Dustin narrated, "I thought we could handle the job on our own," as he narrated, he, Alistair, and their friends in New York searched all over the city for the Serpentine generals day and night, "We covered all of the city, leaving no stone un-turned or building unchecked, but every time we just kept reaching dead ends. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned into months. And here we are a year later and still no sign of Pythor or any of the generals. Every night I'd keep giving a report about our progress to Luna in my dreams. It pained me to keep telling her we've had no such luck finding them. Even thought she constantly implored me to tell Twilight and the others I insisted we could handle it. It was my pride speaking, and even though I knew it was I did nothing about it. Was I trying to prove we could handle the task? I'm not even sure how to answer it."
One night in June, Dustin Bowers who was now fifteen years old stood atop a building's rooftop looking out into the city. He looked stressed and lost in his thoughts, until he felt a presence behind him, "Any luck, guys?" he asked without turning around.
Standing behind him was his close pal Alistair Savage who let his hair grow down to his shoulders, but wasn't looking to grow a mullet like before, and Blaze Shadow whose hair reached the base of his neck, and his bangs covered his left eye.
"Nothing on my end." Alistair answered.
"What about you, Blaze?" Dustin asked.
Blaze sighed, "Dustin, how many times do you I have to keep reminding you? It's Drake Seraph Vermillion now."
"Sorry, I'm just not in my best thinking mood tonight." Dustin replied dryly.
"Dustin, you haven't been in a good thinking mood for months." Alistair reminded him.
"This whole search for the Serpentine Generals thing has you running your ass off more than ever." Drake added.
Dustin sighed, "I promised Luna and Celestia we'd find the generals and bring them to justice."
"This would've been a lot easier if we had Twilight and the others here to help us." Drake replied.
"I don't wanna keep dragging them back into our affairs. They have their own problems to deal with in Equestria. Besides I brought Pythor back to our world and led him to the Orochi Sword. That's on my hands."
"Dustin, don't even start going there," Alistair warned him, "You think you're the only one with blood on your hands? Well, I brought King Ebon to our world years ago, and look what his being here has done."
"And when I still had Ebon's darkness dwelling inside me even after my restoration, I did things I was not proud of."
"Your points?" Dustin asked wanting them to get on with it.
"The point we're trying to make is we all made mistakes, but we moved on from them and left it in the past," Alistair answered, "We're not saying you should forget about looking for the Serpentine Generals, but you shouldn't carry this load on your back alone."
"Alistair's right, Dustin. Remember, we're all in this together." Drake put in.
Dustin listened to them and sighed, "You're right, guys. I guess I just was just trying to prove I could handle a task like this without needing back up. But all it seems I've been doing was pushing our friends from Equestria away. But that stops here."
"So what're you gonna do?" Alistair asked.
"I'm going to Equestria and tell everyone about the situation."
Drake smirked, "Now you've finally come to your senses." the three laughed.
So Dustin took off and headed back to his lab in his backyard. When he got into his lab he called to his assistant, "Zyphon!"
Zyphon approached, "Good evening, master. How was the snake patrol tonight?"
"Never mind that. Start up the portal I'm going to Equestria." he replied.
"What, at this hour of the night?"
"I know, but I need to see the Princesses."
"Very well." Zyphon started starting up Dustin's dimensional portal.
Once the coordinates were set, the portal to Equestria was opened, and Dustin stood ready to enter, "Ok, here I go," Dustin was about to walk in, only for the ground to shake, "Zyphon, what's going on?"
"I'm picking up readings right below us." Zyphon answered.
Suddenly popping out from the floor was Skalidor the Constrictai General, "Hey, long time no see, pal!" he greeted Dustin.
"Skalidor!" Dustin and Zyphon gasped.
"Right. And I didn't come alone." popping out from the hole Skalidor made were the rest of the generals with Pythor being the last.
"Skales, Fangtom, Acidicus, Pythor!" He said the last general's name with a bitter tone.
