[CANCELLED] The Revival of the Tambelonian Empire

by AlphaWerePlayer

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: The Movie, Adventure, Violence, Death, Main 6, Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Grogar, Other, Thriller, Equestria Girls
Length: 30336

After the Legion of Doom is turned to stone, an ancient evil, the real Grogar returns.

THIS STORY IS CANCELLED. THE OFFICIAL STORY IS LOCATED ON MY STORIES PAGE. COVER ART DOES NOT BELONG TO ME

It’s been almost three years since the Legion of Doom have been turned to stone, but an ancient evil rises from the ashes of the battle. He brings back some of the most dangerous villains the ponies have ever faced. The Mane Six could have never imagined how powerful this ancient beast truly is!

This story takes place after the End of the End. Any type of continuity errors should simply be considered my own headcanon.

Published 2020-12-09 19:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-01-12 20:01:07 UTC

Prologue

PROLOGUE: THE LEGEND OF GUSTY THE GREAT

“Long before the rule of the Royal Sisters and the founding of Equestria, the world of Ponyland was divided—shrouded in warfare and darkness. That was until a young unicorn mare, Gusty, united her fellow unicorns to put a stop to the wars.

A FEW HOURS OF READING LATER

She had already fought against the assassin Angus, taken Star Swirl as an apprentice, and become a respected warrior in Equus. However, her greatest challenge had just begun. She had united the unicorns and earth ponies under her command to finally end the Bell War, and now all she needed were the pegasi.

She and her army came to the pass on Dream Hill, and while nopony had ever tried to reach Cloudsdale on hoof, Gusty the Great was not deterred! She and her unicorn warriors marched up the hill. But suddenly, they encountered the treacherous Grogar, and Gusty could tell he was ready for battle.

Gusty called out to the unicorn warriors: ‘We can fight Grogar together!’

And the unicorn warriors shot magical beams into the clouds that wove into one! The beam, stronger than a thousand armies, shined down! It wrapped around Grogar and pulled him to the ground! ‘Don't let him escape!’ yelled Gusty! However, Grogar was strong, for fear gave him power, and he broke through the bonds!

Grogar attempted to hit Gusty with his magic, but before the blast could hit her, it was deflected by weapons shooting out of the sky! The pegasus army had arrived at their aid! Their leader, one of the future founders of Equestria, Commander Hurricane, charged with his army to the battlefield, and they rained down like lightning.

Gusty smiled, confident that her army would have a chance. That was when she saw the source of Grogar’s power—a talisman around his neck: his Bewitching Bell.

‘The bell. Attack the bell!’ she yelled. The warriors immediately turned to Grogar, trying to grab his bell.

Though Grogar appeared calm, Gusty saw the fear in his eyes. ‘The bell is nothing to me!’ he shouted. ‘It is nothing but a piece of my regalia.’

Gusty knew Grogar—he was clever but arrogant, and she used this to her advantage. ‘Then why don’t you take it off?’ she asked playfully.

Grogar smiled and unlatched the Bewitching Bell from around his neck. He held it in his hoof. ‘See, Gusty? The bell is nothing.’ Before he could reattach it however, Gusty managed to grab the bell in her magic and activated its power. The once-mighty Grogar cowered—he knew his defeat was near.

Gusty the Great activated the bell’s power and used it to open a portal to another realm. Grogar was pulled into the portal, and he was left powerless. She and her army attempted to destroy the bell, but no matter what they did, they couldn’t.

As a solution, Gusty took the bell to the tallest mountain in Ponyland: Mt. Everhoof. Sealing it in a cave, she created strong winds around the mountain, so that nocreature could reach its top.

Thus, the Bell Wars finally ended and Gusty the Great could finally rest, knowing that her fellow ponies would continue to maintain and uphold the values of their friendship and harmony for generations to come.”

Chapter 1: The Scroll

CHAPTER 1: THE SCROLL

“And that was the legend of Gusty the Great!” shouted Twilight Sparkle, as she stood with a book in front of the hospital’s sick foals. “Are there any questions?”

A sick filly raised her hoof. “Is Grogar a real creature?”

“Of course not,” Twilight chuckled. “Grogar wasn’t real, and he will never be real. Now, that’s it for storytime.”

Nodding, the filly and her friends got into their hospital beds; Twilight exited the room behind her. “Thank you, Princess Twilight,” Nurse Redheart said, approaching Twilight, “it’s not often that somepony comes by and reads to these foals anymore. It’s sad, really.”

“Of course, anything to help with the community. Besides, with all the work I have as ruler, it’s quite nice to get a break every so often.” Twilight exited the door and shed a tear. “Especially when you don’t live near your friends anymore.”

Twilight cried as she flew toward a newly built Canterlot Castle, before landing in the courtyard. Opening the large castle doors, Twilight was greeted by her royal guard captain. “Your Majesty. Are you alright?” asked the captain, saluting.

“At ease, Tempest. I’m fine. Just having a few memories.”

“About your friends?”

“Yes, Tempest. You’re a good friend and a great captain.”

“Thanks, Princess.”

“Please, Tempest, we’ve been over this, call me Twilight.”

“Maybe after my retirement, Princess.” Hearing this, Twilight chuckled.

“You always were a stubborn mare. I’ll see you soon, Captain.”

Twilight flew toward the throne room. It was decorated with stained-glass windows that resembled the Legion of Doom’s defeat. Approaching her throne, she sat down and met with her royal advisor. “Hello, Spike.”

Spike flew over to hug Twilight. “Hey. Did you have a fun time with the foals?”

“I did, Spike. And I think we should talk over some hot chocolate,” Twilight said as she got up from the throne and walked into the hall. A few minutes afterward, Twilight came out of her kitchen with hot chocolate. Smiling, she and Spike sat on their respective thrones.

“What story did you tell the fillies?” Spike asked—curiously tilting his head.

Twilight flashed an enthusiastic smile before informing him: "The Legend of Gusty the Great!”

“Hmm, that reminds me of something,” Spike mused.

“What?”

“The battle.”

“What battle?”

Spike frowned. “You know? The super-epic battle against Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow?!”

“Can you believe it’s been over three years since then?”

Spike looked down and closed his eyes. “No, I can’t. It seems like only yesterday we met those five ponies. The truth is, I keep sending letters to Rarity—trying to tell her how I feel—but I can never find the words. If there was one thing I could do, it would be to see her one more time.”

“Spike,” Twilight softly replied. “I wish we could see them all. But you know that with my duties as ruler of Equestria, and your voyages to the different lands, we can’t.”

“I know, Twilight!” Spike snapped, tears forming in his eyes. “But why can’t we take just one day to visit them? Why can’t we ever just stop, Twilight? Don’t you ever just want one day with them?!”

Twilight jumped back at hearing this. “Of course, I do, Spike! I want to see them, but Equestria won’t function without a ruler. I’m sorry, okay?! I’m sorry.”

Spike grabbed her right foreleg. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I just wish that we could go back to how things were before the Legion of Doom were formed.”

Spike felt a rumble in his stomach and burped up a scroll. Twilight grabbed it in her magic. Reading it, she gasped: “It’s from Ponyville!”

“What does it say?” Spike asked, with a concerned look on his face.

“It says that our friends need us… now!”

“But what about the castle?”

“I think I have that covered.” Twilight ran to Tempest and put her in charge of the castle.

Twilight and Spike both ran from the throne room and flew towards Ponyville, after leaving Tempest in charge.

Standing in the town square, the two looked around before hearing a familiar voice: “Twilight! Spike! Over here!” Looking over, the two saw three mares: Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack.

“Girls!” Twilight shouted. Running to her friends, she and Spike both embraced the ponies. “What’s wrong? Why did you call for us?”

The three ponies looked at each other and found themselves speechless. Rarity—finding the words—looked toward Twilight. “Darling, there’s been a certain… situation with the Castle of Friendship.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked—obviously concerned. “What kind of situation?”

“It might be better if ya come check it out yourself,” Applejack replied.

“Usually I’m excited about things, but not right now,” Pinkie said.

The four ponies and the teenage dragon walked together to the Castle of Friendship, where they met up with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “Guys! I see you came,” said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight ran to Rainbow and Fluttershy and hugged the two. After a long embrace, Fluttershy took Twilight through the halls to the Cutie Map. “Twilight, the map has been doing… this,” Fluttershy said.

The other ponies and Spike gathered around the Cutie Map as well and noticed the site of the Legion battle glowing with yellow and black magic.

“What do you think it means?” Twilight asked, looking at her friends.

“We don’t know, sugarcube,” Applejack replied, “that’s why we called for you.”

Suddenly, the seven heroes noticed their marks on the map around Canterlot Castle.

“Wait, why are the Cutie Marks around the castle? We just came from there,” Spike asked.

“The last time this happened was years ago,” said Rainbow Dash. She flew into the air and raised her hoof to the air. “I hope there’s a supervillain we need to fight!”

“I hope not, why would you even say that?” Twilight replied.

“Because a villain to defeat would be totally awesome!”

Twilight—brushing off the comment—teleported the heroes into Canterlot Castle.

“Twilight, you’ve gotten better at doin’ that teleportin’ spell,” Applejack said, “and it teleports all of us, too.”

“I agree with AJ—it’s been a while since you’ve teleported all of us; you’re getting stronger,” Fluttershy said.

“Thanks, girls. Now, I’ve also been working on a spell that can teleport right to the source of a friendship problem!”

Magically appearing at the location, Twilight and her friends arrived at the Canterlot Archives. Entering, the seven heroes looked around.

“Why do you think the map wanted us here? There’s nopony in here,” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know, but I guess the map wants us to read something about that cloud of magic?” Twilight replied.

After a few hours of looking through book after book, Twilight and her friends were almost ready to give up. Just then, Twilight saw a yellow and blue book. “I have an idea!” Taking the pair of books in her aura, Twilight pulled them from the shelf and opened the door to the restricted section.

“Whoa, when did you learn that?” Spike asked.

“A few years ago, when Sunset Shimmer had that ‘memory stone problem.’”

“And you’re only using it now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’ve never needed it until now.”

“Well, darling, what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Rarity remarked.

Entering the section, the ponies began reading and looking around for clues about the magic, only to find nothing. Just then, Rainbow Dash flew through the bookshelves and knocked down a banner with a depiction of leaves in the wind. Looking behind it, she discovered a secret door.

“Woah, guys! You’ll want to see this!” she shouted.

Approaching the door, the ponies looked down and saw torches eerily light up a staircase.

“What do you think is down there?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m not sure I want to find out,” Fluttershy muttered.

The seven heroes walked down the staircase and noticed banners depicting Grogar’s defeat.

“These banners predate the founding of Equestria!” Twilight explained.

Looking at the one with Grogar, Fluttershy jumped back. “Is that… Grogar?!”

“Guys, this looks… new.” Rainbow Dash pointed to a scroll.

Taking the scroll in her magic, Twilight tried to open it, but to no avail. “It’s protected by some kind of magical seal.”

“Then how do we break it?” Spike asked.

“Maybe we throw it in a cannon and launch it into the sky! Then the seal will be eaten by birds, and we can read it!” Pinkie suggested.

Immediately stopping, the other six gave confused stares at Pinkie before Twilight brushed it off. “Only you, Pinkie… only you. But no, this seal can only be broken by powerful magic, and who knows more about powerful magic than anypony?”

“You?” the ponies asked.

“No, I may know about powerful magic, but who can do the most powerful magic?”

“You.”

“No! Star Swirl!”

“Oh.”

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Twilight, Star Swirl went to the Crystal Empire to have some ‘peace and quiet’, so wouldn’t this… not be what he was looking for?”

“I know, but I’m sure Star Swirl won’t mind if we pay him just a little visit. Besides, his magic is the only magic strong enough to break a seal like this one. I’ll send him a scroll to let him know we’re coming too!”

“Then we’re with you, Twi,” Rainbow Dash responded.

“Yeah, maybe goin’ on an adventure will be kinda fun. Who knows?” Applejack assured.

“I am so nervouscited right now!” Pinkie shouted.

“We all are, darling,” Rarity replied.

“Don’t forget about me!” Spike playfully exclaimed.

“Yay!” Fluttershy yelled—only to receive shocked looks from the others. “Oops. I mean—yay.”

“Alright, now that we’re all in, it’s time to go to the Crystal Empire,” Twilight said.

The ponies and Spike hurried to the train station. Afterward, they got on the Friendship Express. “Next stop: Crystal Empire!” shouted the conductor.

Looking out the window, Twilight whispered to herself: “I really hope Star Swirl can figure this out.”

Chapter 3: Heroes Unite

CHAPTER 3: HEROES UNITE

Twilight and her friends were on the train to the Crystal Empire to visit Star Swirl the Bearded. Sitting in the train car, Twilight couldn’t help but worry about what their mystical scroll could have written on it.

Spike came in from the luggage car and sat down by Twilight. “Twilight? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just a little worried about this scroll. What if it has some dangerous spell written on it? What if it’s about something we don’t need to get into?”

“Twilight, I’m worried too, but we need to have hope.” Spike put a claw on Twilight’s hoof. “It’s going to be alright.”

“Thanks, Spike. You always know how to cheer me up.”

Just then, the train stopped. “We have arrived at the Crystal Empire!” yelled the conductor.

After the heroes got off the train, they arrived at the statue of Spike, who was smiling. “Years pass and I’m still brave and glorious.”

“Can you believe some creatures brag like that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The others looked at her and laughed. Applejack walked over to her. “And we never hear anythin’ about the ‘awesome’ Rainbow Dash, do we?”

“Heh. Good point.”

The others laugh before arriving at the Crystal Castle. Entering through a glorious staircase, they met with a small little alicorn. Seeing her, Twilight smiled.

“Auntie Twilight!”

“Flurry Heart!” Twilight and Flurry hugged. “Flurry, we need to see your parents. It’s important.”

Flurry Heart took the heroes through a crystal hallway and the group arrived at the crystal throne room. Looking in, Twilight saw Cadance and Shining Armor looking off the crystal balcony.

Princess Cadance heard the door open and looked behind her. “Twilight!”

“Cadance!”

The two alicorns got down on their hooves and did their special dance: “Sunshine! Sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

With their dance done, Twilight and Cadance hugged, before Shining Armor approached Twilight.

“Twily, Star Swirl got your message. What’s going on?”

“We found something: a scroll. We need Star Swirl to help us open the magical seal on it.”

From behind the door, Applejack peeked in. “Hey there, y’all.”

“Hello, darlings,” said Rarity, who entered behind Applejack.

The other ponies followed behind while Cadance and Shining left the throne room with Flurry Heart.

Star Swirl rushed into the room from behind the heroes and approached Twilight.

“Princess Twilight. I received your message. You said it was urgent.”

“Yes. We found a scroll in the Canterlot Archives with a magic seal on it. We were hoping you could break it.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped between the two with a wizard hat and cloak. “We need powerful magic. Your magic.” Twilight levitated Pinkie back to the side of the room.

Twilight turned back to Star Swirl. “Do you think you can help?”

“Of course, Princess Twilight.”

Star Swirl used his magic on the scroll and managed to break through the seal. Opening it, Star Swirl read the paper.

“What’s it say?” asked Rainbow Dash, tilting her head.

Star Swirl gained a worried look in his eyes.

“That’s a bad sign,” Applejack remarked, worried.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, gaining a similar expression.

“This scroll tells of a villain long forgotten. Someone my mentor and I faced has returned.”

“But who?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Grogar.”

“Grogar?!” the heroes shouted, each one worried.

Twilight started panicking: “How is he back? He’s not real!”

“He is.” Star Swirl used his magic to show the heroes a vision of the past. “During the battle between Gusty the Great and Grogar, she trapped him inside the Realm of Darkness. However, I believe that when Cozy Glow drained the magic of Equestria, the realm it went to was in fact the Realm of Darkness, which allowed him to escape.”

“If he’s been free for so long, then why is he only now making himself known?” Spike asked.

“Being trapped for thousands of years weakened his magic. It is my belief that he has only now gained enough power just to use his magic.”

“Wait just a moment,” said Rainbow Dash. “If Grogar is real, then does that mean Gusty is too?”

“Gusty the Great died a long time ago. Without her to stop him, Grogar will be free to do whatever he wants.”

“How dangerous is Grogar?” asked a nervous Fluttershy.

“In the days of his reign, he became feared through all of Equus. He would even devour the flesh of ponies.”

“Pony flesh?” Rarity asked—her face turning green.

Star Swirl and the heroes exited the vision of the past and Twilight looked at him. “How do we stop Grogar?”

“I don’t know. Much of my knowledge is restricted to old stories and legends. I was young when Grogar conquered Equestria, but you may be able to find out with your friends.”

“Thank you, Star Swirl.”

“No. Thank you, Princess. Good luck on your journey.”

Twilight and the heroes exited the Crystal Castle and waved goodbye to Cadance and Shining.

“So what are we going to do now?” Spike asked.

“Maybe we should go back to Ponyville,” Fluttershy replied.

“We do need to go back to Ponyville, but there’s a stop I’d like to make on the way,” said Twilight—who was concentrating on the scroll.

A few hours later, the ponies and Spike arrived at the School of Friendship, where they met with Starlight and Trixie.

“Grogar? As in the Grogar? From the old legend?” asked Starlight, frowning.

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “How can Grogar be back? Wasn’t he banished a long time ago by Gusty the Great?”

“Yeah. But now he’s back,” Rainbow Dash replied, “and he’s going to try and destroy us if we don’t do anything about it.”

“That’s why we came here to you two,” said Twilight, looking at the two mares. “We need more than just us… we need as many ponies as possible.”

“Okay then, what can we do to help?” asked Trixie.

“Well, we don’t need ya to help us fight ‘im, but just as a kinda moral support,” Applejack replied, smiling.

Starlight and Trixie looked at each other and started talking about it. After a few minutes, they finally made a decision.

“We’ll go,” said Starlight.

“As long as we get to have some adventure,” Trixie added, raising a hoof.

The heroes cheered and bumped hooves. Rarity turned to Twilight.

“Twilight, darling, now that we have Starlight and Trixie, what do we do?”

“I think a trip to the Castle of Friendship is in order.”

Leaving the school with Sunburst in charge, Twilight and her friends went back to the Castle of Friendship, where they met in the map room. Seeing the magic around the Legion of Doom’s stone prison, Starlight and Trixie became instantly worried.

“Why is the place where you trapped the Legion of Doom glowing?” Starlight asked, concerned.

“We think it might be Grogar,” Spike replied.

“And if I’m right, he may already be planning something big,” Twilight added. “But I think we can stop him.”

“How?” Fluttershy asked.

“Grogar will most likely come after his Bewitching Bell, which means he’ll be targeting Canterlot Castle.”

“Then what are we going to do about it?” Spike asked.

“We need to set up defenses around the castle. With Grogar at his weakest, he’ll be easy to defeat.”

“Not to be doubtful, but how are you sure Grogar will come alone?” asked Rarity, who tilted her head.

“If Grogar is back, then who’s to say his army ain’t back either?” Applejack added.

“Only Grogar was banished to the Realm of Darkness. His army is long gone by now,” Twilight reassured.

“Wait, there’s just one thing I don’t understand. Am I the only one who’s wondering about that glow around the Legion?” Rainbow asked.

“Maybe Grogar’s brought them back,” Trixie suggested.

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” Starlight agreed.

“I know we’ll be able to stop it,” Twilight said confidently. “After all, we are a team, and we’ve always come out on top! As long as there isn’t anything else to worry about.”

The heroes heard a shake in the library. Investigating, they saw Sunset Shimmer on the ground in front of the mirror.

“Twilight! There’s been an emergency at Canterlot High!”

“Is that Sunset Shimmer?” Fluttershy asked. The others were silent.

Twilight helped Sunset to her hooves. “What’s wrong? Is everyone alright?”

