"Fluttershy!"
Marco felt his heart pounding when he saw the bridge break, sending his wife and her friends falling past the waterfall. His first thought was to go after her, to fly and catch her.
But then again, he remembered their foals. Fluttershy would most likely be fine with her friends, but he had no idea where his son and daughter were at. He ran towards one of the Storm Creatures and glared at them intensely.
"Where's my son?!" Marco growled.
The Storm Creature rolled his small blue eyes and pointed at a cage that had Songbird Serenade, Angelo, and Josefina in it.
"Your foals are kept safe per special request of Star Butterfly." The brute explained. "Now time to-"
But before the Storm Creature could grab and imprison Marco, he flew into the air and landed behind a small house. Star made sure that his foals were safe, and he couldn't be more grateful for that. So should he go after Fluttershy? Would they even come back to Canterlot?
"Marco?"
Marco turned over and flinched when he saw a familiar lavender pegasus standing on a fence behind him. Even though their wives were really close friends, Marco didn't go out of his way to talk to Tom. He wasn't sure if it was out of fear or resentment, but something made him not trust Tom.
"Have you seen Pinkie?" Tom asked, all three of his eyes wide.
"Well, the six of them were running on the bridge when Twilight used magic and the bridge broke. They fell past the waterfall, and I don't know where they went after that." Marco explained.
"Where are you two going, can we join you?"
Jackie flew onto the fence, with Barkina on her back and Pony Head not too far behind.
"Yeah, but we must leave now. I don't want those brutes to notice us conspiring." Marco decided.
Should I wait for Star, after what she did for me? No, she protected my foals so I could
go after Fluttershy. This is the right decision.
Discord teleported his friend and daughter to a hill several yards away from Canterlot, sighing with relief. When he let go of them both, Marinette turned on him with an uncharacteristically angry look plastered on her long face.
"Silver Spoon is still back there, why didn't you save her? Or leave me to be with her?" Marinette demanded.
"Because I wanted to make sure you were safe, you're my only child." Discord frowned.
"Well I'm going back to Canterlot to make sure she's okay." Discord tried to stop Marinette, but she teleported away right after she finished talking. Discord tried to stay annoyed, but his feelings escalated to ones of fear and dread. Even if he could have more children, he could never forgive himself if something happened to Marinette. He had to go back-
"Discord, you have to trust your daughter." Sweetie Belle told him. "She's grown up now and if she wants to go on her own and risk her life to protect her marefriend, you shouldn't stop her. Besides, the Mane 6 fell from the bridge. I know that they'll want all the help they can get."
Discord nodded, knowing that the Mane 6 were heroic enough to try and do something about this mess that's unfolded for Equestria. He should be heroic too.
"Have you guys seen Spike?"
Discord and Sweetie Belle looked at the sky to see Thorax flying towards them, his anxious eyes looking everywhere for his best friend.
"No, we think that he fell off the broken bridge with the Mane 6." Discord guessed. Thorax landed on the ground and frowned.
"Do you think they...?" Thorax started sweating, making circles in the dirt with his hooves. Discord shook his head.
"Knowing them, it's going to take a lot more than some waterfall to take them down." Discord reassured Thorax. "Did you want to come with us? We escaped to find them."
"Of course, but we'll need backup to save Ponyville." Thorax decided. "It might be dangerous to Canterlot, but I think we should bring Ember and some of her dragons to stop the Storm Creatures."
"They could destroy the whole city!" Sweetie Belle gasped.
"But what if there's no other option?" Discord pointed out. "What if the Mane 6 don't have anyone else to help them?"
"But what would the dragons want in return? They never do anything just to be kind." Sweetie Belle asked.
"With Ember as their leader, they won't ask for anything in return." Thorax stated. "I've met her, and when she realizes that Spike's home is in danger, she'll stop at nothing to keep it safe."
"You two really care about him huh?" Sweetie Belle smiled, feeling at ease. Thorax blushed and nodded.
"Then it's settled, we shall teleport to the Dragon Lands." Before Thorax could ask how that'd be possible, Discord grabbed both him and Sweetie Belle before teleporting away.
"We just got our cupcakes handed to us by one of the meanest ponies in Equestria!"
Pinkie was rambling on over what they should do, but Twilight was staring at the ground in shock.
"She just...turned her into a statue." Twilight was shaking. "My dear Celestia, just gone."
"She's not dead darling." Rarity put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I think they need the princesses, so I'm certain that she's still alive. Besides, all we need to do is find the Queen of the Hippogriffs that your dear marefriend mentioned."
"Or we could go back." Pinkie suggested. "We could find Discord, Tom, Thorax, and some of the other non-pony creatures to help us fight the Storm Creatures."
"Sounds like you want to go back to your husband." Applejack rolled her eyes. "What about you Fluttershy? Do you want to leave on us too?"
"Do you need me? It's not like I'm s-strong or anything for the journey." Fluttershy whispered.
"Half of us are torn from leaving it seems, good thing I'm not dating anyone." Rainbow Dash spoke, only to get glares from the three heartbroken mares. "What? I'm tired of seeing all of you be happy in ways I can't. And now that Canterlot is in trouble, it's my time to shine!"
"We need to make this decision together." Applejack stated. "Twilight, you can't go back because you're a princess. Who knows what this 'Storm King' will be able to do if he has you. Pinkie, Tom can fend for himself. Fluttershy..."
Fluttershy was the only one with foals of her own, so coming up with the right words was really difficult for Applejack. After a minute of silence, Fluttershy gave a long sigh.
"My family wouldn't exist without Equestria; I owe it to everypony to keep it safe." Fluttershy decided. "Marco will make sure our foals stay safe."
"Thank you Fluttershy, I know that was a hard decision for you to make." Applejack turned to Pinkie. "Are you going back?"
"No, I think getting distance from Tom will be good for me." Pinkie smiled. "Who knows? Maybe we'll meet new friends on this journey to find the Queen..."
Rarity looked at Applejack with shock, and the orange mare shrugged to deflect further discussion about what Pinkie said. Twilight finally got on her hooves.
"Very well. We will find this Queen and kick Tempest's ass."Twilight growled. "She's lucky we don't feed her to the dragons for what she did to my Celestia. Let's go."
"Will Thorax be OK?" Spike asked unexpectedly. Applejack looked at him and her confused gaze softened.
"He can shape-shift into anything, of course he'll be okay." Applejack smiled.
Spike gave an uncertain nod, and the seven of them walked up the hill and looked at the seemingly endless desert before them.
"Son of a bitch."Applejack groaned.