Part 3 - Chapter 4 (12): Survival of Friendship
"GET! BACK!" Fluttershy was now yelling in genuine fear. Her captor, the wicked impostor draconequus stood by, expecting her fear-driven friends to come for her regardless.
"Rainbow, hold your horses!" Applejack hollered, emerging from the trees. "That beastie'll shred you!" She didn't get a moment to register the presence of Havoc before he snapped his claws, transforming her into an orange.
"I SAID GET BACK!" Fluttershy, panicked, screamed louder.
"Applejack, what just happened?!" Rarity, coming up not far behind the farm pony, wailed at the magical change, then saw the pony-turned-orange levitate towards the draconequus, and gasped at the horrific sight of him, before she was suddenly transformed, too. She became a rock, and was also tightly gripped in telekinesis, along with the orange and cookie forms of her friends.
Havoc counted four on his claws, snickering in sinister delight. Party sounds were heard, and without warning, a cake flew into his face. The sudden hit caused him to drop the kind pegasus and the floating objects.
Fluttershy got up quickly and saw her savior. It was Pinkie Pie, using her party bazooka from within the trees. Her legs, as if by themselves, moved her towards where she knew it was safer. The manticore lunged for it's prey, but the bazooka fired again, this time launching balloons that popped in the faces of it and Havoc, to disorienting effect. Fluttershy slipped out of their sights by the time they composed themselves.
Pinkie Pie was caught. She pulled the trigger again, but it turned out she was out of ammo. Just like Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity, she was swiftly turned into an immobile object; in her case, a plastic spoon. Havoc pointed in the direction the other ponies came, the manticore heeding this as a command.
"Twilight, Luna, get away!" Fluttershy desperately cried as she flew.
Luna had been a fair bit farther behind than the ponies whom had gone to meet a literally transformative fate, looking after Twilight with Spike and Scorpan. All of them still felt the exhaustion that overtook them earlier. Luna, hearing the plea through the woods, immediately went on full alert, raising a wing at the sickly Twilight and recommended she "Stay down.", which she was content to do anyway.
"I don't understand. She yells in distress, then wants us to fall back?" Scorpan puzzled.
"If I know Fluttershy, she's gotten into something worse than before." Twilight grimly guessed.
"We should hope not." said Scorpan, trying to be optimistic.
Fluttershy sped towards them at a pace that Rainbow would truly smile upon, hyperventilating and sweating.
"Oh, thank my sister, you've escaped!" Luna breathed in relief.
"They sent a fake Discord! A fake, evil Discord!" Fluttershy wailed. "He got our friends and turned them into things!"
"What?" Twilight gasped.
Luna's eyes widened with horror. Scorpan, like his brother, knew all too well from legend what damage Discord was capable of causing. The news of this evil copy triggered his instincts into hovering aside and returning to his statue state to hide. As they responded, all around them, the trees disintegrated, leaving nothing to hide behind from the beast and the doppelganger.
It looked like it was over. They were cornered. The last two ponies Havoc needed to count, and the night princess as a bonus, were right there. They were coming up fast, and the heroic creatures had no defense. What could they do? Was hope lost?
"Sister, help us!" Luna prayed.
"No way!" Spike shrieked, spewing fire from his raised voice.
Then, Havoc was right in their faces, holding the changed friends. Glaring down, he spotted the cowering Fluttershy. He counted five on his claws. Luna hid Twilight under the wings the best she could, but was pushed aside to put the defeated little princess in his sight. Finally, he counted six.
Fluttershy, though now coated in dread like it were a blanket, knew she couldn't do nothing about this monster. Literal courage soon rose out of her. Against her better judgment, she put on a game face and flew up to Havoc's. Only certain it was her last resort, she used the Stare on him.
It had no effect on the draconequus she knew and loved, so she acted only on a hunch. "Look at me, creepy!" She ordered. If this would be the last thing she'd do, Fluttershy was going to commit to this Stare: the hardest she'd ever given, hyperfocused on this one target. It seemed like it was going to be brushed off, but surprisingly, it didn't seem ineffective. Havoc groaned, looking genuinely unnerved by the giant, angry pegasus eyes up close in his vision.
The manticore roared impatiently, poised to strike Fluttershy out of the air with it's scorpion tail. But, it stopped short of her coat, for Luna acted fast and telekinetically grabbed it's tip. With a yank, she painfully set the hybrid down on it's side.
Havoc, though clearly immobilized, was beginning to break himself free from the Stare's powerful influence. He got ready to snap both of his sets of claws and thought of his next destination. Before he could trigger his magic, though, he began to lose his strength. This was no accident, however. His power was being sapped away. On his right, Scorpan had reverted back to flesh and used his draining spell on the impostor, collecting magic as his centaur brother would've. Strangely, something was different. He didn't eat the vitality, he accumulated it into a large, glowing ball that he hovered over one of his hands. Havoc was on his knees, unable to act.
"Wait!" Fluttershy interrupted, fully aware again. "He needs that magic to change our friends back!" In response, Scorpan slowed the process of his spell down.
"Oh, sorry." he apologized. "Where are they?" Fluttershy pointed to the cookie, orange, rock and plastic spoon on the ground. "I see. But will he cooperate?"
"He'd better!" Fluttershy snarled at the draconequus, giving him a glass-breaking glare.
Havoc, feeling the brunt of defeat for the first time ever, felt too weak to defy anyone at this point. How easily he gave in to the pressure at his enemies' mercy. He slapped down on the objects, resulting in them changing back to their true, equine forms, and then he was drained completely.
"My word, all my memories... l-like, lightning fast!" Rarity whimpered.
"What... what the... what..!" Rainbow sputtered.
All four of them took a moment to analyze their surroundings. Being turned into things with no life in them sure had a confusing and frightening impact. They jumped and screeched at the sight of the weary Havoc, but calmed down when he realized he was now harmless.
"What a terrible knockoff." Applejack derided the monstrous pretender.
"Girls!" uttered Fluttershy, so relieved that her friends were alive. She hugged them so tight, never wanting to let go.
"I can't tell what happened, but I'm glad you aren't a thingamabob." Pinkie happily said.
"That was opportune." Twilight weakly remarked.
"That, big sis, was fighting with faith." Spike corrected.
