//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30: The princess has returned 
// Story: The final challenge 
// by Dianabel 
//------------------------------//

“You see them?” Pinkie asked Rainbow.

Rainbow took a few more glances bellow before answering.

“Aha!” she exclaimed when she noticed her friends´ silhouettes. “There they are!”

While the girls were looking down excited, Discord was looking straight. At what he found wasn´t as pleasant.

“Uh…Girls?” he pointed at the horizon.

The girls followed Discord´s finger direction. Pinkie and Fluttershy gasped horrified when they saw a white, fiery alicorn flying around.

“Is it me or does she look like Celestia?” Rainbow asked confused.

“She is Celestia!” Pinkie replied.

“What?!”

“Grogar corrupted her with the bell. I saw her just before being rescued.”

“This guy makes it more and more impossible!” Rainbow pulled her eyelids.

“But we discovered that if we remind her who she is, she might turn to normal. It worked with a manticore before!” Fluttershy reassured.

“That´s awesome! What are we waiting for?”

“I´d love to do that now but maybe we should wait for-”

However, neither Rainbow nor Pinkie listened to her. They started getting her attention.

“Celestia! Celestia!” the two exclaimed in chorus.

Discord tried to hush them.

“What in tarnation are you doing? Stop it! You´re going to get her attention!”

However, his attempts were in vain. Their voices had already caught Daybreaker´s attention. She widened her eyes when she saw Pinkie.

“Wait a minute, wasn´t she dead? Maybe that´s one of that Twilight Sparkle´s friends.”

Her suspicions were confirmed when she realized Discord was with them. She gasped and laughed mischievously. Daybreaker threw fire at them.

“You are coming with me.” she threatened them.

“Wait! You´re not against us, you are with us.” Rainbow told her as she dodged one of her attacks.

“Whatever you´re talking about? You´re on the good side and I am on the bad side.”

“But that´s the problem. Your side isn´t the bad side!” Pinkie said in return.

Daybreaker laughed.

“Please… I´ve always been on the bad side. You´re clearly trying to manipulate me.”

“We´re not manipulating you. We´re trying to make you understand.” Fluttershy clarified firmly. “If anyone is manipulating you is Grogar. He brainwashed you to turn you into something you´re not with his bell.”

“I don´t like Grogar that much but I know who I am, and I´ve always been like this, for your information! Urgh! Why are you telling me otherwise?”

“Because you´re not Daybreaker, you are Celestia!” Discord said frustrated. 

Daybreaker didn´t expect that answer. Why was everypony telling her that she was Celestia? Who even was Celestia? At this moment, she turned serious.

“Oh.. Now you´ve gone too far.”

She threw fire to Discord. Luckily, he summoned a force camp and was able to protect himself and his friends.

“Oh! It´s working! It´s working!” he said to himself.

“Yeah, but what you said didn´t happen, Fluttershy.” Rainbow said to Fluttershy. “I don´t understand, why?”

“Maybe because we´re not close to her?” Fluttershy suggested. “I mean, she loves us but we´re not as close to her as Twilight and Luna.”

“But Twilight´s dead! And Luna might be too. I didn´t see Nightmare Moon, I only saw Daybreaker!” Pinkie pointed out.

“So, what do we do?” Rainbow asked worried.

Discord bit his lip as he heard their conversation. He didn´t come up with a solution and the fact that Daybreaker was yelling at him didn´t help either.

“Come on! Attack you coward!”

He also knew he couldn´t stay like this forever. Sooner or later, Daybreaker would break the force camp, and would attack his friends too. So, he came up with an idea.

“Girls, you need to leave.”

“What?” they asked in chorus.

“It´s too dangerous for you to stay. Besides, Fluttershy and Pinkie need to reunite with Applejack, Rarity and Spike.”

“But what about you?” Fluttershy asked worried. “You were so close to die before, and now I won´t be there to throw stones. I don´t want you to get hurt.” Fluttershy hugged Discord.

