//------------------------------// // 13. A friend 'till the end // Story: The Elements of Disharmony: A Queen's Revenge // by Italibaso //------------------------------// "She's here!" The changeling shouted as soon as he flew out of the cave's entrance. All of the changelings throughout the fortress quickly turned their attention to the panicking changeling, who flew around the fortress as he kept repeating what he said before to every changeling he passed by. Pharynx took notice and quickly flew up to the panicking changeling. ''Calm down!'' Pharynx said after grabbing a hold of the changeling's shoulders, ''What's the situation?!'' ''Starlight Glimmer is here,'' The changeling answered, still with a panicky tone in his voice, ''She has freed many of our prisoners and they're about to attack the fortress!'' ''Go warm Queen Chrysalis!'' Pharynx commanded. ''Aye aye, sir!'' The changeling said before he quickly made his way to the castle. ''The rest of you, get into position!'' Pharynx shouted while he flew around the fortress, ''We cannot let them reach the queen!'' The changelings all heard Pharynx and immediately spread themselves out around every part of the fortress. Once every changeling had gotten into position, their attention quickly turned to the entrance of the crystal cave as they waited for the escaped prisoners to show up. It didn't take long before their patience was rewarded by a huge group of pony guards running out of the cave. The unicorns and earth pony guards charged over the bridge while the pegasi flew up into the air as everypony shouted their battle cries. The armored ponies all charged into the fortress and soon an intense and chaotic battle ensued between the corrupted changelings and pony guards. Starswirl, Starlight and the other pillars finally got out of the cave as well and watched the battle happening in front of them. Ponies and changelings were clashing at each other in the sky, others were wrestling on the walls around the fortress. "Looks like the battle's already started!" Flash Magnus said, ''I don't know how long they'll be able to hold them off!'' ''Then we must hurry!'' Starswirl said. He, Starlight and Mistmane quickly pressed the tip of their horns against each other and used their magic to turn themselves and the other Pillars invisible. ''Chrysalis must be keeping Twilight and her friends inside the castle!'' Starlight said to the pillars, ''Do what you can to save them, I'll take care of Chrysalis!'' Together they quickly crossed the bridge and made their way to Chrysalis's castle through the battlefield going on inside the fortress. Queen Chrysalis sat inside her new throne room, waiting patiently for one of the changelings to inform her if Starlight Glimmer were to show up. She looked around and admired the redecorated stained glass windows that showed herself as queen of Equestria. The corrupted Twilight and her friends formed half a circle around her throne and kept watch for any intruders. On the left side of the throne stood the statues of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, while on the right side stood the statue of a desperate looking Cadance and Shining Armor holding an unconscious Flurry Heart in their arms. The only thing interrupting the silence was the sound of the green goo that was flowing from small fountains close to the throne. The green goo streamed through the small, long gaps on the floor that led all the way to the end of the throne room. Chrysalis got up from her throne when she heard many loud noises coming from outside. Just as she was about to go see what was going on, a changeling slammed the door wide open and entered the throne room. ''She's here, your highness!'' The changeling said in an urgent manner, ''Starlight Glimmer has freed half of our prisoners and they're now attacking your kingdom!'' ''What?!'' Chrysalis said with an angry look, ''How did none of you idiots see her entering the cave?!'' ''We don't know!'' The changeling answered her, ''Maybe she snuck in when you ordered us to leave the cave!'' ''Say what?'' Chrysalis suddenly said in a surprise tone. ''You ordered us to leave the cave when you brought those six ponies in chains. Don't you remember?'' The changeling explained. ''I did no such thing,'' Chrysalis said, ''Why would I-'' She stopped talking and widened her eyes when she came to a sudden realization. ''Something wrong, your highness?'' The changeling asked with a confused look. Chrysalis giggled to herself quietly with a sly smile on her face, ''She's smarter than I thought.'' ''Who is?'' The changeling asked again. ''Nevermind,'' Chrysalis quickly said, ''Get out of here and help the others protect my kingdom!'' ''What about Starlight?" The changeling asked. ''Don't worry,'' Chrysalis said with a confident smile, ''I already know exactly how I'm going to deal with her. Now go!'' The changeling saluted Chrysalis and exited the throne room. ''Pretending to be me, huh?'' Chrysalis said while smiling sinisterly, ''Well played, Ocellus. Well played.'' Smolder, Yona, Ocellus, Silverstream and Sandbar all sighed in relief as soon as they finally made it out of the dark passageway. Up in the distance they could see the exit of the cave, which was located