“Something bad happened. Somehow the Dazzlings had their rubies, and they were attacking the school. I don’t think anyone was hurt, but I knew I needed to come to you.”

“Did a blue creature happen to be with ‘em?” Applejack asked.

“Yes. You’re pony Applejack, right?”

Applejack nodded in reply.

The heroes began to worry after they heard about the blue creature.

“Sunset, we think that blue creature is Grogar,” Starlight said.

Sunset was shocked. “Grogar? As in the Grogar? The one banished by Gusty the Great? He’s real?”

“Yes, and we could use your help to stop him. You don’t have to fight, but you could be a valuable ally,” Twilight said.

“Okay. I’ll do it!”

The heroes gathered around the map and stood confidently. Twilight smiled. “Alone, we are weak. But we are strong when united!”

Chapter 4: Bells and Battles

CHAPTER 4: BELLS AND BATTLES

The Legion of Doom was gathered around Grogar’s throne room as he stood at the doorway. “I shall be traveling to speak with an old ally. While I am absent, you need to retrieve my Bewitching Bell.”

“Wait, hold on a moment,” said the Storm King, “if you’re more powerful than all of us, why aren’t you going to get the bell?”

“Because Twilight Sparkle and her friends are aware that I have returned, but they are oblivious to the fact that I have brought you villains together as my army!”

“How could they know you’re back, but not know that I’m back? I’m the Storm King for Eclipsa’s sake!”

“More like the ‘Storming-out’ King,” Cozy Glow mocked, causing the other villains to chuckle.

Grogar walked over to Cozy Glow. “Filly, I have a simple job for you to do especially.”

“What?” Cozy asked.

“Never again make jokes in my presence!”

Cozy Glow jumped back and hid behind Tirek. “Yes, sir!”

Grogar walked back to the doorway. “I shall return within a day! When I return, I desire my Bewitching Bell to be in this castle, or else I shall destroy all of you! Understood?!” As he finished, Grogar walked out of the castle with a laugh.

Afterward, the villains gathered around a stone table and started planning their attack. The Storm King suddenly jumped up with an idea: “I say we attack Canterlot Castle and destroy it. Then we can grab the bell and bring it back here!”

Sombra slapped his forehead. “You’re missing one small detail: those ponies have an elite guard led by your old commander, Tempest Shadow.”

Chrysalis laughed at the Storm King. “They’ve managed to turn not only your army against you, but your commander as well?”

“It’s not funny! I was the king of the Storm Realm! You should be bowing before my awesome power!”

“Yeah, the awesome power of annoying someone to death,” said Adagio Dazzle, laughing with her sisters.

“Enough,” King Sombra interrupted—creating a blast of purple and green magic. “I think I have a plan that will work, but you must do exactly as I say.”

Tirek put his hands on the table. “Why should we listen to you? The last time you had an idea you were banished to the Aether.”

“Just listen to me, you overgrown magic hoarder. This plan won’t fail like last time. This time, it involves all of us.”

Sonata Dusk approached King Sombra. “Exactly what will we do?”

“First, the filly will approach the guards and distract them.”

“But won’t they notice I’m an alicorn?”

“I will use a glamour spell to disguise you. You will lure the guards away as Tirek absorbs their magic. With the guards gone, Queen Chrysalis will masquerade as a guard and sneak through the entrance hallway. With the princess and that pesky dragon away, it will be easy to roam without raising suspicion. Do you think you can manage that?”

Chrysalis shapeshifted into a mare pegasus guard. “Will this manage it?”

“After Chrysalis finds the room with the bell, all of us will enter at the same time. The Sirens will sing their magical song to distract any guards around while all of us manage to open any magical seal around the Bewitching Bell. Then, I’ll teleport us back to Tambelon and we will deliver the bell back to Emperor Grogar.”

Aria Blaze flew toward the table. “That was actually a good plan. I don’t even feel like complaining about it.”

Sonata hugged her sister. “I am so glad we are doing this together!”

Chrysalis walked away from the table. “This is going to be risky. We’ll have to be careful.”

“Who needs care? I have lightning!” said the Storm King.

“When do we leave?” asked Tirek. Cozy Glow flew onto his shoulder.

Sombra charged his horn. “Now!”

The villains found themselves in the forest outside of Canterlot Castle.

“We’re outside!” yelled Cozy Glow.

“Quiet!” Sombra yelled.

“Sorry.”

Sombra smiled. “Now for the first part of the plan.” He blasted Cozy Glow with dark magic and her horn was gone.

“My horn!”

Sombra shushed her. “Don’t worry, your horn is not gone. It is simply… hidden.”

“Okay, good.”

“Can we stop with the conversation and get on with it?” Tirek asked. “I want to absorb some magic!”

“Yes. Get into action, Cozy Glow.”

Cozy walked up to the guards and put on her “cute” face. “Excuse me,” Cozy said, her eyes filled with a cute look, “can you help me find my parents? I’m lost.”

“Of course, little filly, we’ll help you find them.” Walking with Cozy Glow, the guards were led into the forest where they found nothing. That was when the guards saw Cozy’s horn being revealed. “What’s going on? How are you an alicorn?”

Before they could react, they felt their energy being drained. Looking behind them, they saw Tirek and could do nothing but fall to the ground, their magic absorbed. Tirek licked his lips. “I haven’t had magic that good in ages!”

Tirek let Cozy rest on his shoulder and nodded to Sombra. King Sombra smiled. “Now for the second phase. Chrysalis, you know what to do.”

Remembering Sombra’s orders, Queen Chrysalis transformed into her guard form and entered the castle. Looking around, she saw a hall with a large golden door decorated with the symbols of the Elements of Harmony. Looking through the keyhole, she saw the Bewitching Bell in a magical forcefield.

Looking through a window were Sombra and the other villains. When Chrysalis signaled for them, they teleported into the hallway and looked toward the door. The Storm King—with much protest from King Sombra—blasted the door with his staff and destroyed it, though the blast alerted the guards behind them.

Sombra gained an irritated expression on his face and turned to the Sirens. “Quick! Sing!”

The Dazzlings used the power in their restored gems to cause a song so powerful, it made the guards attack one another violently. Meanwhile, Tempest could hear the song and managed to stay strong, as though she was immune to the Siren’s spell.

With the guards out of the way, the villains entered the room. The Sirens stopped singing and looked at the bell. Sonata tried to touch it, only to be shocked by the seal. “Ow!”

Tirek grabbed her by the tail. “You idiot! We have to lower the magic around the bell first!”

“Oh, right!”

Using their combined powers, the villains blasted against the seal. But before it could be lowered, they heard a gasp behind them. The Storm King frowned. “I know that voice.”

Tempest stood behind the villains, frowning. “Storm King? How are you back? You were trapped in stone. I saw you die!”

“It doesn’t matter how I’m back, Tempest,” said the Storm King as he pointed to the other villains, “because these guys and I have a plan to destroy this lousy pony world and you’re standing in our way. You know what happens when you mess with the Storm King. You never live to tell the tale!”

“You know I would die for my kingdom, right?”

The Storm King smiled. “I can make that arrangement.” Laughing, the Storm King started to blast Tempest with lightning from his staff, only to have her shoot lightning at him as well. The two blasts collided and caused an explosion that knocked Tempest into a wall, leaving her unconscious. The Storm King got back up however and smiled.

Sombra looked toward Tempest’s motionless form and chuckled. “We should return to Emperor Grogar.” Using his magic, King Sombra teleported the villains into Tambelon courtyard and together they entered the castle.

When they arrived in the throne room, the Legion of Doom saw Grogar was absent. Cozy Glow flew to the sky and saw Grogar nowhere to be found in the ruined city. She landed in the throne room. “He’s nowhere in the city. He must not be back yet.”

Adagio crossed her forearms. “Then where could he be?”

Just then, the Bewitching Bell began to shake and was teleported away in a black and yellow smoke.

Cozy Glow jumped back. “What was that?!”

Sombra smiled. “Grogar is regaining what is rightfully his.”

Grogar was traveling in a jungle with his newly returned Bewitching Bell before coming upon an ancient stone temple. The temple was made of black rock and was decorated in banners that appealed to a mysterious creature.

When Grogar entered through a tall archway, he approached an altar surrounded by pony skulls and jars of what seemed to be blood. Grogar chanted mysteriously before placing his Bewitching Bell on the altar. In torches around the altar, a form of cosmic fire began to burn and went into the bell.

Out of the bell appeared a shadow-like projection of a black alicorn creature with vibrant red eyes. The creature had a dark gray mane and tail, along with a curved purple horn and wings that were black in the front, but slowly became red and eventually purple. The creature was tall and looked down at Grogar. Grogar kneeled.

“Master Destruction, the plan has begun. The pieces are in place. Soon, master, we shall have our revenge.”

The creature grimaced down at Grogar. “You can stop with the formal talk, my old friend, I am not one of your servants. Besides, there is still a long way to go before I am free.”

“Of course, master. Once I destroy Twilight Sparkle and her friends, nothing sha—will stop us from gaining ultimate power!”

“I give you one word of advice, Grogar: do not underestimate Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They may be small when alone, but together they could even defeat me in my weakened state. They have the heart of Eclipsa herself.”

“Master, I won’t fail you,” Grogar said, getting back up on his hooves.

The creature still looked down at him. “Remember one thing, Grogar: I am giving you this as a second chance. Remember that it was I who redirected that brat’s magic to your realm. If you prevail against the Elements of Harmony, you shall rule alongside me in my great empire… but if you fail, I will destroy you… once and for all.”

Chapter 5: Shadows of Your Nightmares

CHAPTER 5: SHADOWS OF YOUR NIGHTMARES

The heroes were in the Castle of Friendship’s library trying to devise a plan to stop Grogar and the New Legion of Doom. Twilight was sitting at the desk reading multiple books.

“How is it that not only the Legion of Doom and the Sirens are back,” Twilight pondered, “but King Sombra and the Storm King too? We have to find a way to stop them.”

Starlight, who was reading through a pile of books with Trixie and Sunset, got up from the floor and walked to Twilight. “Twilight, from what Tempest told us, they have the Bewitching Bell. If that’s true, Grogar could be planning an attack on Equestria at any moment.”

Rainbow Dash put the book she was reading down and flew up. “We need to stop sitting here and get into the action!”

Applejack pulled her down. “You’re forgettin’ somethin’, Rainbow. We don’t know where Grogar and his minions are hiding.”

Spike, who was looking through the books on the upper wall, accidentally fell off the ladder he was standing on and caused a pile of books to collapse to the floor—that was when Twilight saw—among the books—a book with a sun and moon on it.

Twilight gasped. “Of course! How did I not think of it sooner?”

Spike, visibly injured by the collapse, rubbed his head. “Think of what?”

“The Royal Sisters! They have more experience with defeating villains than anycreature in Equestria.”

Rarity raised a hoof. “Twilight, the former princesses have been resting in Silver Shoals since they retired—how are we certain they’ll help us?”

Rainbow Dash—who was flying—landed to the ground and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, they’ve never helped us before so why start now?”

Twilight gained a look of shock. “They have helped us before! Remember that time when… or that one moment when…”

Sunset Shimmer chuckled. “They’re like Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna—leaving all the work to the students. You have to love them though.”

Pinkie Pie seemed to be looking into nothing but space and talking to a wall. “Yeah, even though they got a pretty pathetic role in the finale.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Um… who are you talking to? And what are you even talking about?”

Pinkie gained a nervous expression. “Um… Nopony!”

Everyone in the room looked at her for a second, but realized it was just Pinkie being Pinkie and brushed it off.

Fluttershy spoke. “Well, I guess there’s only one thing to do, Twilight.”

Twilight nodded and charged her horn. “You’re right, Fluttershy, let’s go see the Royal Sisters!”

The heroes were teleported to Silver Shoals, where they passed through an array of buildings and multiple activity spots. After searching for a bit, they found the sisters around the docks, where Celestia was swimming.

“There they are!” Twilight shouted, pointing to the sisters.

Celestia looked her way. “Twilight! What are you doing here? And with your friends?” Smiling, she exited the bay and levitated a towel with her magic.

Twilight approached her former mentor. “We have a little… situation.”

Celestia noticed that there were others with the Mane Six. “What's going on?” she asked. “It's been a long time since all of you were together.”

Spike approached Celestia. “Someone we thought was a myth… is real.”

Rainbow Dash began to fly. “And he's brought back our old enemies.”

Sunset frowned. “They attacked Canterlot High.”

Celestia became worried. “Who did?” she asked, unprepared to hear what was next.

“Grogar,” Starlight replied.

“And he's brought back the Legion of Doom, King Sombra, the Storm King, and the Sirens,” Trixie added.

“I know this is a lot to ask,” Twilight began, “but we need your help. Is that alright?”

“Twilight,” Celestia calmly said. “After everything you've done for me and Luna… helping you is the least we can do.”

Twilight hugged Celestia. “Thank you!”

Applejack smiled. “Well, that was easy.”

Celestia walked toward a building with doors decorated with a sun and moon. “I’ll get Luna. Something tells me we don't have time to waste.”

The Legion of Doom were gathered around in Grogar’s throne room. Sitting on his silver-decorated throne, Grogar stepped down before the villains.

“Villains! It has come to my attention that there is more that we can do to expand our forces. That is why today, we shall bring someone of great importance into our ranks.”

The Storm King arrogantly pushed in front of the other villains and laughed. “Ha! Who could be more important than me?”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Literally anyone else in this room.” Hearing her say this, her sisters gave her a fin bump.

Tirek raised an eyebrow. “Exactly who do we need now? We already have every powerful villain in Equestria! There are no more creatures that could help us.”

Sombra stepped forward. “My Emperor, perhaps the centaur is right. We need no one else to help us. We are fine ourselves.”

Grogar stomped his hoof. “Enough! We are not enough! You are not enough! If we are to succeed in destroying Twilight Sparkle and her friends, we must be as plentiful as possible! That is why I shall awaken a creature of pure fear.”

Cozy Glow levitated King Sombra. “But we already have one right here.”

Sombra frowned. “Let me down this instant!” Complying with his request, Cozy let Sombra down and flew behind Tirek.

Grogar smiled. “Sombra is a creature of shadow, not fear. There is another being I have in mind—one that manipulated the former princess of the night.”

Sombra raised a hoof. “Nonsense! Who could be more fearful than me?”

“Just watch!” Grogar yelled, his eyes glowing red. Activating his Bewitching Bell, Grogar sent a blast of magic before the villains—which formed into a black creature covered in purple goo.

The creature opened its eyes to reveal dead, white pupils. “Freedom!”

The villains were appalled by the gooey monstrosity—Grogar was thrilled.

“Welcome, spirit,” Grogar said, his voice echoing throughout the castle, “to the city of Tambelon!”

The spirit looked behind itself and smiled. “Emperor Grogar. We have long awaited your return, master.”

Sonata gagged. “Ugh! It’s all gooey!” Adagio and Aria both put their fins over her mouth.

Adagio smiled nervously. “Please excuse them, they’re idiots.”

At the same time, the Storm King was whimpering at the sight of the creature. “Why is it looking at me funny?”

Tirek grabbed him by the arm. “You’re supposed to be a king! You cannot be scared of a little goo.” The Storm King only continued to whimper.

After the other villains were finished with their reactions, Cozy Glow flew up to the creature and touched it—before wiping the goo off her hoof. “So you’re the creature of fear?”

The spirit snarled and looked at the Legion of Doom. “Who are they, Lord Grogar?”

“Your new comrades! We all share a common enemy—Twilight Sparkle—who must be destroyed!”

The spirit smiled. “Then we shall work together with these villains to achieve our goals. Once we find a new host, we shall become powerful once more!”

“Good, then the battle shall be in our favor.”

Sombra approached Grogar. “Emperor, forgive my intrusion, but I do not trust this creature. There’s something… unsettling about it.”

“Nonsense, Sombra. If we are to be victorious, we must be as plentiful in numbers as we can. That reminds me of a creature who almost destroyed the original bearers of the Elements of Harmony!”

“The Royal Sisters?” Cozy asked.

“No. The Pillars!”

Grogar activated his magic again and opened a portal to Limbo. Out of the portal, a black alicorn creature with white eyes appeared before the villains. It was the Pony of Shadows—albeit in his weakest state.

“Where am I? Where are Star Swirl and the other Pillars? Where are those six ponies and their friends? Why am I so weak?”

Grogar approached the Pony of Shadows. “You are somewhere you are needed. And the reason you feel weak is because you lost a great part of you.”

The Pony of Shadows charged his horn. “What? Who is there? Show yourself!”

“Stand down. You are in the city of Tambelon, and I am Emperor Grogar.”

“Grogar?” the Pony of Shadows asked happily. It was as though he was excited to see an old friend. “My old master.”

Cozy Glow whispered to the Legion. “Wait, the Pony of Shadows knows Grogar?” The other villains shrugged.

“The Pony of Shadows served me during the Bell Wars,” Grogar replied, seemingly hearing Cozy. “After my defeat, he wandered Equestria and ultimately inhabited Stygian for 1,000 years.”

The Pony of Shadows kneeled to Grogar. “My lord, I am weak. If I am to defeat the Pillars and these new heroes, then I shall need power.”

Grogar charged his bell. “If it is power you desire, it is power you shall receive!”

From Grogar’s bell, a blast of black and yellow magic surrounded the Pony of Shadows, who began to emit orange and yellow fire from his coat.

“So. Much. Power!”

The Nightmare Spirit frowned. “What about us? Can we have power?”

Grogar smiled. “Yes! I have just the thing in mind!”

Aiming his bell at the Nightmare Spirit, Grogar sent a blast of magic at them. Out of the blast appeared two different alicorn mares. One was black with a cosmic blue mane and purple eyes and wore light blue armor. The other was white with a flaming mane and yellow eyes and wore orange armor. The two laughed.

Seeing their army nearly complete, the Legion of Doom laughed sinisterly.

Grogar smiled evilly. “Soon, master, you will be free.”

Chapter 6: Attack on the Crystal Empire

CHAPTER 6: ATTACK ON THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE

Twilight and her friends, along with Celestia and Luna, arrived at the Crystal Empire. “Stay close, everypony,” Twilight said. “If Grogar knows we're here to find a way to stop him, there’s no doubt he might send his Legion after us.”

The Legion of Doom stood around Grogar's throne room as he spoke. “My loyal followers… four of you shall be chosen to infiltrate the Crystal Empire and steal the Crystal Heart.”

“I wonder who’ll be picked,” Cozy Glow said, looking at King Sombra.

Sombra kept his eyes on Grogar but still answered: “Just wait and we’ll find out. All I care about is finally destroying that heart and getting revenge on those ponies.”

Tirek frowned. “Shh! Listen.”

Grogar continued. “The four of you that I believe are best for this mission are: The Storm King.”

“Booyah!” the Storm King shouted.

“King Sombra.”

Sombra charged his horn and laughed. “I shall have my revenge!”

“Lord Tirek.”

Tirek flexed his muscles. “Yes!”

“And Cozy Glow.”

“Yes!” Cozy yelled.

“You four shall retrieve the Crystal Heart and destroy anyone and anything that stands in your way, understood?”

“Yes, Lord Grogar!” the villains shouted in unison.

“I shall send you directly to the Crystal Empire with my magic. But remember one thing: return with the Crystal Heart and destroy anyone and anything that stands in your way. Or else.”

Grogar sent a blast of magic from his Bewitching Bell and in an instant, the four villains were teleported to the snowy outskirts of the Arctic North.

Sombra took a deep breath and smiled. “Finally—I’m home!”

Cozy Glow, meanwhile, was shivering out of control and hid herself in Tirek’s fur. “Can we just go into the empire already?” she stuttered. “It’s freezing out here!”

The Storm King—who was trying to use his staff to control the weather—frowned. “I am the Storm King! Why won’t this storm follow my commands?”

