Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there was a magical place known as Dream Valley. It was full of life and mystical creatures that resided there. The most notable residents are the magical, colorful little ponies; Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, Kirin, Flutters, Breezies, Sea, and Merponies. Most have lived in Dream Castle Town, ruled by their unicorn pony, Queen Majesty, who lives in Dream Castle.

The Queen has ruled Dream Valley who is a kind and just pony. She makes sure the residents are safe from evil outside forces and is the most powerful pony due to her extensive knowledge of magic and possessing her weapon, the Rainbow of Light.

Not only ponies are residents of Dream Valley, but they also coexist alongside other magical creatures and non-magical beings; Elves, Dragons, Grundles, Troggles, Furbobs, Pannas, Hippogriffs, Griffons, Fairy Tails, Merpeople, Yaks, Stonebacks, Bees, Glo Friends, Moon Dreamers, Anthro’s, Lava Demons, Ice Orgs, Centaurs, Wizards, Witches, Faeries, Sprites, Humans and other animals. Some of them have their lands and territories and have coexisted with one another for many years of peace and prosperity. But alas, that is all about to change.

One day, an evil wizard centaur named Tirac and his army invaded Dream Valley. He used his Rainbow of Darkness on the residents by turning them into black stone while the Queen’s soldiers were transformed into monsters. His general, Scorpan was able to steal the Queen’s locket and Tirac used that opportunity to turn her into stone. He then took the silver-white crystal ball out of the locket, shattered it into seven crystal shards, and corrupted them using his Darkness. The crystal contains the Rainbow of Light and is the most powerful weapon to use against the forces of evil, but now it is shattered and corrupted, all hope is lost.

The residents have no choice but to flee and hide underground for safety. Some tried to fight but lost and either turned to stone or a monster slave.

Tirac continued to use his Darkness to turn Dream Valley into a world of desolation and nightmares. He gave each corrupted shard to his Overlords so they could use them to conquer other lands and residents, spreading more Darkness everywhere.

Despite conquering Dream Valley and the residents, he was not satisfied with this world, he wanted more. He wanted to conquer other worlds due to the ancient book he found that was created by a unicorn wizard pony, Starswirl the Bearded. Tirac found one world that caught his eye which is Earth. It has everything he wanted; resources, land, ocean, people, etc.

But he ran into a problem; the portal he made was too small for his large army to invade and only a very small portion could go through. The only way to open it fully is with the two human children from Earth and that’s when he came up with an evil plan.

The Midnight Castle, ruled by Tirac looms high over the devastated lands of Dream Valley. The castle is huge with many high towers, surrounded by dark clouds, and heavily guarded with lots of reptile guards. It rests on an island on a steep rocky cliff that is surrounded by raging seas and jagged rocks, making it impossible to escape and swim. The castle is covered by a dark shield that was powered by the Overlord's corrupted crystal shards of Rainbow of Light to prevent any rebellion survivors.

One evening, a yellow female Pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and tail with seven green birds’ symbol on her flank, known as Skydancer, was flying carefully at Midnight Castle for patrol to avoid being seen by his enemies. She had to land very carefully and slowly due to the dark shield and didn’t want to risk triggering the alert of her presence. Skydancer witnessed one day when Whizzer, a female pink Pegasus pony with darker multi-colored hair (violet, blue, green, and pale green) and a tail with five pink and purple propeller beanies symbol on her flank, flew into the castle shield too quickly which caused the alarm and alerted the guards. She was turned into stone by the canon beam immediately. Skydancer learned that the shield is very sensitive to movement hence how she learned how to fly in gently to avoid the same fate as her friend.  She flew near the open window while next to the stone gargoyle statue to hear Tirac’s plans.

She’s looking at the large throne room where she can see Tirac, Scorpan, two big Stratadons, and some guards. Tirac was sitting on his throne made from stone, and Scorpan was holding the two Stratadons with chains around their necks and a giant stone portal gate that was across the room.

“Scorpan,” Tirac said with a booming voice that echoed across the room, striking fear in anyone’s heart. “You must go to Earth and capture two human children. Bring them back alive or else your head will roll!”

“Yes, master,” said Scorpan, a furry gargoyle said. “Rest assured, I will not fail this mission. I’ll make sure the Stratadons will handle the children carefully without any harm.”

“You better keep your word,” Tirac warned. “Open the portal!”

The dark portal made a loud whirring sound then it opened where it showed the dark swirls, showing the Earth’s location. Scorpan removed the chains and then hopped onto one Stratadon while leading the other one. All three of them entered the portal before it closed behind them.

“Soon, once I have the children and my Chariot of Midnight, three days from now, I’ll be able to conquer their world Earth and there’ll be no one will to stop me! HAHAHA!!!” Tirac exclaimed as he did an evil laugh that was loud enough for everyone to hear across the land.

Skydancer gasped quietly and leaned back to hide behind the stone gargoyle to recollect her thoughts as she needed to fly back to report others of what she’s seen.

“Oh, this is bad,” she quietly said to herself. “He already sent out his general and his two Stratadons to Earth. I gotta fly back to warn others of what I saw. I must be careful though.”

She left her hiding spot and flew carefully to avoid being seen. She flew low to the Everfree Forest that leads to the secret cave hideout. She saw the cave and looked around to make sure she wasn’t being followed before walking over there. She tapped the stone door using the hooves code and entered. Inside the cave, it is filled with refugees. Not just ponies but other creatures are here such as Bushwoolies, Grundles, Furbobs, Troggles, Stonebacks, and some forest animals.

Further to the left side of the cave, there is a group of ponies and an elder male gnome standing over the rock slab table. The gnome is Mr. Moochick, a sage who lives in a Mushromp not far from Dream Castle Town. He stood about 4 feet tall, had a bushy white beard and mustache, and wore green clothes with a giant green mushroom hat on his head. He used the hat to cover his whole body to hide from enemies as it disguised him as a giant mushroom.

On the left side of the gnome sage are two ponies; they are Nachtlicht and Magic Star. Nachtlicht is a male blue Earth pony with a light blue, pink, and green main and tail with a white crescent moon with two yellow stars symbol on his flank. He is laying a chart of stars and holding a pointer in his mouth. Next to him is Magic Star; a female yellow Earth pony with a green mane and tail and has a pink and green magic wand tied with a pink ribbon symbol on her flank. She’s one of the few Earth ponies that can do magic and she uses her magic wand that was created for her to cast them.

Across the table are four more ponies discussing other issues. Sunburst is a male yellow Earth pony with a white streak on his face, has a red mane and tail as well as a small beard underneath his chin. His symbol is an orange sun that is poking out behind a cloud. He spread out books of spells and scrolls as he’s a wizard who’s an expert in ancient magic and knowledge. On the left side of him is Wind Whistler and Tarot.

Wind Whistler is a female light blue Pegasus pony with a light pink mane and tail, her symbol is five pink whistles on her flank. She is the most intellectual pony who tends to speak with a large vocabulary, making it hard for others to understand what she’s trying to say. Tarot is a female orange Unicorn pony with a dark orange mane and tail and has three tambourine symbols on her flank. She’s looking at the crystal ball intensely as she’s a well-known astrologer and can read tarot cards.

On the right side of Sunburst is Twilight. She is a female pink Unicorn pony with silvery white with a purple streak in her mane and tail and has a nine purple stars symbol on her flank. She and Tarot served alongside their queen. Twilight is one of the few powerful pony mages and can teleport quickly.

While Moochick and the others were busy, Skydancer cleared her throat to get others' attention. They stopped and turned to her to see what her report was.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you guys but I had to report to you what I saw and it’s not good,” she said. “Tirac had just sent Scorpan and the two Stratadons to the portal that leads to Earth.”

The ponies gasped in horror and Mr. Moochick looked very worried while stroking his bushy beard apprehensively.

“Oh dear,” he said. “That is not good, not good at all. If Scorpan succeeds in capturing two human children, we have less than three days to stop him before the final day of midnight.”

“We gotta do something!” Magic Star shouted. “Some of us should come up with a plan or else we’re all doomed!”

“But we still need to get the crystal shards of the Rainbow of Light to restore our ruler to defeat Tirac,” said Twilight.

“To do that, we need Majesty’s locket to purify the crystal shards,” said Sunburst as he pushed his glasses up to his nose. “But Locket was the last pony who took the locket deeper into the castle to hide it safely from the enemies, but she hasn’t returned. I have a bad feeling that something happened to her as it’s been weeks without contact.”

“But we can’t get to the castle because of Crunch the Rockdog,” said Magic Star. “Scorpan stole the Heart Stone and hid away in Eminence Mountains, making the stone dog into a heartless being. He would turn anyone into stone who dares to approach Dream Castle. We already sent Rockhooves and Flash Magnus to retrieve the locket, but they were both turned into stone by Crunch. We need to get the Heart Stone first before we do anything else.”

“We are required to achieve those quests,” said Wind Whistler. “Logic does not dictate that we assemble our missions excessively willing less we would face terrible consequences of our operations.”

“Um, what?” Skydancer asked, looking confused.

“She means that we shouldn’t rush into things like what happened to our friends,” Nachtlicht explained to Skydancer.

“Oh, I get it now!” she said.

“That’s what I just said,” Wind Whistler muttered with a sigh.

Mr. Moochick and the other ponies continued to talk to one another until a voice loudly interrupted them, causing them to stop and look to see whose voice shouted. It was Tarot as her crystal ball was glowing bright orange glow.

“The crystal ball speaks!” Tarot exclaimed. “It’s telling me of the prophecy that Dream Valley will be saved and defeat Tirac!”

“What does it say exactly?” Twilight asked. “And who is the savior?”

“It says that the teenage human boy who is named Michael Afton, who is an elder brother of the two children that Scorpan will capture,” said Tarot. “He has the skills, the smarts, and a good heart that he will help us reunite the shattered crystal shards of the Rainbow of Light. He will help us to save our queen and together, they will defeat Tirac and Dream Valley will once again become a place of peace and prosperity.”

After she finished talking, the crystal glowed until it showed everyone an image of their hero. He was about 5’6 in height (as tall as the Grundle), had messy brown mullet hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a grey tank top, blue jeans, black and white Converse sneakers, and black fingerless gloves.

“That’s him? He doesn’t look like one, he’s more like a troublemaker,” said Sunburst with a frown.

“Yes,” Tarot said. “He may not seem like it, but the crystal ball does not lie. It’s as the prophecy foretold us.”

“But if what your crystal ball says it’s true, how can we go and bring him here?” Nachtlicht asked. “We can’t go to Tirac’s castle and use his portal as it’s protected by his dark shield spell thanks to Overlord’s corrupted crystal shards of Rainbow of Light, and Skydancer can’t go in further as coming in contact with the shields too quickly will alert him and his enemies, risking her safety and everyone else.”

“Sadly, you're right,” said Twilight. “Normally, we could have used Queen Majesty’s mirror but not only is it shattered into thousands of pieces, but the Rainbow of Light is the key to open the portal inside of the mirror. We have no way to open a portal to Earth to retrieve our savior.”

“There has to be another way to go to Earth,” said Magic Star.

“I suppose I could try to find another portal that not many others know about,” said Sunburst. “I do remember that when I was a young foal, there was a book about the ancient portals and how to operate them. I just need to find which book as we have so many, and I need you guys to help me find it.”

“I’ll gladly help!” Twilight excitedly said. “I’m very good at organizing, cataloging, you name it! With my help, I’m sure we’ll find the book in no time!”

Sunburst, Twilight, Nachtlicht, and Wind Whistler left the table to head over to another section of the cave room where it’s filled with books that they managed to save from the invasion. Magic Star, Tarot, and Mr. Moochick remained at the table to keep up the reports. Mr. Moochick turned to Skydancer and thanked her for the report then advised her to take a break. He then alerted another pony, Starshine, a female white Pegasus pony with rainbow hair and a tail with a gold star surrounded by gold spots symbol on her flank, to take over the patrol spy shift. Starshine nodded and immediately flew out of the cave to start her mission.

Hours later…

The four ponies were still searching through the books and opening them to read through to see if it was the one before throwing it aside.

“No, no, no,” said Twilight as she was using her horn for magic to bring the books closer to her and opened them to look but didn’t find what she was looking for and tossed them aside. “No, NO, NO, NO!!! UGH!!!! Where is it?!”

“OUCH!!!” a voice cried out which caused Twilight's attention. She saw a female pink Pegasus pony with a blue mane and tail with two blue lightning bolts symbol on her flank, rubbing her head and looking annoyed. Twilight saw the book lying next to her and realized that she accidentally threw the book at her without paying attention.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Firefly!” she said as teleported to her winged friend. “How’s your head?”

“It doesn’t hurt too bad although you could have aimed better,” Firefly grinned. “So, what are you guys doing?”

“Sunburst is looking for a book about the portals because Tarot’s crystal ball has told us the prophecy that the human boy from Earth will save us and the queen and defeat Tirac.” said Twilight.

“Wait, what? Why didn’t anypony tell me about Tarot’s crystal ball?” Firefly cried out. “Tell me everything while I’ll help you find the portal book.”

Twilight explained the prophecy to Firefly while they were still searching for the book. They kept looking until Firefly found it, which was hidden behind other books that were piled up. Twilight was happy and took the book from her to read through to make sure it was the right one. It was a light blue book that was encrusted with white small diamonds on the corners of the book, with liver ornate text that said Enchanted Portals. She told others and they all went back to the table to read through for the others.

“According to this book, there are indeed more portals in Dream Valley as well as other locations, but the closest one is above the Cascade Waterfall where it’s hidden among the clouds,” said Twilight as she had the map of Dream Valley and pointed to the location to mark it.

“So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!!” Firefly excitedly said as she pumped her hoof into the air while flying a few inches off the ground. She always loved going on adventures and was very eager to get started.

“Not so fast,” said Starburst as he held out a hoof in front of Firefly’s face, causing her smile to falter. “It’s not going to be easy for you to get there.”

“What do you mean? I am the fastest and the most daredevil pony there is,” she bragged.

“I mean, it’s protected by the most dangerous thunderclouds that surround it,” said Sunburst. “It also has a very intense lighting.”

“Thunderclouds? Lighting? Please,” said Firefly. “I can handle those with no problem.”

“But that’s the thing, they’re not ordinary ones like you used to, Firefly,” said Sunburst. “It’s made of dark magic by the Rainbow of Darkness and if you get hit by their lighting, you’ll be turned to stone.”

“What?! Then how in the hay am I supposed to get past them without getting hit?” asked Firefly.

“I can tell you that, Firefly,” said Twilight. “According to this entry, you’ll need a Thunder Crystal to protect yourself so if a lighting hit you, you will not turn to stone but it will knock you back for a mile or two. It’s also a key to activate the portal.”

“So where can I find it?” Firefly asked.

“I have it,” said Mr. Moochick as he started to look around his pockets then took off his hat to look. “Now where did I put it? I know I stashed it in here somewhere.”

The ponies sighed as their gnome friend continued to look. He’s a well-known sage who knows magic, and spells, and owns ancient artifacts but has the biggest flaw, disorganization. They weren’t sure if it was his old age that was causing him to have memory issues, or if he was just bad at organizing stuff.

While the old gnome was still looking, his helper, a fuzzy light brown bunny rabbit that was wearing red trousers with orange suspenders named Habbit, was thumping his foot. He found the Thunder Crystal in the lower pocket and was trying to get Mr. Moochick’s attention. He finally noticed his furry friend who was holding the gold necklace with a blue thunder-shaped crystal embedded in it.

“Oh, there it is! Thank you, Habbit,” said Mr. Moochick as he took the necklace from his helper. Habbit nodded as he didn’t speak and hopped away.

“Firefly,” said Mr. Moochick. “Put this on as it’ll protect you and open the portal that will lead to Earth. You must find this boy named Michael Afton and bring him back here safely before Tirac learns of the prophecy. I feared that very soon, his royal court Witch named Zelda would too be alerted of the savior and warn Tirac.”

He gave the necklace to Firefly as she accepted it and put it on her neck, fastening the clasp. Mr. Moochick held up the crystal ball to show her the full prophecy and what the Earth teen would look like when she meets him in person.

“So that’s what he looks like,” she said. “He looks pretty cool and can take on anything! We’ll get along just fine.”

“We are counting on you, Firefly,” said Twilight. “Please be careful and come back safe and sound with our human hero. It’s going to be dangerous for both of you.”

“Pffftt…, danger is my life, Twilight!” Firefly bragged, feeling very confident in herself.

“I’m serious,” said Twilight. “We’re going to need that Earth boy’s help so it’s really important to bring him back safely.”

“Twilight, trust me. I’ll be careful and bring him here faster than you can say Lickety Split!” said Firefly.

“Now that’s all settled, you must leave at once as I feared Scorpan is already at Earth, and too much time has passed,” said Mr. Moochick.

“You guys can count on me!” said Firefly. “Now open up the entry so I can leave as fast as I can.”

“On it,” said Twilight as she used her magic to open the entry. “Good luck, my friend.”

“Thanks, Twi,” said Firefly as she and Twilight hugged each other.

As Firefly prepared herself, Twilight opened the boulder and gave her a nod. Firefly immediately flew out quickly then Twilight closed it behind her. She looked at the closed boulder and sighed.

“I hope you know what you are doing, my friend,” she said quietly, looking worried. “The Earth boy may be our only hope to save our world.”

Firefly flew quickly through Everfree forest until she could see the Cascade Waterfall that was next to Dream Castle Town. She followed the waterfall by flying upwards and could see the dark thunder clouds as her necklace glowed. That’s when she knew she was at the right place and the portal is somewhere in the clouds. As she approached closer, the heavy wind pushed her back and she struggled to fly against it. It felt like she was riding against a high-wind hurricane. The lighting bolt hit her but thanks to the Thunder Crystal, she was not turned to stone. But unfortunately for her, it knocked her a mile or two away from the destination. That would mean she would have to fly against the high winds again and her wings were already aching. After two more tries, she was getting really frustrated.

“UGGHHH!! Stupid clouds! Let me through already!” she shouted at the thunderclouds. The only reaction was the lightning bolt striking attempt which she managed to dodge.

“Okay, note to self, don’t insult the clouds,” said Firefly.

Normally, she would have rest somewhere due to being tired, but she knew that time was not on her side. She had to try it again.

“Okay, Firefly,” she said to herself. “You are the best flying and daredevil pony there is. If you can destroy the clouds in less than ten seconds flat, then you can outrun this darkness of thunderstorms. Everyone here is counting on you to bring back that Earth boy so we can save our home and get rid of Tirac once and for all. I can do this!”

