Once morning came and everyone had their breakfast, it was time for help Lightning Twister and Roni before Ardyn’s nightmares get even more worse. Nirmala had taken care of helping the two while the others try to think of a way to stop Ardyn and his legion.
Lightning and Roni were resting on their backs in the river with their eyes close while Nirmala laid on her front watching them. This was part of helping them get through the fears they had in the nightmares and making sure less nightmares affect them.
The young six was sitting next to Nirmala to also keep an eye on Lightning. They refuse to leave his side while he heals from the nightmares, especially since Smolder’s his girlfriend and Silverstream shares a bond with him.
The others, including the rest of the Night Pride and the Lion Guard, were standing and sitting by the cave that leads to Kion and Rani’s throne rock, all trying to figure a way to stop Ardyn and his legion before they can succeed.
“So that’s it? We’re out of ideas,” said Rainbow in annoyance after giving up.
“Ideas don’t just grow on trees, Rainbow,” said Applejack.
“I’m not always good at these kinds of things,” said Flurry Heart feeling guilty for not thinking of any good ideas to help. Cadence gently rubbed her daughter’s shoulder to show she’s not in trouble for having no good ideas.
“He disappeared, along Eggman and those other villains, after our first fight,” said Sonic while pacing up and down, “And we figured he wasn’t done with the nightmares after explaining his plan. So he must have gone somewhere to continue the nightmare run. But where?”
“I don’t know, Sonic,” said Bayilo, “But we gotta figure this out soon. Who knows how many more nightmares he’s gonna pull before the darkness and evil become his! Nice necklace by the way, Sora.”
“Thank you.”
“Any ideas, Credence?” Starlight asked.
Credence just looked at Starlight and shrugged his shoulders, showing that he can’t think of any ideas that can help.
“Everyone!” Called Jacob, “Come look at this!”
Everyone went to where Jacob was standing and saw what he was on about. There they saw smoke coming from the top of the snowy mountain that was close to the Tree of Life. It was almost like there was a fire going on at a place where ice beats heat.
“That can’t be right,” said Kion, “Fires don’t always happen in the snow.”
“Yeah, especially up there and in the snow,” said Rani.
“Do you think someone’s up there doing something they shouldn’t or trying to signal us?” Asked Spike.
“Can’t be,” replied Bayilo, “That place was abandoned ever since Mom and Dad died.”
“I bet that’s where Ardyn or his legion of losers are hiding,” said Rainbow while punching her hoof in her hoof.
“Well there’s only one way to find,” said Applejack, “Let’s go catch those rotten apples.” Applejack was about to head on first, but she was stopped by Twilight’s hoof. “It’s best we let Kion and his friends and family go first. They know the way since this is still our first time here.”
“She has a point there,” agreed Rainbow.
Applejack wanted to say something, but she was worried it might turn into an argument. Plus she knew Twilight was right. Kion and his friends and family know the Tree of Life better than them and they should go first so they can lead to the snowy mountain. So she just smiled at her alicorn friend and said, “Quite right, sugarcube.”
“Follow us,” said Kion as he and his friends and family started making their way to the snowy mountain. Everyone else followed them from behind.
Back to the young seven, Nirmala and Roni, the two were still resting in the river with the lioness and the six friends watching over them. It’s been over fifteen minutes, and things were looking okay so far.
“How many more minutes do they have left?” Asked Ocellus.
“Let’s give them a few minutes before we move on to the next test of healing,” answered Nirmala.
“I hope they’re doing okay,” said Smolder worriedly, “If this doesn’t work and Ardyn does drain the darkness while hurting Braveheart, I won’t be easy to stop when I get my claws on him.”
“Relax, my dear, they’re doing just fine. And please do save your fight for Ardyn. Right now, you need to focus on your boyfriend. He needs you. After all, you still love him, don’t you?”
Smolder smiled at Nirmala while blushing. She nodded her head and said, “Yes, I still love him. And I will do anything to protect him.”
