My Little Universe: Season 7

by EquestrianKirin


To Change the Future PT2

"AAAHHH!"

Winter was a cruel enough time for many a pony, but this day grew even more colder as the skies grew dark with the arrival of the Pony of Shadows. He found a pretty secluded spot, a small village where all the houses were lined up in a row. The ponies all had to only run and hide away in their homes as the gigantic Alicorn moved into the village, seeing the many fearful expressions on the ponies around him. The clouds above him darkened a bit, but while it did block some of the sun, the Pony of Shadows began to feel a bit uneasy. Weak. He looked up to the sun, feeling its warmth and heat, and like a vampire had to go and find some shade away from the sun. The Pony of shadows left behind a town of bitter coldness, enough so that ice was left on many of the buildings. But for the Pony of Shadows, it still was a settlement, and that was not enough for him.

"This realm is too bright," he snarled, "Even in such a cold time, the darkness is in such small amounts. … Curse you, Starswirl." the Pony of Shadows gritted his teeth, his hooves digging into the snow. "There has to be someplace to draw power."

The Alicorn-like Umbra tried to think hard on where to go. He had tried numerous spots all over the place already: the Griffonstone Abysmal abyss, the scorching deserts near Klugetown, even the thicket of Everfree Forest. But even if the areas he'd gone to were dark in their own right, they still weren't enough. He needed somewhere where there's a LOT of darkness, somewhere he can gain power quickly, and easily. But now, Eqiestria couldn't provide that to him as well as it used to be. Then again, most of Equestria back then was torches and farmland. Nowadays, over half of the items the Pony of Shadows couldn't truly recognize all that much, and it didn't help him too well at all.
In frustration, the Pony of Shadows moved on, leaping up into the air and disappearing in the blink of an eye. If he could say one thing, he did make life a little bit harder for the ponies of the village. There HAD to be somewhere where he could harness a lot more energy, but where? Clearly the "dark realms" in Equus weren't as dark anymore.

"His influence has spread everywhere. How am I going to harness what I need if there's barely a spot left in this realm? …"

Then he stopped. Of course! The realm he returned to was a very dull and comforting one comparatively speaking, so if he can't get what he needed in this realm, there was only one main thing to do. With a grin stretching along his face, the alicorn of darkness brought out his wings, and flew skyward, disappearing in seconds, as his own sonic boom moved away the hazy clouds.

If you can't do well in one world, you'll just have to go somewhere else.

The Pony of Shadows had found his location.

It was a bit of a new spot in the memory of this Umbra, but the moment his own planetary teleportation finished was just the moment he needed. He looked around for a minute soon as he landed, checking what kind of place he teleported himself to. A canyon of sorts, completely barren, empty, not a sign of any plant anywhere. The snow couldn't even land on the ground without dissolving, as if the ground itself won't accept any natural entity in its presence. All that did remain were holes. Lots. And lots. Of holes. Holes, and odd machines scattered around everywhere. A sinister smile extended from cheek to cheek on his muzzle, feeling the energy amongst the place. Or lack there of.

"LOVELY. All this darkness. Not an inch of light or Starswirl's influence. I'll be at full power in no time …"

~~~~~~

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE!" Trixie bellowed in Sapphire's face, on the verge of a complete panic overload. "Now we got a Changeling horde, a Tindalos invasion, AND some crazed mad shadow pony trying to destroy the world. WE'RE DOOMED!"

No one ever did say there wasn't going to be a catch to bringing the pillars back from the dead. Now with the Pony of Shadows now released onto the world, their previous two worldly issues now grew into three, and even with the Pillars of Equestria, including Starswirl the Bearded himself now out and alive again, this was a bit of a tall order to fill. And with them all still at Ponhenge, they needed to get everyone caught up.

"How long have we've been gone?" asked Meadowbrook.

"Over a thousand years," replied Fluttershy. As probably expected, this news did surprise much of the pillars. Well, except for Starswirl, who actually felt pretty good.

"So my spell did work," Starswirl said. "and the realms had been at peace, for a millennium."

"Well … I wouldn't say "completely" at peace," Lapis Lazuli said, humbly. To say that nothing bad had happened since they've been away would, well, be lying. They all would know, after all.

"How so?" Rockhoof questioned.

"Well, let's see … the Elements of Harmony had faced Nightmare Moon from turning the world into darkness, Discord who wanted complete chaos, King Sombra who tried taking over the crystal empire -"

"Lapis, summarize," Amethyst cut in. They had little time to explain everything in detail.

"Ok, sorry. Anyway, they've faced Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, King Sombra, and when our worlds eventually met, we faced Sombra again, alongside Tirek and Jasper, then … well, I guess not much happened here over Earth, except for Starlight changing time, and an invasion on White Diamond's part. And now there's a threat from Chrysalis again, Tindalos, … and I guess now the Pony of Shadows." She did feel uneasy for the Pony of Shadow bit, but that was quite an impressive record.

"In short, we saved the world LOTS of times," confirmed Bismuth.

"Well if that's the case, defeating the Pony of Shadows will be a synch as soon as we find him," Flash Magnus said, ready for anything like any soldier. Starswirl the Bearded though wasn't convinced.

"We'll see. It is easy to say you've saved both Earth and Equus. It's quite another to do it," Starswirl said.

"Oh, we saved the world, Beardo, and we can do it again," Fulgurite said, even flipping Starswirl's beard. Starswirl himself was not too convinced, and stepped away from the Gem, looking around at the now destroyed Ponhenge.

"Be that as it may, the question still remains on the whereabouts of the Pony of Shadows."

"Hey, don't forget about the Changelings and Tindalos, they're an issue too," reminded Emerald. Starswirl wasn't really that troubled though.

"A minor issue, clearly."

"Minor issue? If we leave them alone, they'll take over everything!" said Rhodonite.

"Starswirl, is it? I-I know you don't believe us … but, these threats, they are real," Jade added.

"I'm not denying they are, but we have far more important, actual threats to worry about," Starswirl retorted, firmly, and … strangely familiar to Jade. She knew how to handle behavior like this, and she went in Starswirl's way, actually grabbing his cloak so he could stand still.

"Starswirl, please. I know you're worried about the Pony of Shadows, but … you'll have to handle Chrysalis and the Tindalos too, if you truly want this realm safe. If you leave it alone, it will just grow stronger."

"If the Pony of Shadows has his way, this realm will not exist! These dangers are nothing in comparison," Starswirl retorted.

"H-How so?" Rhodonite shivered.

"The Pony of Shadows is an Umbra: a being of pure hatred, cold, and darkness, seeking those with equally ill minds to use in its plans, and making the worlds we all live in, into nothing but a wasteland."

Starswirl paused to look around him, seeing much of the snow remaining, as he picked some up with his hooves.

"And what a time for my spell to be meddled with." He said as he glared as Twilight for a brief moment, making her shy away. "Winter is the prime time for the Pony of Shadows to regain his strength."

"So what does this mean?" Star Quartz asked.

"It means that, if we don't relocate the Pony of Shadows and return him to Limbo, then all of Equus will be nothing more than a barren, Windigo-infested plain. All life will be wiped away in time, the dreaded Umbra being the only thing remaining."

"AND suddenly being attacked by Tindalos doesn't sound too bad," Tiger's Eye commented, feeling a lot of shivers run through her on the description. Even if most of them are Gems, and this wouldn't really bother them, at the expense of seeing Equestria fall was NOT going to suite any of them well at all. Jade tried to think of something to say, but the authority of this unicorn was enough to keep her quiet, as much as she didn't want to be silenced.

"What're we waiting for then?" Bismuth asked, "He'll be begging to go back to Limbo when we find him."

"THAT is the spirit I like to see," Flash Magnus said.

"As enthusiastic as you are, we're still unaware of his location. And this land is vast, even more so, now with Earth involved in the range," Starswirl noted.

"Sounds like you need a map. And we got just the thing," Sapphire said, feeling a bit more confident now. All this was fine and good, but some of them had to interject.

"Wait, wait, wait, we're not just gonna ignore Chrysalis and the Tindalos, are we?" Rhodonite asked.

"No, of course not," said Jade. "But …"

"Remember, you two, we already sent our group to the Hive already. Let's focus on the problem we have now, and work our way to the rest," Jasper reassured them.

It's not like any of them would do well inside the hive anyway.

…….

"GUYS! Guys, are you around here?!"

As for the fusion in question, she was still trying her own best to locate where the Crystal Gems and Elements of Harmony even were. It was a bit hard for them to say though, and even the barn was a bit vacant of Gems and Ponies. and that area usually had at least the Off-Colors present there.

"Aww, not here either. And I REALLY wanna show them me too," the fusion said. Just imagining the faces they would have for not only seeing them alright, but seeing them as a new fusion, it would just make them all flip out! Too bad he couldn't find them. Sitting just outside the barn on a hay bale, the fusion sat down and tried to figure out the main game plan.

"Okay. If I were them, where would I be? … All my friends are gone somewhere, probably finding either a Changeling Queen, the Pony of Shadows, or a large dog pack. either that, or they're all caught by Chrysalis and everyone else is in a life-changing fight that I'm not apart of, which really sucks. … Or maybe they've already won, and are just hiding, waiting to surprise ol' Steven and Ruby with a big get-together Pinkie-style party to celebrate. …"

That last one was clearly hopeful thinking, though in the end it was very rare to think that. Regardless, they had nowhere to really go on.

"Discord, can't you help me find them?" the fusion then asked, looking up to the top of the barn, where Discord was trying to keep himself busy by reading a recent newspaper, not seemingly caring all too much. He was just there to observe, and the fusion really didn't have much to get him to change his mind now. The fusion just sighed, and with a telescope she picked up from the barnhouse, the fusion went away from the barnhouse and to the nearby barn silo. It was taller than the barn, so spotting anything from up there would be easier to do.

"Hmm … there's a tree … some cows … Wait, is that Pinkie?! No, that's just a bumpy snowpile. must've been working on that one. … The garden's looking good for winter, though."

"Any luck finding your friends yet?" Discord suddenly asked, suddenly in the lens on the telescope, standing inside of it as if it were a tunnel. The fusion shook the Draconequus out, him re-growing back to his normal size.

"Nothing yet. They can't have gone that far away, I just got back! Sure, I've been gone for a few days, but you'd think Amethyst would get a bite to eat, or Lapis practicing with Jamie, or at least Sapphire at the Temple. … Poor Sapphire. She's all torn up in all of this too …" the fusion brushed off a tear from one of her eyes, before looking back into the telescope. "Well, that's the most important thing now: find my friends and save the worlds! … Soon as I know where they are."
As the fusion was busy with her telescope, Discord had that look on his face of some form of guilt. He REALLY wanted to try a little bit here, he REALLY wanted to get Fluttershy at least. If anything were to happen to her, he would never -

*slap* another hit from his own tail, as if it was reminding him of something.

"Oh, be quiet you," Discord grumbled. the tail turned into a head of Discord, shaking side to side in disapproval.

"Fluttershy is stuck out there somewhere, can't I just zap at least ONE of them away? To make it easier?"

The head shook again. Discord was getting annoyed with this. Whatever his tail was thinking, it wasn't gonna cooperate with the rest of his body.

"Well you're not the boss of me, I'M the boss of me, and if I say I wanna - MMMPH!" His tail, seemingly insulted, wrapped itself around Discord's mouth. Discord pulled and yanked to get it to let go, accidentally falling right off of the silo as he did so. Only the loud thud from below re-caught the attention of the fusion. And see was quick to get down from the silo, seeing the Draconequus on the ground in a daze.

"You alright?!"

"OH, nothing that a spirit of chaos like me couldn't handle," he joked. He chuckled a little bit, brushing it off, but Ruby and Steven were around the block long enough to understand something was off with Discord. So far, except that one moment to get them here, discord had been more distant and uncaring than usual. The Draconequus caught the silence, and re-summoned that newspaper, turning his back to them.

"Oh, look at that, hehhehe - please don't come over, please don't come over."

They came over. And Steven took the controls to see what was up with the draconequus.

"You okay? You've been acting a bit funny. but, more suspicious than usual, even for you."

"WHAT? Me? Oh, come on you two, that's just my shtick that's all."

"But you were just fighting your own tail," the fusion said. "And it sounds like you're being held back by something, so, what is it?"

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm the spirit of chaos, and disharmony, I don't get "Held back"!" Discord said, and as a visual point, he showed himself in a restrainers jacket, just to pop out of it with ease before it disappeared. However, his tail began to act up again, looking at him and making sure he didn't go on, which made Discord stomp on it with his tail to keep it down.

"OH NO, Discord! Please, we all went through this already with Pearl and that was very hard on everyone. I don't want to go through that again with you," the fusion said, sincerity in tone. Discord made sure his tail to firmly on the ground, even summoning a ball and chain to weigh it down, the other head straining and angry.

"And added note: is you're tail in with whatever this is?" the fusion added, pointing to the angry tail. Discord huffed, and cleared his throat.

"Honestly, kids, there's a reason why I couldn't just pop back whenever I wanted to. I know EXACTLY what's going to happen, as I would always do."

"Well if you knew, why didn't you try to do something?!" the fusion asked. The tail thrashed to try and reach his head, but Discord kept talking.

"I would obviously, especially for my pen pal Fluttershy, but it seems some spirits outside of your world and mine don't take kindly to my help," Discord revealed, hearing a grumbling screaming from the tail, the face in the dirt.

"Other spirits?"

"Yes, of course. You know, Quetzalcoatl, Time Jumper - Amethyst told you that one -, and there's this "spirit of the world yet to come" that's especially bitter."
The tail was crying now in defeat, until discord picked up his tail end, looking it right in the face. "now will you let go of my tail?"

The face then disappeared, but not before glaring daggers at the Draconequus. At least now Discord had a LOT more magic at his disposal, feeling a lot more free as he stretched, and cracked his fingers.

"Now we're talking. Alright, you two, ready to save the world with your friends?"

"You know we are ... oh, but where do we go first? UGH, there's so many!"

"Pick a card then," Discord suggested, summoning up three cards in his lion paw. Each one was one of the villains out there in the field, and since the fusion was more interested in getting the task done, she just went on and snatched one.

"Come on baby, be a good one," she told herself, just before she took a look at what she snatched up.

Chrysalis.

"Oooo, the irony hurts me so," the fusion sighed. She just got away from Chrysalis, and suddenly it was going back there again? Discord didn't see the problem with it.

"Oh, well, life always loves giving you a wild card sometimes. FOR FLUTTERSHY!" Discord announced. He was just ready to snap his fingers and get them going, but before they could do that, Discord and the fusion both heard a door begin to open up back at the barn. The doors showed a bright white glow, and then they both began to hear faint screams coming from it.
And then they all tumbled out: Fluttershy, Connie Maheswaran, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Thorax. Wherever the portal was made to escape, it was in a bit of a hurry, more so evident when Pinkie and Rainbow bolted up and slammed the doors behind them before anything else could follow them. They brushed themselves off, and it took little time for them to actually see them off nearby.

"HUH? Steven? Ruby?" Rainbow asked.

"Ta-da," the fusion said, presenting herself with a smile. Naturally, the first reaction came from Pinkie, super psyched not only to see them okay, but seeing their fusion together. She tackled the fusion with her signature hugs, and the fusion was knocked onto her rear from the force, joined by Connie who was equally happy to see them. Discord was the next to react, seeing Fluttershy. He too went in for a hug, lifting the mare off the ground, and hugging her but also checking her.

"Fluttershy, thank heavens, did those nasty Changelings hurt you?" Discord asked.

"No. I'm alright," Fluttershy replied, much to Discord's relief. Meanwhile, much of the others were with the fusion.

"I can't believe this, you're both a fusion! Oh, we've got a lot to catch you up on, there's so much going on, I -"

"Don't worry, Connie, Discord filled me in," the fusion said, laughing a little bit from the overwhelming amount of love. The ONLY one hesitant on going over was Thorax, who simply stood off nearby the barn door. He may be friends with some of them, but Steven and Ruby didn't meet him yet. And as he probably expected, the moment the fusion saw him standing there, she took on the offensive.

"CHANGELING!" the fusion gasped, jumping up, and standing between Thorax and the ponies, arms spread.

"Whoa, hold on there sugarcube. He's a reformed Changeling, he's on our side ain't you Thorax," Applejack filled in. Guess Discord didn't give her all the details. Thorax needed a bit to actually speak, trying to comprehend this fusion aspect. He was still shaken when told about them being eaten, and the hive turning on him.

"Yes," Thorax replied. "It's nice to meet you. So, are you Steven and Ruby? … Uh, together?"
The fusion was quicker to listen to Thorax though, seeing that he was by far the friendlier Changeling compared to what she had just been hit with. However, while Steven was quick to forgive, Ruby was still suspicious.

"Ok, I believe them … but how do I know you're not some other Changeling pretending to be Thorax?" the fusion asked. Thorax honestly can't blame them, considering it was them both who got locked up and him being the one to replace one of them alongside Pharynx. But how was he going to convince them of that if he barely knew them, nor had much proof on him? The only difference he had now over before was his shining wings, but that was hardly much.

"I … I guess these? I'm the only Changeling to have them … but then again, any Changeling can look like anybody I suppose, so …" At least he was honest.

"Don't worry, we know he's not another Changeling. We probably wouldn't be able to get out of the hive if it weren't for his help," Fluttershy reassured.

"Y-You went into the hive?!" the fusion asked.

"We went looking for you silly, soon as Pharynx spilt the beans HARD on us. Well not literally spilt beans, but more metaphorically as in -"

"Ok, we get it, Pinkie," Rainbow cut in, stopping the mare from pointless exposition. Hard to believe it was Pharynx who seemingly spilt these beans, but that did put some load off of Thorax. He could say it wasn't just him at least.

"Okay then, where're the others? Are they with you?"

"They're trying to handle the other things right now; planning for the Tindalos attack, and finding a way to banish a Pony of Shadows back into Limbo with the Pillars of Equestria," Connie explained. The ONE detail Discord didn't tell her about.

"And knowing we all just left, those Changelings are gonna be all over us! … Eh, Thorax? How often do you all get hungry?" Rainbow asked. Thorax took a minute to think on it.

"Um … actually, I haven't been ever since I met Sapphire and Spike. And Changelings are always hungry," Thorax answered. Now this was interesting.

"But you're not hungry at all now?" the fusion asked.

"Guess after I made friends with you guys, I just forgotten about the whole feeding thing. … Now that I think about it, it's the same time my wings changed," Thorax realized, fluttering his wings as they shined in the light. This conversation was cut short when Discord yawned.

"This is all very fascinating, but speaking of Changelings, weren't we just going off to stop them before they come back with army tanks to Canterlot?" Discord reminded.

"Oh yeah! What's with me?" the fusion groaned. She needed to keep her focus on the task, and these side-stops weren't making it any easier. But luckily this time, she had a bit of backup with her.

"Well if you're going to do that, then we're gonna be right there with you," Rainbow Dash said, a bit more determined than normal. She already abandoned Sniper in the hive, and she wasn't gonna ditch this again. Many of the others were in the same boat, some more eager than others, and the fusion was more than glad for it.

"Let's go."

