> Samneo: The Earth Pony > by Samuel-Neocros > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Arrival > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ”The Arrival” Starlight Glimmer let out a sigh of relief as she took in the wonderful scenery of Ponyville. Smiling, she gently closed her eyes and basked in the warmth that Princess Celestia’s Sun brought her. Suddenly there was a crash. Starlight gave a yelp of surprise and stumbled back from the shock wave that was created nearby. After regaining her senses, Starlight peered through the dust that had been kicked up from the impact and saw a young stallion, who looked as if he was on the brink of death. “O-Oh sweet Celestia! Are you alright?” Starlight asked as she rushed up to the nearly unconscious stallion. The stallion gave a ragged cough as he began to hack up gravel and other residue left over from the initial impact. Cracking open one eye, he peered at Starlight before his head dropped to the ground. “Oh no! This is bad! I’ll... I’ll get help for you, okay? I’ll be right back!” Starlight said as she broke into a gallop toward Twilight’s castle. The stallion stirred, and opened his eyes. He was in a large, purple room. He was lying on a soft, purple bed. He then saw seven mares standing around him. He had no idea where he was or how he got there. Panic began to fill him as his eyes darted around the room anxiously. “E-excuse me,” the purple-colored mare asked, “Would you mind telling me your name?” He attempted to speak, but the words that left his mouth sounded less like coherent speech and more like animalistic grunts. “S-sam,” he mumbled, grimacing at how raw his throat felt. The seven of them gave him a strange look, almost as if his name was alien to them. “Wowie! What a strange name, I like it!” the pink mare replied, bouncing in the air enthusiastically. The room fell into an awkward silence, before the one who he saw earlier spoke up, “A-Are you alright? You were in pretty bad shape when I found you.” Sam’s head wobbled as he struggled to keep it upright, “Where… am I?” “You’re in Twilight’s castle, she’s the one with a horn and wings,” the blue mare replied, hovering in the air and eyeing him carefully. His eyes widened as it dawned on him that whatever was going on, this was most certainly not a vivid hallucination, he was lucid. He let out a gasp of shock and attempted to scramble out of bed, only to cry out in pain as he forced his aching muscles to move. “P-please, stay still,” the yellow mare with wings said softly, gently holding him down, “You crash landed near Twilight’s castle and you were badly injured. Your still in a state of injury.” The orange pony wearing a Stetson hat let out a small whistle as she looked down at the Sam’s now exposed flank. “Well I’ll be, this fella doesn’t have a cutie mark! Where are you even from, sugarcube?” Sam cringed at the acrid taste of iron in his mouth, “I… what? W-what’s a cutie mark?” The seven of them whispered amongst one another, before Twilight eventually spoke up. “Either you hit your head harder than I thought, or you’re something else entirely. You’re not a changeling, I can tell that much, but until you recover, I can’t form any solid conclusion.” Sam gripped the yellow pony’s hoof as he felt his eyelids begin to flutter, “Please… let me just… sleep.” > The Shadows > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sam was feeling a bit better than before, he felt like he got ran over by a truck when he awoke. Sam was sleeping in bed as Fluttershy and Twilight kept watch over him. Fluttershy looked over at Twilight. "Where do you think he came from?" "I don't know Fluttershy. He's certainly not your average pony that's for sure." Sam kept his eyes shut. To him, it felt so satisfying just to hear silence... ~In the Dream Realm~ Sam looked around in the dark room. The stone walls had a cold atmosphere resonating off them, and the ground felt like quicksand. The only light source in the room, was the moon shining through the cracks in the ceiling. The Earth Pony wandered through the room, he could only see three feet in front of him. Noises echoed off the walls, first being his hoof steps, then a bit of scratching, as if somepony was scratching the stone wall with a toothpick. "Crap..." He thought. His thoughts were burying his sense of logic, and his anxiety was building, the feeling was unbearable. Fear was the only thing that was filling his veins. "What is this place...?" Hi. A voice was heard bouncing off the walls. Sam looked around for the source, nothing was present on his right, and nothing on his left. Sam found himself looking in all directions, but nopony was there. Don't be a fool. The voice taunted. He looked around, much more desperately this time. Worry and fear at it's finest here. "Who're you!?" ... The voice went silent. Sam looked around one last time, before he then froze. He felt cold sensations resonating from his hooves, he would guess that it's the ground, but something was telling him, deep inside, that this wasn't at all the case. Boo. Sam jumped as he felt something slither out of his ears, he turned around, and was face to face with a black, humanoid figure. The creature was darker than the darkness of the room. Hi there, kid. “Huh?" Sam asked, confused. The humanoid had no face, it looked as if it's entire body was made of black goo. It’s head was circular in shape, and was oddly You look like you've seen better days. You've lost your memories... "Uhm... yeah?" Sam rose an eyebrow. You've had amnesia. "W-well... t-the purple pony with wings said that I was hit by the comet." Two red orbs on it's 'face' appeared. It then grinned, showing it's silver, razor sharp shark teeth. That's where she's wrong... "W-what do you mean?" The shadow only laughed, it's laugh echoed against the walls, making Sam's head ache. The shadow then turned into black mush, the mush hit the ground, causing a small splash to echo. The mush begun to move on it's own, and it moved away from Sam, into the unseen darkness. "N-no wait! Come back!" No... Sam didn't know what was happening to him, why was this shadow here? He wasn't sure... And he won't get his answer anytime soon. "Yeah, he seems to be sleeping fondly--" Fluttershy was interrupted by Sam, who had woke up with a start, screaming in terror. Twilight and Fluttershy snapped their heads towards the source of the scream. "Sam!? What's wrong!?" Twilight asked worriedly. Sam grunted as he rubbed his head. Later... "You had a nightmare?" Fluttershy said. The mane six, including Starlight, was gathered around, hearing Sam's encounter inside his dream. "And some shadow creature came and left?" Twilight questioned. Sam bowed his head in shame, before his eye twitched. "What did the shadow look like?" Sam described what the creature looked like. Needless to say, everpony were rather nervous. Mostly Twilight. "So this thing was upright?" Twilight asked sternly. "Does that... ring a bell?" Sam asked. Twilight shook her head. Sam frowned. "No....? Ugh..." There was an unpleasant feeling inside him, as if Twilight was hiding something... Sam's thoughts were interrupted however, by a loud bang outside. Everypony heard it as well, they look around confused. "What was that!?" Rainbow Dash questioned. A blanket of fear draped everypony. The bang was from outside, and the ground shook as more bangs followed. The bangs could only describe as sounding like gunshots. From outside, a tall figure was shooting flares at the castle. The figure was dark with a silver crest on his for-head, along with two extra spikes on the side of said crest. His tail was as long as his legs. He was a dragon-like creature, who stood upright. He had small feather-like spines on the top of his back. The dragon had blank, white eyes, that were slightly grey in coloration. His pupils were brighter than his optics. "Come on out! I know you're in there!" The dark dragon shouted aggressively, holding his flare gun like a cowboy. "And you're just as silly as I could've imagined!" Sam was about to go with the Mane Six, but he was stopped by Twilight. "No Sam, it's too dangerous!" As Twilight and her friends opened the doors, Sam watched them with seemingly determined eyes, but not the stereotypical ones. The group of mares made it outside, where the comet's crater was. The area was a plain field, so the intruder had nowhere to hide. The outdoor breeze hit them pleasantly. Soon the mares made eye contact with the unknown intruder. They were rather thrown off guard, and their eyes widened. The creature turned his head, and smirked as he watched their reaction. "T-twilight... do you think this is what Sam saw in his dream?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight glanced over to her friend, and back over towards the figure. "I would say yes, but the figure that Sam described had red eyes instead of white!" "Hey." The figure called. It was strange hearing him go from being aggressive, to suddenly sounding like any sane person. Inside the castle though, Sam was feeling impatient, like a spoiled cult. Sam then glanced out the window. He was given a clear view of what was going on, and he wasn't happy. Fear surged within the earth pony, he was worried that somepony would get seriously hurt. But he was mostly concerned for Rainbow Dash. Sam was feeling a connection to this mare, to the point where it's at it's strongest in that moment. "Who are you?" Twilight asked. "I'm Dark. Dark Samuel! But that last part of my name means nothing t' me... Guh." He said, making a throaty growl at the end. Sam's eyes flickered in confusion, why did that last name sound so familiar? He then put two and two together. "Sam... uel... MY name...!" A small memory came back almost instantly, but only he saw them. "What're you doing here?" Twilight asked, further. Rather than giving a verbal answer, instead his right hand glowed a rather threatening, fiery red. Twilight sensed magic from the arm, but there was something rather unsettling about it, it wasn't exactly dark magic, but it wasn't normal magic either. Dark Samuel raised his right arm, before he pointed it towards the group. An orb of red light came out his hand like a projectile, the orb was the size of an apple. The group got behind Twilight, where she summoned a magical shield for them. As soon as the orb touched the shield, it exploded, causing the alicorn to recoil. She had shielded herself from magic before, but this felt like a blast from Tirak’s magic. "That's my answer." Sam jumped at the blast, falling back as a result. Dark sensed the little pony, and turned towards the window where Sam was watching. “But I’m not here to take Ponies into my care, I’m here to wreck a certain Earth Pony.” He said. He begun walking towards the window. “Hey! You’re not getting Sam!” Rainbow flew towards Dark. Dark Samuel turned around, and caught Dash by the chest. She gasped as he knocked the breath out of her, She was going that fast. Dark chuckled, before throwing her back towards her friends. “Go back, I’ve got business with that kid.” That did it for Sam. He saw Dark grab her, causing him to cringe. He begun to shake and growl. Sam's body begun to glow, and his usual green eyes begun to flash various colors. Sam felt a strange surge of power. "What is this? If this is..." He thought as he got up. His mouth opened, revealing dragon teeth. "...N-n... no matter." Dash charged again, but this time Rainbow suddenly felt magic being wrapped around her. Dark begun pulling her towards him, grinning as she struggled. Rainbow tried to fight as hard as she could, but Dark's grip was too strong. Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer aimed their horns at Dark, and fired their magical beams. "Ha!" The beams hit his chest, but the beams didn't seem to cause any sort of damage. Twilight and her student sat there, jaws at the bottom of the floor, and eyes as wide as dinner plates. Dark had absorbed their attacks. "I ain't affected by you're nonsense." As Rainbow was being slowly dragged mid-air towards him, he pointed his glowing arm at the other mares. Laughing, he shot yet another orb at them. "Watch out!" Twilight and Starlight used their horns to shield the blast, they awaited the orb to explode as it swiftly approached them. But it didn't come, instead, a blue flash came, and the orb was gone. They drop their shields. There was the sound of glass being busted. Everypony turned towards the source, and even Dark was taken off guard at the unexpected blast. Due to his confusion, he released Rainbow from his grasp. Twilight saw that one of her castle windows was busted, glass was on the floor over there, and a dark shape was seen peeking out the window. Rainbow saw this figure as well, and she felt a bizarre feeling. It was something that she couldn't describe... The dark shape itself had a slender neck with an oval shaped head, along with two horns on the sides of it's head, as well as two ears pointing outward. Suddenly, two almond shaped eyes were seen, they were light blue and glowing. Dark instantly cursed under his breath, too quiet to be heard. Ugh... I shouldn’t have said my name out loud, now that beast is awake... wait... He couldn't finish his personal, mental monologue. The figure suddenly jumped through the window. The figure landed on the ground, it's left knee and hand on the ground, while it's right foot was perfectly flat against the dirt, it's right hand was clawing into the dirt. It's eyes continued to glow as it then stood up slowly, allowing everypony to take in it's features. "Grrruughh..." It moaned as it stood up straight. It's tail wagged side to side slowly, the hair at the tip of it's tail was huge and had a fire shape to it, but no sign of red anywhere. It's mane was brown and long, flowing in the wind. It's chest glowed a cyan blue, the same shade as Rainbow's. This creature was twice as tall as a pony. "Who's that...?" Starlight said out loud. His glowing blue eyes faded, to reveal normal eyes. His opal eyes were green, blue, and brown. Steam flowed out his nostrils, and his sharp hands balled into fists. One small detail to point out was, that the creature stood out from it’s environment stylistically. "I... am... Samneo..." The creature spoke, voice sounding like a much bulkier version of Sam. Dark backed away slowly. Rainbow noticed his rather pale face. She smirked devilishly at the frightened expression. Dark flinched, before he then grabbed something on his hip. A long, black, sword was unsheathed. Dark's right arm glowed again, and used his arm to make the blade become a fire sword. "So you’re awake huh?" Dark taunted. Samneo tilted his head curiously. “I’m... awake?” He said, confused. Dark’s eyes lightened up. “So you don’t know that you’re awake? Well... that’s strange. No matter, he must not know you’re using his powers, so you must be remain oblivious!” Dark said. He then ran towards Samneo, running like a ninja, as his eyes suddenly turned gray, allowing two ghostly white pupils to reveal themselves. Samneo shivered, but there was an odd sense of confidence and courage by his side. He squinted, and stepped back slightly. "Bring it on." Sam said, before he begun running towards his foe. Sam also muttered something under his breath, quiet enough for nopony to hear. “You won’t hurt that girl.” The two charged towards one another, Samneo gaining the upper hand, by going down and hitting Dark's abdomen with his horns. Dark growled as Sam pushed him back. Samneo pushed back like a bull as Dark had trouble trying to grip the ground with his feet. Dark then pointed the sword backward, so he could stab Sam in the back. Sam's tail striked like a snake, wrapping around Dark's wrists, and pulling his sword back. Dark then tried to turn to the side, but Sam's horns were locked on Dark's rather slender abdomen. Dark's arm glowed, he then pushed Sam away with his magic, freeing his wrists in the process. Sam lifted his head up, his arms spread out, and he roared. His roar sounding like a mix between a T-rex and a Spinosaur. At least that’s what Dark heard.The Shadowy dragon then swung his sword to hit Samneo's left shoulder, but Sam ducked just in time. After Dark swung his sword, Sam took this extra time and rolled away from the shadow dragon. "Ugh! Fight me! You’ll be better off fighting than knowing who you are!" Samneo got up and turned, making a rather intimidating pose at Dark. Dark also tried to intimidate his foe by swinging his blade, and using it like nun-chucks. The blade made all sorts of noises as it was lightning fast. Samneo, however, stuck to his ground. Dark attempted to hit the other dragon square in the face with the blade, Dark put all of his muscle in this one move, but Samneo blocked the sword with his right for-arm, his scales acting like steel. Sam pushed the blade to the side, before punching Dark in the right shoulder with his left. Dark's body shook at this move, causing him to fly back slightly. Dark managed to catch himself before he could fall. Dark’s arm glowed, and he begun thinking of the strongest spell he could manage. He then shot a red, electric lazer out his arm. Samneo’s eyes widened, before he rolled away. The lazer hit a nearby tree, causing it to fall after it was cut cleanly. Sam charged towards Dark. He smirked as the blue dragon was running towards him. “C’mon, hit me.” Dark Samuel muttered. Samneo was then picked up by Dark’s magic, and was thrown towards the castle. Sam hit the side of the castle wall with a loud thud, and fell down. He got up, and turned towards Dark. The two dragons were panting as they stared at each other. Samneo's mouth begun to leak a bit of liquid, from the outside, it looked to be just drool, but the way it moved, it suggested that it was water. "What is that?" Dark asked bluntly. Sam inhaled from his mouth. Twilight squinted at this, wondering what Sam was doing. She received her answer when she looked down, the ground seemingly had water flowing like snakes. The water was crawling towards Sam, before they then begun to fly into his mouth. Dark felt chills down his spine, causing him to step back as he gazed at the sight before him. Samneo's hands begun to glow a dark blue, his eyes burst with blue as water begun to bubble in his mouth. "What are you doing!?" The ground shook beneath Sam, as the blue dragon’s back dorsal spikes glowed a bright green. When he opened his mouth, it was glowing blue, the same shade as his eyes. His chest glowed brightly. He took a deep breath, and Samneo then fired a big, strong, blast of water out his mouth like a fire hose. Dark wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and was hit with the beam. Dark went flying backward, and he hit the ground right next to the crater. Everypony gasped at the moment unfolding before them. Samneo watched as Dark picked himself up, he then ran off, running with a noticeable look of terror on his face. Dark disappeared behind the hills. Samneo smirked, before he looked over at the mares watching, they all looked shocked, before they cheered. Sam then looked over at Rainbow's face, she was just as surprised as the others. He smiled softly with relief, before he was engulfed in blue tinted smoke... When the smoke cleared, Sam the earth pony fell to the ground, falling asleep as he did so. The last thing he heard before he passed out again, was Rainbow Dash's voice. "Woah! Sam!" ... > A Question Answered? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ”A Question Answered?” An albino unicorn ran through the woods, seemingly filled with anxiety and terror. The rain made the mud move on it's own, as it splashed up from her hooves. Her mane was flying as she ran so fast, so no pony could see her. Her eyes glowed in the darkness of the night, and she resonated a moon-lit glow. She finally slowed down, before seeing a clearing and with one last push. She had found herself outside of the forest. The unicorn looked up at the night sky. There was a small star, that glowed a teal green color with a bit of blues here and there. Below the star was another star that seemed off, this other star was dark, it looked like an eclipse, but much smaller in scale. The eclipse star was slowly moving up towards the green star. The unicorn watched as the two stars were getting ever so closer to one another. "Once the stars align... The battle, between the demon and the dragon, will begin." The unicorn's voice was slightly booming, but soft in a motherly sense. The unicorn perked her ears up slightly, hearing a faint metal shrill coming from the sky. She turned to her right, and noticed a flaming comet flying down, she watched it carefully. "I see, so the other Neo entered this world, into this other Dimension." At first, the comet seemed small, but as it drew closer to her area, it's appearance resembled a spacecraft. The ship was about three houses in length, the ship didn't look vary threatening. It landed before the unicorn, and she proceeded to trot over to the crashed ship... Sam didn't feel right. He felt like he could vomit at any second. He paced around, trying to figure out why he was feeling like this. The feeling in his stomach refused to let up, and he visited the bathroom a couple of times, but he wasn’t sure what this was. He took a deep breath, realizing that his knowledge couldn’t bring any conclusion. Didn’t that shadowy thing in his dream tell him he had amnesia? The earth pony trotted out of the room, and went to go find Twilight. Wandering about, Sam found himself getting a bit lost, but he vaguely remembered where the princess’ quarters were. As he was nearing to the purple alicorn’s room, he ran into Spike. “Oh Hi Sam!” Spike said. Sam flinched, but sighed. “Hey.” He replied, sounding a bit saddened. “What’re you feeling down about?” Spike asked. Sam quickly explained what he was feeling, and Spike’s reaction was understandably concerned. “I see, do you need something to help?” “Yeah.” He said. Spike rubbed the back of his head as he looked to Twilight’s room. Dark groaned as he walked down a dirt path. He was hitting his head out of frustration. Where he was at was in a cavern, with rays of light coming out of the cracks in the ceiling. He kicked some rocks as he entered a small room within the cave. The room seemed to be connected to other hallways and tunnels, in which Dark came from. There were a few shadowy parts that were not in the sun’s rays. “Ugh...! Lost the bet... AGAIN!” “Kehehel... Oh Dark...” A crackly, yet high pitched voice echoed behind him, from the tunnel he came from. Dark Sam turned around, his white eyes piercing at a snake-like creature behind him. He wasn’t able to get any detail however, for that the creature suddenly vanished. A giggle being heard after. Dark scoffed at this. “Stop playing mind games, Slaughter.”He growled with annoyance. Another chilling giggle was heard, and a set of eyes appeared just up ahead of where Dark was going. The eyes were in a shadowed hallway, but the hallway had a few rays of light behind the eyes, allowing Dark to see the outline of a slender neck and oddly shaped horns. The eyes mirrored his, being white in color, the only difference between the two, were that the new eyes were circular, rather than almond shaped. They locked eyes, staring at each other for what felt like a few minutes, before the circular eyes showed their lifeless pupils, and the optics turning gray. “I thought that you were a total buffoon out there. Even Voss wouldn’t pull that stunt of a personality you had, out there.” Slaughter mocked. “Even in the daytime your words are redundant.”Dark barked back. Slaughter bite his bottom lip, though Dark couldn’t tell. “Just as redundant as your sexuality.” “That’s not right man.” Slaughter pointed out, causing Dark to grow anxious, he wasn’t suppose to say anything that was inappropriate, other wise they would be ticked. Slaughter grinned, his silver teeth shining in the light. “So now... now that you lost our bet, there ain’t going back now.” “Oh, get lost.” “Why so serious? You weren’t being serious when you faced them.” “The hell...?” Dark muttered under his breath. He knew Slaughter as being arrogant sometimes, but he never expected him to suddenly know his stuff. Then again this guy was unpredictable. “Don’t think I didn’t hear that.” Slaughter chuckled. The only thing that can describe Slaughter’s voice, was that he would voice crack a lot. “Ugh... so what do I get again?” “You don’t remember? Don’t be stupid.” Slaughter said. Slaughter then slowly crept out of the shadows. Dark Sam unsheathed his pitch-black blade, and backed away slowly, holding the pitch black blade close to him. “Crud... I shouldn’t have made the bet in the first place... Thankfully I can form a new body.” Dark thought. Sam wasn’t that sick, but he did feel like he could fall over, and so Twilight had given him some medicine, and sent him to bed. Fortunately, night was close. Sam was still plundering about the questions that plagues him. Why is he here? How is he able to turn into a dragon? And ultimately, Who was he? That’s when he remembered that vision he had before he transformed into a dragon. In the vision, which was slowly fading from his memory, he saw the sun falling towards the planet. But that’s all he remembers from the top of his head, the rest flew past him like a blur. Suddenly, an idea emerged from Sam’s questions. “Maybe that guy from my dream could help me...” He whispered to himself. The earth pony quickly tried to sleep, however he couldn’t find the will to. So he grabbed his pillow, and tried to find the right position. Sam hugged it softly. He didn’t know why, but Sam thought of Rainbow for a brief moment... He didn’t know how he got to sleep, but he did it. Now was the time to answer the major questions to the mystery guy. The dream itself was that of a garden, but everything surrounding the garden was fog, like nothingness. The garden housed different kinds of flowers, as well as vegetables. Sam found this setting rather... questionable. Good to see you. The voice from before came. Sam turned around, and the shadow with red eyes was there. Sam flinched at the sight of seeing it behind him. The shadow made a chuckle with closed eyes, it’s chuckle sounding rough and dark. Why’re you so afraid...? “I’m here to ask you, the questions that have plagued me recently.” The shadow leered at him with a sign of annoyance. Is it about Twilight? “Uhm.. no.” Let me guess, it’s happened recently, and starts with the letter “W”. Sam blinked. “What kind of guess is that?” Whatever. Sam shook his head, before he proceeded with the interrogation. “Where have I come from?” I cannot answer that, however... The shadow begun looking around the area, as if he was checking if no pony was here other than him and Sam. I can answer the question on Who you are. Sam’s eyes lit up, eager to have some questions answered. You are Sam, however, you have something, or rather, someone inside you. They’re something that you’ve been tasked at protecting, as well as feel them flow through you, just so they can become the next you. Sam was off put by this information. But took it nevertheless. In order for you to awaken them, you must be pacifist--mostly. You can get away with hurting the bad, and putting them in their place, however you must not be committed any sort of crimes, or else. “Uhm.. Okay.” You must not love anypony else, other than the mare of your life. Also, you’re my counterpart, but you won’t be for vary long. Sam took this information carefully. Oh, and also; your ex-girlfriend wants you real bad. Sam was taken aback. “W-what?” Then the dream ended. Sam jolted awake, surprised at what the shadow told him. He looked around the room, wondering what had just happened. He decided to write this down, and proceed with his morning. He quickly wrote down summaries of what the shadow said, and what he was detailing. While he was writing, he felt the words slowly move away from his thoughts. He was bored by the time he wrote everything down. While he was bored though, he took the extra time to sketch out a brief outline of what the shadow looked like... In the next chapter: Two of the Main Six have been captured, and it’s up to Sam to stop whatever Slaughter has planned for them! > Slaughter's Web > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a few days since his fight with Dark. He kept trying to find answers to himself, and was determined to find them. Sam had repeatedly been taking naps, seeing if the entity would return. Unfortunately he hadn’t, but that didn’t stop Sam. Sam walked through some intense fog, as he wandered around looking for the dark entity in his nightmares. By this point, he was fet up with it's fetish for fog. Sam stopped walking, feeling frustrated. "Ugh... Come out! Now! Give me answers!" He shouted into the void. No response. However, his request didn't go unheard though. The entity was hiding, when he noticed Sam's sudden irritation. He decided that Sam's had enough teasing, and changed the scene. Sam felt everything shift around him. The fog moved away, and the ground begun growing grass. He breathed a sigh of relief, finally he gets to see something different for once. The new setting he was in, was a grass hill, with a dark forest nearby. The woods seemed like it had no end, and the sky was a blue-ish grey color. It was so cloudy, he could see the sun, without getting blinded. He looked around him, looking for any signs of his shadowy friend. Sam. The creepy ghost appeared behind him. Sam turned around, and saw the entity. “There you are!” Why so serious all of a sudden? “Answer me this.” Sam said. The shadow suddenly changed shape, turning into a lizard-like creature. It had deer antlers on it’s head. It’s eyes became almond shaped, with dark red optics and bright red irises. It’s pupils matched the color of said irises. A black cloak begun to form on it’s body, giving him a rather intimidating look. His arms and legs were obscured by the cloak. Sam's words died in his mouth, when he saw it's form. Before I answer your question, I found something... Sam felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the creature before him. “What is it?” Sam questioned. The entity pointed to Sam’s left. The Earth Pony looked, and saw a mysterious white orb. It was floating there, all alone. “That thing?” Touch it. I’ll give you something, that you’ve been trying to find. Sam walked up to the glowing white ball, and touched it. Instantly he felt chills rise up his spine. His eyes widened when visions came to his sight. Sam stepped back, he thought he had spent minutes watching a movie, but it was really only been a second. The entity crossed his arms, feeling like Sam was wasting his time. Sam just stood there, taking in his new revelation. He had gained a little bit of memory back. A huge smile stretched across his face, but at the same time, a little bit of confusion. He turned towards the creature. “I-I... I remember now! I was--” “Nah.” He shushed Sam quickly. “It’s something Twilight doesn’t need to know, she’ll go crazy with theories won’t she? After all, knowing your revelation. I might as well give a few clues as to where the Memory Orbs are.” The shadow was speaking rather differently. Sam couldn’t quite pinpoint what was different with his voice, but he wasn’t complaining. “Uhm... okay. So anyway.. where’re memory orbs?” He asked. His original question going unused. “The next one is in the hands--er.. belly of the strangest Puppet creature, that you’ve ever seen.” The entity explained. “You’re about to wake now, you can tell Twilight about what you’ve seen, but leave them out for now. By the way, I know what you were asking--My name is Voss.” Not far from Ponyville, there was a cave. The cave entrance was the size of a door. The entrance lead to a tunnel, and Inside was a room with black crystals, with some drawings on the walls. The drawings consistently have Ponyville, and a certain Pegasus. The only source of light was a small lantern at hung from the ceiling, and some light from outside. Up ahead was another tunnel, leading deeper into the cave. The tunnel lead to another room. This one different than the room before. No crystals, no lantern. There was this yellowish green web all over the place. There was a pile of animal skins in the middle of the room. Dark Samuel’s head laid in the dirt, his eyes were dark gray from the lack of life in his eyes. Over in the corner of the cave, was a tall, green, ugly creature. It’s body shape was that of a centipede, and was sprinkled with sewed in fabric, as well as some stitching all over it’s body. It had three legs with five arms, one leg was limply laying on the ground as the other two were supporting the creature’s lengthy body, and the fifth arm was on the back of the thing’s shoulder. The creature’s face was reptilian like Dark, having