Part 4 - Chapter 2 (14): Voice of the Unheard
The paths of rainbow the Treehouse of Harmony laid out for the yaks, dragons, changelings, hippogriffs and griffons automatically carried them out, and across the sky of Equestria, like shooting stars.
"I guess this is good-bye then, Tree." said Sandbar. "Thank you for-"
His farewell of lamentation was cut off by the Treehouse's energy flickering rapidly, and this time, it looked like it wasn't going to stop.
"Make haste!" Luna cried as she telekinetically grabbed Sandbar and the CMC, flying off the balcony.
The five ponies got away from the Treehouse to see it had officially reached it's limit. The vains grew larger, bigger sparks of electricity were generated off it's crystalline form, and clouds of Malice were puffing out of every opening. They each shielded their eyes from the eyesore it turned into, and at last, the primordial magic it generated finally faded away, and the structure itself erupted like a geyser with that ghastly smoke.
"AH!" the CMC yelled in the moment they and the bigger ponies fell to the ground, thanks to the Windigos' wind.
"It's too strong!" Scootaloo groaned in frustration. "We're icicles for sure!"
Behind everyone, Flurry Heart sounded off from the Tree, even after succumbing to the Malice. She was wailing, putting some form of struggle in this losing battle down in the core.
"HEY!" hollered Discord from the top of the cliffside stairs. "Quickly!" The group barely managed to hear him past the loud, icy gales.
Luna desperately flicked her horn and cast a wind manipulation spell to reverse the winds from her, Sandbar and the girls. "I can't keep this up forever! Go!" They wasted no time making it for the stairs.
"You made the right call there, Shiny." Discord sincerely remarked, recalling the choice to hand over Princess Platinum's crown. Shining Armor was too shaken up to say anything. Nothing but a pained whimper emerged from his lungs.
"What has happened?" Luna asked through gritted teeth, owing to the effort of her spell.
"The Tree ate his beloved." Discord answered without pause. The ponies were startled by this answer, and turned their heads back to the dying Treehouse in response.
"I... I..." Luna tried to come up with something to say. Something to comfort the grieving stallion. She couldn't. Shining Armor looked inconsolable, and she worried anything would only upset him more.
"Maybe the Tree will explain later?" Sandbar mused optimistically.
"Let's figure out what to do now, though." Discord added. It was here he noticed the new item added alongside the hat and crown. "Hey, where'd you get the helmet?"
"Super important Equestrian artifact, like these other two." Sweetie Belle spoke fast in her answer.
"We know where the earth pony shelter is." said Apple Bloom. "Sandbar's coming back with me. Discord, you're an earth pony, so you come too."
"What?" Discord gasped. "Where? In that blizzard?"
"Oh, yeah, that's a fair point." Scootaloo conceded. "We don't know where the pegasi or the unicorns are, and we can't waste time in the cold."
"And what about magic?" Discord pointed out.
"Well, I've been praticing quite a lot." Sweetie Belle mentioned. "I'll keep us warm, Shining Armor, sir." She climbed on his back, deciding to travel with him.
"You Cutie Mark Crusaders are kind of crazy." Discord commented.
"If only you saw our old to-do lists." Scootaloo quipped.
"Can we focus?" Apple Bloom urged the group, drawing the plan of action on the snow. "Team A: Sandbar, Discord and I will take the earth ponies over yonder. Team B: Shining Armor and Sweetie Belle, shields on, will seek the unicorns. That leaves Team C: Luna and Scootaloo to fly to the pegasi. Repel the winds as long as your horn holds out."
Luna hesitated to reply for a few seconds. Uncertain, though looking forward resolutely, she said "I'll try. Safe travels, all of you."
The teams split up with the headpieces: one group to a destination that was already found, and one they knew how to return to, and the others on paths yet to be figured out.
Some guests were passing through the cold Equestrian wastes in flight. The rogue changelings were making their way in the direction of Tambelon, carrying a pair of feminine Ophiotauri, the former looking forward devilishly, and the latter looking like it had taken too much of the cold air and become nearly frigid. It didn't move.
"We're almost there. Not only at Tambelon Castle, but at my finest moment." the left, actually Queen Chrysalis, delightedly said. "When he sees one of his prized monsters in this condition, he won't guess it's me under my Malice signal, and he'll be forced to put his own magic in his precious Bell, by his own command, to save them. It'll be too late when he learns that neither of these forms are real, and the Bell is in my hooves!" She couldn't contain her laughter of malicious excitement.
"Forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, my queen, but what if he isn't home?" asked one of the rogues.
"Don't tempt fate!" another rogue chastised the questioner.
"Then he can't be out for long." Chrysalis confidently assured.
"We'll have time to get into position either way." a gruff-voiced rogue noted.
Down below, a fair distance opposite to where Chrysalis was heading, Grogar was on his search for Twilight Sparkle and her friends, as he said he would be. He looked to the skies and noticed the nonstop flickering that was occuring all over the borders of Equestria from a distance. It became clear to him what this meant.
"Finally, the Tree's magic is gone!" Grogar cheered. "And that means..."
"Emperor Grogar!" called the voice of Aurora Eclipse telepathically. "Starlight Glimmer and the Pillars got away from me! Now they're trying to get to the pony clans!"
"So, you couldn't stop them?" Grogar inquired.
"I will next time! Don't take me out yet!" Eclipse insisted.
"Worry not. I've sent some squad members to the shelters, just to be safe." Grogar reported. "I look forward to the fruit you've borne, but right now, I'm on the cusp of claiming the final cores!"
"Affirmative!" Eclipse declared.
Grogar summoned Arimaspi's Eye again, but this time, the summoning came with a surprise. As soon as it appeared from the Malice Magic cloud, Havoc appeared in his flash of light, his eagle claw clenched into a fist and poised to strike.
"Havoc?!" Grogar yelped in confusion at the Spirit of Destruction's appearance and unexpected posture.
In a turn of events to fast and too out of the blue to process or predict, Havoc swung down his fist, throwing a punch packed with fury. True to his destiny as the Spirit of Destruction, he landed that blow on Arimaspi's Eye and shattered it into pieces so small and numerous, they were nearly comparable to specks of dust.
Grogar could not believe what he had witnessed.
"Arimaspi's Eye!" he exclaimed. "Havoc, I needed that! How could you break it?!"
Havoc turned to his father, and his expression of rage turned to something more meek. He once again used his sign language to justify himself.
"It's not me? It's your brothers and sisters? And the eye belonged to one of them?" Grogar translated. He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Oh well, I can rebuild it with time, and I'll sort them out later, as well as you. Just focus your devastation somewhere you can't hurt anything while I track these six villainous ponies down, please. I'm so close!"
Havoc, like a good boy, nodded his head and disappeared with an apologetic gesture.