~~~~~~

"Hmm … Something about this magic seems familiar."

A well thing that much of the Elements of Harmony and Crystal Gems did have a map to offer the Pillars of Equestria not long after their "revival", otherwise they'd be going nowhere as well as team B. It took little time for them to get there thanks to the portal keys, and the map itself seemed to be a bit more dormant than last time they checked it (and Twilight had been on the ball with seeing the map for days since the teams split). Starswirl the Bearded took mental notes on the structure of the map, showing not only Equestria, but Earth as well, with only one side him being very familiar with, and the other … well, it got his memory going a bit.
There was still a sort of new concept, but the magic it was using was what Starswirl wanted to figure out, as his horn began to glow a bit. Focusing on the magic, one simple zap, and the entire map's surface turned into an all white light, and a hologram of the Tree of Harmony now stood up in the place of the map, surprising everyone else there.

"Did you know he could do that?" Rarity whispered.

"It's Starswirl, he can do anything!" replied Twilight.

"Just as I thought. So this map, indeed, grew from the same seed we've planted over a thousand years ago!" Starswirl concluded.

"The Tree of Harmony did come from you?!" Lapis gasped. "That's incredible!"

"Each one of us sealed our magic within the seed, so that it would grow into a force for good," Somnambula explained, "So that in the absence of us, the realm will still be in the protection of the noble virtues."

"Which are … what exactly?" Pearl asked.

"The representations each one of our own elements: Hope, Strength, Beauty, Bravery, Healing, and Sorcery," Somnambula replied, pointing out each pillar of Equestria as she did so. Not exactly the names of the Elements of Harmony, but the representations were still there all the same, even with different names.

"Well, you all did a good job, Equestria's looking very bright nowadays," Amethyst pointed out.

"Far better than compared to Earth," added Tiger's Eye, "Maybe you can spread your magic back to our world. Maybe brighten up the place? We could use it."

"A magical problem in your world, lass?" Rockhoof asked.

"Well I wouldn't say "magical problem", but more like magic popping up out of nowhere and we have no clue what to do with it."

"Problems for later," Starswirl said, getting their attention back to the map, "The more important matter is that we don't need Ponhenge to send our foe off back to Limbo. We can use the stored magic within this "Tree of Harmony". It would be just enough as the magic held within Ponhenge to duplicate our spell."

"Thank the stars," Rhodonite sighed.

"Eeehhh not to ruin the mood, Mr. beard, but the tree's not here," Bismuth said.

"I can see that," Starswirl said, looking around the cave. Twilight spoke up again.

"No, what she means is … well, the Tree of Harmony was actually right in this same cave. But now …" Twilight didn't need to finish for the pillars to see the point. He stroke his beard in thought again, but shook his head.

"I see. … Well, in that case, we'll need another powerful source of magic to replicate its power. The question that remains being what? …"
There was some silence amongst the crowd for a while, trying to think over what was the answer to this riddle. There was a lot of magic, sure, but what would be good enough to match the Tree of Harmony? …

"...…. I predict we'd be stumped over the Elements' replication," said Padparadscha out of nowhere.

"You mean the Tree of Harmony," corrected Flash Magnus. Padparadscha was quiet for a moment, but her mentioning Elements instead of the tree, did suddenly strike Rarity's mind.

"Of course, the Elements of Harmony! We can use that!" Rarity concluded.

"I predict we'd find our answer," Padparadscha added. The only ones confused on this was the Pillars themselves, trying to think of a time this was ever mentioned.

"Eh … mind explaining?" asked Flash.

"It's the elements that came from your tree! They go by different names of course: Generosity, Magic, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and Honesty!"

"Ay, that sounds about right," Rockhoof concluded. It did sound like a close match, if not an exact match. Again, different names for the same element. Starswirl took a moment to think.

"Hmm … a copy of our elements passed to the modern generation. As a caution in case the source would fail … yes, good conclusion," Starswirl confirmed. He went back to the map, and Twilight … well, she didn't want to say anything, but she kept her bit of temper to herself. Too bad Padparadscha was right there.

"I predict someone would be jelly. Hard."

"W-what? Jealous, who's jealous?! … okay, a little bit," Twilight admitted blushing. At least she was quick to being honest about it.

"All good, but where do we even find the Pony of Shadows? Or the Tindalos, or Chrysalis for that matter? They could be anywhere by now," Jasper asked, looking to a number of spots on the map. At least the Pony of shadows, in his conquest to seek darkness, had some ideas. The other two? not so much.

"See you're all still troubled over those other threats?"

"They captured Ruby and Steven, and plan on attacking us, so yeah we're gonna wonder and prepare for that," said Pink Diamond. Starswirl dismissed it again.

"As I've stated, the Pony of Shadows is far bigger of a monster than either one of those things. We can't afford to lose focus on what's really important here."

"You mean the threat involving only you?"

Everyone stopped on that voice, and Starswirl turned over to Star Quartz, who'd been quietly standing by up to this point.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Starswirl questioned.

