Thorax reached beneath his wings to pull out the miniature crystal heart that he had told us about from his time speaking with Flurry Heart. “Use this,” he said, “If done just right, it’ll shatter the Tree of Harmony and set Discord free along with everyone else who was corrupted by its magic. Who’s going to use it?”
Cozy’s body started to show more and more cracks by the minute. She wouldn’t last much longer at this rate.
But I, as well as the rest of my crew were also too tired to make use of it either. It would be a while before they were properly rested enough to make use of any kind of magic. And me? I was on the verge of passing out, but continuously fought it off.
I spoke up. “...Thorax. Can you activate it for us? We’re in no condition to use something of that potency. And you’re more familiar with the Magic of Love than we are…” I glanced at the rest of my crew, and they all agreed with silent nods. Cozy Glow simply hung her head, ashamed of the fact that she could do anything else on her own.
The changeling king hesitated for a moment, as if he was unsure of himself. But once he realized just how damaged we all were, he replied with a nod as well. “Understood. Give me a second. Just hold still, and try not to use any more magic until I’m finished.”
I watched as the changeling flew above and over us towards the Tree. It felt nice knowing that I could count on lots of other individuals at this stage in my life. Even if I didn’t know them all, the many faces of Equestria were all capable in their own right.
Once Thorax was at the Tree, he used his horn to fire a small, fine laser through the tiny heart-shaped crystal, which in turn, fanned out and became a much thicker laser made of pure white light.
As soon as it hit the floor, nothing happened. It was harmless to most materials it seemed. But then, he aimed it at the base of the Tree of Harmony. As soon as he did, we heard it sizzle…
ZZZZZ!
“It’s working,” he said, “Just have to position it a bit further…”
Thorax aimed the laser directly upwards, and bisected the tree vertically. Now split clean in half, the tree was forced to regurgitate all those it had swallowed thanks to Grogar’s influence.
“AAAH--OOF!”
A large group of voices were heard followed by a loud thud upon the floor. As fate would have it, it wasn’t just Discord and Fluttershy that were captured by the tree. There was also the former princesses: Celestia and Luna!
“Damn it all,” Luna swore to herself as she rose from off the ground, “Never again will I allow myself to fall for the deception of a distress signal.”
“Don’t look at me,” Celestia replied, “I was just as concerned as you were. I had no clue that Grogar could create astral projections.”
So that’s what happened to them. Well, I’m sure there was far more to it than just that, but there would be time for questions later.
I looked around for Discord, and didn’t stop him. Not right away, anyway. Until…
“Ah! Finally, we’re out of that wretched beast’s trap…” a certain voice proclaimed. “Thank you for holding onto my power, kiddo. I’ll take it off your hooves now.”
All of a sudden, the damage to Cozy’s body had been removed. With a hefty gasp for air, she returned to normal and almost fell against me. “AGH! Ow...whew…I am so glad that that’s over. And...you’re welcome.”
Fluttershy meanwhile, was knocked out cold. Discord had herded her onto her back in order to keep her safe. “There is...quite a lot to unpack here. So I suggest we regroup with our little army outside, yes?”
That’s right! I had completely forgotten about the fact that we had the entire Middle-Equestrian population on our side for this battle. All I could do was hope that everyone involved who had decided to join us in this conflict was alright.
We wasted no time, and rushed outside of the castle to the grounds where everyone else had been busy with their fight against the other demons that Grogar had summoned. Sure enough, everyone had slowly but surely turned back into their normal selves and had escaped the influence that Grogar placed upon them. Even Thorax was able to return to his more colorful form now that everything had been properly restored.
“Thank goodness,” I said quietly, “Everyone seems to be okay.”
“Of course they are, Pale,” Discord said, “It’s thanks to your leadership that they’re all still able to stand here with the rest of us.”
As soon as the crowd laid eyes upon us, they realized we were victorious once we emerged with Discord and the alicorns in tow, because they immediately started to cheer. And I mean cheer. Loud screams and whoops of passion for us because of how we saved them as well as because of how brave we were. Babs and Cheerilee were right up in front in particular. Alongside them were Vinyl Scratch, Trixie, Sunburst, and even Terramar and Slipstream.
And to be honest? I naturally felt awkward about it.
“EVERYONE PLEASE!” I shouted to get the attention of the crowd, to which they fell silent. “Ahem...sorry about that. I appreciate your gratitude, but we need to focus up. The damage that this has caused has permeated throughout the entire state of our land. Homes destroyed, ponies injured, and hospitalized. We need to put our priorities towards fixing everything that was hurt by this conflict before we even dare celebrate.”
The crowd numbered amongst themselves out of confusion, but it slowly turned into mumbles of understanding and cooperation. Everyone knew that we had suffered a lot of damage here, and that’s what needed to be handled first.
However, Luna stepped forward as soon as I stated my piece. “...While that is noble of you, may I kindly ask you to sit out for a while?”
I turned my head to the blue alicorn. “Hm?”
Celestia chimed in next. “You look absolutely ragged. As does Cozy Glow and the rest of your friends…”
Twas true. My friends and I were all absolutely drained by such a scenario. Each of them could barely stand, and Cozy couldn’t even unfurl her wings by this point. And me? Well, I think I overworked every muscle in my body to the point of internal bleeding. It just hadn’t set in yet.
“But...there’s no way I could put that on you two. I’m sure you’re rather concerned about Conterlot…”
“While we are,” Celestia replied, “That doesn’t mean we’re just going to--”
Discord decided to chime back in. “Actually...allow me to assist with that. Pale and his friends can have some time off, and I’ll make sure the restoration of Ponyville goes swimmingly. You have nothing to fear.”
The alicorn sisters were incredulous. But there was absolutely no time to argue.
“...Very well,” Celestia agreed, “Everypony, return to your homes, and--”
That’s when I hit the ground with a smack like a cow that had been forcefully flipped over on command. Yup. The pain finally caught up to me.