How Friendship is Magic Should Have Ended

Chapters

Discord's Mistake
The Trio's Triumph
Everycreature's Fear
Everycreature's Love
Queen Twilight's Round Table

Discord's Mistake

Chrysalis teleported in to Canterlot under the guise of a pink unicorn mare with a raspberry mane. She quickly looked around to find well-off unicorn socialite with a yellow coat and fabulous golden mane headed to the castle.

"Oh fellow unicorn, have you heard about the threat to Canterlot?" Chrysalis asked.

"Oh? Well dear, I'm afraid I don't follow rumors after that debacle with Princess Luna's alleged flank massage scandal..." he replied.

"Oh, but this came from Fancy Pants himself! He said that there's a plot by ne'er-do-wells to blow up the castle during the coronation, and go after any unicorns who don't swear their loyalty. It may be best to...hang back and watch," she elegantly spun to the stallion.

"Fancy Pants you say? Well he's about the last pony that'd accept smoke up his fancy pants... I must tell my friends and family at once, they could all be in danger if that happens!" he said, earning a grin from the changeling queen.

"Of course, spread the word far and wide! I must go myself, to make sure my little ones are safe. Who knows what a bunch of evildoers would do to them..." Chrysalis said with a slight dramatic flair before teleporting out.

Discord popped in to Grogar's room to find him ogling a golden globe of some kind.

"Ahem...are you sure this little plan of yours is going to work? Your little...trio or whatever you call them nearly ruined the Summer Sun Celebration. It was quite chaotic, I must say, but I get the feeling they did it under your nose..." he said with a glare.

"Hmph, you've always been skeptical of my plans, but this time is different. I let them have their little fun so they'd bond all the more over their dislike of me. If it was all sunshine and rainbows and no villainy, they'd see right through it all," Grogar replied sternly.

"We'll see...how about we check up on them..." Discord said as he laid back and used his claw as a mouth instead of his actual mouth. "You can say that I'm back to my old ways, so they can distrust me and find that I'm actually a good friend, bla bla bla...."

"You're still not as good as good at plans as I am, but I suppose it will work. Follow me," Grogar said with a sinister smirk and headed off.

As the two approached the meeting room, they could hear the three talking.

"So Grogar's bell is like a mega magic vacuum that can be changed from suck to blow? Sounds like my style," said Cozy.

"Yes, and if we split the power amongst ourselves, Grogar will be outnumbered as well as outgunned!" chimed Chrysalis loudly.

"I can tell they're not very stealthy..." Discord remarked quietly, earning a shush from Grogar.

"I think I hear him coming, hurry!" said Tirek as Cozy opened a little hidey hole in the wall...to find nothing.

"Looking for this?" Grogar said as he pulled the bell out from under his tail.

The three gasped in unison.

"Don't tell me, Cozy snitched so you'd give her cookies?" asked Chrysalis with a piercing glare.

"Yes, but also, I have a magic crystal ball that lets me look at anything, and it comes in hoofy," replied Grogar.

"Oh, we kinda forgot about that I guess," Cozy said with a shrug.

"Fine, so you found our little plot, would you mind telling us what you are doing with that traitor?" asked Tirek, pointing to Discord.

"Oh, who, me? I'm just here for the fun!" said Discord as he sipped from an upside-down teacup.

"Discord has been helping me keep the ponies distracted. It turns out they still don't even know we're working together, which means it will be all the more crushing when we strike. Now, would the three of you like a sip of power?" Grogar asked with a smile as he raised the bell.

The trio nodded, Cozy looking excited with her hooves at her mouth while Chrysalis and Tirek were more resigned.

Grogar blasted them with the bell, making each empowered. Cozy became an alicorn, while Chrysalis' body became much more warlike, and Tirek gained his full form once more.

Discord gulped audibly.

"Now remember, I can take this power away from you all at any moment. None of you will lay a hair on my bell, or it will be a one-way ticket back to Tartarus...or worse. Understood?" Grogar threatened.

Tirek sighed while Cozy began zapping about.

"Good!" Grogar said with a smirk. "Now, one more threat to my power to deal with..."

Grogar immediately sapped the power from Discord into bell, making the draconequus shriek.

"But...but...your plan! My powers are too much for to handle!" Discord said in shock.

"Still naive as ever! You thought I was reforming these three, and they definitely did learn something from it...how to be an effective team of evil! Now go and tell the ponies just how doomed they are!" Grogar said with a laugh.

Discord quickly began to run away, as Chrysalis prepared to zap him.

Grogar quickly grabbed her horn roughly. "I'll not have you uh...stop my diversion! He's got false information on my plans the princesses will eat up like cake," he said with a slight nervousness.

Chrysalis gave a mocking hmph.

Cozy Glow let out a short maniacal laugh. "I love it when we're winning. Say...how about you give me some of that chaos magic?" she asked with a grin that made even Chrysalis shiver slightly.

"You think you can handle it? Here!" Grogar shouted as he blasted her with the bell.

Cozy grew bigger than Celestia as she cackled and zapped parts of the room with her horn...but all she succeeded in doing was creating cotton candy, then pizzas that grew pineapples that began chomping at her.

"Aaagh! Take it back!" she demanded as one bit her rear.

"I...certainly think this is a good level of evil, but it might destroy us before our enemies, unless we fire Cozy at them out of a catapult," remarked Tirek as Cozy glared at hime.

Grogar took the chaos magic into the bell with a smirk. "Discord's unique pairing of lineages makes him able to handle his power naturally, a feat even I can't replicate with only my half. Becoming the most powerful beings in the universe will have to wait until after our conquest," Grogar said, making Chrysalis groan.

"Well I'm certainly down with conquest," said Tirek as he and Cozy made lovey eyes toward each other, smiling.

Twilight and friends nervously trotted to the castle, looking around at the many on-alert pegasus guards flying about, and the glimmering shield over the city.

"Do you really think it's Chrysalis again, Twilight? She has no hive. What is she gonna do, turn all the trees into psycho zombies to eat us? Wait...can she do that? CAN SHE?" asked Spike with a bit of panic.

"Celestia's not sure, but whoever made the threat meant it. They abducted guards without being detected and didn't exactly return them all in the best of conditions..." Twilight said, making Spike gulp.

"Oh, that's awful!" Fluttershy whined.

"They'll recover. More important is the here and now; with the school closed down and Canterlot's shield up, ponies here might get a little...skittish. Scared ponies might help whatever plan is going down to protect themselves, so we've got to reassure everypony that everything's under control. Celestia has the Pillars protecting Seaquestria, since it's too far away for us or the guard to handle. Be alert, everypony," Twilight said with a nervous look.

"You sure that'll work? Braeburn said he ain't comin' within a hundred miles o' Canterlot after the disaster at the Summer Sun Celebration, and with villains on the loose!" Applejack said, making everypony stop.

"Hey, if we don't show everypony we're still awesome, how are they gonna change their minds? I know Cloudsdale's gonna keep a pretty close eye on us and the Wonderbolts for this," replied Rainbow.

"She's right, we have to at least try," Twilight said confidently.

A shriek from Fluttershy made everypony turn...to see Discord, haggered and limping towards them.

"Twilight...trouble..." he said between breaths. "My magic...gone..."

Fluttershy rushed to hold him.

"What?! Who, how, why?!" Twilight asked, flying about in slight panic.

"Uh, what she means to say is, what happened, Discord?" said Spike as he stroked Twilight's wings in just the right places, making her sigh a bit and float down to the ground.

"Well...I may have made a teensy little mistake involving some ne'erdowells..." he replied.

"YOU are behind the return of Chrysalis and Tirek?" asked a shocked Rarity.

"Eh-heh...and uh...a few others..." Discord said sheepishly.