"I've heard this before. You're only after the Pony of shadows because it's your involvement. … Everything else means nothing to you."

THAT part made Starswirl angry, and Twilight very nervous.

"I've worked for years, I'll have you know, to do the better for all of Equestria! If it really meant nothing to me, I wouldn't have even involved myself to begin with! Don't try and think otherwise."

"But why're you so sure to not help with Chrysalis and Tindalos then?" she asked, head tilted like a confused dog. Starswirl had little time for this conversation, and went back to the map.

"Because the Pony of Shadows will use that time to draw more power, while we mess around with this wolf and "Changeling" as you call it. Any time we waste will give him an advantage."

"But that'd be the same thing for Chrysalis and Tindalos too, won't it? If we focus too much on the Pony of shadows, it will give them time to -"

"MADAM!" Starswirl cut in. "You got your modern threats, I know, but we've seen the power he has at full strength. Even in his weakened state he's powerful enough to take down an Alicorn easily. If he reaches full strength again, we won't stand a chance. At the least, we must find the Elements of Harmony and have the power ready before he reaches his full potential."
Star Quartz did go quiet about it, but what she said did give the others a little bit to think about, according to what kind of logic they had in mind. Star moved on to the back, where Diopside, Trixie, Starlight, and Jade both were waiting this out just outside the cave.

"Didn't work, huh?" Starlight asked.

"I don't think so. Sorry."

"It's alright. You did what you could," Jade replied. Jade had explained some doubt on this "hero" of theirs to them already, and this attempt just wasn't going to work as easily as they thought if the direct approach failed.

"Well that was all good," Trixie grumbled, "The greatest pony in existence has a Flint-sized case of a one-track mind. What now?"

"I-I don't know," Starlight answered, "Chrysalis and Sniper's pack are on their way, and we brought them back for that problem. Not saying it's not important that the Pony of shadows is a problem too - remind me to say "I told you so" to them later - but we can't ignore the others either."

"Well, we might as well serve ourselves on a silver platter, because he's not gonna do anything," Trixie concluded, laying down on the cold rocky ground.

"There must be someway get him to take this more seriously," Jade said. "Either side is going to take advantage of this, and he won't focus on anything other than the Pony of Shadows."

"Well why don't you two talk to him? Starlight said you have someone named Flint who did the exact same thing?" Trixie questioned.

"It's … not the same. Flint and I knew eachother for thousands of years, and I only knew Starswirl for a few hours," Jade answered.

"So? He acts EXACTLY the same as Flint. Isn't there some method you use to get Flint to listen that can help him listen?" Starlight asked. Jade really wasn't sure how to answer that question. Flint and Starswirl may have their same problems, but there still was a keen difference between a Gem hybrid from a science-focused Diamond, and a history-engraved Unicorn with all magic at his disposal. The dangers for ticking off Starswirl the Bearded were a bit greater than with Flint, and she was thankful Star quartz got out of it without any trouble.
On the subject though, Diopside suddenly got a flash of inspiration, her normal eye starry, and soon she got a more serious expression on her face as she turned to Jade.

"We've exhausted all other options. Jade, it's time to use -"

"NO," Jade simply said.

"Come on, please? I haven't seen you do it in so long!" Diopside said, now pleading. Jade turned away.

"NO."

"Uh, do what?" Starlight asked.

"It's Jade's … "secret weapon"," said Diopside. Jade got flustered on hearing THAT out of Diopside, but the options were kind of limited here.

"I don't think fighting him will help anything," Star said.

"Not that kind of weapon. Jade, can't you try it please?" Diopside asked once more.

"NO. I don't like doing it."

"Just once? Pleeeease? It worked so well on Flint." Diopside was very determined for this to happen, but Jade just wasn't feeling for using that method on Starswirl the Bearded.

"For the first few days," Jade murmured.

"Guys, come here, the map's acting up again!" called Rhodonite.

And indeed it was. As everyone went back inside to see the situation, the Pillars, Elements, and Crystal Gems present looked and saw the map starting to become active. When they took a look, the map began to show, not cutie Marks, but a sort of black void opening up on some particular areas of the map. Where exactly the area was did humble some of the Gems, the void being right above what appeared to be one of Earth's Kindergartens. How fitting. Some other potential spots were scattered amongst Earth's surface, along with a few on Equestria, though most were shown on the Earth side.

"Our foe's seeking dark places in which to draw power," Starswirl concluded.

"Most of them on Earth, huh? No surprise there," Tiger's Eye shrugged.

"How so?"

"There's that "Magic no control" thingy I mentioned, but also our world's just more, well, "dark" than this storybook planet," Tiger's Eye replied. Starswirl the Bearded pondered for the moment. But then, as the sources of darkness swirled, something else also came up: a mark. But no ordinary mark, but this one looked more like a flower. Not Mistmane's flower, but still a flower with three petals on it. And it floated right above the Prime Kindergarten of all places.

"You think the map's trying to show us where the Pony of Shadows is?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm … the Tree of Harmony acting to protect the light realms … yes, a good thought Twilight."

Twilight was no longer jealous, eyes sparkling as she gasped. Her idol giving her a compliment?! A memory she'll cherish forever. But this wasn't just for the one spot, as two notable petals broke away. One turned green and dry, the other, gray and burnt, bring placed over in areas nearby. As for the remaining flower, it turned into the same smoke, only in a single petal. It showed the Tindalos and the Changelings in similar spots, and the Pony of Shadows right in the prime Kindergarten. And all three were dangerously close to eachother.

"They're all on Earth now?" wondered Bismuth.

"Sure, why not? It's not like our world hasn't been pelted enough by magic in the last years," Peridot remarked.

"More importantly, we know the whereabouts of our foe. I will revive my spell, while the rest of you gather the Elements of Harmony so that we may strike as soon as we find him!"

"And Chrysalis and Tindalos, or you still gonna be stubborn about it? I mean, THEY'RE RIGHT THERE," Amethyst pointed out. Starswirl groaned again.

"How many times must I say it? The Pony of Shadows is the top priority. Nothing you say is going to change that!"

… And then, they all began to hear someone actually cry a little bit. It was faint, but sorrowful and soft, just enough to get the attention of the unicorn. The tears belonged to Jade.

"What's wrong now?"

"M-My friends are out there. They're captured by those creatures. We thought that you would be brave and strong enough to face them, but *sniff* what hope is there now? The Pony of Shadows? Tindalos? Chrysalis … it's too much. And now our only hope is too busy to help." Jade wiped away some tears from her face.

"Your friends will be fine when the Pony of Shadows is dealt with."

"But what the point now? Chrysalis probably drained all of their love by now … or those Tindalos might've eaten them out in the cold. … What a long way to go for the world to torture us all like this …" Jade fell to her knees in defeat. The odds just were so stacked against them, and the Pony of shadows didn't help either. She looked so heart-broken, and while Starswirl was knowing his priorities, it … well, was just much. He sighed, and went over to Jade.

"All three are near the same place. If Chrysalis and the Tindalos do come to us, we will handle them as well. I promise, the world will not fall to the cold. Alright?" Starswirl asked sincerely. Jade looked up to him, and with a small smile, she nodded her head. FINALLY he listened to them, and was taking some initiative.

"But doesn't a banishing spell take a lot of power? We'd have to sacrifice the elements for that," Twilight said. Starswirl just nodded, as if the question was a casual one (which to him it felt like).

"Eh, no big deal Twilight, we never used them anyway," Tiger's Eye blurted out.

"You mad? The elements of Harmony are the strongest objects in Equestria!" Rarity retorted.

"Then again Rarity, we haven't used any of them at all. Actually, the last time you used them for anything was to release Discord," Lapis said humbly. And no, using a spell on them as a test just before Twilight became her grand alicorn self didn't exactly count much. It had been a very long time since those elements were used, or heck, even brought up.

"She does have a point. We didn't need them to fight before, I don't think it would be much trouble for them to be gone now," agreed Jasper.

"So it's settled then. The one question to ask left: the location of these Elements of Harmony? Surely you'd at least know their location from the studies I left, or did you jump on that as well?" Starswirl questioned, his glance over to Twilight again. The one moment of joy was swiftly dashed, but they had the answer right away.

"Oh, that's easy: Celestia has them. At Canterlot Castle. That's where we last saw them before we first left for Homeworld," Lapis answered.

"Then what're we waiting for? Pop that key in, and let's go!" Emerald said. Twilight went off to do just that, though as much of the group were getting ready to go off, Jade wiped her tears clean off … and then Mage Meadowbrook went over to them, and placed a hoof on Jade's shoulder.

"Throwing Starswirl for a guilt-trip? Clever of you," Meadowbrook said, finding it pretty funny herself. Jade was left simply red-faced. Was it that obvious over what happened. And worse yet, this comment was overheard by a few of the others (Emerald and Pearl namely), Emerald wide-eyed, looking back and forth between her and Starswirl.

"Wha? Did you - … did she just - …"

"L-Let's just go," Jade humbly stated, before going off towards the portal.

So embarrassing.

…….

"I just can't believe how tall you've all gotten," remarked Starswirl.
Their arrival in Canterlot was swift, and it honestly didn't take more than two minutes before they were in the castle itself. Celestia and Luna, who were hoping to see their old teacher after so long, were very glad to see him again.

"It has been over a thousand years," said Celestia, "It's wonderful to see you again, Starswirl. Will you stay and teach magic once again? My sister and I have such fond memories of your lessons."

"As long as you don't ask for those essays we owed you before you disappeared," Luna said, Celestia giggling a little. While it was a bit of a nicer moment, they've hardly much time for that, even if Starswirl did smile to his own students.

"As nice as that may be, Celestia, Luna, we've hardly much time. One of the Gems told me you still have something known as the Elements of Harmony in your possession. Is that true?" Starswirl asked. Guess some memory lane was out of the question now. Celestia and Luna looked to one another, before Celestia walked over towards the throne, which she moved out of the way. The spell she used next was on the floor to re-open a small compartment just underneath the seat, one only she could open, and bringing out the chest of the Elements of Harmony inside.

"I wondered where she hid them," Rarity quietly noted.

"The Elements of Harmony each represent the values and virtues, the same ones you and the pillars represented."

"That's all I need to hear," Starswirl said, levitating the Elements of Harmony to check each of them. They all appeared similar to the other Mane Six's cutie marks, the magic one looking to be that of Twilight. Celestia and Luna were taken aback as how quickly he was just taking them like this.

"Um. Excuse me, but, what're you doing?" Celestia asked.

"Well, one particularly eager Alicorn had brought me and the pillars back, but in doing so also brought back the Pony of Shadows. Equestria and Earth are in threat, and we need the powers from the elements to put him and us all back into Limbo," Starswirl the Bearded said, hardly considering the surprise Celestia and Luna had from hearing this. Luna particularly noticed Twilight's guilt on the subject, and actually the Alicorn began to move off away a bit. She was hoping that wouldn't be told to her teacher, but Starswirl was a matter-of-fact pony, and from what they were seeing, he didn't care how bad the facts effected them emotionally. Luna flew on over to Twilight.

"You alright?"

"I released a ultimate evil and doomed Equestria because I tried to free my idol! Why wouldn't I be okay?!" Twilight said, before collapsing down onto the ground.

"Calm now, Twilight, you never knew that. You mustn't blame yourself," Luna said. Twilight felt slightly better, but then Starswirl came in again.

"It means little if she knew it or not, it doesn't change the fact that -"

"Will you shut up?!" Fulgurite said, clamping Starswirl's mouth shut before he could wreck the moment again. A bit bold of her, but at least no harsh words were left to sting again (for now, anyway).

"Luna's Right twilight, you never knew that was gonna happen," Starlight said.

"But I should've listened to you. And now the elements will be lost forever to fix my mistake," Twilight replied in defeat. As this point, Starswirl forced Fulgurite to release his muzzle so he could talk again.

"They'd be gone? Forever?" Celestia asked.

