It was just another ordinary day at the School of Friendship as all the students went about their own ways. It was the weekend, which meant that there was no homework, and they were all free from lessons for three days. Anyway, the clock was at 2:57 in the afternoon and the bell was going to ring in three minutes, all the students, including Nate, were finishing up their final class for the day in Applejack's honesty class, some were already putting their books and pencils up in their bags and desks.
"And that's how y'all choose the right choice in your ways of honesty, by goin' around bein' truthful about yer' wrong doins'."
That's when the bell rang.
"All right y'all have a good weekend." said Applejack, "Don't forget about the quiz on chapter 3 of the Honesty History book on Wednesday."
All of the students, including the student eight, then got up from their desks and went out of the room as Applejack went through her desk going through some papers. Meanwhile, everyone was looking forward to the weekend, even the student six, except for Nathan because he had been feeling uneasy about something, and this had been going on for at least three days and his friends, along with Zodiac could see it.
As Nathan walked with his friends, Zodiac tapped him.
"Hey Nathan, are you all right?" he asked.
"Huh?" he asked back.
"Nate, you really haven't been yourself lately." said Zodiac.
"Oh, ah've just been havin' this strange feeling lately."
"What kind of strange feeling?" asked Smolder.
"The one where ah'm feelin' like ah'm bein' watched by a greater evil." he replied.
"Are you meaning to say that something evil is waiting to pounce you?" asked Sandbar.
"Exactly, ah've got this strange sense that something escaped from Tartarus and it's out to get me!" he said with a wide-eyed expression, then he collapsed and he could feel his heart quiver with fear, the others soon were very concerned.
"Come on kid." said Smolder, picking him up and holding him. "We're all going to Headmare Twilight's office right now."
As the other followed Smolder with her tow in her arms, Silverstream put Zodiac on her back and the young eight went over to Twilight's office to see if she could help.
Meanwhile, Twilight was in her office reading over work that had been turned in by the students and grading them when she heard a knock at her office doors.
"Come in." she said, then the door opened to reveal the student eight.
"What can I help you all with?" she asked.
"Headmare Twilight, Nathan here has been feeling rather sluggish the past three days." said Smolder as she still had him in her arms.
Twilight could see her nephew still quivering, so she got from her desk and went over him. Nathan looked at her with a nervous expression, so she rubbed his head as the rest of the gang looked extremely worried, they had never been this worried about him since his orphanage got destroyed by the storm that Cozy Glow had brought upon his hometown.
"Nathan, is this true?" she asked.
"Yes, ah've been havin' this strange feelin' that somepony or somethin's out to get me, this has been happenin' for three days now." Nathan said.
"Headmare Twilight, he's been saying that something escaped from Tartarus and it's coming for him." said Zodiac.
"What if it's true?" asked Ocellus.
Twilight thought this over for a minute and spoke up, "Every creature, I know you all might be shook up from Cozy Glow's attack on the magic for her own evil desires. But, that was months ago, she's trapped in Tartarus with Tirek and the Cerberus is watching their every move. We should be fine."
"That's where you're wrong Aunt Twilight." said Nathan, still in fear, "For the past three days, ah've had this feelin' that the evil that's escaped is her and ah' can promise you she has Tirek with her. And they are out to do something bad, which involves me!"
"Nathan, you're just overreacting." said Gallus.
"Yeah, we'll be fine." said Silverstream.
"Ah'm not convinced." said Nathan.
"Nathan, Tartarus is guarded really well by the Cerberus, I really can't see how you can get a feeling that Cozy Glow would escape with Tirek or any other creature." said Ocellus as she petted his head with her hoof like a dog.
"Nathan, sweetie, just take a breather and go stay with the others until you go home." said Twilight.
"But, Aunt Twilight....."
"Nathan, you'll be fine, Cozy is locked in Tartarus with Tirek." said Twilight, "Now go on."
Now even though they tried to convince him otherwise, even as they headed out the door, Nathan could still sense that Cozy Glow and Tirek were out there, and he knew deep down in his stomach that they were going to do something really evil to make Equestria surrender its magic. So even with his friends there to be with him, he felt that certain about it.
"Nathan, how can you absolutely be sure that Cozy would even escape with Tirek?"
"Ah'm not sure she is, ah' just have that feelin'." he said.
"Nate, look at me." said Smolder as she lifted his face up with her hand, "As long as we're here, we will not let anything hurt you."
"That won't change mah' feelin'." said Nathan, he then buried his face in Smolder's chest and shook with fear again, now it was really getting pretty serious, Smolder hadn't been this concerned for him since she saw him devastated over the cloned Neighsay and what the clone had done to his home. As she rubbed his back to try and calm him down, she turned to face the others.
"Guys, I think this is getting really serious, Nathan is really convinced Cozy Glow is out there." she said.
While a few growled in annoyance, Zodiac was finally the first to be convinced otherwise.
"Guys, I think Nathan really is telling the truth." Zodiac said.
"Well, if it's for Nate's sake, we will all spend the night here in the school and keep watch on him." said Ocellus.
"Yona agree with Ocellus, we stay and watch Nathan." replied Yona with a smile.
As they grouped together for Nathan, just outside in the badlands in Tartarus, Cozy Glow and Tirek had managed to defeat the Cerberus and killed it thanks to some powerful force that Tirek hid from the ponies. Cozy Glow's cage had managed to bust open from the shaking of the rocks and stalagmite like sections of the prison that separated creatures from creatures thanks to Tirek's new way of preventing them from going back, she was now free with Tirek.
"Thanks my friend." said Cozy Glow grinning evilly.
"Don't mention it, it was such a easy way of a small development for our new friendship." said Tirek, soon they went up the stairs and fled Tartarus. After they escaped, Tirek and Cozy Glow formed a bomb like shield aimed towards the doors that opened to the dreadful prison and blasted it, causing all of Tartarus to collapse and be destroyed, plus the blast not only killed all the creatures still imprisoned in there, but it shook a massive tremor across Equestria that went into Canterlot.
Cozy Glow then pulled out what she and Tirek called a "Revenge List".
"Number 1: Destroy Tartarus to prevent any form of re-imprisonment....check!" said Cozy Glow.
"Scratched one goal off, what's number 2?" asked Tirek.
"Number 2....." Cozy then chuckled evilly, "Destroy the Tree of Harmony that way Twilight and her brat friends don't have any chance of getting their magic back!"
"Will it work?" asked Tirek.
"It's.....full proof, say goodbye Equestria to your magic.....FOREVER!!!!!!!!" she and Tirek then laughed a very loud evil laugh as a picture of the Tree of Harmony blew by in the wind.
Things sure had felt good for the past two months now since Celestia had mentioned that Cozy Glow wouldn't be causing anymore trouble and she wanted to keep it that way for she believed that the Cerberus would be watching her every move and Tirek's as well hoping they would stay in Tartarus for the rest of their days. As for Luna, she felt really good putting her in there with the guards at her side, and she couldn't have felt the same feeling of joy Celestia had. Anyway, Celestia and Luna were livid with comfort and sitting by a fire in their chambers where they would usually spend their sibling time at, plus they had a nice big blanket over them and were drinking hot tea.
"You know sister, it sure has been a perfect change since putting Cozy Glow in Tartarus, we sure haven't had any problems with our magic for over two months." said Luna as she sipped tea.
"Yes Luna, it is, plus it looks like I was right about her not causing anymore trouble, because nothing has been stolen."
"What about Twilight's students?" asked Luna.
"What about them?" Celestia asked back.
"What if the Tree of Harmony gave them the inheritance of new bearers of the Elements?"
Celestia pondered for a moment, "Well, Twilight told me that it was the artifacts that Cozy stole that gave them the power to bring back our stolen magic."
"Well, I am still wondering if the Tree was a part of it?"
"Luna, as long as the Tree of Harmony stays in its place, no form of evil will ever triumph on us or the magic of friendship." she then gave Luna a hug. As they embraced, they heard a knock on the door, they turned to the doors and spoke up.
"Come in." said Luna, and it opened to reveal Zodiac with a not-so nice expression on his face.
"Hey Zodi, how was school today?" asked Celestia.
"Not so good." answered Zodiac.
"Why not, what happened?"
"Did you have a hard test or a bad lunch?"
"Well, technically no, it's about Nathan."
"Is he sick?" asked Celestia.
"No mommy." answered Zodiac, "I'm just worried about him, he hasn't been himself lately, and he was complaining that something evil was watching him and that he felt cold. We went to Headmare Twilight about it, but she reassured him that everything was going to be all right, however, he's still convinced that this evil thing has escaped from Tartarus and is out to get him."
"I'm pretty sure it's just his imagination, you know how Nathan is." said Luna.
"No, I really think he's telling the truth." said Zodiac.
"How can you be sure, Tartarus is locked up sweetheart, nothing could ever escape again." said Celestia as she hugged her son, Zodiac hugged her back and even hugged his aunt.
"Well anyways, for safety concerns, we are spending the night in the school." he said.
"Safety, safety for what, everything is fine." said Luna.
"No, Aunt Luna, I'm getting the exact same feeling Nathan is." he said, "Plus, I'll bet you it's Cozy Glow that is the evil."
"Ok, well if you want to spend the night at the school with them, go ahead, but I can assure you that you will be just fine."
"No mom, I can assure you we are not fine." said Zodiac, "Just keep your eyes peeled, I know she's out there." he then went out into the hallways to his quarters to pack up his things since he was going to be staying in Ponyville for the night.
"Wow, I've never seen him that worried since Cozy's clone of Neighsay trapped him in Tartarus." said Celestia.
"Well the only thing that matters is that we're safe." said Luna as they returned to their fire warming.
Meanwhile, as Zodiac walked through the hallways heading to his bedroom, he suddenly dropped on his hind hooves and clutched his head with his forehooves as if he was having a really bad migraine. But this was no migraine, he too was now getting the feeling Nathan had and it was filling his head really bad.
"She's........" he gasped in horror, "She's back, and she's got Tirek with her. Oh, I've got to hurry and get back to the others!"
Back in the forests of Equestria, Cozy and Tirek had managed to approach the location where the Tree of Harmony rested at and there it was, glowing with all the power to protect Equestria from certain destruction that dared got in the way. But not this time, for Tirek and Cozy vowed to be one step ahead of everypony that sent them to their rotting prison and take all the magic for themselves for real.
As Tirek and Cozy Glow stared at the tree, they showed far greater determination to take this wretched thing out so they wouldn't have any trouble and so that Twilight and her brat friends wouldn't win.
"You have been the cause of our losses, overpowering of us, and sending us to that reeking prison. But this time, we are one step ahead of you!" said Cozy to the tree, even though it couldn't answer back.
Cozy smiled evilly and turned to her new friend, "All right Tirek, do your thing!"
Tirek opened his mouth and absorbed the energy the tree produced, as he absorbed it, he felt power returning to him like when he stole all the magic from the ponies before. Only, the power in this magic that he was absorbing was a power far greater than anything he felt, a power that could make him overpower Twilight and her friends just like they did to him.
Cozy Glow could see that the tree was losing glow fast, while Tirek was draining its power, Cozy flew up and started removing the elements of harmony from its branches one by one, then she put them in a tote bag she was carrying just as Tirek finished absorbing all the power from the tree.
Once the tree was now weak and powerless, Tirek then formed a powerful mallet from the stolen magic and, with one big swing, knocked it right where it removed itself from its roots and fell down, then it was shattered in a million pieces as Cozy tied up the elements. She then threw them afar to where nopony could ever find them.
"Step 3: Destroy the Tree of Harmony - check!" Cozy said.
"Step 4?" asked Tirek with his new strong voice he regained when he was powerful before.
"Step 4: Kidnap Nathan Cadenza." answered Cozy.
"Oh yeah, that human boy who's the toughest, well let's just see how tough he is in our fingers!" Tirek said.
Cozy Glow scoffed, "Oh please, I've already taken care of that through feeling."
"How?"
"I've managed to transfer senses of strong fear into him, and soon I'll be making our presence known into the rest of those creeps that defeated us!"
Tirek was pretty astounded at this, "I must say Cozy Glow, being friends with you wasn't a bad idea after all."
"Very lovely to say that Tirek." responded Cozy.
"By tomorrow their magic will fail for good and we won't have any trouble taking Equestria for ourselves!" said Cozy Glow as she and Tirek went into hiding outside Ponyville to wait for their attacking moment. What they didn't know was that the elements of harmony that were condemned in the bag that Cozy threw out into the field suddenly contained a small glow, which meant that there was still power within. But someone who was brave and able to take on the most evil could obtain this power it withheld.
It was the evening as most of the students had left for their homes many hours ago, but as for the student eight, they decided to stay behind and sleep together as a group to protect Nathan from whatever this greater evil that wanted to come after him. The professors and Twilight decided to have the main five, Spike, and Starlight stay the night in the castle, that way, they would be right next door if the young eight were in any danger. The young eight took a vote and decided to stay in Smolder's room because not only did hers have more room for them, but it would be safe for Nathan.
Nathan was still in fear though because he could sense that this evil was inching closer and that it was going to get worse. Anyway, he was staring out the window looking at the darkened woods and field that surrounded the school, shivering and squealing. Gallus quickly noticed this and approached him.
"Hey Nathan relax, don't be so afraid." he said putting his claws on his shoulder, Nathan turned to see Gallus and still shook in fear.
"Oh ah've gone way beyond afraid, right now ah'm somewhere between bed-wetting and a near death experience!"
"Nathan!" Smolder said, "I told you, we are not letting anything hurt you, you'll be fine!"
"Besides, we're all sleeping together and we will protect you." replied Ocellus as she gave him a kiss.