"Oooh! Did you resurrect the Storm King so you could go on a pirate adventure, but then he turned out to be the bad kind of pirate that makes ponies walk planks above big hungry sea monsters?" asked Pinkie, prompting Twilight to put a magic zipper on her mouth.

"Hmm...maybe I should try that next time. Actually um, I kind of...well..." he began with a nervous chuckle. "...had Grogar teach Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy about being evil when they were supposed to learn friendship and um...there was his bell and..." said Discord as he fiddled with his fingers.

"THEY USED GROGAR'S BELL TO STEAL YOUR CHAOS POWERS?" Twilight yelled, then began to hyperventilate loudly.

"Sorta kinda maybe?" replied Discord.

"This is awful! Discord, why did you do it?" asked Fluttershy.

"I just...wanted to impress you by reforming others and having them provide some challenges while Twilight got into her new role. I never expected Grogar to turn back to being evil!" he replied, earning a furious glare from the yellow pegasus.

"Wait, it was YOU behind King Sombra's return? I knew it!" said Dash. "You owe me 5 bits, AJ!"

Applejack sighed and hoofed the bits over.

"Aww, nopony ever bets on who was behind mysterious resurrections of villains with me! So...are we just about to get completely crushed by chaos magic? I'm feeling really gassy, that usually happens before we lose" said Pinkie with a look between concern and excitement.

"Pinkie, ya ate too much of Granny's six-layer bean dip yesterday, so I really don't think your bowels are gonna tell the future so much as grumblin' compliments to good ol' Apple family cookin'. Now, come on, let's hurry up and tell the princesses!" said Applejack as she began to run.

Twilight rolled her eyes and groaned. "Discord, how long do we have before everything goes...butts up, as Rainbow and Spike like to say?"

"They can't have figured out wielding my powers yet, but I wouldn't put it past the four of them to find an alternate means of getting here now that I'm out of the picture. We likely don't even have time for tea," said Discord as he hung his head low and Fluttershy switched to giving a sympathetic hug.

Twilight gulped and immediately teleported them all into the throne room.

"...I see," said Celestia as Discord finished his explanation. "I have half a mind to take advantage of your loss of powers and imprison you in Tartarus! The least you could've done was inform us about it so we could track their actions and stop them if it got out of hoof...but now the whole country is in danger!"

"Sister, calm thyself. While Discord's actions are most regrettable, the threat is imminent. How can we deal with these four, now that they have the bell?" asked Luna.

"I have some ideas on that, but we'll need to act fast..." started Twilight as she brought out a chalkboard covered in plans with little ponies and arrows and words.

The Trio's Triumph

Starswirl trotted about impatiently, checking various ward spells on Seaquestria's shore.

"Do you really think that's going to stop the big red freak?" asked Rockhoof.

"I can't know for sure, but it will at least slow him down, and the fewer beings he drains, the better," replied Starswirl.

Mistmane opened her mouth to say something, but a massive blast made everypony turn to see Tirek coming out of a cliff wall.

"Hmph, the hippogriffs are barely shrimps compared to you fat cows, and now it is time to feast on your life force!" Tirek boasted.

Immediately, the pillars began charging, and Starswirl sent a few magic beams to the centaur.

Tirek grinned, dodged the first beam...and stood still for the second. Just as it would've hit him, he pulled out Grogar's bell and activated it. The beam formed a connection back to Starswirl, who went wide-eyed as the magic drained away with too little time to stop the attack.

"Now that's just unfair! Come on everypony, we have to work fast!" Mistmane shouted as she levitated some rocks to throw.

"Fighting fair was never my style, just be glad I only need your energy and not your bones!" Tirek replied with a chuckle as the rocks bounced off him.

Meadowbrook got to mixing something up from her bag. "He wants unfair, we can do it, you know the drill!"

Rockhoof nodded and came to strike, but Tirek simply grabbed his shovel and threw him aside while draining a charging Flash Magnus and Mistmane simultaneously, who he then threw onto Starswirl. Tirek then looked to Rockhoof and smirked as he crushed the shovel with a single hand. "Oh, was that important to you?"

Rockhoof growled as he struggled to get up.

"Don't let him get in your head! Just hold him off for me!" shouted Meadowbrook.

Within moments, Somnambula flew up to Tirek and shook her rear at him while blowing a raspberry.

Tirek groaned as she dodged his swipes, before clapping his hands to catch her, and smirked as she struggled in his grasp.

"We will never bow to you!" she spat at him defiantly.

"Bow? I don't need my can of life force beverage to bow!" he said as he brought her up to his head and drained the magic out of her mouth and into his. "Hmph, they really need to put more in these, and the taste is barely tolerable," he stated as he wiped his mouth with her flank, then squeezed her hard making her eyes bulge, and tossed her onto Flash Magnus.

Meadowbrook finally joined the fight, throwing a potion onto him that began sizzling on his skin.

"Arrgh! So some of you actually did think to bring weapons...but it's too little, too late I'm afraid!" he roared as he grabbed her by the tail and drained her. "Well, that was a little on the sweet side for my tastes, but certainly more filling than Sournambula," he said before tossing her onto the pile of powerless ponies. "And you should be VERY GLAD after doing that, that Grogar wants you alive! I like to watch heads roll..."

Rockhoof was slinking away, poised to make a run for it, but Tirek easily jumped in front of him and reduced the proud warrior to a skinny colt in an instant.

A rock shimmered away behind a larger rock, revealing Cozy Glow and Chrysalis, both smiling.

"I like the flair for the dramatic, but you could've done that much faster," said the changeling queen.

"But it's so funny to tell them how they taste! Now give up the goods so we can turn the princesses into putty!" said Cozy with a bright look of joy.

"You two could've helped, you know, instead of playing giggles and go fish behind a rock. Now, I've got some wilted little flowers to round up for a nice dungeon bouquet..." he said.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and put out her hooves.

Tirek tossed them the bell and they disappeared in a flash. As he trotted away, Terramar and Silverstream peeked out behind a rock of their own.

"Should we...do something? He could be worse than the Storm King..." whispered Terramar, shaking, as he watched Tirek grab the Pillars.

"Twilight would say that any tyrant has to be opposed...as long as we stay hidden from him, we might be able to convince the queen to fight them," replied Silverstream before giving him a comforting hug and nuzzle.

Starlight Glimmer paced nervously next to Trixie in the hallway.

"Oh, what if they need us somewhere else? This school isn't that important, is it?" she asked vaguely in Trixie's direction.

"Well, I dunno, I'm not some big military planner...but I don't think Chrysalis is either, with how easily we got into her hive last time. I bet she'll be here just looking for somepony to...oh no, what if she comes here to cocoon us up for lunch?" Trixie asked as she trotted about in a panic.

"Trixie, we can handle her, we just call on Twilight and-" Starlight began.

"AND CRY FOR THE PRINCESS AS I TORTURE YOUR PRECIOUS TRIXIE?" finished Chrysalis, undisguising from a potted plant.

Trixie immediately let out an "eep" and hid behind Starlight.

"The only one crying here will be YOU!" shouted Starlight as she tackled Chrysalis, teleporting with her.

The two reappeared far north near Yakyastan, which had one of its frequent blizzards howling around them.

Starlight kicked Chrysalis off into the snow and self-levitated, then immediately shot out a beam.

"Hmph, guess you found out about my little cold weakness, but far too late!" Chrysalis said as she rolled to dodge.

Starlight said nothing as she levitated a huge mass of snow off a nearby hillside, and brought it directly down onto Chrysalis.

After a moment, the changeling queen leapt towards Starlight and shot a beam at her, then shook off what little snow got to her.

"Not much of a talker, huh? Well, we have ways..." Chrysalis said with an evil grin, before shooting beams rapid fire at Starlight.