“Well… I think that the worst thing that she would do is bring me to Grogar. Just to bring him something.”

“But that´s worse!”

“No, because that will give you time to enter the castle before we even get there.”

Fluttershy looked from side to side. She gulped and frowned.

“Ok.”

They hugged each other tightly.

“Um… Flutters… I need a little help.” Rainbow called her. The exhaustion in her voice was notable, as she was holding Pinkie by herself.

Fluttershy quickly grabbed one of Pinkie´s forelegs.

“Right.” she smiled sheepishly. “Good luck Dizzy!” she said before leaving.

“Don´t worry I´ll be fine!” he replied after dodging an attack.

He gasped excitedly.

“She gave me a nickname!” he muttered to himself while blushing. “The same as Gusty´s!”





“Cozy? Cozy!”

Tirek kept calling her, but she still didn´t appear.

“Come on you can’t do this! Chrysalis might need us."

He was so focused on finding Cozy that he didn’t realize he had some company coming.

Rarity, Applejack and Spike kept on running towards the castle. The only company they had now were the student six along Punja, Terramar and Gabby, the CmC, the pillars, Stygian and Scorpan.

"Do you think something happened to her?" Applejack asked Rarity.

"I can’t tell you for certain darling. Remember that right now anything could go wrong."

Luckily, Rarity´s prediction wasn´t correct. Spike gasped excited when she noticed Rainbow in the Sky. And not only her, but Pinkie and Fluttershy too!

"Look!" he pointed at the sky.

When they looked at the sky, their eyes filled with tears.

"Pinkie! Fluttershy!" Rarity exclaimed. 

Once she made sure she was close enough to the ground, Pinkie hoped and hugged Rarity and Applejack so hard that they fell to the ground. Then, Fluttershy joined the hug. Though not to the point of throwing them to the ground, she still hugged them energetically.

"I´m so glad to see y´all ok." A.J told all her friends as she, Rarity and Spike returned the hug.

"Us too." Fluttershy said softly in reply.

Meanwhile, their companions admired the reunion scene.

“Look at them.” Mistmane told her friends. “Together again.”

They heard a sniff, which came from Rockhoof.

“Are you crying?” Flash Magnus asked him playfully.

“Yes!” he replied before drying his tears. “And I´m not ashamed to admit it, ok?”

“Oh, you sweet giant.” Meadowbrook said before hugging him.

“I guess the group is complete.” Sandbar said sadly.

“Almost complete, I would say, but… I know what you mean.” Gallus agreed.

“But every creature thought that all the professors were dead, yet they turned out to be alive! What if professor Twilight Sparkle turned out to be alive too?” Ocellus suggested hopeful.

“I don´t know little one…” Starswirl shook his head. “Spike told us that Grogar hit her with the bell´s magic, and that is something lethal. It would take a miracle for her to be alive.”

“But they got their magic back!” Sweetie Belle replicated. “Right now, anything could be possible!”

“Yes, but we should not get all our hopes up.” Stygian agreed with Starswirl. “We´ll be fine but some things won´t turn out as we expect.”

“The important thing is that we are close to defeat Grogar.” Somnambula said.

As they were conversating, Punja noticed an enormous red figure in the distance. After taking a more detailed glance, she realized that the red figure was a centaur. She quickly deduced who that centaur was. She clenched her teeth and growled.

“YOU!” she yelled out. “You´d better run away, otherwise you´ll pay!”

She caught both Tirek´s and every creature else´s attention. They gasped when they saw each other.

“Oh no.” Tirek and Scorpan mumbled to themselves. Tirek´s mumble was full of frustration where as Scorpan´s was full of fear.

The mane 5 and Spike put themselves on the front to protect their companions.

“Don´t you dare come near them, you beast!” Rarity exclaimed while igniting her horn.

Tirek blinked surprised.

“You´re alive?”

“For your misfortune, we are.” Pinkie Pie smirked mischievously.