on a higher rock platform. A long stone path connected the platform they were standing on with the one on the other side. ''Yona hope Yona never have to travel through dark spooky caves again.'' Yona said as she looked back at the passageway. A somber look appeared on Silverstream's face as she looked back into the passageway as well. She kept remembering Gallus's words from before while another small tear rolled down her cheek. Sandbar looked over at Silverstream and noticed the sad look on her face. ''What's wrong, Silverstream?'' Sandbar asked the sad looking hippogriff. Silverstream dried the tear from her cheek, ''I just can't believe that Gallus would say something like that to us.'' ''Me neither,'' Ocellus said while looking disappointed, ''I thought he was supposed to be our friend.'' ''Yona not understand either.'' Yona said with a concerned look. ''It doesn't matter,'' Smolder said, ''We have more important things to worry about right now.'' ''What do you mean it doesn't matter?'' Sandbar asked. ''You heard what he said to us!'' Smolder said, ''If he doesn't care about what's happens our homes, then why should we care about what happens to him?!'' ''I know what he said was wrong,'' Sandbar said, ''But I just think maybe we should-'' ''Do you wanna save Equestria or not?!'' Smolder asked sternly, interrupting Sandbar's sentence. Smolder's friends all looked slighty shocked and frightened at her and remained silent for a few seconds before nodding. Smolder sighed a little, "Look, If we wanna save our homes, we've got to stay focused. Understand?" "But what Yona and friends gonna do?" Yona asked, sounding a bit frightened. "We should probably go help Starlight first," Ocellus answered, "I don't know how long she'll be able to hold off Chrysalis on her own. Especially now that she's become so powerful thanks to all the love she's absorbed." ''Then that's what we'll do,'' Smolder said to her uncertain looking friends in a demaning tone, ''Come on!'' She quickly turned around without saying another word and flew over the stone path above the ravine. ''Wait for us!'' Ocellus said before giving chase. Sandbar and Yona both carefully crossed the stone path hanging above the dark ravine as fast as they could. Silverstream sighed deeply after looking back into the dark passageway one more time. She wiped another tear from her eye before looking up at her friends, who were already close to reaching the exit of the cave. The young hippogriff pulled herself together and flew after them. Gallus kept sobbing as he walked slowly through the barely lit cave with his head hung low. He stopped when he ended up in front of a giant, pitch black ravine that prevented him from walking any further. The blue griffin sighed to himself with an incredibly somber look on his face before drying his tears. He walked up to one of the dark crystals close to him, sat down and layed back against the crystal to get some rest from all the walking. The moment his body made contact with the crystal however, he felt something strange going through his body and mind. Before Gallus knew it, the entire cave disappeared into nothingness and his surroundings changed into something completely different. It didn't take long for him to realize that he had ended up in a familiar looking place. The messy looking houses with hay on the roofs, the sticks and stones littering the streets. That was all it took for Gallus to realize that he was without a doubt back in Griffinstone somehow. ''How did I get here?'' Gallus asked himself in confusion. He stood up from the barrel he apparently layed against and decided to explore the desolated looking town. The silence was eventually interrupted by the sound of his own laugh coming from behind a destroyed little house in the distance. Gallus looked surprised when he saw another blue griffin that looked exactly like him coming from around the corner of the house. He had a sly smile on his face and carried a small bag with him on his back. The blue griffin seemed to be running straight towards Gallus. ''Wait, is that-'' Gallus said when he noticed that the look alike griffin wasn't going to stop running. He shielded his eyes with his arm as the blue griffin was about to run him over. But instead, the look alike griffin passed right through his body. Gallus quickly turned around and watched the look alike griffin run away with the bag. He finally realized who it was when he got a better look at the blue griffin. ''Is that......me?'' Gallus asked while he watched himself hide behind another broken house. ''He went that way, Greta!'' Gallus heard a familiar, raspy girl voice shouting from behind. A surprised look appeared on the blue griffin's face when he turned around and saw two angry looking female griffins in the distance running in his direction. One of them being Gilda while the other one was a griffin wearing a grey scarf with a moon symbol on the side. ''Oh o.'' Gallus said to himself. He quickly ran away and hid behind the closest broken house he could find. He waited there for a little while before peeking around the corner. He could see the two angry griffins standing from afar and much to his surprise, neither of them seemed to have noticed him. ''Which way