Emerald, Rose, Topaz and Sapphire couldn't believe what had just happened no more than 10 minutes ago.
Sunny stood up to their father about his treatment, turned into an alicorn and he apologized for treating his girls the way he did... how he just wanted to protect them after their mother's passing.
Of course they forgave him, but... this was a lot to wrap their wings around. Not to mention they still had a death defying mission to stop the Crimson Witch from releasing the Destroyer.
Not wasting a single second, KISS escorted everyone back to the ship, and they took off across the skies toward the volcanic temple where the Destroyer was locked away.
But during their flight, Sunny and Misty found themselves sitting side by side, thinking about everything they have just been through.
Confronting the king, a cosmic realm, a plan to destroy the Earth and potentially Equestria along with it?
It was a lot to wrap their heads around... especially for Sunny.
After watching her friend be uncharacteristically silent, Misty decided to speak. “It's okay if you're scared, Sunny... I am too. This is all too much to think about at once, and... if Opaline is running this entire scheme from the shadows, well... then we seriously misjudged what we thought she could do with her full powers back.”
“...that worries me, don't get me wrong,” Sunny admitted. “But... as I yelled at the king-- the king, for foal's sake-- I... thought of something. What if... what if I turn into Opaline...?”
That question caused all the ponies, the bat ponies, Shaggy and Scooby to turn toward her with wide eyes. “Sunny...” Pipp frowned, ears pinning. “No...”
“I yelled at a KING! I would feel the same way if I yelled at Queen Haven!” Sunny said, tears beginning to build in her eyes. “If my temper gets too out of control, I could become just like Opaline! Then there would be no going back! Nopony would care about me anymore...”
She began to sob heavily, and everyone found themselves frowning at the sad sight of the earth pony. Sunny wasn't just worrying about her duties as a leader...
...she was also worrying about becoming just like their most hated enemy.
Scooby whimpered and licked Sunny's face, trying to lick her tears away. That was when Rose looked to her sisters and nodded.
They had to help Sunny, after what they did for them a few minutes earlier.
Emerald stepped up first. “Sunny, there's no way you could EVER become an evil pony like that alicorn. You would never shove friendship aside and only think about gaining power.”
“How do know that?” Sunny asked. “Are you kidding? From the sound of it, it sounds like you've saved Equestria more times than anypony else can count!” Rose said. “You're such a brave confident mare. Nopony with those qualities can ever turn evil.”
Sunny smiled with a small sigh. “Thanks, girls. I guess I never thought about it that way. But I will from now on.”
“Anytime,” Topaz said. “Come on. Let's get back to the others and see if they need any help.”
XXXXXXXXX
They continued flying for another couple of hours, talking and keeping watch over the land to spot the witch when Daphne approached Starchild on the stage. “Starchild, do you mind if I ask where you get your super powers from?”
“Rock 'n' roll!” Starchild strummed his electric guitar. “It powers everything in Kissteria.”
“I don't know,” Velma shrugged to herself as she strummed on Demon's bass. “Maybe I can find friends with normal interests.”
“Ummm... please be careful with that bass,” Emerald pleaded, and Velma turned to look at her with a skeptic smirk. “Because it's made from alien technology?”
“Because it costs more than your house, to put it quite bluntly.”
Velma immediately stopped playing the bass, and Zipp chuckled nervously and put it down on the floor. That's when Pipp, Misty, Shaggy and Scooby approached Demon and Emerald. “Excuse me, uh, Mr. Demon,” said Shaggy. “Is it rock 'n' roll that makes you breathe fire?”
“No.”
“Then what does?” Pipp asked. “Tamales?”
“No.”
Scooby then thought of something else. “Hot peppers?”
“No.”
“Chinichanga sauce?” Misty asked. “NO!!”
From the Demon's roar came a stream of fire, causing them to scream and duck. “Demon!” Emerald scolded harshly. “You need to learn to control your temper! They just wanted to ask you an innocent question.”
She then turned to the group brushed them off. “I am so sorry about that.”
“Oh, don't worry about it,” Pipp stated. “I guess we should have had it coming.”
“You might as well tell them, Demon,” Catman said from his drumset, “before we get another grocery list.”
Seeing Emerald's convincing nod and the optimistic looks of Shaggy, Scooby and two of their friends, Demon sighed reluctantly. They were bound to find out sometime, and right now might be best. “The secret to breathing fire is to swallow your fears.”
Scooby blinked and looked at the group in surprise. “Fears?”
“I didn't know you could eat those,” Misty shook her head. “Swallow them up,” Demon continued, “hold them inside... and force them out as demon fire.”