Sometime later, the heroes had the weakened Havoc tied up in vines supplemented by a magical tether, sitting upright against a rock in the ground. The manticore was kept in check by Fluttershy, everyone else was contemplating their next move.
"Has "faith" come up with any plans yet?" Twilight sarcastically asked.
"I sent a letter to Trixie, remember?" Spike reminded patiently. "We should be getting a reply any time now. Preferably today, but... you know."
Like a jinx (but in a positive manner), a beam of light soared at everyone and hit the ground, changing shape to a piece of the parchment that Spike had sent. They gathered around to read.
"Yes!" Spike whooped, seeing the magician's name.
"Cozy Glow's school?!" Applejack said incredulously. "So, she never gave that ridiculous dream up?"
"This Trixie sounds like a very important pony." Scorpan thought out loud, enthusiastic.
"I hate her." Twilight grumbled, predictably.
"She wants Luna to come over." Fluttershy gulped. "Over to a school run by that rotten foal?"
"I will do what I must." Luna dutifully announced. "I only hope the students are still asleep as we receive this message. Now, who needs a nap?"
"I do." Scorpan yawned. "Today's been quite much for an old gatekeeper like me. Your wish is my command." He bowed to the night princess, and closed his eyes, transitioning back into solid stone.
"Thank you, old friend." Luna said, bowing back. With a large flash of her horn, she opened the gate to the realm of dreams once again. Before disappearing above the slumbering statue form of the ancient prince, she glanced one more time at the ponies and dragon.
"Worry not, Luna, darling. She's in tender, loving hooves." Rarity assured, wrapping her hoof around the pessimistic Twilight.
"Give me the hat. I can deliver it home faster." Luna suggested, tilting towards her portal. Rarity floated Puddinghead's hat over to her, and with that, the seven were left alone.
"Still got some of that grub left, Applejack?" Spike requested.
Applejack checked her person to find that the stocks of food she carried around previously were gone. She scanned the area, still cleared of trees, until she spotted her small saddlebags spread around the ground. It looked like crumbs had spilled all over the place.
"Well, with any luck..." she whispered, hoping there was something to salvage.
Starlight, Shining Armor and Stygian were inside Tambleon Castle, checking every nook and cranny. None of them were getting lucky in their search for a key to taking Grogar down.
Starlight, using the Accelero spell once again, zipped over to the stallions, wearing an expression of frustration after stopping. "Not a thing in any of these rooms." she regretfully noted. "Worse, I can't teleport, break or see through these walls and ceilings."
"I wasn't thinking he'd be predictable, but..." Shining Armor pondered. "From experience, I can guess what we need is somewhere up high, and secluded; the keep, in the back."
"Well, unfortunately, there's tighter security." Starlight pointed out.
They were interrupted by a beam of light, just like the one that came to Twilight's group, coming through the window and hitting Starlight in the head.
"Ow!" She exclaimed, instinctively rubbing her sore temple.
The beam turned into the other letter. The three unicorns took notice and decided to take a look. Starlight held it up in the air, and she immediately recognized the nature of the message.
"It's Trixie!" Starlight cried joyfully. She quickly switched to dread when more of the letter was scanned. "Cozy Glow's school?! If that's where she is, then... so are the students!" She continued and finished reading. "Twilight and the others need our help, too! I gotta write back to them all! If only I had a pen and extra parchment!" Her stress was now putting her on the verge of breaking down.
"Easy there." Shining Armor murmured, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Calm down, and show us the way."
Starlight cooled off for a moment and sighed. "At least I got the layout memorized." Next, taking a breath and silently praying, she grabbed Shining Armor and Stygian, with Cadance also gripped hard, and told them to "Hold on." Accelero carried them forward quickly.
Below their level, Sunburst and Discord were climbing a spiral staircase. Well, Sunburst was climbing, and forced to carry Discord, who just couldn't stand all the walking.
"Sorry, chum." Discord apologized meekly, not in his usual, more sardonic matter.
"Eh, I watched three fillies for days. This is nothing." Sunburst dryly said. Unsure of what to talk about, he had a question to raise. "Say, is there any intel you can give about Grogar? You mentioned he was your father in your long confession, right?"
"To be truthful - really - I can't give everything." Discord admitted. "What I know is that he made a tome with all of his spells written down."
"You mean he owns a spellbook?" Sunburst presumed.
"Yes, and I know after his four-creature delivery service found it for him, he'd keep it in his personal library." Discord confirmed. "But, if I remember the old ram well, he's likely got it behind a curse that only he and his creations can bypass."
"That's better than nothing." Sunburst accepted. He picked up his stair trotting pace with a fire of determination lit ablaze. "Let's hope Starlight isn't too far ahead." Soon, he reached the top and opened a door to find a hallway, and a wide-open window. He looked out to realize it overlooked the crowd of ponies below, having collected all the food they need and being sent home by Grogar and his army in an orderly fashion. "Grogar's watching the hungry ponies, still. Not for much longer, though." he said from his observation.
Back with Starlight, Shining Armor and Stygian, they had reached the obstacle she had spoken of. It was a simple stairway, going in only one direction: diagonally up. No curves, whatsoever. The top of it couldn't be seen, for it was cloaked in darkness.
"Uh... what's secure about this?" Shining Armor asked, scratching his mane.
"Watch." Starlight instructed. She quickly ran up the stairs, and got several feet up from the bottom, before she stopped. Except, she didn't stop moving. She was still running, full speed, but her momentum came to a complete halt. As if it were a fast treadmill, it wouldn't let her go any higher, yet from her point of view, it looked like the ascent was still in progress. She ignited her horn, became a lightning-fast blur, teleported, fired a blast, all to no avail. "See? I can't even cheat this thing. It's like the barriers over the windows and balconies outside."
"Not good." Shining Armor growled. Then he thought of something. "Perhaps if we had one of those dark stone things, we could disable this curse?"
"No." Stygian replied. "Grogar's Malice Magic is beyond the capabilities of all forms of magic nullification to date. But..." Without another word, he steeled himself and charged into the stairway.
"Stygian, what are you doing?" Starlight asked, confused.
The small, cloaked unicorn ran up the stairs to the same effect, but did something else. He spoke in Old Ponish. Something eerie, like an incantation.
"Stygian, you can't cast a spell without magic." Shining Armor stated, shaking his head. He was ignored.
"Starlight!" Sunburst called from across the hallways.
