“ALLEN! You’ve gotta wake up!” I heard a high-pitched voice call just after the bedroom door burst open. I felt a rush of wind as my blanket was ripped away from me, and then a pair of hooves grabbed my ankle and pulled me out of bed.
I blinked my eyes a few times, my vision still blurred by sleep, until everything before me was clear: Pinkie Pie was directly in front of me, bouncing repeatedly, and Luna was peeking over the edge of the bed, a hoof covering her mouth as she giggled.

I stared at Pinkie with a confused and slightly irritated look on my face. “Why, exactly, do I have to wake up at-” I glanced at the clock “-8 o'clock in the morning? And by the look on your face, I know there isn’t any danger,” I pouted.
Pinkie giggled. “Oops, sorry! I forgot you and Luna were snuggle-buddies at night now!” she said with a wink. I blushed heavily as Luna lost control of her giggling, and rolled onto her back in a laughing fit.

“That is not what it is at all!” I said angrily. “She’s just helping me with my nightmares so I don’t accidentally destroy the castle!”
My rather annoying pink friend rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, pal. Anyways, Shining Armor sent me to get you! In preparation for the Crystal Fair, the guards are hosting a tournament, and they want you to participate!” she said excitedly.

I shrugged. “Eh, why not. Other than magic practice, I don’t have much else to do,” I said, then looked over to Luna, who had finally gathered herself. “I mean, if that’s alright with you?” I added.
She nodded. “I’ll probably have to attend as well, being a princess,” she said contently. “Besides, it might be a good idea for you to hone your blade skills as well as your magical ones.”

I smirked and grabbed my sword from the corner of the room. “I don’t need training; I’m a sword master!” I called as I tried to twirl the blade in my hand, which ended with the elegant piece of crystal being embedded in the ceiling. I heard Rarity shriek in the room above us, and I cringed.

“Sorry, Rarity!” I called nervously, and then looked back to Luna and shrugged. “Okay, maybe I’m just a little rusty. If only Sanguis had broken my left hand, and not my right,” I muttered.

~-~-~-~-~

Sanguis stalked through the frozen wasteland several miles from his tomb, scanning the endless white landscape for his prize. He had only heard rumors of the whereabouts of his next potential ally, but they were his only clue, and he couldn’t pass up a chance at having this powerful being on his side; after all, his hatred for what the residents had done to him would be a powerful incentive for assistance.

After several hours, his eyes rested on a small, black and red object poking out of a snowbank, and a smile stretched across Sanguis’s half-regenerated lips

“Finally,” he breathed as he picked up and examined what he had suspected was only a legend; it was smooth, as if it were polished, and felt untouched by the harsh, eternal winter. It was curved like a fang, and jagged at the end as if it had been broken off of something.

He clutched the evil thing in his fist and held it near his chest as he channeled power into it. A stream of red light flowed down his arm, through his wrist, and into his hand, causing a bright, red glow to filter from between the cracks in his fingers.
When he felt he had done his part, he set the glowing spike on the ground and stepped back as it started to hover in the air, glowing brighter every second. Before long, it exploded into a massive, inky cloud, from which an angry face emerged.
And now you live once more, Sombra, true King of the Crystal Empire, Sanguis thought with a wicked grin as the creature stared at him expectantly.

“King Sombra,” the warlord called in a mighty voice, “I have a proposition for you.”

~-~-~-~-~

I found myself strapping on a set of gold-and-platinum armor as Shining Armor sat at my side in the stadium foyer. It was kinda like a doctors office, except way more exciting; groups of ponies gathered together, excitedly discussing what they hoped to see, while others crowded at booths, slamming bits on the counters and scrutinizing chalkboards covered in various names; one of them, I knew, was mine.

“Is it too late to back out?” I said nervously when I saw who I feared would be my first opponent: an incredibly buff earth pony that looked a lot like Bulk Biceps, except this one was black with a dark grey mane, and was heavily armed.

Shining Armor snorted. “Is this Allen Greathouse, the mighty Slayer of the Obsidian King I’m talking to?” he said teasingly, but smiled and nudged me encouragingly when he saw who was worrying me. “Don’t worry, they set up the matches so they’ll all be fair fights. You aren’t on until later,” he reassured me.
I sighed, slightly relieved. “Any idea who I am fighting?” I inquired.

