The next day, the library's main room had become very crowded. All of Twilight's central group of friends, as well as the family members that had been staying with her had gathered to discuss Princess Celestia's letter. She had just finished reading it out loud and was allowing the information to sink into everypony.
"He's gonna start a war? With everything?" Applejack asked.
Twilight, Matt and Spike all nodded simultaneously in response.
"That's... nuts." Rainbow Dash added.
"You can say that again..." Spike said.
"What does that 'he gets stronger with every defeated enemy' part mean? Is such a thing possible?" Rarity asked.
"We can't know for sure, we don't even know the extent of his magic." Twilight said.
"Or how he can use magic in the first place." Matt added.
Fluttershy had been quiet up until now, seeming to come to a realization. "So that's why she asked me to tame animals..." she said softly.
"Huh? You say something, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked.
"Um, yes." she said, clearing her throat to get everypony's attention. "The other day, Amethyst visited my cottage. She told me Gabriel wanted me to help him tame animals, but he wanted to use them like tools. He must... must've..."
"He must have been planning to use them as troops." Matt finished. Fluttershy quickly nodded her head, horrified at the thought of animals being used for war.
"Funny that you say that, she visited me, too." Rarity said. "She asked if I wanted to redecorate the castle for them, although of course I refused. No amount of bits could change my mind, although she did leave me quite a lot."
"The two of you got off easy, Amethyst and that whacko himself showed up to the farm. Asked me about feedin' his army or somethin'. Tried to bribe me, too." Applejack added.
"Oh, well, they didn't visit me at all!" Pinkie declared. "I did have a weird dream about him, though."
"Wait; he showed up in your dreams? Was it eerily realistic?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Oh, yeah it was! I don't even remember falling asleep." Pinkie replied.
"The same thing happened to me. What a weird coincidence." Dash said.
"I don't think it was a coincidence..." Twilight said. "He appeared to me in a dream last night. He said he knew that Celestia had sent us a letter about his plan."
"But how can that be?" asked Cadence. "The only pony I've ever met who can enter dreams is Princess Luna."
…...
"Princess Luna?" called out Amethyst.
Luna was trying to fall asleep in her prison when the purple unicorn entered. Part of her wasn't even tired, she had grown bored.
"What is it that you want?" Luna replied, facing away from the robed pony.
"I just came to inform you that I won't be taking care of you after today. I need to help Gabriel get prepared for the road ahead of us." she spoke calmly.
"... what do you mean by that?" Luna asked.
"Oh, one of the Shades will still bring you food and anythin-"
"No, not that. What 'road ahead'?" Luna clarified, cutting her off.
"Oh, of course. Gabriel intends to expand the borders of Equestria through warfare. As I'm sure you can imagine, that isn't something easy to prepare for."
"He intends to what?" Luna asked, standing up off of her bed.
"His perfect vengeance can't be attained until he controls the world, so that is our next step."
"What gives him the right to wage war on our throne?!"
"It isn't your throne anymore. It's his. Honestly, you have no one to blame for this but your sister. She's the one responsible for Gabriel's vengeance."
"As if I care to hear an explanation from the servant of the lunatic! You know nothing of ruling a nation, let alone leading it into the future."
Amethyst's composure cracked at the princess's words, showing anger for the first time Luna could recall.
"I am no one's servant! Gabriel and I are equals, a partnership of mutual respect." she defended.
Luna chuckled. "So you say! Is that why he has all the power, all the titles, and orders you around?"
Amethyst's anger was replaced by a coy smile. "Gabriel thought it would be amusing if we never told any of you that Equestria finally had a Queen instead of multiple princesses."
Luna's smug face dissolved into a confused one. "What do you mean by that?"
"That's what I would be, right?"
Luna had quickly become confused at the information presented to her. "You... and he...?"
"We've been traveling together since the day he saved me and lost his arm. It was only natural that I would fall for him eventually, but what took me by surprise is that he fell for me too. I will use every part of my being for that man. He would do the same for me." Her usual cold demeanor returned. "Listen... he may be out of his mind, but some day I hope you will see, same as I did, that sanity has left us all blind. "She pulled out her small silver pocket watch. "Goodnight, moon princess. I must be off." she said as she left Luna's chambers.
