My Little Pony Next Generation: The New Harmony!

by Alphamon_Ouryuken


A Bumpy Start

“Can somepony explain to me what's going on?” Prism asked once again after he and the rest of his friends entered the crystal castle on the northern border of Ponyville. After he had pulled “his amazing prank” on Illusion, the Prince became extremely nervous and started to rant something about odds. Illusion said that he had this dreadful feeling that things are going to turn out pretty bad, and immediately urged them to go to a safe place, while asking Whirlwind to alert the Mayor to call an emergency state.

Golden Delicious went to check the farm, where he found his father, cousins, aunts & uncles perfectly fine; Candy and Prism each checked out on their homes to find the same and Claire, T and Annie went together to check on the Dragon-ponies’ Aunt’s home, where they also found Star’s little brother still playing with Pixel Bit. After asserting that everything was okay with their families, they decided to rendezvous at the castle, which was currently empty save for the kids and some stationary guards.

“Seriously. Why did Princy get freaked out all of the sudden?” Prism grumbled as he soared over the group.

Starburst, calm as ever, started to answer to the pegasus colt, even though she’d rather tell him to shut up. “Prism, Illusion seems to believe that whatever my mother and her friends went to deal with went south. But I don’t understand why he’s so nervous.”

“So… he’s pulling our manes.” He stated bluntly.

“I don’t think he is...” Said Claire with a worried frown. “He’d never joke with something like this. He seemed really serious about whatever's happening.”

Starburst, on the contrary, shook her head. “But it doesn’t make any sense. The council went to attend a diplomatic matter. Even if they went to a devil’s kingdom or whatever, the worst that could happen is that Equestria would lose a trading route or something.”

“But what if it isn’t as simple as that?” Annie asked from where she was standing, earning a few curious glances. She didn’t flinch because of the sudden change of focus to her, and simply continued her argument. “What if it's something really important, or even dangerous.” Her tone sounded really concerned, but it also sounded somewhat pleading. Star noted; like the tone a pony would use to convince somepony without actually saying what she means.

Of course, Starburst did knew exactly what she meant. “Annie, I’m sorry, but there is no way that those tales and bedtime stories are all true. They're just not real.”

“But what about the Mare In the Moon?” Candy suddenly asked, drawing everypony’s attention. “It used to be a bedtime story but turned out to be real.”

“Yeah, I remember Nidra mentioning it once.” Turquoise quickly added.

Del also took a turn to speak up. “Ah reckon that those old stories about Mr. Discord are also real, if what my ma’ speaks of him holds any value.”

Suddenly, Prism Bolt landed on the floor with a stomp, startling everypony. “Are we seriously having this discussion?” He asked before continuing. “As much as I hate saying this, but I agree with Shorty here. Sure my mom is pretty awesome, but I have never seen her doing anything else than performing in the Wonderbolt shows with dad and the rest of the team. And I haven’t ever seen Miss Applejack doing anything else than working on the farm. Not as awesome as being a Wonderbolt mind you” He said while Golden Delicious gave him a stinky eye.

“But even my mom’s job is pretty normal, besides the ‘council-y’ stuff. Star might be a buzz-kill, but I know when to take my head out of the clouds once in a while.”

At the back, Cotton Candy gave off a small chortle. “I get it! It’s funny because they’re pegasi.”

Meanwhile, Starburst smiled to herself. Prism can be really annoying most of the time, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he called her “Shorty”, she would've given him a pat on the back for siding with her.

“But what if there’s proof?” Asked Anthea, testing Star's patience once more. “Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean there isn’t any truth to it in my opinion,” she said with a smirk, “But if all you need is proof, then there is one place where we can find it.” At the sudden silence that fell on the room, Annie gave an annoyed sigh and answered. “The Castle’s Library.” At that everypony gave understanding sounds.

Star, on the other hoof, shook her head in disappointment before speaking up. “Very well, let’s check on the library. There we’ll find solid proof that our moms are nothing more than normal mares.”

After Star directed the group to the Castle library, she started browsing through all the books while the rest did the same, hoping to find anything anything pertaining to their mothers. Prism, Star and Del searched the shelves in the "Fantasy" section, while Claire, Candy, T and Annie browsed the "History" section. Or to be more accurate, Claire and Candy were reading the books, Annie was just flipping through the books and discarding them, leaving T to pick them up to read them again.

"Come on, come on." Starburst grumbled as she tossed a copy of 'Daring Do' over her shoulder. "There's gotta be something in here!" She muttered as she continued to search, tossing a comic book labeled 'Power Ponies' off the shelf, which landed on a table next to Claire. "Anything yet?" Star asked Prism.

