his disturbing appearance became fully visible after he took a step in Sunset's light. A glare is what they saw by the look in his red eye. "tell me where he is, and I just might spare the whole lot of you from a head chop. and i'll even call off the monsters as well."

"Nah. He's our friend. And friends are supposed to look out for each other. Not betray or snitch for some pony's own benefit."

Horror chuckled in a dangerous way. "my boss wants him dead. if i succeed he will reward me. so if i can't come to him..." his left red eye faded into darkness. "i'll make him come to me!"

Luna stepped forth and conjured a magical barrier of the night to which she never thought possible. It sparkled and shined similar to her mane, and it perfectly served as her blockade.

Horror Sans, in his hungry state, had no hesitation or fear of danger. He couldn't even feel any sores or disabilities despite the broken bones implemented after his previous hunt. Furthermore, his injuries appeared to be healing on their own, surprisingly without any advanced treatment or anything.

He growled at Luna, raising his ax even higher. Then, with all his fury he struck the barrier like a mad man chopping away hardened wood. Luna couldn't stop herself from grunting over the impact Horror's attack gave.

"Go! All of you, run!" Luna shouted.

The four behind her agreed, and they galloped away with the exception of one pegasus flying at high speeds without much of a struggle. Sunset and the others kept up with Rainbow Dash's pace, trying to avoid losing her in the darkness. At some point during their getaway, Rainbow turned to her friends, nearly unfazed by the horrific situation.

"You guys think it would've been better if we as a group fought alongside Vice Principal Luna?"

Rainbow Dash ended up rolling her eyes when she accepted the fact that nerdy unicorns aren't in it for listening and answering during intimidating events. Probably because their mouths were blocked by a zipper of fear.

"Help me! Anyone! Please!" a young mare called out.

The four friendly ponies heard it, and to their luck, took the direction leading to her cries. A lit candle rested by a window next to her, giving away her location thanks to its light. When they reached her, a few monsters had forced her into a dead end, but it wasn't anything Rainbow Dash couldn't handle.

The young mare cowered in a corner, believing a nightmare had come true. She nearly let out a scream before a rainbow streak pierced across the monsters, slicing them in half. She was left shivering. It all happened so fast. What was it? Her curiosity then fell on a unicorn trio approaching her from the far end of the hall.

"Hey! Are you okay?" the unicorn emitting a light from her horn asked.

"Y-yea, thanks. Who are you girls?"

"Don't thank me yet," Rainbow Dash slowly lowered herself down to meet the young mare's view. "I'm Rainbow Dash. And these are my friends. Sunburst, Sunset, and Lyra. I'm the one who saved you by the way."

"Wow! Really? You took them out with light speed. How did you do that?"

Rainbow smiled, showing off her wings. "You see these feathery things? They aren't soft feathers anymore. They're feathers of steel!"

"How?"

"Dunno. Guess I got a nice power boost or something. Oh, hey, what's your name? I just got to know the names of every pony I save."

"Sticker Picker."

"Well, Sticks. We're heading to the gym. You should probably come with. Wouldn't want any more monsters coming at you again would ya?"

"That sounds deligh-"

Rainbow Dash unexpectedly grabbed the innocent young mare by the shoulders and lifted her from the ground. They then immediately flew away from their position; a deadly spike of bones rising from where Sticker once stood. At first, Sticker questioned Dash's actions, but took complete understanding after realizing that she would've been a perfect bone pin cushion if she were caught by the sudden lethal attack.

"you can't escape from me that easily, little ponies!" said the skeleton of horror, creeping in the dark.

"Oh yeah. You haven't even landed a single attack on any of us yet."

"Exactly. I've faced a skeleton much more resilient than you. So based on probability, there's only a small 35% chance we'll be defeated by you," Sunburst stated.

"..." Horror's tone grew menacing. "you better start galloping if you want to keep those chances at a low."

"Or, we can just disappear," Lyra wore a smirk and transported her friends straight to the gym with a teleportation spell.

"ah, i see. you ponies wanna play a game of hide and seek. i never did get to warn them, but I'm an expert at this game. hehehe. guess we'll compete to see who's better."

---

"Are you ready for this?" asked Sam. He stared upward and kept a close eye on the sirens circling a part of the sky.

