As Twilight and her group make their way down to the bottom rotunda floor, they ran into several more Changeling Warriors and Marksmen. Without hesitation, Trixie went in front of Twilight as she pulled out both of her revolvers with her magic and shot down 3 Changeling Marksmen in a heartbeat. As soon as Twilight ran passed Trixie, she drew out her orichalcum greatsword and made unleash a massive horizontal sweep that decapitated the bodies of 2 changeling warriors and stabbed one marksmen in the chest before she pulled her sword out, leaving behind a dead, bleed changeling falling onto the crystal floor. Spike walked up behind Twilight Sparkle and leaped into the air. The moment the teenage dragon got close to three Changeling Drones flying overhead, he spit out a huge fireball that exploded above the purple alicorn and engulfed the changelings. All three changelings crashed into the pavement, like falling meteors that exploded upon impact. For Flash, he threw a javelin at one Changeling Drone that send him tumbling off the staircase leading to the rotunda.
Meanwhile, back at the rotunda, Applejack is still cornered with an injured Rarity by Cicada, Rasputin, and their Black Juggernaut. Despite Applejack's brawling abilities, earth pony mare is badly outnumbered from three to one.
"Man, this is bad as rotten applesauce." Applejack thought to herself. "What should ah do???"
"It's come down to this, little mare." Cicada cackled at Applejack. "You either hand over your alicorn princess or face our wrath. It's your choice."
"Why should I???" Applejack snarled as she drew out her metal ball and chain. "You guys have no idea how bad I felt when I thought I had lost Twilight. However, we're really grateful that she finally can back from da dead after all those years of pain and suffering. Because of that, ah finally regained the strength ta fight back and help her reclaim Equestria as our own. Only this time, we will not go down without ah fight!!! So, if ya varmits are obsessed in going after Twi then you have to get past us first."
"So be it." Cicada hissed before issuing the following orders to her 3rd Juggernaut. "Finish her off."
As soon as Cicada and Rasputin left the area, Rasputin used his changeling magic to seal off the rotunda so that there will be no help coming from the outside. The moment Applejack turned around, the Juggernaut threw out Soarin, Rainbow, and Sunset to a nearby wall, knocking all of them out before engaging the earth pony mare in a one-on-one fight. Before Applejack could make a move, the Juggernaut unleashed a salvo of rockets at her. Applejack threw Rarity out of the way with her mouth and ran across the room, avoiding the oncoming rockets firing at her. The earth pony ran up the walls and hurled a metal ball at the Juggernaut's face only for it to grab the chain that was holding the metal ball, much to Applejack's shock. The walker yanked the chain off Applejack's hooves and threw a huge punch at her with its right gauntlet. As Applejack continued to scale the walls, she jumped up high to avoid the Juggernaut's fist. While in mid-air, Applejack injected herself with a combat drug onto her body. While under the drug's effects, the farm pony started to see her surroundings move in a very slow pace, with only her unaffected, giving her full adrenaline. During her adrenaline, Applejack drew out her talons and made several slashes towards the Black Juggernaut. As soon as the effects wore off, Applejack stabbed the Juggernaut's right gauntlet with her left talon only to get slammed on her back by its left gauntlet. In just less than a second, Applejack fell flat on the floor with her stomach, leaving a huge crack on the crystal pavement. The poor farm pony was whimpering in pain as Applejack starts feeling a couple of broken bones all over her body. She now realized that she can't move after getting struck by the Black Juggernaut.
"No!!! It cannot end like this!!!" Applejack cried in pain, unable to get up on all four hooves. "Twi, Rarity, everypony. I'm sorry!!!!"
Applejack slowly closed her eyes and lost consciousness. However, just when the Juggernaut was about to finish an unconscious Applejack off with a huge stomp, Crimson Cross jumped off from the ceiling and landed on top of the huge walker. Before the walker could do anything, Crimson smashed a hole with his right hoof on top of the Juggernaut and revealing an exposed engine on its back, pulled out a pin from an HE grenade with his teeth, and threw it inside the engine compartment. As soon as Crimson jumped off the Juggernaut, it exploded in a million pieces. Crimson went up to the unconscious ponies to check up on them. After seeing how critically injured Applejack and Rarity are, the earth pony gentlecolt lifted both ponies onto his back. The moment Crimson was about to leave the area, Twilight and her team appeared at the entrance of the rotunda, using her magic to break apart Rasputin's emplaced magic barrier with Trixie's and Starlight's combined magic. Their eyes widen after seeing Applejack and Rarity in such critical condition.