two glowing white eyes, but unlike Dark’s almond shaped eyes, this creature has circular eyes, and rotated like a pray mantis’. To top it all off, it had two oddly shaped horns on the top of it’s head. The thing was biting at a bone, making some disturbing noises as it did so. Two of it’s arms were trying to attach Dark’s own arm to itself, but failing to do so. Finally the beast’s head moved away from the bone, and looked at the spot where it wanted the new arm to be placed; the back of it’s left shoulder. It’s eyes dilated as it struggled to sew the new arm on, but it managed to do so less over than ten minutes. The Dark Samuel head staring blankly as it did so. After it finished attaching the new arm, it made a low grown of satisfaction. The creature slowly begun to crawl down the floor, passing some empty cocoons as it did so. It reached the mouth of the cave, the light shining down from the cave. It was reluctant on leaving it’s hole, when it suddenly heard something behind it. The creature, not really giving a crap, shrugged it off, and crawled out of the cave. The light almost blinding the creature as it carefully held onto the rock and grass underneath it. “Ponies...” He hissed, voice crackly and slightly high-pitched. Slaughter’s “skin” begun to blend in with his surroundings, his camouflage never failing on him. “.. I need... Ponies...” Fluttershy hummed to herself as she exited her cottage. She took a deep whiff of the fresh air, before she proceeded with her everyday activities. Slaughter hid behind a tree. Thanks to his binocular vision, he was able to spy on her flanks all day. He licked his lips at the thought of swallowing that mare’s plot. His spear-like tongue practically oozed with venom at these thoughts he was having. Slaughter shook his head, and tried to come up with a plan. After a few seconds, he came up with the perfect plan... ... Fluttershy was about to go back inside, when she heard a raspy cry behind her. “Help! Help me! I’m stuck!!!” The voice roared. She turned around, eyes wide. “H-hello? Who’s there? Where are you?” “I’m right here! Behind the tree!” Fluttershy scanned the tree line, and noticed a hand reaching out from above the tree trunk. It was attached to a tail, and then... “Gasp!” Fluttershy’s mouth hung agap at the sight. There, snared in the tree’s branches; a long, slender, snake-like creature hung by it’s body. Had it not been for it’s huge, googly, white eyes--She wouldn’t have seen him. Fluttershy had never seen any animal like this. “O-oh! Don’t worry! I’ll get you down!” She proceeded to gallop over there, to help out the helpless... whatever it was. Inside Sam’s mind, in a place he hadn’t quite reached yet, was a blue, glowing egg. It was inside a giant fleshy box, which seemed like a womb. There were faint noises coming from it. The egg had a dragon-like shape inside, the egg shell was transparent enough to where the silhouette was seen. The creature was Sam’s Water Dragon form. It was curled up within the egg, ready to be born. “He’ll awaken in time...” a dark voice said from behind the fleshy wall. This voice belonged to none other than Voss. “He seems to be getting to know his surroundings. Such a shame that this pony body will be put to waste later in life--in favor of Neocros.” Voss listened closely, and blinked. “Heh.. He’s dreaming...” He thought. He used his dream ability to spy on what was happening inside his mind. Voss blinked, he saw a unicorn with bright glowing eyes. The unicorn seemed to be giving Neocros a history lesson. That’s when Voss paid attention to the story itself, he realized that what she was saying was vital. “Huh... so Sorsirina really IS Sam’s ex... speaking of which, what’s that crazy sorceress up to?” Before he could do anything though, He heard Sam’s voice from above him. He also heard Twilight Sparkle as well. Voss tilted his head with curiosity. He walked away from the fleshy structure, and came close to Sam’s eyes. He wanted to see what Sam was looking at. While Voss watched through Sam’s vision.. What ever was inside the egg, had finished talking with the unicorn... After a long struggle, Fluttershy managed to get Slaughter inside the cottage. He had large holes in his body, where pieces of cloth had been ripped and taken by the trees. Slaughter grunted when he was laid on the couch. He looked around, and saw several animals staring at him. There was even a bear in the room. Slaughter knew that the bear was going to be a huge problem in his plans. “Okay, maybe making this place my hideout, wasn’t such a good idea...” He thought, regretfully. Nonetheless, he had to try. His thoughts were interrupted by Fluttershy. “Uhm.. do you have a name?” “Name’s Slaughter. But that’s just a place-holder name.” He stated. He tilted his neck side to side, popping his neck in the process. Fluttershy looked rather confused. “Slaughter? That’s such a creepy name...” “Guh... this mare.” He thought, lacking any sort of tolerance. Fluttershy noticed Slaughter’s silent resentment, and decided to not crititise him any longer. “S-so.. uhm.. what can I get you to eat?” She asked. Slaughter seemed to perk up at this, his tail swaying side to side. He glanced at her, and smirked. “I can’t eat... at least, not anything physical. It’ll just get... stuck in my stomach...” He explained. He pointed to his belly, where there were small lumps of objects inside him. Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Really? You can’t eat at all? Then... how are you still here? I-I mean.. you must somehow have a way to eat somehow right?” Slaughter just stared at her, before he looked away. “Ugh... fine, I eat blood. I’m a bloodsucker.” He admitted. Fluttershy was rather surprised by this. “So you drink blood, well... uhm...” She trailed off. Slaughter rotated his right eye to stare at her. Fluttershy sighed. “Uhm.. okay.. I-I... guess I could find something for you to drink out of...” For a moment, Slaughter felt like Fluttershy was going to offer herself to him. It was becoming noon now, and Sam was feeling a bit claustrophobic. He asked Twilight if he could go outside earlier, and she allowed him to do so. Now that he was outside, he could feel the breeze hit his face. Sam took a deep breath, and proceeded to look around town. He walked down the road, glancing over at the buildings. Sam was wondering what to visit, since he was suppose to socialize right? He took the time to reflect on what happened over the past days or so. How he met his friends, how he fought a humanoid dragon named Dark, and overall, why was it that he’s here? He then decided to look back at what he remembered from the orb; when he touched it, he saw that he was in a different realm, almost like things were happening, and he didn’t know why. The two distinct things he remembered; were a white unicorn with a slender figure, and the face of a mare with a wrinkly face. He seemed to favor the white unicorn over the elderly mare. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice that his shadow had stopped following him. Instead, it slithered away into the shadow of a nearby pony. The pony never noticed it, and instead was too busy talking with their friend. Sam’s shadow slithered out of the pony’s shadow, and into the darkness of a building. The shadow’s eyes flashed a familiar red color. After managing it’s way through town, it headed towards Fluttershy’s Cottage... Slaughter was relaxing on the couch, waiting for Fluttershy to return from the bathroom. Thanks to his mantis-like eyes, he was able to observe some of the animals, by just rotating his pupil to wherever they were. Then, over at the window, he noticed a black splotch at the corner. He sat up, and looked with both eyes. It had a familiar shape, it had antlers, red eyes.. He got up, and tried to open the window. After a bit of fiddling, he got it open. It was Voss who had came to visit. “Aye Slaughter, had any luck getting your targets?” He asked. Slaughter rotated his right eye behind him, he moved his head out of the way, allowing Voss to peek into the room. There were some Sparrows resting on a bird cage, and a few smaller birds going inside the bird house that’s ingrained into the tree. A raccoon was sleeping on the rug, and the bear from before was nowhere in sight. Which was a relief to Slaughter. “Well, I might need your help...” Slaughter said. Voss was silent for a moment, with a rather blank face. “I’m listening...” “I’ll need you to do something with the much larger animals outside, I can take care of the smaller ones. I just need you to knock out the bear, and whatever is guarding this place. Fluttershy’s mine.” Slaughter explained. Voss nodded. “Anything that’ll benefit our goals. After all, we need some nutrients from these gals.” With that, Voss left the spot, leaving Slaughter to be mystified by the last part. “Need nutrients... from these gals... I’ll take that.” He had a sultry smirk on his face. Slaughter got off the couch, and glanced at all of Fluttershy’s pets. “Alright, time to clean this place...” Rainbow Dash laid in her bed, she was reading the newest Daring Do volume. As she was engaged in a epic chase scene, there was a ghostly hand sticking out from under the bed. The hand was smooth, with each finger tipped with claws. Voss decided to wait for Dash to finish her novel. ....... He was growing a bit impatient, which was rare for him. Voss decided that he’ll wait... “Nah, screw it.” He whispered, before he then came out from under the bed. But he took the appearance of a black puddle on the ground. He slithered over to the corner of the room. Rainbow Dash was so caught up in the scene in Daring Do, that she didn’t notice the black puddle that was practically swimming across the bedroom floor. It’s here, Voss was starting to feel something, that he hadn’t felt in awhile... anxiousness. Not the normal type, but the type you feel before you meet a childhood friend for the first time in a long time; That’s the feeling he had. Voss closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. After he exhaled, he opened his eyes, and shape shifted into the form with antlers. Rainbow saw something tall and dark rise from the ground, over at the top right corner of her vision. She looked, and jumped with surprise. Voss just stared blankly, starting to regret showing himself already. Rainbow Dash instantly got into an attack stance, when Voss outstretched his hand, in a ‘stop’ gesture. “I’m not here to harm you.. I came to warn you.” Voss stated. Rainbow rose an eyebrow. “Huh? What warning? And who’re you anyway!?” She replied. Voss stayed silent, and decided to say it. “Fluttershy’s in danger.” Rainbow’s eyes widened. “What!?” She protested. Voss kept his mouth in a frown. “Yup, she’s at her cottage. My minion is there, he has captured her, and holding her for ransom.” He explained. Before she could do anything, Voss quickly turned into a black puddle, and went under the door. Without any further words, she flew out the room to follow suite. When she opened the door, she saw that Voss had vanished. Rainbow found herself questioning if she even saw that guy. Like was it in her mind? She was about to say something, when she saw him again. This time, he was at the front door. “Come, Fluttershy’s in trouble!” Voss shouted, before he vanished all together, in a puff of smoke... It wasn’t a vary long trip to Fluttershy’s place, since Rainbow’s speed outmatched any other transport. After a few minutes, Rainbow arrived at her destination. She wasted no time, and opened the door. She noticed that the door wasn’t locked. Rainbow trotted in, and saw that the room was completely empty. There were strings of web, and some empty sacks made of the same silk, it was a yellowish green color. The room itself also seemed to have a green fog swirling around. “Fluttershy...?” She called out. Almost instantly, she heard her friend’s voice upstairs. “Help!!” Dash glanced over to the stairs. “Hang on, Fluttershy! I’m coming!” She flew up the stairs, and saw Fluttershy covered in spider web. She was stuck to the bed, with her hooves bound to all the corners. Rainbow gasped. “Fluttershy--” Before she had a chance to speak, she was suddenly blind-folded by something white. She tried to fight back, but her limbs were grabbed by lots of hands. Rainbow growled. “Ngh! Let me go!” “Nope... at least... not until I have become lord of females...” A crackly, but vary male voice said. In Fluttershy’s point of view, Slaughter had grabbed all four of her friend’s limbs. One hand had the blind-fold wrapped around Rainbow’s vision, with the others did the dirty work. Slaughter then stood on his legs, raising Rainbow into the air. He had Dash’s back legs spread, and her arms were positioned outward. Rainbow tried to pull back against his grip, but he remained solid as she desperately tried to escape. Rainbow Dash struggled, but her capturer’s grip was like iron. Slaughter moved his head next to her neck, and Dash felt his hot breath on her neck. He licked his lips in anticipation. Ready for the start of his favorite part in every catch. Rainbow was about to protest, when she felt a sharp pain on the left side of her neck. She yelped, as she felt his fangs sink into the area between her neck and shoulder. Dash’s eyes widened as she felt something being ejected into her bloodstream. Fluttershy watched in horror as Slaughter bite into Rainbow’s neck and shoulder, and pumped his venom into her. Rainbow Dash’s heart raced as she felt her entire body grow numb ever so slowly. After what felt like a solid thirty seconds, Slaughter released his bite, and allowed Rainbow to struggle helplessly as the venom spread throughout her body. His eyes were glued to her movements, and his mouth was practically drooling with desire. That’s when he decided to take the blind fold off, allowing Dash to see his ugly face in all of it’s glory. Rainbow’s eyes widened when she turned to meet his gaze. His blank, lifeless gaze. Rainbow struggled once more, but her body was now losing movement. Slaughter smirked, wanting to humiliate her even further in front of Fluttershy. He then pulled Rainbow’s upper left leg up, while using his open hand to force Dash to look away. He then carefully, ever so gently, licked up her neck. Starting with Dash’s shoulder, up her throat, and stopping just before her jawline. Rainbow moaned helplessly, with her eyes closed. He chuckled darkly. “Soon, your friends will be joining the party... and even that Sam kid...” He mentioned. Rainbow turned her head slightly, losing all movement in her body except for her head. “Y-you won’t get away with this..!” He smirked in response. “I can, and I will. You probably shouldn’t have taken Voss’ warning...” Slaughter laughed, mockingly. He then has a mood-swing, and becomes serious once again. “Now... go to sleep, you two. You’ll wake after a few minutes.” Rainbow tried to respond, but he suddenly latched his mouth onto her shoulder. Though she was unable to move, somehow she was able to feel a needle puncture her skin. She felt more venom. “N-n... no... please... uuugh...” Rainbow soon felt whatever he ejected come into effect, and then she passed out... Back in Ponyville... Sam was at the local market, where he was trying to choose which fruit he was going to get. He had asked Twilight if he could borrow some bits to buy some fruit. She agreed, but she also noted that Sam would need to get a job somehow. As Sam was looking at the apples, he felt everypony’s eyes on his flanks. He found it both annoying, and saddening. He decided that he’ll make his trip short, and bought five apples. Sam quickly got out of there, and back into Twilight’s castle. However, before he could go back inside, he heard a whisper over to his left. He turned to the sound, and saw Voss out in the open. Voss was behind a bush, hiding from public view. Sam’s eyes widen in surprise. He quickly ran towards Voss. “Hey!” He called. Voss had a rather sinister smirk, causing Sam to slow his pace. He was now standing a few meters from Voss. Sam hadn’t noticed until now, how much smaller he is compared to Voss. “What’re you doing out here? I thought you were only in my dreams!” “Yes, I can exit your psyche at any time... unlike a certain water dragon. Anyway, I’ll just let you know, Rainbow and Fluttershy need your help at Fluttershy’s cottage. Your next orb is there, but you’ll face a challenge...” “What challenge...” “Remember what I told you earlier today.” Voss stated. Sam thought for a moment, before he replied. “Okay, so this... creature, will hopefully not be difficult... right?” Sam rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. Voss sighed. “Nothing will ever be great, if you keep saying right at the end of everything... ugh...” Voss suddenly dropped down, and a black puddle swiftly went into Sam’s shadow. Sam was about to run, when he saw that Voss was gone. “Oh... well... I guess I need to get over there fast.” Sam said to himself. ... .... ... Sam had arrived at Fluttershy’s Cottage, which was larger than what he expected. He had to admit, this cottage certainly looked cozy. He wouldn’t mind moving into here--he shook the thought away, and proceeded to press his hoof against the door. Sam paused however, knowing that there could be danger. After all, the word ‘Slaughter’ doesn’t sound vary approachable. He decided to trot in, with caution... “crreeeeeeekkk” the door screeched, as it opened. The room was dimly lite, with the windows having webs dimming the light outside. There was green fog that surrounded the room. He cautiously entered, as his eyes and ears were on high alert. “H-h...” He was about to say something, when he stopped himself. He didn’t want to give away his position. The two cocoons had pony shaped bodies, and they were struggling. Sam gasped, and quickly trotted over to help them. However, he’s efforts to break his friends free was cut short, for that his leg has been tugged. He shouted as he was yanked back from them swiftly. He fell on his back, knocking the breath out of him. Sam looked down, and saw that his hoof had been snared by a string of web. The string was pulling him down the stairs, but he wasn’t having it. Sam clung onto one of the bed’s feet, holding on for dear life as his attacker was tugging hard. Suddenly, Sam heard a grunt down stairs, and some shuffling as they were coming up. Sam panicked, and quickly crawled under the bed. Everything fell silent, as he heard Slaughter enter the room. Sam tried everything he could, not to scream. He also tried to hold back his breathing slightly, breathing through his nostrils rather than his mouth. As he heard the creaking of each foot-step Slaughter took, Sam took notice of a small spider. From what his memories had shown him, he was deathly afraid of spiders. Sam was shivering, biting the inside of his mouth as it crawled across the floor. Then, it turned and revealed it’s face. Sam nearly yelped at the sight of it’s eight eyes, and it’s mandibles. This caused Sam to unintentionally breath more deeply, almost giving away his spot. Sam and the spider stared at each other for a few seconds, but to Sam it felt like eternity. The spider soon crawled towards him slowly, curious at what it was looking at. Sam almost cried at the sight, his fear has never been this high since... well, that’s where his memory cuts off. The spider crawled closer slightly, only being a few centi-meters away from Sam’s front leg. Then... “I know you’re in here, Earth Pony... come out... now...” Slaughter whispered the last word. This brought Sam back to reality, and that he was in danger. Though yes, he can turn into a dragon, but he had no idea how to trigger it. He guessed that it triggers when his friends are in danger, but for some reason it hasn’t happened yet... “I’ll gonna find you... and I will...” ... Sam suddenly felt something grab his tail forcefully! “KILL YOU!!!” Slaughter yelled. Sam screamed at the top of his lungs. He was yanked out from under the bed, and into Slaughter’s view. Sam tried to kick back, but Slaughter was quickly making do with gaining control. He grabbed the pony’s hooves, and putting his foot down on Sam’s chest, literally. Sam just looked up in terror. Slaughter chuckled at Sam’s face, but soon his chuckle disappeared quickly. “Huh...?” Sam’s chest begun to glow blue, and now it was Sam’s turn to smile devilishly. Sam morphed into his water dragon form! As Sam grew in size, he shot water at Slaughter’s face. Slaughter felt the water hit his eye, causing him to let go of Sam. He quickly released Sam, and backed away. He growled, before he made a run for it. Sam got up, and was about to go get Slaughter, when he heard the struggles of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “Mmmph!!” “Hmmmph!!” He decided to take a moment to untie them, after all, they are his friends. He used his claws to rip the silk off one of them, which he guessed was Rainbow Dash. After cutting the binds enough, Rainbow managed to squirm out, and brush herself off. Sam then proceeded to untie Fluttershy, cutting the binds, but being careful not to harm the gals. After breaking them free, Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at Sam with amazement. “You saved us!” “Uhm... yup, I did. I guess...” He said, nervously. He rubbed the back of his head, and he seemed... embarrassed? Rainbow blinked. “Is it just me? Or is Sam blushing...?” Rainbow thought. There wasn’t time for that, Sam needed to stop Slaughter. Sam proceeded to run down the stairs, and saw that Slaughter was nowhere in sight. He stopped, and gave a good look over the cottage. He was saddened, Slaughter had got away... or so he thought. Sam walked into the kitchen, and noticed that the floor was wet. A towel from the bathroom was present here, and the water seemed to make a small trail.. Suddenly, the pan was lifted up. Sam caught it at the corner of his eye, and quickly shielded himself as the pan was repeatedly smacking his arms. Sam could hear Slaughter growl in frustration, and desperation. The pan fell, and Slaughter remained anonymous once again. Sam realized that Slaughter was still in the room, just invisible. Just then, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy came down. Sam quickly ran over to them. “Hold it! He’s still here! He’s just invisible!” “Oh! So that explains why he attacked me without me knowing!” Fluttershy thought outloud. Sam gave her the ‘really?’ look. He turned around, and readied the water in his mouth. Though water was leaking from his mouth. Even know he’s regained memory, which allowed him to figure out some of the abilities of being a dragon, in practice, it’s still desperately hard to control the amount of water that he could hold in his mouth. Slaughter remained camouflaged, he was skilled with the ability to do so. He may not be the strongest out of them all, but he’s certainly the sneakiest. Sam looked around, turning in circles as he kept his eye out for any abnormalities in the room. Thankfully the fog was subsiding, so he and the others could see clearly. Slaughter mentally cursed at this, since his camouflage and fog were his best combination, but alas, he had to work with what he had. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined Sam in the hunt for Slaughter. The three looked around the room, looking for any signs of Slaughter. However, they didn’t detect anything.. until Sam got fet up with it all. “Ugh... that’s it. You’re coming out, no matter what!” Sam then begun shooting water all across the room. Admittedly he’ll have to find a way to pay Fluttershy back for ruining her home, but screw it, Slaughter needs to be found! The entire interior of the cottage got wet from the amount of water he was spraying out his mouth. The amount of force was the equivalent of a fire hose. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly took cover behind the sofas, as Sam went about his rampage. It didn’t take long for a weird figure to appear in the mist of the destruction. Due to the water, Sam could still see the outline of Slaughter’s slender body. He quickly ran, and tackled Slaughter. “Oof!” Slaughter grunted. Sam grabbed him, and noticed that there was a circular bulge inside Slaughter’s belly. Sam glared. “Spit that orb out!” “U-uh... wha...?” Slaughter was seemingly dazed from the tackle. Sam brought Slaughter closer to his face. “I said SPIT IT OUT!” Sam demanded. “Okay! Okay! You don’t have t’ shout at me!” Slaughter pleaded. Sam released him, and Slaughter did as promised. He begun to push the object of desire out of himself. He went as far as to climb up the wall, and hang from the ceiling in order to get it out. Shockingly enough, small animals were falling out his mouth and stomach, until finally the orb slid out his mouth, and landed on the ground. It was blue in the center this time, and not glowing white like last time.. Sam transformed back into an earth pony. Surprisingly, he didn’t feel sleepy. Sam touched the orb, and some memories begun to be revived... Sam was vary talented at sculpting, and also writing. Though he was never sure which one was the true talent, he favored writing over sculpting. Though sculpting was a unique skill that he had, unlike everyone around him... He went back to reality, and noticed that the orb was gone. Slaughter just sat there, not sure what to think of doing. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other, unsure what to think either. The two Pegasi trot up to Sam. Rainbow would hover, but thanks to Sam’s water fit, her flying was somewhat hindered due to her wet wings. Slaughter looked over at the Pegasi duo, and wondered what to do. He decided to speak first. “So... uh... you got what ya wanted?” “Hey! I think you’ll be--” “Hold on.. I wanna know what he has to say.” Sam interrupted. But quickly regretted it. “Oh, ya wanna know what I think? My suit’s ruined! Now I won’t be physical for days!” Slaughter snapped. Sam tilted his head to the side. “Uh... you’re not wearing a suit.” Rainbow pointed out. Slaughter turned to her, and grinned. Suddenly,he opened his jaws all the way, to the point where practically the top jaw was straight up, and the bottom was straight down. He flung his head back, and suddenly his skin begun to peel like a sock! Underneath his skin was nothing but air. Everypony screamed. Slaughter laughed maniacally, before he put his skin back on. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Sam decided to speak. “So you’re actually a ghost, okay.. Anyway, After touching that ball, I saw that I had talents before, and possibly a so called Cutie Mark, so answer me this; was it stolen from me? Or did I never have one to begin with?” Slaughter was silent for a moment, before speaking ominously. “Well... yes, you did have a cutie mark. But after you’ve lost your memories, Dark took it. Ever wondered why he was there shortly after that comet crashed? Not only that, but you won’t be knowing where the cutie mark is now.. I already ATE Dark Samuel...” Sam’s eyes widened. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were astonished by this new information. Slaughter then grinned, and begun laughing with insanity. Sam looked over to his friends, with concern. “No.. with Dark gone... how’re we--” “Oh relax! I know he’s not gone! As long as his head survives, he’ll always come back!” Slaughter said, before he laid down on the floor. By this time, the water had already dried up. “So... what now?” Rainbow asked. Sam shrugged. “I know what you’ll be doing today, Sam.” Fluttershy said, sternly. Sam shuttered, knowing the damage he’s caused. “I-I mean... I’m sorry, I was too frustrated to concentrate...” He tried to explain. “I-I.. I’m sure Slaughter can--” When Sam turned to look, Slaughter was gone. Everypony froze, they looked at the door, and the door was wide open, swinging. There was a note stuck to the door, by silk of course, that said; From Slaughter; Tell Dashie I love her! >:-) In the Next Chapter: Sam and Rainbow spend a day together > Sam and Rainbow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside of Ponyville It had been only a day since his defeat. Slaughter was slithering through the tall grass in a open field, completely and utterly baffled at how easily Sam was able to get him on the run. Slaughter did admit though, what he thought of next gave him a toothy smile. His thought was that of Sam being some kind of marry sue. ”Heh, what-ta joke...” He thought humorously. Slaughter dug his clawed fingers into the dirt to pull himself across the ground, grunting every time he hits a rock as he did so. His legs kicked against the ground, trying to give himself a boost in crawl speed. He looked up to see a nearby tree. Thinking quickly, he decided he’ll sleep there until he’s well enough to reach the cave. Slaughter bite his lip. “This is going to be a Lo-o-ong day...” Near the front door in Twilight’s Castle Sam was talking with Spike, about the event that happened with the dragons. “Huh... so this Ember, has became the new princess?” Sam thought. Though he never heard of Ember, he took Spike’s word for her personality and such. “Say... Sam? How is it that the dragon lord’s call didn’t happen to you? You can transform into a dragon, don’t you think that when the lord’s call came, you would be forced into this like me?” Sam paused. “Actually... yeah, How is it that I didn’t...” He trailed off. Sam glanced over, and spotted Rainbow Dash go out the door. He suddenly felt a ting within his chest, causing him to cringe, and grunt. He pressed his hoof to his chest. “The hey!?” He thought. Spike’s eyes widened. “S-sam? What’s wrong?” Spike asked. Then Sam paused, usually he would naturally be scared in this moment. But for some reason, he wasn’t feeling fear, instead, he felt... anticipation. He was rather surprised, to say the least. Expecting it to be important, he waited for something to happen, and sure enough; something happened. He heard something within his head. “.... P... please... follow.... her....” The voice was calm, with a slight Australian accent. Sam wanted to ask more, but there was something about that voice that told him everything. He proceeded to trot out the front doors, following Dash in a way. Spike saw him turn to the door, and wondered what was wrong. Then he witnessed Sam galloping out the door, he seemed to be in a hurry. “W-wait, Sam!” Spike called. Sam ignored him, and proceeded to leave the castle. Spike just stood there, rather confused. “Was it something I said?” Inside the womb-like chamber, the blue dragon smiled warmly when Sam ran after the mare of his dreams. Neocros had been receiving dreams of this Rainbow beauty, which makes him feel emotions that made his heart fuzzy. Though he can’t talk physically, he found a way to speak telepathically. The mere thought of Rainbow Dash seems to make him calmer than he would be, normally. Neo felt a strong desire, a passion, to get to know this pony. This mare who seems to be a remedy to his lost soul, yet somehow... she looked familiar... Rainbow Dash flew through the sky, as usual. She was thinking about the day when Slaughter attacked, and somehow felt shivers down her spine when she that note he left. Dash couldn’t help but feel bothered by this, since this came out of nowhere. In fact, why her? He was vary close to succeeding until Sam came to the rescue. “Just what was Slaughter planning to do, with me and Fluttershy anyway?” She puzzled. Rainbow couldn’t think of anything rational, and just assumed that Slaughter was just your stereotypical creeping tom. Why was she even thinking about him anyway? She had no clue. After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash glanced down at the ground below her, and noticed a certain tan colored pony below her. “Sam?” “Rainbow Dash!” He called from below. Dash swooped down, and landed near him. She was curious as to why he’s here, out in the open. Sam usually stayed inside the castle, and rarely went out. Whenever he did, he would have a reason. “What’s up, Sam?” Sam stuttered, and paused. What was he suppose to say? Should he come up with an excuse? Or tell her that a voice told him to follow her? “No! She’ll think I’m crazy!” He thought. Sam was having trouble on what to say, which made him feel a twinge of anxiety. Rainbow noticed Sam’s nervousness, and tilted her head. “Uhm... Sam?” “I-i uh... I was... was fo--observing? From a distance...” He tried to not look nervous, but he was. Rainbow blinked. “Observing what?” “Uhm.... y-... you?” He replied nervously. He wasn’t sure whether to smile or frown. Rainbow was left even more puzzled, but with her pride, she smirked. “Like how awesome I am?” She teased. “W-what i-if... uh.. Slaughter might come back, I mean.. He did say he liked you, and let’s not forgot the fact he retreated. Sooo... mind if I tag along? I do feel bored inside the castle.” "Uh.... sure..... come