The unicorn dodged them with ease before blowing a raspberry at Chrysalis and copying the technique.

With Chrysalis' larger size, anger at the taunt, and cold-slowed movements, she got struck twice in the back, groaning before falling onto her side, only her head sticking out from the snow.

"Any last words?" Starlight asked with a confident glare before letting herself down near Chrysalis, and reared up as she charged her horn and took aim.

"Gotcha," Chrysalis said as she sprung up and sprayed some kind of goop from her mouth onto Starlight's mouth and horn. The unicorn panicked as she stepped back, falling over, and found herself unable to cast anything.

"Well now, I am curious, were you really going to do anything to me?" asked the changeling queen.

"I WA' GOIN' T' TA'E OFF YO' 'EAD!" came an angry muffled reply.

"Ooh, naughty naughty little pony, but I do respect you finally having the guts, so I'll leave your marefriend alone, and instead of putting you in a cocoon to torture you...I'll just let you enjoy the cold snow, miles from any pony that could save you!" Chrysalis said with a cackle.

The changeling queen used Grogar's bell to rob the unicorn of her magic and gave a little wave before teleporting away.

Nearby, a small Yak rushed towards the scene, panting.

"So, if we take Plan F, and we modify it to include a few less Wonderbolts with nuclear bombs strapped to their butts, the-" Twilight started, but was interrupted as the door was burst down by Cozy Glow, atop a pile of barely-moving royal guards.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt your lecture, Headmare Twilight, but I'm here to teach you a lesson!" said the alicorn filly, ending with an evil grin.

Princess Celestia and Luna immediately jumped up and flew to Cozy, as the mane 6 stayed behind and formed a defensive circle.

"This is your only warning, Cozy, we will use the full extent of our powers to stop you!" shouted Celestia.

"Oh, golly, whatever shall I do? I suuure don't want thaaat," Cozy replied with a little smirk.

Pinkie groaned and clutched her abdomen, laying down suddenly as Twilight took to checking if she was okay.

Luna eyed the filly with a suspicious look for a moment, then turned to Celestia. "Sister, are you sure about this? I smell a trap...what about the bell?" she asked.

"She clearly doesn't have it right now. We have to do whatever it takes now while we still have a chance!" replied Celestia.

Cozy yawned and rolled her eyes, then sent a blast towards Spike that he barely dodged before it disintegrated a banner. "Come on, are you two gonna fight or what?" she taunted before crossing her forelegs.

Luna gave a small nod to Celestia. "Starswirl's ultimate technique, now!" replied the solar princess.

In unison, the alicorn diarchs fired swirling beams of orange magic, looking like it was fire ready to tear Cozy's flesh from her bones...but with a smug smile, the filly simply reached back behind her, then held out the bell and closed her eyes, wincing.

As the bell went to work draining the magic, the sisters tried to pull away and break the connection from their horns, but the spell seemed to have a mind of its own as it went from orange to teal and sucked out all of their power.

"Phew, I actually wasn't sure that was gonna work..." said Cozy.

"Where...how?" asked Luna weakly.

"A filly magician with training from Pinkie's school never reveals her secrets!" replied Cozy.

The two sisters groaned a bit before slowly coming to rest on the floor.

"NOO!" cried Twilight as she rushed to Celestia's side, tearing up.

"Twilight...run..." was all the alicorn could get out, seeming to have lost much more energy than Luna.

Cozy Glow cackle-giggled like an adorable maniac as she sat on a groaning Luna's snout and wiggled to get comfy.

"Oh, what's that, your special alicorn magic betrayed you? Gee, someponies might want to study something else for a change. Aren't I just a little stinker?" she said teasingly to Luna and Twilight.

"GET OFF HER, YOU CREEP!" shouted Spike as he sent a green fireball her way.

Cozy easily dodged and did a flip, letting the fireball hit Luna's mane, singing it.

"Oh gee, Mr. Dragon, I almost forgot Twilight had friends that could actually put up a fight! Too bad they're not very smart ones!" Cozy said with a giggle.

"You're going down!" shouted Rainbow as she flew towards the filly.

"Down like party town!" Pinkie said, joining in by blasting towards Cozy with her party cannon.

Twilight joined the fray with Spike not far behind as they tried to wrestle the filly and the bell from the air, while Discord, Rarity, and Applejack began throwing and bucking objects, including the chalkboard.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy decided to spare the geese. "Fly safe!" she said as she let them out a window.

Rarity was left without anything to toss but the throne, and quickly shook her head at its fabulousness, then sent Pinkie up.

"Wee!" said the pink mare, as Cozy eyed her cautiously. She was right to worry, as Pinkie reached to her tail, then slid out a party bazooka and took aim.

"Hey, you never taught me how to hide something like that!" said Cozy as she gulped.

"Anypony who knows the genre would know not to trust the most charming filly with the big guns!" Pinkie shouted before blasting confetti at Cozy, making the filly tumble about in the air.

Rainbow formed a whirlwind by Cozy to restrict her movement while Pinkie grazed Cozy with another party bazooka blast.

Spike shot a few small fireballs as he flew around, but Cozy was still managing to dodge them.

Applejack managed to lasso one of Cozy's rear legs, and brought her to the ground.

Pinkie inhaled some of the fluttering confetti from her own bazooka, and sneezed. Confetti sprayed out her nose, as well as her rear with a sputter, and her eyes went wide. "Oh no".

Rarity shrieked in horror at the confetti in her face and spat some out while dropping Pinkie onto herself, putting them both out of commission for the time being.

Cozy reached for the bell, but Spike stepped forward and quickly started putting down fire around it.

...however, he was suddenly choked by magic around his neck, and a familiar evil laugh could be heard from the doorway as two magic beams forced the fliers to let go.

"CHRYSALIS!" said Twi with scorn as she looked upon the unwelcome second combatant.

"Oh, miss me? Sorry I couldn't join earlier, but it was just so entertaining to see two princesses fall to one filly. Ponies are so overconfident. I bet Starlight Glimmer still has that look of determination frozen on her face as a pony popsicle. My only regret is I couldn't show her your DEFEAT!" the changeling queen said smugly.

The mane 6 all gasped in unison at the revelation.

"I-I'm sure she's fine, she can handle herself!" said Spike.

"The faster we take these two out, the faster we can save Starlight!" said Twilight as she patted him, then charged her horn.

Cozy simply shook the bell a bit as a reminder, and Twilight redirected her magic into tossing the slightly-broken throne at her again.

"Twilight, you need to get out of here with your magic before they take it for themselves! We can hold them off!" said Discord as he was struck by one of Chrysalis' beams.

"Now that's not very sporting!" said the changeling queen.

"Fly, you foal!" Discord urged her before being dragged away by Cozy to use as a cudgel against Rainbow and Fluttershy, the latter almost crying as she dodged.

Twilight tried to escape out the open window, but Tirek appeared just outside it, grinning.

Twilight gulped, eyes wide, as he absorbed her magic.

Chrysalis cackled as she trotted past Twilight. "Now, for a little redecorating..." She charged her magic, and Tirek joined in, to then blast away Celestia's throne and much of the castle in an enormous shower of debris away from the mountainside.

"You think they'll all get the message?" asked Cozy.

Chrysalis smirked. "That the reign of the princesses is over? I'm sure nopony for a dozen miles can mistake it as just your usual celebration, and the news will spread from there like wildfire."

Everycreature's Fear

Twilight watched, holding the bars of her cage in the catacombs, as Chrysalis put Starswirl in a cage opposite the one for her and her friends, featuring little more than a crude toilet. "So...what are you gonna do with us?" she asked.

"Golly Twilight, well you are headmare and I saw a guillotine on the way down..." replied Cozy with a giggle before flying off.

"Why...why are you like this?" asked Fluttershy, with teary eyes.

