Harmony cried in searing pain and fell to the floor. Twilight galloped forward to examine the remains with a whimper. She held up the pieces that once held her friends’ Elements and blinked the salt of her tears out. Her friends stood without knowing what to say, except for Fluttershy and the princesses, who’d run to check on Harmony. A thundering voice cackled as a bluish teal ram stalked from the shadows. His presence radiated pure malice and the ghosts of the screams of his victims’ terror. None had any doubt: Grogar, Master of Evil, had arrived. He examined the ponies before him and snarled.
“It seems I was just too slow,” he contemplated. “Ah, but I do know your flaw, Harmony,” he chuckled. “Certainly, these Elements are powerful... but if one were to be... separated from the others... well, that wouldn’t be very harmonious, would it?”
Harmony struggled up with flaming defiance in her expression. “You would not dare.”
Grogar’s lips parted into a wicked smile. “Ah, but I would.” His horns crackled and dragged a trembling Twilight Sparkle toward him. She tried to blast him down but a wall of darkness blocked the beam. “Yes, you will do nicely,” Grogar murmured. A portal crackled to life and he dragged a struggling Twilight through. Rainbow and Luna tried to pursue them but were just too slow to reach it. Rainbow let out a violent description of what she wanted to do to Grogar complete with various profanities to Fluttershy’s whimpers and Applejack’s consternation. Rainbow tore out of the cave, determined to search every pebble and grain of sand in Equestria to find her friend. Celestia halted Rainbow’s motion with her magic and dragged the pegasus back to the cave.
“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” Rainbow demanded. “We’ve gotta save Twilight!”
“You don’t even know where she is,” Celestia pointed out. “And even if you did... if Grogar did what I think he did, and called our enemies to his side... One pegasus isn’t going to be enough to stop Grogar alone, much less with at least Tirek at his side.”
“We do know that he plans an attack and seeks to undermine our defenses, at least,” Luna pointed out. “We should send messages out to the other kingdoms and notify them of what we know so they may fortify or send soldiers if they desire.”
Celestia nodded. “Good thinking, Lu. Harmony... are you...”
The spirit merely nodded. “So long as Grogar is not fully victorious, I shall persist. I cannot die until the Elements have none to embody them, no matter how weak I may be.”
“Let us hurry to Canterlot. I only... I only pray that Twilight is safe,” Celestia murmured.
“We should get Spike,” Fluttershy pointed out. “He needs to know what happened.”
Rarity nodded. “Certainly. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if Sweetie Belle...”
“Luna, I will teleport everypony else to Canterlot. You stop and pick up Spike first,” Celestia directed before spreading a golden aura to the others and vanishing. Luna took one last, longing look at the remains of the Tree of Harmony and disappeared in a flash of silver light.
Far to the southeast, on the eastern edge of the Badlands, cries of pain and anger pierced the air. Within the lair of Grogar a lavender alicorn mare lashed out against her captors, casting spell after spell in an attempt to break free.
“ENOUGH,” Grogar eventually demanded, having grown bored. “I will not allow myself to be distracted by your games, Sparkle.” Vines sprouted from the earth and grabbed Twilight, binding her wings to her body and her body to the floor. She struggled fiercely to no avail.
“Why haven’t we destroyed her yet?” Tirek demanded. “She’s completely at our mercy.”
“Fool, do you not understand the consequences of such a drastic action?” Grogar retorted. “We would have the full might of several enraged alicorns upon us, and the power of her Element would be useless. We need to wait until we can harness the energy within the Element of Magic before we find... a more permanent solution.”
“Perhaps we should use some good, old-fashioned torture to make her give up the crown,” Chrysalis suggested. “Alicorn she may be, but invulnerable she is not.”
Twilight whimpered, silently begging every deity she could remember from every mythology she’d studied for a way out of this situation. Her magic was drained, and her mind was so cluttered she couldn’t keep enough focus to teleport. She watched as Grogar considered Chrysalis’s proposal.
“Well, it’s certainly a more reasonable idea, all things considered,” he eventually decided. “Cozy Glow, what is your opinion?”