"And you're our friend." answered Zodiac.
"Yona won't let anything hurt Nathan." said Yona.
Nathan still felt uneasy though, it just seemed like now no matter what they said or did to comfort him, it wouldn't even ease the fear that tingled through his skin. He was sensing badly that this evil was out there and was willing to stop at nothing to get him!
"Guys, y'all haven't been helpin' at all." he said, this shocked everyone.
"What are you talking about, we've been beside you all day." said Silverstream.
"You'd really expect us to just forget about everything, even though we're all together protecting you?!" asked Smolder in an angered tone.
"Nathan, we have been here for you all day, don't think we're going to change our minds over it!" replied Gallus.
"That's not what Ah' meant." Nathan said, "Ah' mean Ah' do appreciate y'all's comfort, but this feeling in me is getting stronger and closer into mah' skin."
"Nate?" Smolder asked as she picked him up, sat on her bed, and placed him in her lap, "What have I told you, we are not letting anything harm you."
"Guys." interrupted Zodiac, "I've been getting the same feeling too."
"Oh great don't tell me this feeling is spreading like a virus." said Sandbar.
Ocellus and Silverstream looked at each other, "Why is this happening all of a sudden?" asked Silverstream.
Zodiac cringed, "I think Nathan is right, because when I went to Canterlot to pack my stuff, the thought entered my head too and it wouldn't go away."
"Zodi, I think you're just riding the danger bandwagon." scoffed Smolder.
Zodiac stood his ground, "And I think Cozy Glow and Tirek are out there, and I think Nathan is telling the truth!"
"Well we're going to discuss more of this in the morning, in the meantime, we stay in this room together." said Smolder.
Gallus then turned out the lights, "Good night you all."
"Well good night." said Ocellus.
To ensure the safety of Nathan, Smolder saw to it that he would sleep with her. Nathan agreed to this since he and Smolder were now brother and sister-like and snuggled next to her while she placed her arm around him so he would feel comfortable and safe, and within a matter of minutes, everyone was fast asleep, including Zodiac who slept right under Silverstream's wing and Ocellus slept to his other side.
On the outskirts of Ponyville, beyond the horizon, Cozy and Tirek had managed to look at the next step in their list of revenge which was to kidnap Nathan and throw him into the pit of Manticores. They were absolutely certain that this plan of revenge was going to work and that they would be one step ahead of the main cast.
"Where is this kid going to be located?" asked Tirek.
Cozy Glow gave an evil grin, "Well what do you expect when you see your hostage being protected by his friends while they're asleep?"
"Oh, I see, we find his friends and then get him by surprise?"
"Obviously, with a bit of this." Cozy said pulling out a can of knock out gas which will deepen the sleep of a creature or pony, a sleep so deep that they wouldn't even hear anything, even an alarm going off.
"So, we're going to put them in a coma like sleep, that way we can take our hostage with ease."
"Oh yeah!" smirked Cozy Glow, "Now let's go, we've got revenge to seek!" and they went down the hill to Ponyville, everypony fast asleep completely oblivious as to what was about to happen to their magic.
Meanwhile back in Canterlot, Princess Luna was walking through the hallways of the castle levitating a cup of tea she had made for herself. As she neared the doors that led into their quarters, her horn suddenly stopped glowing and the tea cup dropped to the floor and shattered, causing the tea to spill on her.
"What the..." Luna said in surprise, she tried to light up her horn again to see if it was just a slip of her magic, but had no avail in lighting up her horn. She could soon sense that something wasn't right, seeing the doors that led into Celestia's chambers, she quickly opened them to reveal Celestia asleep. Luna ran up to her bed and started shaking her.
"Sister, Sister wake up!" she pleaded, Celestia turned over and opened an eye to see Luna staring at her with great concern.
"Luna what is it?" Celestia asked in a raspy voice.
"Sister, my magic stopped working!" she said in terror.
"What are you talking about?" asked Celestia.
"Look!" she shouted, showing Celestia her now magicless horn as it couldn't glow and lost its aura.
"When did that happen?"
"Only a few seconds ago, I was sipping tea on my way to my quarters when it just stopped."
"Let me see something." Celestia said climbing out of her bed and walked over to a bookshelf containing tons of magic books. But as she lit up her horn to levitate one of them off the shelf, her horn too stopped glowing and the book dropped to the floor the same way the tea cup dropped and shattered. Celestia couldn't believe what just happened, it had been only three months, and now it was happening again!
"Whatever shall we do sister?!" Luna pleaded.
Celestia didn't answer, but could sense that something was causing this, something even worse than the last. She then flapped her wings and went out.
"Sister, where are you going?" Luna asked.
"Luna, you stay here and with whatever magic you still have, write a letter to Twilight and her friends. Have the guards head down to her school to protect it at all costs!"
"Yes, my sister." obeyed Luna and Celestia took off while Luna went to alert the guards of what had just happened.
As Luna went out to alert them, they had approached her with worry over what they had just experienced.
"Princess Luna, I'm afraid our magic is failing again!" one guard said.
"I know, Celestia has gone out to find what's causing it, in the meantime, she says for you all to head down to Ponyville to protect Twilight's school while I write a emergency letter to her."
"Yes your majesty." one guard said, and they quickly headed out of the castle and to Ponyville while Luna went to try and send a letter to Twilight.
Back in Ponyville, Cozy Glow and Tirek managed to locate the room Nathan and the others were sleeping in. Tirek quietly opened the door while Cozy Glow threw a smoke pellet that contained the knock out gas, once it hit the floor, it sprayed a powerful substance that quickly affected the young eight and Cozy Glow quickly found Nathan sleeping beside Smolder and easily removed him from her grasp.
"Hello buddy." she said evilly, "You're all mine!"
She and Tirek then headed out the door where they opened up a portal that showed a pit with seven hungry manticores who were starving and wanted something to eat. Tirek and Cozy Glow then threw a motionless Nathan into the portal.
"Now, now my pets, you only eat him if the ponies don't surrender their power to me and Cozy Glow." said Tirek as he closed up the portal.
"Now let's get out of here and wait for our moment." said Cozy Glow, and she and Tirek then left the school, but not before quickly vandalizing it.
Back in the fields, Princess Celestia managed to find the Tree of Harmony, or what was left of it lying helplessly on the ground. It had been knocked off its roots, the elements of harmony removed and gone, she gasped in horror by the sight of what she saw.
What was worse, there was a note stuck to the dead tree and Celestia took it off, and it read an eerie nose-dripping message.
"SAY GOODBYE TO NATHAN AND YOUR MAGIC FOREVER, AND COME OUT TO PLAY............."
Celestia quickly figured it out, and that Nathan's feelings were true. So she stared at the distance in anger.
It was 3 AM and everypony was fast asleep, except for Spike because he had woken up feeling something strange. He then quietly tiptoed out of his room in the castle and towards the door, only to feel a quick burst of indigestion hit him in his stomach, luckily though, it managed to go and he burped out green fire to reveal a scrolled letter sent to them. Spike felt confused at why a letter would be sent to them this late at night.
"Huh, never had a letter get sent here this late at night before." he muttered as he unrolled it.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle and Friends...."
"I understand it is late, but it is with deep informing that you all get here to Canterlot this moment, it appears the magic in Equestria is failing once again, Princess Celestia has left to see if it's Cozy Glow causing it or if its something else, please hurry!"
"Princess Luna."
Spike was even more puzzled, "But how could magic fail a second time after only three months?"
He was soon interrupted by the sound of rushing hoof steps, he then turned to see Twilight and the others due a strange feeling they had encountered in a dream they all had.
"Spike, is that letter from Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, but Princess Luna wrote it to us, she feels that the magic is failing again."
"That's not possible, it was returned three months ago." Twilight said, levitating the letter out of Spike's claws to read it, but just like Celestia and Luna, Twilight's horn stopped glowing and the letter fell to the floor. The others really had great concern now.
"Oh no!" said Fluttershy.
"Not again, how can this be?!" exclaimed Starlight, trying to light up her horn only to discover that it had stopped glowing as well, now it was all panic for the mane seven and Spike.
"IT CAN'T BE!!!!!!!!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed.
"This ain't right, it's only been three months, how could this be happening again?!" demanded Applejack.
"Well, whatever the case, we need to get to Canterlot right now!" ordered Twilight, but before they could depart, they were soon confronted by the young seven who had sheer looks of terror on their faces.
"Every creature, what's going on?!" asked Rarity.
"Oh Professor Rarity, it's happened, it's finally happened!" whined Silverstream.
"What is happening?!" demanded Twilight, Sandbar walked up to her.
"We can't find Nathan!!!" he screamed.
"And what's worse, the whole school has been ransacked!"
"What you mean Nathan is gone?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, we thought you all were looking after him!" shouted Starlight.
"We were, but somehow something knocked us into a deeper sleep, when we woke up he was gone!" screamed Smolder, she then held Nathan's jacket in front of them.
"This cannot be so!" suggested Rarity, soon they all went out the castle and into the school. They quickly saw the doors had been unlocked somehow and were swinging back and forth from the wind. Once they entered, they saw that everything had been either broken or torn apart, and at the far end of the wall was a graffiti message that read......
"EVERYPONY DIE, FRIENDSHIP IS A LIE!!!!!!!!!!!"
Everyone was flabbergasted, who would cause such destruction?!
"It looks like Nathan was right, some great evil is out for vengeance." remarked Twilight.
"Well we can't just stand here and do nothing, we've got to get to Canterlot pronto, all of us!"
"We'll come too, this requires us as well." demanded Smolder.
"We've got to find Nathan and bring him back." said Zodiac.
"Nathan need to come back." insisted Yona.
"Don't worry, we will find Nathan and defeat whoever is responsible for this, if we got our magic back once, we can certainly get it back again." said Twilight.
"Now come on every creature, let's get going and see what's causing this." said Starlight and soon they were all off to Canterlot.
.....In the Royal Chambers.....
Princess Cadance and Shining Armor had too been notified of the magic failing in Equestria again, only even they couldn't tell what was causing it. Princess Luna was just as worried as them since it was failing even more rapidly than ever, and so she decided to send two guards after Celestia for escort and help gather whatever evidence that could link to any source of clue or piece that was causing it.
"I cannot believe this, it's only been three months and it's happening again?!" yelled Shining Armor.
"Shining, we still don't even know where Nathan is." Cadance reassured.
"Not even Celestia and I know why it's happening again, but that's why she left." said Luna.
"Sorry, Princess Luna, but our concern right now is our son, we haven't seen him since yesterday morning." said Shining Armor.
"Yes, I agree, even Skyla and Flurry Heart have been rather fussy about him not coming home." said Cadance.
Suddenly the doors opened up and in came the main seven, Spike, and the Student seven. They had concerned looks of their own over this sense of DeJa Vu that was happening.
"Thank you all for coming on such notice." said Luna.
"Twiley, you're all right." said Shining Armor as he hugged her.
"We're okay, but we've just ran into an even bigger problem." said Twilight saddened.
"What is it?" asked Luna, that's when Smolder walked up to show them Nathan's jacket. Cadance and Shining Armor could now sense that something was wrong.
"Whatever took your magic, it took Nathan too!" said Smolder.
Shining Armor pounded his hooves into the floor, "HOW CAN THIS BE?!"
"Where's my baby?!" asked Cadance with tears in her eyes.
"I'm afraid it's even worse!" said Celestia's voice, they all turned to see her and two guards hanging their heads.
"Princess, what's going on?!" demanded Twilight.
"We just got back with a shocking discovery, Tartarus has been demolished and sealed up." said one guard.
"And what's the worse part?!" asked Gallus.
"The Tree of Harmony.......has been destroyed!" said Celestia showing them a picture of the now powerless tree, and from the looks of it, the Elements of Harmony had been removed from it too.
"But, who did this?!" asked Twilight as she saw the picture, that when they heard evil chuckling.
"Well, well, well, the poor ponies have lost their magic once again." said an all too familiar voice in the shadows. They turned to see Cozy Glow glaring at them evilly.
"COZY GLOW!!!!!!!!!!!" they all screamed, the guards tried to subdue her, but thanks to the stolen strength Tirek gained from the Tree of Harmony, he managed to blast them aside knocking them out.
"Did you honestly believe putting me in a bird cage was going to be the end of me?!" she asked.
"Cozy Glow, you are really going to pay this time!" said Celestia, Cozy Glow and Tirek laughed.
"Ha, with the Tree of Harmony gone, you won't have any chance of defeating us this time!" said Tirek as he punched Celestia in the face and winning easily.
"SISTER NO!!!!!!" screamed Luna as she went over to her aid, this made Zodiac angry.
"NOPONY DOES THAT TO MY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed at Cozy Glow and then he slapped her in the face. Cozy Glow then shoved him aside and approached the mane six and student six with anger.
"Don't you all see, you all made my plan even easier, I intended for you all to put me in Tartarus and you fell for it. Now my plan to be Empress of Friendship is even more full proof ever. And this time, evil is one step ahead of you!"
"So don't get all smart on us, because we've already taken out that foolish tree, since we figured out that it was responsible for making you all win and us lose. But that ends once and for all!" said Tirek as he dropped a cage on all of them.
"Oh and if you all are wondering about Nathan, he's fine, just about to become Manticore food if you all don't give up your powerful magic. And here's something for you all on friendship, it's nothing but a lie and it will always be a lie!" Everypony gasped at this and glared angrily.
"You won't get away with this!" said Starlight.
"Oh they always say that, but we have, anyway Nathan is trapped in the Manticore pits outside in the badlands and I don't think you all will be seeing him ever again!"
"Now that you all are defeated, NOTHING WILL STOP US NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cackled Cozy Glow. And she and Tirek left the room leaving the ones who defeated them to rot if they didn't give up their powers.