on then," Dash said, unsure what to make of it all. Sam felt a strange tickle within him, causing him to smile. Little did Sam know, it was Neocros showcasing his happiness. The two decided to go to one of the eateries in town. Rainbow was getting a little hungry after all. The tickle inside Sam soon turned into a warm, fuzzy feeling whenever he glances at the pony hovering next to him. Rainbow noticed that he was constantly looking over at her, so she asked. “So.. how’ve you been?” Sam honestly didn’t know how to respond. In the days he’s been here, he didn’t exactly socialize much, since he was too busy obsessing over what Voss could offer next. But still--Sam felt like he had a goal here, but it took a few days for him to get going. “W-well.. er... I.. don’t know...” He uttered. Rainbow smiled. “It’s alright, I’m sure something awesome will happen!” She assured. Once again, Sam felt Neocros’ happy feeling rise up inside. He smiled a little from it, and looked over to Dash. “Thank you...” > Wave of Darkness > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Sam held the pillow, he begun to think of when he was with Rainbow, as well as everything that happened that week. He was rather uncomfortable about what Slaughter may or could of tried to do. When he had bound Rainbow and Fluttershy, and what was Slaughter even accomplishing to begin with? He wasn't sure. But then his thoughts suddenly took a strange turn for the unexplained. Sam thought of when he saw them bound and cocooned, and found himself rewinding the footage in his mind again and again. Somehow, he found himself fascinated by the way they were cocooned, and how they were tied. He begun remembering how they struggled, and how they sounded. Sam found himself getting a little warm inside, but not in a heartwarming way. No, he felt the much darker version of fascination. The world that Voss lives in, is imaginary in the mind of Sam--but real. The world is connected through different points, in which represent different parts of the brain. Voss had his own room, where he would reside, until that day. The room was small, walls were a dark blue, and there was only a chair with nearly twelve monitors in front. The only light in the room was a dim light bulb. In the center of the room, Voss was relaxing on his chair, with some tea in hand. The aforementioned monitor screens each had security camera POVs. They were surveying different parts of Sam's subconscious. Which all covered some of the mind's workings. Voss drunk his tea, ravaging it as he observed cams one through nine. It's not until he reached cam ten--which covered Sam's imaginary part of the brain--Voss noticed something odd. The images of Rainbow and Fluttershy kept appearing, with Dash being more prominent than Fluttershy. Voss then sensed something from that part of the psyche; desire. Desire was building up, and was ready to leak into other parts of the brain. Voss blinked, how was this possible? Sam had most of his memory lost, but how was he able to instinctively connect with this thought of bondage? Then Voss realized pretty quickly that this desire will prove a problem to the growth and health to Neocros! Voss quickly jumped out of his chair, and teleported to the area where Neocros was being kept. After a few seconds, he arrived. The fleshy ball that the egg of Neocros was kept in, was large--roughly the size of a Minotaur. But not too huge. But it may grow in time. Voss checked everywhere around it. Thankfully, lust hadn't leaked into Neo's chamber yet, but if not kept safe--there may be problems. He wasn't taking the risk. Voss quickly used some dark magic to cover the entire parameter of Neocros' chamber, and hoped for the best. He also decided to stick around to see if it'll work. ... Silence. Voss looked around, searching for any floods of lust. Minutes pass, and just when he was about to get up, he heard gushing somewhere to his left. He turned his gaze, and saw it passing by. The lust itself was a huge tidal wave of purple water. It had the scent of roses and vanilla, which that alone would make all bow down to it. Voss made sure to cover his mouth and nostrils as it passed. Voss watched as it washed over the force field of dark magic, which nearly covered the whole thing. Thankfully, the dark magic showed no sign of caving, and kept his spherical shape. Once the lust begun to lower, and was absorbed by the void below; Voss floated over, and investigated the sphere, to make sure it held up. Fortunately, the sphere had no cracks, which pleased Voss. He stuck around for another minute, making sure that the lust wasn't coming back. After a minute or so, he left the area, and returned to his room... Admittedly, he wasn't sure why Sam was full of desire all of a sudden--but perhaps that; as he remembers his past--he also remembers all of his kinks. "Seems possible, but why now? He doesn't even have that many memories uncovered. Yet, here he is, thinking inappropriately towards Dash, and even Fluttershy..." He thought. He had a multitude of questions, but perhaps in time... he'll come to a conclusion... > Neocros and the Unicorn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “... what...? what am I...?” The dragon looked around. He was in a room that had different shades of pink everywhere. He felt lonely, like something was missing from his heart. The dragon kept walking forward, not knowing where he’s suppose to go. After all, there was no map. His thoughts were filled with questions, but it also had the desire to find answers. He noticed a flash of light at the corner of his right eye. He turned around, and saw a familiar unicorn. “Neocros...” She said. The dragon blinked. The unicorn witnessed a textbox appear in front of the water dragon. The text read: “Neocros...? Oh.. right, I’m Neocros.” The unicorn smiled. “I’m glad you’ve remembered. You’ve lost some of your power, resulting in you having to speak via textbox.” She said. Neocros’ eyes widened. The textbox appeared again. “I’ve... lost my.. power?” “Yes, Sorsirina has taken most of your host’s memories. Because of that, you’ve lost your power. You’re inside a dream right now, and your host--Sam, has been hit with amnesia. So far, you’re not capable of breaking out of the egg that’s keeping you inside. But in time, once you’ve regained a bit of your power--you may surface from the egg, and be visible from the outside.” Neocros cocked his head to the side at the name Sorsirina. “Who is she...? Sorsirina?” Neocros asked via text. The unicorn was silent for a moment, but sighed. “Sorsirina is Sam’s Ex-girlfriend. She misses Sam, to the point where she’s willing to destroy everypony he loves in order to get him into her hands.” The unicorn explained. Neocros scratched the side of his head curiously. She stared at him while he was looking around nervously. The unicorn read Neocros’ thoughts, and found that he was now remembering something about Sorsirina. “You are remembering, are you?” “U-uhm...” Neocros shivered. The unicorn quickly apologized for seemingly being scary to the innocent, teen-aged dragon. “Oh.. well... I think I’ve seen Sorsirina.. when I awoke when Sam was in danger... in the past.” The unicorn’s eyes closed. “Yes, in that moment, Sam was going to be captured by Sorisirina. But then you came out, sensing your host’s fear. If Sam had became a mindless zombie to Sorsirina, you would have disappeared in an instant.” She explained once more. Neocros remembered that time vividly. He knew that the purple sorceress was a threat to his host. The thought alone was making Neocros rather uncomfortable. The unicorn knew this, and decided to stop talking about her. “So Neocros, at the moment, Sam has a small fragment of your power, which results in him taking on the illusion of a dragon.. before I go, I must let you know my name.” “Y-your name...?” “My name is Saverna.” “Oh...” Neocros rubbed his head slightly. “I’ll.. remember... that?” Neocros was then hit with a blinding light, and once the light subsided, Saverna had vanished. Neocros had a rather sad expression on his face at the sight. There was something about her that made him think. If he could anyway... > SugerCube Corner > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The bedroom was slightly illuminated by the light, with the curtains preventing it from blinding the room. Though the window was covered, the sun’s rays peeked through, and warmed the lower half of the bed sheets. Sam was holding the pillow, that he had imagined as his crush. But he was awake, but pretended to be asleep. As he did this, he was hit with a small question... which promptly caused him to open his eyes, and sit up. Why did he like Rainbow? Sam knew her, but not enough to warrant the thoughts and feelings he’s had. He appreciated the warm feelings he felt, but at the same time, he was still puzzled. Though it’s easy to point out how adventurous her mane and tail are, as well as how gorgeous her eyes are, it’s still kinda strange how he decided that she was the one. Though in the moment he thought of that, he realized that he may have the psychology of a princess in a fairy tale. But then he remembered... The voice. Sam blinked, and found that his crush had awakened at the same time, when he heard the voice in his head. The voice in which, being somepony he didn’t particularly knew. Perhaps they have answers? Still, there will be time for him to ask, but who knows? It could just be swept under the rug like other things. But Sam couldn’t focus on it, at the moment, at least. Sam got up, made up the bed, and Sam proceeded to his morning. Though he hardly had anything to do, this morning. Sam had went for a trot through town, once more. Admittedly, he begun to see a pattern with his own behavior, and how repetitive it was becoming. The only difference between he and anypony, is the fact that he felt like there was no end to this loop. But maybe he can break out, if he could. This psychological talk was making him hungry, so he couldn’t linger any longer on the subject. Sam thought of what he could eat.. He could just go home, and find something in the fridge. But where is it, exactly? He never got used to the layout of the castle, so he always preferred to go out to eat. It was late in the afternoon, and Sam was still searching for the eatery. He was thinking of getting desert to go along with the meal he was going to have. As Sam trotted through town, he felt eyes on him as he tried to reach his destination. Sam turned and looked, and spotted a couple looking at him. He decided not to stick around for vary long, knowing that whenever he notices somepony staring at him, more will start looking at him. Sam didn’t like crowds, but it sort of worked in that he could blend in. No pony would see him, if he just keep low. Once he was behind a building, he continued his journey to find a place to sit. After he gets some desert, he would go to eat at a nearby eatery. But then again, what if the corner... His thoughts were interrupted when he realized that he was there, at SugarCube Corner. He entered the building, and was greeted with the sight of Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, sitting at a table. Pinkie Pie got out of her chair, bounced right up to Sam, and grinned. “Hiya, Sammy!” She chirped. Sam blinked, rather taken aback by the nickname. “Huh? Why call me that?” “Dunno, it just sounds nice!” She replied. Rainbow Dash trotted up next to Pinkie Pie, and glanced over to Sam. “So, how’s it going?” Rainbow asked. Sam was rather reluctant on admitting that he wanted to go to an eatery instead, but he didn’t want to come off as a liar either. Sam ultimately decided, and stuck with it. “O-oh.. uhm... I thought I’d get something to eat... Not sure if I made the right choice...” Sam replied, even though he was thinking of straight up saying that he wanted to go somewhere else. It seems to happen to Sam a lot; that he would walk into a room, for no particular reason. Sometimes he had something to say, but it leaves his mind, as soon as he enters. “Well, you’ve made the right choice! We’ve got cakes! Cookies! And more!” Pinkie Pie chirped, once more. She had taken Sam by the hoof, and dragged him over to the menu. Sam found himself having eye contact with Rainbow Dash, before he found himself staring at the menu. “Oh boy... what have I done?” He thought, as he was brought into a tutorial of what they serve. At least, that’s how he felt. He decided that he’d have some cookies with frosting on top. He didn’t exactly care what he was getting, he just wanted something to go with his future meal... Though he managed to order his sweets; Sam always seemed to have this problem of asking what he wanted, or properly telling them what he liked and didn’t. It’s feels as if he was born with this disability, well okay, it wasn’t THAT troublesome. But nonetheless, he was always concerned about how he felt about others, and was afraid of making a scene. Not that he already makes a scene, over the fact that he had no cutie mark. Sam sat down at the table, opposite to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. In all of his days with his friends, he noted that Rainbow and Pinkie were one of the more closer duos of the group. Up there, next to Twilight and Spike, as well as Twilight and Starlight. But that were just his own observations, right? His thoughts were interrupted, by the sound of Pinkie Pie asking. “What do ya think?” Sam was back to reality, when she was staring. “Oh... um... I guess.. I like it?” He wondered. Pinkie smiled widely, which made him have small chills. “So... Rainbow?” Rainbow glanced over to him, after previously watching Pinkie’s reaction. “Yeah?” “I’ve noticed, that Voss, has been strangely absent from my dreams, lately...” Sam said. Rainbow blinked. “Huh? That shadow guy? Why haven’t you seen him?” She questioned. Sam nodded. “I dunno. He’s been absent, which has made me somewhat unnerved... like a “calm before the storm”, that kinda thing...” Sam replied. He was obviously a bit nervous about what this could mean, and the duo in front of him noticed. “It’s okay, Sammy! I guess he needed to do something!” “Yeah, and that’s probably a bad thing... since...” He paused, before he decided to come out and say it. “...I can just smell double agent all over him... but maybe I’m wrong.” “Hm... that doesn’t sound that far fetched, since he is shadowy. At least, you describe him as being such.” Rainbow said. Though none of them were aware, they had a pair of ruby eyes, watching them from underneath a nearby table. It stared at them, and listened to them talking. It then moved back, and disappeared into the darkness of the table’s shadow... In Sam’s bedroom: The lights were off, and the only light that was provided, was the window’s. The window was covered up, making the light from outside dim. A tall, black figure stood in the middle of the room. It’s hand was outstretched, with a crystal ball in it’s hand. Within the ball, was Sam, Dash, and Pinkie talking. The figure’s eyes opened. “He’s not to far off...” Voss whispered to himself... > The Alleyway > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been at least three weeks since Slaughter’s retreat. Seeing the potential in Sam. Twilight had offered him to be her student, much like Starlight Glimmer. But Sam had declined the offer, several times. In the time between his battle with Slaughter, and now. He had gotten to know Twilight and her friends rather well. Right now, he was on his daily walk through town. Of course, Sam would excuse himself as trying to stretch his legs--in reality though, he was having a bit of anxiety... His goal today was to find a memory orb, since earlier that morning; Voss had told him in a dream that the next one was nearby. So he wasn’t just going out to stretch his legs. But perhaps that voice inside his mind could help him in his search. He paused in his tracks, and tried to search for any thoughts. He even tried to speak to the voice. “Hey uh... I.. I need s-some.. a-advice...” He said nervously. He kept his ground, listening to any voices, or even any signs... ... Nothing. He sighed, and decided to continue his search for something to do. He felt rather displeased by the fact that he was practically searching around blindly. Even still, the goal he had also stumped him a bit. It took him awhile, which made him annoyed. But he soon felt a familiar aura... Which lead him to an alleyway, which was a few buildings away from the library. The alleyway was rather shaded, making it rather unnerving to look through. It almost felt like something could jump right out, in front of him. Sam then spots it. The memory orb was floating there, at the end of the alleyway. He proceeded to trot over to it, staring intently with anticipation of what he will remember. The orb was slightly different in appearance, looking more like a pearl than the one in his dream, and it was slightly orange in color. Of course, had it not been for the familiar aura it was giving off, he would’ve been suspicious of it’s difference. Sam suspected that all the orbs were going to look different. The first one was purely white, and the second one was blue with a white outline. Once he reached it though, he heard some shuffling behind him. He turned around, and saw three stallions. The one on the left was pale blue earth pony, with a purple mane and tail. The one on the right was a red earth pony with a dark brown mane and tail. The one in the middle was light brown, with a black mane and tail. All three didn’t look so friendly. “Hey, kid. We found that first, that’s ours.” “Since when were there gangs? I haven’t even seen any!” Sam thought, perplexedly. The three approached Sam. He backed away, before he quickly touched the orb. He then remembered last time, thinking that it took time to remember, resulting in Sam regretting his decision. He proceeded to remember more of his past... Sam had become a member of a Guild. He had signed as an explorer to investigate any changes in the Elemental Forest. It’s where he found a gemstone, that gave him the power of earth. It was also when he felt the presence of a water dragon, and after that, strange things happened... After he was done remembering, he was expecting a beating. He shut his eyes, expecting whatever it was they were going to do... but it didn’t come. Sam turned around, and noticed that they were on the floor. He blinked, before he then sensed a dark presence. He felt a cold chill run down his spine as he heard a rough cough behind him. Sam turned around slowly, and was met with a fiery red eye. “..!!!” He gasped, and jumped back quickly. Standing just a few meters away, was a black figure wearing a dark blue cloak. He had one lock of hair that obscured his left eye, and his face was somewhat hard to see. “Hello, Sam.” He spoke. His voice being deep, almost grimy. The man sounded like his mouth was in a glass cup, but with holes in it. “I thought I’d bump into you, eventually.” Sam had a feeling that he should run, and he was given the command when he heard Neocros’ voice inside his mind. “... run...” Sam bolted out of the alleyway, jumping over the three muggers, and exiting out. He didn’t look back, for that he swore he heard faint screams from the stallions. But part of him felt like he needed to go back. Even know they were threatening, Sam wanted to save the stallions. But he heard the voice tell him to never turn back. He wasn’t strong enough to face that thing yet... > Midway Standoff > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ”Midway Standoff” He had since lost track of time, due to how much Sam has gotten to know his friends a lot more. He mostly was drawn to Rainbow Dash, but the others were nice too. He still couldn’t understand why Voss kept leaving him, and waiting till a few days after to talk. Sadly, Voss hasn’t given anymore information, regarding where the next memory orb was. It feels like Voss was toying with him, and for a while. Whenever they do meet, it usually ends with Sam growling at Voss, for not letting him in on where the memory orb is. Voss would sort of dance around the question, and would instead tell Sam about his day. As far as he knew, Voss wasn’t a reliable source anymore. So Sam stopped talking to him. Whenever he encountered the shadow entity, Sam would ignore, or run away from him. Surprisingly, he had no dreams of Voss after that, as if the shadow got the message. The light was shining through the windows, and the birds were chirping outside. It felt like it would be the perfect day to sit back, relax, and perhaps enjoy a good o’l book. Although Sam would’ve went outside, he decided to stay indoors, and maybe take a nap. But he was personally conflicted, what if he meets Rainbow? Or maybe meet a new friend? Twilight Sparkle had urged Sam to perhaps socialize, but the only social active he’s been receiving, were awkward stares from everypony in town. It made Sam feel like he didn’t belong, and why should he? He’s a brown haired, tan colored, typical pony. But the only catch is that he had no cutie mark. Thankfully, he was educated on cutie marks, thanks to Twilight and Starlight. He could recall their time, but aside from select moments, he could remember everything. After Dark’s defeat When Sam woke up for the second time, he caught the sight of his new friends, including a purple dragon nearby. He was back in the same room as before, with the window busted. “Uh... hi...?” Sam muttered, nervously. “How did you do that!?” Twilight said, referring to the dragon form Sam took. “Do what?” “That dragon form you took.” Sam thought for a moment, before he realized what she meant. “Oh... that. I dunno, I just... thought of it?” He replied, tiredly. He sat up, allowing him to face everypony. Twilight and her friends were whispering among themselves for a moment, before they faced Sam. “Hm, you really are more than just a pony. Anyways, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She introduced. The other introduce themselves as well. Sam gave a weak smile, like he had been offered something. Though admittedly, he felt something warm when he heard the name Rainbow Dash. He sat up, and rubbed his eyes... Later that day: Twilight, Starlight, and Sam were in one room. Twilight was showcasing what cutie marks were all about. “You see, cutie marks represent the talents of the pony. When a pony is born, they have none, but they eventually get their cutie mark in some way.” She explained. Sam tilted his head, imagining what she was talking about. “So, that was a brief explanation of cutie marks. If you like to know more, I have hundreds of books here.” Sam rubbed the back of his head, with thought. “Why don’t I have a cutie mark?” He asked. Twilight put her hoof to her chin, thinking of an answer. “I’m not quite sure. But considering that you had turned into a dragon, I think I have a small theory.” “What’s your theory?” Starlight Glimmer asked. Twilight turned to her student. “Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark has something to do with her Sonic Rainboom, maybe his mark has something to do with his ability to turn into a dragon.” She explained to Starlight. “If that were the case, why didn’t it appear as soon as he transformed back?” Starlight questioned. Present He admittedly felt saddened that everypony had cutie marks, but he didn’t. He couldn’t help but feel vary jealous of such. Sam wondered what his cutie mark would look like, perhaps it’s... he couldn’t think of anything. As far as he knew, he was confident that Twilight and her friends were out of ideas. He’s surprised that they hadn’t consulted for help by this point. But even then, he knew that it would be useless. He’s a pony who transforms into a dragon for crying out loud! Regardless, Sam decided to sleep it out. Hopefully that’ll shut up all of his nervousness. But before he could, he had this strange feeling to go outside. It was small, but it somehow made Sam not get under the covers. Sam sighed, and listened to his feeling. If he keeps going down the road of unable to choose, the anxiety gets greater. So he decided to just go outside. Inside the dark cave, Stalactites were dripping, as bats were perched in the deepest parts of the cave. The entrance looked as if it was a hole in the ground, with a dirt path leading into it. Light rays were keeping the place from becoming pure darkness. It looked like Dark had been relaxing for far too long. He opened his eyes, and realized that he was still a phantom. His eyes lit up, full of life. Dark’s white pupils looking around as he remembered what had happened a few weeks since he was confronted by his ‘rival’. After that ugly creature--Slaughter had his way with him, he had become a phantom, much like his rival. Thankfully, the one part of his original form remained--his head. It laid on the ground, completely soulless. Dark proceeded to close his eyes, and begun using his remaining magic to form a new body. His body begun to materialize out of the dirt, with some rich minerals to add to his frame. It surprised him how resourceful Equestria was, and still is. How it’s full of magic, even down to the dirt. In all of his time being around more Earth-like regions, this world’s resources is proving beneficial for him. He made a body, which used the original head. Dark proceeded to return to this body, seeing as the creation process was near completion. He used his newly made arms to push himself off the ground, shifting his head slightly as he did so. After some trial and error, Dark finally stood up. He took a brief overview of his newly formed body. He had some brown patches on his knees, elbows, and other small parts, which is the result of the dirt. But they’ll become nice and shadowy over time. Thanks to the Equestrian soil, he managed to receive some new magic, which made his unstable-looking magic look much cleaner, less rough, and primitive-looking. He smiled at the improvements that were made to his body. Dark started walking his way out the cave, but not before he thanked the Equestrian soil. He knew that it probably didn’t hear, but he thought he’d thank the Tree of Harmony for gifting him a much more functioning body... Slaughter had managed to return to the cave, where he had... "fun" with Dark. He licked his teeth as he kept crawling into the darkness. When he entered, he found that all the rays of light had mysteriously vanished. At first, he assumed that it was like that because it was noon. However, the sun was just passing by the cave, before he entered. "Huh..." He thought. "You would think that there would at least be a bit more light, but yet it's jet black in here!!" Slaughter would've naturally shrugged it off, but there was something about it, that bothered him slightly. But then, just when he was about to forget it, he heard a voice. "Hello... Slaughter." Someone all to familiar called out. Slaughter froze, it can't be... "U-uhm... D-dark Samuel?" He called out. He couldn't see anything, to the point where the only light that was being provided was outside. "I-is that you, man?" "Isn't it obvious?" Dark replied. He was visibly more angry than usual. Then, about the other side of the cave, Slaughter could see his white eyes. They felt like they were staring into Slaughter's soul, and they were glaring with impatience. It felt like Slaughter had done it this time. He could tell that this was all about last time they met... It was after noon, with everypony doing business as usual. Sam tried to not be seen, knowing exactly how he’ll feel once everypony catches his blankflank. But Celestia only knows how he was going to make friends. Sam decided to sit somewhere, so he went and sat down on a small bench near a small river. The trees were giving decent shade for Sam, as he looked around at nature. He placed his hooves next to his flanks, where a cutie mark would usually be seen. This technique helped hide the fact that he was blankflank, and he found himself growing a bit more calmer. His thoughts moved to reflect on what he knew so far. He was from an unknown region, which was a bit more summer-related. Apparently, he liked to sculpt things out of clay, and write sometimes. That’s when his eyes widened with realization. “Wait... writing... and sculpting... Holy!” He jumped off his bench. “Maybe I DID Have a talent after all! But... how did I lose my cutie mark?” He was thinking for a moment, as he begun speculating on what happened. He couldn’t pinpoint any exact reason, or even make up his own theory. As far as he knew, he was stumped. As Sam was lost in his own world, he hadn’t noticed the fact that there was eyes on him. But they weren’t the eyes of ponies, it was the eyes of a rather familiar entity... Sam then heard what sounded like a small whisper in his ear. He turned, and he instantly caught the entity at the corner of his eye. It was hidden under the tree’s shadow, as if it was trying not to be seen by the sun. Sam instantly recognized the eyes, and begun approaching it. “Voss!” “Oh, it’s you.” Voss replied. “I thought you’d be like that, since you clearly lack the patience of a spider in it’s web.” “I do now, and I want you to answer me. FOR THE LAST TIME.” Sam retorted. “Where’s the next memory orb!?” Voss probably should’ve expected Sam’s irritability, since he had been teasing him on and off for a while now. But nevertheless, he found it to be a bother to be Sam’s answering machine, and even putting it like that, didn’t make sense to Voss. Well, he was paid to do this, so... “Tell me!” “Fine. It’s in the Everfree woods. HAPPY NOW?” Voss growled. Although Sam has had some bad dreams with Voss, this was the first time he felt like Voss was probably not in the best mental state. “Okay, now where exactly is it? Within the forest?” Sam asked. Voss rolled his eyes, with visible annoyance. Voss pulled out something thin and dark. Then a red, feather pen manifested in Voss’ right hand, before he begun making motions, as if he was writing something. Sam wasn’t sure what he was writing exactly, but he didn’t care, he was finally getting a lead to where the next memory was. Voss finished writing, and tossed it over to Sam. The dark, thin sheet quickly vaporized into a normal sheet of paper, as if it was cleansed by the sun’s rays. Sam closed his eyes, and transformed into his dragon form. He picked up the paper, and begun to read it. It was a map of the Everfree Forest. His eyes widened. “So this is the path?” He asked, as he glanced up at Voss. However, Voss was nowhere to be seen, as if there was nothing there to begin with. Sam blinked, and looked around. “Uhm... where did you go...?” He eventually shrugged it off, and kept examining the map. But as he analyzed it, he couldn’t rub the anxious feeling off his back, like Voss was up to something... Deep within the Everfree Forest... The sunlight peeked through the trees, leaving small patches of light on the ground below. Some of the wildlife were becoming more and more vigilant, due to a new predator entering their ecosystem. Though this wasn’t any ordinary predator... There was a small rabbit munching on grass, it was completely unaware of what eyes were on it. There was a fox nearby, watching, and stalking the little furball. It kept it’s head low to the ground, allowing the foliage to hide it’s beautiful orange coat. It was readying to pounce, however, there was something that stopped it from doing it. There was small droplets of saliva coming from above. The fox was about to follow the spit up, but it soon realized that whatever was drooling, was moving. It made this effect where the pools of drool were just behind the rabbit. Although the rabbit had great sense of hearing, it hadn’t noticed the silenced drops, due to how small the drool was. The fox knew that it wasn’t the only predator around, so the fox wasted no time to pounce. It jumped out of the brush, and quickly tried to pin the rabbit. However, the rabbit was quick enough to escape both predators. It’s here the fox made a horrible mistake. It found itself on the same spot the rabbit was on. Suddenly, it felt a slight shock between it’s shoulder blades. It made a surprised yelp, before it was swiftly pulled up... Nearby, within the darkness. Voss watched as the fox was dragged up and into the branches above. He had seen what happened, and he was fully aware of what the web belonged to. He glanced up, and begun floating into the tree limbs above, to hopefully meet his partner in crime... Sam and three of his friends went into the Everfree forest, since Sam wasn’t allowed to go alone. The friends he brought with him were; Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Although he would’ve brought more, the other three were busy doing something else. Admittedly only two were busy, Pinkie Pie was somepony Sam wasn’t too fond of. Not that he hated her or anything. Sam felt much safer with Twilight and Rainbow by his side. The four made their way down the path, the sounds of birds chirping and some frog croaking were the sounds they heard. Rainbow looked over at Sam. She and her friends were briefed about the mission to find this orb, but she remembered that Sam also mentioned the idea of what his cutie mark might be. “Uhm... Sam? About your theory regarding your cutie mark... You said that you might know writing and sculpting.” Rainbow began. Sam didn’t turn his head, since he needed to know where they were going, but he did at least glance over to her. “Yes?” “I was wondering, how in Equestria would you sculpt clay? I mean, I understand that maybe you’d use a typewriter, but using clay?