Luna stood there, processing everything that she had just heard and how strange it all seemed, although it did explain Amethyst's undying devotion to the human usurper. She suddenly felt a sneeze coming on, and after it passed she lay back down, deciding it best to rest.
…...
Back in the library, Shining Armor had begun pitching a plan.
"... so after arriving in Canterlot via the train, we're likely to be met by heavy resistance. Assuming we can fight through the hordes of those weird skeleton monsters, our next obstacle is that barrier around the castle."
"I think that's the biggest problem." Rainbow Dash said. "Do you think you guys could punch through it with magic?"
"I don't know if we could, but even if we wanted to, Amethyst would probably just cast her suppression field as soon as she noticed us." Twilight said.
"And then there's this 'Gabriel'... I haven't seen him yet, but from what you've all said he sounds... intimidating." Cadence said, an affirming nod from everypony in the room who had met the man.
"Our best bet would be to get in, get the princesses, and get out as quickly as possible." Shining Armor said.
Matt, who had been quiet as they discussed a plan of action, spoke up. "And if he catches you?"
"Well, I guess we'd be in for a fight." Shining Armor replied.
"I don't think that would be a 'fight' as much as a 'slaughter'." Matt said.
"You saying we don't have a chance and shouldn't even try?"
Matt rose to his feet as he explained. "With all due respect, you weren't there. In one quick motion he took out three Alicorns and the rest of us. My head still hurts."
"Well we won't get anywhere if we do nothing. If only we could pass the barrier..." Shining Armor trailed off.
Twilight was struck by a bright idea. "I have an idea! Matt, you can get us passed the barrier!"
"He can?" asked everypony else in unison.
"I... I probably can." Matt said.
"Oh right, I forgot your body rejects magic. You should be able to get us through!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yes, but-"
"Alright! We have our way in. Now do we know where the princesses are being held?" Shining Armor asked.
"Princess Celestia said she was being held in her bed chambers, but she doesn't know where Luna is." Twilight replied.
"Now hold on just a minute." Matt said, seemingly annoyed about being ignored. He seemed to get everypony's attention. "I don't like the sound of this."
"We aren't done making the plan yet, it'll sound better when we are." Shining Armor said.
"No, I mean... it would be best if we didn't go through with it." Matt said.
"What are you saying? You want us to just do nothing?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"That's exactly what I want us to do."
"I didn't think you were so yellow-bellied, Matt." Applejack said. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"The worst that could happen? The worst that could happen is none of us returning." Matt replied.
"Somepony doesn't sound very confident..." Rarity said.
"Confidence isn't a replacement for strength, and the simple fact is Gabriel is out of our league." Matt retorted. The room grew silent as Matt began to realize that convincing them not to go was probably futile, so he would do the next best thing. "I won't take part in this. I refuse."
"B-but we need you to get passed the barrier..." Princess Cadence said.
"Then I guess you aren't getting passed it." he replied.
"What's your problem? If we don't do something, who will? You need to buck up." Shining Armor said.
"H-hold on-" Twilight began to say.
"And you need to realize that lives are on the line here. Gabriel said there would be no second chances." Matt replied, cutting Twilight off.
"This is the fate of Equestria we're talking about! It doesn't matter how scared you are, we need to do something."
Matt felt a wealth of emotions well up inside him. He thought about his parents, taken from him right before his very eyes. He thought about Quixote, a pony who gave his life so that Matt and others could go on living. He refused to let it happen again.
"I refuse to let anyone else I care about die!" Matt shouted, composure shattered and surprising the room of ponies.
There was a strong silence in the library. Matt couldn't stop himself from moving so he headed out the front door wordlessly.
"Matt, wait!" Twilight Sparkle called out, getting no response.
Rainbow Dash flew over to a window to watch him walk away. "Way to go, Shining Armor." she said sarcastically.
"If he doesn't want to help, we're better off without him." Shining Armor responded.
Twilight glared at her brother, ready to give him a piece of her mind before the library door burst open. A chestnut colored pony wearing a bow-tie came in, somewhat out of breath.
He looked around at the gathered group of ponies as he caught his breath. "Where... Where's Matt?" The Doctor said through gasps.
"Oh, you just missed him!" Pinkie Pie said. "Are you here to help with the Gabriel plan?"
