//------------------------------// // Who is Professor Screw? // Story: The Return of King Sombra // by Dragon-Master-31 //------------------------------// Meanwhile, somewhere in the Yaket Range… Twilight found herself standing in the mountains of the Yaket Range. The wind blew furiously, and the snow fell heavily. A cold chill ran up Twilight’s spine as her body was suddenly exposed to the sudden shift in temperature. The snow that had already decorated the mountains was up to Twilight’s knees. Despite the extreme cold, Twilight looked around as she tried to find the Professor. Twilight panicked as she couldn’t find any signs of life on the mountain until she heard a chuckle come from behind her. Twilight turned around and watched as Professor Screw slowly began to come into view, almost as if he was materializing. “I apologize I could not bring us somewhere warmer, but I’m sure that is not important to you.” Professor Screw said as he grinned at Twilight. Even though the wind was howling so loudly, Professor Screw spoke in at a normal volume. Despite this, Twilight somehow still found herself able to hear every word he spoke. “You told us that you’ve been alive for more than a thousand years!” Twilight yelled; the wind was so loud she could barely hear her own voice. “The only way that could be possible is if you didn’t disappear with the Crystal Empire! If that is true, how are you still alive!?” “You’re quite right, Princess Twilight.” Professor Screw said with a nod. “By your logic, I should have died a long time ago. The reason I am still alive is because of King Sombra.” “King Sombra!?” Twilight cried, shocked to hear the name of the evil tyrant. “That’s right. A long time ago, during King Sombra’s first attempt to take over the Crystal Empire, he put a curse on me so that, in the simplest of terms, my aging process would pause until the Empire returned. Now that the Crystal Empire has returned, my aging process has resumed.” Professor Screw explained. “But why would King Sombra put a curse on you!?” Twilight asked. “Well, it wasn’t necessarily a curse, but it all depends on how you look at it. On one hoof, it’s a blessing to be able to live for over a thousand years. It gave me plenty of time to practice and experiment with dark magic. On the other hoof however, it can get quite lonely and dull being alive for so long.” Professor Screw said. “That’s not what I asked you! Why did Sombra curse you!?” Twilight yelled, flaring her wings in anger. “His majesty told me that it was necessary for the future.” Professor Screw replied. “His majesty? Sounds like you were loyal to him!” Twilight yelled, pointing a hoof at him. “(Chuckle) I suppose you could say that.” Professor Screw said. “Why would you be loyal to somepony as evil as King Sombra!? You just said he put a curse on you!” Twilight cried. “You could never understand, Princess Twilight! His majesty was the only one who understood me!” Professor Screw yelled, his demeanor changing to an angrier one before quickly reverting back to his calm and content attitude. “As much as I’d love to talk more about my past with you, I believe it is time we moved on to the field test.” “Field test? What field test!?” Twilight asked suspiciously. “A field test in which I get a taste of just how powerful you are. I waited for over a thousand years for my master’s return! Because of your leadership, my master is gone! Think of this as my revenge!” Professor Screw yelled as he fired a beam of magic at Twilight. Twilight quickly took off into the air, avoiding the magic beam. With Twilight dodging the attack, Professor Screw fired another beam of magic, however this one wasn’t a single blast. Instead, it acted more like a laser beam as it followed Twilight around while she remained in the air. As Twilight kept flying away from the beam of magic, she decided to fire back with her own magic. Seeing that Twilight was about to shoot her magic at him, the Professor just grinned as he muttered something under his breath. Just as Twilight shot magic from her horn, the Professor’s body started to become encased in a coating of bright yellow light. As soon as Twilight’s magic hit Professor Screw in the side, her magic just bounced off of the Professor’s body. “Huh!? What!?” Twilight cried, completely shocked by what just happened. “(Chuckle) It won’t be that easy, Princess Twilight!” Professor Screw yelled as he amplified the strength of his magic. As Twilight kept dodging the Professor’s magic, she thought about what kind of spell the Professor could have been using. She had an idea of which spell it was, but Twilight needed to be sure before she tried anything too risky. Twilight kept firing her magic, even though it never seemed to do any damage whatsoever. The Professor was confused by this as he had figured that Twilight would have been smarter than that. Nevertheless, Twilight and the Professor continued to engage in their magic duel. Meanwhile, in Starlight Glimmer’s old village… While Twilight and Professor Screw were battling in the mountains, the Mane Five were busy dealing with Discorded Whooves. Rarity fired a beam of magic at the Doctor, only for one of the mechanical arms to block it. Applejack charged ahead as she tried to grab onto one of the lower arms, however she was caught by one of the arms and then thrown right into Rarity. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew in from the sides, but before they could reach the Doctor, the two upper arms reached out at the last second and grabbed ahold of both of them. Discorded Whooves activated the electricity field on the upper arms, electrocuting both of the pegasi before he tossed them to the ground. Pinkie Pie pulled a baby blue plastic egg out of her mane and threw it at the Doctor, causing it to explode, revealing the contents inside of the egg. “Argh! What is this!?” Discorded Whooves yelled as he found himself coated in extremely sticky bubble gum. With the Doctor distracted, Pinkie Pie jumped up and started punching him in the face while she somehow kept herself in midair. After a few good punches, Pinkie Pie pulled out a long rainbow-colored rope from her mane and lassoed up one of the upper arms. With the arm tied up, Pinkie Pie yanked the rope down and slammed the still electrified arm into the Doctor’s chest, electrocuting him with his own mechanical arm. Discorded Whooves yelled in pain as Pinkie Pie quickly jumped away from him. She didn’t get far however as one of the lower arms reached out and grabbed Pinkie Pie before throwing her to the side. Discorded Whooves was about to run over and finish Pinkie Pie off, but he was suddenly struck in the back of the head by Rainbow Dash. Discorded Whooves turned around and tried to grab Rainbow Dash with one of the arms, but she was able to fly past it as she started kicking him in the face. After a few kicks, Rainbow Dash tried to fly off so she could perform another aerial attack, but her leg was grabbed by one of the arms and she was slammed down hard on the floor. Rainbow Dash was then lifted up into the air by her leg as the Doctor started to swing her around so fast that the speedster was actually starting to get dizzy. Just as the Doctor was about to slam Rainbow to the ground again, he was caught off guard when Fluttershy suddenly latched herself onto him, locking him in her Stare. Seeing this, Rainbow Dash managed to kick the arm, forcing it to let go of her leg as she flew in to try and press the button to release the Doctor from the harness. Before Rainbow Dash made it, Fluttershy was grabbed and thrown up into the air by one of the arms, allowing Discorded Whooves to turn around and smack Rainbow down to the ground with another arm. Fluttershy managed to recover herself as she flew down towards the Doctor. One of the arms saw Fluttershy approaching, and they quickly alerted their master. Discorded Whooves looked up and sent two of the arms to try and grab Fluttershy, but she was able to dodge both of them as she backhoofed the Doctor in the face. Fluttershy tried to press the button, but she quickly flew away as she was almost grabbed by one of the arms. As Fluttershy stayed in the air, Rarity had gotten up and she fired a beam of magic at the Doctor, hitting his back. Discorded Whooves turned around and shifted his attention towards the unicorn. Meanwhile, Fluttershy flew in to try and press the button but one of the arms popped up in front of her and then a flash of bright light was suddenly emitted from the claw, temporarily blinding Fluttershy. This