"NO, my dear sweet Rarity!!!" Spike cried after seeing his favorite unicorn badly wounded. "What did they do to you??"
"OH MY GOD!!! APPLEJACK!!! RARITY!!!" Twilight shrieked after seeing the fashionista and the farm pony crippled and out cold. "Crimson, what happened to them?"
"Some Changeling Juggernaut almost crushed Applejack to death and Rarity is bleeding from a fresh wound." Crimson responded to Twilight's question. "I already took care of the Juggernaut. So right now, I'm going to bring her and Rarity to the medical tent for immediate treatment."
"Thanks, Crimson." Twilight acknowledged before she moved on to help the others get back up on their hooves. "Come on guys, we need to bring the Crystal Heart to the foyer."
As Sunset, Rainbow, and Soarin got back up on their hooves, they noticed that Applejack and Rarity are not here. After Twilight told them what happened to both of them, they almost broke down, until Twilight told them to snap out of it and that the mission is far from over. When they got the Crystal Heart out of the glass capsule, Starlight broke Sunburst free from his chains and they embraced each other in their hooves, crying with tears of happiness and reunion. After exiting the palace, Crimson took off immediately with the aid of a group of LR pegasus, while Twilight and the rest of her surviving team attempts to reactivate the Crystal Heart. Without warning, however, some green laser beam shot out of nowhere just inches away from where Twilight and Starlight are standing before they could bring the Crystal Heart back into its place. The moment the purple alicorn and the pale-purple unicorn turned around, they see Cicada and General Rasputin standing right in front of them, both armed to the teeth.
"Not so fast, little ponies." Cicada hissed as she used her magic to draw out a battle axe from her sheath. "Do you really think you guys could retake the Crystal Empire that easily?? It ain't over until the Changeling Queen drops dead!!! Come on Rasputin, let's get e'm."
"With pleasure, your majesty!!!" Rasputin acknowledged as he drew out his black blade.
"Sunburst, take the crystal heart. Me and Starlight will handle this!!!" Twilight ordered the orange unicorn as she tossed the crystal heart and drew out her greatsword.
The moment Cicada charged at the two ponies, with Rasputin right next to her, Starlight drew out her flail and started swinging at the Changeling Queen with all her might. Cicada barely dodged Starlight's flail by a thread away from her face and skidded away from the unicorn. Cicada raised her battle ax high above her head and slammed straight into the pavement, attempting to butcher Starlight. However, Starlight was able to dodge Cicada's ax by running to her left. The unicorn made a horizontal swing at Cicada with her flail, only for the Changeling Queen to duck below. The next thing Starlight did was a overhead slam with her flail. However, Cicada was able to block the flail with her battle ax. The moment Starlight's flail wrapped around the Queen's battle ax, the Changeling Queen yanked the flail away from the female unicorn. As for Twilight, she made a vertical slash right above Rasputin's head, only for the Changeling General to parry Twilight's blade in a horizontal block with his black sword. After making a couple of more parries between Twilight's sword and Rasputin's sword, Rasputin jumped backwards dodging Twilight's horizontal slash. As Rasputin landed on all fours, Flash Sentry appeared from behind and tried to stab the Changeling General in the back. However, the moment Rasputin saw Flash, he used his changeling magic to conjure up a dark-green shield and blocked the pegasus' attack with it.
During the siege of the Crystal Empire, Luna's forces and Discord were able to press forward into the crystal town square. As they all fought through Cicada's armies, Luna ordered Discord to help her secure the crystal town square, while Sweetie Drops, Daring Do, and Soarin take whatever men they could spare and help free the Crystal ponies from their Changeling Prisons. The moment the crystal ponies got out of their cages, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy bring out a large cart full of weapon crates for those who could still fight arm themselves in order to retake the Crystal Empire. As the fight continued, Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence were able to be reunited with Princess Luna. After the royal sisters and Cadence have embraced each other in their hooves, Luna told them that she had sent Twilight and her group to recover the Crystal Heart from Queen Cicada. Wasting no time, Princess Cadence flew out immediately to go help her foal-sister.
