//------------------------------// // Chaptet 35: Aftermath and Reperations // Story: The Dusk of Troubled Views // by ScorchingFlamesInc //------------------------------// Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow were all lowered to the ground after the explosion that just occured. Their eyes were shut and they were unaware of the changes made to their bodies. A second after they landed, they all opened their eyes. In place of where Grogar stood was nothing. "Did we do it?" Chrysalis queried, not shifting her gaze. The gasps of Cozy Glow and Tirek brought Chrysalis' attention to her friends. Chrysalis' mouth opened in shock. Cozy and Tirek, both looking different than a second ago, were looking at each other. A split second later, they looked back at Chrysalis. Chrysalis looked at her own body and kept the same dumbfounded expression. She lifted her hoof, catching sight of the peach-colored hoof secured in blue chitin armor. Lifting her head, Chrysalis vanished for a brief moment. Cozy and Tirek looked at eachother in confusion before Chrysalis returned with a giant mirror. She held it out a good distance so then all three reformed villains could see what had become of them. Tirek stood in his third form, horns reaching to the sky and body taller and more muscular than two days ago. Cozy was yet again an alicorn. Her wings bigger, her long horn poking out of her mane, and the vanilla-colored item secured on her barrel. When Cozy looked at her flank, she didn't see a rook, but rather, she saw nothing. Chrysalis was yet again metamorphosised, reclaiming her whole body parts, peach chitin, lime-colored tips of her mane and tail, orange fuzz on her barrel, and purple elytra and wings. However, she now had blue chitin armor on her hooves and a large flat blue crown, wrapping around her head and extending to her chin. Her eyes were nearly completely blue, the pupils being the only things that remained. And the tip of her horn was the same color as her eyes. But unlike with the bell, there was no armor on her back and barrel, and her wings, while still a bit bigger than normal, were far smaller than when she had the bell's power. "How could this happen?" Cozy muttered looking up from her flank. "We had no power. We had friendship, but aside from that, we had no power." "I think..." Tirek began. "When we defeated Grogar with the power of friendship, it clicked something in us. Friendship gave us this magic, as if... we've earned it, for finally completing the next step in learning its magic." "I mean, it makes sense..." Chrysalis said. "We spent so long trying to take. But we never felt what it was like to earn. And honestly, it feels... satisfying." "Yeah..." Cozy said. "Wait a minute! LEO!" Everycreature turned their heads to where Grogar set Leo aside after supposingly being consumed with magic. But they didn't see a human. They didn't even see an unconsious figure covered in magic. Instead, they saw something familiar, yet different. The trio gasped and made their way to the unconsious body. They stopped, all three of them looming over the body. "How could the bell turn a human like him into... that?" Tirek questioned. "It should of just amplified his appearence, not change his species entirely!" "We should probably put him somewhere safe," Cozy suggested. *Hiding spot in the Canterlot street...* Chrysalis, Cozy, and Tirek stood behind one of the Canterlot buildings.Tirek held the bewitching bell in his hand. The trio had just finished setting Leo's body on the bed and placing a blanket over him. "So now that that's out of the way..." Tirek began. "We just need to take care of the other humans, Grogar's allies, and then free the Princess and her friends." "Indeed," Chrysalis agreed. "I advise we take care of Sombra and the Storm King first." "Good idea," Cozy said. "Who knows how long until the sleep powder wears off?" "Only one way to find out..." Tirek muttered. The trio lit their horns, and with three large sparks, they were no longer behind the building. Rather, they were now in the hallway where they last saw Sombra and the Storm King. But when they caught sight of the room, they gasped. Instead of Sombra and the Storm King unconscious on the ground, the trio only saw wooden poles and planks scattered around the room. "They got away!" Tirek exclaimed. "Would it be best of one of us guard's Leo or something?" asked Cozy. "I just think it would be best if one of us watched him since Grogar's allies are now loose." Chrysalis raised a hoof. "I'll do it," she proclaimed. "If any of you two need anything, you'll know where to find me." Tirek and Cozy Glow both nodded. Chrysalis then lit her horn, and with a blue spark, she was out of sight. "It would be best if we gathered the other humans first," Tirek said. "Unfourtunatly, we may need to search the library in order to figure out how to free the humans from that stun spell. We also will need to look for a spell that will free Princess Twilight and her friends from stone." "I'll go get the humans and carry them," Cozy volunteered. "I'll be sure to be careful with them and not hit them with anything while I look." "If you say so," Tirek shrugged. With the light of her horn and a POOF, Cozy was gone. Ten seconds later, she returned, carrying two frozen humans huddled together over her head. "Alright," Tirek nodded. "Next stop: the Library!" And with a red and orange spark, Cozy and Tirek were gone, along with the five humans Cozy held. Back at the hiding spot, Chrysalis eyed Leo's body. "Ok yes. I am watching over you because Sombra and the Storm King are loose," she said. "I can't really say if it's overreacting or not, but with the transformation that has occurred to you, I can't take any chances." Leo, still unconscious, said nothing. "Can I tell you a little secret?" Chrysalis asked. "During this chain of events that occurred the past hour, I maaaaaay have developed a crush on a certain centaur. It was decent at first, but when he changed to his third form after Grogar's defeat, I surprised myself when I didn't faint. Deep down, however, those feelings were amplified. Those big strong muscles..." Chrysalis stopped herself. She then facehooved. "I'm reformed and yet I STILL act crazy..." she muttered. "I mean, an unconscious body is a step up from a piece of wood but... ugh. I might need counseling if keep talking to things that are unconscious or not even alive." *Canterlot Library...