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Hmm... with my dragon form’s hands, I guess...? I dunno.” Sam was pretending to not know, when he knew full well what he looked like, before he became a pony. Of course, besides the fact that he once stood on two legs naturally, he knew vary little of his past. “Right now, I’m more concerned about the next orb. Maybe that’ll give me more answers as to who I was before...” “Heh, I guess that works. What da ya think, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she turned around. But Fluttershy wasn’t behind her, heck, she wasn’t with the group! Her eyes widened. “Fluttershy?” She said a loud. Rainbow turned to the others. “Guys! Fluttershy’s missing!” Sam and Twilight turned their heads, and glanced up at Rainbow. “Huh? What!?” “What!?” Twilight protested. It didn’t take long for their search for the orb, to change into a search party. They looked around, stopping their journey to find their friend. Above the trees, a familiar pair of circular eyes watched them. It was holding a cocoon in it’s arms, who she was completely wrapped in webbing. It was obvious the creature was eager to catch the others. “Alright, let’s split up--” Twilight begun, before Sam cut her off. “No! If we do, we might get lost too. Considering that Voss sent us here... there might be someone... or something in here...” Sam suggested. Rainbow and Twilight looked at each other for a moment, before they nodded. “You’ve got a point, if we do get separated--” Twilight was yet again cut off. However, this time, she felt a dull pain on her rear. Before she’s suddenly yanked upwards, towards the trees above. Rainbow and Sam’s eyes widen. What they could see, was a yellowish white glob on Twilight’s flank, which was connected to a thick string from above. It didn’t take a genius to know what this was. “Twilight!” Rainbow cried. Rainbow was quick to react, and she immediately begun pulling Twilight back down to the ground, fighting against the web. Sam pitched in to help, but even with the combined forces of Rainbow Dash and Sam, whatever or whoever was pulling Twilight felt like it had the strength of a herd of yaks. Rainbow felt something poke her back, which made her look behind. It didn’t take long for them to realize, that Rainbow was hit with web as well. Sam yelped, and now he’s Holding onto Rainbow. Unfortunately, Sam looses grip, and the two are dragged into the trees. Dash, however, wasn’t having it. She kept fighting, using her wings to fly towards the ground. But then two extra globs of web hit each of her wings. Rainbow’s eyes widened, at the slight sting that the web had. She’s quickly pulled into the tree-line, unseen by Sam. Sam’s eyes were wide with terror. “Rainbow!!” He called. He scanned the darkness of the leafs of the branches, searching for any signs of his friends. Sadly, he didn’t see anypony. Sam called out to them several times, but received no answer. Sam fell back on his flank, thinking. Sam was desperate to find them, so he tried climbing a nearby tree. He gripped it with his legs, and squeezing to keep his grip. However, he soon realizes that he’s unable to climb it... and he falls down. Sam landed on his back, hard, knocking the air out of him. Silence followed... He sat on his haunches, unsure of what to do. Sam was all alone, nopony to help him. It didn’t take long for the ambiance of the forest to fill his ears. Sam was shivering, not knowing what that thing was, that took his friends. But after a moment of thinking, he realized that it should’ve been obvious. Sam glared at the ground, with new-found irritation. “Slaughter, Don’t you DARE harm them!” He whispered to himself... Fluttershy was shivering of fright, she wasn’t prepared for him again. She had nightmares of Slaughter, with him wrapping her up, biting her, and pumping her with paralyzing venom. She felt the branches under her shift slightly, and a voice she was dreading to hear spoke. “Heh, you all having fun?” He asked, smugly. He sounded like he was nearby. She could hear Rainbow Dash muffled protesting next to her. Although the silk was blindfolding her, Rainbow Dash could faintly see Slaughter’s pure white eyes above what she presumed to be Fluttershy. It was actually Twilight. Slaughter turned his attention to Rainbow, and he begun to slowly creep towards her. Rainbow began shaking her head, and began to freak out slightly. She remembered the last time he treated her, let alone the fact that this guy could subdue the Princess of Friendship! As if reading her mind, Slaughter tilted his head. “Oh? Do you remember the last time I’ve handled you?” He asked. Rainbow found herself staring face to face with him. He placed his finger on the area where her lip was, and leaned in, pressing the side of his snout to her cheek. She could feel his breath down the side of her neck. “I know I seem like a no brainer, but I’m vary aware of a mare’s actions. I’ve taken some, I’ve drained some. You know my intentions, don’t you?” She didn’t respond. He made a noise, that sounded almost sad. “Disappointing. How could you remain so tough, yet so soft on the inside?” He cued, as if playing the victim. What he said next, he sounded like he had a dirty smirk. “I’ve seen you, on your occasional visits to that spa.” Rainbow’s eyes widened. She growled in response, which made him snicker slightly, that somehow sounded fake. Though she wasn’t paying attention, Twilight muffled a “what?” through her gag. “Ah, so tomboyish...” He then had one of his mood swings. “I’ll find a way to break you, and you’ll love me for it.” “Slaughter, stop acting dangerously.” A new voice said, sternly. Slaughter turned away from his prey, and looked at a new figure. To the girls in the nest, the entity had red eyes. “Oh come on, Voss, I need relief every once in a while!” “Sorry, but that’s called ‘I’m tempting fate by making raunchy jokes’,” Voss countered. Twilight and her friends didn’t notice, but he grew a rather annoyed expression. “now shut up, and follow me.” Slaughter sounded noticeably annoyed as well. Twilight, and her friends realized that Voss probably has set them, and Sam up. Sam might be running into a trap! “Ugh... fine. I was just getting started, too.” He muttered the last part. The two of them left the nest, and begun plotting... Sam was honestly worried for his friends, he wasn’t sure what Slaughter has planned for them. He was also feeling anxiety for his own safety as well. Sam felt as though he had lured his friends into a trap, and he was next... That’s when he paused. As he trotted down the dirt path, he begun reviewing every action that his enemies had done up until now. Sam blinked, and he was having trouble convincing himself that what he’s thinking could possibly be true. “Did Voss knew Slaughter was in this forest? If so, there’s no doubt that he’s connected to that guy in some way or form...” Sam kept thinking, which made him feel dread somehow. “If Voss is connected to Slaughter, and Slaughter is connected to Dark... then could they...?” Before he could plunder on his thoughts any longer, he reached a clearing... The clearing had some roots of trees extending slightly toward’s the middle. But what astonished Sam the most, was the green light in the center of the area. “The Memory Orb!” He smiled. He finally found it! The orb was a nice, emerald green color. It felt as though it reflected something that wasn’t present with the plant life around it, as if it was a symbol of good, surrounded in darkness. He swiftly galloped towards it, but he came to a screeching halt, when a familiar darkness emerged from the ground in front of the orb. The darkness formed into a figure, in which, the figure soon took shape, and became a face that Sam has grown used to. “Voss!” Sam called out. “What did you and Slaughter do to my friends!?” Voss scowled at Sam, with annoyance. But then he grinned. Sam felt goosebumps, as he stared at Voss’ toothy, almost psychotic look. “What? You’ve already guessed?” He asked. Sam scowled back at him. “Yeah! That you have something to do with Slaughter!” “The fact that I have ties with everything?” He replied, before he snapped his fingers. There was silence at first, before there was the sound of foliage being stepped on, and this other sound Sam didn’t recognize--at least, not right away. Suddenly, Dark had emerged from the bushes. Soon Slaughter came out from the trees, and joined Voss and Dark. Sam was not at all surprised. He pretty much knew that the three were connected... Though what caught Sam off guard, were the new forms Dark and Slaughter took. Slaughter had what appeared to be vines covering his body, as well as leafs stitched into his body--probably to replace the soggy parts of his costume. Dark also looked different. “It’s about time we’ve gotten together!” Slaughter said a loud. “We’re gonna finally take you down.” Dark rudely said. His sword materializing in his hand, as well as his arm glowing with red magic. “Heh, judging by you’re face, you must have known we were one in the same. Anyways, Our job is to keep you busy...—” Voss sounded like he was about to say something, but quickly tried to change the subject. Sam then morphed into his Dragon form, but something was different this time... “... Sam... don’t use me...” Sam turned his attention to his chest. His chest was glowing softly, with a blue light. “Please... don’t do it... use... earth...” It was the first time the voice told Sam by name. Knowing that the voice hasn’t spoken a lie, Sam listened. “Okay, but what do you mean by earth?” “You will... figure it... out...” “U-uhm...” Sam was unsure, of what the voice meant. But he didn’t have time to plunder through it. He needed to take these guys out. He looked up, and glared at the trio in front of him. Sam took a deep breath, before he readied himself. “Alright, here I come!” He galloped towards them. Voss’ antlers glowed a crimson red, as it charged up with dark magic. Suddenly, six red thorns sprouted from the ground, and begun floating upwards, next to Voss on both his left and right side. It looked like Voss was casting a spell, and was ready to strike! Sam begun to zig-zag, as his enemy stared into his soul. Voss kept his magic pumping through his horns, waiting for the right moment to strike. He knew that if he struck now, he’d miss, so he was planning on a full on assault on Sam. However, he was considering on striking Sam anyways. As he stood his ground, his partners had already leaped forward to attack. Sam knew this wasn’t going to be an easy fight, but nothing could prepare him for what is to come next. As both Dark and Slaughter charged towards the earth pony, Dark tossed his blade to his left hand, with little to no fail. He suddenly leaned back, and sled across the grass. His arm firing up with flaming hot magic, the orange-red glow almost blinding Sam. The fiery arm was also burning the grass below, as he was using it to slow his sliding. Slaughter had made a net earlier, which he was now in the process of regurgitating it, in order to use it as a projectile. Sam soon realized what Dark was planning to do, and quickly tried to move away. But Slaughter was there, and before Sam could even react, Slaughter shot his net. When he fired it, it sounded like a harpoon-gun, as it caught Sam directly. Sam closed his eyes instinctively, thinking it’s the end... But it wasn’t. Sam opened his eyes, and all he saw was a blue aura around him. He was confused for a moment, before he realized that it was a new ability. He had somehow created a shield for himself... Rainbow Dash was panting, she, like her friends, was pretty tired from struggling, with her being the most exhausted. They were hoping Sam would save them, or perhaps somepony stronger. However, by the sounds below them, it seemed as though luck was not in Sam’s favor. The sounds of loud thuds and punches were heard, but Sam wasn’t making any noise. There was also the sounds of an annoyed Dark Samuel telling Voss to join in. Dash and her friends knew that they needed to help him, since Sam was at a disadvantage. But their binds were unfortunately too strong. It felt like there’s no hope of escaping, and sooner or later, Sam probably won’t survive for much longer. Down below, Sam was just getting pummeled by his attackers. Thankfully, his shield was keeping him safe from any of the worst lashes that they had. He found reality slow down, as he felt like he was going out of body. He then glared down at the dirt, as he was held down by the web. “Why, voice? Why did you make me fight as an earth pony!? I need that dragon form!” Sam growled inside. In response, the voice spoke. “Stop using... my shield.” “No! I’ll be destroyed! Why can’t I use the dragon form?” “But you... can use earth... you know how to... use it...” They said. Sam wasn’t so easily convinced. “What am I doing wrong? Is this a joke to you!?” “No... these powers can be... achieved by thinking of... nature... the same way... you activate... the dragon form...” With that, Sam paused. He couldn’t help but feel dumb for not knowing. He quickly begun thinking in a matter of seconds. He tried as hard as he could to think of the grass, the trees, the forest and the soil... Twilight Sparkle was trying to think of a way to break out. If only her horn was... Her thoughts were interrupted, when she felt slight tugging, on the web wrapped around her horn. Twilight wondered what was happening, when she suddenly felt her horn peek out of the silk. She tried her magic again, her eyes widened. She can use her magic! She wondered who, or what, freed her horn, but she wasted no time. Twilight glanced down, with her eyes. She begun tugging at the silk wrapped around her, It was tight, and vary sturdy. It felt as though Slaughter was vary skilled at making tough web. Dark Samuel was slightly agitated, he was inches from finally getting payback for his embarrassing defeat. All he needed to do, is break that shield! Although he had to admit, it’s kinda cruel being a bully like this. “Trust me, kid. What we’re doing is nowhere near as bad as what we can ACTUALLY do. I mean, our job is to distract you, not destroy you. Y’know?” Dark rationalized. Slaughter looked over at Dark, and squinted at him. “You personality is vary inconsistent, now that I’ve noticed.” He commented. Dark shot him a disgruntled expression. “Neither are you.” “Says the one who was an idiotic fool when combating this little brat!” “What?” “Nevermind!” Sam had his hooves into the ground. He begun channeling his thoughts through the cold earth. The two looked down at him in confusion, for a moment. The shield Sam had, suddenly disappeared. There was an emerald green aura floating around Sam’s hooves, as if the ground was oozing magic. Dark and his partner--or rather, his rival, backed up for a moment. “Woah, what’s he doing!?” Dark asked in confusion. “Nani!?” Slaughter said, trying to fit in one last crack. Even though he had no clue what was happening, he felt the instinct to. Only Voss knew of this. “No... Quick! Get off the ground!” Voss warned to his allies. As soon as they heard him, Dark and Slaughter took action. Slaughter cocked his head back, and shot a long silk string. The web flew into the trees above, before it stuck to one branch. He quickly bit the string, and began climbing up. Dark Samuel was looking around, trying to decide what to do. It didn’t take long before he chose to be a coward, and run from the scene. Voss was slightly agitated that Dark was falling back--or at least, it looked like so--but considering the pony before them, it was pretty reasonable to run. Sam’s eyes glowed green, before the ground shook. The roots of the trees begun getting uprooted from underground, and all nearby vines that hung from the trees, came to life. Dark turned, just in time to see a vine wrap itself around his ankle. He roared in annoyance, before he begun using his fiery sword to burn the vine. It released his foot, only for his ankle to be grabbed by a replacement vine. Dark felt more wrap themselves around his arms, and his legs. One wrapped around his abdomen, and jerk him backwards. Though he was certainly stronger than the vines, the fact that the vines kept getting replaced with new ones was becoming a chore. Voss quickly flew high above the vines and roots, and came up to the branches above. Unfortunately for him, the branches came alive as well. They first had a green aura, before they quickly snatched his antlers. To Voss; the tree limbs felt like wooden fingers, but with no consistent length of each ‘finger’ on each ‘hand’. Voss growled as he tried to pull away, but the tree’s ‘arms’ managed to get tangled in his antlers. Everytime Voss pulled, his antlers screamed of irritation. Slaughter was still in the process of climbing his silk rope, when he saw Voss at the corner of his eye. Like a prey mantis, he turned his eyeball towards Voss, and noticed that the tree limbs were alive. Slaughter quickly realized the mistake he made, and as he looked back up, he already saw the tree pull him upwards. They managed to snap the silk, but they grabbed it before he could fall. They begun pulling up the web, which made Slaughter panic slightly. It looked like Sam went from a weak little trooper, to an insanely powerful squirt! He had to think; If he cuts the silk, he’ll fall and get snagged by the tree roots. He’s screwed either way. But then Slaughter smirked on the inside. “Ha! He really IS a Mary Sue!” He thought. But even still, he couldn’t help but be slightly terrified. “Uh... those branches aren’t gonna rip into my costume... are they?” Suddenly, a light bulb came to his mind. But he had to just squint at a nearby tree for a moment, taking in how stupid he was for not thinking of this before. He grabbed his jaws with his top row of arms, and force opened his mouth. His ghostly form crawled out, thus, rendering his costume useless. He fell to the ground, along with his skin. He then turned, and laughed when he saw that the plants didn’t exactly notice him. Meanwhile, with Twilight and her friends: After a bit of struggling, Twilight managed to pull the web off her face. But when she opened her eyes, she saw two, wooden, tentacle-like twigs ‘staring’ at her for a second. The tree limbs didn’t stay for long, before they moved away. Twilight Sparkle turned to her left, and saw the branches ripping into the webbing of her friends. It seemed like the tree had some sort of bias for Rainbow, for that between the three of them, Rainbow Dash was the only one with all the webbing removed. Dash pushed away the twigs, but they wrapped around her waist. Dark snarled as the vines kept coming. Voss shared similar feelings as he struggled against the trees. Voss knew that their efforts won’t go anywhere, unless Sam is taken out. Voss glanced over towards the pony, and noticed that Sam’s hooves looked as if they were merging with the dirt under him. Voss remembered something, and quickly took note of what it meant. “If he merges with the dirt, he’ll turn into something much worst than Samneo...” Voss thought. He swiftly made his move. He begun flying towards the earth pony, dodging any vines that dared to take him. It wasn’t long before he was ensnared by vines, and roots. However, Voss had a special ability that he hadn’t told his partners. Voss closed his eyes, and begun to relax. His body begun to melt, literally. Dark saw something at the top of his sight. He looked up, and saw Voss practically melt into the ground! As if he was just jelly mixed with water. The dark splotch that was Voss begun slithering towards Sam. Voss appeared to be inside the ground, yet he wasn’t at the same time. Dark couldn’t help but be jealous of this, that ability would be vary helpful by now. In over half a second, Voss had jumped in his splotched form, and latched himself onto Sam. This knocked Sam off the ground, ripping his hooves out of the ground. Thankfully, Sam hadn’t merged all the way, so his hooves were fine. After he had been knocked off the spot, the vines, roots, and branches had lost power. As if time stopped, they all froze. Even the branches around Rainbow’s waist had lost power, thus, allowing her to wiggle free. Everypony were left in bewilderment. Though Dark, Voss, and Slaughter pretty much were witnesses, so they weren’t as bewildered as the prisoners. Voss quickly slithered away as fast as he could, wanting to avoid Sam at all costs. Sam was temporarily unconscious, but he was soon coming to. He opened his eyes, and was realizing what he did. Questions like ‘How did I do that?’ and ‘Why did I do that?’ were popping up in his mind, either way, he was just as confused as everypony... Dark, Slaughter, and Voss, were shaking, before they quickly begun to run away. They ran in different directions, though in the case of Voss, he slithered. Dark went west, Slaughter went south east, and Voss went north west. Sam considered on chasing them, but he was still a bit shaken by the hit he took by Voss, that he didn’t care if they ran. He laid his head on the ground, panting through his nostrils. “Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt if I...” Sam thought, before he heard shuffling in the brush above. Soon, he heard the voices of his friends, before he fainted. A few minutes later... “Wait, he’s waking up!” Fluttershy said. Sam opened his eyes, and took in his surroundings. Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy were all staring at him. He was laying on his back, with Fluttershy on his right side. Twilight as on the opposite side of Sam, and Rainbow Dash was hovering above ground in front of him. He blinked, before he rubbed his for-head. “... wha... what happen...?” Sam asked. “You were unconscious, we thought you’d never wake up!” Rainbow explained. Sam groaned, as he had a thought that wasn’t his own. He was unsure what it was, but he was tired. “Ugh... were’s the orb...?” He asked. Rainbow Dash turned to where the orb was, and flew over to it. She picked it up, and brought it to Sam. He was blinded by the orb’s light, but it dimmed a bit, allowing him to see it. He reached out and touched it, and thus, he was given some memories back... Soon, Sam started discovering that he was able to do things that felt like it was right out of a roleplaying game. He also begun seeing visions of both a Dragon, and a mysterious girl, wearing purple. The dragon wasn’t him... Sam opened his eyes, and sat up. The orb vanished from Rainbow’s hooves, which raised some questions. “What did you see?” Twilight asked. Sam shook his head, before he looked up at Rainbow. “I-i... I saw... me, who was doing the shield ability... and somehow doing what my dragon form was doing. I also saw my dragon form... which... from what I was implied from... it didn’t belong to me...?” Sam explained. Everypony was mystified. Sam looked down, and begun to think about what he saw. “Well, it seems like maybe, judging from how different you and your dragon form are. Perhaps you’re on to something with it not belonging to you. I can’t really give an answer.” Twilight said. Sam kept thinking, and he remembered. “A-also! I saw a strange girl... she was wearing all purple and...” Sam sighed, as he looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, due to the orange hoe from the sky. “Can we continue this, when we get back home...?” “W-why yes.” Fluttershy replied. “Same here.” Rainbow shrugged. “Alright, let’s go back to Ponyville.” Twilight concluded. With that, they all returned to Ponyville, where they all went their separate ways. Sam and Twilight went back to the castle, while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went back to their places. Sam couldn’t help but go to bed numb that night... > Failure > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back within the Everfree Forest, the trio who fought Sam, had regrouped. Voss and his two rivals were a bit upset that they failed to stop Sam from getting the memory orb. However, Voss wasn’t as disappointed as the others, since he secretly wanted Sam to get the orb... For what reasons, nopony knew. The trio decided to go find a place to stay, within the woods, or perhaps they can find a place outside the forest. They weren’t too sure yet. Slaughter and Dark were still a bit dismayed by how Sam beaten them. Though arguably they were commanded by Voss, Dark still felt like he was embarrassed by these idiots next to him. But still, Voss wasn’t stupid, but Slaughter certainly was. The three were walking down a path, in the Everfree forest. The road was made of dirt, as well as some gravel. The trees hung above them, acting as unnecessary shade for the sunset sky. Slaughter was still invisible, but due to the coming darkness of night, his eyes were illuminated. His eyes were a lime green color. So in a way, his eyes glowed in the dark. Surprisingly, Slaughter’s appearance was a bit humanoid in look. He was vary slender, and he had a faint outline of his body--allowing his partners to see him, which was the result of him being able to glow in the dark. Dark had some pint up anger for the brat that defeated them. “Beaten again... by a stupid KID!!!” Dark growled, enraged. Voss and Slaughter gritted their teeth as Dark yelled at the air. “Arg.. Brute!? That hurt meh ears!” Slaughter sneered. Dark turned his gaze towards him, and just stared with a murderous gaze. “Huh!? What’s the matter, chum? You have fire for magic, and you were STILL beaten by that green little scum!” “OH yeah? Look at you!” Dark retorted. “You could’ve taken him out, since you were a ghost! But YOU DID NOTHING!! Also, you look like a lil’ twig, I’d snap you in half if you were living!” Voss just covered his ears, as the two argued. He honestly felt like he just played himself, by even bringing them together in the first place. Now they’re arguing for stupid reasons. “Aye! Are you finished!? Stop!” Voss growled. Dark and Slaughter turned their gazes to their ‘leader’, for lack of a better word. ”NO!” They both shouted. “Ugh.. well, hopefully this will get you to stop... we were employed to distract Sam, so... we won in a way.” Voss felt like he made the most half-flanked excuse for their failure. But his response was somewhat surprising. Dark and Slaughter looked at each other, and sighed. “Well... fine. That was our job...” Dark sighed, still. “Yeah... to keep that little squirt busy, while our bosses gather up the power, as well as earn our salary.” Voss added. He begun to float down the path. He still wasn’t even sure how he and the others were even going to successfully get rewarded. Since for one thing, their reward is over three thousand bits, and they’re expected to be rewarded after their mistress; Sorsirina, gets powerful enough. Even still, it was still a chore to keep up with that little, dragon baring brat. He continued down the path. Voss was about to say something—when he noticed that Dark and Slaughter were missing. Voss turned around, and realized that the two were at least a few meters away. He also caught a glimpse at their faces, and noticed their rather skeptical looks. “What?” “What do you mean by... “earning our salary”?” Slaughter asked. “Are you saying--that they might not reward us?” “U-uh...” Voss stuttered. “L-let’s just say... I kinda overheard what they were saying, in which--they mentioned that they didn’t have the bits... or dollars... or anything.” He trailed off, as he realized in that moment, that he made a bit of a mistake spilling the beans. Dark and Slaughter shared equally distorted looks of malice, that which they were ready to rip Voss to shreds... “Well... I’m screwed...” Voss muttered to himself. Before he quickly retreated into the ground, and began slithering away as fast as he could down the path. The other two gave chase, and with that, the three went deeper into the forest... > The Dream before the Awakening > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The night sky was lit with stars, as well as Luna’s moon. The moon shined through the window in Sam’s bedroom. Sam was hugging his spare pillow softly, and breathing softly. As he dreamed, so did the dragon within him... Inside the mind of Neocros Neocros opened his eyes, and glanced down at his hands. He felt a strange feeling, a feeling that he felt whenever he would spot her. Neocros lifted his gaze from his hands, and to his surroundings. He was in a field of flowers, with the sky clear of clouds. The mix of smells from the flowers gave the field a pleasant aroma. Neocros then noticed a moving organism on the horizon. He hardly noticed it until now, since they're color was almost the same color as the sky. Soon his own suspicious thoughts were confirmed when the flying object revealed itself as Rainbow Dash. She was flying through the sky, pulling of barrel rolls, and other tricks. Neocros observed the Pegasus, as he stroked his shoulder, trying not to get shy. It didn't take long for Rainbow to take notice of Neocros' presence. She landed right in front of him, squishing the flowers underneath her. He stepped back for a second, due to the suddenness of her action, but quickly brushed himself mentally, and stared down at her. Rainbow looked up at Neocros, with a look of surprise. "Hi there, big guy!" He tilted his head, in response. Rainbow smiled warmly, before rubbing the back of her neck. "Uh.. yeah, so.. anyway. What's your name?" "..." Neocros was unsure how to say it, since he was finding it difficult to speak. But he soon sighed, and whispered his name. Rainbow Dash then flapped her wings. She hovered as she met him at eye level. "Neocros, huh? Cool name. So... what's up?" Before Neocros could answer, however, he was interrupted by the sound of a scream. He turned to the sound, which came from his right. The flowers over at the spot where he heard the scream, were noticeably in the air. Then he saw a large, slender, humanoid figure manifest on the horizon. The figure itself lacked features, it was like a giant shadow. He shuttered as the figure got closer. He was unable to make out it's features, but judging from it's aura, the creature didn't feel pleasant. He turned, and saw that Dash had vanished. Neocros blinked, before his eyes widened with fear and anxiety. Why was this happening to him? Where did she go? And why's the monster coming right for him!? Neocros snapped his gaze over to the apparition, just in time to see it outstretch it's arms. It reached for him, with arms that resembled tentacles. He quickly tried to run, but he felt like he was walking through mud. As the arms were reaching for him, he also felt a new presence come forth... but he wasn't able to identify it, for that he was too scared in the moment. "Help..." Was all he thought, before he turned around. What he saw, was unexpected. The apparition's arms stopped reaching for him, and just lingered there, outstretched. Neocros tilted his head, thinking of what could possibly be abnormal in this situation. But vary quickly he realized that the monster didn't stop for no reason. The forearms of the figure suddenly fell. The arms hit the ground, there was a clean cut on both forearms, as well as the arms that remained attached. Neocros blinked at the rather unexpected answer he was given. Then the apparition itself fell to it's knees, before collapsing face down. He watched as the creature faded from existence, in which it faded with no trace of it ever being there. Then Rainbow flew in front of Neocros' line of sight. She landed in front of him again. "Neo!" She called. Neocros quickly noticed that she looked slightly different than last time. Her left wing was missing, and was replaced with a metal one. Rainbow trotted up to him. "Why don't you--" He was unable to hear what she said next, and was taken to another scene entirely... as he continues to dream different scenarios, with each one having it's own unique feel... When Sam woke up, he wondered why he felt lethargic again. He thought for a moment on why this was occurring, but he wasn’t able to come to any conclusions. However, he felt a warm, but oddly serene feeling in his chest. It’s almost as if there was