Chapter 2

Dreams Aren't Always Just Dreams

The re-introduction of me to my people went well, but it was pretty akward. I used to think the entire tribe only liked me because I had the black aura and almost everything about me was black, but I may have been wrong. I was still appreciated by the tribe, and I was still accepted as king.

I had left the city to Sedrick's care, and departed. I was on a mission to find and set free those that I could determine as useful to the cause. First it was back to Ponyville to save the two musicians, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, who could easily give my cause some morale.

I also had to find any others, so realistically, I wasn't just hunting for those who could help. Any of them, really. I strolled into town, then I visited the diner again, and sure enough, there was Octavia, playing. She smiled as I jogged inside, and I began speaking to the manager, which, to my luck, was out and about.

"Hello?" I greeted.

"Need somethin'?" He said gruffly.

"I want to buy your entertainment," I replied.

"The pony? No way. She's too valuble."

"I'll pay any price. Money is no object." I reached into my pocket and created a gold bar. I held it out, and the man's eyes went wide.

"Sold!" He ran over to Octavia, and unlocked her chain. She trotted over to me, and grinned.

"You bought me?" She confirmed.

"Yep. Let's get to the music store; we have something to do," I said. Octavia nodded, and we walked to the record store, where Vinyl was dealing with a particularly diffucult customer.

"Sir, for the last time, we don't have what you want," Vinyl supplied.

"FINE!" He yelled, and slapped Vinyl across the face, and stormed out. I stepped over to the counter, and smiled at her.

"Can I talk to the manager? I would like to purchase you."

"He's out, and wouldn't sell me anyway," Vinyl replied. "Hey Tavi."

"You know I hate that name," Octavia said.

"Well, even if he's out, I don't care. You're coming with me. I'm a fugitive anyway, so one more doesn't matter." Without warning, I placed my hand on both mares and teleported to the outskirts of the city.

"Just who are you?" Octavia asked. "As far as I know, there are only a few magi left in the world."

"Simple." I only said one thing, expecting to trigger everything. "I'm Not Alright."

Both of the mares broke out laughing.

"I can't believe it! It's Brad! Everypony thought you died!" Vinyl exclaimed.

"I got better. Head to old Canterlot in the Everfree, a few others will be there. I'm gathering as many ponies I know to take back the country, so I'll be back with the others. Bye!" I teleported to the only other city I had actually frequented, besides Canterlot, which was Appleloosa.

The farm town was empty.

Not a single human or equine was in sight, and the buildings were falling apart. The farms to the side of the city were wilted and dry, as if no one had been here is years.

I had nothing left to do here, so I tried my best to teleport to Manehattan, where I had never actually been. After the successful transport to the city, I was forced to take in the horrible sight before me. The city was infested with human scum, and every single pony was covered in scars from riding crops or whips. My opinion of the place wasn't helped by the sight of a man beating a young mare with a wooden stick.

I sprinted down the street, hoping to find an auction for slaves of sorts. I found no platform for sales, but I did find a large building with a sign saying it was the slave pens. I pushed open the doors, and was met with a pleasant little reception room, decorated with potted plants. I rang the bell on the desk, and the receptionist popped up from below the desk.

"Hi! What kind would you like?" She asked excitedly.

"Um... What?" I replied.

She sighed. "You must be new here. Would you like a male or female?"

I got it then. "Doesn't matter."

"Alright. Pegasus, Unicorn, or Regular?"

"Still doesn't matter. I just want one."

"Follow me." She stepped away from the desk, and past a set of double doors, and into the pens. What lay behind the doors killed me inside. Not only were they living in barely livable states, they had foals here too. Fillies and Colts sat in groups, saying nothing. However, I wasn't focused on them. In the corner were three mares, conversing.

One was a yellow mare with a crimson mane, wearing a small bow on her head. It had to be Applebloom, only older. She now possessed a cutie mark depicting an apple with a hammer over it. The next was an orange mare with a deep purple mane, which had to be Scootaloo. She had a cutie mark of a flaming Pegasus wing. Sweetie Belle, still with her cotton candy-colored mane and white coat, now had a cutie mark depicting a single musical note colored a deep blue.

"Miss?" I said.