Chapter 4: Escape From The Manticores/Meeting Tempest Shadow
Meanwhile somewhere in the badlands of Equestria in the deep pits below, Nathan had awoke due to heavy breathing of a very nasty breath smell blowing on his face, not even Smolder would have a nasty breath smell like this one had. But when he awoke and his vision cleared from blurred sleep, he looked up to see the face of what appeared to be a manticore, and at least seven of them with snarling looks and drooling saliva coming out of their mouths as they licked their lips.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH MANTICORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan screamed in horror, he quickly saw an opening at the top and flew up, only to find that the opening was too small for him to fit through. So instead of making it through, he just bumped his head and fell back into the pits of the manticore pit, luckily he managed to escape into a small hide hole in between the rocky walls that surrounded the pits and quickly hid from their appetizing sights.
Nathan tucked himself in like a ball and slowly talked to himself, "How did Ah' get here, where is everypony, where's mah' friends?!"
"HELP, SOMEPONY, ANYPONY!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, but no matter how many times he called for help or find a way out, it just wouldn't work. He could still hear the seven manticores out in the open of the enclosed pit snarling at his presence and just waiting for him to mess up or give up so they could eat him.
Nathan trembled in fear as he felt he was stuck in this hide hole forever, he was all alone. His parents were not here to protect him, his friends were far off, and not even Twilight or the others could even get to him. His biggest fear of being all alone had struck him, even though he tried to face it in the test that the Tree of Harmony had brought upon him and his friends.
And ever since that test, he had been feeling guilty about it, and that was probably why he had the feelings of fear when he sensed that Cozy Glow and Tirek were back out in the plains of Equestria ready to make their act of revenge. Nathan curled up in a ball like a puppy and cried. Suddenly............
"Nathan...." said a whispering voice.
"Huh?" Nathan said while wiping tears from his face.
"Nathan...." the strange voice whispered again.
"Who's callin' mah' name?" he asked, that's when it happened. A wisp glowing light floated right in front of him then began to take shape. As Nathan sat there in awe, the shaping light grew brighter and more powerful then a body of an all too familiar looking man appeared out of the light, but the glow stayed on him and flashed all around him.
"Fear not Nathan, it is I Jesus Christ of Nazareth."
"Lord?"
"Yes Nathan, it is really me." said Jesus who put a hand of comfort on his back.
"The Heavenly Father has seen the oppression of Equestria and your fears, and has heard their cries of pain. So He has sent me to help save you and the rest of this world, so we shall win the battle of evil, but I will help you in spirit because of your belief in me."
"But Tirek and Cozy Glow are too powerful."
"Nathan, haven't you forgotten that God has twice the power, that He is the Father Almighty?" Jesus asked, "Don't ever lose your faith in Him."
"Yes Lord." Nathan said, Jesus then got up and helped Nathan to his feet
"Thank you Lord for being with me." Nathan said.
"I will be with you in spirit as you will win." Said Jesus, "Now let's get up and go to the manticores."
Jesus then approached the manticores in person, when they saw Jesus, they snarled and growled ready to attack. But Jesus walked up to them very calmly as they continued to growl and raise their claws.
"Peace, be calm." He said, and just like that, the manticores were suddenly gentle as domesticated cats and they walked up to Nathan and licked him affectionately.
"Ok ok, stop it!" Nathan laughed, he then gently stroked one of them like a dog.
Just then a low rumble of the ground shook below Nathan, he then looked up to the opening he had tried to get through soon grow bigger and a bright light shone down on him.
"Nathan, as long as I am in your heart you will win this battle because you have great faith in God, He will send chariots of fire to help you win, all you have to do is continue to be strong in your faith. I will return soon because you have a great journey to embark back home." Jesus said with a hand on his chin. Jesus then floated up into the light and vanished into heaven.
Now feeling all alone again, but with the manticores still gentle, Nathan flew up out of the pit and soon found himself in nothing but pasture and forest, he didn't know where he was or where Ponyville was. But he knew Jesus was still with him in heart and that was all that mattered.
Just then a feeling came over Nathan, as a quick vision of the Elements of Harmony came into his head.
"The Elements of Harmony, Ah' know where they are!" he said, then he embarked on a quest to the area where they were located and hopefully gain something against Cozy Glow and Tirek and beat them once and for all.
"Stop!" said a voice making Nate halt dead in his feet.
"What?" he asked, then he turned to see a dark purple unicorn with a pink mane and tail.
"Perhaps you've never heard of me." this pony said as she walked up to him.
"Where did you come from?" Nathan asked.
"I watched the whole thing unfold from a far distance, all the magic gone from Equestria for good. I also had a strange sense that some creature got kidnapped and held hostage, and I knew it would be a child."
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am FizzlePop BerryTwist, but you can call me Tempest Shadow, or just Tempest."
The name quickly rang a bell, "Wait the Tempest Shadow, the Tempest Shadow that was a commander of the Storm King?, the Tempest Shadow that stole all the magic from Hippogriffia?, the Tempest Shadow that nearly brought down Canterlot all because of a lie about getting her horn restored?"
"That Tempest Shadow?!" Nathan knew this because Twilight told him about her and how evil corrupted her soul and that she really did fall for a lie.
Tempest hung her head low, "Yes, I am that Tempest Shadow. But if Twilight didn't inform you, I am reformed." she said.
"And yes, I did fall for a lie, but that was because I actually thought that by admiring the Storm King that he would restore my horn. But he just used me."
Nathan quickly came to his senses and understood that she was reformed and had accepted friendship. But, he really could've used a partner to help him on his journey back to Ponyville and help save his friends. He also knew that Jesus was in Heaven preparing an army of chariots of fire and angels with weapons of storms and lightning which came from the Power of God.
"So you wanna be mah' partner and help me save mah' friends?" Nathan asked Tempest.
Tempest smiled and put a hoof on his shoulder, "Yes Nathan, I will help, I owe Twilight a lot of gratitude anyway for her achievement on showing me the true ways of friendship."
"Thanks Tempest." Nathan said hugging her, Tempest returned his hug.
"Now the first thing to do is to find the Elements of Harmony." she said.
"Ya' mean to tell me that Cozy and Tirek managed to remove the Elements from the tree?"
"Yes, in order for the tree to be weak, they first dismantled the elements and then threw them out into the pastures, I saw them."
"Well why didn't you stop them?!" Nathan asked in frustration.
"I still don't have a horn, I'm not powerful enough!" Tempest argued.
"Oh." Nathan said in sorrow.
"Well come on kid, we don't have time, we've got to save those elements before it's too late!" Tempest said, and she let Nathan climb onto her back and they took off from the forest they were in and headed off to find the elements.
Chapter 5: Hopelessness Brought Upon/Meeting Starswirl the Beared and the Pillars
Back in Canterlot, the students, the main seven, and the others were still set agape over what had just happened to them and the first one to respond was Shining Armor, who had only received a small bump on the head. He quickly managed to round up everyone and get them back on their hooves and legs, and they did even though they were still in a lot of pain from their horrible attack. The last one to arise was Princess Celestia.
"How did this come to pass, how would they even manage to escape easily and destroy Tartarus?!" asked Shining Armor.
"Or how would they even manage to overpower the Tree of Harmony and defeat us easily?" asked Twilight.
"But what about Nathan, we don't even know if he's devoured by the Manticores!" yelled Zodiac.
"Be strong Zodi." Celestia said as she picked up her son with her magic, "Nathan is a very intelligent boy, with the magic of friendship we've taught him, he shouldn't have any troubles."
"But he's all alone, how will he escape?!"
"I just hope he doesn't get eaten!" said Smolder with tears in her eyes.
"I'm not sure, but what I do know is that with the Tree of Harmony destroyed and Tartarus blasted out of existence, we are unable to stop them." said Twilight.
"WHAAAAAAT??????!!!!!!!!!" everybody screamed.
"You mean to say that the Tree of Harmony is the only way evil can be defeated?!" asked Ocellus.
"Yes Ocellus." Twilight said as she stared through a window looking out at all the destruction Tirek and Cozy Glow were bring on Equestria, "The Tree of Harmony contains most of the power that provides Equestria with the protection is has, making us win. But since Tirek and Cozy Glow found that out somehow and destroyed it, they managed to take all the power away from it and see to it that we lose for once."
"Only a miracle can save us this time." said Princess Luna.
...Cut to the city...
Tirek had managed to get the last of stolen magic from the ponies and then used that magic to destroy any artifacts that would perform any form of power to defeat him and his partner. Cozy Glow on the other hand was performing a spell that formed neck cuffs and put them on each and every pony, colt, and filly.
"THIS IS WHAT YOU PATHETIC MORONS GET FOR PUTTING ME AND TIREK IN TARTARUS!!!!!!!!!!" Cozy Glow screamed as she locked the cuffs on all of them.
"And let this be a 'friendship lesson' to you all who prevented me from escaping, you will now serve not only Tirek, but me the NEW EMPRESS OF EQUESTRIA!!!!!!!!"
"And don't try to attack because if you do, I will turn you into dust!" warned Tirek making all the weak ponies who were now in shackles and cuffs to gasp in shock.
"We run Equestria now and nothing will stop it, and you are officially our slaves!" Cozy Glow said putting on the same crown she put on before.
"ALL RIGHT YOU FOOLS, GET MOVING!!!!!!!" Tirek said punching one unicorn in the face to scare the others into doing what he said.
Things were looking pretty bad for Equestria as they could no longer feel safe since the Tree of Harmony was no longer there to protect them. They also had no way of defeating Tirek and Cozy Glow since their magic had failed on them yet again and now they had absolutely no chance of ever getting it back, it sure felt Tirek and Cozy Glow really were above them this time.
But what they didn't know was that Nathan had escaped from the trap they had put him in, thanks to his faith in Jesus and he had met Tempest Shadow and they were already journeying to find the elements of harmony to restore the magic to the ponies.
Speaking of which, back in the pasturing countryside of Equestria, Nathan and Tempest Shadow were walking on a long pathway coming up with a strategy to defeat Cozy Glow and Tirek when or if they found the elements of harmony.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. If we find the elements of harmony and restore the Tree with their harnessed power, you want me to distract Tirek and Cozy Glow so that your God can send chariots of fire to blow flames on them?" asked Tempest Shadow.
"Yes and then with the power of the elements in us, Ah'll restore all the magic to the ponies and you direct the chariots of fire towards them with their power." said Nathan with motivation.
"Well there's only one problem with that."
"What?"
"They've already got all the stolen magic, and with me not having a horn, and you being a kid, I don't know how it'll work like that."
"But we have God helping us." Nathan said.
"Sure that, but we also need something or somepony stronger with that much force as well." replied Tempest, "And besides, there's nopony left with magic powerful enough for that."
"Look Tempest." Nathan said flying up and getting in her face, "Ah' know all hope may seem to be lost, but Ah' can promise you that mah' God is powerful enough to help us defeat those two creeps."
"She's right." said a very deep voice from behind them, Nathan turned again and saw A gray unicorn with a white beard, a blue cloak with stars and moons on it along with a hat with a bell on it that had the exact same printing of stars and moons on it.
"Starswirl the Bearded?" Nathan asked.
"Yes Nathan." Starswirl said.
"How do you know mah' name?" Nathan asked.
"Twilight Sparkle, your aunt, she's told me incredible stories about you and your brave encounters with evil." he said.
"Wow, Ah' never thought she would mention me to you." Nathan said surprised.
Starswirl chuckled, "Well it is a pleasure to meet you, Nathan."
"Excuse me Mr. Bearded, I am Tempest Shadow, perhaps Twilight has told you about me as well?" Tempest said interfering.
"Yes she has." answered Starswirl, "How you managed to reform after finding out that the Storm King lied to you about restoring your broken horn."
"Yes."
Nathan interfered, "Well Starswirl only makes three of us."
"It's okay Nathan, I brought some friends of my own to help." suddenly a group of ancient ponies known as the pillars joined in on Starswirl. A huge stallion with strength to hit a boulder, an Egyptian like pegasus, a unicorn with a old cloak, an older unicorn, and another pegasus with armor.
"Nathan, may I introduce, Stygian, Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, Mistmane, Somnambula, and Mage Meadowbrook." said Starswirl.
"The Pillars of Equestria all together, Ah' figured Ah' would meet y'all one day." Nathan said.
"As did we." said Rockhoof.
"We never thought we would meet a human." replied Somnambula.
"Nor did we even think about how brave you would be to save the best of ponies from such evil."
"NOR DID WE!" A voice echoed from the heavens. Suddenly, the skies opened up and down came Jesus with an army of powerful angels riding in fiery chariots with the Power of God in them.
"And who might you all be?" asked Star Swirl
"I am Jesus Christ of Nazareth and I have brought forth the Army of God to help you all win against such evil."
Starswirl couldn't believe it, he was actually looking at a presence from the heavens and seeing how much power it had, as couldn't Tempest and the Pillars.
"We've never seen such a glorious remark in our lives." said Mistmane.
"With all of us working with the Glory of God's power, you will beat this threat with the help of my Father's army." Nathan said pointing to Jesus with the fiery chariots and angels as the flame covered horses whinnied.
"All right, we shall let this army help us because I can personally say they have the immortal power."
"We're in this together!" Nathan said. "Now let's go save Equestria and bring back the magic!" and they were all off with Jesus and the fiery angels and chariots flying above in the clouds.
As all the now enslaved ponies were strolling through Equestria in shackles, upon orders of the new tyrannical rulers. They had begun tearing down ancient magical artificial statues and monuments because Tirek and Cozy Glow wanted sculptures of themselves. Tirek and Cozy Glow figured that since they were in control now that they should be remembered and worshiped, therefore, the reason behind their sculptures.