a moderately cold ice pack on the area. Sam looked down, and gasped. His chest was glowing blue, like how it would before he transforms. Yet, here, it seemed like it was in a frozen state. Sam immediately got out of bed, and quickly made it to the bathroom. He stared in the mirror in bewilderment. “W-why is this happening!?” He whispered to himself. His fear was short lived, thankfully, by a voice. But this one was different than before, this was oddly feminine. “Samuel, it’s time, to unleash the dragon inside you...” The voice sounded like a mature female. He heard it in his ears. “W-who’s there?” He asked, as he turned his head to look behind him. “I encourage you to go to the forest.” She instructed. “In the Everfree Forest, you will find the fifth memory... locked away inside a Spacecraft...” Sam found this questionable, but decided to at least investigate... It was near sunrise, and the nocturnal critters were returning to their dens. Voss, Dark, and Slaughter were walking to an unknown area. The place itself, was a base of operations. It was the home of their employers. The area itself was covering the grass with a weirdly rubber ground, it was black, with different blue reflections, as if it was paved over the grass and dirt like concrete. When the moon shined on the rubbery substance, it showed the blue reflection, rather than the reflection of the moon. They appeared to be highlights more than anything. But now that the sun was rising, they have turned into a purple color. In the center of the area, was a figure, wearing a royal blue cloak. He was talking with another figure, who’s cloak is red instead of blue. Judging from the shape of the one with the red cloak, it appeared to be feminine in shape. Voss told Dark and Slaughter to stay behind. Voss slowly approached the two figures. The red cloaked figure saw him at the corner of their eye, and pointed towards him. The blue cloaked figure followed the other’s gaze, just in time to see Voss arrive. “Hey, Molgovon.” Voss spoke. Molgovon turned around, with his one red eye. “Hello, Samvoss.” He greeted. “Ugh... I told you to not call me by that name!” Samvoss thought. “Managed to distract him?” He asked. Voss nodded, and proceeded to gesture Dark and Slaughter to come. Voss had turned to Molgovon’s left side, and met eyes with the red cloaked figure. Now that he had a closer look, the figure was definitely female, due to the slight bust on her. Molgovon noticed Voss’ rather occupied gaze, and decided to introduce his partner. “This is Vorita, she’s my assistant, and... sister.” Molgovon sounded sheepish at the end of the sentence, but Voss paid no mind. Vorita was wearing a blood-red kimono, with snake and tentacle patterns on it. Her face was obscured by the hood of the cloak. Her eyes were red, with black, cat-like pupils. Her mouth was almost non-existent, until she grinned, in which it glowed like a jack-o-lantern. The teeth were sharp, and shaped like pizza slices. She knew that Voss found himself staring at her rather busty chest. “Excuse me, my eyes are up here.” She teased, giggling when Voss glared up at her face. Molgovon turned to her, with clinched fists. “Vorita, only Sorsi does those!” Molgovon growled. “Aww, but I miss her though, Can’t I remind you how much I love my sis?” She whined. Molgovon practically face-palmed. He was wondering why he even bothered letting Vorita join in their great plan. But still, she’s needed, regardless. “So anyways... I’m preparing my spells, and gathering the materials necessary for Sorsirina’s return. Now that Sam thinks he’s won.” “So... you going to pay us?” Slaughter asked, suddenly. “We did our jobs, to distract Sam.” There was complete silence between the five. It seemed to last for about a minute, as Molgovon contemplated on telling the horrible truth. Voss smirked, as he sensed the unease in Molgovon’s face. The fact that he was looking anywhere but the trio was just a bonus. Even though Voss had swung his mood to a much positive one, the feelings he had earlier were still apparent in his veins. Samvoss decided to float to the ground, allowing his skeletal feet to land on the ground. “You don’t have the money, do you?” Samvoss questioned. Molgovon didn’t know how to respond, despite the fact that he was more powerful than Voss could ever be. However, besides that, he felt almost no remorse for not getting the funds necessary to pay these guys. Voss was getting impatient. “Are you going to answer or not?” Dark and Slaughter knew they weren’t paying, due to what Voss heard earlier. However, they wanted to hear the pathetic excuse that comes from Molgovon’s mouth. “Yeah, could you pay us now?” Slaughter asked, impatiently. “If you scammed us--!” “Guys, chill.” “Well, master of the obvious... We weren’t going to pay for you guys, we just needed some peasants to keep that boy busy.” Molgovon said, bluntly. Voss, Dark, and Slaughter growled. “I knew it!” “Yeah. Even if we did decide to pay you, we’re practically broke from our travel here to Equestria!” Before the trio could even say a word, Molgovon waved his hand in front of them, which resulted in them disappearing in a puff of smoke--a form of teleportation. Molgovon stood there, feeling like he just dodged a bullet. “No matter, they served their purpose.” He said. “All that matters, is for Sam to not know of Sorsirina’s plans...” “So Molgy, Are you ready to head out?” Vorita asked. Molgovon bowed his head, smirking as the pleasure of getting a rise out of Voss and the others still resonated. “Yes, It’s time...” He turned around, and proceeded to leave the room. “I’ll meet you outside, it’s time we take revenge on Samuel...” Voss, Dark, and Slaughter reappeared on top of a mountain. Dark almost fell off, due to the fact that they appeared near the edge of the cliff. The three stood in silence, recollecting what just happened. It was only a few minutes, before all three roared in both betrayal, frustration, and hate. They were ripped off, and they were duped to these people. After what felt like three minutes, Voss lost track at four, the trio sat down, to regroup... Even though they knew Molgovon didn’t have the money, they were somewhat surprised that they actually didn’t want to pay. From what Voss had said, they seemed like they were GOING to give them their fair share, but changed their minds. In The Next One: Sam has a dream about the location of a Memory Orb, so he proceeds to go find it. However, while he’s away, he runs into some familiar faces. Soon they must work together to face the upcoming threat, in an effort to awaken Neocros! > The Final Showdown? - Part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was morning, and Sam got out of bed. He was tasked to go find a spacecraft, which contains the fifth, and possibly the final memory. Even though Sam didn’t know for sure it was the last one, he knew that this memory was going to build up to something. He’s unsure if he’s ready to confront whatever could possibly be inside the craft, but regardless, he needed to find that memory. Although, then again... For some reason, he felt like he had doubts in this female voice, that talked to him last night. Sam wasn’t sure if he can trust this new voice, but then again, the male voice who compelled him to befriend Rainbow Dash, was the same voice who almost seriously injured him by not transforming into the dragon form. Nevertheless, he had a little bit of faith in this female voice. Sam proceeded to make the bed, which he always did, after sleeping in it. He wasn’t sure why he’d sit in it, before he pulled the covers over it. But by not doing so, gave him a vary unclean, and anxious feeling. He got up, and he was about to leave his room, when he felt a slight sting on the back of his head. Before he even had a chance to react, he suddenly felt drowsy. Was he hit by a dart? He wasn’t sure in the moment, but nonetheless. He wobbled on his legs, before he fell on his side with a loud thud. He was knocked out instantly. But before he fell unconscious, however, he had this thought, that perfectly summarized his life. “Welp, here we go again.” By this point, he was thinking he might get hypersomnia, from his excessive sleeping... -Time Skip- When Sam woke, his heart was racing out of control. He sat up slowly, and looked around the room. He was still in the same place as he was before, however, when he glanced at the ground, he noticed a burnt line on the floor. As if that wasn’t weird enough, it was in a circle, around him. Sam blinked, why would there be a circle here? Unless... That’s when the nightmare he had, slowly came back to him. As it came back, he found himself chilled to the bone. Just when his heart was calming, his heart began to slowly race again. He didn’t know who knocked him out, but there was a weird golden force field around him, which could explain the burned circle that was around his unconscious form. He remembered everything from the dream. His friends were kidnapped by frightening creatures, who he came to know as changelings, thanks to some of the books he read up in Twilight’s library. Sam found himself following them, as they carried his friends. He was shaking with fear. He tried to attack the changelings, but his hoof practically went right through them! As if he was a ghost, who couldn’t interact with anything. Bizarrely enough, the changelings tried to kidnap him as well, but the force field prevented them from getting through. No matter how much magic they shot at it, the shield wouldn’t go down. Somehow, he felt as if there was eyes on those changelings that tried to catch him. Sam was left, powerless, to save his friends. They were taken to a worn down castle, where they were put into cocoons. He watched the entire process, which will probably give him nightmares for days to come. But it wasn’t the cocooning that made him afraid, no, it was the one that was doing such. In those moments, his terror changed into anger, and he found himself hating the queen of the hive. Although he forgot her name, he knew exactly who it was, based on Twilight’s tales. Sam was shivering, looking back at the nightmare. But, the one thing that put his fears at ease, was the ending of the dream. His friends were saved by Starlight, and a changeling named Thorax... The last thing he remembered from the dream, was his friends enjoying some party at a random town. He wasn’t sure of the name, but judging from the conversations that went on, Starlight seemingly knew this town well. Sam got up, and stumbled out of his room. It’s then, he heard the silence. He rose an eyebrow, and he somehow felt as though this was suspicious... After a vary long, and torturous hike. The three made it to the crashed vessel. Slaughter, Dark, and Voss inspected the crashed spaceship before them. It was large, with a tough, iron hull. It also didn’t look like the stereotypical UFO, instead, it was rather long, but thick. The windows were shattered, along with some parts falling off it. Slaughter tilted his head towards Voss. “You sure bout this?” He asked. Voss tilted his head down, glancing at the ground. “I... I’m sure. Trust me, this time. Molgovon, and Vorita will get the karma they deserve.” Voss said, turning to his partners with determination in his eyes. As they stood there, and took in the view of the ship. Dark cocked his head over at Slaughter, and couldn’t help but think of something. Dark soon pulled out a pair of sunglasses, and asked him. “Hey, bro,” He said. Slaughter rolled his eyes at him, and seemed to be almost impatient. “put these on, I can barely see you.” Dark handed the glasses over. Slaughter took them, and placed them on his eyes. Voss couldn’t help but chuckle inside, seeing how Slaughter looked with the glasses on. He looked like the Invisible man. Though he couldn’t help but think, where did Dark get sunglasses? It didn’t matter, he and his rivals needed to get the guy inside to join their conquest against Molgovon. Sam was wandering through the castle, when he heard the front doors open. His eyes widened, and he quickly ran to the door. Twilight Sparkle and her friends walk through the door, only to be met with a fast approaching Sam. “Sam?” Twilight said, before Sam came to a screeching halt. “Guys! Wherever you been!?” Sam asked, with desperation in his voice. He was huffing and puffing from how fast he galloped. “We’ve uh... had a rough adventure” Starlight replied, smiling nervously. Sam blinked, before he rubbed the back of his neck. Judging by his face, something was wrong. “What’s wrong?” “Ugh... I’m just getting tired of... getting knocked unconscious...” He muttered. “What happened?” Twilight asked. Sam turned to his left, and stared blankly at the ground. “... what...?” He rubbed the back of his head. “You mentioned being knocked out, what happened? Do you remember?” Starlight asked. Sam shook his head, his hair wagging as he did so. He glanced back to Twilight, before he decided to reply to Starlight. “I... don’t know.. what happened, to me...” Sam explained. “All I remember is... having a nightmare of you gals, being cocooned...” Everypony all looked at one another, before they looked back to Sam. “Uhm... you weren’t dreaming, Sam. That’s exactly what happened recently.” Starlight replied. Sam blinked for a second, before his eyes widened with horror. “No... I failed... I failed in saving you girls. I remember looking on, terrified, as I was powerless, as I witnessed you being kidnapped...” Sam glanced down at the ground, with a shaken expression on his face. “I remember, trying to break you free, only to realize that I just fazed right through you! Like a ghost...” Everypony’s eyes widened, as they listened to Sam’s story. “I... I thought the worst happened to me... that I wasn’t going to wake up...” Sam suddenly began shivering, as if he was about to ball. “or that this would be my life... as a ghost. However, then I saw Starlight, and her... allies, storm into their castle... I found myself rooting for her, and her friends...” Sam explained everything, from when Thorax became a changeling king, to when Sam woke up. Starlight turned to Twilight, and whispered to her. “I hadn’t seen Sam anywhere throughout my adventure to save you. Maybe he somehow was having an out of body experience.” Twilight was puzzled beyond belief. She then turned to Sam. “I can’t really come to a conclusion to what, or how you were able to see what we were going through.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Well, that’s another thing to add to the list of things we don’t know about you...” She muttered the last part. In which, Sam caught, but he didn’t say anything. Suddenly, their whole party gets interrupted, by a knock on the front doors. Spike walked over to open the door, only for it to burst open. Spike yelped, as he was flung back from the doors. He hit the wall next to the entrance, and face planted on the floor. Three beings walked into the castle, and were fast approaching the map room. “Spike!?” Twilight called, concerned. There was no reply, instead three vary familiar figures came through the door to the room, where the group were in. The figures were Dark, Slaughter, and Voss. Twilight and her friends gasped, eyes wide, and mouths agape. “Yeah, we know--” Before Voss could even finish his sentence, Sam transformed into his dragon form, and charged towards the trio. Dark lifted his arm up, and formed a red, magical shield around the three. Sam couldn’t stop, due to his momentum. He hit the shield, hands first, and then hit his face against it. “Aye aye! Wait a sec! Let me explain ourselves!” Sam backed up, and glared. “Explain what!?” He growled. Admittedly, Twilight and her friends hadn’t seen Sam this angry before. “Here to kidnap my friends!? I already almost had a heart attack for them when they got caught by that... what’s that queen’s name again?” “Chrysalis.” “Chrysalis!?” “L-look!” Voss sounded like he was sweating. “We’re not here to hurt ya, we’ve came to warn you!” Sam rose an eyebrow. Voss glanced over to Dark, and whispered something in Dark’s ear... if he had one. Dark lowered the shield, and it soon dissipated. Voss stepped up, bravely. “It’s vary important. But before I speak, can we all just have tea?” He asked. Sam stepped back once more, and turned to his friends. He nodded his head slightly. “If you’re not here to do bad... T-then... why are you here...?” Sam asked. The two factions managed to calm down, and which they all sat down for some tea. “We uh... got scammed by Molgovon--our employer.” Voss replied. He took a sip at the tea that Twilight provided. “So we decided to help you, as part of our revenge on that idiot!” Slaughter added. Sam rubbed the top of his head, in a puzzled manner. Rainbow then hovered over Slaughter. “Plus uh... he’s coming here to destroy our butts.” Dark said. “So after trying to do... something, with me and my friends, now you come to us begging for help!?” Rainbow protested. Slaughter glared, and gnashed his teeth. Voss uttered an annoyed sigh. “Can we reach ANY sort of agreement?” He said, with clear impatience behind his voice. Sam “psst”ed at Rainbow, and gestured her to cool down a bit. “Gah... anyways, Any questions?” “Uhm... who is this Molgovon guy?” Asked Starlight. Voss had this look on his face, as if he was dreading to explain who the guy was. “Molgovon, is a... well, he’s kind of a fraud--to say the least. He’s the brother of Sorsirina, who is the one Molgovon wishes to awaken. He--actually, I might as well tell the whole situation. Sorsirina had come to Equestria, like Sam. Knowing that Sam would be there to stop her, Sorsirina “allegedly” stole all of Sam’s memories, and Molgovon hid them. Molgovon employed me, Slaughter, and Dark to keep Sam off track, in order for Molgovon and his little sister Vorita to successfully reawaken Sorsirina. There was also this Silver guy, who was part of our team. But he didn’t even bother to stick to the job.” Voss explained. He paused for a second, after finishing his explanation, and thought for a moment. “I wonder where that guy went? Eh... I guess it doesn’t really matter, since we’re now rebelling these frauds.” Voss ended his sentence with an almost angry tone, but he seemingly kept it inside. “Anyways, Now you maybe wondering, who’s Vorita? Unfortunately, Molgovon didn’t come to Equestria alone, he also brought his other sister--Vorita. She’s sort of like Sorsirina, in that she can get kinda unhinged. But at least Sorsirina has class.” Voss muttered the last part. “Also, to finish it, I kinda knew they weren’t going to pay us, in which uh... Dark and Slaughter didn’t take lightly. Because I knew they weren’t going to pay, I decided to work both sides, by helping Sam, and helping the others.” “Uhm... I don’t buy it...” Sam said. Voss looked over to his fellow teammates, and nodded. It seemed as though he was anticipating this. Slaughter, as well as his comrades--for lack of a better word--all grabbed something behind their backs, and met eyes with Sam. “Will you believe us, if we gave you these?”Was what Voss said, before all three each pulled out differently colored memory orbs. Dark, Slaughter, and Voss each held one. Dark held a red orb, Slaughter held a Purple orb, and Voss had a Cyan orb. “Woah...! W-where did you get those!?” Sam gasped. “We found em’ in the original location, the place where Molgovon and Vorita entered Equestria.” Voss then did something that Sam didn’t expect. Voss spoke telepathic to him, speaking in his head. “Y’know, the location that the voice wanted you to go, but I did this. Now pretend you didn’t hear me.” Sam shuttered, and Voss snickered. “Yeah, but as much as we’d like to go in depth--we don’t have much time. These two could be here, any day now.” Dark added. The two groups seemed to slowly be warming up to each other. But Twilight and her friends remained on edge over the trio. Twilight and her friends took some time to discuss to one another about what to do with the situation. They then went back to the trio. “Well, thanks for telling us everything. But we still don’t exactly trust you entirely--since well, you kidnapped some of us, and you posed a threat.” Twilight explained. Dark squinted at this. “So what? We were just doing what we were told, all for a fake prize.” Dark growled at the last part. “But even though you were doing what you were instructed, that doesn’t give any of you an excuse for what you weren’t told to do.” Dark sat back, and sighed. “Tsk. What a shame, what’re you gonna do? Send me to Tartarus?” Dark shot back. Slaughter had an almost hay-eating grin, seeing Dark practically not giving a pony’s flank about what Twilight Sparkle--The Princess of Friendship! was saying. Voss was seeing how this was going, and he quickly tried to stop the fight. “Okay, okay! We were nasty, smug guys! But we have no choice but to work together, against Molgovon and his two sisters.” Voss shouted, to try to deescalate the situation. “Anyways, Sam?” Sam perked his ears, hearing Voss’ voice directed to him. “Touch the memory orbs, and gain back your memories.” Voss instructed, and Sam nodded. Dark, Slaughter, and Voss took each orb, and placed them in a line on the map. Of course, they were told to place them somewhere else, thanks to Twilight. The orbs were lined up on the floor. Sam walked over to the line, and scanned his eyes across them. He wasn’t sure which one to start with. “Uh... where do I start?” “Maybe try the purple one?” Rainbow proposed. Sam shrugged, and touched the purple orb. Sam had met the mysterious purple girl, physically. She loved him, but Sam was reluctant on being honest. Sam didn’t really love the girl, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her no. Soon he found himself in love with someone else... Sam opened his eyes, and rubbed his right temple. “What did you see?” Twilight asked. Voss shot her a glare. “No questions, until he remembers everything.” Voss said. Twilight squinted at him, rather annoyed of Voss’ voice. Sam then turned to the red orb, and touched it. Sam started to feel slight resentment towards the girl, so she sent him her siblings. Molgovon, and Vorita. He had no idea where they were from, thus, Sam was haunted by them. But then he realized that the girl was related to them. Sam came back to reality, and quickly went to the last orb--the cyan one. Sam had formed a crush on someone else, which angered the purple girl. Sam was threatened by her, but he proceeded to crush anyways. Soon the purple girl begun to threaten the public, resulting in Sam needing to save the world. By this point, he now remembered every single bit of himself. Aside from the significant events he needed to know about, he also gained for more knowledge of his past. The more and more he gained, the less and less eager he became. After touching all three of the orbs, he felt exhausted. After Sam came back, he was silent. “What happened?” Twilight asked. “...” Sam just stared at the ground, thinking to himself, trying to process everything. Before he could answer anything, the two groups heard something outside. It sounded like a shout, like it was a warcry. “Speak of Tartarus, it’s Molgovon’s shout!” Dark warned. The two groups walked out the exit, and saw two individuals standing a few meters away from the castle. One was blue and one was red. It was Molgovon, and Vorita. They seemed to be wearing something different this time around. Vorita had long sleeves on her arms, with small cutouts on her shoulders. Molgovon had a larger cloak, with his face entirely obscured. “Great. Welp, I guess here’s our last battle.” Voss muttered, nervously. The Mane Six were readying themselves, and glared at Molgovon and Vorita. Twilight looked over to Voss. “That’s Molgovon and Vorita?” She asked. Voss nodded, and stepped forward. “Alright, Molgy. Time you’ve received a roasting.” Voss taunted. Molgovon cocked his head towards Vorita and tilted his head, before he glanced back at Voss. “Okay. Sam, let’s go.” Molgovon completely ignored Voss. Dark and Slaughter looked at Voss with puzzled looks. The Mane Six also had equally had weirded out looks. Voss shuttered, realizing he probably said something. “What kind of taunt is that?” Dark asked, with a voice hinting towards laughter. Voss sighed. “Fine, let’s just get these darn clowns!” Voss growled. Voss was about to charge, when Twilight stopped him. “Wait, I’d like to ask.” She said. Voss backed away, allowing Twilight Sparkle to face the duo. “What do you want with Sam?” “We’ve come to take Sam back, so that he can accept his fate with Sorsirina.” Molgovon replied. Vorita joined in on the conversation. “She’d be eager to gabble him up~!” Vorita added. Molgovon face palmed, hating his sister’s voice. “Also, Sam’s gonna have a lot of fun with Sorsirina!” Twilight and her friends’ eyes widened. Voss and his partners weren’t surprised. “Well, that sounds nice.” Voss smirked. Vorita tilted her head. Everypony stared at him, with confusion and wonder. “Really?” Vorita sounded equally puzzled. “Yeah, mind if we gabble you and Sorsirina up?” Voss’ eyes flared to life. Suddenly, he floated upwards. His antlers glowed, and his mouth glowed crimson. He opened his jaws, and shot a beam of fire. It’s target was Molgovon. Molgovon turned his body slightly, he pulled something from under his cloak, which was glowing. He swung his arm in a horizontal slashing motion, just when the fire hit him. There was a puff of smoke, and after it cleared, Molgovon stood there, not even a scratch on him. What he used to deflect the fire, was a long, red machete. Voss was noticeably surprised at this, he hadn’t known that Molgovon wielded a blade like that! Molgovon chuckled darkly. “Did you really think I’d go down, that easily?” He asked. His sword glowed, as it absorbed the fire that Voss shot. “I am your reality.” “Uh.. no you’re not.” Voss peeped out. Vorita took this chance to act. She smiled devilishly, and she grabbed the him of her skirt. The guys around looked on, with confused thought, until Vorita lifted her skirt, revealing nothing but darkness under. Suddenly, red, smoky spiders emerged, and crawled out from under her. Her eyes flashed, and more spiders came out. “R-run!!!!” Sam cried, before he ran inside. Everypony took this chance to run, as the spider begun fast approaching them. Dark and Slaughter closed the doors, and held them shut. Sam came next to a window, pulled the curtains away. He saw that the spiders had all fused together, to form a giant battering ram. He wasn’t able to see it bang the door though, for that a spider crawled up, and covered his view, from outside. He was met with the underside of a spider, with it’s hideous fangs were exposed. It was the most horrifying sight Sam had ever seen. Unfortunately in those orbs, it revealed he was scared of spiders. He closed the curtains, and ran to join his friends. Dark and Slaughter grunted, as they were having a hard time keeping the doors closed. As they pushed, they were met with bangs from the doors. Dark glanced at everypony. “Quick! Shut all openings!!” He called. Everypony nodded to each other, and swiftly went in many different directions, to go make sure every window and door was closed in the castle. Among the chaos, Spike had walked out of the bathroom. He saw Rainbow Dash storm by, which made him jump. “Woah.” He peeked around the corner, and watched Rainbow fly down the hall. He turned the opposite way. “What’s going on?” “Hey! Spike! Close the windows!” Sam said. He was tagging along with Rainbow. Spike blinked. “What? Close all the windows?” "There's a horde of spiders outside!" "A-ah alright!" Spike replied. Slaughter was holding the doors shut, when an idea came to his mind. “Hey, Dark! I got an idea!” “What?” “You hold the doors, while I stick web across the doors, that way, the door will stay shut!” He explained. Dark nodded, before he placed both hands on the each door. He pushed with all his might, as Slaughter started work. Slaughter shot a net that he made way earlier, before they visited Twilight’s. He then begun connected the net to different silk threads, which connected to the walls next to the entrance. Everypony arrived back, after making sure every window was shut. Dark and Slaughter looked at each other, hoping that the spiders don’t get inside, and that Slaughter’s plan works. “Aye, I’m gettin’ second thoughts about them checkin’ all the windows. What if they missed one?” Slaughter asked. Dark rose an eyebrow. Since when did Slaughter of all beings, became the worried one? “I’m positive. Did ya close all of em?” “Yes, we did.” Twilight said. Voss couldn’t help but be a little jealous that she was speaking, and not him. Why was he feeling this? He wasn’t sure. The group watched, as they struggled to keep the door shut. “Yo! Don’t just stand there! Help us out here!” Dark growled. Everypony soon pitched in, on holding the door shut. The impact of which the spiders were hitting the door, have increased in intensity now. The doors felt as though they were ready to break under the insane strength of the monsters on the other side. Sam quickly transformed into his dragon form, and helped hold the doors shut. “Ngh.. that’s it. We’ve got it!” “How much longer!?” Rainbow complained. Samneo grunted. “I dunno! They might have to give up sooner or later!” He replied, with a hint of hope near the end. How wrong, he was. Suddenly, the windows begun emitting a light crackling sound. Samneo, as well as Voss heard it. It was clear in the moment, of what was going to happen next. “Gasp! Everypony run!!” Voss warned. Samneo and everypony quickly bolted away from the doors, as the windows begun cracking open. “They’re going through the glass!!” Glass shattered through, and fell on the ground near the entrance. The doors flung open, and there stood Molgovon and Vorita, with there eyes flaring angrily. The spiders begun pouring in through the windows, and into the castle. It was evident that these guys weren’t leaving without a battle. It was also obvious they were out for pony flank. Samneo and the others ran, but are soon stopped in their tracks. Spiders had managed to outrun them, and were blocking their path to the map room. They were in the hallway, the spiders were crawling on the walls, acting like a barrier to freedom. Everypony readied themselves. Twilight Sparkle shot a beam of magic towards one back of the spiders. The spiders were vaporized by her beam, but they were soon replaced by more arachnids. “Uh, hey Fluttershy? Can ya talk t’ em?