Feeling confident, she flew there again and this time, she managed to weave and dodge lightning bolts. Her necklace glowed even brighter, and she could see the blue portal opening.

“Yes! This is my chance! I can’t screw this up!” shouted Firefly as she quickly flew there as fast as she can.

After she entered through, she was still inside the thunderclouds, but it wasn’t as intense as the ones in Dream Valley. She can see that it’s a normal clouds so she can fly there with no issues.

She finally exited out of the clouds, and she felt a chill as she soon learned it was a winter evening. She looked down and could see a town with lights, so she flew down towards the destination. As she approached closer, she saw a big sign that said Hurricane, Utah.

“That must be Earth! I made it!” said Firefly. “Now I gotta find a boy named Michael Afton and then we’re both out of here! Dream Valley is saved!”

Notes

Hope you guys enjoyed my FNAF/MLP crossover fic! :3

So yes, Tarot is the new name for Gypsy and I'm calling her from now on. I read her backstory and since she does tarot cards along with divination, the name is perfect fitting for her. http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Gypsy

The thunder necklace is based from Loyalty Element from Friendship is Magic but I changed the color from red to blue instead. While the original is part of Elements of Harmony, this one is a key to a portal and protects anyone from getting struck by lightning.

Nachtlicht is based from a rainbow pony that is sold only in Germany. http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Nachtlicht I made him as a male instead of female since I feel like there's not enough male ponies(I mean how else can they reproduce? I know some of them would use magic mirror and they'll have the younger copy of themselves which they are baby ponies) so there's that.

Another male pony, Sunburst, is a G1 Mountain Ponies that is only available at UK(try finding them on Ebay and their prices are insane!) and there's a FIM Sunburst that was based from the G1 version. I used this one and mixed with the FIM version along with white streak, beard and glasses. Since he's more obsessed of reading, studying magic, and collecting artifacts, I figured this version will have to do instead of making him a unicorn. http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Sunburst

I won't lie, finding an advanced vocabulary for Wind Whistler is such a pain in the ass! I had to use the Thesaurus book and online to find any words to change to make her unreadable as I can but it was harder than I realized. So if I have to use her again, this is going to be very difficult so wish me luck because I'll need it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

It was getting dark, and the winds were chilly in the early evening in the small town called Hurricane. It’s January 1984 and the city is already covered in blankets of snow where kids are seen playing around the snow-covered yards with excitement. They were enjoying sledding down the hills, building lots of snowmen or snow forts, and some snowball fights. While the kids were enjoying their winter fun, three people walked by and observed them as they were on their way home from school.

The Afton kids were walking on a sidewalk while all bundled up in their winter gear. The oldest is none other than Michael Afton, a tall sixteen-year-old boy with a messy mullet dark brown hair, and blue eyes, who has a reputation for being a troublemaker. He would get into fights with others who dared to mess with him and would also partake in petty crimes like spraying graffiti on walls or shoplifting stuff such as cigarettes.

His younger sister, Elizabeth, an eight-year-old blonde, blue-green-eyed girl, loves dolls and ice cream but is very bossy, spoiled and is Daddy’s little girl who gets away with everything. Whenever Michael fails to give in to her demands, she would tattle on him and make up some lies about him which caused their father, William, to punish him. It didn’t matter if he tried to tell him of what his sister had done, she could do no wrong in her father’s eyes and get away with murder. He had no choice but to comply with her demands, which he resented her for.

His youngest brother, Evan, a six-year-old boy with light brown hair and brown eyes, is very shy, sensitive, and easily scared of everything. Michael would get his group of friends to play mean pranks on Evan by jump-scaring while wearing the animal masks, causing his little brother to cry every time. That would always cause Michael to laugh and call him a crybaby. He believed that Evan just needed to be toughened up as Michael knew the world was cruel and would not take too kindly to weaklings. Surprisingly, Evan never tattled on Michael as his sister would. Michael dared not to play pranks on her as he knew that she would not hesitate to let their dad know.

Their father, William, is a well-known co-CEO along with his best friend, Henry Emily, of the restaurant business they both run. Micheal was the spitting image of his father and would constantly be compared to him, which he hates. He used to have a great relationship with his father but after their mother, Clara, passed away two years ago due to her illness, the family fell apart, and they never fully recovered.

William would keep himself busy with work now that he’s widowed and would have to work longer hours, which means the responsibilities lie with Michael. His father believes that this would keep his eldest out of trouble and be more responsible to his siblings. He and his partner, Henry, have made their names in Hurricane due to their restaurant franchise business known as Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. They were successful due to the first restaurant they opened in 1977 known as Fredbear’s Diner, which features two animatronics that would talk and sing on stage. The diner became a huge hit in the town so they both decided to open another restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. It serves mostly pizza and has four animatronics which too became a popular place to eat and hang out. However, due to the success of the restaurants, would mean that his father would have to work more days as well as be away on out-of-state business trips with Henry to expand their franchises to other towns and cities. William entrusted the babysitting to Michael as Evan and Elizabeth were still too young to look after themselves. He had to make meals for them (thankfully, he knows how to cook), do their laundry, pick them up and drop them at school, help them with their homework, and bathe them. Michael clearly didn’t enjoy bathing his sister and wasn’t comfortable so he made her wear a bathing suit, which she didn’t mind because it would mean she got to wear her favorite pink glittery bathing suit. Other than that, he hated that he was forced to babysit his siblings as it severely cut his social life but can’t go against his father’s wishes less, he’ll get his ass beaten which he rather avoids.

The Afton kids finally arrived home as they lived in a single-family house in a wooded secluded area, away from their nearest neighbors. Elizabeth and Evan took off their winter gear and put them on a coat rack, then ran to their rooms to drop off their backpacks to their bedrooms. Michael took them off and put them on the coat rack then walked to the kitchen. He noticed that their dad wasn’t home as his car wasn’t in the driveway when they came in. He saw the note on the counter and read it, it was from his father who had written to Michael that he and Henry had already left to go to Salt Lake City for a business trip. He left some money on the counter as well as a list of phone numbers and pager numbers to reach either William or Henry if there were any trouble or questions.

Micheal read it and sighed in annoyance. Since his dad won’t be home, that means he’s stuck babysitting his bratty siblings instead of hanging out with his friends.

“Well, that’s just great,” Micheal grumbled. “Looks like I’m stuck hanging out with a crybaby and princess tattletale. There goes my weekend plans and my social life.”

“Mikey!” his sister shouted at him across the room.

“What is it?” Micheal asked, looking annoyed.

“Where’s Daddy?” she asked.

“He and Uncle Henry left and are at Salt Lake City for their business trip,” he said. “They won’t be back till Monday morning.”

“Again!?” Elizabeth whined. “Why can’t Daddy stay and let Uncle Henry go? I want him to play with me!”

“Why are you asking me? Complain that to him, not me,” Michael shot back.

“Mikey?” said Elizabeth.

“Now what?” he asked.

“We’re hungry! Make us dinner! We’re starving!” she demanded.

“I’ll get to it, quit your whining,” Michael snapped.

“We’re also bored!” she said as Evan arrived and stood next to his sister.

“Then go play outside in the backyard,” said Michael. “Go make snow forts, snowmen, whatever, I don’t care. Play as much as you want if I can cook in peace without you little squirts bugging me. Just stay in the yard and don’t wander off to the woods.”

“YAY!! Let's go get our jackets and go outside to play, Evan! We can make Frosty the Snowman!” said Elizabeth happily as she quickly ran over to the coat rack to grab herself a jacket and a hat.

“Okay,” said Evan quietly as he walked over to grab his stuff then followed his sister while putting his jacket on.

The two kids went to the back door that led them to their backyard. They had a nice open space with a patio of a few outdoor furniture, a swing set with a slide, and a grill. Not far from their yard are dense woods which Elizabeth wanted to explore but Evan didn’t want to due to the woods being dark and scary. Their yard is covered with thick snow which excites Elizabeth. She began to roll the snowball body and Evan did the same.

While those two siblings enjoyed their outdoors, Michael walked to the kitchen and began setting the table by adding bowls, cups, and silverware. He decided to make spaghetti with meatballs and salad for dinner as it’s easier to make and quicker. He went over to the freezer to open and found a box of frozen meatballs then turned on the oven to start preheating. While he was waiting, he took out the big pot and a strainer, filled them with water, placed them on a stove, and turned on the heat. He grabbed the box of spaghetti and a jar of marina sauce out of the pantry so he could get ready to cook in peace. The last thing he needs is his annoying siblings bugging him for his attention due to their absence father not being home often and was too tired to interact with his family. Michael wished his mother was still alive as she was the glue that holds the family together. She would always love to cook lavish meals, take the family to parks, and listen to their problems. But now that she’s gone, the house hasn’t felt the same.

The oven ding interrupted his thoughts as it was done preheating, so he quickly grabbed the tray, poured out some meatballs on it, and put them in the oven. While he was waiting for them to be baked, he opened the box of spaghetti and poured them into a pot of boiling water. His plan was once the dinner was over, he could put his siblings to bed and have some night for himself. He was thinking of calling his former best friend, Jeremy Fitzgerald to chat as he’s desperate to talk to someone.

Back outside, Evan and Elizabeth had just finished building the snowman. They can only make two big snow bodies instead of three so all that’s left is to decorate.

“Evan, grab those rocks over there at that patch next to the patio. I’ll go get the sticks,” said Elizabeth.

“Okay, Lizzie,” said Evan. “I’ll go get them.”

He walked over to the patio where he could see the patch that has less now and saw a bunch of rocks, small to large. He bent down to grab some and went over to meet up with his sister. Elizabeth was able to grab some branches and sticks.

“I got the rocks,” said Evan as he showed them to her.

“Oh, they’re perfect!” she said happily. “I got the branches for the arms. We’re going to have to use this stick for his nose because we don’t have any carrots.” She showed her younger brother a small smooth stick that was the size of a carrot.

The two siblings walked over to their snowman and began decorating. Evan put his hat on the snowman’s head while Elizabeth put her scarf around the neck. They both stepped back and admired their work.

“We did it, Evan! Frosty looks great!” she said, looking proud of their creation.

“I agree, it looks amazing,” said Evan. “What do we do next?”

“Let’s make a snow fort!” said Elizabeth. “I hope we can get it done quickly so we can play in there before our stinky older brother yells at us to eat dinner then make us go to bed.”

“Okay,” said Evan as he and his sister began to work to make themselves a fort.

They were halfway done when the sky darkened with thunderclouds, which spooked Evan. He didn’t have a good feeling about this and tried to alert Elizabeth.

“Lizzie?” he whimpered in fear. “I think we should go inside. I don’t like the looks of the storm.”

“But Evan,” Elizabeth protested. “We’re almost done with our snow fo…”

She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence because a loud roaring sound interrupted her, startling both.

“What was that sound?” Evan asked, looking terrified.

“I don’t know, where is it coming from?” said Elizabeth as she frantically looked around to find the source of the sound.

They heard it again but this time, it sounded like a monster roar, and it was getting closer. Evan looked up and screamed, causing Elizabeth to look up to see what caused her brother’s scream. That’s when she looked, and she also screamed.

Above them are the two big lizard-like dragons flying towards them. They have dark green scales, small horns, yellow eyes, and two big fangs. Someone was riding on one of them and it was a scary hairy-looking gargoyle with red eyes. He looked down at them and yelled out to the dragons while pointing at the kids.

“Seize them! But don’t harm them! They must be brought back alive!” he shouted.

The dragons flew down at them with their arms stretched out to grab them, causing the younger Afton kids to scream in terror and they both quickly ducked down to avoid being captured. The dragons missed them, but they flew upwards and then turned around as they headed towards them again.

“Lizzie!” Evan shouted. “Let’s run to the house!”

“RUN!!” she shouted in agreement as they both ran towards their house for safety.

Michael finished cooking dinner as he took out the meatballs from the oven, put them on top of the spaghetti, and poured marina sauce on top of it. He already put out the salad bowl and two salad dressings on the table.

“Well, dinner is done,” Michael sighed. “Time to put them on the table then yell out at the brats to come eat. All you have to do is go through eating dinner, put their asses to bed, then I can enjoy my night of peace for my sanity. I just need to figure out how to keep them busy on the weekend without being bothered by them.”

He walked over to the table, carrying the bowls when he heard a loud roaring sound like a beast.

“What the hell is that sound? It couldn’t be the TV as it’s shut off. Where is it coming from?” Michael asked out loud.

He heard it again along with hearing a man’s voice shouting and at first, he thought it was his father but after hearing it closely, it was not as the man’s voice didn’t have an English accent. But then he heard his siblings screaming which caused him to be alarmed as he dropped the food on the floor, shattering the bowls and he ran. He quickly opened the back door to see Elizabeth and Evan running towards him in fear. What he saw behind them was the two dragons that were flying dangerously close to them, hands outstretched to grab them.

“What in the hell?!”  Micheal cried out in horror.

“MIKEY!!” Elizabeth screamed. “Those monsters are trying to get us!!”

“Keep running!” Micheal yelled as he grabbed both of their arms to drag them inside then slammed the door and locked it.

All three quickly ran across the living room but then, a loud crash as the dragons burst in through the door and walls. The living room was partially destroyed; two windows shattered with glass showering down and some of the furniture flew across the room. One of them, a small wooden end table, hit Michael on the back, causing him to fall.

“MIKEY!” Evan yelled.

“Don’t worry about me, squirt! Just run!” Michael yelled.

Evan and Elizabeth turned to run but didn’t get very far because the dragons were able to swoop in and grab each of them. They both screamed again, and Michael was able to get up before he was able to witness the horror. He saw one dragon that grabbed Elizabeth and then flew away with her screaming. He saw another dragon that the hairy gargoyle monster was riding on captured Evan.

“We got them now! Fly us out of there!” The gargoyle ordered the dragon he was riding on and the dragon who grabbed his brother began to flap his wings and took off.

“NO!!” Michael cried out as he ran towards the gargoyle. He managed to jump onto the dragon’s tail and held on for dear life as it flew higher out of the house.

“HEY!” Micheal yelled which caused the gargoyle to turn his attention to him. “LET MY BROTHER AND SISTER GO, YOU HAIRY BASTARD!!!”

“Foolish boy,” the gargoyle snarled. “We need them to open the portal so my master, Lord Tirac, and our army to invade your world. Soon, it will belong to my master and you puny mortals will exist to serve him as slaves!”

“Wait, what?!” said Michael, looking shocked. “What invasion? And who is this Tirac guy?”

The gargoyle laughed then he whacked Michael on the side of his head so hard, he’s seeing stars. This caused him to get dizzy and he lost his grip on the dragon’s tail. Then he realized he was falling back to his house, and it was a long way down.

He crashed onto the tree and then to the roof before sliding off, falling hard on the pieces of the broken furniture, and landing on his back.

Michael groaned in pain as he looked up weakly to the darkened sky. His vision started to blur as she saw the fading figures of the dragons and could hear his siblings screaming for his name in the distance.

“Evan… Elizabeth…” Micheal weakly said as he tried in vain to stretch his arm out to the sky as if he was reaching for them but then began to lose consciousness. Then the world went dark as he passed out.

Notes

Oh no, Evan and Elizabeth have been captured by Scorpan and his two Stratadons. Michael now needs to rescue and has no idea of who Tirac is, but he knows his world is in now danger of his invasion and avoid telling his father about the kidnappings before he returned home.

Also, the FNAF 10th Anniversary was three days ago and I drew four quick pics from FNAF 1. I didn't have the time to color them because I was busy at work and didn't have a lot of free time so here's the pics I made on my Tumblr account. https://faerie-starv.tumblr.com/post/758282728103903232/fnaf-10th-anniversary I'll get around to color them soon.

Sorry for the short chapter but I wanted to save the good stuff on the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed my fanfic! :3

Chapter Text

Michael slowly woke up, shivering and groaning in pain as he groggily got up. He thought he had fallen asleep on a couch and had dreamt that his siblings had been kidnapped by those dragons led by the hairy gargoyle, and then he fell from losing the grip on the dragon’s tail. When fully awake, he realized he was not on the couch but on a pile of broken wood and furniture. He looked around to see the living room was destroyed as if the bomb had gone off and some snow was covering the rubble, including on Michael, hence why he felt the coldness when he woke up.

That’s when it dawned on him that his siblings weren’t here which means the kidnapping wasn’t a dream, it was real. He had no idea how long he was out but after looking at the wall clock which wasn’t damaged, it was over an hour.

“Oh no,” he said as he quickly got up but instantly regretted it because he felt pain all over his body. He had a bunch of cuts all over his arms and on his back. Even the side of his head hurts because he got a big cut there that caused blood to run down the right side of his face. He put his hand on it and ran outside. It was dark and snowing lightly.

“EVAN! ELIZABETH!!” Michael shouted at the sky.

All he can hear is nothing but the sound of the wind howling faintly and can’t see the distance as it is slightly foggy and dark. Michael just fell to his knees on the snow, realizing that it was futile and that his siblings were gone. Normally, he often wishes that he’s the only child and wants his brother and sister gone but it looks like he got his wish, and he couldn't help but feel sadness. As much as he finds those two annoying and doesn’t want to admit it, he misses them already. He felt alone in the world.

A phone rang which startled Michael as he realized the phone was ringing in the kitchen. He quickly got up and ran inside. He had to navigate through the debris that was in the way so he could get to the kitchen. He could have gone to the front door, which would have been quicker, but he locked it after they got home from school, so the only other way is to head through the living room which has a new opening no thanks to the dragons. As soon as he arrived in the kitchen, he grabbed the phone in time to answer.

“Hello? Hello?” said Michael.

“Michael? It’s me,” his father’s voice rang out, causing Michael to freeze.

“Oh, hey Dad,” he said. “How you’re doing? I got your note that you and Uncle Henry are at the Salt Lake City.”

“I’m doing good. Henry and I were already settled in at the Holiday Inn hotel and getting to eat at the restaurant as soon as Henry was finished getting ready,” said William. “How are the kids? Have you fed them dinner?”

“Yes, I have! Just salad with spaghetti and meatballs,” said Michael nervously as he fiddled with the plastic cord.

“Good. May I speak to Evan and Elizabeth?” his father asked. “I felt bad for not saying goodbye to them so I thought I could talk to them for a couple of minutes. I’m sure the kids will be happy to hear from me.”

Oh crap! Michael thought to himself. I can’t tell him that they were kidnapped by a gargoyle and dragons, he’ll never buy that and will think I’m nuts! I need to come up with a good lie to buy some time.