Inside the now vandalized throne room, the student seven were chained to the ceiling, the mane six along with Spike and Starlight were imprisoned in the dungeon, and the three alicorn princesses were tied up to a pole. It was considered hopeless for them after all because they were all now slaves to two of the most evil creatures to have been around in Equestrian history. Anyways as Cozy Glow sat on what was supposed to be Celestia's throne, Tirek sat on Luna's as they stared down at their prisoners with glee.
"Oh Tirek, I believe this is the most glorious victory we have ever experienced in our lives." Cozy remarked as she flew up to the tied up princesses and spat on Celestia.
"So much glory and power is officially ours now!" Tirek exclaimed.
"You may have won this time, but we can promise you Nathan is still alive." said Luna.
"Oh don't get your hopes up too high you filthy night crawler!" Cozy said slapping Luna in the face.
"He's not dead Cozy Glow, I can tell you he's not!" yelled Smolder, Tirek boiled with rage at every creature and pony talking about Nathan. So he undid the shackles on Smolder and then pinned her to the wall causing a goose egg the size of a softball to form on the back of her head and making her friends gasp in shock.
"Listen you stupid lizard, me and Cozy Glow have had it with you all winning all the battles. But thanks to our new friendship, it's you all that have lost. So I don't want to hear another word about that little brat human friend of yours, he has been devoured by the manticores, accept it!"
"Plus, we make the rules now, so we order you to not even mention that little fool's name!" replied Cozy.
"Now we are going to check on the results of our new statues, so we will be back in a few hours." Tirek said as he and Cozy Glow went out the doors and slamming them shut behind them.
Meanwhile, in the dungeons below Canterlot, the mane six along with Spike and Starlight sat in a cell in shackles of their own. For they had suffered some very bad torture of their own, Tirek had abused them badly while Cozy Glow managed to drain all the power of friendship from them. They were now officially weak and powerless to do anything, all they could do was accept the fact that they had lost big time.
"Nathan was right!" whined Rainbow Dash as she bucked a rock that sat in their cell.
"How could we have been so blind?!" asked Starlight with tears going down her face.
"Oh, let's just deal with the facts, we lost this time. And we're completely powerless to do anything!" informed Applejack.
"And Nathan is dead." said Spike.
"Tirek and Cozy Glow have enslaved everypony." said Rarity.
"All the magic is gone." said Fluttershy.
"The Tree of Harmony is destroyed." said Pinkie Pie.
"And the Elements of Harmony are gone." remarked Twilight. They had all accepted defeat and that they lost forever. But, what they didn't know was that Nathan was actually alive and didn't even have a mark on him since he had faith in Jesus, only this time, without warning, they were about to experience the Lord first hand as well and be blessed with a miracle.
As they sat there in there shackles, there was a sudden rumble as if a tremor was shaking the whole dungeon. Just then a flash of light brightened the whole cell, causing the mane seven and Starlight to shield their eyes. Then a silhouette of a man appeared in the light.
"Do not be afraid, you will be fine." it said with a deep voice.
"Who are you?!" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I am Jesus Christ of Nazareth and I have been sent by the Lord God to help save you."
They were all puzzled, they had learned about this from Nathan's church lessons and how he told them that he was a strong believer, but they never would've thought Jesus would exist in Equestria.
"You were sent here to help us?, but we thought you only existed on Nathan's world." replied Twilight.
"Yeah, we never thought you would hear about us." said Starlight.
Jesus put a hand of comfort on Twilight, "The power of God exists in every universe and in every world. He is the only God who is the Father almighty, and He has sent me from the kingdom of Heaven to save your world from utter destruction."
"So how are you going to get us out of here?" they all asked.
Suddenly a low rumble shook the entire cell, causing a small earthquake. Now they thought that Tirek and Cozy Glow had managed to shake the outside with the stolen magic, but in reality, it was God using His almighty power to free them of their shackles. And before they knew it, the cuffs and restraints they were in, were now removed.
"You....You really are the Son of God." said Twilight, who with everypony else had been delighted by this sudden encounter with glory.
"The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it." replied Jesus, "Now the power of God shall begin through me and you all. Due to your friendship and trust in each other, He will grant you a far even greater power than friendship itself."
"What power is that?" asked Spike.
"The power of glory!" remarked Jesus, just then a hole blew through the wall and in came two fiery chariots being controlled by angels along with an army full of them. Then the mane eight then floated up and glowed.
"Now the glory of God embarks through your souls, with it, we will all defeat the evil that has brought this oppression upon your world once and for all!" said Jesus, then they went back down to the ground and fled the cells of Canterlot to come up with a plan.
As for Nathan, he had managed to come closer to the location where the elements of harmony had been thrown.
Back in the streets of Canterlot, Tirek and Cozy Glow were busy whipping and torturing ponies that had stopped building the sculptures of them. The poor ponies really couldn't bare to go through such tyrannical nature, but because they had no magic to protect them, they were prone to accepting the pain and suffering they were encountering right now. So they had no choice but to worship and bow before Tirek and Cozy Glow as their new masters. Back in the pastures of the Equestrian countryside, Nathan and his new army were venturing through thick and thin trying to find a clue as to where they were, or where the elements of harmony could be recovered.
But, to no avail, they had no luck at all. They searched miles and miles from tree, to field, to rock, but no matter where they searched, the elements of harmony were nowhere to be found.
"Well this is just great!" exclaimed Tempest, "We have journeyed for 100 to almost 200 miles and still no sign of the elements!"
"Tempest, keep your heart at bay, we will find them." reassured Starswirl.
Stigyian agreed, "I must say he is right my dear Tempest, they are out there somewhere."
"After all, even we have the power of them within us as well." said Rockhoof.
"But we were the previous users of them as well before Celestia and Luna." reassured Somnambula.
"What difference does it make?!" snapped Tempest, "Those elements could be nowhere in Equestria, we may never have any hope of helping our friends!"
"But what about mah' family?!" Nathan asked in shock, "What about mah' friends?!"
"The only thing that matters is that we keep looking around until we find them." informed Starswirl.
"But we've searched for the past while!" said Tempest annoyed, she then turned to Nate, "Kid, I hate to tell you this, but I'm not so sure we are ever going to win this battle. Your friends and family may be doomed to fail for good."
Nathan then started shedding tears, "But....but Ah' thought you said we would work in this together!"
"We are, but I'm just not so sure how we can find the elements to help us." said Tempest.
Nathan then cried and took off into the sky, Starswirl then walked up to Tempest and angrily slapped her in the face. She then turned to see the pillars staring at her angered and disappointed that she would even say such negative and hurtful things to a poor 7 year old boy without even thinking about how much love he had to his friends and family and determination to save them from certain death.
"Tempest, ever since we began our journey, you have done nothing but whine and complain." replied Mistmane.
"And even after you said you would help Nathan and us find the elements!" snapped Flash Magnus.
Tempest was now stunned over what she had just said and tried to explain the reason, "But, I didn't realize....."
But Starswirl and the Pillars were having none of it. "Tempest, now because of your whiny attitude, we now have to find the elements and Nathan too!"
Tempest closed her eyes and hung her head low in shame, it was all her fault they were getting nowhere on finding their target.
Meanwhile back in the clouds again, Nathan sat crying over what Tempest said to him earlier. She clearly said to him that she would help him get those elements, but never did she say anything that would hurt him like that. The only thing he wanted was to save his family and friends from danger, he did know that God was watching and waiting to show His power to the two most evil though.
"Nathan, can you come down here please?" asked Tempest, Nathan looked down to see her looking very remorseful for her actions towards him, Starswirl with her, so Nate took this opportunity to fly back down to the ground and approach them still in tears, but willing to listen.
"Nathan, I'm sorry for being so doubtful towards this, it's just that, we've been searching for miles and we haven't gotten anywhere." Tempest said.
"Ah' know Tempest, but what you said to me really hurt." Nathan replied, suddenly, he was quickly caught off guard by something sparkling on top of a hill behind them.
"Nathan?" asked Starswirl.
"Nathan, why the sudden glare?" asked Tempest.
"Is something wrong lad?" asked Rockhoof.
But Nathan didn't answer any of them, instead, he flapped his wings to get a better far look at this glowing sparkling object that was shining ahead of him. He quickly looked down to his little posy.
"Everypony, look, something over there is glowing!" he exclaimed. Tempest and the others quickly turned to the direction he was pointing his finger at, while Somnambula, Flash Magnus, and Mage Meadowbrook flew up beside Nathan and quickly took notice of the glowing object themselves as well.
"Maybe it's just crystals." said Flash Magnus.
"Or maybe, it could be a lost piece of jewelry." affirmed Mage, but Nathan wasn't so sure, so he went further into the air.
"Nathan, where are you going?" asked Starswirl.
Nathan looked down onto Starswirl "To find out what that glowin' thing is." he then flew away from them slowly to hope they would cave in and follow him.
Tempest sighed, "Come on we better make sure he doesn't hurt himself." she said as she ran off following him. Pretty soon the pillars were now convinced that Nathan had suspected this glowing thing in the distance was something very powerful and useful.
As soon as they got to the top of the hill, Nathan landed and ran up to find a bag that the glowing was coming from. It was sealed up tight with a rope, so Nathan undid the rope and tossed it aside, then opened up the bag. But when he opened it, what he saw inside made him and the others gasp in surprise.
"It's...."
"It's...."
"The Elements of Harmony!" said Starswirl finishing the sentence.
"It would seem that they may have been removed from the tree, but they haven't lost their power thanks to their magic hidden away in them."
"I would've figured they would be closer than we thought." said Tempest.
As Nathan removed the elements for a better look, he was soon lifted up off the ground and then the elements circled around him to create a perimeter.
"W-W-What's happening?!" asked Nathan in sheer fear.
"The elements of harmony represent generosity, kindness, loyalty, honesty, laughter, and magic. It would appear that they have chosen you as a source to bring the Tree of Harmony back to life, because not only do they see that you represent all six of them, but also because of your faith in your God and perseverance in saving Equestria from the clutches of Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow!" exclaimed Starswirl as Nathan soon vanished into a light.
As Nathan felt himself being absorbed by the elements, they formed a necklace and attached themselves to his neck. Then he landed back to the ground and was now engulfed in a powerful light, like an angel, his wings then changed from bat to angel-like, for a temporary amount of time.
"Ah' don't understand, do Ah' really represent all six of the elements?" asked Nathan in an echoing voice.
"Yes lad." replied Rockhoof.
Just then, Nathan raised his hands and blasted his power at the others and they felt it absorb them with magical abilities of their own.
"Now the elements of harmony have begun their mission to restore the stolen power back to the rightful owners, and it starts with restoring the Tree of Harmony to its original place!" yelled Starswirl.
Just then, the magic inside them drew them away towards the direction that the Tree of Harmony's place stood so that they could restore its power and bring it back to life.
Nathan and the pillars, along with Tempest, had managed to locate the removed elements of harmony that Cozy Glow and Tirek had managed to throw aside and had hoped nopony or creature would dare find them. Luckily, the elements had managed to direct the heroes towards the location that the deceased Tree where it got its power to defeat all evil is. Nathan was the first one to approach the tree while the others followed behind, Tempest reached into the bag to retrieve the elements while Starswirl and the pillars quickly directed them to the exact branches (which were blown off) they had been locked on.
"And this branch is where the element of loyalty sits." informed Starswirl as Tempest and Nathan levitated the loyalty element back onto the branch that Starswirl was pointing his hoof at.
"And this is the last one, the element of magic, which goes onto the top."
Tempest and Nathan managed to put the magic element onto its position. And then thanks to the elements being put back in their correct places, a sudden flash of light developed by hidden magic that the elements kept from Cozy Glow and Tirek's evil clutches surrounded the area that the tree subsided and then they were all engulfed at the power of the light.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING???!!!" Nathan screamed as he shielded his eyes from the light.
"THE TREE OF HARMONY IS RESTORING ITS MAGIC TO ITSELF!!!!!!!!" Rockhoof yelled.
"NOW IT CHOOSES US FOR RESTORING MAGIC TO EQUESTRIA!!!!!!" screamed Tempest.
Suddenly the light of power from the tree engulfed the nine heroes and granted them all with a power far greater than anything they had ever experienced. And with that, the tree was back to its original self and the ponies with Nathan were now engulfed by magical abilities that could quickly take down Cozy Glow and Tirek for good!
"What do we do with this power?" asked Nathan.
"The power that the elements engulfed in us is something that deepens far beneath any magical power throughout the history of time." replied Somnambula.
"Therefore, we shall use this power for restoring everything back!" replied Flash Magnus and soon the power was fully in them and they soon flew up to get a good look of Equestria from the sky.
"Do y'all see where Canterlot is?" asked Nathan.
"It's that way!" yelled Mistmane as she pointed to the silhouetted skyline of Canterlot from the mountain it sat beside.
Starswirl and Nathan took a closer look and quickly felt that it wasn't looking good due to feeling the pain and suffering of the magicless ponies who were being tortured and forced to bow down to Tirek, while at the same time, attending to Cozy Glow's every need due to the fact that she was now Empress by force.
"This is horrible, I can feel their suffering." exclaimed Tempest.
"I can feel it too, we've got to go now and stop them for good." reassured Rockhoof.
"With help from us!" said the voice of Jesus out of nowhere, our heroes turned to see him with an entire army of fiery chariots and angels with flaming swords ready to attack.
"Thank you Lord." said Nathan.