“Well yes, but-”

“And we´re going to make you pay!” Starswirl exclaimed.

The pillars and Stygian were frowning with the same determination as him.

Every creature looked at Starswirl 

“Wait. You´re serious?” Rainbow asked them.

They nodded.

“What?!” Scorpan asked scared.

“Count me in!” Punja stomped her hoof and breathed air out of her nose.

“What? No, no, you stay out of this.”

“But dad…”

“No buts!”

The way Scorpan and that little zebra interacted reminded Tirek of him and Cozy.

“Oh no, I´m turning into my brother!” he thought to himself.

“Guys no! I´ll fight him myself, but please go with them. You haven´t got any magic, he´ll smash you!”

“We might not be able to fight but please….” Starswirl held his hand. “Let us stay here with you.”

“And me too dad.” Punja added.

Scorpan bit his lip skeptical, but he ended up accepting begrudgingly.

“Ok.” 

“Go to the castle. We´ll catch you up.” Starswirl commanded every creature.

Fluttershy gasped when she remembered Discord´s words.

“We need to get there as fast as we can!”

“What? But why?” Applejack asked confused. 

“Discord´s fighting evil Celestia.” Pinkie started to explain but was quickly interrupted.

“What?!” the two ponies and dragon asked in chorus.

“What you heard! Grogar corrupted her with the bell. Anyway, he´s fighting her and chances are that he´ll lose.”

Applejack, Rarity and Spike bit their lips.

“But don´t worry! Discord will make sure she brings him to Grogar at the castle.”

“Which is why we need to leave!”

“They nodded and ran towards the castle.

“How did you find Discord?” Rarity asked Fluttershy.

“I ran away because the villains broke free, and then I found him with Grogar. He almost died before when we found each other. I don´t want my best friend dead!”

“You mean the love of your life.” Spike muttered after giving a fake cough.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

Meanwhile, the pillars, Stygian and Punja put on a brave face. Scorpan´s face, on the other hoof, was full of sadness and disappointment. Tirek was also serious and angry, however, he didn´t start attacking, which estranged them.

“What are you waiting for? Is it to make us suffer while thinking about our fates?” Rockhoof asked him.

“No.”

“Then why don´t you start attacking?” Flash Magnus challenged him.

“Are you scared?” Stygian asked him.

“Scared?” he laughed. “Please, as my treacherous and cowardly brother said, I would smash you without any second thoughts.”

When Tirek called him treacherous, he felt hurt. He hugged his knees while looking away. 

“DON´T YOU TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT!” Punja yelled from the ground. She walked towards Tirek as she scolded him. “Unlike you he´s noble and doesn´t act like a brat! And he doesn´t pick creature with creatures that are smaller than him because he isn´t mean. You are the coward for stealing magic just to make your low and tiny self-esteem!” she pointed at Tirek.

Tirek blinked surprised.

“Well, isn´t she a loudmouth?” he smirked at her. “If we weren´t in dire circumstances, I would have blasted you already.”

“Dire circumstances?” Meadowbrook raised an eyebrow confused. “You are the one who provoked all of this!”

“Well yes, but I wasn´t talking about that. Look, just like you I want to get Grogar out of the throne, and for that, I need to….” Tirek had trouble articulating his words, so it took him some time to finish the sentence. “Work with you.”

They widened their eyes.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Somnambula scowled suspiciously.

“Believe me, it sounds like a joke even to me but it´s not.”

“Does that mean that you… Are reforming?” Scorpan asked hopeful, with tears in his eyes.

“No! I´m not doing this for you, I´m doing this for me. And this doesn´t mean that I´m forgiving you either. You still are not my brother.”

Scorpan looked down in sadness and disappointment.

“Oh… I see… Still, I´m glad that you want to work with us.” he smiled sadly.

Tirek looked away in silence.

“How do we know you´re not lying?” Starswirl scoffed. “Why are you joining us all of the sudden?”