“Eh, I’m 50/50,” the filly’s bored voice commented. “I’m not really desperate enough for revenge to face Celestia’s wrath, but man would it feel good to wipe Twilight’s annoying voice off the planet.”
“I concur,” Sombra nodded.
Twilight tried to focus, but with several wounds it was taking some magic to just stay awake and alert. To teleport anywhere would probably burn her out, assuming she could even pull it off. She was so scared, so confused, so...
Spike. The name cut through her confusion, a shining light that eradicated the fog. I have to stay safe. For him. For my little brother. She narrowed her eyes and poured her soul into the teleport spell. She knew the one place she could go where Grogar wouldn’t be able to reach her.
Her horn blazed and she let out an insult at an enraged Grogar as she vanished, her former bonds smoking. The blue crystal of the Crystal Empire’s throne room greeted her, as did her brother’s gasp. “Hey, Shining,” Twilight murmured as she let herself close her eyes.
“Twily!” Shining Armor cried, racing to his sister’s side. He registered her wounds– magic burns around her body and a few cuts on her legs and midsection– and her labored breathing. “Guards! Get a healer here immediately!” he ordered, administering his limited healing repertoire to keep his sister alive. “When I get my hooves on whoever hurt my sister...” he muttered, hate choking his voice.
Cadance quickly penned a letter to Celestia and teleported the paper to her aunt before hurrying to check on Twilight. “Is she gonna be okay?” she mumbled, joining her husband in casting healing spells.
“She’s at least stable,” Shining Armor decided. “She’ll live, and probably recover just fine, but... even I can tell, that teleport burned her out hard. She’ll have to rest for at least a week before she can even levitate anything larger than a pencil and rest for a month after, maybe two, before she’s back to full strength. Maybe I’m wrong though...”
An orange stallion dressed in medical gear hurried in. “You needed me, Your Highnesses?”
“Yes, it’s Twily,” Shining Armor breathed. “She teleported in and burned her magic out pretty bad.”
“Okay, let’s get her somewhere better than the floor,” the doctor said. “Preferably a bed,” he added.
Together, Cadance and Shining Armor safely got Twilight to a bed and the doctor began his examination. After a few minutes of running diagnostic spells and applying ointment and dressings to the physical wounds, the doctor turned to the royal couple.
“I heard your estimates on how long it would take for her to get her strength back,” he said, addressing Shining Armor, “and they were pretty accurate, considering. If she doesn’t use any magic for the next week and doesn’t exert herself otherwise she should be back to full strength within six weeks. I trust you will make sure that remains the case. Anyway, the best we can do for her right now is let her rest,” the doctor nodded before leaving.
Cadance sighed in relief and Shining Armor almost let himself do the same. “You head back to the throne room so one of us can be there if Celestia or Luna arrives. I... I need to be here for Twily.”
“I understand, Shiny,” Cadance replied with a small kiss. “Just make sure you get some sleep at some point. Want me to post a guard here?”
“That’d be nice,” Shining nodded. “I... I know what the doctor said, and I trust him, but... do you think she’ll be okay?” he pleaded, needing her reassurance.
“If anypony can recover, it’s Twilight,” Cadance promised. “If you need a hug or anything at all, I’ll be in the throne room.”
Shining Armor nodded and turned back to Twilight. He started subconsciously humming their mom’s lullaby, and when Twilight relaxed at the sound, Shining Armor continued, slightly louder, and actively humming now.
Eventually Twilight’s eyes forced themselves open. She moaned in pain as she looked around to figure out where she was.
“Shining? Is that you?” she murmured groggily.
“Twily, you’re awake,” Shining Armor breathed. “What happened?”
Twilight coughed. Shining Armor offered her a glass of water and she smiled weakly as he helped her drink. “It’s all blurry... Did Celestia tell you anything?”
Shining Armor shook his head. “You just kind of appeared in the throne room burned out and wounded,” he explained.
Twilight breathed and began explaining to the best of her knowledge. “You’ve heard the legends of Grogar, right?”