“Oh yeah, um,” said Michael nervously as he had to quickly think up something. “They are, um, in bed, sleeping. Yeah! I just put them to bed and they’re already asleep!”

“They’re already asleep? Their bedtime isn’t another hour,” said William, his tone coming off suspicious.

Shit! Michael quietly thought. He’s not buying it. Think, Michael! Think! He had to come up with another lie quick or else his father would even be more suspicious.

“Oh, I know but they were outside earlier while I was making dinner. They were playing in the snow in the backyard,” he said. “They were so tired that they could barely stay awake to eat their dinner. As soon as they finished their meals, I took them to their bedrooms, and they immediately just passed out.”

“Oh wow, they’re that tuckered out?” his father chuckled.  Michael was relieved that he bought that lie. “I guess playing in the snow can wipe anyone out. I guess I’ll talk to them another day then.”

“Good idea!” said Michael. “I’ll let them know tomorrow morning as we are planning to go to the park and go sledding together or whatever snow-related activities they want to do.”

“That sounds fun,” said William. “I’m so glad you are spending time with your siblings and becoming more responsible. They missed hanging out with you, especially Evan as he looks up to you.”

Michael just winced as he knew that not only had he just lied to his father (which he had done before), but he hadn’t been a very good brother to either of them, especially his younger brother. While he won’t deny he used to enjoy hanging out with them, it was because of his mother but due to her passing, he grew distant with his family and hasn’t been on good terms with any of them. He couldn’t tell his father the truth of what happened and there was no way his father could talk to his siblings as they were not here.

“Yeah...” said Michael sadly.

“Hey, Bill!” his uncle’s voice rang out from across the room. “Is that Michael? I want to talk to him.”

“Okay Henry,” said William. “Son, he wants to talk to you.”

“Uh, sure,” said Michael.

“Hey there, Mike!” Henry’s cheerful voice said. “How are you doing, sport? I hope your siblings aren’t giving you too much trouble.”

“Uh, everything is going great,” said Michael as he felt bad for lying to his uncle. He always felt more comfortable talking to him as Henry listened and was more understanding than his father. He had tried talking to his dad, but it would always end up with screaming matches with each other. With Henry, it was much easier for Michael to tell his uncle what problems he was dealing with than talking to William. He just wished his father would be more understanding like Henry. As much as he wanted to tell his uncle, he couldn’t as most likely he wouldn’t believe him either.

Even if Michael could get away with his lies during the weekend, they’ll both be home and will learn that his siblings won’t be there, not to mention the destroyed living room. He could tell them there was a gas explosion but there was no way he could get away from his lies about his missing siblings. The police won’t believe him, but they will think he did something to them as he already has a bad reputation for being a juvenile delinquent. Michael knew he was in deep shit as he was already getting anxious.

“Michael? Are you still there? Your awfully quiet,” said Henry, his voice sounding concerned.

“I’m still here, Uncle Henry,” said Michael. “I’m okay, I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me if something is going on,” said Henry.

“I’m sure,” said Michael.

“All right, I’ll leave you be but if you ever need something, I’m there for you, okay?” said Henry.

“Thanks, but don’t worry about me. If something does come up, I’ll let you know. Just go and have fun with Dad as he’s forgotten to have fun due to him working a lot,” said Michael.

“Okay. I’ll see you later and I’ll make sure your dad will have fun,” said Henry. “Oh, your father wants to talk to you again before we leave.”

“Bye,” said Michael as he heard shuffling around on the other end as his father came back to the phone.

“Michael? It’s me again,” his father said. “We’re going home on Sunday afternoon instead of Monday so just make sure the kids are well fed and safe.”

“Yeah, sure. I can do that, no problem,” said Michael but he knew it was a problem. If they both arrive home that day, he is dead meat.

“All right then, I’ll see you and the kids in three days. Goodbye,” said William.

“Yeah, bye,” Michael quietly said as he heard a clicking sound. He just stood there with a ringtone beeping on the end before hanging up.

“GOD DAMN IT!!!” Michael shouted as he pounded his fist on the kitchen counter, not caring it hurt his hand. “How in the hell am I supposed to tell that Evan and Elizabeth were kidnapped by monsters? There is no way in hell they’ll believe that crap, they’ll think I’m crazy! And how am I going to explain the mess in the living room? I could tell them that there’s a gas explosion or something like that but how in the fuck am I getting out of this mess about my siblings? They’re going to think I did something to them! I am so screwed!”

He sighed after his outburst and covered his face with his cold hands, thinking.

“Okay, calm down, Michael,” he said as he took deep breaths. “Screaming and freaking out will not get them back. If I want to find them, I need to get ready and be prepared. But right now, I am so cold that I can barely think straight. I’ll have to warm myself up, so I don’t get hypothermia and need to patch myself up if I need to follow those dragons and that hairy bastard.”

He went to the hallway to enter the bathroom where he turned on the hot shower, took his clothes off, and jumped into the shower. He immediately felt better after hot water hit his icy cold skin and started to wash his body. He scrubbed off dirt and blood off his skin. After ten minutes, he felt hot enough so he turned off the shower and stepped out, drying himself off quickly with a towel. He opened the medicine cabinet to get bandages for his arms and his head, patching himself up. He used the hair dryer for his hair so he wouldn’t get cold later.

He left the bathroom with a towel on and quickly ran to his bedroom due to the cold wind blowing from the open hole of the living room. He put on his blue jeans, gray tank top, warm socks, black finger-less gloves, and sneakers. He grabbed his backpack from the floor and headed back to the hallway.

He grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and then went to the kitchen again. He had to throw out the dinner as it had been out for an hour as none of them had the chance to eat. Michael went to the pantry to start packing some food like granola bars, fig bars, some chips and pretzels, and water bottles as he figured it was going to be a long journey. He only knows which direction they went, which is northeast. He will follow them there but has no idea how far they could have gone or where to go.

He was halfway done packing when he heard a loud sound, startling Michael. It sounded like someone or something that crash-landed into the already wrecked living room.

“What the hell? Did that asshole come back? Or maybe my siblings were able to escape?” said Michael.

He decided to take out his pocketknife from his backpack, just to be on the safe side if it was the gargoyle monster that came back. He walked carefully and quietly, to see who it was.

He entered the living room and could see something inside the wreckage that wasn’t there before. He wasn’t sure if it was the same dragon monster that abducted his siblings earlier. He bravely walked over with a pocketknife, arming himself. He could see something emerging from the rubble, but it wasn’t Evan or Elizabeth. It could only mean one thing and Michael was ready this time.

“Hey, you!” Michael yelled at the figure. “If you’re here for round two, I am armed and ready! You better tell me where you have taken my siblings or else I’ll gouge your eyes out with a knife! Now are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way….”

His voice trailed off as the figure emerged suddenly out of the wreckage, surprising Michael. It was not the same dragon nor his siblings, but it was a pony. It was not an ordinary pony either he’d even seen at the summer fair that his sister rodeo on. Most of the ponies he saw were either brown, black, white, or even spotted or splashed paint but had never seen a pink pony.

He first thought it was covered with pink paint, but it wasn’t after looking at it closely. He can see the pink pony’s mane and tail are blue and has two lightning bolts on its flank. It was wearing a gold necklace with a blue crystal-shaped lightning bolt on its neck. What’s even more is that this pony has even wings as it stretches out before turning around and facing Michael. The pony looked dazed, but it was able to shake its head off and its gaze fixed on him. It smiled at him and opened its mouth to speak.

“Hi there!” the strange pink Pegasus pony said. Micheal can hear a feminine voice, realizing the pink pony is female. “My name is Firefly! I flew all the way here to search for the chosen hero who can save us from….”

“WHAT THE HELL!?!” Michael cried out in horror. First the dragon monsters, then the gargoyle, and now a strange pink Pegasus pony that can talk in human language. It was all too much for him as he pointed his knife at her.

“First off, who in the fuck are you and what are you?” Michael said angrily.

“Whoa! Calm your feathers down! I just told you before, I’m Firefly,” she said as she partially flew out of the debris and moved closer to Michael, but he stood back. He pointed the pocketknife at her to warn her to keep back as she used her hoof to push the knife down. “I’m a Pegasus pony because of my wings, duh. You can put your dagger away as I’m not here to hurt you so chillax, man.”

“Okay, Firefly,” said Michael. “Where did you come from and why are you here?”

“I’m from another world called Dream Valley. Well, more like a Nightmare Valley because of the darkness that Tirac spread. I came here because I’m searching for the chosen hero…”

“Wait! That name you just said earlier!” Michael interrupted her.

“Ugh, seriously?” Firefly cried out. “I was in the middle of saying something important and you interrupted me? At least let me finish then I’ll answer your questions.”

“I’ll stop if you can answer this question,” Michael retorted. “What name did you just say earlier? About the darkness you mentioned?”

“Fine, I’ll answer that and then you’ll let me finish my story of why I’m here, got it?” she said.

“Deal,” said Michael as he lowered his pocketknife. “Now spill.”

“Okay, as I said before, Tirac was the evil Lord who spread darkness to our world,” said Firefly.

“Wait!” he said. “That’s what the gargoyle said to me earlier when he and those dragons abducted my siblings! He said something about Tirac going to invade here soon and something about using my siblings for opening portals or some shit like that. That hairy bastard knocked me out before I got a chance to kick his ass.”

“What!?” said Firefly. “You mean your siblings were already captured by Scorpan before I got here? Come to think of it, I thought I wrecked this room when I crash-landed here but it looks like that wasn’t the case. But that would mean…”

She trailed off as she put her hoof underneath her chin before taking a good look at Michael, then her face lit up with happiness.

“That means you are Michael Afton, the chosen hero who will save us and Dream Valley!” Firefly shouted excitedly as she flew closer to Michael, causing him to get startled as he backed away from her.

“Whoa! Hold up! Time out!” Michael yelled. “First off, how the hell did you know my name? I never told you and secondly, what do you mean I’m the ‘chosen hero’?”

“Tarot’s crystal ball prophesied that a teenage boy who is related to the captured siblings will be the one to save our world,” she said.

“That can’t be right!” said Michael. “First off, you got the wrong guy for the job. The crystal ball who told you that is probably mistaking me for someone else.”

“The crystal ball doesn’t lie,” said Firefly. “It even showed us the image of you, including the outfit you’re wearing right now.”

“Oh, come on!” Michael cried out. “Do I even look like a hero? Everyone here in this town knows me as the juvenile delinquent who causes trouble to everyone. I shoplifted, stole things, graffiti on public properties, and beat up others who dared to look at me funny. I even spent a night in jail! That’s not something a ‘hero’ would have done, heroes are gooders and were never in trouble with the law. That’s why I’m telling you that I’m not the one you're looking for. Right now, I need to go find my brother and sister before Dad comes back home.”

“Hoo boy,” she said as she sat down on a wrecked couch. “Look, I get you going through hardships in life and the path you are going to is a dark one, but do you think you’re a ‘bad’ person?”

“Obviously!” said Michael.

“Despite those terrible things you’ve done, you are not really a bad person as you think are,” she said.

“And what makes you think that?” Michael said with a frown.

“You wanted to save your siblings, right?” said Firefly. “If you’re a delinquent as you say you are, you wouldn’t care about them nor about to head out to rescue them. It just shows you are a good person even though you don’t think so.”

“Ugh,” Michael grumbled. “Fine, whatever you say but you still haven’t answered my question about this Tirac person and that you seem to know about my sibling's abduction. You're not working for him, are you?”

“Of course not!” said Firefly. “Me and my friends are very much against him as we want him gone. We’re even hiding underground and forming a rebellion against him and his army so rest assured, we do not support him at all!”

“Good, now tell me about Tirac guy and that Scorpion guy or whatever his name is,” he said.

“Oh yeah! Sorry about that, got off track there,” she said. “Tirac is an evil wizard centaur who took over Dream Valley with his army and used his powerful weapon, the Rainbow of Darkness. He would use it to turn anyone into either a black stone or even worse, into a monster slave and under control to serve him.”

“He’s that powerful? And Rainbow of Darkness? Isn’t a rainbow made of light?” said Michael.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, we do have our weapon that is called the Rainbow of Light,” said Firefly.

“Well, if you have that, why didn’t you use it against him?” he asked.

“We would have but…” she said as she trailed off. “Only our queen can use it as she is the most powerful unicorn pony that can wield the Rainbow of Light. She is known as Queen Majesty. But sadly, she was ambushed by Tirac’s general, Scorpan, who was the one who abducted your siblings, somehow got the locket that contained the Rainbow of Light and gave it to Tirac. He broke the crystal ball apart into shards and corrupted them with darkness to prevent the queen from using it. He turned her into a black stone where she has remained in her Dream Castle that is in ruins.”

“That’s just great! So, we can’t use Rainbow Light against him and your queen is out of commission, where do I come in?” Michael asked.

“You are going to help us find the shards of the Rainbow, put them back together, and free our queen so she can use it to defeat Tirac,” said Firefly.

“Wait,” said Michael. “How are we going to use Light on your queen if she’s the only one that can use it?”

“Simple,” she said. “Place the locket around her neck and it will free her from the stone prison. She’s connected to the Rainbow crystal as she has a history with it.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” he said. “But why did that gargoyle creep, Scorpion, kidnap my siblings? He said something about portals and stuff.”

“Scorpan,” she corrected him. “He’s Tirac’s best general but he wasn’t always like this. He used to be a human prince named Aaron from Tarin Kingdom. He and Majesty are close friends and coexist peacefully until Tirac invaded his kingdom, turns him into his general, and attacks Dream Valley. As for your siblings, he wanted to conquer your world as he found the way to enter but was unable to do that due to the portal being too small for his giant army and himself. He can only send small portions which is why only Scorpan and his two dragons called Stratadons were able to go through with no problem. He needs two human children from this world as they are the keys to open the world you are living in.”

“Since when did my siblings have powers to do that?” said Michael. “Elizabeth is a bossy, spoiled brat that will throw temper tantrums and lie if I don’t do what she says. Evan is a giant crybaby who is afraid of everything. He’s even scared of his own shadow! What makes those two special out of all the kids that they could have picked from?”

“Ouch, that’s harsh,” said Firefly. “Even so, Tirac has his witch adviser who used her crystal ball to show who’s worthy and that’s why he sent Scorpan and his two Stratadons to capture your siblings.”

“Stratadons? You mean those big, ugly lizard dragons that destroyed our living room?” he asked.

“Yes, I just told you earlier,” said Firefly. “They already captured our two friends; Cotton Candy and Moondancer. He needed four ponies to pull his Chariot of Midnight so he could use it to invade Earth.”

“Why does Tirac want to invade Earth? If he tries that, this world has plenty of militaries in all different parts of the countries,” said Michael. “We can use the nukes and missiles on Tirac’s army. Hell, we’re even in the middle of the Cold War with the Soviet Union which used to be called Russia since after World War 2. And it’s been going on for almost thirty years! We can kick his ass and his army in no time!”

“Tirac is a power-hungry being and wanted more,” she said. “He took interest in your world because it has everything he wanted. Food, water, resources, people, etc. As for your army, does your world have magic like wizards? Mages?”

“We actually don’t,” said Michael. “Here on Earth, there is no such thing unless you count religions such as prayer as it’s considered ‘magic’ to others but other than that, no.”

“Even with your most powerful army,” said Firefly. “They will not stand a chance against Tirac and his army. He’ll use the Rainbow of Darkness and will probably turn missile nukes into something else or even use it against you. He will also use it on your soldiers and turn them against your leaders. That’s what happened to our soldiers as they were turned against each other due to being controlled by Darkness, making it easier to capture other civilians and take down our leader such as Queen Majesty. Since your magic does not exist here, your world is doomed for his takeover.”

“Swell,” Michael muttered. “If our armies can’t defeat him and neither yours, how in the hell are we supposed to kick that evil bastard’s ass and his army? It seems impossible!”

“As I said before, we need to find the shards of the Rainbow of Light so we can save our queen and use it to defeat him so he will not invade your world or anywhere else,” she said. “Did you forget that part or something?”

Michael just glared with annoyance at the pink Pegasus pony. He had forgotten but he’s not going to tell her that.

“Now that we’re all caught up, we need to get going because time’s wasting,” she said.

“Where are we going?” Michael asked.

“To Dream Valley!” said Firefly. “You want to save your siblings and your world, right? That’s where Scorpan will take them to Tirac’s Midnight Castle. We got to fly to the portal as you won’t be able to get there by walking.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll come along,” said Michael. “But let me grab my backpack so I can finish packing some food and water as we’ll be needing it.”

“Oh, good idea! We could use some grub as it’s going to be a long journey,” said Firefly. “But don’t take too long as we really need to get going.”

Michael nodded as he quickly ran to the kitchen and into the pantry where he left his backpack. He finished packing, including the first aid kit. He patted his side pocket to make sure his pocketknife was in there as he knew he’d need something to defend himself. He put the jacket on first then his backpack and walked back to the living room to meet up with Firefly.

“Okay, I got my backpack with supplies so we’re good to go,” he said.

“Great!” she said with a grin. “Let’s get to the backyard so I can gain some speed to fly us out of there.”

“Wait! Before we go,” said Michael. “What about the living room? I only have three days before Dad gets home and he will kill me if he sees this! I had to lie to him about my siblings as I can’t tell him of what happened earlier, he will think I’m crazy.”

“Don’t worry,” said Firefly. “As soon as we save Dream Valley, the queen will use her magic to restore it the way it was before your dad saw it. The sooner we go, the better!”

They both exited out of the living room and into the backyard. Michael sees the finished snowman and a half-finished snow fort. Firefly noticed and flew closer to get a better look.

“Oh wow! That’s an amazing snowman! Did you make it?” she asked.

“No. Evan and Elizabeth made it,” he said glumly.

“They did a great job!” said Firefly. “Is that a snow fort?”

“It is,” said Michael. “But it looks like they didn’t get a chance to finish it since that Scorpan guy came along and took my siblings.”

“We’ll get them back, don’t you worry!” she said.

Firefly looked around to see what area would be good for takeoff until she found the cliff not far from the backyard. She then took off running.

“Hey, wait!” Michael shouted as he ran after her. “Where are you going? Slow down already!”

He continued to run after her until she suddenly stopped at the edge of the cliff, nearly crashing into her, causing him to fall backward. He felt like he crashed into a brick wall due to Pegasus’s sturdy body, as he did not expect that. Firefly didn’t seem to be bothered at all as if she was immune to it.

“Yep, yep. Looks high enough,” she said with a grin as she backed up away from the cliff.

“High enough for what?” Michael groaned as he got up, feeling like he’d been tackled by a football player.