"Bop be bap bappity bap boop beep skebap baaaap!"

"Alright then," Sam read through the instructions and connected both of their mics into Vinyl Scratch's car machine. The car machine brought Sam a few memories of the actual show, but he put those thoughts aside and admired the machine's speakers. Speakers which were meant to bolster the beeps and counter the ahhs.

"So you're the one V.P. Luna sent. I have to say she made a nice choice," Sam told Vinyl who still had a lifeless tongue. "Still mute as always, eh? Heh. I've seen only a few people as silent as you."

"Beepo boop beepop skebap be skebap skdoo skbep!"

Sam returned focus to the important situation, happily acknowledging Boyfriend's faith in their abilities. With DJ PON-3 inserting a disk and playing her daily beats, the sounds were launched loudly across the school field. Sam also acknowledged that the Dazzlings heard it from their distance, and were approaching.

Hm. I don't wanna get cocky. But if Boyfriend can just... after being defeated in a rap battle then...

"Beepbop boop bap boop beepaa beepbop boop baaaap bep be brep boop," Boyfriend warned. "Skdoo' brep bapboop be skdoo bappity bapboop beepaa be bop boop boop de bop be be de beepaa beepbop boop brep be bopo beepaa beep beepbop boop bap boop."

Sam awkwardly took a few steps until he was behind BF. "I think you should take the front lines on this one little man. You're the professional rapper here so, I'll just... provide space magic and support. Sound good?"

"Skbep bopo bap boop, beeeep beepbop beep beepaa boop bepo boop bap. Beepo boop beepaa skbep bep be brep de boop beepaa boop beep bapboop beep skdoo bappity skbep beepaa beepaa beepbop be skbep boop brep boop bap brep beep skdoo skebap skbep beep beepo bap boop beep skebap baaaap!"

The Dazzlings were fast when it came to flying from place to place. As soon as they heard the music, they were there at its source within seconds, without even taking any consideration of the possibility that it was all a trap or an intentional distraction. They as a trio could only cause so much trouble with their songs, but Sam could see they lacked a few qualities in being dangerous.

"Uh, Adagio? Do you think those are the guys? I mean, he did say our target should have a human appearance, and..."

"Ugh. Sonata, look at them! Isn't it obvious!" the yellow siren said to the blue siren on her left.

The third siren with lavender scales turned to the middle siren with confusion. "Obvious? How is it obvious? Our creepy dealer never did specify their looks. How are we supposed to know which human is the target, Adagio?"

"Does it matter if we hurt the wrong one? Think about it, Aria. This world, including Equestrian history sees us only as troublemakers. And I highly doubt we have any room for forgiveness. I think it'd be better to take both of them to our dealer. Just in case."

"Well, if we have to. But, I still have a bad feeling about all of this. Not gonna lie to you two, but our dealer gives me the creeps," Sonata admitted her opinion, showing a frown.

"I agree. His deal sounds a little fishy. And the fact that he knows so much about our desires makes him even more sketchy, Adagio."

"He said he'll help us return to Equestria. And if he doesn't keep his word... we'll be sure to make him pay!" the leader formed a vengeful grin.

"Beep baaaap!"

The sound wave forced both trios into a silent moment. And they all, especially the Dazzlings, stared at the one responsible for the noise.

Boyfriend had lost his patience. He wasn't just in it to win it; what he also wanted was to make a fool out of three pathetic sea creatures. Already, Boyfriend's hand passively shook in anger. He immediately disliked his opponents just by the sight of them. And their babbling was only making it worse.

"Hey, you three," Sam spoke up. From the angry little guy, the Dazzling turned their attention to a taller guy. "Would you girls mind singing your songs elsewhere? Everyone in the school doesn't appreciate what you're singing, nor what it's doing to them."

Two of them laughed as if it were a joke, while the leader only glared coldly in return. "Oh no. We aren't going to leave that easily."

"Why not?" Sam prepared his mic and gauntlet for any attack in secret, as he tried to sound harmless.

"Because they need me to escape this pitiful place, boy."

"..."

