Equestria's Warriors of Light and Dark

by Wildcard25

Friends turned Enemies

It was one morning in Ponyville, Twilight and her friends were heading out to the entrance of Ponyville to greet Princess Celestia, who sent a letter to Twilight the night before that she'd be coming to Ponyville to check on the things with the boys. Accompanying the Mane Six were Wildcard and Muse who were eager to meet Princess Celestia. Soon enough they saw Celestia coming down on her pegasus pulled carriage that came to a halt on the ground, "Princess Celestia!" Twilight gasped.

"Good morning everypony, and how are all of you doing?" the monarch of Equestria greeted them.

"We're doing absolutely fabulous today, your highness." Rarity answered in her most jovial tone.

"Princess, we'd like to introduce you to two new friends we've made. This is Wildcard; Rainbow Dashes' cousin. He owns a card game shop in Ponyville." Twilight introduced them.

"I am honored to meet you, your highness." Wildcard bowed to her.

"An honor to meet you too, Wildcard." The princess replied.

"And I'm sure you've heard of Muse." Twilight introduced the earth pony.

"Yes, the pony of performing arts. I loved your biggest hit from last summer 'Night Shroud's Moving Castle'."

"Thank you, Princess." Muse bowed her head.

"Muse has also been helping us with fighting the Serpentine." Fluttershy added.

"Is this true?" The princess asked.

"Yes. You see my grandfather's a historian and knows all about the legend of the Serpentine," Muse added, "Even my siblings who serve in your guards the Elemental Trio have taught me a few things about history."

"Ah so you're the little sister those three would go on and on about," Celestia realized and looked around, "Where are Dustin and Alistair?"

"They're having some down time." Twilight said, trying to give her the best answer she could.

"What kind of down time?" Celestia asked.

"Easier just to show you!" Pinkie cheered as the eight ponies showed the Princess off.

Soon they came over by Ponyville's swimming hole to see Dustin and Alistair were swimming around and having fun. Dustin swam around wearing a pair of red and black swim trunks while Alistair wore black and blue trunks, "This is awesome!" Dustin called as he swam around.

Alistair who was standing above a rocky platform held onto a rope connected to a branch from a tree. He swung himself off calling out, "Jambalaya!" he swung from the rope landing in the water with a splash. He resurfaced and laughed.

Zyphon who was off to the side watched in amusement in seeing his master and friend enjoying themselves. When he looked he saw the ponies and Princess Celestia, "Oh my! Princess Celestia, I'm delighted to see you again." He bowed.

"Delighted to see you as well, Zyphon." The princess greeted him.

Zyphon looked out to the boys still in the water, "Master Dustin! Master Alistair! We have company."

The boys looked over by the shore seeing the ponies and the princess, "The princess!" Dustin gasped as she and Alistair flew out of the water and landed on shore, "Zyphon, towels!" Dustin ordered as Zyphon handed the boys two towels and began drying themselves off.

"Princess Celestia, what a surprise." Alistair said, as he wrapped his mullet in a towel.

"What brings you here?" Dustin asked as he dried off.

"Well it's been more than a week and I thought I'd check in to see how well you boys are adjusting to living in Equestria." Celestia explained.

"We've adapted very well actually." Dustin admitted.

"We got a job at Wildcard's Shuffle working as stock clerks. On our breaks Wild even teaches us some handy hints to remember in poker." Alistair added.

"Even Cherilee allowed me and Alistair to teach the fillies at the schoolhouse about our world as lessons."

"Well it looks like the both of you are managing quite well." Celestia noted.

"Thanks Princess." Dustin said.

"But that doesn't mean we don't wanna go back to our world if that's what you're thinking!" Alistair quickly injected.

Celestia giggled, "I understand," After the boys dried off they put their jackets on as the Princess continued, "I also couldn't help but sense a surge of your energies yesterday."

"How do you mean?" Alistair asked.

"I could see two beams shooting into the sky yesterday, one appeared to be dark energy and the other was light energy," She explained, "What was that?"