"Now the Power of God really shares itself with the power of friendship within you Nathan." replied Jesus
"And together, WE SHALL DEFEAT THEM FOR GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Tempest and thus they all took off to end this terrible nightmare Tirek and Cozy Glow had brought upon Equestria.
Back in Canterlot, the young six and Zodiac were still chained in cuffs hanging on the ceiling, while Cozy Glow stared at a still tied up Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor as they stared at her with defeated looks. Tirek still sat on the throne of Celestia and Luna feasting off stolen magic from unicorns, Cozy Glow then pulled out a small stick that contained a stun gun like device and pressed it against Celestia's neck, resulting in her screaming in agony as the shock took its toll on her.
"And this is how revenge is served, with a...shocking side effect dish." she scoffed, she then gave an evil chuckle as she gave one to Luna.
"That's my side order, lightning cupcakes."
Cadance was next for one, and just like Celestia and Luna, she too screamed in pain.
"An electric milkshake of love, turned to lust!" said Cozy Glow, cackling at their cries of pain. But as she was about to give Shining Armor a shock, she felt someone spit on her, she growled in anger and turned to see who was the one that did it. She quickly flew up to see Gallus who had saliva dripping from his beak, she quickly guessed that it was him that did it and shocked him, causing him to scream in pain.
"HEY, LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Smolder, only to be punched in the face by her powerful hooves.
"NONE OF YOU ALL TALK UNLESS I SAY!!!!!!!!, EQUESTRIA IS MINE AND TIREK'S NOW, AND YOU ALL CAN'T STOP US!!!!" yelled Cozy glow, pointing her hoof towards Tirek, who had gotten up out of his throne and walked towards the student six.
"You have no right to tell us what to do!" exclaimed Ocellus.
"Yes we do, because we are in charge now you little shape-shifting insect!" Tirek exclaimed back, causing Ocellus to fall into tears.
"Don't you dare call my friends anything like that!" yelled Zodiac, Celestia heard this and gave a weak smile.
"That's my colt." she muttered.
Cozy Glow then gave Zodiac a jolt of her stun stick and he too yelled in pain, then she turned to a crowd of unicorns who were chained in neck collars in line for Tirek to absorb their magic, and shocked one unicorn who then fell to the ground in weakness, then faced the rest of them.
"All right, who's next?!" she asked raising her stun stick ready to give another one.
"YOU'RE NEXT COZY GLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled an all too familiar voice, Cozy Glow and Tirek then looked over to see none other than Nathan, who was flying and glowing with power given to him from the Tree of Harmony, he then landed into the room.
"THIS TIME YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!!!!!!!!!!"
"Whaa...how did...naaahhh!!!!" Cozy Glow shrieked in horror, she tried to shock him, but he was invincible.
"NATHAN!!!!!!!!!!!" everybody except Cozy Glow and Tirek said in happiness, they were surprised to see he wasn't dead.
"That's impossible!" Tirek shrieked, "No creature could possibly survive a manticore pit!"
"Well Ah' did, thanks to mah' faith in mah' God!"
"Don't start with me about your God!" said Tirek, but just as he was about to do something harmful to him, he was blasted back against the wall.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM TIREK!!!!!!!!!" yelled Starswirl as he and the pillars along with the army of fiery chariots and Jesus approached the room and landed as well. Suddenly, the doors that entered to the room burst open and in came Twilight and the other professors and they glared at Cozy Glow angrily.
"This time Cozy Glow, you've really done it!" said Twilight.
"That's it!" yelled Cozy Glow as she tried to zap Twilight with her stun stick, only to be blown back by fire from one of the fiery chariots.
"You shall never stand against the power of mah' Lord!" yelled Nathan as he swiped the stun stick out of her sight and tossed it aside.
Cozy Glow then tried to take a lunge at Twilight, only for Nathan to jump in her way.
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan screamed as he and Cozy Glow tumbled out onto the balcony and fell.
"NATHAN NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" screamed Cadance.
"COME BACK!!!!!!!" screamed Shining Armor, and everyone watched in horror as the two tumbled down into foggy cloudiness, but they were quick enough to apprehend Tirek and drain him of stolen magic.
Meanwhile, as they were falling, Cozy managed to get a grip on Nathan's neck to try and strangle him as they landed on the edge of a wall at the bottom. Nathan then heard an evil laugh, he turned to see Cozy Glow glowering at him evilly for she thought he would give up easily, but instead, Nathan glowered back at her with a blank angry stare.
"It's on!" said Cozy Glow as she stormed up to him, "Let's hope you have what it takes to fight me!"
"Let's dance Curly Top!" exclaimed Nathan, and then the attack had begun.
Nathan and Cozy Glow were now face to face, all alone on top a wall with clouds surrounding the entire structure. They both had battle stares at each other, Nathan fist popping his knuckles while Cozy Glow brushed her hooves on the solid brick foundation that they were on. Cozy Glow gave an evil grin while Nathan's eyes furrowed, he really wanted it to end, and end it there and now.
"It's over Nathan, I have dreamed of nothing else for years!" Cozy growled.
"No Cozy, it'll only be over for you and Tirek. Ah'm not going to take anymore of your abuse of power on me, mah' friends, or mah' family anymore!" assured Nathan as he started walking closer towards his battling companion, Cozy Glow doing the same like something out of a western film. The two of them close together as the wind blew through their hairy heads, Nathan clutched his fists while Cozy wielded her tasing device that she had used on the others earlier.
"Fight!" yelled Cozy Glow as she swung at him with her taser, but Nathan dodged it easily by taking off and landing behind her.
"Sorry Cozy, but yer' going to have to do better than that!" he informed. Cozy then gave a defiant sneer of wrath.
"Come here and get it!" she shouted going for another try, again no luck, because Nathan kicked her face in causing her to stumble backwards. Then she ran up and bucked him in his face and he too went backward and stumbled. This time she was able to give him a small shock from her taser, Nathan screamed in pain as she laughed evilly.
"Give it up Nathan Cadenza, it looks like I'll be winning again for good!" she exclaimed as she continued to zap him with the device.
"Say it Nathan, laugh it out, laugh at that I've won!"
Suddenly, she felt him kick her in the area that someone would pee out of, causing her to fall flat on her back. The impact also knocked the tasing device out of her grasp.
"Not quite!" exclaimed Nathan as the tasing device landed in his hand, now he had the power over her. Nathan then pinned her to the edge of the wall, and because he had a boot on, she was pinned down good due to the strong structure of the boots.
Cozy Glow then felt fear enter her eyes as Nathan started tasing her neck. Soon, her brig of cruel and wicked desires soon turned to dust as she felt the power being drained from her due to the power of the elements of harmony that Nathan had represented.
"AND NOW COZY GLOW, TIME FER' YOU TO LEARN SOMETHIN' IN RESPECTING YOUR SUPERIORS!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan screamed as he ripped off his shirt and tossed it aside, revealing biceps that would be unusual to see for a 7 year old kid, he also had on a cross necklace that symbolized his faith in God.
Cozy Glow tried to reason, "Nathan please don't!".
Nathan wasn't falling for it, he then picked up the tasing device and proceeded to electrocute her until she was completely zapped of her strength.
"Give it up Cozy, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed as he continued to zap her.
Finally, it had gotten so hard on her that she caved in, "OKAY OKAY, I SURRENDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What was that, Ah' didn't hear you quite clearly." he said as light filled around him from God's hand of protection.
"I GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cozy yelled from her pain. That's when Nathan grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall.
"You are darn right to give up, cause this is the final moment for you!" he exclaimed as he threw her aside causing her to lose her balance and fall off into the clouds below. When Nathan watched her fall, he humphed and proceeded to walk away in defeat, he soon turned to see that she had flown back up with an evil grin on her face. She was proving that she was not giving up.
Nathan flew up and tried once more to tase her, but this time Cozy managed to knock the device out of his hand and it fell deep into the cloudy abyss below never to be seen again. Cozy then chuckled wickedly.
"Once again, you fell for one of my lies. Now you shall understand the full way of what happens when I don't get what I want." she said, Nathan quickly got confused yet angered that he was duped into getting off her.
"Cozy Glow, what is the matter with you?!" he asked in anger while raising a fist at the same time. Yet, as he was just about to take a swing at her and try to knock her out, Cozy rapidly pulled out a small canister that looked like one to hold a balm of lipstick, she then pointed it at Nathan and kept her evil grin on her. Nate could sense that whatever bad thing he was about to go through when he was in the manticore pit had a part two in it.
"Wait, Cozy we can discuss this!" Nathan tried to plea, but it was too late. Cozy Glow pushed a teeny tiny button that was hidden on the black bottom part of the canister.
"Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep." she echoed evilly as the top of the canister opened to reveal a white puffy like substance. The substance then blew all over Nathan's face.
"Wait, Cozy....we....can......." but he soon felt rather dizzy and the world around him began to spin, "........talk........" and then he fell asleep quicker than a typical bedtime sleep would do. But this was no ordinary sleep, the substance Cozy has sprayed in his face was none other than a typical dose of knock out gas. Nathan then fell off the wall and was about to go into the abyss when Cozy jumped off the wall herself and took after him, catching him just in time and cradling him in her forehooves like a little baby.
She then gave a wicked laugh, "You're lucky Nathan, because soon you'll find out who I really am." she said with a rather different voice. She then took off into the blood red skies over Equestria with Nathan's motionless body, hoping she could get him once again.
The echoing voices from beyond grew around as the wind from above blew through the unknown location of which it was at. Through first person, Nathan's blackness due to being asleep from the knock out gas that Cozy blew on his face began to fade away as he slowly opened his eyes to reveal blurred light shining over his head. As his vision was now in full clear view, he could see that this light was a lamp light over his face, it was so bright and so shiny that he could feel it stinging his skin. Suddenly, the light turned off and on turned smaller lights, he tried to move but couldn't, he looked over to see that his wrists were cuffed then looked to his ankles and saw that they were cuffed as well, plus his boots and socks had been removed somehow. But then it hit him, he was on a restraining bed of some sort and the restraining cuffs on his wrists and ankles were tight and locked in place so he couldn't escape.
"Why did it come to this Nathan?" asked a voice from the shadows, Nathan turned to see two eyes in the dark staring at him. Then without warning, coming into full view of the eyes was none other than Cozy Glow who approached him slowly but calmly. But she was now wearing what appeared to be a maid outfit.
"Uh, Cozy, why are you dressed like that?" Nathan asked.
"To be more attractive to you, my dear." she said.
Nathan was puzzled, "Attractive, what are you talkin' about?"
"Because I'll have you know, my name is not Cozy Glow." she said as she got on top of Nathan.
"Well, then what is your name?" Nathan asked nervously as the fraud filly stroked her hoof on his cheek in a seductive manner. She then got off of him and activated a hidden switch on her, and an aura glow soon consumed her whole body. Suddenly, the filly's pony form melted way and a newer but different form soon took in shape, Nathan closed his eyes so that the light wouldn't burn. Once the light faded, the body of a human girl with the same hairstyle as the filly's was now in full view. This new human girl stared at Nathan evilly as he was mouth agape in terror yet anger over this girl he saw.
"Hello Nathan, remember me?" the girl asked in a new voice.
"Well well, if it ain't Clarissa Garrison, Ah' should've known you were the real cause of all this mess!" said Nathan very upset.
Clarissa giggled, "Oh Nate, come on, there's no need to be mean to me. Not after the special care I put in for you."
Nathan was flabbergasted, "Special care, that's what you call throwing me in a manticore pit, holding mah' friends and family hostage, stealing magic, spraying gas in mah' face and RESTRAININ' ME ON THIS BED!?!"
"Had to Nate, otherwise I would not have the power to reek my vengeance on all who defeated me." Clarissa said.
"Well, what in tarnation did Ah' have to do with it?!"
Clarissa laughed again, "I had to see to it that when you were all alone for once in the past while, that you would be too weak and defenseless to help your foolish friends."
"Well Ah've got something to say to you Clare, they probably know what you did to me, so they're obviously gonna find me. And when they do, they're gonna be on you like a pack of ravening wolves!"
"Yeah, just like you said to me when Ms. Fanning fell for the lie I made about having two cookies instead of one after dinner."
"Ha, that was just the beginnin' of our troubles!" snapped Nathan. Clarissa showed a very aggressive expression flashing back to a night she dreaded would be back to haunt her and make her even more vengeful.
"Oh, you mean the night Ms. Fanning and Ms. Brown threw me out of the orphanage and ruined my life by making me homeless?!"
"You brought that on yourself Clarissa." Nathan said as he managed to break free of his restraints and confronted her.
"Yer' the one that decided to go into the orphanage's safe and steal half of that money to buy toys for yourself, even though you knew it was against the rules to do that." Nathan scolded, "And to be honest, you didn't even need all that stuff, so why blame everyone but yourself for your own screw ups?!"
Clarissa slapped Nathan in the face after he said that out of offense, "Because Nathan, everything is to go my way, and you already know what happens when I don't get my way!"
"Well Ah've got somethin' to say to you!" Nathan said as he slapped her back, "Don't think Ah' haven't forgotten the time that you even tried to touch me inappropriately. Ah' never liked you Clare, you always had an ugly look of disappointment to me, and Ah' figured all of this was just to get revenge on not only me and the orphanage for turnin' you down, but on everyone who put you in this stage."
"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" said Clarissa in a sarcastic tone. She then picked Nathan up and put him back on the restraining table, managing to fix the restraints to where he wouldn't dare try to break free of them again. Once she successfully had him restrained again, she then kissed him on the cheek to try and sedate him.
"How does that feel?" she asked in a manipulative voice.
"Disgusting!" Nathan said, staying true.
"Oh come on Nate, you can be really sure I am just as beautiful as Applebloom." this phrase made him gag, which made her laugh.