Nirmala smiled softly at the orange dragon before saying, “I know you will.”
Just then, while Roni was still relaxing in the river, Lightning started to toss and turn making splashes as his hooves hit the water. Nirmala and the young six quickly saw this and was shocked to see what was happening to the poor colt.
“No, no no!” Smolder said worried as she quickly got up and run to him. She carefully picked him up and held him close to her chest in her arms.
“I’ve got you, Braveheart! It’s okay, shhh…”
The other five and Nirmala rushed over to them as Roni slowly woke up from his relaxation and sat up while remaining in the river. He then saw Lightning in Smolder’s arms and asked, “Wha…what’s going on? What’s happened?”
“Little pony was tossing in river!” Yona answered in a panic tone.
“And strange too,” added Nirmala, “That’s never happened to anyone before.”
“Are you okay, cutie?” Asked Silverstream while gently stroking her friend’s mane, “What happened?”
Lightning slowly opened his eyes and worriedly looked at the hippogriff before asking, “Where’s Momma?”
Back on the snowy mountain, the heroes walked amongst the snow to where the smoke was coming. They have been walking for miles, even though it wasn’t that far from the kingdom, as Rainbow was getting tired from flying and decided to walk instead.
“Getting tired already, darling?” Asked Rarity, “And I thought you never get tired from flying that much.”
“Now’s not the time, Rarity. This is important.”
Once they reached to where it was close to the top of the mountain, they saw a patch of dirt on the snow showing a bit of green grass while smoke continued to rose into the sky. But strangely, there was no one near the dirt and no sign of anything that they may have used to start the fire.
“Well, that’s weird,” said Pinkie, “The fire may be out, but there’s no one around.”
“Yeah, I feel like this was some kind of trap just to keep us away from the kingdom,” said Axel.
Oliver and Kion expected the dirt as Oliver sniffed it before picking some up with his hoof to take a closer look.
“Hmmm…strange,” said the alicorn.
“What do you mean?” Kion asked.
“This fire was started, but also, put out minutes ago,” answered Oliver, “So Axel could be right. Someone must have done this to keep us away from the kingdom.”
“Like some sort of trap that Axel just mentioned?” Bunga asked.
“Exactly.” Oliver looked at Doctor Strange and said, “Doctor Strange, do you think you could…?”
Before he could finish, they all heard a familiar voice coming towards them.
“Momma! Momma!”
“Lightning?” Fluttershy turned, with everyone else turning around as well, as they all saw Nirmala, Roni and the young seven running towards them as fast as their hooves, claws and paws can carry them.
“Mom! Dad!” Roni shouted, “It’s a trap!”
“What?” Rani asked.
Nirmala, Roni and the young seven stopped near the groups as Roni shouted again, “It’s a trap!”
Before anyone could say anything else, a bunch of dark shadowy wolves appeared around them all, trapping them in a circle. They growled at them causing Flurry Heart to hide underneath her mother. Donald crossed his arms and looked away with an annoyed look on his face and said, “Of course it is.”
“Well well well, look what we have here,” said a familiar male voice.
“Makucha!” Kion growled, recognising that voice.
“And he’s not alone,” said a familiar female voice.
“Chrysalis?!” Twilight and Oliver said in unison.
And just after saying her name, Makucha appeared from behind a snowy boulder while Chrysalis crawled on top of the boulder on her back.
“Surprised to see me again? Oh I’m so fluttered,” said Chrysalis while twisting her head round and grinning at everyone.
“Seems like the plan actually worked,” said Makucha, “And it looks like the children made it in time as well.”
Lightning and Roni knew they were on about them as the young lion hid underneath Nirmala while the colt hid underneath Silverstream’s mane. Twilight could tell the two were scared to what Chrysalis and Makucha might do to them. She glared at them before saying, “I swear, if either of you put one claw or hoof on them…!”
“Oh don’t worry, Princess,” interrupted Makucha, “We don’t plan to hurt them. We just need them to come with us nice and calmly, and none of their friends and family will get hurt.” He stared at Fluttershy, “Starting with her!”