The boys looked to each other and Dustin decided to explain, "Well what you witnessed yesterday was the both of us using a spirit warrior's and a dark warrior's most powerful of attacks; the Spirit Force and the Shadow Force."

"I'm intrigued. What are these two powerful attacks?"

"The Spirit Force concentrates all of a Spirit Warriors energy making their power level grow to infinite. I become faster and stronger when I use it and when enough of the power is built up I can unleash it on my enemies in the form of a big bang." Dustin explained.

"As for the Shadow Force," Alistair began, "It's in a way just like using the Spirit Force. It concentrates a dark warrior's dark energy increasing their power to infinite resulting in the same affects that follow."

"And just what were you using those attacks on that called for you to use them in the first place?" Celestia asked curiously.

"We had to use them on Pythor and Fangtom; general of the Fangpyre tribe." Dustin answered.

"So more tribes have been unleashed?" Celestia asked her pupil.

"Yes princess. Pythor's already unleashed the Constrictai, the Venomari, and the Fangpyre tribes." Twilight said regretfully.

"This is most troubling." Celestia said in worry.

"We know, there's only one tribe left for him to unleash." Applejack said

"Muse, you have just about info on all the tribes, what's the last tribe?" Rainbow asked.

"The final Serpentine tribe is the Hypnobrai." She answered.

"Hypnobrai?" Wild asked.

"Yes. They have the power to hypnotize their victims turning them into mindless slaves."

"That's so not good." Rainbow stated.

"And if Pythor unleashes the final tribe then nopony in Equestria will be safe." Celestia added.

"And for all we know he could be on his way to the final tomb this moment." Spike said.

"Well if he unleashes the last tribe, we'll take them." Dustin promised.

"Oh yeah." Rainbow agreed.

"And I'll be there to make sure they don't get hurt." Wild offered.

"And with me and my grandfather's research on the tribes we'll know exactly how to combat them." Muse said.

"So rest assured princess we'll protect Equestria with our lives." Dustin promised her.

Celestia smiled at their bravery, "You all have such nobility. I am proud to rely on you all." The group smiled seeing how much they've pleased her.

Meanwhile in the Crystal Mountains not far from the Crystal Empire, Pythor and the other three generals were trekking through the snowy terrain wearing cloaks to keep their cold blooded bodies warm, "Why did the princesses have to put the Hypnobrai tomb all the way out here?" Acidicus asked, while shivering.

"This land was once ruled by our former master, Sombra," Pythor began, "So it's only natural they would seal one of our tribes away in his backyard," Suddenly he stopped and looked to the ground seeing a serpent's face carved in the ground, "Yes! Here it is!"

They looked to the side seeing a stone shaped like a snake. Pythor pushed down on the head and the ground below opened up revealing a hole. They slunk down the hole and landed in an icy cavern, "I certainly hope they're home." Skalidor said while they slunk around the cavern.

"Skales?" Pythor called out, "Skales, get out here!"

Suddenly a slithery voice spoke to him, "Pythor, is that you?"

Pythor and the other generals turned to see another snake slither out from the shadows of the tomb. This one had a cobra head with red eyes that had a ripple pattern in them. Its body was blue with yellow and light to medium gray coloring on its belly. Like the four other generals he also had a tail and carried a golden snake staff, "Ah there you are, Skales." Pythor smirked.

"I see you brought Skalidor, Fangtom, and Acidicus with you," Skales began, "So to what do I owe this little reunion?"

"Come on, Skales," Skalidor began, "You know as well as the rest of us why we came here for you."

"We aim to take Equestria for our own and punish the ones who locked us in these retched tombs." Pythor explained.

Skales crossed his arms feeling skeptical, "And do you think we can pull it off?"

"Alone we would fall, but this time I have an actual plan." Pythor snickered.

"What about Sombra? If he finds out we've been released…" Skales began, until Fangtom cut him off.

"Sombra is no longer an obstacle," the first head began as the second continued, "He was defeated some time ago."

