My Little Dream Becomes Reality

by Tilltheafterlife

Chapter 9: The Lady and the Killer

Dozens of the undead circled the castle. Some were average, some were crawlers, some were spitters, and some were giant mutants. The two things they mostly shared in common was the hunger for flesh and blood, and loyalty to the dream demon himself, Nightmare.

Nightmare broke into the front of the castle and took a step every three seconds. He let his hand scrape the walls of the castle, leaving three deep lines in the walls from wherever he went. The demon shouted Sam's name, asking the tall young boy to come out and play.

Sam, Discord, Chrysalis, and the rest of the changelings heard the chaos from above. They needed to act fast, or they'd all be dead in the next hour. Sam, being the only being in the room with the brains, had to be the leader. Discord may have power, but his confidence leads to his downfall. As for Chrysalis, she was busy healing her changeling minions who were injured.

"What's the plan folks?" Sam asked politely.

"I don't know! I just saved you! And now I have to save your butt again or this world will disappear," Discord growled.

"Well, we go to do something," Sam glanced at his... close... friends, then giving a quicker glance at his gauntlet, and remembered what the tree said. He smiled with hope, "space is found in the land of the crystals. The Crystal Empire, that's where I need to go." Sam's eyes locked on Discord causing Discord to cross his arms. Sam pointed his finger towards the spirit of chaos and smirked.

Discord knew what he wanted. Wasn't really up for it, but he needed to do it. He knew it was Sam's destiny to save the world and Sam needed help to fulfill that destiny. Ignoring Sam's needs will lead to Equestria's destruction, meaning no more chaos to spread and enjoy.

"Fine. I'll hold Nightmare off while you find whatever it is you're looking for. Just make it quick. Can't afford your life to be taken away," Discord said protectively.

Sam nodded, "yea, i'll be fine on my own. Be careful with Nightmare, he's full of tricks and lies."

Discord held his hand up in a snap position. "I'm the one full of tricks and lies, remember that," Discord stated, snapping his fingers. With a flash of magic, Sam disappeared from the group. Chrysalis and the rest of her children, muddled by Discord's and Sam's actions, were left unanswered. They avoided asking any further questions and focused on the bigger picture.

After the queen finished healing her subjects, she tapped Discord by the tail. "So, this Nightmare fellow. Is he a threat to us?"

Discord didn't make eye contact with the queen, he only stared at the door-less front entrance while he spoke. "Yes, yes he is. At least, once he regains his true power. Sam sacrificed the Elements of Harmony to delay it. I have never met him face to face, but I do know he is no joke, unlike me."

Pharynx walked up next to the queen and asked, "what now my queen?"

"I don't know Pharynx; I just don't know," Chrysalis admitted naively. After all the trouble she went through, disguising as Cadance to trick the ponies, ordering her children to invade, trying to control a being that is uncontrollable. It all got her thinking, what was the point in wanting Equestria anymore?

It would only be a waste of effort if a being like Nightmare were to destroy it all in a blink of an eye. Plus, with the throne destroyed, and the elements reduced to atoms, there is no stopping Discord from taking Equestria for himself.

With a breath of frustration, Chrysalis made up her mind. "We can't leave here. Abandoning Discord would mean abandoning our food. I refuse to leave this feeding ground." Chrysalis's ears straightened themselves up at the sound created from the non-shattered windows.

Tall figures stuck onto the windows, alerting the group. The zombies created strange sounds and roughly rubbed the glass. The changelings hissed in response. "Protect the queen!" Pharynx yelled. His siblings buzzed their wings in agreement, setting themselves into a fighting position.

Some stuck onto the celling, some flied steadily in mid-air, and some stayed on ground with flares of green magic on the tip of their horns. One changeling hid himself away from the rest of his brothers and sisters. Thorax.

Thorax felt bad really. But his life was too precious to give away.

The undead ponies banged their heads against the thick glass. Blood leaking out of their now cracked skulls. They screamed in agony while their tummies rumbled. With every bang, a crack would appear and expand. This wasn't good. The whole lot of them were about to be surrounded. Maybe if they took the front door, they could...