"Nothing useful so far," He said, listing off the books as he flew to another section dubbed “practicals” and pulled them out. "Let's see, 'Slumber Parties 101', lame; 'Understanding Medieval Equestria', boring; 'Modern Spellcasting', not interested... 'The Art of the To-Do List'? Seriously?! Who needs an entire book on how to make A TO-DO LIST?!"

Star rolled her eyes. 'There's OCD...and then there's my mother...' She thought to herself.

Prism scoffed as he tossed it and was about to pull out another book, then he noticed Candy grabbing the discarded book and stuffing it into her mane, only to freeze when she noticed the look Prism was giving her. "...really CeeCee?"

"Ehehehe...Uh..well..." Candy stuttered, trying to hide her blush. "H-H-Hey guys! I think I found something that could help!" Candy shouted while holding out another book, hoping to draw attention away from her embarrassment.

"Here, let me see!" She called out as her friend tossed her the book. After catching it, she noticed that the cover was quite peculiar; The cover depicted six gems on a large gold pedestal, each one a different color and shape. "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. 2nd Edition" Star read as she inspected the book. "This sounds promising...” As Star opened the book her friends crowded around her, she started reading the tome. "Alright, let's see...ah! Here we go!


“The Elements of Harmony are magical artifacts that represent the aspects of harmony in Equestria. There are six Elements in total: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, and the most elusive one; Magic." She turned to the next page which depicted Princesses Celestia and Luna in front of an odd looking tree. "Originally taken from the Tree of Harmony by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they were used to bring an end to the chaotic reign of Discord and enforce balance, peace and order throughout all of Equestria."

Starburst flipped the page, revealing Celestia battling and banishing Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony. Star was about to skip this part when Prism quipped in from over her shoulder.

"Wait, that's Nightmare Moon?!" Prism whistled. "Wow, Nidra's Mom looked hot when she was evil-OW!" The pegasus groaned, nursing the spot where Claire had smacked him on the head.

Star simply rolled her eyes as she kept flicking the pages, getting to a scene depicting six mares that looked just like her mother and her friends. Star kept reading, feeling a sense of futility on the task. “After Nightmare Moon returned one thousand years after her banishment, a group of six mares set out to find the Elements of Harmony: Applejack earned the Element of Honesty, Fluttershy earned the Element of Kindness, blah, blah, blah… This is the same story time book my mom used to read me! This still proves nothing.” She says putting the book down.

However, Anthea decided to speak in again. “CeeCee, where did you find that book?”

Candy hesitated for a second before answering. “Um… there, in the… history section.”

Star’s ears perked up before she spoke in a dejected tone. “Somepony must have misplaced it then.”

“Who, Princess Twilight?” Annie quipped in again. “I don’t think she would have placed this book on the history section by mistake, and less if she’s in it.” She said with a wide, yet apologetic smile.

Starburst grumbled to herself as everypony fell quiet, seeing the logic behind Anthea’s words. She could also see it, her mom wouldn’t misplace a “fantasy” book on the “history” section, unless she was delusional, possibility that has been invalidated by the fact that if her mother was crazy then she wouldn’t be a Princess. Star didn’t want to admit it, but she couldn’t argue against this.

"This. Is. AWESOME!" Prism cheered, finally breaking the silence.

"OUR MOMMIES REALLY ARE HEROES!!" Candy shouted in joy as she bounced around the room.

T however, was practically trembling in excitement. "I can't believe this! I-I'm speechless!”

"How is that any different as to what’s usual?" Annie joked as she giggled at her coltfriend’s reaction.

Everypony kept expressing their excitement, while Star was still processing the news and realizing how wrong she was on her assumption. It was something that she had never thought would be real, yet there she had the evidence, and it had been where she lives all this time no less, and all because she wouldn’t stay in the library for less than five minutes.

'Unlike Anthea...'. She thought to herself.

Before dwelling into that though, Prism turned everypony’s attention back to Starburst. "Oh, Staaar..." He called out in cocky tone. "Would you like me to get you a fork?"

"What?" Star blinked in confusion, getting everyone else's attention. "A fork? For what?"


"So you can eat your words!" He laughed before flying around the Princess. "Man, I bet it taste terrible, doesn’t it?”

Before Star could retort back at the annoying stallion, another thought crossed her mind. “Wait a sec… If all of this is true, then our mothers do have a great role in the protection of Equestria, which means that whatever situation they had to take care of in the Demon Wastelands is indeed for the Kingdom’s Security.”

“I know, right?! Isn’t it great?” Prism added with a smirk, but quickly became uncomfortable after everypony became somber all of the sudden. “Um… did I miss something?”

“Prism, did you forget why we went to the castle in the first place?” Claire chided the young pegasus. “Illusion said that something about the odds had changed, and that something bad could happen.”

“Exactly.” Starburst comments. “Then it must mean that…”

*rumble*

The pegasus was cut off as the ground shook slightly. "...did anypony else feel that?"