“Hop on!” she said as she opened her wings, and Michael just stared at her with confusion.

“You do know how to ride, I hope,” she said.

“Not really unless you can count the pony rides at the fair when I was eight,” said Michael.

“Then hop on!” she said as Michael walked over, carefully sat down on her, and wrapped his arms around her neck as she didn’t have reins.

As soon as he settled in, she suddenly took off running, nearly causing him to fall before he tightly clung onto her for his dear life. She’s running towards the cliff with her wings outstretched.

“What the hell?! At least give me a warning!” Michael cried out.

“Oh, my friends are going to love you!” Firefly shouted happily as she continued running to the cliff, then made a huge leap before falling.

Michael freaked out, clinging tightly to Firefly, and closed his eyes as if he were expecting to crash. Only it never came because she stretched out her wings to get wind and flew upwards before hitting the ground. He realized they were flying as she flew above the neighborhood and town. He couldn’t relax because she would do an unexpected roll which Michael almost fell and held on to her even tighter so he wouldn’t fall off.

“Would you stop doing crazy tricks?! I almost fell to my death!!” Michael shouted.

“Oh, chillax,” said Firefly. “If you fall, I can save you with no problem before you hit the ground as I’m the fastest pony there is!”

“That makes me feel so much better,” said Michael with sarcasm.

She flew through the town, zig-zagging her way through cars as they beeped their horns, making Michael nervous. She then flew next to the bus, and Michael noticed that no one was paying attention except that one little blonde-haired girl, who he recognized as his sister’s friend, Susy spotted them and was jumping up and down, looking excited. She was yelling and pulling her mother’s sleeve while pointing at Michael and Firefly. Firefly grinned and waved her hoof at Susy.

“Firefly, pull up! We can’t risk being seen by others! Otherwise, they’ll call the government and want to capture you as well experiment on you!” said Michael urgently.

“Your no fun, but fine,” she said. “Hang on!”

Much to Michael's relief, she immediately flew up and away from the other’s sight. She flew by Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant where one of the employees, Scott, was out in the back, throwing trash bags into the dumpster. He looked up and saw Michael and Firefly above him, causing his jaw to drop. He rubbed his eyes as they were gone, looking confused.

“Either I’m sleeping or I’m seeing the owner’s son riding a flying pink pony,” said Scott. “Maybe it’s my lack of sleep that is seeing things.” He went back inside the restaurant, still looking shocked.

Michael spotted Scott earlier and panicked. He had already seen them and was worried that Scott would say something to his father. He can only hope that his dad would dismiss him for lack of sleep.

“Firefly, what the hell?!” Michael snapped. “Scott sees us! We’re going to be so much trouble!”

“Ponyfeathers,” she said. “I doubt he’ll say anything. You really need to chillax.”

“I swear you keep saying that word,” said Michael, looking annoyed.

Firefly continued to fly higher and higher until the town became small like a miniature model.

“Enjoying the view, Mike?” Firefly asked with a grin as she turned her head to look at him.

“I… do, it’s beautiful,” said Michael as he was amazed by the scenery and feeling less scared. Firefly smiled at him, looking pleased.

“Next stop, Dream Valley!” she said. “Because we have to go through those clouds as there’s a small portal inside.”

They continued to fly higher and towards the dark clouds as Michael hung on. His only hope is that with her help, he can rescue his siblings and the world’s queen, they’ll make it home on time before his father returns.

Tirac was sitting on his throne, waiting impatiently for his general to return with two children from Earth. He tapped his fingers on the ledge before he heard a knock on his giant steel doors.

“ENTER!” Tirac’s voice boomed, and the doors opened, revealing an old witch holding her staff and a crystal ball. Her face is green, with white wispy hair, and is wearing a dark purple cloak. It is none other than Zelda, Tirac’s most trusted royal witch.

Zelda entered the room, her face looking grim, and her lips tightened in a thin line. Tirac knew something was up and it was not a good sign.

“My lord,” she said. “I have come to you due to urgent matters as my crystal ball just spoke to me.”

“Out with it then,” Tirac barked impatiently.

Zelda’s crystal ball glowed in green light and hovered in the center of the room, showing images of a teenage boy and the ponies.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Tirac demanded.

“The crystal ball spoke to me about a prophecy,” she said. “This chosen hero you see here is an older brother of the two Earth children that you sent Scorpan to capture, named Michael Afton. He’s the one who will save the queen and help her to defeat you as well as restore Dream Valley to the way it was.”

“WHAT!!!?” Tirac roared in anger as he stood up quickly from his throne, causing the room to shake due to his loud voice echoing the walls. “You mean that the Afton boy will be the one to defeat me!?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Zelda. “To prevent him from succeeding, he must be either destroyed or make him into your slave.”

“If he is indeed related to those brats I’m using to open the portal to their world, no doubt he’ll follow Scorpan here and use the opportunity to destroy me!” he shouted as he pounded his fist on the ledge, causing it to shatter due to his strength.

Just then, the portal made a sound and glowed in dark purple with black swirls before it opened. Scorpan and two Stratadons exited out of the portal, looking triumphant. Each of the Stratadon has human children; a boy and a girl as they are both crying.

“Master,” said Scorpan as he bowed to his master. “I successfully captured those two Earth children and were not harmed in any way.”

“Excellent!” said Tirac with a grin. “You finally did something right for once.”

“Let us go, you big meanie!” Elizabeth yelled. Evan just cried as he was terrified and didn’t like the way Tirac was looking at them.

“Welcome, Children from the Earth,” Tirac greeted them. “You are now my prisoners of Midnight Castle. I do hope you ‘enjoy’ your ride on the way here.”

“What are you going to do with us?” Evan sniffled.

Tirac just smirked as he leaned closer, carefully grabbing Evan’s chin to get him to look at him. How he enjoyed seeing the boy tremble in fear.

“You and your sister will be a big help to me and my army. In three days, I will use both of you to open the portal that you came in to make it big enough for my army to invade your world,” said Tirac. “You two will make great contributions for me to conquer Earth.”

“We don’t want to help you! We want to go home!” Elizabeth yelled. “I want Daddy!”

“Oh, but my dear child,” said Tirac as he turned his attention to her, still smirking. “I’m afraid even your father stands no chance against me. I’ll just turn him into a stone or even better, turn him into a monster slave to serve me.”

“NO!! DON’T HURT DADDY!!!” Elizabeth sobbed.

“My brother can stop you,” said Evan, whimpering. “He tried to stop the monster by grabbing onto his tail.”

Tirac frowned when Evan mentioned his brother and turned to look at Scorpan, making the general nervous. He remembered Zelda’s prophecy as she mentioned that the captured siblings have an older brother who will be the one to defeat him and that it may be the same one who tried to stop his general. He then turned his attention to the guards.

“You two!” He barked at them as they quickly walked up to him. “Take those two children to the dungeon.”

The guards immediately bowed and took the two Afton kids from the Stratadons. Elizabeth kept yelling and pounding her hands on the guards as hard as she could but no luck. Evan just kept crying and didn’t put up a fight. As soon as the guards left, the doors closed behind them. Tirac then turned to glare at his general.

“Scorpan!” he yelled. “That boy said that his brother has attempted to stop you. EXPLAIN YOURSELF!!”

“M, Master,” said Scorpan nervously. “What the boy said is true. Their older brother was able to grab and hold on to the Stratadon’s tail that I was riding on, but I can assure you that I took care of him.”

“For your sake, you better be right!” Tirac snapped. “Because that brother is the one who will destroy me according to Zelda’s crystal ball!”

He turned to look at Zelda and snapped his fingers, signaling to her that she knew what he wanted her to do. She let her crystal ball float towards Scorpan and showed him the older brother who tried to stop him earlier back on Earth.

“That’s the boy? The chosen hero?” Scorpan asked.

“Yes,” said Zelda. “His name is Michael Afton and he’s the one that will ruin everything that we worked hard for. He’s not here with you, I presume?”

“No, he has not,” said Scorpan. “I whacked him off and he fell back to his wrecked home. I made sure of it as he has no way of following me back here.”

“Good!” said Tirac. “Now that’s out of the way, I need you to prepare another raid here in this former Dream Valley. I need four ponies to pull my chariot, and you only captured two! You need to capture two more ponies so I can crush their resistance and invade Earth.”

“Yes master,” said Scorpan. “I will succeed next time, rest assured.”

“Excellent. You are dismissed, both of you,” said Tirac.

Zelda and Scorpan both bowed and left the throne room, closing the steel doors behind them. Tirac sat back down on his throne and stroked gently at his small, purple glowing bag that was making a heartbeat sound. It’s almost as if the bag is alive as it pulsates.

“Quiet, my friend,” he said gently. “Your time will come.”

Notes

Firefly and Michael have finally met in person, or Pony I should say? Now Micheal has no choice but to rely on his new pony friend to help him save his siblings and her world.

Tirac has some evil plans for Elizabeth and Evan as well. What will it be? Will Firefly Michael be able to make it to Dream Valley? Stick around for the next chapter!

Also, today is my 40th birthday :3

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Arrival

Michael held on to Firefly’s mane tightly as she flew through the dark clouds and had to weave around to avoid lightning bolts, making him nervous. After it felt like forever, they made it out safely.

“We made it,” said Firefly. “Welcome to Dream Valley, well, at least it used to be.”

Michael looked down and saw that Dream Valley was filled with many valleys, hills, fields, rivers, meadows, and farmlands. Standing above one hill is a huge pink castle with blue turret tops and is surrounded by a town with castle walls and a drawbridge with a moat.

Next to the castle town is a waterfall that flows down to the river that runs underneath the moat of the castle drawbridge and one of them splits as one goes to the lake while the other goes further down south past the other forest. There’s a vast forest scattered around the valleys but some of the trees are wilted as if they’re dying. There’s a lot of farmlands not far from the town but it was in ruins and abandoned.

Looking at the southern part of the land past the fields, he can see the coastal town that is next to the ocean along with some islands.

Up north of the castle town, he can see snowcapped mountains and canyons. He can also see some floating islands including a giant one that is surrounded by dark clouds.

There was a towering volcano in the distance that was surrounded by craggy mountains, smaller volcanoes, and canyons. Next to the one large canyon that is next to the volcano chain, is a vast desert that stretched out for miles with a few cliffs and crags poking out the sand.

Past the towering volcano, he can see more canyons and another large forest. Next to it looks like a giant row of flowers that are the size of a forest.

Michael looks northwest of the snow-capped mountains, where he can see another castle that is dark and sinister-looking. It was much taller than Dream Castle and it had dark clouds surrounding it.

“What is that dark gloomy-looking castle? The one that has the dark clouds around it?” Michael asked as he pointed in the direction.

“That is Tirac’s castle,” she said. “That castle was abandoned until he came along and turned it into his fortress. A few of the Pegasus ponies went there many times to find out any info. That’s how Skydancer was able to learn and witness Tirac’s plan of sending his general to kidnap your siblings.”

“Hold up, Skydancer wasn’t able to try and stop him before it happened?” Michael angrily yelled. “It would save everyone trouble if Sky stopped them.”

“If Skydancer tried that, Tirac would have stopped her before she had a chance,” said Firefly. “Doing that would also reveal the air patrol and put the Pegasus ponies in danger. One of the Pegasus patrols, Cloud Chaser, tried to take Tirac but was turned into stone by him. He had to tighten up the security by using the dark energy shield which makes it even more difficult and dangerous for the Pegasus ponies. The shield is very sensitive to movement and magic so anyone who enters too quickly or tries to use the magic to dispel, it will trigger an alarm. He still doesn’t know about the other air patrols; less he’ll tighten the security even more. Someone needs to report back safety without knowing Tirac so we can be prepared for any upcoming attacks. If Skydancer were to be caught, we would never know about your sibling's kidnapping, and it would be too late to stop him. Please understand, Michael, that we want to save your brother and sister along with our friends who are also captured but we can’t rush into things without a plan. At least that’s what my friend, Twilight would have said.”

Michael sighed in annoyance but knew deep down, she was right. It sounded like Tirac was a very powerful figure who was not to mess with. He looked around at the desolate world.

“Did Tirac guy do this?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said sadly. “You should have seen what it used to look like, it was beautiful. You would love that place the moment you set your eyes on.”

She continued to fly until she flew down lower to the woods and navigated her way carefully through the trees.

“Where are we going?” Michael asked.

“To the secret hideout,” said Firefly. “The Stratadons are flying around and if we stay below the trees, they won’t see us. Besides, I don’t want them to find our hideout as Tirac is still looking for the rest of us that isn’t infected by the Rainbow of Darkness, so we must be very careful.”

They finally arrived at the destination as she landed and let Michael dismount her. They’re at the cavern entrance that was blocked by an odd boulder slab. Firefly walked over and tapped it with her hoof. An open slit magically appeared which shocked Michael. He can see the purple eyes looking at him and Firefly before closing it. A low rumbling sound came from the boulder slab as it moved, opening the entrance of the cave.

They both entered in and were greeted by a pink unicorn pony that had a white mane and tail with a dark purple streak on it, and the symbol on her flank was nine purple stars. She ran up to Firefly and hugged her, which she hugged back.

“Firefly, your back!” said the unicorn, then she turned to look at Michael. “Is that him? The Chosen Hero?”

“I told you that I’ll come back in one piece, Twilight,” said Firefly with a grin. “To answer your question, yes, that is him! Michael Afton aka the Chosen Hero!”

The pink unicorn made a squeaking sound of happiness as she quickly walked over to Michael as if she were high on sugar. With a big smile on her face, she made him uncomfortable.

“Michael Afton,” said Twilight as she tried to speak professionally but struggled to contain her excitement simultaneously. “My name is Twilight, I am an Arch Mage of Magic and served alongside Queen Majesty, ruler of Dream Valley. I am so happy to see you there and we can finally save our queen and our world!”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down! Let’s not get too carried away here,” said Michael as he pushed her nose back as she was too close to his personal space. “I came here because my siblings were kidnapped by that Tirac guy or whatever his name was so I can rescue them and get back home before Dad finds out.”

“Oh yes,” said Twilight. “We heard about that, and we will rescue them as well but first, let’s go to Mr. Moochick as he’ll explain things to you and come up with a plan.”

“Let’s get to it!” said Firefly. “Come on, Mike. Follow us!”

Michael sighed as he followed two pink ponies through the cavern until they came to the center area. He was shocked and amazed to see more ponies as they were in different colors like blue, yellow, purple, etc. Some of them are Pegasus-like Firefly, some of them are unicorns like Twilight, but the others are normal-looking ponies who have no horns or feathered wings.

There were not just ponies there but other creatures too. There was a group of multi-colored hairballs that had eyes, mouths, and arms sticking out. There were other similar hairballs, but they were different as they had huge doglike noses, big eyes, and mouths, and walked on fours instead of upright like the first group does.

There are a few gray goblin-like creatures, some strange gray armadillos with crocodile snouts, a few pig-like creatures, and some forest animals such as rabbits, squirrels, skunks, etc.

“Hey Firefly,” Michael whispered. “What are those creatures?”

“That group here is Bushwoolies,” said Firefly as she pointed her hoof at the ones with arms sticking out. “And this is their cousins, the Furbobs.” She pointed at the other group that walked on fours. “The difference between those two is that the Bushwoolies live underground and agree with anything while Furbobs live above ground and live in Furbobia. They have short-term memories and don’t agree with everything.”

“What about those guys?” said Michael as he pointed at the goblin-like creatures and the pig ones.

“Those are the Grundles and they are from Grundleland but sadly, one of Tirac’s Overlords, Hydia, took over their land as well,” said Firefly. “And those guys over there are Troggles. They were from the dark city called Tambelon and were enslaved by another one of Tirac’s Overlords, Grogar, before they have rescued thanks to Majesty and her friends. They had been living here in Dream Valley peacefully until Grogar came back with Tirac and enslaved most of them again. Only a few of them were able to escape here with us.”

“And those weird armadillos?” Michael asked.

“Those are Stonebacks,” she said. “They don’t really talk, they just snort but they are great diggers and can dig deep undergrounds.”

“Okay then,” said Michael. “But I noticed that there are other ponies that aren’t unicorns or Pegasus, what are they?”

“They’re known as Earth ponies,” said Firefly. “There’s actually more types of other species of ponies.”

“What do you mean, more types?” he asked.

“Besides Pegasus, Unicorn, and Earth,” said Firefly. “There’s Flutter ponies which have shimmering see-through fairy-like wings that live in the Flutter Valley. There are Breezies but they are the size of the fairies and there are two groups of them: Summerwing and Windywing. They lived in Cloudsdale which is a giant floating island with clouds surrounding it which you’ve seen when we were flying. We have Kirin ponies who live further east side of the Dream Valley as their village is in Peaks of Peril which is next to the Jeweled Desert. They sort of look like unicorns but are different. The last two species are Sea Ponies and Mer Ponies. Sea Ponies live mostly in lakes, rivers, and oceans while Mer Ponies live in Seaquestria, the giant ocean that is on the west and southern side of Dream Valley. That’s the only species of ponies I know unless you can count Alicorns.”

“Alicorns? What are they?” Michael asked.

“They are winged unicorns,” she said. “But they are, like, rare and I think there’s about three that exist according to Twilight. You’ll have to ask her because I don’t know too much about them.”

“I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!” Twilight shouted as she suddenly teleported between Michael and Firefly, startling the hell out of them.

“Hey! Can you not do that?” Michael snapped angrily. “A little warning would be nice.”

“Yeah, Twi,” said Firefly with a frown. “You got to stop teleporting unexpectedly.”

“Heh, heh, sorry,” said Twilight sheepishly as she rubbed her head with her hoof and then cleared her throat.

“Queen Majesty knows of them because she has met them and was even trained by one of them,” said Twilight. “The one that the queen is the closest to is none other than Princess Celestia, ruler of the Sun as she was the one who took Majesty in as her student when she was a filly. That’s how our queen became our ruler and is almost as powerful as Celestia!”

“Well, that’s great to hear,” said Michael. “But what about the other two?”

“One of them is her younger sister, Princess Luna, ruler of the Moon,” said Twilight. “And the last one is their niece, Princess Cadence, ruler of the Love. They don’t live in Dream Valley as they lived on another continent known as Equestria where Majesty was originally from. It’s across from Seaquestria.”

Michael was about to ask more questions but didn’t get a chance to because they were interrupted by someone with a happy squeal. It came from a small Earth lavender pony with a pink mane and tail but had no symbol on her flank like the other ponies do.

“Your back! Your back!” shouted the small pony as she was jumping up and down, attracting everyone’s attention to her voice as they turned to look.

