In Canterlot, a portal opened up and out from it came Dustin, Alistair, Drake, Eu, Dean, Aria, Alice, Alicia, and Zyphon.
"Come on, to the castle." Dustin ordered, as the group ran through the city to the castle.
Upon arriving, they saw who else but the former Chaos duo themselves Johan and Omaddon standing by the entrance like guards.
"Guys!" Dean called.
"Hey, what's going on?" Johan asked, "It's been awhile since we all heard from you."
"You're all looking much older." Omaddon noticed.
"Johan, Omaddon, we need to see the Princesses right away." Dustin began.
"Is something wrong?" Johan asked seeing they looked distressed.
"Please, we have to see them." Dustin pleaded.
The duo looked at each other, seeing Dustin was serious, and Omaddon answered, "Follow us." they led the group inside.
The two led them to the entrance of the throne room, and they opened the doors to reveal the Princesses on the throne, "Your excellencies." Johan addressed them.
"What is it?" Celestia inquired.
"Dustin and friends have come to see you." Omaddon explained, as they showed the group in.
"Oh, this is a surprise." Luna said unexpectedly.
"To what do we owe this unexpected visit?" Celestia asked.
"Bad news we're afraid." Alistair answered.
"Bad news?" Omaddon asked in confusion.
Celestia and Luna were worried, until Dustin approached, and confessed, "Princesses, "I've failed. I let Pythor and the generals through my portal back to Equestria."
"Huh?" Johan and Omaddon were confused.
"How did they get to it?" Celestia inquired.
"Last night I was planning on coming here to tell you to let Twilight and the others know of our situation, but when I started up the portal they popped out of the floor of my lab." Dustin explained.
"All five of them have fed off the energy of the Orochi Sword and overpowered both Master Dustin and myself." Zyphon added in shame.
"They left us and went into the portal," Dustin confessed, "I'm so sorry. I thought we could handle them, but in the end they got the drop on us." he looked down in shame.
The Princesses were concerned, but each laid a hoof on his shoulders. Dustin looked up at them seeing them give him a comforting smile each, "You did all you could, Dustin." Luna assured him.
"You may not have been able to stop them from returning here, but now that you wish to let Twilight and everypony know about the situation we can defeat the Serpentine together." Celestia added.
Dustin gave a faint smile, "Yes, your excellencies."
Johan spoke up to Celestia, "Might I suggest you send Princess Twilight a letter informing them of what happened?"
"Yes. I shall do that at once." Celestia started writing a letter.
Omaddon looked to Dustin and the others, "What's been going on since you guys left Equestria?"
"A lot." Aria answered.
"Walk and talk with us so we can be up to date." Johan insisted, as the group walked.
Meanwhile far from Canterlot out in the San Palomino Desert , the generals stopped before a place familiar to Pythor.
"Ah, the very tomb me and my tribe was locked away in." Pythor said, as the five slinked into the opened tomb seeing it was exactly the way it was before with bones of serpentine scattered on the ground.
"Why did you bring us back here, Pythor?" Skales inquired.
"I told you we're going to break the rest of the tribes out of Tartarus by using my own tribe." The Anacondrai general answered.
"But you went cannibal on them all in order to survive, remember?" Acidicus reminded him.
"I know," Pythor answered, before whipping out the Orochi Sword, "Which is why I will use the power of the Orochi Sword to bring them back stronger than ever."
"Can it really work?" Fangtom asked.
"We'll find out." Pythor said, as he concentrated and the sword began to glow illuminating the tomb, "Fallen tribe from the past, feel the power of the Orochi Sword!"
Suddenly the bones of the long since deceased snakes started coming together and were aging in reverse. Suddenly filling up the tomb were multiple Anacondrai Serpentine. They were purple like Pythor, had pink eyes, necks and fangs shorter than Pythor's, and each of them had tails instead of legs. Each one of them carried a sword that was long and bone-colored with jagged purple edges on the blade. The other four generals looked astonished at what just happened, while Pythor smirked.
When the magic died down, the reborn Anacondrai snakes groaned, "Ugh, what happened?" one asked another.
"I had a really weird dream." the second replied.
"My head's spinning." a third added.
"Is every one of you ok?" Pythor spoke up, grabbing their attention.
"Pythor?" one of the snakes asked.
"Yes, it's me." Pythor answered.
"What happened?" another asked in confusion.
"The last thing I remember was the Princesses banishing us in this tomb." another said.
Pythor and the other generals thought, 'They don't remember.'
Pythor smirked to himself and thought, 'This makes things much easier since they don't remember what I did," he spoke up, "Yes, we were banished into this retched tomb a thousand years ago, but we have been released and ready to take the land for our own."
"How can we do that if we already failed?" one of the Anacondrai asked.
"Because this time we have the power!" Pythor held the Orochi Sword up, "And with it, we will make the ponies this land pay for letting us rot."
The Anacondrai started liking the idea of revenge and started cheering. Pythor smiled and turned to the other generals, "Oh, how I missed the sounds of being cheered by my own tribe."
"Tell them the next part of your plan." Skales insisted.