"Which have you chosen?"

"I'd like those three over there." I pointed to the mares previously mentioned.

"Great choice." She cupped her hands over her mouth, and yelled for them to come over. They unhappily trudged over, and I handed her a gold bar. The mares followed me from the building, and without warning, I teleported us away from the city.

We materialized back inside the forest, and they were obviously surprised at my magical abilities.

"What the hay!" Scootaloo scolded. "Warn us when you teleport!"

"Is that any way to talk to the man who just set you free?" I asked, then removed the harnesses around their necks.

"Who are you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Let's see if you can guess. Scootaloo, did your parents ever tell you? About that disease you had as a filly?"

"How the heck did you know about that? The humans weren't even here when I-" Scootaloo's eyes widened. "Sweet Celestia, it's Brad!"

"It can't be him," Sweetie said.

"Yeah," Applebloom agreed. "He died in battle."

"Then how do I know that you and Scootaloo broke the branch that knocked me out all those years ago skydiving?" I said.

"It's him. Ah neva told anypony about that, and he onla found out by mindreadin' me."

"How did you survive?" Sweetie asked.

"I didn't. The gods gave me a second chance to get the world back to the way it should be," I informed.

"Great!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"I'll teleport you to where the others I've saved are, so you can catch up." Without waiting a second, I sent them to the old Canterlot castle. It was getting late, so I decided to sleep for a bit. I didn't need to, but I liked to dream. You can't do that while you're awake. I laid down in the grass, and fell asleep quickly.

As I predicted, I began to dream. I knew it was a dream, so it was kind of fun at first. I was at Ponyville, the one before this all started. Sedrick sat on my shoulders, as a child, and I was running around the town.

"Having fun?" I turned to my left to see Rokon, smiling at me.

Sedrick disappeared, and the landscape shifted to the Training Ground of the Gods. "I was. What's this for?"

"We've been monitoring you ever since we unlocked your god powers, and it's been decided that I'm to train you to use them. We don't want you to accidentally kill the entire population of the planet."

"That would be bad. First lesson?" I urged.

"Right to the point. I like that. Ready to visit Tartarus?" He said.

"As I'll ever be." I woke up, and Rokom was standing there in reality. He waved his hand, and the door I saw earlier appeared. He pulled it open, and we stepped through into Tartarus. Not the judgement rooms, straight into the depths of the worst place anything could end up. Before us was something greek mythology called the Minotaur.

"Your first lesson is to fight that and not die. Have fun!" Then he disappeared.

"Fantastic. Just leave me to fight one of the worst monsters in the underworld on my own," I said to myself. Seeing as I had no choice, I summoned my scythe, and spread my wings. Luckily, the chamber was large enough to fly around in, and I flew high up into the air. I folded in my wings, and dive bombed my set enemy. As I drew closer to the beast, I raised my weapon.

Nope.

He raised his mighty fist, and struck the ground. He used his bulky hoofed leg to kick me across the floor. Looking back, it reminded me heavily of the dragon.

I stood back up, and charged again. He swung his fist once again, but I was ready. I jumped into the air, and landed on his arm. I sprinted up his forearm, and onto his shoulder. Using the blunt end of my scythe, I whacked his skull. I jumped off as the creature bellowed in pain, then cursed myself for not using the blade.

The creature turned and hooked his arm for a direct hit on my form. I flew across the room, and slammed into the wall. The Minotaur ran over to me, and picked me up in his fist. He began to squeeze, putting more and more pressure on my bones.

I heard something snap, and I cried out in pain. The beast glared at me, and crushed me harder.

"Well, here we are. I always thought Tanner would kill me, not the Minotaur. Guess grandpa picked a harder test than I can handle," I thought.

Then I realized something. It might be corny, but I just realized that the world would be fucked if I didn't live through this. "NO!" I shouted.

I felt a different sort of power welling up inside of me, unlike my normal magic. It felt natural, like it it belonged with me. I opened shot a glare back at the beast, and released the foreign strength.

I pulsed a wave of energy, which was red instead of the normal white. The Minotaur releases me, and staggered backwards. Rather than charging again, the beast simply disappeared. I felt the power fading, then Rokon appeared next to me.

"That was fast," He said.