"Give it up Nathan," Clarissa said as she continued her sedative torture on him, "Be mine forever!"
"Forget it!" Nathan snapped, but Clarissa just continued on with her sedation towards him, doing whatever it took to get him to be hers. Not only to try and get him to dump Applebloom and be her boyfriend, but also to try and lure him into joining her into taking over Equestria forever!
"Well how about here?" she asked as she put her gross lips on his and kissed him again. Again, Nathan wouldn't cave.
The main cast had managed to apprehend Tirek, weaken him again, and have him well guarded in the room. But now they had to find out where low enough Nathan and Cozy Glow (Clarissa) fell, so Celestia and Luna sent out four Pegasi guards to fly out into the clouded area in which they had fallen into to start a search party in hopes of finding him. But they had no luck and this made every pony and creature very worried, because since that area was covered in clouds, they would've fallen to their deaths! Oh no, what would happen now?!
"We're sorry Princess Cadance, we've searched high and low in between the walls." said one guard.
"We even went as deep as the abyss." replied another.
Cadance groaned, "But, we can't give up, I know he's out there!"
Shining Armor was also getting saddened over this, "This isn't right, he nor Cozy would ever go down into the abyss. They can both fly!"
"Well, maybe they lost their ability to fly back up." replied a guard.
"That's not possible!" yelled Smolder, "No creature with wings would lose any flight abilities."
"Nor would they even have the audacity to fall deep." agreed Gallus.
"Maybe they just got lost." thought Ocellus.
"We cannot lose hope." reassured Twilight, "I know they are out there."
Suddenly, without warning, a ball of light formed in front of them and out of this ball of light popped a scroll. The scroll then dropped to the floor and the light faded off.
"Now where did that come from?" asked Rainbow.
"Weird, usually I'm the one to send all the scrolls." said Spike as he picked the scroll up.
"Who's it from?" asked Cadance.
Spike gasped in horror at what he was reading, "It's gotten even worse now!"
"What, what does it say?!" shrieked Shining Armor, Spike furrowed his eyes and started reading.
"To the pathetic ponies who have managed to win over me for the third time.......
"I have your foolish human child friend under my custody as prisoner or hostage as I call it. He shall remain in my watch and be tortured by me unless you surrender and give up your magic for good. I will tell you where we are, let's just say I am located in the deepest caves of the Badlands where most of the manticore population thrive. Caves that are far worse than the wretched cave prisons of Tartarus that you threw me in. "But what cave you may ask, I will not answer for you will have to embark on a great journey to come and find me and the fool Nathan. So again, either give up your magic for good, or lose sight of Nathan forever."
"What's it going to be?!" "Your worst enemy, Cozy Glow!"
That's when Spike angrily burned the letter with his flame breath while the others stood there in complete shock and anger. The student seven were completely appalled while complete detestable expressions developed on the entire main ponies, whilst Shining Armor and Cadance furrowed in terror. Their son was being held hostage in the Badlands for magical ransom!
Zodiac's face boiled as red as a pepper while grinding his teeth, "Oh....that....that....RAPSCALLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Why, when I get my claws on her.....!!!!!!!!!!" snarled Smolder as she snorted fire.
"She is so going to pay for this!" shouted Shining Armor.
"MY BABY!!!!!!!!" screamed Cadance.
"Well come on, we can't just stand here!" informed Gallus.
"Gallus is right." said Sandbar, "We'd better buck up and get out there pronto!"
"Then let us waste no time!" informed Luna.
However, Ocellus being the shy one she usually was, was not no sure, "You know, um, maybe one of us should stay here in case he comes unharmed."
"Oh no Ocellus this is an intervening mission, we all have to go!" ordered Spike.
"I tell you before you creatures depart, that I know what area they are in." answered Jesus.
"Where?" asked Ocellus.
"Go deep into the canyons of the badlands, there are a series of caverns on the left end of a fork on a road you will walk upon. You will then hear cries of torture coming from the right side of the third cave on the center right, you will then find him lying restrained on a stone table in a cage. I will be back in heaven watching and guiding you all."
"Thank you Lord." informed Starswirl, and Jesus floated back up into the heavens. This now left the main group to ponder.
"Can we trust him?" asked Tempest.
Rockhoof put a hoof on her, "He is the Son of Nathan's God, remember how he told us that God knows everything and is always watching?"
Tempest pounded herself, "Oh yeah."
"Well, we can't just stand here, let's go now!" said Rainbow Dash.
"Yes, we all must leave now!" said Shining Armor, "Who knows what trouble he's in. Guards, take Tirek into the dungeons below the city and keep him restrained, make sure he's outnumbered and down if he dares escape!"
"Yes captain, you must leave now." said a guard as he and the other guards took Tirek out while the cast left for the badlands.
"NO, CLARISSA, STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan screamed as Clarissa continued her kissing torture on him. On the other hand, Clarissa still wouldn't stop and giggled evilly, "Don't you see Nathan, I have proven for good that you are nothing more than a weak-minded fool. That nobody would dare to come and see that you care about them, that you are easily distracted by attractions to lovely girls like me."
"For the last time, YOU AIN'T LOVELY!!!!!!!" Nathan shrieked.
"Well fine, then I guess you've left me no choice pumpkin." said Clarissa as she took out a gold coin attached to a string. Nathan didn't even know what she would do with something weird like that, but he knew it would be terrifying.
"Wha...What are you doing?!" Nathan asked in fear. Suddenly, Clarissa started waving this device back and forth in his face.
"Look at the pretty coin of gold, and you will do as you are told." Clarissa said as the gold coin shimmered in Nathan's eyes, soon it went bad. His face sparkled and his eyes turned from blue to a dark orange as they stared widely into the coin of gold.
"There is a girl for you to meet, her name is Clarissa Garrison, she's really sweet."
"Clarissa is sweet." said Nathan as this thing started developing in him.
"She wants to rule Equestria with care, and she wants that ruling with someone to share."
"She wants to rule Equestria with care." said Nathan.
"She wants to rule it with you Nathan Cadenza."
"She wants to rule it with me."
"Because I love him." Clarissa said as her evilness built up.
"Because she loves me." Nathan said. Clarissa then laughed.
"HAHAHA!!!!!!, NOW WITH NATHAN AS MY ASSISTANT IN DOMINATION, NOPONY WILL STOP US NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said as she started cackling evilly.
"Yes!" Nathan said as Clarissa undid his restraints for he was now brainwashed and hypnotized, "World domination of magic." he then gave an evil smile of his own.
"With mah' new galfriend Clarissa, WE SHALL RULE EQUESTRIA FOREVER EMPEROR AND EMPRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and thus they both started cackling evilly as their shadows were seen.
The mane six, student seven, princesses, and the pillars were on the peak of Equestria and now found themselves right in the center of the Badlands where Jesus said they would find Nathan and Cozy Glow (Clarissa Garrison). While they knew God was watching, they didn't know what they were about to experience once they got to the cave that Cozy and Nathan were in. As they walked through the Badlands, the eerie fog and misty view echoed with all kinds of scary sounds: low growling of hidden creatures, rocks crackling and falling from cliffs, gurgling from mud puddles and quicksand pits, but none of that was of any concern to them.
"Oh I just hope that Jesus guy knew what he was talking about." reprimanded Flash Magnus.
Starswirl popped him, "Flash, He is the Son of the God of Earth, of course He knows. Don't ever say anything foolish like that."
"We can put our faith in Him." said Celestia, suddenly, just above them, they saw a flock of white doves hover and cooing at them.
"That's uncanny." said Ocellus.
"Where did those come from?" asked Gallus.
"And why are they in a flock?" asked Sandbar.
"These doves will guide you to Nathan." said a voice from nowhere.
"Who said that?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"It is I, the Lord God of all creation, the one who made the whole universe."
"Where are you?!" yelled Tempest.
"I am speaking with you in spirit, I have seen what has happened to your world and sent My Son to guide you. Now that He is with Me in Heaven again, I have sent these doves as your guide to Nathan, now follow, for they know where he is. I will remain with you in heart and help as well." said God. "But keep close caution, for the evil one that took him will have him in full power."
"Thank you Lord." said Celestia, knowing that what He said was true. The doves slowly floated with their wings as the whole crew followed along.
"What did He mean when He said Cozy Glow will have Nathan in power?" asked Starswirl.
"I don't know, but we've got to hurry!" declared Cadance as the doves picked up flight speed with the crew following behind.
"I just hope we're not too late!" exclaimed Ocellus.
...Meanwhile, back in the dungeon caves...
"Oh yeah Clarissa, that feels so good!" shrieked a now hypnotized Nathan as Clarissa now had him glomped in her arms like a koala bear.
"Now Nathan, doesn't it do good that soon we will have Equestria under our control?" she asked.
"Yes mah' love, it will. Soon make a perfect dating spot as we watch those pathetic ponies become our slaves!" answered Nathan as he nuzzled his head on her chest. Clarissa couldn't be even more happier to now have the boy she was obsessed with under her full control now.
"Well pumpkin, it's late, let us rest. For tomorrow, we rule!" shouted Clare.
"Yes, my dear." Nathan said as they cuddled up by a rock and fell asleep. Back outside in the cavern roads, our group of heroes were following the flock of white doves that God had sent down to guide them. The pathway towards the cave Jesus told them would be was getting denser and more trickier to follow, the fog was becoming more and more thick, mist started dissolving on their faces and eyes making it difficult to even see, and the smells of disgusting chemicals and liquids got stronger.
"Maybe we should go back and hope for the best." said Ocellus, only to be popped by Sandbar.
"Ocellus, stop being ridiculous!" he said.
"We cannot just be cowards!" exclaimed Gallus, suddenly they bumped into the rest of the group who seemed to have stopped all of a sudden.
"What the...." They had soon found themselves in front of a large cave, and the white doves were flocking right in front of it, cooing in a way of telling them that this cave would lead them straight to Nathan and Cozy Glow. The group could've not been more impressed with the God of the human world, they were now putting trust in Him with Celestia kneeling before the doves, soon the rest of the group bowed.
"Thank you Lord for bringing us here, if you would answer our prayer and have these doves guide us to Nathan?" asked Celestia.
"Yes, Princess Celestia." God answered, and thus the doves slowly flew in and cooed.
"Wow, I can't believe it!" said Smolder.
"Nathan's God really does know how to help." replied Starswirl.
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's follow those doves." said Tempest, and they ran right into the cave
"Just hold on sweetie." thought Cadance "Mommy's almost there!"
Back in the dark part of the cave, Clarissa had her hypnotized "boyfriend" wrapped around her arm, and were both fast asleep. What Clare didn't understand though was that the massive group she had imprisoned managed to break free from their restraints and were on their way into this cave they were in.
Clarissa chuckled evilly, "Once those fools are in my grasp, Equestria will be seeing a new ruler with her sidekick. Isn't that right my pet?"
Nathan laughed evilly too, "Yes sweet treat, soon everypony will bow before us!"
But before they could do anything, the sudden sound of rapid running hoofsteps heading their direction. Clarissa looked up and saw silhouetted figures running downward, along with birds flocking beside them. She quickly activated the belt that she had on and turned herself back into a pony.
"COZY GLOW, SHOW YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yelled an all to familiar voice, Cozy Glow gave and evil smile and quickly flew up leaving Nathan with bundles of rope to tie them up with. When she finally was in full view, the group of angry ponies and students glaring on her.
"Hello my slaves, I take it you want Nathan back." she said in a rather sarcastic tone.
"Naw, really!" scowled Smolder.
"What have you done to him!" demanded Shining Armor.
"Release him now, you little monster!" ordered Starswirl the Bearded, "Or face the wrath of the God of the Earth!"
Instead of complying, Cozy turned over her head, "Oh my sweet cake?!" she yelled. Out of the shadows came Nathan showing an evil grin.
"Nathan?!" asked Applebloom, suddenly, Nathan managed to beat them all up thanks to power that Cozy Glow gave him. Before long they were gagged and tied up.
"Thanks Nathan." Cozy Glow said.
"You're welcome, my love." Nathan said.
"My love?!" Applebloom exclaimed in shock, she then turned her anger to Cozy Glow because she knew that Nathan wouldn't ever really mean anything to it.
"What have ya' done to mah' boyfriend?!!!!!" she yelled.
Cozy Glow cackled, "Let's say I've kept Bate Nate here pretty busy throughout your bogus journey here to save him. But you all can forget about doing anything to help him at all, because he's under my control now and there's nothing you all can do about it!"
"You will pay for this Cozy Glow, we will find a way to reverse what you've created!" said Cadance.
"I warn you Cozy, you will get what comes to you!" said Shining Armor.
"SHUT UP YA' FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled a hypnotized Nathan as he zapped them with the taser device that Cozy Glow gave him.
Celestia and Luna gasped in horror at what they were seeing.
"Now if you all don't mind, my boyfriend and I have some domination schemes to attend to." said Cozy Glow as she took her enslaved human friend back into the shadows, leaving behind tied up ponies and students.
"What are we going to do now!?!" yelled Gallus.
"Those doves led us into a trap!" shrieked Smolder.
"I knew trusting that God of Nathan's wasn't a good idea." informed Tempest.
"Come on guys, God did lead us into the right cave where Nathan would be. I think He's letting us devise a plan." said Twilight.
The mane six, princess, student six, and the pillars had managed to free themselves from the rope that Cozy Glow had tied them in. Now they were on the verge of planning a strategy to free Nathan from her evil spell and stop her from causing anymore trouble. Anyway here they were freed and were now in a huddle to whisper the strategy
"Okay, here's the plan; Celestia and Luna, you trick Cozy Glow into thinking that you all have given up and surrendered, that way, it'll make her get rid of that shocking device for good." Said Twilight. "Once it's gone, Gallus and Stgygian will pin her to the rock over there while me and Starswirl manage to undo Nathan of the dark spell he is under."