Prism arched a brow. "Feel what?"

*RUMBLE*

There was another loud rumble, that managed to shake everypony on their hooves. Even Prism was rattled by the booming sound. "What in Equestria was that?!" Prism shouted as he looked around, trying to find the source of the quakes.

"Well either a big storm cloud is coming this way or the entire world just hiccuped." Candy joked while pulling herself up.

Ignoring her quips, Star immediately flew towards one of the windows to see exactly what was going on. The moment she saw it, her pupils shrunk and her blood ran cold. The rest of her friends quickly rushed out to join her, and shared her shock.

Claire summed up what they were all thinking in one phrase: "Oh...my...Celestia..."

High in the skies of Equestria, a dark mass of clouds loomed over Ponyville, thunder resounding within it, but without any lightning. Every stallion, mare, and foal stopped what they were doing as a chill swept through the town. Suddenly, two piercing red eyes opened as the clouds re-shaped themselves in the form of a horned creature, glaring down at the land.

"Citizens of Equestria! Lend me your ears and listen to me very carefully!" The cloud's voice boomed across the skies. "I am Grogar, true ruler of the Demon Wastelands! And soon to be ruler of this pathetic land as well!" Grogar cackled as more thunder boomed out of the weather construct. "All who dare oppose me shall suffer the same fate as these fools!!" The moment he said that, the clouds shifted once again in a swirling motion, creating an image in the center of the circle of clouds.

However what got everypony's attention was what was on the image. Much to the shock and horror of Star and her friends, inside were none other than the Council of Harmony; their moms, all of whom were trying to escape their captivity.

"No..." Star mumbled as her ears flattened against her head.

"MOM!!" Candy, Prism, and T shouted in shock, or in Prism's case pure rage. "LET HER GO YOU MONSTER!!" The tricolor-maned stallion shouted as Turquoise, Starburst and himself prepared to charge towards the swirling mass of clouds, only for Claire & Annie to hold the former two back with their magic while Prism himself got yanked back after Del bit his tail, forcing him to land. "OW! LET ME GO DEL! I GOTTA-"

"Ya'll go up there and that thing'll trap you too!" Del grunted through his teeth as he pulled Prism back to land.

Before Prism could retort, a menacing roar echoed across the sky. "Well that doesn't seem to be stopping Mr. Spike." Candy pointed out, making everyone look up to find that indeed, Spike had taken to the air, fully intent on attacking the demonic goat. Not too far behind him were a Wonderbolt response team plus several Royal Guard Pegasi, both teams lead by none-other than Soarin and Flash Sentry.

Grogar noticed the flying threats coming toward him. "Hmph, insolent worms!" He said with an annoyed growl, he turned his neck and conjured up a vortex of green clouds from the base of his neck, which quickly began to swallow up all of his would-be assailants.

"DAD!!" Starburst, T, Claire, & Prism all screamed as they witnessed their airborne ponies and dragon vainly trying to escape the swirling trap. The Royal Guards and Wonderbolts tried to secure the escape of their respective leaders, but Grogar simply smirked maliciously as his horn crackled with dark electricity. With an unseen command several lightning bolts flew out towards the pegasi and dragon, striking them all down in mere seconds, leaving everypony helpless to be swallowed by the dark whirlwind.

"As you can see, any attempts to resist will be met with dire consequences!" The Demonic Ram said with a grim chuckle as he gestured back to his captives, which now included the small army of Pegasi, their leaders, and Spike. ”Not that your compliance would make any difference. I plan to deliver this same fate to all the harmonious creatures that live in this intolerably sweet land!

