The group made their way through the town and saw many ponies struggling to continue life despite their new blindness, deafness, or muteness.
“What happened here?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know, but to somepony with knowledge we must go,” Zecora said as she made her way over to a pony who was sitting on a bench and she looked up at her.
After asking something the mare silently pointed her towards a house.
“Despite what happened to her, she mentions somewhere we can refer,” Zecora said pointing where the mute mare pointed them to.
“Alright, let’s go,” Rainbow said as they headed off toward the local market.
As they got there they saw an earth pony colt helping his grandmother who seemed to be blind.
“It’s okay grandma, our radishes will still sell,” The colt said worriedly.
“Hmm…” Starlight trotted over there and the others saw her approach the colt.
“Starlight?” Twilight asked.
“Excuse me?” Starlight asked and the colt responded.
“Huh? Oh hey, mam, want to buy some radishes?... can you hear me or talk?” The colt asked.
“You're not affected… How?” Starlight asked confusedly.
“You mean this strange plague that swept our village?” The mare asked facing the wrong way.
“Yes, I suppose it got to her too,” Starlight said with pity.
“No she’s always been blind as a bat, thankfully nothing else happened to her,” The colt said.
“Excuse me, you're not affected? How is that?” Twilight asked as she and the others approached.
“I don’t know,” The colt said with a shrug.
“What is your name?” Fluttershy asked.
“Copper,” Copper said.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to the village?” Starlight asked.
“A scary mare came in and started flashing some kind of stone and ponies were affected left and right by some kind of magic,” Copper said.
“Oh no dear… I get the feeling I know what happened, are you all here to help?” The older mare asked.
“Yes, we are,” Starlight said.
“Copper, close the stand for now, you and whoever else is here, follow me,” The mare said as she hobbled away, tapping a cane around.
“We got ourselves a lead,” Spike said as they followed.
When the mare led them to her house they saw it was made of a strange white bamboo.
“What kind of bamboo is this?” Pinkie asked.
“It’s called pale river bamboo, it’s quite rare outside of Equidor… I read some plantlife magazines,” Fluttershy said.
“Cool!” Pinkie said as she bounced into the house.
“Yes yes come in but don’t disturb any of the windchimes, it’s a sensory thing,” The mare said.
“Ok-” AJ accidentally ran into some and it rang.
“I said not to touch them,” The mare patiently said.
“Sorry, there’s alot of ‘em,” AJ said looking at the many scattered throughout the cottage.
“So what did you bring us here for Mrs…” Starlight trailed off.
“Bramble, just call me Bramble,” The old mare said sitting down after finding her chair.
“Alright, so do you know what’s going on, why has everything here gone wrong?” Zecora asked.
“I do, I feared this day would come, here, take a look at this,” The mare said reaching over and grabbing a book on the ground and hoofing it to Twilight.
“How to cook clover soup without pots,” Twilight said confusedly.
“Dang it, Copper, can you grab the correct book please,” Bramble asked.
“Ok,” Copper went over, picked up a bigger book, and gave it to Twilight.
“The legend of the three monkeys?” Twilight said.
“I have heard of this tale, please for everypony else regale,” Zecora said.
“Yes, long ago in times when monsters roamed and the princesses weren’t even on the throne yet, the ponies of the time worshipped the three monkey gods, Ek, Ak, and Uk, astral beings who represented the ancient principle of sense, sight, sound, and hearing, they were given tribute and offered sacrifices in their names, and in return, they protected the ponies from dangerous creatures, but as time went on, customs were forgotten and when the princesses took the throne and helped banish the evils of the land, ponies stopped worshipping them, enraged they became a blight on the land, until Celestia and Luna stopped them and sealed them within the statues that they lived in, this is a story that’s been passed down through the generations, my mother always told me to have my white bamboo near if the monkeys ever came for me, I cannot for the life of me remember why though…” The mare finished.
“Amazing, and you suspect that somepony released them?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, and this being, whoever they are, aren’t prepared to face the consequences of invoking their powers,” Bramble said.