did he go?!'' Greta asked, panting slightly as she looked around. Gilda groaned and formed her claw into a fist before slamming it on the ground, ''Why does that Gallus always have to be such a pest?!'' She asked. ''No idea,'' Greta answered, ''Let's just hope that's the last time he'll ever try to steal griffin scones again.'' ''I hope that's the last time I'll ever see him again at all,'' Gilda said before letting out a small sigh, ''Look. I know I promised Rainbow Dash and Pinkie to spread friendship to the other griffins in Griffonstone, but that little street rat Gallus is clearly a lost cause, don't you think?'' Gallus got the strangest feeling of deja vu he ever felt while watching the conversation of Gilda and Greta from behind the house. ''Maybe someday he'll finally learn his lesson.'' Greta said. ''I doubt it,'' Gilda said with an annoyed look, ''Let's just go back.'' She and Greta turned around and walked back further into the messy town. Once they had left, Gallus suddenly heard his own playful laugh coming from his right. He looked behind another house close to him where he saw his other self looking inside his back. He reached his claw inside and revealed a pair of griffin scones with a confident smile. ''Wait,'' Gallus whispered to himself, ''I remember this.'' Suddenly all of Griffinstone disappeared into darkness before Gallus had the chance to further examine the situation. It only took another few seconds before his surroundings lit up once again. Gallus looked around and quickly realized he was back in the halls of the School of Friendship, which was crowded with many young ponies, some of whom where passing right through his body. ''What is going on here?'' Gallus asked himself as he began to walk around the halls. He turned around the left corner to see himself and his friends talking to a small green pony with a semi-long frizzled mane. Gallus quickly recognize her as Cosette and decided to listen to their conversation. ''What is in that castle?'' Cosette asked curiously. ''Lots of things according to Headmare Twilight,'' Sandbar answered, ''Like a giant library. And even many secret rooms and passages.'' Cosette's eyes widened, ''Did you say a giant library?'' Silverstream nodded, ''Probably ten times bigger than the one in this school. Amazing, right?!'' ''Well if that's case, then I'm coming too.'' Cosette said happily. ''Don't go with her!'' Gallus shouted at his friends and his other self, ''She's evil!'' But none of them seemed to even pay attention to him or even acknowledge the blue griffin, as if they didn't even hear him. ''Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!'' Gallus saw his other self saying his friends with great enthusiasm. Gallus quickly ran over to his friends to try and warn them, only for a dark hole to appear on the ground right in front of him. The blue griffin had no time to react and fell into the pitch black hole, he screamed out loud as he descended deeper and deeper down into what seemed like a never ending fall. Eventually Gallus stopped in mid air and the darkness around him faded away to reveal himself inside the halls of the school once again, only this time it seemed to be during midnight. He finally felt his claws standing on solid ground again. In front of him were Cosette and his past self standing in front of Twilight's office. Gallus quickly realized where he was, or rather when he was. ''Oh, so you're going to cheat?'' Cosette asked his past self in surprise. ''It's not like that,'' Gallus saw himself quickly say in a desperate tone, ''Listen, If I don't do this, I will never see my friends again. And they are the closest thing to a family I got.'' Cosette looked down at the ground and rubbed her chin a little before looking back up, ''Okay, I'll help you.'' She said with a endearing smile. ''Oh, thank you.'' Gallus saw his other self say in a relieved tone. Cosette giggled quietly, ''You're welcome.'' She said before aiming her horn at the giant lock on the door. ''Stop!'' Gallus shouted as he ran over and blocked the way to Twilight's office, trying to stop his past self and Cosette from entering. Instead of responding, Cosette shot a dark magic beam onto Gallus, which spread itself over Gallus's body and teleported him away from the place. The darkness that filled Gallus's vision finally faded away after what felt like half a minute. And this time it seemed he had ended up in the throne room of Canterlot, where he saw his other self, his friends, Starlight, Cadance and Shining Armor all being surrounded by a horde of changelings. Gallus noticed Chrysalis standing in front of the two thrones of the princess with a sinister smile. He saw both the statues of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing on each side of the thrones. Gallus knew what this meant and was already dreading the moment. ''What Bug Pony saying?'' Yona asked. ''I was the one who wiped Gallus's memory that night, when he helped me break into Twilight's office.'' Chrysalis explained with a satisfying smile. ''What?!'' Gallus's friends all shouted at the same time. Gallus saw Smolder looking at his other self with an angry look, ''Why didn't you tell us about this?!'' She said furiously. Gallus could already