"You almost let me die!" I exclaimed.

"No, I didn't. I would have stopped the fight if you had come closer to dying, but you didn't. And as a result, you just found your powers!"

"What's next?" I asked.

"Nothing in my regard. I've done all I can for you, as I don't know what you can do. You'll have to figure that out for yourself," Rokon said.

"Fine. Just send me back already," I demanded.

"Bye!" He waves his hand, and I was transported back to the field where I was prior to the fun in Tartarus, and I made the decision against my best judgement to enter the slave pens once more. I teleported to an alleyway next to the building, and threw open the doors. Before the receptionist could speak, I hit her with a sleeping spell. I burst through the doors of the pens, and amplified my voice.

"Each and every one of you is coming with me! You're all probably confused, but I'm the human who fought with the Equestrians ten years ago! Come with me if you want to be free!" Not that they had a choice. I placed a veil around each and every equine in the building, no easy feat, and teleported them and myself to the castle in the Everfree. There were about eighty of us, so we fit well inside the throne room.

I easily picked out Jack and Sara, and pushed through the crowd to get to them.

"Sup," Sara greeted.

"Not much. Just saved an entire warehouse of slaves from a life of work. Average Tuesday."

"Now all you have to do is figure out how to move at the speed of light and you'll be set," Jack said sarcastically.

"I did. Then I died. Now I'm back. What's next, the apocalypse?" I said.

"Hope not. Tanner came too close when he destroyed the princesses," Sara said.

"Have you noticed something... Odd about the Bearers?" I asked.

"We already spoke about that," Jack supplied. "They didn't age, unlike the rest of us. You're lucky you don't, Brad. We think the Elements have something to do with it."

"Fantastic. Maybe they have crazy super abilities like us," I philosophized.

"That would help," Sara said wistfully.

"Now all we have to do is hope Tanner hasn't figured us out. He and a few apprentices are the only mages left, so it's unlikely that they've discovered us," Jack said.

With that, the roof was ripped clean from the supports, and exposed the group of fugitives. I teleported to Twilight, and gave my commands.

"Twilight, I need to ask a favor!"

"What?!"

"Teleport the castle as far as you can! Leave me behind; I need to deal with whoever just tore off the roof!"

Her eyes went wide. "I can't teleport the entire castle!"

"Try it anyway!" I spread my wings, and looked down at the lavender Unicorn, whose horn was glowing like wildfire. The entire castle was soon enveloped in a purple glow, and then it disappeared.

"God, she actually did it," I said in awe. My joy was silenced by the tackle of a small boy, whom I pushed from my frame.

"You ruined everything!" He complained. "Tanner was gonna reward me for killing the horses!" he had short brown hair, and was wearing little metal bracelets.

"Kid, get out of here. I don't want to fight an eight year old," I said.

"I'm tougher than I look!" He said.

"Yeah, yeah. Go away." I turned and waved behind me. I heard a growl from the kid, and my hand was stabbed through by an icicle.

"Told you!" He yelled.

I pulled the icicle from my hand and closed the wound. "Fine. I'll fight a kid, but I won't like it."

He grinned. "Good."

He disappeared, and in his place, five copies appeared. "Which one's real?" He taunted.

"Shit." I shot a fireball at one, and it went right through.

"Wrong one!" Every copy charged me, and I decided to wait to see which one actually hit me to strike back.

That didn't work so well.

Rather than just one of his kicks hitting me, all of the five made solid impact. The kicks hit me all at one time. Two in the stomach, two in the knees, and the last in the head. I flapped my wings backwards, and glared.

"This isn't good. He can summon physical copies of himself that can do the damage, but can't be hurt. How do you solve this one?" I came to the simple conclusion of brute force. I simultaneously launched five fireballs at the copies, and all hit directly. However, rather than all of them disappearing, they remained.

"Still wrong!" They taunted.

"Damn!" There was only one logical conclusion here. The real one had to be hiding around somewhere. I closed my eyes, and sent out a radar pulse. I discovered his location, and incinerated the bush he was hiding in. I teleported right next to him. I grabbed his wrists, and fused his bracelets together behind his back. I then picked him up and extended the bracelets' metal to wrap around his legs as well.