Grogar's voice could be heard across the plains from the point Twilight's bunch reached. They found some woods, which was only felt like the slightest refuge to take.
"Whatever was that voice?" Scorpan asked as he moved along the rest, stepping sideways through the trees cautiously.
"Do not follow it!" Spike stressed. "It's Grogar!"
"He's after our core essences, and has the tool to take them!" Rainbow explained emphatically.
"If he catches us? Game! Over!" Pinkie added, holding up a wooden sign depicting scribbles of Grogar capturing the six pony friends on the left, an equals sign in the middle, and the phrase "WE LOSE!" on the right.
"Who goes there?!" hollered a different voice, coming from the trees. It made everyone except for the old gargoyle jump.
"Over here~!" Rarity called back in a singsong tone. She rushed to the direction of that friendlier sound. The others quickly collected themselves to follow.
Rarity wound up trotting into the clearing where the unicorn population had settled. All around the hollowed-out tree homes and mud huts were stockpiles of the food Grogar generously provided.
"Oh, a unicorn!" said a relieved stallion.
"Rarity, running off ahead is my thing, you know." Rainbow groused, catching up, her friends not far behind. Their appearance brought out a collective gasp from the unicorn clan.
"She brought in the rebels!" a unicorn mare screeched.
"Who's that guy?!" Lyra Heartstrings questioned loudly about Scorpan.
"The unicorns of Equestria." Scorpan breathed out in wonder. "It seems to be all of them in this confined space."
"Lousy infiltration, earth ponies and pegasi!" the posh Cayenne commented.
"Ugh... are ya'll still on about some "rebellion" scare?!" Applejack incredulously queried.
"You think we've had enough time to feel more secure?!" argued the Flaming Sky Firework Troupe leader, Fire Flare.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, please." Rarity pleaded. "We traveled miles, all the while finding no shelter. I don't suppose you have room in this modest hideout?"
"Your charms won't lower our guards, traitor!" Prince Blueblood snarled, pointing at the exit. The sight of him, and the sound of his voice made the fashionista's blood boil. Not helping was the masses grunting in agreement with him.
"If any of you ponies have some healing magic, lend it to this one." said Scorpan, showing the weakened and sick Twilight in his arms. She took a look at the crowd.
"Everypony, you can't just sit around here!" Twilight reprimanded. "I know the Windigos are scary, but you can fight them if-"
"Like how you fought them?" Cayenne interrupted. "We don't need a "lesson" from the Princess of Letdowns!"
"You and your royal buddies are the biggest disappointments in Equestria!" that one unicorn mare growled.
"Now look at you, broken, powerless and stiff, unlike me." Blueblood criticized and boasted. In response, the unicorns booed the Friendship Princess.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Spike screeched in fury, putting his foot down and pointing at his sister. "Grogar is the reason she's in this condition! Any minute now, the Malice Magic running in her veins will finish the job! My sister, our best friend, gone! You're really going to gang up and kick her while she's down?!"
"Well, we don't need her bringing in some insurgents!" Moon Dancer opined.
"Ugh! Really, Moon Dancer?!" Spike snapped, veins bulging. "You're gonna shatter all goodwill!?"
"And after I threw you a party!" Pinkie scolded, very hurt.
"Believe it or not..." Fluttershy spoke up. Her eyes opened wide and sharply pointed at the entire unicorn colony, as did a feather on one of her wings. "The only creature I want to rebel against is that despicable ram!" Her words set off some non-pony creatures that were hiding amongst the unicorns. A cragadile and a zombie unicorn were there, not acting with hostility until this moment.
"Aw, shucks!" Applejack exclaimed. "We can't fend them off in here!" She and the others, for the well-being of these irratingly stubborn unicorns, made a run for it the way they came. Except Rarity, for a moment.
"I'll take these, thank you for very much!" Rarity scathingly announced, telekinetically snatching some of the fruit and bread from a food pile before making her escape from the charging beasts, which the unicorns made a path for.
The 6 ponies, dragon and gargoyle returned to the snowy wastes from the thick woods. It was certainly a bitter and wasteful reunion with their fellow ponies, especially after how far away they had been for so long. Luckily, they at least had a new bite to eat.
"Waste of our precious time!" Rainbow grumbled.
"Those are certainly not the ponies I advocated for." Scorpan lamented.
"We'll make you feel more at home when this is over..." Pinkie nervously assured him, clinging to his shoulder and letting go.
"Girls!" called out the voice of Starlight. She appeared before in a blur from her Accelero spell, Sunburst, Star Swirl, Rockhoof, Mistmane and Mage Meadowbrook in tow. "You're back! W-where you'd come from?"
"Long story, but we just paid a visit to the unicorn forest over there." Spike briefly explained, pointing his thumb claw back to the trees.
"OOH! I can't believe they're humouring that blowhard!" Rarity snarled under her breath. She took a second of grinding her teeth to swallow and calm herself, before her eyes contently aimed at Starlight. She asked "How do you like my dragon scale coats?"
"Better question: who's that?" Starlight queried, pointing at the larger creature in their company.
"Scorpan? Is that you?" Star Swirl gasped, approaching the gargoyle in nostagic recognition.
"Star Swirl, I've heard of your reappearance." Scorpan said warmly, feeling internal excitement at the sight of this old face. "You're just as I remember you."
"And time outside limbo has certainly changed you." Star Swirl replied.
"You never told us about this Scorpan." Rockhoof noted, feeling left out. "A friend, I presume?"
"Speaking of friends, we have one here in more need than ever." Scorpan stated, putting Twilight Sparkle into full view. She was coughing, feeling feverish, even with the warm Stratodon coat over her body.
"Twilight!" Starlight gasped in distress. "Did she..?"
"Yep. It's exactly what you're thinking." Applejack confirmed.
"And now that goat's coming for us!" Spike added fast. "Starlight, work your magic and get us out of here!" he continued at that same quick pace.
"Can do!" said Starlight, igniting her horn. It stopped glowing when she realized her lack of direction. "Where, though?"
"Tambelon!" Spike suggested resolutely.
"What? But that's where Grogar is!" Starlight argued.
"We were just there and barely got out!" Sunburst added.
"He isn't home right now, actually." Pinkie mentioned. "We heard them over there, and please teleport us far away!" her gaze oozed with fear and impatience into the unicorn's view.
"But it's crawling with monsters." Starlight pointed out, but then let up on stressing the recklessness of their decision, seeing their clear desperation. "Okay." Her horn lit back up, and POOF! Twilight's group had disappeared. All of them, except for Scorpan. He had released Twilight and turned his attention to something else.
"Starlight, what have you done?!" Sunburst exclaimed in alarm. "There's nothing for them there!"
"It'll get them out of the cold, if nothing else." Starlight reminded him of the anti-Windigo barrier.
The sound of tremors, made from something huge landing, getting louder.