see himself having a guilty look on his face. Gallus watched everything happen in front in him with a look of despair. He could hear Smolder's words echoeing everywhere around him. Suddenly everyone in the throne room transformed into Smolder and all of them kept shouting her words from before. The many Smolders turned their attention towards Gallus, who all slowly approached the scared looking griffin as it seemed like they were about to get ready to breath fire at him. Gallus could feel the sweat drops on his head as he walked back nervously before hitting a dead end in the corner of the throne room. The blue griffin accepted his faith and close his eyes. Instead of fire, all of the Smolders that surrounded Gallus shot dark magic from their mouths and onto the blue griffin. The dark magic surrounded him and turned into what seemed to be a black vortex, which disappeared after a good ten seconds. Gallus looked surprised when he saw himself and his friends inside the dark crystal cave, with hundreds of changeling cocoons hung above them on the ceiling. Gallus could see all of his friends staring at his other self in anger and disbelief. ''Oh, so you're actually just gonna sit here all by yourself, huh?'' Smolder asked furiously, ''Do you want our homes and everything in Equestria to be destroyed or something, you selfish jerk?!'' ''I don't care what happens to any of your stupid homes!'' Gallus saw himself shouting at his friends. Gallus looked in shock at his other self when he noticed the rage filled in his own eyes. The conversation between his other self and friends continued just as he remembered. Hearing the same words Smolder said to him before was enough for him to get teary eyed. And seeing Silverstream's sadness and anger expressed on her face along with her final words she said to him only made it worse. Suddenly a dark sphere emerged from his other self and started to consume the whole cave. Gallus quickly closed his eyes before the darkness consumed him as well. Gallus catched his breath and opened his eyes when the darkness had disappeared once again. He felt a strong wind blowing against his fur. As he looked around he saw that the ground was littered with pieces of hay, piles of bricks that seemingly belonged to the destroyed houses he saw everywhere. Eventually his eyes looked upon a gigantic skew tree in front of him. Behind the tree he noticed the blood sky with many thunderous clouds hanging in the air. It didn't take long for Gallus to realize that he had ended up back in Griffinstone once again, but he can't remember it ever looking like this. The horrified blue griffin looked at the destruction around him while he explored the completely desolated place, hoping to find any sign of life. ''What happened here?'' Gallus asked himself. "You happened." The familiar voice that answered him in a cold tone seemed to come from behind. Gallus turned around to see Gilda looking at him from afar. The female griffin gave him a slighty intimidating stare and slowly walked over to him as the wind blew against her white and brown fur. ''Gilda?'' Gallus asked her while looking uncertain, "What do you mean 'I happened'?" ''All of this,'' Gilda said while looking around herself, ''It's all thanks to you.'' ''What?'' Gallus said to her in a frightened voice, ''B...But I-'' ''Why the scared look, street rat?'' Gilda said, still giving him the same intimidating look, ''This is what you wanted, isn't it?'' ''Of course not!'' Gallus said desperately, ''Why would you think that?!'' ''I don't care what happens to any of your stupid homes!'' Gilda said, trying to imitate Gallus's voice, ''Isn't that what you said to your friends?'' ''My friends,'' Gallus said in a surprised tone, ''They're here?!'' ''Oh yeah, they're here,'' Gilda answered him, ''But they're also not.'' ''What do you mean?'' Gallus asked in a desperate tone. ''Why do you care?'' Gilda asked, sounding uninterested. Gallus got up close to Gilda and grabbed the female griffin by the fur on her chest, ''Show me where they are,'' Gallus said sternly, ''Now!'' Gilda rolled his eyes, ''Relax, they're right behind you.'' Gallus let go of Gilda's fur and quickly turned around to see where they were. What Gallus saw before him would haunt his nightmares for years to come. A few meters away from him, in the middle of the desolated Griffinstone, layed five skeletons that seemed to belong to five different creatures. Gallus did not want to believe that was he saw before him was real, but remembering what Ocellus told him how bad it was in Equestria and after saying how much they wanted to save their homes, he just couldn't deny it for much longer. ''No...'' Gallus answered as a devastated look appeared on his face, ''....What have I done?'' It didn't take long before the blue griffin broke down into tears ''Yeah, you really messed up big time, street rat.'' Gilda said before letting out a small laugh. Gallus eventually tried to pull himself together, wiped the tears from his eyes and looked back at Gilda with pure anger in his eyes. ''Where is she?!'' Gallus said in a demanding tone. ''Who?'' Gilda said while looking surprised. ''CHRYSALIS!'' Gallus answered with determination in his voice, ''WHERE IS