"Who's in?!" screamed Sandbar
"All of us!" every creature cheered, then they journeyed down to capture Cozy and free Nathan. Meanwhile, Cozy Glow (Clarissa) and Nathan were at the very bottom of the cave asleep once again, hoping that she would get him to permanently be brainwashed, she kept him close by. However, unknown to her, Nathan was actually pretending to be brainwashed and hypnotized as part of a secret plan to trap her because he knew that the others would be planning a course of action to have her captured for good.
"Mmm, world domination is all ours in the morning." said Cozy in her sleep.
"Yes, mah' love." Nathan said in his pretending tone, while faking to be asleep.
Back in the mid parts of the caves, the mane six, princesses, student six, and the pillars could now feel that they were close. So Starswirl and Celestia beamed up a guiding light that shown on the flock of doves that God had sent down to help them with their guidance.
"It would seem that those doves know better about believers than anything I've seen." said Starswirl, that's when the doves landed and cooed at the sight of a very deep dark cavern.
"You may have a point there Starswirl." said Shining Armor, "The doves are properly trained by Nathan's God, they know how to lead us."
"Well come on, let's follow them, it would appear they have a plan of their own for us." said Stygian.
"And fast, we may be too late, if anything!" informed Cadance with a worried expression.
"Come on y'all!" screamed Applejack and they all went off into the deepest parts of the caves.
While Cozy Glow was asleep, Nathan woke up to stare at the dark cave roofs that surrounded him, and with a sly smirk on his face. His secret plan of trapping his so-called "girlfriend" and bringing her into some real justice, even though he was just a kid, he was brave and was not going to let her win.
"One time is enough." "But one guy is tough." "When he helps with scum." "It's a dish that's a whole lot a yum!"
"Nathan dear, are you reciting that poem I used?" asked Cozy.
"Yes, sweet cakes." answered Nathan, Cozy then kissed him on his lips. As soon as they went back to sleep, the coo of a dove could be heard right above them. Cozy opened her eyes and looked to see the dove hovering over her and cooing furiously. She then growled in anger because she was getting really irritated at being followed and harassed by the heroes that had followed her ever since she plotted this whole act of revenge.
"That's it, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME WIN!!!???!!!" she screamed as she flew up and tried to overpower the dove, this woke Nathan.
"Wha....Hey Cozy no!!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled.
"Go back to sleep baby, I've got this." she demanded, only to suddenly be surrounded by a whole flock of the white creatures.
"NOT SO FAST COZY GLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed an all too familiar voice, Cozy gasped in shock to see the heroic ponies approaching her angrily yet cautiously.
"How did you all escape?!" she asked in fury, "And make it snappy!"
"Yeah, how did you all escape?" asked Nathan as he awoke again and stood beside Cozy Glow.
"Cozy Glow, you should know by now that friendship always wins at the most impossible moments." reminded Twilight.
"It's time for you to give up now Cozy Glow, you are outnumbered." said Starswirl.
"Tirek is already imprisoned with the guards, and the Tree of Harmony has been restored!" said Tempest.
"It's time for you either surrender or fall, now what's it gonna be?!" warned Cadance. Instead of cooperating, Cozy (Clarissa) just cackled and held up the tasing device at their device.
"Forget it, you may have defeated my plans of domination, but I still have Nathan under my control. So I still have an easy shot, right sweetie?!" she asked drenched in sweat from all the chasing and fighting.
"Oh yes, mah' dear!" Nathan said "Taking over Equestria will still be easy as one, two.....THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he said as he quickly turned, and like a karate move, he kicked her in the snout and she flew across hitting a wall and falling. The tasing device she had in her hoof slipped out of her grasp and then broke in half before falling into the abyss below.
"GET HER!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Nathan as the main group quickly subdued her before she even had a chance of getting away.
"But, but how?! I had you under my control, I know I did!!!!!!!!!" Cozy (Clarissa) whined.
Nathan gave a triumphant chuckle, "You honestly thought Ah' was hypnotized?!"
"But Nathan, why?!, we saw your eyes were yellow, those eye colors are usually the ones that exist when one is under a spell." said Starswirl.
"Mah' eye color changes every now and then."
"But still, why were you doing all that you did to us earlier?" asked Smolder.
"Ah was pretendin' so she'd let her guard down." answered Nathan, "Ah' was never hypnotized, Ah' just wanted Cozy Glow to think Ah' was. Because Ah' knew that y'all would be comin' here to rescue me, so Ah' played along in order to lure her into this trap."
"But I used the..." Cozy was interrupted by Nathan.
"Oh that hypno-coin you thought you had, well it's right here Sweet Cakes." said Nathan as he pulled out a gold coin which had a hole in it. He had secretly switched it while she was asleep.
"What did you use, a Rolo's wrapper." he said, in a panic, Cozy immediately saw the wrapper was tied to the string instead of the coin.
"Mmmmm, I blame Tirek for all this, I can certainly blame you too. It's my word against yours." that's when Apple Bloom interfered and stood by Nathan, for she knew he was not under a spell.
"Actually," Apple Bloom pulled out a tape recorder, (RECORDING"Mmm, world domination is all ours in the morning.")
"It's your word against yours." she said.
"It's called a hustle sweetheart, boom!" replied Nathan.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do, Cozy Glow!" said Celestia, Cozy Glow growled in anger.
"Yeah, tell 'em. Tell 'em how your name ain't Cozy Glow and how you AIN'T NO PONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan yelled, this suddenly puzzled everyone.
"Nathan, what are you talking about dear?" asked Cadance.
"Mom, she ain't a pony, she's a human like me!"
"But that's impossible." said Cozy Glow.
"Don't play dumb with me Clarissa!" growled Nathan.
Now everyone was more confused.
"Clarissa?" asked Gallus. "Cozy" managed to see this as one final opportunity and broke free of her captures grasp. She tried to flee, but Nathan quickly got a hold of her and pinned her to the ground. Then he lifted her fur up to show them part of the belt that she was using for her shape shifting disguise.
"Nathan NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" she screamed, but it was too late. Nathan turned the knob on the front of the belt and her pony shape started shifting as she screamed in defeat. Soon her full real self was now in view of them all, and they gasped in horror at the fact that not only was he telling the truth, but also they had been duped.
"Ya see what Ah' mean, her name is Clarissa Garrison. She was an orphan like me and a part of mah' orphanage!"
"Nathan, how did you even manage to overpower me this time?!" asked Clarissa.
"Ah'll explain that to you back in Dallas. Come on, Celestia said you have a lot of explaining to do..........to them and Governor Abbott. You are going to be spending the rest of your life behind bars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" said Nathan as he tied her wrists and kept her in tow as the others followed.
Nathan had managed to trick and defeat Clarissa into giving up since he had managed to get her outnumbered, now he had her restrained in ropes on her wrists and was carrying her in tow. The others were really impressed at how good Nathan was at his faking of being in a trance and could now see that he represented every single element of harmony that Starswirl said he had represented. Now all that was left to do was deal with Clarissa as they were en route back to Canterlot. Their journey was soon cut short when the sudden sound of whinnying and wings flapping. Every creature looked up to see tons of royal guards flying towards them and landing with spears in their hooves.
"Guards." said Princess Celestia.
"Your highness, we sensed that something was not right, so we came out here to see what happened."
"We felt the tremors of an electrical current vibrate from this location too!"
"Are you all alright?"
"We are fine, but we did manage to catch Cozy Glow, or we thought was her name." said Shining Armor.
"What are you talking about captain?" asked a guard.
"Nathan dear, show them." said Cadance, that's when Nathan walked up to the guards to show them Clarissa in her full form, they were just as surprised to see this girl resemble a strong look to Nathan since she was a human like him.
"Guards, this is Clarissa Garrison. She was a former orphan at mah' old orphanage!" he growled.
"She looks like Cozy Glow in a different way." said a guard.
"Well her name ain't Cozy Glow, she was playing y'all for a sap by usin' this!" he said, as he showed them the belt that she had on that transformed her into her pony form.
"What's this strange device?" asked a guard.
"A shape shifting belt, one that she obviously stole!" Nathan answered through clenched teeth as he yanked her closer to him.
"From where?!"
"We'll find that out eventually!" said Gallus.
"In the meantime, we need to get this little freak out of here!" said Smolder.
"Oh don't worry y'all, Ah' know someone in Dallas who will take care of her!" said Nathan, Clarissa gulped in fear for she knew who he was referring to.
SCENE TRANSITION
At the Dallas Police Headquarters, dozens of officers were on the telephone reporting crimes to other precincts when they heard the front doors open and in came Nathan with Clarissa still in his grasp.
"Hey kid, what are you doing here?" asked an officer.
"Well does this gal' answer your question?!" he asked back tugging Clare in their full view. That's when one officer, who was the father of Luke which was one of Nathan's friends quickly stepped up and recognized her.
"Clarissa Garrison!" he said.
"Wait a minute, is she that girl that was on the news for breaking into that lab and stole that shape shifting belt?!" one officer asked.
"Yes, she was also reported for robbing the Lone Star Orphanage."
"Ya know that's right!" said Nathan.
"That's a lie, I never did such a thing." said Clarissa trying to use her trickery to fool the police. But nobody was buying it!
"Don't you lie to us Clare!" said Nathan, "Everyone in this whole station knows what you did. You are nothing more than a filthy liar, a jerk, a disgrace to everyone!" what nobody even knew was that somehow Lucy and Amber from the orphanage had arrived after having a feeling that something bad had happened.
"Clarissa!?!" that's when Nathan and the others quickly took notice at the main entrance.
"Clarissa Garrison, how could you?!" asked Amber.
"Because you threw me out of the orphanage!" scowled Clare.
"Well you should've known better than to steal money from our accounts." reprimanded Lucy.
"And not to mention the fact at how many times you tried to lure Nathan into doing it for you!" said another familiar voice. It was Kyle, Luke was right with him, soon all the other kids who were in the orphanage at the time had joined in the surrounding group as well and cornering Clarissa into a ball.
"Kyle, Luke!" Nate said with an excited tone, he went up and hugged them.
"Y'all had that same feelin' too?!" he asked.
"Yes Nathan, we rallied up all the kids who had witnessed what had happened." said Luke.
"We all knew that you'd be defeating the true one responsible." joined in Kyle.
"Thanks guys." Nathan said, he then went over and dragged Clarissa with him up to the front desk.
"Clarissa Garrison, you are under arrest!" said one police officer who quickly removed the ropes from her wrists. He then put her hands behind her back and placed her in handcuffs.
"Young lady, you have a lot of explaining to do. The police, the judge......."
"And like Ah' said earlier, Governor Abbott!!!!!!!!!!!" Nathan yelled, "You monster!"
Clarissa growled and kicked Nathan so hard that he stumbled backwards and fell flat back onto the floor, making everyone gasp in horror. They now knew her true nature and that she was now having no chance of ever being adopted, as for the police.......
"That's it, get that little creep locked up right now!" said an officer, Clarissa tried to pull the same stunt on the cops, but was quickly tasered and carried away by the police in shackles and restraints due to her dangerous actions. As she was being carried away, Kyle and Luke went over to Nathan and helped him up.
"Ah'm all right." he said with a grunt as they got him back up on his feet, Nathan then went over to Luke's father who was the police chief.
"Officer Welder?" he asked.
"Dad?" asked Kyle, "I had no idea you would be here today."
"Yes Kyle." said Mr. Welder as he turned his attention back to Nathan, "Anyway, what is it Nathan?"
"Can you come back with me to Equestria? The co-rulers there want to talk with you about Clarissa." he said.
"Of course I'll come, let's go." he said as he picked up Nathan and they walked over to the garage that contained parked police cars.
Chapter 15: Clarissa Will Not Bother You Anymore/Temporary Vanish!
Nathan had managed to convince John Welder, who was the chief of the Dallas Police, to come with him to Equestria. Not only him, but Kyle and Luke who had followed him in the orphanage's van back to the only place where the portal to Equestria could be activated, the orphanage itself. Once they got there, Nathan got out of the squad car with officer Welder right on him and the whole orphanage with him as well. Nathan then activated the portal through the watch device he carried on his wrist.
"All right, Ah'll need y'all to hold on tight, this is gonna be a fast ride." he said as the portal sucked all of them in, as they were going through the portal, Nathan felt his wings forming as they got closer to the end.
Once they reached the end of the portal, Kyle and Luke were amazed at Nathan's wings. They never would've thought humans could actually fly, even officer Welder was amazed by this.
"Wow, Nathan, I never thought you would have wings!" said Luke baffled.
"Yes, y'all, Ah' have wings when Ah'm here in Equestria. When I'm with y'all, Ah'm just a regular boy."
"We want wings too!" said Luke.
"Hey, hey, hey." said officer Welder, quickly breaking up the boy's quarrel, "That's not important now, the only thing that matters is that Nathan has brought us here so that the creatures here can get more info about Clarissa."
"Besides, there might be something good coming out of this." said Kyle.
"Maybe we'll all get a reward for this." said Luke.
"Well we'll just have to see when we get in." said Nathan as they walked into the castle of the Crystal Empire. Unbeknownst to them, a bunch of ponies had saw them enter through and were amazed that Nathan had managed to bring more of his kind back with him. Meanwhile, Nathan and the others managed to enter the throne room and were mesmerized at how it looked.
"Wow, it's so shiny." said Luke.
"And beautiful." said Kyle.
"That's why it's called the Crystal Empire." reminded Nathan, suddenly they were approached by two crystal guards, they approached Officer Welder with a tray.