"Gee, some of us didn't have perfect lives where we became the magical heroes. Some of us were put into filly beauty pageants at 5 years old by snooty unicorn parents who spanked us whenever we spoke without being spoken to! Getting rid of my parents after Tirek weakened them for me was the best day of my life, and well, I could always have a better day taking away the power of even more unfairly strong ponies!" Cozy replied with a wide grin.

Fluttershy shivered and backed away. "You...you killed them?"

"Nah, I just made sure they had a falling out with the mafia they were in and well, things kind of took care of themselves. I'm sure you know what some hungry sharks are capable of!" replied Cozy.

"You monster!" cried Applejack.

"Oh I wish I was! I've done a lot of bad things in my life, like that time I tried to make Cerberus my pet, but big red beefcake over here is the one with the magic draining horns," Cozy said as she flew up onto his shoulder.

Tirek easily put up a hand and flicked her butt, sending her into a nearby wall with a squeak. "If we're all done telling tall tales, I must ask...do we have ANY plan to use the bell to empower ourselves further?" asked Tirek, showing just a bit of anger.

"Perhaps we should each take a turn trying it to see if we can handle it...we only tested it on a foal after all..." said Chrysalis.

Cozy meanwhile stared into the bell, but Grogar swiped it away. "Trust me, it won't work, you'd probably free all our captives in the process," he said sternly.

"Oh, I don't know about that...Grogar never has been one for sharing..." insinuated Discord.

Grogar promptly summoned a magical muzzle for the draconequus. "Silence! Now listen, I've got to go set up some security before the bumbling guards around Canterlot bumble their way down here. Unless you all want the pieces of Equestria to rule that are full of hillbillies like the Apple family, you can all play nice for just a few minutes," he said as he trotted away.

Cozy once again fluttered to the cage. "Well in the meantime...which one should we get rid of first? I'm thinking Applejack, 'cause she's boring."

"Am not!" the farm mare shouted.

"Hey, just 'cause she doesn't sell as many toys, doesn't mean she isn't a good friend!" shouted Pinkie.

Rarity put a hoof to both their chests and shook her head. "Not a good time to argue, darlings...especially with what Fluttershy's up to," she whispered.

Nearby, insects were busy digging a hole as Fluttershy watched.

"Hmph, just let me have Twilight last, and don't do anything to her mane, its colors will go well with my throne room's rug, good feng shui if I place it right," Chrysalis said with a cackle, making Twilight shiver.

Spike slowly inched towards the hole, which looked barely big enough for him.

"Perhaps first we can do something with that little whelp of hers..." Tirek started as he looked to Spike. "Wait a minute...they're trying to get him out!"

Suddenly, a magic beam hit him in the side of the head, making him become suddenly dizzy and unable to focus.

"You got a problem with that?!" came the voice of Moondancer.

Everyone turned to see her and Star Tracker, looking ready to fight.

"I knew somepony would come for us!" shouted Spike as he tentatively put his arms into the hole.

"I have a problem with it..." Chrysalis started, not wasting time before levitating them against a nearby wall.

"Oh," was all Star Tracker said as he and Moondancer looked at each other. "Spike, get out fast!"

Chrysalis and the two unicorns both blasted beams at once, leading to a clash that was clearly in Chrysalis' favor.

"But what will she do to yo-" he started.

"Nothing you can stop, go!" shouted Moondancer, as Tirek was just starting to come to and Chrysalis won the tug of beams.

Spike looked nervous as Rainbow and Rarity grabbed him, flipped him upside down, and pushed him by the rear into the hole, while the other ponies in the cage blocked line of sight.

Chrysalis chuckled. "Oh, what will I do indeed? Grogar put a lot of restrictions on us, but he did say I could petrify interlopers..." She casted a spell, and the two rapidly turned to stone from the bottom hooves up.

"Ooh, and I've got an idea..." Cozy said before whispering into Tirek's ear.

He grinned, and blasted Moondancer's petrified body to make it shatter into hundreds of pieces, leaving the head to roll towards Twilight.

Twilight and her friends gasped in shock, and Pinkie burst forth from them and began wailing. "She was a FAN FAVORITE! FAV O RITE! Not DI O RITE!"

"Regardless, we're only keeping all of you alive to prevent an insurgency," stated Tirek bluntly.

"An insurance what now?" asked Cozy.

"An armed rebellion using guerrilla tactics..." Grogar replied. "And it's what you'll get even from just blowing up their allies! Do you know how difficult it will take to put her back together?"

Cozy groaned and flew up to his face. "I don't care about that! Look, if we're not gonna kill them now, just let me go rule somewhere already and send a letter when we finally get to see them wet themselves and beg for their lives!"

"ENOUGH! You are the worst of the three, and poisoning this already toxic triumvirate!" Grogar shouted as he grabbed the bell and drained Cozy's magic.

The filly fell to the ground on her butt, and looked up, wide-eyed. "Ow! I'm still a little sore down there from hiding the bell! Um... wait, you're not going to..." she put on the puppy dog eyes as she stood up.

Grogar growled and used the bell again, engulfing Cozy in its light. Her eyes went wide and screamed as her hooves started to disintegrate into wispy pieces. The disintegration went inward, then up to her head, looking horrified and pleading before it too was gone, its wispy pieces flowing into the bell.

The mane 6 gasped in unison, while Chrysalis smirked.

"What...what happened to her?" asked a terrified Rarity.

"Converted into magic in the bell, so she can't get in the way of our plans," Grogar said bluntly. "First time I've ever gotten to try it. I suggest all of you make it the last."

"I uh...well I suppose that is a way to deal with that..." said Tirek with a look of concern.

"You monster!" shouted Rainbow. "Killing your enemies like Moondancer I can get...but turning on one of your own? Not cool, dude!"

"Oh can it, or at least finally swap elements with Applejack so the family pony can give the loyalty speech instead of the lazy sky surfer pony. She would know that you can't trust a pony whose idea of a good time is probably having her friends for dinner instead of having her friends over for dinner," Grogar grumbled back.

Chrysalis came up to him and put a hoof around him. "Oh, I'm so glad you finally saw reason, Grogar."

Grogar pushed her away. "Stay away from me, freak! I'm trusting you two to rise to the level of babysitters and not lose any more prisoners while I give some populist speech about not trusting ponies who grew up 2 miles away to make everypony confused about whether it's really a bad thing to shut out the ones feeding them long enough to cement my power. At least in petrifying that teen stallion, you've given me potentially a pony who knows the stakes if he doesn't support my version of reality," he said with a glare before removing Discord's muzzle and trotting out hurriedly with Star Tracker.

"Fine, I'll go fix the hole in the cell" Chrysalis said with disdain as she changed into a grasshopper and back to get through the cell, before slurping up a centipede next to the hole and spewing out goop to fill it.

Tirek simply sat down, looking distraught.

"So, do you really expect Grogar to honor his promises, considering he just disintegrated one of you? It seems to me like you're merely pawns," observed Discord.

"Pft! As if I'm comparable to that filly. She was never that...bright," remarked Chrysalis as she finished munching on bugs and patted a crying Fluttershy mockingly.

"I don't know..." Tirek began, making Chrysalis' determination fade in an instant. "...it's just that we wouldn't be here without her," he continued with a sad look.

"Oh please! You...you've developed feelings! Ha, a weakness that I will never share with these ponies! If you keep this up, you'll just become one of Celestia's lawn ornaments along with all the rest of us! Or maybe you'll just come crying to your father, King Vorak!" Chrysalis said smugly.

"I...look, I've got a lot to think about," Tirek said defeatedly, looking down.

Chrysalis gloated with a chuckle as she basked in the ambient feelings from Tirek and the huddling ponies.