He then released a streak of fire into the sky, leading everyone to turn away from the burning hot flames. Hitch shuddered, but was ultimately impressed. “Talk about your acid reflux.”
“So... Emerald? Have those gems in your crowns always been magic?” Misty asked as Emerald hopped down to their level. “And how did you get accustomed to those powers anyway?”
“These tiaras were actually hoof-made by our father before we were born,” Emerald said. “But the gemstones themselves were actually magically created after the Kissteria crystals were crafted into the Rock of Kissteria. And while they all share similar powers, there was some powers in each gemstone that stands out from the rest.”
“Really?” Zipp asked with some interest. “Like what?”
“Well, when Topaz sings,” said Rose, “it's like there's a sonic blast that disorients enemies.”
“And Sapphire can control all forces of water-- even snow and ice, just by flicking her tail!” Emerald spoke. “I can control plants, and Rose can use power ribbons!”
“Hmmm...” Zipp pondered for a few moments. “Those skills may help us when we're fighting off old, red and creepy.”
“There it is!” Starchild pointed toward the large volcano ahead, surrounded by a red and orange force field. “The tomb of the Destroyer.”
“And there's the witch!” Velma pointed up to the witch in question, the Rock drilling into the side of the force field. “She's trying to break the force field open!” Sunny cried. “We have to stop her before the Destroyer gets loose!”
“You all stay right here and don't move,” Topaz spread her wings. “We'll go deal with her and get the rock back.”
And just like that, the sisters and KISS flew off, with the gang and their Equestrian allies hoping that they would be able to stop the witch in time.
XXXXXXXXX
The witch managed to use the rock to drill right through the force field, flying to a flat part of the mountain, where she was confronted by KISS and the bat pony princesses. And as soon as they landed in front of her, the witch glanced back at the aircraft, where she knew the gang would be. “You shouldn't have brought them here, KISS,” she sneered. “They will surely never leave Kissteria... ALIVE!!”
The sisters gasped as the witch used her magic to make several winged statues come to life, and sent them after the gang and their friends before she flew off to a higher spot on the mountain. “I'll go after her myself!” Starchild declared, flying up before turning to the others. “You guys stay and protect the kids.”
“Bur Starchild--!” Topaz began to argue when she saw he was already too far ahead. “Come on, guys... our friends won't be able to handle those winged freaks all on their own.”
She led her sisters, Catman and Spaceman away, but Demon let out an audible groan. “Oh, great. More babysitting.”
XXXXXXXXX
“Everypony, run! They're coming straight toward us!” Misty cried as soon as she saw the attacking statues, and everyone darted in different directions to avoid being caught. However, everyone ended up being caught anyway, all except Velma, who unknowingly was running straight toward the ship's edge. “This is one heck of a theme park attraction!!”
Unfortunately, she dove right off the side of the ship, but was saved when a statue grabbed her and began to carry her away. Luckily, Spaceman fired lightning at the statue, causing it to fall, and Rose caught Velma before she hit the ground, and Topaz and Sapphire used their abilities from their tiaras against three other statues, and while Izzy was able to levitate herself down to the ground, Topaz and Sapphire lowered Sunny and Hitch to the ground before flying off.
Catman flung one statue into the other two nearby, causing them to break and drop the pegasus sisters, Daphne and Fred, and Topaz and Sapphire were able to catch Daphne and Fred while Zipp and Pipp regained the flapping of their wings.
Demon charged right at the statue holding Shaggy and Scooby and Misty, causing it to drop them. But luckily, Emerald used her plant powers to create a slide for them to slide to the base of the cliff without a scratch...
...until they reached the other cliff ahead of them, leaving them no place to run. Shaggy was the first to turn and see another one of the brought-to-life statues approaching them menacingly. “Oh no!”
“Dead end!” Misty shrieked as the statue became closer and closer. And when he and Scooby saw Misty trembling in fear, that's when Shaggy realized that there was only one way out of this. “Like, have you been swallowing your fears, Scooby-Doo?”
“Oh yeah. Lots of em!”
“Good! Then let em rip!”
“Ohhhhh I can't look!” Misty covered her eyes with her hooves, and when she looked again, she saw Scooby and Shaggy breathing fire right at the statue.
That's when she realized that she couldn't stand idly by while her friends did all the fighting. So, harnessing all the magic within her, she fired a blast right through her horn with her cutie mark glowing, and this adding to the fire blast made the statue turn into a roasted chicken, falling right to the ground.