Nightmare's spiritual form materialized and he steadily floated above the Dazzlings. Everyone was shocked. "Trying to talk them out of my deal? HA! Foolish. If you didn't know, boy, there is only FIGHTING when I'm around," he opened his hands and grabbed a line of violet chains which formed out of nowhere. "Souls who are rational and reasoning to achieve peace and avoid war is one of the few things that piss me off!"

The Dazzlings were beginning to have a change of mind. But unfortunately for those three, it became too late for them to act. Nightmare's chains were held tightly in his grip, and the cuffs attached to those chains were locked in place on each siren neck. It became difficult for them to breathe after the sudden pressure applied. And from Sam's and BF's point of view, the Dazzlings were like pitiful giant seahorses on a leash.

They were puzzled over Nightmare's actions. And they felt trickery and betrayal as the chains continued to yank them. They couldn't fly free or sing willingly no matter how hard they tried. Eventually, they gave in, allowing Nightmare to have control.

Adagio, helplessly floated lifeless in front of their opponents as she questioned the demon about the deal. "What are you doing? Chains were never part of our deal!"

Nightmare snickered for his skillful manipulation. "These chains are the chains of suffering, ladies. It allows me to control every part of a being that submits to me in any way. You three, being the foolish creatures I knew you were, struck a deal with me, that only leads to a pit of darkness, without a single benefit. Although, the only benefits I see are all directed to me!"

"But... you said after we help take care of those guys; you would show us the way out of this world. A way back to Equestria, our original feeding ground, right?" Sonata felt Nightmare yank specifically herself by the neck a second time. She moaned out of fear and desperate hope.

"Oh..." the demon's smirk retreated for a short period of time. "I believe you three misspoke about our deal the first time we met. You said to me you wanted a way to escape this world. Not a way to return to your homeland. And I have prepared the perfect escape for you three after we are done," his smirk returned. "DEATH!"

"What?! You're sick!" Aria was ignored before she felt an odd sensation of weakness. She and the other two realized that their magic, stolen from every individual they sang to, was being vacuumed like a clump of dust. The demon gladly opened his mouth and absorbed it all.

"MMMMM! Much better! Now my three puppets. Blast the tall one first!"

The Dazzlings stared down at BF, Vinyl, and most of all, Sam. Their faces were filled with regret. They didn't want to cause any deadly harm. Even more guilt flooded their thoughts, realizing that what they were doing had no satisfaction at its end.

Unwillingly, they each blasted a red beam of their own under Nightmare's control. When all three beams made an impact, Nightmare wasn't pleased with the results. For one, he was expecting an explosion, but the beams only evaporated into thin air after making the hit. Secondly, Sam and the other two were not even fazed. Why? Because a blue force field surrounded the stage.

"Not today, thank you," Sam took a good moment to glance at the sirens. Then, noticing the red crystals and remembering that it's their source of power he came up with an idea. "Hey, BF! I need you to beep and bap as loud and long as you can. Because I think I know how to win this! And Vinyl, play some epic music. This is gonna get funky on a Friday night!"

Vinyl nodded and inserted another disk into her DJ set as a response. Music to Sam's ears started playing in front of his demon.

A frown presented itself on Nightmare. "Oh, Samuel. Why do you persist? You know no matter what you do you will only delay your inevitable destruction, inflicted by me," he commanded the sirens to continue blasting.

Sam didn't answer his demon right away. Instead, he took action in removing the space stone from his gauntlet and inserting the power of space into a part of Vinyl's machine. The force field came down afterwards, nearly giving Rarity a panic attack.

"What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us hurt!" Rarity's voice could still be heard by Sam through the stone even though it wasn't in its proper placement.

"No. I'm just trading defense for offense."

Boyfriend was feeling the surge of power entering his mic. After being patient for so long, he snapped his fingers to simulate the rap battle. He wasn't willing to wait a second longer. It was time for those 'singers' to play by his rules.

Two sets of four arrows appeared. One set appeared above Nightmare's side, while the other set of arrows appeared on Boyfriend's side. The game was set. And now, everyone participating was now trapped in Boyfriend's time loop. It was only when the song was over would they be free.

"Skbep beepbop be beeeep brep boop beeeep beepbop beep beepaa baaaap be bopo bapboop be beepaa!" Boyfriend shouted with an excited tone.