"A necessary sacrifice," Starswirl said, "It will be just enough to send the foe back to Limbo for good."
Even to Celestia and Luna he was stubborn about banishing the Pony of Shadows? There had to be something more to this than they were letting on about. Starlight have had just about enough of this "banishment" nonsense.

"Hey, you all knew about the Pony of Shadows before he became what he is now. You must've been friends, so, what happened?" Starlight asked. Namely, since no one else would. The pillars took a moment before beginning.

"The tale of our rift is a sad one," began Rockhoof, "Stygian was a pony like the rest of us, though more scholar than hero. He recognized our emerging world would need champions to defend it."

"He may have gathered us together, but he himself was just an ordinary unicorn who soon grew jealous of our abilities," added Flash Magnus.

"He stole objects from each of us. Artifacts to use in a spell. And we cast him out for it," Mistmane put in.

"We always thought he'd return and seek forgiveness. But when we saw him again, his heart was bent on revenge. He dashed even my hope of saving him," finished Somnambula.

"... We're talking about the Pony of Shadows, are we?" Trixie asked.

"Stygian was the name the Pony of Shadows gave up when he turned to darkness," Starswirl answered. Starlight felt convinced, but it was at this point when one Gem, seeing the perfect moment to keep the future in tact of hers, stepped in with the big question.

"And why did he take the objects, might I ask?" Sapphire questioned.

"No doubt, it was an enchantment to take all of our powers for himself," said Meadowbrook.

"He wanted more power than he had, and that lead him down a dark path, from with there is no return," added Starswirl. This didn't suite well for A LOT of them, considering their own history and plenty of shortcomings. The implied idea is that when you decide to do the wrong thing, there's no going back or recovering from it. Sapphire was silent for a minute.

"I'll have you know that from my own experience, that's not always true," Starlight said, feeling almost insulted. Yeah, she did wrong before, but she was good now.

"Stygian wants to destroy all that's good in this world! There's no way to befriend a creature like that," Starswirl spat.

"We could try!"

"Impossible. Stygian was not interested in reconciliation - once a villain, always a villain," Starswirl said, before actually walking by Starlight, pushing her aside. THAT was the breaking point. And Starswirl suddenly found ice covering his hooves, forcing him to a stop. Starswirl just used a fire spell to melt the ice, but this was just a distraction for Jasper to come in, and pick him up by the collar of his cloak. Again, a bold move.

"You'd better apologize."

"For what?" Starswirl asked, angry.

"Over half of our team has made bad mistakes in the past, and they've made bad decisions too. Are you telling me that it's impossible to learn from any of that? Or are we ALL villains because we make ONE bad choice?" Jasper asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, you're not the threat here! The Pony of Shadows is!" Starswirl retorted.

"Then apologize."

Pride reared its ugly head again, and the unicorn didn't flinch, let alone answered. All of his rough behavior all day long, and he will not owe up to any of it. Jasper walked back towards the throne, and dropped Starswirl onto the ground.

"Fine. Alright everyone, we're going. We have the Elements, we know where they are, and if we hurry up we'll get done by tomorrow morning. Celestia, Luna, mind keeping an eye on him for us?" Jasper instructed. An odd request, but Celestia knew what was going on in this, and actually nodded much to Starswirl's surprise. It was a bit of an odd moment, but little by little they did begin to go. The pillars were free to go, but when Starswirl tried, Jasper halted, forming a wall by the door.

"Oh no you don't. You're staying here."

"You're fighting without me? Without my magic, you'd be powerless against -"
Jasper suddenly made the entire room silent with one stomp of her foot, enough to shake the entire foundation of Canterlot castle. The crowd left outside (Twilight, Meadowbrook, Sapphire, Pearl, and Jade), looked on in surprise, but none of them wanted to go anywhere near her.

"YOU'RE STAYING HERE!" Jasper bellowed. Starswirl, for just a brief moment, felt humbled by the Gem. A warrior at heart, and she was not afraid to put his pride in place if it meant anything. Starswirl saw the expression, and truth, behind those eyes of hers as she glared daggers at Starswirl's soul, and he could only stand still as Jasper walked on out. Starswirl was NOT apart of this mission anymore.

"Y-You sure this is the best idea? I'm sure Starswirl did try to talk to -"

"Twilight," Pearl cut in, "All day he just pushed us aside and refused to accept our true input unless it matches his own. It's probably best for him to stay here until he's ready to apologize."

"Did you predict this will happen, Sapphire?" Jade asked quietly.

"Yes. He'll return a changed pony." Sapphire replied.

Starswir himself was left to ponder what they said there.

~~~~~~

With the snap of his fingers, the group went off from the barn house, and off to the location of the Changelings. As they used a Warp Pad to arrive, it only stood to reason that the area they'd be in would be a Gem location. They soon found themselves in the Strawberry Battlefield, now the area covered in snow in numerous places with frozen strawberry bushes. And the Changelings were in the middle of a big excavation of the many weapons still present in the area.

"Guess this is where they would go," the fusion figured. She saw Changeling after Changeling scattered all over the place, getting all sorts of weapons for the hive to use against the ponies: axes, hammers, shields, whatever else they could gather. They all ducked behind the only actual hiding place (behind the Warp Pad), and lucky for then, the Changelings were too pre-occupied to actually notice them here just yet. Discord just chilled out at first, but the fusion made sure to grab him and pull him out of sight too.

"Yes, these will do nicely," Chrysalis said, as she watched the many options go on by her. She was especially pleased when she saw a huge, spiked mallet amongst the bunch. That could assuredly crush some skulls.

"She's arming up her entire army!" the fusion realized, "She can't take all that, it's Gem property!"

All of a sudden, the team saw the Warp Pad go off. The fusion was hoping for some of the Crystal Gems, or even Elements of Harmony to come in and confront them alongside, but it was just another Changeling. … And someone else. Someone she didn't recognize, but still was stuck on a leash as he was brought out to the Changeling horde. And looking at his state, he'd been beaten badly.

"Pharynx, what is this?" Chrysalis asked.

"An intruder working for the Elements of Harmony," Pharynx said, "Found him inside out hive, looking for those other Gems we captured."

"Excuse me? How'd he even get in there? The guards better not be slacking, Pharynx!" Chrysalis warned. While that would humble a normal Changeling, the confident Pharynx huffed.

"Oh, they were on guard. But Thorax let him in. Chrysalis, he's in league with the Elements of Harmony - he was leading them inside the hive before we found them out."
Chrysalis snarled like a mad dog on the revelation. but it wasn't that news alone that upset her, but more that she KNEW Thorax would eventually and she didn't do jack about him.

"That grub, of course it had to be him of all Changelings. Where's he now?"

Pharynx kicked the captive hound towards Chrysalis before talking again.

"This pathetic mutt distracted those foot soldiers. I'm imagining they need some "discipline" when you get back," Pharynx answered. Chrysalis looked down to the Tindalos at her hooves, seeing a faint blue glow in his eyes as he stared up at her.

"Believe me, I'll take care of them later. … And you. I'm getting hungry," Chrysalis hissed, her fangs drawn. That was more than enough for the fusion to take, and before they knew it.

"STOP!"

Just before Chrysalis could bite down and finish him off, the fusion rushed in, and knocked Chrysalis back with a punch to the head. Forget keeping out of sight, she wasn't gonna watch him die in front of her. Chrysalis hissed loud, but then got a good look at the adversary.

"Don't you hurt him!" the fusion said.

"You again?! Bad enough you destroyed my main sources of power for my Warp Pad, you have to interrupt my excavation as well?! Get her!" Chrysalis snapped.

The Changelings immediately rushed right for her, and that made everyone else charge out to fight the horde head on. Pinkie, AJ, and Rainbow Dash forced back numerous amounts of Changelings, as Fluttershy, Thorax, Connie, and the fusion went to the Tindalos.

"Sniper! Sniper, you alright?" Thorax asked. Sniper groaned a little bit.

"I've dealt with worse scuffles," Sniper said. The fusion went to lick her hand.

"Hang on, I got you," the fusion said. Unfortunately for him, Chrysalis was just observant enough to catch the fusion tending to the Tindalos, and she wasn't gonna let her slip by this time. The changeling Queen tackled the fusion away from them, sending her flying off away a good half a yard.

"Steven! Ruby!" gasped Connie, just before being tackled herself by other Changelings.

Embarrassing to say, while they were brave, they just weren't strong enough to deal with the ENTIRE hive at one time. These Changelings remembered their tricks, and after half an hour of abuse, the Changelings finally overpowered much of the group, pinning them and keeping them down. Rainbow Dash was held down most of all, at least five Changelings on top of her just to keep her wings still. The changelings were battered, but they were victorious regardless, and Chrysalis felt pretty good again, the only one standing still being the fusion herself. … Oh, and Discord, who was still hidden.

"Well, well, well. And for just a second there, I thought you'd be an actual threat to me. Looks like I was wrong."

"I won't let you do this! I'll fight you!" the fusion snapped, being held back by the Changeling drones. Chrysalis just laughed.

"Didn't help you just now," she mocked, "Your little squad was it. And no one else knows you're here."

"You're wrong! We all know your plan, Chrysalis! You're taking all this to fight Equestria with!" Applejack said, still trying to get the Changelings off of her.

"Well, seems we do have a smart one."

"None of this is yours to take, Chrysalis!" the fusion snapped.

"I don't care what belongs to who. Once I take over Equestria, all of this will belong to me! And all of you will bow at my hooves!" Chrysalis insisted, the other Changelings cheering. The fusion wouldn't leave the Tindalos to get killed, and even with the Changelings surrounding them she didn't move. One eager changeling came forward, making her summon her bubble shield, making it impossible for many to get to them.

"Why're you doing this? Why take over Equestria?! You know, aside from the Canterlot Wedding thing," the fusion asked. Chrysalis went straight up to the bubble, front hooves on the shield as she stared right in the fusion's eyes.

"So I can feed, of course!" Chrysalis hissed, fangs drawn again.

"Say what you want, I won't let you eat my friends!" the fusion declared. Chrysalis quickly realized that this was a literal term to the Gem, some others looking perplexed.

"Wait? Wha - NO! Not Them them, that's sick!"

"Oh … then, what did you mean?"

"THEIR LOVE, YOU GNAT! Equestria has more love than anywhere else in existence. And especially more than what I can sense here. Once you're all out of the way, my subjects will take all the love meant for them, and bring it to the hive - to me! Everypony will do as I command, and me and my subjects will feed on their love for generations!" the other Changelings, with the exception of Thorax of course, all cheered and celebrated. This was all a dangerous concept for any of them, and they knew she'll expand her kingdom over to Earth if she wanted to, especially with the Warp Pad in her palace. But then they remembered something very vital from Thorax earlier.

"What if you don't have to?" asked Connie.

"REDICULOUS! A changeling's hunger for love is NEVER satisfied!" Chrysalis roared, before grabbing the girl, and throwing her into the crowd.

"Chrysalis, listen!" the fusion said, "Thorax had found a way that he doesn't have to live his life starving all the time. He didn't have to take love, he shared it, and now he doesn't have to feed. You don't have to live your lives starving all the time!"

Some of the Changelings actually paused to consider this, looking to one another. They were always starving for love, and now there was actually a way to not feel hungry so much? Chrysalis noticed this too, and wasn't having any of it.

"You don't know anything about the Changelings, nor what it takes to be their queen!" she bellowed.

"Yes I do!" the fusion insisted, "A leader doesn't lead by intimidation and threat. A real leader celebrates what makes everyone different, and listens when someone finds a better way!"

"ENOUGH, YOU UGLY CREATURE!" and Chrysalis sank her fangs right into the fusion's neck, before flying off the ground, and swinging the fusion down to earth below. This move wouldn't be too bad to a normal Gem, but the fusion being half human made the attack more lethal. Chrysalis rushed right for her, but the fusion managed to get a shield up just before she could kill her.

"I am the leader of the Changelings, I decide what's best, and no one is going to tell me otherwise, especially a creature as low as you!!"

"Then why did Thorax leave if you're so good?" the fusion growled.

"DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE ANYTHING I HAVE TO HIM! He was a fool to leave, and even more a fool to return! Which reminds me."
And suddenly, a spell was zapped right onto Thorax, making him cringe as he was levitated into the air. The fusion tried to get him, but was held back again by her drones. Thorax tried to get out of her grip, but it was no good.

"And to think you could've been a hero of the changelings, Thorax. But you foolishly decides to throw that away for some pathetic ponies like them!"

"C-Chrysalis, don't do this! You want what's best for the Changelings, right? Maybe this can -"

"QUIET! I don't care for what a puny grub like you has to think! The only thing you found is what happens when you turn your back on the hive. Soon as I suck all the love you have, I'll show EVERYONE what a real leader is!"

In all of this chaos, only Sniper began to sense that there was something else coming amongst this group.

"She won't have any time," Sniper sighed.

"I HEARD THAT! You keep doubting me, you worthless mutt!" Chrysalis snapped, tossing Thorax aside to address the weaker Tindalos.

"No! Stop!" Connie called.

"Leave him alone!" added the fusion. But of course, Chrysalis didn't listen to any of them, her fangs opening wide to bite into Sniper. …

"Am I interrupting something?"

A new voice, and one only Sniper knew precisely for. The Changelings grew in alarm as a newcomer marched through the swarm, tossing and tearing those unlucky enough to stay in the way, until it was revealed the culprit in this assault on Chrysalis's army. Sniper addressed him first, Chrysalis bewildered, but still up to fight.

Sniper's father. Followed by much of his own pack.

"Oh boy," gulped Thorax. But while Sniper's father did remember Thorax from before, he was focused on Chrysalis, who was right over Sniper. Chrysalis was bewildered by the predator's sheer size and glowing eyes more than anything.

"D-Dad," said Sniper.

"Hello, Sniper," said the Tindalos, before turning and snarling to the queen and asking "... What business do you have with my son?"

"Mind your own business, you da -" and without hesitation, the Tindalos leader grabbed Chrysalis by the throat and threw her to the middle of the pack. Just like that. As a instinctive response, Chrysalis quickly changed her body to look like a Tindalos. A female Tindalos specifically.

"Why'd she do that?" Connie asked.

"It's a Changeling tactic to humble an attacker. Would you attack someone you care about?" Thorax explained.

… Too bad it barely worked, and it only made the pack leader tear into her again!

"AAHH! How can you attack your own wife?!" she cried.

"I'm not an idiot, that's why. So I'll ask again. What business do you have with my son, sending your "Changelings" after him?" the pack leader demanded. Chrysalis hissed loudly at the father like an angry cat, arching her back even. No point in hiding, as she turned back to normal, revealing the bite mark in her back. Other Changelings tried getting close, but the Tindalos pack kept them well away from her, even getting off of the group to better aid the queen.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Applejack suggested.

"But Sniper," the fusion said.

"He's with his family, he'll be fine. Come on, let's go and find the others before they come around again," AJ insisted. If there was a time to go, it would be now, and unlike before at the actual hive, there wasn't going to be any bad towards Sniper. This time, no regrets. And good thing for them the Warp Pad was right next to them. The fusion honestly had a bit of mixed emotions as she watched Chrysalis in such a state. On one hand, Chrysalis wanted them as a permanent source of power, and replaced them to further her own plan. On the other hand, leaving her to be eaten by Tindalos just didn't sit too well. It was like leaving a angry badger to a pride of lions. She can't leave her like this, could she? ...

"Ruby, Steven, come on while the getting's good," said Rainbow Dash.

"I … I …"

"Your son ventured right into my Hive," said Chrysalis, "I have my right!"

"The only right you have is my dinner if you keep trying that," the father warned.

"Get away from her!" Pharynx demanded, rushing in like the general he was, just to be grabbed mid-air and slammed to the ground by another Tindalos. Chrysalis's horn glowed again, but this hound knew better than to stand still, and grabbed her horn before she could attack, snapping it like a branch. Chrysalis screeched in pain, seeing her horn crumble like a twig in the jaws of this animal. The instinctual fear of any animal now crept into Chrysalis's mind.

"And here I thought finding you would be hard."

"YOU WILL PAY FOR RUINING MY HORN! I am the top predator here, you are nothing compared to -" she was cut short by all the Tindalos just laughing at her. "... Me."

"Compared to you?" Sniper's father chuckled.

"Yes?" Chrysalis said. The Tindalos leader gave a snarl right in the bug's face, making her winch a bit. It could be the fact her magic can't work without her horn, it would be that the Tindalos's glowing eyes were effecting her, it could be both. Either way, she was not as confident as earlier.

"Look at you. Your legs could barely hold you up with all those holes, your wings are see-through, you barely have any teeth in those jaws. what makes you a predator of anything besides some scrawny rats?"

Chrysalis would have some response for the Tindalos if she could think of anything. All of the qualities of a natural predator were not on her, and it didn't help that the Tindalos towered over her.

"O-Oh yeah? … W-Why don't you come a little closer and say that?!"

"THIS close enough?" he asked, now inches away from her, making her crumble down a bit again. Her usual tactics were not going to with on these Tindalos. All of a sudden she realized something.

I mean to say that we, uh, don't exactly understand this other world either. W-what if something comes in we Changelings can't - I-I mean … didn't intend?

THIS was what he meant. That unintended action for going to this world. And now she paid the price in her horn, and maybe even more as the leader knocked her off her own hooves with a flick of his paw. And it took even less time for the giant hound to pin her to the ground. she tried her best, but it wasn't gonna be of any use.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Chrysalis pleaded.

"Give me one good reason why not," questioned the Tindalos. The changelings couldn't believe what they were seeing, their strong leader pleading for her life so quickly after losing her magic. What happened to the powerful and prideful queen just a few minutes earlier?

"A Changelings far below the notice of something like you!" Chrysalis felt bitter for saying that herself. And worse, it didn't seem to work.

"True, but I don't coincide with Crystal Gem menageries … and in cold weather, we all have to take what we can get."

"N-No don't I can help you!" Chrysalis said. This just made the creature laugh again.

"You can indeed. You can help me please my mate. She's hungry."
Oh did the irony in that hurt Chrysalis. Only these creatures fed on a bit more than emotion, and she would barely be in tact by the time they were done! Chrysalis tried to think of something to say to him to make him reconsider. In desperation though, Chrysalis began to come up with one final way to get this Tindalos off of her at the very least.

"You said you wouldn't work with Crystal Gems right? I don't work for them either! In fact … I'm trying to get rid of them. wouldn't it please you more still to have some help in killing them?"

"That rather depends … tell me more."

"Oh no," thought the fusion. She took a glance back towards who remained.

She made her choice.