Chrysalis used her changeling slime to trap Fluttershy in the snow as her hooves were now stuck in changeling slime and it was strong enough to stick to the snow.
“Momma!” Cried Lightning worriedly.
“Don’t worry about me, baby,” said Fluttershy, “I’ll be fine. Don’t do what they tell you.”
Everyone tried to help Fluttershy, but the wolves jumped in front of them to stop them and growled at them, signalling them not to get any ideas. Rainbow and Sonic were about to fight them to get them out of their way until Twilight flew in front of them to stop them before they could get hurt.
“Wait!”
“But Twilight, Fluttershy’s in…!”
“I know, I know, Rainbow! But we can’t! If we try and fight them, we will be making things easier for them!”
“I would listen to Twilight,” said Chrysalis while grinning, “You know she’s telling the truth.” She turned to Twilight who was glaring her. “You were wise to stop your friends from approaching. The wolves can really cause you more pain we ever can.”
Twilight sighed calmly before saying, “Look, Chrysalis. It’s me you really want. Let Fluttershy go and leave Lightning and Roni out of it.”
“Twilight, no! Don’t!” Pinkie said worriedly.
Chrysalis chuckled, “So brave of you to risk your own life to save the lives of Starlight, your friends, a young lion and your nephew. However, my revenge on you and, of course, Starlight will be coming a bit later. Just as soon we deliver the children to Ardyn.”
“Like that’s ever gonna happen!” Sonic said while charging up.
“Don’t even try,” said Shadow as he dropped from the sky and landed on his feet making a couple of snow fly up to where his head was.
“Shadow!” Growled Sonic.
“Not happy to see me again? I’m so hurt,” said Shadow while grinning.
“Don’t make me do this to you,” growled Sonic.
“Why waste your time in doing so? You know you can’t beat me, faker.”
Sonic started to get really angry after being called “faker” again. The blue sparks start to go haywire on him, showing that he was now triggered. “I…am not…A FAKE!!” He suddenly zoomed towards the bad hedgehog.
“Sonic, wait!” Tom shouted.
But it was too late. Sonic was already now fighting Shadow as he zoomed past him while punching in the face, the stomach, the back and the sides. He then punched him in the face several times in a quick speed before kicking him hard which made him fly into the air. Sonic jumped high up and gave Sonic a big punch down and made Shadow crush into the snow.
However, Shadow didn’t break a sweat, even after all that punching, kicking and being punched to the snow. He does have some bruises on him, but he still didn’t felt a thing.
Sonic landed back on the snow and walked towards Shadow. He breathed heavily while glaring at the hedgehog before asking, “Had enough yet, faker?!”
Shadow slowly got up and stared at the blue hedgehog.
“That was a mistake.”
Shadow disappeared in the flesh before reappearing next to Sonic while backwards kicking him on the side. He fell to the snow and slid backwards as he banged his head on a boulder.
“Sonic!” Cried Tails and Knuckles.
Tom was about to run up to his friend, but Maddie stopped him from even getting a little close to the two hedgehogs.
Shadow walked towards the hedgehog and picked him up by the spikes. He held him tight which was hurting Sonic. Flurry Heart was scared to even imagine what will happen next. She quickly looked around to see if there was anything that could help until she saw a boulder that was small enough to be used. She used her magic to lift the boulder up and make fly towards Shadow. But unknowingly, that boulder was holding the snow from falling from the top of the highest mountain.
“Now you will pay for what you did to Maria!” Shadow said angrily while pulling his fist back, as it charged with red sparks, ready to punch Sonic.
But before he could deliver the punch, he was smacked on the back of his head with a boulder. The red sparks on his fist faded away as he just stood there feeling the pain while letting go of Sonic.
“Ow,” he said slowly. He then fell into the snow and passed out.
Sonic slowly tried to get up while moaning in pain. Tails, Knuckles, Tom and Maddie ran to his acid as Tails and Tom helped him up.