"Sunburst?!" Starlight cried in surprise.
"Can you hear me!?" Sunburst called again.
"O-over here!" Starlight hollered, directing him.
"I'll be the compass!" Discord could be heard announcing. "This architecture's my specialty!"
"Follow my voice!" Starlight yelled. Shining Armor helped by neighing. None of this disturbed Stygian's chanting.
Something was heard moving behind the two loud unicorns, and that's when they saw the thick darkness above come down towards Stygian, as if answering his call. It threatened to envelop him.
"What are you-" Starlight stammered. "N-NO!" An energy beam shot out of her horn, almost as if not by her command. It hit Stygian, but didn't phase him. The darkness took hold of Stygian like a parasite. He called to it, and it accepted; henceforth, they became one.
"DO NOT STOP ME!" he shrieked, taking a familiar form. He was a Pony of Shadows again. Dark tentacles extended from the pitch-black mass and entangled the other unicorns. Starlight and Shining Armor grunted as they were pulled in, along with the unconscious Cadance.
"Starlight, is that what I think it is?!" Sunburst shouted in terror, coming over close to the others' area. More dark tentacles came out to grab him, as well. "Stygian, what are you-?"
All of the unicorns, as well as Discord, had been swallowed up by Stygian's transformation. Not only that, they had been forced into the union. All of them merged with the darkness, and where there was only one face before, there were now five. One laughed, the other four screamed for help. Swiftly, it crept up the stairs, unimpeded by the curse.
Their destination was a tower. The Pony of Shadows stopped at the top of the climb.
"THIS IS A PRODUCT OF MALICE MAGIC, BUT THE POISON IS AT THE CORE!" Stygian explained emphatically. "YOU'RE FINE, GUYS! NOW REJECT IT!"
He sure didn't need to tell Starlight twice. Her extreme buildup of emotion blasted her out of the mass, along with everyone, save Stygian. For a moment, all of them still looked like the dark creature, even having deformed features, like split horns. But they returned to the usual selves.
"Stygian, I've got you!" Starlight hollered, hoping to save her shadow-covered ally with her magical tether, as was done before.
"FORGET IT! YOU DON'T HAVE HELP!" Stygian objected.
"Look, that must be the tome!" Discord shouted, pointing at something in the middle of the tower room. He saw Grogar's Tome, floating atop a pedestal, encased in a Malice Magic bubble. "Everypony, look!"
"That thing?" Sunburst guessed, looking where the former draconequus was pointing. "Starlight, that book! We need that spellbook!"
"Busy here!" Starlight answered.
"I'VE GOT THAT!" Stygian declared. Stretching his tendrils of darkness towards the Malice bubble, he clasped it, and pulled on the tome. Electricity enfolded him, veins appeared on his ethereal body, and he roared like a demon from the surge of irreversibly evil power. Still, he wouldn't quit. He managed to get that tome out of the bubble, throwing it to the floor. But afterwards, the normal pony that was still present inside that dark form was becoming more a shadow than ever. Starlight's tether's hold was lost.
"Stygian, hang in there!" Starlight called.
"SORRY... CAN'T... ESCAPE..!" Stygian remorsefully affirmed. His eyes closed, and his body ceased any further actions. He breathed in sorrowful acceptance as he was carried away back into the greater darkness, descending the stairs and eventually, fading away, like a shy ghost. His face split apart like a kicked cloud, spreading through the walls and ceilings.
Stygian was gone.
"No." Starlight mumbled in disbelief. She couldn't believe that after her help in saving Stygian from the darkness, he is lost by returning to it.
"I can't believe that worked." said Shining Armor. "He mastered the shadows."
"But at what cost?" Starlight added grimly.
"Oh, Starlight." Sunburst moaned sadly. "I guess this was just one of those things. Sacrifices, and all." he then motioned towards the tome. "Come on, let's not let his be for nothing."
"Sunburst? Why are you here?" Starlight asked, shaken up a bit by the loss of Stygian.
"The CMC sent me off." Sunburst simply replied. He opened up the tome and flipped through the pages.
"What happened to them?" Starlight pressed further.
"Oh, I overheard they were sent away by one of my brothers, or sisters." Discord answered himself. "So way in over their little heads."
"Yeah, me too, but there's no time to talk about that!" Sunburst stressed. "We've got to find what we need before Grogar or his beasts find us!" With only a few more page turns, he found it. "Aha! Here we are: Malice Assimilation and Malice Release!"
"Ugh, if only I had something to write these spells down on." Starlight complained.
"So, that's how he used the spell that did this to Cadance." said Shining Armor, taking in the tome's illustrations.
"I've got an idea." Sunburst said. He took off his cape and offered it. "Can you transfigure this into paper?"
Starlight stared blankly for a few moments. Finally, she said "Hey, that's a good idea." Her horn flashed and fired a transfiguration spell to turn Sunburst's cape into a big scroll. With it, the brooch that kept it closed became a working quill. She smiled at the success, thinking of all her magic lessons paying off. Sunburst beamed at her enthusiasm.
At a brisk rate, she wrote this message:
"Dear Twilight,
I'm with some of our friends in Grogar's castle, in Tambelon: formerly Canterlot.
I heard about your situation from Trixie, and I hope you and the others are staying safe.
If you make it back, here's some thought waves from Grogar's Tome you could use later.
That hat you found seems pretty significant, so hang on to it. See you soon.
Sincerely, Starlight Glimmer."
Below the message was the written Malice spells, for thoughts to process.
Then she wrote this:
"Dear Trixie,
I'm inside Grogar's castle at the former site of Canterlot, now known as Tambelon.
Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine. I even have some friends along.
We found that wizard's tome, and a way we can disable our enemies' powers.
I'm sending Twilight a message, too, and hope this knowledge will help her in the end.
Whatever Cozy Glow is putting you and the students through, hang tight. All of you.
Sincerely, your best of friends, Starlight Glimmer."
She flicked her horn, visualized the desired recipients, and sent the messages through the nearest tower window. She looked at it, and a thought rushed to her mind.
"I think we should follow." said Starlight, looking a little sly.
"What do you mean?" Sunburst asked.
Starlight flung herself, and everyone else with her, out that very same window, leading them all into a great, several story fall. Thankfully, it allowed her to get out. Screaming was heard from her allies for a moment, before she teleported them and herself away.