~~~~~~

Cold.

That was the main word to describe the plains nearby the Kindergarten. The changelings and Tindalos together had been traveling along their own from the Strawberry Battlefield for quite sometime, though in honesty it was the Tindalos in charge of this lot. Chrysalis really had no choice on the matter thanks to her horn being torn away, leaving her and the rest of her Changelings at the mercy of these giant wolves. It was ironic really - the same danger she was trying to cooperate back to Equestria, was now using her in his own plans. At least it was towards the same goal more or less, but still the price for it was high. Didn't help either that they couldn't use the Warp Pads to get to the location, the Tindalos barely even keeping them covered from the winter winds.

"When did it come to this?" Chrysalis thought, "Not even two hours, and already my squad's at the mercy of these beasts. This is so embarrassing."

"Deal with this embarrassment, Chrysalis, you'll live longer."

"I-I didn't say anything!"

"But you were thinking it."

"H-He reads minds?!" Chrysalis thought, gulping. He really couldn't, but he knew the looks when he saw them. Eventually, the leader stopped himself briefly.

"Where's my son? Where's Sniper?" he asked. He began to suspect the Changelings might've gotten themselves a quick snack while they were going, but he soon saw Sniper trailing behind them, trying to bare the cold wind himself like everyone else.

"Why so far behind, Sniper?"

"Oh, me? I just don't like to push myself forward, that's all," Sniper replied.

"Mustn't be too modest my boy. Come to the front, you'll walk beside me," his father firmly stated. So, Sniper did, moving to the front of the pack alongside his father. Sniper was still on mixed minds on this. His family was going to kill his new friends, but on the other paw, how was he supposed to hurt his family? They may be wrong to hunt for revenge, but they were still his family all the same.
These thoughts were cut short with a strong gust of wind hitting much of the group. The Changelings with their buggy, and bare skin felt the sting especially hard, as the giant wolves with their fur coats just found it a nuisance on their vision if anything.

"Blasted wind, it's freezing out here. Onwards!" the leader shouted, moving on ever more so. Sniper just quietly followed him.

With both armies going along their way, they were unaware that they too had their own watch: the fusion, and Connie both staying behind. The ponies had been and gone along with Discord, and the two (or three rather), kept an eye on where they were going.

"Okay, so, what's the plan?" Connie asked.

"I … I'm not sure yet. I know she captured us, but, I can't leave her like this, it's just … not right," the fusion replied. Connie knew this was more Steven talking over Ruby, and since they were a fusion, the confliction was understandable.

"So, just watch them," Connie figured.

"I guess. … Oh boy, I'm in a weird place right now," the fusion admitted, both sides slightly conflicted with one another. Ruby would just leave her, but Steven didn't feel right for it. What was the right choice here? Well, they both could agree Sniper's father was a bigger threat here.

"Well Steven, Ruby, I'm here to support you. And we're prepared, just in case," Connie said, showing the sword she was armed with. Good to know she was willing to stick around with them in this.

"Thanks. I'm glad I'm not the only one here right now … I missed you guys," the fusion said. Connie missed them too.

… then the group suddenly stopped. Tindalos and Changelings all stopped altogether, the wolves suddenly feeling on edge about something. Were the two half-Gems caught? Not quite.

"Wait. What's that over there?" Connie noted.

The two Crystal Gems then saw what brought them on edge. The winds grew even colder, the fusion keeping the wind off of Connie and keeping her warm too, and they saw a group of … well, something, begin to gallop over the hill. It was very hard to tell who, or what they were with all the snow, as their bodies looked as white and cold as the snow they were rushing over. Some were galloping hard through the snow, while others were actually almost floating. There was only about four of them present, but they weren't afraid to see the large group of Changelings and Tindalos. This was either a patrol, or they were on their own hunt.

The Windigo had arrived.

"Ambush!" called one of the Changelings, before the four creatures barreled right into them! In just a few seconds, the groups were suddenly scattered, Tindalos and Changelings being taken down quick by these animals.

"W-Windigo?! what're they doing here?" gasped Connie.

Then came galloping right behind them.

"LOOK OUT!" the fusion yelled. The fusion was quick to make a shield to block the oncoming Windigo, but the icy horse was quick to counter this attempt, and fazed through the shield, and splitting the fusion in two! Ruby and Steven were split up, and all three were knocked right into the open of the other two creatures caught in the attack. A group of five Windigo, and by the time the three got back to their feet, the pack of Tindalos and horde of Changelings were quickly toppled! the group of Changelings, which at the start was at least fifty total, were reduced to about thirty in one strike. The Tindalos pack of thirty was reduced to about fifteen. So many knocked out in just one hit, and the Windigo were far from over.

"Connie!" gasped Sniper, rushing over towards the three. "You three alright?"
Ruby, caught in the open, readied to attack, but Steven quickly helped her understand.

"Ruby, no, he's a friend remember?" Steven replied.

"I'm not targeting him, DUCK!" Ruby corrected, just as a Windigo charged directly for them! Ruby punched the Windigo right in the snout, the heat making the cold animal screech and rush back away. The Windigo's assault was swift as the wind itself, but they still were picking targets in this fight. The leading Tindalos, and Chrysalis specifically. The other Changelings and Tindalos fought, sure, but they were just in the way. In the tussle in the snowstorm, Sniper's father was keeping the Windigo at more bay than Chrysalis ever could, biting and tearing at any that came close.
And Chrysalis abandoned everyone to save her own skin. Like the true scum she was. She couldn't fly in this weather, so she was only forced to run on her own hooves as fast as she could possibly do.

