Back in Canterlot the leaders had it all figured out, when Celestia and Luna would distract the hypnotized Cerberus and lure him away from the cage that Zodiac was imprisoned in, Ember would melt down the bars and then melt the chains on his legs with her fire breath since a dragon's fire breath was strong enough to melt metal. The main six would alert the students that Zodiac had been rescued and then they would give him the medical attention he needed in case they found him wounded since he was inside a prison full of caged monsters willing to eat any creature they saw.
"Okay, so once I melt the bars and chains, I'll grab Zodiac when the Cerberus isn't looking?" asked Ember.
"Yes, and you hand him to me, I'll signal Celestia and Luna, and we make our escape." reassured Thorax.
"And then we notify our students about him in injuries if he has any." said Starlight.
"Exactly Starlight," said Twilight, "The other kingdoms have treatments for injuries that are just as good as Equestria does."
"I'm afraid we can't find the students!" said a guard out of nowhere. Cadance and Shining Armor, who were in this meeting as well were confused.
"What are you talking about?" asked Cadance.
"They're at the school." said Shining Armor.
"Not the case now, I'm afraid they've fallen into the same fate as well."
"But how?!" asked Rainbow Dash, that's when the guard used his magic to display a magic screen that showed an image of Neighsay tying them up and then throwing them aside, they all gasped in horror because now this was an even bigger mission to complete as well and now they had to save not only Zodiac, but the students as well.
"What?!" said Twilight.
"Oh great, now our son is in danger?!" screamed Cadance.
"That monster is really in for it now!" exclaimed Shining Armor.
"Then let us waste no time." said General Seaspray.
"I'll make him pay if he hurts Smolder!" yelled Ember.
"Yak destroy pony!" screamed Prince Rutherford.
"Let's go!" said Twilight and they all went out to rescue Zodiac and the students and hopefully capture Neighsay and punish him for his crimes that he had put on. But just as they were about to exit through the doorway, a portal opened and out came Neighsay confronting all and they too stared at him angrily.
"All right Neighsay, you've caused more than enough trouble for us," said Princess Celestia her horn glowing in a way to attack him, "As co-ruler of Equestria, I command you to release my son and the students plus remove that seal from Twilight's school this moment!"
"Do it now, or you will suffer terrible fates!" warned Twilight with a defiant snarl.
"I TAKE ORDERS FROM NOPONY!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Neighsay as he blasted magic at them, only this time he was overpowered by Celestia.
"No Neighsay, you will threaten us no more!" screeched Celestia, "Now for the last time release every creature, INCLUDING MY SON!!!!!!!!!"
"I SAID NO YOU WORTHLESS RAT WITH WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Neighsay snapped, "Twilight will surrender her school up and she has three hours to do it or I'll send all the students, including that hairless monkey boy with bat wings to Tartarus where they will all be eaten by the Cerberus, now what's it gonna be, Princess Fake?!" he said before leaping back through the open portal one last time.
"Come on, we don't have much time, let's go now!" ordered Starlight as they went out the door to rescue everyone.
Back at Neighsay's headquarters, the seven students just sat there in the corner of the dimly lit room tied up and helpless, Neighsay had completely overwhelmed them by surprise and managed to remain one step ahead of them, but there was a small victory as they had managed to discover his plot to defame all magic in Equestria and turn it into something it wasn't.
As they coped, they heard Nathan crying.
"This is all mah' fault, how could ah' have been so stupid?"
"Hey kid, calm down, at least you were right about him doing something illegal." said Smolder smiling.
"But ah'm the one who got us into this, how are we going to defeat him now?"
"Don't worry Nathan, I've a solution for that." said Smolder, she then let out a small breath of fire that was strong enough to burn the rope in half and just like that, they were freed, Nathan quickly dried his tears.
"Smolder, ah'....." but before he could finish, Smolder rubbed his head.
"Kid, look you did the right thing by having us see your suspicions and they were confirmed."
"Yeah, not to mention all we did to help you." said Sandbar.
Nathan and the others engaged in a group hug, "I love you all, y'all are the best friends ah've ever had!"
"GO FRIENDSHIP!!!!!" they all cheered, that's when the door flung open, they turned to see the rest of the crew from the school sighing in relief, as Cadance and Shining Armor hugged their son.
"Thank goodness, you all are okay." said Twilight, "But we told you to stay at the school."
"Headmare Sparkle, Zodi is our friend, we can't just have you telling us to not worry because you need help rescuing him." said Ocellus.