"You better go." Scorpan urged Starlight's group, tilting his head to his right.
Star Swirl instantly recognized the warning for what it was, and nodded. "Quickly!" he commanded. Starlight's Accelero spell carried them all off, most appropriately.
As soon as Scorpan was left all alone, Tirek landed in front of him from one of his kangaroo jumps, and turned to his direction, his physically youthful, muscular form towering over his aged, comparatively fragile gargoyle sibling.
Grogar had his hoof to his forehead once more, and for a moment, he had a lock on a Malice signature and focused hard on it as his horn and collar glowed. He reacted with surprise when that signature completely vanished from his senses the next second.
"Darn it, she got away." Grogar muttered. "This cat & mouse game is no longer fun. Without Arimaspi's Eye, I'll have to make a guess or two." he opened a Malice portal and walked through it, having mixed feelings of hope and doubt.
"I never thought I'd see you again, little brother." Tirek greeted the gargoyle darkly.
"Lord Tirek, you too are exactly as I..." Scorpan noted, but then stopped himself. "No, it's because of stolen magic that you appear this way!"
"That's King Tirek, old boy!" the centaur corrected with a proud pound of his chest. "And the magic you speak of wasn't stolen, but used with Emperor Grogar's blessing!"
"I would've thought centuries in Tartarus might teach you well the folly of taking other creatures' power by force, and claiming lands outside of Midnight Kingdom jurisdiction." Scorpan bemoaned.
"So, how's the gatekeeping business?" Tirek asked mockingly.
"Midnight Kingdom has spent the last millennia in total ruins." Scorpan answered.
"Not surprised." Tirek dryly said with a cocky smile. "Wow, it's like I was needed there to succeed Father on the throne, or something." He chuckled at what he perceived as incompetence from Scorpan.
"And what exactly are you King of today?" Scorpan inquired, unflapped by the taunting.
"The New Midnight Kingdom, built atop the land of the dragons." Tirek answered in boastful earnest. "They make some fine warriors, and present delivery assistants."
"You? A giver?" Scorpan skeptically pondered.
"A giver of centaur healing magic, for the mighty takers who need moons of strength for a new year." Tirek explained. "Compliments of Grogar's Malice Evolution."
"You have the wrong hands for such a sacred technique that so few centaur have perfected." Scorpan grimly said. "You took a shortcut, and twisted it's purpose."
"Honestly, how can you complain?" Tirek rhetorically questioned. "Where I am, what I have, it's everything Father wanted for me."
"Did you not once think that there could be much more to life than the fate our Father wrote for you in stone?" Scorpan queried, masking his anger in as deadpan a tone as possible.
"Oh, don't worry, brother." said Tirek. "I'm not interested in world domination anymore. I've moved on to training knights, and Midnight Chariot Present Runs. It's been a healthy reign."
"Not my point!" Scorpan stressed. "You never lived by anything else but that silly old centaur warrior code, because Father encouraged it!"
"Well, you were encouraged to do gatekeeping, and you sure stayed in that lane, didn't you?" Tirek countered.
Scorpan paused for a moment, and sighed, conceding with a "Touché."
"But, I can write you a more interesting fate." Tirek promised, holding his hand out to his sibling expectantly. "We can start over, Scorpan. You, me, royal brothers of Midnight Kingdom, ruling with iron fists as King and Lord. It's the only place left for us to go."
"Share a makeshift throne over a pale imitation of what you were destined to rule?" Scorpan said without hesitation. "At least I did my job safeguarding our real home, big brother." he pushed the centaur's outstretched hand away with a glare.
"Such soft-hearted nonsense." Tirek growled, and then chuckled. "You know, it was always ironic that you can turn to stone, but aren't really made of it. Oh well, if you won't be my partner, you'll be my servant."
On that dark note, Tirek activated his wide draining spell on Scorpan. The gargoyle began to feel his vitality leave him, like a cloud of steam exiting his body with the force of a cannon shot. But, he recognized the sensation right away and made a move before all that magical life force left him. He used his own draining spell to counter the centaur's. The two identical spells collided and reversed each other. The air between the two siblings cracked and burst, sending them both flying backwards, knocked down, and neither of them successfully drained.
Tirek took a second to lift himself up with his long arms and give a hard glare at his brother. He snarled "You flipped my power! That's never happened!"
Scorpan lifted himself off the snow-covered ground, and smirked, remarking "To be fair, you shared it."
Tirek remembered, indeed, sharing the power to drain magic with Scorpan in their younger days, and so begrudgingly gave him a "Touché."
"Tell me... why would you need me now, as a partner or servant?" Scorpan queried.
"Well, the last centaur and the last gargoyle have to stick together." Tirek answered. "Unless you're thinking I'm "nothing" by myself. Yeah, heard that one already!"
"The thing is, last I checked, the warrior code to which you are sworn, didn't say anything about cowering behind others, whether of greater power or sentimental value, and giving them room to offer you their protection half the time." Scorpan described.
"What are you going on about, you elderly fool?" Tirek muttered, massaging his temple.
"To summarize: it sounds, as you'd put it, soft-hearted." Scorpan specified.
Tirek, on a gut reaction, threw up his arms, made fists, and slammed them down at Scorpan, kicking up a cloud of snowflakes. It quickly cleared, thanks to the wind, to reveal that he didn't actually hit the gargoyle, only the ground around him. He took a look at how his brother barely reacted to his attack, and gritted his teeth in frustration, with himself.
"Strange. Father wouldn't have missed." said Scorpan. In the next moment, he felt himself grabbed and lifted up high by Tirek's jumbo-sized hand.
"Well, I'm not Father." the centaur snapped through gritted teeth. "Let me give you an example." he leapt away, the old gargoyle remaining undaunted in his grasp.
"I never did any of that!" Starlight incredulously barked.
"Well, you can't prove it wasn't you who spread the word of the other clans' campaign!" Blueblood scoffed.
"I just met the proof; that evil clone of me that's terrorizing Equestria!" Starlight explained emotionally.
"There are very real enemies out there, all of which you're turning a blind eye to." Star Swirl grimly reminded.
"Speaking of which, get those earth ponies out of here!" Cayenne demanded in disgust, pointing at Rockhoof and Mage Meadowbrook.
"Point proven!" Sunburst snapped at the posh unicorn.
"But you don't see Rockhoof and I fighting Star Swirl and Mistmane." the healer pointed out. "No sense in hurting one another over just a little bad feeling."
"Indeed." Mistmane agreed. "I am all too familiar with the ugliness a unicorn creates if fueled only by pride, hunger and anger. It's healthy for nopony."
"Even before Star Swirl actively studied friendship, we'd always been a great team." said Rockhoof. "Do you not miss what you had with earth ponies and pegasi when you happily shared the same space?"