Demon watched them not too far away from the cliffside with Emerald, and while the green mare gave them a proud smile, Demon flashed them a thumbs up. “Well done, pathetic scum.”
“Thanks, Mr. Demon!” Misty said. “We think,” Scooby said before the three of them high fived. “Come on. We better get you guys someplace a little safer in case a rockslide were to start,” Emerald said before unfolding her wings and moving toward Misty. “You first.”
“Hey, wait! Whoaaaaaa!!!” Misty panicked as she was lifted off the ground. “Don't worry, you're fine!” Emerald assured. “Demon will get your friends and meet us back at the airship! Now hang on!”
XXXXXXXXX
At the same time, the witch was about to insert the rock into the mountain when Starchild showed up with a smirk on his face. “It's over, Crimson Witch. I'll be taking back the rock of Kissteria.”
He sent several small explosive charges down around the witch, and as the smoke cleared, he landed to see where she was, but she appeared from a pile of rubble with a wicked expression. “The rock, Starchild?”
Starchild tried to punch her, but she easily caught his fist in her hand, lifting him up. “Why settle for the rock, when you can have the whole mountain?”
She threw Starchild over a field of lava, blasting repeatedly and shoving him through the rocks left and right. When she was sure that he was gone for good, she arrived back at the place she started, ready to insert the rock and free her creation. “Arise, Destroyer!!”
“Yo! Witchy poo!” Starchild emerged from the rocks, rubbing his aching shoulder. “I'm not done yet.”
“Such arrogance. You can't defeat me alone.”
“Just watch me.”
Starchild blasted all of his magic toward the witch, who indeed was blasted back, but she instead formed a shield around herself, and once she was close enough, much to Starchild’s shock...
...she inserted the rock into the mountain.
That very force was enough to send Starchild flying back into the rocks, knocking him unconscious as the volcano began to spew out lava.
At the base of the mountain, Shaggy felt everything begin to rumble as he stood beside Scooby, Misty and the sisters, and instantly tried not to fear the worst. “Dude, I hope that's my stomach rumbling.”
“No...” Misty pointed upward. “Look!”
Everyone looked up in horror to see the volcano erupting, and Topaz's pupils shrunk as she realized what happened. “STARCHILD!!!”
She spread her wings and took off immediately, and Rose immediately turned to the others. “Wait right here and don't move!”
Rose, Emerald and Sapphire flew off to join Demon, Spaceman and Catman, who tried to attack the witch as she flew up. “You're too late!” she cackled as she dodged their attacks like they were nothing. “I go now to watch the destruction of your beloved Earth!”
Topaz flew down as fast her wings could take her and grabbed Starchild before he was able to hit the lava. As the witch escaped, all the groups reunited, and Demon crossed his arms at Starchild. “Nice work stopping the witch.”
“I couldn't beat her on my own,” Starchild said hesitantly. “You know,” said Velma, “the Elder said that the only way to stop whatever's happening here... is with teamwork, right?”
But to the gang's shock, Demon was the one who responded. “Right.”
“Really?!” Emerald blinked. “Yeah,” Demon nodded. “As much as I hate to admit it, we need to work together. Isn't that something you say on a regular basis, Starscout?”
“Uh... right,” Sunny nodded. “I'm sure we can come up with a solution to this. Anypony got any ideas?”
That's when Fred ultimately came up with the perfect solution. “Hey, Starchild said that rock 'n' roll powers everything here.”
“And it was music that created the Rock of Kissteria in the first place!” Izzy realized, and Spaceman immediately caught on. “So if we create massive music...”
“OUR kind of music!” Emerald added. “We'll overload the Destroyer!” Starchild finished the plan. “Yeah,” Shaggy agreed. “You guys just need to make too much rock 'n' roll!”
“Too much rock 'n' roll?” Catman put his hands on his hips. “Ain't no such thing.”
“Look, you're KISS,” Velma crossed her arms. “If anyone can make too much rock 'n' roll, it's you.”
“And,” Topaz said, “us princesses will be more than happy to help!”
“Then we'll head back to KISS World and start the concert... while you guys distract the Destroyer,” Starchild said. “How will we do that?” Zipp asked, but Starchild only pulled out some car keys. “With this.”
He pressed the keys, and a smaller aircraft came out from the larger one. “Wow... neat!” Fred said as Starchild gave him the keys. “We call it the KISS Craft.”
“We have a van that we call the Mystery Machine.”
“That's cool, Frank, but we're running out of time.”
And just like that, KISS and the sisters flew back to the airship and back through the portal again.