Spike ran, huffing, out into the streets of Canterlot. It seemed like a ghost town, and he heard chanting in the distance. He began walking in the opposite direction, towards the train station.

Along the way, he spotted Fancy Pants. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked demandingly.

"I must admit I don't know all the details, but you'd best run along, dear Spike, as I fear the crowd I'm about to confront would not be friendly to a friend of Twilight's..." he said with a sullen look.

"Right...um, nice meeting you!" Spike said as he zipped away as fast as his legs could carry him.

He found in the trains a huge amount of ponies, most of them non-unicorns, and had to squeeze his way in between the hips of two mares, but thankfully there didn't seem to be any ticket-checking going on. "Why is it so crowded? Is Grogar hurting ponies?" he asked as he climbed atop the back of the mare on the left, who he realized was Minuette.

"Spike! ...not yet, but everypony's scared. Grogar made big talk about unicorn supremacy!" she said, looking back at him as the doors closed and a few mares squeezed up against her.

"Huh, then why are you here?" he asked curiously as he got comfortable on her back.

"Some of my friends aren't unicorns. I-I've studied history, Spike; it doesn't end well for the friends of the ones at the bottom when this kind of thing happens, and I had to help them escape. ...Is Twilight okay?" she asked, seeming eager to change the subject, shaking so much that Spike's lower section started to vibrate too.

"I hope so! It...wasn't sounding good when they got me out, but we've been through worse," he said with a look of worry.

"Let's just assume that they won't do anything drastic yet. We'll be in Ponyville soon; ponies there will know what to do," she said reassuringly as the train began moving.

Spike stayed quiet for a few moments, but as he looked around at the shaken ponies, he started to look worried again. "Um...Minuette?" he whispered.

"Yeah?" she whispered back.

"Is it normal for it to be...this quiet?" he asked.

Minuette took nearly a minute to ponder, and listened carefully with ears ready. It wasn't exactly quiet with many of the windows open, but there was a distinct lack of chatter.

"Um...no. Can't exactly blame them...let's be quiet too, out of respect," she finally replied.

The remaining ride was eerie, but thankfully short, and the two rushed to get off.

"You'd think a bunch of ponies from Canterlot would know to take a shower before getting on a train!" Minuette remarked.

"Hey, at least none of them were like Twilight when she tried out brusselsprouts!" Spike replied, and started to laugh, but then his face drooped.

"Oh don't get me started!" Minuette giggled and put a hoof to his face to comfort him. "Hey, don't worry, Twilight's dealt with villains before," she said with a rather fake looking smile.

"But Moondancer, she's, they-" Spike started, but Minuette put a hoof to his lips.

"Whatever happened, it's best we aren't hung up on it while there's still work to do. Is there anyone at Twilight's school we should talk to?" Minuette asked.

"Hmm, Sunburst or Trixie might be there, if they aren't doing some special end of the world magic show, or taking the opportunity to blast each other in a duel over who gets to be headmare."

Minuette gave a short chuckle and broke into a gallop. The streets seemed empty in the area as they came upon the school.

"You sure about this? I've seen more lively graveyards," she remarked.

"Absolutely! Chrysalis wouldn't find everypony, she's all hiding and no seeking," Spike said with a slightly wavering voice.

As she went inside, a magic blast went vaguely toward her, but struck a potted plant...and had no effect on it.

"Who goes there?" asked Trixie as she leapt out and tripped on her cape, falling flat while trying to maintain a brave face.

Minuette looked back at Spike with a rather unamused glare. "You sure she can help? She looks like she's the one that needs it."

"Hey, the more unicorns the better. Anyways, Trixie, Twilight's in trouble, and we need to do something. You've got magic, so..." Spike said.

Trixie sighed as she got up. "Don't tell anypony, but the Great and Powerful Trixie's magic can't even tell where Starlight is...or if she's okay."

Spike gulped. "Um...I'm sure she's okay... Wait, I could send a letter to her!" he said as he got off Minuette and grabbed some nearby paper and a writing utensil. "Just tell me what to write, and be brief, time is of the essence here," he said.

"Right, um... Starlight, it's Trix, are all your most fun pieces still attached?" Trixie said with a tear in her eye despite the casual tone.

Spike stuck his tongue out as he finished writing, then sent it.

"So, how long does this take?" asked Minuette.

"She'll get it right away, but I don't know if she has a way to write us back..." Spike said with a look of worry.

"Hmm... what if we write the others? Like, all of them?" Minutte asked as she opened up the drawer full of letter paper.

"And what would that accomplish?" asked a very perplexed Trixie.

"This is a school of friendship, right? With creatures from far and wide? Write one letter, have Trixie make a bunch of copies, send them out, and we could organize some kind of resistance!" Minuette said with a smile.

"Uh...what should I say?" asked Spike as he held a blank page.

Trixie stepped forward. "The Great and Powerful Trixie, acting headmare of Twilight's School of Friendship..." she began, to Spike's chagrin.

Everycreature's Love

A while later, Spike began burping out letter after letter.

Trixie eagerly looked at each. "Oh please have one from Starlight... Let's see: Hippogriff army on the way, Changeling strike force already there, the Griffons are rallied, but would really prefer the letters come out Gabby's front..." Trixie seemed to trail off as she crumpled up that particular letter and threw it away as her face slowly contorted with rage.

"It doesn't do beaks," said Spike with a shrug.

Minuette pulled him away slowly.

"WELL SOME OF US HAVE ACTUALLY IMPORTANT THINGS TO FIND OUT!" Trixie shouted as she obliterated a nearby table that did nothing wrong. She took a moment to breathe before returning to the remaining letters. A few moments later, she gasped. "STARLIGHT! She's in the Crystal Empire with Yona! "I knew she was tougher than that stupid bug! Um...don't tell our changeling allies I said that."

"My lips are sealed. Now if we've got all our far away allies, all that's left is the ponies here, they'd be a huge help with how close Canterlot is. We've gotta see the mayor!" he said with newfound determination.

"Allow me!" Trixie said as she grabbed the two, teleporting them immediately as their eyes went wide like they were about to be thrown into a volcano.

Thankfully, they reappeared only missing a few pieces of mane near town square, at the edge of a crowd.

"That was dangerous, Trixie!" Spike said angrily.

"Not a big fan of it myself, but focus, we need to get these ponies ready to storm Canterlot by sundown!" replied Minuette.

"Right...who do we go to first?" asked Spike.

"Hmmm... Aha! Lyra!" Minuette said as she trotted away, with Spike and Trixie not far behind.

Lyra was hugging Bon Bon tight at the edge of a crowd around town square. "Minuette! Hey!"

"You here for the mayor's 'we don't know horse apples' speech?" Bon Bon asked with a giggle.

"So far, it's more like the 'everypony for themselves, curl up into a ball, put your snout under your tail, and kiss your rear end goodbye' speech!" snarked Lyra to a few chuckles from all but Trixie.

"Ew, you kiss me with that mouth!" said Bon Bon with a bit of a chuckle and a disgusted expression, which Spike mimicked.

"Hey, you were my butt in the big town-wide dream once!" Lyra said with a little chuckle.

There was an awkward silence before Spike coughed. "So...um, you two might not know Twilight very well but...she needs our help. It's bad," Spike said with a solemn look.

The two lovebirds gave each other some serious glances.

"Oh..." said Lyra. "Well a lot of us here know her and her friends and I guess...what about Rara?"

"Rarity?" asked Minuette.

"No, Countess Coloratura, Applejack's close friend she met at camp! I saw her here just a bit ago and she looked...well a bit like the mare's first announcement killed her dog, stole her place in line, touched her foal the wrong way, and talked in the theater," remarked Lyra.

Minuette gasped. "The theater? Now is not a time to joke about such evils!"