Grogar had already reached the council room and started viewing Arimaspi's Eye. He had caught Starlight's group, just as they went out the window. Before he could teleport them to him, they had vanished. His jaw slightly dropped.
"I didn't expect that." Grogar said quietly, genuinely impressed with this unicorn's quick thinking and acting.
The Pillars reunited at the Princess Platinum statue, but they were cornered by the monsters and zombies that followed.
"My friends, it's been an honour to fight alongside you all." Star Swirl stated, lamenting their helplessness.
"If we go down, this spot will be a memorial for us, too." said Rockhoof, all dignified.
POOF! Starlight's group appeared before them all, startling the enemy forces.
"There you are!" Starlight exclaimed. Noticing the monsters and zombies, she ignited her horn once more and stamped the ground, unleashing a magical shock wave and restraints to push them back.
"Hope has paid off!" Somnambula cheered.
"Guys, what did you find here?" Starlight questioned ecstatically.
"Princess Platinum's crown." Star Swirl confirmed.
Starlight gasped. "Twilight and her friends found Puddinghead's hat!" she reported. "They might be bringing it home!"
"Puddinghead?" Star Swirl exhaled in disbelief. "How can that be? It's too coincidental."
"Well, maybe this is the coincidence we've needed." Starlight surmised. "If they're taking that hat, we should take this crown."
"And defile this memento?" Rockhoof questioned.
"Okay, so I'm following my gut here, again, but..." Starlight admitted, now uncertain on how to finish her sentence.
"So shall I." Star Swirl agreed. "Let's just have faith. You five have endured much today." he did a double take. "No, four. Where's Stygian? Didn't he go with you?"
Everyone conscious in Starlight's group hung their heads.
"He did. But, we got to a point we couldn't pass, unless..." Starlight started, gritting her teeth in shame.
"A sacrifice was made." Sunburst sadly followed. Star Swirl held his hoof up to his muzzle in shock.
"The castle didn't allow shortcuts. He found a loophole, by rejoining the shadows." Starlight went on. "He surrendered to them, to get us to the information we sought. Then he vanished."
The Pillars were speechless. They might've been caught in the trance of mourning a little while longer if the monsters and zombies hadn't recomposed themselves, broken free and prepared another, more furious assault. Rockhoof grabbed the crown and huddled with the rest.
"Let's get out of this cave!" Star Swirl barked. POOF! Each of them, gone.
Arimaspi's Eye followed Starlight's group, but it was hard to track them and get a good lock on them for teleportation with them popping in and out from place to place. Ever since they reached the Pillars' location, the same light that blinded the Eye to wherever Twilight's group was reappeared. Star Swirl and the others could be slightly made out, but there was no telling where they were.
"Ah, of course. The Tree was grown from the Pillars' seed." Grogar grumbled. "Impeccably sly, Starlight." He put a hoof on his beard and thought for a second. "What did they do in there?" He switched the Eye's view to the inside of the keep's bottom, where his tome rested. He noticed right away that it wasn't inside the Malice bubble, but on the floor next to it. "My tome! How did they get it out? How did they even get in the keep?" He had grown concerned of an oversight, and felt compelled to investigate.
He switched the Eye's view of his monster squadrons and sent them portals to the surface of Tambelon to walk through, before he walked through a portal himself. The ram sorcerer stood inside his tome's room. He immediately figured to look at the cursed stairs. Doing so tickled one of his senses.
"Pony life signs." he presumed.
Twilight and the others finished with their afternoon snack.
"This brute won't say a thing, no matter how hard I Stare at him." Fluttershy complained about Havoc.
"Well, does the manticore know anything?" Rainbow asked.
"Nothing we don't already know." Fluttershy affirmed. "I can't even get these two to chat."
"Well, I've got nothing." said Applejack. "I'd tell you to keep trying..."
"Why not? You're too honest, right?" Twilight muttered.
"What the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack annoyedly inquired.
"Oh, I'm just saying, it's okay to admit you have no options to weigh." Twilight bitterly explained. "Come clean and cut your losses. Of which we have a lot."
Applejack's face shifted to a dog-like grimace.
"What I want to know is: why didn't the "Friendship is Magic" laser work?" Pinkie wondered.
"Oh, don't you already know?" Twilight snarked. "Friendship is a fragile little thing, and ours has been rotting. I swear you treat me more like a princess, somepony to spoil and expect everything from, than simply your friend."
Applejack stamped her hooves and growled. Her temper was boiling at this rate. "You know what, Twilight? I'm plum tuckered of you criticizing us for every one of our little imperfections!"
"I don't ask for perfection, I ask for common sense!" Twilight argued.
"Well, we're doing the best we can, "friend" of ours!" Pinkie yelled.
"You tell, but you don't show!" Twilight fired back. "Face it, your faith is blind!"
"Look who's talking!" Rainbow spoke up angrily.
"Oh, go turn some heads with a Sonic Rainboom; you're good at that!" Twilight spat.
"Girls, come on!" Spike pleaded.
"I thought all you could ever ask for is us caring!" Rarity pointed out. "Don't you care for Equestria anymore?"
"I don't owe Equestria anything!" Twilight snarled. "As far as I'm concerned, they tossed us out!"
"You're being so ridiculous! Quit it right now!" Fluttershy growled.
"You don't have the slightest clue what I'm feeling!" Twilight bellowed. "You were never good at figuring that out!"
Spike blew flames in the hopes of stopping this argument, but it kept going past the smoke.
"I know what you're feeling, and it's not helping!" Applejack yelled.
"You haven't felt Malice Magic, this horrible sickness!" Twilight uttered darkly. "You think I can work past this!?"
"Stop, stop, stop, STOP!" Spike repeated, strained.
"We are not taking that as an excuse!" Applejack shouted in exasperation. "Maybe we did earlier, but not anymore!"
"Fine! Why don't you..." Twilight seethingly panted. Then, like lightning, she pounced on Applejack and stuck her broken horn down at her, as if trying to zap her face with an energy bolt, screaming "TRY IT!?" For a moment, there was some rough and tumble. Spike pulled on his livid sister with all his might. Pinkie helped him by pushing her away, and Rainbow lifted the grounded Applejack up.
Applejack wasn't really harmed at all, just a little dirty from the very brief scuffle. Twilight cringed and breathed in and out very heavily from the pain in her veins. Spike looked at her, silently begging for the escalation to cease. Applejack and the others looked at Twilight in anger and shame.