“Hey Ember,” said Firefly as she patted the little pony’s head. Ember giggled happily and then hugged Firefly which she returned the hug. She then looked up at the crowd who were looking at Michael curiously.

“Hey everyone, I am back, and I have brought back our Chosen Hero, Michael Afton! He’s going to help us to save our queen and Dream Valley!” Firefly announced.

“Now wait just a sec..” said Michael but he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because the next thing he knew, he was immediately surrounded by ponies and other magical creatures, practically invading his personal space. He can feel their hooves, claws, and hands clinging to him as if he were their life preserver. One of the hairballs, a purple Bushwoolie, managed to climb up on Michael and lay its furry body on top of his head as if it were his hat.

“We are saved!” said a female blue pony with a purple mane and tail who had twelve periwinkle stars on her flank said.

“Yeah, we are saved!” said the purple Bushwoolie, agreeing with the blue pony.

Everyone continued to crowd around Michael until a loud voice interrupted the commotion, causing others to stop and turn in the other direction of the left side of the cave. The voice belonged to a short old man with a white beard and mustache who looked like a dwarf. He’s an oversized green cap and green tunic robes.

“All right, everyone. Please step away from this young man so we can get acquainted as I’m sure he has lots of questions that need to be answered,” said the old man as he stroked his mustache.

The others complied and Michael had to take off the purple Bushwoolie from his head and place it on Firefly’s head instead, which she didn’t mind as the furball seemed happy to see her again. The elder dwarf approached Michael, looking up and down to inspect him.

“Greetings, Michael Afton,” he said. “I am Mr. Moochick, I am a gnome Mushroom Sage from Mushromp. You are here because Tarot’s crystal ball has foretold us the prophecy of you restoring the shards of the Rainbow of Light and saving our queen. Now come along, Chosen Hero. We have much to discuss of the situation.”Mr. Moochick turned around and signaled Michael to follow him. Firefly nudged him to get going which he did.

Firefly, Twilight, and the purple Bushwoolie followed along. They arrived at the left side of the corner that was covered with drapes which the gnome sage pulled back to reveal a room with a giant rock slab table at the center where they could see five more ponies. Three of them are Earth ponies, one is a unicorn, and the last one is a Pegasus. Mr. Moochick cleared his throat, and they all looked up from the books and maps that were spread out on the table while the orange unicorn looked up from her tarot cards.

“Everyone,” said Mr. Moochick. “The Chosen Hero, Michael Afton, has arrived from Earth. Michael, this is Magic Star, Nachtlicht, Sunburst, Tarot, and Wind Whistler.”

He pointed at the female yellow Earth pony with a green mane and tail and had a wand symbol on her flank, which was Magic Star. Nachtlicht and Sunburst are both male Earth ponies. Nachtlicht is a blue pony with a light blue, pink, and green mane and tail and has a white crescent moon with a two-star symbol. Sunburst is also yellow like Magic Star but has a red mane and tail and an orange sun peeking out of clouds. Tarot is a female orange unicorn pony with a dark orange mane and tail and her symbol is three tambourine symbols while Wind Whistler is a female blue Pegasus with a pink mane and tail with five pink whistles on her flank.

“Hello,” they said.

“Hello to you too,” said Michael but then he angrily turned to look at Mr. Moochick. “Can you or anyone else tell me what the hell is going on here? Who is this Tirac guy and how do I save my siblings? I need answers because I’m getting quite pissed off!”

“Calm down,” said Sunburst. “There’s no need for hostility here.”

“He’s right,” said Magic Star. “You need to tone down your anger, young man.”

“Tone down?! How can I when I...” Michael yelled but was cut off by Twilight’s hoof on his shoulder. “Michael, there’s no need to yell at Magic Star as you need to control your emotions. Please calm down so we can discuss calmly, and we can focus on a plan of how to rescue your siblings.”

“She’s right,” said Firefly. “You need to chillax if we want to kick Tirac’s butt.”

“Fine,” Michael grumbled in annoyance. “So how do we kick Tirac’s ass?”

“Mr. Moochick,” said Nachtlicht. “You may need to fill in our hero, so he knows what he’s up against if we need his help to save our ruler.”

“Yes, yes, you are quite right,” said Mr. Moochick. “Michael, please come over to the table where we can show you our story and how Tirac came to power.”

Michael grudgingly walked towards the stone table and sat down on the rock stump. The table glowed and it turned into some kind of a holographic-like map of Dream Valley. 

“Whoa!” he said. “How did you do that?”

“Magic,” said Twilight.

“As you can see, Michael, this is a map of Dream Valley,” said Mr. Moochick. “See that glowing blue dot there?” He used his cane to point at the dot’s location between the forest and the mountains. “This is our location and so far, you can see other locations of our enemies' locations as well.”

Michael just gazed at the map as it pretty much showed everything. The red dots were marking the other locations which were revealed to be Tirac’s follower's bases.

“Dream Valley wasn’t always a dark and desolate place,” said Mr. Moochick sadly. “It was a beautiful place full of life and joy, ruled by our kind but strong ruler, Queen Fleur-de-Lis Majesty. She kept our land safe by using a powerful weapon, the Rainbow of Light.”

As the gnome sage spoke, the map changed to floating images like a movie was playing. It showed what Dream Valley used to look like, and Michael can’t deny that it used to be beautiful. It has lots of greenery in the forest, blue lakes and rivers with waterfalls, colored flowers blooming across the fields and meadows while showing ponies frolicking around, clear blue skies with very little clouds that Pegasus ponies flying around on the rainbow arch, some farms that show fields of crops, and a beautiful castle town filled with other ponies and magical creatures.

Above the town is a large, pink beautiful castle with blue spires looking overhead. As the image slowly zooms into the castle balcony, he can see a beautiful white unicorn pony wearing a white gold tiara with blue lapis jewels on it alongside light blue pearls. Her mane has multiple buns with flowing blue and white hair, almost like her hair is made of silky mane. She’s also wearing a white gold necklace with the same lapis jewels and pearls, including a red heart-shaped locket.

The image showed a close-up look of the locket which is a ruby red color with a gold chain. It has a gold trim that is encrusted with small white diamonds on it. The locket opened and it showed a silver-white crystal ball that is about the size of a golf ball.  

“That silver crystal there is Rainbow of Light and that’s where she stores it inside the locket,” Mr. Moochick explained. “Our queen is connected to the crystal and only she has the power to wield it as well as restore everyone who is infected by the Rainbow of Darkness. But I’m afraid that the crystal has fallen into Tirac’s hands.”

“How did he get hold of it?” Michael asked.

“It all started when we were preparing for the Queen’s Festival,” said Twilight. “It was a big thing to celebrate every year how Majesty became our ruler, founded the town, how the Rainbow of Light formed, and her past journeys to inspire everyone for their destinies. Everyone was looking forward to this festival but…” she trailed off sadly. Firefly went up to Twilight to hug her for comfort. The unicorn pony sniffed and wiped away her tears as she looked up to Michael.

“Sorry,” she said, taking a deep breath to continue the story. “It all started one day in the afternoon. We had a few days left before the festival and everyone was getting prepared. We invited everyone from the territories and other kingdoms to celebrate those special days but that wasn’t the case. I remember that day, there were clear blue skies, and suddenly, a dark storm cloud appeared out of nowhere. We were not expecting a storm, but we sensed something wasn’t right.

We heard a roar as we looked up, we saw Tirac and its large army and overlords swarming down at us. None of us were prepared as it was a surprise attack due to Tirac recruiting other villains that we defeated in the past were teaming up along with the large army.”

While Twilight was telling Michael a story, the table showed the moving images of Tirac, his overlords, and his army attacking the town. The civilians were screaming in terror and fleeing. The queen’s army managed to put up a fight by using spears, hooves, bows and arrows, and head butting. Michael can see that Tirac is a huge, muscled centaur with a grayish-black body and has big, red-muscled arms that would make Mr. Universe look like a puny runt. His upper torso was black armor, and he was wearing a giant gold necklace. He has a red demonic face, wears a gold nose ring, and has black eyes with a yellow glowing cornea. He had giant bull-like horns, a white beard, wears gold gauntlets on his arms, and is wearing a pouch that is around his neck. The pouch was glowing with dark energy.

“Tirac has somehow acquired his weapon which is the Rainbow of Darkness,” said Mr. Moochick. “It is a very dangerous weapon, and it’ll attract anyone who has the evilest heart with ill intentions or has the negative energy.”

The image showed a dark brown pouch that Tirac wore that was pulsating like a beating heart as if it was alive. The pouch opened to reveal the Rainbow of Darkness, a dark purple and black stream shoots out then it aims at the pony and a humanoid being. The pony turned into a black stone while the humanoid turned into a hideous monster.

“As you can see, my boy,” said Mr. Moochick. “Tirac would use his power to control the Darkness and select the ones worthy enough to become monster slaves while others he deemed weak into black stone.”

“Do you guys know where this Darkness came from and how he got it?” Michael asked.

“We’re not entirely sure,” said Sunburst as he pushed his glasses up on his nose. “We don’t know much of its origins as it remains a mystery. There have been many theories of how and when the creation of the Rainbow of Darkness, but they remain inconclusive. I’m sure there are written documents about it, but they are either hidden away or most likely destroyed. What we do know is that it has a weakness which is the Rainbow of Light so that would be our best choice in action.”

“Majesty would have done that but sadly, that wasn’t the case,” said Twilight.

“What happened?” Michael asked.

“She attempted to use her Rainbow of Light against Tirac and the army, but the Rainbow didn’t do anything,” said Twilight.

“What do you mean, it didn’t do anything?” Michael demanded. “I thought you guys said that this Rainbow Light has the power to defeat Rainbow Darkness and that it's their weakness.”

“The beam shot out of the locket as it's expected,” said Twilight. “But it didn’t do any harm towards Tirac nor anyone in his army. Majesty was confused and horrified but as it turns out, Tirac revealed that the locket and the crystal she wore were a fake. Scorpan somehow got hold of the real locket with the crystal inside and handed it over to his leader. He also told her that one of his special minions switched the lockets one day and replaced the fake one.”

“Wait! So, someone from the inside replaced the real one with the fake and your queen was wearing it, not noticing the difference?” said Michael. “Wouldn’t she sense the magic difference or something?”

“That’s the strangest thing,” said Magic Star. “Whoever took the real one and replaced it with the phony one has a strong magic of disguise spell to fool anyone into thinking it’s the real Rainbow. The fake crystal was just an ordinary gem that shoots a beam of light but does nothing to harm anyone, just a light show.”

“The biggest question is who switched it?” said Nachtlicht. “Something tells me that either Tirac’s minions were using a disguise spell to blend in or even worse, we could have a spy who decided to betray our queen. Unfortunately, we are not sure who it is if that’s the case.”

“I really hope it’s Tirac’s minions and not our kind who betray us,” said Magic Star.

“Let’s hope not,” said Sunburst.

“We’ll worry about that part later,” said Firefly. “Twilight, finish the story to Mike so we can get started on our quest to kick Tirac’s butt.”

“Yes, I’m getting to that,” said Twilight. “Once Tirac grabbed the real one, he used his Rainbow of Darkness on Majesty to turn her into black stone. After that, he shattered the Rainbow of Light’s crystal ball into seven crystals and corrupted them by using the Rainbow of Darkness. He gave each of the crystals to his overlords so they can use that power to conquer other kingdoms, spreading Darkness even further.”

The table showed Tirac shattering the crystal into seven different colored crystals. The darkness swirled around and entered inside the crystals, turning the ones once colorful into black crystals. The overlords took each piece and showed all seven of them conquering the other kingdoms, darkening the territory. Michael was shocked to see what was happening.

“We fought as the best as we can, but it’s gotten so bad that we had no choice but to flee Dream Castle Town,” said Twilight. “My brother, Shining Armor, is the royal captain of Majesty’s army who stayed behind along with his other troops to buy us some time to gather the civilians and evacuate the town. Sadly, my brother was turned into a monster, including his troops. Some of us managed to escape to the secret underground that leads toward Everfree Forest, but Scorpan and the Stratadons spotted us.

“They flew down to attempt to capture the rest of the civilians, causing them to panic and scatter in different directions. Some of them were captured and taken to Tirac’s castle. Spike, Majesty’s baby dragon, stayed behind to give others a chance to escape by using his fire. I don’t know what happened to him, but I hope he’s escaped and is hiding somewhere safe.

“The others who survived the capture were able to make it here safely and so far, none of the enemies do not know of our secret hideout so we are safe. It’s been weeks and most of the other refugees were forced to hide in caves or underground to avoid Tirac’s army. We had to send out the air patrols go out and find some food, water, medicine, and other supplies as our resources were dwindling fast. We don’t know how much longer our refugees can last as we could face starvation or severe illness.

“The other air patrols were sent out to spy in Tirac’s castle to find any new information or new battle plans so they can report back to us undetected so we can be prepared.

“Tirac’s castle is protected by a dark magical shield due to the overlord's corrupted Rainbow of Light crystals. Technically, we can pass through the barrier but…,” said Twilight.

“But what? What’s the problem?” Michael asked.

“The predicament is that their obstruction is a gesture tracker,” said Wind Whistler.

“What the heck does that mean, in English?” said Michael, looking confused and annoyed by the blue Pegasus vocabulary.

“What she means is that the barrier is a motion detection as if anyone goes through, it’ll alert Tirac and other enemies,” Sunburst translated.

“That’s what I just said,” Wind Whistler muttered with a sigh.

“How do you know it’s a motion detector?” Michael asked Sunburst.

“One of our air patrols, Whizzer, flew in there too quickly despite the warnings we told her after what happened to Cloud Chaser,” said Sunburst. “It triggered an alarm and one of the canon beams was activated, turning her into black stone.”

“Skydancer was able to figure out how to get in undetected by going in at snails’ pace,” said Twilight.

“How did she figure it out?” said Michael.

“She saw the difference between the snail and bird’s speed. Some of the birds flew in quickly, triggering an alarm, and the beams turned them into stones. The snail, however, didn’t act as it was really slow and it didn’t alert anyone. That’s how she’s able to figure it out and let the other air patrols do the same,” Twilight explained. “Unfortunately, Whizzer was too impatient, and look what happened to her. That’s how Skydancer was able to witness Tirac’s plan of other worlds' invasion, including your world, and was planning to use your siblings as the keys to open a large portal for his army. If he succeeds, your world will also suffer the same fate as Dream Valley”

“You are our final hope, Michael Afton,” said Mr. Moochick. “We need you to save us, our queen, our world, and everyone else’s as the crystal ball has foretold the prophecy.”

“Hold up, just because the crystal ball tells you that I’m the ‘hero’ and supposed to ‘save’ everyone, I can’t,” Michael protested. “There is no way I can do that as it’s impossible. I’m only here to save Evan and Elizabeth and go home before Dad finds out, nothing else. As long I got them, he can’t use them to open a portal to Earth and we should be good.”

“I know you want to rescue your siblings, and we understand that, we too want to rescue our friends and family who are also captured,” said Twilight. “But to do that, we need the Rainbow of Light to restore Majesty so she can use it to defeat Tirac. Without it, you’ll stand no chance against him as he is a very powerful wizard. Even without his Rainbow of Darkness, he can still cause great harm. The Rainbow of Light is our only hope if you want to save your siblings. We need to restore the crystals and defeat him before he uses the kids in three days.”

“Three days? What happens in the final day?” Michael asked.

“The final day is when the full moon is at peak at midnight, he’ll use your brother and sister as keys to open the portal to your world,” said Mr. Moochick. “It’s very important that we find the crystals of the Rainbow of Light and restore the queen so we can stop him.”

“Ugh, so it looks like I have no choice then,” Michael sighed. “So where did I come in?”

“It was I, Tarot, as my crystal has spoken to me,” said Tarot.  “You will be the one to restore the lost crystals of the Rainbow of Light and free our ruler from her stone prison so she can defeat the evil emperor once and for all.”

“Wait just a second,” Michael held up his hand. “You guys told me that your queen is the only pony that can use this light power but since it’s shattered and corrupted, how I am going to restore it let alone put them back together?”

“There is a way,” said Mr. Moochick. “The locket that Majesty always wore has the power to purify the corrupted gems and can reform them into one crystal ball. The locket is very special to her as it’s a family heirloom that is passed down many generations.”

“Okay, so the locket can do that, that’s great to hear,” said Michael. “But why are the crystals in different colors before the corruption? Wasn’t it always a silver crystal ball?”

“There are seven crystals that originated from other kingdoms and lands and have some history with them,” said Mr. Moochick. “But I’ll save that for another time as right now, we need to get the locket back safe and sound. Once the locket is retrieved, I will explain more of a backstory of the seven Rainbow crystals.”

“That’s fair so, where can I find the locket? The real one I mean,” Michael asked.

“It was last seen at the Dream Castle,” said Twilight. “One of our Pegasus friends, Locket, took the queen’s locket and went inside the castle to hide it so Tirac and others would not find it. It’s been weeks since we last saw her and feared the worst.”

“Does that mean he has gotten the hold of the queen’s locket?” Michael cried out in horror.

“No, at least that’s what our air patrols told us,” said Mr. Moochick. “They have been checking to see any word if he’s got hold of it or not but so far, he was unable to find it as Locket hid it very well. As long Tirac does not possess the item, we are safe for now.”

“That’s a relief,” said Michael. “So, all I have to do is to go to that castle and find that locket. Piece of cake.”

“Not so fast, young man,” said Mr. Moochick as he held his hand up to Michael’s face to stop him. “While I admire your courage and determination, there’s an obstacle in your way.”

“Oh great, here it comes,” Michael grumbled, just when he thought it would be easy but no, there’s always something else. “What obstacle?”

“Crunch the Rockdog,” said Wind Whistler.

“Crunch? Who is that?” Michael asked.

“He’s a giant rock dog who was the queen’s royal guard dog,” said Magic Star. “While he’s tough as stone, he’s a big softie but not anymore.”

“What do you mean, not anymore?” Michael demanded.

“Scorpan took the Heart Stone from Crunch,” said Twilight. “Without it, Crunch becomes heartless and evil with no feelings. He is now being used to guard the Dream Castle to prevent anyone from coming in.”

“Tirac knew that Locket hid the queen’s locket inside the castle, hence why his general took the heart and used Crunch to be their guard dog instead,” said Sunburst. “We already sent Flash Magnus and Rockhooves to retrieve the locket, but they were turned to stone by Crunch when he touched them. Medley was able to escape and report back. We sent out a few more ponies and others like Bushwoolies, Troggles, etc. but they too suffered the same fate.”