“Who did it?” Rarity asked.
“I don’t know,” Bramble said.
“Wait… you mentioned you saw a scary looking mare… what did she look like?” Starlight asked Copper.
“Tall, insect-like, green mane, big jagged horn, and she had holes in her hooves,” Copper said.
“Chrysalis…” Starlight said getting serious.
“Who?” Bramble asked.
“She is a criminal that Equestria has been trying to apprehend for a while now, she must have done this,” Starlight said.
“Then we have to stop her,” Twilight said with determination.
“Yeah! We got this,” Rainbow said itching for some adventure.
“Wait, we still need to find out why they weren’t affected,” Starlight said.
“You best hurry, for if this is true, then this Chrysalis cannot reach the second statue,” Bramble said.
“Second statues?” Twilight asked.
“The first statues were to imprison their spirits, the second sealed their full powers, if she makes it to the statues on the other side of the valley, she could unleash a catastrophe,” Bramble said seriously.
“Then time is of the essence,” Twilight said and she hurried out.
“Take this, It was given to me by my mother, it will lead you to the second statue,” Bramble said holding out a blank piece of paper.
“Umm…” AJ was about to say something but Copper hoofed the real on to her.
“Here” Copper said.
“Thanks,” Starlight said before they took their leave.
“Be careful!” Copper called after them.
“We will!” Starlight called back and they left.
The group hurried through the village, as they made their way through, having to pass by ponies who have lost their hearing, sight or even their voice they eventually found their way out of the village.
“Alright, let’s make like Daring Do and find the treasure,” Rainbow said.
“We’re trying to prevent Chrysalis from finding the treasure, remember?” Starlight said.
“I know,” Rainbow said.
“Rainbow Dash, we’ll need eyes in the sky, do you think you can fly ahead and scope out the area?” Twilight asked.
“On it!” Rainbow took off.
“Alright, the map here says we head due north, and stick to the leftmost pathways,” Starlight said.
“Got it,” Twilight said and the group moved on through the brush.
“Ugh! Stupid mosquitos!” AJ swished her hat at the annoying bugs.
“Dearie me I stepped in mud!” Rarity cried.
“I-I hope we can get out of here soon,” Fluttershy shivered as various noises surrounded her.
“Ugh, I see they aren’t used to places like this, for there are so many complaints about what is amiss,” Zecora said.
“I know, but we’ll have to deal with it,” Starlight said as they took another left.
“Is anypony hungry? I brought sandwiches!” Pinkie said.
“No thanks,” Starlight said.
The group trekked on for what felt like an hour, fighting off mosquitos and Rarity’s occasional complaint about what got on her coat.
Eventually, they would enter a clearing that would give them insight into another nearby town.
“Finally,” AJ said.
“Good, we can ask for directions because this map is hard to follow,” Starlight said before Rainbow flew down to them.
“Guys! We’ve got a problem!” Rainbow said urgently.
“Hahahaha!” Chrysalis laughed as she trotted through a disoriented crowd of ponies “With this power I can render any foe helpless before me!” Chrysalis said.
“Just don’t forget our deal Chrissy, oook!” Uk said.
“I know, once my enemies are all dead then I will turn my attention to the princesses, but for now, THIS!” Chrysalis said firing a shadow monkey at a fleeing pony and it flew through him.
When he got up he tried to run but he wound up running into a wall due to being blinded.
“I do wonder what the princesses will say when we blind, deafen and mute them,” Ak wondered out loud.
“Perhaps we should throw them into their own dungeons and let them rot,” Ek suggested.
“I second that!” Uk cheered.
“Shut up! I need to focus!” Chrysalis sneered before moving on.
“Oh she didn’t just talk to me like-” Uk was ready to go after her but Ak stopped him.
“Later, when her use has run out,” Ek said with a mischievous grin.
“Gotcha,” Uk grinned as well.
Chrysalis continued using the magic on the ponies and draining them at the same time to strengthen herself when Suddenly several ponies arrived.
