The denizens of New Mustangia were all gossiping to each other about the strange encounter they had earlier with the giant scorpion tail. Laying in a dazed slump in an alley sat a light brown pegasus with charcoal-colored hair and a dirty brown cloak.
"I swear, it must've been forty feet long, even more!" one nearby pony said to his friend.
"Really?" said the other pony. "My cousin's in the guard, and he said it was only thirty."
"Only thirty." said the first, stone-faced. "Still pretty darn big, wouldn't you say?"
"That it is." said the other. "By the way, do you really think those ponies in the blimp were the ones that sent that...whatever it was our way?"
"Probably." said the first. "But if they were, why hasn't Minister Sterling sent anyone after them."
"My cousin told me that the minister doesn't want us to get mixed up in Saddle Arabian politics, and they need every guard here in case anything else happens. Besides, those strangers came from Equestria, so if whatever's in Mareusalem doesn't get to 'em, they'll have to come back our way sooner or later."
The pegasus shifted her head to listen in harder, her eyes widened with surprise.
Sunset Shimmer and the others were on the Summerstar, getting ready for what they could already tell was going to be a very big battle. Sunset Shimmer and Trixie Lulamoon donned their hooded cloaks, Lightning Dust her Shadowbolt flightsuit, Felix Summerset a suit of armor worn by paladins, Scarlet Blaze her priestess outfit, while a few of the others went into the armoury to get the supplies scavenged from Fort Echidna. They found that the templar armor collected from the fort had been modified to protect the wearer from the harsh desert environment.
"Ya like it?" Sunflower told Crimson Blade, who was the first to inspect it. "Frosty and I worked on it while you were all out puttin' yo'selves in danger at that town...whatever it's called."
"Bahaggera." said Crimson, dully.
"Bagherra, right!" Sunflower grinned smugly. "I betcha they're a lot better lookin' than that stuff you wore when you were one of 'em!"
Crimson Blade telekinetically fit the modified armor onto his body. A veil had been added to the helmet's visor to protect the eyes and face from sand, and a tan cloak was added. It had also been painted a brownish color so that the wearer would blend in with the sand.
"I'll admit it certainly seems comfortable..." said Crimson, shifting himself in place as he adjusted to his new attire.
"I'm glad ya like it, old-timer!" Sunflower smiled. "Frosty and I make a real sweet team togethuh...I nevuh though a fashionista like myself and a mountain-climbuh like Frosty would make good armorers!"
"Then I can say my grandchildren chose their friends wisely." said Crimson.
"Uh...friends?" asked Sunflower, chuckling. "Nah...I don't thinka myself as Sunset or Red's friend. I'm just along for the ride. I'm only here cuz I can't get enougha my cute li'l honey Frosty."
"Well, I'm glad their friends chose their friends wisely." said Crimson, smiling.
Lightning Dust and Felix Summerset were flying over the desert, two black specks in the sky. They had been sent ahead to scout out the area and check on the battle.
"You fly very well, Lightning Dust!" Felix called over to the other pegasus.
"Thanks!" said Lightning. "I'm actually the fastest flier in Fillydelphia. Though I can't really say whether or not I'm the fastest in Equestria! Rainbow Dash would totally--"
"Lightning, look!" Felix said, aghast.
Lightning Dust looked forward, and her eyes and mouth opened wide. The city of Mareusalem was less than five miles away, but they could see many signs of an intense battle throughout the land beyond its walls. There were many tall equine shapes battling even larger creatures in the sand.
"This doesn't look good!" said Felix.
"Tell me about it, dude." said Lightning, eyes sweeping left and right as she examined the layout of the battle. "We're gonna have a heck of a time getting through all that mayhem and destruction."
Felix looked around.
"Look!" he turned his head at the top of a sand-dune. "There is my commanding officer!"
Lightning followed Felix to the sand-dune, where Silver Schmitar was scrutinizing the massive cloud over Mareusalem.
"Silver! Silver, I've returned!" said Felix, hiding his wings as he touched the ground.
"Felix, it's good to see you." said Silver. "Have you delivered the message to Equestria?"
"Yes, of course." nodded Felix. "And I've brought help with me. They should arrive very soon."
"Good." said Silver. "We will need all the help we can possibly muster to get into that city."
"What has happened since I left?" Felix asked, curiously.
"We've set up a perimeter around the city." said Silver. "Nothing's getting out of there without us knowing. We haven't seen any sign of King Nelphyn or those strange creatures that helped him seize the city. But we can't get inside. There's an evil force in that cloud above. I don't know what it is, but anypony that goes anywhere near it ceases to exist."
Felix and Lightning looked more closely at the cloud hanging over the city. It was larger than a pod of blue whales merged together, and green electricity was crackling all around the black vapors that it was comprised of. The longer that the ponies looked at it, the more the sky around the cloud seemed to darken.
"Yeah...definitely getting some baaaaad mojo from that thing." Lightning commented.
Suddenly, there was a loud humming noise, and Lightning turned around. The Summerstar was already flying towards the city.
"What in the name of Luno is that thing?" questioned Silver Schmitar.