“Then how the hell are we supposed to get past him without getting turned to stone?” Michael demanded as he was getting frustrated. “What about the underground you guys escaped him? Wouldn’t that be easier to get past him?”

“We would have but it was caved in due to preventing other monsters from coming after us,” said Twilight. “So, we can’t use that path.”

“So, our only option is the surface and facing that stone dog?” Michael asked.

“Yes, and there is a way to get past him,” said Mr. Moochick. “Starshine told me on her way back, she spotted Beezen, an evil wizard who works for Tirac, holding a Heart Stone. He and his henchman, Diamond Dogs, were last seen at the entrance of the cave in the Eminence Mountains. That is where Crunch the Rockdog was born along with the Heart Stone. I will mark the cave entrance to the map for you.”

He pointed at the map table using his staff as it showed the Eminence Mountains and a trail that leads to Beezen’s cave hideout that isn’t too far from the forest.

“That will be your first journey to your quest,” said Mr. Moochick. “There is another exit of this cave that will take you through the forest and into the mountains. The forest trees will provide some cover so none of the Stratadons will see you and I advise you to stay out of open spaces. Follow the river and it will lead you to Beezen’s cave. Once you are there, you must retrieve the Heart Stone but be warned, that wizard is guarded by his Diamond Dogs so tread carefully.”

“Got it,” said Michael.

“Once you retrieve the Heart Stone,” said Mr. Moochick. “You must head over to Dream Castle immediately to save Crunch. Once he turns good again, he will help you and his victims will be freed. You’ll have no problems entering the castle as Crunch will be on your side. Find the queen’s locket and return here immediately so we can discuss the next task of recovering the Rainbow crystals of the Rainbow of Light.”

“Sounds like a good plan. I’m in,” said Michael.

“I’m in too so let's get going!” said Firefly. “Finally, we get to do something!”

“Count me in too,” said Twilight. “If we’re going against Beezen’s magic, you're going to need my help.”

“Hey, ya’ll,” a southern Texan accent called out. “Ya’ll not be leaving me behind for some adventures.”

They all turned their heads around to see a female light orange Earth pony with a yellow mane and tail and five red apples on her flank. She has freckles on her cheeks, wears a light brown cowboy hat, and is carrying a lasso rope around her torso.

“Yo, Applejack!” said Firefly. “You're coming along too?”

“I sure am,” said Applejack. “I can lasso those Diamond Dogs like no problem and kick those boulders out of the way.”

“Awesome!” said Firefly happily. “We can use your help as you are one of the strongest ponies here next to Rockhooves and can lasso anyone dead in their tracks.”

“Aw shucks, you’re making me blush,” said Applejack.

“I’m coming as well,” said another voice as the female yellow Earth pony with a blue mane and tail stepped out next to Applejack. She has a white diamond on her face, four blue and five green bubbles on her flank, and is wearing a pack that carries a strange-looking bubble gun-like weapon. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear and I wanted to help as I know my way around the mountains. I can use my Bubbler to weaken the boulders to make it easier for Applejack to kick them down.”

“Hey Bubbles,” said Firefly as she took off the purple Bushwoolie from her head and placed it down on the ground. “It’s cool and we can use your help as well. The more, the merrier!”

“Then that settles it,” said Mr. Moochick as he led Michael and four ponies out to the back of the cave. He opened the exit and turned to them. “I wish you all the best and safe travels, my friends.”

“Yeah, safe travels, my friends,” said the purple Bushwoolie as he waved at them.

Michael and his pony friends exited out of the cave as Mr. Moochick closed the boulder behind them. They are outside in a forest but thankfully, the trees are high and thick as they protect them from being seen by enemies. There were some open spaces but remembered the warnings, so he stuck by the shading area. Bubbles spotted the river not far from the distance and pointed it with her hoof.

“I see the river! Follow me, guys,” said Bubbles as she ran towards the path trail that was next to the river.

“Wait up!” Applejack yelled as she ran after her, the rest followed till they caught up to her.

Firefly flew about a few inches from the ground and flew alongside next to Michael. She turned to him and grinned.

“Isn’t it exciting, Mike?” she said. “We are going to kick Beezen and Dog’s butts and get that Heart Stone to make Crunch on our side again. It’s going to be so awesome!”

“Yes, very exciting,” said Michael sarcastically. “Just as long we can rescue my siblings in time before Dad comes home and kills me.”

“You got nothing to worry about,” said Firefly. “With all of us together, we can take anyone down!”

“Simmer down there, Sugarcubes,” said Applejack. “Let’s not get too carried away. Beezen is a trickster so we shouldn’t underestimate him.”

“If we go through with my plan, we can easily defeat that evil wizard,” said Twilight.

As the other ponies continued to talk, Michael was left to his thoughts. He wanted to save his siblings first and leave but since that’s out of the question, his only option was to help the ponies to find and restore the Rainbow crystals to save their queen. But they must get the Heart Stone first to get past the ruler’s guard dog to retrieve the locket inside the castle.

Michael wasn’t so sure of the mission and could only hope things would go smoothly without any trouble. He continued his journey with his new pony companions so he could save Evan and Elizabeth from Tirac.

Michael has now learned the history of Dream Valley and is now on a mission to find the Heart Stone to make Crunch the Rockdog good again. Will Michael and his friends succeed in their mission? Find out on the next chapter! :3

Notes

I used some of the names and places from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Such as adding the cowboy hat for Applejack or adding Cloud Chaser as she's a Pegasus from Friendship is Magic.

So yes, I made Celestia, Luna, and Cadence the only three alicorns in existence. I would have added Twilight Sparkle as the fourth but chose not to as there's already a Twilight character and it would just create some confusion. No, I don't hate Alicorn Twilight as I enjoy her along with the unicorn version, I just didn't want to put her in it so please respect my decision. No, the G1 Twilight will not become an Alicorn in this series if you are planning to ask.

Equestria exists as a separate continent across the ocean which I named Seaquestria. 

The seven Rainbow crystals and silver crystal were sort of based on an idea similar to the Sailor Moon Dark Kingdom arc (or Negaverse in English Dub) as the story was to find seven crystals then it formed into the silver crystal. The only difference is that they're not locked inside of people and cat but rather they're from different kingdoms which I will make sense soon.

As for the Rainbow of Darkness, I don't have an idea for its origins as I'm still trying to come up with a backstory. Hopefully, the ideas will come but for now, it'll remain a mystery. 

I based Tirac a mix of both G1 and FIM versions. I liked the FIM design version but kept the gold jewelry on him including his evil personality from the G1 version. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

The group continued their journey as they followed the river that would lead to the Eminence Mountains. They heard Stratadons roar in the distance and quickly hid behind the trees to keep out of their sight as a precaution. Thankfully, the flying creatures were too far and didn’t see the group.

“That was close,” said Bubbles nervously.

“Good thing they were going the opposite direction,” said Applejack. “Last thing we need is to draw their attention to us.”

“Aww, I was kind of hoping we could get some action, like kicking the Stratadon’s butt!” said Firefly as she did a punching motion.

“Absolutely not!” said Twilight sharply. “If we try to fight, Tirac will know what we’re up to and put a stop to our quest. That is the last thing we need is to get captured, and we’ll never be able to save our queen or our world!”

“Okay! Okay! I get it!” said Firefly as she threw her hooves up in frustration. “It's just that I’m getting bored and we’ve done nothing but walk the whole time for Celestia knows how long.”

“You mean flying? You didn’t even walk, as the four of us don’t have wings,” said Twilight with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, really?” Firefly snapped, flying lower to get to Twilight’s level. “If you…”

Michael was shocked to see that the two ponies were already tensed and ready to fight one another. It reminded him of his fight with Jeremy Fitzgerald and his other friends; it hadn’t ended well, and he no longer hung out with them. He thought back to that day.

It was his first year of high school, and he remembered it was supposed to be his best years ahead. He was excited about having/throwing parties, staying out later, hanging out with other friends, and even getting girls. At least Michael thought this was going to be a good freshman year, but sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.

Two weeks after his freshman year started, he got the worst news of his life. He remembered that day he was called to the office and was shocked to see his father there, looking sad. Michael at first thought he was in trouble, but it turned out that his mother had fallen ill and was at the hospital. According to the doctors, she won’t live long, so his father wanted to take Michael and his siblings out of the school to see her before she passes on.

The Afton family has arrived at the hospital and allowed one family member in to spend time of their final moments with Clara Afton. His father went in first, then Elizabeth, then Evan, and finally, Michael.

Michael was able to see her passing as he was struggling not to cry. She was hooked up to tubes and was looking pale, on the verge of death. Despite that, she just smiled at him and held his hands.

“Michael, sweetie,” his mother said softly. “This is not a final goodbye; I’ll always be there for you and our family.”

“But why?!” Michael cried as he broke down, tears pouring down his cheeks. “I just started high school, and now you're leaving all of us. Why now?”

He buried into her hand, clinging to his dear life, and cried. She stroked his head, which would be the last thing his mother would do for him.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said. “Sometimes, life has other plans for everyone, even if they didn’t want to take part in them. No matter what happens, even if things look or go bad, something good will come out of it, but only you can make it happen. If you haven’t, you’ll only lead to life of misery.”

Those were the last words she gave to her son before she went silent. Michael could no longer feel the warmth or movement as he looked up to see that her mother’s eyes were closed. He heard the final beep on the monitor before it turned to a straight line, signaling that she was no longer with him. He burst into tears and sobbed into her hand, refusing to let go.

After Clara Afton passed away, the family wasn’t the same again. His father would work longer hours, become stricter with Michael, and make him look after his siblings a lot more, such as cleaning and cooking. Elizabeth became more demanding while Evan became quieter and withdrawn.

Michael returned to school a week later, and he was a completely different person. He would often get into fights with Jeremy and his friends, as he was bitter and jealous of them for having mothers that are still alive. He stopped hanging out with them and joined a new gang that has a bad reputation in the town. He joined in by bullying other classmates, including his former friends. He would shove them, sucker punch them, steal their money, and vandalize their lockers.

His family life wasn’t any better. As his father worked, he would often drink, and the two would fight like cats and dogs. William would spend more time with his siblings by comforting them, but when it came to his eldest, it always ended up in a fight. Due to his father's working longer hours, the responsibility would fall on Michael, who resented his siblings' presence, and they would always get love from their dad but never from him. Michael blamed his mother for passing away, as he felt that if she were still there, the family wouldn’t fall apart. He was alone with no family and no friends.

Applejack’s voice interrupted Michael’s thoughts as he snapped back to reality. He looked up to see an orange Earth pony getting in the middle of the pink unicorn and Pegasus ponies, diffusing the fight.

“Ok, simmer down, you two,” said Applejack sternly. “Bickering will get us nowhere in our quest. I get it, we’re all tired, hungry, anxious, and stressed. But none of us will get anywhere by fighting amongst ourselves; we all need to work together because all of us are great friends. Our queen is the reason why everyone in the kingdom is stronger and united, thanks to her power of friendship. Firefly, I know you want to fight, but save your strength for Beezen and his henchman, as we’ll need it. Twilight, I understand that you're scared and worried but thinking like that all the time will not make our quest easier. We rely on you to keep your head straight if we need to get our quest going.”

“Applejack is right,” said Bubbles. “We are stronger together because nothing can come between our friendship. Don’t let Tirac get in the way of that, or we’ll lose.”

“You know something, AJ?” said Firefly as she gently floated down to the ground. “You're absolutely right! I was going crazy because of everything, and I just want our home back, including our family and friends. Thanks for being honest, and Twilight? I’m sorry for how I acted. It wasn’t cool of me to do that.”

“I’m sorry too, Firefly,” said Twilight as she had tears in her eyes, looking happy. “Thanks for knocking some sense into me, AJ. It’s just like what you said, I am very stressed and scared. It's just that I’m worried about everyone, and I miss Spike. If he were here, he would be the one knocking my sense into me and encouraging me to keep on going. Like Firefly, I want our life back the way it was before Tirac came to power.”

“Now that’s what we’re talking about!” said Applejack, grinning. “Group hug!”

“GROUP HUG!!” said the other three as they all stood up on their hind legs and hugged together.

Michael watched as the four ponies who were arguing earlier were able to make up easily and move on. He couldn’t help but feel jealous of them as he wished he could have made up with his old friends. He was even planning to call Jeremy, as he missed him terribly, before Tirac’s general came along and kidnapped his siblings. He was afraid that he wouldn’t talk to him due to Michael treating him like crap.

His thoughts were interrupted again as Twilight was calling him to move along, as they were already ahead of him. He quickly ran up to catch up with them so he wouldn’t be left behind, even though he’s already feeling it.

As they continued their journey, Applejack noticed the human teens were deep in thought and not speaking at all. She nudged him with her hoof to get his attention.

“Hey there, sugar cube,” she said softly. “You haven’t talked much since we started this journey. Is something wrong?”

“Oh! Uh...” said Michael uncomfortably as he looked away. “It's just with you guys fighting and all, you managed to make things up when you fought each other. How are you able to do that without killing each other?”

“Well,” she said. “It’s true that we’re all stressed out, especially Twilight, as she was very close to the queen, and seeing her turned to stone, she’s fallen apart. Her brother was turned into a monster by Tirac, and Spike is missing, as we don’t know if he was turned into a stone or into a monster. Spike and her brother are the only family members she has left. That is why she is so dead set on this quest.”

“Doesn’t she and her brother have parents?” Michael asked.

“Their parents passed away when Twilight was a filly due to an illness that got both of them,” Applejack said. “Her brother, Shining Armor, had to look after her, so it was just the two of them until Spike came along.”

“How did Spike become Twilight’s son?” he asked. Applejack laughed at Michael’s comment before calming herself down.

“Son? Twilight treats him like a younger brother than a son,” she said with a chuckle. “Twilight wanted to attend the magic school, but you need to pass the entrance test to see if you're worthy enough to enter. The tests are random, so no one will guess or prepare themselves for what they’re up against. Twilight’s test was to make the dragon egg hatch, and if she fails, she won’t be accepted. After a few tries, she was able to do it, but her magic went haywire, which drew the Queen’s attention. She had to calm her down and the magic, but the good news is that Twilight passed, and Spike became a new member of their family.”

“Wait, how did they get the egg to begin with?” Michael asked. “Did they ask his mother for permission?”

“Well, no,” she said.

“Wait, don’t tell me you guys stole the egg from his parents?!” Michael cried out, looking horrified. The other three ponies heard him shout and trotted over to him. “That’s messed up, you kidnapped the egg, and I bet his mother was worried sick! What the hell is wrong with you guys?!”

“Calm your horses, sugar cube!” said Applejack, holding her hoof in front of him. “We didn’t kidnap anyone, I swear on Celestia and Luna.”

“What’s with all the shouting?” Bubbles asked.

“Michael misunderstood about Spike’s egg and thinks we kidnapped him,” Applejack explained. “Twilight, can you clear this up with him?”

“Oh, that’s what it's all about?” said Twilight. “I guess you told him about the entrance exam I passed for the magic school?”

“Yes, that part,” said Applejack.

“I’ll take over then,” said Twilight, then she turned to look at him.

“Spill it already!” Michael demanded as he walked towards the pink unicorn pony angrily. “Did your Queen kidnap Spike and take him away from his mother? That’s a cruel thing to do with a kid, and I bet his mother is crying her heart out, thinking her son is dead!”

“What?! She would never do such a thing!” Twilight protested. “She’s not that kind of pony who would do such a horrible thing.”

“Are you sure about that!?” Michael yelled. “Maybe she’s not who you think she is!”

“You don’t know her as well as I do, and don’t you dare talk like that about our queen!” Twilight yelled back.

“Why the hell not?” he snarled as he leaned in closer to Twilight’s face.

“Back off, Michael!” said Firefly as she flew quickly in front of her unicorn friend, blocking his path. “The queen wouldn’t do that, and I’m not going to let you trash-talk about it, nor get closer to my friend with the way you're acting. I like you, but I don’t like your attitude and I’m not going to stand by when you're getting all hostile towards her and everyone.”

“She’s right,” said Applejack. “There’s no need to be aggressive to us; at least give us a chance to explain, as you're clearly misunderstanding everything.”

“I agree with Applejack,” said Bubbles. “You're starting to scare us, and you're supposed to be our ‘hero’ to save us. Is something bothering you that makes you angry? We can talk about it as I can see you're upset.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me, okay?” Michael snapped. “I just want to know what is going on, and I just want to get my siblings back before my dad finds out and threatens to kick my ass!”

“We get it, man,” said Firefly. “You're also stressed like Twilight was earlier. That’s why we’re all in this together.”

“Aww, thanks, Firefly,” said Twilight, looking touched. “This is why we all loved you. You are so loyal to everyone, even when things get rough. We are so lucky and proud to be your friends!”

“That is why Firefly is the most loyal pony of all Dream Valley,” said Applejack with a grin. “Group hug again!”

All four ponies immediately hugged each other happily, forgetting the teen was there. Michael couldn’t help but feel like the biggest jerk as he came really close to wanting to beat those ponies up. He saw how well they got along, and it made him feel miserable as it reminded him of his former friends.

He was even impressed that Firefly had no problem going against him if he attempted to harm her others. She has shown deep loyalty to her pony friends, and he was like that with Jeremy and others. But he ended up betraying his best friend and turned against him as he joined the gang. It's been two years since he last spoke to his former friends.

The gang he joined was only loyal when it benefited them, not out of friendship or kindness. If you mess up, they will not back you up and leave you behind; you're on your own. Michael had seen it before on previous members and was determined not to let that happen to him. Sadly, it did. He thought back to him when he was betrayed by his gang two weeks ago.

Michael and the gang were at the mall later at night. The mall was closed, but they were able to break in using the crowbar so they could steal some money as well, and other stuff they could find.

“Yo, Mike,” said the gang leader named Hutch. “You get the arcade section to bust out the money. Get to the cash register while you're at it.”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem,” said Michael as he took his own crowbar and snuck in quietly to the arcade.

He managed to break the first row of the arcade machines and got tons of quarters from them. He also got the dollar bills from the quarter machine that people would use to replace quarters for the arcades as tokens. Michael then headed over to the cash register at the back, next to the prize counter. He used the crowbar to pry it open, which wasn’t easy. But he was able to get it open and was amazed at so much cash he could take.

“Jackpot!” he said with a grin. He took some cash and stuffed it in his backpack but was interrupted by a loud sound. That’s when it dawned on him, somehow, either he or another gang member had tripped the alarm. It was blaring so loud that anyone across the mall could hear it. He knew it was not good and wouldn’t be long before security would come barging in.

