Once Pinkie was done making a couple of Waystones, as they had no idea how many might be needed in the future, she put one down in the depths of the Stronghold, near the area that she and the others had dug into earlier, before regrouping with Octavia, Steve, and Alex outside their hole.
"Okay, so we have both Waystones and we know where the Stronghold is located, so all we need are flying mounts to set us up for the End?" Octavia inquired, where she still found it weird that they had reached this point, nearing one of their main objectives, and thanks to Pinkie's ally they had crushed the Wither, but she wasn't about to complain, since it meant they were closer to the end of this adventure.
"Yeah, and we should hunt down some tough ones, since we have no idea what's in the End." Alex said, something that caused Steve to nod his head in agreement, and she knew Octavia would see logic in her suggestion, while Pinkie was okay with her idea, especially since she had her wings, meaning she didn't need a flying mount at all.
"So the birds are out of the question, and I'm not sure the bats will do well either, so I guess we'll have to hunt down some of the dragons, the smaller ones that are treated as monsters." Steve stated, though he knew that such a thing would be hard to accomplish, because the only dragons that weren't the ones they fled from were the ones near the golem, and since he didn't see them fly he guessed they were flightless, causing him to sigh as he turned towards Pinkie, "Your ally wouldn't have an idea on where we can start, would she?"
"No, she says her power's been limited since her brothers imprisoned her, and she's used most of it to help us track down the Nether Fortress and a few other items," Pinkie replied, but as she said that, noticing that the others were surprised by her statement, she glanced at the atlas for a moment and studied the provinces they had passed through to get here, "Now I might be wrong, but the plains we passed through earlier might be one of the best places to find the creatures we're after, though to tame them I need to make some Dragon Treats."
"Okay, and what do we need to make those?" Octavia asked, because she knew that Pinkie already knew the recipe, due to discovering it from one of her tomes, which was the most likely explanation right now, or the other Admin gave it to her not that long ago, and she was curious as to what she and the others had to do this time around.
"Two bones and five emeralds." Pinkie answered, where she paused for a moment as she noticed the looks her friends gave her, as they couldn't believe that the recipe to make an item to tame a monster would require emeralds, before walking over to the Crafting Table and pulled out the items in question, combining them into a set of deep red hearty treats, four to be exact, before she got to work making more, "Yes, I know it seems weird, but this will help you tame the creature's we'll be hunting down... we won't be able to use the same method as the last time, though I'm sure we'll figure something out once we find our targets."
Octavia said nothing as she accepted a pile of treats, more than enough to tame several creatures, which she stored inside her Inventory before taking her position on her mount as Steve and Alex gathered the treats they needed for what they were about to do, to finish the last step before they faced the Ender Dragon.
You did that, didn't you? Octavia asked, as she knew that the Voice was always nearby, because their conversations told her that it hadn't returned to the Lost Dimension over the last couple of days, though at the same time she got ready, as it seemed like the others were getting ready to travel back to the plains.
My dear Octavia, you'll have to be more specific. the Voice replied, where they both knew what she was talking about and she figured it was doing this either to annoy her, which seemed to be working, or because she happened to be one of the few who hadn't been corrupted entirely after the first encounter with the parasites, I have done many things, so it's hard to keep track of them all, just as we have also done many things since settling into our private dimension... I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific if you want this conversation to go anywhere.
I mean the brief modifications that were made to my legs! Even with all the Experience I've gained, even if I'm the lowest of the group, I shouldn't have been able to do that. Octavia stated, taking a moment to pause as the others reached an area that had some monsters in it, green herbivores who seemed to be minding their own business, and who also looked close to dinosaurs, before they started moving and allowed her to get back to the Voice, You clearly did something to me so I'd be able to defeat the Wither, a creation of one of the Admins no less... why help me? I'm also surprised you aren't trying to tear me down from the inside, since we'll be fighting what is essentially your own kin soon.