“Because,” Sombra responded, “the storms here are unpredictable—not even alicorn magic can control them.”

“Then can we get somewhere warm?” Tirek asked. “Cozy Glow’s shivering is making my neck itch.”

Sombra used his magic to protect the other villains from the cold.

“Warmth!” Cozy exclaimed, leaping from out of Tirek’s fur. Tirek scratched his neck.

“So what’s the plan?” Tirek asked.

Sombra smiled. “Well, you and I will attack the Crystal Empire, creating a distraction long enough for the Storm King and Cozy Glow to infiltrate the castle and grab the Crystal Heart.”

The Storm King frowned. Wait, why am I not attacking the ponies?”

“Two reasons. One: you’re weaker than me and Tirek. And two: You and Cozy Glow are agile and fast enough to sneak into the castle to grab the heart.”

“Wait,” Cozy said. “Isn’t the heart at the bottom of the castle? Why would we need to go inside the castle?”

“To foalnap the young princess.”

“What?” said all three villains, shocked at Sombra’s claim.

“You heard me right. We won't harm her, but without their precious filly, the prince and princess will be devastated. And a bonus: Grogar would be pleased.”

The Storm King laughed. “Let’s do it then!”

Tirek, with Cozy on his shoulder, smiled. “Pleasing Grogar? That would be an amazing accomplishment.”

“I’m pleased to know you agree with this plan. Now… let the attack begin!”

Meanwhile, the heroes were in the Crystal Library searching for a book with information on Grogar.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’ll never find something that can help us!”

“Just be patient, darling,” Rarity replied, “something will come up. I hope.”

Celestia and Luna were flying around searching through book after book. “Have you found anything, Luna?” Celestia asked.

“I have found nothing, sister. Does anyone else have better luck?”

“Nope! These coloring books have nothing helpful in them!” Pinkie responded.

“I haven’t found anything either,” Sunset added.

“Why do all these books only have recipes for corn?” Trixie asked, holding a cookbook.

“There has to be something!” Twilight exclaimed, practically zooming through book after book.

Suddenly, an orange blue-eyed pegasus entered the room. “I might be able to help. You’re looking for a book on… Grogar, if I’m not mistaken?”

“Flash!” Twilight exclaimed, blushing. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, Your Highness, I heard from Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor that Grogar returned, so I looked in the restricted section of the library and found this.” Flash held out a book with a large golden bell on the front.

Grabbing the book, Twilight opened it and read it aloud: “After Grogar’s defeat at the hooves of Gusty the Great, his Bewitching Bell was locked away on Mt. Everhoof, never to be seen again.”

Spike groaned. “We already know this!”

Twilight turned the page: “While the bell itself cannot be destroyed; its powers can be. There is a chance that if the Bell of Freedom, which lies in Grogar's castle, is rung by alicorn hooves, the Bewitching Bell's, and Grogar's, powers will be left utterly useless.”

“So all we have to do is find where Grogar’s castle is, and Twilight can ring that bell! Though that might be easier said than done,” Applejack said.

“How are we going to do this? We don’t even know where Grogar is!” Starlight exclaimed.

“And I’m not sure I want to know,” Fluttershy added.

“We can do it. I know we can!” Twilight exclaimed. “We’ve come on top before, right? So we can do it again!”

“But in those times, there wasn’t an army of villains against us!” Fluttershy replied.

“Come on, Fluttershy. You have to be brave!” Rainbow said.

Fluttershy asserted herself. “You’re right. I’m just under a lot of pressure.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you for the book, Flash.”

“You’re welcome, princess. Let me know if you ever need anythi—”

As Flash spoke, the heroes heard a large crash outside. Exiting the library, they saw Tirek and Sombra attacking the crystal ponies.

“What do we do, Twilight?” Spike asked.

Twilight started to panic before taking a deep breath. “Spike, Flash, you evacuate the crystal ponies. Starlight, Trixie, Sunset, you three make sure King Sombra doesn’t hurt anypony. Celestia, Luna, you two go to the castle and make sure my brother and Cadance and Flurry are safe. Everyone else, come with me and make sure Tirek doesn’t steal any magic.”

Sombra approached a young crystal filly and laughed. “Hello, young one.”

The filly hugged her mother, the two fearing for their lives.

Laughing harder, Sombra charged his horn before feeling a sharp pain in his back. Sunset and Trixie were blasting him with magic. Sombra, frowning, charged his horn and began fighting back against their magic.

“You will not defeat me, mares!”

“In your dreams, Sombra!” Trixie yelled.

Using the distraction to her advantage, Starlight helped the filly and her mother get to Spike and Flash, who were gathering the panicking crystal ponies to head to the Friendship Express.

“Thank you,” said the filly and her mother.

Starlight smiled. “You’re welcome. Just stay with the dragon and guard. They’ll get you to safety.”

Around the library meanwhile, the Mane Six and Tirek were fighting. Pinkie Pie began climbing all over Tirek.

“Stay still so I can absorb your magic!” Tirek yelled.

“Not a chance!”

Applejack began using her lasso to try and get a hold of Tirek’s arm. “Yeehaw!”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew around Tirek, who was trying to catch them.

“Gonna have to be faster than that!” Rainbow shouted.

Fluttershy whimpered. “Why did I agree to this?”

Tirek was almost able to catch the two until Rarity used her magic to levitate crystals and threw them at Tirek. “I may not be the best magic-user, but I do know a thing or two!”

Twilight delivered a final blow to Tirek’s chest with her magic. “You may have beat me before, Tirek, but this time I have my friends with me!”

Falling to the ground, Tirek laughed. “You’re too late, princess.”

“What do you mean?”

“The real battle was never here. The Crystal Heart will be ours… and your niece.”

Twilight gasped. “Flurry Heart!”

Cozy Glow was fighting Shining Armor and Cadance while Celestia and Luna were trying to stop the Storm King. Flying around him, they tried their best to dodge his lightning.

Celestia turned to her sister. “Luna! Try to get the staff from him!”

“With pleasure, sister!” Luna flew toward the Storm King, knocking the staff out of his hand. “Now all I have to do is—”

Before Luna could finish, Cozy Glow blasted her with magic.

“Luna!” Celestia yelled, running to her sister. “Are you alright?”

“Tia, don’t worry about me. Just grab the staff.”

Celestia nodded, but before she could even turn to grab the staff, the Storm King managed to pick it up and blast her.

“You wanna know the funny thing about lightning?” asked the Storm King, holding the ex-princesses in the air with his staff. “It’s unpredictable… just… like… me.”

The Storm King sent a blast of magic so strong that the sisters were knocked unconscious against the wall of the throne room.

In that same instant, Cozy trapped Shining and Cadance with an immobilization spell and laughed. “Now that you’re out of the way, guess what? We’ll be taking the Crystal Heart and your daughter… just for a souvenir to please Grogar.”

“No! You’ll never get away with this!” Cadence yelled.

“My sister and her friends will stop you!” Shining shouted.

“Your sister and her friends are weak and so are you!” Cozy replied.

The Storm King exited the room and a moment later came back with Flurry Heart in his magic. “Say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy.”

Flurry cried. “Mommy! Daddy! Help me!”

Cadence and Shining watched helplessly as Cozy Glow and the Storm King had Flurry and the heart in their magic. Then, they left.

Cozy and the Storm King, along with Sombra and Tirek, stood before the heroes and all the crystal ponies. King Sombra laughed and held Flurry Heart with his magic.

Twilight, seeing her niece in the clutches of a villain, frowned. “Give my niece back, Sombra!”

“Not a chance, princess. Grogar will be pleased to have not only the Crystal Heart, but also the young Crystal Princess in his possession.”

Sombra charged his horn. “And just one last thing.” He used a spell so powerful; it destroyed the barrier preventing snow and ice from engulfing the empire.

“Goodbye, princess.”

Sombra’s magic enveloped the villains as they teleported back to Tambelon.

“What do we do now, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“First, we evacuate the empire, and then we go straight to Grogar… and destroy him.”

Grogar watched in his Crystal Ball as Twilight said this. Beware, Twilight Sparkle. When you mess with Grogar, you never live to tell the tale.”

Chapter 7: The Changeling Revolt

CHAPTER 7: THE CHANGELING REVOLT

Tirek, the Pony of Shadows, Sombra, the Storm King, and Chrysalis were gathered in Grogar’s throne room. Grogar sat on his throne, smiling. “My legion! Now that we have the Crystal Heart and even the Crystal Princess in our possession, it is time to execute the next part of my plan!”

Chrysalis hissed. “And what exactly is that plan?! You speak of this ‘master plan’ to destroy our enemies, and yet you’ve kept the actual plan part a secret from us!”

“Enough, Chrysalis. Remember that it was I who restored your power and I can easily take it away! The destruction of Twilight Sparkle and her friends shall come soon enough for you.”

Chrysalis frowned in response. “Fine, I’ll be patient… Your Majesty.”

“Good. The next phase of my plan includes you and these others infiltrating your old hive.”

“What could you possibly need from there?”

“I am pleased that you have asked. What I require is a few pieces of your old throne.”

“Wait a moment,” the Storm King interrupted, “what’s so important about a throne?”

“My throne was able to block all outside magic from harming my hive.”

“That could be beneficial to our cause,” Sombra remarked. “Fascinating. A throne capable of blocking outside magic… just like my shadow crystals.”

“Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and I used it to trap the Mane Six and her friends before we were turned to stone,” Tirek responded. “Although I’m not quite sure that it would still work.”

Grogar chuckled at Tirek’s remark. “Wrong you are, Tirek. After your defeat, the remaining pieces were relocated to the Changeling Kingdom, where they are currently under the watch of General Pharynx and his squadron.”

“And what are we going to do with them once they are retrieved?” the Pony of Shadows asked.

“You shall find out in time, my friend. Now, go! And do not return without the pieces!” Grogar charged his bell, which blasted the villains with its magic, and they were teleported to the outside of the Changeling Kingdom.

Twilight and her friends, along with the new addition of Flash, were on the Friendship Express heading toward Canterlot. Seeing the castle, Celestia smiled and turned toward Twilight.

“It’s been a long time since Luna and I have been to the castle. I’m just happy it’s been in the care of such a capable young mare.”

Twilight blushed. “I’m only as good as the princess who mentored me. It’s great to see you after so long.”

Celestia smiled and the two hugged each other. That was when the train came to a stop. “We have arrived at Canterlot!” yelled the conductor. “Please exit the train!”

The heroes got off the train and headed toward Canterlot Castle. Waiting at the door for them was Tempest.

“Princess, I heard about what happened at the Crystal Empire. Are you and your friends alright?”

“Physically, yes. Emotionally, no. They took Flurry Heart.”

“And the Crystal Heart!” Flash added.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “They destroyed the barrier around the empire that keeps it from freezing.”

“We barely escaped,” Luna said. “My sister and I tried our best to protect Flurry Heart, but the Storm King defeated us.”

Tempest growled. “That beast has hurt enough ponies already. He needs to pay.”

“And so do the other villains brought back by Grogar,” Twilight remarked. “That’s why we need to get inside the library to find out where Grogar’s castle is located.”

Starlight frowned. “Assuming we even can find out where his castle is.”

Twilight smiled. “I think our best luck would be in the restricted section. Come on, everypony.”

A few moments later, Twilight and her friends were in the restricted section of the archives. Looking through book after book, the heroes found almost nothing. Twilight groaned.

“At this rate, we'll never find anything on Grogar!” she shouted.

“Well, not here, at least,” a familiar voice replied. The heroes looked toward the entranceway and saw a certain draconequus standing there. “Hello, everypony.”

Fluttershy put down her books and ran toward him. “Discord!” She jumped into his arms and gave him a hug. “What are you doing here?”

Discord teleported himself in front of the heroes. “I know about what happened at the Crystal Empire. I also heard about Grogar and the Legion of Doom.”

“And?” Twilight asked.

“I want to help.”

“Help? Like you did when you were trying to, and I quote, ‘help Twilight get her confidence back?’” Rarity asked.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Discord replied, frowning. “But just let me prove to you that I can be useful.” He then turned into a small version of himself and used the well-known “Puppy-eyes” technique. “Please?”

“Alright, you can help.”

Discord smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. I’ll make it up to you. All of you.”

Sunset continued to be confused. “Can somepony please tell me what is going on?”

The villains hid behind a rock outside of the Changeling Kingdom. Seeing the beautiful hive, Chrysalis snarled. “What have they done to my hive? It’s hideous!”

“I don’t know, in my opinion it looks… nice,” said the Storm King, only for Chrysalis to hiss at him.

“You know what, I’m just going to shut up.”

Sombra turned to Chrysalis. “So what’s the plan?” he asked.

Chrysalis kept her eyes on the hive. “Sombra, you and I will sneak into the hive and try to stay undetected. Meanwhile, the Storm King will stay outside the hive.”

“And do what?” asked the Storm King, seemingly disappointed with his lack of action.

“I need you to create a storm that will prevent any changelings from escaping in case we have to fight them. Do you think you can do that?”

“Can I?” The Storm King activated his staff. “That would be a yes.”

Tirek frowned. “What will I do?”

“You and the Pony of Shadows will stay near the hive to make sure Twilight and her friends can’t stop us if they find out we’re here.”

“We won’t let anyone, pony or otherwise, make it inside,” the Pony of Shadows said, smiling and emitting orange flames.

“Good. Sombra, let’s go.” Chrysalis turned to the Storm King and smiled. “You know what to do.”

The Storm King nodded and used his staff to create a storm that surrounded the kingdom, with heavy winds spread around to make sure no changeling could fly away and escape.

Afterward, Chrysalis and Sombra headed toward the hive. Chrysalis shapeshifted to blend into the surroundings and Sombra transformed into a shadow.

In the room where the pieces were being kept, Pharynx sat in front of a chest containing the throne pieces. Sharpening his spear, he looked at his guards. “I’m going to discuss the recent attack on the Crystal Empire with King Thorax. Make sure that no one gets in or out, alright?”

“Yes, sir!” they yelled in unison.

“Good. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Pharynx exited through a magically sealed doorway. As he left, Chrysalis, disguised as a rock, returned to her original form and approached it. Sombra followed close behind.

“What do we do once we’re inside?” Sombra asked.

“Just follow my lead. I’ll open the door in three… two… one!” Chrysalis used her magic to break the door down and she and Sombra ran into the room.

The changelings guarding the chest became worried. They wondered how Queen Chrysalis was back, and in their fear, they were easy to take out. Chrysalis and Sombra blasted them with magic, and they were flung all across the room.

“Finally! Now we can get the pieces!” Chrysalis exclaimed. She ran toward the chest and grabbed it with her magic. She and Sombra quickly ran out of the room and toward the exit, but Chrysalis stopped, giving the chest to Sombra.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Just take this. While I’m here, it’s time I do something I should have done long ago!”

Chrysalis ran toward the throne room, where Thorax and Pharynx were talking.

“Thorax, with the attack on the Crystal Empire and everything else going on, I think we need to evacuate the hive.”

Thorax frowned. “I don’t know, Pharynx. How would we even convince the changelings to evacuate? You know they’re stubborn.”

“If anyone can convince them, it’s you. After all, you’re a better ruler than any of the changelings have ever known.”

Chrysalis entered the room. “Oh, really? Better than your own mother?”

Thorax snarled. “Chrysalis! How are you out of your stone prison?”

“That doesn’t matter. What does matter is what I’m about to do to you. And don’t even think about trying to get the other changelings and flying away, my fellow comrades are making sure you can’t escape.”

Pharynx hissed at Chrysalis and levitated a spear in his magic. “Thorax, run! I’ll deal with her!”

“Pharynx, I can’t let yo—”

“Just go!” Thorax followed his brother’s orders and ran outside. Little did he know that Chrysalis had already defeated Pharynx. Alerting his subjects of the current situation, they tried to run away but saw the villains outside and instead hid in a cave near the hive.

Thorax grew a worried expression on his face. “I need to alert Princess Twilight.”

Twilight and her friends were sitting around the restricted section continuing their conversation with Discord. “So, you know where Grogar’s castle is?” Applejack asked.

“I do. During the Bell Wars, Grogar made his plans from his home city of—” Before Discord could finish, Spike burped up a scroll.

“Twilight, it’s for you.” He handed the scroll to her. She read it, and almost instantly became extremely worried.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Sunset asked.

Twilight began panicking.

Trixie put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight? Is everything alright?”

“The Legion of Doom attacked the Changeling Kingdom. Thorax and the changelings can’t even leave without risk of getting killed!”

The heroes gasped.

“Why would Grogar send the villains to attack the Changeling Hive?” Trixie asked.

“I don’t know, but this is starting to become too much for me.” Twilight began breathing heavily and almost started crying, before her friends gave her a hug and she calmed down, albeit not much.

Flash held Twilight’s hoof and smiled. “If there’s anyone who can do this, it’s you, Princess.”

Twilight blushed. “Thanks, Flash.”

The Royal Sisters nodded at each other and Celestia turned to Twilight. “Twilight,” she said, “Luna and I have agreed on this, and we’re going to do it.”

“Do what?”

“While you and your friends are away to defeat Grogar, we’re going to stay here and make sure that Grogar’s legion doesn’t attack anymore of Equestria.”

“How?”

Luna smiled. “We can sense when the legion is attacking a part of Equestria. We will keep the kingdom safe.”

Twilight and her friends smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight,” Celestia responded. “Now, be careful.”

“We will.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go to Tambelon!”

Grogar once again watched the heroes in his Crystal Ball. “Everything is going according to plan. After I resurrect my army, those ponies won’t stand a chance!”

Chapter 8: Journey to Tambelon

CHAPTER 8: JOURNEY TO TAMBELON

Twilight and her friends were in the halls of Canterlot Castle, preparing for their journey to Tambelon. Most of them were wearing backpacks or satchels containing necessary equipment. “Alright, everyone,” Twilight said. “Do we have everything we need?”

Applejack opened a basket strapped to her waist. “I have some of Granny’s baked apple goods in case we get hungry. I never go on a trip without ‘em.”

Twilight smiled. “Good. We can use magic to keep them nice and warm.” She turned to Starlight. “Starlight, do you have the books on Grogar?”

Starlight pulled books from her bag. “Does this answer your question?”

Twilight nodded, then turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, do you have the—”

Fluttershy interrupted her. “Map?” She pulled out a map of Equestria from her satchel. “That would be a yes.”

“Perfect!”

Before Twilight could even react, Pinkie jumped in front of her. “And I packed cupcakes!” she exclaimed. “Every cupcake is decorated in a unique way to represent each of us!”

Twilight smiled. “Wow, Pinkie. That’s great!”

“You’re welcome! I’m happy to see you smile, especially with all that’s going on.” Pinkie looked at what seemed to be a stained-glass window. “AlphaWerePlayer sure does have a twisted story here, huh?”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Uh… who are you talking to?”

Pinkie smiled nervously and walked to another part of the hallway.

Discord was staring at the site where the Bewitching Bell went missing. Fluttershy walked beside him and put a hoof on his eagle claw. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Just seeing this… it reminds me that I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my past.”

Fluttershy smiled. “You’ve changed, Discord. You’re not the villain you once were.”

“I know, but I still can’t help but feel as though Twilight will never forgive me.” He shed a tear and looked down at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, if this is our last time together, there’s something I need to tell you… I lo—”

Discord was cut off by Sunset, who was standing in the doorway. “Hey. I just wanted to tell you two that we’re about to go.”

“Just a minute, Sunset,” Fluttershy said. She turned back to Discord. “What were you going to tell me?”

Discord sighed before shaking his head. “Nothing. Just that you’re my best friend.”

Fluttershy smiled and hugged Discord. “You’re mine too!”

The two shared a hug before exiting the room.