"However, my next goal lies elsewhere!" He added before turning his attention to Canterlot. "Once I take care of the remaining rulers of this land, nothing will stand in my way to conquer this place!" As he spoke his form, along with the image of his captives shifted back into a swirling mass of clouds before immediately drifting off towards Canterlot, leaving the residents of Ponyville in a state of mass panic...

~~~o~~~

"This is bad…" Candy mumbled to herself as the she and the rest of the group re-entered the library. "This is very, very, VERY, very bad..." She rambled as she chewed on her mane nervously.

"N-Now CeeCee, I know things look bleak…" Del said while he tried to register the situation himself. "...but we need to remain calm..."

"Yeah, you are right. I mean it's not like our moms and dads are being held captive by some evil, magical goat that wants to take over our home... OH WAIT, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT'S HAPPENING!!" Candy screamed while shaking Del effortlessly. "WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!"

Star felt sympathy for her friend, whose reaction was completely normal in her opinion, all things considered. As she looked around she saw that the rest of her friends weren't doing much better. T was holding Annie close, as if she would disappear if he let go even for a second. The blind Unicorn herself was shivering in place, muttering to herself about her mother. Claire was pacing back and forth with a livid look on her face, occasionally snorting smoke from her nostrils. And Prism... was making way towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"You heard goat boy," Prism said, not turning around. "He'll be coming back for Ponyville after he's done with Canterlot. No doubt evacuations are already underway, so I'm going to get Icy & Dubz out of town before it's too late." He then turned to the rest of the group. "And if you're all smart, you'll get the rest of your families to safety too!"

"For once we both agree." Claire growled as she made her way towards the door. "Both my mother and father have already been captured, and I don't want to leave Aunt Sweetie and her family alone."

Del, after prying Candy off him, proceeded to lead her to the exit as well. "Com'on CeeCee, we'll stop by your house on the way to farm..."

"NO!" Star shouted slamming her hooves on the floor, drawing everypony's attention. “Look, I’m just as affected as you are after what we all saw. I know you're all scared, I am too. I also saw my mom trapped there, I also saw my dad getting captured too. But I can’t run away from this. We can't just run away like this. We have to do something!"

"And just what do you propose we do?!" Prism countered. "You want us to go against goat-man over there and stop him, when he just defeated the Royal Guard, a Wonderbolt Squad, a dragon and our moms before that? And let me remind you that they are very ones who were sent to deal with him in the first place, if I understand correctly. Now he's pretty much powerful enough to take on the Princesses!" He snapped, glaring at Star. “Look, I also want to kick goat-boy’s sorry flank to next week. But how in Celestia's mane are WE supposed to do anything about it?!

"He's got a point Star." T agreed, still holding onto Annie. "What could we possibly do against somepony that powerful?"

Star stared at the floor, feeling useless in this situation. Turquoise’s question was very valid: what could they do against something that has captured all their moms, when they were supposed to be powerful enough to prevent that?

Unsurprisingly, it was Annie who spoke up. "The Elements!"

Everyone stared at her as if she had just grown a second head. Del was the first one to break the silence. "Uh... beg pardon?"

"It's simple, we need to find the Elements of Harmony, and use them to stop Grogar!" The blind Unicorn explained as she pulled herself out of T's forehooves.

"Yeah, I don’t wanna burst your bubble, but there are a few holes in that plan of yours..." Candy stated, having finally calmed down. "One being that we don't even know where the Elements are. For all we know, our moms had them with them."

"Another problem is that we don't even know if they'll work for us, even if we find them..." Claire added.

"Um, don’t you guys remember that before our moms got the Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia and Luna were the original bearers?" Annie countered. "If the Elements can be passed on to a group of random mares, then I think their children are the most likely candidates to get them back."

Star sighed, she hated to admit it, but Annie made a good point. And it was the only option they really had at this point. But there was still one major issue. "While it's a good start, we still have no idea where to find them..."

“Doesn’t the book say where they are? Then just skip to the end.” Prism said off-hoofedly, drawing everypony’s surprised gaze on him. “What? That book has the history of one of the most awesome magic artifacts on Equestria, of course I was paying attention. It's gotta have some details or hints on where they hid the Elements. Just in case.”

Star stared at Prism for a second before going back to the book and flipping its pages once again, passing over several chapters. "Let's see...'The Return of Harmony', 'The Reformation of Discord', 'Magical Mystery Cure', ‘The ‘Human’ World', ..." Eventually, after skipping a huge chunk of pages she stopped at a page with a picture of their moms standing in front of the same crystal-like tree from the beginning, only with several black, thorny vines covering it. "’Relinquishing the Elements'...this might be it!" Star exclaimed as she started to read once again.

"After braving the Everfree Forest, the wielders of the Elements had finally found the fabled Tree of Harmony. Due to the Plunder Vine’s magic, the tree's power was growing dimmer with every passing second; it was then that Princess Twilight realized exactly what she had to do in order to save the tree as well as Equestria from the Plunder Vine's destruction; they would have to give up their Elements of Harmony. Naturally her friends were all greatly opposed to the idea, believing that without the Elements they could not fully protect Equestria, or rein Discord in if he got out of control, their fear of losing what kept them all connected was very clear. But the Princess reminded them that while the Elements of Harmony did bring them together, it was their friendship what kept them connected. With this newfound valour, the group returned the Elements to their proper place within the tree, and in doing so the tree regained it’s light once more, destroying every Plunder Vine sprouting from the Everfree Forest and freeing Princesses Celestia and Luna."