"But what of Princesses Celestia and Pricness Luna? Surely with the elements of harmony they'll end up…"

"Those two are no longer connected to the elements," Acidicus countered, "Six new ponies are now connected with them."

"I feel so much better." Skales said in sarcasm.

"Not to worry. Their strength still fails in comparison to Celestia's and Luna's." Pythor assured him.

"I see." Skales replied.

"So are ya in or out?" Skalidor asked.

"I am intrigued, so count me and my army in." Skales said as his Hypnobrai army came out of the shadows and gathered.

"Excellent!" Pythor cheered with his other generals, "Now come along there is much we need to catch up on." Pythor said as the generals led their final fellow general and his army out of the tomb.

Back in Ponyville, Celestia left needing to get back to Canterlot, and the group decided to have a picnic. Most of them were lying on a picnic blanket while Rarity being Rarity was relaxing on a fancy couch that she poofed up for herself, "Ah this is the good life huh girls?" Dustin asked as he kicked back under a tree while adjusting his sunglasses.

"You said it." Rainbow agreed.

"So come on girls, tell us some more of your exploits and adventures." Alistair beckoned them.

"Well there was the Grand Galloping Gala." Twilight said as she and the other elements of harmonylooked sheepishly.

"Grand Galloping Gala?" Zyphon asked.

"It's supposed to be one of the biggest events held every year in Canterlot at the castle," Twilight explained, "We were all invited there and we had so many plans to make it the best night ever. I wanted to talk to Princess Celestia about more of my reports and lessons, but I ended up having to stand at her side and greet every other pony that arrived. So I didn't even do anything there."

"Ouch." Alistair cringed.

"I was hoping to spread word of my family's business by selling some apple products," Applejack began, "I only got one real sell while everypony else just brushed me off for all them fancy eats. I tried to show them my apples were just as fancy, but that didn't work."

"I wanted to impress the Wonderbolts and hoped they'd consider in letting me join them one day," Rainbow Dash started, "I managed to get in their VIP lounge, but every time I tried to talk to them they were talking to other ponies. I even tried to stage situations where I could show them how fast I was, but I ended up toppling a statue." She said sheepishly.

"Good heavens." Zyphon gasped.

"I was hoping to meet the prince of my dreams Prince Blueblood," Rarity began while Spike's eye twitched which didn't go unnoticed by the boys, "But I found out the only thing royal about him was that he was a royal pain!" she shouted before calming down, "Oh forgive me for that."

"We understand," Alistair replied, "You have to watch out for the royal type. Sometimes they're so full of themselves they thing they deserve the best and are so sensitive about themselves and insensitive about others."

"All I wanted was to befriend all the animals in the Royal garden, but they were so afraid of me," Fluttershy said, "I was so desperate to try and befriend them I kinda went and lost my self. It was so embarrassing." She admitted.

The boys looked at each other and could envision the extreme lengths she took just to try and get the animals to love her and could almost hear her shout in their thoughts, 'YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME!' they shuddered.

"I wanted the Gala to be the party of the century, but every other pony there were so sour," Pinkie said, "I tried to liven it up but no they weren't all for it."

"Sounds like the Gala was awful." Dustin concluded for them.

"It was!" the girls answered and laughed.

"Princess Celestia herself said it's always been awful." Twilight admitted.

"Yeah, my siblings told me they attended it once. Terra said he fell asleep from boredom and Ventus came very close to going out the window." Muse added.

"Whoa." Dustin gasped.

"Sounds like those Canterlot folk who attend the Gala are so wrapped in the old school traditions." Alistair said.

"Yeah. If we attended this gala, we'd modernize it." Dustin promised.

"Yes something all class of ponies could enjoy." Zyphon agreed.

"That'd be entertaining." Wild chuckled.

"What about you Wildcard, you got any stories to tell?" Dustin asked.