"You never had them disappear on you." said Lyra, grasping the disguised Bon Bon as tightly as possible. "How do you expect us to be less careful?"
"None of you have any idea how much more you're going to lose if you insist on fighting everypony?!" Starlight rebuked.
"Don't misunderstand us, Starlight!" Blueblood responsed. "We don't plan to fight the earth ponies and pegasi! We want to destroy them!"
"What?!" Starlight gasped in revulsion. Sunburst, Star Swirl, Rockhoof, Mistmane, Mage Meadowbrook shared her utter shock.
"I came up with the master plan myself." Blueblood mentioned.
"And we already have the best new title for Equestria when we're finished: Unicornia!" the one named Sassy Saddles announced. The other unicorns cheered very loudly at that name.
Starlight stared in disbelief for a second before coming to a decision, her head facing down and her irises staring up. "If you're going to ignore legends, and listen to a royal... I'll give you a real one to heed!" Her Accelero spell activated yet again, allowing her to run out in a blink of an eye.
Sunburst stood for a moment, turning the gears in his head. The four Pillars present stared at him with expectation. He turned his head to them and gave a wink, and then shifted it to the unicorns, requesting "May we go over your plan, step-by-step, Blueblood?"
Pharynx and Ocellus had just arrived back at the changeling hive. While Chrysalis and her loyalist minions were out, many monsters and zombies kept their headquarters occupied. As the two entered this familiar territory, they noticed the sound of Windigo wind behind them.
But strangely, an invisible barrier had kept the blizzard from reaching the hive. Pharynx and Ocellus did not know what the reason for this was, for they were not aware, as Grogar said not too long ago, that protection was set up for the kingdoms of the Horses of the Apocalypse. It did not matter to them, either, besides the relief of the cold not getting through. They needed to get into their home and save their people, the ones who truly turned on Chrysalis. They charged into battle in their giant insect forms, naturally.
Predictably, the Maulwurf and Ophiotaurus became keenly aware of their presence and rallied their fellow beasts into a fight. A claw swipe from the left, Ocellus dodged. A bite from the right, Pharynx blocked. Needles raining from the pegasus zombies, only a brief distraction. Pharynx and Ocellus moved up, the Maulwurf and Ophiotaurus collided, discombobulating each other. Unicorn zombies fired energy beams, Pharnyx fired back from his mouth. To surprise them, the changelings transformed into boulders, crashing into the armies with the force of granite.
The fighting raged on for a little while. Two targets proved to be surprisingly tricky for an entire large group of enemies, especially with the many possible forms they could change into. But, that was only the beginning. The noise of the monsters and the zombies facing troublesome adversity caught the attention of another great fiend. Transformer, Chrysalis' unnatural creation, flew out from the hive, viciously revealing himself, all burly and mishapened, to Pharynx and Ocellus. His demonic roar reverberated like they were in a glass building.
"What the heck is that?!" Ocellus shrieked in a full panic.
"I've never seen a changeling like this!" Pharynx yelled in astonishment.
Transformer changed his head into that of a giant bat. It screamed a most terrible, piercing scream that, if these creatures were in a glass building, would cause a shower of shards. Pharynx and Ocellus couldn't stand this sound, the two of them desperately trying to protect their ears from it, but this meant they were wide open.
Transformer changed his fore legs into octopus tentacles and wrapped them in their suction cup-covered embrace. They wiggled and squirmed before turning into pebbles to slip out, but then Transformer turned his tail into a vinegaroon's and sprayed the area they fell to, and his hind legs into monkey legs and feet to squeeze them in his toes. They returned to their giant insect forms to escape and tried to circle around the artificial beast.
"This thing isn't natural! No changeling can do what it's doing!" Pharynx yelled in bewilderment.
"Pharynx, what do we do?!" Ocellus pleadingly inquired, the heat of the moment getting to her too much to form a coherent thought.
The vinegaroon tail sprayed again, stopping them with a misty distraction, and the octopus tentacles took back their hold on them. They swung down and stopped against the monkey feet. The two's capture was sealed. With a malevolent chuckle of enjoyment, he turned his head into a snake's attached to the neck of a giraffe, which reached for them, planning to take a bite. He licked those reptilian lips with his forklike tongue and bared his long fangs.
That was when something came along and interfered with his imminent meal. It came in the form of the yaks. Rutherford and his army, joined by Yona and having many fillies and colts riding atop them, attacked the horde of monsters and zombies, and caught Transformer off his guard. They charged, stomp, kicked rocks with force, they put up a great fight with the element of surprise. However, they weren't in this attack alone.
Pony-shaped creatures, covered in flames, aided the yaks in pushing back the hostile super-creatures. They were the Kirin, fighting in their Nirik forms, which burned many that got in their path. Thanks to their magical attacks and the yaks' strength, Pharynx and Ocellus were released and Transformer met some true opposition.
"Changeling and yak meet again already!" Rutherford hollered to Pharynx.
"How did you get here so fast?!" Pharynx questioned, surprised. "And who are they?!"
"Yak get flown home, when yak find..." Rutherford began to explain.
Not too long ago, when Rutherford and Yona had gotten back to Yakyakistan, they saw the other yaks, as well as the students of Cozy Glow's School of Friendship, running rampant, tearing the mockery of a building to the ground and repelling the monstrous forces patrolling the place, with surprising help from the Chimera and Roc.
"For great and powerful glory!" Trixie cried out in exhilaration on the back of the Roc. She led a mighty attack force of both small and large creatures. They all seemed unstoppable. The two yaks at the town's front door were most impressed.
"Yaks, this way!" Rutherford bellowed from a rush of excitement.
Only moments later, Trixie's reinforcements joined the yak's tidal wave of a stampede to the nearby lands.
"Week of world-trotting like drawing map, so Yona know best route." the little yak explained, back in the present.
"No need to thank me." Trixie said, still riding the giant bird. "Aw, what the heck, you probably already have, so you're welcome."
"Kirin been wandering since ground explosions ravage Peaks of Peril, they say." Rutherford carried the explanation. "Powerful balls of fire, they make, lucky for us."
"Keep things busy out here, we'll be right back." Pharynx requested, flying into the hive with Ocellus.
Deep in the bowels of the ruined, overrun hive, all of the good changelings imprisoned there, including Thorax, had little more sound to make at their predicament besides whimpers of sorrowful defeat and longing, or, in their benevolent, true leader's case, absolutely nothing. It was like he had fallen asleep, but his ears were still listening to the ambience of his dreary surroundings.
His ears twitched at a new sound, which was of two pairs of wings flapping down to his location, both clearly changeling from the sound of it. Pharynx flew over to the cocoon keeping his brother a dangling captive and sliced it wide open with his horn. Thorax gasped with pleasant surprise and started flapping his own pair of wings, for the first time in a long time.