"Ah, right," Pythor continued, "But before that we must rescue the tribes of my fellow generals, Skales, Fangtom, Acidicus, and Skalidor." he reintroduced them.
"Rescue their tribes?" one of the snakes asked.
"Where are they?" another wondered.
Pythor sighed in sorrow, "I'm afraid a band of ponies got them all locked in that dreaded place Tartarus."
"Tartarus?" the Anacondrai tribe gasped.
"Yes. This why I call upon your aid and free the tribes so that we may all reunite like we were during Sombra's reign." Pythor declared.
The Anacondrai tribe started cheering and calling out, signaling they were all on board with Pythor's plan. Pythor and the generals smiled knowing they'll be reunited with the rest of their tribes soon enough.
Slinking up to Pythor was one of the Anacondrai wearing torso armor and shoulder pads, and his eyes were green, "General Pythor, I would be honored to lead our tribe into Tartarus, should you choose to give me the honor."
Pythor smirked, "Ah, Lieutenant Arturus. I could ask for no other serpentine to carry out such a mission."
"Thank you, master." Arcturus bowed his head in respect.
Back in Canterlot, Dustin and the rest of the gang had explained to the duo what's been happening back in New York.
"So this Pythor whom we were told who led the serpentine with his fellow generals hitched a ride on Dustin's leg back to the city where he snatched the Orochi Sword weapon to restore his size and separate himself from the other four generals when they united?" Johan asked.
"Yes." Alicia answered.
"And you've spent a whole year trying to find out where they were?" Omaddon added.
"Unfortunately." Alice admitted.
"Dustin, you know you could've always called us about this situation and we could've gone back to help you." Johan told the spike haired genius.
"You two were already on board in your training to be Canterlot guards. I didn't want to pull you away from that." Dustin answered.
"Speaking of, how has your training gone?" Drake asked.
"It's been great, we're full time guards now." Omaddon answered in joy.
"We've made a lot of friends here, especially with Muse's sibs." Johan added.
"We even got on good terms with Twilight and the others," Omaddon put in, "Fluttershy even taught Johan to respect animals, unlike how he used torture animals in his basement." Johan felt sheepish about that memory.
The girls cringed recalling what they heard about the duo during their enemy days, "Well, it's nice to see how much improvement you guys have achieved since we were last here." Dean said.
"So how're Felix, Burai, Xever, the Balitons, and Mitsukai?" Johan asked.
"They're doing good," Alistair admitted, "Xever's finally got his license for hair stylist. He turns hair into art."
"Shame you guys couldn't have come to Burai's and Mitsukai's wedding." Aria said.
"How was it?" Omaddon asked.
"It was beautiful." Eu answered.
"Alice and I caught the bouquet." Alicia added, while Alice looked sheepish.
"Their next objective is to start a family." Dustin put in.
"We don't wanna miss that." Johan said, as he and his partner chuckle.
Suddenly Celestia and Luna approached, "Twilight and the others have arrived."
The group nodded and followed the two monarchs to the throne room. Upon entering they saw the girls, Wild, and Spike present.
"Yo!" Dustin called.
The ponies cheered, as they raced over to greet the the warriors, "It's so good to see you all again." Fluttershy beamed.
"And it's good to see all of you too." Alice smiled.
Rarity noticed the state of Alistair's hair, "Well, Alistair, I see we're going back to growing your mullet out again are we?"
"Not so long as before, but a good length." Alistair answered.
"And you fellas are even bigger than ya were last ya was here." Applejack noticed.
"Thanks for noticing." Dean replied.
"How've you been, Blazey?" Pinkie asked, as she ruffled Drake's head.
"All good, Pinkie, but it's not Blaze anymore."
"It's not?" she asked curiously.
"No. I'm Drake Vermillion now."
"Why'd you change your name?" Rainbow asked.
"A way for me to leave behind my troubled past and begin anew." he answered.
Twilight spoke up, "Princess Celestia told us about what happened in your world... Why didn't you tell us Pythor got to your world and stole the Orochi Sword to get his strength back and restore the other generals as well?!" she snapped.
Spike spoke up, "Jeez, Twilight, don't pop a vein."
Dustin answered, "I was certain we would be able to find them and deal with them ourselves."
"Unfortunately, that took a whole year to find them, or rather they came to us and used master's portal to return here." Zyphon added.
"Seems like you screwed up big time." Rainbow said, only for the group to frown at her.
"Rainbow, leave the talking to us." Wild said.
"But we can fix it now," Dean said, "Just use the elements of harmony like you did in the past and boom the snakes will be history this time."
The girls and Wild looked sheepish, which didn't go unnoticed by the warriors, "Is there something we should know?" Alicia asked suspiciously.
"It's about the elements of harmony." Muse began.
"What about them?" Dustin asked not liking where this was headed.
"We sort of... gave them up." Fluttershy answered hesitantly.
"WHAT?!"the warriors cried.
"You gave up the Elements of Harmony?!" Dustin asked in outrage, as Fluttershy hid behind Rarity.
"Why in the world of Equestria would you do a thing like that?" Aria asked.
"A lot's happened here in Equestria." Twilight answered.
"Then start at the beginning." Alistair suggested.