During the fight between Twilight and Starlight versus Rasputin and Cicada, the rest of Twilight's friends got preoccupied by more of Cicada's soldiers encroaching into the palace grounds. Rasputin charged up his horn and started shooting at Flash Sentry with all of his might. Just when Flash raised his kite shield to defend against the changeling general's magic, it pushed him away from the foyer, leaving the orange pegasus stunned. However, before Rasputin could march towards Flash to finish him off, Twilight teleported in between the two and lunged at the Changeling General with her greatsword. The moment Twilight's greatsword and Rasputin's black sword clashed into each other, they started struggling over keeping their guard up. As Rasuptin's black sword started charging up with dark magic, Twilight slowly loses her ground. However, Twilight's eyes turned white just as she started to charge up her greatsword with her magic. Before Rasputin could see what was coming, Twilight threw a fast punch at the Changeling General in the face, making him lose his balance. The next thing Rasputin saw was a huge magic wave coming out of Twilight's greatsword. The magic wave flew straight at him and caused a huge explosion that send him flying into the black tower that once hold Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence at. Upon slamming the Changeling General into the Black Tower, it caused an explosion that made the tower topple over and crashed straight into the crystal pavement, crushing several Changelings that got too close to it, along with General Rasputin.
"That's for my brother!!!" Twilight said triumphantly as she sheathed her sword back into her scabbard.
As for Starlight and Cicada, the Changeling Queen unleashed her dark magic at Starlight again, only for the female unicorn to use her magic to defend herself. Just when Cicada's magic struck at Starlight's magic shield, Starlight unleashed a bomb spell that sent the Changeling Queen backpedaling a couple of feet away from the unicorn. However, Queen Cicada uses her magic to take out her battle ax and started charging at Starlight Glimmer with all her might. After making a few more strikes with Cicada's battle ax, Starlight kept teleporting out of harm's way. As the female unicorn used her levitation spell to lift herself up, Starlight shoots out more magic beams at Cicada. However, Cicada took off to the skies and flew straight at the female unicorn, dodging every magic beam that is shooting out from Starlight's horn. Just in an instant, Cicada grabbed Starlight by the neck with her hoof, lifting her above before making another evil cackle while in mid-air.
"I looks like you failed again, Starlight Glimmer." Cicada hissed as she started choking the female unicorn with her hoof, while holding her battle ax behind her.
Just when Cicada was about to win again, Starlight suddenly slammed her right hoof on Cicada's arm so hard that the Changeling Queen yelped after realizing that her arm got dislocated. The moment Cicada's arm was struck, she accidentally disengaged her magic, making her battle ax fall straight into the crystal pavement right below her. Starlight held the changeling queen with both of her hind legs and slammed her straight down from the sky and into the crystal pavement head first, breaking the queen's horn into pieces. Just when the Cicada was struggling to get up on her hooves, her eyes widen with horror as she sees Starlight used her magic to grab the Queen's battle ax and chopped her head off clean from her body before it collapsed with blood pouring out of its neck.
"Sunburst, it's time!!!" Starlight said to her unicorn coltfriend.
As soon as Princess Cadence appeared right next to Sunburst, the orange unicorn threw the Crystal Heart into the center, reactivating it. The moment the Crystal Heart started spinning again, a huge blinding flash erupted all over the Crystal Empire, destroying all changeling hives in the city, transforming every pony and creature into their crystalized versions of themselves, and sent every surviving changeling, other than those from the Changeling Republic, flying away from the Empire for good. Upon realizing their major victory, the entire Lunar Republic Army and the Crystal Ponies started cheering. For the Draconneques, Discord was making a victory dance after realizing that his body became crystalized too.
"Ho Oh, Yes!!!" Discord cheered as he summoned a huge flag bearing the Crystal Empire's Emblem in front of the Crystal Courtyard and started waving it above his head. "This is just the happen to be the greatest, chaotic victory, EVER!!!!"
During the time the Crystal Heart reactivated itself, Princess Cadence and Princess Celestia have both got their powers back and appeared in front of the Crystal Palace, along with Princess Twilight and Princess Luna. Upon seeing their beloved rulers of Equestria reunited once again, every single pony and creature bowed down to them as the rest of the Crystal Empire lit up in a cerulean blue surrounding. The battle is won and the Crystal Empire has been saved.