SHE?!!'' ''Pfftt, you really think you'll stand a chance?'' Gilda asked him with a smug grin, ''She's gonna wipe the floor with you in-'' ''I don't care!'' Gallus said before Gilda could finish, ''This is no longer about me, this is about my friends and Equestria! And I'm going to do whatever it takes to get them back somehow, even if it's the last thing I'll do!'' Suddenly a bright, pink light started glowing from the center of Gallus's chest. The light surrounded itself all over the blue griffin's body before spreading itself all over Griffonstone. The corrupted Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood next to each other in front of Queen Chrysalis's throne, waiting for Starlight Glimmer or any other intruders to arrive. Their eyes kept looking at that the tall door on the other side of the throne room. Chrysalis was hiding in the dark parts of the ceiling above the door. She watched with her two green eyes looming in the shadows, scanning every part of the environment for the arrival of the eventual intruders. Suddenly she heard the door below her fly open. The sound of both sides smashing against the walls and parts of the door shattering into pieces echoed through the throne room. Chrysalis's head quickly turned to the destroyed door below her to see seven ponies running inside. A sly smile appeared on her face when she noticed one of them was none other than Starlight Glimmer. ''Now!'' Starswirl shouted when he saw Twilight and her friends charging up their corrupted Elements of Harmony. Meanwhile, Starlight's eyes looked around the throne room for Chrysalis. The pillars got their magical artifacts ready. Rockhoof placed his hoof on Flash Magnus's shoulder. Flash, Somnambula, Mistmane and Mage Meadowbrook all immediately followed suit and placed their hooves on the shoulder of the pony that stood right next to them. Each of their artifacts started glowing a bright light, all of them in a different color. Starswirl got ready to fire his magic at the six ponies opposing them. Twilight and her friends were the first ones to use their corrupted elements to fire a huge, dark magical beam at the seven opposing ponies. The Pillars shot their rainbow colored magic beam at the dark magic a split second later. The two beams clashed against each other. The pressure of their magic caused the entire throne room to start shaking as if their was an giant earthquake. Cracks began to form on the stained glass windows in the room as the beams still collided and eventually shattered into pieces. While the beam struggle continued, Smolder and her friends reached the open door to the throne room, peeked around the corner and watched everything happen. Starlight watched from the side and placed a magical barrier around her to protect herself from the pressure of the two colliding magic beams. Starlight's eyes widened when the dark magic beam slowly pushed the rainbow beam back at the Pillars. "Hold on!" Starlight shouted as the dark magic got closer and closer to the Pillars. The magic barrier around the light purple unicorn disappeard as she quickly charged up the blue aura around her horn. Just as she was about to fire her magic, she noticed a green light glowing above her eyes. Before she could look, she felt something hitting the back of her neck, causing her to shriek in pain and fly off to the other side of the room. Starlight's body hit the wall with a loud smack before falling on the ground next to a small stream of green goo. ''We have to retreat!'' Starswirl shouted. He quickly closed his eyes before teleporting himself and the other Pillars out of the throne room. The dark beam hit spot where the Pillars once stood, which caused a series of small crystals to emerge from the ground. ''No.....This can't be.'' Ocellus whispered to herself after she and her friends had witnessed everything. Chrysalis smiled sinisterly before she revealed herself from the dark part of the ceiling. She let out a satisfied laugh as she flew over to the wounded Starlight Glimmer. Chrysalis quickly picked up the light pink unicorn before she had the chance to get up. Chrysalis spinned her around in her hooves while spitting a trail of green slime out of her mouth. The slime got all around Starlight and soon she was trapped inside a changeling cocoon once again. ''Rest in peace, Starlight Glimmer.'' Chrysalis said while watching Starlight in her cocoon with a intimidating smile. She carried her to the middle of the room and placed the cocoon on the ground before turning her attention to Twilight and her friends. ''Find those six ponies and don't come back until you've finished them off!'' Chrysalis commanded. ''As you wish, your majesty.'' Twilight and her friends said at the same time in their monotone voices as they bowed to Chrysalis. Twilight, with the help of her magic, levitated herself and her friends into the air. Chrysalis watched the six of them floating away out of one of the broken windows. ''Alright, no more games,'' Chrysalis said when she looked back at Starlight's cocoon with a serious look, ''It's time I finally put an end to you.'' ''Not if I can help it.'' Smolder said to herself. Ocellus and the others watched in surprise as Smolder rushed at Chrysalis without a second