* Tirek kept on scrolling through the books with his magic, the Bewitching Bell still in his hand. He looked to Cozy. "Anything?" he called out. "I don't know why you're asking," Cozy said, the stiff humans floating beside her as she flipped through a book. "We haven't even been here for a minute." "Just checking," Tirek muttered, rolling his eyes. For the next few minutes, Tirek and Cozy continued scrolling through the books. "Shouldn't we check on the stone statues to make sure they weren't taken?" asked Cozy. "Good idea," Tirek replied. "Luckily, I know where the garden is. Be right back." Tirek set the book down and vanished in an orange spark. Cozy looked down, scrolling through the book some more. But when she picked up the next book and saw the table of contents, her eyes went wide. She flipped the pages to the intended chapter and smiled. "AHA!!" she bellowed. Suddenly, Tirek reappeared. "Everything looks fine," said the centaur. "It's convenient that they haven't touched the statues. But then again, they could be plotting something or casting a spell from afar." "Well you came back just in time," Cozy chirped. "I found a chapter in this book that can undo both the stun AND the stone spells!" "Excellent!" Tirek replied. "We'll go to the garden. One of us reverses the stone spell while the other reverses the stun spell." "I'll reverse the stun spell," Cozy volunteered. "Then I'll reverse the stone spell," Tirek said. He held out his hand and took Cozy's hooves, while Cozy brought the humans close to her. Tirek lit his magic, and with an orange spark, they were gone. Tirek and Cozy Glow reappeared in the Canterlot Garden. "Now to find those statues!" Cozy proclaimed. But then her attention was turned to Tirek when the centaur poked her back. Cozy looked up and saw Tirek lift a claw and point to a direction. Cozy looked. And there, in the garden, was a statue of Princess Twilight, lunging toward her enemy. "Before you free the humans, I would like to see that book," Tirek offered. Cozy obeyed, showing Tirek the page showcasing the spell required to undo the stone spell. Tirek looked over for a few seconds before he nodded. "Thank you," he said. "You know what to do." "I do. I'll just need a minute," Cozy explained, before she brought the book close to her, and began to read over the page. Tirek turned to Princess Twilight and lit his own magic as well. He closed his eyes and blasted a beam at the statue. As for the stone statue Tirek blasted, it only took a second before Twilight lunged forward and landed on the ground in front of Tirek, letting out a large huff of air when she landed. Twilight moaned, before weakly lifting her head. "T-Tirek?" she muttered. "When did you get so big? What the hay happened? What's going-" "If I may, your majesty," Tirek interrupted. "I would like to explain to you everything that has happened. Explain something like this." Tirek stepped aside, allowing Twilight to see what was going on behind him. What occurred was Cozy Glow, who appeared to be an alicorn, levitating a creature new yet familiar. He was a bipedal creature, familiar to Twilight. Almost like from the mirror world. And yet he looked different. At first glance, he seemed stiff. But a second later, he twitched, and suddenly acted as if he got out of a trance. "WHAT THE-" he bellowed. "Oh no... what is this place?!" "W-what's going on?" Princess Twilight stuttered, rising to her hooves. "It's a long story," Tirek said. "You see, a cloaked pony and his cult captured my friends and I, and banished us to this world called 'Earth', and probably turned you and your friends to stone. After these Earth creatures called 'humans' saved us from a big issue, we ended up encountering the pony again along with two of his accomplices. They turned out to be Grogar, who was leading King Sombra and the Storm King." "What's going-" questioned the second human that Cozy freed. "Shhh," Cozy hushed. "Anyway..." Tirek continued. "We had our magic stolen and were briefly turned to stone before Thorax and Scorpan, who escaped Grogar's siege, freed us. Meanwhile, Grogar took the three humans that helped us, and brought them here. When Thorax and Scorpan freed us, those two ended up being turned to stone and Chrysalis, Cozy, and I had to run from Sombra and the Storm King. Luckily, we were able to outsmart them. We then outsmarted Grogar and stole some magic from his bell. After a large battle and a sacrifice from a human that escaped from Grogar, we lost all our magic again. Just when all seemed lost, we actually ended up using the power of friendship and defeated Grogar. And when our friendship defeated Grogar, it must have rewarded us with the same amount of power we had when we used the bell's power. And so here we are now, in the aftermath, in the process of repairing Grogar's damage." "Interesting..." Twilight muttered, rubbing her chin with a hoof. "So you're saying that one of the humans sacrificed themselves?" "Not the way you think," Cozy replied. "During our battle, as Tirek said, Grogar drained our magic once again. He was about to give it to himself, but then a human that escaped his grasp intercepted the beam. It transformed him." "Into what?" Twilight raised her brow. "Into..." Cozy spoke. "...You know. As of now, he is unconscious at a hiding spot. Chrysalis is watching over him because Sombra and the Storm King are still out there." "Wait..." one of the humans piped. He looked at the other human and then at Cozy Glow and Tirek. "Was the one who sacrificed himself... Leo?" Tirek and Cozy nodded. "I can tell that we have a lot of questions," Princess Twilight said. "You humans have questions, and I have questions. So here's what we'll do... Tirek, you and I will free all the others imprisoned in stone. Cozy, I would like you to retrieve Chrysalis and the third unconscious human... if he is still a human, that is. If any of the Royal Guard are imprisoned here, which they might be, I will send them out to collect the rest of the imprisoned citizens and see. But just in case there are no guards, we'll have to go out and search for any missing guard. Once we send out enough guards, I would like to speak with you, Chrysalis, Cozy, and the five humans that are still conscious." "That sounds like a plan," Cozy agreed. "I'll just need to give you your magic back," Tirek said, lifting the Bewitching Bell and pointed it at Twilight. "I would like that very much," the Princess smiled. And so that was how Tirek, Cozy, and Princess Twilight Sparkle spent their next few minutes of the night, freeing Twilight's friends and subjects from the stone spell.