And one Windigo was quick to see her. Predator rule 101: always target the easiest kill. And a runaway Changeling in a snowstorm was as good as it can get, as two of the Windigo went off after her.

"They're after Chrysalis!" said Steven. And Steven, Ruby, and Connie rushed off after her.

"Where're you going?!" Sniper called.

"To save someone for reasons I don't quite understand. Gotta go!" Ruby replied. Sniper was amazed, to say the least, but he had little time to ponder on it as the remaining Windigo were attacking the pack still. We'll see how they fared later on, he was sure of that.

Further ahead, Chrysalis was especially struggling. With no magic to fight, and no wings to fly, she was at the mercy of whatever else was out in this cold waste of a world. She could hear the Windigo coming her way from behind, the snow horses not remotely fazed at all by the wind, ice, or snow. Chrysalis's holed hooves proved an even bigger problem when they began to get filled with snow themselves, like torn boots, and they were getting heavy. This was what truly feels like to be the receiving end of a hunter's chase. Chrysalis could barely even see where she was going, and she skidded to a stop just inches from what looked to be a bottomless cliff!

"W-What in Tartarus? where'd this come from?" Chrysalis panted, terrified to hear the Windigo now right by her. The only thing down the cliff she could see was a remote Gem injector, and with the storm, nothing else. She looked off back where she came, able to see the galloping Windigo, but also Steven, Ruby, and Connie trying to catch up. Clearly the Windigo were much faster.
Chrysalis made a desperate attempt to gallop away, but the Windigo soon were right on top of her, the first one actually too fast and trampling her, and the second one biting down into her leg, sinking its sharp teeth into what leg was there. Chrysalis tried to fight, biting into the Windigo, but biting into the horse was like biting right into an ice cube and just as painful on the teeth!

"NO, STOP! DON'T!" Steven called. But the Windigo were well into tearing her up by the time they caught up with her. In the blurred skies of the snow, they could see something being tossed into the air, Chrysalis screeching like a barn owl in pain with each one. A Windigo was targeted, and Chrysalis was just strong enough to grab it and throw it away to the side, her fangs tearing a good chunk into the horse's chest. One Windigo was standing with Chrysalis, and it was not giving her the chance to attack. Steven, almost blindly even, summoned his shield and swung it right at the Windigo, knocking it right off Chrysalis.

Or what was left of her.

Chrysalis was still alive, sure, but she was by far too weak to be as much of a threat, or be any ruler. All of her legs were torn off of her, leaving only stubs. Her wings were nothing but shreds. When she looked up to Steven, she hissed like an aggressive snake.

"Yooouuuu."

"Chrysalis, wait. Please. I just want to heal you," Steven said, licking his hand, and bringing it towards her.

Only for Chrysalis to sink her teeth into his arm!

"Steven!" Ruby and Connie gasped, as Steven was forced to jump back. The bite was not too deadly, the fangs narrowly missing his flesh, but the bite mark was still there from the pull. As for Chrysalis herself, she hissed and snarled, desperately trying to move properly to either fight them or run away. both were very hard, trying to move with stubs. Ruby rushed towards her, but Steven made sure she didn't try to fight her. Chrysalis was too weak to put up much of a fight anyway, comparatively speaking.
And then the Windigo came back, biting the back of her head and swinging back. both figures were dangerously close to the edge, and the windigo just needed one step, to feel the ground slip underneath them both.

And it was too late to do much. All Steven, Connie, and Ruby could do was watch, as the Windigo and Chrysalis fell down the cliffside. The falling Windigo slammed into the injector, making it collapse and fall as well, as Chrysalis screeched and yelled. And then … silence …
It was a somber, bittersweet moment, as they just looked down the cliffside, replaying what they just saw in their head. Steven knew she was going to cause trouble, but … was this how they had to handle it? Connie kept by his side, Steven leaning against her for a moment.

But there was still one more thing left. The last Windigo, still on the ground and hurting. Chrysalis's fangs were very painful on the animal, and while it might not be as bad off in the cold like this … well, Steven went over to it. Steven couldn't save Chrysalis. The least he could do was save this one. Connie and Ruby didn't bother to stop him as he went over towards the animal, more cautiously this time in case the Windigo would jump him. But unlike Chrysalis, the Windigo wasn't blindly ignoring the offer, and didn't move. It did feel cringed when Steven placed his healing saliva onto it, but that was about it.

The effects were not immediate unfortunately, the wound still there, and the Windigo laying down in the snow. Ruby went over to the animal's head, sitting on her knees. The warmth on Ruby, which would've driven other Windigo away, brought the Windigo over to her, resting its head on her lap.

"You think you can stay with her?" Steven asked.

"Go on ahead, I'll catch up later," Ruby replied. Steven and Connie nodded in agreement, and with the agreement made, they both began to go, leaving only Ruby to watch over the fallen Windigo.