"Focus!" Trixie shouted as she put Spike on her back and trotted towards Countess Coloratura.

"Tell Twilight we'll be there!" shouted Lyra.

"I don't know if we'll ever see her ag-" Spike began.

"No, we will be there, Spike! Right, Bon Bon?" Lyra said while gripping Bon Bon's hoof.

"Right!" Bon Bon shouted as the two embraced.

Trixie picked up the pace as she spotted Coloratura. "Countess?"

"Hm? Oh, I'd prefer 'Rara', especially at a time like this. Hey Spike, nice to see you again. I take it not everything's okay like the mayor claims?" Rara asked with a glare of disdain towards the mayor standing on stage.

"Grogar's got the princesses, Discord, the pillars, and Twilight and her friends! We don't have much time to help them, and it'll take all of Ponyville at least to do anything..." he said before slumping forwards onto Minuette's neck.

"And frankly, Trixie finds it boring to just cower like a chicken and wait to become chicken dinner," added Trixie.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle before I let my friend Applejack become some villain's apple pie!" exclaimed Rara. "You want a crowd of cowards to become an angry mob? I've stirred up crowds before. Just get in position to lead them pronto!"

"Thanks, I just hope we won't be too late..." Spike said worriedly.

"Worrying won't do any good now, just get to it! A little distraction should get them off of focusing on the mayor. I think one of you can muster it," Rara said confidently before rushing to find her instruments.

"Definitely," said Trixie with a smirk that made Minutte gulp.

Within moments, the Mayor's vague platitudes were interrupted by a screeching firework that went off, blowing up to show Trixie's head winking at the crowd.

"Where were you hiding that one? We didn't teleport with any luggage," whispered Minutte.

"You don't wanna know," replied Trixie. "Wink."

Minutte and Spike shuddered in unison. The crowd meanwhile was murmuring when suddenly an electric guitar could be heard.

"Equestria...the land I love..." started Rara from a bit away from the Mayor.

"Hey, this performance is not approved!" shouted the Mayor in response.

"A land of harmony. Our flag does wave from high above, for ponykind to see," she continued.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie believes that Equestria is not simply a bunch of individual towns with their faces buried in the sand, or their own rears! Spike, you're on," Trixie said with a nod to the dragon.

"Listen up everypony! My friends need our help for once! If you aren't there to do it, you might as well defect and join the villains! Come on!" he shouted with a flare of firebreath upwards.

Ponies began to murmur in unison and slowly crowd towards the trio, away from the stage.

"Ugh...very well, as mayor, I will support this, but don't bring any foals out of hiding, for this could be very dangerous!" the Mayor reluctantly said.

Back under Canterlot, Chrysalis looked to the captives hungrily, seeming to be ready to drain them, but Tirek gave a soft glare that made her back up.

"So, do you think your father will be happy to hear you've gone and conquered like this, Lord Tirek?" Discord asked.

"I...I don't need his approval," replied the centaur with arms crossed.

"Oh really now? Then why go to all this trouble? You could've been a king, but instead you spend centuries failing again and again," Discord replied with a little cackle.

"I...don't know..." Tirek sighed before turning away.

"Trying to mess with him so you can escape? Oh, we can't be having that now..." Chrysalis said with a smirk before shooting a very powerful death beam at Discord's head.

Discord at first looked scared, but then he tossed a nearby anti-magic piece of Chrysalis' old throne in the way, tumbling as the beam collided, and sending smaller beams scattered about, hitting some of the cell bars and the two villains.

Discord quickly got Starswirl and the princesses free.

A moment later, Starswirl had the mane 6 free as well.

Chrysalis was out cold, but Tirek started to stir.

"What is going on in there?" Grogar shouted from nearby.

"Twilight, Starswirl, we don't have long, me, Luna, and Discord can hold them off while you all escape!" commanded Celestia.

"But what if they..." started Twilight.

"GO!" shouted Luna as she shot a rather weak beam towards Tirek, who took it with nothing but a soft grunt before stepping towards her, glaring.

The 2 groups of 6 made a run for it. Once outside, a loud boom could be heard as the princesses were flung outward, bruised. The smoking hole created soon cleared to show Grogar carrying an unconscious Discord, with Chrysalis soon behind, and Tirek further still.

"You really think you can run? We will simply keep draining more and more magic from you, until you collapse, with none left!" Grogar said with a grin.

Twilight grabbed Celestia and made sure she was alright, the sun princess groaning a bit.

"Everypony, I hate to say this, but we'll just have to fight here. I don't know if Spike is even coming back, but we have to delay until then..." Twilight said solemnly.

"Well then, let's go!" shouted Applejack as she swung her lasso.

"Right behind ya!" said Rainbow.

Starswirl shot off a magic beam towards Grogar, interrupting the pep talking. "More fighting less yapping, he was about to shoot us!"

Grogar expertly dodged and chuckled. "An astute observation, but not one that'll save you! Plan B, round them up you two!"

Chrysalis casted a spell in one direction, and Tirek the other. The two formed large strands of magic that came together behind the heroes and built up a net around them.

"Scatter!" Twilight ordered, but it was a bit too late as even the faster ponies just hit the magic and got a shock for their troubles, slowly forcing them into a smaller area.

Pinkie however was able to weave between the strands, and came up to Tirek, sitting on his nose suddenly and putting her hooves together. "So, come here often, handsome?"

"Ugh, you're worse than Cozy was!" he said as he tried to push her off with a hand twice, which she dodged both times.

"Look, can we talk about...what happens if you lose? I mean, there's only one chapter left, and the track record of villains in a setting about friendship isn't exactly great..." she said before sipping some tea.

"If you'll go with the others, fine, just tell me your ideas!" he said with a snort.

Pinkie whispered into his ear a moment, then shouted "GO GO GADGET BUTTCOPTER!" and spun her tail, flying away to then lightly drift down onto a slumped forward Twilight's head amidst her scared friends.

Grogar stepped forward as the magical net closed around the ponies. "Well now, I must inform you that this Plan B isn't one where we continue to risk letting you all live... We noticed how the pathetic dragon whelp escaped."

Twilight and Starswirl shot beams together, but the three villains simply shot back...and quickly began to overpower it. A bright light glared as the magic creeped towards Twilight, with her friends behind her looking worried. Rarity tried to join in, but it hardly slowed it down.

"Is it...going to hurt...?" asked Fluttershy as she hugged Rainbow Dash tightly.

"Don't talk like..." started Twilight, but the beam was getting ever closer, and her head was heating up. "I'm sorry everypony... it shouldn't hurt for very long, to answer your question."

Pinkie gulped as her tail twitched. "Something's coming."

"We know, sugarcube!" replied Applejack.

The light got brighter, and the magic beams vanished suddenly.

"Um...wasn't it supposed to hurt? Not that I'm complaining..." said Fluttershy.

"We're still alive, darling!" replied Rarity.

The light cleared, and a shield was visible around them. Pinkie pointed to behind, and visible were dozens of unicorns from Ponyville, led by Spike atop Minuette.

"Somepony call for a rescue?" the dragon proudly asked before smacking Minuette's rump, sending her galloping to the mane 6.

"Spike! You brought help!" Twilight said with a sigh and a wipe of sweat off her forehead as she rushed to meet him.

"But this will hardly do anything, they'll just get their powers drained," said Fluttershy.

Pinkie's tail twitched again.

"No look! There's more coming!" Rainbow said from above, pointing to a stampede of yaks led by Starlight and Yona, with crystal ponies led by Cadance not far behind.

"And over there!" Rarity said, pointing to an army of hippogriffs led by Silverstream, joined by ponies from Somnambula.

Soon after, the dragons flew in, led by Ember and Smolder. Below them were the griffons, led by Gallus, Gabby, and Gilda, along with ponies from Equestria's eastern shores, and a group of Kirin led by Autumn Blaze.