"I bet they were having a goooood time while they were waiting..." Annie said it was a knowing smirk.

"ANNIE!" Claire chided. "That's my boyfriend's mother and aunt you're talking about!"

"Oh good!" The blind mare giggled. "That means he might have the same kinks-"

"ANNIE!"

Star ignored the two of them and kept studying through the last pages of the book, seeing if there was any change about the location of the elements. “That’s all there is. The last known location of the Elements of Harmony is on the heart of Everfree Forest.” Star closed the book and turned to look at the rest of her friends. "Well, I believe the next course of action is obvious." She said with a confident smile, which worried Del, since Star only had that look when she was about to do something reckless.

"Star, you ain’t thinkin’ what I think you are thinkin’, are you?" Del asked nervously.

"Everypony, I need you all to go help with the evacuation." She said before turning towards the door. "I'll go to the Everfree Forest and find the Elements of Harmony!"

“I hate it when I'm right.” The farm pony mumbled to himself as he moved to stop her, only for Prism to step on her tail, halting her in her tracks.

"OW! Prism, what the hay do you think you're doing?!" Star growled, flaring her wings threateningly.

"And just where do you think you're going, shorty?" Prism asked teasingly.

"Like I just said, I'm going to get the Elements! Now get off of my tail!" The young Princess snapped.

"Uh Star, no offense but are you loco in the coco?!" Candy screamed as she bolted right in front of her, her eyes dangerously close to Star's. "You're talking about doing through the Everfree Forest! Y'know, the place where all kind of monsters and creepy stuff lives!”

Star groaned as she yanked her tail free. "Look, first of all: our moms were able to make it through the forest just fine when they were our age. Second: not all of the rumors of that place are true, like Slendermane or that ‘Village of the Blanks’..."

"You said that about our moms’ tales earlier today, and now look at what we know!" Prism countered. "So if you think we're just gonna stand by and let you go get turned into a lawn-ornament by a Cockatrice, you got another think coming!"

Star got dangerously close to Prism's face. "And what exactly are you going to do to stop me?!"

The rainbow-maned stallion simply smirked. "Who said anything about stopping you?"

"Yeah? Well you can-" The short pegasus blinked, registering what Prism had just said. "Wait, what?"

"We're going with you!" Candy gleefully proclaimed while bouncing in place, her mane having returned to it's poofy state.

"Our mothers stood by yours when she went in and so will we!" Del proudly stated.

Star brought her hoof to her face, she seriously didn't need this right now! "Look I appreciate you all wanting to help, but right now I think it's safer if you stay with everypony else."

"Where? In the town that Goat-boy's going to move onto the moment he sucks Canterlot dry?" Annie countered.

Star's eye twitched while the rest of the group stared at Annie. "Did you really have to phrase it like that?"

"What can I say? I'm like a shark, when I smell blood I bite." Annie shrugged. "But regardless, we're not letting you go in alone! Right guys?" She smiled before turning to the rest of the group, who nodded in agreement.

Star was about protest further, only to be interrupted as two unicorn guards entered the room. "Princess Starburst, we have orders to escort you and your friends to the evacuation point immediately!" One of them stated.

“What? Who gave the order?” Star questioned the guards, mentally contemplating on how to get them to leave.

“Standard protocol, Your Highness. The Royal Guard is to assist the evacuation efforts by gathering everypony during an invasion. High value ponies are priority, Your Highness.”

'And now this is happening...' Star mentally groaned before maintaining her serious demeanor. "While I appreciate your concern gentlemen, I’m afraid that I have more pressing matters to attend to, so if you could just help everypony else-" She started ordering, in hopes of getting the guards off of her case, but unfortunately none of them stepped back.

"I’m sorry Your Highness, but our orders are clear. Now please come with us and-"

*BZZZT*

That was as far as the unicorn got before he fell over unconscious.

"What the-?!" Before the second Guard -or anypony else- could react, a green beam shoot him in the back of his head and he fell to the ground snoring.

Everypony turned to where the beam had come from… and saw Annie smirking triumphantly. "You're welcome." She said with a smug smile.

"Was that really necessary?!" Star snapped

"Hey, you want to get out and find the Elements fast as possible don't you?" Annie said, carefully stepping over the unconscious guards. "But you wouldn’t be able to if I hadn’t knocked these guards out. Now, let’s get going before more guards show up, everypony."

"Anthea, none of you will be coming." Star stated, only for Annie to counter her once again.

"Ok, I’ll just wake these guys up so that all of us can go along with the evacuation then." She said, gesturing to the snoring guards.

"She's got ya there, Your Shortness." Prism added.

Star's eye twitched, resisting the urge to scream in irritation while trying to understand how the pink unicorn had just found a leverage to make Starburst let them accompany her. With no clear way out of this, Star took a deep breath, turned her attention to the rest of her friends before finally conceding. "Fine... you can all come..."

"That's the spirit!" Candy cheered. "Now let's get going!"

“Wait!” Called the blind pony all of the sudden. Everypony froze in expectation of whatever Anthea had in mind. But instead of words, Annie simply called on a spell from her horn and focused it on the two unconscious guards. In a flash and a pop, both soldiers now sported a pair of magnificent mustaches over their lips. “Okay, now we can go.”

A few groans and giggles later, the group rushed out of the library. All except for Crystal Clarity, who had remained behind while everypony else rushed to outside of the castle. Once nopony was out of the library, she grabbed the discarded comic-book from the table and placed inside her saddlebags before rushing to catch the rest of the children.