There was only one fight left.

~~~~~~

Who'd of guessed then, that everyone else was not that far away.

It was some time until they had met up with the others again, but with the sound of the opening portal, the Crystal Gems, ALL of the Elements of Harmony, and most of the Pillars of Equestria, had now made it to the cold barren area of the Prime kindergarten. for some, it was just another area of memory lane, but for most, it was dead land. The snowstorm of the Windigos wiped the area clean, making it pure white with snow all over the place, and even more coming down. It wasn't as windy as it would be above, but the cold still was effective, as in Amethyst's experience it was a lot colder than usual, giving the Gems chills.

"He's here alright," Flash Magnus concluded. "Haven't heard any storms this bad since my grandfather's stories of the frozen north."

"The Pony of Shadows must've twisted it to his purposes," Mistmane said. That was a slight stinger.

"Um … actually. No. It's always like this," Amethyst admitted.

"This land's always like this? But how can that be?" Rockhoof asked. Amethyst kept her gaze lowered, but still went on with it.

"It's uh … a birth ground for Gems like me. They kind of suck life from the ground to "come out", and leaving … this," Amethyst said. She might as well get this over with, no matter how it felt. With their behavior towards Stygian, she only wondered how they'll feel towards her. Mistmane and Meadowbrook went over towards her.

"This your home, Amethyst?" Meadowbrook asked.

"... Yeah … pretty much. No surprise he'd pick this place," Amethyst sighed. A land completely dead would be the best spot for actual darkness to be raised in. Heck, the Kindergartens would be the biggest sources of dark auras far as she was concerned.

"It's not your fault, dearest. You never knew what would happen when you'd be born," Mistmane said, gentle in her tone.

"Alright, everypony," Rockhoof said, "There's lot of ground to cover, be ready to strike with the elements! … Uh, how do we use them?"

"Well … actually, I don't know. They just work for us," Rarity replied.

"As long as they work, we don't have anything to worry. Soon as he rears his head, we'll be ready!" Flash Magnus said. The group began to move out a bit into the prime Kindergarten, though some were still a little bit worried.

"Uh, Sapphire? Do you mind telling us a heads up?" asked Fluttershy.

"Hmm … I'm not sure yet. The Tindalos and Changelings might be coming soon though. Be on your guard."

And then they heard the ominous laughter.

"He's here," said Bismuth. "SHOW YOURSELF, STYGIAN!"

At first there wasn't a response outside of the laughter from the beast itself, but as they were there, the wind began to change, and strong gusts of bitter cold blasted down from the whirlwinds far above. They all looked skyward, and they began to see something began to come down from the skies above in the form of several Windigo! Starlight saved from an immediate kill when she brought out her shield to cover them all, the Windigo bouncing off, and swirling around them for a bit. The Windigo surrounded them all, leaving no room for any of them to exit out of, as dark clouds began to emit from nowhere.

Stygian had arrived.

"He summoned Windigo," muttered Twilight.

"He's gotten much stronger," Mistmane said.

"Welcome to the Prime Kindergarten!" The Pony of Shadows bellowed, forming completely in front of them all. It was quite a crowd, but he did pinpoint out one pony missing: Starswirl. That just made him all the more confident in himself seeing them like this. Most of them armed up just in case, as he moved closer to the forcefield.

"When you turned our backs on me, I discovered a place beyond anywhere else back in Equestria. The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond anything I could imagine. And I listened," he explained, leaning right to the edge of the orb. Starlight wasn't ready to drop the shield for an instant. He straightened up and began to circle them.

"The shadow and I became one. Soon, all the realms will be the same, and everypony will soon know of the despair I did. WHEN YOU CASTED ME OUT!!"

"We did what we have to! You wanted to steal our powers for yourself!" said Flash Magnus.

"Is that what that foolish Starswirl told all of you?"

"You are not fit to speak his name," warned Rockhoof.

"Oh? I'm no longer fit anymore? I brought you all together, and then you all betrayed me. It was YOU who were selfish. And now I will destroy EVERYTHING HE HAS CREATED!!!" The Pony of Shadows charged up his horn, and blasted one beam of darkness, to shatter the forcefield into pieces! The Pony of Shadows brought out multiple tentacles from the ground around him, all aimed directly at them. In accordance to the fortune, this would be their end, but these tendrils were after something a bit more valuable than that. In a flash, the Elemental bearers were targeted, grabbed, and their Elements of Harmony had been taken away in mere seconds. Stygian knew better than to let them have any advantage over him, and he sensed the elements of harmony were of Starswirl's creation.

*BAM* "AAHHH!"

Another quick surprise from above, and in the form of a pink, spiked forcefield landing directly on top of the Pony of Shadows. This forced him into a daze, and the tendrils to release the Elements of Harmony, each one getting caught by each Element bearer. And who was there, landing by the others?

"STEVEN! CONNIE! You're both alright!" gasped Pearl.

"Didn't I tell ya they'd be alright?" AJ said, nudging Pearl. They didn't have much time to really say much, as the Pony of shadows came back around. And he was NOT happy by this sudden attack.

"UGH. How pathetic, coming in like that! YOU'VE ALREADY LOST!" Stygian roared.

As Sapphire had predicted though, this would be the time for the two other armies to arrive. The distant sound of buzzing, and the thundering of wolf paws, got them all on alarm and more on edge. The Pony of Shadows was already armed with his Windigo.

"With all our strength together, we can take them down," said Sapphire.

"That's right! This is our home, our planet, our friends and family! We are the Elements! We ... are the Harmony Gems!" Steven announced.

"Grrr PATHETIC. I, Stygian, am stronger than all of you combine. You are NOTHING!"

And then came the lightning fast charge from one of the Windigo horses, snatching Steven immediately. They recognize Steven. And Stygian wanted them gone, so the Windigo brought Steven immediately to the Pony of shadows, as the giant Umbra lifted his massive front hooves.

"STEVEN!" called Pearl.

*BAM*

…….

….... Steven felt a bit weak at first, unsure where he had ended up. But as he continued to look around, the only thing he could actually make out in any of this was pure shadow darkness. No amount of light could truly penetrate any of it. It seemed there was just nothing there. Not a floor, wall, or any form of light to actually see what was actually around. With the fall he took, Steven wondered if he was either sleeping, or just knocked out cold. He tried to find something around to help him, some sort of landmark, but there didn't seem to be much of anything … well, at first he didn't see anything.

"Oh boy, another one of these cases again. HELLO?! ANYONE HERE NOT WANTING TO KILL ME?!" Steven called, worried. Now in a typical scenario, nobody would answer him when he would be in such a place. but this time a voice was quick to respond to him, and lucky for him, it wasn't a dangerous one, but a terrified one.

"Steven! Get up, please!" a voice shouted. Steven turned around and actually started to see something off close by, only a foot away from him. Or so it appeared. She looked oddly transparent, like that of a ghost, down on her knees.

"Connie, I'm up, I'm up!" Steven said …

"WHAT THE HAY HAY?!"
Just to find his body laying on the ground! Steven was freaking out of course. He saw himself laying there, looking more unconscious than usual, and with his gemstone cracked in several places from Stygian's attack on him. For any Gem, this was death, but somehow Steven was still there in spirit. He didn't look all transparent, but that was probably because he was still in his own head. He could only see her at first, but she was seemingly messing with his body, trying to pull something off of Steven's face. He wasn't sure what exactly, but once she finally tore it away, a blinding light emitted from out of nowhere, making Steven blinded for a short moment.

Then came the sounds of war. The Tindalos pack, the Changeling horde, the Crystal Gems, the Elements of Harmony, the Pillars of Equestria, Stygian's Windigo forces, it was all complete chaos. So many different beings all rushing at one another, trying to tear eachother to pieces. Is this what war truly is? Steven stood there at first, but he quickly snapped out of it when one of the Tindalos slammed down in front of him, being attacked by numerous Changelings. Clearly their "alliance" fell when Chrysalis did.

"AAHH, I gotta help them!" Steven yelped, trying to rush back to his body. He can't just stand there and watch his whole world collapse. The Spirit was right about the windigo returning, but dang it, he will not stop and let it happen! The first thing he had to do was wake himself up, and with Connie standing right there, he didn't hesitate.

"Wakey-wakey Steven, please? Everyone's in danger, you have to get up!" Steven said to himself, but his attempts were in complete vain because not only was his body seemingly lifeless on the ground, but his hands just went right through himself. It was no use trying to work with his body for the time being, but as he got up, he felt himself trip back, and fell right through Connie. This might be a mistake, but Connie suddenly stopped.

"Steven?" she wondered. Steven barely had time to put two and two together, as he heard one of the windigo begin to rush towards Connie, the girl now distracted. Steven had a theory, and now was the time to test it, as he placed his hand on Connie's shoulder.

"Connie, incoming Windigo!" Steven said. Just as he hoped, Connie turned around, just in time to see the Windigo rushing directly to her. Thinking fast, Connie got out her sword, and sliced the Windigo in two, making it into nothing but cold dust. It was a good save.

"Steven? W-where are you, how -" Connie then felt his presence again when Steven held her hand.

"Connie, it's me Steven. I don't know what's going on, but I think it's one of those classic paranormal psychic situations."

"Of course! So, what's next?" Connie asked, now a little more determined again. However, Steven wasn't sure what to do now. He never knew he could do this before, and there was simply a free-for-all battle going on all over the place. He had to think of something, but there was a slight detail in this state that he didn't see moments ago: looking to Stygian, he began to see a faint glow coming from his center. The huge Pony of Shadows had something else going on inside of him that nobody else was seeing, and that was when something began to nag at him.

"Connie, listen, I'm going to try and talk to Stygian, maybe bring him back around. It might be enough to turn this fight around! … Please protect my body while I'm gone. And remember, you're life is important too, so, don't throw it away for me please," Steven said, not wanting to give her the wrong idea. Connie understood perfectly.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget. Good luck out there Steven," Connie replied. Steven the released her, his connection severed, and Connie no longer able to hear him. Connie drew out her sword for any that would come her way, and Steven started to go towards Stygian. However, he had to get through an entire field of war first, and that was easier said than done. Even if he can't get hurt in this state, he didn't want to be exposed beforehand.
Steven began his mad dash through the horde of fighters, and while he kept his distance from any Changeling, Tindalos, and Windigo, he did begin to see all of his friends start to get into trouble. The first one being Sapphire, who was getting honed in by a set of Tindalos, making her back up to the wall. In this state as well, it wasn't just him being a ghost Steven found out.

"Keep it together. Don't break down again, Sapphire. Even if Ruby's not here, remember, they're all relying on you … But what's the outcome even going to be now?!" Sapphire thought. And Steven actually heard each of those thought loud and clear. Steven needed to give her some encouragement, and went right over to her.

"Don't get scared of what could happen! Remember, pick what you wanna happen and do that! We all got it together!" Steven said, before jumping through her. Sapphire heard the words loud and clear, and while it did leave her a shiver, Sapphire smiled.

"Heh. Another surprise," Sapphire thought. She wanted this to end good for all, and she wasn't gearing to give up. She actually went in and brought her own type of weaponry to the fight, and used the ice to make up what resembled Garnet's gauntlets. The Tindalos had to bolt back to avoid the gauntlets hits, and Steven went off to continue, Sapphire in full battle mode.

The next one he saw next was Peridot, who by the time he got to her, was slammed to the ground by a Changeling. she knocked it off of her, but she was feeling very torn up inside.

"You gotta be kidding me! I just got everyone back, and now I'm gonna lose them again?!" she thought, tears starting to come up.

"Don't give up, Peridot, we're all in this together!" Steven yelled, before jumping through her, his words reaching her. It did feel scary at first, but Steven's reassurance gave Peridot the courage she needed, her fists clenched tightly.

"What am I thinking? It's not over yet!" Peridot thought. and just in time as a Tindalos and changeling mix rushed towards her. Steven went off, but not before seeing Peridot slam the Tindalos head to the ground, jump off of it, and side-kicked the changeling in the face to send it flying into four more Changelings behind. All that training was definitely paying off today. The next one he saw was Twilight, who was flying with Rainbow Dash as Tindalos were homing in on them. Rainbow turned and kicked one as Twilight shot at another, but a Windigo jumped the alicorn and slammed her into the ground. The bitter cold stung her.

"These Windigo. If I would've just left Starswirl alone, the eternal winter would've never gotten started. This is all my fault!" Twilight thought.

"You never could've known Twilight, it's not your fault! The best thing a leader can do is find their mistake and fix it!" Steven said, jumping through her. Twilight felt a shiver again, but this one warm instead of bitter cold.

"Yes. Yes, I can fix this! I'll make this right!" Twilight thought, her horn lighting up and sending the windigo flying off of her.

His next one in sight was Amethyst, desperately trying to keep numerous Windigo back, but her whip was barely working even with the attachments by Bismuth.

"I'm gonna get shattered, I'm gonna get shattered, I'm gonna get shattered! I can't fight them like this!" Amethyst thought in a panic. Ironic to hear this from her, but this Gem was trying to put up such a good front for Steven and Peridot already, but now who was helping her? One of the Windigo grabbed her whip, its sharp teeth tearing into it. If she loses that whip, it would be all over for her.

"You're your own ultimate quartz! We all believe in you!" Steven said, jumping through her.

"Steven? … I can do this! I can do this!" Amethyst then thought, getting as much strength as she could muster. The group of windigo suddenly found themselves being pulled forward, and Amethyst saw Fluttershy and a weaker Jasper being cornered by numerous Changelings. Determination at its peak, the ultimate Quartz swung all the Windigo at the end of her whip, crashing them right into the Changeling group.

"Thanks, Amethyst," called Fluttershy.
Steven moved forward, but there was one critical error this time. Steven was looking back to the others, and it was this very brief, and short moment, that he didn't see where he was going, as a windigo suddenly rushed passed him, the back hoof clipping Steven. Steven wasn't stopped, but the new presence immediately made the windigo skid to a stop. This was a new kind of presence. Looking around, the windigo didn't see anyone anywhere at first, though lucky for Steven, a Tindalos grabbed it. This gave Steven a running start towards Stygian again, but now he had to be on some more guard. No doubt one of these fighters would try for him.

"Almost there," Steven thought. There was still other fighters Steven saw that were having trouble, eventually seeing Pearl alongside Rarity, surrounded by the Changelings.

"I can't fall now! Everything I do, I do it for her - I do it for him!"

"Don't forget about yourself, Pearl!" Steven shouted, lunging through her.

"I do it for ME!" Pearl thought, her spear getting a good cut on one of the Changelings flying in. Rarity and Pearl looked to one another, and got to work on the group. As the changelings rushed in, Rarity ducked, as Pearl spun her spear to act as a shield, knocking numerous attackers back, Rarity using her own brand of moves to attack any sneaking in from below. Good teamwork. Steven continued running, but then he looked back and saw that one Windigo starting to gallop in his direction. Seeing Sniper's father in between them though, Steven thought it was the tindalos it was after.

"Bring it on!" he bellowed, ready for the windigo to attack him. Then came the truth: instead of tackling Sniper's dad, the windigo actually leaped over him, and charged directly for Steven! The Windigo knew where Steven was, and knew what was going on. Steven booked it, picking up speed as fast as a spirit could go, but two legs were no matched for four hooves, and the horse was gaining fast. The pounding of the windigo's icy hooves felt stronger and stronger, Steven feeling the cold air coming right for him. Steven made one mighty jump away from the animal just before it could get him, but the strong winds became a curse on his much lighter body, and the windigo grabbed him by the foot and slammed him down. It could ACTUALLY grab him!
The Windigo may seem like it was biting into nothing, but it had a strong grip on Steven's spirit, and proceeded to thrash him around, slamming him into the ground numerous times. It wasn't making a true impact, but the damage was still being dealt, and Steven was weakening with each hit.