"Well there was this one time I went to Las Pegasus for a weekend, and thanks to my natural good luck I hit over fifteen jackpots in a row and got banned from five casinos because of it. They threw me out private first class just to get rid of me." Wild explained.

"Well your bro said you lost everything and came back to Ponyville with a missing tooth." Rainbow said with a teasing smirk.

"Oh what does he know?" Wild asked, knowing his older brother always liked to crack wise.

"What about you guys?" Muse asked.

"Yeah you must have super awesome adventures of your own!" Pinkie cheered while jumping around.

"Well given the fact we're still in our training years we don't get missions like you all do from your princess." Alistair admitted.

"But we do have humorous adventures while around New York," Dustin put in, "Why we once made a music video of ourselves standing on top of certain areas in New York most people aren't allowed to be on top of. We got so many hits out of it because of where we were."

"There was also the time we tried sneaking into one our friend's sleepovers by disguising ourselves as girls. Everything was going smoothly until we accidentally blew our cover," Alistair said sheepishly, "We ran like we were running a marathon."

"That's hilarious!" Rainbow chuckled.

Suddenly Spike's mouth filled up looking like he was going to barf, until he belched up a letter, "A letter from the Princess," Twilight gasped as she used her magic to unravel it and checked it out. She looked shocked as she finished reading it, "Oh no!"

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Applejack asked in concern.

"Princess Celestia's just been informed by Cadence and my brother some Serpentine have been spotted around the Crystal Empire."

"Oh no!" Spike gasped.

"You think it's the Hypnobrai?" Alistair asked about the final tribe.

"It could very well be." Muse nodded.

"Well then what're we waiting for?" Rainbow asked.

"Agreed." Wild said as he took a hold of Muse while Zyphon held onto Pinkie, A.J, and Rarity. Rainbow held onto Fluttershy while Spike got on Twilight's back.

"Let's fly!" Dustin called as they took off into the air and headed for the Crystal Empire.

When they arrived in the kingdom, Dustin and Alistair looked all around, "They don't call this the Crystal Empire for nothing." Dustin noted.

"Yeah it's like walking into a giant china shop or something." Alistair added.

"Wonder where the Serpentine are?" Applejack wondered until they suddenly heard screams as multiple crystal ponies were running around taking cover, "Over there!" the group announced simultaneously, as they ran for the kingdom's square.

When they arrived on the scene they saw multiple Hypnobrai warriors and soldiers running amok, "I was right they are Hypnobrai." Muse gasped.

"You say they hypnotize their victims?" Zyphon asked.

"Yes, so don't look them in the eyes." Muse warned them.

"No problem for us." Dustin said as she and Alistair got ready.

"Then let's go!" Twilight ordered as the group went into battle.

"Hey snake boy!" Dustin called as he slugged one in the face grabbing the Serpentine's attention.

"You're not welcomed in this kingdom." Twilight warned them.

"But this kingdom was once ours!" a voice hissed as Skales entered the scene with Pythor.

"Hello everypony." Pythor chuckled.

"Pythor!" they announced.

"So these are the ones you've told me about?" Skales asked the Anacondrai general.

"Indeed."

"So you released the final Serpentine tribe?" Dustin asked with a scowl.

"Indeed I have. Allow me to introduce to you my number two snake; Skales." Pythor introduced them.

"Well don't get comfortable because we're sending you varmints right back where you came from." Applejack warned them.

"You really think so do you?" Skales asked amusingly.

"That's right!" Rainbow added ready to buck them.

"Well we'll see about that," Skales began as he turned to his troops, "Serpentine go!"

So Skales' soldiers attacked once again as Muse spoke, "Remember don't look them in the eyes!"

Obliging by her warnings, the group took off fighting the Serpentine head on while avoiding eye contact. Dustin and Alistair took off against fighting the two generals with Dustin going after Skales and Alistair against Pythor.

"Pythor wasn't kidding when he said there were others in Equestria who posed as a threat to us." Skales said, as he blocked a punch from Dustin.