Shining Armor shook his head. “Nope, the fights are random for the most part. We just make sure everypony is sorted into groups based on their skill and strength,” he explained, “then we just pull names out of a hat.”
I nodded. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about being clobbered,” I sighed, and sat down heavily. “I needed this, you know. The Crystal Fair, I mean,” I said quietly, “especially now, with all that’s going on.”

The white unicorn laughed. “I think we all need something like this to take our minds off of the danger around us,” he said tiredly. The tone in his voice told me he was thinking about all the dangers Equestria had faced in the past, especially the ones he had faced in person. I smiled sadly.

“Yeah, but some more than others,” I said, which was answered with a questioning look. I went on to explain Cadence’s request that I return to Earth with Drayke’s crystal if Sanguis tried to take it for himself. He nodded intently as I spoke, my words getting faster as I got closer to the end of my story.

“I knew that the crystal had been kept in the archives,” he admitted, “but I didn’t like the idea; that thing gave me a bad vibe whenever I was around it. Like I was being watched or something. Anyways, I wouldn’t worry about it too much, you know? Doing the right thing no matter the consequences can’t be anything new to you,” he said lightly.

I smiled sadly. “I know, but it’s just really bad timing right now. I mean, I just got back last week, and I don’t want to go so soon. And,” I said, pulling the gold ring from my pocket and staring at it as tears tugged at the edges of my vision, “I was going to ask Luna to marry me. If I leave, what’s going to happen then?” I asked, more myself than the pony beside me.

He nodded. “I’m sure it won’t come to that, Allen. Heroes may suffer a lot in their journeys, but they always get their ultimate goal in the end,” he said encouragingly.
I nodded, his words cheering me up a little bit, but one doubt in my mind still kept my hopes from getting too high: I may be in a fictional world where everyone gets their happy ending, but what was happening to me right now was no fairy tale.

~-~-~-~-~

Sombra lay on the frozen ground in his true physical form, gasping for breath as a massive blade pressed against his throat. This stranger that had awoken him was much stronger than he looked, and had subdued the ancient king in minutes.

“I shall ask you again, Sombra,” the human growled as his sword pressed just hard enough to cause pain, but not to cut his throat, “I am moving to attack the Crystal Empire, and the rest of Equestria will fall shortly after. If you help me, I will give you the Empire to do with what you wish. You can even remove it from this realm and shroud it and its citizens in darkness for another thousand years if you wish. Just help me in this one battle, and you can reclaim your throne,” he said in a commanding yet persuasive tone.

Sombra gasped a few times. “I… shall,” he said finally, “but why do you need my help?”

The human withdrew his weapon, allowing Sombra to stand. “There is another human, like me, in that kingdom. He has a strong-willed spirit that gives him a slight advantage against me, and with the help of his friends he was actually able to drive me me away from the Empire. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again, so I am amassing an army,” he said, and motioned for the dark king to follow as he walked toward his lair. “I have already recruited the changeling army, and I have an army of undead soldiers, human and pony alike, that will obey my every command. You are simply the one extra mile to ensure nothing goes wrong,” he said cruelly.

Sombra nodded, his smile matching the human’s. “So, what is your master plan?” he asked wickedly.

Sanguis chuckled. “I cannot reveal the full details of it, but I can tell you this: we attack the Crystal Empire tonight!” he declared, and summoned a skeletal horse in a puff of black smoke, which he immediately jumped on and rode off.
Sombra let out an evil laugh, thrilled by the coming battle as he leapt into the air, taking on his massive, shadowy form, and raced after his ally over the snowy landscape.

~-~-~-~-~

“So, Shining,” I asked my unicorn companion nonchalantly, “how did you and Cadence get together?”

He laughed. “It’s quite the story, actually. It was a dark and stormy night, and she was on her way home from the market,” he began dramatically. “It was late, and a couple of shady ponies had been trailing her for quite some time. She ran from them, eventually getting caught in a dark alleyway with no escape. They were just about to attack her, when-”

“Shining Armor, that is not how it went!” Cadence said sternly from behind us.

Shining turned around, blushing and smiling broadly. “Cadey! What are you doing here?” he said innocently.
The princess of love rolled her eyes. “Princesses are required to attend these events. Anyways, did I hear you giving Allen an exaggerated version of how we met?”

Shining widened his eyes. “What? No! I have no idea of what you’re talking about!” he said, still smiling.