“Aw, crap!” Michael cried out as he quickly jammed all the money in the backpack and ran. He spotted Hutch and the others near the fountain as they too, were scrambling out.

“We need to get the hell out of here right now!” Hutch yelled. “Just don’t get caught by security! If you do, you're on your own!”

They all ran towards the nearest exit they had entered earlier but were blocked by the cops who arrived at the scene.

“FREEZE! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!” yelled one cop as he drew out a gun.

“Shit!” Hutch shouted. “Find another way out! Spread out!”

The gang split up to lose the cops and make their escape. Michael almost made it out, but he was tackled by a cop.

“GOTCHA!” said the cop as he and another cop wrestled the teen, putting handcuffs on him.

“LET ME GO!” Michael yelled angrily.

“Let’s go, son,” said the cop as he roughly pulled Michael from the ground and outside of the mall to the police cruiser. He put him in the back and slammed the door. Michael looked around and didn’t see any of his gang friends. The cop entered the car and was speaking on the radio, mentioning that they only caught one as the rest got away. Michael couldn’t believe that his gang didn’t back him up despite knowing their reputation for not caring, but he held a faint hope that they would stick by him. It wasn’t the case, and that’s when he learned the hard way that he couldn’t count on anyone but himself.

Michael was interrogated, got his mugshot taken, and spent the night in jail. This was not his first time getting caught; he was arrested for vandalizing buildings, breaking into some cars to steal some cash, and shoplifting. This was his first time spending the night in jail. His father bailed him out in the morning and took him home, where he got yelled at by him.

“I am so disappointed in you, Michael!” his father angrily said. “You were already on a dangerous path of becoming a career criminal!! I can’t keep bailing you every damn time you break a law! What in the hell is wrong with you?!”

Michael just rolled his eyes as he was used to this pointless lecture. Every time he got caught, his father would bail him out, yelling ensuing, and grounding followed. Michael has long stopped caring about his father’s approval, as he feels that no matter what he does, it's never good enough or gets ignored.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, young man,” his father said sternly, feeling frustrated with not going through his eldest son. “I’m trying to help you as I’m very worried about you.”

“Oh, so now you suddenly ‘cared’ about me?” said Michael sarcastically. “You didn’t give a damn about me; all you cared about was your work and siblings. But when it comes to me, all you do is yell at me and bark orders at me like I’m a dog or something!”

“That is not true, Michael!” he said. “I do care about you, and I love you very much, as you are my son.”

“Sure, you are,” Michael snapped back. “Like I’m going to believe all of that crap you just said.”

“I am being honest, son,” said William. “I want to help you but you're not letting me. You were not like this before, and we never raised you to be like this. Whatever happened to our good son and loving protective brother? Your mother would be disappointed in you if she were here. You're setting a terrible example for your siblings.”

Hearing those words that came out of his father’s mouth just made the teen snap in anger. How dare he say that about his mother? It just made Michael even angrier as he walked towards him, fuming.

“Don’t you ever fucking say that!” Michael yelled as he jabbed his finger at his father’s chest. “I am so sorry that I’m not the perfect son you wanted because, news flash! Just because I look like you doesn’t mean I act like you, I am my own damn person! You only loved me if I acted like a little clone of you. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not! It’s not my fault that this family is falling apart! You work all the damn time, and you never spend any time with me, just Evan and Elizabeth. You always give them love and comfort but where’s mine? All you do is yell at me or force me to look after them and when I do that, you don’t even thank me for it! It’s like I don’t fucking exist! You keep saying I’m disappointing to you and why can’t I be more like this or that? I’m sick of it!”

“Michael…” his father tried to interrupt but Michael wouldn’t allow it as he kept on raging.

“Why don’t you come out and just say it, father?!” he yelled angrily. “You hate me! You hate me because I am not the perfect son you wanted me to be and you're ashamed of me to the point you wish I weren’t born but prefer Evan and Elizabeth as they’re your favorite kids! It’s mom’s fault for leaving us and if she were here, this family wouldn’t be broken!”

Michael knew he shouldn’t mention his mother like that because the next thing he knew, his father slapped him on his cheek so hard, he fell over. He put his hand on his cheek as it stung, feeling a bruise coming on. Michael’s tears were spilling over but he refused to cry in front of William. He wiped them up quickly and looked up to see his father. He can see his father’s angry face but also looks regretful. He lowered his hand and looked at Michael.

“Never blame your mother’s death for this situation,” he said coldly. “How could you say that? She didn’t intend to get sick on purpose and leave us behind. Some things are beyond our control, and we don’t have a choice but to accept them, even if it hurts us. I never want to hear you saying anything like that again. Now go to your room and you're grounded for two weeks.”

“FINE!!” yelled Michael as he got up and stormed to his room, slamming his bedroom door shut. He angrily kicked his bean bag chair across the room and jumped to his bed, face down on a pillow. He was angry at his father. Why can’t he understand how Michael feels? Every time he tries to open his feelings, it just creates another fight so why bother? His father doesn’t care about him; he cares more about his job and his siblings. He felt bad for blaming his mother but at the same time, he's angry that she’s gone. He hated his life and just cried on the pillow, feeling alone in this world.

“Yo, Mike? Are you listening?” Firefly’s voice interrupted Michael’s thoughts about his memory. He looked up to see a Pegasus pony flying in front of him.

“Huh, what?” said Michael, looking confused as he nearly forgot about the ponies.

“Twilight was just telling you about how the Queen found Spike, and you weren’t listening,” said Bubbles. “You were spacing out, as your mind wasn’t there.”

“She’s right,” said Twilight. “Are you alright? Your face looks sad and as if you were about to cry. Did something happen?”

“Of course I’m alright!” Michael quickly said. “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m all good to go.”

“You sure about that?” said Applejack, frowning as her face showed once again, she didn’t buy it. “You can tell us, sugar cube. Whatever is bothering you, we can help.”

“I’m fine!” Michael snapped. “I can take care of myself, and I’m not here to talk about my personal life, just Spike, so we can move on with our lives!”

“Simmer down there, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “There’s no need to get upset, as we’re just worried about you. If you're not ready to talk about it yet, that’s fine but one of those days, you do need to let it out as it’s not good for you to keep bottling things up. It’ll just hurt you in the end.”

Michael grumbled at the orange earth pony’s response. There is no way he can tell them about his life because they will not understand. Once he rescues the siblings, they’ll leave this world, and he’ll never see them again.

“Fine, but what were you saying before?” he asked.

“As I was saying,” said the pink unicorn.

“I can assure you that we are not the kind of animals to do so. The queen was the one who found the egg one day on her travels, and it was the only one that survived, as something, or someone, attacked the dragon’s nest. All the eggs were destroyed except for Spike’s egg. She checked the rest of the area, as most of the dragons were dead, including his parents.”

“Has she ever found out who attacked them?” Michael asked.

“Sadly, no,” said Twilight. “It’s a mystery, and there was nothing more she could do except to take the egg with her and keep it warm, as she didn’t want to leave it behind. That’s when she decided to use it for my surprise exam, as Spike was overdue to hatch. My brother and I raised him, and he became a member of a family.”

“I see, sorry for accusing you guys of being thieves,” said Michael, feeling like a jackass. He was relieved that they didn't kidnap the baby dragon, but sad that he lost his mother, much like Michael had. The only difference is that Spike will never know his birthmother, and he couldn't help but feel sad for the little guy.

“No worries, Mike,” she said with a smile. “I understand why, as you cared about Spike and his birth parents. I too thought that, but Majesty told me of what happened, and she would never have dreamed of taking a child away from the parents unless something serious happens.”

“While we’re at it,” said Applejack. “How are we able to keep our friendship together. Sure, we fought and disagreed on some things, but no matter what happens, we still make up and remain friends. Not even Tirac can stop our friendship.”

“I... I see,” said Michael, shocked to see how those ponies are forgiving his attitude so quickly. Normally, others wouldn't forgive his actions and leave him be, so he couldn't understand why the ponies are so trusting towards him. 

“Do you have friends back where you came from?” Twilight asked.

He flinched when she asked him; he couldn’t very well deny that he had friends, but not anymore, as he had treated them badly. Michael could not tell the ponies that as they would see him differently, nor would they understand.

“Mike, you okay there?” Applejack was nudging him with her hoof, as she was looking concerned. “You're spacing out again. Something on your mind?”

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “I was just lost in thoughts and was thinking of my siblings as well as this quest we’re doing.”

“Okay,” she said, although her expression tells him that she didn’t buy it. “We need to buckle up if we want to get to the mountains and grab the Heart Stone.”

“Right,” said Twilight. “Let’s keep on going.”

The group resumed walking on the path. Michael was walking ahead of them but the four ponies who followed him behind decided to talk amongst themselves. They spoke quietly so the human boy wouldn’t hear their conversation.

“Sheesh, what is this guy’s problem?” Firefly whispered, frowning. “He’s cool, but his behavior was all over the place; he’s getting moody and angrier lately. He needs to chillax as he really needs it.”

“I agree,” said Applejack. “I thought he was stressed because of his sibling's abduction but something tells me that our hero is not being honest with us.”

“You know, AJ? I think you're right,” said Firefly, looking serious. “When I first came to his house, he was really hostile to me and thought I was working for Tirac. Scorpan had already taken his siblings before I got here, and the house was wrecked because of the Stratadons. It took some time before I was able to get him to trust me.”

“Now that I think about it,” said Twilight, putting her hoof on her chin. “I noticed whenever we mentioned our friendship, his behavior changed, and it looks like he’s feeling left out. His face looks bitter but also sad, as if he’s about to cry.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have any friends,” said Bubbles.

“Or perhaps he does but something bad happened,” said Twilight. “It’s possible he lost them due to unknown circumstances, or they got into a fight and never resolved. I don’t know what happened, but he won’t open up as it looks like he doesn’t trust us.”

“We are strangers to him and magic is most likely not a thing where he came from, judging by the way he witnesses at the map table,” said Applejack.

“He was also hostile to Twilight when she mentioned Spike’s egg and his family,” said Bubbles. “Michael legit thought the Queen stole the egg from Spike’s family, and his face looks like he’s about to cry about Spike’s mother. He was ready to defend Spike as well.”

“He mentioned his father a lot but never about his mother,” said Firefly. “Come to think of it, he never spoke about her either. I wonder what happened to her?”

“I would ask but something tells me that would make it worse,” said Twilight. “He’s already in a foul mood, so it’s best not to ask till the time is right.”

“Even Michael tells me he’s not a ‘chosen hero’,” said Firefly. “He mentions he’s a juvenile delinquent and got into trouble with the law, even spending a night in jail. It would explain why he’s angry and moody all the time.”

“That makes sense,” said Applejack. “He must have felt ashamed of his past and didn’t want to tell us. But if what you're saying is true, Firefly, he can’t be as bad as he makes himself out to be. If he were, he wouldn’t agree to come here nor be overprotective about Spike’s egg.”

“You're right, AJ,” said Twilight. “He never even met Spike before and already he’s overprotective, which shows he is a good person. Not to mention, he wouldn’t come here to rescue his siblings. Good people wouldn’t do either of those things. Despite his past, he’s a good person deep inside bu doesn’t realize it. He’ll need our help to solve a friendship problem, whether he wants it or not.”

“He’ll be a tough bubble to pop,” said Bubbles. “It’s going to be difficult for him to open up to us.”

“The more he hangs out with us, maybe he’ll open up and tell us how he really feels,” said Firefly. “We just need to get him to lighten up and be less of a grumpy jerk.”

“You're right,” said Twilight, smiling. “While we’re focusing on our quest, we can also help him to show the magic of friendship and perhaps, he’ll let us help him. We just need to be patient and take things slowly. After all, he is our chosen hero.”

Michael kept on walking until he stopped as he was on the path that goes through the mountains. He turned around and saw four ponies lagging behind; they were talking and giggling. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but he was sure they were talking about him, which came as no surprise. Michael knew because of his behavior earlier, and it wasn’t the first time people talked trash about him behind his back. It made sense why but deep down, he didn’t like it even though he knew he deserved it. It wouldn’t matter once it’s over.

“HEY!!” he yelled as loud as he could. “We’re at the base of the mountains! What’s next?!”

The four ponies quickly looked up as they realized they had finally arrived and ran up towards him. The group walked together until they were stopped by large boulders, blocking their paths.

“Well, that’s just great,” said Michael. “Now what? How the hell are we supposed to pass through?”

“We got this,” said Bubbles, as she held up her Bubble Blower. She turned to Applejack and grinned at her. “You ready, AJ?”

“Oh, I am ready!” said Applejack as she stretched her back hooves.

Bubbles aimed her weapon at the boulders and fired a jet of water, soaking them. It made a sizzling sound as if it were acid burning through. She then stepped aside and motioned her head to Applejack.

“All yours!” she yelled.

“Yee Haw!!” Applejack shouted as she ran towards the boulders. She stopped at the largest one, turned around, using both of her back hooves, and kicked it as hard as she could. The minute her hooves made contact, the boulder shattered into pieces as if it were made of glass. Michael just stood there, jaw dropping in shock, as he did not expect a small pony to kick a boulder that is the size of a house into smithereens.

“How in the hell did she do that?!” Michael cried out.

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Twilight. “With combined water weakening the rock so it can expand, making it easier for AJ to break it.”

“You forgot to add that it’s AJ’s strength, thanks to her farming abilities,” Bubbles added.

“Farming?” said Michael, looking confused.

“She and her family are owners of Sweet Apple Acres,” said Twilight. “It’s an apple farm and it's been in her family for many generations. She and her older brother both do the heavy lifting, which is why she’s the strongest pony here.”

“All clear, everyone!” Applejack yelled as the boulders were now smaller pieces of rock chunks.

“Nice one, AJ!” said Firefly.

With the path cleared out, everyone continued their journey for two miles till they arrived at the cave’s entrance.

“All right everyone, we are here,” said Twilight, looking serious. “We need to sneak inside carefully to avoid detection, as we don’t know if Beezen has set up traps or not, but we do need to be careful. The Heart Stone should be inside, but I do not doubt that he would have it guarded by the Diamond Dogs. We need to tread carefully, got it?”

“Got it,” said everyone.

The group of five entered the cave and walked through corridors while Twilight used her horn to light up as a torch. They turned to the left corner and heard distant voices. The group followed the sound until they arrived in one area and hid behind the giant boulder. They can see the Diamond Dogs, yapping away about finding more jewels they found.

Michael has never seen dogs that stand upright like human before. All three of them were wearing vests and black collars with diamonds sticking out like spikes, resembling spike collars. Only one was wearing a red vest while the other two were wearing the same grey color vest.

“Is that the Jeweled Dogs or whatever they called themselves?” Michael whispered to Twilight.

“Diamond Dogs,” she corrected him. “That one in the red vest is Rover. He’s the leader of the group.”

She pointed at the red vest medium-sized grey dog, which looked like a Boxer breed. He was yelling at the other two dogs. One is a large, lighter gray as he looks more like a bulldog boxer mix, and the other is the smaller beige, who resembles a bulldog.

“The big one is Fido, and the smaller one is Spot,” said Twilight as she pointed to the other two. “They are very greedy dogs, but they’re not very smart.”

The Diamond Dogs were digging in a mine cart, taking out some of the jewels. Spot was throwing them up and down gleefully as if they were candy.

“Look at those pretty gems!” Spot shouted happily.

“Preeettttyyyy gems…” said Fido, staring at the glowing crystals, his tongue hanging out and drooling.

“Hey!” Rover shouted as he smacked Fido’s head. “Don’t drool all over the gems! I don’t want your slobber on all of them!”

“Duhhh… sorry,” said Fido, looking sheepish as he stopped drooling.

“Spot! Stop throwing them around!” Rover snapped as he turned his attention to the smaller dog, giving him the same treatment as he did to Fido. “Put them back before you break them like you did last time!”

“Sorry….” Said Spot glumly as they dropped the gems back in the cart.

The group watched carefully as the Rover kept shouting at his dog mates as Michael turned to the ponies, whispering so they wouldn't hear.

“Friends of yours?” Michael asked sarcastically.

“We met them before,” said Firefly. “They kidnapped our friend, Sparkler, because she has the ability to find gems and used her horn for the exact locations. Me, AJ, Twilight, Spike, Surprise, and Posey had to go underground to rescue her because that was their hideout where they kept her as a prisoner. We were about to kick some butt, but that never happened.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Sparkler was giving those puppies a hard time,” Applejack answered with a chuckle. “When we confronted them, they were on their knees, begging us to take her back. Sparkler tends to be dramatic as she was whining, demanding things, hates getting dirty, and Celestia knows what. So, we agreed to take her back, and no fight was needed. That was the last time we saw them until now.”

“But it looks like we got a second chance,” said Firefly with a grin, rubbing her hooves together. “Since they’re working for Beezen, now we can kick some butt for real.”

“You're right, but before you fly right in,” said Twilight. “I got a plan, so listen up.”

The group leaned in closer as Twilight used her horn to pick up the stick and draw her plan on the ground.

“Bubbles,” said Twilight as she drew her. “Use your Bubble Blower to blow bubbles as a distraction. Once the dogs are distracted, that’s when we will give them a surprise attack. Firefly, use your flight speed to make them dizzy while Applejack uses her lasso to tie them up.”

“Wait, what about me? Where do I come in?” Michael protested.

“Calm down,” she said. “I want you to save the fight for Beezen. We want the dogs out of the way as they’re easier to defeat. The sooner we defeat the dogs, the better we get to the wizard quickly.”

“Ugh, fine,” said Michael grumpily as he wanted to join the fight, but since the wizard was not too far, he would have a chance to fight.

“Everyone got it?” Twilight asked as the group nodded. “Then let's go!”

Bubbles leaned out from the boulder and aimed her blower at the dogs. The bubbles floated around them, and Fido looked up to see them. He wagged his tail happily and jumped up and down, biting down the bubbles.

“Oooh, look at the pretty bubbles,” said Fido.

Spot looked up to see what was going on. When he saw the bubbles floating, he too did the same thing that Fido did.

“BUBBLES!!” Spot happily barked as he hopped around. “Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles! I love bubbles!”

“What are you two idiots doing…” Rover started to yell until he stopped, looked up, and his attitude changed immediately. He joined with the other two and completely forgot what he was doing.

“I love playing bubbles!” shouted Rover as he chomped down on them, looking happy.

“You weren’t kidding, Twilight,” said Michael. “Those dogs are really dumb as rocks.”

“It’s a good thing Bubbles decided to come along,” she said with a grin. She then turned to her Pegasus friend. “Now, Firefly!”