“Sonic, are you okay?” Asked Maddie worriedly.
“I think so,” answered Sonic before seeing Shadow passed out in the snow, “What just happened?”
“I uh…I threw a boulder at his head,” replied Flurry Heart in a nervous tone.
“Flurry Heart, you threw a boulder at his head?” Cadence asked her daughter in surprised.
“He was going to hurt him really bad, Mama!” Flurry explained in a worried and panic tone, “I couldn’t let him get even more than he already is, so I…!”
Before Flurry could finish her sentence, they all heard a loud rumbling sound that shook the area and was close to them all. It also made the dark wolves vanish into thin air.
“Was that your stomach growling, Goofy?” Donald asked worriedly.
“Nope, it wasn’t me,” answered Goofy.
“Then wha…uh-oh,” said Donald as he started to realise what that rumbling sound actually was.
The wizard and everyone else, including Chrysalis and Makucha, but not Shadow since he’s still passed out, all looked up to where the top of the mountain was and saw snowy dust from above. It got closer and closer as a giant pile of snow came running down the hill. It was a snow avalanche. And it was a big one too.
“Oh that’s not good,” said Sunburst.
“AVALANCHE!” Pinkie cried.
“Run!” Rani shouted as they all ran as fast as they could to get away from the avalanche. Twilight and Cadence worked together to help Fluttershy break free from the slime. The three quickly flew away to catch up with the others.
“Quick! Grab Shadow and let’s get out of here!” Chrysalis said.
“But what about the pony and lion?” Makucha asked.
“Oh forget about them, we got to save ourselves!” Shouted Chrysalis, “Come on! Hurry!”
Makucha quickly ran to where Shadow was and placed him on his back. Chrysalis flew towards them as a dark corridor quickly appears and took them away before the avalanche could even get to them.
The heroes were running and flying as fast as they can as the avalanche was getting more and more closer to them. They were running out of breath and the strength to run even more. Lightning was even struggling to keep a hold on Silverstream as she was flying quickly while trying not to let Lightning fall off her.
While breathing heavily and still running, Bunga shouted, “The avalanche is going even faster than we are!”
“Just stop talking and run!” Sandbar shouted as he ran past Bunga.
With the avalanche getting closer and closer by the second, it managed to scoop up everyone that was running and flying away from it. They all screamed as the avalanche continued to run while making them disappear into the snow. At last, the avalanche came to stop as it stopped by a bunch if trees on a nice green grass part from the Tree of Life with some pits of the snow sticking to the tree logs and around them.
Everyone was okay, aside from having some snow on their heads, manes and tails while some have their heads and fronts stuck in the snow. They were all not happy with what just happened just now, including Flurry Heart, Cosmos and Newt.
All except for Bunga and Binga who jumped from underneath from the snow and cheered, “Wow! Woo!” Bunga fist bumped Capper on the arm and said, “Yeah! Who’s up for round two?!”
Everyone, including Capper, Yozora and Cosmos, but except for those that had their fronts stuck in the snow, gave Bunga and Binga a not amused face showing that what just happened wasn’t fun at all.
“No thank you!” Sora shouted crossly.
Donald and Goofy got up and brushed the snow off their clothes and hats.
“Remind me to book a holiday that doesn’t involve snow when we get the chance,” said Goofy to Donald.
“With pleasure.”
Smolder got out from the snow before coughing some snow out of her mouth. She brushed some snow off her body, tail, antlers and wings. After she cleaned the snow off her, she looked around and noticed someone, or rather somepony, was missing.
“Braveheart? Braveheart! Lightning, where are you?! Can you hear me?!”
Before she could get even mire about her boyfriend, she saw something trying to get out from the snow nearby. The snow bursted up to reveal Lightning Twister who started coughing out some of the snow that managed to get into his mouth.
“Braveheart!” Smolder quickly ran to the little colt and carefully picked him up. She gently hugged him, letting him rest his head on her shoulder and slowly rubbed his back. Lightning continued to cough the last remaining snow in his mouth as Fluttershy and Capper came to check on him.