We were created to corrupt all living creatures and unite them under a single banner, and our maker figured we'd turn on the creations of his brother, if given the chance. the Voice answered, informing her that it didn't matter to the being in question, it was perfectly fine with her and her friends going to war against the Wither, Ender Dragon, and anything else the Admins had created so far, meaning it likely got stronger the more it killed, It's like I told you earlier, you liked what we showed you in our dimension, the power your ascended form possessed, and your body reacted to a sight boost in power... not enough to utterly change you, but enough to take down the Wither. I know you don't trust us, Octavia, but we are on your side... unlike the Pink One, who serves the Fallen Admin and will turn on you when she or her patron figure out we are talking. We can give you the power to stand up to them, but only if you join us.
Octavia said nothing to that as she focused on figuring out where their targets were located, choosing to ignore the Voice and what it was saying, because while part of her was annoyed at Pinkie for not telling them about their ally as soon as she returned from the Lost Dimension, she wasn't any better in that regard. She really had no idea how the others would react if she told them that she was talking to something from the dimension that killed her, something that was offering her power and had already given her more knowledge after being revived from her brief ordeal. While she felt that they might understand her situation, since Pinkie was sort of in the same position she was in, Octavia knew it wouldn't last for long, not when they realized that she might be a danger to both them and their world, since it was a parasite, an ancient one no doubt, that she was speaking to. If that was possible she knew the others would be worried about her falling into madness, becoming a monster bent on corrupting this world and converting everything like the dark beings wanted, so she had to keep this secret until she figured out what she was going to do about it.
It took them some time to find the place that Pinkie wanted to set up shop in and once they reached it Steve, Alex, and Octavia dismissed their mounts, returning them to the tomes they came from, something that they were getting used to, before Pinkie set up a hidden area for everyone to hide in, made of stone and dirt that blended into the area, and as soon as she was done they moved inside it.
From there the group simply waited as time passed, allowing Octavia to read more of her tome as she silently delved into it's secrets, leaving Steve and Alex to simply rest as Pinkie kept an eye out for the monsters she felt were the best for them to use against the Ender Dragon and the denizens of the End. Since most monsters didn't come out during the day there wasn't much for most of them to do, so Pinkie maintained her watch as she mentally spoke to their patron, which Steve and Alex were fine with since the unknown figure wanted to bring down the three Admins. For a time it really felt like they were wasting time, when they could be looking for their targets elsewhere, but Pinkie was determined to make sure this worked out and the others followed suit, allowing her to expand her energy by staying awake as the evening slowly turned to night. When the moon emerged and the sun disappeared Pinkie glanced out at the surrounding area as the others got ready for the task that was ahead of them, where she found Skeletons, Zombies, a few Creepers, and a couple of other minor monsters, before she spotted what had to be their prizes.
She was looking at a trio of wyvern dragons that were different than the dragons they had seen so far, looking more like they could take a beating and then some, one being a black beast, the second being a light white, and the third being a slight green color, and based on how they were acting it looked like the other monsters were scared of them.
Fortunately they were in different parts of the plains, scaring the other creatures of the night by just being there, so Pinkie came up with an interesting idea, she would knock each to the group, hopefully without alerting the others, and one of her friends would force feed it until it bonded with them. As it turned out Octavia took the black one, Steve went with the light white, and Alex went with the green one, where Pinkie flew through the air as she carried her fellow Equestria over to their target and dropped her down into the area, surprising the Morock, which was the monster's name, in the process. While it was surprised Pinkie landed on it's back and did her best to pin it to the ground before it could move into the air, though as that happened Octavia rushed forward for a moment and offered it some of the treats they had crafted before taking on this mission. Sure enough it took a few tries for the beast to calm down, even though it devoured the treats like they were candy, before it eventually succumbed to Octavia's desires and bonded with her, allowing Pinkie to climb off before taking the other two out to their intended targets, allowing her friend to rub the dragon's snout as she wondered what else needed to be done before they were ready to go.
It took some time for them to get both of the other Morocks under control, but once they were tamed Pinkie had them follow her back to their base, where she intended on crafting them some diamond armor, as that was all she could make for mounts, but Octavia knew that once that was done they were going to head to the End and finally deal with the Ender Dragon at long last.