"Where is he?"

The unwelcoming voice caught the attention of everypony. Nightmare was standing outside of the throne room. His head twitched violently, and the rest of his body vibrated intensely. Chrysalis, especially her children, felt fear in their hearts, even Discord felt a little concern hit him deep within.

Nightmare's voice grew louder. "I said where is he!?"

---

The skeleton searched every crystal door and still had no luck. That was until he stopped at a library filled with hundreds of books. The bookshelves went in a pattern by color. The starting bookshelf was red, then the next colored yellow, blue, green, red, yellow, and so forth.

This had to be the place to find information on the King's weaknesses. Whether the skeleton enjoyed reading or not, he wasn't going to let his boss down. Even if it means he'll be wearing a pair of glasses by the time he leaves.

"heh, this is gonna suck. hope I won't be stuck here for too dam long, otherwise my boss is gonna kill me for testing his patience," Killer Sans proclaimed. He didn't want to imagine what punishment his boss had in store for him if he failed his mission. Whatever the punishment was, it was certainly worse than death.

The skeleton quickly removed the thoughts out of his bone head and began reading. The first set of books he read showed no title of their topic. Images of crystals were attached to the front cover, to which Killer Sans could guess the topic was related to, crystals.

Because reading each book entirely would take the whole week, he decided to read only a snippet of each book to see if any contained a topic about the shadow king. The process went as expected, terribly long, and he only finished about twenty books before taking a break.

On the bright side, he found out the yellow bookshelves contained the history of the Crystal Empire. One of the books even mentioned King Sombra, but there wasn't any further info for the skeleton to collect.

He rubbed his eyes to comfort them, then he continued reading, only this time, focusing on the books on the yellow shelves.

"nightmare better reward me for this. after I'm done, this whole library will be blasted to nothing! serves this library right when no one even cleans the dam place! these books are the dustiest books I've ever seen. heh, even got dust all over my jacket, reminds me of monster dust." Killer brushed off the dust from his jacket, continuing to complain to himself.

Once he felt like he got what he needed he busted out of the door. Trying to give his eyes a nice rest would be impossible with the crystals shining beautifully and brightly onto his face.

"so now I'm looking for some kind of heart shaped crystal object thing. it'd be nice to know it's location, but I'm too lazy to read more. guess I'll tear this place from bottom to top till I find it. But first..." Killer Sans raised his hand. A large gust of wind flew past the skeleton, causing his jacket to flow along with the wind for a short period of time.

In that moment a large, darkened blaster, nearly reaching the same length and height of the library, floated in front of Killer Sans. The blaster opened its jaw slowly preparing for an attack. Killer Sans closed his hand into a fist and the blaster aggressively opened its mouth in a split second, allowing the goo within, to flood the library.

The library could not withstand the black goo being blasted into itself. In only a few seconds of time the structure exploded, along with goo splattering throughout each crystal building.

The skeleton laughed at its destruction and continued from there.

---

The snow was thick, thicker than frozen ice cream. The wind even, made the conditions of traveling through the ice lands a freezing pain unless you were taking the train there. Thankfully for Sam, the Crystal Empire was only a few blocks away.

"Would've been nice if Discord took me directly to the Empire itself instead of some FREEZING place near it." A big puff of smoke left Sam's mouth and disappeared into the thin cold air after he sighed. "And look at that. I'm talking to myself again. It'd also be nice to have someone to talk to on this adventure."

Reaching the Crystal Empire, the air became warmer. Snow particles started to fade as well as the snow on the ground itself. It became easier for Sam to maneuver past the snowy fields without struggling to take one step at a time.

Nearing the entrance, he looked up to see a ginormous fog of blue magic covering the sky. It sparkled like diamonds almost as if there were diamonds within the fog of mystery. Ignoring it entirely, Sam entered the...........Crystal...Empire???

"Huh, this is...strange," Sam rubbed his eyes to ensure this wasn't a hallucination. Yep, it was real all right. The Crystal Empire's structures changed from cute crystal houses to tall and dull city rectangular buildings. Sam stuck his tongue out and pointed a finger at it, to express his taste towards the structures standing before him.