"That's the help you're gonna be getting from back West." Lightning told him. "Felix, stay with Silver. I'll tell the others not to get too close to the battlefield."
"Very good idea." Felix nodded.
Lightning Dust flew as fast as she could to the airship. She hovered right in front of the windshield of the zeppelin's bridge, and made gestures to Nose Nip to land. Nose Nip nodded, and told Frosty to help him get the airship down to the ground. Once it was landed, Sunset Shimmer and the others got off the ramp, fully equipped for their mission.
"Where's Felix?" asked Sunset Shimmer.
"He's with the other paladins right now." said Lightning Dust. "So whatever you've got planned, Sunset, we'd better get it done A-S-A-P."
Sunset went up a nearby sand-dune, and examined the battle. She was totally lost for words at the size of the army of paladins forming a perimeter around Mareusalem. At least thousands had to be there. The others came up the dune with her, with similarly ecstatic expressions on their faces.
"All dose paladins and they still can't get into dat city?!" said Frosty, surprised.
"How are we going to get into the city?" said Teddy.
"For that matter, do we even want to go into that city?" inquired Pressure Point.
"Of course you'd be the one to ask that, cousin..." said Trixie, unamused.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Knock it off!" said Scarlet Blaze. "I'm sure our daughter has something special in mind for King Nelphyn's defenses."
"Well..." said Sunset, hesitantly. "It's actually still kind of a work in progress. But the first thing we need to do is try and get into the city without getting killed. And with that evil cloud floating over the city, flying's out of the question."
"Then we'll have to dissipate the cloud." said Radiant Dawn. "Dad, you got any ideas?"
"Well, assuming that the cloud was in fact created by dark magic, I suppose that one could simply cast a counter-spell to remove it. But there's something very strange and unnatural about this cloud. It'll take more than one of us unicorns to get rid of it."
"Then let's have all us unicorns get rid of it!" said Frosty, his horn glowing.
The other unicorns followed suit, their horns illuminating brighter and brighter. The light intensified until they became visible for miles. The paladins below all looked back at the light in awe and wonder. A large arc erupted from the light, springing upwards into the sky until it was just in front of the cloud. At the end of the light, the glowing likeness of a giant pony's head materialized, glaring at the cloud with its glowing eyes. It opened its mouth and...blew.
The wind that issued from the giant head's mouth was laced with the real counter-spell, which tore the magical properties of the cloud to pieces. It also disintegrated any other magical enchantments that apparently were placed around the city. The giant pony head smirked, and vanished, along with the unicorns' light. All the unicorns were visibly fatigued: Sunset Shimmer panted and collapsed to the ground, as did Golden Sun. Scarlet Blaze, Crimson Blade, and Radiant Dawn staggered, but managed to hold their own, while Trixie, Pressure Point, and Frosty fell on top of each other, gasping for air.
"At least we don't..." panted Pressure. "Have to do anything like that again."
"Uh...you might not wanna speak so soon." Sunset said as she got back up.
"Why?"
"That." said Sunset, dully as she pointed forwards.
Another dark cloud rose up from the city.
"Oh, come on!" said Frosty, who just got back up.
But then the cloud started to move...very fast. And towards Sunset's group. At first, they were all confused about this. And then came the buzzing.
"Locusts!" shouted Lightning Dust. "Look out!"
The non-unicorns in Sunset's group all scattered, but halted when they realized the unicorns were still too tired to move. But by the time they realized this, the locusts were already swarming around them all. They was shouting in every direction as each pony tried as hard as they could to fight off the swarm, but there were simply too many. Every time Sunset tried teleporting away, there were more waiting for her, latching onto her and nibbling on the fabric of her cloak.
"Get 'em off!" Teddy shouted, as a locust started biting his ear with its sharp mandibles.
Suddenly, there was a large concussive blast, and then a loud hissing as a great pillar of fire sprang up into the air. All the locusts were either incinerated by the heat, or scattered everywhere aimlessly. Sunset got up, and saw Crimson Blade standing upright and alone while everyone else was either knocked over or half-buried in the sand. His horn was pointed up and he was breathing heavily.
"Good...riddance." he puffed, before sinking his legs into the ground.
"Grandpa, are you okay?" Radiant got to him first.
"Of course." said Crimson, catching his breath. "It's been a while since I had to use an incendiary spell."
"That was you?" said Sunset, getting up. "Wow. That was...incredible."
"Never did like locusts all that much." said Crimson.
Bathilda, who had apparently flown out of the airship at that very moment. She flew to the ground and landed next to a dead locust. She sniffed it, then put her claw to her nostrils, sticking out her tongue in disgust.
"Join the club." said Sunset, with a little smile.
"Sunny, look." said Radiant, pointing at the city.
The paladins were all closing in on Mareusalem, now that the dark magic protecting it was gone.
"Looks like we did our job." said Sunset.
"Now it looks like it's time to the paladins to do theirs." said Nose Nip. "So what do you say, everypony? Should we just go now?"
"No." said Sunset. "We need to see this through, Nips. They will need all the help they can get against King Nelphyn."
"Then what are we standin' around here fo'!" said Sunflower. "Let's go kick this guy's flank, then!"