All Ponyville was full of snow. There was not a single pony outside, only corrupted changelings watching over the town. At least that´s what Rarity could see from one of Twilight´s castle windows. Rarity had her hoofs stuck in the changelings´ green substance and was locked inside Twilight´s bedroom, since there were no dungeons. She was lying on the ground, reclining her head on her forelegs while watching how they were preparing a scaffold for her outside. But she also saw things that despite being covered in snow, brought good memories. For example, Ponyville´s town hall. She giggled sadly when she remembered the moment she met a messy-haired pony that would change her life forever and give her a great group of friends. When she directed her look to the right, she saw her home and first boutique. She almost shed a tear when she remembered the moments with her sister Sweetie Belle. She wondered where she was, if she was ok or alive. She couldn´t help but pray for her safety. Then, she looked to the left, where the Golden´s Oak Library remains were. She and her friends spent a ton of good memories together there. All their hearts broke when Tirek destroyed it. And even though Twilight had a new home and a much bigger library in her castle, deep down everypony that it couldn´t replace her first home in Ponyville. So, Rarity promised that once she achieved her dream of becoming a fashionista, she would rebuild the library as a thanks gift to Twilight. She wasn´t an architect, but she could come up with new ideas to add to the building´s design. But now… it was just an impossible dream. She and her friends would be dead before they´d accomplished that. However, as scary as the idea of death was, a part of her was also hoping for it, just so she and her friends could be together. Nothing, not even Grogar, would separate them in the afterlife.
“Don´t worry girls. I´ll soon be there with you.” Rarity muttered happily in tears.
She heard a sudden door blow. Apparently, they were bringing some company for her. They pushed a yellow unicorn mare to the ground right in front of her.
“Ouch!” she moaned. “What the-”
They put a ring on her horn and covered her hooves with their characteristic substance. They slammed the door while leaving the room with a mischievous laugh.
“Ok. What is going on?” the mare thought aloud.
She turned her head back and gasped when she saw Rarity.
“Rarity!” she sighed in relief. “It´s nice to finally see somepony I know.” she noticed that her hooves were stuck in the same green substance as hers. “And a little worried that you´re captured…”
After taking several glances, Rarity recognized the mare.
“Sunset Shimmer! Oh dear, it´s been a really long time since we saw each other.”
“Yeah, I know. And at the same time, it hasn´t been for me.” Sunset smiled nervously.
Rarity gave out a small laugh.
“Oh darling, you came to visit at the worst time possible.”
“Well, I´d rather say that I came to warn.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow.
“I have important information to tell Twilight. The Dazzlings have returned to your world!”
Rarity blinked.
“Uh, who?”
“Oh right, that´s not how they´re called in your world.” Sunset cleared her throat. “Um… Do you remember when I wrote to Twilight about some girls that were spreading negative energy?”
“You mean the sirens?”
Sunset nodded.
“Me and my friends spot them coming near the portal. Even though they haven´t doing anything evil for some time, I don´t think they crossed the portal with good intentions. And some time before, we heard a really strange noise. And very terrifying too.”
“Oh no! What was left!” Rarity buried her head in her forelegs.
“Yeah… I was going to ask you about this. So… care to explain?”
Rarity sighed sadly.
“Many things... We´ve been attacked by four villains. The first three, Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, have created a tension between ponies as bad as pre-Hearth Warming´s Eve´s. And they almost successfully took over Equestria.”
“You mean, there´s…”
“Yes, there are windigoes.”
Sunset stared at the window horrified.
“Oh dear, that´s not good…”
“And that´s not the worst thing. Right now, the worst thing is the fourth villain: Grogar.”
Sunset gasped.
“Grogar? The legend?!”
“That demon is responsible for everything that´s happening right now, and I would even dare to say almost everything that has happened during Equestria´s history. He was the one who reunited the villains and made an alliance with them to get to the throne. Oh, he´s very terrifying, Sunset. He knew everything that would happen, every insecurity inside us, and he masterfully manipulated the strings without his minions noticing.”
“He´s more wicked than in the books…” she thought aloud as she shook her head. “What about the girls?”
“He has separated all of us and condemned us all to die.” she sobbed. “Twilight´s already out.”