allowed the arm to grab ahold of Fluttershy and as Rarity fired another beam of magic, the arm quickly shoved Fluttershy in the way of Rarity’s magic, causing her to get hit instead of the Doctor. Rarity was horrified by what she had just done, though thankfully she didn’t use too much power in her magic. Discorded Whooves then threw Fluttershy down, causing her to slam right into Rainbow Dash, who was just about to get back into the fight. As one of the arms reached out to grab Rarity, Applejack suddenly rushed in and jumped onto the arm, preventing it from grabbing her friend. The arm then started to try and shake Applejack off, but the farmer had a very good grip. While Applejack wrestled with one of the arms, Discorded Whooves tried to use the other upper arm to electrocute Applejack. Rarity stopped this from happening as she used her magic to hold back the arm. She then used her magic to slam the electrified arm into the Doctor’s chest, electrocuting him. While the Doctor was being electrocuted, Applejack leapt over and landed on his back. Once again, before the button was pressed, one of the lower arms reached up and grabbed ahold of Applejack before throwing her into Rarity. Having been electrocuted by his own arms twice now, Discorded Whooves decided that he wouldn’t use the electricity field anymore unless he was absolutely positive it would work and not backfire against him. Just as Discorded Whooves was about to attack Applejack and Rarity, Pinkie Pie jumped on his back and electrocuted him with her joy buzzer. The surprise attack didn’t last long as one of the lower arms grabbed Pinkie Pie and threw her over to the rest of her friends. Seeing that the Mane Five had seemingly been defeated, Discorded Whooves started to chuckle a bit, relishing his victory. “(Evil Chuckle) What? That’s it? HA! It was to be expected! With these arms and my intellect, I am unstoppable! Mwahahaha!” Discorded Whooves yelled While Discorded Whooves continued to laugh, Applejack looked up at the four arms, and then thought up a plan on how to successfully get the Doctor out of the harness. “Alright y’all, listen up; I’ve got a plan on how we can get Doctor Whooves away from those darn arms.” Applejack said. “Well spit it out already, AJ. He’s not going to keep gloating forever.” Rainbow Dash said. “Well as long as all four of those arms are moving around like a bunch of snakes, we ain’t gonna get near the harness. Here’s the plan; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, you two keep the Doctor busy until I give the signal.” Applejack said to the two pegasi. “Got it.” Rainbow Dash said with a firm nod. “Um, okay.” Fluttershy said with a less enthusiastic nod. “Rarity, I saw you hold back one of them arms with your magic, when I give the signal, you keep the top left arm as still as you can.” Applejack said. “Of course, darling.” Rarity replied with a nod. “Good, I’ll go get some more rope and I’ll lasso up the top right arm.” Applejack said before Pinkie Pie tossed her a bright green rope. “What the? Where’d y’all get this from?” “So, what do I do, Applejack?” Pinkie Pie asked with a smile. “Right… A-Anyway, Pinkie, do you think you can handle the two bottom arms?” Applejack asked. “Oh, don’t you worry, Applejack! I’ll take care of it, no problem.” Pinkie Pie replied with a confident smile and a salute. “Alrighty then.” Applejack said as she turned back to the pegasi. “Fluttershy, once we got all the arms out of the way, you use your Stare on the Doctor and Rainbow Dash, you get the Doctor out of that harness.” “Whatever plan the five of you are making, it won’t work! YAH!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he sent one of the arms out to try and grab one of the ponies. “Oh yeah!? We’ll see about that! Come on, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew towards the Doctor, with Fluttershy following close behind her. Meanwhile, back in the Yaket Range… Nearly the entire time Twilight and Professor Screw had been battling. Twilight had stayed up in the air, putting a good amount of distance between herself and the Professor. By now, Twilight had fired almost every single long range magic attack she had at the Professor and none of the spells had any effect on him. After mentally gathering up the results from these tests, Twilight was able to confirm that her earlier suspicions were in fact correct. Now armed with a strategy, Twilight began to fly closer to the Professor, while still firing her magic at him. “I can tell by the look in your eyes that you have a plan, Princess Twilight. Sorry to tell you, but it will not work against me!” Professor Screw said as he suddenly teleported up in the air right in front of Twilight. Thinking fast, Twilight quickly placed a spell on herself that would nullify the effects of magic used against her. It was a good thing she did, as seconds later, Professor Screw blasted Twilight with a powerful lightning spell, electrocuting her and causing her to fall to the ground. As Twilight landed in the snow, her body still recovering from the electric shock, Professor Screw teleported himself a couple feet in front of her. “What exactly was your plan, Princess Twilight? I could tell that you were up to something.” Professor Screw said as he looked down at the alicorn. “(Exhale) I know what spell you’re using on yourself.” Twilight said as she lifted her head up to look at the Professor. “The Perfect Shield Spell. One of two very special defense spells created by Star Swirl the Bearded. The other being the Perfect Armor Spell. The Perfect Shield Spell grants the user almost near invulnerability against any attack that is magic based. The Perfect Armor Spell grants the user near invulnerability against any attack that requires physical contact.” “(Chuckle) Well done. Tell me, how exactly did you figure it out?” Professor Screw asked. “There are many different kinds of spells that can be used to defend oneself from magic attacks, but the Perfect Shield Spell can protect the user from almost every spell in existence. I just used every spell I had and when enough of them didn’t work, I was able to work out that it was the Perfect Shield Spell that you were using.” Twilight explained as she stood back up. “(Chuckle) You are quite the pony, Princess Twilight. (Chuckle) I’m sure if his majesty was still around today, he’d most certainly want to meet you.” Professor Screw said. “While the Perfect Shield and Perfect Armor spells are indeed very effective and useful in a battle, they both have two very notable drawbacks.” Twilight said, completely ignoring what the Professor had said. “Oh, and what would those be?” Professor Screw asked, tilting his head in amusement. “No pony can use both spells at the same time, not even Star Swirl. While it is not impossible, any attempt to use both spells at once will result in extreme physical pain as well as a severe risk of damaging one’s horn.” Twilight said. “And what of the second drawback?” Professor Screw asked. “Despite how powerful the Perfect Shield Spell is,” Twilight said before she suddenly teleported right in front of the Professor and punched him in the face, disabling his Perfect Shield Spell. “Any attack used against the caster that is non-magic based, will immediately cancel out the spell.” Twilight said as she fired a beam of magic at the Professor, causing him to fall on his side. As the Professor fell down, Twilight flew over to him and lifted him up with her magic before tossing him into a deeper pile of snow. This didn’t keep the Professor trapped long however as he just used a fire spell to melt the snow away, freeing himself from the snowbank. The moment Professor Screw broke out of the snowbank, he was tackled to the ground by Twilight. Twilight only managed to get a single punch in before the Professor teleported above her and fired magic at her. Twilight quickly rolled out of the way and took off into the air before the attack hit her. Not even ten seconds after Twilight had escaped, the Professor fired another lightning spell at Twilight, hitting her in the back of the head and causing her to fall to the ground. As Twilight landed on the ground, she was hit in the side of the head by another magic attack, knocking her tiara off of her head. “No!” Twilight cried as she saw Professor Screw teleport in front of her tiara. “(Chuckle) Don’t mind if I do.” Professor Screw said as he picked up the tiara with his magic. “I believe this will make a fine trophy when I-Huh!? Where did you go!?” Professor Screw asked as he