"What is all of this foolery?" Nightmare forced his frown on BF. "I don't have time for these childish tricks. Out of my way," he pulled his chains to signal his new minions to fire once more against their will. However, rather than an actual magic attack, an arrow pointing downward flew up into its proper arrow slot from above. Afterwards, the same happened to BF, only this time BF had to get rid of that note with a beep.

"Looks like you're gonna have to get through my little bodyguard first, old pal," Sam crossed his arms and gave Nightmare a smirk of his own.

"And so I shall," Nightmare unleashed an electric energy that tormented the Dazzlings into singing a song. Their song ended up becoming merely music notes for Boyfriend to mimic. After each passing note BF played, his opponents weakened. The odds of BF winning were slim. It was three against one after all. And Sam had given up his own space stone just for Boyfriend's sake.

*Crack*

Adagio heard it. She managed to take a brief moment to glance at her red gem. A crack had formed in the middle. Normally, she would panic over such a sight, but because of her situation, she craved her own gem's destruction. If it were destroyed she would be powerless. And if she were powerless, then Nightmare wouldn't have any better reason to use her anymore.

As much as she wanted to encourage the little boy, Nightmare's chains were still forcing her to sing a set of notes.

"You are a pathetic and cowardly one if I do say so myself, Mr. Samuel," Nightmare growled out his insults, knowing defeat was coming his way. He could sense the weakness the sirens were having. Worse, he barely found any negativity or weak spot on the little boy. And based on what Nightmare felt, Sam's idea to power up BF with the space stone had exceeded its purpose. Minute by minute, Boyfirend grew stronger while Nightmare's minions slowly lost their magical voice.

"Tch! Using those anomalies you call 'friends' to take care of me? Pathetic," his connection to the sirens diminished as their gems shattered into shards. Boyfriend with the power of space, had won the musical freaky battle.

The Dazzlings dropped helplessly on the ground. But despite their condition, they smiled in the face of freedom. Nightmare remained floating above. He wasn't really capable of doing anything else at this point. At least in his spiritual form.

"You win this round Mr. Samuel. But mark my words. I'll come back again, in a different form with different abilities and minions. You can't stop me no matter how many powerful friends you make. I will just come and come until you are DEAD! Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"I do. But I don't believe you," Sam glared at his demon before Boyfriend gave one last beep. The last beep was BF's specialty. And Nightmare figured that out for himself as its shock waves obliterated his entire spiritual form out of existence.

Boyfriend had now truly won the battle. "Bop baaaap boop bop baaaap boop beepaa beepbop bap boop boop boop baaaap boop skebap skdoo skebap skdoo be beepaa."

The overflowing energy left his system in a flash. Sam had slowly returned the power of space to the gauntlet.

"Dang," Sam held a hand on his chest. A feeling he could recognize as worthlessness was crossing his heart. It wasn't that he envied Boyfriend over the stunts he pulled, since the beginning of the rap battle. It was just that he felt completely left out of the picture. He didn't get to do much of a thing apart from lending Boyfriend his stone, but that was about it. For the most part, Boyfriend took care of the whole thing.

"Skbep beep brep? beeeep beepbop beep beepaa' skbep beeeep bap be bappity bapboop?" Boyfriend watched his taller friend shake his head.

'I am pathetic for depending on such powerful individuals,' Sam negatively thought to himself, immediately grabbing Rarity's concern.

"Oh, Sam. Don't let that fiend get to you! You have done all you could to help, darling. Dont-"

'But he's right, Rarity! I am a coward!'

"You didn't run away and abandon your friends, no matter how dangerous things got back there. You stayed. And let me tell you something. Avoiding a fight because you are guaranteed to lose or die is not cowardice; it's being smart and strategic."

"..."

*BOOM*

Out of nowhere, a circular wave of a rainbow flew across the entire sky. A little shock wave following as it passed through. They gazed at the rainbow like a beautiful set of stars. Even Vinyl Scratch removed her DJ shades to get the best view of the sudden phenomenon.

After a good stare, Sam figured out who might have created the rainboom.

"Rainbow Dash..." Sam said aloud. He once again felt something in his heart, no...someone. They were calling to him. Easily, he followed the voice, leading towards the shattered gemstone necklaces the sirens once wore.