Twilight was standing in front of her friends. “Alright, is everypony ready?”

“Yep!” Spike replied.

“I’m always ready!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Flash said.

“Wait,” Rarity said. She placed a few gems in her satchel. “Okay. Now I’m ready, darling.”

Twilight smiled. “Good. Then let’s go to Tambelon!”

The Legion of Doom were gathered around the large courtyard of Tambelon. Grogar smiled menacingly. “My loyal followers! With the magic I have gained from the Crystal Heart and the pieces of Queen Chrysalis’ throne, I finally have enough power to resurrect my army! But first, I must revive someone who served me during the wars.”

“Who?” Cozy asked.

“The very general who helped me lead the Troggles to begin with—General Bray!”

Grogar charged his Bewitching Bell. Black and yellow magic emerged from it and created what seemed to be a donkey skeleton. In mere seconds, skin formed around it, and it opened its green eyes. Around the donkey’s head was a medieval-style orange hood. The donkey smiled.

“Where am I?” he asked. Looking around him, he saw the Legion of Doom and heard Grogar chuckling. “Master? You have returned!” Bray kneeled before Grogar.

“Yes, my old friend. Indeed, I have.”

Bray looked around at the ruins of Tambelon. “What has happened to our home?”

“My trusted ally, we have been gone for over a millennium!”

“Over 1,000 years?” Bray looked around at the villains, who remained silent so as to not invoke Grogar’s wrath. “Who are these creatures?”

“My legion. Villains who have one thing in common: they desire vengeance against a common foe.”

“And who is that foe, master?”

“A young princess by the name of Twilight Sparkle. She has taken the role of leader of this land.”

“So, Ponyland is still ruled by alicorns?”

“Indeed, my friend. The daughters of King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia have only recently stepped down from their throne.”

Bray’s eyes opened wide. “Those young mares who were barely able to walk when you were banished have ruled this land for a millennium?”

“Yes, and the three pony tribes have formed Ponyland into Equestria, a place of ‘friendship and harmony.’ But now that I have you by my side, and once I revive our army, it shall become the Empire of Tambelon once more!”

The heroes were at Canterlot’s train station waiting for the Friendship Express. “I still don’t see why we can’t just use magic to get there,” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“We’ve already been over this, Rainbow,” Twilight responded, “Tambelon is too far to teleport to. Discord can’t even do it.”

Discord frowned. “Actually, I can, but Grogar can detect magic from miles away. It would be too much of a risk, so we have to plan ahead.”

“Since when does the all-powerful Discord ever plan?” Trixie mocked.

Discord frowned. “That was one time. I’ve learned my lesson since then.”

Starlight smiled. “We’ve all learned something since that day.”

Flash walked over to Twilight. “Is everything okay with you, Princess? You seem… worried.”

“I suppose I’m just scared about all of this. Grogar stole my niece, attacked the Crystal Empire, and practically ran the changelings out of their own hive!” Twilight frowned. “I’m just worried that I’m not enough.”

Flash put a hoof on Twilight’s foreleg. “You are enough. I mean, you and your friends have been saving Equestria for longer than I’ve served in the Crystal Guard. So if anyone can do this, it’s you, Princess.”

Twilight blushed and smiled. “Please, Flash, call me Twilight.”

“Okay, Twilight.”

As Flash walked away, Sunset approached Twilight. “Twilight,” she said, “if you like Flash, you need to tell him how you feel.”

“I don’t know. What if he doesn’t like me back?”

“You’ll never know until you try. He might be like Flash in my world.”

“I’ll think about it, Sunset. Thanks for trying to help though.”

“Anytime.”

Fluttershy approached the two. “Are you two about ready? It’s almost time for the train to arrive.”

“Just a moment, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied.

“Alright, I’ll talk to you on the train.”

Just then, the Friendship Express arrived at the station. “All aboard!” yelled the conductor.

The heroes entered the train and sat down. Sunset, Starlight, and Trixie were sitting together. “So,” Trixie said, “what do you think Tambelon will be like?”

Starlight frowned. “If it’s anything like how Discord described it, I’d say it’ll be pretty bad. Especially with Grogar around.”

“Well, we have something that Grogar doesn’t,” Sunset replied.

“And what’s that?” Trixie asked.

“Each other. I know that together, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”

Starlight smiled. “You’re right, Sunset. Grogar may be strong, but we’re stronger.”

Suddenly, the three saw a familiar face enter the train car—it was a yellow and white unicorn with a messy orange mane and blue robe that matched his eyes. He walked over to the three mares. “Hello, everypony.”

“Sunburst!” Starlight exclaimed. “What are you doing here? And if you’re here, then who’s in charge of the School of Friendship?”

“I was actually able to get Chancellor Neighsay to take over while I came here to help all of you. And I promise, he is actually going to run the school fairly this time. He’s learned his lesson.”

“Well, that’s good.” Starlight smiled. “Sit with us, we’re on our way to Tambelon.”

“As in the Tambelon? The city where Emperor Grogar came from?”

“Yep, and now you’re coming with us!” Trixie exclaimed.

“Well, I guess I am.” Sunburst sat down beside Sunset.

“Hello. You’re Sunburst?” Sunset asked.

“Yes. And you are?”

“Sunset Shimmer. I came from the Human World.”

“Fascinating. What’s it like?”

Sunset smiled. “Prepare yourself, because what I’m about to tell you will blow your mind.”

In Grogar's throne room, Grogar and Bray were looking into the former’s Crystal Ball, which brought up an image of Twilight and her friends. “So these are the ponies who pose a threat to you? They seem so harmless.”

“Do not underestimate them, Bray. They have succeeded time and time again against the villains whom I have brought together.”

“Pardon my curiosity, master, but what use are these villains to your master plan?”

“They are nothing but mere tools to get what I want. In time, they shall become useless to our cause.”

Bray raised an eyebrow. “And what of them then? Do you plan to kill them? Imprison them?”

Grogar smiled. “I have a much… worse fate in mind. I plan to absorb their very energy, which shall make me the most powerful being in Equestria once again. That, and the power of the Blood Torch, shall give me enough power to open a portal to the Dark Netherworld.”

“The Dark Netherworld? So, you plan to—”

“Yes, my friend. I shall use my power to banish those ponies to it, and they shall take the Fallen One’s place. He shall return, and once he does, all of Equestria shall be ours for the taking!”

Bray frowned. “Master, that is devious!” His frown quickly turned into a grin. “I love it!”

Grogar and Bray both began laughing maniacally; the Fallen One would be pleased.

Chapter 9: Bushwoolies

CHAPTER 9: BUSHWOOLIES

The Friendship Express arrived at a station around the far reaches of Southwest Equestria. “We have arrived at our final destination!” the conductor shouted.

The ponies and their friends exited the train and began walking toward what seemed to be a large forest.

“What is this place?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Sunburst grabbed the map from Fluttershy. “It’s known as the ‘Undiscovered West’ because nopony in the last few centuries has dared explore it, due to the existence of a local tribe that supposedly attempts to eat anything that trespasses their land.”

Fluttershy stopped in her tracks. “Eat them? Are you sure it’s too late to turn back?”

“It definitely is,” Applejack responded. “We’ve made it this far, and I’ll be darned if we don’t go through.”

Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I’ve been researching some new spells that can help us if things go wrong.”

Fluttershy looked as though she was relieved, but still scared at the same time. “Okay. I trust you.”

Rainbow Dash flew into the air. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Not so fast,” Starlight said. “We don’t know this jungle. We should stick together.”

“Come on, Starlight!”

“Starlight is right,” Twilight said. “We should stay close and also on the ground.”

Fluttershy smiled. “I like Twilight’s idea.”

“So, when are we actually going to enter the forest?” Trixie asked. “Because otherwise we’re just wasting time.”

Twilight smiled and turned to the forest. “Now. Come on, everypony, and stay together.”

After walking for a while, Sunset approached Twilight. “So, Twilight, how are you?”

“Honestly? I’m worried about Flurry Heart. What if Grogar does something to her?!”

Spike, having heard this, walked up to his big sister figure. “We won’t let that happen, Twilight. I promise.”

“Thanks, Spike. Thank both of you.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight,” Sunset replied. “I’m going to talk to Flash now.” Sunset looked behind her at Flash, who was constantly looking around and practically sweating. “Something tells me he might be a bit scared.”

Sunset walked over to Flash Sentry and waved. “Hey, you might not know me, but I’m—”

“Sunset Shimmer? I’ve heard about you. I know you went from a selfish pony to a great hero. You seem pretty cool.”

“Really? Thanks.”

Flash looked over at Twilight and then back at Sunset. “Sunset, do you think you can keep a secret?”

“I keep secrets all the time for my friends back in the Human World. So I guess I can keep another.”

“Good. Because there’s something that I just really need to tell somepony.” Flash thought about holding back, but finally decided to tell. “I like Princess Twilight.”

Sunset’s eyes opened wide. “Really? How long has this been going on?”

“Since I first bumped into her years ago. It was small at first, but then it kept growing and growing, and now, I’m absolutely crazy about her. But, of course, what chance would a common pegasus guard like me have with an amazing and beautiful alicorn princess like her?”

Sunset smiled. “More than you might think. Just be yourself—mares like a stallion who’s not afraid to be himself around them.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. After all, I am a mare.”

Flash smiled. “Thank you, Sunset. I really needed that talk. Although, I don’t think I’m ready to tell her how I feel just yet.”

“I understand. I like someone just like you in my world. I’m not ready to tell him either.”

The two ponies continued to talk while traveling through the forest. Little did they know they were being watched.

Grogar was staring at his Crystal Ball, which showed Twilight and her friends walking through a forest. “So, those ponies think they will be able to arrive at Tambelon and destroy my power? They shall indeed arrive here, but in chains!”

Bray entered the room from a nearby corridor. “Master, what are you doing?”

Grogar looked at Bray and smiled. “I am preparing to send out a squadron of Troggles after Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

Bray tilted his head curiously. “Really, master? Will I be leading them?”

“No, my friend. I require you here at the castle.”

“Then who is to lead them?”

Grogar’s eyes glowed red. “One of the most powerful soldiers in our army—Lieutenant Drog.”

Bray’s eyes opened wide. “Drog? Was he not the one who conspired to overthrow you during the final years of the Bell Wars?”

“Indeed, he was.”

Bray frowned. “Then why did you resurrect him?”

Grogar chuckled. “Because, Bray, he may have been an unfaithful servant, but he was my most powerful soldier in the entire Troggle army.”

“And how are you certain that he won’t attempt to betray you again?”

“Because I cast a spell on him that arms me with complete control over his mind. A spell so powerful that not even Princess Twilight can break it!”

Bray’s frown became a sadistic smile. “Pure genius, master!”

Grogar smiled. “Indeed. You are dismissed, General.”

Bray exited through the corridor and a few moments later, a large creature entered the throne room. It was a tall orange creature with red hair that stuck out of a silver helmet, and it also had pig-like facial features. It wore a blue shirt with a purple belt, blue pants, and purple boots. Its eyes glowed a bright red.

Grogar set his gaze upon it and smiled menacingly. “You know what to do, Drog.” The creature roared unnaturally in response.

After an hour of traveling, the heroes heard noises in the nearby bushes. Twilight charged her horn. “Everypony, stay close.”

The noises stopped, and Flash approached the bush. “I’ll see what’s going on, Twilight.” As he was looking through the bushes, he found nothing. However, when he thought nothing was there, a strange furry creature jumped on his face. He screamed: “Get it off! Get it off!”

Twilight levitated the creature with her magic and examined it. “What is this thing?”

“I know what that is!” Discord said, before putting on glasses from seemingly nowhere and making a book appear. “It’s a Bushwoolie.”

“A what?” Applejack asked.

“A Bushwoolie. They’re distantly related to Pukwudgies. The reason why nopony has ever dared explore here isn’t because the Bushwoolies eat ponies—it’s because they make strange noises to scare off any explorer that would try trespassing in the forest.”

Fluttershy saw the creature and smiled. “It’s so cute!”

The Bushwoolie turned to Twilight and frowned. “Put me down, or else I will destroy you!”

Twilight smiled. “Well, aren’t you a cute little guy?”

“Cute? I am Fluffbottom III of the Fluffbottom Clan! Let me down or else I shall unleash my army on you!”

After Twilight let Fluffbottom III down, Pinkie walked toward the creature and rubbed its belly. “Who’s a good angry Bushwoolie? You are!”

Fluffbottom III laughed. “St—stop rubbing me! I—I am—Fluffbottom III!” He continued to laugh hysterically.

“Well, we know that we’re not in any danger,” Trixie remarked. “But what do we do now?”

Sunburst looked at Trixie. “All that’s left is to find Tambelon.”

Fluffbottom III’s eyes opened wide. “Tambelon? I know where that is.”

Twilight smiled wide. “You do? Can you take us there?”

Fluffbottom III frowned. “Not so fast! You have to prove that you’re not a threat to the forest! Come with me to Bushwoolia, and there you will be tested by the Chief.”

“Who is the Chief?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The heroes were taken to the Bushwoolies’ home, where many of the fluffy creatures were playing. Fluttershy, seeing all of them, was in awe of their cuteness.

Fluffybottom brought the heroes to a small hut. “Only one of you may go in. That one of you will speak on your behalf. If the Chief finds you to be trustworthy, he will tell you the location of Tambelon.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “And if he doesn’t?”

“Then you will be banned from the forest and if you return, we will destroy you.”

Twilight gained a concerned look in her eyes and turned to her friends. “Who wants to talk to the Chief?”

Fluttershy put on a brave face. “I’ll do it.”

Rarity turned to Fluttershy. “Darling, are you sure?”

“Yes. I have to do this.”

Trixie turned to Starlight. “And she’s usually the scared one,” she remarked.

Fluttershy entered the hut and went before the Chief, who was sitting in a chair. “Are you the Chief?”

The Chief stood up and grabbed a stick—which was practically a staff for his size—and walked to Fluttershy.

“I have been told you wish to know the location of Tambelon. Is this correct?”

“Yes. My friends and I seek to destroy its ruler before he can destroy our home.”

The Chief was expressionless. “We Bushwoolies know of the being you speak of. The Blue Demon is powerful; it is foolish to confront him.”

“We know how to destroy his power, but we can’t do it without knowing where Tambelon is.”

The Chief pointed his staff at Fluttershy. “We Bushwoolies dare not go near the city. We have lost many of our kind to its inhabitants.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. My friend’s niece was taken by Tambelon’s army as well. That’s why we want to stop its ruler, so he can’t hurt anyone again.”

The Chief closed his eyes and placed the staff to Fluttershy’s hoof. “What you say is true.” He opened a small wooden chest in the corner of the room. From out of it, he pulled a folded piece of paper. “Take this.”

Fluttershy grabbed it. “What is it?”

“A map of our forest. We cannot take your party to the city, but this map will help you find it. We wish you great luck on your journey, but before you leave, you and your friends must stay here. It is dangerous to travel through the forest at night. We will provide you with food, shelter, and a warm place to sleep.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you so much!”

The heroes waited outside of the hut nervously. That was when Fluttershy came out of it. Twilight had a worried look on her face. “What did the Chief say?”

Fluttershy showed her friends the map. “He said that we can stay here for the night. He’ll provide us with food, shelter, and a place to sleep!”

Sunset smiled. “That sounds nice.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “It’s more than just nice—it’s awesome!”

“Indeed,” Rarity said. “It will be rather nice to get some rest after traveling for so long.”

Discord made a sleeping cap and pajamas appear on his body and conjured a teddy bear. “I’m excited to rest. Even an immortal draconequus needs his beauty-sleep.”

Twilight smiled. “Then it’s settled! We’ll stay here for the night.”

Fluffbottom walked toward the rest of the village. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”

As they followed behind Fluffbottom, a creature was watching them from the bushes. A creature with bright red eyes. Behind it was Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker. Nightmare Moon was smiling evilly. “Do you know what to do, Daybreaker?”

Daybreaker looked at Nightmare. “Indeed, I do, Nightmare. When we’re done, those ponies will wish it was Grogar attacking them!” The two beings laughed evilly. The nightmare was about to begin.

Chapter 10: Night Terrors

CHAPTER 10: NIGHT TERRORS

Twilight had just raised the moon, and the heroes were getting ready for bed in two different shelters. One was on the right side of the village and housed the mares, and the other one was on the left side of the village and housed the stallions.

The mares were doing what they usually did. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were playing a board game they had packed for the journey, Rarity was checking her reflection in a mirror, Starlight and Trixie were discussing magic, the Royal Sisters were talking about Equestrian history with Starlight and Trixie, and Twilight was sitting by herself. Sunset sat down beside her.

Sunset smiled. “Are you alright?”

Twilight was looking at the map that showed where Tambelon was. “I am. I was just looking at this map and found something interesting.”

“Really?” Sunset asked, curiously tilting her head. “What is it?”

Twilight pointed toward the Bushwoolie village on the map. “This village was built over the location of what was once known as Dream Valley.”

Sunset opened her eyes in shock. “Like the same Dream Valley where Gusty the Great and Star Swirl came from?”

“Yeah. Apparently after Grogar was banished, the forest grew around it. Eventually the Bushwoolies found the ruins and the rest is history.”

Pinkie Pie approached the two. “Who’s excited for the trip to Tambelon tomorrow?”

Twilight smiled. “Me, Pinkie.” Her smile quickly turned to a mournful look. “I just hope we get there before Grogar can hurt Flurry Heart—assuming he hasn’t already.”

Pinkie frowned. “I know you miss her, but even in the darkest of times, it can help to put on a smile! I do it all the time, and you see how I am!”

Twilight smiled again. “You’re right, Pinkie. Thank you.”

“Anytime!” Having said this, Pinkie walked away.

Twilight turned back to Sunset. “I wonder what the stallions are doing. Probably having more fun than I am.”

Sunset smiled. “Twilight, I’m sure we’re having a better time than they are.”

Meanwhile, the stallions were practically having a party. Spike and Discord were starting a game of Ogres & Oubliettes, and Sunburst and Flash were playing—or at least, trying to play—as well.

Discord was in his elf outfit and Spike was in his wizard attire, and the room suddenly became a life-sized version of the game. “We already have our characters,” Discord said, looking in Flash and Sunburst’s direction. “And now it’s time to create yours.”

Sunburst held out a piece of paper with his character on it. “I’ll be a potion user named Merl.”

Spike held back a laugh. “Wait… your character is named Merl?”

“Starlight and I used to play this game when we were fillies, and I would always use this character. Why do you ask?”

Spike continued to hold back a slight chuckle. “No reason.”

Discord turned to Flash. “And who will your character be?”

Flash sat on the floor and didn’t answer; Discord asked again. Flash looked up and apologized: “Sorry. I was just thinking about how worried Twilight must be after losing Princess Flurry Heart.”

“Twilight is strong,” Spike said, putting a claw on Flash’s forearm. “She can get through it.”

“But what if Princess Flurry is hurt… or worse?!”

“Don’t think that way,” Spike said calmly. “Flurry Heart might be stronger than all the alicorn princesses combined! Please don’t tell them I said that.”

Sunburst smiled. “Spike is right. I’ve been helping take care of her from when she was born, and I can proudly say that she’s quite resilient.”

Flash’s mournful look turned to a relieved one. “That’s good to hear. But I’m still worried about Twilight. She doesn’t deserve this.”

Spike frowned. “Nopony does.”

“I mean, Twilight is kind, strong, beautiful, powerful, and so amazing. For this to happen to somepony like her—it breaks my heart.”

Spike’s eyes opened in a curious manner. He put a claw over his ear. “What did you say?”

Flash raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I said it breaks my heart.”

“No, no, before that. What did you call Twilight?”

“Kind, strong, beautiful, powerful, and amazing. Why is that so strange? It is true, after all.”