"Yeah, it was not right of you to tell us to stay and do nothing." said Gallus.
"Beside you told us from day 1 of friendship lessons that we're supposed to be there for each other til the end."
The teachers now realized how hypocritical they were.
"Girls, they're right, we too have been taught to be there for each other as well." said Fluttershy.
"What were we thinking?" asked Luna.
"Listen every creature, we only did that because we thought you would be put in danger if you did anything and you actually were, but since you didn't give up and stuck together, you all are off the hook just this once for your bravery."
Silverstream then hugged the headmare, "Thanks Headmare Sparkle."
"Now all that's left to do is......wait what are all these spell books doing in here?" asked Twilight, that's when Nathan and Smolder flew up and showed one book that belonged to Starswirl and showed her the pages that had been scraped off and replaced with phony spells that didn't work.
'Aunt Twilight, ah' think we've figured out what Neighsay is up to, he's defaming Starswirl's magic and replacing it with phony magic that won't work. Neighsay wants to corrupt all the magic of Equestria and put his own name above Starswirl." said Nathan.
"What?!" asked Princess Celestia in shock as she saw the book and read it herself, "This is obscene!"
"Not to mention against equestrian law!" replied Luna.
"Once we rescue Zodiac, we will lure Neighsay in and capture him, I have had enough of is abusement!" growled Ember.
"Let's go, all of us!" ordered Twilight and they fled to the pits of Tartarus.
Meanwhile in Tartarus, Zodiac was being thrown around and tossed by Tirek like a two year old tossing his toys around his bedroom as Zodiac sat there in pain and suffering, Tirek laughed evilly at him thinking he'd be all too weak and young to stand up against him.
"Look at this, a poor and weak little pegasus all alone no help and no friends to protect him." he taunted, that's when Neighsay jumped out of his portal and back to Tartarus where he and Tirek met up.
"Looks like everything is going according to plan." said Tirek.
"Yes, and Twilight will not only be giving up her school, but also her powers of friendship forever!"
"No they won't." intervened Zodiac as he got back up on his hooves and had the courage to stand up to the evil duo, "They know where I am, and when they find me, you two will be sorry to put me in this rat cage."
Neighsay and Tirek laughed, "Nice try kid, but what makes you think they'd save you, the Cerberus is under my control, and as long as he is, I can have him devour your friends and family and you'll have nopony to save you!"
Zodiac quivered with fear as Tirek and Neighsay approached him and cornered him when all of a sudden....
BOOM there was a loud crash from above, Tirek and Neighsay looked up to see silhouettes of creatures and ponies who had managed to blast open the entrance.
DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY SON!!!!!!!!!!! said a royal Canterlot voice, the creatures then appeared in full form and it was none other than Princess Celestia and Luna with the crowd of students and the mane six, Zodiac gasped in surprise.
"MOMMY, HELP ME!!!!!!" Zodiac screamed.
"Hold on Zodi, we're almost there!" Celestia yelled as they all got to the bottom, but then they were blocked by the hypnotized Cerberus.
"Forget it Princess Rat!!!!!!" Neighsay yelled, "The Cerberus is under my control!"
"Yeah and Zodiac in under mine!" snapped Tirek.
Celestia and the others were shocked.
"Wait you two were in this together?!" asked Ember.
"Yak smash both creatures!!!!!"
That's when the Cerberus charged, luckily yet finally, Celestia and Luna managed to get one step ahead.
"Now sister!" Luna said, that's when she and Celestia blasted their horns and shot the Cerberus up into the air to undo the spell, as they were busy with him, the others managed to confront Tirek and Neighsay.
"No!, No it can't be!" said Tirek as he looked at the Cerberus getting snapped out of his trance, suddenly, pink fire blew right at the locked door to where the lock completely melted off, Ember was the one doing it for she had managed to undo the door and then melt the chains off of Zodi.
"Thanks Ms...."
"Princess Ember of the Dragon Lands." said Ember.
"Thanks Ember."
"Come on kid, let's get out of here!" exclaimed Thorax as he managed to grab a now free Zodiac, but then Tirek managed to swipe him from Thorax.
"No, Thorax, help!" he whined.
"Forget it kid, you're never leaving this wretched prison EVER!!!!!" said Neighsay, suddenly, he was blasted away by Twilight.
"That's enough Neighsay, you have caused more than enough damage to everypony today!" she said.
"Oh, but the game has just begun.