~~~X~~~

Celestia paced back and forth inside the war chamber, constantly glancing at the oak door that sealed the entrance to the room. When she wasn’t staring at the door, she dared to look through a window, only to be reminded that they were in a safe room with no windows. She had alerted the guard once Illusion had returned and urged her to call an emergency. Then, when Grogar appeared over Ponyville and stated his threats, she along with Illusion, Discord, Luna, her niece Nidra and Captain Supernova had been moved to the small chamber in the heart of the castle.

Luna and her husband were going through some strategies over the table in the middle of the room, Illusion making some quick comments when he felt it necessary. Meanwhile, Nidra looked completely bored out of her mind, trying to find something even remotely interesting in the shelves. Discord wasn’t looking any better than Nidra, though; he was extremely anxious, often tapping a finger on the table or fidgeting with several finger traps that he’d produce out of nowhere. Celestia quickly caught on to that and dared a guess at what was upsetting him. “Still uncomfortable with small places, Discord?”

As if caught with his paw on the cookie jar, Discord froze almost immediately and dropped the finger traps on the floor, which then crawled away like caterpillars. “I’ve gotten better on that regard, my dear. Mostly.” He muttered to himself. “What really bothers me is that I really don’t see the point of cooping up in this room and wait for Billy-Goat-Boy when I could solve this problem with a snap of my fingers.” As if to prove his point, he snapped his eagle talons and made appear a modern rice-maker, wiggling it in front of Celestia as if to try to convince her.

Celestia let out a stifled giggle, but then her tone became somber. “I’m sorry Dis, but the fact that Grogar made it out of the Demon Wastelands only means that Twilight and her friends failed at their mission.” She lowered her head, a sad expression on her face. “I do not wish to take any more risks.”

“I understand your concerns, Tia. But I simply don’t like the idea of doing nothing, not unlike that Scorpan fella. Why isn’t he doing anything to help us, hmm?”

“Scorpan is also looking after his own kingdom, Discord. We all knew what were the risks.” Celestia said before sighing. “However, I could have never foreseen what was going to happen. We’re lucky that Illusion was able to warn Canterlot. Though I wish we had learned of it it sooner.”

Celestia realized that her son must have heard her, because he had turned away from the plans and was walking towards her. “Mother, don’t worry.” He donned a comforting smile. “I know things look bleak, but I have a feeling that everything will be alright.” He said while placing a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. Though it didn’t remain much in that place, because Discord decided to pop up in between them in that moment.

“Oh really?” Discord asked in a sing-song voice. “Well my son, why don’t you tell us more about this ‘feeling’?” At Illusion’s confused expression, Discord went back on what he said and how he said it and then gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I guess I had some sort of regression back there.” He said before letting a small chuckle out.

“Uh-huh…” Came Illusion’s response. “Anyway, I really don’t understand how I know when something good or bad is going to happen, I never know exactly what is going to happen. I just do. But I know something good will come out of all of this.” He finished, seeing both his parents relaxing a bit (though it wasn’t that clear in case of his father). But then pondered for a second before adding. “Though, maybe it has something to do with Crys and her friends going to the Everfree.”

At that moment, Celestia’s worrying became instant surprise, which wasn’t a sensation that she felt often. She looked over at her sister, who had turned away from the map on the table, having heard that last part. “Celestia, are you thinking…?”

“I don’t know, Luna. When I had Twilight go to Ponyville all those years ago, I was kinda certain. But now… this is completely sudden!” Celestia said, sweat starting to build on her brow. “No, it can’t be… Why would they go there?”

“For what else, Sister?” Luna counter-questioned. “But do you think they might be able to claim the Elements?”

The other three ponies in the room and Discord remained quiet while the exchange took place, glancing back and forth as each of the sisters talked. “I don’t know. It might be possible, but there are too many risks to let this matter to the chance!”

“Mother, I…”

“We need to search for them!” Celestia suddenly announced, ignoring Illusion’s quip. “We need to make sure that they’re fine, or at least assist them in anyway we can. This might as well be our only option if we want to stop Grogar”

Luna hesitated for a second before nodding in agreement. “Then we don’t have much time to waste. We’ll go to the Everfree.”

An annoyed snort ruined the tone of the situation, as everypony turned to stare at Nidra, who was starting a slow walk toward the door. “Finally! I thought I would die of boredom in here.” She said as a cyan aura enveloped her entire frame and lifted her from the ground, much to her dismay.