After saying that, Rarity broke down in tears. Sunset widened her eyes in shock.
“Tw- Twilight´s dead? H- How?”
“He struck her.” she sobbed. “With the magic from his bell.”
“So that was the noise we heard was the bell…” she panted. “I-I don´t know what to say. I´m just-” she sobbed “My first and closest friend… dead.” Sunset covered her mouth while crying.
“I know, darling. I know. And what´s worse, we cannot defeat him.”
Sunset sniffed.
“Well, if I´m not wrong, I think that Gusty stole his bell.”
“But I´m sure she had enough magic to do that! He has ours, Sunset. All of it! I cannot do that in this state. I´m too weak to even move.”
“Ok, let me think… When you defeated Tirek you lost your magic too. And you managed to defeat him.”
“Yes, but that was different. The tree of harmony was in good conditions. Grogar cast a spell on it. With each minute, every tiny moment of hatred, it slowly kills it.”
“Oh no…”
“And we did it together. Now we can´t. He didn´t when or where each of us would be executed. Maybe they are all dead by this point. It´s pointless to keep on trying. Without each other, we can´t do anything.”
Sunset sighed sadly. She looked at her horn.
“I know that this is hard, but you cannot give up. We cannot let that monster rule Equestria once more.”
“For what? We´re going to lose anyway. He´ll use the bell on us like he did on Twilight. There´s no point!”
Sunset thought about another way of convincing Rarity.
“Ok. But what about your family? They could be in danger. Or their friends! Imagine that Grogar picked up one of your sister´s friends to kill her.”
Rarity´s ears perked up when Sunset Shimmer mentioned Sweetie Belle.
“Would you want your sister to suffer the same thing? Or worse, imagine he chooses your sister as his target.”
Rarity´s breath accelerated. Just by imagining the scene, she felt all the pain and horror.
“NO!” she yelled. She turned her head to Sunset. “He will not hurt my sister! I might not be able to defeat that demon but as my name´s Rarity, Sweetie Belle and her friends will be under protection. You hear me?! As long as I´m alive he won´t lay a hoof on those fillies!”
“That´s the spirit!” Sunset Shimmer.
“I have no idea how I´ll do this without magic. But I will do it!”
“Hm… Luckily I still have magic. I think I might be of some help. But first I´ll need to take this off my horn.” she explained while looking at the ring. “Let me try…”
Sunset bit her tongue while trying to reach the ring with her tail. Once she made sure it reached, she started shaking her tail upwards to take the ring off. After some minutes, the ring fell, and Sunset was able to use her magic. Quietly, she destroyed the changeling´s substance, freeing herself and Rarity.
“Thank you.” Rarity said while Sunset helped her to stand up.
Rarity was going to take a step, but her body shook too much. Sunset put her friend´s foreleg around her neck. They both smiled at each other.
“Ok. Now, all I have to do is a little disappearance spell, and-”
Suddenly, three changelings opened the door.
“Prisoner Rarity, it´s time for-”
The changeling and Sunset froze in shock. They stared at each other for some time. Sunset laughed nervously.
“Surprise?”
Immediately, a changeling threw the substance at Sunset´s hoofs. The other two picked Rarity up.
“Help!”
Sunset tried to help, but they closed the doors before she could do anything.
“I don´t usually rely on brutish ways but you give me no choice.” Rarity said.
With her hooves, she started hitting the changelings with all her strength, despite being very few.
“Let me go you brutes!” she yelled.
The changelings were still holding her. Her breath accelerated the more steps they took. She was being scolded to the place of her death and couldn´t do anything to avoid it. So, she decided that the best thing to do was accepting it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. However, things changed pretty quickly.
Suddenly, something made the changelings jump back in fear. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw a familiar hornless unicorn mare.
“Tempest!” Rarity exclaimed relieved.
“Let. Her. Go.” Tempest demanded menacingly.
The changelings refused and tried to make their way. Tempest confronted them without any fear. When she hit them in the stomach, they released Rarity.
“A little help would come in handy right now!” Tempest yelled while wrestling the changelings.
“Coming!” said a female voice.
A grey pegasus mare appeared flying.
“Derpy Hooves!” Rarity exclaimed muttering.