"Pharynx!" Thorax delightedly squealed.
"Here I am again, saving you from bullies." Pharynx lightheartedly ribbed. "The more thing's change, the more they stay the same."
"Very funny." Thorax ironically fired back. His eyes widened with realization, leading him to ask "Was that a pun?"
Ocellus flew over to the cage with the rest of Chrysalis' prisoners, but was having some trouble. She couldn't use her shape-shifting powers next to it, and it was locked tight, too.
"Hey kid, what's the problem?" Pharynx called over impatiently.
"I don't know how to open this thing!" Ocellus confirmed. "Thorax, do you know where the key is?"
"I do, actually. Chrysalis didn't need it anymore once she rounded up all of our broodmates..." Thorax clarified.
"She threw it away, didn't she?" Pharynx grumbled, rubbing his forehead with a groan. Ocellus made a gasping expression, but took no breath.
"Actually, in one of her games, she stored it with me, right in this..." Thorax made sure to check the cocoon, and plucked an item of black stone out of it with his hooves. "Aha!" He revealed the very key they needed.
"Ohoho! Old Chryssie was too confident in her security." Pharynx laughed.
The key was put into the lock, and turned to open the door to the changeling hive's freedom.
Silverstream and Seaspray snuck around the pathway home after their rainbow ride, and soon, the two hippogriffs noticed something they found especially odd when they got back to Mount Aris. The monsters, zombies and brainwashed pony guards under Eclipse's command had been marching out of the area in an orderly fashion.
"It appears they're going to battle somewhere else." Seaspray commented.
"Well, that's relieving. I mean, that they're out of the way." Silverstream opined. Her face filled up with worry, stuck on the thought spoken aloud. "Terramar... mom and dad..."
"But I doubt they'd be so non-strategic to leave it completely unguarded." Seaspray mused, scratching his lower beak.
They flew over the ocean around Mount Aris, it still covered in storm clouds, blocking the way to the seapony-inhabited city beneath the surface.
"Hello! Any hippogriffs anywhere?!" Silverstream hollered hopefully. The general reflexively put a claw to her beak with a "Ssh!", to which she responded "What?"
A moment of quiet passed. The silence would only barely be broken by a distant noise. The sound was of something hard, like steel, being hit. It was like creatures clamboring against a wall from the other side. They listened, they followed, they pointed in it's direction.
"Follow that road." Seaspray quietly instructed, his claw aimed at a pathway going through the ruined hippogriff town.
Their continued flight forward was interrupted when the ocean seemed to strongly burst up behind them. Unexpectedly, coming out of it, through the storm clouds, covered in electricity, diving at the hippogriff duo and snarling with malice, was the gargantuan Berserker. They both yelped, and narrowly reacted in time to avoid getting pounced on by this king-sized, bearlike demon. His impact with the grounds of Mount Aris caused the heavy objects in the vicinity to bounce up.
"Take evasive action!" Seaspray hastily ordered, grabbing hold of the younger one. With the boost in adrenaline, he could still keep track of what road he chose to follow.
Both hippogriffs would find out the hard way how difficult Berserker was. He snatched them with telekinesis, followed by altering the aura in which they were carried, making it seem like they were absorbing it like sponges. Their every limb, even their wings, straightened out and crackled, their muzzles shut tight, before long they had become practically statues. Following this, the demon set them down, showing how immobilized they really were now.
Berserker walked up to their still bodies and placed his claw up close. With a wave he magically plucked the Pearl of Transformation shards from the necklaces the two wore. With another wave he threw them into his grotesque mouth and stored them under his tongue. The paralyzed Silverstream and Seaspray couldn't react, except by shaking like worms.
Considering his job done, Berserker carried his hippogriff captives the rest of the way down the road they intended to go down in the first place. The prison of the other hippogriffs was found. Queen Novo and many other members of the clan had been restlessly clawing at the bars of their cage, all as a means to keep themselves from relinquishing all lingering hope. When they saw the forms of their saviors held by the demonic giant, overpowering despair was getting to them fast.
"Silverstream!" Sky Beak yelled, distraught.
"Sis!" Terramar howled at the same time.
The fiendish beast reached into his mouth and pulled something out of his tongue. It was a key to the cage. On twist in the keyhole, the door opened for the new pair of occupants.
All of a sudden, some green blurs zipped around Berserker, seized the immobile hippogriffs, he got pelted by barrels, turned around trying to swat at the interfering pests, and then ZAP! Lightning struck him. His fur was on fire, but he tried to fight the burning pain as he saw who or what was on the attack; none other than Tempest Shadow, along with Captain Calaeno and her cloud-sailing crew.
Angered, Berserker fired a powerful beam of lightning from his maw, which punched a trail of blackened dirt into the ground. Two of Calaeno's mates took care of getting Silverstream and Seaspray out of the crossfire. Tempest, Calaeno and the rest kicked up dust clouds and split up to try and spread the monster's assault thin, going on the defensive as equally as the offensive. They soon discovered the further depths of his power when his back burst with volcanic energy and shot sharp, fiery missiles at the group. The hippogriffs behind him took care not to get too close to this violent surge.
The claws of this massive demon, while he was still overflowing with power, pressed the ground and altered it's temperature. It made it even more difficult for the combatants to maintain balance on, as it was almost like... the ground was lava. In fact, it appeared lava would literally burst forth. The mouth once again opened wide, ready to spew another lightning beam.
Before that could happen, a fireball flew down from the sky, into Berserker's jaws. It caused an explosive reaction inside him that caused his mouth to spew smoke like a train's chimney, and his energy surge to cease. The hippogriff prisoners saw it was now safe to get going, so they exited the cage, proceeding to bowled over the big guy with their strength in numbers.
Unfortunately, Berserker wasn't done, and he was angrier, to the point of insanity. He returned to that crazy power state immediately after getting back on his feet and fired a hail of heat missiles at the new challengers: the dragons. In his blinding rage, he did not realize he was out of luck. Dragon Lord Ember and her army easily maneuvered past the missiles in the air, and surpassed his fiery defense with their impeccable heat resistance. After all, these flying reptiles could swim in lava.
With all their might, the dragons lifted and threw Berserker up, Tempest followed up with another electrical strike attack, and then, as he fell, caught him with her teeth and swung him into the open cage, jamming his head in the door. Victory was claimed.
Another dragon, the once beloathed bully Garble, tended to Silverstream and Seaspray, whom two of the pirates continued to watch over. The heat of his small flame unstiffened them both.
"No need to thank me." Garble casually said.
"Wow! The dragons! Tempest, too?!" Silverstream squealed in delight, with a hint of surprise at her second observation. The unicorn turned her way in acknowledgement, and gave a comforting smile, rather dissonant with her scarred look, but making her allegiance clear.