saw Twilight had disappeared. While Professor Screw looked around for Twilight, he felt the ground below him shift a bit. The Professor looked down and was instantly uppercutted by Twilight, who had shot out of the ground after teleporting herself below the Professor. Twilight snatched her tiara away from the Professor and used a spell that would keep her tiara firmly planted on her head. Twilight then flew over and tackled the Professor, punching him in the face before she charged up a powerful spell and blasted her magic at the Professor, sending him flying back into the snow. With the Professor down, Twilight teleported herself over to him, placing a spell on him. “It’s over, Professor, you can’t break out of this spell.” Twilight said as she looked down at the Professor. “Heh, a paralyzing spell… clever.” Professor Screw said with a chuckle. “You’ve clearly shown that you have an incredible knowledge of magic. Because of this, I refuse to believe that Doctor Whooves is in charge of the Rogue and not you.” Twilight said. “Believe what you want Princess Twilight. But you’re right, I am much more powerful than Doctor Whooves could ever dream of being. Especially since I am the reason that he is the way he is now.” Professor Screw said with a smile. “Wh-What!?” Twilight cried. “Allow me to explain, as you are keenly aware, I am very talented with magic. I even have the power to travel to other worlds.” Professor Screw said. “You have that kind of power? The power to travel to different universes?” Twilight asked, completely shocked by just how powerful this pony was. “(Chuckle) Indeed I do. Using this power, I traveled to a different universe, found another Doctor Whooves, killed him, then captured his life essence, and then I planted the life essence into your, Doctor Whooves. He is trapped in his own body and in his place, the other Doctor Whooves has control.” Professor Screw explained. “Tell me how to reverse this!” Twilight yelled. “(Chuckle) Unfortunately, I believe we are out of time. I’ve gathered enough information from you, Princess Twilight. Let us return to your friends.” Professor Screw said as his horn lit up with magic before he and Twilight teleported away. Meanwhile, back in Starlight Glimmer’s old village… While Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were keeping Discorded Whooves and his mechanical arms distracted, the rest of the Mane Five waited for Applejack’s signal. Rainbow Dash had mostly been fighting off against the arms while Fluttershy stuck to dodging the arms. As soon as the Doctor and the arms were fully distracted and solely invested in Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, Applejack gave the signal. “ALRIGHT Y’ALL! NOW!” Applejack yelled, as the ponies sprung their attack. While Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy continued to keep Discorded Whooves’s attention on them, Applejack and Rarity ran to opposite sides of the Doctor. Applejack used the green rope that Pinkie Pie had given her and lassoed up the upper right arm. At the same time, Rarity used her magic to hold onto the upper left arm. “Huh!? What the!?” Discorded Whooves yelled as he found both of his upper arms restricted. Before the Doctor could do anything, Pinkie Pie bounced over to him and pulled out two more of the baby blue eggs, throwing them at the ground between the two lower arms. Seconds later, the eggs exploded, coating the lower arms in super sticky bubble gum, restricting their movements. “What!? No!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he tried to move the arms. With all four arms immobilized, Fluttershy flew over to the Doctor and caught him in her Stare, paralyzing him. Now with the Doctor unable to do anything, Rainbow Dash flew over and landed on his back, pressing the button on the harness. The harness then opened and Discorded Whooves almost fell to the ground, but Rainbow Dash grabbed ahold of him. “You’re out of here, Doc!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she threw Discorded Whooves away from the arms and onto the ground. With the Doctor out of the harness, the arms suddenly went completely limp and once the Mane Five released them, they fell to the floor. With the arms dealt with, the Mane Five rushed over to Discorded Whooves, who was wincing in pain after he had hit the floor hard. The Doctor coughed a couple times before he looked up at the Mane Five. “It’s over, Doctor Whooves.” Rainbow Dash said as she looked down at him. “(Cough) (Chuckle) Not bad, for a bunch of mares.” Discorded Whooves said. “I think it’s time we had a talk, Doc.” Applejack said as she used the rope from earlier to tie up Discorded Whooves, preventing him flying away. “You told us that you’re a different Doctor Whooves from another world taking control of our Doctor Whooves’s body. What world did you come from?” “Oh, trust me ladies, you don’t want to know.” Discorded Whooves said. “As a matter of fact, we do want to know. I’m sure we’re all very curious as to what kind of world has ponies as wicked as you are.” Rarity said. “Wicked!? Everything I ever did was all necessary to save my world!” Discorded Whooves yelled. “Was killing all of those ponies in this village and Appleloosa necessary!? Was turning those guys into your murderous minions necessary!?” Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing towards the rest of the Rogue while holding back the urge to hit him. “You could never understand; none of you could! You don’t know what I’ve been through! The things I’ve seen!” Discorded Whooves yelled. “It don’t matter what you’ve been through, Doc. It ain’t an excuse to go around doing the things y’all have done.” Applejack said. “Yeah! There’s no excuse for what you and the rest of the Sinister Six have been doing!” Pinkie Pie added before she noticed something she hadn’t seen before. “Huh? What’s that?” The rest of the Mane Five looked to where Pinkie was pointing, and they saw what she had seen. Latched onto the right side of Discorded Whooves’s neck, was a small device with a blinking green light on its base that seemed to be hiding some kind of wound. Seeing what the ponies were looking at, Discorded Whooves freaked out. “DON’T TOUCH THAT! GET AWAY FROM ME! ALL OF YOU!” Discorded Whooves yelled, his eyes filled with a mix of terror and fury. While the Doctor was freaking out about the device on his neck, Fluttershy happened to glance back in the direction of the mechanical arms and when she did, she saw something that made her shudder. The arms were starting to move and get up entirely on their own, despite no pony being in the harness. The upper two arms used their long spikes to free the lower arms from the bubble gum. Once they were free, the upper two arms looked over at Fluttershy. “U-Um, girls?” Fluttershy said as the arms started to make their way towards them. “What is it, Doc? What are you hiding?” Pinkie Pie asked, narrowing her eyes at him. “Girls?” Fluttershy said again, the arms getting much closer. “NO! We’re done here!” Discorded Whooves yelled. “GIRLS!” Fluttershy screamed as one of the upper arms activated its electricity field and raised itself up in the air. After finally hearing Fluttershy’s voice, the ponies looked at her and they all screamed at the sight of the mechanical arms. The Mane Five quickly jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the electrified claws of the arms. “(Evil Laughs) Yes! YES!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he laughed. To the complete shock of the Mane Five, one of the arms reached down and sliced off the rope that Applejack had used to tie up the Doctor. Then, another arm picked up the Doctor and placed him into the harness, while another arm used one of its claws to press the button, securing the Doctor back into the harness. Discorded Whooves winced a bit as he felt the needles of the harness dig into his back, but he quickly shook the pain away as he was thrilled to be back with the arms. Discorded Whooves laughed and smiled wickedly at the ponies, all while the arms opened and closed their claws and swayed around. “What!? B-But how!?” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Y-You said that there was no artificial intelligence in the arms!” Fluttershy cried as she shivered at the sight of the arms swaying around like snakes. “(Chuckle) Doctor Whooves may have said that, but I didn’t. The intelligence in these arms are fully programmed to protect their master at all costs.” Discorded Whooves said. Just then, everypony heard the sound of a teleportation spell being used. The Mane Five turned around and saw that Twilight and Professor Screw had returned from wherever they went. Professor Screw quickly grabbed Twilight with his magic and tossed her over to where her friends were, while he teleported himself next to Discorded Whooves. “Twilight! Are y’all okay?” Applejack asked as she helped Twilight up. “Y-Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just glad you girls are okay.” Twilight said, giving her friends a smile. “Twilight, you’re not going to believe this, but those arms are alive! They have their own intelligence!” Pinkie Pie cried as she grabbed the sides of Twilight’s face and shook her a bit. “What? But Doctor Whooves said the arms had no intelligence.” Twilight said as she gently pushed Pinkie away from her. “That’s right, they didn’t. Not until I got my hooves on them.” Professor Screw said, shifting the Mane Six’s attention towards him. “So, not only are you the one responsible for why Doctor Whooves is evil, but you’re also the reason why the arms have become so dangerous?” Twilight asked, stepping forward a bit. “Wait, you mean Professor Screw is behind all of this?” Pinkie Pie asked. “This whole thing was an act of revenge against us for defeating King Sombra. Professor Screw must have been the one who abducted Doctor Whooves, somehow planted the essence of this other Doctor Whooves into ours, modified and tampered with the arms to make them more dangerous, gathered up the rest of the Rogue, and then planned to find the Staff of Sacanas and use it to conquer Equestria.” Twilight explained while Discorded Whooves and Professor Screw looked on in amusement. “Hmm, she’s good.” Discorded Whooves said as he gave an amused nod. “(Chuckle) Little does she know, she’s so close to the truth, yet so far away.” Professor Screw said with a smile. “But your plan won’t work. Once we free the hostages, we’re going straight to the Storm King’s Castle to get the Staff of Sacanas before you do.” Twilight said. “Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Professor Screw said, slowly shaking his head. “Why not? What’s stopping us!?” Rainbow Dash challenged. “If anypony even steps a single hoof on the Storm King’s Realm, I will make sure our hostage is killed. And I’m not talking about the hostages from this village.” Professor Screw replied. “You have more hostages!? Where are they!? Tell us now!” Twilight yelled. “(Chuckle) Glady, he’s right here!” Professor Screw yelled as he used some sort of spell on Discorded Whooves. Whatever this spell was, it seemed to really mess with Discorded Whooves as he held the sides of his head, yelling in agony. The Mane Six stepped back a bit as they had not expected something like this to happen. While the Doctor was crying out in pain, he turned to look at the Professor with a confused look. Suddenly Discorded Whooves’s head started to shake and twitch violently and then after letting out another cry of pain, something unexpected happened. Discorded Whooves’s body instantly morphed into Doctor Whooves’s body. No longer was he a dark grey, black mane and tailed pegasus. Now, he was back to being an earth pony with the light brown coat and a dark brown mane and tail. Doctor Whooves looked towards the Mane Six and extended a hoof out towards them. “Doctor Whooves!?” the Mane Six cried as they saw the pained and helpless look in the Doctor’s eyes. “HELP ME!!! PLEASE! I… C-CAN’T… C-CONTROL… GAAAAAAHH!” Doctor Whooves yelled before he instantly morphed back into Discorded Whooves. “GAAAH! (Growl) YOU INSOLENT FOOL!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he grabbed Professor Screw with one of the arms and threw him into a building. Seconds after the Professor was thrown, Discorded Whooves turned back towards the Mane Six and charged at them on all four legs so fast, they had no time to get out of the way. All four of the arms reached out and swiped at the ponies, with the lower arms activating their electricity field. During the scuffle, one of the upper arms managed to grab ahold of Fluttershy, making sure to angle her in a way where she couldn’t use the Stare on the Doctor. The rest of the Mane Six tried to save Fluttershy but Discorded Whooves used the lower arms to launch himself back. “Fluttershy! Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of there! WOAH!” Rainbow Dash yelled before the other upper arm brought out its long spike and held it against Fluttershy’s neck. “(Evil Laugh) That’s right! Unless you want to watch Fluttershy get vivisected, I suggest you all stay put!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he shifted his attention back to the helpless pegasus. “Bye, bye, Fluttershy!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he pulled back the arm that threatened to slice Fluttershy’s neck, so he could really impale her. As Fluttershy watched the arm snake back and prepare itself to stab her, tears fell from her eyes as she knew there was nothing she could do. Suddenly, an idea popped up in her head. It was a long shot, but it was all she had. Right as the arm was about to strike, Fluttershy took a deep breath and shouted: “He’s not your master!” Fluttershy shouted, causing the arm to stop dead in its tracks. “What!? What is going on!?” Discorded Whooves yelled as he tried to get the arm to move, but the arm wouldn’t budge. Meanwhile, the rest of the Mane Six were completely in awe as to what had just happened. “Did Fluttershy just… stop the arms from hurting her?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I think she did… but how?” Applejack asked. “It’s the intelligence in the arms!” Pinkie Pie said with a bounce. “She’s trying to appeal to them!” After not feeling anything sharp pierce her flesh, Fluttershy looked over to the arm, which seemed to be observing her curiously, as if it was trying to make sense of what she had said. Realizing that her idea might actually work, Fluttershy continued to speak to the arms. “He told us that you were all programmed to protect your master, but he’s not your master! He’s lying to you, all of you!” Fluttershy said as she suddenly found herself being lowered to the ground. “No! What are you doing!?” Discorded Whooves yelled as the arms were no longer listening to him as he too found himself being lowered to the ground. With Fluttershy and Discorded Whooves safely on the ground, all four of the mechanical arms looked at Fluttershy, opening and closing their claws as if they were trying to communicate with her. Seeing this and being able to tell that the arms were still in their state of curiosity and confusion, Fluttershy knew her plan had worked. “Doctor Whooves created you to help ponies, not to hurt them.” Fluttershy said as she then pointed to Discorded Whooves. “He’s not your creator! This Doctor Whooves is taking control of the real one! The pony who really created you!” After hearing all the things that Fluttershy had told them, all four of the arms looked at each other and seemingly started to communicate with each other. While Fluttershy couldn’t understand what the arms were saying, Discorded Whooves sure did, and he was furious at what he was hearing. “What do you think you’re saying!? You don’t listen to her! You listen to me!” Discorded Whooves yelled as the arms looked at him. “I created you! I’m your master! You do what I say!” “Please, think about what you’ve done! You’re not helping anypony, you’re hurting everypony.” Fluttershy said, making sure not to come off like she was accusing the arms, more so gently them about the mistakes they were making. “(Growl) Enough of this!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he tried to get one of the lower arms to grab Fluttershy. “What are you doing!? Kill her!” While the arms refused to listen to the Doctor, Fluttershy took notice that the way they were moving around gave off impressions that they were extremely confused and upset by their actions. “Don’t worry, it’s not too late to do the right thing. Yes, you’ve all done terrible things, but you can still help us make things better.” Fluttershy said, no longer afraid of the arms, and even giving them a warm comforting smile. “NO! LISTEN HERE! YOU ALL OBEY ME!” Discorded Whooves yelled as all four arms slowly turned to look at him, accusing him and barraging him with questions. “WHAT!? You fools! She’s the one that’s lying to you! I told you; this is all for the greater good! I’m your master! Listen to me NOW!