thought. Just as Chrysalis was about to shoot her magic at Starlight, Smolder kicked Chrysalis on the side of her body with full force. Chrysalis let out a scream of pain and got knocked to the side. The green magic from her horn only barely missed the cocoon and caused a small explosion right next to it. Starlight got launched into the air and flew out one of the broken windows. ''Starlight!'' Silverstream shouted in shock. She quickly jumped from around the corner and flew towards the broken window. Chrysalis saw Smolder approaching her, looking like she was about to land another punch on her. The changeling queen quickly fired her magic at the orange dragon, causing her to fly back and out of the throne room. ''You again?!'' Chryaslis said. She took notice of Silverstream trying to fly out of the window and quickly fired a green laser at the hippogriff. The green laser turned into a magical rope as it made contact with Silverstream and tied her up. The young hippogriff fall to the ground close to a small stream of green goo and tried to struggle free from the rope. ''No one hurt Yona friends!'' Yona shouted before charging at Chrysalis with full speed. ''Yona, no!'' Ocellus said in panic as she watched the yak running away. ''You honestly think you can defeat me, hm?!'' Chrysalis said with a sinister grin when she saw Yona rushing at her, ''I accept your challenge!'' A green glow appeared around Chrysalis's horn and soon a giant wall of green fire emerged from the ground right in front of Yona. A look of shock appeared on the little yak's face and she immediately stopped in her tracks right before the fire could touch her. Yona quickly tried to find her way around the green firewall, but instead she saw that it began to surround her in a circle. She kept looking around in a panicked manner for a way to escape, but found no way out. The green flames were slowly closing in on her. ''Let her go!'' Sandbar shouted as he ran around the fire circle and rushed at Chrysalis. The tall changeling took notice Sandbar right before he jumped up to tackle her head. Chrysalis quickly turned her neck a ninety degrees to her right, causing Sandbar to only barely miss her. The small pony's body smacked against a pillar close to the stream of green goo and fall on the ground. Ocellus pulled herself together and transformed into a giant green bug before flying over to Yona. She quickly grabbed the terrified Yak under her arms and lifted her out of the shrinking green fire circle right. Just as the green flames disappeared into thin air, Ocellus felt herself getting hit by Chrysalis's magic. This caused her to drop Yona as she transformed back into her normal self. ''Ha! Is this all you got?!'' Chrysalis asked with a confident grin. Smolder rushed back into the throne room and charged at Chrysalis. She landed another kick on the side of her body with all her might, causing Chrysalis to get knocked to the ground. ''Does that answer your question?!'' Smolder asked confidently. Before Smolder could land the next punch, she felt like something was preventing her from moving her body. A a split second later, she saw a green magical aura appearing in front of her. Smolder's eyes quickly looked down to see that the magic aura was all around her body. ''Enough!'' Chrysalis shouted before a magical sphere emerged from her horn and spread itself across the whole throne room. Sandbar, Silverstream, Ocellus, Yona and Smolder were all being held against their will by Chrysalis's magic. Her magic teleported the six creatues in the middle of the Throne room before they all got tied up together by a green magical rope. Ocellus closed her eyes and was about to transform herself into something else, but nothing happened. She tried again and again before realizing that the magic rope was preventing her from using changeling magic. ''I've had it with the six of you,'' Chrysalis said in a frustrated and angry tone, ''It's time to-'' She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the absence of a certain blue griffin. A sly smile appeared on her face as she let out a sinister laugh. ''What's so funny?'' Silverstream asked with a worried look. ''Where is your blue griffin friend?'' Chrysalis asked in a mocking tone, ''Too cowardly and ashamed to show up?'' ''None of your business, you big ugly stone coal!'' Smolder said out loud while struggling to free herself from the magic rope. A intimidating smile appeared on Chrysalis's face, ''Very well then.'' A giant, green magic beam shot out of Chrysalis's horn and was heading towards the five tied up creatures. They watched in fear and despair as they realize magic beam was too big to dodge. Smolder closed her eyes along with her friends as the magic beam got closer, accepting their doom as small tears appears under their closed eyes. Smolder noticed the blury, green light glowing on the tears under her eyelids, but for some reason she felt nothing happening to her. She cautiously opened her eyes and saw a blury blue thing blocking Chrysalis's attack. Smolder blinked her eyes a few times to clear her vision and was shocked when she saw a familiar blue griffin, who had a pink magical aura glowing around him, standing right in front of them as he took the