//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: Getting used to a new team // Story: The final challenge // by Dianabel //------------------------------// “Do you think Grogar sent them?” Cozy asked them. Tirek raised an eyebrow at her. “Hm… Let me see.” Chrysalis spoke as she rubbed her chin. “They´re his creations, their eyes are glowing, and casually, the two of them seem to be coming near us. Nah, they´re just lost. OF COURSE HE SENT THEM FOR US, YOU IDIOT!” Before they had the chance to defend themselves, the ophiotaurus slapped their backs with its tongue. Luna managed to dodge the attack by jumping to the side, holding Twilight on her forelegs. The three villains fell to the floor. “Oh no! I´m going to die!” Cozy Glow exclaimed horrified. “How are you going to die? You´ve been licked by an ophiotaurus, it didn´t bite you. The poison won´t get to your heart.” Tirek reasoned. “THEN WHY CAN´T I GET UP?!” Cozy yelled frustrated and angry. Tirek tried to get up, but just like Cozy, he couldn´t move. “Neither can I.” he said worried. “That´s because when an ophiotaurus licks you, they paralyze your body.” Twilight explained her. “Why didn´t anypomy explain that to me?” Cozy asked to herself. “I did. At Equestrian history.” Twilight replied. Cozy blinked. “Golly. I must have forgotten after studying for your useless tests.” she replied passive aggressively. From this statement, Twilight knew that although they just agreed to work together, they weren´t willing to respect her, which could hinder their teamwork. “This is going to be more difficult than I thought.” she muttered. “Who cares if we are paralyzed?” Chrysalis said after scoffing. “We don´t need to be in four legs to attack. We can perfectly fire at them from here.” she smirked confidently. However, when she tried to ignite her horn, no magic appeared. Shocked, she tried again, but she still got the same result. “What? What is happening?” “When an ophiotaurus licks you, you lose your magic abilities.” Twilight informed. “WHAT?!” Chrysalis yelled angry. “Come on!” Cozy complained. “We just got them back!” Tirek complained. “But don´t worry, it´s temporal.” Twilight smiled nervously. “But for how much time?!” “I guess two minutes approximately.” At that moment, the maulwurf grabbed the three villains with one hand. “Well that´s a relief. ISN´T IT?!” Chrysalis yelled sarcastically and angrily. The maulwurf and ophiotaurus started getting away. “We need to help them! Otherwise, they´ll think twice about the truce.” Twilight told Luna. The dark alicorn nodded. She teleported herself and Twilight in front of the two monsters to block their way. She blasted at the maulwurf´s hand, making them release the three villains. But for her misfortune, the ophiotaurus also licked her, leaving her paralyzed too. “Luna!” Twilight exclaimed. Her voice caught both monsters´ attention. Twilight gasped softly. She weakly crept away from them as they got nearer her. She was horrified. She couldn´t do anything to defend herself. No magic, no strength, no help… She was helpless. And what´s worse, she was going to die for real. Gusty wasn´t there to help her, which meant that there was no point of return. She gasped as the ophiotaurus and maulwurf approached their snouts and opened their mouths. She closed her eyes while whimpering. Meanwhile, Luna and the villains observed the situation. “Twilight!” “Welp. There goes our only hope of defeating the old goat.” Chrysalis said dryly. “If we´re going to die, just kill me already, please.” Tirek muttered frustrated. Unlike the other three, Cozy ignored what was happening. Not because she didn´t care, but because she was focused on other thing and her eyes were closed. “Fifty-eight… fifty-nine… and sixty!” then, she opened her eyes and yelled at the two monsters. “HEY, YOU IDIOTS! DON´T YOU HAVE A TASK TO COMPLETE?” Tirek and Chrysalis widened their eyes. “IT´S US WHO YOU WANT, NOT HER!” she continued. The monsters growled and went towards them. Twilight took the chance to get to Luna´s side. “What are you doing?!” the changeling asked furious. “Do you want to get us eaten?!” Tirek asked equally as angry. “Don´t you see? It´s our chance to make them trust us!” Cozy exclaimed. “But for what? We can´t defend ourselves.” Chrysalis said. “Well… Twilight said that the poison´s durance was two minutes. So, I counted the seconds until I got to two minutes to figure out if the poison´s effect was gone.” Suddenly, Cozy jumped and landed in four legs. “And apparently, she was right.” Tirek and Chrysalis blinked surprised. They tried igniting their horns, smiling in relief after being able to conjure up magic. “Woohoo! We can move again!” Tirek exclaimed. “I´m a little hungry after everything that happened. Care for some feast?” Chrysalis smirked