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy slowly approached one spider, as it stood next to the others. “U-uhm... h-hi there, little spi--” The spider shot her a hiss, causing Fluttershy to recoil fearfully. These spiders weren’t here for tea, or any sort of peace. “I-i... I can’t reason with them...” “Ya think!?” Slaughter snapped. “What makes ya think they’ll listen!?” Samneo and the group turned, and faced their opponents. Samneo shuttered, as he stared at Molgovon. Molgovon smiled, eerily. “At last, we’ve come face to face. Remember me? When you received the orange memory?” Molgovon tilted his head, slowly. Samneo thought for a moment, trying to remember. Then it hit him, this was the same guy who made Sam run for the hills last time. The fact that this is the same dude, made Sam’s scales crawl. Though then again, it should’ve been obvious by Molgovon’s looks, that it’s the same one he met previously. Molgovon stepped forward. “So you’ve came here, to seek a certain pony? Or so I’ve heard.” Samneo squinted, with a glare. “I know what you mean, but don’t mention her name... Not yet, at least.” Samneo warned. Everypony glanced at him, wondering what he and Molgovon were talking about. Vorita giggled. “Why? She must be delicious! Think of all the flavors, she might even have all of em’! Cherry... blueberry, or even green apple?” Vorita sounded like she was drooling at the last sentence. Molgovon shook his head, growing tired of his sister not contributing to anything. Samneo gnashed his teeth. “Oh yeah? Like I would do such a thing!” Samneo retorted. He turned to his friends. “Let’s get em’ everypony!” “Yeah!” Everypony spoke. Molgovon and Vorita faced each other, before they glanced back at the opposing group. “Be careful of what you’re doing, Samneo.” Molgovon made a hand gesture, having his finger side to side in an ‘ah ah ah’ motion. Everypony charged, but were stopped when Molgovon made a stop gesture. “Wait. Rules first; you cannot leave, or else you’ll be eaten alive by Vorita’s spider army. The spiders will keep their distance, only if you remain in the arena at all costs. Understood?” The group all nodded. “Okay, Guys n’ gals, we need to come up with a plan--Samneo? Care to lead?” “W-what? O-oh, alright.” Samneo turned, and stared at Molgovon. “Rainbow, AJ, and Twilight, you three join me against Molgovon. Voss, and the rest, you all fight Vorita.” Rainbow and Applejack blinked, seeing that Samneo was asking them to join him in battle. “Sure thing.” Applejack tipped her Stetson hat, in approval. “Okay, Sam.” Rainbow said, with determination in her voice. Twilight nodded, and so did everypony else. Voss, Dark, and Slaughter smirked. “This is gonna be a piece of cake.” Dark muttered under his breath. Once everypony was ready, they all ran towards the evil duo. Samneo and everypony had split into squads, with Voss leading one group, and Samneo with the other. Vorita hissed as Dark used his arm to shoot a fiery magic ray. Dark had aimed his attack at her chest, but he soon realized his mistake. Vorita covered her chest, which was ripped slightly. Dark’s eyes widened, and Vorita noticed his look of surprise. She grinned, with eyes full of intent on taking advantage of the situation. Slaughter had foreseen Vorita’s move, and he quickly shot a ball of web at her chest, as she moved her arm away. She screeched as it hit her... there. She turned, and she had this look, that made Slaughter’s skin crawl--despite lacking any. She sprinted toward him, only to stop in her tracks, seeing that Slaughter took the sunglasses off. He dropped them on the floor, and cackled to himself. Vorita briefly rolled her eyes, looking for Slaughter. She quickly gave up, and she went back to fighting Dark Samuel. Though before she could continue her fight, Voss interrupted her process, and used his magic. Voss’ antlers glowed, and two black sabers extruded out through his wrists. The blades were flat, and were fairly dull at the tips. Voss began floating at Vorita quickly. Vorita lifted her arms slightly, and her sleeves extended over her hands, and closed on themselves. The sleeves turned into tentacles! She begun flicking them like twin whips, and she used them to grab Voss’ sabers. Voss grunted, as he then pulled her up to him. He leaned back, and kicked her square in the abdomen. Vorita hissed, and backed away. As she did so, Voss--in one swift movement, his sabers cut her tentacles. She screeched, but soon her spiders came to her. She lowered her arms onto the ground, and the spiders begun fusing into her dress. As they did, her tentacles grew back. She cackled, and stood up to her full height. Voss stared, with a rather unnerved look. “I didn’t know she could regenerate!” He thought. Applejack turned, and kicked Molgovon in the gut. Molgovon wasn’t phased by this, and proceeded to grab her hoof. Voss quickly blasted Molgovon’s hand, however. Voss’ red energy beam burned the other shadow’s hand, causing him to reel back in pain, and release Applejack. Voss then went to battle Vorita. This was Rainbow’s chance, and she swooped in, to kick her enemy. Molgovon glanced up, just in time to be hit in the face. He almost went out cold, due to the force of her kick. Samneo took this chance, as well, and ran over to help Dash. After Rainbow flew off of Molgovon, Samneo came in with a punch to Molgovon’s chest. Molgovon, although slightly disoriented from the kick, laughed. He then grabbed Sam’s wrist, and he turned, and Samneo was pulled with him. Samneo was thrown, and hit the floor nearby. But before he did so, he used his tail to grab Molgovon’s leg. So when he was flung, so was Molgovon. The enemy fell back, as Samneo rolled over to his belly. Samneo soon shot water at Molgovon, causing him to slide across the floor. Molgovon growled, as he was being pushed by Samneo. Twilight Sparkle also joined Samneo, and shot a beam of her own. Molgovon roared in pain, as the beam struck him. Meanwhile, Dark and Vorita were engaged in combat. Dark had pulled out his sword, but before he could do serious damage, Vorita caught his blade with her red whip. The whip was like a tentacle, as it practically stuck to Dark’s sword. He growled as he tried to pull away, but she was pulling him towards her. Voss shot a red beam at Vorita, causing her to release Dark. Slaughter also joined Voss, and shot a string of web at her. Vorita felt the web stick to her arm, but she managed to get one of her spiders to bite it off her. Slaughter sneered, and shot another web. This time, he shot multiples, and he begun running around Vorita. Due to the fact that he was invisible, with the sunglasses being the only thing visible, Vorita was having a hard time hitting him with her whips. Suddenly, the spiders begun crawling towards Slaughter, but Slaughter was too fast to be caught by the ashy arachnids. As this was going on, Fluttershy tried once again to get a spider to join her side. But alas, she was unsuccessful, she even gave the stare to one, but nothing worked. Or did it? Vorita felt her movements slow, but it wasn’t because of the web. She felt something she hadn’t before, she felt... like bending her knees, and falling asleep. But she shook it off, but then she felt it again, and again. Voss took note of Vorita’s rather drunken movements, as she whipped all over the place. Finally, she grabbed Slaughter’s silk, and pulled him towards her. But by the time she did so, she was somehow having a hard time bringing herself hitting him. Voss noticed her hesitance, and when he glanced to Fluttershy, she was staring at a spider. Voss had a light bulb moment, and called Fluttershy. “F-fluttershy! I don’t know what you’re doing, but I think you’re having an effect on Vorita! Keep going!” Fluttershy heard Voss, and she proceeded to keep staring. Soon she stopped, seeing that the spider before her, had stopped moving. She then went to the next spider, which was curious of what happened to it’s fellow arachnid. As she kept giving stares, Vorita become more and more sleepy. Dark Samuel was watching, and he smirked. “That yella pony’s making her submissive?” He muttered under his breath. “Eh, I guess it makes sense.” He turned to see the fight going on with the others. Samneo and his squad weren’t having any luck with Molgovon, so Dark Samuel decided to step into the ring with Molgovon. “Hey! Golla!” He taunted. His arm’s magic lit his blade on fire, and he charged at Molgovon. Molgovon already had his sword ready, and he swung it towards Dark, but Dark Sam ducked, and slashed Molgovon’s waist horizontally. Molgovon roared, as the flaming blade burned him, even setting part of his cape on fire! Molgovon glared, eyes full of rage, before he pushed Dark away. Dark and Molgovon swung at each other, their blades hitting. Sparks were flying from the blades, as Dark’s magic clashed with Molgovon’s. Soon Molgovon overpowered Dark, and forced him backward. Samneo stepped in, along with Twilight Sparkle, and the two of them shot beams. Samneo’s water breath was enhanced by Twilight’s, as it hit Molgovon pointblank. Molgovon flew back, and hit the ground next to the entrance. Samneo took this moment to sprint up to Molgovon, and grab him by the chest. By this point, Molgovon was knocked out cold, but that didn’t stop Samneo from pulling another move. Samneo turned, and begun twirling in a circle, before he stopped himself, and threw Molgovon’s body towards the doors. The doors flung open, as Molgovon went flying outside. Molgovon hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out of him, and waking him. He couldn’t move for a solid second, due to how strong the throw was. “U-ugh--where am I!?” He slowly sat up, just in time as Samneo stepped outside. Samneo’s friends weren’t far behind, they were baffled as to how Samneo did that. “Woah! Sam! That was awesome!!” Rainbow gushed. Samneo couldn’t help but blush slightly, smiling proudly by his actions. Molgovon stood up, somewhat weak from the battle before. He soon collected himself, and then ran at Samneo. Molgovon swung his red blade at Sam, only for Sam to block it with his right arm. Samneo’s scales acted like a shield, as the red blade was unable to leave a dent in Samneo’s arm. Samneo pushed his enemy’s blade away, and shot his water breath at Molgovon. Molgovon growled, and stepped back. He stopped, for a second, and glared. His left hand begun charging some kind of black magic. It was almost like how Dark Samuel’s magic looked before, in which it looked weird. But for Molgovon, his magic looked almost as if it was... corrupted somehow, like it wasn’t even magic at all. Meanwhile, inside the castle. Vorita seemingly fell asleep, and Slaughter took this moment to put her inside a web he made. She was covered head to toe in silk. He had to admit, whatever Fluttershy did, he wasn’t complaining. “So... Fluttershy? What did you do?” Voss asked. “I-i uhm... I used my stare...” “Hm.. oh. Since the spiders came from Vorita, when you used your stare, it left Vorita in a mentally perplexed state. Because of that, she’s acting all weird. Say, Fluttershy? Could you go and try staring Vorita. Perhaps get her to obey you somewhat?” “Oh! Uhm... my stare only works for animals... I-i don’t know if I’ll work for Vorita...” “W-well... it’s worth a shot. But we’ll have to do so later, we gotta join Samneo!” The others followed Samneo and his friends outside, and were met with Samneo staring down Molgovon. Molgovon and Samneo locked eyes, as now that Sam had all his memories, he remembered all the trouble Molgovon gave him in the past. “You will pay for breaking up with Sorsirina.” Molgovon sneered. “I won’t let you hook up with that pony you call your crush!” Rainbow Dash turned to Samneo. “What’s he talking about?” She asked. Samneo lowered his head, slowly. He realized that there was not turning back from this, and that he needed to explain. “Ugh. Molgovon, I’m not coming back to Sorsirina, not after she tried turning me into an Inkubus. I was--” “Silence! I am tired of you making excuses. She’s done nothing to make you resent her, and you know it!” “I don’t.” “Grr. I won’t let you confess your feelings for Rainbow!” Silence soon followed. Everypony stared at Samneo, surprised. He froze, he felt his veins run cold, as if his entire body was being skewered by icy knives. “Wait, Sam? You had feelings for me!?” Rainbow asked, shocked. Samneo trembled, the feeling of dread rained down his body and spine. “I-i... no I..” Sam was stuttering, as he panicked. He wasn’t even sure why he was. He felt like there was something inside him, that was telling him to lie to Molgovon. “She’ll never love you, if she knew who you are!” “B-but Mol--” “You cannot be with Rainbow, for that Sorsirina is your one and only,” Molgovon stated, with hints of hatred. “and now, it’s time for you to witness Rainbow’s freezing!” Molgovon turned, and shot a black sphere of darkness at Rainbow Dash. Samneo shifted his position, and quickly ran to stop the orb. He never ran this fast before, which showed. Samneo jumped, and pushed Rainbow out of the way. Everything slowed in the moment. He stared at Rainbow, and had a slight tear in his eye. Samneo frowned, as he knew what was coming next. Everything went normal, and Rainbow Dash hit the ground with a loud thump. Sam felt an intense sting on the side of his body, as his face froze in horror. He fell to his knees, and he was shivering. Rainbow Dash sat up, and saw Samneo. Samneo realized he couldn’t move anymore, and whatever movement he did have, had slowed to a snail’s pace. His veins felt cold, as if they were... freezing. Samneo’s eyes widened, as the black mass enveloped him, freezing him in place. Everypony looked on in surprise. After a few moments, the black mass returned to Molgovon. After the mass lifted, what was left of Samneo, left everypony horrified. He was turned to stone, with Sam’s horrified look frozen in place. “Now then, Neo won’t be interfering with our quest anytime soon. I knew I should’ve frozen him four years ago!” Molgovon chuckled darkly. “No...” Twilight uttered the words. “Sam!!” Rainbow freaked out. Voss, Dark, and Slaughter’s mouths were agape, despite the fact that nopony could see Slaughter. Everypony were shocked, and full of disbelief... Sam found himself in the middle of nowhere. The ground and sky were pale white, and there were small patches of Blue and Green in certain spots on the floor. Soon panic oozed into his mind when he realized what just happened. Sam was staring all around him, with a look of fear. "Rainbow!? Twilight!? F-fluttershy!? Anypony!?" He shouted. All he got was the sound of ambiance. It was only a few minutes until music begun to play. Sam instantly recognized it, it was the Xbox's hidden sounds. Admittedly he was pretty confused; why would a game console's ambiance be playing, in what could possibly be purgatory? He wasn't sure of what was happening, but judging from what he knows so far; it's safe to say Ponyville is screwed. But then a thought came to his mind, then another... and another... and soon it was a group of questions. Is there a time-skip? That thought alone was enough to drive the panic back up from confusion. Can the main six stop Sorsirina? He knew for a fact that Neocros was needed to kill Sorsirina, however, it'll take almost a year to regain memories if they lose control of themselves. Then again.. Sorsirina is pretty much someone who's not to close-minded--Sam shook the thought away. Why of course she wouldn't show it, because she wants him and nopony else is allowed to do so. All these thoughts were overwhelming, to say the least... To Be Continued... > The Final Showdown? - Part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previously on Samneo: The Earth Pony: Sam was knocked out, and witnessed his friends get trapped in cocoons. Starlight rescued them, and reformed all the changelings. When they came back to greet Sam in the castle, they were both equally puzzled by Sam's tale. But that wasn't the only thing puzzling--The trio of baddies came back, Voss, Dark, and Slaughter. The three of them warn Twilight and everypony that Molgovon and Vorita were coming, and that they were going to awaken Sorsirina. The battle between Everypony and Molgovon was fierce, but it all ended with Samneo getting turned to stone! THE EARTH PONY ”The Final Showdown? - Part 2” Twilight Sparkle and her friends all stared at the statue that was Samneo. Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s mouths hung agape, Fluttershy was already starting to well up with sadness, and Twilight just stood there, as if she left her body entirely. As everypony were distracted with Samneo’s frozen body, Molgovon had managed sneaked past them. Molgovon entered the castle, and quickly spotted Vorita, suspended from a web. He swore under his breath, before he closed his eyes. He begun to float up, and above the ground. As he hovered, he used his machete to cut Vorita’s binds. After he released her, she fell to the floor with a loud thud. “Wake up! Vorita!” He floated down, and was quickly shaking her. “We need to complete the ritual!” Vorita’s eyes fluttered, before she started to get up. Her groggy vision made it difficult for her to register anything. She was unsure what Molgovon was saying at first, but soon she came to. Vorita glanced at her brother. “Oh..? Molgy...? W-wha... what happened?” “No time! We need to awaken Sorsirina!” He pestered. Vorita remembered what her task was, and she swiftly got up. She bowed her head, and the two tried to exit through the front door. But they were stopped in their tracks. “Okay, Now you’re gonna get it!” Voss snapped. Twilight and everypony, as well as the trio of Molgovon’s former employees, were blocking their escape. “You’ll pay for what you did to Sam!” Rainbow hissed. She was also giving Molgovon a death glare. Molgovon didn’t seem at all phased. He turned to Vorita, who nodded. Vorita then stepped in front of Molgovon, and lifted her skirt. The spiders had returned, but they were also accompanied with red, slimy snakes! Meanwhile... ... The area around the crashed ship was quiet, and full of crickets. It truly felt like Voss and the gang were the only ones there. But they weren’t the only ones to have explored this place. Stepping through the bushes, a tall, glowing unicorn appeared. Her eyes were glowing like the moon, and there was visible scarring on her back, as if she had gotten into many battles. She trotted towards the abandoned craft, and begun investigating the interior. There was nothing, nopony in sight within. She needed to find somepony to work on something for her, and Voss had missed the location. Though she didn’t know where the guy she needed, was, she still had to do something to a certain dragon-pony. She kept searching, investigating every room and every tunnel to find him. However, during her search, she heard a loud clank to her right. She turned, and looked. The room was dark, with faint light coming from a nearby window. The window shined on the wall, and between her and the darkness. Within the darkness, two turquoise eyes were brightly staring at her. The unicorn wasn’t afraid, however, and instead, made her way towards it slowly. “Don’t be afraid.” Her voice came out through telepathy. The creature stopped backing away, and just stared blankly at her. “Voss and his friends need you, to split Sam and Neo in two.” The creature huffed, as if it wasn’t surprised by her words. It actually sounded disappointed, in some way. The unicorn lacked eyebrows--or at least--visible ones, so when she rose her left one, it appeared as though her eye got taller. “Silver, why are you here? You are the key to making Neocros his own identity.” “Hurg... I’ve been injured... when Molgovon and Vorita ambushed me. I knew they were scammers, since they never revealed their net-worth.” Silver made a gurgling sound at the beginning of the sentence. The unicorn blinked, twice. Soon, the unicorn trotted up to him slowly. Silver made no objection. The unicorn lit up her horn with magic, to reveal Silver. He was laying there, leg bandaged, and badly bruised. He had grey skin, with a grey tail that slowly transitioned to white at the tip. He also had feather-like spikes at the top of his head, that were tipped with black. Silver looked like he hadn’t showered in almost all year. The unicorn examined his body, with concern on her almost featureless face. “Oh, Silver. What have they done to you?” “So what? Nobody cares for me. Heck, I was the last person on the job listings for those guanonauts.” Silver replied, with no emotion in his voice. The unicorn shook her head slightly. “Saverna, don’t look at me like that, you know I’m right.” “W-well, you must put yourself in some use. Molgovon and Vorita have frozen Samneo in stone, and the others are struggling to stop him. Please, just try to build something, to perhaps free Neocros from Sam’s body?” “Since when did you start caring for me? I don’t deserve it.” “Don’t let yourself down like this.” Saverna replied, with hidden annoyance. Admittedly, out of all the ones that came to Equestria, she had sympathy for Silver, in a strange way. She and Silver had some level of history together, but it was something that Silver didn’t want to discuss. Saverna sighed. “Sigh... Please don’t give up. The world needs scientists like you, or at least... the positive part of you.” Silver glanced at the ground, thinking for a moment. He tapped his finger on the steel floor, wondering if he can shine in some way. But he couldn’t help but wonder; what does Saverna mean by... shine? It didn’t matter, he guessed that the world would probably fall out of alignment if he doesn’t do something. Silver shifted his gaze to Saverna, who, she proceeded to hold up his chin. “Ugh... I guess, If I’m gonna rot, I might as well go out with style...” Silver muttered. Saverna smiled, and kissed his forehead. He rolled his eyes, feeling a little impatient. “Jeez, don’t ya think that kiss was a little excessive?” Saverna chuckled. “Well, apologies for such. Now, do you have the blue prints?” She asked, kindly. Silver slowly got up, he struggled slightly, which made Saverna instinctively hold him up with her magic. He was about to push her away, but his hand suddenly went right through her! Stunned, he stumbled, and fell. He groaned as his bandaged leg shifted, but he managed to hold himself up by clinging to the wall. "What? Oh, I forgot, you're--” Saverna interrupted him. "Please, Don't mention it. You make me feel... upset, whenever you remind me..." Saverna's words came out in a mutter, near the end of that sentence. Silver sighed, realized that he had screwed up. "Yeah, I shouldn't have said that. Apologize, I will. Now, I need to get to work--take me to the crafting room." Voss, Dark, and Slaughter were pushed away, by the snakes and spiders. The others were also knocked back by Vorita's attack, and joined Voss and his team. The two groups face Molgovon and Vorita. Suddenly, Voss couldn't help but ask a small question. "Hey, Molgovon. If you--" Suddenly, he stopped himself. Voss was going to ask why didn't he use his stone attack earlier? But Voss had foreseen what Molgovon could've done, which was attack with that same beam. "Actually, nevermind! We'll destroy you!" Molgovon smirked. "What were you going to ask? Voss? Ask me about what happened to a certain marefriend of yours?" Voss felt a ting of mental pain, at who he was referring to. "Guh... Alright, NOW YOU'RE GOING TOO FAR." Voss hissed, with silent anger, that surprised Dark and Slaughter. It even surprised Molgovon. Vorita couldn't help but think of what Voss was feeling, despite the fact that she had no idea what the two of them were talking about. It seems like Voss' relationship with Molgovon goes a lot deeper than what she was told. Molgovon grabbed something behind his back, and held it up. It was a grey orb of some kind. Molgovon quickly threw it on the ground, causing a large puff of steam. Voss felt the instinct to shield his friends, in which, he did so. Dark noticed some movement to the right of his view, and when he looked, he saw Molgovon and Vorita running away behind them. Everypony saw them, and Voss shouted. "GET EM'!" He waled, as everypony chased after their enemies. "Don't let them summon their master!" Molgovon and Vorita were quick to run into an alleyway, and Vorita prepared some kind of spell. Her hands glowed with red magic, similar to what Dark's magic looked, before he reformed himself. The magic didn't look like true magic, it simply was imitating what Equestria had. If magic was the ecosystem of Equestria, than outsider's magic, is considered invasive in nature. Vorita's eyes glowed, and red smoke-like mist surrounded her and her brother, and soon they vanished, leaving nothing in their path of teleportation. Voss and Rainbow swiftly turned the corner, but were too late, Molgovon and Vorita were gone. The alley looked as if nothing was there in the first place. "What the...!? where they go!?" Rainbow protested. Voss blinked, but wasn't too surprised by this tactic. "They'll be back." Voss growled. "... and they won't be alone." As everypony investigated what the two had seen, Voss rubbed the back of his head. "I think they've ran back to their base, but somehow I feel their aura here..." Molgovon was placing small crystal rocks on the ground, along with candles. He made a giant circle with a smaller one in the middle. The rocks made the outer ring, while the candles made up the center ring. He then poured purple dust in the center of the candles. Molgovon smiled maniacally when the candles flickered on and off, before they died out. He then got out of the ring, and gave an overview of the display. He and Vorita had located the summoning right next to a local library. "Is she here yet!?" Vorita asked. Molgovon turned to his sister. "Be patient. She'll come once we plant the seeds in between the rings." He proceeded to plant small bags, which were full of white liquid, into the ground. He didn’t pour the liquid in, he planted the entire bags into the holes in the dirt. He quickly got out of the way. The result was a third ring appearing in between the rocks and candles. It was purple, with hot pink lace patterns. Molgovon and Vorita grinned as a figure begun to materialize above the setup. The figure was skeletal, and had a reptilian-shaped head. It was pale in color, and a purple orb was inside it's chest. Then a purple shell began to crystallize around it's forearms. Then it's head and slender neck were encased in the purple armor. “You have returned, Mistress.” Molgovon said, as he bowed. Sorsirina tilted her head down, to look at Molgovon. Sorsirina said nothing, as Molgovon and Vorita stared up at her. Everypony who was nearby, all took notice in the scene. “Now then, Sorsirina! Enslave them all!!” Molgovon commanded, as he pointed at the crowd. Although Sorsirina’s head was covered, she was grinning underneath. She waved her hand over the crowd, and purple chains formed around them. Suddenly, the chains begun wrapping themselves around different civilians, binding their front hooves to their sides. Those who weren't chained, begun running for their lives. Molgovon chuckled, with his eyes briefly flashing red, before his eyes suddenly went black. When Vorita glanced over, she noticed his eyes become dark. Her reaction was a bit delayed. "Woah, Molgy, you're eyes! They're--" Molgovon turned to her. She couldn't even tell if he was looking at her, since his pupils were the same color as his optics. "Remember sis? My eyes have always been this way." "R-right but..." She paused. His eyes weren't always white with red pupils, for that his eyes were indeed pure black originally. But when they were travelling, for some reason Molgovon's eyes changed colors. Molgovon's eyes were once blank black eyes, like he was a shark. "Your eyes were like that, when Sam faced Sorsirina a year ago.. but I didn't expect you to get those eyes back!" Molgovon just shrugged off her comments, and continued to blissfully watch Sorsirina float after the stragglers who escaped her. ~ ~ ~ Rainbow Dash stared at Samneo's statue, looking back at how he was. She didn't know he had a crush on her, he didn't even hint that he was in love with her. Admittedly, she would've pushed Sam's love away, kindly. But the fact that he saved her, and is now possibly gone, she found herself tearing up slightly at the thought. "Sam..." She uttered under her breath, as she touched the top of his head. Twilight stepped up to Sam, and looked up at Rainbow Dash. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow.. I didn't know either..." She said, as she turned and stared at Sam. Dark walked up, and kept his mouth shut slightly. Starlight trotted up to Samneo's frozen state, and pressed a hoof on his leg. She felt small tears in her eyes, wondering what could've happened to Sam. Yet also, she felt terrible for Rainbow Dash, and how she was feeling over Samneo. "H-h.. honestly, I wish I..had treated him better." Dark said, which sounded like he was holding back. Slaughter crawled next to Dark, and patted the dude on the back. Dark turned his head, and squinted at his invisible friend. Slaughter lifted his hand, and bowed his head. "Molgovon played us... and then he froze Sam. Everything happened so fast..." Voss muttered, feeling shameful in listening to that fool in the first place. Fluttershy and Rarity begun sniffling, as they joined Rainbow and Twilight in mourning Sam. Unfortunately, they couldn't mourn for long, for that trouble was not far behind. Voss suddenly felt chills on his back, but they weren't hot, nor cold. These chills were something he knew all too well. He swiftly turned around, but was too late... Sorsirina surprised Voss, by shooting a beam at him. He was flung back, and he hit the ground right next to Twilight. Rainbow Dash and everypony gasped, and jumped at Voss' grunt. Dark and Slaughter turned, and they, as well as their friends, were unable to react in time. Sorsirina's energy chains wrapped, and entangled themselves around her prey. Rainbow Dash and everypony were taken off guard, and they struggled in their binds. Voss was able to escape, by turning into a shadow. However, his comrades were still trapped. Sorsirina noticed that Voss wasn't caught, and shot another beam, but Voss dodged it, and he moved from the scene. He was closer to the town, and looked at his friends. Voss realized that he alone would stand no chance at all three of the villains. He quickly swam away. Sorsirina giggled on the inside. "The fool's running away? He really is a sad person." She thought to herself. Molgovon and Vorita were behind Sorsirina, when they saw that she had captured Rainbow and her friends. The two watch as Sorsirina lifted the nine of them up, and she watched them freak out at her. "Ngh! Let go!" Rainbow commanded, disgruntled. Starlight was about to blast Sorsirina with a beam of magic, however, a violet ring wrapped around her horn. She gasped, as she continued to struggle. Rings had appeared over Twilight and Rarity's horns also, and they were equally in despair. Molgovon begun floating, as if he was made of helium. He floated to Rainbow’s caged form. Rainbow looked, worriedly at him. She felt goosebumps as she noticed vary quickly his eye color change. He had probably the biggest, crap eating grins ever. Rainbow Dash glared, angrily at him. He shared at her, with his face changing to be angry as well, where he raised his blade, ready to strike. Rainbow closed her eyes, expecting the worst. But nothing came--suddenly, Molgovon felt a hand on his wrist, stopping his swing. “Wait!” Vorita had stopped Molgovon’s actions. Molgovon snarled, and looked at her. Sorsirina growled within Molgovon's mind, through telepathy. “What? Our plans would work if she’s gone!” He retorted at both of them. Despite the fact that Sorsirina was higher than him, she was surprised to see Molgovon's rather unhinged behavior. It's almost as if... he was... She shook the thought away, not wanting to delve into it any deeper. “No, we need spare her, so that Sorsirina can get her~!” Vorita replied. "That's true." A new voice rung in their heads. Rainbow Dash looked around, the others did so as well. "Huh? Am I hearing things?" Rainbow asked herself. Vorita looked up at Sorsirina, in which, Sorsirina was 'looking' down at her. Molgovon groaned, as he turned to Rainbow. His look softened, and he reluctantly lowered his machete, and followed Vorita to the ground. Admittedly, Vorita didn't know that was what Sorsirina was already planning. She didn't know why she stopped Molgovon. For some reason, ever since that yellow pony interacted with her spiderlings, she found herself growing more and more reluctant over the entire plan. The more hesitant she became, the more she saw the cracks within her brother. Little did Vorita know, that Sorsirina was reading her like a book, but she paid no real attention. Rainbow Dash felt as though her life flashed before her, and that she was inches away from feeling what could be the worst pain she'd ever feel. Thankfully, she was saved by Vorita. "But why did she stop him?" She thought. Vorita was no different than Molgovon. Fluttershy, on the other hand, had a different thought. "Did my stare... work?" She asked herself. "Thus, she stopped Molgovon... I think I need to convince her further!" Sam walked through the void, trying to find a way out. He thought for a moment on where the exit could be, but he was left with almost no ideas. But he had one thought... Neocros. He suddenly, had the motivation to try and find him, To see if his friend could help find a way out of this stony purgatory. He needed to save everypony, especially Rainbow Dash. With no protector, Vorita would surely swallow Rainbow! The thoughts alone made his heart race even quicker. Until he stops in his tracks. Sam spotted something wandering around up ahead. It appeared to be his dragon form, but was slightly different. He had a shorter tail, his dorsal fins were clear grey instead of solid green, and Neocros also had larger dorsal fins on top of his head. “Neocros!!” Sam called out. Neocros turned around, and instantly bolted towards his Green counterpart. The lines in Neocros’ horns glowed bright azure, and his spines--although clear without Sam’s power--glowed white. The two collided into each other. This causes a massive explosion of energy. Meanwhile, outside Samneo’s mind. The lines in his horns glowed Green and Blue magic. It was enough to... Samneo had busted out of his stone prison, releasing a mighty war cry as he did so. Sam glanced all around him. He was still where he was before, however it was night, and the clouds slowly turned purple as he got closer to spotting Sorsirina. The clouds that swirled around her, was the most purplest of them all. She was huge, almost triple the size of Samneo! Her facial features were obscured by a dark, purple, shell-like armor, that covered her entire top half. She had no legs, and her forearms weren’t connect to any solid flesh, with pink electricity connecting the arms to the body. Both for-arms were roughly the same size as her body, if not, shorter. They had three clawed fingers on each hand, and it looked as if she was wearing black arm gloves--that were cut off due to the electricity. At the base of her chest plate, was gun-metal. The purple coloring on her neck armor got darker as it went up the neck, and it was almost black near the tip of the ‘snout’. In contrast to the darker color; there were three lighter, purple spikes, sticking outward on both her left and right side of her neck. On top of her head, were two violet antlers. Similar to Voss, the antlers were pointed back, however they were less jagged, and more sleek. Behind her back, were four floating spikes. They were about the size of her fingers, but they were smaller than her head. The purple orb that once was inside her chest, was now floating behind her, attached by electricity. Samneo looked up to where Sorsirina was, and was breathless at the sight. “Woah... she’s huge. A lot bigger than last time I met her...” Sam thought. Neo whispered to within Sam. “We need to save our friends...” He said. Sam nodded, before he and Neo begin cooking up a plan... Sorsirina was hovering above Ponyville. Though she had succeeded in enslaving some ponies, the rest of them ran into their houses. The six heroines of Ponyville remained in her grasp, but Dark and Slaughter escaped. Dark’s fiery magic broke her binds, and he ran. She tried to capture him again, but he used his magic to shield himself from her. He broke Slaughter out as well, and shielded him from her as well. She taken her captives to the center of town, where she’d savor them, before she’d bring them into her realm. Twilight Sparkle, and everypony were suspended off the ground, entrapped in purple electricity. Their front legs pressed to their sides. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight had their wings folded in the binds. They all thrashed about, trying desperately to escape their captor. They were kicking and scrabbling as Sorsirina observed them through her telepathic vision. “You all look so unwilling...” She whispered. Due to her telepathy, all six of them could hear her. Her voice was like silk, with a hint of darkness behind it. “Ngh..! Let us go! Stupid monster!” Rainbow Dash kicked, and tried to get at Sorsirina, but she wasn’t having Dash’s attitude. She brought Rainbow Dash up to her. Rainbow, admittedly, was kinda intimidated by the creature’s size. Rainbow was brought up to Sorsirina’s ‘face’, and immediately received a chilling message. “I won’t destroy you, but if you continue to not behave, I’ll eat your soul, IN FRONT OF SAM.” Sorsirina sneered, as she pointed her head towards Rainbow. “IF, you follow my orders... your hearts will be spared... Sam will have no choice but to submit to me...” ”We won’t let you touch Sam!” Sorsirina was silent for a moment, before she introduced herself. “Heh heh... now then. Allow me to introduce myself, My name is Sorsirina. I’ve enslav--” She said, placing a hand on her chest. Before she could finish, however, she instantly felt something hit her left shoulder. It was slightly hot, and she felt it burn her. Sorsirina lowered Dash, as she released a blood-curdling screech. A piece of her armor became fragile as a result. She turned her body slightly, to ‘see’ where the pain came from. Dark was on top of a nearby building, and ducked low behind an air duct to avoid Sorsirina’s ‘sight’. He shuttered, but couldn’t help but bit his lip. He actually thought he’d miss but, he managed to land a hit. But Dark couldn’t sit there for long, soon Molgovon would come after him, or investigate the area he was in, because Dark knew that the others saw his fire ball. He got up slowly, and quickly crawled into the air duct. Dark gasped, and begun grunting and groaning as he was tumbling down the vent, since he didn’t predict how far deep it was. Voss was also nearby, trying to avoid Vorita. Vorita was walking through town, trying to find out who shot that ball of fire. He watched as Vorita kept looking around. Due to the how everypony thrashed around in their chains, it almost felt like something evil happened, which admittedly gave Voss a little bit of PTSD. He pulled his gaze away from their caged forms, and focused on trying to come up with a plan. Not that he didn’t have any plans, but he needed to come up with something that’ll effectively save everypony. Sorsirina was having trouble trying to find who hit her. So she decided to return to Twilight and everypony. Although it wasn’t present on her face, but she was internally licking her lips, at the potential they had. She returned to them, and she ‘smirked’ at their faces. “What do you plan to do with us?” Twilight asked, bluntly. Sorsirina simply lowered herself, to be at Twilight’s level. Twilight Sparkle found herself staring at her foe’s blank, soulless stare. “The same thing I’ve done to the residents... enslaving them. While the six of you were mourning my little pumpkin Sam, I’ve put all the residents under enslavement, wrapped in chains... once I molt into my Second form, they were be nothing but an empty husk of who they were. But you and your friends will receive special service. The seven of you, will become my toys, to use against Sam. I’ll be your puppeteer, and he’ll fall right into my hands.” She explained, chillingly. “What I’ve also planned, is for Sam to become my prince. I am a Succubus, a vary special kind... and I’d like an Incubus to be superior over me... and who knows? Maybe he’ll make you all his slaves? You’ll never know, unless you try.” She cued near the end of that sentence, sounding like she knew more than she was letting on. Twilight glared up at her. “We won’t give in to your practices! If Sam can’t stop you, Voss and his friends will!” Twilight retorted, hopefully. Sorsirina giggled darkly. “How dumb those words are... Voss has no power over me. I’m stronger than him, in all ways. Plus, I can easily make him bend his knee, over the loss of his girlfriend.” Sorsirina explained. “To add more to everything, I can use Slaughter’s frisky nature against him! As for Dark... well... uh... how do I get him again?” Sorsirina had trailed off, and placed a finger on the tip of her face. She shook herself, and puts her arms behind her back. “It doesn’t matter, he alone can’t stop me... Now then, time to feel me.” She said, with a seductive tone to her words. But before she could do anything, something hit the back of her arms. “What?” Her arms were tied together! She pulled on her arms, which snapped the web clean apart. Nearby, Slaughter was on top of another building, and he had shot a net of silk at Sorsirina’s arms, while they were behind her back. He was speechless when she broke the net, without almost little to no resistance. He quickly turned invisible, in order to not be spotted. Unfortunately he forgot that she had sonar vision, so when she turned around, she spotted him, even when he was invisible. “I see you, my little centipede!” She charged up her power. There was a sphere of violet energy manifesting on her face, it appeared to be a plasma ball. She shot it at Slaughter, which made him swiftly jump off the building. However, Voss--who was near Slaughter’s location, he wasn’t having property damage. His antlers glowed, and he shot a beam of red energy at the ball. It caused the sphere to go flying towards Slaughter’s direction, but thankfully he already got out of the way, before it could cause any serious damage. Sorsirina’s hands started to manifest plasma energy in their hands. She hissed within her armor, and the floating spikes glowed purple. She was ready to eliminate these intruders, despite the fact that it was her who’s intruding. In the mist of the battle, Samneo had managed to stay hidden by Molgovon and Vorita. He entered the castle, to find it completely empty, and silent. He closed the doors behind him, quietly, so he won’t alarm the duo to his location. He turned, and looked around. “Spike!? Spike, where are you!? I need you!” Samneo called, to hopefully get Spike and him to work out something. Although Spike was probably the least useful thing he knew of--no offense to Spike, but he found that maybe Spike could be in some use. “Huh? Sam!? You’re alive!?” He said, surprised. Samneo nodded, as Spike approached him. “Yes. Do you have anything that’ll harm the bad guys outside?” Sam asked. Spike rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh.. no, not really.” Samneo face palmed. “Drat! W-well... I guess it can’t be helped, just try to stay hidden, and if not...” Samneo tried to think, before he followed up his words. “Could you perhaps find the others?” Molgovon and Vorita were travelling across town, when they come to the castle. Molgovon stopped in his tracks, realizing the only thing that was missing. “Uh, molgy, where’s Sam?” Vorita asked, confused. “No... Impossible!!” Molgovon ran to where the Samneo statue was previously. He growled, realizing that Sam must’ve somehow broken his spell. “Oh, you’re REALLY gonna get it Samneo!!” Suddenly, the castle doors flung open. Samneo ran out, and jumped towards the duo. Spike was also on Samneo’s back, with a custom made sling shot, made by Sam. “CHARRRGGGE!!!!!” The two cried. Molgovon and Vorita were not expecting the two, as Sam shot his Aqua Breath at Molgovon. Molgovon fell back, and hit the ground. Sam glared. “That’s for turning me t’ stone!” Vorita squealed in surprise. She backed away, and lifted her skirt, to try and unleash her critters--when she’s knocked on the back of her head by a familiar face. Samneo huffed, as Spike got off his back. The two looked, and noticed Vorita fell too. Voss growled, as he then pounced onto her, pinning her down. She hissed as she squirmed, but Voss held her down with all his might. The two blinked. “Well, we’ve ya been while I was gone?” Sam asked. Voss glanced, and smiled. “You’re alive! I thought the chronicle was over!” Voss interrupted himself with a gasp. “Now, quick! Sorsirina’s holding Dash captive! Go save Rainbow Dash--!” Samneo nodded, and ran towards Sorsirina’s location. Voss grunted, as he and Vorita struggled. Spike nervously checked Molgovon, finding him to have blacked out. Spike stepped away, and looked at Sam running. “Hey! Wait up!” Spike called. However, he’s quickly stopped by Voss. “Ey. You know Celestia right?” He asked. Spike nodded. Voss thought for a moment, before he ordered. “I need ya to send a help message to her, got it? Now go!” “Okay!” Spike said, before he ran back into the castle. Samneo ran towards the large female, with hot water bubbling in his mouth. His eyes filled to the brim with determination, and his heart was full of courage. Samneo hadn’t ran this fast since he saved Rainbow Dash. He was so hyped, he felt like he could end up in a hospital. Sorsirina had sensed her allies’ defeat, and turned herself to look. She saw Samneo running full speed at her, with his mouth having a cyan glow to it. Sorsirina felt chills within her, looking at how far he had come, from when he and her gotten to know eachother, to now. Sorsirina was too distracted by her own self reflection on him, that she hadn’t noticed Dark shoot a fire ball at her. Before she could even have time to shield herself, she was hit. She screeched as she felt further pain. This time, on her chest armor. Sorsirina shook herself off, and hissed at Dark. Dark was on top of the building where she had previously shot her plasma sphere. “Alright, let’s go!” Dark taunted, as he jumped towards her, despite the fact that he was only a few structures away from her. Dark was falling to the streets below, and he grabbed the side of a house. He tried to use his claws to slow his fall. As Sorsirina watched him, Samneo had gotten closer. “Okay, come at me!!!” Samneo shouted, which made Sorsirina perk her head towards. He opened his mouth, and shot a pent up beam of water. It was boiling hot, which made the large sorceress unpleased when it hit her. The boiling water made her armor more brittle than before, and it made her angry. She wasn’t finished molting into her next form, and these little rats were already trying to make her fail. Samneo stopped himself, and was huffing. He didn’t realize how much that beam took out of him, resulting in him huffing and puffing. “So... at last, we’ve reunited... my sweet knight.” She cued. Sam’s look got all scrunched up, with hate. “How many times... do I need ya... to know? I’M FREAKING DONE WITH YOU, SORSIRINA!” Sam roared near the end. Sorsirina shuttered at the sound of him, and couldn’t help but feel excited inside. The thought of fighting him, even for one more time, was enough to fire her up. Then, two almond shaped eyes appeared on her dark purple shell. They were bright violet, had eyelash shapes at the corners of each eye, and were seemingly observant. Due to Sam’s roar, his friends took notice. Their view was slightly obscured by Sorsirina’s mass, in which she was in front of their view of Samneo. “Do you realize how long I’ve been waiting for this? You’ve abandoned me, and were mean to me...” Her eyes changed shape, to appear more vulnerable. Sam wasn’t buying her words, and continued to glare. “Been mean to you...?” He said, with an almost helpless chuckle. “You’ve hurt me way more than I ever did!” Her eyes changed once more, to seem more offended. “What do you mean? You were into me! I could sense it!” She kept on pushing. Sam was getting fet up with her, for all she had done. She almost destroyed his entire community over their feud, and she’s telling him that he’s the one at fault? He wasn’t having ANY of it. “That’s it! I’m taking you down! Right here and Now!” He announced, with determination. Sorsirina felt angry as well, and she charged up a beam. The horns on the side of her neck lit up, and ray of electrical plasma shot out her featureless face. Samneo shot water like a fire hose, and it collided with her beam. The two held each other’s grounds--or in Sorsirina’s case, held her air, as the two were in a war of who’s beam was going to explode on who. Twilight Sparkle and everypony took notice in the fight, and recognized Samneo’s beam. Meanwhile, in the crashed ship... Silver had completed the separation gun, and Saverna had helped him along the way. They actually had already completed the gun, until Saverna told Silver that she had sensed Samneo breaking out, and thus the two had to rework retool the device slightly. The gun was going to have some parts in it, that would’ve broke down the stone, but now those parts were taken out. Saverna watched, as Silver sat in his chair, holding the device. “How’re you feeling?” Saverna asked. Silver examined his legs, and smirked. “Well, they’re fine, but It’s probably better that I stay off them for a little bit.” He stated. Silver then looked up at her. “Could I ride you too them?” Saverna blushed slightly. “Oh? I’ve never had anypony ride on top before. But I guess I have no choice. Hop on.” She said. Silver slowly, but surely, crawled onto her back. The two of them started walking towards the exit. Voss still had Vorita pinned, as he stared at her. After a little while of trying, Vorita stopped, and relaxed. She turned her head, to look at Voss through the corner of her right eye. Voss panted, from how much effort he had to put into her, but nonetheless, he got her. Voss decided to take the time to ask her the question that was on his mind, ever since Fluttershy subdued Vorita in a way. “I may ask, what do you think of the yellow one? Fluttershy, her name is.” Voss questioned. Vorita trailed off, and found herself feeling hopeless. It seemed like he was going to get answers one way or another. “I-i uh... I don’t know...” Vorita stuttered. “I don’t know anymore... i-it’s just...” Voss wasn’t satisfied with her answer, since he could connect the dots. “You may say anything. If not, then admit it, you’re having second thoughts on yourself?” Voss guessed. Vorita closed her eyes, and sighed, knowing it can’t be helped. Vorita squirmed under him. “I.. I guess... I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’ve grown reluctant. I don’t understand why I am starting to feel this way...” She confessed. Voss sighed through his nose. “It’s alright. Fluttershy is helping you soften up, to where you’re better than ever before.” Voss replied. Vorita glared up at him. “N-no! I don’t--...” She paused, and she thought about it. “Perhaps... you mean submissive?” Voss grew silent, and was noticeably surprised at her response. He decided to play along, and he nodded. “Yes... in your words.” He begun loosening up on her slightly, but he was still prepared for anything. Vorita smiled. “Maybe Sam could just agree to have one last party... with us?” She proposed. Voss rubbed the back of his neck, and thought of it. Although he and Sam knew of each other, he never really paid close attention to Sam and Vorita’s relationship. For the longest time he always had a one-dimensional view on her, seeing her as only being Molgovon’s minion. Yet at the same time, he did remember once that after Sam nervously went along with Sorsirina’s crush, she introduced him to her siblings. But that was as far as he remembered. “... oh! Also, why not have Sorsirina turn Sam into a dragon and eat me?” Now Voss was thrown through a loop. Just what in the holy mother of Celestia and Luna were they doing during those times!? He shook the thought away, and decided to just agree with her words. Vorita turned her gaze to the breath battle between Samneo and her big sister. “Just maybe... I could also... maybe get to know this... what’shername again?” Vorita asked. Voss told her all about Fluttershy, as well as all of his friends. Vorita’s interest was peaked. “Oh? May I get to know her? Rainbow Dash, I mean?” Voss nodded, and Vorita smiled. “I guess. Although I’m a little sad that.. Sam was lying about his feelings to big sis... I can forgive him, a little...” Vorita stiffled. “Molgovon was not always like this... He would’ve held himself... but he tried to.. harm Rainbow, which made Samneo jump in the line... and even after, Molgovon still tried to harm Dash. I’ve always was told that Rainbow was a demon, but... from what you say, she sounds like a good pony, and Fluttershy, as well! Although... I would like to know them first, and if I grow to like them, then I’ll be a little more accepting to Sam’s choice...” She explained. Voss was suddenly reminded, and he looked to where Molgovon was. But when he looked, his heart stopped. Molgovon was missing! He was no longer unconscious on the ground. You would think Voss would’ve been able to sense him, much like how he was able to sense Sorsirina. But somehow Molgovon went under his radar. Now Voss was scared, and he, in a panic, scanned all around the area, but found no trace of his foe. Celestia only knew where he was now. Speaking of which. Spike ran out, and met the two. Spike instantly noticed that Molgovon was missing. “W-where’s the guy?” He asked, nervously. Voss was unnerved by this, but he tried his best to keep his composure. “Did you call Celestia?” “Yes, and she’s on her way.” Samneo kept trying, feeling tears down his eyes as he held his breath--literally. Sorsirina and Samneo were still locked in their beam attacks, and which, Slaughter and Dark proceed to get close. But as they did so, an all too familiar entity was stalking up slowly. The figure lifted his red machete, and was about to strike. Suddenly, Samneo’s left eye flashed blue, and his tail wrapped around Molgovon. Samneo’s right eye briefly flashed green, before he quickly stopped his breath, and ducked. Sorsirina’s plasma beam went over Sam’s head, and hit Molgovon in the face! The force of her attack was so immense, that Molgovon was not only flung back, but also he slipped out of Neo’s grip. Samneo swiftly ran, and he did a roll behind a nearby table. Molgovon landed on his back, knocking the air out of him. He took a moment, before he roared in frustration. He was starting to hate being tossed around like a ragdoll in an explosion. Samneo stood up, and balled his hands into fists. If he needed to take down both him and Sorsirina, than he and Neo were more than ready to take them all on. Sorsirina and Molgovon turned to him, and Molgovon glared. Samneo snarled like the threatened dragon he was, and his dorsal spines begun glowing. He then walked up to Molgovon, almost casually. Molgovon swung his sword, and Samneo dodged it, moving to the right. While he was walking and dodging Molgovon’s attack, Sam’s arm was starting to glow green. When Molgovon had missed, Sam’s eyes flashed, and he delivered a immense sucker punch to Molgovon’s gut. The foe’s eyes widened, as he backed away. Samneo was about to face Molgovon, when Dark arrived behind his foe. Molgovon lifted his machete, when Sam started pointing behind him. Molgovon turned, and saw Dark pulling out his sword. “You go after Sorsirina, I’ll take care of Molgovon!” Dark shouted. Samneo nodded, and ran towards Sorsirina. Dark eyed Molgovon, before the two came at each other. Samneo stepped to the side, as Sorsirina’s beam hit the ground next to him. She kept missing him, until he jumped. Samneo’s left eye flashed again, and this time, Neo took the wheel of Samneo’s body. Neo ducked his head down, and shot water. Water begun propelling him off the ground, as if he was wearing a jet pack. Neo managed to get some good air, before he stopped. When he stopped, however, he was face to face with Sorsirina. Sorsirina grabbed onto Samneo, holding his sides, as Samneo landed some punches on her neck. She groaned, and she released his right side. As they battled, Sorsirina was turning her body, which conveniently gave her captives a view at what was going on. She tried to pull him away, but he used his tail to wrap around her lower half, which was cone shaped. Sorsirina, with the hand that released him, she used it to punch him in the side. He gasped, feeling the pain. At this point, everypony were able to see them battle. Rainbow called out to Sam. “Sam!? You’re alive!!” She gasped, in complete shock. Everypony else begun cheering on Samneo, which agitated Sorsirina, enough to make her hiss in rage. Sorsirina grabbed onto him with both hands, and lifted him up, before slamming him down. Sam hit the ground below, flat on his back. Silver and Saverna were nearly there, almost through the woods. When she and him came to a clearing, she saw Sorsirina in the sky, looking down at something. There were seven ponies trapped in bright purple bondage, which were next to Sorsirina. Suddenly, a water beam hit her, and she screeched at whoever was down below. She flew down, and grabbed something. Once Sorsirina came at a height that Saverna could see, she saw that the sorceress was holding Samneo! “Gasp! We need to hurry!” Saverna gasped, before she galloped towards Ponyville, with a speed that even surprised Silver. As they got closer, Silver held onto the device in hand. He watched the battle rage on, and he couldn’t help but think of how there was almost no strategy to this fight. Sorsirina was above Samneo, and tried to squash Sam with her beams. Seeing how her beams weren’t working, she decided to create multiple plasma spheres, and pummel him with them. She charged up some orbs in her hands, as well as one on her face, and was almost ready to rain everything down. But then out of the blue... Multiple, thick, strings of web, hit her left arm. As soon as she shifted her view, she was hit with more. The webs wrapped around her arms, and her neck. She was surprised at how strong they were, and that she was struggling. Because of this, she lost the focus on her plasma spheres, and thus they dissipated. Slaughter had come to Samneo’s rescue! Everypony, as well as Samneo, followed the webs, and saw Slaughter in between two buildings. He had covered himself in multiple blankets, and stitched them up with web, which made him look like a snake-like scarecrow. Samneo gave him a thumbs up, and focused back on Sorsirina. Slaughter had then shot more webs, connecting the ones holding Sorsirina to the ground. Sorsirina pulled back at the webs, and she found it to be vary annoying. Suddenly, Voss appeared behind Samneo, and grabbed him. “What the--!?” Was all Samneo said, before Voss used his magic to send Samneo flying towards Sorsirina. Voss had misfired, slightly, in that Samneo was heading past Sorsirina’s neck. But Samneo was able to save himself by wrapping his tail around her, as well as his hand catching her throat. Samneo swerved around, and was now on Sorsirina’s back! “Alright, it’s spa time!” Slaughter couldn’t help but crack up at that comment. “What kind a taunt is dat!? Where did ya get that from? Your dad!?” He laughed. Samneo didn’t really care, and he was striking Sorsi’s back, with chopping motions. He varied his attacks more, by biting, scratching, and punching. Sorsirina was nothing but a noise machine as he did so. Then Samneo bit into her armor, which caused light to blind him. Sorsirina threw her head back, causing Sam to suddenly loose balance. He tried to catch himself with his tail, but he was slipping fast! From his friends’ view, light was coming from the the area above Sorsirina’s shoulders. Then Sorsirina turned into blinding light. They closed their eyes, and turned their faces away. Samneo, Slaughter, and Voss covered, and closed, their eyes. Dark was about to land the final strike on Molgovon, when the light happened. He covered his face, and so did Molgovon. When the light dimmed, and became more tolerable, everypony slowly opened their eyes, and looked on with wonder... Sorsirina was now different. Her armor came off, like the exo-skeleton of a cicada. She begun to float higher, and her new form was revealed to all. Gone was the neck brace that prevented her from turning her head all the way, and was shown a neck with dorsal spines down her back. Her shoulders were now more obvious, and her arms were slimmer than before. Sorsirina’s body became slightly more curvy, and slim. She now had distinct hips, and had legs! Though her feet were just cone shaped points, they also appeared to have black stockings, which contrasted slightly to her milky, grayish white skin. Her dark purple armor started to squish, and reform itself into a skirt around her hips. She also started to form a corset around her abdomen, which started to form a breast piece on her chest. It was also made using her armor. Her arms were sleeker than before, and now formed white arm gloves, which ended with glittery silver rings on each glove. The floating spikes she had before, had transformed completely. They now became large, almost angelic wings. Her antlers had split in the middle, and they each became something different. The front row curled, and became goat horns, while the other halves transformed into frills, that were slicked back, and feathered. Her face was now dragon-shaped, with her seemingly having no mouth! Though she did, the way it appeared seamless, it certainly made her appear kinda attractive to the employed squad, that which being Voss, Slaughter, and Dark. The purple orb that was behind her, had sunk into her back, being a couple centimeters deep. Her wings were attached to nothing, but they looked as though they were connected to her back crystal through some invisible force. In the center of her head, was a center horn, much like Samneo’s, except it was almost a pearl color, with a sparkly silver ring around it. Then ultimately, she opened her eyes. Her eyes were purple optics, violet irises, and bright pink pupils. She scanned her eyes across everypony around her. Everypony, including some background ponies, stared in awe at her beauty. Though it seemed like she had no visible mouth, but they’ve had yet to see it. Sorsirina floated down, and her feet touch the ground. She looked around her, and then she examined herself. She grinned inside, as she saw how beautiful she looked. Samneo couldn’t help but admit how he liked her appearance, but then he realized something. She purposely took this form, knowing that he would fall for her like that. He couldn’t give this succubus the thought of him being vulnerable. Unfortunately, she sensed it in Sam’s aura. Sorsirina smiled inside, feeling prideful of her new form. Samneo tilted his head down, and thought for a moment. “Alright... Neocros. This might be our last fight.” He said thought. Neocros replied with a reassuring yes. Sam nodded to himself. “Okay, let’s do it!” Samneo turned his head, and called for his partners. “Okay boys, prepare for battle!” He waled. Voss nodded, and his antlers glowed. Dark’s arm became fiery, with a determined flame. Slaughter could feel his venom and web building in his mouth. The four of them were now prepared for the final showdown. Samneo begun sprinting towards Sorsirina. Sorsirina then opened her mouth, which had stretchy, goopy flesh attaching to both jaws, almost like melted cheese on pizza. Samneo’s dorsal fins started to light up, and his mouth bubbled with water. Sorsirina started to hover with her wings, before she begun taking off upwards into the sky. Samneo was quick to jump, and grapple onto her. The two of them quickly started their fight, almost immaturely. Samneo locked onto her waist with his legs, and his tail wrapped around her legs. He tried to land a few punches, but Sorsirina dodged each one, that were aimed to her head. She was also simultaneously scratching him on different parts of his body, his back, thighs, shoulders, and the sides of his body. He gritted his teeth as he kept trying. Dark watched as the two went higher into the sky, as he was almost drooling over the fight. He felt a certain presence though, which made him instinctively tilt his head to his right, in one fast motion. He turned his body, and grabbed Molgovon’s right arm, and swung the bad guy away from him, in one swift movement. Molgovon fell to the ground nearby, and he quickly picked himself up. Dark’s sword was aimed at Molgovon, and the foe blocked it with his machete. The two proceeded with another duel, as Dark’s allies deal with other things. Voss was looking up at Samneo and Sorsirina, and he placed his hand on the side of his head. He placed his finger on where his ear would’ve been. He then spoke to Sam. While Samneo and Sorsirina were still cat fighting, Samneo heard a voice in his mind. “Hey, Sam? It’s me, Voss.” Sam blinked. “Woah, How’re you doing that!?” “I’m using telepathy. Do you need help?” “No, release my friends, and release everypony in town!” Samneo said out loud, as he growled at his ex taking hold of his neck. Down below, Voss took Sam’s words, and he turned to his web shooting friend. Slaughter tilted his head, wondering why Voss wasn’t up there helping Sam. “Hey Slaughter, help me free these ponies!” He commanded. Slaughter nodded, and proceeded to follow Voss to everypony who were suspended off the ground. Rainbow Dash watched as Voss floated up to her. He tilted his gaze down, and examined the chains around her. He grabbed the top half of them, and tried using his strength to break them. Unfortunately, it looked like the chains weren’t going to break that easily. Voss cursed to himself, as backed away. “Ugh. Those chains ain’t breakin’... perhaps...” Voss looked over, and he scanned the perimeter of town. His eyes took notice of Vorita. Vorita was coming close to the scene, looking rather unsure of herself. Voss had to admit, he completely forgot about that girl. He decided to consult her for help. “Vorita!” He called. Vorita instantly took notice, and she begun running over to where he and everypony were. As she went to Voss, she passed by Dark and Molgovon still battling. Molgovon saw Vorita run past Dark, and towards the others. Dark followed Molgovon’s gaze, and saw Vorita running. Dark was confused on what she was doing, but he couldn’t focus on that at the moment. He still had to take Molgovon down, and it feels like it’s going on for an eternity. Voss and Vorita finally meet. Everypony are in complete shock. “Voss! What’re you doing!?” Twilight protested. “Relax, everypony! Fluttershy! Your stare worked!” Voss clarified. Fluttershy’s eyes widened. Vorita saw Fluttershy, and smiled. “So you were the one? How?” “O-oh, uhm... I stared at one of your spiderlings.. and I was afraid of how vicious they were...” Fluttershy explained. Vorita smiled, though she already knew it all. Voss looked at her, and pointed towards everypony’s chains. “Can you break these binds?” Voss asked. Sorsirina had managed to take Samneo to a great amount of height. Samneo hadn’t even noticed how high they were going, until they were above the clouds. Samneo hadn’t looked down, until he was forced to. When he looked down, he felt extreme anxiety hit him, as he then starts to grapple onto Sorsirina more, while also landing some punches. Sorsirina then managed to grab onto him, locking his