Cadence walked around the bank of chairs and sat next to me. “Maybe I should be the one to tell it. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and we were just walking out of school after a long day of tests and lectures,” she began. She had a loving look in her eyes as she spoke, as if she could perfectly picture the scenario. “I was walking down the street, when I heard hooves rushing up to me. I turned around just in time to see some moron in a Canterlot High football uniform crash in to me head-on. He kept apologizing over and over again, and I assured him everything was okay, but he kept going on and on. It was kind of cute, actually.

“‘Please, let me make it up to you in some way!’ he had said, still looking me over to make sure I wasn’t injured. He seemed like a really nice colt, especially compared to some of the other jocks on the team. So, I told him if he was really that desperate to make up for tackling me, he could take me out for dinner the next night,” she said, smiling at the memory.

“And it just took off from there,” Shining said as he smiled at his wife.
I grinned. “Well, I don’t think my and Luna’s meeting was as poetic as that, but it was pretty nice.”

Just then, a gruff voice called from the doorway facing us. “Greathouse! You’re on next! Make sure your armor’s on and you’ve chosen a weapon from the armory, and get to the pit!”
I stood up slowly. “I guess that story’s gonna have to wait for another time,” I sighed as I walked over to the doorway. “Wish me luck!” I called back to Cadence and Shining as they smiled supportively.

“You’ve got this, pal!” Shining called as I left the lobby and headed for the pit, where my first public match awaited me.

~-~-~-~-~

Shining Armor looked over at Cadence. “I told him the fights were totally random, and matchups were based on skill level. I didn’t lie to him, did I?” he asked his wife cautiously.

Cadence looked ahead blankly. “Only half; the fights are sorted by the participants ability, but Allen’s opponent is in no way an accident,” she said mysteriously.

Shining raised an eyebrow. “He isn’t going against who I think he is, is he?” he asked slowly.

Cadence only responded by looking her husband deeply in the eyes.

Shining Armor looked away and sighed heavily as he stood up. “I think I’ll have to go into the stands. This should be an interesting match,” he said, and Cadence followed close behind.

~-~-~-~-~

“MAY THE FIRST COMBATANT STEP OUT FROM THE PIT!”

I stepped out from the darkness of the pit into an open field surrounded by a rounded wall. It looked just like what you’d see in a movie about roman gladiators: the screaming crowds, the sandy floor, and the bars stuck in the wall every few feet for spectators to get an up-close view of the fight.

I shielded my eyes from the sudden change of light, and when my eyes finally adjusted, I scanned the crowd for my friends. I saw Luna and Cadence in the royal booths way up at the top, and my friends had taken front row seats so they could make sure their encouraging cheers were heard. I smiled when I saw that Twilight was sitting next to Flash Sentry, and looked like she was striking up a quiet conversation with the handsome stallion.

“Well, I’m glad that worked out,” I said to myself as the announcer continued.

“This young human found himself lost in our world one year ago, and quickly proved himself to be one of the mightiest heroes Equestria had ever seen. Let’s give it up for… ALLEN GREATHOUSE!”

The crowd let out a wild roar as I pumped my hoof in the air heroically. I was always pretty humble about any accomplishments I made, but I was in a freaking gladiator arena, and the crowd was going wild; there was no way I was going to just idly walk out like I was on a casual stroll.

“Are you not entertained?!” I shouted with my arms spread wide as the cheering continued, and the announcer spoke up again.

“COMBATANT NUMBER TWO, STEP OUT FROM THE PIT!”

I looked over to the other edge of the field, unable to see exactly what I would be facing because of the pit’s darkness.
I really hope Shining was right, I thought nervously as I remembered the muscular pony from the lobby.

Who my real opponent was made me question rather I would prefer that hulk over who I was currently pitted against.

“And now, an all new challenger, the likes of whom we have never seen! Let’s hope he gives us a good match, mares and gentlecolts. Let’s give it up for… ROBERT GREATHOUSE!”

A man strode from the darkness of the opposite pit, clad in a suit of armor similar to mine and with a rapier holstered at his side. He looked almost exactly like me, but he was slightly taller, with a decent amount of facial hair and about twenty-five years on his face.

He smiled nervously as he approached me in the center of the arena.

“Hello, son,” he said quietly as we faced each other, awaiting the announcer’s next words.