at him. Tirek chuckled evilly while fidgeting. “O ho ho… With pleasure.” Seeing what they were up to, Luna stopped them. “Wait! Don´t do that!” They stopped running. “Come on! We´re not feasting on ponies.” Tirek complained. “For now.” Chrysalis muttered, loud enough to be heard only by Tirek, making smirk. However, their smiles wiped off their faces when they were hit on their hooves by Cozy. Twilight raised an eyebrow, not so sure how to react. Meanwhile, Luna offered them her explanation. “I´m not saying it for that.” Luna replied. “Well, maybe partly, but I´m telling you because bear in mind these two creatures are under Grogar´s spell. What if you absorb that spell when you feed?” “Actually, that´s a good point.” Cozy Glow agreed. Tirek and Chrysalis sighed disappointed. “Very well…” the centaur begrudgingly accepted. “No feast.” “Guess it will be just an attack, then.” Chrysalis thought aloud. “You better do it now!” Cozy said scared. Chrysalis and Tirek turned around, only to see the monsters right in front of their faces. They clenched their teeth scared and immediately attacked them. However, no matter how hard they tried, the monsters were not going away nor seemed to give up. “It´s not working!” Tirek exclaimed anxiously. “What do we do?” Chrysalis asked him just as anxious. In just a matter of seconds, Twilight got an idea. “Chrysalis, turn into something that scares them!” “What?” the changeling asked confused. “I´m sure you can mess with their natural instincts of survival. Think about it! One is a mole, the other one is part snake. What predator scares them the most?” “Ah!” Chrysalis said when she understood Twilight´s idea. Then, she smirked evilly. Her form changed into a giant roc. She screeched as loud as she could. Just as Twilight predicted, the monsters got scared and started running away. “Where do you think you´re going?” she asked sassily. She started to chase them in flight, and in the brink of an eye, Chrysalis had the two monsters in her hooves. She flew higher, until she got to the clouds. The monsters entered in panic when they noticed they were further from the ground. “Not so scary now, are we?” Chrysalis told them while raising an eyebrow cockily. Then, she rotated her wrist and threw the monsters various kilometres away, just as if they were a baseball ball. “And never come back!” she elevated her head in pride. They all cheered her as she landed on the ground and returned to her original form. “I´ll just say, I could have thrown it further.” said Tirek. “Just like you did with your dignity?” Tirek blinked. Then, he cleared his throat. “But I admit that you have a great strength.” He offered her his hand “Of course I do.” she said cockily while shaking her hoof with Tirek´s hand. Then, Cozy approached them. “Nice throw, Chrissy!” Cozy quickly covered her mouth. Chrysalis gave her a death glare. Luna and Twilight tried to hold their laughter. “Chrissy?” Luna asked curiously. “That´s actually a pretty good name.” Twilight added. Then the two giggled, covering their mouths with their hooves. Tirek put his hand on his forehead while shaking his head. Chrysalis blushed in embarrassment. “Don´t laugh!” she angrily ordered them. “Ok. We´re not. We´re not.” Twilight and Luna stopped laughing, but they still had an amused smile on their faces. Chrysalis sighed. “I was feeling great until you opened your mouth.” she told Cozy. The filly smiled apologetically. “That was really impressive Chrysalis!” Twilight congratulated her. “Well it was your idea, Twilight. We should be thanking you too.” Cozy said. “Wait. Don´t take away the focus on me!” Chrysalis complained. Cozy kicked her foreleg. “Well, that´s the magic of teamwork.” Twilight replied confidently. “I´m sure you experienced it when you three joined forces. And see? Working with us isn´t that bad either. And who knows? Maybe it´s an experience that will change all of us for the better.” “Oh, you don´t say.” Cozy Glow said with a fake smile. “Wonderful!” Chrysalis said sarcastically as she forced a smile. “If we want to change for the better, why don´t we walk while thinking on a plan to confront Grogar?” Tirek said, also with a fake smile on his face. “Good idea.” Luna agreed. “Right behind you.” she opened her wing while forcing a smile. The four creatures shared passive aggressive smiles until they didn´t see each other´s faces. “This is going to end up killing me.” Chrysalis said once they were far away from Twilight and Luna to hear them. “Same.” Tirek agreed. “Whenever you feel like you can´t deal with it, think on the price.” Cozy advised. “Imagine how humiliated Twilight will be when we take the throne.” The three villains started chuckling evilly but stopped when they remembered they weren´t alone. Luna was glaring at them suspiciously while Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Oh Tirek! You tell the best jokes. Ha! Ha!” Chrysalis nudged him with all her strength. Tirek glared at her and Cozy put her hoof on her head. Luna inclined her head to Twilight´s ear. “Do you really mean what you just said?” “No. I´m just messing with them. Just like they´re messing with us.” Luna shook her head while smiling playfully at Twilight. “So… do you have a plan?” “Our main goal is taking Grogar´s bell away, and thus remove the spell from Celestia. How are we going to do it? I have no idea. How did your mother do it?” Luna huffed. “With lots of help and strategies to distract Grogar.” “She didn´t pull the bell out of his collar?” Luna shook her head. “Impossible. Once it´s in there, it´s secured forever.” Twilight remembered when Spike hung on Grogar´s bell as an attempt to avoid her death. “You´re right. So, what you mean is that he has to take it out willingly?” Luna nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. And from what happened in the past, he won´t separate from it. At any moment.” “Well some creature is paranoid.” Twilight scoffed. “Is he even going to sleep with it?” she She gasped in realization. Luna raised an eyebrow. “What?” “I think I might have an idea.” Twilight replied somewhat hopeful. Then, she called the villains. “Guys!” The three villains stopped walking as they widened their eyes. They grunted. “What does that stupid alicorn want now?” Tirek asked frustrated. “If she´s going to talk about the benefits of friendship and reformation, I´m gonna blast her.” Chrysalis stated. “As much as I´d like it, we still need her alive.” Cozy pointed out. “In order to achieve our goal, some sacrifices must be made.” Chrysalis and Tirek sighed and turned around to meet with Twilight and Luna. “You know what, princess Twilight? Chrysalis and Tirek want to tell you something.” Cozy Glow told her excited. “That´s really amazing but there´s something urgent I need to ask you.” Twilight rejected politely. “Oh great! Bonding time!” Chrysalis exclaimed in fake excitement. She laughed sarcastically. “How exciting.” she clenched her teeth. “No, no, it´s not about you. It´s about Grogar.” Twilight clarified. The three villains blinked. “Are you seriously planning to reform him?!” Tirek accused them while pointing at them. “Noo.” Luna replied a bit upset and tired. “Just let her explain.” “What I´m about to ask may sound strange but… during your stay with Grogar, did you notice if he had trouble sleeping?” Chrysalis and Tirek looked at each other confused. “Why would we know that?” Chrysalis asked raising her eyebrow. “That´s the last thing we would care about him.” Tirek added. “Well, I think I know.” Cozy replied. Tirek and Chrysalis stared at her surprised. “How?” Tirek asked. “Well, because… Midnight snacks.” she laughed nervously. “So that´s why the cupcakes ran out so quickly…” Chrysalis glared at Cozy. “Did you two encounter at some time?” Luna asked. “Not exactly, but my room was close to his. Anyway, whenever I got up to eat something, I´d look through the small space of his door, and I always found him working on his desk. And the next morning he had eyebags.” “Sometimes when creatures cannot sleep, they give up trying to fall asleep and do another thing instead.” Luna explained Twilight. “Um… Why do you ask?” “Because I might have an idea that could work. But before going to Canterlot, we might need to do a stop somewhere else. Can you take us to Grogar´s cavern?” “But why?” Chrysalis asked. “I´ll explain along the way.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Right this way.” “You can teleport us there, you know?” Chrysalis blinked. “I was going to do that. I was just telling you where it was.” she lied. Ignoring Luna´s suspicious look, she ignited her horn and the group disappeared. Finally, after so much time of stress, the Young Six reunited with their families, and the pillars, Stygian and Scorpan were able to rest while also being tended by crystal ponies and changelings. Zecora was with the CMC and Punja. Meanwhile, Starlight and Trixie told Sunburst and Spike what happened back in the caves. “Woah, whoah. So what you´re saying is that we don´t need the bell to reverse the corruption spell?” Spike asked surprised. Starlight shook her head. “From what I saw, I think that Grogar´s corruption spell somehow banishes the victim´s memories, taking complete control over their minds. Or at least he chooses which memories to mess with, because Pharynx seemed to remember his name.” “So all we need is to remember them who they really are! Well, at least the one who´s really close to them.” Trixie summed up. “That´s great news! Nonetheless, we still need to take the bell away from him.” Sunburst stated. “Otherwise, this will never stop.” he looked at the windigoes in the sky. “One thing doesn´t take out the other.” Starlight agreed. “Now that you´re saying it, I think it would be a good idea if we talked about this with all the leaders.” Spike turned around to see the huge amount of creatures on the camp. “And from the looks of it, organizing ourselves is going to be very complicated…” He walked to the fireplace, which was in the centre of the camp. Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst followed behind. Spike started fidgeting his claws. He was deeply nervous. Sunburst, Starlight and Trixie looked at each other, confused as to why the dragon didn´t start speaking. “Is everything alright, Spike?” Sunburst asked concerned. Spike widened his eyes and shook his head while coming back to reality. “Yeah, yeah! It´s just… I´m doubting if I´ll be able to talk to so many leaders at the same time.” “Spike. Thanks to you, changelings, dragons, and ponies are at peace. How aren´t you going to able to do this?” Trixie reasoned. “Yeah, but on one to one sessions! Besides, have you forgotten how I messed things up when I accidentally invited Ember and Thorax at the same time?” “But that won´t happen again because you already learned your lesson.” Starlight answered. “Also, you need to be getting used to this. This will probably one of your many jobs in the future.” “If Twilight was alive…” Spike said sadly. Starlight clenched her teeth at her poor choice of words. “Still, what I mean is that doubting yourself won´t help you right now.” Spike sighed. “You´re right.” he clicked his tongue. “However, will you accompany me? I think I´d feel more confident if I had somepony around me.” “Of course!” Sunburst accepted with a smile. “We can come up with lots of ideas and strategies that could lend you a hoof.” he nudged Spike while winking an eye, making the young dragon smile. The he turned to Starlight and Trixie. “Right girls?” “Sure!” Starlight agreed excited. “You´re talking to the Great and Powerful Trixie. Of course she will have so many tricks under her sleeve.” Trixie said cockily. Thanks to their encouragement, Spike felt more confident to act. “Ok. Let´s do this.” He turned to every creature. “Excuse me.” Spike tried to make himself heard. However, the creatures didn´t hear him. They were either talking to each other or sleeping. “Excuse me!” he raised his voice. The result was the same. They still weren´t paying attention. Spike sighed frustrated. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled as loud as he could to get every creature´s attention. However, by doing so, he woke up a dragon who from the fright, she spit fire that almost hit some crystal ponies and hippogriffs. They glared at her. “Hey!” “Sorry…” the dragon apologized while sniffing her nose. Spike got dizzy after wasting energy on whistling. Once he made sure every creature was quiet, Spike began to talk. “Alright. As much as I´d love to keep on resting here, we also need to remember that time´s running out.” Spike pointed at the windigoes beneath them. “Which means that sooner or later we´ll need to attack.” Though not happy about having to go back fighting, every creature agreed with Spike by nodding their heads. “So, if it´s not too disturbing, can I talk to all your leaders?” Prince Rutherford, Ember, Thorax, Queen Novo and Princess Skylar got up and walked towards Spike. “But mister Spike.” a young pupil from the School of Friendship raised his hoof. “Celestia and Luna aren´t here.” “In that case, I´d like Starswirl and Stygian to come here. And Scorpan too, please.” he gave a nervous smile at the gargoyle. Knowing what they were going to about, Scorpan sighed frustrated. “Sooner or later, I´ll have to confront him again.” he muttered while the pillars and Stygian rode on his back. “But what about Cadence? She´s not here!” A crystal pony pointed out. Spike winked. “Well… can her advisor be found here? If she has one…” Spike mumbled the last sentence. “Well… Sometimes I advise Cadence, even though my job is being the royal gardener.” Mistmane said. “Then it´s settled. We´ll go into a tent to come up with a plan. Take this time to rest, alright?” Spike told every creature. They nodded and continued their activities. Spike and the rest entered a tent. Meanwhile, the Student Six and Terramar watched them curiously. “I´m really curious on what they have to say.” Ocellus told her friends. “Well, you don´t have to wait to find out.” Smolder smirked mischievously. “You mean eavesdropping on them?” Smolder nodded her head. “I´m in.” “Guys, they need privacy. The only thing we´ll do is distracting them.” Sandbar said. “I agree with him.” Terramar said. “But is not Sandbar interested on leaders´ plan?” Yona asked him. “Yeah, but we´re not eavesdropping.” “Did somepony