magic beam. ''Gallus?!'' Smolder said out loud when she realized Gallus was resisting the green magic beam. Her friends all opened their and turned their attention to Gallus, who had his arms placed in front of his face while having his eyes closed. ''What?!'' Chryaslis said before the magic beam disappeared. She was taken back by the magical aura around Gallus. Gallus opened his eyes and moved his arms away from his face, completely unharmed by Chrysalis's magic. ''How are you doing that?!'' Sandbar asked in amazement. Gallus didn't answer his question, instead he rushed at Chrysalis with determination and courage in his eyes. Chrysalis shot another smaller magic beam at Gallus, who quickly maneuvered around it. The blue griffin reached Chrysalis before she had the chance to attack again and tackled the tall changeling right in the chest with all his might. A shriek of pain came out of Chrysalis's mouth as she flew back from the tackle. Her body hit the throne with a loud smack, causing it to fall apart slightly. ''Woohoo!'' Silverstream shouted, ''Get her, Gallus!'' Chrysalis got up from the throne while holding her hoof against her chest and saw Gallus heading her way, who looked like he was about to throw another punch at her. Chrysalis growled as little sparks of thunder started shooting from her horn, ''You'll pay for that!'' Gallus reached Chrysalis's throne and was about to land another punch on the tall changeling queen, only for a green sphere to appear around Chrysalis. The fist of the blue griffin made contact with the sphere and completely resisted his punch. The sphere got sucked back into Chrysalis's before it shot another, slighty bigger magic beam at Gallus, who has no time to shield himself from the magic. The blue griffin got hit by the beam with full force and got launched against the wall next to the open door of the throne room. His friends watched in shock as the pink aura around Gallus disappeared before he fell to the ground and seemed to lose his consciousness. ''GALLUS!'' Silverstream cried out. Chrysalis laughed to herself, ''Was that it?! How pathetic,'' She said before she used her magic to levitate King Sombra's spell book from behind her throne and into her arm, ''I think our little playtime has come to an end.'' ''I'll make you pay for this, Chrysalis!'' Silverstream shouted as she attempted to free herself from the magic rope in any way she could. ''I'd love to see you try.'' Chrysalis said with a sly smile. Chrysalis opened the book and started reading one of the spells out loud as her horn already started glowing with dark magic. Just as she was about to finish the last words, a light blue magic beam came through the broken window on her right and hit Sombra's book, causing it to disintegrate and turn to ash right in front of Chrysalis's face. ''NO!!'' Chrysalis shouted. She looked to her right to see an angry looking Starlight Glimmer levitating herself through the broken window. ''That's enough, Chrysalis!'' Starlight said as she used her magic to levitate herself in front of Gallus's friends. ''Why you!'' Chrysalis said before aiming and shooting a green magic blast at Starlight Glimmer, who protected herself with a round, magical blue shield that shattered the moment it blocked Chrysalis's attack. ''Chrysalis, listen to me,'' Starlight said with a desperate look, ''I know how you're feeling and what you're going through right now, but it's not worth it! You still have a chance to-'' ''Shut up!'' Chrysalis shouted while shooting another magic beam at Starlight, who quickly protected herself with the help of her magic shield before it shattered once again. Starlight quickly looked behind her and used her magic to remove the magical rope around Smolder, Ocellus, Silverstream, Yona and Sandbar. ''Find somewhere to hide!'' Starlight said while looking at Smolder, ''I'll deal with her!'' She looked back at Chrysalis and rusehd towards her with full determination in her eyes. ''But we can-'' ''GO!!'' Starlight shouted to Smolder right before reaching Chrysalis, who was just about to fire her magic that the unicorn. Smolder and her friends watched how Starlight tackled Chrysalis before she could fire her magic. In a split second she teleported herself and the changeling queen out of the throne room in a flash of blue light. ''Where Counselor Pony go?'' Yona asked worriedly. Gallus got up from the ground, shook his head and quickly flew over to his friends. ''Are you all okay?'' Gallus asked them, which immediately got their attention. ''Well, look who finally decided to come to his senses.'' Smolder said while having her arms crossed with an annoyed look on her face. ''Why did you come back?'' Ocellus asked with a slightly uncertain look. Gallus sighed before a look of guilt appeared on his face, ''I'm really sorry,'' He said with a somber tone in his voice, ''All of this is my fault.'' ''What do you mean?'' Sandbar asked. ''If I hadn't suggested to go to the Castle of the Two Sisters with Cosette at the School of Friendship, none of this would have happened.'' Gallus explained, still talking in a somber tone. ''Cosette?'' Smolder said with a surprised look. ''That's the green pony we met a few days ago at the school of friendship.'' Sandbar