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he fought back with all of his mental strength to regain dominance over the arms. As Discorded Whooves and the arms fought for dominance, one of the lower arms reached out and grabbed ahold of Fluttershy. However, instead of hurting Fluttershy, the arm threw her back to her friends, with Rarity catching her with her magic. The mechanical arm had done this because all four of them realized that it was too difficult to maintain control. The Doctor’s mind was just too strong for them to fight back forever. While the mental battle continued between the arms and the Doctor, something happened that no pony saw coming. Sparks of electricity suddenly began bursting from the backside of the harness, just behind the Doctor’s neck. Waves of electricity flowed across his entire body as well as the entire lengths of the arms. Discorded Whooves and the arms were being electrocuted for almost a minute before the electrocution finally ended. Whatever this electrocution was, it had seemingly made the arms completely submit to their master and they no longer tried to fight back. The sound of chuckling could be heard and when the ponies turned to see who was chuckling, they saw Professor Screw, who was now wearing a typical scientist lab coat. He also appeared to be holding something with his magic, it was a small remote with a single button on it. “There’s that old creep! Get him! Woah!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she was almost hit in the face by magic. The ponies looked to where the magic had been fired from and that’s when they saw that Flim, Flam, Lightning Dust, and Iron Will were back up and ready to fight, despite their injuries they had sustained when fighting the Mane Six. “Not so fast, ponies!” Flim yelled as he prepared to fire more magic at the ponies. “You didn’t think we’d lose that easily, did you!? Why don’t you losers stay right where you are!” Lightning Dust yelled, doing her best to hide the pain she was in due to Twilight breaking her wing. “(Chuckle) Glad to see that you are all back.” Professor Screw said as he then looked to Discorded Whooves. “Doctor Whooves built this remote as a way to summon the arms. However, since I added the artificial intelligence to the arms, every time I press this button, their programming will encounter a critical error and a strong electric pulse will be emitted, sending a painful shock to both the arms and the wearer. Think of it as a form of discipline for you and the arms.” “You… I’ll kill you for this!” Discorded Whooves said as he raised the two upper arms in the air. “(Chuckle) I’m sure you will.” Professor Screw replied. “Enough! This your last chance, tell us where the hostages are now or else!” Twilight said, stomping her hoof down. “Ha! Your threats do not scare us!” Flam yelled as he charged up his magic. “Yeah! What are you going to do!? Turn us to stone!? Oh, please!” Flim said with a laugh. “In order to do that, you’d have to keep us still! And you’d have to be pretty stupid to think we would just stand here and let you turn us to stone!” Lightning Dust yelled. “They have a point, Princess! You’re all outmatched! I think it’s time we took care of all of you! Right here and now!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he prepared to give the order to attack. “No.” Professor Screw said. “What!?” Discorded Whooves asked, turning to look at the Professor. “We’ve done what we needed to do, now it is time to return back to base. We are all in clear need of rest.” Professor Screw said. “You’re not in charge here, you old fool! I am! And I say we-GAAAAHH!” Discorded Whooves yelled as the Professor electrocuted him again with the remote. “We are leaving. Princess Twilight, the hostages are in the big building just at the end of town. You may take them to safety if you wish.” Professor Screw said, nodding towards the building where Starlight used to live. “You’re dead, Professor, dead.” Discorded Whooves said as he glared at him. “None of you are going anywhere!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she prepared to fight before Twilight blocked her path with her wing. “Twilight? What are you doing?” “We’re letting them go.” Twilight said, keeping her eyes on the villains. “What!? But Twilight, we-.” Rainbow Dash said before Twilight interrupted her. “We’re letting them go.” Twilight repeated, still not taking her eyes off of the Rogue. “Wait! I have one more question for you, Professor!” “Yes, Princess Twilight?” Professor Screw asked. “Is Queen Chrysalis working with you?” Twilight asked, remembering her discussion she had with the princesses back in Ponyville. “The changeling queen, (Chuckle) the Rogue does not associate with bugs that have failed to take over Equestria twice. She’s useless to us.” Professor Screw said before he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, here. You’ll be needing this.” Professor Screw said as he summoned something with his magic and tossed it towards Twilight, who caught it with her magic. Twilight and her friends looked at the strange object the Professor had given them. It appeared to be some sort of crystal snow globe, however there was nothing inside the glass ball. The only thing in the ball was dark blue clouds that were moving around. There was an inscription on the underside of the crystal globe that read, Listen. “What is this for!?” Twilight asked, making sure none of her friends touched it. “Think of it as a way we can communicate with each other. Whenever we need to tell you ponies something, we will tell you through the crystal globe.” Professor Screw explained. “Well, it was good to meet you. Farewell. I hope to see you again soon, Pinkie Pie.” Professor Screw said, giving the party pony a grin before teleporting away. After the Professor teleported, Discorded Whooves turned back to the Rogue, gesturing towards the enchanted bracelets they were wearing, giving them an approving nod. Seeing this, the Rogue nodded back to Discorded Whooves as they turned back to the Mane Six. “Bye, bye, Applejack! Looks like we’ll be slipping away again!” Flim said as he teleported away using his bracelet. “Sorry, Applejack. Better luck next time.” Flam said as he too teleported away using his bracelet. “This isn’t over, Rainbow Dash. I’ll be back for you, and I will get my revenge!” Lightning Dust said as she teleported away with her bracelet. Iron Will didn’t say anything as he only looked at Fluttershy for a few moments before he looked away from her, using his bracelet to teleport away. With all of the Rogue being gone, Discorded Whooves looked over to the Mane Six and chuckled. “Goodbye, my little ponies. We’ll be seeing you again soon.” Discorded Whooves said as he used his bracelet to teleport away. With the Rogue now gone, all that was left was the Mane Six, who were left standing in what was left of the village. Only the sound of the wind could be heard as the ponies just stood around, taking time to process everything they had been through since they arrived at the village. Rainbow Dash, frustrated that the Rogue had escaped, looked down at the floor and angrily stomped her hoof down. “Ugh! They got away! I can’t believe we let them get away!” Rainbow Dash yelled, stomping another hoof down. “Why would you let them go, Twilight!? For all we know, they’re probably attacking another place in Equestria by now!” “You think I wanted to let them go!? Of course, I didn’t! Why would I ever want the Rogue to escape!?” Twilight shouted before she took a deep breath to calm herself down, using her magic to put the crystal globe away. “(Exhale) Princess Celestia told us that the ponies the Rogue took hostage are our top priority.” “(Sigh) You’re right, sorry Twi.” Rainbow Dash said as she shook her head, disappointed with how much she was losing control of her anger lately. “It’s fine, Rainbow.” Twilight said before she looked over to the rest of her friends. “A lot has happened in such a short amount of time, girls. We need to talk about this once we’re back in Ponyville. For now, let’s get those hostages to safety.” Twilight said as she and the rest of her friends walked over to the building where the hostages were being kept. When the ponies reached the building at the end of the village, Twilight motioned for the others to step back and keep their guard up just in case there was a trap set for them. Twilight used her magic to carefully open the door and soon as she did, the Mane Six were greeted by the sight of Double Diamond, Sugar Belle, and Night Glider, all of whom, except for Sugar Belle, had very serious injuries. The