“With your permission, ma´am.” Derpy said while picking her up. “I´m so happy to see that you´re ok, miss Rarity.” she said tenderly and calmly with a smile while flying around.
Rarity, however, couldn´t understand how the pegasus was so calm when there literally were changelings willing to attack them.
“Darling! Look out!” Rarity warned Derpy while closing her eyes and shrinking to protect herself.
Fortunately, they were tackled by two mares, Octavia and DJ Pon-3.
“Yeah, you´re not going anywhere, I´m afraid.” Octavia said before clapping hooves with DJ Pon-3.
Rarity also noticed Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda fighting other changelings. Matilda noticed a changeling that was about to attack her husband, but she kicked it in the stomach before it could do anything to him.
“Don´t you dare touch my husband!” she scolded the changeling.
Cranky smiled but gasped when he saw a changeling approaching behind his wife. He jumped over Matilda and kicked the other changeling.
“And nobody touches my wife either.”
The two shared tender looks. Then, they continued fighting.
“I think we should be acting at this point.” a male voice said.
Rarity´s ears perked up.
“Wait. That voice. Is that-”
Suddenly a brown cat and a brown pony appeared.
“Capper!” Rarity exclaimed cheerfully.
“Hi dearie. I´d stop and talk but I´m a little busy right now. We´ll talk later!” he said while running the corridors along Dr Hooves.
Finally, they managed to get out the castle. Rarity was surprised to see many injured changelings on the ground.
“Wow. So many things have happened at once.” she put her hoof on her forehead. “I´m so confused.”
“Don´t worry miss Rarity.” reassured Derpy. “We´ll explain everything once we´re safe.”
“Do you remember where the refuge is?” Dr Whooves asked Derpy from the distance.
“Yes! In the tow-”
“I think it would be better if we kept it to ourselves.” Rarity said with a smile.
“Oh! Sorry…” Derpy smiled apologetically
Applejack was inside a wooden cage moved by some changelings. She was lucky that nopony was outside when the carriage passed nearby houses, otherwise she wouldn´t have been able to cope with the shame and guilt. She was completely exhausted, for too many things had happened at once: the loss of her magic, Twilight, the separation from the rest of her friends... But at least Rainbow gave her hope in one thing.
She didn´t know why, but whenever she was with her, she felt something else that she didn´t feel when she was with the others. At first, she didn´t give it much importance, but as time passed, that feeling grew and grew. There came a point where she felt too comfortable around her, despite having those moments of competitiveness. She knew that she needed to tell Rainbow, but couldn´t find the perfect moment. But when they were in the cell together, Rainbow said something curious: She was her best best friend. What did that mean? Did Rainbow feel the same way when she was around her? Or was she just overthinking thinking things? Unfortunately, she would never get the answers. Along the others, Rainbow was probably dead. And soon she would be too.
Suddenly, Applejack noticed that they were passing through Sweet Apple Acres. Her heart broke apart. The trees were full of snow, meaning that they would freeze, and no more apples would grow. And her parents´ trees would die too. She shed tears when she thought about her family. She wouldn´t have the chance to say goodbye or tell them how much they loved them, but she didn´t know if they were alive either, specially Granny Smith, being a mare with her age in these terrible conditions.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the changelings´ conversation.
“Duude…”
“What?”
“Can we stop now?”
The changeling scoffed.
“What are you talking about stopping right now, we have to get to the desert!”
“You mean Appleloosa?”
Applejack leaned an ear. So that´s where they were taking her. Appleloosa. Grogar had thought everything carefully. He knew in which places their deaths would have more impact.
“Yeah, whatever´s called. But the thing is, we can´t stop!”
“But why?”
“Because the prisoner could escape at any moment!”
“Psst, please! She´s literally at death´s door. Look at her. She can barely move! Besides, you don´t expect to spend entire days walking, do you?”
“Well, actually, it would take only one day.”
“What?”
“Yeah, because since Celestia and Luna are captured, the sun nor the moon can rise. So, technically, we´re in the same day.”
“You´re right, but don´t you feel your legs shaking? Because mine are. I can´t follow like that! Please, let´s just stop for a moment!”