Spike smiled. “You said that Twilight was ‘beautiful.’ You like her, don’t you?”

Flash could feel himself sweating. “What? No, of course not!” He tried to stay silent about it but eventually surrendered. “Okay, maybe I like her a little bit.”

Discord made the fantasy setting disappear and removed his elf outfit. He made a notepad and microphone appear out of thin air and leaned toward Flash. “Tell me all about your feelings for Twilight, and don't skip out on any of the juicy details.”

Spike frowned in disapproval. “Leave him alone, Discord.”

Discord made the notepad and microphone disappear. “Oh, come on! I’m just having a little fun. I’m sure he’s not bothered by it.”

Flash frowned. “Actually, I am a bit annoyed.”

“How would you like it if we asked you about your feelings for Fluttershy?” Spike asked Discord.

Flash smiled. “Wait, Discord loves Fluttershy?”

Discord snarled. “I thought we agreed to keep that between us and Big Mac.”

Spike smiled. “You make fun of Flash; I make fun of you.”

The stallions continued their conversation and when it became late, they went to bed.

Outside were NIghtmare Moon and Daybreaker. When they saw that the heroes were asleep, they each went inside a room—Daybreaker went into the stallions’ shelter and Nightmare went into the mares’ shelter.

Daybreaker activated her magic and used it on the stallions. “Rest now, little ponies,” she said, “for you will soon see each other in dreams.”

Meanwhile, Nightmare used her magic on the mares. “May your sleep be long and peaceful, and let your dreams come together.”

The two then united their magic and both said the same thing: “And may your dreams become your worst nightmares.”

The heroes woke up in a strange white void, and immediately noticed each other.

“Where are we?” Applejack asked, looking around.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “But we’re definitely not in our rooms anymore.”

Pinkie Pie walked to one side of the void and came full circle. “There’s no way out, either.”

Discord frowned. “Wherever we are, we need to stay ready.”

Celestia and Luna were in the royal chambers sleeping. Luna woke up panicking. She quickly woke Celestia.

“Luna?” Celestia asked. “What time is it?”

Luna frowned. “I don’t know, but I fear Twilight Sparkle and her friends are in critical danger.”

Celestia became worried. “Danger? Of what?”

“I do not know, but we need to find them—now!”

Luna activated her horn to attempt to locate the heroes and realized what was happening. “They are in the Dream Realm,” she said, worried.

“The Dream Realm?” Celestia asked. “Isn’t that normal for ponies at night?”

“No, I mean they are in the same dream. Something is trying to attack them through their dreams—perhaps Grogar himself!”

Celestia stayed calm. “Then we need to save them. Can you get us to them?”

Luna activated her magic and her horn glowed white. “Yes.”

Twilight was worried—extremely worried. “I don’t know where we are, everyone. All I know is that we’re together. We just need to stay calm and focus on getting out.”

A voice came from above them: “That won’t work here.” It was Luna.

Twilight saw the former Royal Sisters flying in the void with them and was obviously curious. “Celestia? Luna? What are you doing here?”

Luna landed in front of Twilight. “You and your friends’ dream was calling to me, and my sister and I decided to help you.”

“So, we’re dreaming?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Indeed.” Luna quickly came to another realization. “But if you are here together, then someone has brought you here intentionally.”

“But who would do that?” Flash asked.

“The last time we were in a shared dream was when we fought the Tantabus,” Pinkie said, “so why are we here?”

Luna gasped. “I sense a presence. A dark presence I have not felt in years.”

Discord tingled. “I do as well. Something seems… wrong.”

The heroes prepared themselves. “Stay close, everypony,” Celestia said. “We’re not alone here.”

That was when they heard a laugh; Luna opened her eyes in shock. “I know that laugh.”

A voice spoke: “You’ve allowed yourself to become friends with these ponies? Pathetic.”

Luna charged her horn. “Stay behind me, everyone.”

Trixie frowned. “What’s going on?”

Nightmare Moon appeared before the heroes. “Hello, everyone,” she said. “I am Nightmare Moon, but some of you may already know that.”

Luna frowned. “Stay where you are. I can handle Nightmare Moon.”

“But can you handle me?” Daybreaker asked menacingly, appearing beside Nightmare Moon.

“I’m getting serious deja vu,” Starlight said, remembering when she switched the Royal Sisters’ Cutie Marks.

Fluttershy hid behind Discord. “What is going on?!” she asked in fear.

Daybreaker jumped in front of her, which made Discord growl. “Don’t you dare touch Fluttershy.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Daybreaker walked back to Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon smiled. “We promise not to hurt you if you surrender yourselves over to Emperor Grogar.”

“And if we don’t?” Spike asked.

“Then we’ll be forced to take drastic measures… you don’t want to make us angry. We await your answer.”

Luna turned her head and whispered to the others: “We’re going to send you back to the waking world, and I need you to take Nightmare and Daybreaker as far as possible.”

Twilight gained a look of concern. “What about you two?”

Celestia smiled. “We’ll be fine. We’ve handled this before.”

Daybreaker frowned. “Time is almost up. Surrender now or face the consequences.”

Luna whispered again: “On my count, jump through the portal that I make with my magic. One… Two… Three!”

Luna formed a portal with her magic and the heroes jumped through it, to which they arrived in their rooms and saw that it was nearly the end of the night. Seeing Nightmare Moon standing there idly, the mares tied her up with rope and the stallions did the same to Daybreaker. They met outside and tied the two together and started trying to decide what to do with them.

Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker were outraged at Luna’s actions and tried to escape the dream but found that they couldn’t—Luna was using her magic to keep them there!

The two nightmarish beings attempted to stop Luna, but Celestia managed to hold them off. Nightmare and Daybreaker frowned and said the same thing: “We will never be able to defeat you in our divided state!” The two began to emit purple magic. “You asked for this.”

The two beings suddenly formed into the very black goo-covered spirit that Grogar had originally resurrected. Now more powerful than ever, the Nightmare Spirit laughed.

“Now we are flesh once again! Prepare to die, daughter of Galaxia!” The Nightmare Spirit activated its horn and from it came pure cosmic matter, which Celestia quickly deflected. The more matter it threw at Celestia, the more she deflected it as if it was nothing. Nightmare frowned. “Why are you so hard to hit?!”

Celestia charged her horn. “Because I’m not a child anymore!” She blasted the spirit with so much force that it was knocked against the barrier Luna was creating.

Seeing that it was outmatched, the spirit began to emit cosmic magic. “You may have won this time, but I’ll be back for you!” With a charge of its horn, it disappeared from the Dream Realm.

Celestia and Luna smiled. “What do we do now, sister?” Luna asked.

“Now,” Celestia replied, “we help Twilight.”

The two exited the Dream Realm and appeared before the heroes. “Celestia! Luna! You’re alright!” Twilight exclaimed, running to hug her former mentors. “What are you doing here?”

“We want to help you,” Celestia responded. “We’re done staying on the sidelines and letting you do all the work. It’s time we get some of the action.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Well, that’s awesome! What do we do now?”

Twilight began lowering the moon. “Now, Rainbow? We finally go to Tambelon.”

Grogar was watching the heroes in his Crystal Ball. “So, the daughters of my old comrades are helping in the quest to defeat me? Oh, this will be fun.”

Chapter 11: Tambelon

CHAPTER 11: TAMBELON

The heroes gathered their supplies and prepared to finally reach Tambelon. Twilight spoke to the Bushwoolie Chief: “Thank you for everything.”

The Chief and Fluffybottom III smiled. The former placed his staff on Twilight’s hoof. “We are thankful to you as well. We wish you luck facing the Blue Demon.”

Twilight nodded and turned to her friends. “Is everypony ready?”

She could hear multiple voices saying either “yes” or “yeah.”

She smiled. “Good. Then let’s face a ram.”

Around an hour later, the heroes found themselves in the darkest part of the forest. Discord, Celestia, and Luna felt a magical disturbance.

Discord frowned. “I sense Grogar is nearby.”

Celestia and Luna nodded at each other. “We do as well,” Luna said.

“Then we need to be careful,” Sunset advised.

“Is anypony else scared right now?” Fluttershy asked.

“We all are, Fluttershy,” Applejack answered. “We all are.”

Sunburst read the map. “Tambelon is nearby. Grogar no doubt has someone patrolling, so we should be careful.”

“Agreed,” Trixie replied.

That was when they heard a noise coming from the trees and bushes. “What was that?” Starlight asked fearfully.

“I’m scared to find out,” Flash replied.

Twilight charged her horn and blasted the bushes. She heard an unnatural squeal, and out of the bush came what looked like a large pig creature with red eyes and behind it were other creatures who looked similar.

The creature in front spoke: “I am Lieutenant Drog—servant of Emperor Grogar and leader of the Troggles. Surrender or die!”

Pinkie Pie frowned. “Never! Fire ‘em up, everypony!”

Those who had magic charged their horns and blasted magic at Frog, only for him to use what seemed to be a strange staff that caused the magic to bounce away from him. The more they fired, the closer Drog got to them, before one of the blasts hit Twilight.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled.

Twilight fell to the ground and closed her eyes.

Twilight found herself in a strange black void. “Where am I?”

She heard a voice behind her: “Where you always are—your mind.”

Looking in the voice’s direction, Twilight saw a hooded alicorn-like figure in a black cloak with red eyes. The figure had a black coat and a dark gray tail protruded from the back of the cloak. The hood had a hole in it where a curved purple horn stuck out, and Twilight could see wings under the cloak, covered but still partially visible.

Twilight tried to charge her horn, but to no avail.

The figure smiled—its dark grin chilled Twilight to the bone. “Don’t bother trying to use your magic here—it won’t work.”

“Who are you? Where are we?”

The figure smiled. “We’re in your mind. I have many names, but you’re smart, so I’ll only tell you one of them: The Destroyer.”

“The Destroyer?” Twilight’s eyes opened in shock. “As in the Destroyer from the story of Lady Eclipsa? But you’re just a legend.”

“Legends are often, if not always, based on truth. I am the Destroyer, but why be so formal? You may call me Master Orthodox.”

Twilight frowned. “What do you want with me? What part do you have to play in this?”

Orthodox chuckled. “I’m quite disappointed you hadn’t connected the pieces. Let me tell you a story. Long ago, there were two beings: Eclipsa, the Lady of Creation, and me, the Master of Destruction. For many centuries, we existed in balance with each other, and I loved her as a sister, but when ponies began to admire Eclipsa’s work and shun mine, I was angry. So, I did what anyone would do—I confronted her about it. But when she acted as though I was ungrateful and irrational, I became angry; I used my power against her, and a fight broke out between us. Tension grew between the two of us, and that caused the first ponies of Equus to take sides. Many sided with her and many sided with me, and thus, war broke out. In the war, I made my creations, and Eclipsa made hers. After many battles between us, she finally banished me and my army to the Dark Netherworld.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “And then what happened?”

Orthodox sighed. “Well, over the next few millennia, I waited patiently, and started to manipulate the creatures of Equus in an attempt to free myself. But they all failed—or at least, that was until Grogar. He and Angus both were my most loyal servants, and they ultimately succeeded in overthrowing a threat to my power: King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia.”

“As in the—”

Orthodox interrupted Twilight. “Parents of the former Royal Sisters? Yes, indeed. Angus was the one who destroyed them, and the young princesses were put under the care of Gusty’s apprentice, Star Swirl. Needless to say, Angus was eventually imprisoned by that ‘self-righteous Gusty the Great,’ and yet, Grogar still stood strong. He overpowered Gusty during their first fight, and he became a way for my influence to spread across the land. When he was banished to the Realm of Darkness though, I kept trying to manipulate many creatures over the years—starting with the Storm King and ending with Cozy Glow.”

“Wait, you’re the reason for why all those villains are evil? So you’re controlling them?”

Orthodox laughed. “No. Not exactly. I have some control over creature’s minds but not completely. I can only alter their thoughts and speak through them. And while I may have influenced them in their trip to villainy, it was ultimately their choice. I only helped push them in that direction.”

“Well, my friends and I have stopped every one of your villains! And we’ll stop you! You may have manipulated them, but you can’t manipulate us! We are heroes and as Princess of Equestria, I won’t let you hurt anypony!”

Orthodox laughed evilly. “But who do you think set off the chain of events that would lead to you becoming so?”

Twilight gasped. “Wait, what are you saying?”

“I used whatever power I could get through the barrier that keeps me from Equestria to allow me to indirectly cause everything you have ever faced. I moved the stars in the sky to allow Nightmare Moon to escape. I filled those ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ with thoughts of anger that would allow the draconequus’ petrification to end. I ensured that Chrysalis knew of the wedding between your brother and Princess Cadance, and would be able to feed off of the love radiating from it. I returned Sombra and the Crystal Empire to the Arctic. I was indirectly responsible for Star Swirl’s spell getting out of hoof and allowing you to become a princess. I used my influence in the Human Realm so that Sunset Shimmer would know of your crown’s power. I weakened the magic of the Tree of Harmony so the Plundervines would be able to invade. I allowed Cerberus to leave his post and thus let Tirek become free of his prison. I gave the Sirens the ability to control all those in your pathetic school in the Human World. I made sure that Starlight Glimmer would have enough power to steal a village’s Cutie Marks and be able to alter the time-travel spell. I then gave Chrysalis a second chance at invasion, and even after she failed, I made certain that she would escape. I altered your spell to free the Pillars from Limbo so that Stygian would return as well. I gave the Storm King the desire to conquer Equestria. And when that brat Cozy Glow drained the magic of Equestria, it weakened the walls of my prison that I was able to finally free Grogar.”

Twilight gained a scared look in her eyes. “Why?! Why go through all of that trouble?”

“Because I wanted to ensure you were who I needed to take my place.”

“What do you mean, ‘take your place?’”

“When Grogar enacts his spell, a portal to my prison will open. You and your friends will be pulled into it, and you shall take my army’s place! You will be trapped in the Dark Netherworld, and I will be able to destroy Equestria with no threats to my power!”

“No! My friends and I will stop you! You won’t win!”

“My oblivious princess, I already have. You’ll want to get back to Tambelon. The spell will be cast at midnight tonight. Cheerio, princess. I look forward to your demise.”

Twilight woke up to see that the Troggles were on the ground defeated, and her friends were standing around her.

“Twilight? Are you okay?” Starlight asked.

Twilight got on her hooves and looked around. “What happened?”

“You were knocked down by Lieutenant Drog’s staff,” Luna answered.

Discord had a genuine look of worry in his eyes. “You’re lucky you weren’t hurt too badly. A blast like that can kill certain creatures.”

Twilight had a worried expression.

Applejack put a hoof on Twilight’s foreleg. “What’s wrong, sugarcube? Is everythin’ okay?”

Twilight let out a long sigh. “No. I saw… something while I was unconscious.”

“What kind of something?” Rainbow asked.

“A stallion. His name was Orthodox.”

Discord, Celestia, and Luna’s faces quickly turned to a shocked look. The others wondered what was going on.

“This is not good,” Celestia said.

Luna became worried. “That name is one my sister and I have not heard for over 1,000 years.”

“Who was he?” Starlight asked.

Discord snapped his claw, and the ponies were surrounded by what looked like a vision of Orthodox and a mare looking like him battling with each other. “Orthodox is an ancient being; older than Equus itself.”

“Older than Equus?” Rarity asked, shocked.

Luna replied: “Indeed. He was banished by his sister to the Dark Netherworld over 1,000,000 moons ago.

Celestia frowned mournfully. “If he is appearing to Twilight, then there must be more to this than meets the eye.”

Discord made the vision disappear.

Twilight sighed. “He said he was going to use Grogar to send us to his prison—and that he would be free in our place.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “So, this ‘Orthodox’ is just using Grogar?”

Fluttershy gained a look of sadness. “Then is Grogar really just a victim?”

Discord shook his head. “No. Orthodox may be Grogar’s master, but Grogar is doing this of his own free will. He’s as much to blame as Orthodox.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Oh.”

As the others began talking about going to Tambelon, Flash approached Twillight. “Twilight?”

She turned to him. “Yes, Flash?”

Flash was blushing. “Since we’re about to fight for our lives, I just wanted to tell you that—”

Just then, Drog woke up and jumped between the two, causing them to scream.

“You thought you could stop me? Now you will pay the price!” He used a beam of electricity from his staff that shocked everyone, and through whatever magic was in it, caused them to become motionless.

Drog turned to the other Troggles. “Take the ponies and their friends to the dungeons.” He turned around to look at the trapped Twilight. “I’ll take this one to Emperor Grogar.”

Chapter 12: The Power of Love

CHAPTER 12: THE POWER OF LOVE

Twilight and her friends had just been captured by the Troggles and were brought to Tambelon. When they saw what remained of the once-proud city, they were horrified. There were banners with Grogar on them and Troggles were working away at rebuilding it. Then, in the middle of the city, they saw a large castle. It was made of stone and looked like it was covered in dark magic and decay. Drog and his squadron brought them inside.

Twilight’s friends were taken to the dungeons under the city, where they saw multiple creatures. There were Bushwoolies, a few changelings, and in a large cell was a young alicorn filly.

The heroes were put in the same cell as Flurry Heart and the guard locked the doors.

When they saw Flurry, they gave her a hug and laughed.

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked.

“Discord,” Rainbow said, looking at the draconequus, “can’t you just poof us out of here?”

Discord tried to use his chaos magic, but it faded into nothingness. “These bars are made of Chrysalis’ throne. We can’t use magic.”

Rarity sighed. “Well, that is positively dreadful.”

Applejack frowned. “Then what’re we gonna do? It ain’t like we can just fly outta here.”

Starlight looked at Pinkie. “Pinkie, usually you tell us that there’s a bright side to things and that it’ll be alright. Can you please tell us?”

Pinkie’s usually happy face was a mournful frown. “I can’t.”

Fluttershy felt as though she was about to cry and hugged Discord. “Then we’ve lost?”

Celestia sighed in remorse. “It seems as though we have, Fluttershy.”

The heroes began to feel defeat and practically surrendered.

Meanwhile, Twilight was brought to Grogar by Drog. “My emperor,” Drog said. “I have brought you Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Grogar smiled. “Excellent, Lieutenant. You are dismissed.” As the Troggle exited the throne room, Grogar approached Twilight.

She began to feel a chill down her spine. “You’re Grogar.”

“Yes, I am. How keen of you to notice,” he remarked. “And you are the Princess of Friendship.”

Twilight frowned. “I know about your plan, Grogar, and I’m going to tell you that it won’t work!”

Grogar chuckled. “I understand my master has told you of my true intentions. And I suppose you know why I need you and your friends in one place?”

“I do. You want to send us to the Dark Netherworld so Orthodox can destroy Equestria.”

“Right again, Princess Twilight!” Grogar pointed to a large torch at the edge of the throne room. “Do you see that torch? That is what will allow the Fallen One to return to Equus. The spell will be cast when it reaches midnight, and that torch will summon a portal in the air. Then, I will use my Bewitching Bell to send you and your friends inside of it, and the Destroyer shall come here in your place… very much alive.”

“But there is one thing you don’t know.”

Grogar frowned. “And what would that be?”

“We know about the Bell of Freedom and that it can destroy your bell.”

Grogar laughed maniacally. “You imbecile! That bell is protected by a spell that even you cannot break!”

Twilight continued frowning. “You appear as a powerful warlord who created all of the monsters in Equestria but I know what you really are: a servant who needed his master, who was weak if I might add, to bail him out of the Realm of Darkness.”

Grogar snarled. “Silence! I am the most powerful being in Equestria! More powerful than you, Celestia, or even Star Swirl!”

“But not Gusty the Great,” Twilight remarked.

Grogar stomped his hoof. “That mare is dead! She may have been able to defeat me years ago, but I am stronger now!”

“You’re nothing. My friends and I will defeat you.”