The windows were dirty and cracked, a few doors were left open, rats crawled in and out, and the buildings weren't even sparkling. Did the whole place go through a rough redesign or what?

Whoever redesigned the place did a terrible job. Wait. What was Sam thinking? He needed to focus on what he came for. There was no time to stop and complain about dirty old buildings.

Sam turned his head away forcefully and continued down the crystal path. Up ahead was the crystal castle and boy, it was run-down. Not only did the empire go through a terrible redesign, but also suffered from a lack of attention and care.

"...? What is this feeling? Why am I all of a sudden feeling disgust? I've visited plenty of nasty cities. The heck is wrong with me?"

Smacking his head and taking a deep breath, he tried his best to ignore his surroundings. He even gazed up at the beautiful, unique sky to make things easier. As he gave his utter focus to the unique sky, a flash of blue light stung his eyes. From that moment on an object like a shooting star tumbled down at a fast pace.

It was going to land somewhere near, somewhere in the Crystal Empire to be exact. Sam took the opportunity to gaze at it with a huge amount of admiration. What he didn't admire was the loud crash created after the land.

"What was that?" Sam looked down at his shirt to see it covered with drool. 'Golay, it even got me drooling like a baby. Didn't like the surprise of noise shocking my ears, but at least it snapped me out that trance. Never in my life have I ever been that obsessed with something shiny. Is this place cursed or something? Because I don't feel like myself right now.'

Blue smoke from where the object landed flied into the air like someone made blue flames for a campfire. Sam urged himself to check it out. Was it an alien from outer space? Or was it the thing he was looking for?

Yes, this had to be it. The tree specifically said space is found in the land of the crystals. "Oh, baby here I come!" with one more turn to the right his excitement was replaced with curiosity and a little disappointment from what he saw. He expected the thing he was seeking for to be more...well, round of course.

Instead, the object was a ten-foot crystal, with a sleeping pony trapped inside. And just by a simple glance, Sam nearly fell into another trance. He looked down and shielded his eyes from its irresistible shine and beauty. Sam slowly made his way to the source of blue light and kicked the crystal heavily to the ground, causing it to explode into shards.

Sam lightly gasped from what he saw next. Down on the floor, laid a unicorn, with pale fur, and a very stylish mane. The destruction of the crystal lead to the pony's awakening and Sam felt a tinge of excitement hit, as he knew who this pony was.

"Rarity."

The unicorn mare opened her eyelids and groaned. Her vision blurred and she shook her body to get the blood pumping again after being asleep for so long. A hoof extended towards her, to which she could predict was a gentle colt trying to treat her like any fashionable lady.

Grabbing the hoof, she allowed the stallion to pick her up. A sudden severe headache came to her as she stood up straight on all fours. She used her hoof to rub and comfort the part of her head aching from below her horn.

"Why thank you my dear. You cannot believe how long I've been trapped in that crystal. Somepony like you should get- wahhhh!" Rarity's calm state left her after realizing what dangerously stood in front of her.

"Get away from me you beast!" Rarity shouted, jumping away.

Sam reached out his hand right as he sensed her stress and worries take over. He knew he wasn't a pony, though, was he that hideous to be called a beast? Being called handsome is something he had gotten used to in the past. Rarity probably never takes it well when it comes to meeting new, unknown creatures.

"Relax!" Sam spoke in the most gentle and polite way possible. "I'm not going to hurt yah. I only came here for answers."

"Well, you certainly came to the wrong pony for answers!" Rarity snorted.

"Cmon Rarey. The tree told me you and your friends are the key to everything. Just tell me where the space thing a ma bobber is at, and the locations of your friends and I'll be out of your hair."

Rarity paused for a moment. Her face transformed into a noticeable look of confusion, but her stress remained the same. "Space? Friends? Out of my hair?" Those words felt like they meant something to her in the past. She just didn't know why those words ringed a bell. "Who are you beast?"

Sam frowned. "The name's Sam, not Beast. I'm looking for some kind of space element for this gauntlet. I could really use your help, Rarity."