"Alistair and I get that a lot," Dustin admitted as he jumped up avoiding a tail sweep to his legs. Suddenly Skales started moving his body around like a snake dance, 'Whoa, what's going on my body feels all woozy.' He thought before Skales slithered up to him and whipped his tail upward at Dustin knocking him onto his back along with his sunglasses flying off his face.

"That was Fang Kwon Do; an ancient fighting art of the Serpentine!" Skales declared. Alistair who saw Dustin was knocked down gasped, "Dustin!" but his distraction only allowed for Pythor to tail whip him thus sending him crashing onto Dustin.

The boys groaned as they looked up only to have fallen into Skales trap, "Look into my eyes," he began hypnotically, as the boys eyes started turning dazed, "I will control you both."

The boys under the influence rose to their feet, "Yes, master." They answered in monotone.

Pythor snickered and ordered, "Attack the ponies."

Suddenly through the ponies fighting they were almost blasted by spirit energy and dark energy, "What in tarnation?" Applejack gasped, until they saw Dustin and Alistair standing at the two generals sides with their index fingertips smoking and sporting emotionless faces.

"Dustin, Alistair?" Twilight gasped.

"What're you guys doing?!" Wildcard asked in outrage.

"Your friends are now under our control." Pythor explained.

"Oh no, Skales hypnotized them." Muse gasped.

"You let them go right now!" Pinkie ordered.

"You heard what Pinkie said, let them go." Twilight said.

"So sorry but these boys will prove useful to us in our plans of conquering Equestria." Pythor chuckled.

"Twilight!"

"Twily!"

They all saw Shining Armor and Cadence hurrying over as fast as they could, "Shining Armor! Cadence!" Twilight called.

"And that would be our cue to exit. Come along boys." Pythor snickered, as he held the boys close while disappearing with them.

"Retreat!" Skales ordered as his minions fled.

"Master!" Zyphon cried, while Domino cawed in shock.

"Alistair!" Fievel cried.

"What happened?" Cadence asked.

"Pythor and the Hypnobrai got away." Twilight explained.

"And they took Dustin and Alistair with them." Spike added.

"Oh no." Shining Armor gasped.

"We got to find them!" Pinkie cried.

"But how?" Applejack asked.

"Wait a minute. I might have a way." Twilight said confidently, while the others gathered around.

Meanwhile in a forest south from the Crystal Empire, the Serpentine were gathered in a secluded area, "Now that we got the boys on our side the ponies pose as a lesser threat." Pythor explained.

"We should celebrate our victory with a Slither Pit fight!" A Hypnobrai soldier recommended.

"A splendid idea, Mezmo," Skales agreed, "What about you, Pythor?"

"I agree and I have just the combatants to entertain us." Pythor smirked at the two hypnotized victims.

Back in the Crystal Empire Zyphon was holding out Dustin's sunglasses to Twilight who was concentrating her magic on them, "Are you sure this is going to work, Twilight?" Muse asked.

"I'm positive. If I can concentrate on the spirit energy aura surrounding Dustin's sunglasses I can use it to hone in on his spirit signature." She explained.

"Sounds logical." Shining Armor admitted.

"Ok I got the signature," Twilight focused the magic in her horn sending out waves to pick up Dustin's spirit energy, "I got a lock, this way!" she started galloping off with the others.

"You two wait here in case more serpentine come back." Zyphon said to the couple who nodded as the robot wheeled after the ponies. They traveled out of the kingdom and started hurrying across the land.

Meanwhile back with the Serpentine, Dustin and Alistair stood on opposite sides in some arena made up created by the Constrictai Serpentine. In the stands was multiple Serpentine from the other four tribes as the five generals stood up by a royal box, "Welcome Serpentine to the first Slither Pit Fight in a thousand years!" Pythor announced as the Serpentine cheered, "In the red corner we have that warrior of light and spirit, Dustin Bowers!" the snakes cheered as Dustin emotionlessly waved at the snakes, "And in the blue corner the warrior of dark and shadow, Alistair Savage!" Alistair waved emotionlessly at the snakes, "Let the fight begin!" Pythor announced as the bell rang and the two warriors charged at each other and started fighting mercilessly with punches, kicks, spirit, and shadow attacks.