"Is that any way to treat ponies who've only wanted you to be happy?" Pinkie, shedding tears, chided.
Twilight began to cry as well. Every thought in her brain was one of indignance. She felt like these ponies believed they owed them thanks in return. She saw a betrayal to what made their camaraderie bloom in the first place. Her single, wet eye glared at the five, and a strong, rare, three-word sentence left her muzzle like a bullet.
"I HATE YOU!"
The five other ponies recoiled a bit at hearing those words hit their ears, coming from Twilight, and with true, spiteful loathing.
"You don't mean that!" Spike said worriedly, through gritted teeth.
"I've heard just about enough." Applejack uttered in disdain.
"Okay, go ahead and sit this out!" Rainbow said scathingly. "We'll find a way to save Equestria and kick villain butt without you!"
"But you can't!" Spike reminded the bunch. "Remember? The Elements? Take one out, and the rest are useless!"
"There's more to friendship than rainbow lasers, Spike." Applejack asserted.
"I'm glad it's settled!" Twilight called over hatefully.
As Twilight and the rest of the gang walked in separate directions, Spike ran over to the damaged alicorn, his heart knowing that she couldn't be left alone, no matter what.
"You just need to cool off, I'm sure." Spike expressed in good faith. "This is not how it ends between us. Right?"
As he begged for a resolution, Twilight stopped and sat on a spot near a little pond, looking again at her tarnished facial features, and the horn and wings that were no longer there. On the opposite side, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow stopped and laid down in contemplation. It seemed the rage was already passing, but much had to be thought about.
Trixie, still asleep, had begun having a nightmare. Something was going to catch her. Something was taking her by surprise. Then, speaking of surprise, Luna popped out of the dream portal, right above her desk. Everybody in the classroom woke up at her hoofsteps.
Trixie yelped and hit her head on the ceiling below the top of her desk. "Owie!"
The Twittermites monitoring the sleeping students looked at Luna and prepared to zap her with a barrage of lightning bolts. Acting fast, she blocked them with a shield, turned that shield into a big bubble to enclose the Twittermites in, then sent them flying away out of the classroom window to the left, into the cold of Yakyakistan.
"Who goes there?" Trixie called, on the defensive.
"Counselor Trixie!" Luna answered. "I got your message."
"Princess Luna!" Trixie gasped. She lunged forward and grabbed Luna's hooves, kissing them in gratitude and relief. "Thank your sister, it's you! I saw demons everywhere! And then..."
"Eh, yes." said Luna, embarrassed. "Enough with that, please."
"Ha ha ha ha, oops." Trixie laughed nervously.
"This looks just like the School of Friendship. Where is this place?" Luna inquired, disturbed.
"Cozy Glow, her Ultimate Super Executive Mistress Whatever Headmare Highness, set up this charming educational studio in Yakyakistan." Trixie explained.
"So, she's holding young ponies and yaks hostage here for some twisted education?" Luna deduced. "This cannot go accredited. Where's Sandbar?"
"Oh, he's one of the teachers here, like me." Trixie said. "His classroom's far down the hall. I'll take you to him, and you just leave the security matter to my Great and Powerful Tricks."
Next thing, Trixie was telekinetically holding a small sign that read "Off to get lunch." and running down the hall.
"What kind of trick is this?" Luna questioned, tucked in her hat, sounding a bit muffled. All she got in response was a "Ssh!" They had run past the door to Cozy Glow's office.
"That's right, I've got our business futures all planned out!" Cozy, from inside the office, announced to her new captives, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, tied to the wall by tape. "Apple Bloom: Vice Headmare. Sweetie Belle: Student Counselor. Scootaloo: official Headmare's and Vice Headmare's butler."
"What?!" Scootaloo incredulously snapped.
"Ya'll realize I wouldn't work for you if this were the last job in the world?" Apple Bloom snarled, from a quiet growl to a sharp outburst.
"I still can't believe it. Equestria. It's gone." Sweetie Belle lamented. "And everypony hates each other so much, they don't seem to care."
"Pity. What are you gonna do, when their fear and fury calls upon the Windigos?" Cozy uncaringly noted.
"I reckon you had something to do with it." Apple Bloom opined.
"Who wants to know?" Cozy retorted, looking transparent.
"So you admit it!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Straight from the horse's mouth! Well, one."
"We have moons to spend together as employer and employees, let's not start by pointing hooves." Cozy smugly recommended.
"You know, Cozy, even if you always saw us and the students as tools for your schemes, and not friends in the slightest, we were your friends, and you were ours." Sweetie Belle spoke in nostalgic tones. "It broke our hearts when none of it meant anything."
"In hindsight, the moment we learned you flunked that test on purpose, after all we did to help you pass it, the red flags should've been crystal clear to us." Scootaloo bitterly recounted. "And I had my hopes up for a new Cutie Mark Crusader."
"Sorry, but the code of friendship you follow doesn't do it for me." said Cozy.
"What happened to you, Cozy?" Apple Bloom queried. "Before we ever met you, what happened to you that made you so evil?"
"I'm just bad. It's in my nature." Cozy replied dismissively.
"Why?! Who hurt you? What drove you to come to messed up conclusions about good things?" Apple Bloom grilled the wicked filly. A cunning thought then sprung to mind. "Please, it'd build our relationship."
"Oh, it's really nothing." Cozy started casually. "I never knew my real family. I lived in an orphanage in the city. I had peers, but no pals. Adult supervision, but no armour. I was the smartest, but I had no strength. A comforting, stable, but more importantly, worthless existence."
"So, we and everyone at the School of Friendship - the real one - wasn't enough for you, you picky brat?" Sweetie Belle chastised. "Everycreature wanted to be your friend. But as of today, you don't have any friends, or anycreature who will be. Only prisoners."
"Nonsense!" Cozy cried defensively. "My students show nothing but respect for their Headmare! See the tributes everywhere!? And I so have friends! Three of them!"
"Really? Are three of these tributes from them?" Apple Bloom asked, gazing slyly. "I can't tell, there's too many."
"They're a busy bunch." Cozy stated. "I don't need to prove anything."
"Maybe not. Except for how much you meant to their cause." Apple Bloom put forth. "You had to have put in one heck of a team effort to destroy Equestria."