Applejack rolled her eyes. She spent entire days bucking apples, and neither her nor her family said a word. Not even Apple Bloom!
The changeling sighed frustrated.
“Ok fine! But just for some minutes.”
“Yaay!”
The changelings sat down and reclined on A.J´s cage. Funnily enough, they stopped at a spot in which A.J had a perfect view of the barn. Many nostalgic memories passed through her mind. The first time she met Twilight, all the happy moments with her family… Now, those memories gave her melancholy.
But her emotions changed from melancholy to curiosity when she noticed a set of eyes behind the bushes. She narrowed her vision to recognize the eyes, since they seemed familiar. And once she did, a huge smile drew in her face.
The changelings hit her cage.
“Hey, what are you looking at?”
Applejack entered in a slight state of panic, but she managed to come up with a quick solution.
“Um.. Nothing just my farm. I just wanted to get a quick last look.”
“Well, it´s over now, missy!” the other changeling said. “Time to carry on to Appleloosa!”
“Not so fast gentlecolts…” an old female voice said.
The changelings looked around them.
“What? Who said that?”
“Show yourself!”
“Quite gladly!” the voice cleared her throat. “NOW EVERYPONY!”
Suddenly, many ponies got out to attack. Applejack was so glad to see them ok. It was her family! There were Big Mac, Granny Smith, Babs Seed, Braeburn, Sugar Belle…. There were other ponies too. Bon-Bon and Troubleshoes also joined the cause. And not only ponies. Some kirins joined her family too, including Autumn Blaze. Nonetheless, Applejack got worried when she didn´t see Apple Bloom anywhere.
Working as a team, they tied the changelings to a tree and gagged them. Granny Smith, Big Mac and Sugar Belle helped Applejack to get out the cage.
“Guys!” she hugged them tightly. “I´m so glad to see you´re ok.”
“All of us too, Applejack. All of us too.” Granny Smith repeated in cheerful tears.
“We were so worried about you!” Big Mac hugged her tightly.
Autumn Blaze joined, and hugged them even more tightly.
“Applejack! I´m so happy to see you.”
“Me too.” Applejack replied, almost not being able to breath.
“You don´t know what day it´s been! You see, me and the kirins were calmly minding our own business until suddenly these ugly bug guys appeared, and-”
“Maybe it would be better if you explained later.” Sugar Belle shushed her politely.
Bon Bon and Troubleshoes approached them.
“Well, hello there, guys.” Applejack said. “It´s nice to see you here. But I must say, I´m surprised that you have taken all the way from Appleloosa to get here, why?”
Troubleshoes scratched the back of his neck-
“Well, your whole family told me that they were going to stay at your farm, since they were going to the coronation. And I thought, it´s been time since I last saw Apple Bloom, so I asked them if I could join in.”
“And of course, we told him yes.” Braeburn leant on his shoulder.
After hearing Apple Bloom´s name, Applejack gasped.
“Talking about her, where is she?”
“Yeah,” Babs Seed agreed. “Does anypony know?”
Big Mac shook his head.
“Nope.” he lamented.
“Unfortunately, we know nothing of her.” Granny Smith continued worried.
“However, we do know that she was in the School of Friendship. Maybe she´s captured in there.” Sugar Belle explained
“Let´s go to the school, then.” Applejack was about to run.
“I wouldn´t, if I were you.” Bon Bon corrected. “This is related to the reason why I´m here. The secret animal agency informed me that many strange creatures have been missing from Tartarus, some of them have come to attack Ponyville. In fact, one of them has taken Lyra away!”
While Bon Bon was explaining her story calmly, they saw a manticore right behind her back.
“Uh… Bon Bon…” Big Mac tried to warn her.
“What?” Bon Bon turned around. “Oh! Well, there you are, fella. Now, I´ll have to ask you to-”
Surprisingly, the manticore didn´t attack. In fact, it just passed as if nothing was in its way. However, Applejack knew immediately the reason why, once he saw its glowing eyes.
“Oh, right. Father of monsters.” she mumbled sarcastically.
“Father or what now?” Granny Smith asked confused.
“I´ll explain along the way! Come on! Let´s go to the school!” Applejack ordered while beginning to run.
Every pony and kirin followed her.