Finally, the changelings, led by Thorax and Ocellus, came alongside ponies from Equestria's west, including Sandbar.

"Oh isn't this exciting? You brought all your friends from around the world just to get their powers stolen!" shouted Grogar. "We'll simply put all their magic into the bell one by one."

"Wrong!" shouted Starswirl. "You're facing nearly every creature in Equestria, and some from without! Their real magic...of friendship can't be put in your bell! You've lost!"

"Grogar, we should discuss our surrender..." started Tirek.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and began shooting beams at the reformed changelings. A few were stopped by shields, but one hit Pharynx straight in the chest, leaving Thorax to cradle his unconscious broodmate.

"Hah, as if they can even get close!" shouted Grogar with a grin as he followed suit.

Tirek sighed before reluctantly joining in.

"Everycreature, attack!" commanded Spike as they stampeded towards the three villains. A few unicorns and changelings fired magic beams, but quickly had their magic stolen with Grogar's well-timed bell use. Soon, however, pegasi and griffons were tackling at the three, and grounded creatures weren't far behind, protected under a shield Starlight was casting.

"We need to use the elements and pillars...whatever's left of their power within us!" said Twilight.

"You think we can help with that?" asked Sandbar from nearby, flanked by his own group of friends.

"I do. The combination of all three could turn Grogar to stone for sure," Twilight started. "...but we have to hit while he's too distracted to use the bell or it'll just drain us even more. Pinkie?"

"On it, just listen for two clucks!" she said as she zipped over to the fight across camera transitions by the screen edge.

The three groups tapped their hooves impatiently as they waited.

"So...know any good battle music?" asked Rockhoof.

"I'm partial to a bit of Slaughter Mares, they were inspired by stories of your feats in the Griffish Isles," replied Rarity.

"Quite the charmer I see," he giggled back at her.

"I prefer the Metal Werewolves," said Fluttershy. "They have a good one about biting into big meanies."

"Right, so how long do you think it'll ta-" Rainbow said, but was interrupted by Pinkie in a chicken costume clucking twice.

"Okay, everycreature, let's hold hooves and claws!" said Twilight.

Within moments of them forming a long chain, their eyes glowed and rainbow aurora patterns formed, coalescing into a wave of energy blasting from them towards Grogar as he was batting away some weak earth ponies. It overtook him and the other two, nullifying their powers and knocking them out along with all nearby allies.

"Phew...it's finally over," remarked Twilight as she looked towards the mess of the three and everycreature around them groaning up ahead.

"You...fools..." Grogar said as he barely managed to get up. "Now that we're out of power, we can use the bell to put everything stored into us, and handle it! We'll simply keep coming at you, over and over. Now..."

Grogar raised the hoof holding the bell...only to find it held a rubber chicken, shocking him.

Tirek cleared his throat from nearby, holding the bell, and tossed it over to Pinkie.

"Hey Goat Grubber, you know how much power I can handle?" she asked with a smirk before turning the bell on her face and swallowing its output like it was chocolate syrup.

Within moments, Pinkie was gigantic and sparking with magical power. A cupcake soon appeared over Grogar and Chrysalis' heads, landing with a splat on them.

"I am unstoppable! I am the GREAT COSMIC PIE! I can frost the entire universe! Mwahahaha-" Pinkie started, before looking over to her friends coughing loudly at her. "Oh, uh... couldn't resist," Pinkie shrugged back to them before vomiting a stream of magic back into the bell and tossing it to Discord.

"Thanks, Pinkie, you really are a lord of chaos in your own way," Discord said with a wink to her as she giggled and had hearts bubble out of her eyes.

Chrysalis glared at Tirek. "You traitor! Before you know it, they'll have me all colorful and ugly just like Thorax! I was meant to look dark and edgy, not like a rave threw up!"

Tirek sighed. "I realized we were outmatched, and...I have had doubts for a while now. The pink one simply provided me a way out."

Many of the assorted creatures fighting retreated back, giving grins towards the clearly-defeated villains. Ocellus stuck behind for a bit to rub it in on Chrysalis, turning into a skunk and spraying her.

"Well anyways, I'm afraid it's time to put this bit of fun to an end..." Discord said as he rang the bell, sending magic out every which way to return to its rightful owners.

"Fun? We nearly died! And Cozy did!" Twilight retorted with a growl.

"Oh, hush, she was just in time out," he said as his powers came back with a flash.

He then put his whole arm up inside the bell, fishing around a bit before yanking a very dizzy-looking Cozy out by the tail and flank, then gave her cheek a smooch and patted her before tossing her under the cupcake with the other two.

"So, any big villain speech from the big stinky cheese herself?" Discord asked.

"Ugh, as if I'd have one prepared...just know that your weak friendship is a temporary effect, a passing fad!" Chrysalis retorted.

Cadance came close and rolled her eyes. "Starlight, you're up."

Starlight promptly came over and slapped Chrysalis in the face. "That's for leaving me to freeze to death. You know, it was a friend who saved me." She then gave Yona a hoof five and a rump bump.

"Well...befriending a Yak is like dragging around a big smelly old carpet!"

Yona snorted. "Some meanie will BECOME carpet!" She reared up, but Starlight held her back.

Discord wrote some notes into a clipboard. "Definitely not her best speech. So, Twilight, shall we make them into statues? Or perhaps shred them into confetti for a party like you did to Sombra?" he asked while confetti rained down around him.

"What? Uh, I uh..." Twilight stammered as Celestia came up to her whispering.

"We will do our worst to them..." she started with a grin, making Cozy gulp.

"...we will teach them the magic of friendship!" Twilight said triumphantly as her friends and crowds of nearby ponies cheered.

"Good, I was just testing you, mostly," said Discord as he stamped an "A+" on Twilight's flank.

Chrysalis and Cozy groaned almost in unison, while Tirek merely rolled his eyes.

"Can't you just chop my head off? Cozy, tell them where the guillotines are!" insisted Chrysalis.

"Uh...golly, Miss Twilight, how do you know I won't just pretend and turn evil again? Surely I'd be better off in a deep dark hole with things that eat vulnerable little fillies..." suggested Cozy, earning her a strong stare from Rockhoof hitting one hoof with his repurposed royal guard shovel threateningly.

"Because I'll help them..." said Grogar, to multiple gasps. "You were right, son, I shouldn't be doing this anymore. Evil is just...a lot of work, and at the end of the day, there's nobody to appreciate you, not even the most loyal of servants."

"Wait, he's your dad?" Rainbow asked, flying up to Discord.

"Well he is the father of monsters, and I am monsters," Discord pointed out, gesturing to his body, which sprouted a bunch of twisting math questions involving fractals. "You should see my mother..."

"Eww, no! No no no! I don't want to know, I've seen too much from Fluttershy's Neighponese comics already!" replied Rainbow, making Fluttershy blush and Discord giggle.

"Well, Luna, Celestia, do get everything in order to make sure our dear students of friendship are ready," said Discord with a sly grin. "I know I will be..."

Cozy Glow tried to make a break for it, only to be caught by Luna's magic. "Say, got any ideas to help reform this one, Discord?"

"Oh, I think her mother would love to be there to see it..." replied Discord with a grin.

Cozy gulped. "There's uh, no need to do tha-"

"I think you're right. In fact, they could learn friendship together..." Luna said as she teleported a screaming Cozy away.

Celestia chuckled. "I'm sure Twilight will be up to the task."

"I think so too... I suppose now I've truly earned my place as the princess of friendship. ...were you two really serious about retiring?" asked Twilight.

"We are, but maybe there will be a long...transition period. We'll always be there raising the Sun and Moon and to provide assistance when you need it, but you'll be Queen Twilight," Celestia replied as her and Luna hugged with their wings and bumped butts together.