Rarity's eyes became bold as Sam lifted his left arm wearing the golden gauntlet. It's texture and shine left Rarity speechless. She couldn't help but think if there were more armor pieces just like it out in Equestria.

"Wait just a minute. How do you know my name? I don't recall us having any amount of interaction."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember me?"

Rarity shook her head. Her mane shook along and covered her view after she stopped. Brushing her mane away, she answered truthfully. "No, I do not. As a matter of fact, I don't even remember how I ended up here in the first place. From what I recall, I was only a small child searching for my destiny.

After I earned my cutie mark everything around me became dark, and I found myself within that crystal you had demolished. I guess I must thank you. I thought you were the one who trapped inside."

Sam put his hands inside his pockets to keep them warm. The rest of his body was unprotected from cold. "That's strange. It was warm here a minute ago. What's with the sudden cold? I mean, not like I'm worried about freezing to death. If you haven't noticed I'm wearing black shorts and a white T-shirt. And I managed to survive out in that snowy winter of heck," Sam said, gesturing to the snow outside.

Rarity overly gasped in horror. "Oh, my stars! Darling! Forgive me for not noticing but what is that you're wearing? Bleh! Almost as if it was made from a good for nothing cotton farmer! And those large scratches!"

Sam looked down and pulled the very bottom of his shirt. "Oh, these scratches. Well, I sort of got into a fight with a few timber wolves. They were tough as wood, but I chopped them down into smithereens."

"My word, you must be so miserable!"

Sam's heart lit up like a firecracker at Rarity's new sorrowful expression. Her pupils nearly resized themselves to the exact size of her very own eyes. With the sunlight's reflection, and her bottom lip lowered, her cuteness became hard to resist. And Sam felt like falling into another trance.

"O_O I get that my clothes have seen better days, and it makes you sad, but do you have to make that...FACE!" Sam gripped his chest and moved his upper body up and down, like he was about to vomit a rainbow. Getting used to the cute horse faces from the show was hard enough. So, you can imagine how difficult it would've been to survive the cuteness in real life.

"Oh. My apologies," Rarity adjusted her face and turned to one of the messy buildings. She held a hoof in front of her mouth, her cheeks expanding with air. She turned back to Sam with her tongue sticking out. Sam nodded his head and gave her a half-smile.

"I don't blame you, Rarey. I looked at those building only for a smidge, and I already felt like planting a puke bomb in the middle of this Empire."

Rarity faced Sam with eyes demanding for respect. "My name is Rarity. Get it right or I'll call you Sammy from now on!"

Sam didn't give her an attitude. Instead, he responded respectfully, "yes 'mam, you have my word." He wasn't afraid of being called Sammy or Samuel. That, he could get used to. What he didn't want was to give her a slight amount of disrespect. He knew how ladies worked. Always demanding politeness and manners from a man. Ignorance and rudeness cannot be tolerated for a lady. "Heh, it's funny."

Rarity's expression softened, "what is funny?"

"Normally when ladies annoy me, I would tell myself screw 'em and roll my eyes. You on the other hoof... I like. Not in a romantic way but you know what I mean." Sam leaned down close. "You have my respects, Rarity.

"Hmph. Finally, some pony with the gentle qualities to please a lady. Very well. I shall assist you in your search to find... whatever it is your looking for, Sam. And if we're going to search in this dump, I suggest I take the time to tidy the place up a bit. And what I mean by a bit, I mean by a LOT!"

"No kidding," Sam glued his face onto the cleaning utensils inside the small, but only clean crystal house on the streets. He went inside and took two of each, a mop, a water bucket, a clean sprayer, a rag, and a cobweb duster. With all items crushed into his arms, he rushed out and released them, allowing the tools to roughly fall onto the street with no care. "There. Now we can clean."

"We?" Rarity raised an eyebrow. "You can clean?"

Sam softly chuckled, "you'd be surprised how many times I've been ordered to clean a whole building in the real world. At first it sucked, and then it became a hobby of mine after the one hundredth time."