“I explained already!”

“Then show us that it´s true!”

“I´m doing it already! I could have killed you instead of talking to you and I haven´t!”

The pillars looked at each other, still skeptical about Tirek´s intentions.

“Did you ally with anypony in our side to prove it?” 

Tirek sighed frustrated. He knew they weren´t going to believe him.

“Princess Luna and… This is where it seems like a lie but isn´t.” he took some air before continuing and clapped his hands. “Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Every creature blinked astonished.

“You´re kidding.” Punja said in shock.

“I know it sounds unlikely but it´s the truth.”

The pillars looked at each other and nodded.

“He´s lying.” they said in chorus.

“For once in my life I´m not, I swear!”

Surprisingly, Tirek got some support, and from the creature he expected the least.

“He´s telling the truth.” Scorpan stated.

They all looked at Scorpan.

“How are you so sure of that?” Mistmane asked curiously.

“His body language. When he lies, you can see that his body tenses, as if he was ready to attack. However, when he´s telling the truth, it´s more withdrawn. And right now, he seemed withdrawn.”

He smiled at him, yet Tirek looked away once again, making the poor gargoyle sigh defeated. After Scorpan said that, they seemed more convinced, but they were still skepctical to trust him. Tirek groaned.

“Come on! Scorpan believes me! You know? It feels super weird to say this to you of all ponies, but I´m frustrated that you don´t trust me! I mean, I understand because I still hate you and am willing to hurt you, but I´ve already shown that I mean no harm for now? What do I have to do for to trust me?”

As he was talking, the pillars seemed scared, Stygian was even shaking. Scorpan and Punja hugged each other, with their eyes wide open.

“And now you´re scared, ugh, this just gets worse and worse.”

However, he soon realized they weren´t frightened of him when he saw three shadows. He turned around and saw three sirens smirking at him.

“Great, what was left.”

“Well, well, if it isn´t the ponies who condemned to live for eternity in another dimension.” Adagio said bitter.

“How? How did you come back?” Starswirl asked.

“By miracle, because of Grogar you fools!” Aria answered.

“If you´re looking for the cause of a disgrace right now, it´s Grogar.” Tirek clarified.

“But you don´t have your rubies! You cannot harm us!” Stygian smirked mischievously.

“Well, that´s true, but we´re still very strong physically.” Sonata responded sassily. “Whereas you´re not, from what I see.”

The three sirens were about to throw themselves to the pillars and Stygian, however they were stopped by a red and orange ray of magic, which threw them away for some time.

“Ouch!” the sirens complained.

They scowled when they realized that the responsible of that ray of magic was Tirek. He grinned victoriously and with lots of confidence.

“Do you believe me now?”

They all looked at each other and smirked confidently at Tirek.

“Yes.” Starswirl answered in name of the group. “But there´s something else for you to do.”

Tirek widened his eyes in horror.

“Tell me it´s not what I´m thinking. Because I do refuse to do that.”

“The sooner you give us our magic back, the sooner Grogar´s defeated. Besides, we want to see Twilight, just to see if you´re really telling the truth.”

Tirek sighed frustrated.

“Fine…”

He opened his mouth to let the pillars get their magic back. They hopped, ignited their horns, and flew full of joy. What they didn´t notice was that the sirens were coming back.

“Yay, yay. Let´s get over with this now.” Tirek said angrily.





The Young Six the CMC, Gabby and Terramar ran behind the main 5. They were so focused on getting into the castle that despite all the chaos around them, nothing seemed to get their attention. Well, nothing except perhaps one thing.

Yona´s ear twitched when she heard a familiar voice. A voice that belonged to a certain filly she hated. From the shock, she stopped running.

Sandbar noticed this and ran back to her.

“Yona! Why are you stopping? We need to get there as fast as possible.

His friends followed him when they noticed that Sandbar and Yona were missing.

“Nasty pony.” Yona simply replied.

They raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Nasty pony?” Scootaloo asked to Yona´s friends.

“Well that´s howe she called Neighsay and-” Smolder widened her eyes at the realization. “Wait. You mean Cozy Glow?”

Yona nodded.

“And why are you mentioning her right now?” Ocellus asked.

“Yona´s friends listen carefully.”

They tilted their heads to get a better hearing. They gasped when they heard Cozy´s voice.

“Um… Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like her?” Silverstream fidgeted her fingers nervously.

“No, no. It´s definitely her.” Gallus confirmed.

“If I don´t remember wrong what you told me, Cozy Glow is the evil filly that took over your school, right?” Terramar asked Silverstream.

“That´s correct!”

“Wait. She was a filly? I thought she was a grown mare!” Gabby exclaimed.

“Nope. She was a filly our age.” Apple Bloom stated.

“And where do you think she could be?” Sweetie Belle asked every creature.

Yona took some moments to answer to identify in which direction the voice came from.

“Nasty pony there!”

She ran to a corner, the rest following behind. They saw some boxes. They pulled them backwards and saw Cozy in there. The filly was whimpering in fear, praying for her safety. She widened her eyes when she saw them and blinked.

“On second thought, let the monsters eat me. Let the monsters eat me! Wait no, I don´t want that either. TIREEEEEEK!”

Smolder quickly covered her mouth.

“You´re not calling your evil buddies to get them to hurt us.”

“Hurt you?” she laughed sweetly. “I´m not hurting you. I´m by your side now!”

The Young Six and CMC all narrowed their eyes and raised their eyebrows. Terramar and Gabby shared glances.

“Ok, actually I´m not if we´re talking about redemption, but it´s true. I´m not calling Tirek to hurt you because we have to work with you.”

Gallus scoffed.

“For what?”

“Is that a serious question?” Cozy pointed at the castle.

“Ok. Let me get this straight.” Sandbar massaged his temples. “You want to work with us to defeat Grogar?”

“Yes.”

“Like that? All of the sudden? After what you did at the school twice?” Smolder asked bitter.

“I get that you´re angry but come on! Look at the situation we are in! We both want Grogar out of the throne, do we?”

“Yes, but you want it for yourself!” Apple Bloom accused her.

Cozy looked from side to side.

“But the more creatures, the better, right?”

Every creature shared suspicious glances.

“Ok fine! Do whatever you want! I have better things to do!” She jumped from the boxes and started walking away while muttering to herself. “See? This is what we told Twilight in the cavern.”

Everypony gasped when they heard the word `Twilight´.

“Twilight? You talked to her? In a cavern?” Scootaloo interrogated her.

“Oh…. Now you want to listen to me...”

“We haven´t got time for this!” Smolder shook her.

“Alright alright! I´ll tell you everything.”





“Girls, I have one question.” Rainbow told her friends.

“Go ahead!” Applejack answered.

“Where are the pirates, the yaks and kirins? They were with us before I left.”

“Fighting monsters.” Rarity replied.

“They woke up?!” Fluttershy asked anxious.

“It was bound to happen if you think about it.” Pinkie said to her. “Those monster can´t stay asleep forever!”

As they were conversating, Spike stopped running.

“Girls.”

They stopped running and turned around.

“Don´t you feel an absence?”

Rarity gasped dramatically.

“The girls! They stayed behind! They must be in danger!”

She was about to run, but Rainbow stopped her.

“Don´t worry. Here they come.”

“With…” Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Cozy Glow?”

The young creatures caught up with them in a matter of seconds. They panted heavily.

“Well, well, look who we have here. The evil filly.” Pinkie scowled at her.

“How did you find her?” Fluttershy asked curious.

“That doesn´t matter!” Ocellus exclaimed. 

“We have important news! Very important news!” Silverstream got Spike´s cheeks.

“Well, what is it?” he asked.

“Twilight! She´s alive!”

The mane 5 and Spike gasped.

“What?!”