“By ‘we’, I meant your Aunt and I, young lady.” Luna said as she deposited her daughter besides Supernova while she and Celestia made their way towards the door. “You shan’t leave this chamber until this crisis has been resolved.”

“But mooom!”

“No ‘buts’,” Luna countered while willing her magic on the door handle, “if you believe I will let you unguarded while there’s a very real threat out in Equestria, you are sadly mistaken.” With that said, Luna opened the door to exit to the chamber…

… And stared right into the face of a blue ram.

“Boo.”

With a start, Celestia and Luna waved their wings and hovered back to the center of the room and immediately shot a stunning spell at the invader. However, several barrier shards of a dark purple appeared around Grogar, deflecting all the magical blasts before both elder princesses stopped their assault.

“Grogar?!” Celestia exclaimed, dumbstruck at the sudden appearance of their enemy. “How did you manage to get in here?” She asked while also spreading her wings threateningly.

“Quite simple: I just had to clean up the whole castle until only your disgusting stench was left.”

Luna’s eyes widened at the boldness of the insult, but Celestia was able to understand what he meant. “You captured everypony in the castle so it would be easier to pinpoint our magical signature.” She said, internally lamenting the fate of all the guards ponies and castle staff. She then devised a distraction, to give Luna and herself a chance to find an opening and exploit it. “Why are you doing this, Grogar? Equestria has never been a threat to you?”

That’s a lie and you know it!” The ram bellowed before continuing while glaring at the princesses. “It was your repulsive magic what allowed that fool Scorpan to beat me. And it is your very existence in this world what is weakening me now. I came here to remove the source of this good magic from the world.” Grogar adopted a wicked smile, just what Celestia needed, he’s feeling confident. Just a little more. “It is poetic actually, that the answer to all my problems comes from this little amulet made by your kind. The same that was used to incarcerate me will now…” Grogar stopped death mid-sentence as a blunt object struck his left horn.

The insulting item then bounced once on the floor before rolling to a skid in the middle of the stand off. Everypony and the ram looked bemusedly at a rice-maker that had flown across the room.

Celestia sharply snapped her head towards Discord, who was frozen in the final motion of pitching a throw. He looked sheepishly at Celestia before commenting. “Hmm, I guess I panicked?”

An annoyed grunt called everypony back to the chamber entrance to see Grogar rubbing his temple with a cloven hoof. “Was that your best?” He asked before stomping his hoof back to the floor and lowering his head. “Then it's my turn.”

In an instant, the black vortex opened again in the bell of his collar, and engulfed every corner of the chamber, devoiding it from all living creature except for him in just mere seconds. Grogar then closed the vortex again, but a change was evident on him. He was larger, thicker; his cloven hooves have turned into five fingered claws; his back had arched upwards, making him look like some sort of buffalo; his horns turned a menacing black and grew even more thicker and two small tusks sprouted upwards from his jaw. With a sinister chuckle, he conjured a magical blast and destroyed a wall right in front of him and stared off to the landscape before him.