“Lightning sweetheart, are you okay?!” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“I think so, Momma,” answered Lightning after coughing one more time, “But I got a bit of snow stuck to my tail.”
“Oh dear, let me have a look,” said Fluttershy as she started checking the snow that was stuck to her son’s tail.
“What in tarnation just happened?” Asked Applejack while cleaning the snow from her hat, “None of us has yelled to cause that avalanche to happen.”
“The avalanche wasn’t caused by yelling,” said Rani, “The boulder was the one that made it happened.”
“It was? How?” Rarity asked.
“After Kion and Rani became king and queen,” began Surak, “We discovered the snow on top of the mountain was building up to cause a huge ambulance that could hurt everyone. The boulder was the only thing that was keeping the snow from building from the inside.”
“So the boulder was holding the snow from the inside to stop it from building that avalanche?” Cadence asked which led to Surak nodding his head for a yes.
Shining started to get very cross as he turned to where Flurry Heart was. She was just cleaning off the bits of snow that was on her mane until she heard her father’s voice.
“FLURRY HEART!”
Flurry jumped in surprised. She saw her father walking towards her with a cross look on his face. She started to get scared as to what Shining is going to say to her.
“Do you have any idea how much damage you caused back up there?!”
“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?” Flurry asked in a scared tone.
“The avalanche that just happened!” Shining snapped, “You removed a boulder that was keep the snowing from getting larger to make a big bunch of snow fall!”
“But…but I didn’t know that was gonna happen. I was just trying to save Sonic.”
“So you decided to use a boulder?!”
“I just said I didn’t know that was gonna happen! Rani didn’t tell us about it during the tour!”
“Don’t you dare take that tone with me, young filly! And that should be a lesson to you! You should ask if there’s anything you need to know before you even think about doing it!”
“Stop shouting at me! We only had a tour around the Tree of Life, not up there as well!” Flurry shouted, “Why are you mad at me for doing something I didn’t mean to do?! You always get mad at me when I do something wrong, even if it was just a small mistake! And you treat me like I’m still the baby that destroyed the Crystal Heart and nearly doomed everypony in the Crystal Empire!”
“That’s because you ARE!” Shining yelled.
Flurry was now in shock from the outburst her father did as her expression turned into a sad look. Shining’s anger suddenly turned into a shock expression as to what he just did. Everyone, including Yozora and Doctor Strange, all had shock expressions after seeing what Shining just did. Lightning got scared from Shining’s outburst and hid his face in his girlfriend’s chest.
A small tear started to roll down Flurry Heart’s face. She couldn’t hold in anymore. She let her tears run free as she shouted, “You don’t want me to be the next princess?! Fine, I won’t be the next princess! I’ll just become a normal alicorn living with other ponies! And if they ask me why I’m not ruling the Crystal Empire, I’ll just tell them that my dad thinks I’m just a Crystal Heart destroyer and I was a mistake to be born as an alicorn and not a unicorn!”
Flurry started to cry and run past Shining. But instead of crying to her mother, aunt or brother, or even Spike, she ran to Rani and cried into her chest fur. Rani was taken by surprised while wrapping her paws around the poor filly. But she then glared at the white stallion while pulling Flurry Heart close to her in comfort.
Everyone else, including Dumbledore, Credence, Cadence, Yozora, Axel, Kairi and Xion, glared crossly at Shining for yelling at Flurry Heart for a small mistake she did. Donald and Goofy saw that Sora wasn’t very happy with Shining either as the two stared crossly at the stallion as well with Donald crossing his arms and Goofy placing his fists on his hips.
Shining started to feel ashamed and guilty for what he just did. He then saw his wife coming towards him, and boy, was she not very happy with him. When she got close to him, she showed him her angry expression once more, like what happened in Canterlot, as she said to him in a very angry tone,
“Get your rear end, in the cave, NOW!!!”