"Impeccable timing, Dragon Lord!" Seaspray complimented. "Not a moment too soon!"
"I don't do tardy, general." Ember boasted.
"Good thing we wrapped up business in the dragon lands really quick." said Smolder.
Not even a whole hour ago, Ember and Smolder were sneaking through their homeland, trying to figure out how to manage their most obvious obstacle.
"Wyverns and beasties everywhere." Ember stated. "We could be here all day getting past them to find the dragons."
"If I remember my lessons in school, we need to approach this on an emotional level." Smolder suggested. Her muzzle quivered over the sound of that.
"Not the time or place, kid." Ember groaned.
Out of nowhere, it started raining rocks on the wyverns and monsters in the area. The sound of loud footsteps approached the dragons' location. The enemy forces could also feel the imminent danger.
By air, the griffons attacked. By land, the buffalos charged. From high and low, Tirek's New Midnight Kingdom squadron met some incredible opposition. Swooping, tackling, clawing and smashing, the griffons and buffalos' combined ferocity was just enough to put the wyverns and monsters in corners, out of Ember and Smolder's path.
"How convenient." Ember commented. She and the younger dragon looked up to where the griffons were coming from, and saw one hovering, elderly figure holding his chest up high, laughing.
"Are you impressed?!" Grampa Gruff shouted proudly, laughing even more. It strained him enough to put him in another coughing fit. Gallus patted his back, chuckled and shook his own head back and forth.
Ember and Smolder had an idea just where to look for their imprisoned brethren: the very cave where the Gauntlet of Fire was held. Established in the former resting place of the Bloodstone Scepter was the colossal cell holding the dragons, big and small.
"Hey, guys! Why don't you burn this down?" Ember asked, claws on her hips.
"We can't breathe fire in here, don't you know!?" Garble answered. "And the bars are too strong!"
"Okay, so where's the key then?" Smolder inquired. "Tell me that centaur guy didn't eat it, or something."
"I heard Tirek hid it in one of the lava pools..." replied the rotund Clump. "Back the way you came." Ember and Smolder's were left with widened eyes and agape mouths.
They went back a few rooms to the chamber of ascending lava pools, and dug through each one for the key. It took a minute, but they found the key before the circumstances got even more worrisome.
The freed hippogriffs, partnered with the dragons, blew the storm cloud cover off the ocean by flapping their wings in unison, allowing the seaponies to come to the surface at last. Silverstream and Seaspray pulled Berserker out of the cage to retrieve their Pearl of Transformation shards. Afterwards, the former had a warm reunion with her brother and parents, wanting to treasure this precious moment of togetherness. The latter rejoined Queen Novo, bowing to her majesty.
"Now, your highness, it believe it's time to march intrepidly to the greater battle ahead as a singular unit." he respectfully proclaimed. Novo nodded in full agreement. They shook on it, and were joined by Tempest pressing her hoof against their claws. Neither of them minded the addition.
Shining Armor and Sweetie Belle endured the freezing Windigo wind with only the best of their ability. The little unicorn's magical shield was the only thing covering them, but it only did so much good, even if the older one was moving at a fair speed.
Something came at them at higher speed. Starlight Glimmer stopped her Accelero spell right in from them, kicking up a little cloud of snowflakes.
"Shining Armor, grab on!" Starlight told him in a commanding fashion, starting to feel somewhat exhausted. Her eye caught the sight of the little one on his back, making her nerves jump. "Sweetie Belle?"
"Gotta. Get to. Unicorns." the filly groaned, trying to maintain her shield.
Starlight's face lit up. "I found where they are!" In return, Sweetie Belle's face lit up as well. "Hang on, the Accelero spell will get us there in record time!"
"Accelero?!" Sweetie Belle gasped. "I know that one!"
"Then I hope you're prepared for the ride!" said Starlight emphatically. Both her horn and Sweetie Belle's ignited before they took off with Shining Armor in a blur coloured two shades of green.
Flash Magnus and Somnambula trotted forward, covered in the protective heat barrier Starlight left them. They knew only one lead to the pegasi, and that was looking for any place that was up high, touching the clouds.
Such a place was spotted through the blizzard by the two. Flash Magnus looked up and saw something noteworthy.
"Hey! You see that cloud cover?" he called to Somnambula.
"Which one?" she asked, having seen so many all day.
"Up in those peaks!" Flash Magnus responded, pointing to the top of the mountain. It seemed to be covered up in a thicker layer of storm clouds than the rest of the area in the sky. "It looks... intentional. Like a barrier. Somepony's at work up there, isolating their shelter."
"In this weather?" Somnambula said, perplexed. “That’s especially optimistic.” she laughed.
All the same, they had no way of quick transport up the mountain. But, before they could think for long, a blue tornado swept up next to them and reveale itself as Princess Luna, carrying Scootaloo, as the snowflakes flew up.
“Flash Magnus, Somnambula, I found you two from the air!” Luna said. “What is your destination?”
“Where the pegasI are.” Flash Magnus clarified, pointing to the mountain’s upper area again.
“O-oh, s-same here!” Scootaloo chimed here, shivering. “W-we could u-use the h-help, Mister F-Flash Magnus!”
“Already figured it out.” Flash Magnus affirmed. “They’re operating atop that mountain, under the thick wall of clouds.”
"A-alright. N-now, I h-hope they... listen t-to reason..." Scootaloo prayed.
"We need all the hope we can get, little one." Somnambula appreciatively remarked.
"Thank you." said Luna, reactivating her tornado spell to carry the pegaus Pillars with her and Scootaloo. Through the snowy wind, to where the lightning flashed, they traveled further and further away from the ground.
Things weren't looking so hot for Apple Bloom, Sandbar and Discord, in both senses.
"I get the feeling we didn't plan out this return trip so thoroughly." Discord sardonically opined.
"You're right." Sandbar admitted. "It was much easier when the Tree was protecting us along the way."
"Come on, guys!" Apple Bloom snapped. "We're ponies! This can't stop us!"
"Easy for you to say, when you came so far to find me and the others who were cocooned on the ceiling." said Discord.
"Maybe we should turn back and hide somewhere, Apple Bloom." Sandbar suggested, feeling his limbs getting harder to move.
"Hold up!" Apple Bloom yapped, squinting her eyes through the snowy fog. "I see something."
"Hello there!" a voice came from the figure emerging from the fog. A familiar voice, belong to a recognizable figure. It was Rusty Bucket, covered in many thick layers of winter clothing and pulling a little sled. He approached the three and wondered out loud "What are ya'll doing out here in nothing?"
"Oh, thank hoofness!" Apple Bloom breathed out in relief. "It's that nice pony Luna was talking to."
"You c-came after us, M-Mister... uh..." Sandbar commented, rubbing his fore leg with another in desperate hope of a little warmth.