And so the group of ponies explained what happened since the warriors left Equestria when Ebon's spirit was finally defeated. When they finished, the warriors were in shock.
"So you all had to give up the elements of harmony to a tree in the Everfree Forest to keep it from spreading all over Equestria?" Dustin asked.
"Uh-huh." Pinkie nodded.
"And after that the tree revealed a chest with a bunch of keyholes that needed it's keys to be unlocked?" Alice wondered.
"That's right." Applejack confirmed.
"And the keys were actually momentos you acquired from others you've met while dealing with a situation involving the element you all represent?" Alicia wondered.
"Correct." Rarity nodded.
"And from the chest came not only Twilight's new castle, but the power you needed to defeat Tirek who escaped from Tartarus and assimilated the magic, flight, and strength of all ponykind?" Drake concluded.
"Precisely." Twilight answered.
"Whoa, now I'm glad I chose not to call you all back here when we found out about the generals." Dustin said.
"You've also had your hoofs full." Alistair added.
"Can't we just use the same kind of rainbow power you all used to defeat Tirek to stop the snakes?" Dean asked.
"It's not that simple, I'm afraid." Twilight answered.
"How so?" Alicia wondered.
"Unlike the elements of harmony, the rainbow power doesn't come natural to us as easily." Muse explained.
Dustin sighed, "So much for having an edge against The Serpentine and the Orochi Sword."
"Hey, you still got us." Omaddon reminded him.
"Yeah, that's true." Dustin admitted.
"You're darn right it is." Applejack spoke up.
"We respect you wanted to catch Pythor and the generals without wanting to automatically come to us," Twilight began, "But as you can see with their strengths even stronger than before it will take all of us to beat them this time around."
"I know." Dustin nodded.
"All right, the dream team is back together again!" Rainbow cheered, as Pinkie bounced around them in excitement.
Dustin smiled and thought, 'Twilight's right. We're always at our strongest when we're together. So look out generals, because we will find out and bring you to justice.'
That night in Tartarus, the Anacondrai tribe had infiltrated the place, and saw Cerberus on his never ending patrol.
"Ok, we're here." Arcturus whispered to the others.
"We need to the find the other four tribes." another said.
One looked around before seeing four peaks in the distance each with each of the serpentine tribes on them chained to it while also wearing mouth guards to keep them from using their fangs, acid, etc.
"There they are."
"Let's get going, and if Cerberus tries to attack us, we hit him with this Venomari venom General Acidicus supplied us with." Arcturus held up a vial containing the venom of the Venomari.
"All right, let's break." another said, as they went invisible and started their way to the peaks. They managed to slip by Cerberus who was patrolling another peak.
One managed to appear by the peak where the Hypnobrai were atop of in chains, "What? Anacondrai?!" Mezmo gasped.
"How? Why?" another Hypnobrai gasped.
"No time to explain, we're getting you all out of here," One of the Anacondrai said, as he used his sword to cut the Hypnobrai of their chains freeing them, "Come on!" he led the hypnotizing snakes down the path from the peak, while the other Anacondrai freed the rest of the tribes from their chains and shackles.
The five tribes met down in the center, "Let's get out of here." one of the Fangpyres said.
They were about to leave only for Cerberus to come charging right over. Chunk the Constrictai gasped, "Cerberus! We're all done for!"
"Not yet!" Arcturus replied, as three Anacondrai threw the Venomari vials at Cerberus' three heads getting them in their eyes.
The three headed dog yelped as its vision started distorting, "Now's our chance!" Another Anacondrai said, as the whole army of snakes charged away from the dog.
They were heading for an exit, until they heard a voice, "Honorable Serpentine," they stopped and looked to see a familiar centaur who looked old and withered, "Release me as well, and I shall help you conquering Equestria." he tempted them.
Mezmo answered, "Sorry, Tirek, but you had your chance and failed."
"See you never!" Fang added in mockery, as the snakes continued to make a break for the exit, leaving Tirek to growl in anger.
Once the five tribes escaped from Tartarus, they wound up in a forest, where the five generals were waiting. When Skales, Acidicus, Skalidor, and Fangtom saw their tribes once again they were filled with joy. The tribes themselves were overjoyed to see their leaders again.
"Skales, we missed you so much." a Hypnobrai greeted him.
"It is ok, my friends. I am here." Skales calmed them.
"Fangtom, you wouldn't believe what working under Ebon's command has been for us." a Fangpyre told their general.
"Fear not, for I have returned," one head began, as the other finished, "And am ready to guide you."
"Skalidor, you look better than ever." Chunk welcomed the Constrictai general.
"Thank you, Chunk."
"Master Acidicus, your Venom helped us all." one of the Venomari soldiers cheered.
"I'd do anything to help my tribe." he answered.
Pythor watched seeing his fellow generals reunite with their tribes, until he looked at his second in command, "Arcturus, you did well in leading our tribe into Tartarus."
"Thank you, Pythor." Arcturus bowed his head in respect.
Pythor seeing all five tribes reunited in both generals and warriors smirked and thought, 'Now that we're whole again, we can finally get onto more pressing matters.'