Rainbow was grabbed by her forelegs by two changelings, being carried around throughout the sky. She looked at the landscape beneath her. She could see everything from above, the Everfree forest, Ponyville… Speaking of Ponyville, she noticed Sweet Apple Acres. She sighed sadly when she remembered Applejack. She kept on wishing that she could have told her sooner, otherwise she could know for certain that AJ felt the same way. Ever since the Iron Pony competition, Rainbow Dash knew that she felt different around Applejack. Not in a bad way, but in the sense of taking too much pleasure at her company. At first, she didn´t understand what this feeling was, but as time passed and the more time she spent with her, she understood what those feelings meant. And once she understood, she completely embraced them. Expressing them to her, was going to be a bit more difficult, though. But she knew that she had to tell her before they died, despite not being in the circumstances she would have liked. While she was slapping herself mentally for not being direct enough and having doubts whether AJ understood her, deep down she believed that Applejack felt the same. Or at least she wanted to.
She came back to reality when she noticed that the changelings stopped flying. She looked up and noticed that the entrance to Cloudsdale was blocked. Pegasi had put big and heavy clouds around.
“Oh, come on!” the changeling complained. “What do we do now?”
The other changeling looked down and then she looked at Rainbow Dash. From the smirk that drew on her face, Rainbow could tell that she wasn´t up for good.
“Well, Grogar didn´t specify how to kill her. He just wants her dead.”
“So?”
“Well… Right now, she´s not able to fly.”
Rainbow´s eyes widened in horror. Were they seriously considering dropping her? But for her misfortune, the other changeling seemed to agree. In fact, she was laughing mischievously.
“What are we waiting for?”
“Let´s see if you can fly now, Rainbow Dash! Or should we say, Rainbow Crash!”
“Oh, come on! Seriously? You too?” Rainbow asked sarcastically.
The two changelings nodded their heads.
“One.”
“Two.”
But before they were able to say three, they heard a huge roar. They saw a strange mixture of a bear and a bear coming underneath them. Rainbow recognized it immediately, it was a Bugbear! She and her friends confronted the same creature at Cranky´s and Matilda´s wedding. The two changelings, however, were shocked by the creature, dropping Rainbow in the process. Luckily, the bugbear was just under her when she was dropped, landing on its muzzle as a result. She held her breath when she realized where she landed. However, the Bugbear didn´t mind having her there, but it was probably because he was hypnotized by Grogar, which Rainbow could tell by its glowing eyes. Nonetheless, she decided to climb to its back, just in case.
Once she was at the back, she gave a tired yet victorious smile to the changelings.
“HA! You two weren´t thinking that you´d get rid of me that easily, were you?” Rainbow asked them while smiling cockily. Then, she threw a raspberry at them.
The changelings clenched her teeth and immediately flew as fast as they could towards her.
“Ok. Maybe I shouldn´t have said anything.” Rainbow muttered.
In just a brink of an eye, the changelings landed on front of Rainbow. The poor mare knew that without her super speed, she didn´t have a chance against the two. Never in her life had she wished more than ever to have her super speed right now.
One of the changelings tried to hit her but ended up hitting one of the Bugbear´s antlers, as Rainbow ducked as fast as she could. The magical ray glanced off, redirecting the attack towards the same changeling that created the ray in the first place. The changeling almost fell off the monster. Seeing that attacking by magic wasn´t a viable strategy due to Rainbow´s effective and fast reflexes, the other changeling decided to fight physically instead. So, she pushed her to the right. Rainbow, however, managed to hold herself on one of the Bugbear´s paws.
“Ok. I don´t know how, but I´m still alive. And I´m glad it is this way.” she thought aloud while panting.
“Oh, but things can change still…” the changeling replied back.
Suddenly, the other changeling got her and took her out of the Bugbear´s paw. The changelings laughed in victory.
“You cannot escape now.”
“Hope you have fun falling to your death…”
“Oh, we beg to differ.” a raspy female voice said.
Suddenly, a group of pegasi surrounded the two changelings. Rainbow Dash gave out a cry of joy when she saw that the Wonderbolts came to save her.
“I can´t believe it! You guys came to save me! The Wonderbolts saving me? That is awesome!”