"Rusty Bucket, at your service!" the bucket-headed stallion introduced. "I wanted to come after you, and I followed that scary looking beacon over yonder. Let me tell you, things have spiraled out of control since her majesty Luna dropped in. The earth ponies have gotten so terror-stricken, they're plotting something against the pegasi and unicorns." Apple Bloom and Sandbar were terror-stricken themselves over this news. Discord hid his face and shifted his eyes with guilt. "Here, let me get you covered." the outfitted stallion offered.
In a matter of seconds, Rusty got Apple Bloom, Sandbar and Discord in some of his thick winter threads. He didn't mind being less protected from the cold if it meant generously lending them to ponies who needed warmth even more.
"Much appreciated, Rusty, sir!" Apple Bloom thanked. "If you don't mind, can you take us back to the earth ponies' hideout?"
"What for?" Rusty queried, surprised.
"We need to talk to them and make them friends with the pegasi and unicorns again, before they do something terrible!" Sandbar explained.
"Maybe much more than that." Apple Bloom added.
"Alright then, kids. Wishing you the best." Rusty agreed, turning around and motioning the ponies to hop onto his sled.
"Finally, a new excuse not to walk." said Discord, eagerly jumping onto the sled and laying down, stretching his legs out.
Like he had years of athletic training, Rusty sprinted down the trail ahead at a considerable speed, pulling the sled passengers easily. It was like riding a toboggan downhill for the three.
Sunburst reviewed Blueblood's plan to defeat the pegasi and unicorns, pretending to approve of it.
"I'm glad we got this all settled." Sunburst said in mock support, which none of the unicorns picked up.
"Just what I thought you'd say." Blueblood haughtily replied.
"I know it's asking a lot, Sunburst, but we'll need all the studious spellcasters we can find if we're going to win this war." Moon Dancer stressed.
"As long as we're together, the Windigos won't scare us anymore!" Minuette sang.
Just then, Starlight swiftly returned, with Shining Armor and Sweetie Belle in tow. She also needed to catch her breath.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, the royal you've been promised." Star Swirl announced.
"Hey, it's Twilight's brother!" said Lemon Hearts in recognition. Most of the unicorns in the shelter cried "Aaw!" in exasperation.
"My family's in danger! My sister, my wife, my foal, all them are being taken away from me!" Shining Armor cried out pleadingly. "Help us! Don't just sit around, or you're going to lose one of yours!"
"This is a real royal? Look at him, he's delirious!" Sassy Saddles cackled.
"My wife, Cadance, and my baby Flurry Heart are trapped under the world and I don't know what to do!" Shining Armor snapped back, emotions flaring up.
"Cadance? You mean another one of the princesses, who betrayed and condescended us?!" Lyra touched on bitterly. Starlight felt indignance hearing this, but was too tired to act upon it.
"Unicorns of Equestria, I'm here representing the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Sweetie Belle spoke up.
"Sweetie Belle, you're here?" Sunburst said in jubilation.
"I have a few words to share." Sweetie Belle darkly promised. The unicorns all around her murmured in confusion.
Luna successfully blew through the cloud barrier at the top of the mountain, and lightly crashed with Scootaloo, Flash Magnus and Somnambula down where, as suspected, the pegasus colony was located.
"Intruder alert! Take battle positions!" Spitfire called in alarm. Her fellow Wonderbolts put on their goggles, preparing to take on the interlopers.
"Hope has shined on them. They are well." Somnambula commented.
"Why, it's Flash Magnus and Somnambula of the Pillars!" Soarin mentioned. "We could use your talents right now!"
"Oh no, it's Nightmare Moon!" bellowed Night Glider. The others jeered upon noticing the presence of the night princess.
"GET THAT VILLAIN OUT OF OUR VILLAGE!" Short Fuse of the Washouts screamed.
"Everypony, calm down! You can't cut yourselves off like this!" Flash Magnus ordered. "The only way you're going to get out of this winter nightmare is if you make peace with the ponies below again!"
"Ha! You're asking us to let them take away our reasons for living!" Zephyr Breeze scoffed. "Not happening, boyfriend!"
"That is why we hope, my friends." Somnambula stated. "You didn't lose Cloudsdale; by staying united, you brought it with you. If you welcome the other clans back, you can still have Equestria."
"It isn't going to be Equestria any longer!" Spitfire corrected.
"When we're through burying the surface and making this country sky-only, it'll be Pegasopolis from here on!" Lightning Dust finished the thought.
"As it should've been since it's founding." said a Canterlot pegasus guardsstallion.
Pegasus zombies and a cyclops closed in on Luna and the Pillars, poised to pounce them.
"Out of my way!" Scootaloo growled. She slipped past the giant and it's reanimated entourage, making a leap into the crowd. Being so little, she bounced on some heads to get across, looking for an opening to land.
Rusty Bucket successfully escorted Apple Bloom, Sandbar and Discord to the where the earth ponies rested, or rather, restlessly clamoured. They arrived to time to catch them in a meeting outside their underground bunker.
"They think they're the only ones with all the surprises? They don't know us at all!" Mayor Mare spoke. "But they'll know for sure after today!"
"We close in on their lairs, small divisions on the right sides, and big ones on the left, create a diversion, tackle them from behind, spring a trap that'll put their magic and flight to shame, and take all their food!" Mrs. Cake recounted in a long-winded speech. "We may have one shot each to make it count! One, important shot to show those egomaniacs what happens to those whom underestimate us, not the ponies of Equestria, but the ponies of Earth!"
"Didn't I tell you?" said Rusty to the group.
"Well, this is your moment, friendship experts." Discord remarked to the colt and filly. Before anyone to do anything else, he saw a yeti and some earth pony zombies in the corner of his eye. This gave him an idea. He pressed the kids to go forward and rolled up a snowball. He threw it at the yeti and yelled "Over here, big bro, or sis! Eh, I don't care!"
"What are you-?" the startled Rusty yelped. The yeti and zombies came after him and the incomplete being of chaos, prompting them to run away. "Back, get back! I can take ya'll on!" was his battle cry.
"Everypony, remember the story of Hearth's Warming! You know there's a better way, and that's what will defeat the Windigos, not dealing more damage!" Sandbar implored.
"What, you really think if we all sing a couple of songs, everything will be fine?" the mare named Berryshine questioned.
"It's not just singing that saved the founders of Equestria, or kept our unity alive for centuries!" Sandbar snapped, pushing Berryshine sharply. "It was all the hard work we put in to prosper and maintain the balance of peace together. It's easy to hate and fight, but in doing the best we can, wherever we were from, that's what made Equestria worth it."
"The evidence was all laid out for us! The signs were seen!" Cheerilee argued. "They don't respect us anymore! You pretend we're still in the Equestria we once knew, but if you were grown up, you'd recognize everything for what they really are!"