moment the three survivors laid eyes on the Mane Six, they were filled with relief and joy, despite their pain. “Oh, thank goodness you all came!” Sugar Belle cried. “See, what did I tell you? I knew they’d come for us.” Double Diamond said with a chuckle. “Come on, we’re going to get you three out of here.” Twilight said as they all walked in to help the survivors. As Double Diamond tried to stand so he could walk over to the Mane Six, he immediately fell to the side, with Twilight quickly grabbing him before he hit the floor. Double Diamond hissed in pain as he looked at his back legs, reminding himself of how injured he was. One of his back legs was broken, and the other had been stabbed by a metal spike. Seeing this, Twilight used her magic to lift him off the ground so she could carry him. “Thanks, Princess Twilight.” Double Diamond said as he allowed himself to be carried by Twilight’s magic. “Are y’all okay, Sugar Belle?” Applejack asked as she walked over to the unicorn. “Oh, don’t worry about me, Applejack. I’m more worried about my friends and… the village.” Sugar Belle said. “Don’t y’all worry, we’re gonna get you and your friends to safety. Heh, Big Mac is waiting for you.” Applejack said as she carefully led Sugar Belle out of the building. “Night Glider… your wings…” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the now flightless pegasus. “Yeah…” Night Glider said, no emotion in her voice. “D-Don’t you worry.” Fluttershy said as she walked over and placed a hoof gently on Night Glider’s shoulder. “The doctors in Ponyville will take really good care of you. They’ll make sure you’re going to be okay.” “Yeah, she’s right. Trust me, I’ve been to the Ponyville hospital more times than I’d like to admit, but they always took care of me, and they’re going to take great care of you too.” Rainbow Dash said as she and Fluttershy helped Night Glider up to her feet. Once all the three survivors were outside, Rarity tapped Twilight on the shoulder, gesturing for Twilight to let Rarity take care of Double Diamond. With a nod, Rarity held Double Diamond above the ground with her magic. Twilight then walked ahead of the group and turned around to face the group. Just as Twilight was about to say something, Sugar Belle spoke. “Wait, there’s still some others!” Sugar Belle said as she pointed over to one of the few buildings not destroyed by the battle. “They’re in there.” “Wait here.” Twilight said to the group as she flew over to the building Sugar Belle had pointed to. When Twilight made it to the building and walked inside, she looked around for any signs of surviving ponies. Twilight then called out for anypony to respond to her, making it clear that she was there to help and was not going to cause any harm. After a few seconds of silence, Twilight heard what sounded like muffled voices coming from somewhere in the room. Eventually, Twilight’s eyes landed on a small rug in the middle of the room. Twilight lifted the rug up, revealing a small handle on the floor. Twilight gently opened the small trapdoor and as she did, she saw a small group of children who looked terrified. “Don’t worry, everypony, it’s safe to come out now. My friends and I will take you to Ponyville; it will be safe there.” Twilight said as she gently ushered the children to follow her. Twilight led the children out of the building and over to the rest of the group. Once everypony had been accounted for, Twilight reassured the survivors that they would be taken care of in Ponyville and that there was no longer anything to be afraid of. She promised that she and her friends would do everything they could to make sure that the Rogue would be punished for what they had done. Once Twilight had finished her speech, she looked over to Fluttershy and gave her a nod. Fluttershy nodded back as she called for Discord to bring them back to Ponyville. Seconds later, the Mane Six and the survivors were instantly teleported to Ponyville. Once everypony had been teleported to Ponyville, they were immediately greeted by the sight of doctors and nurses, who were ready with basic first aid equipment and gurneys. Twilight and her friends then began to make sure that all of the survivors were being taken care of before they were taken to the hospital. As they were doing this, Starlight rushed over to them. “(Gasp) Double Diamond! Sugar Belle! Night Glider!” Starlight cried as she ran over to her friends. “Oh, thank Celestia you’re all okay!” Starlight said to the children as they were being taken care of. “Heh, it’s good to see you again, Starlight.” Double Diamond said as he was carefully placed onto a gurney. “Wait… where’s Party Favor? Where are the others? Are they still in the village? Why didn’t they come with you?” Starlight asked as she looked around, hoping that the rest of the villagers would arrive soon. “Starlight… there… are no others.” Night Glider said, looking down at the floor. “We’re all that’s left…” “No… no… no! It can’t be! Oh, Celestia NO!!!!” Starlight cried as she broke down in tears. Meanwhile, Big Mac had rushed over to make sure that Sugar Belle was okay. “Sugar Belle! You’re okay!” Big Mac said as he gently wrapped his hooves around Sugar Belle and kissed her. “Oh, Big Mac!” Sugar Belle cried as she too broke down in tears from the events she had survived, clinging desperately to Big Mac. While the ponies from the village were being attended to, Twilight and her friends walked over to the princesses. “The Rogue got away.” Twilight said with a sigh. “I see. Well, don’t let that get you down, Twilight. You and your friends saved the hostages and that’s what matters.” Celestia said, lifting Twilight’s chin up a bit. “Princess, we all need to talk.” Twilight said. “I don’t doubt that one bit. Come, we’ll talk at your castle.” Celestia said as the Mane Six and the princesses headed to Twilight’s castle. Once the ponies had gathered in the Cutie Map room, they all began to talk about everything they had learned from their arrival in the village and the fight with the Rogue. Applejack talked about how dangerous Flim and Flam had become, with Rarity backing up her claims. Rainbow Dash talked about how blood thirsty for revenge Lightning Dust had become. Fluttershy talked about how angry Iron Will was, but she also pointed out that it was clear that Iron Will had been lied to and manipulated. Twilight explained what the Rogue planned to do and that they were after the Staff of Sacanas. She also told the princesses that it appeared Chrysalis was not allied with the Rogue. “(Sigh) It is clear that the Rogue are more of a threat than we gave them credit for.” Celestia said. “Yes, and that’s not all. We’ve also found out why Doctor Whooves is the way he is now. Doctor Whooves has been turned evil by the leader of the Rogue. I wish it was that simple, but it is much more complicated.” Twilight said. “The leader of the Rogue? We had thought that Doctor Whooves was the leader.” Luna said, tilting her head. “That’s what I thought too, Princess, but we were wrong. From what I’ve gathered, Doctor Whooves is only the face of the Rogue, the true leader is a pony named Professor Screw Loose.” Twilight said. “Professor Screw Loose?” Celestia asked, arching an eyebrow. “Who is this, Professor Screw Loose?” Luna asked. In response to the princesses’ questions, Twilight used a projection spell to display an image of Professor Screw on the Cutie Map. The three princesses looked up at the image of this unicorn, pondering who this was. Seeing that the princesses did not recognize this pony, Twilight explained everything she had learned about the Professor. “Professor Screw is a crystal pony who is very skilled with his magic, particularly dark magic. He claims to have been alive for over a thousand years, ever since the Crystal Empire disappeared.” Twilight explained, bewildering the princesses. “But that’s impossible. From the looks of it, Professor Screw is just a unicorn. Even for a crystal unicorn, the average unicorn can only live-.” Cadance said before Celestia quickly cut her off. “Did the Professor explain how he was still alive?” Celestia asked, preventing Cadance from finishing her sentence. “He said that on the day King Sombra was banished, Sombra put a curse on him that effectively stopped his aging until the day that the Crystal Empire and Sombra would return.” Twilight replied with a nod. “The day King Sombra was… banished…” Luna said as she stepped back a bit as she was hit by memories of that fateful day. “N-No…” “Luna? Luna, what’s wrong!? Luna!?” Celestia