“Soon Scorpan, you will regret your own foolishness.”

~~~X~~~

"Well, here we are." Star said as she and her friends trotted down the road leading to the dank, overgrown, and very foreboding wilderness known as the Everfree Forest.

"Oooh~ Ominous!" Candy exclaimed as she bounced towards the entrance alongside her friend. “Well, let’s get going everypony. Those Elements won’t be found by themselves.”

“I’m telling you guys,” Starburst warned while also stepping beneath the oppressing canopy of the forest, “it isn’t too late to turn back and go with the evacuation.”

“I’m pretty sure we're past that window, Shorty.” Prism said as he hovered just a few hoofs behind her. “You aren’t convincing us to turn tail and run.”

“What Prism Bolt is trying to say, Star, is that we’re coming along with you no matter what.” Golden Delicious quickly added.

“Besides,” Annie spoke too, much to Starburst’s chagrin, “who says we’re not ready to stare down danger and tell it ‘bite the pillow, ‘cause I’m goin in dry’.” Almost everypony tripped on their hooves at this.

“Dude, what’s up with you lately?” Prism asked.

“It’s a defense mechanism, let’s move on.” T answered instead of his marefriend, who was simply trying to hold back a fit of giggles, much to the Dragon-pony’s embarrassment.

After half an hour of traveling through the forest, the ponies found themselves approaching a steep cliff overlooking the deeper parts of the forest. In the distance, one could barely make out the form of a ruin in the distance. "No turning back now..."

"I just hope we don't run into too many problems in here..." T said as he draped one wing over Annie protectively.

Star rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, our parents have braved the forest before, plus there's seven of us. What could possibly go wro-MMPH" The Princess was cut off as Prism shoved his hoof in her mouth.

"Don't you ever, ever, EVER say that!" The tricolor-maned pegasus hissed. "Haven’t you EVER heard of death-flags?!"

Star angrily smacked his hoof away and was about to retort, only for cliff to start shaking.

Prism glared at Starburst. "SEE?!"

In a split second, the cliff side they were standing on began to slide off beneath their hooves, dragging everypony with them. Prism and Star immediately went airborne, while T instinctively grabbed Annie and quickly joined the two in the air. Unfortunately, the earthbound members of the group were sent tumbling down the cliff with the rockslide, prompting the two pegasi to dive towards them as fast as they could, trying their best to avoid the numerous rocks that rolled down the cliff along with them.

“LOOKOUT!” Prism screamed as he tackled Star out of the way of one particularly large rock that threatened to squish her.

As they slid down, Del just barely managed to catch a glimpse of a hole in the base of the cliffside they were tumbling down. Thinking fast, he planted his hooves firmly on the ground, breaking down his speed and skidding to a halt just a few feet away from the hole...

...only for Candy to crash right into him, sending him rolling towards the edge of the hole, with his fore legs dangling over the edge, but otherwise safe from falling into it.

Candy managed a peek over Golden’s shoulder, and gave a sigh of relief “Whew, that was clo-”

“WATCH OUT!!” Claire called as she crashed into Candy, sending them both mares tumbling towards the dangling earth pony and with a loud thud, sent them all three of them careering over the edge and into the hole.

“GUYS!” Star and Prism called out as they flew as fast as they could towards the hole. But before they could get close, the large boulder they avoided before crashed over the entrance and caused a large cloud of dust to appear.

As the dust settled down, the group was treated to an unwelcome sight: the boulder had wedged itself in the ground, completely sealing the entrance of the cave.

“Are you all OK!?” Star called out as everypony landed around the boulder and began examining the damage.

“Aside from a little rattled, I’m fine.” Came Claire’s muffled voice from the rubble.

“I’m still alive!” Candy shouted.

“Hey girls…” Came Del’s strained voice. “would you two kindly… get off of my entire body? I think I might be dying...”

"Don't worry guys, we'll get you out of there!" T shouted as he began digging around the boulder.

“WAAAAAAAAIT!” Came a muffled scream from beneath the rock, stopping everypony on their tracks. Once silence had settled, Candy continued speaking just loud enough so that everypony could hear her. “We’re not in just any hole. It’s a Diamond Dog’s tunnel!”

“All the more reason we need to get you out of there!” Starburst exclaimed, knowing full well how problematic would it be if they ran into one of those dogs.

“No Star; Candy is right.” Anthea quickly added into the discussion. “Diamond Dogs can dig tunnels with ease because of their innate magical abilities, though it only works for making tunnels. If something or somepony were to tamper with the tunnel, though, it could cause a collapse!” Everypony made loud gasps, and Turquoise immediately retracted his claws into hooves. “We’re lucky that the boulder didn’t cause a cave in.”

“Then what the hay do we do?! We can’t just leave them down there!” Prism groaned, pulling on his mane. “I mean, maybe we can find another entrance and-”

“That’ll take too much time!” Came Candy’s voice. “Diamond dogs only make entrances to their tunnels really near to each other or really far in between, and I don’t see any paths from where I’m standing, so it’s probably the latter case.”

T, Annie, Prism and Star exchanged an uneasy look. “But… then what do we do? We need to stick together for when we found the Elements. I doubt they’ll work with less than six ponies.” Star hesitantly asked.

“Just keep moving forward.” Del spoke up. “This tunnel ought to end at some point.”

“Out of the question.” Star coldly refused, though she was wrangling her brain to think of another option. “You could end up miles away from where we need to go or never get out.”

“I’m sorry Darling, but as I see it our only options are to walk down this tunnel or try to dig out and let the ground bury us.” Claire said in a calmed but definitely firm tone. “I rather try my luck with the former.”

The four ponies overground exchanged a few glances, but none of them could find any objections to the matter. “Very well.” Star said finally, switching into “army mode”. “You guys down there proceed with caution. Once you find an exit and are in the surface, try to make some sort of signal so that we can locate you. Got it?”

“You bet!” Came Candy’s response, to which Claire and Golden also agreed.

“The rest of us, we must continue to scan the forest and locate the ruins of the Old Castle, while also keeping a look out for their sign. We must proceed to the location of the Tree of Harmony after we rendezvous with everypony. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” Prism muttered with a sigh.

“Okay.” Star said, satisfied with everypony’s agreement. “Now, let’s get moving, we don’t have much time to lose.” With that, everypony started to walk down their respective path. However, Anthea (and by relation Turquoise) lingered beside the obstructed entrance and called to the ponies underground.

“Please, be safe guys.”