explained. ''What does she have to do with this?'' Ocellus asked. Gallus sighed deeply, ''She was actually Chrysalis in disguise the whole time,'' He explained, ''And I was the one who accidentally helped her find those artifacts when she helped me break into Twilight's office.'' ''What?!'' Gallus's friends all said at the same time. ''And you're just NOW telling us this?!'' Smolder said. Gallus sighed again, ''I'm sorry.'' ''I don't understand,'' Silverstream said concernedly, ''Why did you break into Twilight's office?'' ''I wanted to find the answers to the test for the upcoming finals,'' Gallus explained further with a somber look, ''Before I could find them, Cosette tried to steal the six artifacts behind my back. I wanted to stop her, but then she tricked me and casted a spell to erase my memory.'' ''So all of this happened just because you wanted to cheat?!'' Smolder asked furiously. ''Why did you never tell us any of this when you got your memory back?'' Sandbar asked. ''.....Look, I'll explain everything later,'' Gallus answered as his somber look got replaced with a look of determination, ''But right now we have to focus on saving Equestria first.'' ''How?'' Yona said, ''Even Pillars magic not strong enough to change back Elements of Harmony.'' ''What?!'' Gallus said. ''We saw it happening,'' Ocellus explained, ''The dark magic of the corrupted Elements of Harmony is just too strong, even for the Pillars. And now we have nothing else to fight it with.'' ''But we can't just give up,'' Silverstream said, ''There has to be another way!'' ''Like what?!'' Smolder asked, ''If the Pillars's magic can't even change the elements back to normal, then what magic can?!'' Gallus began to rub his chin, ''.....Their magic alone may not, but combined with another source of magic....'' ''What Gallus saying?'' Yona asked. ''Do you remember when the Tree of Harmony tested us again when it almost became corrupted by dark magic?'' Gallus asked his friends. ''Yeah,'' Sandbar answered, ''What about it?'' ''The tree said that we had to use the magic inside us to save it from becoming corrupted,'' Gallus explained, ''What kind of magic was she talking about?'' Ocellus thought back to her test from the Tree of Harmony. She kept pondering for a bit, wondering what exactly caused that magic from her chest to appear. Suddenly the blue changeling gasped and widened her eyes when she came to a realization. ''Of course!'' Ocellus said out loud. ''What is it?'' Smolder asked Ocellus as her friends all surprised looked at her. ''It all makes sense now,'' Ocellus said, ''When the Tree of Harmony told us to spread the magic inside of us across it's roots, she must have been talking about the magic of the Elements of Harmony!'' Sandbar widened his eyes, ''So what's your saying is...'' Ocellus nodded, ''The magic of the Elements of Harmony is inside all six of us! That's why the Tree of Harmony put us through those tests, to bring out that magic and use it to cast away the dark magic that was corrupting it.'' ''And that must have been the magic that was protecting you earlier from Chrysalis's attack!'' Silverstream said to Gallus. ''That's right,'' Gallus said confidently, ''Each one of our tests represented one of the Elements of Harmony!'' ''Exactly,'' Ocellus said, ''And if we can combine our magic with that of the Pillars, it just might be enough to save Twilight and her friends!'' ''Ocellus, you're a genius!'' Smolder complimented her, causing a light blush to appeared on Ocellus's face. Smolder gave the little blue changeling a friendly smile before turning her attention back to the confident looking Gallus. ''Hey, Gallus.'' Smolder said with a somewhat somber tone in her voice. ''What is it, Smolder?'' Gallus said. ''......I just wanted to thank you for saving us back there,'' Smolder said before a guilty look appeared on her face, ''And I'm sorry for what I said to you about not having a family.'' ''I'm sorry too,'' Silverstream said with a slightly somber look, ''I didn't mean to say I hated you, but I just felt so angry and-'' ''It's alright,'' Gallus said to them reassuringly, ''That was my own fault. I never should have said that about your homes either. But I want you all to know that I do care. About all of you, about your homes and about Equastria. And that's why I wanna help in any way I can.'' ''Now there's the Gallus we know and love!'' Smolder said with a happy smile. ''What are we waiting for?!'' Silverstream said excitedly with a confident smile, ''Let's go find the Pillars!'' Gallus gave his friends a confident smile and reached out his claw, ''Who's with me?!'' Smolder placed her claw on Gallus's, ''I am!'' Yona placed her hoof on Smolder's and Gallus's claw, ''Yona in too!'' ''So am I!'' Ocellus said as she placed her hoof on the rest. Sandbar was the next one to place his hoof on the others, ''Count me in!'' ''Let's save Equestria for a second time!'' Silverstream said, being the last one to reach out and place her claw on those of her friends. ''Together!'' Gallus said before he and the others raised there arms in the air. ''Let's do it!'' Smolder said confidently. Together they ran out of the throne room and made their way through the castle to find the exit.