mention eavesdropping?” Apple Bloom asked as she, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Punja joined the conversation. “Yes! We were planning on hearing what they had to say.” Silverstream cheerfully replied. Sandbar sighed. Spike, the leaders, Stygian, the pillars and Scorpan entered the tent. “Ok. Firstly, how many creatures from your kingdoms are injured?” Spike asked to the leaders. “Yaks fine! But yaks not numerous.” Rutherford replied, his tone changing from excited to sad. “And some yaks have families.” “Most dragons are injured, I can tell you that.” Ember tilted her head. “The hippogriffs´ case is similar to yours.” Queen Novo told Rutherford. “There are lots of hippogriffs, but most of them have children and would like to stay here to protect them.” Skylar added. “My case is mixed.” Thorax answered. “There are injured changelings, changelings that have families…” “But I´m sure that together, we´ll be enough for an army!” Skylar said hopeful. “Alright. Just to make sure how many of us are coming.” Spike explained. “Could you tell us all we have to do?” Mistmane asked. “Sure! Well… We have to free every imprisoned pony, evacuate everypony that we can, rescue Celestia and Luna, fight Grogar´s monsters, which I´m pretty sure they´ll be plenty; and take the bell away from him, meaning that we´ll have to fight the Father of Monsters himself. So… any ideas?” Every creature shared nervous glances. “It´s important we have a well-structured plan when we fight Grogar.” Starswirl advised. “There´s no room of improvisation when it comes to him.” “I think the most practical thing would be dividing ourselves in groups to complete the other tasks and then come together to fight Grogar.” Starlight suggested. “That´s a good idea! Do you agree?” Spike asked every creature. However, to his surprise, they seemed insecure. “What?” “We´re not sure if we can do it.” Skylar responded while scratching her foreleg. “But why?” “Because to defeat nasty ram, yaks and friends need magic!” Rutherford replied. “And yaks have no magic.” “But Ember and the dragons can blow fire! And from what I´ve heard Scorpan is really strong too.” Sunburst said hopeful. “I don´t think our fire will do much…” Ember lamented as she looked away. “Neither will fighting physically.” Scorpan hugged himself nervously. “And to our misfortune, the most powerful ponies here have their magic gone!” Novo pointed at Starswirl and Mistmane. “Starlight is powerful too, you know.” Trixie surrounded Starlight with her foreleg, making her smile. “And we three are willing to help too!” Sunburst added. “But they´re right. We three cannot defeat him.” Starlight agreed sadly. Listening to every comment, Spike thought of a solution. “Ok. We won´t confront Grogar for now, seeing that you´re not feeling secure. But sooner or later we´ll have to fight him. But don´t worry, we´ll be more. Ponies might be divided but I´m sure that some of them are still guided by friendship and we´ll be happy to help us. They might not be as powerful as Twilight, the princesses or the pillars, but every help is important, no matter how small. Just like yours.” “Dragon calling yak´s help small?!” Rutherford asked angrily. The other leaders were frowning or raising their eyebrows. Spike put his arms in the air and started to sweat. “No no! What I meant is that your help is as valuable!” Rutherford began to laugh along the other leaders. “We know what you meant, Spike.” Novo said warmly. “We´re just messing with you.” Ember told him. “But thank for you those words. Much needed.” Thorax smiled. Spike hugged all of them. They all returned the hug warmly. “I have the feeling some little dragon is going to be a great ambassador.” Starlight mumbled confidently. Trixie sniffed. “Are you crying?” Sunburst asked her playfully. “No.” Trixie dried her nose. “I just got something in my eye.” “Right. But do you have to blow your nose on my tail?” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Oh. Sorry.” “So, do you have any ideas?” Spike as he undid the hug. “Plenty!” Skylar exclaimed. “Whoah, there. Don´t suggest too many. Remember that we´ll have to repeat this to every creature.” Novo told her. Suddenly, the tent broke, raising some dust. Once Scorpan removed the tent´s cloth, he and the rest discovered the reason why it broke. The student six, the CMC, Punja and Terramar were reclining on the tent, probably because they were eavesdropping. He frowned at all of them, specially Punja, who laughed apologetically. “It was her idea.” Gallus pointed at Smolder. “You snitch.” she told him. “Sorry. We didn´t mean for this to happen.” Ocellus apologized. Seeing all of them, Spike got an idea. “You are forgiven as long as you help us by coming up with some ideas for our plan.” They smiled from ear to ear.