Boyfriend and Vinyl stared off at the scene, having a weird thinking about Sam.

'Do you hear it Rarity?'

"Y-yes. But I don't understand what it is saying."

'It wants us to construct the stone we seek.'

"What do you mean? We don't even have the materials or the tools, darling!"

'Yes we do,' Sam gestured to the red gem stone pieces, then gestured to the space stone.

"..."

'I think you've figured out what the deal is.'

Without another thought or word, Sam/Rarity used the power of space. A magical blue force engulfed each small gem fragment, lifting them all in mid-air. With Sam's strength and Rarity's magic, they forged each tiny piece together into one. What was left was a red stone that Sam caught in his bare hand after it fell.

*Reality Stone acquired.*

*4 more stones remain.*

Sam felt a great connection to all of the matter in his surroundings upon inserting the second stone in the lightning shaped hole of his gauntlet. The stone's power of reality infused itself on him. He felt more powerful, but also more heavy to the amount of weight and pressure from wielding two stones at once.

He was once again making progress in his quest. However, he felt someone's presence was missing. While Rarity's spirit resided in the space stone, the reality stone contained no spirit at all. Because of its lightning bolt shape, Sam knew who he needed.

Boyfriend had kept silent before he decided to break it. "Beepaa beepbop boop bap boop' skbep beepaa beeeep be be skdabeep beepaa beepbop be skbep boop be bepo boop bap de be beeeep boop bap boop skebap bap be bep bip skbep?!"

The cries and screams from inside Sam's mind toppled what he heard from outside.

"Come on, BF. Rainbow Dash and the others are in danger. I can feel it."

Without using a portal, Sam took off in a hurry to reenter CHS. Boyfriend and Vinyl followed alongside.

"Not to be rude by asking you an unrelated question to the situation currently at hoof but... when do you plan on traveling back to Equestria? I mean, after we save our friends that is."

'Probably as soon as pleasantly possible.'

"I presume you're looking for those remaining stones. When we return to Equestria, where to next?"

'The tree told me the time stone is underneath the sands of the badlands. So, I guess that's where we'll head next.'

---

Pharynx and his lackeys were nearly finished with their very last assigned task. To their astonishment, everything Chrysalis assigned them to do had gone smoothly without any changeling getting hurt. All they had to do now was gather enough water for the hive and return safely to be done for the day.

Conveniently, the main source where they would always gather water from was next to the badlands. By the time they return, they might actually get a nice midnight sleep before the next unpredictable morning hits.

"Enough. I think that's enough water for everyone. Let's go ahead and call it a day and make a comeback to the hive," Pharynx ordered.

The group of changelings followed Phaynx's lead and took every shortcut they knew through the badlands. While the seemingly short trip back to the hive didn't seem abnormal at the start, the group started feeling a little uneasy about halfway through.

There was nothing but sand in their surrounding area, yet they began feeling like they were being watched. Pharynx ignored his instincts and told his comrades to keep moving.

However, when they were only a quarter of the way done they stopped. Something was DEFINITELY following them. Pharynx was the first to spot the mysterious shortish figure in their distance from behind. At that point, they couldn't keep going. They needed to see what its deal was before transporting the water to the hive. Otherwise, it would know the location of the changeling kingdom without the queen's permission.

Before Pharynx could ask what the figure wanted, it slowly made it's way towards the group. In an instant Pharynx readied himself for a potential fight, but... there ended up not being a fight at all, after the figure revealed its identity and personality.

"woah there. slow your role, kid," the figure spoke directly to Pharynx.

"Kid? Are you brain dead? I'm a full grown changeling general," Pharynx complained.

"don't you know how to greet a new pal?"

"I do, but I don't know about you being my pal. State your name and your reason for stalking us."

The figure shrugged. "i'm sans. sans the skeleton. i've been kind of lost in these parts for quite some time now. and... when I saw you guys 'bugging around' I decided, hey, why not follow those bugs to someplace suitable to live in."

"Well if it's a place to stay you're looking for, I know the perfect place."

"really?"

"Yes. You're coming with us. Our queen might find a bit of interest in you, bonehead."

End of Part 3/4