“CHRYSALIS!” Twilight shouted.
“Hmm?” Chrysalis looked towards the group and grinned “Well well, I was wondering when Celestia’s attack dogs would come, and I see you brought some more.
“Hey! We’re not dogs!” Spike said indignantly.
“Leave this peaceful nation alone, or I shall buck you off your throne!” Zecora threatened.
“Get lost zebra, I have more than enough power to take even you,” Chrysalis said.
“Chrysalis, why are you attacking innocent ponies? What’s your endgame this time?” Starlight demanded.
“The same as always, the demise of you and your nation! And revenge for costing me my hive!” Chrysalis growled before saying shut up to the air next to her.
“Has she lost it?” Rainbow asked.
“Hmmph, if you must know the spirits of the monkey idols are now with me, and I have their sigil,” Chrysalis said gesturing to the monkey stone she’s wearing.
“No…” Zecora said before getting ready.
“We have to stop her!” Twilight said as they ran forward.
“Monkey spirits! Protect me!” Chrysalis commanded and suddenly the stone glowed and three giant transparent monkey-like golems emerged from it.
“Whoa…” Rainbow slowed as she saw that as did everypony else.
Screeching like an actual monkey the front golem lunged forward and punched at them and they dodged.
Spike breathed fire at the one approaching him but his flames seemed to dissipate as they got too close and the giant tried to step on him but Starlight pulled him away with her magic.
“We gotta get to Chrysalis!” Twilight before focusing magic and blasting the golem in front of her, but it simply walked through.
“Fun fact, apparently astral golems cannot be harmed by physical world things, including magic, but they can harm you!” Chrysalis laughed as the golem swatted Twilight aside.
“AH!” Twilight landed.
“Twi!” Pinkie said before pulling out her party cannon and aiming before blasting the golem in the face and Applejack bucked the golem in the leg and it fell over but another one grabbed Pinkie by her tail and threw her at AJ and hit her.
“Ooof!” AJ and Pinkie grunted.
Zecora did a flip over a swing from one of the golems and ran past another, ducking a swing, as she made her way over to Chrysalis she formed a barrier made of monkey spirits and Zecora jumps onto and off of it landing in front of it.
“Alright, you have some skill, but I have back-up,” Chrysalis said before she formed several wraiths that looked like monkeys that shot forward and struck Zecora sending her flying and hitting Spike and Starlight and sending them flying into a bamboo house.
“Aaah!” The two shouted.
“Enough playing around, it is time to show you my true new power!” Chrysalis said before unleashing a series of monkey spirits and they shot at the group.
“Girls!” Twilight shouted before she was blindsided by a monkey and knocked out.
As the group lay there Chrysalis chuckled “Now to end their pathetic lives,” She said before she suddenly felt a headache.
“Ugh!” Chrysalis grunted “What is this?” She demanded.
“We were going to warn you at first but you wanted the power soooo badly,” Uk snarked.
“Tell me!” Chrysalis snapped.
“The magic is killing you,” Ak said.
“...What?” Chrysalis said in shock.
“Our power was never meant to be wielded by a mortal, the incomplete magic is affecting your soul and unless our full power is obtained to balance out what is weighing on your soul you’ll keel over,” Ak said.
“...WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?!” Chrysalis demanded.
“I remember a curtain ling telling us ‘Let us get on with it,’ didn’t give us a chance,” Uk said.
“You must hurry and obtain the full power before your soul collapses,” Ek said.
“Hnngh… very well, leaving them to wander blind deaf and mute for the rest of their lives is just as good,” Chrysalis said before leaving.
“...How was that?” Ak asked.
“She bought it,” Ek smiled.
“Ah ah ah! Let’s get moving! The sooner we’re free of her the better!” Uk said a little too loudly.
“What?” Chrysalis asked.
“Nothing,” Ak said slapping his loudmouth brother over the head.
“Hmmph…” Chrysalis said before moving on.