“He was Equestria’s emperor until Gusty the Great defeated him,” Shining Armor recalled.
“She banished him to the stars,” Twilight continued, “but when Cozy Glow started draining the magic from Equestria, the spell holding him broke and he was freed. He tried to destroy the Tree of Harmony and the Elements with it, but the Tree’s spirit called us and transferred the Elements before he could break them. Then he decided to capture me and... he wasn’t working alone. He’s got Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Sombra at least on his side from what I heard and saw.”
Shining Armor swallowed at the mention of Sombra. “I thought the Crystal Heart destroyed Sombra,” he murmured.
“So did I,” Twilight nodded weakly. “But... well, necromancy is probably foal’s play to someone as powerful as Grogar,” she mused before groaning.
“Okay, I’m gonna go tell Cadance. Don’t use any magic and I’ll be right back,” Shining Armor promised. Twilight turned over and let herself go back to sleep as she listened to her brother’s hooves click against the crystal.
“Thank Faust,” Celestia muttered. “Twilight is okay.”
Spike collapsed in relief and Luna fluttered over to Celestia to read the newly received letter from Cadance. It described how Twilight had teleported in, covered in burns and cuts, but was otherwise only drained of magic. Another letter arrived shortly after that explained Twilight would be out of commission for a few weeks at the least. Celestia quickly shot a letter back telling Cadance what they knew about what had just happened, only to receive another letter from Cadance explaining what Twilight told Shining Armor about her brief captivity. Spike’s face flickered between rage and fear as Luna read out the letter. Rainbow Dash and Applejack paced while Pinkie and Fluttershy struggled to not have panic attacks, and Rarity was coping with the news by sewing aggressively. Celestia quickly finished the letters to the other kingdoms before calling for the captain. She gazed worriedly at Luna.
“What do we do, Luna? Even in the best case scenario, where all the other kingdoms offer support, I’m still not sure... how can we stand against Grogar?” she asked. “We both heard Harmony. He knows any move we could make, and with Twilight out of commission, the Elements of Harmony aren’t going to work as well, if at all... Oh, Faust,” Celestia suddenly exclaimed. “The Tree... Now that it’s gone, the Everfree Forest...” she darted to a window and gazed out at Ponyville. The forest was unchanged, surprisingly, and Celestia was just about to question it when Discord materialized behind her.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?” he asked, flying to her side. “I felt his magic...”
“I’m fine, Discord. Twilight was injured, but otherwise nopony was hurt,” Fluttershy reassured him.
“Discord, ah, since you’re here, do you know why the Everfree Forest has not invaded Equestria with the Tree of Harmony gone?” Celestia asked.
“Ah... I removed the plunderseeds after... I want to say after my little escapade with Starlight, Trixie, and... the other one?” he said, stroking his beard. “Yes, about then. But what’s this about the Tree being gone?” Discord asked.
“Grogar destroyed it,” Fluttershy explained. “Thankfully we managed to get the Elements off before it happened. But don’t you dare do what I think you’re thinking,” she warned. “Or I will revoke my friendship like I threatened before Twilight became a princess.”
Discord summoned a tiny halo and gave a sheepish look. Fluttershy glared and he floated back to his realm in shame.
Luna chuckled slightly once the portal closed before studying her hoof in thought. Then her eyes widened as she put her hoof back down but kept looking. “Asgore... Asgore and the monsters might be willing to help!” she realized.
Celestia nodded slowly. “Yes... that might be a good idea. Grogar knows our strengths and weaknesses, but how much of theirs does he know?”
“Precisely,” Luna nodded. “I will go and seek his aid. Fluttershy, will you accompany me?”
Fluttershy nodded quickly and Luna teleported the two of them to the portal cave. The ponies went through without a second of hesitation to be greeted by the warm gold of the hall beyond. They heard Asgore humming in the throne room and hurried in.
“Ah, Luna, Fluttershy, you came back rather quickly. Did you leave something here?” Asgore asked.
“No, we didn’t,” Luna said. “Asgore, we... we returned because we need your help.”
“Anything for you, Luna. What do you need?"