Grogar used his Bewitching Bell to trap Twilight in a magical hold and threw her at the wall of the throne room, leaving her motionless. He called for Drog. “Lieutenant Drog! Take her to the dungeons like the rest of her friends.”

Drog nodded and picked Twilight up, and then left the room. Grogar walked back to his throne. “I will be happy when that princess is gone for good.”

Drog brought Twilight to the dungeons and brought her to the same cell as her friends. They examined the unconscious alicorn to see if she was alright, and then they turned to Drog, who had just finished locking the door. He frowned. “For all it’s worth, ponies, I didn’t want to capture you.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Then why did you?”

Drog sighed. “It’s what Grogar wants. He takes control of my mind, and if I try to resist, he'll kill me.”

Sunset frowned. “But we know how to stop him. You have two choices: join us and win; or stay with Grogar and be mistreated for the rest of your life.”

Drog sighed. “Take my advice, little ponies. The only one you should take care of in this world is yourself, especially here. I learned that a long time ago. I’m sorry.” He walked away.

Flurry looked down at her motionless aunt and pulled a potion bottle from a satchel around her waist. “I think this will help.”

“What are you doing, Princess Flurry?” Flash asked.

Sunburst smiled. “She’s healing Twilight.”

Flurry made Twilight drink the potion and after she swallowed it, she woke up. Seeing Flurry Heart, she immediately jumped up to hug her.

“Flurry Heart!” she exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes. “I thought I lost you.”

Flurry returned her aunt’s hug. “I did too, Auntie Twilight.”

“What do we do now, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“Why are you asking me?”

Celestia looked at her with a smile. “Because you’re the smartest of all of us.”

Twilight blushed. “I may be clever, but I’m not the smartest.”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Twilight’s foreleg. “Are you kidding? You might be the smartest pony in all of Equestria!”

“Rainbow Dash is right,” Starlight said. “You learned in one year what I hadn’t learned in an entire decade.”

Twilight smiled. “Alright. I think I know what to do.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “And that would be… what, exactly?”

Twilight looked up to the ceiling and pointed to a crack in it. “Do you see that crack?”

“What about it?” Flash asked.

“If we can find a reactive substance, I can use my magic to expand it and make the crack large enough for us to fly through.”

“That won’t work,” Luna responded. “Our magic is useless here. The cell is made from pieces of Chrysalis’ throne.”

“But mine isn’t.” The heroes heard a voice coming from another cell—it was Pharynx. “I can help.”

“Pharynx? What are you doing here? And if you have your magic, why haven’t you escaped?” Trixie asked.

“I was brought here after the invasion of the Changeling Kingdom. Chrysalis wanted to kill me, but Grogar said I was ‘useful.’ I don’t know what he meant, but when I heard you were here, I knew you would need my help.”

Twilight smiled. “That’s great. Now we just need something that expands under pressure.”

Pinkie Pie grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and showed it to Twilight. “Will this work?”

Twilight smiled. “Yes, Pinkie! Where did you find it?”

“In the corner of the room.”

Trixie whispered to Starlight: “I will never understand her.”

“Me neither, Trix.”

Twilight grabbed the oatmeal in her hooves and flew up to the ceiling. Smearing it in the cracks, she motioned for Pharynx to use his magic, and doing so, he blasted the oatmeal. It expanded and caused a hole to appear in its place.

“Yeehaw! Now we can get on outta here!” Applejack shouted.

Rainbow Dash prepared to take off. “I’ll go first!”

Twilight held her back. “Wait, Rainbow. We need a plan.”

“Aww, come on!”

“Twilight is right,” Celestia said. “Going out there without a plan would be foolish.”

Discord frowned. “And ponies say I’m impulsive.”

Rainbow groaned. “Fine. What’s the plan?”

Twilight smiled. “Listen up, everyone! I’m only going to say this once. First, one of us will fly up to the hole and make sure there are no guards around.”

“I’ll do it!” Rainbow replied.

“Good. When there are no guards around, two alicorns will need to fly out of the hole and find out where the guard with the keys is.”

“Why two alicorns?” Sunset asked.

“Because one will need to create a distraction and the other will grab the keys with their magic.”

“We’ll do it,” Luna said.

“We make distractions better than anypony,” Celestia added.

“Perfect. Here’s where the hard part comes in: after you get the keys, you’ll need to sneak into the dungeon entrance.”

“Why not go back into the hole?” Celestia asked.

“Because the door can only be unlocked from the outside, so you and Luna will need to try and get in undetected. Do you think you can do that?”

Luna smiled. “Does a bat-pony hate garlic?” The others looked at her like she was crazy. She sighed in disappointment. “That would be a yes.”

“Good! Then let the plan begin!”

Rainbow Dash flew to the top of the hole and saw no Troggle around. She went back down. “It’s safe.”

Hearing this, Celestia and Luna flew out of the hole and the former activated her magic. “It feels good to use magic again, doesn’t it, Luna?”

“Indeed, sister. Now, where is that guard? I think Drog was his name.”

The sisters snuck around Tambelon and eventually came across a guardhouse and looked through a window, in which they saw Drog sitting on a bed. He sighed. “Maybe those ponies are right. Maybe I do have a choice.”

Celestia used her magic to make a suit of armor his size fall over. He jumped. “That was… odd. I guess I need to pick it up then.”

As he was trying to rearrange the armor, Luna used her magic to unlatch the keys from his belt and carefully pulled them out the window. The sisters ducked down so Drog wouldn’t see them and tried their best to stay undetected before reaching the dungeon entrance. Oddly enough, there were no Troggles around there either, so the sisters entered the dungeons and finally opened each cell inside.

“You did it!” Twilight cheered.

Discord’s body was shaking. “I sense a very powerful being coming this way.”

They heard hoofsteps come from a nearby staircase and saw Grogar and the Legion of Doom. “Right you are, Discord.”

“But how did you—” Twilight asked, before Grogar cut her off.

“You imbecile! I wanted you to escape. That is why Celestia and Luna did not see any of my Troggles at the gate.”

“But why?” Starlight asked.

“Because I wanted to allow you one final battle with my legion before I destroy all of you!” Grogar laughed evilly and the Legion of Doom prepared for battle.

Flash looked at Twilight with fear in his eyes. “Twilight, in case we don’t get through this, there’s something you should know.”

Twilight had a look of concern in her eyes. “What?”

“I love you.”

Twilight’s eyes opened in shock and her heart was beating rapidly. The Storm King chuckled. “Well, look at that, everyone; they’re in love!”

The other villains laughed at the satyr’s remark. Cozy Glow smiled. “Now we get to have some real fun.”

The heroes knew that the greatest battle they would ever have had just begun.

Chapter 13: Face-Off

CHAPTER 13: FACE-OFF

The battle-ready heroes finally found themselves face-to-face with the Legion of Doom. Flash had just told Twilight that he was in love with her, and she was speechless.

“Flash, I—” Before she could finish, a blast of magic came from Sombra’s horn.

“Let’s have some fun, shall we?” he asked menacingly.

Grogar smiled. “Not so fast, Sombra.” He turned to Discord. “I have a proposition for you, Discord.”

“And what would that be?”

“Join my legion.”

Discord was shocked at this proposal. “Why would I join you?”

“Because look at what you have become! How many times have you attempted to please these ponies? And yet they still do not trust you, even after all you have done for them.”

Discord could feel himself in a difficult dilemma, but then Twilight stood up for him: “You’re wrong, Grogar! Discord is our friend… and we won’t let you corrupt him!”

The heroes started to stand up for Discord and he answered Grogar’s question: “No. I’ve made too many mistakes in my past, and I’m not about to make another!”

Grogar frowned in disappointment. “What a pity… I was hoping you would say yes.”

Rainbow Dash had a look of anger in her eyes. “Can we just get on to the fighting now?”

Cozy Glow looked at Grogar. “Yeah, Grogar, can we just fight already?”

Grogar smiled. “Very well. My legion… attack.”

The heroes and Legion of Doom jumped at each other, with certain ones attacking certain others. Chrysalis took Starlight; Cozy took Flurry Heart; the Sirens attacked Sunset Shimmer. Grogar was watching from the sidelines… smiling. Charging his Bewitching Bell, he let out a blast of magic that caused almost everyone to disappear from the dungeon, except for Trixie, Pharynx, Sunburst, Flash, and the Bushwoolies.

“Where did everypony go?” Trixie asked, before turning to Grogar. “What did you do?!”

Grogar laughed. “Your friends are unharmed. They have simply been teleported away from Tambelon.”

Flash frowned. “Away from Tambelon? Where did you send them?!”

Grogar smiled. “You are the one known as Flash Sentry; I presume.”

“I am, and let me guess, you’re the one known as an ugly goat?”

Grogar chuckled. “You amuse me, Flash Sentry. I assume you care about Princess Twilight, correct?”

“I do—and I won’t let you hurt her!”

“How are you and your friends going to defeat me? You are nothing.”

Trixie frowned and looked at Flash. “Flash, he’s right. Not even the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’ is as powerful as Grogar.”

Pharynx nodded. “Even I know when a fight is too dangerous—and this is that battle.”

Flash sighed. “Grogar, we surrender.”

The ram laughed. “As I told you… you are nothing.”

“But I do have one request.”

Grogar raised an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

“Let Pharynx and the Bushwoolies go back to where they were captured from. And let Sunburst and Trixie go. You can do whatever you want with me.”

“Flash, what are you doing?” Sunburst asked.

“Saving you.”

Grogar grinned menacingly. “Deal.” He sent a blast from his Bewitching Bell and Pharynx and the Bushwoolies were teleported away. “Now about the second part of the deal… my answer is no.”

Flash snarled. “But we made a deal!”

Grogar’s eyes emitted a red glow. “You should know by now… I need all of you to complete the spell! Which means that sadly for you, I need you here.”

Trixie tried to use her magic against Grogar but he quickly deflected it and then used his own magic to send the heroes flying into the cell. He smiled before turning around to exit the dungeon. “Goodbye.”

Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow saw that they were in the valley under Canterlot Castle. Flurry frowned. “Why are we here?”

“Grogar must have brought us here… and I’m glad.”

Flurry raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

Cozy smiled. “Because now I can finally fight someone my own size!” She sent a magical blast at Flurry, only for her to deflect it. “How did you do that?” Cozy asked, frowning. “You’re like six!”

Flurry smiled. “Five, actually. But I’m also a fast learner!”

Cozy laughed. “This is gonna be fun.”

The two fillies continued to blast each other with magic. Cozy Glow would deflect Flurry’s blasts, and Flurry Heart would deflect Cozy’s. When the two realized they weren’t getting anywhere, Cozy decided to play dirty. “Hey, look,” she said, pointing to the ground, “it’s Twilight!”

Flurry looked to where Cozy pointed and felt a sharp pain in her side. Cozy laughed. “I can’t believe you fell for that!”

Flurry smiled. “Actually, I knew that Auntie Twilight wasn’t there.”

Cozy was shocked. “Then why did you turn around?”

“So I could get your guard down!” Flurry sent a blast at Cozy Glow that was so powerful, it knocked her down to the ground below. Flurry flew at Cozy as fast as she could with her horn charged before blasting Cozy again.

Cozy frowned in pain. “How are you so strong? I’m eight years older than you.”

“Really? Because you look ten,” Flurry retorted.

“I was trapped in stone for three years! I still aged; my body just hasn’t grown yet.”

“And how did you survive so long without something to eat?”

Cozy was confused. “I don’t know! Something to do with magic! Can you just shut up?”

Flurry smiled mischievously. “Why?”

“Because you’re annoying me!”

“Why?”

“Because I have no patience!”

“Why?”

“Stop!” Cozy flew up and tried to blast Flurry, only for her to use her magic to make Cozy start attacking her own body.

Flurry smiled. “Why are you hitting yourself?”

When Cozy was able to break free from Flurry’s spell, Flurry blasted her with the strongest spell she had ever used, and Cozy was sent to the ground at such a high speed it would make Rainbow Dash seem slow. Cozy groaned in pain.

“I asked you a question.”

Cozy tried to reply, but simply continued to groan. Flurry smiled; she had won.

The Pony of Shadows found himself near the Temple of Ponhenge. “Ponhenge? Why would Grogar send me here?”

A voice came from behind him: “We should be the ones asking that question.” He saw the Pillars—all but Stygian—with their weapons ready.

The Pony of Shadows opened his eyes in confusion. “Pillars? What are you doing here?!”

Star Swirl frowned. “I sensed dark magic at work here! And now that we know it was you, we will not stop until you are defeated!”

The Pony of Shadows charged his horn which emitted an orange flame. “You are wrong, Star Swirl! It is you who shall be defeated.” He sent a blast of fire at the Pillars, only for Flash Magnus to use Netitus to protect them.

“I see you’re a little hotheaded, Shadow!” Flash yelled.

The Pony of Shadows snarled. “That is not funny!” He sent a blast at Flash, only for him to use Netitus once again.

Somnambula flew behind the Pony of Shadows with her blindfold. She tied it around his eyes, and he shouted in rage. “How did you know you wouldn’t get caught, lass?” Rockhoof asked her.

Somnambula smiled. “I had hope.”

The Pony of Shadows growled. “Enough!” He grabbed the Pillars’ artifacts in his magic and, using his fire, destroyed all of them.

The Pillars grabbed their artifacts and tried to fix them, but not even Star Swirl’s magic was enough.

The Pony of Shadows laughed. “Now your magic is useless! Face it, Pillars! You have lost!”

Star Swirl frowned. “Not yet! Everypony, if we have learned anything from Twilight, it’s that our true power doesn’t come from an object, but from the friendships we have formed!”

Mistmane smiled. “Star Swirl is right… the beauty of friendship is all we need.”

Flash nodded. “My courage lies with you five.”

Mage Meadowbrook hugged the others. “I can proudly say that y’all have healed so much pain in my past. You’re my family.”

Somnambula shed a tear. “My hope is in your hooves.”

Rockhoof looked at the Pony of Shadows and then back at his friends. “Aye. If this really is our last battle… there’s nopony who’s ever made me feel stronger than you lot.”

The Pony of Shadows charged his horn. “Enough sentiment! This ends now!”

Just then, the Pillars’ artifacts were somehow restored—it was as though their friendship had repaired them. They used their power to deflect the Pony of Shadow’s flames back at him, causing him to feel immense pain.

The Pony of Shadows screamed in agony as his flames began to turn white, and he was reduced to nothing but a shadow of his former self. Star Swirl blasted him with one final spell that caused him to explode, leaving nothing but ash in his place. The Pillars had finally destroyed their greatest enemy.

The Storm King saw that he was in Canterlot Castle. Looking at the new design of the throne room, he smiled. “And to think… this place was trashed when I attacked it with that storm.”

Tempest entered the room from the main entryway. “Well, you’re not about to trash it again!” she exclaimed.

The Storm King looked in Tempest’s direction and smiled. “Tempest! You’re awake! How were you after I blasted you against the wall when I came for that bell.”

Tempest frowned. “Enough talking, Storm King! It’s time we end this!”

The Storm King chuckled and charged his staff. “This is going to be fun.”

Tempest sent a blast of lightning at the Storm King, which he jumped out of the way of and sent his own blast at Tempest. She managed to barely dodge it and shoot another blast from her horn, which actually hit the Storm King this time. He was knocked into the direction of an outside balcony—the same balcony where he was defeated last time—and Tempest followed close behind.

“You’ve gotten weaker since our last encounter, Storm King.”

The Storm King frowned. “And how’s that?”

“Well for one thing,” Tempest answered, charging her horn, “you can’t turn me to stone anymore!” She sent a blast at her former master, and before he could lift his staff, he was ultimately blasted against the rails.

The Storm King picked himself up and charged his staff before blasting Tempest with lightning. She was thrown against the outer wall of the castle, and he trapped her. He chuckled. “Any last words, Fizzlepop?”

She frowned. “Yes, actually. Never call me by my real name!” Tempest kicked the Storm King with her hooves and blasted him with lightning bolt after lightning bolt until he was finally knocked against the rails, and he dropped his staff. “Goodbye, Storm King.” She sent a blast that caused the satyr to fall off the balcony, hitting the ground below.

The Storm King reached for his staff but was ultimately too weak to do so. Tempest smiled victoriously. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

Sunset Shimmer was brought to a valley near Luna Bay. She looked around and saw that nearby were the Sirens—and they saw her too.

Sunset frowned. “So it’s finally come down to this.”

Adagio smiled. “It seems it has, Sunset Shimmer. And now we can finally get you back for all the humiliation we felt after you and the Rainbooms destroyed our gems!”

Sunset was disappointed. “You seemed perfectly fine when I saw you and your sisters on tour! You said you made a mistake by using your powers!”

Aria frowned. “We were lying!”

Adagio snarled. “You trapped us in that miserable world. Each day was worse than the last. Our singing career was only a way for us to restore our voices—just in case we ever got a second chance.”

Sonata growled. “And now we do, and we’re gonna finally destroy you!”

Sunset charged her horn. “Good luck.” She used her magic to throw a rock at Aria, only for her to destroy it with her voice. “What? How did you—”

Aria smiled. “Our voices are magical, duh! Their pitch can destroy almost anything.”

“Anything? Maybe I can get them to destroy each other’s gems,” Sunset whispered to herself. “Hey, Sonata! Tacos are disgusting!”

Sonata frowned. “What did you just say?! Tacos are a gift from above! You’ll pay for saying that!” She sent a blast of red magic at Sunset only for her to dodge it.

Sunset smiled. “Hey, Aria! You’ll never be as cool as your sisters! You’re just a sad siren who pretends to be tough because she’s afraid that she’ll never be good enough!”

Aria growled. “I am not! You’re gonna wish you had never said that!” She tried to blast Sunset, only for her to dodge it just like Sonata’s attack.

Sunset turned to Adagio. “Adagio! You may seem like a powerful villain, but on the inside, you’re scared! Scared that your sisters are better than you! Well, guess what? They are!”

Adagio yelled. “You need to shut… your… mouth!”

All three sirens tried to blast Sunset with their voices, but she managed to dodge every attack they had. When she finally jumped in between the three of them, she managed to get out of the way and their voices hit each other’s gems, causing them to break once again.

The sirens fell to the ground, weak and defeated. Adagio tried to use her powers against Sunset, but all that came out of her mouth was a shriek. Aria turned to Sonata. “This is all your fault, Sonata! You just had to get mad over tacos. Tacos!”

Sonata snarled. “You were the one who destroyed my gem!”

Adagio frowned. “Shut up! Both of you! You two are the biggest idiots I’ve ever met!”

The sirens continued to argue while Sunset smiled. “Guess it’s true what they say,” she retorted, “siblings really do fight.”

Tirek and Discord found themselves in a forest. Discord looked around and saw animals scurrying away from him. “So, Grogar brought me here? Why?”

“Probably so we could finally settle an old score, Discord.” Discord frowned when he saw Tirek behind him.

“What score?”

Tirek snarled. “You were the one who turned me to stone!”

Discord made a halo appear above his head. “Me? I was only trying to help save Equestria.” He played a harp with his lion paw.

“Stop acting like you’re so good! You will always be a villain… just like me—whether you have ‘friendship’ or not.”

Discord made the halo and harp disappear and frowned. “I’ve changed, Tirek, and you won’t convince me that friendship is worthless. I won’t fall for your lies again.”

Tirek yelled in anger and sent an orange magical blast at Discord, which caused a hole to appear in his chest. Reforming his body, Discord ran toward Tirek and the two began to fight.

Tirek attempted to absorb Discord’s chaos magic, only for him to create a large glass of chocolate milk over the centaur’s head and dump it, causing Tirek to shout in anger. “Why, you—”

Discord then teleported the two around a hundred feet in the air. He was able to fly while Tirek fell from the sky, landing so hard that the ground shook. The draconequus landed and grinned. “Had enough, Tirek?”