Rarity smiled with near tears of joy leaking out of her eyes. "My, that is certainly one of the most generous things some pon-" Rarity was cut off by an intense vibration on her chest. She felt her heart rate increase and felt a fiery flame of heat burn her heart. Below her neck, glowing and bright, was a blue heart beating from the inside. The mare freaked out. She didn't even take a breath until it momentarily disappeared. Sam expected her to respond with the most common question, what was that? Her response however, left Sam's mind clueless.

"I appreciate the generous offer. We shall start cleaning the crystal castle itself before tidying up anything else. In the meantime, I will find a sewing machine and some fabric to get started on designing something fitting for you," Rarity replied with only a tad amount of fear.

Was she even going to question what had just happened a minute ago? "Okay? Sure." Sam faced away from the unicorn. He continued to talk without making eye contact. "Are you sure you'll be fine on your own? You sound a bit worried my lady. And this place also gives me the creeps. Feels like something is about jump at us."

"No thank you. I believe I can take care of myself. Just focus on tidying up the castle, it could really use the lady's touch," she said meekly, before giving a small giggle. "And if it's truly abandoned, then it will be all ours."

Advancing to the castle, his eyebrows raised, and his mouth slightly formed a smile. "Alright then tough lady. I believe in your abilities. Let out a scream if you need me. My ears are healthier than an apple."

---

The castle was bigger than his expectations. With every turn he took he would at some point end up in the same room or hallway he cleaned. "I've only been here for not so long, and already, I'm getting flashbacks of Canterlot's lost hallway of heck!"

Generically, all castles were huge. Getting lost in a castle is common for the ones who are poor navigators. How unfortunate it was for Sam. He could've been finished a lot sooner if he knew a way out of this crystal maze.

When he found his next room to clean, he started with the windows. A few banners of King Sombra covered the glass preventing the sun from emitting any light. With a tight grip of his hand, he ripped the cloth apart, lighting up the room. Grabbing the bucket of water and the bottle of soap, he mixed them together. Next, he grabbed and squeezed the sponge with satisfaction. It was old and dirty but there was nothing a little wash can't fix. After dipping the sponge repeatedly, he was sure it had absorbed enough. The sponge even lost all its mold and dust and returned to pure yellow.

"Ah, reminds me of old times. Except for the fact that a sponge is being used instead of a rag." With one more swipe of the sponge, the windows were crystal clean. Sam gently opened the glass and at last, got the fresh air he needed. "Everything sure is small from up here. Still don't know what happened to the Crystal Empire. Probably should call this place the Depressing Empire now." Sam stood up in a comfortable position as he searched for his unicorn mare friend from above. Everywhere he looked filled him with depression and sickness.

"EEEEEEKK!!!!!!! Monster! Sam! HELP!" Rarity shouted and screamed from below.

Sam now caught off guard by the mare's screams, he ran down the hallways and stairs to find the exit. "I'm coming, Rarity! Just hang on!"

Familiar sounds echoed around the corridors. Sam ignored it until he reached the second floor of the castle. The sounds became louder, and he could hear the sounds of hoof steps galloping like wildfire. Sam couldn't resist the urge to stop to catch a breath. As he rested his leg muscles he got down on the floor and listened. He felt a wave of fury and blood lust from below. And the sounds were kicking his memories. "No way... those sound effects. Could it be?" When he felt well rested, he got up on his feet and took the last set of stairs downwards.

"where are you, little pony!? i'm tired of this cat and mouse game! come out of the hole ya made in the wall!" Killer demanded.

"I'm right behind you, you despicable skeleton!" Rarity charged her horn with fashion and power. Killer expected a blast of heat to be released from the mare's horn. Instead, diamonds the size of his head formed above the unicorn's horn. Rarity forcefully pointed her horn at the skeleton and released a diamond barrage of attacks.

With a simple slash of his knife, the skeleton shattered each diamond with the exception of one. One of the diamonds made a deep cut in his soul. Killer pulled it out and groaned at the sharp pain it gave him. "you'll pay for that pony! give me the location of this heart crystal and your death will be quick."