"Dustin, so nice to see you again," Pythor began pleasantly, "My goodness you've certainly grown since we last saw you. Why you're just about our height now."
"Cut the flattery bullshit, Pythor."
"So serious." Acidicus said in amaze.
Dustin got into a stance, "I'm a different warrior from when we last fought. I'm a lot stronger now."
"Well, so are we." Skales replied.
"Attack!" Pythor ordered, as the five generals went on the attack against Dustin and Zyphon.
Zyphon was fighting against Skalidor and Acidicus, while Dustin was tangling with Pythor, Skales, and Fangtom. Skalidor was slinking around Zyphon and coiled himself around the robot who struggled, until Acidicus swung his staff at Zyphon's head boggling his senses.
Dustin was blocking attacks by Skales and Fangtom, and thought, 'They're stronger than before. How is this possible?' he then saw Pythor jump in fighting him with the Orochi Sword, "The sword! You've all been juiced up with it's power like before!"
"Yes. However, we're not so desperate to combine into the Serpent King so quickly. Oh, no, we have other business to attend too." he tail whipped Dustin sending him crashing onto a work table breaking it.
Dustin groaned, as he tried to get up only for Skales to look him in the eyes, "Sorry, but it's time for you to take a nap." he used his hypnosis abilities to put Dustin to sleep.
"Master!" Zyphon called, but from Skalidor's tighter grips on him than before had damaged his joints and couldn't stand.
"Pythor, this portal will take us back to Equestria." Skalidor said.
"Yes. And once we're finally home, we can get back to our roots," Pythor said, as the generals started going through the portal, with Pythor being the last and turned around seeing Zyphon trying to alert Dustin's friends, "We can't have you bringing in problems now can we?" he aimed the sword at him and blasted Zyphon with a magic beam that shut him down, "Much better." he laughed, before jumping into the portal.
Dustin saw nothing but darkness, until he started hearing voices calling to him.
"Dustin! Dustin!"
He slowly opened his eyes, and his hazy vision was growing clearer. He suddenly saw Dean, Drake, Alistair, Aria, Alice, Alicia, and Eu looking down on him.
"There you are. I thought we lost you." Dean said in relief.
"Where am I?" he groaned.
"In your lab. It's morning." Alistair explained.
"Zyphon!" Dustin gasped, as he sat up and saw his robot getting his damages repaired by Dustin's machines.
"Don't worry, master, my repairs are just about done."
"What happened last night?" Alice asked in concern.
"You were on the floor passed out, and Zyphon was roughed up." Alistair added.
Dustin thought back and remembered everything, "Pythor!"
"Pythor?" the guys gasped.
"He was here, he and the other generals."
"That explains the hole in the floor." Dean noticed.
"The portal, was the portal active when you got here?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah, but why?" Aria asked.
Alistair and Drake realized it, "Don't tell me, they used the portal to get back to Equestria?" Drake asked.
"Yes," Dustin sighed, "Once again I foolishly let our enemies slip by. And now they're back in Equestria."
"We need to warn the Princesses right away." Alistair suggested, as Zyphon got off the work table with his body properly fixed up.
"I know. Let's go!" he got up and reactivated the portal. Once the coordinates were once again set, them and Zyphon headed into the portal.
Meanwhile in Equestria, Pythor and the other generals were traveling underground, as Skales spoke, "So now that we're back in Equestria, what is our next step, Pythor?"
"Simple, we get our tribes out of Tartarus." the Anacondrai general answered.
"How can we do that?" Acidicus asked.
"Getting into Tartarus is one thing, but getting past Ceberus is another." Skalidor reminded him.
"Oh, we're not going to be the ones going in." Pythor corrected him.
"What do you mean?" Fangtom asked in confusion.
"Who else could get in and get out with our tribes?" Skales asked curiously.
Pythor smirked, "My own tribe. And it's about time I got them back together." he snickered. Skales and the other generals were confused knowing the Anacondrai were no more since Pythor went cannibal on them so he could survive after a thousand years of being locked in a tomb. What was he planning?