arms to his sides. He grunted, as he tried to escape. But knowing how dire the situation was, he stopped. “So... we’ve come to this.” Sorsirina begun her monologue. Samneo glared, and gritted his teeth. “I suppose you’re doing well?” He asked, sarcastically. Sorsirina chuckled. “Your sarcasm hasn’t diminished, has it not?” Sorsirina replied. Her wings flapped as the two remain above the stormy clouds. “Now then, pumpkin, time to eat your soul.” She opened her mouth, but was unable to do anything, for that an oncoming attack came. Voss’ red beam hit her leg, which caused her to scream, and release Samneo from her grasp. He begun screaming as he was falling back first. Voss was not far below him, and was flying like a ghost. “Sam! Bro, take my hand!” He said. Samneo turned his head, and shifted his body to where now he was skydiving. Voss flew up, and then followed him down. Voss grabbed on, and tried to help slow his fall. However, as thunder boomed, Sorsirina was not far above them. She was like an owl, stalking, and waiting to pounce onto her prey. Samneo turned up and looked above Voss with his left eye. Sorsirina was literally twenty meters above them, and was drawing closer. “Uh... you might wanna start sky diving with me...” “Why?” “Behind you!” Samneo warned. Voss turned and looked, just in time to see Sorsirina coming towards them like a fighter jet. Voss gasped, and he had to throw Samneo down to the ground, and fly up to avoid Sorsirina’s swoop. Vorita was able to bypass Sorsirina’s spell, with her own black magic. She broke the chains of Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and everypony. They also were in the process of freeing the residents. With most of the residents freed, Twilight told them to get to shelter, and they did so indeed. As they were roughly a few people in, they hadn’t noticed Samneo falling from the sky. Samneo shouted to Rainbow. ‘ “RAAAINBOOOW!!! I’m fallin’!!” He waled. Rainbow Dash turned, and spotted him falling. “Hang on Sam!” She began flying towards him, with speed that even surprised Sam. Samneo found himself uncertain if Rainbow was going to make it. However, his worries were washed when she wrapped her hooves around his shoulders. “Ngh! Man you need to lose some weight!” “Yeah, I should...” He replied. She managed to slow his fall, and she lowered him to the ground. Rainbow released him from her hold, and the two of them looked at each other. Sam looked embarrassed, with him not having eye contact with his crush. “Uhm... I’m sorry, for this... I really didn’t want to say it now, but Molgovon just had to say it... I know you wouldn’t really be fund of it... and...” “Sam.. you don’t have to apologize. Though yes, I’m not really into the whole lovey dovy thing.. I really think you’re generally a decent guy. And to me, you’ve proven your worth over the year so far.” Before she could say more, they heard conflict above them. The sounds of beams and punches were heard in the clouds. The two looked up, and spotted Voss and Sorsirina. Sorsirina grabbed Voss, and begun flying towards the ground, with him underneath her. She was going to smash him back first into the ground! As the two were looking up at the battling pair, everypony and Vorita was witnessing it as well. Vorita felt concerned for Sorsirina, but also unease. How was she going to react when she finds out that she was betrayed by Vorita? She didn’t know, but she couldn’t focus on it at the moment. As everypony watched on in horror, two figures came to the scene. They saw the two stop in their tracks. There was a lizard-like creature, riding on top of a tall unicorn. Twilight almost thought it was Celestia, until she saw that the unicorn had no wings, and her mane was different slightly, but was still swaying like Celestia’s. The lizard figure pulled out a large object out. He pointed it at Samneo, and then a green and blue orb came flying out of it. The unicorn’s horn lit up, and the orb then had a white, magical outline on it. “Voss! Hold on!” Samneo was about to shoot water, when out of the blue, he and Dash heard a loud noise. It sounded like a small explosion, with a buzzing sound, and to add to the things it sounded like, it sounded like there was fire crackers in it. Samneo had no time to react, for that he was hit by a green and blue orb. He fell back, and released a loud. “OHF!” Rainbow gasped, and quickly tried to stop Sam’s fall. However, she was unable to hold him up, thus he fell. As she held him, Sorsirina had came down, and smashed Voss into the ground next to her and Sam... CRUUUCKCK!! The sound of something breaking, was heard in Voss’ back. He couldn’t scream, as he felt something break inside. Sorsirina’s wings spread out, and begun flapping. She cleared the dirt that was kicked up into the air, as she tried to get a better look at Voss. When the dirt cleared, she saw Voss. He was unconscious, with him groaning. “Uuuuugh... c’mon... buck...” Voss mumbled. Rainbow Dash shook herself, after being hit with dirt. She opened her eyes, only to see Sam glowing. She witnessed Sam suddenly changing, as a glob begun to form on top of him. The glob moved away from the two, as Sam changed form. He shrunk, and shape shifted back into an Earth Pony. Rainbow Dash followed the glob, and saw it shape shift too. She watched it turn into a dragon. It looked almost the same as Samneo’s dragon form, except with a few differences. It had larger dorsal fins on top of his head, and a slightly shorter tail. The hair on the tip of the tail was bigger, and looked almost leaf-like, and the dorsal fins on his back grew smaller, to be almost half the size of the ones on his head. The most notable difference of all though, was the colors. He had slightly brighter hair, being only a few shades lighter than his predecessor, and his dorsal fins were now a trans grey color! Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, as she was witnessing the reawakening of this dragon! The dragon glowed a beautiful azure color. He opened his eyes, revealing his eyes to be a nice, bright, sapphire color. His tail wagged slowly, before he turned, and saw Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was paralyzed as she saw him. Dash remembered having a dream once, and that she remembered once seeing something like this form. She was doing her usual routine in her dream, when she came across Samneo, and wanted to have him help out with her battle against changelings. Sam had agreed, but his body suddenly changed, and a chunk of him was removed! Only for that chunk to reveal itself as the dragon, while Sam reverted back into an earth pony. The dream was before she was captured by the Actual changelings, so in a way, she felt as though the dream was showing her the future. As she stared at the dragon, the dragon appeared almost curious of her presence. His ears flopped up and down, and his nostris moved slightly. Sorsirina turned her head, and saw the glowing creature before Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Sorsirina’s eyes widened. She was too late, Neocros was reawakened! The dragon noticed something behind Rainbow, and she followed his sight. Sorsirina’s look of surprise shifted into one of anger. The sorceress’ mouth was now glowing with purple energy, ready to hit the dragon. But her action was interrupted by a blast to her face. The blast almost looked like a snow ball, but was brightly lit. Rainbow only saw it for a second, as the orb exploded on Sorsirina’s face. Sorsirina reeled back in pain, as she screeched at her sudden agony. Rainbow Dash then heard a voice. “Hold it right there! Sorceress!” The voice sounded a bit like Dark’s, but was lighter in frequency. She turned and looked, and saw the grey, lizard like creature approach Sorsirina. There was also the tall, glowing white unicorn next to the lizard. Her horn appeared to be lit with white magic. Voss couldn’t lift himself up, but recognized the voice. Voss shifted his head slightly up, and tried to look at the familiar figure. “About freaking time! Ya lazy bass!” Voss insulted. “How in the hey did you get here, Silver!?” Silver was holding a silver object in his right hand, while his left hand held a larger one, with similar shape. The glowing unicorn had enchanted Silver’s bullet with her magic, and was able to give him the proper boost against Sorsirina. Silver had managed to be healed enough to keep himself up. Sorsirina hissed, as she looked at the two, only to receive another blast at Silver’s weapon. Sorsirina was flung back this time, knocking her off Voss, and allowing him to roll away for a few seconds. Silver and the unicorn came up to Voss. “Well, I was side tracked.” Silver said, with a matter-of-fact expression on his face. “I also had to work on this device here.” “Woah, what kinda gun is that!?” “Me and my friend here, used it to separate Sam and Neo. I hope you like it.” Silver replied. Silver outstretched a hand, for Voss to grab. Voss tried to grab his hand, only to wince at the pain he felt in his back. “Bro.. my back might be broken! You gonna have t’ fight without me!” “No.” The unicorn said. “Let me heal that back of yours.” She pressed her hoof on Voss’ shoulder, and a white aura surrounded him. Suddenly, Voss’ back didn’t feel any pain at all. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at the unicorn. “Thanks...” He thanked, as he rolled, and stood up. He wobbled slightly, which made Silver grab onto him. Voss was held up by his ally, and he gave Silver a thumbs up. Rainbow Dash watched as the three appeared to greet each other. “Uhm... what are you?” Rainbow asked. The three turned, and saw Rainbow. As they did so, everypony approached them. Slaughter and Dark also came up to them. They were all wondering what these new comers were. “Who’re you guys?” Twilight questioned. The unicorn glanced to Twilight, and smiled, warmly. “I am Saverna. This is my assistant, Silver.” Saverna explained. As she did so, she noticed something going on behind Rainbow Dash. The dragon was looking at Molgovon, who had sneaked up on the group. Saverna panicked. “GASP! Watch out son!” She shot a beam of magic at Molgovon, causing him to fly back. The magic was pure light, which burned Molgovon, as well as his cloak. The dragon looked, and turned to Saverna. “Oh.. sorry for that outburst. I must introduce you, to the new comer of this world!” Saverna then outstretched her hoof, and was about to give a speech, when Silver lowered her hoof. “Samneo?” Twilight rose an eyebrow, as the newly formed dragon. He tilted his head, blinked. Rainbow Dash felt something shift in her arms, making her look down. She saw Sam coming to, and waking up. “Woah, Sam! You’re awake!” Rainbow Dash lifted him up a bit. “Oh... wha...? What happened...? Why am I... turned back to a pony...?” He asked. He sat up, and rubbed his forehead. The dragon walked up to him, and tilted down to inspect him. Sam felt eyes on him, and looked up at the dragon. He gasped, and squirmed. “Neocros!?” Neocros tilted his head, and blinked. Saverna tapped Silver’s shoulder, and gestured him to go. Silver nodded, and walked over next to Neocros. “Rejoice! The reawakened Neocros rises again! Bio specs include; enhanced sight, customizable interface, and adaptable dorsal fins. Neocros The Water Dragon also is equip to face dangers ahead, with the Phase System! But you’ll have to grow with him in order to find out how that works. Anyways, Neocros’ origins are unknown, but can feel things they have seen before, and remember them. Neocros is also capable of doing great things--if you give him a chance--of course!” Silver explained. Although it wasn’t the best he could give, he felt as though he did something that was passable. Everypony were whispering to themselves, as Neocros stood there, slowly waving his hand. “Uk...” Neocros uttered nervously. “Uh... Sam? Did you know about Neocros?” Rainbow asked. Sam and Neocros glanced at her, in which, Sam nervously rubbed his left leg. “Oh.. well...” “Yesh.. he did.” Neocros attempted to speak, but for some reason his words were somewhat hindered by the fact that he hadn’t spoken physically at all for the past year. Rainbow Dash rose her eyebrow, at how bizarre Neocros sounded. He sounded like he was speaking gibberish, but somehow is able to say stuff that she understood. “... anck I...” He was unsure what to do, and he felt like he might be alienating her. Rainbow Dash blinked, which made him concerned even more. It seemed like Neocros was able to tell she was not feeling so great, which resulted in his look to go down. He leaned his head down, and he seemed saddened by her nature. “I bet you two will grow.” Saverna said. “Uh... I’m a little confused, could you maybe explain a bit?” “Neocros has been inside Sam this whole time, and without him, Sam wouldn’t have survived Dark and Slaughter’s lashing.” Saverna replied. Sam immediately jumped out of Rainbow’s hooves, and faced Saverna. “Y-you knew about that!?” He protested. “How!?” Saverna smiled slightly. “I know everything about you, and it was me who told you to go to the spacecraft, which belonged to Silver.” Saverna said. “Oh, no wonder your voice is so familiar.” “However, since I foresaw Chrysalis’ arrival, I have to knock you out--but don’t panic. You were protected by my power, so Queen Chrysalis couldn’t kidnap you as well. You see, she was interested in your ability to use Neocros, so she wanted you to be captured along with the others. But since you were under my power, she couldn’t take you with the others. I also placed a curse on her, and her warriors, to where she couldn’t mention your name--for that if she did, she’d be rained with misfortune. She mentioned you when she was in the process of cocooning your friends, remember?” Sam nodded. “Because of that, she was hit with the misfortune of losing her entire hive.” “Ooh, I see.” Starlight chimed in. “So that’s why Queen Chrysalis didn’t mention Sam during my adventure.” “Correct. Although Sam and Rainbow have formed a connection, Neocros was the one who gave Sam the emotions to love Rainbow in the first place.” “Heh, there’ll be time for that. Right now, we gotta finish this battle.” Silver pointed out, as he was pointing at the now waking Sorsirina. Sorsirina then lifted herself up, and hissed at the group. The group turned around, and faced Sorsirina. “UGH! I’ve had it with you two!!” Sorsirina said, with disgust. Neocros and Rainbow turned to her. Neocros looked at Rainbow, and then at Sorsirina. Neocros’ sadness changed to that of defense. “Noh. we’ve had itt whith you!” He said, with glowing blue fire in his eyes. “and righft now I can SPEAK NOW!” Neocros’ voice was now more easy to sound. Sorsirina stood up to her full height, as she tried to tower over Neocros. Sorsirina gestured Neocros to come closer. “Come here boy.” She said. Neocros stepped up to her, with Saverna warning him. Sorsirina was hiding something though, behind her back, the orb that fused into her body, created a small dagger in her left hand. Sorsirina smiled. “There we are. I’d just say right now, you weren’t suppose to wake up. Otherwise, Armageddon would come... Destruction will rain from the skies, and nothing uncleanness will be the norm...” “You’re lying.” Saverna snapped. Sorsirina hissed for possibly the eight-hundredth time, before she pulled out her dagger, and attempted to stab Neocros. Due to not having the baggage of his former partner, Neocros was able to swiftly step to the left, avoiding her blade. He turned, and pushed her, causing her to stumble away. Sorsirina growled, as her dagger suddenly extruded, and transformed into a staff. The staff had the dagger on the top of the pole, while there was a small cube at the end of the other end. The cube was intended to be as blunt as possible. Neocros’ tail swished back and fourth, like a snake. His nostrils blew out steam, as his back dorsal spines were now glowing grey. Molgovon walked up next to Sorsirina, and smirked. Vorita wasn’t far behind, but she stopped in her tracks. Sorsirina noticed, and turned to face her. Vorita was standing a few feet away from her right, and was seemingly stepping closer to the middle. “Vorita? What’re you doing?” She asked. “Don’t tell me your..” “Uhm... why can’t we stop fighting?” Vorita asked. Sorsirina rose an eyebrow, and Molgovon’s face instantly grew agitated. “What do you mean? THEY’RE YOUR ENEMIES!” Molgovon yelled. Vorita shuttered, as she felt that. “You need to play your role, in eating the six ponies behind you!” Vorita turned around, and faced everypony, before she faced her siblings. Molgovon lifted his arm, with his hand balled into a fist. Sorsirina was looking at him at the corner of her eye. “Vorita. You’re not plotting to join them, are you!?” Molgovon protested. Sorsirina laid her hand on Molgovon’s arm. “Lower your voice, Molgovon.” She sneered. Sorsirina glanced at Vorita. “What do you plot to do to them?” “U-uh... uhm...” Vorita wasn’t sure how to say it, without sounding like weak. Neocros stepped up next to her. “She wants you to not continue this feud any longer.” Neocros said. Everypony was silent, and Vorita was scared. “Don’t be scared, Vorita.” He said, resting his hand on her shoulder. He glanced at the duo in front of them. “She just wants you to move on, or at the least--be more open to peace.” “Ngh.. I’d accept peace, IF Sam would come back to me!” Sorsirina snarled. Neocros turned his gaze to the ground, in thought. “I see. You’re still bitter about Sam, and I see that. But you also need to realize, that he isn’t going to change his mind. You could be a thousand feet tall, hypnotize, and enslave, and Sam will still say no. For that he resists, because he wishes to move on.” Neocros explained. Sam was starting to approach the four of them. He looked fascinated at Neocros’ words, and how he felt like Neocros must be more than meets the eye. Then he shifted his gaze to Sorsirina. Her face started to soften slightly. “If you can’t move on from Sam... then perhaps, you two should apologize to each other. I wish for the two of you to be able to heal from this. Unfortunately, I don’t think you will... but I believe you’re capable of more than what you present to all.” As Neocros spoke, Vorita felt almost safe in Neo’s aura. “Because of the toxicity of the two of you, it’s starting to take a toll on Vorita. Not only that, but Sorsirina... you’ve embarrassed yourself to everypony here. They don’t see any light in you, because of your anger, and your lust to make Sam into your king.” Neocros lowered his hand off Vorita, and begun to walk slowly towards Sorsirina. “But I think that there’s light, at the end of the tunnel. You deserve more than this, and personally... I believe that it’ll be better, and wiser, to consider how Vorita feels about this.” Now Sorsirina felt like something was starting to click. Although she doesn’t one-hundred percent trusted Neocros, but as she considers his words, the more she finds cracks in her world view. Because of her now expanding thoughts, the more she felt like she had her tail between her legs. Sorsirina chewed on Neocros’ thoughts more and more, and she couldn’t help but think that her plans sound... almost silly in a way. She thought that making Sam change his mind felt childish, and that she... wait. She found herself conflicted, as her own feelings were fighting the thoughts. Neocros and Vorita looked at each other, before he looked at Molgovon. Molgovon was silent, and his head was facing the ground, hiding his face. He turned to Sorsirina. “Are we going to destroy Neocros, or what?” He asked, with a vary stern tune. Sorsirina felt almost paralyzed about the thought of changing Sam’s mind. However, she started to focus on her other plan, which failed. The plan of keeping Neocros asleep. She started to find commend ground with her thoughts and feelings, and she turned her gaze towards Neocros. “I must object on this. Sorsirina, I’ve seen you being told that Neocros was going to cause arbageddon. He will not, and you’ve been lied to.” Saverna said. She came up next to Vorita. “What!? No! You don’t know anything! All you know is them!” “Is that so? How would I know that Vorita secretly wanted to eat you.” Saverna retorted. Vorita gasped, and looked up at the unicorn with annoyance. “Hey!” Sorsirina felt like she couldn’t win this, yet at the same time, she felt like she was in the right. With the exception of Sam and her desire to make him an incubus, she felt like she knew that Neocros was a bad omen, however, considering what Saverna just demonstrated... She knew her world view was crumbling down, and so she thought... If all else fails, run, and she did. Sorsirina quickly floated into the sky, with her wings flapping. She sped off, and away from Ponyville, mentally sobbing inside, unsure how to think. Everypony watched her fly away. Suddenly, the chains that bound the remaining captured ponies, suddenly their chains dissipated. Everypony begun standing up, and they came to Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and everypony involved in the fight. The stormy clouds lifted, and the moon shined down. “Hey! You--” Sam was about to gallop after her, when he’s stopped by Neocros. “Let her go, she’ll change. She just needs some time alone.” He said. Vorita nodded. “Yes. I’ll go, and I’ll try and help her understand.” Vorita announced. Saverna walked over to her, and nodded. “Then I will follow with you.” Saverna said. “Though I can be a bit slow, so I’ll catch up.” With that, Vorita ran off, to follow Sorsirina. As they watched Vorita run off, Rainbow Dash saw Molgovon at the corner of her eye, sneaking away vary quietly. “Hey!” Rainbow called out. “Molgovon!” Molgovon turned, before he bolted. He ran towards some nearby buildings, in hopes of escaping the scene. He didn’t want to fail at his own plans, and seeing that Sorsirina is gone, he’s out of options. Suddenly, just before he could go in between to buildings, Voss appeared within the shadows of both buildings. His red eyes glaring at Molgovon. Molgovon turned, and tried to run, only to find he was surrounded by Everypony. He cursed to himself. “No... You’ll both feel pain, when I escape!” Molgovon’s machete glowed, and his eyes began glowing red again, after being pitch black for a while. Sam and Neocros walked up to him. “That so? Well, I got news for ya, we’re about to make you cry while you run.” Sam smirked. Neocros crossed his arms. “You will also be ridiculed by everypony here, and beyond!” Molgovon growled, as he clutched his machete. He was so focused on the duo in front of him, he hadn’t noticed Silver sneaking up behind him. Silver had a pair of hand cuffs in his hands, and he was not afraid to use them. Silver grabbed Molgovon’s wrist, and tried to cuff him. Molgovon was taken by surprise, but he wasted no time in resisting. Molgovon grabbed Silver, and threw him at the duo. Sam and Neocros caught Silver, and the two faced him. “Alright, let’s get em’!” Sam called. With that, everypony tried to get a chance to teach Molgovon who’s boss. Voss quickly shot Molgovon’s back with a red beam, provoking him to turn around. Silver managed to sneak in a shot on Molgovon’s back. He roared as Silver’s gun fired at his back. Sam charged at Molgovon, like a battering ram. Molgovon was hit by Sam, causing him to stumble a bit. Molgovon wasn’t going to get thrown off so easily, so he held Sam’s back with on hand, while preparing to strike with his blade. Suddenly, web struck his machete-wielding hand, and his hand was being dragged by Slaughter. Molgovon growled, as he was being tag teamed. Molgovon began receiving more of Voss’ beam. Rainbow Dash swooped in, and kicked his back, resulting him to fall face first into the ground. Twilight Sparkle took this chance to shoot a ray of magic at Molgovon, trying to add more damage to Molgovon’s health bar in a way. She then grabbed him with her magic, and lifting him off the cold earth. “Applejack! Quick!” She called. Applejack tipped her stetson, and galloped towards her target. “You said it.” Applejack then swiftly turned around. She leaned towards her front half, and she kicked Molgovon square in the face! The timing was perfect, in that, as Molgovon was held by Twilight, Dark came rushing in, and he punched Molgovon’s back, with his fiery arm. Slaughter then proceeded to gesture his hands to Twilight, signalling her to throw Molgovon at him. “Twi! Twi! Hit me! Hit me!” Slaughter said. “Throw him t’ me! Throw em’ t’ me!” Twilight noticed Slaughter, and nodded. She then threw Molgovon towards Slaughter, to which, Slaughter shot him with web. Slaughter stepped aside, and allowed his web to tug at Molgovon’s flying body. Slaughter started to spin himself around and around. As he did so, Molgovon’s body, who was attached to the web, was spinning around and around with him. Slaughter then released Molgovon, making him go flying towards the ground next to the group. Molgovon was knocked unconscious by Applejack’s kick, so when he woke up, he was only awake for a few seconds, before he slammed onto the floor. He felt the air knocked out of him. Now he was angry. Sam and Neocros ran up, and the two did a double slam on Molgovon. Sam had his hoof, and Neocros’ fist together, and they slammed the two into Molgovon. Molgovon rolled across the ground, and coughed. Neocros immediately stopped Sam in his tracks. Sam was going to go for more, when Neocros stopped him. While that went on, Voss looked at Applejack. “Hey, girl, that kick you did earlier seemed to do well. Do ya think you could do it again?” Voss asked. But then Silver walked up to Sam and Neocros, which made Voss sigh. “Well there goes that plan.” “What was the plan?” “That maybe I could throw you towards the guy, and you deliver a rather nasty kick to him IN MIDAIR.” He replied. Silver walked up to Molgovon, and rolled him onto his belly. He placed his hand cuffs on Molgovon’s wrists, connecting his wrists together. Molgovon was still semi-unconscious, due to multiple things, so he didn’t pay too much mind to the cuffs. Silver then pulled out something from his waist belt, and stuck it into the back of Molgovon’s neck. Molgovon felt the pain, and he winced. Silver had taken out a syringe, and was now sucking some of Molgovon’s powers out. Silver kept going, until the syringe was full. Molgovon was now completely powerless. Silver grabbed the mad man’s arms, and pulled him up. Silver turned to everypony. “Justice is served.” He said. Everypony cheered, and were applauding at Molgovon’s defeat. Molgovon fully came to, and growled. “I’ll come back!” Molgovon protested. “And Neocros will be destroyed!” “Yeah yeah, tell it to the judge.” Silver said, and he begun pulling Molgovon away. Twilight came up to Saverna, and asked her a question. “Where’s he taking him?” “Don’t worry, Molgovon will be put on Silver’s spaceship, and he’ll fly away with the prisoner. That way, we won’t have to worry about that guy ever again.” Saverna replied. Sam and Neocros looked at each other, seeing that they have won. Rainbow Dash proceeded to fly over to them, and they look up at her. “So.. uh... I thought I’d answer some questions...” “You have a crush on me?” Rainbow questioned. Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “W-well... yes and no... well yes, I did start to form feelings for you... but it started from Neocros... Neocros was the one who told me to be drawn to you...” He explained. Neocros and Rainbow Dash look at each other. “So... you had feelings for me?” Rainbow asked. Neocros looked towards the ground, feeling anxious. “U-uhm... y.... ye....” Sam decided to interrupt. “How about we deal about this later? We have to clean up, don’t we?” Sam said. Rainbow and Neocros look at eachother for one more time, before they both nod their heads. It seemed like they won... for now. > Epilogue: New Start > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPILOGUE It had been a few months after the battle in Ponyville, everypony went back to their normal lives. Sorsirina, Vorita, and Molgovon were missing, and it felt as though they were gone for good. Saverna would occasionally stop by Twilight’s castle, to talk to Sam and the gang. Voss, Slaughter, Dark, and Silver recently have received news from Saverna that they were needed for another task elsewhere. Sam had gotten to know Voss and the squad, and now they were friends. Just when they were at the peak of friendship, Saverna had to ask the gang to come with her, back to wherever they came from. “Uh... where are you going exactly?” Sam asked Saverna. Saverna smiled, and lowered her head to his height. “Me and them, are going back to Earth.” Saverna replied, in a whisper. Sam blinked, as he remembered home. He also remembered to never tell Twilight Sparkle, which he felt bad about. “Do you want to come with us?” Sam wasn’t sure at first, he had just battled Sorsirina a few months ago, and now it’s year’s end. Sam trailed off, in thought. He wondered what the benefits were, for going back. He felt like he was done with that world, and that he had served his purpose. “Perhaps, see your family for one last time? Not only that, but to see your creature friends as well?” Saverna asked, trying to urge Sam into going with her. Sam sighed. “I thought I was done there...” “Technically you are, but you’ve also hadn’t seen them in over a year or so. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but I think that.. if you gave it a chance...” Saverna knew that Sam wasn’t the travel type, but she also knew that Sam probably deeply cares for that world, maybe not the people, but nature, and all of his former creature friends. Sam sighed, and turned to her. “As much as I.. want to stay here... I guess I’ll find myself there, one way or another.” Sam replied. As they were talking, Neocros and Rainbow Dash came up behind him. They were wondering what the two were talking about. “Hey Sam, what’s up?” Rainbow asked. Sam jumped, and turned around. He nervously looked around. “Oh uh... me and Saverna are.. talking about me going back to my place?” He replied. Rainbow Dash cocked her head. Saverna chuckled at the two. “You see Rainbow Dash, me, Voss, and his friends are going to go on a trip. I’m asking Sam to come with us, but he doesn’t seem to be sure.” Saverna explained. Rainbow Dash and Neocros seemed to be interested in what she said. Saverna looked at Sam. “If you feel like it’ll be long, don’t worry. Using my magic, it’ll be a short trip. Not that I’m pestering you too.” “Well, Sam? If you don’t feel comfy about it, maybe you could stay with us for a bit?” “Uhm... I can’t really choose. On one hand, I want to see my old friends, but I also don’t feel the strength to go. I’ve been so burned out by that battle a while ago, that honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t turned into a potato!” Sam stuttered. Neocros walked up to him, and crouched down to his level. He opened his mouth, about to speak, when he stopped himself for a moment. Saverna decided to make things easier for Sam. “You won’t have to do much, you can just say hello to your old friends, and then we’ll be back to Equestria in no time.” Saverna proposed. Sam sighed, giving up. “Ugh... fine. I guess I don’t have much to lose, eh?” Saverna smiled. As the two agreed, Voss walked up to the four. He was silently listening, and observing what was the hold up. He found that Sam didn’t actually wanted to go, though he felt obligated to leave back. Although Voss knew the benefits for Dark and Slaughter returning to Earth, he didn’t know much of why Sam didn’t feel the need to return. But then again, on the other hand, He and his gang members didn’t really had much to gain from Saverna’s trip either, but they only decided to go, to perhaps give Earth on last goodbye. “Okay, do I need to pack anything?” “No, not really. Do you own anything, ever since you’ve came here to Equestria?” Saverna asked. Sam gave a somewhat nervous response. “Eehhh... not exactly. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to go with nothing...” Sam turned to his friends, and said his goodbyes, before he followed Saverna to the front doors. The trio were waiting for them, and were almost out the door, when Saverna and Sam arrived. “Voss, and you two, Sam will be coming with us.” Saverna said. The trio nodded, and the five of them begin exiting out the front doors. But before Sam did so, he turned, and saw his friends. Twilight Sparkle, and everypony watched him as he was about to leave. “Hey, Neo?” Sam asked. Neocros heard Sam’s voice in his mind, and replied with a yes. “Take care of Rainbow, for me. If she wasn’t a thing, I wouldn’t have lived to see the day...” Neocros didn’t know how to respond to what Sam said, but regardless, he nodded, promising him to continue supporting Rainbow Dash... ~~ Now, The Journey of Neocros will soon begin... ~~