“And I´ve come to help too.” a female voice added.
Rainbow saw Soarin holding Lyra with his arms.
“Oh, hey, Lyra. Good to see you.” Rainbow said with a smile.
Lyra smiled in return.
“Don´t forget about us!” another raspy female voice said.
The changelings and Rainbow Dash looked up and noticed Gilda, Gabby, Grampa Gruff and another bunch of griffons.
“Gilda! Grampa Gruff!”
“Alright, you bugs!” Grampa Gruff yelled. “Either you hand her to us peacefully, or we´ll do this the hard way!”
“And we can assure you that none of you will like it.” Gabby added.
The changelings clenched their teeth. No matter where they looked, they were completely surrounded.
“You heard them. Hand me over to them!” Rainbow commanded.
The changelings smiled to each other.
“As you wish.” one of them said.
Between the two, they swung and threw her towards the griffons and pegasi, but not with enough strength to reach them. Rather, Rainbow fell down immediately after being thrown.
“Oh goodness!” a griffon named Greta exclaimed.
“Rainbow!” Vapor Trail exclaimed.
The two went immediately to her aid. Once they caught her, Rainbow stopped screaming. She sighed in relief.
“Oh, you two are going to pay for hurting my friend.” Gilda said while knocking her knuckles.
“Not only that, you hurt one of our best soldiers!” Spitfire added. “On my command. Ready, set, GO!”
As soon as Spitfire gave the order, the Wonderbolts began to attack.
“You heard her! Come on!” Grampa Gruff commanded the griffons.
Immediately the griffons and pegasi began to attack the changelings.
“If that´s how it´s gonna be.” one of the changelings said.
She whistled with her hoof. In no time, our friends were surrounded by more changelings.
Greta and Vapor Trail waited patiently for orders. They, along Rainbow, noticed the bigger number of changelings.
“Oh boy… That´s not good.” Rainbow muttered.
“Should we call them?” Vapor asked nervously.
Greta nodded. She whistled with her claw. Fortunately, they also had backup. Rainbow laughed in pure joy when she saw a big pirate ship. A female parrot waved her claw from beneath.
“Captain Celaeno!”
“Hold on, Rainbow Dash! We need you ok to beat that goat!” Captain Celaeno told her.
She, along her crewmate, took out their swords.
“ATTACK!” Celaeno ordered.
And thus, the pirates joined the fight. Rainbow Dash wished with all her heart to help them. Moreover, she knew that they would have the victory assured with her by their side. But thanks to everything that happened before, she couldn´t. She really hoped to get her magic back as soon as possible.
After some time, Soarin, Lyra and Gabby approached them.
“Spitfire and Grampa Gruff ordered us to take you safe immediately.” Soarin explained.
“Got it.” Greta agreed.
“What about Sky Stinger? Will he be alright? I need to be by his side.”
“I understand, but somepony needs to take her safe.”
“I got it. I can take her in your place!” Gabby suggested to Soarin.
“Sounds fair. Vapor Trail, you may go and help your friend.” Soarin said to Vapor Trail.
“Thank you.”
Vapor Trail handed Rainbow´s foreleg to Gabby.
“So you´re Rainbow Dash. It´s so nice to meet you! Scootaloo couldn´t stop talking about you.”
Rainbow´s ears perked up.
“Scootaloo, where is she? Is she ok?” she asked very worried.
“Well, I´m pretty sure that she along her friends were in the School of Friendship.” Lyra answered. “I know that because me and Bon Bon watched them on their way to the school. We were walking together so peacefully, helping to prepare things for the coronation, until one of those bugbears caught me!” she said to herself.
“The school´s been attacked!” Rainbow exclaimed worried. “Oh no…”
“Don´t worry about her! She and her friends are very smart.” Gabby reassured her. “They come up with thousands of ideas to get out of messy situations! For example, once they…”
Rainbow leaned towards Greta´s ear.
“Does she always talk this much?” she whispered in her ear.
“Yup.” Greta simply replied.
“Ok,” Soarin laughed. “Let´s take our friend to our refuge, shall we?”
The creatures nodded and began flying. Rainbow might not be willing to listen to Gabby throughout the whole trip, but at least she was glad that some of her friends are safe.