Now that he was curled in a ball, I used a ball of chalk from my pocket to write a message on his back. It read "Dear Tanner, don't send this one next time." I teleported the boy back to Tanner's throne room, and the copies faded.

All that was left was to figure out where Twilight had sent the castle. I couldn't find Twilight's signature of magic in Equestria, so I figured she must have sent the castle pretty far. I eventually decided I'd look later, decided to try and find a new ally. I transported myself to the known location of the Dragon migration around that time of year, and almost fell in a pool of lava upon re-entry, but a clawed hand took my own and pulled me back up.

"Thanks," I said. I got a good look at my savior, discerning only that his he was young. I've seen a grown dragon before, and this wasn't one. He was only about my height, and had deep purple scales. He was marked with a brilliant green set of spikes along his spine, and a smile across his face. It had to be Spike.

"Spike! Thanks for the save! It may seem weird, but it's-"

"Brad, I know. That's why I saved you. I would have let any other human fall. Just be glad I managed to see past your new colors to know it was you," He said.

"It's great to be back. Before you ask, the gods gave me another chance to get this right. It's a holy task to kill Tanner now," I explained.

"You won't get the help of the dragons. They say they have no place in this war, and absolutely not get involved," Spike said sadly.

"Shame. Now I have two problems; no allies and now I have to figure out where Twilight sent the castle," I said.

Spike's face lit up. "She's still alive?"

"Sure. Pretty much everyone you know survived. Minus those killed in prior battles."

"I thought she died! I haven't seen any of the Bearers in ten years! Where is she?" He said hastily.

"As I said before, she sent the castle acting as a base somewhere via teleport. I haven't the faintest idea where she is."

"Let's go!" He suggested.

"I thought the big guys forbade the Drakes to get involved," I reminded.

"They also told me I couldn't prank the elders. Onward!" He pointed into the sky, and unfolded a set of brilliant green wings I hadn't noticed before. He took off, and I repeated his actions. He immediately began to fly at top speed in an eastern direction.

I caught up with him quickly. "When did you get your wings?" I asked.

"I didn't have any parents to teach me how life works, so I didn't know that they come in during the teenage years. I got them a year or two back," Spike replied.

"Sweet. Make sure nothing comes our way; I'm gonna try to locate Twilight again," I said. Spike nodded, and I closed my eyes in concentration, and began my spell. I hadn't tried this before, but I figured, "Why not?"

I concentrated a large portion of my magic into the air around me, and into an orb. You know about how a bat uses echolocation? Well, this was like that, but with magic.

I sent out a massive pulse of energy, conceivably large enough to encompass the earth in a whole. I detected a few powerful signatures coming from the human cities, but I figured those were just mages. Twilight was the most powerful unicorn in existence, so I was just being hopeful.

Ping.

There it was. I got a rebound from another magical signature, way out in the desert. It had no name, as it was never charted or visited, but the signature was definitely Twilight's. It was more leagues away than I was comfortable teleporting, so I made the quick, and bad, decision to fly.

"Spike?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"Did Dash ever tell you about my accident?" I questioned.

"The one where you broke almost every bone in your body using the acceleration spell? Yeah;" He replied.

"Comfortable flying at just under the speed of sound?" I asked.

He smirked. "Let's do it."

I smiled, and prepared the spell. I pumped magic into mine and Spike's wings, then stopped. "Don't slow down!" I warned. I leaned forward, and beat my wings. I took off at the same speed as the first time, but under control. I cruised along at just under whatever speed sound is, and I would have gone faster, but I didn't want to create a Rainboom. My cheeks were slapping against my ears, I think, and my eyes were watering, so I raised a barrier to protect them.

The distance was about twenty leagues, but while going at 700 miles an hour, you tend to get through the distance pretty quickly. On the way there, a lazy duck tried to hitch a ride on me, which I shooed away. Lazy birds.

We had seen the castle from several miles away, and reached it within a few seconds of the sighting. I slowed us down, and we landed inside the throne room, which, luckily for us, no longer had a roof.

The only ones who remained in the room were The Bearers, Jack, and Sara. Xavier had gone who knows where. To this day, I still haven't figured out where in Tartarus he went.