"You really need to stick your muzzle elsewhere, Vice Headmare." Cozy grumbled, flying up to the farm filly's face.
"Nah, you're right. It's scary to share the old friendships with the new, so fair enough." Apple Bloom conceded artfully. "No need to trip over yourself for us."
"Silence!" Cozy snapped. She extended shadow wings to pull the CMC off the wall and put them near the office doorway. "Go to work!"
The CMC shook their heads and looked back at Cozy grouchily as they began making their exits.
"Wait!" Cozy suddenly yawped, stopping the trio in their tracks. She pressed her hoof on top of her magical picture frame, holding it there. "Watch and weep." Her shadow wings grabbed them to prevent their escape. With a confident smile, she looked on expectantly.
Grogar sat back in the council room, sitting before Arimaspi's Eye, which played him the events of Stygian's reunion with the darkness.
"Ponies are certainly interesting creatures." Grogar commended. "Without magic, he had mastery of my shadows. A shadow whisperer. He'd have made a great Horse of the Apocalypse, if he were still opposing Harmony." he sighed and moved on to pressing his hoof against his head. "Children, have you caught Starlight yet? Mmhmm? No? Okay, just a moment." He moved his hoof to another side of his head. "Havoc! Come in, Havoc! Where is Twilight Sparkle? I need Twilight Sparkle soon! Do you read me?"
His calls were interrupted by the Cozy Glow throne ringing. As it grabbed his attention, Cozy's mug came into view.
"Mr. Grogar! I'm glad you're here!" Cozy cheered.
"What can I do for you, Ms. Glow?" Grogar asked contently.
"I need to call the other Horses of the Apocalypse right away!" Cozy demanded. "My new Vice Headmare, Student Counselor, and butler who also serves the Vice Headmare, must be educated on a glorious historical alliance!"
"I hate to interrupt their business, but I'll see if this can be arranged." Grogar promised. He shot magical sparks at the thrones for Chrysalis, Tirek and Aurora Eclipse. They rang, then in 3 seconds, they all answered, one-by-one.
"I didn't order a last second letter." said Tirek in annoyance.
"What is thy bidding?" Eclipse respectfully solicited.
"HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT ME! I'M VERY BUSY!" Chrysalis hissed at full volume.
"Excellent! Here we are again!" Cozy declared. The changeling, centaur and alicorn stared at her funny.
"This better be good, Cozy." Tirek ordered threateningly.
"You bet your flank!" Cozy assured. "I need to teach how awesome our team is to my unenlightened new employees, whom Mr. Grogar graciously sent me."
"That's it?" Chrysalis scoffed. "Yeah, I've got better things to do than "enlighten" some ponies. Bye-bye~!" She almost hung up.
"Stay there, your majesty." Grogar urged. "This is important educational business."
"Bah! This is the age of kingdoms, not schools!" Chrysalis huffed.
"How does it concern any of us?" Tirek asked.
"I've got a whole army to groom for magical purposes." said Eclipse. "I can't waste time on that request."
"Don't spare any details, friends." Cozy insisted. "A generation of the strong hinges on our example."
"We worked together and conquered the enemy with help from Grogar's wisdom. That's all that matters." Tirek attested.
"Do you think we owe you a favour, child?" Chrysalis inquired, most uninterested.
"Well, yeah." Cozy answered, like it was the most obvious thing ever. "I brought the team spirit to our awesome band, if you recall."
"More like the incessant prattler who we let win!" Chrysalis acidically retorted. Tirek laughed.
"You were useful for the distraction, but after that, you were a liability." Eclipse bluntly put it.
"Hey T, care to vouch for your protégé?" Cozy tried to ignore the downplaying of her contributions. "We were pen pals!"
"We were. But that didn't mean we were friends." Tirek corrected her.
"Yes it did!" Cozy growled, indignantly.
"Our partnership was simply an exchange of back-scratching." Tirek further stressed. "Bonding over it, considering each other amicable companions, is an inglorious thing! I won't allow this sentimentality!"
"You've got to be joking!" Cozy snapped, checking her ears.
"Oh, you think you're so smart, but you hardly know your place, methinks!" Chrysalis derided. "Here's a hint, sweetheart. You whine like a spoiled baby, you're delusional in that you think you're loved, you hang on to some fantasy of ruling friendship, when there is no longer friendship, and you seek validation in front of some commoners. You're so low, I could climb down a rope to you!"
"Hey, Chryssie! You need compensation for your small loyalist army?!" Cozy fired back, getting temperamental.
"Don't even try, Cozy." Eclipse rebuked. "The agreement was that'd we'd rule our ends of the world alone. If you wanted to have more worth after that was fulfilled, you should've taken my advice and become an alicorn."
"That's not who I am!" Cozy shrieked.
"See, here's your problem, kid: you can't accept that our union, while ultimately beneficial, is over." Tirek asserted roughly. "Quit living in last week, and stick to your post."
"Post?!" Cozy squeaked, right on the edge.
"Your worthless, lonely post!" Chrysalis roared.
"Has anypony in your school ever come to your office to offer their servitude?" Eclipse grilled the little one. "Name one you haven't been forced to put in detention, and I'll offer some leniency."
Cozy raised one of her hooves to answer, with an air of confidence. It was fleeting, for she had nothing to abate the doubt.
"That's what I thought." Eclipse muttered, rolling her eyes. "Pathetic."
"Whatever! Not like you brought anything but flashy moves!" Cozy criticized the alicorn.
"I brought the compromise, you ineffectually mediated." Eclipse rebutted. Chrysalis and Tirek laughed at that.
"You win that one, echo." Chrysalis complimented, quite uncharacteristic of her.
"Shut up!" Cozy howled, now really starting to fume. "The Horses of the Apocalypse owes it's formation to me! We'd have gotten nowhere without my diplomacy, and Mr. Grogar knew it!" Her eyes turned to the ram sorcerer. "Tell them, sir!"
"Yes, Ms. Glow. I did choose you as a Horse of the Apocalypse for your gift of exceptional intelligence, and your diplomatic skills. Those talents kept us tied as one in the moment of truth." He said with a truthful smile. But it shifted into a regretful frown as she shook his head and added "But, I never said the formation was your job, specifically."