"Wrong again!" said Rainbow Dash, pointing to Celestia and Luna for they had managed to undo the hypnotism spell on the Cerberus, that's when the Cerberus turned to see Tirek holding a scared Zodiac, Tirek now had no choice but to put him down.
"NO, CERBERUS, THIS COLT IS NOT LEAVING!!!!!!!!" Neighsay yelled, bucking Zodiac towards a rock wall and knocking him out.
"ZODI!!!!!" screamed Celestia, that's when her eyes then boiled red, her temper grew hotter than the sun, and she was becoming a lot like The Incredible Hulk only she exploded with fire, just like Twilight.
"THAT'S IT NEIGHSAY, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR, THIS TIME YOU HAVE LOST AND YOU AS WELL TIREK!!!!!!!!!!" she said and she and Luna, along with Twilight and Cadance blasted magic at them.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO, THIS CANNOT BE!!!!!!" exclaimed Neighsay as he tried to protect Tirek with whatever powerful magic of his own that he had, but four and one would not go against power and Neighsay's magic proved to be no picnic against the alicorn princesses and soon he was blasted into the cage and a magic chain was wrapped around him and Tirek to prevent them from continuing their fight.
As the others wrapped up their battle, Celestia then turned to see Zodiac's motionless body lying by the rock that he had been knocked on.
"ZODI!!" she screamed, she ran over to him.
"Zodi?" she said, "Zodi?" she said again with tears in her eyes as she sat down and cradled him close and then a quick flashback came to her of when she found him when he was still a baby.
"It's okay mommy's here, mommy's got you." then the flashback ended.
"Is he...." said Silverstream.
"My first crush." sadly replied Ocellus.
"Yak sad." said Yona.
Neighsay and Tirek laughed evilly, but were silenced by cloths.
"How could you Neighsay, he was my son, my only child!!!!!" snapped Celestia
"MMMPPHHH!!!!!" muffled Neighsay, suddenly out of nowhere, some guards who were secretly notified of the whereabouts of what was happening came down to see Celestia in extreme anguish then saw Zodiac lying unconscious but they thought he was dead.
"Guards, take Neighsay to Canterlot's royal prison and keep him there until such time that we will make a trial for him, but as of right now, he is no longer Chancellor!" demanded Luna.
"Yes your majesty!" they said, then they shackled Neighsay and took him away as Luna sealed up the cage to keep Tirek in.
"Come on sister, there's nothing more we can do now." Luna grieved, but as they were about to give up and leave, a crack of light from heaven shined down on Zodi's body and he soon woke up to see his mother, aunt, and his friends about to leave and spoke up.
"Mommy?" he asked, that's when they froze and turned to see Zodiac struggling to get back up and managed to successfully stand up on all four of his hooves.
"ZODI, SWEETIE, YOU'RE OKAY!!!!!!!!!" Celestia exclaimed as she ran up to him and picked up, and soon all of the students and the mane six approached him with great joy.
After Celestia and Luna had their turns hugging and kissing him, the second one to embrace him was Nathan, who was just as overjoyed to see him still alive.
"You really had us worried!!!" said Nathan.
"Oh you guys." Zodiac said with embarrassment.
"Oh, Zodi, we're glad you're still here with us!" said Ocellus, "You really risked your life for us like that, that was the bravest thing you've ever done." and then she pulled him close to her and she kissed him on his lips, causing Zodiac eyes to develop hearts and then he flapped his wings and fluttered off into his lovestruck land.
"Hey Zodi, snap out of it!" said Smolder as she shook him.
Zodiac then shook himself out of his hypnotism and got back to reality, before too long Silverstream picked him up and held him close.
"I was afraid you were long gone."
"We all were." said Twilight.
"Well it's good to see all of us and the magic of friendship powerful enough to take down another threat to Equestria." said Celestia. Suddenly the young seven's body parts glowed, all this they had done was none other than their first friendship mission that was summoned by the map, they were all surprised at this.
"Guys, we did it!" Nathan said.
"Did what?" asked Gallus.
"You all have just completed your very first friendship mission, you all really do have the magic of friendship in you after all." said Twilight
"Ha, they would do better as mince meat!" replied Tirek, he had somehow managed to break free of his restraints and remove the gag from his mouth, but Luna managed to restrain him harder with chains and cuffs.
"Just you wait you worthless fools, I will return!" Tirek warned.
They all ignored his threat and went off to deal with Neighsay for all the misery and pain he had forced upon not only Zodiac, but also all the students in Twilight's school.