After a long trek back to Canterlot, mind-controlling everypony that came his way as he did so, Tom rested in front of the petrified trio of villains that all of Equestria had a hand in defeating. He could have just teleported to his destination but he needed to build up an army just in case dominating the minds of any remaining rulers of the different parts of Equestria proved to be difficult. Using Discord’s power, he zapped the Cozy Glow statue and watched as it slowly turned back into a living, breathing pony. Cozy fell to the floor and quickly gasped for air, as any little child would do when turned to stone without trial and most likely being conscious during their tenure as a living statue.
“I’m free!” Cozy happily exclaimed as she flew off from the ground.
“Not you’re not,” Tom bluntly stated before zapping Cozy with the assortment of mind-control spells he spammed a good portion of Equestria’s population with.
As Cozy hovered above the ground, Tom summoned a large spire beneath them that stretched all the way to the clouds, but not towards Cloudsdale because Tom hadn’t conquered that part of Equestria yet.
“You’re a child prodigy/evil genius, right?” Tom asked the enthralled Cozy.
“Yes,” Cozy responded monotonously.
“Let me know if there are any evil flaws in this plan,” Tom commanded, “I intend on travelling all of Equestria by hoof, bending everypony to my will as I do so. I shall start with Canterlot, then work my way down to Ponyville, then go through every town and city in Equestria before seizing the Crystal Empire with my army. After I had succeeded in taking over everypony in the Crystal Empire, I shall move onward to Yakyakistan and then teleport myself and my army to Griffonstone and take over every griffon there and then teleport to the Dragon Lands and take over the dragons there. And then I create massive air bubbles that asphyxiate the hippogriffs in their seapony forms because Seaquestria is going to be a nightmare to conquer since none of us can breathe underwater.”
“And then?” Cozy asked.
“And then I can sit back with a good book and rest for a bit before setting my sights on Farasi and maybe where the centaurs live,” Tom replied.
“I noticed some flaws,” Cozy stated.
“Do tell,” Tom casually ordered.
“We’re not that far from Cloudsdale,” Cozy explained, “Shouldn’t we start there then go to Canterlot?”
“Good idea,” Tom replied.
“Also, what about the School of Friendship?” Cozy asked.
“Twilight has probably bordered herself in there by now and warned the students there and some of her friends of my conquest,” Tom replied, “But I already depowered her, mind-controlled Fluttershy, and smashed the Rainbow Power box into a gazillion pieces and burned the pieces for good measure so trust me when I say she isn’t a threat.”
“But what about her students?” Cozy asked, “I’m pretty sure six of them are capable of wielding the Elements.”
“Yeah, it has recently occurred to me that the Young Six might be a problem,” Tom replied, “But if I can defeat the Pillars of Equestria by pulling on Star-Swirl’s beard, I’m sure I can defeat the Young Six by encasing them in a big block of ice the moment I lay eyes on them. Anything else of note?”
“Nope,” Cozy replied, “Can’t seem to find any more flaws in your nefarious plan.”
Tom marched into the Crystal Empire with his army of mentally-dominated ponies in tow. He felt like King Sombra in The Beginning of the End, though he hoped to not repeat his mistakes nor to make any major oversights that will bite him in the ass later on. Though, to be fair to Sombra, there was a good chance that Discord’s resurrection of him did leave him without a few brain cells. This was Discord, after all. It wouldn’t have been out of character for him to rewrite Sombra’s personality into that of a cartoonish supervillain, even if that supervillain came pretty close to winning.
Suddenly, a pair of royal guards charged at Tom on one side and another pair charged at him on the other. With a blast of magic and a big black crystal summon beneath him, Tom knocked the guards onto their flanks and added them to his ever-growing army. As he and his army reached the castle, he smiled.
“Who wants to bet they left Flurry Heart on her own again?” Tom asked.
Having wasted enough time already with quips and informing his enthralled allies of his plans, Tom teleported into Flurry Heart’s room and zapped her with the mind-control spells. Even though he was in a rush to conquer Equestria before anypony that still had their free will could formulate a plan to stop him, Tom waited for Cadence and Shining Armor to barge into the room. And when they inevitably did, Tom did his thing and made them a part of his collective. Unlike with Twilight, neither Cadence nor Shining Armor had the chance or time to defend themselves from Tom’s mind-bending ways. If Tom didn’t know any better, he would say he was getting good at this.
“Ever get that feeling of deja vu?” Tom quipped.