"Plus, you'll still have me in the Crystal Empire," added Cadance as she flew over. "You know, that crystal castle of yours really sets up a crystal royalty theme!"

Twilight giggled a little and smiled. "That it does. So, what about my friends?"

Celestia came up and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Why, Twilight, that'll be up to you...but if it were me, I think one thing I've learned from how long I tried to rule alone is that it really is best to have ponies around you can confide in. Your friends all do have thrones of their own around a map that practically tells you when ponies run out of toilet paper, so...perhaps they could be your ruling council?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Twilight beamed back. "Um...one last thing...about Moondancer..."

Celestia put a hoof to her shoulder, and teleported Moondancer's petrified head into her other hoof. "It's okay, we'll put her back together. TIREK!" she shrieked like an angry mother.

"Um...hi?" replied the centaur.

"If you don't get at least half of Moondancer's body swept up into a container in the next hour, you're going to your father's place, understand?"

"Yes, mo-Celestia. I understand," Tirek replied, arms limp.

"Wonderful. I think Moondancer will be fine if you keep her close and read to her, until him and the guards find enough pieces of her and a mending spell works its magic. It may take...many months, or years, but it'll work," Celestia said to Twilight with a smile.

Twilight hugged her mentor tight as her friends and allies cheered in celebration.

Queen Twilight's Round Table

A Celestia-sized Twilight trotted with Moondancer, who looked the same as before, into her castle's main room.

Twilight stopped as they came to the cutie map. "You're sure you're alright? I mean...it took a lot longer to get all your pieces than we expected, and you've only been up and about for a few days, maybe some time to obs-"

Moondancer put a hoof to her lips. "Trust me, I'm fine, Twilight. Now I've got a date with Minuette to keep, and unlike me, she's not exactly a young pony anymore. Thanks for reading to me and seeing me in my dreams all these years, I would've gone crazy otherwise. You know, I had to pee the whole time!" she said with a giggle.

Twilight giggled a bit herself. "Well, it's what any good friend would do. You know, I wonder if the torture of being petrified is what made some villains a little harder to reform, and all the good it did was kick the can down the road for somepony else to deal with."

"Maybe, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if Cozy was a statue instead of working for Spike. That filly always seems like she's up to something," Moondancer replied.

"Let me worry about her, you should probably get to Minuette before you're late," Twilight said with a smirk.

"Oh horseapples, I nearly forgot! See ya, Twi!" Moondancer said as she galloped out the doors.

"Well that takes care of that..." Twilight cleared her throat before making a loud call. "Oh, Luster Dawn! Where is my favorite student hiding?!"

A pink young teen filly unicorn with an orange mane and most of her tail burned off zipped down the stairs. "Yes, your highness? I was just, uh, studying. I figured you and Moondancer needed space, you know..."

"You can just call me Twilight. Studying and not sulking about the latest little incident, I hope? I heard a dragon student caused the um, bit on your tail," Twilight replied.

Luster Dawn rolled her eyes. "We were just having a friendly argument about who should own Flash Magnus' shield, and she got all...flamey."

"Uh uh uh, calling it his shield assumes you're right to begin with!" Twilight remarked before booping the unicorn's snout.

"Ugh, whatever, I'm going to go find the big orange loaf and ask him about a tail-fixing spell, he's always eager to help me," Luster Dawn said as she began to trot away.

"Just don't cause an international incident on the way!" called Twilight before sighing and sitting in her throne, staring at the cutie map.

"No promises!" replied Luster Dawn as she reached the door.

Just as Luster Dawn open the door, a large, beefy Spike opened the other, with Rarity in a fabulous purple coat trotting to his left, and an adult Sweetie carrying a teapot and cups to his right. The dragon cleared his throat. "Speaking of international incidents, you'll be happy to know that the Diamond Dogs have a trade agreement with Klugetown!"

"Oh that's wonderful! Well...as long as the Diamond Dogs aren't catching ponies to sell as slaves anymore..." Twilight trailed off as Sweetie Belle poured a cup of tea on the table.

"Darling, there's nothing to worry about," Rarity said as she flipped her mane and took a seat at her throne. "And you need to relax after dealing with all the fires caused by the new dragon and kirin students."

"You'd think we would've gotten fireproof chairs and desks earlier, after that time Smolder got sick and melted both at once," remarked Spike.

Rarity shuddered. "It just had to be in my class..."

"Right...but, what about the Yaks? They still refuse to accept being educated by ponies...what if they're planning a war?" asked Twilight as she nervously put her hooves on the map table.

"Oh puh-lease, Sandbar's married to their ambassador, I don't think there's any chance of a big stomping war anytime soon, especially with dragons about, and Tirek on our leash," replied Rarity.

Pinkie suddenly sat up behind Rarity, who went wide-eyed as the pink pony put her hooves on Rarity's mane. "Hey, stomping wars are fun! The spider ponies will never see it coming when the GREAT YAK ARMIES turn them to PASTE!"

Rarity rolled her eyes and sipped from her teacup. "You've been listening to your foal too much."

"Li'l Cheese is a special treat! That's why I brought him and Gummy this time!" Pinkie cheered.

Rarity spat out her tea as she looked to the door and saw a giant Gummy with Li'l Cheese and Fluttershy on his back coming in. "Darling, really?"

"The more the merrier, I suppose," said Twilight.

"Just make sure he doesn't eat me again, this coat doesn't clean easy," said Rarity as she eyed up Gummy with suspicion.

"He Pinkie promised," replied Fluttershy with a smile as she took to her throne.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack soon came in the door, the former in full Wonderbolt ritual dress, and the latter in a hat and Granny Smith's cowl. "We ain't late, are we? Rainbow was ramblin' on about her 73rd attempt at findin' a special somepony."

"Hey! You had your chance, no complaining just 'cause you're stuck with a cousin and jealous now!" Dash quipped.

"He is a hard-workin, family-lovin', do-goodin', upri-" AJ started yelling before being muffled by her hat, levitated down with blue magic.

"Ahem...you're right on time, darlings," Rarity said, sipping more tea as she let go of AJ's hat.

"Oh, but Starlight will be late," said Fluttershy. "Her and Sunburst are having a special evening together."

"Well, it'll be just like old times, then!" said Twilight, before Li'l Cheese flung himself onto her face suddenly.

"PURPLE PONY PROTECTOR PRINCESS!" he declared as Twilight groaned.

"Oh my, sorry, when me and Discord were babysitting him, he might've gotten into some of our tea, and Discord was trying to teach him about puns and other fun things with words," Fluttershy said with a Discord-like chuckle as she grabbed Li'l Cheese.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. We'll need a new generation with good energy, now that we're getting a little...old. Say, how are your own foals, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with a smile.

"Let's just say pony-draconequus hybrids are best kept away from animals," Fluttershy replied with a slight eye twitch.

"They're really cute though," Sweetie squeaked. "I hope pony-dragon hybrids are like that," she added, nudging Spike while Rarity looked uncertain.

"R-right, well anyways, I hereby bring our monthly round table meeting to a start!" Twilight said cheerily.

"Say cheese!" said Pinkie as she snapped a picture, her head barely in frame with everyone else, who had various levels of surprise showing on their faces.

Zooming out, the photo was in a storybook, and the page flipped to a photo of Luster Dawn with Twilight and friends in Ponyville, as they began to sing The Magic of Friendship Grows.

Finally, once the song was over, things zoomed out again, and the storybook closed, with many pages remaining.

Author's Note

The Magic of Friendship Grows is a good (if overly sappy) song sequence for a show to end on, but I am not rewriting it with very minor tweaks to the visuals. Hopefully this isn't too offputting.