With the group, they finally reached the forest as Twilight spoke, "The signal's getting stronger."

"They must be close." Wildcard said, as they continued on through the dark forest.

"Hang on master!" Zyphon called, as they trekked through the trees, until Twilight halted them.

"Twilight, what's wrong?" Rarity asked.

"We are entering Serpentine territory," she reminded them, "We can be certain they're not going to let us walk in uninvited."

Zyphon who used his eyes as telescopes looked ahead seeing some Constrictai guards on patrol, "She's right."

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked in worry.

"I'll draw them out," Zyphon said and without wasting a moment he flew out into the open, "Oh boys!"

The Constrictai guards spotting Zyphon ran over to attack but the robot knocked them out with little trouble. Zyphon gave the ponies a thumb's up admitting them passage, "Zyphon, you are so awesome." Rainbow smiled.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Zyphon asked feeling pleased.

"Will yall hurry up?" Applejack asked as they followed the rest.

When they reached the secluded area of the forest they looked seeing the Serpentine gathered around the arena cheering, "What's going on?" Spike asked the ponies.

"They must be having a party, and we weren't invited?!" Pinkie pouted.

"I don't think this is a party, Pinkie." Muse said as they looked on the arena seeing Dustin and Alistair fighting it out without holding back.

"What're they doing?" Wildcard gasped.

"Why're they fighting?" Rarity asked in shock.

"Remember, they're under Skales' hypnosis," Muse reminded them, "He probably ordered them to fight each other."

"Oh no." Zyphon and the two animals gasped.

"This is awful." A.J said in sadness, while watching them fight.

"They're best friends! They shouldn't be forced to do this!" Fluttershy said on the verge of tears.

Twilight watched with tears falling from her eyes as she remembered when Discord had made the girls become the opposite of themselves but this was worse. She watched as Dustin and Alistair were clobbering each other covering themselves with bruises, "What're we going to do?" Pinkie asked.

"I'll knock some sense into them." Rainbow said preparing to fly over, but Wildcard gripped her tail with his mouth and pulled her back.

"Rainbow, it's too dangerous, besides you don't even know if knocking at them will break the hypnosis."

"He's right." Muse agreed.

"But if we don't do something they're going to take each other out." Rainbow reminded them.

Spike looked to Twilight wanting to ask her what she thinks they could do but saw she was looking deeply disturbed, "Twilight?"

Twilight's horn started glowing as she spoke softly, "Stop it… please, Dustin, Alistair…" The two just continued fighting it out without holding back or showing mercy. She then saw the Serpentine and the generals clearly enjoying their pain and something in her finally snapped, "BOTH OF YOU STOP!" she called in the Royal Canterlot voice.

The force of her voice combined with her magic sent a shockwave of magic from her horn that knocked the Serpentine out of their seats. Once it flowed past the boys the hypnosis in their eyes vanished and they stopped their fighting, "Alistair, what're we doing?" Dustin asked in confusion.

"I don't know, but what happened to us?" he asked noticing how beaten they looked and groaned from his own injuries.

"What's going on?" Acidicus asked Pythor as they all saw Twilight fly down with her eyes glowing white as her element of harmony was activated.

"Whoa she looks pretty mad." Dustin said fearing.

The others ran onto the arena, "Are yall ok?" Applejack asked.

"Fine, but my head's spinning." Alistair groaned while feeling his head.

"Well that's what happens when a Hypnobrai hypnotizes you to fight your best friend." Muse explained.

"Hypnotize?" Dustin asked.

"Fight my best friend?" Alistair asked until they looked to each other and gasped realizing what they did.

"Oh God, Alistair. I'm so sorry." Dustin apologized in guilt.

"I'm the one that's sorry." the two embraced. They saw Twilight was blasting the Serpentine soldiers around.