Rarity grunted. "I'd be more willing to if you were to treat me with more proper manners! And I'd appreciate if you'd stop calling me pony, I am a lady! And I'd wish to be addres-"

"enough! you wasted enough of my time, pony!" Killer created a bone and sharpened it with his knife. The skeleton lazily charged towards the mare, nearly stabbing her in the chest before he was stopped by a brute force. Killer puffed out a quantity of air whilst he collided into a crystal portrait.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" A loud, unexpected, and emotional voice nearly gave Rarity a heart attack as she was picked up and dragged away from the skeleton. Rarity looked at the stranger and was astonished to see Sam being the one who shouted those words and on the verge of becoming her hero.

"Sam!?" Rarity said with even more astonishment.

"No time to talk Rarity. That guy is tough," Sam claimed, swiftly climbing up the stairs. "Only thing is, he isn't the brightest when it comes to puzzles and critical thinking obstacles. He also really isn't good at covering his tracks. Because of the trail of bones stuck to the walls. I'm guessing he threw countless of sharp bones at you."

Rarity nodded.

"There's a place we can hide. Only if you know your magic, Rarity." The sound of a gaster blaster overpowered Sam's voice. A lasting blue laser shot out of the floor from behind, melting the rest of the ceiling. A large hole and smoke remained after the laser cleared. Either Killer blasted the floor with rage, or he's onto them.

Sam continued to make his way to the crystal throne. As soon as he heard a thump from behind, his blood ran through his veins in a flash, as he sprinted at his best. "Crap! He's onto us! Where the throne room!?"

"There!" Rarity pointed a hoof at the door all the way to the end of the hallway.

Sam's confidence returned. He had enough energy in his legs to carry him, and his unicorn friend to safety. "Do you still have magic in your horn?"

Rarity returned her focus to Sam, "yes. Why do you ask?"

Before Sam answered, he blew open the door and slammed it shut tight from behind. "That's why," Sam pointed to the crystal throne. "I need you to use dark magic quickly! There's a secret passageway to the crystal heart, and it'd make the perfect hiding spot."

Rarity jumped out of the boy's arms and landed onto her hooves perfectly. She turned to give him the look filled with concern. "Dark magic? My Sam, that may be too advanced for a young mare like me to achieve," Rarity muttered.

More concern built within Rarity, as well as in Sam. "W-well," Sam sighed gravely. "Look, it's either we hide, or we face him face to face. There is no running now, unless you want to break a hoof by jumping out of those windows."

The unicorn made a regretful face in response. Rarity trotted towards the throne, closing her eyes tightly and winced as she focused. Only a small sparkle of magic came out, and to make things worse. The magic was plain, and not dark.

A bead of sweat formed on the top of Sam's head, "just- think of something negative. Dark magic runs with negativity, I think. I- I- ah fish sticks! I don't know anything about this stuff!" Sam flinched at the sudden sound of a killer skeleton, banging on the large door keeping them safe.

"i know you're in there. let me in so we can end this!" Killer Sans grabbed his knife and pierced it through the door. He did the same thing countlessly with rage. He gave up after the twentieth stab. "guess it's time to bring out the big guns," Killer Sans summoned another dark blaster, the size of the door. Once it created enough energy, Killer released it out of its mouth like a rocket launcher. The dark blast homed past the door and onto the crystal throne like a missile.

What happened next had the three in total shock. The throne absorbed the blast without any severe damage received. With the dark energy absorbed, the throne transferred it into the crystal at the very tip of itself. Dark bubbles popped like balloons as the crystal formed a shadow of itself, revealing a secret passageway. Well, not much of a secret to Sam of course.

"There it is! Get in Rarity, quick!"

Rarity followed Sam without any hesitation. She would rather go down a dark creepy basement than be carved to death like a pumpkin.

"hey! come back here!" Killer Sans attempted to catch up. Running with his slippers had caused him to slip and fall, preventing him from reaching the dark entrance. The dark passageway simultaneously closed as the crystal at the top of the throne exploded from the extreme surge of Killer's dark energy. The two got away. "dam." Killer pushed himself up and slowly made his way out of throne room, making sure he wouldn't slip.