“Never!” Tirek was able to hold Discord in his magic and he smiled menacingly. “Look at you, Discord. Look how friendship has ruined you! You could have had all of Equestria—all of Equus! But no, you settled for these ponies! You will never be able to protect them—not even that pathetic pegasus!”

Discord’s pupils became slit, and he growled. “Fluttershy is not pathetic!” He escaped from Tirek’s hold and began to attack him with all kinds of chaotic weapons—rubber chickens, a candy-spitting pinata, a giant apple, and even the Smooze. When Tirek seemed as though he was still able to fight, Discord created his ultimate weapon—a large astral butterfly that flew straight at Tirek, and exploded, causing him to be blasted against a nearby mountain and having multiple rocks fall on him.

Discord walked over to where Tirek was. “Now have you had enough?” Tirek tried to respond, but before he could get his words out, he fainted. Discord smiled. “Never call Fluttershy pathetic.”

Sombra was brought to the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. The empire—once a beautiful location—was a city frozen in ice. Sombra laughed. “Did Grogar send me here so I could see my success?”

A voice came from behind: “Your ‘success’ destroyed my kingdom, Sombra!” It was Shining Armor.

“Shining Armor? Why are you here in the arctic?”

Shining frowned. “I never left. I wanted to stay here in case my sister and her friends returned with the Crystal Heart or my daughter. You’ll pay if she gets hurt…”

“Your daughter is safe… for now.” Sombra smiled evilly. “But I don’t know how long she will be.”

Shining Armor sent a blast of magic at Sombra which prompted the latter to turn into shadow to dodge it. The two ran at each other, and Sombra turned into shadow—hoping to block Shining’s magic with his dark crystals.

Shining was covered; he could feel Sombra trying to cover his horn, but his determination somehow overpowered Sombra’s, and he was able to get rid of the crystals.

Sombra transformed back into his physical form and opened his eyes in shock. “What? How did you resist my crystals?”

“Because I have something more than just the safety of my empire to worry about, Sombra… I have my daughter!”

Shining sent a blast at Sombra, and before Sombra could dodge it, he was ultimately hit and knocked against the snow. Shining walked over to him. “You’re going to pay for all you’ve done to me and my family in the past.” Having said this, Shining Armor levitated Sombra with his magic and sent him flying across the battlefield.

Sombra tried to use his magic to show Shining his worst fear, but it did nothing. “Why are you not screaming?! You were supposed to see your worst fear!”

Shining frowned. “Because Sombra,” he said as he charged his horn, “my worst fear was losing my daughter. And that’s already happened!” He sent another blast at Sombra, and the umbrum was shot so far that he was blasted against the Crystal Castle. He felt himself getting weaker.

When Sombra tried to blast Shining, he could barely conjure anything.

Shining Armor approached him with his horn charged.

Sombra tried to use his fear magic against Shining one more time but Shining deflected it back to its caster. Sombra found himself in a black void, where he saw a blue-eyed purple unicorn with a blue mane and tail crying in front of him.

When he tried to approach her, she pushed him away. “How could you, Sombra? How could you leave me?!”

Sombra had a look of sadness in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to. I was just—”

“Just what, Sombra?! You killed Amore and broke my heart! You don’t deserve your power!”

“Hope, I only wanted what was best for me—for us! I just wanted to see my family again!”

“You only wanted power. And now you’ll never see me again.”

Sombra cried. “Hope!”

When he woke up, Shining Armor was in front of him with his hoof ready to strike. Shining smiled. “Good night, Your Majesty.” He punched Sombra and he was knocked out. Shining Armor was victorious. “Now you know what it’s like to see your worst fear.”

Celestia and Luna looked up at the sky and found that they were surrounded by stars. After looking around a little more, Luna immediately knew where they were. “Celestia! We’re on the moon!”

“But why would Grogar—”

“We know why,” said a familiar voice—it was the Nightmare Spirit. “Because here, our power is strongest—and now we can finally destroy you!”

Luna charged her horn. “Sister, my powers are strongest here. Leave Nightmare to me.” She sent a blast of magic at the spirit, and it hissed.

“You are powerful, but not powerful enough to defeat a nightmare!”

The spirit sent a blast of magic at Luna, causing her to deflect it. The two sent blast after blast, and Celestia couldn’t help but wonder if she could assist her sister in some way.

The Nightmare Spirit smiled. “We could be one again, Luna. Imagine—together we could save your friends; we could even take Grogar’s throne for ourselves. Picture it.”

Luna frowned. “I know that you just want to use me. You can’t take on a pony unless they agree to it, and I am not as naive as I once was.”

“But you could be all-powerful.”

“I made a promise to my father that I wouldn’t fall into darkness. I broke that promise once, but I will not break it again.”

Nightmare frowned. “You always were so stubborn. Prepare to die!”

The spirit and Luna’s magic collided in a beam, each one’s power shifting toward the other. Celestia saw that her sister was struggling, so she used her magic with Luna’s. “You’re not doing this alone!” she exclaimed. Luna smiled.

Nightmare could feel the sisters’ magic coming closer. The more it tried to stay strong, the more Celestia and Luna pushed back. Their magic finally hit it, and it was blasted against a crater. The sisters used their combined strength to ensure that the spirit would not be able to leave the moon, and they felt themselves being teleported back to Equus.

Seeing that it was trapped on the moon, Nightmare yelled in anger: “Curse you, Luna!”

Starlight found herself in what seemed to be a snowy landscape. The more she looked around her, the more snow she saw. That was when she heard Chrysalis’ sadistic laugh.

“I’ve waited a long time for this moment, Starlight Glimmer. It looks like Grogar will finally allow me to have it.” Chrysalis landed in front of her enemy. “Do you know how it feels to be trapped with nowhere to go and nopony to turn to?”

Starlight frowned. “I do, Chrysalis, and I understand that you’re angry. But killing me won’t help you get what you want.”

Chrysalis hissed. “How do you know what I want?!”

“You want your hive back, and I understand that! I know how hard it is to—”

“You cannot conceive the pain of having your children turn against you! The only thing I want is your demise!” Chrysalis sent a blast of magic at Starlight, who dodged it.

“You want a fight? Fine… you’ll get to fight.”

Starlight sent a blast of magic back at Chrysalis and knocked her into the snow, to which she simply stood back up with no sign of surrendering anytime soon.

Chrysalis aimed her horn at Starlight while flying and kept trying to hit her, but Starlight teleported each time to avoid it. “This is starting to feel familiar,” Starlight remarked.

Chrysalis yelled and dived to where Starlight was standing, but she found herself head-first in a pile of snow.

“Come on, Chrysalis,” Starlight mocked, “you’re supposed to be the powerful ruler of the changelings. Wait, or am I thinking about the real king, Thorax?”

Chrysalis snarled and sent another blast of magic at Starlight, who teleported once again. “I thought you were fast!”

Chrysalis yelled. “My patience is wearing thin! Stay still so I can blast you!”

“You said that during our last encounter. I didn’t listen then and I’m not listening now.”

Starlight teleported under a large boulder being held up by another stone. When Chrysalis dived in to try and attack her, Starlight teleported away, and Chrysalis knocked down the support. The boulder fell on Chrysalis before she could react, and she was knocked unconscious.

Starlight smiled in triumph. “And that is how you squash a bug.”

The Mane Six and Spike found themselves outside a strange stone fortress in the shape of Grogar’s head—the same fortress Discord used when he disguised as Grogar.

Rainbow Dash looked around. “What is this place?”

“Maybe it’s just a fortress coincidentally shaped like Grogar’s head,” Pinkie answered.

Rarity frowned in disgust. “Whatever it is, it looks simply dreadful.”

Twilight stared at it. “It doesn’t matter what it is. Whatever part of Grogar’s plan it serves, this is where he sent us.” She headed toward the inside. “Come on, everypony.”

Fluttershy smiled nervously and turned the other way. “You know what, I think I’ll just go this way.”

Applejack grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her toward the fortress. “C’mon now, Fluttershy. We’ve gotta check this place out.” Fluttershy whimpered.

When the heroes made it inside, they saw that for some reason, Bray was standing there.

Twilight frowned. “Who are you?!”

Bray smiled, but the voice that followed was not his: “The body I am in belongs to Grogar’s general, Bray Blackheart… but I am not Bray.”

Twilight opened her eyes in shock. “Orthodox?! How are you—”

Orthodox laughed. “With the walls of my prison growing weaker, I was able to let enough of my spiritual energy slip through in order to possess this donkey. Now, you are going to give me what I want.”

“And what would that be?” Spike asked.

“You see, I don’t need you to be alive for the spell to set me free… I just need your bodies. And now that I’ve had time to ponder on it, I believe it would be better to have you six dead than alive.”

Twilight frowned. “If you wanted to kill us, then why did you ever bother to manipulate any of the villains we’ve faced? You said you were using them to help see if we would be the right ponies to ‘take your place.’”

Orthodox smiled. “That wasn’t entirely true… I said that to misguide you—make you think they were a way to test you. The truth is that at first, I was using them to try and kill you… but then you became the Princess of Friendship. After that, I decided to use Cozy Glow as a way to test you; and when she drained all of that magic, I was able to finally free Grogar—the one villain I knew would perform the spell to free me.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And now that he’s free, you’re just gonna kill us? Why didn’t you just tell him to do it for ya?”

“Because I wanted to wait until I could kill you myself.”

“Wait,” Pinkie said, “technically, it would be Bray who’d be killing us. You’re just using his body.”

Orthodox smiled. “But I’ll be using my own magic.”

Twilight had a sense of confusion in her eyes. “But if you’re a magicless being’s body, and you’re trapped in the Dark Netherworld, then how would you use your own magic?”

Orthodox laughed and Bray’s hoof pointed to an orange Crystal Ball. “Because, Princess, I know how to use magic in a magicless being’s form. I may only have a fraction of my magic… and that fraction may be limited… but even a tiny fragment of my power can be destructive. With the magical energy of this Crystal Ball, I will be able to transform this donkey into something that better suits my needs!”

Bray’s body began to shake, and before long, it grew into a monstrous form. The form that once resembled a donkey was unrecognizable. His eyes were red, and they looked like snake’s. A large horn protruded from the beast’s head, and wings emerged from its sides. Its teeth were sharp and crooked, and its hooves became like claws. Orthodox laughed at his new form; the heroes were horrified.

Fluttershy screamed. “What is that thing?!”

Spike frowned. “It’s no longer a donkey, that’s for sure.”

Orthodox’s laughter echoed throughout the fortress. “Now you see what I have become! This is how I use magic in other creatures’ bodies—I make their bodies like my body! Now prepare yourselves, ponies, for the final battle you shall ever fight!”

Orthodox flew into the air and sent a blast of cosmic energy at Twilight. When she tried to deflect it, it somehow managed to defeat her own magic and she was knocked to the ground. “Rainbow Dash,” she said, “you’re faster than anypony in Equestria. I need you to distract Orthodox long enough to where I can get a clear shot. Can you do that?”

Rainbow nodded. “I can try.” She flew into the air and taunted Orthodox. “Hey, Orthodox! Come and get me!” Orthodox in Bray’s monstrous form flew at her and charged his horn. Before Twilight could aim her horn at him however, he somehow managed to blast Rainbow’s wing even though she was flying in complete circles around him. “My wing!”

Rainbow fell to the floor of the fortress, and Applejack only barely managed to catch her before she hit it. “I gotcha, Dashie!”

Rainbow looked at her broken wing. “Thanks, AJ. But I think my wing is broken. Somehow Orthodox is faster than I am—and I’m faster than anypony!”

Twilight saw Rainbow hurt and turned to Pinkie and Rarity. “We need a ground attack. Pinkie, can you try to distract Orthodox?”

Pinkie smiled. “I’m the most distracting pony I know!”

“And Rarity, can you make a sling for Rainbow with your fabric?”

“I’m already on it.”

Rarity rushed to Rainbow Dash with fabric in her magical aura while Pinkie Pie jumped in front of the Crystal Ball. “Oh, Orthodox!”

Orthodox turned to Pinkie Pie, the eyes on Bray’s face glowing red. “Get away from that crystal!”

“Okay, but first…” She pulled a pie from her mane and threw it at him. “Surprise!”

Orthodox growled and blasted Pinkie Pie with energy. Twilight thought she had him in her range, but when he saw her, he blasted his energy at her, prompting Fluttershy to push Twilight out of the way. However, the energy hit Fluttershy, leaving her flightless.

Spike attempted to breathe fire at the monster, but Orthodox’s cosmic energy quickly collided with it, causing Spike to be blasted against a wall.

Bray’s possessed body landed on a platform overlooking the Mane Six and charged his horn. “I look forward to seeing you die.” Just then, Twilight blasted the Crystal Ball, and it was shattered.

Bray’s body began to shake. It was transformed back into that of a donkey, and Orthodox saw that it wouldn’t transform again. “You imbecile! What have you done?!”

Twilight smiled. “I broke the Crystal Ball so you wouldn’t be able to use its power. Your magic is indeed powerful…” She charged her horn and aimed it at Bray’s body. “But not even you are more powerful than friendship.” She sent a blast from her horn that caused Bray to be knocked against the wall of the fortress, leaving him unconscious and therefore free of Orthodox’s possession.

When the Mane Six and Spike started to celebrate, they were quickly interrupted and found themselves surrounded by black and yellow magic; and in an instant, they were teleported away from the fortress.

After everyone was done fighting, Grogar returned them to his castle in Tambelon—except for Nightmare and the Pony of Shadows. When Twilight saw that her brother and the Pillars were also there, she tried to talk, but it seemed as though Grogar had placed a spell on her that prevented her from doing so.

The once-mighty Legion of Doom was now weakened and Grogar stood over them. He sighed. “I expected this would happen.”

Cozy Glow groaned in pain. “Then why did you send us to fight?”

The ram smiled sadistically. “So you wouldn’t fight back when I finally revealed the true intention of my master plan. I am going to use your magical energy to free the Destroyer from his prison!”

Tirek frowned in fear. “But you made a deal with us! You promised us the destruction of our enemies!”

Grogar chuckled. “They will be destroyed… you just won’t live to see it!”

The Storm King tried to jump at Grogar, but the ram used his Bewitching Bell to absorb his energy. The satyr was turned into an orb of energy and absorbed by the bell. Grogar then used his bell on the entire legion—the villains were returned to the forms they were in before Grogar freed them. Tirek reverted back to his first form; Chrysalis was reduced to a normal changeling; Cozy was a pegasus again; and the villains were transformed into energy orbs and absorbed by the bell.

The Bewitching Bell’s magic turned from yellow and black to the same cosmic black as Orthodox’s. Grogar turned to the heroes and smiled. “Now you can go into the dungeon and the spell shall finally be enacted… and all of Equus shall know the name ‘Emperor Grogar!’”

Twilight had a look of fear in her eyes… the fate of all of Equestria was hanging in the balance—and it was up to her to save it!

Chapter 14: The Final Battle

CHAPTER 14: THE FINAL BATTLE

The Legion of Doom had just been defeated, and Twilight and her friends were trapped in the dungeons of Tambelon once again. Though now, Shining Armor and the Pillars were with them.

“How has this happened twice today?!” Rainbow Dash asked in fury. “What are we going to do now?!”

Star Swirl frowned. “With the pieces of Chrysalis’ throne around the cell, our magic is useless.”

Rarity pointed to the ceiling. “And it seems as though Grogar has mended the ceiling entirely.”

Flurry Heart pouted. “This isn’t fair! I miss my mommy!” She flew into her father’s hooves, who held her close.

Shining Armor turned to Twilight. “Twily, do you have any ideas?”

“Me? The last plan I had was a complete failure… we were captured by Grogar.”

“But, Twilight,” Starlight began, “he expected it… it wasn’t your fault it failed.”

Celestia smiled. “You are a strong and capable ruler. If there’s anypony who can get us out of here, it’s you.”

“You think so?”

Discord placed a claw on Twilight’s shoulder. “We know so. You showed me forgiveness long ago when I didn’t deserve it… and for that, I thank you.”

Trixie approached Twilight. “If it weren’t for you, I would still be a failed magician with no friends.”

Starlight smiled at Twilight. “And I would still be oppressing my old village.”

Luna kneeled. “You saved me from Nightmare’s grasp… so if there’s anyone who is strong enough in friendship to help us get out of this, it’s you.”

Flash held Twilight’s hoof. “You are the most powerful pony we know.”

Twilight’s look of fear suddenly became one of confidence. “Okay. I just need some time to think on how we can get a guard to come down here and then make them unlock the door.”

Just then, there were footsteps coming from the nearby stairway. Sunset Shimmer frowned. “Well, you better get ready, because it looks like someone is coming.”

The heroes prepared to attack when they saw Drog holding the keys in his hand and unlocking the door.

“Drog?” Pinkie asked.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “I thought the only one you could look out for was yourself.”

Drog sighed. “I thought that too… until I had time to consider what you said. I realize that I do have a choice.”

“What about the other Troggles?” Sunburst asked.

“Many of them, if not all, are fed up with Grogar. If you truly can stop him, then they would be more than happy to join you.”

Somnambula smiled. “It looks like hope is back on our side.”

Rockhoof picked up a shovel from one of the open cells. “Aye. It may not be my shovel, but it might do some damage!”

Spike cheered. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go stop Grogar!”

“Wait,” Twilight said. “We have no idea where the Bell of Freedom even is. We can’t just rush into the castle without locating it first.”

Star Swirl smiled. “I can tell you where the bell is, Twilight.”

“You can?”

The unicorn wizard nodded and used his magic to create an image of the bell and its tower. “I was in Tambelon before Grogar was banished, and back then the Bell of Freedom was in the highest tower of Grogar’s castle.”

“Great,” Rarity said. “Then Twilight can just fly up there and ring it.”

Star Swirl frowned. “I am afraid it is not that simple. The bell can only be rung by alicorn magic… but the only way to reach it is through Grogar’s castle.”

The heroes gasped. “Grogar’s castle?” Applejack asked. “But he’s still in there. Wouldn’t Twilight be in real danger?”

Twilight put on a face of determination. “I have to save Equestria.”

Flash Sentry approached Twilight. “Are you certain, Twilight? We could find another way to—”

“I have to.”

Flurry Heart hugged her aunt. “Auntie Twilight, you can’t!”

Twilight smiled. “I’ll be okay, Flurry.” She turned to her friends. “The best thing to do now is for me to find the bell and get to it before Grogar starts his spell at midnight.”

“Then you need to hurry,” Fluttershy said. “Because there’s not that much time left!”

The heroes rushed out of the dungeon and into the streets of Tambelon. When the Troggles saw them, they were preparing to attack, until Drog stood in front of them. “Listen!” he yelled. “For years, we have allowed Grogar to oppress us and treat us like nothing. But these ponies have found a way to destroy his Bewitching Bell!”

A Troggle lowered her weapon. “But how?”

Flash Sentry flew above the Troggles and pointed to the highest tower in Grogar’s castle. “With the Bell of Freedom! When we ring it, Grogar will lose his magic and you can be free!”

Rainbow Dash smiled and held a hoof over her broken wing. “So are you gonna let Mr. Goat-Face over there keep ruling over you? Or are you going to join us and be accepted by the ponies of Equestria?!”

The Troggles lowered their weapons and began talking. They spoke about how these ponies could be right and that they could be free. They chose the second option.

Drog smiled. “Then come with me to let the others know of these ponies’ heroism—and to ensure that nobody is left behind!” The Troggles followed him into the rest of the city and began going from house to house.

Twilight turned to her friends. “Everyone, go with Drog. I’m going to the castle.” Everyone except the rest of the Mane Six and Star Swirl left.

“No,” Pinkie Pie said.

“We’re goin’ to the castle,” Applejack claimed.