Hearing those additional words left Cozy utterly, positively crushed. She didn't want to believe she was only ever kidding herself. Was she really that deluded? It couldn't be. Why would her memory fail her this bad? Fools! All of them, ungrateful fools!, she thought.
"Thank you!" Chrysalis and Tirek said in unified catharsis.
"It was anycreature's mission, because I chose you all - in addition to your power and leadership potential - for your intellects, including Sombra." Grogar elaborated. "Just a shame that his second chance negatively affected his mind. His third would have to be by zombification, for there are rules of nature even Malice must follow."
He and the other Horses kept talking, changing the subject, while Cozy just looked on, undergoing a silent realization, tuning the noise out. She was smacked with an epiphany, about her worth among these powerful people, of what she earned a place in Tartarus for, on how special she really is. As her heart sank, she put a hoof to her chest to feel it's beat. Suddenly, it didn't feel so hard there. Literally, it felt like her heart wasn't in it. From this weird, painful feeling she wouldn't dare describe, her eyes got wet and reddened.
Cozy's shadow wing released the CMC. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo could feel the insults of her "partners" like physical strikes.
"Could've fooled me." Scootaloo sardonically commented.
"FINE! BE JEALOUS!" Cozy lashed out, wearing a giant, plastic grin. "I'M TOO GOOD FOR YOU SIMPLISTIC BRUTES! WHAT A ROOKIE MISTAKE I MADE!" Her obviously feigned bluster couldn't hide that she was choking up. "FRIENDSHIP ISN'T FORGED IN FIRE! IT'S FORGED LIKE A BLADE!" On the last syllable, she furiously smacked the picture frame into the nearby wall, ending the call and smashing the communication item to pieces. Cozy, sobbing and sniffing, hopped from her desk to the office floor as she ran out the door.
The CMC looked at her in pity.
Back with Trixie, she walked into the survival classroom Sandbar taught lessons in.
"Counselor Trixie!" Sandbar cried out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Trixie gave him a "Ssh!", but then, something answered to the noise in the door. It was three of Cozy's Umbrums.
"Hall monitors, look out!" Sandbar alerted. Trixie turned around, and yelped as the three shadow-y foals flew at them like cloudy fireballs. Sandbar grabbed the magician and tried to jump out of the way, but they were both caught in their highly prehensile bodies.
They squeezed and bared their fangs close to the faces of the mare and the colt, but they didn't expect Trixie's next move. She took her hat and put her hoof in it, as if to pull out a rabbit. The "rabbit" she pulled out was Princess Luna, who blew the three monsters away with an energy tornado. Nobody else in the classroom was touched.
"That was a claustrophobic experience." Luna remarked about Trixie's hat trick.
"We're saved! Thank goodness, we're saved!" Sandbar hollered in celebration. "Luna, I've been meaning to find you!"
"Likewise, Sandbar." Luna affirmed. "I know what the Tree has been dictating. Count me in." She and the young earth pony joined hooves. A yellow shade of the Tree of Harmony's glow surrounded them both, as it did with the other leader-student pairs.
"It seems there's a little bit of Element of Harmony in you, fledgling one." Luna guessed.
"What in tarnation's making the noise?" came the voice of Apple Bloom, entering the room. There she was with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They gasped in delight at the sight of the night princess.
Luna, Trixie and Sandbar looked at them in surprise. Something else came, too. The letter for Trixie from Starlight. When they opened it and observed the writing, Luna felt apprehensive.
Trixie sighed and collapsed in relief. Her dearest friend's well-being was all she needed.
Twilight's friends sat in a circle and decided they needed to have a talk after the heat of the previous moment had subsided.
"I never thought Twilight would say such a thing." Rarity commented, feeling a slight pain in her heart.
"We're only doing all we can." Fluttershy said. "We never wronged her, did we?"
"Not outside some honest mistakes that made us better ponies in the long run." Applejack added. There was a beat of silence before another spoke.
"I... guess if we had to name something: there was all the frivolity we got up to when the Storm King invaded." Rainbow mentioned. "She kept her head in the game the whole trip to Mount Aris."
"That doesn't justify her tricking us." Pinkie reminded.
"No, but we didn't exactly look trustworthy ourselves, did we?" Rainbow rebutted.
"There was also when the School was unaccredited, and she felt so terrible." Fluttershy mentioned.
"Yet, we tried the most insultingly generic ways of cheering her up we could think of." Rarity added. "Looking back, that dress was too clownish. Not my proudest project."
"Or how about that camping trip, when "Twilight" asked me Tree of Harmony-related questions she already knew the answer to?" Pinkie brought up. "I've thought about what Discord said about that Eclipse pony, and where she came from, and I think I just realized: that wasn't the real Twilight!"
"Are you suggesting there were evil clones of each of us walking around the Everfree Forest?" Applejack asked.
"Doesn't it make sense?" Pinkie said, raising her shoulders. "How often do we make a whole personality 180? It'd have to be like... magic." Everyone stared her vacantly for a moment.
"Wow. I guess we got into a fight over major assumptions, then." Rainbow concluded.
"I never meant to make our friendship seem so weak. I just never thought of things that way before." said Fluttershy.
"I suppose recently, we haven't been the friends the poor darling has come to know the last many, many moons." Rarity conceded. "We've fallen more in love with the concept she holds authority over."
"All because of what has worked." Applejack stated. "Here we've been, giving the old "we'll always win no matter what", having wild expectations of each other, relying on old tricks like old doggies, and treating anxiety like a gag, on the basis of what has been, and what could be in our perfect vision, rather than..." then, she found herself repeating those words spoken earlier, which they all previously dismissed. "Thinking in the moment."
Each of the five ponies fell under a spell of unexpected comprehension.
"Are ya'll understanding what I'm understanding?" Applejack inquired as they stood up.
Over on Twilight's side, she stared at the pond with Spike. For a moment she saw Applejack and the others around her. Slowly, they faded like vapor. As they did, their eyes turned into white voids, and their muzzles became demonic, as she had seen in her nightmare. The memory of that subconscious horror made her fully aware of her own truth.
She'd been warned. This was it: the mistake. Deep down, she perceived where this was going to lead. Her hoof poked the water, sensing how far everyone drifted. It felt like seizing them, and Twilight dared not retract.
I don't hate you.
Just then, her friends appeared in the water again. It was the reflections of the real deals, smiling upon her.
"We get it now." Applejack softly told the young alicorn.