"Eeyup!" Big Mac uttered among the raucous group.
"Down with wings and horns!" Granny Smith howled.
"You mean what you think they are." Apple Bloom's voice retorted from behind everyone.
"Huh?" Sandbar uttered, noticing now that Apple Bloom walked away from him.
"Ya'll are making such a big fuss over some irrational assumptions." the filly continued. "How quickly you assumed the worst, and simplified friendship down to songs and dancing... I reckon that goes to show how little of friendship and faith ya'll ever knew!" Standing atop a wooden platform, in front of the entire colony, she held the hat of Chancellor Puddinghead up high. They looked on in bewilderment at the old garment.
"What's that?" Berryshine asked.
"See this? This belonged to one of our ancient leaders, whom was saved from an icy fate by their faithful companion, and the friends they earned." Apple Bloom described. "They understood the assignment: the fact it it would take their all to make Equestria a warm place to live, and doggonit, they made it! 7 to 8 days, the ponies I see have ignored what's at stake here! No homes, no homegrown food, no livelihoods, no escape from this blizzard, and no sun! Actually, that's what Celestia's symbol in the sky meant! At this rate, you're never going to see the sun again! But, I guess that's what ya'll want now, huh!? Even my own family!"
"Apple Bloom, isn't that a little harsh?" said Sandbar in discomfort.
"Sit back down, I'm not done!" Apple Bloom snapped, pointing her hoof at Sandbar without looking at him. He backed away cautiously.
Sweetie Belle, back at the unicorn shelter, held up Princess Platinum's crown and had begun her own speech.
"Nothing, for many years, and I mean nothing stood between us ponies and harmony!" Sweetie Belle went on passionately. "We heard from a reliable source, one of our true enemies, that everything's been premeditated by our true enemies, and that's really all it takes to ruin this beautiful thing that was supposedly built to last?! You'd trust random, shady characters over ponies who didn't know what you were talking about, or Twilight Sparkle?!"
"You want to talk about true enemies, look at the Windigos!" said Blueblood defensively. "Because of them, Emperor Grogar's our only food provider left!"
"Yet, Twilight and her friends don't care to shoo them away with their rainbow blasts!" Cayenne huffed.
"THEY'RE ONLY HERE BECAUSE OF YOU!" Sweetie Belle shrieked in vexation. The unicorns gasped and froze up. She continued, saying "When I was very young, I heard of how great being a unicorn is! As of now, I'm embarrassed to be seen with this lot! You're all so high-and-mighty you cannot fathom the idea that you could be wrong! The earth ponies and pegasi are also guilty, but you unicorns in particular are the worst in taking responsibility for your mistakes, like throwing away what you had that's now all gone!"
Scootaloo showed the pegasi in their mountain home the helmet of Commander Hurricane, giving them a piece of her mind.
"My friends and I are totally different, Twilight and her friends are totally different, the Pillars are totally different, but they never let their differences or petty squabbles about ridiculous details distract them from what they really need." Scootaloo spoke at length. "They're out there trying to put a stop to this fiasco! What do you think you're doing?!
"We're trying to save our jobs, squirt!" Spitfire claimed.
"Job schmob!" Scootaloo rebuffed. "There's no job to protect, not that it needed protecting! These defenses are just to save your own hides! You want to be helpful to society? How about don't become the exact danger to the other pony clans those gossip spreaders warned them about!? That'd be a good first step!"
"How did ya'll stoop so low as to want to remove your fellow ponies from the picture?!" Apple Bloom carried on back on her side.
"We're terrified, is all!" Berryshine asserted.
"Cry me a river!" Apple Bloom snarled. "Your fear has a face, and you can't give it a hard stare?! Fine, maybe this is where ya'll belong! Equestria has no room for the spineless, and while Grogar has you played like a set of toys, and those other big bad bullies walk all over the debris of the land we once loved, ya'll can at least stand so proud of how obstinate you are!"
"If you can't get along with the other clans anymore, you think you can still not do some horrible things to them?! All it's doing in return is hurting back!" Sweetie Belle talked on, taking a few breaths here and there. "Use that magic to clean up your own mess, and be better than some figurehead's herd of sheep, or you're going to be all alone in this world!"
"You won't have to be thought of so lowly, if you did something of significance for Equestria! Not Pegasopolis, Equestria!" Scootaloo persisted back where she stood. "Here you stand, ponies who can do greater things, condemning the legacy of those before us for their own gain! Sound like real paradise? You have to decide right now if you want to go down there and help Equestria heal, or leave it the way it is for the sake of yourselves!"
"Tell me, everypony! How do ya'll truly want this to end?!" Apple Bloom questioned in a severe tone. "Serving your country, or feeling like you are, but only really serving yourselves?! The decision's yours!"
The entire cluster of earth ponies murmured.
"It's now or never! Equestria, or yourselves!" Apple Bloom repeated. To cap off her entire angry, tough speech, she said one word, which unbeknownst to her, her friends over at the other shelters had spoken at the same time to their respective clans.
"DECIDE!"
The earth pony collective went silent before her. After taking in everything she spelled out, and how she finished, they didn't say another word. They only exchanged looks.
Two ponies present had different reactions. Granny Smith looked at her youngest grandchild with a smile of pride. Big Mac looked down, consumed by guilt that he had been part of this fear-driven campaign for so long. He knew her kid sister was right, and he was ready to admit to his faults. Additionally, he felt there was something he no longer had reason to hide.
Big Mac turned to Sugar Belle, who had remained disguised, and moved his hoof over his head, suggesting she take her getup off. She telekinetically revealed her unicorn feature before the rest of the earth ponies, receiving a mass gasp.
In the unicorn woods, Lyra acknowledged the hard truth Sweetie Belle spoke, and decided she didn't want to keep a secret anymore. She went over to the disguised Bon Bon, raised her hoof and slapped the fake horn off her partner's head. The unicorns also gasped simultaneously.
Meanwhile, in the snowy wastes, Cozy Glow, in her shadow form, scanned the premises of Equestria for some time in the air. "Those pests will pay for breaking all my tributes!" That was when she saw something very interesting in the sky.
Monsters in the clutches of the rogue changelings, both actually Queen Chrysalis, King Tirek with Scorpan in his hand, and Eclipse teleporting around, all appeared to be converging on the exact same place: Tambelon. What's more, she spotted some little specks of figures at the front gate of the dark city through a telescope she brought along. They were Twilight Sparkle and her six friends opening the way inside and crossing the bridge.
"Hmm... what's the occasion, old "friends" of mine?" she whispered sinisterly, cracking a smile not only devilish, but knowing.
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Only two chapters left to go!
Still, it'd be quite awesome (for us readers, anyway) to witness the seemingly impossible: Grogar using his Malice magic to brainwash and take control of the Windigos during the ultimate final battle.