"Twilight!" I greeted. "Jesus, I thought you said you couldn't do it!"

"I didn't think I could. I guess I'm quite a bit more powerful than I thought," Twilight observed.

"Any other news?" I asked.

Jack spoke up. "I don't think the others need to know this. Come on." He walked through a door, accompanied by Sara. I followed. It had taken me a second, but I realized that their hair colors and eyes had changed. Looking back, it was probably the same back at the Everfree, but I didn't notice. Jack's regular black hair had been shifted to a deep brown, and Sara's to a blood red. Sara's eyes were black as coal, and Jack's had changed to grey.

"The gods aren't only favoring you. They visited us in addition," Sara said.

"Turns out I'm descended from the goddess of battle strategy. She looks just like Athena was depicted in the Percy Jackson Series, and my features changed. A whole new window of tactics came to me in my sleep last night," Jack said.

"I'm chained to the god of war," Sara said. "I tested my new abilities, and I learned quick as hell that I'm a killing machine."

"This is great!" I exclaimed. "We all have god powers now! This is a whole new step in the war!"

"Damn right," Jack agreed. "We just need to figure out where Xavier went. His hair's grey. A dark grey. Turns out he's descended from the god of knowledge."

"Can we go just one day without a problem?" I wondered out loud.

"Apparently not," Sara agreed.

"I need favors. The both of you haven't been pegged as outlaws, unlike myself," I said, "So I need both of you to go on intel missions."

"Where to?" Jack replied.

"Wherever you want. Here." I shot a little laser at their heads containing the knowledge of the teleport spell.

"Thanks. I've been wondering when you'd teach us this one," Sara said.

"Don't mention it or come back here until you've found valid intel," I ordered.

They nodded, and disappeared in flashes of magic. Jack's was brown, and Sara's was blood red. I walked back into the throne room, where only the Bearers remained, except for Pinkie Pie.

I was tackled by Rarity, Applejack, and Dash as soon as I entered, and smothered with hugs. "What's up?" I asked.

"What's up?!" Rarity questioned. "You saved our sisters!"

"All in a day's work," I said. "Why's Dash so happy about it?"

"About five years back, Scootaloo's parents were killed by an abusive slaver, so I sort of became her honorary sister," Dash explained.

"Great for you!" I congratulated. "Now, if we-" I was cut off by a pink blur slamming into me at unnatural speeds.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She shouted quickly.

"What's up with you?" I asked.

"Pound and Pumpkin were in there! I got separated from them about a year back!" She exclaimed.

"Fantastic. Now, if we can get down to business, there are plans to discuss," I stated. "It's becoming increasingly obvious that Tanner has figured out my comeback. We have to figure out how to counterattack, just in case."

"I suggest the library," Rarity recommended.

"Why?" Twilight asked. "Darn! Brad, I forgot to thank you for finding Spike!"

"Don't mention it, and Rarity's right. I've had a nagging feeling that the Elements are more than what we think," I said.

"I've had the same thought. There's something special about them if they made us all immortal," Fluttershy said.

"Would you look at this?" I said. "We're one big immortal family!"

That earned a laugh. A genuine laugh of joy. That was something I hadn't heard in a long time. "Okay. Obviously, I can't put you guys into a city. You'll just get captured. I'll get to a library and see if I can shed some light on our situation," I said. Waiting for no reply, I teleported to a place I had only heard of from Twilight's stories.

The Crystal Empire.

I just hoped it was still standing. Thankfully, it was. I hadn't actually been there before, so there was no way I could have been prepared for the extravagance of the city. Massive crystal structures stood in all sections of the city. A castle made entirely of the most fantastic gemstone stood in the center of town, and I'll admit that I was a bit jealous. I made a note to ask if I could take a sample to construct a fee things in Raven City, and continued onward. I encountered a few ponies, and suffice to say, I was surprised that they were made of crystal. Confused the hell out of me. Been awhile since I've used that phrase.

"Human!" One of them cried out. I was instantly assaulted by an armored stallion, who held a knife in his teeth to my throat.

"Relax," I urged. "I'm a friend."

"Likely story. The prince will decide your fate," He stated. We urged me to my feet, and led me to the entrance of the castle.