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Gabriel? He's already here?"
"Do you know him, Doctor?" Rarity asked.
"In a manner of speaking... if he's here, we don't have much time."
"We know, we're working on a plan to stop him right now." Cadence said.
"You? As in, just you?" The Doctor asked.
"You're starting to sound just like Matt." Shining Armor said. "Win or lose, we have to try something."
"Gabriel is a monster. I'm sure you've seen that blade of his, right? 'Wrath', he calls it. It's an extremely powerful sword that imprisons the soul of whatever it falls. You've seen the skeletons he has parading around? Where do you think they come from? This isn't about winning or losing; this is about saving the world, and everyone on it."
…...
Matt found himself sitting up but the tree he used to meet Luna at, although now he was alone. His thoughts swirled around in his mind, tearing him in two different directions. He truly did want to help the princesses, but he hated that he would have to put the lives of those he cared about in harm's way.
"I thought I'd find you here." said a familiar, accented voice.
"Doctor?" Matt said, looking to see the pony in question.
"I stopped by the library, they caught me up to speed. There are some things I thought I should tell you about Gabriel."
"You're familiar with him? And you never mentioned it?" Matt said, somewhat hurt.
"Listen, it's been... quite some time since I was here last. A lot of things happened, but what I can tell you for certain is that Gabriel needs to be stopped." The Doctor said firmly.
"Did they send you to find me to try and convince me to help?"
The Doctor was silent for a moment. "I came on my own. I intend to give everything I can to help bring Gabriel down. But we still need you to get passed Amethyst's barrier."
"You said you had some things to tell me." Matt responded.
The Doctor let out a large sigh as he sat down in the snow. "Another place, another time, Gabriel and I were on the same side of the line. His lust for power and revenge led him down a dark road I couldn't save him from. He's too far gone now, and needs to be dealt with."
"So you were friends?" Matt asked, earning a nod in response.
"The ponies of Ponyville are brave, but they don't stand a chance against him. Not alone. They need us. They need you." The Doctor continued.
"I... I'm sorry, but I can't watch someone I care about die again."
"I know all too well what it's like." The Doctor replied. "But that's exactly why we have to fight. Alone we have no chance of winning. But I promised a friend that if he ever got out of hand, I would do everything I could to bring him down. I don't mean to push this onto you, but I almost feel as if since he came from the same world we did that it's my responsibility to stop him." He said. "Besides, didn't Twilight tell you? We have one last ace-in-the-hole."
Matt pondered about the 'responsibility' the Doctor referred to, but wanted to know about the trump card more."We do?"
"The Elements of Harmony. Luckily, we have the six bearers on our side, too." The Doctor said.
Matt had all but forgotten about the Elements. He knew they were incredibly powerful and that his friends were the bearers of the individual six elements, but somehow he had neglected to even consider their application.
"Also, not to brag or anything, but you have me." The Doctor continued. "I happen to know most of what Gabriel's powers are capable of."
"Well... that does turn the tide a bit for us." Matt replied.
"Ah, now there we go, see? You've gone and got your confidence back."
"There is one thing that has been bothering me, though." Matt added. "You said you were friends with him, right? Did he really arrive here nine years ago like he says?"
The Doctor was silent, almost as if trying to put the answer into words. He didn't get the chance too, though.
"There you are!" said Twilight Sparkle, approaching the duo.
"Right on time, Princess." The Doctor said. "We should be heading back, we've got a plan to make." he said, trotting off.
"Does that mean you've decided to help us after all?" Twilight asked. "The Doctor told us a bit of what Gabriel's capable of and what's really at stake."
Matt stood up and gently patted Twilight's head. "He told me about a friend he had and a promise he made, and about his responsibility. A responsibility that I'm starting to feel, as well."
Matt had decided that if Gabriel would bring about the destruction of the world as they knew it, he would feel partially responsible since they came from the same world. He felt as if the Doctor must've felt this way, as well.
"Let's head back home." Twilight said. "Somehow... I feel like we're being watched."
…...
Far off in the castle of Canterlot, the large telescope adjusted to the hill with the lone tree and watched as the human and his partner headed back into town. The man behind the viewing lens grinned a wide grin.
"And so the pieces fall into place..."