“On it!” said Firefly as she immediately sprang into action. “Charge!”

She flew at the Diamond Dogs and spun around them before they even had a chance to register what was going on.

"What the?" Rover yelled out but didn't get a chance to.

She quickly flew around them, causing the dogs to get dizzy from all the spinning. This allowed Applejack to use her lasso on them.

“Yee haw, every pony!” Applejack shouted as she threw her lasso at the dogs.

Her lasso extended big enough to grab all three, then she quickly tied them up to a boulder they were hiding in. The dogs were still too disoriented to fight before falling unconscious. The group stood together, looking pleased with their success.

“That was easy,” said Michael. “Those puppies didn’t even put up a fight.”

“Well, I did say they weren’t intelligent,” said Twilight. “But thanks to Firefly’s speed, those dogs will be out for a bit. So far, it looks like Beezen doesn’t know we’re here, as we didn’t give those lackies a chance to sound an alarm.”

“I’m just glad I finally got a chance to kick those dogs' butts,” said Firefly. “Plus, this is for Sparkler. Now I’m pumped up to fight that wizard.”

“No worries, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “You’ll get your chance soon.”

“Let's get a move on then,” said Bubbles.

“She’s right,” said Twilight. “Let’s get going!”

The group left the unconscious dogs behind and walked deeper into the cave. There weren’t too many tunnels to go through, as most of them are dead ends except for one. The cave walls are lit by wall torches, as there isn’t any natural lighting. They can see some gems poking out of the cave walls, looking ready to be mined as their pickaxes are lying on the ground, along with some light helmets. They managed to arrive at their destination, and they’re at the large opening of the cave, and there’s a giant metal door blocking their way in.

“This must be Beezen’s room,” said Twilight. “We need to be careful, so we've got to open this door quietly.”

All five members of the group pushed the door open with a crack so they could slip in quietly. The area they entered was very elaborate. In the center of the room is a golden, ornate chair with jewels encrusted on it.

The back area has a built-in bed, a couple of drawers, a table with two chairs, a built-in fireplace with a cauldron hanging, a couple of wine barrels, three crates, and hanging dried herbs.

The left side has a desk that is covered with books, scrolls, gems, and a lot of quill pens with an ink bottle next to them. Next to the desk are two bookcases that are filled with more books, some scrolls, beakers, a mortar with a pestle, and gem shards. There are also weapons stock like axes and swords that are hung on the racks.

The group can see the tall figure wearing dark purple with its back turned at the desk, looking over the scrolls, and then looking at the book. He hadn’t seen or heard them entering as they quietly closed the door without making a sound to alert him. They hid behind the mine cart that was parked on a rail track leading into one of the tunnels, as they were in an open area.

“Who is this tall creeper over there?” Michael whispered as he pointed at the figure.

“Beezen,” Firefly answered.

Beezen turned around and walked toward his throne chair, then sat down. His skin is green like the Wicked Witch of the West, he has white short hair that is slicked back, yellow sinister eyes, and a long nose that looks like a bird’s beak. He’s wearing a dark navy-blue robe with red trim, along with a belt with two keys, and a purple cloak. He is also holding a dark wand with red strands circling it.

“Let me out!” a child’s voice yelled out, startling the group. The voice attracted the wizard’s attention as he looked to his right, looking annoyed.

The right side of the cave is an altar where the group can see the Heart Stone, a giant heart-shaped red crystal that is the size of a dinner platter, levitating and protected by a pink shield spell. But the wizard wasn’t looking at the stone, but something else. Next to the altar is a small cage that contains a small purple dragon with green ridges on its back.

“Let me go, Beezen!” the baby dragon yelled angrily.

“Be quiet, you!” the wizard snapped. “You are here to serve me by keeping this cave warm and my meals.”

“I’m not your meal ticket!” the dragon shot back.

The two continued to argue back and forth while Twilight quietly gasped, holding both of her hooves to her mouth. The other three ponies were also shocked, while Michael was confused. Who was that baby dragon, and did they know it?

“Spike!” Twilight frantically whispered as if she didn’t want to alert the wizard.

“Spike?” Michael asked. “Is that the same baby dragon you guys told me about? That Spike?”

“Yes, the one in the cage is him,” said Twilight, tears forming in her eyes. “I am so glad he’s alive. I thought Tirac got him, but it looks like Beezen was the one who captured him. We need to rescue him and grab the Heart Stone at the same time.”

“Beezen won’t be easy to get past,” said Bubbles. “What’s the plan?”

Twilight thought carefully before she got an idea and ushered the group closer to listen.

“Okay, guys,” she said. “Here is the plan. Beezen has two keys, which means one of them is for Spike’s cage. So, I’ll use my magic to levitate both keys and free Spike. He can use fire as a distraction while you four attack Beezen. I’ll try to figure out how to disarm the shield spell so we can get the Heart Stone. Got it?”

They were about to execute the plan when the metal door suddenly burst open, startling everyone. It turns out it was the Diamond Dogs as they somehow broke free from Applejack’s lasso. Beezen wasn’t too happy to see them.

“What are you mongrels doing here!? Can’t you see I’m enjoying my privacy?” Beezen snarled.

“BOSS! BOSS! INTRUDERS!” Rover shouted frantically.

“What do you mean, intruders?!” Beezen yelled.

“It’s the ponies! They attacked us!” Spot shouted.

“Then why aren’t you dealing with them?!” the wizard barked.

“Duh… they tied us up, boss,” said Fido.

“Where are they?! Tell me now or else I’ll blast you!” Beezen shouted as he aimed them with his wand, shooting a dark purple beam at them. It missed them but it startled them as they jumped away to avoid getting hit as he continued to cast the beam spells like lasers.

“We don’t know, boss!” Rover shouted. “We didn’t see where they went as we were too dizzy and fell asleep.”

“IDIOTS!” Beezen yelled, causing the cave walls to rattle with his echoes, and small pieces of rocks fell. “Find them! Search the cave!”

“Yes, Boss! Right away, boss!” said the dogs as they accidentally ran into each other, knocking themselves out for a second. They quickly got up and went in different directions.

“Crap,” said Michael. “What do we do now?”

“Change of plans,” said Twilight, then she turned to Bubbles. “Use your Bubble Blower to blow Bubbles as a distraction again. I’ll use my magic to grab both keys from Beezen’s belt so I can free Spike. AJ, use your lasso on the dogs like you did last time. Michael, you can grab any weapon you want over there, along with the shield. You and Firefly help AJ fight against the dogs.”

“No problem,” said Michael as he was finally happy to get some action. “A sword or a mace will definitely help me out there.”

“Once I free Spike,” Twilight continued. “He can use his fire on the dogs, and I’ll use my magic against Beezen. I'll try to weaken him and stun him. Everyone ready?”

“Yes,” said the group.

“Then let's do it!” she said. “Bubbles, go!”

Bubbles used her Bubble Blower to blow bubbles as they floated over to the wizard and the dogs, which grabbed their attention. The dogs jumped up and down, wagging their tails happily, and their tongues hanging out.

“Bubbles! So much fun!” they barked happily. The wizard, on the other hand, was not amused.

“Stop playing around, you stupid dogs!” Beezen yelled angrily, pounding his fist on a chair rest. “Those blasted bubbles must come out somewhere, and it’s not me summoning them! They are here somewhere! Search this area, now!”

He pointed his wand at the dogs, and laser beams shot out, aiming at the ground again. The dogs dodged it and spread themselves out to avoid it.

“We’re going, boss! We’re going!” Rover yelled.

Twilight teleported herself closer to the cage and whispered to Spike. He looked up and his face lit up, looking happy to see her.

“Twilight,” he whispered so Beezen wouldn’t hear. The wizard had gotten off the throne chair and was too focused on the dogs to see the unicorn pony.

While Twilight was taking care of Spike, Michael carefully walked over to the other side and hid behind Beezen’s chair, while Firefly flew over to one section of the room to grab some weapons for Michael. Applejack walked over quietly to join up with the teen. Bubbles remained in her spot, continuing to blow more bubbles.

“Spike, I’m so happy you're okay. Are you hurt?” she asked.

Michael approached Spike’s cage to join up with Twilight when he caught up with the conversation.

“No, I’m fine,” Spike answered back. “But you need to get the key from Beezen’s belt. It’s the one with the pink gem on it.”

“No need,” said Michael as he picked up the rock that was lying on the ground. “I’ll just bash the lock, easy peasy.”

“No, wait! Don’t…” Spike cried out, waving his arms frantically to stop the teen, but it was too late.

Michael already slammed the rock down on the lock as hard as he could. As soon as the rock made contact, a jolt of electricity fell throughout his body, shocking him. He yelled out in pain and fell to the ground, twitching.

“I tried to tell you,” Spike said. “The whole cage is rigged with a trap. I already tried that before.”

“You could have warned a little sooner,” Michael grunted, still feeling stiff from the electricity.

Unfortunately, his outburst caught the wizard and the dog’s attention. They all turned to see a teenage boy and two ponies, standing next to the cage and not far from the altar.

“THEY'RE THEY ARE! GET THEM!” Beezen yelled as he pointed his wand at them.

“RAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!” the dogs yelled as they both leaped at the group.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Applejack yelled as she used her back hooves on Fido, knocking him back. Spot tried to jump at Twilight but was hit by a Bubble Beam by Bubbles, knocking him away from the unicorn. Rover attempted to attack Michael, but something large fell onto his head, knocking the dog out. He looked up to see where it came from and saw Firefly flying above him, grinning. She dropped the crate, and it was smashed open with weapons.

“Mike!” she yelled. “Grab any weapon I just dropped on Rover earlier so you can help us.”

“Got it!” he yelled back as he got up, his body no longer stiff. The weapons in the crate include spears, maces, clubs, axes, and swords. Michael grinned as he could finally join the fight and have some action, along with any weapons he could use.

Beezen wasn’t too happy with the dog's outcome as he angrily stormed over, his face full of fury.

“IDIOTS!” he yelled. “Must I have to do everything?! I’ll get rid of you ponies myself!”

“Bring it on!” Firefly yelled at him as she prepared herself for a fight. But Twilight teleported herself in front of Beezen, holding her hoof to stop her Pegasus friend.

“Wait, Firefly!” she said. “Allow me to fight him. You and the others go against the dogs as they’re getting up again for round three.”

“Oh, fine,” said Firefly, looking bummed out as she turned to the dogs, who were coming to.

Twilight turned to the evil wizard, her horn glowing and her face filled with courage.

“Beezen!” she said. “I challenge you to a magic duel, one on one!”

“I accept! I’ve always wanted to defeat the famous student, Twilight!” Beezen sneered as he blasted his wand at her. “Take that, you little runt!”

Twilight used her horn to shoot out a pinkish white beam at Beezen’s dark wand beam. They both clashed with a bright light, causing a wave that knocked everyone off their feet. Beezen and Twilight managed to keep themselves standing and were still dueling. Michael couldn’t help but stare at the sight as he had never seen anything like that. Applejack nudged him with her hoof to get his attention.

“Earth to Mike!” she said. “We need to roughhouse those dogs again before they try to stop us from freeing Spike.”

“Yeah, Mike!” said Firefly. “Get that weapon so we can kick some butt!”

“I got it! I got it!” Michael snapped as he quickly ran over to the weapon stockpile to grab a mace. It was a good thing too because Rover was towering over him and grabbed a giant axe. He attempted to swing it down on the teen to try to slice him in half. Michael was able to dodge it out of the way as Rover was too slow to swing a weapon. The big dog growled at him before bringing up the axe and trying to aim at Michael again.

Bubbles saw her chance to use her Bubble Blower to blow out a medium-sized bubble to grab the key from Beezen’s belt. He was too focused on the battle with Twilight, so she aimed the bubble at him. It floated over carefully to his left side, absorbed the key, and floated towards her. Unfortunately, Twilight’s magic beam accidentally hits the bubble with a key inside, causing it to pop, and the key lands on the ground with a loud clinking sound. It grabbed Beezen’s attention as he turned to look and saw the key on the ground. He then looked at his belt and realized he was missing Spike’s key to the cage.

“I see how it is,” said Beezen. “That duel was a distraction!”

“On no!” Twilight yelled.

Beezen stopped the duel and quickly ran over to the key, getting closer to grab it. Michael knew he had to do something before the wizard get to the key.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Michael yelled as he quickly tackled him.

“OOOFFF!!” the wizard cried out as a teen knocked him back. He got up and glared at Michael.

“You little brat!” the wizard snarled as he aimed the wand at Michael, a dark beam shooting out.

“Oh crap!” Michael cried out as he dodged it out of the way to avoid getting hit.

Twilight shot her magic beam out of her horn at the wizard, knocking him back on the ground again. The other two dogs tried to attack Michael, but he whacked them with his mace. Firefly flew around the dogs as they tried to attack him again, but she got them dizzy.

Applejack used her lasso to tie up the dogs, then she pulled them towards her and used her back hooves to kick them across the room. Bubbles used her Bubble Blower to blast out a bubble beam at the dogs and send them flying across the cave. Michael quickly ran to the key and picked it up from the ground. He went to the cage, put the key into the lock, turned it, and heard a loud clicking sound. The lock unlocks as it drops down to the cave floor. The cage opens, and Spike happily jumps out.

“Thanks for freeing me,” he said. “Now I can help my friends.”

“How are you going to do that?” Michael asked.

“With this,” said Spike as he took a deep breath, then exhaled a huge flamethrower out of his mouth.

“Whoa! Watch what you're aiming!” Michael yelled as he had to duck down to avoid the flames that nearly singed his face.

“Sorry about that,” said Spike. “We need to get the other key, as that one unlocks the shield spell of the Heart Stone.” He pointed at the altar, where Michael could see that below the Heart Stone’s shield spell, he can see a keyhole on the altar. “I’ll use my flames at Beezen while Twilight can use her magic to grab that key.”

He and Michael ran together to join up with others in battle. Spike ran up to Twilight and whispered something in her ear. She understood and told him what to do. Spike used his flames on Beezen’s cloak, causing him to yell out as he frantically tried to put out the fire. While he was distracted, Twilight used her magic to grab the last key from his belt and gave it to Michael.

“Quick!” she said. “Use this key to unlock the shield around the Heart Stone and grab it. I’ll keep Beezen busy! Get going!”

“Okay!” Michael gave her a thumbs-up as he took the key from her. He ran to the altar and quickly put the key into the keyhole. A clicking sound caused the shield to disappear and the Heart Stone gently floated towards Michael. He grabbed it and couldn’t help but admire its beauty. It was so beautiful, it could have been donated to the Smithsonian Museum.

“Guys!” he yelled. “I got it!”

“Awesome!” Firefly shouted triumphantly. “Let's wrap this up, everyone!”

Beezen looked in horror as he realized that his enemies were able to grab another of his keys to the Heart Stone without realizing it. He was furious as he aimed his wand at the group to stop them.

“You won’t get away with this!” he yelled. “I will stop all of you!”

“I don’t think so!” Twilight shouted as she used her magic to cast a spell on him and the dogs. A bright light flashed, causing Michael to shield himself with his arm, eyes closed as if it were bright. He opened them to see that both Diamond Dogs and Beezen were floating. Their bodies were surrounded by a pink light, but they were frozen stiff.

“What just happened?” Michael asked Twilight.

“I used the stun freezing spell,” she said, grinning. “This should buy us some time to head to Dream Castle, save Crunch, and find the locket. The spell will only last about an hour, so we need to leave right now before it wears off as Beezen will alert Tirac.”

“Well, time for us to skedaddle,” said Applejack.

“Let's go then,” said Firefly. “I’ll lead the way out.” She flew through the cave, leading the group’s way out, till they reached their exit.

Once they’re outside, Twilight quickly hugs Spike, tears streaming down her face. Bubbles, Firefly, and Applejack joined in while Michael looked on, feeling envious of them.

“Oh, Spike!” Twilight cried. “I was so scared that I thought Tirac got you and couldn’t stop worrying about you! I’m so glad you're alright!”

“I was scared to, Twi,” said Spike as he hugged her back, tears also streaming down his face. “After we split up, I was able to burn some of the Stratadons away from others. Sadly, the Diamond Dogs captured me and brought me to Beezen, where he stunned me so I couldn’t use my fire on him. They took me to his cave, along with the Heart Stone, and put me in the cage. He used me for my fire to keep the cave warm, as it was freezing and the fireplace where he could make his food for himself.”

“That sucks,” said Firefly. “But at least you're free and we can finish our quest!”

“By the way,” said Spike as he looked at Michael. “Who is he? I don’t think I’ve seen him around before.”

“I’m Michael Afton from Earth,” Michael answered.

“Earth?” Spike asked, looking confused.

“We’ll explain on the way to Dream Castle,” said Twilight. “I’ll fill you everything since you weren’t here.”

The group agrees as they immediately set course to their next destination, Dream Valley Castle Town. They need to hurry if they need to save Crunch and find the queen’s locket before the wizard alerts his dark lord.

Notes

The group has saved Spike and retrieved the Heart Stone. Will they save Crunch the Rockdog and find the locket before the spell wears off? Find out in the next chapter!

I made some edits on Chapter 1 as I wanted to give reasons why Michael is a juvenile delinquent. He treated his friends, including Jeremy, like crap and joined up with a gang. Don't worry, he'll learn the magic of friendship in later chapters and become a changed person.

Yes, I've been rewatching MLP Friendship is Magic and added some stuff, such as the Diamond Dogs, including the kidnapping of Rarity, which I made her as Sparkler (Lauren Faust originally wanted to use G1 ponies but Hasbro lost the rights, so she changed her, along with others, into Rarity. She had the artwork on her Deviantart page but sadly removed them. Thankfully, you can still find it online somewhere. All you have to do is just type 'Lauren Faust G1 my little pony art' in the search bar and you'll see the images. Her DA username, Fyre-Flye, is based on her favorite pony, Firefly but spelled it differently). Much like her FIM counterpart, I gave her the ability to sense gems as well as make clothes.

Firefly is pretty much similar to Rainbow Dash, although I toned down her arrogance. 

G1 Applejack's personality and her background of Sweet Apple Acres, along with her family, are very much like the FIM version.

G1 Twilight is also very much like her FIM version. Like her FIM counterpart, she is very close to Queen Majesty like FIM Twilight is to Princess Celestia. 

G1 Spike is more of his FIM version, as I prefer that to the G1 version. I gave him the ears because I like them. 

I haven't gotten around to making artwork but hopefully soon and you can find it on my Tumblr with the link below. :3

My Tumblr page: https://faerie-starv.tumblr.com