We proceeded up the stairs to the throne room, his knife poking me in the back the whole way. The throne room may have been more beautiful than Canterlot's, what with it's magnificent crystal throne. On it sat two equines, one a Unicorn stallion, and the other, to my surprise, was an Alicorn. I had thought the race died with the princesses. The stallion was an alabaster white, with a blue mane. The Alicorn had a stunning array of color: a pink coat and purple and gold mane.

"What's one of them doing here?" The stallion asked condescendingly.

"He won't believe that I'm a friend!" I exclaimed. "I promise I don't want to hurt you!"

"Shining, if you know me, you know I'm a good judge of character," The Alicorn said. "I think we should give him a chance to explain himself."

The name sparked a memory in my head. "Shining?" I confirmed. "As in Shining Armour?"

"How do you know me?" He asked.

"You led an army from this city to Ponyville to help in the fight!" I exclaimed.

"Not one of you should know my name," He said.

"What if I say Twilight sent me?" I asked. Both of their faces lit up with joy at the mention of her name.

"She alive?" The Alicorn questioned.

"Yeah. I've been sent to gather information. We have a hunch that the Elements aren't just what they seem," I said.

The Alicorn smiled. "We got letters from Twilight all the time saying that not were bad, and that she'd found a few who could pick the right side."

"Bradford, I think that was your name," Shining said. "I thought you died in the war, by Tanner's wrath."

"I did. The gods sent me back," I explained. "I need access to the library. I can't very well waltz into Canterlot, because I'm an outlaw in every single human city."

"Get there as quickly as possible," The Alicorn commanded. "By the way, you may call me Cadence."

"Great to meet you. I'll be on my wa-" My speech was halted by an overwhelming sense of sleepiness. I began struggling to stay awake, stumbling around the throne room and unintentionally knocked over a attendant.

That was it. I couldn't stay conscious any longer, and passed out. However, rather than the simple dream I expected, it was so much more. Yes, it was still a dream, but it was so... Lifelike. More than a dream could ever be.

I was lying in my bed back home with my cat sitting on my lap. I miss him. He was purring softly while Hero of War by Rise Against played on my ipod. For a second, I thought it had all been a dream. I sort of wish it was.

Suddenly, and to my dismay, the world began to spin and blur. The scene changed into a darker shade before it stopped rotating, then shifted into the throne room of Canterlot. The new one, the hellish remake of the original.

"So how are things?" Tanner asked from his blood-soaked throne. Just to be clear, that was a metaphor.

"Very funny, subconscious," I said. "You can wake me up now."

"This is my doing," Tanner explained. "Not your mind's."

I found that surprisingly easy to believe. "What the hell do you want?"

"I was hoping we could spend a bit of time in here. Like before all this. I admit it, Brad. I miss the old world." He shifted from his 24 year old form back to his 14 year old one. "Whaddaya say?"

"Fuck you," I spat out.

He scowled. "Why not?"

That question filled me with a terrible sort of rage I hope no one will ever have to see. "WHY NOT!?" I stomped my foot on the ground. "YOU HAVE SINGLE-HANDEDLY ENSLAVED THE WHOLE OF A PEACEFUL POPULATION! A LOT OF THEM WERE MY FRIENDS, AND YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST FORGET EVERYTHING JUST SO YOU CAN HAVE A FEW MOMENTS OF FUN?!"

"Well... Sure," he replied.

That snapped me. "YOU ARE THE SICKEST EXCUSE FOR A MAN TO EVER WALK THIS PLAIN OF EXISTENCE!" Even in this dream, I found I could still focus my magic, so I began to amplify my voice. It was enough to shatter the windows, even in the dream. "I SWEAR ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY ANCESTORS THAT I WILL FIND SOME WAY TO END YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE! I DON'T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES, OR HOW MANY LIVES I HAVE TO LIVE, YOU WON'T GO UNPUNISHED!" The dreamscape, believe it or not, actually shattered at the volume. I didn't like getting this mad, but he just... Broke me.

I awoke not in the Crystal Empire, but right on top of of the mountain that Canterlot was built into. To this day, I don't have the faintest idea how I got there, but I l knew one thing.

Tanner wasn't walking away from this unharmed.