"What's gotten into her?" Dustin asked.

"She doesn't like mind games being pulled on others." Spike explained.

Pythor and Skales frowned at the boys no longer under the hypnosis, as Pythor shouted while pounding his fists, "NO! NO! NO! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO FIGHT EACH OTHER!"

Twilight hearing the Anacondrai general's order turned to him and the generals with a frown before speaking once again in the Royal Canterlot voice, "FRIENDS DO NOT FIGHT FRIENDS AGAINST THEIR WILL! IF YOU EVER DO THIS TO THEM AGAIN REMEBER THIS IS WHAT AWAITS YOU SERPENTINE!" Twilight shouted sending out a large magic blast aimed at the five generals.

Pythor and Skales looked at each other, "Uh-Oh." they said simultaneously as the blast launched the five generals into the air and halfway across the forest.

"We're out of here!" A Hypnobrai soldier cried as they ran for their lives.

Twilight powered down, landed, and passed out as Alistair and Dustin caught her, "We gotcha!" Alistair said.

"It's ok." Dustin assured her.

Twilight smiled and spoke, "I'm glad to see you're both back to normal."

"We owe it to you, Twi. Thanks." Dustin said as the two embraced the Alicorn who embraced them back.

"I can't believe you scared the Serpentine out of their skin." Rainbow laughed hysterically.

"That was so funny." Pinkie chuckled.

"I just didn't want my friends against each other again." She admitted.

"Glad you put a stop to that." Alistair said as the Alicorn smiled but remembered

"Oh that's right! Dustin, I believe these are yours." She levitated his sunglasses to him.

"My shades! Thank goodness, without these I was feeling totally naked." He joked and they all laughed as he put them back on.

The Serpentine generals meanwhile were lying on the ground on the forest far from where they were blasted from. Skales got up and saw Pythor trying to as well, "Perhaps we should regroup and come up with a new plan?" he suggested as he took Pythor's claw and helped him to his feet.

Pythor seeing this took his claw out of Skales' grip and screamed in fury, "GET YOUR CLAWS OFF ME!"

Later that night at the castle back in the Crystal Empire, Dustin and Alistair were sitting on a ledge with bandages on their faces, arms, and Alistair had some on his chest, "Hey guys," Shining Armor said as she and Cadence approached with Twilight and the others, "How're you holding up?"

"Better now." Dustin answered.

"But still lousy." Alistair admitted.

"It wasn't your fault, boys." Rarity assured them.

"Rarity's right. You two were hypnotized by Skales." Muse reminded them.

"We know, but we carelessly let ourselves fall into his trap." Dustin sighed.

"And if Twilight wasn't there we could've done worse harm to each other." Alistair added.

"But you didn't." Fluttershy noted.

"We almost did." Alistair countered.

"Guys you may have been manipulated but you learn from your mistakes." Twilight explained.

"And having friends around can help you." Applejack added.

The boys thought about this and smiled, "You're right." Dustin said.

"We almost forgot about that." Alistair said.

"Why not write this to Princess Celestia?" Twilight suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, Twi. Spike!" Dustin called as the dragon held up a parchment and quill.

"Ready!"

"Dear Princess Celestia," Dustin began, "In life we make mistakes, and sometimes they can make you feel guilty or crushed because you wished you could've done something to avoid making it."

"But we've remembered that even if you hit a number of bumps in the road of life you must always remember that as long as you have friends willing to lend a hoof to pick you back up when you stumble, then any life you have is worth living mistakes or not." Alistair continued.

"Sincerely your human friends, Dustin and Alistair." Dustin concluded.

"Finished." Spike announced and he rolled it up and breathed it with his magic fire as it was teleported back to Canterlot.

"Alistair," Dustin began as he turned to the dark warrior who looked back at him, "Thanks for being my friend."

Alistair smiled back before pulling the spirit warrior into an embrace, "Thanks for being mine too, Dustin." The girls awed at the scene while Spike gagged.