"Girls." Twilight replied at their presence. She turned, teary-eyed and ashamed. "Oh, girls. I'm so, so sorry." So much sorrow to let out, and the one eye was all she needed to let it rain. "I don't know what I'm doing! I've been a horrible friend! You shouldn't have been pushed away like that!"
"We ain't going away." Applejack assured. "We're nothing if there's any less than 6."
"We're sorry too, darling." Rarity admitted. "You were right. We've been going off of faith, and trusting experience, because it's really all we have."
"We're beaten and downhearted, but... we've been just as scared to admit it as we are for our loved ones." Applejack confirmed.
"Here you are." said Fluttershy, offering a shoulder for Twilight to cry on.
"Don't apologize." Twilight whimpered, wiping her tear-covered face against Fluttershy's mane. "I made you feel like you weren't my friends. I almost badly hurt one of you. You deserve way better than me."
"Yeah, that definitely wasn't cool." Rainbow noted. "But, we've been too hard on you since you woke up. We should feel like we're part of the same team."
"Along the way, we forgot what united us and kept us tightly knit in the first place." Applejack assessed. "Love, decency, trust and reason."
"But you never forgot your love for Equestria." Twilight pointed out. "I turned my back on it, and that wasn't fair. I was giving up for reasons beyond my control. How could I take Celestia and Luna's place if I can be so selfish?"
"Think of that as the fun part of growing up, Twi. Unlike plants, we always have room." Rainbow mused.
"You can say that again." Pinkie attested.
At long last, for the first time in what felt like months, let alone a mere week, Twilight gave a genuine, warm smile to her friends. No sarcasm or contempt in her expression whatsoever. She was beaming, and her tears were drying up from the joy.
"I lied. I love you, girls." Twilight affirmed from the heart. "And I don't want you ever doubting your compassion."
"Group hug?" Pinkie happily requested.
"Uh, maybe later, Pinkie." Applejack recommended, thinking of Twilight's infection.
"If it's not too late to say it..." Twilight began. "Thank you so much for taking care of me all this way, these past days." the five pony friends simply nodded as their "you're welcome" gesture.
"That's the spirit." said Spike. "Now, we've got a long way to go, and somecreature's gonna take us there."
"And you're not gonna give us any trouble about it. Right?" Fluttershy finished to the face of the manticore. It briefly gazed at Havoc, who had dozed off from weakness. Having a heart, it shook it's head at the pegasus.
As if he heard the little dragon's plan, Scorpan woke up, yawning and stretching.
"Hello there, everypony." he greeted. "What did I miss?"
"Let's just say these 6 had a big breakthrough." Spike answered.
"Shall I continue escorting you home?" Scorpan asked. Spike gave an instant thumbs up.
"Okay, team. Patience is key." Twilight ordered. "How we'll get the edge is still in doubt. I don't know if the Elements will make things simple, or if we can win alone at all, but as Spike said, we'll never find out if we stop."
As her sentence ended, the letter from Starlight manifested before them. Rarity, true to her generous character, levitated it for everyone to read. So, naturally, they did.
"Golly gee, it's Starlight!" Applejack whooped.
"Tambelon?! He replaced that beautiful city with his own dreary sounding burg?" Rarity hissed. "Unacceptable!"
"Check this out. Spells for Grogar's Bell." Twilight mentioned. "It's ancient linguistics, but they look usable."
"Not without a horn." said Rainbow.
"We've got a horn." Twilight corrected, pointing to Rarity. This made the fashionista nervous. "But, we'll see what happens." Upon the red sky, she looked.
"So, Twilight, what are we gonna do this time?" Pinkie queried, hoping for a boost.
Twilight gave the confident, uplifting answer of "The same thing we do every time, Pinkie. Try to save the world!"
Scorpan carried them all over the skies, except for Fluttershy, who took refuge in the manticore's mane and rode it into the horizon. To provide cover, Spike blew intense flames from the back of the gargoyle to make a big, long smoke cloud. The magic ball that Scorpan had been carrying, even in his sleep, had now slowly, but surely, returned to Havoc. When he got it all back and recovered, he effortlessly destroyed his restraints, but wherever he looked, he couldn't spot the six ponies he counted. He lost his prey. In frustrated fury, he let out a roar like that of a large dinosaur and made the area on which he stood explode.
Gallus, Grampa Gruff and the other leader-student pairs had made their way out of Griffonstone, and reached the border of Equestria.
"So, what now?" Grampa Gruff asked.
The barrier opened up for them, and then it formed a hallway out of it's magical wall. A pathway, no doubt leading the pairs safely in the right direction, straight through the contained wasteland blanketed in snow and overwhelmed by a blizzard.
"Onward!" Gallus instructed.
The ride took some time, but at long last, Twilight and her friends had reached the outskirts of Equestria. Their home. The place where they were needed. Or rather, it's remains.
Everyone looked on in horror, including Scorpan.
"By Celestia." the old gargoyle gasped. "More has changed than I imagined."
The ponies and dragon up in the air got a better view of this image. Not only did the Windigos cover it all in their snowstorm, with lightning to boot, but faint silhouettes of ponies could be seen, returning to their makeshift sanctuaries, as well as the very capital of this ruined kingdom: Tambelon itself. Something else was starting to happen as they gazed at this very picture of despair. The Tree of Harmony's barrier surrounding Equestria, keeping the storm inside, was dying - indicated by it flickering like a burnt out light bulb.
The heroes of Equestria were back, and with renewed resolve to save everything they love. However, none of them were ready for the reality of how long they had been gone.
To be continued...
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I just hope that Twilight will be able to hang on to her regained sense of friendship even after seeing how bad Equestria’s state has gotten.
Aside from that, quite a lot of twists in this chapter. Some I didn’t even see coming: Scorpan having the same magic-draining ability like his brother, Stygian ending his chapter in the story of Equestria, the seeds of possible reformation being planted in Cozy Glow (along with her slight similarity to one certain Big Jack Horner), the Mane Six realizing what caused their pre-character development relapses, and Havoc realizing he got played at the end.
I love it! I am so looking forward to what Part 4 brings, particularly how it’s going to use the Avengers: Endgame reference to its finest and a six-on-one battle between the Mane Six and the Father of Monsters. Take as much time as you need to write the last four chapters this summer, since it’s probably going to be a long one for this year.