"Sir, you have weapons on you, I'm afraid you are going to have to put them on this tray." the guard said.
Welder was rather surprised as seeing talking ponies in royal armor, "I must've hit my head really hard, I'm seeing talking ponies."
"Yes, and we ask again that you put your weapons on this tray please."
"Sorry, I am an officer of the law, I have to keep these on me at all times to uphold the law." ordered Officer Welder, the guards quickly understood that he was just like a guard and quickly put down the tray.
"Very well then, carry on." they said, and they let Welder and the others pass through. Once they reached the throne room door, Nathan walked up and opened the doors and in they walked to reveal the four alicorn princesses and everyone else waiting for them.
"Now I know for sure that I'm really cracking up." said Kyle.
"Kyle shush." said Nathan as he approached them.
"Everyone Ah'd like y'all to meet Officer John Welder of the Dallas Police, Ah've also brought two of mah' old friends from mah' orphanage. Kyle Welder, his son, and Luke Miller. Guys, these are mah' parents Princess Cadance and Shining Armor."
Nathan then continued on introducing, "This is Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the co-rulers of Equestria, there is mah' Aunt Princess Twilight Sparkle, that's Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike. Those three fillies are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and the rest there are students from the School of Friendship, that's Yona, Sandbar, Gallus, Silverstream, Ocellus, and Smolder."
"Wow, that's going to be a lot of names to remember." said Luke.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Said Princess Celestia with a smile.
Princess Luna gave a smile of her own, "Thanks for bringing your Law's chief Nathan."
Officer Welder was now even more surprised, this whole place was full of creatures he had seen in movies and read in books, but he never would've imagined actually seeing them right in front of his eyes. But he chose to keep calm and stuck with answering anything these ponies had to ask, Luke and Kyle were pretty stunned as well.
"Anyway, we wanted to talk to you about Clarissa." said Cadance.
"Yeah, who was she?" asked Shining Armor.
"Well, we managed to set things right around for you all and um, she won't be bothering you all anymore." said Officer Welder.
"What did you do, turn her to stone?" asked Ocellus.
"Better, we're putting her in a much more well guarded prison."
"Serious?" asked Smolder.
"Well we recognized her, she used to operate back in Dallas. And uh, she fled town when we put a warrant out on her."
"What evil did she bring on your world?" asked Celestia.
Officer Welder pulled out a bulletin that had pictures of her and a list of crimes, "Armed robbery, sexual harassment, plus one count of theft of government property for stealing that experimental belt from the testing lab of the United States Department of Weaponry."
"Yeah." interfered Kyle, showing them a picture of the belt, "It's a belt that basically transforms your body into anything of person, animal, or plant. If it was a successful experiment, they would've made hundreds of them and given them to the use of the military."
"So that's how she was able to turn herself into a pony." said Luna.
"And she must've secretly followed me into Equestria the same night Ah' was sucked through that portal. Once she got through, she most likely put on that stolen belt and hid herself away to scheme a good dose of revenge on all of us."
"Yes, Nathan, and we thank you for bringing her to justice." said Officer Welder.
"You are the biggest hero of them all." said Cadance as she gave her son a hug.
"We're all proud of you Nate." said Twilight, "You have officially brought hope and peace to not only all of Equestria, but to your land of Texas as well."
"And you are a true friend to all of us." said Kyle.
"But Ah'm just a kid." said Nathan confused.
"That may be true." said Starswirl the Bearded, "But I told you that you represent all six of the elements of harmony and you showed true bravery in defeating Tirek and Clarissa when nopony else would, you are a true hero."
"Really?!" said Nathan excitedly.
"Yes, congratulations Nathan." said Celestia with a smile.
"Why I.....I......" Nathan stuttered as he looked at his hand, it suddenly glowed with a heavenly aura. This aura suddenly engulfed his whole body.
"What's going on?!" asked Nathan.
"I don't know!" exclaimed Celestia, suddenly Nathan floated up, then disappeared into thin air!
Nathan's first-person view showed his eyes slowly opening up after being taken from the Crystal Empire in a heavenly light.
"Where......."
As his eyes fully opened, he quickly saw something he had never seen, white light.
"What the......" he said as he got up on his feet, as he got up, he could feel his feet touching invisible ground. He looked and saw that this place was full of the beautiful heavenly light. His feet were also touching something very soft, what appeared to be invisible ground, only part is, he was all alone with no one else around him, he then went into a small panic mode.
"Where's the Crystal Empire?"
"Where are mah' friends?"
"Where's Equestria?!"
"Congratulations Nathan!" said a voice from within the light.
"Who's there?!" asked Nathan in fear, suddenly in front of him, three silhouettes of people formed and they soon emerged from the light that surrounded the whole area Nathan was in. Appearing before him were none other than beautifully dressed female angels with wings and white robes that covered their whole bodies, Nathan could not believe what he was seeing.
"You all are real angels?" he asked.
"Yes Nathan, I am Rachel, and this Jessica and Zoe."
"We knew ya' could do it Nate." said Jessica with a southern accent of her own, this made Nathan even more surprised.
"What did Ah' do?" he asked, Rachel walked up to him, knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You did something today that could have never been accomplished, something even Jesus would've done. Because even He could have been that brave enough to show the true works of friendship and courage." Rachel said as she showed him a book of records of all he had learned. Nathan quickly discovered the answer to a mystery he had been wanting to solve all these months and 2 years he was in Equestria.
"Ya' mean, God chose Equestria fer me as a way of...........testing mah' bravery?" he asked.
"Yes, God wanted to see if you were brave enough to not only defeat enemies, but remind them the true meaning of friendship." Rachel answered.
"The lessons ya' have learned in Equestria, and yer' old orphanage have taught you well, ya' have proven that yer' ready Nathan." said Jessica.
"Ready fer' what?" asked Nathan, they suddenly had him walk down a very long pathway and they followed him as music started playing, and Rachel began singing as this path showed pictures and flashbacks of Nathan and all he had done throughout his first few years in Equestria.
1st Verse: Rachel "I'm so very ordinary, nothing special on my own." "Oh, I have never walked on water, and I have never calmed a storm." "Sometimes, I'm hiding away from the madness around me, like a child who's afraid of the dark." "But when I call on Jesus, all things are possible." "I can mount on wings like eagles and soar." "When I call on Jesus, mountains are gonna fall." "Cause He'll move Heaven and Earth to come rescue me when I call."
They kept on singing as Nathan approached a glowing aura.
Chorus: All Three "Lalalala Lalalala La La." "Lalalala Lalalala La Laaaaa."
2nd Verse: Jessica "Weary brother, broken daughter, little widow mother, you're not alone." "If your tired and scared of the madness around you, if you can't find the strength to carry on."
Chorus: All Three "When you call on Jesus, all things are possible." "You can mount on wings like eagles and soar." "When you call on Jesus, mountains are gonna fall." "Cause He'll move Heaven and Earth to come rescue you when you....."
As Nathan slowly stood face against the glowing aura, he touched it, and it suddenly yet slowly engulfed his body. Zoe, Rachel, and Jessica were soon joined by many other angels in this strange place in singing the tune as they watched Nathan's body slowly change in silhouette.
3rd Verse: All Angels "Call Him in the morning, in the afternoon time, late in the evening He'll be there." "When your heart is broken, and you feel discouraged, you can just remember that He said," "HE'LL BE THEEEEEEEERRRRRREEEEEEE................"
Back in the Crystal Empire, the group that saw Nathan vanish was still in a panic mode.
"What if he was kidnapped by some unknown force?!" exclaimed Zodiac.
"Maybe, Tirek had managed to hold him hostage in a place where we can never get to him!" whined Pinkie Pie.
"Look, let's not panic, I'm sure he went someplace good." said officer Welder.
"We can only hope." said Celestia, suddenly without warning, a flash of light engulfed outside the throne room. The main cast then went outside, to their surprise, the skies were opening up and floating auras started descending towards them. This scared Kyle and Luke.
"What's going on?!" asked Kyle in horror as officer Welder picked him up and held him in his arms for comfort. The whole cast could see that these floating auras were taking shape of humans and they were making a sudden turn towards the area that had the entrance to the throne room that they were in.
Before they could do anything though, the throne doors opened up and in floated these strange creatures along with the white aura that Nathan was in, Kyle, Luke, and Officer Welder could not believe what they were seeing. The cast was also flabbergasted as well.
"Real angels!" exclaimed Kyle.
"I can't believe it." said Officer Welder.
Suddenly, the white aura light that Nathan was in landed face on the floor and as the full form of it faded, a small portion of it stuck to him as if he were an angel himself, only what took form in it shocked everyone. What they saw was not Nathan, but rather a white unicorn colt with a brown mane and tail with bat wings, and this new pony's face took a interesting gesture of this new look.
This new pony opened his eyes and through his P.O.V. he saw that he had hooves instead of what were supposed to be hands, he looked behind him and saw that he had a tail as well.
"Nathan, is that you?" asked Kyle.
"Ah'....Ah' think so." said the pony's voice, to their surprise the voice they heard was Nathan, they could not believe it!
"You see Nathan, when you prayed to God for a family, He wanted to test your skills by having creatures instead of humans have you as their child." said Jesus, "So He searched and found this land for you in order to start the test. Your first test was to stand up for what you believed in."
"How did Ah' pass that one?" asked Nate.
Rachel interfered, "Well you passed that one when you defended Apple Bloom from Diamond Tiara's bullying methods."
"How did y'all know about that, and do y'all know mah' name?" asked Apple Bloom stepping up beside her secret true love.
"We're angels, we see everything afar and wide, we watch day and night, we are immortal in the presence of God." said Jessica.
"So therefore we hear everything."
"I am mighty impressed." said Celestia.
"Also, you showed bravery and true friendship when you defended me from Thunder Clash." said Zodiac with a smile.
"Plus, you helped us defeat a fake version of Neighsay when he tried to shut down Headmare Twilight's school." said Ocellus.
"And you let us on a journey to defeat the most evil of them all, Lord Tirek." replied Starswirl.
"Yeah, plus you helped my dad and his team put Dallas's top 10 most wanted behind bars." said Kyle.
"You are a true hero Nathan." said Jesus, "Therefore, you are now officially the species of the world God chose for you."
"Wait, if Ah'm now a pony, when will I get a......"
"Cutie Mark?" Apple Bloom bluntly said as she kissed him making him blush.
"Uh, thank you?" said Nathan as the others giggled.
"Actually Nathan, you don't have to wait for long, it comes even when.....you don't even know it." said Rachel as he pointed to his flank, Nathan turned and saw that he had a cutie mark of the state of Texas with the state flag embedded in it. Everyone was really surprised at this.
"Ah' can't believe it, Ah' have a cutie mark of mah' home state!"
"Good work Nathan, now you can officially live your life among your pony family, because Equestria is now your permanent home." said Jesus, Nathan quickly figured out what was about to happen.
"But, what about Kyle and Luke?" asked Nathan. "What will happen to them, what will become of mah' world?"
"Are we not going to see him again?" asked Luke.
Jesus frowned, "I'm afraid it will be a long time before you see him, but it will come when you least expect it."
"Guys.....look Ah' wish....I.....Ms. Fanning......Ms. Brown" Nathan tried to explain, but Kyle put a warming comforting hand on his shoulder.
"They'll be okay Nathan." said Kyle, Nathan could still not see what was really being referred. Luckily, Luke joined in with Kyle.
"We...will be okay." he said with a warm smile.
"Are ya' sure?" Nathan asked.
Officer Welder walked up and knelt down to Nathan, "Hey, listen to your inner voice."
Nathan put one of his new hooves up to his chest and closed his eyes, then suddenly, he felt a smile form on his face. He quickly ran back to Cadance and Shining Armor and hugged them as a way of saying thank you for all they had done for him. He then looked back to his human friends and Officer Welder and approached them again.
"Ah'm a pony, how will this....."
"Nathan, you may be pony on the outside, but inside, you're still human." said Jesus.
"And this new life you are about to go through is not going to get in the way of us." said Luke.
"No matter what you choose, you will always be our best friend." said Kyle, this made Twilight tear up and smile. She never would've known that even kids from the human world would learn the proper form of friendship like she did.
"And to be honest Nate, you do look better as a pony." said Kyle, making the others laugh.
Nathan smiled and cried as he hugged both of his human friends, suddenly, a portal of white light opened up signaling Officer Welder, Kyle, and Luke that it was time for them to go back to the human world.
"Wait, before we depart, I have something for you Nate." said Officer Welder, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a red bandana.
"I've had this bandana since I was your age, I've kept it with me for quite sometime, and now I pass it to you." Welder then got down on one knee and wrapped the bandana around Nathan's neck. To Nathan's surprise, it felt rather warm and snug, plus it was hung around his neck like a typical cowboy would wear it.
"Keep it on you, so you always have a way to remember that we are always with you in spirit." said Officer Welder.
"Thanks." said Nathan as he was surrounded by comfort from his new friends and his family.
Soon, Welder, Kyle, and Luke walked backwards and entered the portal that took them back to Dallas. As they were going through the tunnel, Nathan and the others went outside to watch them fly through the portal. Kyle and Luke saw them watching with smiles.
"Does this mean, Nathan's a lost kid?" asked Luke.
"No, he's not lost." said Kyle with a warm smile, "not anymore."
"To infinity....." said Kyle.
"And beyond." said Nathan, suddenly Nathan felt someone forcefully turn him around and saw Apple Bloom with her eyes half-lidded. She then pressed her lips against his and they kissed, proving to him that she really loves him, then they stared back up into the now dark and starry sky as the portal closed up and the stars shined and twinkled.