Twilight frowned. “No, it’s too dangerous. I can’t let you—”

Star Swirl smiled. “Then I will protect them. I know Grogar’s fighting style. I can help you.”

Twilight smiled. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go ring that bell.”

Meanwhile, Grogar was overlooking the event from a balcony. “So Drog is trying to lead another rebellion against me?! This is unacceptable!” He walked back into his castle. “I will destroy those ponies myself.”

The Mane Six and Star Swirl ran into Grogar’s castle and saw banners appealing to him across the walls. When Fluttershy saw one with Orthodox’s eyes on it, she whimpered. “I don’t like this.”

Twilight motioned for her to come on. “Come on, Fluttershy. We need to stay as close as possible. Be on guard, everyone. Grogar could be anywhere.”

Grogar appeared in front of them; his Bewitching Bell was emitting cosmic energy. “Or perhaps he’s right here!” He laughed and then turned to Star Swirl. “Hello, Star. I haven’t seen you since you were a young stallion. You’ve grown older.”

Star Swirl frowned. “And you look just as old as you always have, fiend!”

Rainbow Dash snarled. “You won’t stop us, Grogar! We have you surrounded!”

Grogar charged his Bewitching Bell. “You’re wrong, pegasus. I have you surrounded!” He sent a blast of magic at Rainbow Dash, which she only barely managed to run away from. He proceeded to ram at Twilight.

Twilight flew out of the way, causing Grogar to run into a wall. He quickly turned around and ran at Pinkie Pie, who screamed and jumped as high as she could.

She landed on Grogar’s back and—being Pinkie—tried to reach for the Bewitching Bell, before Grogar flung her off. She landed on the ground beside Rarity.

“Did you really think that would work?” Rarity asked.

Pinkie chuckled nervously. “Honestly? Not really.”

Grogar turned to Twilight’s back and charged his bell. He sent a blast of magic at her, but before it could attack, Star Swirl jumped in front of it. The blast sent him falling to the ground and the Mane Six ran to him.

Grogar turned to a nearby hallway. “I have no time for this. It’s time I end the little rebellion you’ve started.”

Twilight was in tears at the sight of the dying sorcerer. She tried using her magic to heal him, only for him to put his hoof on hers. “Twilight.”

Twilight was crying. “Star Swirl, you saved me. I can help sa—”

“No. It’s too late for me.”

“But you’re Star Swirl,” Rainbow replied. “You can’t die.”

Star Swirl smiled. “Even an immortal being like myself cannot escape death. But do not let my death be in vain. You six taught me that friendship is powerful. Now use that friendship to destroy Grogar. And look on the bright side—I can finally tell my master how much I’ve learned.”

With that said, Star Swirl closed his eyes and passed on. Twilight frowned in anger. “You five go back and make sure that Drog and the others are safe. And take Star Swirl with you.”

“What about you?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m going to ring the bell.”

“Good luck, Twilight,” Applejack said.

Twilight shed a tear. “Tell Flash I love him.” She ran out of the room toward the same hallway Grogar went through.

The heroes and the Troggles were gathered in Tambelon Square. When they saw the Mane Five arrive with Star Swirl’s body, the Pillars and Royal Sisters immediately ran to them.

“What happened?!” Flash Magnus asked.

“He was killed while trying to save Twilight,” Rarity answered. “I’m so sorry.”

Tears formed in Celestia and Luna’s eyes as they held each other in an embrace. The Pillars cried as well, with many of them doing so while hugging Star Swirl’s lifeless body.

Rainbow Dash approached Flash Sentry. “Twilight wanted us to tell you that she loves you too.”

Flash shed a tear. “I just hope she’s okay,” he mused.

“Don’t worry,” Sunset began. “She’s Twilight. She’ll be okay.”

Twilight was flying through the castle using her magic to locate the Bell of Freedom. “Come on. Where is it?”

She accidentally knocked into a torch on the wall and revealed a secret staircase. “Yes.”

Twilight entered the staircase and used her magic to close it. Little did she know that Bray—still possessed by Orthodox—was already waiting at the top.

Grogar had just finished igniting the Blood Torch in his throne room with cosmic fire, causing it to begin shaking. He smiled when he saw that it was almost midnight. “Now it’s time to stop this little rebellion.” He walked onto a balcony that overlooked the roads of Tambelon.

The heroes were running toward the gates of Tambelon. Shining Armor was in front. “Okay, everyone! Just a bit further and we can finally get out of here.”

Grogar charged his Bewitching Bell and sent a blast of cosmic energy in front of the heroes. They were only able to escape it by hiding under an archway.

“Oh, my!” Rarity exclaimed. “It looks like we’re trapped!”

Discord held Fluttershy close. “We just have to stay away from Grogar’s range until Twilight rings the bell!”

Suddenly, a beam of light came from the Blood Torch and above the castle appeared a black portal. The skies turned dark and heavy winds started to blow.

When Fluttershy saw it, she screamed. “What is that?!”

Celestia examined the portal. “A portal to the Dark Netherworld! Grogar has started the spell!”

“Then what do we do?” Drog asked.

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we sing a song? That always works.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “You wanna sing a song?! What would it even be called—Let the Bell of Freedom Ring?”

Flash Sentry had a look of anger in his eyes. “Will both of you just stop arguing?!”

“Sorry.”

Flash looked at the portal. “I really hope Twilight is safe.”

Twilight was rushing up the stairs until she finally reached the room with the Bell of Freedom. “Yes! I’ve found it!”

Bray’s possessed body jumped at her from the shadows. “Not so fast!” cried Orthodox.

“Orthodox? How are you—”

“Still in Bray’s body? Did you really think a simple blast against the wall would be enough to draw my spirit away? No. Your magic is nothing compared to mine!”

Twilight frowned. “You’re right. Your magic is extremely powerful, but I know that the magic of friendship is stronger than you will ever be!” She tried to charge her horn, but it wouldn’t. “What?”

Orthodox made the donkey smile sadistically. “Foolish child.” He held a piece of Chrysalis’ throne in his hoof. “I knew you would come here, so I took a little piece of the changeling’s throne. A way to block your precious powers.”

Twilight tried to run at the possessed body, but with the portal open above them, Orthodox could use his magic through Bray without a source. He looked at Twilight and smiled. “Now how are you going to ring the bell? It’s time I finally destroy you.” He began to seemingly drain her life force slowly.

Twilight felt herself growing weaker—she needed to think of something fast.

The heroes managed to run through the streets while evading Grogar’s blasts. Every blast, Grogar had to charge his bell—which allowed them to use that time to run under the next archway they saw or hide between buildings.

When the party finally made it near the gate, Discord tried to use his magic to open it, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t. “The door is protected by a magical seal,” he said. “We would need a blast from Grogar to get it open.”

“The one of us would have to draw his fire,” Starlight replied.

“But who would do that?” Spike asked.

“Someone who’s fast,” Shining answered.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “I’d do it, but my wing is broken.”

Fluttershy put on a brave face. “I’ll do it.”

Discord frowned in protest. “No, you won’t. We can’t risk you getting hurt.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I need to do this for everypony. If this is the last time we see each other, there’s something I need to do.”

“What?”

She kissed the draconequus on the cheek. “That.”

Discord’s eyes turned into hearts, and he created a smaller version of himself in the form of Cupid shooting an arrow at the original.

Fluttershy flew in front of the gate and turned to Grogar. “Hey, Grogar! You’re nothing but a big bully, and I won’t let you hurt my friends!”

Grogar charged his bell and frowned. He sent a blast of energy at Fluttershy, who managed to escape it and the blast hit the gate, causing it to collapse.

Fluttershy landed. “Now we can get out.”

Luna shook her head. “Not yet. We cannot leave until Twilight has rung the bell.”

Sunset stared at the portal, in which she could see an army in the distance. “Then she needs to hurry, because I don’t think Orthodox is the only one coming out of that portal.”

Twilight was still caught in Orthodox’s spell. She looked at the piece of Chrysalis’ throne in Bray’s hoof and had an idea.

“Orthodox? Can I just ask you one question before you take my life force?”

The possessed Bray raised an eyebrow. “You may.”

“How did you meet Grogar? How did you make him the warlord he is today?”

Orthodox smiled. He began to tell the story of Grogar and stopped draining Twilight’s energy for a brief moment.

In that moment, Twilight was able to jump at the piece of the throne and crush it against the wall. Orthodox hissed before Twilight levitated Bray’s body with her magic and threw it against the ground.

Without a second thought, Twilight rushed to the Bell of Freedom and charged her horn. Orthodox followed close behind, but she evaded him and used her magic to ring the bell.

Orthodox could feel his spirit leaving Bray’s body. “You will pay for this, Princess Twilight! I will not forget you! Mark my words—I will destroy everyone you love!” With that said, Bray was free from his control and fell to the floor.

The Bell of Freedom echoed throughout Tambelon. The heroes and Troggles cheered as the portal to the Dark Netherworld was closed, and the Blood Torch was extinguished.

Grogar opened his eyes in fear as his Bewitching Bell began to shake. It stopped glowing and unlatched from his collar—falling to the streets below. The ram began to scream as his body began to shake. His form began to disintegrate into shadow, and he let out one final yell as he exploded into oblivion.

The heroes and the Troggles cheered as they rushed out of Tambelon and onto a nearby hilltop. They waited there for any sign of Twilight, but she was nowhere to be found.

Flash shed a tear as he and the Mane Five kept staring at the ruined city. Just then, they could see Twilight flying away from Tambelon with a smile on her face. She landed in front of Flash. “Hey, Flash.”

Tears formed in his eyes as he hugged the violet alicorn. The two stared into each other’s eyes and let their hearts take hold. Before they knew it, they were sharing a passionate kiss.

Meanwhile, the Pillars gathered around Star Swirl’s body. Mistmane shed a tear. “Goodbye, old friend.” She laid her flower on his body, and the other Pillars laid down their magical artifacts as well. They had a moment of silence.

Celestia and Luna looked at Star Swirl with tears in her eyes. “He was like a father to us,” Celestia told the Pillars.

Luna started crying in her sister’s mane. “He took us in when Angus murdered our parents.”

The sisters continued to mourn Star Swirl.

Discord and Fluttershy shared a hug, before the former confessed his feelings, prompting the yellow pegasus to do the same. They shared a long embrace.

Twilight approached Drog. “So now that you’re free from Grogar, where are you all going to go?”

Drog smiled. “The Troggles and I have decided to stay in Tambelon and rebuild it. Perhaps we can make this city into the farming village it once was.”

Twilight smiled. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

At that same time, the Bewitching Bell began to shake. Twilight charged her horn and stood in front of her friends to protect them.

The bell sent one final blast of energy to reveal small orbs. The orbs formed into the weakened members of the betrayed Legion of Doom, who saw the heroes battle-ready.

Cozy Glow smiled nervously. “Hey…”

The young pegasus could see that the ponies before her would attack if she made a wrong move.

“So… about trying to destroy you…”

Chapter 2: The Return of Grogar

CHAPTER 2: THE RETURN OF GROGAR

The Legion of Doom was petrified in stone, and that was that. Day after day, ponies would walk by, and the villains would envy them for their freedom. Now, on the third year of their capture, they truly desired to walk again.

“It’s horrible being trapped in here!” Tirek yelled, his statue visibly shaking. “How are we supposed to get away from each other when we’re stuck in the same statue?!”

Chrysalis glanced back at Tirek. “It’s no picnic for me either. I was a Queen. I had an entire army at my hooves until Starlight Glimmer turned them against me. I was this close to finally taking her down. Now I’ll never have my vengeance!”

“You think you two have it bad?” Cozy Glow replied. “I’m a pony! That means I’m not immortal like you guys. I won’t live forever! In 100 years, I’ll just be a dead mare in stone!”

“Would that really be so bad?” Chrysalis coldly remarked.

“Hey!”

Suddenly, the Legion of Doom’s stone prison was surrounded by a magical blast.

The villains were immediately teleported out of the stone into a large, dark throne room decorated with gray pillars, a red and yellow carpet, and banners appealing to the battle of Grogar and Gusty.

“Where are we?” Tirek asked, trying to get up.

“I don’t know,” Chrysalis replied.

“Golly, the last time we were brought together in one place, it was by Discord. This must be someone even more powerful!”

“Indeed, it is,” said a dark voice. The three villains looked over and saw a blue figure on the throne. He looked like Discord’s Grogar disguise, but taller. He had scars all over his body and cracks on his horns. His eyes were bright red, and his teeth were yellow.

When the villains saw him, they asked: “Are you?”

The figure let out a quiet, deep voice. “Yes. You may call me… Grogar!”

“Grogar?” Chrysalis asked. “How are we to be sure you’re not Discord in disguise?”

Grogar snarled. “I assure you—I am the true Grogar.”

“Prove it the—”

Before Chrysalis could finish, Grogar let out a gigantic blast of magic from his horns. “Is that enough for you?”

Chrysalis got back on her hooves. “Yes.”

Cozy Glow sat on Tirek’s shoulder, who just rolled his eyes. “If you’re the real Grogar, why aren’t you trapped in another realm?” Cozy asked.

Tirek flicked Cozy off of him. “Gusty the Great banished you to the Realm of Darkness. How did you escape?”

“Three years and seven months ago, when that filly drained the magic of Equestria, it weakened the walls of my prison. That magic was brought to my realm, and I was able to absorb enough to climb through.”

“Wait,” Cozy said, lifting her hoof to Grogar. “Why are you just coming back now? Why didn’t you come back a long time ago?”

“Millennia of being trapped in another realm can weaken one’s powers, small filly. I only recently gained enough strength to free you from your prison. You were the only villains who came close to defeating Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

“Why would you need us?” Chrysalis asked. “We have nothing. Not since those ponies drained us of magic.”

“You could do it with my magic and you can do it again!” As Grogar spoke, a wave of magic came from his horns and onto the villains. Before long, their powerful forms were restored.

“Yes! The Queen reigns once more!” Chrysalis hissed, her glowing yellow eyes and bright green regalia around her black body.

“Babies! You’re back!” Tirek shouted, while kissing his muscles. He was in his fourth form: even stronger than that of the Bewitching Bell previously.

“Long live Princess Cozy Glow!” Cozy exclaimed—with her horn and crown on once more.

“You may keep these forms on one condition,” Grogar informed. “You pledge your loyalties to me and me only.”

“Of course, Emperor Grogar,” the villains said, seemingly in unison.

“Good. Very good. Now I have generals for the army.”

“What army?” Chrysalis asked.

“My army! An entire population of undead creatures known as the Troggles. They may be deceased, but we shall bring them back!”

“But how do we do that?” Cozy asked, scratching her forehead.

“With a creature of dark magic, a shadow umbrum.”

“But the shadow umbrum were wiped out during the Crystal Wars!” Tirek exclaimed.

“There is one that remains. The very one that ruled them.”

“You don’t mean that arrogant cloud of smoke, do you?” Chrysalis asked.

“He was arrogant only because Discord was soft. Sombra is a being of darkness—of fear—and that is what I control. King Sombra shall be loyal to me and me only.”

“How do we bring him back then? He was obliterated by the Mane Six. He’s long past dead now,” Tirek said.

“He may have been obliterated, yes. But he is not dead. Rather, he is stuck in the Aether, where his kind are as well. Using my magic, he shall become my servant and a useful weapon against the ponies!”

Grogar sent a blast of magic in front of the villains. The blast lingered on the ground before forming into bright, smoky, red eyes.

“Where am I? How did I get here?”

“You are somewhere where you are needed,” Grogar responded.

“Who are you? I will destroy you!”

“No need for that now. You may call me Grogar.”

“Grogar? But in that cave, I thought you—”

“That was an imposter! A fragment—created by Discord to test Twilight Sparkle!”

“Discord? Then you are truly the Father of Monsters?”

“Indeed. Serve me, and you shall earn great rewards.”

“I was a fool to believe I could take Equestria alone. I accept, my Emperor.”

Cozy Glow appeared in front of Sombra. “Hey, Sombra. It’s nice to see you again.”

“The filly? And with a horn? And it’s ‘King Sombra’ to you.”

“She is an alicorn because of my magic!” Grogar yelled. “I gave the filly a new form, the changeling Queen royal power, and the centaur strong magic!”

“Then what am I to have?”

“This!”

Grogar let a blast from his horns and Sombra was surrounded in black and gray smoke. Laughing, Sombra activated his horn and destroyed a pillar.

“Yes! My full power has returned! I will not let you down, my lord!”

“See that you do not,” Grogar ordered.

“Well, now we have everyone,” said Chrysalis.

“Not everyone,” Grogar replied.

“Who could we be missing?” Tirek asked.

“A warlord who had an army of loyal satyrs at his command. The very one who manipulated the Royal Guard captain: Tempest Shadow.”

“Wait, wasn’t that the Storm King?” Cozy asked.

“He was killed during the battle of Canterlot,” Tirek remarked. “Nothing could bring him back, not even you!”

“The Storm King was indeed shattered, but in a petrification spell, a soul neither moves on to the Underworld nor the Utopia!”

“Then we can bring him back?” Chrysalis asked.

“Yes!”

As Grogar spoke, another blast of magic appeared and brought what appeared to be a statue of the Storm King. Using his magic, Grogar reassembled it and freed the satyr.

“What’s going on? How am I free?”

“Because of my magic. You have been revived to serve me: Emperor Grogar.”

“Grogar? Then the stories of the First Emperor of Equestria are true!”

“Indeed; we have big plans for you.”

“We?” Glancing to his left, the Storm King noticed the other villains.

“You and these other villains have been restored to power for one purpose: to help me take back Equestria as my own!”

“Wait, restored to power? I don’t even have my staff… or magic!”

“If it is magic you desire, then I shall fulfill your wishes!”

Grogar let out a blast of magic and the Staff of Sacanas appeared in the Storm King’s claws.

“My staff!”

“You may keep your staff if you help me in my quest for power.”

“Of course, my Emperor. But wait, what’s in it for me?”

“Power!” Tirek yelled.

“Vengeance!” Chrysalis hissed.

“Magic!” Cozy shouted.

“Respect!” Sombra exclaimed.

“These luxuries are yours if you follow me and me only,” Grogar ordered.

“Then I am your servant most humble.”

Smiling, Grogar and the other villains gathered around a crystal ball. Focusing on the ball, Grogar brought up an image of him and Gusty the Great.

“Long ago, Gusty the Great banished me to the Realm of Darkness. She locked my Bewitching Bell away on Mt. Everhoof. It now resides in Canterlot Castle. You five shall work together to retrieve it.”

“Why do you need the bell?” asked Cozy Glow.

“Your magic is much more powerful than what we ever came across,” Chrysalis remarked.

“The power you received was but a fragment of its true power. In my grasp, the Bewitching Bell is a powerful weapon, with the magic of the Fallen One himself!”

“The Fallen One?” asked the villains.

“Who?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Indeed. And, once you retrieve it, we shall be unstoppable. But before you do, there is but one more thing that I must do.”

“And what’s that?” Chrysalis asked.

“I must recruit a powerful group of allies to our cause!”

“And who could be as powerful as us?” Tirek asked, with Sombra nodding in agreement.

“Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk: The Sirens!”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “The Sirens? They were defeated by Twilight Sparkle in the realm they were banished to. How are we supposed to free them?”

“Do not worry, changeling,” Grogar answered, “I assure you, if I could restore your power, then I can restore theirs.”

“How are you even going to reach them?” asked the Storm King, who was hanging off the ceiling.

“I may be weakened from giving you power, but together, we have enough magic to create a portal so that I may enter their realm and bring them back to us. And get down to the floor!” Following Grogar’s order, the Storm King jumped down to the floor. Afterward, Grogar and the villains used their combined force to open a portal.

“Now, my servants, you five shall stay here while I go to the Human Realm. And know this: anyone who dares defy my orders shall be… exterminated.”