"The heck is that thing doing?" the pack leader wondered, again not seeing Steven in its teeth. With everyone else fighting and doing their best, it seemed that only Chrysalis was actually noticing something wrong with this picture. It almost was like an AI in a game had glitched out; the windigo doing all this as it was supposed to have something in its mouth. The Changeling though didn't care, and rushed at the windigo, her horn digging into its back, and forcing it to release Steven. Ironically, Chrysalis saved Steven from yet another kill. Steven looked back to the fight, and the windigo forced Chrysalis off of it, the spirit animal changing targets, and sinking its own bitter cold teeth into the Changeling queen's neck, frostbite spreading on the angry creature. Steven normally wouldn't leave something like this, but in the chaos, he had no choice.
Stygian was not that far away, and if he were to get through to him, he had to reach him somehow. Taking the chance, Steven made a mad dash. The Pony of Shadows, much like many of the others, did not see Steven's spirit running towards him, and as such he was unprepared as Steven jumped right to him, and actually right in him. Stygian's reaction was immediate with his mighty roar.

And then. Darkness. just the same as when Steven "woke" up. He couldn't see anything anywhere, and this time Connie wasn't there to clear his eyesight for him. He didn't have any power or method to see, but that didn't exactly mean there was nothing there. In fact, just moments after going in, he began to see there was something just a foot away. A small, scrawny, grey unicorn, his mane and short tail a dull blue, wearing nothing but a brown cloak. He just sat there, either unaware of the war outside, or just ignoring it. Just sitting there in misery.

"Stygian?"

"Yes … I was Stygian once. Until my friends betrayed me," the unicorn said.

"Huh? Who?"

"Starswirl," Stygian said, his voice coming out in a hiss, vaguely sounding like the Pony of shadows.

"But they said you betrayed them, right? You wanted their magic!" Steven said, going off of what he heard from the Pillars just before the assault. Stygian looked to the child.

"No, I wanted their respect," Stygian replied, "I brought them together, and studied everything I could about what threats lied ahead of us, and the beasts we faced. I planned strategy after strategy, but I didn't have magic or strength. So nopony noticed me …"

"Really? … Stygian …"

"... I went to Ponhenge to create my own copies of the artifacts, so maybe I could be a pillar too! And stand by their side in battle. I never wanted to steal their powers," Stygian explained. Steven felt beside himself, but then Stygian turned back to him, the shadows slowly starting to overcome him again.

"... But instead of sharing, and letting me help. The others threw me out. So I became stronger than all of them, the darkness accepted me when nopony would. and I'll do what I must to protect it. They'll all pay for what they've done to me."

Now it was all clear. Stygian was banished away to Limbo NOT from the threat he did, but from the pride of the other pillars, and their quickness to judge him. They never gave Stygian a chance. But Steven was willing.

"No, this isn't what you want. You want friendship, not revenge! Let's get out of this place, and go talk to him. If they knew how you felt, they wouldn't of turned their backs on you! Please, Stygian, let me help you be who you are again. We'll explain everything to Starswirl and everything will be alright again," Steven promised, his hand extended to help the unicorn. Stygian was silent at first, not he didn't take Steven's hand in friendship yet.

"... I … I want to believe you …"

"But the darkness WILL NOT BE STOPPED!!!"

And with the power of the shadows, Stygian launched Steven's spirit right out of him, him landing right down onto the ground. Outside, the fight was escalating, and the weather now turned into a horrid blizzard. The mighty roars from Stygian's his wings spread, had brought more attention towards him as much of the fighting actually stopped for a bit as they observed. The Pony of Shadows was now in overdrive, looking around for the spirit hidden amongst the battlefield.

"RAAHH! I know you're here, Steven! I can sense your spirit, WHERE'RE YOU?!" Stygian bellowed, his voice shaking the ground as he tried to relocate him.

"What happened to him? He just killed Steven didn't he?" Lapis asked.

"Not exactly," Twilight replied. The Pony of shadows looked around frantically, but that didn't mean the fight was over. His tentacles were summoned, and went right into battle mode.

"TAKE COVER!" the leading Tindalos yelled, and everyone quickly scattered. The tentacles though were extremely quick, and the targets as it ended up being were the Gems: each tentacle skewering one after the other. Other tentacles went after the ponies, and try as they might, Stygian had the Elements of Harmony wrapped in his grip. THIS was the full power of Stygian. And they could only either retreat, or get caught in the crossfire. The Changelings were forced to retreat, and many of the Tindalos took what they could and left too. They all had a feeling this world will not suite them before long.

Just like how the spirit said. And Steven was forced to watch it all.

Soon, they were done: the Crystal Gems were reduced to stones in the snow, and many of the ponies, both Pillars, and Elements of Harmony were now trapped, encased in dark shadow and ice, some of the Windigo around them to keep them from interfering. Just one more target left to attack, and it will all be over.
Connie. She was cold, worn out, and the only one standing and still a threat far as Stygian was concerned.

"THERE! All done. There's none of you left now."

"STYGIAN!"

Starswirl the Bearded. Despite Jasper's warning, he came back anyway, and what a time to come back just after the slaughter. Stygian of course was NOT happy to see him again. Steven at least had to make this clear to Starswirl before this could go any further, and he went over to him, hand on him.

"Stygian isn't trying to steal your magic, he never had, he just wanted your respect!"

"Hmm. A spirit of this realm?"

"It's a paranormal thing, now listen. He wanted to make copies of your artifacts so he could join you to fight! He wants to stop now, but the shadows won't let him," Steven warned. Starswirl froze on this revelation, looking to Stygian again, the giant alicorn-like umbra beginning to move closer towards Connie, each step leaving a small tremor. Connie promised to stand as much as she could for Steven, she knew he was alive somehow. She can't leave him, she won't leave him, even with the giant Pony of Shadows looming over her. One stomp of his hoof would finish her off.

"Only you left."

"NO! I won't left you hurt Steven!" Connie said.

"You don't have a choice. THE DARKNESS WON!"

*BAM*

Stygian readied to kill them both, but before his hooves could crush either of them, something suddenly clocked Stygian hard in the side of the face, powerful enough to send the Pony of shadows off his own hooves, crashing into the hard snow and rock. It would take a lot of strength to knock Stygian off of his hooves, and he found the source of the hit landing off not too far away, skidding in the snow. Stygian got himself back up, and found his newest adversaries. Ruby had returned, and riding a Windigo as her mighty steed.
But there was something different about this Windigo. It's colors weren't completely white, but warmer magical coloration, a mix of purples, pinks, and blues, giving off a warm vibe instead of cold.

"You missed one," Ruby said, as the reformed windigo snorted. Stygian though wasn't so easily intimidated.

"You can't defeat me, Ruby. I've just toppled every other Gem and pony here, what makes you think you could do anything?" Stygian scoffed. Ruby though had a secret weapon with her, and brought it out for them all to take a look at. Stygian's own "fire" may bring cold around him, but Ruby's fire she had with her looked different from typical red, yellow, and orange. The Windigo's magic was effecting the flames, and now it had a more purple, violet flame. The windigo around them actually began to back away from the warmth of the fire, the Reformed Windigo not fazed by the flames. As it no longer fed off of hatred and the cold, the fire of friendship had little effect, if any. In fact, feeling the warmth of the Fire of Friendship gave it more bravery than the other fellow Windigo, and it reared back, giving a power-filled neigh. Connie found the only chance to get away, and moved Steven's body aside before they could get crushed. Ruby felt her heart sink when she saw Steven, and quickly figured out the true culprit standing in front of her.

"S-Steven?" Ruby gasped. She felt a tear come down her face, but she felt her rage build up all over again. But then she began to hear something.

"RUBY! Ruby, it's me, Steven!"

"Where're you?" Ruby asked.

"I don't have time to explain! Ruby, Stygian's not as evil as he looks - he wants to stop but the shadows won't let him go! We have to get him out of there," Steven instructed. Ruby nodded.

"Got it, And Steven … thanks for not leaving me," Ruby said. Stygian moved forward, spurring into action again. The Windigo underneath bolted aside from the lunge, skidding in the snow, giving Ruby time to see them getting cornered by multiple Windigo.

"CONNIE, HEADS UP!" Ruby called, using her own natural ability to light up through the snow as the Windigo galloped directly towards them. Connie ducked, and multiple Windigo got hit, forcing them all to scatter away from the remaining group, while other Windigo were forced to run from the fire. The fires scattered on the bindings on the elements of harmony and pillars, burning them all away but not hurting any of them. In the hit, some fire actually landed dangerously close to Steven, and scattered amongst the gemstones. Normally the fire would be lethal, but this magic flame did not hurt Steven's body nor the gemstones at all. In fact, it did the exact opposite.

*GASP*

Steven was back from the brink, bolting upright again.

"Steven! you're back!" Twilight gasped. The windigos scattered everywhere, the winter actually calming down much to Stygian's dismay, as Starswirl moved towards him.

"Stygian. Years ago, you needed our help. But instead of giving you our aid, we turned our backs on you. My pride clouded my own judgement, and I owe you an apology," Starswirl said. The Pony of Shadows actually stopped, as if it understood what Starswirl was saying. Stygian within heard what Starswirl said, but the Pony of Shadows actually forced itself to fight.

"I don't want your apology. I WANT YOUR DEATH!!!" The pony bellowed, his horn glowing dark again. With the Windigo no longer coming close to them, the Pony of Shadows only had himself to fight them all. Before a shot could be fired though, Rainbow, Somnambula, and Flash Magnus slammed into the horn, knocking the blast away from them all for a moment as it shot off into the sky.

"We need to get Stygian out!" Steven said.

"Already on it," Starlight replied, using her own magic, not on Stygian, but on Twilight, making a rope of magical energy around Twilight. The flyers kept the Pony of Shadows distracted, and it was just enough for Twilight to fly directly into the chest of the umbra, the pain immediate as she did so. Inside, Twilight could only see through the horn glow off her own head, and she was soon to spot Stygian inside, though still under some influence of the Shadows.

"Stygian!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twilight?" Stygian said. Twilight used a similar rope spell around Stygian, and with a tug on her own line, Starlight pulled back hard to pull Twilight out of the Pony of Shadows, but the Umbra was not going to give up so easily, and Twilight felt a huge pull on her own rope. Starlight switched her ropes off of Twilight and onto Stygian. The pressure was excruciating for the Pony of Shadows, it roaring and screeching in pain as Stygian was just barely visible. Steven and Connie grabbed hold of Starlight, helping her pull back against the force as much as they could manage.

"It's too strong, it won't let him go!" Steven said in a strain.

"We must help him," Starswirl said. "OPEN THE PORTAL! NOW!"

Starswirl got his own magical rope grabbing hold of Stygian. The elements, one at a time, added their own power to the pull, the Pony of Shadows hardly able to do much better. Stygian was pulled out more and more, but a powerful strain of the Pony of Shadows was still holding onto him by a strong shadowy strain. The umbra then heard another loud neigh, and a set of pounding hooves, seeing Ruby and the reformed steed just too late to do much. The Windigo galloped right into the strain and, like a checked finish line to a race, the strength was enough to finally severe the strand.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

The final roar of the Umbra echoed miles wide, and on separation, the body began to grow completely deformed, no longer having a base to work with. The magic from the Elements of Harmony, combine with the Fire of Friendship, began to encircle the mass of shadows, the remains of the Umbra roaring, yelling, and unable to escape, disappearing behind a seal of fire and rainbow.

Then came the following blast. With all this energy, there was a mighty explosion of all sorts of colors, launching into a cyclone up high in the sky, and spreading for miles in all directions. None of them got hurt in the blast, and the blast, which felt like an eternity, lasted for about half a minute before it died down, and it was silent all over again. The blast itself spread all over the place miles in the sky, and the clouds, which were just so abundant moments before, now cleared for the ray of sun to seep its way down to the snow-covered ground.
Stygian and Starswirl had a quiet moment here, the old wizard looking to the strategist of the pillars, wondering if Stygian did hear him while trapped inside such a monster. Stygian though no longer had the look of murder, or discontent in his eyes, but instead one of acceptance, and friendship. Starswirl was glad to rekindle their friendship again.

And that was not the only thing that the blast had brought back either. The magical energy had given the fallen gemstones just enough of an extra boost to get the Gems to come back to life. One by one, they all began to reform again, none of them cracked, or hurt, or anything. Steven almost got tears seeing they all were okay, and they even more so on seeing him.

"STEVEN!" Pearl was the first to come over.

"GUYS! YOU'RE ALIVE, YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" Steven said in joy, hugging Pearl. It didn't take long until some of the more eager members rushed right for him, hugging him tight.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, please?" cried Pearl.

"I'm alright, and look, we stopped the Pony of Shadows! We did it together, and it was great," Steven replied, all the evidence in the area around them.

"Oh Steven … you … are Steven," Lapis said.

"Of course! I'd never forget my Beach Summer Fun Buddy," Steven replied. That proved it.

"OH STEVEN!" Lapis beamed, giving her best pal her own hug, flying up off the ground for a bit, she was so happy. It was a good moment for many of them. Starswirl though had some unfinished business with the Crystal Gems, going towards Jasper first.

"Jasper? I've taken time to think over what you and the others had said. My pride did cloud me from the knowledge you all held, and it was that pride that made me harsh towards you all. I'm deeply sorry," Starswirl said. Jasper was quiet at first, but she nodded.

"It's happens to the best of us," Jasper replied.

"So. Looks like a conversation can save Equestria?" Starlight said to Starswirl. Starswirl sighed and smiled himself.

"Looks like I'll be making a lot of apologies today."

Within this moment though, Sapphire had one more bit of business to take care of, especially when she saw her on her windigo steed not too far away.

"Ruby!" Sapphire gasped, rushing up towards the lone rider. With so much of the world left so frozen, it was amazing to see Ruby looking quite a bit better when compared to everyone else not too long ago. Sapphire wasted no time in rushing on towards her. Sapphire knew this was the real Ruby, and she wasn't leaving it alone any longer.

"Ruby, thank the stars you're alright! Listen, I'm so sorry about what I said, I don't think everything's based on a lie. I was wrong," Sapphire made clear. Ruby didn't answer at first, keeping her gaze down to her snow-covered feet. Riding in on a Windigo of all things was enough of a shocker, but how cold hearted did Ruby end up after it all? Did Ruby forgive her or not? It was hard to tell when it came to this supposed cowgirl, and with the bitter cold winds still biting at their beings, Ruby spat onto the ground.

"Nah. … You were right," Ruby concluded, before getting off the warmly-colored Windigo. A simple pat of the animal, and the Windigo galloped off on its way, leaving Ruby and Sapphire alone. This cowgirl had something to say to her beloved, and she wasn't going to wait around any longer. This had lingered in her mind since the inter-species race, and now she had a few words on her mind.

"Once upon a time, someone told us we were the answer. And to not question anythin'... but I dun believe it anymore. Least, not til' I hear it from you."

Sapphire remained a little bit quiet, unsure of what this could mean for her as Ruby extended her hand. The blue Gem placed her hand onto hers, feeling the warmth that was too long gone from her mind and being. It felt very good after all of the bitter cold the Windigo Queen had swarmed onto them. Ruby was the fire of friendship they've been missing, and what now was bringing Sapphire back around. A breeze of smooth air over bitter air blew off Ruby's cowgirl hat. The clouds slowly began to clear from the sky for the first time since the storm had started, the winds finally calming down. … Ruby finally looked up to Sapphire, looking her right to the face, as she got down on one knees.

One question that'll change everything.

"Sapphire? … Will you marry me?"