asked, her voice falling on deaf ears. “Luna!? Are you okay!? Luna!?” Twilight cried, seeing how Luna looked so afraid. “Luna!? Luna, talk to us! Luna!” Cadance cried as everypony in the room tried to reach out to the princess. Unbeknownst to anypony in the room, the only voice Luna could hear was the voice of King Sombra, whispering the things he said to her that would inevitably plant seeds of doubt in her mind, leading to her downfall and the birth of Nightmare Moon, all those years ago… Join me… Think of how everypony sees you compared to your sister… Join me… Even if I was to be defeated… you’d eventually fall to your sister… Join me… Submit? Me? (Chuckle) Just like you submit to your sister? Join me… You’re strong, Luna… far more fit to rule… far more deserving of respect… Join me… I can give you the respect you deserve… Join me… Join me, Luna… Luna… Luna… Luna… Luna… Luna… “Luna!? LUNA!?” Celestia shouted as Luna finally managed to snap out of her trance. “Huh!? Wh-What!? O-Oh! Forgive me, I just… that day is… not a good memory for us.” Luna said, pretending like she didn’t just have a panic attack. “Luna, you never told me what happened between you and King Sombra when I was temporarily taken down. What happened?” Celestia asked, her eyes and voice full of concern. “I… I don’t… nothing happened. Please, continue what you were saying, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said, purposefully avoiding eye contact with her sister. “Luna, tell me, what happened.” Celestia said in a more serious tone. “It was nothing, sister.” Luna said sternly. “Luna.” Celestia said again, her voice full of suspicion. “IT WAS NOTHING! LEAVE US ALONE, SISTER!” Luna yelled using the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Celestia! Luna! Please, stop this!” Cadance cried, causing the two sisters to look at her. “Please, Equestria is already going through so much! The last thing we need is you two fighting!” After hearing the words that came out of Cadance’s mouth, as well as the look of desperation and fear on her face, Celesia and Luna looked at each other and gave an understanding nod. “Luna, we will talk about this sooner or later.” Celestia said, before turning back to Twilight. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what happened on the day you two banished King Sombra?” Twilight asked. “(Sigh) Luna and I did indeed banish King Sombra like I told you, but it wasn’t easy.” Celestia said. “Wasn’t easy!? What do you mean it wasn’t easy!? You two together would easily be able to defeat every villain that has ever messed with Equestria.” Rainbow Dash said. “King Sombra was formidable. His power and dark magic was something that Luna and I had never experienced before. It still shocks us that he was able to hold his own against the two of us. The only reason we ended up winning the fight was because Luna was able to overpower him when I was injured. Once King Sombra was weakened, we used our combined powers to banish him.” Celestia explained. “Well, it’s good that y’all were able to defeat that pony-enslaving tyrant and banish him.” Applejack said. Hearing this, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at each other and nodded. They really hadn’t told Twilight or her friends the whole story of what really happened in the Crystal Empire. It was probably time that they shed some light on the truth. “King Sombra enslaving the crystal ponies is not the real reason we banished him.” Celestia said. “It’s not? But if not for enslaving the crystal ponies, why did you banish King Sombra?” Rarity asked. “(Sigh) The reason Luna and I banished King Sombra instead of imprisoning him, is because he killed Princess Amore.” Celestia said, the name of this princess confusing the Mane Six. “Uh… are we supposed to know who that is?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Princess Amore was the ruler of the Crystal Empire for many years. She was a good friend of ours until King Sombra killed her.” Celestia said. “How did you know she was killed?” Twilight asked. “One of the crystal ponies, Radiant Hope, came to Canterlot and told us that Sombra had killed Princess Amore and planned to take her place.” Luna said. “By the time we arrived at the Crystal Empire, King Sombra had completely taken over and enslaved all of the crystal ponies. That is when we fought him and banished him for a thousand years.” Celestia said, finishing the story. After hearing all of this, the Mane Six took some time to process everything they had been told. The real reason for Sombra’s banishment, the death of Princess Amore, the crystal pony, Radiant Hope. Of all the things Twilight had heard, it was this Radiant Hope that really sparked her interest. “Um, Princess Celestia, who was this, Radiant Hope?” Twilight asked. “Radiant Hope was a crystal unicorn who was much like yourself in many ways, Twilight. She was always so eager and excited to learn everything she could about the world around her. She was sweet, kind, honest, loyal, generous, always brought a smile to everypony. In fact, I’d say she was an embodiment all of six of you put together.” Celestia said with a smile. “She sounds like an amazing pony.” Twilight said, smiling back to Celestia. “After King Sombra was banished and the Empire disappeared, we took Radiant Hope in, much like how I took you in to be my student, Twilight.” Celestia replied. “So, if you took Radiant Hope in to be your student, then that means she was going to be a princess?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Yes, that was the plan.” Luna said before looking down with visible sadness. “Sadly however, that never came to be.” “Why? What happened to her?” Twilight asked. “As my sister said, we took her in so she could fulfil her destiny and become a princess. She stayed with us in Canterlot for a while, studying everything she needed to learn. But then one day, she left.” Luna explained. “She left? Did she say why she was leaving?” Twilight asked. “All she told us was that she wanted to find her own path. That’s all she said before she left. We haven’t seen or heard from her since then.” Celestia said before she decided it was time to go back to the problem at hoof. “Enough about the past. Tell us more about this Professor Screw. It sounds like he is a huge threat.” “I haven’t seen all of his power, but I know he is very strong. He knows spells created by Star Swirl the Bearded, and he’s perfected them! He’s also the reason that Doctor Whooves is evil.” Twilight said. “What did he do to Doctor Whooves?” Celestia asked. “I wish I could say he just turned him evil with magic but there’s so much more to it.” Twilight said, shaking her head a bit. “Professor Screw has the power to travel to different dimensions. He traveled to a different universe where the Doctor was presumably evil. He killed this evil Doctor, somehow captured his life essence, and planted the essence in the good Doctor. This resulted in the good Doctor being trapped in his own body, while the evil Doctor took control of his body. That’s probably the reason that Doctor Whooves looks so different now, it’s because his body has changed to look like the body of the evil Doctor.” “Oh my…” Celestia said, her eyes filled with shock and horror. “An evil pony with the power to travel to other dimensions… this is not good.” Luna said. “But why would Professor Screw form this group of villains and attack Equestria like this? And why would King Sombra put a curse on him specifically?” Cadance asked. “That’s the thing, even though King Sombra cursed him, the Professor was loyal to him. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he practically worshiped King Sombra. As for why King Sombra cursed him, he said something about having plans for the future. The Professor formed the Rogue because he wants revenge against us for defeating King Sombra.” Twilight said. “What? But that doesn’t make sense. Why would a crystal pony ever be loyal to King Sombra?” Cadance asked. “He said something about King Sombra being the only pony who understood him. I don’t know anything else about him. The only thing I have left to offer about the Professor, is this.” Twilight said as she summoned the crystal globe she had been given and held it up with her magic. “That is this, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked as she looked at the small object Twilight had summoned. “I’m not sure really. Professor Screw gave this to me before he and the rest of the Rogue left. He said something about using it as a way to communicate with each other. Like I said, I have nothing else on the Professor. Which brings me to my next point; Cadance, have any of the crystal ponies mentioned anything about the Professor?” Twilight asked, looking to the Princess of Love. “I can’t say that I’ve heard any of the crystal ponies talk about him. I didn’t even know who he was until you explained him to us. But I’m sure they must know who he is. How about you come to the-.” Cadance said before the crystal globe started to flash repeatedly. “Twilight, the globe! What’s happening to it!?” Twilight only responded with a yelp as she suddenly dropped the crystal globe, letting slide to the middle of the Cutie Map. As the glove continued to flash, no pony moved or even tried to pick it up, fearful at what it could be doing. For safety, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used their magic to form a magic bubble around the globe in case an explosion was about to occur. However, instead of an explosion, the face of a pony started to become visible in the globe. It didn’t take long for Twilight to realize who this was. “Professor Screw!” Twilight said, making every pony gasp and focus their attention on the Professor’s face. “Hello again, Princess Twilight. I was just checking in to ensure you that this crystal globe does indeed work.” Professor Screw said with a smile. “Where are you!? Tell me now!” Twilight shouted. “(Chuckle) You really think I would just simply give away the location of our hideout? You offend me, Princess Twilight.” Professor Screw said as he looked around to see the rest of the Mane Six and the princesses of Equestria. “Ah Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, how very nice to see you both. Oh? And you must be Princess Cadance.” “Why would you be loyal to King Sombra!? He enslaved the crystal ponies and he even put a curse on you!” Cadance shouted at the globe, causing the Professor to look at Twilight with an unamused look on his face. “So, you told them about that… you know, that technically is against the rules, however I will let it go this once. It won’t change anything in the long run.” Professor Screw said. “How does thou know where the Staff of Sacanas is!? That information was kept under strict secrecy! Tell us now!” Luna demanded. “I have nothing to say to you, Princess Luna.” Professor Screw said. “It doesn’t matter. We will make sure that you and the Rogue don’t get your hooves on the staff.” Celestia said. “Ah, ah, ah. Have you forgotten what the Doctor said? This little journey is meant solely for the Elements of Harmony. If anypony steps in to help them in any way, I will kill Doctor Whooves.” Professor Screw said with a very threating stare. “You would just kill Doctor Whooves like that?” Twilight asked, shocked to hear what the Professor had said. “Why not? According to you, I’m apparently the leader of the Rogue. Why would I need to keep the Doctor alive?” Professor Screw asked. “What do you mean, apparently!? You said you were the leader!” Twilight yelled. “I didn’t say that. You did. I told you that you could believe what you wanted to believe, nothing more. Stay alert Princess Twilight, we will be calling you soon. Ta, ta.” Professor Screw said as he disappeared from the crystal globe. With the Professor gone, this left the ponies in awe as they looked around at each other. “Well, what are we going to do now?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at Twilight. “(Sigh) I’m not sure. I think the only thing we can do is wait for the Rogue to contact us.” Twilight said as she turned to the princesses. “What are you all going to do?” “Well, it seems we have no choice but to return to our kingdoms. As much as we want to do something about this situation, we simply cannot put the lives of innocent ponies at risk.” Luna answered. While everypony seemed to have learned quite a bit about the Rogue, Twilight still felt the need to know more about the Professor. She wanted to know what had caused him to become this crazy scientist that would end up worshiping Equestria’s most evil tyrant. Cadance didn’t seem to know much or anything at all about the Professor, but maybe the crystal ponies knew something. “Cadance, my friends and I are going with you back to the Crystal Empire.” Twilight said, shocking Cadance a bit. “Oh no, no. Not so fast, Twilight.” Cadance said, holding a hoof up. “But we need to find out more about Professor Screw. Surely some of the crystal ponies know something about him. I know it’s silly, but I really need to-.” “Twilight, look at your friends. You’re all hurt, and you need rest.” Cadance said as she gestured towards the rest of the Mane Six. Following Cadance’s gesture, Twilight looked at the rest of her friends. As her eyes landed on her friends, Twilight realized just how badly her friends had been hurt during their battle with the Rogue. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity weren’t too badly injured, but they still had their share of bruises. Most of the injuries they had sustained was due to their battle with Doctor Whooves. Rainbow Dash and Applejack however, well, that was a different matter entirely. Applejack had sustained a lot of injuries from her fight with Flim and Flam. She had bruises all over her body from being shot at with magic multiple times. Her mouth had stopped bleeding and she very obviously tried to hide her injuries. Rainbow Dash had tons of bruises all over her body from her fight with Lightning Dust. Like Applejack, Rainbow Dash also tried to hide the fact that she was seriously injured. Seeing how hurt all of her friends were made Twilight feel so terrible. She had completely neglected their wellbeing and had just tried to put them through even more struggles, all for the sake of finding out more about this mad crystal pony. Twilight placed a hoof over her mouth and almost shed tears by how negligent she had just become over her best friends. “Oh my gosh, girls, I’m so sorry…” Twilight said as all of her friends immediately started trying to reassure her that they were okay. “Oh no, no, it’s fine, Twilight! Really! You’re okay, Sugarcube!” Applejack said, still obviously trying to hide her injuries. “Yeah! Look! I’m still smiling! We’re all okay! Look, Fluttershy’s okay, right Fluttershy!?” Pinkie Pie asked as she pulled Fluttershy close to her. “Ow, Pinkie, my wing.” Fluttershy said, wincing a bit as Pinkie pulled her a little too hard. “Whoopsie, sorry.” Pinkie Pie said, letting go of Fluttershy. “It’s okay, and I’m okay too, Twilight. I promise.” Fluttershy said, giving Twilight her most comforting smile. “Yes, we’re alright, Darling. Sure, some of us might be a bit hurt, but we’re all still here, aren’t we?” Rarity asked with a nervous laugh and smile. “Don’t worry about us, Twilight! Look, I can still fly, and I can still kick ass!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew out of her throne and started punching the air. “That’s quite enough. Princess Cadance is right; you all need your rest. In fact, I’m ordering all of you to stay in Ponyville and recover. Go home and rest, spend time with your families. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, you two will be checking yourselves into the hospital to make sure you haven’t sustained any critical injuries.” Celestia said with a concerned yet stern tone. “Aw come on, seriously!? I hate hospitals! We’re not even that badly hurt!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed before Applejack managed to grab her tail and pull her back down. “Rainbow, y’all need to stop being so stubborn.” Applejack said. “Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I don’t know, maybe.” Applejack replied. “We’ll stay here and rest, I promise.” Twilight said to Celestia. “You can come to the Crystal Empire tomorrow, but only if you’re friends are okay.” Cadance said as she walked over to Twilight. “(Sigh) Okay.” Twilight said as Cadance placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight, it’s going to be okay.” Cadance said, giving her a loving smile. “Thank you, Cadance.” Twilight said as she smiled back to her sister-in-law. Despite the smile on Twilight’s face, the princess was having a mental struggle. So many thoughts and questions filled her head. The possible origins of Professor Screw, the whereabouts of the Rogue, the plan that the Rogue had in store for Equestria. But the one thing that really bugged Twilight, that feeling that something was wrong still wasn’t going away. In fact, it seemed like everyday it was getting stronger…